NEW DELHI: PM
Narendra Modi is apparently trying to transform India from a tolerant, multi-religious place into a chauvinist Hindu state, The Economist, published from London, wrote in a review of the BJP government's policies in the wake of the
Citizenship Amendment Act.
The Economist termed the Citizenship Amendment Act as NDA government's "most ambitious step yet in a decades-long project of incitement". The article further adds that the government's policies may have helped the Narendra Modi to win elections but the same have proven to be "political poison" for the country.
It warns that Modi's initiatives, including the implementation of CAA, could lead to bloodshed.
"By undermining the secular principles of the constitution, Mr Modi’s latest initiatives threaten to do damage to India’s democracy that could last for decades," the magazine says.
The article asserts that by creating divisions over religion and national identity; by constantly insinuating the Muslims as "the dangerous fifth state", the BJP has succeeded in keeping its support base energised and taken the focus away from a faltering economy.
The magazine adds that the proposed National Register of Citizens will help the saffron party further its divisive agenda as the exercise could "drag on for years, inflaming passions over and over again, as the list is compiled, challenged and revised". In the process, the magazine claims, Modi will project himself as the saviour of the 80% Hindu population of the country.
"The citizenship row is only the latest in a series of affronts, from the BJP’s lionising of vigilantes thought to have killed Muslims to the collective punishment of the people of the Kashmir valley, who have suffered arbitrary arrests, smothering curfews and an internet blackout for five months," the article adds.
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The article further warns that a "sustained persecution" of one group is a threat to all and puts the political system "at risk".
"By perpetually firing up Hindus and infuriating Muslims, the BJP makes fresh bloodshed more likely," it added.