Since we are masters, why stop?

 "Aiming to woo the influential Indian-American voters numbering over 2 million, the Trump campaign has released its first video commercial that has short clips from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speeches and US President Donald Trump's historic address in Ahmedabad." According to the US Census Bureau there were 2.65 million Indians living in the US in 2018, up from 1.78 million in 2010. There are also over 500,000 unauthorised Indians estimated to be living in the US illegally. These Indians are an important vote bank in the US, so we should not extrapolate the bonhomie to Indians living here in India. Newly declassified White House tapes reveal President Richard Nixon saying, "They are repulsive it's just easy to be tough with them." National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger's hatred was even more  savage. "They are a scavenging people," "They are superb flatterers Mr President. They are masters at flattery." "They suck up -- their great skill is to suck up to people in key positions," he said omnisciently. Indira Gandhi was the prime minister during Nixon's time and is still remembered for declaring an Emergency in 1975, to suppress opposition to her rule. However, this was only possible because President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed signed the order without question and "Mrs Gandhi's cabinet fell in line without a murmur," wrote Coomi Kapoor. "Mrs Gandhi demonstrated her contempt for parliament by doing away with Question Hour." Using the coronavirus epidemic as an excuse, Modi scrapped Question Hour in the monsoon session of parliament. During the Emergency, "Nine High Courts had the courage to strike down the draconian Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), as being ultra vires the constitution." Now we have an alphabet soup of tyrannical laws. Under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and National Security Act (NSA) "bail can be denied almost indefinitely", wrote Pankaj Butalia. "Such is the fascination with these 'extraordinary' laws that even the judiciary no longer questions their misuse." Financial institutions are predicting a double digit fall in GDP this financial year as the virus rages uncontrolled despite the severe lockdown which decimated the economy, wrote Anirban Nag. Yet, "A resounding 78 percent of the people surveyed found the performance of PM Modi outstanding/good." Why? "The most adept populist leaders don't only detach the electorate's perception from inconvenient facts, providing an alternative narrative in which they, and they alone, are the stars," wrote Mihir Sharma. It is the politics of 'vishwas', which means 'faith', wrote Pratap Bhanu Mehta. "The elites. including India's most powerful, are latching on to this vishwas because it disguises their own failures." The sucking up is still continuing. We are back to Nixon's time.