Shiban Khaibri
In the elections of 2014, ‘Chaiwala’ irked and irritated many, not because of the profession or the avocation but by the aspiring PM boasting of having once been selling ‘Chai’ on Railway platforms. One senior leader from the ruling party then, had exasperatedly mocked him by prophesying that he would never ever become India’s Prime Minister and that “we could offer him some space outside our Party Headquarters to enable him prepare and serve tea to us.” The foretelling or the flawed prognostication proved otherwise, sending waves of shivers down the spine of the foreteller and to many of his ilk. The frustration took the best of that leader to this extent that on the soil of the belligerent neighbour which has been waging an undeclared war on our soil for over three decades , he beseeched that country “to bring us back and remove him”. Many of us , in particular committed to writing and commenting upon the contours of political developments across the country, must have either conveniently or unwittingly as also perhaps under ‘an agenda’ ignored the ramifications and, therefore, not given much importance to that imploring of “bring us back and remove him” at least, must now feel that the said infamous statement was not given without the blessings from the top leadership of the party. That became clear post surgical air strikes by India on Balakot terror Headquarters deep inside Pakistan as the manipulations, twists, interpretations , discernments, slants and narratives were congruent inter-se the “targeted” on the other side and most of the heart-burnt and the prejudiced opposition leaders on this side.
The ‘Chowkidar’ or the watchman or the guard can either keep awake with eyes wide open or can sleep as, perhaps there is no middle option. Chowkidar , otherwise , is not supposed to sleep or remain inactive as that could spell doom and the thieves would lay their hands upon whatever becomes conveniently possible for them to thieve, defalcate, scam, eat away huge kickbacks and commissions, indulge in embezzlements and various forms and methods to amass huge ill-gotten money . That the thieves of the past or the prospective ones tenaciously , incessantly and indefatigably toiling to get rid of a non sleeping and eagle eyed Chowkidar should not be taken as something unusual . Again, referring to “Bring us back and remove him” has two pertinent words “Back” and “remove” , the two being less complimentary to each other and more inter-woven and inter-related . “Remove him” , the problem is resolved only half – way and it is only “and bring us back” that it is fully “resolved”. The desperation is such that the country, which as a matter of state policy and faith, believes in and carries out the aim of inflicting ‘1000 cuts on us to bleed’ is implored to proceed to ‘Remove him ‘ , the reasons could be any but the levels of intrinsic hate , the animus, the rancour, the hostility , the grumble and gripe are so much that even going to stupidity to this extent is not hesitated.
Is it because of the steadfast principles of a dedicated and committed person elected by the people through constitutional and democratic means that his conviction of “Na Khaoon Ga Aur Na Khaney Doonga” could set in motion a process of making a few from the conventional political class suspected of having amassed fortunes quite disproportionate to known sources of income, feel restless and ill at ease? Is it because of a check on and ultimate closure of 2.24 lakh shell companies on account of revolutionary but long awaited decision of demonetization , where on ‘at random basis’ , a company alone was found to be having as many as 2134 accounts? Is it because of subjecting to scrutiny, those fake ration tickets, fake LPG gas connections, nonexistent pension drawing beneficiaries, unauthorised middle men, fake subsidy eaters etc in large numbers which were detected and stopped resulting in saving hundreds of crores of Rupees of the public exchequer ? Is it because of subjecting numerous fake NGOs operating in the country to some scrutiny and accountability ?
Is it, again because of cancellation of 20,000 FCRA licenses of fake NGOs and not renewing another 1300 licenses of other NGOs in the country? Is it because of asking the “purpose and the end use ” of whooping Rs.85000 crore of foreign funding and contributions from foreign countries received annually by a few among numerous NGOs under FCRA? Is it because of the stringent steps within the purview of laws and procedures, that the present Government took against mushrooming of fake or dubious NGOs? Is it because of freezing of several bank accounts of “reputed” NGO Greenpeace as the Intelligence Bureau report in June 2014 had termed its activities as ‘threat to national economic security ‘? Is it because that all the previous governments at the centre had not even ensured whether sufficient laws to regulate NGOs were in the country as in 2017, a report by the CBI brought to light this fact ? Is it because there were no laws for NGOs to be transparent and regular in mandatory submission of their periodic financial returns? Is it because asking as to why in a state like Kerala as many as 3 lakh NGOs had no legal provision to submit audited financial returns? Is it because asking as to why for four decades, the issue of One Rank One Pension (OROP) had been kept hanging in balance and even paper work not completed, showing how much the previous governments cared for our veterans? Is it because this government resolved OROP within a few months on assuming office though much needs to be further done in the matter? Is it because reviving and work starting on nearly 1500 developmental schemes relating to Railways pending for 30 to 40 years which had been announced amidst “clapping and foundation stone laying” events and forgotten completely thereafter?
Is it because after 72 years of gaining independence , defecating in the open , in fields, on railway tracks by a considerable percentage of our population was stopped for the first time and as many as 9 crore toilets were constructed during the last four years while many disgruntled opposition parties kept mocking and ridiculing ‘Swatch Bharat Abhiyan’ which turned into nothing less than a mass social revolution? Is it because inflation rate of 10.2% in 2013-14 was downed to just 2.2% as at ending December 2018? Is it because of the most difficult war won on “Mehengai” , rate of spending per average family has upped by as much as 28%, yet deliberate political cry of “Mehengai maar gaye” only to demean the wakeful Chowkidar? Is it because of constructing more than 1.6 crore houses to address housing problem of the poor and middle class groups of our society? Is it because internationally we are being heard now as per our due and as an important growing economic and military power? Is it because not a single financial irregularity , scam , allegation of corruption took place during these five years, Rafale deal cry notwithstanding ?
The list is too exhaustive to even make one sentence mention of each achievement in these lines but even a biased political analyst could not deny achievements in various fields of Modi government, though much needs to be done. “Mai Bhi Chowkidar” (MBC), perhaps is an antidote of demeaning “Chowkidar Chor Hai” (CCH). MBC is a well devised move to allow citizens take pride in Modi’s vision, based on probity, transparency and transformation. The system needs lot more cleansing and ‘warm up’ of 2014 shall definitely prove in 2019, a strengthening mode and carrier of making India more powerful, vibrant, economically prosperous , largely self sufficient and a world leader. MBC enjoins people to come forth to lend credence to what it means remaining awake by a Chowkidar.
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