After an article in the TIME magazine critical of Indian PM Narendra Modi, author Aatish Taseer's Wikipedia page was vandalised. The first edit was at 7:59am, when the bit about Taseer being “the PR manger [wrongly spelled] for the Congress” was added to the ‘career’ section of the page, reported Alt News. Around 8:30pm, the page was restored to normal.
The TIME issue on Modi has two prominent articles. One is by columnist Aatish Taseer, who asks, Can the World's Largest Democracy Endure Another Five Years of a Modi Government.
Taseer places the rise of Modi in the context of populist sentiment seen in countries across the world. Taseer writes, “It forces us to reckon with how in India, as well as in societies as far apart as Turkey and Brazil, Britain and the US, populism has given voice to a sense of grievance among majorities that is too widespread to be ignored...”
Taseer refers to Modi's inability to bring economic growth and usage of Hindutva. Taseer notes Modi “has in every field, from politics and economics to Indology itself, privileged authenticity over ability, leading India down the road to a profound anti-intellectualism.”
Taseer concludes on an ominous note, “Modi’s India feels like a place where the existing order of things has passed away, without any credible new order having come into being. Modi has won—and may yet win again—but to what end?”
The other article by political scientist Ian Bremmer Modi Is India's Best Hope for Economic Reform is far more conciliatory to the incumbent prime minister. While noting that Modi's economic record has been mixed, Bremmer argues, “India still needs change, and Modi remains the person most likely to deliver.” He praises Modi's work to improve infrastructure and initiatives such as the expansion of Aadhaar, Swachh Bharat and the Ujjwala Yojna.
