If Acchay din indeed has been ushered in for someone in the country, it is for Adani and Ambani. Small wonder then, the pardigmatic shift in the polity from that of ‘ We the People’ into that of ‘ We the Adani and Ambani’ is far too stark to escape anyone’s attention. Hence in this backdrop, if Jyoti Basu, the former Chief Minister of West Bengal, whose solitary contribution to the state was, Nandan, a theatre hall, and Chandan, his son, Narendra Modi’s legacy to posterity will be presumed to be: The spectacular rise of Adani and Ambani as the new raison d’etre and summum bonum of Bharat Varsha.
Vivekanand Jha Ranchi: Nitish Kumar, himself a master of political calisthenics and blatant political opportunism, had something plausible to say, during the course of 2014 General Election: ‘ kya inkay haath koi Alladin ka chirag lag gaya hai'(‘ Has he( Narendra Modi) come to be in posession of some Alladin wand?’ Nitish Kumar was making this observation, based on some sort of heart burn he had felt, on account of Narendra Modi’s disproportionate promises he was making to the electorate. Significantly, those on the lookout for jobs, were given the assurance of 2 crore jobs within a year; those who were in quest for Hindu nationalism to usher in Hindu Rashtra, too were taken into confidence; those who aspired for nation’s strong image, too, were assured of 56 inches to browbeat Pakistan into a perpetual submission. In fact, male machismo, hitherto conspicuous by absence in India, was promised galore that a grand revolution of ‘male machismo’ was on the anvil. Significantly, to win few brownie points: India launched the attacks into the Pakistani territory–Uri and Balakot– to prove the point that, eliminate leadership which defined India’s inseparable hallmark and characteristic trait, was the cancelled cheque, what, in fact, India showcased after 2014 was a new level of energy power: The aping of Israel’s manliness manifesting in its paradigmatic policy shift: if you kill one of our citizens, we will kill four of yours. This male machismo was also strategically blended with Swacch Bharat Mission and Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Mission, apart from infrastructural promotion. But the biggest political churning out that Modi government engendered in the polity was awakening Hindu Consciousness by sowing the seeds of communal polarisation. However what is increasingly becoming obvious is this: This Hindu awakening, even if it is taken as such, has exclusively to do with cementing BJP’s vote bank politics, rather than securing the long term strategic interest of the nation, especially Hindus. Regrettably, the communal cauldron which is sought to be stoked, is far more designed to cement BJP’s vote bank, instead of cementing Hindus’ eternal stranglehold over the polity or else, why not The Population Control Bill was introduced in the Parliament on a fire fighting mode, instead of creating an unnecessary controversy by bringing in CAA? Unequivocally, what is of supreme importance today is to reassure Hindus that Bharatvarsha was, is and will be the eternal Pitribhumi of Hindus. But this BJP will seldom do, for it strengthens Hindus stranglehold over polity in tangible terms; in fact, BJP is only interested in tinkering with the issues, without the least interest in resolving the issues amicably in favour of the majority community.
The latest salvo of BJP to further polarise Hindus for voting it enmasse is the Gyanvapi mosque. Interestingly, the Machiavellian agenda of BJP, adequately backed up by its Goebbrlsian propaganda is premised on cajoling Hindus into voting for the party while doing nothing tangibly for Hindus in particular. For instance, why the humongous concern of Hindus to regulate the spiralling Muslim population to overwhelm them in next two decades or so, fails to resonate with the party leadership, yet such outlandish issues as Gyanvyapi mosque is being orchestrated to inject a communal frenzy in the polity to bring a greater polarisation of Hindus during elections. Ostensibly, the post- West Bengal Assembly election violence where Hindus, even Trinamool voters of certain segments, were the objects of inhuman violence culminating in murders and rapes, ought to have sent the alarm bell ringing in the corridors of power in Delhi, purportedly appears to have fallen casualty to real politicking of which Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are the real masters. Thus the message without the least of equivocation, which is emanating from the BJP’s apparent reluctance to act when the Kashmirisation of West Bengal has already started, is the vindication of BJP far less interested in playing Hindus against Muslims for cementing its vote banks, rather than securing the strategic future of Hindus in their Pitri Bhumi. Suffice it is here to add that, unless Hindu consciousness towards their marginalisation and upcoming swamping by Muslims tangibly dawns upon Hindus, BJP will continue to take them for a ride.
With the benefits of hindsight, despite Modi government’s foresighted attempts in revolutionising the length and breadth of India through Swaach Bharat Mission and other phenomenal schemes, what has unequivocally paled all its contribution, is the growing corporatisation of the government. Therefore, the stupendous rise of Adani as India’s richest man and sixth richest in the world, is the vindication of the fact that how, notwithstanding its other major contribution, this government has been passionately focussed on scripting the rise of Adani as the nation’s raison d’etre and summum bonum by handing over the national resources to him, at the expenses of the pauperisation of the masses, indicts Modi in the severest of terms. Small wonder then, in the garb of engendering the feast of communal frenzy, the latest of which being fomenting the religious polarisation around Gyanvapi mosque to feed upon the gullibility of its citizens. How long this government can think of befooling Hindus by injecting fear of Muslim takeover in the garb of ensuring the takeover of the nation by Adani and Ambani is a matter of humongous concern for the nation. Are the people of India–both ordinary Hindus and Muslims– born to die like flies while Adani and Ambani are there to lord over the national resources, indeed is the matter of grave anxiety bedeviling the people of India? Are we not, by our sheer brazenness, complemented and supplemented by our stupendous callousness inviting Sri Lanka like situation to visit us by creating this unpardonable gaps between haves and have- nots, we must ask ourselves this question in all earnestness? With coal mines, airports and partially, even railway stations, being auctioned to corporate houses, enabling them to make kill in the ongoing war in Ukraine, by making a bonanza by selling coal to European nations, is the vindication of how the government is hell bent upon scripting their mega success stories.
With the benefits of hindsight, whereas the influence of corporate in the affairs of the government was always there, the incumbent government showcases its imprimatur ubiquitously. Significantly, as the Vedas says, ‘ Even the leaves cannot shake without the will of god, likewise the current dispensation in Delhi too cannot act without the feelers from its favourite corporate houses. Unequivocally, the overwhelming influence of the corporates was tangible in the farmers bills which kept the nation on tenterhooks for over a year, purportedly was propped up at the behest of Adani. Interestingly, the Himalayan rise of Adani, since 2014, beggars a belief that how the corporates, especially Adani has seized the lever of power of present Modi dispensation. Thus the paradigmatic shift of the polity from its constitutionally mandated ‘ We the People’ of India give ourselves the Constitution into that of those in power pathetically reducing the nation into serving the raison d’etre and summum bonum of two corporate houses: Adani and Ambani. What will happen to over a billion people who are born to die like flies, with the national resources being unscrupulously gobbled up by two familes? This is the moot question the nation is confronting today, when the Constitution which heralded the empowerment of its citizens, stands punctured at the altar of its new metamorphosis: The citizens have been reduced as cheerleaders, with corporate playing the game of divide and rule on the chase board of ‘ profiteering’. Small wonder then, history cannot be bamboozled into believing that ‘ all was well’ in Modi Raj, for history was never known to be soft on passing judgment on rulers. Decades ago, when Jyoti Basu ruled West Bengal with an iron feast, his contribution to the people of West Bengal was considered as, Nandan, a theatre hall in Kolkata, and making his son Chandan Basu as a millionaire; in a striking semblance of the same, Narendra Modi’s legacy, despite his phenomenal contributions in other fields, will be solely remembered for scripting the legendary rise of two glorious families: Adani and Ambani as the new raison d’etre and summum bonum of Bharatvarsha.
Vivekanand Jha is an Author, Academician and a Public Intellectual. He is a well known Hindu nationalist.
