During the final stages of the election
campaign in 2014 when it was clear that Narendra Modi would be the next PM of
India, there was a great deal of paranoia and misperception in some sections of
society, most of it was probably fuelled by the relentless and unfair attacks
by the media, which attempted to portray Modi as an anti-minority despot.
There
were attempts were made to sway people away from Modi, a group of artists
mostly from the film industry penned an open letter
urging people to vote to maintain the ‘secular fabric of the nation ‘and there
was the Principal of St Xavier’s College who urged his students via a letter on the official website of college about the dangers of
communalism and industrialization citing example of Gujarat.
I’m sure there
were many more. But despite all this Modi won a clear majority, this proved that
the nation had made up its mind and did not want to be told what to do.
Interestingly Modi got votes from all sections of society that include people
from the minority communities.
But this has not stopped the attacks
from certain sections of the news media. They would like us all to believe that
after Modi came to power India is has been taken over by ‘right-wing Hindu
groups’ whose aim it is to propagate violence against the minorities and that
have they have blessings from the PM Modi. Nothing PM Modi says or does will
convince to think the contrary. These attacks are usually baseless
In order to prove my assertions, let’s
pick a specific article on the NDTV blog website.
I will try surgically rebut the claims made in the article.
The article is provocatively entitled
‘Mr PM, We Could Have Saved Govind Pansare’ The air of certitude in the title gave
the distinct impression there was concrete evidence to prove that PM Modi and
his government is directly or indirectly responsible for the murder of Mr.
Pansare.
In the first few paragraphs the author states that she has
been “cynical of Narendra Modi's condemnation of the attacks on churches and
what was presented as his strong message opposing religious conversion.” It is
the job of the media to be skeptical of politicians, there is nothing wrong
with that. But when the skepticism turn to cynicism, we must be concerned about
the motives of the journalist and taking anything that she presents seriously.
The author in this was has perhaps unknowingly shown her blatant bias at the
very beginning.
The author continues by expression concern about “simmering
undercurrents of fascism in the country.” But if that were true, her and her
colleagues would not be able to openly question, mock and criticize the new
government for everything they do and get away with it. The word Fascism that
is casually thrown in here means ‘a governmental system led by a dictator
having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism,
regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive
nationalism and often racism’.
When such a serious allegation is made, you do
want proof. So was a specific proof provided to prove that the activities in
the country adhered to the definition of Fascism? No there wasn't!
Now to the main topic of the piece
that begins with “Last week, Pansare, a self-confessed rationalist and a member
of the CPI, was with his wife when he was shot by unidentified assailants”
which is an accurate statement, the assailants were not identified which also
means their motives were not identified either.
The article continues with ‘Pansare's
recent views on Nathuram Godse and his criticism of the the right-wing is being
investigated by the Maharashtra police as a possible cause for the
attack.’ So what did we learn here? We
know that there is a police investigation in progress with no conclusions
derived yet, the speculating possible motives of attackers without proof is
wrong.
The article also says that the PM did
not tweet about Pansare’s murder, the truth is Pansare was not a national
figure and nor was he the holder of any government post, to expect the PM to
tweet about everything occurring in India is gravely unfair. It would probably
mean that his account would have to tweet every minute of the day. The article
also says that Modi tweeted about the ten-year-old temple in his name ‘post the
BJP's Delhi rout’.
This was not just a tweet, Modi
actually condemned the fact that there was a temple in his name and called it against
to Indian culture. This by any standards is commendable, it shows an attitude
of intolerance towards sycophancy. But that is a fact that the author fails to
mention. The author feels that this was result of the defeat in Delhi but again
this is a mere opinion. The BJP has had several victories after the Delhi
pounding in local elections all over the country. In the end the attitude seems
to be that if PM Modi doesn’t anything good, it is cause he was either
compelled to or for political reasons and if commits an error well it cause that
is what he really is. Do we need any more evidence of hate here?
The author then goes on to refer to
Pansare’s criticism of Godse and calls Godse a member of the RSS, the truth is
Godse had left the RSS much before he hatched a plan to kill Gandhiji and again
there is no proof that the RSS was linked to Gandhiji’s assignation and yet
this is presented as fact.
The author also states that ‘Radical
Hindu outfits like the Sanatan Sanstha, which have been charge-sheeted in the
Thane and Goa blasts, had filed a defamation suit against Pansare’. Firstly being charge-sheeted means that
proceedings have be initiated by the police to investigate, it by no means
established any sort of conviction of the blasts, so that piece of information serves
no purpose.
Secondly, the outfits named had filed a defamation suit against
Pansare, which is a right every Indian if they feel any slander has occurred,
it is up to the courts to decide if there is any validity. Is the author equating a defamation suit with
murder? If they had intended to murder Pansare why would they seek a legal
course? It is important to note that
despite being ‘Hindu outfits’ neither of them have had any links to PM Modi. To
link them just since the share the same religion is a broad generalization that
no journalist should follow, it is like linking all Muslims to terrorism just
because of the activities of ISIS or Al Qaeda.
The article goes on to state that
“Months after the murder of anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar in
2013, Pansare received a threat letter stating "Tumcha Dabholkar
Karu", which translated that he could also be killed like Dabholkar.” But
there is no mention of who sent the letter and how we could derive who the culprit is based on it.
The article then proceeds to suggest that the PM made a
crucial appointment of the head of the Prasar Bharti to a man who wanted to
"Prosecute these atheist bullies" and had written, "Indians
are a deeply religious people and a few non-believers cannot be allowed to
disrupt national life through their disparaging comments about religious
beliefs. Non-believers are just a handful.
The 1991 Census data on religion
shows that there were just 1,782 atheists and 101 nastiks in India at that
time." Again this unnamed individual says prosecution measure to counter
the atheists, prosecution is a legal measure. There is no call to violence anywhere.
Knowing our courts, it is clear that no harm would come to people just for
being unbelievers. Prosecuting somebody for being an atheist is quite
pointless, but then it hardly can be equated with murder.
The article proceeds to suggest that PM’s statement on
religious tolerance had come out too late and had it been made earlier it could
have probably saved Pansare. Thus the author is either being naïve to suggest
that the PM’s words are powerful enough to stop assassins or indirectly
implicating the PM for the murder. This is a murder where the culprits are
unknown, the motives pure speculation and finally the police investigation is
in progress. If we are indeed speculating can it not be possible that a third
party killed Pansare knowing that the likes of this writer would blame the
‘right wing Hindu groups’ and PM Modi.
Many of the assertions made are so serious that it is
necessary to cite an impartial third party for reference but again, but no such
measure was taken. Now I know this is an opinion piece and the author is
entitled to her opinion. But it is rather dangerous to build a narrative on the
dangerous combination of half or incorrect information and speculation. To
summarize there can be no basis to link assertions made by the unnamed
individual to the murder of Pansare.
So is there a growing climate of intolerance? If there was
such intolerance the makers of the film PK would have been in trouble but barring
a few protests and incidences of vandalism which is condemnable, nothing of a
kind happened. If you do want to see real religious intolerance look no further
than the brutal murder of cartoonists in Paris for cartoons questioning Islam.
The author may not like Modi but she has to accept that he
cares deeply about his legacy and is politically astute, does she think he
would be this stupid or reckless to order or support the murder of an
individual who quite frankly was of no consequence to him or order attacks on
churches?
All through his campaign PM Modi has used the phrase Sabka
Saath, Sabka Vikas, which can be translated as ‘Together with everyone and
development for all’. It is true that there have been ridiculous statements
made by some in his party and in fact PM Modi did condemn them.
Very recently at a function to celebrate the elevation to
sainthood of Kuriakose Elias Chavara and Mother Euphrasia in New Delhi, PM Modi
said "My government will not allow any religious group, belonging to the
minority or the majority, to incite hatred against others, overtly or
covertly." We must take this statement to be true since we do not have
proof otherwise and believe that he is committed to rise above religion and
committed to development.
Pansare’s comrade in arms Narendra Dabholkar was also
murdered back in 2013, in a similar manner but at that time the Congress was in
power both the state of Maharashtra and the central government, will the author
blame Manmohan Singh for the murder? Let’s
be very clear, the murder of Pansare is deplorable and the perpetrators much be
arrested and severely punished. It is equally essential that the motives behind
the murder are known. But it is unfair to blame the wrong people without proof.
The most dangerous thing that can ruin society is the
combination of cynicism and fear. We must rise up above man-made divides such
as religion and caste and come together for development and growth. In recent
speeches that the PM delivered in the Lok Sabha and Raj Sabha the PM retreated
just that. Hopefully, the media will refrain from casting aspersions on anybody
just because they are out there.
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