The Crusader: How Modi Won 2019 Elections

Randeep Sisodia

Srishti Publishers & Distributors

A unit of AJR Publishing LLP

212A, Peacock Lane

Shahpur Jat, New Delhi – 110 049

editorial@srishtipublishers.com

First published by

Srishti Publishers & Distributors in 2021

Copyright © Randeep Sisodia, 2021

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This is a work of non-fiction based on the author’s observation and understanding of Indian polity. This publication is meant as a source of information for the reader, but not as a replacement for direct expert assistance. While due care has been taken at press time to ensure no party/ institution/ individual is disrespected or hurt through the narrative, any such instances shall be rectified in subsequent prints after being brought to notice.

The author asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Publishers.

Printed and bound in India

Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Part I: Challenging the Order

1. The Khan Market Gang (KMG)

2. The Genesis of Mahagathbandhan

3. Modi’s Bali Effect

4. The Illusionists

5. Congress – The unmissable turn Left

6. 56-inch chest, finally bared

Part II: Dismantling the Order

7. The Rise of a Yogi

8. Motivated Election Machine

9. Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai!!

10. The Illusionists Strike Again

11. The ‘myth’ of Being Secular

12. A Blessing in Disguise

13. It is the Welfare, Stupid!

14. The Final Salvos

15. When the Monkey Flew

Part III: Battle to Win ‘Trust’

16. Hamara Neta Kaisa Ho…

17. Clarity of Higher Purpose

18. Credibility(Deliver on Promises)

19. Connect with People

20. Lead by Example

21. Modi versus Rest

22. Reading the Mandate

Part IV: War for the ‘Idea of India’ Continues

23. Where does the Congress go from Here?

24. The Media Politics

25. Modi 2.0

26. The idea of India

Epilogue

List of acronyms

This book is dedicated to my parents, Suman and Ranbir,

whose love, affection and blessings are the reasons for my existence.

Acknowledgements

I will forever be indebted to my family, my parents, my late grandparents and relations for having instilled in me a sense of responsibility and pride for the nation and for having exposed me to a diverse range of thoughts, especially on Indian polity and religion during my normative years.

Writing a book requires single-minded focus and stretched periods of solitude. Special thanks to my wife Menka for her unflinching support, understanding and care.

I learnt the science of leadership during my management studies, but most importantly, I learnt the art of leadership through its practice during my long stint in the corporate world. I learnt the importance of having a worldview and expressing it fearlessly. These learnings were key enablers in penning this book. I thank all my teachers and colleagues from the corporate world who have touched my life and interacted with me, thereby enriching me.

While writing is a solitary practise, presenting it to the world is a team sport. Many thanks to Arup Bose, Stuti and the team at Srishti Publishers & Distributors for warmly welcoming me and for their partnership, advise, support and help in bringing this book to life in the most appropriate way.

Above all, I want to thank God for giving me the opportunity, strength, motivation and ability to offer this book to you, my esteemed readers!

Preface

Darr Lagta Hai!

Hoshiarpur, Punjab

During Emergency days

Scores of RSS members went to prison after the organisation was banned, while quite a few were forced to go into hiding to avoid arrest. At that time, when no lawyer was ready to take up the cases of these hapless people, my father took up the challenge and fought for them in court. We experienced, first hand, how people had to roam around in disguise and sneak out from the back doors of houses to save themselves from being arrested. Yet, it never once came to our mind – " Darr lagta hai. " (I am scared.)

On a fateful night during the dark days of terrorism in Punjab, a direct result of politics meddling in religion, a mob of bloodthirsty fanatics attacked a house a few hundred metres away from ours, and tried to put it on fire. The next night and for a few nights thereafter, my grandparents, my parents, my brother and I spent the night in one room. Before sleeping, my father would draw out his double barrel gun from the closet and load it with two bullets. The gun would then rest against the wall, at arms-length next to his pillow, and only then we went to sleep. Earlier, my brother and I eagerly waited for the once- a-year ritual when my father pulled out his gun for polishing. We would marvel at the site of that beauty. However, this time around, we were finding it repulsive.

Hoshiarpur is a small, sleepy, nondescript town that, just like any other village, town or city in Punjab, was making headlines, for all the wrong reasons, in national newspapers during the peak of terrorism days. Those days when the bread earner of the family went out to work, the family wasn’t sure of his safe return in the evening.

One such evening, a neighbour came running to our house and mentioned that there had been a blast in the courts. We panicked, as my father was in court at that time. I immediately grabbed my bicycle and rushed out of the house towards the court. One person had died and many were injured in that blast. We were lucky that my father was safe.

Once, coming back from Chandigarh in a Punjab roadways bus, passing through the hinterland during late evening, our bus suddenly came to a halt. I could see a lot of people outside, along with a few police vehicles. A couple of police officers walked in, quickly scanned the bus and signalled the driver to move on. Later we found out that a few minutes before us, another Punjab roadways bus was taken off track forcefully by the terrorists, who then segregated people and killed them. We kept having these close shaves, but never once did the expression Darr lagta hai occurred to us. Of course, there was fear, but we never thought that it was scary to live in this country. There were many people worse off than us, who lost loved ones, and yet, we never heard that sentiment.

Back then too, every community suffered – many Sikhs who opposed terrorists lost their lives, and there were reports of fake encounters, of innocents being booked because of mistaken identities, of families being wrongly harassed even when they were genuinely unaware that their young ones had joined the terrorists. There was terror all around and every law-abiding citizen was feeling the heat. But despite all that, we never ever heard that sentiment.

Punjab being a prosperous state, generally people had the maturity to understand the politics and futility behind all the violence. Since they understood the real game behind all this, the people-to-people relations continued to be normal. In fact, the tough times strengthened the bonds even further. Celebrities and influential people cut across caste and community to promote sanity, goodwill and appealled for calm while condemning the violent acts of the misguided. That also acted as a balm on commoners, and generally, better sense prevailed.

Hence, when one hears some celebrities, celebrated artists and intellectuals today, comfortably ensconced in their plush air-conditioned and protected environments, having never had to face terror or state oppression, express that sentiment, Darr lagta hai, one can’t help but wonder the hypocrisy of it all. And when you realise that such statements invariably are made just when an election season is about to begin, you realise the politics of it all!

It is as if these privileged elites, have worn the boxing gloves but refuse to enter the ring. They punch from outside the ring. They know very well that the boxer inside will not hit them for fear of disqualification. In all fairness, a few of these celebrities have entered the ring, and have been ready to take the blows.

Kudos to them! However, they soon realised that they were completely irrelevant; they were like an amateur feather weight category boxer taking on a veteran heavyweight professional. And the professional, forget about hitting, did not even pay any attention to them. As they say, there is a difference between ‘reel’ life and ‘real’ life. Perhaps, what they really are scared of is entering the ring in real life.

At another level, irrespective of whatever the reason, one would have to term it as highly irresponsible and perhaps even mischievous behaviour. In a country with widespread illiteracy and poverty that leads to insecurity and fear, such statements by the elite and influential class does tantamount to fear mongering among the masses. It is in this context that one feels that being a celebrity, whose words have immense influencing power, requires him or her to be a lot more responsible than any other citizen. They should measure their words twice before they speak, especially on sensitive subjects. They should pause and think, who is it really going to benefit? And more importantly, is it really going to help the cause of people who actually are oppressed? It is good to know your rights, but it is an absolute essential to understand your responsibilities.

The fundamental point here is that a celebrity is a celebrity. He has no religion. People have loved him irrespective of his religion and people from all religions have admired him. It is insincere of him to play the religion card. He should rather be assuring people than fear-mongering. Or else, he should jump into the real world of politics and transparently declare which side is he on.

Now for those in positions of authority, who are hell bent on sending everyone who opposes them to Pakistan, perhaps they have a wrong notion that they work for Pakistan Embassy, which is the only authority to send people to Pakistan. On a serious note, if the celebrities and celebrated folk need to think twice before they speak, the lawmakers and politicians need to think at least four times before they utter something. By just shooting from their mouth, they are doing a huge disservice to the government, which is working on solving legacy problems besetting this country since decades.

I also dedicate this book to all those who remain committed and dedicated to this nation called India. Especially those who face hardships, undergo strife, harassment, even oppression and yet continue to put faith and trust in this country. This ‘silent aspirational India’, unmindful of the fierce and motivated propaganda, continues its daily grind in a lawful and orderly way.

The real purpose of this book is to look beyond the debates on ‘Darr Lagta Hai’, ‘intolerance’ and issues that only view things from a Hindu-Muslim binary. These are all illusions conjured up by vested interests, and instead, the book attempts to raise the level of political discourse, reminding ourselves of the real purpose of polity and the criticality of winning the trust of people. A key purpose of the book is to search for the soul of India and rediscover the idea of India, the idea that is the uniting factor in our unity in diversity.

Finally, since we talked of the dark days of Punjab, it will only be apt to end this section with a tribute to the exuberant Punjabi spirit, of making light of the most trying situations, and what better than a hilarious anecdote to highlight that. During those strife-torn days in Punjab, the media would be full of news on violent incidents, and as is its wont, often exaggerate it beyond proportions. While people within Punjab generally went along with their day-to-day lives normally, barring the fear factor, many people residing outside of Punjab would generally develop the impression as if it was a war-ravaged state.

Therefore, in that backdrop, once a Punjabi went to a relative’s place in Delhi. The relative, empathetic towards him says, It must be such a terrible situation for you back there. If not seeing incidents, you surely must be hearing gun shots often enough.

The Punjabi promptly responded, Often enough? Well, when we walk on the streets, we are literally ducking and dodging all the time, saving ourselves from the bullets being fired all around us.

No matter how difficult a situation one may be in, one must always try to see the lighter side of things. It makes life a lot easier.

Part I

Challenging the Order

1

The Khan Market Gang (KMG)

On 15 August 1947, as India attained freedom at the stroke of the midnight hour, monarchy was back, and how! Under the garb of democracy.

By 1946, it was clear that the British would abrogate power and since Congress was the only political party in existence, it was a foregone conclusion that the President of the Congress Party would be the first Prime Minister of India. For the President post of the party, 12 out of 15 Congress state committees voted for Vallabh Bhai Patel, and none voted for Jawaharlal Nehru. Yet, Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi) vetoed the people’s voice and appointed Nehru as the President, who then, by virtue of that position, went on to become the first Prime Minister of India. Ironically, the first Prime Minister of an independent democratic India was ‘selected’ and not ‘elected’.

28 December 1885: The Indian National Congress was founded at the initiative of a retired British civil services officer, Allan Octavian Hume, with a goal to provide greater share in British Raj for educated Indians and to create a platform for dialogue between them and the Raj. Hence, the Congress party was founded under the aegis of the monarchy with a view to fulfil elite India’s ambitions. It was an insincere and dishonest ploy by the British to keep the educated and politically aware Indians engaged, so they did not embark on a rebellious route. The formation of the party was such that the reins always remained with the British monarchy.

Men like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, one of the two tallest leaders of the Congress, pushed the envelope and demanded purna swaraj or self-rule. However, for this temerity, he was sent to prison. The other stalwart of Congress, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, had accepted to work under the British dominion. However, his attempts to work for the improvement of education and health of the Indian lot failed to move the British. In fact, unknowingly, he was used by the British to push their own agendas. In hindsight, it was clear the British saw Congress as a key instrument to further tighten their grip on India.

It was only after Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi) joined the Congress and worked on issues that affected the ordinary and poor that it became a mass movement, which awakened and united a disparate swathe of Indian people. Bapu channelized that unity against the might of the British Raj, which established him as a numero uno of the Congress. Indeed, there came a time when Bapu, forget being taller than any other leader within the party, was taller than Congress itself. People followed Bapu, not Congress. He was the undisputed and supreme leader of the Congress party, irrespective of whosoever was the head of the Congress.

In this way, the reins of the Congress party had passed on from the British to Bapu. In 1929, Nehru was selected to be the President of the party. Motilal Nehru, who was then presiding as the Congress President, had put in a strong recommendation in his son’s favour to Bapu. He had a strong bias for Nehru anyway. In another instance in 1939, Subhash Chandra Bose was elected as the Congress President, but he resigned when Bapu expressed his open displeasure on Bose’s election. Bose resigned, as he did not want to break the party. Bapu’s decision to veto Congress’s vote for Patel and choosing Nehru to be the first Prime Minister has been a subject of many debates and would continue to be a hotly contested subject in future too.

It did not surprise people when the vote of Congressmen was