Induction of social media in society has brought some right and some wrong. The problem with wrong is, it is tempting and convenient to align with. Someone rightly said, "A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes."
Recently, I had two observations.
One, in West Bengal, SIR is going on. The Indian Election Commission is on a full-blown demolishing spree of the institution called Democracy. The RW is in full support of this — the majority of voters who choose TMC are from the minority community, Muslims among them. BJP, a RW party, wants to get into power by replacing TMC. Hence, the target here is the minority community, and the victim too.
The other — some random social media reporter in the US was cribbing over Frisco, TX being taken over by Indians. Again, a politically minority community in the US. The problem they identified was not actually a takeover — it was the luxurious homes Indians have bought there. The same voices also complain that H1B workers have replaced high-paying American jobs with low-wage workers.
If H1B workers are doing low-paying replacement jobs, how are they purchasing posh bungalows in one of the expensive real estate markets in America?
The recent phenomenon of RW ascent to power is an outcome of the need for otherization. When things remain considerably stable — which also means no apparent growth — a section of society emerges from the stable lot whose aspirations grow but do not necessarily translate into economic reality. This mismatch, if sustained long enough, breeds a population of Aspirers — people who always want more, purely in financial terms. When finance does not deliver, that energy translates into a hunger for power instead. These Aspirers are what I call the RW base.
Sustained collective growth is never enough for them. Alleviation of society as a whole from economic disparity is actively bad for them — because their identity is built on being above someone, not on everyone rising together. It is always centered on individual advancement. Always.
Be it India or the US, this pattern produces the same visible shift in political discourse. Every loud voice you hear in that space is a harbinger of this ideology. And the ideology has one core operating principle — any problem I face is caused by some other person. Incidentally, that other person will always be from a weaker section of society. Financially weaker — in India that is the minority community, Muslims or Dalits. Politically weaker — in the US that is the Indian citizen, specifically those working on temporary visas.
The unfortunate core of this whole contention is this — those who want a government of their choice, the RW mindset government, want to use constitutional rights exclusively for themselves while suppressing the constitutional rights of others. And these Others are always easily identifiable. In the US it is skin color. In India it is religion — Muslims, Dalits.
At both places, it is always the same set of RW followers, supported by an RW government — and the casualty of that is basic arithmetic and common sense.
They invoke the constitution as a weapon. They should try reading it as a document first.