Guest post by RAMA SRINIVASAN

As the crisis of fake degrees blows over I want to be the one to ask the naïve question: Why would Narendra Modi lie? I know it is a naïve question because lies are the most banal political strategy ever. There is a man in US today who repeatedly states that he will make the Mexican government pay for a beautiful, great wall on the border of US and Mexico and people believe him with a degree of sincerity that is frightening. In 2014, at least 31 percent of eligible Indian voters believed in Modi’s promises of development and some of them still do. There may be some who, at the end of the five years, actually believe that Modi has delivered on those promises. But such lies are different. My question is simply: why would he lie on an affidavit which functions as a legally-binding oath?

In his previous election affidavit filed for 2012 Gujarat elections he had left the spouse’s name column empty but following ‘strict legal advice’ he agreed to mention his wife’s name on the affidavit filed for Lok Sabha elections. Technically he had withheld information in previous affidavits which amounts to a legal offence since he had not filed his papers to ‘the best of his knowledge’ but this is not the same as actively lying as it now turns out could be the case with his educational qualifications. Legal experts will determine what is tantamount to punishable crime but if Modi did have legal counsel, who advised him to “come clean on the marriage” as this Times of India article states, why would he continue to provide inaccurate information on other aspects of life?

One speculative answer could be that he knew he was being closely watched as he made his bid for the PM’s post and that his papers would be scrutinised and compared with previous drafts. So it made sense to remain consistent with some of the information even though he had obviously been cornered on the question of his marital status. And yet, as the story of how Modi came to acknowledge the existence of his wife Jashodaben proves, if he had to reveal inconsistencies in previous records, 2014 would have been the best time to do this. No amount of exposés could have hurt the man at that time – his bhakt army, on and offline, on Twitter, were efficiently managing the show and could provide a useful media spin/misdirection to take the focus away from the affidavit that declared to the world that Jashodaben’s repeated claims regarding her marriage and abandonment were not unfounded. Even as the Gujarat Congress urged the state Election Commission, unsuccessfully, to reject his application on the grounds that he had not provided information regarding his spouse’s assets or PAN card number, Modi cruised to victory since his deliberate inconsistencies seem to matter very little to voters.

At that point Modi, indeed, seemed invincible. He was giving explosive speeches and deftly avoiding uncomfortable questions from journalists. In an interview with Rajdeep Sardesai, Modi replied to an indirect question on 2002 with this classic deflection tactic: “My best wishes are with you, Rajdeep Sardesai. You have been living off this issue for the last 10 years … I have heard that those who curse Modi get Rajya Sabha seats or Padma awards. So you have my best wishes to continue this campaign (against Modi) and reach Rajya Sabha or win Padma awards with help of your friends.” What was apparent in the interview is now widely acknowledged as the process of constructing a larger-than-life image, where the man referred to himself in third person. Continue reading Degrees of Self-Deception: Rama Srinivasan →