Trumping majoritarianism in the Hindi heartland
Updated:
Updated:
May 22, 2021 01:16 IST
Regional assertion cannot work in Uttar Pradesh even if it may be a bulwark against the BJP’s expansionary plans
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Regional assertion cannot work in Uttar Pradesh even if it may be a bulwark against the BJP’s expansionary plans
The landslide victory of the All India Trinamool Congress in the West Bengal Assembly elections and the pushback of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have given rise to a pervasive belief that right-wing politics can be defeated by regional assertions. Undoubtedly, regional and cultural assertion in these States acted as an effective bulwark against the BJP’s expansionary plans in southern and eastern India. The regional-cultural tropes deployed by Mamata Banerjee, for example, worked so well that at one point, Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah was even forced to clarify that if the BJP is elected, so
As Munawar Faruqui case shows, questioning BJP’s Hindutva project while Muslim can land you in jail
Several young Muslims have been locked up because they had the temerity to assert their right to equal citizenship. Stand-up comic Munawar Faruqui. | Munawar Faruqui via Facebook.
Stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui is out on bail after being incarcerated for over a month on trumped-up charges.
Faruqui was arrested in Indore on a complaint by the vigilante son of a Bharatiya Janata Party politician who interrupted a New Year’s Eve gig at which he was performing, accusing him of hurting Hindu sentiments by joking about Hindu deities and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The police said that it did not matter that Faruqui had not actually done what he was accused of doing.