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Not an argumentative Indian
Updated On: 23 February, 2020 07:09 AM IST | Mumbai | Jane Borges
It was Gandhi who first advocated boycott as a means of resistance. Decades on, his weapon of dissent continues to find support, whether it's through being selective on social media or which airline not to fly
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Illustration/ Uday Mohite
For Nathan D'Souza, dissent began with a ban. The advertising and marketing professional was working in the UAE in 2015, when he learnt that back home in Mumbai, there had been a stop on the sale of beef. Being denied something, meant wanting to do more of it. And that's how beef made its way into his biryani, although he preferred the mutton-variant more. D'Souza (name changed), doesn't remember when dissenting turned him into a serial boycotter of what he didn't approve of, from Sonu Nigam songs because the singer had voiced his opposition to the the azaan and to Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar for his relentless support to the establishment. He also recently decided not to fly IndiGo airlines after it banned standup comic Kunal Kamra from availing its services after he confronted a television channel editor for his unflinching support to the government, on board. "People talk about being environmentally and socially conscious. So, why not be politically-conscious? It means going beyond supporting a particular party and/or ideology—it's about doing what we believe is the right thing," he says.
It was with Mahatma Gandhi's Swadeshi Movement in 1918 that "boycotting" became a weapon of dissent and freedom. It continues to represent the same values today, but the battles being fought are very different. In a country where everyone considers their opinion sacred, and any kind of argument or engagement on an issue, is most likely to turn ugly, many Indians are now turning to this Gandhian tool to mark their protest. It's a silent one, and relies solely on the belief that a single person alone, can change the world.
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