20,
May 2019 Prime Minister Modi
India’s
current Prime Minister, Narendra Modi's, leadership has been has been a major
disappointment. Following his landslide victory in 2014 he received a powerful
mandate by the people to jump start the sluggish economy and bring back
civility. He promised to create millions of new jobs and tame high inflation.
The twin promises of good and honest governance and economic reforms have
fallen flat despite receiving a big boost from low oil prices. Unemployment has
risen offering grist to the opposition Congress Party. Efforts to transform
India to “make India great” have failed.
His
get tough “John Wayne” persona sending warplanes to bomb Pakistan was extremely
reckless inflaming the separatist insurgency rather than tamping it down.
Furthermore, his actions brutally repressing moderate Kashmiris inflamed
anti-Indian sentiments. His impetuous behavior under the false notion of being
decisive more closely resembles that of President Trump. In 2016, on a whim he
abruptly withdrew most Indian banknotes in an effort to combat “black money.”
The plan failed causing enormous pain and suffering to India’s vulnerable
population, famers and small businesses. Much like the US, the rich and
well-connected use tax shelters and skilled lawyers to hide their “loot” while
the little guys are squeezed from their hard earnings.
What
is even more frightening is Modi’s war on press freedom. Seldom do journalists
criticize “dear leader" lest they invoke the fury of the state to punish
and imprison them on bogus charges. An army of tax collectors make life a
living hell for political opponents. State universities are packed with
ideologies and the army has been effectively neutered from politics.
Nothing
has been done to discourage India’s massive birth rate resulting in 10-12 million
people entering the workforce every year.
Modi’s
armies of obedient followers, members of the RSS, do his bidding responding to
his repeated efforts to stoke Hindu-Muslim anger. He chose a fiery Hindu cleric
as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state who has
intensified hostility towards the Muslim minority with the slogan “the election
campaign is a battle of two faiths.” He called Muslim migrants from neighboring
Bangladesh “termites” and warmly welcomed Hindus mimicking Rwanda’s Hutus
demonizing Tutsis as “cockroaches”.
Mr. Modi has never apologized for failing to
prevent the deaths of at least 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, during
sectarian riots in the state of Gujarat while he was chief minister. He
dismissed the slaughter as a “feeling of a puppy comes under the wheel of a
car”.
Following
the massacre he was denied visas from the US and Britain.
In
a recent commentary, the notable Indian CNN commentator, Fareed Zakaria,
offered some disturbing statistics –
33%
of candidates who are running for election are facing serious criminal
prosecutions including murder and attempted murder.
Kidnappings,
murder and attempted murder have steadily increased since 2009.
Historically
candidates with criminal backgrounds are 3 times more likely to win.
It
is appalling that not a single religious leader has had the courage to denounce
politicians who campaign with flamethrowers stoking vengeance against the
Muslim 175m minority. Religions are supposed to effectively counterbalance “mob
rule” and inject a semblance of humanity – a clear distinction of human rights
– not meaningless incantations and rituals that few understand.
Sadly
Congress, the BJP’s only national rival, has a dark history of corruption but
has to its credit not descended into fanning the flames of religious
intolerance. Perhaps they learned an important lesson in the 1984 slaughter of
Sikhs, but I doubt it.
