‘Modi needs 10 more years to completely turn things around. By 2029, India would be a $10 trillion economy.’
NEW DELHI: Delusion and power often go hand in hand. How else can one explain Hitler’s decision to open the second front for his army in World War II by invading Russia? At the height of his power, especially when there was no stopping his men on the western front, the Fuhrer turned his attention eastward and took his forces to the frigid Russian war fronts where, a century ago, Czar’s General November and General December had almost decimated Napoleon’s army. Hitler’s forces met the same disastrous fate.
Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, through his latest book Delusional Politics (Penguin, Rs 599), makes us believe that the delusional streak still remains alive and kicking among the powers-that-be. “Hitler was initially injected with vitamins for health reasons, but towards the end of his life, he got completely dependent on opiate. He may have been on a high when he took some of the irrational decisions like the Russia invasion,” says the diplomat-turned-politician. In the contemporary world, if not delusion, what else can explain then British Prime Minister David Cameron’s knee-jerk decision to go for a referendum on Brexit, sitting at a pizza parlour in the United States?
Explaining how the decision to hold the Brexit referendum was taken in haste, Puri reminds that Cameron, “sitting in a pizza parlour at Chicago airport” in 2012, came up with the idea to “smoke out” his own party colleagues. The decision, which today threatens to jeopardise Britain’s global standing and make it descend into what is now explicitly and derisively called FUKEW, or the Former United Kingdom of England and Wales, was aimed at settling political scores. Equally delusional was the decision of his successor, Theresa May, to call for a snap poll in order to strengthen the position of the Conservative Party as the terms and conditions of the Brexit negotiations were on. “May holds an election when there was no need for it. The ruling party had a comfortable majority,” he says.
Delusion isn’t just confined to Britain, though. According to Puri, US President Donald Trump’s decision to shut down the government to get fund for the Mexican wall and Manmohan Singh’s audacity to gamble the future of his own government to get the India-US nuclear deal through mark the same delusional politics. “Dr Singh, unlike his natural persona, went way out of the way for the nuclear deal. I don’t think a single dollar of commercial contracting has been done under it.”
In a free-wheeling interaction with The Sunday Guardian, the diplomat-turned-politician talks about not just the delusionary grandeur of the political class, but also how India’s politics is witnessing a paradigm shift under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Despite the setback in the recent Assembly elections, he is upbeat about the BJP’s prospects in 2019 and says people will opt for chemistry rather than arithmetic, especially when the battle is “between Modi and 11 prime ministerial claimants”.
Following are the edited excerpts of the interview with the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs:
Q: What makes you say that delusional politics is rampant today?
A: Over the last four-and-a-half decades, I have had the opportunity of watching senior people in decision-making roles displaying a streak that could be called delusional. While you were coming to see me, a news channel informed me that there’s a pizzeria in London which is offering 25% discount on pizza provided you vote for a second referendum. Ironically, the original decision to go for the Brexit referendum was taken by David Cameron in a pizzeria at Chicago airport, when he was in a casual discussion with his Foreign Secretary William Hague in 2012. He believed there were a lot of Euro-sceptics in his party and the referendum would smoke them out. Ironically, the person who succeeded him, Theresa May, decided to hold an election when no election was required. The ruling party had a comfortable majority.
The same delusional attitude can be found elsewhere, too: Donald Trump, for instance, shut down the government to get funds for the Mexican wall. And, back home, Manmohan Singh was willing to gamble the future of his own government in order to get the India-US nuclear deal through. As far as I know, not a single dollar of commercial contracting has so far been done under the deal.
Q: How will Brexit impact Britain?
A: It’s a very serious development. When a permanent member of the Security Council, one that believed in an open market and was part of the Western alliance and was anchored in Europe, suddenly turns its back on Europe, it’s going to have grave repercussions. One way out is to restore the status quo ante, whether the Europeans accept it or not. If they don’t do this, the nation is in trouble. Britain’s standing in the international sphere would go down.
Q: You discount the racism angle in the election of Trump. Will he survive the “liberal” assault? How do you see the role of the mainstream media?
A: Trump won primarily on the angst of the White working Americans in the Rust Belt because they lost out on the “American Dream”. Thomas Frank writes in his 2016 book, Listen Liberal, “That’s where we are, eight years post-hope. Growth that doesn’t grow; prosperity that doesn’t prosper.” Trump’s election should be seen in this perspective
As for his future, I don’t see him getting impeached. No party would want its own President impeached. What I am confident is that Trump would be indicted for his acts of omission and commission prior to becoming the President; he would be indicted for obstruction of justice. The role of the American liberals and the media, however, isn’t at all praiseworthy. The New York Times and CNN have disgraced themselves. Anybody can get an election prediction wrong, but to question the electoral process and the results is illiberal. The part of the problem is that the mainstream media is controlled by those who are the beneficiaries of the Western democratic social order. I think the liberals, the beneficiaries of state patronage, have a lot to answer. The same phenomenon is also being witnessed in India.
Q: So you believe India’s traditional media hasn’t been fair to Narendra Modi?
A: Not just that, they are doing the little bit within their power to unsettle the current dispensation. Thankfully, their endeavour has failed so far. First of all, they are getting their assessments wrong, whether it’s in Gujarat, Rajasthan or Karnataka. The media has two roles to perform: One, show the facts as they are, and two, report and analyse. But if the media becomes a party to the narrative, then objectivity becomes a casualty. Is it any surprise that people have stopped taking media seriously in India?
Q: You say Modi has brought a paradigm shift in Indian politics. How?
A: Gunnar Myrdal, in Asian Drama, said that the British elite left behind an identical Western elite. When one looks at some of the monumental mistakes we have committed after Independence, we realise the significance of his words. We chose to ape essentially the Western system, thus producing an elitist model of development. For the first time we have a Prime Minister in Modi who says every village must have electricity; every family must have a toilet; every household must have a gas connection and a health cover. If this is not a paradigm shift, then what could be the one?
Critics thought the BJP was a party of the upper caste Brahmins and traders. Look what Modi has done. Of course, there’s a consequence of that and we would come to terms with that. But the fact remains that for the first time we have President, Vice-President and Prime Minister who are truly Indian in nature and temperament. But Modi needs 10 more years to completely turn things around. By 2029, India would be a $10 trillion economy, the third largest economy in the world, with four-times the per capita income. Modi, then, won’t have to worry about building toilets. People will have resources to build their own.
Q: But critics are saying that Modi magic is fading, especially in the wake of the recent Assembly election results…
A: I believe what BJP president Amit Shah has said: the Congress may have done well in the recent polls but we haven’t lost the elections. In Madhya Pradesh, even after 15 years of anti-incumbency, we have got more votes than the Congress. Had 1,880 votes gone the other way, things would have been different in 10 Assembly seats. In Rajasthan, we were told that the BJP would be wiped away, but we were only 150,000 votes less than the opponents. We respect the verdict of the people, but in analysing it, let’s not take leave of our common sense.
Q: Does the Opposition’s Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) idea bother you, especially in Uttar Pradesh?
A: I don’t take this Mahagathbandhan discourse too seriously. Arithmetic may be important, but one must not ignore chemistry in politics. At the end of the day, voters would look at what’s on the table. It’s a battle between Modi and 11 prime ministerial claimants. People in this country are very smart. Also, arithmetically, let’s see what happened in the Kairana bypolls. The Opposition got 50% votes, while we received 46%. And mind it, it was a byelection. Things change dramatically during the general elections.