How our colonised minds are damaging India to damage Modi
When I was ten years old, Rajmohan Gandhi, the Mahatma's grandson, visited our school. Cathedral and John Connon School was unusual in that it wasn't a Catholic, Jesuit-run convent school. Rather it was Anglo-Scottish with a distinct Protestant ethic.
The school has always had a diverse mix of students - from Salman Rushdie and Ratan Tata to those from humble backgrounds. Jews, Parsis, Bohras, Christians, Khojas and Hindus formed the most plural student body anyone could imagine.
Rajmohan Gandhi had begun a movement in the mid-1960s called Moral Re-Armament (MRA). One of its programmes was India Arise. All us ten-year-olds were asked to be a part of it. Throughout the decade I spent in Cathedral, before being packed off at 16 to West Buckland School in Devon, England, not once did we encounter proselytisation.
Religion was taboo. The fact that we were at a Protestant Christian school with a British headmaster (Reverend George Ridding) never once struck us. Cricket, tennis and our rock band, "The Bandits", where I played rhythm guitar, occupied most of our time apart from the occasional cramming before term exams.
Decades later, not much has changed at Cathedral School. Much though has changed in India in matters of faith especially, it seems, in the last 18 months.
The mood, actor Aamir Khan says, is now one of despondency. Others say fear haunts them. Fear of what? They don't say. Why despondency? Aamir doesn't say.
So let's say it loud and clear. Yes, intolerance has indeed grown in India over the past 18 months. But it's not India that's grown more intolerant. It's those who don't like Prime Minister Narendra Modi who've grown intolerant - of him.
Cathedral School did not colonise our minds despite Anglo-Scottish Protestantism. But a section of Indians - newly elitist, newly rich, newly sophisticated - can't countenance a prime minister with a rustic English accent, an over-familiar manner and occasionally gaudy clothes. They are intolerant of him and conflate that with India having become more intolerant since he took office.
To justify this slender claim, they point to provocative statements by some BJP MPs. But provocative, even abusive, statements have been made during past decades - enough to fill a pen drive. They are par for the course in Indian politics.
These critics are prepared to damage India in order to damage Modi. The foreign media, always eager to pull upstart India down, has followed suit.
Parliament spent precious days debating "intolerance", ignoring real issues - poverty, economic reforms, farmer suicides and law and order. The campaign to vilify India as "intolerant" is masterminded by some of the most influential political inhabitants of Lutyens' Delhi. They have smelt blood. Modi, they believe, has been rattled by their campaign. They sense it in his subdued body language, his willingness to reach out to them and the stalled prosecutions in UPA-era scam cases - from National Herald to Robert Vadra's land deals.
Has Modi been Lutyenised? If he has, he can say goodbye to his prospects in the 2019 general elections. Modi was elected on three premises: one, that he would end the corruption of India's political class; two, that he would deliver second generation economic reforms that would create jobs and growth; and three, that he would deal robustly with terrorism.
On all three counts, the Modi government is still a work in progress. Economic policy meanders on with tweaks but long-term vision is lacking. The tax regime hasn't got simpler. Big-ticket scams have disappeared but petty corruption at all levels remains intractable. On Pakistan, Modi's policy has been inconsistent. It is swayed by public sentiment, not a strong, steadfast counter-terrorism strategy.
There have of course been outstanding achievements - in the power sector, financial inclusion and foreign investment. The economy, which the UPA government left in dire straits in 2014, is finally picking up. But the lack of daily government media briefings has ensured that the good news is ignored, the bad news played up.
Meanwhile, the old Lutyens' elite, most of whom share Modi's humble origins but have spruced themselves up over the decades to clamber up the socio-economic ladder, can't believe their luck. Having tasted power for long, they know how to go for the kill. Modi's ministers, unused to power, are no match for them.
Modi's outreach to the Opposition over Goods and Services Tax (GST) and other key legislation will not buy him peace. The Opposition and a section of civil society, minds long colonised, will not rest till the reins of power are back in the hands of "people like us" - never mind the scams.
So what should Modi do to turn the tide? First, with the Opposition in Parliament, seek consensus but don't pander. It will be misread as a sign of weakness and have a domino effect. Second, continue to use executive orders to push economic and tax reforms through. Most don't need to be legislated. Those that do, like the GST, are now anyway on track.
Three, start building allies for 2019. Modi will face a national mahagathbandan in the next Lok Sabha election and the only way to defeat it is by building a counter-mahagathbandhan. Focus on the BJD, AIADMK, PDP, TRS and other regional parties as new allies. Reinforce ties with neglected old allies (Shiv Sena, LJP, SAD, TDP). Together, new and old, they can deliver over 100 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. Modi will need every one of them.