In India, Radicalisation Is Being Flaunted as a Badge of Honour – By Avay Shukla
The conventional or popular belief in India (as also globally) is that radicalisation is associated with only one religious community, the adherents of Islam. How wrong this perception is can be seen in our country over the past few years, where an uncharacteristic but toxic fundamentalism appears to have seized the euphemistically termed “majority community”, especially in the north and west of the country.
Driven by an ideology which has acquired political and executive legitimacy, this “reverse” radicalisation has now become almost state policy and has seeped deep into our social fabric. But whereas earlier it was an insidious infection slowly permeating the organs of this republic, over the past two months, post Article 370 and Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), it has now erupted into a full-blown pestilence which its carrier-hosts no longer bother to disguise but flaunt as a badge of honour. The radicalisation of the majority community is now seen as essential to protect the motherland from the “traitors”.
This has been a work in progress since 2015, the idea being to persuade the majority that they are under threat from an “other” whose loyalty is not to India. The constant barrage of vilification, hate, fake news and reinterpretation of history has been largely successful… I am quite amazed at how radicalised my co-religionists have become. Well educated, financially secure, widely travelled, privileged families have swallowed the poison being dished out by the BJP and amplified by a craven media.…
https://thewire.in/politics/india-majority-community-radicalisation
SEE ALSO:
- The 3 Most Polarizing Words in India – By Snigdha Poonam (Feb 13, 2020, Foreign Policy)
https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/02/13/jai-shri-ram-india-hindi/ - Free thinking and free thinkers – By Samana Zafar (Feb 13, 2020, Countercurrents)
https://countercurrents.org/2020/02/free-thinking-and-free-thinkers - Indian-Americans Supporting the CAA Are Forgetting How They Got Their Own Rights – By Vasundhara Sirnate Drennan (Feb 16, 2020, The Wire)
https://thewire.in/rights/nri-support-caa-indian-americans - Are Adivasis Hindus? Forthcoming Census and RSS campaign – By Ram Puniyani (Feb 13, 2020, Countercurrents)
https://countercurrents.org/2020/02/are-adivasis-hindus-forthcoming-census-and-rss-campaign-ram-puniyani-new
