India has all of a sudden found a new messiah of women’s empowerment. Who? Who else? Prime Minister Narendra Modi! While the entire Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is singing this tune, hyping up Modi’s “commitment to women’s empowerment”, actor-parliamentarian Kangana Ranaut articulated this sentiment with maximum clarity and force. She unabashedly declared, “There is no bigger feminist than Modi. He is the only flagbearer of feminism today.”Let’s call down curses on the incompetent and callous RSS-BJP ecosystem for not revealing this noble trait for almost 25 years, keeping the nation and the world in the dark about Modi’s greatest personal attribute – his feminism! They portrayed him as a robust leader who would crush his opponents, then conquer the world. Their propaganda revolved around his 56-inch chest while the virtuous aspects of his persona – his unwavering commitment to empower women – went unnoticed.What a miscarriage of justice! A gentle, kind-hearted politician boorishly mistaken for a political marauder who would stoop to any low for power and pleasure. Heads need to roll for this terrible PR-fiasco.Before the repeat telecast of the glorious women’s empowerment episode, Modi had said on September 19, 2023:“Ishwar nein kayin pavitra kaam kay liye mujhey chuna hai.” (God has chosen me for many pious tasks). Let us not grudge a megalomaniac his delusions. Let us correct our own false impressions about the great social reformer. Let us digest this delayed revelation about Modi the feminist who would die to uphold women’s dignity.Let us obliterate the misgivings caused by Modi’s stubborn refusal to condemn the sins committed in the evil world of Jeffrey Epstein. Let us ignore the protective ring he has thrown around his minister Hardeep Puri despite the revelation of his correspondence and links with the global sex-trafficking criminal.Let us bury the memories of the snooping scandal that once shaped our outlook about our Prime Minister.Let us not recall how Modi kept aloof when women wrestlers sat on a dharna against his party’s Member of Parliament over his sexual exploitation of athletes. Let’s wipe the slate clean. After all, we don’t know how anguished Modi might have been when Bilkis Bano was gang-raped and her child was murdered by rioters in Gujarat.Nor do we know how melancholic Modi became after learning about the trauma of Zakia Jafri, who died fighting for justice for her husband, lynched in Gujarat by a mob. We don’t know how many sleepless nights Modi has spent, analysing the miserable plight of Rohith Vemula’s mother, who lost her young son because of caste prejudice.Also read: In Roadless Tribal Villages of Gujarat, Women in Labour Need to Be Carried Kilometres to AmbulancesModi hasn’t mentioned this, but he must have been in agony when his dearest friend, Benjamin Netanyahu, was butchering thousands of women and children in Gaza. Less said the better about the American bombing that snuffed life out of 165 little schoolgirls in Minab, Iran.Modi was so numbed by the ghastly incident that he couldn’t utter a word.It is, after all, for the nation to develop the capacity to understand the sensitivities of the greatest feminist ever. Let us offer a collective apology for nursing silly notions about a man who wasted his life to empower women. Look at the care Modi has taken in naming the legislation – Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam. Nari Shakti…!He cannot even imagine women in distress. Women have to be like Durga, empowered and triumphant. And men must bow to them. There must be vandan of matri-shakti, and nothing less. No equality, no camaraderie, no partnership. Only worship. Thank you, BJP, for giving the nation a feminist at last.Hope feminists of the world won’t fly into a rage.Women or politics?The Prime Minister had said the “moment” when the bill that proposed 33% reservation for women in parliament and assemblies was passed had become “immortal in history”. He said this in September 2023. Why, then, he was desperate to recreate that moment in 2026?No, Modi is not foolish. The intention behind the April 2026 Bill was different from the earlier one, and it had absolutely nothing to do with women’s political representation. Because that reservation is the law of the land, and it is being delayed by his own government, awaiting implementation.The failed 2026 Bill, as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi said, was an attempt to change the electoral map of the country. Indeed, if the Prime Minister wanted a law on delimitation before the ongoing census process could get over, he should have mustered the courage to announce his declared objective, instead of resorting to political subterfuge.It is a national tragedy that every political plan throws up a sinister drama; every crisis is tackled through diversionary ploys. Countless false reasons were hawked for the mysterious demonetisation decision. When the 2019 Pulwama tragedy happened, the Balakote counter-strike was turned into an electoral gimmick.Then the Pahalgam massacre gave birth to a sickening political narrative, articulated through emotive dialogues aimed at drawing political mileage – “Meray ragon mein lahoo nahin, garm sindoor bah raha hai” (Vermillion flows in my veins, not blood). Farm laws were brought in, wearing the garb of revolutionising agriculture. A destructive trade agreement signed with the United States was projected as a great new deal for India. This decade-long journey of politicking and subterfuge has destroyed Modi’s credibility. But the lessons have not been learnt. Perhaps, it is now too late for the Prime Minister to reinvent his political persona.Though Home Minister Amit Shah insisted the opposition parties opposed women’s reservation, the law enacted in September 2023 had drawn bipartisan support. It could have been brought into force without all this drama. Opposition parties entreated the government to do it again in 2026.But instead, Modi threatened political parties to support women’s reservation if they did not want to be punished severely by half of the population.“This is no favour – it’s their right,” he theatrically proclaimed in Parliament.But how do you support a law? By organising a song-and-dance show? If the media had not bartered its conscience and clearly told the nation that the women’s reservation had already become law – one Modi has already taken credit for in the 2024 elections – the BJP’s politics would have looked like a slapstick comedy.But the media, along with the ruling party, is hell-bent on fooling this nation.Modi dwarfedThe political grapevine was abuzz with news of the absence of Modi from the latest list of 100 most influential persons released by TIME magazine. While his clout has diminished dramatically over the last year after he failed to stand firmly against the bullying by US President Donald Trump, the Iran war simply pushed Modi out of the frame of reference.New actors who have demonstrated courage and independent thinking have emerged on the global stage. It was really tragic to see the miserable plight of the Indian government, primarily because of Modi’s policies.The leader who dominated the global imagination during the Iran war was Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who not only criticised Trump’s illegal invasion of Iran but also took a firm stand against the Israeli genocide in Gaza and savagery in Lebanon.Sanchez spoke freely, visited China, called for termination of the European Union’s trade ties with Israel and opened the Spanish embassy in Tehran. Today, millions across the world hail him as a hero. Others who strongly resisted Trump’s pressure and criticised Israeli belligerence included Britain’s Keir Starmer, Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva . French President Emmanuel Macron also refused to join Trump’s bandwagon.What is worrisome for India is the emergence of Pakistan as the key mediator at a time Modi has vanished from the scene. Trump has not only washed the stain of being a terror haven from Islamabad’s forehead, he mischievously legitimised Field Marshal Asim Munir more than Pakistan’s political leadership, creating a new dilemma for India. There is little doubt that the world will witness new alignments after the end of this war.India sits in a disadvantageous position and the foreign policy establishment needs to ponder how Pakistan’s new-found stature will play out in the future. Modi has an extraordinarily complex problem on the diplomacy front, which he may find difficult to resolve.Sanjay K. Jha is a political observer.