Being Different – Rajiv Malhotra

(CHAKRA Blogs) Rajiv Malhotra informed us that many months ago he was approached by a journalist named Myles Collier from *Christian Post*, who told him that their media wanted to interview him on his book Being Different. He asked that it be done by email, so that there is an accurate record and no misunderstanding later. This was accepted by his editors, and what followed was an email exchange in which Rajiv answered every question asked via email. Below is a complete list of all the questions and his answers. Rajiv was told that the interview would appear very soon and that he would receive the url, but never heard back after the interview. His prediction at the time was that once the senior editors saw his responses, they would not want to publish it, because one of his conditions was that any alterations in what he said required his prior written approval. Rajiv has forwarded all his responses in full and has allowed us to publish them.

1. Question: For those not familiar with your work what is the main thesis of your book, Breaking India?

Response:

a) The book explains the role of U.S. and European churches,
academics, think-tanks, foundations, government and human rights groups in
fostering divisive identities between the Dravidian and Dalit communities on
the one hand and the rest of India based on outdated racial theories.

b) Its how outdated racial theories continue to provide academic
frameworks and fuel the rhetoric that can trigger civil wars and genocides
in developing countries.

c) The Dravidian movement’s 200-year history has such origins. Its
latest manifestation is the “Dravidian Christianity” movement that
fabricates a political and cultural history to exploit old fault lines.
I refer to this as the “breaking India project”. Please see:

http://www.breakingindia.com/

2. Question: What kind of reception has your book garnered?

Response:

a) The reception in Indian think tanks and defence study networks has
been very good. The book was launched by senior Indian retired security and
military officials. See videos at:

http://beingdifferentbook.com/globalization-and-world-peace/

http://beingdifferentbook.com/india-in-the-eagles-eye/

http://beingdifferentbook.com/american-theory-making-on-india/

http://beingdifferentbook.com/where-is-india-in-the-encounter/

b) There has also been a very good reception among the general public
in both India and the US. The book has already gone through 5 print runs and
become a national best-seller. Breaking India was quoted during the recent
controversial Kodankulam protests.

c) The latest jacket’s endorsements are also self-explanatory–
please see:

http://breakingindia.com/images/bic.pdf

d) It has been translated into Tamil and the Hindi edition will soon
be ready as well.

3. Question: When specifically considering the situation of the
Dalit’s Dr. Joseph D’souza describes it as the “greatest human rights
violation in history” — is this an accurate portrayal?

Response:

a) Calling the situation of the Dalits the “greatest human rights
violation in history” is an example of the sensationalist pandering and
politicization that Breaking India explains. Anyone
researching atrocities objectively must examine the following ones: White
European Christian conquerors of America against Native Americans and
Australian aborigines, Spanish Inquisition against women and native faiths,
Portuguese Inquisition against Indians, Christian slavery of Africans,
Christian colonization of Asia and other continents during which hundreds of
millions were killed. In fact, Christianity was built by the sword ever
since the time Emperor Constantine hijacked it and turned it into a dogma
for state theocracy.

b) Joseph D’souza is trying to help cover up this White Christian
guilt of perpetrating many of history’s worst atrocities. Non-White
Christians like D’souza perform this cover up for White Christians, and for
this they earn funding and career opportunities. I refer to such persons as
`sepoys’, after the Indians who served under British rule and helped police
and control other Indians. This role is similar to that of the
Anglo-Irishmen who were used by the English to colonize Ireland.

c) Of course, all violations of human rights are to be condemned,
and we must work hard to give dignity to every human across the globe. But
one cannot distort history in order to open the door for Western
interventions as has been their strategy for centuries.

d) There’s a long history of many Indian communities becoming poor
and disenfranchised due to dislocation under Islamic and British oppression,
and many of them turned into present day Dalits. This is not a “Hindu
problem” per se as is the fashion to call it in the Christian press. In
fact, Dalit Christians have litigated against the Indian Church for
prejudices against them that are institutionalized within Christianity –
including separate burial grounds, and bias in the allocation of funds.

e) Most Christian nations that were former colonies, such as the ones
in Latin America, Philippines, etc. have far worse per capita statistics of
crimes than India does.

f) Also, the Church remains racially very much divided even in rich
Christian countries like USA: That’s why there are separate Black churches,
Korean churches, Hispanic churches, etc. Even among Indian Christians in USA
there are separate churches for Tamils and Malaya lees, etc.

g) So human rights activism must begin at home – Christians must work
within Christian society to solve internal problems, rather than trying to
export cures for social maladies they are suffering themselves, and
especially diseases they have spread elsewhere. The human rights record of
atrocities by Christendom is woven deeply into the tapestry of world
history.

h) The Church has no moral authority to intervene in other countries
using the pretext of bringing them human rights.

i) India’s sovereignty and its internal institutions for improving
the lot of all its citizens must be respected and strengthened.

4. Question: There are many organizations dedicated to helping
and empowering the Dalit’s, yet you have made the claim that western
influences actually hinder progressive movements and contribute to an ever
hostile social environment—why is this?

Response:

a) India, like any former colony, has its own share of social
injustices that need to be continually addressed and resolved.

b) But separatist forces supported and funded by external nexuses are
constructing a dangerous and fictitious anti-national grand narrative. This
has been forged specifically to alienate Dalits from their own culture and
country by exacerbating societal divisions. This is the latest version of
the old divide-and-rule strategy practiced by European colonizers
everywhere.

c) All democracy-loving Americans should worry about the
consequences of allowing narrow-minded Christian organizations to undermine
the largest democracy in the world.

d) Dalit communities are not monolithic and have extremely diverse
histories and social dynamics – so you cannot lump all of them in one box.
Also, not all Dalit communities are at the same socio-economic level or
homogeneously poor. Nor are they static or inherently subordinate to others.
Indeed, there are several Dalit billionaires, top politicians and other
leaders – a Dalit has even been the President of India.

e) While Dravidian and Dalit identities were initially constructed
separately, there is now a strategy at work to link them in order to
denigrate and demonize Indian classical traditions as a common enemy. This,
in turn, has been mapped on to a newly manufactured Afro-Dalit narrative
which claims that Dalits are racially related to Africans and all other
Indians are “whites.” Thus, Indian civilization itself is demonized as
anti-humanistic and oppressive.

f) This has become the playground of major foreign players, both
from the evangelical right and from the academic left. It has opened huge
career opportunities for an assortment of middlemen including foreign-funded
NGOs, intellectuals and” champions of the oppressed.”

g) While the need for relief and structural change is immense, the
short-sighted selfish politics is often empowering some individual leaders
rather than the people whose cause is being championed. The” solutions”
often exacerbate the problems. See: http://www.breakingindia.com/six-provocations/

5. Question: What is your current feeling as to the situation
created by outside organizations and the impact that has on the Dalit
population?

Response:

a) Genuine grievances and injustices certainly do exist. There is no
whitewashing here.

b) But the book shows how such existing fault lines are used by
transnational forces to subvert India and brand Indian civilization as
hopeless and in need of being replaced by a superior imported variety. This
can make Dalits believe that their liberation lies in toppling India’s
civilization and nationhood.

c) Politicized Christianity in India maps Biblical notions on to a
Marxist interpretation of” class struggle”, i.e. Liberation Theology, even
though the American sponsors do not support such ideology domestically where
they live. So they are pulling the strings of society and politics half way
around the world in an alien place without having any skin in the game. This
is hypocrisy.

d) My research tracked the money trails from the West where funds are
raised for “education,” “human rights,” “empowerment training,” and
“leadership training,” but end up in programs designed to produce angry
youths who feel disenfranchised from Indian identity. Already the Baptists
have created separatist movements in India’s northeast region by converting
the natives and shifting their loyalties.

e) Similar interventions by some of the same global forces have
resulted in genocides and civil wars in Sri Lanka, Rwanda, etc.

6. Question: There has been a great deal of discussion over the
role of Hinduism in India and its propensity to keep “undesired” individuals
oppressed, I was curious as to your thoughts about the role of Hinduism and
the Hindutva in India?

Response:

a) It is ironic that Christians are able to make such assumptions at
a time when Hindu ideas are being appropriated into Christianity to create a
more benevolent theology for Christianity. Hindu metaphysics and praxis have
been digested into Christianity for a long time, but very systematically for
at least 200 years, into such diverse areas as: sacredness of the earth and
the divine feminine; yoga and the human body as not being inherently sinful
but being inherently divine; animal rights and vegetarianism; the inherent
unity of consciousness as opposed to the dualism of Judeo-Christianity; etc.

b) I am writing a whole series of books on how major Christian
thinkers have acknowledged Hindu sources for some of their most important
rethinking on Christianity. Unfortunately, subsequent Christians like to
dilute these Hindu influences and eventually forget them entirely, and
replace them with Judeo-Christian sources, in order to hide the “Hinduism
inside” that exists at the heart of much of today’s reinterpreted
Christianity.

c) So, on the one hand, we have this very frantic appropriation
going on, and the Hindu origins are being erased. Simultaneously, on the
other hand, the very same Hindu sources are being abused as “oppressive”.
How could Hindu ideas be useful to liberate Christianity from Christianity’s
own shackles, and yet Hinduism be branded so vehemently as oppressive?

d) I am reminded of the way Greek thought was appropriated by St.
Augustine and others in order to start Christian theology (prior to which
Christian historians admit that the Bible lacked philosophical content), and
yet the very same Greek society was condemned as “pagan” and finished off. I
have referred to this as a form of arson: the arsonist robs the bank and
then burns it down to hide the evidence. The Christian West has perfected
this type of activity over the centuries: appropriate and simultaneously
destroy the source.

e) I am amazed at the sweeping assumptions in your question. It is
hypocritical for Christians to point fingers at the alleged “propensity to
keep undesired individuals oppressed” in Hinduism, given Christianity’s
track record on oppression of indigenous cultures, sexual abuse of children,
persecution of great scientists and thinkers who did not accede to Christian
dogma of the time, systemic repression of women and homophobia.

f) As for Hindutva, that is a specific political movement and you
will have to interview its leaders for their views. I can only speak for
Hindu dharma as an individual practitioner-scholar, and not for any
institution.

7. Question: How do you respond to those who would call the
research found in your book sound, however claim that your interpretation
and subsequent propaganda message is wrong?

Response:

a) This statement is too general to be possible to answer. There are
many issues discussed in my works, and hence you have to cite a concrete
example of what troubles you, so I may be able to address it. Breaking
India exposes propaganda; it does not create it. It is the result of a
fact finding mission undertaken over decades and the result of rigorous
analysis, not sloganeering.

b) I anticipated that my findings will trouble many persons who have
a vested interest to defend a fabricated history, a fabricated grandiose
notion of their own religious supremacy and exclusivity, and who are in many
cases also sustaining their careers and lifestyles based on pushing ideas on
behalf of powerful global nexuses.

c) If any objections to my research come from persons who do not
fall in these categories and are based on primary sources, I will consider
them respectfully and modify my views if necessary.

8. Question: The Dalit Freedom Network and Operation Mobilization
are two groups that are building schools which offer English-medium
education with a Christian world-view perspective while also offering
vocational training to help abused and trafficked individuals in India. If
local programs are not offering opportunities for marginalized people why
would it be negative for Dalit’s and other lower caste members to
exercise choice and work towards a better future?

Response:

a) Mahatma Gandhi lashed out against Christian missionaries numerous
times because they linked their social work to conversion. I agree with his
posture. Christians who are genuinely motivated must provide unconditional
help from one human to another.

b) To denigrate another’s culture is a form of himsa (harm) and
violates the dharmic principle known as ahimsa. Christians must learn mutual
respect for others and not use mere “tolerance” as a cover up of hatred.
(For more details on my principle of mutual respect and how it differs from
tolerance, please see: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rajiv-malhotra/religious-difference-with-mutual-respect_b_1165589.html)

c) Regarding the groups you have named, I oppose their political
projects and my book exposés what they are up to. DFN (with two directors
from OM) uses the Dalit face to hide that it is a hardcore operational wing
of American right-wing agendas in India. The Dalit label gives it the
emotional appeal and aura of legitimacy to intervene in India’s affairs. DFN
brings speakers and activists from India to testify before US government
commissions, policy think-tanks and churches, with the explicit goal of
promoting US intervention in India (Breaking India, pages 222-223).

d) What most of my American Christian friends are shocked to learn is
that the kind of Christianity being propagated in India is often similar to
the radical, medieval Christianity that was based on performing “miracles”
and on hate speech. Most modern Christians in USA have rejected that
Christianity, but the obsession for numerical growth in Christian population
has become the evangelical obsession. The sole focus is on numbers, not
quality or genuine religiosity.

e) There are also many good indigenous grassroots movements in India
working for Dalit causes, which do not get the type of prominence or funding
that Western-supported NGOs do. They are sadly underfunded because they lack
the sophisticated fundraising and publicity machinery. Yet such indigenous
organizations have a far better efficiency in the use of funds for making a
positive impact than the foreign ones do.

f) My American Christian friends are grateful to get informed about
this, as it enables them to make better choices in philanthropy, and be more
careful before they fund certain foreign missions. Since my book is
beginning to impact the evangelists’ fund-raising in the US, they want
Christian media like yours to poison the credibility of my work.

g) But any religious community must be open to external criticism and
self-reflection in order to improve its religious standards. Given
Christianity’s long history of abuses, it would be foolish for American
Christians to fail to examine my findings with a receptive mind.

9. Question: Can you explain your thoughts related to difference
anxiety?

Response:

a) I coined the term “difference anxiety” to refer to one’s anxiety
that the other is different in some way—be it gender, sexual orientation,
race, ethnicity, age or religion. The alternative is difference without
anxiety, and better still is celebration of difference.

b) To appreciate this very Hindu principle, one must start by
observing that the cosmos is built on the principle of difference—in plants,
animals, geographies, and even each moment in time is unique. So differences
in culture, human cognition and worldviews are entirely natural.

c) It is interesting that westerners are so protective of the
diversity of plants and animals, but the same emphasis is not placed on
protecting civilizational and faith diversity. The reason is that Westerners
are driven by the urge to control externally – control over other humans,
nature, etc. Homogeneity based on fixed canonized norms helps one control;
hence difference and especially flux are a cause for anxiety. Therefore,
Western religions have traditionally pushed for monocultures.

d) Western Monotheism is more appropriately described as “my-theism,”
meaning that my idea of theism is the only valid one.

e) In Hinduism, sva-dharma is the path for a given individual, the
“sva”prefix literally meaning “my.” It’s like “My Documents” or”My
Favorites” on your computer. God made us unique individuals, each with a
purpose based on past conditioning, including experiences in past births,
and each of us is equipped to discover his or her sva-dharma.

f) To prevent repetition of some of the worst organized, large scale
atrocities in world history that were committed for the sake of spreading a
uniform theology, it is time we respected difference. Please see: http://www.patheos.com/Books/Book-Club/Rajiv-Malhotra-Being-Different/Importance-of-Being-Different-QA-Rajiv-Malhotra-02-20-2012

Open Letter to India (Part 2)

(CHAKRA) To The People of India, Greetings, I address you collectively as a nation, as nation builders, and as individuals capable of rationale and reasoning. Read PART 1 – Open Letter to India: Looking Back in Time

MINORITY OR NOT A MINORITY- THAT IS THE QUESTION:

Let us focus on the word ‘minority’. What exactly does it mean to be a minority? Take the example of a multi-national company, say, ‘McDonalds’, which has a franchise set up in India. Would one by any means consider McDonalds a “minority” company? Of course not, simply because its nexus lies abroad, and what is present in India is simply an off-shoot; a subsidiary branch of something large having its base outside.

Same is the case with Christianity in India; foreign nexuses around the globe have set up institutions in our country. These Christian Institutions in India are not a minority, they are simply connecting nodes, equipped and commandeered from abroad to serve a specific purpose.
So to get things clear, Christianity, as it exists in India in its current form, cannot be considered a minority.

Just as the funding for a multinational corporation in India comes from outside the country, a staggering amount of money running these organizations comes not from Christians living in India, but centers abroad, and most of them under the guise of providing service, which in reality are set up to convert as many Indians to their faith as they possibly can.

How do they go about doing it? It has been rampant for the past few centuries now. Right from the time the British set foot in India, seeds of conversion were already being sown.

DEBUNKING THE ARYAN INVASION THEORY:

There are several challenges involved in colonizing a nation. What makes it easier to accomplish is when you present yourself as their superiors, in some cases, even their saviors. Such an agenda gave rise to a very destructive and false notion known as the ‘Aryan Invasion Theory’ (AIT).
AIT basically postulates that the ancient Indians of Vedic times derived their civilization and Vedic religion from foreign invaders.

The word ‘Aryan’ comes from the Sanskrit word ‘Arya‘ (????), which simply means ‘noble’. It has absolutely nothing to do with race. The Europeans had us believe otherwise.

It took many prominent historians decades of struggling against the inertia of false ideologies, created by colonist brainwashing- not to mention dissenting views of many biased anti-Indian historians- to finally drive the nail on this theory, and thankfully as a result it is losing its validity even in academic circles. You can find innumerable related studies on the internet or otherwise; few of which include ‘Solid Evidence Debunking Aryan Invasion’, by David Frawley; ‘History of Ancient India’, by Kamlesh Kapur; ‘The Collapse of the Aryan Invasion Theory’, by Professor Nicholas Kazanas- among others.

The AIT gave rise to many tragic conclusions. A known fact is that Hitler’s Nazism was heavily based on the AIT notion, and that led to the killing of millions of innocent people, due to a sense of racial superiority. Unfortunately the roots of lies run very deep; AIT is still running rounds, having re-packaged itself as the ‘Aryan Migration Theory’.

FALSE DRAVIDIAN PREMISE:

Another major and contemporary problem is the Dravidian identity. As mentioned, one of the postulates of AIT states that the Aryans came from the outside, and the Dravidians were the original inhabitants of India. This split the nation into two along the geo-politico-socio-cultural lines. Some in the southern states consider themselves Dravidians, and wish to carve a separate identity, even a separate nation for themselves. Unfortunately they bought into the AIT premise and do not understand that the people of India as a whole are an indigenous lot.

This topic has been masterfully dealt in the book ‘Breaking India’ authored by Mr. Rajiv Malhotra and Mr. Aravindan Neelakandan. This book is highly recommended for those who are interested in knowing about the various issues plaguing India today. I have spoken to one of the co-authors at length, and the situation does look very bleak at this point. I quote from their website:

The fabrication of South Indian history is being carried out on an immense scale with the explicit goal of constructing a Dravidian identity that is distinct from that of the rest of India. From the 1830s onwards, this endeavor’s key milestones have claimed that south India: is linguistically separate from the rest of India; has an un-Indian culture, aesthetics and literature; has a history disconnected from India’s; is racially distinct; is religiously distinct; and, consequently, is a separate nation.

 Tamil classical literature that predates the 19th century reveals no such identity conflicts especially with “alien” peoples of the north, nor does it reveal any sense of victimhood or any view of Westerners or Christians as “liberators.” This identity engineering was begun by British colonial and missionary scholars, picked up by politically ambitious south Indians with British backing, and subsequently assumed a life of its own. Even then it was largely a secular movement for political power (albeit with a substratum of racist rhetoric). In recent decades, however, a vast network of groups based in the West has co-opted this movement and is attempting to transform Tamil identity into the Dravidian Christianity movement premised on a fabricated racial-religious history

This rewriting of history has necessitated a range of archeological falsities and even epigraphic hoaxes, blatantly contradicting scientific evidence. Similar interventions by some of the same global forces have resulted in genocides and civil wars in Sri Lanka, Rwanda and other places. If unchallenged these movements could produce horrific outcomes in South India.

DALIT BRAINWASHING:

Dalits in India, who are very much a part of Hinduism, are being strategically trained to turn against Hinduism. This is a two-part process. The first step involves converting them to ‘Neo-Buddhism’, which has only a namesake association with Buddhism, but in reality is simply an anti-Hindu construct. While Buddhism itself is a beautiful religion, Neo-Buddhism is a part of a bitter two-step agenda of alienation and conversion.

In the second step, already drenched with anti-Hindu propaganda, these Neo-Buddhist Dalits fall easy prey to be converted to Christianity.

It is not uncommon to see pictures of Jesus shown sitting in Padmasana (lotus posture), and termed as a more “recent” Avatara, in an attempt to lure Hindus away. I was narrated incidents of school-bus drivers, who will stall the vehicle in the middle of the road, and ask the children to pray to their favorite God so they can get to school safely. The kids pray to their Hindu deities to no avail. Then they are asked to pray to Jesus, and voila, the engine purrs with life. Other methods include shamelessly offering food if one pledges their allegiance to Christianity. Some downright offer money and some even create intentional friction in different families, initiating them in the Church under the pretext of offering help.

Charity is when you provide something to the needy, with no strings attached. In the case of these missionaries, their strings tangle you up for good: families fall apart, lives are destroyed, and the entire social structure crumbles to the ground. As we already discussed, the money to fund these activities comes from abroad. This money goes to strategically aim at the poorest and most uneducated strata of society, to strip them away from their traditional roots.

There are many cases where the Christians bully or outcaste their Hindu neighbours to the point that they convert to Christianity just to be socially accepted.

These were just glimpses of the enormous scale on which such happenings occur. This is how these divisive forces accomplish the task of abducting people from their Hindu roots through a process of constant brainwashing and trickery.

Vote-bank politics works by disallowing the minorities from merging in with the mainstream culture, purposely segregating them, making them feel inadequately represented, and polarizing their votes to gain election victories. These vote-bank politics apply not only to Dalits, but also to Christians and Muslims, as stated earlier. Little do they know that the very politicians who claim to liberate them, are only caging them further. The principle is deceivingly simple- if you make someone believe they are handicapped, and offer an imaginary crutch, naturally you have their support.

If a common tragedy occurs, the news-heading will be sure to include that the victim was a Dalit. If it was a Brahmin or some other varna, it would certainly go unmentioned. Thus we helplessly witness the demonizing of Brahmins, and over time it becomes engraved in our cultural psyche, with these induced ideas becoming our own. Brahmin bashing is a long standing obsession of our media.

Contemplating a little, it is only natural that our politicians prefer to keep the class distinction alive, in order to scoop up their votes. This is the primary cause for these factions being underdeveloped compared to the rest of the nation. The only way to overcome this marginalization is through raising awareness and voting intelligently during elections.

A CALL TO ACTION:

So far we have discussed the disease that plagues our nation as well as the associated symptoms. The cure enjoins the active participation of each one of you.

Verily, it all begins and ends with the individual. Individuals make a family, families form a society, a society sets trends that become a part of our national psyche, and these trends steer the present into the future, through precedents for forthcoming generations to look up to.

If a few individuals shun their duties, others have to bear the weight of their dropped responsibility. When the count reaches a critical number, we fall as a nation, and everything we hold dear and sacred come tumbling down with us like a house of cards.

A democracy that was once of the people, by the people and for the people undergoes an ugly metamorphoses to become a dictatorship of the politicians, by the politicians and for the politicians- a la Congress. Here the pawns are the educated elite- especially in the media business, and the victims are all of us.

A ‘meme’ can be looked upon as a theoretical unit of an idea. It is the carrier of cultural themes, symbols and traditions that flow from mind to mind, generation to generation. What we consider socially acceptable or unacceptable, our likes and dislikes, fads, fashions, and thoughts prevalent in our society today; these are all prompted by memes. The huge nation-wide furor over corruption and support for Anna Hazare too latched onto the public through memes alone. Memes spread like viruses, with each individual mind being the host.

The most dangerous one unleashed is pseudo-secularism. This is nothing short of Intellectual Terrorism. What the divisive organizations and foreign nexuses do is smother our traditional memes and deliberately flood them with a barrage of introduced ideas to suit their own agenda. As a result, it has become common practice; even fashionable, for Hindus to disenfranchise themselves from their customs, rituals, and religion, all of which are resultant effects of an overdose of methodical brainwashing by the divisive forces covertly at work. This is done by soliciting and/or exploiting the System- comprising of the polity, the intelligentsia, the academia and the media.

As individuals, you have the power to influence. Simply by discussing these issues with your family and friends, you can effectively undo some of the damage done by popular media, by being a medium in your own sphere of influence. You can generate new Dharmic ideas, as well as resurrect old ones that are being methodically erased.

As householders, you can ensure that your children grow up in a cultured setting by re-instating Hindu values at home. Taking them to the temple, keeping ancient family practices alive, and the studying of Indian philosophies is a great way to start. It is a fundamental economic principle that demand facilitates supply. Once a market is created it acts as a feedback mechanism, so demand the incorporation of yoga as part of Physical Training (PT) in school, demand Sanskrit to be taught in class, encourage extra-curricular activities like classical dance and singing. If these aren’t offered in school, kindly enroll your child in some independent institution for the same. In due time, your dissatisfaction with the system will compel the schools to cater to these needs. All these things will go a long way in re-discovering our long lost cultural ethos, both in our homes and in society.

As citizens, please vote responsibly in elections. Make your voice heard through the ballots. Politics isn’t dirty; it is people who exploit it because the well intended ones do not take interest in it. Every citizen of the world should be politically aware as a minimum social responsibility.

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

-Martin Niemöller

These statements reference the inaction on part of the German intellectuals, in the face of rising Nazism. They remained silent and allowed injustice to sweep the nation. Our national discourse has been polluted and we are all equally responsible for cleaning it up.

Facts by themselves are lifeless, but when clothed as ideas, they come alive. Ideas cannot be contained- they are self-illuminating, they always find a way to shine even through the smallest crevices, given the faintest sign of hope. Each point discussed in this analysis is an idea worth sharing. The time has come to reclaim our roots through a new wave of interest. Let this be an intellectual awakening. First make it yours, and then share it with others. This revolution can either begin or end at your doorstep, I fervently appeal to you to carry the torch forward.

By Prashant Parikh