Prime Minister Narendra Modi likes to take credit for being the first at everything. This week, he entered a hall of shame when he featured on Time magazine’s cover and was christened ‘India’s divider-in-chief.’
The globally renowned publication asked if India could endure another five years of the Modi government. The author of the cover story, Atish Taseer, wrote, “As India votes this month, the irony of those words (Modi’s promises of 2014) is not lost on anyone. Not only has Modi’s economic miracle failed to materialize, he has also helped create an atmosphere of poisonous religious nationalism in India. One of his young party men, Tejasvi Surya, put it baldly in a speech in March 2019, “If you are with Modi, you are with India. If you are not with Modi, then you are strengthening anti-India forces.”
The story also slammed Modi and his party for fielding a terror accused as its candidate to be sent to the parliament. It read, “If this wasn’t bad enough, the BJP’s candidate for the central Indian city of Bhopal, with its rich Muslim history and a Muslim population of over 25%, is a saffron-clad female saint, who stands accused of masterminding a terrorist attack in which six people were killed near a mosque. Currently out on bail, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur’s candidacy marks that all-too-familiar turn when the specter of extreme nationalism and criminality become inseparable.”
Both Modi and his party president Amit Shah have defended their move to nominate Thakur, who’s facing trial for terrorism, for the Indian parliament stating that this was an attempt to assert Hindu pride and a fitting reply to those who accused Hindus of being terrorists.
The Congress has latched on to the Time cover calling Modi ‘India’s divider-in-chief.’ All India Mahila Congress tweeted, “Sitting PM makes it to the cover of TIME Magazine And the title is Divider-In-Chief. “Of the great democracies to fall to populism, India was the first,” says the opening sentence of the article. Your truth is for all to see @narendramodi”
Sitting PM makes it to the cover of TIME Magazine
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Divider In Chief“Of the great democracies to fall to populism, India was the first,” says the opening sentence of the article.
Your truth is for all to see @narendramodi pic.twitter.com/I6AuCNN271— All India Mahila Congress (@MahilaCongress) May 10, 2019
Congress MP Sushmita Dev took a dig at Amit Shah and wrote on Twitter, “Amit Shah hope this answers your question why the current PM is under fire.”
India is in the midst of parliamentary polls with two of the seven rounds of polling to go. The counting will take place on 23 May.
This year’s elections have seen several lows with politicians particularly Modi and his colleagues making shameful jibes to score cheap political points. Modi in particular has found himself at the centre of widespread condemnations for resorting to lies and provocation of Hindus in a bid to consolidate votes against Muslims.