There is a fundamental difference Indian nationalism and other countries nationalism. Indian nationalism is all about bringing back the "varna system" which advocates stratification of society based on the birth and access to education is only allowed for the brahmins(priestly caste). This was the system implemented strictly before the Britishers arrived to India.
No country to my knowledge does denies education to its own people in the name of nationalism.
In contrast in other countries the nationalism is not about stratification of society or honoring privilege by birth.Not a unique to Indian nationalism. American nationalism is very similar. See the "birther" movement. Or the president's push to withdraw birthright citizenship, a concept that would deny far more than just education. Or the references to "anchor babies". The location of one's birthplace, and the birthplace of one's parents, is of fundamental importance in US nationalist movements just as in India.
That's a bit closer to birthright citizenship that what we have in Germany, but nowhere as liberal as USA laws, which give citizenship to anyone born in the USA even if their parents entered the country one day before the birth and left next day after the birth. That is something that doesn't exist anywhere in Europe to my knowledge.
And to follow up German immigrants where not liked as the liked their beer and some where gasp Catholic
I was commenting on the use of nativism by a politician whose grandfather was an immigrant.
Though over time some groups formerly seen as undesirables become honoury whites Irish German Catholics etc.
It wasn't that long ago that having a catholic president Kennedy was seen as problematic
It's hard for people to understand how deeply woven caste-based motivations are in Indian society. At a large scale it may seem like some globally stratified layer cake. On the ground, it devolves into regional tribes.
The "caste associations" rural people associate themselves with in rural areas are loosely formed tribes of 10 thousand to 100-thousand strong members.
The perspective of many who choose to be invested in this system - which is most people living in those areas (what else are you gonna do? not support your tribe? who else is gonna have your back if there's trouble?) - is one of trying to gain status for their caste/tribe over others.
Caste rivalries are often regional, and localized.
Identifying India's current PM as not coming from one of the well-recognized "higher castes" is really meaningless. It'd be sort of like saying "yeah, this politician is unlikely to be a hardline christian dominionist, he's a 7-th day adventist, which is clearly a minority sect".
This does not change anything. Modi is just a pawn. He does not have any original ideology, he is there for power.
Look at the number of brahmins and non-brahmins in the key position in the BJP. Look at the analysis here https://theprint.in/politics/ambedkar-on-its-agenda-but-bjp-...
If you are still not convinced, look at what "Subramanian swamy" had to say when every one in BJP party was changing their twitter profile last name to "chowkidar"(meaning soldier or protector). He said he is a brahmin and its brahmins duty to advice how the country should be run and not be a soldier as vedas consider brahmins as superior to all the other varnas.
https://www.indiatoday.in/elections/lok-sabha-2019/story/can...
The point is the ideology that is driving BJP is all about bringing back the privilege based on the birth.
I don't expect him to be post-modernists egalitarian.
However at the same it doesn't mean he can't say his casteist comments openly. ;)
After all, its better if people say it openly so that they can be criticized for their casteist comment. The likes of him is politically insignificant as he is NOT competing in elections.
Don't just rely on Indian fake news media.
From what I’ve seen it’s like any other nationalist movement.
In old age people used to believe earth is in the center of the universe. One should not quote anything which is more than 25 years old. World is changing rapidly.
How many believes that now except few delusioned individuals who still believe earth is flat and is in the center of the universe and rest of the talks are propaganda?
What is central-govt doing to "DENY" education and that based on "caste" ? I still didn't find any evidence.
The important question is what is driving this educational policy. Its the belief of the vedas that for a society to function well not everyone should have the same opportunity and access to education. Everyone has duty based on the family they were born and should not be allowed to change.
RSS ideology is to make india a hindu religous state. Hinduism is based on the vedic books which advocate varna system.
You are wrong. The Vedas have nothing to do with the varna (caste) system. The caste system came much later and they have nothing to do with the foundations of Hinduism. There are several sects of Hinduism which explicitly reject the caste system. Look up Arya Samaj etc.
I have a feeling have I wasted my time in engaging with facts for someone whose mind is already made up about my faith.
That's just semantic skullduggery. RSS does not fight elections, but they play king maker in these right wing party politics and take part sending their emissaries through revolving door between "social" and the "political"
"Indian nationalism is all about bringing back the "varna system" " ---- You have done a Phd in the subject-- any links?
RSS ideology is to make india a hindu religous state. Hinduism is based on the vedic books which advocate varna system.
That's ad hominem. If you have a specific point mention that. If the only document you will accept is from RSS mouthpieces then there is no point in the conversation.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/indianexpress.com/article/trend...
This is against a mostly one book, one god/no god, one agenda and one power centre ideology being enforced on the people - Marxism, Christianity, Islam, "Atheism", "Feminism"
Especially in a country with a million gods and small unique communities, it falls on the government to protect them from ideologies with a track record for violence and genocide.
Can you name a single unbiased channel?
> Political liberalism in India is now under assault. The current right-of-center government, dominated by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), appears intent on transforming India's pluralistic, open, and secular state into an ethnic and illiberal democracy. To that end it has sought to place ideologues in key governmental institutions, attempted to curtail academic freedoms at a leading university, and made efforts to curb an otherwise feisty mass media. A weak political opposition, which had in any case failed to demonstrate much mettle when in government prior to the BJP's 2014 electoral victory, now appears utterly incapable of stemming this illiberal tide. As a consequence, India's future as a liberal democracy appears to be at some risk.
> Kumi Naidoo, the secretary-general of Amnesty International, takes a different view, decrying an official effort to "[crush] dissent by demonizing and criminalizing activists, lawyers, and journalists working for some of the poorest and most marginalized communities in India." Amnesty International India has itself been targeted: Its bank accounts have been frozen, and police in Bangalore have accused it of sedition.
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/713724
From the Journal of Democracy (Jan 2019)
Sweden in general is handling it well, but it would take a long time to understand who handled covid better.
I don't think that is obviously true, but in any case your arguments maybe better received if you explained why their claims are wrong.
I'd note that you used the same approach downthread, until it turned out the author himself was Indian and extremely well qualified to make the points he made.
> The reports published by these orgs are prepared by some minimum wage worker
Author: Sumit Ganguly is Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Rabindranath Tagore Professor of Indian Cultures and Civilizations at the Indiana University.
> Lancet and "Global Health Security Index"
I don't know what "Global Health Security Index" is, but no minimum wage worker is getting published in Lancet.
I think it makes it fairly clear he is well qualified to write on the topic. Only one of the his 8 books wasn't about India. He was awarded the "Pravasi Bharatiya Samman (Distinguished Overseas Indian)" award by the President of India!
Additionally he has published extensively specifically about India and democracy since at least 1997: https://scholar.google.com.au/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=S...
I'd note in particular his contribution to the 1997 classic in the field "Paths to Peace - Is Democracy the Answer?"
Eh... no it does not. The Supreme Court has capitulated; it rubber stamps anything coming out of Modi Inc. Do you not follow whats going on?
Why don't you address all of the issues that the parent poster bought up?
Letting article 370 reform go unchallenged would be one example.
It was an opportunistic edge case that allowed the federal body to decide on a state matter because the state government was temporarily missing and a caretaker government was in charge.
Court chose to look the other way.
One can arguesuch opportunism is legal as far as the letter of the law is concerned. It is common on legal proceedings for the spirit of the law to be upheld rather than the letter, except for business/commercial contracts.
1. https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/the-hindu-explains-wh...
2. https://theprint.in/opinion/india-turned-a-blind-eye-to-just...
3. https://twitter.com/pbhushan1/status/861823918289571841?ref_...
What you may be complaining about is why is it illegal to contempt Indian Judiciary —- which is a different topic.
I have no words.
It gets really bad when it is exported. See the recent HN post (or actual court case) re caste discrimination https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24552047.
Your hatred for Hinduism is shocking! I am utterly disappointing to read this in HN (a tech news discussion). Just for your info, all people regardless of religions have caste in India including Sikhs, Chritsians and muslims . Define "brahmanic supremacy". Brahmins are a group of people living by conducting temple rituals and they are mostly poor. The politicians are using religion as a weapon for increasing their votes. Can we stop using religion when discussing here ?
References: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india/are-brahmins-today-s-da...
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Indian_Parliament_attack
2. https://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/india-ne...
[1] https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/parliament-attac...
https://scroll.in/article/805427/the-quick-guide-to-sar-gila...
Source? The Amnesty International link upthread about his execution does nothing like that, but is criticism of a) the law under which he was sentenced and b) that and how the execution was done (which AI is strongly opposed to and criticizing everywhere)
FWIW, this sounds quite similar to criticism of orgs like them in the west when people also can't understand why they'd defend bad people
Yes he was a terrorist but a repatriated one. India had a policy of bringing youth who have gone the terrorism way, served their sentence et be brought back into the folds of civil political society. Afzal Guru was such a case. Also as mentioned by police high ups who oversaw his case he was a pushover (actual words used "bhondu"). This all turned very convenient for the administration that was under pressure to show progress on the investigation.
The circumstantial evidence found on him related to the parliament attack are of such nature that could easily have been planted by the police (specific example, a scarp of paper with the terrorist handlers phone number found on his person).
Planting of evidence is quite common and rote in India. Judges with a spine discount those. In this case the justice bench didn't -- because the theatre was too important compared to a pushover reformed erstwhile terrorist.
I don't think the judiciary is sleeping with the government. In recent times, they have given verdicts like the decriminalization of homosexual relationships and abolishing of Triple Talaq. I do agree that they should be more proactive. One reason for them being a bit soft on the government is that the current government has stuff like NJAC in their arsenal, which threatens to dilute the power of the judiciary. While NJAC was declared unconstitutional by the SC some years back, the current leadership can still bring it back by mobilizing support for it.
India: Arrests of Activists Politically Motivated https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/09/16/india-arrests-activists-...
Under Modi, India's Press Not Free Anymore https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/world/asia/modi-india-pre...
Critics of India’s Modi Government Face Sedition Charges https://thediplomat.com/2020/03/critics-of-indias-modi-gover...
Is free speech under threat in Modi’s India? Activists, journalists, lawyers and academics are concerned that free speech in India is deteriorating (2017) https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2017/08/03/is-free-speech...