Modi's Election Propaganda: Falsehoods

Modis’ Election Propaganda: Falsehoods and Sectarianism Galore Ram Puniyani BJP has a strong electoral machine, well backed up by its parent organization, RSS. The core module of RSS-BJP is based on demonization of Muslims through distortions of the medieval period of history in particular and glorification of the past where caste and gender hierarchy prevailed. When it comes to elections, RSS progeny has resorted to various themes from time to time. The first major theme was destruction of Hindu temples by Muslim kings which was the hidden message of the Ram Temple campaign. In due course security (Pakistan as the enemy) was also brought in. Prior to the demolition of Babri, they used to talk of Indianization of Muslims among other anti Muslim themes. In recent times, in 2014 it was Acche Din (Good Days) to take advantage of the anti Incumbency and the Jumlas (Mere phrases) like women’s security, 15 Lakhs per person, 2 Crore jobs every year along with the projection of Congress as a corrupt party. Thanks to the Anna movement promoted and supported by RSS wings, Congress is a corrupt party that was made to stick in people's minds for a long time. In 2019, National security, Pulwama-Balakot became the major propaganda for winning the elections. All through, anti-Muslim rhetoric formed the backdrop. Truth has been a major casualty in most of its propaganda. This time euphoria around Ram Temple was anticipated to be the major fulcrum of its propaganda. Gyanwapi issue has also been racked up but with marginal effect. Its seems now there is sort of ‘fatigue’ around this issue and due to the dwindling social-economic conditions of the people, the grand Ram Temple-Gyanwapi may not give the results which they were expecting. That leaves it to fall back on its time tested divisive communal issue, the anti Muslim propaganda. This time around Mr. Modi has set the tone around anti Muslim dog whistles and linked it up with the Congress manifesto centered around Justice for weaker sections of society,( adivasis, dalits and religious minorities), women’s empowerment, and justice for youth (employment- internship) and students (Paper leaks). So far justice for weaker sections of society has been the major point of opposition for RSS and its progeny. Its very foundation in 1925 was in the backdrop of dalits asserting their rights and women beginning to articulate their social presence. To dilute the caste based reservations they brought in reservations for economically backwards. In practice wherever possible they have been undermining affirmative action for dalit and OBC. Faced with the great appeal of Rahul Gandhi’s emphasis on reservation and affirmative action, BJP had to counter it without sounding that it is inherently opposed to reservations. In this direction the first step was falsehood from BJP patriarch Mohan Bhagwat that RSS has never been against reservations! Modi in a clever and fake concoction has been saying that, “…they [Congress] wanted to grant reservation to one section of the society (i.e. Muslims, added) by cutting into the quotas meant for Dalits and backward classes, which is completely against the Constitution. The reservation rights that Dr Babasaheb gave to Dalits, backward classes, and tribals, the Congress and the INDI Alliance wanted to give them to specific minorities based on religion," Congress manifesto’s emphasis on caste census and giving the analogy of X Ray was picked up by Mr. Modi and linked with his anti Muslim narrative. Connecting the two, he peaked in the falsehood that Congress will do the X-Ray to find gold, money etc. and give it to those who have more children or who are infiltrators (Meaning Muslims as usual in their fake narrative). And to frighten the Hindus, Hindu women in particular, he stated “My mothers and sisters, they won't even leave your mangalsutras(Sacred necklace worn by married Hindu women) . The Congress manifesto says that if they form a government, then a survey of property belonging to every person will be done. It will be checked how much gold our sisters own and how much money government employees have…They also said that gold owned by our sisters would be equally distributed. Does the government have the right to take your property? ' He cited Mangalsutra' as something which will be taken away and given to Muslims. This is like killing many birds in one stone. One is, to criticize Congress Manifesto, two to target Muslims and three to frighten Hindu women. The limit of falsehood concocted by him is so obvious here. The arrogance that such falsehoods can be believed by a large number of people comes from the solid understanding that the committed volunteers of ‘RSS combine’ the IT cell and the corporate controlled TV channels and media will ensure that this falsehood will be taken seriously by large sections of people. The peak point of this exercise was to bring in poor buffalo, which had been left out so far in the ‘Cow as mother’ elaborations. ‘If you have two buffaloes one will be taken away by Congress!’ Post truth lies at its best! How can Pakistan not be made part of the campaign by BJP-Modi? Modi brought in the P factor by stating that Pakistan wants a weak Government in India. One Fawad Chaudhary, an ex-minister of Pakistan, had stated that Rahul Gandhi has Socialism within him. Modi’s claim is that Pakistan is scared of Balakot type reaction so they want Rahul as PM. Modi must have forgotten that it was Congress-Indira Gandhi, which took the bold decision to help in liberation of BanglaDesh, and divide Pakistan into two countries, against the wishes of mighty Western powers! To bring in Mughals, Modi used the tweet from Tejasvi Yadav, when he was having fish a day before Navratra (Hindu sacred period, when many Hindu do not consume non vegetarian food). Modi propagated that Tejeswai Yadav is consuming ‘non vegetarian’ food in Holy Navratra to insult the feelings of Hindus, the way Mughal kings used to humiliate Hindus by destroying Hindu temples. Connecting the opposition leader’s innocuous act with Mughals thereby reflecting on to present Muslims, showed that the BJP’s current ‘propaganda in chief’ can stretch any simple and harmless thing into a tool to demonize the Muslims and along with the political opposition to his power. Remarkable is the prowess of Mr. Modi to concoct things to generate ‘Hate for Muslims’ and opposition parties for his electoral gains and social hegemony.

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Modi: Last ten Years of BJP rule was a trailer-More to come | Ram Puniyani

Modi: Last ten Years of BJP rule was a trailer-More to come

 

Ram Puniyani

 

Modi has many ploys up his sleeves when it comes to propaganda. On one hand he is turning many a pronouncements of Congress in the communal direction, on the other he is claiming that whatever has been achieved during last ten years of his rule is phenomenal, but it is still a ‘trailer’ and the bigger things are in the offing as he claims to be coming to power yet again in 2024. While his admirers are ga ga about his achievements, the truth lies somewhere else.

His acolytes have been claiming his achievement in the form of providing increased use of internet, increase in air travel, 420 million more bank accounts, 110 million more gas connections, 220 millions being covered by insurance, increased rate of making of highways, more taxpayers and export of anti Covid vaccine to so many countries leading to increase India’s global prestige. And of course provision of free rations to 800 million people.

These, in a way, are not true reflectors of the welfare of the people or the state of democracy and freedom in the country. Many major changes have taken place which has undermined the welfare of the state and abolition of democratic freedoms in the country.

Since he came to power in 2014, gradually the Cabinet system has been undermined and power is concentrated in his hands, in all the possible ways. He is the decision maker in most of the cases. Two glaring things brought by him were the demonetization and handling of the Corona epidemic. Demonetization was done solely by him on the claim that the illegal money will be retrieved. What happened was the severe hardships to average people, nearly 100 people died while queuing up in the banks for change of notes. The final result was that 98% of the currency is back in circulation.

The Corona epidemic was the great tragedy, worst compounded by his decision to impose a lockdown at a few hours notice, there are tragic tales related to the exodus of people from urban centers to their native places. And the number of bodies floating in Ganga, and scattered on its banks tell the tale of hardships suffered by the people.

At the administrative level the Constitutional bodies’ autonomy suffered a setback with most of them doing the bidding of the Government, rather Modi himself. The impartiality of ED, CBI, IT and Election Commission has been compromised a lot. Many Judicial decisions also seem to be tilted in favor of the executive.

On the scale of democracy, as per the V Dem, the autonomous institute monitoring the index of democracy, India has been labeled India as ‘One of the Worst autocracies’ (2024).  As per the report there is a downward slide in this as in 2018, it was labeled as ‘electoral autocracy’. As per this “India, with 18% of the world’s population, accounts for about half of the population living in autocratising countries,”   

As far as Press freedom is concerned, the average person can see the media being controlled by the corporate sector, close to the Modi regime. As per ‘Reporters Without Borders’ (2023) India has slipped down to 161 out of 180 countries studied. Just in one year, it has slipped from 150 to 161! The freedom of expression and criticism of the Government is labeled anti national and many of our dedicated and committed human rights activists are in jail for years, without even charges filed against them.

Freedom of Religion index, as per United States Commission on International religious Freedom, “Throughout the year, the Indian government at the national, state, and local levels promoted and enforced religiously discriminatory policies, including laws targeting religious conversion, interfaith relationships, the wearing of hijabs, and cow slaughter, which negatively impact Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, and Adivasis (indigenous peoples and scheduled tribes)…”

Human rights watch summarizes the condition of Muslim minorities in India, “Authorities in India have adopted laws and policies that systematically discriminate against Muslims and stigmatize critics of the government. Prejudices embedded in the government of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have infiltrated independent institutions, such as the police and the courts, empowering (Hindu) nationalist groups to threaten, harass, and attack religious minorities with impunity.”

Economic conditions and employment situation is worsening by the day. While Modi had promised 20 million new jobs every year, what has been observed that rate of unemployment is highest now at 8.3% as per Center for Monitoring Indian Economy “Unemployment rate in India increased to eight per cent in February 2024 from 6.8 per cent in January 2024, according to CMIE’s Consumer Pyramids Household Survey.” This eased a bit in March 2014 but still remains the highest such rate in the last forty years.

The hunger index is a good barometer for assessing the nutritional levels of society. India has fallen to 107 out of 121 countries assessed. This is worse than the prevailing situations in neighboring countries like Pakistan, Sri Lanka and BanglaDesh. 

On the top of all this the Oxfam India report (Survival of the Richest) tells us that “Oxfam India’s report on inequality in India released recently finds that just 5 percent of Indians own more than 60 per cent of the country’s wealth, while the bottom 50 per cent of the population possess only 3 percent of the wealth.” 

The economic plight of dalits has worsened during the last ten years in particular. Sukhdeo Thorat a prominent academic states, “Dalits are employed in manual, unskilled labor jobs in urban areas. Given these facts, only 5% of the working Dalit population has actually benefited from the Indian reservation law… while GOI poverty alleviation programs help Dalits, the government does not strictly monitor them and many are never implemented…and the vast majority of Dalits…”

Education and science research is being downgraded with the faith based knowledge being given precedence over rational thinking. With the Prime Minister claiming that India had plastic surgeons in the past who could plant the elephant head on head, or that due to clouds our planes will not be detected by Radars, what direction science and education will take?

If the last ten years were a trailer, and Modi claims that he is coming back with an increased majority, India will give a tough competition to Pakistan in the retrograde direction of the social, economic and political situation of the country!