Politics has always been a noisy guest. But somewhere along the way, it stopped leaving. It has moved into living rooms, sat down at dinner tables. Therapists are now saying what many have sensed. The influence of political conversations is breaking up marriages at a rate seldom witnessed in the past. Given that this is the elections season in India, the question is even more pertinent.
People who once disagreed over politics are now filing for divorce over it. There is reportedly low threshold for disagreement.
Couples who built a life built together are questioning whether they ever knew each other at all. All over political disagreements, claims a media report.
It is not just marriages. Entire families are being cut off. Adult children are walking away from parents. Grandchildren are being kept away from grandparents. All because someone said something at the dinner table that the other side could not let go of.
The nature of disagreement itself has changed. Holding a different political opinion was once considered just that, a different opinion. Today, it is treated as a character flaw. What was once seen as a misguided stance is now seen as proof of a fundamentally flawed person.
Furthermore, the person across the table is no longer misguided, rather they become the enemy. And once that label is applied, cutting them out feels not just reasonable but necessary.
They now view those who disagree with them as blindly following a crowd in a cult-like manner.
Couples in crisis often fail to see how much still works in their relationship. The political fights are loud and bitter, but they drown out everything else. Shared parenting, mutual respect, years lived together.
The solution? Therapists believe finding the overlap, however small, is the key. Stop trying to convert the other person. Learn to disagree without making it a referendum on someone’s character. And if a conversation is going nowhere (as political conversations often do) simply do not have it.
Experts point to another huge mistake — couples acknowledge what works in their marriage but still take it for granted.
Also Read: When Love Turns Sour in Gujarat, ‘Love Jihad’ Is Never Far Behind https://www.vibesofindia.com/when-love-turns-sour-in-gujarat-love-jihad-is-never-far-behind/
