Dr Nitasha Kaul, Reader in Politics and International Relations, wrote an article for The Conversation about the COVID crisis in India as a tragedy with its roots in Narendra Modi’s leadership style.
Dr Nitasha Kaul has worked for several years on the rise of the right wing in India, and particularly on the Modi regime. Explaining her analysis, she said: "Modi’s political project in India is postcolonial neoliberal nationalist – combining economic and social right-wing beliefs with a spurious nativism. Alongside Islamophobic sentiment, Modi’s success has long relied on a mix of scapegoating minorities, using money and media. I argue that Modi’s myth functions through projecting him as ascetic, paternal and efficient. He employs a carefully orchestrated ‘forked tongue’ speech, addressing different constituencies with contradictory interests in a systematic dualist way."
In the recent article for The Conversation, she highlights the ways in which the current situation in India is as much a political crisis as a health crisis. She wrote: “Meanwhile, as the body count continued to rise exponentially, the Modi administration held a workshop on May 5 for hundreds of top officials on “effective communication”, where they were asked to “create a positive image of the government”. This included setting up a “positivity strategy” to deflect criticism of government-handling of the pandemic.
“What is happening in India is as much a political crisis as a health crisis. It connects directly to Narendra Modi’s leadership and judgement, where he has privileged image over substance and accountability. The ongoing catastrophe is not in spite of, but because of, his leadership style. From the demonetisation in 2016 to the constitutional coup in Kashmir in 2019 to the current pandemic disaster, Modi’s callous and authoritarian style of leadership has cost millions of people their lives or livelihoods.”
Read the full article on The Conversation’s website.
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