Even the Vishwaguru pretension feeds on situational logic. In hostile international seasons, Vishwaguru obsession is whittled down to local-guru ambition.

Modi uses escapism as the key survival trick. But that's not the best way to become a global leader. Arranging crowds in foreign countries to chant Modi-Modi doesn't make you the Vishwaguru. Addressing non-resident Indians on foreign soil isn't any evidence of your global popularity. No, not even the ceaseless spree hugging heads of state bears testimony to your rising clout. And the sycophantic hymns orchestrated by allied TV channels about your supreme status as Vishwaguru only evokes contempt and ridicule across the world.

Modi should understand the most effective rebuttal to criticism about his intellectual deficiencies is not taking down comical khee-khee-khee videos but to give a free-wheeling interview to a credible foreign or Indian journalist. Who will believe Rahul Gandhi's charge about the prime minister being "compromised" if Modi tells Donald Trump not to dictate terms to India on where to buy oil from?

Had Modi confronted Trump on repeated claims of stopping the India-Pakistan war, on possessing the ability to destroy his political career and on humiliating deportation of Indians in chains, the "compromised PM" barbs would have been laughed away. Silencing critics, throwing opponents into jail, banning channels, removing videos and patronising slavish journalists deepen suspicions instead of clearing the mist.

Strong personalities lead from the front; not through subterfuge and propaganda. Strong leaders take questions, debate and uphold the principle of accountability. Strong leaders, having aspirations of global clout, speak on critical concerns, take unambiguous stand on vital issues and emerge as an authoritative moral voice in difficult circumstances.

If Modi remained silent on the butchery and devastation in Gaza, on the murder of Iran's supreme leader, on the threat to wipe out a civilisation, it will have political and personal consequences. The world will judge him on these substantive factors, not on his event-management capacities and hugging spree. Collecting insignificant medals from sundry countries doesn't enhance stature; the courage to speak the truth and take moral positions does.

The nation-building process requires vision and commitment, not Vishwaguru chants. A political force committed to take India to the top of the world will not waste time and energy on temples, Sengol, Kumbh, Kanwariya, Kashmir files and Dhurandhar.

A visionary leader will meticulously work out plans for health and educational infrastructure, poverty alleviation and technological excellence instead of organising taali-thali shows, flashing mobile phone lights, inaugurating trains, distributing appointment letters and perpetually demonising opponents.

A true leader will have a constructive agenda; he will forge solidarities across communities and regions and speak a language that unleashes the collective creative energies of the nation. Sowing seeds of discord by hyping up petty divisive fault-lines isn't prime-ministerial. Modi needs to stop his bulldozer and do some introspection. He should understand becoming Vishwaguru, or Local-guru, requires substance, not rhetoric.

Gandhian resistance

Thomas Paine wrote hundreds of years ago, "One honest man is of more worth to society than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived." India is blessed with the eternal pride of giving one such honest man to the world - Mahatma Gandhi, whose memory dwarfs every ruler who seeks power through brutalities and deceit. Nothing that has been said by saints, philosophers or political scientists anywhere in the world can surpass Gandhi's emphasis on truth and non-violence. He wrote in 1922, "Non-violence is the first article of my faith. It is also the last article of my creed."

While the rulers in India need to learn the meaning of true Hinduism from Gandhi, rulers outside should understand that the only viable political weapon available to them is non-violence. Though imagining Gandhi in the era of Benjamin Netanyahu looks like a crime, ordinary people in the United States and Iran resurrected his memory by organising peaceful resistance to the morbid threats of obliterating a civilisation.

The astonishing spectacle of unarmed men, women and children surrounding power plants and other vital installations in Iran in anticipation of American bombs destroying them was reminiscent of the Gandhian technique. Donald Trump, who delivered the threat, looked so small and ugly as millions of ordinary Americans came out on the streets to protest against the mindless war. Traces of Gandhi could be seen there as well.

Pakistan Seizes the Diplomatic Stage in the West Asia Crisis; India Stays Cautiously Invisible

How the incumbent Indian government behaved, nestled in cowardice, compromise or escapism, is immaterial. India was shining majestically as her people, except a tiny lot of bigots, prayed for peace and stood for justice. Majority of Indians commiserate with the victim that Iran is and hail its bravery. They quietly cherished the final moment, before the ceasefire was announced, seeing Gandhian methods being deployed across Iran against violence and cruelty.

Young Iranian women and children publicly yearned for martyrdom, instead of hiding in bunkers in the fear of oppressors. Islam does have a tradition of sacrifice but peaceful resistance of its people rekindled the memory of the saint who was felled by the bullets of forces of hate.

Gandhi wrote there are only two methods; one is that of fraud and force; the other is that of non-violence and truth. While every war tells us the undesirability of mindless violence, no war in recent history exemplifies "fraud and force" like this attack born out of two crooked minds.

The crisis of the global leadership had already been manifested in their failure to stop the genocide in Gaza. That failure might have gnawed at the conscience of some leaders, forcing them to dissociate themselves from the latest Israel-America misadventure.

Some leaders, who buried their conscience while plotting their rise to the top, still refused to wake up. A bigger genocide, or a deadlier war, is perhaps needed to lift them out of their amoral pit.

Women's safety

The prime minister and the BJP have cited the heinous RG Kar rape-&-murder case so many times to create an impression that Bengal is a nightmare for women's safety. Modi has been talking about "Maha-jungle raj" in Bengal under the Trinamool rule, promising quick redemption if the BJP was voted to power. Insisting that women don't feel safe in the state, Modi buttressed his argument by recalling that Bengal topped the national chart in the acid-attack cases. This selective use of data, however, doesn't alter the truth that Kolkata is considered the safest city for women in India.

Modi's advocacy of BJP rule to ensure women's safety is a crude joke. The states on top of the national chart in crimes against women - Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana - are ruled by the BJP. The most unsafe cities for women - Patna, Delhi, Jaipur and Faridabad - are all under double-engine governance.

The city with the highest crime rate - Delhi - is directly governed by home minister Amit Shah. Modi cites RG Kar and Sandeshkhali incidents to defame the Mamata government but never mentions far more horrific incidents like Hathras and Unnao from Uttar Pradesh. Manipur, probably the best example of bad governance, is also ruled by the BJP.

What the nation expects from the prime minister in the context of women's safety is not a cheap slanging match. Modi came to power in 2014 with the slogan - Bahut hua Nari pe war/Abki baar Modi Sarkar (Enough of atrocities against women/this time Modi Sarkar). The undeniable truth is that crimes against women multiplied in the last decade. Many heinous incidents involved BJP leaders and workers in many states. Modi never spoke on those crimes. Modi refused to speak a word when top athletes sat on a dharna in Delhi, alleging molestation by one influential BJP MPs. Modi cut a sorry figure by refusing to condemn the wicked Epstein scandal. He refused to sack a Cabinet colleague who was involved with the child predator Epstein. Even worse are his and the BJP's silence on the sleazy revelations of Madhu Kishwar, who was once Modi's most brazen supporter. When will Modi understand he can neither hide behind loud propaganda, nor stony silence?

Sanjay K. Jha is a political observer.