Just ten years ago, social media in India was flooded with insults like Macaulay-putra and Presstitutes. There was open contempt for intellectuals. There was a movement to say how Max Mueller and Macaulay had destroyed India, but a new Bharat was emerging - one that would decolonise itself, become the world's Vishwaguru, control global discourse, stop wars and teach humanity the secrets of dharma. NRIs cheered loudly, celebrating what they called India's true freedom and triumphant return to greatness.
Yet today, the picture looks very different. India seems to be bowing before both China and the United States, countries that eat beef and pork, food held in contempt by Satvik folks, the purest of the pure in India. China claims Indian land, and our own laser-eyed foreign minister admits we cannot push back because our economy depends on Chinese imports. In the conflicts unfolding in West Asia and around the Strait of Hormuz, we are being told whom to buy petrol from and whom not to. Not one Indian leader challenges a tweet that refers to India as 'hellhole'. Is this discretion or submission? Have we been reduced to Trump-dasis, minions of Trump?
