I Was Wrong About Narendra Modi; Were You Too?
I was perhaps the biggest Namo fan. Namo-Narendra Modi, as we all know!
In 2014, as he came to power at the Centre, my fandom was just starting. In 2019, as he came back to power with a landslide win (better than his 2014 performance), my fandom consolidated.
Who can save this country, who can redeem the marginalised communities, and who will make my country the Vishwaguru? Who else? Modi!
Subsequently, during this time, my tryst with journalism was also beginning.
As a 22-year-old, freshly passed out from a J-school in Bangalore, who had landed his first job as an intern at The Indian Express in New Delhi, my journey had coincided with Modi’s rise.
I saw the public perception being changed.
The so-called ‘Marxist’ news editors were now toeing the Sangh line. India, which was under the clutches of socialism under Indira Gandhi and her Congress, was now giving capitalism the chance it always deserved.
Between 2014 and 2022, I ignored multiple investigative pieces, which had I read them, wouldn’t have become his fan in the first place.
Activists, political rivals, and judges were put in harm’s way; some were killed, and some vanished in Gujarat during his reign. Fake encounters galored under then-state home minister — his right-hand man — you know who!
All of it — I chose to ignore.
In a country like India, our heroes are revered, and I was no different.
Fights were forged on Facebook, I even disrespected one of my father’s Muslim friends who was settled in New York. If you are against Modi, go to Pakistan, you fcuking traitor. The same line I said to my cousin. Tempers flared, but at the end of the day, I felt like I was doing service to my country!
However, the glitch in the matrix came when I was working with a national news channel (a prominent one that has been penalized regularly for spreading hate speech against a particular community).
On one December night, I took serious offense to a tweet that was posted by BJP leader Tejinder Pal Bagga.
By this time, China was in our territory and was building fortifications, and here was this political leader, who had beaten Prashant Bhushan live on TV, posting his BS propaganda. He claimed no one had entered India’s territory, and until India’s PM and HM (Home Minister) were there, no one could take an inch. It was pure bullshit!
I had enough of BJP propaganda, and I chose to reply to his tweet with an emoji — it was the middle finger! My editor, who didn’t even know me, called me within minutes.
“Boss, don’t you know, we have social media guidelines; delete the tweet now, Saikat.”
“Or I will take serious action.”
Taken aback, I promptly agreed but why would an “independent” news organization take offense for rebutting someone like Bagga, a local party leader?
Yes, maybe the middle finger wasn’t the right response, but such a brutal crackdown, for what?
That was, as I said, a glitch in the matrix. It changed me and forced me to re-look at my fandom. If I was wrong, which it seemed I was, then I will find out the truth.
Since then, I have devoted time exclusively to going through those ignored investigative reports, point by point, work by work.
If this piece was considered “anti-Modi” by one colleague, I would read it.
In 2023, I shifted to Bangalore and started working with a private firm. I saw no hope in the media. Media, which was bought by Ambanis and Adanis.
However, there is a different section of media (magazines like Caravan and Scroll), which are doing a tremendous job exposing Modi and what happened when he was Gujarat CM.
The story of how he got a clean chit will blow your mind!
Every judge who dared question him was shunted out. Every activist who worked with the minorities in his state disappeared. Activists like Stan Swamy, an 84-year-old “terrorist,” died in custody — it’s chilling, it’s scary.
The Caravan magazine was shunned in June 2023 from the public library in Indiranagar, where I used to devour it. All of this pointed to one thing: Modi’s grip is getting consolidated.
It is the same reason I chose to write this post. I don’t want him back as my PM, but I know that with a below-par opposition, he will be back and the reign of terror and intimidation will continue.
You might get sacked, your girlfriend might be spied on and your father might get ED summons.
I am not a pro-Congress or pro-Marxist, but the more I study Modi, the more I ask this question: How did he trick me, someone who is fairly well-read and taught critical thinking in J-School?
