Video Producer: Sonal Gupta
Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam & Vivek Gupta
Yeh Jo India Hai Na, it is a messy democracy but it is a democracy. Some countries are still stuck with kings and sheikhs, some are sham democracies with a single leader for 25-30 years, some are out and out military dictatorships. But India is that jeeta-jaagta democratic miracle that decade upon decade has stayed faithful to its core identity as a federal secular democracy.
Also few would argue against Narendra Modi’s diplomatic successes. He has hugged his way into the good books of countries as opposed to each other as Israel, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
He has entertained both Xi Jinping and Trump in Ahmedabad. Looks like they sat at the exact same spot at Sabarmati Ashram. So why would the Modi government want to lose all this political capital, all this goodwill that it has built so painstakingly?
World is Disappointed With This India
In recent months, that is what has been happening. Yeh Jo India hai na Duniya iss India se aajkal naaraz hai. And for the first time in a long time India’s credibility as a secular democracy is being questioned.
For instance: The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights plans to appeal in India’s Supreme Court against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
She says the CAA is “fundamentally discriminatory” and breaks away from our “long tradition of secularism”. Then, there is Bernie Sanders who may be the Democrat candidate for the US Presidential elections and someone Modi can’t ignore.
Bernie has been sharply critical of the violence in northeast Delhi. He said Trump’s silence on the violence that had already claimed 27 lives while Trump was in Delhi was a “failure of leadership on human rights”.
On 2 March in Britain’s House of Commons, their Lok Sabha, Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs were all critical of CAA and the violence in Delhi.
Their junior Foreign Minister Nigel Adams was very direct. Yes, India is a big market but Britain “will not pursue trade to the exclusion of human rights”. One MP described videos that showed “shocking orchestrated sectarian violence”.
We may chest-thump and say what our Foreign Ministry has said to the UN’s Human Rights Commissioner, to Britain’s MPs and ministers or even to Bernie Sanders: Don’t comment on our internal matters.
But are we sure we can ignore or rubbish these views? ‘Goli maaro gaddaron ko…’ as a slogan failed to win the Delhi election and now it is even changing the world’s perception of India. Are we okay with being described as a flawed democracy?
How Foreign Media Slammed India On Delhi Violence
The New York Times, one of America’s top papers, described Kapil Mishra’s speech as inflammatory. Over here, we’re still pretending it wasn’t. The New York Times and other publications have witness accounts of the police doing nothing as mob violence spread. Over here, not a single cop is even suspended so far.
The Washington Post says secularism has been the big casualty under Modi’s rule. Der Spiegel, Germany’s biggest news daily, said anti-Muslim rhetoric has worked within India, but has harmed India’s reputation abroad.
The Times from London commented on how Modiji stayed silent even as the death toll mounted in Delhi.
The Economist said this – Modi’s sectarianism is eroding India’s secular democracy. Should we ignore or trash the views of some of the world’s most respected media? Dismiss them as presstitutes? Keep our blinkers on and believe our godi media only?
Lets See What Some Neighbours Are Saying
“Stop the massacre of Muslims in order to prevent India’s isolation from the world of Islam,” says Iran’s supreme leader Ayotollah Khamenei’s tweet.
Such strong words repeatedly from a friendly nation. And Iran matters as a counter to China’s influence in Pakistan. Are we ready to endanger this friendship?
Bangladesh and Afghanistan, both friendly neighbours, are upset about the CAA claiming that religious minorities are persecuted in their countries. How many upset neighbours do we want?
Do we value these relationships? If we do, we must pay attention and respond to what’s being said about us even when those voices are critical.
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