A Common Man’s Request To Modi: Be Wise With What You Think, Say And Do!

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s love for mythology is well-known. He often quotes mythological characters in his speeches, and he has once again used mythology in his speech to underscore a point. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday took to mythology to underscore a need for building adequate knowledge capacities in the banking space, saying that Lakshmi – Goddess of wealth – would stay longer when combined with Saraswati, who is worshipped for knowledge,” revealed a PTI report. He had made this comment while talking at the two-day event Gyan Sangam, in Pune.

This is one of the cleverest statements by Modi, where he has appropriately used mythological characters to send across a clear message to the audiences that wealth and knowledge go hand in hand. And he is right in saying so, but why does he pick up only mythological characters to make a point? Does this show he is biased to Hinduism?

But why question the rationale behind conversations wherein he is citing examples just to put across his point and inspire people explore more ideas?

We like the way Modi builds a conversation by picking up glorious examples from the past, but we would have really loved if all of his claims have had a scientific logic behind them. Modi created quite a furore when at the inauguration of the Nita Ambani-run Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Centre in Mumbai, he had said, “There must have been some plastic surgeon at that time who got an elephant’s head on the body of a human being and began the practice of plastic surgery).”

His claims that plastic surgery and genetic science used to exist in ancient India didn’t go down well with many. Modi had to face severe criticism for these remarks. Questions are bound to be raised if a Prime Minister says that Lord Ganesh’s elephant head was the result of plastic surgery solely on the basis of mythology without any scientific evidence.

There have been many such controversies since Narendra Modi assumed office in May last year. However, the common man of India expects much more from the man than just words. People, who had so enthusiastically voted for Modi, look up to him as the leader who can fulfil their aspirations. The common man wants that their leader, Modi, and his government to focus more on development and job creation, and resolving other issues. Agreed, while doing all this, he would certainly need to use the power of words — just that he should evaluate the rationale while citing references from the past.