Balasaheb Thackeray’s ideology has finally found its protagonist in our current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. His work ethic, government functioning, and international outreach in terms of dignity, respect and honor as an Indian and self-sacrificing tendency blend democracy and a pinch of Authoritarian-cum-dictator duality. This brings forth a brand-new political idea of “Statesmanship-Democratism.”

This political concept argues that democracy is regulated according to the needs of the circumstance as recognized by the statesman, while remaining available to examination from both the domestic and international communities, with openness regarding how much control there is.

How his government focused on behavioral modification in such a short span of time, may it be the Clean India campaign, Open defecation free, construction of millions of toilets among others, through Statesmanship-Democratism, as at times coercing can prove to be the only way to make people learn what is good for them. If history is any guide, democracy takes time to flourish, and in some cases, the sooner you deliver, the better it is. For this, statesman must change modus operandi of the government altogether.

This fusion of democratic ideals and values of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the dictatorship of Shiv Shahi of Balasaheb Thackeray is ingrained in the Machiavellian Prince. The Prime Minister mustered discipline, dedication, never-ending energy, hard work, impartiality, and self-sacrifice for the greater good of its people resemble the qualities of Shiva. His every virtue has the ability to make this nation a beautiful and better place to live.

When it comes to India, it is not clearly capitalist, socialist, unitary, or federal in nature, but rather a smorgasbord of all of these. For that matter, democracy alone can't be the panacea of such a large and diverse population where voting is still based on factors like casteism, sub-casteism, and, most importantly, cash-for-vote, meat, and drinks. This reflects the illiteracy and ignorance of voters, which necessitates an altogether separate set of polity to rule them. And this is where Modism (Modi-ism) emerges, the perfect blend of a leader's statesmanship with the democratic aspirations of the nation and its people, as a lack of Statesmanship-Democratism leads to corruption, red-tape, elitism, the rise of middlemen, and other evils in politics, as seen in the United Progressive Alliance under Dr Manmohan Singh's regime. (oozing of democracy prevailed with lackadaisical Statesmanship).

The underlying belief of Shiv Shahi is “people” are supreme. However, the establishments of liberal democracy and the administration were rigged against it, so went Balasaheb’s argument.

The defense of a nation's interests required direct action under the leader, not working through parliamentary democracy always. Laws had to be twisted and vie out against laws. Violence and intimidation were necessary to bring the people's enemies to heel. And the resultant of all this is the revocation of Art 370 and integration of Kashmir wholeheartedly with no room for negotiations with any sort of separatists or anyone. With one stroke of this political culture recently developed, sins of seven decades got worn out and peace for hundreds of years established. Shiva never disappointed anyone, neither has Modi with his hard work, integrity, and compassion.

The Surgical strike, Myanmar raid, Operation All-Out, Balakot terror strike, and Abhinandan’s return from enemy territory shows democracy alone isn't capable of delivering in such adverse circumstances, therefore requiring elements of Statesmanship and when it goes all overhead, the leader must for the sake of nation re-incarnate with elements of dictatorship. This must be accompanied by his understanding of the nation’s emotions and global politics.

The technique of balancing opposing forces China-US-Russia, Iran-Israel-Saudi isn't about having comfortable conversations in an air-conditioned chamber but about burning your midnight lamp and making your head sweat. This requires umpteen endeavours, great mental strength with flexibility to manoeuvre the functioning style from democracy to Statesmanship-Democratism and further to democratic-Dictatorship and so once more fall back to square one.

As expected, this needs a lot of street smartness and mastery of state of affairs than academic learning of Politics. If Balasaheb Thackeray had been alive, he would have been happiest to visualize his philosophical Leader portrayal on Prime Minister. His rule of Shiv Shahi, where a leader must constantly re-incarnate himself to the changing socio-politico dynamic, is reflected in Mr. Modi.

In the 17th Lok Sabha, Swayamsevaks - Narendra Modi & Amit Shah - with their finesse of practising Machiavellian politics, brought the government back in action with triple century. With this decade of Narendra Modi government is to be registered as an excellent mix of Democratic One-Man rule or rise of Shiv Shahi in a transition economy like India with myriad internal issues and this can set a paradigm for different rising economies for the type of leadership their country would like, where plenty need to be pushed to find out what's good for them, which is of utmost need when the country is threatened by Urban and Rural Naxalism, vultures around borders and various other divisive forces within eager to break the integrity and sovereignty of the nation.

Today, the words of RSS proponent and the second head of the RSS, Golwalkar, "in order to be able to contribute our unique knowledge to humanity, in order to be able to live and strive for the unity and welfare of the world, we stand before the world as a self-confident, resurgent and mighty nation' makes sense."

Author:

Amit Kumar
PhD Scholar at BITS PILANI, India
An Adjunct Researcher at The MirYam Institute, New York.
Project Assistant Position at Centre for African Justice, Peace and Human Rights
LinkedIn: Profile