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Why Modi government and ABVP failed the Gurmehar Test of Nationalism

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Ghanshyam Tiwari
Ghanshyam TiwariMar 02, 2017 | 16:19

Why Modi government and ABVP failed the Gurmehar Test of Nationalism

A man is known by the company he keeps. With gundagardi at Ramjas College, members of ABVP once again took the centre-stage with the tiranga in hands, Bharat Mata in their heart, rage in their slogans, and expletives with threats on their fake and real social media profiles.

Once again, they seemed to be winning until they hit the Gurmehar Test of Nationalism where one can make supreme sacrifice for the nation yet want peace over war; where one can take abuse and threats and yet show courage over rage; where one can be a leader of a rising moment and yet leave the moment to let sanity prevail.

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Why did the BJP-led establishment and ABVP fail the Gurmehar Test? There are many answers. The most obvious one is that they were blinded by power. They failed because they chose to respond in the tone and tenor they always use against alternate perspectives.

One can see this at the highest level in the Twitter response of those who are so important that the Prime Minister follows them on the website.

Navaneet Sharma thanked the Prime Minister for following him on Twitter on January 1. On February 26, he posted a picture with Gurmehar on one side and Dawood on another and said: “Communist Kanhaiya Kumar in a new bottle, with a different gender. Gurmehar Kaur."

And since then, he has vociferously tweeted and retweeted anything that can prove his point. His stand does not change, not matter what anyone proves.

Lav Kumar Tiwari in his profile says he is “honoured to be followed by PM”. He took to Twitter right after the Ramjas attack, saying “Well done ABVP”, and stayed plugged in making  important observations - “वामपंथियों के चक्कर में शिक्षक भी देश द्रोही हो गए” - and spirited retorts - “इन्हें ये नहीं पता की अगर हम हिंसक हुए तो इनको निकल निकल कर मारेंगे”.

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Thereafter, he became busy with the Uttar Pradesh elections with no further commentary on Ramjas.

Leadership demands sending out a clear message. Sumeet Bhasin is the “Director Public Policy Research Centre, New Delhi & Convener IT & Social Media Delhi BJP” as noted on his profile. I can say he is likely to be a learned and erudite man. So, he took time to articulate his stand.

But when he did, he tweeted on February 28 - “Truth behind attack on patriotic organisation @ABVPDelhi  @mehartweets is a known leftist & trying become star overnight. @BJP4Delhi”.

His followers such as Nikhil wasted no time in retweeting the message and making it popular. But Nikhil is no ordinary person. None other than the PM follows Nikhil on Twitter. And he did not wait for Sumeet to announce his stand.

On February 27, he tweeted: “I didn't destroyed 'Twin Towers', Airplane did it- Osama Bin Laden”. He was louder, a day before saying “देशद्रोहियों को कॉलेज केम्पसों से बाहर करो"”.

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Abhishek Singh, an advocate in Allahabad High Court, tells you “Honoured to be followed by PM Sri @narendramodi ji” and marks his location “Bharat”. Abhishek is angry these days, so suggest his tweets. He uses adjectives nearing abuse to interact with several respected voices across the country, especially women, be it journalists, lawyers, or anyone who has an alternate view.

He spends much time in retweeting alernate facts and opinonators. He rarely misses an opportunity to retweet anything that the PM says. On Februray 22, he tweeted with a rousing note “.. #Ramjas is just beginning” and an open warning - “Traitors of my motherland won't be spared at any cost गद्दारी की सज़ा मौत है”.

Soon he got busy congratulating all the top BJP leaders for the victory in BMC and narrating the PM's campaigns in Uttar Pradesh. Suddenly he woke up on February 28 and went on an angry rant, tweeting with #हमें_चाहिए_आज़ादी and eventually landing with the award-winning question “Who poisoned GurMehar”?

Nishant proudly displays a photograph with the PM in the profile. He retweeted the message that announced the ABVP protest at the Arts Faculty in DU on February 23 and thereafter got busy circulating positive messages of the nationwide progress BJP is making in politics and governance.

And then retweeted the Tiranga March and the now famous tweet by Virendra Sehwag on February 26. With humour turning dark, he chose to directly address Gurmehar on February 27 with the charge “कब तक शहीद पिता के नाम पर रोटियाँ सेकोगी आज आपके पिता भी रो रहे होंगे की मेरी बेटी j&k की आज़ादी माँगने वालों का साथ दे रही है । धिक्कार है”.

With beaming disdain, he also speaks to Chetan Bhagat about IITs saying “that is why IITs produced different type of talented engineer & ch***as?”

By now, it is clear why the BJP-led establishment and ABVP failed the Gurmehar Test. If a simple sampling of just 20 of 1,167 accounts that the PM follows gives away the mindset of many in the sample, think about the millions who follow the PM, the mighty in the BJP-led establishment, and the ever expanding ABVP.

Last updated: March 02, 2017 | 16:19
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