In the midst of the Korana crisis in India, many incidents of targeting Muslims have come to light. Amidst all this, Ram Madhav, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's core team, has held a meeting with some Muslim intellectuals.
This meeting called on Sunday lasted for more than two hours. Two ministers of the previous Modi government - former Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar and former Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha were also present in this meeting. In this meeting through videoconferencing, most of the Muslim-side people maintained almost silence, but some people simply said that 'by repeatedly questioning the loyalty of the Muslims and spreading the disease like corona, the Muslims are guilty There is a lot of stir in the Muslim society due to the efforts that are being made.
So, is it safe to say he is "pro-establishment," whatever the ruling dispensation may be?
I've seen people go from being liberal in their youth to being more conservative as they get older, however, I'd be hard pressed to find examples of the opposite. People rarely seem to go from being conservative early in life to becoming more liberal as they age. Conservatism seems to have a lower center of gravity than liberalism.
Off topic: In retrospect, it should have come as no surprise to me to learn that our respected Colonel Sahab votes Republican.
Off topic II: The Thanavi mizaaj gives off a Republican vibe, while the Madani mizaaj gives off a Democrat vibe.
Recently one rebel and bold journalist who was victimized for not submitting was explaining how Media houses are controlled.
Starts with a carrot or withdrawal of carrot. Like, withdrawal of advertisement by big companies.
Then previous cases are dig into and for a small deviation, serious cases like sedition charges, Corruption, Misuse of funds charges etc are framed. ED, CBI, NDA, NIA etc knocks at the door. Even SC will not help.
This is very interesting. His opposition must know the reality on ground. And this article is very good analysis.
If interested in India, read the full article.
Modi faces no political costs for suffering he causes. He’s just like Iran’s Ali Khamenei
It astounds many that Modi didn’t even acknowledge the migrant crisis or the loss of jobs in his Atmanirbhar Bharat speech. And yet there is no anger with him.
If he was a normal politician, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity would have reached its nadir by now. Two out of three working Indians, according to a survey, have lost their jobs owing to the ham-fisted lockdown he declared on 24 March. The government has failed spectacularly to address a migrant crisis festering for over two months. Half of Indian households have reduced their number of meals since the lockdown. Yet, astonishingly, there seems to be no anger with Modi, who seems as popular as ever.
It astounds many that when Modi addressed the nation on 12 May, he didn’t acknowledge the migrant crisis even once, let alone offer empathy. He didn’t acknowledge the unprecedented loss of jobs, chronic shortage of essentials, nor the atmosphere of sheer desperation. Just like he didn’t acknowledge the massive destruction to livelihoods caused by demonetisation in 2016, a disaster no other political leader would have survived.
How does Modi face no political costs for the suffering he, in large part, causes? And how does he not come across as arrogant, out of touch, or simply cruel to most people, even as he consciously ignores their suffering?
Modi confounds normal political analysis because his appeal isn’t merely political. The appeal of Modi is quasi-religious, that of a messianic figure. Like M.K. Gandhi, Modi represents what political scientist Morris Jones referred to as the ‘saintly idiom’ of Indian politics. He is the self-described ‘fakir’, unattached to family and material possessions, who is here to lead India not just politically, but also socially, morally and spiritually. This is why he generates not mere following, but devotion. And this devotion is immune to the performance of the government he leads.
People’s suffering a trial of faith in Modi
When you are suffering, you don’t sack the messiah, much like you don’t sack God. You redouble your faith, because God tells you your suffering is for a higher cause, the thorny path towards salvation that only God can lead you to. The one time Modi mentioned the suffering of daily wage workers, he termed it as ‘tapasya’ (penance) —suffering for a higher cause, just like he had described his demonetisation move as “yagna against corruption”. When he extended the first lockdown on 14 April, he used the same spiritually imbued terms, calling for ‘tyag’ (sacrifice) and ‘tapasya’. Gandhi told people that India will achieve freedom through sacrifice and self-purification, which was the basis of satyagraha. Modi tells people he will build a ‘self-reliant nation’ — Atmanirbhar Bharat — on their sacrifices and penance.
This is why he began his speech with invocations of India’s ancient greatness. Modi is a messiah in a certain moral universe. In this universe, India was great, then we had “1200 years of slavery”, in his words (which includes the ‘slave mentality of post-Independence period’), until Modi arrived to lead us back to greatness. The coronavirus is not a crisis that calls for damage mitigation, the framework in which other world leaders place their measures; it is an ‘opportunity’ to fulfil his vision of regenerating India into a great nation.
But he requires unconditional faith. In this framework, the suffering of people is a trial of faith, similar to demonetisation. The faith of the people in the nation, and in the leadership of Modi. It is not unreasonable that many desperate people will cling on to this faith, which gives meaning to their suffering, rather than succumbing to total despair. Modi calls on them to transcend the banal, and increasingly wretched, existence, and be part of something bigger than themselves. Suffering strengthens faith, not weakens it, because that’s when you need it most.
This faith was recently consecrated with rituals, the thali and diya spectacles, participated in by tens of millions of people. Modi also administered seven vows to people, which included ‘taking care of elderly’, ‘taking care of poor people’, and ‘being compassionate to your workers’. Meanwhile, he also released his own animated videos doing yoga, viewed by millions of people. Through these measures, he was reinforcing his claim to the social, moral and spiritual leadership of India.
Relief measures are personal benevolence
Modi similarly packages his speeches with the aura of revelation. Unlike other democratic leaders, who are understandably communicating almost every day in the midst of a crisis, Modi communicates once every few weeks. He makes people wait for the new revelation, which is why he announces his appearance a day or two in advance. The gap is filled with wild speculation, with people airing their wishes and hopes, like prayers to an unpredictable deity.
Then he appears, at the appointed time. His speeches are part sermonising, part commandments. Often nestled in the midst is a big announcement, which is designed to shock or dazzle. The stimulus package, which was announced soberly as a crisis mitigation measure by other world leaders, was revealed by Modi like Sathya Sai Baba spitting out the golden egg. ‘Rs 20 lakh crore’, Modi kept repeating, wanting to mesmerise his audience with the scale of the package. He didn’t call it the ‘Modi package’ (those nomenclatures are left for a fawning media), but that’s how he presented it, as personal benevolence to the people, larger than they could have imagined.
“Modi’s package is equal to/bigger than the economy of Pakistan,” his missionaries on social media and mainstream media screamed out. The actual fiscal package, it turns out, would only amount to a few lakh crores, underwhelming by the standards of other countries or even India’s needs, consisting mostly of government secured loans and paying off government dues. It is an old trick that he had perfected during his days in Gujarat, when he rattled off staggering figures of lakhs of crores of investment in Vibrant Gujarat summits, which were actually MoUs seldom realised on the ground. But Modi, like religious men, only speaks in grand, symbolic terms.
It got busted by a single Tweet by a Gulf Princess.
Of course the New Normal that it created will take some time to get washed away.
So I saw a very irritating video where some goons (obviously Hindu) are harassing a middle aged Muslim.
In fact there was a case of a lynching too.
Muslims of India have to figure out to cope with this.
In this connection Dr Zafarul Islam Khan, Chairman of the All India Mushawarat Committee (a consultative body), ended up opining rather frankly about the Gulf Tweets that I mentioned above and ended up in legal trouble.
All this is going on expecting knee jerk reaction from Indian Muslims, their game plan is very big. Indian muslims are advised to have tahammul, but wait for a call.
For how long. Until every right is taken away and sharia is removed from their personal lives? CAA NRC renders them stateless? Getting butchered for not shouting jai shree ram? When people show more outrage over accidental killing of a pregnant elephant than a pregnant muslim girl languishing unjustly in jail? Until prisons are filled with muslim youths charged with UAPA?
This cannot be undone and I am sure it will be greatly appreciated.
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