Why the Re-election of Narendra Modi is bad for India

Why the Re-election of Narendra Modi is bad for India

Realism holds that international organizations and other sub-states do not have real influence in another country. Realism is tied to what constitutes human nature, with a lot of emphases placed on humanity’s altruism. Due to ideological rifts and the possibility of disagreement, realism is highly expected to assist in measuring power in terms of the capability of the person in power. In India, Narendra Modi has led one of the worst government in the last five years. As the official leader of the country, some parts of the country feel neglected by the government that promised to bring political and economic reforms to transform the economy and the living standards of the people[1]. Unfortunately, there are regions within India that have felt neglected by the areas not only in development but also in the protection of their rights. Since the government has shown little efforts to protect the lives of all its citizens and some regions languish in poverty, it is just for an international organization to try and enforce through various policies reforms to improve economic growth and livelihoods of the people.

The re-election of Narendra Modi as the Indian prime minister raised different feelings on and across the world. The excitement of his first term as the Indian Prime minister had faded away, and many people were concerned with his re-election. Narendra Modi’s good days in power had turned worse, and the majority of the Indians expected- unusually those tired of his reign expected his defeat[2]. Five years of the economic showdown, the rising distress, and intolerance among different quarters soured the mood, especially among those opposed to his second term in office. Although BJP won the election, the party did not receive the waive ring approval, which the party received in Modi’s second election.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi of Hindu nationalists secured his second term through the BJP party, which many citizens have raised concerned about neglecting the people. India’s strange triumphs have been interpreted as a scheme to use different means to remain in power even after doing little to improve the lives of the citizens of its people. During his power in office, Narendra campaigned on economic reforms, and there was little that his administration had done. Thus, the paper look at Narendra Modi’s re-election from a realist, liberalists, and feminists point of view of his re-election.

A Realist Perspective

Explanation

When Indian’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, first ran for the top office five years ago, he campaigned on the hope of economic reforms and improving the living standards of the people of India. The previous regime had mismanaged and paralyzed the Indian economy, and Mr Modi was the last hope of many people[3]. Many expected his party Bharatiya Janata Party to tackle rampant corruption within the government and restore the lost confidence among the people. Unfortunately, upon taking power, Narendra’s administration failed to implement any real reforms to change how things are done within the government.

Evaluation

From a realist point of view, there are many things which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to do for the people of India in his first term in office but failed to implement any of them. His government promised to tackle the issue of corruption and also to perform various economic reforms to spur economic development. However, after five years in office, there were no meaningful reforms implemented within the country, and citizens lost confidence in his administration. Due to his failure to spur economic development through various reforms to ensure the country record positive growth in their GDP and individuals enjoy an improved and better life, he sat back[4]. He forgot about the people who had greater hope and confidence in his administration. However, the recent perception of PM Modi meeting different people such as Donald Trump and other high profile leaders of the world have been considered by many as a move to transform and win back the lost confidence among the people.

Prediction

Many citizens expressed their concerns about how Narendra’s first five years failed to implement the reforms that they had promised to implement once given the opportunity to serve the people. As a result, many people greeted his second term in office with a lot of fear and expected the worse to take place in the next five years. The electorates had lost confidence in his administration.

Prescription

The prescription of solving the situation or deconstructing fear associated with his second term in office is to call upon international communities especially the US and Great Britain to encourage Narendra’s administration to put the interest and the concerns of the people beforehand and come up with various policies to spur economic growth and improve the livelihood of the people. Other key areas which the international community can force Narendra’s administration to focus on is the issue of rampant corruption within the government that has led to the high cost of living within the country.

Liberalism Perspective

The liberalism perspective believes measuring power through the state’s economies, the possibilities of peace and corporation in addition to different concepts of political freedoms. This perspective gives the possibility of an order for the state amass power basing on power, which happens in a less destructive form. Liberalism perspective believes that there is be democracy in the choice that the public makes in the election of the political leaders. From a liberalism perspective, the re-election of Narendra Modi to be the prime minister was terrible news. With prime ministers massive manage, only considerably minority group of the electorates found itself to be in the gloom. They were more vocal about the verdict and silent concerning the nature of democracy[5].  But there was an issue where liberalism rightly extolled the virtue of democracy. For instance, from a liberalism perspective, all the liberals were being in the left, centre, or the rights of the political belief, they advocate that Indians were supposed to believe and support the rule of majorly (which also considers the wellbeing of the minority). They oppose the majority, which offers the sole primary to the majority. So, it seems too liberal Indians from liberalism perspective that democracy has for real made a wrong choice. It is not because it voted Modi backbit. It was about the voters voting him back as a prime minister while efficiently clearing out the de facto national-level opposition for the future. From a liberal perspective, most of the liberal Indians are upset concerning the verdict. The international community responded the way it did because the re-election of Narendra Modi did not represent the majority through democracy. Being re-elected made that the minority’s wellbeing would not be a pit in consideration. Evaluation

Both international and local media responded differently to the landslide victory of Narendra Modi and particularly the victory of BJP.  For some, this was the last thing to have happened to them. Narendra Modi is a populist leader whose administration has been consistently considered to pursue a pro-business agenda that treated the minorities living within the country as second class citizens. As a leader of the country, there were a lot of expectations among the people for the leader to treat all the people equally and protect and defend their rights without any form of favouritism. Apart from failing to unite the people, his party is guilty of using state machinery to kill their opponents. Narendra Modi since the elections of 1970s is the first Prime Minister to win with an absolute majority for the second term.

Instead of coming up with various policies to strengthen political parties in the country to ensure there is strong governance, the Prime Minister and his party have continuously used their political influence to weaken the political that is expected to keep them in watch and promote good governance. BJP is also a political wing of the Hindu nationalism has been used to disregard and create fear among the minorities within the country. For instance, during his political campaigns, the Muslims were regarded as termites and individuals who deserved to be lynched with impunity due to their political alienation to the Congress Party[6]. Despite being the national leader and unifying factor, he considered the Muslims political orphans shunned by his political class fearful of losing the glimpse of the whole country.  Indeed, Modi is a divisive figure and populists with terrible effects on the economy of the country.

As a leader of the country, Modi’s first administration failed to tackle all the reforms that they pledge to implement and the enthusiasts and happiness which was on the faces of many during their campaign slowly faded away. Many expected him to lead a realistic overhaul of the government and fight corruption but instead, did little to bring economic reforms to transform key sectors of the economy. As a leader, there are specific regions and communities that his administration intentionally neglected due to the political allegiance to the opposition. Five years ago, Narendra Modi ran and gave people a lot of hopes to reform the fallen economy. He convinced voters that he was the answer to the economic woes with the slogan of minimum government interference[7]. However, upon resuming office, he turned against the people and seemed to have forgotten the reason why they elected him into office.

Prediction

Narendra Modi’s first five years in office failed to bring any real economic reforms but created fear and disunity among the communities along with their religious and political affiliations. Therefore, most citizens fear for the worst in the next five years from a populist leader who treats minority citizens as second class citizens.

Prescription

Treating minority communities as second class citizens is a clear prediction of a failed regime. As a national leader, people lost faith in him for promoting disunity and creating fear among the citizens. Since his first regime was characterized with neglect of the citizens and lack of realistic policies to curb rampant corruption, there was no better reason for his second term in office.

Feminists’ Perspective

The feminist perspective aims at understanding the nature of gender inequality as well as the evaluation of women’s social roles and experiences in society. Further, this perspective focuses on the anlyisation of gender inequality and aims at promoting women’s interests. Narendra Modi is the first Indian prime minister in 1971 in securing the single-party majority twice in a row. Bharatiya Janata’s party got to win in the absolute majority of the lower house of parliament, which was the first time in history after Congress party’s appeal, which vanished in the haze of corruption. However, regardless of the spluttering economy, which happened five years later, Narendra Modi was said to have expanded the parliamentary majority. From a feminist perspective, this was such bad news for India’s nature and the world.

Explanation

The re-election of Narendra Modi was a situation where is said to have been bad news for the people of India. The fact that Modi was able to change the way elections are done in India gave him some credit. In his campaign, he ensured that the whole election was all about him, which left the voters with essential questions that lingered in their minds. They were questioning if it is not Modi then who would be elected.

Additionally, people had the confidence to re-electing him because, in his last term, he achieved different social policies. They included giving of cooking LPG gas cylinders to all Indian women who lived below the poverty line, and he ensures that there were direct cash transfers for the poor farmers (Basu 2018)[8]. Hence, from a feminist perspective, then he got re-elected because he showed much concern if the marginalized women in society.

From a feminist perspective, Narendra Modi was accused of being out of the step for gender issues. When he was conducting his campaign to be a prime minister, his primary focus was on behind and mataon and their perspective of price rise. However, when he became the prime minister, he became silent concerning the issue of succession of horrific rape in the country. The feminist perspective says that when he talked about women’s issues, he was always in ease and out of step. Additionally, feminist’s perspective demands were reinforced by the young men who echoed the slogan of the remarkable agitation against the December 212 rape case. Feminists demand that their sons should be taught how to behave. There was a need for boys to be socialized in accepting a woman as their equals both at work and home[9].  From a feminist perspective, the international community responded that Narendra Modi re-election was terrible news to the Indians because he did not care about women at all, where he never seemed concerned about the increased violence against women. There is increased gender violence and women’s rights, which are defiled; hence it was expected that freedom without fear for women would not be affected. Therefore, from a feminist perspective, the re-election of Narendra Modi was terrible news.

Evaluation

According to a feminist’s perspective, the re-election of Narendra Modi is bad news to India since it has an effect on international politics and women in India. As the anti-rape movement states that gender violence and women’s right are massive because of the cases of rape and murder of women. For instance, 918 women for every 1000 men have gone through female infanticide. Additionally, there is a decrease in girl’s enrollment and malnutrition in the nation[10]. Hence, Narendra Modi’s re-election would lead to an increase in the rape and abduction rate of women in India. For instance, in India, a massive number of women and girls were raped. Further, from a feminist perspective, his re-election will negatively impact international politics since he portrays himself as a leader who is not interested in addressing gender violence issues in his nation. So, his re-election is significant since it looks like the issue of women rape and violence will intensify.

Prediction

From a feminist perspective, after the re-election of Narendra Modi, who is now being referred to as the first feminist prime minister of India, it is expected that violence and gender issues will be addressed in the next five years. This is clear because Modi believes that capability is gender-neutral. His move of ensuring that the number of women in Lok Sabha has increased shows that gender violence and women rape cases will decrease. Prime Minister Modi has displayed that he does not care about the distinctions. Currently, there are seven women in the cabinet, with one being of the traditional women’s portfolio. Such a move shows that he has an interest in ensuring there gender equality in India. For the next five years, it is expected that cases of gender violence and rape cases will decrease in India.

Prescription

Since Narendra Modi has shown that he is willing to turn the situation around concerning women’s rights and freedom, the international community should support his moves. Through the election of seven women for the cabinet shows that he believes that capability is gender-neutral. The international community should support him to the point where women are granted freedom without fear[11]. Additionally, women should come up with groups which they will use in fighting gender violence and rape cases in the nation. The women who have been chosen to power, Modi’s cabinet, should also utilize that opportunity in ensuring that they fight for women’s rights. It can be through ensuring that during the formulation of the nation’s policies, they integrate women’s issues and ensure that the rights of women are upheld. Further, India, as a nation, should also make efforts to ensuring that men and boys are raised to respect women both at home and at the workplace. Consequently, this will help in increasing respect in the society for both genders hence reducing cases of gender-based violence and rape cases that have been rampant in India.

Bibliography

Basu, Amrita. 2018. “Narendra Modi and India’s Populist Democracy.” Indian Politics & Policy 1 (1). doi:10.18278/inpp.1.1.5.

Verma, Raj. “The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and India: a test case of Narendra Modi’s statesmanship.” Australian Journal of International Affairs (2020): 1-7.

Sharma, Anuradha. “Modi’s strange relationship with the truth: The Indian prime minister only likes news that flatters him. Plus John Lloyd on why we should be more concerned about threats to Indian media than US media.” Index on Censorship 47, no. 3 (2018): 74-77.

Karnad, Bharat. Staggering Forward: Narendra Modi and India’s Global Ambition. Penguin Random House India Private Limited, 2018.

RAMASESHAN, RADHIKA. “Narendra Modi’s’ Revealing’ Speeches.” Economic and Political Weekly (2014): 10-12.

Karnad, Bharat. Staggering Forward: Narendra Modi and India’s Global Ambition. Penguin Random House India Private Limited, 2018.

[1] Basu, Amrita. 2018. “Narendra Modi and India’s Populist Democracy.” Indian Politics & Policy 1 (1). doi:10.18278/inpp.1.1.5.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Basu, Amrita. 2018. “Narendra Modi and India’s Populist Democracy.” Indian Politics & Policy 1 (1). doi:10.18278/inpp.1.1.5.

[4] Verma, Raj. “The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and India: a test case of Narendra Modi’s statesmanship.” Australian Journal of International Affairs (2020): 1-7.

[5] Verma, Raj. “The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and India: a test case of Narendra Modi’s statesmanship.” Australian Journal of International Affairs (2020): 1-7.

[6] Karnad, Bharat. Staggering Forward: Narendra Modi and India’s Global Ambition. Penguin Random House India Private Limited, 2018.

[7] Sharma, Anuradha. “Modi’s strange relationship with the truth: The Indian prime minister only likes news that flatters him. Plus John Lloyd on why we should be more concerned about threats to Indian media than US media.” Index on Censorship 47, no. 3 (2018): 74-77.

[8] Sharma, Anuradha. “Modi’s strange relationship with the truth: The Indian prime minister only likes news that flatters him. Plus John Lloyd on why we should be more concerned about threats to Indian media than US media.” Index on Censorship 47, no. 3 (2018): 74-77.

[9] Karnad, Bharat. Staggering Forward: Narendra Modi and India’s Global Ambition. Penguin Random House India Private Limited, 2018.

[10] Karnad, Bharat. Staggering Forward: Narendra Modi and India’s Global Ambition. Penguin Random House India Private Limited, 2018.

[11] RAMASESHAN, RADHIKA. “Narendra Modi’s’ Revealing’ Speeches.” Economic and Political Weekly (2014): 10-12.