By Nazrul Islam
Myth —Strong, decisive, nationalist, democratic, economic genius, a versatile genius, internationally acclaimed visionary, ace administrator, friend to the poor, terror to terrorists, Hero number ONE.
Reality- A man, who lies, breaks his promise, who is reputed to have crippled the economy—one who made worthy diplomatic love to its neighbor but only to be stabbed in the back. Someone who suppressed every democratic institution, created a humanitarian crisis in the middle of a pandemic, finally, gave up Indian Territory—all without taking the nation into confidence.
Modi’s response to Chinese aggression in Ladakh was; —first silence; then denial, finally lied- when he conceded territory then argued, “What about Nehru? Finally the response was uninstalling TikTok!
It is not the ‘country first’, else he wouldn’t lie to the country; nor ‘people first’, since Indians today are living under the yoke of fear, surveillance, and vindictive reprisal. It cannot be ‘party first’ because without Modi the party would founder. So it is crystal clear that it is Modi first.
Again it is not ‘Modi first’, but is ‘the myth of Modi first’ – The media campaign is testimony to it; Media lauded Modi holding hands with Nawaz Sharif, then media hailed the surgical strike; first army strike and then air strike at balakot.
After this the media hailed Modi- Xi Jinping camaraderie, first at Wuhan, China and then at Mamalapuram, Chennai but when the LAC crisis broke, the media blamed the intelligence and the soldiers.
It appears the media is busy manufacturing consent for Modi. Each time Modi’s ‘masterstroke’ fails; some other masterstroke is brought on the table. What is apparent is Media is tasked to control the terms of nationalism as an easy way to distract from truth and crush all the opposition.
The myth-making engine has become monstrous, feeding on money, fakery, fear, ambition, greed, and delusion. It has fattened on the self-respect of journalism and has eaten away the majesty of the law. It can’t stop, because the stakes are too high. The more reality flies in the face of the myth, the more reality must be mythicized.
The myth of Modi is his sole engine of self-preservation. And upon this blinding 56-inch breastplate, strapped over the shriveled, moth-eaten truth rests everything else—his power, the BJP’s power which he fuels, and the government’s power to say that black is white.
While the Modi government is destroying India in an unprecedented way since its independence, the Media is lauding his ‘masterstrokes’ busy manufacturing consent.
It seems the Media is busy beating nationalism drum till everyone’s ears bleed else it cannot erase all kinds of unsavory truths about Modi and his government.
It is high time that the myth-makers should be taken to task. The only way to do so is to take off the gloves and pick up the baseball bat and dispense with the ‘internal enemies’ of the country.
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Nazarul Islam is a former Educator, based in Chicago (USA). This is an edited version of his article published at the website – The Indian Observer –