Soros and desperation

THAT the closest the BJP came to fighting the British is the income tax raid on the BBC is a political joke making the social media rounds. Even when what appeared to be a coordinated attack was launched on PM Modi by the UK government-funded media behemoth, a US short-seller and a US global finance capitalist dabbling in regime-change politics to suit US foreign policy interests, the Modi government and the BJP have exercised immense restraint. Not a word on an Anglo-American conspiracy; only barbs at imperialist and Western ‘forces’, and those too were brushed under the carpet after the initial indignation.

Is it a dog whistle for anti-Modi forces to recoup and mount an electoral attack during the next 12 months or is it a warning to Modi to mend his ways and fall in line?

Taken in isolation, each one of these three attacks would seem like a strong, independent voice of reason battling for the victims against a monstrous government. But unfortunately, in a globalised world where every event has to be analysed in its context and in relation to the forces that cause these actions, the BBC flogging the 21-year-old riot story, some small-time short-seller researching allegations of crony capitalism and George Soros talking about democracy one after another, sequentially, would only strengthen suspicions of a coordinated assault on Modi and his government. Is it a dog whistle for anti-Modi forces to recoup and mount an electoral attack during the next 12 months or is it a warning to Modi to mend his ways and fall in line?

For, no Hindenburg-like short-seller ever did any research on Enron, the epitome of crony capitalism, which burned holes in banks’ and investors’ pockets. Nor was any brilliant researcher allowed to blow the whistle on the housing market scandal before it brought lenders down, leading to the biggest economic recession after the Great Depression of 1929-39. Some of the movies made on the US financial crisis leave us with bigger lessons of crony capitalism than the Adani episode ever could, even for those who have no love lost for crony capitalists. The third in the sequence of attackers is regime-change billionaire Soros talking about democracy. He was an invitee along with the UK PM, French President, US Vice President, US Secretary of State and German Chancellor to the Munich Security Conference.

In short, it did not matter whether he was rich, old and dangerous — as the Indian foreign minister described him — what matters is that, even from the sidelines, he appeared to be the spokesperson for the Western consensus, with his words carrying the weight of the Western governmental opinion. And Soros thrust the Hindenburg sword deeper, saying, ‘Modi and business tycoon Adani are close allies; their fate is intertwined… Modi is silent on the subject, but he will have to answer questions from foreign investors and in Parliament… this will significantly weaken Modi’s stranglehold on India’s federal government and open the door to push for much-needed institutional reforms. I may be naïve, but I expect a democratic revival in India.’

This statement leaves nothing to imagination. It indeed is a derisive, condescending comment on Indian democracy and a clear warning to Modi to mend his ways, for Soros or no other person at the Munich conference was born yesterday. All the Western allies at the conference had feted dictators and genocidal butchers over the decades. Soros was in his early forties when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the Pakistani generals caused the death of 30 lakh people, many lakhs of them Hindus, in 1971. The US attack on Vietnam, sure, could be condoned by anti-communists, but Soros in his robust seventies did not seem to have bled his heart out for the three lakh Muslims killed by the Americans in Iraq or the devastation of a proud nation.

So, this selective targeting of the Indian PM has a clear pattern and a political reason. Soros with his ‘Open Society’ agenda — which, in plainspeak, is regime-change to suit Western foreign and economic policy objectives — has been funding think-tanks and NGOs which can persuasively convince fellow citizens of the need to follow Western diktats instead of pursuing one’s own national interest. The web of such funding agencies touches almost every aspect of life — think-tanks, academia, bureaucracy, media and politics. This legitimises the Western agenda and delegitimises national interest, making the word ‘nationalism’ taboo. This agenda assures cheap energy, manufacturing and labour to the West.

And in India’s case, it can offer a huge market and with a favourable government in Delhi, even an army to fight the West’s wars — just as Indians fought for the British in the two great wars. So, Soros’ assault is symptomatic of what the West would do to a national leader who doesn’t toe its line: Make him an outcast or threaten to make him one. The Indian PM’s crime is not Hindutva or Gujarat riots, but to have taken a leaf out of the West’s book of realism in international relations to obtain cheap energy for his country and to strike the best possible defence deals.

All wars are immoral and so is the Ukraine war, but it was forced on Russia by NATO’s expansionist policies, leaving Moscow with no buffer at all. India, by buying cheap crude from Russia and by abstaining from voting against Russia, has violated the Western code. Even if the timing of the BBC documentary against Modi could be termed pure coincidence, the meltdown of Adani stocks, allegations of cronyism, the shorting of the Indian market and Soros’ dog whistle have only exposed the Western regime-change agenda, making it imperative even for the Opposition to distance itself from Soros’ comments.

As a post-colonial society, a sustained campaign about an evil foreign takeover of Indian politics could have an impact of hitherto unforeseen proportions. But so far, the BJP is trying to forget the assault as a bad dream without pointing fingers at the Western governments, hoping that it could continue the tightrope walk between Western interests and its own choices.