‘Divider in chief’: Time magazine features PM Modi on cover, blames him for aiding atmosphere of ‘poisonous religious nationalism’

Time magazine has featured Prime Minister Narendra Modi on its cover page for its May 20 edition. The cover page carries PM Modi’s carricature along with the headline: ‘India’s divider in chief’. Its cover story on PM Modi is titled, “Can the World’s Largest Democracy Endure Another Five Years of a Modi Government?”. In the essay, journalist Aatish Taseer writes about rising populism in democracies like Turkey, Britain, Brazil, the US and India.

In its opening para, the article writes that India was the first among great democracies to fall to populism. “Of the great democracies to fall to populism, India was the first.” Under Prime Minister Modi, the story read, “nation’s most basic norms, such as the character of the Indian state, its founding fathers, the place of minorities and its institutions, from universities to corporate houses to the media, were shown to be severely distrusted,” it said.

“…Under Modi, minorities of every stripe – from liberals and lower castes to Muslims and Christians – have come under assault,” it went on to read. The article also talked about India’s economy during the Modi era saying, “Not only has Modi’s economic miracle failed to materialise, he has also helped create an atmosphere of poisonous religious nationalism in India.”

The article went on to suggest that PM Modi may not represent the aspirations of the people as was the case in 2014. “Modi will never again represent the myriad dreams and aspirations of 2014. Then he was a messiah, ushering in a future too bright to behold, one part Hindu renaissance, one part South Korea’s economic program. Now he is merely a politician who has failed to deliver, seeking re-election. Whatever else might be said about the election, hope is off the menu,” the article added further.

The coverage of this issue comes in stark contrast to its tone in 2015 when the magazine had done an exclusive interview with Modi soon after he became Prime Minister. He was also on the magazine cover in 2012, when he was Gujarat chief minister. In 2012, along with his photo, the headline on the cover page said, ‘Modi means business but can he lead India’.