Narendra Modi of the RSS is an
ambitious man who seems to want to become the prime minister of
the country. His propaganda machine never speaks of the violence
in 2002 in the state he ruled and rules, but it constantly plugs
his hand in its development. I do not propose here to question the
claims of development that he makes or which are made for him.
Better qualified people have done that and have shown that these
claims are based on sleight of hand or on outright lies. I shall
only look at the meaning of this development business in Modi's
lexicon.
Modi's own web site, at http://www.narendramodi.in/media-detail/?gid=11636
declares, “Development alone is the solutions [sic] to all
problems: Shri Modi delivers inspiring address at SRCC!”
Apparently the man said, “We are not pitching our tent on a single
pillar. Our development model is based on 3 aspects -- development
of agriculture, industry and services sector. We want all 3
sectors to grow where each supports the other so that state
economy is never in trouble.” This is typical of his populist
demagoguery. A seemingly rational enumeration slips magically
sideways and becomes a conclusion.
Here is a better one: “In 2001-02 when I became CM, 23 lakh bales
of cotton was produced, today it stands at 1 crore 23 lakh bales.
Our next step should be value addition. So we are working on that.
We got a new Textile Policy. We have a 5F formula -- from Farm to
Fibre to Fabric to Fashion to Foreign. Till we do not take
integrated approach then nothing will happen.” The reasoning is as
devious as the grammar is slippery. The man jumps about like a
grasshopper, dispensing wisdom probably obtained from his
advertising consultants and speech writers: "We have to adopt
‘Zero Defect Mantra’ and other is packaging. We need to study
consumer psyche and then work on manufacturing sector.” Such
specimens as Modi cannot be pinned down. It is an established
tactic of the Hindutva Brigade to change tack constantly,
particularly when in trouble.
In http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/dec/28/india-fantasy-gujarat-modi-hindus
Dibyesh Anand writes that “development is not an abstract practice
immune from identity. Economic reforms are being used in parts of
India to depoliticise development and crack down on the
marginalised. For instance, tribal peoples and those from lower
castes are the biggest victims of forced eviction by the state for
its development projects. Impressive economic figures from Gujarat
belie the fact that on the human development index the state
remains far behind.”
It was not an accident that economists, the very people who
measured development in arid figures, began in the 1980s to look
at human beings not as statistics but as the central concern of
development. “Human development” has been so described by two of
the people responsible for the new approach:
“People often value achievements that do not show up at all, or
not immediately, in income or growth figures: greater access to
knowledge, better nutrition and health services, more secure
livelihoods, security against crime and physical violence,
satisfying leisure hours, political and cultural freedoms and
sense of participation in community activities. The objective of
development is to create an enabling environment for people to
enjoy long, healthy and creative lives.” Mahbub ul Haq, quoted in
http://hdr.undp.org/en/humandev/.
“Human development, as an approach, is concerned with what I take
to be the basic development idea: namely, advancing the richness
of human life, rather than the richness of the economy in which
human beings live, which is only a part of it.” Amartya Sen, same
source.
Unlike the old idea of development, from which only the
capitalists and the affluent benefit, human development explicitly
is concerned with what all social classes get, including the poor
and those who are customarily forgotten, the religious minorities
and the tribals. On the other hand Modi, the glorious Hercules of
Development, starves the Muslims of Gujarat and denies them
housing, health care and education. Hardly surprising, because he
belongs to the tribe which wants free and secular India to become
the monarchical Hindu Rashtra which they believe to have existed
in an earlier age.
Mukul Dube is a
writer, photographer and editor who lives in Delhi. He can be
reached at uthappam@gmail.com
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