Modi’s ‘Bharat Ki Baat’ In London – A Choreographed Performance To Address Criticisms Back Home

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a three-day visit to the United Kingdom during which he combined a bilateral meet with his British counterpart Theresa May following which he will attend the 2018 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting of 53 Heads of State scheduled to take place on April 19. Before this dinner, PM Modi conducted a town-hall style address at the Westminster's Central Hall in London which was moderated by noted Indian lyricist Prasoon Joshi.

But from the setup to the moderator to the questions that were asked and to the answers that our PM Modi gave, the event that unfolded was the opposite of the essence of what a town-hall meeting is supposed to be. The town-hall meeting, traditionally an American event, is at which a politician or public official answers questions from members of the public. That the prime minister chose to do this in London, UK is first a disservice to Indians back home. It seems that it is only during election campaigning that Indians are to be met with and bombarded with political leaders and their promises while being forgotten for the rest of the duration.

On Prasoon Joshi, the moderator: A town-hall is a public interaction and it is spontaneous, specifically without filters and interpreters. If you want to see a genuine town-hall, see this video of former President Barack Obama or the current one Donald Trump. By choosing Joshi as his moderator who is the CBFC’s chairman, served on the Prime Minister’s Board of Advisors (Communication) and not an journalist set the tone for the event to be a controlled dialogue that was set up for one purpose – to convey the Prime Minister’s message on the points that he wanted to talk about.

On Kathua and Unnao rape: That Modi does not give interviews is well known, yet he is media-savvy as well as a popular orator. But, the biggest criticism that Modi is personally facing the past two weeks is his silence on the BJP partymen’s involvement in two rape cases that have shaken the nation and brought India negative publicity on women’s security internationally. Modi infact, along with supporters was also greeted with protests on women’s security when he reached London. On the anti-rape rage sweeping India, Modi said, “Crime against women worrying. A rape is a rape. It should not be politicised,” Modi said at the event. “But can we compare the number of rapes in different governments? We cannot say there were this many rapes in our government and that many of yours. There cannot be a worse way to deal with this issue,” he said. Calling it the evil of not just the individual but also of the society, the PM said people need to teach their sons to treat girls with respect. He said one should remember that the one “committing the sin” is someone’s son.

Finally, the honourable prime minister is seen to be taking a hardline on the politicization and communalization of the Kathua and Unnao rape cases that have seen the active participation of BJP politicians. The damage has been done since BJP is seen so centrally involved in both the cases but the Prime Minister’s words were to distance himself and in turn to protect his support base – because there are many who believe in Narendra Modi more than they believe in the party.

Farmers’ suicides and protests: In the final year of the NDA government’s rule, the country has seen farmer protests in New Delhi and Mumbai. Videos of farmers destroying crops rather than selling them for cruelly low rates have gone viral. Modi spoke about what he intends to do for farmers by 2022, “We are working for the welfare of farmers, be it doubling their income by 2022 and easy availability or neem coating of urea. We are moving forward with a definite goal.” With this statement he was talking about the government’s work on Minimum Support Prices for crops but is it not cruel that he speaks to the poorest of the land, from across the oceans in a townhall in London. This messaging was obviously for consumption for his urban electorate rather than rural ones.

Foreign Policy: The Modi government has recently been shown that it is on the back-foot vis-a-vis China when it comes to Pakistan, Maldives and even Nepal. So Modi chose to highlight his one and only ‘victory’ that he can unequivocally claim – the surgical strike carried out across the LoC by Indian soldiers in 2016. A year and half-later, we have seen many more of our men in uniform killed by terror attacks, an unabated string of infiltration and terror attacks and a visible rise in Indian youths joining militant organisations in Kashmir. In the face of these realities, the Prime Minister’s only accomplishment were the surgical strike which he chose to speak off – reminding his audience that he had been “hard on terror” and “tough on Pakistan.”

Despite the optics of a neighbourhood-first foreign policy, Modi’s only other pragmatic tilt has been his outreach to Israel which he again highlighted as he was the first Indian head of government to visit the Jewish state.

From the questions sent through social media to poetry spouted by Prasoon Joshi, the town-hall that PM Modi held in London was one in name only. And as is always, it is Indians who are the poorer for it.

(The opinions expressed in the above article are of the author and do not reflect the stand or position of LatestLY.)

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 19, 2018 07:59 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).