Intolerance debate engulfs diaspora: 3 NRIs discuss the great Indian dilemma over PM Modi, end up being no damn different!

(Prologue: The ‘intolerance’ debate raging in India has reached foreign shores, engulfing in its wake the 32 million strong Indian diaspora as well. With Modi mania unabated in the global enclaves of Indians abroad, and all set to dramatically express itself next week in the UK, three NRIs from Singapore, the US and the UK, debate issues. This piece is inspired by their sparring on a Facebook group chat. It is as riveting as the debate back home, filled with hot air and abuse.)

Singapore Indian: Muslims being killed for consuming beef. Secular Indians being harassed for being accepting of others. Sportsmen being banned from plying their skills. Celebrities being taunted for speaking out against intolerance. India is under attack and no, it’s not at its borders but from within. It is not a foreign power but the one legally elected. The price for economic progress (which itself is questionable) cannot be social unrest. It is time every secular Indian expressed their outrage to remind these zealots and the government that we are the majority. Narendra Modi can hug Mark Zuckerberg all he likes but as long as we applaud these publicity stunts, we don’t send him a message to fix this or be fired. I encourage everyone in Singapore to boycott the Modi rally so that our Prime Minister is reminded that he represents all of India not the 31% who voted for him, including those of us who live abroad."

UK Indian: Rich, coming from someone who is never going home. Easy to pass all these judgements. You think Modi brought up all these problems when he was elected and they were not there before him. Animal mobs, them and us, the divides of caste and religion, they are not new. Some idiot murders somebody, you cannot point to Modi and blame him, that is absurd. Hey, mister, you have chosen to live in a country where freedom has been sacrificed for technical progress and you proclaim it to be the ultimate destination, we know the atrocities and the diktats committed to achieve that but why do you praise that and scorn Modi (who has no direct or indirect association with any of the current madness)? And be honest, accept the fact that never has Indian freedom of expression been so free. Never has media babbled on without restriction. Explain that.

US Indian: What, getting inked for standing for a principle, is that your idea of freedom of speech? The way national awards are being returned in protest, freedoms are in peril. People are afraid to speak their minds. The enemy is at the gate, it was never this bad, what freedoms do you refer to….?

UK Indian: Don’t sit 10,000 miles away and have your opinions forged by the US media. Come to India. Nothing is that bad. Modi is doing a good job. Some of his peeps mess up and Modi-baiting is a sport thanks to the media which blows everything out of proportion. You think anyone cares if Indians in Singapore boycott him? What is achieved by that? Why are we afraid of someone being internationally acclaimed? Face it, Modi makes us all proud when he is on foreign shores and it is envy that makes people attack him. If 90,000 people plan to fill Wembley, it is a testament to his popularity.

US Indian: Actually, I am all for Singapore Indians demanding a boycott. Even Cambridge University has done it. I don’t think what we are seeing is really freedom of expression. It is more that so much rot is boiling over it is spilling out of the pot, murders, rapes, Hindu fringe groups, never has there been so much at the same time, even a tame media cannot duck it. This is the world’s perception.

Singapore Indian: I agree. Don’t call it freedom. If anything, law and order is up for grabs and looneys are around beating up people, can you imagine a Minister kicking a child beggar in the face and getting away with it anywhere else in the world? Just because there was crap for last 60 years doesn’t give the right to the new government to give anyone more crap. Why is everyone telling everyone else to either echo their sentiments or shut up? It’s sad and shameful that instead of condemning incidents of violence and bigotry, we say, ‘oh well, a previous government did much worse or who cares as long as there is economic progress.’

UK Indian: You people are bigoted. Modi has taken India places despite people pulling him down and done it in such a short time. If we backed him rather than pulled at the cotton all the time, our country would progress even faster. Indians have failed to grasp the fact that Modi has been made into a generic label from all our ills and we could be victims of a clever and diabolical plot to con us. It is amazing how you can be brainwashed by a controlled media offensive. Modi is doing a great job on building brand India and bringing the world to India. But he is doing a poor job in reinforcing the fundamental nature of what India is which is its unity in diversity. What is wrong, if anything, is this defensive attitude that seems to be like a shield around our prime minister. India is not perfect and will never be, the only way to reconcile these religious idiosyncrasies is by economic progress which is being stalled by the dynastic family that ruled us for so many years and is creating this entire media furore to stall the winter session of parliament. None of them ever got the spontaneous reception Modi gets. If that was the global perception as you say, why would 90,000 people, not all Indians, be attracted to Wembley?

US Indian: Oh please, spare us. Nothing is that simple. To respond to your statement, the question to ask is what is being done to fix the problems. As for the dynasty, they have only 44 seats, they don’t even count. You are missing the point. The global stage is rickety and investors are deeply concerned about India’s prejudices coming to the fore. Did you read the Moody’s report? Look what colours our image today. Child rapes, gangland dons, corrupt cops, moral police, insecurity for women, an absence of tolerance, mob violence, beef-eater threats and it is a daily diet. What is really sanctifying all this negativism is the number of ‘thinking’ people who are giving back their symbols of recognition, that is not something you can laugh away. We are a sinking ship and Modi is the captain, he has to take responsibility. He cannot keep running to foreign countries and addressing guilt-ridden NRIs in an orchestrated concert of the vanities.

UK Indian: Houston, the eagle has landed. When did you last go to India? You are probably called Jim from Jamshed or Jo from Joginder and you pretend to be that peacock and are an expert on things American and the fact is you ran away. India is not a hot dog with relish and what the hell do you mean orchestrated concert? Look at your own bigotry.

US Indian: And you didn’t, sitting there in bloody Hounslow or Slough in your little row house making curry, why don’t you go back to Kanpur or Kailashnagar and then let’s see how much flag waving you do? Meeting Modi is a PR exercise.

UK Indian: Damn pseudo-yank, don’t be rude and conceal your ignorance before you get laughed off.

US Indian: You are just another beef-eating hypocrite, you don’t see the writing on the wall, face it, India has never had it so bad.

UK Indian: It’s people like you who have no stake in India who make these judgments and become apologists…

US Indian: Yes, of course, you are a blue-blooded Indian to the core living in Stratham and taking the tube and I bet you’ve bought a tricolour and are all ready to welcome Modi next week…

UK Indian: You make me sick with your ignorance…and yes, I have and I am proud of it.

US Indian: Oh get lost, you stupid git.

Singapore Indian: Two NRIs echoing 1.2 billion…same difference.

— Bikram is himself an NRI (Dubai)