The BJP came to power in India in 2014. With every election it has become harder to beat the BJP. It has consolidated money, media & muscle. While its 2024 electoral performance was weaker than 2019, it won despite horrible anti incumbency (something that governments elsewhere have faced). - ThreadSky

pavisuri.bsky.social • 130 days ago

The BJP came to power in India in 2014. With every election it has become harder to beat the BJP. It has consolidated money, media & muscle. While its 2024 electoral performance was weaker than 2019, it won despite horrible anti incumbency (something that governments elsewhere have faced).

Comments

brittexkavi.bsky.social•130 days ago

I didn’t follow Indian politics until Modi & began seeing parallels in Nationalism. Democracy is a very fragile thing & unfortunately we’ve been trending towards Oligarchy since Citizens United was passed. My opinion is we need to push up as many AOC like Prog’s as possible. Dems have failed.

pavisuri.bsky.social•130 days ago

I say this because America is on the same trajectory. We are watching in real time an incredible consolidation of power along with a systematic decimation of long standing institutions. 2028 is going to be a very hard electoral ball game for the opposition. The work has to begin now.

pavisuri.bsky.social•130 days ago

Nobody in the Democratic Party except for the exception of AOC even seems to be grasping how hard 2028 will be. We have failed as academics, journalists and commentators to prepare Americans to recognize what autocracy looks like. We are overtly focused on the political game and elections instead.

pavisuri.bsky.social•130 days ago

Everything I know about India makes me very bleak for America in its current media and industrial landscape

pavisuri.bsky.social•130 days ago

And if you think Trump will pay a heavy price for going after the 14th Amendment or deportation, don't hold your breath. Modi's first few acts as Prime Minister in his second term were to amend Indian citizenship laws & to revoke the special status of Kashmir. Identity politics is the game.

adept2u.bsky.social•130 days ago

Pavi do you have any Black Americans to talk to? May I beg you to find some and offer myself as a resource?

pavisuri.bsky.social•130 days ago

I write on Reconstruction and its backlash. Always, happy for more resources for you to suggest on how White Backlash leads to democratic erosion.

pavisuri.bsky.social•130 days ago

Does this mean we give up? No. The Indian case also offers useful lessons. First, go for voters EVERYWHERE. Rahul Gandhi''s Bharat Jodo yanra had electoral dividends. Second, fortify state-level wins and protects your federal bases of power. Third, bureaucrats need to fight back. One of my most

pavisuri.bsky.social•130 days ago

memorable interviews was with a bureaucrat who pointed to a printed preface of the Indian constitution, framed on his wall, and said "this is the only thing I bow to." Bureaucratic resistance is key and works.

kgrant1073.bsky.social•130 days ago

With your expertise are you reaching out to elected Democratic officials directly? You have a bigger megaphone than common voters do.

Not to say we won't continue to communicate our ideas and frustrations to our reps and senators, but your voice is louder and carries longer.

kashdan.bsky.social•130 days ago

@whitehouse.senate.gov has been on this way before AOC. She just has a larger platform & press like to cover her. But Sen. Whitehouse has been beating the drum on SCOTUS, corruption & if we didn’t do something when he had the chance it was going to get brutal.

kavalloorm.bsky.social•130 days ago

The parallels are uncanny. The similarities will amplify after we see the weaponization of federal/governmental agencies to silence, suppress and/or subjugate the opposition, independent media, academics etc as we see happening in India.

industrialdecarb.bsky.social•130 days ago

A deeper analysis would probably reveal that the lack of cohesion among the opposition and unclear messaging is probably an equally important reason for the weak electoral performance of the opposition.

librariansteve.bsky.social•130 days ago

Yes. And lack of cohesion comes from years of just being "opposition": of Reagan, then Bush Sr., then Bush Jr., then Trump. Opposition doesn't build coherence - how you get Liz Cheney at a campaign event for Kamala Harris. Coherence needs a clearly articulated vision that everyone agrees on.

emsharples.bsky.social•130 days ago

📌

integrum23.bsky.social•127 days ago

Simple reason, incompetent opposition, otherwise there is just NO WAY that such a flawed government survives

jeffnorm.bsky.social•130 days ago

tulliuscicero43.bsky.social•129 days ago

📌

somanymonkeys.bsky.social•130 days ago

There are some parallels between Modi & Trump, but Modi is 4 years younger than Trump & came to office at a younger age. Modi doesn't have a Constitutional term limit to worry about, either.

somanymonkeys.bsky.social•130 days ago

The Democrats are the "Rights Party" that wants to protect individual & minority rights, facing a nationalist-majoritarian GOP. India shows identity based appeals to the majority work. I'm not sure how Democrats make that pivot without dropping the "rights" stuff.

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply