Where did India’s people come from?

🧵

This is an imp study by ⁦@moorjani_priya⁩ of ⁦@UCBerkeley⁩ + team.

Here is my TL;DR (quotes in the thread):

- lots of surprises
- more extensive sampling than before
- lot of unknowns still

/1 science.org/content/articl… This is why it’s important to

a. Discard colonial lens that has afflicted archeological and genealogical studies of the past (cf. Aryan Invasion Theory)

b. Recognize that a LOT of research still remains to be done before forming dogmas around the origins of any people.

Note: I remain suspicious of the divisive political rhetoric around “Dravidians” vs “Aryans” emerging out of certain sections of Tamil politics. India is an amalgamation of people, that much is known. That this amalgamation has pre-historic roots is what puts a major dent into divisive Dravidian-Aryan rhetoric. I hope it’s demolished with data soon enough.

/2

Clarifying Thread: Why I speak up for #HinduAmericans and #Hinduism.

My friends and colleagues are often surprised by how vocal I am in speaking up on #HinduAmerican and #IndianAmerican issues on @Twitter (only).

They are surprised for a number of reasons.

/1 a. Focus of my professional work is #GlobalHealth, #Innovation, and #HealthTech adoption. Focus of my community work is underserved communities in the Bay Area, which tend to be non-Indian and non-Hindu for the most part.

/2

Frankly, I am impressed by Western Govt in not letting their foreign policy goals sabotaged by activist orgs. Likes of ⁦@amnesty⁩ & ⁦@hrw⁩ are attempting regime change in India, counter to popular support for current govt there. <1/n> politico.com/newsletters/na… The colonial-minded approach by these activist orgs dismisses the will of the people and wants to upend global partnerships for peace in service of their distorted view of human rights. Do countries, incl India, need to do better on that account? Absolutely. <2/n>

“Modi…will seek to make fundamental changes to the structure of the Constitution and declare India a Hindu nation.”

Don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this prediction. This is why western journalists like ⁦@lpolgreen⁩ are laughed at <1/n> nytimes.com/2023/02/08/opi… Most watchers see Modi the politician going the other way - trying to attract Muslims in the lower socioeconomic strata (called Pasmanda Muslim) ignored by upper-class Muslim leaders. His ambitions is pan-India and he knows Hindutva card theprint.in/politics/modi-…… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

I am seeing a lot of birthday wishes for Dr. Manmohan Singh, Ex-PM of India. There is a common theme in messages from the left: they are all wistfully looking at the time when he was the PM and despondent at the popularity of the current government. I have two problems (1/4) …with these messages.

1. Dr. Singh was a gentleman and a scholar. There is no reason that one needs to bring comparisons to make him look “good”.

2. There is latent elitism in suggesting that Mr. Modi’s lack of a PhD or pedigree somehow renders him as a poor replacement (2/4)

It’s hilarious how hard western media is trying to burn ⁦@narendramodi⁩. No. of -ve stories about India & ⁦@PMOIndia⁩ have skyrocketed. (& +ve stories about oppo are going up). Likely aimed at elections in ‘24. But most Indians don’t read NYT. nytimes.com/2022/08/24/opi… Anti-India Story No. 2. This time from @lfrayer of @NPR.

All in a day’s work. :)