Not Even Wrong

Not even wrong. Here’s what that phrase means:

“The phrase implies that not only is someone not making a valid point in a discussion, but they don't even understand the nature of the discussion itself, or the things that need to be understood in order to participate.”

The phrase perfectly describes Aatish Taseer’s apocalyptically titled article in TIME magazine, “Can the World’s Largest Democracy Endure Another Five Years of a Modi Government?”. Here’s why:

1)       It applies Western norms of what is politically acceptable, Western norms of what cannot be said by politicians and so on. But of course, this is India and the rules of political discourse are very different here.

a)     Taseer talks of Modi’s “deafening silences after more recent atrocities” (aka Godhra). But in India, Rajiv Gandhi’s widow and son have shown the same deafening silence wrt the 1984 killing of Sikhs. Two wrongs don’t make a right, but this is a reflection of Indian citizens who, depending on their political orientation, selectively care about one massacre but not the other.

b)     He accuses Modi of tearing down India’s secular and liberal edifice without providing any “alternative moral compass”. But he doesn’t mention the extra-constitutional mother-son duo of Sonia-Rahul who ran the country during Manmohan Singh’s tenure. Or Bal Thackerey’s remote control rule of Maharashtra. Those too were a subversion of democratic institutions. The bar had been lowered long before Modi; and yes, Indian democracy still thrives despite all of that.

2)     He quotes Modi’s “You know what is my crime for them? That a person born to a poor family is challenging their Sultunate [sic]”. But that’s just a shot at the the Congress’ high-class contempt for his chaiwala origins and the Opposition’s love for dynasties (Gandhis, Scindias, Pilots, Mulayam-Akhilesh Yadav, Karunanidhi-Stalin etc).

3)     He cites individual instances of violence against minorities as if it is a continuous phenomenon since 2014. If what happens here is “continuous”, then there is “continuous” violence against blacks in the US too.

4)     Taseer criticizes Modi’s government on women, ignoring that it is a cultural problem regardless of Modi, Rahul Gandhi or Kumaraswamy.

5)     He criticizes Rahul Gandhi as an “unteachable mediocrity” but doesn’t get the bigger problem that by offering him as the alternative to Modi, the Congress creates much revulsion which in turn boosts Modi even more.

6)     Taseer criticizes the choice of a “hate-mongering priest in robes of saffron”, Yogi Adityanath for CM of UP but doesn’t mention the Congress’ choice of Kamal Nath, one of the 1984 riots accused, for CM. Criminals as politicians is the norm in India, not something Modi introduced.

7)     He doesn’t approve of “extreme nationalism” but fails to see it as a reaction to decades of anger and frustration at Pakistan’s unabated terrorism.

8)    Taseer quotes the BJP declaration (“We will remove every single infiltrator from the country, except Buddha [sic], Hindus and Sikhs.”) as if it is bad. Why exactly? No country is obliged to keep illegal infiltrators. And every country has its policy on who it prefers to take in (the US always preferred whites and Christians until recently, Israel is open to Jews, and don’t even get me started on Islamic countries), so what exactly is wrong with Modi’s stance again?

So, don’t worry, TIME and Taseer, India will easily “endure” another term of Modi. Just as the US will outlast Trump and Britain will survive Brexit. Our democracy is strong and resilient, and Modi has done nothing that compares to Indira Gandhi’s emergency… and we got through that. We need neither your concern nor your condescension.

Tyrion Lannister once said in Game of Thrones:

“Everywhere she (Daenerys) goes, evil men die and we cheer her for it. And she grows more sure that she is good and right.”

The danger which we really face is that the resounding repeat victory, the even greater majority, this despite a measure as drastic as demonetization, may convince Modi that everything he does is “good and right”. And while that went to Daenerys’ head, I doubt that’ll happen with Modi. But sure, it’s a possibility, but that’s not the argument Taseer makes. The case he makes is, well, not even wrong.