http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2015/images/all_india_strike.jpgThis is an India that is being furiously contested as evidenced in the recent general strike that brought millions of workers to the streets, but Pew's claims here suggest that the country is simply marching behind Modi. . . . . Is it just a coincidence that the prime minister is expected to arrive at the end of September in the United States and engage in a set of high-profile meetings in Silicon Valley in order to seek investments by some big names in the digital economy? Hundreds of U.S.-based academics have expressed their critical opposition to such coddling of a leader and government that by all accounts is hell bent on waging war on the very idea of secular, pluralistic, and democratic India. One does not have to take a giant leap to connect the dots: Pew's survey is designed to create a favorable view of Modi and thereby to assure potential investors that his government has the backing of the Indian people (or at least 2,452 of them). The report summary begins with a celebratory pronouncement: "What a difference a couple of years can make. With a rising economic tide, a new captain at the helm and a buoyant public mood, the Indian ship of state has the wind at its back."

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