By Justice Markandey Katju
On 20th April 1653 Oliver Cromwell entered the British Parliament and said to its members, “You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go.”
The same words can be repeated to Narendra Modi, who has been the Indian Prime Minister for 10 years.
After he became Chief Minister of Gujarat state in 2002 there was a massacre of Muslims in Gujarat in which he was definitely complicit, as this fitted in with his RSS ideology.
And ever since he became Prime Minister religious polarisation and communal hatred has increased exponentially, with numerous atrocities particularly against the Muslim minority in India. There have been numerous lynchings of Muslims by cow vigilantes for allegedly selling/eating beef, beating of Muslims for not saying 'Jai Shri Ram', and other atrocities and discrimination against them.
State institutions and many educational institutions were 'saffronised', and history and science perverted during his tenure as PM ( as was done by the Nazis in Germany ).
The intellect of the man can be gauged by his claim that there were head transplants, genetic engineering, stem cell technology, aeroplanes etc in ancient India
Taking his cue, BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur claimed that cow urine can cure cancer, and Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Dev claimed that ancient Indians had invented the internet. At the 106th Indian Science Congress in 2019, G. Nageshwar Rao, Vice Chancellor of Andhra University and Professor of Chemistry, claimed that ancient Hindus pioneered stem cell research, since 100 Kauravas were born of one mother because of knowledge of stem cell and test tube technology, that Vishnu used guided missiles, and that the King of Lanka, Ravana, had 24 kinds of aircraft. In the 105th Indian Science Congress in 2018 Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan claimed that the Hindu Vedas were superior to Einstein's Theory of Gravity.
Not to be left behind Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal said that science was a dwarf compared to astrology.
All this reminds us of the Nazi perversion of science by their racial theory, when a coterie of Nazi-affiliated physicists promoted the idea of a “German” or “Aryan” physics, opposed to a supposedly “Jewish” influence in the relativity and quantum theories.
Similarly, Modi's government tried to pervert history, e.g. by branding Mughal era as foreign rule and slavery just because the Mughals were Muslims, when the truth is that Indians (including Hindus) prospered a lot during Mughal rule and became the richest country in the world, with over 25% of the word's wealth. Emperor Akbar is, in my opinion, the real Father of the Indian Nation
A lot of claims have been made that during Modi's rule Indian GDP has grown. Such claims are laughable, as explained.
Moreover, even assuming there was GDP growth, the question to be asked is who has got the fruits of such growth, a handful of big businessmen, or the Indian masses? Under Modi's rule a few Indian billionaires have become richer, while the poor have become poorer
One single fact is enough to demonstrate what calamity has been caused by Modi's rule. Child malnutrition has increased, every second Indian child being malnourished, stunted and/or wasted. India, which was at position under 101 of the 125 countries surveyed, has slipped 6 positions in a few years to position number 107, according to Global Hunger Index, an internationally renowned agency studying hunger in the world, its situation worse than neighbouring countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Srilanka.
Like Gen Zia-ul-Haq of Pakistan, Modi made every effort to take India back into the middle-ages, and convert India from a dejure secular, to a defacto theocratic state
The BJP came to power under Modi's leadership in 2014 alleging massive corruption by the Congress. But after coming to power corruption became its cult, and increased exponentially, as the recent electoral bonds scandal disclosed
The BJP has become known as the 'washing machine' for corrupt politicians who join it
India has had enough of Mr Modi, and the time has now come for him to go. By bitter experience, the Indian people have seen through his frauds, dramas and empty rhetoric.
Modi, in the name of God, go.
(Justice Katju is a retired judge of the Supreme Court. These are his personal views.)
