Last week London witnessed the visit of the US President Donald Trump. The first sentence is enough to stir up a general feeling of animosity or disgust among Britons about his visit. Thousands took to the streets to protest since Thursday. While to some it symbolised a war against today's American ideologies, to many it was a fight against patronisation.
Trump in an interview to The Sun told how the UK Prime Minister Theresa May did not follow 'his suggestions' about how to 'handle' Brexit and a soft Brexit could mean a 'no deal' for the UK-US trade partnership. Though he changed his stance later, he then shifted his attention to London's Mayor Sadiq Khan, criticising him as 'unfit' for his job, and for 'not delivering'.
Mr Trump would not have been in the UK for 4 days, if he was not 'invited' by Her Majesty the Queen- an invitation our Prime Minister hand delivered to his home. But argumentatively this was not a state visit, it was a toned-down, scaled-back, ‘working visit’- mainly due to the fear of protests all across the nation. Protest in a democracy is an expression of resentment and one of the key fundamental rights of its citizens- something undoubtedly President Trump acknowledges and appreciates too.
But the visit of Donald Trump with wife Melania means much more than what one understands through a graph of international relations. Beyond all the criticisms and praises, stands an ally, a relationship that has undergone much together- two world wars and decades of peace- something like an old marriage. And like all marriages, it needs constant work and regular up-keeping too.
The problem here is that a successful marriage is always between two equals but in this case, Mrs May is not in a strong enough position to strike a hard bargain with the US. So just warm words from Mr Trump are not going to be enough.
Many in Britain did not support Mayor of London's permission to protest against Donald Trump. Of all people, the son of a migrant, Mr Trump should understand what Britain today stands for. It is very much what America stands for too. We had a Home Secretary, now our Prime Minister, who for years targeted, victimised and blamed 'immigrants' as a source of every problem. But one cannot deny that people like Sadiq Khan and Sajid Javid are true faces and representation of today's Britain.
A revolution against colonisation made America great. Yet only 49% of Americans today think Trump is a racist. The number makes you wonder about the other 51%, but interestingly it is more than the number of Americans who have voted for him to be the President. Hilary Clinton stood for the ecosystem- a wife of two-time President, Secretary of State, and she represented the system perfectly. Wishing her to change the system, that is already perfect in her eyes, would never have happened. While Donald Trump has many flaws, but Americans saw how he could talk about issues others were not talking about. For some he is a misogynist, for others it does not matter, as he talks about China, and how to protect American jobs and industries for American people.
Every country unfortunately has its own prejudices. Britain invited immigrants after World War II, to rebuild this nation from scratch and our national health service, like the Windrush migrants. Today the same country is at war with the immigrants over silly, petty numbers. Brexiteers in 2016 were also mobilised by the sheer hatred towards increasing number of migrants. Then how are we any different from 'the Donald Trump' that we stand protesting against?
Britons can hate Mr Trump as much as they please. They didn’t elect Trump as their leader. But they did elect Mrs May, and this is your last chance to prove your worth as a citizen.
If Mrs May cannot win a Brexit vote, then EU should be prepared to grant Britain more time. And to break that Parliamentary passe, she does have to go back to the people of Britain, to you- either with the option of an another election or a second referendum, setting out a concrete plan for Brexit.
So if you voted for remain, you have your right to demand for another referendum. If you voted for a hard Brexit, you have a right to demand for another referendum too. And it is time for you to really take control of your home, of your Great Britain, of the country that has given you your Sadiq Khan and Sajid Javid as leaders.
Modi's tailor-made messages set him apart from other leaders
As the 2019 election approaches in India, there are two ways of evaluating a government's performances. You see how this government is doing vis-a-vis how the previous government has faired. The second way of looking at a government is how it is doing vis-a-vis its own promises such as issues mentioned on the election manifesto. If we look at India today, there is a quantum shift in how things are happening. Not only the shifts are visible in tangible outcomes of how the systems are working but also fundamental changes in the way the systems are structured, by introducing processes and not just data driven decision making.
One of the prominent examples is Ujjwala Yojna, from Ministry of Petroleum and natural gas, where Mr Modi said he will give cooking gas to households. Women originally cooking on wood-fired ovens, now getting cooking gas- it is beneficial to that strata of people, fighting against smoke and soot on daily basis. Analysts from urban areas do not understand this impact that could have on a woman's life. Electricity is another huge change. States that were energy deficient, now get 20-22 hours of electricity uninterrupted, and besides homes, it also acts as a catalyst for transformation of business, without creating demands of alternative energy sources such as generators. Information technology is making sense of structured and unstructured data sources to match people's actions, for example those who evade taxes. Never was there a fine on late tax filing before, for various reasons, and now the government has fixed that loophole.
This government seems to have some coherent approach in some areas. In 2014, the election's biggest challenge was corruption. Of course small level of corruption still remains rampant, but that's more of a social attitude than anything else. The government is spending a lot of time to create sustainable development and there are so many plans, like national health welfare scheme that will go to 50,000,000 people, a massive restructuring in line. This includes data collection and resourcing. People may not have clarity, but imagine the speed the government is working in.
Politics is for individual choice- what attracts a voter to a leader is unique and very demand-supply oriented. People think right wing politics are on rise, but each country has its own challenges. There is a common thread that goes behind such believes, and that is interesting to see. UK, India, US- in these countries, it is less about rise of the right wing ecosystem, but an alternate ecosystem- where a politician like Mr Trump knows what the people want, unlike his opponent Hilary Clinton.
Politics is all about catering to the people. Arvind Kejriwal could rise because BJP and Congress could not give political representation to the urban middle class. White males thought their importance is depreciating and Donald Trump came into the picture.
The classical tool used by “left liberal” is to discredit you as a person or anything you believe in- including the leader you are supporting. Putting everybody who vote for Narendra Modi under the label of a bigot or a communal person is actually intellectual laziness.
People vote for Narendra Modi because he articulates a very tough stand against corruption, infiltration or issues of Pakistan. Amit Shah, Narendra Modi and BJP's tactical handling of the voters are very case specific. Their ability to tailor-make messages depending on constituencies, their needs and aspirations set them apart and this is why people have a wider connect with them and not with Congress today.
