Modi's US visit: Did he offer anything new?

Prime Minister Modi’s US visit requires proper decoding. It must cover aspects beyond the routine media analysis of how Biden hosted him and how many times he received applause for his speech at the joint session of the US Congress. The decoding also goes beyond the kind of response he gets in India. Instead, the decoding should cover how convincing he appeared on the global stage as the Prime Minister of the largest democracy and the most populous country in the world. It must be evaluated whether he offered anything new to the world caught in another spate of cold war between the USA and China. It should also be looked into whether his conversations are going to help people in South Asia fight the odds they are facing in terms of the economy. Should he not express his concerns over the economic and administrative decline in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Myanmar? How can India claim the leadership of South Asia without expressing these concerns? Was it not silly on his part to report to the global audience that he built houses for the poor and provided banking facilities to the "unbanked"? His assertions about the growth of infrastructure and expansion in the field of digitization looked like the election speeches he has been delivering almost every week in one or another part of India.

The silliest part of his assertion was his statement, "When I first visited the US as Prime Minister, India was the tenth largest economy in the world. Today, India is the fifth largest economy. And, India will be the third largest economy soon."

People will certainly compare our performance with that of neighboring China. While talking about our growth story or successful welfare measures, we must remember our positions on the Human Development Index. People scrutinize our claims and tend to compare our performance with that of other countries.

Indian media might be trying to dismiss protests against the decline of democracy in India, but they must be taken seriously as they affect the image of our nation. Could the concerns raised by lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party be ignored, or could the comments by former President Obama be ignored? Is it just a coincidence that a leader of his stature would say, "If I had a conversation with Prime Minister Modi, whom I know well, part of my argument would be that if you do not protect the rights of ethnic minorities in India, there is a strong possibility at some point that India starts pulling apart?" His comments came at a time when other Democrats were raising the issue. He endorsed the demand that President Biden mentions "protection of the Muslim minority in a majority-Hindu India" in his meeting with Modi.

Could he deny the concerns raised by 75 lawmakers from the Democratic Party about "troubling signs in India towards the shrinking of political space, the rise of religious intolerance, the targeting of civil society organizations and journalists, and growing restrictions on press freedoms and internet access"?

He did not give any specific answers. What he said was a general statement. "As President Biden also mentioned, India and America both have democracy in our DNA. Democracy is in our spirit and we live it and it’s written in our Constitution. Our government has taken the basic principles of democracy. And on that basis, our constitution is made and the entire country runs on that - our constitution and government."

India was a democracy so there could be no discrimination or violation of human rights, as that would mean India was not a democracy.

"We have always proved that democracy can deliver. And when I say deliver, this is regardless of caste, creed, religion, or gender. There’s absolutely no space for discrimination. And when you talk of democracy, if there are no human values, and there is no humanity, there are no human rights, then it’s not a democracy."

In fact, he just stated what has been written in the Constitution. Does it not signify that his government was not prepared or concerned to address these questions on an international platform? It might well be the case that he did so to keep his image as a Hindutva leader intact. The surprise he expressed at the question from the Wall Street Journal during his joint press conference with Biden was nothing but an attempt to dismiss the question. Will his gesture add to the image of India as a secular and democratic country?

Another aspect of his speeches and conversions also needs attention. These are related to the broader narrative of Hindutva ideology. As usual, in his speech at the joint session of the Congress, the Prime Minister addressed his audience in India. This should be seen as the continuation of what he did by installing the Sengol in the new building of Parliament.

"Last year, India celebrated 75 years of its independence. Every milestone is important, but this one was special. We celebrated a remarkable journey of over 75 years of freedom, after a thousand years of foreign rule in one form or another," he said. Is it not in tune with what he did by installing the Sengol, the symbol of authority during Chola’s rule? It is an attempt to deny all that happened during the thousand-year rule of different dynasties. It means that the RSS has revised its perception of foreign domination from 800 years to 1000 years.

Another reference in Modi’s speech is also worth noticing. He says, "Vedas are one of the world’s oldest scriptures. They are a great treasure of humanity, composed thousands of years ago." Is he trying to brush off contributions by non-Vedic traditions? These are all new narratives of the RSS and the BJP and require decoding.

(The author is a senior journalist. He has experience of working with leading newspapers and electronic media including Deccan Herald, Sunday Guardian, Navbharat Times and Dainik Bhaskar. He writes on politics, society, environment and economy)