used by permission from artist, Satish Acharya

It was not an unusual occurrence for us to hear the praises sang of Narendra Modi while we were on the ground in Gujarat. Several times I was told that Modi was responsible for the economic growth in Gujarat, and once a student at the Gujarat Vidyapith (the university that Gandhi founded) informed me that we would see development credited to Modi in rural villages. Of course, we would go on to see evidence to the contrary of this perception, and have been rather vocal about what we saw concerning development on the ground in Gujarat.

What has been the most fascinating aspect of our research upon return has been the defense of Modi by certain elements of the Indian diaspora here in the United States. The way that they personally attack with acidity and vehemence anyone that criticizes Modi is somewhat disturbing. The most recent example of such behaviors was when the Wharton India Economic Forum invited the Chief Minister to speak via videoconference at an event they were hosting later this month. Popular news outlets report that his participation was cancelled by the Wharton School of Business due to pressure from the University of Pennsylvania and about “200 signatures” gathered by Indian-American professors who opposed the event. Interestingly a Facebook group formed soon after the announcement was made that Modi would be speaking at the event had over 900 members in just a few days.

The university newspaper, The Daily Penn, has been carrying various opinions regarding the event and the revocation of Modi’s invitation to speak. The Modi detractors always criticize his somewhat dubious human rights record along with the fact that he would use the platform to promote a model of development that is exclusive and in some instances directly harmful to minority populations in Gujarat. The Modi supporters often accuse specific people and UPenn departments of the most outrageous things such as “anti-Hinduism” and insinuating they support Islamic terrorism. It is disturbing that there isn’t a substantial push back in any intellectual fashion from Modi supporters, but a lot of intolerance and eerily familiar tactics that we heard about on the ground in Gujarat.

I have personally found that most people who would support Modi are largely uninformed about the ground realities in Gujarat, and even when not vitriolic in their defense of Modi they are suspect of the criticism. I invite interested parties to research and find out more about what the controversy is over Modi both in and out of India, and if supportive be ready to give rational arguments in his defense without resorting to personally attacking those with valid criticisms regarding Modi and his ideological practice of governance and development.