Modi-e-Bekhabar
By Justice Markandey Katju
Bahadur Shah, the Mughal Emperor who succeeded Aurangzeb in 1707, was called 'Shah-e-Bekhabar' by the historian Khafi Khan, because he was totally unaware of what was going on in his Empire.
Similarly, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi can be called 'Modi-e-Bekhabar' because he has turned a Nelson's eye to all that is going on in India. Like the French Bourbons, he sees nothing, hears nothing, and forgets nothing ( as Talleyrand said of the Bourbons).
The sea of popular discontent is rising everywhere in India--growing massive unemployment, skyrocketing prices of food, fuel and other essential commodities, appalling level of child malnutrition ( every second child in India is malnourished according to Global Hunger Index ), almost total lack of proper healthcare for the masses, etc. But he is blissfully unaware of all this.
All he has cared for was building a 'bhavya' ( grand ) Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, obviously with an eye on the coming Indian parliamentary elections.
Instead of trying to solve the huge socio-economic problems of India all he did during his 10 year term as Prime Minister was to polarise Indian society on religious lines, by spreading communal venom and hatred across the land.
Like Gen Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan, Modi has tried his best to send India back into the Middle Ages, by 'saffronising' all institutions and state agencies in the country, sidelining the real issues facing the people ( poverty, unemployment, price rise, hunger, etc ) and portraying building of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and cow protection as the real issues
Modi came to power in 2014 on the slogan of 'vikas' ( development ), which promised employment to tens of millions of unemployed youth in India who voted for him en masse. But what has really happened during his 10 year rule is that save for benefiting a handful of big businessmen and corporates poverty, unemployment,child malnutrition has increased in India exponentially.
57 billionaires in India own wealth equal to the bottom 70% of India's population of 1400 million, and Modi has patronised these billionaires, turning a blind eye to the poor people
One is reminded of the words in Charles Dickens' novel 'A Tale of Two Cities' : '' It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair ''--best of times for the handful of Indian billionaires whose wealth has increased exponentially, and worst of times for the Indian masses who have sunk deeper and deeper into the abyss of economic gloom and despair.
An explosive situation is fast developing in India, and Modi is totally 'bekhabar' about it.
(Justice Katju is a retired judge of the Supreme Court. These are his personal views.)
