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Comment by spprashant | Hacker News Reader

People in India have become tone-deaf to communal violence now.

It's become so frequent and obvious, that the ruling majority considers it as the cost of doing business.

We will destroy a portion of the population in the race to put India on the global map.

I'm from India, I beg to differ. Despite all the cacophony of news channels, it is much less lawlessness now, partly because people are more aware and focused on their lives.

However, to your point "destroy a portion of the population in the race to put India on the global map." I encourage you do dig deeper than what english media reports and find the truth yourself. For example, the reason for this violence is two tribal communities, X & Y in hilly area. X was enjoying benefits of reservation, while Y had shared same past and situations. Y went to court asking to be included for reservation as schedule tribe, which court agreed to. Immediately, rioting starts. Can you come up a logical reason why Y would create ruckus instead of celebrating these benefits? Now read the news again and fill in who is X and who is Y.

Okay please go ahead and tell me this isn't true.

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/tolerant-muslims-can-be-coun...

This is an Union minister speaking at an RSS event.

This is neither the first nor the most vicious attack on India's biggest minority that I have heard of. This kind of rhetoric just seems commonplace today.

Full disclosure: I am an Indian too, living abroad now, but voted for the Modi government in 2014.

We cant be more diametrically opposite. I was in US now in India and didn't vote for Modi :D But what does that link add to point I raised? Looking at Baghel's wikipedia page, he is typical politician jumping parties to be in power. He'll say whatever suits his position. And if you want to pin it on RSS, at least cite their chief's position instead of a politician who has nothing to do with RSSS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvR8Gy8TDsQ (same thing is what media typically does, use sound bites from unofficial sources).

My only request was to look beyond headlines which (I claim) are biased and do logical analysis. Not here to debate or convert your ideologies.

Ok, let's do some logical analysis here.

This is the example of harshest punishment by BJP for a hate speech: /s

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he will never forgive BJP's Sadhvi Pragya for insulting Mahatma Gandhi by calling his assassin Nathuram Godse a true patriot." [1]

Has Modi taken any other action against BJP's Sadhvi Pragya for her hate speech?

Below articles list countless events of hate speeches by various BJP ministers and leaders. Can you please point out a single instance where BJP/police has taken any action?

https://cjp.org.in/hate-speeches-by-bjp-rss-vhp-bd-functiona...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-61090363

https://thewire.in/communalism/bjp-leaders-fringe-anti-musli...

[1] https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/lok-sabha-2019/story/mod...

Blanket blaming the media for everything does not help either. I almost never trust western media to understand the nuances of Indian politics. Everytime I visit home, I realize the Indian television media is always effusive in praise of the Modi government. The one exception might have been NDTV, but they had a management shakeup last year, so I am not aware of where their ideologies line up. Print media seems to be left leaning in general - Hindu, Indian Express etc. So trusting media at this point is a foolish exercise.

For every one BJP comment regarding safe-guarding minority rights, there are 5 which call for open discrimination. Even the video you shared, seems sympathetic at first glance, but Mohan Bhagwat has always prefaced comments with a subtle hint of "know your place in the hierarchy, and you will be fine". [1] I have never known Muslims to claim they were in any form superior. They are poorest minority in India. So that comment makes no sense.

So I only have to fall back on what I know from the people I am close to. All my Muslim friends feel less safe than they were 10 years ago. No one's come into their home and thrown them out, but they have to tip-toe around small things like eating beef, wearing the burqa, and offering prayers.

I suppose we have to ask ourselves, is it worth making people unsafe for practicing their faith in the name of politics?

We might fundamentally disagree on that point, and that is fine. In which case that is hand dealt for this country, and things will fall where they have to.

I appreciate your civility and I agree neither one of us is going to walk away from this thread having changed our minds.

[1]. https://www.outlookindia.com/national/is-the-rss-chief-mohan...

Actually its not the "cost of doing business", but an "enabler of the business" for right-wing/conservative politicians.

It's unfortunate that some political parties benefits when there is no harmony in people. Whether its White vs Black in USA, or Hindu vs Muslims in India and so on...

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