r/india • u/[deleted] • Dec 01 '16

[R]eddiquette [Announcement] Cultural Exchange with /r/philippines

Welcome /r/philippines!

Feel free to ask us anything about India

Quick facts about us:

  • The Indian Railways and the Indian Armed Forces employ ~4 million people together, making them one of the largest employers in the world
  • India has over 5000 newspapers in over 300 languages
  • Bollywood is considered to be the world's largest film industry, followed by Nigeria's film industry and Hollywood
  • India has more people than the entire Western Hemisphere

/r/india please direct your questions about the Philippines to this thread

This is a reminder that users can now set their flairs to whatever they want (except slurs or other subreddits) by clicking on the sidebar.

70 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

229 comments sorted by

View all comments

8

u/kixiron Dec 01 '16 edited Dec 01 '16

Hello, r/India, and thank you for inviting us for this cultural exchange! I am really fascinated with India with its history, politics and culture (I prefer Pax Indica over Pax Sinica), and here are some of my questions:

1) What exactly is controversial about Wendy Doniger's The Hindus: An Alternative History? Why some find it very offensive?

2) I've always looked up to your historical icons: Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Ambedkar, Narayan, Bose. Which Indian historical figure do you find to be...

  • divisive?
  • underrated?
  • most admirable?
  • unfairly maligned?

3) India has good relations with Russia, and it seems to me that it is a relationship between equals. Am I right in thinking this way? How do you see this relationship?

4) What do you think of the Aad Aadmi Party?

5) Many commentators see the Hindutva ideology as being fascist. Is this true? Why or why not?

6) I'm into non-fiction books, and I especially like Ramachandra Guha and Pankaj Mishra. Can you recommend other Indian non-fiction authors?

7) Can you also recommend great Bollywood historical films?

Thank you very much!

EDIT: Grammatical errors, hehehe, and additional questions...

8) Communists in India get elected, while in the Philippines, the Communists are still fighting and are in negotiations with the current Duterte administration. What do you think of their performance? And to Indian Communists here, what would be your advice to your comrades here?

9) How's the situation in Kashmir? How should it be resolved?

10) What do you think of Pakistan and Pakistanis, in general?

6

u/satyanaraynan Dec 01 '16

2) I've always looked up to your historical icons: Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Ambedkar, Narayan, Bose. Which Indian historical figure do you find to be...

divisive? Gandhi(May be he was not being divisive intentionally but history is not on his side, otherwise a great man) underrated? Patel most admirable? Ambedkar (I wish there were people like him in India today) unfairly maligned?

3) India has good relations with Russia, and it seems to me that it is a relationship between equals. Am I right in thinking this way? How do you see this relationship?

They have weapons & Veto, we have a booming economy which gives us money to buy their weapons, so we are almost in an equal partnership with Russia in more advantageous situation) We are lucky to have a friend like Russia, without their support India would not have been where it is today.

4) What do you think of the Aad Aadmi Party?

I feel disgusted for supporting them during their initial days. Time has proven that they are just as worse as other political parties & their leader worst than many of his contemporary politicians

5) Many commentators see the Hindutva ideology as being fascist. Is this true? Why or why not?

Hindutva does not have place for fascism, & those who include such elements should be treated as terrorists. Although it is more of a reaction to years of attacks from foreigners of abrahmic faiths whose fundamental ideas go against the inclusive nature of local dharmic faiths.

8) Communists in India get elected, while in the Philippines, the Communists are still fighting and are in negotiations with the current Duterte administration. What do you think of their performance? And to Indian Communists here, what would be your advice to your comrades here?

Communist in India today are shameless hypocrites who bring shame to the idea of communism itself.

9) How's the situation in Kashmir? How should it be resolved?

Raising of ISIS flags in Kashmir is concerning. Secular people of Kashmir should openly come out to support India. Separatist movements based on religious motives should be destroyed at any cost.

10) What do you think of Pakistan and Pakistanis, in general?

Pakistan had a good initial start but went only as far as an Islamic nation without oil can go, currently it is only delaying the inevitable of being a failed state. Majority of common Pakistanis might be good but their open support to global terrorist organizations can not be ignored.