Pune: Where matters of the heart go, people are tweaking the digital dating scene this poll season. Young singles are adding an unexpected filter to their search for love and compatibility—political ideology. Traditional markers like shared interests, physical attraction, or career ambitions are taking a backseat.
Now, it is about political alignment, with user profiles displaying ‘leftist', ‘rightist', ‘liberal', and ‘apolitical' as non-negotiable criteria for potential matches. For many, the other person's political stance tells them about the person's core values, worldview, lifestyle and even how they approach important life decisions. The stakes are particularly high when it comes to fundamental issues.
Disha Choudhury, a 24-year-old IIT graduate who put ‘leftist' in her bio, matched with someone who put ‘right wing' in theirs. She said, "We met and talked about films, music, web series and food. It was a fun date.
But over the next few meetings, I noticed snide regressive remarks about feminism, caste-based reservations and homosexuality, which made me decide to put an end to this romantic pursuit. Since then, I have made it a point to swipe right only on people whose ideologies match mine." Krittika Bhatta, a 24-year-old freelance writer, said politics is just not about opinion.
"It is a window to who you are, the culture you are raised in, and how you engage with the world. Everything is political." The notion of being 'apolitical', once considered a har.
