Between The Devil & The Deep Sea?

As the country is being swept by the NaMo wave, I read up on pogroms and on ethnic and religious targeting, wondering if the 563 million+ Indians who voted have done the right thing - will they get to see the strength of a superb business model without compromising on social liberalism? Right now, my dear motherland suffers from all the sickness that capitalism brings with it and her strong jog towards development, which was set in motion by freedom fighters who understood the true meaning of what it was to finally be a democracy, has slowed down to a painful limp. We still have third world problems like bad sanitation and lack of food, despite supposedly having left that stage decades ago. 

My friend convinces me with case in point, the development Gujarat has seen, and I wonder if I can dream of such development across states to help realize the dreams of harnessing all the potential the great nation has. But Pankaj Mishra spouts out the NaMo history and the negative obsession towards ‘minorities’ -  I start doubting the wisdom of putting a fanatic at the helm, one who is a lifelong member of a group which stands for everything that broad-minded, educated Indians are against. I strongly believe that the single, most powerful thing that can cause the country to burn is communalism arising from religious differences. And for someone like me who believes that faith is something that is extremely personal and nobody else's business, this is one of the worst tendencies to have as a leader of my country.

But what about the dynasts who we had shown faith in, the liberalists who allowed all the social freedom in the world? They failed us on such a grand scale that the world laughs and calls us a failure of the democratic mechanism which has been replaced with capitalist oligarchy.

Whatever it is, only time will tell whether the skeptics will have the satisfaction or the faith the country has show will be rewarded – in another five years we shall know where we stand. Neither is anything in my hands nor is it my cup of tea after having been apolitical all this while, but all I can hope is I will not have to give up and replace my Indian passport because I don’t feel safe bringing up my little sister and my baby girl here, in the country I love, in the biggest democracy of world.