Dr. Zeeshan Khan |
Modi is blessed with so weak an opposition led by the Congress, with no agenda other than to defeat him. Even so, doubts assail him, for he must know he has not delivered on the promises he made in 2014. India’s election is the largest in the world. With roughly 900 million eligible voters, hence polling is a challenge.
How could Indian Air Force (IAF) get operational instructions on precision airstrike from a merely educated bigot such as Modi, who knows nothing and due to his political decisions IAF has messed up big in Balakot and world press like Strategist from Australia has stated that Indian claims of killing terrorists by airstrike are false. But mythical history created airstrike in Balakot, Pakistan, changed the scene. It is worrisome that IAF had no guts to tell this hate promoter that he doesn’t know anything about radar! Everyone should be seriously worried about India’s national security.
Modi gives more importance to his stupid opinions than expert speculation.
Moreover, experts say that Modi will happily lie about India’s national security and will neglect regional peace if it benefits him personally. Modi gives more importance to his stupid opinions than expert speculation. Modi has completely politicized Indian Army – This has been the formula for the success of the new dictators of the world. People have been complaining about the lack of jobs, demonetization, the GST, farmers’ distress, Rafale deal and many other alleged failures.
They complain of other ‘non-material’ matters such as intolerance or arrogance or over-concentration of power in Modi’s hands etc. Ashok Gehlot even warned the voters that if Modi won, this would be the last election ever, which even for a veteran Congressman, whose long used to being the winner rather than on the losing side, is over the top. Six of Seven Bengal BJP candidates have criminal cases and a recent study revealed that 37% BJP Candidates face criminal charges.
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More than half of India’s 1.3 billion people still depend in some way on farming, although agriculture accounts for only 17 percent of the economy. The country has struggled to create new jobs in manufacturing and services to make rural families less dependent on the land. “In the name of the poor, you have robbed the farmer,” said Ashok Gulati, a prominent Indian agricultural economist who has occasionally advised the current government.
Meanwhile, many farmers’ families are struggling with debt. In desperate times, some have even turned to suicide. In Nashik district, 108 farmers killed themselves last year, suicide rates have risen up sharply since 2014, officials said. The deaths have continued this year. You have to create more jobs outside agriculture,” said Pramod Joshi, director for South Asia at the International Food Policy Research Institute in New Delhi.
People have been complaining about the lack of jobs, demonetization, the GST, farmers’ distress, Rafale deal and many other alleged failures.
In 2014, Mr. Modi promised to add 10 million jobs. The economy has most likely fallen short of that target, and the government has blocked the release of official employment data, claiming that it is unreliable to actually hide facts. Under Modi, a Hindu Nationalist surge has further divided India whereas a leader unites. That secular agenda was always entwined with Mr. Modi’s roots within a conservative Hindu political movement that strives to make India a Hindu state. The emboldening effect became apparent within months of the 2014 election.
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Hindu lynch mobs began to pop up across the landscape, killing Muslims and lower-caste people suspected of slaughtering cows, a sacred animal in Hinduism. Most often, the mobs have gotten away with it. Hate speech began to proliferate. Government bodies began rewriting history books, lopping out sections on Muslim rulers, changing official place names to Hindu from Muslim, and more aggressively contesting holy sites. They also began pushing extremist Hindu priorities.
The consensus among Indian activists and liberal political analysts is that their society, under Mr. Modi, has become more toxically divided between Hindus and Muslims, between upper and lower castes, between men and women. Poverty is the real thing to be eradicated, BJP must understand. “In plain language, they are what we now call communal fascists,” said Aditya Mukherjee, a retired historian, referring to Mr. Modi and his political allies.
In Nashik district, 108 farmers killed themselves last year, suicide rates have risen up sharply since 2014, officials said.
“This is something that Jawaharlal Nehru had predicted,” Mr. Mukherjee said, referring to India’s first prime minister. “He said if fascism ever came to India it would come in the form of majority Hindu communalism. That is exactly what is happening.” Moreover, Time magazine has called Modi ‘India’s divider-in-chief’ in its international edition published during this month. It also said the opposition Congress party has little to offer other than the dynastic principle.
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The articles inside the magazine have the titles “Can the World’s Largest Democracy Endure Another Five Years of a Modi Government?”, written by Taseer, notes that “If in 2014 he (Modi) was able to exploit differences in order to create a climate of hope, in 2019 he is asking people to stave off their desperation by living for their differences alone. “Not only has Modi’s economic miracle failed to materialize, he has also helped create an atmosphere of poisonous religious nationalism in India,” Taseer writes.
Far from his promise of development for all, he has achieved a state in which Indians are increasingly obsessed with their differences, according to the article. Prof. Ashok Swain, Professor and Director of International Studies, Uppsala University, Sweden said that no one can and should justify the killing of 3000 Sikhs in 1984. Congress Party can’t and shouldn’t avoid its culpability.
Mr. Modi, has become more toxically divided between Hindus and Muslims, between upper and lower castes, between men and women.
However, can anyone explain why RSS leader Nana Deshmukh, to whom Modi gave Bharat Ratna in 2019, had also justified the Sikh massacre? Furthermore, experts say that Modi has ruined India’s economy – The second half of his five-year term has been a disaster according to a Bloomberg article. India’s industrial production is growing now only at 0.1 %.
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Experts now have the opinion that they never read about Indian politics from foreign newspapers and magazines. But, for the last five years they’re the ones who’re reading them the most. There is no choice. Modi is being interviewed by Bollywood actors and hand-picked anchors rather than independent journalists, alas! If electoral democracy is manipulated by dubious Right-wing politicians with sinister intent, the idea of a secular and plural India will be seriously threatened. The damage will be irreversible.
Dr. Zeeshan Khan is a medical doctor by profession, freelance writer, certified trainer and Poet. He is a motivational speaker, Cultural-cum-Political Analyst and has written for a number of English and Urdu dailies like Dawn, Express Tribune, The Business, The Educationist and Roznama Pakistan etc. He is also Alumni of LUMS and Winner of all Pakistan Ubqari story Writing Competition. The views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.