Shashi Tharoor has published an article in Poject Syndicate titled 'Modi's damaging dominance'. This seems very odd. It was Kejriwal's AAP which took first Delhi and now Punjab from Congress. If Tharoor and Rahul Gandhi lose their seats in Parliament it will be because the Communist party, having triumphed over anti-incumbency, is succeeding in lifting up Kerala's economy. The plain fact is, Congress's decline is a function of Rahul's stupidity and incompetence. If the BJP does not benefit from it, other parties will.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently completed eight years in office, and as India approaches the 75th anniversary of its independence, his formidable electoral clout makes him look near-invincible.
This is foolish. No Indian Prime Minister can take the electorate for granted. High onion prices brought tears to the eyes of Atal. Corruption scandals brought down Rajiv and Manmohan. Modi would only be invincible if he could control the monsoons.
But his personalized style of policymaking remains impulsive and idiosyncratic – with calamitous consequences for India’s governance.
Modi has a collegiate style of administration. He has a personalized idiom of communication to the masses. Tharoor confuses the two. As for the Congress High Commands style of functioning- it may be 'personalized' or it may simply be shitty.
In May, for example, Modi’s government announced that India would “feed the world” by exporting more wheat as the war in Ukraine disrupted global supplies,
a good thing. Modi has repeatedly stressed that India will share what it has rather than act as a dog in the manger.
before abruptly imposing an export ban and partly reversing it a few days later.
for a very good reason. A heat wave had wiped out a portion of the crop. Ordinary people understand that politicians don't control the weather. But Dr. Tharoor is not an ordinary person at all- worse luck.
And his administration’s plan to replace guaranteed long-term employment with pensions for new military recruits with four-year contracts has ignited protests by young people across the country.
Though it is vital to the defense of the country but perhaps Tharoor has some other country he can emigrate to. Rahul certainly does.
These decisions illustrate not only Modi’s remarkable dominance of India’s fractious politics,
How? Modi must have been advised that the harvest forecast permitted higher exports. He isn't an agronomist. Equally, he is not an expert on defense. He was advised that the existing system was fiscally untenable. India must prepare for a two front war. It can't have conscription but it can do short service commissions and maintain a reserve of trained manpower which can be quickly mobilized.
but also his over-centralization of power.
It is Congress which over-centralized power such that Chief Ministers were put in an untenable position. Look at what happened in Punjab. Modi isn't cutting Yogiji off at the knees. He is also maintaining good enough relations with Nitish and Naveen.
Modi runs a parliamentary system in a presidential style, giving Indians the worst of both worlds: a powerful executive unfettered by an independent legislature.
But this was true of Nehru and Indira and Rajiv! Manmohan's second administration, however, was damaged by 'activists' within the party. The theory was that the old man had to appear even more decrepit than he was so that the people would welcome Rahul taking over and leading his party into the 2014 election. But Rahul, for an excellent reason, was gun-shy. If Modi dominates it is only because Rahul is reluctant to step forward and get a bullet, like his granny, or a bomb, like his daddy. Autocracy is tempered by assassination.
Consider the Modi government’s most dramatic decisions to date: the overnight demonetization in 2016 of 86% of India’s currency in circulation,
which was a vote winner
the draconian total lockdown of the country in response to the incipient COVID-19 pandemic,
which is what a lot of other countries also did
and the “surgical strikes” across the Line of Control between India and Pakistan.
which was a big vote winner.
All three decisions were taken by Modi himself and a handful of unelected advisers, and not, as one would expect in a parliamentary system, by the cabinet.
So, Tharoor is saying 'Modi is a freakin' genius. I'm totes in awe of him. Whenever I see him rise to speak in the Lok Sabha I scream loudly and throw my panties at him.'
Incidentally, Tharoor was a Minister under UPA2 which was a fucking disaster. If Manmohan was consulting his Cabinet all the time, it is clear that doing so was stupid. Congress had 206 Lok Sabha seats in 2009. Now it has 53. This is a self-inflicted wound. Tharoor should stop mindless repeating the mantra 'Modi is a freakin' genius. He gets my pussy wet and I throw my panties at him. So does everybody else. This is the reason us Congress guys are tying our selves up and submissively offering up our anuses to him. It isn't our fault that we keep fucking up every State we get to rule. All is the fault of Modi's dominating sexiness.'
The same was true of the government’s imposition of three highly unpopular farm reform laws,
which it withdrew because Jat farmers be kray kray
its revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s autonomy,
It never had any. A 2016 Supreme Court decision said J&K had no 'shred' of sovereignty.
and its decision to launch and then suspend a campaign to create a National Register of Citizens.
It was the Bench which first instituted the NRC.
In each case, there was no legislative input, not even from those MPs entrusted with formal ministerial authority. Nor was there any consultation with state governments, though India has a federal system.
So what? Tharoor knowingly joined a Party infamous for its 'kitchen cabinet' style of functioning. But at least it did function. Sadly from around 2011 the bleeding hearts within it decided it shouldn't function any more. Manmohan got the message and became even more decrepit.
Boutros said, in 1993- 'The lesson I learned in Cairo still applies. The only way to deal with bureaucrats is with stealth and sudden violence.” But Boutros failed to tame the UN bureaucracy. More importantly, he failed to appease the US which denied him a second term. Modi got the better of Lutyen's Delhi by sacking Sujatha Singh. There was no violence and no stealth. The PM has the stronger hand and should be prepared to play it rather than submit to stupid bureaucrats.
A secretive modus operandi, involving what former United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali once called “stealth and sudden violence,”
appears to be a hallmark of Modi’s leadership style.
Whereas Rahul's leadership style involves going on foreign holidays every other week.
Since his time as chief minister of Gujarat, when he reputedly bypassed his cabinet and worked entirely with a trusted group of unelected officials, he has shown more faith in bureaucrats than in politicians.
But Tharoor is a politician. Who in their right mind would want his advise about anything? I don't know whether or not Modi consults Ministers and CMs and so forth. Like everybody else, I don't care.
None of the usual constraints of a parliamentary system inhibit Modi.
Because Tharoor's pussy gets wet and he throws his panties at him any time Modi rises to speak in the Lok Sabha.
He has a solid majority in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India’s parliament, and thus does not need to waste time on legislative deal-making.
Legislative drafting is important. The strange thing is that Amit turned out to be rather good at it.
His cabinet meetings are said to be exercises in one-way communication and top-down decisions.
All we care about is whether the decisions are good enough or at least made in a timely manner.
Ministers make presentations and proposals on demand
as opposed to what? Confront the PM when he is sitting on the toilet?
and never challenge the prime minister’s position.
Maybe they do, but have the good sense to keep quiet about it.
The few token cabinet ministers from allied parties have little authority and know that they are dispensable, since Modi does not depend on them to maintain control of parliament.
They can't even enrich themselves as was their wont under UPA.
This might be manageable if Modi were at his desk nonstop, but he spends a large share of his time traveling.
But the guy has a laptop and knows how to use it. Still, we understand why Tharoor might resent Modi's absences from Delhi which leave him confused as to whom to throw his panties at. Rahul, of course, spends much more time out of the country. Absence however does not make our heart grow fonder for him.
As prime minister, he has so far visited over 60 countries and countless destinations in India, the latter almost entirely in campaign mode.
Modi became the most travelled Indian PM within 6 months of taking office. He gave India a new, more effective, foreign policy which has served the country well.
Modi has discovered that his position gives him a “bully pulpit” to preach to the country, and he exercises his considerable oratorical skills more often in foreign assemblies than in the Lok Sabha.
Because the prestige of the Lok Sabha has declined. That is why Modi has his own 'fireside chats' with the nation.
In fact, Modi displays a thinly veiled contempt for the legislative fray.
The rest of us don't veil our contempt in any way.
As he demonstrated in Gujarat, he values his legislative majority only insofar as it enables and legitimizes his executive power.
Whereas what he should be doing is sniffing appreciatively all the panties Dr. Tharoor throws at him.
Otherwise, he has no need for the legislature,
Why Modiji is not giving Tharoor a good seeing to? He is too cruel.
except for the unavoidable task of passing budgets and approving laws.
And not sodomizing Tharoors who want to be dominated.
The number of parliamentary meetings had declined precipitously under Modi even before the pandemic led to entire sessions being truncated. When the Lok Sabha does meet, bills are frequently passed in minutes, without the scrutiny of a parliamentary committee or serious debate.
What serious debate can you have with a bunch of corrupt cretins?
Modi’s railroading of parliament makes the case for a genuine presidential system amply clear:
Is Tharoor saying a Presidential system is a good thing? But that would greatly increase 'Executive privilege'.
Never has a separation of powers between India’s executive and legislative branches been more necessary than it is today.
Tharoor is a cretin. The fact is, Modi is very popular. Under a Presidential system, he will hold the highest office irrespective of which party gets a majority in the lower house. This means that he can strike down any bill he doesn't like and which does not get a two thirds majority in a joint session. Why is Tharoor suggesting that India should switch to a system which would give Modi dictatorial powers for the indefinite future? Is he truly so love-struck that not just his panties, he wants to throw the entire fate of the country, into Modi's lap?
Parliament is not the only institution that Modi’s government has undermined.
By winning a majority. Shame on Modi! Does he not realize that his duty, like that of Rahul, is to ensure his party loses seats?
On taking office in 2014, Modi promised “minimum government, maximum governance.” But he has delivered the opposite: a level of government control that many regard as authoritarian,
but they themselves are regarded as useless tossers by most.
the centralization of decision-making to a degree that disempowers ministries,
bureaucrats are being disempowered. Boo hoo!
and an administrative style that reflects his own outsize personality.
Tharoor means dick. He dreams of Modi's outsize dick and he himself being all tied up and submissive. 'Modiji, please dominate me!' he says in his plummy St. Stephens accent. But Modiji is not doing the needful. He is totally undermining Parliament by this cruel behavior.
Many have accused the Modi government of subverting institutions like the Reserve Bank of India, the Election Commission, the Central Bureau of Investigation, and the judiciary, and of trying to emasculate the media through various attacks on freedom of speech and expression.
They started off by accusing him of genocide. Now they are talking of emasculation though their own testicles dropped off long ago. Sad.
Modi’s formula resembles Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s.
Erdogan survived a military coup. He is very actively fucking up those he holds responsible. Modi faced no similar challenge- though Tharoor does keep throwing his panties at him.
Besides authoritarian tendencies, it emphasizes religious identity
like 'janeodhari' Rahul converting to the Lingayat sect?
and the marginalization of minorities,
as opposed to the marginalization of the majority under Manmohan
demonization of secular cosmopolitanism,
only if they are suspected of abetting their wife's suicide
and hyper-nationalism.
as opposed to hyper-antinationalism which is Rahul's shtick. India is not a nation says this one time President of the Indian National Congress.
All of this is enabled by the larger-than-life image of “the man who gets things done.”
But who is not giving Tharoor a darn good seeing to. Sad.
Modi may have wished to reshape India in the way that Erdoğan has transformed Turkey.
Or he may not. The latter is more likely. Hindus have rather different political ideas and ideals than Muslims.
But, whereas Erdoğan’s initial success was based on strong economic growth, Modi has mismanaged India’s economy.
It was already mismanaged because the bleeding-hearts chopped Manmohan off at the legs under UPA 2.
His disastrous demonetization has knocked over two percentage points off GDP growth,
Just two? Why not say twenty? When telling whoppers, why be stingy?
and he has presided over some of the highest levels of unemployment and the lowest labor-force participation rate ever recorded in India.
Like India has good records of such things! The fact is the proportion of the migrant population was severely underestimated. COVID revealed the reality.
More recently, he has been unable to control surging inflation.
Just like Biden and BoJo and everybody else. Why not blame him for COVID and Ukraine while you are at it?
As India turns 75 and Modi begins his ninth year as prime minister, his popularity remains high,
which is why Tharoor should not be advocating a Presidential system.
the electoral machine at his service formidable, the opposition divided, and his zealots ready to march. His success in amassing political power is unquestionable. But his ability to use it for the benefit of the vast majority of Indians remains very much in doubt.
But the quantum of that doubt is small indeed when compared to our certainty that Congress politicians are unfit for anything save criminal indictment. Meanwhile, it warms the cockles of our hearts to picture Tharoor throwing his panties at Modi. This is a story of unrequited love. The good news is Tharoor has decided that he is a Hindu. This means he can hope to be reborn as Modi's submissive sex-slave. Meanwhile, Project Syndicate is to be congratulated for printing an essay whose sole substantive claim is that Modi is a freakin' genius. He dominates India because everybody else is totally shit.
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