Even before the botched-up talks between Indian and Pakistani security advisers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s loosening grip on the world’s second most populated nation was amply evident from the tepid response to his Independence Day address.
I think the main reason for countrymen’s plunging confidence in Modi is the sharp drop in his own confidence level because of his conspicuous failure to solve problems big and small. Indian voters can be very unforgiving and the shaky premier seems to know that only too well.
Pratik Kanjilal is a commentator I quite admire. He writes in Indian Express that on Aug. 15, Independence Day, when Modi addressed the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort, “instead of dutifully watching TV, I went for a walk in a middle class Delhi neighborhood to see how the BJP’s core constituency took the speech.
“They didn’t. The silence in the streets was so echoingly vast that each of the tiny number of TVs tuned to the 90-minute harangue was individually audible. Less than one in 20 apartments seemed to be watching. In retaliation, a chaiwala (tea vendor) had hooked his TV up to a loudspeaker to fight off the silence. He was of the faithful calling but for the rest, it was unthinkable to waste a Saturday morning.”
Kantilal’s findings are ominous. Last year, on this day, Modi oozed confidence as he promised to usher in a new India. The air was then filled with hope; citizens had great expectations and he wowed them. But exactly a year later Modi himself is gripped by self-doubt. And those who hung on to every word in Modi’s 2014 Independence Day speech, gave the 2015 “harangue” a miss; the magic of his oratory is all but gone.
Modi was virtually silent on one of the greatest threats to democracy and the rule of law — the growing menace of Hindutva. He made a passing reference to “communalism” along with “casteism” and mentioned Dalits, Adivasis and women in the context of bank loans for the underprivileged. But he did not speak up for religious minorities who are at the receiving end since the BJP captured power.
I think Modi panders mainly to his core constituency — radical Hindus who would like to see Muslims and Christians live in India as second-class citizens. After all, there was recently a proposal to disenfranchise Muslims and Modi didn’t utter a word of assurance or reprimand. Modi probably fears that even if he pays lip service to Muslims, his electoral base would be corroded.
Shockingly, Modi had nothing to say to the country’s Muslim population in his Independence Day address, although he flew to the United Arab Emirates after delivering the speech. The tributes he paid to Islam while visiting Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque — he hailed “peace and harmony inherent in Islam” — is laudable. But shouldn’t praise, like charity, begin at home?
Modi, in fact, is so conscious of his core constituency’s anti-Muslim pathology, that he ordered India’s External Affairs Ministry to systematically downplay his mosque visit. The External Affairs Ministry gave a spin that Modi’s visit to the mosque was more in the nature of homage to Sheikh Zayed who built the mosque and is considered the father of the nation.
Modi did not use his Independence Day address to comfort India’s Muslims who are in the gun-sights of rabid, right-wing outfits like RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal. Significantly, mosques are special targets of Hindutva goons. But Modi asked Indians in the UAE to give a standing ovation to the rulers of the Muslim nation for gifting them a plot of land for building a new temple in Abu Dhabi.
The paradox was not lost on anyone. Modi belongs to the BJP, which razed the Ayodhya Mosque in 1992. It’s no secret that the party has a long list of mosques it wants to demolish. And ever since Modi became the premier in May 2014, Muslim places of worship are being viciously targeted, like the Ballabhgarh mosque in BJP-ruled Haryana.
Along with India’s Muslims, liberal Hindus too are badly disappointed that Modi did not use the Independence Day address to apply balm on the minority community’s wounds and warn Hindutva elements targeting them. Secular forces today realize like never before that a long battle lies ahead.
