Ayodhya Ram Mandir coverage shows why Western media can’t decode Modi

Hours after returning from the Ayodhya Ram Mandir ‘pran prathistha’ ceremony, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced that his government will start the ‘Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana’, a clean energy initiative which will see one crore Indians get solar panels on their rooftops in the coming months. He pulled out a metaphor from Ramayan itself, saying Shri Ram belonged to the Sun dynasty. “The first decision I have taken after returning from Ayodhya is that our government will launch the Pradhanmantri Suryodaya Yojana with the target of installing rooftop solar on one crore houses. This will not only reduce the electricity bill of the poor and the middle class but will also make India self-reliant in the energy sector,” Prime Minister Modi said, posing for photos with solar panels. While Narendra Modi revolutionises communication by mixing faith with modernity and contemporary government schemes with ancient metaphors, the Western media has renounced its job to inform or communicate, lowering itself instead into the morass of propaganda, ideological hit-jobs, half-truths, and some downright lies. Western outlets have also proved that they do not understand Prime Minister Modi at all. They want to showcase him as a regressive and divisive figure drawing popularity from the base and hateful instincts of the masses. They entirely miss the point that Narendra Modi’s progressive vision for Bharat’s future is firmly rooted in the ancient soul and wisdom of the civilisation’s past. While Modi executes civilisational restoration by helping rebuild the Ayodhya Ram temple or building the Kashi Vishwanath or Ujjain Mahakal corridors, Bharat sends a record number of shuttles and satellites to space, including Chandrayaan and Aditya, leads the world in digital payments, and gives even the poor access to the cheapest internet data in the world. But the Western media keeps trying to build a narrative and failing miserably each time. Even on Ayodhya, CNN headlines it: ‘Modi hails a new ‘divine India’ as he inaugurates controversial Hindu temple ahead of nationwide elections. BBC title reads: ‘Ayodhya Ram Mandir: India PM Modi inaugurates Hindu temple on razed Babri mosque site’. It completely bypasses the fact that the mosque itself was built on a razed mandir, and that Hindus have endured decades of litigation with extreme legal scrutiny before proving with clear archaeological evidence that the Babri masjid was indeed built by demolishing a temple 496 years ago. New York Times highlights the Hindu card: ‘Modi opens a giant temple, a triumph toward a Hindu-first India’. Qatar-based pro-Islamist Al Jazeera described the event as “one of modern India’s darkest chapters”. Washington Post expressed concerns about the event and its coverage giving Modi a massive edge in the coming elections and blurring the line between religion and the Indian State. All of them forgot not only mention the demolition of the temple by one of Babar’s commanders but also that 17 kar sevaks or devotees (unofficial figures put it over a hundred) were killed on 30 October, 1990, police firing in Ayodhya ordered by then chief minister Mulayam Singh. Many bodies were thrown into the Sarayu river. Modi’s popularity lies in the fact that he has unapologetically brought back the trust of Indian Hindus — a majority of close to 80 per cent — towards the State. He works on the premise that Bharat cannot regain its greatness just by economic or technological progress. In fact, those two were predicated on the cultural revival of Hinduness, the glue and source code of the vast land and its 1.4 billion inhabitants. By being in a state of stubborn denial, western media has failed to catch the pulse of a rising India. By their disingenuity, the once-revered outlets have become increasingly irrelevant for Indians. Whether it is the Citizenship Amendment Act or the farm law protests, these foreign media outlets have been highly selective with the truth. If one wishes to know about contemporary India, one could refer to Western media coverage of the nation to first know what it is not. The author is contributing editor, Firstpost. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views. Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.