This is divisive speech and does grave disservice to his high office.
A heated election campaign is on, but all is certainly not fair in electoral war. At a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara, Prime Minister Narendra Modi framed politics as a zero-sum game and communities as adversaries. He bracketed the Muslim minority with “ghuspaithiye (infiltrators)”, resorted to prejudiced stereotyping, “jinke zyada bachche hain (those who have more children)”, and (mis)used the emotive symbolism of the “mangalsutra” to paint a spectre in which the majority would be deprived of their “mehnat ki kamai” or hard-earned money. This is divisive speech and does grave disservice to his high office. The PM was countering former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s remarks in 2006 on the marginalised, including minorities, having the “first claim on resources”. But this was not just an attack on Manmohan Singh or Congress, which, the PM also said, was driven by “Urban Naxal ki soch (thinking)” (a coinage that has often come in handy for the ruling establishment to label difference and dissent as subversive). What the PM said constituted a lowering of the political debate in a way that also goes against his own efforts to send out a more expansive and encompassing message that addresses everyone as a stakeholder in democracy and celebrates rather than berates India’s diversity. After the first phase of polling, he urged people to step out and vote “for anyone” because it is important to secure the future of the country. “Bharat ek bahuratna vasundhara hai,” he said in an interview to ANI just days ago, celebrating the beauty of its diversity. And, on Monday, a day after Banswara, in Aligarh, the PM reached out to Pasmanda Muslims talking of his government’s interventions on triple talaq and the Haj quota.
Of course, there can be legitimate political and electoral debate about the linking of welfare and identity. It is also true that PM Modi’s own political pitch has insistently underlined the fact that his government’s welfare schemes are caste and community blind, that they do not discriminate between beneficiaries. From free rations to Ayushman Bharat, from Ujjwala to PM-Kisan, the benefits touch all, including the Muslim minority substantially, given the socio-economic indicators of the community. But by painting an entire community into a corner and framing it as an adversary, the PM does not widen or deepen the debate — he shrinks and narrows its possibilities.
PM Modi has much to talk about, as he pitches for a third term. Large audiences at home, and abroad, listen to him carefully. Whoever wins or loses the ongoing election, he has made a place for himself as a leader and prime minister who has been able to straddle and rise above several fault lines in India’s multi-layered polity. A speech like the one he made Sunday is a disturbing and unfortunate step back from that trajectory. And, dispiriting for the 18-year-old Indian (whatever her faith) who will vote this summer for the first time in her life.
