Nicholas D. Kristof: 'While Modi polls extremely well, many worldly Indians are aghast that he has made India less secular and tolerant, creating what some argue is a Jim Crow Hindu nationalism that marginalizes religious minorities, particularly Muslims.'
In this Sept.14, 2020, photo released by India Government Press Information Bureau, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the media as he arrives at the Parliament in New Delhi, India.All over the Indian capital these days loom posters of Narendra Modi, presenting him as the great modernizing prime minister pulling India forward. But those posters also hint at the opposite: an emerging personality cult and an authoritarian streak that is dragging India backward.
While Modi polls extremely well, many worldly Indians are aghast that he has made India less secular and tolerant, creating what some argue is a Jim Crow Hindu nationalism that marginalizes religious minorities, particularly Muslims. And it’s not just marginalization: Muslims are periodically accused of slaughtering cows, which are sacred to Hindus, and lynched. In a typical case this month, a mob in Bihar state accused a Muslim of carrying beef and beat him to death.
India used to be a correspondent’s dream, echoing with the sound and fury of strongly held opinions. But today people often clam up when I ask about Modi. Reporters Without Borders now ranks India a dismal 150th in press freedom among 180 countries worldwide. Pakistan was founded by a not particularly observant Muslim, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who drank alcohol and appointed a member of the Ahmadi religious minority to be the country’s first foreign minister. But then, in 1977, Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq seized power and engineered a wave of conservative Muslim nationalism that still tears Pakistan apart.
Let’s talk toilets. Millions of Indians still practice open defecation, which spreads disease and parasites. A national survey in 2020-21 was released this month and found that 21% of rural households still had no access to any toilet — but that’s a significant improvement from almost 60% having no access in 2012. Modi has championed an end to open defecation, which may seem undignified for a politician, but it saves lives.
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