http://scroll.in/article/814769/the-daily-fix-what-did-modi-mean-when-he-said-there-is-a-chasm-between-dalits-and-nationalists
What did Modi mean when he said there is a chasm between Dalits and nationalists? 2 hours ago Updated 2 hours ago Rohan Venkataramakrishnan Exclusive BJP Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke at a closed-door meeting with nearly 400 top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday, bringing to an end a 15-day patriotism drive that had been aimed at asserting the party's ideology across the country. At the meeting, according to various reports, Modi called on his party to continue playing the nationalism card as much as possible, since it is central to the BJP's ideology. "Nationalism has been our core identity and our strength," IANS quoted him as saying. "We have only one goal and that is nation-building," was the quote in the Telegraph. NDTV reported that Modi called nationalism "the bedrock of our ideology". And the Indian Express had probably the most telling reference: “Rashtravadi toh hamare saath hain, humein Dalit aur pichchde ko saath lana hai.” The nationalists are with us, we need to bring Dalits and backward groups. What better way to encapsulate who the BJP means when it speaks about the "nationalists"? Those people are already with the party, Modi says, now they also need to bring in the Dalits and the poor, downtrodden – who are evidently not nationalists. One could read that as just being poor enunciation, as his compatriot Prakash Javadekar was "amused" to be accused of on Tuesday. Or one could see it as an admission of just whom Modi and the BJP refers to when they constantly harp on nationalism, a message that has been confirmed time and again by the party's actual approach to Dalits, the poor and minorities. Modi has often been accused of using dog-whistles, like the "pink revolution", but it's clear that his party and the Sangh Parivar are sending as coded of a message when it makes it clear who it thinks deserve to consider this country their own. In case that wasn't clear enough, Jharkhand Chief Minister and BJP leader Raghubar Das spelled this out a few days ago: "Those who consider India as their country will treat cow as their mother." Even as it struggles to reach out to Dailts and the downtrodden, those who don't have a similar reverence for the cow evidently can't consider India their country. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
