The American President,
Barack Obama, has already embraced the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in
the highly girdled airport in Delhi.
This is the second jaadu
ki jhappi between the leaders of two nations with similar global interests. Obama’s country has been the world’s moral
police since the second world war and Modi’s India aspires to wrench that hegemony.
About two decades ago,
Samuel P Huntington wrote in his famous and controversial book, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking
of World Order, that “If at some point India supplants East Asia as the
world’s economically most rapidly developing area, the world should be prepared
for extended disquisitions on the superiority of Hindu culture...” Interestingly, Huntington added that the
disquisition would have to be about “the contributions of the caste system to economic
development” and a fundamentalist assertion of indigenous culture. Huntington was not a divinatory astrologer
but a Harvard University professor of political science. When he wrote those
words India was still struggling to grow up from what was mockingly labelled as
the Hindu rate of economic growth. And
now India has succeeded in creating a new caste system: a duplicate of what
Obama’s country created originally.
Narendra Modi became the
Prime Minister at a time when India had already achieved what Huntington calls “material
success.” So it is easy for the Prime
Minister to proceed to what Huntington predicted as the natural outcome: “cultural
assertion.”
The double jhappi between the leaders of the two
global superpowers is more significant than the semi-literate Sangh Parivar
missionaries of medievalist travesties such as ghar vapasi may ever be able to comprehend. What Modi is trying to show the world is that
India is not merely an economic superpower but also America’s competitor.
But what is the
competition about? That’s the billion
dollar question really. Is it an
assertion of the Hindu civilization, as Huntington argued? Or is it a political dominance, an assertion
of power?
“Cultural assertion
follows material success,” wrote Huntington.
“Hard power generates soft power,” he added in the same sentence.
That is exactly what Modi
is trying to do. He won’t be satisfied
with mere material success. He is like
Hitler who will not be contented with anything less than racial garv.
That’s why he kept mum when the religious institutions of the minority
communities in the country were vandalised time and again in different parts of
the country including the national capital soon after he ascended the throne in
what his minister, Venkaiah Naidu, wanted
to be rechristened as Indraprastha or Hastinapur. That is also why he keeps mum on issues like
ghar vapasi. That is also why the
Central Board of Film Certification is being infiltrated with RSS minions. Even the Central Board of Secondary Education
has been similarly infiltrated and the history textbooks are being tinkered
with.
And yet, Modi is not a man
to keep mum. It is simply not in his
nature to do that. As an Aam Aadmi Party
leader, Kumar Vishwas, said yesterday, “There was one prime minister who never
spoke for ten years and there is another now who doesn’t stop talking.” And yet, Modi chooses silence on certain
issues. We (should) know why.
He won’t say. He would rather hug Barack Obama in what the most
famous magazine
of the latter’s country (which put Modi on its cover a couple of years back and
called him “the most polarizing politician in India”) labels “a
Soviet-style jamboree” and engage us, the gullible citizens, with Man ki baat on the All India Radio.
Wish you all a highly entertaining,
patriotism-injecting, goose bump-raising Republic Day.
India is no superpower.
ReplyDeleteThat's the harsh truth. But India is behaving like a superpower not only felxing its muscles on the Pak borders but also claiming a significant number of economic giants in the form of industrialists. Economic power is the real superpower in today's world.
DeleteWonder what good all this will do to India!
ReplyDeleteBut no doubt his agreeing to be our guest has boosted our morale.
On the one hand, we can view Obama visit as a morale booster. On the other, it can make us think :)
DeleteModi believes in positioning himself well and consolidating power not only within the country but outside as well. His moves are thoughtful as well as to some extent immensely bold, and if I may say, dangerous as well. Hope the country and the countrymen benefit out of his sky high political aspirations. Regards
ReplyDeleteDangerous in many ways. The number of times he changed his attire and the inscription of his name on his coat are indications of narcissism and potential totalitarianism.
DeleteVery subtly made points Matheikal. Well yes Obama's visit is a great PR victory. I question the need for expensive Republic Day celebrations at all.
ReplyDeleteOnly subtlety is effective here given the situation.
DeleteRD is behind us as I read and comment. Yes, it was a grand photo opportunity. In the assured smugness that they would be focused at by the camera, a couple of well fed and obviously connected teenagers were also showing "We love Obama" posters in the RD enclosures.
ReplyDeleteObama as a person is much more admirable than Modi as a person, I think. As Vinod Mehta writes in his autobiography, What sustain Modi are money power, managerial power, RSS power and people power. Not true q,qualities...
Delete