🧵Thread: Indians fleeing Ukraine are being assaulted, harassed.
The US had been mulling evacuations since December, repeatedly told its citizens to leave.
India’s ‘advisory’ came only on 15 Feb.
But across BJP-run WhatsApp groups, none of this matters:
In this parallel world, the Ukraine evacuation of Indian students is a smashing success. So smashing that it has never been done before.
All on the basis of a video by ONE student who said he was treated warmly as he travelled across Ukraine.
“Why this was not before 2014?”
In this parallel world, the last few days have shown what a superpower India is.
Where Ukraine called PM Modi “the world’s most powerful leader” (nope) and where the world is asking India to intervene and “help” and where Russia has promised to bring Indians to safety. (Nope)
In the parallel world, all this is possible because of PM Modi.
“Kuch toh dum hoga chai wale mein.”
Sadly, the reality is very, very different.
No food, no aid, no intimation.
A solid thread that lays out the evidence of how the Indian government delayed planning for #IndiansInUkraine :
Like this charity-funded hospital in rural Maharashtra: the Bombay Sarvodaya Friendship Centre (BFSC) funded it to ensure it could perform crucial surgeries for locals. The nearest hospital is at least 50km away.
But the Centre’s FCRA was not renewed. The hospital barely functions now.
In the case of one Delhi NGO that recently lost its FCRA, 220 of its 250 staffers had to be laid off.
They are all struggling to find jobs now, especially those not involved in core NGO programming work, like the admin staff, the helpers, office staff.
The #MiraRoad riots lay bare a thinly disguised secret:
After having put the 1992/3 riots behind, Mumbai has been, yet again, actively transformed into a communal cauldron.
This has been in the works for the last couple of years. A thread:
Last year, an investigation around Maharashtra’s communal politics for @Article14live I did revealed that of the 41 hate incidents reported from Maharashtra, 13 happened in Mumbai and Thane (where Mira Road is).
From people being assaulted for not saying Jai Shree Ram to clashes around Ram Navami, it’s all been happening:
The BJP and its leaders have actively stoked this.
Mangal Prabhat Lodha, made Guardian Minister, has floated conspiracies around “land jihad”, “love jihad” and “Hindu exodus” without offering any evidence.
BJP leaders barged into a school last year, disrupting an all-faith prayer meet because it also featured an Ayaan.
Apart from this, other leaders like Nitesh Rane frequently deliver hate speeches outside Mumbai which get widely reported in the media here.
From Nepal to Bangladesh, from Brussels to Washington DC, India is increasingly facing a pushback from friendly powers, uncomfortable with the Modi government's Hindutva politics.
Sources engaged in Track 2 diplomacy told me how whispers were growing louder in foreign diplomatic circles about India's slide.
The result can be mixed: from parliamentary resolutions to full-blown protests, from subtle digs by friends to whispers in the corridors.
There's increasing evidence for this:
While the Modi government was publicising the US trip as a success, the European Parliament approved a Parliament resolution on Manipur blaming "divisive policies that promote Hindu majoritarianism in the area."
In 2014, months after the Modi gov. came to power, I met a 70+ year-old man from London--retired, prosperous Indian-origin British citizen.
His wife told me he operated several Twitter accounts, spent his entire day on it.
I asked him what he did: "I expose the Congress and the liberal, anti-Hindu media."
I worked for HT then, which he called the 'anti-Hindustan' Times.
He didn't get paid a dime, but he had links to the RSS (HSS in UK) and other Hindu organisations. He didn't want money.
From organising seemingly-benign cultural events to helping Indian students abroad in their teething troubles, the Hindu right-wing has been slowly building its base globally.
Now, it's coming to bite. From mounting organised campaigns denying caste discrimination...