Modi – A Magic Wand?

By Hameed Abdul Karim -May 31, 2014

Hameed Abdul Karim

I was with an Indian HR guy a few days ago and quite naturally the topic ofNarendra Modi’s massive victory crept into the conversation. This Indian Bhai was quite ecstatic in his praise for Modi. ‘Already the stock market has hit a new record high’ he gloated and I thought to myself ‘Right: the capitalists are already raking in the shekels while the poor are wondering whether they will get the toilets Modi promised them’. But courtesy prevented me from giving expression to my thoughts.

More than 60% of India’s teeming population doesn’t have toilets and quite happily they resort to the great outdoors to defecate. Sometimes they do it quite openly and if this ‘exercise’ can be turned into a tourist attraction, India will be full of tourists without bothering about seasons. Don’t get me wrong. This exercise is not quite all that bad. Why, it provides employment opportunities. Over a million Indians make a living by carrying human excrement on their heads for disposal at some dump or another according to the celebrated social activist Arundathi Roy.

So Modi’s promise of providing toilets for every home was not at all misplaced. It may have brought in many votes, but then you will have to wonder how the million excrement carriers (and that’s old stats) are going to make a living in Modi’s toileted India!

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