Who cares about human rights when billions are involved?

As the business deals were worth nine billion pounds, Cameron rolled out the red carpet for Modi

Narendra Modi’s state visit to the United Kingdom was billed as a historic event. The elected leader of the world’s largest democracy was paying a visit to the elected leader of the modern world’s oldest democracy. Predictably, there were hundreds of protestors chanting slogans while Modi and David Cameron were exchanging pleasantries and gloating over their mutually beneficent financial partnership. The atrocities committed against Muslims, particularly women in Kashmir by Indian soldiers, the dreadful communal riots which took place in Gujarat while Modi was chief minister in which thousands of people, mostly Muslims, lost their lives, the slaughtering of a Muslim on suspicion of having eaten beef and the general animosity of the Hindu religious extremists towards all minorities featured in the placards. Cameron had already decided that he wouldn’t bring up India’s human rights abuses before or during the discussion. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition, on the other hand, said he would raise human rights concerns in parliament.

Modi spoke about his plans for the future, the construction of new modern cities and relief for the poor. But basically the focus of the discussions was on trade and investment. It was quite boring as state visits usually are. As the business deals were worth nine billion pounds, Cameron rolled out the red carpet and turned tour guide for the second time in a couple of weeks. But it did occur to me that this time beef would be off the menu in the banquet which would be held in Buckingham Palace.

Before alighting on his historic visit, Modi faced a mutiny from senior members of his party, the BJP. The humiliating election defeat first in Delhi and then in Bihar rankled and pointed to major rifts over his leadership. LK Advani, former deputy prime minister, along with a couple of other elders released a strongly-worded statement just ahead of his visit to Britain which questioned the direction the party was taking and suggested that a thorough review should be undertaken for the causes of the electoral loss. Serious doubts have also been expressed about Modi’s ability to transform India into a global power that could compete with China.

There can be no question about the fact that Modi’s popularity is waning. Many Indians who had been given awards returned them in protest for the way the Indian prime minister had been stoking ethnic tensions and spreading hatred against minorities. Bihar, with a population of around a hundred million people, formed an impressive alliance in antipathy to the BJP’s policies of fomenting hatred and exploiting sectarian tensions. Bihar demonstrated that secularism was still alive in parts of India.

Whoever came up with the saying about us being human until race disconnected us, religion separated us, politics divided us and wealth classified us probably had India and Pakistan in mind. The people of these two countries have the same shared history, the same DNA and genetic disorders, and the same limited palette of tolerance. They also have similar problems such as internal and external threats, some perceived some real. Both countries are living through the high renaissance of Gothic conspiracies and possess the inability of fundamental faith to cope with the realisation of their own beliefs. The continued hatred and tension keep the military machines on both sides of the border well-oiled.

The BJP rose to prominence due to the failure of the Congress party to perpetuate its rule and to carry out some of the policies bequeathed to the nation by Pandit Nehru. Next time, Sonia Gandhi must select a dynamic person to lead the party that did so much to achieve independence from a colonial power.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2015.

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