The extant fiasco in the United States hardly needs accentuation. The manner in which George Floyd was murdered was manifestly abominable and unforgivable. I would not be surprised at, and would not outright disagree with, the assertion that the riots stem from the pent-up detestation towards racism in the United States. It is equally true, however, that this form of violence does little to help the cause of those passionately fighting against racism using constitutional means.
The object of this post, however, is not the examination of the history of racism in the United States. The object of this post is to accentuate the similarities in both the fiascoes; the extant rioting in Minneapolis and the anti-CAA fiasco in India not too long ago.
I am given to understand that protesters have looted an entire Apple store in DC. It took seven minutes before cops arrived. There have also been visuals of the protesters dealing damage to the CNN office. The critics, of course, did not hesitate to point out, “Hey CNN! Peaceful protesters at your door!”
I further have been given to understand that it was the “white nationalist right wing” that actually aggravated the protests and turned them violent. It is manifest that they must also appropriately prosecuted if indeed guilty. For it was not until the peaceful protests commenced that action was taken against the offending police officer. But if so, the protests ought to have subsided. That certainly has not happened.
This is an indubitable state of anarchy, something which we all witnessed in India during the unwarranted protests and riots against a harmless piece of legislation that was the CAA. The contention was that the government had included religion as grounds of providing citizenship which goes against constitutional principles of secularism, and the express ban on discrimination by the Constitution. They, however, failed to understand that it was not just in one, but in numerous verdicts by the Supreme Court, that exceptions to these constitutional provisions were enumerated.
For if Articles 14 and 15 were followed in spirit, even affirmative action would have to be struck down as unconstitutional (interested readers may read Samaraditya Pal’s books on the Constitution). No protester and vested interest, however, bothered to examine such nuances. They went about blocking roads with unadulterated shamelessness, without any regard whatsoever for public order. As if that did not suffice, two mothers brought their two-month old infants at the protest site and engaged themselves in symbolic protests, leaving the infants to die! And then they had the temerity to say that it was Allah’s will.
I see the same materializing in the United States today. It is interesting to note that Americans do not possess much knowledge of the state of affairs of foreign countries. There is an age-old and exasperating propensity in the U.S. to dismiss everything as silly third-world bickering. The Minneapolis incidents may well bust this bubble of imagined civil superiority. As renowned author Hindol Sengupta says, “Had this happened in our part of the world, the American Press would have been the first to describe it as ‘civil war’.”
It may be said that the outburst of sentiments are legitimate. No matter what, however, one cannot condone such anarchy. The issues, of course, are widely different in India and in the U.S. But those who have provided the anarchists with an intellectual shield are those claiming to fight for ideals; against racism in the U.S. and against imagined majoritarianism in India.
These principles are very much cherished by those with leftist inclinations in both countries. I am, therefore, compelled to agree with the United States Attorney General William Barr that it appears as if the violence is planned, organized and driven by anarchic left extremist groups. Far-left extremist groups, using Antifa-like tactics.
Author and filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri coined a very apposite term for these eminent personalities in the media, entertainment industry, bureaucracy, universities etc. who provide intellectual cover for such anarchists whose actions reek of the revolution as must have been imagined by Marx. The term coined by him is, “Urban Naxals”. They, unlike the gun-toting Naxals, do not directly take up arms, but use the intellectual medium to indoctrinate the youth and have it sympathize with the far-Left ideology. I suppose many Americans would find eerie similarities between SJWs in the U.S. and such youth in India.
I use, in an almost verbatim manner, the words of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, who is celebrated as the Father of the Indian Constitution, when I say:
Urban Naxals form a close corporation, and the distinction that this corporation makes between self-proclaimed intellectuals and dissidents is a very real, very positive and very alienating distinction. There is a fraternity, but the benefit is confined to those within that corporation. For those who are outside the corporation, there is nothing but contempt and enmity.
Dr. Ambedkar had used these words in the context of the Islamic society in India as it existed in the days of India’s independence movement. Whether or not it applies to the Islamic society in today’s India is beyond the purview of this post. What is important is that his description is very apt for today’s Urban Naxals.
A noteworthy feature of this corporation is that it transcends geographical, ethnic and religious boundaries. The only purpose of its existence is the devolution of the state of affairs across nations to total anarchy. It hides its lack of intellect with impassioned public eloquence, and brazen cunning that is employed in order to misguide the infertile young minds who, at such ages, are bustling with hormonal peaks.
The members of this corporation wax eloquent about freedom of speech and expression, but they possess an intrinsic lack of acceptance towards criticism. Criticism, even in civilized and respectful language, forthwith invites the most abominable linguistic barrage from them.
They do not let it known, but they follow Antonio Gramsci even more than they follow Karl Marx. What Marx conceptualized was purely based on economics. It failed because it was evident that labour problems are not the same across the world. The class divisions were also not as rigid; they certainly are not so today. Gramsci’s idea pertained to attacking the cultural institutions in countries for Marxism to thrive. So long as indigenous culture thrived, Marxism would appear esoteric and make little sense to the local population.
I have not much of an idea as to the tactics employed by Gramsci’s adherents to demean cultural institutions in the U.S. but I guess the burning of the Star Spangled Banner could be construed as such. It would not be an overstatement to say that the situation in India is exponentially worse. We in India are aware as to the contortion of our history books, and the monopoly established by the Left-oriented elite over the intelligentsia and academia. It is ironic that Marxist thought, which would ideally have opposed colonialism for its bourgeoisie character, ended up colonizing the minds of India’s youth.
I understand that much of my post does not directly pertain to the extant situation in the U.S. However, it is important to note that Minneapolis is not a one-off incident. It is but a statistic which is part of a pernicious game being played by the global cabal of Urban Naxals. It is not a conspiracy theory that these people have deep pockets; why else is George Soros saying something to the effect of pledging $1 billion to fight fascism in India?
The patterns are eerily the same. It is “Free Palestine” in the United States and “Free Kashmir” in India. Americans would do well to understand that the Free Kashmir slogans are propounded not by “oppressed citizens demanding freedom” but the Left cabal that is actively shielding terrorists. This is upheld even by the radical Left in the U.S. To endorse this slogan, therefore, is to conform to their propaganda and fall prey to them.
We must not dismiss it as an incident of anarchy. The destabilization of the state apparatus is the singular aim of such people. I do not know what they seek to achieve thereafter, but whatever it is, it manifestly cannot be a welcome proposition.
