Current Events
Modi Propaganda That Would’ve Made Joseph Goebbels Proud
NIMISHA JAISWAL
Here’s the latest musical ode to Prime Minister Narendra Modi doing the rounds in India.
It looks like the kind of ’90s Bollywood parody you’d expect from India’s blooming comedy scene. Only this six-minute music video, titled “My country is great, my country is young,” deifies Narendra Modi into a Hindu deity by showing him meditating atop snowy mountains, strolling with Gandhi, and sending trademark Indian lions to the International Space Station.
All while three singing Hindu, Muslim and Christian men pop up alongside Modi meeting world leaders on his numerous foreign visits.
“This is Modi’s miracle, this is Make in India,” sings one of the trio while pointing enthusiastically at the International Space Station, which India has never had any part in operating.
“After Independence, this is the new independence,” croons another, hailing (imaginary) WiFi in every village.
The clip was recently shown in theatres during the interval in screenings of a new Bollywood movie, a move that was criticized for weaving political propaganda into entertainment.
The video’s creator, Pehlaj Nihalani -- who also happens to be the Chair of India’s Film Censor Board and has directed campaign videos for Modi in the past -- defended his puffery by claiming that the video honored the nation, not just one man. (Nihalani also denies pressuring theaters to run the video, which he says is part of a longer film to be released next year.)
This would be a good place to point out that the video specifically covers the amazing -- and heavily contested -- progress made by Modi’s Clean India campaign, his banking-for-all initiative, and the Make in India manufacturing program.
The forced multi-religious nature of the video is also jarring, as attacks on minorities are increasing and several of India’s best-known artists have recently returned national awards to protest rising intolerance. Many interpret the Modi government’s silence on such violence as covert support.
If you thought the chest-beating declarations of gratitude for the country’s development and harmony were bad, it gets worse.
Twitter users found that many of the images used to illustrate that progress were not even from India. The video features stock footage of a US F-14 Tomcat fighter jet, Moscow’s International Business Center, NASA’s Atlantis and Discovery shuttles, expressway construction in Dubai, a Japanese spacecraft and, er, the Tour de France.
One thing the video does capture, albeit unintentionally, is Modi’s taste for the international: the prime minister has just returned from his 29th foreign tour in 18 months in office. It seems that Modi’s India, though, just isn’t photogenic enough for a propaganda video.
[Courtesy: Public Radio International. Edited for sikhchic.com]
November 19, 2015
Conversation about this article
1: Gurteg Singh (New York, USA), November 19, 2015, 6:42 PM.
Modi's Goebellian propaganda and nefarious schemes against Sikhs are already in full swing while our Sikh organizations here in United States and Canada are in deep slumber and perhaps getting ready for another year end round of fund raising and gala dinners. While many have done good work on Sikh identity issues, they are totally not involved in the biggest threat that Sikhs face - our very existence in our own homeland where our Gurus walked and sacrificed everything for its defense and freedom. In all his visits abroad, Modi shamelessly tries to fool the Sikhs by mentioning their sacrifices for the country, while he and his associates are engineering sinister plans to totally wipe out Sikh identity and Sikh ethos which empower Sikhs to stand for freedom, justice and equality for the entire humanity. While one may not agree entirely with the resolutions passed at the huge and completely peaceful gathering of half million Sikhs in "Sarbat Khalsa", the collective will of the Sikhs demanding equality and justice was clearly on display. Even this website unfortunately has ignored it. Despite all the the doom and gloom about Punjab and the drug mafias run by agencies to destroy the youth, this collective display of unity has unnerved the Modi Government. Indian forces have moved into Punjab and large-scale arrests of Sikh leaders and youth are taking place under concocted charges of "sedition". Those who display black flags to the rulers are even being beaten up or arrested. The online media outlets who show the true side of the story are being deemed "objectionable" and are either being blocked or banned. Just today Indian Government has announced that Sikhchannel.com will be banned. Distinguished journalist Surinder Singh who has a show called 'Talking Punjab' which deals with burning Sikh issues has been arrested this week under a TADA case of 1988 when he was in school! Many diaspora Sikhs including Harinder Singh of SikhRi have been booked under sedition charges simply for participating in the affairs of their religion. It is about time that ALL Sikh entities, including Sikh Coalition, Saldef, United Sikhs, WSO and all Gurdwaras to come together and approach the White House, the Canadian Prime Minister, British leadership and United Nations to appraise them of the real face of Indian Demonocracy and the Hindu Taliban. We must all support our brothers and sisters in India who are being hounded by Indian occupation forces.
2: Kaala Singh (Punjab), November 19, 2015, 11:36 PM.
The only way for Sikhs to survive as a distinct people is to regain their lost strength - political, economic and military, otherwise assimilation or "dilution" seems a real possibility in India. BTW, what was 1984 in reality? It was no mere massacre, it was an attempt to terrorize Sikhs into submission.
3: Arjan Singh (USA), November 19, 2015, 11:57 PM.
Sikhs in USA, Canada, UK and the Free World are morally obligated to speak up against all and any human rights abuses around the world. The world knows of the Sikh ethos; Sikhs must specifically speak up against what is happening across India. If someone associated with SikhRI (which is an educational organization) can be falsely charged, then how safe are the normal Joes going about their daily lives? Keeping silent is not an option; eventually they will come for the man on the street, as your only 'crime' is that you are a Sikh. If you wear a turban then it is only a matter of time. I agree with comment #1; however, the Sikh community must use only peaceful and legal options to bring about justice.