On 27th February 2022, it marked twenty years of the Godhra carnage of 2002 and the riots that subsequently took place in Gujarat. At this point, former propagandist-cum-journalist and now a Congress MP in the Rajya Sabha Kumar Ketkar has reattempted his resurrection by targeting PM Modi in his address as the chairman of a seminar on the topic ‘results of farmers protest and the challenges ahead.’ Kumar Ketkar has said that ‘Modi is a bio-Robo’ in the seminar which was organized at Gandhi Bhavan in Pune jointly by Maharashtra Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Yuvak Kranti Dal headed by 80-year-old Kumar Saptarshi and Samvidhanik Rashtrawad Manch on 27th February 2022.
Starting the speech about farmers by speaking about Godhra
Ketkar started his address with strong denial of Godhra carnage on the very moment it turned two decades old. He said, “Today is 27th February 2022. Exactly 20 years ago on this day, Gujarat was set on fire because a train bogie caught fire at Godhra railway station. All the cases and trials, etc. have been completed but till now there is not a single clear evidence to explain how within just three hours of a train coach catching fire at Godhra, each and every Muslim locality of whole Gujarat was burning.”
Kumar Ketkar does not understand the chronology.
So, from the very beginning, it is clear that Kumar Ketkar has not read the reports of the Nanavati Commission and the judgments of the court in various cases regarding the riots. He has peddled a major lie about the date of the riots which did not erupt the same day but a day after the carnage. Ketkar said, “In 2002, there were no WhatsApp universities. Internet or mobile phone was not that easily available to people. An SMS would charge around 2 to 6 rupees. In such times, the riot in Godhra spread across the whole Gujarat state in a matter of just three hours. And not only this, but the riot was spread marking the houses, shops, and localities of the Muslims. This is how that genocide happened.”
Has Kumar Ketkar employed a secret forensic expert?
After terming the riots as genocide, he further said, “Everything of this, setting up a train coach on fire in Godhra station included, was pre-planned. Because many forensic scientists have proved that it is impossible to set such a coach on fire from outside. So this incident of 2002 changed the course of Indian politics. In fact, it was changed by the Rath Yatra in 1990. The Babri mosque was demolished in 1992, exactly ten years after which we see this Godhra incident.” Interestingly, he has not specified the forensic labs he had consulted with before throwing away such allegations.
How Godhra is linked to the farmers protest?
Kumar Ketkar soon tried to come back to the original track but did not forget to take an opportunity to enlighten the audience about how Godhra is connected to the farmers’ protest. He said, “Now I will tell you how this Godhra is connected with the farmers’ protest.” What he said immediately after this had no connecting link between the two incidents spaced two decades apart on the timeline. Have a look at his explanation. To connect farmers and elections with the Hindu-Muslim riots of 2002, he introduced the Muzaffarnagar angle.
Ketkar said, “There are elections going on in Uttar Pradesh. They have tried and tested it once again if there can be riots. They tested it in Muzaffarnagar recently. But they did not succeed unlike what they did in 2013. At that time they made Jats and Muslims fight with each other brutally. This time it did not happen so. But this doesn’t mean that the riots can be prevented after the elections. Because of the farmers’ protests, we could temporarily stop it. But right now there are elections.”
Kumar Ketkar goes inconsistent within a matter of a few minutes.
If you are still confused about how Godhra carnage is linked to the farmers’ protest, please go through the series of paradoxical allegations Ketkar has gone on throwing here and there. In this attempt, he conveniently slipped to his original communist thought lines.
He said, “Whosoever comes to the power, Narendra Modi is still confident that he can divide society based on religion and caste. And the biggest testimony to this is that Narendra Singh Tomar has told us in the parliament that the farm laws will definitely be brought back even if they are temporarily revoked. Maharashtra has passed similar laws in the past and that has worked like a vaccine or Omicron and we stayed silent when the laws were introduced, passed without discussions, and repealed.”
This is the blame-Modi part of the speech. Immediately after that, Ketkar has blamed members of the opposition who do not suit his communist agenda. He said, “Even in the opposition, there are some fellow members who unofficially discuss with us like ‘see the world is changing and so should the agriculture field, why don’t we support these laws.’ But under the garb of developmental changes everything there is run by the agenda suitable to the game of global corporate capitalists.”
Kumar Ketkar tries to establish that, not the Congress, but the BJP is actual brown sahib.
Now as the topic itself has unrolled up to international things, Ketkar cleverly introduced British Raj and further peddled his agenda of bashing BJP, RSS and accusing them of genocide which as per his claims is about to happen soon after the elections. Interestingly, he is blaming BJP in advance for the riots which he claims will take place in Uttar Pradesh, irrespective of who comes to power in Uttar Pradesh.
He said, “British people also ruled indirectly in the same fashion. They joined hands with the local princely states, landlords, and sahukars who helped the British people by demanding a rule of law. International corporates and local corporates are now pushing India in global neoimperialism which in turn is backed by the government through such policies. Curzon divided Bengal on a Hindu Muslim basis. The same is happening today. And it cannot be avoided even if Akhilesh Yadav comes to power. The thing is just that if BJP comes to power, the genocide will take place more rapidly. All the prior steps to that genocide are completed.”
Earlier in 2019, he had claimed that if Narendra Modi comes to power again in 2019, then India might shun its democratic roots and elections may not happen in 2024.
Blaming court of helping Modi on Hijab row
In order to make his address appear like that of a chairman of the seminar, Kumar Ketkar tried to take an account of the recent Karnataka hijab row. But more than being contemporary, his focus was directed towards attacking the judiciary for not giving the judgments as per Kumar Ketkar’s wish and will.
He said, “The hijab thing was started in just two colleges of Karnataka and now we are seeing it all over the country, especially in Uttar Pradesh. And by the court judgments in this matter and in other recent matters, it is clear enough that the court is also walking the path prescribed by Narendra Modi.” It is notable that the Karnataka high court had ordered a ban on any religious attire in the educational campuses having a prescribed uniform.
What Kumar Ketkar talked about the farmers’ protest?
Kumar Ketkar talked very less about the protest. He marked that Delhi’s farmers’ protest was inspired by the Nashik to Mumbai march of the farmers that took place in 2017. It is notable that the farmers’ organizations in that protest were also of the left-leaning ideology, and the protest was against the then CM of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis. Kumar Ketkar bashed the so-called Godi media for not reporting the real issues in both the protests – 2017 and 2021.
He said, “The media that covered the Kisan long march in 2017 was a Godi media at that time also. But in the 2017 long march, the media was so confused and it did not believe that so many people can walk together to the capital. The upper class of the media supports such incidents compassionately as Barkha Dutt did in the case of the Kisan long march. International media also works the same way.”
Kumar Ketkar still remembers demonetization very well.
Kumar Ketkar did not forget to mention that BJP was elected to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2017 months after demonetization. Linking the media coverage with the daring to speak truth to the power and ask tough questions is a style tone Kumar Ketkar could not avoid using.
He said, “That incident (reporting of Nashik to Mumbai farmers’ march) changed the tone of Marathi media. It gained confidence that Modi can also be questioned. Before that Modi was projected as some invincible man who can ban the notes and still win the UP elections. Kisan March of 2017 broke that myth and became an inspiration for the recent farmers’ protest.”
But he was still not happy with the kind of coverage the farmers’ protest gained in the media. He said, “Initially, the media houses did not give attention to the farmers’ protest in Delhi. Even while covering the protest, no media house discussed the laws but the media reported only how these farmers are living in tents and cooking foods, etc. Other sections of media portrayed them as Khalistani just like BJP did.”
Kumar Ketkar does not like making of New India
Making a backdrop for the picture he wanted to paint, Kumar Ketkar mentioned the central vista project and other developmental projects undergoing in the national capital. Most of them are being done because the old buildings are either dangerous or insufficient for the generations to come. But Kumar Ketkar does not like anything made by some non-Congress government. If someone is harming something made by Nehrus or Gandhis, he is hurt.
He said, “The assembly elections in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are not the only reason to repeal the farm laws. But, in New Delhi, there is a huge construction site going on and it is called central vista. The hyped project costs 1300 crore rupees. In the next phase, they will raze off Rail Bhavan, Shastri Bhavan, etc. Prime Minister will also have a new house. Trimurti Bhavan is almost gone. Indira Gandhi national center for arts is also in the removed ones. Ok, you don’t like that name, change it. But this man has removed the whole museum. He wants to destroy everything.”
Kumar Ketkar then went on explaining how anything against Gandhi and Nehru is against India – or say the so-called idea of India. He said, “Basically, this Modi-led RSS wants to erase the Gandhi-Nehru history of this country. It has nothing to do with the freedom struggle. They just can’t directly attack Gandhi unlike Nehru, therefore they worship Godse. All they tell about Nehru Gandhi is how they were responsible for the partition.”
Did Kumar Ketkar just exposed the conspiracy that could not realize?
In the heat of bashing Modi, RSS, and BJP, Kumar Ketkar had gone ahead to reveal what could be the dark secret of the farmers’ protest that lost its direction and funding the moment PM Modi announced to repeal the farm laws. If farmers’ were thinking on the same lines as what Kumar Ketkar has said, no sane Indian will call them farmers anymore. He has explained in detail as if he was involved in the microplanning of the conspiracy that could not realize. By comparing the extrapolated imaginary massacre of innocent farmers with the Jalianwala Bagh incident, Kumar Ketkar attempted to display the rich stock of references he has ready on the tip of his tongue.
Kumar Ketkar said, “Modi was afraid that if on the 26th January, the farmers sitting on the borders of Delhi come by normal local trains into the capital, and not tractors this time, plain simple train travel. Not a morcha, but coming in singles and doubles as 144 was imposed. So what if these people one by one gather at the site called central vista. You cannot separately locate everyone individually at such a place and you have to open the fire. You have to blow up the central vista site. And the farmers were Sikhs. So another Jalianwala Bagh was not affordable. Modi has repealed the farm laws just to maintain his image in international media. His image in international media is made by his grand concert-like speeches abroad attended by the NRIs in general and mostly Gujaratis in particular.”
Revealing next plans
He further said, “Today, we have temporarily won this fight. But the attack after the elections will not be targeted only on the farmers but it will be an attack on every one of us Indians from all sides. So we must be prepared for an all-out fight. Adani and Ambani are in league with the international corporates.
‘Modi is a bio-Robo.’
So that was all Kumar Ketkar had to say about farmers and protests. Then he resumed Modi hatred and Modi bashing. But what he said while attacking Modi personally has only made him look like a miserable court poet of the Gandhi-Nehru family whom a handful of listeners mistakenly think to be an intellectual.
Kumar Ketkar said, and he said it with conviction, “Modi is not just an illiterate uneducated but he is a sheer brainless coward. He does not know anything about anything. Reading and writing? No, you are taking it too long for him. No study and understanding of any subject. Some of his secretaries told me that whenever he goes to any damn place we need to give him an A4 size paper with bullet points written over it. Then he understands something that he has to talk like this and like that.”
After speaking these many bad words for PM Modi, who has delivered countless eloquent speeches full of references and quotations and numbers at many places without any paper or teleprompter, Kumar Ketkar slipped to the Modi speeches in which teleprompters are used. He said, “Teleprompter thing, we all know that. All he can talk about without a teleprompter is crying and saying how he is a victim. He does that in parliament too. And our politicians are impressed with that. They say, be what may, the man has emotions. No, that man does not have any emotions. Modi is a bio-Robo. He is an emotionless man.”
‘I have proof to say that he is a bio-Robo.’
Kumar Ketkar did not realize that he has just said something very weird. He went on to support his claims with some more weird reasons which rather than proving his point, just establish the fact that Narendra Modi is physically fit thanks to his years of regular yoga practice.
Kumar Ketkar said, “I have proof to say that Modi is a bio-Robo. You might be listening to him for the last seven-eight years but I have covered his elections of 2002, 2007, and 2012 for Times Now channel and NDTV channel. I was called there for this. I know his speeches from that time period too. Even if we leave those speeches aside and take the ones he gave after 2014, what do we notice in those speeches? Any one of you please show me a single speech of Modi in which he has stumbled. There is none. A talk in which he has hiccupped. None. A talk in which he sneezed. No. An occasion where he had to cough a little bit. No. While delivering a speech, sometimes our voice obstructs, swallow a lump or a sigh or a cry, anything like that with Modi? Never. Why? Because it never happens with a Robo.”
‘Amitabh Bachchan and Paresh Rawal taught him acting.’
Kumar Ketkar, in this program, was looking like he is sane but his words contradicted his appearance. He said, “A Robo is just like a toy operating on a battery, you must have seen children playing with one. Likewise, Modi is a bio-Robo. Being a bio-Robo, he can always display that he has left with so much power and energy even after a long time.”
Then suddenly Kumar Ketkar said something which only he can believe. He said, “Modi makes his face like this. Then he makes his face like that. He does it just like that man Amitabh Bachchan has taught him. Don’t laugh. Amitabh Bachchan and Paresh Rawal have had regular training sessions for Modi. And this, I am not telling you gossip. This is the truth. And he has prepared on the basis of that only. We must give him some marks for this effort like if some student writes wrong answers in the exams, the teacher gives him a mark or two for good handwriting. It is just like that.”
‘Modi does not know the law.’
Kumar Ketkar did not stop throwing allegations against Modi. Having known that Narendra Modi has experience of heading a state government for 13 years and he has been running the union government for the last eight years, the Congress MP said, “Modi does not know anything about these laws. Even if he had studied a lot and then brought the bill in favor of capitalism, I would have lauded him saying what a well-studied man this is. But that too is not the case. He has been given the script and he has spoken that only. He does not know the pros and cons of the policy. All he knows is to help Adani Ambani and the international corporate capitalism because he speaks the script provided by them.”
Kumar Ketkar indirectly promoted regional divide on the basis of scripts of the language
As if bashing Modi was not enough, Kumar Ketkar revealed how does he look at the nation and how divided he assumes the country to be. He said, “Southern India has four states. Because I don’t count Maharashtra in the south as it has Devnagri script. Up in the north, Punjab is not Devnagri state. Bengal in the east is not a Devnagri state. So the non-Devnagri states, prominently the ones in the south are claiming that their rate of population growth is very less than those in the north and thus they have to carry the burden which is what was first proposed by Chandrababu Naidu and subsequently supported by Stalin. And don’t impose Hindi on us.”
Correlating this to his original BJP bashing agenda, he said, ” What does it mean? It means that BJP is effective only in these handfuls of Hindi-speaking states viz. UP, Bihar, MP, Rajasthan, and Himachal Pradesh. The media calls BJP a national party which it is actually not. It is a local regional party of the north. Down here they don’t have any base in Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Pondicherry, and Telangana. They have managed it by hook or crook in Karnataka. Similarly, they have no base in Bengal, Punjab, and the northeast. This means that BJP is not a national party. We too are living in an illusion actually.”
Ketkar mongers the fear of balkanization
After portraying the division of the country as described above Kumar Ketkar went on to monger the fear of balkanization in the minds of the listeners. He said, “If this north-south divide increases our federal structure is gone. We have seen what happened with Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia was a country of 3.5 crore people at that time which is less than one-third of today’s Maharashtra. Sri Lanka is less population than Mumbai and Jaffna wish to separate out. They are already planning for a Vishal Tamil Nadu and if you see in the villages of Tamil Nadu or Jaffna you will find that Prabhakaran is celebrated as someone like Subhash Chandra Bose. See, this is the situation in our country.”
‘I am in Congress by chance.’
This speech by Kumar Ketkar can be seen as the best example of what happens when a leftist propagandist journalist, after playing a full inning in the media wing of the left-liberal Congress supporting ecosystem, gets membership of parliament just for being loyal to the Nehru-Gandhi family. He said, “Some of our friends say that the people revolted against the emergency in 1977. What does it mean? They defeated Indira Gandhi in an election. That’s it. But in the south, there were slightly more than 130 seats out of which the Congress had won 128 seats. What does it mean? The people in the south supported emergency? No, they preferred her because they knew she was the national leader and the Congress was the national party. Janata Party secured just six seats then. People in the south were not supporting the emergency but they did not want to oppose it through Janata Party.”
Covering up the whole series of directionless blabbering, he concluded by saying, “However, this does not mean that whatever the Congress party does is correct. No. Not at all. And I say this even if I am in Congress. I am in Congress by chance, by a coincidence. But now what can we do with that?”
