"A leader is a dealer in hope." - Napoleon Bonaparte

The excitement is palpable. “Acchhe Din Aane Waale Hain” (Good days will soon be here) and I see people all around me filled with enthusiasm and anticipation. There is a festive mood in India and no one, I repeat no one, is going to let anyone spoil this moment for those who brought the Modi led BJP to power.

There is at last something to look forward to, a better country, a better sense of security, a better life. While I do agree that no miracle will occur in the coming months, I am hopeful that things will change for the better in the coming years.

The despondency in the minds and hearts of millions of Indians who had given up on the so-called leaders of this country has transformed into cheer and hope. But then, as I found out on FB and in the newspapers, that this is not the case with everyone in our beloved Bharat!

Friends are fighting over politics and Modi, getting very personal and ‘unfriending’ each other because of strongly divergent views. “I don't mind giving up liquor. I don't even mind switching to dhokla for breakfast. I'm only having qualms about consuming human blood as ketchup”, posted a friend on facebook. An all out war broke out over his remark. There were friends who supported him and then there were those who very diplomatically tried to give their own different viewpoints. Hey, a bunch of us "Hindu nationalistic fanatics" are gonna go on a minority-killing spree. Anyone wanna join? (I'm kidding, of course, just wanted to join in the irrational-fear-spreading game myself...) someone commented.

In my view, Mr Modi’s detractors cannot stomach the fact that a man of his background and commitment has barged into their heretofore protected bastions of power which were guarded zealously till now as their personal fiefdom. The rest of the people have only swallowed, hook line and sinker, what has been touted about by the so called glitterati of India’s power corridors as gospel truths about the events in the Gujarat of 2002.

It’s unfair to cast aspersions on a party and man we don’t know much about. I on my part reserve judgment till the new government comes into power and has been in power for some months.

Not many are actually basing their comments and posts on facts but on what people have been led to believe. Politics is and always will be a dirty game. It’s time for all of us, the citizens and the politicos to rise above the pettiness of it all and stop playing the blame game. What matters is the future and where we are headed as a country as a whole.

With Modi breaking down in Parliament today many people saw another side of him altogether. However, there are those who will see it as nothing but drama. Let’s collectively hope it wasn’t, I feel the man spoke from his heart and emotion is an inseparable part of feelings originating in the heart.

We do need a strong, confident and efficient leadership from a statesman who knows what he is doing and where he is taking us; an iron hand with the sentimentality of a soft and humane heart and with more spirit than all our past leaders put together.

Leadership is about emotions, I read somewhere and I agree. The ability to reach people and inspire them is the mark of a great leader. A good leader understands the needs and desires of others, empathises and shows kindness and respect.

As Marian Anderson says, "Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it." I believe Mr Modi is such a person and am confident that he is not a pretender, unlike some of his predecessors.

I can only pray and hope that Modi is a leader who is all of the above and more. And that the people of this country will support, approve and encourage him to deliver the aspirations of 125 crore Indians as is the bounden duty of all good citizens of our great nation.