Nationalism Distorts Facts

When nationalism is the primary political ethos of a government, there is always a problem with the truth ....

Indian Nationalism Morphed Into Hindu Nationalism

.... after all, what your essentially promoting is the idea that the country (especially under your leadership), is better than any other country.

So for example, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party promoted the idea of Germany being the superior Aryan race (with their Slavic neighbours being inferior) .. with the reunification of all German speakers within German borders, described as a sacred duty. Similarly, Russian President Putin, refers to Russia as the 'Rodina' (Motherland), and the idea that all Russian speakers should be reunited within its embrace as a political necessity (even when they don't think of themselves as Russian).

But, there are other nationalist regimes around the globe, such as the Hindu nationalist regime of the BJP in India, under prime minister Modi. They explicitly promote the idea that 'Hinduism', the religious practise, is the mark of the only true Indian, and is superior to all other beliefs and practises.

Countries With The Most Excess Deaths - WHO

Now as reprehensible as this idea is, especially in the woke West (where denigration of the native culture to appease ethnic minorities, is the current fashion), its in some ways an understandable reaction to centuries of domination by first the Muslim Mughals, and then the White British (Just as the current Chinese nationalism, is a reaction to the national shame at being pushed around by Europeans in the late 19th Century, and Japanese in the early 20th century).

However, this sort of rampant nationalism has one danger in particular that can lead to problems with the truth .... so for example, Russian President Putin has convinced himself that all Russian speakers, want to be under his not so tender care, hence the invasion of the Ukraine.

Ratio Of Excess Deaths From Covid

Similarly, Modi and the BJP have fostered the idea that India (especially before the invasion/arrival of Islam), was the worlds superior civilisation (flying machines, nuclear weapons, transplant surgery etc), which somehow disappeared in the very distant past. But by extension the current nationalist regime is regaining that glorious past.

An example of this was their handling of the Covid pandemic .... with comparatively few (500,000) reported officially Covid deaths (given the size of the population and the lack of oxygen supplies reported during the successive waves).

But these claims are now clashing with world health authorities who are compiling the pandemics death toll worldwide ... a new World Health Organization (WHO) report has suggested that 4.7 million people in India,  are thought to have died because of Covid-19 in India.

India had been asked by the WHO to provide the information on all causes of death and been told that it wasn't available. The Indian government released civil registration data showing a 6% rise in deaths in 2020 over the previous year. However the Centre for Global Health Research in Toronto has suggested Indian death rates from Covid were not 'exceptionally low, only exceptionally undercounted'.

Excess Deaths Per 100,000

Other researchers, bypassed the official Indian government figures and used figures provided by 12 Indian states to come up with essentially the same estimates as WHO. The Indian government has simply denied any evidence that contradicts its message of Hindu superiority that it has triumphantly proclaimed for 2 - 3 years, whilst combating Covid .... describing the figures that point to its failures as "fallacious, ill-informed and mischievous in nature", and flawed.

However, data paucity and data opacity have been the hallmarks of the pandemic in India ... with some odd figures being thrown up, such the fact that as India pays 50,000 rupees ($674) compensation for every Covid death, and yet compensation claims exceed the 'official' figures for Covid deaths in some states.

Worldwide over 80% of the estimated global excess mortality during the Covid pandemic occurred in just 20 countries ...