Introducing: India Black Boxed

A breathtakingly audacious strategy deployed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi over nearly a decade of Bharatiya Janata Party’s rule is to simply keep the citizenry fed on multiple narratives which may not be supported by data or factual content. In this method, which has no precedent, the narrative is necessarily and systematically rendered bereft of any real content. This is achieved first and foremost by totally subverting transparency in politics, governance and policy making. This then becomes an essential precondition for the grand narrative to perpetuate itself.

The result is an ever-widening gap between rhetoric and reality, as story after fanciful story plays out before the citizens even as institutions of transparency and accountability get upended. Some instances of the bogus narrative building by the government are so stark as to get exposed by subsequent events or actions. For example just recently, a preview of a book written by former Chief of Army General Manoj Naravane revealed how the controversial Agniveer scheme was imposed on the armed forces without any consultation. The impression given was that the forces had designed the recruitment scheme but that was not so. He also revealed the political leadership didn’t have the courage to tell the army what should be done to respond to Chinese incursions on the Ladakh border. The defence minister merely told the army chief to “do whatever he felt was necessary”. In contrast, the narrative built was that the Modi regime was giving China a fitting reply. Similarly there is the perpetual narrative that every thing is peaceful in Kashmir and Manipur. No details or facts are forthcoming to support this claim.

On the economic front, everything is hunky dory. India is the fastest growing economy in the world, never mind free ration for 80 crore people is extended by Modi as a guarantee for another five years. The unemployment rate, we are told, is at an all-time low but the army of unpaid workers shown as employed has doubled in the past five years. GDP growth is being questioned by well-known economists but the government steadfastly holds on to its claims.

The Comptroller and Auditor General reports which are the most important source of auditing public finances have lost their earlier sting. Inconvenient CAG officers get transferred quietly. The judiciary too is becoming more and more non transparent, as a letter to the chief justice of India by senior advocate Dushyant Dave revealed recently.

Whether it is a matter relating to India’s economy, security, political funding , state surveillance of citizenry, abuse of investigating agencies or massive tax payer money used for cleaning bank balance sheets there is lack of transparency and accountability. As we approach the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in a few months, The Wire has decided to bring a series of articles fleshing out how narratives without factual basis have been peddled by this regime over its tenure. The readers can judge for themselves and separate the grain from the chaff.

Read the series

Part 1: What Do We Really Know About India’s GDP?