Mature and inclusive Modi in CNN interview
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion that the Muslims of India live for their country and will die for it, has been widely hailed across the social and political spectrum. However, there is the usual bunch of anti-Modi elements that has pounced upon the statement to ridicule the Prime Minister. One Congress leader disdainfully remarked that the Muslims of the country did not need any certificate of loyalty. Another caustically added that Mr Modi's words and deeds have to match if he is to be taken seriously. In the first case, the Congress leader ought to have remembered before he shot his mouth off that the Prime Minister's remark was in response to a specific question by an interviewer on CNN on how Mr Modi viewed terrorist outfit Al Qaeda's call to Indian Muslims to join its jihad against India. The Prime Minister's blunt reply was a reflection of his and his Government's belief that Indian Muslims by and large will not be swayed by the obnoxious propaganda unleashed by jihadis across the globe. It beats reason why this particular Congress leader, who incidentally was ground to dust in the recently held lok Sabha election in the national capital, should have found fault with the Prime Minister's laudable statement. The other Congress leader's ridicule is even more sense-defying. There is not a single decision or action that the Modi Government has taken which can be even remotely considered anti-Muslim. Fringe elements on the Right may have made some objectionable utterances, but no Government functionary, and certainly not any Union Minister, has endorsed those remarks. On the contrary, senior BJP leaders have categorically driven home the point that the Government's agenda was development for all and appeasement of none.
Mr Modi came across as a statesman, a realist and one (who is) firmly focussed on the future, in the interview to CNN. It is interesting to see that interviewer and well-known journalist Fareed Zakaria has undergone a complete change of heart after his interaction with the Indian Prime Minister. He has candidly admitted to having got Mr Modi all wrong in the preceding months and years. There is no doubting Mr Zakaria's prejudice which had blinded him into believing that Mr Modi would not only not become the country's Prime Minister but also not win the last Assembly election in his home State of Gujarat. Mr Modi's carping critics can learn a lesson or two from Mr Zakaria's candidness.
During the interview, just as the Prime Minister showed no anger over the brazen attempts sections of the people in politics and outside have been making to project him as an anti-minority monster, he displayed no sign of rancour over the US's denial of visa to him in the wake of the 2002 Gujarat violence when he was the State's Chief Minister. He spoke of the bright future that lay for the India-US relationship, and how, despite hiccups, bilateral ties have remained robust and been strengthened over the years. It is clear that the Indian Prime Minister does not believe in carrying a chip on the shoulder when it comes to promoting national interest. While sceptics can continue to pick holes, the more reasoned will be able to fully appreciate the maturity and sincerity which Mr Modi demonstrated through this interview.