I had called the elections in favour of NaMo long before the poll pandits and the exit polls. I was hoping that BJP would cross 300 which they did, and NDA would cross 400 which they didn’t. But I never doubted BJP’s victory ! For me the reasons were simple – Krishnan and I have been travelling across India by road since April 2015 as part of our ShikshaDaan Yatra. We have seen roads being built at a rapid pace, toilets in places where there were none and almost everyone we met told us the benefits of the various schemes were reaching their bank accounts through the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme. People’s EARNINGS went up – and this was broad based, unlike all the previous seven decades when just a few got rich. EVERYONE, even those that hated Mr. Modi knew that he didn’t make money for himself or his family. For a country which was reduced to a “beggar” nation by the colonial powers that looted it blind, nothing changed after independence – the new masters (read certain politicians, businessmen in cahoots with the politician etc ) looted them blind. The rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Till this man became the Prime Minister. He comes from a poor family, and has remained personally incorruptible besides being a kickass textbook administrator. A combination that is extremely difficult to beat and add to it his extraordinary oratory skills and you have an era defining kind of politician. No other party or politician stood a chance !
So I never fretted about the results but I was waiting to see the results for two special ladies – Ms. Smriti Irani and Sadhvi Pragya Thakur. Smriti has been in the limelight almost all her adult life, as an actor in different TV soaps and then as a politician. As a woman politician, I cannot remember any other person who has faced the kind of abuse that she has – from sexist, misogynistic comments to the outright vulgar and vile. Everything she did was wrong. And why ? Because she is a huge threat – she speaks several languages, is feisty and difficult to debate with, and doesn’t come from an entitled family tree ! What is more, she is the quintessential “Indian” – born to a Bengali mother and a Punjabi-Maharashtrian father, married to a Parsi – in no other country can you get an individual with these antecedents.
I refuse to post some of the abuse that she has been subjected to on social media, because its filthy. The men who wrote those vile things, must apply all those comments to their mothers and test how it feels. Karma is a bitch that bites back at the right time when it hurts the most – you needn’t be a Hindu or a Buddhist or even a believer. Its just a fact of life, like it or not.
I was thrilled to see Smriti leading in Amethi right through and winning from there. I cannot imagine the kind of grit this woman has. To take all that abuse and still stay focussed on what she had to do in order to win is stuff legends are made of. If anyone wants to know who the real Smriti is, the following picture from yesterday –
This is no photo-op … this is a woman doing what she thinks is right and paying respects to a colleague who was a close aide of hers. She is a role model for young girls who jump off a building because they got a few marks less or a boyfriend dumped them or someone posted a nude pic of theirs on social media… She is a role model for women who whine about the glass ceiling at work, about no help at home, and give up the fight when harassed. Enough said !
I cried when the Aap Ki Adalat episode featuring her was aired. Here is the link if anyone missed it – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wYmW6Dueew. Am talking of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur. I can’t watch her in a wheel chair without feeling a lump rising in my throat. I am unable to believe that she would have had anything to do with a bomb blast – but I am rational enough to know that what I feel may not be a fact. I am glad that the NIA has cleared her name from the Malegaon blast case. I don’t know all the details of that case but the way she was tortured while in custody is unbearable.
I don’t know if a woman will have the strength to bear that inhuman treatment and stick to her story if it wasn’t true. Many hardened criminals and terrorists have broken down and admitted to whatever their torturers wanted them to agree to, whether right or wrong just to escape the torture. This lady’s spine was broken and she was asked to climb stairs in that condition …. how do you survive that? This was a free spirited girl who rode bikes, was a tomboy and became an ascetic at the age of 14 !! Nine years of torture before she got out on bail and she will be on a wheelchair for the rest of her life.
I wanted her to win and win big against the foul-mouth, much married b#@t&*d, Digvijay Singh who apparently laughed at Sadhvi Pragya when she was being interrogated. Karma is indeed a bitch and am glad that it is so. Digvijay has much to pay for … for trying to propagate the untenable concept of Hindu terror to praising the tele-evangelist Zakir Naik whose inflammatory speeches have inspired several terrorists to all the hatred he pours on RSS.. the list is endless.
I wonder at the courage that Sadhvi Pragya has displayed. She is the new whipping girl for the opposition and paid media who will magnify every blunder of hers. She needn’t have said some of the things that she did, but hey, its a free country and as long as she is not breaking any rule or killing people she is entitled to a different point of view. I don’t know if she is a good administrator and whether she will be a good parliamentarian. Time will tell, but I salute her courage in the face of adversity.
These two women symbolise grit and courage for me and I wish them the very best as they serve the nation in their unique ways.
Jai Hind.