Mission 2019: The unfinished agenda of transforming India

Some Indians, I admit, do not want BJP to come back to power or Narendra Modi to be re-elected India’s Prime Minister in 2019. I am certain, however, that many more, a clear majority in fact, wish for precisely such an outcome. I, for one, have no hesitation in admitting that I do. I have been an open supporter, even advocate of Modi, since his days as Gujarat Chief Minister. I have also explained my position, both as a private citizen and as a social commentator, which is not only a right but also the responsibility of a public-spirited and responsible member of a democratic republic.

Furthermore, because my stance is based not on considerations of private interest but public good, no further disclaimers are required. But to prevent deliberate misunderstandings, I want to clarify that this intervention is not a species of political punditry, gauging the national mood, let alone predicting the outcome of next year’s general elections. It is, instead, about the unfinished agenda, the as yet incomplete project of Svaraj, that India must accomplish. That, or at any rate one aspect of it, is what this column is devoted to.

I came to this insight during a recent visit to the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. This federal facility, run by the National Archives and Records Administration, is one of the 13 such presidential libraries in the US. It contains not just galleries and exhibits, but also millions of pages of records and archives. Last Saturday, when I visited, was searing hot and blazing, even by Texas standards. The library had more visibly “foreign” looking visitors than locals. Several fellow-Indians took selfies with larger than life cut-outs or bronze statues of Lyndon “Ben” Johnson, as Indians (who probably never hear of a name like “Baines”) used to call him.

Johnson was America’s 36th President, serving an unusual one and a half terms from 1963-1969. He was Vice-President when suddenly catapulted to the country’s top office, after the shocking, still not fully explained, assassination of President John F Kennedy on November 22, 1963. After finishing Kennedy’s term, he defeated the Republican nominee, Barry Goldwater, to be re-elected President in 1964. Johnson’s tenure was significant for a number of reasons, which included the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights movement, the Immigration Bill, and the War on Poverty.

Walking through the museum, I was struck by just how much the US had changed since the 1960s. For one, African Americans used to be openly called “negroes” then, even by the President. They were legally segregated and discriminated against, prohibited from entering “Whites only” establishments, areas, and localities. They did not have full legal or voting rights. America, which now projects itself as a champion for freedom, equality, and human rights the world over, was virtually an apartheid state just 50 years back.

It was also sexist in a manner hard to imagine today. The President himself called Martha Graham, the owner-publisher of The Washington Post, “my sweetheart,” regretting that he couldn’t go courting her because he was married, in addition to being President, condescending to flirting with her nevertheless, while briefing her and push his side of a news story. I mention this conversation available along with many others in LBJ’s own voice only to highlight that neither party was in the least awkward, even though Graham, who laughed, encouraging the President, probably didn’t know the conversation was being taped. Two years after he demitted office in 1969, refusing to stand for a second term owing to poor health, the sensational publication of the Pentagon Papers revealed that LBJ was lying to the American people about Vietnam.

My defining moment, however, had to do with none of these aspects of the LBJ Presidency, which also included America’s sexual revolution, not to mention the Beatles. It was inspired by one numeric display: when he took over, 54 million Americans, over 25 per cent of the population, did not pass high school and 35 million Americans, over 20 per cent lived in poverty. Of these, 6 million were seniors. In fact, one in every three Americans above 65 was poor. It struck me how decisively the US changed in just one decade, putting in place several laws, programmes, and policies to overcome these problems.

We are in a similar situation today. We can also change India fundamentally in the next few years, winning our own war against poverty, illiteracy, and social discrimination. What we need is a resolute leader, an honest administration, and good governance. Of all the politicians in our diverse spectrum, our current PM is most capable and determined to transform India. Mission 2019 should be completing this unfinished agenda.

The author is a poet and professor at JNU. Views expressed are personal.