Reality Bites: How to tame a bigot

Santa Claus has finally arrived—Hindutva mobs burnt his effigies and delayed him a bit, but couldn’t keep him away! And gosh, he’s got thoughtful gifts to make Indians stop weeping. The Dear Leader is suddenly making international headlines like never before and winning global awards.

However, his ministers, his favourite industrialists, India’s mainstream media, and the BJP IT cell have zipped their lips. Not a squeak out of them, which is odd considering that they went ga ga goo goo over that dubious first-ever Philip Kotler “Presidential” award to the Dear Leader in 2019. Incidentally, that was the last-ever Philip Kotler “Presidential” award too. I hope Mr Kotler writes a nice fat book on that weird experience and calls it something like, ‘The Principles of Arm-twisting’.

The latest global trophy is the “2021 Persecutor of the Year Awards”, and it’s from the International Christian Concern (ICC). The Dear Leader together with his Sangh Parivar has been named one of the world’s seven biggest persecutors of religious minorities, along with the Taliban and Boko Haram.

The ICC report grimly noted that the Dear Leader’s administration had overseen “a massive cultural shift” in India from a pluralistic society to Hindu nationalism, and “consistently punished all forms of dissent”, cracking down on NGOs seeking to hold it accountable.

Now, I ask you, isn’t that reason enough for his supporters to cheer, considering that they voted for the Dear Leader for this reason alone? Why isn’t Arnab Cowswami of Repugnant TV wearing a silly party hat and blowing those party whistles that honk and unfurl?

Chilling calls for genocide from Hindu extremists in Haridwar alarmed human rights organisations across the world, and we have heard Dr Gregory Stanton, president of US-based non-profit organisation Genocide Watch, say that they are pushing for a US Congressional resolution to warn the Dear Leader and his government that “it must denounce this incitement to commit genocide”.

We must take this very, very seriously—Dr Stanton had predicted the genocide in Rwanda, remember? However, not a word from the Dear Leader’s beloved news anchors on this either. I’m rather shocked that Navika Cowmar of Crimes Now hasn’t accessed Dr Stanton’s WhatApp chats and discovered that he bought drugs from a Bollywood star.

I experienced a moment of fear when I read that television interviewer Karan One-Tight-Thappar had jumped in and interviewed Dr Stanton. I clicked the YouTube link with a trembling finger, expecting to see blood. See, Mr One-Tight-Thappar used to roar like a starving lion at TV guests who likened the BJP to the Nazis, but hello, here he was placidly nodding as Dr Stanton listed the Dear Leader’s crimes against humanity and the likelihood of genocide if he didn’t mend his ways.

Ever since he left India’s mainstream media, Mr One-Tight-Thappar has become a rational human being, whew. I heartily recommend independence for every journalist.

The Dear Leader is not the only Indian who is currently in the spotlight. A London law firm, Stoke White, has asked the War Crimes Unit of the UK Metropolitan Police to arrest India’s Home Minister Amit Sour, the Indian Army Chief and eight other military officers for “the torture, kidnapping and killing of activists, journalists and civilians” in Kashmir.

According to the Associated Press, “The law firm’s report was based on over 2,000 testimonies taken between 2020 and 2021.” It was filed under the doctrine of universal jurisdiction, which applies to human rights crimes anywhere in the world.