As India prepares to celebrate its 70th Independence Day on Aug. 15 and listen to Narendra Modi’s address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort, it must be tough for the spin doctors in New Delhi to present the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) colossal failures as shining achievements in the PM’s speech.
The nation wonders how Modi will justify his reluctance to speak over a raft of issues that have plagued India under his premiership and have globally embarrassed the world’s largest democracy.
Let’s start with a sustained murderous campaign by some of his aides against India’s principal minority in the name of cow protection.
Will Modi regret the lynching of Mohammed Akhlaq in Uttar Pradesh by saffron thugs after they accused him of consuming and storing beef?
Will he express astonishment over a recent police FIR in which the victim’s family has been named? The FIR was registered almost 10 months after Akhlaq’s murder. An investigation by The Quint has revealed that the complainant did not witness the incident. He filed the FIR on the hearsay of three villagers. None of the “witnesses” provided The Quint team with any concrete evidence to support their testimony.
As assembly elections are due in UP, Modi recently woke up to the plight of India’s low-caste Hindus (Dalits) who are being mercilessly beaten and humiliated by state-promoted cow vigilantes. Muslims are also bearing the brunt of it, but Modi, who doesn’t get tired of claiming he is the leader of all Indians, comfortably forgot attacks on Muslims. Two Muslim women were thrashed by cow vigilantes at a railway station in Madhya Pradesh on July 26 while the police looked the other way. Their crime? Suspicion they were carrying cow meat!
The attackers belonged to, no marks for guessing, local Hindu outfits who regularly harass Muslim mutton traders. Does it mean Muslims are fair game?
Videos of Dalits being stripped, tied up, beaten and even forced to eat cow dung are going viral on social media. The Dalit vote bank is slipping out of the BJP’s grip. Hence the sudden sympathy from Modi, who, when not in power, had raised the specter of a “pink revolution” — major expansion of the meat industry.
In this context, eminent Muslim leaders have challenged the Modi government to ban beef export. It should be noted that under the Modi administration, India’s meat export has doubled. To quote Congress leader Digvijay Singh, “Most of the beef exporters are Hindus and BJP is just doing cow politics for communal polarization.”
Modi’s token rebuke to the “fringe” group has miserably failed to stem the violence. The state of Haryana has even gone to the extent of giving licenses to “cow protection groups to “aid police.”
Will Modi chastise his cohorts who are considering the BJP’s rule at the center a license to plan communal (read anti-Muslim) riots? Disturbances were up in 2015 by nearly 17 percent from the previous year, with UP, Maharashtra and Karnataka reporting the highest number of incidents. The official admission in Parliament has raised questions on the Home Ministry’s claim that communal violence was down under the Modi rule.
Will Modi lambaste a crop of his party’s elected leaders who have gone full throttle in spitting venom against Muslims? The most ghastly example was a speech given in March 2015 in the presence of parliamentarian Yogi Adityanath, in which he exhorted his listeners to dig out bodies of Muslim women and rape them. In 2014, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, a minister, had called Muslims illegitimate children. The list is long.
Will Modi rue the fact that some of his cronies launched a vile attack on people stressing intolerance under the BJP rule? Several saffron notables have gone on record as saying that those who do not chant the slogan “Long live Mother India” are anti-national and should go to Pakistan. They know full well that Muslims bow to God alone. Top film stars were threatened when they spoke their minds over the issue.
Will Modi rebuke some of his friends who have introduced the rising threat of “love jihad” allegedly perpetrated by Muslim men? Pamphlets are distributed warning Hindus to “thwart” attempts by Muslims who, following a “grand anti-Hindu plot,” woo Hindu girls, forcibly convert them and marry them to increase the Muslim population.
Will Modi highlight in his speech that his government has miserably failed to fulfill the promise of bringing back the black money to the tune of hundreds of billions stashed in banks abroad? Calling the drive a “joke,” former director of Infosys T.V. Mohandas Pai has said the government does not have enough policy, as well as legal and intelligence strength, to deal with the issue.
Will Modi talk about how India’s farmers, under his watch, have suffered because of failed crops, inability to repay loans and no or too little government support? In Maharashtra alone, 1,417 farmers ended lives in one year, while 100,270 farmers were found with health ailments.
Will Modi tell the nation that under his rule, the Kashmir problem has worsened? The month-long unrest has claimed over 55 lives and the more the army uses force in the valley, the more deadly clashes erupt. The controversial use of pellet guns by the army has left many an innocent civilian permanently blind or handicapped.
Modi said he was pained to see innocent youngsters, who should be holding laptops, books and cricket bats, have been given stones and appealed to them for maintaining peace and harmony in the “paradise” on earth. Perhaps he has never seen the photos of children — that have gone viral on social media — at the training camps of ultra Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) being trained in using firearms, swords and tridents.
What India has failed to demonstrate thus far is that the people of Kashmir are as integral to its affections and concerns as the land in which they live.
Chances are Modi’s speech will ignore all these burning issues that have put a big question mark on the idea of a pluralistic India.
The saffron setup will continue to be unashamedly unapologetic about its misdemeanors. But a Dalit-Muslim alliance might shake the ground from beneath the BJP’s feet and rattle the throne of self-proclaimed sons of Gau Mata (Mother Cow) sitting in the Parliament.
The nation wonders how Modi will justify his reluctance to speak over a raft of issues that have plagued India under his premiership and have globally embarrassed the world’s largest democracy.
Let’s start with a sustained murderous campaign by some of his aides against India’s principal minority in the name of cow protection.
Will Modi regret the lynching of Mohammed Akhlaq in Uttar Pradesh by saffron thugs after they accused him of consuming and storing beef?
Will he express astonishment over a recent police FIR in which the victim’s family has been named? The FIR was registered almost 10 months after Akhlaq’s murder. An investigation by The Quint has revealed that the complainant did not witness the incident. He filed the FIR on the hearsay of three villagers. None of the “witnesses” provided The Quint team with any concrete evidence to support their testimony.
As assembly elections are due in UP, Modi recently woke up to the plight of India’s low-caste Hindus (Dalits) who are being mercilessly beaten and humiliated by state-promoted cow vigilantes. Muslims are also bearing the brunt of it, but Modi, who doesn’t get tired of claiming he is the leader of all Indians, comfortably forgot attacks on Muslims. Two Muslim women were thrashed by cow vigilantes at a railway station in Madhya Pradesh on July 26 while the police looked the other way. Their crime? Suspicion they were carrying cow meat!
The attackers belonged to, no marks for guessing, local Hindu outfits who regularly harass Muslim mutton traders. Does it mean Muslims are fair game?
Videos of Dalits being stripped, tied up, beaten and even forced to eat cow dung are going viral on social media. The Dalit vote bank is slipping out of the BJP’s grip. Hence the sudden sympathy from Modi, who, when not in power, had raised the specter of a “pink revolution” — major expansion of the meat industry.
In this context, eminent Muslim leaders have challenged the Modi government to ban beef export. It should be noted that under the Modi administration, India’s meat export has doubled. To quote Congress leader Digvijay Singh, “Most of the beef exporters are Hindus and BJP is just doing cow politics for communal polarization.”
Modi’s token rebuke to the “fringe” group has miserably failed to stem the violence. The state of Haryana has even gone to the extent of giving licenses to “cow protection groups to “aid police.”
Will Modi chastise his cohorts who are considering the BJP’s rule at the center a license to plan communal (read anti-Muslim) riots? Disturbances were up in 2015 by nearly 17 percent from the previous year, with UP, Maharashtra and Karnataka reporting the highest number of incidents. The official admission in Parliament has raised questions on the Home Ministry’s claim that communal violence was down under the Modi rule.
Will Modi lambaste a crop of his party’s elected leaders who have gone full throttle in spitting venom against Muslims? The most ghastly example was a speech given in March 2015 in the presence of parliamentarian Yogi Adityanath, in which he exhorted his listeners to dig out bodies of Muslim women and rape them. In 2014, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, a minister, had called Muslims illegitimate children. The list is long.
Will Modi rue the fact that some of his cronies launched a vile attack on people stressing intolerance under the BJP rule? Several saffron notables have gone on record as saying that those who do not chant the slogan “Long live Mother India” are anti-national and should go to Pakistan. They know full well that Muslims bow to God alone. Top film stars were threatened when they spoke their minds over the issue.
Will Modi rebuke some of his friends who have introduced the rising threat of “love jihad” allegedly perpetrated by Muslim men? Pamphlets are distributed warning Hindus to “thwart” attempts by Muslims who, following a “grand anti-Hindu plot,” woo Hindu girls, forcibly convert them and marry them to increase the Muslim population.
Will Modi highlight in his speech that his government has miserably failed to fulfill the promise of bringing back the black money to the tune of hundreds of billions stashed in banks abroad? Calling the drive a “joke,” former director of Infosys T.V. Mohandas Pai has said the government does not have enough policy, as well as legal and intelligence strength, to deal with the issue.
Will Modi talk about how India’s farmers, under his watch, have suffered because of failed crops, inability to repay loans and no or too little government support? In Maharashtra alone, 1,417 farmers ended lives in one year, while 100,270 farmers were found with health ailments.
Will Modi tell the nation that under his rule, the Kashmir problem has worsened? The month-long unrest has claimed over 55 lives and the more the army uses force in the valley, the more deadly clashes erupt. The controversial use of pellet guns by the army has left many an innocent civilian permanently blind or handicapped.
Modi said he was pained to see innocent youngsters, who should be holding laptops, books and cricket bats, have been given stones and appealed to them for maintaining peace and harmony in the “paradise” on earth. Perhaps he has never seen the photos of children — that have gone viral on social media — at the training camps of ultra Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) being trained in using firearms, swords and tridents.
What India has failed to demonstrate thus far is that the people of Kashmir are as integral to its affections and concerns as the land in which they live.
Chances are Modi’s speech will ignore all these burning issues that have put a big question mark on the idea of a pluralistic India.
The saffron setup will continue to be unashamedly unapologetic about its misdemeanors. But a Dalit-Muslim alliance might shake the ground from beneath the BJP’s feet and rattle the throne of self-proclaimed sons of Gau Mata (Mother Cow) sitting in the Parliament.
