The United States is facing a huge moral dilemma as it struggles to combat assertive white supremacists and neo-Nazis whipping up majoritarian sentiments. The atavistic politics of Nazi-saluting supremacists rioting at Charlottesville, Virginia, is trying to reshape America’s political and social dialogue. The counter-protesters are also mobilising in massive numbers, as seen over the weekend. It’s clear this transformation was triggered by Donald Trump’s November victory, with the moderating influence of liberal and secular forces on the decline. It is truly a frightening time to live in America. The resurfacing of old Confederate issues, buried for 150 years, led to rising liberal voices that the statues of Confederate heroes like Gen. Robert E. Lee should be in museums, not public spaces. That whipped up far-right hate groups into running riot as President Trump waffled in his peculiarly oscillating responses, from blaming the violence on “many sides” but losing it all in his moral ambivalence.
There are parallels to draw in the new normal in Trump’s America and the right-wing populism gaining ground in India. While there should always be space for reasoned debate as modernism challenges society and different political viewpoints gain at the cost of others, to aim to shut out divergent viewpoints is to invoke intolerance, which a pluralistic society like India can ill-afford. To recognise the importance of inclusion isn’t a political challenge as much as a legitimate societal and moral need. Mr Trump’s model of bullying opponents into submission and trying to succeed by sheer force of will is a warning, not an example, in the modern world.
