Global concerns over ‘Modi-fication’ of Indian elections
(this piece appeared first in UCA News - the website of Catholics and as expected .... went viral )
India is holding the world’s biggest election and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a record third consecutive term in office, but Western institutions and media appear concerned over whether the “Mother of Democracy” is in good shape.
Here is an example. In an editorial, the Guardian, the world’s leading liberal voice, asked Indians to “think hard” about re-electing Modi. Swapan Dasgupta, a leader of Modi’s pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a former journalist, reacted sharply. “If the June 4 results lead to the BJP decimating the Rahul Gandhi-led Congress party yet again, Modi’s overseas critics will likely team up with India’s opposition to question the legitimacy of the triumph,” he wrote.
He believes that the Western media's larger objective is to sow doubts in the minds of business leaders and political decision-makers about India’s success story.
Dasgupta further wrote: “Modi is the real target and by tarring him with the brush of autocracy, his critics hope to envelop him in yet another murky controversy.”
Then a surprise warning about Washington wanting to “unbalance the internal political situation in India and complicate the general election” came from Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
“America continues to make ‘unfounded accusations’ about religious freedoms” and is also being “disrespectful” towards India, she said.
Though they come from different backgrounds, President Vladimir Putin and Modi have a good personal rapport.
During the ongoing Ukraine crisis, Modi-ruled India has charted an independent path and did not oblige its Western friends, including the US, who wanted her to vote with them in the UN Security Council against Putin's aggressive military adventurism.
However, to suggest that Washington and its allies in Europe may not like Modi’s return to power in Delhi or are trying to disturb and influence the poll outcome in India seems pretty far-fetched.
India has been a friend and a dependable strategic partner for the US and its Western allies. But one should not be surprised if Russia is trying to build up a case for stronger ties with India.
Modi has described his Hindu nationalist government as a Vishwamitra, or "friend of the world," and it is unlikely any major player can ignore the new, confident India under his leadership.
However, old doubts remain. In 2005, the US denied a visa to Modi for his alleged complicity in 2002 anti-Muslim ethnic violence in western Gujarat state of which he was then chief minister.
But in 2014, when Modi became prime minister, President Barack Obama received him with his native Gujarati salutation Kemchho (How are you).
Modi’s relationship with Donald Trump and later Joe Biden also grew stronger, as have the diplomatic ties. In October, while in Washington, D.C., India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said ties between India and the United States were at an “all-time high,” and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken reciprocated, calling them an “extraordinary success story.”
These ties seemed to have soured lately after US officials in December claimed to have foiled a plot to assassinate an American on US soil for advocating a Sikh separatist state back home in India.
Earlier, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India of involvement in the assassination of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil.
But what is interesting and significant, according to Dasgupta, is the “twinning of the Western liberal establishment concerns over India's democratic backsliding with the opposition Congress party's fighting the polls on a similar platform.”
Rahul Gandhi and his ‘INDIA,' which stands for Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, are challenging the BJP in the general election. They have vowed to protect the Indian Constitution, claiming Modi and his BJP want to change it.
Now let us take a few headlines from the Western media — “Is India’s BJP the world's most ruthlessly efficient political party?” asked the Financial Times. At the same time, Foreign Policy wondered about “Modi’s slide toward autocracy.”
BJP leaders do not find such headlines palatable and feel they are far from accurate, perhaps written with a false sense of superiority accompanied by the usual prejudices by Western journalists.
They feel that much of Western criticism of Indian systems and governance models arises from an "ignorance" of Indian thought processes.
“That is hardly surprising when much of the West was historically so dismissive of our society,” said Jaishankar.
India’s plain-speaking foreign minister also felt that “these noises from the Western press” are not only “because they lack information” but also because “they think they are also political players in our election.”
Jaishankar further suggested, "it’s time today that we disabuse them, and the best way we do that is by confidence.”
Sanjay Das, a Congress leader from Meghalaya state in the northeast region, felt it is never easy to connect the dots. “However, Russia’s statement about US interference in Indian elections may be a case in point to suggest that ‘India's Putin, Modi,’ is this time getting help and moral support from Russian czar Vladimir Putin.”
And since Russia is no democracy, “our fear is genuine — India's parliamentary democracy may be sacrificed if BJP comes back,” he said.
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| Congressman Sanjay Das in Meghalaya |
The day I do Hindu-Muslim, I will be unworthy of public life…
I will not do it, it’s my resolve: Modi
“People of my country will vote for me”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told News18 India and maintained:
“the day I do Hindu-Muslim, I will be unworthy of public life” and “it is my resolve” that “I will not do Hindu-Muslim”.
PM posted clips of the interview on X — in Varanasi on the day he filed his nomination papers, seeking a third consecutive Lok Sabha term from the spiritual city.
His remarks came days after his April 21 speech in Banswara in Rajasthan where, while attacking the Congress, he said, “Pehle jab unki sarkar thi, unhone kaha tha ki desh ki sampatti par pehla adhikar Musalmanon ka hai. Iska matlab, ye sampatti ikhatti karke kisko baatenge?
Jinke zyada bachche hain unko baatenge, ghuspaithiyon ko baatenge. Kya aapke mehnat ki kamayi ka paisa ghuspaithiyon ko diya jayega? Aapko manzoor hai yeh?
(Earlier, when they were in power, they had said Muslims have the first right to the wealth of the nation. That means, who will they distribute this wealth to? They will give it to those who have more children, to infiltrators. Should your hard-earned money be given to infiltrators? Do you agree with this?).”
In that speech, he had also said, “The Congress manifesto says they will take stock of the gold of mothers and daughters, and then they will distribute that wealth.
And they will distribute it among those whom Manmohan Singh’s government had said: Muslims have the first right to wealth. Brothers and sisters, this Urban Naxal thinking will not spare even the mangalsutras of my mothers and sisters.”
His Banswara speech was flagged by the Congress, CPI and CPI (M-L) in their complaints to the Election Commission that led to a notice being issued to the BJP president.
In the interview Tuesday, the Prime Minister said, “I have neither said Hindu or Muslim. I have said you should have as many children as you can support. Don’t create a situation where the government has to (support).”
Asked whether Muslims will vote for him and whether he needed their votes, he said, “Main ye maanta hoon ki mere desh ke log mujhe vote denge. Main jis din Hindu-Musalman karoonga na, uss din main sarvajanik jeevan mei rehne yogya nahin rahoonga.
Aur main Hindu-Musalman nahin karoonga. Ye mera sankalp hai (I believe that people of my country will vote for me.
The day I do Hindu-Muslim, I will be unworthy of public life. And I will not do Hindu-Muslim. It is my resolve).
"This means that if there are 200 homes in a village, what community, what caste, what religion – No. If there are 60 labharthis (beneficiaries) in those 200 houses, all 60 should get it. And 100-percent saturation is social justice and true secularism.
And there is no chance of corruption in it. You know that if another person got it this Monday, I will get it next Monday,” he said.
On Tuesday, Modi filed his nomination for the Varanasi seat at the District Collectorate. He was accompanied by Pandit Ganeshwar Shastri Dravid who had decided the date and time for the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
District Magistrate S Rajalingam collected the papers from Modi.
The PM late tweeted: “Filed my nomination papers as a candidate for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat. It is an honour to serve the people of this historic seat.
With the blessings of the people, there have been remarkable achievements over the last decade. This pace of work will get even faster in the times to come.”
Among those at the Collectorate premises for Modi’s nomination were BJP president J P Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, party state president Bhupendra Chaudhary,
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and a host of NDA leaders including Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, TDP leader and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, Jana Sena Party chief Pawan Kalyan.
The proposers for Modi were Pandit Dravid, party workers and leaders Sanjay Sonkar, Lalchand Kushwaha and Baijnath Patel.
While Sonkar is a Dalit, Patel and Khushwaha are OBC while Dravid is a Brahmin.
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