The Modi government has used petty tricks to silence critics instead of trying to evolve a national consensus on domestic and foreign policy concerns.
Propaganda entails ceaseless spectacles of distraction. When the opposition’s ‘vote chori (theft)’ campaign caught people’s fancy, the Modi government desperately needed a powerful distraction.
Home minister Amit Shah promptly came up with a constitution amendment Bill that would ensure that any minister, chief minister or the prime minister will have to relinquish office if imprisoned for 30 days or more if accused of crimes carrying prison terms of five years or higher.
The government knew they didn’t have the numbers to pass the Bill, but all they wanted was a talking point to create a false equivalence of wrongdoing by opposition parties. After all, they had to dilute the impact of an allegation that is viewed as the ultimate evil in democracy – stealing elections!
Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself proved the utility of the gimmick by ferociously attacking the opposition on corruption. “Ab bhrastachari jail bhi jayega aur uski kursi bhi jayegi,” Modi thundered at a rally in Bihar, throwing mud on opposition parties, presumably for defending the corrupt.
This was a false equivalence artfully designed to drag political rivals into the pit, indirectly telling the people that nobody is clean in politics. The government, instead of wiping its slate clean, chose to blot the other’s copybook.
To fool the gullible by hawking an unwavering resolve to fight corruption is Modi’s favourite sport. Just before becoming prime minister in 2014, he used to proudly declare, “We need to rid Parliament of criminals … I won’t let them off the hook if I am elected to power.”
In successive interviews and public rallies, he reiterated, “No [one] accused [of criminal activity] will dare to fight polls. Who says that this cleansing cannot happen? I have come to cleanse politics.”
The Gujarat chief minister, who was reminded by the then-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to follow “rajdharma” in the dreadful aftermath of the communal riots in 2002, came with the lofty promise of cleansing politics and the nation innocently believed him. Modi indeed put the nation on a cleaning job after winning the election, putting a broom in people’s hands to execute the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan while criminals nestled in the corridors of power.
The Association for Democratic Reforms found that in 2014, 186 MPs (35%) had declared criminal cases registered against them, with 112 of them facing serious cases like murder, rape and kidnapping. The BJP contributed the most, with 98 MPs having a criminal background.
In 2019, the number of MPs facing criminal cases increased to 233. In 2024, 251 (46%) MPs faced criminal cases, exposing the hollowness of Modi’s promise to cleanse parliament of tainted elements.
During this time, several horrific crimes allegedly involving BJP leaders shook the nation but Modi remained silent. His claim that the new Bill is aimed at fighting criminalisation and corruption looks deceitful because his government has selectively hounded opposition leaders in corruption cases.
An opposition chief minister is sent to jail on a vague and unsubstantiated charge of a small land deal, but a BJP chief minister who faced dozens of serious allegations didn’t face any investigation.
Opposition leaders, branded corrupt by Modi, are acquitted and given plum posts when they join the BJP. Questions have been raised about appointments to key posts. The Right to Information Act is diluted. The Lokpal is still waiting to be equipped fully. But the anti-corruption narrative is resurrected every now and then to fool the people.
Allurements for Bihar
Viksit Bihar, full-page advertisements in newspapers screamed, as the prime minister himself declared that the state’s fast-paced development was the Union government’s priority. Bihar, infamous for the mass exodus of youth in search of jobs, is at the bottom of the national chart in terms of per capita income.
Bihar’s per capita income is Rs 36,333 at constant prices and Rs 66,828 at current prices, which is less than half of the national average. Per capita income in states like Telangana and Karnataka has crossed Rs 3 lakh, while that in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala is above Rs 2 lakh.
Modi’s special attention has clearly not helped Bihar come out of its wretched poverty. The Congress had its last chief minister in Bihar in 1990 and Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in 2005. Nitish Kumar has mostly ruled Bihar for the last 20 years in alliance with the BJP, barring a small period when he drifted to the RJD.
Two decades are long enough a period to lift a fertile and industrious state out of the abyss it is rotting in.
Nitish is now handicapped by old age and ailments, and Modi hasn’t offered a new leadership so far. It is difficult to imagine that the people of Bihar will opt to stick with a chief minister whose behaviour has raised concern.
What has compounded the crisis for the BJP is the noise about the special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter rolls in Bihar, which has been successfully projected by the Congress-RJD as a conspiracy to steal elections. If the BJP wins Bihar in these circumstances, suspicions about the fairness of elections might deepen.
Disease and discourse
When the world was gearing up to deal with the maverick American President Donald Trump, who had unleashed a tariff war that threatened to redefine global relations and economics, what was the dominant discourse in India? The prime minister winning awards in small countries, the Waqf Bill, Operation Sindoor, the Adani case in the US, Kumbh-Kanwariya, RSS-BJP tussle, SIR, vote chori, etc.
Our relations with China have been under severe strain, and those with our other immediate neighbours have seen better days.
Did the Modi government demonstrate any focused intent to prioritise the international challenge? Or did it continue to deploy petty tricks to silence critics instead of trying to evolve a national consensus on larger concerns?
India sadly hasn’t yet addressed her basic concerns. The launchpad for becoming Vishwaguru has not been prepared. While social and political disharmony continues to cripple the national imagination, there are grim indicators from different sectors, depressing enough to set off alarms.
The Modi government disclosed in a reply to a question in parliament this month that 39,446 MSMEs had shut down in 2024-25 alone. Can you imagine the job losses and the extent of damage to the economy?
Even for simple items, we depend on Chinese imports while our own industries are collapsing. We look to China even for fertilisers and plastics!
The government has hyped up growth in the solar energy sector but over 350 lakh solar PV modules have been imported from China in 2024-25 alone.
Distressing signals are ignored by the media that shapes the public discourse. The government disclosed, replying to another question, that in the 22 AIIMS across the country, there are 4,976 sanctioned posts of doctors and 2,970 vacancies. Is that acceptable – 59% vacancies of doctors in the premier medical institution? And our governments – both Union and states – are wasting time on irrelevant and concocted controversies?
Modi in 2014 appealed to the nation for a ten-year moratorium on divisive politics. His appeal fell on deaf ears; he himself breached it without remorse. Even then, can we request the prime minister to issue another appeal: a ten-year moratorium on nonsense? If not, the heavy load of nonsense on India’s mind will cripple the country’s imagination.