Demonising the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is a favourite pastime of a section of the media and pro-Islamist activist groups. It is also a hugely profitable business. They are flooded with awards, rewards and funds from within the country and across the globe. This has invariably promoted the flourish of anti-Modi campaign. It has now assumed a global character of a determined minority grouping. That this tirade has takers and unfortunately become a lucrative venture is the tragedy the country has to confront.
Why are they picking on Modi, despite the fact that by general consent he is the most popular and equally the most successful Chief Minister the country has ever had. He has changed the face of the state he rules for the better. Gujarat is in the forefront by any matrix of social development and economic empowerment of the poor. The state is a top investor destination in the country. It is the only state that has reached water, health services, electricity and roads to every village. Here law and order is maintained. Common man is happy. Every central scheme is implemented effectively and this is the most corruption-free state in the country. Industry finds Gujarat friendly because of the clean image of the Chief Minister. And Muslims get the best opportunity and are better off than they are in so-called cradles of Left-Islamist politics, say Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh or West Bengal.
All these are not matter enough for the Left-Islamist activists and the section of the media. They only want to demonise, defame and deny Modi his legitimate place in politics and history. For eight years he is on trial by this committed bunch of bullies. He has convincingly won two assembly and two parliamentary polls during this period. He has the mandate of his people. No inquiry, no court has found him guilty on any count. Still they are baying for his blood. They simply want to declare him guilty and hang. Because he is a Hindu? Because he does not go and try to charm and win over the professional masters of news manipulation who manufacture situations and events to suit the designs of the establishment? Is it because he has no desire to misuse the tax-payers’ money to cultivate the so-called media mughals? Or because he is a BJP Chief Minister and a model administrator beyond reproach and blemish? The campaign against Modi has been so tendentious, incessant, persistent and unrelenting that it can easily get a place in the book of world records. The Pioneer (March 21, 2010) daily has done a report on how self-serving it has been for a few individuals under the patronage of the Congress Party.
What it proves is the double standard of the so-called mainstream press. The media that will persistently suppress the riot instigated by a Muslim lunatic in Bareilly will not stop crying hoarse on the 2002 riots in Gujarat. The people who do not see anything wrong with the Congress hobnobbing with the obnoxious Raza Khan in Bareilly created such a ruckus when Varun Gandhi made an election speech in Pilibhit last year, which did not create any tension anywhere in the country. But Varun was arrested under National Security Act and kept imprisoned for three weeks. The instigator of Bareilly riot Raza Khan was released within hours of his arrest—he violated every law of the land—he is a friend of the Congress and the media hails him as a hero. So the Muslim atrocities in Bareilly are suppressed deliberately. Is it not a command performance? Digvijay Singh and Rahul Gandhi make a song and dance about their visit to Azamgarh—for what? To reassure the “community” because many individuals from that area have been found guilty of associating with and indulging in terrorist activities and were arrested by the investigating team? The so-called mainstream media did not comment about or condemn such treacherous acts. Naga separatist leader Muviah attends an open ceremony of his armed fugitives and makes anti-India, secessionist declarations while claiming that he is having successful talks with the Congress leaders at the centre. The so-called mainstream media does not scream for details or charge them with sedition. This is double-standard. Traitors are hailed as heroes. Those who speak for the country, its progress and integrity are painted demons and villains. If Modi is culpable because he was Chief Minister at the time of the riots in 2002, why is the media not holding the late Rajiv Gandhi responsible for the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom, which by all records was more widespread, bloody, brutal and planned—and Rajiv Gandhi even tried to justify and made political capital?
The country has got used to the cynical game being played by a motivated group of activists and their cohorts in the media. That is why they are a discredited lot, though they are rich and powerful because of official patronage. And whenever they orchestrate a charade Modi grows stronger and taller.
