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Showing posts with the label india

Why is BJP Against the word "Socialist"? (YouTube Video)

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You see this? This is a picture of the Preamble to the Constitution of India shared by a Govt handle recently. Notice something? Here - check this. This was the Preamble we were all familiar with.  The difference? Well, the words “Secular” and “Socialist” aren’t there in the first picture. Why? The govt handle said that they were sharing the original version of the Preamble. These words were added in the 42nd amendment to the Constitution in 1976. But the fact is, that as far as any amendments made to the Constitution are concerned, the latest version is the original version.  Now we all know why the current ruling party is against the word Secular - but what do they have against the word Socialist. Let's find out. I can bet that around 80% of the people on social media today won’t know what socialist actually means. Among those who know, many don’t really understand the implication as far as the Indian Constitution is concerned. So here goes nothing. Socialist refers to a state th

Gandhi vs Bhagat Singh (YouTube Video)

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"One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter." – George Galloway. I was in seventh grade when Ajay Devgan’s The Legend of Bhagat Singh was released in theatres. I remember our school took us for a show of the widely acclaimed movie. The movie was heart-wrenching and awe-inspiring, no doubt, but it clearly made it seem like Gandhiji was not interested in saving Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev & Rajguru from execution. I remember a lot of my friends getting disillusioned with the idea of Gandhi that day. But I felt differently. You see, even at twelve years old, I was somewhat familiar with what Gandhi stood for and I could clearly see that Gandhi’s ideology was very different from Bhagat Singh’s ideology. Gandhi wanted non-violent non-cooperation, whereas Bhagat Singh had chosen violence against British authorities in his fight for Indian Independence. An argument can be made for either approach and ideology, but the fact is, that the Indian Independence was a joint effort

In The Name of Ram...

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A while ago, I made a video questioning whether the Indian epics Ramayan and Mahabharat were historical events or mythology. It drew a lot of anger from a lot of people. The thing is – I was not always aware that I was an atheist. There was a time when I prayed to God as well – Lord Shiva actually. But I never believed the stories to be true or historical. I viewed them as mythology – which even if it ever happened, happened in some other realm or alternate reality. Because with what we know about science and our own development, we can safely assume that the magical elements in the holy books of all religions are just not possible. I thought everyone knew this – I thought everyone knew that these were stories – metaphorical mostly and meant to impart a moral lesson to the people. So, it was astonishing when a very close friend of mine became seriously offended because I questioned the authenticity of Mahabharat and hence, Shri Krishna in association.  I tried to reason with him, sayin

Deconstructing Hate & Brainwashing - Debate with a Netizen

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I had a debate with a netizen over Instagram chats. It took a lot of mental strength to get through, so I thought I should share it with the world. I was fed up of people arguing over a simple comment on this post about the status of minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh, where I had commented, “ This is why India has to be better and make a safe space for it’s minorities. We have to be better than those we criticize. We can’t use such people’s bad work to justify doing the same thing.”  Needless to say, my comment irked a lot of people. So, I shared it in a story for my followers to see…   This is when a netizen called Nikhil Agarwal replied to my story. He had been commenting on some other post where I had expressed some opinion. I vaguely remembered what he had said at this point. But his message against my story made his stance clear. Him: Look at the peaceful community Census. And if you are really researcher. Then read history India has been heavenly place for minorities for at