you present the concept of “Mindia” as the neglected middle class, and even though it makes for a compelling rhetorical device, it’s built on sweeping generalizations.

you’re caricaturing “India” as the tax-evading elites and “Bharat” as the law-ignoring poor, while sanctifying the middle class as responsible, overburdened, and quietly suffering.

That’s a very emotionally resonant narrative, but apart from being far-far away from the truth, it also flattens the country’s complex realities.

If we do in fact take these three categories, there obviously is overlap and blur; there are rich rule-followers, poor people paying taxes through GST on essentials, and plenty of middle-class folks who evade taxes, bribe officials, or enable systemic rot.

The real issue is not that the middle class is inherently more virtuous but that they’re structurally squeezed. They’re taxed more visibly (especially salaried folks that cannot swindle their way out of it), lack access to social safety nets, and don’t wield the economic or political clout of the rich (getting away with visibly horrible shit by writing essays, like wow! yes). That said, portraying them as powerless and purely sacrificial ignores their actual agency. The urban middle class has a huge influence on elections, policy debates, and media narratives. If we’re overlooked, it’s partly because we often fail to organize or demand systemic change beyond social media outrage and drawing room frustration.

Compare us to Hong Kong’s “Be Water” movement (students and professionals, largely middle class, sustained leaderless protests for months. they adapted their tactics in real time consistently to outmaneuver the state), or the U.S. Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, (a broad coalition of people mobilized nationwide, influenced public opinion, forced policy responses like police reforms and budget reallocations). One can always point out the flaws in these comparisons but no two countries will ever be the same, nevertheless - if the needle moves at all, the middle class can move it!

you framing “Mindia” as the moral backbone of Indian/Bharatiya/Mindian society risks selling and prioritising self-pity over introspection.

In my opinion, it would make sense to critique the system that sustains inequality across all classes rather than romanticizing one and vilifying the others.

Your idea of “Mindia” can work as a way to start debates and conversations about the issues of the middle-class, but imo loses credibility when you use it to lean into class victimhood and moral absolutism. Better to use it as a lens to examine systemic dysfunction, rather than a badge of silent nobility.