PM Modi is doing a backward reading when he puts the blame of all our contemporary problems at the door of the Congress rule of seventy years. He is cleverly incorporating what he deems as ‘dark days’ of Congress rule into his speech that brings about a rhetorical effect of his position as one of being in light and progress. One might understand that PM Modi is using a literary tool called as inter-textuality. Such a crafty inter-textual reading simultaneously brings about a figural reading. Maybe we will have to take the German thinker Erich Auerbach to understand the political discourse of our PM. Auerbach in his book Mimesis, teaches that a figural interpretation establishes a connection between two events or persons in such a way that the first does not just signify itself but also the second, while the second evolves or fulfils the first. Though the two events/ persons are separated in time, they remain within the flow of the same spacio-temporality. We can clearly identify the two poles in the discourse of PM Modi: the corrupt past of Congress and BJP’s promising present in the discourse of our PM. The text of his discourse is intertwined with our past along with that of the Congress and our future with what BJP promises to bring to us. The glow of the discourse captivates us and we often uncritically surrender our goodwill to its bewitching promises.
Maybe we can do a figural reading of the Ekalavya episode from the Mahabharata to illustrate our point. An inclusive reading of the Ekalavya episode that embraces the Dalits of today is an example of inter-textual reading. We can still take it further and sight an atrocity on Dalits. This will do a figural reading that claims that the upper castes continue to cut the thumb of the Dalits even today. This is an example of backward reading. We do make use of the device of backward readings continuously in different contexts. One may also take the instance of figural reading from the work of Wendy Doniger, where she interprets the dog in the Mahabharata as symbolically standing for the Dalits. Doniger like other scholars suggests that, the dog that is seen with several arrows on its tongue and the dog that follows Yudistira represent the Dalits. She point out that the dog performs a function of both degrading and masking the fact of degradation all at the same time. We can find several such backward figural readings in all religions. A figural reading has always sense of fulfilment. The Christian reading of the Hebrew Bible as an Old Testament is figural in this sense. The citation of the above examples are only to illustrate how we do as well as receive figural readings that keep our past, present and future in conversation. The figural message has a clear direction that points to the fact that one day the hour of victory will strike in favour of the listeners. It is as almost like what the Jews in the synagogue were told by Jesus that the text of Isaiah that he read to them has become true in their hearing.
Now the inter-textual discourse of PM strives to invent him as the messiah of our people whose hour has not yet come. It does not say that PM is a failed messiah. It says that his hour has not yet come because of the tremendous difficulties that are still persisting because of the long Congress misrule. The alleged Congress misadventure with our country is often used as a cover that hides the incompetence and even misdeeds of the BJP Government. The alleged misrule of Congress thus helps in producing a figural reading that links our present plight to that era and positions BJP as a Party that has the power to lift us from the mess that we find ourselves pushed in today. Besides, this intense glance of good times that are yet to come, the figural in the discourse of BJP-RSS-VHP combine, presents an already-not yet actualisation of the mythical Ram Raj which promises to convert India into a land flowing with milk and honey. This means the political discourse presents BJP with a transformative mission. But the fact that the achhe din that would bring positive change still remains a distant promise. The political discourse of the PM as well as BJP is steadily losing steam. It seems that the triumphant discourse is on the way of losing its voice. The question is simple: ‘will a counter-figural reading of the people dissolve the discourse of our PM Modi?’ It appears that the discourse of our PM has become a promissory note that cannot be en-cashed.
The failure of the central Government to deliver on promises made during the election campaign are coming back to haunt it. Nothing seems to be preventing the people to do their own reading back on the performance of the Government. Added to this discontent is a sense of anger and despair produced by the fleeing of the major financial fraudsters from our country. Everyone is aware that such great escapes are not possible without active support of the state apparatus. As a result, a new counter-narrative that is undermining the performance of the central Government is steadily building up. But someone may say that it is too early to write off PM Modi and his Party. One thing is certain that the road ahead is difficult and uncertain. The figural being in constant flux, we can discern the turning of the table against the ruling chairs. The figural in the discourse of the PM Modi once matched with the desire of the people. Now that the desire of the people for achhe din remains largely unfulfilled. The same discourse of PM Modi is set to produce a counter-figural. This means while the PM condemns the unfaithfulness of the Congress, the counter-figural in the discourse will begin to manifest the unfaithfulness and hypocrisy of PM Modi and his Party to the people of our country. The counter-figural only brings the truth that no one becomes good by calling others evil.
(The author is Professor of Rachol Seminary).
