SIT: Nero Never Fiddled

The Mahatma Gandhi memorial at Rajghat, Delhi has the epitaph “Hē Ram”, the words he spoke just before he died after being shot. Thousands pay their respects to Gandhi here every day. Every one of them reads the epitaph and the Mahatma’s last words have been taught to us in schools and history books. But did he really say those? No one has compelling evidence that Gandhi did say ‘Hē Ram’ and none has ever been presented. He could well have said anything else or maybe even nothing at all. This is how myths work. It starts with somebody’s imagination or hallucination, somebody influential. Then it creeps into history books and the media dishes out propaganda. Before long the myth becomes the established and accepted truth.But not forever.

Closer to present day, for years some in the Indian media have reported that the Supreme Court had rapped the Gujarat govt over the 2002 riots with: “Neros were looking elsewhere when Gujarat was burning". Did the SC actually say that? Let’s assume they did. But Arjun Modhwadia, Congress leader in Gujarat has promised to prove the SC statement is true in the Gujarat Assembly. He is struggling to establish this though. He is searching for evidence and so am I. Whether Modhwadia presents the evidence in the Gujarat assembly or not, over the last decade many celebrity media anchors have used the supposed statement of the SC to equate Narendra Modi with Nero. Story is that the Roman emperor was famously fiddling while Rome was burning so he could make a palatial complex out of the ruins. So much was invested in painting Modi as a murderer and looking the other way during Gujarat 2002 that the SIT Closure report must have come as a shock to a huge industry of liars. The SIT investigation is neatly summarised by Offstumped and to cut a long story short I am just quoting his summary here:

... the thrust of CM’s speech everywhere was that the incident was heinous, organised and that the culprits would be brought to strictest punishment.. . . .it is not the case that the Chief Minister made any assertion concerning- the obligation of any religious community to do such acts, as are likely to cause disharmony. He did not make any appeal to Hindus or Muslims to take up arms against each other.’it is reasonably concluded that no utterances on part of Shri Narendra Modi could ‘be attributed suggestive to any intended promotion of hatred ill-will etc.. amongst religious groups…

… the Learned Amicus Curiae has agreed with the various recommendations made by the SIT on the different issues inquired into /investigated by the SIT. However, the Ld. Amicus Curiae is of the view that, at this prima facie stage offences u/s 153A(I )(a)& (b), 1536 (I 166 and 505 (2) IPC are made out against Shri Narendra regarding the statement made by him in the meeting. In this connection, as discussed, above SIT is of the view that the offences under the aforesaid, sections of law are not made out against Shri Narendra Modi. In the light of the aforesaid facts, a closure report is being submitted for favour of perusal and orders…

Since the SIT closure report did not suit their taste the media typically hung on grimly to the utterances of the Amicus Curae (AC) and kept suggesting Modi could be prosecuted based on the AC’s report. The AC has offered his opinion which does not constitute evidence. His opinion has also been considered and reported upon by the SIT. Let us do a roll-call of the vicious actors in the decade long campaign against Modi – Teesta Setalvad, Shabnam Hashmi, Arundhati Roy, Harsh Mandar, Sanjiv Bhatt, Mahesh Bhatt, Mallika Sarabhai … where do I stop? It’s too long. And then there’s another list from the media. Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Sagarika Ghose, Arnab Goswami, Vinod Sharma, Vir Sanghvi…. Again too long a list. All of these characters should hang their heads in shame and should actually apologise for the untruths they spread about Modi and Gujarat. In their Hate-Modi campaign they have even scoffed at the development of Gujarat and the progress the state has made under him. Such a campaign cannot be anything but ‘motivated’ and requires huge funding to sustain.

SIT makes the biggest bonfire of media lies 

The lies, the half-truths have all come to haunt the biggest personalities in the media. It is even unfortunate that some of them, also involved in other scandals, continue in their jobs. Many members of the Congress party have also wilfully indulged in encouraging the lies about Gujarat. After the SIT report, the next investigation has to be into the funding of NGOs like those of Teesta, Shabnam and the activities of Sanjiv Bhatt and many others. And what do we do with all the fake reports by the media over the decade? I have a modest suggestion! Put them all together and burn them in the biggest bonfire in your neighbourhood. The other lesson people should have learned by now: Never trust one word of what the news media says except for the bare news they report. They have lost all credibility and if they wish to regain it, the 5-star criminals must resign. The SIT has burned their lies and deceit. And let the bonfire of their reports and vanities be as hot as the fires of Rome.

Of the gang of crooks in the news media there are a few who still have people’s respect. One of them, Ravish Kumar of NDTV (Hindi) recently tweeted and I translate his statement: “Government’s lie and the media turns those lies into truth”. That’s the modern media’s daily job. In all of this the activists and media crooks have even forgotten that if ever a case were to be indeed brought against Narendra Modi he has every right to legal defence. Whether Modi will ever need it is a matter of conjecture but no man in Indian history has been so held guilty by suspicion, accusation and propaganda as he has been. Even known and convicted terrorists in our prisons have got better deals. Narendra Modi was and remains an innocent man in the eyes of the law as of now. From CMs to PMs there have been instances of negligence during agitations and communal riots. That may be true for Modi as well but the myth of him being an instigator, conspirator or supporter of the 2002 riot ends here. This particular myth, like the ‘Hē Ram’ of Gandhi, will not go on to become gospel truth.

And yes, what about the liars in the media and NGOs? There has to be a law by which such campaigners should be prosecuted and brought to justice. What about the supposed statement of SC comparing Nero fiddling while Rome burned to Gujarat or Narendra Modi? Although I doubt SC actually made that statement even learned judges can sometimes use myths as an expression. There were many fires in Rome during the period of Nero’s rule. The famous fire in which he fiddled was during the year 64 in the first century. Awful truth is: Violins weren’t invented till over 1000 years after Nero’s death. Oh well! Since that was a myth the historians suggested he must have played a stringed instrument called the ‘Lyre’ but even that turned out a hoax. Rome didn’t have an SIT then. If there had been one, the SIT would have established the Truth: Nero Never Fiddled!