On this tragic day 34 years ago, Rajiv Gandhi was brutally assassinated in Chennai. It would be timely and worthwhile to respectfully reflect on his legacy β the good, the controversial, and the unresolved.
A quick note to all commenters: if your contribution crosses the line into needless provocation, I will quietly moderate it out and move on. This isnβt censorship β itβs housekeeping.
Also, to the regular Commentariat: please start updating your handles to something more meaningful or representative (capitalize properly, and avoid satire or throwaway names). It helps foster a more thoughtful space as the dialogue deepens while also preserving a necessary sense of anonymity.
Engagement is rising rapidly β we had 240 comments last week alone, and 48 on May 19th. So Iβll be updating policies in real time to keep pace with the growth of the weblog.
He actually did a bit of proto-liberalization in the late 80s with computers and stuff before Manmohan opened the floodgates in the early 90s.
Thanks for the name update. One small concern: if your handle gives the impression of belonging to a specific community β particularly one with distinct historical and political associations, like the Sikhs β it can unintentionally skew how your views are perceived. (Of course, if you are Sikh, then I stand corrected β and apologies in that case.)
On a broader note, I genuinely think it would be illuminating if members of the Commentariat disclosed their caste and class backgrounds β not to call anyone out, but to contextualize the ideological positions we all hold. Itβs fascinating (and often telling) to see where peopleβs arguments square with their lived experience.
Singh is used by more Hindus than Sikhs. It’s a reference to the singer.
Upper middle class atheist born Hindu (I eat both beef and pork) living in Goa.
Mixed parentage. Father is half Assamese tribal/half Assamese Kalita – caste not really big thing in the NE, Mother is half Telugu Brahmin/half Bengali Brahmin. Both my parents and both sets of grandparents had “love marriages”.
I guess I’m the descendant of the Anglicized middle manager class the British cultivated (Enid Blyton books, Beatles etc are more my touchstones than Bollywood). Three of my great grandfathers worked for the British. Maybe the fourth one did as well but I don’t know much about him.
Thank You for the disclosure
I too am a mutt like you.
Jaffna Tamil paternal. maternal: Sinhalese + maternal grandmother half Irish
You must be the only Assamese (or part) on this group.
So will pay more attention to your comments.
Honey Singh: Looked it up, a guy. I was hoping for female singer or even better a porn star like Sunny Leone.(Karenjit “Karen” Kaur Vohra”
Maybe a Karen Kaur hopefully
Notwithstanding the proliferation of the internet I think we can all safely assume some degree of privilege if you are writing on this forum.
Caste is pretty much an abomination in my view. Should we really be encouraging people to identify as such, it’s bad enough that politics is ensuring it’s perpetuity.
In my mind Honey Singh is very generic, A Doval similarly so. The Jinnah bit was some cheeky trolling which went on for too long.
Knowing the ‘telling’ bias of a person you can end up dismissing their views, conversely lived experience can strengthen an argument.
My personal paranoia on cyber information is quite high anyway.
To level the field a bit in terms of disclosure from my side, I am culturally Hindu/Indian, very atheistic and currently live in Japan.
Fully with you on the anonymity. I’m a nobody and I would like to keep it that way!
Manmohan Singh got the credit that was due to Narsimha Rao.
The unwilling heir. His misadventure in SL lead to his assassination. Some events from childhood are seared into memory. This was one such, of being woken up and told by my mom that the PM was assassinated. Cursed dynasty like the Kennedys and the neighbouring Bhuttos.