India: Image-building and Images

A few weeks back, 272 “eminent citizens” wrote an open letter accusing Rahul Gandhi and his team of “tarnishing” the Election Commission of India. Just a day before that letter appeared in the media, Narendra Modi gave away the Ramnath Goenka awards to some journalists and he spoke with his characteristic rhetoric about the importance of honesty and bravery in journalism. A day after Modi’s exhortation on journalistic honesty and bravery, the office of the Kashmir Times was raided by Modi’s government for the newspaper’s honest and brave reporting on human rights violations in the state by the government machinery. 

Books banned in Kashmir

Irony suffered a million deaths in India after 2014. The “eminent citizens” who wrote the chargesheet against Rahul Gandhi are all Modi’s sycophants who enjoy certain privileges provided by the government. They are retired judges, bureaucrats, diplomats and former armed forces officers. They will be rewarded again for their slavish loyalty which smacks of the antitheses of all the virtues that Modi demanded from journalists in his rhetoric.

Reporters Without Borders [RSF] has ranked India 151 out of 180 countries in press freedom. A 2021 report by Statista suggested that India was the third most dangerous nation for journalists, after Mexico and Afghanistan.

Modi’s government has been in power for the last eleven years. Eleven years is not a short period for any government to bring about substantial changes in living standards of a country. Has Modi government made Indians any happier? The World Happiness Index 2025 puts India at a pathetic 118^th place.

What about human resources development?

 

UNICEF informs us that 206 million children in India lack access to one of the six basic services like education, health, housing, nutrition, clean water, and sanitation.

Speaking about children, I’m reminded of a cruel episode that happened in the BJP’s stronghold of UP. A child’s wound was bandaged with FeviKwik instant adhesive where a suture was required. The child couldn’t endure the agony that ensued. It took three hours for another hospital to clean up the adhesive!

Thank the child’s stars, they didn’t use cow’s excreta for nursing the wound. Cows have been introduced in the Tihar Jail “to provide cow therapy” to the prisoners, especially those feeling lonely. You can watch the video here (It’s in Hindi, India’s beloved language).

A few days back, India’s newspapers proclaimed that the country’s GDP has “surged” 8.2%. Karan Thapar, veteran journalist (who has always been honest and brave), tells us that the claim is misleading.

I brought a few images of India here merely because many of my friends are turning Modi-fans. They think Modi is Making India Great Again [MIGA].