One of my readers asked me why I have not written an article on PM Narendra Modi. That was before the general election this year. Now I am finally doing so and it may be similar to locking the stable door after the horse has bolted.
But the reason why I was hesitant is itself a criticism of the BJP. I was afraid of being trolled and victimized online by BJP supporters. I have the impression that they don’t take kindly to criticism – constructive or otherwise.
Anyway to start the article – I myself voted for the BJP in the last two elections. I wanted a strong government at the Centre and I thought that the present opposition is not capable of providing it. But a strong government comes with risks – the risk of misuse of power resulting in catastrophic mistakes.
If you compare democracies with autocratic governments (like China) you have to say democracies are messy and inefficient. China is much better when it comes to economic growth, law and order (possibly) and passing constructive legislation. The only thing democracies are good at or at least where they have an advantage over a dictatorship is in preventing misuse of power.
There has been misuse of power resulting in genocide and millions of people being killed in China. By the government. This is despite the fact that China is perhaps the most cultured and sophisticated civilization known to history. Absolute power corrupts absolutely and the system devised by Mao ZeDong was not able to counter that.
We have to thank the fact that India is a democracy that there have not been catastrophic events on a similar scale. Democracy requires strong institutions that will preserve the rights of its citizens and act as a check to misuse of power by the executive (that is the government).
This requires a strong opposition and judiciary. If the opposition politicians are targeted by law enforcement agencies and common citizens (like me) are afraid to raise their voice due to the threat of harassment then the checks and balances that should function will not do its job.
So this is the first takeaway – stop using the law enforcement agencies to target opposition politicians. If you say that the law must take its course then that is a reason for the law enforcement agencies to prosecute the party which is in power. The party in power has more chances to do mischief by misusing its power. There need to be strong and independent institutions to prevent abuse.
The second (related) point is that it is at least as important to hold on to past gains as it is to aim for new successes. Catastrophic mistakes can take years and even decades to recover from. Strong institutions are supposed to prevent that from happening.
The last point is that I believe that democracies are (in the long run) stronger and more effective forms of government than autocracies (like China). Look at the USA for example and compare its military might with that of the Islamic countries. There is no competition whatsoever. Warfare depends on modern science. And modern science depends (partly) on free speech and the rights of people to express their views. According to the Taoist philosophy of China also the feminine principle is supposed to be stronger than the masculine.
So these are my reservations regarding the BJP government.
One last point regarding Mr. Modi as a person. He faced a lot of criticism in the press more than 20 years ago because of the Gujarat riots. My opinion of him has been partly shaped by that. But now has been the PM of India for more than 10 years and the country has done reasonably well. He has avoided disaster at any rate. Also it is possible that he faced slander and unfair criticism by the press. I have faced slander myself and so I think that that is very easily possible. And lastly he has not been convicted in a court of law on top of winning multiple elections. So it is pretty certain that Mr Modi is not the monster he was portrayed to be by the press in the early 2000s.
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