When the PM can't mention 'Eid', it doesn't reveal anything new about him; it reveals plenty about us
Silence (and acceptance) are pushing India inexorably towards the "new normal"
Ordinary mortals reveal themselves by the words they use. Narendra Modi, who uses words a l-o-t, takes the opposite route: he reveals himself by the words he leaves out.
He has told us what he thinks of journalism of the non-North Korean kind, for example, by still not being able to find 280 characters for a puny woman who was shot dead at her doorstep in Bangalore, 1030 nights ago.
He has let us know what he thinks of a neighbouring country which has stolen our land and killed of our soldiers by not being able to form a five-letter word from the coins A, I, C, N, H laid out on the scrabble board.
In his sixth address to the nation since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic from the sanitised confines of Lok Kalyan Marg, on Tuesday, 30 June, Modi chose to enlighten “130 crore Indians” about the panchang.
“From July, the atmosphere of festivals begins to develop. We have Guru Purnima on 5 July. Then the month of Saawan will begin. We will then have 15 August, Raksha Bandhan, Krishna Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi, Onam. If you move further ahead, we have Bihu, Navaratri, Durga Puja, Dasara, Deepavali, Chhath Puja,” he said in his 15-minute address (see video clip, above).
But, as always, it is the small words that befuddle the big man. In this case, a three-letter word which, at a pinch, could even be rendered in two letters.
Eid.
Id.
The charitable explanation for the slip is that it was an inadvertent miss. A mistake. After all, the prime minister doesn’t write his speeches and some eager-beaver may have glossed over that small detail.
But what is the possibility of that when image is all and everything is micro-managed?
The other charitable explanation is that Modi did in fact wish Muslims on Eid in May, and maybe there is no Eid this year as some have speculated.
Fair enough, as idiot-anchors say to balance the BS.
But this wasn’t an impromtu speech. The PM was reading from a prepared text playing on his teleprompter. And Bakr Eid is not like six months away, it’s on July 30/August 1.
So, how on earth can the prime minister of a country where 13.4% of the population—i.e. 13 out of 100 people—is Muslim, ignore the fact that his government is also actually in charge of the second largest Muslim population in the world?
And which will be the world’s largest Muslim country by 2060 (see graphic)?
The slip was so obvious that barely a minute after Modi ended a speech that could have been just an official PIB press release, it caught the eye till well unto midnight.
4.18 pm
4.52 pm
5.25 pm
5.28 pm
5.38 pm
5.46 pm
9.37 pm
11.47 pm
But examine the feelings of those incensed by Narendra Modi’s was-it-deliberate-or-was-it-not miss and you see a country that has been turned on its head by relentless ghettoisation, and is being brazenly conditioned to think in a certain way.
On the one hand
Samiulla Khan: “Once again Islamophobia prevails.”
M.K. Faisy: “Muslims aren’t considered as citizens of their rashtra.”
E.M. Abdul Rahiman: “Once again he reminded the nation he is not with Sab ka sath.”
I.M. Junakiya: “Biggest proof he is only prime minister of Brahmin Hindutva.”
On the other hand
Om Rajpurohit: “NRC will come before Eid.”
Shilpa Sharma: “God level stupidity.”
Sandeep Kumar: “CAA/NRC will become applicable till then. JIO modi ji!!! Har har mahadev!
Actually, nothing is of surprise here. Neither the PM’s exclusion of Eid, nor the reaction it has induced on either side. Over time, Modi has chosen silence over eloquence when it comes to minority affairs, intervening only when at the fag end.
But what is clear is that each little step gives India a giant leap towards the “new normal”.
The new normal is for the media not to point out the PM’s glaring miss.
The new normal is for the majority to silently cheer a disgraceful miss.
The new normal is for otherwise opinionated media folk to keep quiet.
The new normal is for Muslims to alone speak up for their cause.
In the process, a large community that will only get larger is deliberately made to feel unwanted. They are, in all senses of the word, second-class citizens, even in the eyes of the PM and his speech writers, deliberately or accidentally.
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