With Modi disappointing, Hindu Sena is right in praying for Trump

Within the pantheon of countless gods and goddesses worshipped by Hindus, there is a remarkable diversity and freedom of choice. Choose a deity of your own, drop if one fails to deliver and shift loyalty to another.

So I bear no grudges against Vishnu Gupta and other members of Hindu Sena for dumping Narendra Modi as their "Hindu hriday samrat" in favour of US Republican presumptive presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Also read - American embrace of Trump made me realise how wrong I was about Modi

If Modi can't "save humanity from Islamic terrorism," why not transfer loyalty to Trump? "The whole world is screaming against Islamic terrorism, and even India is not safe from it," said Gupta. "Only Trump can save humanity," he said.

Sitting under a makeshift tent at Jantar Mantar on May 11's scorching afternoon, Gupta and a motely group of supporters performed a havan to propitiate gods to help Trump win the White House race.

The discomfiture and insecurity of Gupta and others of ilk are palpable, as the Modi magic has waned and is waning. Modi has failed to deliver on the promises he made during the elections. Two years of failure to deliver on lines expected by Gupta has brought down Modi to the ground from the ethereal sphere.

Gupta is hardly to be blamed though. His worldview is dictated by the dominant narrative of the times India has witnessed in the last few years.

Modi was projected as panacea to all the ills that afflicted the previous Manmohan Singh government and the country itself. If there were firings on the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan, Gupta heard from the BJP propagandists that Modi would beat Pakistan to pulp after assuming power. If the Chinese made incursions into Ladakh, Gupta was assured the aggressor would beat back in fear with very arrival of Modi.

Gupta hopes as US president Trump can fix Pakistan, if Modi can't. He will take on China and make India an American ally.

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Modi's promise of a muscular, macho foreign policy, Gupta understood, would be matched by his thundering, decisive leadership against an ineffectual and weak previous Congress government.

The perceived internal enemies of the country such as liberals, seculars, communists and minorities, who are painted as roadblocks in the path of progress will be put in their place.

Jobs will multiply, businesses will shine and bourses will explode. Modi will turn India into a sone ki chidiya (golden bird) once again. Gupta was told and he believed.

And why Gupta and his cohorts should not take Modi's promises at the face value? What Gupta should do if a scholar fluent in 16 languages and Padma Bhushan awardee, Lokesh Chandra of ICCR, praises Modi as an "avatar of god"; if a senior union minister M Venkaiya Naidu describes Modi as "god's gift to India"!

Also read - A short history of everything wrong with Donald Trump

But Gupta knows Modi hasn't done much and can do precious little. He can put up certain failures of Modi.

What Gupta can't stomach is that Modi can't take on Muslims. But there is Trump who has spoken to take on Islam. He believes in Trump's rhetoric to ban Muslims from entering the US.

"Trump can go into Pakistan, Iran and Syria, where Modi can't go." Gupta sees hope in Trump. "Trump will come and Islamic terror will end".

After decades of being fed a propaganda that Bangladeshi's immigrants had swamped border areas in Assam and West Bengal, Gupta sees hope in Trump's promise to build a wall to stop Mexican migrants from entering the US. He thinks building a wall could be a solution to the influx of Bangladeshi migrants into India.

In a well-connected world, Gupta draws inspiration from Trump's support base among section of Hindus immigrants in the US. They too had held a havan seeking god's benediction for Trump.

In a poster at the havan, Trump was seen sitting on a lotus in the eternal Lord Vishnu's pose with "Om" written in the background.

If professionally successful and rich American Indians can identify with Trump and can look forward to Trump as their saviour, Gupta too can.

Gupta and his cohorts suffer from frustration and hatred and subterranean insecurity similar to the one that white middle and working class majority in America have for blacks, Muslims, Hispanics and Asians.

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Modi's ideological moorings in the RSS helped stoke Gupta's frustration, fear and hatred for minorities, secular and "pro-Pakistani liberals" in a manner similar to the one that Trump's speeches have aroused among working class whites.

Trump's ability to say things openly that other leaders can't say has persuaded Gupta and his Hindu Sena members that Trump is new Modi but much more powerful, direct and gutsy.

Modi's actions and performance in Gujarat had raised hopes that Modi will speak about Muslims in a tone in which Trump is speaking. That hope too is not being fulfilled.

Gupta decides to share his loyalty to Modi with Trump. He also hopes and wishes Modi to learn from Trump's example and emulate him. He wishes Modi to be an ally of Trump in war on Islam.

Let Donald Trump of America be a new "Hindu hriday samrat," Gupta would say.