Politics and Violence: A Marriage of Convenience

In today’s world, politics and violence are no longer separate ideas. If you look closely at the rhetoric of modern politics, across countries and parties, you will see that hate and aggression are woven into nearly every radical populist political movement. Violence is no longer confined to unstable or developing nations with ethnic conflicts; it has become a global political currency.

Why? Because hate and polarization deliver tremendous dividends. They guarantee long-term power without the burden of accountability. This is why almost every government or political party is tempted to use this method either to win an election or stay in power without doing any public good. A divided society does not ask its leaders for jobs, education, or healthcare. Instead, it demands revenge. Citizens begin to rejoice not in their own well-being, but in the suffering of their opponents. This is the enduring “divide and rule” strategy: fear and hate for those who look different, pray differently, or think differently. It is one of the oldest tricks in politics, and in the age of social media, it has become more potent than ever.

You may ask: aren’t people smart enough to recognize when they are being manipulated? You wish. In the age of social media algorithms, echo chambers have become impenetrable. People are now fed only what they already believe. Rarely do they challenge their views; instead, they consume one reel, one meme, one outrage post at a time until bigotry feels like truth.

This brainwashing has consequences. Racism, sexism, misogyny, and xenophobia are dressed up as nationalism, populism, or patriotism. The freedom of expression is invoked to defend hateful propaganda, but when others use the same freedom to dissent, they are silenced or branded as traitors. Even parties that claim to champion freedom of speech remain silent when their opponents are silenced through government force or intimidation, such is the blinding effect of the lust for power. What we see is not freedom, it is propaganda masquerading as liberty. The echo chambers of hate are not only created by powerful algorithms, but they are actively reinforced by the tactful monitoring of human behavior and tacit approval from all parties who benefit from it. 

The tragedy deepens when governments themselves deploy propaganda. When hate becomes a policy, instead of debating ideas for the public good, politicians weaponize communities against one another to mask their own failures and corruption. We see working-class citizens cheering for tax cuts for billionaires, believing that the “enemy within” is to blame for their struggles.

Take immigration. It is a serious problem that requires solutions, but instead of policy, politicians fuel hatred against entire communities. The result? Citizens are fighting among themselves while those in power escape scrutiny. In this system, every death becomes political capital, not a human tragedy. Citizens are not valued as members of society but used as political weapons, activated, manipulated, and discarded.

History is full of examples: empires, kings, colonizers, and dictators have always relied on hate and violence as tools of control. What is alarming today is that even democratically elected governments are adopting the same playbook, ruling less like representatives of the people and more like autocrats. And disturbingly, citizens are not just tolerating it; they are cheering it on. Many celebrate the erosion of fundamental rights when it happens to their opponents, convinced that it will never touch them. But when genocides are glorified as heroics and propaganda is consumed as fact, society loses its moral compass. Bigotry may start as an opinion, but repeated often enough, it calcifies into “truth.” Once that “truth” is amplified by media and algorithms, propaganda doesn’t just shape the news, it becomes the news.

The saddest reality is this: we, the people, are allowing it to happen. Our silence, our complicity, and our willingness to stay in our comfort zones enable this cycle. It does not have to be this way. Politics need not be synonymous with violence and hate. Our political opponents are not enemies of the state. We can reject this toxic model. We can choose love, compassion, constructive criticism, and accountability as the foundation of politics.

The power of hate is immense, but so is the power of humanity. History shows that hate divides, but love unites. The choice is before us. The question is: will we wake up in time?

Thank you for reading. Please share your views on this topic. 

© Vinay Thakur, All rights reserved. Vinay can be reached at thevinay2022@gmail.com

It's not about meat ban silly!

The recent controversy about the meat ban in Maharashtra is an ideal example of how appeasement politics works in India. Actually, this is not the first time anything has been banned in India, we have a long history of banning books, movies, authors, different types of meats, etc. This is all done by different governments in the name of not hurting the sentiments of a particular community or religion. Sometimes it is about sentiments attached to some animal like a cow. Sometimes it is about the insult of some revered historical figure like Shivaji. Sometimes it is about the insult of some religious icons like Mohammad or Jesus or some goddess. And sometimes it is about some religious festivals or rituals. In the current case, it is about respecting the Jain ritual called 'Paryushan', as Jains are vegetarians and are against any type of violence some municipal corporations in Mumbai imposed a ban on the butchering of animals and selling meat for a few days during Paryushan time to respect their sentiments. Surprisingly killing and selling of fish is not included in this ban, so, I wonder if Jains consider fish as living things or not, or is there any different logic that allows fish killing but not of chickens or goats? One can find many technical mistakes in these types of bans, but this is not the main point, this particular incident along with many other similar incidents in the past exposes the prevalent hypocrisy of our society. 

The same political parties who were supporting the beef ban to its core are now on roads opposing this particular meat ban, they are so adamant in their opposition that they are going to the extent of selling meat on their own on streets to register their protest against this ban. Now just imagine what would have been the reaction of the same people if beef eaters who are again a minority in India had done the same thing. But we can ignore this for the time being as I already said this is not about a meat ban at all, people who think the issue is about meat or religious sentiments are living in a fool's paradise. There is already freedom to practice any religion guaranteed by the constitution in India. This is all about appeasement politics, not about any meat. Every political party has played this game and shamelessly says that they don't do any appeasement politics. Each one of them makes a huge hue and cry if someone else does this for political gains, but shamelessly justifies their own similar acts that too by citing instances in the past which they opposed. NDTV anchor Ravish has coined the very proper term "is equal to theory" for all these actions where every political outfit tries to justify their acts by claiming that in the past so and so has also done this. The sad part is that supporters of these parties participate in this drama without even realizing that they are becoming a part of a deeply hypocritical and regressive system.

These types of bans set up another dangerous precedence, if you ban one book to appease a certain section of society then what is going to stop some other communities from asking to ban another book or attack another author for hurting their sentiments? If you agree to one unreasonable or stupid demand to ban anything then automatically you give legitimacy to many other similar demands. This drama has been going on from last so many years without any interruption. India is already facing so many problems because of appeasement politics but still, people are refusing to learn from their past mistakes, rather, they are adamant about committing the same mistakes just because someone did it and got away with it. Every time it is expected from courts to bring some sense in such matters and unfortunately, they are also not very consistent on these types of sensitive issues. But I have to agree that they are doing a much better job than all political parties who are only interested in exploiting public sentiments.

Divide-and-rule politics is not new, Britishers used it to create a rift between Hindus and Muslims as well as between different castes of Hindus for their own benefit. All these bans are part of the same legacy and mindset, the intention is to appease certain sections by doling out certain unreasonable favors or to hurt some sections by banning something, which in turn creates polarization, and reaping the political benefit of this polarized atmosphere. There is no exception, all political parties are guilty of playing appeasement politics. Only common people, if they want, can stop this nonsense. But if they are okay with it, then this stupid drama will continue endlessly. This is not at all about any book or meat or movie this is about liberty, freedom, and appeasement. Religion is a very personal matter and everyone is free to practice their own faith, but no one has the right to impose their own beliefs or lifestyle on others. This is a simple fact that everyone should understand in any tolerant and progressive society. If they can't stop this nonsense, then at least please stop claiming that you are a tolerant nation. There are Islamic countries in the world where there is a ban on eating food in public places during the month of Ramadan, this is a very regressive thing, but if people think this is wrong, then please explain to me on what basis this meat ban or beef ban can be justified?

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]