Is the Indian Right Wing in Crisis?

Social media obviously cannot be the barometer for mood in the outside world.

A lot of the narrative is driven by bots and paid accounts, regular users, join, and erroneously feel that they were part of something real. Most importantly what is 'real' on social media rarely translates to any change on the ground.

However, monitoring a few prominent accounts of a specific group both on social media and in real life gives you an idea about the mood of that section.

We focus on the Indian Right or the ‘RW’ as they call themselves.

What have they been up to recently?

Their main focus has been outraging.

On some days, they are outraged by the Hindi film industry for which they have unsubtle nicknames which often reveal their motives.

A scene from a film or web series has caused offense to their religious sensibilities for which they demand a boycott of the actor, the film, and the production house. 

They go a step further and boycott the brands that the principal cast endorses. They go to IMDB or any other where ratings are possible and rate the movie 1/10. They brag about their 'accomplishments with pride'

On other occasions, it may be an advertising campaign that had caused offense.

Sometimes, a liberal film actor or actress known to be an agent provocateur has said something against their party or their leader or their religion and that had caused outrage

At times they are angry that the models of a festival-related advert campaign are dressed in green or do not wear a Bindi.

The level of nit-picking and purity seeking is insane, but that is social media for you. 

Critics have branded this the 'Taliban mindset', but that mindset mortally punishes those who cause offense, no such risk with the 'RW'

As always, it begins with prominent handles and soon the mob follows until you have a trend #Boycott<Fill in the Blank>. The RW proudly posts photos of uninstalling apps or throwing away products related to offensive brands.

As always, there are valid points in some of these outrages but the reaction is unsubtle, over-the-top that frequently descends into crudity. 

It is quite likely that there are social media accounts whose job it is to infiltrate the trend and post crass material defame the ‘RW’

The ‘offender’ usually capitulates and apologizes and the ‘RW’ assumes victory.

The day that began with outraging ends with gloating about the impact they had.

The frequency at which this cycle is occurring gives reason to believe that this may be a strategy for either cheap publicly for flailing brands or perhaps they want to make the case about ‘intolerance’ in India after May 2014.

Several months later, the ‘RW’ people praise a product or a movie on a platform that they had urged their followers to boycott, but people have short memories.

When there is good news such as their leader topping an international poll or India being rated highly in any agency or an international leader praising their leader they obviously celebrate and lead trends.

However, the celebration often emanates more from a feeling of  Schadenfreude that ‘liberals’ and ‘wokes’ will be miserable rather than actual pride of joy that things have gone well for them.

When resisting the ban of firecrackers for Diwali, once again the joy derived is from the misery it will cause to 'liberals' rather than the joy it causes to the person lighting the crackers.

When the government that they support commits a major blunder

They are quite often the first ones to make excuses. They indulge in whataboutery. The other party did this too in 1980. The other party leader did this much worse during the emergency.

When everything fails, they say it is impossible to resolve everything so quickly. This is even applied for obvious blunders that have no logical reason or long-term gains. They add it took 70 years for the other party to ruin a nation, you cannot expect miracles in 7 years

When once-prominent supporter of ‘RW’ is vocally critical of the government.

The 'RW' reacts by posting photos of them with leaders of other parties are shared. They are branded disgruntled, crazy, or frustrated for not being given plum posts or a ministry. They are accused of being paid agents. They trolled and taunted, and quite often it is very vicious and personal.

The final step is to brant this critic a traitor and a foreign agent.

Regular people also get the same treatment for dissent, they are branded opposition party agents, tool kit gangs, and other pejorative names.

When all fails they ask those critical to vote for the other party. They remind the dissenters to not come back whining when things are better. They add that the ‘RW’ does not need bogus supporters who desert the ship like rats who think they are going to drown.

While they rejoice when a foreign publication or agency or leaders lavish blandishments at the government, they viciously attack the messenger when the news is bad or if the same agency gives the government a low rating.

Of lately, George Soros may be linked to the mix.

Whenever somebody who belongs to the ‘RW’ is in peril or has suffered from violence at the hands of the left or ‘non-RW state governments’.

They wonder why their haters are not sympathizing with them.

‘Where is the liberal actress?’ ‘Where is the poisonous journalist?’ ‘Where is the left-wing publication?’ ‘Where is the opposition party?” 

They are perpetually resentful of the old Lutyen's media aka the mainstream media, despite that media being dismantled totally

Finally, they helplessly whine this is what fascism looks like.

To sum it up the 'RW' is a group that cannot take any form of criticism, they are eager to hold the opposition to account as if the opposition was in power but seldom challenge or question those in power. 

They are perpetually in reactive mode, on some days they boycott a brand on other days it is a human being that has caused offense.

They are probably not clear what they stand for but know what they are against.

They often behave exactly like the sycophants of the other parties they claim to despise.

It is fair to say that they are a confused bunch who lack objective.

Critics have called them the ‘IT Cell’, but I have seen friends, who are not connected to the party, behave like this because they are so emotionally and unconditionally attached to their party and leader.

The right is unwittingly aping the left in being a totalitarian cult which is very dangerous.

The Left is dogmatic in its beliefs in identity politics, vilification of the demographic majority, and climate change.  They abhor religion with a passion. They irrationally hate Hindus, right-wingers, and moderates.

Leading marches and protests is what they do for which they cannot allow any nuances in thought. This is why they appear more organized and often chant in unison. Above all they despite anybody who disagrees with the groupthink.

On the Right, there is variety, for some, the focus is Hindutva, for others it is nationalism in general, for some people, it is enabling and empowering business enterprises and for some people, it is maintaining the cultural identity and reforming education.

We do not have a traditional right-leaning government in India, apart from their claim to be standing with Hindus, their economic and social policies are far left-leaning. 

Perhaps in a country such as ours where people still suffer from poverty, it is impossible to be capitalist, there will always be a large section that needs to be uplifted via social welfare programs, we cannot follow the principles of capitalism like developed countries.

It is time for the right to wake up and define what it stands for.

The left has lost in every possible way.

They once used to fix cabinet ministries now resentful of their fall from grace and have become whiny compulsive contrarians who run YouTube channels or mediocre and hateful websites that nobody visits.

It is now up to the right to hold their government’s feet to the fire, to question and challenge their every move.

For instance, when there is lawlessness, the miscreants and those supporting them are responsible, but it is the government's job to enforce and uphold the law. The government must be questioned.

Whenever the government makes a bogus claim. They must be fact-checked by the ‘RW’.

Since the mainstream media are complete proponents of the government it is up to the regular ‘RW’ to objectively and constructively be critical of the government.

When anybody, irrespective of their background, is critical about the government. The 'RW' must resist the temptation to dismiss them summarily.

In doing so the right will also own the section people and media who are critical of the government, that the left has a monopoly so far.

The 'RW' can form pressure groups to compel the government to submit to course correction.

Yes, the government needs to be defended against bogus allegations but the government does have their party spokesperson which includes people in the media masquerading as journalists.

In order to flourish and to make our nation great again, the RW must focus on becoming thoughtful, intellectually curious, self-critical, and self-improving.

They must drive the narrative and not be perpetually reacting to the left.