By Venktesh Shukla

I could easily pass for a westernised, English-speaking liberal. I live in San Francisco, belong to a Delhi club, don’t visit temples, never been a part of RSS or BJP, believe in liberalisation and globalisation of the economy, and believe that demonisation of Muslims is patently unfair. I am an admirer of Jawaharlal Nehru to boot, despite his many failings.

Nevertheless, I’m aligned with the overwhelming majority who have shown their support for Narendra Modi. My father, an IAS officer, sent me to our ancestral village in Chhattisgarh for schooling. Here, every house had portraits of not just Gandhi and Nehru but also Patel and Subhash Chandra Bose. Our households were part of the millions that made Kalyan magazine from Geeta Press in Gorakhpur, the bestselling publication for decades.

The people I grew up with were deeply offended when government agencies dismissed Ram as a mythological, fictional character. They also believed that the only reason Babar went all the way to the small town of Ayodhya to build a mosque was to humiliate Hindus.

This is an India that lauds Modi’s initiative behind World Yoga Day and the herculean effort to clean the Ganga. A recent Time magazine article’s characterisation, “The medieval Indian past, mired in superstition and magic,” in this context, is patronising to a large number of Indians. At the same time, this description is a reflection of the views of a small class of Indians, including the likes of economics Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, bewildered with the Modi groundswell.

What has been challenged is the idea of secularism as articulated by the Left-liberal. Gandhi was criticised by the Left for the overt display of his religiosity and the primary burden of secularism was on the Hindus. It is this idea that has been challenged. Besides their dislike for Modi, what is striking about the Left-liberal mindset is its contempt for the wisdom of the masses.

The Indian electorate is not gullible, it is wise — it is not swayed by speeches, money or asymmetry of media coverage. I was in my village in Chhattisgarh earlier this March. Discussions with childhood friends turned to elections. They told me how they had decided to teach BJP a lesson during the assembly elections. The BJP government was thrown out by a landslide in Chhattisgarh.

But they all said they would be voting for Modi in the parliamentary elections. Why? Because ‘Modiji ki baat aur hai’. (Modi is a different kettle of fish.) But didn’t GST create problems for them? It did, as they didn’t like to pay taxes but were forced to comply now. But, in the end, the tax money would, in their understanding, be used for a good purpose and they wouldn’t have to worry about pesky inspectors anymore.

Modi connects at an emotional level with the masses. People believe him. This is no jumla. No politician has ever spoken to them like that and they know that he means every word of it. Respect their judgment. Don’t mock it.

(The writer is founding partner, Monta Vista Capital & former chair, TiE Global)