As Indians celebrate their 75th year of Independence this month, they are witnessing two starkly different narratives about their nation – one from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the other from the leadership of the opposition Congress party.
Soon after recent developments in the National Herald corruption case saw the Enforcement Directorate (ED) grilling and tightening the noose around the Gandhi family, the Congress sharply stepped up its attack on the Narendra Modi government.
As Congress president Sonia Gandhi led the protests of the grand old party’s 64 MPs in the Parliament House complex over inflation, rising unemployment and GST hikes, her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra created quite a ruckus outside the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in the national capital. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi even went so far as to liken Narendra Modi to Hitler as he accused the Prime Minister of India of subverting its democratic institutions and processes.
The Congress seems determined to create the impression that India is in dire straits under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi and the influence of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and that a change of regime is imperative to its survival as a democratic nation.
Meanwhile, the BJP leadership has been on about a different kind of change altogether.
After Prime Minister Modi launched an inspirational ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign a few days ago, urging all fellow Indians to hoist the national flag during the August 13-15 period and upload the tricolour on their social media profiles, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has been repeatedly – and impressively – expatiating on the overarching message that his party wants to get across to the nation at large.
Earlier this month, when addressing the ‘Tiranga Utsav’ held in honour of Pingali Venkayya, the creator of the national flag, Shah emphasised the importance of remembering and paying homage to the many unsung heroes of India’s freedom struggle. As he sought to remind all about the sacrifices that millions of Indians had made over the past century to make their nation independent and self-reliant, the Home Minister said there was “no better way to give respect” to the soldiers and martyrs of the country than making the ‘Har Ghar Tiranga’ campaign – a fitting conclusion to the year-long ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ – a grand success.
Recently, he said something that was perhaps even more serious in its import.
While speaking after the launch of a mega serial titled ‘Swaraj – Bharat Ke Swatantrata Sangram Ki Samagra Gatha’ (which has been produced by Doordarshan and covers lesser-known stories about the history of India’s freedom struggle), Shah said Indians must get rid of the inferiority complex instilled in them by foreign rulers who had systematically destroyed India’s superior institutional and value systems for their own selfish ends.
How can India achieve the true potential of Swaraj if it cannot protect and celebrate its own languages, culture, history and the arts, the Home Minister asked.
Hopefully, the people of India are smart enough to give the right answer – and wise enough to pick the right narrative.
Comment here