He may not be the worst, but certainly is not the best
Several days ago, I was invited by a TV channel to participate in a “debate programme” on the following motion or topic: Is Narendra Modi India’s best PM ever?
I could not accept the request because of prior engagement. However, the question remains important and needs to be addressed with utmost seriousness, even though, the channel probably planned this programme as yet another fawning exercise aimed to ingratiate the channel, its editors and possibly owners too, with the media and image manager(s) of Modi.
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The question is important because the Prime Minister recently marked the 11th anniversary of being in office. Although this watershed date was actually reached on May 26 because that was the date on which he first took oath as India’s 14th PM in a landmark ceremony, the government made the formal celebration this year on June 9, the date on which he took oath for the third time in 2024.
'Rule of 75' and Nehru's record
Despite 'wonderment' being natural, no one needs to be surprised at the officially orchestrated celebration of an anniversary count – 11th – which is rarely marked. But Modi and his media managers would not mind if even the least important milestones are celebrated, because these events snuff out all efforts at scrutiny.
Given the fact that there is no evidence of Modi applying the ‘rule of 75’, with which he sidelined several potential challengers and what he considered political deadwood, one can say that there is little but providence that will prevent Modi from crossing number 16, the number of years of being in office and thereby going past Jawaharlal Nehru as the longest running PM of the country.
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This is certainly a mention that he would want to be included in history books and official records of the future, surpassing India’s first premier and thereby carving a special niche for himself.
Nehru became synonymous with several institutions, from the now-dead Planning Commission, the “temples of modern India”, a term he coined to describe major public works projects like dams, steel plants, and research institutions, which proved crucial for India's development and modernisation.
From the beginning, Modi has gone about shutting down past institutions, creating new organisations and also indulging in vanity architecture, from the Sabarmati river waterfront, to the Sardar Patel statue on the banks of the Narmada river, to the Central Vista, New Parliament Building and a ‘new’ Pragati Maidan, he is leaving his signature as much in stone as in institutions and policies.
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The debate programme on the channel which invited me, is possibly history by now, watched not so much in entirety, but mainly in selected parts, most having pro-establishment commentators and party members saying excitedly little but, “yes…yes…and yes…”
From the beginning, Modi has gone about shutting down past institutions, creating new organisations and also indulging in vanity architecture
These would have been broadcast and circulated on TV and social media, probably still are, because milestone-marking events from Modi’s career echo in a planned manner for several days.
Ideologically driven premier
In the programme, there would certainly have been naysayers, because in the eyes of most channels, I would be one of them and that is why I was invited to the show.
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But, if I did not have a previous engagement and had gone for the programme recording, I would have framed my response to the motion of the debate with neither, ‘yes’, nor ‘no’.
My response would still have been one word – ‘Po’. Many would recall that the idea of ‘Po’ was coined by the famed Maltese thinker and commentator Edward de Bono who coined the concept of ‘lateral thinking.’
Interpreted variously, ‘Po’ in this context would mean that Modi has neither been the ‘best’ Indian PM nor the ‘worst’, or even maybe not the worst, but certainly not the best. He, at best, has shades of green as well as red, taking the analogy from the traffic lights to convey the positive and the negative sides of Modi’s tenure.
If this is getting too muddled, let me put it this way: there have been some areas in which a lot of ‘good’ work has been done since 2014, and there have been several others, where the work is either, inadequate, unimpressive, or even questionable.
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The last point must be interlaced with an important fact: After Nehru, Modi is the most ideologically driven prime minister. But, the two have directly contrasting views of just about everything, most importantly Indian nationalism and the idea of nationhood.
This disagreement is still evident between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the majority of Opposition parties, as well as in every section of society, from the scientific community to the media.
Economic disparity
India is a country where the number of poor, outnumber the rich by far. It is widely known that levels of economic disparity in the country, are at their highest in history.
Assessments vary from claims that the top 10 per cent of the Indian population holds 77 per cent of the total national wealth to those stating that richest 1 per cent of Indians own 58 per cent of wealth.
There is also the paradox of Modi being able to evidently bolster his popularity within the country in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, even though India has never been as globally isolated as it is now
Whatever the truth, (Disclaimer: This is not an evaluation of economy under Modi or a research paper on economic disparity in contemporary India) there is little denying that the rich have become richer and the gap between the richest in the country and the poorest, has become wider over the past 11 years.
For a country, which in the Preamble of its Constitution, promises “Equality of status and opportunity”, this is little but sheer travesty of constitutional promises to every citizen.
This was most starkly evident in the biggest human congregation, the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj in January-February when the poor sweated it out in ramshackle shelters and got crushed to death under the weight of one another, while the rich lived in lavished ‘tent villages’ even as the idea of teerth or pilgrimage became a tourism event.
Despite having failed in even moving towards the objective of fulfilling the pledge in the country’s “only Holy text” (as stated by Modi most movingly after winning the elections in 2014), the government is claiming in handouts marking its 11th anniversary as a “decade of remarkable transformation, driven by the principles of Seva, Sushasan, and Garib Kalyan. (service, good performance and welfare of the poor)”.
This is not a new claim and has been made repeatedly over the past several years – a simple Google search will reveal past instances when these three concepts have been presented as “defining the journey of the past 11 years”.
I do not think many have forgotten an infamous dictum – “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth”, the law of propaganda often attributed to Joseph Goebbels, German minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda in the years Adolf Hitler ruled the country. Psychologists also term this as the "illusion of truth" effect.
It is not that ‘nothing’ has been done in the past 11 years. There has been a certain extent of poverty alleviation, but the claims get cut back with one of the biggest free food schemes anywhere in the world with the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, now scheduled to run till 2028.
While starting this scheme in the COVID years was a necessity. But, its continuance underscores failure on the policy front and the government’s incapacity to provide adequate employment to people and enable them afford to purchase their own basic necessities and live a life in dignity and not by eating what is distributed to them in photo-op sessions.
Likewise, infrastructure has been developed but bridges keep collapsing and the new highways provide little but bumpy and rough rides. Politically, however, Modi has fared better and barring the instance of failing to secure a majority of his own in the Lok Sabha in the 2024 elections, Modi has faced little challenge.
Pushing Hindutva agenda
There is also the paradox of Modi being able to evidently bolster his popularity within the country in the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, even though India has never been as globally isolated as it is now. Quite clearly, the claims of Modi having enhanced the “stature of the Indian passport (holder)” are part of the social media narrative, but reality points in another direction.
But, because he has bolstered his stature and popularity in recent weeks, the occasion of the 11th anniversary of assuming office has been used for beating the drum in praise of Modi. The bulk of the media too has been part of publicising the message, that Modi is indeed finest premier ever.
The truth however is not the illusion that created by an overhyped campaign. If Modi has indeed widened the banking network, it is also a fact that a large number of these Jan Dhan accounts have zero balance. If gas cylinders were distributed, refills have gone out of reach of millions of jobless.
The answer to the question posed in the debate’s motion does not lie in the affirmative or the negative. Instead, it falls somewhere in middle just like for any leader who is projected as demi-god; but human with frailties and weaknesses.
The one area where Modi has undeniably scored or ‘performed’ is in pushing the Hindutva agenda and securing greater support for the idea of majoritarianism and marginalising religious minorities, especially Muslims and Christians in politics and society.
With democratic institutions and even the Constitution being slowly hollowed out alongside systematic takeover of institutions by positioning loyalists within the bureaucracy, the Indian State is not just fragile, but also a far cry from what was visualised by the nation’s founding fathers and subsequent leaders who took charge of the reins after India became independent.
(The Federal seeks to present views and opinions from all sides of the spectrum. The information, ideas or opinions in the articles are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Federal)
