India, that is Bharat, has elected its 14th Prime Minister in a historic election. He is none other than Shri Narendra Modi, securing a virtual landslide victory in a mammoth election drawing 800 million eligible voters. There has not been a clearer vote on Bharat’s choice of leader. It is a victory that individually Shri Narendra Modi can be proud of because it means he does not need to go behind unruly coalition partners to blackmail him at every turn.

Indians can be proud that they have given the numbers for Shri Modi and the BJP to lead Bharat ‘with less government and more governance’. Buddhist Sri Lanka is very proud that Shri Modi is Prime Minister of Bharat from Varanasi where a 20-foot giant electronic lotus is to be floated on the Ganga in celebration.

There was not a name that Narendra Modi was not called - from a modern-day Hitler to mocking him by creating lies, a global campaign steered by foreign forces used every dirty trick in the book to send salvos against him. Very few in the Indian media rose to defend him against the tirade of lies. None of these pranks worked against a rise in hindutva sentiment that clearly depicts a renaissance awaiting Bharat so long as Mr Modi and the BJP remain committed to ensuring that balkanisation attempts using the secular-multicultural theme are defeated. This shows that a media working to foreign agendas cannot win elections through lies.  

This is Narendra Modi’s victory for it was his charismatic leadership that drew entire Bharat to rally round him, including Muslims, clearly indicating that foreign sponsored Islamic fundamentalist movements and groups are not welcome by them. Modi’s rule in Gujarat is a good benchmark on how his leadership with ethnic communities has proven far better than Congress lip-talk.

Though final results are yet to be announced, the BJP has well over the required numbers to declare itself winner with the voting trend of all states unanimous in their decision. Though the AIADMK headed by Jayalalithaa has won in Tamil Nadu, it is a relief for us in Sri Lanka that she will not be required as a coalition partner and BJP would be saved from tantrum politics.

As for Narendra Modi, the message from Sri Lanka is not to repeat the mistakes that post-independence Governments have committed against Sri Lanka, starting with the Indira Gandhi initiative to arm, train and finance Tamil youth into armed militants clandestinely in India. Eventually, those same armed militants took the life of Rajiv Gandhi on Indian soil.

The Eelam quest has been hijacked by the West to create a Christian foothold in Asia joining Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka’s North while attempting to portray a divide between Hindus and Buddhists, which is far from so. A deeper look will show that centuries of Hindu-Buddhist ties were broken because of colonial divide and rule policies and the role of the Church. The calls for the implementation of the 13th amendment is the first step towards that bigger goal in a global plan to break up sovereign nations to create regional councils that would be under western rule. The patriotic forces in Sri Lanka are happy for Bharat mostly because the victory stalled India being hijacked to approve and appease every Western imperial agenda.

Bharat cannot dislocate itself from its Asian roots. Bharat cannot repeat the mistake of bullying its neighbors. Bharat’s political, economic and military might must not be targeted against its neighbors. Bharat must continue to maintain its ancient cultural heritage no matter what development takes shape. Bharat’s foreign policy must look East and forge ties because it is Asia’s century. Bharat must never consent to be a spy and servant of Western imperialism.

For us in Sri Lanka, Buddhists in particular, we look up to Bharat as the nation that gave us Gautama Buddha; we can only ask that Bharat rise to the occasion through Shri Narendra Modi and do what is right.

India (Bharat) is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grandmother of tradition - Mark Twain