Missing Right-wing intellectualism

The Pioneer > Online Edition > Call to the Righteous

Right-wing intellectualism has suffered suppression and self-marginalisation for far too long. A Saturday Special focus on the need for new initiatives

Udayan argues that missing Right-wing intellectualism is hurting India. Indeed, it is allowing left-wingers like Sidd Varadarajan to make ridiculous statement that absence of talks with Pakistan is hurting India.

Says Karan Thapar, host of a popular TV talk show: “One wishes there were non-RSS types willing to come out and articulate the conservative position, and so we have only a small pool of ‘known’ talent. But I trust the viewing public is wise enough to know that the views they express is only partisan and not representative of the vast majority of conservative Indians.”

Karan “sudden removal” Thapar’s statement shows the kind of arrogance that has become characteristic of leftist discourse. While the leftists continue to dominate the media, they are getting a good pasting on the internet. A more recent example being Vishnu Som’s hasty retreat from a Twitter discussion. But apart from this buzz from upwardly mobile section of the society, the right-wing has been pushed to insignificance in several areas.

The political right-wing is rudderless, right-wing media is almost absent and right-wing intellectualism has no footprint in mainstream discourse. Such is the dominance of the leftists that they are being condescending and outrightly dismissive of an alternative veiwpoint. This is not good for any democracy, even for one as flawed as ours. I can only hope that a strong counterweight in the right-wing emerges sooner than later.