The recent show by the comedian Hasan Minhaj that sought to focus on the Indian Elections was supposed to be a view in to Indian Elections for the west to understand. Now one does not expect journalistic reports from a comedy show but some amount of fact checking is expected. Unfortunately for a comedy show which was taking up such a complex issue – it was neither completely factual nor funny.

The start of the show itself is a bunch of old Indian Americans talking about Indian Elections. If you closely listen you would think that they haven’t seen an election since the 1975 Emergency. Unfortunately this is the ‘Apuization’ of the American society where the first generation Indian Americans get their ideas about India by talking to those who have left 40 years ago rather than those who still are living in the country, have just migrated or have strong ties to the country. ‘You will burned to death’ ‘There will be an accident that might kill you’ are some of the things that the uncles and aunties say in horror.

Now it is pointless to reiterate that there are millions of Indians espousing their point of view without this fear, including the author and many others on this and multiple platforms. No one has experienced this and in the odd case that threats have come towards someone-they have been condemned and action has been taken. To paint this stereotype about India that once you say something someone will be out to kill you is just perpetrating the worst ‘third world’ stereotype to a western audience already fed with stereotypes about India every day. At this rate I’m surprised they didn’t just show a clip of Amrish Puri from Indiana Jones saying ‘Indians will drink your blood if they don’t like you’

And after that it goes into an irreversible downward spiral. Yes, you would think the discourse doesn’t get any lower but it does because it indulges into providing selective facts.

Let’s start with the Kashmir issue – where I will not get into the map issue because for long India has maintained that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and US Maps do not reflect that. But Minhaj casually mentions the terrorist attack and moves the discussion to the Balakot bombings. Not saying that the perpetrators of his attack are in Pakistan being sheltered by the government – a fact that the foreign minister of Pakistan himself admitted in multiple interviews. And no this is not to suggest motives but a way to show how selective facts are being portrayed to show that the targets were bombed because it was close to the elections (that thinly veiled reference comes right at the end). And the serious allegations of terrorists being shielded are completely ignored.

Then comes the odd comparison between Modi and Trump- which he takes three bizarre reasons to come to the conclusion that maybe they have similarities but then ends there. What he doesn’t say are the countless differences between the administrations. Nowhere are the ministers of the Modi government facing any serious charges nor are there charges of nepotism. If a slogan and a hug is all it takes to draw similarities then one can extend that to many leaders.

Rahul Gandhi too gets a mention as a dynast after which he is almost forgotten in the whole video. Nowhere is it mentioned that Modi’s biggest challenger has been an incompetent leader who has been a member of the house since 2004 and has made a very few interventions and has repeatedly failed. Now this isn’t a political news show so I don’t expect them to cover every aspect of this. What is interesting though is that they picked a very eloquent voice of the Congress, Shashi Tharoor to whitewash Rahul Gandhi’s image so to speak. For the western audience unfamiliar with Rahul’s gaffes and incompetence in public life- this just seemed like an odd way of looking at it.

But the problems of course start when he starts alluding to the fact the government is ‘communal’ and the congress although corrupt is ‘secular’. He does not explicitly say it, but there are several allusions to it. Therein lies the crux of my problem with the show. Basic research would have shown him the history of communal riots under the Congress. One of the worst ones being under Rahul’s own father’s watch in 1984 when more than 3000 Sikhs were massacred in Delhi. Add to that various riots in 1989 in Bhagalpur, 1987 in Meerut, Nellie, 1969 Gujarat Riots and many more. This was omitted ostensibly to not show the communal face of the Congress

I am not saying that the show or Minhaj is batting for any party but it is obviously trying to pander to an ideology and trying painfully hard to force a narrative that somehow India has become ‘intolerant’ and ‘communal’. Both of which have been rebutted on basis of various data points. Yet facts seem to be the weakest link of the show.

There is also the issue about the economy where he picks out a data point about jobs – a fact that has been rebutted by many and then does not mention the remarkable achievements of the government in taxation and other reforms. I don’t expect the show to be a news report as I said but selective omissions seem to be the name of the game.

The biggest omissions I thought were the focus that PM Modi put on sanitation and cleanliness. With Swachh Bharat and building of toilets there were some drastic improvements made in those two fields in India. Add to that power connectivity, road connectivity, schemes like Ujjwala and many others have uplifted segments of the society that the west calls ‘third world’.

Even a cursory mention of these would have sufficed but clearly the motivation was only to pander to one side of the narrative. Millions of Indians being lifted out of poverty isn’t an issue. One thing he says is ‘Will India define itself from inclusion or exclusion’. Well I would say for 60 years, millions of Indians have been excluded out of economic progress and this is their election. This is their election to tell the world that their needs were not seen as issues that drove parties to power and merely giving them sops would suffice earlier.

This election is that class’s time for self-determination as they are getting ready to come and vote for progress that they have seen. India’s history is rife with betrayals, violence and bloodshed. There are Indians moving past that and are talking about progress. Yes there are challenges and violence against any group cannot be condoned. But is India better off than where it was before 2014- the answer is a resounding yes.

And Mr. Modi will come to power on the basis of that faith that crores of Indians have in him. That he will provide a good government that helps them. It is out of appreciation and not fear. I do not expect that you, Mr. Minhaj will agree with me and I do not expect everyone who loved this episode will. It is good that we all can agree to disagree- but debates should happen on facts and not selective data. Sadly this episode was based on selective data and it used that to allude to many messages. Most of the viewers of his show will not vote in India in 2019. But they should know that India has moved far far away from what the paranoid uncles and aunties in the video were suggesting. Maybe they ought to take a trip and talk to the ‘real India’. That’s what might end up educating them on what the ‘Idea of India’ is- and not what Yogendra Yadav and his fellow ideological comrades might want us to believe.

P.S.: I also couldn’t help but notice the obsession Mr. Minhaj seemed to have over PM Modi’s English and how he wanted it to sound. Elitism is a strange thing even among folks claiming to be politically correct.

Image Credits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqZ_SH9N3Xo&t=17s (Netflix) | No copyright infringement intended.

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