Mainstream WeeklyFor nearly a decade, the RSS and other Sangh Parivar organisations have systematically deployed a campaign of smear and slander against individuals and groups who dare to protest the Modi government’s policies perceived as anti-people.
Through a pliant section of the media, they have sought to humiliate critics by branding them with convenient labels: “anti-national,” “Tukde Tukde Gang,” “Urban Naxal,” “Khan Market Gang,” “Andolanjeevi,” “libtard,” and “sickular.” Even journalists who amplify opposition voices, often in the face of heavy governmental pressure, have been contemptuously dismissed as “presstitutes,”.
It is no secret that these cheap tactics rarely originate from grassroots workers. Instead, they are frequently peddled by people close to the highest echelons of power — individuals seemingly oblivious to the dignity of the offices they occupy.
However, what once worked is losing its sting. As the old idiom goes, the teeth of a once-feared watchdog no longer inspire the same fear. Early attempts by the Sangh Parivar to paint student protests and agitations with these broad, derogatory brushes largely fell flat. The public has increasingly refused to buy into such character assassinations.
This rejection was evident in recent cases involving figures like Sonam Wangchuk and others, where efforts to tarnish entire protest movements through guilt by labelling met with widespread indifference or backlash. Even sections of the “Godi Media” appear to be quietly retreating, hesitant to deploy these tired slurs against determined protesters who enjoy genuine public sympathy.
In short, the Sangh Parivar’s once-potent propaganda arsenal is showing clear signs of diminishing returns.