Dr Shama Sharma

Finally back on this platform after a hiatus of 1 year. It was a year full of ups, downs, and learnings. Today is Tuesday, may Hanuman Jee bless and protect us all. 🙏🕉️

The Real Face of “Secularism” in India An 8th-century Sun temple, the Martand Sun Temple, built by King Lalitaditya Muktapida and later destroyed by Sikandar Butshikan, is labeled “Shaitan Ki Gufa” in Bollywood. In Haider, Shahid Kapoor dances in those very sacred ruins, a place once devoted to Surya worship. The film did not just distort a temple’s legacy; critics argue it also subtly humanized separatist narratives. This is called “secularism.” Now comes Dhurandhar by Aditya Dhar, starring Ranveer Singh, a spy thriller rooted in tragedies like the 2008 Mumbai attacks, the IC-814 hijacking, and the 2001 Indian Parliament attack. It opens with a verse from the Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 2, Verse 37: “Hato vā prāpsyasi svargaṁ jitvā vā bhokṣyase mahīm,” a profound articulation of a warrior’s duty and patriotism. And suddenly, this is called “communal.” That is the intellectual hypocrisy. Even Unacademy once referred to the Martand Sun Temple as “Shaitan Ki Gufa” in its study material, quietly removing it after outrage without apology. Bollywood’s distortion had begun seeping into textbooks. Yet no major institutional outrage followed, no regulatory pushback, no loud fact-checking campaigns. But for Dhurandhar, figures like Shahabuddin Razvi Barelvi and Chaudhary Ifraheem Husain quickly called press conferences, alleging the film promotes division and targets a specific community. So here is the pattern: ~ Calling a Hindu temple “the devil’s cave” is artistic freedom ~ Quoting a Hindu scripture is communal propaganda ~ Dancing on temple ruins is secular cinema ~ Honoring 26/11 martyrs with the Gita is a divisive agenda This double standard is not accidental. It reflects a deeper cultural bias where mocking Hindu symbols is seen as progressive, while respecting them is treated as provocation.

Their definition of happiness is about as reliable as Donald Trump as a secret keeper. By their logic, conflict, censorship, and economic collapse are apparently more “fulfilling” than stability and growth. Seems they’re just trying to satisfy their allies involved in conflicts, at least on paper rankings.

India is ranked 116 in the World Happiness Report, below totalitarian Saudi Arabia 22, inflation wrecked Venezuela 80, ruined Nepal 99, sunk Palestine 109, begging bowl Pakistan 104, and war torn Ukraine 111. Modi has made us peaceful, safe, stable, but unhappy. He must resign.

@MattooShashank At no point did India stop buying Russian oil.

Journalist: Trump said India had his permission to buy Russian oil. Was that an embarrassing statement to have made about India? Tharoor: No sovereign state needs anybody else's permission

@MattooShashank So what exactly was their president, Justin Trudeau, crying about?

Big Breaking: Canada's national police chief says it does not have evidence linking the Indian govt to foreign interference in Canada at this time

@MattooShashank The US once weaponised the dollar to bully India over its own energy needs. Today, India is securing outcomes through diplomacy without bending. That’s the difference between coercion and sovereignty. 🇮🇳

America threatened India with loss of access to the US dollar system if it bought oil from Iran back in 2013, says former US diplomat Edward Fishman

Warm greetings to all of you on the auspicious occasion of Chaitra Navratri and the Hindu New Year. May the blessings of Maa Durga bring happiness, prosperity, strength, and good health into your lives, and may the new year usher in fresh energy and an auspicious beginning for you all. Jai Mata Di. 🙏

I can’t see a single “Free Palestine” voice speaking up against Pakistan after the killing of 400 innocent Afghan civilians. Not one. That tells the truth. You were never standing for humanity; you were standing against Israel. That’s it. Because when it comes to Pakistan, you suddenly go silent. No outrage. No protests. No hashtags. Just selective morality. Your so-called humanitarian stance is exposed. The mask has slipped, and what’s underneath is nothing but agenda-driven hypocrisy.

@MEAIndia 'Barbaric Massacre'. The Pakistani government has stooped to an all-time low, now resorting to such Inhumane actions.

Our statement on Pakistan’s cowardly targeting of Kabul Hospital 🔗 bit.ly/4755W3j

The bombing of Kabul’s Omar Addiction Treatment Hospital is a brutal indictment of the Pakistani state’s conduct. Targeting a facility meant to heal some of the most vulnerable sections of Afghanistan’s population reflects not strategy, but a dangerous collapse of moral and legal restraint. At a time meant for reflection and compassion during Ramadan, the decision by Pakistan to strike civilian infrastructure exposes the hollowness of its claims and the recklessness of its escalation. No doctrine of “open war” can justify the deliberate destruction of hospitals or the mass killing of civilians.

Pakistan has created a grave situation with its reckless bombing of a Kabul hospital. The strike on Kabul’s 2,000-bed Omar Addiction Treatment Hospital (also known as Omid Hospital), which reportedly killed several hundred people, marks a dangerous escalation in what Pakistan has described as an “open war” against Afghanistan. The details emerging from Kabul are harrowing. The hospital was one of the largest facilities dedicated to addressing Afghanistan’s vast drug addiction crisis. Pakistan's air strikes have hit several civilian facilities in Afghanistan during the holy month of Ramadan. x.com/FitratHamd/sta…

Ironically, by escalating conflict with Iran, Donald Trump has exposed the limits of transactional diplomacy. The postponement does not just delay a summit; it reveals how war constrains even so called "great powers" like China from sustaining strategic ambiguity without reputational cost.

By postponing his China visit to focus on the war on Iran that he himself launched on February 28, Trump has inadvertently done Beijing a significant favor. Hosting a U.S. president prosecuting an escalating war against one of China’s principal strategic partners would have been deeply awkward for Beijing. Such a visit would have placed Xi Jinping in an untenable position — caught between preserving China’s “comprehensive strategic partnership” with Iran and pursuing the high-stakes trade reset he seeks with Washington. Any choice carried costs: a cold reception risked derailing trade talks, while a warm one would have alienated Tehran and much of the Global South. In effect, Trump’s postponement spared Beijing from a no-win diplomatic dilemma. A Trump-Xi summit under the shadow of an active war would have been less about trade and more about the optics of missiles and drones.

Finland President calls for India to broker US-Iran ceasefire "We need a ceasefire. I'm wondering if India can actually get involved. We saw Foreign Minister Jaishankar call for a ceasefire to calm things down," says President Alexander Stubb At a time when much of the international system is strained by conflict and strategic polarization—particularly involving actors like the United States and Iran—the invocation of India as a potential interlocutor reflects a growing acknowledgment of its diplomatic capital. This stems not only from its strategic autonomy, but also from its consistent articulation of dialogue, de-escalation, and multilateral engagement.

@MattooShashank War closes doors...Diplomacy opens sea lanes. This is what mature diplomacy looks like. Even in the middle of a war, dialogue can secure national interests without firing a shot. 🇮🇳

Breaking: S Jaishankar confirms talks with Iran opened Strait of Hormuz for two Indian tankers -“I am engaged in talking to them & my talking has yielded some results” -India did not offer Iran anything in exchange -“These are still early days. We have many more ships there"

@Chellaney The ‘international order’ you’re defending is the same one that bombed countries into chaos and called it stability. The ‘rules-based order’ has mostly meant one thing; rules for others, power for a few.”

There is no parallel in modern world history where the leader of a single country has so abruptly upended the international order — casting aside longstanding norms and core principles of international law, attacking the sovereignty of multiple states with military strikes, and wielding tariffs as a weapon against allies and adversaries alike. Now that his war on Iran is not going as planned, he is inviting other countries to join the conflict, urging them to deploy naval forces to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, even if that requires striking Iranian targets. Any volunteers for this misadventure?

In a democratic country, if a citizen has to live under constant threat to their life because of their views, it raises a very serious question. And for those who often ask what Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji and Home Minister Shri Amit Shah ji have done, they should listen to Sister Nupur Sharma. Sometimes, protecting someone’s life and ensuring their safety is the biggest answer. As a woman, I can’t even imagine how difficult and terrifying it must have been to live under such constant threats. Yet, enduring that and continuing to stand strong requires immense courage. @NupurSharmaBJP 🫡

Congratulations @BCCI 🇮🇳

@Chellaney If access to U.S. markets can be switched on and off depending on whether India buys oil from Russia, then this is not about trade compliance. It’s about strategic obedience. Sovereign energy decisions cannot be governed by tariff ultimatums from the White House.

Negotiating with the Trump administration is fraught for any government, given Trump’s habit of abruptly changing course, scrapping agreed deals or piling on fresh demands. Even so, New Delhi was caught completely off guard by a U.S. presidential executive order tying tariff relief to India’s halting all direct and indirect imports of Russian oil. The order — the most coercive element of the bilateral trade deal — dropped on New Delhi at 6 a.m. local time last Saturday like a bolt from the blue. A mortified Indian government has publicly said it will not respond, even as the order codifies a stark threat: resume purchases of Russian oil, directly or indirectly, and 50% tariffs snap back into place — a warning echoed in the White House’s so-called fact sheet on the “historic deal” with India.

@Chellaney Pressure campaigns often misread political psychology. If anything, Beijing’s tactics may have consolidated nationalist sentiment behind Sanae Takaichi rather than weakening her. 2010 proved how fast this can escalate. The difference this time? Tokyo looks prepared for it.

China’s full-spectrum pressure campaign against Takaichi’s government backfired spectacularly, helping deliver her landslide victory. Days later, Japan has seized a Chinese fishing vessel off Nagasaki and detained its captain. The move risks inflaming Sino-Japanese tensions, but Tokyo insists it will continue taking “resolute action” against illegal fishing by foreign vessels. In 2010 when Japan detained a Chinese trawler captain, it triggered a full-blown diplomatic crisis with Beijing.

@Chellaney So the alliance that once united against the Bangladesh Awami League now collapses under the same accusations it weaponized. If the fall of the Bangladesh Awami League was about democracy, then why does the script look so familiar under the Bangladesh Nationalist Party?

Bangladesh's Stolen Vote: For years, the BNP and Jamaat-e-Islami accused the Awami League of rigging elections. Now, with the outlawed Awami League gone, the accusers have turned on each other. Jamaat — once the BNP’s indispensable ally, providing street muscle and electoral reinforcement against Awami League dominance — is now charging the BNP with using the state apparatus to rig the latest election. By rejecting the results, Jamaat is recasting itself as the true custodian of the 2024 violent uprising, arguing that the BNP has merely swapped one form of autocracy for another. The rupture is telling. The BNP’s promise to restore stability in Bangladesh may be tested almost immediately by an opposition that believes it has been cheated of the very “revolution” it helped to engineer.

@MattooShashank With China and Pakistan as election observers, democracy must be feeling extremely secure. We can certainly relax, the guardians of global freedom are on duty.

Breaking: “India was invited to send observers for the Bangladesh election. But we have not sent any to Bangladesh for the elections,” says India even as Pakistan, China send observers

@AskAnshul Freedom of the press carries the duty of precision. Selectively altering religious titles erodes credibility and violates the very principle of equal treatment. Rebranding him as “Tantrik” alters public perception. This is interference with truth.

Kamruddin served poison-laced sweets to 3 people- Randhir, Naresh and Laxmi. Once they became unconscious, he fled with cash and valuables. All 3 people died in hospital. Several media portals mentioned the accused as "Tantrik". A kala ilm or sihr Maulvi/Maulana is not Tantrik. The media must stop misleading people. If Tantrik commits a crime, mention Tantrik. But, if Maulvi, Pastor, etc. commit crime, then mention them. Is it too hard to use the correct term?