The Unbearable Loneliness of Narendra Modi

'On February 3, 2019, Smriti Irani declared: “The day ‘pradhan sevak‘ Narendra Modi ji decides to retire, I will also leave Indian politics.” The statement is remarkable on many levels. Why would a 42-year old politician, already a Union minister with cabinet rank, and with bright political prospects, sacrifice her career just because the numero uno of her party, 26 years her senior, will hang his boots eventually? This is the same Irani who had threatened to go on a fast-unto-death if Modi did not resign over Gujarat riots. From that position to the present one, there seems to have been a galactic shift... In fact, there have been three fundamental and almost irretrievable changes to our polity in the last five years: the legitimisation of communal hate by the government (seen in statements from the Prime Minister downwards), the unprecedented manufacturing and propagation of fake news by the regime and its supporters, and the personality cult of Modi itself...'

[Full article on The Wire.]