The Biggest flaw in "Indian 'secularism" is that it's anti-Hindu ::::: "Now, we have a strong leader with a mass appeal"

"In our prime minister (Narendra Modi) we have a strong leader with a mass appeal. His capacity to change India's destiny is globally recognized." - Late Arun Jaitley in 2018 

 Indian secularism has a long but flawed history, says an article in Pakistani newspaper 'Dawn'. Should the author be given a strong counter ? Should he be complimented?

Should we tell him -- yes, the biggest flaw in Indian 'secularism' is that it's anti-majority. And the perception is adhered to by the self-styled practitioners of that secularism - read SICKULARISM - quite religiously -- like the radicals do across the borders -- like the Talibans or the Lashqars !! 

What do these drag us to debate about? The question gains currency as this is also election season in India. 

Modi's admirers and detractors say Indian PM is hoping to become ‘bigger' than Nehru if not even Mahatma Gandhi. He aims to win a third term in office -- something only Nehru could achieve during the days of country's infancy as an independent nation. That monopolistic polity has been certainly challenged. 

The Modi government has also ensured that some skeletons are pulled out and the 'sacred' aspects associated with the Nehru legacy is today exposed.  That Nehru  erred in multiple fronts vis-a-vis foreign policy in respect of China, the US and Pakistan is today well understood in different quarters.  

As the distant rumble of a helicopter drew closer, cheers erupted from the gathered crowds in anticipation. By the time India’s prime minister finally stepped on to the stage, bowing deeply while immaculately dressed in a white kurta and peach waistcoat and with a neatly trimmed beard, the chants had reached a deafening pitch: “Modi, Modi, Modi.”

These scenes, at a campaign rally on the outskirts of the Uttar Pradesh city of Meerut, have been replicated across the country in recent weeks as Modi and his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) seek to win a third term in India’s election, which begins on 19 April and goes on for six weeks -- reports London-based 'The Guardian'. 

"Pundits and polls have resoundingly predicted that Modi will be brought back to power when election results are counted on 4 June," it says. On the other side, there are allegations. There are charges that Modi has marginaised Muslims and other minorities, his Hindutva-based political and governance model is essentially aimed at a 'Hindu-first' Bharat. And also that - nothing much has happened during last 10 years that could make someone cherish the last decade since 2014.

PM Modi with agri scientist 'Bharat Ratna' M S Swaminathan 

There are counters. 

India's tax collection has gone manifold. GST is one reason. It unified the clumsy tax structures. Thanks to GST again - tax payers have doubled since 2017. 

India's per capita income has gone up from Rs 86,000 in 2014 to Rs 172,000. This has been possible due to 'falling inflation'. It stands below six percent as compared to about 9 percent in 2014-15. This has been achieved as a rare gem in the post-Covid crisis and most countries are facing the challenge of 'globally' increase in the cost of average living.  

Our prophets of doom have their theories to counter all that !!

FDI is highest, foreign trade is also at the top. 

** More than 38 km of roads are coming up everyday -- this is 50 percent more than what it was around 2017. 

There is little doubt among Indians that Modi’s 10 years in power have already left an indelible mark on the country. 

To some it is the optimistic story of India rising to become the world’s fastest-growing economy, courted by powerful western leaders and multinational corporations.

The Hindu civilisational greatness is also back. 

Tomorrow all of us will look back at certain obvious questions and some sorts of predicament. Before you go further this extract from London's 'The Guardian' tells you an interesting story, actually a saga !!   

"Suddenly, everyone loves India. But it’s an affair, not a marriage. Whether it lasts depends on the consequences of this week’s watershed election. At stake are the credibility of Indian democracy and, potentially, the country’s future as a cohesive unitary state," runs the article by Simon Tisdoll. 

The Pakistani newspaper in its piece by Assim Sajjad Akhtar says: 

In Modi’s India, the Hindu right has fully ingrained itself in society through welfare groups, religious mobilisation and ideological campaigns. Its vigilante role is like the religious right in Pakistan, but one step ahead: it also wins elections.  

The fragmentation of the international order has created space for India to flex its foreign policy muscles. China’s increased assertiveness has become a principal preoccupation of Western leaders who, in turn, have accelerated their courtship of India, says carnegieendowment.org. 

"The prime minister has proposed that he and his government are leading India out of “twelve centuries of slavery” marked by repeated foreign invasions and the ignominy of colonial rule. Instead, this thinking goes, his government is ushering in a new era of “Amrit Kaal” (a Vedic concept about the gates of pleasure opening to the world). Such grand thinking shows his conviction that India inhabits a geopolitical sweet spot today," the article says.

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar says: “The world is actually today getting ready for us. It is we who have to make that effort to prepare for a bigger role . . . with a sense of historical and ivilizational responsibility.”

According to proponents of this view, the Modi government’s ambitious agenda for India stands in sharp contrast to the fecklessness of the opposition. The Congress Party regime of Manmohan Singh was perceived as unwilling to exercise power globally in ways that maximized India’s own interests.

  

Now, what's Diplomacy under Moditva phenomenon ?

India is a friend and leader of the global south and the west often does unusual things to woo it. In the Russia-Ukraine war, India has defied the western pressure and has maintained a right balance. 

It's simply not in India's interest to take side. Dr Jaishankar, "I am pro-ourselves". 

On the other hand, India is a member of SCO (a China-controlled stage), but it is also part of the Quad with the US, Australia and Japan.

Meanwhile, Indian officials speak of the great carnival of democracy, and many in the west praise “the world’s largest democracy”. (More accurately, it is the world’s most populous country to hold elections regularly.) Western bankers and information technology pioneers are busy flattering and boosting India. At such a time, no amount of mild criticism from the US state department will get attention, nor would it get noticed that the overseas Indian status of a French journalist, 

Vanessa Dougnac, was revoked (she is married to an Indian), and an Australian reporter, Avani Dias, was told her visa would not be extended. Nitasha Kaul, a British academic of Indian origin, was denied entry into India.

Modi may still win the election .... goes another piece in 'The Guardian'.

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