Hope you read Joe's reply above. It gives lot of useful context to the larger picture.
I will add a few specific answers from my end to try comes at it from another angle.
How representative this group of people is?
...well 50/50 but that is a catch 22 situation at some point you need to collect a group of viewpoints and let them flesh it out (a topic so vast and complex and emotive) in just 20 minutes.
I would say the 20 minutes is the more restricting factor as are a lot of the sentence soundbites in parts that each could provide hours of discussion by themselves.
I guess they all seem to be well-to-do students mostly....from the upper crust overall. But that comes with territory of this video's objective to get a debate in english with enough substance in 20 minutes at the same time.
I would venture a South Indian is not present because the tension/flashpoint/conflagration can for all intents and purposes be represented almost entirely by "Northies" IMO....fairly adequately.
I mean its 50/50 in first place by Hindu and Muslim participation.....rather than 80% vs 13% (or whatever it is) i.e 1 muslim and 6 Hindu ratio like the raw population would mandate.
But in interest of a more proper debate objetive, we make allowances past perfect representation.
I'm sure other panels, videos and debates have Southies....especially if another set of identity politics debate warrants it.
By and large, religious minorities (Muslims, Christians, others) are lot more integrated (for lack of a better term) in the South.
We are no stranger to the chain of resentment --->suspicion ---->fear------>hate ------>violence
But it does not manifest (at least in the escalatory aspect of it) in the religion paradigm as there is often heavier ethnic based synthesis.
I can see it all through my family and close friends (from South) in varying degrees for example....but there is always generally a heavy lid to keep that simmering pot under control till another issue comes up to replace it attention wise (and we Southies have many particular to just us).
There is always a sound bedrock for us to come together on things that cannot be cleaved so easily.
As I grew up as kid I was privy to lot of it from earlier era....just a tiny sliver of examples:
My mom fondly remembering both muslim and christian classmates when she was a kid.
My father always when bringing up his issues/problems with Nehru by saying he got 2 things right: Secularism and Nuclear program
I remember when my (miserly but much missed) grandpa (finally) got a TV in the 1990s when we visited....and one of musical performances broadcasted that I relished with him was by very well respected and beloved (by all our communities) Muslim singer Nagore Hanifa....whos songs reverberated deeply in universal message that reached to everyone in the end.
The nagore dargah itself is something of well-entrenched cultural institution well revered by all communities again.
Our heyday of Tamil Cinema (when not occupied by the escapism theme prevalent in the time) had some wonderful secular-message oriented movies.
In this one the lyrics are so simple yet deep and profound....the character riding the bike is Muslim (the movie is about kids that are separated by tragedies, growing up in different households of different faiths)... but his summary on the human reality in this song is one that anyone can find and share:
Since the dawn of time to this day....the sky hasn't changed...
neither has the moon, fish in the sea, the air, the ground, gardens, rivers etc etc
But man has changed (
manithan maraivittan)....by climbing religion....(
mathathil yerivittan)
The rest of the lyrics are about how that changes man's nature and character....even though he is capable of great things.
As I like to tell people I do not know (close and personal enough) much of India above the Deccan.
On many such issues (directly or proxy) there was big culture clash when I first made friends with larger numbers of North Indians (in my high school and university both outside India) than I had ever previously (my upbringing on foreign shores is very strange and protracted one).
They are very diverse group as well when it comes to these matters you bring up, I wont paint them with a broad brushstroke.
One of best North Indian friends I have is actually from UP, from gorakhpur.... a fairly devout Hindu (much more than I am).....he was very early (for me) quick to give foreboding caution+warning (and project quite accurately in 2013 iirc) what a BJP-Modi administration will do for India and UP quite specifically.
But past good people like him (of which there are many, you cannot dismiss them), the results bear out in states just how much of the escalatory chain realises and sustains now....there is enough (Among their powerful) to impress on them and there is enough in them (the people) to harness on it. Sad.
Before I get into more details I will see if you progress this conversation with Joe first. There can sometimes be some general culture clash when a North Indian in general comes to South (as he does not know the local language which we value very highly combined with general culture and society knowhow).
Religion does not play such big role in that....we have Kerala for example where Hindus are 50%? and Muslims and Christians split the rest....(I forgot the numbers).
