Name Games: How Terms Like Anti National, Jihadi & Tukde-Tukde Are Used To Legitimize Violence

The Home Ministry has confirmed that they do not know what or who is the often heard tukde tukde gang. In response to an RTI application filed by activist Saket Gokhale they said, ¡°Ministry of Home Affairs has no information concerning tukde-tukde gang,¡±

The RTI application was filed in reaction to a recent campaign speech by Home Minister Amit Shah where he said ¡°Delhi¡¯s Tukde Tukde gang led by Congress should be taught a lesson.¡± The comment was made in the context of nation wide protests against Citizenship Amendment Act which according to Shah are being caused by Congress party.

In his application Gokhale had inquired about whether such statements were made by the Minister after careful briefing by security advisers, whether the ¡®Gang¡¯ has been identified, and if it poses formidable danger, why has it not been banned yet? The answer to so many questions related to India¡¯s national security which is under threat by this so called Gang is quite simply ¨C they don¡¯t exist.

Apart from the shameful fact that the Home Minister speaks in the language of street level bullies without even knowing what he is talking about, he also lacks logic in overestimating the Congress party. If Congress had the wherewithal to inspire so many people to get on the roads for a cause, they would have got a few more seats and wouldn¡¯t be reduced to a party which cannot even get to chose a leader of the opposition.

But neither the lack of knowledge nor truth, reason and logic stopped Amit Shah from creating an uncanny fear of the invisible enemies.

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There is no doubt that the scariest thing humankind knows are things that cannot be seen or heard with ordinary sensory perceptions but can still potentially do terrible things to us. Remember the panic created by Delhi¡¯s monkey man who broke around the time internet was still a new a thing?

The BJP¡¯s politics is based upon creating such baseless fear to keep the nation distracted from government¡¯s failure on real issues like economy, unemployment, food inflation, fuel prices, crimes against women and so on. The five and a half years old Modi government has nothing to boast of except an unprecedented amount of fear and depression in the country on all sides.

Their politics started with ¡®Hindu Khatre mein hai¡¯ in the 1980s and has now moved on to various other vague theories and enemies using meaningless labels like Lutyen¡¯s Gang, Khan Market Gang, anti national, jihadi, tukde tukde and so on.

The Prime Minister and Home Minister use these labels to legitimize the fear and instigate violence against the invisible enemies, which is just an euphemism for referring to anybody who dissents. Social media post-truth is used to spin more and more fake theories around them and constantly create an atmosphere of fear, hate, suspicion and violence.

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Not just in India, the rising tide of far right populism and nationalism across the globe is based on the fear created by populist leaders and demagouges like Trump and Modi by appealing to voter¡¯s worst instincts. It is psychologically proven that when people see chaos and insecurity they look for a strong leader who can enslave them to protect them. They want civil liberties to be tightened, both for the perceived enemies as well as themselves.

People are also likely to take law and order in their hands in a bid to ¡®teach lesson¡¯ to these ¡®enemies¡¯, as was proposed by Amit Shah and executed by a mob of around 50 masked men or women which attacked the peacefully protesting students and teachers of JNU on January 5. The more the chaos in the society, the more it is a ground for fascist leaders to suspend democracy, shut down communications (for five months in an entire state keeping 8 million people under siege), passing the Enabling Act, you get the drift. There are many similarities between the last five years of Modi¡¯s rule and the early days of Adolf Hitler but there is one difference.

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When Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, that nation was going through its worst time ravaged by war, crime, unemployment, ailing economy etc. But when Modi came to power in 2014 India was at its best. With a GDP rate of 7.2% India was already one of the world¡¯s fastest growing economies, which has been now derailed under Modi rule. The IMF has lowered the growth estimate further to 4.8% and has blamed Indian economy for dragging down entire world¡¯s economy. Unemployment rate is at 45 year high, so are fuel rates and several other markers.

It would seem like the Modi Government is failing in tackling real issues. But what if I told the failure is by design? What if Modi is deliberately creating the same level of fear and despair that Germany was in before it descended into absolute fascism? What if it is part of the plan to take India to the path of full fledged genocide-wala-fascism, to convert India into a dictatorship with Headquarters in Nagpur? Fear mongering am I? But why not, isn¡¯t it the season of fears?

The author is a Delhi-based freelance writer, photographer and research scholar. Views expressed are author's own.