{"id":583,"date":"2017-12-10T07:16:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-10T07:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/derek.in\/mp\/?p=583"},"modified":"2021-07-23T08:19:12","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T08:19:12","slug":"modis-regime-of-superheroes-is-a-myth-take-a-look","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/derek.in\/mp\/modis-regime-of-superheroes-is-a-myth-take-a-look\/","title":{"rendered":"Modi\u2019s regime of superheroes is a myth. Take a look"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While finalising the themes and essays for my newly published book Inside Parliament<\/em>, I considered an idea about how bogus numbers, rather than bogus ideas, were now the preferred propaganda tool. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every day, the government \u2013 the BJP and its family are Olympic gold medallists in propaganda techniques and technology \u2013 pummels us with more numbers, more statistics, more surveys and more data to prove it\u2019s a Regime of Superheroes. I couldn\u2019t complete the research and meet the deadline for the book. Never mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the reality of the con-job surveys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Start with the Pew Survey 2017. It claims nine of 10 Indians hold a favourable opinion of Narendra Modi and that eight of 10 feel economic conditions are good. Hidden in the small print are a few crucial details. The survey was conducted shortly after the demonetisation exercise, when the claims about that event were admittedly still being believed by a large number of people. Moreover, the polling was conducted well before the GST fiasco. Also, only 2,464 people were questioned by the pollsters in 16 Indian states and the national capital of Delhi. In essence, half of India (geographically) was ignored. I won\u2019t even mention the same size and how it squares up to the population of India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now comes the Moody\u2019s rating. In November 2017, Moody\u2019s said that it was lifting India\u2019s rating after 13 years, from Baa3 to Baa2, considering the BJP-led government\u2019s reforms. It is to be noted that Baa3 is the lowest rating of investment grade as per Moody\u2019s \u201cLong-term Corporate Obligation Rating\u201d scale. And Baa2 is the ninth highest. It may also be noted that in January 2017, Moody\u2019s admitted to false credit ratings of sub-prime home loans in the context of the 2008 financial crisis in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

20 years of UPA and NDA raj have combined to keep India near the bottom of the Moody\u2019s rating table. Are we to celebrate?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In November 2016, there was the (in)famous Narendra Modi App survey. It made extraordinarily tall claims: <\/p>\n\n\n\n