Prominent Conservative Youth leader in the USA, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated while speaking at a campus event in Utah. He passed away after the bullet hit him in the neck at the Utah Valley University in Orem.
While the motivations of the assassination have not yet been confirmed, it’s pretty same to assume that the shooter’s reasons were political. Charlie Kirk was the founder of Turning Point USA and an extremely influential voice in attracting the youth towards the MAGA movement.
Political violence has been escalating in the United States for quite a while now. Kirk’s assassination is only the latest tragic event in the cascading series of violence that has gripped the United States. Worse, not all political factions there are condemning the assassination unequivocally. Significant sections of them are, in fact, celebrating it.
This portends dark times for the future. One hopes that sensible voices will come together to quell the madness. But they haven’t so far. And it is unclear if they even could possibly do something. As King Theoden of Rohan asked once, “What can men do against such reckless hate?”
Charlie Kirk: A Victim of Rising Hatred
There are a lot of influencers in American social media who openly fantasise about violent revolutions. A lot of these characters justify and celebrate political violence. They felt disheartened when Donald Trump suffered an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania but only because the attempt was not successful.
This justification and glorification of violence only encourages individuals with mental health problems to take up arms themselves. These influencers may not commit violence themselves but they lay down the grounds for it. They do not even pretend to hide their glee after attacks at their political opponents. This even brainwashes otherwise normal youth into committing acts of violence, believing they will be hailed as heroes after the act.
The Butterfly Effect
We live in a different world today than we did 20 years ago. Our world is far more interconnected and entwined than it ever has been in human history. Randoms acts of violence halfway around the globe has the potential to unleash chaos in our country. Globalisation and Social Media have brought us all a lot closer. But everything has a downside too.
Nepal GenZ Protesters unleashed destruction on the streets, torched scores of government buildings and lynched politicians on the streets. As the visuals became viral on social media, influencers in Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya started fantasising about a violent revolution there. There were public calls on African social media for their youth to emulate the Nepalese youngsters.
🚨🚨🚨 Influencers in Kenya are calling for Nepal and Bangladesh type anarchy, mob violence and revolution. pic.twitter.com/CWIUV25q1i
— Sensei Kraken Zero (@YearOfTheKraken) September 10, 2025
Nigeria may be thousands of miles away from Nepal but Globalisation and Social Media have made it extremely for social contagions to spread. The Nepali youth themselves were in at least some parts inspired by the events in Indonesia and Bangladesh. We are living in unprecedented times.
Calls for a Violent Revolution in India
There are numerous influencers in India who appear excited for a Nepal-style revolution here too. They were urging the Indian Youth to follow Nepal’s example. Arpit Sharma was the most prominent among them. People on social media gave him a lot of stick for it. But he is not the only one.
There are numerous groups and individuals working actively behind the scenes to realise their dreams of violent retribution. Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam are only the tip of the iceberg. There is an all-encompassing nexus comprising of professors, politicians, civil society and student organisations who are working towards this objective.
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They glorify Naxal Terrorists, they spread Maoist propaganda and endlessly campaign against the Indian State to obstruct the implementation of law and order. Fortunately, their influence among the citizenry is limited so far. But the influencers have a much wider reach. Worse, they pretend to be neutral actors while spreading political propaganda.
Freedom of Speech should be an ideal we cherish. But that ideal must be rationalised against the backdrop of our geopolitical situation and national security realities. We have traveled these roads before unlike Americans. The consequences were devastating.
Charlie Kirk Assassination: India’s History must serve as caution
Two of our Prime Ministers succumbed to political assassinations. Dozens of our Ministers, Chief Ministers and prominent political leaders suffered the same fate. Jammu & Kashmir, Khalistani Separatism, the Naxalite Insurgency and Ethnic Terrorism in the North East, these were political revolutions.
Political assassinations served as the initial sparks for what followed. Indians should be the last people on the planet clamouring for violent revolutions. We have seen time and time again what happens when law and order collapses on the streets. We do not want history to repeat itself.
ALSO READ: Indian Liberal fantasies about ‘Gen Z Protests’ are self destructive
It is for this reason that it is extremely disconcerting to watch Indian influencers fantasise about Nepal style revolutions. Because the results won’t be pretty. We just need to look at our history. The 1980s and 90s bear witness to this fact.
These revolutions begin with political assassinations. The USA is going down a dark road. Only recently, Minnesota House Speak Melisa Hortman passed away due to a politically motivated attack. She was from the Democrat Party. We need to prevent us from traveling the same path. Because, frankly, we are far more likely to do so.
These violent delights do have violent ends. And it’s high time India gets tough on influencers who have orgasmic reactions to every violent revolution around the Earth.
