Shrinking! PM Narendra Modi. BJP. Even India
If India is not careful, the only significance it enjoys will be as a US foil to China
Elections for five states are over. Modi and the BJP lost in three of the largest states - - West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Both shrank. Now it is India’s turn. There is big trouble ahead.
Megalomania?
People still fondly recall how efficient and painstaking Narendra Modi used to be when he was chief minister. This author too admired his work.
When someone wanted to have a chapter on Modi in the schoolbooks, he frowned at such practices.
Fast forward to January 2015. Modi exultantly explains to Barak Obama how his faithful followers had presented him with a jacket costing around Rs 10 lakh. Closeup photographs revealed the words ‘Narendra Damodardas Modi’ repeatedly embroidered into the fabric.
Public disapproval was withering. The Prime Minister immediately decided to auction the jacket and give its proceeds to social causes.
Then came other occurrences:
• The decision to send his photograph into space along with a copy of the Gita. No space exploration country had done this.
• In February 2021, Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad was renamed Narendra Modi Stadium: it was inaugurated by the President of India, giving it an official hue.
• Putting his photograph on every vaccination certificate -except for election-bound states where the Election Commission banned this practice.
• Pushing ahead with the PM’s home project in Delhi with funds, logistics and management that oxygen and vaccines could not get. Moreover, as columnist Fareed Zakaria asks in his tweet: “Covid19 has run rampant in India under Modi, Brazil under Bolsonaro, and the US under Trump. Is there a connection between politics and the virus’ worst devastation?”
Consequences
Demagogues expect every courtier to kowtow to their wishes and expression. They value loyalty over efficiency and competence. They are imperious and use high-handed means to ensure compliance. Institutional procedures are jettisoned. Coercive laws are introduced.
Sleight of hand is promoted. Remember how (in March 2018) the FCRA was modified to allow political parties to get foreign funds, with no questions asked, and with retrospective effect for 42 years?
Or take the Aadhaar bill that was converted into an Act by passing it as a money bill, thus bypassing discussion. It is one of the rottenest pieces of legislation because it does not actually identify.
Or the Prevention of Corruption Act. It was modified to make complaints against bribery extremely difficult.
Or the farmers’ legislations, which weren’t even required. The existing WDRA could do the job. And the Food Corporation of India had to be restrained.
Look at the way the government dealt with peaceful protests at the JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University). Protesters were smeared with wild allegations of belonging to the tukde-tukde-gang. Vigilantes were unleashed to beat up anyone who violated the wishes of the Modi government.
Several cases against the Tablighis, all aimed at vilification. Eventually, not one case could stand up in court. The justices had caustic remarks to make about the way evidence had been trumped up.
This is what happened in the case of Disha Ravi as well.
Every effort was made to equate protests with anti-nationalism. Laws relating to sedition, unlawful and anti-national activities were brought into play.
You then realise how unilateralism led to the Covid crisis today.
Economic repercussions
The first is a shrinking India. People forget that one reason why Modi has been successful in his foreign relations, is that he had a big market to sell, and to grant preferential access to. With the economy shrinking, soon there will be no market left to sell.
India’s GDP growth has been slipping for the last seven years. And another 7.5 million jobs have been lost ever since the second wave. Frauds with government-owned banks are increasing both in number and value. Now, the Supreme Court has decreed that the list of defaulters, and inspection reports of banks cannot be concealed from public scrutiny.
The dairy industry is being hurt badly and the farm agitation continues.
Each time, glib justifications are offered. Fortunately, the facetiousness of such arguments is now being exposed. Obviously, legislators and executives are squirming.
Had the country been growing, such attempts could have been ignored. But when people’s fortunes decline, and when death knocks on the doors of every family -- thanks to the reckless implementation of pandemic control measures -- the rancour was bound to become a lot more savage.
India shrinking
India, consequently, will continue to shrink. This could push India into the same situation as Pakistan. Remember, ten years ago, the only clout Pakistan enjoyed was being the easiest route for the US to enter Afghanistan? If India is not careful, the only significance it enjoys will be as a US foil to China. India needs to think beyond that. It needs to find its mojo once again.