On Modi, Part I
Many of you have asked me to speak out about what’s going on in India. Here’s the thing…
Many of you have asked me to speak out about what’s going on in India. Here’s the thing…
“Rajiv Satyal performing at the SAP Center in San Jose, Los Angeles.” (That’s literally the caption. I had no idea LA was a state. At least Americans aren’t the only ones who don’t know world geography.)
In 2012, fellow comedian Azhar Usman & I took our Hindu-Muslim comedy show, Make Chai Not War, to 7 cities in India, courtesy of the U.S. Department of State. We brought another fellow comedian, Hari Kondabolu, along for the ride.
At the outset, we worried about whether either government would censor us. Right before our first show, in Chennai, a number of government officials led us into a back area and sat us down. “Uh-oh, here it comes.” Their only warning, though? Indians are a bit sensitive about Americans’ telling them how to live, as in, “You should think this” or “You should believe that.”
We walked out relieved. “That was it? Of course Indians are sensitive about that.”
Indians lived under British rule for hundreds of years.
America is the new Empire.
Oh, and btw, my guess is nobody in any country likes foreigners’ coming in, telling them what to do. That’s like when people say, “Latino men are jealous.” Wait. As opposed to Indian men? We’re not exactly saying, “Yeah, bro. Here’s my wife. Have at it.”
(As if that’s up to only the men, anyway.)
So, besides that minor note with which we all agreed, we were given free reign to say anything we wanted. Ah, 2012. A quainter, simpler time.
As the Arabian proverb goes, “Me against my brother, my brother and I against my cousin, and all of us against the stranger.” So it is with me: I can criticize the United States all day long, but I tighten up when foreigners do it. And so, since I wasn’t born in India, I don’t live in India, and I don’t vote in India, why should Indians care what I think?
“Don’t you ever talk about my friends! You don’t know any of my friends. You don’t look at any of my friends. And you certainly wouldn’t condescend to speak to any of my friends. So you just stick to the things that you know: shopping, nail polish, your father’s BMW, and your poor, rich, drunk mother in the Caribbean.”
— The Breakfast Club
I made this argument, to which a friend said: “Yes, but people do care what you think. You have a platform and people listen to you.”
As happy as this made my ego and as (partially) true as that may be, here is the real problem:
I don’t know where to get unbiased information about what’s really going on now or what went on historically. Yes, I can call things out and say, “wrong is wrong” or “two wrongs don’t make a right” or even quote Gandhi and say, “an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” But it lacks context.
I was in Bombay the day of the Ayodhya Verdict in September 2019. The Western media reported there were widespread protests, and since I was out in the city that night, I could see with my own eyes that wasn’t true.
In my latest solo show about politics, The Man in The Middle, I suggest Americans should read British news to get the really-really: The Economist, The Guardian, and BBC News. Is that how I should learn about India? England? How’s that for irony?
Y’all may know I regularly speak at Hindu American Foundation events; I am a proud Hindu. That said, I am also a proud American. Railing against Trump probably isn’t good for business, but I do it, anyway, because in my ongoing internal battle of businessman vs. artist, the artist almost always wins. I am compelled to say something, so I do. So don’t think for a moment that the reason I won’t come out against Modi has anything to do with money. It’s a lack of knowledge. Not information — there’s plenty of that. Knowledge. Unbiased information.
A Note about Comedians: Anyone who laughs at your jokes has a good sense of humor.
And y’all may recall I opened for the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in September 2015. But this is before I knew anything much about his politics at all. I’m just a comic who took a gig in front of 17,000 people.
“Don’t Blame Me. I Didn’t Do It.” — Krusty the Clown.
My tone was just slightly different in January 2018 at the U.S. Consulate in Bombay when I called Modi and our President, Donald J. Trump, “fascists.”
It was pretty funny. The day before, I was booked at an all-girls school in New Delhi and my American contacts told me I could go nuts about how I felt. Afterwards, they said, “You can go in a little more.” After the Bombay event, even though the crowd ate it up, they were a little more quiet. After all, I made it into the paper for my comments.
Hey, all publicity is good publicity.
And yet, no news is good news.
How do we reconcile this contradiction?
Anyway, you can read that article. To further illustrate my point, the title isn’t even accurate: I never said Indians can’t take jokes. Right there is a case in point about how I can’t trust the media even when I myself am the story!
After the British divided India into three parts, my Dad, then just a kid, had to walk the Line of Partition from what had just become Pakistan into the new India. Both of my grandfathers fought in the Indian Army in World War II (for the Allies, FYI). Being from a military family, I have a hard time getting the straight dope even from those closest to me.
So, the question remains:
How do I educate myself enough to speak out on such a sensitive topic?
After all, there are things that are racist and false. But there are things that are racist and true. That’s what makes us squirm. So, let’s ask the uncomfortable questions:
Whether or not you believe them, what are the reasons to support Modi? What are the reasons to oppose him?
I am not somebody who believes everybody is lying and everybody is corrupt and everybody has an agenda. Many are and many do, but if I submit to that, then I submit to authoritarianism.
Which sources do I consult? And how do you know whatever you may post in the comments is really true?
As the American proverb goes…
“That is a Iucid, inteIIigent, weII-thought-out objection.”
“Thank you, Your Honor.”
“OverruIed.”
— My Cousin Vinny
That’s not a proverb. But it is a movie quote. And I love those.
#TheManInTheMiddle
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Rajiv Satyal is a comedian. He resides in California, Los Angeles.