Infiltration Over Invective: The Left Should Be Tackled With Its Own Weapons

Speaking at a farmers’ rally in Odisha on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has claimed that there is a conspiracy by opposition parties and a few NGOs to destabilise his government.

Destabilise is perhaps a mild translation of what he is reported to have said – shadyantra kar rahein hain ki Modi ko kaise khatam kiya jaye – but obviously he was not alleging a plot to physically finish him off but to kill his government and political career.

No doubt, this will invite sniggers from the entire spectrum of the anti-Modi brigade – ranging from those slightly left of centre and the Congress to the extreme leftists. Modi can be accused of perhaps being dramatic in this statement, but factually he is bang on.

There is absolutely no doubt that individual and unrelated events are blown up into major controversies to create the impression of a government that is (a) clueless about governance and (b) dictatorial and determined to stamp out all dissent and impose a communal agenda on the country.

Invariably, the controversy emerges around the time of a major image-boosting event (not just for the government but for the country) or a Parliament session where crucial legislation is expected to be passed.

The Dadri controversy almost blanked out the visit of German chancellor Angela Merkel. The intolerance clamour was not just about the Bihar elections; it was about disrupting the winter session of Parliament.

The current storm over the events at Jawaharlal Nehru University not only eclipsed the Make in India week that concluded last week in Mumbai, but is also designed to make the budget session of Parliament also a flop show.

It is not a coincidence; it is a trend.

But this group is opposed to Modi and it will leave no stone unturned to block him. They can hardly be expected to sit around and let him destroy a cosy edifice that they had built up over decades.

But what of those whom Modi would expect will strengthen his hands in this fight against an entrenched elite - the vast army of BJP rank and file the Sangh Parivar? Why are they repeatedly doing or saying things that will only undermine him and feed into the efforts of the anti-Modi brigade?

Consider the most recent examples:

· Anupam Kher likens the action against protesting students as pest control to get the house rid of cockroaches and insects.

· BJP national secretary H. Raja suggests that CPI leader D. Raja, in order to prove his patriotism, should get his daughter shot for being part of anti-national protests at Jawaharlal Nehru University.

· BJP MLA beats up a supporter of Kanhaiya Kumar, the arrested president of the JNU Students Union, at the Patiala House courts in New Delhi. He is unrepentant when questioned and says he would have shot the person if he had a gun.

· Lawyers claiming to be patriotic go on the rampage at Patiala House courts, not once but twice. They go about bragging about it, are felicitated and take out a march. Perhaps they have nothing to do with the BJP. But how can one explain the lack of action against them by the Delhi Police (which is under the union home ministry) when there are clear visuals of the hooliganism they have indulged in (and no one is claiming the pictures are morphed)?

· Aligarh’s BJP mayor insists beef is being served in the Aligarh Muslim University canteen and when initial investigations show it is not, threatens to storm the university “even if she has to pay with her life”.

All this when the government is already battling the fallout of the incidents in JNU, when Modi had just had a meeting with opposition leaders about the forthcoming Parliament session. There are many earlier examples when a controversy that could have been nipped in the bud was not only aggravated by the loose cannons of the BJP-sangh parivar but also reinforced the illiberal/intolerant image that the anti-Modi brigade keeps insisting is the real picture.

Often there is deliberate provocation from this brigade and the right-wing loose cannons do exactly what its detractors expect them to – make stupid statements, beat up people, indulge in hooliganism.

The attention then gets diverted to their utterances and actions, and a media that is anyway hostile ensures that this remains in focus and that the blame is pinned on Modi.

The anti-Modi brigade controls the narrative and the right-wing ends up playing to that group’s script, even as it believes that it is in control. It becomes a caricature that embarrasses even sympathisers.

The Modi fan club refuses to acknowledge this. It argues that what a few English language newspapers, news channels and news websites say does not matter. That the vast majority of the people can see through the motivated criticism and that Modi’s support base remains undiminished. That the provocations of the anti-Modi brigade are the reaction of a group whose existence is under threat and that it should not be taken seriously.

But this group is wrong or at least in denial on two counts.

Firstly, the English media still counts in terms of influence. The influence may be disproportionate to its reach, but that is a separate issue. In terms of shaping the national narrative, in terms of presenting the image of the country to the outside world, it still counts.

The social media and websites like Swarajya and Opindia may have emerged to provide a strong counter-narrative but the traditional media still counts. It counts especially for foreign investors, rating agencies and opinion makers. How these sections view India is important for the country’s economic performance. 

Secondly, the antics of the right-wing oddballs put off the fence-sitters – the group that the BJP needs to co-opt. Many of them have been drawn to the BJP by Modi’s positive appeal before and during the 2014 election campaign. They believe he is a hard-working prime minister who has restored the PMO to its original glory, that he is intolerant of corruption and that he is a doer. Sahi banda hai, is the general refrain.

But they do not think the Mahesh Sharmas, the Sakshi Maharajs, the O P Sharmas and the ABVP hooligans are sahi bande. They were aghast at the Intolerant India picture that was being painted by the SLOB; but they were equally horrified when Yogi Adityanath (who keeps threatening to send people to Pakistan) found pride of place in the anti-intolerance march organized by Kher last year.

There is an argument that the BJP need not bother about the fence-sitters, that it should forget about the centre-right space and focus on its core constituency, return to its Hindutva roots. But does pushing a Hindutva agenda necessarily involve intemperate statements and strong-arm tactics? Even those who believe that the civilizational heritage of India has not got its due all these years, who believe that secularism has become the last refuge of political scoundrels, who complain that they are forced to be apologetic about being openly Hindu, who agree that there has been blatant minority appeasement are extremely uncomfortable with the utterances and actions of the rabid right.

So, is the right-wing supposed to keep quiet while the `secular’ and left groups continue to operate as they always have, unchallenged? Are JNU and other campuses not to be freed from the leftist stranglehold? Is there any point at all in getting a right-wing government in place, in that case?

These are valid questions. And the answer is fairly clear – the leftist monopoly over public discourse and over academia has to be challenged. Absolutely. Undoubtedly.

But likening students to vermin, telling people to go to Pakistan, indulging in bullying and hooliganism is not the way to go about it. The left has to be fought using its own tactics. It operates in a very insidious, sophisticated manner, quietly infiltrating institutions – from research bodies to press clubs – and ensuring that all ideological opponents are neutralised or removed, destroying their credibility through sly rumours, not ham-handed doctored videos.

This is how the right needs to operate. The leftists will immediately recognise that it is getting a taste of its own medicine and will scream and shout and cry intolerance. The fracas at the Film and Television Institute of India is a good example.

But the students lost all public sympathy very soon; how can students dictate the choice of a principal was the question that many ordinary people asked.

In this must-read article Rajeev Mantri argues: “The most effective way to ensure the long-term impairment of India’s entrenched Left-wing ecosystem is to throw open the education market to competition”. This is one way; there could be many others.

But who in the BJP listens to sane voices?