The events of the past few years, especially the months after Modi sarkar was born has been anything but interesting for the country.
The way the major English TV Channels, some journalists, some intellectuals and some elites are painting a narration that is dangerous to the stability of the country. And it is inevitable that the nexus need to be analyzed by all of us from several layers and angles. We can only scratch the tip of the iceberg in these conversations.
What is being done?
Multiple smaller narratives are being painted of a dysfunctional India. These narratives are on Indian traditions, Indian people, Indian government, Indian institutions, Hinduism, Majority and last but not the least Modi. The narration is nothing knew that India has seen in the last few hundred years. What sets the current set of narrations different from the recent past is the shorter time frame, consolidation of various narrations to paint a utterly dysfunctional India.
Who is doing it?
There is no one monolithic entity machining the entire sequence of events. Each entity feeds of opportunities presented and efforts of the each other. These entities do not have be related, however the nexus of Media, NGO, politicians, elites, intellectuals, business houses, missionaries, foreign powers, power brokers need to be considered. The nefarious elements need grassroots support and they use individuals who believe in simplistic ideologies and distressed people. Considering the size of India, and its history in the last few hundred years, there are plenty of people who can be exploited and converted into brown sepoys.
Why are they doing it?
While the nexus between these "breaking India forces" {Borrowing Rajiv Malhotra's terms} is interesting and illuminating from certain angles; from other angles the relationship between the entities do not matter. Some of the entities grouped as "breaking India forces" could be gullible themselves and could be treading their path because of certain ideologies that they think are paramount. For example some NGOs who bring attention to the externalities of businesses and the effect on environment. A media house might be against Modi government simply because they do not like him, while other media houses are interested in TRP rating. Bashing Modi gets the eyes of both Modi supporters and bashers. It is really that simple. An activist here or there might truly believe in saving the environment or a few hundred farmers or a dozen villages from 'modern development'. A politician might be just interested in holding on to his seat or getting new funds for his party and opportunities to climb up the political ladder. Missionaries care just for harvesting souls. Radical Mullahs might want to join the Global Jihad believing 'Islam katrae mein hain' {Islam is in danger}.
To me why they are doing it is less important than the effect of their activities.
Does it really matter?
So from a few angles if the nexus is not important, then do the activities of these entities really matter? If it all they matter, to whom does it matter? These are complex questions.
One entity's attack might not relate to another entity's attack; or that they might not even coordinate their attacks. However the various attacks have a snowball effect as they feed off the generated attention and energy and insert their agenda to get their own share of the limelight.
An attack might even seem logical to simple minded folks; and even if we accord genuine nationalistic reasons for an attack what is important is that each attack is connected to pull down India. For example an average man is likely to care for environment, is likely to be ignorant and scared of nuclear energy, furious at corruption and black money, cringe at some of the fanaticism from some Hindu groups and so on so forth. Hence an individual who cares for environment will give the benefit of doubt to activists attacking the government. An uninformed Christian might truly be scared of the Church 'attacks' and join forces with mischief mongers. An common man frustrated with corruption might side with a party that is bent upon pushing India towards anarchy. So from their vantage points these individuals think India (and Modi government) are rightly questioned and feel they are exercising the freedom accorded in democracy and take pride in doing so.
To a farmer suffering from the burden of loans, conversion hardly is important. To a Christian who perceives imaginary threats, environment hardly matters. A Muslim concerned about Islam, might be worried when a Hindu swami speaks up for Hinduism. To an individual who values freedom of expression, might construe monitoring NGOs and activists as illegal.
So these individual attacks do not matter by themselves. However none of these individuals, in our discussion, live in a vacuum. They are constantly bombarded about the dysfunction in the country. Instead of hope and opportunities that Modi and his government have ushered in; these individuals lose sight of the true changes; they start believing in the negative narratives. And ultimately when these forces join, the end result is frustration and anger - conditions that are ripe to be further utilized by breaking India forces to further their agenda.
In the next elections, people can opt for a different political party and currently only Modi seems to be the best person to lead the country. BJP without Modi is ineffective. Ineffective governments do not take care of the country, leaving it at the mercy of nefarious forces. A strong country is a country that can take care of its people.
An argument that is often placed is that the English media is watched by only a few millions when the total population is in billion. What can a few elites do? How effective can two or three activists do? What harm can an intellectual do? These individuals and institutions are connected domestically and internationally. They help magnify a mole hill as a mountain; and Indians overtime start believing these narratives.
What can be done?
Each of the entities that collude or indirectly cause the negative narrative can be terminated. But that is a long road with numerous political, legal, ethical and civilizational challenges. It is not easy to rein in the rogue media, missionaries, foreign powers, radicals etc. Neither can India wage a war against its own people (gullible who have been sucked in) or Institutions that have been subverted. For example closing down NDTV has enough challenges; and NDTV will go down kicking and screaming with blood all over the floor.
As BRF has discussed so often in the past, only a superior and effective counter narrative is the answer.
I used to think rather simply that a rich businessman should realize the opportunity to create a media house that is nationalistic, pro-Hindu and create it. Really how difficult it is, right? There exists a gap that can be filled. But from the perspective of the businessman, if all he wants to make is money then India offers enough loopholes in its systems for him to make easy money. Why does he have to struggle and invite attention. It is trouble when one invites attention, unless the attention helps. A corrupt businessman knows the system to exploit the conditions and continue to make money.
Turning to individuals who value their traditions and parampara; they either do not have the necessary money and influence to create a narrative. Or, they create smaller narratives per their traditions. True to its historical behavior, India allows these narrations to exist and only interested people follow the activities of these individuals. Any TV channel or media started by these people reach limited audience.
So what is the answer?
I propose that to tackle multiple negative narratives, we need multiple positive narratives. Instead of defending any indefensible policies, activities of the government, instead of banging the heads against the breaking forces; time could be spent in creating smaller positive narratives.
Self organizing task forces with people who are passionate or expert in a particular field have to start generating true positive news of India. It is important that it is about India and not about Modi. For example, experts in Health sector can create positive narrative on the reduction in infant mortality rates, increase in life expectancy etc. Experts in agriculture could talk about the enormous development in irrigation, modern technique employed by farmers, ISRO's efforts to help monitor various natural resources. Experts in sociology can counter the 'rape' narrative that is being painted. Experts on infrastructure should give a narrative of the usefulness of infrastructure and energy projects.
Truth matters, and ultimately people are impacted by their experiences. While countering people on SM is fine and also SM is useful tool to rally people; narratives have to be created outside the SM sphere by people from all walks of life who care about the country. Unless people step up, they cannot save themselves. However one of the vehicles, media, to disseminate this narration is surely breached. Suitable vehicle needs to be identified and created. Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah.
