Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and particularly Narendra Modi won the elections in a practical landslide on May 16, 2014. During campaigning for the elections Modi covered unheard of miles across the country addressing thousands of rallies and crores of people. Modi was a Man on a Mission.
After his win, Modi addressed the nation from his hometown, Varodara (Baroda). He nicely mixed thanking the people of Vadodara (Baroda) and all of India. He won more hearts in that euphoric evening when it was hard to hear one's own thoughts over the din of excited celebratory chants and scream from the crowd.
Modi was the Man of the Moment.
Embarking on the onerous task of cleaning up the decade long mess created by the previous government, Modi set about selecting his Cabinet, cleaning out old files and pulling up the flabby ranks of bureaucrats. He asked for presentations outlining plans, processes and milestones. With all his actions being reported by a media that quite had an egg on their face, there was little gap in his omnipresence in the minds of the nation which was used to having Modi-speeches, Modi-interviews and Modi-information fed to them almost 24 x 7 for about six months at least.
After the dust of the rout that BJP visited on other political Parties settled down, Modi started travelling.
Eschewing paying homage to the United States of America or Europe first, Modi chose to visit China and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) bank meetings, he seems focussed on better neighbour relations and finally taking the leap that has been promised to these countries for many a long year now. Political observers have been quite impressed and happy with Modi's political moves on the world stage.
In the meanwhile, the nation is not so happy with the Modi government kind of "tough love". The railway price hike has especially been taken very badly. Where are the promised "achche din"? is the question on everyone's lips. This was the time when the nation was looking for its leader to explain and reassure. But Modi has been absent and silent through all this.
This is particularly surprising because Modi is known to be extremely technology savvy with immense understanding of social media as a means of communication. But not a word has come from him. It is only during this week that he was seen again when he visited Leh in Ladakh.
Modi's silence in fact could be a planned move. Having taken office, he was looking for flagship projects - those that would show results in 100 days. Having a flair for the dramatic, he probably planned that after the victory speech, he'd only address the nation on Independence Day, August 15. This would make it almost 100 days and he will probably speak about the two budgets, the passing of the law that juveniles will be tried in regular courts for extreme crimes like rape and murder etcetera.
Day after tomorrow will bring back the Man with the Golden Tongue and the country waits to hear what he has to say - and lead them at a faster pace into "achche din".
