India Now CTRL+ALT+D Nation: D for Demolish, Deny, Defame, Detain

Video Producer: Shohini Bose
Video Editor: Deepthi Ramadas
Cameraperson: Athar Rather

Yeh Jo India Hai Na... It has become a Control+Alt+D nation… And here’s what I mean by Control+Alt+D.

CTRL+ ALT+DEMOLITION

If there’s a masjid standing in the wrong place, press Control+Alt+Demolish... The Masjid goes down. Yes, this was done almost 30 years ago. But now, we are using Control+Alt+D in many more ways.

CTRL+ ALT+DELETE

If someone wants data on migrant workers’ deaths and job losses, data that would lead to tough questions, press Control+Alt+Delete and there will be:

• no data
• no questions
• no embarrassment
• no compensation to pay
• no costs to bear

CTRL+ ALT+DEBUNK

If there are Mughal emperors to trash, a few hundred years of history to rubbish, press Control+Alt+Deny or Control+Alt+Debunk. And roads and museums will get renamed, history text books may get re-written.

CTRL+ ALT+DETAIN

If someone is taking part in politically awkward protests, someone who needs to be silenced and shut down, press Control+Alt+Detain, apply:

• UAPA
• NSA
• Sedition charges
• Official Secrets Act

and these troublesome individuals vanish into jails for months, even years.

CTRL+ ALT+DISTRACT

If the mishandling of the COVID-19 crisis and the crashing of the economy are truly hurting the people, loved ones are dying, businesses collapsing, children missing crucial exams, press Control+Alt+Distract or Control+Alt+Defame. And 'godi media' will create a villain like Rhea or a heroine like Kangana. And public attention will overnight be diverted away from crores of jobs lost and a 1,000 COVID deaths daily.

CTRL+ALT+DEL ON MUGHALS WILL MAKE INDIA A POORER & LESSER NATION

If we took the Mughals out of India, by pressing Control+Alt+Delete, the Taj Mahal, would vanish. Press Control+Alt+Delete and the Red Fort would vanish. Press Control+Alt+Delete and one of India’s greatest films, ‘Mughal-e-Azam’ would be erased.

Now those pressing this Control+Alt+Delete button also claim that the Mughals looted India. But THAT is simply NOT TRUE! Here are the facts:

• Mughal rule saw India becoming the world’s richest country
• A Cambridge University study says that by the year 1700, 25 percent of the world’s wealth was in India

Sir Thomas Roe, England’s ambassador to Emperor Jahangir’s court, wrote that India then, traded on its own terms, demanding only gold as payment. And who benefited? Hindu merchants and traders.

French traveller Francois Bernier who came to India in the 17th century also confirmed the same:

So, clearly, the Mughals embraced India, they enriched India and pressing Control+Alt+Delete on that part of India’s history and heritage, will just make us a poorer and lesser nation.

And for anyone looking for the real bad guys who looted India – the answer is the British East India company and the British Raj. Grab a history text book, get to the chapter ‘Drained of wealth during British Rule’ and read all about it.

HERE'S HOW GOVERNMENT HAS DONE A CTRL+ALT+DELETE ON CRUCIAL DATA

Let's look at more examples of pressing Control+Alt+Delete – this time with crucial data. My colleague Asmita Nandy compiled this list of the data that the government claims it does NOT have:

• The number of migrant worker deaths during the COVID pandemic – We have no data says the government.
• The number of migrant workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic – No data says the government.
• The number of COVID-19 frontline workers – health workers, police personnel, safai karmcharis who died during the pandemic – No data says the government.
• The number of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises or MSMEs that shut down during the pandemic – No data.

And the government has admitted to all of this, on record, in Parliament.

WHY CTRL+ALT+DELETE ON DATA? SO THAT THERE'S NO CTRL+ALT+COMPENSATION...

But the question we should then ask is – how is this possible? Why is this data not available? And here’s a clue – press Control+Alt+C... Not C for copy, but C for compensation.

• What would the government have to pay families of migrant workers who died? Compensation. Crores of rupees.
• What would the government have to pay to migrant workers who lost their jobs? Compensation.
• To health-workers, police personnel, safai karmcharis who died risking their lives? Compensation.
• To MSMEs that shut down due to the crashing economy – The government would have had to pay. Compensation.

In fact, the Labour Ministry has told Parliament in so many words that since it does not have data on migrant worker deaths during the pandemic the “question does not arise” of paying any compensation for them. So, press Control+Alt+Delete... Data deleted… And lakhs of those worst-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic are simply forgotten.

CTRL+ ALT+DENY

From Control+Alt+Delete, let's go to Control+Alt+Deny. A few days ago, the Home Ministry pressed the Control+Alt+Deny button, saying no Chinese infiltration has taken place at the LAC in Ladakh in the last six months!
If that’s the case, then WHAT are we discussing with the Chinese at the negotiation table? If they are on their side of the LAC, and we are on our side, then what is there to discuss?

But does pressing Control+Alt+Deny, alter the facts on the ground?

• Chinese troops are on the ridges of Finger 4 at Pangong lake – hundreds of Chinese troops between Finger 8 and 4 – all considered to be Indian territory. If that is NOT infiltration, then what is it?
• Chinese troops are also blocking Indian patrols in Depsang, multiple media reports have said so, reports that have NOT been denied by the Army or Defence Ministry – the Chinese are 15 km inside the LAC at Depsang. If that’s not infiltration, then what is it?

By pressing Control+Alt+Deny, the truth doesn’t change. And also, why are we even denying all this land-grab? Is it because the government has no plan, no strategy, no intent, to get that Indian territory back?

The Nation Wants to Know… are the words of a famous TV news anchor, and he’s right. Yeh Jo India Hai Na… its people deserve the truth and nothing less. So, Control+Alt+Delete, Control+Alt+Deny, Control+Alt+Detain, Control+Alt+Distract… inn sabhi buttons se ungli hatao, aur hume sach batao!