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Saurav
Saurav
3 years ago

In terms of self hate where does the Hindu woke lie. Just behind White woke, or we already there ? Why are some ‘Hindu’ ethnicities more woke than others

https://twitter.com/samitbasu/status/1361532061513752576

Dear white people please understand the Indian you’re befriending to feel and look more inclusive might be a Nazi.pdf

https://countercurrents.org/2020/01/can-hindus-give-up-their-hindu-privilege/

Can Hindus give up their Hindu privilege?

Prats
Prats
3 years ago
Reply to  Saurav

B-grade sci-fi author getting his moment in the limelight.

I am part of some science fiction WhatsApp groups and might be indirectly connected to this fella. These people are nauseatingly woke. Kind of ironic since you’d expect nerds to have all kinds of contrarian views.

Have had people point out ‘problematic’ stuff in some non-political art I posted there.

I used to be adversarial earlier. Now I just keep quiet and enjoy the show plus ask for reading recommendations. Good anthropological insight into this class of people.

principia
principia
3 years ago
Reply to  Saurav

In terms of self hate where does the Hindu woke lie. Just behind White woke, or we already there ? Why are some ‘Hindu’ ethnicities more woke than others

In terms of self-hatred, white libtards are still far and away #1 and will remain so. But woke Hindus are catching up fast, and fighting hard for an “honorable” finish.

I think this is worse in the diaspora, for two reasons. First, the vast majority of Indians in the West are voting left-liberal and consume media from that ecosystem. This is turbocharged for the 2nd gen migrants.

Second, this media ecosystem has really ramped up the hatred. The neoliberal Deep State fears a strong and united India. It prefers a weak and divided India, preferably run by a dilettante like pappu who seems to love going to vacations in Western countries. That which it cannot control, it fears.

Of course, Cuckrenda is a cringe bootlocker, but it’s more about his base than the person.

Bhumiputra
Bhumiputra
3 years ago
Reply to  principia

Principia@
I agree with your analysis except the last part. While Modi has won convincing re-election , he is facing tremendous international headwinds. Sometimes you have to be strategic in picking battles. For all his Bluster, see what happened to trump.
On a meta level, right wing is conceptually unable to coordinate across borders and cultures. Whereas the left coordinates globally. For e.g. when Modi is targeted, other right wing leaders will be neutral at best or may join in at worst.

principia
principia
3 years ago
Reply to  Bhumiputra

I don’t blame Indian RWers for not co-ordinating across borders. Most white nationalists are outright bigots and racists who I feel zero kinship with. But I think right-wingers are just wired to be inward-looking and distrustful of outsiders. This gives libtards a natural advantage across all cultures in helping each other.

As for your apologia of Cuckrenda, sorry, after the endless stalling of UCC and non-implementation of CAA, I am done making excuses for him. India should not be at the mercy of foreign pressure and I resent arguments that basically present matters as if India should be someone else’s bitch and ask for permission. It shouldn’t and it need not. Modi should not be excused for his hesitation and inaction.

GauravL
GauravL
3 years ago

Looks like beginning of Second Wave in Maharashtra.
8 straight days with increase in active cases

phyecon1
phyecon1
3 years ago
Reply to  GauravL

Be careful gaurav. Take care.

Violet
Violet
3 years ago

I have been following #TexasFreeze over this week, and it is astonishing what happened. I have lived through several power cuts in India and a couple of them in North America too. It is very clear that power cuts in NA are more dangerous than Indian ones.

Perhaps now, it might be worthwhile to consider “inverters” ,which are very popular in India, for NA homes too.

Numinous
Numinous
3 years ago
Reply to  Violet

Well, inverters may not solve the problem. All the ones I’ve seen used in India (including the house I grew up in) were limited in scope: the wattage tends to be quite low, permitting the use of bulbs and fans and TVs but not appliances that heat or cool (fridges, geysers, microwaves even). I imagine the cost for a per-home inverter that handles all the load of that home will be quite high.

In Texas, from what I’ve been following, it’s not just that people have lost electricity. It’s that they can’t heat up their homes in the freezing cold. I imagine most will be OK without light bulbs (alternatives exist) or TVs for a while.

Remember, people lived fine in NA, in places much colder than Texas, before the advent of electricity. Also, a big problem they are facing, it seems, is that water pipes are bursting because of the water inside freezing. Now, this is a problem that does not occur in much of the US because they anticipate it and guard against it. Texas doesn’t need to think innovatively here, it just needs to copy whatever, say, Iowa does.

It’s definitely true though that in India, we are better prepared for black swan adversity than Americans are.

Violet
Violet
3 years ago
Reply to  Numinous

I lived through -35/40c while Texas was at 1c and we had power cut for 2-3 hours. The issue with electricity is it is needed to run the central heating (which actually uses gas to create heat). So, not a whole lot of power needed other than to run thermostat on the gas furnace (not like geysers or radiators which actually use electricity to generate heat). Gas fireplaces overcome this using 4 pack AA batteries. (we have them to keep warm through power cut).

I also lived through flooded home in mid-winter couple of years ago. The issue again is with turning off water supply and draining pipes before leaving home in case heat is being turned down.

It is way too expensive to insulate pipes and walls in already built homes. Canada has a whole “cold climate building systems” research (I mean we just had 3 weeks of below -30c haha). But they are expensive and burdensome to adopt wholesale in Texas for 1 in 100 year event.

To this day, Canadian and Scandinavian wilderness cabins have no electricity (ventilated wood stoves keep a large space surprising warm), and people go 2-3 weeks skiing and camping in back country (often hiking to pristine mountains to ski down in fresh powder). So, cold itself is not the problem but the know-how, appropriate gear, and temporary back-up appliances to tide over a few days would help.

Saurav
Saurav
3 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpci-kAUWv0

Ram Mandir Donations | 1600 Crores, 400 Kgs of Silver & it is not just the BJP

The more-Hindu region.

Saurav
Saurav
3 years ago

India’s “Mr Infrastructure” Sreedharan getting ‘cancelled’ since he joined the Nazis

https://twitter.com/MrSamratX/status/1362796001552048134

“The truth about Delhi Metro is that the credit should rightfully go to the Japanese. The entire design and plans are basically identical to Tokyo metro, the technology is Japanese, and the bulk of funding is Japanese.”

https://twitter.com/sonaliranade/status/1362783866251997188

“Dr. E Sreedharan. Those who benefitted most from a liberal democracy have turned against it. Inexplicable.”

Saurav
Saurav
3 years ago

https://www.telegraphindia.com/opinion/the-farmers-protest-is-a-political-opportunity-for-the-opposition/cid/1807229

“When P. Chidambaram, a member of the liberal camp in Congress, tells Parliament that the government only works for the top 1 per cent — ‘parijeevi’ (parasites) — who control 73 per cent of the country’s wealth, the party’s lurch further left is highlighted unmistakably.”

India’s ex Finance minister AKA libertarian favorite reformist FM. ☝️

VijayVan
VijayVan
3 years ago
Reply to  Saurav

P.Chidambaram pointing fingers at parasitical 1% ???? what a joke. He belongs to that 1% or even 0.1% . he belongs to a very rich chettiar family who have been top crust for generations and he was educated at harvard.

This bogus and hypocritical leftism and SJW is a curse of India

If at all Chidambaram has a skin in the game, it is to make himself and his family even richer – all his talk is hotair and hogwash

Bhumiputra
Bhumiputra
3 years ago
Reply to  VijayVan

Couldn’t agree more on congress hypocrisy about crony capitalism. Remember radia tapes!. But even a broken clock is right twice a day. A lot of people are uneasy with oligarchs. They should not be lumped with socialists. Also remember post independence the Bombay club enthusiastically supported the license permit Raj on the economic side while funding left/Marxism on the social side. Even in US all the wokeism is funded by billionaires. It is hilarious that there is still significant section of Right in US who espouse laissez faire economic policy which helps these billionaires.
Free market will gain widespread support only if it is seen to be fair and bring about widespread prosperity. We should want a situation where every state/region has at least a couple of company HQs.

Numinous
Numinous
3 years ago
Reply to  Saurav

libertarian favorite reformist FM.

Don’t know which libertarian you’ve been talking to, but that’s certainly not my opinion.

Looks like you are stereotyping “libertarian” (an insignificant bunch in India) as “hypocritical opponents of the Modi government” just like you stereotype South Indians are “not very Hindu lefties”. 🙂

Numinous
Numinous
3 years ago
Reply to  Saurav

Still don’t get the connection to libertarianism. Are you implying that the editorial boards of the Hindustan Times or the Economic Times are libertarian?

Personally, I have no clue, so I can’t dispute you, but count me skeptical. I still think you are using “libertarian” as a cuss word, or synonym for “hypocritical opponents of the Modi govt”.

VijayVan
VijayVan
3 years ago
Milan Todorovic
Milan Todorovic
3 years ago

Another Aryans singles final at Australian open, I2 vs R1a. Congratulations to Rajeev Ram for winning mixed finals with Krejcikova.

Narasingha Deva
Narasingha Deva
3 years ago

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/russias-arms-manufacturer-kalashnikov-eyes-production-in-india-101613653836025-amp.html

Russia’s arms manufacturer Kalashnikov eyes production in India, woos gadget lovers with hi-tech shotgun

Ugra
Ugra
3 years ago

Part 1

A sheet anchor for the Indian bronze age

Giacomo Benedetti, the Italian Indologist published a paper with a singular focus to resolve the synchronicity between the Puranic king lists and the archaeological phases of the Indus Valley civilization. His paper has received traction within the OIT world. Many commentators have praised it generously for its elegant attempt to resolve the intractable problem of a sheet anchor for the Indian Bronze Age.

https://www.academia.edu/7683313/The_Chronology_of_Puranic_Kings_and_Rigvedic_Rishis_in_Comparison_with_the_Phases_of_the_Sindhu_Sarasvati_Civilization

I have read it much more than a couple of times and every time I go back to it, I am rewarded with newer layers of significance. He has stitched together sources and material from a dozen disparate stalwarts – Possehl, Pargiter, Kenoyer, Talageri, Rao, Parpola, Keith and MacDonnell, BB Lal, Ghosh, Ratnagar, Pusalker – to name but a few. Every one of those researchers were leading luminaries in their own fields – but Benedetti stitches them together into a weave that is clearly more than the sum of their individual threads.

Ugra
Ugra
3 years ago

Part 2

A sheet anchor for the Indian bronze age

My own lines of thinking have been quite clear and have been very specifically concentrated on the Indra-Vishnu conundrum for quite some time. Indra is clearly the rockstar in the Vedas and Vishnu is a minor appendage. But by the time of the Puranas and the Mahabharata, it is clearly Vishnu who has become the prime godhead. Indra has become a purveyor of wine and women with an erratic lordship over his own kingdom. The fall is quite steep! And the mechanics of this fall remain unexplained if one were to persist with the AIT/AMT timeline of Rgveda in 1500 BCE and Mahabharata in 900 BCE. What happened in these 600 years? Well, nothing happened. This is the curious incident of the god in the night-time!!

We now know that an aridification event happened 4200 years ago (2200 BCE) which wiped out BA civilizations in Egypt, Mesopotamia, China and India. The length of this event is still a subject of debate – some say it lasted several decades and a few hold that it might have been only a decade long phenomenon. But this event is now the basis for the last Age in the Holocene – called the Meghalayan Age based on a stalagmite found in Northeast India. So the Holocene now has three ages – Greenlandian, Northgrippian and Meghalayan.

Numinous
Numinous
3 years ago
Reply to  Ugra

Weren’t both the Puranas and the Mahabharata composed well after (centuries after) the events they talk about? Possibly anachronistic things got added to the narratives in hindsight? Does the analysis take this into account or does it take the Puranas and the canonical version of the Mahabharata as historical fact?

(Just inquiring, not challenging)

Ugra
Ugra
3 years ago

Part 3

A sheet anchor for the Indian bronze age

Indra is the principal deity of the heavens, thunder, lightning, rain, rivers and storms. Now if a century long drought were to devastate the world of the Harappans, it would follow naturally that Indra should also lose his position in the pantheon to a better divinity who might preserve the system and re-establish order in the midst of chaos. Enter Vishnu,the Preserver!

Mahabharata records that the Saraswati is still flowing in small streams till the Vinasana point. This in itself a powerful terminus ante quem. Hydromorphological papers (KS Valdiya) estimate that the Saraswati might have been an active river channel till 1500 BCE. Therefore we are talking about a period between the Mature Harappan and the OCP which serves as the basis for locating the Rgveda and the Mahabharata.

Benedetti takes this topic into depth in a very mature manner to locate the archaeological strata within the historical and textual frame. He uses the king list chronology of Pargiter as a starting point. It is quite interesting for Benedetti seeks to fit the compartments of the Treta and Dvapara Yugas onto the Mature and Late Harappan strata. There are a lot of details and speculations – many of which might not be open to falsification. But his attempt is genuine and makes for fascinating reading.

Milan Todorovic
Milan Todorovic
3 years ago

I don’t know what is the etymology of the word ‘Vishnu’ in local subcontinental languages and if there is a modern meaning. In Serbian, it means ‘the highest’ – from ‘visok’ (high). The gradation is – ‘visok, vishi, najvishi’ (high, higher, the highest). ‘Vishnu’ (sometimes used as ‘svevishni’=the highest of all) actually means ‘higher than the highest’ and it is still used as a modern word for the God.

lurker
lurker
3 years ago

Indian commentators:

Looking for recommendations for Indian right (political, social, economic) organizations to support. Would prefer orgs led by reasonable, articulate people (think someone like Akshay Alladi or Harsh Gupta Madhusudan). Time to put money where the mouth is.

lurker
lurker
3 years ago
Reply to  lurker

commenters* 🙂

Ugra
Ugra
3 years ago

Sunday morning humor…..we have Qamar Cheema, a Pakistani strat analyst giving his thoughts on the Quad. Sometimes I am rewarded for plodding through tons and tons of national security sources. This is one of those moments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JA5SdeDTQk

TLDR – He wants Pakistan to be allowed into the Quad 🙂 He has figured out that India will be a long term beneficiary of the newly emerging security architecture. Therefore it is amply clear that Pakistan cannot be left out of such parties. We are knocking on the door. Guys, let us in. We promise to behave. We are absolutely reliable in the matter of China. We can show you some party tricks.

Roy
Roy
3 years ago

Blacks are attacking east asian Americans. Democrats blame Trump and white supremacy. The American left is insane.

Pelosi, lawmakers denounce violence against Asian Americans

Hate incidents against Asian Americans have skyrocketed – more than 3,000 have been reported since the start of the coronavirus pandemic last year – and Democratic lawmakers and community activists say that rise is directly linked to former President Trump and other political leaders using anti-Asian rhetoric when discussing COVID-19.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pelosi-lawmakers-denounce-violence-against-asian-americans/ar-BB1dQ1cM

thewarlock
thewarlock
3 years ago

https://www.dawn.com/news/1339180

Weird article. Speaks in semi riddles like Saurav

Scorpion Eater
Scorpion Eater
3 years ago
Reply to  thewarlock

not too weird. the writer (naqwi) is simply asking to be allowed to eat his beef kababs in peace.

thewarlock
thewarlock
3 years ago
Reply to  Scorpion Eater

Haleems and halwas need to be allowed to eat whatever. When you grow up jain, all animals are equally sacred 😉

Saurav
Saurav
3 years ago
Reply to  thewarlock

Lol. I am blunt-est guy there is. Perhaps too blunt.

principia
principia
3 years ago

So a 84 year-old Indian man got killed by a ‘yoof’ in NYC. What does the woke Indian diaspora do? Do a march against “white nationalism”. But the assailant is no secret, he looks like this.

I feel sorry for the grieving family but I have next to no sympathy for the organisers behind that march. Wokism has rotted their brains.

IsThisReal
IsThisReal
3 years ago
Reply to  principia

If you’re referring to Ratanapakdee- Thai, not Indian

Milan Todorovic
Milan Todorovic
3 years ago

Congratulations to Novak Djokovic on winning his the 18th Grand Slam in Melbourne and for the record length (310 weeks) on the first position of the ATP list. Also, another great success of Rajeev Ram, after the win in the mixed final, the silver in men’s doubles.

thewarlock
thewarlock
3 years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=terrX5lNBkU&ab_channel=YaarvellyProductions

AASI heavy appearance Punjabi singer. Comments interesting. Looks like there is hope in Bidaristan

Numinous
Numinous
3 years ago
Reply to  Razib Khan

Enjoyed the podcast. But I wish you had been on to debate AIT/OIT. I felt Dr. Elst may not have the full picture painted by the recent genetic discoveries, and you’d have been the best person to paint that picture.

Numinous
Numinous
3 years ago
Reply to  Razib Khan

Thanks, looking forward to it.

lurker
lurker
3 years ago

A good read by Manu Joseph (a libertarian/right winger with a sense of humor and writing skills – we need more of his type): “The young should quit activism and go make money”

https://www.livemint.com/opinion/columns/the-young-should-quit-activism-and-go-make-money/amp-11613918228875.html?__twitter_impression=true

“India’s agricultural reform is a bold humanitarian effort but to Western social evangelism an agitating farmer on a tractor has to be the victim. In that way, once again, the global posh in the euphoria of do-gooding, are actually sabotaging India’s poor”

The last line applies to many of India’s posh too including a few on this site.

principia
principia
3 years ago

Why Crypto-Christians May Be Keeping Tamil Nadu’s Numbers Below Actual Levels

The article goes into some length at how they arrived their numbers. It’s a credible and serious effort by eyes. Any tamilians here who could corroborate?

Either way, I’ve stated before that I support a conversion campaign away from abrahamic faiths to dharmic ones and these stories don’t exactly make the need less pressing.

Saurav
Saurav
3 years ago

Finally the solution i have been asking for in the farm crisis.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/opinion/the-solution-to-the-farm-impasse-lies-in-federalism-101613827756030.html

“A way out of this turmoil might lie in respecting India’s federalism more fully. The Centre should not pass farm laws that affect agriculture markets within states, but this should also mean no central government Minimum Support Price (MSP) and no central government procurement. The states say that agriculture is a state subject. It is. And they should have complete say in what subsidies they want to give their farmers, for which crop, and how. The states that strongly believe in MSP and procurement should have complete ownership of both.

the Centre should buy, in the open market, the rice and wheat needed for the public distribution system after the kharif and rabi harvests and maintain buffer stocks for price stabilisation. If states think that the private sector will be exploitative, they can and should do their own procurement. It is only then that they will think hard about crops and costs.

The farm laws are illustrative of an uncomfortable reality. There are many important issues that states are fully empowered to handle. But they don’t. Problems arise. Then there is a clamour that “the government” should do more. But, inevitably, that means the central government. Of course, the Centre loves this, because it then exercises more power. And that has slowly, but surely, tilted the already imbalanced Union-state relationship even more in favour of the former.

The best bulwark against a hegemonic Centre is stronger federalism. But, for that to occur, states will have to up their game. “

Prats
Prats
3 years ago
Reply to  Saurav

All of us know this is the right solution but a debt-laden Punjab is not going to take on even more burden on itself, even if the centre prepares an economic ‘package’ for it.

thewarlock
thewarlock
3 years ago
lurker
lurker
3 years ago

One way for Dharmics to relcaim India is to reclaim old places of significance that were destroyed during Muslim rule. While those in Pakistan and Bangladesh are out of reach for now (may be Bangladesh not fully as it is still 9% Hindu) what prevents Hindus from reclaiming and rebuilding temples like the Martand temple in Kashmir?
https://twitter.com/SudheerPut/status/1362083012368879618

Jains are constantly rebuilding and rennovating (Jirnoddhar) temples across the country, and on top of building many new temples. “Hindus” can collectively raise tonnes of funds to rebuild these temples, and reviving worship in them (Make Martand temple the next Amarnath). Reclaim our spaces.

In a different world, may be in 50 years we would also see the sun temple at Multan being rebuilt.

Rock
Rock
3 years ago
Reply to  lurker

Whole dharmic concept is bullshit.

lurker
lurker
3 years ago
Reply to  Rock

Rock:
Interesting. Why?

Ali Choudhury
Ali Choudhury
3 years ago
Reply to  lurker

Does it assume a certain unity that does not exist?

thewarlock
thewarlock
3 years ago
Reply to  Ali Choudhury

Probably. I can see good arguments. I mean even Muslims, members of the most connected religion on the planet, or not so united about “Ummah” issues. I doubt dharmics are truly even a fraction as united. When was the last time Thai Buddhists commented on the plight of Pakistani Hindus? It just doesn’t happen. The Ummah at least has some unity about things like Israel but even that has recently started to break down.

lurker
lurker
3 years ago
Reply to  Ali Choudhury

Ali, warlock:
First of all, there is no Dharmic Ummah, so can’t expect a Thai Buddhist to feel for Pakistani Hindus. Heck, there isn’t even a Buddhist ummah. Ummah/global religious community is an Abrahamic thing built into their religions and perfected by Islam (but like Warlock said even there it is not foolproof).
Having said that, there is a sort of Dharmic unity in India – shaped by their experiences with Muslims/Islams and accentuated by the difference with Abrahamics. So it is both innate and accentuated by the presence of the very different Abrahmic faiths and their history in India. We saw this as recently as during Partition when it comes to Hindus and Sikhs, see this all the time with Hindus and Jains, and also with Buddhists (although the Dalit angle there complicates things sometimes).
Finally, it is a unity that needs to be forged – there is a sort of proof in how certain enemies of India are always trying to create a rift between the Hindus and Sikhs.

lurker
lurker
3 years ago
Reply to  Ali Choudhury

BTW, the Dharmic thing is a bit of a distractor from the main thrust of my comment. Ignore if you don’t agree with it.
I would rephrase to say that *Hindus* need to aggressively reclaim space in Kashmir, Punjab (yes build some majestic temples on ancient holy sites – invent some if none exist; don’t cede Punjab to the 25% Jatt Sikhs), the Northeast, Bangladesh (at some point).
Amarnath went from a regional tirth to a nationally popular one in a few decades. That’s the template to follow for the Martand temple and others such sites in all corners. Reclaim the spaces 🙂

Ali Choudhury
Ali Choudhury
3 years ago
Reply to  Ali Choudhury

Poor relations with Sikhs are the centre’s own doing. No foreign power ordered Operation Blue Star. It’s popular, convenient and false in both Pakistan and India to blame ethnic unrest be it Pakhtun, Baloch, Sindhi, Muhajir, Kashmiri, Sikh on foreigners.

Narasingha Deva
Narasingha Deva
3 years ago
Ousep
Ousep
3 years ago
Roy
Roy
3 years ago

Himalayan Diffidence

New Delhi’s desperation has led to a peace process of impermanent but linked de-escalations

At heart, the problem is the Indian government’s terminal diffidence. It has foresworn the option of discomfiting Beijing by strategic missile-arming states on China’s borders as belated payback for its equipping Pakistan with nuclear missiles, and shies away from using its leverages (Taiwan, Tibet, trade, Uighurs). This attitude infects the Indian military as well. In an alternative universe, army special forces would long ago have cleared the Y-Junction and counter-blockaded PLA on the Depsang. While there’s talk by military brass about reorienting Indian forces China-wards, there’s little initiative on display. The Indian response in Galwan Valley, it may be recalled, was reactive and the SFF is run by the external intelligence agency, RAW (Research & Analysis Wing). Accustomed to supinity, the Indian government nevertheless believes it will not lose out to Beijing. How is anybody’s guess!

https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/up-front/story/20210301-himalayan-diffidence-1770899-2021-02-19

thewarlock
thewarlock
3 years ago

“Jat Farmer Anger Could In Fact Help Modi, Not Hurt Him

Punjab was never a crucial state for the Modi BJP. In both 2014 and 2019, the party won just 2 seats. Haryana is different. The BJP won all 10 seats here in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, but barely managed to hold on to the state in the subsequent assembly elections. Manohar Lal Khattar’s return made him Haryana’s longest serving non-Jat Chief Minister since Bhajan Lal.

In fact, the BJP is largely seen as a non-Jat party in the state, and much of its political rhetoric has been centred around ending Jat dominance in government jobs. The violent Jat agitation of 2016 helped the BJP consolidate the non-Jat votes, while Jats moved further away from the party. This resulted in big losses for the party in the Jat belts in the assembly elections of 2019. Analysis by Radhika Kumar shows that the BJP got just 8 of 29 seats in Jat-dominated Central Haryana, and just 17 of 38 seats in the GT Road belt, which was the worst affected by the 2016 Jat agitation. Equally significant is that the BJP lost badly in the rural belt, while it gained in urban centres like Faridabad.

So the BJP has little left to lose amongst farming communities in Punjab and Haryana. On the contrary, the Jat-led farmers agitation in Haryana could help the party make deeper inroads into the 20 percent Dalit vote in the state, many of whom are likely to be agricultural labourers who are on the receiving end of rural power relations. At best, it could cost the BJP five seats in Haryana and the two it has in Punjab.

Much bigger political gains are to be made in the rest of India, if PM Modi can present the farmers’ agitation as essentially one of rich landowners who exploit the poor in rural India.

By presenting the farm laws as reforms aimed at ending the dominance of rich farmers, the BJP can hope to rally together the remaining 70 percent of rural voters. The Modi Government’s policies of providing subsistence-level income and services to the poorest of the poor also provides an economic base for it to claim that it is pro-poor.

At the same time, opening up agriculture to big corporates, the mega-privatisation plan announced in Budget 2021, PM Modi’s public stand in favour of the private sector, will ensure that the BJP continues to be the most-trusted party for India Inc. This will ensure that a significant section of mainstream media stays on the government’s side, and helps push the government’s version of the farm laws across India. It will also ensure that the BJP continues to be the biggest beneficiary of corporate money, without which no party can hope to fund the massive electoral machinery required to win polls in India.

https://www.ndtv.com/blog/no-farmer-agitation-is-not-modis-anna-moment-2373689

Interesting

lurker
lurker
3 years ago
Reply to  thewarlock

This is the Hindus + Jatt dominated/oppressed Sikhs (Dalits, lower caste Sikhs) consolidation in Punjab that I was talking about. BJP didn’t have much time this time around for the local body elections and given the ongoing protests the other side was energized. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the next 2-3 years.

Janamejaya
Janamejaya
3 years ago
Reply to  lurker

“This is the Hindus + Jatt dominated/oppressed Sikhs (Dalits, lower caste Sikhs) consolidation in Punjab that I was talking about.”

IMO, BJP will never be strong in Punjab in the foreseeable future.

1) Upper caste Hindus in Punjab are either too cowed down by Sikhism (most Punjabi Brahmins or Banias) or too much influenced by it (most Punjabi Khatris) to assert themselves by voting for the BJP. Anyways their numbers are too small and scattered.

2) Dalit Hindus/Sikhs in Punjab mostly dislike upper caste Hindus. They have been converting to Christianity for generations or follow Ramdasia sect, different Deras etc. They will keep voting for the Congress.

3) Jatt Sikhs ofcourse mostly (strongly) hate the BJP for its strident Hindu assertion and would divide their vote between Akali Dal, AAP and Congress.

Where are the BJP voters? Theoretically you could get 1) to vote enmasse for the BJP but their numbers are too small for BJP to win power. Making 2) vote for BJP is extremely difficult. Most BJP leaders in the state are from 1). There are none currently from 2). It would take years of wooing for BJP leaders from 2) to come up. I don’t think the software of Hindutva currently has that capability.

The bridges to 3) have long been broken.

Vikram
3 years ago
Reply to  Janamejaya

“too much influenced by it (most Punjabi Khatris)”

What do you mean “too much influenced” by Sikhism ?

Punjabi Khatris (presume you are talking about Hindus) have provided the BJP with most of their leaders from Punjab, Arun Jaitley, Vinod Khanna, Madan Lal Khurana come to mind immediately.

Narasingha Deva
Narasingha Deva
3 years ago

https://www.chemengonline.com/inox-air-products-to-build-eight-new-asus-in-india/

INOX AIR PRODUCTS TO BUILD EIGHT NEW ASUS IN INDIA

INOX Air Products (INOXAP), Air Products’ India joint venture company, has laid out massive expansion plans of INR 2000 Crores to build eight new Air Separation Units (ASUs) across the country. This will be India’s largest Greenfield investment plan ever witnessed in the Industrial Gases sector

INOXAP’s new plants will be strategically located in proximity of high demand growth areas in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. The plants will produce liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen and liquid argon and will be commissioned during the course of FY22 to FY24. The bulk availability of industrial and medical gases will ensure constant supplies for electronic manufacturing, pharmaceutical sector, besides helping iron, steel and automobile industries to ramp up their production capacities. The projects will generate more than 1000 direct and indirect employment opportunities in their respective regions.

Narasingha Deva
Narasingha Deva
3 years ago

Gujarat Municipal Election Results 2021 Live: BJP back in control in all six corporations, no gain for Congress

https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/gujarat-municipal-election-result-2021-live-votes-counting-for-6-civic-corporations-bjp-congress-aap/2199954/lite/

Janamejaya
Janamejaya
3 years ago

“Poor relations with Sikhs are the centre’s own doing.”

Lol
Hardline Sikhs are in a religious frenzy and among other things want to go full medieval on deviant sects like Nirankaris. The liberal Indian state does not want to let them do so. Hardline Sikh leaders raise the stake by garrisoning their main temple and commanding death squads, holding kangaroo courts, collecting ransom from businesses, flouting the state’s writ etc from there. All attempts at resolving the conflict through peaceful means are spurned.

What could the Indian state have done? Please do not project Pakistan’s actions upon India. There was little India did to Sikhs which could be faulted.

Sikh alienation from the Indian state is their own doing, a racial-superiority mindset which translates into disasters.

fragment_and_activities
fragment_and_activities
3 years ago
Reply to  Janamejaya

Not just Nirankaris, look at how they [murdered Ramanand Dass](https://foref-europe.org/blog/2019/09/12/the-untouchables-in-europe-10-years-ago-their-guru-was-murdered-in-vienna/) of Ravidassia sect thus creating a new religion.

Punjab is a place of religious innovation and a number of sects/deras/religions come up every so often. For e.g.: Ahmediyas, Nirankaris, Radhasaomis, Ravidassia etc. etc.

thewarlock
thewarlock
3 years ago

Jatt Supremacism has led to the deaths of egalitarian minded men such as these in Punjab. At the same time, most Jatts are not like these extremists. Many have fought for the Indian flag. But the extremists must be confronted, many of whom are members of the Khalistan movement.

Milan Todorovic
Milan Todorovic
3 years ago

After 4000 years ‘Triumph’ is coming back to India…

The first group of 100 Indian military experts and soldiers will arrive in Russia at the end of January for training in handling S-400 “Triumph” anti-aircraft missile systems, writes Sputnik.

“Ahead of the delivery of the S-400, which will begin in September-October, a large group of representatives of the Indian Armed Forces will leave for Russia in the last week of January for training to work on the S-400 complex. A few months later, another group of soldiers will go to Russia with the same goal. As planned, the first S-400 complex will be delivered to the Indian army at the end of 2021 or the beginning of 2022. The agreement with Russia on the deliveries of these air defense systems will be realized by 2025 “, reports the” Times of India “, referring to the sources in the Indian army.

According to the paper, Russian “Triumph” missiles will revolutionize India’s air defense system. “They will be deployed in the western, northern and eastern regions of India, taking into account the threats coming from China and Pakistan,” Sputnik reports.

Btw, ‘triumph’ is originally a Serbian word. The first triumph in human history was conducted by the first Aryan leader after his return from India. Elephants were used in this ‘triumph’ which was conducted every third year after that. Alexander Karanovic the Great repeated the triumph celebration copying his much earlier predecessor. Triumphs were very popular and regularly performed during the Roman Empire and the practice continued until today.

Milan Todorovic
Milan Todorovic
3 years ago

Very well, after reading the above title pundits noticed the mistake Russians made in naming their weapon for India. They lost one zero and the correct name should be: S-4000 ‘triumph’.

So, can we milk more from the above story?

The Roman Republic fought Serbian (Illyrian) tribes for hundreds of years and when they settled those conflicts they became an Empire. The official history mentions the Roman-Illyrian war 6-9 AC (it actually lasted for 15 years) against tribes in today’s Dalmatia on the Adriatic coast. The war finished as win-win. Serbs got Roman citizenship (first such case outside of the city of Rome) but also obligation to send conscripts to the Roman army. Historian Pliny listed the names of tribes (today’s Serbian surnames) with numbers of conscripts obliged to send (for those who still thinks that so-called ‘Slavs’ came to Balkan in the 7th c.AC). Illyrian legions became iron feast of Roman Empire. Romans organised a TRIUMPH in Rome where in the same chariots were Emperor Tiberius (a nephew of Augustus) and Serbian Illyrian warrior leader – Bato. There is even a Wiki entry with the description of the war and Bato’s picture:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bato_the_Daesitiate

There were few other Serbian leaders with the same name – Bato, e.g. Bato – Dardanian chieftain:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bato_(Dardanian_chieftain)

Where is the catch?

The name ‘Bato’ meant and still means – (little) brother. It is still used as a personal name and nickname for brother, e.g. when asking young girl – where is your bato (i.e. little brother)?

‘Bato’ is the name which was lost in Greek translation. They translated this as a ‘father’ which was accepted in other languages (pater, padre, etc). So, we have the name for ‘father’ in various languages which the actual meaning is – the ‘brother’.

Ho-ho-ho-hoppy Easter, batos punditos (i.e. pundit brothers)!

Vikram
3 years ago

Does anyone have information about the kind of salaries the IT/technology sector in China offers ?

The data here seems to indicate that tech companies (startups and American branches) in India offers salaries comparable or even slightly higher than Chinese ones (in USD) ?
https://www.levels.fyi/Salaries/Software-Engineer/China/
https://www.levels.fyi/Salaries/Software-Engineer/India/

It also seems that salaries at Indian IT services companies (Infosys, TCS, Wipro) are quite low.

VijayVan
VijayVan
3 years ago
Reply to  Vikram

Are salaries in China determined by capitalist demand and supply OR they have some other ceiling, minimum, etc like good socilaists.
Given that China has the large number of billlionaires in Asia, I gues they are capitalist in recruitment

Vikram
3 years ago
Reply to  VijayVan

Given the near daily protestations about ‘996’ on Chinese reddit and other fora, I think the capitalists have the complete upper hand.

principia
principia
3 years ago
Reply to  Vikram

“996” working hours is mostly an IT/tech thing, and those jobs are coveted, which is why the companies can do stuff like that. If you’re working in manufacturing, you have the bargaining power on your side.

China’s manufacturers forced to up wages to US$1,500 a month

Narasingha Deva
Narasingha Deva
3 years ago
Saurav
Saurav
3 years ago

https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1364205077993463808

” For the first 15 yrs, I was an MP in north. I had got used to a different type of politics. For me, coming to Kerala was very refreshing as suddenly I found that people are interested in issues & not just superficially but going into detail in issues: Rahul Gandhi, in Trivandrum”

Prats
Prats
3 years ago

Why I Am Not Losing Hope In India

Read more at: https://www.bloombergquint.com/opinion/why-i-am-not-losing-hope-in-india

“Growing up in Kashmir, I often heard the wonderful distinction between Sabr (the patience rooted in the strategy used to create strength) and Tahammul (the patience rooted in the fortitude used to handle adversity). The impact lag of recent reforms represents Sabr, not Tahammul; India’s people are exhausted of fortitude, eager to try new things that break with the past, and understand short-term pain for long-term gain. My request to India’s diaspora is to give us a few more years. Even better, give us help by moving back.”

Vikram
3 years ago
Reply to  Prats

Articles like these (and the earlier contrarian one by Andy Mukherjee) fail to account for the fact that most Indians seem to be quite content with their lives (as per CSDS surveys at least).

It is surprising how unhappy India’s Anglo classes feel despite having good lives materially. Not to mention all the available services. I think there is a fundamental schism Western/Convent based education causes which makes it impossible for this class to be happy in India.

Prats
Prats
3 years ago
Reply to  Vikram

Could you point me to this study?
Would be interesting to look at exact questions asked.

I agree with you that a majority of Indians lack ambition. The ultimate aspiration of many in North India is to lead a life of feudal leisure (be a ‘laath sahab’). Women also seem to leave the work force at higher rates as we move up the socio-economic ladder.

One would expect some sort of Tocqueville Effect to take hold as more people become slightly better off than before but that new found energy is usually just lost in political activism and not in increasing production.

Not sure if this culture can or will change. It does make things very frustrating for those of us who do want to something here.

Vikram
3 years ago
Reply to  Prats

Prats, see the entries regarding financial condition, economic condition and perceived class status in the post poll surveys here: https://www.lokniti.org/national-election-studies

Consistently, about 2/3rds of the population say they are satisfied with their financial and economic conditions, and identify as members of upper and middle classes.

There seems to be no evidence of a Tocqueville effect, the economy has grown significantly over the period of these surveys, and many people have become much richer.

Rock
Rock
3 years ago
Reply to  thewarlock

Bjp needs to win atleast 60 percent of Bengali Hindu votes.

Narasingha Deva
Narasingha Deva
3 years ago
Saurav
Saurav
3 years ago

https://soundcloud.com/tabadlab/pakistonomy-special-episode-a-conversation-with-zarrar-khuhro

Two Pakistanis discuss “the rise of illiberal populism around the world.”

thewarlock
thewarlock
3 years ago
Reply to  Saurav

they should do a commentary on illiberal radical islamism aka radical islamism retaining control over and over again in their own lands

another reliable news source from the leftist propaganda network

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pranavdixit/koo-muslim-hate-india

thewarlock
thewarlock
3 years ago

“The brahmin cabal that has taken control of India – with Modi as its figurehead- is pulling out all the stops to let loose a reign of terror upon the populace.

Its ultimate aim is to establish a Hindu Rashtra (Hindu Nation) where brahmins will reign supreme, and the caste system is rigidly enforced again, and non-brahmins are relegated to lowly, menial professions. Brahmins will get 100% quota on white collar jobs and dalits wil be forced to perform the most disgusting jobs imaginable. Muslims will be interned in concentration camps ( like what the Chinese are doing to Uighur Muslims). This is the future of India if the brahmin cabal continues to rule unchallenged.”

JUST LMFAO

comment on this article

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/the-arrest-of-this-activist-should-put-indias-democracy-title-in-question/2021/02/24/a18b6ae4-7602-11eb-8115-9ad5e9c02117_story.html

Prats
Prats
3 years ago
Reply to  thewarlock

Couldn’t read the article since it’s paywalled. From the headline it seems like a bunch of bromide by folks who have no clue about India.

Narasingha Deva
Narasingha Deva
3 years ago
Brown Pundits