www.openthemagazine.com 50 16 16 NOVEMBER / 2020

OPEN VOLUME 12 ISSUE 45 16 NOVEMBER 2020

contents 16 november 2020

6 8 14 16 18 20 22 LOCOMOTIF OPEN DIARY THE INSIDER INDIAN ACCENTS OPINION WHISPERER OPEN ESSAY The mind and By By PR Ramesh A road map for the ruler Beware Yogi 2029 By Jayanta Ghosal The morning after mandate of By Bibek Debroy By Minhaz Merchant By Vinay Lal America 2020 By S Prasannarajan

28 THE BIDEN MOMENTUM LINGERING A dispatch from the Disunited States of America By Tunku Varadarajan

34 THE DAY OF THE QUIET AMERICAN , an error-prone politician but a universally well-liked man, scarcely put a foot wrong during the campaign. Trump and the pandemic made that relatively easy. Biden seems to have unseated him with a sense of decency By James Astill

28 40 AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY Have they lost faith and trust in the elected class? By Keerthik Sasidharan

46 THE REDUNDANCY OF ANTI-AMERICANISM There’s a little bit of America all around and in us 54 By Madhavankutty Pillai

50 COUNTING THE SPOTS How many leopards does have? Till we can answer that there is no good estimate of how many have been killed By Nikita Doval

54 62 65 66 BABUR’S SOUL AT HOME IN THE WORLD HOLLYWOOD REPORTER NOT PEOPLE LIKE US The Mughal emperor produced one of Ali Fazal is showing us how Julianne Moore on playing Dixit can fix it the most fascinating autobiographies to be a global star feminist Gloria Steinem By Rajeev Masand ever written to record how he established By Kaveree Bamzai By Noel de Souza an extraordinary dynasty By William Dalrymple Cover photo Getty Images 16 november 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 3 open mail [email protected]

Editor S Prasannarajan letter of the week managing Editor PR Ramesh C executive Editor Ullekh NP editor-at-large Siddharth Singh deputy editors Madhavankutty Pillai I am truly shocked and saddened that the story ( Bureau Chief), on the redevelopment of in Rahul Pandita, Amita Shah, V Shoba (Bangalore), Nandini Nair Old completely fails to recognise or even creative director Rohit Chawla mention the main architect of the project , art director Jyoti K Singh Senior Editors Sudeep Paul, the late Pradeep Sachdeva, who passed away a few Lhendup Gyatso Bhutia (Mumbai), months ago, and his firm Pradeep Sachdeva Design Moinak Mitra, Nikita Doval Associate Editor Vijay K Soni (Web) Associates which is still continuing work on the assistant editor Vipul Vivek project (‘A Walk Down Memory Lane’, November 9th, chief of graphics Saurabh Singh 2020). Pradeep was one of the finest architects of public SENIOR DESIGNERs Anup Banerjee, Veer Pal Singh spaces Delhi has been blessed with, having designed Photo editor Raul Irani Dilli Haat with me and the Garden of Five Senses, deputy Photo editor Ashish Sharma both of which satisfied the Delhi government so National Head-Events and Initiatives much they appointed him for Chandni Chowk as two-way relationship Arpita Sachin Ahuja India’s relationship with the AVP (ADVERTISING) well. No one was more affable, honest and gentle Rashmi Lata Swarup than him; a man who expressed quietly his deep US is soon going to get a new GENERAL MANAGERs (ADVERTISING) Uma Srinivasan (South) pain at the hostile interventionist actions of AGK dimension (‘America’s Choice, Menon and his group particularly since he had India’s Interest’, November National Head-Distribution and Sales Ajay Gupta considered them friends. These ‘negationists’ who 9th, 2020). It is going to become regional heads-circulation D Charles (South), Melvin George repeatedly try to ensure nothing new or pathbreaking a genuine two-way alliance. (West), Basab Ghosh (East) or an improvement of public spaces takes place Both nations need much Head-production Maneesh Tyagi shield themselves with such phrases as ‘heritage deeper cooperation in the senior manager (pre-press) Sharad Tailang conservation’. Instead of creating something to show wake of Chinese aggression, MANAGER-MARKETING for themselves, a particular group of historians and challenge and expansionism. Priya Singh Chief Designer-marketing architects opine and pontificate in their attempts to In this region, only India has Champak Bhattacharjee preserve decaying systems of other centuries. They the capacity to fight . But it is cfo & HEAD-IT Anil Bisht urge creating showpieces rather than usable, living, held back by lack of capital Chief ExecuTive & Publisher breathing spaces for daily use in today’s times for a and technology. In these areas, Neeraja Chawla population that has multiplied many times over. India needs the US’ backing. All rights reserved throughout the world. Reproduction in any manner Why didn’t they complain when an electrical goods It also needs the superpower’s is prohibited. market displaced Begum Samru’s palace or when presence in the region to Editor: S Prasannarajan. Printed and published by Neeraja Chawla on behalf the whole street became a huge mess? Now that balance the difference in of the owner, Open Media Network Pvt Ltd. Printed at Thomson Press India Ltd, the project is nearing completion and is worthy of power with China. In return, 18-35 Milestone, Delhi Mathura Road, Faridabad-121007, (). attention and praise, it is these same people who are America can use India as Published at 4, DDA Commercial claiming credit and jumping on the bandwagon an intermediary to expand Complex, Panchsheel Park, -110017. without caring to utter Pradeep Sachdeva’s name. It its influence and business Ph: (011) 48500500; Fax: (011) 48500599 also does not behove Shahjahanabad Redevelopment throughout this region. Both To subscribe, WhatsApp ‘openmag’ to 9999800012 or log on to Corporation’s Nitin Panigrahi to omit mentioning countries have the same www.openthemagazine.com or call our Toll Free Number the late architect with whom he worked closely. purpose: to check China. For 1800 102 7510 Calling it a faux imitation of Dilli Haat was another India, the US is a Hobson’s or email at: [email protected] shocker, since the latter was a market newly created choice. Russia’s dalliance with For alliances, email [email protected] over a storm water drain, whereas Chandni Chowk China has left India with no For advertising, email was already a bustling market that had long gone other option. The current [email protected] For any other queries/observations, out of hand. I do hope so much print space is not straining of ties between the email [email protected] unknowingly accorded to carpetbaggers who are US and China has come as an today claiming credit and kudos that have not been unexpected windfall for India. Disclaimer ‘Open Avenues’ are advertiser-driven marketing earned. If any lesson has to be learnt, it is for the Irrespective of who ends up initiatives and Open assumes no responsibility for content and the consequences of using Central Vista planners to work with a clear vision, occupying the White House products or services advertised in the magazine good use of space, better aesthetics and efficient in this election, the US will Volume 12 Issue 45 planning, so that they don’t leave room for need India more than ever For the week 10-16 November 2020 needless interventions and criticism. now given the geopolitical Total No. of pages 68 Jaya Jaitly challenge it faces. Chanchal Nandy

4 16 november 2020

LOCOMOTIF

by S PRASANNARAJAN

THE MIND AND MANDATE OF AMERICA 2020

merica just had its longest nights Remember: Joe Biden said he would be “an ally of the in politics. An electoral thriller, light” after the darkness of Trumpism. And that was defying psephology and conventional perhaps the only Obamaesque piece of poetry the steady A punditry, lingered there—a prolonged deputy of America’s first Black president let into his prose. denouement with no closure in sight. Has America seen the light? President , as was expected, played King Trump may have become America’s fifth president in a of Darkness to horrifying perfection, crying “fraud” and century who was denied a second term—what was once “disenfranchisement” and threatening litigation when- a pre-pandemic certainty—but the end of his presidency ever the numbers went against his private algorithm. The won’t be the end of Trumpism. As president, he was far challenger, and successor, Joe Biden, remained largely from being the unifier. It was a great divide that made him quiet, as was expected of American politics’ most patient president in the first place. In four years he had made the man. Patience pays. division starker. He presided over an America of irrecon- Then there were the metaphorical nights of the last cilables, and its sociology escaped the certainties of ideolo- four years. In the literature of nocturnal America, Trump gies—Left or Right, it didn’t matter. He leaves behind an floated in singular prominence, casually assassinating America that is not just divided. It’s angrier, nervous, truth and diligently nurturing the base. This America as resentful, vengeful, unforgiving, and self-consciously the 21st century’s most terrifying—and distasteful—piece American in a raw, nativist way. of reality television was panned by both liberals and liberal America may not have elected a unifier. It may not have conservatives. And this America was, by the consensus of elected even a counter-argument. It seems to have elected a the disgusted and the outraged, racist, corrupt, pandemic- patriarch of public-square decency. And as has been argued insensitive, narcissistic, and, at a closer look, fake. In the in this space last week, it seems to have settled for metaphorical nights of America’s presidential history, a non-Trump, someone who is defined by what he is not. democracy was put on trial. As Trump recedes after a stormy term marked by the persistence of a virus, what remains, as a memorial and warning, is an America reimagined and redrawn. What do we see there?

The Bubble Call it echo chamber, make be- lieve, or group think. Or liberals playing out an Orwell script for a change. If Trump was the loud- est commander-in-chief who ruled with a weaponised Twitter handle, the righteous legion of progressives and holier-than- Trump conservatives were the noisiest lot in the public

6 16 november 2020 arena, crying for the lost America, and marching against that does not mean having to lie. All you need is tact, the a cultural Apocalypse. They were the creators of the Blue proper instincts, and good taste.” That was Václav Havel, Wave, and they were also the promoters of for whom words mattered in the practice of “apolitical poli- in the name of social justice. They colour-coded America, tics”. For Trump, kitsch is karma. And his war on good taste and alphabetically arranged Americans with the precision in politics cost him no votes, but more than a nod from the of a Soviet-era social engineer—and missed everything that Brahmins of the Right. was not tweeted by Trump. As they went on to invent new adjectives to name the demon, they failed to find one for The Conservative Surge the Trump supporter—or the sociology that sustained him. It’s futile to quote Edmund Burke in the age of Donald Trump. The classicist’s template of moral restraint and The Silent Majority a curtailment of excessive individualism won’t work They didn’t go away when populists tapping into simulated emotionalism with Nixon. The happy have come to define the conservative surge in politics. story of globalisation The new conservative in power is not the apostle of the did not bring them familiar. He is a revolutionary powered by the persistence from the ghetto to the of the enemy. For Trump, there is no political opponent; mainstream. They are there is only the enemy. The moral expansiveness of the America’s shirtless, traditional conservative, the original communitarian, has white and male, the or- given way to the nationalist insurgent: “Make America phaned characters in an Great Again”. He travels American pastoral. Hill- back in time to imagine a ary Clinton called them future. The old conserva- the Deplorables, and paid tive idealised the present. a price. It took a rich man The new one has lost faith to voice their sighs and in it. He has retreated sorrows, to identify with into the Walled Nation. their forced isolation Trump’s isolationism and from the traditional Left and Right. The razor-thin margins anti-immigrant vigilan- in the election have vindicated the power and durability tism have taken Ameri- of the Trump coalition, which still remains incomprehen- can conservatism from Reagan’s international idealism sible to the bubble-dwellers. It’s a coalition of the white pro- and George W Bush’s neoconservatism to the realm of letariat and Christian nativists, of anti-establishment street visceral , which is not something originally fighters and everyone else who thinks that unchecked propagated by even Steve Bannon. American conserva- immigration is not a continuation of the American Dream. tism was reborn as a masculine rage in Trumpistan. And Trump is the god of small towns. it’s not going away with President Trump.

It’s the character, stupid! What the pandemic couldn’t s I write this Thursday late night, it looks do, his character did. The certain America is set for a normal president, Trump aesthetics verged on A for soothing greyness after hubristic upheaval. the vulgar, and the message The America he will inherit is a democracy of Trumpism was always scarred by ideology, where the past is still a dispute, accompanied by the stench the present a huge injustice, and the future an of me-alone excess. He was unrealised glory. the president of permanent grievance, and the world It was in another time, and in another America. In 2008, from around him was a huge a hotel room in Washington, with a deadline looming over me, conspiracy. He excelled in I watched Obama giving his victory speech from Chicago, in the role of the persecuted— the alliterative cadence of a prophet and with the vocabulary of persecuted by the media, a novelist: “There’s no blue America, there is no red America, the elite, the pollster, and by there’s only the of America.” It was the reconciler the hidden hands only the conspiracy theorists of QAnon talking to an America that just made history by electing him. could see. “In politics, as anywhere else, it’s impossible and A mandate—and a mind—for reconciliation is what a cracked- pointless to say everything all at once, to just anyone. But up America needs now. n

16 november 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 7 open diary Swapan Dasgupta

t is a measure of the US’ a vote in America, there is no doubt Iinfluence in the world that large that I would count myself as a numbers of people throughout the Trump voter. This has very little to world consider the presidential do with Trump’s emotional proxim- election in that country as their own. ity to India or his supposed special A friend from the UK forwarded me relationship with Modi. a Twitter exchange involving a desi The mistake we foreigners some- who shared Joe Biden’s anxieties times make in studying the politics of over how terrible the US would be if another country is to be disengaged Donald Trump secured a second term from its domestic politics. We often with an equally agonised comment forget that voter preference isn’t nor- of his own. The punch line was from think of a suitable line for an adver- mally shaped by foreign policy but a cynic who casually informed the tisement in English. I told Jaitley stems from domestic concerns. Now disturbed soul to take it easy since, that I could think of nothing more Joe Biden may be a decent, upright after all, he was living in Patna. appropriate than Senator Goldwa- individual with an impressive record Speaking personally, I must admit ter’s 1964 slogan. Jaitley loved it and of working the corridors of power in that my working knowledge of next morning’s Washington DC. Unfortunately, in American politics happened during edition carried a Modi advertisement his battle to upstage Trump, Biden the presidential election of 1968 in- with that slogan and, alas, without has become a prisoner of a volving a triangular contest between attribution. culture that, to say the least, is in- Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey Unfortunately, there has been sidious. I never imagined that the US and George Wallace. I recall visiting a an unhealthy fascination of many would actually witness the electoral second-hand pavement bookstall off middle-class Indians with the Demo- emergence of an American Left that Gol Park in south Kolkata each week cratic Party in the US, just as there has packages itself in a cultural garb. I to pick up well-thumbed copies of been with the Labour Party in Britain. guess that demographic shifts have Time and Newsweek detailing the In 1972, during my first undergradu- made this shift from the Judaeo- turbulent campaign that also ate year in St Stephen’s College, a Christian civilisation that Samuel included the assassination of visiting American academic came Huntington defined as the soul of Robert Kennedy and violence at the to talk on the presidential election America, inevitable. Whatever the Democratic National Convention. that involved the incumbent Richard reason, the emotional schism in What was equally fascinating was Nixon and his Democratic challenger America has destroyed all semblance the political world of Wallace, then Senator George McGovern. Before of the political coherence that deter- governor of Alabama, who ended explaining the policy perspectives of mined the outcome of the Cold War. up winning five southern states and the candidates, the speaker asked the As I observed the election results— heralding the shift of the erstwhile preference of the audience. Of the 40 flipping between CNN on the TV and Confederate states away from the or so students present, some 38 raised on my laptop for balance— Democratic Party. their hands for McGovern. I was I couldn’t help being overwhelmed by The preoccupation with this elec- among the two dissenters—an act of the feeling that we are watching the tion prompted me to devour Theo- bravery that prompted the speaker to curtain come down on the American dore White’s compelling accounts of inform me that at least I would be on century that began after 1918. That’s the three presidential elections from the winning side. because the battle has boiled down 1960 to 1968. I must admit being This fascination with the Ameri- to a contest between two sections of bowled over by Barry Goldwater’s can Right and, more particularly, the the population that have very little in slogan: ‘In your heart you know he conservative movement in America common with each other. They can’t is right.’ In 2007, when I was camp- has persisted. I am not sure I consider even agree on the ground ing in Gujarat with for Donald Trump to be a conservative. rules of voting. ’s re-election as chief I think his quirky individualism They must be celebrating minister, I was asked whether I could defies definition. However, if I had in Beijing. n

8 16 november 2020

openings

NOTEBOOK The Assault on Arnab

he arrest of Arnab Goswami, editor-in-chief of commentary against chief ministers and other powerful Republic TV, has led to a strange situation in Indian politicians on social media. These, in general, are definitely journalism. In contrast to the usual din whenever a against the spirit of freedom of expression. This is true, without journalist is arrested, there is relative silence in this exception, whether the case be from Manipur or . Tcase. The big guns of the liberal press have vanished. The only limitation being what is constitutionally permitted Whenever a journalist is arrested or booked under some to limit freedom of expression as outlined in Article 19 of the stringent law, there is an uproar among journalists. In no Constitution. Then, there are cases where a government has time, accusations start pouring in against the government for arrested journalists when it fears that reporting in particular ‘throttling freedom of expression’, creating an ‘Emergency-like cases can lead to law and order problems or has been, by design, situation’ and ‘creeping authoritarianism’ in India. A wave of written in a fashion to create such problems. The vast majority indignation follows on social media while a harried of cases from Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere fall in this government retreats into silence. class. To give one recent example, the arrest of a journalist from In Goswami’s case, none of that anger is visible. To be fair, along with three others, who the local police claim are major dailies have written editorials criticising the Maharash- members of the Campus Front of India (CFI), the students wing tra government and the state police for their high-handedness of the Popular Front of India, led to an outrage against the Uttar in the manner of Goswami’s arrest. More substantively, the Pradesh government. There were allegations that the state gov- re-opening of the suicide case involving a Mumbai interior ernment wanted to hide facts of the Hathras rape and murder decorator, Anvay Naik, has been questioned. The case was case and, therefore, the journalist from Kerala was arrested. closed last year for lack of evidence but is now being rein- One can always ask why were members of the CFI trying to go vestigated. But where the arrest has been criticised, it has to Hathras. The state government had reasons to be careful: one been sought to be ‘balanced’ with other issues. For one, some of the three, Atiq-ur Rehman, also faces a case in Muzaffarnagar Union Government ministers for violence in protests against taking to Twitter to criticise the the Citizenship Amendment Act Maharashtra government has not (CAA) in December 2019. Finally, gone down well with the English- The anger of the state in none of these cases has a single language press. The refrain being journalist been the subject of that these ministers never came government was evident in repeated ‘inquiries’, or multiple to the defence of journalists who the number of times cases launched over different were detained or arrested by state periods in a bid to silence him. governments under BJP rule. For Arnab Goswami was called Most of the actions that evoke another, the refrain has been that in by the police, culminating the spectre of precious freedoms the BJP Government is no friend being taken away are one-off ac- of the press. Whatever criticism in his arrest in a different tions where a government feels was made against the Maharashtra case. Usually, this kind of danger to law and order and, in government has been ‘neutralised’ certain cases, national security. by adding other issues. alacrity on the part of the Once these facts are taken How fair are the comparisons police is reserved for into consideration, the ‘moral between Goswami’s case and other equivalence’ sought to be created instances where journalists have hardened criminals and it between Goswami and other been detained? There are three can be said that the journalists breaks down. Even issues at hand. One is the case editor-in-chief of Republic if one takes into account that where journalists are detained doing journalism in Indian states and booked for posting critical TV is none of that is structurally far more difficult

10 16 november 2020 Arnab Goswami outside Alibag court in Mumbai, November 4

getty images as compared to criticising the Union Government, Goswami’s become a participant in the political process. This is most acute case is unique. in the case of TV channels and digital news outlets. The result A part of the problem for Goswami has been his coverage of is that journalists are at war with each other and have picked issues that rankle the political coalition in Maharashtra. These their political sides. This—more than anything else—permits have often taken the form of no-holds-barred commentary on governments to shrink the space for freedom of expression Republic TV. That is in stark contrast to the format followed by by pigeonholing journalists as friends and enemies. It is other mainstream TV channels. This has made him unpopular, Goswami’s misfortune that he has landed in the unfairly so, in a certain kind of political and media ecosystem wrong category. where criticism and the loss of business have led to a combina- Perhaps, this is also the right time to look at institutions that tion of anger and envy. Various cases, from the probe into actor were meant to serve the press by safeguarding its freedoms. Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, the TRP scandal and the promi- At one time, these institutions could carry out their task by nence given to actor Kangana Ranaut on his channel, have building norms and creating a culture that would respect those pitted him against the Maharashtra government. The anger of norms. That consensual equilibrium broke down a long time the state government, led by the , was evident in the ago. In some cases, these institutions have outlived their utility number of times Goswami was called for questioning by the by having no independent powers to do what is needed, while police and, finally, culminating in his arrest in a different case. in other cases, they have turned partisan. It is futile to look Usually, this kind of alacrity on the part of the police is reserved for state-level solutions as they are most likely to be rigged in for hardened criminals and it can be said—by a league and favour of the state government. The fate of the law to protect more—that the editor-in-chief of Republic TV is none of that. journalists in Chhattisgarh is a case in point. An overarching, What can be done in this case? There is little the Union pan-India, body suitably backed by legislation and empowered Government can do as police is a state subject and unless there with the right kind of legal provisions can go some way in is a security issue at hand, the Centre does not intervene in such ensuring that journalists are not harried in situations like the matters. The wider problem, however, is one of ‘polarisation’ one Goswami is facing. Unlike the demand for an all-powerful within the press itself. Goswami is almost an ‘untouchable’ Lokpal that was in vogue some years ago, what journalists because his channel does not adhere to the usual niceties and require is a much more limited—but suitably equipped—body ideological preferences of the Indian press. The liberal press to safeguard them as they go about doing their work. n wants to champion ‘secularism’ and ‘liberal democracy’, ideas that have loaded political connotations. The press itself has By Siddharth Singh

16 november 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 11 openings

portrait THE AMERICAN POLLSTER minority votes, especially Hispanic-Americans in Florida and Texas. The politically unaffiliated American pollster Power to the Outliers today is a creature of a divided reality. A partisan Big pundits will not win again till they psephologist without a party. When data mixes with subjective bias, it usually subverts the transcend the great American divide Holmesian dictum: Twist your theories to suit the facts. Not facts to suit theories. The markers n mid-October, a newsletter dropped into my mailbox with the of residence, socio-economic background and I banner headline: ‘Polls favour Trump; Dems are panicking’. It was intellectual make-up have stereotyped the pollster. followed the next day with ‘Trumpentum rolling’. On the face of it, this Race comes into play in more complex ways. would appear to be Trump supporters without borders keeping up their Ever since the demise of Karl Rove’s ‘voter vault’, spirits even as the big polls had convinced themselves and the rest of the Republicans have consistently alleged that the big world that Election 2020 was over. The newsletter pointed at two polls, one public polls put out by big media do not represent of which had the distinction of being the ‘only one’ to accurately predict Republican voters adequately. Foraying into this the 2016 election. The other was Donald Trump’s own ‘favourite’. recently (July 29th), Nate Cohn began in the New The first, Trafalgar, has once again distinguished itself as the only York Times: ‘With polls showing Joe Biden holding poll that didn’t eat humble pie on election night. Everybody knew the a commanding lead, one question keeps popping swing states would call the election. And yet, when the states came to be up: Are these polls missing Trump voters?’ By called—even as counting stalled in certain ‘hot’ states—the big pollsters election night, that commanding lead was just a were ‘surprised’ by how well Trump had done. The explanation was memory of something that never materialised. ready: Trump had swept up votes at the last minute; Trump had defied the Cohn argues while that might have been the case pundits; and so on. in 2016, ‘Registered Republicans were actually Trump did not defy the pundits. The pundits seem to have had it wrong more likely than registered Democrats to respond from the beginning. And the proof is that one bunch of pundits had to the Times/Siena survey’. Yet, he admits, ‘Self- consistently got closer than the rest. editorial was identified Democrats outnumber Republicans in blunt: ‘Either candidate had a path to win by our deadline. But it’s already most surveys, sometimes by a wide margin.’ clear that the biggest early losers are the pollsters. The mainstream media Self-respecting pollsters cannot ‘rely on the exit polls all had Mr. Biden winning in a walk with a popular vote margin in polls to determine the demographic or political the upper single digits. They were off in particular on Florida. The outlier makeup of their samples’ and exit polls tend to pollsters like the Trafalgar Group, often derided by their colleagues, seem go widely wrong. But as the WSJ admitted, an to have better judged the electorate.’ (In Florida, CNBC, for example, had outlier like Trafalgar is judging the electorate better predicted: Biden 51 per cent; Trump 48. The result, at 99 per cent votes (remember Chanakya in 2014?), which still doesn’t counted, was Trump: 51.2; Biden: 47.9.) Trump also got a high number of feature in most standard lists of respectable pollsters. The Trafalgar Group has an explanation: ‘The Illustration by Saurabh Singh firm has...pioneered methods to deal with...“Social Desirability Bias” in order to get at what a poll participant’s true feelings are in situations where they believe some individuals in a poll are not likely to reveal their actual preferences. In their view, this included the 2016 Presidential election...’ ‘Social desirability bias’ speaks to the liberal, big media polls. Were Trump voters less willing to admit their preference? Did Trump’s last-minute ‘barnstorming’ indeed close the gap? Or were the pollsters speaking in their echo chambers? It doesn’t matter. The pollsters overwhelmingly lost. And they will keep losing till they transcend the great American divide. On November 2nd, Trafalgar had Trump for a razor thin victory. Trump’s ‘favourite’, Rasmussen, had him losing by a hair’s breadth. In the end, there were only those two. n

By Sudeep Paul

12 16 november 2020 ANGLE ideas The Use of Sanctimony One of Trumpism’s effects has been an opposition that profits from righteousness

By madhavankutty pillai s getty image

o look back into the last four endure it silently. It is also in the nature of Openness T years of Donald Trump is to also sanctimony to be uncharitable. Take, for A curious situation is currently see how much those opposed to him example, Ida Bae Wells, a Black journalist unfolding with India’s star cricketer have profited from him. Newspapers known for a successful and controversial Rohit Sharma. Although he’s been like The Times, which had editorial project of ruled injured for the upcoming been floundering into irrelevance in that sought to reinterpret America’s marquee series against Australia, the social media age, found itself burst- history of and racism. Among with a little window being left open ing back to life. CNN metamorphosed celebrities that anti-Trumpism created, in case he is able to regain fitness from a channel that maintained she ranks at the top, arguing that racism in time, he’s begun playing for his the traditional journalistic ethic of is inbuilt into everything that governs IPL team Mumbai Indians again. apolitical balance to become the voice the relations between whites and Blacks. Several individuals from the Indian of anti-Trumpism. It, too, got a shot of And yet, Well’s response on learning that national team’s coach Ravi Shastri to relevance even though trailing in the Latinos have overwhelmingly voted for the BCCI president Sourav Ganguly ratings game. Vociferous anti-Trump- Trump has been to deny that they exist have done interviews claiming ism made Twitter celebrities out of altogether. She tweeted: ‘One day after Sharma is injured, only for them people from all walks of life. The mass this election is over I am going to write to be proved wrong later that night followers of this cult were the young a piece about how Latino is a contrived when Sharma took the field. It wokes in fields like academia and ethnic category that artificially lumps would have served everyone better entertainment. And also urban dwell- white Cubans with Black Puerto Ricans had there been more openness ers, something that you see reflected in and Indigenous Guatemalans and helps around injuries. Had the IPL team or some of the election results map, where explains why Latinos support Trump at Sharma himself revealed exactly the in a state that Biden won, there will be the second highest rate.’ nature of the injury, whether, if it is a large city that went for him but sur- Such willingness to only see what the case, Sharma was fit enough to rounded by an ocean of rural counties suits them is why anyone not already play a less gruelling 20-over match for Trump. Minor first-time politicians sold on the social justice trope finds it compared to a full-fledged Test became mainstream because they saw so alarming. Like the philosopher Sam series, this strange circumstance the mood and veered hard left and, in Harris, who is rabidly anti-Trump, but where people offer differing doing so, turned the Democratic Party has for long been arguing that the social opinions would not carry on. n into a mirror image of Republican right justice movement is not just phony but, fundamentalism. They foreclosed on in fact, could help Trump with neutrals the election, thinking it would be a because they see how dangerous the left sweep for reason. You could vote for a has become for liberal principles like Word’s Worth mad bigot once, but who in his right free speech and due process of law. Giv- mind could do it again. en how close the election was against all ‘Honesty is the fastest But, as the nail-biting finish has expectations, and that Trump got mil- way to prevent a shown, the world is not formed by self- lions of votes more than 2016, he might serving opinion. And the idea of justice just be right. Good intentions absolves mistake from turning can be many things to many people. no idea from tyranny. We already have a into a failure’ And that sanctimoniousness can draw model of it in recent history that goes by James Altucher a backlash from those that observe and the name of . n entrepreneur

16 november 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 13 the insider PR Ramesh

commendable.” Just as well, because NITISH PARIVAR it’s that commitment of the RSS and the BJP that has kept the JD(U) in ihar Chief Minister and Janata the BJP. Nitish’s attacks on the RSS good stead in this election. JD(U) BDal-United chief were toned down when he returned leaders have sought the presence has never missed an opportunity to to the NDA after severing ties with of leaders like Chief flaunt his independence within the the and key ally, Minister , following National Democratic Alliance (NDA). the Rashtriya (RJD). In sizeable crowds at his rallies. So keen Before 2015 and after 2017, when January 2019, he had said: “Agree or have BJP leaders been on clinching he tied up with the BJP, ‘Sushasan not with the viewpoint of the RSS, a victory for their alliance in Babu’ used every chance to call the you have to acknowledge that their that they have requested RSS seniors shots and refused his ally any elbow commitment to their cause is highly to allow the presence of the JD(U)’s room. But in this year’s top leaders at their strategy Assembly election, he has meetings. The prant been critically dependent pracharak (head of the RSS on the BJP, its ideological state unit) was staunchly parent the Rashtriya against such a move. But Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), he was overruled and and the strategies and permission was extracted main campaigners of the from senior Sangh leaders . That’s a big to allow the JD(U) presence change from the past when at the meetings. Thereafter, Nitish had a now warm, even Sangh leaders were in now cold relationship with agreement with the JD(U) the Sangh Parivar. In 2016, and Nitish Kumar that the he had called for a “Sangh- imperative of ensuring a mukt Bharat”, provoking significant victory in Bihar sharp responses from the needed a well-synchronised saffron outfits, including poll strategy.

of the market among opposition also have a penchant for obscurantist KISHOR leaders. These Kishor copies are ideas long buried or out of currency. now managing key roles in various Still, they have had some degree of CLONES parties. Some of them are leaders who success. Little wonder these poll- have morphed into poll strategists. weather friends of the opposition here are party activists who work Most of them have left-of-centre have managed to stick. So you have Thard the year round from the affiliations, but that had not proved a a Gopal Rai in the AAP, Manoj Jha ground up. Then there are the self- hurdle to their finding cosy in the RJD, and Sandeep Singh, who styled political strategists of today nesting places in parties once led a far-left outfit who are hired by parties to insta-graft of varied ideology, at Jawaharlal Nehru a connect with the people, without ranging from the University. Singh is any significant work. It seems the to the Aam advising Priyanka Gandhi days of leaders focused on grassroots Aadmi Party (AAP), on her party’s line in Uttar activity are numbered. Following from the DMK to the Pradesh. It’s a different the success of , who YSR Congress or the matter whether these was in charge of the election wares RJD. Their chief armour political strategists or in Modi’s 2014 campaign, his clones happens to be the verses their ideas are connecting have popped up to meet the demands of Dinkar and Faiz. They with the masses.

14 16 november 2020 Pawar. Ajit’s son hasn’t exactly helped from Shivajinagar constituency in PUNE’S smooth the relationship between Pune, had warned the Centre and the Uddhav Thackeray and his father Prime Minister about the coronavirus WOES either, having made some adverse crisis in Pune. Attacking the Maha statements against the state police’s Vikas Aghadi government, Shirole jit Pawar, Maharashtra’s Deputy role in investigating the death of actor had said that the Thackeray regime AChief Minister and nephew of Sushant Singh Rajput. Thackeray had neglected Pune on Covid and had Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has made only one perfunctory visit made it the worst affected district supremo Sharad Pawar, inaugurated to Pune city during the pandemic. In in the state, hinting at a political the first dedicated Covid-19 hospital at July, Siddharth Shirole, the BJP MLA axe-grinding since Ajit Pawar— Pimpri-Chinchwad on his home turf who had earlier decamped to the of Pune in August, along with former Fadnavis tent in the battle to capture Chief Minister . the chief minister’s office—was the That couldn’t have warmed the guardian minister. That bitterness current Chief Minister towards him. appears to have persisted, with the In early September, the younger state government reportedly micro- Pawar, Pune’s ‘guardian minister’, managing the police to target anyone held a high-level meet of experts and speaking out against it, whether bureaucrats on Covid-19 to ensure from or the media, with that hospitals had an ensured supply some media outlets featured as of oxygen cylinders and hazmat wilful patsies. The Thackeray suits. The district has since been government has actively enlisted consistently in the news for the members of both Bollywood and wrong reasons, with the worst record the media to launch a powerful in the battle against the pandemic. attack on its detractors from This has led many to believe that among their own. Caught Pune has fallen victim to a bitter between the two sides, it’s the turf war between the ruling Shiv people of Pune who have become the Sena-NCP-Congress alliance and worst victims.

had managed to win the seat even BARODA BYPOLL during the 2014 Assembly polls that spelt a debacle for it. For the BJP he last-minute defection of learnt from past mistakes. Narwal and Chief Minister Manohar Lal TKapoor Narwal, the BJP’s Jat was being considered for a Congress Khattar, the seat is a prestige battle face in Haryana’s Baroda Assembly ticket in a seat dominated to the and he has ensured that several constituency which had a bypoll on extent of more than 50 per cent by ministers campaign in Baroda for November 3rd, should have given a Jat voters. Until Selja put her foot party candidate Yogeshwar Dutt, big boost to the Congress leadership’s down and Narwal was forced to a Brahmin. Winning the seat back efforts to clinch the seat. That wasn’t withdraw. Selja’s candidates are would mean a significant triumph to be so, though, since party leaders credited with the Congress’ losses in Hooda’s bastion. Significantly, in Haryana have turned snatching in several seats, leading to its defeat Baroda has voted Congress in the last defeat from the jaws of victory into in the state elections. In the current three Assembly elections, something a fine art. The state Congress chief instance, a strong Congress candidate that would make a victory that much Kumari Selja is busy fighting former and Hooda choice has been forced sweeter for the ruling party. A BJP Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh out in favour of Selja’s candidate win would also ensure that Khattar Hooda and his son Deepender more once more. It could again end up as a is less reliant on the Jannayak Janta than the BJP. It’s a case of lessons not big loss for the party. The Congress Party to run his government.

16 november 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 15 indian accents

By Bibek Debroy

A Road Map for the Ruler The path to greatness according to the Vamadeva Gita

arlier, I have given the background to Because his advisors are wicked and evil, he slays dharma in Gitas in the Mahabharata. Depending on how this world and deserves to be swiftly killed, along with his one counts, there are around 20 such Gitas relatives. If he does not seek artha and is addicted to kama, E in the Mahabharata. Not surprisingly, they and if he is boastful, even if he obtains the entire earth, he are not uniformly distributed across the 18 parvas of will swiftly perish. However, if a king concentrates on what the Mahabharata. In parvas where incidents feature is beneficial, is devoid of malice, conquers his senses and is prominently, there are fewer Gitas, sometimes none. Gitas intelligent, he flourishes, like an ocean into which rivers occur in parvas that are more reflective in nature. Hence, flow. A person who is proud about dharma, who thinks there are more Gitas in ‘Aranyaka (Vana) Parva’ and ‘Shanti about dharma and artha, who undertakes action only Parva’. Indeed, ‘Shanti Parva’ has the maximum number after thinking about artha, is certain to obtain greatness. If of Gitas. As I have said before, ‘Shanti Parva’ has three sub- the king does not give, is not extremely affectionate, if he parvas: ‘Raja Dharma Parva’, ‘Apad Dharma Parva’ and always wields the rod over his subjects and if he is naturally ‘Moksha Dharma Parva’. The first Gita in ‘Raja Dharma rash, he will swiftly perish. The one without intellect Parva’ is ‘Utathya Gita’ and I gave the gist of that in an does not use his intelligence to see that he has committed earlier column. In this column, I will focus on the second a wicked deed. He is covered in ill-fame and after death, Gita in ‘Raja Dharma Parva’, known as Vamadeva Gita. attains hell. If he shows honour, donates, is pure and knows Raja Dharma is about dharma for kings. In Vamadeva Gita, about good taste, men seek to destroy any hardships that Bhishma tells Yudhishthira what Vamadeva told King he confronts, as if those are their own. If he does not have Vasumana. The conversation follows seamlessly from a guru to tell him about dharma, if he does not ask others, Utathya Gita. if he only concentrates on happiness and obtaining riches, Yudhishthira asked, ‘How should a king who conducts his greatness does not last long. If he gives importance to himself in accordance with dharma and who wishes to his guru in matters connected with dharma, if he himself establish himself in dharma behave? O grandfather! Please glances towards artha, if he places dharma at the forefront tell me.’ when dealing with people, his greatness lasts for a Bhishma replied, ‘In this connection, an ancient history long time.’ is recounted. The intelligent Vamadeva sang about the ‘When someone who is strong imposes adharma on truth. There was a king named Vasumana from Kosala. He those who are weak, those who earn a living from him [the was powerful and pure. He asked the illustrious maharishi king’s officers] also follow that kind of conduct. They follow Vamadeva. ‘Please instruct me in words that are full of the king, who implements the wicked practices. With those dharma and artha, so that I conduct myself in accordance insolent men, that kingdom is swiftly destroyed. When with them and do not deviate from my own dharma.’ The men naturally earn a living from such evil conduct, when supreme among those who performed japa, the ascetic the king faces a difficulty, even his relatives do not act so Vamadeva, replied.’ as to mitigate it. When the king is naturally rash, when Vamadeva said, ‘Follow dharma alone. There is nothing he acts without any basis, when he does not follow the that is superior to dharma. Basing themselves on dharma, indications of the sacred texts, he is swiftly destroyed. A kings conquer this entire earth. The king who thinks that king who is successful in his attempt to seize an enemy in dharma is superior to success in the matter of artha and who battle, and who does not then show respect to the enemy, makes his intellect truthful finds delight in dharma. If a deviates from the dharma of Kshatriyas. The king must be king looks towards adharma and acts on the basis of force pleasant in speech. If he can, he must show compassion at alone, he is swiftly dislodged from both dharma and artha. a time of distress. He will then be loved by creatures and

16 16 november 2020 not be dislodged from his prosperity. If someone has done subjects through dharma, having been devoted to dharma, something disagreeable, he should thereafter act agreeably a king can be killed in battle. Everything ends in death. In towards him. If he acts in this pleasant way, a person who this world, there is nothing without disease. Therefore, is not liked will soon be liked. He must avoid false words. the king must be established in dharma and must protect Without being asked, he must avoid doing something the subjects in accordance with dharma. In the course of disagreeable. For the sake of desire, anger or hatred, he time, the earth prospers with five things—arrangements should not abandon dharma. He should not be embarrassed for protection, battle, ruling according to dharma, thinking at questions, nor should he be careless in speaking about counsel and happiness. The king who protects these words. He should not be hasty or malicious. That is how is supreme among kings. If a king is always engaged in enemies are overcome. He should not be unduly delighted these, he enjoys this earth.’ at something agreeable, nor should he be anxious at ‘No single person is capable of paying attention to all something disagreeable. The king who possesses qualities of these together. That is the reason the king must engage should always do what is ministers and advisors and pleasant. He obtains success in enjoy the earth for a long his deeds and prosperity does period of time. When a not desert him.’ person is ready to give, ready ‘The king must always to share, mild, upright and favour those who have stopped pure, and does not abandon acting against him and are men, people do agreeable now favourably disposed, things to him. When one as he must those who are knows what is beneficial devoted. That is the conduct and acts in accordance with of the virtuous in this world. that knowledge, when he There are those whose senses gives up his own views, are not diverted. They are then people follow him. wise, extremely devoted and When he does not tolerate pure. They are capable and words about artha and kama faithful. Such people must In the course of time, the earth that are contrary, when he be employed for important prospers with five things— is distracted and listens to tasks. There are those who arr angements for protection, contrary views only for a may possess good qualities, battle, ruling according limited period of time, when but do not find delight in the to dharma, thinking about he does not comprehend king. They are resentful of the intellect of foremost the master’s prosperity. Such counsel and happiness. The king ones who are excellent in people should not be employed who protects these is supreme action, regardless of whether for tasks. There are those who among kings they have been defeated are foolish and addicted to or not been defeated, he their senses. They are greedy, deviates from the dharma of ignoble in their conduct and Kshatriyas. If he abandons fraudulent. They have failed the tests and are cruel. They are his foremost advisors and makes those who are inferior his evil in intellect and do not possess a great deal of learning. loved ones, he confronts disaster. When he is distressed, he They have squandered away their possessions in drinking, doesn’t find succour. When he disrespects relatives with gambling, women and hunting. If the king employs them beneficial qualities because of his hatred, when his atman in important tasks, prosperity does not remain with him. If is not firm, when his anger is firm, his prosperity doesn’t the king protects himself and protects those whom should remain close to him and give him delight. When he acts be protected, then the subjects prosper and it is certain pleasantly so as to bring those with good qualities under that he attains greatness. When one has harmed a strong his control, even though they are not close to his heart, his person, one should not be comforted because that person fame is established for a long time. ‘Which men are devoted lives a long distance away. Following the conduct of hawks, to the king? Which seek refuge because of fear? Who such people swoop down when one is careless. If one is firm amongst them has the taint of actually being neutral?’ in one’s foundation, if one is not evil in one’s atman and if Always think of these things. Yayati, the son of Nahusha, one knows about one’s strengths, one can engage with a declared this teaching for kings. ‘If one is engaged in weaker person, but not with one who is stronger. Having conquering men, one can slay a supreme enemy.’ conquered the earth through valour, having protected the That just about sums it up. n

16 november 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 17 opinion

Beware Yogi 2029 Why Adityanath strikes fear into the heart of the Left-Congress ecosystem By Minhaz Merchant

uring a television interview in September 2019, moved, imperceptibly, from hard right to centre-right, soften- journalist Rajdeep Sardesai asked me about the cult ing their stand on several issues. They are treading cautiously Dbeing built around Prime Minister Narendra Modi. on Jammu & Kashmir and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act I replied that it was a carefully thought-out electoral (CAA). Modi cares deeply about his global image. strategy to give Modi a larger-than-life image. When things Shah in a recent interview backed Maharashtra Chief go wrong, the blame is elsewhere. When things go right, the Minister Uddhav Thackeray over Governor Bhagat Singh credit goes straight to Modi. Koshyari. He warned, in the same interview, against “over- Building a larger-than-life image of himself could, I told activism” in the Sushant Singh Rajput case. Sardesai, help win Modi a third successive term as Prime The Shiv Sena mocks the BJP daily. Modi and Shah rarely Minister in 2024. react. They have begun to move towards the Vajpayee model: The question then arises: who will be the BJP’s prime min- turn the other cheek. isterial candidate in 2029? I told Sardesai that Modi, then 79, The Ram Mandir, J&K and CAA remain hot-button may well choose to step aside after 15 years as Prime Minister. electoral issues to keep the faithful engaged. But He had left home at 17 and wandered in the Himalayas for the fire has dimmed. Old corruption cases against opposition two years, living with rishis and monks. It is a life he had leaders languish. always sought till politics intruded. What about Yogi? He’s cut from a different cloth. Sardesai was taken aback but couldn’t hide his His big test will be in 2022. The UP Assembly elec- delight: if you can’t beat Modi at the polls, perhaps tion will answer several questions. One, will Yogi’s this was the only way. India Today’s website development agenda resonate with the state’s carried my prediction the next morning with a caste-fragmented electorate? Two, will Priyanka banner headline. Gandhi-Vadra’s leadership help lift the Congress The joy could be shortlived. The obvious succes- out of the slump it has endured in UP for de- sor to Modi is Home Minister . But 2029 cades? Three, will Mayawati and Akhilesh is a long way away. Modi has to first win 2024 before Yadav bury their differences? thinking of stepping aside in 2029. By then Shah will be 65. If Yogi wins a second successive term as UP Chief Minister The man who today frightens the opposition the most is in 2022, it will catapult him onto the national stage. But 2029 Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. would still be seven years away. If Modi wins 2024—and that, Congress President Sonia Gandhi was among the first to as I told Sardesai in the India Today interview, is by no means spot the threat Modi, then relatively unknown, posed. The certain—he will by 2029 have been Prime Minister for 2002 riots had polarised Gujarat. After Modi’s victory in the 15 years. That’s longer than every Indian prime minister December 2002 Assembly election, the knives came out. except Jawaharlal Nehru (16 years 9 months) and Indira Sonia bided her time, waiting till 2007 till delivering her Gandhi (16 years). Will Modi want to carry on and contest the verdict on Modi: maut ka saudagar. 2029 General Election? For the next seven years Modi faced a relentless Modi will be 79; Shah, 65; Yogi, 57. inquisition over the 2002 riots. It resulted in the BJP-led NDA In the opposition, Sonia Gandhi will be 82; Rahul, 59; sweeping to power in 2014 and again in 2019. Priyanka, 57. Is Yogi next in the line of fire? He has been in the cross- India in 2029 will also be a very different country.O ther hairs of the Left-Congress since the Hathras case. In Yogi, the leaders may have emerged. But the man the Congress-Left opposition sees an electoral threat potentially as big as the opposition fears most is Adityanath. one Modi posed in 2012 after he won his third successive Subramanian Swamy recently revealed on Twitter that Gujarat Assembly election. Sonia Gandhi told him in the 1980s (when he and Prime But Yogi is not Modi of 2012. He runs India’s largest state Minister Rajiv Gandhi were good friends) that he was not like with a population exceeding the combined population of other Indian politicians. He was ruthless. He had Britain, France and Germany. There are similarities though. the Sicilian in him. Like Modi, Yogi has a ruthless streak. He is already the monk Sonia likely sees the Sicilian in Yogi. n Modi once was and may end up being. Meanwhile, at the Centre, both Modi and Shah have Minhaz Merchant is an author, editor and publisher

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Pressure Tactics? he income tax department has become Tvery active conducting raids in Bihar during the current election season. According to the grapevine, Nitish Kumar and his close associates are believed to be particularly upset with one such raid, conducted against a contractor-cum-busi- nessman. He is believed to have taken up most of the state government’s Nal Jal Yojna projects. JD(U) leaders believe this is being done deliberately by New Delhi to apply pressure on the Nitish government.

Bihar’s Battle Rap There has been an interesting back and forth through music during Bihar’s election campaigns. After the song Bambai Mein Ka Ba? (What is there in Mum- bai?)— from filmmaker Anubhav Sinha and Manoj Bajpayee, which talks about the life of migrant labourers and what makes them leave their families behind to work in larger cities—seemed to acquire a new life as a song questioning Nitish Kumar’s performance as Bihar’s Chief Minister, the JD (U) and the BJP have come up with their own version, Bihar Mein Ee Ba (This is what Bihar has), listing out what the Nitish Kumar’s current dispensation has managed. There’s also another popular Bhojpuri song doing Trump Card the rounds: Neha Singh Rathore’s Bihar se It is interesting to note Bihar Chief Minister berojgar bolatani (unemployment calling Nitish Kumar’s changing equation with Prime Minister from Bihar). Narendra Modi. Back in the 2010 Assembly election in Bihar and the 2014 polls, Nitish reportedly did not allow Modi to campaign in the state despite being in an alliance with the BJP. Even recently, his party officially Game of Thrones opposed the move to revoke Article 370. Nitish had the gumption to do what he did. He had changed what was adhya Pradesh’s by-elections are crucial for quite considered the accepted wisdom in Bihar’s political Ma few people. There is Jyotiraditya Scindia who circles—that ‘development’ did not win votes. rebelled against the Congress, and the MLAs who But 2020 is a changed environment. Nitish faces a strong followed him into the BJP. Then there is Chief Minister anti-incumbency wave. There are complaints that no de- who would need at least nine wins from the 28 seats up for grabs for the stability of velopment has taken place or new jobs created in the state. his government. If the MLAs who defected can win, it He has had no choice but to fall back on Modi. Recently, will lead to a ripple effect. Several Congress leaders he stood quietly beside Modi at a joint rally, as the Prime in Haryana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand are watching Minister brought up Article 370. In this moment of crisis, the by-elections closely before they decide whether to Nitish Kumar really has no other option. switch allegiances or not.

20 16 november 2020

Illustrations by Saurabh Singh

Rajya Sabha Dreams An Unusual he future of a single seat, one that was Letter Theld by Loktantrik Janata Dal leader until recently, is connected closely to which way the resident Ramnath election results go in Bihar. Yadav, who was disqualified Kovind received a from holding this seat after the JD(U) cut ties with him, P went to court to challenge this ruling. But with his formal letter recently, written tenure now almost over, an intense lobbying has started by Afshan Ansari, the for this seat. The BJP might want to give the seat to a party member. But it is possible that chief wife of the notori- Chirag Paswan could be offered it too. But what will Nitish ous don and former Kumar have to say about such a move if he gains a sizeable number of state Assembly seats on his own? BSP leader Mukhtar Ansari. According to her, there is a strong Sweet November apprehension in the family that the espite its strength in Lok Sabha, the BJP has had don was going to be Dlimited control in Rajya Sabha. This has meant the party has had challenges in passing key legislation in killed. He is currently the Upper House in the past. The party scripted a major lodged in a success recently when it won nine of the 11 Rajya Sabha seats. With this win, the BJP now has 92 seats. It is possible jail. According to the that this could rise to 93 when by-elections for the seat held grapevine, the President by Ashok Gasti, who died recently, take place. has referred the letter to the Centre, and it will probably be forwarded to the UP government soon. Eye on America Intelligence units are said to be looking into the matter. hief Election Commissioner CSunil Arora may have his hands full with the Bihar elections, but he has kept an eye on the goings-on in the US. He’s been devouring books and articles, The Congress especially about the demand for electoral reforms in the US. One Conundrum book in particular is Why Do here is confusion yet again at 24 Akbar We Still Have the Electoral Road. Madhusudan Mistry, the chair- College? It was written T recently by the historian man of the Central Election Authority of Alexander Keyssar and looks the Congress, has sent out letters to the at the lack of reforms in the party’s state units inviting nominations US election process in the for candidates to the post of Congress last 20 years. In the US, the president. According to the grapevine, no Election Commission performs one has filled in any such application form. a limited role. They do not That’s because everybody expects Rahul involve themselves in the counting of votes—that is Gandhi to take the post. No one wants to the task of the US State Department’s election wing— be seen as an aspirant. But what if Rahul but only look after campaign finance laws. Given this sticks to his decision and refuses the post? situation, coupled with Donald Trump’s volatile nature Would Sonia Gandhi, who had accepted and his recent hints that he may not concede the election the post as a stopgap arrangement, be even if he were to lose, and the growing possibility of forced to continue? violence and anarchy on the streets, Arora thinks India is in a far better situation when it comes to elections. 11 may 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 21 open essay

By Vinay Lal in Los Angeles

The Morning After The bitter pill of American democracy

wenty-four hours after the polls closed in the US, it is quite uncertain whether President Donald Trump will retain the White House or, as Democratic nominee Joe Biden put it, will have to pack his bags. Trump is, as was the case in 2016, certainly going to lose the popular vote. There will be the all too familiar demands for the abolition of the Electoral College, an obsolete institution that was designed when the US constitution was framed to support slaveholding states and has since benefited the sparsely populated and heavily Republican rural states, but once the noise has diminished the status quo will persist. Even suppos- ing that the mail-in ballots that remain uncounted in some swing states should swing the election in favour of Biden, the fact remains that nearly half of the country would have voted for Trump—and that too in the midst of the worst public health crisis in the US (and indeed the world) in the last century. The coronavirus pandemic has left 235,000 Americans dead thus far and nearly 1,000 more Americans are dying each day. This death toll exceeds the death count in India by 100,000 and dwarfs the fatality rate of most countries. The US is about to reach theT milestone of 10 million people who have tested positive, and ‘experts’—though, given the course of the pandemic, the failure of most epidemiological modelling and the shifting terrain of knowledge about the virus and its behaviour, it is uncertain how useful these ‘experts’ have been—are predicting that the winter may be yet more brutal. But Trump has been reassuring the country for months that the virus is on the verge of disappearing and has deployed the narrative of his own rebound from his short period of hospitalisation to great effect. For all practical purposes, to put it bluntly, the pandemic may as well have not taken place: if the idea that the US had been humbled and is the laughing stock of the world was supposed to have chastened the American people and moved them into inflicting punishment on Trump for his gross mismanagement of the pandemic, clearly the election results sug- gest that something is askance with such reasoning. Remarkably, the difference in the popular vote that separates the two candi- dates is about the same as it was in 2016. This election has sometimes been described as a choice between the economy and the coronavirus, but Trump’s claim that he has presided over the largest economic expansion in decades if not in American history are unsubstantiated. It may be conceded that the pandemic has contributed mightily to the country’s economic woes, but Trump would not be the only leader of a country to advance such an argument. Both the pandemic and the economy aside, the election has thrown up some far more fundamental questions about what it means to be an ‘American’, the claims advanced on behalf of the US as an ‘exceptional’ nation, the future of the US and the prospects for democracy, and the tensions between state authority and the notion of individual autonomy. From the

22 16 november 2020 Illustration by Saurabh Singh

Certainly as much as the liberals and Democrats, and perhaps even more so than them, Republicans have also been inclined to situate the election as a pivotal moment in the long simmering culture wars that first commenced in the 1960s. The present iteration of this conflict has, however, taken a different turn

standpoint of Trump’s opponents, the support he has received know they love and cherish as much as their opponents. The from half of the electorate offers the most shocking and case against Trump seems rock solid to them. For decades the palpable evidence of the country’s descent into what may be US declared itself, and was largely accepted, as the leader of ‘the colloquially termed madness but is closer to a form of terminal free world’, but its international standing has greatly eroded. illness from which emanates a stench that is all but unbear- Moreover, the US no longer trusts international organisations able. This goes well beyond the disbelief from which the edu- and has also withdrawn from the Paris Agreement on climate cated, liberal and (as they believe of themselves) decent class change, and China is increasingly making inroads into interna- of people are reeling as they attempt to comprehend how the tional organisations and flexing its muscles as a global power. polls could, yet again, have had it so wrong. Did many Trump In a partial rejoinder to this liberal worldview, while at the same voters deliberately disguise their feelings to the pollsters to time not conceding an inch to Trump and his ilk, it must be said lead them astray? Can it be that the Republican National Com- that not only the presidential debates but nearly the entire elec- mittee was astute in its thinking that traditional television tion campaigning on both sides has been conducted with nary a advertising, where Biden easily outspent Trump, counts for reference to US foreign policy. It is also possible to take the view less than mastery over, and exploitation of, social media? that it was about time that the US ceased to be the self-appointed Though Democrats and liberals will agonise over how they leader of the free world and that the Republican disenchantment could have misread signs, they are more deeply troubled by with the rest of the world may not be without some benefit. what Trump’s performance signifies about a country that they It is on the home front, of course, that the Democrats would

16 november 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 23 open essay

appear to have by far the stronger argument in suggesting that sought to establish their presence in the streets. the US under Trump is unravelling. In the language of Biden Racial injustice has torn the country apart; unemploy- and many others, a defeat for Trump would signal the restora- ment is sky high; the social contract that calls for a modicum tion of plain ‘decency’. One editorial after another has been of civility has fractured. This is how liberals, Democrats and penned by writers who bemoan the fact that the last four years ‘decent’ people see it, and they wonder how it can be that their have furnished little more than a daily onslaught of verbal fellow Americans do not see in Trump the fascist monster incontinence from a president who can barely stitch together that appears so palpably before their eyes. Biden concluded a sentence of English. Expecting Trump to be ‘presidential’ is his election pitch on a note that he has sounded throughout akin to asking a three-year-old boy to sit through a two-hour his campaign, and one that resonates with the liberal sensibil- concert without stirring, but what is especially galling, on the ity: adverting to the bitterness, deep hostility, profound mis- liberal view, is that he ordinarily acts little better than a two-bit trust and racial rancour that have characterised not only the hoodlum and speaks much like a street ruffian. Deceit and entire election season, but relations between Democrats and lack of decorum are to Trump what venom is to the snake and Republicans in recent years, he said: “It’s not who we are, not the sting is to the scorpion. But the distress that Trump induces what America is.” If this election has shown anything, it may goes beyond the complaint that he has rendered even sleep im- be that it has shown that America is precisely what it appears possible to many. The country seems to have been in turmoil to be: not only deeply divided along the many seemingly ob- from the very first day that he assumed office: he had promised vious faultlines—Democrat vs Republican, blue states vs red to stop the ‘carnage’ but, much like the generals and politicians states, the coasts vs the interior, urban vs rural areas, liberals who know no way to peace except through war, he has only vs conservatives, pro-choice vs pro-life, gun control advocates unleashed more carnage. Trump pushed through, during the vs gun rights proponents, to name some—but a country that first two years of his presidency, what are termed ‘Muslim is supremely hospitable to xenophobia, white supremacism, bans’ or executive orders seeking to restrict immigration from vulgar masculinity and misogyny (a subject on which Trump a number of predominantly Muslim countries. Muslims in the has demonstrated his prolific credentials), and deep econom- US saw themselves placed under a cloud of suspicion. This was ic inequality. One can be sure that even as Jeff Bezos deploys followed by scandals at the US-Mexico border, where families his newspaper, , to expose Trump’s she- nanigans and fire some volleys in the hope of exuding some notion of “our shared hu- manity”, he will continue to squeeze the QAnon’s adherents have furnished the last penny out of American workers and best metaphor with which to assess build on his gargantuan empire. One can the American presidential election also be equally sure that Mark Zuckerberg will profess that his principled defence of 2020. They await what they call the of the untrammelled right to freedom of ‘Great Awakening’, and so hearken back expression prevents him from censoring to the 18th century religious revival or even mitigating the blatant falsehoods of Trump and the far-right. Meanwhile, known by the same name he too will pile on the profits. That is the American way of life. The narrative from the other side of the were detained, caged and torn apart; indeed, by the recent ‘divide’ looks rather different, though it is similarly predicated admission of Trump’s own Department of Homeland Security, on the defence of ‘the American way’. As one supporter of there are over 550 children whose parents cannot be identified. Trump put it to a New York Times reporter the day before the The indictment against Trump goes still further: American election, “Our freedoms and our way of life is [sic] at stake.” If in cities have burnt before as political dissenters and rioters have India the last General Election was above all a referendum on taken to the streets, but no one can remember anything like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the American election is just the summer of discontent through which the country has as surely a referendum on Trump. The President’s supporters just passed. The country erupted when a video was posted of applaud him for standing up to China, though whether Trump George Floyd, a middle-aged Black man, being kneed to death has the gumption to do anything more than shouting himself by a quartet of white policemen in Minneapolis. For days, dem- hoarse about ‘the China virus’ is a serious question. China has onstrators, Black men and women joined by likeminded white become greatly emboldened, rather than weakened, in the four people, Asians and Latinos, took to the streets in principled years of Trump’s presidency and while the US reels under the protest to proclaim that ‘Black Lives Matter’ (BLM) and to call impact of the pandemic, Chinese factories have roared back out the police for brutality. Curfew was imposed on dozens to life and become vital supply lines to a world in need of not of cities and towns as rioters vandalised and looted stores and only manufactured goods but masks, ventilators, personal

24 16 november 2020 Marjorie Greene, among QAnon’s early believers, has been elected to the 14th Congressional District in Georgia, a predominantly white district where earnings are well below the national median income, support for Trump is overwhelming and where 6,000 residents signed a petition to preserve the public statue of a prominent Ku Klux Klan leader getty images protective equipment and sometimes just hard cash. Trump’s his female slaves, he was at the same time the drafter of the supporters feel empowered by his tax cuts, even if the benefits Declaration of Independence, the author of the Virginia Stat- have fallen disproportionately to the very class of oligarchs to ute for Religious Freedom and in myriad other ways a gifted which Trump belongs rather than to the farmers, coal miners, intellectual and thoughtful person. What is required is the industrial workers and others who envision him as a bulwark recognition that the thirst for ideological purity must always of economic and moral support. Reason is not the strong suit be resisted. It is not surprising, then, that in the prelude to the of Trump’s supporters; on the other hand, the phrase ‘tax cuts’ election, the Trump administration announced a number is like manna from heaven. Republicans are thrilled that the of initiatives that seek to restore to American culture a form federal courts, and most eminently the Supreme Court, now of imagined authentic innocence even as they are clearly reflect what are trumpeted as American values, among them opportunistic, emanating from the pen of a man who cannot the unabashed support of business, property rights, a respect distinguish Andrew Jackson from Andrew Johnson, two of for the constitutional right to nearly absolute ownership of his predecessors at the White House. Speaking on September arms and the reverence for life as manifested in the opposition 17th at the National Archives before original copies of the to abortion. All this is chalked up by Republicans not just as US constitution and Declaration of Independence, Trump admirable achievements, but as a striking display of Trump’s announced his intention to create a “1776 Commission” enviable cheekiness, his disdain for protocols, and a general to promote a “pro-American curriculum that celebrates and much needed contempt for sissiness. As they see it, the fact the truth about our nation’s great history” and encourage that Trump could hold close to 20 rallies in the last five days teachers to share with their students the “miracle of Ameri- of the campaign, all in complete disregard of the Centers for can history”. Following this up with an on Disease Control and Prevention’s own guidelines on masking, September 22nd, Trump declared that he would put to an end is sufficient demonstration of Trump’s singular worthiness to the mandatory diversity training in federal institutions. The hold the highest office of the land. Trump and his supporters order decries ‘the pernicious and false belief that America is have together scripted a new opera, though Biden may not be an irredeemably racist and sexist country; that some people, in attendance, for American life: ‘Goodbye, Fauci.’ simply on account of their race or sex, are oppressors; and that racial and sexual identities are more important than our com- mon status as human beings and Americans’. ertainly as much as the liberals and Democrats, To enter into the mind of America and the maelstrom of Cand perhaps even more so than them, Republicans have contemporary American political culture, it may be produc- also been inclined to situate the election as a pivotal moment tive to look in some detail at a recent phenomenon that may in the long simmering culture wars that first commenced in strike some as lingering on the margins and yet has entered the 1960s. The present iteration of this conflict has, however, into the nooks and crannies of everyday American life. Of all taken a different turn. It is entirely understandable, to take the conspiracy theories that have roiled the American cultural one instance, that demonstrators during the recent BLM and political landscape, none seems as bizarre, breathtaking protests should have vandalised or destroyed statues that and curiously audacious as the one that goes under the name commemorate the lives of slave traders or other outright of QAnon. Its origins are sometimes traced to a conspiracy racists. But BLM proponents or other activists did themselves theory in turn known as Pizzagate, which alleged that Hillary no favours by bringing down statues of Abraham Lincoln Clinton was running a child sex ring out of a pizza parlour in or Thomas Jefferson. To say this much is scarcely to present Washington, DC known as the Comet Ping Pong. A month these supremely iconic figures as immune from criticism. after Clinton conceded defeat to Trump, a man by the name However, if Jefferson was a slave owner and like other of Edgar M Welch from a town in North Carolina arrived at propertied white men of his time took sexual advantage of the Comet, whose owner had at one time corresponded with

16 november 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 25 open essay

the Clinton campaign about a fundraising dinner, expecting this view, has been targeted as he was chosen by a group of to find kidnapped and sexually abused children huddled in a high-ranking military generals to run for president and help corner or hidden behind a closet. Diners with their children break up this conspiracy. Many QAnon adherents claim that bolted for the door as Welch fired a few shots into the air. His the criminals, besides being driven by paedophilic urges, kill search turned up nothing and minutes later the gunman and eat children with the intention of extracting a life-en- surrendered to the police. In his first interview after his arrest, hancing chemical found in their blood. QAnon supporters to Welch explained: “I just wanted to do some good and went varying degrees have also been linked to various other articles about it in the wrong way.” He conceded as well that “the intel of faith that underlie their cosmographic imagination, among on this wasn’t 100 per cent”, but nevertheless insisted that the them an unremitting hostility to what they vaguely—if at sexual trafficking of children is a global problem. all—understand as , a disdain for something called Welch had armed himself with a military-style assault rifle, the ‘deep state’, a distrust of vaccinations, and a belief in bibli- doubtless because he envisioned the possibility that he might cal prophecies about the end of the world and the emergence have to shoot his way out of the pizzeria if he was up against a of a new utopia populated by the (chosen) survivors. QAnon gang of malevolent child molesters. One might imagine that adherents speak of ‘the calm before the storm’—the storm here Welch had watched one too many B-grade Hollywood films, may be likened to a lightning strike, when the cabal will be but it is also an indubitable fact that in America military-grade smashed with the arrest of thousands of its members. weapons in the arms of common people are nearly as com- mon as kitchen knives. But his first media interview points to most of the elements that would go into the making of that ust who ‘Q’ is remains unknown but Q’s identity—an heady brew described as QAnon. Welch, it transpires, habitu- Jindividual at first, slowly transforming into a collective and, ally trafficked in conspiracy theories and listened to the radio some say, Trump himself—is not wholly germane to entering talk shows of Alex Jones, a prolific conspiracy theorist with the worldview of QAnon. To some in the movement the Pizza- a massive following who has claimed that Hillary Clinton gate antecedents are now forgotten and the proper beginning “has personally murdered and chopped up” children. One can is seen in an October 28th, 2017 post by the anonymous ‘Q’, think of Jones’ reach in several respects: if his InfoWars website posturing as a government insider with access to highly classi- receives 10 million visitors monthly, he also peddles ideas that fied information, that appeared on 4chan, an image-based bul- go far beyond the visceral hatred for Clinton, who is only a letin board already reputed for its extreme vulgarity, grotesque metonym for “the swamp”, “corrupt far-left Democratic elites” memes and teardown culture. In time, Q’s posts would gravi- and “radical Socialists” who “want to destroy our country”— tate to 8chan/8kun, another image board that is also linked ideas such as the notion that there is a demographic war being to child pornography, white supremacism, antisemitism and waged against white people and that the genocide of white several mass shootings. Minutes before Brenton Harrison Tar- Americans is imminent. Besides Welch’s attraction to conspir- rant went on a rampage that would leave 51 dead and as many acy theorists, as his interview revealed, he was also taken in by wounded at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, he shared evangelical Christianity’s promise to help men rediscover the links to the live stream video on 8chan and on Facebook. Simi- God-given masculinity that resides within them. This is on the larly, the perpetrator of a mass shooting at a Walmart store in supposition that the ‘pansy culture’ of modern-day America, El Paso, Texas, which left 23 dead, posted his white nationalist driven by political correctness and allegedly exemplified by manifesto on 8chan an hour before he commenced firing. QA- feminists, socialists and the whole panoply of queers, lesbians, non’s supporters are scarcely troubled either by these nefari- transgendered people and various other sexual and political ous associations or by the fact that Q’s numerous prophecies, misfits, does not permit men to be men. none of which has materialised, are just plain drivel. Support- Let us recall, however, that Welch insisted that he “just ers have at hand a number of explanations, some altogether wanted to do some good”. When the great civil rights icon, pedestrian and others somewhat more ingenuous. Thus, if John Lewis, passed away in the late summer, those who 4chan and 8chan are home to brutal pornography, some of mourned him—and that number, notably, did not include it of the very variety that the cabal against which the QAnon Donald Trump—recalled that Lewis liked nothing more movement is waging an apocalyptic war is allegedly mired in, than the “good fight”. The followers of QAnon unhesitatingly one can always argue that technology can be used as much for advocate for what they deem to be the good fight, and there good as for bad. Since Q speaks much like an oracle, often in a can be no greater ‘good’ than the elimination of the sexual secret coded language, leaving cues for the initiated (‘Q drops’), trafficking of children and the punishment of paedophiles. it is not surprising that his prophecies cannot be interpreted QAnon supporters allege, needless to say without a shred of by those working with a commonsense notion of language. evidence, that the world is run by a cabal of Satan-worshipping Moreover, aver QAnon supporters, ‘disinformation is neces- paedophiles—among them Democratic politicians, liberal sary’. Thus the prophecies—regarding the impending arrest Hollywood actors and celebrities—who operate a global child of Hillary Clinton, Zuckerberg’s forced departure from the US, sex-trafficking ring and are plotting against Trump, who, on the resignation of Jack Dorsey as Twitter CEO and countless

26 16 november 2020 other inanities—only appear to have failed. nia. These states should be called. POTUS is closing the gap in All of this might rightfully be dismissed for the fantastic Arizona. The only way Biden wins is by cheating.” nonsense it is if it were not, its critics allege, so dangerous. The Just what animates the proponents of QAnon is a ques- Federal Bureau of Investigation last year classified QAnon tion that has been inadequately probed by commentators, as a domestic-terror threat, but Trump has nevertheless not though I have pointed to some elements of that story: the disavowed QAnon and has even described its followers as dread of socialism, the desire to do good, a fervent belief in the “people that love our country”. At his last town hall meet- American way of life and a fear that the America they know is ing before the election he claimed that he knew nothing of fading into history. One can perhaps equally gravitate towards QAnon—except, as he has said on more than one occasion, another set of explanations, rooted in the anxieties that have that “They do supposedly like me.” He has also adroitly noted, been induced by rapid changes in norms of social life, the recognising that one can always invoke the sublime innocence evisceration of rural lifestyles and the apprehension among of children to one’s advantage as a form of cultural capital, that some that they may not have much of a place in the America QAnon followers “are very much against paedophilia” and that is emerging in the wake of significant demographic shifts that he shares “this sentiment”. Supporters began showing up and the ascendancy of racial minorities in political life and the at Trump rallies in 2018, and in the present election 25 politi- public sphere more generally. The place occupied by Fox News cians—23 Republicans and 2 Independents—are competing in the imaginary of Trump’s America, and more specifically QAnon, would require a book unto itself. Some commentators point to QAnon’s adherents think the Great QAnon as the most recent instantia- tion of the American historian Richard Awakening is imminent. The signs, I submit, Hofstadter’s thesis on the persistence are not propitious for such a momentous of the ‘paranoid style in American poli- event. Nevertheless, I concur with tics’, but the talismanic invocation of this essay does more to obscure rather QAnon, and the election offers than reveal anything truly significant unimpeachable evidence to this effect, about QAnon. There is a more plausible that the United States of America is very argument to be made about the long much in need of a Great Awakening history of millenarian movements and the fervent belief in apocalyptic Chris- tianity which is a distinctive feature of American religious populism. QAnon’s in local and state races as avowed QAnon candidates. Marjorie own adherents have furnished the best metaphor with which Greene has been elected to the 14th Congressional District to assess them—and conclude the present discussion on the in Georgia: it is a predominantly white district where earn- American presidential election of 2020. They await what ings are well below the national median income, support for they call the ‘Great Awakening’, and so hearken back to the Trump is overwhelming and where 6,000 residents signed a 18th century religious revival known by the same name. Its petition to preserve the public statue of a prominent Ku Klux principal proponent was the New England Puritan preacher, Klan leader. Greene counts herself among QAnon’s early Jonathan Edwards, whose sermon, ‘Sinners in the Hands of an believers and she often has herself photographed in jeans and Angry God’, cautioned his countrymen and women at a time a cowboy hat—images of the rugged West, the adventurous when secularism was posing a threat to religious piety that spirit of the homesteader, the ethos of individualism—sport- they were to submit themselves to a wrathful God. ing an assault rifle. But there is more to QAnon: Nothing in QAnon’s adherents believe in the Great Awakening and America—not the most absurd ideas, nor such an intimate act think, moreover, that it is imminent. The signs, I submit, are of religious worship as prayer—is immune to the charms of not propitious for such a momentous event. Nevertheless, I the market and it comes as no surprise that the most entrepre- concur with QAnon, and the election offers unimpeachable neurial QAnon advocates have built small business empires evidence to this effect, that the United States of America is very merchandising QAnon t-shirts, books, videos, hats and other much in need of a Great Awakening. Meanwhile, the morning paraphernalia. The QAnon evangelist David Hayes, who goes after, one must—whether it is four more years of Trump or by his online handle PrayingMedic, has 420,000 followers on Trumpism without Trump—swallow the bitter pill of Twitter, and his most recent tweet is both an unmistakable American democracy. n sign of the nexus between Trump and QAnon and the fact that Trump has a universe of surrogates and acolytes who stand Vinay Lal is Professor of History and Asian American Studies, by to do his bidding: “Trump has an insurmountable lead in University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylva- of several books on politics and culture

16 november 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 27 Cover Story

The Biden momentum Lingering Trumpism A dispatch from the Dis united States of America

28 16 november 2020 The Biden momentum Lingering Trumpism A dispatch from the Dis united States of America

By Tunku Varadarajan in New York Saurabh Singh Saurabh by Illustration

16 november 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 29 Cover Story

reuters hile it feels fraudulent to write about an election cliff- hanger from my home-office in —a borough of New York in which you couldn’t see a pro-Trump placard for miles on end (in W contrast to a blizzard of Biden on every block)—there’s no escaping the frown lines on faces in the city’s streets. Brooklyn is Deep Blue America— as hardcore Democrat as Ayodhya is hardcore BJP—and the day after November 3rd was supposed to be a time to exult. The pollsters had said that Joe Biden would win the election comfortably—in straight sets, in tennis terms—but as I write (on Wednesday night) the result is still unsettled. He was sup- posed to win Florida. He didn’t. He was tipped to win Ohio. He didn’t. He was fancied—believe it or not—to win Texas. He didn’t. America’s pollsters have been exposed as incompetent, partisan recidivists—they committed the same professional crimes in 2016. Do pollsters commit seppuku? They should. And yet, Biden sits on 253 Electoral College votes, just shy of the 270 that would give him the White House. It is very hard to see him losing from here. But President Trump has unleashed a full quiver of legal challenges, in addition to giving a speech on election night that must rank among the most toxic ever made by an American president—one in which he said, with little by way of supporting evidence, that he had won the elec- tion, and that any other result could only be achieved by fraud. Only a Trump victory is, by his narrative, a fair result. A Biden win is—by definition—the fruit of ballot manipulation. In the world’s dodgier democracies, it’s often the case that the politi- America’s Deplorables resent being treated like serfs and hicks and collateral damage cal opposition questions the integrity of the voting process. in the technocratic elite’s game of globalism. Trump has made himself their talisman, their chivalrous protector. And they cherish him for it 30 Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Bullhead City, Arizona, October 28

America’s Deplorables resent being treated like serfs and hicks and collateral damage in the technocratic elite’s game of globalism. Trump has made himself their talisman, their chivalrous protector. And they cherish him for it Cover Story

Here, in the world’s oldest democracy, you have an incumbent completely from a country where divisions were once a matter of president doing so. shades and gradations. Yes, there was an extreme right and an ex- It is tempting to dismiss this opinion as just another exam- treme left, but these nodes were connected by a landscape in which ple of Trump’s unlovely bluster, and of his lack of respect for contiguous parts touched one another. You transitioned from democratic norms. In the debates, all the critical attention was left to right, or from right to left, and could hold conversations— focused on Biden’s refusal to state clearly that he wouldn’t pack the which even included some instances of agreement—with people Supreme Court if he were to win. (Biden’s prevarication, here, who weren’t exactly of your political stripe. America is now a was also toxic.) But Trump got a relatively free pass when he country of chasms, Manichaean, overwrought, paranoid, intol- refused, equally, to say that he would concede the election if erant and spiteful. he lost. The fact that an American president should be asked The Democrats and the media bear a share of the blame for that question struck me at the time as startling—akin to ask- this, with their condescension and contempt towards those ing Virat Kohli if he’d leave the crease on being given out by the Americans who threw in their lot—back in 2016, and then again umpire. As we now see, it was a wise question, even as it was an this week—with Trump. America’s ‘Deplorables’—to use the un-American question. word that probably cost Hillary Clinton the election—take great For Trump could be said to be, in many respects, the pride in their country, and view with anger its loss of strut and most un-American president thiscountry has ever had. He power, of its manufacturing base, its jobs, its mojo, and its ability plays to baying crowds, eggs spiteful mobs to misbehav- to take care of its blue-collar class. America’s Deplorables resent iour, and will not confirm that he will accept the verdict of being treated like serfs and hicks and collateral damage in the the people. His family is an unshakeable part of his entou- technocratic elite’s game of globalism. Trump, many believe rage, a gaggle of sons and daughters who cluster around their with reason, has offered little by way of concrete solutions to the powerful father and feed off his power and the access he brings problems that afflict Middle America. But his supporters seem to material advantage. In some ways, he’d be a better fit in Brazil, not to mind: They have found a president who doesn’t ignore or Peru, or Bolivia than in the US. In truth, the bar for acceptable them, and who isn’t uncaring of their pain, even if his professed presidential behaviour has fallen lower under Trump than under solidarity often amounts to little more than political theatre. He any resident of the White House before him. has made himself their talisman, their chivalrous protector. And But another aspect of the truth in which we now deal is that they cherish him for it. his words on election night found an avid and receptive audience. America is now The Tweeting won’t cease, and could get so sharply divided politi- even more intemperate thaN it already is. cally that many supporters But Trump will own the Republican Party, of the president genuinely playing king- or queenmaker from his aerie believe that their man can only lose if he is robbed. in Manhattan or his spread in Mar-a-Lago And if he does lose, they will be consumed by a belief that he was cheated of a win. Some see a risk of violence, which Trump may well end up a one-term president by the time may find expression if a Biden win is razor-thin, or if there is a you set eyes on this text. But he will continue to be a force in prolonged litigation and stagnation in the courts. Shops in some American politics, potentially the most raucous, intrusive, full- cities have boarded up their fronts. There are ugly memories of throated former president in American history. No quiet retreat the riots this summer, which were sparked by an instance of fa- into retirement for him. He will make Biden’s life—if Biden is, tally excessive force used by a police officer against a Black man. indeed, declared president—a testing one. The tweeting won’t Some of Trump’s resilience in this election can be attributed to a cease, and could get even more intemperate than it already is. belief—entirely well-founded—that the Democrats were soft on But he will own the Republican Party, playing king- or queen- the rioters. His base saw mobs run amok, and took careful note. maker from his aerie in Manhattan or his spread in Mar-a-Lago. How we pine, now, for the year 2000, when a disputed election He has remade the party in his image. It is an ugly image, in most that seemed to be insoluble was brought to a close by a (controver- respects, but it is also a riveting one. Reagan may have revolu- sial) ruling in favour of George W Bush by the Supreme Court. It tionised the party. But Trump has subverted it more thoroughly was institutional closure, designed to bring an end to a massive than any revolutionary could. political crisis. Bush’s opponent, Al Gore, took the verdict with So much so that Trump 2024 could very well astonishing grace (even as it destroyed his morale and unhinged happen. He will never go away. n him as a man). Trump will not, in a million lifetimes, do a Gore; so however the 2020 election result plays out, America will be a Tunku Varadarajan is a fellow at place of rancour and bad blood. The political grace has ebbed away Law School’s Classical Liberal Institute

32 16 november 2020 While Inside Look Outside For FREE With access visit www.openthemagazine.com Cover Story

The day of the quiet american Joe Biden, an error-prone politician but a universally well-liked man, scarcely put a foot wrong during the campaign. Trump and the pandemic made that relatively easy. The president soaked up all the attention, notin a good way. Biden seems to have unseated him with a sense of decency The day of the quiet american Joe Biden, an error-prone politician but a universally well-liked man, scarcely put a foot wrong during the campaign. Trump and the pandemic made that relatively easy. The president soaked up all the attention, notin a good way. Biden seems to have unseated him with a sense of decency

By James Astill in Washington, DC s getty image Cover Story

n forecasting a big win for Joe Biden this week, the electoral prognosticator Henry Olsen—one of the few to have called 2016 for Donald Trump—included this caveat. The polls, which gave Trump’s Democratic challenger a nine-point lead this time, could be wrong again. Maybe there were, as the president’s cheerleaders had been specu- lating for months, millions of secret ‘shy Trumper vot- I ers’ out there, readying to defy expectations. Though for that to be the case, Olsen conceded, would require a truly ‘significant and consequential national polling error’. As the results starting rolled in from the east coast, on the evening of November 3rd, it appeared as if that was precisely what had occurred. Democrats had set their hopes on capturing Florida, which typically reports results shortly after voting ends, and there- fore had the potential to end Trump’s re-election hopes from the get-go. The Republican president had almost no path to the requisite 270 Electoral College votes without Florida’s 29 votes. By putting the race to bed early, Democrats also hoped to avoid a protracted wrangle in the Mid-Western battleground states—Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylva- nia—that had gone narrowly and decisively for Trump four years ago. Unlike Florida, those states were unused to handling the large number of mail-in ballots that the pandemic had occasioned. They also would not start counting them until the polls were closed. Given that Trump had many times called mailing-in voting fraudu- lent (simply because Democrats are likelier to vote that way than Republicans), the Biden campaign feared this was heading for a protracted legal wrangle over a messy Mid-Western vote count. But then numbers from Florida suggested that that might actually be the best they could hope for. The polls were off. Instead of blowing Trump out of the water in Florida, as he had hoped to, Biden trailed Hillary Clinton’s margins there significantly. Trump won the state— which he had been predicted to lose narrowly—by over twice the margin he had in 2016. A flurry of predictable results followed. Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky for Trump; Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey for Biden. It is an absurdity of America’s polarised democracy that only a dozen or fewer states are actually competitive enough to help determine the result. Most votes cast in the other 30-odd states of the union have little more than symbolic importance. And, sure enough, it was soon clear that—contrary to the Biden campaign’s hopes—their man was not going to make more states competitive. He was not running

36 16 november 2020 much better in Republican-held states than Clinton had. Democrats’ failure to win the Senate a particular disappoint- After a brief excitement about vote-rich Ohio—where early ment—only because of the skewed nature of the American reporting of postal votes gave Biden a surprising lead—the presi- system. The Electoral College and Senate give disproportionate dent ran up the numbers there. The other south-eastern states weight to the small rural states that Republicans dominate (to where Biden had been expected to run well started leaning the detriment of Democratic California, for example, which has towards Trump, too—thus Georgia, North Carolina, Texas. And a population of 30 million and the same number of Senate seats the last of those—a 38-vote giant of the Electoral College, which as Wyoming, with fewer than 600,000). Democrats last won in 1978—had more bad news for Biden. He was looking strong in Texas’s sprawling white suburbs. But his hopes of winning the state were dashed by strong support for his is a familiar pattern. Democrats have now Trump from Mexican-Americans—a group Democrats tradi- won the popular vote in seven of the past eight tionally count on. T elections. Had they won the Senate this week, they Glued to the left-leaning MSNBC and CNN news, Democrats would be debating whether to try to pass legislation around the country began quavering in horror. The echoes of to correct this imbalance—by awarding statehood to left-leaning Trump’s unpredicted victory in 2016 were unmistakeable. Only Washington DC, and Puerto Rico, for example. But they can forget this was worse—because Biden’s average polling lead was much about that now. bigger than Clinton’s; and because, after four years of Trump, the The demographic story of the election also looked broadly stakes were even higher. Trump won Iowa—another state which familiar. The engine of Trump’s support was whites, especially had been expected to be close—with ease. The Republican Senate men, mainly without a college degree. They helped him extend candidate there, Joni Ernst, crushed her Democratic challenger by some of the territory in the Mid-Western rust-belt he seized for a similar margin. But gradually the former vice president started his party in 2016; Youngstown, a post-industrial city in Ohio, and clawing it back. its surrounding area went Republican for the first time since 1972. Biden took a strong early lead in Arizona—a state Trump won White evangelical Christians—a group that has weirdly clung in 2016. And, as mail-in ballots started being counted in the three to the irreligious, thrice-married president—also stayed solidly crucial Mid-Western states, they started to look more solid for the with him. Democrats. By midday on November 4th, with millions of bal- Beyond Texan Hispanics, Trump made a few more unpre- lots still to be counted, Biden looked well-placed to win all three dicted inroads into the Democratic base. He did a little better states; Michigan and Wisconsin were soon called for him. He also with African-American men than Hillary Clinton had. But such appeared to have an edge in Arizona and Nevada. He even looked oddities, though possible indicators of where politics might to have a chance of overhauling the president’s lead in Georgia. be changing, were at the margins. Most non-whites voted for The Democrats’ hope of capturing the Senate—the key to Biden—as indicated by his strong showing in Georgia and Ari- passing legislation—appeared to be over. But, as this magazine zona, two states at the forefront of America’s shift towards racial went to press, Biden looked highly likely to make Trump only diversity. Exit polls suggested 91 per cent of Black women voted the fifth president to have failed to win a second term in a century. And Biden’s sunny disposition, pragmatism and a though of course Trump sense of his inclusive view of politics all cried foul, and threatened law suits, and claimed to impressed themselves on the race. Remarkably, have won Pennsylvania, his personal ratings got better as the and encouraged mobs of campaign proceeded. He managed to expand his his supporters to protest coalition, by wooing disaffected Republicans outside vote-counting sites in the key states, there was nothing he could do to prevent that. for Barack Obama’s former deputy. They also suggested 70 per Assuming those predicted results go as expected, what would cent of Asian-Americans did. this amount to? A colossal polling error, certainly. But setting that Biden’s vote share was otherwise dominated by college-ed- aside—and again, assuming Biden’s trajectory holds—a strong ucated whites—whose exit from the anti-empiricist Republi- result for the Democrats nonetheless. Biden looked on course to can Party has accelerated under Trump. This highly predictable win over 52 per cent of the popular vote, the highest share since demographic breakdown between the two parties helps illus- Ronald Reagan in 1984. He will win at least four million votes trate how static, evenly matched and bitterly contested (in a way more than Trump—and perhaps significantly more than that. that draws feverishly on the country’s history of racial division) In a genuinely representative democracy, this would consti- American democracy has become. tute a trouncing. Biden’s result looked less than that—with the In any given election, the parties can each count on roughly

16 november 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 37 Cover Story

90 per cent of their supporters to turn out, following a year-long the ingenious and—as should be clearer than ever this week— campaign, on which this year they spent billions of dollars. The plainly unachievable healthcare and environmental proposals result, in a country of over 300 million, is then often determined of Biden’s left-wing rivals, they reckoned his moderation and by a few thousand votes. Trump’s victory in 2016 was sealed by experience would make him the most formidable challenger less than 70,000 voters in states. This year’s results in Arizona and to Trump. As noted, the president agreed. And it turns out they Georgia—which could potentially seal the election’s outcome— were both right. looked similarly close. The former vice president, an error-prone politician but a uni- Such small margins are always remarkable. Yet that might versally well-liked man, scarcely put a foot wrong during the cam- seem so especially this year, considering the governing record paign. Trump and the pandemic made that relatively easy. The Trump asked voters to judge him on. Almost a quarter of a mil- president soaked up all the attention, not in a good way. Biden, lion voters have died of Covid-19, no thanks to the president’s submitting to public health advice, and thereby minimising his mismanagement of the pandemic. He mocked Biden for wear- capacity to commit embarrassing gaffes, was largely confined ing a mask in public, and then contracted and was hospitalised to the basement of his home in Delaware. Yet his sunny dispo- with the virus days later. Ten million jobs have been lost to the disruption the pandemic has caused. If he does make a return to the White House, And the president’s his personal and leadership qualities will be behaviour grows ever cra- tested. Biden would preside over a fractured zier—as illustrated this week in his wild claims party and an even more divided country. to have won states that he Merely repairing some of Trump’s damage lost, lost states that he had looks like a full-time job won and to have been gen- erally cheated. As his early lead narrowed in Pennsylvania, Trump sent a delegation includ- sition, pragmatism and a sense of his inclusive view of politics ing his press secretary, lawyer and one of his sons to Philadelphia all impressed themselves on the race. Remarkably, his personal to ‘claim’ the state for him. America has spent millions of dollars in ratings got better as the campaign proceeded. fragile, third-world democracies to try to prevent such behaviour. Thereby Biden managed to expand his coalition, by wooing disaffected Republicans, to a marginal but perhaps critically im- portant degree in some states. The widow of the late Senator John rump is an embarrassment. The fact that he McCain, a former Republican presidential candidate, even cut an seems likely to be a one-term embarrassment ad for him—and may have had a decisive influence in her state T may, to give the Democrat his due, be significantly of Arizona. It appeared to be going Democratic for the first time thanks to Biden. Indeed, the one thing Trump may since 1996. A more divisive left-winger, such as Sanders, could not have got right about this election campaign was his intuition have managed this. It is to Biden’s credit that he has. that, of all the 29 candidates who entered last year’s Democratic If he does make a return to the White House, those personal primary contest, Biden, a verbose, frankly uninspiring, veteran and leadership qualities of his will be tested. Biden would pre- politician, was the one he should fear. That is why Trump went side over a fractured party, deeply frustrated by its inability to to such lengths to try to block Biden that he ended up getting pass progressive policies, and an even more divided country. himself impeached. Merely repairing some of Trump’s damage looks like a full-time His prescience was not widely shared. Even as Trump was job. A post-Trump president will have foreign allies to reassure trying to coerce his Ukrainian counterpart to launch a sham and ravaged domestic institutions to rebuild: starting with the corruption investigation into Biden, the veteran centrist was Department of Justice that Trump has politicised, and the State struggling in the primaries. Democrats in early-voting Iowa and Department he has ravaged. New Hampshire preferred the left-wing promises of Elizabeth Yet merely getting rid of Trump, as it seems reasonable to hope Warren and Bernie Sanders. Biden’s performances in the televised Biden has, removes an enormous barrier to progress—for Amer- debates were increasingly excruciating. There were whispers ica and the world. It is a lot to celebrate. And the fact that Biden that even Barack Obama didn’t rate him. The media tycoon Mike has done so with a sense of decency—which the president utterly Bloomberg made a last-ditch entry into the contest—on which lacks—makes his achievement especially sweet. n he would blow over a billion dollars of his own money—simply because he was convinced Biden would fail. James Astill is the Washington bureau chief That he recovered to seal his party’s nomination reflected and Lexington columnist for The Economist. the unsuspected pragmatism of Democratic voters. Eschewing He is a contributor to Open

38 16 november 2020 The beauty of the written word; a story well told. The luxury of immersing myself in myriad lives; journeying to faraway lands. I am obsessed. And the Reviews in Open help me discover the best. A quiet corner. An interesting book. Life’s good!

Sanjay Malik, Dubai

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An American Tragedy Have they lost faith and trust in the elected class? By Keerthik Sasidharan in New York

alamy

American Progress by John Gast, 1872

40 16 november 2020 or much of the 19th century, any dragged the unsuspecting into penury and despair. narrative American history was pregnant Amid all this, there also arose an entire class of mapmakers, with two phenomena which the popular printers and draughtsmen who sought to impose structure on historian Daniel J Boorstin described as the land by naming and marking landmarks. But they often got F ‘discovery and growth’. Like siblings, the things wrong and the more fastidious among them insisted that two were similarly conceived but went on the reality of the world didn’t live up to the theoretical structures to manifest and proliferate in unforeseen deigned by the rules of classical cartography. The famed ‘rendez- ways. ‘Discovery’ came, most prominently, in the form of efforts vous’ system—wherein large groups of trappers and miners, to identify, catalogue and disseminate facts about what lay out farmers and migrants arrived at specific locations, often places there—that great expanse of prairie grass and rivers, mountain on no map, on specific dates—had little use for cartographical ef- passes and caves that lay beyond the geographical markers, such forts, and the result was a certain derision for those who lived off as the Ohio and Mississippi rivers which were well explored by ‘models’ and ‘representations’ instead of reality itself. The histo- early 19th century. For the areas beyond those landmarks, nations rian of the American West, Bernard DeVoto, writes that men who of Native Americans had called them for centuries by various lived off the rendezvous system ‘did not care if the geographers names and descriptors. But for much of 18th and 19th century had moved [a place on the map] a full ten degrees. They went ‘America’—now populated with émigrés pouring in from Europe about the blank spaces of the map like men going to the barn. and slaves captured from Africa—what lay beyond the immedia- The Great American Desert was their back yard’. The birth of the cies of the early states of the American republic was truly a ‘new American distrust of experts, the natural anti-intellectualism that world’. America—in this limited sense—was like the village of courses through its body politic, was in many ways born from the Macondo in Gabriel García Márquez’s novel One Hundred Years of limitations of how we can record ‘knowledge’ itself. The result Solitude where ‘the world was so recent that many things lacked was an extraordinary reliance on ‘commonsense’—and what names, and in order to indicate them it was necessary to point’. often followed were its pathologies: a suspicion of bookish learn- But, unlike in Márquez’s novels, in America men repeatedly dis- ing, contempt for abstraction and an inability to manoeuvre in covered what had already been known to a generation earlier. a world where signal and noise often became indistinguishable. This blessed cycle of eternal return was thanks to a lack of tech- Mark Twain, who observed human character better than most, nologies to communicate widely about new findings as well the uses this to great effect when his indigent hero Huckleberry Finn simple fact that knowledge about geography, about treacherous mountain America—in a limited sense—was like the passes and the best routes village of Macondo in Gabriel García Márquez’s to travel the forested lands was ultimately power and, novel One Hundred Years of Solitude where more importantly, profit. ‘the world was so recent that many things Knowledge, in the face of lacked names, and in order to indicate them widespread ignorance, al- it was necessary to point’ lowed entrepreneurs to improve return on capital by bringing goods to the markets faster and cheaper. But these willingly, even if discomfited, plays second fiddle to his gregari- accounts of discovery were not merely all innocent. The human ous friend Tom Sawyer who has certain ‘evolved’ ideas of how to capacity for deception remained unchanged—be it in the New or play games. Reactionary angst was the default position of many, the Old World. Periodically, there burst into popular conscious- who were then granted respectability as conservatives. ness individuals or groups of men (and occasionally women) who schemed and conspired to take advantage of ignorance about the world. Words abound in the American vernacular for these ex- he other twin in the above formulation— perts in smoke and mirrors: smooth talkers, snake-oil salesmen, ‘growth’—came in the form of aggressive expansion- conmen, hucksters, grifters. Some of them painstakingly planned T ism that brought along institutions and technolo- elaborate frauds involving secret diamond-studded fields that gies, legally and illegally prosecuted acts of violence lured capital including from a Wall Street hungry for high re- and terror to the American West. Together, they facilitated the turn on investments; others offered to sell secrets of navigable conditions for the creation of a sophisticated market and private waterways that crisscrossed the continent and which would lead property-based industries specialising in cattle, beef, mining and men and material from the Atlantic to the Pacific, beyond which agriculture. In parallel, to offer salvific balms for the weary and lay an imagined India. Knowledge had a price and that price was the traditionalist among them various versions of Christianity measured in money. On a continent full of ambition and caprice, spread. Alongside and perhaps all-too-expectedly, an assortment lies and myths became perennial undercurrents that sometimes of self-declared prophets and ecclesiastical groups sprung setting

16 november 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 41 Cover Story

stage for the proliferation of a cultural base where religious faith interior, often as simulacra of an imagined culture of the Ameri- and communal living often became synonymous. can East. He writes, ‘The man you left behind in New York you Nowhere is this phenomena of growth seen more vividly, at find again in almost impenetrable solitudes: same clothes, same least on paper, than in the 1872 painting by John Gast titled Ameri- attitude, same language, same habits, same pleasures.’ The influ- can Progress. In it, we see Native Indians—feathers in their heads, ential American historian of the 19th century Frederick Jackson barebreasted women, some others dancing near their wigwams Turner wrote in a famous 1893 essay that unlike other countries (huts), others riding on horses and bows—lurch forward while where growth has often meant replacing one set of social institu- turning past their shoulders to see what was headed their way. In tions with another—either through conquest or trade—growth the left hand sections of the canvas, animals such as the bison and and development in America has often been ex nihilo. The my- the bear seem just as terrified as the Natives. The animals too are thology of the origins of the American state locates its imaginary on the run from the incoming wave of new settlers against whom prowess in this tale of creating civilisation out of nothing. This, all they—man and beast—could do was snarl or hurriedly try to of course, is a simplification of a complex story of human pres- make a getaway. Meanwhile, on the other side of the painting, ence that effaces the various Native American nations or even the small groups of (white) men with guns, caravans with women various white explorers and pioneers who set out well before the seated inside, stagecoaches marked with insignia that says ‘Over- 19th century into the American West. land Mail: US’ are headed down the very same trails left behind What this myth however does is that it comports with an by forcible emigration. In another, and more sedentary, corner increased need to craft a common origin story for a nation-state of the painting, men and their cattle plough and work the newly that had not just geographically grown over the course of a cen- acquired patches of land. And while all this is unfolding in the tury but had also experienced a near-catastrophic Civil War that background, like one of the Native Indians in painting, we too ultimately forced a rethink what exactly does ‘America’ mean. from Theodore Roosevelt, who wrote plainfacedly that it was America’s ‘manifest destiny to swallow up the land of all adjoining nations who were too weak’, to more enquiring minds such as the author of great subtlety, Wallace Stegner, many saw the American West as a distinct culture stare into the skies to be greeted by a strange apparition. A blonde Thus, the ever expanding geographic size of the country created woman flies in the air. Robed in white, like some Roman goddess, myths within myths which steadily became indistinguishable her dress improbably dangles above her breasts and the ends of from the ideology of the nation-state itself. And from this ideol- her garment are aflutter in the wind. She has a star etched on her ogy was born a wilfully generated description of reality that went head (‘the star of empire’) and, perhaps most importantly, in her from a selective restatement of facts to a stronger and seemingly one hand is a manuscript emblazoned as ‘School Book’ and in ineradicable belief in the idea that the future of America could her left hand is a string which, upon closer inspection, reveals only be understood through its past. This, of course, seems anti- for what it truly is: wire. She, that great white god- thetical to many for whom America is popularly seen as a land of dess of Progress, brings development (or ‘civilisation’ in an older reinvention, where you can be whatsoever you choose to be and vernacular) through telegraph, railway lines and stagecoaches leave your past behind. Yet it is precisely this freedom to choose to vast areas of unnamed lands which are in marked contrast to among various self-descriptions and the resultant tumult in per- the cities in the American East. There, on the eastren seaboard, sonal lives that follows which have also necessitated the need to tenements and slums, epidemics and garbage coexist; political repeatedly surrender to the deep lure of a real or imagined past ideologies such as and abolitionism, mercantilism that acts as a fixed idea, an Archimedean spot to pivot one’s self. and republicanism thrive and contest for dominance. The earth Turner wrote in his famous essay: ‘The true point of view in the and its bountiful exigencies are a distant thought. history of this nation is not the Atlantic coast, it is the great West.’ What that painting and narratives of American history teach This has often been a view that has found advocates in men as us is that the great geographical expanse of the American West diverse as President Theodore Roosevelt who wrote plainfacedly acted as both an opportunity to spread out and grow and as a that it was America’s ‘manifest destiny to swallow up the land challenge where intangible aspects of organised society—laws, of all adjoining nations who were too weak to withstand [them]’ institutions, manners, norms—needed to be redrawn and replen- to more enquiring minds such as DeVoto or an author of great ished. Alexis de Tocqueville, the French traveller of 19th century subtlety such as Wallace Stegner who saw the American West America, writes about a sort of stunning uniformity in how cul- as a distinct culture. If the overwhelming mood of the mytholo- ture was continually reproduced further deep in the American gies of the American West in much of the early part of the 20th

42 16 november 2020 century was triumphant, by the 1980s, this retelling of how the of consequences of that very same wilfulness—having to contest, West came to be part of America was marked by heavy overtones like prize fighters, to be declared as the sole winner. of the tragic. In the post-Vietnam War era, the leap from what was wrought in the paddy fields of Southeast Asia in the name of fighting communism to the decades-long genocidal decima- hile these great churns played out over the tion of Native Americans was an inevitable and easy historical course of a century, between these contesting parallel to many. Charges of ‘settler colonialism’ were now easily W and sometimes collaborating explanatory frame- laid, much to the chagrin of everyday politicians and the aver- works to describe the past, what arose from those age traditionalist voter who saw these lands and the society built turbulent waters was the behemoth structure of the American upon them as a consequence of the extraordinary labours of his state—armed with real and legal weaponry as well as an elaborate forefathers. This, of course, is true. The amount of backbreaking bureaucratic structure that progressively sought to lay claims on labour, the long years of loneliness and cold, the stubborn will how people ought to live. From everyday routines such as seat- to survive and eventually set down a way of life—all of this is belts and retirement provisioning to life events such as marriages almost unimaginable to us today. But, much like this truth, the and divorces, the state became the arbiter which often imposed other side of the very same story where the expansionist nature from above. This, predictably, led to resentments as well as a sigh of what the white settler colonies and their capitalist institutions of relief. The resentments—an echo of the discontent many Brit- had unleashed is also true—great pain, genocidal murder and suf- ish have felt towards Brussels under the European Union—have fering of the Native Americans. The tragic lay in two great truths: periodically manifested with complaints about Washington DC a story of wilfulness to transform the world; and another, a story and its coastal elites who want to ‘ban Christmas’. Meanwhile,

getty images

Theodore Roosevelt, 1902

16 november 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 43 Cover Story

a sigh of relief has often involved underprovisioned local offi- creation of many new agencies through executive fiat. Frances cials who seek federal help to coordinate on various matters— Perkins, who served as the Labor Secretary under President ‘problems without borders’—involving crimes, environment, Franklin D Roosevelt in the 1930s (‘[FDR’s] moral conscience’ is taxation and more. Viewed differently, the history of American the subtitle of a 2009 book on her), served as the galvanising force political economy has been annotated by a steady erosion of local behind ideas—minimum wage, unemployment compensation, norms in favour of supralocal rules. The result of this push and health insurance, etcetera—that are now taken for granted today. pull has resulted in a society where rules of contestation have All debate has shifted to questions regarding how to provision, how much to pay and other details. In short, over the past century, the American state has had to transform itself into a guarantor of more finely defined claims of equality and freedom as well as various sections of the become a provider of economic safety and protection. Whereas federal government have the original 18th and 19th century myths of discovery and growth raced to the bottom of any fuelled the scramble to define the outer edges of the American opinion poll regarding trust. nation, in the 20th century the American state consolidated and codified the extent of its writ and power. Implicit in this painfully According to one popular debated and fought over governance framework was also a very meme, the Senate majority high amount of trust—at least among the majority white popula- leader Mitch McConnell polls tion—in the government eventually doing the right thing after, worse than stale sushi rolls to wit, having exhausted all other options. sold at gas stations y 2020, however, various sections of the federal government have raced to the bottom of B any opinion poll regarding trust. According to one popular meme, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell—a powerful, and aggressively dull, operator on the conservative side—polls worse than stale sushi rolls sold at gas stations. It is tempting to read too much into such partisan views, but the truth remains that there has been a steady and secular decline over the past 50-odd years in trust and confidence in the American government. David Bromwich, a biographer of Edmund Burke’s intellectual journey and an interpreter of the American present, traces the source of this decline to the days of the Vietnam War when widespread instances of governmental ‘deception’ were systematically revealed, particularly through a series of exposes called the Pentagon Papers. Furthermore, the cus- todians of law and political norms in both Houses of government began a mutli-decade lurch to cede more power to the institution proliferated, been codified and in turn have gone to create a class of the presidency. The result of this was a steady transformation of of legal specialists in procedure and precedent, who in effect run the executive wing of the government into an imperial office— the country. Power, in more ways than one, has shifted from the which included illegal prosecution of global wars without ex- barrel of the gun to the gavel of a judge. Meanwhile, the state and plicit approval (or more accurately, with questionable complicity) its accoutrements that claim and impose legitimacy have steadily from members of both Houses of the government. Add to this, become the site where people’s efforts to formally redescribe their the rise of 24X7 media, which resulted in the transformation of standing under law and with each other have found their greatest the presidency into a site for celebrity—the apotheosis of that expression. From the suffragette movements of the 1910s to the phenomena being Barack Obama. civil rights movement in the 1960s to the gay rights movement in It is therefore little surprising that faced with such crises of the 1990s, the great American civic battles have often been ones confidence in the idea of government itself, a great populist un- where the ultimate goal has involved trying to expand the state’s dercurrent that trafficks in the foundational myths of the country understanding of what inclusion means and to formally protect has repeatedly found salience—at least since the days of Barry the resultant equality under law. Goldwater and George Wallace in the 1960s to Donald Trump Concurrently, following the Great Depression of the 1930s, the during 2020. By our times, this theme about harkening back to American state expanded its role as a provider of varying forms some mythical past has metastasised in extraordinary ways that of economic safety. This came about, particularly, thanks to the has included its most quixotic manifestations such as treating

44 16 november 2020 over the past three decades, new waves of immigrants and their children have steadily made their Immigrants presences felt arriving at Ellis Island in American c 1900 public life

Photos getty images recommendations to wear masks during the pandemic as signs the White House’s perspective, especially in a political climate of governmental oppression. What further complicates this story where gridlocks characterise the House of Representatives and is that over the past three decades, new waves of immigrants and the Senate, where stasis is seemingly a feature and not a bug of their children have steadily made their presences felt in American the system. The consequence is that all presidents—across party public life. Its courts, televisions, financial markets, cinemas and lines—have continued to amass more power to ostensibly get even boardrooms have steadily become browner and blacker things done without the hassle and tedium of having to engage in complexion—a demographic that doesn’t read the originary with the deliberative branches of the legislature. In this sense, the mythologies of America with the similar kind of bonedeep con- very constituents that allowed a nascent state and its burgeon- viction that a tale of white dominance was indeed the past. The ing bureaucracy to graft itself upon a vast geography—while fa- result is an increasingly steady disconnect between what exactly cilitating the genocidal elimination of previous inhabitants and constitutes the idea of the nation. This is, perhaps, most visibly yet borrow freely from the valorising myths and struggles of its seen in the voting patterns of big cities and their suburbs—all early pioneers—eventually acquires the burnish of a self-evident fast-growing, diverse, educated with four-plus years of college truth. America, Walt Whitman said, contains multitudes and education and employable in a global commerce—who vote contradictions and he was okay with it; but that was the America in diametrically opposite ways to their fellow citizens in rural of the 19th century. By our times, however, these contradictions counties, who are typically more traditionalist and conservative. have been codified into law by different interest groups—all of All of this poses an extraordinary dilemma for any incom- which traffic in their favourite myths of identity and purpose in ing administration of either party because at the heart of their the name of the people, who ironically have steadily lost faith travails is the question: how to restore trust in the government and trust in all whom they elect to speak and act on their behalf. among a cross-section of people who have invested great emo- That, in the ultimate reckoning, may very well be the real tragedy tional energies to sustain the mythologies about the origins of of American democracy. n the nation-state. This is a curious state of affairs—where the government is distrusted but the idea of the larger and older col- lective still holds sway. Part of the answer to that is a wilful devo- Keerthik Sasidharan is an author who lives in New York lution of power which has been amassed by the executive wing City. His forthcoming book The Dharma Forest will be over decades. But this is a high-risk strategy, when viewed from published by Penguin India Cover Story The Redundancy of Anti-Americanism There’s a little bit of America all around and in us

By Madhavankutty Pillai

f the United States of America has and who doesn’t want all of those? It was everything that India always been a country in the making, where told itself shouldn’t matter to a good society while desperately any one, homegrown or immigrant, could craving it. Between the US and the Soviet Union, India remained carve out his space, it was exemplified in the in pseudo isolation, seemingly trying to create a country removed I story of The Godfather. Even for gangsters, so from superpowers and failing miserably by taking the worst of long as they had ambition, drive and a code both worlds. It threw out the emblems of America like Coca Cola of capitalist ethics, the country would create and IBM and tried to put a lid on consumerism that seethed like endless opportunities. The Godfather is an American story of Ital- a bubbling volcano waiting to burst. When the balance of pay- ians, an immigrant community that shaped and got shaped by ments crisis forced liberalisation, the Indian embrace of Ameri- the land. It should ordinarily have no resonance for a society like canisation was with unbridled greedy enthusiasm. India, especially in the time when the story is set. The book was Look at where we are today, at our own person, the things written in 1969. The movie came out in 1972. India was a backwa- that we carry on us. The credit card, first made in America. The ter of the world, struggling with caste, poverty, emasculated kings smartphone, an American arrival. The apps in it, innovated first and youths in awe of Che Guevara. But within three years of the in America. The online store of all those apps, either from Apple movie being released in the US, it had found its own Hindi avatar. or Google, both American companies. The jeans you wear, first Feroz Khan made Dharmatma, which shamelessly took all the made in America 150 years ago. The fashion of those jeans, the plotlines of the Godfather, and turned it into a snazzy Bollywood tears and the rips, from trends begun there. The WhatsApp chats spectacle with songs and melodrama. The public lapped it up. that now encircle your lives; the Facebook friends that make up Since then the Godfather has been an enduring shadow for Indian your online club; the Instagram images that you salivate over; the filmmakers. There decades later, Ram Gopal Varma was still milking the plot to make Sarkar. And it filtered deep. Every regional film industry has its America was wealth and comfort, glamour own version of the Godfather. The mov- and skin, and who doesn’t want all of ie touched India because Americanism those? It was everything that India told had grabbed the world. itself shouldn’t matter to a good society This has been the trend since at least the end of World War I, when the while desperately craving it American century truly began and the US became the torchbearer of capital- ism as the European colonial empires disbanded. Take any Indian Twitter posts that feed your politics; the iPhone that, if you are factory and you can trace its operations back to the American car rich and want to be seen rich, you must be holding in your hand company Ford, which in 1913 made assembly line production with those sticks protruding out of your ear lobes—all emanating the fundamental optimisation between man and machine until from American shores. And even if you have a Korean or Chinese robots arrived. It was also a time that American banks rewrote the phone, the Android operating system in it is from Google. The script of finance as the engine of big business, which would create language that your children are speaking on those phones to each multinationals that didn’t need to use force to create markets, just other—cool, dude, babe, hashtag, wtf...words that first rolled off products that made life easier and marketing. On paper, India American tongues and fingers. might have sworn to socialism for much of its early independent The British weaved English into India, making it easy for history but America was wealth and comfort, glamour and skin, America to easily enter and then expand in its consciousness, an

46 16 november 2020 The Redundancy of Anti-Americanism Saurabh Singh Saurabh by Illustration Cover Story

effect of what Matthew Engel wrote in his book That’s the Way “Michael Jackson is the reason I am where I am today. I owe all my it Crumbles: The American Conquest of English: ‘The United States dreams to him.” He was hardly an outlier. Three years ago, when has now become the chief source of new vocabulary because its Tiger Shroff played a dancer who teaches the art to a gangster in technological and cultural dominance has become overwhelm- a movie called Munna Michael, it was again an Indian paean to ing. The technology alone would not be enough; it is the cultural Jackson. Indians have had a steady stream of such American pop sway that really matters. The consequences of this are felt across culture icons for veneration as if it were the most natural thing the world, not just in Britain, and not just in countries where Eng- to do. From Sylvester Stallone to Taylor Swift, every generation lish is the primary language.’ Among the conditions he listed for has found Americans to idolise. If you were someone older who the arrival of this phenomenon were: ‘1. The emergence of Eng- was interested in money, there was Warren Buffett, the chairman lish as the unchallenged global language, a role once envisaged of Berkshire Hathaway who has a cult following here among for the artificial constructions of Esperanto or Volapük. 2. The stock investors. infiltration of English words into other, less robust, languages. Commerce was also the engine of Americanisation. In the C’est cool, n’est-ce pas? Not necessarily. 3. The ongoing takeover by 1980s and 1990s, body shopping companies like Infosys began the dominant form of English—American English—of all other to take young Indian men as cheap labour to the US and lit the in- variants, not just British but also Australian, Canadian, Indian, formation technology boom here. The trickle became a flood and, Singaporean, wherever.’ though, most stayed back and settled, their families and friends An article in the online magazine Scroll by its Reader’s Editor had all been co-opted into the idea of what America represented on why American English became part of everyday usage in India at its core—opportunity. India no longer looked warily at it. The delved deeper into the specifics here. It said: ‘Spellings are chang- history of the last 30 years is an acceptance of American culture ing: “color” for “colour”, “program” for “programme”, “fulfill” with some tweaking to retain Indian mores. Like McDonalds, a for “fulfil” and hundreds more. Usage too has changed: “sweets” brand name that is among the most identified with America. It have become “candy”, in po- lite circles “washroom” has replaced “lavatory” and it is Americanisation has worked well for both supposed to be more mod- countries. India has not ended up as a vassal. ern to ask for a “check” in a restaurant than the plain It is not dominated culturally. And mimicking a old “bill”. (Note, by the way, culture on your own terms can be a good thing that the bank “cheque” is for all concerned on its way to becoming a “check”.) Nouns as verbs seem more common in US English and are entering our us- first came to India in 1995 and is now a household name. Even age: “impacted”, “actioned” and other such noun-verbs, which small towns have seen outlets open up and there are now over 300 make the purists squirm.’ One of the main reasons it gave for the of them. It has changed its menu in keeping with Indian sensitivi- takeover was that material on the internet is predominantly US ties. Beef and pork are completely absent, with chicken, which English and therefore Indians had begun to imbibe it as a matter has no religion to protect it, being the mainstay. McDonalds also of course. But it is not just the written word that Indians mimic. has ultra-cheap vegetarian alternatives. But what it brings in the Who does not know someone who went for a short spell to the American experience is in the standardisation—the service and US, perhaps for an education course or work, and returned after a food is the same no matter which outlet you go to. After McDon- couple of years with a twang on their tongue? And who does not alds, there has been a large number of fast food brands like Ken- know someone who didn’t even go there and speaks like that? tucky Fried Chicken or Burger King that have become regular haunts for Indians. And they have Indian copycats. Americanisation was initially met with protests but these culture encroaches on another through have been with decreasing intensity and frequency. That is how force, or in the absence of that, mimesis or vol- it will be for the near future too, now that India and the US have A untary imitation. Americanism also entered been forced into a political embrace because of the common India through pop culture icons. If you are old threat of China. It has worked well for both countries. When enough, you will remember when the dancer Uber, an American company, comes to take over a slice of Indian Prabhu Deva first burst on the national scene with a body that transport, it also triggers and runs against the homegrown Ola. was as if made from rubber twisting from joints god created Unlike the trap that other countries have fallen into, India has only for him. The number of teens who mimicked him, espe- not ended up as a vassal. It is not dominated culturally. And mim- cially in the south, were innumerable, unfurling a whole culture icking a culture on your own terms can be a good thing for all of dance. Who did Prabhu Deva himself draw inspiration from? concerned. Unless you dispute the idea of materialism itself, but Michael Jackson. He would say in an interview to MidDay in 2009: that is a debate whose time is long past. n

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Counting the spots How many leopards does India have? Till we can answer that there is no good estimate of how many have been killed By Nikita Doval

50 16 november 2020 he findings of a new leopard census will be released this month, once again drawing A wild leopard in Dudhwa the spotlight on the cat in the man-animal Tiger Reserve, conflict debate. Uttar Pradesh, In the autumn of 2018, Ankush March 2017 Muneshwar, then Sarpanch of Wedshi vil- lage in Yavatmal, Maharashtra, was a very worried man. A cow-herder from his village Gulab was widely suspected to have been killed by a rogue tiger and similar reports were coming in from other villages in the area. It was reaping time and villagers, instead of spending their time in the fields, were cooped inside, leading to concerns about financial ruin. The man-eating tiger, T-1, who was briefly more famous as Avni, was eventually shot dead in November 2018 by a private hunter and even though Muneshwar was elated, he was also concerned, “Waghoba was angry with us. Counting the We need to appease him.” Muneshwar was referring to a large cat deity, deriving its name from the Marathi ‘wagh’, for big cat. Waghoba temples dot the land- scape in not just Maharashtra but also Goa. There is one in Mum- bai’s Aarey Milk Colony also. Some of these temples, mostly no bigger than a shrine, are believed to be at least a few hundred years old. The deity, villagers believe, protects them from the dangers of spots the forest, namely the big beasts, both tigers and leopards, living in them. Wildlife experts tell us that the presence of the deity, be it Waghoba in western India or Dakshin Rai, the god of the Sun- derbans, points to a long tradition of man and beast sharing space and co-existing, not always peacefully but respectfully nonethe- less. The deity, at least in western India, represents not just the tiger alone but also the leopard. Smaller, more agile and more elusive, the leopard has long lived on the natural borders between forests and human settlements, unlike the tiger which dislikes humans. But it is only in recent years that the leopard finds itself making news almost every other day: for killing people, being captured in housing localities, dying while crossing highways or being lynched—not the treatment one would expect to be meted out to a deity or its living manifestation. Be it Mumbai or the - Faridabad highway or Greater Noida housing complexes, leopard sightings have been rising. According to the Wildlife Protection Society of India’s (WPSI) estimate, while 460 leopards died in 2018, the figure rose to 490 in 2019. In 2020 so far, 358 leopards are believed to have died. But, experts say, these numbers are just indicative, representing the deaths that were detected. Tracking leopard deaths is tricky; we only extrapolate from those detected.

12,000-14,000 leopards were estimated to be in India after the first census in 2014. Critics have questioned this number given the diverse nature of the cat’s habitats getty images

16 november 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 51 wildlife

The first leopard census in India, conducted in 2014 (but as ment in Maharashtra did not entertain any one. It was around part of the tiger census), had thrown up a figure of 7,910 (not in- this time that leopard attacks on humans were increasing across cluding the Northeast) and only in protected forests. Since leop- the state. Apart from understanding the reasons behind this be- ards also live outside protected reserves, an estimate of 12,000- haviour, the state forest department organised workshops jointly 14,000 was made. Critics have questioned this number given the with experts to increase the understanding of laypeople. “The diverse nature of the cat’s habitats. The Wildlife Institute of India media also became an important stakeholder as repeated news (WII), which conducts the tiger survey, is set to release a census reports helped draw attention to the issues at stake.” Athreya is of leopards in November, according to Qamar Qureshi, senior specifically referring to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park which scientist at the WII. “The population has been mapped in forested is believed to have at least 40 leopards, thus making densely areas and rounded off to a conservative estimate,” he tells Open. populated Mumbai also the city with the highest density of Currently, the leopard is classified for the highest protection un- leopards in India. As housing colonies started coming up near der the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. the park in the 2000s, leopard sightings caused panic, leading Leopards, wildlife experts say, have always lived close to hu- to pressure from the public, politicians and even the media. It mans, be it in rural areas or even cities was Athreya’s work in the Junnar region such as Mumbai and Nairobi without that led to the realisation that the forest people realising so. They can live off department’s drive to capture leopards smaller prey such as chickens, dogs and from farmlands and releasing them in even rodents. “Leopards are extremely forests abutting human settlements adaptable. And over many centuries were leading to attacks. Leopards are they have also adapted themselves to territorial and when relocated to an area human beings. They can live beside you where other leopards already exist, they like your shadow and you won’t even will move closer to human settlements know they are there. They can detect “We need to have where conflict is always a possibility. you before you detect them and will try deliberations on how to These findings along with community and avoid you; unlike tigers they do not engagement and a pro-active response stand their ground. It is only now that improve shared spaces. from the departments concerned went this adaptability in a leopard is being per- Animals don’t know a long way in making co-existence ceived as detrimental, it has led to panic, boundaries. Awareness possible. In Mumbai’s Aarey Milk lynchings have gone up, there is grow- sessions are needed as to Colony, humans and leopards have ing resentment,” says Mayukh Chatter- what needs to be done if now been learning to live with each jee, Head, Human Conflict Mitigation a leopard is spotted” other with more than moderate success, Division, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI). although stray incidents still occur. Instances of leopards killing children vidya athreya The colonial approach to wildlife in wildlife biologist and sometimes even adults have been India was first decimation and eventu- on the rise though experts say these are ally conservation in the 19th century, usually last-ditch resorts for leopards keeping the interests of Empire in mind. that prefer other prey. Even today, wildlife conservation poli- Vidya Athreya, wildlife biologist and cies in India are corrupted by the ‘man- one of India’s leading experts on leop- aging wildlife’ lens. “Wildlife needs to be ards, does not like the use of the word co-existed with, not managed. We catch ‘conflict’ with regards to man-animal cats like leopards and release them far interaction and says that urban elites away from their habitat in spite of the don’t often understand the acceptance “We catch cats like fact that they are homing creatures. Spe- and tolerance that exists in rural areas leopards and release them cies, and this includes humans, need to because of shared spaces. “We need to far away from their learn to live with each other,” says WTI’s have deliberations on how to improve Chatterjee. He cites the example of the shared spaces,” says Athreya. This would habitat in spite of the fact Pilibhit tiger reserve which is also home mean including a whole range of stake- that they are homing to a huge leopard population and where holders right from the locals, forest de- creatures. Species, and this humans and the cats co-exist though not partment and even the media. “Animals includes humans, need to always peacefully. Last year, a tigress was don’t know boundaries. Awareness ses- learn to live with beaten to death by villagers after she at- sions are needed as to what needs to be tacked people working in the fields. done if a leopard is spotted,” she says. Be- each other” A 2018 report published by the Uttar fore 2011, Athreya says, the forest depart- Mayukh Chatterjee Pradesh forest department and the head, Human Wildlife Conflict Mitigation, Wildlife Trust of India 52 16 november 2020 A leopard that strayed into a 596 residential complex is leopards were treated for killed in 2015-2019 injury in Guwahati for wildlife trade and poaching, with and Maharashtra reporting the highest number of incidents ap

WTI analysed the pattern of attacks on humans and sought to of 596 leopards in India were linked to wildlife trade and poaching, identify the underlying factors. Most of the attacks had taken with Uttarakhand and Maharashtra reporting the highest number place during daytime, lending credence to the belief that the of incidents. The skin of a leopard remains the most in demand, attacking tigers were startled or disturbed by villagers forag- followed by its claws, teeth and bones. ing in the forest. Leopard attacks, particularly on children, took “There is a distinct possibility that leopard bones are passed place when the children were either defecating or sleeping. A off as tiger bones given the huge demand there is for those. It is few modifications or precautions on the part of humans—such rather worrying because we don’t have an exact number for leop- as not entering forests alone, leaving children unattended and ards and as such it is tough to keep track of just how many of the even stopping defecating in the open—could help reduce the cats we are losing. Right now I would hazard a guess and say that attacks, the report suggested. “The drive is to look for push-but- we are losing more leopards than tigers everyday,” says Anish ton solutions be it elephants, tigers or leopards. But there is no Andheria, President, Wildlife Conservation Trust. Leopard deaths one solution—it is a process. Conflict is a result of development due to road and train accidents also remain a large concern. In over years, it requires resolution at the community level,” says 2019, more than 80 leopards were killed in road and train acci- Chatterjee who was involved with the report. Focus also needs to dents, the most in a decade. With more roads being laid, experts be on modified landscapes, such as tea gardens, even sugarcane fear this number will only go up. fields, habitats that can afford sufficient cover to leopards but still Some experts argue that with the bulk of attention, and not ensure easy access to prey. to mention resources, focused on tigers and then elephants, Even when the cats steer clear of humans, there can be conflict other wildlife in the country have suffered. WII’s Qureshi if livestock are under threat, especially for small farmers. Fencing however begs to differ. “Tiger conservation has helped other of farms or even livestock pens, in an inexpensive manner, is eas- wildlife in ways unimaginable.” In quality habitats, such as pro- ily achievable, but there is a lack of both initiative and interest. tected forest areas and reserves, leopards can co-exist with tigers as “There is a shift of responsibility that has taken place, from the understood from the census. But socially, culturally and histori- farm owner to the government. There seems to be an assump- cally, it is the tiger that gets public attention in the country. “We are tion that animals are now state objects and the havoc wreaked by very fortunate that we have three big cats in the country; them has to be compensated for by the government, which is very lions, tigers and leopards. The lion, even in other cultures, disheartening,” says a community sensitisation expert who did has always been the most revered. Only kings were allowed not wish to be named. In urban areas this responsibility translates to hunt tigers because the beasts, due to their sheer size and into ensuring there are no garbage dumps as these would attract magnificence, commanded a certain stature. The leopard is pigs and dogs which in turn would attract leopards. powerful too but not on the same scale though it is more wily. Society has created more stories, more legends about the other two cats,” says Qureshi. here is another danger that the Indian leopard faces, Many of the concerns about leopards today have existed for made even more lethal by the fact that we don’t have the tigers too. However, leopards are more vulnerable as they find exact numbers for the population: poaching. According living closer to humans easier even as ever expanding human to the WPSI, 129 leopards were killed in India in 2019 by habitats move closer to them. And while there is respect tinged poachers, but experts say this is just the tip of the iceberg. Earlier this with fear, as evident from the Waghoba shrines, leopard conser- year, Traffic, an international NGO that works on trade in wild ani- vation in India will also require communities to engage and step mals, released a report stating that between 2015 and 2019, deaths back to move forward. n

16 november 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 53 books essay Babur’s Soul The Mughal emperor not only established an extraordinary dynasty and set the tone for their future political, economic, aesthetic and humanistic triumphs, he also produced one of the most fascinating autobiographies ever written to record exactly how he did it

By William Dalrymple n

n 1526, Zahir-ud-Din Babur, a young Timurid the number ruled by their only rivals, the Ottomans. poet-prince from Farghana in Central Asia, Before long, his family’s new conquests were producing

o descended the Khyber Pass with a small army of about a quarter of all global manufacturing: by 1650, the handpicked followers; with him he brought some Mughal Empire was the world’s industrial powerhouse of the first modern muskets and cannon seen in and its greatest producer of manufactured textiles. In IIndia. With these he defeated the Delhi Sultan, Ibrahim comparison, England then had just 5 per cent of India’s Lodhi, and established his garden-capital in Agra. population and was producing under 3 per cent of the This was not Babur’s first conquest. He had spent world’s manufactured goods. A good proportion of the much of his youth throneless, living with his profits of these Indian manufactures found their way to companions from day to day, rustling sheep and the Mughal exchequer in Agra, making Babur’s stealing food. Occasionally he would capture a town— successors, with incomes of around £100 million, by far he was 14 when he first took Samarkand and held it for the richest monarchs in the world. sal four months. Aged 23, he finally managed to seize and In Milton’s Paradise Lost, the great Mughal cities of secure Kabul, and it was this Afghan base that became Agra and are revealed to Adam after the Fall as the springboard for his later conquest of India. But future wonders of God’s creation. This was no under- before this he had lived for years in a tent, displaced and statement: by the age of Milton, Lahore had grown dispossessed, a peripatetic existence that had little larger even than Constantinople and, with its two appeal to him. ‘It passed through my mind,’ he wrote, million inhabitants, dwarfed both London and Paris. ‘that to wander from mountain to mountain, homeless From the ramparts of the Fort, Babur’s descendants and helpless, has little to recommend it.’ ruled over most of India, all of and Bangladesh Babur died in 1530, only four years after his arrival in and great chunks of Afghanistan. Their army was all India and before he could properly consolidate his new but invincible; their palaces unparalleled; the domes of conquests. He regarded himself as a failure for having their many mosques quite literally glittered with gold. lost his family lands in Central Asia and was profoundly The Mughals were really rivalled only by their Ming ashamed that his generation of Timurids, thanks to counterparts in China. For their grubby contemporaries their squabbles and rivalries, had failed to defend their in the West, stumbling around in their codpieces, ancestral inheritance after holding Oxiana for more Babur’s descendants, dripping in jewels, were the living than a century. embodiment of wealth and power—a meaning that has He could not have imagined that within a few years, remained impregnated in the word ‘mogul’ ever since. his new Indian conquests would have grown to be If the dynasty Babur founded represented Islamic the greatest and most populous of all Muslim-ruled rule at its most powerful and majestic, it also defined empires, with around 150 million subjects—five times it at its most aesthetically pleasing: this was, after all,

54 16 november 2020 Babur receiving a visitor, folio from a Baburnama edition (c 1590) Courtesy The Me t Museu m

the Baburnam a is the culmination and climax of the Islamic autobiogr aphical tr adition as much as the Taj Mahal is the climax of its architectur al legacy books essay

alamy the Empire that gave the world Mughal miniatures, Mughal gardens and the spectacular architectural tradition that culminated in the Taj Mahal. The great Mughal emperors were also, with one notable excep- tion, relatively tolerant, pluralistic and eclectic. Their empire was effectively built in coalition with India’s Hindu majority, particularly the Rajputs of Rajasthan, and succeeded as much through conciliation as by war. This was particularly so of Babur’s grandson, the Emperor Akbar (1542-1605), who issued an edict of uni- versal religious toleration, forbade forcible conversion to Islam and married a succession of Hindu wives. At the same time that Jesuits were being hung, drawn and quartered in London, and when most of Catholic Europe was given over to the Inquisition, in India, Akbar was summoning Jesuits from Goa, as well as Sunnis and Shia Muslims, Hindus of both Shaivite and Vaishnavite persuasions, to come to his palace and debate their understanding of the metaphysical, declar- ing that ‘no man should be interfered with on account of religion, and anyone is to be allowed to go over to a religion that pleases him’. Babur not only established this extraordinary dynasty and set the tone for their future political, economic and aesthetic triumphs, he also produced one of the most fascinating autobiographies ever written to record exactly how he did it. The Baburnama does much more than merely keep the memory of his conquests alive. In its pages, Babur opens his soul with a frankness and lack of inhibition comparable to Pepys. Typical is his description of falling in love with an adolescent boy from the Herat bazaar: ‘Before this I had never felt desire for anyone,’ he wrote. ‘But in the throes of love I wan- dered bareheaded and barefoot around the lanes and the streets and through the gardens and orchards, paying no attention to acquaintances or strangers, oblivious to self and others.’ A Mughal miniature of Babur reading Throughout his memoir, we are admitted to Babur’s innermost confidence as he examines and questions the world had replaced the Mughals in India and who saw many echoes around him. He compares the fruits and animals of India and of their life and thoughts in his. According to the Victorian ad- Afghanistan with as much inquisitiveness as he records his ministrator and Persian scholar, Henry Beveridge, the husband impressions of falling for men or marrying women, or weigh- of the translator of one volume, Annette Beveridge (and with ing up the differing pleasures of opium, hashish and alcohol. whom she produced their son William, who was instrumental Profoundly honest and unusually articulate, at once emotionally in the formation of the British welfare state,) the Baburnama ‘is compelling and profoundly revealing, the Baburnama is in many one of those priceless records that is for all time, and is fit to rank ways an oddly modern text, almost Proustian in its self- with the confessions of St Augustine and Rousseau, and the awareness. It presents the uncensored fullness of the man, a memoirs of Gibbon and Newton. In Asia it stands alone’. human life perfectly pinned to the page in simple, direct and This last sentence is not quite accurate: there was in fact a unpretentious prose. wonderfully rich tradition of Islamic autobiography out of The uniqueness of the Baburnama was immediately recog- which the Baburnama grew and which includes such master- nised by all of Babur’s contemporaries as it was by his Mughal works as the witty and urbane Memoirs of Usamah Ibn Munquid, successors, who quickly had it translated from Babur’s col- a Syrian Arab landowner from the time of the Crusades, and the loquial Turki to literary Persian; later, in its English editions, it wise, measured and ironic Mirror for Princes of Kai Ka’us Qabus, became a favourite text of the Orientalists of the British Raj who the extraordinary 11th century Seljuk prince who built the great

56 16 november 2020 Gunbad-i-Qabus tomb tower on the Caspian steppe and had dotted with wild violets, tulips and roses; cold running water, his corpse suspended half way up in a rock crystal coffin. What passing through ‘a shady and delightful clover meadow where is true, however, is that the Baburama is the culmination and every passing traveller takes a rest’, ‘beautiful little gardens climax of that Islamic autobiographical tradition as much as the with almond trees in the orchards’; ‘pomegranates renowned Taj Mahal is the climax of its architectural legacy. for their excellence… good hunting and fowling… pheasants It is not just that the book is so very long and fabulously which grow so surprisingly fat that rumour has it four people detailed: it extends to 6oo pages in the latest Turki critical edi- could not finish one they were eating with its stew’. tion, even with 15 Afghan years of the story now missing and Throughout the text, Babur’s eye is alert for natural beauty and lost forever. This means that Babur’s life is more fully docu- inquisitive about its curiosities. He is, for example, delighted by mented than that of any figure in the entire pre-colonial Islamic the idea of the flying squirrels that he ‘found in the mountains, world. What makes it stand out and remain relevant, and mov- an animal larger than a bat and having a curtain like a bat’s wing, ing, today is its universal humanism and its unusual honesty, between its arms and legs. It is said to fly, downward, from one tree sensitivity and self-understanding. As his latest scholarly biog- to another… Once we put one to a tree: it clambered up directly rapher Stephen Dale puts it, ‘Babur transcended the narrative and got away but, when people went after it, it spread its wings and historical genres of his culture to produce a retrospective and came down, without hurt, as if it had flown’. self-portrait of the kind that is usually associated with the most Whole pages are devoted to the different varieties of many- stylishly effective European and American autobiographies.’ coloured tulips growing wild in Kush or to the smell ‘No other author in the Islamic world, or in pre-colonial of Holm Oak when used as winter firewood, ‘blazing less than India or China, offers a comparable autobiographical memoir, mastic, but, like it, making a hot fire with plenty of ashes, and a a seemingly ingenuous first-person narrative enlivened with nice smell. It has the peculiarity in burning that when its leafy self-criticism as well as self-dramatization, and the evocation branches are set alight, they fire up with an amazing sound, of universally recognizable human emotions. Not only does blazing and crackling from bottom to top’. He goes into raptures Babur make himself engagingly and personally approachable about the changing colours of a flock of geese on the horizon, to readers, he also creates a three-dimensional picture of his ‘something as red as the rose of the dawn kept showing and vanishing between the sky’. Elsewhere he rhapsodises about the brilliant colours of an Afghan autumn. Babur compares the fruits and Above all, he loved books. His first animals of India and Afghanistan act after a conquest was to go to the with as much inquisitiveness as he library of his opponent and raid its shelves. Whenever he visited a new records his impressions of falling city he would go to poetry meetings for men or marrying women, or and listen to the verses being recited by weighing up the differing pleasures its poets, joining in where appropriate and criticising whenever he disliked of opium, hashish and alcohol a particular couplet. Bad poets were a particular source of irritation to the con- noisseur in Babur. One distant cousin world otherwise known mainly from stylized political he admired for his table and administration—‘everything of his narratives and dazzlingly colourful but two-dimensional was orderly and well-arranged’—but castigated him for kidnap- miniature painters.’ ping beautiful boys for his bed (‘that vile practice’) and even The Baburnama is also, as generations of readers from differ- more so for his ‘flat and insipid verse—not to compose is better ent cultures have found, an unusually charming text: a warm- than to compose verse such as his’. hearted, romantic and deeply engaging record of a highly cul- His sensibilities sharpened by wide reading, Babur had a tured and honestly self-critical man: ‘His literary work delivers great gift for producing these witty and often piquant word- to us everything,’ writes Jean-Paul Roux, the French historian portraits of his contemporaries. His own father he described as of the Mughals, ‘with his qualities and faults, especially his ‘short in stature with a round beard and a fleshy face, and was daily inner self, in his most casual moods, in his most profound fat. He wore his tunic so tight that to fasten the ties he had to thoughts, which often could have been our own.’ draw in his belly; if he let himself go, it often happened that the From the opening page, Babur’s love of nature and the ties tore away. He was not choice in dress or food… In his early fineness of his descriptive eye are immediately apparent as he days he was a great drinker. Later on, he used to have a party evokes his lost homeland, the Farghana Valley. Passage after once or twice a week. He was good company, talkative and well- passage lovingly describes the things he adored and now, writ- spoken man… He was fun to be with in a gathering and good at ing in Indian exile, misses: spring mornings spent in hillsides reciting poetry to his companions’.

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The Baburnama is an intriguingly mixed bag of such character ‘the cultivation and refinement of aesthetic sensibility amidst a sketches blended with musings on a wide variety of subjects: it is brutal life of constant political and social violence’. at once a diary, a history, a collection of nature notes, a gazetteer, The parallel with the Italian Renaissance also struck Salman a family chronicle and book of advice of a concerned father to a Rushdie: ‘The Western thinker whom Babur most resembles slightly hopeless son. It is divided into three equal parts. The first is his contemporary, the Florentine Niccolo Machiavelli,’ he tells of his childhood and the adolescent failures that led to the wrote in his brilliant essay on the Baburnama. ‘In both men, a loss of his patrimony. The second tells of his early twenties and his cold appreciation of the necessities of power, of what would time spent homeless and wandering beyond the Oxus. This is today be called realpolitik, is combined with a deeply cultured followed by the lucky capture of Kabul, which he then uses as and literary nature, not to mention the love, often to excess, a base to rally his exiled and scattered Timurid relatives. The of wine and women. Of course, Babur was an actual prince, third tells the story of his final years and the conquest of India, a not simply the author of The Prince, and could practice what triumph tainted in its author’s eyes by the ever-present pain of he preached; while Machiavelli, the natural republican, the exile and loss. History may remember him as the first Mughal survivor of torture, was by far the more troubled spirit of the emperor, but in his own eyes he was always a refugee. pair. Yet both of these unwilling exiles were as writers blessed, Much of the text is a record of Babur’s restless energy and or perhaps cursed, with a clear-sightedness that looks amoral; ambition, his struggles in a world that is inevitably profoundly as truth often does.’ male, military and feudal: fighting, riding, polo, drinking, swim- Babur, in short, was at once the most refined of aesthetes— ming, fishing and hawking occupy many more pages than personally warm and loyal, with a sophisticated and sensitive more peaceful pursuits such as chess, painting, calligraphy, ro- mind—and also what we today might regard as a war criminal: mance, versifying or lovemaking. But even the most relentlessly casually violent and quite capable, when necessary, of oversee- masculine passages are redeemed by Babur’s personal modesty ing acts of mass murder. As Rushdie concludes, ‘Who then was and his awareness of his own failures, which he depicts as Babur—scholar or barbarian, nature-loving poet or terror- leading directly to the displacement and the exile of his people. inspiring warlord? The answer is to be found in the Baburnama, He gives as much space for battles lost as he does to battles won, and it’s an uncomfortable one: he was both.’ and he takes full responsibility for his youthful failures: ‘These Amid so much in his memoir that is deeply human and blunders,’ he writes, ‘were the fruits of inexperience.’ which speaks to us with so much immediacy, it is this interplay He is also frank about his capacity for grief and depression, of the sophisticated and warmly familiar with the alarmingly and open about the great tragedies of his life and the way that foreign and brutal that, more than anything else, gives the they brought about his darkest moments. He writes with Baburnama its compelling complexity. palpable feeling about his mother’s death from fever; his favourite sister’s capture and rape by his Uzbek enemies; and the death of his comrades-in-arms: ‘His death made me he Farghana Valley is the Kashmir of Central Asia. strangely sad... ,’ he writes at one point. ‘For few have I felt such TThe Soviets tried to turn it into an industrial zone, the focus grief. I wept unceasingly for a week or ten days.’ of several Five Year Plans, intending to create a mass regional He sets out at the beginning that he intends to hide nothing, monoculture of industrialised cotton. But the cotton business however badly it may reflect on him, and he remains strikingly died along with the USSR and the region is now quickly reverting true to this undertaking: ‘In this history,’ he writes, ‘I have held to the beautiful, high-altitude Eden it was at the time of Babur. firmly to it that the truth should be reached in every matter, The valley is reached from the steppe around Tashkent by a and that every act should be recorded precisely as it occurred.’ winding mountain road which climbs steeply through Alpine Partly as a result of this, the Baburnama also records much that meadows. Then, at the top of the pass, you pass through a rain is to our eyes unflattering. In this way it provides evidence for shadow—a high-altitude desert, declining, as you descend, those in India, particularly from the Hindutva right, who today into scrubby, arid steppe grassland. Then quite suddenly, at the look on Babur as a barbarous and bloodthirsty jihadi invader. bottom, the desert blossoms and beyond the first green fields For all the examples of his intense sensitivity towards bot- of rich spring wheat you see the bubbling irrigation runnels, any, his love of poetry and calligraphy and painting, he also re- muddy with fresh snowmelt from the Kyrgiz Pamirs, that have cords himself ordering the slaughter of captives, the bloody tor- brought about the transformation. Beyond these fields, framed ture and impaling of rebels and the enslavement of the women by jagged snow peaks, lies the fertile fruit basket of Babur’s and children of his enemies. He even records building pyramids beloved Farghana. of skulls. These were, after all, extremely violent times. Like As you drive along avenues of poplar, rolling meadows full Alexander the Great, Rajaraja Chola, a Florentine prince of the of poppies and wild tulips flank an expanse of apple, mulberry, age of Machiavelli or an Elizabethan poet-privateer of the age apricot and almond orchards, all heavy with ripening fruit. of Sidney or Drake, Babur was a man of ruthless, even pitiless, In the distance, on the higher ground at the edge of the valley, action as well as one of extraordinary sensitivity. As Stephen are vineyards. Next to some of the larger irrigation runnels— Dale puts it, Babur shares with his Renaissance contemporaries bubbling streams of snowmelt from the Tien Shan—men

58 16 november 2020 sit crosslegged on wooden charpoys, in the shade of poplars, utterly changed the complexion of the world between the eating tent flaps of naan and long skewers of shashlik. Flocks of Mediterranean to India; but it left Central Asia one of the rich- fat-tailed sheep are grazing amid the meadows. Donkeys rest by est regions on earth and Akshi as one of its most imposing and the roadside. An old man casts a fishing line from a bridge. impregnable fortresses. The green intensifies as you progress, until eventually the Timur had hauled back to Samarkand the greatest crafts- poplars mass into thickets around the oxbow meanders of men, artists and intellectuals from every region he conquered the Amu Darya, Alexander’s Oxus. Directly above its banks and through their captive labour turned his steppeland capital rise the precipitous mud brick walls of the greatest fortress of into one of the great cities of the world. A major cultural renais- Farghana and its ancient capital: Akshi. The sun sets behind sance followed, as the Timurids— dubbed ‘the Oriental Medici’ the snowpeaks; below, waterfowl call to roost. There is no one by the aesthete and travel writer Robert Byron—transformed about. The town was destroyed and left deserted by a cataclys- themselves into refined litterateurs, connoisseurs of painting mic earthquake of 1621, but even in complete ruination, you and poetry and calligraphy, as well as scientists, mathemati- can sense the massive grandeur and might of this place in its cians and astronomers. This moment of cultural efflorescence Timurid glory days. was still at its height when Babur was born. In Herat, the centre Babur was born here, in Akshi, in 1483. The cataclysmic of this Timurid Renaissance, Babur’s cousin Shah Rukh was 13th century conquests of Genghis Khan (most active between ruling over a court of extraordinary talent where the great 1218 and 1221) followed a century later by those of Timur (1336 Bihzad painted his masterworks and Shah Rukh’s sons argued to 1405) had between them destroyed the old global order and over the superior literary talents of Khusraw or Nizami, com- paring poems, ‘line by line’. Babur supervising the laying out of a garden, folio from a Baburnama edition Babur was directly descended from both of the great world conquerors: from Genghis and his son Chaghatai (1162-1227) on his mother’s side, and from Timur on that of his father, who was one of Timur’s many grandsons. But the cultural achievements of Babur’s generation were not matched by political or military triumphs. Instead Timur’s many descendants fought among themselves over his inheritance, and each

From the opening page, Babur’s love of nature and the fineness of his descriptive eye are immediately apparent as he evokes his lost homeland, the Farghana Valley. Throughout the text, Babur’s eye is alert for natur al beauty and inquisitive about its curiosities

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campaigning season brought another round of internecine But the Timurids failed to unite, and defeat continued to family feuds: an endlessly repeating cycle of raids and invasions, follow defeat. Babur’s final stand was in his birthplace of alliances and betrayals. As EM Forster noted in his essay on Ba- Akshi, in June 1503. His outnumbered men, perhaps bur, ‘There were simply too many kings about and not enough 400-strong, failed to staunch the relentless Uzbek attack and kingdoms. Tamerlane and Genghis Khan had produced be- by evening Babur was leading his last companions through tween them so numerous a progeny that a frightful congestion the east gate, fleeing for their lives into the orchards below, of royalties had resulted along the upper waters of the Jaxartes as the Uzbeks pursued them on horse. ‘That was no time to and the Oxus, and in Afghanistan. One could scarcely travel make a stand or delay,’ he wrote later. ‘We went off quickly, two miles without being held up the enemy unhorsing our men.’ by an Emperor.’ Babur put the Many were killed and his same thought more succinctly: half-sister, Yadgar Sultan Begum, ‘Ten darwishes can sleep under a was captured. By sunset, Babur single blanket,’ he wrote, quoting Babur was at once found himself with only eight a proverb, ‘but two kings cannot men, one of whom offered him find room under one clime.’ the most refined of his horse. ‘It was a miserable The Baburnama opens with aesthetes—personally position for me,’ wrote Babur. a panorama of the final years of ‘He remained behind. I was Timurid Central Asia, just before warm and loyal, with alone.’ Babur hid and was soon the rule of Babur and his cousins a sophisticated and discovered, but somehow was snuffed out for ever. Babur sensitive mind—and also managed to convince his tells how his father died, in a fall enemies that he would reward from his pigeon house in 1494, what we today might them handsomely if they helped when his heir was barely 12 years regard as a war criminal: him escape. old. Immediately, two Timurid He then wandered forlornly uncles invaded his lands, while casually violent from cousin to cousin, looking several of his father’s nobles tried and quite capable, when for opportunities to make a to replace him with his more mal- necessary, of overseeing comeback, but without success: leable younger brother. Babur saw ‘I endured much poverty and off both threats and even, briefly, acts of mass murder humiliation,’ he wrote. ‘I had no managed to capture Samarkand country or the hope of one. Most at the tender age of 14. of my retainers dispersed, and But a new and much more for- those left were unable to move midable enemy soon appeared on around because of destitution… . the horizon. Taking advantage of Timurid in-fighting, the dis- It came very hard on me. I could not help crying.’ ciplined cavalry of the Uzbek warlord Muhammad Shaybani Worse was to follow in the months that followed as the last Khan (1451-1510) took Samarkand from Babur, easily outma- of his cousins north of the Oxus were, one by one, defeated, noeuvring and defeating his inexperienced teenage opponent. captured or killed. By the age of 22, Babur and his extended Next, Shaybani took Bukhara, then Tashkent. Then, one by family had lost everything: ‘For more nearly 140 years,’ he one, in a startling short time, he overthrew each of Babur’s feud- wrote, ‘[these lands had belonged] to our dynasty.’ Now he and ing cousins and kinsmen, none of whom seemed to realise the his people were reduced to utter destitution. seriousness of the Uzbek threat until too late. Babur wrote this first section with all the elegiac love of an ‘They went to pieces,’ wrote Babur, ‘and were unable to do exile for a world he knows he has lost forever and will never see anything, Neither could they gather their men nor were they again. As a result, it is also the part of his book that is most chal- able to array their forces. Instead, each set out on his own.’ Ba- lenging to read: charmingly nostalgic in small doses, it is also at bur claims he tried to raise the alarm: ‘An enemy like Shaybani times a bewilderingly, even numbingly, detailed record of the Khan had arrived on the scene, and he posed a threat to Turk lost world of Timurid Central Asia and the annihilated Timurid and Mughal alike,’ he wrote. ‘[I argued that Shaybani] should be nobility that once peopled it. dealt with now while he had not yet totally defeated the nation It was as if setting it down minutely on paper could some- or grown too strong, as has been said: how preserve a fragment of what had been lost. n

Put out a fire when you can This is the first part of an edited excerpt from For when it blazes high it will burn the wood. William Dalrymple’s introduction to Do not allow an enemy to string his bow, The Baburnama, translated by Annette Susannah While you can pierce him with an arrow.’ Beveridge (Everyman’s Library; 1,032 pages; $30)

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The authors next focus their lens on three important sectors: banking, manufacturing and the mathematical sciences. ‘Bankers Extraordinaire: House of Jagat Seth’ traces the extraordinary rise of Manikchand, his fruitful association with Murshid Quli Khan and his con- tributions to modernising the banking system. The equally precipitous fall of the House under Manikchand’s successor, Mehtab Rai, is well delineated and lessons drawn. In the manufacturing sector the focus is on wootz steel, treasured for its Illustration by Saurabh Singh sharpness, hardness and malleability, in ancient India. Scientists are still trying to counterparts. The pièce de résistance relates unlock the mysteries of its manufacture, to the Great Mughal Akbar. A chapter which would have been clear if system- Past Perfect sub-heading dramatically states: ‘Akbar atic records had been kept. The somewhat India is rich by default, negotiates with Portuguese for free passes pejoratively titled ‘Land of the Lotus Eat- for his wife.’ Not only the merchants, even ers’ focuses on Indian mathematicians. not by design the emperor was helpless in the face of It correctly argues that mathematical By Lov Verma systems set up by the Europeans. knowledge in India did not jump across The initial chapters would appeal disciplines to act as a force multiplier for more to the scholarly inclined. A seduc- science and technology in general. tive new argument makes its appear- The underlying thread is how the new range of books have ance: pre-Independence, Indians led a lack of proper harnessing of information begun to bloom in the landscape serendipitous existence. Ease of living held the country back. The authors have A of non-fiction in India. A sub- rendered innovation and systemati- made a compelling case for the country genre, which is fast gaining traction and sation of information unnecessary. to systematise information collection, popularity, can, for want of a better term, Historical evidence is adduced. Of more collation and analytics so that time is not be considered as comprising ‘national interest to the layreader are the success lost on reinventing the wheel. self-help books’. Early arrivals included stories cited post-Independence: whether The last two chapters are prescrip- Nandan Nilekani’s Imagining India and individual (Dharampal Gulati and MDH tive in nature. A six-point plan of action, Getting India Back on Track (edited by masalas and Brij Mohan Munjal, founder with implementable suggestions, for Bibek Debroy et al). Joining this group is of Hero Cycles) or collective (the Election instance, repeal of archaic laws, should Meeta and Rajiv Lochan’s Making India Commission, the Indian Space Research form an agenda for our decision-makers. Great Again: Learning from Our History. Organisation and the House of the Tatas). While cogently argued, the book A rather exhaustive introduction— However, these are isolated examples falls short on some counts. For one, the almost one-fifth of the book—wrestles which bucked the trend. cherrypicking of examples leads to some with the problem: Why did India suc- needless repetition. Also, the prescriptive cumb to colonialism? It then proceeds to portion, containing some seminal sugges- lay out the core philosophy of the book: tions, could have done with elaboration. India is rich by default, not by design. But the most serious shortcoming relates The more obvious answer is lack of state to the fact that the book omits mention of support to business. The second and less some important contemporaneous devel- apparent reason advanced is the inability opments, which have an important bear- of Indians to systematise information. It ing on the book’s subject. Aadhaar and Big is the contention of the authors that both Data mining get only a passing mention, factors continue to cripple the country while there is deafening silence on Digital and prevent it from becoming great. India, Ayushman Bharat, the Goods and Making India Great Again A clutch of interesting examples is Learning from Our History Services Tax and other germane issues. offered to reinforce the argument. For in- Meeta and Rajiv Lochan Might a sequel be on its way? Overall, a stance, Indian rulers never paid the soldier commendable effort, which falls short of regularly, in contrast to their European Manohar the ‘great’ category. n 299 Pages | Rs 1,495

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At home in the world Whether he is the beloved Guddu Bhaiya in Mirzapur or the updated Cousin Andrew in Kenneth Branagh’s forthcoming Death on the Nile, Ali Fazal is showing us how to be a global star By Kaveree Bamzai

reuters

62 16 november 2020 e sends mangoes breakout web series from YashRaj Films’ every season to Dame Bang BaajaBaaraat (2015) recalls how Ali as a sly nod would be much in demand as an actor to a scene in Victoria for plays while he was studying econom- and Abdul (2017) in ics at St Xavier’s College in Mumbai. “He H which they starred was a paying guest in Churchgate and together. He celebrated his birthday I was in Mahim, and we would some- on set in London with no less than times take the late night train back home Annette Bening and Gal Gadot while from Andheri. I was charmed by this shooting Death on the Nile. And he has young man, and saw there was some- just bagged another international film, thing very approachable about him.” It a war drama Code Name: Johnny Walker, took Tiwari a long time to convince Fazal in which he is the lead. to do the web series, but once he did, the Yet talk to Ali Fazal about his series won him fans among men and Hollywood career, and he barely men- women. The men wanted him to be their tions it unless prodded. The focus is on buddy and the women their boyfriend. the here and now. And now, even as he Fazal’s first big screen role was Joy awaits the release of Lobo, the young Death on the Nile, an engineering student all-star reinvention of who commits suicide the in (2009), classic, he is enjoying Sometimes because of numerous the attention coming I still look for pressures. “It was in his way for his second directors who my third year of col- outing as Guddu Pan- lege,” he says, and “it dit, the bodybuilder can use me, help finally allowed me to turned wannabe king me churn out have the chat with my of Amazon Prime’s more. We all come father about not want- Mirzapur. Having with so many ing his money any- surprised himself by more.” He had already the bulking up he did stories, made some pocket for the first season of don’t we?” money with small Mirzapur and the love Ali Fazal actor roles in American he got for the charac- productions like The ter, Fazal is enjoying, Other End of the Line in his typically bashful, low key manner, (2008) and the IFC miniseries Bollywood his rising fame in both the West and in Hero (2009). A typical Bollywood lead India. Roshan Abbas, who directed him debut followed in Abbas’ Always Kabhi in his first lead role in the teen romcom, Kabhi, produced by ’s (2011), calls him Red Chillies Entertainment, but it was in “our first millennial international star”. (2013) that he was noticed. It also As for Ali, all he says is “that’s what re-introduced him to his co-star Richa we actors do. We sign up to exploit our- Chadha and the two have ever since selves and are just a click away been together, posting not just romantic from rejection”. videos of each other but also support of Fazal—whose upbringing is an each other’s political and social choices. unusual mix of Lucknowi heritage and Young actors in the film industry the anglicised Doon School—allowing who don’t come from family firms him to be as desi as urbane, has been able usually have to attach themselves to to play to these strengths in a career that ecosystems like , Dharma began accidentally, having injured his Productions, Anurag Kashyap’s school arm while playing basketball and turn- of filmmaking, or the Mukesh/Mahesh ali fazal ing to theatre at school. Anand Tiwari Bhatt camp. Striking a path apart from who was to become his director in the these is not easy. There is no one to advise

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you on which events to show up for, no one to push you for awards, or to gently suggest to magazine editors that cover stories be done. Despite being embraced by Yash Raj Films when he was making waves with Bang Baaja Baaraat, Fazal ali fazal in has made his own path, perhaps making mirzapur mistakes, but also owning up to them. Mistakes or not, the choices have always been interesting, whether it was playing lover boy to ’s Bobby grows. He becomes pompous, and loves unless absolutely required but also Jasoos (2014) or a restless writer in Kha- being the centre of attention. And yet, at remained in character throughout the moshiyan (2015). For an actor what he the end, when his house is raided after shoot, using a stick or crutch and limp- chooses to act in is almost as important Victoria’s death, and her letters to him are ing even when not shooting. And, says as what he or she gives up. This becomes destroyed, he brings the audience on his co-creator Mihir Desai, whenever he was especially tough for actors who want to side and we feel his pain and devastation. free and there was a lull on set, they’d straddle two cultures. Since Victoria and Fazal, for her, was the perfect Abdul to grab a camera and improvise with him, Abdul, which got Dame Judi her fifth Dame Judi’s Victoria. often retaining what they recorded. “He Oscar nomination and Fazal a ringside Back home though it was as Guddu has a lot of nervous energy and is quite view of an Oscar campaign, he has been Pandit in Mirzapur in 2018 that Ali critical of himself,” he adds. up for consideration not merely for Indi- developed a loyal fan base including Much of his social conscience owes an parts but also for colour-blind casting some boys who thought it was cool to its existence toSaeed Akhtar Mirza, an in a Hollywood that do as his character does, early mentor who cast him in Ek Tho has become increas- indulge in golis and Chance (2014) and introduced him to ingly concerned gaalis (guns and abuse). Noam Chomsky. The movie is not par- about diversity. “For a Ali says he is lucky that ticularly memorable but his association long time, though, the We’re here he was championed by with Mirza was. “He was my guru and only Indian names because of our Excel Productions, who one of the coolest men I know. I remem- casting agents knew produced Fukrey and its ber walking into his office and there were Dev Patel and writers, our sequel in 2017, as well was this grand man, who reminded me Frieda Pinto,” says directors, our as Mirzapur. “We actors of Francis Ford Coppola. I give him a lot film writer Aseem technicians. are such prisoners of of credit for my worldview,”Fazal says. Chhabra. Once you start our last Friday,” he says. The boy who wanted to work for the The film itself celebrating With Guddu Pandit United Nations, even interning with was a cozy period and his physicality UNDP in Delhi, has his heart in the right drama but it got him everyone, the which he worked on place, feeling strongly about issues as noticed with Variety product becomes for six months, he fi- varied as the Citizenship Amendment calling him “yummy the king” nally learnt to trust his Act and the #MeToo movement. It handsome”. Shrabani Ali Fazal instincts. “I never did informs his work as well. “It’s not just Basu wrote the book that before,” he says, an actor-driven medium any more. on which Victoria “but GudduBhaiya We’re here because of our writers, our and Abdul was based. was gave me confidence.” directors, our technicians. Once you a 24-year-old clerk from Agra jail who Puneet Krishna, the writer of start celebrating everyone, the product was thrown into a royal wonderland Mirzapur, feels there is a certain inno- becomes the king,” he says. “Sometimes for the pomp and ceremony of Queen cence to him that redeems his character, I still look for directors who can use me, Victoria’s Golden Jubilee. His life took a even though he is obsessed with power help me churn out more. We all come whole new turn when the Queen took a to the detriment of everything else in his with so many stories, don’t we?” shine to him. She says: “Ali Fazal captured life. He remembers Fazal was in London And he will use any platform he can young Abdul’s innocence and sheer while they were rehearsing with the to tell these stories. As director Roshan delight with humour and charm. It is cast but would not let up despite the Abbas says, “the more you challenge him, entirely believable that the lonely and distance, working on his diction on the more he delivers”. But then Fazal is a elderly Queen would want this hand- WhatsApp voice notes. As for the second firm believer that art exists to raise ques- some youth by her side.” Over the 13 season, where he has fewer dialogues, tions, if not social consciousness. “Who years spent with the Queen, his character not only did he insist on no bad language are we if we don’t do that?” he asks. n

64 16 november 2020 Hollywood reporter Noel de Souza

‘Sometimes We Don’t Learn about Things until We’re Ready to Hear Them’

ulianne Moore stars movement. And she always as Gloria Steinem in the says, ‘Remember that we are JAmazon Prime Video movie linked not ranked and we are The Glorias, which deals with stronger together.’ She was the feminist movement’s uniquely able to do that, to not leading figure. be divisive. It’s the nature of her personality, her thoughtfulness. What are your memories of She learned in India too, with Gloria Steinem, and did she talking circles, with women influence you growing up? spending time together. You I was a teenager in the 1970s so have to hear these stories to be my awareness of the women’s able to communicate them to the movement was limited, because world. And Ruth Bader Ginsburg teenagers don’t pay attention said the same thing. She said, to anything [laughs]. But I do ‘When you pursue your activism remember the effort to pass do it in a way that brings others the ERA [The Equal Rights with you.’ So in a time when Amendment]. I had a button, everything feels so divisive it’s my sister had a button and it really important to remember was something that seemed that, that acting out of a place imminent and really important of heat or outrage for me is not and then it didn’t pass. But the always the best place to react person that really made me Julianne Moore from. So I always think with aware of what was happening Gloria and with Ruth, how do I in the world, was my mother learn from them, how do I spend who was somebody who didn’t have and Flo Kennedy and Dolores Huerta that time taking in the information the advantages that I did and pointed and Wilma Mankiller. All that they and acting toward a place of building a out all of the things that had changed had achieved and how much they coalition rather than divisiveness. in my lifetime—birth control was stayed in contact with one another too, available, you could have a credit card so it’s important—sometimes we What advice would you have given in your own name, and that they were don’t learn about things until we’re yourself at 20? going to save for my education. And really ready to hear them. I see that That’s an interesting question. What’s I was going to go to college and they with my kids too. It’s like when interesting is that life is so subjective. were going to pay for it unlike when you learn them and hear them it’s a We’re always like in it when we’re in she grew up, her parents didn’t send wonderful revelation. it and we don’t know what we need. her to college because they didn’t deem We don’t know. We don’t believe it, it important so my mother was the one What makes women such as you know. If someone says to you. person who said to me, ‘You’re living Ruth Bader Ginsburg and ‘O my gosh, you’re so young and you all the advantages that we have gained Gloria Steinem so impactful? have so much time.’ You’re like, ‘I for women.’ It wasn’t until I was older That’s a really interesting question. don’t feel that way.’ That’s one of the that I realised who Gloria Steinem was One thing I realise about Gloria things that’s interesting in the film as and some of these other women who Steinem is that she’s someone who the older Gloria talks to the younger are in the film. But the great joy about is incredibly talented at listening Gloria or the teenage Gloria talks playing this is that I not only learned and at building coalitions. She was to the little Gloria there’s a spark of what they did more specifically, but I able to bring people around her and not recognising what they’re saying learned about Dorothy Pitman Hughes to amplify their voices within the because they’re just not there yet. n

16 november 2020 www.openthemagazine.com 65 NOT PEOPLE LIKE US

RAJEEV MASAND

Dixit Can Fix It platform to voice his opinion on nepotism, the Dabangg star When Madhuri Dixit turned down the role of the rich asked him if indeed he had a problem with every parent who industrialist’s la-di-dah wife in Dil Dhadakne Do opposite helps his or her child. Then Salman asked Jaan if his father Anil Kapoor, it was said she wasn’t especially enthused had recommended him for work, to which the young man about playing mother to grownup stars Ranveer Singh and replied that he had an estranged relationship with Kumar Priyanka Chopra. Fans had lamented at the time that the Sanu since childhood and there was no question of landing powerhouse actress had turned down a solid role. The role any favours on account of his father’s name. went on to become a breakout for Shefali Shah. But anyone who’s watched a recent advertisement in Hot Right Now which Madhuri does a self-parodying ’90s audition will agree Nearly two-and-a-half years after it premiered in the Critics’ that the actress has a sense of humour. And that she isn’t shy Week sidebar of the Cannes Film Festival, writer-director of making a little fun of herself. Turns out she’s taking that Rohena Gera’s heartfelt and understated drama Sir will further in a new show she’s currently shooting. Madhuri will release on Indian shores next week. The makers have said that play an exaggerated version of herself, a now-domesticated the film, starringTillotama Shome and Vivek Gomber, will former diva climbing back on the acting horse after a long open in operating cinemas across the country on November break from the spotlight. The show is being filmed in Nashik 13th, and sources say they have submitted it for consideration and will likely stream on when it’s ready. Little is as India’s official entry to the Oscars. known about it at this point other than the fact that it’s a A thoughtful meditation on love and class, the film tells comedy in which the actress will likely roast the bizarre ways the story of a young woman, played by Tillotama, hired as a of movie stars. Bring it on! domestic help in the home of a young man whose marriage has just been called off. Vivek is excellent The Nepotism Angle as her empathetic, hurting employer who Salman Khan appears to have had enough on admires her courage and drive despite her the subject of nepotism. The actor reportedly own situation and finds himself drawn to her. tore into Bigg Boss contestant and singer Rahul Admirably, Rohena’s lens is never exploitative Vaidya earlier this week after it was revealed that or voyeuristic, thus giving us a deeply the Indian Idol alumnus voted to eliminate Jaan moving story about two people from entirely Kumar from the reality show on the grounds different worlds struggling to make sense of that Rahul hates nepotism. Rahul further their feelings for each other. added that he believed Jaan had been The film is anchored by a stunning, invited to the show only because the quietly devastating performance by latter is the son of famous music artist Tillotama who conveys the character’s Kumar Sanu. vulnerability and her dignity with Rahul’s comments did not amazing grace. Rohena’s deep go down well with the other understanding of people and the housemates who pointed out spaces they inhabit, of society and that it was unfair to make this the chains it often binds us in is an issue on a reality show. But revealed in her mature resolution it was Salman who made it a to the dilemma of its leads. This point to let his displeasure be is one of those films that creeps known. After pulling up the up on you and stays with you. singer for his remarks against Jaan It has, with me, since May 2018 and warning him not to use the show as a when I first saw it.n

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