There is per se nothing wrong in the media and the intellectual community in India rejecting a political ideology or personality in a democratic system.
There have been two kinds of losers in the 2019 election: The visible and the invisible. The former are those who contested against the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance and were trounced. The second category comprises the ones who desperately wanted Modi to be cut to size. In their own ways, they actively contributed towards that goal. Like the active contestants, they too were left speechless after the massive mandate the people gave the Prime Minister and his alliance.
The first in this group is a bunch of media personnel who lost their privileges, access to the corridors of power and the leverage to brokerage deals. These journalists — going by the name of political analysts — after Modi stormed to office in 2014 — had been nursing their wounds and hoping for a return of the good old days when they were much sought-after by the Congress-helmed UPA, hopping on various free foreign jaunts and place in government-appointed panels. They appeared on television channels few watched and expounded on why the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party would face major reverses in 2019. Some of them wrote columns in the print media, expanding on their pet theories. But when they saw the writing on the wall, especially after the Exit Poll results, they began to reconcile to yet another five years in exile.
Call them the “Lutyens’ club”— a term which a section of the electronic media, seen to be supportive of Modi, has made popular. Or call them the upscale “Khan Market cabal”, coined and popularised by the Prime Minister
This group also consists of analysts and authors who wrote for foreign publications and let the readers there, far removed from the ground realities of India, believe that Modi had demolished the grand old Idea of India and turned the nation into a communal cauldron. One such analysis found its way as a cover story, titled “Divider-in-Chief’ in an international magazine, in the midst of election campaigning. Now that the result is known, the irony cannot be lost on the distinguished author of that piece. The so-called divider has actually electorally unified the country more than he did in 2014. The BJP has expanded its base in regions it had no presence earlier; it has won 50 per cent or more votes in major States, and it has improved upon its 2014 overall vote-share nationally. On the other hand, the Congress, the presumptive ‘unifier-in-chief’ for these ostrich-like media people, failed to open its account in more than a dozen States; could not cross the double-digit figure in any State except one; and surrendered bastions such as Amethi and Guna, to name just two.
The second in this ‘hope Modi-led BJP loses’ group are the so-called liberal academics and rights activists parading as objective commentators. Some straddle colleges and universities, others argue cases in higher courts as senior advocates, and there are those who have been sidelined as politicians in the last five years and have turned into intellectuals, pursuing matters in courts against the Modi regime. Perched on their lofty pedestals, they had envisioned, if not a drubbing at least an embarrassing setback, to the Prime Minister. They spoke and wrote copiously about how people had got disillusioned by Modi, his dictatorial ways, his unkept promises, and his divisive politics. The source and premise of their conclusions remain a secret to this day. Admittedly, at least a few of these have now publicly acknowledged Modi’s stupendous success, but their tone even in that admiration is laced with a bitterness which comes from an opportunity lost for these worthies to make some sort of a comeback.
There is per se nothing wrong in the media and the intellectual community in India rejecting a political ideology or personality in a democratic system. There are many instances of Western media groups openly endorsing a party or a candidate for the highest political position. The problem is the use of skullduggery in this country to demote the image of a leader, and the use of blatant falsehood to malign reputations. The vested interests groups who have been despatched to another term of exile, did not see anything wrong in the brazen minority appeasement which Mamata Banerjee indulged in; they refused to acknowledge the sheer opportunistic alliance between the Samajwadi Party and the BSP — two parties who had absolutely nothing in common except their desire to oust Modi (the BJP was at least candid enough to admit that it too had entered into a similar coalition with the PDP in Jammu and Kashmir, but had got out of it eventually) and that the partnership was openly based on caste politics.
Call them the “Lutyens’ club”— a term which a section of the electronic media, seen to be supportive of Modi, has made popular. Or call them the upscale “Khan Market cabal”, coined and popularised by the Prime Minister, which not only has media professionals but others similarly aligned in thought and hope. The phrases have become metaphors for a section of intellectuals that is far removed from ground realities and lives in a make-believe world of dated ideologies and rejected political constructs. But they are excellent networkers, if nothing else, and cannot be written off.
Note:
1. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.
The question here is Mr Rajesh Singh, whom you call ïntellectuals”. Is it the pack of illiterate journos, TV intellectuals, Bollywood duffers, some pack of street poets and shayars OR Drs , Engineers, scientists, Farmers, ….. the so called, self styled, self appointed, self anointed “intellectuals”in India are those pack of illiterate, 2 bit, good for nothing, worthless pieces of pigshit, who are worth not even as pishit nematode.. Some journo, who is a 2 bit BA in English, or even not even 8th like Ravish Kumar with a 6 month course in journalism (which even a pig can do in 6 mins, but its below his dignity), some Bollywood duffer-like that Pakipanjabin white eternal sexslave swara bhaskar or sonam kapoors,karishma khan taimurs??? 2 bit illiterate 0 IQ fools worth not even a streetpig, who think that Eshwar-Allah tero naam is India’s NATIONAL ANTHEM, or some bloody kanhaiya kumars, Yechurys.., 2 bit BA s in some worthless subjects OR REAL INTELLECTUALS like PGurus Team, Sree Aiyer Sir, MRV Chennai Sir, Prof Vaidyanathan, ….
so do not call these 2 bit journos, public nudes of Bollywood, some 3rd rate artists, useless shayars..as intellectuals.. Not even worth my shoe if it steps on dogshit
PGurus channel on Youtube is much more popular than any NDTVs and ABP News
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Its not temples alone that we bjpians have, we want a new reformation, a casteless, valued, equality, all aimed at a social transformation of fabric of India as never seen before, and remains steadfast forever, Koodalasangamadeva
Caste less : YES. Jai Hind.
CORRECTION: I deeply apologize: The author is not the Ajay Singh as I mentioned in my previous post, but Rajesh Singh.
So-called intellectuals whether in media, or in academia, or in legal fields, or the moron politicians- turned -intellectuals, are not committed to follow facts and Satyam(truth) in their talks, writings, or analysis. And this has been correctly pointed out in this article. The reasons are many encompassing very hateful, personal, ideological, divisive, political, antisocial, anti-national.This phenomena of (no commitments to ground reality, facts, and the whole truth)is neither new, nor confined to Indian polity, nor recent one, but pervades through the entire two thousand years history of the world- that I have been critically looking and contemplating upon. I don’t intend to detail that out here, but I am fully aware of this phenomena even in the founding of United States of America, and how it reemerged in the contemporary voices in media, including in the so-called liberal academia in the West. This total attitude is an important limb of the most corrupt and damaging IDEALOGY-that I call, “ASATYAMEVA JAYATE”. It has to be contained and defeated, and the REAL intellectuals like Shri Ajay Singh-the author of this article can contribute to this cause a great deal.
I thank him deeply, and request him to bring out even more forcefully this sinister agenda of these phoney intellectuals with more facts and figures to get them fully exposed.
As educated people, all should understand that the modi government is doing structural changes to the indian business and the results can’t be expected immediately. Bjp has succeeded in proving to the world about what hindus can do. They can throw out corrupt congress living in gandhi name .
These left liberal intellectuals are doing all they can to make themselves saleable to Western publications. Just look at Pankaj Mishra in The Guardian and repeated all but verbatim in the New York times talking about the soul of India, as if they know or care about the soul of India.
The real losers are the traditional voters of BJP, who foolishly believed that BJP would put an end to pseudo-secular policies of previous Congress regimes. Hindu temples continue to be under government control. Hindu charities have been completely plundered. Non-Hindu places of worship and charities flourish. Hindus do not expect any government to do anything for them. It is enough if are left alone.
The performance of BJP in the five years from 2014 to 2019 was most disappointing to even its own supporters. The only good thing is that the corrupt UPA was kept out of power.