Prime Minister Narendra Modi's second term in office has been no bed of roses so far.
The economy is in tatters. And it hasn't helped that the whiff of hostility towards Muslims has been exacerbated by the passage of the Citizenship Act that has seen protestors, mostly women, take to the streets and demand their rights.
Senior journalist and author Tavleen Singh, once an ardent supporter of the government, is now among the many who have grown disillusioned. In her new book Messiah Modi: A Great Tale of Expectations she elaborates how the Prime Minister has reduced her to hoping against hope "that Modi does not bring to India the kind of parivartan that would destroy all the qualities that made India the world's most noisy, chaotic, diverse and liberal democracy".
Excerpts from her interview with The New Indian Express:
What compelled you to write this book?
It is a book that needed to be written. Nobody has so far assessed Narendra Modi’s performance as a Prime Minister or tried to explain why ‘parivartan’ and ‘vikas’ the way we hoped it would happen, hasn’t happened. That’s what I attempted this book.
Your book is titled Messiah Modi: A great tale of expectations. Is this how it began for you, as a tale of great expectations?
It mostly did. The Messiahs are sought in darkness and it was a very dark time. I did think Mr. Modi would be the Messiah.
I have been writing a column for 30 years and have never endorsed a Prime Minister. I believed Modi when he spoke about the economy. India has every reason to be the richest country in the world, but it has failed to become so owing to poor economic policies. The State running big corporations in my view is a very bad idea and it crushed the naturally enterprising people of India. Modi spoke a language that I understood and I thought he meant what he said.
In your book, you have mentioned how the Lutyens elite were against Modi. In retrospect, do you think they were right?
No, they are remnants of an old, corrupt group of elite. It happens in socialist countries. For example, Stalin moved in to the Kremlin. Mao moved into the Emperor’s Palace. Our elite remain in this bubble called Lutyens Delhi where streets are cleaner than anywhere in India, there are lush trees and big bungalows. And they were so disappointed with the new elites moving in, almost like Animal Farm.
Are you still hoping against hope for Modi to stand true to this word?
In my view, the disappointment has been that he became a socialist. He could have but he didn’t dismantle the system of socialism. He didn’t even abolish the retroactive tax. He didn’t make change in the directions that he promised.
In his second term, the ‘parivartan’ that he has brought could lead to India being broken up once more. Because everything that has been done is sorta to tell Muslims that they better behave or they can’t live here. And that is a bad idea, because we are not talking about a small minority like the Sikhs who were treated almost like lepers after Mrs (Indira) Gandhi’s death. We are talking about roughly 200 million Muslims. They are the second-largest majority in India. The ones that stayed here hoped that this would be a better place than living in the Islamic Republic. And it has been a better place, a better liberal democracy, where the failures have been mostly economic and political. Here, Modi was a welcome change. But the hatred towards a community that certainly his ministers have been showing has been horrifying. I mean, a junior minister saying ‘goli maro salo ko’ is beyond horror.
Are officials going to decide if anyone is a citizen or a traitor? I am not even a Muslim, but I don’t think an official has the right to ask me if I am an Indian or not.
The Prime Minister lacks company, you write. Is it because of lack of good advisors or missing intellectuals in the right-wing that Modi has been taking such drastic steps?
I really believe that he is the most isolated Prime Minister that I have seen in Delhi. And I am including Indira Gandhi who was very isolated because she only consulted her two secretaries and her son during the Emergency. I think Modi is making a big mistake by isolating himself from public opinion. His only contact is one way. Most Prime Ministers, even the most brilliant ones need consultations and advisors. I think it’s a worrying situation that he only consults Amit Shah.
Both of them, I have said this in the book, are provincial politicians. Modi has every right to be a national leader now because he won the election on his name. But nobody gave Amit Shah that mandate. So it’s very worrying that he’s almost been declared as Modi’s heir, without having the mandate to be the second most powerful person in India. He has now become the face of the party because we hardly see Mr. Modi.
The most controversial law (Citizenship Amendment Act) which has caused such upheaval in the country has been piloted by Mr Shah. And prior to that he called illegal Muslim immigrants, who are poorest, most desperate people, ‘termites’ and followed this by declaring that after this happens there will be an implementation of National Register of Citizens (NRC). The speeches were almost menacing in tone.
What has been the big change from Modi 1.0 to Modi 2.0?
Arun Jaitley was a very refined, dignified, accessible political leader. He was the face of Modi 1.0.
After he died, Amit Shah took up the job and it’s quite an unpleasant face of Modi’s government. I hope Modi realises that he needs to take back the lead. The country voted for him, not Amit Shah.
I haven’t met Modi since his re-election. So, I don’t know if he has changed personally. But the agenda and the tone in the second term has changed drastically. One can tell this from the hostility towards the Muslims. There is a hostility towards dissent and dissent is fundamental to democracy. Modi had a cultivated international image. He was seen as the new hope. I believe the tone that has come after Amit Shah has become the face of the government has ended up damaging Modi’s international image.
But Modi is still a favourite of NRIs...
The ‘Howdy Modi’ event happened prior to the passage of the law (Citizenship Act). There are now protests against the law in the West. My son (Aatish Taseer), who’s now in exile, said that they had to take the protest till Fifth Avenue because there were so many young people disappointed by Modi.
Modi said that he wants to make India a country where young people didn’t have to leave to find jobs, that hasn’t happened. If there was a ‘Howdy Mody’ now, he wouldn’t be getting such an audience.
Do you feel betrayed by the Indian government after they revoked your son Aatish Taseer’s OCI?
Absolutely!. Aatish had come to India when he was two-year-old and grew up in this country. He had a brief relationship with his father and only met him when he was 22. His father (Salman Taseer) was assassinated.
Aatish was given a multiple-entry visa and later his Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) card was changed to Overseas Citizen of India (OCI).
There are exceptions possible within the law as they made for Adnan Sami. It’s a vindictive act and they are weaponising citizenship.
As soon as his article was published (in Time magazine), BJP spokespersons such as Sambit Patra started calling him Pakistani. Of course he had a Pakistani father who died fighting fanaticism. The Indian government wants to rescue the persecuted minorities now must remember Salman Taseer died defending a Christian woman. Aatish has nothing to be ashamed of.
If you were given private audience now, what advice would you like to give the PM?
He’s unlikely to take my advice, but I’d tell him straight away to change the tone of the government. He needs to live up to ‘sabka viswas’ which he has lost at the moment. Without question, the Muslims of this country don’t trust him. If I were Muslim, I would be scared too.
Secondly, he needs to win back the trust of Kashmir. How long is it going to be under lockdown? How can three former Chief Ministers be detained under the National Security Act (NSA)?.
Thirdly, get the economy up. Move the policies in such a way where private entrepreneurs will trust the government.
Messiah Modi?
Author: Tavleen Singh
Publisher: HarperCollins India
Pages: 293
Price: Rs 699