BENGALURU: Well-known historian and author, Ramachandra Guha speaking about ‘personality cults and democratic decline in India’ at the Bangalore Litfest 2023 on Saturday highlighted the reasons for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity among the masses and why personality cults are detrimental to the country’s democratic structure.
He compared the personality cults of Indira Gandhi and Modi and said, “Narendra Modi is Indira Gandhi on steroids.” He added that such cults are always bad for a country that fosters an insurgence.
Guha highlighted six reasons for Modi’s popularity. He is self-made and genuinely devoted to politics 24x7 and to the nation.
He added that PM Modi is a brilliant orator and the way he takes on the opposition with his one-liners, mocking them is commendable. “As elections become presidential he is very favourable compared to his rivals, the entitled fifth generational dynasty, Rahul Gandhi who has never had any kind of political administrative experience.”
As ‘Hindu Bachao Terrorism’ increasingly unfolds, Modi is seen as a great redeemer of Hinduism at the vehicle of India’s much-debated nationalism and civilisation renaissance, the historian said.
He said Modi had at its command a massive propaganda machine, the financial resources of the BJP and government along with innovative technology, even Hitler and Mussolini did not have this at their disposal. He went on to add that Modi’s native ‘Indianness’ and his political shrewdness is sometimes dismissed by his rivals but is one of the major reasons for his popularity.
Piecing together, Guha said, “What Modi does at an all-India level, Vijayan does in Kerala, Stalin in Tamil Nadu, Mamata in West Bengal, Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi.”
These cults can have major consequences to the five institutions meant to uphold democracy and “keep in check unguided personality cults,” he said.
Guha analyzed that political parties are increasingly becoming hollow and more about one person, eroding the parties. Other factors such as crumbling of democratic functions of the Parliament, judiciary, civil services including the CBI, ED and Foreign Service. “The foreign service shamelessly promotes Modi’s image everywhere, ambassadors are told to put Modi’s name forward,” he said.
On a concluding note, he spoke about the press and that none of the above are as independent as the Constitution has made them to be. He added that the BJP promotes ‘phony capitalism’ and strongly believes in ethnic majoritarianism.