Indian democracy will only strengthen when Modi gets re-elected- A Rebuttal to Rana Ayyub's WaPo piece
- In Politics
- 11:24 PM, May 18, 2019
- Rasita Anand
As India moves into its last leg of elections, international news outlets are publishing lopsided opinion pieces masquerading as facts. In the latest hit-job, Rana Ayyub writes that the Indian democracy will be broken if the incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi is re-elected. As usual, she draws on her recurring theme of religious intolerance as being the great fault line of the Indian populace.
In her narrative, Ms. Ayyub begins by recounting the ‘Dadri lynching’ incident. The truth remains hidden in plain sight. A simple case of theft and killing of a calf led to mob-justice and concomitant murder. But in an attempt to garner political mileage, the Samajwadi Party Government in cahoots with an irresponsible media had no qualms pointing fingers at Modi. In what followed, a law and order issue was spun by the media as ‘intolerance.’ It was widely debated and circulated worldwide in an attempt to guilt-trip the Hindu community to fold. The fact that it was condemned vociferously by the Hindus across the spectrum did not count.
Mark Twain once remarked, ‘Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are pliable.’ In a country of over a billion people, going by the mainstream media accounts, it would seem that the entire Hindu community is on the streets arm-twisting and lynching minorities. It would appear that post-2014, the majority population developed intolerance and fascist tendencies overnight. And, in the recent words of a media intellectual, we are on the path of ‘weaponizing’ our words (whatever that means). On the contrary, there have been no major communal riots in the past five years. A perfunctory search on community-based violence would throw up articles stating that the figures have gone up in the NDA regime. But a deeper dig into facts will show that the decadal data under UPA was much higher. So, if we were to go by statistics, there has been no marked change in the behavioral tendencies of Indians. Well, to the credit of all Indians, a change in government has not modified fundamental human nature. And, propaganda will not alter that fact.
Cow vigilantism will continue to be a raging point unless cattle smuggling and illegal slaughter which are directly related are tackled within the boundaries of constitutional law. Even the prime minister’s warning will not put off the efforts of Gau-rakshaks willing to sacrifice their lives to protect innocent cows unless the issues mentioned above are dealt with firmly. While some murders are more acceptable than others, a case in point here being Prashanth Poojary who was murdered around the same timeline for protesting against illegal smuggling. His death will not be discussed with the same fervor as Akhlaq. No one will interview his parents or ask them if they feel safe in their neighborhood in Moodabidri as opposed to Akhlaq’s son Danish. Or does anyone care about the gruesome deaths of two pujaris from Auraiya district whose tongues were symbolically cut out for speaking against cow smuggling? No one bothered to interview the lone survivor sadhu to know his tale.
If one were to extrapolate these two incidents; first Moodabidri in Dakshin Kannada district with a fast-rising Muslim population of around 24% with Moodabidri at 22%, one can assume that with rising Muslims, crimes against Hindus will happen with impunity. Now, let's consider Auraiya with a Hindu population pegged at 92%, higher than the state average and a Muslim population of 6%. Is it safe to draw the conclusion that crime against Hindus (mind you not common folks but pujaris revered by the community are attacked in temple premises in a spine-chilling manner) is carte blanche?
An interesting pattern to notice is that outrage of left liberals will always be selective; be it on issues or when it is about people. While they choose to focus on cow vigilantism and Danish’s sweeping comments, they deliberately ignore cattle smuggling and voice of Hindu activists. For the 'perfumed' and media class, the others who wear don’t their stripes don't count, for their blood is not red or their voices important enough to matter. If the other side does call out their hypocrisy on these issues, it will be rubbished as whataboutery. But there is a stark difference today. People are not encumbered anymore without a platform to air their views. Social media has evened out that space. So for every hit piece published, there are ten rebuttals. They may not appear in mainstream outlets yet. But more and more forums, portals and publishing mediums are willing to print the ‘other’ side of the story. That the mainstream media has lost credibility and is legitimately hated for creating imaginary fault lines is known worldwide. But what is compelling is that this wheel has been broken. The monopoly of discourse and disseminating information no longer remains with the press.
So what changed in 2014 and since?
After watching years of corruption and entitlement by the ruling class for six-plus decades and years of being kept out of progressive growth, the nation decided to vote for a candidate with a proven track record. People wanted a stake in prosperity. In a watershed election which saw participation from all walks of life and regardless of gender, class, caste, age, etc. the people of the country came out and decisively voted for the Modi government. In the ensuing five years, the NDA government has worked hard, put up a decent performance, and presented their report card to the public. The verdict is now in the people’s court and will be known in another week. Going by the performance and the reception received in the electoral campaigns, a second term is a sure shot? One must be on the ground during Indian elections to gather the pulse of the general public. Despite repeated lies, it is apparent that the public has immense love and respect for their prime minister. No amount of hatred, insults, criticisms, pot-shots, name calling, etc. can take that away. That Modi will be re-elected is without a doubt, what remains to be seen is the margin of victory.
With ongoing election fever in the country, the detractors of the government have been loyally churning out hit-pieces and hoping that BJP would fall short of a simple majority. The aim is to create chaos in a country, otherwise moving towards progress and stability. So much so that they are willing to compromise on national security issues. The National Register of Citizens (NRC) was implemented in 1951 and is currently being updated in Assam. This is an ambitious effort by the government to identify genuine citizens. It is estimated that there are around 20 million illegal Bangladeshis residing across India. In the recent NRC revision, around 4 million illegal immigrants have been identified without proper documentation in Assam alone. One does not need to go into security and economic reasons to understand the magnitude of the problem. While the BJP chief was talking about infiltrators, the author of the fluff piece Ms. Ayyub chose to skip the most important part, about illegal immigrants but chose to highlight it as hatred for Muslims. The truth could not be far from it. Why should India provide for these illegal immigrants? In a country explicitly created for Muslims in 1971 when they could not co-exist with people from their religion, does it make sense for them to choose to reside in India unlawfully? Are we to believe that these Muslims are oppressed in Bangladesh? The press also focused on Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs being welcome in India forgetting to mention a crucial aspect that these are persecuted minorities from the nearby countries of Pakistan and Bangladesh seeking refuge in a country they identify as their homeland.
Finally, any hit job on Narendra Modi is not complete without the mention of the 2002 riots. Unlike yesteryears, the shrill journalists today know better than to rake it up in India yet they continue to do so at international venues brazenly. That the highest civilian court in the country has acquitted and absolved Narendra Modi’s involvement in the riots hold no value to them. What irks these pseudo-secular-liberal-media-academia lobby is that despite relentless targeting, Modi remains unapologetic and will not bend the knee.
Muslims have always been safe in a Hindu majority, India. The vice-versa does not hold anywhere, including Indian states. Muslims have been presidents, vice-presidents, chief ministers, ministers and have held prominent public offices, are successful businessmen, doctors, scientists, and dominate Bollywood as actors, composers, lyricists, etc. They continue to hold significant influence in all spheres of life in India. Muslims across the country educated or not are reaping the benefits of economic prosperity. They have the freedom to manage their religious and educational institutions, unlike Hindus. Progressive laws like banning Triple Talaq have been introduced for the welfare of Muslim women.
India has never been at a stronger position among nations than in the current scenario. All socio-economic indicators are headed in the right direction. Though there are still gaps to identify and fill, overall figures point towards upward mobility. More people are returning to India and far more willing to stay back owing to progress and better living conditions. There are always the odd empty threats of leaving the country if Modi is elected. As seen in the past, they will continue to live in India but needlessly criticize the country, their fellow countrymen, and its leader.
The aspiration of a billion people rests on the shoulders of Modi. He is facing the difficult task of empowering the individual. For minimum government maximum governance to take root, public participation is a must. It’s not easy being in the PM’s shoes. The constant scrutiny is unreasonable when compared to any other leader. While the likes of Gandhi and others get away with a swat, Modi bears the brunt of media hate. But unlike the rest of us, he seems to draw his strength from criticisms. The re-election of Narendra Modi will only bode well for a country brimming on hope. Indian democracy will only strengthen when Modi gets re-elected. As Atal Bihari Vajpayee beautifully summed it; ‘Empowering the individual means empowering the nation. And empowerment is best served through rapid economic growth with rapid social change’. With a decisive and determined leader at the helm who holds the nation’s best interests at the center, the only way is forward.
The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that's also a hypocrite! - Tennessee Williams
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