Modi needs to speak up on sensitive issues
One of Narendra Modi’s promises to India was that he would be a proactive prime minister unlike his predecessor Dr Manmohan Singh, but just two months into his reign he has confounded his supporters and detractors alike with a mysterious silence on a whole lot of sensitive issues.
A big fan of social media, Modi’s tweets and press statements immediately after he was sworn in as prime minister created ripples in India as well as around the world for their frankness, raising hopes that he was willing to shed his image as a diehard Hindutva advocate in order to keep India’s multi-religious and multi-cultural milieu intact.
His invitation to Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif for his swearing-in ceremony and the much-publicised exchange of gifts that followed broke a pattern of stony-faced diplomacy between the two perpetually warring neighbours. Modi’s emotional tweet about Sharif’s sari gift for his mother had the media in a thrall and even won him a few fans across the border.
However, of late, Modi’s Twitter account has strangely fallen silent. In fact so silent that people are wondering what he is up to, with some even comparing him to Dr Singh who had precious little to say openly when it came to issues of corruption and policy paralysis that plagued the UPA government, eventually leading to its historic rout in the general elections.
Modi has so far refused to comment on the highly troubling incident of Shiv Sena lawmaker Rajan Vichare trying to shove bread into the mouth of a fasting Muslim caterer during Ramadan.
A school dropout who is a suspect in 13 criminal cases, Vichare was trying to make a point about the poor quality of food served at the canteen catering to politicians. Vichare claimed he was unaware the caterer was a Muslim, but others are of the view that the caterer was well known to politicians and even wore a badge displaying his name.
A couple of days later, BJP politician K Laxman caused a storm by referring high-profile tennis star Sania Mirza as the “daughter-in-law” of Pakistan after she was named a brand ambassador for the newly-formed state of Telangana.
Mirza, who is married to Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik, broke down during a television interview to a local news channel and said it was unfair that she had to keep asserting her “Indianness”.
“I am an Indian who will remain an Indian until the end of my life,” she said on Thursday in a statement posted on micro-blogging site Twitter.
The BJP distanced itself from Laxman’s remarks, with cabinet minister Prakash Javdekar saying “Sania Mirza is the pride of India.”
It’s inevitable that in a country with a population exceeding 1.2bn adhering to a mindboggling array of beliefs and ideologies, there would be always someone who will be up to some mischief, but it’s also important that such instances are dealt with strictly.
Modi could have easily reprimanded Vichare and Laxman, who are after all only relatively minor politicians. Alternatively, he could have called Mirza or simply sent out a tweet comforting her. As the leader of the world’s largest democracy, he can’t afford to maintain an eerie silence on such issues, which will only serve to embolden the extremists.
