8 ms·

Curious what extreme left ideology looks like in India.

by scandox 6y ago

letmethrow 6y ago
it looks like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZb4lGYkjrg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZb4lGYkjrg
- DyslexicAtheist 6y ago
  trying to establish context between the video and GP question. are you saying the extreme left are the Dalit or the Sharma's and Guptas's ?
sameerds 6y ago
In India, "the Left" represents socialism, while "the Right" represents liberal economics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_left https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_left People with leftist political leanings are generally unhappy with all governments, and have very strong opinions about how the country should be run. They end up forming their own tight clubs. EDIT: corrected "libertarian economics" to "liberal economics"
- walt0 6y ago
  I disagree with this actually. The right in India in terms of economic policy is as far left as in the democratic party in USA. The left is further left.
  - sameerds 6y ago
    Sure, I'll take your word about US politics. But I don't see a disagreement ... the Indian right still represents the liberal end of the Indian spectrum on economic policy. Whether that is far or near in US terms does not constitute a disagreement.
    - walt0 6y ago
      It is by no means "libertarian" if the current government has strengthened public food distribution systems and other policies like MNREGA. That is not what libertarian means.
      - sameerds 6y ago
        Ah, that. Thanks, I corrected the use of "libertarian" to "liberal" in my GP comment. I am sure that is not perfect either, but should be good enough to answer the original question ... "left" in India is more about economics than liberty.
entha_saava 6y ago
You can go to r/india to see that. That sub is peak irrational leftism. And people generalizing Brahmins and other upper castes as oppressors are not exactly right. For many of us who are Brahmin by caste but have a rural, agriculture etc.. background otherwise, we have not witnessed such extreme casteism. Disclaimer: Brahmin by caste / surname but my community is traditionally agriculturist.
- randomguy2379 6y ago
  Only a brahmin would point out that he is brahmin TWICE in his comment. We know that you are a brahmin and feel 'proud' of your caste. You sir, are the reason why casteism exists in India.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - entha_saava 6y ago
    That's a disclaimer, someone may miss that 'some of us' part while reading and think I am saying that as an outsider. You are the anti-brahmin hypocrite generalizing your experience with some of them to blame them. People like you are why there is still lot of SJW bullshit in India. A person with ½ of my competetive exam scores, and double the income easily gets a seat in NIT because reservation based on caste. The generalization that all upper caste people are oppressors and all lower caste people are oppressed is wrong. You might have had some bad interactions in your life because of rampant discrimination, which are apparently there in many parts of India, and I feel sorry for you. But please don't generalize. > Only a brahmin would point out that he is brahmin TWICE in his comment. We know that you are a brahmin and feel 'proud' of your caste. Note that I also mentioned agriculturist community twice in the comment. Well I am proud (more appropriately grateful) that I grew in a remote rural area with only sufficient access to education and not much (there is some) politics like this. Edit: I wrote 'ranking' but actually meant 'score'.
    - randomguy2379 6y ago
walt0 6y ago
They are mostly people from the east coast. If you draw a line from the state of bihar to kerela and people in the 4 big cities. punjab and kashmir to some extent too. Some support the communist party of india, which still holds power in some states but is steadily declining. Many support fringe armed terrorists and domestic terrorists and breaking up the country. Before independence there was a strong movement to push india towards a communist revolution like china or the USSR. The indian national congress which is still the main party on the left absorbed many of these radicals. In the cold war, these parties aligned India with the USSR, despite the absurd hypocrisy that india is a member of NAM but also signed a cooperation treaty with USSR. You will find that roads in new delhi are named after thugs from the eastern bloc like Tito, thats something you will not find even in ex-yugoslav states. But zero roads or monuments named after anyone from the western bloc or indians not part of the nehru-gandhi dynasty. It is mostly orphans of this movement which disbanded after 1991. They're against everything america does but send their kids to the USA for studying in america's best universities.
naruvimama 6y ago
Unlike the USA, India was under the control of the left since independence. So people who call themselves left are the ones who want to preserve the status quo and go back to the good old times. The new progressive India that you see does not have a real right, because it is mostly still a poor country. Nevertheless it has moved closer to the free market, trying to cut down government interference if not for anything but corruption by the erstwhile leftists. The extreme left consists of elitists, close knit extended family of the ruling powers. In fact even today much of India's media and who is who political influencers consist of people who attended the same elitist schools in Delhi. Ironically, they still have not come to terms with a tea seller becoming the Prime minister, so they keep running smear campaigns against him both inside and outside the country.
- random314 6y ago
  Thank you for your right wing propaganda. Left parties have been active only in 2 Indian states, and today in just one. All parties are somewhat socialist because India is a poor country. The current government is hard right, its founders were inspired by Nazi Germany and the media landscape today resembles radio rwanda.
  - naruvimama 6y ago
    India was romancing with the USSR, until it fell in 1990. How much more left do you want to get?
    - random314 6y ago
      And the USA is romancing Saudi Arabia - what is your point?
- treeman321 6y ago
  this post 1.conflates of economic ideology and political ideology. 2.conflates political left, political center. Political left was unpopular with the previous centrist government and with this one. But this one is especially intolerant to dissent. Prominent Dalit scholars and activists have been arrested because they "promote enmity between caste groups". Because surely asking for rights for the historically marginalized is 'promoting enmity'. The grassroots left movements are one of the biggest threats to caste politics and current establishment. Unfortunately, it currently doesn't have wide enough traction to change government policies. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/elgar-case-activist-teltumbde-arrested/articleshow/75148112.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-natio... https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/sudha-bharadwajs-interim-medical-bail-plea-rejected/article31704092.ece https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/sudha-bh...
sbmthakur 6y ago
We have Naxalites and Maoists who have been fighting the Indian state for quite sometime now[1]. They are allegedly funded by China[2]. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naxalite%E2%80%93Maoist_insurgency https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naxalite%E2%80%93Maoist_insu... 2. https://www.indiatoday.in/india/north/story/chinese-intelligence-training-and-funding-maoists-in-india-100359-2012-04-26 https://www.indiatoday.in/india/north/story/chinese-intellig...
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

Curious what extreme left ideology looks like in India.

letmethrow 6y ago

it looks like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZb4lGYkjrg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZb4lGYkjrg

DyslexicAtheist 6y ago
trying to establish context between the video and GP question. are you saying the extreme left are the Dalit or the Sharma's and Guptas's ?

sameerds 6y ago

In India, "the Left" represents socialism, while "the Right" represents liberal economics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_left https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_left People with leftist political leanings are generally unhappy with all governments, and have very strong opinions about how the country should be run. They end up forming their own tight clubs. EDIT: corrected "libertarian economics" to "liberal economics"

walt0 6y ago
I disagree with this actually. The right in India in terms of economic policy is as far left as in the democratic party in USA. The left is further left.
- sameerds 6y ago
  Sure, I'll take your word about US politics. But I don't see a disagreement ... the Indian right still represents the liberal end of the Indian spectrum on economic policy. Whether that is far or near in US terms does not constitute a disagreement.
  - walt0 6y ago
    It is by no means "libertarian" if the current government has strengthened public food distribution systems and other policies like MNREGA. That is not what libertarian means.
    - sameerds 6y ago
      Ah, that. Thanks, I corrected the use of "libertarian" to "liberal" in my GP comment. I am sure that is not perfect either, but should be good enough to answer the original question ... "left" in India is more about economics than liberty.

entha_saava 6y ago

You can go to r/india to see that. That sub is peak irrational leftism. And people generalizing Brahmins and other upper castes as oppressors are not exactly right. For many of us who are Brahmin by caste but have a rural, agriculture etc.. background otherwise, we have not witnessed such extreme casteism. Disclaimer: Brahmin by caste / surname but my community is traditionally agriculturist.

randomguy2379 6y ago
Only a brahmin would point out that he is brahmin TWICE in his comment. We know that you are a brahmin and feel 'proud' of your caste. You sir, are the reason why casteism exists in India.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- entha_saava 6y ago
  That's a disclaimer, someone may miss that 'some of us' part while reading and think I am saying that as an outsider. You are the anti-brahmin hypocrite generalizing your experience with some of them to blame them. People like you are why there is still lot of SJW bullshit in India. A person with ½ of my competetive exam scores, and double the income easily gets a seat in NIT because reservation based on caste. The generalization that all upper caste people are oppressors and all lower caste people are oppressed is wrong. You might have had some bad interactions in your life because of rampant discrimination, which are apparently there in many parts of India, and I feel sorry for you. But please don't generalize. > Only a brahmin would point out that he is brahmin TWICE in his comment. We know that you are a brahmin and feel 'proud' of your caste. Note that I also mentioned agriculturist community twice in the comment. Well I am proud (more appropriately grateful) that I grew in a remote rural area with only sufficient access to education and not much (there is some) politics like this. Edit: I wrote 'ranking' but actually meant 'score'.
  - randomguy2379 6y ago

walt0 6y ago

They are mostly people from the east coast. If you draw a line from the state of bihar to kerela and people in the 4 big cities. punjab and kashmir to some extent too. Some support the communist party of india, which still holds power in some states but is steadily declining. Many support fringe armed terrorists and domestic terrorists and breaking up the country. Before independence there was a strong movement to push india towards a communist revolution like china or the USSR. The indian national congress which is still the main party on the left absorbed many of these radicals. In the cold war, these parties aligned India with the USSR, despite the absurd hypocrisy that india is a member of NAM but also signed a cooperation treaty with USSR. You will find that roads in new delhi are named after thugs from the eastern bloc like Tito, thats something you will not find even in ex-yugoslav states. But zero roads or monuments named after anyone from the western bloc or indians not part of the nehru-gandhi dynasty. It is mostly orphans of this movement which disbanded after 1991. They're against everything america does but send their kids to the USA for studying in america's best universities.

naruvimama 6y ago

Unlike the USA, India was under the control of the left since independence. So people who call themselves left are the ones who want to preserve the status quo and go back to the good old times. The new progressive India that you see does not have a real right, because it is mostly still a poor country. Nevertheless it has moved closer to the free market, trying to cut down government interference if not for anything but corruption by the erstwhile leftists. The extreme left consists of elitists, close knit extended family of the ruling powers. In fact even today much of India's media and who is who political influencers consist of people who attended the same elitist schools in Delhi. Ironically, they still have not come to terms with a tea seller becoming the Prime minister, so they keep running smear campaigns against him both inside and outside the country.

random314 6y ago
Thank you for your right wing propaganda. Left parties have been active only in 2 Indian states, and today in just one. All parties are somewhat socialist because India is a poor country. The current government is hard right, its founders were inspired by Nazi Germany and the media landscape today resembles radio rwanda.
- naruvimama 6y ago
  India was romancing with the USSR, until it fell in 1990. How much more left do you want to get?
  - random314 6y ago
    And the USA is romancing Saudi Arabia - what is your point?
treeman321 6y ago
this post 1.conflates of economic ideology and political ideology. 2.conflates political left, political center. Political left was unpopular with the previous centrist government and with this one. But this one is especially intolerant to dissent. Prominent Dalit scholars and activists have been arrested because they "promote enmity between caste groups". Because surely asking for rights for the historically marginalized is 'promoting enmity'. The grassroots left movements are one of the biggest threats to caste politics and current establishment. Unfortunately, it currently doesn't have wide enough traction to change government policies. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/elgar-case-activist-teltumbde-arrested/articleshow/75148112.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-natio... https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/sudha-bharadwajs-interim-medical-bail-plea-rejected/article31704092.ece https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/sudha-bh...

sbmthakur 6y ago

We have Naxalites and Maoists who have been fighting the Indian state for quite sometime now[1]. They are allegedly funded by China[2]. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naxalite%E2%80%93Maoist_insurgency https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naxalite%E2%80%93Maoist_insu... 2. https://www.indiatoday.in/india/north/story/chinese-intelligence-training-and-funding-maoists-in-india-100359-2012-04-26 https://www.indiatoday.in/india/north/story/chinese-intellig...

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]