Narendra Modi - Demonetization or Demonization / jkgr ;k vkQr
Experts View :
Hero Worship Hurts Democracy
Back in 2005, a
knowledgeable Gujarati journalist wrote of how ‘Narendra Modi thinks a
detergent named development will wash away the memory of 2002”. While focusing
on new infrastructure and industrial projects in his state, the then chief
minister of Gujarat launched what the journalist called ‘a massive self
publicity drive, publishing calendars, booklets and posters where his own
photograph appeared prominently alongside words and statistics speaking of
Gujarat’s achievement under his leadership. Modi has made sure that in Gujarat
no one can escape noticing him, remarked the journalist.
Since May 2014,
this self-publicity drive has been extended to the nation as a whole. In fact
the process began before the general elections, when, through social media and
his speeches when, Narendra Modi successfully projected himself as the sole and
singular alternative to a (Visibly) corrupt UPA regime.
Hero-worship is
not uncommon in India Indeed, we tend to excessively venerate high achievers in
many fields. Consider the extraordinarily large and devoted fan following of
Sachin Tendulkar and Lata Mangeshkar.
Nehru was her
issuing a warning to himself. Twelve years later, in his remarkable last speech
to the Constituent Assembly, BR Ambedkar issued a warning to all Indians, when,
invoking John Stuart Mill, he asked them not ‘to lay their liberties at the
feet of even a great man, or to trust him with powers which enable him to
subvert their institutions’. There was’ nothing wrong’, said Ambedkar, ‘in
being grateful to great men who have rendered life-long services to the
country. But there are limits to gratefulness. He worried that in India,
‘Bhakti or what may be called the path of devotion or hero-worship plays a part
in its politics unequalled in magnitude by the part it plays in the politics of
any other country in the world. Bhakti in religion may be a road to the
salvation of the soul. But in politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road
to degradation and to eventual dictatorship.
Indian democracy
is now too robust to be destroyed by a single individual. But it can still be
severely damaged. That is why this personality cult of Narendra Modi must be
challenged (and checked) before it goes much further.
Ram
Chandra Guha
A
Great Historian
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