Invisible Legacy of Power

11 years of Modi govt today: an audit of 11 things that worked, 11 that didn’t quite | With DK Singh

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mHuKQak_nc


To 

The Editor 
ThePrint.in 

Invisible Legacy of Power

When Shekhar Gupta set out to list eleven achievements and eleven failures of the Modi government, he may have intended to sound measured, balanced, fair. Now, any list that tries to be symmetrical is suspect, and Gupta’s list, meekly prefaced with a “different people will see it differently” disclaimer, reeks more of career caution than courageous commentary.

Yes, infrastructure has improved. Yes, there’s been relative administrative stability. Gupta even mentions the prized badge of “scam-free governance”—a phrase that now floats in the political lexicon like a sacred cow few dare question. But by focusing on a checklist of policy highs and lows, he bypasses what may become this government's most consequential legacy: the systemic annihilation of India’s information ecosystem.

This isn't just about biased media. It’s about the normalization of misinformation and the industrial-scale manufacture of disinformation— The birth and booming adolescence of Godi Media, that slick, self-righteous propaganda machine, is not just a footnote of this regime—it is its most enduring legacy.

Mainstream Indian media—what critics call “Godi Media”—has become a megaphone, not a mirror. Whether it’s miracle COVID cures being championed by government ministers, or nightly debates designed to stir rather than inform, the traditional press has largely surrendered its gatekeeping function. Meanwhile, social media has evolved into a disinformation engine operating on three levels.

First, the “trial balloon”: dubious claims floated by obscure accounts—like Sanskrit being used at NASA or wild claims about indigenous technology—often dismissed as fringe. But they plant the seed.

Second, the “celebrity echo”: figures like Akshay Kumar and Narayana Murthy giving these narratives mainstream respectability, either through sycophantic interviews or dog-whistle moralism about hard work and patriotism.

Third, “fully absurd”: Modi depicted as Vishwa-Guru with perfectly staged selfies during international conferences and visits  —Hideous statements by party functionaries like Sudhanshu Trivedi drawing comparisons between mythological and historical figures, to make Hindu’s look good.

The long-term cost? A broken epistemology. A society that can no longer agree on facts cannot meaningfully deliberate. And that has consequences far beyond partisan advantage. When disinformation becomes the ruling currency, it doesn’t just serve the incumbent—it undermines democracy itself. Elections lose meaning if voters choose based on narratives untethered from reality.

Gupta rightly cites the electoral bonds controversy, but conveniently avoids the more explosive Adani scandal—a market-rocking event that, in most functioning democracies, would have triggered inquiries and resignations. Instead, institutions absorbed the shock, muted dissent, and moved on. The supposed “scam-free” era begins to look more like an era of perfected impunity. The same goes for the PM Cares Fund scam.

To historians of the future, the Modi era may not be remembered primarily for its highways or make in India slogans. It will be remembered for how India, the world’s largest democracy, systematically weakened its citizens’ ability to discern truth from fiction.

The danger isn’t what people believe—it’s how they come to believe it. When belief replaces inquiry, and loyalty outweighs logic, the past gets rewritten, and the future becomes a story told by those who shout the loudest.

And history has taught us: those stories rarely end well.

 

Jasmit Singh 

Secunderabad 

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