Break this deafening silence, Mr Prime Minister

Just to tickle the PM’s memory, shall we remind him that he used to criticise his predecessor, the soft-spoken Dr Manmohan Singh, as Maun Singh? Modi himself does not speak a word against hate culture

Hate culture is going to kill our society. It might sound like a sweeping statement. But the truth that we have to admit is that hatred has become acceptable for a large part of the social fabric. What is shocking is that the ruling dispensation at the Centre seems to have done little to check this trend. On the contrary, they have been either silently or openly supporting hatred to suit their narrow political interests.

We have said several times earlier that Gandhi Jayanti is the right time to begin to shed hatred and walk-the-talk of Sab Ka Saath, Sab Ka Vikas. The hate culture that started afresh with beef politics and lynching the minority community people has spread so far and wide that the belated intervention of the Prime Minister has made very little difference.

What can we expect from this government does precious little to check hate speeches even in Parliament. And the PM does not say a word despite it generating national outrage. It is fine for him to keep savouring the success of G20 Summit and the proclaimed achievements over the last nine years, but there is more to socio-political-economic life beyond these.

Despite the promises made on the floor of the House, there appears to be hardly any action to resolve the four month-long Manipur crisis. The violence is still unabated and the Chief Minister happily continues to hold power. The mistrust between the Meitei and Kuki communities seems to be only growing with no visible efforts to bring them closer.

If the Home Minister can ask for a last-minute passage of a resolution in the Lok Sabha appealing for peace, why can’t he lead an all-party delegation to Manipur? What stops the government from issuing a joint statement assuaging the warring sections?

If the government believes that time will solve the crisis, they are sadly mistaken. The crisis is only deepening as time passes. It is about time that Ministers like Smriti Irani stopped blaming the opposition for such a crisis and acted in coordination with all in true federal spirit.

It is better the less said about the abusive language that Ramesh Bidhuri spoke in Parliament, but one should speak a lot about the stoic silence by the BJP leadership. I am not sure if there were even murmurs from Nagpur. On the contrary, Bidhuri is posted on a poll duty in Rajasthan, reports say.

The ‘Goli Maro’ statement by Minister Anurag Thakur had also gone ‘unnoticed’ by the BJP leadership. The hate culture has not been limited to the ruling party leaders. The effect of this cancer has begun to creep into society as we have witnessed a school teacher prompting her students to beat up a Muslim boy in UP’s Muzaffarnagar district. The Supreme Court has taken a serious view of this, but we are yet to hear a word of condemnation from the Central leadership. The latest in the series of reported hate culture is the lynching of a mentally unstable man from a minority community for ‘stealing’ a banana from a temple at Sundar Nagri in New Delhi. Again, we do not get to hear any tweets that such incidents are “unacceptable”.

On the one hand, the leadership talks of Amrit Kal vision for the nation’s development as a super power, success of global events and space missions and India’s technological prowess, while on the other the hate culture goes unchecked with passive support.

Do the leaders with such a modern outlook not realise that there should be no place for hatred in any society? When we talk of UPI payment success stories setting global standards, why do we continue to encourage hate currency? Do we have to wait for international backlash and the US and the Arab World to condemn India for this communal disharmony?

I might sound as though I am indulging in word play. But the fact of the matter is that the nation cannot progress on the foundation of hate culture. The Britishers have ruled over us for 200 years by dividing us and the BJP likes to go for Congress-mukt Bharat blaming it for its divide-and-rule, apart from corruption.

Corrupting the people’s minds is the worst form of corruption as it has long-lasting disastrous effects on our families, society and the nation. Swachh Bharat Abhiyan must go beyond photo-opportunities and lead to cleansing our minds of mutual hatred.

The Sanatan Dharma that the leadership likes to swear by also does not preach hatred. It talks of Manav Seva which Mahatma Gandhi practiced until his last breath. Yes, Mr Modi, you are right. It is this Sanatan Dharma that Bapu practised. And in the name of Bapu, the nation wants you to break the silence and start the process of eliminating hatred from the society and our dictionaries.

Just to tickle the PM’s memory, shall we remind him that he used to criticise his predecessor, the soft-spoken Dr Manmohan Singh, as Maun Singh? Modi himself does not speak a word against hate culture. Sad.

Meanwhile, the INDIA bloc appears to be coming to an understanding that the partner parties will have to face the elections in a different way as compared to the earlier times. They have broadly built the narrative of collective politics and coming to adjustments and flexibility.

Rahul Gandhi said recently that the opposition is thinking about this election in a fundamentally different way than any other election before it. The Opposition is united in the idea that India is now under attack. The concept of India, of free elections, of free speech—they are now under mortal threat. This thinking is unanimous among us all, which means we have to be flexible and we have to fight for the soul of India, which requires a different level of cooperation.

Secondly, he said, the bulk of alliances we have are stitched up, such as in big states like Kerala, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. In some smaller places, we face a few issues, which we will try to iron out. Now we are seeing this as a fight to defend the idea of India, while earlier we used to see it merely as a contest between political parties.

Interesting. More than winning or losing elections, it is important to put up a credible fight and offer to the people a united opposition voice in the interest of the nation and federal democracy. Parting shot: The recent pre-poll surveys commissioned by some pro-BJP channels forecast victory for Congress in most of the states that will go to polls. Madhya Pradesh is one of them. Writing on the wall?

(The columnist is a Mumbai-based author and independent media veteran, running websites and a youtube channel known for his thought-provoking messaging.)