Are we becoming increasingly majoritarian? – By Karan Thapar
It’s not as esoteric a question as it seems but could Narendra Modi be going the Donald Trump way? This thought emerges from the increasing similarity between Trump’s attitude to immigrants and, in particular, people of colour and Modi’s, or more accurately, his party’s perceived attitude to minorities and, to be specific, Muslims. Undoubtedly, they differ in detail, but there’s a striking resemblance in the strategic thinking that appears to determine them.
Let’s start with Trump. A recent article in The Times (London) calls his recognisably racist verbal assaults on the four coloured Congresswomen “a calculated political thrust.”… Those sentences seemed to ring a loud bell when I read them. Could they, with a few changes, also apply to Narendra Modi? The answer is a clear yes if you simply focus on his 13 years as Chief Minister of Gujarat. You only have to recall his references to baby-making factories, Mian Musharraf, James Michael Lyngdoh, ‘hum paanch hamare pachees’ to identify the Trumpean nature of his strategy.
However, is the answer less unequivocal during the first five years of his prime ministership? No doubt, as PM, he’s said nothing to stir Hindu-Muslim tensions – and many believe he’s begun his second term by extending the hand of ‘vishwas’ to India’s minorities – but, equally, he’s done very little to stop his partymen from stoking communal fire and only rarely has he spoken out against the spate of mob lynchings since 2014, which, actually, seem to have accelerated since his re-election.…
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/comment/are-we-becoming-increasingly-majoritarian/807417.html
SEE ALSO:
- What If This Is the Hindu Rashtra? – By Asim Ali (Jul 24, 2019, The Wire)
https://thewire.in/communalism/hindu-rashtra-india-constitution - What does it mean to oppose Brahmanism? – By Rajeev Bhargava (Jul 23, 2019, The Hindu)
https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/what-does-it-mean-to-oppose-brahmanism/article28658412.ece - Mob Lynching Can’t be Tackled Without Taking on Brahminism – By Ajay Gudavarthy (Jul 19, 2019, News Click)
https://www.newsclick.in/index.php/mob-lynching-tackled-without-taking-brahminism - Reflections On how Indians are always taken for a ride – By Jaspal Singh (Jul 24, 2019, Twocircles.net)
http://twocircles.net/2019jul24/432218.html
