A thread on Indian Knowledge Systems - Past, Present & Future

Credits: IIT Kharagpur

#NationWithArnab

Many have accused the Narendra Modi government of not doing enough to change the biased historical narratives set in motion during the 54 years of Congress rule.
The #ChauriChaura centenary celebrations is one such initiative to set right, a historical wrong.

Thread begins.

What is the Chauri Chaura incident?
On February 4, 1922 at Chauri Chaura in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, a procession was taken out in support of Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement.
The police, on orders from the British government, fired on the peaceful march, triggering an outrage.

First a little background to the incident and why the face-off happened with the British administered police.
The protest was called against the atrocities that was unleashed on the locals when the Non Cooperation movement started in Gorakhpur. Several leaders were arrested.

A group of 2,000 people gathered to protest as part of Gandhi's call for Non Cooperation with the British. The crowd swelled soon.
The police were ordered to fire in the air to disperse the crowd. This further agitated them.
Then the police fired at the protestors, injuring many.

A short story:

In Nov 2018, a man from UP’s Shamli named Saleem gave an affidavit in local court that he and his family were changing religion. News leaked in local media and became national news. I also visited him and wrote a report +

Saleem was born in Hindu Jat family and named Susheel. He was left orphaned at 8. One Mohd Sabdar picked him from streets and took him in as assistant in his transport business. Sabdar changed his name to Saleem and even got him circumcised as Islamic ritual +

When he turned 15, Sabdar got him married to Wajida. As Saleem grew independent, he left Sabdar & began to work for another transporter, a Punjabi Hindu. Susheel told me Sabdar never paid him a salary

In 2018 when he was 31, he decided to revert to his original name and faith +

Wajida supported him. Things were fine till her father Israel arrived from Jharkhand. He tried to change Saleem’s mind. When he remained adamant, Israel brainwashed Wajida into leaving him. When Saleem went for a tour, Israel quietly took Wajida and their 5 kids to Jharkhand +

Saleem immediately went to Jharkhand on his return. Israel asked him to read kalma again and serve Tablighi Jamaat for 40 days as penance. Saleem refused. He did not have Wajida’s support anymore.

On 16 Jan, he sent me a Whatsapp video saying he was ready to commit suicide +

Thread
I visited Hampi ❤ a couple of weeks ago.
The place is magical and has many important monuments regarding Hinduism and especially Ramayana.
Below are some important temples and places in the divine land.
#Hampi #Karnataka

Hampi is a land of huge rocks
Loads of huge rocks are placed naturally that seems like humans placed them but they are not.
They form the natural boundary of Hampi the capital of the great Vijayanagara empire.

The first major temple ruins In Hampi
Carvings and sculptures are the most beautiful thing in Hampi.
Carvings of various gods mostly Vishnu avatars and lord Hanuman are the most common in temples
Temples are build on huge and big number of pillars
Barely any temple is functioning

The much revered kamadhenu ❤
Seating for any religious or cultural activities.
The eeriness 😬
The dhwajasthambh
#Temples
#Hinduism

Bath of KrishnaDevaRayas girlfriend
And the Queens bath

THREAD - Who are Urban Naxals?

India Today TV filed an Right to Information (RTI) on 21st Jan 20, with Union Home Ministry seeking to know the official status of "Urban Naxals".

@PMOIndia @HMOIndia @NIA

The questions asked in the RTI application were as follows:

- Who are Urban Naxals? Where are they active?
- How many Urban Naxals have been arrested and how - many of them have been convicted?
- Has the government of India ever tried to ban Urban Naxals? If yes, when?

In response to the RTI query the Left Wing Extremism Division in the home ministry said:

"In so far as the undersigned CPIO is concerned, the information may be treated as Nil." The answer to the query was sent under the signature of Yogesh Mohan Dixit.

The term Urban Naxals is not clearly defined. The origin of the word can be traced to the book and a few essays by film-maker and social media opinion-maker @vivekagnihotri 's book, Urban Naxals: The Making of Buddha in a Traffic Jam.

The phrase of Urban Naxals is loosely attributed to the people with naxalite bent of mind residing in urban areas and working as activists, supporters and protectors of the ideology while the active Naxals battle it out in the jungles and vast swathes of Maoist-dominated areas.

What can we learn from India's farmer protests?

@PLAAS webinar starting now. Click below to watch (now or later) and follow #FarmersProtests

Most Indian farmers have less than 2 hectares! And depend on state-guaranteed prices for wheat & rice. This has been the foundation for smallholder agriculture for decades. It's this system which is under threat from new agricultural laws.

Siddharth Joshi, PhD #FarmersProtests

Restrictions on buying farmland by non-farmers and companies in Karnataka have been removed. These were meant to protect farming communities from dispossession by corporate interests. The squeeze on farmers means a crisis for rural people, says Joshi

#FarmersProtests

The 3 Indian farm laws that are being disputed are about removing regulation of farm product markets; removal of guaranteed farm prices; promotion of contract farming which would make farmers 'price-takers' from agribusiness.

#FarmersProtests

Dr. Vikram Singh (Joint Secretary, All India Agricultural Workers Union) says there are almost 300,000 protesters are on the streets, have been on the road for the past two and a half months. This is unprecedented, a mass movement that extends beyond a peasant movement.