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INDTHINGS
INDTHINGS
4 years ago

New feature from The Guardian on the Hindu-right and persecution of Muslims in India. Very disturbing stuff at 11:55, outright calls for genocide.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2019/may/24/the-hour-of-lynching-vigilante-violence-against-muslims-in-india-video

Parallel Universe
Parallel Universe
4 years ago
Reply to  INDTHINGS

Topic is tragic but really, such beautiful movie-making! No editorializing, pure experience.

His daughter esp. cuts such tragic yet almost regal figure.

When that BJP MLA was justifying cow-lynchings, was almost point-by-point what a Swarajya article had listed.

That guy who was so aggrieved anybody could take their cow-lynching Muslims negatively would have belonged on US late night comedy, except this is truth (not truthiness). And the movie makers may benefit from reading BP comment threads- to know these lynchings are the result of last-resort economic compulsions, and not what they actually found.

That line the doc ended on- “Modi was re-elected on May 23, 2019” especially fitting.

sbarrkum
4 years ago

Anyone know about what is happening in Bangaladesh and jihad.

————————————–
Momena Shoma arrived in Melbourne on Feb. 1, 2018, to study linguistics on an excellence scholarship at La Trobe University. Describing herself as “an introvert and very shy in nature,” she spoke of an ambition to become a university instructor. Coming from an affluent and secular Dhaka family which considered her “brilliant,” Momena had been an ‘A’ student at some of the Dhaka’s elite English-language educational institutions such as Loreto School, Mastermind School, and North South University (NSU).

Before getting admitted with NSU, she never put on burqa or hijab and was living a regular life as any of the members of an elite family would do. But, the atmosphere at NSU had turned her into a jihadist. She immediately started wearing hijab and then burqa thus giving her soul the scope of turning into a monster.

Soon after arriving in Australia, Momena Shoma started looking for her targets. To the police, she calmly elaborated that she had come to Australia not to study but to kill “in the name of God.” She expected that a knife stab to the neck “would be fatal.”

https://www.weeklyblitz.net/news/story-of-isis-affiliated-bangladeshi-jihadist-sisters/
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/militancy-outfit-jmb-establishes-a-footprint-in-india/

H.M. Brough
H.M. Brough
4 years ago
Reply to  Dravidarya

Good article by Sadhguru…Indian elections seem even more vicious than ours.

Prats
Prats
4 years ago

Can the knowledgeable folks here provide me names of some prominent Indian researchers working in the field of ancient DNA?

Are any of them based out of Hyderabad?

This will be really helpful. Thanks a lot!

Prats
Prats
4 years ago
Reply to  Prabh

Lol. Whoever runs that page has some serious issues to get over.

Prabh
Prabh
4 years ago
Reply to  Prats

Hell yes! Issue is archaic word for child. 1.3 billion apefaces.
rofl

H.M. Brough
H.M. Brough
4 years ago
Reply to  Prabh

The Alt Right reaches new lows…

Prabh
Prabh
4 years ago
Reply to  H.M. Brough

caste plus islam is fugly

Scythian pride in all realms and dimensions.

Maximum possible Beauty for Maximum Pleasure.

for the sake of undeniable self-evident biological Aristocratic Superiority and yes, supremacy.

Death to kakistocratic kleptocratic fiat money dysgenic plutocracy.

Free JaggiJohal

Prabh
Prabh
4 years ago
Reply to  Prabh

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Yt8JdxiT0e0

this is not alt right or any political categorization

Truth alone is truth. Don’t dare conceal atrocities in fancy language.

india was murdered June 1947
1984 was the beating of a dead horse,

America was never given a fair shot at attaining Greatness.

what is being created now has nothing to do with your genetic fraud swindle

Our band of brothers whom we recognize at sight will demolish all kakistocratic criminals.

Your karma kaljewg yoga fleecing days r finished.

We worship Truth. Greatness is fruit of Truth.

Scythian Pride Worldwide.

Misplaced loyalty such as feeding enemies is over. lol

Brute force will be matched with superior brute force, I’ve never lost a fight. And I never will. don’t say u weren’t warned.

Prabh

Dravidarya
Dravidarya
4 years ago
Reply to  Prabh

The site will pack bags if the mallu trolls from South india finds it. Mallu trolls are one of the most potent I have seen.

H. M. Brough
H. M. Brough
4 years ago

Amit Shah as MHA…are they grooming him to be the PM after Modi?

Saurav
Saurav
4 years ago
Reply to  H. M. Brough

He comes from the wrong caste and isn’t charismatic ( enough ) to be PM. Being the organizer and the Being the face are two different things , which advani found out much to his peril in 2009

H.M. Brough
H.M. Brough
4 years ago
Reply to  Saurav

I don’t really know about caste, but aren’t Shahs Baniya? I didn’t know that was electorally deleterious…

I’ve also heard people poo-poo Fadnavis (Marathi Brahmin) as a successor on the grounds that

1) He is a Brahmin (so much for Brahminical Patriarchy hahaha)
2) He is distinctly Marathi in his mannerisms and disposition and would thus be unable to galvanize the Hindi Belt (this makes no sense to me.)

Numinous
Numinous
4 years ago
Reply to  H.M. Brough

He is distinctly Marathi in his mannerisms and disposition

Marathis are Dravidians who speak an Aryan language 🙂

(So are Goans and Sinhalese for that matter.)

Saurav
Saurav
4 years ago
Reply to  H.M. Brough

The BJP has just shrugged the image of being an upper caste party. If they move back to upper castes that quickly , it would alienate the OBCs back to their older caste/regional groups. Thats the reason someone like Gadkari / Rajnath couldnt’ become the PM’s face. Without the OBCs you can forget winning anyway. In Modi at least you have someone who can challenge and go toe to toe with OBC parties because he is from the same caste.

Fadnavis elevation has nothing to do with him being a brahmin. I would add that him being a brahmin might have gone against him while considering CMship in MH. That does not take away from the fact he has acquitted himself well though. The MH state election was won by Modi last time and because their main OBC leader Munde died in a car accident , they had no time to get another leader of same stature and went with Fadnavis as being the leader of Vidarbha (which is agitating for separate state-hood), something akin to making the naughtiest boy in the class the class monitor. Also BJP got a lot of non-maratha support which made making a non maratha leader the CM easier.

H.M. Brough
H.M. Brough
4 years ago
Reply to  Saurav

Makes sense. We don’t want BJP to go back to being the Brahmin-Baniya Party…that kind of party is moribund, while the current BJP is on track to making history.

Numinous
Numinous
4 years ago

Trump’s decided to expand his trade war (or buccaneering) to India now: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/foreign-trade/donald-trump-terminates-preferential-trade-status-for-india-under-gsp/articleshow/69606703.cms

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: though I much prefer the US as a role model for what India ought to be (internally), there isn’t much of an incentive for us to build any kind of strategic partnership with a country halfway around the world at the cost of increasing antagonism with our nearer neighbors.

The need for a grand rapproachment on borders and other issues with China grows by leaps and bounds. We should openly buy oil from Iran and arms from Russia.

US involvement in Asia serves no purpose for anyone anymore, Asians or Americans (who want their troops to return home and their foreign investments ended anyway.)

Sumit
Sumit
4 years ago
Reply to  Numinous

I also dont understand India’s love for Israel. What strategic value does that bring to India?

Why antagonize all the other MENA countries?

H.M. Brough
H.M. Brough
4 years ago
Reply to  Sumit

It doesn’t antagonize “all the other” countries…KSA and UAE are Israel’s friends, and that’s who Modi is trying to align India towards.

Given the recent downturn in our relations with Iran, he appears to be succeeding.

Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
4 years ago
Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
4 years ago

https://twitter.com/AmmarRashidT?lang=en

“Pakistan, a completely normal country where the military just shot dead 13 unarmed civilian protestors, arrested 2 parliamentarians & imposed a curfew on tens of thousands while government ministers blame the victims & the Prime Minister pretends as if nothing has happened.”

H.M. Brough
H.M. Brough
4 years ago

Dude you need to get off Brownpundits and get on Zyprexa.

Siva
Siva
4 years ago

Hi Razib I have a genetics question which i would appreciate you input please.

In this study covering Sri Lankan and Malay populations, the Sinhalese are shown to be closer on the phylogenetic tree to West Bengal upper castes (IN-EL – probably brahmins):

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1181aSbkC6uoqoJA87aSEBbEADeuVcx0z/view?usp=sharing

But the bar chart in the same study for the Sinhalese appears slightly closer to Tamils than West Bengal upper castes:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TQkWCBTcaulf_1ydYtPNDYw6pZVWVYSm/view?usp=sharing

Why the contradiction?

The full study:
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep14375

Thanks

Prabh
Prabh
4 years ago

I redouble efforts to attain a state of absolute perfect equality 4all
Beings plus Prakriti.
PremRasPyar
Why? that is my secret.

Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
4 years ago

Uncovering Pakistan’s secret human rights abuses
By M Ilyas Khan BBC News, Dera Ismail Khan

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-48139648

“”It has taken us almost 15 years of suffering and humiliation to gather courage to speak up, and to spread awareness about how the military trampled our constitutional rights through both direct action and a policy of support for the militants,” said Manzoor Pashteen, the top leader of the PTM.”

“But the group is under pressure. The PTM says 13 of its activists were killed on 26 May when the army opened fire on a large group of protesters in North Waziristan. “

Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
4 years ago

A hard hitting article in the Guardian. It is rather long, so important paragraphs have been quoted.

Pakistan’s secret dirty war

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/29/balochistan-pakistans-secret-dirty-war

“This gruesome parade of corpses has been surfacing in Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province, since last July. Several human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have accounted for more than 100 bodies – lawyers, students, taxi drivers, farm workers. Most have been tortured. The last three were discovered on Sunday.”

“Activists have little doubt who is behind the atrocities. Human Rights Watch says “indisputable” evidence points to the hand of the FC, the ISI and its sister agency, Military Intelligence. A local group, Voice for Missing Persons, says the body count has surpassed 110. “This is becoming a state of terror,” says its chairman, Naseerullah Baloch.”

“The other conflict is unfolding south of Quetta, in a vast sweep that stretches from the Quetta suburbs to the Arabian Sea, in the ethnic Baloch and Brahui area, whose people have always been reluctant Pakistanis. The first Baloch revolt erupted in 1948, barely six months after Pakistan was born; this is the fifth. The rebels are splintered into several factions, the largest of which is the Balochistan Liberation Army.”

“Balochistan’s dirty little war pales beside Pakistan’s larger problems – the Taliban, al-Qaida, political upheaval. But it highlights a very fundamental danger – the ability of Pakistanis to live together in a country that, under its Islamic cloak, is a patchwork of ethnicities and cultures.”

Dravidarya
Dravidarya
4 years ago

Significance of haplogroup R1a? Can it be called the Aryan gene? Someone like razib, a subject matter expert should be able to answer this?

Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
4 years ago

“Significance of haplogroup R1a? Can it be called the Aryan gene?”

Waiting for the new Niraj Rai paper to come out. In the mean time:

http://t-o-i-h.blogspot.com/?m=1

H.M. Brough
H.M. Brough
4 years ago

I must say, the best part (yet) about the BJP’s landslide has been Arundhati Roy’s complaining (in New Republic this time…no I won’t link to it, would rather not give her more traffic than necessary.)

She sounds so angry and delusional, unwilling to challenge dogmas she has held since literally before I was born…it’s so entertaining to hear it. Having enemies like her certainly makes our work easier.

.गर्व से कहो हम हिन्दू है!

Kabir
4 years ago
Reply to  H.M. Brough

She makes eminent sense.

It’s always amusing how random people on the internet think they know more than Arundhati Roy, someone who has a record of writing and thinking about these issues for decades.

It can be painful to have someone hold up a mirror to the ills of your society, but your attempts to discredit her are laughable.

Numinous
Numinous
4 years ago
Reply to  Kabir

It’s always amusing how random people on the internet think they know more than Arundhati Roy

Well, a number of us live and participate in the same society that Roy does, and if our observations and analysis contradict hers, we’d like to be given a modicum of respect too.

How do you know anything about India? How do you know that Roy is right and a random commenter wrong? I don’t believe you have ever been to India. You get news about that country from media filtered for a Western audience. And you have a strong bias yourself because of your background.

It can be painful to have someone hold up a mirror to the ills of your society

That is indeed true, but one can challenge that reflection based on facts or on emotion. How would you be able to distinguish one from the other? I have often praised and echoed VS Naipaul about his portrayal of India and Indians (the parts where he is hard on Hindus, not Muslims, mind you), and he was trying to hold up a mirror for us too. Many of us believe Roy’s mirror is highly defective compared to Naipaul’s.

Kabir
4 years ago
Reply to  Numinous

When you have a record comparable to Arundhati Roy’s than feel free to compare yourself to her. I am not questioning Naipaul’s status only that of random BP commenters. Roy has been writing about these issues longer then the commenter I was responding to has even been alive (as he himself stated).

I have actually been to India. I visted Delhi and Agra a number of years ago. I have family that lives in Agra. I would love to go again, but since visas are not being given to anyone of Pak origin even if they have foreign nationality, that is an impossibility. In any case, The Wire and Scroll. in are not “geared towards a Western audience” but written for Indians themselves.

It’s easy to discredit people whose views are unpalatable to us because of their “backgrounds” or call them “leftists” or whatever. Far harder than to actually engage with the substance of their views (rather than calling them “complaining”).

For what it is worth, I am among those Pakistanis who have always believed Indian secularism to be something that Pakistan should aspire to. That is why it is so disheartening to witness the success of Hindutva.

Numinous
Numinous
4 years ago
Reply to  Kabir

Roy has been writing about these issues longer then the commenter I was responding to

Length does not equate to quality or accuracy. There are others who have as long or longer records of writing about Indian society and politics as Roy, with quite different opinions from hers. But if you want to pick just her and choose to see India through her eyes, be my guest.

Roy has not been coy about her political goals; that of bringing about a kind of communist (Maoist) revolution in India. Her reporting has often been colored by her agenda, which is why I prefer not to take everything she says at face value. (FWIW, we need reporters at the far end of the ideological spectrum like her to keep our own biases in check, and I think she does a service by calling out where our state goes wrong, whether in Naxalite areas or in Kashmir. But I can never support a communist revolution, and consider anyone with those views as seriously misguided.)

I would love to go again, but since visas are not being given to anyone of Pak origin even if they have foreign nationality

Not exactly true. The process takes a few months, but people do end up getting a visa eventually. You still unfortunately have a rather short window within which to make arrangements for your trip. (I am reporting what a friend went through recently. But they were visiting with their Indian spouses. If you don’t have any relatives here, it may be as tough or impossible as you state.)

Kabir
4 years ago
Reply to  Kabir

One doesn’t have to agree with everything Arundhati Roy says but to attempt to discredit her when none of you have any record even comparable to hers is ridiculous. One doesn’t have to be a communist to see the dangers of majoritarianism.

On the visa thing, my brother was told by the Indian Consulate in New York that in order to apply for a visa, he had to renounce his Pakistani nationality. This despite the fact that he is an American citizen and was going to apply on his US passport. You can understand that is basically a way of saying “don’t even bother to apply”.

Numinous
Numinous
4 years ago
Reply to  Kabir

Kabir,

The person I mentioned got their visa despite having Pakistani citizenship and a GC (or they may have just obtained US citizenship.) My understanding was that their visa process took ages to complete because they still retained Pakistani citizenship, and that if they renounced that, it would be a lot faster. But I suspect their having an Indian spouse was a supporting factor your brother didn’t possess.

Kabir
4 years ago
Reply to  Kabir

Asking people to renounce Pakistani citizenship is basically a roundabout way of telling them not to apply. You can understand that there are reasons why people cannot give up their nationality. The same visa policies should apply to all US citizens. It is completely fine to not give a visa but this kind of double standard is unacceptable.

Anyway, the relationship is not going to get any better for the next five years at least.

Numinous
Numinous
4 years ago
Reply to  Kabir

Kabir,

You can understand that there are reasons why people cannot give up their nationality.

I’m not in favor of dual citizenship. Many countries don’t permit it. India doesn’t. Pakistan and the US do. IMO, if you can’t give up your current nationality, you have no business obtaining another one. Otherwise, you are treating a country as a colony, hedging your bets and hoping you can decamp whenever times get bad.

As for visa discrimination, every country does that. The US is very hard-assed when it comes to granting visas to Indians, for example (the rejection rate is quite high.) And there was the recent “Muslim Ban.” The Indian state in all its wisdom has decided that a typical Pakistani visitor is likely to have nefarious designs in India, and therefore makes applicants jumps through all sorts of hoops.

And as I mentioned earlier (speaking from recent personal experience), there is no blanket rejection of Pakistani applicants. Even when tensions are high (like after terrorist strikes), the bureaucracy just delays the process rather than rejecting an application outright.

Kabir
4 years ago
Reply to  Kabir

Asking someone who does not even possess a Pakistani passport and has not has had one for years to officially renounce Pakistani citizenship before even being allowed to apply for an Indian visa (which there is no guarantee of getting) is ridiculous. Such policies are just a way of letting people of Pak origin know that they are not welcome.

Saurav
Saurav
4 years ago
Reply to  Kabir

Most of the visa changes and all has happened post 2009 Mumbai attacks where David Headley who happened to have dual citizenship (Pakistan/America) used his white -ness and american passport to recky potential attack targets.

After than Indian Govt has become suspicious of anyone who is remotely connected to Pakistan and wont give them visa. It wasn’t like that before that.

Kabir
4 years ago
Reply to  Kabir

Saurav,

Yes, I am aware that the visa changes happened because of David Headley. It’s still very unfortunate that normal people are treated as terrorists. If India doesn’t want to give any visas to people of Pak origin, they should just say so instead of coming up with these stupid things like ” renounce your nationality first”.

Saurav
Saurav
4 years ago
Reply to  Kabir

I think what happened in that case is perhaps a extreme one. I have heard about Pak folks increasing not getting visa and all, but still there are folks who get visas . Especially ones who had been making trips long before the events of Mumbai, or have immediate family in India. Sometimes its the bureaucracy which tends to be conservative since its their ass on the line if anyhting goes sideways. Its not a blanket ban

Parallel Universe
Parallel Universe
4 years ago
Reply to  Numinous

@Numinous:
Sorry but the kind of BS you are writing about both A Roy and Naipaul is hilarious. I was born and lived in India a significant portion of my adult life and 95% agree with A Roy, and also >70% with Naipaul -where Naipaul goes wrong is his extrapolations and diagnoses of root causes. Unsurprising, because unlike A Roy, he has only been a tourist to India who had spent a few tens of days there in his entire life. Don’t agree with Kabir about everything esp. Kashmir but surprising how accurate he is here, for someone who has never been Indian, about the pathology folks like you represent.

And btw can you link me to where A Roy talks about “bringing about a kind of communist (Maoist) revolution in India”? If you mean the “Walking with the comrades” piece, then it seems you have either not even read it or just indulging the usual Sanghi exaggeration. You are probably not even aware that Roy started her “public” life with a highly visible snafu with CPM and Left sympathizers (like N Ram) regarding “denigrating” EMS Namboodiripad in GOST.

I am very happy we have someone like Arundhati, who will continue to speak truth to power, even if the present-day radicalized Hindu middle class does not have her attention. It takes tremendous courage to walk away from being a middle-class hero and literally on every magazine cover just for the sake of your deeply held convictions. Sadly, today’s radicalized Hindu middle class does not deserve her, but as with these things, PhDs will be written in the future why charlatans and criminals like Modi and Shah were hero-worshipped when folks like Arundhati were mocked.

We can disagree with what they represent but will end with agreement- today’s India and its middle classes truly deserve Modi-Shah.

Saurav
Saurav
4 years ago

“You are probably not even aware that Roy started her “public” life with a highly visible snafu with CPM and Left sympathizers (like N Ram) regarding “denigrating” EMS Namboodiripad in GOST.”

Dravidians and their mock fights. LOL

H. M. Brough
H. M. Brough
4 years ago
Reply to  Kabir

Im guessing you didn’t read the article. She’s ranting about the BJP and dreaming about a Maoist Revolution as usual. She hasn’t revised her mindset after all these decades.

To borrow from Mean Girls: stop trying to make the proletarian revolution happen. It’s not going to happen.

Kabir
4 years ago
Reply to  H. M. Brough

I did read the article actually. There is nothing in there that I can disagree with.

The fact that you think you are wiser than Arundhati Roy says a lot about you.

H. M. Brough
H. M. Brough
4 years ago
Reply to  Kabir

Anyone who is willing to change their mind in light of new developments is apparently wiser than Arundhati Roy.

Kabir
4 years ago
Reply to  Kabir

She is not calling for a Maoist revolution anywhere in the interview but simply discussing the dangers of majoritarianism and how distressing it is that a right-wing nationalist like Modi could get elected for a second time.

But I understand that it is much easier to dismiss someone as a leftist than to engage seriously with their ideas.

H.M. Brough
H.M. Brough
4 years ago
Reply to  Kabir

“I believe that peoples’ rage will one day break the machine. I’m not talking about a revolution. I’m talking about an outbreak, the re-emergence of non NGO-ized social movements. It will come. And that will create new energy and a new kind of opposition that cannot be managed.”

She is being coy, but if you are familiar with her work, it’s very obvious what she is talking about.

Ironically, the Man from Mars would think the “outbreak” she was talking about was the BJP’s seminal, broad-based, cross-caste coalition! It certainly is “non NGO-ized,” and full of “new energy”!

Parallel Universe
Parallel Universe
4 years ago
Reply to  Kabir

Bigger story of this decade from India several decades into the future is not going to be Modi-Shah, but how the educated Hindu middle class in a country with 70 years of democracy behind them was so easily radicalized.

The poorer and lower middle class voters are voting Modi based on Whatsapp and paid TV channel propaganda, and they resolve reality to mostly subsistence level issues. Good for them, and I wouldn’t be surprised if BJP can deliver the goods better than an effete, nepotist, corrupt Congress.

The big questions those future academics will ask is what mechanisms were used by the educated classes to defend the violent naked majoritarianism that was so easily visible- and then you will have the answers we see here: minimization (few thousand cases in a country of billion!), unclever whataboutery (whatabout 1984/Pakistan/Saudi), Hinduism being the most discriminated religion (with 80% population, after 4 Modi years and 10 of BJP?), Islamic terrorism (rare and in-between in India?), threat of communist revolution (that didn’t exist?), Leftist-liberal-Islamo-Christist cabal and media (hard to find anywhere on TV, and most opportunists have shifted wholesale to Modi-Shah anyway).

Those analyses will be fascinating.

https://twitter.com/PJkanojia/status/1134528948564398080/video/1

Xerxes the Magian
4 years ago

Inadvertently helps Pakistan when India buys into TNT.

Mother India was dealt a wound when Pakistan stepped out but will she survive when her son/protector Bharat follows suit.

Maybe she’ll have to take retreat south of the Vindhyas as her two angry sons battle it out in the same tongue..

Saurav
Saurav
4 years ago
Reply to  Kabir

” battle it out ”

LOL, no one is battling anything out. As the years roll by , just by inertia, India will become more unitary, and start losing parts of diversity (exception being Kashmir). It has happened it the N-East and in the south as well.

Not dissimilar to lets say Baluchistan/KPK in Pakistan. That;s what a state does, creates a unitary nationality.

Numinous
Numinous
4 years ago
Reply to  H. M. Brough

Wishing for a Maoist Revolution when the land of Mao has completely repudiated his opinions on the subject and turned full capitalist, dramatically increasing its prosperity levels as a consequence, is the height of lunacy.

girmit
girmit
4 years ago

The NDA isn’t wasting time on their language policy. They tend to take smart bets on what fights are winnable. That, or they are blundering into a what could be the seed of secessionism.

https://www.deccanherald.com/national/3-language-formula-a-failed-policy-makes-a-comeback-737738.html

H. M. Brough
H. M. Brough
4 years ago
Reply to  girmit

If you think secession is a concern now, just wait till 2026, when we regain the ability to adjust LS seats based on population. This will be very entertaining…

Scorpion Eater
Scorpion Eater
4 years ago
Reply to  girmit

Just when I thought Modi and BJP are smart enough, they do stupid things like this (language policy).

Why on earth they are opening settled questions? These debates belong to 1960s. These debates are over and done with. India has moved on. The project of creating one national language for one nation failed, and has been consigned to dustbin. India is far richer in diversity than nation-states of Europe. One size fits all doesn’t work in India. Provincial langues won. English won. There is no need to revisit these questions. India has more national unity now than in sixties. It is only through proper respect for provincial languages national cohesion and unity can be ensured.

Hindi should grow organically, through cultural vehicles like movies. BJP will lose whatever tenuous foothold it has got in South by these stupid moves to push Hindi down the throat of unwilling participants.

And the most idiotic part of this fracas is that BJP will soon backtrack on this policy (if they haven’t done so already). So why even open yourself to the charge of Hindi/N-Indian supremacy without even achieving it.

Saurav
Saurav
4 years ago
Reply to  Scorpion Eater

Does the BJP want everyone to speak Hindi? Yes. It increases their potential catchment area (look at Bengal). Is it a hill they are willing to die on? No.

To me the whole issue is like the Jallikattu thing. Lot of things happen in India due to over zealous (Hindi-wallah) bureaucrats and lower court judges and all. No minister in India has the time to go through policy papers and all, they mostly sign/not sign the files.

If anything the BJP is even more mindful of the fact that its looked as Hindi party in the south, its mostly a bureaucratic error which of course be made to look as an ideological push by the opposition which does not have much to criticise right now so fresh in the Govt tenure.

Saurav
Saurav
4 years ago

The population representation in lok sabha won’t change. The can will be kicked down the road( has been happening from 2000s) It’s like a soft understanding b/w north-south parties. The north won’t cry too much on representation , the south on revenue they should be getting wrt to how much they generate.

H.M. Brough
H.M. Brough
4 years ago
Reply to  Saurav

I know it won’t happen, but that won’t stop people from talking about it! Hehehe…

Scorpion Eater
Scorpion Eater
4 years ago

Top 15 hottest places on earth. All in India and Pak. Brown power! 🙂

https://www.eldoradoweather.com/climate/world-extremes/world-temp-rainfall-extremes.php

Xerxes the Magian
4 years ago
Reply to  Scorpion Eater

If I’m not mistaken this is all Sindh-Rajasthan-Bahawlpur

Scorpion Eater
Scorpion Eater
4 years ago

yes.

Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
4 years ago

Happening right now:

A Pashtun protester is being beaten by police in Peshawar.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1135559324959412225


“Abdulqahar Hemat
‏ @abdulqahar7
12m12 minutes ago

Security forces, in Peshawar Pakistan, is beating unconscious a PTM supporter who was a participant of the non-violent #PTMPeshawarSitIn.
#SharamNak”

Sid
Sid
4 years ago

Since visas were being discussed –
Have been invited to a close friends wedding this Dec in Pakistan (Islamabad and Lahore). As an Indian national, how likely am I to get a visa? I’ll be applying from the UK. And any dress requirements for women? I’ll be attending with the Mrs, a Brit of Sri Lankan origin who I assume will have no issues getting a visa.

Would be great if I do get it, will be the second non-Indian South Asian country I’d visit after SL. I’ve heard Islamabad is like Tehran, a city that I found exceedingly pleasant to visit and the Iranians very friendly. The Mrs didn’t like having to cover her head though

Scorpion Eater
Scorpion Eater
4 years ago
Reply to  Sid

“I’ve heard Islamabad is like Tehran..”

The common joke among Pakistanis is that Islamabad is beautiful pleasant, and just 20 minutes from Pakistan. 🙂

(“Pakistan” being the nearby older, real desi town of Rawalpindi).

H.M. Brough
H.M. Brough
4 years ago

Zach, permit me to be blunt for a second:

“Inadvertently helps Pakistan when India buys into TNT.”

This doesn’t matter. Pakistan is Upper Volta with Missiles, and the guys with the missiles decide what’s going on. Whatever ordinary Pakistanis think about Quaid-e-Azam or Islam or India just doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, it’s just a dorm room bull session writ large.

Parallel Universe
Parallel Universe
4 years ago

Another example of a lefty-liberal (Muslim) being decimated by smooth talking Modi supporters and their clearly superior arguments:

https://twitter.com/imMAK02/status/1135273291977875456

H.M. Brough
H.M. Brough
4 years ago

Give it a rest man, we’ve all been on Twitter and seen stuff like this plenty of times.

The problem is that if it’s all you talk about, then that’s all people think India is about: mob violence. And we’re so much more than that!

Parallel Universe
Parallel Universe
4 years ago
Reply to  H.M. Brough

Are you saying that the, say, 300th lynching of a poor Muslim close to an inch of his life on video by Modi’s not very discreet mobs is not newsworthy? Because you have seen 299 videos like this before?

Time and place for everything. This is time to call out the brutal, unremitting lynchings of poor Muslims every single day across India, encouraged by various Modi apologists with varying degrees of awareness and complicity. Probably doesn’t register on people like you- that’s on you, not me.

Kinda comical for folks who do not tire of talking brutalities from 600 years ago to want to dismiss someone lynched on video in realtime.

Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
4 years ago

Pakistani Police Attacked PTM Peshawar Peaceful Sit-In |

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whsUGh_wMtE

No English subtitles. Around the 9:30 min mark the police are seen withdrawing their batons.

Sumit
Sumit
4 years ago

Eid Mubarak! Wishing you all joy and prosperity.

Sometimes I need to take a break from the internet discussions, and interact with people irl to see that for the most part people are reasonable and nice, and the world isn’t on fire 🙂

Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
4 years ago

Videos from the continuing sit in in Peshawar demanding the release of Wazir and Dawar

https://twitter.com/i/status/1134197905416495104

Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
4 years ago

Anatomy of a RAW agent & why Pakistan seems to recognise them better than India

https://theprint.in/opinion/letter-from-pakistan/anatomy-of-a-raw-agent-why-pakistan-seems-to-recognise-them-better-than-india/246311/

“Accusing a marginalised ethnic group of foreign affiliation and threatening them with dire consequences with no proof to back the allegations has been the norm. The accused has to prove that they are innocent, the accuser doesn’t owe anyone any explanation.”

Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
4 years ago

Tweet from the Pakistani military spokesperson

“Ya Allah continue your blessings upon Pakistan, it’s armed forces and the people. With your blessings we are defeating all. Despite challenges we are the only success story in Muslim world. Keep us strong, keep us united. Amen. #ShabeQadr”

https://twitter.com/peaceforchange/status/1134916607443197952

“Despite challenges we (Pakistan) are the only success story in Muslim world.”

Comments: Wow! This tweet should win them a lot of friends in the OIC.

Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
4 years ago

The Untold Story of how the Doon School Goon Squad Ran Bharatavarsha to the Ground

https://dharmadispatch.in/the-untold-story-of-how-the-doon-school-goon-squad-ran-bharatavarsha-to-the-ground/

“Since the Nehru dynasty began its irreversible crash towards extinction late in 2013, there has been a slew of books and other material from former durbaris exposing the murky deeds of the Doon School-Lutyens Delhi club of incest and inbreeding. For three simple reasons: the Durbar’s udders have near-permanently dried up, there is no fear of reprisal because the dynasty won’t return, and old scores have to be settled, vengeance for former humiliations have to be wreaked. “

Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
4 years ago

Another important leader PTM leader Pashteen Idrees behind bars

https://twitter.com/Pashteen_idrees?lang=en

Here is his poem

“”A traitor ” you define me, I am the truth. May your oppressor hand fracture! Admit and recognize, I am the pashtun! Your bombs explode, Your terror is accentuating, What sort of freedom is this? Our youth gets butchered, The life-boat is sinking, What sort of freedom is this?”

Pakistani generals name their missiles after Afghans whose modern day descendents have nothing but contempt for them.

H.M. Brough
H.M. Brough
4 years ago

Am starting to read the “Western Foundations of the Caste System” by Farek et al, an essay collection from a heterodox group of scholars.

Am skeptical because Dirks is cited prominently at the start. But they do reject the “caste is just a British construct” nonsense…

And the dominant orthodoxies in Indology are so blinkered and ideological that we could do with a shake up. So why not give it a look.

Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
Mayuresh Madhav Kelkar
4 years ago

Major ISI plot to revive militancy in Jammu foiled, 6 arrested

https://www.financialexpress.com/defence/major-isi-plot-to-revive-militancy-in-jammu-and-kashmir-foiled-6-arrested/1600757/

“The spies revealed that they were tasked by the ISI officer to revive militancy in Jammu by recruiting youth in the region. The Hizbul commanders guiding them were originally from Jammu region but had settled in Pakistan and PoK after joining active militancy.”

Brown Pundits