What to eat Narendra Modi?
Indian Narendra Modi is in deep trouble. When he declared victory against the coronavirus in January, he was not only tempting fate, but revealing the biggest flaws in his armor  ignorance and pride. And along came the Indian double mutant variant which has now been named the delta variant by the World Health Organization (WHO). His ardent supporters would learn of his biggest failure (the inability to reserve enough vaccines for the population) much later. First of all, they would go through a heartbreaking nightmare of watching loved ones die while waiting for oxygen cylinders. If that were not enough, then they would undergo the heartbreaking ordeal of finding ways to perform the last rites of their flesh and blood. Sitting away when I came across some of these stories on social media features like Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces, I have to say I felt paralyzed by the shock, the intensity of the grief displayed, the horror, and the human limitations. to console someone who lives out of reach. No human being should have to endure such a tragedy. In the past seven years, I have never been accused of being nice to Modi. And at such times, I dont feel justified, I only encounter a state of deep loss in the pit of my stomach. Our cousins next door had no idea that the thing they were bringing with a bang was a deadly Trojan horse. And now hes deprived them of happiness for good. The efficiency of the spin is inversely proportional to the number of times it is used. As Abraham Lincoln, so articulate, said, You can fool some people all the time, and everyone sometimes, but you cant fool everyone all the time. Many Indians were shocked that instead of helping them, their government was busy blocking their voices on social media. When your leader thinks the picture is more important than the reality, the loss of a few hundred thousand lives looks like another flat number. Actions have consequences. Failures, doubly. It feels like the lid of Pandoras Box has been lifted and even the most ardent supporters of Modi and his party see him for who he is. The popularity numbers have dropped to an all-time high. And because the images are constantly monitored, pollsters are forced to prepare two lists, one with a slight drop, for the government and the media. The other, with devastating figures, for the consumption of the powers that are in the deep state and within the RSS. This led to three separate chains of events. Four if you take into account the still gross feeling of shock among the high-priced commercial sponsors of the Hindutva regime. Lets look at them one at a time. The first chain of events is institutional. Indias democratic institutions, which had been asleep for seven long years, are awakening. Nothing dramatic but you can still feel the old checks and balances being restored. This means that the saffron governments room for maneuver is shrinking. The media, the judiciary and very slowly the parliament and the bureaucracy are wary of the ignorance of the Modi government. The second sequence of events takes place within the ruling party. Modi is taken less seriously. His party has now witnessed two serious setbacks in populated states. The West Bengal debacle and local elections in UP may have less to do with Covid and more to do with Modi and Yogi models of governance. In the midst of infighting, as I write these lines, Yogi Aditiyanath meets Modi to reconcile the differences. But even though this patchwork quilt is working right now, no one has any hope for its longevity. The third and most serious takes place within the RSS, the ideological source of the ruling BJP. The RSS, which prides itself on its ability to play the long game, is not only suspicious of Modi and Yogi, the latter not even of its member. He feels deeply hurt because of the illiterate and ignorant brand image that association with this lot projects into the world. The group has big plans for the future and they believe they cannot influence the world with an ignorant or poorly educated workforce. Word has it that he is seriously considering ways to cut losses by dismissing Modi and his entire cabinet, replacing them with backbench MPs until the election, and then withdrawing from political space for two decades. , the time needed to prepare a new and better educated workforce. The push apparently comes from HSS, other alien wings of the RSS, which includes some of Modis more die-hard supporters. Way to embarrass your most aggressive fans. It may take a while, but it is the most likely course of action. Finally, billionaires like Ambanis and Adanis who funded Modis campaign and remained in power for personal reasons. They too are shocked by the sheer incompetence displayed. Modis regional policies now negatively affect their trade concerns. Regional opposition to Saudi investment in the Ambani refinery project has caused unwanted delays. And now the Modi government is attacking its key Jio Project partners like Facebook. If benefactors like him decide to drop their support for Modi, then hardly anyone will save his skin. Global trends are also dismantling the international ideological ecosystem that has strengthened the Modi brand at home. Now the question is whether he can survive all of this. Well, miracles happen. But the only miracle that can save him comes at a high cost. A swift peace with Pakistan can create exactly the kind of disruption that could keep it in power at least a little longer. The Pakistani ruling elite does not ignore the usefulness of a diminished populist leader. But to make a real peace, for the mere optics will no longer cut him off, he will first have to act and dismantle the network installed to control Pakistan from the inside and stifle its economy from the outside. Despite this cost, settling disputes with Pakistan can turn the tide of public opinion, restore its image as a statesman and perhaps together with Pakistani rulers win him a Nobel Prize. But as time is running out, I dont think he has more than a month to act. Of course. I have doubts, next to a strong feeling that he does not deserve it.