By
Asees Bhasin
In a map of a survey released last year by The Washington Post, India was ranked as one of the most racist countries in the world. Through the course of this article, I have tried inspecting the reasons which many have caused a deep rooted xenophobia in the minds of the Indian populace.
Racism as an ego defence mechanism
After two hundred years of colonial domination and being labelled as barbarians, the Indian identity faced a major setback. The belief that India needed saving from itself and the initiation of an entire ‘civilizing mission’ for the populace reiterated a sense of Indian inferiority time and again. Some regressive Indian cultural practices were questioned at a global level, and many were changed. The attempt to get the Indians to emulate the Western ways of living infuriated the Indians, while making them question their own identity time and again. Post independence, in order to counter the existing mindset, a strong patriotic identity was forged. This identity led to an exaltation of Indian culture and practices, and portrayed these to be superior to British or Western tradition.