New Delhi: On November 28, 2008, two days after the horrific terror attack that unfolded in Mumbai, the then-Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi had arrived at the city under siege. He had reached the Oberoi Trident Hotel, one of the sites of the terror attack, that day to address the battery of mediapersons waiting outside to cover the ongoing operation.Modi could be heard calling Manmohan Singh’s address to the nation a day prior disappointing, claiming that it failed to match the expectations of him as prime minister.He sought from the prime minister a meeting of all chief ministers to discuss internal security.That speech of Modi criticising the Indian prime minister at a site where Pakistan-backed terrorists were still being fought by security forces had come just a day after his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – having called those attacks a “full-scale war” on India – had pledged to stand by the then-United Progressive Alliance government.A day later, on November 29, the BJP, keeping in mind the state elections in Rajasthan and Delhi on November 9 and December 4, 2008, also published full-page advertisements in national newspapers in blood red, with the words: “Brutal Terror Strikes at Will. Weak Government. Unwilling and Incapable. Fight Terror. Vote BJP.”The opposition party, thereby, publicly called the government of the day “weak”, “unwilling and incapable” and campaigned against it when Indian security forces were barely done fighting the Pakistan-backed terrorists.No FIRs were filed against Modi or his party, though, for seeking accountability from the government, even though it was at a time when the country was fighting Pakistan-backed terror.Seventeen years hence, when the biggest terror attack on civilians in India after the 2008 attack took place in Pahalgam, Modi, now in the prime minister’s chair, failed to even attend the all-party meeting held in New Delhi, let alone address the nation, which is mourning the murder of over two dozen innocent people at the hands of terrorists. He was then electioneering in Bihar.While as an opposition leader, Modi had demanded that then-prime minister Singh hold a meeting of all chief ministers on internal security, as prime minister himself he is silent on the opposition seeking a special session of parliament on the Pahalgam terror attack.The tables may have turned now, but what must not be missed is that Modi was at the forefront, both in 2008 and after the horrific Pulwama terror attack in 2019, trying to influence the public mood against the Congress and to thereby create a narrative to win an election for his party.He also did another thing that had largely gone unnoticed then – positing himself as the singular muscular force, the decisive doer whom the country can benefit from while fighting Pakistan-backed terror.Speaking to the media that day in 2008 in front of the Oberoi Trident, Modi had said that in a meeting of chief ministers, he had pointed out that the Gujarati fishers arrested by Pakistani coast guards would likely have been let off without their boats. He suggested that some such boats might have been used by the terrorists in the Mumbai attack, and it was him who could see that conspiracy much before the attack was carried out.In other words, he was indicating a failure of the Manmohan Singh government to take adequate precautions, leading to the terrorists arriving in India through the sea route.However, investigations later showed that the terrorists had reached Indian waters in an inflatable boat sourced from Japan and thereafter hijacked an Indian boat after killing all five people on board.But what that speech holds up for us now is that even during the 2008 attack, Modi was using the national media to build a public image of him as the strongman who could see what others couldn’t – ‘if only Modi was at the top of the pyramid!’In the last 12 years of Modi as prime minister, we see him only repeating that pattern of positing himself as the only decisive leader India has, in cahoots with a pliable media. In fact, he has successfully built a public narrative to suit that image and has since held it tight.Over these years, his public persona has understandably alternated between the Hindu Hriday Samrat, the man who can make anything happen (Modi hain toh mumkin hain) and the man you must vote for if you want acche din (good days).He is the strongman with a 55 inch-chest who is the only one who can protect Bharat and the Hindus.The many outfits that he dons from time to time are but a vehicle to push that public image as per the occasion.After the horrific Pahalgam killings though, what we see is that public image of Modi’s is increasingly taking a hit. Questions around internal security are not only being openly asked by those who had witnessed the terror attack, but also by a wider span of the public across the country on social media.That Modi was seen electioneering in Bihar without attending the all-party meeting held on the terror act has not gone unnoticed either.That he chose to react to that crime committed against innocent Indians at an election rally, also by speaking in English so that the world could hear him make his defence, in effect didn’t quite go down with the wider public at home as anticipated.In that rally, although Modi gave the public the language they often want to hear from him – “We will pursue them to the ends of the earth” – and also repeated it in his Mann Ki Baat, they didn’t quite get from him something amounting to an apology for a veritable breach of trust. The strongman, the protector, failed to turn his words into action when needed and shield them from danger.After all, the public narrative pushed by Modi, his party and his government that all is well in Kashmir after the reading down of Article 370 was a reason why so many people had begun flocking to that terror-prone state without trepidation for the last three to four years.No wonder then, many were seen loudly asking his government – Where was the bandobast for their security? Why there was a delay in security forces reaching them? Had they got help in time, some lives could have been saved.Like it did in Manipur, in this case too, Modi’s silence helped weaken his muscular public narrative.Because he was found addressing an election rally, some angry citizens even posted on social media asking whether there was a “Pulwama-like conspiracy”, indicating what former Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik had claimed in media interviews some time ago about an internal security failure leading to the horrific 2019 terror attack.Malik had then claimed that when he had pointed this out to Modi, he was asked to remain silent about it; the same was done by national security adviser Ajit Doval.What the public saw thereafter was the Central Bureau of Investigation questioning Malik, but there was a complete silence from Modi about the issue that had moved many.Those questions, therefore, remained in the air, and are now sowing seeds of doubt in several minds, which has found expression in various social media posts from across the country.But for someone who prefers a tight control over the public narrative to maintain his strongman image – the reason why he stays away from unscripted interviews and press conferences at home – this may not be a good omen.What we saw next is a litany of police complaints and arrests carried out in a number of BJP-led states for social media posts critical of Modi, his government or his party – as if it was a concerted effort at getting the grip back over the public narrative around the horrific incident.In far-away Tripura, a police officer had told The Hindu that it was at “the direction of the [Union] government” that they have begun combing through the social media accounts of citizens in order to take action against any “criticisms” of the Pahalgam incident.One victim of that operation was a retired school teacher, arrested “for questioning security and intelligences lapses leading to the attack in Pahalgam”. No wonder a local court granted him bail.Another retired school teacher, also arrested for supporting that social media post, is, however, still in jail till reports last came in.The news report had quoted sources as saying, “At least seven people have recently been arrested, and many others are warned for their posts discussing the security situation in Kashmir.”Without elaborating on what exactly was the post, the report added that one such arrest was of a person for uploading “an objectionable post about the prime minister and the Kashmir issue.”In neighbouring Assam, this was taken to another level. Media reports have said that as many as 27 arrests have been carried out so far on accusations for “defending Pakistan on Indian soil” with regard to the Pahalgam incident, perhaps the highest in the country.One of the first notable arrests was of All India United Democratic Front MLA Aminul Islam. Without naming the BJP, the MLA, who has been at odds with the Himanta Biswa Sarma government for some time now, could be heard in a video clip suggesting a ‘Pulwama-like’ conspiracy in Pahalgam, and refusing to believe that people were gunned down after confirming if they were Hindu, which was clearly not based on facts.He, however, came across as someone speaking as an opposition leader criticising the ruling party for the terror attack, but has since been booked under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 152, 196, 197(1), 113(3), 352, and 353. A local court has remanded him to five days’ police custody.Also read: Pahalgam Attack Exposes Deep Fault Lines in India’s Security ApparatusOne other important arrest in Assam was of a woman journalist who was also seen at the forefront against the Sarma government during the recent media protest against the arrest of a journalist while on duty.The woman journalist, Dodhisi Dimple, had posted something similar on Facebook while reacting to a news report that had highlighted a comment made by a tourist from West Bengal who had just returned from Kashmir after the terror act.According to an Ananda Bazar Patrika report, that tourist had alleged that it was a “planned attack” as he saw heavy security arrangement “every 20 metres” in Kashmir, but that this was not the case in Baisaran, the spot of the terror attack.Highlighting that report, Dimple had called it a “pre-planned attack” too, and rued that voters in Assam just don’t get the point.Dimple had later deleted the Facebook upload, but in a poll-bound state where voters are being enticed by the Sarma government, there was no relief for her. The Assam police soon swooped down on her for her ‘anti-national’ remark and she has since been in custody at the Golaghat jail.The chief minister has, meanwhile, taken to X to give periodic updates about ‘anti-national’ arrests related to Pahalgam being carried out in the north-eastern state.Such police action certainly makes one ask: has questioning the government of the day and its actions or inaction by a citizen to which it is accountable been equated to questioning the nation by the Assam chief minister? Is questioning Modi being equated to questioning the nation?In BJP-run Uttar Pradesh too, a similar saga continues. An FIR was filed against another Assamese woman, who too has been known for speaking truth to power. The police complaint was filed at the Hasanganj police station by a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s student wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.Quite popular on social media as Dr Medusa, Assam native Madri Kakoti teaches at Lucknow University. Since the Pahalgam incident took place, Kakoti had been regularly posting social media posts asking people to not heed to communal rhetoric against Muslims, to remain united in times of terror and to remember the dead for their good deeds.In one such post, clearly questioning right-wing activists, she said that those who ask a person his religion before killing him is a terrorist, but that one must also question those who ask one’s religion before lynching him, or before denying him a job or rented accommodation, etc.The complainant, Jatin Shukla, told Newslaundry:“People from Leftist ideology are working to divide society and the students. They are making this issue political, when there is a situation of war between India and Pakistan and your ideology wants to create a civil war in the country itself … we have lodged this FIR so that no student or professor can repeat such things.”He also said she had repeatedly referred to “saffron terror” and her posts were being shared by Pakistani X handles.On the evening of April 29, Kakoti issued a statement clarifying that she had used the term terrorists only for the Pakistan-backed attackers of the unarmed innocent people in Pahalgam.The FIR against her came on the heels of a police complaint filed against yet another woman in Lucknow who is also a sharp critic of the Modi government and the BJP. On April 28, folk singer Neha Singh Rathore had said in a social media video that the Pulwama attack was “used” by the prime minister to garner votes, so he might soon be seeking votes citing the Pahalgam incident too.She also questioned the Modi government on issues including unemployment and inflation. The Hazratganj police station, in turn, booked her under sections of the BNS including one dealing with acts endangering the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India – essentially sedition.Here too, asking questions to the government of the day or criticising it as a citizen, or seeking accountability from an elected government on burning issues, were being treated as an ‘anti-national’ act.As in the case of Assam, what can be noted is that in Uttar Pradesh too, police action is seen being taken against those critical of Modi and his party.Additionally, the government also ensured that 4 PM, a popular Hindi news channel on YouTube that has been asking questions to the Modi government on the internal security lapse leading to the Pahalgam terror attack, was blocked. No reasons were cited.Such actions taken in different parts of the country must then lead us to ask a few obvious questions to see what must be seen.If during the 2008 Mumbai attack the government of the day could be criticised by citizens – even by Modi when the operation against the terrorists were on – and the opposition BJP could issue full-page advertisements seeking votes by terming it “weak” and “incapable” of protecting its citizens from Pakistan-backed terrorists, why is a citizen, a political opponent or a YouTube channel doing it in 2025 to the Modi government after the Pahalgam attack being equated to an anti-national act by his party-led governments?What is the Modi regime trying to achieve by silencing voices asking uncomfortable questions on social media through punitive actions? Why is a citizen questioning an elected government on internal security being termed as equal to supporting Pakistan?