Reel Magnanimity, Real Intimidation: The Asymmetry of Power
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| Image courtesy here |
There is a stark and characteristically histrionic
irony that unfolded in Indian public discourse in the last few days.
At a recent protest in Delhi, a
15-year-old schoolgirl made rash and objectionable remarks against Prime
Minister Modi. Within days, the full weight of the state apparatus descended
upon the adolescent girl: a Zero FIR was registered by police, her phone number
was leaded online, and she was subjected to terrifying rape- and death-threats.
Facing immense terror, she released an apology video with folded hands, stating
that she was “ashamed” and felt as if she was “given a second life.”
Soon the 76-year-old Prime Minister took
to Instagram in a midnight video message to proclaim that he had “forgiven the
misguided children” and urged society to guide them rather than seek
punishment. In the video, Modi did look like the greatest forgiver in history, the most
magnanimous human that ever walked the earth hitherto. Worse, he played a
victim card which was a devious way to provoke his followers to do worse things
while he himself appeared saintly.
In other words, the narrative is
clearly that of a benevolent patriarch bestowing royal clemency on an aberrant
schoolchild. Step back from the curated social media aesthetic, and the underlying
political posture reveals something highly troubling.
On one side of this new right-wing
game stands the Prime Minister of a nuclear-armed nation, a leader backed by a
massive parliamentary majority, an international apparatus, and an army of frenzied
supporters. On the other side stands a teenager at a student demonstration. The
asymmetry of power
is as baffling as it is ludicrous.
When such a ‘tall’ leader feels
compelled to frame a hapless teenager as a national grievance requiring “magnanimous
forgiveness,” it doesn’t project strength at all. It reveals extreme institutional vulnerability.
True authority doesn’t need to perform midnight mercy on social media over an
angry minor’s outburst; it must have the resilience to tolerate criticism. Even
abuse shouldn’t affect it, if its strength is genuine. Actually abuse reveals
the smallness of the abuser.
What should strike us even harder is the central paradox
in all this. For over a decade, India’s official political discourse has
frequently denigrated historic figures and freedom fighters who laid the
foundations of modern India. Jawaharlal Nehru was routinely targeted with sharp,
personal, and derogatory rhetoric by his present successor who probably thought
of alleviating his unworthiness by making quixotic assaults on the predecessor’s
greatness. Once again, who becomes small in the process?
Modi never exercised any restraint from
attacking people who are dead and gone and hence cannot defend themselves. Yet,
when the sharp language is turned back toward himself by a little girl, the
response shifts instantly to national outrage which seeks the girl’s blood.
While the PM’s Instagram reel speaks
of “guidance over punishment,” the legal machinery on the ground tells a very
different story.
Worse, framing political dissent as “children
making mistakes” is inherently patronising. It reduces legitimate student grievances such
as exam paper leaks and youth unemployment to mere behavioural issues that need
parental discipline.
I’m not arguing that vulgar or abusive language
represents the gold standard of public debate. My view in short is: In a
functioning democracy, there is a fundamental difference between calling out
bad language and unleashing state machinery against a child.
When a society reaches a point where
a teenager must beg for her safety on camera after expressing her anger in
not-so-acceptable a manner, the problem isn’t the teenager’s manners as the
Prime Minister makes it out to be; the problem is with our democracy. True
democratic strength isn’t about performing forgiveness in 60-second reels; it’s
about having the stature to withstand dissent without making a villain out of a
schoolgirl.
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| Image courtesy here |
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