From: b sabha <[email protected]>
http://www.newslaundry.com/2016/08/15/how-una-made-narendra-modis-pr-unravel/ [http://www.newslaundry.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/ravi-shinde-article.jpg]<http://www.newslaundry.com/2016/08/15/how-una-made-narendra-modis-pr-unravel/> How Una made Narendra Modi’s PR unravel<http://www.newslaundry.com/2016/08/15/how-una-made-narendra-modis-pr-unravel/> www.newslaundry.com All those foreign trips can’t make up for the bad publicity Una has given the Prime Minister How Una made Narendra Modi’s PR unravel All those foreign trips can’t make up for the bad publicity Una has given the Prime Minister Posted by Ravi Shinde<http://www.newslaundry.com/author/ravi-shinde/> | Aug 15, 2016 in Criticles<http://www.newslaundry.com/category/criticles/> | 0 Comments<http://www.newslaundry.com/2016/08/15/how-una-made-narendra-modis-pr-unravel/#disqus_thread> [ravi-shinde-article] Image credit: Facebook/ Truth of Gujarat. Ever since he started his bid for the Prime Ministership, Narendra Modi has worked hard to build his image. Wiping off the stigma of 2002 communal riots in Gujarat was a daunting task. Transformation from being seen as a divisive personality to the harbinger of progress needed immense effort. There was the additional embarrassment of Modi having been denied an American visa in 2005. In 2009, public relation giant APCO Worldwide was hired to promote ‘Vibrant Gujarat’. APCO promoted Gujarat as much as it promoted Modi. Aided by some surrogate media and businessmen, within years, Gujarat and Modi became synonymous with development. The fact that Gujarat is abysmally low on the human developmental index<http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/the-numbers-story-here-is-why-the-gujarat-model-is-not-that-healthy-for-everyone/> and the raging caste discrimination in the state were swept under the carpet. The grand finale of Modi’s transformation came in May 2014, when the people of India elected him with full majority. As Prime Minister, Modi has left no stone unturned to enhance his image in India and the West. Calling for a 10-year moratorium<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/PM-Narendra-Modi-pitches-for-10-year-moratorium-on-violence/articleshow/40312836.cms> on communal riots and caste-based violence, he asked the youth to follow him. Although he rarely commented or exercised authority when cases of social discrimination came into the spotlight — like Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula’s suicide or allegations of rising fundamentalism in many parts of India — Modi made frequent trips across the world where he held excellent public events. In United States of America, for example, Modi’s Madison Square spectacle in New York and SAP Center appearance in California (September 2015) received good local media coverage. Modi’s mission seemed to have been accomplished with even President Barack Obama calling him “Dear Friend Narendra”. And then Una happened. Four half-naked Dalits getting beaten up in broad daylight, tied like slaves, right in front of Una police station in Gujarat — the incident took place on July 11, 2016. The video and images went viral, and sent shockwaves across India. Dalits refused to perform their ‘traditional’ roles of disposing animal carcasses, citing the threats posed to them by gau rakshaks. The mass pledge to not lift cow carcasses<http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/dalits-protest-refuse-to-dispose-of-carcasses-in-gujarat/article8918558.ece> has been termed as revolutionary. Sociologists and human rights activists have hailed this as a historic revolution. Meanwhile, angry Dalits in the state intensified their protests while the Prime Minister — true to his style of not talking about social issues — maintained a silence on this ghastly incident in his home state. The spark of the Una protest reached every nook and corner of Gujarat. So much so that, the protests caught international media attention and criticism. In its August 3 editorial, headlined “Modi and India’s Dalits<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/03/opinion/modi-and-indias-dalits.html?_r=0>”, The New York Times wrote, A protest in the Indian state of Gujarat’s largest city, Ahmedabad, on Sunday by thousands of Dalits — members of India’s lowest castes — has brought to a head the contradiction between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise of economic opportunity for all and a politics of division driven by right-wing Hindu ideology. … The cow, sacred to Hindus, has become a lightning rod for the Hindu right under Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party government. Mr. Modi himself has exploited the cow slaughter issue at rallies. The editorial ended with pretty strong words for the PM, cautioning that the turmoil in the state could hamper his party if “Mr Modi does not break his shameful silence of cow vigilantes.” Three days after the NYT editorial castigating him, Modi finally broke his silence on August 7 — almost a month after the incident. The timing feels particularly significant when you keep in mind that the beating of the Dalits in Una sparked a series of critical articles in foreign media. Because NYT was not the only one. On the other coast, another popular newspaper with over 6.5 lakh circulation (approximately half of NYT’s), Los Angeles Times had this to say<http://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-cow-terror-snap-story.html> in an article that traced the rise of the current wave of cow vigilantism back to the Dadri lynching of September 2015 (which just happens to be the same month that Modi had his triumphant public events in America). While cow vigilante groups have been active in India for years, commentators believe they have been emboldened after the conservative Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with close ties to Hindu radical groups, came to power in May 2014 and Narenda Modi ascended to the office of prime minister. … Modi has not been prompt in denouncing killings, and his language has been far from forceful. The Wall Street Journal, a nationwide newspaper in USA with over 2.2 million in subscription, carried this article on August 8<http://www.wsj.com/articles/modi-top-hindu-nationalists-seek-to-distance-themselves-from-hardliners-1470669141>: Many among India’s lower castes see the BJP, which has long campaigned against cow slaughter, as unsympathetic toward their cause and biased in favor of upper-caste Hindus, an allegation the party denies. Muslims, many of whom eat beef, also say some Hindu groups target them under the pretext of cow protection. With this paragraph, WSJ exposed the myth of the inclusive growth that Modi has been boasting in India and abroad. It was particularly sharp a criticism because earlier this year, in May, while speaking to WSJ’s Editor-in-Chief Gerard Baker in Delhi, Modi had said<http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2016/05/26/read-an-edited-transcript-of-the-wall-street-journals-interview-with-indian-prime-minister-narendra-modi/>, “I can say with utmost confidence and sense of belief that India has regained the trust and strength that it’s supposed to have.” Before the WSJ and NYT mentions, British newspaper The Guardiancarried an article<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/20/violent-clashes-cow-protection-vigilantes-low-caste-india> on cow vigilantes on July 20, which pointed out that “during the 2014 elections, Modi made cow protection a key theme of his campaign”. On August 8, students and research fellows at the University of Göttingen, Germany, organised a protest against the inhuman violence against Dalits in India. Modi’s sharpest criticism yet of gau rakshaks came after widespread national and (more importantly) International media criticism. Tangible actions to match his words are yet to see the light of the day. Further intensifying their agitation, Dalits kicked off a two-week long march, starting from Ahmedabad and culminating on India’s independence Day in Una. Muslims of the state, who after the 2002 riots were rendered forlorn, have wholeheartedly supported Dalits. On August 9, a global network of Ambedkarites, comprising of Dalit organisations like Ambedkar Association of North America, Ambedkar International Mission, Ambedkar International Center and ICDR, working in North America, issued a press release stating that they were organising demonstrations in big cities like Boston (August 12), New York and Detroit (August 13) , Philadelphia and Dalls (August 14) and among others to coincide with Gujarat’s ongoing Chalo Una March. On August 20, The Caste Watch UK and South Asia Solidarity Group have organised a protest in front of the Indian High commission in London. Sanjay Bhagat, who participated in a protest In Boston on August 12, said, “We wanted to show solidarity with the Dalits of Gujarat. PM Modi’s comments asking people to shoot him instead of Dalits were inconceivable . But this unique protest led by grassroots Dalit men and more importantly Dalit women has given new spirit to the Dalit fight-back. The caste apartheid has to stop and the government must ensure safety of Dalits and rehabilitate them. We urge local media and Indian media to give these protests a wider publicity.” On Monday 15 August, as PM Modi addresses the nation for the third time from Red fort, Some 1100 kms away, in a small-town of Una, a spontaneous, peaceful and apolitical march known as Azaadi Kooch (Independence March) —that began in Ahmedabad on 5 Aug — would be culminating. Dalit organisations would be hurling tricolor flag here too demanding independence from the humiliating jobs like carrying dead animals and continued social discrimination faced by them in worst form even sixty-nine years after achieving independence. It could be a sort of poetic justice to realize that PM Modi faces such a strong grassroots mobilisation against him and his party in the very state known as his powerful bastion for years. Could Una turn out be incident that unravels Prime Minister Modi’s image both within India and abroad beyond repair?
