India’s Hunger

When the BJP government took over governance in 2014, India stood at rank 55 in the Global Hunger Index.  The country slipped down to rank 80 the very next year, to 97 last year, and stands at disgraceful 100 this year.  Times Now says that “India ranks lower than all its neighbouring countries – Nepal (72), Myanmar (77), Bangladesh (88), Sri Lanka (84) and China (29) - except Pakistan, which has been placed at 106th in the global hunger list.”

The gap between BJP’s promises in its election manifesto as well as the Prime Minister’s endless rhetoric and the actual reality is starkly glaring.  It’s no wonder the Prime Minister is being elevated to the stature of a god.  Temples are being constructed with Mr Narendra Modi as the presiding deity.  Only a god can be as heartless as Mr Modi.

Mr Modi has successfully manipulated religious and nationalist sentiments in order to achieve the divine stature that is being attributed to him in the cow belt of the country.  Both religion and nationalism can blind people.  A sizeable section of India’s population are blind.  अंधेर नगरी चौपट राजा [Dark is the nation and insane the King] has become the reality. 

How long will religion or nationalism keep people blind, however?  Actual hunger is more potent than भक्ती [devotion].  History has dethroned many kings for lesser crimes than the ones being perpetrated in contemporary India in the name of culture and religion. 

Contemporary India is hungry.  There are millions of starving children.  In 2016, 97 million children of the country were underweight and the figure was the global highest.  While the Global Hunger Index focuses on children, the condition of the adults in the country is no better.  Insane exercises such as Demonetisation threw thousands of people out of employment.  Slogans like Make in India remained poster-dreams.  People are being given nursery rhyme heroes when they ask for means of livelihood.

On the other hand, the affluent in India are doing well.  Their wealth keeps increasing fabulously without the promised trickle-down effect.  The government has failed utterly in bringing development to the masses.  What we now have is plutocracy masquerading as nationalism which in turn is sustained by gods, demigods, and villains-turned-gods.

No government can go on for long ignoring a large section of the country’s population.  If the Modi government does not start addressing the issues of poverty, starvation, and unemployment, it will face disastrous consequences sooner than later.