The entire nation is in a state of shock and is mourning the demise of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Atal ji who is seen as one of the greatest orators in the Indian political arena, passed away yesterday aged 93. At a time, when the entire journalist fraternity should have come together in mourning the death of the former prime minister, it is flummoxing that a number of pseudo secular and “liberal” outlets and publications have started using Atal ji’s demise to push through their agenda.
Scroll.in has been at the forefront of this agenda based reporting of the former prime minister’s death. Anti-Hindutva historian, Ramachandra Guha wrote a piece for this so called liberal portal. The title of this article, “Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1924-2018): A poet among bigots” itself reeks of malicious propaganda against the BJP. The idea of the entire article is to showcase that while the BJP was full of bigoted leaders, former prime minister Vajpayee stood out as the only BJP leader who did not allow humanity to be overcome by bigotry. In this filthy article, Guha claims that Vajpayee was an admirer of Nehru and Indira Gandhi and that he differed from the erstwhile Jan Sangha’s ideology time and again.
It is clear that Scroll.in and Ramchandra Guha were not at all interested in paying a fitting tribute to the respected statesman but their aim was to target prime minister Modi and BJP on his sad demise. That is why they claim that after Babri demolition, Atal ji had reflected a sense of shame and that he had chastised the then Gujarat chief minister post the 2002 riots. The distasteful piece concludes by saying, “as a life-long opponent of Hindutva, let me say this – when confronted with the words or faces of Amit Shah and Narendra Modi, I increasingly feel nostalgic for the days when the formal, official, symbolic and public representative of this political tendency was a certain versifier and wit named Atal Bihari Vajpayee.”
Scroll.in is not the only portal which targeted prime minister Modi in an ostensible tribute to the loved statesman, Vajpayee. Huffpost, also used Atal ji’s sad demise for pushing its agenda. It claimed that Vajpayee wanted to sack the then Gujarat chief minister after the 2002 riots but was prevented from doing so. Huffpost also propagated that, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s politics has often been contrasted with that of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. A section of political analysts who criticise the far-right Hindutva sentiments that Modi’s regime has stoked often pit it against Vajpayee’s more ‘liberal’ views, though they belonged to the same party.” It used the pseudo-liberals’ favourite claim of Vajpayee’s advice to Modi to follow raj dharma and quoted him as saying, “Raja ke liye, shasak ke liye, praja praja main bhed nahi ho sakta hai. Na janam ke aadhar par, na jati ke aadhar par, na sampraday ke aadhar par (A king, a ruler, should not discriminate against the subjects. Not on the basis on birth, not on the basis of caste, not on the basis of religion)”. Huffpost manipulatively gave an impression that prime minister Modi had then cunningly replied that, “Hum bhi wohi kar rahe hai sahib (that’s what I am doing sir)”. To this the former prime minister had replied, “I trust that Narendra bhai is doing the same.” For years, the pseudo liberal media outlets and the leftist-liberal cabal have been misrepresenting this joint press conference as a public disapproval of Modi by the then prime minister Vajpayee. It is shocking that even after Atal ji’s sad demise, these outlets have not abated their vicious propaganda.
Another like minded portal Scoopwhoop also indulged in similar propaganda and claimed, “unlike the politicians of today, Vajpayee didn’t hold back in reminding Narendra Modi of his duties.” DailyO also used this saddening moment for targeting prime minister Modi and pushed the Kashmiriyat narrative. It went on to claim that former prime minister Vajpayee’s influence on Kashmir was far greater than that of prime minister Modi.
It is shameful how these media outlets, portals and publications have continued unabated with their propaganda when the entire nation is mourning the loss of a statesman. In fact, they have stooped to the level of using a statesman’s demise for making petty political gains and pushing their political agenda.