Page 26 - EW July 2022

Expert Comment

Understanding the Nupur

Sharma phenomenon

SHIV VISVANATHAN

OREIGN POLICY IN THE AGE OF TRUMP AND The story of Nupur Sharma is presented
Modi is no longer a sedate, ritualistic, rational
affair. Bad behaviour and calculated arrogance as a case of bad behaviour necessitating
Fare its hallmarks in an era when mob mentality quick correction. But when one traces
and majoritarianism dominate the collective mind. In the the genealogy of the forces ranked
media, the story of now suspended BJP official spokes-
person Nupur Sharma is presented as a singular case of behind her, a different story surfaces
bad behaviour necessitating quick correction. But when
one traces the genealogy of the forces ranked behind her, supply and foreign investment. Meanwhile domestically,
a different story surfaces. business can continue as usual.
A typically brash BJP politician, Sharma is a front-
Muslims in India protesting blasphemy are brutally
stage player of an insolence machine who can insult the beaten by cops almost as a matter of rule in police sta-
Prophet because she feels she embodies the collective tions where Spanish-style inquisition supplemented with
arrogance of the BJP and larger sangh parivar. She is torture, is routine. There are two separate acts in this
well-connected and knows she will be reinstated eventu- play. Sharma’s removal is protocol, ritual closure, even as
ally, perhaps even sanctified. The BJP leadership is well- police violence against outraged protestors is a reiteration
aware that hate mongering brings in the popular vote. of official ideology and restatement of intention.
Sharma senses that even if she is formally dismissed, like here is a second point which has to be understood. It
a modern Padmini of Chittor, she will be allowed shades Tis clear that Sharma’s blasphemy has widespread rank
of martyrdom. There is almost something filmi about her and file support if social media hashtags are an index of
brashness, her born again patriotism. However, what approval. Sharma embodies the ideological rigidity of BJP
we must examine is not this BJP spokeswoman, but the foot soldiers. The party leadership understands the im-
organisation that produces and encourages such people. portance of duality in politics. Even as it revels in violence
One senses that Sharma is only a variant of hate which enforces majoritarianism at home to harvest the
spewing television anchor Arnab Goswami, a ruling party electoral dividend, foreign trade is left intact for economic
propagandist more loyalist than the king. Hysteria and growth which is also necessary for electoral success.
aggression invented by him have become hallmarks of The question one has to ask is whether this discussion
loyalty. A bully boy attitude marked by arrogance has will stop with a mere debate on brazenness. The BJP is
created a new style of media interrogation, and bad essentially a mob-centric party from which the leadership
behaviour is valued as superior policy articulation. maintains a distance to separate foreign policy from inter-
Sharma, a television habitue, is representative of a
new epidemic of yes-sayers who echo and amplify the nal repression of minorities. The BJP’s cadres function
as the equivalent of civil society while real civil society
BJP's political chorus. Prime minister Modi can remain organisations are snuffed out. Anti-minority rhetoric
immaculately silent like a waxwork in Madame Tussaud’s and violence at home is hidden behind secular bonhomie
museum because he has a bandwagon of garrulous abroad.
spokespersons to present the vote-catching hate- Two other things should be noted: hidden behind
mongering that consolidates the Hindu vote behind BJP. the bonhomie of foreign policy is the toxicity of media.
It is policy, not spectacle we must analyse to understand Corporations use media to pander to rulers by inciting the
the Nupur Sharma phenomenon. public. They have created the spectacle of Arnab Gos-
Behind the screen are bureaucratic responses. Sharma wami, the hysterical interrogator whose archetype haunts
is eulogised for what is a forthright, valorous truth to all media channels. The irony is the audience enjoys his
many people. But there is also a pragmatism behind her Muslim baiting in which truth and ordinary decencies are
removal as a BJP spokesperson. Indians constitute a unavoidable casualties.
significant part of the workforce in several Muslim Arab In the final analysis, Nupur Sharma is a distraction.
dictatorships. Mass expulsion of Indian labour from one She is presented as a human-interest story hiding State
or more satrapies would have landed the BJP leadership, violence. Foreign policy and latter day democracy are ani-
already being buffeted by slowing GDP growth, high mated by lies. In this environment, Nupur could blossom
inflation and unemployment, in real trouble. Therefore to into an icon adding a salacious touch to the violence and
placate Arab Muslim states, the BJP leadership extracted evil that’s becoming endemic in contemporary politics.
a belated apology from Sharma and replaced her. This
disciplinary act served the purpose of smoothing ruffled
feathers in OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) (Shiv Visvanathan is a member of Compost Heap, an academic think tank,
countries that are being wooed for subsidised crude oil and well-known columnist)

26 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2022