India is an awesome country full of great people and some of the most despicable politicians in the world. If you’re unfamiliar Modi came into this strong power base because the main liberal party was deeply corrupt - that isn’t to say Modi isn’t corrupt but it’s closer to Chicago style “working corruption” where shit is actually getting done. Unfortunately that shit involves an internal crusade against Muslims and separatist and assassinations carried out abroad.
Sneaking assassins into other countries under the guise of student visas is really cultivating anti-indian racism and it fucking sucks to see as a BC resident with plenty of awesome south Asian coworkers and friends. It’s like the post-9/11 anti-middle-eastern racism… innocent people are going to pay the cost for Modi’s hatred.
The language used seems very Abrahamic for a Hindu nationalist. Like consistently referring to a singular God usually referred to only as God. Is this some translation weirdness, or is it just normal language that's surprising me because I'm not familiar with the context? I know that a lot of denominations of Hinduism hold one of the gods as being the primary one, but even that seems like it would be a fast way to alienate other denominations
There are differing schools of thought regarding the vast amount of deities in Hinduism. One school, which is what most outsiders are aware of, is that each god is individual from one another and they have varying domains, powers and relationships, much like the ancient Roman and Greek gods. Another school suggests that all of the different gods are expressions of a singular God, much as how Christianity has the Holy Trinity who are three separate beings (Lord, Jesus, Holy Spirit) that are also simultaneously one being.
You’ll find that oftentimes outside of the context of a puja or a religious holiday Hindu people will often just refer to ‘God’ rather than a specific deity e.g. “Thank God” rather than “Thank Durga” or “God is watching over you” and not “Ganesh is watching over you”. I’m not sure if this reflects their school of thought on mono/polytheism or is just language simplification, but from what I’ve gathered from Indian communities here in Australia the ‘many gods; one God’ idea seems to be pretty prevalent.
I understand that India has a number of people doing this sort of semi-divine cult stuff, so it might not be quite as uncommon as you think, given context.
Godman is a colloquial unisex term used in India for a type of charismatic guru that is often raised to a demigod-like figure by their cult following. They usually have a high-profile presence, and are capable of attracting attention and support from large sections of the society.[1] Godmen also sometimes claim to possess paranormal powers, such as the ability to heal, the ability to see or influence future events, and the ability to read minds.[2]
Godmen are revered as special human beings and often worshipped by their followers.[3] Some godmen come from established schools of spirituality, but often they don’t belong to any religious order. In recent years, many godmen have gained followers outside of India, which has increased their fame and wealth.[2]
Narcissists by nature are attracted to power - no surprises there. But remember that India is an electoral democracy. The people voted him into power. An appropriate comparison is that narcissists are like the flame and the voters are the moths. Voters are going to be burned by their choices (sooner than later) - they don’t know it just yet. Just like the moths.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has questioned his biological origins, asserting that he is “convinced” of being a godsend, introducing the idea of “immaculate conception” in the electoral arena as voting enters the final phases.
“Pehle jab tak maa zinda thi mujhe lagta tha shayad mujhe biologically janm diya gaya hai. Maa ke jaane ke baad, een saare anubhavon ko mai jod kar dekhta hoon toh mai convince ho chukka hoon ki parmatma ne mujhe bheja hai (Till my mother was alive, I had the impression that perhaps my birth was a biological one. After her demise when I view after assimilating all the experiences, I am convinced that God has sent me),” Modi is heard saying in an interview to News 18 last week.
I’m not a Hindi speaker or familiar with if/when Modi likes to dabble in metaphor, but this seems straight up delusional and cult-like. The opposition certainly seems to think it was worth mentioning.
Look up the Statue of Unity - the highest statue in the world, located in India. It’s just old dude looking like average old dude, but extremely humongous.
What? This reads like what a lot of politicians actually say, including American politicians that site God and the Bible as their grounding, and declaring themselves as an instrument to God.
This doesn’t read as outlandish to me at all, if you pay attention to people in general, this is a commonly used statement.
I don’t think that he can unilaterally order a nuke strike. It is decided by a command with a no-first-use mandate. Besides, he isn’t the head of the forces. It’s the president.
It’s unlikely in the next 5 years anyway. The “emissary of God” won the elections, but lost the absolute majority. He is now the leader of a coalition government, with a stronger opposition to match.
For now. We'll see how strong India's democratic institutions are I guess. Because ultimately Modi is still very popular and if no one else is willing to fight him and his followers then it doesn't make any difference in what you're voting for. Authoritarians will just do what they want if they feel they can get away with it.
Dallits for those who don’t know, are literally ‘The untouchables’ as in people will use a tissue or gloves to shake hands with them to prevent accidental skin in skin contact.
They are seen as the lowest of the low. Worth noting too that even if someone from this group emigrates to say the US or UK, other Indians may still treat them with this level of disdain. It’s ingrained into the culture. There have been some rumblings about Caste-ism being legislated against in several countries. But some people claim this is not fair to Indians since it’s so integral to the culture. Some argue that even legislating against Caste-ism is a form of racism. Seems totally insane to me. But I am not Indian so what the fuck do I know.
telegraphindia.com
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