Questions over washing machine politics and caged parrots

At his late evening election tally at Secunderabad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spotted a girl climbing an electric tower and started addressing her, “Beta Neechay Ajao….”and repeatedly appealed to her to come down as the tower could be risky. “There is no point in doing such things, please come down. I will listen to you….” Netizens went ga-ga over this incident – some saying the episode was a fixed match and the Bhakts praising Modi sky high for his compassion.

The incident also raised many questions: How did only Modi notice the girl amid the glare of spotlights during the night? What was the security doing? Couldn’t the police present there have pulled her down? Why was she allowed to keep going up even as the PM was addressing her and the interpreter was repeating Modi’s appeals in Telugu? And above all, how did Modi make out that she wanted to say something to him (Remember, he kept on saying ‘I will hear you out’).

The episode was also all over the mainstream media networks, but without asking any of these questions. The media has forgotten the 5Ws and 1H.

There was no visible follow-up of the incident, but for a few clips of the girl’s statement to some electronic media persons. Nobody actually built a story around this. Or was it all forgotten in the Diwali din?

Even the youtuber journalists appeared to have been divided with one saying that this could be part of a fixed match while another raising a series of questions based on the statement (mostly inaudible creams) by the girl.

“After Modi came to power, people are being divided and provoked in the name of religion and caste. There are murders and rapes happening every day and the government take no action. All government sectors are being privatised under the Modi regime, leaving no space for poor people like me,” she told media according to Siasat.com.

Picking up the thread from the girl’s statement, Youtube narrator, Abhisar Sharma asserted: the girl had the guts to make a statement to the Prime Minister. She rose key issues which the PM and his government have ignored all along.

The entire media reported the incident and the semblance of follow-up without identifying the protesting girl.

Then, Sharma went on to point out that the PM didn’t have time to tweet even a word about the misbehaviour of couple of goons with a girl student from BHU-IIT in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi and how governments at the Centre as well as the State ignored the massive protest by students.

The PM maintained a stoic silence over the molestation of women in Manipur and the resultant violence (that continues even today as I write this column). Mum was his response to the protests by women wrestlers demanding justice against the wrestling federation president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh who allegedly molested some of them, Modi’s critics said.

All these and the neglect of women’s security concerns generally raise questions about the PM’s much-talked about Beti Ba chao – Beti Padhao campaign.

Women’s security is a highly sensitive issue and one cannot forget the kind of agitation that the Nirbhaya incident sparked off and how the BJP fanned it despite the then Manmohan Singh Government acting on the crime. The agitators almost stormed the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

But today, the BJP or even the National Women’s Rights Commission act very selectively on crimes against women. And, carrying on the Modi legacy, they do not answer any questions.

There are many other questions that the BJP government refuses to answer, and when asked, it chooses to deflect with the help of the Godi Media.

The harassment of the opposition (and those who are opposed to the BJP) with ED, CBI and Income Tax raids is one of the burning issues.

How are these cases buried after the targeted people join the BJP. Remember, only the non-BJP leaders or the businessmen who do not support the ruling party in the centre are targeted.

The incarceration of Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia at the behest of ED is one glaring example that comes to one’s mind.

This is happening despite the Supreme Court itself saying that there was no evidence of money trail that can be traced to him in the liquor scam. Sisodia is denied bail.

The opposition has levelled serious allegations against Union Minister Narendra Tomar’s son Devendra for allegedly discussing bribe money in two purported video clips. Had any such allegation been levelled against the Congress or any other party leader, the ED would have jumped in.

Look at the way Chattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel of Congress has been targeted in the Mahadev app betting scam despite the State government itself stating that it had conducted inquiry, registered 72 cases and arrested 449 people. The State had asked for banning the app and requested the Centre to track down two persons - Ravi Uppal and Saurabh Chandrakar- who are allegedly in Dubai. Yet, instead of acting on this, the ED is targeting Baghel whose camp has now demanded an apology from the BJP for levelling ‘baseless charges’ against the CM.

The case of Mahua Moitra using her Dubai-based friend Darshan Hiranandani’s office to post questions for the Lok Sabha Question Hour and Ethics Committee’s so-called inquiry also raises many questions. The way the Ethics Committee chairman asked Mahua all kinds of personal questions prompting her and the opposition members’ walkout and the way the inquiry was completed without cross-questioning Hiranandani raises another series of questions.

Now we get to hear that Beed-based businessman Suresh Kute, who was raided by Income Tax dept last fortnight has joined BJP. Obviously, all that the IT department wanted to investigate would be forgotten.

The Supreme Court had once described the CBI as a caged parrot looking at the way the UPA government was misusing the agency to settle political scores. But, today we have many such parrots and there is nobody to question, and if anyone dares to ask, he or she is subjected to harassment, under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). And there are no questions asked.

(The columnist is a Mumbai-based author and independent media veteran, running websites and a youtube channel known for his thought-provoking messaging.)