If anyone thinks that the rise of Narendra
Modi and Amit Shah to the top of the Indian political echelons has been sudden
and meteoric, then they need to think again! Their progress can be attributed to a long
drawn process of social engineering initiated by Modi and his ilk which spans well
over forty years.
There have been various photos circulating
on the internet of Modi in disguise during the Emergency as an RSS leader. The
smoking gun is the very fact that Modi was considered important enough to be
targetted by the Emergency authorities forty years ago. He had joined the RSS
when it was just a nascent force in Gujarat and quickly rose to the top
of this controversial outfit. Amit Shah joined him at the start of the 1980s
and their partnership (in crime, etc) has blossomed since then.
Their modus operandi was to first spread
hatred between the two main communities in Gujarat and then reap electoral
gains. It used to be said that "if
you threw a stone in the air in
Ahmedabad, it would lead to a Hindu-Muslim riot." But earlier Gujarat had
been a peaceful state with the bloody 1969 riots as an aberration. The Justice
Reddy Commission set up to investigate the riots squarely blamed Hindu
nationalist organizations like RSS, Hindu Mahasabha and Jan Sangh for escalating
the riots which started after minor religious disputes (for which both
communities were equally to blame). The Modi-Shah partnership harnessed this communal
tension existing in Gujarat in the aftermath of the riots to propel their
careers. The sudden spurt of rioting in
Gujarat from the early 1980s onwards indicated that these two political figures
were busy tossing a lot of "stones in
the air."
Now, Modi was close to another right-wing
Sanghi named L K Advani and it was the magnamity of the latter (so gratefully
rewarded in 2014) that boosted the prospects of Modi who, in turn, boosted
those of Amit Shah in a trickling down effect that has been replicated in 2014
with Modi as the PM and Amit Shah as the party chief and their cronies filling spaces
below in this hierarchy.
Here's a look at an excerpt from an article
on Outlook.com, a prominent news website in India:(Read the full article at http://www.outlookindia.com/article/History-of-Communal-Violence-in-Gujarat/217988)
"It was from Gujarat, in September
1990, that LK Advani launched his Somnath to Ayodhya rath yatra leaving a
nationwide trail of violence in its wake. In
1990 itself, there was major violence in Gujarat because of Advani's rath
yatra. The chief architect of that
yatra was Narendra Modi. During the years of communal violence in 1986, 1987,
1989 and 1990, Modi was general secretary of the BJP. That is when the Ramjanmabhoomi campaign became a central issue in
Gujarat. Men, women and youngsters from Gujarat, constituting possibly the
largest contingent from anywhere in the country, participated in the demolition
of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992."
After the Babri Masjid demolition, India
was never the same again as its secular fabric had been ripped apart. The BJP
emerged as a leading national party in the early 1990s after having got just 2
seats in 1984! Such is the power of the 'Politics of Hate.’ Modi and Shah then went from village to
village building a strong BJP base in the state, while at the same time
creating a huge communal divide in the country. Modi then, through acts of betrayal and by influencing the national leaders of the BJP,
beat Vaghela and Keshubhai to the post of Gujarat Chief Minister in 2001.
The less said about Modi’s role in the
subsequent Gujarat riots the better. Narendra Modi has been accused of the following acts of
omission and commission:
(a) His administration failed miserably to
respond to the immediate dangers of the altercations between Kar Sevaks of the
Sabarmati Express and Muslim Traders at different railway stations.
(b) After the heinous burning of
the Sabarmati Express, Modi & Co made it look as if it was a well planned
conspiracy by prominent Muslim leaders instead of what it was – spontaneous
communal violence directly related to the Babri Masjid demolition for which
Modi himself was chiefly responsible.
(c) He allegedly conspired with the
VHP to parade the dead bodies of the victims, Gaza-style, to fuel communal
hatred against Muslims immediately after the train burning
(d) Modi conducted two separate meetings
–– the first with police officers to go soft on rioters; the
second was a pep-talk for Sanghi rioteers
(e) Narendra Modi failed to protect the
lives of thousands of Hindus, Muslims and other Gujaratis by not providing
governance when it was needed the most – His ministers sat in police
control rooms monitoring the action ensuring that Police acted selectively only
against the Muslim rioteers and allowed a free hand to the Sanghi rioteers.
(f) The biggest charge against him was
that in the midst of the Gulbarga attack when Sanjiv Bhatt, a top police
officer, informed him about the situation, Modi was worried whether the victims
had guns to protect themselves from the rioteers. Moreover, when a call was made to Narendra Modi
by Ehsan jaffrey, a top Gujarat politician, just before he was attacked and
killed by the mob, there was only abuse from Modi’s phone but no assistance.
Of course, after the Gujarat Riots, Modi was
justifiably humiliated and ostracised by one and all. But he has used his
social engineering skills to bounce back, reach the top and win over his critics. Ratan Tata
received a prestigious award at the hands of the Vajpayee Government and the
loyalty of a top businessman was bought. Adani and Ambani were already Modi’s
cheerleaders and have been amply rewarded for their support. Soon top actors and the mainstream media were influenced (bought?) to support Modi and
he has emerged as a larger than life figure frequently sporting the avatars of Nehru,
Gandhi, Sardar Patel or Ambedkar among many others. He has resorted to CLICHES
like “the force be with you” or “Clean India” to widen his fan base.
In the words of a VHP office bearer: ““We were used by Modi saab, used! Now that he has cemented his
position, he wants to be seen as pro-development. He has abandoned those who
died for him in Godhra. Who will support their families? It is like we have
been wiped out from Modi’s memory.”
Modi has continued to use people in his ascendancy, but it is now
Amit Shah’s turn to reap the “Blood for Votes” brand of electoral politics. Let’s
not talk about the charges of fake encounter killings or snooping leveled against him. Since Amit Shah became
the UP in-charge for the 2014 elections, there were "coincidentally” more than
200 riots, including the dreadful, Muzzafarnagar riots, that helped the BJP to sweep the
state, winning 71 of the 80 seats in UP and 282 seats throughout the country.
Amit Shah has been hailed as a genius and made the president of the BJP party.
With more elections expected throughout the country in the near future, one wonders as to what level
of social engineering the successful Narendra Modi-Amit Shah partnership will now stoop!
I'll be now expecting a barrage of comments and abuses. The truth is bitter and very few people can digest that bitterness. They will attack my writing skills, my religion, my professions,etc. Just preparing the readers for comments from the Pro-Modi online hate brigade.BTW, I have criticised the Congress on numerous occasions for supporting Jagdish Tytler, an accused in the 1984 Sikh riots. My views are not party-centric but based on historical research and sound judgement.
ReplyDeleteHmmm An interesting post. It just shows that the "Politics of Hate" can do wonders in the 21st century. This is happening all over the world. HATE is selling faster and better than LOVE. The human race is caving in.
ReplyDelete