Former Vice President Hamid Ansari wrote in The Hindu on “Rollback the distrust, remember the core values”. The headline and the content of the article are fully in-line with the lies and perception the English media ecosystem has been trying to create since the past 6 years. Hamid Ansari tries to keep the article generic but makes a minor slip that gives us a peek into his thoughts. He tells us that the situation “is alarming enough to induce a group of 100 of our most eminent former civil servants to appeal, recently, to State Chief Ministers”

What did these former civil servants write about? In their opinion the NPR and CAA are wasteful exercises. They propagate the same lie that Muslims will feel insecure because CAA excludes Muslims! They happily fail to tell us that CAA does not affect a single Indian citizen (irrespective of religion). They peddle a lie in January; the media amplifies it for a whole week; the former Vice President of India makes a reference to this letter in April! This begs a question – what is the agenda of the former Vice President of India here?

We are in the midst of a severe pandemic. Thousands of participants of the Tablighi Jamaat and their contacts were tested Corona positive. We have seen how health workers have been attacked (physically attacked and not mere social media trolling) when they went to help or save these people. The health workers again went back the next day to carry out tests. What more should be done to “rollback the distrust”, Mr. Hamid Ansari? On whom is the burden to “rollback the distrust”? On the attacker? Or on the victim? While writing so eloquently about citizenry, constitution, morality etc, couldn’t you really write one sentence condemning the violence on health workers by our own citizens? What stopped you from appealing to them to stop the violence?

Or are you still stuck in a time-warp and want to exclusively focus on NPR and CAA? If so, as a former occupant of a constitutional position, isn’t it your responsibility to dispel the fears of the citizens of India? Isn’t it your responsibility to tell the citizens that the CAA will not snatch the citizenship of a single Indian? Isn’t it your responsibility to kill the fake news factory and come out with facts? Instead of amplifying the lies being spread, you could have chosen to write an article on NPR and CAA at least two months earlier and attempted to assuage the agitators.

It is sad that you chose to use the Corona pandemic to further refer to NPR and CAA. It is further distressing to note that you had no words of advice to all those citizens who were attacking the health workers carrying their duties. It was incumbent upon you to “rollback the distrust”. Instead you chose to simply pass it on to the hapless citizens!

On April 27^th, we had the MIM Chief, Asaduddin Owaisi write strongly on “Unconstitutional nationwide lockdown”. Looks like “unconstitutional” is the buzz word in the WhatsApp group of the English media and their friends! Why does he call it unconstitutional? Because “So far, the Union government has not provided any factual basis for why Covid-19 was beyond the “coping capacity” of any area of the country.”

This makes me wonder - Does Owaisi live in the same world that we all live in? Does he really not know that if Corona explodes, India doesn’t have the “coping capacity” and the only way to get ready for that is a lockdown? I bet he does know, but if he accepts that, how can he still be a darling of the “intellectuals”?

Owaisi further lists out articles of the constitution and sections of different acts as a show-off. His rant includes amusing statements such as “The Union government is in no position to assess the specific context of a particular State, let alone the circumstances in which migrant workers are living or what is best for them”.

Owaisi conveniently avoided telling us that many states were already in lockdown when the Prime Minister announced a nation-wide lockdown. Not a single state government came out and said what the PM did was unconstitutional. MIM’s best friend, the TRS, has welcomed the announcement of the Prime Minister. Except for 1 or 2 states, all state governments have strongly recommended a further extension of the nationwide lockdown. If this was “unconstitutional”, why would all our state governments enforce this lockdown to the best of their capabilities? Why does this simple logic elude the intellectual brain of Asaduddin Owaisi?

Furthering his agenda Owaisi blatantly lies that India is spending 20,000 crores on Central Vista project in Delhi. This lie has been dissected in article here, so no need to dig further on it. While the first half of this article was focused on how the Union is doing nothing, Owaisi suddenly shifts tact and tells us that the Union government is “micromanaging”! Owaisi should have first decided what is it that he wanted to criticize – the central government is doing nothing, or the central government is doing everything! The article is confusing at so many levels that it makes us wonder why Owaisi couldn’t find a single meaningful criticism of either the state or the central government.

The only solution that Owaisi offers for the problem is creation of Inter-state council. That’s it – apparently that will solve all problems. PM has been in touch with all the CMs of the country on a regular basis to ensure the best implementation of the lockdown. But it is immaterial to him.

Both Hamid Ansari and Asaduddin Owaisi could have chosen to be more forthcoming on the real issues faced by the country in these turbulent times. Instead they chose to fall back on the same old trite that the English media is keen on promoting. Apparently, that doesn't resonate a bit with the citizens of India. I wonder how they would want to respond to this lost opportunity.