Phobia is defined as “an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something”. The definition carries the impression of something which is severely biased, pessimistic and above all prejudiced. Phobia cannot be logical.
Modiphobia is something which has become a mainstream school of thought, at this point of time. It has acquired a status that has turned out to be worthy enough for a deep academic research. Though the origins can be attributed to the notorious year of 2002 (turning point 1) it gained more prominence post 2014 (turning point 2). There were new dimensions added to it at every phase. It emerged as a rabid hatred against anything Indic including Hindutva, Hindu Rashtra etc and later moved onto accommodate strange things including hatred against him for ‘doing nothing for Hindus’.
This phobia cuts across boundaries of all types – religious, political, caste and economic status. There are people who hate him for trying to build a Ram Mandir over the Babri Masjid and at the same time there are people who hate him for ‘not doing anything to build a Ram Mandir’. The most funny ones on Social Media are those who claim evil Sonia is not stopping Modi from tweeting, so she is least afraid of him while she had sent her legal henchmen to gag another BJP leader which proves that his existence threatens her the most. Poor souls. Who knows the truth better than Amit Shah, who ended up in jail after being framed under fake charges and Narendra Modi who was slandered since 2002, hounded by various agencies who were investigating the fake charges against the duo, to frame them.
The latest expressions of Modiphobia have come out as the anguish being expressed when someone who assumes a non existent divine right over merit is shown their place, or when some fake news from the left takes over the ‘trending’ narrative like a storm. Cyber activists a.k.a keyboard warriors who thrive in an echo-chamber rely only on few Social Media handles for their political ‘gyan’. They end up as the best markets and propagators for such snake oil sellers. Now that digitization has become the new domain, graffiti has metamorphosed into spamming sane conversations and debate with memes and verbal diarrhea, when the environment becomes conducive for fact free rhetoric to pour in. Such castaways often daub the threads with such uninvited content.
Modiphobia had historically come up in mainstream media in the form of propaganda literature and poorly researched pieces of work, cherry picked with deceitful charts etc. from one side of the political spectrum. They worked like a mafia – manufacturing click baits and passing it onto their networks where it gets amplified. Many a times this has caught the responsible people unawares causing enough damage, that no clarification or reply can compensate. The collapse of the MSM’s credibility led to exponential growth of Social Media, where a large number of people thronged to, for learning and expressing their views. This led to the growth of some useful idiots who are now professional cribbers. Of course, they are seen on every side. However this is about the other side of the spectrum, who find this as a booming market to gain some popularity. They oscillate between political speculation and conspiracy theories. This includes – pitting one BJP leader against the other, praising some entities which apparently appear to be more “macho” than our’s. They have made this narrative a blitzkrieg to propel themselves to some heights and massage their egos.
The conclusion of this article is for all sane minded people to read everything, inquire, think for yourselves and come to conclusions rather than being swayed by some internet demagogue who will end up turning you into a useful idiot to fulfill his (or her) own agenda. For those sitting at the far corners on any side – there can be no explanations given as they don’t see things as it is. They see the world as they think it’s. The moderates are however open to inquiry and learning. Criticism and suggestions are always welcome in a democracy which makes the discourse strong and reliable. There maybe times when there are no answers. In such cases, wait. Time answers most of the unanswered questions. It’s way better than lamenting later, over a wrong conclusion.
