‘Replace PM Modi’ project fails again

Just looking at the past few months, an intense effort that has gone on since 2019 was launched by lobbies across time zones who wanted to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi replaced, preferably with an Opposition politician. The K Group sought to spread the falsehood that the Prime Minister, not to mention the External Affairs Minister and the National Security Advisor, was involved in an imagined plot to eliminate a known facilitator of terrorism who has been responsible for the loss of hundreds of innocent lives, Gurpatwant Sing Pannun. Those reliable Indiaphobes, several Canadian politicians close to the K Group, were roped in to amplify the false charge, which spread like wildfire in sections of the media. The purpose of the calumniators was to wreck the architecture of the India-US strategic alliance that had been carefully nourished under Prime Minister Modi and most significantly, by the 45th (and soon to be the 47th) President of the US, Donald Trump. Had they succeeded, the way would have been clear for CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping to establish his control over much of the Indo-Pacific, in the way he has dominated the ASEAN Sea (misleadingly called the South China Sea). Fortunately, truth prevailed over falsehoods, and no other personage than Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had to come on record calling those responsible for such fake news reports “criminals”, which indeed they are. What may be termed the K effort to derail PM Modi failed spectacularly. Trudeau made what had been obvious from the start clear, which is that Prime Minister Modi, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval were not in any way involved in what appears to disinterested observers to be an illusory plot by elements who at that time were within the Government of India to eliminate Pannun in ways that many US administrations are familiar with, by assassinating him.
And now comes the most recent effort to tarnish the name of Prime Minister Modi. This is through linking him with a prominent Indian businessperson who has established a name across the world, winning contracts in multiple countries. As far as the businessperson is concerned, this is a matter to be fought and decided in a court of law, not on the streets, and already his name and that of two other members of the family who were initially named as directly involved in the transactions under investigation have been cleared of such involvement. In any case, the Prime Minister of India has nothing to do with such business matters, he has far more weighty international and domestic issues to deal with. Wrongly involving the Prime Minister in the case has geopolitical implications, for as mentioned earlier, he is the architect of the India-US strategic alliance, a partnership which is on course to be immensely strengthened once Donald Trump returns to the White House on 20 January 2025. Wrongly involving him has the effect, whether intentionally or not, of potentially weakening a strategic partnership on which hinges the security of the Indo-Pacific. This most recent effort to derail the Prime Minister has also failed, as few have accepted the false narrative that he was involved in what is essentially a business matter. The names of the three members of the business family in whose name the company is run have already been clarified as not being part of the charge-sheet. However, damage was done for a while to equity prices of the company shares, and SEBI needs to find out who are the short sellers who have made enormous profits from such a temporary decline in the share prices of companies in the group. Hindenburg was open about being a short seller when it sought to impugn the reputation of the group. The present short sellers remain anonymous but their names need to come out. Whatever, the India story will remain strong because of the fundamental reality of the two biggest democracies coming together in the face of the challenge to Indo-Pacific security posed by an aggressive, authoritarian power. Policy changes could ensure that a large proportion of the decoupling taking place by international business in China finds a new home in India. 2025-29, the Modi-Trump years, give promise of high growth and incomes to the benefit of both India and the US.