Thread by @netamunch

Hindi Belt's Ongoing Century of Darkness.

Since 1992, when Babri was demolished, a darkness has swept over Hindi speakers.

Their hatred for the fellow members of their society, merely on account of their birth as muslim 1/n

https://twitter.com/ndtv/status/1501932114421612545

has become the organizing shared premise for the society at large.

Of course, it wasnt unidirectional but it is the pattern that dominates these societies. 2/n

It is exhibited in the conformity-identity where imaginations of ideal pre-modernity of Hindu faith are employed as a sense of self - who am I and who are my people. 3/n

Conversely, it breeds an extreme form of tribalism divisiveness where the Muslim or the Liberal are presented as 'permanent enemies'. For whom the most coarse, hateful and poisoned language has been normalized. 4/n

Godi Media but also Hindi print media, its writers, local cultural leaders (including the religious leaders) promote this shared assumption as a unifying theme for the society. 5/n

It gives them a shared sense of purpose (we are pure; we are hindus; we are nationalists) and a shared set of enemies (they are pakistanis; they are anti-nationals; they are macaulayputras; they are seculars). 6/n

This sense of identity is constantly re-inforced and maintained by Godi media propaganda which adds an additional element of Modipuja - that, Modi is the person who can lead them out of their current predicaments - the 'chosen one'. 7/n

Thus, commences the vicious cycle of securing large amounts of money from businesses and wealthy to maintain this large propaganda in order to secure votes which in turn leads to favored and biased outcomes only for these businesses and wealthy. 8/n

All of this is draped in language of Hindutva and supposed nationalism which maintains the very fragile identity of Modipujaks and Andhbhakts. 9/n

This is the Modipujak and Andhbhakt - a species of captive voter that:
1) always votes for one party
2) never questions its own party
3) never lets anyone else question that party 10/n

Thus, creating the combustible mix that breaks democracy in spirit reducing it to a numbers game. Why? The politician is no longer required to deliver or even be accountable as long as he can stoke their anger and hatred 11/n

The voter in turn willingly takes it as a sacrifice in his fight for the greater good of a supposed ideal of religion or community that gives them a sense of superiority over the 'others'. 12/n

This relationship is maintained with a well-oiled machinery of Godi media constantly lambasting propaganda of islamophobia, enemies and promoting fratricidal hatred. 13/n

This is further augmented by a careful crafting of caste coalitions. After all, this deeply fanaticised base is not sufficient to get to the finish line on its own. 14/n

With minimal requirements of food and living met by the State, the voters are by and large locked in a worshipping mode towards politicians while those that intend to question or criticize are castigated and sidelined. 15/n

As a result, the leadership is filled with incompetence without the need to show long-term orientation, any outcome or achievement or even provide accountability. 16/n

With the constitutional ideals a subject of mockery or seen as wishful idealisms, the society as a whole moves without its legitimacy or the benefits of the functionality offered by it. 17/n

And all this is a pattern, very simplified, but would repeat over and over again. Till either it is stopped or this generation is exhausted and its intellectual bankruptcy revealed. 18/n

Since this generation has a critical mass radicalized into fanaticism, it is expected the next too would be grown with it. And therefore, atleast another 60 years of this pattern may continue if not stopped. 19/n

It all commenced when the society brutalized and demonized a section of itself on basis of accident of birth as Muslim. Once this fratricidal hatred became central feature to the lived experience, it hardened into a patern.
This is Hindi Belt's Ongoing Century of Darkness. n/n