Braj Ranjan Mani

Non-institutional scholar. Author of DEBRAHMANISING HISTORY (2005, Extensively rev. edn. 2015), KNOWLEDGE AND POWER (2014). Formerly with Times of India, IIAS.

[Braj Ranjan Mani @brajranjanmani]

@CJP_for_India 10 out of 10.

[Braj Ranjan Mani @brajranjanmani]

Demand Justice for Ankit Kumar – Revoke Rapido’s Unfair Ban. - Sign the Petition! https://t.co/V7hga3po56 via @ChangeOrg_India

[Abhijeet Dipke @abhijeet_dipke]

Spoke to Abdul, whose father was murdered by BJP members.

While talking to him, I broke down. But it was Abdul who gave me strength and said, “Tootna nahi hai… Humein school theek karne hain. Papa chale gaye, lekin hum school theek karke rahenge.”

Abdul, mere bhai, I am deeply sorry for your loss. Your courage says so much about the values and strength your father gave you. Even after losing him, you are the one giving strength and courage to others.

I’m sorry that today I had no words to console you or lift your spirits. All I can say is that you are family now, and we will always stand with you and your family. You are not alone in this fight.

The country is proud to have a son like you. Even after losing your father to a hate crime, you remain determined to improve the schools in your locality and make sure other children have a better future.

Your father would be proud of you, Abdul.

[Ratna Singh @whattalawyer]

What if all dimagi naxals come together? 🫢💀

[Abhijeet Dipke @abhijeet_dipke]

As Fatima bi said to Kaveri Amma: “Bata dena uss ladke ko apne hi paani mein pighal jaana barf ka muqaddar hota hai…”

Grew up watching Swades and fell so deeply in love with the film that I must have watched it over 100 times by now.

There’s one part that has always stayed with me. Mohan goes to meet Haridas and sees how he is struggling even to feed his family. On his way back, sitting on the train, he sees a little boy selling water at the station instead of being in school. As Mohan quietly sheds a tear, I did too. Every single time.

Ever since, somewhere in my heart, I wished that someday I could do something for my own village, just like Mohan did for Charanpur.

Little did I know that life would take such a turn that years later, I would return from the US and actually get an opportunity to do something very similar for my own village.

Life really does come full circle sometimes. I’ll always be grateful for this opportunity and for all the love I’ve received from people. I love you all, and I’ll give it everything I have to do something meaningful and make a real difference. ❤️

[Sandeep Manudhane @sandeep_PT]

Almost 90% plus of Private Sector Indian CEOs Promoters and Top Businesspersons come from the ultimate reserved class - the Savarnas (mostly Brahmins and Banias). They silently allow none else to flourish. Their networks across Banks, VCs, PEs, Markets, Society and now even Politics, ensure a multi-generational reserved monopoly. Automatically. Silently. Gently. This has been so for generations, not just 75 years. Silence doesn't kill this reality.

I know it as I have seen it at close quarters, being one of them. Living among them. And frankly, you know it too.

Yes yes yes they are talented. They had all the means to be talented - safe childhoods, unlimited nutrition at will, best education and parenting, best imaginable education and healthcare, no degrading social treatment ever - for generations. Imagine merit and talent without it. Just imagine.

As for "merit", something we hear cries 24x7 about, Indian private sector (zero reservations since eternity) in past 30 years of neoliberal economy could create not one genuine world beating product. No Google No Anthropic No SpaceX No Palantir No WhatsApp No Mercedes No Toyota nothing. Savarna control of corporate India is generally about extraction at the cost of the nation, the society, and 90% of population. That is the only truth. And when confronted with this visible fact, they turn abusive and malevolent. They reject facts that scream from every newspaper every day. They turn their vile on the unfortunate who have paid the heaviest price for the rigid caste system. Every failure is sought to be pinned on some non-Savarna, by hook or crook. And then they scream "hey why bring caste into it?"

Get real. Please.

Real change begins the day Savarnas rise and demand a destruction of the Caste System itself, a disease due to which reservations are an absolute necessity. They possibly never will, because the hardened and ossified caste system keeps them in a position of continuing privilege, which they deny, then constantly display victimhood, and then blame the unfortunates who have been victimised for centuries, and then turn violent if situation so permits.

They are terrified, that one day, caste system will actually end. And all will be equal. They are mortified at the very idea. Because that is how it has been for ever. FOR EVER.

The daily cope "caste doesn't exist" "it was invented by British" doesn't change the truth living right between all of us.

Wake up. Change yourself kindly. Reservations and social justice are coming in private sector soon. Learn to respect those whom you shut the doors on for ever. Learn to help share respect and acknowledge. The moral arc of history won't be held hostage for ever. The time for change is fast arriving. Embrace it, do not reject it. We will be infinitely better when everyone has similar opportunities. And when social apartheid (of a million types - from separate kitchen cutlery to restricted lift usage) comes to a permanent end.

(And if you are another one who denies the screaming reality, spend just one week in any village near your city, and see what happens to the "lower castes" on a day-to-day basis.)

DEMAND THE DESTRUCTION OF CASTE SYETEM AND IN JUST 30-40 YEARS, ALL WILL BE ACTUALLY EQUAL. THEN REAL MERIT WILL EMERGE.

Remember: remaining silent on Casteism is the biggest Casteism of all. Talking openly about it, with the noble goal to ending it one day, is humanity. Finally, only and only humanity will prevail. Be on its side.

Best wishes to all of us.

[Ricardo @Ric_RTP]

The real reason the US is invading Venezuela goes back to a deal Henry Kissinger made with Saudi Arabia in 1974.

And I'm going to explain why this is actually about the SURVIVAL of the US dollar itself.

Not drugs. Not terrorism. Not "democracy."

This is about the petrodollar system that has kept America the dominant economic power for 50 years.

And Venezuela just threatened to end it.

Here's what really just happened:

Venezuela has 303 billion barrels of proven oil reserves.

The largest on Earth.

More than Saudi Arabia.

20% of the entire world's oil.

But here's the part that matters:

Venezuela was actively selling that oil in Chinese yuan. Not dollars.

In 2018, Venezuela announced it would "free itself from the dollar."

They started accepting yuan, euros, rubles, anything BUT dollars for oil.

They were petitioning to join BRICS.

They were building direct payment channels with China that bypass SWIFT entirely.

And they were sitting on enough oil to fund de-dollarization for decades.

Why does this matter?

Because the entire American financial system is built on one thing:

The petrodollar.

In 1974, Henry Kissinger made a deal with Saudi Arabia:

All oil sold globally must be priced in US dollars.

In exchange, America provides military protection.

This single agreement created artificial demand for dollars worldwide.

Every country on Earth needs dollars to buy oil.

This lets America print unlimited money while other countries work for it.

It funds the military. The welfare state. The deficit spending.

The petrodollar is more important to US hegemony than aircraft carriers.

And there's a pattern of what happens to leaders who challenge it:

2000: Saddam Hussein announces Iraq will sell oil in euros instead of dollars.

2003: Invaded. Regime change. Iraq's oil immediately switched back to dollars. Saddam lynched.

The WMDs were never found because they never existed.

2009: Gaddafi proposes a gold-backed African currency called the "gold dinar" for oil trade.

Hillary Clinton's own leaked emails confirm this was the PRIMARY reason for intervention.

Email quote: "This gold was intended to establish a pan-African currency based on the Libyan golden Dinar."

2011: NATO bombs Libya. Gaddafi sodomized and murdered. Libya now has open slave markets.

"We came, we saw, he died!" Clinton laughed on camera.

The gold dinar died with him.

And now Maduro.

With FIVE TIMES more oil than Saddam and Gaddafi combined.

Actively selling in yuan.

Building payment systems outside dollar control.

Petitioning to join BRICS.

Partnered with China, Russia, and Iran.

The three countries leading global de-dollarization.

This isn't coincidence.

Challenge the petrodollar. Get regime changed.

Every. Single. Time.

Stephen Miller (US homeland security advisor) literally said it out loud two weeks ago:

"American sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela. Its tyrannical expropriation was the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property."

He's not hiding it.

They're claiming Venezuelan oil BELONGS to America because US companies developed it 100 years ago.

By this logic, every nationalized resource in history was "theft."

But here's the DEEPER problem:

The petrodollar is already dying.

Russia sells oil in rubles and yuan since Ukraine.

Saudi Arabia is openly discussing yuan settlements.

Iran has been trading in non-dollar currencies for years.

China built CIPS, their own alternative to SWIFT with 4,800 banks in 185 countries.

BRICS is actively building payment systems that bypass the dollar entirely.

The mBridge project lets central banks settle trades instantly in local currencies.

Venezuela joining BRICS with 303 billion barrels of oil would accelerate this exponentially.

That's what this invasion is really about.

Not stopping drugs. Venezuela accounts for less than 1% of US cocaine.

Not terrorism. There's zero evidence Maduro runs a "terror organization."

Not democracy. The US supports Saudi Arabia, which has zero elections.

This is about maintaining a 50-year-old agreement that lets America print money while the world works for it.

And the consequences are terrifying:

Russia, China, and Iran are already denouncing this as "armed aggression."

China is Venezuela's biggest oil customer. They're losing billions.

BRICS nations are watching a country get invaded for trading outside the dollar.

Every nation considering de-dollarization just got the message:

Challenge the dollar and we will bomb you.

But here's the problem...

That message might accelerate de-dollarization, not stop it.

Because now every country in the Global South knows what happens if you threaten dollar hegemony.

And they're realizing the only protection is to move FASTER.

The timing is insane too:

January 3rd, 2026. Venezuela invaded. Maduro captured.

January 3rd, 1990. Panama invaded. Noriega captured.

36 years apart. Almost to the day.

Same playbook. Same "drug trafficking" excuse.

Same real reason: control of strategic resources and trade routes.

History doesn't repeat. But it rhymes.

What happens next:

Trump's press conference at Mar-a-Lago sets the narrative.

US oil companies are already lined up. Politico reported they've been approached about "returning to Venezuela."

The opposition will be installed. Oil will flow in dollars again.

Venezuela becomes another Iraq. Another Libya.

But here's what nobody's asking:

What happens when you can no longer bomb your way to dollar dominance?

When China has enough economic leverage to retaliate?

When BRICS controls 40% of global GDP and says "no more dollars"?

When the world realizes the petrodollar is maintained by violence?

America just showed its hand.

The question is whether the rest of the world folds or calls the bluff.

Because this invasion is an admission that the dollar can no longer compete on its own merits.

When you have to bomb countries to keep them using your currency, the currency is already dying.

Venezuela isn't the beginning.

It's the desperate end.

What do you think?

[Braj Ranjan Mani @brajranjanmani]

@siddharthrayudu @ThePrintIndia ❤️

[Braj Ranjan Mani @brajranjanmani]

Blaming Macaulay for India’s failures is just lazy politics we’ve perfected since 1947 https://t.co/ZYvvJ8BrT0 via @theprintindia

[Braj Ranjan Mani @brajranjanmani]

@siddharthrayudu @ThePrintIndia Many thanks, Siddharth, for deeply engaging with—and taking forward—
this public-spirited book.

Best wishes and blessings!

Live long!

🙏

[Braj Ranjan Mani @brajranjanmani]

Not just Nehru, even Hindutva stems from Macaulay legacy https://t.co/xPQ8sAp3N7 via @theprintindia

[The Caravan @thecaravanindia]

The October issue—The RSS legal front’s increasing hold over the judicial system; Uttarakhand’s origin as an upper-caste state; Why Bollywood produces bad war films; A victim of bulldozer justice picks up the pieces; and more.

Read the issue: https://t.co/R453GFvNgW

[Jawhar Sircar @jawharsircar]

I worked under both —watched them closely — so very very different!
These were/are their priorities.

[sanjoy ghose @advsanjoy]

This lady is a rockstar. Listen to her on the Rashtra Bhasha issue!

[Ajay Kamath @ajay43]

This is just brilliant- succinctly emphasises how the Hindi tyrants are creating a problem where there is none!

[Roshan Rai @RoshanKrRaii]

Left Adani in the hands of SEBI virtually letting him go

Left Chandigarh election rigger with a warning

Denied bail after bail to Kejriwal and opposition leaders

Delayed Delhi Governance bill.

Refused to act on VVPAT discrepancies.

Today, the mask is off.

Everything is starting to make sense.

[Indira Jaising @IJaising]

Chief Justice of India has compromised the separation of powers between the Executive and Judiciary. Lost all confidence in the independence of the CJI . The SCBA must condemn this publicly displayed compromise of Independence of the CJI from the Executive @KapilSibal

[Sushant Singh @SushantSin]

The one thing which defines independent India and has been the lodestar for Indians since 1950.

[Hartosh Singh Bal @HartoshSinghBal]

that people like him lined up behind modi in the run up to 2014 wasn't a failure of judgment, but a consonance on who should run india. today as the cong stutteringly realises what india is, savarna liberalism once again lines up with the rss' hindutva on 'castelessness'