u/DunderMifflinReal

Just watched Uprising, a historical action drama based on the English Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.
The story takes place in 14th century England, during a period of plague, poverty and severe social inequality.

The story starts with soldiers demanding more grain as taxes from peasants who have almost nothing left for the winter. The soldiers even check the women by sticking their fingers into their v to determine whether they are adults or still teenagers so they can tax them as well. Then the violence starts between the peasants, villagers and soldiers, and the whole uprising begins.
This happened in 14th century England.

My question is, the same British were doing similar things in India throughout their colonial rule, taking from the peasants through taxation, extracting agricultural produce, exporting food and controlling food supplies, while India experienced repeated devastating famines.

India experienced around 12 major famines during British rule, with estimates of famine deaths reaching tens of millions, with some historical estimates approaching 40 million!

And there is a big conversation, in 2026 Britain, where many people still see British colonialism primarily through development, infrastructure and the supposed benefits it brought to its colonies. That is how a lot of the history is presented to them through their schooling systems!

And we Indians? Bollywood hasn’t really made a major international scale movie about what British colonial rule actually meant for ordinary Indians, especially the famines.

Instead, we keep getting imaginative stories like Mahabharata, Ramayana, random kings like Shivaji, that Sambhar guy, Tanhaji, Ashoka, movies about Savarkar, and more and more movies about freedom fighters and politicians(even the living ones), and we are happy with it!

But where are the movies about what happened after the British captured Indian territories?
They won wars.
They captured territories.
They made alliances with Indian kings.
But what happened after that?
What did they do in those territories?
What happened to the taxation system?
What happened to the peasants?
What happened when crops failed?
Where did the food go?
What happened during the Bengal Famine, when millions died?
I don’t think the British stopped collecting taxes because Indians won a cricket match against them.
This is the history we should also be making movies about and that’s a soft power to have, just like what Hollywood does!

We need more movies that expose British colonialism and show the world what happened in India, especially during the Bengal Famine and other devastating famines in which millions died.
There are hundreds of movies about Britain during roughly the same historical period, including stories about their successes in World War II against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

So why can’t we have major movies showing what British colonial rule looked like for the millions of Indians who actually lived under it?

Also, it’s one of the effective ways in which Indians can fight back against the growing sense of racism against Indians, Pakis, B’deshis, even Sri Lankans, living in countries like the UK, by sending out a message that there’s a reason why they’re there, that they were left with nothing 70 to 80 years ago, which is not that far away.

Instead of that we are satisfied about watching the “uprising” amongst the biggest famine enablers in the history of world!

This question is to those BJP zombies in this subreddit, how do you guys who oppose bail or even a proper trial for Umar Khalid and Sharjeel Imam actually expect the full truth to come out? Look at the Kasab trial. We got so much detail because everything was put before the court and tested, from his training in Pakistan and the handlers directing the attackers, to the GPS route, satellite phone, weapons, intercepted calls and how the whole 26/11 operation was planned and coordinated.

And honestly, wouldn’t it be incredibly brain dead to believe that the Delhi riots were somehow organised by just two people, Umar and Sharjeel, and that the answer is simply to keep those two in jail forever? Don’t you want the trial to actually establish who did what, what evidence exists, who else was involved and whether the prosecution’s allegations hold up?

Or is the real issue that you don’t want the trial to happen because you don’t want any other names or details to come out? If the evidence is rock solid, why be scared of putting everything on the table and letting the court test it?

Please don’t be surprised!

Golwalkar, in his book We, Our Nationhood Defined, presents a very clear position on the status of non Hindus, particularly Muslims and Christians, in India. He argues that they may continue to live in the country, but only under certain conditions. Either they must adopt Hindu culture, language and religion and conform to what he describes as the “Hindu way of life”, or they would remain in the country as subordinated communities without the rights and privileges of citizenship.

In other words, the argument is not simply that Muslims and Christians are welcome as equal citizens while maintaining their distinct religious and cultural identities. The framework Golwalkar describes makes their continued presence conditional on assimilation into the dominant Hindu cultural framework, or alternatively, on accepting a subordinate status without citizenship rights.
That is why Bhagwat’s more recent comments can sound significantly softer when this broader historical context is left out. He may have articulated only the more conciliatory part of the argument while leaving the more controversial implications ambiguous.

This is fundamentally different from the constitutional idea of “unity in diversity”, where people of different religions, languages and cultures can retain their identities while enjoying equal citizenship. The Golwalkar formulation, as presented in that book, is much closer to assimilate into the dominant culture or accept a subordinate position”.

So this is not a “change of thought” within the RSS. It is just an old ideological position being expressed in a softer and more politically palatable way, essentially the same ideas from Bunch of Thoughts being repackaged for a different audience and era.

An average day in a BJP ruled state:

1. For decades: Lahuria Dah village in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, struggled with severe water shortages. Residents depended heavily on tankers for basic drinking water.

2. November 2022: IAS officer Divya Mittal, then Mirzapur District Magistrate, stepped in. After around nine months of work, piped water finally reached 125 homes under the Har Ghar Jal scheme.

3. August 2023: A ceremony was held to mark the achievement. The local MLA was not invited. BJP district vice-president Vipul Singh complained to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, alleging a protocol violation.

4. Days later: Divya Mittal was transferred from Mirzapur to Basti.

5. September 4, 2023: The newly laid pipeline was broken by unidentified persons. A police complaint was filed. The water supply stopped and villagers were again dependent on tankers.

4. After the transfer: Divya Mittal was subsequently placed on the waiting list.

5. August 30, 2026: Divya Mittal resigned from the IAS after 13 years of service.

6. And the punchline: There is no reliable evidence that the piped water supply was permanently restored afterwards.

Decades of waiting → nine months of work → tap water → political complaint → officer transferred → pipeline vandalised → water stops → officer eventually resigns.

The villagers waited 75 years for water. The government apparently needed only days to make the achievement disappear!

This is such a brilliant achievement by Mudiji that perhaps it deserves to be studied as a case study in governance, urban development and, of course, masterstroking.

On 30th August 2014, Mudiji signed an agreement to develop Varanasi using the Kyoto model.
Kyoto is a city in Japan, known for its beautiful beaches and the tagline “Kyoto By The Sea.” And now, in August 2026, in just 12 years, ModiZee has ensured that Varanasi has reached there, well, almost.

Varanasi residents now have all the water they need, right outside their residences too.
Bus, sand laana baaki hai. 🙏

Of course, Mudiji’s masterstroking continues with such vigour that one wonders how he does not get tired. 🙏

You useless fellows still do not know the secret of his energy.

Does he bite mangoes or does he suck them?

Perhaps the day people stop using “ji”as a suffix to that moron’s name, half the battle will be won. 🙏

All this vigorous masterstroking does not actually solve the nation’s problems.

Perhaps Varanasi has indeed become Kyoto. The only problem is that to see it that way, one apparently needs to wear bhakt ka chashma.

This is also the larger problem with such grand MOUs. The Varanasi agreement is hardly an isolated example. The outcome of most such MOUs is ultimately the same, including the much celebrated Davos engagements. There is plenty of publicity, plenty of announcements and plenty of promises, but the actual results often remain nowhere near the grand vision originally presented.

Yet there is one consistent feature. While the public waits for the promised transformation, there are always some who manage to profit immensely from these MOUs.

MOUs are nothing but jokes.

In a show, comedian Kunal Kamra reportedly described the Mahabharata as mythology and argued that it should not be mixed with history. Shubham Gaur immediately responded, saying, “That’s our history.”

Now the BJP ecosystem is trying to cook up yet another controversy, seemingly to waste the time and resources of the people, just as they are doing with the Vande Mataram issue, while the country continues to struggle with serious problems in education, employment, law and order, corruption and the economy.

BJP supporters are now trying to portray Shubham Gaur as some kind of Sanatani hero who “challenged” Kunal Kamra. But conveniently, nobody seems interested in what Shubham Gaur said immediately afterwards: “Bhai, doosre ka show toh dhyan rakho.” That clearly suggests he understood that the statement could be used to attack the show simply because the Mahabharata had been referred to as mythology.

Then another comedian said that the Mahabharata happened around 1000 BC, and the entire audience laughed. So, taken as a whole, the show was clearly playing with and mocking the very premise of treating the Mahabharata as straightforward historical fact. Yet the BJP ecosystem is now presenting the episode as though some massive ideological takedown of Kunal Kamra took place on stage.

As usual, a controversy is being manufactured where there was barely one, while the country has far more pressing issues to worry about. Instead of focusing on the state of India’s education system, unemployment, corruption, the use of force against agitating youth, and the broader failures of governance, we are once again being pushed into another manufactured cultural controversy.

Another example is Vande Mataram that is being hotly debated.

The bottom line is that people are laughing at the entire Vande Mataram controversy because many of the BJP ecosystem’s loudest voices cannot even correctly sing its first two stanzas, let alone explain all six.

And in the Mahabharata controversy(to be), people are similarly laughing at the absurdity of pretending that a comedian’s reference to mythology versus history somehow constitutes a great ideological confrontation.

Meanwhile, the real issues remain education, employment, corruption, law and order and the economy. Those are the issues that deserve our attention, not controversies manufactured for political distraction.

Rahul Gandhi’s Chhatron Ki Goonj in Pune has clearly shaken the BJP ecosystem, and for more than one reason.

For starters, the turnout was far beyond expectations. A packed venue overflowing with youthful energy, in Pune of all places, one of the biggest right wing strongholds outside Nagpur.
Rahul basically walked into their backyard and delivered a political slap.

But the bigger message was the event itself.
The women owned that stage.

Women were given the platform, the microphone and the space to speak freely. They enjoyed the pre event concert, interacted with Rahul and, most importantly, felt safe and comfortable doing it.
Even Rahul wore a pink “Girl Power” badge.

And then came the Manusmriti bashing.
Honestly, Manusmriti deserves every bit of criticism it gets. Its deeply patriarchal ideas reduce women to someone’s daughter, wife or mother while denying them an independent identity and agency. Its caste based hierarchy and misogynistic worldview deserve to be called out.

But here is the trap.
The BJP and its media ecosystem would absolutely love to turn this into the entire debate.
Because then the conversation moves from jobs, education, recruitment, inflation, rising prices, women’s empowerment and a slowing economy to an endless Manusmriti versus everything debate.

That is like fighting a pig in the mud.
The pig enjoys it, and even if you win, you come out dirty.

According to an official NITI Aayog report, around 27% of Indians aged 15 to 29 are neither employed, studying nor undergoing formal skill training.

That is the conversation India’s youth actually need.

Manusmriti may be an important subject for historians and academics. Its misogyny and casteism should absolutely be exposed.
But it cannot become the frontline narrative of today’s India.

Let them scream “Manusmriti, Manusmriti.”
You keep talking about Shiksha, Suraksha and Samvidhaan.

And the same principle applies to religious reform.
Before pointing a finger at someone else’s house, I should have the courage to clean my own.
People ask, “Why don’t you speak about Islam or Christianity?”
Simple.

How can I demand reform from others when I haven’t honestly examined the problems within my own house?

Reform must begin with introspection.
A leader with influence should encourage people to look within, question outdated practices and voluntarily leave behind misogyny, casteism and inequality.

Clean our own house first. Then people may actually listen when we speak about someone else’s.

So let Manusmriti remain where it belongs.
In the bottom drawer of debates.

And while they keep shouting Manusmriti, Manusmriti, you keep the conversation where it matters:
Shiksha. Suraksha. Samvidhaan. Jobs. Equality. Opportunity.

That is the fight.

According to NITI Aayog around 8.7 Crore youth in the age range of 15-29 are doing absolutely nothing.

They are neither working, nor studying, nor taking any sort of formal training.

Estimations say that the number of people currently in the age group of 15-29 in India is 37 Crores.

This is a whopping 23.5% of the youth population that is literally not doing anything.

And no, I don't blame them.

I squarely blame the Govt.

In the past decade, the disparity between usable and available skillsets has drastically deteriorated.

The freebies given by various Govts (State and Center) have worked for dissuading the youth from finding themselves jobs.

The lack of free training for the youth ensures that the youth does not have any requisite skills which will enable them to find a job or take up the jobs available in the market.

And finally, the scaled down manufacturing industry and the total annihilation of the unorganised sector, thanks to the Govt policies aimed specifically at doing that, has ensured that low skill jobs have rapidly dwindled.

Now we have a youth who is neither trained to take up a skilled job, nor has enough opportunities to take up jobs that meet their available skill sets.

While India still boasts of an average age of 28-29 years, making us a young robust population, that population is whiling away their time, twiddling their thumbs.

A frustrated jobless youth will give rise to criminality in the society, we are just sitting on the top of a volcano that is about to burst.

“WE DON’T TRUST YOU.” - THE LINE MILLIONS OF INDIANS FEEL

That one exchange inside the DCP office perfectly captures the deep distrust many Indians have developed toward the police and the Home Ministry.

Police Lady: “Trust us.”

Rahul Gandhi: “We don’t trust you.”

Police Lady: “You trust us, that’s why you have come here.”

Rahul Gandhi: “No. We don’t trust you, that’s why we have come here.”
😂

And then there’s the moment when Rahul Gandhi asks whether Amit Shah runs the department and whether he is the boss. The response is inaudible, after which Rahul points at Amit Shah’s photograph on the wall and asks:

“Phir inki photo kyun laga rakhi hai?”

That exchange is hilarious, but the underlying point is serious: when citizens have lost faith in the police themselves, being told to “trust the police” is hardly reassuring. If people no longer believe the police will deliver justice fairly, what exactly are they being asked to trust?

And seeing a Home Minister’s photograph prominently displayed inside a police office only makes the whole exchange even more absurd.

2 important things happening this week in India

First, the absolute disaster that is India’s public education system.

The situation of schools at all levels, local body, district, state and Kendriya, is horrendous. Leaking roofs, improper roads, inaccessible distances, shortage of teachers, lack of uniforms, lack of books and even a lack of educational toys in Anganwadis. Almost every rural school seems to be struggling with one problem or another. Imagine schools not even receiving the adequate number of uniforms they are supposed to get.

I have friends who have been working in this area for almost 6 years now, and what they have noticed is that the root cause is systemic corruption on a massive scale, starting from the top and reaching the bottommost rung of the organisation. I am glad GenZ and GenAlpha have started voicing their discomfort, and they need all the support they can get.

The entire thing increasingly feels like an effort to ruin the education system for upcoming generations because an uneducated youth will never question the Government.

Second, Modi’s Independence Day “Dimagi Naxal” circus.

People have started identifying themselves as “Dimagi Naxals”, a.k.a. Brainy Defiant, after Modi apparently decided to use Independence Day to curb criticism by labelling defiant people as Dimagi Naxals.

And the BJP zombies are celebrating, claiming that one statement from Modi made all these defiant people identify themselves and isolate themselves. Little do they realise that by refusing to identify as Dimagi Naxals, they are essentially confirming that they are the brain dead BJP zombies who have simply isolated themselves in the other silo.

Just like they once proudly identified themselves as Chowkidars, only to have their Chowkidar turn into a corrupt thief who apparently did not even spare the Ram Mandir. But shamelessness is apparently a permanent feature, just like Narendra Modi.

By taking the oath of office as PM, Narendra Modi may have legally become the Prime Minister of India, but for me, he remains a criminal first and last. He took the oath because it is mandatory. Had he been given an option, he would probably have taken an oath contrary to the one mandated by the Constitution and sworn to protect only Hindus and destroy everyone else.

Kya kare, majboori hai.

Personally, I would like to see him rot in jail. This is the absolute need of the hour.

Article link: https://theprint.in/opinion/modi-india-governance-economic-growth-study/3018487/

BJP zombies will probably read this and immediately scream “Soros funded!”, “Western propaganda!”, “Congress conspiracy!” because apparently the only acceptable research is research that says Modi is perfect. But the actual study by Texas Tech researchers Kevin Grier and Robin Grier uses the synthetic control method, creating a “Synthetic India” from comparable emerging economies to estimate how India might have performed without the Modi era.

The study finds that all 10 governance indicators measuring institutional strength declined under Modi, including liberal democracy, judicial constraints, political corruption and freedom of expression. More importantly, India’s per capita income in 2023 was about 10% lower than the study estimates it otherwise would have been, translating to a roughly $2.65 trillion cumulative notional loss over the decade. The article also argues that India’s growth has been slower than during the UPA period, while demonetisation badly hurt growth, private investment and household savings remain weak, and estimates suggest earlier GDP growth was understated while later growth was overstated.

And before the IT cell starts celebrating “fastest growing major economy”, the point is not that India has stopped growing or that GDP rankings mean nothing. The argument is that India could have grown more while maintaining stronger institutions. Basically, the supposed “Strongman Bargain” was meant to be weaker institutions in exchange for better economic performance, but according to this research India may have got both weaker institutions AND slower growth. Even the article admits this is one study, not gospel, and notes methodological criticisms, including some results not reaching statistical significance.