A screengrab from the video released by the BJP. (Photo Credit: X)
Nov 22, 2024 18:50 IST First published on: Nov 22, 2024 at 18:39 IST
From Plato in ancient Greece to Aaron Sorkin in a Hollywood writers’ room for The West Wing in the late ’90s and even in the films of Prakash Jha, there is an imaginary contradiction that has had an undue influence on how most people view democratic politics. In essence, the idea is that those “able to gain power are least suited to wield it”. The real issue, though, isn’t about the quality of those who seek power. It is the process by which they attain it and the lack of guardrails that incentivise appeals to the worst in us.
In the heat of the campaign, last week, the Jharkhand BJP’s social media took down a campaign ad after the Election Commission found that it violated the Model of Code of Conduct, following FIRs by the JMM and Congress. But the 53-second clip — still widely available on “unofficial” handles — is a violation that runs much deeper.
The video shows an upper-middle-class home, belonging to a JMM supporter. The bell rings and a group of Muslims — seemingly Bengali Muslims — overrun the house. They “smell” (the family is literally holding their noses), are “dirty” (muddy footprints all over the nice sofa set), cross lines (an elderly Muslim man is seen enjoying a shower) and even dry clothes and bring their work into the home (beating cotton for a mattress). There’s much more in the ad, but the message is simple: A Muslim, “Bangladeshi” horde — with too little hygiene and too many children — will take over your “Hindu” home. This invasion is by people who are shown as all but “untouchable”.
It is easy to see this ad as par for the course. For over a decade, prejudice has become par for the course and demonising Muslims the usual strategy for India’s most dominant political force. Yet, even after Akhlaq and Junaid and amid “batenge toh katenge” and “ek hai toh safe hai”, the ad stands out. For, it does not have the subtlety even of a dog whistle, even the slightest hint of disguising all the categories it conflates and the conflict it seeks to engender.
“Bangladeshi” has now become in the East, as “Pakistani” is elsewhere, the uncoded code word for a particular politics. What began in Assam under Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma (he has, among other things, said he will not need “Miya” votes and coined terms such as “flood jihad”) is spreading across the region. Sarma is also the BJP’s in-charge of the Jharkhand campaign.
Does this politics merely tap into prejudice that has been lurking beneath the surface? Perhaps. But the competition for leadership and government should not be subject to our worst tendencies — and those most adept at exploiting them.
The video’s idiom, of untouchability, exclusion and even violence, is not merely a symptom of broken politics. It is also a function of the broader system of rules failing both the electorate and the Constitution. The state — not governments, but institutions — is meant to make sure that its values are respected even in the electoral arena. An election won and lost otherwise may well be legitimate — votes will be cast and counted — but it is tainted in a deeper sense.
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On Saturday, the election result will be analysed, and the confusion caused by splits in Maharashtra and the wooing of the Adivasi vote (there will be those who insist on saying “vanvasi” or “janjati”) will be the subject of much discussion. This ad and all it represents will be brushed under the carpet, with stray voices raised about “polarisation”, a word that has lost meaning from its overuse.
Meanwhile, in violation of the promise of the Constitution, those who have won already will keep proving the cynics right. And somewhere, another man, boy, woman or girl will be called “Bangladeshi”, and more direct abuses. And on another day, in another election, that sentiment will find room in another advertisement.
aakash.joshi@expressindia.com
