WSJ published a
article comparing Modi with Trump, with their so called lens of liberal moral taste buds, accusing him of destroying minotrities, destroying the economy, abusing nationalism so on . In my view, it lacked some basic understanding of the ground reality of India.
It has been 5 days since Ayodhya verdict came out -giving controversial site to Hindu's and separate 5 acres for muslims as a compensation.
Lot's of protests/riots/media outcry should have broken loose by now. Having seen weeks long curfews, constant protests of the period ( 90-92), I expected that.
But, No protects or violence or simply none as if nothing happened.
Given the history, passions aroused and how it is politicized for 30 years this is a EXTRAORDINARY achievement. Some murmurs here and there by one or two local muslim politicians. It is this issue that collapsed the center government in later 80's , created years of communal protests, violence at each level (villages to cities) and drove ideological divide for at least 25 years.
Issue is not so much of who got what, It is the ability to bring consensus of this highly politicized charged issue. Hindu's got it, so all Hindu fundies are silenced for once for all. If it was given to Muslims things will been there for decades. If Hindu fundies does it again, Modi stick will there. Will Modi do this type of thing?. I don't think he will do it because of his life's experiences of last 17 years.
Though the Muslim community may have actually reconciled with the situation and accepted it as its destiny, the hearts remain bruised.
www.news18.com
One has to keep this in mind that it’s not the land, but its people that make the nation. To carry all the people along is a collective responsibility and the most important role here is that of the government.
A representative of one of the parties to the Babri issue, late Hashim Ansari, used to say that even if he won the legal battle, the construction of the Masjid would not begin till he won the hearts of his Hindu brethren of the land.
There is a message here for the people of India. Triumph or defeat, take the people along, but is anybody listening?
There should have lot more noise given that Modi was accused of being the man behind the 2002 Godhra incident, day after day for 17 years. What happened to all that "MSM/Opposition/Self declared social activists/Minority proponent noise" of "Modi as the mass murderer" when he did the worst thing Anti-Modi gang ever can conjure up ( giving the site to Hindu's)? It is not about just ordinary people thinking 'let it go' , the other elements like politicians and other vested interests represents them. Obviously some thing is not adding up, if one has to believe the Indian liberal media and some body has to be wrong.
. Not one event ,at one time, All the things Modi did until now contributed for the peace.
It is very very difficult to have the trust of the diverse set of masses, which Modi was able to cultivate and maintain.
Here are some thoughts on the topic which I think summarizes events that contributed for the calm. I am sorry for being a long post.
He gave some thing to every body( I mean most of the people who deserves and needs) according to the Rule of Law, what they want well before this verdict came out. This built the trust in govt., law agencies and courts. I don't mean to say it in total, but even in partial, rest filled with hope. In the process, he proved that all his opponents are wrong.
At the same time people are not blindly following the BJP as the recent assembly elections in 2 states showed.
Poor people wants basic necessities : sanitation, roads, subsidized food, cooking gas, cheap energy efficient bulbs, cheap loans, education less corruption without consideration of their identity. Farmers with loans, price guarantees, farm insurance, pension schemes, help in choosing right crop for the land etc.
Muslims and Minorites Trust: He gave massive educational , vocational training , removing triple talaq bill for women etc. Some body asked a Arif Mohammad Khan, who was union minister in Rajiv Gandhi Govt and resigned after his overriding supreme court decision in Shabano case in second half of 80's . He said on Triple Talaq popularity "
Women welcomed it for sure, but every man is also son or brother too". He means every body welcomed it.
But, Modi's biggest achievement is influencing the right wing hindu fundamentalists/politicians and putting them in their proper place and making them accountable for their actions under the law. He has been doing this for many years in his own ways (silence or stick of law and order or other means). This removed most of the volatile provocations. When he asked people to not to celebrate it, people didn't for most part. Those few who went to social media to make noise, were sent notices. Well, people may say it is free will violation, but the rumors have done so much violence in the past, people don't mind occasional clamp down in India.
With promulgation of "Banning Triple Talaq" bill last year ( but he couldn't make it pass in Rajya Sabha), there are many reports that muslims stopped going to the muslim controlling body - Wakft boards. By the time he made this bill passed in Modi 2.0 era, the role of traditional muslim buerocracy( in mean unofficial) is very weak and the factors that fuelled the division.
Mafia/Hawala/Politics: This is a bigger factor in this issue. That is Role of the Mumbai mafia, Hawala trade, Politicians, fake currency and Pakistan connections. India's most wanted fugitive is Don of Mumbai Mafia named
Dawood Ibrahim , who also overseen the hawala operations. He used to be king pin of Bollywood industry and we grew up reading news of bollywood bigwigs lining up to his parties in Dubai. Before demonitization, It is estimated that
3000 crores ( per year) of fake indian currency that is printed in Pakistan , legitimized by Dawood's Hawala operators. It is estimated that Pakistan earns 500 crores per year from this operation that feeds the terrorist operations in India. It is the same operators that move the black money from Indian wealthy( politicians or media or celebrities ) to foreign nations/banks. Terrorism in the name of religion flows through its structures. It is well known that Post-Ayodhya Mumbai violence (that killed 350 people ) is works of the Dawood Ibrahim and congress faction leaders like Sharad Pawar.
With demonitization, these operators got a big blow. funding dried up instantly terrorism in many areas Naxals in south and central, North East separatists, Kashmiri and other factions. Even if they can start doing these illegal things after that, but now Govt. has lot of gathered information to closely track and control it. . Now, LOT of investigative notices are going to Dawood's links that includes bollywood celebrities and politicians and businessmen. At the same time, he is not locking them all either. He made laws and allowing the law to take its own course, making it faster with intervention , promoting it as his Govt. Achievements. He did disappointed a lot of folks not locking up former finance minister Chidambarm in the 2G scam, but he did it in another case, his bail application going in circles.
Historical Signifiance of the event : Having lived in 600 years of Muslim rule and around 100 years british rule, there have been reactionary complaints of Hindu conversions to Muslims and Christianity. Some took anti-British flavor. But, Independent India is creation of British educated barristers lead by MK Gandhi and his disciples like Nehru and Sardar Patel etc. It's Congress party's dictator MK Gandhi's ( those days, dictator means "who dictates" - not the post WW II meanings) enormous popularity drove the events. Hindu factions like RSS, didn't have any popularity or support to the point they couldn't dare to contest in first elections in 1952. though the country is mostly hindu.
But, it is Nehru that kept nation united on firm secular footing until blunder of his grand son Rajiv Gandhi in late 80's that triggered the raise of the BJP. But how BJP made it as a mass movement is interesting. They asked all Hindu's across india build a brick with their own hands with Sr Ram name etched in it and carry it to Ayodhya for temple building. Because of the rural nature of the country, high density, caste nature of employment and group living and economic challenges, there is always undercurrent of friction, politicians of all colors used it once in a while . India only started to have taste of Television around this time, India's 1984 world cup cricket victory and popular TV serial Ramayan, replaced and broadened the appeal of TV. We had heard rumours of so and so went and his adventure tales etc. ( I,e, protests, riots, police actions etc.)
The timing of BJP mass appeal (late 80's) is such pushed the "Ram" from the private space of household prayer room to streets of Countries Politics. But, they couldn't convert it to their governance with full majority in parliament until Modi came along( though BJP ruled 1999-2004 on the same congress economic policies - if it is working, why to change ). Even in 2014, No body thought( even the veteran BJP leaders themselves) this local CM will get full majority at the center except one man. That man is Modi Himself. how he did it i wrote it in the previous post.
By the time, Modi won in 2014, these Hindu proponents thought they can have field day and it has been a centuries long wait ended for them . But the Sangh Parivar, an umbrella organization of Hindu front is a loosely coupled, disciplined organization of Myriad wings. Though Modi came out of RSS, Modi had serious fight with Sangh Paravar in the Post-godhra incidents and their leaders.
Lessons from Godhra event: After Godhra incidents, Modi accused foreign hand.
There investigative agencies that identified increased flow of money from Dubai to mosques and increased phone calls with Karachi during before and during Godhra incident. Modi immediately called it External Terrorism, But, that is branded it as a another diversion for the crime. Any thing and every thing viewed with the lense of being the culprit, leftists/activists/opposition jumped on him.
Having been thrown under the bus after Godhra incident by every body Hindu fundies ( like RSS, VHP, Siva Sena ), opposition (Congress, communists etc.) and Minority , Modi created his own path of connection directly to the masses with his development agenda and structural reforms under the drowning noise of liberal media. In the process, he removed lot of traditional BJP local heavy weights from the power and replaced it with bureaucrats and his own people.
Modi didn't even give any protection to any body irrespective of party ( BJP or RSS or VHP or congress or communists) in the post-Godhra priod and let the law do what ever it needs to do. This created a strong hatred of him in the political circles( who backed each other behind the scene in the crimes), but they could do nothing as long as he is winning elections. Modi spent more than 20 years as a backroom strategist, traveled extensively across the nation, made lot of connections, had the natural talent for reading the pulse and impressing every body ( beggar to bureaucrats, business man to heads of state) with his grand vision, meticulous detailed planning and always taking it to new levels. There is nothing any body can do as long as he is winning.
Why Godhra narration was promoted so long:
India is 12 times denser than US. Communal violence in close proximity creates instant Amygdala Hijack, simple rumor can become warning bell in the listeners mind and passions go up rather instantly and will spread like wildfire. Given gruesome nature of live burning of 60 + hindu's, inevitable passions that will raise and Modi's lifelong RSS association instantly made him the suspect. Nothing else mattered. Every thing he said or did is a proof of his guilt. Obviously it suited well for opposition parties, local politicians ( of both aisles) who come out to show their leadership or scoring their past issues in this type of incidents. It's all Modi and no body else. This incident is like a 'Bone to the dog' for the congress during the Mandir-Mandal era( 1990's to 2014) and their liberal media.
Women: child infanticide, rapes etc. With his myriad practical programs under "Beti Bachavo, Beti Padaavo" ( Save the daughter, Educate the daughter) , "Selfie with daughter", severe punishment for the rapists , making police accountable , speeding up the legal system, he was able to make change in the environment it self. For the last few years, the speed with which culprits are getting apprehended comparable to western standards. But, Media will not promote that. It came out that Haryana the male to female ratio grown 1: .7 to almost 1:1 in 5 years.
Average Middle class: Jobs, corruption, pessimism, Law and order, meritocracy/reservations etc. : Jobs may be a issue ( nothing new, it had been a issue for generations) and there is no way government itself can give for half a billion people. Every body know methods of unemployment numbers calculated are not in line with reality. One can see reduction in corruption and pessimism, improved law and order. Jobs stats are rather hard to measure or come by. But, Inflation was very very low and confidence on the Govt. extremely high. Interviews with people before the recent Haryana election, people are saying unemployment is a big problem, But, only Modi can solve the problem.
Businesses: There are myriad flavors with Business env. Small shops to multi national companies, short term, long term, sector wise, date wise etc. Demonitzation that reduced property prices by 30%, whether it is good or bad depends on the observer. But one thing is clear, every body knows, Modi is listening to all the noise and reacting to it as much constructive it can. Pundits can complain of saying "Modi knows nothing of economics" and complain of his achievements have some holes or economy slowing down. Sure, he is not perfect.
Young Generation: India's 65% of the population are below 35 years of age. These people either were not born or may not have memory of these events. This makes it much easier to put a closure to the events. Modi is enormously popular with them.
Opposition parties and their media: Biggest losers of his rule. They can rave and rant whatever they want, as recent MAY elections showed, Modi does what he is doing for 17 years -winning elections and people term after term. In fact, opposition realized that Modi bashing is only going to backfire.
- Those bollywood super stars like Amir Khan that gave speeches to leave the country few years back, turned around and take selfies with Modi now.
- Those opposition leaders like (West Bengal CM Mamata Benerjee) who went on instinct tirade in front of cameras for hearing 'Jai Sri Ram' and turned around giving the donations to Kali puja's and posing giving tea to the strangers in street corner shop.
- Those called themselves as a champion of minorities (Congress Party) for generations gave up their championship. They can claim it is Hindutva, ignoring the simple fact that 80% of Hindu's are secular and they have done nothing to Minorities to deserve their patronage except propagating "Fear of Majority". Now they simply go along not to lose Hindu vote.
- Congress has their own problems: Gandhi BIL is under investigation for corruption and Prince Rahul Gandhi will be coming under Radar about his properties in UK, Former finance minister Chidambaram in Jail, Liberal media moghuls like NDTV, counting their days in India as they can't run away, Mafia maharajas of Mumbai industry ( real estate, finance, bollywood) are getting investigation notices over the finances.
These people have every reason to create trouble as they had done so many times.
If few high profile serious communal violence happened during Modi's time, Things would have instantly turned against him. But None. At best they can show is some rogue lynching incidents as the fact of life, while people go along the life.
Arguments over Temple/Masjid and communication: By making it as a daily hearing after failed mediation and giving clear deadlines, he allowed every body to let out what they want. Arguments are abound. Hindu's say , "Archaeology found hindu structures, you are not praying and you have 25 to 35 masjid's who nobody goes in Ayodhya alone" etc. Muslims say we are praying, it is not about this structure, we have around 700 to 2000 structures like this, we don't want this to be precedence for them". There is a constitutional laws passed in 1991 to make it illegal to destroy any structure without the due process. But Ayodhya structure happened after it. But they are politically turbulent times.
In fact, Modi removed many illegally constructed Hindu structure in Gujarat during his rule to pave the way of public roads. Similar things happened recently in his Varanasi constituency. There is governance hierarchy for it.
Bringing consensus is a biggest achievement and every body is feeling sense of relief. This process itself, created a trust factor in Muslims to let this go and move on. By silencing monkey Hindu fundies, the trust is only enhanced.
Reactions to Other decision in Modi 2.0: Modi was able to do controversial things his party said for 30 years. Issue is not about doing it, handling the reactions- most often explosive.
- When the talk of Article 370 came up , Kashmiri leaders bluntly said "Blood will flow". There are cautionary measures exist which are not pleasant, but nothing serious happened after 3 months. - few apple trader killings and encounter killings. In fact, Post-370 block level elections in Kashmir , the voting is as good as 98%. True, BJP didn't have big success in Kashmir valley, but people came out elected their own leaders, which itself is great success.
- When the topic of "Triple Talaq" came , Muslim politicians ranted "What does Modi think of himself to remove Triple Talaq". Sure, it 's gone. There is nothing they can do except calling him "Hitler"?
Hitler: Interestingly, Indians doesn't see "Hitler" with the same lens as the Western population see. That doesn't mean they are racists or "mass murderers". There is a historical Pre-Independence dynamics to it. There are opposing views w.r.t how to get independence during those days. Some wants to do with Violence, making friendship with British enemies and popular one is with Gandhi Ahimsa. Gandhi's Ahimsa won the people's heart. For MK Gandhi, the worry is more about keeping the country united. i.e. peaceful coexistence of the diverse set of people after independence. For him, "Poverty is the worst form of Violence". But, he couldn't do much on Poverty front except burning the British clothes and making your cloth with your own labor. He set a firm example towards the communal co-existence, which India couldn't achieve even to this day. There is a guy called Subhas Chandra Bose who continue to make news even today. He is a solider, who thought it is good idea to go Germany and talk to Hitler with a hope of defeating the British, died in the WW II . I was not clear how he died. so some how "enemy's enemy is my friend" narrative still lurks.
Coalition Politics and recent Assembly elections in Maharastra and Haryana: These two states over overwhelmingly voted to Modi in May parliamentary elections in May 2019. But in October 2019 Assembly elections, they couldn't perform the same feet, despite Modi doing the campaigning. In Haryana, their tally reduced to 40 from 47 in 90 member assembly forcing them to have alliance with unlikely caste based party.
In Maharastra, the story is different. BJP and another extreme right wing Hindu party Siva Sena fought in the elections together and won majority together. But, they couldn't form the government over Chief Minister sharing dispute, despite 7 or 8 weeks constant media noise of accusations. BJP( got 105+ seats in 290 seats assembly) don't want to share CM post, But Siva Sena ( got 57 ) wants the CM post half of the time. BJP don't want to share CM post.
Siva Sena is one of the hard core Hindu organizations, started as regional party with Anti-Tamil stance( Against Tamilian control of Marathi state and business operators) in 60's, changed their focus in 70's to make themselves Hindu right wing party since then. Since the impasse, all sort of attempts were made to have coalition of Siva Sena, and their ideological enemies (Congress, their another split away faction NCP). But, they couldn't agree on the terms( as of yet), thus forcing imposing President Rule. Interesting part is Siva Sena accused Modi as "Hitler" during this time and said 'Let Ayodhya verdict come and we will talk about the coalition '. But, Ayodhya verdict came and gone, but no noise from Siva Sena except to forget about it.
This is one simple example of how the "Politics of Religion" goes. It is not as simple as "Majority vs Minority".
