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1 Sep, 2015

The problem with Modi’s ‘Team India’ – The Hindu

In his speech, while introducing the concept of ‘Team India’, Mr. Modi made two points: one, that the country is “moving ahead” only because of ‘Team India’; two, that ‘Team India’ comprises our entire population of 125 crore people.

The two statements are patently untrue and mutually contradictory. Not every Indian is equally involved in Mr. Modi’s project of “moving the country ahead”. And the real ‘Team India’ that is piloting the nation’s development does not see eye to eye on many issues with vast sections of the 125 crore people that, as per Mr. Modi’s claim, comprise ‘Team India’.

To take an obvious example, Mr. Modi in his speech announced his intent to cure the “poison of casteism” with the “nectar of development”. But we are yet to hear the Prime Minister suggest that one Mr. Hardik Patel, agitating in Gujarat for reservations for his caste, should drop his demands in exchange for the ‘nectar of development’. After all, Mr. Patel and lakhs of his followers would be intimately familiar with the charms of this nectar, having tasted it in its purest form in the famed ‘Gujarat model’.

Read the rest: The problem with Modi’s ‘Team India’ – The Hindu