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AAZAADI KA AMRIT MAHOTSAV: An Open Letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Stories of Sannidhi, of Indra, of Bilkis Maananeeya Pradhan Manthri Narendra Modiji, Jai Shree Krishna, Hope and wish this finds you hale and hearty and in good spirit in the midst of all your multifarious activities. This is my 3rd open letter to your honourable self. The first was in April 2012, published in ISSUES & CONCERNS in its May 2012 edition. That was the period you were Chief Minister of Gujarath. The 2nd letter was published in January 2016 edition of ISSUES & CONCERNS, when you were already the Prime Minister of India. Modiji, whether as the Prime Minister of India or as the Chief Minister of Gujarath or even plainly as Narendra Damodardas Modi, no other Indian has ever been written about, so much in black and white, or so much spoken about in such endearing terms or pathological hatred at the same time. Both who admired you and those who did not like you are a legion. Modiji, celebration of 75 years of our political independence has to be on a scale to leave its footprints on the sands of time for the youth of our Bharath to remain etched into the foreseeable future. India that is Bharath, is not a country but a continent. There is no country like India in the whole world. It is unique. The age cannot wither nor custom stale the infinite variety of this God’s own land. It has some half a dozen religions, some 25 recognized languages some 1500 dialects. Its customs in Kerala are as totally different from those of Kashmir or from Kutch to Kolkatta. India is kaleidoscopic in depth and variety. It has an incredible diversity, yet is bound in a unity that stretches way back into the unwritten history. Despite this mind boggling diversity, it’s indeed a miracle that this nation of ours has survived in one piece and has not balkanized. Probably the only country among homo sapiens to have survived with its culture and tradition intact, despite foreign invasion and depredation of every kind for hundreds of years. It’s no mean achievement for a 75 year old nation to survive the vagaries of every kind, economic, social, political and even natural. USSR broke into many nations, post ‘glasnost’ and ‘perestroika’ of Gorbachev but elections in India remained on course since it began for the first time in 1951 and continued for all its 75 years of post independent India. There was peaceful transfer of power for an incredible 16 times during these 75 years, a record not many can match. That is a reflection of the maturity of our democracy, the government of the people, by the people and for the people. Modiji all Governments, before you came in 2014, have contributed to the growth of the nation, in its own way, supposedly currently the third largest economy in the world. We all know all governments of whatever political dispensation cannot be given 100% success rate. They perform between 1/3rd and 2/3rd. Some were only 1/3rd good and some were 2/3rd good. That is an acceptable standard given the intricacies of governance. Those who perform at 1/3rd productive delivery rate while doing something for the people also work largely for themselves, their families, friends and cronies. Then those who perform at 2/3rd productive delivery rate are doing more for people. They also help themselves, their families, friends and cronies, but at much lower level. This is a fact of life in democratic political governance, especially in India. So between these two extremes all governments are found, judged and replaced or allowed to continue according to the democratic process of adult franchise, every five years. You came in 2014 as a breath of fresh air. Your entry into our temple of democracy, the Parliament, the Samsad Bhavan, was spectacularly incredible. The vision of your prostrated self on the steps of the Loksabha still brings goose bumps. Most Indians were won over by this one single act of grace. Your humility on the big stage appeared palpable. Public knowledge of your work culture, personal habits and lack of interest in woman, wine and wealth has only elevated your persona in public perception. Most Indians felt, we have a leader, we can be proud of. Your clarion call on 15th Aug 2014 from the ramparts of Red Fort left nobody in doubt that you mean serious business. You inspired everybody to stand up and be counted in the task of nation building. You promised a more inclusive India taking everybody along on the path of sustainable growth. You shocked Delhiites by speaking about the Delhi’s work culture, of coming late, of absenteeism, infighting within the department and between departments. You signaled your priorities. Swatch Bharath Abhiyan, was launched on October 2, 2014, the Gandhi Jayanthi Day. Suddenly cleanliness, civic sense and hygiene came on the national consciousness as never before. Jan Dhan Yojana, is another of your well thought out plan in our growth trajectory to empower the aam aadmi by receiving direct credit of government assistance into his bank a/c. By any stretch of imagination, it was a revolutionary financial inclusion program. According to the progress report uploaded on the Ministry of Finance website the total number of beneficiaries now are at 46.30 crores, a huge achievement by any standard. Touted as flagship scheme, Jan Dhan Yojana was a major step towards inclusive growth. The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) of payouts coupled with the account holder’s transactions has resulted in the deposit balance in these accounts to the tune of over Rs. 1.74 lakh crores. This money in the hands of marginalized through their bank accounts clearly reflects the change your government has brought about in the life of aam aadmi. Reportedly it represents some 67% of rural or semi urban households with some 56% having women component. Commenting on the 8th Anniversary of PMJDY (Pradhan Manthri Jan Dhan Yojana) the other day, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman observed that “The underlying pillars of PMJDY have been banking the unbanked, securing the unsecured and funding the unfunded, made it possible to adopt multi-stakeholders collaborative approach while leveraging the technology for serving the un-served and underserved”, a tribute of another kind. With money being dealt directly by the beneficiaries has helped the launching of many benefit schemes that people can take advantage of. RuPay card revolutionized the life of this hitherto un-served and underserved population of our country. Hats off to you Modiji for this huge difference that your government has done for those in the margins of our development story. Modiji, besides the above path breaking initiatives, there have been actions on many fronts for the overall development of our Bharath. Ayushman Bharath, Pradhan Manthri Aushadi Kendra, Aatmanirbhar Bharath-Vocal for Local, Digital India, Pradhan Manthri Mudra Yojana are among those initiatives. Foreign policy approach of a different kind has been visible ever since you took the reins of government at the centre, with all neighbours and many other westen countries looking upto India with renewed expectation of joint efforts for a better world. India, under your stewardship Modiji, emerging as an effective and serious voice on the global forum. Suddenly Indians are realizing and recognizing the change in international relations vis-à-vis issues concerning geo-political dynamics affecting India. Thus Indians are looking up to you with expectation of taking India to a better position in the League of Nations. While it is true that there have been plethora of initiatives from your office, not all of them are without problems. Among the big ticket initiatives, Demonetization and GST had its positives and huge negatives. Negatives somehow remained to be addressed which continued to trouble small time traders and ordinary Indians. Then there are subjects like Bullet Train, Smart City programme and Clean Ganga Mission have been controversial and you persisted with them without reference to the negative spinoffs that have cropped up while executing these initiatives. While abrogation of Article 370 has been a political masterstroke, you have a tendency to force your views on the nation without taking opposition on board. The accusation that you are autocratic is not entirely misplaced. Your ministry of road transport under Nitin Gadkari has been reportedly doing great job with road connectivity being pushed all over the country. Minister himself is talking about super highways being constructed linking big cities all over India. Modiji, these Super highways, 4 lanes and 6 lanes roads are mostly connecting airports, where only the rich are benefitted. But Modiji, there are thousands of places all over India, where small children from villages wanting to attend schools have to cross streams & rivulets with just bamboo or wooden contraception called footbridge. These children cross these streams with only prayer in their lips on those footbridges to go to school. Your Niti Ayog, Education Ministry or Infrastructure Ministry have neither the time ‘nor the resources’ for these helpless children. Only the other day, a small girl child, 7 year old Sannidhi, a student of 2nd standard fell into the stream. Her delicate body could be found only after 48 hours. Do you hearken the cries of the parents of such children, and they are many. The demand for a proper footbridge, where girl child Sannidhi died, has been there for many years. Reportedly there were mishaps in the past as well. In 2009 itself, that is over 10 years ago, a formal written request was submitted to the local Panchayat. And yet, the Panchayat woke up only now, after 13 years, to recognize the need for the footbridge after the sad accident where the life of a blooming girl child was snuffed out by the swirling waters of the tributaries of the local river Souparnika. Yes, it was not a child of Nitin Gadkari or the chairman of Niti Ayog, to make national headlines. Modiji every life matters. We need to sensitise the political class, bureaucracy and of course the media that they too matter who cannot make noise, and more often than not live and die, come and go, unheard, unseen to the wider world. Ramnath Kovind was our President for 2017-2022. He was the 2nd gentleman Dalit after former President KR Narayanan, to become the constitutional head of the country. Ramnath Kovind was made the President because of his Dalit background. What difference it has made to the community as a whole is little known. Prima facie, it does not look like having made any difference. Despite that Modiji you have followed it with Droupadi Murmu as the next President for 2022-2027 period. However on July 20, a 9 year old Dalit boy Indra Meghawal, was beaten for drinking water from a pot used by a teacher Chhail Singh. The beating, reportedly was so bad, the boy succumbed to his injuries after some 20 days of being in the hospital. Modiji, incidents of physical assault on Dalit has to be firmly and unconditionally put down with iron hand. There should be no compromise in the pursuit of the physical safety of vulnerable sections of our society. Modiji after 75 years of India being free from the colonial yoke, we as a country failed to protect this vulnerable section of our society. At the Amrit Mahotsav of our independence what do we tell the parents of this child of 9 years who died at the hands of his teacher for touching the drinking water pot of his teacher!? Speaking at Red Fort on 15th August, you had remarked “we have been casually using language and words that are insulting to women. Can we not pledge to get rid of everything in our behavior, culture and everyday life that humiliates and demeans women”. Referring to family values you even stated “we are a people who call women Narayani”. But Modiji, when you were delivering your speech exhorting to nation to look-up to women respectfully, your government in Gujarath released 11 life convicts who were imprisoned on the charge of physical assault of a 5 month old pregnant Bilkis Bano in the post Godhra carnage violence, under a scheme of remission, after serving 14 years jail term. It was clearly a case which needed deep deliberation and introspection. The government in Gandhi Nagar didn’t consult Central government as required, under the provisions of remission. It was a blatant misuse of power by the state government. How would you react Modiji to this outrageous decision of this government in Gujarath, especially after your public exhortation of elevating woman to higher level in public perception!? Among the issue raised by you at the Red Fort, was corruption. The contractor politician nexus, the 40% commission accusation against Karnataka Minister, the suicide of Santosh Patil, a contractor of Belagavi, for non-receipt of his contracted dues, for non-payment of alleged 40% commission. The story of Raju Halgude, Prayagbai Halgude from Maharashtra, their daughter and grand child, where Halgude attempted self-immolation outside Sachivalaya in Mumbai, daughter committed suicide, child in hospital with serious injuries, all because of non-payment of contracted bill by the Maharashtra government. You are the champion of anti-corruption, but stories like the above continue to happen. There appear to be no let-up in such instance of money changing hands illegally. This kind of corruption has eaten into our very vitals. And you are fully aware of it and very little is happening to check it. All Indians are aware that you are personally very clean in all respect. But Indians of all hues are looking up to you with hope for your promised ACCHE DIN. Its been over 8 years and promise has remained a promise from multiple angles. So Modiji, in the name of Bharath Maatha, please, we exhort you, rise to the occasion. As we see it, you are the only hope. Please don’t let India and Indians down. Yours ever Indian. Jayaram Shriyan