Where no one believes in a better future, despair is a logical choice, and people in despair are vulnerable and susceptible to deception. Entrenched interests use this despair to spread confusion and apathy. They encourage modes of thinking which lead us to believe that problems are insolvable, that nothing we do can matter, that the issue is too complex to present even the opportunity for a better future. Political parties know best how to capitalize on people’s paranoid vision to strengthen their electoral base. Where no one believes in the possibility of a better solution, where no one believes in the possibility of a transformation, hope becomes an insurmountable obstacle. Pre-Modi India had resigned, passively accepting the status-quo that was. There was no role model in politics, no story, no narrative, except politics equated to the dirty realm of power and corruption. The country’s morale had plummeted to rock bottom. In 2014, Narendra Modi offered the radical difference that India wanted, and needed. Delivering on promises he began transforming people’s hope into aspirations. He earned people’s trust through sweat and toil. The idea of a Congress Mukt Bharat started become a reality. But as decades-old dynasties began to shatter, their family fiefdoms began to crumble. The ecosystem which had been nurtured for over 60 years, and which had grown into a giant tree suddenly found itself stripped of all undeserved perks. Modi’s ascension became the biggest challenge faced by these status quoists who had maintained a vicelike grip on the power establishment for decades. Exiled from the power structures, this Lutyens cabal is angry. The anger is directed against one individual: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who gives them little importance and pays them no attention. They react with venom.

The Lutyens cabal — cloistered in the comfort zones across campuses, newsrooms, court halls and Bollywood has now made fixing the narrative as its full-time business. Launching a tirade against Modi has become a favourite pastime of this ilk. They use issues manufactured by the Congress and the opposition to target the government. They create plots that would shame movie writers. New issues are engineered every alternate day and the script of grievance is played persistently. The ‘award wapsi’ drama was their first big attempt but you’ll find such attempts everywhere. When Modi prostrated on the steps leading up to the Parliament, these elites sneered at his rustic ways. When Modi put on a personally monogrammed pinstriped suit, they mocked him: “suit-boot sarkar.” Modi travelled abroad; they attacked him. If he were not to do so, they would have attacked him even more furiously. They bemoan the “aggressive and muscular” looking lion on the new Parliament building and lament Modi photographing. They complain about the length of Modi’s beard and bewail about the base in his voice. These elite who rarely spoke out during the Congress’ corruption-laced tenures use such trivial matters to target Modi and divert attention from India’s growth story.