XPost: seattle.politics
On 6/28/23 10:30, David P wrote:
Narendra Modi Is Not Who America Thinks He Is
By Maya Jasanoff, June 22, 2023, NY Times
As an American of Indian origin, I welcome the economic transformations in India that in my lifetime have slashed the number of people living in extreme poverty, swelled the middle class and modernized infrastructure (though not enough to prevent a
devastating train crash this month). I’m glad, too, that the rising profiles of India and the diaspora in the United States have mitigated the ignorance and stereotypes I so often encountered while growing up, when people balked at the spicy food,
gasped at the poverty, mixed up the “Hindu” religion and “Hindi” language, and could scarcely place India on a map. Deeper, wider awareness of India in this country is long overdue. The outreach to Modi — the democratically elected leader of
the world’s most populous nation, with polling favorability numbers recent American presidents can only dream of — appears, superficially, to make good diplomatic sense.
But here is what Americans need to know about Modi’s India. Armed with a sharp-edged doctrine of Hindu nationalism, Modi has presided over the nation’s broadest assault on democracy, civil society and minority rights in at least 40 years. He has
delivered prosperity and national pride to some, and authoritarianism and repression of many others that should disturb us all.
Since Modi took power in 2014, India’s once-proud claim to being a free democratic society has collapsed on many fronts. Of the 180 nations surveyed in the 2023 World Press Freedom Index, India sits at 161, a scant three places above Russia. Its
position on the Academic Freedom Index has nose-dived since Mr. Modi took office, putting it on a course that sharply resembles those of other electoral autocracies. The Freedom in the World index has tracked a steady erosion of Indian citizens’
political rights and civil liberties. On the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, India has tumbled squarely into the ranks of “flawed democracies.”
A bunch of states with low scores, and many sinking rapidly.
Sad.
But what really worries me, in this very troubled world that
is facing many tough issues, is our harming the good, because
they are not perfect.
I think POTUS Biden bad mouthing the ruling prince of Saudi
Arabia, and then fuming when he chose to do the US no favors,
and in fact did things that hurt us.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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