RateThis whole thread is the worst form of faux intellectuslisation.
My parents voted modi in 2014, and father did in 2019. They gave a variety of reasons, none communal, but theres no question that at the base of it was hatred for muslims.
They have muslim friends and family, love my muslim friends, but that's mere exceptionalism. My mother changed her vote in 2019 after some dramatic public shaming by me (my best work yet), but I have no doubt in my mind that she remains hateful at worst, biased at best.
Theres no doubt in my mind that the reason that they even feel that shame right now, is because they've seen blood and that's too much. It's the gore that converted them, not some vague concept of rights of fellow citizens of basic human rights.
2024 will not be won by trying to find "nuance" in what we know as hatred at worse, and bias at best. It will require shaming about the price we actually pay for the hate. And you will see that shame because they knew exactly what they voted for.
They wanted a quiet and subservient indian muslim. They just didn't want to see the gory details of how that was sought to be achieved. They didn't want to see televised lynching.
We will have to swallow our pride and goad family/extended family about the economy as if the televised lynching and persecution of our people was not reason enough.
Shame them about their liberal credentials and peaceful vegetarianism with images of the violence caused in their name, or even that their hindu brethen have been supporting the orange fool in USA. Whatever works!
Speak to your audience, not at them but USE THEIR SHAME! I promise you, enough of them feel it to change their vote.
We may heal and get past it some day, but right now you dont try to understand their motivations for voting modi, just find what works ro pursuade them your way.
Remember: we may hate to think of our parents as fascists but Modi had an unprecedented mandate in 2014 and 2019. He knows our parents voting habits better than us.
Remember also that he knows they need to be able to rationalize the "need" for violence, and that's why he has propaganda about "the violent muslim mob that was just being controlled". But they *know*.
Dont let them off the hook. There is shame there, use it.