This thread is an epitome of a discussion I had with a colleague couple of days ago. He talked about how Modi has divided the country along religion lines and how he is fooling people. When I said nothing has changed, we are still who we were, he started giving me a low down of everything that has happened in last 5 years. And here was my response:
People like to believe in "us vs them", you are with me or against me because that is a simplistic binary thinking. It is similar to fight or flee mechanism we had in our hunting days. But things have changed and most situations have a subtlety built into them. Unlike what people believe there aren't two camps - pro or against Modi, there are actually 4 - pro-Modi, against-Modi, and two sections made of a, people who don't care for Modi and think policies like demontisation were stupid and b, people who don't care for Modi but think demontisation was very good policy. Majority of the population lies in the middle - people who don't care for politics and just want to go about their life. What has happened is that the conversation has been hi-jacked by the pro and against portions. I mean if you say something pro or against the government you have to stick to your stand- either you are bhakt or anti-nationalist, you are not allowed shades of grey. You cannot say this a good/bad policy without someone saying "Oh but what about....."
Secondly, we also have lost the art of debate. One of my favorite forums has this rule:
When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3."
Most discussions today are first about name-calling.
Media hasn't helped matters because that is what has helped them sell newspapers and TV ratings. If they went well you know what let's look at it rationally, no one would care. For example, during one of the PNB scam debates one banker said this was first a banking scam and then a political issue. But media was more concerned about which party allowed which person to escape. And this has seeped into our conversation - everything is some type of grand political conspiracy.
Now politics hasn't helped either. Politicians know very well that general public in their constituency don't give two hoots about Modi. Public cares about road, water, and in cases whether they are getting a biryani/1000rs for their vote. For example, my cab driver has a favorite politician - someone who was with Congress, then went to JD-S and now is in BJP. My cab driver thinks Modi is stupid but he will still vote for BJP.
But then media has this narrative of selling "BJP win vs BJP loss" stories so politicians go along. I mean look at the whole drama about Mahagathbadan. Whether you agree with Maywati or not, she is going to get votes due to her decades of caste politics not because she is against-Modi. Same goes for SP, Mamta Banerjee etc.
That being said, there is a simple solution and cure. If you don't like Modi, you have the power to make him go away and that is by......Stop Talking About Modi all the time. You can make something look bigger than it actually is by talking about all the time. There was a time all you talked about was Kejriwal. He was front and center. You forgot, we forgot him and everyone forgot him. If you want, you can also change the narrative - every time someone says Modi, tell them "yea, BJP government" and see how things go.