As Prime Minister Narendra Modi continues with his trip to Australia, famous sociologist Professor Salvatore Babones shared his experience of meeting the Indian premiere.
The Australian professor spoke to Republic TV and mentioned how Australia’s policy towards India should be “Data-driven, not Drama-driven”. On Tuesday, PM Modi gave a passionate speech to the Indian diaspora at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney Olympic Park. In the speech, Prime Minister highlighted how India has grown and developed in the span of a few years.
During his one-on-one interview with Republic TV, Babones opened up about his meeting with the Prime Minister and revealed what PM Modi told him. “He was reading my op-ed in today’s Australian financial review, which stated that Australia needs a policy on India that’s driven by Data, not drama driven,” said Prof. Babones. “The real problem is that so much of our discussion with India is so data-driven. Somebody has a story to tell about India instead of data about India. The data about India are so positive that to hide them is a crime in itself. We need to talk about data when we talk about India,” he further insisted.
An extraordinary democracy’
Speaking about Indian democracy, Prof. Babones lauded the fact that Indian democracy still stands tall despite its diversity. “We have a situation in India which is truly an ‘extraordinary democracy’ diversity,” he stated. “I simply went for the numbers, all of this vilification of democracy that I hear in the West, all of these negative sentiments against India are simply not supported by data,” he further explained. Meanwhile, in a tweet shared on Monday, PM Modi called Prof. Babones a “popular name in India”. “Professor @ProfBabones is now a popular name in India. Had a good meeting with him and heard his insightful views on several subjects,” he wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. During a media interaction following his meeting with the Indian Prime Minister, prof called him a “highly reputable” on a global stage. “It’s impossible to make fun of Mr Modi because he doesn’t give anything to be made fun of. He has such gravitas in whatever he does,” Prof. Babones asserted. “He has been a leader on the international stage,” he added.