What Delhi’s Anti‑Muslim Chants Can Teach Us About ‘Ethnic Outbidding’ – By Saumya Kalia
An unauthorized march at the heart of New Delhi this weekend has shaken the national consciousness. A group of Hindutva supporters… was documented raising anti-Muslim, inflammatory slogans….
In the end, these stories weaved from a web of ethnic outbidding cast a grim shadow on any democracy’s health and future. But what taking a closer look at the structural basis of this theory does is debunking the myth of these current Anti-Muslim sentiments being ‘distractions’. It’s easy to dismiss them as ‘fringe’ ideas that bear no resonance with the common man.
But the signs and the political theory of ethnic outbidding say otherwise. Even Yogi Adityanath’s support base was believed to be a fringe group when he first came to power. The ideology now resonates with lakhs of people. So are these steady currents of inciting hate speeches or claims of fringe individuals being the ‘real’ victims really an anomaly – or a storm disguised in sheep skin?
