Letters | India is a global test case for secular democracy, and under Modi it is failing
- If Modi and his Hindu nationalist party prevail in the elections, expect five more years of strongman rule that divides India by religious belief
India is a test case for secular democracy for the world to watch. Can a nation with varied religious and cultural hues, political beliefs and economic distresses, survive and prosper within a democratic framework? The current elections are crucial, for they are not merely about which party or prime minister will lead, but what India’s ethos will be in the coming decades. India needs universities, schools, modern farms. Religion should be a matter of personal practice at home.
It is a horrible tragedy that in a poor country like India, economic issues have been relegated to the background. The lack of investment, along with unemployment, middle-class woes, rotten infrastructure, soft GDP data dished out by the government, etc, have not been debated. Mr Modi has focused on attacking family members of Rahul Gandhi – the opposition Indian National Congress leader whose father, grandmother and great-grandfather were prime ministers – and built a personality cult around himself. The common man, the voter can wait for succour.
If the Hindu nationalist BJP and Modi survive, then expect another five years of strongman rule, with unilateral decisions. The country will fragment further. Economic growth will crawl. The poor farmers, labourers and pensioners will suffer.