PM speaks out, but he has to act too

Prime Minister Narendra Modi generally deploys his communication powers to attack political opponents — even on foreign soil — or to exalt anodyne government programmes that have been announced with fanfare, but have yielded little more than propaganda, for example “Bechi Bachao, Beti Padhao”, “Jan Dhan Yojana”, “Stand Up India” and “Swachch Bharat”. On issues that have shaken the country, Mr Modi has reposed his faith in the virtue of silence, with his party brazenly asserting that the PM cannot be expected to “comment on everything”, overlooking the fact that he has commented on virtually nothing.

Sunday was, therefore, special. In Telangana, the PM sought to simultaneously raise the issue of the havoc being wreaked nationwide by “gau raksha” brigades, or cow vigilantes, and the dalit issue on which his party’s hard work in recent years appears to be going waste, specially after the flogging and humiliating of dalits in Gujarat by self-appointed “gau rakshaks” last month.

The dalit and the beef issue fused into one at Una in Gujarat, and this obliged Mr Modi to speak out. He said those who were “gau rakshaks” or cow protector by day were often anti-social elements at night. The PM noted that the action of “gau raksha” volunteers was making him “very angry”. It is open to question what his government proposes to do to check the menace if he is so angry. But the VHP and the Hindu Mahasabha are riled with the PM’s remarks, and have threatened retribution in the next Lok Sabha election.

How seriously these threats should be taken is another question, but a Hindu Mahasabha representative has tartly noted in UP’s Aligarh that the PM had “allured” Hindus for votes by promising action on the cow protection front, but was now going back. Mr Modi’s political efforts have lately been directed at getting dalit support to augment the BJP’s upper caste core base so that he may breathe easy in the next general election and ensure his party’s victory in the UP election. Thus, in Hyderabad, he recounted the steps he had taken to commemorate India’s iconic dalit leader B.R. Ambedkar.

Dramatically, he asked his opponents to “shoot” him, rather than oppress dalits. But the PM is obfuscating. The recent disequilibrium — starting with the Rohith Vemula case in Hyderabad — and “gau rakshak” actions have come from his own supporters. It also can’t be missed that taking on “gau rakshaks” came when dalit votes looked at risk, but when Akhlaq, a poor Muslim, was killed by vigilantes in his own home last year, Mr Modi kept quiet.