Modi is Modi's biggest fan, now playing in every theatre

Last November, when Pahlaj Nihalinai-conceived ode to Modi - Mera Desh Mahan, Mera Desh Jawan - tumbled out in the open, social media went bonkers over the cringe fest of the filmic panegyric to the prime minister. Replete with computer-generated imagery of Modi cavorting with kids of uncertain Himalayan zip code, the video was panned so heavily that it virtually cost Nihalani his post as the censor board chief and the NDA government had to hide behind the political plastic surgery called Shyam Benegal.

Now, with the Union ministers proposing to prefix the term "prime minister" or a "nationalist leader" before every central government scheme, and floating the idea of running tax-funded propaganda movies to sing paeans to the dear leader before every film show in every theatre, the farce has gone a bit too far.

As if the constant bombardment on social media, television and front pages of our national dailies weren't enough, even a cent per cent cultural experience that is moviegoing would now become a tasteless exercise in political brinkmanship, thanks to the peerless insecurity of those at the Centre.

Modi selfies, Modi advertisements, Modi tweets, Modi gazing at his own wax figure at Madame Tussauds, Modi on billboards, Modi app, Modi as a comic book character (Bal Narendra) - the avenues from which the current prime minister stalks and haunts us are multiplying by the day. However, this is not only a classic case of megalomania writ large; it is also about a vindictive Centre undermining the very idea of cooperative federalism and democratic principles.

While "highlighting the achievements" of the Narendra Modi dispensation at the Centre is certainly not the issue - every government, as a rule, must communicate to its best efforts, the various facilities and amenities it has made available for the public at large - what is definitely controversial and downright abhorrent is the "mandatory" clause inserted in that cloying proposal.

Not only would the indispensable central schemes be caught between petty politicking over who is a "nationalist" and who is not - already the scramble for nationalism and redefining its paradigm has split India along the middle - but this would also further push the wedge between states that are governed by non-BJP dispensations and the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre. Already, destabilising democratically elected governments, such as those in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, has become a modus operandi for the central regime.

Point-scoring and credit-taking over schemes would replace the actual accomplishment - if any - of the projects themselves, with blame games becoming the order of the day. Obviously, a vindictive Centre would attempt to squeeze, or block by indirect means, any funding for "state schemes", and may even create law and order problems since it's a state subject.

The insistence on a Union minister or MP playing pivotal role at a centrally-sponsored scheme's inauguration may not go down very well with superstar chief ministers in states such as Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Telangana, or even in state governments facing heavy anti-incumbency such as the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party regime in Uttar Pradesh. In every scenario, the head on collision between the Centre and state would supplant the basic purpose of the schemes themselves.

However, being at administrative loggerheads is only the symptom of the deeper malaise that is at the heart of this proposed overhaul.

In an earlier ruling, it was said only the images of the president of India, the prime minister and the chief justice of India could be carried in government ads.. Laughing in the face of federalism, this move, since overturned by the Supreme Court, had sought to completely undermine the power of the non-BJP chief ministers in various states, particularly in Delhi, where the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party government is at permanent war with the NDA at the Centre. Open abuses on social media between the Delhi CM and the PM fuel the fire of mainstream journalism at present.  

However, the proposal of compulsory airing of the Modi eulogies before every film screening in every theatre of the country is rampant abuse of the cinematic media and the distribution networks. This shameless exhibitionism on the part of a government whose competence is dubious at best, when 300 million of our own are reeling under severe drought-like conditions, when farmer suicides and student struggles have made daily politics a matter of extreme humiliation for the common man and woman, is simply unacceptable. That more aesthetic and intellectual assaults on our collective senses will be wielded so that Narendra Modi and his Union cabinet of first rate sycophants can have a field day is a serious low even for our perpetually nadir-licking polity.

Before there was the 56-inch chest, there was the 56-inch LED TV. That both were conceived as sly facilitations for our Prime Minister Narendra Modi is obviously something that hagiographers never let us forget. But now the blow up is at the INOX and big screen levels. Perhaps that's one thing Shyam Benegal must censor as a service to cinema.