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Black Magic Woman: Madhu puts war in Kishwar

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Kamlesh Singh
Kamlesh SinghDec 12, 2014 | 12:01

Black Magic Woman: Madhu puts war in Kishwar

Madhu Kishwar is a feminist, educationist, writer and fierce fighter not known for mincing her words. She was unabashed about her admiration for Narendra Modi. Even when she was ridiculed in liberal circles, she didn’t budge from her position that Modi was the answer to India’s problems. Her faith in Modi is not broken; but definitely shaken and has left her stirred. The first blow-up came when she attacked BJP’s rising star Smriti Irani, whose clout has grown ever since, on social media. Irani is India’s education minister and a part of Modi’s Cabinet.

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The recurring theme in Kishwar’s tweet bursts has been Irani’s non-academic background. Kishwar believes Irani is not a woman of substance. As it happens, even sensitive people threw gender sensitivities aside and called this a catfight. Irani hadn’t even reacted. For them, Kishwar and Irani both were fighting for Modi’s attention. That one made the other jealous. Yes, that shameful and denigrating to women in general and to Kishwar and Irani in particular. But Kishwar continued on the wrath path. She earned a few nicknames on social media; and the reverse-derogatory Mausi caught on.

She is back in social media mindspace because of an interview, where she said that somebody had done black magic on Modi. “…nobody can make sense of all this; neither me, nor anyone else. It is black magic that somebody has done… Maybe Modi has not gotten a grip yet. Maybe Delhi has disoriented him,” she says in the interview published in Scroll. Saying that a man like Modi is disoriented and has not got a grip will not be taken lightly by the prime minister.  

She doesn’t say it is Irani who has done the black magic on Modi, but gives enough hints by being singularly condescending towards her: “Look at the trajectory of this woman – at 18, she leaves home for the glamour industry, to become a fashion model, a beauty queen, then gets into saas-bahu serials, which, even by the standards of the entertainment industry, is the lowest genre. It is brainless. She could not even qualify to head the National School of Drama.”

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No one but the prime minister really knows whether he has gotten a grip or not; but Kishwar surely sounds like she is losing the grip on the Madhu Kishwar India knew. For a once-feminist to denigrate a woman for being a 12th pass, working in the entertainment industry, for being a beauty queen - is clearly not getting the concept of women’s rights right. This is how the average misogynist chooses his words; not the founder-editor of a women’s rights journal.

Kishwar, the educationist, has worked hard to become what she is now. But her choice of words like "black magic" betrays her shaken belief in education as well. It’s racist to begin with, even for those who believe in magic, including the Modi magic. Black is supposed to be for bad magic; while for good magic, we don’t use the term white magic. To believe and say that black magic can turn a person she admired into a person she is clueless about is being careless about your own beliefs.

A lot of Modi admirers have been despondent of late. Arun Shourie is one of them. Criticising Modi’s approach to governance and the mandate of 2014 is all valid. Questioning his choice of ministers, even that of the education minister, is kosher. But looking down upon women of certain professions and propagating the horribly misused mumbo-jumbo like black magic is not a sign of an educationist or feminist. It is regressive, misogynist and loony.

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Last updated: December 12, 2014 | 12:01
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