The fog and filthy air

Karthik Venkatesh

‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair: / Hover through the fog and filthy air’, chanted the witches in Macbeth. They, of course, reveled in the foul and were at home in the "fog and filthy air" as they lay waiting for their chance to wreak evil. And so it is in Modi's India as well. 

In the last three and a half years, an elaborate propaganda machine has been at work creating an atmosphere where witch-hunts in the media, character assassination on the basis of dubious evidence, fake news and other similar tactics have become the order of the day. This, in turn, seems to have convinced a fair share of the population of many things: Hindus in India are a threatened species, our histories and many of our renowned historians and social scientists are Hindu-haters at best and anti-nationals at worst, Hindutva is the best way forward, criticising the government is an "anti-national" activity and other ideas of this nature. An attempt has been made to ensure that the discourse revolves round these ideas and all debate, no matter what the issue is, comes down to thrusting these ideas down the minds of the populace. This is the fog and filthy air that has enveloped public discourse in India today. It was evident in two recent cases.

Rohingya Muslims' issue

A case in point would be the recent Rohingya Muslims' issue. For long a persecuted minority in their native Myanmar (Burma), the Rohingyas have sought refuge in India. In essence, they really had no other choice. It was either to leave home and hearth and seek refuge and thereby have a fighting chance at staying alive or stay back and be massacred by a brutal regime led by a Nobel Peace Prize winner, who inexplicably seems to have turned her back on the very ideals she fought for, was jailed for and was honoured and feted for. India which has a track record of sheltering refugees has responded with a callousness that is shocking. The Minister of State for Home, Kiren Rijiju, was categorical in refusing refuge to the Rohingyas and bluntly announced that they would be deported to their homeland where a certain death awaits them. Rijiju himself is from Arunachal Pradesh and one would have thought that coming from the North-East, he would perhaps be more sensitive to the plight of the Rohingyas. But, the saffron shawl that he sports seems to insulate him from the histories of the troubled North-East, with its own stories of displacement and insurgency. Inhumanity is the beat that he marches to. 

In refusing refuge to the Rohingyas, India is not only turning its back on its track record of welcoming refugees since Independence (the Tibetans and Bengali Muslims from the erstwhile East Pakistan being two instances), we have also broken with our historical tradition and belief of 'Vasudaiva Kutumbakkam'-the world is my family. The spin that the right wing is giving to this decision has much to make of how the Rohingyas being Muslims could harbor ISIS elements in their midst and that sheltering Muslim refugees is, of course, a direct threat to the Hindus in India, a 'threatened species'.  

Gauri Lankesh's murder

Another instance would be how the right wing reacted to the brutal murder of Gauri Lankesh. Within minutes of the murder becoming known, Twitter was abuzz with right wing voices thinking nothing of spewing venom against the dead person and, in effect, justifying the killing. Photographs of Gauri Lankesh with Kanhaiya and Jignesh Mevani, two others that the right-wingers love to hate were circulated with ominous references to the dangers of hanging out with 'anti-nationals'. Her links with Naxalites were given a new twist and, of course, her opposition to the Sanghi brand of politics was mentioned time and again, all of which seemed to be trumpeting the message that her killing was justified. In the process, the nuances of Gauri's life were thrown to the wind. That Gauri's link with the Naxals was to facilitate their return to the mainstream was not even mentioned. Instead, she was portrayed as a Naxal herself. 

As a journalist and writer vocal in her opposition to Sanghi politics, Gauri was unlikely to be popular with the right wing. But to parade their glee at a time when her body wasn't even cold was a new low, even by right wing standards. And, all that on the back of fabricated lies that alleged she was a Naxal! Clearly, that she opposed the right wing brand of politics and being anti-Sanghi is being anti-India is the lie that is being peddled. Swapan Dasgupta, right wing ideologue and apologist, thought nothing of tweeting "Did politics lead to murder or murder lead to politics", implying that the chorus of protest at her killing was much ado about nothing. As a former journalist, one would have thought that some propriety would have been shown, at least by him, but the saffron shawl that he sports perhaps allows for no such thing. 

The fog and filthy air that is now around us has choked all sane discourse. Nothing can justify murder. Neither in the Rohingya issue nor in the case of Gauri Lankesh. Not the invocation of past injustices, not imagined fears and certainly, not opposition to the government. There is no discernible silver lining to the dark cloud that hovers over the nation. But, continue to rail against fascist and revisionist forces, we must. Voices must continue to speak up against the insane actions of the government and the dubious figures who support these actions. Silence is not an option. We must do Gauri proud. 

The author is an editor with a publishing house and a freelance writer