NaMo NaMo!!!

Hello my name is Aarushi and I am a middle class Indian and that too the most basic and plain version of that as well.

We, the Indian Middle class are that hardworking, tax-paying class of people stuck between the desolate poor and the glittering rich. We are beaten by the poor in numbers and by the rich in wealth therefore are unable to muster up enough weight to matter in the policy making or the vote wooing in any political scenario. Although this does not deter us from having strong political allegiances and reading the news everyday to gather information enough to debate endlessly the state of our nation and its political web at our dinner parties.

With the general elections of 2019 upon the horizon, the narrative of our dear prime minister has seen an eventful four years and I could not help think how his relationship with the middle class has seen the curvature of a typical marriage. Let me explain.

The Love. It started with the middle class falling head over heels in love with Mr. Modi. It felt like a match made in heaven, he said all the right things, which was a welcome respite after the horrid ex who made life miserable. We believed all the promises and decided to make it official and dreamt of the achche din and how our life together will be amazing.

The Honeymoon. He worked hard and we were right beside him supporting everything with all the love in our hearts and beautiful dreams of our future. Everything he did we believed was for our development and a few hiccups on the way were hardly important enough in the big picture. So we did not mind queuing up as all our money become illegal and we made sure we did not litter and our Bharat was swachch enough.

The Reality Check. As time passed, the burden of expectations clubbed with the glaring reality of lack of ‘achche din’ could no longer be ignored. Our prospects of a leader who impacted our everyday life for the better are nowhere near fulfilled. We begin to doubt our choice, wondering when all the narratives changed; bullet trains trumped tax rebates and saffron surge trumped development. We question our leader who takes us for granted and leads with a high hand; he expects us to give more to do more but without expecting any better amenities or facilities.

At this point we realise that in marriage it’s never just about having expectations but also fulfilling expectations. It needs time, effort and understanding enough for a lifetime. Unfortunately for Modiji; a marriage is for forever, while his term is just for five years. His one man show with the ‘achche din’ banner needs a revamped sequel, if he wants his middle class audience to pay for it for another 5 years.