India: Modi's promised path is dangerously narrow and sectarian (Editorial, Economic and Political Weekly)

Economic and Political Weekly, Vol - XLVIII No. 50, December 14, 2013

Illusions and Disillusionment

Editorial

What began as a silent whisper after the 2002 atrocities in Gujarat has reached a crescendo over the past six months: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as a serious contender for the post of the prime minister of India. The powerful (and dubious) media management strategies of Modi have made him, in the eyes of his followers, a front-runner six months ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. A high profile also brings with it greater scrutiny, and what is coming out week after week is adding up to an authoritarian personality who is narrow in his vision for India, who does not care to reach out to all Indians, who can subvert the law for personal ends, and, who, in the nature of US-style politicians, can be economical with facts (often to hilarious effect) and focused only on building an image.

Not once has Narendra Modi sought to dispel the notion that he has benefited in Gujarat from a cynical consolidation of the Hindu vote that followed the events of 2002. (Let us, for the moment, set aside the accusation that there is evidence of Modi’s complicity in the bloodbath of Muslims in the state.) The constitutional head of the government in Gujarat has not once apologised for the inability of his administration to protect citizens from violence; at best he has said that one feels sorry just as when “puppies” are accidentally crushed by a moving car. It required the intervention of the Supreme Court to obtain a measure of justice for the victims of 2002 because Modi’s government did not show any seriousness about getting justice done. Modi has not once nominated a Muslim to stand for election to the state assembly on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party and not once in his recent campaigns outside the state has he specifically called on all groups and classes to join him in a journey to build a better India. There can be no question that Modi is the most aggressive face of Hindutva that an elected holder of constitutional office has ever exhibited.

If the strong undercurrent of Narendra Modi’s politics has been hard-core Hindutva, the message he now sells is “development”. Election-style packaging in India has been taken to new heights in recent months by portraying Modi as an administrator of growth and development. It would seem that facts do not matter. As far as growth is concerned, Gujarat has always been a high performer and has done no better since 2001 under Modi than it did in the previous decade. When it comes to social indicators of health, education and nutrition, Gujarat under Modi has remained in the middle rung despite high growth rates. As far as future investment is concerned, the annual “Vibrant Gujarat” business summits have generated proposals of tens of thousands of crores of fresh investments but only a tiny fraction has been converted into actual outlays. The list of myths is endless. About the only significant achievement of Modi in Gujarat is the reform of electricity distribution, where, with the creation of separate feeder lines for agriculture and rural households, the reliability and quality of power to both sub-sectors has improved. Big business of course loves Modi because he carries an aura of authority and he has been quick to hand over land and dole out tax concessions to everyone from the Adanis to the Tatas.

The packaging of Narendra Modi has been so successful that it does not seem to matter that nowhere else in India do so many senior police officers stand guilty of illegal use of the law to take people’s lives (pace Ishrat Jahan, Sohrabuddin Sheikh, and Tulsiram Prajapati). And in recent weeks we have had the astonishing revelation that Modi’s right-hand man, Amit Shah, was personally directing police officers, on behalf of “Saheb”, to follow and report on every single step taken by an adult woman. Narendra Modi’s government does not seem to know that citizens are to be protected by law and not intruded upon by officials of the law, in this case supposedly (and unconvincingly, one must state) because one parent was concerned about his adult daughter.

This is not the first time that politicians have shown strong streaks of authoritarianism. Until now the best-known example has been Sanjay Gandhi and his actions during the Emergency. But what is new this time is that the minds of powerful sections of Indian society have been captured by the aura of authority, action and promise with which the image-makers have managed to surround Narendra Modi. Now we have revelations by the investigating news site, Cobrapost, that many information technology companies have been closely involved in manufacturing the Modi image with the use of fake information that he has widespread support. This has only substantiated earlier reports of an extremely well-oiled machinery operating under the direct supervision of a centralised command that is overseeing India’s first social media election campaign.

Narendra Modi’s rise in the public imagination as a man of development has of course been possible entirely because a venal and increasingly incompetent government has been in office since 2004, headed by a party that has been converted into the fiefdom of one nuclear family. But it has also taken place at a time when big business and a vocal urban salariat have shown an open distrust of democratic politics and a simultaneous thirst for faster economic growth. These two groups have tasted the fruits of rapid growth after liberalisation and they are impatient for more. Democratic politics calls for an accommodation of all classes and such an accommodation may well slow growth and require what are disparagingly described as “populist” measures, both anathema to big business and the urban salariat. Modi promises to clear all that stands in the way of a “strong and prosperous” India. Some of us do not want to see that it is a lie of a promise and the promised path is dangerously narrow and sectarian.