The Emperor's New Clothes

Another sham work of propaganda poses as Modi’s latest biography / LITERATURE

- MAYA PALIT

FOR A BIG CROWD at a book launch in late August last year, Amit Shah was the proverbial elephant in the room. The home minister was invited to be the chief guest of the high-security event, held at the NCUI Auditorium in Delhi. The occasion was the launch of The New Delhi Conspiracy—a political thriller, co-authored by the Bharatiya Janata Party MP and national spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi, about a plot to kill a beloved prime minister named Raghav Mohan, known to the people as RaMo. While the audience waited, there were fillers to keep them entertained, including refrains of “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and a poetry recitation about Atal Bihari Vajpayee. A massive flex with Amit Shah’s face was on the stage. In some of the photos subsequently shared on social media, his chin towers over Lekhi and other discussants. When, eventually, it seemed clear that Shah was not showing up, JP Nadda, the BJP’s national president, released the book.

Eight months later, the launch of Narendra Modi: Harbinger of Prosperity & Apostle of World Peace—to celebrate six years of the Modi government—promised another high-profile chief guest. News articles claimed that the US president, Donald Trump, was meant to inaugurate the “world’s largest biography-release,” before COVID-19 put an end to such grand plans. The organisers had to make do with the former chief justice of India KG Balakrishnan, a judge whose reputation is tainted with numerous allegations of corruption.