A new face in power

We have a new government which has won the elections by a massive electoral victory.  

The votes that largest number of voters have ever cast (some 500 million) Votes were counted today - the Bharatiya Janata Party has won a majority of the seats in the Lok Sabha.  It can form a government even without its pre-poll allies - let alone fish for friends afterwards like most have done for the past 3 decades.

Huge hopes are pinned on one man - Narendra Modi - till now called the Chief Minister of  Gujarat.  Shri Modi is now set to take on the mantle of Prime Minister of 1.3 billion citizens of this planet.

"Ab bar - Modi sarkar" ('this time - a Modi government') has been the rallying cry - one which has tapped into deep seems of aspirational dreams.   The hope of the nation is that the country will see the kind of development which Gujarat has been touted for.  24 hour electricity.  Roads.  Industry.  People flocking to the state for work.  The credit for this has gone to Modi.  And now the country's voters believe that he will scale it up nationally and usher in a golden age.

We will see.  There is a lot to celebrate about our nation.  We have seen some remarkable flowers bloom despite situations that seem impossible.   Our young people yearn for more than the stale old tales that have been handed down to them.  A new government with a fresh face and a kind of rags-to-riches story has a tremendous amount of good-will and can inspire a generation of folks to change. 

But we will have to see whether the aspirations are met.  The ubiquitous 'Modi-masks' cover many different faces.  Will their dreams really be met in him?  A massive electoral wave has swept away the last remnants of a once-arrogantly-dominant political party.  The hard work of building true change lie ahead. 

The Bible instructs us to pray for all those in power and authorities.  Tonight our prayers had a new twist - for our Prime Minister Modi.   And our prayers continue for our dear country tonight - that we will live in freedom to speak and worship and share and care and grow and celebrate.