Make liberal India a reality

PM's Davos speech contrasts with unfortunate domestic trends

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting in Davos made a strong case for India being a pillar of the international liberal order. He referred to India’s pride in its diversity, to the strength of its democracy, and its commitment to an open trading system. Correctly, he warned against the spectre of protectionism that is beginning to be seen worldwide, noting that some countries have become “self-centred”. The prime minister’s strong words on these subjects are welcome. They reaffirm the central narrative of Indian nationhood: Unity in diversity. Further, they take these principles abroad and indicate that India believes in openness and multi-polarity well beyond its own shores. 

Mr Modi’s words do, however, appear incongruous when set alongside disturbing recent developments, both economic and political. In terms of a commitment to the open economy, it is worth noting that India has not precisely been an engine of forward movement at world trade talks recently, given its insistence on preserving its inefficient grain procurement system. Nor have some of its recent actions when it comes to commerce and trade been unequivocally in favour of open markets. Agricultural trade continues to be the subject of ad hoc interventions. Industrial sectors have also not been exempt from the hand of the state; various forms of trade-inhibiting or protectionist measures have been utilised in different sectors such as steel, solar panels and electronics. ‘Make in India’ has focused far more on ensuring Indian companies in sectors like electronics have primary control of Indian markets than on giving them access to world markets. Old trade agreements are being scrutinised, new trade negotiations are not progressing, and bilateral investment treaties are unilaterally being rewritten. Seen this way, India is not as much of an exception to the global turn towards protectionism as the tone of Mr Modi’s speech would imply. 

The prime minister’s words on diversity and pluralism, while equally welcome, should also perhaps be addressed towards elements of the Indian polity. A distinction between “good” and “bad” terrorists, which Mr Modi correctly attacked as dangerous and insupportable, is also perhaps visible in the differential treatment by investigating agencies and the legal process in India of Hindu and Muslim extremists. Senior politicians within the prime minister’s own party have made statements about hot-button cultural issues, particularly those dealing with Hindu-Muslim relations, which are not in keeping with the traditions of Indian pluralism that the prime minister highlighted at Davos, or the sentiments from Indian thinkers like Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore that he quoted in his speech. Mr Modi made a convincing case at the WEF for a rising India to be considered one of the architects of a new liberal global system. For that potential to be realised, however, these illiberal domestic tendencies must be contained and reversed. Nobody can accuse the PM of contributing to this environment. But he has a duty to the Indian project, which he so eloquently praised in Switzerland — and fulfilling that duty would require reining in some of his own followers and storm-troopers much more convincingly and effectively than has been the case so far.