Gaurav Sabnis Profile picture
Apr 14 10 tweets 6 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
People in California need to keep pushing back against the casteist attacks on #SB403 by forwarding the text of #Article15 of the Indian constitution. And point out that the bill is just adding this to the California statutes.

Plain and simple.

Nothing to protest here. Image
Oh for sure, but then let's have them make it explicit, in the United States, especially California, that they are the side in this debate that pines for a theocratic state as an ideal.

Right now they pretend as if the bill is an attack on Hindus. #SB403

These HAF suhag Shukla types are just pouring a lot of heat into the discourse and very little light.

While it is important to combat their misinformation, we should also be putting them on the defensive by asking if they are also opposed to the Indian constitution. 🤷 Image
This is #SB403.

Literally just adds 1 word, one more category, very properly defined, to 15 other protected categories.

Only someone dedicated to preserving and defending casteism would have any objection to this bill.

Do read the blue text for sure. ImageImageImage
Also random Desi uncles who deal only in rhetorical questions asking "how do they even define caste", read a little.

It's great that they added endogamy as one of the identifying factors of the phenomenon. Caste endogamy is widely prevalent in the South Asian American popn. Image
Indian Constitution #SB403 ImageImage
Note the following in #SB403

- total lack of the words Hindu or Hinduism
- listing India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, South America, Japan, and Africa, NOT singling out Indians

The debate from the sanghi & centrist side has been so dishonest! Image
Of course that's just the intro section with declarations.

The actual change to the law is literally just adding the word caste with 15 other protected categories. And the definition of caste.

#SB403 Image
In a way, I'm glad that sanghis are making such a big hue & cry every time a jurisdiction adds caste to its protected categories.

Cos they rehash the same old jaded arguments black folks, Jews, Muslims, Catholics, queer folks remember being at the receiving end of in the past.
And by repeating the same old Jim Crow era arguments against the civil rights act, but in the caste setting, they just end up convincing Americans, both liberals as well as pro civil rights conservatives, that yeah, caste definitely should be added to discrimination statutes!

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Gaurav Sabnis

Gaurav Sabnis Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @gauravsabnis

Apr 14
As Kaka once sang,

Truth cannot be hidden by made up principles
Fragrance can never come from paper flowers
I wait, give heart, give love, but how can I trust?

False is your promise, promise your promise
Killed by your promise, this simple straightforward fellow 😭😭
Beyond just Modi, there is a larger element of collective self-delusion when it comes to the Indian middle class.

And it starts by people in the top 2-3% of the country in income levels considering themselves middle class. Not realizing how few they are.

There's a double whammy, or rather triple whammy

- Indian middle class size has always been overestimated
- It has shrunk in Modi years with DeMon, GST, COVID
- Even affluent desi upper middle class JUST DOES NOT spend as much, esp on stuff brands assume they will spend on. 🤷
Read 11 tweets
Apr 14
If Hindus AREN'T casteist, why is India the only place where working class professions such as roofer, sweeper, lumber seller, cobbler are used as insults everyday even by westernized urban elite Hindus? Image
In what other culture on earth do people insult each other by saying, you are someone who fixes roofs, you are someone who handles leather, you are someone who sells lumber, you are someone who sweeps streets?

Show me one culture other than our great culture that does this.
That's a deliberate error thrown in there so people will fixate on correcting it, and not argue the main point.

This is a frequent right wing tactic.

Read 4 tweets
Apr 14
A rare AQI alert for Manhattan and surrounding regions. The threshold is 100 in case you're wondering. ImageImage
Currently it is "Good" so I wonder what is making them predict that it will climb above 100. A/C because of heat? Image
It's been a crazy few seasons in NYC & surrounding areas. First a summer that had a historic drought in an otherwise rain bathed region. Then a winter that saw practically zero snow, spring like temps. And now a scorching start to spring! #ClimateEmergncy
Read 4 tweets
Apr 13
Other people will keep posting links to npr. But npr will stay away. Elon will look and feel even smaller than he does looking at the Trump account he reinstated with a lot of fanfare and even thirsty trump won't come back.
Elon's biggest problem is that Twitter, while very popular and desirable, is not really essential to the social media numbers and dollars of any organization. NPR gets 15x more traffic from its app and Facebook than from Twitter.

He's wildly miscalculated his hand.
NPR gets a lot of traffic from Twitter. But most of it is from users posting NPR links, which will still continue. But even all that lot of traffic can't compare to Facebook, mainly cos demographics. And also, NPR has a solid loyal following of 40 mn.

Read 6 tweets
Apr 13
Btw, this idea that many (or even any) couples do some inappropriate PDA or heavy duty making out in public parks in view of families with kids or even other adults is ENTIRELY in the joyless heads of Indian uncle-aunties.

We don't talk enough about how made up it is! Image
In India, a young couple being together in a public place, let's say holding hands or even sitting & talking, in itself is considered by the orthodoxy to be "indecent".

There is little to no real PDA in view of public in India. Or even in the most western PDA Friendly country.
This whole "families are complaining" excuse is just making up the idea that couples on public parks or beaches, even in company of families, are doing something obscene or full on making out our whatever, so they can restrict or discourage couples altogether.
Read 18 tweets
Apr 13
Karnataka sanghis seem to have decided that joylessness is the most winning political proposition.

A gorgeous sprawling public park that is banning food, sports, and lovers sitting next to each other. Surprised that didn't ban grass! Image
The sanghi commitment to joylessness as a strategy, starting with banning meats, has now reached escape velocity where it is unconstrained by the gravity of actual political logic.

The only way forward is to get more extreme, take away more joys.
Physics

This has been a very human bounded rationality based feature of any successful rightward tilt in polity through history.

If extreme moves to conservatism/orthodoxy are rewarded systemically, then it means the only way to stand out is to go even more extreme. 🤷🤷
Read 6 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(