As Narendra Modi’s campaign enters its last few days and let's look back at how his opponents and the media characterized him and what is actually the truth actually is.
If you have been following the mainstream media, well at least most of the mainstream media or listening to the opposition or following the opinions of certain ‘liberal intellectuals’ you will hear the many myriads of ways that Modi is attacked. Some call him a butcher or a mass murderer, some refer to him as a snooper on innocent women or the remaining refer to him as a fascist or a reincarnation of Hitler and why even his tweets and speeches are full ‘fascistic overtones’. Some scurrilously attack him with assertions that the riots of 2002 happened under his leadership and guidance and that he instructed the killing of Muslims.
If you have been following the mainstream media, well at least most of the mainstream media or listening to the opposition or following the opinions of certain ‘liberal intellectuals’ you will hear the many myriads of ways that Modi is attacked. Some call him a butcher or a mass murderer, some refer to him as a snooper on innocent women or the remaining refer to him as a fascist or a reincarnation of Hitler and why even his tweets and speeches are full ‘fascistic overtones’. Some scurrilously attack him with assertions that the riots of 2002 happened under his leadership and guidance and that he instructed the killing of Muslims.
The ‘intellectuals’ do not name him but warn of the dangerous days ahead, they write or tweet with sly references to Hitler and how pre-Nazi Germany after WW1 was similar to India today and how Hitler managed to capture the imagination of an entire people and eventually lead them to their doom. When fringe ‘Right-Wing Hindu Groups’ take it upon themselves to stop Valentine’s Day or demand a ban on books such as the one by Wendy Doniger, they scream intolerance and even try to tie it in some odd way back to Modi and his ‘doctrine of religious intolerance’.
When a fringe loon in the party makes a remark that ‘Modi’s critics better move to Pakistan’ they all vow to go to Pakistan stating that this is no longer the country they want to live in. They will also put forth the fact that Modi and his aide Amit Shah were involved in snooping that violated the privacy of an innocent young girl. They will also bring up the execution of an ‘innocent girl’ Ishrat Jahan in Gujarat on orders of Modi. They sign letters that urge people to vote to maintain the secular nature of this country. There are several allegations but it will be impossible to cover them mall what has been summarized are the most serious ones.
A few years back I had the occasion to travel to Gujarat on a holiday while traveling from the Hotel in Gir back to Rajkot Airport, we had a rather ebullient driver who went beyond his job description to double as a Tour Guide, for our tea break we stopped and city Gondal and marveled at the vintage car collection of the Maharaja, we also marveled at his book collections and his academic qualifications.
A few years back I had the occasion to travel to Gujarat on a holiday while traveling from the Hotel in Gir back to Rajkot Airport, we had a rather ebullient driver who went beyond his job description to double as a Tour Guide, for our tea break we stopped and city Gondal and marveled at the vintage car collection of the Maharaja, we also marveled at his book collections and his academic qualifications.
I then congratulated him on his enthusiasm for his job, he told me that in the forty-sixth year of his life he had finally found stability and happiness. He said he had basic education and had lived in Gir but due to the lack of any job prospects, he had traveled all over Gujarat and had done all sort of small jobs but never found any sense of permanence. As we stopped at one of the local shops, I noticed him say his prayers. He said he was a devout Muslim and believed in saying his prayers five times a day. He then produced a hundred-dollar bill, proudly saying that an American tourist had given it to him the previous day because of his good work. Then he began to thanks Narendra Modi for his idea to get Amitabh Bachchan to do the series of adverts for Gujarat, particularly Somnath and Gir.
He said that the place was previously a tourist destination but the Bachchan campaign had seen the tourism multiple several times and that had led him to secure a permanent position as a driver. He said he was eternally grateful to Modi for building Gujarat and particularly Gir into the international tourist hub. He also said that that electricity and clean water were always a problem in Gujarat and in a short time Modi had managed to fix it all by empowering people at the grass-root level.
He went on to add that he lived in an area where the Muslims were a majority and they never ever felt any sort of danger. He said he felt secure and most importantly he felt contented that he had a good job that enabled him to support his family. This was a man who had found happiness directly because of an initiative of Modi and this is the ultimate achievement for any leader: to give a sense of contentment to his people. There were several such people who had gained employment because of the tourism boom in Gir and many of them hailed from states other than Gujarat. There are several such stories within that nobody is interested in covering. Instead, all we hear are allegations and attacks.
So let’s put them all to the test, let’s begin with the riots of 2002, this was a riot and the victims include both Hindus and Muslims. Many refer to this riot as genocide or a pogrom for those people here the difference, genocide is the systematic annihilation of all or part of a racial, ethnic, religious, or national group, a pogrom is a violent riot aimed at massacre or persecution of an ethnic or religious group and finally, a riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property or people.
So let’s put them all to the test, let’s begin with the riots of 2002, this was a riot and the victims include both Hindus and Muslims. Many refer to this riot as genocide or a pogrom for those people here the difference, genocide is the systematic annihilation of all or part of a racial, ethnic, religious, or national group, a pogrom is a violent riot aimed at massacre or persecution of an ethnic or religious group and finally, a riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property or people.
Since the victims here were both Hindus and Muslims the best way to refer to this is a riot. If one looks through the history of India there have been several rights and many of them for communal reasons and yet the 2002 riots seem to be the only riot that gets the magnifying glass treatment, Modi is perhaps the only CM who was subjected to an nine-hour inquiry by the police that was video recorded at the behest of the Supreme Court as part of the inquiries following the riots.
There have been several inquiries and all of them have found Mr. Modi innocent and stated that he had acted appropriately to curb the violence. It is also important to note that Modi had just assumed power when the riots broke, it has been over a decade since that time and there have been no riots in Gujarat while there have been several such incidences all over the country which the media gives very little or no coverage. But surprisingly that doesn’t stop the opposition or the media from using ‘mass murder’ casually without any evidence. When a fringe loon demanded that “Modi demanded
Modi critics are transported to Pakistan” tough action was taken by Mr. Modi and the offender silenced, in interviews on TV Modi condemned and distanced himself from these remarks. But again the opponents just are not willing to concede. Then comes the question of civil liberties, and the surveillance of a young girl, a recent inquiry also exonerated Amit Shah from any wrongdoings in snoopgate controversy, and in the process Modi as well, the media coverage of this had been weak to say the least and the opponents pretend to have never heard of any such thing. Many of those who urged people to vote secular (euphemism for against Modi) actually chose to attend a film award function abroad instead of voting themselves, the actress Nandita Das who was once such person traveled on a UPA funded junket to Stockholm where she spoke against Modi if these folks cared so much for the country and feared Modi they could have done better by actually voting for their ‘secular’ party.
Modi critics are transported to Pakistan” tough action was taken by Mr. Modi and the offender silenced, in interviews on TV Modi condemned and distanced himself from these remarks. But again the opponents just are not willing to concede. Then comes the question of civil liberties, and the surveillance of a young girl, a recent inquiry also exonerated Amit Shah from any wrongdoings in snoopgate controversy, and in the process Modi as well, the media coverage of this had been weak to say the least and the opponents pretend to have never heard of any such thing. Many of those who urged people to vote secular (euphemism for against Modi) actually chose to attend a film award function abroad instead of voting themselves, the actress Nandita Das who was once such person traveled on a UPA funded junket to Stockholm where she spoke against Modi if these folks cared so much for the country and feared Modi they could have done better by actually voting for their ‘secular’ party.
Then comes the Ishrat Jahan case despite inquiries there has been no proof to incriminate Amit Shah or Mr. Modi, in fact in 2013 India Today reported that Asif Ibrahim, the chief of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), had told the PMO and the HO that there was enough evidence to prove that Ishrat Jahan belonged to a LeT cell which planned to assassinate Modi and L. K. Advani.
Then there was Modi’s refusal to wear the skull cap, but how many know that this little incident took place during the three-day Sadbhavana mission that was held for religious harmony and understanding that was met with a thunderous response, in fact the skull cap incident that the media blew up was not even noticed there. Recently a cleric also came out in support of Modi saying that he too would refuse to wear a vermillion tika or indulge in idol worship since it violates his religious principle so why Modi should be compelled to violate his principles. Modi has also made it clear that while he will not compromise on his religious principles he will not allow anybody of another religion to be offended. Modi himself has always referred to his people not by their religion but as Indians.
But the liberal contingent goes quiet when the Congress president visits Muslim leaders and urges Muslims not to divide the secular vote. Also, the fringe groups that demand the banning of books have no direct association with Modi, despite baseless assertions, funnily enough, these supporters of Doniger’s book and bastions of freedom of speech go silent when matter Tasleema Narseen comes up.
The basic principle of liberalism is empathy i.e. respect of people with opposing perspectives or ideology and even putting yourself in their position. But somehow the liberal movement has been hijacked by extreme intolerant far-left elements that do not deal with the truth, instead, deal with vicious attacks on whomever they disagree with. It is this sort of mentality that demands that Lata Mangeshkar’s Bharat Ratna be taken away merely because she endorses Modi.
The basic principle of liberalism is empathy i.e. respect of people with opposing perspectives or ideology and even putting yourself in their position. But somehow the liberal movement has been hijacked by extreme intolerant far-left elements that do not deal with the truth, instead, deal with vicious attacks on whomever they disagree with. It is this sort of mentality that demands that Lata Mangeshkar’s Bharat Ratna be taken away merely because she endorses Modi.
To sum it up they are good, kind, virtuous, tolerant, intelligent, secular, ever ready to wear a skull cap and support freedom of speech while Modi who they do not agree with like if an evil, fascist, minority hating, communal, corporate supporting a ruthless dictator who will destroy India forever. Ironically this is was dictators do, demonizing whomever they disagree with vicious mistruths, propaganda, hysterical drum beating through every possible medium until the impressionable and the ignorant are either confused or swayed into thinking the way they want to.
In the end, what does the ordinary Muslim person want, does he want politicians giving passionate speeches vowing the be kind to the minorities, does he want a politician to pose before cameras with a skull cap and ignore them for the rest of his tenure or does he want a leader who can give him employment and a sage habitat that makes him feel contented. If we go by the case of our tour driver we all know what the answer is.
Does the country think the same? We will know very soon.
This post is dedicated to U!
In the end, what does the ordinary Muslim person want, does he want politicians giving passionate speeches vowing the be kind to the minorities, does he want a politician to pose before cameras with a skull cap and ignore them for the rest of his tenure or does he want a leader who can give him employment and a sage habitat that makes him feel contented. If we go by the case of our tour driver we all know what the answer is.
Does the country think the same? We will know very soon.
This post is dedicated to U!
Comments
Post a Comment