Nazi! Fascist! Nazi! Fascist! On the streets, they pelt stones thick and fast. On TV, on the internet, on social media, they pelt these labels like stones. From the poems, the songs, the speeches and the slogans, you would think this is a movement against Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot, Castro or one of the “revolutionary dictators” that young liberals like to honour on their caps and T-shirts.
Never before has India had so many avenues for expression of speech? Never before have so many avenues been used to so vigorously to express dissent against the elected government. And yet it seems, the louder the voice of dissent, the more it screams that they are being stifled by fascism!
Why this all-round cornering of Modi-Shah? Why so unfair?
Why have the leftists, the Islamists and the missionaries made common cause against Amit Shah? What is the great harm he has done?
The ‘harm’ of course is that he stood up for our right to exist. For centuries, these forces have seen Hindus as easy fodder, to be chewed up and swallowed. We have lost a lot of our land, our history, even our sense of identity in the world. Only the other day, I pointed out a prominent Indian liberal website crediting Arabs for developing the modern number system, something which was actually invented by Hindu mathematicians. It’s a small example, but nevertheless a telling one. It’s a symptom of how Hindus are written out of history.
In some small ways, in the last six months or so, Amit Shah threw some counter punches. And if there is one thing that bullies cannot stand, it is a counter punch.
The sight of Amit Shah standing tall in Parliament, wiping out their cherished Article 370, integrating Kashmir in style, was too much for them to bear.
In a few hours, Amit Shah had wiped out the special status of India’s only Muslim majority state, a reminder of the subjugation of Hindus. He had spoken of the Hindus of Jammu, the dispossessed Hindus of Kashmir, the Buddhists of Ladakh.
How dare a Hindu stand up and speak up for other Hindus?
Blow after blow followed from Amit Shah. He arrived next armed with the Citizenship Amendment Act. The Hindu victims of Partition were finally to get a little bit of justice. It was really a small thing, targeted towards persecuted Hindus who had arrived before Dec 2014. But for his opponents, it was the principle that mattered.
Who dares give a Hindu anything at all, even a little bit of sympathy?
In the liberal scheme of things, Hindus were never meant to assert themselves. The world has grown used to seeing them submit. How dare they push back even a little?
The Supreme Court verdict in favour of a Ram Temple made them even angrier. Before that the Modi government had criminalized Triple Talaq, ending the decades-old domination of Islamic law over Indian law.
In February last year, the Modi government had sent the Air Force to bomb terror targets in Pakistan in response to Pulwama terror attack. After the Uri terror attack, the Modi government had sent the Army to strike across the Line of Control.
They were stunned by the combativeness of it all. Why no 26/11 like capitulation, they wanted to know.
On top of everything, the Modi government had stormed back to power in May 2019, adding substantially in terms of seats and votes. Amit Shah was Modi’s right-hand man whose strategies united Hindu castes from Uttar Pradesh to Bengal, which led to the victory. Decades of hard work by the liberal ecosystem in keeping Hindus divided had just been done to dust.
That’s where this anger comes from. This has nothing to do with CAA or NRC in particular. The anger is wider and deeper and it is aimed at our whole civilization. They intend to teach Amit Shah a lesson for fighting back.
Liberals have two ways of exercising power. When their side is in office, they enforce their agenda. When their side loses an election, they use their influence over media and intelligentsia to keep their opponents on the defensive despite being in power. So ultimately, it is always their agenda that prevails.
But what happens when someone like Amit Shah comes along, simply ignoring the liberal cacophony and implementing the opposite agenda without making any concessions?
That’s when liberals swear to teach a lesson. Right now, they think they can stem the rising tide of Hindu self-awareness by pelting stones and labels of Nazi and Fascist. They think they can intimidate like they always could.
That is why BJP supporters should rally around Amit Shah at the moment. The other side seeks to destroy him. They seek to reverse all the gains, cut off Kashmir again, repeal CAA, stop the Ram Temple, re-establish the supremacy of Islamic law and bring back the days when India would respond to terror attacks by sending dossiers.
It is a complete mind game. The right must keep its eyes on the agenda and keep marching. If they blink, everything will be lost.
