Pritam's Blog
A Tale Of Hindutva Hypocrisy And Media’s Selective Outbursts
Just a year ago, India was abuzz with the JNU row, and lessons of nationalism and patriotism were being preached on a daily basis by everyone, particularly the politicians and supporters of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The row erupted after students from the Jawaharlal Nehru University organized an event on February 9, 2016, to protest against the killing of 2001 Indian Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, and Kashmiri separatist Maqbool Bhat. The event called “A country without a post-office” saw protest from the members of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the BJP, who alleged that ‘anti- India’ slogans were shouted at the program. A video from the event showing students shouting anti- India slogans went viral on social media.
Charges of sedition were lodged against the students of the organizing committee of the event. Kanhaiya Kumar, the JNU Students Union president was arrested too. Home Minister Rajnath Singh released a statement and said, “If anyone raises anti-India slogans, tries to raise questions on the country’s unity and integrity, they will not be spared”. The Union Minister also accused the students of backing the Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed.
Media too resonated with the political party, and helped in branding the dissenting students of the prestigious university as anti-nationals and pro-Pakistan.
Over the time, the row took several twists and turns, and the debate as well as the preaching of nationalism and patriotism continued for months.
Exactly a year after the day the JNU row was set off, Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad arrested 11 alleged ISI agents, including two BJP workers. Despite the connection of Dhruv Saxena, one of the alleged ISI agents, with the party known for its talks about nationalism, patriotism, and love for India, being established, the BJP state unit has claimed that they have nothing to do with the ISI agents.
Although this incident has not gained as much attention from the media as the JNU row, it has exposed the Hindutva hypocrisy once again, and that too on the auspicious day of 9th February — the first anniversary of the JNU row.
Hypocrisy is a part of Hindutva politics in India. The Hindu nationalists are infamous for their problem with Indians celebrating even Valentine’s Day, but at the same time, members of BJP are caught for running sex rackets. They criminalize slaughtering of cow and impose beef-ban, but then India still ranks first in exporting beef, most of the exporters being Hindu. They come up with demonetization to curb black money, and yet members of the party are caught with currency worth lakhs of rupees in new notes when the entire country is cashless.
Going by that standard, the arrest of two BJP workers as part of a spy racket working for the ISI is no big deal. Not until the media makes it an issue.
But it seems like the media too acts only when there is a non- BJP entity involved with any controversial issue.
Would the media have maintained their silence had the arrested ISI agents been Muslims, or anyone with no tie with the Sangh Parivaar? It is this selective outbursts of the media that is another reason behind the rise of Hindutva, and of course, its hypocrisy.