Anuradha Bhasin
Was Prime Minister Narendra Modi aware that he was batting for a habitual sexual predator when he chose to enthusiastically seek votes for Prajwal Revanna at a rally in Hassan? Revanna, grandson of the former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda is a sitting Member of the Indian Parliament and a member of the JD(S), an important ally of Modi’s BJP.
While Modi was campaigning for him, Revanna’s sexual exploitation was already in discussion in the political circles including the Karnataka state’s BJP unit. Revanna’s recorded videos were circulated and discussed within the BJP ranks for several months with letters seeking explanations exchanged. It strains credulity that Modi – one of India’s most powerful prime ministers with consolidated authority – did not know.
Yet even if one charitably assumes he was kept in the dark by his party, his deafening silence after the revelation of the sex tapes reeks of complicity. The head of state who publicly sought votes for Revanna, even if unwittingly, has expressed neither regret nor remorse over the latter’s actions nor his own lapse in judgment. The bare minimum expected was a public apology, an assurance to Revanna’s victims who are reported to be mortified by the wide circulation of the videos and the fear of being identified and shamed, as well as an explanation about how Revanna fled the country when the horrifying 3000 sex tapes became public knowledge.
The Revanna case lays bare the appalling scale of sexual violence in India and the abuse of power to shield perpetrators. In a nation grappling with an unrelenting onslaught of rapes and molestations, this case will be etched in history as one of the most grotesque. Revanna’s victim count numbers in the thousands, from young girls to sexagenarians – raped, filmed, and blackmailed – a sickening reflection of his depravity.
His elevated status and authority as a parliamentarian render his crimes even more chilling. That one sitting and another former prime minister stood as his guardian angels, protecting him even after Revanna’s misdeeds became public, compounds the monstrosity of this spectacle. Both have not yet expressed any regret, not even for their lack of judgement or ignorance about his shady acts.
Modi has finally broken the silence by averring that there should be zero tolerance for Revanna’s crimes but he has chosen to blame the Congress. He accused the Karnataka state government, headed by Congress, of letting the culprit flee to Germany. He also said that the videos were dated to the time when Janta Dal (S) was a coalition partner of the Congress. Both assertions are lame.
State governments have neither any power over immigration nor customs authorities to allow offenders, involved in serious criminal cases, to leave the country. That power solely lies with the Centre. Reports have pointed out that Revanna fled on a diplomatic passport, which is issued only to diplomats, selected Indian Foreign Service officials, or those okayed by the Ministry of External Affairs. Are we to presume that diplomatic passports are now issued by state governments?
Secondly, the sex tapes in circulation are undated. Unless he is privy to details that are not yet publicly known, how does Modi conclude that these could be from well before 2019 when Deve Gowda’s party was in alliance with the Congress? Did Revanna turn a saint after 2019? Did he become even holier when Modi sought votes for him while sharing a podium with him in Hassan? Even if such an assertion, that most of the videos in question were shot before JD(S) became a partner of the BJP, is presumed to be correct, how does that prove Modi’s innocence? How does that absolve him of his responsibility of backing a politician with a depraved and criminal mentality?
How do such assertions absolve him of his responsibility when there are evident signs of his government’s complicity, at some level, in allowing the person to flee the country?
This is not the first time when Modi has chosen to distance himself from any discussion on how his government has shielded sexual offenders in the past. His continuous silence over sexual abuse – from Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh to Manipur, from Bilkis Bano to Hathras – reveal the pattern of his inclination for protecting chronic rapists and evading questions about his responsibility.
Is it futile to expect him to react with more dignity and set some basic rules for the standard of behaviour expected of his party’s men and those from his allies instead of making some belated lip sympathy about “zero tolerance” to crimes like Revanna’s?
That should be a normal expectation from a normal head of the state.
But Modi is different. His hunger for self-glorification is at odds with his role as a Prime Minister.
Modi portrays himself as a larger-than-life figure, embodying not just his political party but the entire nation. Audaciously, he proclaims himself a ‘Vishwaguru’ (world guru) and ‘divine messenger.’ His party’s manifesto, titled ‘Modi ki Guarantee’ (Modi’s Guarantee), is a blatant exercise in self-aggrandizement. His speeches are laced with third-person references to himself, and he now demands an even more reverential form of address – ‘Modiji’ instead of just ‘Modi.’ In his own mind, he has transcended the role of a mere prime minister, deluding himself into believing he is ‘omnipotent’ and the ‘grand protector’ – a dangerous fantasy that places him above reproach and accountability.
As long as he lives under that delusion, a megalomaniac Modi will continue to shirk his responsibility as a prime minister.
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