Is Modi India’s Guarantee?

Modi was in Kerala the other day. His speech was distressingly interspersed with the ominous phrase “Modi’s guarantee”. For example, he would say: “Every Indian will have a toilet, this is Modi’s guarantee” or “India will be a $5 trillion economy, this is Modi’s guarantee.” This morning, the latest edition of a Malayalam weekly, Sathyadeepam, reached me along with other subscribed publications. I was impressed by its editorial. Please allow me translate it and bring it to you because I think it deserves to be read by many more people than the limited subscribers of Sathyadeepam. Those who wish to read it in the original Malayalam can do so here. The translation is not literal, I have taken the liberty to edit it for the sake of better clarity to a non-Keralite reader. I hope the Sathyadeepam editor will forgive my transgressions.

Modi is not the guarantee, the country's constitution is. Since the prime minister has the constitutional obligation to ensure development and security to the people of India, Modi's guarantee in his political speech at Thrissur on January 3 actually surprised political observers.

Modi's repeated declaration that he is 'guarantee for everything' from projects such as Ujjwala gas for 10 crore people, piped clean water for 11 crore people, toilets for 12 crore families and bank accounts for 60 lakh women sounded as if he was doing some personal charity to the nation.

What is the credibility of Modi’s guarantees anyway? One of the big guarantees of the first Modi government, the recovery of black money and the 'guarantee' of an additional Rs 15,00,000 deposit into every Indian’s account, is yet to be implemented. What about the guarantee of jobs, women empowerment, food security…?

The Supreme Court's recent observation that there was no need for a special investigation team against the country's leading industrialist Adani in the wake of the Hindenburg Report came as a big relief not only to Adani but also to the BJP government. The opposition parties, especially the Congress leadership, are constantly raising the allegation that Adani's astonishing growth rate is due to Modi's 'guarantee'. The main allegation was that the market value of Adani companies was inflated by manipulating the stock market.

While guaranteeing the inauguration of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya has become the main campaign weapon of the BJP as it prepares to capture the North in the 2024 general elections, the political battle in South India is dominated by development rhetoric.

When BJP claims that Modi's guarantee is decisive in bringing back Indians safely from any disturbed part of the world, does Modi not know the concern of secular India that the same guarantee is not available in Manipur, a land of unrest and brutal genocide, even after months?

Is Modi, who claims to have become teary-eyed while seeking the blessings of some Christian leaders during the Christmas dinner hosted at the Prime Minister's residence, not aware that the Christmas Eve in Manipur was riotous and violent this time? Both Modi and the Christian leaders conveniently forgot Manipur while enjoying their Christmas dinner and the newfound camaraderie.

The BJP grew from two seats in 1984 to 161 in 1996, 282 in 2014, 303 seats in 2019, and a vote share of 7.74% in 1984 to 37.46% in 2019. It is now arming itself with the Ram Temple and the Citizenship Amendment Bill for the 2024 succession. Now when Modi the individual becomes the guarantee for everything, it is the very principle of democracy that dies in public spaces. Don't forget that in the new era where 150 MPs are expelled from the parliament and 'democratic protection' is assured in the 'Modi guarantee', the continuation of the old totalitarian era of 'India is Indira' is also being sought here. 

Opposition MPs were expelled 71 times during the Modi regime. The introduction of the bill that castrated the Election Commission in the absence of the opposition was a major move on the path of the destruction of democracy by the Modi government. It is extremely sad to note the extent to which the legislature and the judiciary have been made puppets in the hands of one man called Modi. The Modi government has already opposed the collegial system of appointment of judges. With the appointment of a Modi and Amit Shah confidant as the CAG, that neutrality system also effectively disappeared. Is it a coincidence that chants of Jai Hind keep turning into Shree Ram chants and finally to Modi Jai slogans? 

'Modi Guarantee' should be seen as a constitutional crisis rather than just a slogan coined by Modi himself. Modi seems to think that democracy can be turned into a mere 'harvest' festival when public relations are degenerated into a 'show' on the road.

The crowd in Thrissur seems to have forgotten the agricultural black laws that have reduced millions of farmers to terrible poverty and driven many of them to suicide, the sports women in India who are forced to abandon their dreams in fear of Modi’s brutish partymen, and the development concept which accelerates price hikes. 

The sceptre has reached the palace, now all that remains is the coronation. It remains to be seen whether the Congress, which takes advantage of the hypocrisy of soft Hindutva, and the Left, which supports reactionary politics to the point of undermining even those who protest democratically, will continue to provide the guarantee of constitutional rule during the election period. That is the guarantee of their future. What India needs is not the guarantee of any individual whose policies are making subjects of citizens. What India needs is the guarantee of a Constitution that liberates the citizens into individuals who can dream high and fulfil those dreams.