Intolerance Archives

No anti-incumbency, intolerance, cow no issues: MP Chief Minister

by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews

Shivraj Singh Chouhan

By V.S. Chandrasekar and Brajendra Nath Singh,

New Delhi : Seeking a hat-trick of election victories, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is confident he suffers from no anti-incumbency against his government nor are intolerance and cow vigilantism issues for him in the state that goes to polls next year.

For him, the image and performance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi are advantages which he will seek to drive home to the electorate along with his own performance in the last 12 years. “The opposition is jealous of his (Modi’s) competence, talent and popularity.”

Chouhan, 58, who has been declared the Chief Ministerial face by BJP President Amit Shah, acknowledges that Congress is the main challenger but feels it is not a force that is a threat to him.

“If you ask this question to a leader, then he will obviously say there is no anti-incumbency. But I am saying from the bottom of my heart that even after 12 years there is no unrest among people,” Chouhan told IANS in an interview.

“Now we have two advantages. One is Modiji and his leadership. And the other is the achievements of the state government. Due to him, India’s stature has gone up in the world. Like all Indians, every citizen of Madhya Pradesh too feels pride. Apart from this his schemes are there. The Ujjawala scheme has turned out to be a miracle. In just one district in Madhya Pradesh, we have distributed around 90,000 gas cylinders. Obviously we will reap benefits from his image of performer,” he said.

Citing the resolution of the Doklam standoff with China, Chouhan said, “There is pride in every Indian heart that Modiji has ‘straightened China’. This reflects in the people’s mind. Through the surgical strikes the message went that ‘We can set things right’. Due to Modiji, the feeling of national pride and self-pride have gone up in people’s mind. Obviously, due to all these there will be no anti-incumbency. People feel there is a powerful government at the Centre.”

Asked about issues like intolerance and cow vigilantism figuring in the national discourse, the Chief Minister said it was not an issue in Madhya Pradesh except that there is a ban on beef and strict action will be taken against anyone breaking law.

“One or two small incidents may have taken place but the whole state cannot be blamed for that. If something had happened, we have taken quick action. Law and order is our priority and nobody will be allowed to break it,” he said.

He said the state has been “tough on Naxalites and dacoits”. “The SIMI network has been finished. Madhya Pradesh is a peaceful place where people live in harmony. There is no question of discrimination. Even in the Chief Minister’s house we celebrate all the festivals together of all the religions and communities.”

Asked about support to forces of fundamentalism, Chouhan said neither the BJP nor the RSS supported such forces. “Individuals may be involved in such activities. We take action according to law.”

He hit out at opposition parties for targeting the Prime Minister and using strong language against him. “The opposition is jealous of the competence of Modiji, his talent, his devotion towards the country and people and his overall impact. That is why they are targeting him all the time.”

He recalled former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s advise that one should outshine the other by drawing a bigger line and not erasing the existing line.

“Instead of being jealous about Modi, friends in opposition should draw a bigger line. But they don’t have the capability. That is why they target Modiji. And by targeting him they stoop low. They can’t fight the Prime Minister on the ground. That is why they play with words and go to the extent of abusing him.”

Asked about whom he saw as the opponent, Chouhan acknowledged that Congress is the main challenger. “But I don’t think about them or their leadership. It is their look out. They need to create their leadership. We are banking on development and our work. The way the Congress leaders are talking and making remarks, only God can save them.”

(V.S. Chandrasekar and Brajendra Nath Singh can be contacted at chandru.v@ians.in and brajendra.n@ians.in)

—IANS

Intolerance ‘new Partition’ in progress: Tushar Gandhi

by admin | May 25, 2021 | Interviews

Tushar Gandhi (Photo Credit You Tube)

The simmering controversy over intolerance in India is not only affecting the nation’s image globally but has emerged as a “new Partition in progress”, which is splitting the country based on ideological differences, feels Tushar Gandhi, great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.

The author and peace activist is concerned not because he is a descendant of the Mahatma, but as a citizen of a democracy which is sliding into a “mobocracy”.

He not only agrees with those who have likened the current situation to Emergency, Tushar says the hatred is being spread much more effectively.

“It (Emergency) was brutal, it was an evil but what is happening today is also an evil. The problem is the venom that is being spread is being spread much more effectively than by the dictatorship that was during Emergency,” asserted Tushar, who finds the Narendra Modi-led central government’s silence on recent events like the lynching of a Muslim man in Dadri of Uttar Pradesh over beef, the murder of Kannada rationalist scholar M.M. Kalburgi, “unacceptable”.

“Even if they were incapable of actually solving the crime they could have made at least an appearance of being disturbed by it but their silence actually emboldened the radical elements.”

He is appalled at the growing divisiveness.

“Today you just make one statement and you are hit by an avalanche of hate. The way divisiveness is growing in our country, we are being split completely asunder and it not on cast lines or religious lines.

“We have experienced that on an ongoing basis, but this time the split is ideological and it’s being orchestrated and encouraged and its almost as if a new Partition is in progress in our democracy,” Gandhi told IANS over the phone from Mumbai.

Active on his Twitter handle, Tushar admits he has stopped retaliating to hate comments that his posts against intolerance attract.

“In a democracy there can’t be a predefined manner of protest… everyone has the right to protest in the manner they dim fit. As much as they have the right to protest, those who feel offended by it also are free to raise their voices but there should be decorum,” the columnist said.

The recent spate of “award wapasi”, which has created a storm across the country with a section from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party dubbing it as damaging for India’s image globally, is to Tushar a “dignified and polite” way to protest.

“Those who are criticising them are doing nothing except to demonise them and assassinate their character, question their motives. This in itself reflects the intolerant attitude that is being encouraged… that is becoming the norm of the society,” Tushar pointed out.

And even though they are being labelled as a “minority”, Tushar highlights that in a democracy even one voice of dissent counts.

“I believe in a democracy even one voice of dissent is important because it raises a concern which needs to be addressed and democracy is not about a brute majority or mobocracy… we are becoming a mobocrac… and all dissent is being smothered by numbers,” he lamented.

The RSS, Tushar avers, is an agent of division and “unfortunately they are succeeding much more today than in the past”.

Most importantly, scathing comments such as “anti-national” and “Pakistani agent” made by BJP and and Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leaders on superstar Shah Rukh Khan tarnishes India’s image of a secular country globally, believed Tushar.

“…it not only affects India’s relationship with Pakistan… with Pakistan its an acknowledged fact that we are hostile… for all the pretensions that we make for being friendly and all that, the hostility between the two nations is very thinly disguised.

“But it affects our image internationally in this age of IT and the global village concept,” he added.

(Sahana Ghosh can be contacted at sahana.g@ians.in)