tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320628892565328183.post3756604505091629994..comments2023-10-07T06:39:55.892-07:00Comments on Brown Pundits: Is Pakistan the reason why India is not yet a Great Power?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320628892565328183.post-6619290825500291642014-05-11T04:01:17.776-07:002014-05-11T04:01:17.776-07:00I agree that Pakistan is the cause of India's ...I agree that Pakistan is the cause of India's impediment to progress but for whatever different reasons. Pakistan is convenient whipping boy and vantage point for Indians own progress<br />This is not to say Pakistan is innocent of various transgressions against India but that at best they should be considered an irritant. And despite their (and our) nukes which lets face it are probably of little conseuquence as they are duds<br />I hear so many dimwitted Indian friends tell me, when I point out Indias various foibles, that atleast we are better than Pakistan. I heard numerous times and it is yet to get less stupider as an excuse.<br /><br />I was reminded of the time when I was I think the 8th grade , I returned home with a not too sparkling 55/100 in math and when my father was indignant I simply retorted my nogoodnik Goan classmate got a 9/100. My dad was having none of it. He said I should compare myself to the guy who gets 90 and above otherwise i will soon end up like happy go lucky Goan dude(who BTW now is a senior VP Investment Banking in Credit Suisse LOL)<br /><br />Similarly to use Pakistan to feel better about ourselves is just juvenile and pathetic<br /><br />I love Kaplan with some reservation. He makes many errors in judgement with regard to the subcontinent. A history he understands not that well. I am opposed to geographic determinism wholeheartedly applied to India as it smacks of Victorian era racism (martial races in cold AfPak/Punjab/Nepa- good, indolent baniyas and Shudras in hot South/Bihar-bad) and then proceeds to make erroneous conclusions from the same.<br /><br />He mentions Mahmud of Ghazni but neglects to mention only a couple of hundred years prior, Afghanistan was firmly in the hands of the Bengali Babu Pala empire!<br /><br />The mainstream Hindu right is thoroughly ignorant on pretty much everything including Hinduism so why do you expect it to have brilliant insights and knowledge on Buddhism.<br />My view on Hinduism and Buddhism is fairly simple. The best Hindus Brahmins ,Kshatriyas et al were Buddhist well until the Gupta empire and when Buddhism collapsed due to the nonsensical Bhakti, attacks of Huns,prejudices of certain Hindu kings such as Shashanka (who went as far as to burn down the Bodhi tree )and the final touches by Muslims, best of Hinduism died with it<br />Rajputs, Vijayanagar, Marathas etc were hanging onto scraps<br />And the dirt ,chaos,indiscipline,squalor,indolence of HIndu India contrasts poorly with the energy, focus,self respect,cleanliness and order of Buddhist countries.<br />And thats why Buddhist countries(Bhutan ,Sri Lanka and Burma all whom dealt harshly with Hindus) want little with Hindus. Why hitch yourself to a sinking ship?<br />ysv_raohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06078517736366792665noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320628892565328183.post-21152217736389977202014-02-21T21:36:37.757-08:002014-02-21T21:36:37.757-08:00^^ "Pakistanis are over estimating themselves...^^ "Pakistanis are over estimating themselves if they think pakistan is the reason that India has not progressed as much as it should have."<br />---------<br /><br />I agree. Pakistan is not to blame for India's lack of progress. After all, South Korea had North Korea as its neighbor. And yet, South Korea is a developed country today.<br /><br />India's lack of progress is because of the Marxism-Socialism which they undertook as a New Religion under Nehru and continued under Nehru's party for effectively 50 years. <br /><br />Pakistan has nothing to do with it. Indians should stop blaming Pakistan and instead look at their own failed Marxist policies that were originally promoted by Nehru for their lack of Great Power status.Hopewinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07885301987622998733noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320628892565328183.post-23053857235230126642014-02-21T11:24:37.833-08:002014-02-21T11:24:37.833-08:00If they take away the focus on Pakistan and Islam,...If they take away the focus on Pakistan and Islam, they may have to resolve internal issues and divisions. LOOK TALIBAN!Kodhambohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06223497162089820128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320628892565328183.post-38537265348706416612014-02-21T04:46:07.896-08:002014-02-21T04:46:07.896-08:00the Hindu Right pays almost no attention to Buddhi...the Hindu Right pays almost no attention to Buddhism but instead subsumes it into a brotherly Dharmic ethos<br /><br /><br />The Hindu Right plays very close attention to Buddhism in India. Subsuming Buddhism is a domestic political strategy.<br />"In 1956 five million Dalits, led by Ambedkar, converted to Buddhism. Ambedkar was concerned that they would still be labeled Untouchables if they demanded places reserved for affirmative action, and we have seen that this has continued to be a problem. On the other hand, he insisted that even when they became Buddhists they should retain the rights that he had fought so hard to win for Dalits.70 One of his converts said: “My father became a Buddhist in honor of Ambedkar but could not say so openly. I became a Buddhist too, but only orally, because on the forms you have to write down Scheduled Caste. If you are a Buddhist, you can’t get the scholarship. But I am proud to follow Ambedkar. Being Scheduled Caste causes inferiority in our minds. To be Buddhist, it makes me feel free!"...<br /><br />On November 4, 2001, more than fifty thousand Dalits converted to Buddhism in New Delhi. Some converted only as a protest against the mistreatment of Dalits, but others wholeheartedly became practicing Buddhists. On October 14, 2006, the fiftieth anniversary of the conversion of Ambedkar, Dalits again began to convert in large numbers. As a result, the Hindu Nationalist Party reclassified Buddhism and Jainism as branches of the Hindu religion, to prevent the mass conversions of the Dalits from eroding the political fabric, and several states, including Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, introduced laws requiring anyone wishing to convert to obtain official permission first. In separate rallies, not connected to the conversion ceremonies, thousands of Dalits attempted to burn the new laws.72 In November 2006 the government banned a mass conversion rally in Nagpur that aimed at converting one million Dalits to Buddhism; the<br />authorities were said to be under pressure from Hindu nationalists who called the rally a “Christian conspiracy.” Defying the ban and the barricades, thousands of Dalits from across India gathered at the Ambedkar Bhawan."<br />- From The Hindus: An Alternative History (which is the new "Inspite of the Gods" for me; expect a lot of quotes :-) )<br /><br /><br />why do India focus so much on Pakistan and Islam when frankly South East Asia and the Indian ocean is the grand prize.<br /><br /><br /><br />Dubai is our (Malayalee and many parts of South India) conception of the pinnacle of civilization. And Islamic Arabia is our grand prize. Tamils do tend to look east. But >60 years of being imprisoned under a restrictive regime has certainly taken its toll. We had Tamil and Malayalee exchange students from (Islamic) Malayasia with us for a month or so. It was amazing how easily we got along. At the time it was very surprising to me that they were much more taller, energetic and healthy compared to their half-starved anemic siblings in Bharath Mahan (Great)... I am very serious- We, particularly the women, actually looked like dwarfs compared to them!<br /><br />why do India focus so much on Pakistan and Islam<br /><br />Everyone in India most certainly needs to focus very much on Islam/Ummah (not particularly Pakistan, in fact I think Indians should be VERY FORCEFULLY try to compartmentalize their relation with Pakistan as separate from Ummah- nominal stuff like OIC membership notwithstanding) for trade and cultural contact. It is simply where India's future lies. China just seems way too much distant and alien frankly compared to Islam as far as India is concerned.N(D)https://www.blogger.com/profile/04406905246490468403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320628892565328183.post-77089806664448686432014-02-21T04:28:40.125-08:002014-02-21T04:28:40.125-08:00to be honest I agree- I am actually going to share...to be honest I agree- I am actually going to share the chapter if I can.Zachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13127382384826876357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4320628892565328183.post-6118183967238261512014-02-21T03:54:54.145-08:002014-02-21T03:54:54.145-08:00Pakistanis are over estimating themselves if they ...Pakistanis are over estimating themselves if they think pakistan is the reason that India has not progressed as much as it should have. India has been governed by corrupt politicians who have encouraged crony capitalism which has concentrated the power and the money in a very few hands. these people are not interested in the development of India just in how much can they stuff in their bellies and pockets. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07847605787427226619noreply@blogger.com