India has suffered greatly under mob rule. Now Trump has uleashed it, too. - By Rana Ayyub - IAMC
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India has suffered greatly under mob rule. Now Trump has uleashed it, too. – By Rana Ayyub

Propaganda, conspiracy theories, dog whistles and fake news once again stoked the fires of political violence on Wednesday. But this time I wasn’t reporting on the ground here in India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have wielded violent mobs to their political advantage for years. The mob was storming the Capitol in Washington.

As I watched the images of rioters breaking into the building wrapped in Trump flags and white privilege, I couldn’t disconnect what was happening with the dangerous episodes of communal violence we have seen in India in recent years. 

…. People regularly question my journalistic credentials when I speak about the attacks and humiliations minorities suffer. I’m asked to detach myself from the story, to tone down my op-eds, to not speak of the rise of fascism and majoritarianism in India because it hurts the country’s global standing. Documenting hate crimes, discrimination, censorship and political persecution is exhausting and exacting on the mind and soul. But after witnessing what happened in Washington, how could we not speak up?….

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/08/trump-capitol-mob-india-modi-political-violence/