Modi took over the office of the Prime Minister in 2014 with a thumping majority. RSS and other far-right extremist Hindu fringe outfits backed him to come to power. RSS and other similar organizations have actively supported the concept of “Hindu Rashtra”, a concept similar to Hitler’s Nazi Germany. Hitler unleashed inexplicable persecution against the Jews to purify Germany of Jews’ presence. His anti-Jews policy gave rise to several anti-Jew pogroms sponsored by the state. Now Narendra Modi, too, has a similar murky past. He made the state mechanism inactive during the infamous Gujarat riots of 2002—so that “his Hindu brothers could take revenge on the Muslims”.
Many people died; women were dragged out of their homes on to the streets and raped; people were left homeless. The stain of blood could be seen everywhere marked with the fierceness from both the people and government’s parts. Modi’s studied silence to condemn the sporadic incidents of violence against the Indian minorities in the first five years speaks much more. However, on May 23, 2019, Modi was re-elected as the Prime Minister of India for the second time. In his first speech to the Parliament, he assured the Indian Muslims to remain fearless. Through his excellent oration, he urged all the people present there to win ‘minorities’ faith’.
A few days after Modi’s speech, Tabrez Ansari, a 24-year-old youth from the Indian state of Jharkhand was tied to a pole, thrashed with sticks for more than twelve hours, and forced to chant “Jai Shree Ram”, “Jai Hanuman”—two slogans increasingly used by the far-right Hindu fringe outfits to assert their “ideology”—ideology of disharmony, ideology of violence. It was suspected that Ansari stole a motorbike along with two other persons who managed to escape. For the sake of argument, let us assume for a while that he stole a motorbike. But the relation between ‘theft’ and ‘being forced by an angry mob to chant religious slogans’ is beyond my capacity to comprehend. The video showed a bloodstained Ansari pleading for mercy from the angry mob to stop assaulting him. Later, he succumbed to his injuries in a local hospital. There were allegations of negligence towards Ansari from his family members by the Police to get him admitted to a hospital.
Modi in Parliament later shed crocodile tears for Ansari’s unfortunate lynching saying his death pained him, but it is not right to blame an entire state for such lynchings. Nirbhaya case (2012 Delhi) shook the nation’s conscience and brought people of all sects on to the streets of India. Narendra Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat, took to Twitter to condemn the rape saying Delhi has become the rape capital in an apparent jibe at Congress. Now the same Modi is asking others not to blame a state for lynchings. Another important fact which I must mention is that Modi has claimed that the pathetic lynching of Ansari deeply pains him.
But we haven’t forgotten that his MPs bullied the Muslim MPs in the Parliament by chanting “Jai Shree Ram”, “Jai Hanuman”, “Jai Kali”, “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” in his presence and he beautifully maintained his ‘usual studied silence’. This exposes his empty sympathy towards those being lynched on the streets before being forced to chant religious slogans by a mob. Ansari became the first victim of hate crime in Modi’s second term as the Prime Minister.
A few days back, a U.S. report stated that minorities and Dalits are not safe under the Narendra Modi government. Modi government rejected the report calling it biased. The attack on Ansari exposed the futility of the Indian government’s refusal of the report.
Close to 150 children died of Acute Encephalitis in the Indian state of Bihar. Deaths of these helpless children exposed the poor healthcare system of India. During the press conference on the child’s death by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Bihar’s Health Minister is seen asking the reporters the score of the India-Pakistan cricket match. Apathy towards these helpless children who have been killed by the state is highlighted by this barbaric gesture of the health minister who is more interested in knowing the score of a cricket match than explaining the failures of the healthcare system that led to this massive tragedy. The deaths of these children seriously have raised concerns over the on-ground implementation of Modi’s health project Ayushman Bharat—that aims to provide financial assistance to the poor and vulnerable families in private hospitals.
The current water crisis in India is the worst in its history. India’s sixth largest city, Chennai has run out of drinking water with its people trying to cope with this major water crisis. Water reservoirs have gone dry. Recently, in Tamil Nadu, a man was killed by two of his neighbours over filling water in his buckets from a public tap. A family from Uttar Pradesh recently wrote to Prime Minister Modi seeking mercy killing. In their letter to Modi, they said they have no access to clean drinking water. These two instances speak for the extreme water crisis India is facing.
Virat Kohli was recently fined with only ₹500 for wasting drinking water by the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram. His neighbours alleged that his staff was using drinkable water to wash his luxury cars. This is a serious offence taking into account the water crisis we are undergoing, yet the degree of his punishment is very little compared to the offence he committed. People are fighting over water, and he is using drinkable water to wash his expensive cars.
These facts present some simple questions: What preventive steps have been taken by the government so far to ensure the eradication of lynchings, child deaths and solution to the water crisis? Who is answerable for these lynchings, child deaths and water crisis? What is the use of becoming a superpower when the government can’t protect its innocent people from an angry mob, can’t prevent a child’s death from a curable disease, and can’t find a solution to the looming water crisis?
Well, if someone dares to ask these questions, they may find themselves behind bars.