{"id":129345,"date":"2014-08-24T00:03:40","date_gmt":"2014-08-23T18:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=129345"},"modified":"2014-08-31T01:39:07","modified_gmt":"2014-08-30T20:09:07","slug":"indias-modi-fied-populism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/indias-modi-fied-populism\/","title":{"rendered":"India\u2019s Modi-Fied Populism"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kumar David<\/span><\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Prof.<\/a>

Prof. Kumar David<\/p><\/div>\n

Nehru in his first broadcast to the people of India as Prime Minister on 15 August 1947 began with the words: \u201cToday I address you for the first time officially as the First Servant of the Indian people, pledged to their service and their betterment. I am here because you willed it so and I remain here so long as you choose to honour me with your confidence\u201d. It is fitting that Narendra Modi<\/span><\/a> echoed his illustrious predecessor and could find no better term than First Servant to introduce himself on the occasion of his first speech as Prime Minister. He did not seek to match the soaring eloquence of Nehruesque rhetoric, his is a more homespun style as suits the man, but there were common themes; most notably Nehru\u2019s call to spurn divisiveness (\u201cOur first and immediate objective must be to put an end to all internal strife and violence, which disfigure and degrade us and injure the cause of freedom\u201d), resonated with Modi.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had communal tensions for ages. This led to the division of the country. We have had to face the poison of casteism and communalism. How long these evils will continue? We have had enough of fights, many have been killed. Nobody has benefited; except casting a slur on Mother India. I appeal to all whether it is the poison of casteism, communalism, regionalism or discrimination, let us resolve to put a moratorium for 10 years\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Why only 10 years; maybe after an abstemious decade recidivism is impossible. This essay is not about parallels with Nehru, but let me sneak in that Modi even used the \u2018destiny\u2019 word (\u201cI assure you that this country has a destiny\u201d) and no Indian is unfamiliar with the \u201ctryst with destiny . . . at the midnight hour\u201d in the Constituent Assembly on August 14-15 1947.<\/p>\n

A populist not a neo-liberal<\/b><\/p>\n

One cannot judge Modi from one speech to the nation, or to be more accurate one budget and one speech, though evidence is mounting. Like others who were deeply angered by the reputation that rubbed off on Modi from the Gujarat riots, I am still unwilling to drop my guard. But facts are facts; the budget and this independence-day speech from the ramparts of Red Fort, are not what one would expect from a hardened neo-liberal; this is Indian \u00a0popular democracy in play. Call it populism if you are disgruntled that it is not rightwing enough. Prior to the elections and in my first essays afterwards, I insisted the BJP-Modi government would not be able to abandon a mixed-economy and cannot turn its back on the expectations of a billion people. Western economic and political pundits, the Economist, Financial Times, WSJ<\/i> and such tracts, and Indian and Lankan commentators who I heard or read, predicted with delight that BJP-Modi India would swing way out to the right: \u201cHail Narendra Regan! Hail Margaret Modi!\u201d All have been proved wrong. Why could they not see the obvious? Search me!<\/p>\n

I would love to think that the Prime Minister of India reads my pieces. On 20 July (\u201cPolitically-cautious growth-oriented budget\u201d) I drew particular attention and provided a bar-chart decrying that 597 million Indians defecate in the wide outdoors. As if by magic he seems to have responded! Modi spent a full five minutes (to judge from the English transcript) on sanitation, vowing to make outdoor defecation a thing of the past, and promising separate toilets for the sexes in schools. He committed his government and implored States and business corporations to join in by investing in sanitation to end ubiquitous al fresco crapping. Modi is a doer and if he gets this done within a few years, India will overtake China, at least in public sanitation. I am not being facetious; these are the people\u2019s needs; these are the urgent tasks that any good populist leader must tackle.<\/p>\n

There were numerous populist themes in the 65 minute Independence Day speech, the most notable are as follows. Cynics will say \u201cDon\u2019t believe a word\u201d; I say we need to wait and see.<\/p>\n