Many are upset at the bus attacks & Red Fort events during #FarmersProtest.
But have you paused to think what has brought about this situation? While magnifying impulsive actions by some protesters, do you miss to see State's systematic violence and erosion of rule of law?

This is an English translation of @Shiva__1's pinned thread in Marathi. Was thinking of doing this for sometime. Think this is the right time as events which happened the other day have been really triggering, and this is exactly how I feel. Here goes. 1/19

I've honestly had enough, so now it's about time I said this out loud.

•We as a society have routinely backstabbed our fellow citizens belonging to the Muslim community.• 2/19

When I was a kid, dad used to take me to Sambhaji Brigade and Seva Sangh meetings. It was in these meetings that we learned the real history of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

So far, the Brahminists have always distorted this history and spread falsehoods to 3/19

sow Islamophobia for their personal benefit, when the real story is completely different.

A lot of Muslims used to speak at and attend these meetings. And whenever I listened to or interacted with them, I sensed a very apologetic tone in their voice. 4/19

It was almost as if they were trying to say, "We Muslims are good people. Look at our contributions in history. Please don't misunderstand us. Please see us as your own people." 5/19

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
Gujars have claimed every living species in this galaxy to be their own, be it Attila Hun or Mihirkula, Parmars, Pratihars, Chauhans, Pulkeshin Chalukya, Shivaji Bhonsle, Bhatis and what not.

It's high time that the verity of their claims needs to be checked.

When Thomas Twining traveled in 1794 in Doab he found 3 tribes of robbers- Pindaris, Mewatis, and Gujjars. "Goujer on contrary implies nothing but craftiness and unsparing barbarity and communicates nothing but terror and dismay

Hari Ram Gupta an eminent historian describes Gujars as 'a tribe of thieves'.
When Babur first came to India he saw Gujjars coming from the mountains and stealing away the cattle and buffaloes. They looted Indians and foreigners alike.

Historian HR Gupta while talking about Gujars says:
"they oppressed poor grass cutters and extorted money from them, those who did not pay it were beaten by them".

Basically Gujars who now claim every dynasty to be their own, were always a nomadic pastoral tribe and even now in JK. However, they took to stealing as their main profession. Proverb was 'dog, rangar, cat and gujjar, without these 4 everybody could sleep with doors open'.

Most elite Indians (primarily savarna white collar urban english medium educated folks like me) land on Western shores convinced that we are just as advanced and developed as these countries as a people. It's just "corruption" in India holding us back. Then reality hits. /1

We see that the West works better on a daily level, but not because of some mythical genetic or societal immunity to this mythical "corruption" villain. Cos there is corruption in Western politics too. They seem to have institutions and systems built over ages to minimize it.

But most Indians who reach these shores are engineer/mba/doctor types. Trained in secondary vocational type disciplines. So our default approach is to find a quick engineering type solution. We have almost zero exposure to sociology, psychology, economics, anthropology, etc.

I remember being like that. Engineer-MBA who thought that because my vocabulary and exposition skills were above average and my quant skills were above average, I deserve a seat at the table on any discussion. Be it climate change, public health, efficacy of vaccines, etc.

For anything, I thought I knew the best. Why was this Obama fellow not trying my absolutely brilliant healthcare reform plan that I have posted on a blog with nice tables and graphs and references to IIT and IIM slang? Does he not know I'm from an IIM? <1% acceptance rate!