The White House Press Release regarding the telephone conversation between US President Joe Biden and our Prime Minister Narendra Modi states: “The President underscored his desire to defend democratic institutions and norms around the world and noted that a shared commitment to democratic values is the bedrock for the US-India relationship.” PM Modi’s twitter handle was more general when he talked about his call with POTUS stating: “We discussed regional issues and our shared priorities. We also agreed to further our cooperation against climate change.” Climate change ranks high on PM Modi’s list of concerns since his time as Gujarat Chief Minister. It’s an issue over which he bonded with former President Barack Obama and disagreed over with another former President Donald Trump.
But it’s important to note the White House press release that highlights the need to defend democratic institutions. This comes at a time when the Indian government is bristling against what it sees as interference in its internal matters by “foreign vested interests”. Read, those voices outside India from legislators to activists to singers to 16-year-olds, who have spoken in favour of the farmers’ protests against the reform laws. The PM has also dismissed these voices as unwanted FDI—Foreign Disruptive Ideology. Though some might say that this is an unfortunate turn of phrase given the fact that the recent Budget spent a lot of paragraphs on wooing FDI (foreign direct investment) to keep the economy going. But since it’s the PMO and not the FM’s Office that drafts the Budget, clearly Prime Minister Modi was aware of the tightrope he was walking when he evoked this particular terminology.
Unfortunately for the BJP there is a very direct link between the social, political and financial fabric of a country. Those looking to invest in India would be looking not just at the financial balance sheet but also the social and political stability of the country. In terms of political stability the PM wins, for political pundits are already talking about his comeback in 2024. He has also been applauded for steering the country through the worst of Covid-19 in terms of the medical fallout. It is the social unrest that will come back to haunt him—for as Manish Tewari, Congress MP and former I&B Minister in the UPA, told NewsX on the Roundtable recently, “If you require economic progress you need to have social harmony. Since 2014 this country has been kept on the slow boil of polarisation. If you are going to have communal discord, am afraid you are not going to attract foreign investment. Money is a coward, money looks for a safe harbour and money does not see India as a v safe harbor. If you read Financial Times, New York Times, Le Monde, etc, over the last two and half years you will read about lynchings, about J&K…there is not a single positive story about India. Where is the India story? Any investor looking to invest in India would be reading that, and not the Organizer.”
At the risk of provoking the trolls, I admit that I agree with his point of view even though being an Opposition leader he is speaking within a certain context which should be factored in. Having said that, simply shushing stories in foreign media as interference in our internal matters is not going to wish away the problem. Then why look for investment from overseas? And, why take a delegation of 15 envoys to Kashmir after the revocation of Article 370 if you were not lobbying for favourable foreign opinion?
You may not agree with the farmers’ protests. You may argue that the new laws are a reform that needed to happen and indeed at some point or the other, most of our political parties have argued in favour of opening up agriculture beyond the mandis stranglehold. But, if a certain segment of beneficiaries is against this, then they too have a right to voice their views without being labelled anti-national. Otherwise we are sending the wrong kind of optics both within India and outside. Add to this the FIRs against Opposition leaders and journalists. Add to that the counter action by the Maharashtra government to probe social media posts by celebrities in support of the government. This certainly does not augur well in terms of optics, in terms of free speech and democratic values. And in the end, there is the postscript of enforced nationalism that enters every conversation on any and every topic. And you wonder: Where is all this anger and unrest coming from. What is making a government with such a secure mandate, so insecure?