Veteran journalist Ziya Us Salam “pity” friends who turned into “Bhakts”

Veteran journalist and author Ziya Us Salam on Thursday shared a post on his Facebook page expressing “pity” about his two friends who turned into BJP supporters.

The post is shared in the light of poll results in five states, in which Hindu nationalist party won in four.

“…This govt has made otherwise reasoning, thinking men take leave of reason, even common sense,” says the social media post.

Several critics of Hindutva ideas have expressed their anguish to see a landslide victory for BJP, despite the poor governance.

Salam says his interaction with his friends for 25 year have exposed themselves, by overtly cheering for Hindu nationalist groups.

Ziya Us Salam is an associate editor at The Hindu’s Frontline magazine. He has been a vocal critic of Modi’s Hindutva policies.

Ziya Us Salam’s Facebook post:

Today has been a day of enlightenment for me. I discovered the true colours of two men I regarded as my friend for around 25 years. One of them I have known since July 1, 1996, when I joined The Statesman. We often hung out together, went to movies when I was with The Statesman. We went for dinner together, travelled together. He was a devout Hindu, regular with his pooja N fasts. I am a practising Muslim. In 2000 I joined The Hindu. He came in a few years later. He retired a few years ago but kept in touch. He wd often complain of lack of jobs, inflation, petrol prices, corruption, etc. His son has been unemployed for close to four years. And he has sought help from many in vain.

Today, this retired former colleague was rejoicing in the victory of the BJP. Among the reasons he gave was, ‘Congress has ruined the nation. Look at Kashmiri Pandits. Isn’t Congress responsible?’ I reminded him that he used to bring out the edition of The Statesman at that time in Delhi. I reminded him, BJP was supporting the govt from outside, Congress was in the Opposition then. ‘Phir Bhi, what did it do to stop migration, ‘ he insisted like a true bhakt. Then added, “Humne toh BJP ko vote diya because I was in Ranchi récently. I had to wait on the road for 10 minutes because Friday ‘namaj’ was going on.”

He had exposed himself. He had forgotten all about unemployment, inflation, disease, death. All that mattered was namaz in another state! He with 30-odd years of working in national dailies, he who had pretended to be a friend all these years. I smiled.

The other guy was a Safdarjung doctor I first met in Oct 1996. Long retired, he called up from his home town in Varanasi today to say, ‘Happy that Yogi won. He handled Covid very well. He n the BJP deserved to win. Kaam achha kiya.’ This coming from a 75-year-old doctor settled in the city where hundreds of corpses were seen floating in the Ganga during the pandemic, where new ghats were opened to cope with the rush of bodies. And the living struggled to get oxygen.

Really, this govt has made otherwise reasoning, thinking men take leave of reason, even common sense. They have eyes that cannot see, ears that do not hear. N brains they don’t use. Just bhakts. Pity.