Dear Americans, what is happening to you now, has already happened in India….and it has killed our democracy
It was 2014, when something that was unimaginable maybe a decade back, happened. ….Narendra Modi became the prime minister of India. A politician, who was till then, known for his far-right stance, accused of genocide in Gujarat and a proud member of the far-right organization in India the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). (Yes, RSS is the same organization to which the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi belonged to). In fact, Modi was refused a visa by the US government in 2005 for his alleged role in Gujarat riots in which more than 1000 people were killed. Although over time the courts let him off the hook for lack of evidence, his anti-minorities image stayed intact, and he happily wore it on his sleeve while campaigning for elections. (Like Trump does for the white supremacists).
The rise of Modi’s party ( BJP) has been spectacular in recent years. The BJP had only 2 seats in the parliament in 1984, however, it won 282 seats in the 2014 election securing an absolute majority followed by another landside in 2019 with 303 seats. The BJP became popular when it started with a divisive campaign (backed by the RSS) to “get back the self-respect for Hindus”. Hindus are the majority community of India and you can say that they are the equivalent to the white majority in the US (at least the upper caste Hindus). The BJP claimed that the ruling dispensation in India has been too liberal and has been appeasing the minorities like Muslims & Dalits (low caste Hindus) for votes.
While India was formed as a secular country on the insistence of people like Mahatma Gandhi, some people in India did feel that Hindus should be given an upper hand in their “own country”. This was capitalized by the BJP & RSS to create a notion that the majority community has been unfairly treated by the so-called liberal and intellectuals in power since independence in 1947. It created a utopian dream of taking India back to its past ancient glory when India was rich and powerful (Make India great again!!).
To bring home this point, BJP started a campaign to take over a 15th-century mosque which was claimed by the right-winged organizations to be the birthplace of the Hindu God — Lord Ram. They were convinced that there once used to be a temple where the mosque stood. This gave a real fillip to BJP as a political party. The party started a chariot procession campaign (called the Rath Yatra) passing through many cities of India and culminating in the demolition of the mosque by mobs and leading to nationwide riots in which more than 2000 people were killed. Modi’s party promised a temple will be built in place of the mosque if they come to power (which is what is happening now)
While this led to cementing of support to the BJP by the more radical Hindu population, the moderate Hindus were still to be won over. This is where a smart propaganda campaign was started by the RSS — BJP to position Modi as the face of efficiency & clean governance. Modi, who was then the Chief Minister for the state of Gujarat was projected as an amazingly hard-working, incorruptible, forward-thinking leader.
Notwithstanding his dubious record of fanning sectarian divide in Gujarat, he was given all the credit for economic prosperity in the state of Gujarat (which was anyway a traditionally prosperous and industrialized state). When challenged on his record, it was argued that people should just “move-on” and ignore the Gujarat riots as an aberration. In general, Modi avoided tough questions from the press and hardly gave any interviews.
In striking similarity to Donald Trump’s walking out of a recent CBS interview, Modi had abruptly ended an interview with Karan Thapar when asked tough questions. Since assuming office Modi has not held any press conference or answered any questions in any fora that was not set up to his advantage. The liberal side of the press has been trolled on social media and called “presstitues” and “sickular” for defending liberalism & secularism.
While the intellectual class in India watched in horror, BJP & RSS slowly became immensely powerful with the rise in the use of social media across the country. BJP capitalized on social media platforms and used it to its advantage, spreading lies, promoting half-truths like we see happening in the US today. People who were inclined towards BJP were fed with a copious dose of propaganda and misinformation, leading to the hardening of their beliefs. The other political parties were not as social media savvy and did not even know what hit them. BJP created an army of trolls who would viciously attack anyone who spoke against Modi or talked about his role in the Gujarat riots. Slowly people fell in line and stopped criticizing Modi for fear of backlash and their own safety. This was much before fake news or online bullying was recognized as an issue by social media companies.
While Modi came to power on the promise of “Acche Din” (prosperity), India has shown the slowest growth in decades under his regime & his major initiatives like Demonetization, Goods & Services Tax, COVID19 handling has been lackadaisical in not an outright a failure. The country has seen the worst GDP growth in the recent history of India. It also fell in ranks in more than a dozen global indices.
The country is now run like a dictatorship with Modi & his close associates deciding on issues without consulting other political parties or following the processes — like the controversial amendment to the constitution taking away the autonomy of Jammu & Kashmir or making currency notes invalid overnight or imposing a nationwide lockdown and suspending all public transport nationwide with only 4 hours of notice. The unplanned lockdown left thousands of migrant workers stranded & many were forced to walk hundreds of miles on foot.
Just like Trump is revered by his base in the US, Modi’s support has not waned in spite of the obvious change we see in Indian society since he took power. In general, there is a lack of tolerance for any views that do not support the ruling dispensation. In past India used to be a vibrant democracy where dissent was a way of political life. India under Modi, in contrast, is highly intolerant & divisive. Media personalities or intellectuals who dare to speak out are threatened online or even physically. Women journalists are regularly threatened by social media trolls with dire consequences and rape. Facebook's local management in India has also been accused of siding with the ruling dispensation and has done little to stop the online abuse.
During this time, India’s democratic institutions like the independent Judiciary & press have been significantly weakened and seem to be towing the party line. This can be seen in the reluctance by courts to take up cases filed against government action. Earlier this year the government passed a controversial law CAA, ostensibly to provide citizenship to prosecuted minorities from neighboring countries. This law has the potential of suppressing minorities or even stripping them of their citizenship if implemented in conjunction with the government’s plan to have a nationwide citizenship verification process (NRC). Under this plan, any citizen could be asked to prove his/her citizenship by government officials and normal documents like passport may not be valid for the purpose. When citizens protested against this law, the movement was brutally suppressed with police entering university campuses and beating up the students. Students from left-leaning universities are regularly harassed by police and labeled anti-national or “Urban Naxals” on social media. In general, barring a few, the mainstream media has fallen in line and hesitates to criticize the government.
There have been numerous attacks on minorities by so-called cow vigilantes, regular harassment of media personalities who dare to speak out, or death or rape threats to women journalists by social media trolls. One of the common themes is that social media is used in an institutionalized way to spread hate, create a divide, and spread lies. Things that were earlier unimaginable in India are now just shrugged away and have become a new norm. Members of parliament openly praise Mahatma Gandhi's assassin and call him a patriot. Recently one of the big brands in India was forced to retract an advertisement after backlash on social media simply because it showed an interfaith marriage.
Recently Amnesty International decided to close its offices in India as they were constantly harassed. With almost all other political parties having gone into oblivion, India is on the path to becoming a full dictatorship with the RSS agenda running the country.
To see what is happening in the US today seems like “déjà vu” with the same pattern of use of social media to create a particular narrative, to divide people on the basis of their color/caste/origin/, to paint a utopian dream that somehow the past was much better and we should go back to the norms of the past again.
The internet seems to be dividing people into “virtual ghettos” providing more and more evidence in whatever one believes in…. Even if they are baseless conspiracy theories. It is difficult to believe that 40% of American people still support a man who is clearly divisive, racist, misogynistic, and only interested in looking out for himself. The POTUS office looks like a family run business with Trump’s son, daughter & son in law playing a lead role.
What is very clear from the outside is somehow not clear to a large population of Americans.
India has almost lost its democracy…….don’t let that happen to you. Don’t give Trump a second chance, you will destroy America and won't even know where your freedom went.
