When objects of desire are in short supply, obtaining them acquires an importance which obliterates all other considerations. Opinion then becomes merely an instrument to optimise the ability to grasp, a means to further individual reach. The essential truth, specially about urban India, is that the cake is small and the claimants many. The race is tough. There is no time for introspection or contemplation or of seeking to strive a balance between what is necessary and what is desirable.
Issues have to be opposed or supported for the tangible gains that they yield at a personal level.
The irony is that for all the compromises that an individual agrees to make, there does not seem to be an end to the sense of insecurity. In the undergrowth of such an unforgiving jungle, there is a need to belong, to co-opt, or to oppose, but never to stand alone. Only two extremes reign, defeat or satiation. There is no scope for the middle ground where a person can stand on his own, unsupported by the scaffolding of one group or another. In such a situation, intellectual integrity becomes subordinate to emotional security.