The economy of misinformation!

 

Some fascinating stories in circulation on the web today.

• Earth is flat.

• 'Moon landing' was a conspiracy, it never happened.

• Herbs cure COVID19.

• Homosexuality is a disorder and it can be cured by Yoga.

• Our ‘race’ is the best.

• 'Motivation and passion' that is all that one needs to succeed in life.

All of the above is just plain untrue, misleading and utter bullshit; but you know what? You can find ‘information’, ‘social media posts’ and ‘opinions’ masquerading as facts - supporting each of these bizarre theories on the internet. Not one, not two but millions upon millions of carefully crafted digital stories backing each of these salacious claims, not only exist but are only a recommendation away. Planted delicately in the way of your attention to make you stop, scroll, consume and click. The currency of your attention is what the spreaders of the misinformation are gunning for. These exist because vested interests are willing to pay for them from their endless pool of resources.

The economy of misinformation is HUGE, estimated at 250 billion USD, globally!

Misinformation, slander and scandals; sell like hotcakes.

Take a moment to imagine a group of people, who were born and brought up on these posts. Consider that they have lived their entire life surrounded by these details, would they ever accept contrasting information worthy of their attention? When they go on to the world wide web and search, they find millions who hold the same beliefs; what do they take away from it? That they are not alone and that there is no way, so many people can be wrong about something, which they believe to be true. So it must be true, the earth is indeed flat and to support that they have emphatic evidence right in front of their eyes, the ground below their feet is indeed flat; so how can the claim that earth is flat be untrue?

While you process that, let me present a thought exercise: look at all the things that you may have acquired in the last 2 years or so. List everything down, every item and then try to trace back, to the original instinct that got you to buy them. What was it? Did any form of advertisement, play a part?

Let me bring the third case into the mix; list down the last ten digital altercation that you may have had with others on various internet-based mediums - social media, messengers, video chat forums and others. What caused those brawls actually? What formed the basis of your opinions, the cause that you stood for? Was it in any way bolstered by what others expressed in solidarity with your views on the matter on the digital platform, that you frequent?

If yes, then you’ve been played with.

You’ve been manipulated by someone who devilishly weaponised the weaknesses of your mind, your ignorance; to further their own cause. They have benefited from the blind spots of your psychology, your behavioural glitches to make money out of your attention. How do you like the idea?

The illusion of knowledge, a false feeling of confidence and sense of community and belonging that these digital excursions (Social media) offer in exchange for time spend on the medium- draws people to them, irresistibly.

Let's take another case.

Imagine an ignorant but decent soul playing a silent spectator in an argumentative exchange going wild on a Whatsapp group that he is a part of, in which he found the group proposing 'earth is flat' presenting colourful reasons for it being the truth. In all honesty, with the sole objective of finding facts he launches youtube and types, "Earth is flat". Youtube returns the man, a ton of videos on that topic. He watches to one, and then moves on to the other and then to the next. After 2 hours of viewing different people eloquently presenting to an HD camera the fact that 'earth is flat' in a well-lit frame, he is confident. In his mind, he has the 'Knowledge' that he needs. He rages back to the group with his newly acquired 'intel and confidence' adds weight on to the side of the argument that purposed that 'earth is flat'. A few of these debates later the man now is a convert, an activist of the cause of dispelling every other version of the earth, circulating faster than earth is rotating on its axis. He considers it his responsibility to put things to record now.

A bubble of sorts is created in which he is trapped for eternity, an expansive universe in which he magically finds different people from different parts of the world who think exactly as he does? It is nothing but smart algorithms pushing on the side of conformance bias.

The principle to note in internet-based knowledge gathering and socialising exercises is that when you find people echoing your thoughts it does not always mean that what you are thinking is the right thing to think, it only means that like you the other people have also been subjected to the same stimulus and therefore they are reacting in a predictable way.

Confirmation is not the same as corroboration, more people saying the same thing does not make it right.

Consider this, let’s say your name is “Lav Kush” and a million people start calling you “Rohan” all of them addressing you by the wrong name at the same time and in a continuous and consistent manner; imagine 10 more people get added to that group of a million people who are calling you by a wrong name. What is the most likely name they are going to think you have? Lav Kush or Rohan? You know they would inadvertently add their voice to the building chorus of “Rohan”. "Rohan" is a fictitious name for you but it is a fact for those million others. Except that the million people, in this case, are simply wrong, but they are united in their misinformation and that makes the cumulative choristers appear much stronger than what is actually the right information - "Lav Kush".

This is how 'spread' of misinformation works.

The other question now is; when people have such an effective and powerful tool in their reach why do they not spread the right information? Are they inherently evil people? Why does it always have to be the wrong use of the tech? What sense does it make to use the tool wrongfully for indecent purposes? Why would someone be so taken up by the cause of spreading misinformation? These are valid questions. The answer is that - the truth is always ‘mundane’ and uninteresting because it does not dress up to impress it just puts clothes on.

Let me present to you two flavours of the same story, to further the argument.

The First Version: Iqbal is a hardworking student. He commits himself to routine and follows it through. He studies 6 hours a day, every day and then sleeps 8 hours a day, every day. He eats home-cooked meals most of the times. With sustained preparation, he cleared the prestigious UPSC entrance examination.

The second version: Iqbal was a bad student, he used to get into fights and all sorts of funny stuff back in school. His teachers and family members were equally worried about the prospects of his future. One day, while strolling back from school he met a sage who gave him a miracle filled sweet, he ate it and from that day onwards he was transformed. He started studying 16 hours a day, he would not even need to sleep for more than 4 hours a day and he constantly just kept on working. As a result, he cracked the prestigious UPSC entrance examination.

Both versions of the story offer the same outcome “Iqbal cleared the prestigious UPSC entrance examination” but which one do you think will sell more? First or second? We know the answer is going to be second.

Why?

The second story, forces leading questions on to the readers. Has a hint of mystery in it, waiting to be unravelled, some like these.

•Are miracles possible?

•Sages have transformative capabilities.

•Who was this sage, could we also seek his blessing?

•16 hours of study is possible, can be tried out. All of those who do not put in those kinds of hours are stupid nincompoops and are bound to fail.

•Sleep is not important at all; 4 hours is just about fine.

The first one, will not get anyone excited, it is as boring as a bowl of khichri. It is not exciting and that is enough to drive people away from it. But we can't say the same thing for the 2nd version, which appears straight from the movies.

That is how the business of fake news, conspiracy theories and propagandist narratives work.

It plants juicy connivance at the heart of an earthly event to get people interested, in the story. Constant and colourful reinforcement is supplied. Different people use this hunger (vulnerability of the human mind) for mystery in different forms.

Tech giants - Deploy powerful and pervasive algorithms to supply an abundance, the never-ending flow of content to satiated our senses by confirming to our beliefs, trapping us in our own bubble and yet keeping us hungry, at the same time by furnishing a variety of overproduced agenda-driven content, often for free. They grow audiences by popularising biases which they monetise for their economic gains. They sell our attention to corporations that are willing to place advertisements of their products somewhere in the content for us to consume and then get persuaded to buy.

Political parties use it to generate narratives that suit their politics. They create grand distractions to blind people of real issues/shield their failures. False enemies are erected so that people remain busy fighting them while they make the hay. Accountability is abdicated by confusing public consciences in an endless maze. News organisation and social media firms are paid to do the job. We are witnessing one right now in the country. We've become the 2nd most infected with COVID19 as a country, China is walking over our toes, the economy has plunged by 24%, and joblessness is at its peak and all we are being offered is scandalous collusion of an actor who died.

Corporations - They plug their products where the eyeballs are to boost growth prospects. You can’t buy a product that you have not seen or heard about. So wherever most people are listening becomes the essential place for organisations to advertise. They willingly pay the tech giants for creating these vast networks of disbelieves and misinformation appearing as reality and truth.

Regular people - They have a smartphone with a cheap data connection and nothing better to do with their time. So they hog on it, endlessly. Consumption becomes the easiest and effortless way to spend time.

Very few people have actually studied psychology and human behaviour well enough to avoid falling in these traps as a result they allow platforms to trade their attention for their profit. In the end, capital wins because these spaces are made available to the highest bidder; truth does not matter as much as confirmation bias does. Ordinary users unknowingly grow these monsters by feeding them with their attention. For short term pleasure, they lose long term control. Are you willing to squander your senses to the chorale around you? If not then, delete your social media accounts right now, limit your news consumption (preferably to print). Use your time productively in something useful, something constructive. You'll be better served.

I’m linking my article on digital minimalism, here for you to see the ways in which you can shield yourself from the damage the internet can do to you.

Good luck and stay safe.

Sab Changa Si!

 

Do we mindlessly pursue idea/habit/decision/comment which has a large following? The simple answer to that question is a straightforward NO, we pick things which make sense to us or which serve a purpose that we hold dear. A concept can not be deemed right or wrong basis who or how many second it. Every choice must be weighed against every piece of wisdom known, before qualifying it legit. When democracy is reduced to a tug-of-war it becomes 'mobocracy', in which numbers alone count for everything! Let’s take a moment to acknowledge the grave challenges this great nation of ours faces today from suffocating economy to soaring unemployment and food inflation, growing social injustice, a crime against women the most heinous of all 'rape' is on the rise - yet what do we hear the current political dispensation talk about, often if not always? ‘Hindu Vs Muslim, India Vs Pakistan’, they have managed to wickedly destroy our collective intelligence. Don't we live in times when media houses shamelessly shout ‘मंदी को नहीं मोदी को देखो"? What are we doing to ourselves?

Given the feeble global standing of academic structures of our great motherland in the world, a government that should work towards improving the state of education is today too busy destroying whatever is left of the leading learning institutions. It has gone ahead and astronomically increased not just tuition fees but also tariffs of other ancillary services like hostels, canteen, etc. What would such a disastrous move cost us in the long term? Economically weak but deserving students won’t get the education that could have successfully lifted them from the rut of poverty and when you see it in knowledge that India is a poor country where more than 250 million people are forced to survive below the poverty line defined to give rulers (It was done by Congress) a face-saver; so it will not be wrong to deduce that current government is for ignorance and poverty. Education is not BJP’s top priority why else would a democratic country not get to see or know where its head of state went to get educated, his academic achievements are as fictitious as his slogans “सबका साथ सबका विकास और सबका विश्वास' whereas what he seems to be doing is 'सबका विनाश'. We have got a minister who was a graduate in her affidavit in 2014, 2019 faced up she regressed to being the 12th pass, 'क्यूँकि स्नातक भी कभी बारहवीं पास थी'. No less than the HRD minister could not defend the questions that got raised on his Ph.D. - So we, the people, or as Telegraph puts it, we the Idiots, should not expect his lordship government to work for the betterment of education.  

Socialist, sovereign & secular republic is how our founding fathers chose to define us; this idea was not only apt but also progressive, liberal and thoughtful at the same time. India is required to be a welfare state because the majority of its citizens struggle to make ends meet even after 72 years of self-rule. Things like decent education, timely and able medical care are still seen as a luxury in our country, even among those who live in high rise buildings, drive German motorcars and use the best of the computing resources available on the planet today. It is rather unfortunate that our government is working actively and decidedly against each of those founding values, it is particularly opposed to the plurality of our republic. It is hell-bent on destroying it bit after bit before we get to the war BJP has wedged against secularism. Let’s take a moment to appreciate the hypocrisy that they champion, in some detail.

Dynasty in politics : 

Since 1999, the Congress has had 36 dynastic MPs elected to the Lok Sabha, with the BJP not far behind with 31. In 1999, the beginning of the 13th Lok Sabha, 8% of Congress members of parliament were either descended from or married to former MPs, only slightly ahead of the 6% among the BJP.

The most similar density of dynastic politicians was in 2009 when the Congress and BJP had 11% and 12% dynasts elected, respectively.



Read more on : https://scroll.in/article/918234/is-the-bjp-less-dynastic-than-the-congress-not-so-lok-sabha-data-shows

Corruption & Criminal Record:

Across parties, of the 521 Lok Sabha members of parliament (MPs), 106 (20%) are charged with serious offenses such as murder, inciting communal disharmony, kidnapping and crimes against women.

As many as 55% of these are from the BJP (92), compared with 2% from the Congress (7), 3% from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) (6), 17% from the Shiv Sena (15) and 7% from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) (7), an analysis by National Election Watch (NEW), a campaign run by the advocacy group Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), shows.

Read more on : https://www.indiaspend.com/55-of-lok-sabha-mps-facing-criminal-charges-are-from-bjp/

Transparency : 

The essential problem with electoral bonds is that it removes transparency and accountability in political funding. Voters have the right to know which fat cats fund their political parties and if such funding has an influence on policies framed by governments formed by these parties. 80%+ of these donations have been received by the BJP, this very tool has made them the richest political party! Let’s not forget that they misled the nation by stating that these bonds were anonymous, recent findings have revealed that they can be easily tracked following the Bond number and details of the buyer!  

Read more at:

//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/72187122.cms?from=mdr&utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Gandhi Vs Godse : 

It is not a secret that the brand Gandhi is powerful and relevant, embracing him at international gatherings gives one a certain kind of immediate acceptance and respect; therefore the 56’ chested man leaves no opportunity to go by without making the most of it. But when it comes to actions, he favors those who worship his killers with ticket, ensures their victory and even places them in high offices.  

Terrorism & National Security :

Modi supporters often invoke “देश बचेगा तब तो अर्थव्यवस्था काम आएगी” to shield the supreme leader from the criticism that has been coming his way for his abysmal performance on the economy. He makes moving speeches to drill a fear deep among ordinary Indians from Pakistan and from Muslims at large, to the enticed public he then presents himself as the only savior. You’d often hear his followers saying “ If not Modi then who? “. The fact is that there has been a rise in not just the number of incidents of infiltration but also fatalities under his incompetent and careless watch. When it comes to security and terror; Modi has failed not only on the administrative ground but has also lost miserably on the moral standards by letting Pragya Singh Thakur who is a prime accused in the Malegaon terror attack became an MP on BJP ticket. He did not stop there, he even elevated her to a parliamentary committee. Only when nationwide protest grew strong, his party reacted superficially, to give people the false perception of his being serious, she was stripped of that committee but she continues to be a BJP MP.   

Frugality & Hard Work : 

In the last 8 months alone our man has addressed 142 political rallies if you add all the foreign trips just the traveling time and other speeches at GOI events- you’ll see that our man is practically working for furthering the BJP political agenda 85%+ of his time in office. He is either busy in some state election or a foreign trip. His attendance in the Parliament is lowest among all PMs that India has had! I will say nothing about frugality because we know that he has spent more exorbitantly than any other Indian PM on his PR. Practically all of the media houses have been bought over by advertisements. 

Hinduism and Beef: 

His silent approval has been motivating those who see it legitimate to kill provocative by mere suspicion of beef and his Bhakts carry out these punitive Lynching in the name of the Hindu religion as they consider the cow to be Holy if not a Goddess herself than nothing less than a deity. Even on the question of Cow BJP is inconsistent, in the NE and in Goa where people enjoy their steak, our man is ok, allowing Beef to be served hot on a platter everywhere else his men kill for it, while he chooses to conveniently look the other way.

These facts point to the conclusion that BJP under Modi  is as hypocritical as one can get and all that they care about is fooling voters into casting in their favour.

Let’s come back to the Tug-of-war that we spoke about in the first part of this article. The country has witnessed how they bulldozed CAB through both houses of the parliament. CAB is a prelude to the sinister NRC that will be pushed upon us, as a result of which if a Ram is not able to produce documents he will still retain his citizenship but on the other hand same failure will render Rahim stateless. This is not only unconstitutional, discriminatory but also immoral and is incumbent upon every Indian to fight against it in tooth and nails. This disaster in the making will render Muslims the largest minority sidelined, reduced and disenfranchised: All Indians must oppose it.

There I say on my twitter handle 

@LKstates

#1 Discrimination against ’one’ is discrimination against all!

#2 Diversity that all of us have been proudly giving away as a way of introduction of our motherland comes from various minorities that inhabit this country,with #CAB coming into effect we will be stripped of this advantage as #BJP moves its brute majority to alienate the largest minority.

#3 Dear India, 

When you graciously hand brute majority to fascist forces this is how they cast assault on the character of the constitution, fundamentals of this nation & tenets of social fabric of India. Secularism is not an idea to be tempered with, it is central to our identity!

#4 #CitizenshipAmendmentBill2019 the most ghastly form of an onslaught that #BJP is forcing upon the composite nature of our society & nation at large! All but #Muslims is most bizarre, undemocratic, and plain evil of all things that #Modi has unleashed on our nation. Egregious & sad!

#5 A majority that doesn’t protect the rights of its minorities crumbles under the weight of its own doing! History is littered with examples that suggest that collective oppression & exclusionary actions lead to less than ideal results. India must in one voice reject #CAB & #BJP

#6 Illiterate of the 21st century is not someone who can’t read and write, we have moved past that, current day knowledge disability is not knowing to reject discrimination, it is to consider fundamentals of natural justice unnecessary! Know someone with that ailment? Do help them!

#7 Dear #Modi, 

Do you know how bad your #CitizenshipAmendmentBill2019 decision is? Well, let me break it to you, even #ArnabGoswami from your PR rig @republic finds it repulsive, retrograde & regressive. He termed it worst form of majority appeasement - drop it, and say sorry!

#8 If you’re a student of political history (like me)you’d know every political movement that gets vehement support of students of the day becomes successful. Don’t take my word for it, read abt #JP movement or how students made a difference in civil rights movement! #CAB must go!

#9 If a billion people were to come out on the streets, all at once, demanding #CAB to be thrown out of the window with its creators would it happen? Yes it will. The administration doesn’t have the wherewithal all to use force against a gathering of a billion, they cannot! So get together!    

Raw Wisdom

I admire, Narendra Modi, the politician, a lot more than Modi the PM or Modi the wannabe statesman. You can like him for who he is, the ideas he represents or hate him for the very reasons but you certainly can’t ignore his strong presence. With his bag of good, bad & ugly messages he has dominated the Indian mindset, discussion rooms and aspirations in ways which are not easy to achieve for any politician. Both his admirers and adversaries draw his parallels with the Iron lady, Ms Indira Gandhi, but I will go on to say that his clutches over what can be seen, read and heard is a tad bit stronger than that of the lady, who on her own, decided to break Pakistan into two. People who are elder to me and have active memories of her days may disagree with me and I’d happily concede to them as I was only born the year she was assassinated. I was nearly 4 months old on the day of her killing. So my reading of her is from books, news articles and a few youtube videos that exist today. Indira Gandhi has attracted a disproportionate amount of literature given her audacious and most brazen emergency decision. People who like reading and knowing the political history of India will have to read about her extensively and so I had to without much choice. If you happen to be a Modi supporter, do not judge me for I learned more about Congress than I did about BJP/RSS, do bear with me and note that there is actually more to read about them than your party. But do not be disappointed you have a man now who would in very many ways leave her behind when it comes to being studied, heard and talked about. That is our very own Modi!


The fate of India has already been sealed, given the fact that we’ve come close to the end of the polling, as I type this article people are making their voices heard in the 6th phase of a long election season. On the 23rd the counting will reveal, people’s desire. Who will be sworn in may require additional juggling, though, should no party win a clear majority on its own, which is very likely. At this point, we do not know, at least, I do not. In a democratic setup, politics becomes essential, everything that gets done, happens within the policy framework. Therefore it is greatly necessary for people to participate, the mood of the nation, gets built by these deliberations. India is a complex country to govern, from its maddening geographical extent to mind-boggling cultural and ethnic diversity, everything about us is unparalleled. And therefore, whether we like it or not, no one Idea can appeal to all Indians equally. We’re the fastest growing economy for over 8 years now, the top tier in the developing world. At the same time, we’re also a country that hasn’t effectively cracked bread and butter, health and sanitation, education and employment, code, at a policy framework level. A vast majority of our country does not have access to clean drinking water, a roof over their heads or unpolluted air to breathe. We’re still breeding at a dull-witted rate, 1.3 bn. already and counting. The caste system is still prevalent, the girl child is discriminated against, untouchability is still a consistent Idea in many parts of the country. The story for gender diversity is not a happy one either, women empowerment is still a fancy urban design. Male dominance and majoritarianism have costed us in purely economic terms about 38% of our net worth as a country (estimation is from an economist article); if we had succeeded in creating a society that values both the genders equally, we would have been 38% stronger and more prosperous: perhaps a developed nation too.

Are these issues getting discussed in the political addresses? The clear and honest answer is a no! Yes, there have been sporadic talks and half-hearted efforts have also been made to address some of the issues that I have listed above, but every well-intentioned man/women, when faced with the challenge of the election, forgets, everything and starts playing to the gallery. And then idealism and reforms take a back seat. Elected sitting PM of world's largest democracy says “ Main ati pichri jati ka hu”, “main pathan hu, etc : What does it say about the prime minister and more than him what does it say about we the people? If we did not care about caste would he flaunt it? That is the question that Indian people should ask themselves. In most elections, the agenda gets set by the shortcomings of the incumbent, mainly; economic failures and other social events that can drag those in office in poor light, more or less. This election has been different though, the agenda was not set by the opposition, they did try but couldn’t simply match the surround sound that Modi & Shah led BJP built around things that do not matter in our everyday life. The election campaign of 2019 is not so much about the content or the character but reach and proliferation. On the one side, you have the mighty Modi who seems to have the wealth of the world to spray on every medium of communication available, from Radio to 24*7 television, to internet powered content on social media, mobile apps, the print publication and even movies. In fact for the first time, we saw, how movies of a certain popular Canadian actor with a famous Hindi name in the last five years delivered several beautiful Bollywood hits to further the communication objective of the ruling party. It did not stop there, the same prince of the Tinseltown also interviewed the PM in an apolitical exchange, which soon was trending on youtube. Video ads and television commercials existed for a long time and they continued in this election as well. It is anyone’s guess that the money spent on publicity crossed the permissible limit within minutes of the campaign.

What has therefore been the theme of the campaign of  2019 elections? Opposition lingered in setting the narrative, they too have tried, but nothing even close to the spectacle that Narendra managed. Opposition leaders were also airborne for a lot of their election travel, gave interviews and had articles written on their areas of interest but they simply did not get the airtime that they should have in the mainstream media. I can’t with certainty say that they would still manage to create a decent electoral fortune for themselves or will they suffer, even more! Realities of this election do match with a few things that have been tried in the past with a varying degree of success, let’s look at some the key items to understand how political event management has been done in this election.

Election Theme setting: India shinning from the past made its grand entry in the form of “Main Bhi Chowkidar”: Quite an event, very well managed, people flocked in high numbers to express their solidarity with the idea. Social Media name edits, numerous quotes, +ve memes and what not. The event did cross the line, in some sense, because it had a little portion towards the end trying to emulate a war scene to underscore the surgical strike bravado. Nevertheless, for the supporters, it deserved Oscars. Adversaries of BJP and Modi did use it to base, ‘Chowkidar chor hain’ slogan, that too seems to resonate with people. It upset the Apex court though.

Untruth the new mainstream: Not too long ago, when Indian prime minister spoke, people apprehended with respect, sincerity and attention. There has not been a history of incidents in the past, in which the PM in his official capacity has said things which were found incorrect. This rule, however, had started growing weak and brittle with UPA2’s excessive strains, there is no way it could have lifted the heavy weight of the strong man Modi, it shattered after 2014. As a result of which all kinds of bizarre politically motivated lies were spoken with incredible confidence and poise. Here a few:

#1  At a campaign rally in Bangalore on April 13, 2019, Modi deployed his favourite oratorical tool, the rhetorical question. “Was there even a single terrorist attack on the country when your chowkidar was on duty?” ( The wire)

& Then he talks about Pulwama and asks for votes, the contradiction wasn’t spaced even a few lines apart.

#2

These are just a few samples you can look up this website https://www.modilies.in/ it does an excellent job of fact-checking the PM.

Fact-checking the PM wasn't an idea that existed before Modi in the prominence that it does now. With his kind of resources, if he is making such blunders one can only imagine how hollow must be the academic grasp of the PM. There is another theory that suggests that these willful slip-ups were engaged in to mislead generally uninformed crowd. Modi made the lack of education among ordinary Indian a tool to swing emotions.

Discrediting dissent and bunking questions: The PM did not take one question from the press in a free unscripted conference, in fact, in his entire tenure, there was no press conference, none at all. This in itself is proof of the fact that in his world he doesn’t see himself accountable to anyone. He is his own man. He has however managed to effectively tame a vast majority of Indian media, who blush and blossom when they ask him questions like the below.


App thakte khyun nahiApke paas batua hain kyaKon sa tonic lete hainEk fakiri hain app me60 mahine me itna kuch kiya hain, itna hua hain
He agrees to answer if questions have the potential of adding to his propaganda of establishing himself as larger than life, the perfect man to lead image. His party workers and ministers have for long been suggesting those who have committed the sin of being critical of the PM to leave for Pakistan. Disagreeing with his idea is being anti-national. In the minds of his supporters, Modi is the nation, much like Indira use to be to her patrons. Urban Naxal, Lutyen, Tukre Tukre Gang, Award Wapsi gang: are the phrases that PM and his close confidants use for those who have expressed serious concern over the macho, majoritarian, divided and polarised India that he wants to create to keep his electability intact. Rejecting dissent and rebuking questions have now graduated to discrediting institution :about 4 yrs ago when Time Magazine published Modi’s interview lauding his plans; BJP supporters jumped in excitement, for them it was a national pride, today when the same prestigious publication is calling Modi’s bluff out in the open, they find the magazine frivolous! There is an army defending his unscientific and even plain stupid comments; like the one that he has made on how he thought clouds would help the air strike move undetected from the radars etc. People latch on and give all kinds of arguments to save the face of the supreme leader.

The great Indian political circus will end on the 23rd hopefully with a mandate that gives Mr Modi some solitary time and much-needed rest but I’m afraid the trend that he has set in will continue and get worse in days to come. The country that has been terribly polarised will have to make a lot of effort, burn a lot of steam, to come together again. Healing is going to be effort-intensive. In times like these, I miss the sanity that Bapu has professed in his writings.

Argumentative and enthusiastic Indians will move from elections to cricket, patiently and in hope, reel under the adventure of whichever side that wins 2019 because they know that they will get to choose again in another 5 yrs.

With that let me end this, if you haven’t voted still, do so!

 

Modi Times!

Allow me to take you back to that press conference that late Atal ji had called in 2002 when he cancelled all his schedules to travel to an Indian state that was burning in communal violence, mindless killings tainted newspapers and television sets got a coat of deep red. In the court of the people, the state administration had demonstrably done lesser than they could, the apex court, however, I must mention, absolved all from the administration from all charges. You might wonder a PM in a press conference answering questions, was it ever done? Yes, all PMs before Mr Modi used to hold frequent and well-timed press engagements; all of them with the only condemnable exception of Mrs Indira Gandhi who shared particular hate for critical media, with our current head of state. Atal ji, advised Mr Modi, the then CM of Gujrat that he should, follow RajDharma, he went to explain that “ Raja ke liye praja praja me bhed nahi hota! Has Mr. Modi learnt the lesson? If 2019 election speeches are any indication, he has not quite as well as a head of state should have. Political science has been a subject of my interest, I like to read about it and learn about contemporary politics by following prominent politicians. Anna movement, was one such high voltage event, that I could not have missed. I was among many who travelled to Jantar Mantar to express their solidarity with the cause. Thanks to my friends in the media, I also got the opportunity to briefly meet Anna, I paid my respect to the man and said that we were with him, in the few minutes that my friend could squeeze in for me. I was infuriated by the mindless loot and the immoral plunder that Dr Singh led UPA2 had dispassionately unleashed on our beloved country, it felt as though, my own home was being robbed. Filled with rage, I wrote about it and with my feeble & unimportant voice joined the chorus that was gaining momentum by every passing day, the solution looked simple and in sight : Throw congress as far away as possible from the corridor of power. Facts as it stands today, the same court that found Mr Modi and his aids innocent of 2002 killing of innocent Indians, also pronounced some of the scam unfounded. CAG’s adventurism caused nationwide outrage, the gentleman who headed the respected institution then, is now retired and perhaps living a great life, I wish him well.

India, unfortunately, only has 2 parties with a real national presence, naturally, an alternative to Congress-led government was searched in BJP & there the stars were aligned just right for Mr Modi, he got anointed as BJP’s candidate for the top job. Much like how the character of Mr Bachchan emerged as an antiestablishment protagonist in the most successful years of his career, Mr Modi appeared taller and much more formidable than he eventually is being seen today. Indian looked at him with hope, a country that was already frustrated with UPAs misgovernance, did not ask him to work hard to connect with the Indian people. Media lapped him as the ultimate choice and Indian household accepted him as the sole saviour, the true beneficiary of the Anna movement had emerged and captured the imagination of a billion Indian.

The groundswell of support for the unprecedented anti-corruption movement seemed natural, the citizens were out saving India from the clutches of a corrupt coalition government which had acquired the form of a hydra-headed Frankenstein monster which was determined to steal and fleece our democracy. Media played its part too, dedicated headlines to the crusaders, nothing less than most severe punishment seemed fair and India was in no mood to wait for the law to take its own course. CWG blossomed and started throwing into the public domain details which directly implicated high profile ministers of gross misdoings, every other day, scams would get unearthed, every progressive catch was bigger and bolder than the previous one. It all looked unbearable & suffocating. In all this Dr Singh was deliberately and dangerously quite, moving from one patchy story to another without saying anything that could console the mourning nation. In the hearts and the minds of Indian people Manhoman Singh had lost, all credibility. People forgot liberalisations, his efforts that gave Indian economy a chance to compete in the modern world. He became a joke and we unabashedly hated him. We were falling in love with another politician, who seemed pure, clean and impeccable, new beloved of India looked dapper & enthralled people when he spoke, he alone made sense, everyone else was just ‘chor’.  The entire country was salivating for Gujrat and its model of growth: All of this made Modi into an overnight hero, it seems as though he had won even before the election had formally gotten over. The election seemed like a mere formality. Mr Modi, worked really hard, he travelled across the length and breadth of the country, addressed mega rallies, people frustrated with unclean UPA flocked in great number, heard every word Narender uttered with hope and adulation. “Abki baar Modi Sarkar’, “Har har modi .. ghar ghar Modi” .. “NAMO NAMO” echoed in Indian homes, streets, newspaper and even in news studios. Rahul Gandhi’s visible disinterest in politics and laughable utterances, Dr Singh’s deafening silence and Sonia’s Italian origin were all criminal offences, in the minds of an average Indian voter. People turned out in record numbers. Some right meaning journalists like Rajdeep did try waking the Ghost of 2002 but they were shut down, mocked, and even attacked, people (us) deliberately looked the other way. Supreme Court has absolved Mr Modi of all charges for lack of evidence, the courts with whatever was presented to them couldn’t without reasonable doubt establish that Modi administration in Gujrat allowed the riots to spring out of control. The allegation that they willfully slaughter Muslim families were all forgotten. Indian saw Mr Modi as the man who could deliver progress. ‘Vikaspurush’, carefully crafted speeches delivered artfully played on to the public sentiments, Indian voters and Modi became one, in a rare political black swan moment, in which on 60% of the seats BJP got 90% of the votes.  First time in the history of Independent India, we had a non-congress government sworn-in with a clear and unmistakable majority in the lower house. Constitutional formalities were undertaken and Modi became India’s 14^th PM. In the minds of Indians, Indian was well on its way of becoming the golden bird one more time.

That night India slept as relieved as Nehru would have after delivering the iconic ‘Tyrst with destiny’ speech.

Before we could make peace the new occupants of the New Delhi; things began to change really quickly and with it what was once a wave became a whisper of disappointment. Indian discourse changed into some of the below.

Nationalism: The ruling party re-wrote the definitions of nationalism, by adding, machoism, bigotry, jingoism, and majoritarianism and artfully removing secular principles, at least in the narrative that it worked hard to build. People were forced to prove their nationalism, by saying Bharat Maa ki Jai, out loud for no reason, become the barometer for a few and for others it was agreeing to the demand of Hindu nation. Liberal voices, the intellectual questioning and critical proportion of the population were being sent to Pakistan.

Communalisation & Hatred - An incident thereafter, was never an incident alone, it was either a Hindu or a Muslim’s issue and almost always Hindu Vs Muslim. Back in the day being communal was considered bad, the secular viewpoint was the respectable stand. In these 5 years, before any one of us could realise, masses were galvanised, Ghar waspsi was organised, name changing, from ‘an Islamic name to a Hindu name’ became the new normal and before we knew India started aspiring to become a pro-Hindu Nation. People who tried, separating religion from the issues, were considered terrorists, apologists of bad Muslims and even worse, anti-national. Mob lynching and killing on suspicion of beef were no longer rare incidents. All Muslims were terrorists to the supporter of the ruling party and even those Hindu Dalits who for centuries have been deskinning dead cattle were not spared.  

Institutionalisation of Misinformation - Narender questioned 70 years of Congress rule to suggest that they had not contributed to making India. Dead Nehru was dragged back to public discussions, everything that was not right was made to appear as his fault. Whatsapp became a powerful communication platform and the mighty IT cell of the ruling party uses it to its fullest to spread all kinds of bizarre lies, demonising Nehru and efforts were made to erase him from the memories of modern India. Reading and researching have since long been dying in the modern world, superficial hearsay information makes people knowledgable, now. Most industrious are those who type and search on Google if Google throws garbage in the first 10 search results it becomes the gospel of truth for this brigade. Pictures were morphed and lies were spread like nobodies business. Concerted efforts were made to decimate opposition, not just a party, but then the whole concept of active opposition was being attacked.  Online trolls were legitimised by the ruling party which needed not just ground support but also an army on social media.

Media got broken up in two blocks.

1) Modi’s cheerleaders

2) Anti-national, presstitute, swine and what not

Anti questions & subversion of institution: Prime Minister Modi broke away from the tradition of holding press conferences and answering to the Indian people through these media events. It is not that PM was as quiet as the the previous one, in fact, he spoke, more than any other PM in the history of this country but all of it was either a Monologue or a staged programme where people who he would face, would ask questions celebrating his grand personality and greatness of his hard work. Media houses, barring a handful, just stopped being journalists and resumed the role of ruling parties spokespersons. From Prime Time to headlines, every space was dedicated to celebrating the larger than life personality of the PM. Hero worship was in. People who wrote against him were silenced, cornered, driven out of jobs and in rare cases even killed, like the journalist Gauri Lankesh. The economy started to rumble, following the disastrous currency ban but and botched up implementation of GST, with unemployment at a 45 years high, Indian saw 26 lacs open positions and government gagged NSSO data, which led to the resignation of eminent statisticians, two RBI governors walking out, supreme court judges holding press conferences and what not. On one side, the ruling party muted every information that showed its poor performance and on the other side within their party, they shunted all veterans; thus came into existence the Margdarshak Mandal.

Real issues were masked: Poll promises of 2014 were forgotten and Pakistan made entry into the political debate. To the point where PM in his election speeches dedicates 80% of his time to terrorism and even stoops to the level of asking votes in the name of the dead soldiers. Those who raise questions on his all-around unflattering performance are called “DeshDrohis” by his supporters. Farmer Suicides, trade deficits, questionable handling of the Rafale deal, cultivation of hate, mishandling of the Kashmir issue are all unimportant and must be subdued by the chorus that BJP, one of the wealthiest political parties of the world builds. Mr Modi, in this 2014 election speeches, spoke about fighting 2019 election on the report card, he has forgotten it completely instead he now holds a large card with “Hate Pakistan and Muslims” written on it. He had taken an oath that he would set up a special court to fast track the cases pending on MPs, the reality is that in 2019, his party has the maximum % of tainted MPs. He has been in the harshest tone possible condemned dynastic politics but truth is that his party is not different from any other political party in the country, he has gracefully given tickets to 25+ such entitled naamdars. The below tweets summarises the change in Mr Modi’s politics  

BJP : We will ensure implementation of NRC in the entire country. We will remove every single infiltrator from the country, except Buddha, Hindus and Sikhs: Shri @AmitShah #NaMoForNewIndia

My Tweet (@LKstates): Insurgent #Modi #2014 : Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas, Black Money, Jobs, Sec370, Uniform civil code, development, Price rise on fuel!

Incumbent Modi #2019: India Pakistan .. Hindu Mussalman.. Anti National .. Surgical strike.. Nehru .. Congress..

Voters : Achha theek hain, #Vote !

In such a political climate, it is incumbent on we the people of India to decide by voting which story appeals more to us. Do we wish to preserve and protect our democratic right of holding the Government accountable by asking tough and critical questions or should we surrender like most of the Indian media before the almighty political force and let the change of 2014, forever change the construct of our society? This election is when we need to assert our will of keeping India a plural sovereign, of valuing peace and beating the surround sound of rhetoric. You own your vote, spend it wisely!

I continue to reserve my right to ask questions and I shall continue to do so; should you wish to know those questions too, look me up on twitter @LKstates.