Finally after ten long years of fascism and dictatorship the democracy in India has risen from the ashes like phoenix. It was dead for the last ten years.

There wasn’t a day in the last ten years when this monotonous rhetoric didn’t resonate in the so-called elite and intellectual circles in the country. The Indian General Election results on June 4, 2024 challenged and exposed most of the artificial and the fictitious narratives like these that were shoved done the throats of the common man by any and every means possible, be it social media or mainstream media, electronic media or print media, published books or YouTube videos, intellectual discussions in various conclaves and debates or memes and standup comedy etc.

Thanks to the educated and literate communities especially the Muslims and the Dalits in UP that successfully deprived BJP a full majority for the third time. They helped rekindle the faith in Indian elections; the elections are still fair and square. Election Commission is not Modi’s puppet; and if you press a button in front of a bicycle on the EVM, the vote is not counted in favor of BJP. Another narrative that you must have heard over the years!

These highly educated and literate communities in Uttar Pradesh by their hard work have added the state in the list of other states like Tamil Nadu or Kerala, the states known to inhabit most intelligent and literate voters as they don’t let BJP make a mark. Another narrative! It is another thing that BJP’s vote share increased noticeably in these two states this time. As many as 16% voters in Kerala and as many as 11% voters in Tamil Nadu have transformed into Andhbhakts. Also interesting is to know that 11% vote share in Tamil Nadu lead to zero seats however, Congress’ 10% vote share lead to Nine seats, yet none of the Andhbhakts questioned the integrity of the election. Had it been the other way out, a person like me would have been trying his best to explain why it is possible to have a situation like this and it does not mean that the elections were rigged or if something is fishy.

Also read: All you need to know about India’s National Language issue.

Nevertheless, for now, democracy is very much alive and kicking in India, and the institutions are independent. But this is only for now, for the time being! In less than a year, five of the Indian states namely Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Delhi and Bihar go for assembly elections. Not to forget the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. God forbid if BJP wins these states, the democracy will again be in danger; fascism and dictatorship will again a topic to be debated Hindutva and polarization will again be sole reason for BJP’s victory.

The biggest expose happened on the Hindutva narrative. BJP’s Lallu Singh lost by fifty five thousands in the heart of Hindutva i.e. in Ayodhya (Faizabad) where Ram Mandir has be reconstructed after centuries. Question that I ask myself is if Ram Mandir consolidated Hindus to vote for BJP or the mandir consolidated Muslims to vote BJP out of power? What do you think? “BJP aa jaegi tumko kha jaegi” (If BJP wins it will eliminate Muslims in India) the narrative that Muslims still like to believe. Are there any teeth to this narrative? We saw ten years of full majority BJP government!

Also read: 2024 Election Strategy: Rahul Gandhi’s Nyay Yatra vs Ayodhya Nagri’s Ram Mandir

A very well established ecosystem in India can effortlessly drive narratives like these. Cattle smuggling and its repercussions are referred to as mob lynching of Muslims in the name of “beef” and religion when BJP is in power otherwise they are considered law and order issue. The growth of private companies is referred to as crony capitalism during the BJP tenure however, it is economic reform during Congress’ tenure.

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A lot of youngsters including myself used to wonder why we need election campaign and election rallies before elections and especially by the ruling party. The report card of the last tenure should speak louder than the rallies and speeches. But these elections results demonstrated exactly why! When it comes to the elections, politics can not be ruled out. Narratives and Propagandas are a part and parcel of Politics everywhere and can’t be ignored. Even when I am writing this article, we can see a new narrative been nurtured and nourished: “BJP lost the mandate“

Domestic help back home claimed “Panja jeet gaya, Kamal haar gaya” (Congress won and BJP lost). BJP won 240 seats that’s not only more than twice the number of seats won by Congress i.e. 99 but also more than the entire INDI alliance’s 234 seats. You would have seen #galiwalibai aka Supriya Shrinate’s proud walk of lies in her office, if not have a look below:

Which success is she talking about? She is building a narrative. You can watch something similar with Mallikarjun Kharge calling “PM Modi doesn’t have a mandate and its a government formed by mistake“

Reinforcing the same narrative!

If BJP with 36.56% votes or 23.5 crore voters does not have a mandate than who has? Congress with 21.19% votes or 13.6 crore voters?

Also read: Why this Kolaveri Di?

Uttar Pradesh has its own share of narratives; I will write a separate post about the narratives that were floating in the state before the elections and what new narratives are floating in the state now after the elections. Please follow my blog to get a notification as soon as I publish the next one.

Also read: PM Modi and CM Yogi, a big reason behind rising unemployment!

The harsh truth is that narratives and propagandas have always and will always play their roles in politics and history. When we live in a democracy, people would further and promote the narratives and stories that they like and no one can stop them. But, at the same time, we should be smart enough to see through the narratives and the stories narrated to us. That’s why probably we should read more! What are the other stories and narratives that reach your ears? There are many more! Do mention them in the comments!

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