On August 15th, there were two very contrasting Independence Day celebrations in India.
One was the official function in the capital New Delhi were the Prime minister spoke for more than 90 minutes. It was described as the most “weak” and sleep inducing speech given by Narendra Modi.
PIB
Scroll.in
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Many dignitaries including the Finance minister and Defence minister were caught by cameras napping.
Indiatoday.in
Indiatoday.in
In stark contrast was an energetic and passionate function which marked the end of 10 day Dalit Asmita march in Una, Gujarat. There were loud slogan shouting, pledge taking never to skin or bury carcasses of cows and thunderous applause to speeches at the very place Dalits were cruelly flogged publicly last month for allegation of killing a cow.
PTI
Hindustan Times
NDTV
Manorama online
The ruling Hindutva brigade is really on the back foot while the Dalits are finally and deservingly finding their feet on the Indian political turf.
Though times and massive challenges ahead for progressive people in India i guess. Fighting against deeply held cultural mistrust and division must seem almost insurmountable, but good thinking is also infectious and people are naturally seeking wisdom even if they don’t know it (or so we must think). I appreciate the work you do here on freethought blogs it helps me to be at least a bit less ignorant of the complexities of the human experience as it plays out across the world. So thank you.
Thank you for the encouraging words.