Reading the signs of the times in India these days, one gets the feel that there is a gradual metamorphosis of the Prime Minister into a deity, whose admirers, nay devotees, had already built a temple in his honor, and at the request of Modi have safely moved the replica of the deity to a another place, until time is ripe.

Reacting to the news of the then soon-to-be-inaugurated first temple in honor of Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister was heard to have said that he was pained to see that people had built a temple in his honor; he went on to say that the money they had spent on building the temple should have been used to create a clean Bharat, his flagship project for the new India.

Perhaps the Prime Minister was measuring and carefully calculating his words, so that the people are not given an impression that he in fact welcomed the idea. It is doubtful if there was any real attempt on the part of his party to prevent the effort of the villagers; it is probable that the work had gained the approval of the man at the helm of affairs, but in the eyes of the public he had to say a ‘no, no’, so that no one doubts his simplicity of heart and genuine concern for his dream project.

In order to gauge the true nature of the Prime Minister, one may have to run in slow motion, the recent episode of the release of the Jesuit priest, kidnapped in Afghanistan. It is said that it was Narendra Modi who first announced the release of Fr Alexis Prem Kumar, the country representative for Jesuit Refugee Service in Afghanistan.

And it is said that not even his Jesuit brothers in either India or Afghanistan were ever informed about the turn of events, but were told only after Fr Prem Kumar was placed in a return plane to New Delhi. Everything had taken place in a hush, hush.

It is true in such sensitive issue as securing the release of a victim of kidnapping, one has to handle things with so much of caution, and cannot leak out vital information, until one is sure that there is no fear for the life of the persons involved. But in this case was this not over done?

Who has been projected as the hero, the all-powerful? Of course, it was Narendra Modi, and unfortunately it was not the Prime Minister of the sub-continent. People had to pour in gratitude to Narendra Modi for his direct involvement in securing the release, and for personally overseeing the release.

What was surprising about the very brief news bite that Fr Alexis gave to the press on his arrival at the New Delhi airport was to attribute his release to the efforts of Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister. One cannot but be ever grateful to a government functionary for doing his part in order to give a new lease of life, but as one listened to Fr Alexis and others, it sounded as if everything was well-tutored.

The Ministry of External Affairs might have been briefed to attribute all to the mighty hand of Narendra Modi, who had to wait for so many months to secure the release of Fr Alexis, though there were indications already at the initial stage about the probable location of the hideout of the captors. Was Fr Alexis made into a political pawn in order to make a point loud and clear to the citizens of India, and the United States of America, who had been after the blood of the Prime Minister for his killing silence over the attack on the sacred places of Christians just in front of his very nose in the nation’s capital.

Someone had even gone to the extent of saying that the release of Fr Prem Kumar was held up for an opportune moment for Narendra Modi, so that he could make hay while the sun shone. Perhaps we might never come to know what had really taken place prior to the release of Fr Prem Kumar, since he would be now under the vow of confidentiality to the members of the External Affairs ministry, and so it might go into the dark annals of history, with the belief that it was truly the kind-hearted Narendra Modi who had made the impossible possible, through his magnanimity.

Ever since the Prime Minister appeared at the banquet with US President Barrack Obama, perhaps to impress on his taste for elegant clothing, about which Obama did make a comment, with his name in fine print, one wonders who is emerging in the forefront, the Prime Minister of this super power called India or Narendra Damodardas Modi?

It is surprising that while Modi had the audacity to flaunt such an expensive suit during a dinner party, another man of his own state disrobed himself to show the world he would put on shirt when every Indian was well-clothed, Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi. The ‘half-naked fakir’ was a lethal threat to the British empire in India, but his will-power to defy the super power of that time was enough for them to finally fall in line.

With Narendra Modi at the center what is the fate of the nation? It is not the time to do a check and balance to evaluate what he had done ever since he had come to power, but to foresee where he is taking this ancient land of rich cultures and traditions.

The greater fear which is haunting the nation today is that the citizens might not be led by the Prime Minister or its cherished Constitutions, but a handful of men and women who had lost their conscience and throttle their agenda on innocent citizens in the name of doing greater good.

Julian Das

The cacophony is slowly rising in the nation, and everyone who mattered to Modi is heard to make a comment or two, at least to rouse dust. It was the turn of less-informed Sushma Swaraj recommending the Bhagavad Gita as the national Holy Book, and now it is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief self-taught and ill-informed Mohan Bhagawat, to say that Mother Teresa did all the services with the vile intention of converting people to Christianity.

There is the Praveen Tagodia, who is notorious for igniting communal clashes and violence even in apparently peaceful places heading to Kandhamal to address a Hindu gathering, and do what he is best known for – and all these with the blessings and approval of the Prime Minister, who might just pretend that he has not seen, heard or spoken.

One can safely conclude that if things continue in the country in the way that they are, then there is sure to be hundreds of temples to Narendra Modi before he finishes his term, and one can be sure that all these temples might get the government to pay for their construction, maintenance of the priests, and a host of other things to keep the Prime Minister in good humor, while his party does all the playing, all the games they had ever contemplated. The Prime Minister would be required to follow the golden rule of see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil!

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(Julian S Das is the editor of The Herald weekly, Kolkata)