Former US president, Barack Obama just cannot lay off trying to provide political “steroids” to a highly unconstructive globalist “campaign”, essentially against a huge majority of Indians who take great pride in their leader.
This is starkly represented in an interview of Obama by Christiane Amanpour of CNN, a major US-based television network It is an obnoxious barrage, of unfounded criticism of accusing the PM as being pro-authoritarian and anti-non Hindu. This is “propaganda” by a Harvard- trained lawyer who should know better that India’s prime minister is fully respecting India’s democracy-based constitution. Thus, Mr Obama should cease his distortions and instead, celebrate one of India’s all time great leaders.
The US politician’s extent of interjections not only represents foreign interference against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and the PM in particular. But it is a naked, arrogant representation of US exceptionalism of neo-liberalism.
It is an ideology that facilitated US open borders, massive drug addiction, spiritual vapidity, a Washington system of lobby bribery and Billionaire-led oligarchy. Such people have no big lessons to teach Indians how to get to such a “poisoned” end and then, declare it success and freedom.
This seems also to be a blatant effort by certain US forces of malfeasance to fuel the Opposition against the prime minister; an Opposition which appears to be taking a cue from this ex US president. That is inclusive more of US distorting, pro-neo-liberal and pro US hegemonic exceptionalism media, as well as of ideas of Wall Street financier George Soros and friends.
And if one did not know better, it would seem Mr Obama has joined up with Soros’s Open Society that the only thing open about it with regard to India is its zeal to overturn the popular will of many Indians. These forces appear in a highly calculated, if not a fully orchestrated way of doing so by supporting the main Opposition wishes it appears to let outside forces play an outsized role in deciding who is the leadership of the government of India and usurp Indian popular democracy.
In sum, one needs to ask the question as to whether they wish to engender a “silent coup” to get rid of the duly elected government of the Republic of India. However, It is a country reminded by Republic Day celebrations that it has a strong democratic constitution integrated with the idea of independence and anti-colonialism, underscored by the prime minister and his pro-people, of all of India movement.
These attacks against India, essentially go on unabated, even maintained by certain US State Department reports and “lower level” officials. This is all happening as confirmed by Wion news, “US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday (Jan 17) said that the ‘remarkable achievements’ of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government have benefited the relations of many ally countries as he weighed in on India as an ‘extraordinary success story’.” Even Obama’s former vice president, now current US president, Joe Biden not so long ago heaped praise on India’s widely popular leader. So what gives with Obama and “friends” unwillingness to give the Modi government the large praise it deserves?
Rather, it makes them seem authoritarian towards an unbending, uncompromising way to their way or the doorway of democracy and even democracy innovation by governments, including in the Global South. Some of which that have leadership trying to be sensitive to the particular circumstances, culture and positive traditions of their people. Global pluralism does not seem acceptable to a segment of Washington that would have excess military interventionism, directly or not to push an agenda of US exceptionalism with blinders on that have been shown empirically, too often in their raw form to cause more misery and instability.
In conformity to that, ex national security advisor, John Bolton thinks bombing Iran (extensively?) is good policy to reform that country. Yet, current national security advisor to the US president,Jake Sullivan is unsupportive of such an overbearing aggressive approach and even stated that Biden does not want to lecture India.
The current overall administration has even said through Blinken that it accepts the reality of multipolarity. The only issue is that too many in Washington prefer an oversized control of this, clearly emerging new reality.
That those in Washington not agreeing to supporting multipolarity may be why some are happy to see Obama using his great communication skills and visibility to try to undermine the incredible Modi success story that includes fighting hegemonic approaches. Unfortunately for these groups, the prime minister is too sharp in defending India’s interests. It is a city both from which Mr. Obama came from and his former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton well known for the intervention she supported in Libya that destabilized that country, leading in part to the huge refugee problems that both Europe and Africa are facing.
And what is Obama talking about on religious rights as no less than a major Arab leader, Mr Al-Issa had this to say according to India News as headlined, “Top Muslim World League Leader Hails PM Modi Over Inclusive Growth”. Mr. Modi’s led government of India is not only representing the concept of inclusiveness more that just about any other country. But he is not afraid of also underscoring his spirituality. For post-modern secularist leaders like Mr. Obama and still too much of insider Washington they have a problem. They can only focus on the Prime Minister’s religiosity and frame it as discrimination, even as an abomination of governance. The lack of recognition of the very fair-minded approach by the Modi government as seen by these neo-liberal globalists is truly alarming. And one might say, they wreak of intolerance and anti-democratic tendencies against India, a spiritually-oriented nation. For Indians, an Obama-styled nation, for the most part is just a new form of colonialism, however delivered with charming words and a big smile. In fact, it might be seen as an abomination, pardon the play on words.
Peter Dash is an educator and former Associate at Harvard University.
