Global image of India as a vibrant and inclusive democracy erodes

The international community has begun to view the central government more critically

As the global image of India as a vibrant and inclusive democracy erodes under the Narendra Modi regime, its defenders have become increasingly thin-skinned.

It is unlikely that calling Congress leader Rahul Gandhi the “King of Comedy” or “Prince of Darkness” will undermine his trenchant criticism of the Modi regime in Parliament. Nor is he so wrong in faulting the Prime Minister Modi for disregarding “negotiation and conversation” or accusing him of the King-Emperor syndrome--does not consult the Opposition, prefers monologues on radio and television and has not held a single press conference in eight years where questions are unrehearsed. Rahul Gandhi’s description of the Modi regime’s centralization of governance as one opposed to the “Union of States” promised by the Constitution is also unexceptionable.

The regime’s shouting brigade might disagree with Rahul Gandhi’s claim that there are now “two Indias”--one for the rich and another for the poor”, but they would do well to read the “World Inequality Report 2022”. It singles out India as among the most unequal countries in the world, with rising poverty and an “affluent elite”--the top 10 percent and 1 percent hold 57 percent and 22 percent of the total national income, respectively, while the share of the bottom 50 percent is only 13 percent.

Nor is derision an adequate response to Rahul Gandhi’s charge that the Modi regime’s policies have driven China and Pakistan closer. Yes, the two were undoubtedly close but the unilateral withdrawal of the special status of Jammu & Kashmir and its bifurcation into two Union Territories by the Modi government overnight also prepared the ground for Chinese military incursions in Ladakh--bringing the prospect of a two-front war closer home.

Gandhi is not the only critic of consequence who is publicly targeted. Former Vice President Hamid Ansari has been abused for speaking at an event on the Indian Republic Day, organized by 17 US organizations including the Indian-American Muslim Council (IAMC). Instead of substantively countering Ansari’s arguments the IAMC is being vilified as an instrument of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)--implying that Ansari slandered India at an anti-India forum.

Ansari said that the Modi government has tried to replace India’s “civic nationalism” with “a new and imaginary practice of cultural nationalism” – distinguishing citizens on the basis of their faith, which has led to promotion of intolerance, ‘otherness’, disquiet and insecurity. He proposed that these trends be challenged “legally and politically.” A Muslim minister of the Modi regime pulled up Ansari for not speaking about the plight of religious minorities in Pakistan at the forum instead.

Ansari’s descriptions of the malaise were mild. Muslims have been lynched for trading and eating beef (sometimes on mere suspicion), their businesses attacked, targeted by discriminatory citizenship laws, and sympathetic trolls have been let lose against Muslim women in public life. Even now, the BJP government in the state of Karnataka has banned young girl-students in Udupi from attending school with head scarves (hijab), with a directive that “clothes which disturb equality, integrity and public law and order should not be worn.”

The prime minister and his party have maintained strategic silence even as religious colloquiums in BJP-ruled Uttarakhand called for ethnic cleansing of Muslims. In BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, Christian schools have been attacked and churches vandalized during Sunday Mass and baptism ceremonies alleging they were forcible conversion events. According to the United Christian Front, in 2021 there was a 75 percent surge in violence against Christians in India – with 486 reported incidents in all. This was the highest since 2014, with several incidents taking place on Christmas Day alone.

These acts are not merely tactics to consolidate the BJP’s Hindu vote before elections. They are deep strategic moves to push Indian democracy towards majoritarianism and consolidate Hindu-supremacy. It is no surprise then that the international community has begun to view the Narendra Modi government more critically. Its response so far has not gone beyond abuse by its acolytes.

The international media expose confirming India’s alleged purchase of Pegasus, a surveillance and hacking cyberweapon was dismissed as a conspiracy, with a government minister describing the NYT as “supari media” – like an assassin. An article by Edward Luce of the Financial Times urging the world to “please keep an eye on India’s Modi” and describing him as “a text-book Fascist” was called “pathetic”, “sad and ludicrous” and a “tired attempt to tarnish one of the world’s most popular, democratically elected leaders” by another government minister. A sympathetic academic panned Luce’s writing as “typical of overpaid and congenitally ignorant British scribes”.

Nevertheless, despite the bravado, the sad reality is that the world no longer celebrates Prime Minister Modi as a leader who can turn India into an engine of global economic growth. With growing youth unemployment, an education system in shambles, falling incomes, plummeting growth and widespread social instability, India is no longer attractive as a market or a favoured destination for foreign investment. After the departure of Donald Trump, American support comes with conditions attached, that human rights will be respected and inclusive democracy furthered.

Added to this is the US calculation that India did not have the spine to take on China militarily. The downward evaluation of India as a strategic partner was underlined by the formation of AUKUS – a military alliance to counter China in the Asia-Pacific, of Australia, UK and US, leaving India out in the cold.

The world seems to recognize that the Modi regime has changed India for the worse. Not all may agree with the description of “a textbook Fascist” but they certainly see an erosion of India’s democratic institutions and disapprove of efforts to turn India into a majoritarian religious state. So do many thinking Indians.