The Outsider
The Outsider
An outsider in a private club. This insight has hit the nail right in the
middle of the head !
Singh : Sun Aug 18 2013
Had Rahul Gandhi made the speech Narendra Modi did last week, he
Had Rahul Gandhi made the speech Narendra Modi did last week, he
would have been hailed as India's shining white hope. Had Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh made this speech from the Red Fort, instead
of the dreary one he did, it may have swept away the sense of gloom
and doom that permeates the economy. Had any other chief minister
made the speech, us political pundit types would have sat up and taken
notice. But, since it was Modi, he had to be reviled. What he said was
unexceptionable. So he had to be attacked on other grounds. Why did
he need to steal the Prime Minister's show by making this speech on
Independence Day? The truth is that August 15 lost its magic long ago
and has been reduced to ceremonial tokenism of the worst kind. We
need political leaders to make meaningful speeches on this day, but that
this idea should have occurred to Modi is intolerable.
So much so that even his former mentor, the tireless Shri Lal Krishna
So much so that even his former mentor, the tireless Shri Lal Krishna
Advani, made an immediate veiled attack on him by saying that Independence
Day should be an occasion when political leaders should refrain from
criticising each other. Why? Shri Advani then trotted off to Rashtrapati
Bhavan and was seen cozying up to Sonia Gandhi at the President's
Bhavan and was seen cozying up to Sonia Gandhi at the President's
Independence Day tea party. I found this particular detail interesting
because of my conviction that the reason why us denizens of Lutyens's
Delhi hate Modi so much is because he is a rank outsider. He comes from
the wrong class and caste. He speaks little English. He dares to criticise
the Dynasty we revere. And he exhibits a marked disdain for socialism
and secularism. These two ideas are sacrosanct for those who have
privileged access to that most exclusive of Indian private clubs:
Lutyens's Delhi.
Not everyone who reaches Parliament or high levels of political power
Not everyone who reaches Parliament or high levels of political power
has automatic access to the club. You have to come from an important
political family and you have to have attended the right kind of English-
medium school. The heirs of important political leaders have easy access
for these reasons. Not every bureaucrat has access but those of the right
class are life members. High-flying hacks are always welcome and quickly
learn the rules. You have to express political opinions that are 'secular'
and 'liberal' and you have to make sure that you do not say bad things
about the Dynasty. This is considered especially bad form. This is why,
despite the obviously deleterious effects of dynastic democracy, you see
few stories on the subject in the media.
Once you become a member of the club you find yourself invited on
Once you become a member of the club you find yourself invited on
almost a daily basis to exclusive dinner parties in grand houses and fine
hotels. At these events you will see politicians of different parties greet
each other like old school friends, despite what they may have said to
each other publicly that day in Parliament. And it is at these events that
you will see famous media personalities included in conversations that are
always 'off the record'. If you break the rules, as I love to, then you risk
being abused on national television by Gandhi family devotees like the
unpleasantly loudmouthed Mani Shankar Aiyar. But, that is another story
and I am digressing.
In a column of this size, it is really possible to make only one point and
In a column of this size, it is really possible to make only one point and
the one I want to make this week is that it is not what Modi says that gets
him into trouble. It is not what he did in 2002 that evokes such shivers of
revulsion in Lutyens's Delhi. Rajiv Gandhi remained totally acceptable after
1984. It is who Narendra Modi is that is the problem.
He represents an India that has so far been carefully kept outside the c
He represents an India that has so far been carefully kept outside the c
losed doors of the Lutyens's Delhi club. A rough, angry, passionate new India
that does not recognise private clubs or their rules and that threatens to tear
down the walls that conceal the colonised elite, bred by
the British Raj, that continues to control all the levers of political power
the British Raj, that continues to control all the levers of political power
in India.
Incredible though this may sound, the entire machinery of the Congress
Incredible though this may sound, the entire machinery of the Congress
party is currently geared to finding ways of keeping Modi out of national
politics. This endeavour has the complicit support of senior BJP leaders
and this is why you now so often hear the Congress party's spokesmen
publicly praise Mr Advani as a 'moderate' when till just the other day he
was considered the man responsible for demolishing the Babri Masjid.
The truth is that everyone, perhaps even Mr Advani himself, knows
that a BJP campaign led yet again by him will almost certainly keep
this party in opposition for another five years. But, at least this would
prevent Narendra Modi from smashing down the gates of Lutyens's Delhi.
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