This article has some scathing stuff. If true, these paint Modi govt in a very bad light. Sounds like complete abuse of power with no checks and balances.
> Analysis of the more than 1,000 mostly Indian phone numbers selected for potential targeting by the NSO client that hacked Kishor strongly indicate intelligence agencies within the Indian government were behind the selection.
> The phone number of a woman who accused India’s then chief justice of sexual harassment was selected shortly after her claims became public, along with 10 other numbers linked to her including those used by her husband and two other family members.
> Forensic analysis detected Pegasus activity as recently as this month on a phone used by Sushant Singh, a journalist who investigated a controversial billion-dollar contract awarded to one of Modi’s close allies in business to build a fleet of fighter jets with the French manufacturer Dassault.
> The Wire reporter Rohini Singh is facing civil and criminal defamation charges over an investigation she produced into the finances of the son of India’s home minister, Amit Shah. She was selected as a target over the two years ...
If the Radia tapes[1] didn't affect the Congress/UPA government, why would this affect Modi?
> Sounds like complete abuse of power with no checks and balances.
There are checks and balances. They are called elections.
The Indian constitution grants the government of the day an extraordinary amount of power. But the government is eventually formed by elected members of parliament.
If government uses its powers to suppress the opposition and prevent criticism of itself, then elections are not a check.
Elections also aren't a check for people who have already suffered from the oppression.
Governments operate under the rule of law and respect for democracy and human rights. 'To protect those rights, governments are instituted among men.' They serve the people with power delegated to them by the people. They aren't elected as temporary gods or kings.
> If government uses its powers to suppress the opposition
In what way is the opposition being suppressed? Other than the Congress which is suffering from a self-inflicted, mortal wound, the smaller parties are doing quite well in their own states.
> prevent criticism of itself
This statement has no basis in reality. The Hinduphobic left and their friends in media have done nothing but abuse the Modi government for seven straight years with zero consequences.
> people who have already suffered from the oppression
Who is being oppressed? In what way?
> Governments operate under the rule of law and respect for democracy and human rights.
Sure. That explains the benevolent nature of the Chinese/Iranian/Pakistani governments. And also why the US government keeps overthrowing other democratically elected governments, interfering in foreign elections and invading foreign countries to spread democracy while carpet bombing the local population.
Please.
Governments are entities that exercise a monopoly over violence within a certain territory. The nature of the government depends on those in power and those who get them there.
> Governments are entities that exercise a monopoly over violence within a certain territory. The nature of the government depends on those in power and those who get them there.
If you look at advanced democracies worldwide, which operate under the powers delegated to them, the rule of law and fundamentally exist to protect human rights, that's evidently not the case.
The question is, why would you want to believe differently? Why not embrace the great news that democracy works and prospers? Yes, it's not perfect yet - we have work to do to create a more perfect union. But certainly work on a grand project isn't accomplished by destroying it and starting over.
Journalists, professors (Kappan, Teltumbde) languishing in jail without trial on trumped up charges, and planted evidence indicates otherwise. A 84 year old Parkinson's patient (Stan Swamy) who couldn't feed himself water arrested on trumped up charges, held without trial, dying in jail indicates otherwise. Rampant doctoring and planting of evidence indicates otherwise. Lack of progress in investigations in killings of critics (Gauri Lankesh) indicates otherwise. Lack of progress in criminal proceedings against perpetrators of violence against JNU students caught on camera indicates otherwise.
I could keep going on giving examples till the cows come home.
> Journalists, professors (Kappan, Teltumbde) languishing in jail without trial on trumped up charges
Can you please tell the HN audience whether Teltumbde was able to approach the Supreme Court of India for relief and what the SC told him? Or are you also casting aspersions on the Supreme Court?
> A 84 year old Parkinson's patient (Stan Swamy) who couldn't feed himself water arrested on trumped up charges, held without trial, dying in jail indicates otherwise.
He died in a hospital.[1]
He was able to present his case before a court multiple times.
> I could keep going on giving examples till the cows come home.
A lie here, a half-truth there. I am sure you can find an infinite number of similar "examples."
The Supreme Court has been far from impartial (especially relevant, because one can see from this news story that calling Supreme court judges out for sexual harassments gets surveillance spyware installed on your devices). I am sure you know that Stan Swamy was denied bail although he posed no flight risk, was denied straw to drink water with because he could not hold tumblers without spilling all of the water and that he had been complaining about his health and that he was taken to hospital by the time his health had irreparably deteriorated, thanks to lack of attention to his medical complaints.
If your defense is picking on my shorthand to describe dying while in legal custody of a jail where he was being held without trial, under ludicrous trumped up charges, denied of bail, then I don't have much to add.
This is the exact reason a strong opposition is required. The opposition in India at the national level is an amalgamation of parties with no common interests or ideologies, other than that of being against the government in power. It is a travesty that the best policies are that of the government in power, despite all its overreaches
> the best policies are that of the government in power
Taking away Indians' freedoms, brutalizing minorities, upending the rule of law, promoting corruption ... I don't believe for a moment that Modi's policies are 'best'. India did very well under Congress before his election.
Unfortunately doing bad and good things is not mutually exclusive when talking about a single person, let alone when it's a group of people.
Whether the bad parts should be tolerated because of the good parts it's another matter (and given the things you're listed, I personally don't care about what good policies you do if that's the price to pay). that said we must be able to talk about policies and outcomes it their own right without tainting them with who has brought them.
> we must be able to talk about policies and outcomes it their own right without tainting them with who has brought them
I disagree. First, these are policies. Second, I don't care about the other policies unless human rights, including freedom and self-determination (democracy) are maintained.
This is exactly what I said in my comment (the part in parenthesis), but not phrased against the impersonal policies but against the people who happen to put forward awful things along with policies that would be otherwise good.
I think you don't really disagree, because disagreeing would mean that once somebody does something against human rights, everything else they touch must be also bad by definition, thus depriving all future generations of the possibility of doing something good just because they accidentally mentioned it? When it's claimed that Mussolini made run trains on time (which it's very likely a myth, but it doesn't matter for this argument), does it mean that having trains that run on time is a bad idea that can no longer be pursued least we associate ourselves with fascism? That would clearly be silly.
> disagreeing would mean that once somebody does something against human rights, everything else they touch must be also bad by definition, thus depriving all future generations of the possibility of doing something good just because they accidentally mentioned it
what on earth is this argument? to simplify this for you: if you deprive a subset of your population human rights and freedoms and allow a different subset to benefit from that injustice, it isn't a net good - it's supremacist.
It seems you're intentionally misunderstanding me.
Let me try again: Mr X invents the lightbulb, then kills his wife. I'm not saying Mr X invention of the lightbulb excuses him for having commited murder; I'm saying that the ligthbulb is a good invention despite the person who invented it and that other people can keep using it (while the inventor rots in jail).
This is an intentionally silly example because nobody sane will cancel a useful invention because of where it came from, but when we're talking about social policies they are often inextricably tainted by who proposed them and embraced them.
You're free to say "I don't care about this subtle point you're making because I'm so concerned about this freak depriving people of human rights that we don't have time to talk about this crap you're talking about". Fair enough. What I don't accept is that you're insinuating that I'm defending this kind of behaviour just because I'm making point you're not interested in.
Nationalist in the European context is clearly one language, one religion and one culture.
In the India context, nationalism is a unifying force finding a commonality beyond the hundreds of diverse languages and cultures that India is made of.
> In the India context, nationalism is a unifying force finding a commonality beyond the hundreds of diverse languages and cultures that India is made of.
You skipped the key plank of nationalist Indian politics - religion. Who are the new Jews of India? The backstabbers of the nation?
2. Indian muslims don't think of Hinduism as culturally superior
3. The vast majority were not forced at all. There have been only very few events of this nature.
Conservatism, all over the world, follows the same methodology. Fake and fantasy made up "history", identification of the "other" that must be eliminated, innate sense of superiority of the in group that the state must enforce, innate belief in hierarchy with little sympathy for those at the bottom.
3. The vast majority of conversion from native animist and dravidian religions also happened under hindu rule. Same holds for Buddhism in India. Islamic rule was not colonial.
1. Jews are semite people, you are confusing nationality with ethnicity.
2. ....... a significant percentage of xtian/Muslims mention somewhere around 30%
3. Syrian Christians in India pre date Christianity in Europe, yet it was insignificant until colonization. Buddhism in my view is a subset of Hinduism.
Islamic rule involved massive destruction of heritage, universities, libraries, temples, tributes to Perssia and the Caliphate, genocides and impossition of Persian script and Arabic, imposition of jizya.
He has overwhelming popularity because he is good at lying to people.
When it comes to state elections the Modi government has been getting creamed because his subordinates at the state level are not as good as lying to people.
I'm not saying the opposite or otherwise supporting Modi.
I was trying to make a more subtle point about our ability to discuss things without always being reminded of the all too important political struggles we all have to pay attention to. Your comment seems to prove my point that we all have this instinct of making sure everybody is reminded that if you just hint that somebody awful could perhaps accidentally have stumbled upon a policy that could make sense, you should never talk about that, otherwise you'll give your opponent a validation. I know, that's how we humans work. I'm just saying that sometimes it's a bit unfortunate that we do work that way.
Please look at the nick names of who makes comments. I was not the one bringing up the positives, I have no idea about anything in Indian politics, not indian, not living there either. I was just pointing out a logical fallacy in one replay because this is a forum of nerds and nerds love to pick nits. The world would be such a nicer place if people political fumes wouldn't intoxicate brains of otherwise sensible people.
In fact, my experience is the opposite with right-wing nationalist populists (Modi, Netanyahu, Orban, Trump, Boris Johnson to a significant degree, etc.): People don't talk about the political catastrophes; they talk about everything else.
One reason is that if you try to talk about the political catastrophes, people try to shut you down.
> could perhaps accidentally have stumbled upon a policy that could make sense
'but how did you like the play, Mrs. Lincoln?'
> I'm not saying the opposite or otherwise supporting Modi.
I just said that it's a bit unfortunate that most of these discussions never really touch whether what GP said is true or false, i.e. whether the policies of the government are indeed best. Instead the answer points out how other policies are awful.
Now, I personally agree that those things listed are awful and I'd never support such political party.
But, logically, that is not an argument against what original GP said. I find it unfortunate that we are unable to talk about those things candidly.
> India did very well under Congress before his election.
Congress, is corrupt to the T. Everyone had enough of these vampires. BJP was the only other viable national party. But I agree the situation is not ideal. I pity the residents of this country they are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Congress ruled from 1947 - 2014 for all but about 10 years. I cannot measure the scale of corruption, but an objective assessment of Indian governance would certainly say, which Political party casts a dark shadow.
Again, my goal is not misdirection, if BJP/Modi did anything stupid they should face the music. To paint Rahul, his mommy as some innocent by standers of a hawkish regime makes me laugh.
What Sonia did to Narasimha Rao was enough for me, to judge what her character or lack of it is.
care to explain what exactly Modi did? are you talking about some genocide like what Congress did during anti Sikh riots? Or how thousands of Kashmiri Pandits were raped and slaughtered? Or how about chemical castration during emergency Indira Gandhi did? It all happened during Congress rule.
> What Sonia did to Narasimha Rao was enough for me, to judge what her character or lack of it is.
Rao is one of the greatest prime ministers India has produced. He provided political cover to the liberalization policies that ended the Licence Raj in India (often attributed to Manmohan Singh alone). And this while running a minority government.
A brilliant man who was treated very badly by the Gandhis as well as the Congress party.
> India did very well under Congress before his election.
I was very young when I saw (and still remember) Congress party goons setting fire to Sikh homes in New Delhi. I heard stories of how congress party workers in Delhi butchered countless Sikhs. Please note that I am not defending Modi in any way and I despise right wing fascism everywhere.
Yeah. And then two people hijacked a plane to free Indira gandhi. This is the definition of terrorism as it is using violence for political purposes. Congress have those two party tickets and backed them in elections.
I also dislike that we have to constantly add "we are not defending modi". It comes from their belief that the only ones who criticize Congress are hindutva nationalists bigots. As if congress did nothing to receive the ire of the people.
Congress represents the dynastic aristocrats of a colonial vintage.
The BJP was built by the likes of Advani & Vajpayee many who were refugees of the Islamic partition of India, these are people who had built their own life from scratch.
Not to mention Modi the son of a tea seller, who rose to power on his own merit.
The BJP wins because it knows the grassroots where they come from, the congress and the left are elitist completely out of touch with reality.
I'd say... people were so sick, and tired of congress, that they voted in BJP for the lack of any alternative.
That's why @mynameismon is very correct. When the Congress finally crashed in nineties, there was no contender even for an empty seat. Even Basu (a freaking totalitarian himself,) who almost got the seat, himself decided against at the last second.
Congress too was a very authoritarian party in the past, as much as almost everybody else in the political arena. Indian politics were very violent prior up until 200x. There were no "good" party.
If you have no credible, genuine opposition, you will not have a choice in between good, and bad, but in between bad, and bad.
Take a good look on Indian political landscape in post-independence history, and you will understand that India, though all its 74 years of independent existence never had anything coming as an alternative to the Congress, that wasn't as authoritarian as Congress:
— JD, and United Front were stillborn, putting literally nothing on the table other than not being the Congress. Radiagate, Ranjan Bhattacharya.... list goes on.
— In WB, Basu was ordering hit jobs on the opposition, and his own fellow commies almost weekly.
— "In the liberal South" they had constant Blue/Red, and Hindu/Tamil violence, because local parties had nothing but the same caste/religion/race cards the BJP plays today.
— Maharashtra politics — gangsterland. It was, and still is
Just remember how blood the political violence in WB was during his reign. You think of hundred+ of political killings of Basu's opponents, and none were his doing? ...
First, their first wetwork began even before they assumed power. Hemantha Basu, Ajit Biswas, Sain family. CPI is still the prime suspect, killing their own leftwinger allies for the primacy in the red camp.
I have no coverage of seventies, but bloody must it be if it was described "a step away from civil war," with Naxals, CPI, Congers, and armed East Bengal refugees engaging in a free for all deathmatch.
Eighties were not less violent. Marichjhapi Massacre was not a political violence per-se, but a violence on behalf of CPI nevertheless. Then, we know Bijon Setu massacre, repeated against other novelty groups, with CPI being prime suspect through their obstruction of investigations.
Just to be sure I am full agreement with the incidents of violence that you mentioned, at least those that happened after I matured enough to follow news. Some you mention are older than that.
You may or may not agree but having lived through both I find that Modi regime (both at the state and the center) has seen not less, but more concentrated violence, not so much on political opponents, (Haren Pandya being a debatable case), but on minority citizens and citizens who have a different view.
Depends on your leaning. Modi is moving India away from the Socialist Democracy it used to be. And a lot of policies such as Land Acquisition act, Labour codes, Farm laws etc are progressive if you're capitalist leaning but probably retrograde if you're socialist.
It's possible we are seeing a global political shift, where that is exactly what identifies your leaning. We have seen an increase in authoritarianism (and support for authoritarianism) over the past 10 years [0][1].
Do you have citations? I don't see how any of those have been affected more so than any of the previous Congress governments. If you're talking about the various protests, the fact that they happen is proof that democracy is working. Just because someone doesn't agree with a government's policy doesn't mean democracy is dead. There hasn't been a Tianenmen square in New Delhi.
Modi’s policies uniformly have the same pattern: big announcement followed by a massive PR campaign, initial delivery, but later once media attention fades, either a quiet retraction or absent follow through.
This is either a pattern of grabbing media attention. Or its a symptom of an administration that has a single power center (Modi) and once his attention shifts, the policies and programs get ignored.
By policies, I mean
1. GST (Goods and Services Tax)
2. Revamp of Farm and agricultural laws
3. Revamp of the Education policies in favour of a more progressive policy
4. Promise of reforms of Land policies
and of that ilk.
Commonly cited as the reason for Indias economic decline along with demonetization.
> 2. Revamp of Farm and agricultural laws
There is no consensus that this is a good thing. Certainly not any good for farmers. Certainly very good for corporate farming, namely Ambani and Adani. Will the customers benefit? No idea!
> 3. Revamp of the Education policies in favour of a more progressive policy
??? Academic independence has been compromised. A 2000 crore pseudoscience ministry has been set up. Pseudoscience practitioners will now perform surgery. Indias top level research institutes are being granted generous funding for performing cow research. Texts praising Indian cows over Jersey cows are being distributed amongst school children, with claims of gold in Indian cows.
> 4. Promise of reforms of Land policies and of that ilk.
At this point it should be clear to you that you have made up your mind to speak favorably of Modi and are exhaustively searching for straws that will support your position.
If we end democracy, it doesn't matter. Dictators with good policies are just dictators - and historically, many have used their supposed beneficence and wisdom to justify themselves. And of course, who is to disagree with their policies - you're not allowed to.
And on top of that, looking around the world, there is no doubt what form of government correlates with good policy - power in the people's hands has by far the best record. And who can legitimately take it from us and impose their preferences on what the people want?
This government’s hare brained policies are the reason why Indians today are poorer than they were 5 years ago. At this point, there is no factual evidence at all to any claim that the government’s policies are actually effective
It's very disturbing to me as an ordinary Indian citizen that a foreign private company was given the carte blanche to spy on prominent individuals in India. India's history is replete with incidents where seeking the help of foreign agents to subdue local opponents compromised India's security and Indians' liberty.
Traitors don't necessarily have to set out to commit treason against their country - they can be just unsophisticated simpletons greedy for power. And they can commit treason and sabotage the nation in the name of patriotism.
If it wasn't a foreign agent, would that stop Modi from doing the exact same thing to the people of India? From what I see (a limited amount) the problem is unrelated to a foreign agent being involved.
Hopefully courts take suo moto on this case and drag Gov through mud. I really cannot believe people who defend this sort of thing. One more reason why a country needs independent media.
So apparently most of the pro-Modi commentators are going with the narrative of - Congress also did it, so its ok.
No its not ok. Congress is not the one in power and frankly I don't give two hoots about its corruptions when it was in power. BJP and Modi are the ones in power and they have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.
> unless what? Unless Congress is elected back to majority?
Thats your assertion. For some reason BJP supporters cannot see beyond Congress and Nehru.
I myself will be happy if any good party with a more pro-democracy and progressive views takes up the mantle. Be it a new party, a regional party which has gone national or even a revitalized congress.
@rishav_sharan Unfortunately, a party like the one you describe is yet to emerge. This is a not a realistic option.
> I myself will be happy if any good party with a more pro-democracy and progressive views takes up the mantle. Be it a new party, a regional party which has gone national or even a revitalized congress.
Politics almost always is a choice between bad and worse. Until a better third option emerges or the (dynastic, corrupt & inept) Congress changes its leadership / policies (of which there are no indications), BJP is a far less worse choice.
> Thats your assertion. For some reason BJP supporters cannot see beyond Congress and Nehru.
You're saying there's no dynasties in BJP? Anurag Thakur, Poonam Mahahjan, Pankaja Munde, Kiran Rijju, Pankaj Singh, Vasundhar Raje, Varun gandhi all these and many more are direct descendants of former BJP leaders.
No matter which party you pick in India, there is political dynasty. Personally I don’t see that as a problem if collective experience benefits the country.
With congress, the problem is much deeper. You have one family at the helm of affairs that has practically “zero” collective experience running any kind of ministry or a state or whatever in last 30 years (since Rajeev Gandhi died in 1991).
All they have is brand “Gandhi” using which they want to use to control the country but not being directly accountable for it.
> Analysis of the more than 1,000 mostly Indian phone numbers selected for potential targeting by the NSO client that hacked Kishor strongly indicate intelligence agencies within the Indian government were behind the selection.
this is disturbing but i'm not surprised. Modi will go to any extend to keep his power. People often claim BJP (ruling party) has a weak opposition but if it's so weak why do they even care about spying on the opposition leader? No matter who comes to the top, they are going to be spyed on by this government which is a shame.
Among other individuals is the name of the Election Commissioner of India, who was put on the list after he was critical of Modi’s conduct in Election rallies.
This is big, the Election Commission is an important constitutional body of India, this needs to have bigger consequences.
History shows that surveillance, oppression, and the targets of paranoia rarely limited to outsiders. ... The folks in power always seem to turn on their own too.
Does anyone else feel like India's government is starting to spiral? Particularly their censorship of domestic media has concerned me, and hearing about these crazy surveillance campaigns is starting to give me "human rights violation" vibes.
Its only going to get worse imo. India is an economic hole - much of it of our own doing - that is going to be very hard to get out of. Poorer governments tend to be desperate and authoritarian.
Rahul Gandhi's grandmother also went on a banning spree of political opposition parties, after she declared emergency powers and went authoritarian.
Given the legacy of similar behavior from Congress since the birth of the nation, I have little confidence that Congress and Rahul Gandhi will behave any different.
Indira Gandhi was 3 to 4 generations ago. All those who are critical of Modi's method now are just as critical of Indira Gandhi's methods, they are the same barring the difference that IG had made it official.
The point remains that IG is now an object of history, the people from her congress are mostly dead, if not all dead. On the other hand Modi and his methods are an objective reality now.
I don't see how it follows that IG's grandson would adopt the methods adopted by her. In fact it is offensive to suggest that.
It is not surprising that barring one appointment, the ministry of finance was/is held by people who had no background in workings of an economy. The one appointment that did come from a background in economics kept covering her failings by blaming behavior of millennials, international economic scenario and Covid, as if the las two affected India only.
India is a democracy on paper. But the abject poverty, corruption, and utterly abusive behaviour towards certain groups (called casts, much like in the middle ages) point towards a semi dictatorship through and through.
In case some of the community members are not fully aware of the background of the comment about mass murder: Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat when there were religious riots in 2002 [1]. Of course, him being a Hindu nationalist it's pretty obvious that many Muslims were persecuted/killed. Since then he's tried to clean his image internationally while systematically taking the world's largest democracy's democratic values to the brink. The Bush administration had denied him a diplomatic visa in 2005 [2] for his role in the riots. Finally, the UAPA [3] act that was referred to the parent post is a way to imprison activitsts/journalists/political opponents etc. A strategy long developed and honed by all sorts of autocrats.
He's tried to clean his image internationally to some extent, but it's obvious in India -- and to anyone who looks into the "riots" -- that he was behind a lot of it. Committing genocide is a big reason for why he was supported and got elected.
> The US backed Pakistan while it carried out the genocide of between 2.4-3 million hindus in Bangladesh in 1971.
The Western media only spews morality / secularism to portray themselves as morally superior (and especially when don't have anything to lose from their stance)
The malware could have been planted by a foreign spying agency which won’t be the first time such a thing has happened. The wording of the title makes you assume an adversary just because the title lists them first.
That foreign adversary would have had great timing then.
> The selection of Indian numbers largely commenced around the time of Modi’s 2017 trip to Israel, the first visit to the country by an Indian prime minister and a marker of the burgeoning relationship between the two states, including billions of dollars in deals between Delhi and Israeli defence industries.
Modi and the then Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, were pictured during the trip walking barefoot together on a beach. Days before, Indian targets had started being selected.
The key word you missed is 'relevant'. Signing MOU is not a crime and neither is it relevant to the discussion. You alleged Kishor of trying to fomenting riots, lets see some credible substantiation of that.
I note that you still haven't substantiated your allegation about Kishor.
Congress declared and fought a war with China when they had encroached, quite unlike Modi who has for the most part been trying hard to ignore and hide Chinese settlements well within Indian territory in Arunachal Pradesh. Had been denying the fact that Chinese forces has occupied Indian territory several kilometers inside Indian border. Oh forgot, yes Modi retaliated occupation of territorial land by banning some video apps and games.
You keep throwing statements that amount to "Modi is a monster" without proof.
Kishore runs an agency that helps Politicians win elections, if I go by the recent West Bengal elections and the subsequent violence against and ethnic cleansing of Hindus from several part of the state, I would hold him at least partly responsible.
It seems you are incapable of justifying all the relevant and egregious claim you have been making on this thread (Understandable, because they are made up for spreading a fake political narrative). You just made a claim about ethnic cleansing in Bengal. I called you out to provide reliable and credible source. Please provide reliable and credible sources that indicate ethnic cleansing in Bengal.
Your other allegation was that I have called Modi a monster. In spite of calling that out, you yet as usual fail to back up your allegations. Again, so understandable and predictable. By doing this repeatedly you are just exposing your kind to the rest to see and make up their own mind on who is telling the truth.
For claims I have made on this thread I have pointed to sources.
We are on the opposite ends of the political spectrum and I do not believe I am going to convince you with facts.
Your past comments makes me believe that you are part of the crowd that is on a witch hunt of Modi. Even though he has been through the trials since 2002, when the congress was still very much in power and has been cleared of any wrong doing.
At the same time you claim to want hard evidence on violence both political and communal in West Bengal. The NHRC has submitted a damning report on the situation in WB. Let Kishor go through the same trial that Modi went through to clear his name.
Until then I would hold him responsible for spreading hate and causing disharmony, if not actually mobilizing and orchestrating the violence.
Thanks to the fact that Modi cannot admit that China has already taken over significant tracts of Indian land, because that would mean admitting that a 56in chest is meaningless when it comes to actual diplomacy, international relations, and the ability to defend ones country.
India's analog of PRISM, and a complete regulatory carte blanche for domestic espionate is not BJP's doing. The prime majority of India's very, very intrusive surveillance laws were passed in 1999-2009.
The Congress though it will rule India forever.
Everything you do while in power, can be used against you when you loose it.
I bet the Congress leadership is now pulling its hair for letting the 2007 telegraph act amendment go.
Congress was trying to push CMS (a.k.a. India's PRISM) through the legislature multiple times though 200x, but only succeeded after Mumbai attacks.
Modi has his fair share of problems, but the English news coming out of India / western outlets is alarmist and has massive vested interests when it comes to their relations with the Gandhi/Congress family.
For 50 years, India was practically run by the Gandhis as a family business. Everyone and anyone who flourished did so with their blessing. Any excellence that was funded was made to abide by central ideological ideas espoused by the Congress. Lastly, many family-businesses survived purely because of the Gandhi's patronage and suppression of any new-elite.
From tenured profs to owners of top media organizations, the English speaking elite squarely despises Modi. Part of it is historical ideological filtering & a general fondness for the Gandhis. But, the biggest cause is that patronage and revenue has died out, now that the BJP does not put them on a pedestal nor consults with them as de facto elites. It is the collapse of falsely propped up elite.
In this turmoil, they have turned to their only natural ally. The western elite at NYT, WaPo and american universities. They attend panels and write columns about how India is undergoing collapse. Because guess what ? Only western outsiders with no visibility into India would believe it.
From abuse of UAPA to surveillance to the controversy regarding Rafales. You will find that the Congress has its hands just as dirty as the BJP. That's Indian politics 101.
The most egregious was Modi's diplomatic visa being revoked. 2002 was a tragedy of huge proportions and Modi had an active case ongoing in the Supreme court blessed by the opposition. (The court systems in India are completely independent, but having establishment support always helps) Additionally, Modi was mainly accused of not-doing enough to stop it, rather than actively causing it. Hell, even after being acquitted as innocent by this adversarial supreme court, his visa was still no restored.
> Modi remains the only person ever to be banned to travel to the United States of America under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) provision of US Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).[42] In 2012, A Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Indian Supreme Court found no "prosecutable evidence" against Modi and cleared him of all charges
Think about it. Does Modi even make page-1 of failed overseer during major religious riots in India?; let alone the world at that time ? He deserved to be chasitized for what was a complete failure of Govt. mechanisms, but to target him in such an obvious manner highlights what I am talking about.
(Modi has had terrible economic policies and has mishandled many a scenario, but I rarely see anyone talking about either. Every conversation is around the same old culture war topics of interest to the west: Issues that have always been a problem in India irrespective of Modi's presence or Congress rule. Hilariously: Aadhar, CAA, 370 removal and the farm bill are all policies that were raised in some part by the previous Congress Govt. None of these were viewed as polarizing until Modi picked them up. (370 removal was polarizing, but the bill was being routinely weakened by every consecutive India Govt.))
This is probably the most accurate take on Modi I've seen on any forum, even one as high-quality as HN. It's almost incredible how the blatant corruption of Congress is forgotten; they were even using Cambridge Analytica (which probably added more fuel to the media trend [0]).
The legal proceedings that found insufficient evidence against Modi also had several flaws that benefited Modi. Call record metadata of BJP politicians just prior to the outbreak of violence was stopped from being produced in court. All this is part of public record and a part of Sanjeev Bhatt's petition to the court and murder of Modi's own state cabinet minister Haren Pandya who had testified Modi's involvement in Gujarat riots (these documents can be accessed and downloaded).
The senior police officer Sanjeev Bhatt, then serving as an intelligence officer had approached the court with evidence and allegations about Modi's direct involvement. The call records were suddenly lost. Bhatt was then convicted for life for a death of a person who died after being released post questioning. This death had happened some 20 years ago and Bhatt, then a newly minted police officer, had been cleared of responsibility at that time. This incident was dug up, case reopened and he was convicted. Judges in Indian courts are often bought, by money and by favors or by threats of harassments.
Could you imagine reading Internet forums? Isn't yours and everyone's presence here - and much worse, in most other forums - an example of people doing exactly that for free?
> Analysis of the more than 1,000 mostly Indian phone numbers selected for potential targeting by the NSO client that hacked Kishor strongly indicate intelligence agencies within the Indian government were behind the selection.
> The phone number of a woman who accused India’s then chief justice of sexual harassment was selected shortly after her claims became public, along with 10 other numbers linked to her including those used by her husband and two other family members.
> Forensic analysis detected Pegasus activity as recently as this month on a phone used by Sushant Singh, a journalist who investigated a controversial billion-dollar contract awarded to one of Modi’s close allies in business to build a fleet of fighter jets with the French manufacturer Dassault.
> The Wire reporter Rohini Singh is facing civil and criminal defamation charges over an investigation she produced into the finances of the son of India’s home minister, Amit Shah. She was selected as a target over the two years ...