Obama and Modi

Compared with US, Indian democratic credentials are not as much doubted in Pakistan as we often lead you to believe

Days before the 2008 US presidential elections, I and a co-anchor sat together in a special transmission discussing who would be the next president. The co-anchor, who is now among the most controversial personalities on Pakistani television, was insisting that after Sarah Palin’s induction as running mate, and given that Barack Obama is an African-American, there was no chance in hell of a Democratic win. I did not agree. The so-called Bradley effect was talk of the past and US citizens had the uncanny ability to surprise us all with their readiness to embrace change.

When the election results started pouring in, my point was proven. For the first time ever in their history, the US citizens had chosen a man of Mr Obama’s origins. And while at the time of this prediction my faith was still shaky, remember President George Bush’s years in power, here was a definite proof that even if the most powerful democracy in the world occasionally strayed from the path, it knew how to stage a comeback. It merits a mention here that the weariness with the Bush Administration was due to the neocon influence. The US invasion of Iraq along with the so-called coalition of the willing brought to the fore a repulsive circus which made many of us believe that the neocons were not serious in fighting terrorism. But all that had now changed. With a Democratic Party win, it was clear that the neocons will no longer be in power. Mr Obama then became a metaphor for me. The metaphor of American diversity and democracy.

Compared with the US, Indian democratic credentials are not as much doubted in Pakistan as we often lead you to believe. That the Indian Army has not once derailed democracy in the country is a huge compliment to both. Within democratic circles, however, the musical chairs between the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has gone on for bit now. Before the Delhi state elections, it was my hunch that given the phenomenal rise of Mr Modi and the shaky performance of the Inc-led government, the BJP would win. I took my questions to an Indian friend at the mission here. He was of the opinion that a third force by the name of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was emerging and with it there was hope that the Left or the Third Front would be revived. When the results of the Delhi state assembly election arrived, the AAP managed to form a government there. I have seen miracles of democracy in the past. So was it possible that the Third Front would win the national elections? Despite a moving inaugural speech of Mr Kejriwal, the AAP chief, as Delhi’s chief minister, things started going downhill for him. The party quit the government leaving voters in the lurch. So Mr Modi again?

Mr Modi holds a special place in my memory. When the 2002 Gujarat riots broke out, I was asked to write a series of articles on the situation. It gave me a lot of time to study the carnage. At the time everything smelled of conspiracy, every failure pointed to Mr Modi, the then chief minister of the state. Deny it all you want but regardless of what happened in the state that year, it is a fact that the incident earned him a dark reputation and strengthened his position in the Sangh Parivar of which the BJP is a member. So on the day of the Indian national elections, I waited with bated breath as the results started coming in. In the end, the Mr Modi-led coalition had swept the election. I was in disbelief. This was the man, violence under whose rule had led a heartbroken Khushwant Singh to write a booklet titled The End of India. India’s new prime minister was now become a metaphor for what India was capable of — travelling back in time.

I know it is not my place to question Indian secularism and democracy. But as a citizen of a country which has suffered from a lack of both, I am saddened by the recent developments.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 27^th,  2014.

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