Under the lens: what photos of Modi doting on his mother tell us

No amount of smartness can ever hide the real intent behind this episode, the fact that intimate moments between a mother and son were reduced to a press release. So, when these pictures were posted on Twitter, people saw not only Modi and his mother, they also sensed the photographer lurking behind them, and asked why he was there.

Nobody can claim Modi's predecessors loved their parents and families any less. It is also not the case that they were shy about being seen with them in public. None, however, used them as shields, as photo-ops. Why, indeed, would anybody want photographers and a contingent of public relations people around when spending "quality time" with one's family? Unless, of course, the purpose is to use it as a tool to embellish one's political image.

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We have seen many top leaders at public functions with their kin. Sonia Gandhi often stood beside Rajeev Gandhi, as did the wives of Manmohan Singh, KR Narayanan, Lal Krishna Advani and Hamid Ansari, to name just a few.

Modi is married but his wife Jashodaben leads a separated, secluded life. Many people attribute the apparent lack of sensitivity in his behaviour to the absence of a woman in his life. Modi apparently makes up for this by having pictures taken with his mother.

Whenever Modi's public image seems to take a hit or he is faced with some crisis, he almost invariably uses a meeting with his mother or a mention of her as a shield. She's turned into a political Brahmastra, a sanjeevani for him. She is used for political gain.

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Modi is not the only one to do so. A whole lot of people belonging to his ideological camp have been using the term "mother" for vested interests. Sometimes, the mother is the cow, at other times it's the river Ganga or the country. To them, "mother" is a convenient shield to hide their misdeeds and insensitivity.

There's hardly any mother who doesn't want to see her child succeed. But many end up seeing their children wrecked by the injustices of an unequal society and the apathy of the state. Innumerable mothers in this country are wailing for their starving daughters and dying farmer sons. A great many await the return of their children disappeared by the state forces.

Such mothers and their children won't be comforted by pictures of the prime minister doting on his mother, however lovely they may be. They desperately want the government to relieve their suffering, not offer them empty rhetoric and candid photographs that are better kept in private albums.

Edited by Mehraj D Lone

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