Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Narendra Modi’s letter to Anna Hazare

A strange letter. It thanks Hazare for daring to praise him, but “him” is equated with Gujarat. ‘And it was yesterday that I got the encouraging news of your expressing kind words for Gujarat and me.”

The letter betrays the desperation of a man who has been smarting for over a decade from the political ostracism he has been subjected to after the post Godhra riot. Modi uses the open letter to Hazare as a tool to rationalise his ideology. It has the endorsement of Anna Hazare, a man who is at the moment a national hero, and who reflects the frustration of the Indian citizens furious at being swindled by politicians who are worse than conmen. Modi’s effort is to project himself as the alternative to the present political dispensation in the Centre by showcasing his Development agenda at the industrial and grass root levels.

Modi is a smart man. The mood in India is one of intense anger at being swindled by the Congress led government for two terms. And the party did this hiding behind the shield of secularism they know that the people of India are fiercely possessive about. But no one can fool the people all the time. We, the people of India, are throwing up our hands in sheer helplessness at the absence of an alternative. Whom do we vote into power? The BJP? Are they any less corrupt? What about Yeddyurappa? Isn’t he going the Congress and Deve Gowda way? What’s the BJP high command doing about it? So when it comes to corruption and power, they too are of the same ilk. Only, they didn’t get as long an innings in power as the Congress to get deeply entrenched in the unspoken ideology of corruption.

So why not BJP? Speaking for myself, I’m afraid of casting my vote for a party which is professedly communal. Congress, without doubt, plays/has played the communal card. No one can deny it. But its official position in anti communal. Does that mean anything – to swear by secularism while cashing in on communal politics for votes? I think it does. A party which has a secular image to maintain will not make fascism (loosely used) the official policy of the state – as Hitler did. This party will not officially adopt an anti-minority policy as Hitler did, making anti-semeticism a national policy.

Will BJP do this once it comes to power? Probably not. The Assange leaks have shown a hardcore and vocal BJP leader confessing that Ram Mandir was only a political launching pad to catapult the party to New Delhi. Most BJP leaders have democratic values and are committed to secularism and pluralism.

But not so Modi. The post Godhra riots showed his true colours. In his letter to Hazare, he never once mentions why people vilify him. Let him categorically state that he had nothing to do with the carnage which followed the horrible torching of the train by a group of Muslims at Godhra. Let him declare that he was totally innocent of what happened, that things went out of his hands. Never once has he said that. All allegations about his government’s complicity in the pogrom have always been met by silence. When Karan Tharpar tied to get him to talk on it, he walked out of the show in a huff.

And he has been consistently making efforts to parochialise the issue by saying that the rest of India is against the people of Gujarat. There is not an element of truth in that statement. It’s Modi that India rejects, and fears. And when Gujarat keeps voting him back to power, democratic, secular India becomes anxious. What if he becomes the Prime Minister, which is not an impossibility. Modi for PM lobby is a powerful one in the BJP camp.

The very thought of Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of India is scary.
The Indian democracy is in a precarious position today, and the Congress which has been at the helm of affairs for a long long time has itself to blame for this. Alphonse Kannanthanam, the maverick bureaucrat known for his honest ways has joined BJP. Anna Hazare a Gandhian applauds Modi. True, it’s his development agenda that he lauds, but the message is loud and clear. Ignore his human rights violations. Development at grass roots level, taking care of the villages compensate for crimes against humanity. This is the subtext of Kannanthanam joining BJP,Anna Hazare lauding Modi and the people of Gujarat voting him back again and again.

This is worrisome. Disgusted with corruption, there appears to be a shift in people’s attitude to democratic values. A willingness to compromise on the fundamentals.

This does not augur well for the great Indian democracy.

18 comments:

  1. Well written,Molly .And I do not share the mass adulation for Anna Hazare ,especially since he declared that he was commenting only on Gujarat's `development' when he praised Modi.

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  2. Well said ,Molly And I do not share the mass adulation for Hazare,especially when he said he was talking of Gujarat's ``development'' only when praising Modi

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  3. That comment was by Philip Abraham

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  4. Anna Hazare releases clarification on his statement on Modi and Nitish.

    Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare Sunday sought to ‘clarify’ that he was opposed to communalism even as he had praised chief ministers Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar for their developmental efforts.

    After praising the two at a press conference, Hazare issued a statement ‘to clarify’ on the ‘misinterpreted’ line.

    ‘On a question asked in my press conference today, I praised only the developmental work done by Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar in rural areas. Alongside, I clarified that I am equally opposed to any form of communal disharmony.

    ‘I am completely opposed to any kind of communalism or discrimination on religious or caste lines. I strongly condemn and oppose any kind of communal violence.’

    He said people from ‘all faiths and religions’ were founders and participants in his anti-corruption movement.

    He said the movement was ‘not attached to any political party’.

    ‘The movement is completely nonpartisan and will remain so. I sincerely urge the press to understand my intentions, which is to save this country from corruption by taking people of all faiths and religions along.’

    Every piece of information is twisted and turned by journalists.Most of the media are under the control of political parties and foreign mafias with very hidden agendas.

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  5. Remember the cliche that is professed by every politician from all political parties and taken encore by many of the so called pro developmental masses, people who love India,"It is all for the greater common good".

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  6. When it comes to voting, it is very true that people are much confused. The candidates stand for different parties, but in effect, each one has a fearsome factor on the flip side. None is better, none is worse.

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  7. Civil Society in our country has grown silent.Probably Anna Hazare's call may not become like Gandhiji's 'Swadeshi'/Independence movement, or Jayprakash Narayan's call to resist Mrs Gandhi's morphing into a dominating and shrewd politician (not a ghungi gudiya, as many expected her to be), but, it will make each one of us think before we unwittingly give into corrupt acts. A churning is overdue, for our country. May be, similar protests over a decade will see a coalescing of energies to resist the rogues that come to power every five years.

    Media-bashing we all do, but these elections are a proof the saturation of channels and print compelled each one of them to go into the backyards of the state to be 'first with the news' on some very local issues. The politicians have to be kept on his back - foot all through their term to ensure they are kept in check and do not forget election promises, or the people who put them there. May be Anna Hazare type resistance will mushroom in the country, then the Media should not turn away from reporting, it should still make ' News' and generate citizen response/awareness.

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  8. This is worrisome. Disgusted with corruption, there appears to be a shift in people’s attitude to democratic values. A willingness to compromise on the fundamentals.


    How well you have expressed it!

    But Hazare does give us Indians a ray of hope. He has also shown that the heart of the majority of Indians are at the right place. Let me pray that he wins the fight for India.

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  9. Modi is running almost a dictatorship like Govt suppressing the Civil Society groups in his State and it seems Anna Hazare is not bothered about it.This shows the immaturity of Anna Hazare brand of politics.
    But that should not bother us.His movement has woken up the sleeping MMS Govt.They will hav to discuss and pass the Lokpal Bill now in what ever form that is agreed to.Such a move should strengthen our democracy in the same way RTI did.

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  10. "The letter betrays the desperation of a man who has been smarting for over a decade from the political ostracism he has been subjected to after the post Godhra riot."

    I have read Modi's letter and all I see is his gratitude towards Hazare, and a warning that Hazare might be vilified like others who have dared to praise Modi's development. Could you be more clear about where you see desperation? Modi's personality does not seem to lend itself to fear; he seems like a confident politician, not one grasping at straws. He doesn't seem to be smarting about "political ostracism" either; if he were, surely he'd take the initiative to regain some credibility and apologize for the riots?

    "Modi uses the open letter to Hazare as a tool to rationalise his ideology. It has the endorsement of Anna Hazare, a man who is at the moment a national hero, and who reflects the frustration of the Indian citizens furious at being swindled by politicians who are worse than conmen. Modi’s effort is to project himself as the alternative to the present political dispensation in the Centre by showcasing his Development agenda at the industrial and grass root levels."

    Hazare supports Modi's development work. That does not necessarily translate into support for his ideology.

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  11. "So why not BJP? Speaking for myself, I’m afraid of casting my vote for a party which is professedly communal. Congress, without doubt, plays/has played the communal card. No one can deny it. But its official position in anti communal. Does that mean anything – to swear by secularism while cashing in on communal politics for votes? I think it does. A party which has a secular image to maintain will not make fascism (loosely used) the official policy of the state – as Hitler did. This party will not officially adopt an anti-minority policy as Hitler did, making anti-semeticism a national policy."

    This is my least favorite part of your post because it betrays a naivety about the Congress that is characteristic among critics of the BJP. You say that the Congress would not make fascism and anti-minorityism its official policy. But what if it makes fascism its unofficial policy? Then it will be authoritarian in all but name, which will be just as bad. The Congress, all while talking about pluralism, secularism, etc. has been far more authoritarian than the BJP ever has.

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  12. Remember that it was the Congress that arrested thousands of swayamsevaks and their leader, MS Golwalkar without a trial after Gandhi's assassination.

    Remember that it was the Congress that imposed the draconian Emergency, which was literally a brutal dictatorship. This is the closest India has ever come to all out fascism, and it happened under Congress. Remember that it was Indira Gandhi who had all copies of the Shah Commission destroyed to conceal her wicked crimes against the people of India. Thankfully, Sri Era Sezhian managed to find a lost copy of the report, and has republished it. His book reveals that Pranab Mukherjee was instrumental to Indira's dictatorship. This man is now a Cabinet minister. Similarly, P. Chidambaram, despite having been accused of complicity in Rajiv Gandhi's assasination by the Jain Commission, is also a Cabinet minister. If Modi really is guilty and eventually is elected PM, he would only be one among a series of criminals to walk through the corridors of power, many of whom have been worse than him.

    Remember that it was Congress that carried out the anti-Sikh riots in 1984, which only happened in Congress ruled states. Many of the victims still have not received justice, and Congress goons responsible like Jagdish Tytler have in fact been given positions in government. Almost 3,000 Sikhs died in the riots, more than the number dead in Gujarat.

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  13. Remember that it was Congress that brutally cracked down on Baba Ramdev's unarmed, sleeping followers and paralyzed one follower. Another is in a coma.

    Remember that it is under the Congress that the NAC has introduced the draconian, Hindu baiting Communal Violence Bill that only protects minorities from majority violence, but not the other way around also. Indeed, the Congress uses the NAC so that Sonia Gandhi, a foreigner with only a high school education can rule by proxy while an Oxford educated economist acts as a fall guy and absorbs and criticism and blame.

    Remember that it is the Congress that has passed draconian IT laws that censor the internet and allow the government to track citizen's online activities. While the Congress favors a nanny state that regulates everything, takes away people's economic and social freedoms, and causes corruption and inefficiency with loads of red tape, the BJP favors small government which means greater personal and economic freedoms.

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  14. You are indeed correct that it means something to swear by secularism and be communal at the same time. It allows the Congress to conceal its autocratic policies by claiming to be a secular foil in contrast to the "communal" BJP. This is blatant, disgusting dishonesty that no Indian should support with their votes. A vote for Congress is a vote for dynastic, nepotistic, authoritarianism.

    "But not so Modi. The post Godhra riots showed his true colours. In his letter to Hazare, he never once mentions why people vilify him."

    Why would he? It's common knowledge. He does, however, imply it by saying that people will vilify Hazare for praising him.

    "Let him categorically state that he had nothing to do with the carnage which followed the horrible torching of the train by a group of Muslims at Godhra. Let him declare that he was totally innocent of what happened, that things went out of his hands. Never once has he said that. All allegations about his government’s complicity in the pogrom have always been met by silence."

    Are you saying that if he did, all would be forgiven? I doubt it. The Leftist who have been hounding him for almost a decade would simply say that he's shamelessly trying to cover up the riots by denying responsibility. Modi will forever be hated by some people no matter what he does. I think he understands that.

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  15. "When Karan Tharpar tied to get him to talk on it, he walked out of the show in a huff."

    As Salil Tripathi points out in an interview, to apologize would be to admit negligence. It could be that Modi has not apologized because he feels that he did all that he could have done to prevent the riots. He did call in the army, remember.

    "And he has been consistently making efforts to parochialise the issue by saying that the rest of India is against the people of Gujarat. There is not an element of truth in that statement. It’s Modi that India rejects, and fears. And when Gujarat keeps voting him back to power, democratic, secular India becomes anxious. What if he becomes the Prime Minister, which is not an impossibility. Modi for PM lobby is a powerful one in the BJP camp."

    Your statement here is a tad nonsensical. First you say that the people of India have no problem with Gujuratis, only Modi. Fine. But in the very next sentance, you say that "democratic, secular India" becomes anxious when Gujuratis vote for Modi (never mind the fact that terrorists, Muslim appeasers, Hindu haters, Christian evangelicals, and Communists all also become anxious. Not all people who oppose Modi are saints.) If they become anxious that means that they are against the people's choice for their CM, which means that they are against the will of the people. So that means that Modi is indeed correct when he says that the rest of India is against the people of Gujarat.

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  16. "The very thought of Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of India is scary."

    Personally, I don't think so. The Congress, as I have said, has harbored worse criminals than Modi, even if he is guilty. It is the Congress that India must fear, and throw out. It is important to remember that Gujarat has been quiet since 2002. In contrast, Congress continues to abuse the Indian people, the Ramdev crackdown being the most bloody crime to date. At worst, Modi can't get worse as PM. Remember that people were predicting disaster and a huge Muslim genocide when the BJP took power in 1998. None of that happened. Except for Gujarat, their rule was pretty much regular. No gas chambers, no killing of political opponents, no censoring of the opposition press, no suspension of democracy. When they fell from power, it was through elections. In contrast, fascists have done all the aforementioned repressive acts, and fell from power through military invasion.

    "The Indian democracy is in a precarious position today, and the Congress which has been at the helm of affairs for a long long time has itself to blame for this. Alphonse Kannanthanam, the maverick bureaucrat known for his honest ways has joined BJP. Anna Hazare a Gandhian applauds Modi. True, it’s his development agenda that he lauds, but the message is loud and clear. Ignore his human rights violations. Development at grass roots level, taking care of the villages compensate for crimes against humanity. This is the subtext of Kannanthanam joining BJP,Anna Hazare lauding Modi and the people of Gujarat voting him back again and again."

    I hate to say this but this is baseless, disgusting slander against Annaji. Praise for Modi's development does not indicate ANY sort of support for the riots! A person could be harshly critical of the riots and very supportive of Modi's development. In essence, you're proving Modi's point in his letter: that people would attempt to vilify Anna for daring to support Modi's development. Furthermore, even if Anna was asking people to forget the riots, how is it any different than the Congress desiring people to forget its heinous crimes? If it is okay for Congress to be in power despite this, why not the BJP? Congress needs to be punished for its crimes against the people. Continuing to vote for it merely shows that the people are resigned to accept the Congress' incompetence.

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  17. "This is worrisome. Disgusted with corruption, there appears to be a shift in people’s attitude to democratic values. A willingness to compromise on the fundamentals.This does not augur well for the great Indian democracy."

    I don't see how. No one's calling for Modi to take power by a coup. No one is calling for him to take power and kill Muslims. They want him in power to clean up the corruption and vote bank bullshit of the Congress and promote development instead of socialism and red tape and stagnation.

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  18. narendra modi should be tried by court at the earliest for the survival of plural society in india... anna hazare should unequivocally come out clear on his stand on narendra modi if he is a true gandhian and shuns violence. kiran bedi, kejriwal and anna team is today suspect on their to communal forces

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