Nation wants you to know - India is with you

We live in a time when doing your bit for the country will invite the wrath of a certain faction. Doing your bit may be your only agenda, but their's to put you on the defensive; their agenda is driven by political ideology, be it Leftist or pro-Congress or pro-Opposition or simply – anti-government. And because this group cannot disagree with you, they will exhaust every limited outlet they have to label and categorise you a “bhakt”, “chamcha” and, most recently and lowly, “kutta”.

Stooping to this level and coining these labels started with me deciding to take a position on the #AwardWapsi gang.

It’s a fact that Modi won with a thumping majority, and instead of respecting the sentiment of the people of India, this section decided to go after the government - or any view that was different from their own.

If you spoke for the betterment of the country, this army was ready to bracket you and label you: "He’s a bhakt!", "he got an award because he’s pro-governmentt". I am one of them who has been taking this section head-on and calling them out on every forum.

Today I know I am not alone.

There is an anchor who exposes this section of “pseudo-seculars” as aggressively. He openly names these people who have a motivated agenda on a public platform and that’s what irritates them the most. He fearlessly questions their hypocrisy, selective silence and selective outrage on core issues of the country.

When someone breaks away from political correctness and calls hypocrisy out on a public platform for what it is, what can this brigade do? Here’s what they resort to: They decide to call him names on Twitter and Facebook and write long blogs about it. They do all they can to try and put him in a bracket. They make the story about him being the villain, when all he has done is questioned clear-cut hypocrisy.

If that wasn’t bad enough, they’ve now even fallen to the depths of targeting him when he faces a security threat from terrorists across the border.

They question the basis of the threat almost as though intelligence inputs should be broadcast on public platforms when it comes to this anchor.

Ridiculously, the story has become about whether or not the same terrorists who have bled thousands of Indians over the years pose a potential threat to this one anchor. I ask: Is it the pseudo secular op-eds to decide this or is it the business of ministry of home affairs and intelligence agencies to decide who is a potential threat to whom?

What can this anchor do when he faces threats and the government gets a whiff of it? He’s not on Facebook and he doesn’t want to be on Twitter for now. He doesn’t rant on the social media about being trolled like other journalists (well, I get trolled too but I choose to ignore). But I see everyday, that he is being targeted and it will not stop.

To this lobby, I say: For a moment, step back and think about it objectively.

If the government wants to give him security, this means there is a threat to his life. Just because a lobby is irritated about these inputs, should both the government of India and this anchor simply sit tight as these threats are being issued? Should the government be answerable to this lobby to provide every minute input on the nature of the threat? I ask: What is the purpose of attacking the person under threat at this time for being under threat?

In my view, to attack him at a time like this, you really have to be of a low mindset. But should he respond?

I don’t think so. Ignore them.

In my experience, these trolls and this lobby are employed full time to pull you down and their job is to go to any depths, to use even the slightest and minute issue in the past or present against you. They will dig out old tweets or find statements from three decades ago to spin them to target you. They will sustain the attack to keep a controversy alive. They will even question Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar and Madhur Bhandarkar because they took a position that is against their own. They will go to the level of even questioning a soldier on national television. And sometimes I wonder why won’t they, when elected members of our society can stoop to the same. When a chief minister can do it, others will follow.

To this anchor, I will say: Well, I would only say ignore them and continue to do what you do. I will continue to do what I do. I know and assure you, that when you do just that, 1.27 billion Indians will stand behind you. The entire nation may not be on Facebook or Twitter, or use these platforms to be reactive to every rumour or story or development about oneself, but this great country is coming together to back you.

We need to speak in one voice for this country.

I can understand the tragedy when they come running at you with that mindset, they must be pretty desperate. They won’t think about the country, but you will have to. I feel bad for these people and those associated with them. It must be pretty bad and hurting for them when the mask has fallen because how long can they run from looking within and seeing themselves for their hypocrisy? It’s worse, when they are not even worried about their naked shamelessness.

Think about those who care for the country and remember, the nation is proud. This anchor can do what he does best because he has a clear conscience.

To this anchor, I will sign off with this:

You speak for the nation.

You always say, ‘the nation wants to know’.

Today, the nation wants you to know that India is with you.

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