THE PARADOXICAL PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI AND HIS INDIA
By Dr. SHASHI THAROOR
Nehru The Invention of India, a brilliantly written sleek, though small, book by Shashi Tharoor was published in 2003. Fifteen years later, from the prolific pen of the distinguished author of seventeen books to date, the eighteenth a tome of 504 pages on Narendra Modi The Paradoxical Prime Minister – Narendra Modi and his India is being widely discussed. If the former, like sublime poetry is unputdownable the latter is like slightly heavy prose. That, of course, is understandable and in a way quite appropriate too. It is needless to attempt here a comparison between Jawaharlal Nehru, the great first prime minister of India and Narendra Modi, the present head of the government. Shashi Tharoor, the former Under Secretary General of the Unites Nations and ex union minister is known for his ability to perform multiple roles with amazing ease and success. He was a debater at Oxford speaking in support of his book The Era of Darkness (The British Empire in India) an indictment of British rule. He now plays the role of the prosecutor ‘chargesheeting’ Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India for ‘misgovernance and several acts of omission and commission’. Like a seasoned lawyer he presents his arguments with facts and figures and information gathered from several sources.
The book is divided into five sections, ‘each of which examines Narendra Modi’s personality or the manner in which his government functions. In the first section Shashi Tharoor takes ‘a close look at his life and times, from his humble beginnings in Vadnagar, Gujarat and ending with his ascent to the prime ministership of India.’ Modi will not, writes the author, ‘condemn the bigots in his own ranks who will destroy everything that is noble and decent about our country.’ The second section titled MODI-FICATION OF INDIA deals with ‘the rise of gau-rakshaks, the assassinations of rationalists, mob lynchings, episodes of beef-related violence, BJP trolls on social media, and impact on fundamental ideas and values of India’. In the third section under the title MODITVA AND MISGOVERNANCE, focus is on attack on institutions, reversing his promise into ‘maximum government and minimum governance’ and meddling in matters of justice. The fourth titled The Failure of Modinomics describes how a growing economy was almost flattened by demonetization, GST, Swachch Bharat and unbalanced budgets and their effects especially on the lower middle classes and the poor people. The final chapter titled ‘Flights of Fancy’ discusses the failures of Modi government in foreign policy, especially with Pakistan and China, despite the frequent tours by the prime minister who made ‘forty one trips in four years to 52 countries till June, 2018, 477 out of 1491 days visiting other countries as well as Indian States’.
Shashi Tharoor narrates how the tech-savvy prime minister of India is the third most followed leader on Twitter after Trump and Pope Francis. The orator prime minister is an authoritarian personality who “understands only one alphabet and that is ‘I’. “In a conversation, Modi revealed to Tharoor that he would not compromise on three things – his eyes, voice and clothes. The prime minister loves to be seen in good dress and well-combed hair. Tharoor describes Moditva as ‘a combination of Hindutva, nationalism, economic development and overweening personal leadership. It is carefully packaged and marketed, with considerable attention (and expense) being paid to disseminating its message to the public’. Hindutva itself is modified, or as some might have it, Modi-fied, adds Tharoor.
Tharoor’s analysis of Modi’s ‘misgovernance’ is clinical in precision though it may appear a little biased in presentation. Each of the fifty chapters is loaded with quotations, references and footnotes – a testament to the meticulous care with which the subject was researched. ‘Modi has little respect for Parliament. He occasionally shows up to deliver rodomontade speeches in Parliament, he does not take questions, and has refused to subject himself to any kind of parliamentary cross-examination of his policies or statements’, writes the author. The prime minister’s ‘attack on science’, downgrading priorities for secondary and higher education and neglect of healthcare, and glaring instances of governmental failures are explained in detail. “If the media is choking or suffocated that is a clear indication that society is no longer safe for us,” points out Tharoor. The fact that ‘the demonetization of minorities within society’ has resulted in a feeling of insecurity among them smacks off fascist tendencies. “Demonetization was a disastrous decision of the Modi government and the GST that followed caused immense hardship to the people, especially the poor and the small business classes. Due to demonetization 15 lakh jobs were lost between January and April in 2017. The labour Bureau’s Quarterly Employment Survey for October to December 2017 showed that about 1.25 lakh casual and 46,000 part-time workers were out of jobs”, writs the author.
Tharoor, the former Minister for External Affairs, is at his best in writing on India’s foreign policy and the chapter on India’s relationship with Pakistan is eminently readable. Tharoor quotes the words of G.Parthasarathy, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, who said: “Promoting peace between India and Pakistan is the trying to treat two patients whose only disease is an allergy to each other.” As Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s former ambassador and diplomat put it “Kashmir is not a cause of the conflict between the two states but rather a symptom of it”. In Indo-US relationship, the transformation ‘from estrangement to strategic partnership is well advanced’. Referring to India’s relationship with China, Tharoor hopes that “It is entirely possible that relationship with China can veer away from confrontation towards at least coexistence if not extensive cooperation”.
Shashi Tharoor is too scholarly and sophisticated to be mean in thought or word towards anyone including prime minister Narendra Modi, the target of attack by the Congress party of which the biographer is a leading light. Tharoor who had complimented and congratulated prime minister Narendra Modi on a few occasions writes in the last chapter “Yes, Mr.Modi is capable of evolution.” Tharoor concedes that Narendra Modi “continues to lead in most public opinion polls as the most deserving prime minister of the country. This may be a tribute to his marketing savvy, his stirring speeches, his repeated projections of his own personality, his assiduous and mellifluous use of every communication tool from monthly radio broadcasts to daily tweets , his relentless burnishing of his own outsize image, or simply a reflection that mass public opinion can be easily swayed by rhetorical flourishes and skilled PR. But this is really the ultimate paradox of our paradoxical prime minister – that his perceived stature rests on appearances that are themselves belied by the multiple failures of the administration he leads. Compounding all this is the man’s extraordinary ego”.
Shashi Tharoor concludes that “Our inclusive vision of our New India must be complemented by inclusive development as we move forward. New India must be built on the liberalization we embarked upon in 1991. Economic growth remains vital to pulling people out of poverty. But the fruits of that growth – the revenues that come from it – must be shared with those who are excluded from its benefits. The magic of the market will not appeal to those who cannot afford to enter the marketplace. “
Critics may find fault with Shashi Tharoor for releasing the book in the last year of Narendra Modi’s prime ministership, before the 2019 general elections, that too in a ‘polemical narrative by a Congress Member of Parliament. One is reminded of an author’s comment that perceptions differ in a parliamentary democracy in which the ruling party often complains against the opposition needlessly applying brakes in a car going smoothly up the hill while the latter claims to be doing so in the interest of the people as the car was, in fact, hurtling down dangerously and brakes needed to be applied. All that apart, Shashi Tharoor’s book is a must read for the many things it reveals and the message it finally conveys in just two lines: “Our New India will shine. But it must shine for all.”
A. Prasanna Kumar