Dedicated to Half Of A Yellow Sun
According to political pundits, and feeds on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, it was sort of apprehensively doubtful to suppose that the BJP shall land on such a huge victory. At best, I was hoping for a coalition government by NDA under the aegis of Modi. Yes, Modi!
I (and everyone else) always felt/knew that the NDA was going to form the government in 2019. Even those most aggressively against him. Because everyone knew how according to people on the streets (who do not post online diatribes against Modi), Modi was their de facto prime minister. These ‘common men’ would start being uneasy even if I try to mention that there is a possibility (considering the anger against him on social media) that Modi might not be the PM. Should not be the PM.
Of course, there was always the lingering question: if not Modi, then who? And if we didn’t have an option, then what was the point of continuously saying “not him?” What is the point of concurring with international media saying that India’s soul is in danger?
Bad or good, it was supposed to happen. The word was on the street, the street of common people. I used to talk to many on these streets. I used to try to argue with them, but there was no use. Modi was easily seen because we didn’t have an option. Rahul Gandhi? Perhaps, he was our de facto second opinion. In the street-side conversations, except for these two names, no other names would come out. Why? At least in my circle, that was the case.
But can I be honest? Whenever someone mentioned that Rahul Gandhi is our second best choice, something inside me would cringe. No, I have nothing against him. He has never been in power. He has never been tested. He has never been given a chance, and if anything, a part of me wants to feel pity for him being the last scion of an otherwise illustrious family.
But to me he does not give me the vibe of being a leader, yet. I try to see him in the position of prime minister. I really do. I use all angles possible, but I cannot, for the love of me, see him as the prime minister of a country. He says that his is a fight of ideology, of thought. But I don’t find any ideology in his words, except that drab list of phrases which are repeated everywhere like a parrot. His party has a history of appeasement. But of course, no one voted against him. I repeat no one voted against him. Or for that matter Atishi or Kanhaiya. Because the fact is no one even considered them.
The majority was blinded by the aura around Modi. This, in my opinion, is the naked truth. The Modi wave never really died however hard the educated tried in their online campaigns, sitting in their plush houses cooled by air conditioners. Based on the arguments online, Modi was never going to be the prime minister. But based on street-talk, there was no other choice.
“He is the only one who can uplift the country, in my opinion,” I was told, and I was surprised because this person was a member of the OBC community. Since I follow the activities of social media activists online, I had thought that there would be an anti-Modi sentiment amongst members of the SC and OBC community. But I was shocked to see the Modi wave still going strong.
He never let the wave crash by raising issues of Pakistan and the Army, Kashmir and the narrative of development. He held onto the emotional chord of the common people, and that’s it. He was voted in. Not Gautam Gambhir, not Sadhvi Pragya, not Smriti Irani. Only Modi was voted into power.
But is it only about Modi? Definitely not.
I think it is also about those intellectuals (and now I have come to the crux of the essay) who sit in their comfortable chairs and quote Faiz and Ambedkar only to each other, and never try to talk real facts with those who don’t know them. Those intellectuals are not activists, they are just internet activists. Do not include me yet. I am not an intellectual. And I don’t think we had any other choice other than Modi.
Modi is charged with communalism. I believe the Congress is also communal. The Congress may as well be another BJP, behind the mask of liberalism, which it has to wear because it only wears masks! I find the BJP better than Congress any day because at least they have a stand. But, let me not go too deep into a comparative analysis.
We have to continue raising our voices against communalism by not defining each other based on these categories, even when the BJP is not in power. We need to come out of the layers of falsehoods that stand for facts around us. And when I say ‘we,’ I really mean us. Not the intellectuals. Us on the streets.
The sad thing is: intellectuals know, but they talk with only each other. When they become activists, they do so with a kind of attitude that is almost patronising and fatherly. When they go out in their cars (including Kanhaiya) their distance from the world remains, and people don’t hear them because they can’t. If they do hear, they don’t understand the intellectuals.
Intellectuals live in their own world, talking big words with each other, congratulating each other on their good deeds, and generally writing against the likes of Modi on social media. They like each other’s posts, they love commenting on each other’s posts, they discuss fiercely amongst each other. On the day of the vote, they step out of their house to get a beloved mark on their nails, but they never really step out of their comfort zone to make know others what they need to know.
Of course, if you really read into them, they are all sheep. One says one thing, and the other repeats. Sharing images and jokes and memes. They are no different than a BJP supporter. Except that they are privileged enough to have read better books, but the same kind of books. If there are intellectuals in a country, then one: they should be really sure of what they are saying, and two: they should try to hold conversations with people around them. People who struggle in the heat and the mud, people who pick up the tickets in the buses you never travel in. People who send vegetables to the markets from where you buy your stuff online.
You should really be sure what you are saying. Judge something from all perspectives. Before launching an attack on something/someone, one must also have something to offer as an alternative. Making memes and sharing them is just one step. Unless we rid ourselves of the habit of pandering to poetry in politics (yes! Plato was right), we shall continue making poetry with each other at the expense of those who we think we really care about.
If you think a wrong has occurred, then do not discount the possibility that you amongst the culprits of the said wrong. And the funny thing is: in your heart, you know this is to be true.
Today, social media is full of articles, memes and images in which everyone is shouting with their lungs full of tired air, that the country is heading towards its doom. Its integrity is at stake. Everyone is saying the same thing. But does everyone truly feel so? No.
A majority of the people do not even know the facts. And it’s not because they have their ears and eyes shut. It’s simply because what they have access to is useless and wrong information, and a sentimental appeal to bullshit. And they can’t read it all on social media like you can.
Consider this, you, an intellectual, have a Facebook/Instagram/Twitter account. You take these accounts seriously, and you have a life. That is why you are careful about who your friends are and who can follow you. You don’t like trolls.
Now, you find something written online that you think should shared be with everyone. Because it shall help in diluting misinformation. One of the people who knows you “likes” your post. And you feel happy. The thing is, he likes it because he already believes in it. The “sharing” has done nothing in changing his mind. Except that he has got something “new” to talk about in like circles. What is the use?
Amit Shah won the election for Modi because he sent his emissaries into people’s houses and on the streets, where real action takes place. It does not take place in the closed environs of plush universities like JNU (I have studied there, I love that place, but I have to say it) and Oxford and Facebook. It all reminds me of a novel recommended by a special person, called Half Of A Yellow Sun, written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Once again, believe me, many don’t know what they have gotten into. In my humble opinion, even the Starbucks drinking intellectuals don’t. But hey, who am I to say? I might find my lips touching a Starbucks cup one day, if I get a chance.
And of course, if anyone cares to read this piece, the said intellectual will find me a BJP supporter, because we (leftists and rightists alike) believe in demonizing everything which is “the other.” The common people, on the other hand, believe in idolizing. So, the so-called good have to stand up and strike a chord with the masses. Not on the internet. Not by helping them like fathers would. But only by treating them as equals. The way Gandhi did.
Without overusing words like populist, conservatism, misogyny, egalitarianism, partisan and derogatory terms like “bhakts.” Hatred cannot be a tool in the long run. It only breeds more hatred.