Modi's Antisocial Personality - A dangerous case like Donald Trump

I have followed case of Donald Trump since 2015 & realized the importance of analyzing personality traits in Political leaders. Trump's mental health is subject of much debate in America because of his unstable behavior, his rage & anger, his insane & unsound policies, narcissistic tendencies & many other things. There is a book by a forensic psychiatrist Dr Bandy Lee on personality of Trump title - The Dangerous case of Donald Trump. The book is co-authored by 27 psychiatrists & psychologists assessing Trump's mental health.

I strongly believe that we need a similar study on personality of Modi who is highly unstable & dangerous Prime Minister of India. Maybe some experts in field of psychology & psychiatry can come forward to share their views about Modi & his style of governance. But here i am discussing some of the possible issues with Modi's personality & how it fits into concept of Dark Triad.

 Photo - Gerlando Lima

As far as i know, Arun Shourie was the first person in India to put forward an analysis on Modi's personality (this can be extended to Amit Shah also) and how its highly destructive for India. Basically, Modi has three remarkable traits. These traits are Psychopathy, Narcissism & Machiavellianism (also these traits converge on certain things). Many political leaders have these kind of traits. Many political leaders are Machiavellian (highly manipulative). Some are Narcissistic personalities while a few are Psychopaths. But Modi has ALL three traits making a classification called Dark Triad. Its the combination of three traits that make him very different from other politicians & also highly dangerous and destructive. Readers should do some research on these three traits. Basically these are clinical concepts in Psychology & psychiatry. But here is a brief summary.

Narcissism - Its a trait where person has excessive self love for himself. And this excessive self love is accompanied by sense of insecurity. Basically a Narcissistic person is arrogant & egotistic about himself. About his abilities, his charms, his looks, his way of thinking, his lifestyle etc. Also a narcissistic person is always looking to suppress, demean, insult & diminish other people as a way to demonstrate his superiority. A narcissistic person also feels insecure in company of certain people, who he thinks can undermine his point of view or his way of thinking.

Psychopathy - Psychopathy is a complex & interesting concept in which the person has amoral & antisocial behavior. Basically a Psychopathic person doesn't have normal emotions & feelings like empathy, love, feeling of guilt, sense of remorse etc. A psychopath doesn't have a morality, sense of right & wrong, a moral conscience as in normal people. But psychopaths may APPEAR to be NORMAL from outside. They may talk like normal people. They may seem to be loving & charming. They may even seem to be helpful & understanding. Actually psychopaths are very good at hiding their true inner personality. Psychopaths can even fake emotions & sentiments. They can even shed fake tears & fake sentiments. But Psychopaths are basically HOLLOW from inside. They don't have any genuine feeling of love & empathy INSIDE even though they may look normal from outside.

Psychopaths also have other remarkable features. Psychopaths are exceptionally arrogant. Since they do not have any moral compass, they go to any length & any means to achieve their goals. Psychopaths lie, cheat, manipulate & fool people without any sense of remorse. Since psychopaths don't have any empathy, they have no problem in trampling upon other people, destroying lives & career of other people, even undermining & diminishing their fellow colleagues & coworkers. A Psychopath do not have any FRIENDS in normal sense. Psychopaths do not have healthy personal relationships & family etc. A psychopath only see people as an instrument & tools to achieve his goals.

Psychopaths are reckless & take unnecessary risks. They do reckless things to climb their career ladder. They lack insight about the consequences of their actions. Psychopaths don't care about safety & well being of others & they don't even care about their own well being on many occasions. A theory that explains the reckless behavior of Psychopaths is this - since they don't have any genuine emotions, they have extreme impulses, and they need to fulfill these impulses. Hence a psychopath is constantly on MISADVENTURES to satisfy his impulses & trying to find THRILL as a space filler for his HOLLOW personality.

Machiavellianism - Its basically an art & skills of manipulation to achieve one's goals. This is common in politicians & businessmen (unlike the above two traits). Machiavellian people can manipulate people & situations according to their own interests. The manipulation is similar to psychopathic traits where a person has instrumental view of other people. The end justifies the means. Machiavellian people don't have any principles or moral code (moral flexibility), they don't have any friends or enemies, they only work for their goals & personal interests. Everything is fair in pursuit of their goals.

Lets Look as Modi's behavior, his policies & governance style (concepts can be extended to Amit Shah also to a large degree) and try to relate that to above mentioned points.

1. Modi is supreme leader - There is no internal Democracy in BJP - Modi passes orders & everybody complies

All national decisions, big & small, are taken by Modi (perhaps only in consultation with Amit Shah). Most Cabinet ministers, Bureaucrats, Govt officers & party workers are not involved in any major decision making. Modi takes decisions & pass orders down the line which everybody complies without any questions or objection. There are rumors that many BJP politicians are themselves scared of Modi & are forced to follow his orders without any questions or discussions. Arrogance of Modi is clearly visible in internal management of BJP. BJP earlier comprised of several big leaders like Yashwant Sinha, LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi etc. Now all these leaders are completely sidelined & replaced by Modi & Shah. Cabinet & Govt bureaucracy is reduced to a rubber stamp which obeys all orders passed by Modi & PMO.


2. Modi Government's Hallmark - Lies & Falsehoods - No regard to rule of law or constitution - No sense of right or wrong - Vendetta against those who contradict him

Lies & falsehoods are central pillar of Modi's rule. Lies on economy, GDP, unemployment, legislative agendas, Policy making etc.Every Modi speech is full of lies & falsehoods. Modi lies brazenly (just like Trump) in his Parliamentary speeches, public rallies & media events.

Anybody who doesn't comply with or confront Modi's policies faces severe brunt of Modi's vendetta. Modi brazenly interferes with critical national institutions like Supreme Court, CBI, Election Commission, Parliament etc to push ahead with his policies. If any institution or person gets in his way, Modi simply removes him & moves forward without any regard to rule of law or constitution. Modi's vindictiveness is not limited to Govt officials but also extends to independent activists & journalists. Activists and journalists are assaulted, tortured, thrown in prison & even murdered for questioning or dissenting Modi's policies. Modi goes to any length to enforce his will. Manipulation of SC. Murdering Judges. Orchestrating communal riots. Instigating tensions at border LOC. There are no boundaries & limits to Modi's actions.

India is moving into a more dangerous phase of Modi's oppression in his second term. As Modi's policies (like new CAA law) are getting more & more regressive and disastrous, the people are strongly protesting & confronting those policies. Instead of reviewing & rolling back regressive policies, Modi is doubling down in his effort to push through with these policies. That means mass arrests of protesters, using police oppression to silence dissent & using authoritarian laws like Sedition to punish critiques.

3. Modi's insecurity of domain experts - Conflict & disagreements with bureaucrats & economists

Modi takes all big decisions on his own. Modi has contempt for economists & finance advisers. Modi's relationship with RBI economists are bad as Modi forced out Raghuram Rajan few years ago. Soon after, Urjit Patel resigned from his Governorship. This was followed by resignation of Deputy Governor Viral Acharya. Rajan & Viral Acharya were critical of Modi's management of economy & his unsound economic policy decisions.

Modi doesn't want to hear any dissenting opinion on economy. Its a known fact that nowadays Govt statistics on economy are sugar coated to paint a rosy picture of economy. NSSO surveys were carried out on employment & consumption in wake of Demonetization & GST. This data turned out to be contradictory to Modi's rosy picture of the economy. Modi Govt just buried & dismissed the reports. Soon after, the Top Bureaucrats of NSC resigned revealing that they are sidelined by the Govt. Similarly, Arvind Panagariya, former vice chairman or NITI Aayog & Arvind Subramaniam, former chief economic adviser resigned from their positions. They too have been critical of Modi's unsound economic policies specially Demonetization.

4. Modi loves self promotion, event management & media attention like a celebrity 

Modi has obsession of Photo ops, media events & event management. Its clear that Modi has obsession to be in front of cameras every day. He likes to be a celebrity & wants constant media coverage & cameras focused on him. On instances when someone gets in front of cameras blocking Modi's view, Modi gets angry. He shoves away people from his camera spotlight. When Modi goes for meditation & Yoga, cameras are focused on him. When Modi meets victims families etc, cameras are focused on him. On one occasion, Modi even barged into an ICU of hospital (victims lying with burn injuries) for Photo Ops. Even doctors say that victims are prone to infection (as their skin has peeled off), yet Modi barges in with cameras to do photo ops with unconscious patient.

Modi is also obsessed with clothes & suits. He wears all kind of suits & fancy dresses like celebrities and he also has dedicated fashion designers for this purpose. Recall his 20 Lakh suit with name Narendra Damodardas Modi written all over it. Modi also has obsession with giant rallies & festivals. These big festivals (like Howdy Modi) are organized not just in India but also in foreign countries. Crowds are hired to chant "Modi Modi" at these festivals. I think these chants are organized for appeasement of Modi as he like hearing these very much. Also a team of BJP workers & junior ministers accompany Modi in rallies & events just to chant "Modi Modi". 

5. Modi has a sense of insecurity - Vengeful attitude towards critical media - Suppresses unfavorable opinions

Modi doesn't do any press conferences. He also doesn't do any TV interviews except to handful of journalists which give their copy of questions in advance & Modi is prepared for scripted answers. These interviews are only a medium for self praise & self promotion for Modi. Its clear that Modi feels very insecure of getting in a situation where he will be facing tough or embarrassing questions. Throughout his tenure as a PM, Modi did only one press conference & that too was when he was accompanied by Amit Shah. In that press conference, Modi seemed very anxious & awkward & could not answer any questions (Shah redirected questions to himself). There are some old interviews of Modi where Modi was asked some critical unscripted questions and he immediately gets panicked & shocked. (his reaction & expressions in these interviews shows his insecurity).

Modi is also vengeful to journalists & TV channels that criticize his policies. Modi & Shah's vindictive attitude towards their critiques is well known as they have used Govt agencies, defamation cases & other kind of pressure tactics against NDTV, The Wire, Caravan, ABP group, The Tribune & many small newspapers etc. Journalists critical of Modi are kicked out or forced to leave from their jobs (like Prasun Bajpai, Ajit Anjum & Faye Dsouza).

There is also a Social Media Army & internet Trolls of BJP that are tasked to attack & harass Modi Govt critiques on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube & other forums. Anybody who criticize Modi is attacked with barrage of abuses & threats.
 

6. Modi's family relations & personal life is BLANK

According to public information, Modi has a wife & a mother. Neither of these actually live with Modi (reasons unknown). Modi does visit his mother sometimes for Photo Ops & publicity events (like sending his mother to bank during Demonetization) but apart from that Modi doesn't have any connection to his family. Also most of Modi's past is elusive about his family history, education, early political career & other personal things. It appears that Modi doesn't really have any personal life.

7. Modi's misadventures, HIGH RISK GAMBLES, foolhardy, whimsical, reckless & disastrous policies

Modi's economic policies have destroyed Indian economy & crippled the nation. Modi's defense policies have put India's security at great risk. Modi's policies in every area be it economy or foreign affairs or trade industry or agriculture or telecom or anything else, has been a total disaster.

But Demonetization is epitome of Modi's arrogant disastrous policies. Demonetization destroyed everything in Indian economy - from top to bottom - from unorganized & rural sector to organized & core sectors of economy. In early phase of Demonetization, the most damage happened in Rural unorganized sectors, small scale factories, Agriculture, MSME's, Construction, Real estate, small businesses, banking system etc. This slowdown ultimately created a shock that shrunk overall Demand in the economy (which was already fragile) and it finally impacted organized sectors like FMCG, Automobile, Infrastructure, manufacturing etc.

Yashwant Sinha has written a book Title India Unmade - How Modi Govt broke the economy. This book documents the disasters of Modi Govt extensively. There is special emphasis on Demonetization & bungled up GST.

Abrogation of article 370 was another huge misadventure & foolhardy policy. A totally needless & unwise policy decision that will threaten India's federal structure. It has completely Alienated the people of Kashmir as well as local Political leadership. Destroyed local economy of Kashmir due to Blockade which shut down Kashmir's farm sector specially apple business. Destroyed Kashmir businesses as no business can function without internet & telephone. All shops & factories were shut down. All schools, colleges & public institutions shut down.

There is a long list of Modi's disastrous policies. Botched up GST that is wrecking economy, Nonsensical spectrum policies that are destroying Telecom sector, Failed PPP models that have stalled important Infrastructure projects, Special favors to personal friends (Big bank defaulters & fraudsters like Nirav Modi & Mehul Choksi) that is destroying Banking system, Citizenship amendment & NRC that has created a constitutional crisis in country, Privatization policies of strategic PSUs like BPCL which will cripple our energy security, privatization of LIC, Planned Bankruptcy of BSNL that will cripple connectivity of Rural India, Electoral Bonds that is eroding transparency of elections, Undermining & subversion of India's institutions like Judiciary, CBI, ED, Income Tax, CIC, NIA etc.

Everything Modi has done in last 6 years is a Disaster.

Many of the policies of Modi are to benefit his corrupt crony friends like Ambani, Adani etc. But a lot of policies are just plain stupid without any motive & purpose. That's an important point. A policy must always have a purpose. Ideally a Govt policy must be made in interest of public. But even for a corrupt Govt, a policy always have a purpose (like to give special favor to certain businessmen). As far as i now, Demonetization didn't have any purpose. They destroyed the whole economy. But for what? Just for small gains of winning regional elections. I am not convinced.

Also i feel that Modi is a gambler & risk taker in a sense that his policies are destructive for the country but also to himself. I very much believe that CAA NRC policy is a HUGE GAMBLE. This policy will either destroy the Indian constitution or it will destroy the Political career of Modi & Shah. I don't believe that Modi Shah can simply rush through which such monstrous & regressive policies. The massive protests by millions of people across India shows that Modi's CAA NRC is not so easy as people fight back. I think that Modi's CAA policy has badly dented the popularity of BJP & this has also been reflected in regional elections.

Notice the arrogance of Modi. Even if millions of people reject a policy & protests on streets. Modi won't listen to any criticism. As Modi Shah have said - we won't move back an inch. This attitude demonstrates massive arrogance & ego problem of Modi & Shah.

I also believe that Modi's Kashmir policy is another big gamble. Right now Modi has suppressed all protests of Kashmir people by converting Kashmir into an OPEN PRISON which is guarded by 800,000 Army & Police from inside & outside. Human rights & civil rights of Kashmir people have been suspended. Internet, phones etc shut down. Right now streets of Kashmir are empty as there are curfews & police check posts everywhere. Will Kashmir people forget about protesting or stone pelting if they are locked in their houses for 6 months or 1 year? Will Kashmir people just swallow their pride & accept the illegal & unconstitutional actions of Modi? How long will blockade last? What is the end game?

I believe that Modi doesn't have a game plan for Kashmir (just like his other half baked, half cooked unplanned policies). I believe that Kashmir situation may blow up in future. In what way & what form? Its difficult to predict.

But coming back to point i am trying to make. I seriously believe that many actions of Modi are highly risky not just for nation but also his own Political career as well. Modi likes taking BIG RISKY decisions. BIG RECKLESS decisions. But its unfortunate for India that Modi's decisions are ultimately destroying India one way or another.

8. Modi doesn't care about the consequences of his disastrous policies - Modi's callous attitude - No empathy & sense of remorse - Never admits his failures & mistakes - Blind to any criticism even in face of stark reality

Policies have consequences. Bad policies can have disastrous consequences. The consequences of bad policies is not just monetary loss but also there are human costs. The human costs of Modi's policy are all too visible. The Kashmir policy has created an UNPRECEDENTED Humanitarian tragedy in India. Civil rights & Human rights of people have been extinguished. People (including top politicians, activists, intellectuals) are thrown into prisons like common criminals. People are beaten tortured & even killed to enforce oppressive policies. Families have been torn apart. But Modi doesn't care about suffering & tragedies in lives of Kashmir people.

Similarly on Demonetization. As 86% of currency was extinguished overnight, the life of people (specially poor people & in rural India) had a severe disruption. They can't buy groceries, they can't buy food & medicines, they can't pay for marriages, they can't buy houses & do transactions, they can't get their daily wages. Everything was halted. A big problem for senior citizens as they stood in line to get money. There were queues Kilometer long in rural India (where Bank penetration is low) to exchange currency day & night. 150 people, specially old senior citizens simply died from exhaustion standing in those lines.

But Modi Govt attitude has been callous & contemptuous. Modi didn't showed any concern for all the humanitarian crisis & tragedies unfolding because of massive economic shock. Economic shock that was similar to a bankruptcy of nation, only in this case bankruptcy was self imposed & artificial.

Now CAA & NRC are about to create huge chaos and crisis in India. European Parliament rightly describes it as policy as creating largest statelessness crisis in the world. The CAA NRC policy is not only illegal & unconstitutional, its also impractical & unfeasible. Just forcing such policy on nation will only cause chaos, polarization, division & breakdown of system. But Modi doesn't care.

This careless attitude & callousness is remarkable. No matter how much destructive, unpopular, impractical, infeasible, illegal & even unconstitutional a policy is, Modi doesn't care. No matter how many people die & suffer from a regressive foolish policy, Modi just doesn't care & continue to force it upon the people.

Also, Modi doesn't learn from his mistakes & continue to spread falsehoods even after gigantic failure of his policies. Arun Shourie describe this Modi Govt attitude as - "Projecting humongous failures as historical successes".

9. Modi's Disloyalty and Dishonesty - Lack of morality - Consolidation of Power is the ONLY goal

Whereas Modi has built a facade of public image of incorruptible leader who wanna make India "Congress free" or "Congress Mukt Bharat". The reality is very different. Modi has used all kinds of tactics to break off Congress & other opposition politicians from their parties and inducting them into BJP. Many top Congress leaders like Rita Bahuguna, Satpal Maharaj, S Krishna Kumar, Sanjay Singh etc have now been inducted in BJP. But at local level, there are possibly hundreds of MLAs, MLCs & state leaders who have quit congress & joined BJP. Similarly, BJP has poached opposition leaders from other parties. Here in Delhi, MLAs like Kapil Mishra, Vinod Binny, Anil Bajpai etc joined BJP. Similaly, in West Bengal, the nephew of TMC chief Mamata Banarjee, Mukul Roy quit TMC and joined BJP. Its well known that Mukul Roy was a top accused in Chit fund scam, so he was likely blackmailed & bribed into joining BJP to weaken TMC.

The pattern of Modi's poaching away opposition party leaders is quite clear. Modi uses Bribe & blackmail to buy them. Investigating agencies like CBI, ED & Income Tax are used to dig up scandals of rival politicians. Then these politicians are blackmailed on these scandals. Once the rival politician joins BJP, investigations against him are closed & he's given a lucrative post in BJP. Modi's BJP acts like a washing machine which cleans all dirty opposition leaders & inducts them into BJP party with clean image.

Whereas Modi has sidelined & superseded all other senior leaders within the BJP party, Modi's arrogance & disloyalty is also reflected in BJP's conflict with its coalition partners & allies. The most extreme case is BJP's break up with Mehbooba Mufti PDP party in Kashmir. Mehbooba Mufti who was once a coalition partner of BJP in Kashmir is now thrown in prison & draconian Public safety act is imposed on her. Even Farooq Abdullah (most senior leader of Kashmir) was a once a coalition partner of BJP in Vajpayee's BJP-NDA Govt is also under indefinite arrest.

Problems can also be seen in Maharashtra where Modi Govt rebuffed its promises to Shiv Sena on power sharing agreement & rotational Chief Ministership. Modi promised CM post to Shiv Sena after first Fadnavis term. But in shear arrogance, BJP walked backed on its promises. The attitude of Modi Shah Govt is this - you should do what we say. This is the attitude which lead to break up of alliance with Shiv Sena & Shiv Sena formed a coalition state Govt with other opposition parties.

BJP's formula is clear - First it climbs on backs of regional parties & then try to take over their sphere of influence. And then it Betrays its own coalition partners. Many regional parties have now figured out this modus operandi of Modi Govt.

10. Modi's Road to power - Economic disasters & Blunders - Crimes & Mountain of Dead bodies - Modi will crush & trample upon anybody in his path 

The crimes, destruction & chaos caused by Modi in his 6 years of rule at center is not a new phenomenon. This is just a continuation of Modi's Political career which he started in Gujarat. Before coming to New Delhi as PM, Modi had unleashed his brazen criminal acts in state of Gujarat for many years. Communal Riots, Political assassinations, fake encounters, killing of activists, lynching of minorities was the order of business under Modi's Gujarat. Similarly, his economic policies were a disaster in Gujarat while at the same time a rosy picture of "Gujarat model" & "vibrant Gujarat" was propagated to Indian people as a beacon of prosperity. Gujarat's economy is bad in many ways - very poor human development index, high poverty (presently they are building a wall so that Trump doesn't get sore sight of dirty slums), epidemic of farmer suicides, poor state of healthcare & education system, high unemployment etc. At the same time Billionaires like Adani were given sweetheart deals by selling them state public assets for pennies.

Its widely believed that Modi consolidated his power in Gujarat by murdering his Political rival Haren Pandya (he was critical of Modi & was a minister in Modi's cabinet in Gujarat). Similarly, there were many fake encounters & extrajudicial killings of people notably after 2002 Gujarat communal Riots. Modi & Shah had total control over Gujarat Police & courts. They used these institutions to eliminate their rivals & consolidate power.



My conclusion - Looking at track record of Modi, his policies & style of governance, this is the big picture as i understand. Many major policy decisions of Modi do not have any rational logic or purpose. Policies like Demonetization, Article 370 abrogation, CAA NRC etc. These policies are created without thinking about their consequences. There is immense amount of human tragedy, monetary loss and threat to national security caused by these policies. But Modi & Shah do not care about the consequences, legality, unpopularity & practicality of their policies. Also i feel that Modi thinks more on short term gains rather than long term consequences. The policies of polarization & division to win some upcoming elections will have significant long term impact on peace & harmony of country. But they don't care. Also Modi doesn't learn anything from his mistakes & failures. He conceives some whimsical foolhardy policy & it turns out to be a big disaster. But Modi doesn't learn any lesson from it, doesn't tolerate any criticism about failed policy. He just moves onto creating new whimsical & foolhardy policies on similar lines.

Arun Shourie describes Modi's policies in a humorous way. Modi gets a revelation in middle of the night. Its like an impulse that needs to acted upon. Modi doesn't consult anybody. Doesn't talk to anybody. He just executes & implement his will on the nation next morning. It doesn't matter how bad the policy is. Doesn't matter how many millions will suffer from it. It doesn't matter how many people will DIE from it. It doesn't matter how many lives will be destroyed from it. Modi enforces his will on the people no matter how dangerous & foolish it might be. This is the summary of Modi's governance style & politics.

An analogy to explain Modi Govt & its functioning. There was an old Bollywood film called "Burning Train". Its about a Train which is on fire & whose brakes have failed. Now the Train is moving super fast destroying everything in its path while passengers of trains are burning in fire. Modi Govt is a Burning train ride which has lost its controls & brakes, now this fast moving train is mowing down everybody in its path. This train is heading towards a collision, derailment & horrific train wreck which will cause an unprecedented disaster & massive fatalities. Can this train be stopped?