Chaiwala Modi

The tea corners in India are known for many intellectual political discussions. Commoners from all walks of life congregate at this point and discuss and often impose their political and social ideas on each other. Every person himself is a great orator, trying every trick from loud shouts to artistic maneuver of hands and face expressions; the only aim is to prevail over others.

“Narendra Modi wants to become a PM. Someone rising from a tea shop can never have a national perspective. Like, if you make a ‘sipahi’ (constable) as ‘kaptan’ (Superintendent of Police), he can never have SP’s approach but will have that of a constable,” Agarwal had said in Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh.

“I promise you in 21st Century Narendra Modi will never become the Prime Minister of the country. …But if he wants to distribute tea here, we will find a place for him,” Aiyar said at the venue of the AICC meeting here.

Aiyer’s comment about a’ chaiwala ‘ Modi is certainly not of good taste. Aiyer is intellectual enough to do better. However, he must have been provoked to utter such low level ‘rebuff’ out of his anger against Modi having repeatedly made derogatory remarks about Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and many other Congress leaders so frequently.

Modi had earlier taken on Rahul Gandhi with a jibe about being “born with a golden spoon” to suggest that the occasional poverty tourism of the Congress vice president would not make him feel empathy for the poor unlike Modi himself whose underprivileged origins and upbringing make millions consider him one among them

Very happy to listen the speech by Modi as reply to Aiyar’s insulting comments. Modi also thoroughly exploited his statement to return the ‘stick’ back to congress with more beating and now have to run for cover. Congress asked for it. We have had enough with people borne with golden spoon in their mouth who simply don’t understand the ordinary people of the country. One has to suffer and toil to understand the suffering or toiling in life. Just visiting a house of poor man’s hut and have dinner with them cannot help you out to learn about them. To provide dinner to their visitor these poor people must have spent their hard earned money which could have otherwise lasted minimum for a week. All public stunts to fool the general public.

It is not without reason that the more articulate Congress leaders such as Finance Minister P Chidambaram no longer feel shy in calling him a serious challenge, to be no longer ignored. He is aggressive and unpredictable and comes up with phrases like ‘Shahzada’ for Rahul, which are hugely disturbing for the Congress and have huge mass appeal.

If one goes by Mani Shankar Aiyer’s logic, then George Washington should never have been President of U. S. nor should Sir Winston Churchill have been Prime Minister of England. Washington was a “son of wood chopper” and Winston sold newspapers on London streets. Abraham Lincoln had his origins to a cobbler profession. That Mr. Aiyer lacks basic knowledge of history and politics as also sociology is a very poor reflection of his standing in the Congress. I think Congress should ask him to shut his mouth. Low beginning is no crime. I think Mr. Aiyer owes it to the Congress Party and the nation as a whole to unreservedly apologize for his “Chai Wala” remarks.

Tea and its potent power to shake the world is not a new phenomenon. Persons like Mani who mocks tea business do not understand its dignity or historic role in big changes. It can even demolish empires. The Boston tea party is a turning point in world history (not a tea party actually but tea import) from this incident arose the big challenge to British rule in America and the push to American Revolution. Tea may be just a cupful but can transform the world and those who drink. In Asia the British’ love for tea led to Opium war with China. And from Assam to Munnar came up lakhs of acres of tea estates. So the windfall from tea will be there always.’

Today, Narendra Modi is emerging as a political icon, not only in India but internationally. But this phenomenon had a humble beginning. It took a lifetime for Modi to climb the top of the political ladder. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi also began his political oratory from a ‘chai’ corner that used to be the bread winner of the leader and his brother. From a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak in the late 1980s to prime ministerial nominee, Modi’s meteoric rise in politics is action packed as well as a reflection of paradoxes that underline India’s social and economic transformation over the past two decades. For politics, he blends modern technology with medieval ideology. He is a demagogue par excellence and a master strategist. He turns adversity into opportunity with ease and he is perceived as Hindutva hard-liner who has complete backing of the RSS, the ideological fountainhead of the saffron party.

Modi in many ways represents the new, young and aspirational India. He may have sold tea on a railway platform for a living in his childhood but he had the grit to move on, innovating in emerging situations and capitalising on every single opportunity that came his way right up to where he is today – principal challenger to the topmost position in the country. Over time, Modi became a symbol of development and the party’s ability to deliver good governance. Large sections of the middle class began to root for him, especially for his I-can-do attitude and his resolve to fix the ills of the nation plaguing by multiple problems, including a languishing economy

His detractors hate his guts; his supporters swear by him. He is a politician who apparently delivers on governance. He is a loner, yet no other leader connects with the electorate as he does.

Political analyst GVL Narasimha Rao, who knows Modi intimately, said, “He is a man of firm conviction. He is extremely honest and hardworking. He has not given to compromises, whatever the consequences. And Modi will never bend even for the sake of a temporary victory.”