Ukraine Socialist Solidarity Campaign presents:

Kavita Krishnan on “Why the world should pay attention to Narendra Modi”

In May of 2019, after India’s Narendra Modi was overwhelmingly reelected, the Financial times commented: “This week the world’s two most populous democratic land masses — India and Europe — lurched towards more ethno-nationalism.” They also cited the examples of Brexit, Italy’s Northern League,  Viktor Orban’s Fidesz, Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National, as well as already established ethno-nationalists like Hungary’s Viktor Orban and Brazil’s Jaire Bolsonaro (who since then narrowly lost reelection). The US’s Republican Party has also decisively turned even further in that direction, as has Israel’s regime under Netanyahu.

While Russia’s Vladimir Putin may be the global leader for ethno-nationalism, which he uses to justify his invasion of Ukraine, Modi is not far behind.

Modi first made his international mark when he helped organize the Gujarat Hindu nationalist riots of 2002, in which some 2,000 Indian Muslims were hacked to death. Modi was the head of that province, and he made sure the police did nothing to stop those riots. In fact, for years he was banned from entering the United States because of his role. In 2014, Modi was elected as Prime Minister as head of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP. He was resoundingly reelected in 2019 based on Hindu nationalist ideology (known as Hindutva). Modi is promoting ethno-religious nationalism globally.

As the world’s second most populous country, India is becoming increasingly important economically. It is slated to become the world’s second largest economy (after China and the US) by 2030. India has close economic links with Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United States and also Russia. As a result, all these heads of state, including Biden, are courting Modi. Similar to Trump’s ties to such capitalists as Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, Modi has cemented his ties with a layer of Indian capitalists, especially the Adani Group.

This is why we should pay close attention to what Modi represents and what he is doing. 

Hear Kavita Krishnan, lifelong Indian revolutionary socialist, explain in depth, and participate in discussion.

Sunday, March 12  7:30 a.m. Pacific Coast Time

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