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Surya Kanegaonkar Profile picture
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17 Jan, 14 tweets, 4 min read
Friends, maybe. Family, no.

The US/EU would be well placed to appreciate that India will not necessarily conform to a Western template for democracy and embrace foreign “liberal” orthodoxies. That’s because India has its own unique culture, history, ambitions and challenges.
Culture: India is the world’s only living civilizational state. It’s knowledge systems cover diverse philosophies. The people inherit an acceptance of heterogeneity in ideas, traditions and lifestyles. Moreover, the culture has remained resilient despite invasions/ colonization.
Within the political context of the modern nation state, Indians value democracy because “Hinduism” places utmost importance on individual agency through the inalienable duty to chart one’s own Karma by practicing one’s own Dharma. India’s democratic resilience stems from this.
History: Despite efforts of foreign/local neocolonialist “scholars” to stifle the truth, the reality of what India once was and is capable of, shines through. The abundance of factors of production - labor, land, capital and innovation - underpinned India’s position in the world.
No country has a memory of invasions, pillage, conversions, secessionism and annihilation of education systems, as India has. The imposition of a Western matrix of secularism on a natively pluralistic people of a country with that legacy, has created assymetries and inequality.
Challenges: As a developing nation of 1.4 bn with ethnic, cultural and linguistic variety and a complex history, it is faced with unique challenges. Indians in their wisdom, will find a way to make democracy work to tackle them since there isn’t a real corollary in another state.
Does this make India insular? No. For millennia, it has engaged with the world, trading and exchanging ideas. Indians can choose for themselves lessons that can be drawn from the US/EU to apply at home. It certainly doesn’t need lectures based on faulty assumptions.
Ambitions: India is likely to become the third largest economy by 2030-35 and the second largest by 2050. This will not happen because it listens to a think-tank analyst claiming that human rights in India are not up to the mythical and hypocritical standard set by the US/EU.
Factors of production are being harnessed. Against this, the institutional framework is meant to protect the citizens and encourage quality growth. Critically, changes to a rigid system - a colonial hand down - are based on local needs and aspirations not shared by other nations.
In summary: India will fix itself. It has always done so, through updating its traditions, amalgamating cultures and embracing new political systems. This is why it’s the only living civilizational state. Meanwhile, US/EU think-tanks needn’t see ghosts where there are none.
I leave this quote to reflect on. This is India.

While the term “hypocritical” has its roots in reality. Here’s a thread on US human rights:
@KanwalSibal
@BrookingsFP

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Surya Kanegaonkar Profile picture
15 Jan
@CarnegieEndow introduced a journalist is an Associate Professor at Harvard. The appointment was not confirmed, yet they ran the interview in which the “stalwart” of a journalist castigates the Indian media. Click on the embedded link to hear the opening lines.
Recently, William Burns, the President of Carnegie, was nominated for the top job at the CIA. Considering the quality of background checks done on interviewees from his previous institution, one wonders how much misinformation slips through the net. Or perhaps, it doesn’t matter?
The interview is available on YouTube. Do listen in. “Classes” were meant to start in a few weeks.
Read 7 tweets
Surya Kanegaonkar Profile picture
15 Jan
@Kate_SdE @PriyamvadaGopal @ChathamHouse @AdomGetachew Hindu nationalism should not have a negative connotation. It’s not exclusivist because Hinduism isn’t a religion - rather, it’s a way of life, and the term “Hindu” refer broadly to the people around and east of the Sindhu. This transcends the modern construct of religions.
@Kate_SdE @PriyamvadaGopal @ChathamHouse @AdomGetachew For “Hindus” - a broad-brush stroke for a people whose culture is underpinned by a knowledge system that provides logical structure for adopters of a plethora of philosophies, “Hindu nationalism” by definition, is inclusive and pluralistic. It gives space to everyone.
@Kate_SdE @PriyamvadaGopal @ChathamHouse @AdomGetachew If Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Samkhya, Yoga, Purva-Mimamsa, Buddhist and Jain philosophies are studied in comparison with Abrahamic faiths, India’s unique Carl Popper Paradox comes to light. The imposition of a western matrix of secularism on a pluralistic culture has done much harm.
Read 9 tweets
Surya Kanegaonkar Profile picture
13 Jan
Equal emphasis must be placed on the benefits of growing a military-technological-industrial complex, with a range of private players. Out of their innovation will come cutting edgec, cost-efficient, indigenous systems and platforms which the IAF will value down the line.
Meeting specific user requirements is critical. That goes without saying. Buying off-the-shelf solutions are unsustainable for any nation that aspires to be a superpower. Military tech and manufacturing independence is cornerstone to achieving game-changing dominance.
It would by myopic to silo out the benefits. Knowledge of operational requirements are valuable only in context of a national vision and a reasonable assessment of future risks buttressed by a broad-based understanding of history, technology and global geopolitics.
Read 5 tweets
Surya Kanegaonkar Profile picture
11 Jan
Frankly, the US should never be showing up in Delhi to deliver sermons on human rights to the world’s largest and most diverse democracy.

Let’s take a look at America’s human rights record. And no, bygones are not bygones. The impact of human rights abuse spans generations.
Let’s start from the beginning. Over 100M indigenous Americans were killed over a 500 year period (D. Stannard). 90-95% were exterminated by colonizers in one the worst genocides in the history of humankind, so much so a study by researchers at UCL showed it changed the climate.
Has the US made amends? The govt handed over a few acres of reservation land. Yet, a third of indigenous Americans live in poverty, 13% above the national average. Median household income is $40k, which is behind that of African Americans ($41k) and whites ($67k). (ACS 2013-17)
Read 15 tweets
Surya Kanegaonkar Profile picture
10 Jan
The insinuation that HR is being impinged on by a free democracy such that India can be equated with a totalitarian China which incarcerates minorities in concentration camps in occupied lands, is bereft of logic. Also, judging India against hypocritical EU benchmarks lacks merit
Expectedly, American think tank “scholars” are training their guns on India in line with the demands from DC. The next four years will involve lectures on lofty principles and puerile moral grandstanding, which are but facades for pushing an authoritarian, radical left agenda.
Indians are concerned about hypocrisy around the world - not just on China. Take the US - it abused human rights in dozens of countries through invasions and political subversion on false pretexts, to enact regime change. Iran, Vietnam, Brazil, Nicaragua, Iraq, Afghanistan...
Read 7 tweets
Surya Kanegaonkar Profile picture
4 Jan
Charity begins at home. Transparency is not achieved by blocking Twitter comments.

Not surprised a US think tank’s footsoldier takes aim at Indian pharma when Covaxin’s phase 3 has been successful on 22,000 volunteers with 4000 more to go. The assignment is to discredit India.
Phase 2 had more data than AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Moderna. Phase 3 so far shows the vaccine is safe. Because it’s under trial, and a bulk of the testing has been done, it’s been recommended for emergency use only. The decisions are based on facts, not a random “trust me”.
Covaxin showed safety, immunogenicity and efficacy in phase 2 data and safety in phase 3, and would be specifically used for emergencies arising from UK mutant strain. The vaccine is safe. It’s based on test results. Now, which part of the word “emergency” is difficult to get?
Read 4 tweets

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