Skip to main content

Broligarchy

A page from Time

Broligarchy is a new word I learnt from the latest issue of the Time magazine one of whose lead stories is titled ‘American Broligarchy’. Wikipedia teaches me that ‘broligarchy’ is “a neologism and portmanteau combining oligarchy and broism describing the rule of government by a coterie of extremely wealthy men (occupying leadership roles in the tech companies and tech-enabled businesses).”

The Time article informs us that Trump’s greatest “bros” are Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg, the three men who were given the most prominent seats, ahead of Cabinet members, at Trump’s Presidential inauguration. These wealthy businessmen play crucial roles in Trump’s way of governing America. They pump a lot of unregulated money into politics for their own selfish reasons. A menacing outcome is an unhealthy (for the public) expansion of presidential power with fewer checks on the Congress. The Time laments that this “would be a recipe for more corruption under any President, but there are special dangers when they combine with Trump’s explicitly transactional approach to wielding power.”

India’s Prime Minister rushed to my mind as I read the Time article. Isn’t India a broligarchy under Mr Modi?

Who governs India in reality? The Parliament or a few individuals like Modi, Amit Shah, Gautam Adani, and Mukesh Ambani?

Both Ambani and Adani have been diehard supporters of Narendra Modi since his tenure as Gujarat’s chief minister. Adani funded much of Modi’s election campaigns, especially from 2014. He made his own private aircraft available for the campaigns.

As a result, the Adani Group has seen exponential growth in sectors like ports, power, and infrastructure, winning major government contracts and acquiring key assets like airports and coal mines. The meteoric success of Ambani’s Jio in India’s telecom revolution was facilitated by policies made by the Modi government just for the purpose.

Many government policies, such as relaxed environmental clearances, privatisation moves, and infrastructural projects, have often benefited Adani and Ambani ever since Modi became India’s PM.  Even the farm laws (now repealed) were formulated to favour these corporate players.

Neither Trump nor Modi is doing any good to the system of democracy with their functioning styles. When billionaires fund political campaigns, control media narratives, and influence policymaking, elected governments tend to forget the welfare of the public. Elon Musk goes around shutting down agencies and firing workers like a dictator. Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance has significantly expanded its presence in the media sector through several strategic acquisitions and mergers. Invading NDTV and handing it over to Adani was one of the most dastardly acts of Modi ever in his media conquests.

The death of democracy in India is almost certain in the hands of Narendra Modi. If an online publication like Vikatan cannot publish a cartoon showing Modi sitting in shackles beside Trump, then we have serious reasons to be concerned. After all, the cartoon was only referring to the ‘consignment’ of Indians carried by American military aircrafts and Modi’s silence over the inhuman treatment of Indians. Who does Modi rule for? Who does Trump stand for? That’s the question in the end.

Indians returned by Trump's military aircraft - The Hindu


Labels

Labels:

Comments

  1. Pradeep NairMarch 9, 2025 at 12:52 PM

    Nothing is going to the same as before. The world is in the throes of a lot of changes. I doubt if anyone has any clues to what is in store!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 9, 2025 at 8:21 PM

      The law of entropy is the only law in the climax of Kali Yuga.

      Delete
  2. Sintra blogueMarch 9, 2025 at 2:57 PM

    thank you

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 9, 2025 at 8:24 PM

      You're welcome. To say more. In any language. We have Google translator, after all.

      Delete
  3. Yamini MacLeanMarch 9, 2025 at 4:10 PM

    Hari OM
    The world has, quite literally, gone mad. The really big question now, after the treatment of Zelenskiyy and the subsequent discords and rumblings and fumblings that are taking place from the fallout, is whether we can avoid a truly devastating and wider conflagration... this is the fear that is building. YAM xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalMarch 9, 2025 at 8:23 PM

      I hope the so-called Viswagurus will attain a shade of sanity soon enough.

      Delete
  4. magiceyeMarch 9, 2025 at 6:10 PM

    Armageddon on the horizon.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Liz A.March 10, 2025 at 2:47 AM

    Our Congress is supposed to be able to check the president. That they aren't speaks volumes.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Whispers of the Self

Book Review Title: The Journey of the Soul Author: Dhanya Ramachandran Publisher: Sahitya Publications, Kozhikode, 2025 Pages: 64 “I n the whispers of the wind, I hear a gentle voice.” Dhanya Ramachandran’s poems are generally gentle voices like the whispers of the wind. The above line is from the poem ‘Seek’. There is some quest in most of the poems. As the title of the anthology suggests, most of the poems are inward journeys of the poet, searching for something or offering consolations to the self. Darkness and shadows come and go, especially in the initial poems, like a motif. “In the darkness, shadows dance and play.” That’s how ‘Echoes of Agony’ begins. There are haunting memories, regrets, and sorrow in that poem. And a longing for solace. “Tears dry, but scars remain.” Shadows are genial too occasionally. “Shadows sway to the wind’s soft sigh / As we stroll hand in hand beneath the sky…” (‘Moonlit Serenade’) The serenity of love is rare, however, in the collecti...
7 comments
Read more

Jatayu: The Winged Warrior

Image by Gemini AI Jatayu is a vulture in Valmiki Ramayana. The choice of a vulture for a very noble mission on behalf of Rama is powerful poetic and moral decision. Vultures are scavengers, associated with death and decay. Yet Valmiki assigns to it one of the noblest tasks of sacrificing itself in defence of Sita. Your true worth lies in what you do, in your character, and not in your caste or even species. [In some versions, Jatayu is an eagle.] Jatayu is given a noble funeral after his death. Rama treats Jatayu like a noble kshatriya who sacrificed his life fighting for dharma against an evil force like Ravana. “You are blessed, O Jatayu!” Rama tells the dying bird. “Even in your last moments, you upheld dharma. You fought to save a woman in distress. Your sacrifice will not go in vain.” Jatayu sacrificed himself to save Sita from Ravana. He flew up into the clouds to stop Ravana’s flight with Sita. Jatayu was a friend of Dasharatha, Rama’s father. Now Rama calls him equal to ...
17 comments
Read more

Mandodari: An Unsung Heroine

Mandodari and Ravana by Gemini AI To remain virtuous in a palace darkened by the ego of the king is a hard thing to do, especially if one is the queen there. Mandodari remained not only virtuous till the end of her life in that palace, but also wise and graceful. That’s what makes her a heroine, though an unsung one. Her battlefield was an inner one: a moral war that she had to wage constantly while being a wife of an individual who was driven by ego and lust. Probably her only fault was that she was the queen-wife of Ravana. Inside the golden towers of Ravana’s palace, pride reigned and adharma festered. Mandodari must have had tremendous inner goodness to be able to withstand the temptations offered by the opulence, arrogance, and desires that overflowed from the palace. She refused to be corrupted in spite of being the wife of an egotistic demon-king. Mandodari was born of Mayasura and Hema, an asura and an apsara, a demon and a nymph. She inherited the beauty and grace of her...
18 comments
Read more

Karma versus Fatalism

By Google Gemini The concept of karma plays a vital role in the Ramayana. You will get the consequences of your actions – that’s what karma means in short. Dasharatha, a king who followed dharma quite meticulously, committed a mistake in his youth. While hunting, he killed a young boy mistaking him for a deer because of a sound. Dasharatha was genuinely repentant of what happened and he went to the blind parents of the boy to atone for his karma. But the understandably grief-stricken blind father of the boy cursed Dasharatha: “Just as we are dying in sorrow caused by the loss of our son, you too shall die grieving the separation from your son.” So, Dasharatha’s death during Rama’s exile was a consequence of his karma. It was predestined, in other words. Immutable fate. Ravana’s karma brings upon him the disastrous end he has. He has lived a life of adharma altogether. Interestingly, it was his fate too following him from another existence altogether. He was destined to live the l...
17 comments
Read more

Loyalty: The Silent Strength of the Ramayana

Image by Google Gemini "Wherever you dwell, O Rama, that alone is my heaven. I do not desire Ayodhya, or even the bliss of Swarga, if I am not with you." Many characters in the Ramayana could have said that. Sita, Lakshmana, Hanuman… I have quoted Lakshmana’s speech to Rama when he heard of the exile ordered by Dasharatha. Loyalty is a central moral and emotional pillar in the Ramayana. It appears in different dimensions – between brothers, spouses, subjects and rulers, even between humans and animals. Loyalty to a person does not mean blind following; it’s about love, trust, and shared destiny. Lakshmana’s loyalty to Rama is perhaps the most shining example. He could have lived in the comfort of the palace; but he chose to be by Rama’s side in the travails of the forest. His loyalty is more than a duty; it is love. Sita’s loyalty is tested in fire – literally as well as symbolically. But she never sways. Hanuman’s loyalty is devotion (which was discussed earlier ). Ra...
11 comments
Read more