All posts by subhash gatade

Bad ideas, Debates, Government, Politics, Religion, Right watch

Why exoneration of Sadhvi Pragya should worry everyone who stands for justice

1 Comment

Why exoneration of Sadhvi Pragya should worry everyone who stands for justice

There are a few photographs which the bigwigs of the Hindutva Brigade/Sangh Parivar would like to be erased from public memory. One such photograph shows Sadhvi Pragya, an ex-member of the ABVP, sitting with Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Rajnath Singh and few others. As it was later revealed they had gathered to console the widow of a BJP leader from MP, who had just died.

Public memory is very short but one can stretch it a bit to recollect the tremendous consternation in BJP/RSS circles when Sadhvi Pragya was arrested by the Anti Terrorist Squad led by the legendary police office Hemant Karkare on 23 October, 2008 for her alleged role in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast. This photograph had suddenly gone viral when there were denials by many leaders of the saffron brigade that they had never met her.

Now that the NIA, the federal agency established by the government to combat terror in India, has given a ‘clean chit’ to Sadhvi Pragya and few of her accomplices, should one expect that all those photographs showing her proximity to various leaders of the saffron establishment would be prominently exhibited? It must be remembered that leaders of BJP have even claimed that it was an act of “treason” to arrest her.

(Read the remaining article here : http://www.catchnews.com/politics-news/why-exoneration-of-sadhvi-pragya-should-worry-everyone-who-stands-for-justice-1463399413.html)

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Education, Identities, Religion, Right watch

बेहद पोंगापंथी और जातिवादी हैं प्रवासी भारतीय

3 Comments

आम धारणा है कि एक भारतीय विदेश की सरजमीन पर पैर रखते ही जेंटलमैन बन जाता है। वह सभ्यता के नए मूल्यों से परिचित होता है, अपने देश की तमाम रूढ़ियों से नाता तोड़ लेता है और सही मायने में एक आधुनिक व्यक्ति बन जाता है। यह बात एक हद तक ही सही है। कुछ लोगों में भले ही परिवर्तन आ जाता हो पर एक बड़े हिस्से पर शायद उल्टा ही असर होता है। भारत के बाहर जहां-जहां भारतीय बसे हैं, वहां उन्होंने न केवल जाति आधारित संगठनों, संस्थाओं की स्थापना की है बल्कि वहां भी वे निम्न कही जानेवाली जातियों के साथ खुल्लमखुल्ला भेदभाव करने में संकोच नहीं करते। लेकिन उनके चरित्र के दोहरेपन का आलम यह है कि वे चाहते हैं कि ये बातें ढकी-छुपी रहें। वहां के लोग यह सब न जानें।

आजकल अमेरिका के एक बड़े राज्य कैलिफॉर्निया की पाठ्यपुस्तकों में संशोधन चल रहा है। यह एक रूटीन प्रोसेस है जिसके तहत सिलेबस में नए विषय या तथ्य शामिल किए जाते हैं। इस क्रम में वहां सिलेबस में हिंदुओं के बारे में भी कुछ सूचनाएं शामिल की जा रही हैं। लेकिन इस पर विवाद हो गया है कि जानकारियों को किस रूप में रखा जाए। भारतीयों का एक तबका चाहता है कि प्राचीन तथ्यों को नए सिरे से लिखा जाए और हिंदू समाज में मौजूद वर्ण व्यवस्था या छुआछूत की बात को साफ गोल कर दिया जाए। अमेरिका में रह रही दलित ऐक्टिविस्ट थेनमोझि सुंदरराजन ने पिछले दिनों ‘द हफिंग्टन पोस्ट’ में इस संबंध में एक लेख लिखा है जिसके मुताबिक प्रवासी भारतीयों के एक हिस्से में सक्रिय ‘धर्मा सिविलाइजेशन फाउंडेशन’ की तरफ से दलील दी जा रही है कि हिंदुओं में जाति एवं पुरुष सत्ता का जिक्र किया जाएगा तो इससे हिंदू बच्चे ‘हीन भावना’ से ग्रस्त हो जाएंगे। यह उनकी ‘प्रताड़ना’ का सबब बन सकता है, लिहाजा इस उल्लेख को टाल दिया जाए।

सुंदरराजन बताती हैं कि ऊपरी तौर पर आकर्षक लगने वाली यह दलील सच्चाई पर पर्दा डालने जैसी है क्योंकि वही तर्क नस्लवाद के संदर्भ में भी इस्तेमाल किया जा सकता है और किताबों से उसकी चर्चा भी गायब की जा सकती है। लेकिन इन कोशिशों का विरोध भी हो रहा है। विभिन्न धर्मों व नस्लों से जुड़े संगठनों ने एकजुट होकर पाठ्यपुस्तकों में ऐसे हेरफेर की मुहिम पर आपत्ति जताई है। उनका कहना है कि दक्षिण एशिया के इस हिस्से में जातिगत और धार्मिक असहिष्णुता या संस्थागत भेदभाव के प्रसंग को गायब करना न सिर्फ इतिहास को नकारने जैसा है बल्कि यह गैर लोकतांत्रिक भी है। Continue reading बेहद पोंगापंथी और जातिवादी हैं प्रवासी भारतीय →

Bad ideas, Debates, Government, Media politics, Movements

Media figures call for Release of Himal Editor Kanak Mani Dixit

3 Comments

New Delhi, April 23 — Editors and media figures as well as intellectuals and scholars from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, UK, US, Australia and Sri Lanka have called for the release of Himal editor and prominent Nepali journalist Kanak Mani Dixit who was arrested yesterday in Katmandu by anti-graft officials.

The following is the text of the statement:

It is with deep concern that we have learned of the arrest today of Kanak Mani Dixit, the widely respected founder-editor of Himal Media and a courageous voice for transparency, freedom of expression and democratic rights in Nepal and across South Asia. The charges are related to alleged corruption but Kanak Dixit says it is part of a vendetta pursued against him by people in Government.

We have known Kanak Dixit as a true professional, human rights defender and energetic journalist whose credentials are built on robust research and tremendous courage. Himal Media, a pioneer in South Asia journalism, has published Himal South Asia, Nepali Times and Himal Khabar Patrika (in the Nepali language). He has written extensively for international media including leading newspapers in India and is chairman of Sajha Yatayat, a state run transportation company, which he has been turning around from a loss-making entity. Continue reading Media figures call for Release of Himal Editor Kanak Mani Dixit →

Bad ideas, Government, Identities, Law, Movements, Politics, Right watch

‘Swacch Bharat Abhiyan invisibilises the linkage of Caste and Sanitation and glamourises broom among Scavenging Communities’ – Bezwada Wilson

5 Comments

In Conversation with Bezwada Wilson, National Convener of Safai Karmachari Andolan

The 125 day Bhim Yatra which started from Dibrugarh and traveresed 30 states and 500 districts to reach Delhi is now over.  As everybody knows it culminated in a big rally coupled with people’s hearing where families of those victims who died while cleaning sewers and septic tanks shared their plight at the hands of state as well as civil society. The call of this Bhim Yatra raised by Safai Karmacharis – ‘Stop Killing Us’ – would could keep reverberating for quite some time. (https://kafila.org/2016/04/14/bhim-yatra-so-that-there-are-no-more-killings/)

Here follows an interview with Bezwada Wilson, National Convener of Safai Karmachari Andolan

 How do you see the impact of  ‘Bhim Yatra’ ?

As far as those people who are still condemned to do scavenging is concerned, the 125 day Bhim Yatra has made two significant impacts :

– It has made people aware that a new act (2013 act) has come into existence for elimination of manual scavenging and they should make use of it for their liberation.

– Second significant impact is that people are realising that we should not do this work, we should leave this work altogether. Babasaheb’s teachings that depressed classes should leave all such professions which are stigmatised and which further help stigmatise them has reached broader cross sections of people engaged in cleaning and scavenging. The slogan ‘ Leave the Broom, Take the Pen’ is slowly reverberating across people especially the younger ones. Continue reading ‘Swacch Bharat Abhiyan invisibilises the linkage of Caste and Sanitation and glamourises broom among Scavenging Communities’ – Bezwada Wilson →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Law, Movements, Politics

Bhim Yatra .. so that there are no more killings

2 Comments

Protestors set fire to containers representing septic tanks cleaning which manual scavengers have and continue to lose their lives even today ( Photo Courtesy : http://www.youthkiawaaz.com)

Rarely does Jantar-Mantar, the place in the heart of Delhi, gets ‘enlivened’ with people who share very similar type of tragedy – one should say man made tragedy.The culmination of 125 day Bhim Yatra – led by Safai Karmchari Aandolan – which had started from Dibrugarh in the North East on 10 th December and had traversed around 500 districts and 30 states, proved to be one such occasion. (13 th April 2016)

The big public meeting organised at Jantar Mantar, attended by hundreds of safai karmcharis from different parts of the country and many individuals, activists who are sympathetic to their cause, was just another way to celebrate Dr Ambedkar’s 125 th birth anniversary, a day earlier. Special focus of the Yatra was on deaths in sewers and septic tanks and the key slogan was ‘Stop Killing us in Dry Latrines, Sewers and Septic tanks’. In fact, most of the people who were sitting on the podium belonged to such families only, who had lost their near-dear ones in cleaning sewer or septic tanks. Continue reading Bhim Yatra .. so that there are no more killings →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Debates, Government, Identities, Politics, Right watch

How to be free of Caste – Guest Post by Suhas Borker

2 Comments

Guest Post by Suhas Borker

This year, India has sponsored the observation of the birth anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar at the United Nations for the first time. The Permanent Mission of India to the UN shall commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of the Dalit icon on April 13 at the UN headquarters, a day before his date of birth, with an international seminar on ‘Combating inequalities to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’. A note circulated by the Indian mission says that the “national icon” remains an inspiration for millions of Indians and proponents of equality and social justice across the globe. “Fittingly, although it’s a matter of coincidence, one can see the trace of Babasaheb’s radiant vision in the SDGs adopted by the UN General Assembly to eliminate poverty, hunger and socio-economic inequality by 2030.”

Juxtapose this with a recent report on caste-based discrimination by the United Nations Human Right Council’s Special Rapporteur for minority issues that has stung the Indian government, provoking it to raise questions about the lack of “seriousness of work” in the UN body and the special rapporteur’s mandate. Ambedkar, the architect of the Indian Constitution, would definitely not be pleased. Nor are the Dalit rights activists in India and abroad.

( Read the rest of the piece here : http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/how-to-be-free-of-caste-in-india/article8467518.ece?homepage=true)

Bad ideas, Debates, Movements, Politics

भगतसिंह, सुखदेव और राजगुरू की शहादत पर डा अम्बेडकर

1 Comment
(Dr. Ambedkar’s editorial on Bhagat Singh-Rajguru-Sukhdev execution on 13th April 1931-available in English here – http://www.bhagatsinghstudy.blogspot.in/2016/03/dr-ambedkars-editorial-on-bhagat-singh.html)
समसामयिक विचार
(जनता, 13 अप्रैल 1931)
भगतसिंह, सुखदेव और राजगुरू इन तीनों को अन्ततः फांसी पर लटका दिया गया। इन तीनों पर यह आरोप लगाया गया कि उन्होंने सान्डर्स नामक अंग्रेजी अफसर और चमनसिंह नामक सिख पुलिस अधिकारी की लाहौर में हत्या की। इसके अलावा बनारस में किसी पुलिस अधिकारी की हत्या का आरोप, असेम्ब्ली में बम फेंकने का आरोप और मौलमिया नामक गांव में एक मकान पर डकैती डाल कर वहां लूटपाट एवं मकानमालिक की हत्या करने जैसे तीन चार आरोप भी उन पर लगे। इनमें से असेम्ब्ली में बम फेंकने का आरोप भगतसिंह ने खुद कबूल किया था और इसके लिए उसे और बटुकेश्वर दत्त नामक उनके एक सहायक दोस्त को उमर कैद के तौर पर काला पानी की सज़ा सुनायी गयी। सांडर्स की हत्या भगतसिंह जैसे क्रांतिकारियों ने की ऐसी स्वीकारोक्ति जयगोपाल नामक भगतसिंह के दूसरे सहयोगी ने भी की थी और उसी बुनियाद पर सरकार ने भगतसिंह के खिलाफ मुकदमा कायम किया था। इस मुकदमें में तीनों ने भाग नहीं लिया था। हाईकोर्ट के तीन न्यायाधीशों के स्पेशल ट्रीब्युनल का गठन करके  उनके सामने यह मुकदमा चला और उन तीनों ने इन्हें दोषी घोषित किया और उन्हें फांसी की सज़ा सुना दी। इस सज़ा पर अमल न हो और फांसी के बजाय उन्हें अधिक से अधिक काला पानी की सज़ा सुनायी जाए ऐसी गुजारिश के साथ भगतसिंह के पिता ने राजा और वायसराय के यहां दरखास्त भी दी । अनेक बड़े बड़े नेताओं ने और तमाम अन्य लोगों ने भगतसिंह को इस तरह सज़ा न दी जाए इसे लेकर सरकार से अपील भी की। गांधीजी और लॉर्ड इरविन के बीच चली आपसी चर्चाओं में भी भगतसिंह की फांसी की सज़ा का मसला अवश्य उठा होगा और लार्ड इरविन ने भले ही मैं भगतसिंह की जान बचाउंगा ऐसा ठोस वायदा गांधीजी से न किया हो, मगर लार्ड इरविन इस सन्दर्भ में पूरी कोशिश करेंगे और अपने अधिकारों के दायरे में इन तीनों की जान बचाएंगे ऐसी उम्मीद गांधीजी के भाषण से पैदा हुई थी। मगर यह सभी उम्मीदें, अनुमान और गुजारिशें गलत साबित हुई और बीते 23 मार्च को शाम 7 बजे इन तीनांे को लाहौर सेन्ट्रल  जेल में फांसी दी गयी। ‘ हमारी जान बकश दें’ ऐसी दया की अपील इन तीनों में से किसी ने भी नहीं की थी; हां, फांसी की सूली पर चढ़ाने के बजाए हमें गोलियों से उड़ा दिया जाए ऐसी इच्छा भगतसिंह ने प्रगट की थी, ऐसी ख़बरें अवश्य आयी हैं। मगर उनकी इस आखरी इच्छा का भी सम्मान नहीं किया गया। न्यायाधीश के आदेश पर हुबहू अमल किया गया ! ‘अंतिम सांस तक फांसी पर लटका दें’ यही निर्णय जज ने सुनाया था। अगर गोलियों से उड़ा दिया जाता तो इस निर्णय पर शाब्दिक अमल नहीं माना जाता। न्यायदेवता के निर्णय पर बिल्कुल शाब्दिक अर्थों में हुबहू अमल किया गया और उसके कथनानुसार ही इन तीनों को शिकार बनाया गया।

Continue reading भगतसिंह, सुखदेव और राजगुरू की शहादत पर डा अम्बेडकर →

Bad ideas, Government, Identities, Media politics, Politics, Right watch

Nation and its Violences: Sanjay Kumar

1 Comment

Guest Post by Sanjay Kumar

Violent thoughts and deeds are increasingly getting justified in the name of Indian nation. A mob of lawyers has attacked students, teachers and journalists, right in the middle of a court complex in the national capital. Leaders of these patriotic lawyers were later caught bragging on camera about how they will next time throw bombs on anti-nationals. A young woman in Delhi has received emails and face book posts threatening her with acid attack and sexual assault, because she happens to be a sister of Umar Khalid, one of the organisers of the JNU programme, during which according to police anti-India slogans were raised. The mere being of this woman, and her defence of her brother, is enough of a provocation for many men and women of the country to justify the threat of ultimate male violence against women. Another man, Mr Adarsh Sharma put posters in the central district of the capital announcing an award of Rs 11 lakh for anyone who kills Mr Kanhaiya Kumar, the president of  the JNUSU, charged with sedition. Mr Sharma claims that his ‘blood boiled’ when he saw Mr Kumar’s much publicised speech after his release on bail. The popular movie Pyasa (1957) of Gurudutt had a song ‘Jinhen Naz hai Hind par vo kahaan hain’, which used the reality of social degradation to question celebrations of the nation. Sahir’s poem worked because it asked Indians to look at themselves in the mirror of public morality of the recently independent India. That mirror has been cracked for long. With the brazenly violent now claiming that their violence and threat to violence should really be the pride of the nation, we are now witnessing the final shattering of that mirror. Continue reading Nation and its Violences: Sanjay Kumar →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Government, Politics

Petition to Demand Release of Anti-Mining Activist , Writer, Film-maker Debaranjan Sarangi

1 Comment

Guest Post by Kamayani Bali Mahabal

Release Anti-Mining Activist , writer, film-maker - Debaranjan Sarangi

Debanjan Sarangi , , documentary film maker, writer and human rights activist  has been arrested in the early hours around 6.30 AM on March 18, 2016, by the Odisha police in Kuchaipad village in Kashipur block of Raygada district of Odisha. The defender has been arrested with the help of local police on the basis of a non-bailable warrant issued against him in a previous case of the year of 2005.

Debaranjan Sarangi along with others went to Kuchaipad village in Kashipur block of Raygada district of Odisha to participate in the FUNERAL  of activist late Mr. Laxman Majhi on March 16, 2016, evening. The rituals were completed on March 17, 2016. While other persons accompanied the defender returned on the same evening,

Debaranjan decided to stay back in the village for another day. In the early morning on March 18, 2016, he went out to a nearby riverside and while he was coming back, he saw two police men in civil clothes who came to him and took him. They did not allow him to change his clothes and forced him to go along with them in his lungi to the nearest police station at about 6.30 AM. Continue reading Petition to Demand Release of Anti-Mining Activist , Writer, Film-maker Debaranjan Sarangi →

Bad ideas, Government, Right watch

After Dr Binayak Sen, now Dr Saibal Jana – Sign Petition for His immediate Release

2 Comments

Chief Minister, Chhattisgarh  - Immediate Release Dr Sibal Jana

Dear all

Dr Saibal Jana, chief physician of Shaheed Hospital at Dalli Rajhara,
Chhattisgarh has been arrested. He was picked up late at night by
Chhattisgarh police. The hospital was founded Chhattisgarh Mukti
Morcha led by Late Shankar Guha Niyogi and run by money collected from
the workers of the area. Dr. Jena’s arrest comes close on the heels of
the acid attack on Soni Sori and harrassment of her relatives.

Dr.Saibal Jana was arrested in a case related to the police firing on
agitating workers of the Bhilai Industrial Area on 1 July, 1992. Dr
Jana was, on that day, among the team of doctors providing medical
assistance to trade union activists of the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha
who were injured. We believe that Dr Jana’s arrest in this case, after
a gap of 24 years, is motivated by sheer vendetta against him by BJP
led Raman Singh government, that has an ideological hatred of anyone
who stands up for the democratic rights of workers, farmers and
ordinary Indian citizens.

PL SIGN PETITION
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Dr_Raman_Singh_Chief_Minister_Chhattisgarh_Immediate_release_of_DrSaibal_Jana/

Bad ideas, Debates, Government, Politics, Right watch

पहले वे यहुदियों के लिए आये ..

1 Comment
पेड़ खामोश होना चाहते हैं
मगर हवाएं हैं कि रूकती नहीं हैं
-जोस मारिया सिसोन
(फिलीपिनो इन्कलाबी एवं कवि)
क्या हमारे वक्त़ के तमाम अग्रणी बुद्धिजीवी, जो असहमति के आवाज़ों के पक्षधर रहते आए हैं, बरबस अवकाश पर चले गए हैं – अब जबकि कन्हैया कुमार जेल से बाहर निकल कर आया है ? या वह सोच रहे हैं कि जो तूफां उठा है वह अपने आप थम जाएगा।
दरअसल जिस किसी ने हमारे समय की दो बेहद उम्दा शख्सियतों – प्रोफेसर निवेदिता मेनन और गौहर रज़ा – के खिलाफ चल रही सार्वजनिक कुत्साप्रचार एवं धमकियों की मुहिम को नज़दीकी से देखा है, और उसके बाद भी जिस तरह की चुप्पी सामने आ रही है (भले ही एकाध-दो बयान जारी हुए हों या कुछ प्रतिबद्ध लेखको के लेख इधर उधर कहीं वेबपत्रिकाओं में नज़र आए हों ) उसे देखते हुए यही बात कही जा सकती है। प्रोफेसर निवेदिता मेनन को इस तरह निशाना बनाया गया है कि सन्दर्भ से काट कर उनके व्याख्यानों के चुनिन्दा उद्धरणों को सोशल मीडिया पर प्रसारित करके उन्हें ‘एण्टी नेशनल’ अर्थात राष्ट्रद्रोही साबित किया जा सके जबकि गौहर रज़ा पर गाज़ इसलिए गिरी है कि उन्होंने दिल्ली में आयोजित भारत-पाक मुशायरे में – जिसे शंकर शाद मुशायरा के तौर पर जाना जाता है –  न केवल शिरकत की बल्कि वहां धर्म और राजनीति के खतरनाक संश्रय पर  जो कविता पढ़ी, वह शायद ‘भक्तों’ को नागवार गुजरी है।

Continue reading पहले वे यहुदियों के लिए आये .. →

Bad ideas, Government, Politics, Right watch

Then They Came For ..

3 Comments

Tree Wants to be Calm
But Wind Will Not Stop !
-Jose Maria Sison
( Filipino Revolutionary and Poet)

Whether all the leading public intellectuals of our times have suddenly decided to go for a break – now that Kanhaiya Kumar is out of jail – or are thinking that the impending storm would peter away on its own. Anyone who has closely followed the public hounding of two of the finest human beings of our times – Prof Nivedita Menon and Gauhar Raza – and the silence which has followed with it ( barring a statement signed by many and few articles here and there on some webmagazines ) would understand what does that mean. While Prof Menon is being targetted because of airing of selective quotes from one of her lectures, Gauhar has been put under the scanner because of his participation in Indo-Pak mushaira. It is clear that one of his poems – focussing on the dangerous cocktail of religion and politics – which he recited there, has infuriated them. Continue reading Then They Came For .. →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Culture, Debates, Everyday Life

Appreciating Diversity, Corporate Style – Guest Post by Anonymous

3 Comments

Guest Post by Anonymous

A senior leader of India’s leading IT Services Company took a moment on March 8th to send a note to his colleagues wishing them on International Women’s Day.  In the mailer, he also exhorted his colleagues, among other things, to strive towards building an environment that appreciates variety. The variety of Race, Ethnicity, Gender or Generation! He did not stop there, but went on to talk about drawing strength from these differences. Caste, quite evidently, is conspicuous by its absence in the corporate discourse on diversity (or variety as they also like to call it).

What is it that makes Corporate India, or a part of it, sensitive towards race issues/matters on one hand but allows them ignore caste on the other? Is it reflective of what a social activist friend once mentioned to me in a private conversation – Caste is only visible from “down below” and not “up above”? Continue reading Appreciating Diversity, Corporate Style – Guest Post by Anonymous →

Bad ideas, Government, Identities, Right watch

हममें से देशद्रोही कौन नहीं है?

Leave a comment

P

राष्ट्रवाद या यूं कहें कि ऑफिशियल राष्ट्रवाद इन दिनों सुर्खियों में है. एक तरफ ‘भारत माता की जय’ का नारा लगाते हुए और दूसरे ही सुर में मां-बहनों के नाम अपशब्दों की बौछार करते हुए लंपटों के गिरोह हर स्वतंत्रमना व्यक्ति को लातों-मुक्कों से, या जैसा कि बीते दिनों इलाहाबाद की कचहरी में देखने को मिला, लोग लाठियों की मार से राष्ट्रवाद का असली मतलब समझा रहे हैं. शांतिपूर्ण प्रदर्शनकारियों पर टूट पड़ते दिख रहे इन निक्करधारी गिरोहों के साथ जगह-जगह खाकी वर्दीधारियों की भी मौन सहमति नजर आ रही है. और दिख रहा है कि आप अगर किसी को मार भी डालें और सफाई में यह कह दें कि वह पाकिस्तान जिंदाबाद कह रहा था तो उसे माफ कर दिया जाएगा.

विडंबना ही है कि इन दिनों देश की किस्मत के आका कहे जाने वाले लोग नकली ट्वीट की बैसाखी के सहारे ऐसे तमाम उत्पातों, उपद्रवों और उद्दंडता को वैधता का जामा पहनाते नजर आ रहे हैं. आए दिन हो रही संविधान की इस खुल्लमखुल्ला अनदेखी को लेकर संविधान को सबसे पवित्र किताब का दर्जा देने वाले वजीर-ए-आजम मोदी भी अपना मौन बनाए हुए हैं. अंधराष्ट्रवाद की आंधी चलाने की तेज होती कोशिशों को देखते हुए बरबस राजेश जोशी की बहुचर्चित कविता की पंक्तियां साकार होती दिख रही हैं कि ‘जो इस कोलाहल में शामिल नहीं होंगे मारे जाएंगे.’

(Read the rest of the article here : http://tehelkahindi.com/who-is-not-anti-national-among-us-opinion-by-social-scientist-subhash-gatade/?singlepage=1)

Bad ideas, Debates, Politics, Right watch

Betrayal at Midnight – Review of ‘Muslims against Partition’ : Guest Post by Karthik Venkatesh

5 Comments

Guest Post by Karthik Venkatesh

Muslims Against Partition — Revisiting the legacy of Allah Bakhsh and other patriotic Muslims

Freedom at midnight put some people in a spot – those Muslims who chose to stay back in India and did not opt for Pakistan. Pakistan was always conceived as a nation that would be created in areas where Muslims were in a majority in undivided India i.e., the north-western portion and a part of the eastern portion. It was difficult to visualize how all of India’s Muslims would be accommodated there because the reality was that Muslims were and are found in every nook and corner in this country. How then was Pakistan going to fulfill its purpose? It clearly could not. Recognizing this and recognizing the danger to those Muslims who could not go to the ‘promised land’, many Muslim leaders opposed the creation of Pakistan. Muslims against Partition by Shamsul Islam (Pharos Media, 2015) is their story. It details how such leaders were in effect betrayed after having striving unreservedly for a united India. Continue reading Betrayal at Midnight – Review of ‘Muslims against Partition’ : Guest Post by Karthik Venkatesh →

Bad ideas, Debates, Government, Right watch

Hate as Harmony – Law and Order under Saffrons

Leave a comment

 

 

Muslims were equated to “demons” and “descendants of Ravana”, and warned of a “final battle”, as the Sangh Parivar held a condolence meeting here for VHP worker Arun Mahaur, who was killed last week allegedly by some Muslim youths. Among those present on the dais were Union Minister of State, HRD, and BJP Agra MP Ram Shankar Katheria as well as the BJP’s Fatehpur Sikri MP Babu Lal, apart from other party local leaders, who joined in the threats to Muslims. Speaker after speaker urged Hindus to “corner Muslims and destroy the demons (rakshas)”, while declaring that “all preparations” had been made to effect “badla (revenge)” before the 13th-day death rituals for Mahaur.

(http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/muslims-warned-of-final-battle-at-sangh-meet-mos-katheria-says-weve-to-show-our-strength/#sthash.ZBMcpoFo.dpuf)

 

What does someone do in the winter of one’s own life when you discover that the values you cherished, the principles for which you fought for have suddenly lost their meaning and the world  before you is turning upside down ?

Perhaps you express your anguish to your near and dear ones or write a letter about the deteriorating situation around you in your favourite newspaper or as a last resort appeal to the custodians of the constitution that how you are ‘forced to hang your head in shame’.

Admiral Ramdas, who has served Indian Military for more than four decades and has remained socially active since then, followed his voice of conscience. Continue reading Hate as Harmony – Law and Order under Saffrons →

Bad ideas, Religion, Right watch, Theory

A Review of Purifying the Land of the Pure – Pakistan’s Religious Minorities : Guest Post by Karthik Venkatesh

Leave a comment

Guest Post by Karthik Venkatesh

Pakistan was created as a homeland for the sub-continent’s Muslims and yet, even before it had formally taken birth, its founder in a famous speech delivered on August 11, 1947 stated his intention to establish a secular nation where religion would be relegated to the private sphere and the public discourse would be given to pressing development issues. Jinnah’s first cabinet consisted of an Ahmadi (considered by orthodox Muslims as a heretical sect), Sir Zafarullah Khan and Jogendranath Manadal, a Hindu from East Pakistan. Jinnah himself was a Shia while the majority of Pakistan’s Muslims were Sunnis. Roughly one-quarter of Pakistan was non-Muslim at the time of independence and secularism seemed a realistic option. Also, Jinnah’s actions appeared to imply that it would actually be practised. But events proved otherwise.

During Jinnah’s time itself, as Ispahani adeptly documents, an unhealthy nexus had begun to develop between politicians and extremist religious groups. His death in 1948 merely served to accentuate this process. In March 1949, PM Liaquat Ali Khan moved the Objectives Resolution in the Constituent Assembly which set the tone for the Islamisation of Pakistan. Continue reading A Review of Purifying the Land of the Pure – Pakistan’s Religious Minorities : Guest Post by Karthik Venkatesh →

Bad ideas, Debates, Education

Citizens Committee for the Defense of Democracy on the JNU Situtation

Leave a comment

Guest Post by Citizens Committee for the Defense of Democracy

The Citizens Committee for the Defense of Democracy strongly condemns the clampdown in Jawaharlal Nehru University. We deplore the targeting of students and teachers and condemn the culture of authoritarian menace that the Central Government has unleashed.  We strongly believe that dissent is not sedition and invoking sedition laws against students, ordering the police to enter the campus and unlawfully arresting a student leader, issuing warrants against many others on charges of inciting violence, attacking students, teachers and arrested student in the court premises, are serious assault on the fundamental rights of the citizens of this country.  The right to dissent is fundamental to maintaining democracy and the recent developments have shaken the foundations of democracy. We condemn the indiscriminate use of the colonial law of sedition on dissenting voices.

The attack on JNU is an attack on our diversity, on public funding of universities and access to higher education for the common people. The vicious campaign of ‘tax-payers’ monies funding the anti-nationals’ is highly regressive and malicious.   It is only through public funding and reservation policies that access to higher education has been expanded for students from all backgrounds, especially girl students from poorer backgrounds. It is public funding which makes higher education accessible to many. Continue reading Citizens Committee for the Defense of Democracy on the JNU Situtation →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Culture, Debates, Education, Government, Media politics

Modi Govt. Stifles Dissent and Democratic Values – The real aim of the politics of ‘Desh-droh’ and ‘Gaddaar’ : NSI

2 Comments

Guest Post by New Socialist Initiative (NSI)

There is poison in the air. Loud abuses of ‘deshdrohi’, ‘gaddar’, ‘maaro maaro’ are rending the air. Angry men shouting these words have beaten up teachers and students of one of the best known universities in the country in the Patiala House Court of Delhi, barely three kilometers away from the seat of the national government. An elected MLA of the ruling party was part of the team of attackers. Women teachers of the university have publicly said that they were physically harassed by the mob, while the police looked the other way. This happened on 15th February. We can turn a day back.
The Home Minister of the country announced to the world that a protest by a handful of students at the Jawaharlal Nehru University was the handiwork of India’s ‘enemy number one’, Hafez Saeed of Lashkar-E-Taiba. The basis of his claim proved to be a fake tweet within hours. Three days before that, the elected president of JNU students union Mr Kanhaiya Kumar was arrested by Delhi police on charges of sedition, under the same clause of IPC which was used by the colonial rulers against Indian freedom fighters.

Continue reading Modi Govt. Stifles Dissent and Democratic Values – The real aim of the politics of ‘Desh-droh’ and ‘Gaddaar’ : NSI →

Bad ideas, Debates, Government

Stand With JNU – SUNY College, Colgate and Syracuse Universities for Academic Freedom in India

1 Comment

Guest Post by Students and Teachers of Syracuse University, Colgate University and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

We, the undersigned at Syracuse University, Colgate University, and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, are in solidarity with our comrades at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), India against the ongoing anti-democratic actions by the Indian state. We demand an immediate end to the police action against students on campus, and withdrawal of all charges against Kanhaiya Kumar, President of the JNU Students’ Union. We further demand that the Central Government put an immediate end to its prejudiced persecution of student activists on campuses across the country.

We strongly believe that the charge of sedition against Kanhaiya Kumar follows spurious claims. This arrest is an excuse for the state to root out dissenting voices on JNU campus, a move towards converting educational institutions like JNU into an arm of the authoritarian state. Attempts of a similar nature have been witnessed recently at other Indian educational institutions such as Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) and Hyderabad University. The growing threat to academic freedom posed by the current political climate is transnational, and extends beyond India to other parts of the world–it is a threat we face here in the United States, too.

For any word or action to qualify as being “seditious” under Indian law, it has to directly issue a call to violence. This was not the nature of the protest held by a group of JNU students against the judiciary’s decision regarding Afzal Guru, who was convicted of an attack on the Indian parliament. The peaceful protest held on February 9 on campus was not unlike other protests convened at the university over the last several decades. Dissent is an essential part of a healthy democracy. We therefore strongly condemn the Indian government’s response to the students’ protests and demand that the state refrain from authoritarian behaviour. In this spirit, we urge the Vice Chancellor of JNU to protect members of the university community and safeguard their democratic rights. Continue reading Stand With JNU – SUNY College, Colgate and Syracuse Universities for Academic Freedom in India →

Bad ideas, Debates, Education, Government

Missing the Forest for Trees – Caste System’s Shadow on Rohith’s Suicide : Sanjay Kumar

2 Comments

Guest Post by Sanjay Kumar

(Photo Courtesy : Prokerala.com)

Mainstream politics over Rohith Vemula’s suicide is becoming hot and ugly. Although whisper campaigns against Rothith’s dalit identity were on since his suicide, the BJP’s central leadership had been relatively quiet after HRD minister’s rather shrieky ‘appeal’ to not play caste politics over his suicide. However, now it seems daggers are out. The party in power, whose two ministers are accused of creating conditions leading to Rohith’s suicide, has decided that Rohith’s non-dalit status is the dog it is going to beat to counter its anti-dalit image. Rohith’s mother is a Mala, a Scheduled Caste, who lives seperately from his father, a backward caste Vaddera. He got an SC certificate on the basis of showing that he grew up in his mother’s Mala household. BJP’s strategy may look petty, but it is based on the age-old great Hindu tradition which can not contenance any violation of the privileges of the patrilineal system. After all, marital rape does enjoy legal sanction in India to this day. Continue reading Missing the Forest for Trees – Caste System’s Shadow on Rohith’s Suicide : Sanjay Kumar →