Thread by @quizzicalguy

I had a look at the 'Bharat: The Mother of Democracy' booklet issued during the G20 summit and was quite appalled to see the sophistry, fabrications, and outright lies contained in it. I am sorry to say but this is an assault on intelligence. Some thoughts. #Thread

This document opens with PM Modi’s statement in which he says that the country has “the distinction of being named as ‘Mother of Democracy’”. Who named it so? The current regime. Nobody else calls India the “mother of democracy”. If at all there is one, then it is ancient Greece.

Such claims come from a position of insecurity. Confident and secure people don’t need to cook up stories, brag or demean others. This is just Hindus-knew-everything version 2.0. Aldous Huxley observed this back in the 1920s! But why is a so-called "decolonial" govt doing it?

Let's look at the claims in a bit more detail. Do note the order of words in the line: “In Bharat that is India…” They have altered the order as seen in Article 1 of the Indian Constitution, which says: “India, that is, Bharat shall be a union of states.”

The text then says: “Bharat is the official name of the country. It is mentioned in the Constitution as also in the discussions of 1946-48.” This cleverly removes India and implies that Bharat is the only official name of the state.

And while it mentions that there were deliberations on this from 1946-48 (in the Constituent Assembly), it omits what resulted from those deliberations. That the debate was settled after the amendment motion was defeated. India and Bharat both are official names of the country.

The use of the name “Sindhu-Saraswati Civilisation” for the Indus Valley Civilisation/Harappa Civilisation is laughable, to say the least. This was earlier confined to Hindutva circles; now, it is in a govt publication and that is unfortunate.

Ram-Rajya is "the epitome of an ideal government". Mahabharata is an example of democracy. This is laughable, to say the least. Welfare of the people was the responsibility of the king in every kingdom across the globe. What is democratic about it?

“Democracy is about doing things right for the people. This is brought to life in the Mahabharata…” No! Democracy can be broadly defined in a normative and procedural way. You need a set of institutions that together result in a democratic govt. You need proof of such practices.

Tangible, observable proof. And power should always rest with the people. What people’s power do we see in the Mahabharata? None! Who looks for democracy in religion or religious literature?

Now, let’s come to the gana-rajya concept that has been cited. The specific example of Lichhavi gana-rajya has been mentioned. But the text doesn’t mention that Lichhavi gana-rajya had a council of 7,707 rajas who were heads of most important families.

They chose a raja who was a Kshatriya and the son of the previous chief. This gana-sangha didn’t meet regularly; instead, an elite council of 9 men ruled. Scholars identify the gana-rajyas as oligarchies, not democracies.

The proof of this is rather weak on this one. What the historical evidence suggests is that Gopala was chosen by his feudal chieftains, not his subjects. This blurry thing has been turned into an empirical fact.

This is another example of sophistry. It doesn’t tell you that the sabha was composed of land-owning Brahmins only. Anyone who wanted to be “elected” to the sabha had to write their names on palm leaves. The temple priests would then hold a draw of lots thus electing the reps.

Brahmins chose other Brahmins. And they lived under an absolute monarch—the Cholan king. Democracy much?

It is hilarious that Krishnadeva Raya and Shahanshah Akbar have been declared as democrats. “Akbar’s democratic thinking was unusual and way ahead of its time”. Really?

This booklet is a sad commentary on the state of affairs under this current govt. But it is an excuse for Mr. Modi’s monarchical style of govt. If you tell the people that absolute monarchs of yore were democrats, you could rule as a Bhagwa Badshah and still call it a democracy.