Once in a Blue Moon Academia (OBMA)

  When Hindutva Betrays Hindus: The Market Mask of Identity Posted on 24th September, 2025 (GMT 03:30 hrs) ABSTRACT This article presents a critical analysis of Hindutva as a political and economic project, arguing that its purported aim of protecting Hindu interests is a façade for market fundamentalism, crony capitalism, and authoritarian consolidation. Using the DHFL financial scandal as a case study, it demonstrates how ordinary Hindu investors and pensioners suffer losses while political insiders and corporate cronies benefit, exposing the betrayal embedded within the saffron narrative. Beyond economic exploitation, the piece highlights the systematic suppression of dissenting Hindu voices—eco-activists, reformist priests, and ascetics—whose advocacy for ecological balance, spiritual pluralism, and resistance to commodification has been marginalized or violently silenced. The article situates communal polarization, Islamophobia, and other engineered religious tensions as ...

  Conscious Capitalism or Spiritual Washing? Vaiṣṇava Philanthro-Capitalism and the Case of Ajay Piramal Posted on 24th September, 2025 (GMT 04:49 hrs) ABSTRACT This article critically examines the intersection of religion, capitalism, and corporate power in contemporary India, using Ajay Piramal and the DHFL scandal as a case study to interrogate the concept of “conscious capitalism” and its spiritualized variants. It argues that ostensibly ethical and Vaishnava-aligned philanthropy—what may be termed “Vaishnava philanthro-capitalism”—often functions as a moral façade for systemic exploitation, environmental negligence, financial expropriation, and political cronyism. The piece highlights Piramal’s alleged expropriation of DHFL investors’ life savings, corporate entanglements, and use of Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) to intimidate dissent, juxtaposed against his projected image as a Paramavaishnava disciple of ISKCON’s Radhanath Swami. Drawing on en...

  Paramavaiṣṇava The Capitalist (A Play) Posted on 22nd August, 2025 (GMT 06:00 hrs) A Deranged Bhajan-Blasting Bhakti-Bollywood Burlesque in Five Acts Play ABSTRACT Paramavaiṣṇava The Capitalist is a neon-charged, satirical spectacle blending Bollywood masala, Bharatanatyam, and Afrobeat to expose corporate hypocrisy and political cronyism in India. Inspired by critiques of corporate malfeasance, it follows Atheist (AT), a Gully Boy-style skeptic, and Vaiṣṇava Bard, a melodramatic poet, confronting Paramavaiṣṇava, a smug oligarch masking scams like the ₹45,000 crore CHFL heist with Gauḍiya Vaiṣṇava piety and show-off Gandhian rhetoric, abetted by Saffron Supremo’s “Gandhigiri Murdabad” political regime, accused of electoral chori (fraud), and Judge SLAPPavati’s SLAPP suits. Set frequently in a cyberpunk courtroom and surreal Mumbai street, it features Gandhi and Tagore’s spectral critiques, a Chorus of Ghosts with inflatable Gītās, and props like rubber ducks and selfie-stick...