Almost a month after the blog went daily, the situation was not encouraging. Apparently, the feedback from all of India was, "She could keep writing, interesting posts". It implied that given the services offered by the London-based PR firm to the Indian middle-class since 1987, from mass immigration to foreign university education for the unworthy, few Indians were going to be disloyal to the London-based PR firm.
One had to keep in mind that Indian immigration didn't follow any established socioeconomic definition. It was neither a 'pull' immigration, where the foreign countries where so much better, such green pastures, that you'd want to go and settle there. After India's economic liberalisation in the 1990s, almost every world-class facility was available in India. Plus, India was a welfare State for those with Aadhaar.
Nor was there a 'push' factor for Indian immigration, that situation where the country was so troubled or stricken with famines and civil wars that it was impossible to reside there. These were the Afghanistans, the Syrias, the African countries, where immigration touts operated and where people risked their lives to try and escape.
Indian immigration was thus 'rejection' immigration. Those who had a problem with India, who disliked its various aspects, who wanted an easy superiority over other citizens, who wanted to establish themselves in another country and browbeat the democratic zeal of resident Indians, it was their 'rejection' which was the narrative.
Antara was reminded that it was a good thing she was a champion of democracy. "Somebody who has done a six-month course abroad was superior to all other Indians who hadn't done so, forget those who pursued prolonged higher education in foreign campuses". At some point, the ordinary bloke on the street would have felt that he had better status under some Hindu kingdom or even the Mughal Empire, even a couple of hundred years ago, where there would be iniquity but no harassment and insult from abroad by recent immigrants.
Antara's blog was meant to remind everyone that even in the face of adversity, democracy was still the preferred option.
March 30, 2025.
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