Unholy nexus

We hope that the world now recognises Modi for what he truly is — a megalomaniacal fascist

There is an idiom in Western politics, ‘wag the dog’, which refers to creating a diversion from a damaging issue. With regard to the media, it is also referred to as changing the news cycle. When done effectively, it can help politicians survive even the most crippling of scandals or other problems. Some of the more famous military examples could include the Falklands War, which helped British PM Margret Thatcher win an election she was expected to lose, and US President George HW Bush’s Iraq invasion, which was not enough to carry him to victory. US President Bill Clinton’s bombing of Sudan and Afghanistan and President Donald Trump’s assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani are also examples that helped divert attention from non-election issues — their respective impeachments.

We now know for sure that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP have been learning from history. This is all thanks to the recently-released WhatsApp logs of conversations between Republic TV Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami — a notorious BJP propagandist — and incarcerated TV ratings company chief Pratho Dasgupta. Goswami, a BJP propagandist posing as a journalist, is also under trial on various charges relating to his fake news peddling.

The leaks refer to Goswami’s knowledge of the Indian plan to conduct airstrikes in Pakistan in January 2019, days before they were executed. The airstrikes were unsuccessful, and the aftermath saw an Indian pilot captured and retaliatory airstrikes from Pakistan. Still, the Modi government and the ‘Godi’ media painted them as a great success. The fictitious coverage helped Modi divert attention from his failings on the economy and other areas to win him the elections a few months later. The leaks also suggest that Goswami may have had prior knowledge of the 2019 Pulwama attack in which 40 Indian soldiers were killed. Coupled with India’s recent confrontation with China — again to divert from its economic mismanagement and failed Covid-19 response — a clear pattern emerges.

After building his state-level political power on the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat, Modi is building his national credentials on the bodies of Indian soldiers. We can only hope that the world now recognises him for what he truly is — a megalomaniacal fascist.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2021.

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