Whataboutery in India

Whataboutery is a logical fallacy that has gained prominence in Indian political discourse in 21st century especially post the ascend of Narendra Modi Government in 2014. It is an argumentative strategy that was widely deployed by right wing spin-doctors and supporters of Bharatiya Janata Party predominantly on social media platforms and visual media. It is a way of discrediting the opposing arguments or voices by charging them with hypocrisy instead of refuting or disproving their argument. This is used by supporters of other political parties and rhetoricians too in India. This is considered as a process that can infantilize the political language and thereby create serious impairment to the democratic ethos of India.
The term became very popular during the award wapsi row that emerged in 2015.
Instances
In last couple of years there were multiple attempts of whataboutery in India. The following are the ones hat gained wide media attention.
* During the 2015 award wapsi row, when artists were raising questions about rising intolerance in India, the same was confronted by discrediting the arguments using Kasmiri Pandit exodus.
* In March 2018, when a debate came up following the bulldozing of statues of Vladimir Lenin in Belonia, Tripura. There were attempts of whataboutery in social media by using a fake news. A video of demolition of Rajiv Gandhi statue in Andhra Pradesh during Samaikyandhra Movement protests were portrayed as demolition of Rajiv Gandhi<nowiki/>in Tripura by and used in whataboutery.
* There were rampant whataboutery following 2020 Delhi riots. Instead of commenting on the failure of law and order during riots and hate speech that instigated riots, there were attempts by ruling front to attack opposition party, Indian National Congress using 1984 anti-Sikh riots and absence of Sonia Gandhi from state dinner with Donald Trump.
* During the debate that arose post nomination of ex-Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi's nomination to Rajya Sabha as Member of parliament, Rajya Sabha<nowiki/>in March 2020 within four months of retiring from office, there were multiple instances of rebutting the concerns of judicial independence raised by citing examples of Ranganath Misra and Mohammad Hidayatullah who accepted sinecures six and nine years after their retirement.

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