Our Life, Our Times :: 50 :: A perishable Modi

http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com

Modi seems to have lost whatever he had gained in his first term. The worldwide acclaim and the cheers that he received in various Western countries, all now seem to be well in the past. He is no longer the colossus he had become soon after being elected in 2014. Squirming in his prime ministerial seat, he has lost all that verve and spirit that he had displayed before going down with the CAA.

It is a very harsh world – the world of international politics. One mistake is enough to do one in. That is precisely what happened and Modi was brought down to earth from the rarified atmosphere of international politics – by only one mistake. If only he had been a little more circumspect, he would have thought twice before making religion the basis of the new Citizenship Law.

 There are enough examples from history which indicate there are more subtle ways of keeping the ones who prove to be undesirable out of the country. I recall some years ago the Australian administration had kind of a run in with Muslim immigrants. They were told in clear and unambiguous terms that it was a Christian country and would remain so in the foreseeable future. If Muslims had any issue with it they were free to look for other countries that provided more conducive environment for them. Similar sentiments were expressed by a minister in Netherlands a few years ago. 

To keep out a community on account of its faith or allow in communities on the basis of theirs was somewhat jarring to the senses. I recall having written in my blog ‘Our Life, Our Times :: 46 :: Random thoughts on CAA’ that ”One feels certain that there must have been other options available to the government to achieve its objectives but these were not availed of”. True enough the next day it was in papers that constitutional/legal experts had suggested use of the word “persecuted” instead of naming faiths. And that, to my mind, would not have given rise to the kind of furore inside the country or outside. The one little mistake has caused such an awful lot of damage.

Looks like Modi’s luck has run out - at least for the time being. The entire world came into the grip of an economic slowdown. India could not have remained immune to it. The GDP figures took a nose dive and till the time of writing these have not shown any signs of recovery. Economists, and we have too many of them including two Nobel Laureates, feel the fall has bottomed out and soon signs of recovery would be noticeable. One feels it is all rubbish. With the hordes of them around how did they forget whatever they had learnt for avoiding a copping-out GDP in the first place? Looking around, one finds numerous Asian countries are doing better than us though they do not have the advice of as many trained economists from Oxford or Cambridge or Boston as we have. Or is it a matter of too many cooks? Barring a very short duration in post-liberalisation India, our economy has never been of the “neighbour’s envy”-type.

Even as Modi is grappling with the sit-ins, riots and demonstrations thrown up by the bad decision of CAA and a never-rising GDP out of the blue came the much-maligned corona virus which is showing signs of becoming pandemic in this rapidly shrinking planet of ours. Taking birth in one corner of the world in China it quickly assumed massive proportions to spread right round the world threatening to fell many innocents as it sweeps through continents. 

No wonder Modi, forgetting the promises that he happened to make when days were not so bleak, is engaged full time in fighting away the adversities that befell him. The problems are so overwhelming he seems to have totally forgotten about the economy which many assert is in immediate need of tending.

In his “Ushering in a new era” Shiv Vishwanathan, a public intellectual, in The Hindu OpEd of 16th August 2014 lavishing extravagant praise on Modi’s first Independence Day speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort he wrote ”It is a perfect performance, crafted in ease, delivered with confidence… As a semiotic act, it is difficult to beat. The success is almost matter-of-fact. Lutyens’ Delhi smells a new regime as India senses the new era. Looking back, if politics is performance, the Oscar goes to Mr. Modi. Even Bollywood could not have done it better.”

But that was in the first term. He is currently almost a year unto his second. Much water has flowed down the Ganges in these 70-odd months. Indian politics, vicious as it is, has given him a harsh detergent wash and peeled off those layers that he had donned in 2014. Though he won a thumping second mandate, that one mistake reduced him to the level of the ordinary – a pedestrian. Coming with so much promise and assurance he seems to have withered in the unbearably hot draught of the dog-eat-dog politics of India. Even a rousing reception to the chief of the first world at the world’s largest cricket stadium failed to lift his stock in 2020.

And that is a misfortune for India. Many of us did not care for BJP but found in Modi that mettle that could take India forward. Alas, that was not to be! Too soon fate intervened to undo whatever little was done leaving an enormous lot undone. Sometimes one cannot but pity the fate of this country that has remained a developing country despite all its huge potentials.

*photo from internet

Hindu fringe is Modi's enemy

http;//www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com

Prime Minister Modi is reported to have said the other day while addressing G20 leaders at Antalya (Turkey), “We need to involve religious leaders, thinkers and opinion makers for a social movement against extremism, particularly addressed to the youth” This was needed the most in countries where extremism was most prevalent, he said, and highlighted the urgency for promoting broader peace and stability in West Asia and Africa. He also said, “We don’t have a comprehensive global strategy to combat terrorism. And we tend to be selective in using the instruments that we have.”

Platitudinous and preachy, his words would not wash with most of his audience, given the recent adverse reportage in international media from back home. He seems to have overlooked the apparent radicalization of the Hindu fringe that has raised its ugly head in recent times True, most of the reportage was contrived by the so-called liberals and secular elements who do not let go of a single opportunity to go after Modi but the fact is that the Hindu extremists, of late, have become more active, intimidating and violent and Modi seems to have forgotten about them.

Besides, Modi’s words sound somewhat hypocritical as he did not use the means that he possessed to deal with the terrorism that recently emanated from the Hindu Right. He cannot wash his hands of saying that the incidents happened in states ruled by non-BJP parties. The instance of lynching at Dadri and the later statements by his Minister of Culture did not quite tally up what he said at Antalya. While initially the minister, Mahesh Sharma, glossed over it by saying it was “an accident” and, later, a case of “misunderstanding”, there was no perceptible move from the BJP to admonish him or the hoodlums who went in strength and lynched an elderly helpless person killing him on the spot on mere suspicion of having consumed beef. If this is not terrorism what is? True the state government ruled by a non-BJP party has treated the incident as a matter relating law and order but what of the ruling BJP (Bharatiya Janta Party)? It seemed to provide a protective umbrella to those under the leadership of whom the highly condemnable act was perpetrated. Wasn’t it a case of selective non-use of the instruments the Party possessed to discipline its foot soldiers?

 As no serious note was taken of the “unfortunate incident” (this is how PM Modi described the Dadri incident) another incident soon followed at Delhi. Kerala House in Delhi had to be raided by the Police on a complaint of keeping beef on offer in the menu of its canteen. The Police found the complaint untrue and yet no action was taken against the Hindu activists by the BJP or its sister Hindu radical organizations for trying to arouse communal passions. In any case, consuming beef is no crime unless it is banned by an order of the state which, if imposed, would not be quite secular. A cow may be holy for Hindus, that does not mean people of other communities should treat it likewise. India is a country of multiple religions, multiple sects, multiple tribes and multiple communities of different castes and creeds. If Hindus do not eat beef, others would perfectly be within their rights to consume it unless it is banned by the state. The policing by the Hindu fringe elements in this matter, therefore, is reprehensible as they thus encroach on the freedom of others. For this kind of intimidatory behavior they should be hauled up under the country’s criminal laws.

This was not the end of it all. An unabashed threat was issued to the well-known play-write and theatre-person Girish Karnad reportedly for supporting the celebration of the birth anniversary by the Karnataka government of Tipu Sultan, the 18^th Century feudal ruler of Mysore. Hue and cry was raised against the government’s decision by the Hindu fringe and for supporting the celebration it gave Karnad a death-threat. They said he would meet the same fate as one Kalburgy, a Hindu rationalist, who was gunned down, as is now evident, by the Hindu extremists.

Ever since BJP came to power the Hindu Right became more aggressive and its representatives in the BJP also started talking in a manner that was out-and-out communal. The utterance of a few members of Parliament from BJP caused deep embarrassment to it. This had been happening during all the past eighteen months but what happened in recent months was more aggressive and violent. No wonder, the so-called liberals made a song and dance about it. Writers and authors, scientists, artists, film-makers, et al launched a campaign of “award-wapsi” (return of state awards) as a measure of protest to the government. International media was flooded with features by the country’s liberal (sometimes biased) journalists communicating to the wide world that India had become a highly intolerant society under Modi, stifling freedom of thought , speech and action and that the country’s age old pluralistic tradition had been ruptured. One recalls a highly motivated talk by an award-returnee, Ashok Vajpayi in Canada in which he talked of the growing intolerance in India and ran down the Hindu Religion.

The sentiments of disaffection and alienation seemed to have risen in a crescendo all of a sudden because of several unseemly incidents. While elimination of free-thinkers was something certainly unheard of, religious violence was nothing new to the country. And, then consumption of beef became an issue and a debate raged about it. The print and electronic media also fanned the flames. It appeared that the country was in turmoil and had become unsafe for minorities and those who did not subscribe to Hindutva. The apologists for the government claimed the Opposition in the Parliament and its sympathizers had planned and fabricated the issues to embarrass the BJP and its Government at the Centre. That may have been true but only partially, as their own Hindu loudmouthed hotheads played no mean role in provoking the people to mount concerted protests.

Those of us who were apolitical and had nothing to do with any of the political parties watched in dismay their dreams of a developed and rising India crumbling. Manmohan Singh’s was a decade lost to corruption and paralysis. They had voted for Modi as they felt that neither Manmohan Singh nor Sonia or Rahul Gandhi could ever take the country forward. It was only Modi, they felt, who could tear away the political or bureaucratic cobwebs to march ahead. He had no axes to grind; not only he was incorruptible, he also had a vision for the country. His decisive manner of functioning held out promises of development and progress.

  Thankfully for them, the “award-wapsis” and the debates on “religious intolerance” ceased suddenly soon after the Bihar polls where BJP got a sound thrashing. Seems like the liberals and the lefties were aiming at keeping BJP out of Bihar. And, numerous election rallies of Modi could not pull it out of the morass that the Hindu roughnecks had pushed it into.

 Modi had asked people for two terms in office for achieving his vision for the country. For that to happen he will have to live up to his words uttered in Antalya and be more proactive and deal with the Hindu hotheads with an iron hand. Or else, he will be done in by them again in 2019

*Photo:from the net.

Rahul's "thousand cuts" on Modi

http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com

Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty of the Indian National Congress headed by Sonia Gandhi has suddenly become active and is practically slamming Prime Minister Modi virtually every day. Since his return from what has been termed a sabbatical he has been latching on to any and every issue to fire charges at Prime Minister Modi or his government.

It seems almost like the proxy war that Pakistan is waging against India. On realization that it was impossible to take away a military victory from India in an all out war Gen. Zia ul Haq, the Pakistani dictator, propounded the doctrine of “bleeding India through thousand cuts”. That is how the proxy war commenced against India in Kashmir and elsewhere in the country. The proxy war did bleed India somewhat but soon enough the country got prepared to deal with it. In the intervening three decades since Gen Zia’s death

India came a long way from its depressing economic condition to become a full-blown developing economy, clocking in some years a GDP rate of growth of around 8%. Without getting unnerved it was in a position to take the “thousand cuts” in its stride. The “cuts” eventually had minimal impact.

Here, it is Rahul and his cohorts who are trying to inflict the cuts on an opponent who seldom responds. Rahul’s causticity and sarcasm have, however, only increased by the day. He started by talking of Modi government as “soot-boot ki sarkar” (a government of suited and booted people) hinting at the suit having pin-stripes spelling his name which Modi wore during Barak Obama’s visit and ended up rating the performance of Modi’s government as “zero” – unmindful of what the performance of his own party’s government was. It was, in fact, the non-performance of his party’ government that yielded the massive mandate for Modi.

He accused Modi of being a friend of the ‘corporates’ to whom, he said, the lands acquired under the proposed land acquisition bill  would be transferred forgetting the Coalgate scam where massive corruption took place under the nose of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and lucrative coal blocks were allotted to Congress’s corporate cronies. He also accused Modi of playing “politics of revenge” by scrapping the Amethi food park project. As it turned

out, it was a misleading charge as the company which was to set up the park withdrew its offer finding the project unviable and that happened before Modi’s government came to power.

Besides, it has now been reported that the project was extended eight times since 2008 and yet Rahul, who was and is the MP from Amethi, could not have the project implemented even by his own party’s government.

 All kinds of fanciful charges – all pieces of disinformation – are being thrown at Modi in the hope that, if not all, at least a few would stick. The Congress sycophants find Rahul’s resurgence awesome even though some of his charges are baseless. His attempts seem to be only to belittle the Modi government and run down the Prime Minister in the eyes of the common man. The “introspection” for which he was allowed initially “8 or 10 days” absence by his mother, the Party President, later stretching to as many as 59 days, does not seem to have yielded anything worthwhile except a resolve to snipe at the BJP or the Prime Minister. There is no discourse or a debate; ideology is not involved – for the simple reason that the Congress has had, if at all, a confused ideology. What is happening is only a one-sided unleashing of a fusillade that is mostly dud. After the sabbatical Rahul seems to have resolved to make himself relevant - having been a failure in the Parliament and at the hustings. Perhaps, the dire straits that he and his mother brought the Congress to has put the fear of its extinction in them. Hence the attacks any which way, presumably to remain in public eye!

The crushing defeat administered to it at the elections and later the immense approbation that the Prime Minister garnered inside the country and abroad seems to have discomfited the Congress and its leaders. The euphoria with which Modi started his rule may have somewhat waned as normally happens. But after a whole year people have found his rule effective. The expected quick fixes, however, did not materialize largely because of the mess left behind by Rahul’s Congress government. A nose-diving growth

rate, flight of foreign and Indian capital, dipping manufacturing with rising unemployment, the fiscal and current account deficits and persistent high retail inflation will take some time in unraveling. Nonetheless, his concerted efforts brought down the rate of inflation, of course, with generous help from as unlikely a quarter as the global oil markets where prices registered a sharp decline. Despite an obstructive Opposition in the Upper House led by the Congress Modi’s government has given a new direction to the economy bringing about an environment of optimism and hope. Even international financial institutions like the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund, Moody’s etc. have expressed confidence in the economy and have predicted around 8% growth in 2015-16. His biggest achievement has been a corruption-free first year in office. Earlier there would be reports of a new scam almost every day involving some minister or the other. People were fed up and they desperately wanted a change. In the new dispensation so far not one politician has been named for corrupt practices.

 More importantly, Modi’s success has been remarkable in respect of economic diplomacy abroad. So far he has visited 19 countries and in each he has had tremendous response and has been able to put traction in his “Make in India” campaign. His popularity with

the most prominent world leaders in the East or the West is unparalleled. Besides, the Diasporas rallied round and gave him amazing receptions whichever country he happened to be in. No Indian Prime Minister had ever been so remarkably cheered in world capitals as Modi. Most impressive has been Modi’s impact on the chief executive of the world’s most powerful nation, Barak Obama. They are on first name terms and Obama has even eulogized Modi on several occasions. No wonder, Fortune magazine placed Modi at the fifth position among the most influential in the world.

One, therefore, gets a sneaking suspicion that jealousy, the “green-ey’d monster”, has taken over Rahul and his Party. They all along overlooked his record of development in Gujarat and its all-round progress which had received critical acclaim even in the West. They had all along condemned BJP as communal and Modi as “maut ke saudagar” (merchant of death) whereas wearing the mask of secularism they were no less communal. To their discomfiture, they now find the same man working a majority in the Lok Sabha. And, what’s more, he is welcomed, honoured and feted by world leaders during his peregrinations abroad. They, therefore, feel, he has to be stopped in his tracks – to, at least prevent him from achieving success in his efforts, if not for improving their own prospects. In the process it wouldn’t matter to them if the country’s economic growth and wellbeing of its people suffered. So, the theme is: obstruct him in the Parliament and bring him down in the public the public eye – with a “thousand cuts”!

Alas, they have not been successful; the year-end report card says it all!

___________________

Photos: from the internet

Modi, Obama and Aiyer

http://bagchiblog.blogspot.com

Watching the rare warmth and friendliness between Obama and Modi I was reminded of the abrasive remark made by Mani Shankar Aiyer, a member of the Congress Party, a former diplomat and a Cambridge alumnus to boot, in the august assembly of All India Congress Committee in March 2014. He had said that Modi would never become the prime minister of the country – at least not in this century – and went on to add that, instead, the Congress could make arrangements for him to serve tea to Congressmen whenever the occasion demanded. The snide remark was made as Modi used to sell tea in his childhood in his native town of Vad from the tea stall run by his father at the local railway station. Such undiplomatic conceit and pomposity from a former diplomat who happened to have served from a diplomatically sensitive position in Pakistan was not only unexpected, it also displayed acute lack of culture.

Be that as it may, Modi won the elections two months later from two constituencies and his Party won an overwhelming majority. Aiyer, however, suffered his second successive defeat from the same constituency from where he contested as many as six times since 1991. As far as Modi is concerned, Aiyer’s “chaiwala” remark made no mean contribution in his electoral victory – with his “chai par charcha” becoming a resounding success and took his campaign via the electronic media to the farthest nook and cranny of his party’s constituencies. On the other hand, Aiyer’s Congress lost so heavily that it plummeted to the third position in the Parliament with numbers that didn’t permit his party’s chief, Sonia Gandhi, to even become leader of the Opposition. What is more, since that victory in May 2014 Modi has routed the Congress in most of the states elections.

 All that apart, the same “chaiwala” has struck a fantastic rapport

with the US President who made a mention of their “chai par charcha” during his press briefing on 25^th last. Modi’s bonhomie with Obama and other leaders such as Abe of Japan and Abbott of Australia has raised the image of the country internationally. Aiyer may try his best to run down the Obama visit by erroneously describing him as a “lame duck” President who, on the contrary, sealed the Nuclear Deal with Modi making it ready to be operationalised 6 years after it was signed – a decision a “lame duck” president could not have taken.

 Any person other than Aiyer would have felt ashamed after his various faux pas and kept quiet, but not Aiyer. He is made of sterner stuff !

  

No, Narendra Modi is not a fascist

http://bagchiblog.blogspot.com

Narendra Modi’s resounding victory at the recent national polls has been generally received with euphoria, especially in the north of the country, although on the map the entire country would seem to be virtually saffronised. The opponents have been badly bashed up and some of the ministers in the outgoing United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government led by the Indian National Congress have suffered humiliating defeats.

The overwhelming mandate, quite clearly, is not as much for the Bharatiya Janata Party as for Modi, its prime ministerial candidate. The enormous support for a veritable demagogue has, however, caused misgivings in certain quarters. They feel that this is the stuff of which fascist dictators are made, who rule not for the wellbeing of the people but for self-aggrandisement. Modi has been pronounced by the “pseudo-secular” brigade led by the Congress as the product of a fascist organisation – the Rashtriya Sevak Sangh (RSS). Over the years both have collected a reputation of being communal and intolerant of non-Hindus. 

The Congress, the bitter enemy of RSS, and its political face, the BJP, has been branding ­­­­­ Modi as fascist –  its accusations acquiring a stinging and more scornful character before the last General Elections.

The question, therefore, arises is whether Modi, his party and its parent organisation are really fascists. It would need to be critically examined from their current positions as expounded during the election campaigns in respect of various issues and not from the traditional views that have been propagated by their detractors. In order to do so one has to first see what exactly does fascism stand for.

Fascism has been defined variously by political philosophers but it is generally understood to be “radical authoritarian nationalism”. Coming into prominence during World War I it has been said that it, “Holds right wing positions with left wing politics”. It is opposed to liberalism, Marxism and traditional conservatism. Invoking primacy of the state, fascists seek to unify the nation through an authoritarian dispensation. Veneration of and devotion towards a strong leader, an extreme form of nationalism and even imperialism are its other features.

Although said to be a product of the 19^th Century, fascism saw a revival in Italy during World War I. The Great War was cruel to many. It decimated three empires – German, Austro-Hungarian and the Ottoman – and caused utter privations to most of the European people, especially the Germans and Italians. Widespread death and destruction took heavy toll of the countries that were at war. While Germany, under the weight of heavy war-reparations for waging an avoidable war suffered bankruptcy and destitution, Italy got nothing out of the War except poverty and misery. It was a war of the absolute monarchs and yet the people suffered the most, building a fertile soil for emergence of fascism. While in Germany fascism raised its head in the shape of Nazism led by Adolf Hitler a strong people’s leader, Benito Mussolini, exploited the discontent among people and promising pride and respect for Italians, mobilised support of the masses to become a dictator with absolute power.

If one analyses the BJP or its mother organisation, the RSS, one does not quite get the impression they are fascists as defined in the political textbooks. It is true that the RSS and the BJP have been talking of a “Hindu Rashtra” (Hindu Nation) and, later, Akhand Bharat (Undivided India) but these were always extreme positions that they took, perhaps, to protest against India’s partition. Over time, they have practically given them up, most probably, on realisation that these are unattainable objectives in the modern world of international politics where checks and balances generally prevent a country to act in a unilateral and self-willed manner – unless one has bulging financial and military muscles. Clearly, India is not such a country.

No wonder, the BJP has somehow been displaying its ambivalence on these issues. Both the organisations, however, foster among its adherents love and respect for India, which, to them, is like their “mother”. Fierce patriotism and intense love of one’s country and observance of its traditional cultural practices need not always be harmful for or impinge on other communities or nations. It is only the ill-advised fringe elements that sometimes move away from the mainstream and cause avoidable conflicts.  Such elements are not in the Hindu community alone; they are there in numerous other communities and indulge in such despicable acts.

Rise of Narendra Modi cannot be seen in terms of the fascist ideology of a strong leader mobilising masses to bind them into a cohesive entity to pursue authoritarian and expansionist goals. Modi has worked his way up in the democratic system of the country and has been elected four times into the Gujarat Legislative Assembly and later was elected as the chief minister of the state mostly for the good work done by him. Again, he led his party to an outright win in the national elections in 2014. His ‘winnability’ prompted BJP to declare him its prime ministerial candidate. If crowds in huge numbers collected at his election rallies it was because of reports of his performance in Gujarat. Besides, frustration and anger of the common man against the corrupt and incompetent outgoing government swung the people towards a leader who was perceived to be decisive and capable of delivering a better life to them.

Grabbing the opportunity offered by the General Elections the BJP, to garner greater acceptability, brought in unimaginable changes in its earlier positions on its core political issues, viz. repeal of Article 370 – a provision in the Constitution that bestows special status to the state of Jammu & Kashmir, enactment of a uniform civil code (Muslims are currently governed by their Personal Laws) and construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya on the site where the demolished Babri Masjid stood.. These have all been put on the backburner and the main issue before the next government, as declared by Modi, is nothing but development. His new slogan is “sabka saath, sabka vikas” which, roughly translated, means “together with everyone and development for all”. This is not indicative of dictatorial ambitions and takes away the communal tag attached to the BJP as its revised objectives are to work for progress of all, regardless of caste or creed.

Fascism is associated with radical right, i.e. it is ranged against Marxism and socialism. BJP, backed by the RSS, too held the same position. But, of late, there seems to have been an abrupt change. Modi has categorically declared that his government would work for the poor, the youth and security of women (regardless of caste and creed need hardly be emphasised). Surely, in doing so, one expects, he would not be unfriendly to business and industry.

In his inter-actions with the media, Modi has not indicated any expansionist tendencies. In fact he has clarified that he would pursue friendship and cooperation with all countries regardless of their size. This became evident soon enough. He sent invitations for his swearing-in ceremony to all South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, including Pakistan. He overlooked objections of Indian Tamils and went ahead to invite even the Sri Lankan President.

Modi, therefore is not a fascist. Fascism is something which wouldn’t seem to be in the genes of Hindus; the question of their organisations – religious or secular – being fascist, therefore, wouldn’t quite arise. The term, has only been hurled pejoratively at the BJP by the paranoiac and insecure Congress, fearing all the time of all that that have since happened to it at the last elections at the hands of the former.

Photo: from the Internet