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As India celebrates its seven decades of freedom, it needs a movement for cultural independence

Shashank Bharadwaj
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As India celebrates its seven decades of freedom, it needs a movement for cultural independence

As we celebrate another glorious year of Independence, the one unanswered question is – Are we really independent? While we have rightfully claimed our sovereignty from foreign rule seven decades ago, the country still seems to be captive of alien thoughts.

After a Herculean fight against the British, we may have attained political freedom and perhaps even some sort of economic freedom, thanks to the economic reforms of the 90s but Bharat, the land of the oldest civilization, is yet to achieve its cultural independence.

Sovereignty and Cultural Independence:

Sovereignty is a political concept. It means to gain absolute and ultimate authority over the political state, often expressed within its territory in full self-government and to attain complete freedom from any outside influence. Though we won our political freedom from the colonial powers, we have failed to decolonise our minds. Despite being the oldest civilisation, a strong independent movement to attain cultural superiority never took off. With India becoming a sovereign secular, socialist republic, the dream of a revolution to make the land of Bharat a cultural superpower fell apart.

India is a civilisational country. The common thread connecting all the citizens of the country is its civilisation values, which is often manifested with the ‘Hindu’ value system. The term ‘Hindu’, not only has religious connotations but has a larger civilisational and cultural expression. In a civilisational country like India, these cultures are often represented through various religions. India or Bharat, being a land of the oldest civilisation of the world has a unique set of value systems. From the days of Indus valley civilisation to Vedic era and from the time of Islamic invasion to the British era, there has been an unbroken chain of ideas, knowledge, culture, traditions have been transferred, keeping those unique civilisation values still intact.

However, when India attained its sovereignty, a section of the power structure in the country unleashed all its forces to obstruct the oldest civilisation in this world from exerting its value systems. A long concerted war has been waged through the country’s social and political institutions to subjugate a long cultural history.

As the British handed over the country to ‘responsible’ people a spirit of a new ‘India’ was conceived within an age-old civilisation of Bharat. A new political state was set up, with the then political bigwigs mainly from the Congress party. Having invested their capital during the national movement of independence, they quickly replaced their ‘white sahibs’. A new intellectual structure consisting of western educated elites, Britain-trained bureaucrats, the ‘secular-liberal’ minds got stitched to the Nehruvian political structure.

With Nehruvian socialism and secularism capturing the hearts and minds of Indians, the cultural movement took a back seat in Bharat. Even though there were attempts by certain historians, Indologists and intellectuals to carve out a space to disseminate our glory, the momentum was soon lost.

The diverse traditions and culture of an old civilisation were appropriated into the western framework. India is more than a nation-state. It is also a unique civilization with philosophies and traditions that are markedly distinct from the prevailing colonial culture of our times. In a way, the process of secularising and universalising the Hindu culture began with this western appropriation.

Perhaps, the structural changes in India during the 1970s had the greatest impact on the cultural movement within India. With the change of political setup in the country, a new intellectual setup replaced the Nehruvian era. After the demise of Nehru, his daughter Indira Gandhi took it forward. The Western-educated mediocrity once again got parachuted into the country. A new band of ‘Left-Liberals’ emerged.

The Marxist thought began to creep in as the Communists were now part of intellectual thought controlling the crowd. They were heading political, social and cultural institutions in exchange for their support to the prevailing political order. A new set of intellectuals and ‘Sarkari’ historians began to take control of the narrative. The stage was set for pushing their intellectual hegemony to attack the cultural movement of the country.

The new virtues of western universalism replaced the age-old values of Indian culture which began to impact the thinking of a common India. Western-educated elites, who were alienated from their own culture brought in what they thought was a highly secularized structure. It taught us to be ashamed of our culture, history, traditions and most importantly ourselves. We were probably closer to our roots during British rule than in the post-Independence era.

The hijacking of social institutions and remodelling the Constitution in accordance with their belief system impacted the cultural movement in the country. The Left won the intellectual battle by suppressing the mainstream cultural Indian society, especially the Hindus, who were rather helpless to fight over a dominant political force.

Thankfully, with changing political structure and resurrection of cultural forces in the intelligentsia lately, an opportunity is up for grabs for the cultural forces within the country to begin a movement. A fresh wave of a cultural renaissance seems to be emerging.

Why India needs Cultural Independence?

Hindu cultural ideals have become more universal than most of its opponents perceive it. The Hindu culture has given more to the world than it has received. With ideological movements like liberalism, feminism and even Islam which looks to expand its dominance across the globe, India will no longer be isolated. The future civilisation battles of the future will be fought here. This will have larger implications on our value system and culture. A strong intellectual-culture movement will act as a check to these expansionary ideological movements. Achieving a universal value system with Hindu civilisation at the fore-front of such movements is the need of the hour.

Along with this, a new dawn for India’s cultural movement has begun with the people of the land taking pride in expressing their belief system, faith and cultural values. There is already a concerted campaign initiated against the conservatives, who are fighting two and a half front war with leftists, Islamists and a new cabal of feminists.

But, the cultural movement in India, mainly pushed through the Hindus has finally discovered a method of countering these leftists who describe themselves as ‘liberals’ in the intellectual space. The “Culture War” that is raging today is a matter of existential concern for the left-liberals. They are now confronted by an opposition that is now willing to openly proclaim their culture, faith and believe that their ancestors and their legacy have been morally wronged by the current intellectual elite. With Narendra Modi in power and cultural organisation like RSS supporting him, the movement has got a shot in the arm.

Narendra Modi’s leadership now represents, for many Indians, a civilizational resurgence on a scale not seen since their country’s independence. Modi’s sweeping victory, in 2014 and 2019 reflects not just a desire for better governance but also a larger shift in the Indian worldview. For Modi’s supporters, and for Hindus in particular, Modi’s rise showcased India’s renewed sense of self as an ancient civilization on the threshold of a global rebirth.

The Hindus, who began a cultural movement earlier were filled with pessimism having made to feel ashamed of their own history, culture. However, they have now sensed that a large cultural movement is the need of the hour to attain the cultural glory that this civilisation deserves. They now realise that ‘nationalism’ is a way to be part of a cultural debate, which can give them the necessary to momentum to build on their struggle to free the intellectual space which has been hijacked and infested with the leftist propaganda.

As the cultural forces within the country now recognise that a cultural movement is on the verge of a new dawn, there is a sense of fresh hope among the Bharatiyas. That the time is ripe for a larger cultural independence movement in the country to attain the honour of being a ‘Vishwaguru’.

Gorkhaland, a demand whose time has come: Demand of the sons of the soil and the myths that tarnish the movement

Upendra
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Gorkhaland, a demand whose time has come: Demand of the sons of the soil and the myths that tarnish the movement

When Jamyang Tsering Namgyal of Ladakh gave one of the most passionate, factual and heart-breaking accounts of how Article 370 had kept the people of Ladakh deprived, discriminated against and treated as a second class citizens, he forced people across India and the world to take note. Far away from Ladakh from where he belongs, or Delhi where he was giving his speech, people in the Eastern Himalayan region of Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars were glued onto their TVs. For us here in Darjeeling region, Jamyang wasn’t just describing the pathos of Ladakh, he was resonating each and every sentiment that we the people aspiring for Gorkhaland statehood have felt and lived through in West Bengal.

‘Gorkhaland’ the very name evokes strong sentiments – from a motley crew of passionate supporters to very dedicated gang of opposers, to a vast majority of well-meaning but clueless neutrals who irrespective of their understanding of the issue or absolute lack of it, comment on it passionately.

Trying to explain the nuances of the demand for a ‘Gorkhaland state’ individually is very difficult, which is why it is imperative to explain the finer details of Gorkhaland demand in detail.

I am basing this article on a Q and A format so that everyone reading the article will find it easy to understand the issue in depth.

Everyday Identity Blues

Curious stranger: Hi! You look a little strange…Where are you from? Nepal?

Me: India

Curious stranger: Let me guess… North East

Me: Darjeeling

Curious stranger: Oh! It’s in Nepal no?

Me: No, it’s in West Bengal

Curious stranger: Nice! So you are a Bong? Do you speak Bengali?

Me: No, I am a Gorkha, and our lingua franca is Nepali.

Curious stranger: Huh! So you immigrated to India?

Me: No, I was born here

Curious stranger: When did your family come to India?

Me: We didn’t immigrate, we came with the land. We are indigenous to the land.

Curious stranger: Like… seriously?

Me: Yeah! Like very very seriously.

On and on, every day we the Gorkhas have to face one set or other of these series of questions. Our children and youth who have to leave home for study and work grow up with this “crisis of identity” where we have to assert and reassert our Indian-ness day in and day out.

In the plainest of terms, the demand for Gorkhaland state is an attempt on the part of people from Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars to do away with this “crisis of identity” that Gorkhas across India have and have had to face and to assert our Indian Identity. So when Jamyang spoke of the people of Ladakh wanting to become Indian for over 70-years, we here in Darjeeling absolutely understood what he meant. He was, in more ways than he knew to narrate our plight.

I hope the following series of Q and A will help many of you understand the demand and its implications.

Is ‘Gorkhaland’ a demand for separation from India?

Foremost, let us all be clear about one thing – the demand for Gorkhaland is not a demand for separation from India. It is a demand for the formation of a separate state within the constitutional and geographical contours of India. Much like how Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Chattisgarh, Telangana were formed, people living in Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars have been demanding the formation of a separate state called Gorkhaland, away from West Bengal.

What areas are being demanded as Gorkhaland?

The aspired Gorkhaland region comprises of the districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and parts of Alipurduars and Jalpaiguri.

Is there any historical context to these particular areas being demanded as Gorkhaland?

The History of Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars is distinguished by one peculiar aspect – it has always been in a state of flux. Given its geostrategic location, this region was a hotly contested landmass between Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, and Tibet. For centuries the dominant kingdom among these four took control of this region.

From 1662 until 1777 this region was under the Kingdom of Sikkim; however, in 1777 Nepal Army had defeated the King of Sikkim and established their dominance in this region. In 1816 the British Army defeated the Nepal Army, after which they took over and handed over these lands to the King of Sikkim as a gesture of friendship.

In 1835 the Brits took these lands on lease from the King of Sikkim to establish a sanatorium but ended up establishing their military garrison here. By the year 1866, the British had annexed the present day of Kalimpong and Doors from Bhutan following the defeat of Bhutan in the Anglo-Bhutan war of 1865, they then added this newly annexed area to the existing Darjeeling district – which we today know as Darjeeling Hills, Terai and Dooars.

It is these areas that never shared any history with Bengal, which the people here are demanding to be formed into a state called Gorkhaland.

Who are Gorkhas in the Indian context?

The ‘Gorkhas’ in the Indian context are Indian citizens of Nepali ethnicity, who live across the length and breadth of India. The term ‘Gorkha’ in the Indian context is used to differentiate the Indian citizens of Nepali ethnicity from the citizens of Nepal, who prefer to be called ‘Nepalese.’

Did the Gorkhas immigrate to India?

Majority of the people who identify themselves as ‘Gorkhas’ in India are sons and daughters of the soil, and their forefathers ‘came with the land.’ They did not immigrate to India. However, it is well recognized that there are many immigrants from Nepal, who have also settled in India, post-independence.

What do you mean by ‘came with the land’?

The Nepali kingdom in the 17th and 18th Century was spread all over the Himalayas. In the year 1777, Nepal had appropriated the Kingdoms of Sikkim, Kumaon, Garhwal and Kangra. However, following the Anglo-Nepal war of 1814-1816, Nepal agreed to cede most of the Terai region, the lands of Sikkim, Kumaon, Garhwal and Kangra to the British through the Treaty of Sugauli (Sugauli Sandhi), which was signed on 4 March 1816. After the Anglo-British war of 1865, the British appropriated the lands that are today known as Kalimpong and Dooars. Therefore, all the people of Nepali, Sikkimese, Tibetan and Bhutanese origin who were living in these tracts automatically came under the British and subsequently under India (after the British left), hence the term – ‘came with the land.’

Were there ‘Gorkhas’ in Darjeeling region prior to the British coming to India?

Recorded history shows that the region was inhabited as early as the 9th century. When Guru Padmasambhava had passed through this region in the 9th century, he had established Buddhism in the region – which indicates the presence of people living in the areaway, before the British ever landed in Asia.

In the Indian context, the word ‘Gorkha’ is an umbrella term used to identify a varied group of people, as one unified entity. In terms of Darjeeling communities such as the Róng – Lepchas, the Tsong – Limbus, the Kirat – Rai, the Dukpas, the Bhutias and the Magars are the aboriginal/ethnic/native people of the region, who constitute a large chunk of the ‘Gorkha’ people living in the Darjeeling region. Hence, it can be safely said that the majority of the ‘Gorkhas,’ who belong to these communities and are living in Darjeeling, ethnic to the region.

In addition, other groups of people such as the Gurungs, Thapas, Chettris, Newars, Sunwars, Bahuns, Kamis, Damais, Sarkis, Bhutias, Thamis etc, traversed these lands for trade or settled here following wars. For instance, the establishment of the Kingdom of Sikkim in 1642 brought in a large Bhutia population from Tibet and Bhutan into the region. Similarly, the Nepali incursions starting from as early as the 1700s brought many present-day Nepalis to the region.

While kingdoms changed, the people remained.

Over centuries the people from this region could be broadly categorized as – Nepali, Bhutia, Lepcha, Dukpa, Tsong, Rai, Magar of the hills, and Nepali, Dukpa, Koche (Rajbanshi), Meche, Rabha, and Toto of the plains.

Later Adivasis were brought in from Chota-Nagpur plateau to work in the tea gardens of Dooars, then Bengalis and another mainland Indians gradually came and settled in the region.

Around the 1890s the dominant Nepali-Bhutia-Lepcha groups subsumed the rest of the hill tribes into their fold and a unified identity “NeBuLa” was used to define the hill people. In Darjeeling, this gradually metamorphosed into the term “Gorkha”.

Hence, one can safely concur that the ‘Gorkha’ presence far supersedes the British arrival in the region.

It is important to note that today, the term ‘Gorkha’ is used to indicate people who are from this region – which today includes everyone from Bengali Gorkha, Bihari Gorkha to Marwari Gorkha etc.

When was the demand for Gorkhaland first raised?

The first demand for a separate administrative unit for the Darjeeling-Dooars region (a la Separate State in today’s term) was first raised by the Hillmen’s Association in 1907, making the demand for a separate state constituting the Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars region the oldest demand for statehood in India.

Why did the British not entertain this demand?

The only reason as to why such a demand was not entertained by the then British Government is because the Darjeeling and Dooars region was a highly contested geographical region which they had taken on lease from Sikkim and Bhutan. The British had declared our region to be a “non-regulated area”, which meant that the rules and laws developed for the rest of India would not be automatically applied to the region. 

What historical claims does West Bengal have over the Darjeeling-Dooars region?

Ironically None! There is no shared history between the Darjeeling-Dooars region and the rest of West Bengal.

Historically, the district of Darjeeling never formed a part of Bengal and no King who ruled the plains of Bengal ever had any suzerainty over those areas. Ethnologically, the Mongoloid and semi-Mongoloid races inhabiting the Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars have more affinity with the Hill tribes of Assam than with the people in the plains of Bengal. Geographically the district of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar are completely cut off and distinctly different from the rest of West Bengal. Linguistically, the people residing in this region have a greater affinity with Hindi, the Lingua Franca of India, than with the state language Bengali

Why is Darjeeling a part of West Bengal?

Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars were forcefully included into West Bengal without any consultation with the local populace using two flimsy acts enacted by WB Legislative Assembly:

  1. The Requisitioned Land (Apportionment of Compensation) Act, 1949 (51 of 1949). Darjeeling District – transformed to the Absorbed Areas(Laws) Act, 1954.
  2. The West Bengal Raw Jute Futures Act, 1948 (West Bengal Act No. 25 of 1948)

Why are people in Darjeeling demanding Gorkhaland?

The demand for a separate administrative unit (a separate state in today’s term) for the Darjeeling region had started as early as 1907. However, the influx of Bangladeshi refugees starting in 1965 and later state-sponsored illegal immigrants from Bangladesh post-1971 for vote bank by subsequent West Bengal governments led to the marginalization of the ethnic Gorkha, Kamtapuri and the Adivasi communities of the region. The demand for Gorkhaland is a demand to protect the identity, culture, history, traditions and the rich bond of people from the Darjeeling region, which they share with their land.

Furthermore, the Gorkhas from the Darjeeling region have continued to be labelled by the fascist and state-sponsored Bengali organizations such as Bangla O Bangla Bhasa Bachao Samity, Amra Bangali, Jan Jagaran Morcha, Jan Chetna Morcha as illegal immigrants and the demand for Gorkhaland illegal. They have rendered the ethnic Gorkha people as an intruder in his/her own ancestral lands. This has caused widespread socio-economic and political marginalization of the Gorkhas. All these factors have resulted in the Gorkhas being under-represented, stereotyped and communally discriminated in almost all sectors.

Moreover, Bengal has always been colonial in its approach to this region. The large revenues collected from the Darjeeling region have been used to develop other parts of Bengal while neglecting even the basic infrastructure in the region.

Case in point: Since the year 2002, over 3000 malnutrition-related death (death due to starvation) have been reported from the tea gardens of this region and yet the West Bengal government has not taken any steps to alleviate the sufferings of the people in the region. Instead, they have continued to deny the tea garden workers minimum wages.

Is the proposed Gorkhaland region economically viable?

The proposed Gorkhaland region is rich in bio-diversity, scenic views, hydro potentials, tourism, NTFP, Tea and numerous other resources, making this a resource-abundant region.

Currently, the aspired Gorkhaland region contributes to the least 20-23% of the total revenue collected in West Bengal. Even the most conservative estimates put the revenue potential from tea, tourism and hydro from the proposed Gorkhaland area at over 20,000 Crores per annum. In return, West Bengal only spends around Rs 5000 crores in the region annually (including salary paid to Govt officials). Thus, draining off a large portion of the revenue collected from the region.

It is estimated that the revenues from Tea and Tourism alone will make the proposed Gorkhaland region a revenue surplus state.

The revenues collected from hydro development, NTFP, cross-border trades and other resources will make the proposed state of Gorkhaland as one of the most economically vibrant states in India.

What is Chicken Neck region and how will Gorkhaland impact the National Security or our nation?

Darjeeling district is home to the proverbial “chicken neck” region, a roughly 200-km stretch which borders four nations — Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Tibet — in distances varying from 25 kms to 60 kms. It has seen a large-scale influx of illegal migrants from Bangladesh, which started as a trickle in 1965 and turned into a gushing torrent post the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war, that lead to the creation of Bangladesh.

The ‘Siliguri Corridor’ has today become one of the most porous border regions in the world, and Pakistan’s ISI has used this to operate its agents freely. In fact, in 2002, the writer Pinaki Bhattacharya had highlighted how the ISI was using the ‘Siliguri Corridor’ as a supply route to provide arms and ammunition via Bangladesh to insurgents in the North East. Following investigations into the Burdwan bomb blast, in May 2015, the National Investigating Agency released a report that explained how Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) had networks in West Bengal and lower districts of Assam, and that JMB had been using West Bengal as a safe sanctuary.

Given all this, if there is one state in India which is actually a safe haven for terrorists, it is West Bengal, and if the state government was capable of addressing national security concerns, it would have done so a long time ago. The presence of ISI modules and terrorists of the various ilk in Bengal actually prove that the state government in Bengal isn’t able to protect the vulnerable “chicken neck” area.

One possible reason for this could be that the state capital and its power centre, Kolkata, is located too far away from the region, because of which the state administration isn’t able to focus much on the north Bengal districts.

A state of Gorkhaland, including the hills of Darjeeling, Terai and Dooars, would, therefore, help ensure better safety and security for the “chicken neck” area. Smaller states are also easier to govern and the presence of the entire state machinery being in one region would help keep close tabs on infiltrators, unlike what is possible out of Kolkata.

Why is West Bengal opposed to the formation of Gorkhaland?

The state of West Bengal is one of the most economically backward states in India. Even though it is the 5th largest in terms of its size, but due to the high debt burden of over Rs. 4.35 lakh Crores, West Bengal is practically bankrupt and is highly dependent on the Central Government and the revenues generated from the proposed Gorkhaland region for its sustenance and economic survival.

So despite all the rhetoric stating, “Darjeeling is Bengal’s Abhinno Aanga,” Bengal is scared of losing its hen, which is currently laying the golden eggs. It is scared of losing the cash cow that has continued to discount the development of Bengal’s other regions over and over since independence.

Further, Bengal has always held a parochial, colonial and discriminatory attitude towards the proposed Gorkhaland region and continues to do so. Every time the Gorkhas have demanded justice or our rights, we are labelled as intruder, terrorists, and foreigners in our own land.

Hence the urgent need for Gorkhaland state to be formed.

We are hopeful that someday soon, our Member of Parliament from Darjeeling will also be able to speak with the same passion and emotion that Jamyang Tsering Namgyal did and tell the nation how the formation of Gorkhaland state or Union Territory will benefit mother India.

This article was written by Mr Upendra Mani Pradhan, a Darjeeling-based Political Analyst [Twitter: @jorebungley] and co-authored by Dr Vimal Khawas, an Associate Professor in the Dept of Peace and Conflict Studies, Sikkim University [Twitter: @vimalkhawas]

Emotional blackmail, threats and crying wolf: Imran Khan invents new ways of begging

OpIndia Staff
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Emotional blackmail, threats and crying wolf: Imran Khan invents new ways of begging

In the aftermath of the abrogation of Article 370, it has become evident that Pakistan has been thoroughly shunned by the international community. Apart from countries that have traditionally leaned towards India, Pakistan’s concerns over Kashmir have been neglected by their allies such as China and Saudi Arabia, much to the disapppointment of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Even the USA, which has often backed Pakistan over India on contentious matters, has become tired of their shenanigans and are explicitly supporting India on the matter. With a crumbling economy, international pressure to curb terrorism and disproportionate costs for its proxy war, Pakistan has very limited options on its table. Therefore, Pakistan still believes that support from the international community is its best bet.

Thus, the Pakistani Prime Minister, Imran Khan, has decided to Twitter for diplomacy much like POTUS Donald Trump. The only difference is, while Trump uses Twitter to often threaten or bully other countries, Imran Khan uses the medium to engage in innovative ways of begging. In a lot of ways, they are both the perfect representatives of their respective countries.

On the 15th of August, Imran Khan used emotional blackmail combined with threats of Jihad in an attempt to coerce the international community into meddling in Kashmir. For all his haughtiness, it’s quite apparent that Khan is essentially begging.


Before Khan raked up the Srebenica genocide, which was a massacre of Bosniaks during the Bosnian war, he had attempted to equate current Indian ruling dispensation with the Nazis. The comparison with the Nazis appeared particularly atrocious as Narendra Modi and Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, are great friends and anti-semitism runs ripe in Khan’s own country.


Khan repeated the RSS-Nazi analogy during his speech in the Assembly of Pakistan occupied Jammu & Kashmir on the 14th of August. His speech appeared to be a repetition of his tweets and was just as effective.

In the face of rejection from the international community without any viable options on the table, Khan has decided that the only recourse is to convince the world that Narendra Modi is ‘literally Hitler’. However, that narrative is unlikely to find many takers. In the days to come, we can expect Khan to huff and puff with even greater vigor on Twitter as he has to retain his credibility among Pakistanis.

I am an Indian, a Christian, and I live in India without fear: An open letter to Pakistan PM Imran Khan

OpIndia Staff
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I am an Indian, a Christian, and I live in India without fear: An open letter to Pakistan PM Imran Khan

On the Independence Day address to nation, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan communalised Kashmir issue and equated the RSS with Nazis. Former Goa Congress leader and editor-in-chief of Goa Chronicle, Savio Rodrigues wrote an open letter to Pakistani Prime Minister shutting him up and said how as a Christian in India, another religious minority, he lives without any fear. 

His open letter which was first published on Goa Chronicle has been republished here verbatim with his permission. 

I have no respect for your intelligence or your position as Prime Minister of Pakistan. But I do respect your cricketing skills, I grew up watching.

Being a leader on a cricket field is not the same as being a leader of a nation.

I have no respect for your political acumen because in my analysis of you as a politician, you don’t have the aptitude or right attitude to be a leader of a nation. That you are elected by your people raises serious questions of the mental prowess of the people of your nation.

Without beating around the bush, let me get straight to the moot point of me writing you an open letter.

In your tweet on August 14, 2019 at 5.50 PM, you stated, “This is the RSS ideology that threatens not just Kashmiris or Pakistan or even just Indian Muslims, Christians & Dalits but India itself as envisaged by its Founding Fathers.”

In this tweet you shared an article – ‘Hitler’s Hindus – The rise and rise of India’s Nazi-loving nationalists’.

I am an Indian. I am also a Christian.

I live in India without fear.

I travel across most parts of India on my reporting assignments without fear.

I have two daughters, who have grown up in India without fear and live without fear.

I have a mother, father and wife who live in India without fear.

As a Christian and more so as an Indian, I have never felt threatened or intimidated by what you term to be RSS ideology in my nation.

I am not a RSS-member.

I have many friends in the RSS like I do in most social organisations irrespective of religion or social linkages.

I have studied about the RSS in my learnings about my country. I have found them to be a social service organisation with India and the people of India at its heart.

I have also found some RSS members that I have interacted with, to be exemplary citizens and human beings.

This boogey that foreign political leaders like you Imran try to spew about RSS or about the Hindutva ideology exposes your lack of understanding of the cultural roots of India and the true secularism of India that goes beyond creed, caste and socio-economic status. This is because to every Indian – India is our motherland and it is our Dharma to protect her and her children.

I do not expect you as a Pakistani to understand or have an emotional attachment to the idea of a motherland; that’s because your land was a gift from our Motherland, which our Founding Fathers gave willingly for the Muslims who wanted a land of their own.

You got the gift of land from Mother India but your Founding Fathers could not keep the Muslim people together. Therefore you divided from Pakistan into Pakistan and Bangladesh.

I foresee an inevitable eventuality that Pakistan will further divide into more nations in the years to come. And this is because within your Pakistani souls, you do not have a feeling for the concept of a Motherland.

I believe today is also remembered as the Balochistan Solidarity Day and the fight for a Free Baloch. This is a part of your Pakistan right now but not for long.

You talk about Christians being threatened in India. I can confidently tell you the Indians who follow the Christian faith live in the arms of their #BharatMata. This is our mother and no child is ever threatened by her mother.

I know, however, that the Christians in Pakistan cannot be truly free. They are constantly under threat because you are an Islamic Nation and not a secular-Hindu nation.

I can only imagine the fear and harassment Asia Bibi and her family went through on account of a false blasphemy case. This is the behaviour of the Islamic fanatics in your nation and you could not even protect her. She had to leave her land and migrate to another country.

You could not even protect the young Muslim man Mashal Khan, who was brutally killed in a University in Pakistan over a blasphemy issue. The eyes in those Pakistanis that bludgeoned the poor man were pure evil. Evil that feeds on fanaticism.

So please don’t lecture an Indian-Christian about India and his safety in his own Motherland.

I understand that the assertive and aggressive decision taken by my government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Article 370 has caught you and your military by surprise; and more importantly you can feel Kashmir slipping out of your hand; that however, does not give you the right to indulge in childish fear-mongering about the welfare of the people of my country.

It is my humble advice that you spend time looking after affairs of your crumbling and incompetent nation.

Christian are safe, Muslims are safe and Dalits are safe. You must not spend too much time getting feedback from the leaders of Congress in India; I say this because you both seem to be parroting the same script on Kashmir and the revoking of Article 370. Their performance in the recent Lok Sabha 2019 elections should tell you that they have no idea about the mood of the people of India and they are on a downward spiral into an abyss from where there is no return.

Let me also be blunt to tell you that we will expose every Pakistani in an Indian garb in our country.

I know whatever I am writing to you, will fall on deaf ears, because like I said initially that you neither have the aptitude or attitude to be a political leader of a nation but I needed to set the record straight with you as an Indian-Christian.

Don’t ever drag an Indian-Christian into your false propaganda. You don’t know our love for #BharatMata.

Jai Hind!

Jai Shri Ram!

Praise Be to God!

Adnan Sami slays Pakistani trolls who taunt him for taking Indian citizenship

OpIndia Staff
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Adnan Sami slays Pakistani trolls who taunt him for taking Indian citizenship

Parody country Pakistan has reduced itself to the proverbial ‘dhobi ka kutta’, no one gives them the respect they keep crying for. Pakistani-origin singer Adnan Sami who recently embraced Indian citizenship has been on the receiving end of abuses from Pakistani trolls who target him for voicing out his support to India.

On 14th August, Pakistan’s Independence Day, a troll asked him whether he will tweet on the Independence Day. Sami very coolly mentioned that he will. But on 15th August.


A troll then asked him whether he has slaughtered a cow, otherwise Hindus will kill him. To that, Sami replied that the day they would look beyond the cow, maybe they could progress in life.


“We are looking at the moon,” he said.

When Sami tweeted to wish India a happy Independence Day, another Pakistani troll taunted Sami for not being ‘faithful’ to his ‘motherland’. “How could he prove to be loyal to the country against which his father fought war?” he asked.


Sami’s father, Arshad Sami Khan, was a Pashtun while his mother Naureen was from Jammu, India. His father served as Pakistani Air Force pilot before he became a senior diplomat representing Pakistan and served as ambassador of Pakistan to as many as 14 countries.

Sami slayed the troll by telling him that Jinnah, who propagated the ‘two-nation theory’ and was instrumental in dividing India into India and Pakistan, was also not faithful to his motherland.


Sami asked the troll, by that logic, what would he call Jinnah, who was also born as an Indian (in undivided India), but divided her.

This is not the first time Sami has shut up trolls. In October 2017, he held a concert in Srinagar where former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was acting sore-loserly by sharing pictures of empty chairs at the concert. Sami had called him out and taught him a lesson on how art should be above politics.

Ladakh celebrates its first Independence Day after announcement of UT status, salutes the tricolour and honours its heroes

OpIndia Staff
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Ladakh celebrates its first Independence Day after announcement of UT status, salutes the tricolour and honours its heroes

The mountainous region of Ladakh was declared to become a Union Territory when the government of India had announced their decision to bifurcate the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two separate UTs.

The people of Ladakh have been demanding UT status for a long time. As a part of the Jammu and Kashmir state, the Ladakh region was always ignored. The politics was always centred around Srinagar and the people of Ladakh had never got their due in participation, representation and in terms of funds allocation.

With the announcement of the UT status for Ladakh, the region has been expressing its joy and pride at finally being able to celebrate their language, culture and identity.

Via @KrrisshYadhu on Twitter

The announcement of Ladakh’s UT status has catapulted its young MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal to national prominence. When Namgyal roared in his historic speech in the Lok Sabha, he had communicated the 7 decades of pain, hard work and struggle that his people have been through to finally get free from the clutches of Srinagar’s politics and assert their identity as a unique region with a rich cultural heritage.

Namgyal has been rejoicing with his people after the announcement. Today he was seen dancing with the locals to mark Ladakh’s first Independence Day after the announcement of UT status.


Namgyal started the day paying tributes to Ladakhi leaders who had sacrificed their lives in the struggle for the rights of the people of Ladakh.


BJP’s National General Secretary Ram Madhav is in Ladakh to celebrate India’s Independence Day. Together with Tsering Namgyal, Ram Madhav also paid tributes to Ladakh’s hero HH Kushak Bakula Rinpochey, the leader who had raised the demand for the UT status of Ladakh decades ago.

via @MPLadakh on Twitter

HH Kushak Bakula Rinpochey was a Buddhist Lama born in in the Matho branch of Ladakh’s royal family. Recognised by Dalai Lama as a reincarnation of Bakula Arhat, one of the legendary sixteen direct disciples of Gautama Buddha, Bakula Rinpochey was a key figure in reviving Buddhism in Mongolia and Russia by linking them with the community of Tibetian exiles in India.

HH Kushak Bakula Rinpochey was the Ladakhi leader who had firmly announced that Ladakh will remain a part of India and will never align with Pakistan. He was also the Indian ambassador to Mongolia later in his life and was awarded the Padma Bhushan.

Independence Day celebrations are currently underway at Leh, Kargil and several other parts of the region.


Ladakh will be officially recognised as a UT from 31st October. While Jammu and Kashmir will be a UT with assembly, Ladakh will be a UT without assembly. With its own identity away from the dominance of Srinagar’s separatist, appeasement centric politics, Ladakh is looking forward towards days of infrastructural, educational and economic advancement.

Indian Armed Forces for dummies: Is being a soldier ‘just another job’?

rohitagarwal
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Indian Armed Forces for dummies: Is being a soldier ‘just another job’?

Discussions around the armed forces on social media generally follow predictable lines. Amongst the participants, there is a section, comprising of veterans and families of those who are serving or have served in the past, whose views are based on personal experiences and obvious knowledge about the subject being discussed. Serving officers and soldiers, constrained by service rules, do not openly participate, and the official handles of the Army, Navy and Air Force restrict themselves largely to the dissemination of information without getting into discussions of any kind.

The largest number, however, is of those who have but a hazy idea about the forces, and the views of this vocal majority lie on extreme ends of the spectrum. On one end we have those who consider even a single negative utterance against any aspect of the services as blasphemy, even treason. On the other, we have those who feel that serving in the armed forces is just another job. Soldiers, sailors and air warriors are paid like any other professional, and there is a degree of risk involved in every profession. Both these extremes, of course, are way off the mark.

Firstly, the armed forces are large organisations – totalling about 1.3 million people. These people are no different from any other citizen when they join the forces. Those who think that only staunch patriots join the armed forces are actually further off the mark than those who feel its just another job in this regard. Majority of people who join the forces – whether as officers or as jawans – do primarily think about it as a career option while joining. Of course, there are those for whom it’s a family tradition, and they do look upon it as more of a calling than a job. But most fall in the former category.

What happens to them AFTER they join marks the difference between the forces and other careers. The value system and training of the armed forces create the ‘X’ factor that distinguishes them from other vocations. The value of being true to ‘Naam, Namak, Nishaan’ is ingrained in every individual to the extent that each would choose to die rather than disgrace or betray either of these.

Naam – his own personal honour, the honour of his comrades and unit. Namak – the salt he eats, or the salary that he is receiving. Nishan – the flag. And while the nation, patriotism and the tricolour are distant concepts, comrades in arms and the unit are more tangible to the soldier in the trench. When he goes into battle, his major concern is not to lose face before his comrades, and not to let his unit down.

This, of course, automatically leads to not letting the nation down. So what starts out as being ‘just another job’, actually turns into a commitment to do your duty, even unto death. And to the argument that there is a certain amount of risk involved in every job – in all others its a possibility through accident, not part of your JD (Job Description). Service in the armed forces, therefore, is definitely not just another job – even if those joining it do so thinking it is.

If those dismissive of the armed forces and its role are wrong, so are the ones who consider any criticism directed towards the forces as treason. In an organisation as large as the forces, its massive strength spread over the length and breadth of the country, employed in a plethora of peacetime and operational assignments, it is difficult to imagine that there would be no wrongdoings, mistakes – deliberate or unintentional. While the forces have a rigorous selection process and strict value system, there are always a few bad sheep who manage to slip through the former and avoid imbibing and practising the latter.

These exceptions by no means represent the forces in general, and all such transgressions are dealt with swiftly and strictly. Since there is ample transparency in the handling of such cases, it’s not surprising that sometimes they do end up being talked about in social media as well. And when that happens, it degenerates into fisticuffs between the two extreme factions mentioned above – one using it to tar the organisation-wide a wide brush, while the other defending it with all their might. The former feel it vindicates their stance that the forces are just as fallible as other organisations, and thus deserve no special consideration. The latter feel the need to defend the organisation by either denying the facts or by throwing the blanket of patriotism to cover them.

Both are wrong in their approach because they fail to distinguish between individuals and the organisation. Individual actions, specially aberrations do not reflect on the organisation as a whole. Nor is defending actual transgressions by individuals in the mistaken belief that one is defending the organisation per se a correct approach. In fact, very often veterans including very senior and learned ones, often become targets to attack when they express their opinions on some policy or decision of the forces that they feel is not in the overall organisational interest.

There are no individuals above criticism, irrespective of the organisation they belong to, or how highly placed within it they are. And if the criticism is related to specific actions, with clear reasoning, it is constructive and has the potential to bring about positive change. But senseless spewing of hatred – like comparing the Indian Army Chief to Gen Dyer – is merely foolish. It’s certainly not treason, and an individual is well within his or her rights to do it. But it remains a silly thing to do, possibly a misplaced quest to grab some attention.

So next time you are tempted to jump at either attacking or defending the forces on social media, without knowing too much about the issue at hand, conduct this simple two-step test. Ascertain who exactly is the individual the criticism is aimed at. Be sure of the specific action being criticised, and that you understand the nuances involved. If you do and have a specific opinion about it, feel free to air your views. Else you may decide to let it pass, lest you end up looking foolish.

India became a nation in 1947, but ceased to be a civilisation: 12 civilisational characteristics that India needs to achieve

Guest Author
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India became a nation in 1947, but ceased to be a civilisation: 12 civilisational characteristics that India needs to achieve

From the dawn of our species, we humans have organized ourselves into groups of various sizes and complexities. Human society began as small groups of hunter-foragers. Over time, as our numbers grew, we developed culture, formed larger and more complex societies with division of labor, and went on to build kingdoms, empires, and civilizations.

Every independent society develops a distinctive culture over time. Culture is a society’s distinctive set of values, norms, beliefs, teachings, practices, traditions, knowledge, arts, cuisine, language, literature and customs.

Historically, the human organization has taken the following forms, in order of increasing complexity:

Community

A group of people that has at least one thing in common.

Society

A group of people that are involved in persistent social interaction, and who have many things in common, such as a shared social identity, common motives and goals, a common set of social values, norms, rules, and taboos, an established system of governance, an established system for the division of labor, and established social status relationships.

Kingdom

A society that has a monarchical system of governance.

Empire

A large group of kingdoms or countries ruled over by a single monarch.

Civilization

The highest form of human organization, that has the following characteristics:

  1. A large territorial area that can encompass numerous nations, kingdoms, and even empires.
  2. A single, highly evolved culture.
  3. Robust social and governmental institutions that are grounded in the native culture.
  4. Laws, a system of governance, and constitution (if any) that are grounded in the native culture.
  5. A single, unifying civilizational language that has undisputed supremacy throughout the civilizational realm. This does not preclude the co-existence of local languages.
  6. A large area of cultural influence that extends far beyond territorial boundaries.
  7. A large area of undisputed military and geopolitical supremacy that extends far beyond territorial boundaries.
  8. A large and powerful economy (high GDP).
  9. Excellent living standards and widespread prosperity (high GDP per capita).
  10. A strong and stable government.
  11. Strong and effective judicial, and law and order machinery.
  12. Absence of significant internal conflict.

Today, the most common form of the top-level political division of society is the Nation-State, which traces its origin to the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.

A nation-state consists of a finite geographical territory and its inhabitants. Every nation-state has a centralized government that has exclusive sovereignty over its territory.

Let us examine Indian society using the above conceptual framework.

The archaeological record shows that Indian society first emerged in the Sapta-Sindhu (greater Punjab) region at least 9,000 years ago, along the banks of the now-defunct Sarasvati and other rivers of the region. It soon developed into a full-fledged civilization, and by around 5,000 years ago, had grown into the largest ancient civilization the world has ever seen.

Until around a thousand years ago, India had a single, highly evolved culture, a single unifying civilizational language (Sanskrit), a very large and powerful economy, and all the other hallmarks of civilization.

India’s cultural influence was visible throughout Asia as far as Japan, and as far west as Greece and Rome. Central Asia was Hindu and Buddhist. The Hindu kingdoms and empires of South-East Asia were its military vassals (Chola Empire).

After that, came approximately a thousand years of foreign occupation, which was a period of unprecedented and sustained demic and cultural genocide. 100 million deaths is probably an extremely conservative estimate. India’s culture was systematically attacked, weakened and eroded, and foreign cultures were introduced by force and coercion.

The millennium of foreign occupation and colonization ended, technically, with Independence in 1947, when India assumed the form of a modern nation-state after the British handed power over to the Congress party.

Independence was a priceless opportunity for India to dismantle the edifice of British colonialism and undo the harms and injustices of British occupation.

That did not happen.

Instead,

  • India adopted a constitution that is entirely foreign in origin and nature. The people of India were not given the opportunity to either accept or reject this constitution.
  • Colonial British laws remained in place.
  • Colonial British institutions remained in place.
  • The tens of millions of Indians rendered landless and destitute by the ghastly Ryotwari systemwere not given their lands back.
  • Collaborators and cronies who became prosperous due to British favours became the new elite in independent India.
  • The Congress party donated vast tracts of India’s ancient civilization lands to Pakistan without consulting the people.
  • Nehru willingly allowed China to engulf Tibet, thereby giving up a vast area of cultural influence.
  • The Congress mired India in a stifling web of socialism and corruption, dooming several generations to misery and penury.

The net result of all this is that India is no longer a civilization in its own right. It no longer satisfies the criteria for a society to be a civilization. It is merely a nation-state, an emerging economy at best.

Make no mistake: a nation-state is several degrees of magnitude lesser than a civilization.

And by virtue of its ever-increasing reliance on the English language and its mentally-colonizing education system (another gift of Nehru and the Congress), India is now reduced to being an appendage of Western culture and civilization. A poor knock-off, at that.

That is what we have to thank the Congress and the Nehru dynasty for: For reducing India from the greatest and most influential civilization of all time to a mere nation-state, a minor appendage of Western civilization.

That is now in the past. We must learn the lessons of history and move on. What should India aspire to?

India should aspire to become a civilization again. A civilization-state.

How can this be achieved? The answer can be found in the 12 characteristics of civilization listed above.

It will be hard work, but if done right, it can be achieved in as little as two decades.

This August 15th, let us resolve to work together to rebuild our civilization, together.

(This article has been written by @IndianInterest)

Netizens trend #AbbuKoWishNahiKaroge as Pakistani Army spokesperson taunts India on Indian Independence Day

OpIndia Staff
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Netizens trend #AbbuKoWishNahiKaroge as Pakistani Army spokesperson taunts India on Indian Independence Day

Parody country Pakistan’s armed forces spokesperson Asif Ghafoor has reduced himself to a troll. Last night, about two hours before midnight, he tweeted how it is ‘150 minutes’ to ‘Black Day’.


He meant to say Indian Independence Day is ‘Black Day’ for reasons best known to him. Considering Pakistan was created a day prior, he most probably got the dates mixed.

At midnight, though, Indian Army veteran, Major Gaurav Arya (retired) tweeted to him whether he won’t wish the daddy with the hashtag ‘#AbbuKoWishNahiKaroge’.


Soon enough the hashtag picked up and it was trending on Twitter. Some tweeted the iconic image of Pakistan surrendering after the 1971 war at Dhaka when Bangladesh was born. 93,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered to Indian Army on 16th December, 1971.


Some even mocked Ghafoor for using Twitter trend to threaten India.

Major Ghafoor’s shenanigans

The abrogation of Article 370 in erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir last week has rattled Pakistan to the core. Last month, Major Ghafoor had shared a doctored video of Air Marshal Keelor speaking on ’65 war as Balakot airstrikes. In a seemingly drunken tweet after the historic decision of abrogation of Article 370, Ghafoor proclaimed that Pakistan will ‘take Kashmir back‘. “It won’t be until just struggle of our Kashmiris succeeds. It will IA succeed,” he had tweeted. ‘IA’, by the way, stands for InshaAllah not Indian Airlines (which is now Air India, but Pakistan is stuck in 90s) or any such thing which could be *cough* hijacked *cough*. It may appear like it is a typo, but Ghafoor just abbreviated InshaAllah.

And Pakistan expects the rest of the world to take it seriously.

One Nation One Poll, Chief of Defence Staff, water conservation and more: 5 takeaways from PM Modi’s Independence Day speech

OpIndia Staff
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One Nation One Poll, Chief of Defence Staff, water conservation and more: 5 takeaways from PM Modi’s Independence Day speech

On the 73rd Independence Day of India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered his speech from the ramparts of Red Fort. This was his first Independence Day speech of his second term. It was also the first speech after the abrogation of Article 370, the bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir and the Triple Talaq Bill that was passed by the Parliament. PM Modi started his address by remembering the victims of the floods that many parts of the country is reeling under. From the ramparts of Red Fort, PM Modi spoke about several issues including population explosion, water scarcity, triple talaq and the abrogation of 370.

Here are the 5 important takeaways from the Prime Minister’s Independence Day speech:

Abrogation of Article 370

Prime Minister Modi spoke about the historic decision to abrogate Article 370 and bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir into 2 Union Territories – J&K and Ladakh. Prime Minister said that his government believes in solutions and not creating problems for the country. In less than 70 days of his government, Article 370 was abrogated and he wishes to serve the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. He said finally, the Nation can proudly say ‘One Nation One Constitution’.

He also spoke about the elements who oppose the abrogation of Article 370. Prime Minister Modi asked that if the ones opposing the abrogation of Article 370 should answer that if they thought Article 370 was so important and life-changing, why did they not make it permanent and let it stay temporary in all these decades in spite of the huge mandate they enjoyed all these years.

One Nation One Election

Prime Minister Modi spoke about ‘One Nation One Election’. This has been one of PM Modi’s pet dreams. He has long espoused that instead of the country going into an election cycle all year round, the Nation should vote once in 5 years for all posts and offices. In his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of Red Fort, Prime Minister Modi said that the Nation has now achieved One Nation One Tax with the implementation of GST, One Nation One Constitution after the abrogation of Article 370, One Nation One Power Grid in electricity, One Nation One Mobility Card and now, it is the time to talk about One Nation One Election.

Water Conservation: Jal Jeevan Mission

Prime Minister Modi announced that the government is going to spend at least Rs. 3.5 Lakh crores on this mission. PM Modi said that this has to be a people’s movement and will only succeed with the active participation of the people.

Announcement of CDS

Consequent to the submission of the Kargil Review Committee report, a group of ministers (GoM) headed by then Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani had analysed the functioning of the higher defence organisation in India. Among the major recommendations of this GoM was the establishment of the post of CDS with a tri-Service joint planning staff HQ. The CCS accepted this recommendation but held its implementation in abeyance. The two reasons cited for the deferment were the lack of political consensus on the need for a CDS and opposition within certain sections of the armed forces and the bureaucracy. More recently, the Naresh Chandra committee is reported to have recommended the appointment of a ‘permanent’ chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) as the first among equals.

Prime Minister Modi announced from the ramparts of the Red Fort that the government is moving forward on the creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff, which has been a long-standing demand of several people.

Population explosion

In a first, the Prime Minister spoke about population explosion in the country. He said population explosion in the country will create various problems for the coming generations. Those who follow the policy of small family also contribute to the development of the nation, it is also a form of patriotism.

Delivering an aspirational speech, the Prime Minister spoke about a host of things including the reduction of interference of the government from the day to day lives of the people. The Prime Minister said that his government will aspire to remove the excessive interference of the government in the people’s life so everyone is free to realise their aspirations.

Other than this, the Prime Minister also spoke about making India an export hub, agriculture, clean India, Make in India and also wished Afghanistan on its upcoming 100th Independence Day.

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