Narendra Modi 4-7-14

7, April 2014

Narendra Modi

India’s hardliner and divisive politician, Narendra Modi, make him unfit to lead India’s diverse population – Hindus make up 80% and Muslims 13% of the population. His supporters wax over his economic success in Gujarat, but a careful review of past history shows that Gujarat was an economic powerhouse before Modi took the helm. There is little doubt that he is a skillful campaigner and was largely responsible for impressive state election victories in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, with a combined population of well over 100m; he also won in Chhattisgarh, and got the largest share of the vote in Delhi. Modi received his political indoctrination with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak, a Hindu nationalist party but later rebelled from the RSS strict dress code of being clean shaven and wearing long-sleeved shirts. He also escaped a disastrous arranged marriage and remains single, which reduces the likelihood of establishing a Gandhi like dynasty. The BJP grew in prominence after agitating to build a Hindu temple over the site of a mosque in Ajodhya which resulted in months of communal rioting.  A decade later another bloody incident occurred in his neighboring Gujarat which resulted in a 1,000 Muslim deaths, destruction of homes and horrific rapes and mayhem. Mr. Modi could have forbidden the bandh; he failed to order a curfew and failed to order the police to intervene. He could have requested India’s national police and the army to stop the bloodshed. India’s human-rights commission described the response by the state government as a “comprehensive failure”. Playing on religious sentiments, the BJP won by a landslide in state elections. Mr. Modi’s defenders rightly condemn Rajiv Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi’s father, for failing to stop the 1984 massacre of thousands of  Sikhs across the country during which police also idly stood by and in many cases were complicit. It is ironic that Modi, in a move to ingratiate himself with the Sikhs, has called for a court of enquiry of the 1984 riots. With the imminent Lok Sabha elections, Gujarat’s decision to evict farmers of others States, including many Sikhs who had been cultivating lands in Kutch for decades, has put Modi on a collision course with the Akalis. There is little doubt that most Indians are seething with anger and frustration over the ruling Congress party’s gross ineptness and corruption.  High inflation (8%), joblessness and anemic growth of 5% are depressing metrics.  The rupee plunged 8% last year.  Manmohan Singh is an ineffective leader and his speeches are as appetizing as a bowl of cold cereal – or perhaps a wonderful remedy for people suffering from insomnia. His Congress party opponent, Rahul Gandhi, suffers from a narrow band width and is being projected into a leadership role for which he is clearly unsuited and disinterested. India’s young restless Middle class have rendered Mahatma Gandhi somewhat irrelevant and politicians can no longer appeal to voters on vacuous political slogans. The only glimmer of hope that India may make small inroads into rooting out the cancer of corruption is the rising star - ‘Sheriff Arvind Kejriwal’, leader of Aam Admi; he grabbed the eyeballs of voters by his spectacular political debut in December which elected him as chief minister of Delhi. India resembles a Western Movie where the bad guys have taken over the town. Kerriwal should ‘deputize’ like- minded activists and drive out the political bandits.