Delhi's Anti-Muslim Chants tell us about increasing hatred in society

Ground Report | New Delhi: Delhi's Anti-Muslim Chants; An unauthorized march in the heart of New Delhi this weekend has shaken the national consciousness. A group of Hindutva supporters allegedly rallying against "colonial-era laws" at Jantar Mantar on Sunday was documented raising anti-Muslim, provocative slogans.

The gathering of 5,000 people included followers of Dasna Devi temple priest Yeti Narasimhananda Saraswati - who had earlier been booked for making inflammatory remarks against the prophet. Five of the participants, and a political leader, have been detained. But in the last two days, three types of reactions have come to the fore on the internet and social media. (Delhi's Anti-Muslim Chants)

One, of course, opposes the incident and expresses active outrage (Delhi Police has also detained those who were protesting anti-Muslim rallies on Tuesday); The second finds wisdom in the actions of the so-called "fringe" group that demands greater rights, And the third is happy to play both sides and offers a centrist argument. It is the third argument that is probably the deadliest.

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Ethnic outbidding

It has taken years for anti-Muslim sentiment to be built up by rising polarization, isolating the law, and provocative statements by some members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). A political science theory also fits into the chain of events here - called "ethnic outbidding". Ethnic outbidding relies on the principle of leaders or politicians "raising each other up" by surrounding a minority group as a social problem in order to gain majority support.

The theory was first raised by Duke University professor Donald Horowitz. Competing for support from one ideological group tends to be more inclined to protect that particular group – at the expense of other minorities. For example, if in a school election, your friend proposes harsh policies to please the preferences of the "cool kids," the needs and demands of other factions that are ignored or bullied.

"This competitive situation is like an auction where politicians think the way to win is to be more extreme in defending a group," Stephen Seidman, a professor of political science at Carleton University, said in his blog. . The theory basically links the politicization of ethnic conflicts with the instability of democracy.

Seidman made a reference to former US President Donald Trump, who also denounced other Republican Party members for promoting Islamophobic sentiments. But the principle applies to many more multi-ethnic democracies that are prone to conflict. One of the most prominent examples Horowitz mentions is the Sri Lankan Civil War that lasted until 2009, where politicians learned to play a group. Since English-speaking Tamils ​​had better access to jobs, a section promised to make Sinhalese the national language.

Delhi's Anti-Muslim Chants; Extreme right-wing ideology

In 2017, some supporters of extreme right-wing ideology noted that Yogi Adityanath, the current chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and a politician noted for his most correct political discourse, said he was not 'Hindutva' to them. "Yogi Adityanathji sacche Hindutva se dur ho chuke hain.” "(Yogi Adityanath ji has distanced himself from core Hindutva). Since then, Adityanath's politics has been classified by many experts as anti-Muslim.

Other right-wing discourses by politicians have only increased in the East. Now Home Minister Amit Shah, campaigning in 2019, referred to Bangladesh's Muslim migrants as "termites", even vowing to "throw" them into the Bay of Bengal after coming to power. Another politician Ranjit Bahadur Srivastava also warned that "the party will bring machines from China to shave 10-12 thousand Muslims and later force them to convert to Hinduism." Last year, an MLA from Uttar Pradesh, Suresh Tiwari, had asked people not to buy vegetables from Muslims.

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Delhi's Anti-Muslim Chants: Ethnic Outbidding?

The term "ethnic outbidding" refers to an auction-like process where ethnic-based political parties adopt highly ideological positions as a means to distance themselves from rival parties.

While much research references ethnic exclusion, very little empirical analysis actually assesses the ability to outbidding models to explain the actions of ethnic political parties. Generally, existing research on outbidding fails to account for ideological differences between ethnic parties. In this article, we review research on ethnic party strategy and propose a strategy for applying ideological data in future ethnic politics research.

Seidman defines "ethnic exclusion" as "when politicians compete for the support of a particular ethnic group, leading to a greater demand to protect that group at the expense of others." Like, say, Ben Carson saying that Muslims shouldn't be president and then Trump going ahead and saying that we should ban Muslims from entering the United States.

Proponents of the theory - the most famous of them being Duke's Donald Horowitz - use it to explain why some (though not all) multi-ethnic democracies seem unstable and prone to conflict at times. The fundamental problem, according to Horowitz and others, comes from ethnic parties. When a party's base is much larger than one ethnic group, politicians within that party have a strong incentive to appeal to that group's particular interests. One really effective way to do this is to appeal to xenophobia and fear of outside ethnic groups.

Trump's Muslim comments

Trump is outranking other Republicans - trying to be the most hostile to America's Muslims. The campaign has sparked discussions of banning Muslims from entering America, surveillance of Arabs (who may or may not be Muslims), closing mosques, and so on. And now we see that violence against Muslims is increasing across the country.

Trump is no joke - he is a threat to Americans. Not just by giving ISIS what it wants, but by encouraging Americans to defeat other Americans simply because they practice a different religion. Well, maybe, because ignorant casteists often attack the "wrong" people, such as Sikhs.

Not every multi-ethnic democracy has a problem of caste exclusion: Kanchan Chandra of MIT, a caste extrovert skeptic, argues that Indian ethnic parties have been pretty good at preventing it. But there are reasons to look at what is happening to anti-Muslim politics in America.

The Republican Party is highly white and Christian, and deeply suspicious of Muslims. A recent poll found that 76 percent of Republicans believed that "the values ​​of Islam are contrary to American values ​​and lifestyles." As Saidman told me in a note, "Politicians can't bid unless there's an audience for it."

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