Democracy does matter. So do human rights.

The right to not starve, the right to living with dignity, the awareness that one has these rights matters more. https://twitter.com/Nidhi/status/1361240722125426691

Democracy is meaningless when nearly half a billion do not have these rights and lead inequitable lives.

You of course are one of those who sing paeans to democracy but what you really want is the preservation of the plutocracy of which you fancy yourself to be a member.

How do I know you do not care for democracy and human rights?

When people do exercise their votes and their will finds expression in policies, you protest the loudest. You call it majoritarianism.

When the law turns its attention to the crimes of your ilk, you cry the loudest.

You try your darndest to convince the world that investigations of your actions by the law are suppression of human rights and freedom of speech.

When the freedom of speech and freedom to exist of those you don't like is cruelly snatched away, not once do you protest.

You lost your privilege to call yourself a champion of democracy when you didn't utter a word when Kamlesh Tiwari was slain.

Your rants in lit fests and conferences you get invited to because of your extraordinary privilege never find a mention of the likes of Rinku & Kamlesh.

Your lamentations for the loss of a job by a fellow peon of the plutocracy, or for their being suspended on Twitter are energetic and loud and clear.

But if you are pained by the loss of lives of Hindus for expressing their beliefs, we never saw any evidence of it.

China, the nation you decry as the one that denies democratic rights to its people, lifted ~800 million people out of poverty in 2-3 decades.

An average Chinese earns 5 times more than an Indian. He has a better lifestyle, a longer lifespan, and a more dignified existence.

Surely, a fraction of Chinese who would love to express themselves are denied that right. And that is sad.

But nearly a billion Chinese are grateful they get to live as long as their natural lifespan, with dignity & with all the benefits that the modern world has to offer.

I would happily vote for a billion to get a chance to live a normal, decent life even if it comes at the cost of some not being able to express political thoughts, or not being able to participate in protests.

And remember, it's only *some* who are eager to protest.

Meanwhile, India remains a nation with the highest number of poor people in the world. Millions die before their time due to the lack of proper livelihoods. They hardly ever protest. They are not even aware of the modalities of protests. They do not know how to.

The void left by their silence is filled by the cacophony of protests, from you, your cronies, your masters, the echoes from the network of your foreign media friends, and countless idiots who you successfully brainwashed.

India remains poor because you "elites" continue to put roadblocks on the path of the policies that can give them the right to live decent lives.

All because you do not want to let go of the bigger slice of the pie you always had the first dibs on when your dynastic masters straddled all the power centers.

So, let us give our people the right to life. The strength to stand on their own feet. And then we can worry about their right to be able to protest.

The right of millions to survive and lead dignified lives trumps the rights of the few who wish to protest about not getting more than their fair share.

In other words, your kind have what Arendt describes as “the cynical or bored indifference in the face of death or other personal catastrophes & passionate inclination toward the most abstract notions as guides for life & general contempt for most obvious rules of common sense”