[Goanet] India’s Feet of Clay: How Modi’s Supremacy Will Hinder His Country’s Rise

[Dr. Vivek Pinto]

*LONG READ*

*>"*If the BJP achieves a third successive electoral victory in May, the
creeping majoritarianism under Modi could turn into galloping
majoritarianism, a trend that poses a fundamental challenge to Indian
nationhood. Democratic- and pluralistic-minded Indians warn of the dangers
of India becoming a country like Pakistan, defined by religious identity."
---

By: Ramachandra Guha
Published in: *Foreign Affairs*
Date: February 20, 2024 (March/April 2024)


This spring, India is scheduled to hold its 18th general election. Surveys
suggest that the incumbent, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is very likely to
win a third term in office. That triumph will further underline Modi’s
singular stature. He bestrides the country like a colossus, and he promises
Indians that they, too, are rising in the world. And yet the very nature of
Modi’s authority, the aggressive control sought by the prime minister and
his party over a staggeringly diverse and complicated country, threatens to
scupper India’s great-power ambitions.

A leader of enormous charisma from a modest background, Modi dominates the
Indian political landscape as only two of his 15 predecessors have done:
Jawaharlal Nehru, prime minister from Indian independence in 1947 until
1964, and Nehru’s daughter, Indira Gandhi, prime minister from 1966 to 1977
and then again from 1980 to 1984. In their pomp, both enjoyed wide
popularity throughout India ,
cutting across barriers of class, gender, religion, and region, although—as
so often with leaders who stay on too long—their last years in office were
marked by political misjudgments that eroded their standing.

Nehru and Indira Gandhi both belonged to the Indian National Congress, the
party that led the country’s struggle for freedom from British colonial
rule and stayed in power for three decades following independence. Modi
, on the other hand, is
a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which spent many years in
opposition before becoming what it now appears to be, the natural party of
governance. A major ideological difference between the Congress and the BJP
is in their attitudes toward the relationship between faith and state.
Particularly
under Nehru, the Congress was committed to religious pluralism, in keeping
with the Indian constitutional obligation to assure citizens “liberty of
thought, expression, belief, faith and worship.” The BJP, on the other
hand, wishes to make India a majoritarian state in which politics, public
policy, and even everyday life are cast in a Hindu idiom.

Modi is not the first BJP prime minister of India—that distinction belongs
to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was in office in 1996 and from 1998 to 2004.
But Modi can exercise a kind of power that was never available to Vajpayee,
whose coalition government of more than a dozen parties forced him to
accommodate diverse views and interests. By contrast, the BJP has enjoyed a
parliamentary majority on its own for the last decade, and Modi is far more
assertive than the understated Vajpayee ever was. Vajpayee delegated power
to his cabinet ministers, consulted opposition leaders, and welcomed debate
in Parliament. Modi, on the other hand, has centralized power in his office
to an astonishing degree, undermined the independence of public
institutions such as the judiciary and the media, built a cult of
personality around himself, and pursued his party’s ideological goals with
ruthless efficiency.

Despite his dismantling of democratic institutions, Modi remains extremely
popular. He is both incredibly hardworking and politically astute, able to
read the pulse of the electorate and adapt his rhetoric and tactics
accordingly. Left-wing intellectuals dismiss him as a mere demagogue. They
are grievously mistaken. In terms of commitment and intelligence, he is far
superior to his populist counterparts such as former U.S. President Donald
Trump , former
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, or former British Prime Minister Boris
Johnson. Although his economic record is mixed, he has still won the trust
of many poor people by supplying food and cooking gas at highly subsidized
rates via schemes branded as Modi’s personal gifts to them. He has taken
quickly to digital technologies, which have enabled the direct provision of
welfare and the reduction of intermediary corruption. He has also presided
over substantial progress in infrastructure development, with spanking new
highways and airports seen as evidence of a rising India on the march under
Modi’s leadership.

Modi’s many supporters view his tenure as prime minister as nothing short
of epochal. They claim that he has led India’s national resurgence. Under
Modi, they note, India has surpassed its former ruler, the United Kingdom,
to become the world’s fifth-largest economy; it will soon eclipse Japan 

[Goanet] Schedule for Sunday 25th February 2024

[CCR TV]

CCR TV GOA

Channel of God's love


You can also watch CCR TV live on your smartphone via the CCR TV App
Available on Google PlayStore for Android Platform.

Click the link below.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ccr.tv4

Email ID: ccrgoame...@gmail.com


Schedule for Sunday 25th February 2024

12:00 AM

Rosary - Glorious Mysteries


12:23 AM

Poem - A Heart Like no other - Larissa Rodrigues


12:27 AM

Pope's Intercessions


12:30 AM

Bhajan - Mojem Menddram - Fr Glen D'Silva sfx


12:43 AM

Devachem Utor -Izaias Avesor 50 -Vachpi Orlando D'Souza


12:48 AM

Song be Fr Rob Galea - Choreography by Cecille Rodrigues


12:52 AM

Ximpientlim Motiam - Bhag 84 - Upkar - Fr Pratap Naik sj


1:00 AM

Mass in Konkani


2:00 AM

Saibinnichi Ruzai - Orkache Mister


2:26 AM

Daily Fash/ Jivitacho Prokas


2:30 AM

Conversion of Heart - Talk by Fr. Oscar Nazareth op


3:32 AM

Sonia Shirsat - 6th Anniversary of CCRTV


3:43 AM

Don't be Lukewarm - Talk by Lenny Soares


4:33 AM

Xinpyentlim Motyam - Bhag 315 - Xinvinn Ani Bokddo - Fr. Pratap Naik SJ


4:41 AM

Healing - Talk by Fr Thamburaj sj


5:07 AM

Our Father - Sadri


5:11 AM

Chuklom Hanv Bapa - Orlando DSouza


5:40 AM

Prayer over Expectant Mothers - St Joseph Vaz


5:42 AM

Healing the Hidden Self - Talk by Dr Sarita Nazareth


6:14 AM

Talk on Glory in Tribulation by Eliot Gonsalves


6:32 AM

Short Film - This Book will change your life


7:00 AM

Praise and Worship - CCR Camp Old Goa followed by Daily Prayer to the Holy
Spirit


7:27 AM

Hymn - Namo - Fr Glen D'Silva sfx


7:45 AM

Abundant Life - Simple Life - Prof Nicholas D'Souza


8:08 AM

Pidda - A talk by Mathew Fernandes


8:25 AM

Psalm 51 - Read by Alfwold Silveira


8:30 AM

Wisdom Reflections -7 - Rachol Professors


8:57 AM

Devachem Utor -Izaias Avesor 49 -Vachpi Orlando D'Souza


9:07 AM

Povitr Sobha 'Devacha Porza' Mhunnllear Kitem? - Rev. Elroy Da Gama


9:11 AM

The Way - Short Film by DYC


9:39 AM

Golden Brigade - Sr Maria Pascuela interviewed by Prof Nicholas D'Souza


10:02 AM

Bhajan - Mojem Menddram - Fr Glen D'Silva sfx


10:15 AM

Bhurgem-Ball Nasloleancher Bhagevont Zuze Vazache Mozotin Magnnem


10:17 AM

Activists of Goa - Caroline Collasso interviewed by Daniel F. de Souza


11:05 AM

Different Liturgical Colours - Heralds of the Gospel


11:16 AM

Ximpientlim Motiam - Bhag 85 - Xezari - Fr Pratap Naik sj


11:26 AM

Angelus - English


11:30 AM

Mass in English


12:30 PM

Daily Fash/ Jivitacho Prokas


12:33 PM

Anger Management - Talk by Dr Silvia Noronha


12:56 PM

Marie Sodanch Adar Tuzo by Bazilla Vaz and Pius Rodrigues


1:00 PM

Hymn -Our Lady of Rosary H.S. - Mandrem, Pernem


1:06 PM

Health Matters - Dr Brennan Tavares - Fibroids


1:43 PM

Hymn - Vailankani Saibini


1:48 PM

Pope's Intercessions


1:51 AM

Prayer over Children - St Jospeh Vaz


1:53 PM

What's Cooking - Episode 8 - Serradura


2:17 PM

Song be Fr Rob Galea - Choreography by Cecille Rodrigues


2:21 PM

Magnificat (Konkani)


2:25 PM

Tell me a story - Moses


2:41 PM

Hymn - Ie, Atmea Bapachea- Fr Seville Antao OFM(Cap)


2:43 PM

A Saint Speaks


2:44 PM

Bhurgeanlem Angonn - Bhag 24


2:46 PM

What's Cooking - Season 2 - Episode 13


3:00 PM

Deivik Kaklutichi Magnneam


3:18 PM

Kumsar zaunk lozonakai ani vaumtem udok addaunk thokos gheinakaim - Orlando
D'Souza


3:51 PM

Our Father - Mundari


3:57 PM

A Saint Speaks


4:00 PM

Rosary - Glorious Mysteries


4:27 PM

Song - You are not alone - Sonia Shirsat


4:30 PM

Senior Citizens Exercises - 8


4:57 PM

Daily Fash/ Jivitacho Prokas


5:00 PM

Music Uncovered : Colin D'Cruz talks to Alfwold Silveira


5:38 PM

Beatitudes 5 and 6 - Kirona Noronha


6:00 PM

Mass in Konkani


7:00 PM

Xinpyentlim Motyam - Bhag 315 - Xinvinn Ani Bokddo - Fr. Pratap Naik SJ


7:10 PM

Lessons from Bartimaeous - Leela Moraes


7:27 PM

Litany of Humility


7:30 PM

Saibinnichi Ruzai - Orkache Mister


7:56 PM

Aimorechen Magnnem


8:00 PM

Pirachit Kall - Talk by Fr Henry Falcao


8:30 PM

Devachem Utor -Izaias Avesor 50 -Vachpi Orlando D'Souza


8:35 PM

Adoration 4 - St Anthony Church, Siolim


9:04 PM

Mass in Marathi


10:04 PM

Ratchem Magnem


10:20 PM

A Dialogoe of Differences - Radharao Gracias and Subhash Velingkar


11:30 PM

Youthopia - Amanda Rodrigues - Violin - interviewed by Mysticka Deniz


11:53 PM

Vocation - Daughters of St. Paul


Donations may be made to:

Beneficiary name : CCR GOA MEDIA.

Name of Bank : ICICI Bank

Branch Name: Panaji Branch

RTGS/NEFT Code : ICIC015

Savings Bank Account No : 262401000183