BJP making ad hominem accusations is hardly a new thing. Anyone who opposes BJP is subject to vile and unsubstantiated accusations. Unsubstantiated, to non-BJP people, but perhaps in the eye of BJP, they are true when they evaluate people according to what they know as “truth”.
When you show someone a scalpel, a barber may recognize it as a shaving tool, a surgeon may see it as a surgery tool, a murderer may see it as a murder tool. Every scalpel is not a shaving tool, just like every computer isn’t a gaming toy. We comprehend the world through the lens of what we know. It stands to reason that a party that doesn’t believe in the Indian constitution understands all criticism as “anti-national” or a party that taps foreign funding imagines other entities being foreign funded and harming India on the say-so of some foreign agenda.
The nature of the unconscious mind is such that the more we deny something about ourselves to appear to be good, the more we imagine those we hate to be shamelessly doing what we deny out of shame. If coughing is a way I use to avoid answering something or a distraction from lies I tell, I imagine someone I dislike to be lying i they cough, while claiming to always be truthful myself.
Our shadow aspect manifests in our perceptions of the world. The things we deny about ourselves are those we overreact to.
Here are several things BJP criticized loudly, only to be found to be doing it later.
N D Tiwari shows the character of Congress… or not?
When the scandal with N D Tiwari’s son blew up, BJP’s Social Media teams were all over it with crude jokes about his character, and by extension the morality of Congress. So now Rajnath Singh is being endorsed by N D Tiwari. What does that say about his character and by extension the BJP? Does BJP really think N D Tiwari’s character is bad enough that they shouldn’t associate with him? Will BJP distance itself from his endorsement of Rajnath Singh as their candidate for Lucknow? Don’t hold your breath.
Who got Ford Foundation funding?
BJP accuses AAP of being foreign funded – particularly from Ford Foundation, believing Ford Foundation to be a CIA front. Now here’s the deal. Ford foundation provided funding to the NGO Kabir for three years from 2009-11. This lets BJP supporters claim “AAP” is supported by the Ford Foundation, when AAP was not even formed, let alone getting funding. AAP maintains that it has not received any foreign funding. Ford Foundation or otherwise. AAP does not see Ford Foundation as an extension of CIA destablizing India.
Ford Foundation maintains that it has been funding humanitarian projects in India almost since independence. The Ford Foundation website shows grants to GEER, in 2002, the chairman of which is Narendra Modi. Everyone knows that the Gujarat riots happened in 2002, under Narendra Modi’s watch. Not to mention that unrest backed by the US of A usually supports right wing extremists (even at the cost of empowering Al Qaeda), but not communists. So is that what BJP is saying? That because a Modi led organization got funding to destabilize India, that means AAP must have got it for same reasons? They can chill. So far AAP hasn’t shown any interest in destabilizing India.
Unless of course BJP counts as India the corporations funding their high voltage off the record bling election campaigns.
Who does Ansari support?
Mukhtar Ansari had offered support to AAP, which AAP did not accept. BJP claimed that this was proof of AAP and Kejriwal’s mafia connections. Then, Mukhtar Ansari’s brother Afzal Ansari praised Narendra Modi and said Muslims would be safe under BJP led by Modi. Was this proof of BJP-Modi’s mafia connections? Modi or BJP have not refused or distanced from this statement to the best of my knowledge.
Are Indian Muslims Pakistan supporters?
BJP often insinuates that this is so. From not so subtle allegations to indirectly target Muslims by speaking about “Miyan Musharraf” post Gujarat riots, to Giriraj Singh’s statement that Modi critics will have to go to Pakistan when Modi comes to power. There are countless social media trolls making far more direct accusations and spreading hate. BJP disinformation propaganda routinely shows Muslim flags as Indian Muslims hoisting Pakistan’s flag in India. Or they show Pakistani Muslims hoisting Pakistan flag or burning Indian flag to be Indian Muslims. It is not ignorance, as any effort to correct the disinformation is studiously ignored and the hate deliberately incited about Indian Muslims.
But is it Indian Muslims hoisting the Pakistan flag?
On 1st Januart 2012, someone hoisted a Pakistani flag in front of the Tahsildar office at Sindagi in Karnataka. There were protests in front of the Tehsildar office about this anti-national action. Yet it turned out to be Sri Ram Sene activists who were arrested. Sri Ram Sene is a pro-Hindutva organization, whose leader Pramod Muthalik (also famous for the pub attack) also got briefly inducted into the BJP a few weeks back till the embarrassed BJP had to refuse him membership from the outrage and ridicule they faced. But wait. That is not all. Shri Ram Sene seniors spoke off the record saying that those arrested were not their members, but those of the RSS, but the police were under pressure for keeping the RSS name out of the picture. In any case, it were Hindutva zealots raising Pakistani flag, not Indian Muslims.
Are AAP Maoist supporters?
BJP claims names like Prashant Bhushan, Soni Sori, Binayak Sen and Sabyasachi Panda to claim that AAP is full of Maoist supporters. Strangely, BJP seems to never be harmed by the Maoists. The Congress leadership in Chattisgarh was conveniently wiped out in time for Assembly elections, but no record of a BJP leader coming to any harm. Modi toured the same region and gave 7 speeches with massive. BJP and RSS cadre mobilized to encourage voting. No attacks in spite of BJP being the ruling party and closer to crony capitalists in the region. Twitter reports indicate that BJP campaigning in Gadchiroli went better than expected. I imagine they dislike the Maoists of Odisha and Andhra and such, but then the regular people there hardly like BJP any better.
For BJP, speaking of any wrong done against the Maoists is being a Maoist supporter. They may campaign for you, frame innocent tribals for opposing crony capitalist exploitation, brand a free legal service for framed tribals languishing in jail as “Maoist supporters”, Maoist affected districts in Chattisgarh may double under their rule, leaders may hob nob with businessmen with known links to Maoists (including one being arrested while in a BJP leader’s car…, but others are evil if you talk about rights of tribals opposing crony “development” framed as Maoists. Because everyone knows, the real danger in a Maoist is not illegal actions, but being seen as a human. Hain na?
Do only other parties rope in religious leaders for vote banks?
If you listen to BJP propaganda, you’d imagine the only vote bank in the country is Muslims. The majority religion is too disrupted and disinterested in survival, so BJP will make it live, whether it wants to or not. Yet the Hindutva issue has constantly been BJP’s vote bank. Get people paranoid and voting for BJP to save themselves from Muslims. Ramdev was recently caught on camera speaking with BJP leader Mahant Chand Nath. BJP leader Chand Nath clearly talks about money with Ramdev in a slow pitched volume, the Yoga guru is heard carefully whispering to Nath to not talk about all this here as they were surrounded with cameras and recorders which can record their conversation. So not only does BJP leverage religious beliefs to promote themselves, they also do it with supposedly non-BJP religious leaders with money involved.
This, of course is apart from the active and criminal participation of religious leaders in the organized and criminal Babri Masjid demolition – which continues to be a BJP election issue and is included in the manifesto.
Does Congress take India’s border security lightly?
Probably, but the BJP has hardly done any better. It has released terrorists in return for hijacked Indians. Same terrorists who went on to attack the Indian Embassy and murder Daniel Pearl among other attacks. They explain this as necessary to protect lives of Indians held hostage by terrorists. There is no similar explanation for the lack of retaliation after the Kaluchak Massacre (google it) in spite of needling the UPA government repeatedly over not taking an aggressive stance (read war) after 26/11.
If this were not enough, the Operation Westend saw BJP willing to endorse a non-existent product for the Indian Army to make a corrupt profit and the Kargil coffin scam saw a willingness to profit from dead soldiers too. So once more you have BJP accusing others of what they are guilty of, but defiantly claim own character to be above reproach.
Does BJP respect the Army?
A BJP troll taunting anyone bringing up issues of human rights abuses by the Indian Army is a common sight. What is less visible is their insulting view of the Army as an inherently cruel and illegal organization, where the shame of human rights abuses done by a few who are breaking protocol must be borne by all soldiers – however upright. Apparently, it is like the “religious support” – law abiding members of target group – whether religion or Army are tarred with the same brush as criminal zealots.
But is that really respect?
In Jammu, Modi ridiculed the UPA governance as “Jai jawan, mar kisan” implying that soldiers get favor that is denied to farmers – or in other words, disproportionately more. But is the Army really the recipient of more than its due? Normally, BJP would scream NO and blame UPA for ignoring the Army – unless it was a speech addressing the people of a place that has endured cabin fever from Army presence for long. Then it is very convenient to use “Jai jawan” as sarcastic criticism. One off, you’d think this was merely a misunderstanding or an evil person like me choosing the wrong interpretation. But more recently, Modi spoke with Traders, indirectly encouraging them to risk the global market saying traders are better at risk taking than the Army – a completely unrequired [second] unfavorable comparison of the Army within a month.
What about FDI in Retail?
In theory, BJP opposes FDI in retail. Yet is it about opposing RTI in Retail being chalked up as a UPA2 achievement or will they continue to oppose the FDI in retail if they come to power? There are considerable indications that this is a cash cow Modi is interested in (as long as it isn’t the UPA profiting from it). It is less about the impact of FDI in retail on Indian traders and more about the rivalry with Congress in getting credit for a major source of foreign investment for India. Walmart was already in partnership with Bharti in wholesale in Gujarat when the ruckus on FDI in retail blew up. And the plans for expansion continue unabated (now for retail as well).
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The list is endless, and will most likely keep getting updated, since I haven’t even scratched the surface of BJP duplicity.
Feel free to add your favorite ones in comments, so other readers can read them. I will add as many as I can when updating this post.