Thread: The liberal international order created a fundamentally unstable and unsustainable world in many ways, the most tangible of which is that China- the most powerful adversary of the US (and of India too incidentally) became the factory of the world (1/n) It is such an obviously commonsensical point that one can’t have an adversary have a stranglehold on the supply chain of basic goods you consume, that only an “intellectual” can have a different view. That is unsustainable and has to be unwound. But unwinding isn’t easy (2/n)

This is an extraordinary blessing 🙏

1000 years ago when the Somnath temple was destroyed by Ghazni, Agnihotris managed to protect pieces of the Shivalingam; some of which were maintained and prayed to by a family in Tamil Nadu until today (1/4)

https://twitter.com/republic/status/1889339304041939294

100 years ago when the family approached the Kanchi Paramacharya, he told them to keep it for a century longer.

His successor Sri Jayendra Saraswati instructed the family to wait until the Ram Mandir is constructed at Ayodhya …(2/4)

Thread: While the income tax cuts will be the one that will dominate the debate, there are a lot of critical policy problems that the budget addresses where the impact depends on policy and institution design beyond the budget itself. Some outlined in this thread (1/7) 1. Deregulation: Critical for growth. Sceptical of institution design - a committee that will review all such laws. Jan Vishwas-1 ‘s impact as muted as babus apparently torpedoed a lot of the recommendations (per Manish Sabharwal). How to prevent Jan Vishwas 2 from failing? (2/7)

Stray thoughts in this thread on the election results and their implications: The likely takeaway across both MH and JH will be that women oriented khatakhat works. While BJP supporters should be happy with the huge W in MH, all of us should be concerned about that takeaway (1/n) Two reasons- one the fiscal implications of the Ladli Behna and its variants - already at 2% of GDP, and will only lead to a bidding war over time of ever increasing welfare transfers as a compensatory state. Secondly since it is bad for politics to split on gender lines……(2/n)

Thread: Our Navaratri Golu this year. The full picture (or most of it); then Kamakshi; Meenakshi Sundareshwar; and depictions of the stories of Gajendra Moksham, Ganesha and Kartikeya’s race, Ganga/ Bhagirathi coming to earth, and Kanakadhara (1/n)


The story of Krishna- from his birth, Vasudeva taking him across Yamuna, and his childhood there; vanquishing the demons Puthana, Trinavarta, Bakasura, Dhenukasura; stealing butter, releasing Kubera’s sons trapped in the trees; lifting Govardhan mountain, dancing on Kalia (2/n)

Thread on soft power, subversion and the Ayatollah: As I’ve said earlier - soft power is often wrongly defined. Soft power is NOT cultural exports. Power is the ability to influence another’s policies or actions in order to serve one’s interest. Bollywood, K-pop etc. don’t (1/9) So then what is soft power? It is the spread of an ideology such that other states and societies redefine their own interests. It is like a parasite that takes over the host and makes it pursue policies to achieve the normative goals of that ideology, not national interests (2/9)

Short thread: Mandal VERSUS Mandir is a wrong way to understand Indian politics.

I said it at the time of awarding Bharat Ratnas to Advani, Karpoori, and PVNR- Modi represents an attempt at a new consensus on Mandir + Mandal (status quo) + Markets (1/n) The real contrast in policy agendas of BJP and INC is the socioeconomic vision of 3Ms

Mandir + Mandal (status quo) + Markets

Vs

Minority appeasement + Mandal maxxing + Mao (2/n)

Unpopular take: I have no opinion or knowledge on constitutionality but electoral bonds solved a genuine issue- that donors should be able to donate clean KYC money to political parties without risk of being harassed. Yes, there is an irreconcilable conflict….(1/4) …between that and a “voters right to know”. And the executive does have enough levers to be able to harass corporates. All this does is move donations to cash for anonymity. Which has the unintended consequence of increasing dirty money. Unless you ban cash donations…..(2/4)

Thread: Some fear that there will be a death of democracy and a single thought that the entire country will be governed by.

This is only if you haven’t been paying attention to discourse. There is intense debate *within* Hindutva. Yes, what will be irrelevant ….(1/n) ….are Indian liberals, and no tears should be shed for that, as there was no value addition to the world of ideas by them anyway.

The intense, even (needlessly) fractious debates within Hindutva include:

1. The relationship between tradition and “modernity” (2/n)

2 hypotheses that will make each side uncomfortable:

The first: Global Islamic terrorism (that is largely Al Qaeda and ISIS) and Islamism (Brotherhood for example) were defeated was by nuts and bolts background work - intelligence, FATF, but also targeted assassinations (1/4) That is - war (Afghanistan and ofc Iraq - which was a mess anyway) was a blunt instrument that had a very mixed RoI to counter the terrorism in these cases

Second: Countering terror requires abandoning some of the principles of “liberal democracy”. Mass surveillance….(2/4)

Long thread: The latest brouhaha about Sadhguru- Mahashivaratri sparked a broader thought - on universal versus specific and how that’s a false binary when it comes to Hindu Dharma and hence distancing from Hinduism isn’t the right approach for universalisation (1/n) S.N. Balagangadhara had an astute analysis of the two ways in which Christian ideas spread - evangelisation, and “secularisation”. Secularisation being the process by which Christian ideas shed their outward Christian visage but get projected as universally applicable ideas (2/n)

Short thread: On the occasion of #MahaShivaratri sharing 4 Carnatic keerthanams composed by my mother. These are phone recordings, not studio ones though. The first is “Adimudikana” - a song in Ganamurthi ragam, about Shiva in all the 5 elements on.soundcloud.com/SaB77Xxz9BVay9… (1/5) The second is a song “Chidambaranadanin” in Sriranjani ragam on.soundcloud.com/RDERCrZ7kG3Bci… (2/5)

Unity IN diversity is a deep concept. It is not unity AND diversity, it is recognising that the universal manifests in the specific. One doesn’t have to annihilate any source of diverse identity in order to feel one with the universal identity. See Kantara. The specific resonates Identity cannot be reduced to a common minimum program like some coalition government. Its richness derives from its rootedness. From the specific traditions, carefully nurtured and passed on through generations. But each of those is a path to the universal truth.

Watched and liked “Ponniyin Selvan”. Mani Ratnam has rediscovered his mojo, ARR sadly hasn’t - music (both the songs and the BGM) were the weak link of the movie. Though I am a fan of both ARR and IR, can’t help thinking how much the movie would have been elevated by the latter It is a very plot driven movie, given the palace intrigue and the multiple political conspiracies. What Mani Ratnam did very well was establishing the characters with very good storytelling economy, given the high plot density. Even more felt that bad BGM let the movie down….

Thread: Happy Navaratri to everyone. On this occasion our tradition is to have the Bommala Koluvu - a display of depictions from Hindu lore (1/14) A section on Sri Krishna - starting with his birth in Mathura, his childhood in Gokul and Vrindavan and ending with Kansa Vadha. Eagerly anticipating going to that region with the family later this year (2/14)

Recommend the book “Light in the Forest” by @bhoomiputraa. Written for people similar to me- who had an upbringing that has significant “modern” Macaulayputra influence BUT also a strong traditional influence, and seek to emphasise the latter for ourselves and our next gen (1/n) The book is simply written as it should be (as it also targets children)- with an outline of the basic concepts of Hinduism in the first couple of chapters, including what our values for daily life are (2/n)

If something, like technology platforms and the economy, is weaponised for one reason (Russia invading Ukraine) it is a very limiting lesson to learn that it means invasions are costly. The broader lesson is these are weapons that can be readily summoned by the US. (1/4) And like with all weapons, you go by capability, not intent. Intent can change overnight. So today if it was a weapon wielded against an invasion, tomorrow something smaller can be used for a perceived smaller infraction. You can’t expose yourself to a vulnerability (2/4)

Short thread: Glad that the HC has ruled in favour of the Karnataka govt. Some nuances though:
1. The context is a uniform in an educational institution. The extreme framing by liberals that one has some unfettered right to wear whatever you want in any context was bizarre (1/n) So a govt or a college administration or any private institution should have the right to impose a dress code or uniform. Neither is the "right to practice religion" violated by a uniform
2. However I think a hijab (but NOT a burqa) should be accommodated in a dress code....(2/n)

“There is no country that can rival the Indian Peninsula with respect to the unity of its culture. It has not only a geographic unity, but it has over and above all a deeper and a much more fundamental unity— the indubitable cultural unity that covers the land from end to end.” The logical mistake many make is to think that the existence of diversity in itself means there is no fundamental unity. That there is some loose super structure on organic entities (states/ regions, communities etc.). That mistake arises because it is inconceivable to some….

If one appraises the govt (Union and states) on execution last year, the two big misses are 1. State govts not being able to spend budgeted amount on capex 2. Union unable to collect non tax revenues as budgeted. I wonder if both are state capacity, specifically org design issues Hypothesis- why would each have happened? State govts either don’t have such a pipeline of projects or are unable to adapt to remote work to get projects executed. Similarly privatisation and asset monetisation probably lacks the org design for speedy execution ramp-up

Modi’s economic philosophy: 1. Fiscally conservative 2. “Moderniser” - believes in infra development and formalisation 3. New Welfarism - public provision of basic private goods which prevent poverty traps 4. Reformer - orientation towards a greater private sector participation.. …5. Visible hand for manufacturing - industrial and trade policy geared towards making India a manufacturing hub.

That doesn’t make him a Reagan - Thatcher style neoliberal, nor a “socialist”. Maybe a US Whig would be better parallel, but even that is a different context.