Lagegi Aag

On the night of April 21, 2024, I happened to read and get deeply invested in two seemingly disconnected news items, which I realise now how related they are:

First

Our great supreme leader, the honourable fancy dress competition winner, said yesterday in an election rally in Rajasthan that the Congress party wants to take your wealth and give it to those who have more children and (if that particularly horrible stereotype peddling wasn't enough) "infiltrators". Then he went on to say that they are planning to take wealth and gold from women and give them to Muslims and that they will also take your mangalsutra. Oh, and if all of this wasn't enough, he used the dog whistle of "urban naxals" too. This was all in a 2 minute clip. I haven't heard the full speech from the rally. All of these are lies, hate speech and propaganda. That the PM of a country which has 22 crore Muslim citizens says this is just unimaginably horrible. If a fact check is needed, one can read this statement in the PMO archives themselves (from an era where PMO actually stood for something). The clarification is really worth reading. It is something which each and every Indian government as well as the powerful elite should strive to do. The Congress manifesto of 2024 too is worth reading. It is well made as opposed to the BJP manifesto which was released as a formality and contains 56 photos of Modi in different fancy dresses. My favourite is the CPI(M) manifesto but that's a different conversation. In the meantime, instead of reading different links, just see this amazing video on the hate speech and its fact check by Dr. Medussa:

Second

Chinmay Mandlekar (popular Marathi actor) and his wife Neha are facing immense trolling ever since the right wing trolls found out that their son's name is Jehangir. Trolls are pouncing on the fact that Chinmay has played Shivaji Maharaj multiple times on film and TV. They both have released statements. Neha's statement is good and worth hearing. Chinmay's statement has some problematic aspects like patriarchal language ("head of the household") and refusing to utter any 'M' words like Mughal or Muslim. Chinmay is also fiercely 'apolitical' and says that he has voted for different parties in every election and has never promoted any specific party. That holds up well upon a cursory glance of his Instagram timeline. But he has played the significant role of Farooq Ahmed Dar a.k.a Bitta Karate in the "oscar award worthy" film Kashmir Files. The film resulted in actual Islamophobic slogans in theatres and its success prompted a glut of other propaganda films. Granted that Chinmay did not make the film and perhaps for him getting a role in a big Bollywood film was a big deal. He might have acted very well too (I haven't seen it) but after the movie came out and he saw it (hopefully) and the reactions and discourse around it, shouldn't he be feeling any remorse? It’s a difficult question to answer but it is an important question to ponder. On a related note, Adil Hussain recently expressed regret on playing a role in the horribly misogynist film Kabir Singh made by Sandeep Reddy Vanga (director of ‘Animal’). Adil said that he finished his scene in one day but after seeing the movie he felt embarrased and hoped that his wife will never see the movie. This is the kind of reflection that we need.

Coming back to our supreme leader behaving like a Bajrang Dal shakha pramukh and making deplorable comments – the rot stems from the top. Seeing the PM make such statements gives impetus to all his ministers (chief or otherwise) to say similar and more horrible things. The Election Commission of India being mute spectators and mainstream media just ‘reporting’ the speech as it is without fact checks or calling it out, gives even more leeway to hate mongers. This trickles down to common people and they start believing that it is normal and actually rewarding to say such statements. And ultimately, social media which breaks the barrier between celebrities and their fans/haters makes it possible to say whatever you like to celebrities. The trolls who are hounding the Madlekars for naming their son Jehnagir are just building on the Muslim hate espoused by their hero, the Prime Minister. 

I really feel bad for the Mandlekars and even more so for their 11 year old son. They should not have to go through this. It’s great that they are standing up for this, albeit with some misplaced beliefs. But they and their oppressor caste community members (like me) need to realize soon that remaining ‘apolitical’ is a privilege and a complete disservice to humanity. Chinmay Mandlekar remaining apolitical, deciding to act in a propaganda film, remaining aloof about what is happening in his country and the world never thought that he will be personally affected by this just for naming his son Jehangir. But, as Rahat Indori has said, 

“Lagegi aag toh aayenge ghar kayi zad main

Yahan pe sirf hamara makaan thodi hai”

(Rough translation)

“Any fire will consume the whole neighbourhood

My house doesn’t stand apart on its own”