Page 6 - Pakistan Link - April 26, 2019

P6 – PAKISTAN LINK – APRIL 26, 2019 OPINION
n By Dr Syed Amir Modi’s Election Strategy Is Well Tested 9 to 3.7%.” Only 22 Muslims members were
Bethesda, MD elected in 2014 elections, none of them on the
BJP ticket. Also, in the most populous Indian
ollowing the defeat of Napoleon state of Uttar Pradesh (UP), where Muslims
Bonaparte, European powers held a represent 18 percent of the population, not a
Fconference at Vienna in 1814, known single Muslim won a seat in the Lok Sabha.”
as the Congress of Vienna, to chart a new Modi’s promises about economic pros-
map of Europe. Th e gathering perity and employment opportunities had
itself was more an occasion for raised the hopes of millions who voted for
celebration and merrymaking BJP. However, the unemployment rate in 2018
than a serious deliberative en- went up to 6.1%, the highest in the last 45
deavor that went on for about years. Ac-cording to fi gures cited by the New
a year. However, the Con- York Times, “Th e Modi government has, how-
gress eventually succeeded in ever, not created as many jobs as it promised
drawing new boundaries of states, a strat- in the last election. Th ere are an estimated 23
egy that kept peace in Europe for nearly a million unemployed people in the country, of
century. However, in the twentieth century, them more than a third hold graduate or high-
Europe experienced two devastating wars er degrees. Almost one in six highly educated
of annihilation as narrow nationalism re- Indians is unemployed.”
asserted itself. Th e memory of the destruc- At a time when the political debate was
tion prompted the creation of the European pivoting on domestic problems and the BJP
Union, another attempt to establish a uni- was losing some support among the elector-
fi ed Europe, free of authoritative populism. ate, they received an unexpected boost. A sui-
Nearly six decades later, the world is ex- cide attacker killed 40 Indian paramilitary of-
periencing a return towards nativism, and fi cers in Pulwama district in Indian-controlled
right-wing populism. Unscrupulous politi- Kashmir. Th e responsibility for the massacre
cians in many countries incite hatred, ethnic was accepted by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-
and religious divisions as a political weapon Mohammed, a militant, terrorist organiza-
against sections of their own nation to mo- Jewish settlements in the West Bank, eliminat- their representatives. Th e election for 545 par- tion. Th e incident brought India and Pakistan,
bilize their supporters. In Europe, we have ing any possibility of a Palestinian State. Israel liamentary seats started on April 11, 2019 and two nuclear-armed nations, to the brink of a
seen the emergence of right-wing politicians, has about 20% Arab minority, Muslims and will conclude on May 19, 2019. Th e result will catastrophic war. It also enabled the BJP and
like Marine Le Pen in France, Victor Orban in Christians, but their participation in the coun- be announced on May 23. Modi to change the dynamics of the election,
Hungary: in Brazil the far-right president Jair try’s politics is marginal. In the last elections in 2014, Mr Narender shift ing the discourse from domestic issues to
Bolsonaro and in Israel the reelection of Ben- In the United States, the election of Don- Modi (68 years old) and his Hindu nationalist target- ing Pakistan, indirectly Muslims,
jamin Netanyahu. ald Trump was greatly helped by his incitation Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) won a huge major- always winning subjects.
Th e case of Israel is especially notewor- of ethnic and racial divisions and his exaggera- ity, garnering 282 seats in the Parliament. Th e Even before the latest incident in Kash-
thy. Netanyahu won an unprecedented fi ft h tion of the threat of terrorists coming into the BJP had championed the ideology of Hindu- mir, Modi’s policies had fractured the country
term in the Israeli elections, even though the country from the Middle East, Mexico and tva (Hinduness), appealing mostly to Hindu along religious and ethnic lines---Hindus and
specter of a legal case for corruption remains central America. As a candidate, he advocated atavistic emotions, but also promised to bring Muslims, upper and lower cast Indians. Th e
hanging over his head. Th e country, however, a total ban on the entry of Muslims and aft er economic prosperity and employment oppor- offi cial eff orts have been made in UP and else-
is prosperous and has evolved into a regional the election banned entry of citizens from fi ve tunities. where to alter history books taught in schools,
super power, capable of overpowering any Muslim-majority countries: Libya, Iran, So- BJP’s strategy, grounded in a divisive removing or distorting narratives of Muslim
combination of Arab countries. In contrast, malia, Syria and Yemen. It is most likely that agenda and aimed mostly against Muslims, rulers, while cities and towns with Muslim
Palestinians are in a helpless, bedraggled state, he will employ the similar winning methods succeeded remarkably. In a recent book, Ma- names with historic signifi cance have been
having no support from Arab countries. As if in his reelection campaign in 2020. joritarian State, How Hindu Nationalism is renamed to those that have no Islamic conno-
all of this was not enough for winning the elec- Finally, India, the world’s most popu- Changing India, Angana Chatterjee (ed.) tations. Th e eff orts to delegitimize Muslims as
tion, Netanyahu hyped the danger from Iran, lous democracy has already embarked on its wrote: “While the share of Muslims in Indian Indians and marginalize them is ironic. Th ey
and proposed further humiliation for the Pal- mammoth election exercise, with potentially population rose from 11.1 to 14.2%, their rep- have lived in India and been essential part of
estinians. If elected, he promised to annex the 900 million voters using their right to choose resentation in the Lok Sabha dropped from MODI, P24

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