Incredible it is, this ability of ours to be incredulous, to be shocked and claim to be in shock when the script is the same old, same old. True, at the time of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party did not have to invoke the bugbear of Pakistan in any big way — that year, you could say, the BJP outsourced its script to the UPA and itself concentrated on special effects and social media. But the P word did come up occasionally. For instance, while addressing a rally in Tiruchirapalli, Modi said, “What is the reason that Pakistani soldiers kill our jawans on the border and the government in Delhi cites protocol to feed the Pakistani Prime Minister biryani.”
Informal input
On the eve of the 2017 Gujarat Assembly polls, Modi suddenly threw a fit about a dinner hosted by Mani Shankar Aiyar for former Pakistani foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri. Among the other invitees were Pakistani envoy Sohail Mahmood and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. At a rally in Banaskantha, Modi thundered, “What was the reason for such a meeting when polls are on in Gujarat? Why are people who previously held high posts in Pakistan's military intelligence writing that 'we' should help make Ahmed Patel the chief minister?” It was reported at the time that his remarks appeared aimed at alarming the voters by suggesting a Muslim could become chief minister if the Congress won the election. Much later, replying to an RTI application, the PMO reportedly said the PM's speech had been possibly based on an “informal input”.
Concerned citizen
Rewind by five years and we are in 2012. A concerned citizen by the name of Narendra Modi, who also happens to be the chief minister of Gujarat, releases a letter to the press. The missive is addressed to the PM. The citizen has come to learn that the government has decided or almost decided to hand over Sir Creek to Pakistan and he is concerned. Sir Creek is the 100-kilometre narrow strip of water that opens into the Arabian Sea between Gujarat and Sindh. It is in the middle of marshland but is deemed to be rich in oil deposits. The panic-stricken note reads: “Handing over Sir Creek to Pakistan will totally open up the Gujarat border with Pakistan… If Sir Creek goes, the enemy will be at your doorstep.” The letter is dated December 12. A day later Gujarat goes to polls.
Lesson time
In February 2002 Gujarat bled. Assembly elections came at the end of the dark year. The Telegraph reported how a day after Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee countered Pervez Musharraf's criticism of the Gujarat killings at the UN, chief minister Modi picked up the cue and converted the Pakistan President's remarks into an “assault on Gujarati pride”. He said, 'Isn't it strange that Pakistan, which has engineered so much bloodshed in Kashmir and forced its Hindus out, should try to teach me lessons in communal harmony?…Mian Musharraf, the conspiracy to destabilise India was hatched in Pakistan. But you must remember there are many more Muslims in India than in your country where one Islamic sect is always fighting another. At least in India Muslims are able to live in peace.” He wrapped up the message to Musharraf saying: “When the time comes, the people of Gujarat will give you a fitting answer.” It is incredible, this ability of ours to be the way we are. So same and so old and so tried and so tested are our reactions, and reassuring even, that they have now done away with the scriptwriter all together. Special effects and social media will win the day.