Why Modi’s Davos pitch was a missed opportunity
“... and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words: Ich bin ein Berliner..." John Fitzgerald Kennedy (JFK), the 35th president of the United States, delivered these stirring lines to a rapturous crowd of more than 4,50,000 people, on a foreign soil at the height of the cold war, and left a lasting legacy to the treasure trove of lustrous political speeches. Leaders who followed in his wake, globally, have tried hard, sometimes to the extent of exasperation, to replicate the success of JFK’s speech, but have, ultimately, failed to leave an ineffaceable impact (Yes, even Barack Obama who even in his moments of genius largely stuck to the script).
Like many ambitious men before him, the prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, too, aspires to be global leader; perhaps not in the league of Mandela or Churchill, but a respected leader, nonetheless. To that end, Modi decided to deliver the keynote address to the plenary at the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos, following in the footsteps of his regional rival and, arguably, one of the strongest world leaders of present times - president Xi Jinping of China.
With such soaring aspirations and high hopes, Modi’s speech, delivered in a remarkably anodyne fashion, was disappointing to say the least. But to those of us back home who keenly follow his political speeches and have more than once winced at his disparaging witticisms, it came as no surprise.
Swiss President, Alain Berset, opened the keynote by remarking that current political climes of the world were defined by sectarian politics under the shade of nationalism. Modi ended his keynote by quoting Tagore, a great Indian poet, in that Tagore had talked of a “heaven of freedom where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls”.
What Modi wanted to say is that in a world where USA has receded from the role of leading the western world and where a resurgent and authoritarian China is on the rebound, India was that heaven - a safe place for minorities, for prosperity and more importantly for investment. Contrast this with the fact that when Modi was delivering his speech, a fringe group back home, clearly under political patronage, was allowed to vandalise public property and wreak havoc on account of having taken umbrage to an innocuous little motion picture which has over the past six months been portrayed as antithetical to the social fabric of India. His party, routinely, raises the false bogey of nationalism, edifies cow-protection as a symbol of religious superiority, wades into the realm of gobbelian propaganda and revisionist history, and laments the alleged persecution of the majority by the minority. Clearly, the prime minister first needs to control FDI (Fringe Damaging India) before seeking FDI (Foreign Direct Investment).
Second, Modi mentions how climate change is one of the biggest dangers to the present world and how India is leading the light brigade in solving it. He would be amused to know that his own track record doesn’t cover him in glory. His failure to prevent large-scale crop-stubble burning made Delhi the most polluted city in the world during October to December 2017; his ambitious scheme, to effect a shift from polluting fuel to clean fuel for cooking purposes, is faltering largely due to hurried execution and poor planning; easing of environmental norms is laying waste to India’s natural ecosystem and the two largest rivers of India are on the verge of imminent death. Sadly, Modi’s transformation from a climate change sceptic to a believer has not been accompanied by commensurate measures.
Third, he talks about terrorism and its deleterious effects. There have been 42 per cent more terrorism-related deaths in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) under Modi’s regime compared to the previous Congress led government; sanctioned and unsanctioned incursions into India have become daily news and in a major face-loser, China has almost completely occupied the disputed Doklam territory.
Modi mentions, perhaps a time too many, the power of data and technology, and how data will shape the future world. He would do good to remember that his Aadhaar project, akin to assigning a unique social security number to a citizen in USA, has been beset with data leakages, privacy concerns, and debilitating infirmities. It has become an unruly Frankenstein which carries on its shoulders the prospects of India turning into a surveillance state.
Modi’s unnatural obsession for ratings and rankings also manages to creak through his address. Here is a ranking for him: just hours before Modi’s address, WEF ranked India at the 62nd place among emerging economies on an Inclusive Development Index, much below China's 26th and Pakistan's 47th.
What makes speeches by political leaders memorable is personal ownership of the topic at hand, perhaps a deeply effecting story, turn of phrase, a burst of inspiration, a conversational tone, deficit of hypocrisy and most importantly the illusion of being unscripted and from the heart.
However, Modi’s speech was sanitised at the hands of his speechwriters, lacked humour barring a cringe-worthy narration of the virtues of “Harry Potter” and “Amazon”, had too much spin on the ball and was a moribund bouquet of slogans and applause lines of the “global supply chains” and “digital revolution” ilk.
The question one really needs to ask is: What is the big picture? If the intent was to project India as an emerging leader in the new world order, then the speech did little to flay the fears that have been outlined above, and if the intent was to project India as an investment destination, then his speech was much more suited to a local business summit in his home state. There, then, is the question that India urgently needs to answer: can globalisation co-exist with authoritarianism wielded with a big stick?
Platitudes and rhetoric with a generous sprinkling of Sanskrit phrases do not work anymore. It is a tired routine and is as satisfactory as eating hotel food five days in a row. Modi’s Davos speech may have earned him plaudits. Now comes the hard part.
(Pranav Jain works with the AAP and Delhi Government on key issues.)