Modi, BJP and the bid to seize control of Indian polity – By Moggallan Bharti
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not seeking a fresh mandate for his governance in the 2019 General Elections; he did that in 2014 in the name of the ‘Gujarat model’. What Modi is now aiming for is not another mandate – that would be the ambition of political mortals – but to seize total control of India’s polity.
After the resounding failure of his five years in office on public policy, that included the further marginalisation of an oppressed peasantry and decisions like demonetisation which disrupted the economy – formal and informal both, the government appears brazen in seeking another term. The Prime Minister seems like he will do anything to not let his control slip in these elections.
And it is here that the current government led by the Modi-Shah duo is singularly distinct, even by the standards of previous National Democratic Alliance governments. This is the characteristic not of governing with an iron hand – that too is problematic in a constitutional republic – but of actually taking control of all the institutional arms of government, that poses a grave danger to India’s democratic framework.…
SEE ALSO:
- Why Does Narendra Modi Lie? – By Visoba Khechar (Apr 28, 2019, The Wire)
https://thewire.in/politics/why-does-narendra-modi-lie - Why the Modi persona polarises India – By Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay (Apr 19, 2019, Deccan Herald)
https://www.deccanherald.com/opinion/comment/why-the-modi-persona-polarises-india-729493.html - As a One-Man Show, Narendra Modi Will Find It Challenging to Run a Coalition Govt – By Sidharth Bhatia (Apr 23, 2019, The Wire)
https://thewire.in/politics/elections-2019-narendra-modi-bjp-coalition-government - Young politician emerges as a voice of opposition to India’s Narendra Modi – By Ashish Malhotra (Apr 27, 2019, Los Angeles Times)
https://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-india-elections-kanhaiya-kumar-20190427-story.html