Thread by @gauravsabnis

I'm old enough to remember and honest enough to admit my default antagonism towards JNU & its students.

I grew up Marathi brahmin in Pune, that's what I was taught. 🤷🏽‍♂️

That JNU is this evil outpost of traitorous communists & terrorists. That was my default teaching growing up.

Even in my early blogs, you will see how much shade I threw at JNU for random stuff.

I'm not saying I was justified. I'm saying that's all I knew then.

But back then the JNU hate was just like a fringe meme online, not national legal policy!

It's like.. How US conservatives love hating Berkeley & Harvard & Columbia for being liberal bastions.

But US conservatives haven't gone and arrested student leaders there as a way to define US conservatism at least!

Indian conservatives made these unsuspecting kids villains 😞

I'll again underline the importance of just talking to people.

The first time I seriously re-examined my views on JNU was when a roommate in Bombay started dating a JNU grad. And she & I would have long polite political chats.

And she'd always teach me so much!

Having grown up in that privileged elite brahminical bubble, I thought I had all the answers at age 24.

And then this woman who was just temporarily shacking up with my roommate made me re-examine my whole weird default antagonism towards JNU.

And also JN for that matter!

I used to think us engineering, medical people were the smartest & commerce (accounting) people were 2nd smartest & arts (humanities) people were just totally useless & living off the generosity of us engineers & doctors.

She showed me how stupid I was to think like that!

I now see how our biggest problem in India is how we herd the best minds towards professional skills rather than real basic educational skills.

I used to think India is awesome to make engineering glamorous

I now see India is silly to excessively glamorize engineering!

All this pent up resentment & hate indoctrinated into us for decades against JNU finally exploded with that whole "tukde" lie about them.

And this generation of JNU students were unlucky enough to become the primary targets.

These very sweet nice people, just living their lives

Every single one of those JNU students, every single one of those #BhimaKoregaon organizers would have just spent quiet obscure lives out of the public view without any threat whatsoever to India.

If sanghis had just let them.

I'm probably less than 5% of privileged brahmins like me who sees this realty.

How all the JNU & Bhima koregaon people have been turned into villains.

Most of my people treat them like enemies of the state for no reason except WhatsApp forwards.

India can't sustain this!