Daily Times

As published by the Business Recorder, India, dated June 8, 2019, the London School of Economics, one of the world’s prestigious institutes, planned to invite Prime Minister (PM) Modi to award him an honorary Ph.D. degree. But, the invitation was cancelled after the institute’s professionals heard the speech of the Indian Supreme Court’s senior advocate, Mr. Prashant Bhusan, at the Oxford University London, where he highlighted Modi’s failed economic and other policies. Mr Bhusan stated that Modi has wrecked the Indian economy with his absolutely ridiculous unthoughtout policies like demonetization.

Mr. Bhusan further stated that Modi government has usurped the independence of the important national institutions. All institutions whose job is to find out the facts and put them out on the table, have been destroyed by the government and then we are told to rely on propaganda. He also stated, “Modi has reduced the media by controlling its large sections through inducements and threats to use it for spreading hate against Muslims and theother minorities,”. Bhushan added that if anyone says anything against Modi, he will be lynched by mobs on the streets and, “If you are a Muslim you will be lynched by mobs with the police looking on,”

Mr Bhushan further expressed that it never happened in the history of India, where four senior Judges of Indian Supreme Court addressed the press conference and blamed Modi for controlling the Chief Justice of India endangering the democracy in the country. He added that for the first time in 30 years, the Election Commission condoned gross violations of the code of conduct by the PM and leaders of BJP. According to Mr Bhushan, the CBI Director was removed overnight when he tried to investigate the Rafael deal corruption by Modi government.

There is no doubt that Prashant Bhusan’s comments carry the full weight as those are supported by a lot of evidence, which is amply reflected in the Indian media pronouncements. For example, the Wire has projected ten main missteps taken by the Modi Government’s in its first term. Modi’s demonetization policy has inflicted havoc on the economy. The farmer suicide rose sharply due to wrong policy of importing large amounts of wheat and pulses that led to the prices of the domestic produce crashing. Modi and his related ministers changed the terms of a deal to acquire fewer Rafael jets for three times the price without following the stipulated procurement procedure.

Those sections of the media are enslaved by the government, which are critical of its policies. If a channel is less than pliant, it is blacked out for 24 hours, its premises are raided, or the offending journalists are mysteriously removed outright. The Modi government has also weakened the institutions, like parliament by ignoring its functions and governing through presidential ordnances, the Lokpal was artfully forgotten that the Supreme Court had to remind the government, the CBI is in the throes of a battle for credibility and the list goes on.

As a PM, while Modi has badly failed in his economic and other policies, the worst thing that has happened in his first tenure is the communal hatred, which he has tacitly supported by encouraging Hindus’ violence against the minorities

The biggest failure of the Modi government is the cultivation of hate in the Indian society, with a sharp increase in targeted attacks on Dalits and members of the minority community, especially the Muslims. Also, rather than creating 10 million jobs as promised the government made the people lose their jobs by enacting demonetization policy. The government revised the policy of calculating the GDP, to show artificially higher figures.

The government has totally alienated the people of Jammu and Kashmir by committing rampant Human Rights violations in the state using 700,000 security personnel to suppress Kashmiris’ freedom struggle and also by taking measures for settling Hindus in the state to change its demography. The Modi government has also damaged the process of South Asia’s economic integration by failing the SAARC by not attending its summit scheduled to be held in Pakistan since 2016.

In reality, Modi has blood stained hands after he, as the Chief Minister of Gujrat was seen doing nothing to stop Gujrat anti-Muslims riots in 2002,where Hindu Mobs had killed about 2000 Muslims. On that account, Modi was severely criticized by the international media and that is why he was denied entry visa by many Western countries, including the United States. Also, during his First Term as the PM, Modi tacitly allowed lynching of many Muslims in India.

As a PM, while Modi has badly failed in his economic and other policies, the worst thing that has happened in his first tenure is the communal hatred, which he has tacitly supported by encouraging Hindus’ violence against the minorities. That is why Modi has used anti Pakistan slogans and roused Hindutva sentiment to win the 2019 elections. In view of the above discussed failings of Modi, the London School of Economics has done a correct thing to cancel the invitation and the programme of awarding him an Honorary Ph.D. degree.

The writer is a former Research Fellow of Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), Islamabad and Senior Research Fellow, Strategic Vision Institute, Islamabad