I remember the tingling excitement of hope and optimism that ran through my veins as I stood among the crowds in Srinagar in 2003 and heard him discard the rigidities of legalism and offer “Insaniyat” as the framework for reconciliation in the Kashmir Valley. Modi ji, I would also like to take you back to a man whose name you love invoking – Atal Bihari Vajpayee. I wish there was half as much outrage when your good friend Jayalalithaa’s photograph was placed on the coffin of one of the Siachen soldiers by her minister, who was then proudly photographed with it. In fact, for your party to use the death of ten Siachen bravehearts to validate the gross over-reach we have seen in JNU is to, in my view, cynically exploit the honour of the uniform. It is entirely possible to deeply respect the military and feel ashamed of the multiple manipulations, doctored videos, police excesses, government heavy-handedness, brazen hooliganism and ominous environment of intimidation that the crackdown on JNU has revealed. I would submit that the binaries that spokespersons of your government have created (aided by the hyper-nationalist drum-beating of channels like Times Now and News X) are absolutely false. So I write this as a sentimental and proud Indian who has often been teased by my more left-leaning friends and colleagues for my rather maudlin and unintellectual patriotism. Over the past two decades, I have done hundreds of news programs devoted to the Soldier – the discrepancies in hardship allowances between jawans and bureaucrats, the shameful mountain of government litigation against disabled soldiers who are dragged to court for pensions, the pending promise of One Rank One Pension, the bottlenecks in defense procurement, and the many sacrifices of our men and women in uniform. Over the years, the bonds I forged with the Fauj only grew deeper – my reporting has often taken me back to the border, to the Line of Control and a variety of conflict zones to where they’ve been deployed. My emphasis, even back then, was to humanize and personalize the stories of soldiers in the trenches and ensure they would not remain faceless, nameless statistics. I was still in my 20s, and the intimacy and immediacy of that overwhelming exposure would make me a life-long admirer of our military.
If you remember those years – and I am told you never forget (or forgive) – you would recall that I first cut my teeth as a journalist reporting a war from the frontline in Kargil in 1999. Modiji, I take you back to the years before you became Chief Minister and began the “othering” of large sections of the English media whom you were convinced were out to get you: when you were the approachable and friendly General Secretary of the BJP, and I was a young reporter still learning the ropes. But this week, I read that you told opposition parties that you are the PM of “all of India, not just of the BJP”, and I thought I would hold you to that promise and ask for your attention as a citizen’s entitlement. In any case, ever since I reported on the 2002 riots in Gujarat, I am among the journalists you have clearly shunned and disliked – that is, of course, entirely your prerogative. I am aware that a missive from someone like me – “presstitute”, “bazaaru”, “sickular” and worst of all, “anti-national”- will be most likely junked by your office as not worthy of your time.
I write to you today because like so many of my fellow citizens, I am both angry and anguished. Also Read - Professor Makarand Paranjape’s Book Lay Bare Fault Lines that Continue to Create Upheavals on JNU Campus Even after the intervention of Supreme Court in Kanhaiya Kumar sedition case PM Modi’s silence has turned the political wind against BJP. Also Read - Centre to Soon Issue Special AYUSH Visa For Those Seeking Traditional Treatment In India | Details HereĪfter journalist, activists and students were attacked at the premises Patiala House Court on Monday and Wednesday the politics behind the entire JNU saga had blown out of proportion and backfired on BJP. New Delhi, February 20: The arrest of JNU student union president Kanhaiya Kumar on sedition charges and the anti-national debate that led to the attack of several students including media personnels at the Patiala House court earlier this week has started another debate in the country. From academics attached with various prestigious organisation in India or the JNU alumni every one is now waiting for one persons word on the entire saga, it’s none other than Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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