I have just come back from one of my twice-yearly visits to India, and was describing my latest visit to a British friend. Since I first visited (very briefly) in 1984 the country has changed out of all recognition, not least of all because since then Chicken Tikka Masala has become as popular in India as it is here in the U.K. Joking aside, a number of immutable realities remain, however, and this is what my friend was attempting to get from me. After I had explained my view of the present ‘BJPisation’ of India he asked, “So, are all the tensions inherent in Indian society and politics that you’ve described, mutually destructive?”
I like your analysis overall and find it refreshingly different from most biased Western perceptions. I would however point out that the main reason why PM Modi is so popular is that he is an outsider. To the Anglicised elites who dominated the Congress and it's eco- systems and who still dominate Indian MSM and academia you will only get bias against Modi( though as one of those Anglosphere influenced types I am an exception)
But to the rest of India's non Anglicised elites and middle classes Modi is a national hero.
And most Westerners fail to realise that the communalisation of politics was mostly due to the minority votebank stratagems of the Congress and the non BJP opposition.
It is a myth that Hindu " exceptionalism" is a danger to India. No, Sir. The biggest threat to India is from its selfish rapacious old political class which is utterly venal in its use of political power to advance personal and institutional corruption. The nexus of this class with corrupt bureaucracy and business is what PM Modi has attacked and that is why people trust him. I would request you to study this angle more closely instead of giving in to cliched truisms most gullible Westerners flip for.
On your next visit to India talk to more people outside Lutyens Delhi and it's cohorts in metropolitan India. Understand the remarkable empowering of rural and small town India through digital payments, mobile telephony, efficient delivery of social welfare benefits. While problems still remain it is the confidence most non elite people have in a Prime Minister who is himself a backward caste village boy that is giving the BJP it's landslide victories.
I like your analysis overall and find it refreshingly different from most biased Western perceptions. I would however point out that the main reason why PM Modi is so popular is that he is an outsider. To the Anglicised elites who dominated the Congress and it's eco- systems and who still dominate Indian MSM and academia you will only get bias against Modi( though as one of those Anglosphere influenced types I am an exception)
But to the rest of India's non Anglicised elites and middle classes Modi is a national hero.
And most Westerners fail to realise that the communalisation of politics was mostly due to the minority votebank stratagems of the Congress and the non BJP opposition.
It is a myth that Hindu " exceptionalism" is a danger to India. No, Sir. The biggest threat to India is from its selfish rapacious old political class which is utterly venal in its use of political power to advance personal and institutional corruption. The nexus of this class with corrupt bureaucracy and business is what PM Modi has attacked and that is why people trust him. I would request you to study this angle more closely instead of giving in to cliched truisms most gullible Westerners flip for.
On your next visit to India talk to more people outside Lutyens Delhi and it's cohorts in metropolitan India. Understand the remarkable empowering of rural and small town India through digital payments, mobile telephony, efficient delivery of social welfare benefits. While problems still remain it is the confidence most non elite people have in a Prime Minister who is himself a backward caste village boy that is giving the BJP it's landslide victories.