Over 200 filmmakers, writers and artistes are staging yet another entreaty to oust the BJP in the 2019 elections. If there is one thing appreciable about the artistes, writers and filmmakers who call themselves “independent”, “progressive” and “liberal”, it is the alacrity and consistency with which they step up before any major election to provide intellectual horsepower to those they support. If you are openly naming and shaming a legitimate political party, how can you claim to be “neutral”?
This pattern has become so excruciatingly boring and predictable that common Indians look at them disdainfully. The misguided sense of self-importance that they know what is good for the country and that the unwashed, unlettered millions need their guidance is what adds to their growing irrelevance in India today. No one grudges their fundamental and democratic right to issue such appeals. But it is natural that those who do not subscribe to this propaganda want to counter it.
Intolerant India slogan
Since the time Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in May 2014, several people who were entrenched in the system under erstwhile regimes suddenly fell out of favour. And since then, their campaign has been relentless.
From December 2014, a ceaseless blitzkrieg was carried out when the terrible incidents of attacks on churches and rape of a nun surfaced just before the Delhi state elections. The shrill rhetoric of Christians being persecuted in India under “fascist” Modi had international ramifications, drawing the attention of foreign media and even former US President Barack Obama. The special investigation teams that probed these church attacks found that the reasons ranged from drunken ribaldry of miscreants to electric short circuits. The rape was committed by a Bangladeshi national.
But by then the lie had been repeated so many times that the smokescreen of “unsafe-India” was fully reinforced. Not a squeak of an apology came from any self-righteous “intellectual” or the media that spread this fake news that tarnished the country’s image.
And then they moved to the slogan that India had turned “intolerant”. Indignant artists and writers returned their awards. Wives of actors felt scared for their kids growing up here and wished to migrate.
The zeal with which narratives are quickly constructed with a pliable media is truly a case study.
Sources in the Sahitya Akademi, which bore the brunt of the campaign, reveal that some writers had not even bothered sending back their award plaques, let alone the prize money. But they had got their 10 minutes of fame in the national media – returning their awards caused more sensation than getting it in the first place.
An analysis of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)’s data reveals that under the UPA, crimes against Dalits rose by 17.3 per cent — from 33,594 cases in 2009 to 39,408 cases in 2013. This meant there was almost one crime every 15 minutes throughout its tenure. Moreover, five Dalit women were raped on an average every day in 2013. Are we to conclude these were at the behest of Sonia Gandhi or Manmohan Singh?
In fact, the NCRB data puts 2013 as the worst year in terms of crimes against Dalit women, SCs and STs as they rose by 27 per cent, 17 per cent and 15 per cent, respectively from the previous year. Taking the base year as 2014, when crimes against Dalits rose by 19.4 per cent as compared to the previous year, the figures for crimes against women, SCs and STs under the NDA fell by 3 per cent, 18 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively in 2015.
The latest 2016 NCRB report suggests that growth in crimes against women and SC/STs is well under 5 per cent.
So, what is the data source for all the screaming from the rooftops that the marginalised communities are increasingly being targeted? Do these “intellectuals” have their own NCRB? Or, is it just the way they “feel” or is it the result of some fake media reportage as seen in the church case? Can the narrative of an entire nation be set by a bunch of people sitting fearfully in their air-conditioned homes?
Also read: Modi is not a loved PM, he is a feared PM, says Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath
Cow vigilantism
If there has been any issue that has received immense media scrutiny, and rightly so, it is undoubtedly cow-vigilantism and related violence. Added to this, the idiocy of several ministers garlanding or getting themselves photographed with those accused of lynching makes it a justified case for severe condemnation.
However, one must also acknowledge that the issue of cow slaughter is an extremely sensitive one in India and not something that began on 26 May 2014. The rumours of beef-lard in the cartridges were one of the many reasons for the country rising in revolt in 1857. History is replete with numerous cases of Hindu-Muslim riots that the British governments had to deal with on this very issue.
The cow protection movement was championed by leaders like Mahatma Gandhi who wrote in Young India on 8 June 1921 that “no one who does not believe in cow protection can possibly be a Hindu. Cow worship means to me the worship of innocence”. Gandhian Vinoba Bhave went on fasts unto death to protect the cow from the butcher’s knife.
Similar sentiments attached to animals are found in several countries. Being man’s best friend, dog meat is banned in countries like Germany, the US and in parts of Australia. The US has also banned horse meat on similar compassionate grounds.
Close to two dozen states, many during the Congress regimes, passed laws forbidding cow slaughter. But it is one thing to pass a law and another to implement them on ground.
Regular cases of cattle thefts get reported across rural India, where cows are the backbone of the agrarian economy. The resultant social unrest and the pathetic absence of effective policing to maintain law and order make this a potpourri for disaster. While no civilised society should condone lynching of any form, the intense visibility that these attacks have been attracting since 2014 is for obvious political gains. Extrapolating a few incidents in a country of 1.3 billion and calling India ‘Lynchistan’ is disingenuous and dangerous.
At the same time, in these five years, cow activists have been brutally killed too – notable among them is the murder of Prashanth Poojary in Karnataka’s Moodabidri. But such cases are hardly reported by mainstream media.
Similarly, during the last five years, cases of violence by Muslim mobs against Dalits have not made it to the headlines, nor have they led to an outrage by appeal activists.
Also read: Unlike Nehru, Narendra Modi has no army of intellectual elite and the RSS is to blame
Artistes under threat?
The “appeals” also allege that artistes and musicians who oppose the Narendra Modi government have been hounded. Public memory is short. Else, we would not have forgotten that celebrated poet-lyricist Majrooh Sultanpuri spent two years in jail in 1949 for an “anti-establishment” poem that called former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru Hitler’s protégé.
Actor Utpal Dutt was arrested in 1965 for an article that was labelled seditious. Several of his plays were banned during the Emergency. Congress chief minister of West Bengal at the time Siddhartha Sankar Ray had famously commented: “He would politically confront the issue”.
Singer Kishore Kumar was blacklisted from the All India Radio and his songs were banned on AIR and Doordarshan after he refused to sing for a Congress government programme.
Incidents of books and films being banned by “progressive” and “secular” governments since 1947 are enough to fill a museum wall. A few films that were banned or faced censor board ire include Aandhi, Kissa Kursi Ka, Nasbandi, Amu, Sins, Rajneeti, Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi and Tango Charlie.
Just a fraction of the books that our “liberals” banned include Nehru: A Political Biography, Who Killed Gandhi?, Dwikhandito, Nine Hours to Rama, Understanding Islam through Hadis, Ayesha, Himalayan Blunder, The Da Vinci Code, The Moor’s Last Sigh and The Satanic Verses. Sweeping notifications were imposed for bans on the import of books and reading material in 1960, 1964 and 1976.
Writers and activists like Salman Rushdie, V.S. Naipaul, Taslima Nasreen, Sanal Edamaruku, and T.J. Joseph have been hounded. Shamefully, India became the first country to ban Satanic Verses even before Ayatollah Khomeini’s totalitarian regime did.
Threat to free speech
In more recent times, the UPA’s draconian Section 66A curbed freedom of expression on the internet. Someone tweeting against Karti Chidambaram could just be picked up and jailed. Content screening regulations were discussed with Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and Facebook by then union minister Kapil Sibal.
In Congress-ruled Karnataka, arrests were made in 2016 in Koppala for posting “derogatory” content against Tipu Sultan and for “criticising” Siddaramaiah, while two journalists were arrested for defaming legislators. In Samajwadi-ruled Uttar Pradesh in 2015, mobs gathered allegedly demanding the head of Kamlesh Tiwari for his comments against the Prophet. The ripple effect resulting in the Malda violence was believed to be fanned by the Trinamool Congress supporters. Despite all these examples, we are made to believe that the “fascist” Modi government is out to muzzle voices.
An article in ThePrint spoke about how Modi goes to his voters by building a fear-complex. Is this fear-mongering any different? Their appeals remind one of what writer James Rozoff had said: “Sheep only need a single flock, but people need two, one to belong to and make them feel comfortable, and another to blame all of society’s problems on!”
The Indian electorate is surely wiser than what these worthies collectively think.
Vikram Sampath is an author/historian/political analyst and a Senior Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, with an upcoming biography of Savarkar.
Very well written exposing the liberals for what they are worth
Please remove the G+ button from the Sharing Options. Google+ is dead and gone…
For the sale of defending Bikram writes . With such mandate , instead of developing the country, only wasted enrgy in dividing people on the ground of caste, religion, rich and poor. Accusing Congres by BJP for their failier is fatal. That is irresponsability and shame. Others failier is never a justification that you fail. It is hypocracy, arrogance and destructive. It is worst condeming to liberals.
This is a shameful attempt to build a false equality! Some things are right and some things are wrong – there is nothing wrong in pointing out what is wrong. That is not being “partial”. The author is clearly an admirer of BJP – ok, why not? It takes all kinds to build a democracy. But it is preposterous to suggest (as does a commentator here) that it needs guts to praise those in power.
A great article exposing the falsehood of paid gangs of pseudo seculars and the fake liberals of India. The nation needs more and more intellectuals like Mr Vikram Sampath to present the true picture of the Indian society and polity.
The author’s only valid grouch is why are these artists/writers openly naming and shaming BJP and Modi? His Twitter bio ‘openly’ says, “followed by Narendra Modi”, if you can openly celebrate, why can’t another person openly condemn? But then you write an article to somehow defend Modi. Well then, do a good job. Your first para had some NCRB data, only till 2016, (because Modi govt have not released 2017 and 2018 NCRB data, just like they stalled jobs unemployment data or the data on how many killed in Balakot) to prove that things were as bad or even worse in Congress regime. And then in subsequent para you had no data at all but proved the same point that things were as bad. You went all the way back to 1949 in your enthusiastic literary whataboutery to prove things were always as bad. Now, I have some data to show there is considerable increase in communal violence in Modi regime.
Communal riots up 17% in 2015 under NDA https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/communal-riots-up-17-in-2015-under-nda/articleshow/51130192.cms
86% killed in cow-related violence since 2010 are Muslim, 97% attacks after Modi govt came to power: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/86-killed-in-cow-related-violence-since-2010-are-muslims-97-attacks-after-modi-govt-came-to-power/story-w9CYOksvgk9joGSSaXgpLO.html
Govt reports 27% rise in communal clashes between 2014 to 2017 (Note, this is govt report mentioned in Parliament): http://164.100.47.190/loksabhaquestions/annex/14/AU590.pdf
In spite of all that data, this author who is followed by Narendra Modi on Twitter, and is writing a biography of Savarkar, is outraged people are “openly” condemning Modi’s hate and violence politics. Wonder wonder. Horror Horror.
Well, anyone can do such research and come up with equal “wonder, wonder, horror horror”. One example: https://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/communal-violence-increases-28-under-modi-govt-yet-short-of-upa-high-118020900128_1.html. Is this the reason why Congress manifesto mentions restraining the reporting of riots etc?
You cannot just wait for comments to conclude and then have a final word. Those who are discerning amongst us will do their own investigation before getting shocked by your half-baked facts. So here’s another of your “wonder, wonder, horror, horror” https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/cong-ruled-states-witnessed-more-communal-violences-home-ministry-data-180323-2014-02-09.
This is just quick and basic research. Hindu-Muslim animosity goes a long way back in history. I am sure some of us have been direct witness to lynching and burning that happened during 1984. Hate to even recall that dreadful time.
Very well said, Sanjukta Basu. It is typical of fanatics to apply different standards to themselves and to others. Now Advani says that critisism of BJP is not anti-national. Bhakts may go on hoping that everyone will be intimidated into chanting har-har-modi but that is not going to happen – even within the party, there is a slow rebellion building up againt mindless tyrany.
You are aptly named…..
Filmmakers, writers and artistes who hate Modi don’t apply the same standards when evaluating Modi government as they did for Congress lead governments. This difference of standards is not merely a personal choice but a propaganda tool of Congress’s well nourished team of filmmakers, writers and artistes. Common people may take time to understand this game plan of Congress but they will ultimately know the truth.
Great article exposing the hypocrisy of so-called intellectual libtards who are actually Congress and left stooges. Freedom of expression is a two-way street. Diehard presstirltudes feel they have birthright to call all others as intolerant, while they become so intolerant against any contrarian views.
Very nice article indeed
These “intellectuals” are not some misguided liberals. They are part of a well-fed and well-nourished political hit team serving their political masters. They are the internal enemies who are undermining India from within.
no one’s defending what the congis did to india and its institutions ever since 1950. maybe they were guilty of minority appeasement, draconian measures like emergency, multiple scams, harassment of their opponents, and every grave sin that a democratic govt should never ever commit, including the gravest of all – lying to future generations by biased school curriculum, etc etc. but all those had their own contexts in their periods – lack of enough money, adequate and timely info, paranoid autocracy of indira and family, spineless, brainless opposition who themselves were cutting each other down, etc. but this bjp was given power to stop the mess and do correct course corrections – a lot to do for a party with a difference. but what did we see – modi seems to be an even worse form of indira g or at best , the same – not qualified, insecure attitude to team formations, etc. what we started from the start was shocking – ghar wapsi was the first, then came the dozens of lynchings by goon (a pm whos supposed to be hands on and lost no time in going after jnu students and dalit students like Rohit vemula, didnt do anything to jail the hindutva goons, but was bleating in the parliament!). thats all designed papering over their intentions. stupid things to do like demo, chaotic gst, outright lies, halftruths and the ugliest campaigns for even state byelections have lost this govt all credibility – and it just gets worse. in the same instant of babies dying for want of oxygen cyl, the’ hindutva future’ says krishna janma… will be celebrated in full pomp.no oxygen for babies but ram and family will come in helicopter and pm will do aarathi! how shameless and cruel! now next are old tricks like hindi impositions esp on passports,doctoring central govt postings in states, NEET , etc – to grab south india’s resources, implementing 2011 census as basis for resource allocn and parliamentary seats. even the blindest of fools will see the grand plan. these are the things that we are worried abt. these bjp goons dont stand for the southindian psyche but we are in greatest danger right now. we’re pushed around by 2 men whose sole obj is unbridled power to make india likethe bimaru states or fleece the middle class taxpayer to fund their games.
This is an election more to decide who should NOT stay in power, than to decide who should
Sunder,
Your accusations are so pathetic. Go out travel across India and talk to people to realize the positive impacts of Modi and Bjp.
Whats pathetic is ur party’s lowest-ever-seen campaign strategy – spreading hatred, fear, blackmail, lies and so many more 3rd rate styles like street goondas. so stuff it. if people feel nda-2 is still better, thats their fate
sir,
the argument that things were equally bad in the past doesn’t give any comfort to us. can u join the bandwagon that expects more now (for whatever reason), and ensure they do the same irrespective of who forms the next government. that would be a fair demand of you and others.
just remember, the first christmas post the last election, became good governance day.. for what purpose … and now we have all forgotten. good governance …. unless someone screams nothing happens.
lets increase the standards for all politicians.
I Wish there was a like button. Well written and very thought provoking.
Thanks for exposing the hypocrisy of certain sections of Indian society for acting as self-appointed thekedaars of liberalism and secularism.
Great article!! Hope some Indians would see and understand the vested interests of these people calling them so-called “liberals”.
After a very long time an author has supported the Modi Govt on issues raised by Leftist Liberads Selective Lutyens media who are intolerant to the Modi personally……. Mr Sampath, we need more such people like you to counter the fake narratives……. Kudos to your guts…..
One of the finest article which I read in recent times . Point by point rebuttal of every charge .