{"id":1845,"date":"2010-06-21T15:55:43","date_gmt":"2010-06-21T22:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bhagwad.com\/blog\/?p=1845"},"modified":"2010-06-21T15:55:43","modified_gmt":"2010-06-21T22:55:43","slug":"spot-the-fallacy-modis-gujarat-development-excuses-genocide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bhagwad.com\/blog\/2010\/politics\/spot-the-fallacy-modis-gujarat-development-excuses-genocide.html\/","title":{"rendered":"Spot the Fallacy – Modi's Gujarat: "Development" excuses Genocide?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Narendra Modi is in the news again. And once more, there’s a debate on whether he’s a good leader or not. The\u00a0 two sides are:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Modi supported and abetted the massacre after the Godhra incident<\/li>\n
  2. Modi has brought development to Gujarat<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Here is a typical comment from a Modi supporter:<\/p>\n

    Whatever people say…i have never heard a Hindu say Modiji is not a good leader…He has always focussed on development and has dedicated his entire life for betterment of people on India..People who want to see a developed India will always be with Modiji…Those politians who have made Politics there family business see Modiji a threat to their throne..After Godhra train carnage whatever happened was not Modiji wish but wish of more than 1 billon Hindus in India and worldwide<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    The most glaring fallacy here is the argumentum ad populum<\/strong> or “Appeal to the people.”<\/em> It refers to an argument which says that something must be true because large numbers of people believe in it. The sentence “whatever happened was not Modiji wish but wish of more than 1 billon Hindus in India and worldwide” commits this fallacy. It’s not even true – the number of hindus who want their muslim neighbors to be slaughtered must be dismally low.<\/p>\n

    But even if it was<\/em> true (which again I say it isn’t), this doesn’t mean it’s the right thing. We’re a democracy and not a mobocracy. We have the rule of law. Not the rule of the mob. We tend to hear the “Appeal to the people” fallacy quite a lot these days.<\/p>\n

    The other problem I have with this argument is that it implies development is all that matters. Even genocide is acceptable if the economy improves. Taken to the logical conclusion, we must agree that Hitler was a great leader! When he was in power, he halted Germany’s hyperinflation, got rid of unemployment, and improved the German economy tremendously.<\/p>\n

    Moreover, we must then accept that we should never have achieved independence. After all, everyone agrees the Britishers were excellent administrators. Even now they’re praised for their buildings, rail network and infrastructure. If all this was so bloody important, why did we fight to throw them out? Did all our freedom fighters die in vain?<\/p>\n

    We’re so enamored of the west and its lifestyle, that we wish to fast forward to it at any cost. We’re not willing to spend the time necessary for our nation to mature like they did. This also explains our fascination with China who’s going at a breakneck speed of development and doesn’t care about human rights.<\/p>\n

    We must never forget that the government is for<\/em> the people. The government is the servant<\/em> of the people and not its master. How can a state serve its people by killing them? Those who excuse Modi’s involvement in the Godhra riots by pointing to the “development” of Gujarat are committing the terrible blunder of forgetting history and ignoring the purpose of government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Why Modi’s “development” of Gujarat doesn’t excuse his involvement in letting the Godhra riots get out of hand. Why development is useless without human rights<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-1845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-logical-fallacies"],"yoast_head":"\nSpot the Fallacy - Modi's Gujarat: "Development" excuses Genocide?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Why Modi's "development" of Gujarat doesn't excuse his involvement in letting the Godhra riots get out of hand. Why development is useless without human rights\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bhagwad.com\/blog\/2010\/politics\/spot-the-fallacy-modis-gujarat-development-excuses-genocide.html\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spot the Fallacy - Modi's Gujarat: "Development" excuses Genocide?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why Modi's "development" of Gujarat doesn't excuse his involvement in letting the Godhra riots get out of hand. 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