Bṛhasvāk बृहस्वाक् బృహస్వాక్కు

Hindu—Nationalist—Democrat—Irreverent—Sceptic

[Meenakashi Lekhi @M_Lekhi]

Hindu women chose death by Johar over the life of a slave , they found honour in death by Johar than life of indignity as a slave. It is not about Patriarchy, it’s about bodily autonomy, honour , dignity and decency.
Honour and dignity matter to men as they die in wars for a larger cause of the nation, people and society. It matters as much to women and they aren’t anywhere less than men when it comes to honour,dignity ,sacrifice or bravery. It’s about equality of genders and similarities in emotions .

[VOXINDICA @VOXINDICA]

Wonder which law Nehru used to jail Majrooh Sultanpuri. There was no IT Act then, inconveniently enough. Did Nehru reach for his newly minted First Amendment? If so, which provision, precisely, did the trick? Or did Nehru’s celebrated commitment to free expression come with a simpler constitutional principle: criticise Nehru, discover the limits of Nehruvian tolerance? Just curious.

[VOXINDICA @VOXINDICA]

A 🧵 worth going through!

For long, the treatment meted out to women by (jungle) Naxals—particularly by their male “leaders”—was well known, or at least widely suspected. The memoir of a prominent former (jungle) Naxal amply clarified the matter and proved an eye-opener for many.

For a movement that sought to reorder the entire world and usher in a Marxian paradise, gender equality and women’s empowerment appear to have been little more than highfalutin, mealy-mouthed principles meant for public consumption—useful rhetoric and PR, but not necessarily principles to live by.

For all their revolutionary pretensions, when it came to women, they could be every bit as hidebound as the society they claimed they wanted to transform.

This thread merely clarifies that the broader issue is not very different even within the so-called “urban Naxal” groups—or, to use the newly minted adaptation of the phrase, “Dimagi Naxal” groups. The setting and rhetoric may differ, but the underlying attitudes and contradictions appear remarkably familiar.👇

[Bṛhasvāk बृहस्वाक् బృహస్వాక్కు @BRIHASVAK]

మొలక లేతదనము, తలిరుల నవకము
మొగ్గ సోగదనము, పూవు తావి
తేనె తియ్యదనము, తెలుగునకే కాని
మొరకు కరకు దయ్యపు నుడికేది?

—ఆదిభట్ల నారాయణ దాసు

[VOXINDICA @VOXINDICA]

https://t.co/3VX65WOicz

[VOXINDICA @VOXINDICA]

The ad itself objectifies the body. That isn’t some accidental side effect—the whole point is to grab eyeballs and sell a product. The actress participated in a commercial campaign for money, not as some grand act of social reform.

But the moment people object that the imagery jars with the dignity or religious sentiment associated with the occasion, out come the highfalutin rescue words: “feminism,” “gender sensitivity,” “empowerment.” 🙄 Apparently, advertising can deliberately provoke attention, but anyone who reacts is suddenly guilty of ideological backwardness.

Raksha Bandhan is a Hindu festival with an age-old cultural and religious tradition, ordinarily observed with a certain dignity and decorum. People are perfectly entitled to debate how traditions evolve—but dismissing every objection as an assault on feminism is intellectually lazy.

And one wonders whether the same advertising agency and actress would display equal “boldness” while invoking the sacred spaces, ceremonies, or festivals of other religions. Would she turn up at another religion’s shrine in comparable attire and then lecture objectors about “feminism”? If not, spare us the heroic rhetoric. Selective audacity dressed up as principle is still selective audacity. 🎭

[VOXINDICA @VOXINDICA]

Ban Vande Mataram and doctors and technicians will drop from heaven!

[VOXINDICA @VOXINDICA]

Delhi Police, apparently determined to give a state-level reception to Abhijit Dipke and his gang, rolled out the band, baaja and full ceremonial pomp at the airport—not for a visiting head of state, but to welcome the champions of an anti-government agitation.

Nothing says law and order quite like a police orchestra, red-carpet enthusiasm and a grand civic welcome for political agitators. At this rate, all that was missing was a guard of honour, flower petals and a commemorative plaque: “Welcome, dear agitators—please enjoy your state-sponsored reception.”

And then the quasi-Maharaja went on his grand inspection tour of schools and government offices, strutting around as though some mysterious coronation had bestowed upon him an extra-constitutional mandate.

Apparently, the Constitution was merely taking a lunch break while His Excellency conducted his royal inspection—surveying government institutions with all the pomp of a ruler inspecting his province and the authority of someone who had apparently appointed himself to the throne.

At this rate, the next logical step is a royal seal, a durbar and an official proclamation declaring that the government shall henceforth take instructions from the self-anointed Maharaja.
..................................................
On the other hand ...

"Delhi police deny permission to ‘Reservation Hatao Andolan’ protest at Jantar Mantar"

https://t.co/JYxWbo95xc

[VOXINDICA @VOXINDICA]

OMG! The “Iron Lady” herself had received U.S. money while she was a Congress party official!

This isn't some modern conspiracy theory—it was explicitly recorded by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the former U.S. Ambassador to India, in his memoir. He wrote that the United States had twice interfered in Indian politics by providing money to the Congress Party to counter Communist electoral prospects, and that on one occasion the money was given to Mrs. Gandhi herself.

So perhaps the Congress leadership should think twice before lecturing India about “foreign interference.” If Rahul Gandhi has sought political support and pressure from the USA and Europe, the obvious question is whether this represents a similar willingness to invite foreign involvement in India's domestic politics—with the ultimate objective of weakening a democratically elected government and clearing the path to power.

The irony is hard to miss: a party whose own history includes documented allegations of accepting U.S. political funding now presents itself as the defender of India against foreign interference.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan, A Dangerous Place: The United States and India, Little, Brown and Company, 1978, p. 41.

[VOXINDICA @VOXINDICA]

I don’t think any other political party in the world has descended to such murky depths, abusing and ridiculing Parliament with the nefarious design of unseating a constitutionally and legitimately elected government and usurping power.

[VOXINDICA @VOXINDICA]

Indian journalists seem to acquire psychoanalysis as a birthright! Just look at how expertly they analyze body language! 😉

[VOXINDICA @VOXINDICA]

Is Vikas Divyakirti himself #LeftIllib? Is it a case of “twisting facts to theories”?

We live in a strange world in which “research” like this makes it to "internationally acclaimed" journals.👇

[VOXINDICA @VOXINDICA]

This should be breaking headline news!

[VOXINDICA @VOXINDICA]

Gen Z would be better served by channeling its energy, idealism, and capacity for mobilisation toward nation-building rather than allowing its attention to be dissipated by issues whose immediate purpose has already been substantially addressed.

The recent agitation over the NEET paper-leak controversy is worth examining in that context. The protests gathered momentum even after corrective measures had begun to be instituted. That raises a legitimate question: once remedial action was underway, what precisely was the continuing agitation intended to achieve?

Young people have every right to demand accountability, transparency, and institutional reform. Indeed, a democracy is strengthened when its youth refuses to tolerate wrongdoing. But there is also a danger in allowing genuine grievances to be appropriated by political actors pursuing objectives that have little to do with the original cause.

If that happened here, sections of Gen Z risked becoming unwitting pawns in a larger political contest. The more troubling possibility would be that prolonging the agitation after corrective action had begun was itself part of a political strategy—one designed not merely to secure reform, but to sustain unrest and exploit youthful anger for interests potentially at odds with the broader national interest.

Gen Z’s energy is an enormous national asset. It should challenge institutions when necessary, but it should also distinguish between constructive dissent and political mobilisation masquerading as a public cause. Nation-building requires both the courage to protest genuine injustice and the judgment to recognise when a legitimate grievance is being turned into somebody else’s political instrument.

[VOXINDICA @VOXINDICA]

Tirupati Balaji temple appoints hereditary archakas. Their families have been performing these duties for ages since when the temple’s incomes were low. The temple’s incomes magnified in the last 100 years or so.

It is wrong to say they have no special qualifications. The archaka families are educated in agama, smarta and vaidika sastras.

The archaka families work in rota; they have certain rights and guaranteed incomes but they don’t have any role in the management of the temple or its assets. The temple is managed by a board. Its chairman and members are political appointees drawn from various castes and sections of the society.

[VOXINDICA @VOXINDICA]

Ah! How did Gandhi become the father of the nation?

[VOXINDICA @VOXINDICA]

Ah! Isn’t this just wishful thinking masquerading as an opinion piece?

[VOXINDICA @VOXINDICA]

There is no shortage of Quislings willing to sell out their nation for the proverbial thirty pieces of silver. Quite a few of them have found a platform in the opinion pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post. Their commentaries are neither entirely truthful nor widely regarded as credible in India. Yet they remain useful to their patrons, for the old adage still holds true: he who pays the piper calls the tune.

Anyone with even a modicum of political sense in India knows that the agitation was not entirely spontaneous.

The exploitation of a genuine grievance for political ends by forces inimical to India’s interests is hardly unprecedented. In a country as vast and diverse as India, it is not difficult to channel sectarian disillusionment into organized unrest.

A measure of promptness and political dexterity on the part of the government could have defused the situation at an early stage. By addressing the underlying grievance, it might have removed the principal catalyst for the unrest and denied its opponents the opportunity to fish in troubled waters.

[VOXINDICA @VOXINDICA]

This is how stories are concocted and victimhood narratives built! Honestly I too did not know the context in which the word “vidhva” was used.

[VOXINDICA @VOXINDICA]

What is wrong with calling out a scam in a financial support scheme for widows? The deliberate attempt to misconstrue the word “vidhwa” involved taking it out of context in order to construct a narrative of victimhood.

Take the recent example of the alleged misappropriation of funds in Ayodhya. It has been used not only to highlight financial irregularities but also to tarnish the image of sadhus and, by extension, the broader Hindu parivar.

The objective appears to go beyond merely scoring political points by discomfiting a rival. It also serves to reaffirm the party’s commitment to an important electoral constituency. Seen in that light, it belongs to the same pattern as the promotion of the “Saffron terror” narrative: both can be understood as attempts to reinforce a political message aimed at a particular vote-bank.