Hamid Ansari left the office of Vice President on Thursday after serving the Chair for 10 years. His last few hours in office was mired with controversy as the right-wing brigade launched vile attacks on him for his comments that there was a growing sense of unease among Muslims.
Of course, he was making this observation in light of Muslims being targetted in the name of cows and beef. More than 20 innocent people have lost their lives as a result of public lynchings carried out by the members of the right-wing groups posing themselves as cow vigilantes.
But Ansari wasn’t just getting attacked on social media by BJP supporters. Inside the parliament, where leaders cutting across party lines paid rich tribute to Ansari and his contribution to India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was busy making veil attack on him for being a Muslim.
Modi said, “It is possible that there was some restlessness within you as well but from today you will not face that crisis…you now have the joy of being liberated, and the opportunity to work, think and speak according to your core beliefs…”
Is this a sitting PM giving farewell to the outgoing VP or a caustic politician humiliating an elderly statesman in a style unbecoming of a prime minister?
“You are a career diplomat. Only after I became Prime Minister that I understood who is a career diplomat. Because one cannot immediately understand the meaning of their laughter or their handshake. That is their training. But I am sure this expertise must have been used during the 10 years here, benefiting the House.”
Again, is this a praise or the menacing sarcasm, full of prejudices?
“You were associated with West Asia for a major part of your career as a diplomat. You spent many years of your life in that circle, in that atmosphere, in that thought, its debate and amid such people. For a major part after your retirement, whether it was in Minority Commission or Aligarh University, you remained in that circle. But for 10 years, you got a different responsibility. Every moment, you had to remain confined to the Constitution and you tried your best to fulfil that responsibility.”
Is this a tribute or an open, sardonic accusation that Hamid Ansari always carried a West Asia (read Muslim-Arab-soft terrorist) mindset, revolving around red herrings like “Minority Commission” and “Aligarh University” and that mindset was restricted because of constitutional responsibilities, but now it is free.
Here you have in black, white and grey, how Modi, saw a few ‘privileged’ secular Muslims elites. This is how Hitler saw privileged Jews and why and how? With utterly brutal resentment.
(Views expressed here are the author’s own and Janta Ka Reporter doesn’t endorse them.)