Political promotion with religious emotion & rank opportunism

BJP is known to be targeting political opponents by using the investigation agencies and then dropping the cases once the leaders join the ruling party or its allies, as if that is not subversion of democracy and gross opportunism!

Addiction of any kind is bad. It makes you lose balance. That is the essence of the Bhagawat Gita as well. The teachings of Lord Krishna tell us to lead a balanced life, take a balanced view and maintain a socio-economic balance. The principles of Ram Rajya are no different and their essence is to listen to the people’s voice and ensure justice for all. Before you mistake me for a Prime Ministerial Pravachan, let me come straight to my headline.

BJP and its associates and fringe elements have taken the pre and post Ayodhya temple developments to such an intoxicating level that it appears difficult for their followers to come out of it and come to terms with the ground realities. Either they continue to be under the effect of Jai Sri Ram or they believe that the Vikasit Bharat will solve all their problems. Worse, they keep getting booster doses of Nehru bashing and Rahul thrashing.

Amid this din, all that the independent media, analysts and sane thinkers say on the real picture gets lost as irrelevant gas. Diversion is the strongest weapon that the BJP leadership has been effectively using so as to keep their followers busy with mesmerised communication, however misleading and even fake that might be.

The fake messaging that is being spread about the ongoing farmers’ agitation and the way the Bhakts are made to believe the nonsense is a solid example of the herd mentality. The Godi media, with its more-loyal-than-the-king behaviour has been adding its two-bit to the operation brainwash via the Whatsapp university.

Photographs from the previous farmers’ stir, photo-shopped pictures and out-of-context videos of liquor being distributed are all being extensively used by the publicity mechanism to contain the Bhakts in their own make-believe world that is full of hollow promises and Vikasit carrots. Before any fact check message tries to stop the wrong narrative, a new series of fakes are generated to keep the Bhakts confined to their messaging war and carpet bomb the mobile phones.

In this scenario, the Political promotion with religious emotion & opportunism gains ground.

The pilgrim Prime Minister that he is, Modi praises the judiciary sky high for its judgment facilitating the building of Ram temple at Ayodhya.

"Even after the Constitution came into existence, a legal battle was fought for decades (over) Lord Ram's existence. I would like to thank the judiciary that delivered justice and (allowed) Lord Ram's temple to be built in a legal manner..." the Prime Minister said after the consecration ceremony, NDTV reported.

Now, Modi takes a jibe at the judiciary, though indirectly, as he narrates the Sri Krishna-Sudama story. Today, if Sudama gives rice flakes (poha) to Sri Krishna, someone will file a PIL and the Supreme Court will deliver the judgment saying there is a corrupt practice.

Is a man occupying such a key constitutional position expected to talk like this? Absolutely no! And the Bhakt community is bound to take these remarks seriously and believe that their leader is wronged on the electoral bonds case.

Be that as it may, one must hail Supreme Court to prevent yet another bid to murder democracy by scrapping the non-transparent and unconstitutional electoral bonds scheme. It is also strange that the BJP continues to believe the anonymous donations to political parties under the guise of the bonds were transparent even after the firm, unanimous ruling by the SC’s constitutional bench.

The nation’s faith in the impartial judiciary remained intact, rather solidified, as Supreme Court said it would not tolerate murder of democracy by the likes of Anil Masih, the returning officer for the Chandigarh mayoral election. Masih has been accused of tampering with eight ballots to facilitate the election of the BJP candidate. He committed the crime in full view of the camera and Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud told the officer “you should be prosecuted”.

In this backdrop, isn’t it strange that the BJP talks of violation of democracy in Bengal where a journalist was arrested while he was reporting on the alleged rapes at Sandeshkhali? Yes, the arrest of the journalist on duty must be condemned and the police should conduct an impartial and thorough investigation. But what about the trumped-up charges against journalists by the BJP governments?

BJP is known to be targeting political opponents by using the investigation agencies and then dropping the cases once the leaders join the ruling party or its allies, as if that is not subversion of democracy and gross opportunism!

Talking of political opportunism, we hear from Aakashwani that the Bengal governor has opened the Raj Bhavan doors with a Peace Home for the victims of Sandeshkhali. The women victims of alleged atrocities at the Bengal town have been asked to be fearless and take shelter at the Raj Bhavan as long as they want.

This kind of a gesture could not have been made without the orders or knowledge of the Union Home Ministry. It is not common for any Governor to offer shelter to victims of crimes. The Kolkata Raj Bhavan made this gesture obviously with political motives that suit the BJP which is trying all means – Saam-Daam-Dand-Bhed – to topple Trinamul Congress and Mamata Banerjee and capture the targeted 35 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats.

Come to think of it, why didn’t the Manipur Governor make a similar offer to the victims of atrocities and heinous crimes in that State? Obviously, it does not suit the BJP’s political interest as the same party is in power in Manipur which continues to be in a state of turmoil for ten months now. The Centre does not think it appropriate to take corrective measures when its Double Engine has derailed.

And there are no signs of any Centre’s intervention to bring peace back to Manipur as yet. But the Bengal incident is on top of the agenda for the BJP and its social media network to blast Mamata Bannerjee. What is more, a Godi Media anchor asks the judges to see what is happening in Sandeshkhal! Manipur is not the radar of this anchor who happens to hail from the northeast. That is the style of reporting in this mother of democracy.

Obviously with the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in mind, Modi has launched the Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra which he himself says has benefitted lakhs of people. “Modi ki guarantee vehicle has reached almost all villages and cities”, he proclaims in Uttar Pradesh.

He continues to talk about the prevalence of corrupt practices and disparity during the previous governments. “Modi’s guarantee that the government will not rest till every beneficiary gets what they deserve, be it pucca homes, electricity supply, gas connection or tapped water”, he says.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, but Modi must talk about what his governments have been doing over the past decade. The BJP’s focus appears to have been more on political manoeuvrings rather than good governance which he claims is his focus. Is this also a Modi’s guarantee?

The BJP today has more ‘corrupt’ Congress leaders than the grand old party itself. To that extent, one can say that the BJP’s washing machine politics has cleaned up the Congress!

Breaking news: Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi, unlike any of the previous PMs, is busy promoting films that align with his propaganda. He just endorsed a film on Article 370 and apparently hopes that the BJP will win 370 seats with the help of this movie."...It is a good thing as it will help people in getting correct information," Modi said in Jammu on Tuesday. As long as we have such a PM, Bollywood does not have to spend anything on publicity.

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