It is not #LanguageRow or #LanguageDebate. India was doing perfectly fine for 75 years without Hindi being a national level divisive political issue. It is #LanguageFascism.
The number of Hindi speakers in India, both by mother tongue and non native speakers like myself or many of my South Indian & Bengali friends more fluent in it than their parents, has grown for 75 years without any forcible imposition. Just Hindi's "soft power".

So why? Fascism!
No language in India has spread and flourished in every domain and by every measure, like Hindi in the last 75 years. All other languages are pretty much restricted to their geographies. Hindi is already spreading fine on its own. This is such a blatant fascist campaign.
Because fascists aren't happy with just majority. What they want is the absence of any minorities. Including in terms of language.
This language nonsense is entirely the sangh's creation and obsession. "Row" or "Debate" suggests that there are two sides to the story. There aren't. There's just one side and it is fascism.

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More from @gauravsabnis

May 21
One of my most unpopular opinions in Pune is my putting Panipat into perspective.

So much burn happens, y'all! So much! The right wing propaganda narrative of that battle is so firmly entrenched that even simple logical counter factuals get people genuinely angry!
I say to them, 3rd Battle of Panipat? Big fan! Fascinating historical battle. Been to the site too!

But bhaus, there is nothing Good v Evil or Indian vs Foreigner or Hindu v Muslim about it.

It was a very important battle between two growing power hungry kingdoms. That's it.
When you read the accounts of how bravely Sadashivraobhau fought and all, good, read it. It's really interesting history. But that's it. Interesting history.

Bhau was not literally your bhau, correct? Dude lived 260 years ago. Why are you getting so sentimental about him?
Read 17 tweets
May 21
Fun "debate" coupla years ago with a soft sanghi

"Mughals killed a lot of Hindus."

"So did Marathas."

"What nonsense? Marathas didn't kill anyone!"

"Really? Did we build an empire by doing haldi kunku all over the country?"

Others around: 😂😂😂😂😂

Ended the debate.
But seriously, the perception of Marathas and Peshwas in the minds of the common Marathi savarna is ridiculously rosy! Like Batman Superman style ethics are ascribed to them. Pacifist and generous and chivalrous, fighting wars only when imposed on them, poor things.
There is nothing wrong with a Marathi person thinking Shivaji good, Aurangzeb bad. I mean the fucker did March south with an army. He was, literally, an invader for those in Maharashtra.

But he was still an Indian invader. Fifth or sixth generation Indian. Delhi boy. 🤷🏽‍♂️🤷🏽‍♂️
Read 21 tweets
May 21
Flunkies: Boss, #TSLA has fallen from $1111 to $666 since you "bought" #TWTR 😭

Clyde: Imma sue someone 😡
Because yeah, what investors are looking for in a CEO with a trillion dollars of their money to play with is micromanagement of endless litigation and promises of "blood".

Very sane and normal thread, dude.

If I had to guess the trigger for this latest tantrum, I'd say it's because

Cathie = Asif
Elon = Mudasir
Salman = Roku

😂😂😂

But seriously, she was saying it'll be $4600 in a couple of years. It'll be lucky to stay above $600 by next Friday. House of cards is shaking.
Read 4 tweets
May 20
Rupal was wondering how it was that growing up in India, I saw MASH, Wonder years, Fresh Prince, Seinfeld.... Pretty much all big shows then, but had never seen #GoldenGirls.

Star/Zee never showed us AFAIK. Wonder why. They had SATC & Sopranos so it's not like GG was too risque.
#GoldenGirls totally holds up. Hilarious grannies with active sex lives and trading insults like in a football locker room. Timeless classic. Very Yes Minister like in how it's always funny. And cutely outrageous.
True. Half the dialogs are grannies calling each sluts and tramps and bimbos. Not quite Ba. 😂😂😂

Read 5 tweets
May 20
There is no bigger sign of a lack of intellectual curiosity than thinking Marxist is a standalone objective insult.

Not all Marxism is communism, and vice versa.
Such a default disdain usually comes from a lack of proper social sciences education.

I too, in my engineering & MBA days used to think Marxism = Stalinism = North Korea, so everything in Marxism is a road to gulags.

Then I actually read Marx. With an open mind.
You can very much be in favor of private business and free enterprise and all that and still have a Marxist lens of looking at a lot of things about humanity, society, economics, politics.

Life isn't binary. The world isn't binary.
Read 11 tweets
May 20
Any teacher who gets into the profession needs to have hubris as well as humility.

Hubris you need to think yeah, you know enough about something to actually teach a room full of human beings.

Humility cos it's more important you listen to students than they listen to you.
A diligent new faculty called to ask for advice cos I do have pretty good ratings 🤓. I told her this is the most important part. Many new teachers fret over getting their students to listen and speak up. My sagely advise is, you start listening to them. They'll reciprocate.
It's not a switch you can turn on. Takes a few attempts. The nervousness makes the hubris inflated at the start. Where you're struggling with a bit of an imposter complex. Like omg, they actually hired me to shape young minds? Do I even know anything? I must!
Read 14 tweets

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