When Mr Modi came to power in 2014, he delivered a great speech where he addressed the nation about what wrong the country has faced till 2014 and what ‘WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA’ could expect from his governance about the progress and future of this nation. Towards the conclusion of his speech, he moved towards the new terminology that people then used, aka, ‘My Idea Of India’, and continued his speech with his ‘Idea of India’.
So, let’s explore whether the Modi-led BJP government is able to fulfil those promises that it made during the 2014 speech and even afterwards in various public gatherings revolving around corruption, employment, women’s safety, transparency, farmers committing suicide, and many more.
The case of Electoral bonds- A contradiction to ‘ना खाऊंगा ना खाने दूंगा’.
PM Modi had his great words over corruption, and through his speeches, he assured the citizens of India that neither he will take bribes nor he will allow the transaction to happen. However, as the book of Electoral Bonds is going on the next page day by day, horrible facts are coming out as to how the current governance, aka the BJP, has used their power and position for personal gains and compromised on public welfare. It seems that the notion of electoral bonds was made in existence to be used as a tool to extort money from corporations and the public.
Moreover, the BJP team, which said that they would disclose the Swiss bank details from foreign land and bring back each penny that can be categorised as black money, are now themselves taking funding from foreign entities on the pretext of ‘Electoral Bonds’.
No government is foolproof; there were instances of corruption in earlier governments as well. However, a person who openly described all other governments as corrupt, asserting that India had never witnessed such a ghastly form of corruption in the last decade, and promised to make India a corruption-free nation by not participating in acts of corruption needs to abide by his words, which seems to be compromised now, breaching BJP’s promise of corruption free nation.
ED, CBI, SEBI, EC, etc- The compromised use of national agencies and regulatory bodies.
Mr Modi started his ‘Idea of India’ as सत्यमेव जयते– Truth alone triumphs; however, is any kind of true investigation allowed by regulatory bodies and national agencies in BJP reign, or are they just used as a tool by the central governance?
If you are a well-read scholar of daily news, then you have come across many pieces of opinion that clearly describe how the BJP has used national agencies to extort money from companies. Investigations show how the raids by central agencies were dropped after they donated funds to the BJP. The central agencies are constituted and directed to protect the citizens and national interests. However, studies show that the BJP government have misused them for their party gains.
The use of government mechanism by politicians was present in yesteryears also; however, the politics done by BJP showcases how far the current governance can go to achieve their personal gains by suppressing the public and national demands.
One is no longer astonished by the unholy alliance between corporations and this administration. The dubious Rafale deal, the electoral bond scandal, the exorbitant airport and port contracts, and so on all reveal a close relationship between the government and the most powerful commercial interests. All these truths went under a shadow as the investigating agencies seemed to be directed to keep a hush and focus on raids to extort money from a specific person(s), breaking the promise of ‘सत्यमेव जयते’.
Farmers- The BJP government’s ruthless attitude towards the अन्नदाता’ of the nation.
Nails on the road, barricades, cement walls! What can you think if I tell you these were used to stop people? You probably might think that the people who are supposed to be stopped would be Invaders and terrorists who are making an attempt to harm India. Unfortunately, the other side of those barricades, nails, and cement walls are the food givers of India. How pathetic to see that those who give food to India and run this agrarian economy are themselves subjected to such ruthless behaviours by the BJP government.
Yes, the government of any nation has the right to stop the critics, but this act of the BJP government displays how far they can go to show their power by suppressing those who are the backbones of the Indian economy. The change in farmer laws was done with the promise of doing good to the farmers; however, throwing pellet guns and tear gases at the farmers shows the atrocity of the BJP government.
Manipur Violence- The Height of Hypocrisy.
The ‘Idea of India’ said, “Na Tyahan Kāmayē Rājyam, Na Svarga Na Punarbhavam, Kāmayē Dukhtaptānām Praninamārtinashnam” which means Happiness does not lie in the desire for the state, nor the heaven or reincarnation; it lies in dousing pain and suffering of all living beings.
The northeastern belt of India has been neglected by approximately every government. However, the situation was never as bad as it is now, and how the BJP head has time to go to every international visit and national park but does not have the time to land on his own soil and make efforts to simplify the situation.
On the one hand, the PM is visiting the Kaziranga National Park in Assam, taking photo shoots and uploading them on social media handles, but does not have time to visit Manipur, talk with them, find solutions for their problems and many more.
On the one hand, the PM slammed Congress for ignoring the northeastern states of the country, and on the other hand, he ignored the critical issues of Manipur for the last year. The situation is so worse now that mixed martial arts fighter Chungreng Koren from Manipur, in his winning speech, emotionally broke while requesting the PM to visit Manipur and help the people from the ethnic violence.
On one hand, in January 2024, Mr Modi greeted people of Manipur, virtually on their statehood day, but cannot take any efforts to resolve the peace of the state.
On the one hand, the recent BJP-led campaign shows how ‘Mr Modi has halted the Russia-Ukraine war and had helped students flee from there’ and, on the other hand, could not stop the Manipur war that’s going on within the nation.
Does this not break the promise that the BJP chief made in the 2014 speech that he will douse the pain and suffering of all living beings?
Communal Violence- The throne of the BJP for achieving victory by triggering violence between communities.
The ‘Idea of India’ mentioned Ahimsa Paramo Dharma, which asserts that Non-violence is the prime duty. However, violence triggered among different religious communities has seen a spike in recent years.
On June 2, 2019, a viral video made multiple rounds on social media in India. The video showed a young Muslim man who was tied up and bleeding profusely all over his body. His hands were folded, and he was lynched by a mob that forced him to say ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Jai Hanuman.’ The man was later identified as 24-year-old Tabrez Ansari, who became the first victim of communal violence and hate crime in the 2nd term of PM.
The United States Commission for International Human Rights condemned Ansari’s lynching, citing the recognisable pattern of hate crimes against minorities that characterises India’s frightening slide into majoritarianism, long feared by many who have followed Modi’s human rights history. Taking a fact from the past, in 2005, Mr Modi, then the head of BJP-led Gujarat, became the first and only person ever barred from entering the US under a little-known immigration law that prohibits foreign officials from obtaining visas if they are responsible for “particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”
And if you think this was just one case, there are a plethora of articles that show how Muslims in India are threatened and sidelined under the Modi-led BJP government and how the people of India and their minds are entangled in this notion of communal divide. In the recent incident itself, the kicking of a Muslim man in Delhi when he was offering namaz shows how down the moral values of people have gone, paving the way towards the hatred spread by the BJP government. Does this not compromise the idea of India, as said in the 2014 speech, as Ahimsa Paramo Dharma?
Misuse of media- shaking the fourth pillar of democracy.
The media is like a mirror to the world, reflecting the true and harsh truths of the world, which is why it is known as the fourth pillar of democracy. But media under the current BJP reign has gone so low that now, instead of getting news that revolves around people and the economy, we can only see how the PM is spending time in his visits to various places or how ‘he doesn’t get tired’ or to say the least, the media is used to instigate the above mentioned communal hatred.
Under Mr Modi, India’s press has become restricted. Investigations show that the BJP government has put pressure on advertisers and even shut down media channels to control the information that 1.3 billion Indians consume. The recent crackdown on ‘Godi Media Anchors’ shows how the media has been tamed and used to spread communal disharmony in people and is instigating hatred towards one specific religion.
Reporters Without Borders’ May 2023 analysis shows a significant drop in India’s press freedom rating. The research criticises the corporatisation of Indian media, claiming that all prominent media outlets are now owned by businessmen connected to Prime Minister Modi. The resignation of veteran journalist Mr Ravish Kumar from NDTV after it was acquired by Adani, the friend of the PM, shows how editorial independence is slashed in current BJP governance.
In a recent case of March 2024 from Uttarakhand, a Journalist named Ashutosh Negi, who sought ‘justice’ in the murder case of Ankita Bhandari (2022) ‘involving BJP leader’, got arrested. And not to forget the killing of journalist Late Gauri Lankesh, Lankesh was harmful to the Hindu right and hence was killed to suppress her strong and free opinions.
The ‘Idea of India’ asserted the phrase ‘Aano Bhadra Kratvo Yantu Vishwata’, which denotes that ‘Let good thoughts come from everywhere – from all the world’. However, the BJP government tried every possible method to stop the media from asking genuine questions related to the growth of the country, or tried to rectify the motto of news towards religiously triggered violence, or perhaps completely assassinated the voice of certain critics; hence blocking all those roads from where different thoughts were coming that were not parallel with the right-oriented BJP government!
Women- How ‘her’ dignity is compromised in the ‘Mother of Democracy’.
The ‘Idea of India’ said, “Yatra Naryastu Pujyante Ramante Tatra Devta,” says ‘Where women are honoured, the divinity blossoms there’. However, can divinity be blossomed there where women of the nation are not even listened by the government?
From the compromising situation of women in Manipur violence to Jantar Mantar’s protest on sexual violence by the BJP candidate, can India be really called the ‘Mother of Democracy’? The allegations by wrestler Phogat and others on WFI chief are present on every platform; still, the person accused is not behind bars? Not only is he free, but he has also given open statements like comparing ‘Vinesh Phogat playing the role of Manthara’, which can be seen as comparing a key witness to a hated person from the Ramayana, which is nothing more than an attempt to scare the witness by publicly defaming her. Is this what you can expect from the ‘Mother of Democracy’?
The question arises of why the person accused is not behind bars, even after he was under the offence of the POCSO Act, which is a grave one. According to the Indian Express, a senior police officer stated on May 5, 2023, that they have no evidence against him yet. And so might be the possibility that he is not behind the bars.
Isn’t it strange that this BJP candidate, the WFI chief, who is openly criticised by national level players and others for sexual assault, is walking free, and Mr GN Sai Baba, who is 90% paralysed, was behind bars for almost a decade, just for intellectual pursuits, which were mistaken as an attempt of committing a crime! This is something Indian Judiciary need to be careful about, otherwise they will loose the beleive in the judicial system of biggest democracy of the world!
Also, in another case, speaking at a government programme in Hooghly, the PM claimed that people nationwide were both “sad” and “enraged” about the alleged atrocities committed by local TMC leaders against the women of Sandeshkhali; however, some of his own ‘Modi ka Pariwar’ members publicly attack the status of women in the nation, and no action is taken against them!
The promise of Ladakh- Is there any update?
Recall the actual ‘Phunsuk Wangdoo’; the Sonam Wankchuk, who is in a hunger strike from last 15 days over the protection of rights and statehood of ladakh. The continuing protest in Ladakh against the Union government will intensify, with the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) set to join environmental activist and Ramon Magsasay award laureate Sonam Wangchuk’s hunger strike on March 24.
In his speeches after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019 in Jammu and Kashmir, PM Modi assured that there would be splendid economic development in the regions of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and that people would recognise the region globally. However, the march of mass people in Ladakh after four years shows that the promises made in the past are not yet fulfilled. The severity of the situation in Ladakh can be assessed by the words of Mr Wangchuk, where he calls India a ‘stepmother of Democracy’ if the BJP government denies the democratic rights to the people of Ladakh & continues to keep it under bureaucrats’ control from New Delhi.
The abrogation of the article was done to connect the north with the rest of the country; however, the current situation symbolises that the central government was only concerned about the abrogation of the article and hasn’t planned much more about the after effects of the situation. “This climate fast beneath the open sky is to remind the Indian government of the promises they have made to protect the vulnerable ecological and the unique indigenous tribal culture under the Sixth Schedule,” a visibly weak Mr Wangchuk remarked. Is the central government keeping its promise?
No press conference in 10 years: Why not be able to face ‘Modi ka Pariwar’ directly?
The Prime Minister does not hold press conferences since it is much easier to deliver speeches. He practices monologic politics, in which just one person speaks while the others listen. This helps him establish popularity among the masses since it appears that he is conversing with them. But all he’s doing is speaking at them. In an entire decade, Mr Modi had not made a single press conference, its just the mass people standing and listening to his over-convincing speeches, prepared by a trained PR army.
When the opposition took a jibe that Mr Modi did not have a family, he addressed his entire nation as his family. Then why is there no direct conversation with the family? Also, there are no direct talks with Manipur families, Ladakh families, and many more! Also, the PM said that his governance has transitioned to performance-based governance, in which shortages, corruption and discrimination have been replaced by transparency, accountability and opportunity. However, no press conference and direct connection with the public and ‘responsible media’ breaks the promise of transparency and accountability.
Modi- The Brand, but at what cost?
Have you ever seen the selfie points made out at every railway station? On December 27, 2023, The Hindu reported that each permanent selfie booth with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image costs ₹6.25 lakh, while each temporary selfie booth costs ₹1.25 lakh, which is the allowed cost by the Central Bureau of Communication under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The Central Railway provided the information in response to a Right to Information request. The official who gave this information was transferred without prior notice. Is this the cost that the person paid for speaking the facts?
Another one: with the Lok Sabha elections approaching, the Union Government has stepped up efforts to promote ‘brand Narendra Modi,’ with the current campaign featuring the Prime Minister’s photograph on foodgrain sacks supplied through the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKY).
It may be appropriate to promote the party leader. But the question is: at what cost does this brand marketing occur? Is this the poor’s money, or is it the taxpayer’s money that is used for personal and party gains instead of public welfare? The PM’s asserted that their good governance is for the poor, is for the common man, it is for the exploited, suffering and the oppressed. However, nothing seems to have changed much in the current reign as, on paper, India has a lot to celebrate, but there is always some different truth on the other side of the table.
According to a survey by the government think tank NITI Aayog, over 248 million individuals in the country have fled multidimensional poverty over the last nine years. The analysis estimates that multidimensional poverty has decreased by 18% over the last nine years, with the proportion of persons living in this state falling from 29% to 11%.
The figures appear to show significant progress towards the government’s goal of reducing multidimensional poverty to less than one per cent, but some economists have expressed serious concerns about the use of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) to make these claims, pointing out that the report does not provide a complete picture. “The technique is problematic,” stated Santosh Mehrotra, a visiting professor of development economics at the University of Bath’s Centre for Development Studies.
Also, India ranks 111th out of 125 nations in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2023, with progress against hunger practically halted since 2015, echoing a global trend. So where is the money going? Where the taxpayer’s money is going if they are not used for decreasing poverty and hunger issues? Isn’t this a breach of the promise that was made in 2014?
Moreover, recall the concept of electoral bonds that you read at the start of the article. It is clear that the BJP received more than 50 % from electoral bonds. If at all it is to be believed that the money is not used for corruption, then it should have been used for the development of the nation. However, stagnant growth in decreasing poverty and a halt in improving food scarcity shows that the money was channelled to some other domains that were towards promoting the ‘Modi brand’!
The bottom line- Should this be the image of a Global Leader?
Mr Modi or the BJP government has applauded India on various global platforms that India is now a competent nation enough to be termed as विश्व गुरु; however, the individual parameters of India’s progress depicts some other story.
From renouncing a large number of Indian Citizenships, increasing the gap between rich and poor, extreme hunger and poverty, and incomplete promises by the BJP government over corruption, employment, education, and many more, didn’t BJP failed to do what it promised before coming in power and just worked upon making their own seats stronger rather than giving ‘the Modi Pariwar’ a better life, that the earlier government(s) failed to give, as claimed in 2014 speech!