A lot of us grew up reading the marvelous books penned by Arun Shourie and admiring him for his works. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to claim that Mr. Shourie inspired an entire generation of Hindus through his works and opened the eyes of hundreds of thousands to the extravagant farrago of distortions and outright lies peddled by hacks masquerading as historians.
Arun Shourie is a man a lot of us looked up to as a stalwart who harbored the strength and integrity of character to stand up to crooks who had infiltrated Indian institutions and were using them to further their own vicious agendas. Therefore, when Shourie ditched Narendra Modi to side with the enemy, it was cause for a major heartbreak for a lot of his supporters and well-wishers.
The betrayal of Arun Shourie has quite a few insights to offer for Hindus. It is quite evident that Arun Shourie didn’t particularly like whatever offer Narendra Modi made to him after NDA’s thumping win in the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections.
One could very well argue that Shourie’s recent antics are testament to Narendra Modi’s judgement of character. However, if you are looking to win an ideological war, like any conventional war, it’s important to ensure that your prized assets do not defect to your enemy’s camp. Therefore, whatever be Narendra Modi’s reasons, it was a folly on his part to lose the man who had the potential to fix the rot that has taken hold of our universities.
Furthermore, considering how Smriti Irani and Prakash Javdekar have been colossal failures as Ministers of HRD, it would have been prudent to offer the post to the one man who is familiar with every nook and corner of the education sector.
People who are foaming in the mouth over Shourie’s antics, they should take care to remember that Arun Shourie has done more for Hindus in the ideological war than all the Twitter Warriors ranting on Social Media put together. The monument of literature he has penned will continue to enlighten thousands and thousands of people for many many years to come. They serve as a reminder of the horrendous crimes that were committed in the name of secularism and the deliberate misrepresentation and subversion of Indian History.
That Arun Shourie had certain expectations from Narendra Modi when he became Prime Minister is quite self evident. And we should remember there is nothing wrong in harboring expectations. After all, Arun Shourie battled against the nefarious nexus almost all his career as a politician. It’s natural to feel that a reward is certainly in order. Not everyone is a Sanyasi who performs his duty without any expectations, we are humans after all. One hopes that when the dust settles, Arun Shourie will continue to be held in high regard. But admittedly, he is making it very difficult.
Certain Political considerations certainly contributed to the sidelining of Arun Shourie. The BJP under Narendra Modi has intensified its efforts to appropriate Ambedkar in a bid to woo the Dalit-Bahujan samaj; which would have been difficult with a man in the Cabinet who penned a severe critique of Ambedkar where he effectively called the man a British Stooge. Apart from that, Arun Shourie’s brand of economics and Modinomics are at the opposite sides of the spectrum.
Moreover, Arun Shourie is a man whose prowess over wit and humor is unparalleled and there are enough indications that NDA would have been on the receiving ends of things when things did not go according to his liking. As we have seen, Narendra Modi prefers people who can work in cohesion with the rest and those who adhere to his authority. Arun Shourie is a brilliant man, however, a man often has to pay a price for brutal honesty.
The ecosystem’s new found love for Arun Shourie is quite an amusing sight to behold. It exposes the totally nonexistent ideological fortitude of the liberal forces. “All sins will be gladly forgotten if one only calls Narendra Modi a dictator.” That seems to be their working philosophy. What else explains the likes of Rana Ayyub gathering in support of Shourie? One wonders if she has ever heard Shourie’s opinions on Islam and if she would still support shower praises on the man after reading them. Perhaps, she will, at least in public. Because the objective here is to embarrass Narendra Modi, feigning respect for Shourie is after all a strategic exercise in deception.
The ecosystem gathering themselves around Shourie is proof of the tectonic shift Indian politics has witnessed over the past three years. What does it say of the Lutyens that they have to embrace a Hindu Intellectual Giant, someone who has been a thorn in their sides for decades and whose core opinions is in direct conflict with all of theirs, to simply try and hurt Narendra Modi? The ecosystem has begun to realize that they are being made totally irrelevant by Narendra Modi and therefore, in their desperation, they have embraced Arun Shourie. Who would have ever thought that Arun Shourie would be seen supporting the very people whose plans he has tried thwarting his entire life? Times, They are a changing.
The downfall of Arun Shourie brings a certain Batman quote to mind, “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” Unfortunately, that certainly has been the case with Arun Shourie. Dejected and seething with anger, in his desperation, he has embraced the very people he fought against. In this battle of egos between Narendra Modi and Arun Shourie, unfortunately, there is no winner. Arun Shourie has lost the goodwill and support and love and affection of an entire generation that looked up to him as an idol and Narendra Modi would certainly be better served with Shourie in his ranks in his ideological war against the entrenched anti-Hindu ecosystem instead of railing against him. One hopes that when enough time has passed, Shourie will be respected and honored for the contribution he has made towards the ideological war and not for his infantile rants as he approaches senility.