Something that just struck me as I’m prepping for a lecture. The Indian state right now has trouble reading people as rational, choice-making entities. It finds it easier to read people as ethnic entities because that’s how it has shaped its own discourse.
If you present yourself as a non-ethnic entity, it has massive trouble with you. Anyone who wants to transcend their worldview becomes a problem. Just a thought. Still working on it.
So when Sikh farmers come forward with a policy/economic issue, the state has to crunch it into an ethnic issue before it can respond.
That’s a vulnerability that I can spot. The BJP has barricaded itself into its own narrative because it cannot process the fact that people can be neither or be both- people with identity and people with non-identity political choices.
Again this is just something that came up in my mind today. Consider it a theory in progress.

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More from @vsirnate

30 Jan
What is the price ORF is willing to pay for a policy? Image
The piece says “The reforms that have so incensed protesters go further in addressing Indian agriculture’s most intractable problems than any previously contemplated. Those changes need to be protected, not abandoned.”
And “What’s at risk isn’t just a couple of laws, but India’s commitment to the transition to a more environmentally sustainable and equitable growth model.”
Read 10 tweets
29 Jan
I have no idea what this is doing In The Indian govt’s Economic Survey but ok let’s go scratch our backs against a tree.
I think the 800 odd migrant workers who died because they were stranded in the heat without transport or food would disagree with this opening para of the Indian govt’s economic survey.
Bayesian updating? They most certainly didn’t do any updation. Ye log samjhe hain ki yehi log gamewa theory pade hain kya?#EconomicSurvey2021
Read 11 tweets
29 Jan
Just a thought. The damage to institutions in a decade of BJP rule will have been so thorough and awful, that whoever comes next will have to have a road map to build them back up. And I’m not sure we have those sorts of visionaries in India anymore.
India was built on the foundation of accommodative politics and coercion. Now it’s just pure coercion and bullying. There is massive distrust in all state institutions and rightly so, given how they no longer act independently of the ruling ideology.
I personally don’t think the BJP regime will last. But who knows.

What worries me at night is how to build India back and restore Democratic institutions and systems of accountability. If your systems of accountability at an compromised then it’s Lord of the Flies.
Read 5 tweets
26 Jan
I think everyone needs to read this piece. Deep Sidhu campaigned for Sunny Deol (BJP). He’s behind the flag hoisting incident. The farmers had been trying to sideline him but he’s persisted. Think the hoisting should not be connected to main protest.

m.tribuneindia.com/news/nation/we…
According to this piece the March was to happen on the outer ring road. Deep and company decided to take their show inside Delhi.
He is also the man that Barkha interviewed and we all felt bad for him. He’s apparently since then being trying to commandeer the agitation and give it an identity spin. Farmers protest main body has not been happy about this.
Read 5 tweets
17 Jan
I’ve finally managed to get through the Arnab Goswami Chatgate pdf. Everyone has already highlighted those portions that needed highlighting. I have a slightly different tack.

1. The messages tell me that news is a carefully constructed consumer product.
This is something we all already know but it’s nice to see confirmation. Events are presented in the high-decibel manner that has become the standard because the product is crying for attention.

2. These folks don’t care about what has actually happened and to whom. They’re
callous about it. Their eye is firmly on the ratings. There is no empathy in their conversation. The empathy on screen is constructed.

3. Overall the chats reveal varying degrees of competition between channels to get real close to those in office. One thing that stood out
Read 16 tweets
16 Jan
I don’t understand. Why would you give up a two decade illustrious anchor career to teach in an extension program?
I will add that the extension school may bear the frills and trims of the main university but the website clearly says EXTENSION. It’s very different from being a prof at Harvard. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Another thing that doesn’t make sense is the visa process. We all know that the Individual has to apply for the work visa in person. A work visa cannot be acquired by a third party to the best of my knowledge. Paperwork can certainly be put together by a third party but you still
Read 8 tweets

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