Is The Country Going Crazy, Or Am I?

Sorry for the dramatic blog title. But I have really been feeling of late that I must be crazy, or stupid or paranoid. The reason for it is simple- I feel terribly anxious, afraid and certain that the country is going down the path of not just oppression and violence against minorities, but also outright genocide. I should also mention that as a member of a minority community- this is particularly worrying for me- even existentially so. I say this with the full knowledge and acknowledgment of my privilege shielding me from anything that is happening on a day-to-day basis (for now), and also by the fact that Christians are not (yet) the main target of hate in India. Muslims are, and they are under severe threat of genocide.

This has been highlighted clearly by some in the media in India (the author of the article linked has ironically been incorrectly and unjustly charged with hate speech), and by international media abroad. Strangely very little attention has been paid to it, and not much discussion has occurred about the subject. As far as I can tell that is. There are a lot of stories and videos and content that is shared by activists on Instagram that the media takes days to cover, if they do at all. I can honestly say I would not be feeling so worried if it weren’t for my choice of feed on Instagram. So perhaps that is my fault?

Rather than confronting what is an obvious and threatening situation head on with massive street protests, organisation and agitation of the political opposition and active conversation in the public sphere- it seems like we are sleep walking into a situation, where we will wake up and wonder how we got here. Frustratingly the signs have been there for years, and perhaps the greatest folly was electing a leader and a party to power who presided over the most recent large-scale genocide in Godhra in 2002.

What is really bizarre to me is that not everyone is talking about these issues every day.

Every day, I go to work and have the same conversations and hear the same talk in the cafeteria- really no mention at all of what is happening in the country. I see every day on social media, less and less people are covering and sharing news related to something that is at an emergency level in my opinion. It was certainly more when the CAA/NRC protests were going on, and in my opinion, the situation is far worse now.

At social occasions a few people are willing to have a conversation, frustratingly few actually- but half of them also seem to be of the opinion “that there’s some oppression, sure, but don’t get yourself worked up about a genocide.” Oh and also the Congress did this or that. Or Muslims have never been better of in the country.

When conversations about topics like this are brought up, many people shy away from it or try to change the topic. Sometimes people will disengage and head to others for more calm and non-threatening conversations entirely. How that helps not confront the issue amazes me, because it’s almost a magical act of forgetting what was just being discussed and going on as if everything is hunky-dory.

I have to wonder whether it is due to apathy towards communities that are not your own- whether that is culturally, religiously, along ethnic or linguistic lines, or just due to economic privilege. That kind of apathy is striking; how hard is to empathise with people who have their livelihoods destroyed on a daily basis, get lynched for their choice of diet, circumstance of birth in terms of religion or caste or ethnicity? How hard is it to worry for your fellow citizens who at any moment may lose their life over something that is really in fact quite arbitrary and unimportant?

Perhaps it is because people are not well versed enough in history to see the parallels between what has happened before and what is happening now. Many people know of genocides mostly as something that happened to Jewish people, perpetrated by Nazis- while keenly being unaware of genocides that have happened during Colonisation and the Columbian Exchange, in countries like Rwanda, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and indeed India. Many of these examples were not too long ago. In India it just isn’t studied or at all in the public conscience. I know I didn’t learn any of it other than the holocaust during school. And that too on a very surface level.

Maybe it is because people and society- particularly “woke” society has advocacy fatigue. There are so many bad things happening in the world, and so many issues to care about- it’s hard to do justice to all of them. In fact, to expect that would be inhuman, and I get that. I am not claiming that I care about every issue, or that the issues that I care about are the most important objectively. Having said that, it is hard to understand why people in India care so much and advocate for and against issues such as Black Lives Matter or the war in Ukraine (like our dear Priyanka Chopra, the queen of virtue signalling). There is enough and more happening in our own country that deserves everyone’s immediate attention. And it is right on everyone’s doorstep. Everyone who lives here will know somebody who will adversely be affected by what is happening in the country- so shouldn’t they care about that first?

The other thing that drives me crazy and makes me wonder how things work at all is that many people are not okay with what is happening in the country- they think that it is wrong that Muslims are persecuted, that nationalism is the glue that seems to bind the country (and nationalism is gross) and that the government and its leaders often go too far in their speeches and actions. And yet, the BJP sweeps to power far more often than it does not. If people don’t like what is going on, how is it that they are getting so many votes? Why do they still get votes at all?

In fact, many people voted for Modi and the BJP for “economic reasons”- this has proven to be a complete and utter fallacy as demonstrated by our economy being in tatters, inflation surging, unemployment at record levels and the forex at record highs as well. How have they done anything positive for the economy at all?

I’m saying this because I know people who concede all these issues, but will say things like “who else is there to vote for?” or “Rahul Gandhi is an idiot” or “The congress pandered to minorities and were corrupt.”

Okay, if I were to concede to those points, and I’m not saying that I do, still- what has any of that got to do with the atmosphere in the country right now? If you ethically and morally do not believe in the oppression and murder of other human beings, how can you vote for this government at all? If you believe in equal right for women and abolishing caste, how could you ever vote for this government? Can you not see what 7-8 years of them in power in this country has done? Are you not worried about the permanent damage a third term for the prime minister and the BJP would do for the country and social fabric of our wonderfully diverse nation?

So, to summarise, am I crazy to be worried and anxious about what is happening in the country and what is to come? Or is the country crazy for not being worried and up in arms?

Also for the nature of this blog post, I usually prefer to research and back up posts like this more- so I can explain things from the ground up- but I just felt that this post needs to be more emotional and rhetorical than academic.