This article has been co-authored by my friend Premjit Mohapatra
Yet another master stroke by Modi – Amit Shah Duo that has sent the media into a tizzy and the shocked opposition into a collective huddle. This is another instance similar to the 8th Nov, 2016 demonetization announcement which saw the US media houses giving widespread coverage to what was happening in India instead of covering the presidential elections.
Opposition is rattled as usual unable to decipher Modi & Shah’s deft maneuvering where they have been consistently been outmaneuvered and checkmated since last quarter of 2013. Especially, 10 Janpath would be now in a corporate war room like situation trying to guesstimate the damage which would befall them from this decision of NDA.
Now coming on to why this is a master stroke by Modi – Amit Shah, we need to decipher the message from various aspects like Who is Ram Nath Kovind, Why is he the best choice, How it would change the Political Scenario of India since UP 2017 and Why is it a blow to all those global forces who want to Balkanize India???
Let’s go one by one:
Ram Nath Kovind – Who ?
Shri Ram Nath Kovind as introduced by Modi “Shri Ram NathKovind, a farmer’s son, comes from a humble background. He devoted his life to public service & worked for poor & the marginalized. I am sure Shri Ram Nath Kovind will make an exceptional President & continue to be a strong voice for the poor, downtrodden & marginalized” says it all. Let me touch upon a few aspects as otherwise if I start writing about his credentials it will be a separate article altogether
Born to a Dalit family on 1/10/45 in Paraunkh, Kanpur, UP is currently serving as Governor of Bihar. He is an advocate by profession and has practiced in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India. He has also worked as PS to late Moraji Desai. As Modi says “With his illustrious background in the legal arena, Shri Kovind’s knowledge and understanding of the Constitution will benefit the nation”
Ram Nath Kovind Represented India in the United Nations in New York and addressed United Nations General Assembly in October, 2002
He has served as a member of several Parliamentary Committees, including Parliamentary Committee on Welfare of Scheduled Castes/Tribes, Parliamentary Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment among others
He has served as a member of the Board of Management of Dr. B.R Ambedkar University, Lucknow and served as Member of Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata
It’s going to be a Tectonic Shift in Indian Political Scenario
So called Grand Old Party i.e. Indian National Congress have received a jolt with their VP on a vacation. Secular Parties like Congress, BSP, SP, JDU, Left, etc. since decades has been playing the Dalit card with precious little to show for Dalit empowerment or upliftment of this strata of society besides treating them as a captive votebank. Since 2014, Congress has been using Dalit events to create a divide in the society and creating a false image that BJP is against Dalits
- Orchestrated attacks on Church’s during Delhi State Assembly elections of 2015, linked with Dadri incident and whipped up as ‘minorities under seize’ with the help of Modi baiting news traders of MSM helped create a fake intolerance debate. Their agent’s i.e. intellectual artists from Lutyens Delhi started the Award Wapsi Drama because Bihar State Elections was around the corner
- Then came the unfortunate death of Rohit Vermula. Rahul Gandhi and his b-team of Kejriwal immediately landed in Hyderabad and politicized it in a very false manner linking it to Dalit angle where the reality is that he wasn’t a Dalit
- Fly by night rights champions always ready to reach out to places to pacify less and instigate and further worsen the law and order situation in names of showing fake sympathy and care that only Rahul Gandhi cares for Dalits (I am referring to Saharanpur incident)
- Openly slaughtering Gau Mata in Kerala while Lutyens Delhi and MSM houses misrepresented the Govt. notification was to ban beef
Now this move of NDA would tectonically shift the Indian Political Scenario. By selecting a Dalit Leader to the topmost post of Indian Republic, Modi has sent a direct and clear message to Dalits that he cares for their upliftment
Govt. programmes has been already working for the Dalits. For e.g. The Standup India initiative as a part of the Startup India campaign is all set to create 2.5 lakh SC/ST entrepreneurs. The Standup India initiative is aimed at promoting entrepreneurship among SCs/STs, women communities as a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of Startup-India. Also, the latest UPI app BHIM has been named after the great Dalit Icon Dr Ambedkar (This is another example of how Modi & his Govt. cares for the upliftment of the Dalits in India)
Dalits have started voting for BJP in large numbers, which we saw in UP elections 2017 so now this move will be an icing on the cake for BJP in coming days
Blow to all those global forces who want to Balkanize India
When Christianity started Evangelisation work in India, they targeted Dalits by citing reasons like downtrodden strata of society which require development as Indian Govt’s doesn’t do anything concrete for their development
According to a news published in 6/2/16 “Over one million people Converted to Christianity at single event in India”
Evangelists have been defaming India in various world forums. Evangelical Organizations working under the Dalit banner and policy centers of the West utilize subsidiaries given to Churches in India to provide testimonies against India in Western Media, Western government hearings and international bodies. These organizations are constantly trying to defame by spreading false atrocity literature against India. Such kind of activities are indirectly leading to increased alienation among various strata of our society
Some pertinent questions highlighted by Rajiv Malhotra w.r.t. global human rights industry in his book “Breaking India: Western Interventions in Dravidian and Dalit Faultlines” like “Does the West have a superior human rights record compared to the rest of the world?”, “Are Western institutions qualified to cure Indian Society?”, “Are Western agendas constructed for their own benefit to justify meddling?”, etc. Such questions are deliberately ignored and go unexamined. But many human rights organizations are putting undue pressure to break up India into pieces
To add fuel to this many projects are being run to further divide the society like “The Afro-Dalit Project” which unnecessarily promotes India’s 200 million Dalits as racially related to Africans and that the upper-strata Indians are ‘white’ Aryan immigrants
In a paper titled “Spiritual Conflict in the Indian context”, a missionary identified “Unity of India” as a major roadblock to Christian Evangelisation:
“But the spirit of being Indian is the binding factor which has totally integrated the country into one. Today, displaying the ‘unity in diversity’, India portrays one entity. What is considered as the merits of India, are unfortunately the deterrents for evangelization”
Organizations like Dalit Freedom Network (and it’s Indian Affiliation AICC), FeTNA, World Vision, etc are front runners in driving evangelization and further dividing the society. Apart from this US and British Administration have been collecting data on India’s internal religious affairs to formulate policies and force Indian Govt. toe their line (I hope we can relate how Western Govt.’s reacted when the current NDA cancelled licenses of 1000’s of NGO’s who were indirectly being used to transfer funds for evangelization)
One of the major reasons which Evangelization Orgs cite is that successive Govt.’s never think of development of DALITS. So, now by nominating Shri Ram Nath Kovind as its Presidential Candidate, Modi has finally sent a message to the West “We are there to think about all strata of society and we don’t need Western Interventions for all this…”