Having spent most of the semester on the history of India up to thousands of years ago, it was interesting to research a topic from the present day. The ruling party of the current (or not too distant past) have some remarkable similarities with the empires of hundreds and thousands of years ago. In this way, the definition of an Indian has been refined, but hasn’t seen any major changes. India in the present day is still home to many diverse ethnicities, religions, and so much more, in much the same way as India during the age of the Mauryan or Gupta Empires, or any in between. Their response to Indira Gandhi’s actions display that they will follow their ruler and his or her policies, until that ruler gives them a reason to not do so. Although a stable government has now been established, Indians have retained many of their traits that helped them retain their cultural, political, and religious identity through the numerous rulers of the past: obedience without being oblivious, vocal without being deafening, and assertion without arrogance.