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Incredible India deserves respect, writes cricketer Matthew Hayden

Some of it, especially some of that supposed essay of Ambedkar. I have seen that essay before and so knew what to expect.
What do you mean by 'supposed'? Dr Ambedkar's views are pretty 'clear':-). He wasn't an apologist and didn't bother being politically correct. Surely, you being a big fan of Dr Ambedkar (just like me), should admire him for his straightforward views.
A side observation. It should be made a habit for forum members that when they are pointing to an article, whenever possible they should quote the most important parts, like I did.
Why is necessary? You somehow sidelined that article under the garb of being 'RW', a very easy fallback option. Do stating facts make something RW just because it doesn't align with your views?
 
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Always been Incredible. Vishwa Guru.

“At this supremely dangerous moment in human history, the only way of salvation is the ancient Hindu way.”~ Mark Twain
He was indeed a great humorist.
Incredible India deserves respect, writes Matthew Hayden
Matthew Hayden/Chennai
Filed on May 13, 2021

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AFP





India is in the middle of the pandemic second wave’s battering, as never seen before. As it battles the alarming spread of the virus, the world media has spared no time in lambasting a country of a whopping 1.4 billion where the sheer numbers make the implementation and success of any public scheme a challenge.

I have been visiting India for over a decade now and have travelled all over the country, especially Tamil Nadu which I consider my “spiritual home”. I have always had the highest respect for the leaders and public officials who are entrusted with the task of running such a diverse and vast country.

Wherever I went, the people greeted me with love and affection, for which I remain in their debt. I can proudly claim that I have seen India up close over the years and that is why my heart bleeds to see it not only in agony at the moment, but also for the bad press that has been hurled at it by those who I am not sure spend any time here to understand India, its people and their myriad challenges.

As a cricketer and lover of the game, I have maintained my association with the sport which has allowed me to come to India to cover the Indian Premier League (IPL). Many of my fellow countrymen have also been playing in the IPL for years. In this context, at a time when the world has been shutting doors on India and lambasting the Government, I thought of sharing my thoughts while in India, to give a perspective not available to those sitting thousands of miles away.
I am not a data person, but some of the figures I gathered from some of the media reports are astonishing. India has already vaccinated over 160 million people (five times the population of Australia) and has been conducting 1.3 million tests a day. The point I am making is not to overlook the sheer vast numbers and the challenges associated with it.

When one conjures up thoughts of India, a singular word comes to mind. Incredible; a word popularised by the Indian Tourism slogan, “Incredible India”. Even now, being caught in the political crossfire of the Scott Morrison Government’s decision to temporarily ban the travel to Australia, nothing has changed my mind about this ancient civilisation.

As of now, this heaving mass of humanity reels in the wake of the pandemic; the new normal replacing various religious festivals, exotic wedding celebrations, bustling streets jampacked with street vendors and livestock, all sadly — like the Morrison Government’s travel policy — temporarily put on hold.

Looking out the window of my room overlooking Bengaluru, a truss has been established; as if a siesta has been called in respect to health authorities’ call to action for our new global anthem: “Isolate, stay home, sanitise your hands, wear your mask, social distance.” A race busily running in the background, in many cases for life itself, as national resources like oxygen and critical medical supplies are being re-routed from manufacturing plants to hospitals and care facilities. The simple truth: The demand for basic medical facilities is making the supply look more like one of Usain Bolt’s competitors.

In short, hectic has been replaced with nervous. One can truly sense the fear and anxiety as India faces off against the challenges of this horrific pandemic. Begging the question, why is an Aussie ex-cricketer away from his beloved country and family at such a critical, even dangerous, time? On the surface is the commercial value for my family, having played and worked on every IPL since its conception in 2008.

It’s true, my remuneration is significant and, yes, it pays my family’s bills. More broadly, however, I have a deep connection to Mother India which docks into my life’s mission: To connect people and organisations on purpose and strategy. My purpose in supporting the IPL this season was to provide a welcome relief to the monotony of extended periods of partial or hard lockdown. Every evening from 6.30 pm, cricket lovers, and let me tell you there are a few, went online or turned on the television to watch their favourite franchise battle.

As a genuine lover of the game since I was four years old, my voice, full of excitement, helps narrate our great game by bringing an authentic positive view to the cricket community. Cricket, as so often throughout history, has been and is the silver lining to our COVID cloud. The cricketers, especially in the IPL, have understandably been soft targets of the media and, because of their contractual obligations, cannot defend themselves.

It makes all the more important for people such as me, who have once been in a similar situation but can now from the outside not only share a “player’s perspective” but also speak up for them. India is a rich civilisation which has very few parallels in the world and, in its hour of need, the least we can do is to appreciate its cultural, regional, linguistic, human development and other complexities before passing any judgement on it.


(The writer is a former Australian cricketer; Board Member, Australia India Council (DFAT) and the Goodwill Ambassador for India, Institute for Australia India Engagement. The views expressed are personal.)
Ipl ka paisa is speaking
 
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What do you mean by 'supposed'? Dr Ambedkar's views are pretty 'clear':-). He wasn't an apologist and didn't bother being politically correct.

You are right. I removed "supposed" a bit later.

Why is necessary? You somehow sidelined that article under the garb of being 'RW', a very easy fallback option. Do stating facts make something RW just because it doesn't align with your views?

Well, I wouldn't positively post Muslim RW articles, yes ? They won't be objective and many times will twist facts or give half info.

Also, I can see through this😜

Aha ! :enjoy:
 
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Well, I wouldn't positively post Muslim RW articles, yes ? They won't be objective and many times will twist facts or give half info.
Umm...those are actual quotes from his book. A RW and LW site doesn't matter in this case.
Some of it, especially some of that essay of Ambedkar.
Maybe you should also try reading the full article instead of parts of it?
 
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@ mathew Hayden...move to India with your wife and daughters....let's see how incredible you feel
 
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Umm...those are actual quotes from his book. A RW and LW site doesn't matter in this case.
Maybe you should also try reading the full article instead of parts of it?

Firstly, I am not proposing that current Dalits throw away their oppressed lives by converting to Islam. They can simply not choose to be not in any traditional religion at all. And choose Communism to arrange as the social, economic and political for the country. Even if a few thousand take such a public oath it would be a big statement in the country. Will shake the country.

But one task is getting to know when Ambedkar wrote that criticism of Islam / Muslims because as the article I posted ( extracted from a book by Anand Teltumbde ) shows Ambedkar getting interested in Islam in a positive way since 1928. There is a website that contains the essays of Ambedkar. I have forgotten the website name. Will search.
 
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But one task is getting to know when Ambedkar wrote that criticism of Islam / Muslims because as the article I posted ( extracted from a book by Anand Teltumbde ) shows Ambedkar getting interested in Islam in a positive way since 1928.
Yes, but the reason he was considering it was because at that time he was giving priority to the existential aspect of the community and not the spiritual one. Ultimately, he spiritual consideration was given preference over the existential one and thus Buddhism was chosen. Please understand the rationale why he was giving preference to one or another religion, it's clearly written in the article that you posted and even in the one that @Suriya had posted. Spiritually, he always found Buddhism appealing. 'Appo Deepo Bhava' - Be your own Light is what he believed in which were Lord Buddha's last words.
 
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My emotions is that of SCHADENFREUDE.

I did not create that word.
Go check that out and your probably feel the same way of India now.

And dont blame me.
Blame be on Modi who insisted on trying to keep land they stole from China by keeping what British gave to them, land the British got no right to.

And Modi wanting to go with QUAD for reasons best known to himself

Indians are not innocent either as the Indians voted for Modi to keep him there,

SCHADENFREUDE can best describe the feeling in me.
 
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Yes, but the reason he was considering it was because at that time he was giving priority to the existential aspect of the community and not the spiritual one. Ultimately, he spiritual consideration was given preference over the existential one and thus Buddhism was chosen. Please understand the rationale why he was giving preference to one or another religion, it's clearly written in the article that you posted and even in the one that @Suriya had posted. Spiritually, he always found Buddhism appealing.

You are correct and even my posted article does seem to indicate that. Two sections :
In “Mukti Kon Pathe?” Ambedkar outlined two considerations in changing religion – existential and spiritual.
The spiritual consideration in the change of religion was related with enhancing the worth of an individual. Since the Hindu religion did not have any place for an individual, it could not provide spiritual solace to anyone.

According to Ambedkar, the real objective of a religion should be the spiritual development of individuals: “birth of an individual is not for service of the society, it is for his or her own emancipation.” He declared that a religion which did not grant an individual primacy was not acceptable to him. He saw the necessity of three things for the development of an individual – compassion, equality and freedom – and observed that Hinduism did not have any of these.
Perhaps if Ambedkar would have researched further and been among leftist Muslims he would have realized that the true philosophy of Islam is not about being outwardly pious and doing rituals ( which many Muslims especially now have fallen to ) but more about emancipation of self and society, something which Ambedkar too wanted as in the above underlined words. And spiritual development of a society can come if the society's economic, social and political system is an evolved one. That is why I relate True Islam to modern Communism. I quote from my thread from 2016 :
During the same period (1920s-30s), another (though lesser known) Islamic scholar in undivided India got smitten by the 1917 Russian revolution and Marxism.

Hafiz Rahman Sihwarwl saw Islam and Marxism sharing five elements in common: (1) prohibition of the accumulation of wealth in the hands of the privileged classes (2) organisation of the economic structure of the state to ensure social welfare (3) equality of opportunity for all human beings (4) priority of collective social interest over individual privilege and (5) prevention of the permanentising of class structure through social revolution.

The motivations for many of these themes he drew from the Qur’an, which he understood as seeking to create an economic order in which the rich pay excessive, though voluntary taxes (Zakat) to minimise differences in living standards.

In the areas that Sihwarwl saw Islam and communism diverge were Islam’s sanction of private ownership within certain limits, and in its refusal to recognise an absolutely classless basis of society.

He suggested that Islam, with its prohibition of the accumulation of wealth, is able to control the class structure through equality of opportunity.

Basically, both Sindhi and Sihwarwl had stumbled upon an Islamic concept of the social democratic welfare state.
Though having quoted the above, I again will say that current Dalits should overthrow their oppression not just by forming Ambedkar Study Circles but also by understanding real Communism as its implementation will bring harmony. For example, my theory for a new communist economic theory you can read in this thread.
 
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Perhaps if Ambedkar would have researched further and been among leftist Muslims he would have realized that the true philosophy of Islam is not about being outwardly pious and doing rituals ( which many Muslims especially now have fallen to ) but more about emancipation of self and society, something which Ambedkar too wanted as in the above underlined words. And spiritual development of a society can come if the society's economic, social and political system is an evolved one. That is why I relate True Islam to modern Communism. I quote from my thread from 2016 :
Again, you are coming back to the same point, please go through @Suriya's article again, everything is clear. (I shouldn't have to repeat this). So basically, you agree to Dr Ambedkar's views on Hinduism (based on the way you zealously quote the conversions) but don't agree to his views on your own religion? Funny😄.
 
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Again, you are coming back to the same point, please go through @Suriya's article again, everything is clear. (I shouldn't have to repeat this). So basically, you agree to Dr Ambedkar's views on Hinduism (based on the way you zealously quote the conversions) but don't agree to his views on your own religion? Funny😄.
@jamahir changed his tune as soon as he heard the negative views of Dr Ambedkar on Indian Muslims.

If Dr Ambedkar had his way he would have total population transfer between India and Pakistan. And Muslims like him would have been forced to migrate to India.
 
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India as a concept and entity yes, a majority of Indians.....absolutely flipping not.
 
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