David Headley remains inaccessible in the US, and so do the masterminds in Pakistan.
The extradition of Tahawwur Rana to India to face trial for his role in the 26/11 terror attack is big news in the media. One can sincerely hope that with the arrest of only the second suspect to face trial for the 26/11 attacks – the first one was Ajmal Kasab – we can unearth other critical links in the conspiracy, role played by the terrorist groups and the support the whole operation received from the Pakistani establishment or its deep state.
Of course, it will be rather premature to assume that this arrest can bring a closure to the dastardly 26 /11 terror attacks. We are yet far away from the possibility of the mastermind of the attack – Hafeez Saeed and his accomplices – facing trial in Pakistan or being extradited to India.
There is no clue yet whether David Headley, a close friend of Tahawwur Rana, who is called the main conspirator of the operation would ever face trial in India. In fact, it is still a mystery how and why the US entered into a plea deal with him – promising him that he will not be extradited to India.
,,The rewriting spree has not left untouched RSS’s own history itself.
The biggest manifestation of this exercise is evident in the way we have before us a new look Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar (1888-1940) founder member of RSS and its first Supremo.
He is being called as ’‘born patriot’’, one amongst the ‘great revolutionaries who fought for India’s independence, ’’social reformer’ , ’maker of Modern India’ etc etc. disregarding the fact that all his life he focussed his attention to build Hindu Unity, to usher India into a Hindu Rashtra and never once gave a call to the organisation he founded with others – namely RSS – that it joins the anti colonial struggle. He did go to jail during the anti colonial struggle but not as a member of the RSS but as a member of Congress Party.
Many monographs, books .. – are also before us which are trying to emphasise this new image, obliterating many inconvenient aspects of his tumultous life or maintaining tactical silences over them. The latest in series is the way he is being projected as a leader of the “jungle satyagraha” at Pusad, Maharashtra which was organised as part of the Civil Disobedience Movement led by Congress. [10]
On the occasion of this meet to analyze the political situation of India and the world and to formulate action plans, this letter is to invite your attention to the struggle of ASHA workers in Kerala which has been going on for the past 52 days.
Kshama Sawant honoured in absentia by Canadian Radio station for standing up against caste-based oppression. Former Seattle City Councillor was presented with the annual Hands Against Racism award by Spice Radio at a well-attended event in Surrey on Sunday, March 30. Born and raised in India, Kshama Sawant was instrumental behind the historic anti-caste ordinance brought by the City of Seattle in 2023. Since then, she has been under attack from supporters of the right-wing Hindu nationalist Modi government in New Delhi. For doing that she had to pay a heavy price, as the Indian government denied her visa and an opportunity to go and see her ailing mother in Bengaluru. Sawant couldn’t make it to the event organized at Surrey City Hall, due to the current tensions between Canada and US caused by the trade war. Spice Radio broadcaster and her vocal supporter Gurpreet Singh accepted the award on her behalf. He earlier introduced her before her video message was played. In her greetings, Sawant revealed that because of the hostile political environment, including ongoing arrests of pro-Palestine activists in the US, especially those who are naturalized American citizens like her, she had been advised not to travel outside the country. However, she pulled no punches in criticising the Liberals and Democrats on either side of the border for their complacency and opportunism, enabling the extreme right wing forces to grow powerful. Her speech received a huge applause from the audience. Spice Radio CEO Shushma Datt started the campaign in 2015, on the birth anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr. It coincides with Holi, a Hindu festival of colours, and encourages participants to colour their hands and leave a palm print on a white sheet of paper with a message against racism. A practicing Hindu herself, she believes in diversity and inclusion and greeted everyone Happy Eid at the Sunday program. Every year, individuals are also shortlisted and awarded for their anti-racism work as part of this initiative. This year Sawant and Bob Rennie were honoured. Rennie is a famous art collector and a strong advocate against xenophobia and homophobia, besides gender discrimination. The very first recipient of the award, Senator Baltej Singh Dhillon, who served as the first turbaned Sikh Royal Canadian Police officer and faced racism from within the force, was also present and addressed the gathering. Other past recipients also spoke on the occasion, including Attorney General Niki Sharma, anti-racism educator Annie Ohana and prominent journalist Charlie Smith.
We write to you out of serious concern about the precarity of the lives of the Kerala ASHA workers on strike and the hostility shown to them by the elected government of Kerala. The ASHA workers’ strike has entered its 50th day and the twelfth day of their indefinite hunger strike. Hundreds of workers are outside the Secretariat building striking for the demands to be heard by the left-led State government, braving the heat stress, sporadic thundershowers, and the humiliation from the government and mainstream party workers.
They have been ridiculed and accused of being puppets of the “fascist, fundamentalist” right-wing trying to jeopardize the elections in 2026. Their backing from SUCI and AIDSO has provoked mainstream left politicians and intellectuals even further, accusing them of being too radical to understand the need to be united at this time. Yet the CPM and its allied organizations, unions have declared unconditional support to ASHA and Anganwadi workers in other states, declaring a nation-wide strike on 20 May.
We reject this apathy and accusations against the workers on strike. We also request that you sign-on to this petition to be submitted to the Chief Minister’s Office as a testament to the broader support that the workers have from the public and civil society in Kerala and across the country.
Please sign the petition for the workers demands to be accepted by the Kerala State Government and circulate this in your networks.
സമൂഹത്തിനും ആരോഗ്യ സംവിധാനത്തിനും ഇടക്കുള്ള മുഖ്യ കണ്ണിയായി പ്രവർത്തിക്കുന്ന ആശ വർക്കർമാരിൽ ഒരു വിഭാഗം 45 ദിവസത്തിലേറെയായി, കേരള സെക്രട്ടേറിയറ്റിന് മുന്നിൽ പ്രതിഷേധിക്കുകയാണ്. കഴിഞ്ഞ ഏതാനും ദിവസങ്ങളായി ഇവർ നിരാഹാര സമരവും നടത്തുകയാണ്. സംസ്ഥാന സർക്കാർ ആശമാർക്ക് നല്കുന്ന ഹോണറേറിയം വർദ്ധിപ്പിച്ച്, മിനിമം കൂലി പ്രതിദിനം 700 രൂപ എന്ന നിലയിൽ മാസം 21000 രൂപ വേതനം നല്കുക, വിരമിക്കൽ ആനുകൂല്ല്യങ്ങളും ഇൻഷുറൻസ് അടക്കമുള്ള പരിരക്ഷകളും അനുവദിക്കുക തുടങ്ങിയവയാണ് ഇവർ മുന്നോട്ട് വയ്ക്കുന്ന ആവശ്യങ്ങൾ. പൊതുജനാരോഗ്യ വിഭാഗം വിദ്യാർത്ഥികൾ എന്ന നിലയിൽ പല അവസരങ്ങളിലും ആശാ പ്രവർത്തകരുമായി നേരിട്ട് ഇടപെടുകയും, അവരുടെ പ്രയാസങ്ങൾ അടുത്ത് നിന്ന് മനസ്സിലാക്കുകയും ചെയ്തവരാണ് ലേഖകർ.
Indian federalism is on the verge of breakdown for multiple reasons. A crucial contributor is the collapse of the system of revenue sharing between the Centre and the States and the weaponization of vertical transfers as an instrument for political contestation.
The conflict over resources in India’s quasi-federal political structure is by no means new. Framers of the Constitution, who recognised that the division of taxation rights and spending responsibilities between the two principal tiers of government in India was asymmetrical, sought to partially resolve this problem by providing for a share for the States in a defined set of tax revenues garnered by the Centre, with the principles governing the share devolved and distributed to individual States recommended by successive Finance Commissions. But State governments have been increasingly disappointed with the actual experience with devolution, because of the concentration of resources mobilised in the hands of the Centre.
The issue, however, is not one of mere competition for resources between the Centre and the states. Having gained control over the Lok Sabha, the BJP has made it clear that it is keen on establishing an opposition-free political space. To realise this objective, it has not only sought to undermine the legitimacy of individual opposition politicians with charges of corruption or “anti-national” activity, but of opposition-ruled State governments by eroding their ability to adopt economic policy measures and initiatives that could win them political legitimacy. Expenditures on building State infrastructure or social expenditures on subsidised food provision, a modicum of social protection, and employment guarantee schemes, do contribute to winning a party in power in a State a degree of political legitimacy. The attack on the fiscal capacity of the State governments helps limit such expenditures, even while Central claims on expanding infrastructural investments and social sector spending are advanced, with an increase in ‘central’ schemes, especially those attributed to the patronage of the highest authority, the Prime Minister.
Speaker :
Prof C P Chandrasekhar
Prof C. P. Chandrasekhar is emeritus professor at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi. He has published widely in academic journals and is the coauthor of Crisis as Conquest: Learning from East Asia (2021, Orient Longman), When Governments Fail – A Pandemic and Its Aftermath (with Jayati Ghosh et al) , 2021 ; Interpreting the World to Change It – Essays for Prabhat Patnaik (with Jayati Ghosh), 2018 ; After Crisis : Adjustment, Recovery and Fragility in East Asia ( with Jayati Ghosh) 2009 ; The Market that Failed: Neo-Liberal Economic Reforms in India (2002, Leftword Books), and
He received his MA and Ph.D (economics) from Jawaharlal Nehru University, where he served as a professor from 1997 until his retirement. He is a member of the executive committee at International Development Economics Associates (IDEAs) and the World Economics Association, as well as a contributor to Frontline, Economic and Political Weekly, and Businessline.
Chandrasekhar received the Malcolm Adiseshaiah Award for 2009 for contributions to economics and development studies.
How Hindutva Supremacists are engaged in ‘rewriting history’.
‘There are times when madness reigns
And then it is the best who hang’
– Albrecht Haushoffer
[January 7, 1903 – April 23, 1945, German geographer, diplomat, author, who faced martyrdom for his resistance to Nazism]
Uday Bhembre, the 87-year-old widely respected Konkani writer, son of legendary freedom fighter Laxmikant Bhembre, who has been a Sahitya Akademi awardee, is a worried man these days.
He has discovered to his dismay that his courage to speak the truth and challenge a narrative being peddled by the ruling dispensation in Goa, .. regarding well established facts of Goa’s own history, would lead to protests, led by Right-wing formations and many among them trespassing his house at night and pressuring him to issue an public apology.
Not very many people outside Goa know how this great writer – he was even a MLA (1984-89) — had neglected his literary career to fight for rights of Konkani language and has been against attempts to merge Goa into Maharashtra, to preserve its culture.
Thanks to the existence of powerful voices of resistance and a vibrant civil society in Goa, a significant number of people have publicly condemned these attempts to intimidate Bhembre and demanded strict action against the perpetrators and exposed the collusion of the Right-wing formations with people in power. Many even went to meet the noted writer to express solidarity with him. ( Read the full article here :https://www.newsclick.in/goa-who-fears-truth)
“ Do Not Put Each Foot in a Different Boat.” – Chinese Proverb
A defeat in elections should not be The End of politics for a political party.
There are examples how parties who were humbled in one election could bounce back with huge majority in next elections.
It is a different matter that with AAP ( Aam Aadmi Party) things seem to be unfolding in rather unpredictable ways, thanks to its rather unceremonious exit from the citadels of power in Delhi and defeat of all its top leaders in the recently held elections to the assembly.
Nobody would have imagined that its Supreme Leader would feel so insecure after the loss that he will summon all MLAs of his party – which is leading the government in neighbouring Punjab – to the national capital the very next day for consultation or may be sweet talk.
No doubt it did give way to speculations about increasing disgruntlement within his party and its legislators and their being in search of greener pastures.It also rekindled debate about the personality centric functioning of the AAP or how a close confidante of Kejriwal was appointed on a key post under Bhagwant Mann – Chief Minister of Punjab – last year itself which was construed as clipping of his wings by the opposition. ( Read the full article here : https://countercurrents.org/2025/02/whether-aaps-defeat-can-become-a-wake-up-call-for-new-cheerleaders-of-hindutva-lite-politics/
Aisha, a 7 year old girl living in Khajuri Khas Colony of Delhi, is yearning for a day when like her elder sister Asma, she would also be admitted to a nearby government school.(1)
This possibility is growing dimmer by the day, as the school has refused her admission and asked for Indian documents like Aadhar – which refugees do not possess.
Aisha is the younger daughter of Ahmad, a Rohingya refugee who has finally reached Delhi and has duly received his UNHCR card – which refers to the document issued by the UN refugee agency.
Thanks to the circular issued by Delhi government ( Dec 24) led by AAP asking schools to ensure strict guidelines during admissions perhaps Aisha will have to remain satisfied with the same private school which lacks facilities.With a drive underway to ensure that children of “illegal Bangladeshi immigrants” are not allowed enrolment, Aisha knows very well that her fate is sealed. (2)
Abstract :As we celebrate the 75th year of the Constitution, it is important to remember that Indian federalism flowered late. In the initial years, the development of democracy overshadowed the federal provisions of the Constitution. Certain formulations of the Constitution and single-party dominance even cast doubts on its very existence.
Dismissed as quasi, much was made of the preference for the term Union to question even the federal intent of the framers of the Constitution. As India’s federal polity developed, it became clearer that federalism was not merely intended but also an integral part of the basic structure of the Constitution. It was further defined and refined with asymmetrical provisions to accommodate its burgeoning diversity.Is it being denied today?
The federal fact is central to the understanding of contemporary Indian politics. Federalism has imparted resilience to Indian democracy. Traditionally, the concept of federalism involved relationships between central governments and federated units. Defined in legal- constitutional terms as different power distributions between the central government vis-à-vis the states and local governments, they typically limited relationships to those between governments, notably between various actors in the executive branch. We seek to go beyond this framework to look at federalism as a democratic process.
The threats to the federal essence of the polity are many, majoritarianism being the foremost. Majoritarian democracy is incompatible with the federal principle, which is based on the recognition of the right to self-rule for all constituents of the federal polity. Is this under siege today by an integrationist vision that seeks unity through uniformity? How can federal democracy be protected and preserved under these conditions? Can it be made more secure?
About the Speaker : BALVEER ARORA is Chairman, Centre for Multilevel Federalism and Former Professor of Political Science and Rector, JNU. Earlier, he was a visiting fellow at the National Political Science Foundation, Paris and the Center for the Advanced Study of India, University of Pennsylvania, USA. He has edited / co edited many books : Here is a list of few of his publications : – Transforming India: Social and Political Dynamics of Democracy – Multiple Identities in a Single State: Indian Federalism in Comparative Perspective – Party System in India: Emerging Trajectories , – Federalism in India: Origins and Development – The Value of Comparative Federalism: The Legacy of Ronald L. Watts – Federalism and Public Health in India: Dissonant Discourses
Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
Time and Date:
Sunday, 17 th November 2024l, at 6 PM (IST)
Topic : ‘Democracy and the logic of capitalism: The recent Indian experience
Abstract :
Many analyses of the recent erosion of democracy in India have dwelt on political and social forces. I will examine the role of economic forces unleashed by a particular form of capitalist development, and how they may have contributed to this process in recent decades.
About the Speaker
Professor Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a member of the Club of Rome’s Transformational Economics Commission and Co-Chair of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation, Formerly a Professor with the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, JNU, Delhi, has also worked as a Consultant with the Planning Commission of India. Recipient of many awards including UNDP Award for Excellence in Analysis 2005, she has authored- co edited around twenty books on Economics.
Here is a list of a few of her recent books :
-Women, Gender and Work (Volume 2): Social choices and inequalities, (volume coedited with Mark Lansky, Dominique Meda and Uma Rani, 2016, Geneva: International Labour Office.
-Interpreting the World to Change It: Essays for Prabhat Patnaik (volume co-edited with C. P. Chandrasekhar), New Delhi: Tulika books, 2017.
– Demonetisation Decoded (with Prabhat Patnaik and C. P. Chandrasekhar) New Delhi: Routledge Taylor and Francis India, 2017.
– Indian Banking: Current challenges and alternatives for the future, AIBOC, Chennai, 2018.
– Informal Women Workers in the Global South: Policies and Practices for the Formalisation of Women’s Employment in Developing Economies, (edited volume) Routledge, 2020
– The making of a catastrophe: The Covid-19 pandemic and the Indian economy, New Delhi: Aleph Book Publishing, Forthcoming 2021.
– Development: A collection of articles from the International Labour Review, ILO Centenary Volumes, Geneva: ILO, forthcoming 2021 (co-edited with Uma Rani)
The judiciary in Karnataka is once again the focus of discussion in the national media.
The judiciary in Karnataka is once again in the news.
The latest case in a series of such cases is the Karnataka High Court’s recent judgment saying that shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ inside a mosque does not outrage religious feelings.
In an ambience where Right-Wing forces are hell bent upon creating more discord in the society, this judgement can easily be used by those who wish to further vitiate the atmosphere in the country. There are instances galore when such elements have tried to mount atop religious places of ‘other’ communities and deliberately create tension.
There is a feeling of sadness and surprise that despite the incident being caught live on CCTV, where the duo was seen entering a mosque late at night on their motorcycle, the courts did not look into the intention behind their act.
No doubt legal eagles in the country or civil liberty activists would be looking into the Karnataka HC judgement to formulate a suitable response and possibly challenge it at higher levels. For example, at the immediate level, it is being argued by analysts that the single-judge bench’s comparison of this issue with the highest court’s ruling in ‘Mahendra Singh Dhoni vs. Yerraguntla Shyamsundar’ case was notably different. ( Read the full article here : https://www.newsclick.in/who-entitled-hurt-religious-sentiments)
नरम हिन्दुत्व या ‘सेकुलर’ दलों की लड्डू पॉलिटिक्स?
Credit: PTI photo
(क्या आंध्र प्रदेश दक्षिण में हिंदुत्व प्रयोग की नई प्रयोगशाला बनाने जा रहा है। दक्षिण के अग्रणी अख़बार डेक्कन हेराल्ड ने पिछले दिनों इस मसले पर विशेष सामग्री पेश की थी ा गौरतलब है कि इस सूबे की आंतरिक गतिविधियों पर शेष मुल्क की तब निगाह पड़ी, जब तिरुपति के लड्डू के मसले को सुर्खियां मिली . मगर ‘हिंदुत्व लाइट’ का यह सम्मोहन महज वहीं तक सीमित नहीं है )
सियासत भी अजीब होती है। अकसर इस बात का अंदाजा भी नहीं लग पाता कि कैसे वह शैतानों के सन्त में रूपांतरण को मुमकिन बना देती है और कैसे अन्य समुदायों के जनसंहारों को अंजाम देने वालों को ‘अपने लोगों’ के हृदयसम्राट या रक्षक के तौर पर स्थापित कर देती है।
शायद इसी विचित्रता की यह निशानी है कि अमेरिका के पूर्व राष्ट्रपति डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प द्वारा हैती से आए आप्रवासियों को लेकर फैलायी जा रही झूठी ख़बरें कि वे कुत्तों का भक्षण करते हैं, अमेरिका की आबादी के अच्छे-खासे हिस्से को अविश्वसनीय नहीं लग रही- जिनका लगभग अस्सी फीसदी हिस्सा साक्षर है। इन झूठी और नफरती ख़बरों को लेकर हैती से जुड़े समूहों को ही अदालत का दरवाजा खटखटाना पड़ रहा है।
जहां दुनिया का सबसे ताकतवर जनतंत्र कुत्तों को लेकर पैदा किए गए एक विवाद में उलझा दिखता है, वहीं खुद को दुनिया में डेमोक्रेसी की माता कहलाने वाले भारत में लड्डू के इर्द-गिर्द खड़े किए गए इसी किस्म के एक फर्जी विवाद में पिछले दिनों लचीले हिन्दुत्व की राजनीति के नए रणबांकुरे उलझे दिखे थे । ( Read the full article here : https://junputh.com/open-space/soft-hindutva-and-laddoo-politics-of-naidu/)
Truth, as they say, has an uncanny ability of bursting out into the open, unannounced. This seems to have happened with the controversial Agniveer Scheme – the introduction of contract based employment in the military for four years – which even cost the ruling dispensation a few seats in the recent parliamentary elections.
What Prafulla Ketkar, who has been editor of ‘Organiser’ for the last eleven years, underlined in an event merits close attention in this connection. To a pointed question where he was asked ‘[w]hether India should prepare civilians for situations similar to those faced by Israel’, he specifically mentioned that ‘[t]he Agniveer scheme was introduced for this purpose only. The scheme aims to train military-ready individuals who can be deployed during crises.’
It has been more than four days since Ketkar made this explosive statement, which obviously contradicts what the government wants us to believe. But there has been neither any denial of the statement from the highest level nor has he been reprimanded by top bosses of the Sangh Parivar for making such outrageous statements.
विख्यात अमेरिकी इतिहासकार, नाटककार, दार्शनिक और समाजवादी विचारक हॉवर्ड जिन- जिनकी लिखी किताब ‘ए पीपुल्स हिस्ट्री ऑफ युनाइटेड स्टेट्स’ की लाखों प्रतियां बिक चुकी हैं- के ये शब्द आज भी दुनिया के मुल्कों में दोहराए जाते हैं जब-जब वहां की जनता हुक्मरानों के हर फरमान को सिर आंखों पर लेती है।
बहुत कम लोग इस वक्तव्य के इतिहास से वाकिफ हैं, जिसे उन्होंने अमेरिका के युद्ध-विरोधी आंदोलन के दौरान बाल्टिमोर विश्वविद्यालय के परिसर में रैडिकल छात्रों और परिवर्तनकामी अध्यापकों के विशाल जनसमूह के सामने दिया था। यह वह दौर था जब अमेरिकी सरकार की वियतनाम युद्ध में संलिप्तता को लेकर- जिसमें तमाम अमेरिकी सैनिकों की महज लाशें ही अमेरिका लौट पाई थीं- जनाक्रोश बढ़ता गया था और अमेरिकी सरकार पर इस बात का जोर बढ़ने लगा था कि उसे अपनी सेनाओं को वहां से वापस बुलाना चाहिए।
याद किया जा सकता है कि इस ऐतिहासिक साबित हो चुके व्याख्यान के एक दिन पहले क्या हुआ था। एक युद्ध विरोधी प्रदर्शन में शामिल होने के चलते उन्हें संघीय पुलिस ने गिरफ्तार किया था और हॉवर्ड जिन को कहा गया था कि वह अगले दिन अदालत में हाजिर हों। सवाल यह था कि क्या वह दूसरे ही दिन अदालत के सामने हाजिर हों, जहां उन्हें चेतावनी मिलेगी और फिर घर जाने के लिए कहा जाएगा या वह बाल्टिमोर जाने के अपने निर्णय पर कायम रहें? यानी, रैडिकल छात्रों ने उनके लिए जो निमंत्रण भेजा था पहले उसका सम्मान करें और उसके अगले दिन अदालत के सामने हाजिर हों? जाहिर था कि इस हुक्मउदूली के लिए उन्हें कम से कम कुछ दिन या महीने तो सलाखों के पीछे जाना ही होता।
हावर्ड जिन ने बाल्टिमोर जाना ही तय किया। यहां उन्होंने अपना भाषण दिया। छात्रों एवं अध्यापकों में उसकी जबरदस्त प्रतिक्रिया हुई। वे लौट आए और अगले ही दिन अदालत के सामने हाजिर हुए। जैसा कि स्पष्ट था, उन्हें कुछ सप्ताह के लिए जेल भेज दिया गया। ( Read the full text here : https://junputh.com/open-space/remembering-howard-zinn-in-the-times-of-bulldozer-justice/)
Where are Indians, who like the conscience keepers of Israeli society or the legendary Rachel Corrie, are ready to swim against the tide?
‘Our Problem is Civil Obedience…’
These words of the legendary American historian, playwright, philosopher and socialist intellectual, Howard Zinn (1922-2010), are still repeated the world over whenever people living in a country have no qualms in gulping whatever the rulers do or say.
Not much is known about the brief history of this speech which was delivered in the Baltimore campus during the heyday of the anti-war movement in the US, (1971). That was the period when a mass movement had emerged opposing the US government’s participation in the Vietnam war, where Zinn was invited to address students in one of the universities. ……………..
Zinn left for Baltimore, where he delivered the said speech, which received a thunderous applause from students and teachers, and when he presented himself before the courts the next day, as expected, he was sent to jail for a few weeks.
Time and again, as the phenomenon of, what is popularly known as “bulldozer justice, raises its head in India, which is now called the ‘biggest country that regularly holds elections’, this poser by Zinn in his Baltimore speech sounds more and more appropriate.
What does it portend for the unfolding struggle to save the Constitution and reinvigorate democracy?
Despotic kings or autocratic leaders share one thing in common. They have an uncanny ability to live in their bubbles or not learning from the immediate or past history at their own peril.
Narendra Damodardas Modi, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Pracharak (propagandist), who famously declared during elections held for the 18th Lok Sabha that he was ‘non-biological’, looks no different. He has returned as the Prime Minister of India – for the third time, albeit with a reduced majority and with support from mercurial allies. Yet, he still wants to believe that nothing has changed. The oath taking ceremony, where (barring Pakistan) leaders of other neighbouring countries were invited, looked like a coronation of sorts.
Much on the lines of a king from a literary fairy tale written by a legendary Danish author, he is going about his business with usual élan.
The model of vigilante justice, i.e, bulldozer politics, by the State itself is a phenomenon that has gained fresh legitimacy during the past decade under Modi.
“Under what law can they demolish a house for an offence that hasn’t been proved?”
Former SC Justice Madan Lokur.
..police cannot, “under the guise of investigation”, bulldoze anyone’s house without permission, and if such practices continue then “nobody is safe in this country” ..: “Show me from any criminal jurisprudence that for investigating the crime, the police, without any order, can uproot a person, apply a bulldozer. .”
There are interventions of courts which are considered to be ‘breaking new grounds’.
The Gauhati High Court’s judgement in the ‘illegal demolitions’ at Salonabari (May 2022) was one such occasion.
The two-judge bench of the high court led by Chief Justice RM Chhaya and Justice Soumitra Saikia had come down heavily on the demolitions executed without following any procedure and declared such actions ‘illegal’ and compared the police actions akin to a ‘gang war’ and ordered compensation to the victims as well as actions against guilty officials.
Two years later, this issue was again before high courts recently, as the affected families had approached it for the government’s dilly dallying on compensation and actions against officials.
Dr. Parakala Prabhakar, is an author, economist, and public intellectual. He served as Communications Advisor, held a cabinet rank position in Andhra Pradesh Government between July 2014 and June 2018. He was also a former spokesman and one of the founding general secretaries of Praja Rajyam Party.
For several years he presented a current affairs discussion programme on television channels of Andhra Pradesh. His programmes included Pratidhwani on ETV2 and Namaste Andhra Pradesh on NTV .
His book of essays ‘The Crooked Timber of New India : Essays on a Republic in Crisis‘ was widely discussed.
Dr Parakala completed his doctorate from the London School of Economics. He did his Master of Arts (M.A.) and Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), New Delhi.
About the Talk :
Relentless in exposing the sinister nature of the communal politics of the current ruling dispensation and meticulous in exposing the voodoo economic policies pursued by them which are disastrous to the Indian economy, Dr Parakala Prabhakar is going to speak on ‘The Political Economy of New India’ in this lecture.
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 