From Debate to Jama Masjid

 Later, walking toward the hotel, conversation turned into debate. Over food, Mubashir and I argued on RSS and polarisation.

He insisted the problem lay in lack of education, pointing to a softer, rebranded RSS. I countered with lived experience and the documented past—riots, orchestrated polarization, the poisoning of institutions, the weaponization of Brahmanism disguised as Hinduism, even mocking science while tightening cultural control.

Bhagwat’s sugar-coated words or leaders’ whitewashing couldn’t erase the reality: RSS was born from authoritarian impulses, guilty of Gandhi’s assassination, and remains an engine of division.

Eventually, we found common ground: whether or not one sees RSS as the villain, the government itself has failed in providing even the bare minimum, choosing spectacle over reform.

From there, we walked on to Jama Masjid, entering its streets of sweets and aromas, but also harsh realities—families sleeping on sidewalks, men curled up on rented rickshaws, dignity diminished to leftovers from closing hotels. Food given as if to beneficiaries, not humans.

India stood before me in contradiction: heritage, beauty, faith, and flavors—but alongside, neglect, inequality, and denial of civil rights.

We ended with a special drink, and the night closed with the unshakable thought: the real India is not in its monuments or speeches, but in its people struggling for the bare minimum.