My response: Gujarat's literacy rate according to the last census was 79 per cent, a ten percentage point gain over the previous census. Higher education has not been allowed to move forward. We need to reform campaign finance, have vigilant regulators of integrity (a tall order) and a justice system where punishment for corporate malfeasance is quick and certain.įr FM: Schools of the ordinary populace (in Gujarat) show abject neglect with a very high dropout rate in the last ten years. It is when they use their political access to aggrandize themselves that the problem occurs. New York's former mayor Michael Bloomberg (he did an excellent job), is a billionaire himself. Businessmen joining politics by themselves do not pose a threat to democracy. Why are Mumbai's real estate prices so high? It is because of the cozy nexus between builders and politicians.
Crony capitalism poses a threat to democracy and it is not just confined to Gujarat. In fact, entry into politics makes their businesses grow. Many of our politicians are big businessmen themselves. Often, the two do not need to join hands, because they are one. The difference between Mulayam Singh's so called secular Samajwadi Party, the communal Bharatiya Janata Party and, to give an example nearer home, the Christian Secular Forum (an oxymoron) is one of degrees, not substance.īig business and politics joining hands is a threat to democracy. This includes, the freedom to practice the religion of one's choice (secularism), the freedom to pursue one's lifestyle (going to a discotheque, socializing in a bar, choosing a life partner), freedom of expression (including the right to offend, so long as it is not hate speech), the freedom of sexual orientation, and equality between the sexes. The rise of communal forces (Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian), because they are socially conservative, poses a threat to civil liberties in general. In this sense, it is like the Chinese model which welds Han nationalism and economic development. My response: The Gujarat model, since the BJP came to power in 1995, has been to combine economic development with Hindu cultural nationalism. So here goes: Fr FM: 'The prospect of an alliance of corporate capital and communal forces coming to power constitutes a real threat to the future of our secular democracy.'
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Since I have written a book called Modi: Leadership, Governance and Performance (available on and I feel compelled to dissect the assertions of Fr Mascarenhas (Fr FM), though I am by no means an apologist for Modi, but see myself as an journalist prejudiced towards Constitutional values and free markets. 'All the human development index indicators and the cultural polarization of the population show that Gujarat has had a terrible experience in the last ten years,' says Fr Mascarenhas. In an email to students of St Xavier's College, Mumbai, its principal Fr Frazer Mascarenhas has questioned the Gujarat model with its emphasis on private enterprise and growth, while favouring a rights and entitlements approach to development, which is the hallmark of the present government at the Centre (see Times of India, 23 April edition).