New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his first public appearance since the security apparatus in the national capital beat, detained, harassed and tried to stop protests against Modi and the Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar from happening, today said that India is the “mother of democracy.”Modi gave a long speech at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi, which begins today, October 13.From denial of permission, to closure of Metro stations, detentions of youth and student leaders, halting of railway services, erection of layers of barricades, to the rounding up of lawyers and journalists against Supreme Court directions, the Delhi Police and security forces have left no stone unturned in quelling any show of dissent since October 10. An exception was the united opposition rally yesterday.For this, Modi’s speech was an extraordinary exercise in irony.“The real question is not who possesses power. Rather, the question is how that power is being used,” Modi said in yet another example of discordance. The protests were against the CEC and his botched special intensive revision of electoral rolls, a process that left 13 crore names out and had serious implications on citizenship and welfare in states like Bengal.Modi, along with claiming that India is the mother of democracy while quelling democratic protests, also seemed to highlight the use of social media among Indians. During the protests, interest and calls for which were generated on social media, Modi’s government shut down the internet across central Delhi and in makeshift “detention centres” erected across the New Delhi district. Modi said today:“As all of you know, India is the Mother of Democracy. India has more than one hundred languages, nearly eighty thousand registered newspapers and publications, and more than one thousand satellite television channels. And not only that, in this age of social media, India has more than five hundred million YouTube users and more than five hundred million Instagram users. In our country, people openly debate different issues, and citizens discuss diverse viewpoints. In the present era, one factor that has played a major role in enabling this is digital power.”Incredibly, Modi also encouraged international delegates to experience India’s digital payments ecosystem, noting that street vendors and large car showrooms used the same infrastructure despite operating at different scales.The Modi government’s proposed UPI changes – scheduled to take effect on October 15 – will charge merchants in a move that experts feel could raise prices, squeeze small-business earnings and weaken household demand.