The one great genius of the #Hindutva #RightWing in India is their capture of the mind of the average Hindu. That there was a time when Hindu civilisation was the greatest, when India was a land of milk and honey, that India's decline in fortune was entirely the fault

Of marauding foreigners -mostly Islamic, but latterly European (but they are white-skinned and probably Aryan, so let's not be hard on them); that therefore by association, anything Islamic is bad and must be rooted out of India. They have further convinced the Hindu mind that

All we need to do to return to the pole position we once enjoyed in the world, is to return to anything that is Ancient. Hence, Sanskrit, Ayurveda, social structures based on caste, outmoded gender roles, an imagined vegetarianism, cow-worship, cow-pathy.

Any modern idea from outside India must be viewed with suspicion. Meanwhile individually, educated Indians make rational choices and flee this land of milk and honey in droves. The have been doing so for as long as global travel has been possible.

Having gone first for education then jobs, family, home, some have succeeded fabulously. But even this success of the Indira Nooyi, Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai type is seen not as evidence of failure of India's stifling culture but as vindication of ancient #Bharatiya values

It's all rubbish, of course, but the idea of an inalienable right to respect from the World because your culture is ancient is so very saleable precisely because it lets you avoid facing up to the harsh truth. The truth that there are many other ancient cultures too.

The Incas, the Aztecs, the Chinese the Persian, the Ancient Greek - all of them either died away or were overtaken by the March of time. Newer ideas, newer values come in and chip away at old customs all the time. The prize goes not to those who hold on to what they HAD...

Or what they imagined they had, rather the Prize goes to those who grab what's here and now, and prepare for what may come. The renaissance, mass literacy, the flowering of science, the spirit of exploration and the liberal idea of individual liberty to pursue your dreams. These

We're the ideas that propelled European powers to dominance, wealth and a new civilisation. Along the way there was unconscionable exploitation, slavery, plunder of natural resources, divide and rule, language imperialism, mercantilist imposition, impoverishing societies.

There may be many ways to overcome that disadvantage rise up dust youself down and rejoin the race. But this much is clear. Turning the clock back and returning to a long gone imaginary past of glory is N O T an option. You can only start from where you are.