PoV of a pseudo intellectual half baked liberal feminazi cis male potato.

1. Religion has been a dominant political force for much of human history - particularly till the 15th century. Much of European awakening and the advent of modernity has been made possible because of separation of the church and the state. Will Hindu Rashtra be very different from the Dark Ages of Europe, or the pathetic middle aged kingdoms of India, always divided and fighting over petty issued? I think not. 2. Can there be a single definition of Hinduism? The Hindus of Kerela, Punjab, Bengal and Maharashtra eat different food, have different diety, speak different languages, have different belief systems, celebrate different festivals and so on. Who is to decide what Hindu Rashtra would be for everyone? 3. 'Dharm wo jo Dharan kiya jaye' - Dharma is that which is adopted and lived, this has always been the understanding of religion in India, before the British brought their Christian lens to view Dharma, and force fitted categories like Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Isla...

There is an obvious left bias in the university spaces, not just in India but probably across the world. Liberalism has been a dominant and even aspirational way of thinking and living for most of us as well (not just the university students), much due to the influence of this ideology on opinion makers like west educated academicians, English speaking elites and middle class professionals looking to be world citizens. There are some major flaws in these ideologies – rightly pointed out by the critics – that extreme left argues for use of violence to overthrow establishments, and liberalism is often, in practice, neoliberalism which favors the economically rich, and which looks down upon traditions and customs, especially religious ones. But are university students becoming Leninists-Maoists-Naxals or Neoliberal free-market monsters like the East India Company? Reading Yuval Noah Harrari, Marx, Ambedkar, Gandhi as well as listening to folks like Chomsky and Bernie Sanders could giv...

1. There is no real opposition to BJP in National politics, Congress is decimated and BJP's ideology is not challenged by any political party. 2. University campuses, especially where people study humanities, tend to be left leaning - left leaning, and not Anti National, Maoist, Leninist and Islamist as the regular media wants us to believe. Humanities teach us to be with the oppressed, the shoshit varg, and not with Adanis, Ambanis and Modis. 3. Liberalism, or for that matter any study of any kind, is based on critical thinking and questioning. We question about electricity and power when we read engineering, we question power structures and existing biases in the society when we read humanities. 4. Hence, the only group of people who are effectively and relentlessly questioning the Government - that is their job, and most societies take it positively - are the students, especially in Government funded (since private universities could be easily snubbed), humanities institu...

We are wired to fear the other-whether it be a different caste, religion or nationality. It's a primal instinct which flows from the security needs of ancient Stone age and medieval humans. However, as those security fears became unwarranted with the advent of modernisation, it was no longer beneficial to despise the other-but it was still wired. So, Western liberal thought, came up with concepts of fraternity, human rights and social justice to prevent us from turning back to our primal instincts and to help us remind ourselves, "No we don't need to fear the other." It actually became even economically beneficial in the age of industrialization to collaborate with the other. I will be very honest and say that I grew up seeing Muslims as an other. I felt out of place in Muslim living area, I got intimidated by the Kohl in the eyes of men and I wondered why do they pray so differently from us. But thanks to the right people and the right books around me, before I tu...

Gandhi envisioned an India based on Swaraj, a spiritually minded set of self sustained villages, anti-materialiatic India. Nehru wanted a scientific minded, secular, socialist republic, where the idea of rational thinking and equality would be supreme. Ambedkar wanted annihilation of caste, where Chamars and Sharmas can intermarry and eventually become one caste, where inequality based on blood is annihilated. How many of us who swear by the name of Gandhi, Nehru and Ambedkar have actually followed our leaders to any significant extend? Modi wants an India based on the idea of Hindutva, a Viraat Hindu Rashtra, where all castes which respect the ancient principle of Sanatan Dharma are welcome in the fold, where the wisdom of Ayurveda, Gita, Manusmriti will find its rightful face, and where invaders, or even natives, who oppose these timeless principles of Bharat would be shown their place. How many of us who support Modi actually believe and follow these ideals? All other cha...

1. The curious case of Indian liberals, who were never really liberal Democracy is indeed powerful, and people's vote is often a voice which cuts through layers of ideological blindness and shows one who people are and what they want. A typical Indian liberal is a high caste, high class and western educated English speaking Indian. Their background has been such that unless they have considerable empathy and a quest to really find the truth about rest of India, they will find it impossible to understand the reality of the Indians who don't live in metros. They do not mean wrong, many of them are very passionate about very relevant issues like feminism, caste descrimination and even neoliberalism, but there are certain inherent contradictions in their way of life (much of which is coming from their caste and class privilage) that for any observer, they will look hypocritical. Consider caste. Much of academia, media and even high corporate is filled with liberals who are u...

This is probably the first time in the history of independent India that criticising government has not only become something which hurts people's (citizen's) sentiments, but evokes violent reactions, trolling and even threats of physical violence from fellow citizens (not the state, which happened during emergency). This is against the basic democratic precepts of calling out what a citizen thinks is wrong, or even generally asking questions from those in power about their decisions which affect the larger public. Government is not equal to India, India is made of its people. People elect the Government, people have institutions like media, judiciary and even social media to keep the Government in check. This is class 7th Civics. Legislative, executive, judiciary and media are the four pillars of democracy. This Government, to be more precise,the legislative, which essentially is run by a single party, which essentially is largely run by two individuals, has systematica...