During the lockdown, I binge-watched a Netflix show where Kal Penn occupied a similar position (Kiefer Sutherland was the President).
VijayVan
3 years ago
Only 6 are men
Nick
3 years ago
That’s great. The only problem is – like their white and black colleagues – they are all democrats.
fragment_and_activities
3 years ago
This is going to be a bad thing for India. They will try to prove the American-ness by being tough on India. The last time we had an Indian origin person at an important post was Richard Verma as American ambassador to India. That didn’t turn out too well.
Vijay
3 years ago
Lol, if a Republican had that many Desi, the newspapers would read “President Fills the Whitehouse with Aryan Appointments”.
I believe the number of desis in the Trump administration exceeded that in any previous administration. Even the WH spokesperson now and then was a desi (Raj Shah).
But the number probably wasn’t high enough to create the kind of attention you are talking about.
thewarlock
3 years ago
The issue is the affinity for the radical haleem cause. The unholy leftist radical islamist alliance will prosper. This is bad for Israel too. Good thing Trump already made the big moves.
Saurav
3 years ago
I have a feeling that the Aryans (Patel, Agarwal,Gupta etc) one will be less bad for India. The Dravidians one we have to keep an eye out for.
principia
3 years ago
Lots of deputies and assistants. Neera Tanden is arguably the most high-profile appointment and it feels like a backroom deal. She was heading up CAP for many years and is seen to be close to Hillary Clinton, so she was given the post.
Asian-Americans continue to be missing from the most important positions in the US. Very strong showing in academia (especially STEM) and in IT firms, but in terms of political power (senators, governors, mayors) or now senior cabinet positions, not much to show for at the very top.
Sort of disappointing in that sense. Curse of the model minority?
“Rooted in America’s ugly history of white supremacy, indigenous dispossession and anti-blackness, multiracial whiteness is an ideology invested in the unequal distribution of land, wealth, power and privilege — a form of hierarchy in which the standing of one section of the population is premised on the debasement of others. Multiracial whiteness reflects an understanding of whiteness as a political color and not simply a racial identity — a discriminatory worldview in which feelings of freedom and belonging are produced through the persecution and dehumanization of others.”
Savarna literally means people of colour. Our ancestors saw to this.
Numinous
3 years ago
People are talking about these guys doing what is “good for India” or “bad for India”. When in reality, what each of you mean is “what is good/bad for the party I have chosen in India”. (Bhakts are, of course, conflating what’s good for Modi and his henchmen with what’s good for India.)
“When in reality, what each of you mean is “what is good/bad for the party I have chosen in India”. (Bhakts are, of course, conflating what’s good for Modi and his henchmen with what’s good for India.)”
Exactly This Numinous! As always you hit the nail on the head!
The one’s usually making comments like that, don’t really mean India… they mean their political view/affiliation, maybe even region. I mean imagine my grievance, there is only one, half-mallu on that list that I know of, Shanthi Kalathil, (Maju Varghese is organizing the Inauguration, but he doesn’t affect policy). These Northies in the cabinet aren’t going to help my mallus in Kerala! Kidding, usually what’s good for India in the economic, trade and military spheres are good for Kerala as well, usually….
Aside from Razib and Omar’s articles, your insightful comments and a few others (Saurav, don’t agree with everything political view wise, but I look forward to your comments as well) are why I keep coming back to read and enjoy BP.
“Saurav, don’t agree with everything political view wise, but I look forward to your comments as well”
LOL, where would be the fun in that 😛
lurker
3 years ago
The virtue signallers, deracinated, leftists (and rice bag apologists) are here. Continuing in their vein, I will say that these poodles of Pappu/IslamoChristian apologists and leftists mean their own interests and those of their chosen ideologies (or religions) and not India’s when they speculate whether Biden/Harris will be good for them. For example, at least one of these characters will be a loud cheerleader of Biden/Harris if they press India to continue to allow rice bag conversions in South India and elsewhere. I can even predict that he will couch that in the language of freedom of choice etc.
Two can play the game.
its dems. communists and radical haleem sympathizers have quotas. thankfully, there is still a rational segment of the Left.
lurker
3 years ago
“On a side note, I never realized the level of bigoted insecure whiners lurking among our commentators….”
On the other hand, we have always known about the “secular”/leftist/Abrahamic gang that is known to couch their ideological and religious interests in woke/liberal jargon and is forever mocking/dehumanizing/delegitimizing right leaning Indians including the 40-50% that voted for BJP and associated parties in the last election. As if right leaning folks, Hindus, non-deracinated Dharmics don’t have the right or ability to make choices.
This is what was written by a normally sensible commentator, to which a known (but stealth) Hinduphobe agreed wholeheartedly. ““When in reality, what each of you mean is “what is good/bad for the party I have chosen in India”. (Bhakts are, of course, conflating what’s good for Modi and his henchmen with what’s good for India.)””
See how he puts himself above the fray? You want what is good for the party but he is above all of it and only thinks of India. See how 40-50% of India is dismissed as Bhakts, Modi henchmen etc.
Saurav
3 years ago
MAH and Numnious
Though i agree that Bhakts do conflate ‘What’s good for Modi, good for India”, i would not out rightly say it doesn’t translate that way in the end.
Indira – Nixon relationship had fallout on US-Indo relationship. India was sanctioned after 1999 Nuclear blast. One could argue what’s was good for India, was good for BJP as well then, and really bad for Indo-US relations. So yeah in a way even though its not optimum, “what is good/bad for the party I have chosen in India” happens to tie too closely to ‘What’s good for India’.
Agree Saurav, it can go both ways, in the areas of economic, trade and military, all of India is affected or benefits, despite the political persuasions of the government in either country. Numinous’s comment, which I agree with, seems specifically to those who are looking at it from a one sided angle, that any criticism of their group/party is somehow a criticism of all of India, which in turn shows they wish to exclude all of the rest of India except their side. I hope the United States and India continue a good relationship which will benefit all sections and regions of India, but if need be, each of them can make their criticisms of what they see as wrong, without it affecting the relationship and acting as if it’s “Anti-India” or “Anti-US” if they do.
“but if need be, each of them can make their criticisms of what they see as wrong, without it affecting the relationship and acting as if it’s “Anti-India” or “Anti-US” if they do.”
I agree MAH, just feel that any criticism coming from external sources will have the counter effect of helping the power in the center rather than its intended effect of helping folks, who desire that. Especially for a country like India with a big chip on the shoulders wrt foreign influence.
Look at China, one way for CCP to consolidate power is the constant criticism during Trump term, which didn’t achieve much on the ground, but only had the revanchist effect on their masses
thewarlock
3 years ago
Leftists don’t get it. India is already too far left. Outside of isolated incidents, it is already a country with pretty good minority rights, especially adjusting for just how poor it is. Minority appeasement in terms of welfare is at an all time high.
India needs serious free market reform and a uniform code of laws to ensure fair rule of law is the governing principle of highest order moving forward. Instead, you have leftists who stubbornly stick to the idealogy of minority=victim and more socialism=always good and you end up with a stagnant India like you have today, forever destined to be poor. There are just enough interest groups to hold the government hostage with any reforms, as most recently evidenced by these irrational riots against these pretty environmentally and fiscally sensible farm laws, laws that even relativelt left wing journalists like the Print’s Shekhar Gupta endorse.
Milan Todorovic
3 years ago
OFFICIAL Washington has made public its strategy for the Pacific and Indian Oceans, in which the dominant factor is opposition to China.
According to the influential and well-informed American portal Axios, the document calls for blocking China’s alleged attempts to create “anti-liberal spheres of influence”.
To that end, the strategy envisages helping “India’s accelerated growth” as one of the US goals. With the expansion of military, intelligence and diplomatic assistance to India as the main counterweight to the PRC in the region.
The goal is to preserve the “strategic primacy of the United States” in an area that the US government considers a unique Indo-Pacific region.
The document was prepared at the beginning of 2018, with innovations introduced in 2019.
“ As the first South Asian American woman elected to the House, I’m deeply proud to call Kamala Harris OUR Vice President—the first woman, first South Asian American, and first Black woman to hold this position of public trust.“
As I said need to keep an eye out for the Dravidian contingent.
“ Incoming #US ?? VP #KamalaHarris has roots in #India’s ?? upper-caste network, which some lower-caste activists point out as a catalyst for her success.
However, others hope #Harris’s success will shed light on the broader culture of #Tamil Nadu “
As much as a tam brahm can try to Dravidian-ize herself, she won’t be Dravidian enough ???
Middle Lion
3 years ago
“As much as a tam brahm can try to Dravidian-ize herself, she won’t be Dravidian enough”
The Tam Brahms of Shyamala Gopalan’s generation understood two-way discrimination (north vs south, and Brahmin vs non-Brahmin) like no others. They were not dravidian enough in the South, and obviously not North Indians (proudly South Indian in fact) to be accepted in the North, a nationwide rejection that drove them to their liberalism manifested today in their progeny. They were a fish out of water no matter where they went and were in many ways truly the Jews of India. Some day it will be an anthropological study of a group that liberalized faster than India as a whole because of necessity and survival.
They were not dravidian enough in the South, and obviously not North Indians (proudly South Indian in fact) to be accepted in the North, a nationwide rejection that drove them to their liberalism manifested today in their progeny.
The first part was true to some extent, the second not. Education levels among Tamil Brahmins were always high, so that may correlate with social liberalism. But I see no evidence of widespread political liberalism, at least in my extended family (we’ve lived throughout India for over a century now, and abroad for a couple of generations too). I don’t know what life in the South was like because I never lived there as a child, but there was defnitely a craving among us to fit in up North. I would try my best as a kid to not express any signs of south-Indianness and often wished my parents had given me a shorter name.
Anyway, the Hindu right was always about inclusion for Hindus, north, south, XYZ caste, which actually made it attractive to South Indians. My dad, for example, was briefly in his youth an RSS activist (he’s a big Modi supporter today); this when it was still a pariah organization, Gandhi’s murder still fresh in most peoples’ minds.
Also, I know there was some bitterness about the Dravidian movement in the south, land reforms (some older relatives it seems were forced to sell their lands for pittances), and affirmative action (the reservation system).
thewarlock
3 years ago
Gopalan was more just an American college 1960s liberal. She was more classic for just an international student getting involved in the American Civil Rights movement of the day. Her darker color and relationship with a Black man just further cemented that identity. Her Tam Bran heritage was ancillary.
Kamala seems about as a tamil as Razib is Bengali today, from my impression. And in her childhood, probably relatively less so, given her one Black parent and her mom purposely raising her as a “black girl,” for practical reasons, given she knew that’s how Kamala would be perceived at first.
Saurav
3 years ago
Finally some honesty regarding S-India by Numinous and Lion
Though i have my doubts on ‘the Hindu right was always about inclusion for Hindus, north, south, XYZ caste, which actually made it attractive to South Indians. ‘. The BJP has grown in one state (Karnataka) and that too from the early 2000s. And even there its not a stable party. Most S-Indians have always preferred regional party or the Congress.
Middle Lion
3 years ago
“Kamala seems about as a tamil as Razib is Bengali today, from my impression.”
The three-finger eating of dosay in that video? My kids born in the US cannot do that…. Its more complex than that, its about empathy and knowing their Pati, and the images thereof….
“but there was definitely a craving among us to fit in up North.”
My point exactly @Numinous…. wanting to fit and not doing so well enough, because of culture and value systems that were just different enough but knowing those values were important enough not to abandon them.
“Biden’s team has people like senior diplomat Uzra Zeya who had played a role in the Devyani Khobargade case or Samira Fazili who had joined protest rallies in the US against the CAA, NRC and the Kashmir lockdown. Those with RSS/BJP links have not found a place while secular Indian-American organisations have maintained the pressure on the Biden-Harris Transition Team to keep such individuals on the sidelines, said sources.
The Democrats may have been more circumspect over accommodating pro-BJP/RSS elements in the government following renewed activism by organisations opposed to the Hindutva project and also after witnessing the fate of such candidates, added the sources.”
“HfHR is proud to be one of the 19 South Asian organizations whose letter to the Biden administration is referred to here. We are committed to making sure that the Biden Administration is clear that Hindutva-aligned people don’t represent all Hindus. #HindusAgainstHindutva”
Lol more bad news. India is screwed under biden admin. Radical islamophillia is the next step. Soon many Indian Americans will vote exclusively republican. Now that the dotard is gone at least
The Khobragade issue was not split along right and left. Devyani Khobragade was an entitled neta of the kind that the Congress and other traditional parties had cultivated before the BJP’s takeover. So lots of people in India had sympathy with how the maid was treated. At the same time, the political class (not just the ruling Congress but also Modi) made nationalistic noises about how this was an insult to Indians.
And in the US, the person leading the prosecutorial charge was Preet Bharara, not a Kashmiri activist as fas as I know.
The Khobragade issue is one that would have turned out very differently had she been from a UC background. The reason many political parties were falling head over heels for her was that she was a Dalit and not backing her would provide ammunition to the opposition in the form of ‘abandoning untouchables’. If she had been from a UC there would be op-eds in the Indian English press about how Brahmins oppress their servants and that she had it coming.
Her family was mired in controversy for other reasons too, they were known for giving false statements in the Adarsh housing scam. They’re just another one of those ethically malleable families in the Indian administration who’s goals are to max out their own wealth and prestige.
What it shows is that the mimicry of upwardly mobile families in India can be a bad thing, especially when the new comfort class decide to ape the same behaviour of the previously wealthy in terms of issues like how they treat their domestic help.
One thing i noticed was her photo with a grand Saraswati idol in her home during the Saraswati Puja. And this is someone who comes from Ambedkar’s own caste. Which tells something about how ‘Hindu-ized ‘ Dalits really are, and how enmeshed it is with India culture.
Ties in really well with ” new comfort class decide to ape the same behavior of the previously wealthy” AKA UCs
Milan Todorovic
3 years ago
Have a look these headlines:
“White Riot,” New York Times, January 13, 2021
“Years of white supremacy threats culminated in Capitol riots,” Associated Press, January 14, 2021
“Editorial: White supremacist extremists are the nation’s deadliest terror threat,” Los Angeles Times, January 16, 2021
“The Capitol attack was White supremacy, plain and simple,” CNN, January 10, 2021
“The seditionists made clear what their attack was about: White supremacy,” Washington Post, January 15, 2021
Who is making these headlines? Whites themselves? Which kind of whites? Super-duper whites? It seems that they are coming from the same super-duper editor. I do recognize the handwriting, been there, seen that. Interesting, it seems that some pundits expect that according to the Archimedes’ law if all whites are pushed down some browns will pop up on surface. As a sign of extreme desperation, one reflection of above headlines was even directed at me here from a frustrated pundit with moustaches. Some others already hear swan song tunes which sound from the remote lake. But, hey google, I am hearing them, too:
I am quite fascinated by the fact that a son of immigrants is the Director of Speechwriting. Vinay Reddy is probably extremely competent.
During the lockdown, I binge-watched a Netflix show where Kal Penn occupied a similar position (Kiefer Sutherland was the President).
Only 6 are men
That’s great. The only problem is – like their white and black colleagues – they are all democrats.
This is going to be a bad thing for India. They will try to prove the American-ness by being tough on India. The last time we had an Indian origin person at an important post was Richard Verma as American ambassador to India. That didn’t turn out too well.
Lol, if a Republican had that many Desi, the newspapers would read “President Fills the Whitehouse with Aryan Appointments”.
I believe the number of desis in the Trump administration exceeded that in any previous administration. Even the WH spokesperson now and then was a desi (Raj Shah).
But the number probably wasn’t high enough to create the kind of attention you are talking about.
The issue is the affinity for the radical haleem cause. The unholy leftist radical islamist alliance will prosper. This is bad for Israel too. Good thing Trump already made the big moves.
I have a feeling that the Aryans (Patel, Agarwal,Gupta etc) one will be less bad for India. The Dravidians one we have to keep an eye out for.
Lots of deputies and assistants. Neera Tanden is arguably the most high-profile appointment and it feels like a backroom deal. She was heading up CAP for many years and is seen to be close to Hillary Clinton, so she was given the post.
Asian-Americans continue to be missing from the most important positions in the US. Very strong showing in academia (especially STEM) and in IT firms, but in terms of political power (senators, governors, mayors) or now senior cabinet positions, not much to show for at the very top.
Sort of disappointing in that sense. Curse of the model minority?
We are still one percent. We should always be mindful of that.
Lest we forget and suffer the repercussions.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/15/understand-trumps-support-we-must-think-terms-multiracial-whiteness/
“Rooted in America’s ugly history of white supremacy, indigenous dispossession and anti-blackness, multiracial whiteness is an ideology invested in the unequal distribution of land, wealth, power and privilege — a form of hierarchy in which the standing of one section of the population is premised on the debasement of others. Multiracial whiteness reflects an understanding of whiteness as a political color and not simply a racial identity — a discriminatory worldview in which feelings of freedom and belonging are produced through the persecution and dehumanization of others.”
Next up. “Hindu Whiteness”.
Savarna literally means people of colour. Our ancestors saw to this.
People are talking about these guys doing what is “good for India” or “bad for India”. When in reality, what each of you mean is “what is good/bad for the party I have chosen in India”. (Bhakts are, of course, conflating what’s good for Modi and his henchmen with what’s good for India.)
“When in reality, what each of you mean is “what is good/bad for the party I have chosen in India”. (Bhakts are, of course, conflating what’s good for Modi and his henchmen with what’s good for India.)”
Exactly This Numinous! As always you hit the nail on the head!
The one’s usually making comments like that, don’t really mean India… they mean their political view/affiliation, maybe even region. I mean imagine my grievance, there is only one, half-mallu on that list that I know of, Shanthi Kalathil, (Maju Varghese is organizing the Inauguration, but he doesn’t affect policy). These Northies in the cabinet aren’t going to help my mallus in Kerala! Kidding, usually what’s good for India in the economic, trade and military spheres are good for Kerala as well, usually….
Aside from Razib and Omar’s articles, your insightful comments and a few others (Saurav, don’t agree with everything political view wise, but I look forward to your comments as well) are why I keep coming back to read and enjoy BP.
“Saurav, don’t agree with everything political view wise, but I look forward to your comments as well”
LOL, where would be the fun in that 😛
The virtue signallers, deracinated, leftists (and rice bag apologists) are here. Continuing in their vein, I will say that these poodles of Pappu/IslamoChristian apologists and leftists mean their own interests and those of their chosen ideologies (or religions) and not India’s when they speculate whether Biden/Harris will be good for them. For example, at least one of these characters will be a loud cheerleader of Biden/Harris if they press India to continue to allow rice bag conversions in South India and elsewhere. I can even predict that he will couch that in the language of freedom of choice etc.
Two can play the game.
“No Biharis in there. Shameful, really.”
LOL Prats, I guess I shouldn’t complain, at least my half a mallu has a possiblity of getting in the admin.
On a side note, I never realized the level of bigoted insecure whiners lurking among our commentators….
No Biharis in there. Shameful, really.
its dems. communists and radical haleem sympathizers have quotas. thankfully, there is still a rational segment of the Left.
“On a side note, I never realized the level of bigoted insecure whiners lurking among our commentators….”
On the other hand, we have always known about the “secular”/leftist/Abrahamic gang that is known to couch their ideological and religious interests in woke/liberal jargon and is forever mocking/dehumanizing/delegitimizing right leaning Indians including the 40-50% that voted for BJP and associated parties in the last election. As if right leaning folks, Hindus, non-deracinated Dharmics don’t have the right or ability to make choices.
This is what was written by a normally sensible commentator, to which a known (but stealth) Hinduphobe agreed wholeheartedly. ““When in reality, what each of you mean is “what is good/bad for the party I have chosen in India”. (Bhakts are, of course, conflating what’s good for Modi and his henchmen with what’s good for India.)””
See how he puts himself above the fray? You want what is good for the party but he is above all of it and only thinks of India. See how 40-50% of India is dismissed as Bhakts, Modi henchmen etc.
MAH and Numnious
Though i agree that Bhakts do conflate ‘What’s good for Modi, good for India”, i would not out rightly say it doesn’t translate that way in the end.
Indira – Nixon relationship had fallout on US-Indo relationship. India was sanctioned after 1999 Nuclear blast. One could argue what’s was good for India, was good for BJP as well then, and really bad for Indo-US relations. So yeah in a way even though its not optimum, “what is good/bad for the party I have chosen in India” happens to tie too closely to ‘What’s good for India’.
Agree Saurav, it can go both ways, in the areas of economic, trade and military, all of India is affected or benefits, despite the political persuasions of the government in either country. Numinous’s comment, which I agree with, seems specifically to those who are looking at it from a one sided angle, that any criticism of their group/party is somehow a criticism of all of India, which in turn shows they wish to exclude all of the rest of India except their side. I hope the United States and India continue a good relationship which will benefit all sections and regions of India, but if need be, each of them can make their criticisms of what they see as wrong, without it affecting the relationship and acting as if it’s “Anti-India” or “Anti-US” if they do.
“but if need be, each of them can make their criticisms of what they see as wrong, without it affecting the relationship and acting as if it’s “Anti-India” or “Anti-US” if they do.”
I agree MAH, just feel that any criticism coming from external sources will have the counter effect of helping the power in the center rather than its intended effect of helping folks, who desire that. Especially for a country like India with a big chip on the shoulders wrt foreign influence.
Look at China, one way for CCP to consolidate power is the constant criticism during Trump term, which didn’t achieve much on the ground, but only had the revanchist effect on their masses
Leftists don’t get it. India is already too far left. Outside of isolated incidents, it is already a country with pretty good minority rights, especially adjusting for just how poor it is. Minority appeasement in terms of welfare is at an all time high.
India needs serious free market reform and a uniform code of laws to ensure fair rule of law is the governing principle of highest order moving forward. Instead, you have leftists who stubbornly stick to the idealogy of minority=victim and more socialism=always good and you end up with a stagnant India like you have today, forever destined to be poor. There are just enough interest groups to hold the government hostage with any reforms, as most recently evidenced by these irrational riots against these pretty environmentally and fiscally sensible farm laws, laws that even relativelt left wing journalists like the Print’s Shekhar Gupta endorse.
OFFICIAL Washington has made public its strategy for the Pacific and Indian Oceans, in which the dominant factor is opposition to China.
According to the influential and well-informed American portal Axios, the document calls for blocking China’s alleged attempts to create “anti-liberal spheres of influence”.
To that end, the strategy envisages helping “India’s accelerated growth” as one of the US goals. With the expansion of military, intelligence and diplomatic assistance to India as the main counterweight to the PRC in the region.
The goal is to preserve the “strategic primacy of the United States” in an area that the US government considers a unique Indo-Pacific region.
The document was prepared at the beginning of 2018, with innovations introduced in 2019.
https://twitter.com/repjayapal/status/1351961056525094915?s=21
“ As the first South Asian American woman elected to the House, I’m deeply proud to call Kamala Harris OUR Vice President—the first woman, first South Asian American, and first Black woman to hold this position of public trust.“
As I said need to keep an eye out for the Dravidian contingent.
“South Asian American”
Jayapal is socialist jihadi sympathizer. She trained at the Trushke Ayub school of anti thought and hinduphobia
https://twitter.com/france24_en/status/1351919664973099009?s=21
“ Incoming #US ?? VP #KamalaHarris has roots in #India’s ?? upper-caste network, which some lower-caste activists point out as a catalyst for her success.
However, others hope #Harris’s success will shed light on the broader culture of #Tamil Nadu “
As much as a tam brahm can try to Dravidian-ize herself, she won’t be Dravidian enough ???
“As much as a tam brahm can try to Dravidian-ize herself, she won’t be Dravidian enough”
The Tam Brahms of Shyamala Gopalan’s generation understood two-way discrimination (north vs south, and Brahmin vs non-Brahmin) like no others. They were not dravidian enough in the South, and obviously not North Indians (proudly South Indian in fact) to be accepted in the North, a nationwide rejection that drove them to their liberalism manifested today in their progeny. They were a fish out of water no matter where they went and were in many ways truly the Jews of India. Some day it will be an anthropological study of a group that liberalized faster than India as a whole because of necessity and survival.
They were not dravidian enough in the South, and obviously not North Indians (proudly South Indian in fact) to be accepted in the North, a nationwide rejection that drove them to their liberalism manifested today in their progeny.
The first part was true to some extent, the second not. Education levels among Tamil Brahmins were always high, so that may correlate with social liberalism. But I see no evidence of widespread political liberalism, at least in my extended family (we’ve lived throughout India for over a century now, and abroad for a couple of generations too). I don’t know what life in the South was like because I never lived there as a child, but there was defnitely a craving among us to fit in up North. I would try my best as a kid to not express any signs of south-Indianness and often wished my parents had given me a shorter name.
Anyway, the Hindu right was always about inclusion for Hindus, north, south, XYZ caste, which actually made it attractive to South Indians. My dad, for example, was briefly in his youth an RSS activist (he’s a big Modi supporter today); this when it was still a pariah organization, Gandhi’s murder still fresh in most peoples’ minds.
Also, I know there was some bitterness about the Dravidian movement in the south, land reforms (some older relatives it seems were forced to sell their lands for pittances), and affirmative action (the reservation system).
Gopalan was more just an American college 1960s liberal. She was more classic for just an international student getting involved in the American Civil Rights movement of the day. Her darker color and relationship with a Black man just further cemented that identity. Her Tam Bran heritage was ancillary.
Kamala seems about as a tamil as Razib is Bengali today, from my impression. And in her childhood, probably relatively less so, given her one Black parent and her mom purposely raising her as a “black girl,” for practical reasons, given she knew that’s how Kamala would be perceived at first.
Finally some honesty regarding S-India by Numinous and Lion
Though i have my doubts on ‘the Hindu right was always about inclusion for Hindus, north, south, XYZ caste, which actually made it attractive to South Indians. ‘. The BJP has grown in one state (Karnataka) and that too from the early 2000s. And even there its not a stable party. Most S-Indians have always preferred regional party or the Congress.
“Kamala seems about as a tamil as Razib is Bengali today, from my impression.”
The three-finger eating of dosay in that video? My kids born in the US cannot do that…. Its more complex than that, its about empathy and knowing their Pati, and the images thereof….
“but there was definitely a craving among us to fit in up North.”
My point exactly @Numinous…. wanting to fit and not doing so well enough, because of culture and value systems that were just different enough but knowing those values were important enough not to abandon them.
Who said there are no Biharis in the White House?
Bi(den)harris.
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/diaspora/biden-keeps-out-democrats-with-rss-links-201707
“Biden’s team has people like senior diplomat Uzra Zeya who had played a role in the Devyani Khobargade case or Samira Fazili who had joined protest rallies in the US against the CAA, NRC and the Kashmir lockdown. Those with RSS/BJP links have not found a place while secular Indian-American organisations have maintained the pressure on the Biden-Harris Transition Team to keep such individuals on the sidelines, said sources.
The Democrats may have been more circumspect over accommodating pro-BJP/RSS elements in the government following renewed activism by organisations opposed to the Hindutva project and also after witnessing the fate of such candidates, added the sources.”
It is so disturbingly obvious. That is the power of the leftist-islamist nexus in democratic party politics.
https://twitter.com/Hindus4HR/status/1352388999122358273
“HfHR is proud to be one of the 19 South Asian organizations whose letter to the Biden administration is referred to here. We are committed to making sure that the Biden Administration is clear that Hindutva-aligned people don’t represent all Hindus. #HindusAgainstHindutva”
Organization of Less-Hindu people.
Lol more bad news. India is screwed under biden admin. Radical islamophillia is the next step. Soon many Indian Americans will vote exclusively republican. Now that the dotard is gone at least
The Khobragade issue was not split along right and left. Devyani Khobragade was an entitled neta of the kind that the Congress and other traditional parties had cultivated before the BJP’s takeover. So lots of people in India had sympathy with how the maid was treated. At the same time, the political class (not just the ruling Congress but also Modi) made nationalistic noises about how this was an insult to Indians.
And in the US, the person leading the prosecutorial charge was Preet Bharara, not a Kashmiri activist as fas as I know.
The Khobragade issue is one that would have turned out very differently had she been from a UC background. The reason many political parties were falling head over heels for her was that she was a Dalit and not backing her would provide ammunition to the opposition in the form of ‘abandoning untouchables’. If she had been from a UC there would be op-eds in the Indian English press about how Brahmins oppress their servants and that she had it coming.
Her family was mired in controversy for other reasons too, they were known for giving false statements in the Adarsh housing scam. They’re just another one of those ethically malleable families in the Indian administration who’s goals are to max out their own wealth and prestige.
What it shows is that the mimicry of upwardly mobile families in India can be a bad thing, especially when the new comfort class decide to ape the same behaviour of the previously wealthy in terms of issues like how they treat their domestic help.
One thing i noticed was her photo with a grand Saraswati idol in her home during the Saraswati Puja. And this is someone who comes from Ambedkar’s own caste. Which tells something about how ‘Hindu-ized ‘ Dalits really are, and how enmeshed it is with India culture.
Ties in really well with ” new comfort class decide to ape the same behavior of the previously wealthy” AKA UCs
Have a look these headlines:
“White Riot,” New York Times, January 13, 2021
“Years of white supremacy threats culminated in Capitol riots,” Associated Press, January 14, 2021
“Editorial: White supremacist extremists are the nation’s deadliest terror threat,” Los Angeles Times, January 16, 2021
“The Capitol attack was White supremacy, plain and simple,” CNN, January 10, 2021
“The seditionists made clear what their attack was about: White supremacy,” Washington Post, January 15, 2021
Who is making these headlines? Whites themselves? Which kind of whites? Super-duper whites? It seems that they are coming from the same super-duper editor. I do recognize the handwriting, been there, seen that. Interesting, it seems that some pundits expect that according to the Archimedes’ law if all whites are pushed down some browns will pop up on surface. As a sign of extreme desperation, one reflection of above headlines was even directed at me here from a frustrated pundit with moustaches. Some others already hear swan song tunes which sound from the remote lake. But, hey google, I am hearing them, too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CShopT9QUzw
For US political news my wife and I like Saagar Enjeti on Youtube