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The Modi Magic Lies Dismantled

Sanjay K. Jha

Numerical majority may be the lifeline of governments in democracy but that’s not the solitary legitimising factor. Legitimacy lies in the social contract that leaders acquire during their rule; trust that develops through their intent and performance. That trust evaporates if the government violates constitutional morality and its intent is not in tune with the larger public good.

Narendra Modi Government is now grappling with an agonising public reappraisal. There is alarm and despondency everywhere; somehow the picture is blackened. Difficult to guess whether the force of circumstances created this crisis or the moment of truth has finally arrived.

Believe it or not, the prime minister who so assiduously built the image of a leader who inspires awe doesn’t come to the Lok Sabha fearing an assault by women MPs. The supreme leader is so frightened of getting exposed that the Leader of Opposition is not allowed to speak in parliament.

The “master strategist” draws up such a self-defeatist plan of visiting Israel at a time when the intelligentsia, domestic audience, global community and even the opposition in the host country are left wondering about the motive. The “robust nationalist” has chosen to completely ignore the unusual dose of insult from US President Donald Trump. Is Modi prioritizing his personal survival over India’s strategic interest?

Modi magic lies dismantled. His escapism now advertises the aches and pains of political decay. While the swagger is gone, Modi is now unwittingly parading his failures before the nation. Hindutva politics that thrived on Muslim hate is now conspiring to frame the Shankaracharya in a false sex crime. Minor protests invite police crackdown. Students are assaulted on university campuses and outside. The employment scenario remains depressing. The so-called “powerful orator”, who addresses the nation on petty issues like GST rate cut, remains silent on the US trade deal that will have grave national consequences. The Artificial Intelligence summit, an event designed to camouflage the grim realities, started with a Galgotian fraud and ended with tyrannical repression.

Is there more evidence needed to show that the chips are down? Will a strong leader get horrified by a peaceful protest by some “shirtless” boys? Imagine the depth of the crisis: A trivial incident triggers a witch-hunt against Youth Congress but the entire ruling establishment seals its lips on the ghastly sexual exploitation of children and girls that has shaken the world.

Why can’t the prime minister articulate the national sentiment – that whatever happened in the Epstein den is inhuman and anybody linked with the scoundrel will not be tolerated? Is that too much to ask from our prime minister? If yes, the social contract will collapse. Now the RSS-BJP has to decide for how long they will bear Modi’s cross.

Modi’s Israel

When the memory is scarred by massacre of innocent children by a marauding force and the stench of burnt bodies fill the ambiance, sermons about compassion and morality bear no significance. It seems more farcical if the audience comprises people who ordered the carnage.

But while addressing the Israeli Parliament Knesset earlier this week, Modi tried to draw parallels between Indian and Israeli philosophy and traditions. Modi said, “As the Jews teaching reminds us, whoever saves one life, saves the entire world…We are both ancient civilizations. And it is perhaps no surprise that our civilisational traditions also reveal philosophical parallels. In Israel, the principle of Tikkum Olam speaks of healing the world. In India, Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam affirms that the world is one family. They ask societies to act with compassion and moral courage.”

Modi chose not to point out that the incumbent Israeli regime led by Benjamin Netanyahu brutally violated the spirit of Tikkum Olam. Modi couldn’t speak the truth because he was violating Indian tradition himself. He violated not only the Indian doctrine of taking a moral position on mindless violence and illegal occupation, he also defied our civilizational ethos by refusing to discuss the bigger crimes while hyping up the aberrations.

He conveyed “deepest condolences” to the victims of Hamas terror attack without even mentioning the genocide carried out by Israel. He even referred to the death of some Israeli citizens in the Mumbai terror attack but avoided expressing the mildest concern over the unprecedented slaughter of thousands of people in Gaza that shocked the entire world. For a politician coming from the land of Buddha and Gandhi, this was a disgraceful act that demeaned our so humane civilizational heritage.

But this diplomatic treachery was so manifestly unjust that even spurious arguments exposed the irony of both Modi and Netanyahu’s political sham. Modi said Jews lived in India without persecution and discrimination. What does this say about persecution and discrimination against Palestinians in Gaza? Modi referred to holocaust during the Nazi rule as humanity’s darkest chapter. Can Modi visualize how the Gaza massacre and its executioners will be remembered by history? Modi mentioned the Jewish teaching – whoever saves one life, saves the entire world. How will any conscientious person from anywhere in the world interpret the Gaza killings in light of this principle? The question is – what were the leaders, who take pride in Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam and Tikkum Olam doing when hundreds of innocent people were being killed off like animals almost daily?

What the world thinks about Netanyahu is not a secret but Modi still pretends that he represents 140 crore people of India. It is, however, absolutely clear that Modi, who doesn’t speak for truth and justice, doesn’t represent the glorious Indian tradition. Mahatma Gandhi had categorically said Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French. Successive Indian governments have confronted injustice anywhere in the world and fought for Palestinian rights through the decades after Independence. While Modi chose to visit Israel when Netanyahu, completely isolated in the global community, is struggling to boost his electoral prospects, India’s rich tradition of opposing authoritarian regimes is manifested best in Jawaharlal Nehru’s stubborn refusal to meet both Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini despite earnest invitations in the 1930s.

The Epstein files

When terrorists sprayed bullets on innocent persons in Pahalgam, the Modi government went to war with Pakistan. It didn’t close the chapter saying terror attacks happened in the Congress regime as well. Governmental responsibility entails adequate and credible responses, not a slanging match. But the BJP’s deception was exposed when they launched a counter-offensive against the Nehru-Gandhi family in response to Rahul Gandhi’s blunt charge that Modi is compromised.

The government and the BJP brought out fake and unsubstantiated stories to tell the nation that Nehru and Indira were also compromised. Questions about links with paedophile and sex-racketeer Jeffrey Epstein and the surrender to American blackmail needed answers, not mud-slinging.

The Congress has been punished by the people for whatever wrong they might have done. They are not in power anymore. Their leaders cannot be hanged for the misdeeds and follies of the current dispensation. Accountability is a tiger that chases the rulers. Congress chief spokesperson Pawan Khera presented details to show how Union minister Hardeep Puri and businessman Anil Ambani were negotiating with Epstein between 2014 and 2017 about India’s diplomatic engagements and Modi’s foreign policy. It is clear that Epstein was the fulcrum of Modi’s diplomatic outreach and he even influenced India’s approach towards Israel and America. Khera went so far as to describe Modi as a robot operated by Donald Trump, Netanyahu and Epstein.

The Congress leader wasn’t speaking out of his imagination; verified facts released by the US Department of Justice bear out all the details. What’s a crying shame is that neither the Modi government answered any question, nor the mainstream media reported the press conference. While the shameless media always finds some other fish to fry, the government is duty-bound to prove that the prime minister is not compromised. Abuses and excuses won’t help.

[Courtesy: The Wire, an Indian nonprofit news and opinion website. It was founded in 2015 by Siddharth Varadarajan, Sidharth Bhatia and M. K. Venu.]

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Prime Minister Modi Humiliated India During His Visit to Israel

Eitay Mack

From the outset, the visit to Israel by India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, was questionable in its timing – months ahead of elections and at a moment when most world leaders are avoiding visits to the country or meetings with prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, widely regarded as politically toxic to their public image. This is so even as, despite condemnations of the brutality of Israel’s war in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, many of those same leaders continue to do business with Israel as usual.

Yet the first day of the visit exceeded anything one might have imagined from a trip by the leader of one of the world’s largest and most important countries. In fact, it stands out as one of the most baffling – and embarrassing – visits by a foreign leader to Israel in recent memory.

Prime minister Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, are not merely spouses but political partners, currently in the midst of an election campaign in which Modi served largely as a prop. When Modi’s plane landed at Ben Gurion Airport, he was greeted by Netanyahu – heavily made up, like a theatrical actor – and by Sara, who wore an orange-saffron suit, a color symbolising holiness in Hinduism. In a photograph Netanyahu posted on X, he can be seen pointing to his wife’s outfit; both of them also shared an image and a video of Modi warmly embracing Netanyahu.

On the morning of the visit, Netanyahu’s office issued a statement that effectively presented Modi not as an official guest of the State of Israel but rather as a private guest of the Netanyahu family. The statement said Modi had arrived at Netanyahu’s invitation, noting that the two leaders “maintain a close personal relationship, and that the deep and long-standing friendship between them powerfully radiates onto relations between the two countries.” It also announced that a “personal meeting” would take place, followed by a joint dinner hosted by the Netanyahu couple. The language fits neatly with the authoritarian trajectory Netanyahu has taken in recent years, one in which no distinction exists between him and the state. The State of Israel is him – and without him, there is nothing.

Prime minister Modi sought to address the Knesset, despite the fact that it no longer functions as a democratic institution but rather as a rubber stamp for Netanyahu. Opposition parties announced in advance that they would boycott the event after the speaker of the Knesset, Amir Ohana – widely regarded as Netanyahu’s puppet – violated protocol by refusing to invite the president of the Supreme Court, whom the government has been boycotting while conducting an incitement campaign against him.

To prevent the plenary hall from appearing empty, Speaker Ohana invited former members of Knesset to fill the opposition benches. Among them was Oren Hazan, who was exposed by the Israeli media as having run a casino in Bulgaria that also provided escort services, while he was using hard drugs, and who later confessed in a plea deal to assaulting a mayor after his mother’s bank account was frozen. He was joined by Pnina Rosenblum, a cosmetics businesswoman who occasionally records and releases war-themed songs drenched in heavy Auto-Tune – this time, at least, she limited herself to a selfie with Modi and did not break into song.

Despite this spectacle, Modi chose to proceed with his speech as planned, addressing an audience that included political clowns, racist coalition lawmakers, and government ministers who had called to burn, kill, starve, and expel all residents of the Gaza Strip. Absurdly, Modi found himself expressing condolences to the families of those killed in the Hamas massacre of October 7 before government and coalition members who for more than two years have refused to take any responsibility for the massacre, for their policy of approving Hamas funding that helped lead to it, and who also opposed any deal to release the hostages while waging a vicious incitement campaign against the families of both the hostages and the dead.

One of the most embarrassing moments of Modi’s visit to the Knesset came when Speaker Ohana presented him with the “Knesset Medal,” purportedly for his “contribution to the State of Israel and the Jewish people,” calling it “the highest honor the Knesset can bestow.” In reality, this was a complete fabrication: no such decoration exists in any Knesset regulation or in Israeli law. Modi posted on X that “it is a great honor for me to receive the Knesset Medal. I accept it with humility and deep gratitude. This is not an honor for one individual, but an expression of the strong and enduring friendship between India and Israel. It reflects the shared values that guide our two nations.” One can only hope that the shared values of the two countries are not rooted in deception.

The day concluded with the promised dinner with the Netanyahu couple. As part of his election campaign, Netanyahu posted a video on X showing him “surprising” Prime Minister Modi, as he describe it, by receiving him in “traditional Indian attire.” Netanyahu added that it was “our” dinner – once again framing the event as a private affair, even though it was funded by Israeli taxpayers.

For decades, Israel has offered countries in return to seeking closer ties with it two “packages”: the first – arms and assistance in internal security; the second – help in improving relations with the White House and the U.S. Congress.

In the future, journalists, Prime Minister Modi himself, or declassified cables in state archives may shed light on the logic behind this peculiar visit. For now, it is reasonable to assume that it was the second package that mattered. Despite claims that the visit was intended to finalise defense deals, India has for many years been one of the world’s most important customers of Israel’s arms industry. Prime Minister Modi does not need to travel personally to Jerusalem for Israel to agree to sell him more weapons. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that Modi primarily sought Netanyahu’s help in addressing his strained relationship with President Trump.

Whatever the reason for the visit, prime minister Modi humiliated both himself and India. He acted and spoke like the leader of a minor state visiting a global power, desperate to curry favour. It should come as no surprise if images from the visit are later featured prominently in Netanyahu’s election campaign.

[Eitay Mack is an Israeli human rights lawyer who has filed petitions to the Supreme Court that helped reveal details of Israel’s involvement in Lebanon. Courtesy: The Wire, an Indian nonprofit news and opinion website. It was founded in 2015 by Siddharth Varadarajan, Sidharth Bhatia and M. K. Venu.]

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Cowards Then and Cowards Now

Bhabani Shankar Nayak

There is no surprise in the cowardice and surrender of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi–led Government of India to Yankee imperialism and the Zionist regime in Israel. In the name of strategic partnerships and free trade agreements, the Government of India has surrendered its geopolitical independence and economic sovereignty to the US, the UK, Israel, and Western Europe. The sheer cowardice of the BJP government led by Mr. Modi adds a new chapter to the history of Hindutva cowardice. The Hindutva ideologues of the Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS did not participate in the Indian freedom struggle against British colonialism. Hindutva ideologues such as K. B. Hedgewar and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar stayed away from anti-colonial movements and cooperated with the British in ways that weakened the national struggle for freedom. Savarkar’s mercy petitions to British colonial rulers are widely documented in the cowardice history of Hindutva politics.The RSS, as the parental body of the BJP and its Hindutva politics and ideology, not only derives its nativist ethnic orientation from European fascism and Nazism but is also shaped by the British colonial policy of divide and rule, reinforced by distorted colonial historiography that constructed a “golden Hindu past” and portrayed the period of Muslim rule as a dark age. This ahistorical colonial framework, developed by officials and administrators such as Alexander Dow, William Jones, James Mill, and Henry Elliot, continues to serve as a pillar of Hindutva politics.

The current Indian government under the BJP led by Mr Modi has abandoned its traditional allies in the Middle East, the Arab world, Africa, Asia, and Latin American countries. Once upon a time, countries across the world looked up to India for moral leadership because of its independent and non-aligned foreign policy. Mr. Modi and his colleagues within Hindutva politics have abandoned India’s independent and sovereign trajectory by siding with imperialist regimes, colonial powers, and Zionist forces. The troika of imperialism, colonialism, and Zionism is responsible for the unwanted and unprovoked wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, many other places and now in Iran. Yankee imperialism and Israeli Zionists are bombing civilians and have decapitated Iranian leadership in an unprovoked attack, yet the Government of India remains silent. Mr. Modi’s recent Israel visit is being projected as India’s support for the attack on Iran. Such an ideological and strategic position is not in lines with the views and positions of the Indian people, who support peace and oppose all imperialist wars. There has been no government in India’s history more spineless, immoral, and directionless than the current government led by Mr. Modi.

Cowardice is embedded in the history of Hindutva politics. Fighting as proxies without principles weakens the nation. The expediency of the Hindutva brigade has led it to act as a proxy—first for British colonialism and now for American imperialism and the Zionist Israeli regime. Hindutva ideology and its organizations, it is argued, have consistently harmed Indian national interests and undermined Indian people. Hindutva speaks of India’s civilizational values based on Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (“world is one family”), yet it has repeatedly abandoned these principles. Iran has stood with India at various points in time, but the Indian government under Mr. Modi has failed to condemn what is described as an unprovoked Israeli and American attack on Iran that killed innocent women and children while decapitating its leadership.

Hindutva politics in India is a child of European colonialism and its ideology; today, it works for imperialist and Zionist regimes based on its anti-Muslim alliance. The Indian government, instead of standing with Palestine and Iran, stands with the warmongering ruling elites of the US and Israel. As a result, the Modi government in India undermines the credibility of India and Indians on the global stage.

No country can develop, stand and assert itself on the global stage by being subservient to imperialist and Zionist regimes. Political expediency, thuggish maneuvering, street-smartness, and collaboration with dominant powers by Hindutva politics might bring short-term gains, but in the long run, they destroy the moral reckoning of a civilisational state like India that aspires to be a global power. Hindutva’s politics of surrender and collaboration with imperialism, colonialism, Zionism, and capitalism is part of its history of cowardice. Therefore, the collective struggle against all forms of war, imperialism, colonialism, Zionism, and Hindutva politics is a struggle to reclaim peace, human values, and dignity.

[Bhabani Shankar Nayak is a political commentator. Courtesy: Countercurrents.org, an India-based news, views and analysis website, that describes itself as non-partisan and taking “the Side of the People!” It is edited by Binu Mathew.]