NEW DELHI: The Economist has slammed the Narendra Modi government’s new citizenship law and the National Register of Citizens, saying that it imperils the inspiring idea of India as the world’s largest democracy.
In a tweet, the publication said that the Prime Minister and his party are endangering the world’s biggest democracy. The cover of its latest issue — ‘Intolerant India’ — comes days after the Economist Intelligence Unit, the publication’s sister concern, placed India 51st on the global Democracy Index, a fall of 10 places. The report had cited erosion of civil liberties as the major reason for India’s fall in the rankings.
The BJP hit back with party leader and foreign policy in charge Vijay Chauthaiwale taking to Twitter and calling the publication arrogant and one with a colonial mindset. “We thought the Brits had left in 1947! But the editors of @TheEconomist are still living in colonial era. They are furious when 600m Indians do not follow their explicit instructions of not voting (PM) Modi (sic),” he tweeted.
According to the article titled ‘Narendra Modi stokes divisions in the world’s biggest democracy’, 200 million Muslims fear that the Prime Minister is building a Hindu state and that both Modi and the BJP are likely to benefit by dividing people over religion and national identity.
The article goes on to say that the plan to compile a register of citizens to hunt for illegal immigrants affects the entire population of the country. “It could drag on for years, inflaming passions over and over again, as the list is compiled, challenged and revised,” it said.