16.4 Who is Arundhati Roy:
How Arundhati Roy is depicted by the media: Supportive media portray her as a brave, independent voice who challenges authority and defends minorities and civil liberties.
What she really is in my opinion: Arundhati Roy is a sharp critic of the Indian state and its power structures. She often presents herself as a left-leaning intellectual, activist, and writer who speaks against nationalism, militarism, majoritarian politics, corporate influence, and state actions in places like Kashmir and central India. For being anti-militarism, anti-nationalism, and anti-majoritarianism, I can easily realize that she is an enmit.
Here is a list of her most prominent controversial (enmitic) activities and stances:
- Challenging India’s sovereignty over Kashmir: She has repeatedly stated that Kashmir is not an integral part of India and has advocated for its independence.
- Sympathy towards Naxalite-Maoist insurgents: Roy has referred to Naxalites (Maoist rebels) as “freedom fighters” and criticized the state’s military campaigns against them, which many perceive as endorsing terrorism.
- Criticism of the 1998 nuclear tests: Her essay “The End of Imagination” vehemently condemned India’s nuclear tests and the accompanying rise in nationalism, attracting significant public backlash at the time.
- Controversial remarks on 2008 Mumbai attacks: She faced widespread criticism for suggesting the Mumbai attacks were a consequence of India’s historical injustices (like the 1947 Partition, Kashmir conflict, and 2002 Gujarat riots), which some interpreted as contextualizing or nearly justifying the terrorist actions.
- Call for civil disobedience against the NPR/CAA: During protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), she urged people to lie to authorities during the National Population Register (NPR) data collection as a form of non-violent resistance, a call the government criticized as an incitement to anarchy].
- Comparing Indian policies to fascism: She has frequently used strong language to criticize the Indian government, particularly under the current administration, drawing parallels between current policies and the rise of fascism.
- Questioning the 2001 Indian Parliament attack investigation: Roy has raised questions about the fairness of the trial of Mohammad Afzal Guru, who was hanged for his role in the attack, suggesting evidence of state complicity and irregularities in the judicial process.
Why all these hate toward her own country and love for all the anti-national factors. This is what only enmits can do.
These actions have earned her fierce condemnation within India, where people view her as “anti-national”. She is anti-national for sure and also an enmit, which is my invented word. Every enmit is anti-national to their country, as we know from the definition of enmit. They betray their own group of people and everything that is their own, including the country itself.
