Is Modi surrendering to the pressure of his party?

In the context of his Farewell Press Conference, former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was asked of his views with regards to the outcome of Prime Minister Narendra Modi happening to take over as his successor. Short was the reply of the farsighted Manmohan “It would be a national disaster...”

At the time, no Indian wanted to believe this forecast nor did they want to take it seriously. On the contrary, it was considered as the words of the highly frustrated outgoing PM, who had terribly failed in controlling the plague of corruption that was widely and freely practiced by his dishonest colleagues, who tarnished his second term.

However, the recent incidents of murder and violence have started raising doubts and fear in the minds of Indians as to whether this prediction about Modi, by the former PM is going to turn out to be true. Unlike the noble Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Modi is slowly surrendering to the pressure of the extremists in his party and is covertly inducting the highly feared Hindutva doctrines through the backdoor. Is he pushing India back to the 17th century where superstitions and false beliefs had flourished and dominated?

On the one hand, Modi is being praised for his sincere attempts to uplift India as one of the most advanced countries in the fields of infrastructure, science, technology, education, and even space research. He is trying to bring foreign investors to develop our economy. So, while doing such noble tasks, why does he want to tarnish himself by surrendering to his colleagues, who are keen on disrupting the democratic fabric of India?

No investor will ever risk investing his hard earned money in a country where human life is considered to be of less value than that of an animal. Let us hope that Modi, who is a good orator will be astute and prudent enough to prove the execution of his words through his constructive and bold actions. He needs to ensure that the prediction of his wise and farsighted predecessor does not turn out to be true.

— The reader is an Indian training manager based in Dubai