Wagtail Words & Sackcloth Sentences
BY R.K.MISRA
Soar or sink,words always return to
haunt.
Narendra Modi’s utterances were honey to hungry indian ears as he tore
into the UPA government to secure a resounding mandate to rule the country. Two
years at the helm and the very same words are boomeranging with a scarring
tenacity. Moreso after the Uri unfrocking.
Words are heady nectar on the way up
and poisoned darts hurtling down. The social media, though open to manipulation,
remains a fair barometer of the ebb and tide of mass mood.
Masterful with words Modi would mock
the reticent Manmohan with sarcastic chivalry after every border incident or
terror onslaught during the decade long UPA rule. Singh is silent but the social
media has taken on itself the job of showing him the mirror. Whats app and
facebook are choc-a-bloc with clips of the present prime minister’s myriad
feisty posturing of how to deal with the Pakistan promoted terror machine. A TV
interview jibe where he spoke of answering the neighbour in his own language is
getting more eyeballs than ever before on the social jungle clicks.”Every time
there is a terror incident in India we either write ‘love letters’ or go
running to America wailing Obama,Obama!.Get back at Pakistan, don’t go flailing
the world over”,said the then Gujarat chief minister who was chasing national
dreams.
Today the same space is replete with jokes and jibes, punctuating the
same interview.”What’s the latest on chest chants and bulging biceps ”,goes a
particularly pithy one following the TV talk clip with a laconic ”what say you.
Why is hefty hercules complaining to China now”, goes another .Even the social
media, once a Modi domain is now under the scanner by its own users.’Twitter
audit’ disputes his following and a u-tuber unveils the modus operandi of
scammer set ups working to drive ‘traffic’ on pre-determined issues and it’s
monetary implications. But that is obfuscating the main issue.
National leaders aspiring for power
need to abide by norms of public conduct. Extravagance, whether in claims, language
or poll promises may help rain the ‘manna’ from heaven but opens you up to
ridicule later on. Foul language and wild promises may be the order of the day
in other parts of the country but that was not the legacy Modi inherited .Besides
the Mahatma, Gujarat has cradled numerous icons from Indulal Yagnik, the man
who took on Nehru to the austere but temperamental Morarji Desai and Congress
president Jaisukhlal Hathi to the intellectually inclined Madhavsinh
Solanki and the earthy Keshubhai
Patel,to name a few .The discourse in public domain was always one of mutual
respect.
Initially subtle but later there
were gross changes after Modi took over
as the chief minister in 2001. A man of strong likes and dislikes, he
introduced an aggression in demeanour which grew noticeable with the passage of
time. Usages like ‘cow and calf’ to describe political rivals alluding to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul during election campaigning may elicit
catcalls but went to lower the level of electoral morality. As did the
ill-disguised attacks on the minority community during his controversial ‘gaurav yatra’that followed the statewide
communal riots in 2002 after the Godhra train carnage. ”hum do,hamare do’(us
two and ur two children) hum kahete hai, woh kehte hain’ hum panch hamare
pachees’ (us five and our twenty five)and references to ‘Miyan Musharraf’ were
ill-disguised attacks on the minority community.
Similarly reference to the
then Chief Election Commissioner as James Michael Lyngdoh alluding to his
Christian lineage to create the impression that he was favouring fellow ’christian’ Sonia Gandhi and by
implication the Congress were not only in bad taste but contributed majorly to
the fall in standards of public morality. Nevertheless, cleaving communities
paid rich electoral dividend and Modi swept the polls. The ‘hindu hriday
samrat’(Emperor of the hindu heart) had no qualms about playing the messiah of
the majority until he developed national aspirations and held the three day sadbhavana sammelan(communal
amity meet) at Ahmedabad in September 2011 to announce it. No wonder the boss is
hard put to control verbal absurdities voiced from time to time by elements
within his own party!
The future cannot be foreseen delinked
from the past and it is in this context that moderation in language truly
deserving of a country that claims to lay premium on it’s rich culture is
highly advised of it’s leaders. Now in the hot seat, it is squirm time for most
of the present ones who, while in the opposition, chose to indulge in high
voltage verbal calisthenics .Whither the bronchial bravery of Modi’s retaliation
advice ,of another of his ministers mouthing ‘aapki baar,seema paar’ :of Smriti Irani speaking in Indore during the
UPA days offering her bangles to the Centre to try them out. This was in the
wake of a terrorist attack on the army. Were there no terrorism incidents in
Gujarat during Modi rule? On july 26, 2008 there were 21 bomb blasts in
Ahmedabad within two hours leaving 56 dead and 200 injured. Pathankot has
followed Uri but there are no bangles on offer from Ms. Irani now. Examples
abound but the shoe is on the other foot and the BJP ministers are making
sickeningly similar noises that the present opposition did when in power. Times
change but responses remain the same irrespective of who is in the top seat.
For those familiar with the response
reflexes of the present ruler ,one can anticipate a heightening of poster patriotism at home
and a slew of international diplomatic ‘manoeuvres’ , tons of posturing coupled with stepping up of defence related
statements. There will also be a lot of diversionary announcements at the
precise moment when attention needs to be deflected from the issue. The
intention would be to regulate indigenous responses. Proof of it lies in the
fact that soon after news of the Uri attack reached the top, one of the first
few meetings at the prime ministerial level was on how to break the news to the
media through calibrated, unattributed leaks. Bad luck that minister Venkaiah
Naidu goofed up through a tweet and the cat was out of the bag. Already the
‘build up’ has begun in the social media to whip up nationalist sentiments. Disinformation
of a cross-border raid by special forces of the army killing ten terrorists was
pushed up ,then denied officially but continued to be force-fed. Those
monitoring the social media knew the source of the promotion.
Modi could do
well to remember Alan Watts who said; the menu is not the meal!
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