Can Modi be Dhoni?
How can Modi personify Dhoni? Is he going to lead a franchise named “Gujarat Dandiyadevils” to an IPL triumph in next IPL edition or will he be captaining India in the next series or will he go out in the Sardar Patel stadium with a bat in his hands and hit those magnificent helicopter sixes – the trademark Dhoni shot?? The answer, obviously, is ‘NO’; then, how can he be?
How can Modi personify Dhoni? Is he going to lead a franchise named “Gujarat Dandiyadevils” to an IPL triumph in next IPL edition or will he be captaining India in the next series or will he go out in the Sardar Patel stadium with a bat in his hands and hit those magnificent helicopter sixes – the trademark Dhoni shot?? The answer, obviously, is ‘NO’; then, how can he be?
When India returned from Caribbean in 2007 following their early exit from the ICC Cricket World Cup, many people around the country were worried about the condition of Indian Cricket and its future. Then, we have the first edition of the ICC World T20 – the format, which was not much known in India at that time.
The selection committee of the national team mulled together, introspected, and came out with a group of players without the Tendulkars, the Dravids and the Kumbles. The biggest surprise for everyone was the appointment of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as Captain of the National team.
MSD, still in the early days of his career, got to Captain the Indian teamapparently when there were no better options available.The same group of players returned with the Silverware and Dhoni announced his arrival as a leader at the bigger stage.
What followed was the rise of MS Dhoni as an impeccable cool headed leader, an intimidating and unruffled personality, who till now has every single trophy in his cabinet and isthe undisputed icon of most people, not only in India but around the world.
Then again how can Narendra personify Mahendra?? Well, India is facing some serious challenges on the economic front due to internal as well as external factors. With political uncertainty looming large, it is yet to catch up with the ‘Vision 2020’ set by former President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam in his book India 2020: A Vision for the New Millennium, which the then President co-authored with Dr. Y.S. Rajan.
Kalam described the plan as follows:
“Transforming the nation into a developed country, five areas in combination have been identified based on India’s core competence, natural resources and talented manpower for integrated action to double the growth rate of GDP and realize the Vision of a Developed India.”
Dr. Kalam had set this vision back in 1998, with 22 years in hand as the plan projection period and a 7.59% growth rate. The Growth Rate has plummeted from an astounding high of 9.32 in the fiscal year 2010-11 to a relatively dismal 4.96 in the fiscal year ended March 2013. Rupee, the domestic currency has depreciated under 60to aDollar, its all-time low; which will further result in widening of Current Account Deficit (CAD), which is already very high. To add to this, most power and infrastructure projects are either delayed or hit by the evils of corruption.
Corruption continues to be the biggest factor in hampering the country’s growth. In 2013, only 13 out of 107 countries reported the same or higher rates of bribe-paying than India, putting it in 94th place based on this indicator alone. In the 2011 report, India ranked 82 out of 100 countries, based on this indicator, according to a new survey released by Berlin-based corruption watchdog Transparency International.
Dozens of shows, events, surveys are been organized by various agencies throughout the country on whether Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi will be suitable for the post of prime minister of the country.
And rightly so, ‘If Modi, then why not Rahul Gandhi?’
Under the leadership of NarendraModi, Gujarat has grown manifolds during the last decade. In 2002, Gujarat’s GDP was 2.08% due to earthquake while the National GDP was 5.5%. Gujarat’s GDP average in 2002-2012 span is 10.24% while the country averages at 7.87%.
Gujarat’s Agricultural growth, which was less than Zero before Ten years is now in double digits, while theNational average Agri-growth rate is 3.2%. With most of the states in modern India facing shortage of electricity, Gujarat is the only state in the country, which is having surplus electricity. In 2010, Forbes list of the world’s fastest growing cities includes Ahmedabad at number 3 after Chengdu and Chongqing from China.
When comes to the public security, again Gujarat is ahead of everone. Here too, Ahmedabad hasbecome the first city in India to use UAV’s (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles – Aerial SecuirtyCameras ) for crowd management in the 136th edition of Jagannath Rath Yatra, recently held in the city. Another city in Gujarat, Surat – the Diamond city has implemented a CCTV network which gives real time views of 23 areas of the city, which is again first in India. Narendra Modi’s methods of administration and governance are tried and tested. Comparing his CV to that of Rahul’s and in terms of popularity, ostensibly he has a clear cut advantage over Rahul Gandhi.
Unlike MSD, Narendra Kumar Modi can’t be as cool headed, as politics in India can’t be serene. But with his broad vision molded with his ability to bring changes at a swift rate, he can certainly help India rise globally. The challenges for him are far too many, pre-election, as he has to win the majority first, and if elected, post elections as well.
Dhoni was given captaincy in 2007 and in less than 7 years, he has lead India to almost everything. Dhoni has not done much for his state team Jharkhand, which is still a second grade team in domestic cricket, but he has proven his worth for the country and unlike him, the incumbent chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Kumar Modi is a real superhero at state level than what he is at national level.
With 7 years still left in the expiry of Dr. Kalam’s vision and polls approaching in 2014, the time has come for us to sit, introspect and take a decision on what is best for our country – ‘Mother India’ and for us. Democracy is ‘of the people, for the people, by the people’. So here, WE are the selectors and we have to select a leader, who can lead us to reside in a developed country.
The question – ‘Can Modi Be Dhoni??’ still cannot be answered in words as views certainly differ from person to person. This piece of writing is just aportrait to justify the role of an efficient and visionary leader in building a successful team ora prosperous Nation.
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