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https://theconversation.com/indias-alternative-facts-how-the-government-of-narendra-modi-invents-its-own-kind-of-experts-to-legitimise-its-policies-232105>
"Narendra Modi was reelected as India’s prime minister in June for a historic
third term. Yet his Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) does not have the privilege of
an absolute majority for the first time in a decade. It will head a coalition
government that is already rife with disagreement.
The result has called into doubt what many perceived to be an unwavering level
of support for the BJP’s core ethos of Hindu nationalism, as well as its claims
of national self-reliance and economic growth.
As I have discussed in my recently published book, an important part of the
BJP’s strategy over the past 15 years has been to discredit established
intellectuals as irrelevant, elite and detached, while at the same time
building alternative forms of “credible” knowledge and expertise.
In the run up to the 2009 national elections, for example, the BJP created two
entirely new thinktanks called India Foundation and Vivekananda International
Foundation. This was, in my opinion, a way to make inroads into New Delhi’s
elite, exclusive and primarily left-liberal policy ecosystem.
The BJP lost the elections that year. But it won by a landslide in 2014, and
these two thinktanks provided personnel for many positions within the central
government.
Under Modi’s leadership, experts have also been systematically replaced with
appointed loyalists by dismantling or co-opting advisory committees,
universities and established research institutions.
This strategy has, in practice, served to normalise ideas that may otherwise
have appeared to be ideologically biased. This was clearly seen during the
recent election cycle."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
