INTERVIEW | Parakala Prabhakar: ‘Cylinders to the poor, airports to a friend’

The political economist believes that even if BJP were to lose in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, its brand of politics will not go away anytime soon. INTERVIEW | Parakala Prabhakar: ‘Cylinders to the poor, airports to a friend’ Prabhakar, who was in Chennai to release his book in late July, gave Frontline a hard-hitting interview and repeatedly went back to the theme of democracy being a shared responsibility of all citizens, saying: “It is us, as a people, who must ultimately take the blame.” Excerpts: Your book says the crisis will not end with Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah going away. Highlights “We have moved very far from the republic’s founding principles of democracy, secularism, liberalism, pluralism, diversity.” “After 2016, the discourse changed completely. Today, Team India is just the Prime Minister.” “This government has perfected the art of making the normal look abnormal, the abnormal look normal.” When we talk of today’s scenario, are we forgiving or underestimating the toxicity of the liberal facade under Atal Bihari Vajpayee? Today, every political party and leader is saying, “I’m also Hindu but not like them.” The discourse has travelled to force everybody to say this.