Thread by @KumarSeshadri

I wrote this to a #BJP supporter who wanted to know my political position. I am expanding and sharing it here.

1. BJP is as corrupt and inefficient as #Congress, but it gets a free pass because it is successfully advancing the cause of #Hindu #majoritarianism.

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2. Examples are #Rammandir, #kashivishvanathtemple, #Article370, #TripleTalaq, #UCC, #CAANRC, #Cowslaughter bans, random #lynchings of Muslims, ban on #Azan in public, etc. A majority of Hindus in India support these, as they believe these will "put Muslims in their place."

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3. In fact, #Corruption under the BJP is likely to be far worse than under Congress rule, because the media (which is now entirely under the control of Modi's corporate cronies like A&A) simply refuses to investigate any BJP corruption scams. Examples: #Vyapam, #Rafale...

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4. This is obvious to anyone with a functioning brain, because if the lights are off, thieves will make merry. That's just human nature. So if the media and the public refuse to believe that any wrongdoing could happen under the BJP, the loot will proceed at express pace.

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5. This is all the more true because at least half of the BJP's MPs and MLAs are from the same parties that the Indian public generally regarded as corrupt - be it the Congress, the #JDS, the #RJD, the #JDU, the #SP, the #BSP, the #ShivSena, the #NCP.

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6. Corrupt politicians are suddenly believed to become "clean" once they join the BJP by a gullible public. Only a naive child would believe that someone who has stolen all his life will suddenly become "clean" simply because he switched parties.

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7. So the current crop of BJP leaders is unlikely to set any records in honesty or efficiency. I don't think the public is so naive, to be honest. Indians know their leaders to be the crooks they are. They just like the #Muslims and #Christians getting scr**ed.

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8. So why don't I support the BJP? I am a #Hindu myself, so I won't be lynched, right?

The first reason is decency. I don't like people being killed and treated unequally.

But there's another reason that should appeal to you, even if you have no decency.

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9. It is because #tolerance of #Diversity is the only thing that can keep as diverse a country as India together. India has not had a long history of being a large united nation in the last 2,500 years, except for three brief instances.

link.medium.com/fJqdN0NI1zb

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10. Unlike #Germany, #France, #Russia, or #Japan, "India" is not an organic entity. Indian kings had been fighting among themselves for millenia - long before the Muslims even arrived in India.

It was the British who created India out of the diverse patchwork of kingdoms.

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11. The #foundingfathers of India - #Gandhi, #Nehru, #Patel, #Prasad, #Rajaji, #Ambedkar, #Bose, #Azad - recognized the fragility of the union that was (and is) India. That's why they created a #Constitution that was inclusive and had a lot of give-and-take.

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Because they knew that India could only be kept from #fragmenting by mutual respect among communities.

That's why accommodation for Muslims, that's why #reservations, #SocialJustice, etc.

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12. But the BJP is progressively undoing everything that the founders of India envisioned.

They are dividing India on the lines of religion, caste, language. These divisions were always there, but the BJP is working hard to widen the cracks - #BreakingIndia , if you will.

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13. If you want proof of what I have said, just review what the BJP has done over the past nine years. It has single-mindedly pursued the Hindu majoritarian agenda, and won election after election from an adoring public, and successfully made Muslims second class citizens.

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14. Now that the project of disenfranchising Muslims is well on its way, what is the BJP's next target? Division based on language. They are going ahead full steam with their slogan: "Hindi, Hindu, Hindustan" - that India is to be a land of only Hindi-speaking Hindus.

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15. Can you imagine the consequences? All the linguistic states will be up in arms. There will be #CivilWar between different ethnicities in India. Indians will constantly fight Indians on the basis of religion,language, and caste - as they have done for millenia.

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16. I don't want this to happen. I am a patriot because I love a united India. I would like to be a citizen of united India, not a citizen of the country of Karnataka. But the BJP's divisive policies are increasingly making the latter more likely.

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17. But, you ask, what about corruption? Wasn't Congress corrupt?

Sure it was. And so is the BJP. All our politicians have been corrupt from the time of Independence, except those who fought for the freedom movement.

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18. The solution to reducing (you can never eliminate it) #Corruption is for the public to be alert, demand #accountability, react promptly to corruption #scams, demand impartial enquiry, etc.

There is no alternative to an aware citizenry. All leaders are corrupt.

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19. No great leader or #Messiah will save you.

And you are not going to eliminate corruption or get good governance just by electing a party that allows lynching of Muslims or burning of #Christians.

But you can end the existence of the country of India by doing so.

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