With India’s 70th Independence approaching the media here in the UK has got into a frenzy. The Indian ‘ experts, secularists, lords’, will line up to have a go at India! Mihir Boss has done the honours by writing a negative article on 2nd August. My response below was published in today’s Guardian, 4 August 2017.
Mihir Bose’s pessimism regarding India’s future is misplaced (No dazzling dawn for midnight’s children, 2 August). Starting with nothing in 1947 after 200 years of colonial rule, India has slowly, steadily built a nation which today has the fastest-growing economy. Such was India’s immense diversity that many in the west did not think it would last long. India has achieved this miracle and remained a vibrant democracy. Narendra Modi, the prime minister, has ushered in a new form of governance whereby corruption is being squeezed out along with the politics of dividing the country on grounds of caste and religion. Modi is not shy of saying that the vast majority of the country is Hindu and that some of the values they hold dear should be acknowledged. This takes nothing away from the minorities.
Nitin Mehta
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