Prime Minister Narendra Modi: Rights vs Riches
Support for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is strongly divided. As one who leans pretty much to the left, thought I’d share my thoughts on why I'm not very happy with... well, having him as the Prime Minister of India at all...
The growing intolerance and segregation between religious communities in India. He vowed this would improve in February. Yet to see improvement.
The increasing lack of freedom as his party attempts to ban more and more things that suit their ideology.
The need to rewrite India's history books to reflect India's glory rather than true facts (something that British history books still needs to work on, actually :)
His warped views on women's rights: “Women usually don’t own anything...but gold is their strength.”
Doing almost nothing towards the rights of the Indian LGBT community. Some of the quotes from his party are probably making things worse.
His lack of action when people do step out of line. He's one of the most powerful men in India. If Nepal is in desperate need of oil, and the Indian Oil Corporation have declared a blockade. If families, such as that of Jyoti Pandey, are seeking justice for the rape of their daughters. Under his rule, there's been less satisfaction from both Christian and Sikh communities due to maltreatment from the authorities.
There were riots before Gujarat 2002 when Congress were in rule, there have been riots afterwards too, but the fact that Modi was Chief Minister at the time of one of the biggest riots that India has ever seen doesn't fill me with a lot of faith. He may not have started it, but he sure as hell didn’t control it.
Why he’s cracking down on NGO organisations who are only looking out for the betterment of India, I have no idea. Most lately, barring Greenpeace India from receiving foreign funds.
However, nothing encapsulates my thought on why Modi shouldn't be Prime Minster more than this statement by 250 of India's most prestigious academics and scholars:
"In a country with some 4693 communities and over 415 living languages, each community is bound to have its own customs, including dietary choices. Individuals may also follow practices different from the ones followed by the majority of their community. Any attempt to impose a uniform belief or practice, on either individuals or communities, is antithetical to the freedom enshrined in the Constitution. It is the state’s responsibility to ensure this freedom."
It’s no surprise that Modi won India’s election last year with a landslide victory. The people of India rightfully wanted change after Congress’ stronghold on power since 1951, and to see if another party could do better for the country. Modi’s amazing stand as an orator and his 5000-strong social media team didn’t hurt his chances either. Successfully, Modi has used his outstanding business acumen to bring India more in the way of international trade and national economy than any of the country's politicians before him.
But the question is: at what cost? And the even greater question: If we didn’t have Modi, who else is there?
