Tag: politics
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The Challenge of the South for Hindutva.
A north Indian coming to the south, especially to Kerala and Tamil Nadu is awestruck at the grand temples and the religious fervor among the local Hindus. And then during elections, the Hindutva ideology gains no traction in these two states. The votaries of Hindutva then call the south Indians names and blame them of…
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The origins of the term Hindu.
I am a Hindu, as the term is understood currently. There is a debate raging now on the term Hindu and its origins. A politician’s comments are disowned by his own party. A leading actor made a comment that the Cholas are not Hindus and all hell broke loose on social media. I must be…
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Snapshots from History: A forgotten people. Indian Tamils in Sri Lanka.
History tells us about the glory of rulers and the wisdom of leaders. It talks about the rise of civilisations, and the fall of empires but history is also about the pain of the common people. Most of the time this pain is swept under the carpet or lost in the shine of the rulers.…
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Snapshots from History: The British Raj. Power and Pelf, Sex and Scandal
When I was growing up I would often hear from my elders how good the British were. How kind the Maharajas were. Nothing in the history taught in school told me otherwise. The British had created the Indian Civil Service, the ICS, touted as the steel frame of India. But the ICS was just a…
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Snapshots of History: Nehru our first Prime Minister
Indian Independence day 1947 will be remembered forever with Nehru’s evocative words when he spoke of our tryst with Destiny and how India will awaken to freedom while the world sleeps. In his speech he said we would redeem the pledge, we made ” not wholly or in full measure but substantially”. A practical and…
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Snapshots from history: The Mahatma a Conundrum.
It is the 2nd of October again, and suddenly Gandhiji is remembered. His statues are garlanded and dubious politicians of all hues and ideologies stake a claim on him. Gandhi, the man, what he stood for is forgotten in the fiction created over the years. What we have is a demi-God, a myth invoked by…