Almost a decade back—to be precise—in 2008,
I was pursuing MBA and used to go for my “Personal Contact Classes” in
Mumbai. Our batch was filled with a
mixture of students, professionals, and a few homemakers like me—who have taken
a break in career. It was indeed like
revisiting my college days after a long time and I thoroughly enjoyed those
classes. The highlight of those classes
was the students who came from Gujarat for their contact classes since the
University in which I enrolled for the course had “contact classes” only in a few
selected cities. We used to sit with other-course students during our break-time
or during lunch hours to chit-chat. We
used to have conversations like, which is their course? from where they have
come? etc. Something caught my eyes during one such conversation, are their phones.
Smartphones were not that popular in
those days, but many students used to have colour phones, which allowed them to
keep ‘screen savers’, ‘backdrop pics’, etc. It’s quite natural that it grabs one’s
attention when kept on the table or if something flashes on the screen. In a few phones, I saw a middle-aged person’s
picture as the screensaver. I got a bit curious, and to have a closer look, I
requested the students to show it once. To my surprise, the picture they had
was that of Narendra Modi-Ji. (Even
though, I have heard about him and also knew that he is one of the popular
Chief Ministers of our country, I personally was not a big fan of him then as I
did not know much about him). I immediately asked them, ‘why him’ as a screen
saver? To be frank, I was totally surprised to see his photo, since, it is but natural
to see the picture of one of the close family members or some cricketer or an
actor/actress and not his picture. The reply that came from them surprised me
even further. They said, “he is no less than a hero for us. He has
done so much for our welfare and this is nothing in front of that”. Only after this incident, I started reading
more about Modi-ji, both, to know him
personally and to know about his vision and policies, which had given him such
a stature amongst the people of Gujarat.
A person who is biased, cunning or
corrupt can’t earn such respect, that too from the younger generation. People
sometimes get carried away by other people’s statements and often make
assumptions about someone based on it.
Hence it's required to check details oneself before making any
decision/opinion about anyone. My
journey to know him through books, articles and his speeches helped me to
understand him better.
When he contested 2014 elections I felt
so positive that he will become our Prime Minister and surely make us feel
proud. I was campaigning for him by encouraging my relatives, friends to vote
for him. There were a few people who even felt he is not going to win and I am
wasting my time in supporting him. I believe, before 2014, none of us were this
vocal about our political choices, thanks to Modi-ji again, now people freely talk their mind out. Freedom of speech
has reached a stage where they have used all possible abusive expressions
against the Prime Minister of the country. I used my social networking sites
requesting people to vote for him in 2014 too. Whenever I posted something positive
about him, the post mooted several conversations, with so many people. That, of course, continues even now but the
number of pessimistic replies have gone down phenomenally compared to the
earlier election. Happy to see many of
them have even started supporting him after seeing his good governance.
Once I was surprised to see his picture
in some mobile phones and now, my social networking sites has his picture as DP
or Profile picture. He is the only politician for whom the general public is
campaigning. I am not a politician, not even a secretary/leader of my residential
society but I do campaign for him since I trust him and his vision for all of us. I am quite sure if we miss him, he will be moving with his small bundle of
things, heading towards the Himalayas but we will be left to suffer in wrong
hands. My humble request to whoever
reads this post is vote him back. Trust me, he will keep our security and welfare
first than anything else.
All the best to Modi-Ji and to the people of India for good
governance.
- Suganthi Sankaran
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