Bringing out from backburners one more burning issue. Reason is, i caught even my Prime Minister talking of South Asia, not the Indian Subcontinent in our Independence day address after flag hoisting in New Delhi. I winced in pain. I know I am heard. So here I go:
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(originally penned on December 20, 2014) (with due edits and updates)
Excuse me, we are Indians, NOT SOUTH ASIANS, NOT EVEN BROWNS!
Robin Raphael sometime ago was under investigation by FBI for her alleged spy links during her stint as diplomat in Pakistan. She was well known for her staunch anti-India stance and she is credited with the introduction of the term ‘South Asia’ which region was until then referred to as the Indian Subcontinent. It was supposedly to end the ‘psychological’ superiority of Indians. But what beats me is, why do we Indians have to toe the line. We can continue to take pride in in belonging to/coming from our native Indian subcontinent. The new word çoinage of ‘South Asia’ was meant to appease Pakistan that hated being referred to as part of the great Indian subcontinent, that wanted no part of India whatsoever and no reference in any manner to India.
(Well guys, you cannot write Pak history without mentioning India but India need not have to mention you until 1947. You are one sentence for us, nothing more, in our history text books. Forever you will have to live under the shadows of the big brother India. Live with this now. You simply have NO identity sans India.)
Well how about the Indian Ocean! So how many nations on earth have an ocean named after them? Live with it guys, again, okay?!
The South China Sea is as petty as China-Chinese. The Indian ocean is vast, mighty, diverse, all consuming, all encompassing.
With ‘South Asia’ the West always wanted to refer to India and Pakistan in one breath. Whereas INDIA IS NOT PAKISTAN AND INDIA DOES NOT BELONG ANYWHERE WITH PAKISTAN. The repeated attempts of the west to tie India with Pakistan is showcased best with the successive presidents of US (and China) for instance visiting India and Pakistan always in one single leg of their journey much to New Delhi’s embarrassment. No America, we are not on same footing: India and Pakistan. And do not hop into your Airforce 1 dear American presidents and put your one foot here in India, with the other in Pakistan….
One more reason we Indians do not like the tour itinerary of visiting heads of the state from the west is, when you try to measure us India and Pakistan in the same wavelength at the same instance, you may lose your objectivity. You will never get the Indian perspective.
I have myself referred to ourselves as ‘South Asians’ sometimes but as much as possible I am trying not to do that. Neither are we Indians ‘brown people.’ I mean we are brown, but not when you try to bring us all together under the same umbrella with Pakistanis and Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans sorry. We are Indians, and Indians only.
The reason some immigrants in UK/US refer to themselves generally as ‘brown’ or ‘south asian’ is, they would rather like to pass off for Indian than Pakistani. Which is not fair to Indians. I am seeing this psychology even in Middle-east. Whereas NO INDIAN would refer to himself/herself as brown or south asian. And never as a Pakistani in a million years!
If India is South Asia, then Mexico is also America, is it not! Let us refer to Mexico as North America in our media!
India parted ways with Pakistan long back. Our children do not like to be referred to in the same context as Pakistan. We are different breed today, different culture, different society.
Don’t the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans merit their own specific identity. Similarly INDIAN IDENTITY IS UNIQUE.
My appeal to the BJP government would be to initiate and promote usage of the term ‘Indian subcontinent’ once again in our midst, in our media, in our mindset and get rid of the ‘South Asian’ term.
Call me a racist, I don’t care. I reiterate my respects for everyone but I want individuality. India has her own currency notation. How many nations on earth have that – hardly a handful.
Proudly Indian. Proudly Hindustani, Proudly Bharatwasi. I AM NOT SOUTH ASIAN, I AM NOT BROWN, I AM INDIAN AND INDIAN ONLY! And I am from the INDIAN SUBCONTINENT NOT SOUTH ASIA! How much the Hindu Dharma is proving to be an irritant, annoying the west and the islamists! Well WE ARE, AND WE WILL BE! Do what you can! Indian flag flies high in the space and in Dakshina Gangotri, Antarctica!
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I take this opportunity to clarify one more fact: been mentioning this in many of my posts:
MOGHULS WERE NOT INDIAN. WERE THE BRITISH INDIAN? Moghuls were barbaric Afghan tyrants and marauders who ravaged, looted India and that’s what they will remain to the native Hindu majority of this nation to eternity. Yesteryear Taliban precisely!
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