AN OPEN LETTER TO OUR NEW PRIME MINISTER, MR.NARENDRA MODI

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

First and foremost, accept my heartiest congratulations for becoming the Prime Minister of India and that too with almost the entire nation celebrating your swearing-in ceremony. I also celebrated, with authentic Gujarati snacks and the tea vendor, Bhatt’s ukaala.

With every bite of the dhokla, our head rose with pride and every lip smacking khandvi made us appreciate what we have today. And may I also say that you looked dapper today; you always do with your very well color coordinated kurta, pyjama and jacket.  The sight of your mother and three brothers sitting there, watching one amongst them becoming the PM; I wonder how that must have felt? Surreal?

Mr.Modi, today’s swearing-in marks the culmination of all the celebration which began long since 16^th May; actually right from 12^th May when the Exit Polls announced your victory. And now, it’s time to walk the talk.

Mr.Prime Minister, we citizens of India, for a long time, have been deprived of a good government; we do not know what true leadership means and having had no governance for the past few years, for you to come into this vacuum’ even the smallest thing you do will seem like a mannah from the heavens. But at the same time, expectations from you are immense. Ordinary people like us get scared even if one single family member expects too much from us and you have expectations of over 1.2 billion riding on your shoulder. You will not be able to please all and meet all expectations; that’s humanly impossible. But we hope that you fulfill at least some of them.

You would have the usual list of things to do – bring down inflation, kick start the economy, shove infra and capital sectors from the deep ravines they have fallen into, make the country more secure for women and basically good governance. We are sick and sore with corruption; the Bharat Mata whom you invoke with such reverence in all your speeches is today maimed with scores of lesions all over her body; like leprosy eating away the body, corruption has eaten away the very core and faith of the people in their Mother. I am wondering whether you will be able to nurse her back to health, brimming with a pure life, glowing, resplendent like how She was in the earlier days, much before you and I were born. You had once said that just as Indians queue up to get US visa’s one day you want to see Americans and others queuing up to get Indian visas. Is that a pipe dream, a mere fantasy or can you really make it happen?

Mr. Prime Minister, we all have applauded your speeches on development and providing employment to youth. In fact you were the only leader who spoke the language which the teeming and largely unemployed youth of India wanted to hear. You understand the power of a Youngistan, our most powerful and abundant resource. I am sure this topic, being so close to your heart, you will work towards employing the youth, which otherwise could turn India into a potentially dangerous breeding ground for anti-social elements, even terrorists. I fervently urge you to take up the issues of youth on a priority; after all, you owe it to them.

Mr. Prime Minister, everyone talks about the Gujarat model. I am wondering if you plan to use the same all across India. But is that really possible? Gujarat is a small state and the rest of India too diverse, with vast number of languages, cultures and issues are also very different. I hope you do not make this one-model-fits-all kind of a system; what worked in Gujarat may not necessarily work across India. I am sure you know this by now, yet I urge you to look at every State like a different country and work out individualized solutions.

At the same time, Mr.Prime Minister, I would also like to tell you that foreign policy does not mean Pakistan alone. At least that is the perception we have been living under for so many years. I urge you to give more attention to China, who while dumping the entire country with its cheap ‘Made in China’ goods, killing the domestic industry is also taking away parts of our Motherland. I hope to see you adopt an aggressive stand when it comes to Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh; really, it would be a shame if we all one day we will need a Chinese visa to get to these states.

I actually like what you said that day in Ahmedabad – your vision for development will be all the poor and this will blur all lines of caste and creed. This is really how it should be; I hope we find a leader in you who has risen above caste and indeed looks at all as just Indians. Now that would be a big change and would go a long way in resting the doubts of all skeptics. There are many amongst us who feel good to have you as the PM but there is a sense of wariness given some of your past stories. I am not asking you to be ‘secular’, which in UPA raj has become a much abused word, where saying you are a Hindu is viewed as being non-secular and saying you look upon your Muslim neighbor as a brother is secular. I want you to be secular in the real sense – where there is no distinction between a Hindu and a Muslim. Can you do that? Now that will make you truly the best leader India has ever had.

Mr. Prime Minister, there is a monstrous task ahead of you. The UPA Govt has left so many jobs unfinished and I read somewhere, bills worth crore of rupees unpaid. I am sure you will begin there first, clear the dead wood and build your new vision anew. Please work on making India not just progressive but clean too – cleansed of corruption and cleaner cities and towns.

I urge you, Mr. Prime Minister, help build an India where every minority, not just the Muslims but everyone one of them feels that they belong. Do not pile up largesse’s on them just to appease them but reassure them that they too will be a part of your development story. Our beautiful people of Noth-east continue to be victimized, can you please correct this on a war footing, give people a lesson on sensitivity? This sense of fear, discrimination needs to go; I hope Mr.PM you can work towards scaring away their fears.

Let me tell you Mr. Prime Minister, there is a lot of parallel's being drawn between your and Obama's win. You both have been tech savvy, using the social media and internet to connect with the people directly. I congratulate you for launching your webiste in 30 seconds of your swearing-in, opening up a permanent door of direct communication. You surely have got it all right! But at the same time, if I may, I ask you to also be wary and not end the glorius win with a whimper, just like Obama.

All in all, Mr.Prime Minister, yours is a story worthy of becoming a legend; your journey from being a chaiwalla to PM of the country today is unbelievable. But because you come from a disadvantaged background, we know that you know the pain of hunger or the urgency of education. Your journey has instilled a deep sense of faith in one’s beliefs and convictions; anything you dream of you can become as long as you work towards it.

There are a billion dreams riding on you Mr.PM; do not let us down. Let the world sit up and take notice of India. And become a leader whom not us the Indians but the entire world would want to emulate.

I wish you all the very best and pray that God give you all the strength, mental as well as physical to lead Bharat Mata to a new era of growth and prosperity.

Jahaan dal dal par sone ki chidiya karti hai basera, woh Bharat desh hai mera. Jai Hind!

A keen observer of your progress,

Ruma Dubey