“Do you want petrol price to be brought down?” asked Narendra Modi, then Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP, in the run-up to the general elections in 2014. “Yes,” the people shouted back, in rally after rally. “Do you want black money to be brought back to India?” “Yes,” the response from the audience was even louder. “Do you want more jobs?” “Yes,” people’s voice got shriller. Thus, Modi used to be in his oratorial best, raising people’s issues, one after another, that struck a chord with his audience. 

Cut to 2022. Those very issues raised by Modi and his colleagues have been buried. They have failed completely in fulfilling the promises. Fuel and gas prices have sky-rocketed; neither the black money nor the fraudsters who fled to foreign lands have been brought back; unemployment is at its peak; inflation is inching ahead; farmers and small and medium traders are at their wits end. Governance is drifting from the goal of people’s welfare. Unable to tackle the issues, the government is on its backfoot. Taking a cue from the dictum ‘offense is the best defence’, the government is unashamedly denying the existence of price rise, unemployment, inflation, unrest among farmers and traders, social disharmony, etc. The Ministers in the Modi government are proving to be experts in unapologetically defending the administration for its omissions and commissions.

The worst part is the bid to camouflage people’s real problems by raising communal and divisive issues. After putting a lid on the real issues, the government and the ruling party have let the communal genie out of the bottle, thereby diverting people’s attention to non-issues. We have seen hate speeches occupying public spaces leading to riots. Violence has become the norm of the day. Every religious festival is accompanied by stone-throwing, rather than showering of flower-petals. Unfortunately, the hate-mongers are getting special government protection. Those inciting violence are out on bail in no time, making a mockery of law; it gives them the feeling of impunity and encourages them to indulge in more violence.

Issues like hijab, halal and demand for ban on loudspeakers for azaan have come up one after another, like a deluge, and diverted public attention from the pressing problems of the people. Purely personal issues like what to wear, what to eat and how to pray have eclipsed people’s existential problems. Adding fuel to fire, the ‘bulldozer raj’ is spreading from one state to another, all ruled by the BJP, as if ‘rule of law’ has been replaced by earthmovers. It is frightening to see them razing down houses, shops and other establishments of those who have allegedly violated laws of the land. Two things make this government move dreadful: one, the administration doesn’t give a damn to even the orders of Supreme Court and deploy bulldozers; two, they are used to flatten structures in areas mostly occupied by a particular community. 

Here lies the magic of taking care of people’s issues by making them disappear in thin air. Instead of tackling an issue, make it disappear from the public domain. Inject people with communal poison and make their attention totter around. What better way to rule a country of 150 crore people of which a quarter of them live below poverty line?