r/ABCDesis • u/Ornery-Ordinary9283 • Jul 26 '26
COMMUNITY So so proud of the Indian students back in India
I’m sooo proud of those students. I wanted to share coz I know we receive a lot of hate and discrimination as Indians but damn the youths are soo powerful. I love that that next generation of Indian kids are a lot more open minded. I hope in the years to come India can be a better place, a place where people care about the environment, where corruption is reduced, less poverty, less of a class/caste system.
I wanted to share this for some kind hopeful words.
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u/winthroprd Jul 26 '26
Power to the students in India. We've done a couple of rallies here in support of them. They forced the resignation of the education minister but I hope they keep up the energy and get bigger structural changes.
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u/speaksofthelight Jul 26 '26
What happened to the no subcontinent politics rule ?
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u/patdas Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
Sad that we’re conflating humanitarian victories and politics. Explains why so many posts here are superficial.
Lemme guess, posting about violence against women in India gets the same treatment in this sub because “iT DoESnT APpLy to mE”?
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u/speaksofthelight Jul 26 '26
If you get rid of the rule this sub will get inundated with subcontinent politics and concerns. Which I agree are dire and need discussion.
So just go to any number of different subreddit and talk about it.
This is not oppression it is creating a safe space for our more “superficial” 1st world, 2nd gen problems which are often neglected.
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u/ibarmy Jul 26 '26
You get a star kiddo. But yes on a serious note - that response is common. There were solidarity marches in LA and NYC. So clearly ppl irl dont all think that.
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u/wwwwwwweeeeeee Canadian Indian Jul 26 '26
I've seen a ton of these protest videos on reddit, does anyone have a good explainer on whats happening?
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u/ibarmy Jul 26 '26
Bjp govt over years removed autonomy of educational institutions and started conducting majority of exams under one ‘testing authority’. that authority pretty much leaks one paper every month for the last ten years.
The whole ‘prep-exam day-leak-rinse repeat’ cycle is very demoralising nowadays especially when youth unemployment is extremely high and economy in tatters. IIRC some 21 students did suicide under that stress.
While this was unfolding chief justice of india (Kant) called the youth as cockroaches and their issues not being worth much.
Enough instigating factors here and students said we need the minister to resign cause he needs to be held accountable. In earlier govts ppl would resign often cause they took moral responsibility of the shortcomings in their department/ ministry.
But this guy said f off and never acknowledged the shortcomings of the education ministry. the initial wave of protest was started by a non-stop fast held by some political leaders. Participants including 3 of the largest Student unions, Dalit orgs, and members of cockroach janta party. At this point no political leader lent their power and kept it apolitical. But govt went all full fascist on the kids. Broke open heads. Shot pellets and tear gas on kids. Blocked food and shut down internet, transport systems, water and food.
Once things were shut down rest of the support system flew in - parents came in. Students from outside delhi came. people from across the country tried sending food, medical aid via delivery apps. Independent media started uploading things happening from ground. Gurdwara, and mosques opened up their spaces for kids to sleep and eat food. (sadly not the temples though). younger lawyers started hanging around where police was creating barricades to help if any kid is being detained (many were - esp. muslims).
Looking at the continuing anal response, then everybody else who was on the sideline also joined. political leaders from every party joined. stronger Lawyer support groups ( with $) in delhi mobilised to help the detained kids n fight cases. other cities also initiated protests. the fascistic response continued. opposition leaders were dragged out in an insane manner. one of the lead guys who was on a non-stop fast was dragged from his spot and literally kidnapped in front of everyone.
both sides continued but the students won cause millennials and gen x with their own angst were initiating to mobilize with their own issues (insane taxes and fuel impurities).
the best part about the whole process was humiliating the govt aligned media groups. gen-z forming their own ideology/ expectations from the govt. Giving much needed respite to the cynical liberals in the country.
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Jul 26 '26
[deleted]
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u/_BuzzLightYear To Infinity & Beyond 🚀 Jul 26 '26
At this point whatever is happening in India somehow effects our perception of us too. Anything positive is great.
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Jul 26 '26
Yeah not really. This has nothing to do with you
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u/_BuzzLightYear To Infinity & Beyond 🚀 Jul 26 '26
A bunch of the racist videos about India and the street food have nothing to do with me. But still effect me because racist don’t care about where you’re born, only your ethnicity.
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u/MrAliK Jul 26 '26
Exactly
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u/FalconsArentReal Jul 26 '26
I swear this sub has basically turned into an NRI/Mainlander LARPing as an ABCD sub
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u/waterflood21 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26
We should support the growth of our home countries.
Edit: I mean motherland instead, not home country
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u/ilovepastaaaaaaaaaaa Jul 26 '26
Seriously lmao why should I give a single fuck about this
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u/patdas Jul 26 '26
Maybe there’s a makeup trends and skimpy lehenga thread you can hit up instead?
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u/squidgytree British Indian Jul 26 '26
I'm proud that they stood up to the establishment but you should remember that most of the initial protestors were med school hopefuls, not the poorest or the most downtrodden. In India you have to be privileged just to have a voice. I really hope the same protesters stand up for greater social justice, rather than just the for the upper-middle and upper classes
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u/DessertedPie Jul 26 '26
Seriously? The whole point of the protest was because poorer kids were getting screwed out of passing the medical exam by the leaks to rich kids. Where you place on the NEET is a ticket out of poverty for folks. It’s not like the US where you’re paying hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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u/KosherTriangle Jul 26 '26
Tell me you don’t know about Indian students without telling me. Plenty of underprivileged students writing exams like NEET for a ticket to a better life, it’s very different from the US.
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u/ibarmy Jul 26 '26
You are wrong here. Some of the poorest came to protest With the medical hopefuls.
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u/Manletangelo Jul 26 '26
Honestly may as well just delete this subreddit at this point, NRIs have completely taken over.
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u/fuckthemodlice Jul 26 '26
Hate to break it to you but some ABCDs actually give a shit about current events
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u/pb_battalion Jul 26 '26
Fr man. This sub was supposed to be about kids that grew up here and the struggles that came with it. But for awhile its people born in the subcontinent, coming over from other subs, or people that only been here for a couple years think they know everything.
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u/patdas Jul 26 '26
CRAZY how someone can care about what happens in more than one country at once.
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u/pb_battalion Jul 26 '26
Idk if you know how reddit works but theres appropriate subs for each topic. Crazy how that works right.
We dont need to see the same topic on here multiple times.
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u/patdas Jul 26 '26
Sure but being an ABCD isn’t just about complaining about your parents. Some of us actually have deep ties to India and/or care about geopolitics.
Maybe you can make a sub specific to self hating Indians.-11
u/pb_battalion Jul 26 '26
I guess its "hating" to know that india is corrupt. Cool.
I say this as someone who also has deep ties to the subcontinent but I also know how past protests have gone in that country. Nothing changes.
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u/Ornery-Ordinary9283 Jul 26 '26
I’m not an NRI!! But with the rise in international students coming to western countries I feel like our struggles and our identity is pretty much becoming similar. We look the same - Maybe I identify with NRIs a lot more than before now. I’m sure others can relate too.
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u/wde335 ABD Jul 26 '26
How are “our struggles similar”? That’s an insane take. Tell an Indian kid in rural Tennessee who’s the only brown kid in their school that his or her struggles are “similar” to someone in Mumbai or whatever. That’s just ridiculous. This sub is just gone.
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u/patdas Jul 26 '26
Interesting example. An Indian kid in rural Tennessee is a minority within a minority. Something tells me they’ll have trouble relating to a lot of ABCDs they’ll encounter.
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u/audsrulz80 Indian American Jul 26 '26
Many of us sympathize and may personally support the movement, but shared ethnicity alone does not make it an ABCD cause.
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u/patdas Jul 26 '26
Sure but you know you could have just moved on and not engaged?
I saw an ABCD post about someone not talking to their parents - doesn’t apply to me because I’ve always been close to my parents. I don’t dismiss that person’s experience as a legitimate ABCD experience - I literally just don’t engage because it’s not for me and that’s okay.
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u/audsrulz80 Indian American Jul 26 '26
Actually, this does matter to me personally. I spent a significant part of my education in India and later worked in education technology handling academic integrity and standardized assessments, so I care deeply about this issue. My point is simply that shared ethnicity alone doesn’t make it an ABCD cause.
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u/patdas Jul 26 '26
That could be said for anything. Being an ABCD is as intersectional as any other identity.
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u/pb_battalion Jul 27 '26
Then youre not an ABCD and again ABCDs can't relate to this. Find the appropriate sub to post in.
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u/audsrulz80 Indian American Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
lol I am very much an ABCD, I was born and raised in SoCal and moved to
India when I was 12, moved back when I was 20. I’ve been working in education technology here in the US for a decade. So I have the experience of both. I actually agree with you that the current issue is not something that most ABCDs can relate to.21
u/Competitive-Cover791 Jul 26 '26
No. They aren’t. ABCDs are still entirely different than FOBs or NRIs. We have grown up differently and experienced things entirely different than they have. We have some similar cultural traditions and customs, but not entirely identical.
You can care about current events in India or anywhere else all you want. But at the end of the day, what you think of it or feel about it means nothing. Because you don’t have to live it nor do you have to be part of it in the same way as people there. It’s nothing more than being performative.
It’s a slippery slope to start this stuff. Like how Cuban Americans have consistently have tried to encourage US intervention in Cuba and shape its foreign policy. It’s ridiculous. Want to actually do something, go there and do something.
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u/KosherTriangle Jul 26 '26
The U.S. will try to intervene in India regardless of whether you influence it or not, it’s a rising global economy and cannot be ignored by the west anymore.
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u/Competitive-Cover791 Jul 26 '26
Any nation that sees India as a geopolitical adversary will try to influence it. That is a no brainer. However, that does not mean citizens in those countries who have cultural similarities should get involved in internal matters of that nation or influence their country to meddle with that nations internal affairs. Your allegiance is either to your new home country or to your former country. If it is the new country, then encouraging your new country to get entangled into another nations internal conflict is counterintuitive. You should focus on fixing your country’s issues, not others. Asking and trying to find ways to support internal conflict in another nation is nothing but performative. You don’t want to actually go there and help. You just want to be seen helping, so you can feel like you’re doing something without actually doing something. Especially on a cause that you’re far removed from and are taking sides based on social media information than actual information.
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Jul 26 '26
I have way more in common with the white guy next door than to any foreign students. I have no struggles in common with them. I don’t worry about ICE, visa issues, or whatever is going on “back home”. The only thing we have in common is that our ancestors came from similar places. They could all be deported tomorrow and my life wouldn’t change.
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u/Ornery-Ordinary9283 Jul 26 '26
I wonder if that white guy next door thinks he has anything in common with you.
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u/Ok-Committee-1932 Jul 26 '26
how about you start r/NRI so these guys move away from r/ABCDesis
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u/pisquin7iIatin9-6ooI Jul 26 '26
NRIs are likely overwhelmingly against the protests
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u/Manletangelo Jul 26 '26
Actually laughed reading this comment.
The point isn't what NRIs views on this protest are, the point is the fact that this is being discussed here at all. No actual ABCD knows or gives a shit about this.
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u/dellive Jul 26 '26
Hats off to Gen Z. Our generation was the silent generation. We hid behind keyboards. Gen Z is making it happen. Proud.
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u/pb_battalion Jul 26 '26
Good for them. This an abcd sub tho we have nothing to do with it
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u/Ornery-Ordinary9283 Jul 26 '26
Truee but India been getting a lot of hate so I wanted to share something positive. Also, it’s sad but I actually do think a lot of what happens in India can impact us. Even if it’s online comments people have a lotta shit to say about India. They group us all as one. Abcds and Indians from India.
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u/pb_battalion Jul 26 '26
"They" as the racists. I'm personally over the racism. All these platforms like ig,fb, youtube, tik tok, even reddit all perpetuate and enable the racism against Indians. I can't tell you how many times over the last couple of years I have reported racist comments against indians but yet they never get removed. They all comeback with the same generic response "we saw nothing wrong with that comment " or whatever bs.
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u/MediterraneanVeggie Jul 26 '26
I look at it very differently as I have the privilege of being an ABCD quite specifically because my parent had the ability to attain higher education in India. Once upon a time, that was my parent sitting for exams.
I got to be a university student in America because my parent was a university student in India.
"Main bhi," even if I had the privilege of graduating from a state university in the United States.
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u/truenorth00 Canadian Indian Jul 26 '26
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. - MLK
If those students force the equivalent of a colour revolution and change India, all of us over here will absolutely benefit from the reputation of that country changing.
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u/pb_battalion Jul 26 '26
Doubt that happens. Indias too corrupt.
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u/truenorth00 Canadian Indian Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
Maybe. But you should at least understand why it's relevant to ABCDs.
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Jul 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/pb_battalion Jul 26 '26
Yeah doubt that happens anytime soon.
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Jul 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/pb_battalion Jul 26 '26
Idk how old you are but protests been going on for years in india and things relatively still stay the same due to corruption. Sorry to burst your bubble.
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u/AdGroundbreaking6643 Jul 26 '26
Personally I don’t feel that way. I feel the desire to follow this and support it because im an indian american. They are essentially protesting the rat race and pressure of the entire education system. That is something a lot of indian americans can understand too I think. Besides, why would we not support our cousins or friends we see every year when we go back there? Many of us watched 3 idiots growing up and it was the movie that resonated with tons of people in the Indian diaspora.
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u/pb_battalion Jul 26 '26
Im just skeptical on the whole thing. Its great that the guy stepped down but I doubt it will aspire real change. Theres widespread corruption in that country. I mean think about it for a second why did the protest start anyways..because some students BOUGHT the answers. It wasn't the old heads, it wasnt even government policies. It was literally a bunch of rich kids that bought their way out. Cheating and corruption scandals are nothing new there. Everyone's an opportunistic and screws over a lot of people.
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u/AdGroundbreaking6643 Jul 26 '26
I think thats a bit pessimistic, dont know how much time you have spent in or around india but my family moved back there when I went to high school. There are an immense amount of good people doing good work out there too. But yes, the effect of desperation and survival mentality makes change like this difficult partially because of opportunistic people and alsonpartially because of pessimistic people that think change isnt possible so why bother. And there can be and always will be shitty people along with good people everywhere. Either way, your dismissiveness and pessimism does not mean this is an issue abcds can’t relate to especially in how people are enraged by the pressure cooker of the education system.
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u/pb_battalion Jul 26 '26
There is good and bad there I'm not disagreeing with that but I'm old enough to have seen plenty of protests happen and plenty of promises that failed to happen.
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u/speaksofthelight Jul 26 '26
Not sure why so many down votes.
This sub exists to create space for Abcd issues that get crowded out normally in the discourse.
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u/pb_battalion Jul 26 '26
Because this sub gets brigaded by other subs and fake outrage, performative posts, etc
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u/speaksofthelight Jul 26 '26
The sheer amount and speed makes me think some sort of social media manipulation / marketing.
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u/pb_battalion Jul 26 '26
Oh of course. Theres bots like crazy these days. Heck india even has the infamous IT cell which works on the behalf of Modis party to spread propaganda lol.
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u/itsthuggerbreaux Jul 26 '26
not true at all. we live in an interconnected world. with your logic, we shouldn’t care about palestine or the russia-ukraine war, the list goes on. india is a key strategic partner of the west in it’s trade war w china. what happens in india is a major deal to us actually, the whole world is watching and getting inspired…
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u/pb_battalion Jul 26 '26
Thats a performative comment bud. A test leaking india has no bearing on me or the majority of us in the U.S. but go on and move the goalposts to U.S. policymaking when it comes to war. Delusional.
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u/itsthuggerbreaux Jul 26 '26
it’s delusional to think that you exist in a static world, unaffected by anything outside of you.
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u/pb_battalion Jul 26 '26
Again a test leak in a different leak in a different country has no bearing on my day to day. Its not static, its delusional for you to tho.
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u/Last_Host977 American Jul 26 '26
yep , we gen z dgaf and we make things happen . i think that’s very brave of us
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u/_BuzzLightYear To Infinity & Beyond 🚀 Jul 26 '26
Yeah me too. I hope they make good changes