Why Modi Must Not Be the Prime Minister of India Again?

I would not go into what works of development he did in India or not in his tenure as its Prime Minister. The people of India must be well informed or misinformed about it. I would rather go into what he did to the thought process of people in his country and its neighbors like Nepal for which he must not be brought to power again.

When two or more cultures coexist, the largest culture tends to demand a superior position most probably due to confidence in its size which creates tension among the cultures. More is the tension, more the people tend to observe their cultures strictly no matter how senseless they are for the purpose of identity. This tension is relieved by the laws of equality among the citizens regardless of their cultures. And when the larger culture have the lawmakers who promise to work for them then they don’t hesitate to take law in hands and become intolerant of other cultures. And that’s what Modi has promoted in his country (just like Trump has watered the roots of ill white supremacy). The members and supporters of his party assume themselves to be in a privileged and untouchable position and go on saying and doing bad things to people who don’t agree with them. This acrid atmosphere has not only limited itself to India but also has seeped into Nepal to some extent (both of them have Hindus as majority). Frankly advocating a Hindu Rashtra in a secular country is most definitely being intolerant.

In order to justify how a Hindu nation out of a secular multicultural nation with many religions is still logical and progressive, many twisted propaganda have spread on Modi’s watch. Thus, he is also to be blamed for the creation of an atmosphere where even other political parties are compelled to ask for vote either using religion or being utterly silent on superstitions and negativity caused and spread by religions. How in a country containing more than one hundred and fifty million people below poverty line political parties are bound to fight elections making religion the prime issue is pathetic and inhumanly regressive.

In order to make India a Hindu nation, as soon as Modi became prime minister the Hindu nationalist organizations increased its scope of activities. Many organizations linked through electronic social media threatened journalists and freethinkers and are even said to have had roles in mob lynchings of more than three dozen people (most of them were Muslims) in the name of cows. These are organizations which provide their support to BJP, party to which Modi belongs to and are in turn supported by BJP. The cows were given more importance than human lives. On Modi’s watch, his ministers said appalling things to religious minorities on multiple occasions and no action against them was taken by the government reflecting its intolerant nature and dirty politics.

There has been constant attack on free institutions like press. Those who dare to speak against Modi’s or his followers’ ideas are labelled as anti-nationals and naxals and are tried vehemently to be silenced. The voices against are literally silenced on some television shows or are muffled metaphorically. The attack on free institutions in this manner with a massive public support was unprecedented. And this is a threat not only to Indian democracy but also to its neighbors. And this is worrying for Indians and the people around them alike. You switch on the Indian news channels and most of the instances you will get to see Hindu-Muslim and national-antinational debates. The viewers are obviously expected to be polarized by these unhealthy binary debates.

There has been attempts to tamper the historical facts. Sometimes, Feroz Gandhi is called Muslim and sometimes Taj Mahal is said to be a temple. There are plenty of examples which reflect the attempts to rewrite the history portraying Muslims and historical figures who had principles contradicting BJP’s darkly while Hinduism as a superior religion and people with principles as that of BJP’s in a good light. And Modi’s government not only favors it but also helps in consolidation of fallacies. This is plain insult to humanity and a threat to democracy.

In democracy, it is the people who gives power to persons. If election is based on emotions and prejudices acquired from upbringing then the government is bound to focus on those rather than the real human problems for the betterment of lives. Hope the people of India will choose their leader wisely as per their need. Whether they need an unharmonious and unstable society by the government which does politics based on religious prejudices or a better society by the government which promises to deal with the real issues is entirely up to the people of India. In my view, BJP winning the elections and Modi becoming the prime minister again will neither be good for India nor for its neighbors.