Friday, October 3, 2014

Revealing the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah brand of Social Engineering

If anyone thinks that the rise of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to the top of the Indian political echelons has been sudden and meteoric, then they need to think again! Their progress can be attributed to a long drawn process of social engineering initiated by Modi and his ilk which spans well over forty years.

There have been various photos circulating on the internet of Modi in disguise during the Emergency as an RSS leader. The smoking gun is the very fact that Modi was considered important enough to be targetted by the Emergency authorities forty years ago. He had joined the RSS when it was just a nascent force in Gujarat and quickly rose to the top of this controversial outfit. Amit Shah joined him at the start of the 1980s and their partnership (in crime, etc) has blossomed since then.

Their modus operandi was to first spread hatred between the two main communities in Gujarat and then reap electoral gains. It used to be said that "if you threw a stone in the air in Ahmedabad, it would lead to a Hindu-Muslim riot." But earlier Gujarat had been a peaceful state with the bloody 1969 riots as an aberration. The Justice Reddy Commission set up to investigate the riots squarely blamed Hindu nationalist organizations like RSS, Hindu Mahasabha and Jan Sangh for escalating the riots which started after minor religious disputes (for which both communities were equally to blame). The Modi-Shah partnership harnessed this communal tension existing in Gujarat in the aftermath of the riots to propel their careers.  The sudden spurt of rioting in Gujarat from the early 1980s onwards indicated that these two political figures were busy tossing a lot of "stones in the air."

Now, Modi was close to another right-wing Sanghi named L K Advani and it was the magnamity of the latter (so gratefully rewarded in 2014) that boosted the prospects of Modi who, in turn, boosted those of Amit Shah in a trickling down effect that has been replicated in 2014 with Modi as the PM and Amit Shah as the party chief and their cronies filling spaces below in this hierarchy.

Here's a look at an excerpt from an article on Outlook.com, a prominent news website in India:(Read the full article at http://www.outlookindia.com/article/History-of-Communal-Violence-in-Gujarat/217988)
"It was from Gujarat, in September 1990, that LK Advani launched his Somnath to Ayodhya rath yatra leaving a nationwide trail of violence in its wake. In 1990 itself, there was major violence in Gujarat because of Advani's rath yatra. The chief architect of that yatra was Narendra Modi. During the years of communal violence in 1986, 1987, 1989 and 1990, Modi was general secretary of the BJP. That is when the Ramjanmabhoomi campaign became a central issue in Gujarat. Men, women and youngsters from Gujarat, constituting possibly the largest contingent from anywhere in the country, participated in the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992."

After the Babri Masjid demolition, India was never the same again as its secular fabric had been ripped apart. The BJP emerged as a leading national party in the early 1990s after having got just 2 seats in 1984! Such is the power of the 'Politics of Hate.’  Modi and Shah then went from village to village building a strong BJP base in the state, while at the same time creating a huge communal divide in the country. Modi then, through acts of betrayal  and by influencing the national leaders of the BJP, beat Vaghela and Keshubhai to the post of Gujarat Chief Minister in 2001.

The less said about Modi’s role in the subsequent Gujarat riots the better. Narendra Modi  has been accused of the following acts of omission and commission:
(a) His administration failed miserably to respond to the immediate dangers of  the altercations between Kar Sevaks of the Sabarmati Express and Muslim Traders at different railway stations.
(b) After the heinous burning of the Sabarmati Express, Modi & Co made it look as if it was a well planned conspiracy by prominent Muslim leaders instead of what it was – spontaneous communal violence directly related to the Babri Masjid demolition for which Modi himself was chiefly responsible.
(c) He allegedly conspired with the VHP to parade the dead bodies of the victims, Gaza-style, to fuel communal hatred against Muslims immediately after the train burning
(d) Modi conducted two separate meetings –– the first with police officers to go soft on rioters; the second was a pep-talk for Sanghi rioteers
(e) Narendra Modi failed to protect the lives of thousands of Hindus, Muslims and other Gujaratis by not providing governance when it was needed the most – His ministers sat in police control rooms monitoring the action ensuring that Police acted selectively only against the Muslim rioteers and allowed a free hand to the Sanghi rioteers.
(f) The biggest charge against him was that in the midst of the Gulbarga attack when Sanjiv Bhatt, a top police officer, informed him about the situation, Modi was worried whether the victims had guns to protect themselves from the rioteers. Moreover, when a call was made to Narendra Modi by Ehsan jaffrey, a top Gujarat politician, just before he was attacked and killed by the mob, there was only abuse from Modi’s phone but no assistance.

Of course, after the Gujarat Riots, Modi was justifiably humiliated and ostracised by one and all. But he has used his social engineering skills to bounce back, reach the top and win over his critics. Ratan Tata received a prestigious award at the hands of the Vajpayee Government and the loyalty of a top businessman was bought. Adani and Ambani were already Modi’s cheerleaders and have been amply rewarded for their support. Soon top  actors and the mainstream media were influenced (bought?) to support Modi and he has emerged as a larger than life figure frequently sporting the avatars of Nehru, Gandhi, Sardar Patel or Ambedkar among many others. He has resorted to CLICHES like “the force be with you” or “Clean India” to widen his fan base.

In the words of a VHP office bearer: ““We were used by Modi saab, used! Now that he has cemented his position, he wants to be seen as pro-development. He has abandoned those who died for him in Godhra. Who will support their families? It is like we have been wiped out from Modi’s memory.” 
Modi has continued to use people in his ascendancy, but it is now Amit Shah’s turn to reap the “Blood for Votes” brand of electoral politics. Let’s not talk about the charges of fake encounter killings or snooping  leveled against him. Since Amit Shah became the UP in-charge for the 2014 elections, there were "coincidentally” more than 200 riots, including the dreadful, Muzzafarnagar riots, that helped the BJP to sweep the state, winning 71 of the 80 seats in UP and 282 seats throughout the country. Amit Shah has been hailed as a genius and made the president of the BJP party.
With more elections expected throughout the country in the near future, one wonders as to what level of social engineering the successful Narendra Modi-Amit Shah partnership will now stoop!



2 comments :

  1. I'll be now expecting a barrage of comments and abuses. The truth is bitter and very few people can digest that bitterness. They will attack my writing skills, my religion, my professions,etc. Just preparing the readers for comments from the Pro-Modi online hate brigade.BTW, I have criticised the Congress on numerous occasions for supporting Jagdish Tytler, an accused in the 1984 Sikh riots. My views are not party-centric but based on historical research and sound judgement.

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  2. Hmmm An interesting post. It just shows that the "Politics of Hate" can do wonders in the 21st century. This is happening all over the world. HATE is selling faster and better than LOVE. The human race is caving in.

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