Tech Tyranny And ModiSarkar

On January 12, PM Narendra Modi held a “youth Parliament” meeting with an audience of mostly school kids. He then quoted from some of their statements touting “Vocal for local” and jingoistic stuff like that. These school kids are chosen, assembled and tutored to talk the stuff a PM would want to hear. To peddle this as their thinking is outright fraudulent lipstick. For all we know, most of these kids may be aspiring to study in Stanford or Harvard and may not have any interest in local or vocal. When you look deeper into what Modi really has been doing for over six years it will strike you that all this local, vocal, Aatmanirbhar is hollow nonsense that is a temporary, maniacal phase – a drug for the Covid-stricken economy.

There was yet another outrage when Twitter banned US President Trump’s account and another clamour to develop India’s own platforms. Obviously, those that shout loudly about such proposals live in a delusion that such platforms will not have the biases that Twitter or Facebook has or they want the govt to do it, which would be worse. How or why well-educated people come up with such stupid ideas baffles me:

The answer to Twitter or FB is not an “Instant noodle” substitute but for the govt to put in tough regulations so that they don’t misbehave with the users or abuse their data. For instance, it is being reported widely that Poland has framed a new law that imposes a fine of $2.2 mn for banning an account/speech that doesn’t violate their laws (although there isn’t official Polish statement). This is exactly the regulation that is first needed. No platform should ban an account unless it breaks an Indian law. The Indian laws adequately take care of any abuse or misuse of online platforms. But these platforms invariably have political pursuits, goals of dominance of economy, monopolizing their domains and killing freedoms and competitors. What Indians must realise is that ModiSarkar is too heavily invested and tied-up with these companies to be able to withdraw or do anything drastic. The moment he became PM, Modi was on to creating the MyGov app with Google:

You are already trapped. Your soil is already fertilized with imported chemical and the soil cannot live without it anymore so you have to keep importing that drug. That is what happens to these collaborations and it is difficult to control them after many years. These Tyranny Tech Tiffany companies want to control your country, your economy, your behaviour, your religion and your choices in life. Through their manipulations they want you to vote for the govts they want and a slice of the large economy that they want. They are here to profit and dominate and not for lipstick social service. They are as invasive as the British without physically taking over your country. And ModiSarkar feels more and more thrilled and happy getting investments from them without adequately regulating their invasive behaviour. Modi has had only limited success with the economy and the Covid pandemic has made matters worse. Unemployment was a problem even before Covid and is probably worse now. Foreign companies are businesses and naturally want to invest in potential profitable ventures. Therefore, not surprisingly, a large chunk of investment during Covid has gone to Jio-Reliance which is already a huge financial giant:

Apple is investing under the new “Production-Linked Investment” scheme which provides for incentives on sales for goods manufactured in India for 5 years from 2019-20. But the Apple production unit of Winstron in Bangalore was battered to bits by thugs and workers. And that will naturally frighten any investor to some extent. After they do invest and become successful, they start squeezing the locals. The local companies are exploited on commissions, terms and conditions of business and so on. Their grievances cannot be resolved easily as ModiSarkar wants more investments from the likes of Google. You cannot tell your funder how to behave when you are begging him for more money:

The other problem with the fake “Aatmanirbhar” and “Vocal for local” is that it is hypocritical of Modi to make such loud, jingoistic slogans just because the Chinese killed our soldiers at LAC and are still building troops according to reports. On many issues, Modi is not driven by national benefit but by his personal lipstick pursuits. He wants a pat on the back from every Western, Islamic and superpower state. He was waltzing for a long time with Xi Jinping of China before he was shown to be a sucker. All the Idli-Wada of Mahabalipuram led to indigestion. The monkeys gifted at Gandhi ashram didn’t swing, the boat-ride thrills in China was gone.

Now his “Legion of Merit” friend Donald Trump is gone – he will be out of office. So, Modi will have to make friends with Joe Biden all over again. And Biden hasn’t exactly sent a warm signal to Modi by inviting Pappu Bilawal Bhutto for his inauguration. The worst – the idiotic lust of lipstick by Modi lets him allow Jacks to meet him in informal punk-dress and sit cross-legged. What is the need to meet such people? Modi even meets Priyanka Chopra and Malini P of The Hindu. The desperation of cheap pats on the back and the pursuit of lipstick is the most abominable feature of Modi as a person. His second term looks terribly out of depth.

Why would the big techs not seek to dominate our lives, our politics and our financial systems? Modi directly invites them and sometimes almost begs them to invest in India. You can’t be Aatmanirbhar by day and beggar by night from those that seek to dominate you. You will not be able to regulate them or legislate against their misbehaviour:

When Modi goes to this length to beg these tech giants to invest in India and somehow airbrush his economic failures and lack of ideas to irrigate the economy, the GOI cannot impose tough regulations on them. You cannot take a loan from your bank and then lecture the bank on financial prudence and good behaviour. It is Modi’s job to protect fundamental freedoms guaranteed under Indian laws and the Constitution regardless of whether a business is private or public. It’s not different from protecting consumer rights. Twitter, FB or Google should not have such powers that they can ban anyone unless an Indian law is broken. But Modi won’t care and he doesn’t even understand the tyranny of these tech giants because he is too obsessed with his personal image with the world. Besides, Modi has proved too much of a coward in confronting lawlessness and protecting rights of honest citizens.

During the CAA riots, Shaheen Bagh and the current FAKE farmer agitation and riots at Delhi borders, Modi has let the problem linger and was busy with speeches, visit to Gurudwara like a film actor and emails to millions of Sikhs expressing his love for them. This is crass tomfoolery. In the end, the SC has Stayed the farm laws and appointed a committee to mediate. Modi and the courts have clearly turned India into a banana republic. The country has gone to the dogs while he is tweeting nonsense about kids being “vocal for local”. He pretends nothing is going wrong and everything is fine. He leaves it to his ministers to solve while he rushes to Kutch and other places to sermonize Sikhs and inaugurate milk plants or inaugurate freight trains by video. So, this mass clamour to build home-grown tech-substitutes is the fantasy of those who don’t get that Modi is happy with status quo and is not looking to change anything:

It doesn’t occur to those who want “Instant” substitutes for these tech-giants because they are angry that even a domain like education which is normally recession-proof had struggled during Covid. Many educational services had to shut down and the only thing that was working was online education. ONLINE EDUCATION? Well, it should strike us that even in Covid it is Online tech giants that had the best run, including their apps in the education domain. Many schools and institutions installed video and communication tools and used Microsoft, Google or even Chinese products. Even the “Aatmanirbhar” ModiSarkar  used Chinese surveillance products with all the attendant risks.

Even in other categories, Chinese products have taken a marginal hit and that too only because of the general slump due to Covid rather than any Aatmanirbhar substitute. This whole Aatmanirbhar thing is nothing but an emotional fraud which Modi plays very well. It will take a lot more than mere than anger and agitation for India to get out of the clutch of these Tyrannosaurus tech giants. Even during Covid, it’s the Tyranny Tech that had the highest investment plans for India:

Even Little Uganda has banned Twitter and Facebook in the run up to their elections. Twitter was suspending accounts that were supportive of their govt. ModiSarkar needs to formulate strict laws and punitive measures to ensure that these platforms do not attempt to influence elections or suppress voices for or against the govt. I am sure the US will sooner or later be compelled to legislate against political skullduggery of these companies. Google and Facebook were already summoned by their Congress. It would be in India’s interest to legislate protection of our elections and freedoms. This cannot be left to some “Good friend” chanter like RS Prasad, it needs an “educated” panel to draft such laws.

It will take a gutsy, tall leader to take these Tyranny tech giants on and protect Indians and Indian interests against their misconduct. Modi is NOT that man. In his “Youth Parliament” event on January 12, Modi was still complaining about dynasts being a big threat to democracy. They may be but he has done nothing to prosecute the corrupt and all the dynasts are roaming around freely, spewing venom against India and sermonizing Indians. But dynasts aren’t the main problem right now – it is violence, lawlessness, disruption of life that is the bane of democracy right now. While the GOI and Supreme Court are clueless, the ordinary citizens are left to lick their wounds and the destruction of their self-esteem. As for online freedoms, you can have only as much freedom as the tyranny tech giants allow your coward govts.

                    

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