Surjit Bhalla, the globally acclaimed economist and social scientist has used data set from a global organization to prove that conflicts in India have declined under the Modi government. Contrary to popular perception and the lies by mainstream media that communal violence has increased in the last few years, data suggests otherwise. The old elites have tried to peddle the narrative that the country has become ‘less safe’ for minorities under the Modi government. However, the book by Surjit Bhalla, titled as Citizen Raj, has proved it is a complete lie.
Surjit Bhalla has used the data from Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP), an organization based in Uppsala University, Sweden to bust the lies of left-liberal establishment. The organization specializes in conflict data in providing data on organized violence and armed conflicts. It has a history of more than four decades in data collection on conflicts. According to data from the organization, the number of events and fatalities declined significantly under the Modi government. Between 2005-2009, a time period that roughly corroborates with the first term of UPA government, the total events of conflicts was 4,008 and the number of fatalities was 9,110.
Between 2010-2014, the events were reduced to 2,357 and the fatalities were 4,663 that translate into 471 events per year and 933 fatalities per year. Under Modi government, the events were reduced to 381 per year and fatalities were reduced to 750 per year. Therefore, the number of fatalities has been reduced by one fifth under the Modi government.
The communal violence has also decreased under the Modi government. “The communal situation during the current year remained under control, with a decrease of 12% in communal incidents as compared to the corresponding period in 2017,” said Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Previously, an RTI reply has revealed that communal harmony under the Modi government is better in comparison to the UPA regime.
The average number of people killed between 2004 and 2013 is 1,216. This period is roughly associated with the UPA government under the de-jure leadership of Manmohan Singh and the de-facto leadership of Sonia Gandhi. On the other hand, the average number of people killed between 2013 and 2017 come down at 97.25 per year under the leadership of PM Modi. The highest number of people was killed in the year 2008 with tally reaching 167 followed by 134 in 2004 and 133 in 2013, and this distinction goes to the UPA government.
The country recorded 3,858 incidents of communal riots between 2004 and 2008, a period roughly correspondents with the first term of UPA government. Between 5 years of 2008 and 2013 of UPA II the total number went up to 3,621. UPA II was one of most poorly administrated government the country has ever seen with rampant corruption and lawlessness. The maximum number of disturbances was recorded in 2008 at 943 followed by 849 in 2009 and 849 in 2013, all under the UPA government.
The country witnessed 2,920 communal riots from 2014 to 2017 which is far less in comparison to UPA regimes. The left-liberal media establishment has perpetuated and propagated the view that communal harmony in the country is under attack since the Modi government came to power and communal riots have increased. The disdain of Lutyens’ media towards Modi government is clearly visible from the overall reporting of the issues of few communal violence incidents which were blown out of proportion. The short-sighted and ideologically polarized anchors and journalists in English media reported few incidents in a manner that it seemed like riots are happening all over the country.
