‘Good Gobar(!)nance’: We should surely be grateful, or should we?

Coin a toss.

Which is Narendra Modi government’s greatest achievement since 2014?

Destroying the social fabric of India?

Or, destroying the Indian economy?

There are of course many other achievements like Swacch Bharat Create Garbage Mission or Beti Bhagao Beti Jalao or Don’t Clean the Ganga or Destroy Anti-National Education or Suppress Dissent Mission and so on.

Too many in fact to count in this stellar examplar of Good ‘Gobarnance’ generously gifted to us by the Bharatiya Janata Party and its two most favoured politicians Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.

The economy is a humdinger, frankly. As far as economists are concerned Demonetisation is solely responsible for most of India’s problems. And as report after report proves how industries have collapsed, livelihoods have been lost, banks have crashed, the telecom industry is teetering, sentiment is down, investment is absent, the agricultural sector is in a mess, farmers are dying… whatever the massive problems facing us may be, the Modi government and its faithful band of WhatsApp warriors have come up with novel solutions to stop the spread of information. And replace it with disinformation.

The government uses the tried and tested sledgehammer approach: suppress all reports that put the government in a negative light.

Then there are the “experts” which includes venerable ministers who tell us that the economy may have collapsed but online sales still carry on. Or that app-based taxi services are carrying the Indian economy. Or that movies are doing well. Aren’t weddings at an all-time high? And aren’t the trains full?

Or, some people still have houses. Or crops are still growing. Or the pollution in North India is actually a good thing because SPM can be used to make fuel. Okay, I made that up but it doesn’t mean that someone won’t say it. Our ministers and their expert friends are capable of saying anything!

BJP’s obedient and ever-ready Whatsapp Warriors then transmit the same nonsense to their friends and families. Thus, at any point in time, you may meet someone who informs you how you can get gold from the milk of an Indian cow or that Indians went into outer space 6 million years ago before NASA or whatever. Yes, I agree, some of these BJP-blinded nationalistic Indians are still in outer space. And possibly belong there.

And so, to the social fabric of India. The rag and tatters industry must definitely be doing well because that’s what we’re left with. The destruction of India mission is definitely booming. Muslims, Dalits, Christians are still targets. The lynching has not stopped. The recent Supreme Court decision on Ayodhya has only cemented the majoritarian sense of entitlement.

What message does this send to every minority in India? That there is no recourse to justice? That to live in India you have to put your head down and muffle your right to speak? Because if you don’t someone else is going to do it for you? That democracy is a farce? All right, I take that back. Our current version of democracy is definitely farcical. And what’s happening in Kashmir is conclusive proof of that.

It’s been over three months since the “decision” was made by the Modi government to abrogate Article 370. Since then, the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir has been bifurcated, communications have been shut down, journalists have not been allowed to function and only select media and European Parliament Members, not Indian MPs, have been allowed in.

But you know all this. We all do. Why don’t we speak up? Because for the past five and a half years, anyone who has spoken up has been tagged an anti-national and had cases filed against them? That activists and lawyers and journalists who have stood for the human rights of and justice for Dalits attacked by rightwing forces have been snooped on by the Indian government using Israeli military spyware?

I’m torn between which achievement we have to applaud the non-stick government for.

Either way, affected people are apparently so cowed down by either option one or option two, that the democratic right of every citizen in this nation has effectively been snatched away.

Success, right?

(This is an opinion piece. Views expressed are the author’s own)