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Modi has his fair share of problems, but the English news coming out of India / western outlets is alarmist and has massive vested interests when it comes to th
by screye 5y ago
Modi has his fair share of problems, but the English news coming out of India / western outlets is alarmist and has massive vested interests when it comes to their relations with the Gandhi/Congress family.
For 50 years, India was practically run by the Gandhis as a family business. Everyone and anyone who flourished did so with their blessing. Any excellence that was funded was made to abide by central ideological ideas espoused by the Congress. Lastly, many family-businesses survived purely because of the Gandhi's patronage and suppression of any new-elite.
From tenured profs to owners of top media organizations, the English speaking elite squarely despises Modi. Part of it is historical ideological filtering & a general fondness for the Gandhis. But, the biggest cause is that patronage and revenue has died out, now that the BJP does not put them on a pedestal nor consults with them as de facto elites. It is the collapse of falsely propped up elite.
In this turmoil, they have turned to their only natural ally. The western elite at NYT, WaPo and american universities. They attend panels and write columns about how India is undergoing collapse. Because guess what ? Only western outsiders with no visibility into India would believe it.
From abuse of UAPA to surveillance to the controversy regarding Rafales. You will find that the Congress has its hands just as dirty as the BJP. That's Indian politics 101.
The most egregious was Modi's diplomatic visa being revoked. 2002 was a tragedy of huge proportions and Modi had an active case ongoing in the Supreme court blessed by the opposition. (The court systems in India are completely independent, but having establishment support always helps) Additionally, Modi was mainly accused of not-doing enough to stop it, rather than actively causing it. Hell, even after being acquitted as innocent by this adversarial supreme court, his visa was still no restored.
> Modi remains the only person ever to be banned to travel to the United States of America under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) provision of US Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).[42] In 2012, A Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Indian Supreme Court found no "prosecutable evidence" against Modi and cleared him of all charges
Think about it. Does Modi even make page-1 of failed overseer during major religious riots in India?; let alone the world at that time ? He deserved to be chasitized for what was a complete failure of Govt. mechanisms, but to target him in such an obvious manner highlights what I am talking about.
(Modi has had terrible economic policies and has mishandled many a scenario, but I rarely see anyone talking about either. Every conversation is around the same old culture war topics of interest to the west: Issues that have always been a problem in India irrespective of Modi's presence or Congress rule. Hilariously: Aadhar, CAA, 370 removal and the farm bill are all policies that were raised in some part by the previous Congress Govt. None of these were viewed as polarizing until Modi picked them up. (370 removal was polarizing, but the bill was being routinely weakened by every consecutive India Govt.))
- demux 5y agoThis is probably the most accurate take on Modi I've seen on any forum, even one as high-quality as HN. It's almost incredible how the blatant corruption of Congress is forgotten; they were even using Cambridge Analytica (which probably added more fuel to the media trend [0]). [0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/whistleblower-claims-cambridge-analyticas-partners-in-india-worked-on-elections-raising-privacy-fears/2018/03/28/1168c04c-328a-11e8-b6bd-0084a1666987_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/whistleblo...
- random314 5y ago> Additionally, Modi was mainly accused of not-doing enough to stop it, rather than actively causing it. That is a misrepresentation. He was the primary organizer of the pogrom. In the words of the gujarat riots convict babu bajrangi, at 6:30 timestamp. https://youtu.be/mfnTl_Fwvbo https://youtu.be/mfnTl_Fwvbo https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haren_Pandya https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haren_Pandya Haren Pandyas wife accuses Modi of planning her husband's murder. Modi was pandyas only real enemy.
- srean 5y agoThe legal proceedings that found insufficient evidence against Modi also had several flaws that benefited Modi. Call record metadata of BJP politicians just prior to the outbreak of violence was stopped from being produced in court. All this is part of public record and a part of Sanjeev Bhatt's petition to the court and murder of Modi's own state cabinet minister Haren Pandya who had testified Modi's involvement in Gujarat riots (these documents can be accessed and downloaded). The senior police officer Sanjeev Bhatt, then serving as an intelligence officer had approached the court with evidence and allegations about Modi's direct involvement. The call records were suddenly lost. Bhatt was then convicted for life for a death of a person who died after being released post questioning. This death had happened some 20 years ago and Bhatt, then a newly minted police officer, had been cleared of responsibility at that time. This incident was dug up, case reopened and he was convicted. Judges in Indian courts are often bought, by money and by favors or by threats of harassments.
- sound1 5y ago