It is important for the people of India to be aware that the stakes are high where the 2029 Lok Sabha polls are concerned.
Even a quick scan of newspapers and magazines critical of the present administration of India would show how uniformly they portray the country as a cauldron of hate between communities. After reading such “news”, a visit to a manufacturing plant or facilities such as a department store would show how smoothly employees from different communities work together. Where the higher tiers of management of the institution are concerned, the name boards of those in the executive cabins reveal the same story. There will be names that clearly belong to people of different faiths. Yet when they come together to discuss a business meeting or to review the progress of a manufacturing process, faith plays no part in the camaraderie that is witnessed.
If people of different faiths could be viewed as the fingers of two hands sliding across a piano keyboard, the fingers differ from each other. The little finger differs from the middle, as indeed do all of them from each other. Yet they glide in unison along the keyboard, in the process generating piano music. The better the coordination between the fingers, the better the music. The closer folks of different faiths work together in a common purpose, the better that work will turn out to be.
Across India, there exists a patchwork of faiths, and overall within them there is harmony. Common interests bring them together, whether these be sports or science. Even as there is a background noise of words by a few that carry a message not of interfaith harmony but of discord, such language leaves the bulk of the people near such rabble rousers unimpressed.
United we succeed, divided we fail, is a reality that presents itself in a myriad of situations. The more a country gets filled with dividers rather than uniters, the less will that country prosper. The progress of India shows that the smokescreen of interfaith discord is just that, a smokescreen. Behind the screen is the reality of hundreds of millions of citizens of the Republic of India living and working in harmony.
Where different countries are concerned, the better the interfaith relationship is, the greater the progress of the country. Contrarily, where interfaith relations are bad, the country falls into the doldrums. Pakistan is an illustration. Interestingly, once the minorities in Pakistan were driven out such that only a small percentage remained, interprovincial tensions began to boil. These have now reached a point where there is open rebellion by different provinces.
Both Baloch and Pashtun people are discontented with the de facto military rule in Pakistan, as the army is controlled by Pakistani Punjabis with very little Baloch and Pashtun representation, especially in the higher ranks.
These are days when Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being used by hostile outside powers to create a narrative that could exacerbate tensions and generate violence. In India, the generals at GHQ Islamabad have always seen an enemy that needs to be weakened and if possible, made to disintegrate. Hence they are turning to friends abroad to create AI messages that are fake and create an atmosphere of fear and hostility within different communities to the government.
Indeed, years before the last Lok Sabha poll took place, this columnist had spoken of the “220 project”, the objective of which was to create a climate that would restrict the BJP seat tally in the Lok Sabha to 220 or less in 2024. The BJP secured 240, escaping the trap.
Past writings would show that the effort of hostile forces is to restrict the seat tally in the Lok Sabha of the BJP to 150 or less. Affecting the investment climate as well as harming interfaith harmony are key elements of the Project 150 plan. They seek to distance the youth from the NDA by pointing to unemployment, distance the women by pointing to price rise, and even senior citizens from the middle class by pointing to taxation issues.
A senior citizen of 70, should he earn Rs 50 lakhs a year, has to pay 18% GST on those earnings, despite his age, as there is no relief to senior citizens from the burden of GST. India is a country where the number of suicides is high, many caused by depression related to financial woes. Much of this could be remedied through adjustments in the tax system.
The visits of PM Modi abroad and his hosting of important summits such as BRICS has promoted trade and benefited the country by inter alia helping promote migration. Yet all that critics talk about is the costs of such travels and conferences, maintaining silence about the benefits.
Rising costs of fuel are leading to dismay, including among housewives whose kitchen and cooking costs have gone up. Lower taxes on energy would assuage such woes.
Sabka saath sabka vikas is the Modi motto, and it has given him three terms consecutively, the only PM to have such a privilege, because Jawaharlal Nehru did not need to face elections before being chosen Prime Minister of India in 1947 August 15 by Mahatma Gandhi.
His opponents know that a Modi 4.0 would transform India completely, hence they are aggressively working towards the achievement of Project 150.
Where the previous Lok Sabha polls are concerned, it must be said to the credit of Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi that he revealed the Opposition plan was to confine the BJP to 220 Lok Sabha seats.
They will try weaning over the TDP to their side, and rely on the social chaos they expected hostile (mostly AI generated) social media messaging would in their view create.
In the troubled period before the 2029 Lok Sabha polls and the earlier state polls such as Uttar Pradesh, where they expect an SP-led coalition to prevail over the BJP, it is important for the people of India to be aware that the stakes are high, very high, where the 2029 Lok Sabha polls are concerned.
They need to work together, avoid communal divides, and assist in creating double digit growth and reducing inflation. Faiths must unite in such an effort, even as they are uniting in multiple centres of work across India.
United we prosper, divided we stagnate.
