January 2025

26 Jan 202526 Jan 2025 Mohammad Amaan Siddiqui 21 Apr 202421 Apr 2024 Mohammad Amaan Siddiqui 16 Mar 202416 Mar 2024 Mohammad Amaan Siddiqui 24 Aug 202324 Aug 2023 Mohammad Amaan Siddiqui 15 Aug 2023 Mohammad Amaan Siddiqui 10 Aug 2023 Mohammad Amaan Siddiqui 25 Jul 202325 Jul 2023 Mohammad Amaan Siddiqui 26 May 2023 Mohammad Amaan Siddiqui 26 Mar 20238 Apr 2023 Mohammad Amaan Siddiqui 5 Dec 202217 Aug 2023 Mohammad Amaan Siddiqui

I had the chance of attending the prestigious Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations from the 15th of January to the 19th of January (or, 15-18 January in Eastern Standard Time). The conference was wonderfully sprinkled with numerous world leaders and powerful voices with a lot of lessons to offer, in life and in industry. The lessons to take away were many, even in fields where I did not think I would have interest, like, being a social sciences student, Artificial Intelligence was a field that I did not think I would touch even with a 10-foot barge pole but the panel discussion made it interesting anyways.

A period that was known to be the death of distance (increasing online connectivitiy) was hastened by the pandemic which acted as a catalyst. While many people shifted from office spaces to working from home, on-site workers suffered.

The proportion of people that actually have desk jobs and need office spaces is small and the bigger issues are posed to on-site workers. The CEO and Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company, Kevin Sneader, calls the worry about office spaces luxurious and implies a redirection of our focus onto greater social causes.

The death of distance was best reflected in HPAIR itself. The presidents cited that this was their largest conference. Plus, without the hassle of transport costs, an easily accessible online event did call for greater diversity and reach.

Kevin Sneader

Green and Sustainable Economic Growth

When we think of the concept of ‘green growth’, what is the image that comes to your mind? Most likely, apart from an environmentally secure world, you might be imagining the perils of slower economic growth and costlier goods and services.

The panel discussion on ‘US-Asian Climate Change Multilateralism: Feasibility, Best Practices, and Long Term Visions’ by Raekwon Chung, Daniel Bodansky, Dr. Robert Stowe, and Skyler Wu threw light on exactly that mindset. The speakers stated that for a more healthy outlook, a mindset shift is needed.

Janice Lao, Raekwon Chung, Daniel Bodansky, Dr. Robert Stowe, and Skyler Wu.

Valuing Start-Up and Innovation

The vice-chairman of Roche Pharmaceutical and a member of the Board of Trustees at the World Economic Forum, André Hoffmann, comments on the hindrance of innovation because of the multilayered and complex structure of large companies. On that note, he looks upon startup ideas as the scope for innovation in those is larger and startups create a new system that is not as environmentally damaging as the ones by many large corporations. Speaking of Start-Ups …

These were the ingredients that Xiaoyin Qu (Founder of Run The World) added to season the question of her valued values. Run The World is the online platform that HPAIR was held on. Recently founded, Xiaoyin was asked three values she would want to talk about.

The Stanford dropout, and budding tech-savvy entrepreneur listed those three values which can also apply for any other budding entrepreneurs who are looking forward to putting their business ideas into start-ups!

Self-Belief: A risky path calls for you to believe in yourself so you don’t give up. You also need to learn to filter what opinions you take in from others and which ones you don’t so you can avoid getting negatively affected.

Growth-Mindset: You will encounter many challenges, failures, dead-ends, and moments where you need to have back-up plans. A fixed mindset would fail your not even started up start-up.

Realism: Don’t think about the glass being half empty, think about what’s in the glass and how you can add to it.

According to Xiaoyin Qu, As long as the worst-case scenario of taking a risk is tolerable (as in, you won’t starve yourself or suffer long-term setbacks), and the best case scenario is a jackpot, go for it.  

We come across a lot of content on the social media platforms and contacts we have but as an individual, there’s only so much we can find. HPAIR has been a platform that has brought like-minded people (of course, the like-mindedness is not in industry as much as it is in initiative, leadership, and the strive to self-improvement and making the world a better place) together to connect and be able to share their knowledge, expertise, and opportunities.

When Xiaoyin Qu was asked about how she managed to arrange the funds needed to kick start Run The World, she talked about how it was her network of people she knew and the professors she had connected with at Stanford that helped her get those Angel funds (early stage start up funding).

Knowing how much networking has helped me get to where I was before HPAIR, the conference and the people I’ve come across through it has expanded my access to diverse opportunities. Take the lesson. When you come across valuable people, form bonds that remain with you for a long time.

One among many one-on-one networking events\

Networks and connections aside, making new friends is also a valuable takeaway that shouldn’t be ignored! Admittedly, the sudden exposure to hundreds of delegates through tens of group chats was overwhelming but eventually, I was eased in.

While commenting on the gender pay gap and salary negotiation, the CEO of Candor, Niya Dragova, reminds us that it isn’t solely the college you join that decides how your pay and knowledge turns out but whether you join the right networks, clubs, connections, and take adequate initiative.

A Vogue-published professional photographer, Julian Tse, also emphasizes further on the lines of networking and making friends that collaboration and knowledge-sharing will save you time, and give you beneficial exposure which otherwise would not happen if you always treated others as competition.

The biggest lesson 2020 taught us was resilience and adaptation. Thinking on a bigger level, it makes us realise that the current system is structured in a manner that is not resilient.

Therefore, it is important that we not just take these lessons but also act on it and build a more sustainable and resilient future. What is more important than failures and disasters is the lessons we take from it and what we do tomorrow.

Many speakers cited the existence of gender biases. Political and corporate systems still have male-dominated spaces, and women face questioning for entering the field of STEM.

Yet, any fight for equality will last forever. The circumstances change and things may get better but different communities will always be fighting for some level of equality and what is important that we remain standing strong, says Janice Lao, the ESG Director.

In the age of roaring Tik Tok, Twitter, and social media culture of convenient activism and reposting, it was also notable that no speaker at HPAIR represented any value, belief, idea, or strategy even remotely close to misandry. Their focus on the cause looked at realistic solutions and a sustainable way forward.

The inspiring talk by Bandana Tewari, a sustainable fashion warrior brought out the essence of clothing. She reminds us that clothes are more than just styles but are important in the way we define our identity. Corporations need to move beyond using cultural clothing as gimmicks and profitable fads and acknowledge the contexts behind them and truly appreciate them.

Further speaking on the subject, she threw light on gender fluidity and how magazines cover that. If they want to truly support that social cause, their cover pages should represent a person that has made that choice and give due credit to the struggles of their lives instead of picking cishetero males and giving them skirts.

Corporations need to have a more diverse and inclusive workforce in order to be able to gain insights from different cultures to be better equipped for intercultural interactions.

Recommended Watch: What Gandhi Can Teach Us About Slow Fashion.

“Sometimes, 5% of the narrative occupies 95% of the oxygen in the room,” said Amit Pradhan, the Co-Founder of the Silicon Valley Blockchain Society.

Often, statements made in sci-fi Hollywood and paranoid people clouds our thinking about A.I. We are still very far from being taken over by A.I. and there are a plethora of other fields where A.I. is being and can be employed to serve social causes. Our focus should be redirected from a Hollywood interpretation of A.I. to a realistic one that supports and empowers society rather than frightens it.

Wonderfully, that quote also resonates in contexts beyond A.I. If you think about it, the structure upon which stereotypes and many forms of discrimination is built is the same idea where a small narrative ends up being blown out of proportion. With greater awareness, inquisition, and critical thinking, questioning, and independent research about tricky situations and questions, I believe we can avoid falling to the trap of misleading yet popular narratives. A talk on data science and data quality also adds to this learning.

Yang Lan, one of the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women, along with the other speakers (Anla Cheng and Lesly Goh) at the Gender Equality and Philanthropy Fireside Discussion backed that concept and offered advice for you if you’re finding your passions, remain patient and gentle to yourself while also taking care of yourself with enough sleep, food, and drink.

Debbie Stothard (Director of ALTSEAN) and Thiago P B Bessimo (Institutional Director, Observa China)’s talk on Progressivism and Activism in Asia shared the growth of activism and the need to identify false news in the current era. If you are unable to find a community in the physical space around you, you can always fall back on taking your cause to the online community. The same message was reinforced in the session “Navigating A More Polarized World: Division and Faction in International Politics” led by the Senior Editor of the South China Morning Post, Chow Chung. In the age of information, what excuse do you have for not voicing your thoughts when you’re in a position to do so?

The former prime minister of Thailand, the Right Honourable Abhisit Vejjajiva also highlighted, apart from the message in the title, that it is possible to maintain your honesty and integrity while surviving in politics.

Being passionate about politics and knowing the levels of risks and corruption in Indian politics, I’ve always considered taking part but the fear of what might happen to me because of the atmosphere still floats around. Listening to the previous affirmation by him was truly comforting and is a call for all of us passionate young activists.

Adam Cheyer, founder of Siri and Change.org tells us that life is like a book. Your life is divided into chapters and each chapters represents a different mini-journey in your life. Oftentimes, it may even represent a totally different you. Change is inevitable. Embrace the different parts of life and continue navigating through your rough and beautiful transitions.

Being selected for a conference, actually participating in the conference, and taking great learnings away from the conference can be explained through the metaphor of a journey. You sit in your car, you start driving it, and you reach your destination.

A delegate from Philippines, Camille, shared her experience states two important lessons from events like HPAIR, where there is a selection process to participate: the journey and the destination is what matters most. Just sitting in your car isn’t that big of a deal. Take pride in what you take away from the conference and not mere selection.

We reached this realisation when one of the presidents of HPAIR, Zeel Patel, responded to the many queries about the acceptance rates with “there is no pride in selectivity.”

Camille also mentioned that her selection was not only because she worked hard and developed a profile worthy of it but also a disparity between her social and economic standing compared to many others who never had the opportunity to afford opportunities or connections that would help them build a profile to be worthy of being selected for a conference like this let alone actually even finding out and applying to HPAIR. While this isn’t a lesson I learned from any of the keynote speakers, coming across her post was really impactful as recognising our privilege is a major step of working towards some of the most important social issues.

19. Book Recommendations*

By Hari Nair, Vice President, Procter & Gamble:

• Carol Dweck – Mindset
• David – Range  – Why generalists triumph in a specialized world.
• Prof Karim Lakhani — Competing in the age of AI
• Michael Horn — Choosing College

By Janice Lao, ESG Director:

• Capital in the Twenty-First Century Book by Thomas Piketty
• Green Giants by Freya Williams

By Bandana Tewari, a Sustainable Fashion Warrior:

• Sapiens
• Big Ideas Simply Explained Series  

By Lord Nat Wei

• Restoring Democracy in an Age of Populists and Pestilence by Jonathan Manthorpe

By Lan Yang

• A room of one’s own by Virginia Woolf

By Former Prime Minister of Thailand

• Did not name anything in particular but recommended books that focus on new economic and market systems given the degree of inequality and the threat of market monopoly and domination.

By Adam Cheyer, Founder of Siri and Change.org

• Deep Learning Course on Coursera

*Listed names might not be identical to the actual books.

If you attended HPAIR, what were some of your takeaways? Be sure to share them down in the comments below and share the post so others can benefit from it too!

Be sure to support the blog and sign up for email updates for future posts! Stay tuned as I’ll also be releasing a list of leadership development lessons I took away from HPAIR 2021 soon!

“We can see your name, and it is clear the agenda you are trying to spread. Average zealot Mullah”—this is just one exemplar of the many comments I have received as Mohammad Siddiqui, voicing my concerns about India’s direction. Yet, it is commonplace today for Hindutva nationalists to harass dissenters endlessly.

And worse is to consider that this isn’t limited to politics. Scrolling on Instagram, one could find several Hindutva chants and Islamophobic remarks even on a cooking video just because the content creator wears a hijab. These Hindutva nationalist tactics corner and exclude minorities and dissenters from conversations and force them into more private spaces.

As we prepare for India’s 76^th Republic Day this year, I can’t help but think about what the realities on the ground are. Sure, this is the day to commemorate when our constitution “went into effect.” But to what extent is it really in effect? For whose defense is it most often invoked? Are those who are governing us at present happy with what the potentials of this constitution are?

For many, this post will read as another annoying piece that “fails to read the room” or that shuns all celebration using “propaganda.” But are we fulfilling our duties as a cohesive community if, in the path of celebrating a commemoration event, we shut down the voices of those who are less privileged?

I am also in a privileged position myself; many of those with whom I am in conversation are also privileged in that we either do not live in India anymore, live in safer parts, or have the resources to move. Many of us are South Asians in the Gulf or in the United States, and this allows us to observe interesting patterns. Why are India’s relations with the Gulf countries improving while the average ultranationalist continues to hate and hurt Muslims? Why do American Indians who have never lived in Modi’s India love Modi so much?

It’s because Hindutva nationalists are weaponizing religious rhetoric to construct the identity of a “true Indian” as one who is the ideal good Hindu that they envision. Insofar as their opposition is against those they consider as Muslims, anti-national, and outsiders, the “Hindu” and “Indian” identity seem monolithic. But even here, there are internal contradictions within their nationalist vision. It is not so much of a vision to protect all Hindus as much as it is one that serves the politically-aligned upper caste Hindi-speaking Hindus or the silent centrists who want to take the path of least resistance or criticize both sides equally.

But that’s just to clarify that what appears religious at its forefront, is so not so much about religion as much as it is about redefining Indian “ethnicity” and finding ways to reinforce the economic power within the top 1%.

Here, I want to present my reflections on how this construction of ethnicity happens. Specifically, I highlight that Hindutva nationalists use dehumanizing language that render non-Hindus and eventually dissenting lower-caste Hindus as non-Indian entirely. Firstly, Hindutva nationalists are differentiating between who they call “real Muslims” (Arabs) and “converted Muslims” (India’s Muslims). Secondly, ultranationalists are increasingly overtly supportive of religious territorialism and deploy exclusive language to silence dissenters.

The “Real” Versus “Converted” Muslims Rhetoric

The UAE inaugurated the BAPS Mandir in Abu Dhabi in February 2024. This move was one of many moments where Hindutva nationalists celebrated an Islamic Gulf country, despite not necessarily residing there. Simultaneously, Hindutva nationalists also celebrated the inauguration of the Ayodhya Mandir on the site of the illegally demolished Babri Masjid, and called for the destruction of many other Masjids, labelling any dissenters to this as anti-Hindu and anti-India.

Months ago, as videos of Diwali celebrations in Dubai, as has been customary for years, circulated, a flurry of Hindutva nationalists resident in India took to comment sections of posts, claiming how “converted Muslims are angry!!” – even though this claim, like many accusations, is a response to an alleged problem that does not exist at the scale it is claimed to exist. Think about it, as UAE residents, do any of us feel like there is a pushback against Diwali as much as there is against meat consumption in many regions in India?

India’s diplomatic relationship with the Gulf states is also strong, with charismatic pictures of leaders shaking hands or hugging being popular. The justification is clear—the Arabs are “original” or “real” Muslims, so they act in hospitality, while Indians, whom the nationalists define as violent, exclusive, and sub-human, are such because they are “fake” or “converted” Muslims.

Indeed, the revisionism of these so-called historic claims is obvious: we know that Muslim communities have been in India as traders and other classes of people since the 7^th century.

Yet, these claims dehumanize India’s Muslims and attack their right to have rights. “There is a difference between real and converted Muslims. Indian Muslims are converted Muslims, so they deserve the hatred, and we only want to engage with the real Muslims,” is the argument.

These arguments make the ethnic/racial backend of a religious frontend obvious. “Purity” is connected to blood. It is lineage, according to these logics, that makes a Muslim “real” (if born to an Arabized family) or “fake” (if born to a family racialized as South Asian). If this does not already stand out, it also should be clear that this is a projection of the caste hierarchy and how it is only passed down by blood, too, and how these things that are supposedly innate to people define levels of purity.  

The “fake Muslims” rhetoric reinforces the idea that we are either the product of an “invasive” Mughal class that is not indigenous to India or that we have lost some innate Indianness because we were “converted” by the Mughals and now continue to live “brainwashed.”

Ethnoreligious Exclusivism and Religious Territorialism

This ethnic idea of equating Indianness with Hinduness is not new, though these narratives are creative, and new ways of how they are communicated are constantly emerging. The essence of these ideas come from over a century old theorizing of Hindutva nationalism, much of which today echoes Savarkar’s conceptualization of true Indians as being only Hindus.

These narratives increasingly adapt to the contemporary populist scenarios (populism referring to divisive politics that claims to be “for the good people” against “the corrupt”) by using colloquial symbolic terms, such as the image of a “converted Muslim,” and other co-opted terms that are given negative connotations, such as Mullah, Madarasa, and Peaceful. See for example the following claim that is used frequently to ridicule dissenters:

                “Admin learned this from Madarasa, lol.”

The interpretation of Indian Muslims as invaders in this sense also supports the idea of religious territorialism. The claim is that the Muslims in India do not territorially belong here—they are both “fake Muslims” and outside of India. Yet, it is not the nationalist’s concern where these Muslims go. What they assert is that India deserves to be a Hindu state because:

                “…Muslims have Mecca and Christians have Vatican.”

                “…there are many Islamic countries but not one Hindu Rashtra.”

                “Minorities are safer than Hindus …”

In India’s populism, it is often the hierarchical systems—politicians, organizations, and their media—that impose these thoughts. However, we are now at a stage where the common public themselves spread these narratives, making them seem grassroots-like—a testament to Hindutva’s radicalization process.

Hindutva nationalists increasingly outright reject dissenters’ thoughts based on their identity and a synthesized mythical belief that Hindus and only Hindus need to be safeguarded in the territory of India, rendering others as outsiders and invaders.

This is not a defense of other ethnocentric states, but one that highlights that the existence of those other states is weaved into the Hindutva argumentation of the worldview to justify the creation of their own state. One of the strengths of Hindutva is this fluid nature. It is a political project that is not necessarily committed to minute -isms that can be associated with things like left-wing politics, American evangelicalism, etc. It is what allows the ultranationalist community to be caste-blind when Muslims are rendered the enemy but exercise caste hierarchies and violence in their internal practice and discourse. 

The Creation of Facts in the Hindutva Worldview

The popularity and strength of these narratives are especially concerning, given that they came out of nowhere and have no basis in historical knowledge nor in how Islamic society works. One of the main features of how Islam posits the structure of the social fabric is to not discriminate based on identity. Yet, we see an interpretation of Muslims by Hindutva in a casteist light. Similarly, the religious territorial claims rely on sweeping generalizations regarding how other countries work and who they are safe for; they also rely on outright lies about India’s social and political history.

The populism of Hindutva in the last 10 years is such that the politicians, and now the people, too, are able to construct “facts” based on what they collectively literally consider true based on vibe. Whatever matches their world view is fact, and everything else is the evil Congress, Muslims, liberal Hindus, Goerge Soros, the West, terrorist, anti-India, or the propaganda spreader.

The result is dehumanizing language, such as the ones documented in this article or others that rest on these assumptions, to make dissenters feel uncomfortable, scared, and exiled, and to induce fear and a call-to-action for ultranationalists to continue their political and extrajudicial activities.

Final Thoughts: The Hindutva Ecosystem and the Way Forward

There is only so much I can convey in a short article. But there are so many entities implicated in the factors that continue allowing for this discourse to spread.

Celebrate the Republic Day Critically

The first step is to understand that these problems exist. The reason I am posting this on Republic Day is precisely because this is a commemorative day. On 26th January and 15th August, many of us have the privilege to smile and celebrate the successes of our freedoms and constitution. But for whom are these freedoms and who really feels safe and free?

This is not a call to not celebrate, but one that calls to critically celebrate. Many of us still do not believe that state-sponsored Hindutva religious territorialism exists in India. I am often told that my claims are exaggerations of exceptional events, which is simply not true. Our constitution demands that we engage in intellectual endeavours, stand up for our people, and question the government in the means guaranteed: this is my reminder today, on republic day.

Implicating Social Media Algorithms

Another thought pertains to the social media landscape, a space that we often characterize as an open space for speech, but need to remember as a product that has algorithms that indeed do not give every “speech” an equal chance of being presented, algorithms that do not treat all forms of “hate speech” as the same: some are okay, but others are not. 

There is a need for content moderators contextually and culturally trained with Indian discourse across languages, given that the terms used in the dehumanizing language are often inexplicit and cannot confidently be taken down by machine learning models. Real-time moderation teams should operate during sensitive periods, such as during festivals and elections. This also echoes the repeated calls for platforms like Meta to ensure content moderation teams are not pro-Hindutva themselves, as is often the case. Decentralizing fact-checking as did X might be a potential route to this.

However, at the same time, the broader rhetoric around “absolute freedom” is also counterproductive, as on platforms with algorithms and financial interests, there simply isn’t a level playing field for all speech.

Diaspora Indians and Global Struggles

Finally, writing this from the United States, I cannot ignore the role of diaspora Indians in supporting ultranationalist discourse and financial support from abroad. The Hindutva ecosystem is supported and recreated in many forms outside India, too. Over the last few months, I have already encountered ethnic Indians who are American nationals and have never been to India. Some of these people cannot even speak Hindi or another Indian language properly; yet they claim that perhaps I dissent against the government because I do not live in the BJP constituencies; or that I am simply spreading propaganda. These were mundane interactions, but ultranationalists lend support in many other ways.

We owe it to our country to continue observing, engaging with, and documenting such forms of support that diasporic communities lend to ultranationalism. And from a country like the USA, the ultranationalist Hindutva agenda needs to be understood in connection with other liberation movements; it is the capitalist structure that unites all of them that enables such a strong right-wing unity against the left.

To truly understood the core of these problems, we also necessarily have to engage with other movements that are trying to fight the root of the problems. Student power, the struggles in Philippines, Palestine, Cuba, Venezuela, Hawaii, Europe, and so many more are linked. Even national issues like the U.S. housing crisis, insurance issues, and wage slavery are tied together in this web.

In conclusion, the rhetoric of Hindutva nationalism, exemplified by the constructed binaries of “real” versus “fake” Muslims, is a strategic exercise in exclusion and control. It weaponizes religion to define Indianness in narrow, ethnoreligious terms while cloaking deeper socioeconomic agendas rooted in caste and class. This ideology not only marginalizes minorities but also thrives on dehumanizing dissenters and distorting historical narratives to maintain its dominance.

Addressing this complex ecosystem requires a multifaceted approach, including culturally aware content moderation, critical diaspora engagement, and a commitment to solidarity with global and local liberation movements. Only by confronting these interconnected systems of oppression can we hope to reclaim spaces for inclusive dialogue and justice.