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1. India has defence and economic relations with Israel that are independent of its relations with Arab nations. Doing business with a country is not the same as "interfering" in that region. 2. Modern-day Israel is a secular state. Zionists are only a small part of their political spectrum...

1. No India is not in the Middle-East. You don't need to be in the Middle-East to have relations with a country from the Middle-East. 2. PAGAN country supporting Abrahamic religious nation? Why? How? 3. India is not interfering in the problem with Israel. India's diplomatic position has...

It was not Christian heritage, rather the Enlightenment that propelled the Western world where it is today. Christianity has had to evolve in order to stay relevant. Christianity evolved into a somewhat benign force through the hammer blows that it received from science. These blows tempered its...

I think identifying capitalism as the reason for the plight of dalits (Muslims as well?) would be overly simplistic. Access to capital has undoubtedly played its role, but it is not that if the marginalized communities got rich overnight, they would be any less discriminated against. These are...

I am in the middle of reading a commentary on Frank Jackson's moral functionalism. That will I've me a better understanding of the subject. Although I must say that I am wary of the term deconstruction that you use. The reason that is so is because although it is a powerful analytical tool, it...

Fair enough. Let us agree to disagree and end this discussion. I would like to outline a few points, not as a retort to anything said by you, but as general points for future reference: 1. Factual accuracy is a perfectly valid defence against claims of slander. 2. If the facts are accurate, the...

Your arguments are based on totally superfluous assumptions. Firstly, you are mistaken in assuming that I challenge your post due to some innate wish to malign BD. Although it does not affect the accuracy if the point I am making, yet, If you can find even one post that I have made in which I...

The Federal nature of our republic is part of the basic structure of the Constitution and cannot be changed. Federalism was the negotiation chip at the time of India's formation - it convinced disparate states to agree to the Union in the first place. Having said that, the idea of unified laws...

Aah...like I often say, there is nothing about propaganda that Joseph Goebbels did not know. Social media has made it a collaborative process. Suddenly, the world is full of nations whose vocal online communities seem to have no complains with the state. Russia, Turkey, India, and now even the...

I absolutely agree on the point you make about economic lift-off. I wanted to ask you a question in a more general context. Do you see an increasing trend in many countries where the government has co-opted the aspirational classes into the business of conjuring optics of economic well-being? It...

So what would you have him do? Not mention inconvenient facts? Or selectively mention facts that suit your narrative? Will the facts change? Suppose he was to forward an article that falsely claimed that foreign tourism arrival was increasing, would that achieve some positive result? Or if he...

I have ignored that tool so cannot see his post but I can easily guess what he has to say. What you mentioned about a list of economic grievances is actually correct to a large extent. Because the state has not been able to provide education and economic opportunities for everyone, the process...

Okay. So the world does not work on analysis of statistical data, but on anecdotal references of two isolated (real?) events in a nation of 1.3 billion. Thanks for the heads up. What would we do without your excellent insight.

A) the point about crime statistics has been answered by me in post#4. B) for every Saharanpur there is a Muzzafarnagar. Are we now supposed to tally riots and arrive at numbers. This was not meant as an exercise in political point- scoring, so if your point is that the fact that no one ever...

I never contested the data to be fake. I am personally aware of some of these incidents. My preliminary contention is that the list is not comprehensive enough to arrive at a conclusion based on it. A charge that the situation has deteriorated cannot be rebutted by showing numbers that indicate...

Kancha Ilaiah is a prominent political activist and commentator. In his book Why I am Not a Hindu, he presented a critique of Hindutva from the Dalit perspective. When it is no masterpiece like Bertrand Russell's Why I am not a Christian, it nonetheless gives an insight into the fact that the...

Yes, it is true that socio-economic deprivation makes these Quixotic quests such as seeking a national identity quite hollow. And maybe you are right - in the sub-continent, this has remained an elitist discourse. Which is why every shill with an agenda can come along and play the people, as...

The choice between human rights and economic prosperity is a false binary. In any nation where economic development has taken place along with oppression of human rights, the growth is despite, and not due to such conditions. What does support for obscurantist beliefs have anything to do with...

Look. If we are to leave things to mob justice then we might as well dissolve our nations. If our governments cannot ensure even a modicum if justice then what reason do they have for existing? The way I see it, @El Sidd also to answer your point about legislating this cow business. This is...

Whoever this person who has "independently" collected data for the whole nation, I am not going to engage his findings simply because that is not the way to collate data. I think you are a smart person and you should know better. As for official statistics in India, there are structural flaws...