Prime Minister Narendra Modi has jettisoned India once again; this time the India which is most assailable to the India which is guarded in the comfort of money, prestige and power.
In a latest, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has emerged as the most popular global leader on social media platform Instagram with 14.8 million followers.
With 10 million followers, US President Donald Trump is at the third position on the photo-sharing platform.
The other day public service broadcaster All India Radio said in a news that the picture of Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli and his wife actress Anushka Sharma meeting the prime minister became the most liked picture posted by any world leader.
That picture received 18,34,707 hearts since all three have a combined following of 55 million on Instagram.
Human empathy and logic fail when you see Prime Minister Modi smiling for the photo ops in the reception of an actress but there is no indication of a possible meeting with distressed farmers or the emotionally slaughtered family of a martyred police inspector Subodh Kumar Singh.
One has seen him giving marathon speeches, hugging mighty leaders across the continents, personally greeting glamorous couples on their weddings but when it comes to meeting the poorest, the powerless, the godforsaken and the cursed, there is no response.
Are you not still waiting, like all other Indians, to read what Prime Minister Modi has to say about the agrarian distress, about the recent long march of the farmers and the unfortunate killing of policeman Subodh Kumar Singh by cow terrorists.
All you get is smiling Modi at weddings
In times when the country is going through economic depression and homegrown fundamentalism, it is of utmost importance to set the tone and tenor of the nation.
But it seems that the nation is developing an impostor complex, caused by deep insecurities of the ruling elite.
Worse still, in a bid to prove that they aren’t imposters, they are driving so hard for perfection that they are incapable of acknowledging their failures.
When confronted, there are series of press conferences by the spokespersons to convince (themselves?) the nation that these problems are neither their fault nor their responsibility.
They look for scapegoats (Nehru) to blame for their problems. Using an unrestrained power accompanied by an alluring charisma and first-rate communication skills, they shove their assessments down the throats, forcing you to accept these distortions.
Prime Minister Modi has to do a fair assessment in order to stay relevant. He must remember that when leaders focus on external gratification, they lose their grounding.