BHARAT BHUSHAN - Narendra Modi's Republic of Fear
On 16 May, 2014
Narendra Modi was elected with a resounding majority to Parliament. And on 26
May, he was sworn in as India's Prime Minister. Two years later, has Modi
managed to deliver on the promises that made people vote him to power? Catch is
publishing a series of articles to mark the two years of Modi examining his
record of governance.
Most Indian prime
ministers have wanted to project themselves as fair, compassionate,
statesman-like and hoped that they would be loved and admired by the people. Not so Narendra
Damodardas Modi. The last two years of his rule suggest that Prime Minister
Narendra Modi wants to be feared, more than anything. His administration has
instilled fear in the minds of many sections of Indian society from Muslims,
Dalits, Christians, writers, artists, liberal intellectuals and the media to
even university students.
अपूर्वानंद - भागवत और वंजारा साथ-साथ: हम कौन थे, क्या हो गए हैं और क्या होंगे अभी?
Public Appeal - Resist degradation of Indian criminal justice system
Public Appeal - Resist degradation of Indian criminal justice system
He certainly wants
political parties in the Opposition to fear him. He threatens to expose their
corruption without quite managing to send anyone to jail. Perhaps he does not
want to actually prosecute corrupt politicians. He only wants them to live in
constant fear of what he might do next. The second shoe never falls.
Even his own party
colleagues fear him - as do bureaucrats. Those who have worked closely with him
admit that he dislikes dissent and is vengeful against those who choose to
question his decisions. Those who differed with
him have not survived politically in Gujarat and in Delhi too, they have been
moved to the margins. He seems to trust only policemen and Gujarat bureaucrats
who have learnt to kowtow to him.
Modi may think that
instilling fear has given him better control over governance. But one can
safely predict that intimidation of colleagues, the bureaucracy and also
minorities, dissenters and public intellectuals, is unlikely to inspire the
people of this country to do great things. Fear cannot foster the intellect
required for nation-building, something that a talent-starved Modi
administration desperately needs.
The logic of an
authoritarian leadership style rests on directions from above bordering on
coercion. Look at the way in which an eminent economist and Governor of the
Reserve Bank of India is sought to be disciplined by being insulted on a daily
basis. Modi may style himself
as the fatherly leader talking directly to the people on sundry issues over the
radio. But do the people also see him in this way? He does not inspire the
requisite trust and confidence.
DIVISIVE FIGURE
Above all, these two
years of Modi have shown that far from being the great unifier he is a divisive
leader. While claiming to unite India, Modi and the ideology he represents have
created rifts in India. Hindus have been
pitted against Muslims and Christians; Upper Castes against Dalits;
Universities against students; national art, culture and intellectual
institutions against the very intelligentsia which populated them and gave them
life; 'Patriots' against 'Seditionists'; flag-wavers against non-flag wavers;
and those who shout 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' vs. those who refuse to do so. That is not all.
People are also being
divided between beef-eaters and cow-worshippers; those who venerate Mahatma
Gandhi and those who proclaim his assassin, Nathuram Godse, as a 'patriot';
those who think that Bhagwad Gita should be declared a national scripture and
those who do not; those who advocate that Hindu women are duty-bound to produce
more children to protect their religion and culture and those who think this an
unforgivably patriarchal and communal vision of society; and between those who
think young people should be able to marry for love versus those who deem love
beyond the boundaries of caste and religion as punishable by lynching.
Almost every day for
two years running, the Modi government and its acolytes have manufactured new
disputes. Sometimes they dub dissenting voices as anti-national and, at others,
criminalise those who question the government and its policies irrespective of
whether they are students, farmers, labour leaders, journalists or civil
society activists.
No government has
unleashed the repressive machinery of the state as has the Modi government on
those raising the issues of the poor, the marginalised and the tribals who are
not only being dispossessed by construction and mining interests but also by environmental
catastrophe.
While Modi and his
ideological family never tire of talking of an "Akhand Bharat (Indivisible
India)", their actions show that they have done everything possible to
deepen the existing fault lines while divisive ideas existing on the loony
social fringe have been made into the 'political correctness' of our time.
LACK OF CONCERN
Nor does Modi's
primary concern seem to be the poor and the dispossessed of India. He is
happier being feted by world leaders and by people of Indian origin who gave up
on India long ago. He is already planning
to meet the Spelling Bee winners of Indian origin in the United States when he
visits that country in June, but has not gone on a tour of the drought affected
areas of India. This, at a time when 330 million Indians across 256 districts
are reeling under drought. According to the government's own estimates, there
is a national crisis of drinking water and farmers have suffered severe crop
losses for three years running.
With agricultural
growth falling below 2% per annum, one wonders whether the agrarian crisis
matters to him at all. Or, whether he is aware that social security under the
rural employment guarantee scheme has shrunk under his watch instead of being
expanded in a year of severe drought. The government has not
injected the necessary funds into the scheme. Such is the apathy of the Modi
government on the drought issue, that an NGO had to move the Supreme Court to
step up the relief work.
Amita Baviskar - Made in India: The drought is no longer a natural disaster...
There is a growing but as yet a silent constituency which is deeply upset with Modi. It does not have any leadership for now because the mainstream political parties have failed to speak up for them. The rise of a nobody, a mere student union leader like Kanhaiya Kumar and the kind of emotions he has generated across the country is testimony to the leadership vacuum of our parliamentary parties.
Amita Baviskar - Made in India: The drought is no longer a natural disaster...
There is a growing but as yet a silent constituency which is deeply upset with Modi. It does not have any leadership for now because the mainstream political parties have failed to speak up for them. The rise of a nobody, a mere student union leader like Kanhaiya Kumar and the kind of emotions he has generated across the country is testimony to the leadership vacuum of our parliamentary parties.
But fear alone will
not make India strong and capable irrespective of slogans like "Ek Bharat,
Shreshtha Bharat (One India, Excellent India)" - which incidentally,
appears to be lifted straight out of the "One Israel" and "One
Malaysia" campaigns by APCO Worldwide, the image-improvement firm hired
for Modi's general election campaign.
Fear not only brings
out the worst in those who experience it but also harms those who impose it. If
Modi does not develop the self-confidence to build others up, his power over
them will continue to remain fragile. Those who have been bludgeoned and
ridiculed will vote with their feet, come the next general election.
http://www.catchnews.com/politics-news/narendra-modi-s-republic-of-fear-1463328420.htmlsee also
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