India is new to neither division nor divisive politics. We have had and are still having our fair share. Culturally, as long as something didn't happen to us we don't involve ourselves. The meaning of 'us' shall vary depending on the context. It could range between 'self' and 'religious community'. This is true even for democracy. All we need is to get fooled by an elite in the name of either religion or development. Many a times they don't go together.
USA elections bring the original Indianess out in the open. Many Indians are emotionally down, thanks to Trump's victory. Parents are scared to explain to their kids how Trump was elected. Almost all of them underlined and emphasised the fact that Trump is divisive. He spoke badly about immigrants who live in the United States. Well, he did rightly so about illegal immigrants. Let us not blind the facts with emotions.
What I fail to understand - as someone who lives in India - is that how these Indians do not have any problems supporting wholeheartedly, if not worship, a divisive figure as a leader in India. People lost lives fifteen years ago in the name of religion. Sadly, in many cases, the religion wasn't even theirs'. We conveniently do not speak about the past that did not involve us. Or we are madly in love with a maniac. Or we are utterly selfish. Perhaps the Indianess is hidden somewhere.
Men of straw with emotionally selective amnesia is arguably the winning combination.
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