Three important democracies have thrown up leaders who conform to a tried-and-tested template that is a telling comment on the state of the democratic world and on our times. This template excites the common people but shocks civil society and intellectuals struggling with stress inflicted by state power. The three leaders will have a profound effect on politics and society in their respective countries.
Donald Trump, Narendra Modi and Boris Johnson come from different sections of society in terms of financial status, family background and standards of education. (Their personal lives have been dissimilar. But in Indian politics personal life is anyway irrelevant – commentators do not discuss abandoned wives or live-in partners.) Boris and Trump, unlike Modi, come from wealthy families. Boris is highly educated, unlike the other two. Boris shows off his dishevelled self, Modi is always well-groomed, ever ready for a fashion parade. Boris inspires a cartoonist to dress him as a joker standing in front of 10 Downing. Trump can afford to dress better than a British aristocrat but his dress sense invites ridicule. Modi’s expensive sartorial elegance causes cognitive dissonance as one sees no trace of the persona of a former tea-boy.
Triplets
And yet because of some political familial likeness – in the context of demagoguery, divisiveness, populism and a macho burlesque – they can be called triplets. None of the three believes in St. Francis of Assisi who prayed: “Where there is discord, may we bring harmony. Where there is error, may we bring truth…” All three love confrontation and use it as a tool of political progress. They are masters in the art of sharpening divisions and inspiring hatred. They command cultish loyalty and they lead cultural wars.
