Raita (Indian Slang)

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About

Raita is an Indian slang term that is used to refer to a Hindu person that does not subscribe to extreme Hindu nationalist ideologies. "Raita" is an Indian yogurt-based side dish, and is referenced in the Indian idiom "raita phailana" or "raita phail gaya," which means "to make a mess of things." In Indian political slang, "raitas" or secular liberal Hindus are distinguished from "trad" Hindus, the latter of which consider sacred Hindu texts to be at odds with secular liberal and democratic values.

Origin

The term "raita" came under media scrutiny after the year 2016.^[1]^[2] However, the word "raita" was used in relation to Indian politics as far back as 2014. Various internet users used the phrase "raita failana / raita phailana" to describe the politics of the Aam Aadmi Party, a localized Delhi party that ran on an anti-corruption policy. One such tweet was posted by Twitter^[3] user @Niteshkhola on October 30th, 2014 (seen below).

The word "raita" or "rayta" also emerged as a phonetic evolution of the phrase "rayta winger," as shown in a July 2019 tweet by Twitter^[4] user @kaushkrahul, where they say, "A typical sanghi is anyday better than a Rayta winger who just only rants from his couch." The tweet gathered nearly 100 likes in over three years (seen below).

Other early references to "raitas" were made by Twitter^[5] user @ShefVaidya on September 10th, 2019 (seen below, left). On September 11th, 2019, Twitter^[6] user @v169u posted a tweet claiming any Hindu that isn't "trad" is "not Hindu enough" (seen below, right).

Spread

On September 29th, 2020, Twitter^[7] user @Slytherintraits posted a tweet about trad/raita Hindu infighting, gathering over 400 likes in over a year (seen below, left). On November 14th, 2020, Twitter^[8] user @narpungav1 posted a tweet using the word "Raita" and gathered over 400 likes in over a year (seen below, right). These tweets indicate the further popularisation of the term,

Various commentators noted the ideological divides that seem to exist between Hindu "trads" and Hindu "raitas," with Twitter^[9] user @rahulroushan posting a tweet on September 2nd, 2021 about Indian actor Naseeruddin Shah being a Muslim "raita," gathering over 2,000 likes in over a year (seen below).

On August 12th, 2022, Twitter^[10] user @zoo_bear posted a tweet about Hindu raita/trad infighting as well, gathering over 10,000 likes in over five months (seen below).