The damage inflicted on democracy by Narendra Modi’s administration is severe. Whatever other shortcomings may have existed, free elections and democratic representation had previously been maintained in the country to a reasonable degree. Under Modi, however, this has visibly deteriorated—according to global indices—into partial democracy, "electoral autocracy", and decaying democracy. Now, parliamentary democracy is being transformed into "Instagram governance". The head of government, who is obliged to answer in the House, is ignoring this and making midnight reels and making his online presence known; calling an emergency meeting of the Cabinet and urging ministers to post reels; and reducing his presence in Parliament in proportion to the increase of his presence on social media. This lends credence to the accusation that the Prime Minister, who does not call a press conference, is also afraid of Parliament. When a video of the Prime Minister was taken down from Facebook due to a misunderstanding, the same people who called the people in charge and make them apologise are now shutting themselves off before the House of Representatives. When pellet guns and goons were used against those who were peacefully protesting, the question arose as to who was responsible for that violation of the law. But Union Home Minister Amit Shah is also staying away from the House. Those who were satisfied with getting a girl to apologise for a post, are ‘forgiving’ the victims- instead of apologising to the people for their wrongdoing!
Here, the place of Parliament is being given to social media. The administration turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the point that the student community expressed its dissatisfaction and anger; even when they protested, nothing was done. When they finally marched to Parliament without any results, disproportionate force was used against them. Even then, the Prime Minister did not discuss it in Parliament. His immediate focus was on acquiring 100 million followers through Instagram. It is only much too late that ‘quick solutions’ like legislation and fast-track courts are being brought out. Only when that was not enough did the minister resign from the government, taking responsibility. Despite all this, they did not feel the need to overhaul the examination system, which is full of corruption and mismanagement. This is because they have discovered that social media posts are the rule; the solution to the problem has been postponed to an indefinite future. The Indian government has become synonymous with cyber illiteracy, assuming that the number of followers and views a social media post gets is the measure of acceptance among the people. The government has given the place of Parliament to Instagram, the place of governance to algorithms, and the place of press conferences to ‘Mann Ki Baat’, and is hiding from the people. The government has repeatedly shown that it is not ready to face the people who elected it or face the people's assemblies. Modi was silent for 80 days when Manipur was burning. Even when Covid and the lockdown made people's lives difficult, and when the country was suffering through the evil of demonetization, Modi was not ready to listen to the people. When tens of thousands of farmers came out against the laws that were destroying their lives, the government took action after 15 months, and more than 700 farmers' lives were lost. Unemployment, decline in education, and price rise are not on the radar of the Union government.
Because they do not listen to the people. They only listen to their own voice on social media. The government listens to the people through their representatives. But the Prime Minister and the Home Minister do not go to Parliament. The Rajya Sabha Chairman had to direct that Amit Shah should come. But the Parliamentary Affairs Minister himself is diminishing the relevance of Parliament by saying that the Speaker's word was not a direction, but just an observation. Our Prime Minister, who speaks a lot in foreign parliaments, should come to his own Parliament as well. Modi, who has made a record of serving the longest as Prime Minister, is creating history by spending the least time in Parliament. Serious laws are being baked in parliamentwithout discussion. When the country is facing many important issues like the decline in education, the CAG report, temple looting, foreign policy changes, unemployment, price hikes, etc., the Parliament becomes a mere spectator. If the task given to ministers is not to listen to the people or solve problems, but to prepare Instagram reels, then it is not democracy but ‘Insta’ rule.