dawn.com, 22 February, 2010
by Jawed Naqvi
An unnerving feature of fascism is that it readily finds a popular base among unsuspecting people. Another feature of fascism is that it can use the pretence of democracy to gain power.
Without the Enabling Act passed by parliament Hitler would not have become Fuehrer. It was only then that he acquired mesmeric dimensions that swept the Germans off their feet. Big business idolised him in a big way.
Narendra Modi’s charisma has lured India’s biggest business tycoons — powerful tycoons who are invited to attend American presidents’ inaugurations — to see in him a role model leader not for Gujarat alone, but for India.
Film actor Amitabh Bachchan is fascism’s newest recruit. He has recently become brand ambassador of Modi’s state — Gujarat. While Shahrukh Khan, Bollywood’s other superstar never went quite so far, he did say in an interview that he had nothing against Narendra Modi because Modi had never harmed him personally.
In his new and popular film My Name Is Khan, co-produced by Rupert Murdoch, people who were outraged by the rape and mass murder of Muslims in Gujarat (for which Modi is being investigated) are condemned as being satanic.
It was not always the case that Indian cinema could be brazenly exploited by rightwing interests. In fact, the presence of a highly influential left-liberal movement — Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) — within India’s nascent world of performing arts ensured that much of the ethos of the cinema reflected social strife and collective hope of a young nation. But IPTA has all but disappeared from the scene, not unlike the political movement that had shored it up.
Therefore, as India’s cinema gets “depoliticised” and focuses on candy floss themes or when it is busy marrying resurgent narrow nationalism with the threat of terrorism, it becomes difficult to speak up, much less fight the tendency.
Yet the struggle is on. More and more people are prepared to accept the consequences of protesting, of speaking out. For some it means social approbation, for others (let’s say those in places like Kashmir, Manipur, Orissa, Jharkhand ,Chhatissgarh and yes, Gujarat) it could mean prison, or even death in a ubiquitous ‘fake encounter’.
Among the few who have been fearlessly involved in bearding the lion in its lair, is actor Mallika Sarabhai, danseuse and social activist Mallika Sarabhai. She wrote the following letter to Amitabh Bachchan to question his support for Narendra Modi’s Gujarat.
“My dear Bachchanji, Greetings from a Gujarati You are indeed a fine actor. You are an intelligent man and a shrewd businessman.
But should I believe in your endorsements? Let’s take a brief look at what you proclaim you believe in (albeit for huge sums of money). BPL, ICICI, Parker and Luxor pens, Maruti Versa, Cadbury’s chocolates, Nerolac paints, Dabur, Emami, Eveready, Sahara City Homes, D’damas, Binani Cement and Reliance. And now Gujarat.
I wonder how you decide what to endorse. Is your house built with Binani Cement? Do you really like Cadbury’s chocolates or do you have to resort to Dabur’s hajmola (whose efficacy you have earlier checked) after eating them? And having endorsed two pens, one very upmarket and one rather down, which one do you use?
Have you, except perhaps for the shooting of the ad, ever driven or been driven in a Versa? Do you know whether the Nerolac paint in your home (you do use it don’t you?) has lead in it that can poison you slowly as it does so many people? Or are the decisions entirely monetary?
It has been reported that no direct fee will be paid to you for being my Brand Ambassador.
So, with no monetary decision to guide you, how did you decide to say yes? Did you check on the state of the State? I doubt it, for the decision and the announcement came from one single meeting. And I somehow doubt that you have been following the news on Gujarat closely.
So, as a Gujarati, permit me to introduce my State to you.
Everyone knows of our vibrancy, of the billions and trillions pouring into our State through the two yearly jamborees called Vibrant Gujarat. But did you know that by the government’s own admission no more than 23 per cent of these have actually moved beyond the MOU stage?
That while huge subsidies are being granted to our richest business houses, over 75,000 small and medium businesses have shut down rendering one million more people jobless.
You know of Gujarat’s fastpaced growth and the FDI pouring in, you have no doubt seen pictures of the czars of the business world lining up to pour money to develop us. To develop whom?
Did you know that our poor are getting poorer? That while the all-India reduction in poverty between 1993 and 2005 is 8.5 per cent, in Gujarat it is a mere 2.8 per cent?
That we have entire farmer families committing suicide, not just the male head of the household? You have heard of how some mealy mouthed NGO types have been blocking the progress of the Narmada project, how the government has prevailed, and water is pouring down every thirsty mouth and every bit of thirsty land. But did you know that in the 49 years since it was started, and in spite of the Rs29,000 crore spent on it, only 29 per cent of the work is complete?
That the construction is so poor (lots of sand added to the you know which cement) that over the last nine years there have been 308 breaches, ruining lakhs of farmers whose fields were flooded, ruining the poorest salt farmers whose salt was washed away?
That whereas in 1999, 4,743 of Gujarat’s villages were without drinking water, within two years that figure had gone up to 11,390 villages? (I cannot even begin to project those figures for today — but do know that the figure has gone up dramatically rather than down).
With our CM, hailed as the CEO of Gujarat, we have once again achieved number one status — in indebtedness.
In 2001, the state debt was Rs14,000 crore. This was before the State became a multinational company.
Today it stands at Rs1,05,000 crore. And to service this debt we pay a whopping Rs7,000 crore a year, 25 per cent of our annual budget.
Meanwhile, our spending on education is down, no new public hospitals for the poor are being built, fishermen are going a begging as the seas turn turgid with effluents, more mothers die at birth per thousand than in the rest of India, and our general performance on the Human Development Index is nearly the first — from the bottom.
One rape a day, 17 cases of violence against women, and, over the last 10 years, 8,802 suicides and 18,152 “ accidental” deaths of women have been officially reported. You can imagine the real figures.
You have said that you are our ambassador because we have Somnath and Gandhi.
Somnath was built for the people. Gandhiji was a man of the people. Do the people of this State matter to you? If they do, perhaps your decision will be different. I hope you will read this letter and decide.In warmth and friendship, Mallika”
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