Someone I went to school with recently sent me a message on WhatsApp about how we should be wary of enemies within our borders. The implication was subtle, hinting at how anyone who doesn’t belong to a particular school of thought or belief must inadvertently have sympathies for countries other than India. I am not sure what kind of response my former classmate expected from me, or why he chose to send me that inane piece of information, because I blocked him seconds after my phone pinged.

Not long after this interaction, a group of men made it a point to denounce a specific community in public, making sure video footage of their communal act was broadcast freely, safe in the knowledge that bigotry is now an acceptable way of life in our dubious new version of India. What they did should have been treated as an insult to us all, because they deliberately maligned everything our country stands for. Instead, we swallowed this insult as if it didn’t matter and chose to go about our business. We did this because if something doesn’t affect us directly, it is easier for us to let someone else deal with the problem. What we have failed to notice, unfortunately, is that there doesn’t really seem to be anyone in the driver’s seat anymore. What appears to be someone else’s problem has already pulled us into its orbit.