A trad conservative

Students of Jamia Millia Islamia University during their protest against former BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, over her controversial remarks against Prophet Mohammad, inside the university campus, in New Delhi on Friday. Pic/PTI

The first time that the trads found mainstream mention was during the arrest of the perpetrators of the Bulli Bai app - Shweta Singh, 18, and Vishal Jha, 21 - who targeted Muslim women by morphing their pictures and arranging for their mock auction online. The duo is said to be the products of a new kind of radical, alt-right digital ecosystem called the trads, short for traditionalists. The trads are known to be unsparing in their goal of "Hindu Rashtra" - so much so that they even troll the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), the official face of Hindutva, for not being aggressive enough in advancing their interests. This division seems to have widened, following the party's decision to suspend national spokesperson Nupur Sharma and expel Delhi unit media head Navin Kumar Jindal over their remarks on Prophet Mohammad. That the decision came in the light of a backlash from the Arab world, including Bahrain, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, made matters worse.

On social media, hate is rampant, and currently, most of it is being directed at the ruling party for bowing before the Middle East. Sharma is being hailed as a hero, and the victim who had to bite the bullet. Trads usually operate on anonymity, with profile pictures of Hindu Gods, religious icons, political leaders or morphed images of their target of aversion. "Trads target anyone who they feel are attacking their religion, or their idea of ‘Akhand Bharat' and the rise of the upper caste," says Aakash Banerjee, founder and host of The Deshbhakt, an online platform for social and political satire. Most of the trads, he says, have always had a problem with the "right-wingers," who they call "raitas" and reject them for being too liberal and soft. "The most concerning aspect about trads is their complete disconnect from reality. They don't care about the state of the youth, or the state of our economy, or the international condemnation that India is facing. They live in the past, and want to avenge what has happened in the recent past, and go back to what they call the Golden Age. Their willingness to go to any lengths to bring down someone who is anti their goals is worrying. It's also very nebulous," says Banerjee, who had researched the trad culture for a segment on his show in January.
But the irony of the backlash this time is that it's not just the trads, who want the government accountable for its actions. Non-trads and BJP allies are discomfited by the Centre's decision.

Jagdish Shetty is the National General Secretary of Virat Hindustan Sangam, a right-wing organisation founded by Subramanian Swamy. Pic/Satej Shinde

While this writer's attempts to reach out to the trads for this article didn't yield results, a Twitter user, who enjoys a huge following among the trad community, agreed to comment, but anonymously: "I am neither Raita nor Lefta [Leftist]; neither liberal nor trad. Most Indians are unable to connect to these social lingos," she said over an email interview. "Both Raitas and Leftas are... partners. Their ideology takes levo and dextro rotation, around the politician in-charge [prefix dextro comes from the Latin word dexter, meaning to the right; and levo comes from the Latin word laevo, meaning to the left]. Both are inter-changeable, just depends on who pays more. Currently, the Hindutva of Raitas is just Modiutva. Leftas have lost their plot," she added.

According to her, "discontentment [among the trads] has been brewing for a while, especially post 2019". She feels that "grassroot workers of RSS-BJP are generally principled people". "We can't blame [the] RSS. They are service-oriented people. The RSS should work towards getting the middle-order to move up, and send them to the BJP."

Aakash Banerjee

Mumbai-based Jagdish Shetty, National General Secretary of Virat Hindustan Sangam - an Indian right-wing cultural organisation founded by veteran politician and Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy - says he isn't aware of the trads. But he says as someone who is active on closed Hindu and BJP groups, he has sensed "a strong sentiment against the leadership". "It feels like they have thrown Nupur Sharma under the bus. There is growing unrest." Swamy himself has been most critical of the development: "During Modi govt's 8 years, Bharat Mata had to hang her head in shame because we crawled before the Chinese on Ladakh, knelt before the Russians, meowed before the Americans in QUAD. But we did shastangam dandawat before the tiny Qatar. That was depravity of our foreign policy," he had tweeted on June 6.

Shetty says that what is most shocking to Hindu groups is that Nupur Sharma was labelled a "fringe element". "Look at what's happening in China. If anyone raises the issue of the threat at the border, the andhbhakts [blind bhakts] attack them, saying all is well. But several meetings with the Chinese counterparts and the border talks with the military, point out that there is a problem."

TR Ramesh, president, Temple Worshippers Society

The BJP, he says, has a mechanism within itself, fuelled by the Sangh Parivar, to make course corrections. "The tallest leader in the BJP between 2004 and 2013 was LK Advani, but he made one statement on Mohammad Ali Jinnah [whom he called a great man], and he was put in his place. His 50 years of contribution to the Jan Sangh and BJP was forgotten."

The Delhi Police this week registered two FIRs - one against Sharma and another against those who have been accused of making "controversial" statements continuously, including Naveen Jindal, Saba Naqvi, Maulana Mufti Nadeem, Gulzar Ansari, and Anil Kumar Meena. Friday saw agitations across Delhi, J&K, Karnataka, West Bengal and UP, by Muslim protesters against Sharma and Jindal, with the police having to resort to lathi charge and tear gas . Was this organic fury or politically motivated by the Opposition, was the question observers were asking. Meanwhile, Sharma found an ally in Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders, who defended her actions.

A non-political organisation like the J&K Peace Forum has also objected to the suspension decision. Satish Mahaldar, its president, says that the countries that registered a protest are not democracies, and are dictating the world's largest democracy on how to conduct itself. "We shouldn't be bowing down against our aggressors," he says, adding, "The fact that the government has had to deploy additional paramilitary forces to ensure an incident-free Amarnath yatra, proves that the Hindus are under threat."

Chennai-based TR Ramesh, president of the Temple Worshippers Society, doesn't, however, agree that the government has taken a soft stand. "In my opinion, the party has taken a very strong and tough step by disassociating itself from the persons concerned [Sharma and Jindal]. This is the best a government in a democratic setup can do. But the government cannot be held responsible for somebody's else opinions and be called upon to explain itself to every Banana republic. I think many didn't expect the Muslim countries to fall like a tonne of bricks on India and lodge their protest," he says.