By Amit Kumar, Twocircles.net
New Delhi: A cornered tiger, we are told, can be dangerous. Given the troubles over rising prices, growing communal intolerance, the paranoia around Beef and the death of Dalits in Haryana along with the protests of writers and artists, it would not be wrong to say that Prime Minister, Narendra Modi probably feels like a cornered tiger too, though given that he is from Gujarat, a comparison with the Asiatic Lion is more apt. And if there is one place where he believes he is at his fiery, lion-like best, it is a rally. Fly him down from one corner of the country to another, tell him there is a rally and he will showcase his best oratory skills, bellowing “Mitron” and making the audience feel that he is one of and for them. In rallies, he is always the tea-seller who worked hard to become first India’s “best CM” and later, India’s PM. He is the OBC who rose to greatness through sheer hard work, and he is a proud Hindu nationalist who believes in India’s rich heritage. But he is also a leader who loves telling how dreary things can be if BJP does not come to power. Corruption, Jungle Raj, Scams will be the order of the day, progress will falter and developments will come to a standstill. And, of course, minority appeasement. “They” will take your rights, powers if the BJP does not win.
In Buxar, Bihar, Narendra Modi showcased this best. The political leader took over the PM, and went on to remark how the Mahagathbandhan will take away the reservations from OBCs, EBCs and Dalits and give to the Minorities. No second guesses as to who he was referring to: Muslims. He even went on to proclaim, in typical Modi-style, that he would “die to protect your rights and never allow conspirators to steal away your reservation.” Worried much, PM? When did Mahagathbandhan leaders talk of taking away reservations? Wasn’t it the RSS leadership that wanted a relook into the reservation policies? Hasn’t Sushil Kumar Modi, the long-time serving BJP leader, also talked about revising reservation policies? Lalu Yadav, in his customary style, even challenged the government to dare take away reservations. But it seems that the BJP and Modi have realized that with the final phases remaining, the gloves are off and the only hope that they have is fighting bare-knuckled. Hindutva knuckles, to be frank.
The BJP has taken his cue well, to print highly communal ads in local newspapers. After all, why bother with subtleties, when brazen communalism can be your USP. In these ads, published in Hindi dailies-Dainik Bhaskar, Hindustan, Prabhat Khabar and Dainik Jagaran, the BJP ‘questions’ the taking away of reservations and giving it to “minorities” (never Muslims, always minorities, please note). If PM Modi endorses in the multicultural aspects of India and its secular fabric, the political leader Modi prides in creating panic, and so does the BJP.
The CM Modi took pride in the alleged extra-judicial killings of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Ishrat Jahan, and in 2015, he wants to take pride in defending the rights of the most downtrodden sections of Bihar. But in doing so, he is painting the minorities as the other; the danger; the section that will strip EBCs and OBCs of what is rightfully theirs. Let alone the fact that committees like the Sachar committee have recommended reservations for Muslims given their social conditions. The BJP would fight tooth and nail to see that implemented. What Modi forgot, or rather chose to ignore, that the list of OBCs includes people from all religion, so not only the idea of taking it away from one section and giving it to another flawed, it’s a lie. A blatant one, at that.
If this was yesterday, today BJP put up ads questioning, or rather, wondering, how terrorists were allowed to prosper freely in various districts of Bihar. It even pins the death of six people at a bomb blast on the Nitish government and asks Lalu and Nitish to answer for the past 25 years, conveniently omitting the fact that of these 25 years, it had been an important ally for the Nitish government from 2005 to 2013.
With a week remaining in Bihar elections, one can expect more such ads to follow. The Bihar electorate seems to have looked beyond such lies and is apparently favouring the leadership of Nitish Kumar. The BJP does not like that, and the cornered lion, our PM, surely does not like that. So he will use his biggest weapon, communalization, to garner votes. Will that work? Time will tell, but for now, at least the BJP has once again shown that it seems to believes in the age-old idea of Divide and Rule. Buxar, the Battle of Buxar in 1764, Divide and Rule? Remember? Connect the dots.