Unity in Diversity

I was one of the lucky ones to get a ticket to attend PM Modi's rally in San Jose and it was a great experience. The event was hosted by a group of Indian associations helped by local companies. The event was well planned and executed with named tickets and allocated seating. All the diversed associations (Telugu association, Marathi Mandal, Gujarat association, etc) worked together to make the event successful. It was a patriotic environment with 18000+ Indians (not differentiating between religion, region, or language) meeting with pride and most people in Indian attire.


The stadium started filling up at 1:30 pm although, the event was to start at 5 pm, with the PM's speech scheduled to be at 7 pm.


It was a proud moment for all the Indians here to see a group of US congress representatives, including Ms.Nancy Pelosi, attend the function. Proud to see, Congress woman, Tulsi Gabbard, an India origin congress woman attend the function.


Their were cultural programs from 5 to 7, including Kailash Kher singing a few songs.


When PM Modi entered the stage at 7 pm, everyone was on their feet to welcome the PM. It was a matter of pride for most of the people there to see their Prime Minister in such a close proximity. I have never seen any Prime Minister, this close.


Modi gave a strong oratory speech that he is famous for and it was a star like performance, involving the audience through rhetoric questions. Personally, i felt that the style and delivery was perfect but the content was not elegant or royal. It was divisive, opposite to the enthusiasm and unity that went into the organization of the event. It sounded more as an election pitch instead of a prime ministerial speech.


Some observations:
1. A wily reference to Robert Vadhera for making 1000 crores. Well Sir, you are in government, if you have proof go to court and arrest him. But saying it often doesn't make it right.
2. Mentioning that he is not corrupt. Sir, the earlier PM was also not corrupt, but just like him, you are silent on the Vyapam scams and the quid pro quo favors to Lalit Modi by your cabinet minister and the chief minister of your party. At least the previous government asked the tainted minister to resign. Also, the tainted ministers were from supporting parties.
3. Linking eliminating corruption of 7000 crores rupees through tying up of Aadhar card with LPG subsidy is a stretch. Aadhar card has not been issued yet to the whole population, so the actual number who knows. From talking to my brother, this is a hassle as one has to pay the full amount first and then get the subsidy in the account. So, our maid was complaining about it as she now has to shell out the full amount. It is a good initiative but claiming it to eliminate corruption by throwing large numbers is a stretch and unwarranted. No credit to earlier government for introducing the Aadhar card.
4. Asking the people that he had promised to work hard and did he work hard (of course, who is going to say no to that question in such a setting). But Sir, all the PMs and head of state work hard. That is the requirement of the job. Just the clerical portion of approving, itself is overwhelming. No mention about removing the red tape, tax reforms, higher capital rates, slow judiciary, infrastructure improvements - all the promises made last year in New York.
5. Clamming the credit of space research and space exploration, saying that people opposed when it was first started. Interestingly, the people that opposed at that time were none other than his party's senior colleagues. No credit to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for starting the programs in complete opposition by the western world.
6. The amount people deposited in the newly opened bank accounts was mentioned to be 32,000 crore rupees. In the independence day speech, this amount was 22,000 crore rupees. So in just over a month, people put in 10,000 crore rupees? If this is the rate of savings of the poor, then why is India poor? He claimed that nationalizing banks didn't meet it's goal of covering poor people, but he didn't give credit to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for nationalizing the banks which gave him an opportunity to open bank accounts with 0 balance. If the banking sector was private, such a project would have been impossible.
7. Claiming that India was out of BRICS reference and suddenly it is now in, for the last 15 months efforts is a stretch. Even if true, it was mainly created by the paralysis created by his party over the last few years in not passing the laws that his party is now trying to pass the same laws. Where was his concern about India getting deference in BRICS then and why didn't he stop his party from doing so?
8. Not in this speech but in other speeches, he has claimed of building 400,000 toilets in a year. That is 1000 toilets in a day!!! If we are able to build 1000 toilets a day with all the water, electricity, sewer facilities, then would that be a Guinness book record? And why is no one talking about it - none of the ministers, chief ministers, district magistrates, panchayats, principals, teachers etc. No one is talking about it except the Prime Minister. I was reading somewhere that villages still prefer to go out in the open as they feel suffocated and claustrophobia in a toilet. So, wouldn't it be essential to train the people and help them overcome it? Also, wouldn't it better to build toilets at railways stations and in cities where people need them and are used to using it?
9. No mention about the other religions, their sentiments and contribution. Sir, you are the Prime Minister of whole of India and India is a multi-religion country and words of comfort would have helped after the stream of activities like meat banning, cow slaughter banning, etc undertaken by your party.


Many more....


I expected a much uniting and humble speech from the Prime Minister and was disappointed with the speech though I believe he is trying his best to improve India and India's image but marketing it over the board is creating unreasonable expectations for people and will create huge disappointment.

Sir, you have the full mandate of the people of India. The campaigning is over. Let the work speak on its own.


Anyway, the pouring of patriotism by the residents here was overwhelming
- Mera Bharat Mahaan!!

 

Thanks Jaya Mam, In US, there is a website called FactCheck.org which investigates and neutrally presents the facts on the statements made by the politicians. Politicians try to exaggerate but still have to fear of negative publicity.

The rest of the statistics are intangible but the toilet statistics should be tangible. The intentions are good, the initiatives are good, there is enormous support from people, then why say numbers which are even physically impossible. I am sure that a huge amount of work must have been undertaken under the initiative, but clamming to have built 1000 toilets a day, 7 days a week is ridiculous. Reminds me of a well made hindi movie, "Well Done Abba". Please watch it if you get a chance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeZRNt7iXes

 

Thanks armummy for your FB. Yes, we see credit hogs at work many times shamelessly taking credit.

Yes, Mangalayan credit was taken too far. It should have been ISRO scientists who should have been given the center stage, just as in US, it is the NASA that takes about the space expeditions and not the President. Yesterday NASA announced finding of evidence of water on Mars.

Yes, it looks more like a reality show than a real interaction.

I talked to people who were involved in the organization of the event and they told me that the event cost (stadium, logistics, security, fire brigade, police, Kailash Kher's performance) was paid by the contribution from different association and local companies with different sponsorship. Some restaurants paid for the permission of setting up stalls for food and drinks. The PM and his entourage cost was paid by Government of India. PM's security was handled by US secret service and their Indian counterparts.

 

Grilling him Arnab style wasn't my intention. Was just disappointed with the speech after the much hype and the patriotism displayed by the residents here. On the top, he spoke in pure hindi which is difficult for most techies here. To my neighbor, i was interpreting what he was saying and you can imagine how difficult task it is to translate it live. But that got me to think and pay more attention to what he was saying.

Every country progresses, even US progressed with no major bills getting passed since last few years because of the opposing party in the congress and white house. But over the board marketing is unwarranted.

 

Viswa Sir, his behavior reminds me of a couple of things.

1. In US, there is a tradition that the outgoing President leaves a note in the top drawer of the President's desk for the incoming President. Maybe ManMohan Singh must have left a note for Modi to stay silent during scams and that is what he is following.

2. In management, there is a story of 3 envelopes. An outgoing CEO leaves 3 envelopes for his successor with a note to open them in order whenever he is in trouble. After the honeymoon period is over, the new CEO is in trouble and he remembers the envelopes and opens the 1st one and it said, "Blame the predecessor". He started doing that and every thing calmed for a while. Some time later, there were problems and he remembered to open the 2nd envelope and it said, "Re-Org". So he did a reorganization and every thing calmed for a while. After some time, there was trouble again and he opened the 3rd envelope and it said, "Prepare 3 envelopes".

So Modi must be following the 3 envelopes story. He is blaming the predecessor. After a few months, we will see some cabinet reshuffling.

You are right the speech was geared for a different audience. On top of it, he delivered it in pure hindi which was difficult to understand for most techies here. So it was quiet disappointing.

The problem is he is taking on more than the people can handle and that is where the breakdown in execution happens. Every few months there is a fanfare of new programs being initiated. Last year it was smart cities, this year it is digital India. The cleanliness campaign, MPs adopting villages, etc have all gone on the back burner. Instead focus on a few programs and focus on them completely so that they are persistent. In a transitory state, he will get to hear what people think he wants to hear and people are sure tomorrow a new program will come so there is no accountability. Haven't we seen this in corporate offices?