Author and politician Shashi Tharoor tells Medha Dutta that in his book he judges Modi by the yardsticks that he had himself laid out.

Why ‘paradoxical’?
In 2014, when PM Modi had just been voted into power, his liberal, inclusive and conciliatory pronouncements—sab ka saath sab ka vikas, for instance, and promises to be a Prime Minister for all Indians—had prompted hope that we were possibly looking at a ‘Narendra Modi 2.0’: one who had moved away from his controversial role in the riots of 2002 and seemed ready to replace the incendiary identity politics of Hindutva with a politics of performance.

I judge Modi by the yardsticks that he had himself laid out by making such statements and claims. Sadly, the central paradox is that he makes liberal promises while relying for political support on the most illiberal elements of Indian society. Modi’s rule has been bad for India, and it all rises from the Modi paradox—his inability to rise above his narrow-minded, mean-spirited, sectarian political origins to the levels of statesmanship and good governance that a country like India needs.

The Prime Minister has often launched personal attacks on you. Is this book a kind of counterattack?
Not at all. This is not some personal vendetta. On the contrary, the book is a substantive and substantiated takedown of the last four-plus years of Modi rule and everything that has happened in that time.

You describe him as Napoleonic. Could you elaborate?
I believe that in his single-minded pursuit of power and in his belief in his own destiny, from a very young age, Narendra Modi can certainly be described as ‘Napoleonic’. However, the parallel has its own limitations. For instance, while Napoleon is remembered, despite all his shortcomings, for his brilliant foresight and his implementation of many of the ideas that are fundamental to the world today, the same cannot be said of Narendra Modi, who has presided over a series of disasters.

You have actually given credit to the PM for a few things.
That is correct. His rise from very modest origins is admirable. I also defend his habits of personal grooming and his giving away his salary to charity. On some specific policies, I have acknowledged, for instance, that the International Yoga Day was a very clever exercise of soft power. I have also praised the energy with which Modi jet-sets around the world. But at the same time, I have questioned the results of all this.

Where does the ‘Modi-fication’ of India end?
The longer Modi remains in power there is an enhanced danger that the extent of the ‘Modi-fication’ that we have already seen, especially the takeover of institutions and systems, may be profound and to a certain extent may even become irreversible. It is clear that the 2019 General Elections may be the last obstacle to the complete Modi-fication of the country. But I do take some solace in the fact that it takes time to transform a country as large and diverse as India.

You recently kicked up a storm with your ‘a scorpion sitting on a Shivalinga’ description of the Prime Minister.
On this subject please watch the entirety of that portion of my speech, which is recorded and available on the internet—I clearly mentioned that I was quoting an unnamed RSS source that had described, to Vinod K Jose of the Caravan, their frustration with Modi. It was a quote from a published source, not my own. But the BJP has made a cottage industry out of distorting my remarks, abetted by an obliging media.