The Roman Agent In Gujarat

He conquered many lands and kingdoms but Julius Caesar was at his wits end on how to deal with the Gauls. The little village of Asterix and others simply refused to surrender to the Roman emperor and were impossible to defeat in battle. One of Caesar’s ‘wiseguys’ suggested that they should sow anarchy and disharmony among the Gauls. Inject the citizens of Gaul with so much poison, internal conflict and hatred that they die fighting among themselves. They found a man who could do the job. Enter Tortuous Convolvulus (TC). Caesar wanted to test him but he needed no proof as the agent immediately had his senators fighting, gossiping and speaking ill of the emperor himself. Now this guy TC was so devious that once, when thrown to lions in a circus, he made the lions fight among themselves and kill each other. So you know what talent we are talking about. Take a look at his pic. TC oozes cunning and deceit from head to toe, doesn’t he?

So Caesar sends TC to Gaul to divide and destroy them. On the way he has all the members on his ship fighting each other too. When pirates are about to attack his ship he even sets the pirates fighting among each other by claiming he paid gold to one of them for not being attacked. TC manages to create havoc in the Gaul village but they eventually realise his scheme and turn the tables on him. They plot and prove to the Romans that TC is a traitor and had fooled their army. TC is sent back to Rome for punishment. It is suspected, though, that with his cunning and deceit TC would have escaped punishment.  

Unfortunately, good old Caesar didn’t have Indian TV media in his time. He wouldn’t have needed a TC then. All he would have had to do was ask a couple of Indian news channels and their celebrities to land in Gaul before a battle and they would have done the job better than TC. You know, like our own Romans have media channels doing the job for them. We have this little state called Gujarat which is troublesome, is headed by a man with some magic potion, who defies the empire at every turn. So every time there’s an election battle around, our own TCs land in Gujarat to divide people. In particular, their chosen target for the divisive agenda is the Muslim community. The topic? Of course, the 2002 riots. Even if Muslims have moved on our media morons will never let them forget and will keep re-opening old wounds.  

A little bit of history is in order. Let’s take Ahmedabad for example. The city is divided into East and West for reference by the Sabarmati River. Till the mid-1980s the western parts of Ahmedabad were undeveloped, had sparse population. Hindus and Muslims lived alongside each other in the eastern part but Hindus slowly started migrating to the western parts in huge numbers. Does Sagarika Ghose or Barkha Dutt ever explain why? It was riot-fatigue that made Hindus move to the western parts and, of course, better housing. Most Hindus in Ahmedabad do feel that they received a raw deal in all the communal riots till then under Congress rule. Groups of Muslims also shifted to the western parts. A few are concentrated in a middle class area called Paldi while low income groups huddled up in one of the largest ghettos called Juhapura. Hindus practically used to refer to Juhapura as Pakistan. There is a historical animosity that wasn’t brought about by Narendra Modi. This historical animosity did come under a series of Congress govts. Will Sagarika and Barkha tell you that? No! The MSM folks seem to have discovered Muslims in Ahmedabad and Gujarat only since 2002. I need not add that in all their shows they conveniently forget that 2002 wouldn’t have happened if the Godhra train burning hadn’t happened.  

Tragedies can be man-made and natural. Have Muslims moved on from the earthquake (which claimed over 20000 lives and much destruction of property) of 2001? Have they moved on from 2002? Has Gujarat moved on from both? The answer is YES! There may be a few families that may still be suffering the pain and that need not be only from Muslims. So what makes people like Barkha Dutt rush to Gujarat and frequently keep injecting a sense of permanent “victimhood” in Muslims? This is not just in Gujarat but they do it across India. If Muslims keep falling for this propaganda they may risk the danger of pushing themselves further into victimhood. Barkha was in Juhapura to talk to rickshaw drivers and others on their conditions but she doesn’t tell you the full story. She sexes up her report with incomplete stories. Take a look at this map below.

On the right you can see Paldi. Most private buses to Saurashtra region (Rajkot, Bhavnagar etc) start from Paldi. Till 2002 the route (in black) through Juhapura to the Sarkhej highway, onward to Rajkot, is the route they use to follow. Post-Godhra 2002 all these buses take the longer route (marked in red) to avoid passing through Juhapura which Barkha so devotedly covers on her trip. Wonder why? My route-marking may not be the exact roads but shows the direction very accurately. Bus operators were willing to go through a longer route as against taking risks. Can Barkha explain why? Now, since the red route has become quite established, it’s not just Hindu bus operators but Muslim operators also follow that route. Truth is, for a long time Hindus have avoided going through the route past Juhapura unless absolutely necessary. Things are different now. There is no fear and most people drive past Juhapura. This was the same fear and fatigue that drove most Hindus from the eastern parts of Ahmedabad to the western parts. Juhapura is just one example that I’m giving. There are many other stories that the Tortuous Convolvuluses in the media aren’t going to tell. The post is not about history but only refers to what Barkha touched upon in her show.

Interestingly, look at the title of both Barkha’s and Sagarika’s shows. Both talk about a “Muslim narrative”. That they are identical shouldn’t be any surprise at all. The headlines could have made a happily married couple out of both channels. Their only agenda was to somehow smear Narendra Modi just around the elections. Try and whip up some anti-Modi sentiments through Muslims and hope Caesar is happy. While harping on no Muslim being given an election ticket by the BJP someone on NDTV asked Nidhi Razdan why Omar Abdullah hasn’t given any tickets to Hindus. No answer! The same agents never talk about the pogrom or systematic ethnic cleansing that happened in Kashmir. In Gujarat, Muslims now live peacefully, many who left have also returned. There is no returning for Hindus who were driven out of Kashmir. No govt or media speaks for them. This is one of the reasons Narendra Modi has become an icon for Hindus. Caesar’s agents don’t seem to get this simple fact or happily choose to live in denial.  

Most things that Barkha discussed on her show are worth the trash can. On December 11 she gently brought up the ‘Muslim’ agenda by asking if development is significant if there is “no justice”. This is as much a lie as any you can get from agents. Gujarat 2002 is probably the only communal riots where many have been convicted and punished. Increasingly, even BJP supporters wonder why people like Nirmala Sitharaman and others even appear on her agenda-driven shows. Any Muslim who mentions Modi favourably or appears with him is permanently tarred by the media, the Congress and by the NGO criminals who have made a killing with the riots story.  

While harping on Irfan Pathan’s appearance on stage with Narendra Modi, Barkha couldn’t conceal her anguish. Even Sunetra Chaudhury of NDTV couldn’t conceal her contempt for this event in her tweets. So what riles up these folks? Even way back in 2007 when India won the T-20 world cup Narendra Modi’s govt had awarded 5 lakhs to the Pathan brothers. Modi applauds achievements of any Gujarati quite frequently. He lauds Sunita Williams, the Pathans and even those not from Gujarat. The media doesn’t seem to have any problems with Bollywood actors campaigning for Modi, so why a problem with Irfan Pathan? Are they suggesting he’s a Muslim first and not Indian first? And a successful cricketer? Muslims must guard against such clever spin. Caesar’s agents may not like it because all they want is that Narendra Modi be hanged sent to prison or at least apologise since they have already stuck the “convict badge” on him. Programs by the Barkhas and their tweets and other communication aren’t those of journalists. They sound more and more like electioneering lobbyists and people are able to see through their messages now. This is what bothers them.  

Then Barkha sits around wondering why her tweets and comments are questioned even by those who are blocked by her. That is laughable and can only come from a moron who doesn’t really know how twitter works or how public figures will always be assessed by people. By her stupid logic she should know that Narendra Modi has practically blocked her long back. He doesn’t give any interviews to her or any of the celebs from NDTV and yet she keeps hovering over 2002 and chasing Narendra Modi. Doesn’t she get his message? Actually, the more Barkha rants against Modi the more he seems to get popular and she doesn’t even get that. Real question is not whether Muslims have moved on from 2002. It is whether Barkha has moved on from 2002, from Radiagate. It’s whether she has moved on from the ‘Shoddy Journalism’ episode. It is whether she has moved on from the Chaitanya Kunte episode.  

As clever as Tortuous Convolvulus was, he failed to destroy the spirit and unity of the Gauls or their fierce defence of their little village against the Romans. The Roman agents from Delhi keep turning up in Gujarat as a regular ritual before every election. And yes, they do go back severely exposed and feeling stupid like TC. Convolvulus was clever and deceitful enough to escape the lions but I wonder if our Roman agents can escape the lions from Gujarat.