Narendra Modi delivering speech at UN Peacekeeping Summit, New York, September, 2015. Wikicommons/ Narendra Modi. Some rights reservedThose who have seen the Indian Prime Minister’s irresistible rise in politics and heard his inflammatory rhetoric over the years were astounded by his speech in Parliament. Short of quoting from the Bible, Narendra Modi sought to convey to his opponents that his “idea of India” was no different than theirs! And it is this very “idea of India” over which the two sides have been battling with each other. Modi’s critics would not believe the new convert, but his few conciliatory words may cool the tempers in an atmosphere of verbal and physical violence.
Prime Minister Modi refrained from making aggressive remarks or gestures. A TV anchor said Modi at last spoke like a Prime Minister after having gone around in Bihar speaking unlike a Prime Minister! The Prime Minister talked of sarva dharma sambhav (inter-faith harmony) and ruled out any move to amend the Constitution. Modi endorsed secularism, called the Constitution – not the Ramayana – a holy book, quoted from the Hindu scriptures lauding diverse faiths, stressed the importance of a political consensus and devalued the force of a brute parliamentary majority. So democracy has modified Modi’s speech!
Such a speech would have normally made no news in India because statements on India’s pluralism are routine. But these are no normal times. The nation is sharply divided between those protesting against growing intolerance and those attacking them for seeing what does not exist and asking them to migrate to Pakistan. In the current atmosphere, had Nehru called a dam a “temple” of modern India, a Hindutva brigade would have shown him the black flags. In today’s India, every word is read for its sub-text. You utter the word “intolerance” and in seconds you will be abused on the social media and called “anti-Modi”.
