[Vision2020] India has Elected its First Fascist Prime Minister

[Nicholas Gier]

Good Morning Visionaries:

The polls have been predicting this for some time, and part of the problem
is a corrupt Congress Party, which won large election victories in the
past.  Modi's BJP now has 282 seats in the 543-member Parliament.  Rajiv
Gandhi's 414 will be hard to beat, but his son Raul "led" his father's
party to a disastrous defeat, winning only 44 seats.

I've excerpted most of the material from chap. 2 of my forthcoming book "On
the Origins of Religious Violence: An Asian Perspective" (Lexington Books,
2014). A longer version, which I hope will appear in the Idaho State
Journal, is attached as a PDF file.

Indira Gandhi turned authoritarian in her last years in office, and Modi's
past indicates that he will do the same.

Nick

*INDIA HAS ELECTED ITS FIRST FASCIST PRIME MINISTER*

              The fascist government of Benito Mussolini claimed that it
had made the Italian trains run on time. As the longest ruling chief
minister of the Indian state of Gujurat, Narendra Modi did indeed improve
its economy—building new infrastructure and bringing in new foreign
investment. Now that his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has
won a parliamentary majority, Modi promises to reverse the nation’s
faltering economy.

Since 1971, Modi has been a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(RSS), a Hindu nationalist organization founded in 1925 and modeled on
Mussolini’s Brown Shirts. Even in the face of widespread criticism, Modi
had refused to change his state’s school curriculum, which praises the
achievements of Nazi Germany and describes Hitler as a “charismatic”
personality.

A report of the Indian Human Rights Commission condemned the Modi
administration for “promoting the attitudes of racial superiority, racial
hatred, and the legacy of Nazism.” Modi’s closest associate Amit Shah,
charged with several political murders, is particularly hateful towards
Muslims.

N. V. Godse, the man who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, had been an
RSS member until he formed his own Hindu militant group in the 1940s.  RSS
activities had been previously banned by British authorities, and then four
times by the Indian government from 1948 to 2008.

In 2002 Gujurat experienced extensive sectarian violence in which upwards
of 2,000—mostly Muslims—suffered deaths by burning, hacking, and occasional
gun fire.  As early as November 2001, various Hindu nationalist
organizations distributed weapons (mainly swords and spears) to thousands
for protection against so-called Muslim terrorists. Parades of armed Hindu
men took place in many cities with BJP officials presiding.

On February 27, 2002, a train arrived in Gujurat filled with Hindu pilgrims
from the north.  One coach caught fire and 94 were burned alive.  A group
of Muslims were tried and convicted for starting the fire, but every single
investigation, except one done by Modi’s own government, concluded that the
fire was an accident caused by a stove on  the coach.

            After the train fire, anti-Muslim attacks spread throughout
Gujarat; and Modi, according to one of his own cabinet members, told his
police force to allow the pogrom to run its course. The violence continued
for several months and the official death count was 822 (mostly Muslims),
although unofficial sources put the final toll at over 2,000 killed.  About
250 mosques were destroyed along with hundreds of Muslim homes.

The Indian Commission on Human Rights found that there was “premeditation
in the killing of non-Hindus [and] complicity by Gujarat State government
officials.” K. N. Panikkar concurs: “It was state sponsored, state
supported, and if eyewitnesses are to be believed, state directed. . . .
What happened in Gujarat was an organized massacre of Muslims with the
state’s active complicity and connivance.”

In 2004 the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (CIRF)
investigated the Gujarat violence and concluded that Modi was guilty of
failing to stop the anti-Muslim attacks. The U. S. State Department did its
own research and decided to ban Modi from traveling to the U.S.

In 2013 the CIRF reaffirmed its recommendation that Modi not be granted a
U.S. visa.  In the wake of Modi’s huge election victory, President Obama,
whose administration favored the reelection of the Congress Party, has now
invited him to the White House.

Modi’s defenders criticize the press for calling him a Hindu nationalist,
saying that reporters do not call the GOP a Christian nationalist party.
There are certainly many Republicans who are Christian nationalists, but
GOP spokespeople do not praise those who attack mosques and certainly do
not recommend that they be replaced by churches.

Nick Gier taught philosophy and religion at the University of Idaho for 31
years. His book “The Origins of Religious Violence: An Asian Perspective”
will be published by Lexington Books in November.
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