The Paradoxical Prime Minister

by Shashi Tharoor

In writing such a book, of course, I cannot pretend to be a neutral observer. I am a Member of Parliament from the Opposition Congress party, and there will be some who will inevitably make the ‘well, he would say that, wouldn’t he?’

Good that he said so...

The middle of the road, after all, is the place where you get hit by traffic from both directions.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the slew of ‘Tharoor praises Modi again’ headlines that promptly followed my remarks. ‘Tharoor sings Modi’s tune again, says he’s leaving “positive impression”’, declared ANI. ‘PM leaves “positive impression” during foreign visits: Tharoor’, echoed PTI. ‘Modi’s “Personal Energy” Brought New Dimension to Diplomatic Relations: Tharoor’, announced Outlook.

Our media sees every debate in the binary terms made famous by George W. Bush: ‘Are you with us or against us?’

Our media analysis admits of no other possibilities: one must be either for Modi, or against Modi; seeing 20 per cent worth praising, 60 per cent worth criticizing and 20 per cent neither-good-nor-bad in his statements and policies is too complicated for our scribes and analysts to digest.

But we have reduced our politics to black and white today: either for or against, nothing in between. Fifty Shades of Grey could never be the title of a book about Indian politics.

A government that promised 2 crore new jobs a year—8 crore in four years—has generated precisely 18 lakh jobs in that time, most of them classified by the International Labour Organization (ILO) as vulnerable employment, and the thrasonical prime minister has been reduced to claiming that pakoda-sellers on sidewalks should also be counted in the employment figures. The unemployment rate has gone up from 4.91 per cent in 2014 to 6.23 per cent in 2018. India has more unemployed people than any country in the world.9

During the campaign a popular slogan was ‘Bahut hui mehengai ki maar/Ab ki baar, Modi sarkaar!’10 The BJP government earned a windfall of US $40 billion or ₹233,000 crore in its first three years, thanks to a collapse in benchmark crude oil prices from $108.05 to $48.82 (May 2014 to May 2017) whose benefits it refused to pass on to the aam aadmi.11 Instead it levied in extra taxes what might have been saved at the pump, failing to produce a stimulus to the economy; it is estimated that the government earned ₹4.5 lakh crore every year since 2014 through excise on petrol and diesel alone.12 Given the subsequent rise in global prices, the Indian driver was left stuck with record high prices at the pump, even as the rupee tumbled to record lows (crossing ₹71 to the dollar in August 2018).13

Then there was the disastrous experiment of demonetization, to which this book devotes an entire chapter. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, demonetization cost India 15 lakh jobs between January and April 2017 alone.14 As I point out, it achieved not a single one of its objectives as announced by the prime minister; indeed, 99 per cent of the money that was demonetized has now come back into circulation.15 Worse is the intangible damage done to investor confidence in India’s economy; the fear of similar surprises has intimidated investors and depressed demand. Demoneti...

Instead of being a game-changing government, the BJP has turned out to be a name-changing one. The only successes it can point to are of schemes that were initiated by the UPA and often criticized at the time by the Opposition BJP: MGNREGA (which the PM sneered at, but now seeks credit for increasing its funding, even though states complain the promised subventions from the centre have not come); Aadhaar (which Mr Modi vowed to dismantle but has instead made compulsory, in many cases linking it to such things as credit cards and mobile phones that often have no links to government benefits); Direct Benefits Transfer, attractively renamed Jan Dhan as if the BJP had not criticized its adoption; Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan, now packaged as ‘Swachh Bharat’ with lower outgoes but five times the publicity budget; FDI in retail, the Financial Inclusion Scheme, liberalization of insurance and GST (Goods and Services Tax) itself, all of which the BJP had ferociously opposed and now wants to be congratulated for adopting. The UPA’s skill development mission has been renamed the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana; the National e-Governance Plan is now ‘Digital India’; the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen V...

In just one year, India slipped twenty-one places on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Gender Gap index, from 87th to 108th—behind even our supposedly notorious neighbours China (where aborted female foetuses have contributed to a gender imbalance) and Bangladesh, where Islam has allegedly made the society unfriendly to women.24 Sadly, not only does India remain unsafe for women, but in the Modi era there have even been ministers who have supported or tried to protect perpetrators of such violence towards women.25

Among Mr Modi’s most emotionally-expressed commitments was to the Ganga River, which he often describes as his ‘mother’, saying she has ‘called him’ to serve her. But his Namami Ganga scheme to clean up the grossly polluted river is a spectacular failure, and India ranks 177th in the Environmental Performance Index out of 180 countries.27 Modi’s own constituency of Varanasi is a byword for dirt, grime and unmanageable waste.

The Modi slogan ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ (together with all, development for all) has found its reality: India’s minorities are daily being made to feel unwelcome by the majoritarian discourse flourishing under the BJP, with ruling party MPs, including ministers, uttering Hindu-chauvinist sentiments never heard before from people in authority. Ghar wapsi, saffronization, statues of Godse, Ramzade and Haramzade, have all entered into and seared our political discourse, while the prime minister has largely remained silent, refusing to discipline or dismiss his errant ministers.33

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts.

he advocates liberal principles and objectives, but if these are to be fulfilled he would need to jettison the very illiberal forces that have helped ensure his electoral victories. The tension between his indulgence of the Hindutva brigades and his responsibilities as prime minister of India has become increasingly apparent. He may say all the right things himself, but he will not condemn the bigots in his own ranks, and by his refusal to condemn them, he empowers and emboldens them. That will prove to be his undoing, and if allowed to prevail, will destroy everything that is good, noble and decent about our country.

‘Let me tell you a story,’ Mr Modi replied, looking me straight in the eye. ‘The same question you are asking me, I was asked by some very important people from Delhi. Some committee appointed by the central government had come to see me. [I surmised this was the Sachar Commission, which had been tasked by the UPA government to prepare a detailed report on the condition of Indian Muslims.] So I received them in my office, and they said to me, “We hear you have done nothing for Muslims in Gujarat.”’ ‘You have done nothing for Muslims in Gujarat,’ he repeated for emphasis. ‘I replied, “Sit down, and please write this,”’ Narendra Modi’s eyes glinted behind his glasses. ‘They all took out their notebooks and pens. And I told them, “You are right. I have done nothing for Muslims in Gujarat.” They all started writing this in their notebooks. Then I added, “Write this also: I have done nothing for Hindus in Gujarat either.’’’ He paused for dramatic effect. ‘“I have done nothing for Muslims or Hindus. I have only worked for Gujaratis.”’ It was highly effective, as was much else that he said that day. He was in Chennai to address non-resident Indian delegates about the investment opportunities available in his state. It was clear he knew how to impress an audience, even if, at our lunch, it was just an audience of five.

The RSS emerged from the prevalent ideological currents of the 1920s, believing in many of the ideas Mussolini’s Fascists or Hitler’s National Socialists were propagating at the same time, notably race pride, military discipline, effective organization and fiercely chauvinist nationalism that targeted minorities and dissenters.

It was reported that the late Prime Minister Vajpayee wanted to dismiss Narendra Modi as chief minister for his failure to prevent the massacre, but was dissuaded by the Hindutva hardliners in his administration.

When Mr Modi left office, the state was ranked 19th in the availability of household TVs, Internet connections and mobile networks; 18th in terms of literacy; 22nd in primary school enrolment; 23rd in its infant mortality rate; and 11th in its maternal mortality rate. The number of people living below the poverty line has increased in Gujarat since the 1990s. The daily income of farmers, ₹264 in 2016, was ₹77 less than the national average. The number of educated unemployed in the state stood at 6.12 lakh in 2016.69 The state’s high rate of growth evidently masked several inequities.