The Selling of Fear
Photo credit: Narendra Modi on Flickr
Published on LinkedIn, 5 March 2020.
I was somewhat reassured recently to see John Oliver on ‘Last Week Tonight’ (24 February 2020) covering Prime Minister Narendra Modi in such detail.
Oliver also focused on Modi when he appeared at a concert in Central Park, New York, after previously being banned from entering the US following the Gujarat anti-Muslim riots, which he is accused of initiating. On stage with Modi was Hugh Jackman and other celebrities. Looking back now, one hopes those standing beside him have reconsidered their tacit support of this dangerous man.
Comedy can be a great way to focus people’s attention on topics that are fundamentally not funny at all. We face so many problems at the moment that we need ways to cut through and John Oliver does a fine job. However, people can only be concerned about a finite number of topics – particularly those outside their daily experiences. Brexit, Trump, India / Pakistan / Kashmir, climate change, the Middle East in general. We cannot take it all on board, but as a Pakistani-born resident of Sydney, India is one of those topics that I hope more of the world finds space to focus on because it could very well affect us all, more than many people realise.
In an interview on 26 February this year, the former Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Ms Hina Rabbani Khar, said that due to Modi’s bullying of India’s Muslim population and his actions in Kashmir, India has become a rogue state. A position she described as 'irretrievably dangerous'.
She went on to point out the rise of tribalism in countries around the world – where populist, extremist, leaders create division and fear between people. It is occurring in India, in the US, in the UK, I see elements in Australia too. These leaders, Ms Khar said, do not do what is good for their country, they ride to victory on a wave of popularism based on the voter’s belief that they will be kept safe from the Barbarian minority that would challenge their comfortable way of life.
Many of our leaders seem to know very well that if they create an ‘other’, a Barbarian enemy, it will help to consolidate national sentiment and they can position themselves a saviour to their people.
In India, Narendra Modi has carefully crafted the rise of Islamophobia. He is using the notion of ‘the other’ to build fear and distrust of Muslims, to achieve his ultimate aim: India as a Hindu nation. Only last week Girijit Singh, one of Modi’s ministers, said that India would not be suffering the problems it faced today if all the Muslims had left during Partition in 1947.
This was followed shortly after by another member of Modi’s BJP, Kapil Mishra, saying if the police didn’t clear out the Muslims in New Delhi, people should take matters into their own hands. The mob attacked and burned Muslim-owned buildings. One house contained an 85-year-old woman who was burned alive while the crowd outside sang a Hindu chant.
I know from experience that it is not the natural position of most Hindu Indians to hate Muslims. Gandhi and Nehru stated that India would be secular. The vast majority of peace-loving Hindu’s in India uphold that idea. There have been religious tensions, yes, but as the country with world’s second-largest Muslim population, India fundamentally works. Hindu and Muslim residents live in harmony until whipped into anti-Muslim action by troublemakers. The terrifying reality of India today is that the troublemaker is the Prime Minister himself.
Narendra Modi’s BJP party has long been associated with a right-wing Hindu supremacist group called the RSS. This group was formed in 1925 with a vision to recreate India as a Hindu nation. In fact, it was an RSS member who claimed to have assassinated Gandhi.
The problem we now face is that Prime Minister Modi is dividing his country in two, not for the benefit of the people, but based on his own ideology and religious bigotry. As John Oliver pointed out, the terrible genius of his strategy is that in two simple acts, he is rending stateless India’s 200 million Muslims.
Modi is the charismatic face of what is potentially shaping up to be the largest anti-Muslim movement the world has ever seen.
The deeper danger is that his actions might well create another battleground for jihadism, with the emergence of locally grown resistance groups and/or international fighters acting in the fragile and near-failing India. And given the past blame games between Pakistan and India, India could conceivably blame this development on its predominantly Muslim neighbour.
I realise we each have our list of concerns, however, let us not forget that India and Pakistan are nuclear-armed powers. If they clash, it is anybody’s guess what could happen.
I call on all people living in countries with high standards of human rights to speak out. Let the world know of the potential dangers in South Asia. Because if we all remain silent assuming others will act, nothing will change.
The hatred being expressed by Modi’s Ministers is vicious and dangerous. To close, I add one last anecdote: A month before Donald Trump’s recent visit, Anurag Thakur, the Minister for Corporate Affairs, addressed a rally about the protests by Muslims, at which he said of them: ‘Traitors of the country, shoot them’.
Other reading and viewing
Former Pakistani Foreign Minister: India Has Become a 'Rogue State’, https://www.gzeromedia.com/former-pakistani-foreign-minister-india-has-become-a-rogue-state?q=khar
John Oliver, ‘Last Week Tonight’ with John Oliver. 24 February 2020. https://www.facebook.com/rahul.srkbond/videos/2684909541562990/
Wikipedia, Rāṣṭrīya Svayamsevaka Saṅgha, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashtriya_Swayamsevak_Sangh
Rana Ayoub, Narendra Modi Looks the Other Way as New Delhi Burns, https://time.com/5791759/narendra-modi-india-delhi-riots-violence-muslim/
John Oliver, ‘Last Week Tonight’ with John Oliver, 28 September 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkYzuHMcP64