Soros dubs rise of nationalism in India a ‘setback’
DAVOS: Billionaire investor George Soros has said the “biggest and most frightening setback” to open societies comes from India where “a democratically elected Narendra Modi is creating a Hindu nationalist state, imposing punitive measures on Kashmir, a semi-autonomous Muslim region, and threatening to deprive millions of Muslims of their citizenship”.
Soros also said he would commit $1 billion to start a global university to fight authoritarian governments and the climate crisis, calling them twin challenges that threaten the survival of civilisation.
His comments came at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos and add to the growing chorus of criticism of India, especially over restrictions, including the blocking of internet access, in Kashmir, and a new citizenship law. The latest issue of The Economist magazine has a cover story titled “Intolerant India: How Modi is endangering the world’s biggest democracy”.
Both were criticised by members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the government. Vijay Chauthaiwale, in charge of the BJP’S foreign affairs department, tweeted: “We thought the Brits left in 1947! But the editors of The Economist are still living in the colonial era. They are furious when 600 million Indians do not follow their explicit instructions of not voting Modi.”
“Soros has announced a billion dollar fund to interfere in the politics of India, China, etc to ostensibly fight ‘authoritarian’ despots. This was exactly the language used by 19th century European thinkers to justify colonisation,” said Sanjeev Sanyal, the principal economic adviser in the Ministry of Finance.