Siddhartha Speaks

Hindu civilizationalist.
Thinking aloud since 2022.
Not here to agree with you.
Liberal in the real sense, not Nehruvian!

[Siddhartha Speaks @SAMaskeri]

https://t.co/CYkvw85fVA

[Rahul Shivshankar @RShivshankar]

Power might slip away easily, but not a sense of entitlement.
BULLDOZERS AT MAMATA'S NEPHEW AND TMC SCION ABHISHEK BANERJEE'S RESIDENCE.
A temporary structure had reportedly occupied the footpath outside his Kolkata residence for 15 years, blocking pedestrian access. After a local residents' confrontation on his birthday, Banerjee's lawyer said the structure would be removed.

QUESTION: A public footpath is not private property. Who allowed the encroachment to continue for 15 years?

[Sreemoy Talukdar @sreemoytalukdar]

Moral of the story according to Dhume: A "good Hindu" is one who observes religion in private. Keeps head down. Shows no outward expression of religiosity in foreign land.
A "bad Hindu" is the antithesis. A bad Hindu tries to assert identity, wield political power. These "Hindoo nationalists" invite the opprobrium from the Left. Just deserts!

[Ravindra Vasisht @rvasisht]

Sorry, while the idea looks good on paper, is still utopian in a country like India.

Its one thing if the country offered dual citizenship between India & say USA or Germany etc.

Knowing the kind of politicians & intellectual class we have who are obsessed with mainly one country - Pakistan - this idea will end up giving dual citizenship to these 2 countries.

This duo will include Bangladesh & such other nations since the one, only, sole objective will be to create a vote bank that helps them.

Left to those who suggest & implement such ideas - every Pakistani & Bangladeshi will be voting in every Indian election.

We will be extending a most corrupt version of #Art370 across India where every Indian tax payer will be subsidising energy, economy & territoris officially in Pakistan.

A honest intent idea for the Congress & it's intellectual eco system should be to merge India with Pakistan. Why sugar coat such end games with this dual citizenship ideas.

No, unlike @KanwalSibal i am not questioning loyalty of those who seek dual citizenship.

I am questioning the loyalty of the Indian politicians, Congress, it's eco system of intellectuals who's hidden agenda will be totally different from the stated intent

[Maj Gen Rajiv Narayanan, AVSM, VSM (V) @KlRajiv]

Let's indict all CIA officials, especially their Director and Dy Director, involved with George Headley for the 26/11 attacks. Court should issue a similar warrant.

[Sandeep @SandeepUnnithan]

Hegseth is on his way out.
And for reasons more than just failing to maintain decorum at the Arlington National Cemetry.
(The Tomb Guard’s reprimand will haunt Sec Def long after he’s gone)

[🦋Anjna🦋 @SaffronQueen_]

Full Support To MHA 👏👏👏

Chad MotaBhai 🔥🔥🔥

[Lt Gen DP Pandey @LtGenDPPandey]

Canadians.

[Siddhartha Speaks @SAMaskeri]

@raggedtag Crown or Clown?

[Kanwal Sibal @KanwalSibal]

Shashi Tharoor in IE today says India should accept dual nationality, citing numerous cases of Bollywood actors carrying foreign passports, and his own son.

Article is triggered by actor Imran Khan’s case.

In his view the heart of these individuals and the diaspora bats for India, and in many cases they carry foreign passports for convenience of travel etc.

Flimsy reasoning.

Article of the Indian Constitution explicitly forbids holding Indian and foreign citizenship at the same time. A Constitutional revision will be required.

Section 9 of The Citizenship Act, 1955enforces this constitutional rule.

Post partition there was need to establish clear, undivided national boundaries and prevent ambiguity over who belonged to India versus newly formed Pakistan.

Also preventing divided allegiance and to ensure that citizens—and especially future political leaders—did not hold competing allegiances to former colonial powers or neighboring states.

That concern remains. 

National Security and Governance Concerns are real.

There are intelligence and espionage risks. Dual nationality complicates background checks and counter-intelligence. Allowing individuals with foreign state loyalties to hold sensitive government jobs, military positions, or public office presents major security risks.

Dual citizenship can create legal loopholes for individuals accused of financial fraud or criminal offences to evade Indian law enforcement.

Managing tax obligations, property ownership laws, and foreign exchange rules for millions of dual citizens would create severe administrative friction. Dual status could be exploited to bypass domestic financial restrictions or create tax loopholes.

India has one of the largest overseas diasporas in the world. Granting full voting rights and domestic political influence to tens of millions of non-resident dual citizens could drastically skew local elections .

Managing dual nationals requires intricate legal coordination regarding taxation, military conscription, and diplomatic protection. Current administrative systems are not designed to track dual legal obligations for millions of diaspora members.

[Ratan Sharda 🇮🇳 रतन शारदा @RatanSharda55]

I pity the Ghandy family. They couldn't get even one editor who could correct historic dates and years and facts for #SoniaGandhi? Nobody taught her how to use Google to find these simple facts? What a wasted opportunity! RSS was founded in 1925, its founder Dr Hedgewar was in Congress and in jail in 1921 for joining Non-cooperation movement of Gandhi ji. But @SoniaGandhi writes RSS was founded in 1921!
Such errors reduce the impact of any writing. She worked hard to resurrect sinking Ghandy fortunes, and this is what family achieved!!

[Siddhartha Speaks @SAMaskeri]

@ShashiTharoor makes an appealing emotional argument for dual citizenship, but he overlooks a rather fundamental question: LOYALTY.

Citizenship is not simply a convenient travel document or an expression of cultural identity. It carries obligations, allegiance and responsibilities to a nation.

India has never enjoyed the luxury of operating in a benign geopolitical environment. We have lived with hostile neighbours, separatist movements, foreign-sponsored extremism and competing geopolitical interests.

Consider the hostility we have witnessed from the Trump administration. Consider Canada's diplomatic confrontation with India over Khalistani separatism. Consider the activities of Khalistani groups operating from Canada, the UK and Australia. These are not abstract geopolitical concerns. They have direct implications for India's national security.

Now consider the more complicated question of individuals with familial, political or ideological connections to countries whose interests may directly conflict with India's. What about people with Pakistani parentage, who are excluded from OCI eligibility under existing rules? What about those with Bangladeshi connections?

These are not merely administrative questions. They touch upon national security, competing allegiances and the interests of the Indian state.

And let's be honest about another aspect of this debate. Many Indians emigrated and acquired foreign citizenship because it was economically advantageous, professionally convenient or simply offered a better quality of life. There is nothing inherently wrong with that choice. But having made that choice, should retaining Indian citizenship automatically follow?

The diaspora's emotional attachment to India is not in question. Many continue to contribute to India, invest in India and take pride in India's achievements. But a nation's citizenship policy cannot be framed exclusively around the sentiments and convenience of its diaspora.

There is also an interesting historical precedent worth remembering.

When Maharaja Yeshwantrao Holkar of Indore sought recognition of his son Richard, born to his American wife, as his successor, the question of foreign parentage became a matter of considerable significance.

Richard was prevented from assuming even the largely ceremonial position of the Holkar Maharaja. Instead, his sister Princess Usha was recognised.

Nehru's correspondence of 30 April 1962 is particularly revealing. He explicitly stated that Usha's recognition rested on the fact that she belonged to the Holkar dynasty by birth, adding that this recognition did not necessarily extend to her children.

Think about that. In the early years of independent India, the country's leadership was prepared to distinguish between lineage and foreign parentage even when the position in question carried no real political power.

If such considerations mattered in the case of a ceremonial princely succession, surely we can have a serious national conversation about the qualifications required of those who seek to govern India.

My position goes further.

I believe eligibility to contest elections in India, from Panchayat to Parliament, should be restricted to citizens whose Indian nationality is rooted in birth and descent. Naturalised Indian citizens and their children should not be eligible to contest elections.

This is not a question of whether someone is intelligent, capable, patriotic or emotionally attached to India. It is about the principle that those entrusted with governing a country should have an unambiguous and demonstrable national allegiance.

Citizenship and eligibility to govern are two different questions. A country can extend citizenship and equal civil rights to people who make it their home, while setting additional qualifications for those seeking elected political authority.

India was once a relatively poor country whose interests could be conveniently overlooked. Today, it is an increasingly consequential economic, military and geopolitical power. The world treats India differently, and not always kindly.

We should not confuse sentiment with national interest, or the convenience of the diaspora with the security and sovereignty of the country.

Dual citizenship is not just about the right to belong to two countries. It is also about the obligations one owes to both.

Before we contemplate changing India's fundamental approach to citizenship, perhaps we should have an honest national conversation about allegiance, national security and where our ultimate loyalties lie.

The right to live, work and invest in India is one thing. The right to govern India is quite another.

[Ashutosh Malik @MalikAshutosh]

Nonsense. This is exactly why we shouldn't have dual citizenship. Most chaps will always be handmaidens for external powers. All developing countries that did it had 2 key elements-(1) A compradorial class that was in cahoots with external elements disconnected with natives. 1/2

[कुशल मेहरा @kushal_mehra]

I only read two chapters because I'm interested in Punjab. Chapters sixteen and seventeen of her book completely avoid the "when a big tree falls" statement by Rajiv Gandhi. Chapters 16 and 17 are an abomination, tbh. She ends the chapter with a ridiculous defence of the Communal Violence Bill.

[Karan Verma @KARAN_author]

Kamru and Commie Vivek trying to explain Hindutva 😂 Took them to the cleaners 👊👊 Watch and share widely!!

[Lt Gen DP Pandey @LtGenDPPandey]

No statement from anyone. CRPF is not vote bank.

[Srikant Kesnur @srikantkesnur]

Today, 11 Nov, is an important date, a
in the history of @indiannavy. It was OTD in 1928 that the White Ensign was hoisted for the first time by the Service, then known as Royal Indian Marine (RIM).

For non Navy folks, White Ensign, a @RoyalNavy tradition, distinguishes a Navy unit (ships, submarines, shore establishments) from Merchant Marine ships which fly the Red Ensign and other Government Service ships which fly the Blue Ensign. In short, White Ensign signifies a combatant force and on 11 Nov 1928, the RIM was reconstituted as a combatant force.

This development was as a follow up to the Feb 1926 announcement, by the Viceroy Lord Reading, of the British government decision to create a Royal Indian Navy, a fully combatant naval force. Until then, the RIM, a small capable force was largely used for logistics, maintenance and other non combatant roles.

While it would be very erroneous for us to consider the origins and development of @indiannavy only through British lens or perspective, given our hoary maritime past including of combatant forces, many of the formal frameworks we have today owe to the British system and hence the significance of this date.

Due to various factors & fascinating twists and turns (of which some other time) the creation of Royal Indian Navy (RIN) took more time than envisaged and formally came to being six years later in Oct 1934. The RIN is the immediate past predecessor of the @indiannavy

Over time, in the last 80 years the Naval Ensign or the White Ensign (usually flown on the Ensign Staff in the Ships quarterdeck) has undergone many changes reflecting our identity and aspirations as an independent nation and rising Navy anchored in Indian values and tradition.

The most recent change happened in Sep 2022 when the blue gold octagon was introduced, inspired by the seal of the great Maratha ruler and naval visionary Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

A snapshot of the various ensigns of RIN/Indian Navy is shown in this pic, kind courtesy @indiannavy, taken from the motivation hall of @IN_SignalSchool

Flags and Ensigns may seem anachronistic in an era of technology & AI, but their ability to motivate & inspire those in the Services is indisputable. Which is why history and tradition forms an important part of Navies the world over. And hence the importance of this day. It may seem a small footnote but it's an important footnote nonetheless.

@IndiannavyMedia
@INNavylife
@MeluhaMaritime
@Arun_Golaya
@navalhistorian @theUdayB
@probirpaymate
@AnchitGupta9
@zone5aviation
@CaptDKS
@abhilashtomy
@Moochikal
@Franksquarerig
@Pop_Eye64
@shetlerjones
@Maverickmusafir

[Sankrant Sanu सानु संक्रान्त ਸੰਕ੍ਰਾਂਤ ਸਾਨੁ @sankrant]

To use a mystic text like the Guru Granth Sahib which speaks of the dissolution of identity and make it the pretext for the creation and separation of identity is a real mockery of the teaching of the Guru.

It is literally everything the Gurus are pointing out not to do.

[Siddhartha Speaks @SAMaskeri]

@ajaykraina @shaktprince @AadiAchint 😂😂

[Harpreet @CestMoiz]

The one who stands guard,
Is the one who's dead

The soldier guards
His own memorial,

Comrades in arms
In life & beyond death

[Bhavesh Kansara @kansaratva]

One possible explanation is that MK Gandhi came in her dream and told her that now is a good time to publish her "memoirs". He also made "air quotes" with his fingers for "memoirs" and grinned toothlessly.

The motive seems to be his unrequited dream of closing down the party.