Category Archives: Culture

Bad ideas, Culture, Everyday Life, Genders, Identities

Lesser Citizens: Trapped in a Queer world of Dystopia: Indrani Kar, Shuvojit Moulik & Somya Tyagi

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This is a guest post by Indrani Kar, Shuvojit Moulik & Somya Tyagi

Any dominant, mainstream model undoes the very idea of multiple modes of living and diversity which excludes the real demands of the minority groups and contributes to their social exclusion. Whereas everyone is entitled to equal and inalienable rights and opportunities set forth in the Preamble to the Constitution of India without distinction of any kind, such commitments are yet to be translated into action. Although Article 21 of the Constitution guarantees ‘Right to life and personal liberty’ to all, of which the Right to Healthcare forms an integral part, a large section of the society is still insensitive to the healthcare needs of the transgender community.

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The transgender population faces grave misunderstanding, prejudice, harassment, ridicule, rejection and even exploitation at the hands of health service providers as they do not fit into the society’s prescribed, rigid gender roles. Though the transgender community is hardly a homogeneous entity and is considerably diverse in terms of gender identity and livelihoods, in public imagination such complex identities of gender ranging from hijra to transgender are all lumped into one category, which becomes extremely problematic. Unfortunately, government policies also seem to feed on these generalisations, making use of such umbrella terms rather than focus on the specific needs of different groups.

Continue reading Lesser Citizens: Trapped in a Queer world of Dystopia: Indrani Kar, Shuvojit Moulik & Somya Tyagi →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Culture, Debates, Language, Right watch

The Pro-Establishment Intelligentsia and the Modi Phenomenon

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For several months, I have been hearing Narendra Modi’s campaign speeches quite regularly, paying attention to his themes, rhetoric and imagery. As expected, he has vigorously attacked key political opponents — the Nehru-Gandhi family, Nitish Kumar, Mulayam Singh Yadav. But a systematic silence has also marked his campaign. Quite remarkably, Hindu nationalism has been absent from his speeches.

This is the opening paragraph from an article by an important US-based Indian political scientist, Ashutosh Varshney. This article, published in the Indian Express on 27 March 2014, under the caption “Modi the Moderate” has been now followed up by another piece in the same newspaper that somewhat modifies the earlier position, this time by “Hearing the Silence”. Strange that he did not hear the silence in the first instance, even after having listened to Modi’s speeches closely (‘paying attention to his rhetoric and imagery’). Not that he did not ‘hear the silence’ then. He did, but just two weeks ago, identified the silence as being about Hindu nationalism. In the second piece, the silence is apparently about  minority rights. How did he read the silence as one thing two weeks ago and as just the opposite two weeks down the line? What exactly was he reading?

Intellectuals generally take words very seriously. Words in their insularity, words in their most manifest meanings. But really, do words mean anything in and of themselves? One line of argument that derives from within the ancient Mimamsa tradition, for example, would argue that meaning lies in the way words are chosen, arranged and formed into sentences. There is something that happens in this process which Mimamsa scholars call ‘akanksha’ – or the expectation that this arrangement within a text generates in the reader of the text. The meaning that a text produces then, is a matter of a complex negotiations between the text and the reader – the bearer of akanksha. And since the reader is never one but many, the expectations that the text generates in different readers could arguably be many. Continue reading The Pro-Establishment Intelligentsia and the Modi Phenomenon →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Language, Violence/Conflict

लोकतंत्र का अंतिम क्षण

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कैमरा बार बार जा कर उसी क्षण पर टिकता था.मेरी बेटी ने विचलित होकर कहा, “चैनल बदल दो, अच्छा नहीं लग रहा.” लेकिन चैनल उस थप्पड़ की आवाज़ न सुना पाने की लाचारी की भरपाई उस दृश्य को दुहरा-दुहरा कर कर रहे थे. उन्हें सोलह साल की मेरी नवयुवती बेटी की तड़प क्योंकर सुनाई दे? चैनल बदलते अधीर दर्शक इस दृश्य से वंचित न रह जायें, इस चिंता के मारे उसे हथौड़े की तरह बार-बार बजाया गया.

यह हमला था. लेकिन हिंदी में हमला कहने पर हिंसा का बोध अधिक होता है,सो अखबारों ने ‘केजरी को थप्पड़’,‘पहले माला फिर थप्पड़’, ‘केजरीवाल को फिर थप्पड़’ जैसे शीर्षक लगाए. भाषा का अध्ययन करने वाले जानते हैं कि शब्दों के चयन के पीछे की मंशा उनका अर्थ तय करती है. ‘थप्पड़’ कहने से हिंसा की गंभीरता कम होती है और हिंसा के शिकार की कमजोरी ज़्यादा उजागर होती है. थप्पड़ से किसी की जान नहीं जाती, उसकी निष्कवचता अधिक प्रकट होती है. उसमें किसी योजना की जगह एक प्रकार की स्वतःस्फूर्तता का तत्व होता है. कहा जा सकता है कि थप्पड़ मारने वाले की मंशा सिर्फ नाराजगी का इजहार था.अंग्रेज़ी में भी ‘स्लैप’ शब्द का ही इस्तेमाल किया गया, यह भी लिखा गया, “केजरीवाल स्लैप्ड अगेन”. इसमें हमला करने वाले से ज़्यादा हमले के शिकार की ही गलती नज़र आती है, मानो उसे मार खाने की आदत सी पड़ गई हो. आदतन मार खाने वाला सहानुभूति की जगह हास्य का पात्र बन जाता है. Continue reading लोकतंत्र का अंतिम क्षण →

Culture, Debates

Some Myths About Muslims

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Received via Shankar Gopalakrishnan

As the 2014 elections begin, the time has come again to state the obvious. In the context of massive propaganda campaigns, the subtle use of stereotypes, and the fact that both the Western and the Indian media share certain basic biases, many people end up believing in a range of myths about the adherents of the world’s second largest religion. This is a quick attempt at exposing those myths.

Myth: ‘Muslim’ countries are never secular. Muslims do not tolerate minorities in ‘their’ countries but demand minority rights in other countries.

The world’s largest Muslim majority country is Indonesia (total population approximately 25 crores, larger than Pakistan). Indonesia is a secular democracy. Indeed, its population is almost a mirror image of India’s – 88% Muslim, 9% Christian, 3% Hindu, 2% Buddhist, etc. (as compared to India, which has a population that is 80% Hindu, 13.4% Muslim, 2.3% Christian, etc.) Indonesia’s national slogan is “Unity in Diversity.” Yes, Indonesia has occasional riots and bomb blasts, but so does India.

In reality the majority of Muslim majority countries in the world are secular. Several large examples include Turkey, Mali, Syria, Niger, and Kazakhstan. Despite having Islam as ‘state religion’, Bangladesh’s government is also secular in law. The same is true of many other countries. Only six countries in the world claim to use Islam as the basis of their law making – and their total population is roughly the same as the population of Indonesia, Turkey and Kazakhstan combined. In other words, the vast majority of Muslim majority countries are secular, and the vast majority of Muslims live under secular governments.

Myth: Not all Muslims may be terrorists, but most terrorists are Muslims.

Continue reading Some Myths About Muslims →

Countryside, Culture, Media politics, Mirror Worlds

मर्दवादी और असमान सामाजिक व्यवस्था में स्त्री प्रतिरोध – ‘हाईवे’: धर्मराज कुमार

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Guest Post by धर्मराज कुमार

वर्त्तमान परिदृश्य में हमारे इर्द-गिर्द जितने भी विमर्श मंडराते नजर आ रहे हैं उन सबके के आक्रामक शुरुआत को सोलह दिसंबर की बलात्कार की घटना से जोड़े बगैर नहीं देखा जा सकता है। इसमें कोई शक नहीं कि उस रात को दहला देने वाली घटना तक को कई खांचों में रखकर देखा जाता है। उदाहरणस्वरूप, आलोचना के तौर पर यह भी कहा गया कि निर्भया अभिजात वर्ग से आती थी इसलिए उसके बलात्कार ने पूरे देश की राजनीति को झकझोर कर रख दिया। जबकि उसी दरम्यान दिल्ली के करीब हरियाणा में कई दलित और सामाजिक रूप से प्रताड़ित लड़कियों और महिलाओं का निर्ममता से बलात्कार किया गया और मारकर फ़ेंक दिया गया और जिसका आज तक कोई अता-पता तक नहीं है। इससे भी इंकार नहीं किया जा सकता कि दिसंबर की घटना के पहले भी अनगिनत बलात्कार की घटनाएं हररोज हो रही थी और उसके बाद भी हो रही है। मगर कभी भी किसी विरोध ने इतना विकराल रूप धारण नहीं किया जिससे देश की राजनीति को हिलानी तो दूर उससे आजतक न्याय प्रक्रिया में गति तक आ सके। इसके कई कारण हैं।
मेरा उद्देश्य उस तरफ ध्यान खींचना कतई नहीं है। मेरा उद्देश्य है मुख्यधारा में इन मुद्दों से जुड़ती सवालों को उठाये जाने की तरफ ध्यान ले जाना। मैं बात कर रहा हूँ मुख्यधारा में चल रही फिल्मों और उससे जुड़े सवालों के ऊपर। फ़िल्म समीक्षा की दुनिया में ऐसा कम ही देखने को मिलता है जब कोई फ़िल्म अपनी रिलीज के बाद एक चर्चा का विषय हो या विवाद का हिस्सा हो। बल्कि तमाम विचारधारा से जुड़े लोग जब किसी फ़िल्म के ऊपर अपनी प्रतिक्रिया जताने लगे इसका मतलब है कि ऐसी फिल्में लोगों को संवाद करने के लिए विवश कर रही हैं। Continue reading मर्दवादी और असमान सामाजिक व्यवस्था में स्त्री प्रतिरोध – ‘हाईवे’: धर्मराज कुमार →

Culture, Everyday Life, Government, Identities, Right watch

गोधरा भूल भी जाएँ पर इन आंकड़ो को कैसे भूलें, मोदी जी? : संजीव कुमार

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Guest post by SANJEEV KUMAR

अगर हम 2002 के गोधरा के जनसंहार को भूल भी जाये तो भी आतंकवाद के दमन के नाम पर सिलसिलेवार ढंग से हो रही फर्जी मूठभेड़ो में मुसलमानों की हत्या को हम कैसे भुला पाएंगे। कुछ देर के लिए अगर हम इन क़ानूनी हत्यारों को भी भूल जाएँ और प्रदेश में पिछले 10 वर्षों के दौरान मुसलमानों की आर्थिक और शैक्षणिक विकास पर नजर दौड़ाए तो पता चलेगा की मोदी सरकार ने गुजरात के मुसलमानों के साथ किस प्रकार की भेदभाव की नीति को सुविचारित ढंग से आपनाया है।
गुजरात में मुसलमानों की जनसंख्या गुजरात की कुल जनसंख्या का 9.7% है पर वर्तमान सरकार द्वारा पिछले एक दशक में चलाये गए SJSRY (स्वर्ण जयंती शहरी रोज़गार योजना)  और NSAP (नैशनल सोशल असिस्टेंस प्रोग्राम)  योजना को छोड़कर ज्यादातर योजनाओं में मुसलमानों की भागीदारी उनके जनसंख्या के अनुपात से कम ही है (सच्चर समिति रिपोर्ट, पृ.स. 178)। उदहारण के तौर पर कृषि बीमा योजना में मुसलमानों की भागीदारी मात्र 3.5% है, जबकि पॉवर टिलर आवंटन के मामले में मुसलमानों की भागीदारी मात्र 1.4% और ट्रेक्टर के मामले में 4.1% है। गुजरात में मोदी के शासन काल में सहकारी बैंक या ग्रामीण विकास बैंक से वहां के मुसलमानों को किसी प्रकार का कोई कर्ज नहीं मिला है (सच्चर समिति रिपोर्ट, पृ.स. 373-75)। Continue reading गोधरा भूल भी जाएँ पर इन आंकड़ो को कैसे भूलें, मोदी जी? : संजीव कुमार →

Bad ideas, Culture, Language, Mirror Worlds, Right watch

फेकू की भजन मंडली उर्फ़ खिसियानी बिल्ली खम्बा नोचे

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फेकूराम की भजन मंडली का ‘नमो नमो’ मन्त्र तो एक लम्बे अरसे से चल ही आ रहा था, मगर भक्तों में होड़ लगी तो कुछ को लगा की अब शिवजी की जगह इन्हीं को बैठा दिया जाए – सो ‘हर हर महादेव’  भी हड़प लिया गया. भला हो शिव भक्तों का कि उन्होंने यह दांव चलने नहीं दिया. और फिर खुद शंकराचार्य ने इस पर एतराज़ कर दिया. खैर, यह तो रहा परिवार के भीतर का झगडा. सुलट जायेगा.

मगर इसी बीच एक मोर्चा बनारस में खुल गया. फेकूराम के बैंड बजे तो दिल्ली तक में हमारी नींद उड़ाये हुए थे ही मगर अचानक एक अदना सा आम आदमी जा कर उसे ललकार आया. भक्तों ने अंडे फेंके, स्याही फेंकी – हर जतन कर के देख लिया. मगर आख़िरकार उसने पोल खोल ही दी. कहने लगे कभी इन्होने कांग्रेसियों को या कांग्रेसियों ने इन्हें काले झंडे दिखाए? अंडे फेंके? तो ये बौखलाहट किस लिए है जी? आप दोनों की नूरा कुश्ती चलती रहती और सब आपस में बाँट कर लूट लेते – जैसे करते आये हैं – तो कोई परेशानी नहीं होती. आप की बौखलाहट से हे तो कई राज़ एक साथ खुलने लगे हैं.

तभी एक भक्तिन को लगा की उनकी भारत माता के साथ ‘गैंगरेप’ हो रहा है. देखिये नीचे इन भक्तन की ट्वीट. जैसे उन्हें मजबूर किया जा रहा है की वे अपनी माँ का सामूहिक बलात्कार देखें. अब तक तो अम्बानी, मनमोहन, चिदम्बरम, सिबल और फेकूराम की फ़ौज भारत माँ की आरती उतार रही थी – कहाँ से चले आये ये बलात्कारी! आरती उतर रहे थे वो विहिपई और बजरंगी सेनानी जो प्रेमी युगलों को सरे बाज़ार बेआबरू कर रहे थे. पबों से निकाल निकाल कल निर्वस्त्र कर रहे थे. आरती उतार रहा था राज ठाकरे. किसी ने इन भक्तिन के उद्गार उस वक़्त देखे?

 
Photo: The shamelessness of Madhu Kishwar... Her employer CSDS as well as her political mentor Mr Narendra Modi must clear their stand on this...
भारत माता की 1984 में आरती उतारी गयी, 1992 में बाबरी मस्जिद का ध्वंस करके आरती उतारी गयी और फिर 2002 में गुजरात में उतारी गयी.

Continue reading फेकू की भजन मंडली उर्फ़ खिसियानी बिल्ली खम्बा नोचे →

Culture, Ecology/Environment, Images

चायवाला: गौहर रज़ा

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Guest post – a poem by GAUHAR RAZA

चायवाला

बहुत फ़र्क़ है यह चायवाला
उन से
जो अपनी ज़िंदगी
दूसरों को चाय पिलाते गुज़ार देते हैं
बहुत फ़र्क़ है यह चायवाला
रामदीन, मैकल या ज्ञानी जी से
जो भूखे पेट रहते हैं दिन भर
और टूटे छप्पर, या पेड़ की जड़ के सहारे
चाय के एक प्याले से किसी के माथे की
थकन मिटाते हैं
फ़ैक्टरी के गेट के बाहर,
उस नौजवान का ग़म दूर करते हैं
जिसे अभी अभी नौकरी से निकाला गया है
या किसी राहगीर को सही रास्ता बताते हैं
बहुत फ़र्क़ है यह चाएवाला
उन से जो
देर गए, रात को अपने घर लौटते हैं
चंद सिक्के समेटे, उन गुंडों की गालियों के साथ,
जो रोज़ ज़बरदस्ती चाए पीते हैं,
और बदले में धमकियाँ देते हैं Continue reading चायवाला: गौहर रज़ा →

Culture, Language, Politics, Right watch

डेमॉगॉग का वक्त

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कुछ महीने पहले प्रतापभानु मेहता ने पूछा,’डेमॉगॉग को हिंदी में क्या कहेंगे?’ इतनी बार इस शब्द का प्रयोग किया है लेकिन इसका हिंदी प्रतिरूप खोजना सूझा नहीं। डेमॉगॉग कौन है बताया जा सकता है लेकिन क्या है,बताना इतना सरल नहीं।  तुरत दिमाग में लफ्फाज कौंधा लेकिन उसका रिश्ता वाचालता से अधिक है। फिर एक और शब्द की ओर ध्यान दिलाया मित्र  अरशद अजमल ने,शोलाबयानी। लगा कि यह अंगेज़ी के ‘रैबल राउज़र’ के काम के लिए अधिक उपयुक्त प्रतिरूप  है। फादर कामिल बुल्के के  और दूसरे शब्दकोशों में देखा तो पाया कि यह शब्द है ही नहीं। तो क्या फादर का कभी किसी डेमॉगॉग से पाला नहीं पड़ा था? Continue reading डेमॉगॉग का वक्त →

Capitalism, Culture, Media politics, Politics, Scams

Time For a Code of Conduct for Media

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Let us make no mistake, the Big Media in India does not merely report; it is a player in Indian politics in general and elections in particular.

Now that the debate is out in public it is time to insist on a code of conduct for the media as well. After Arvind Kejriwal’s recent allegations against four television channels that have been blown out of proportion and misrepresented, there has been an uproar. A burst of righteous anger, not only from those accused by Kejriwal of having been bought out by a particular party, but also by professional bodies like the News Broadcasters Association (NBA), the Editor’s Guild, the Broadcast Editors Association (BEA) and other senior journalists.

The NBA, which is a private association, threatened to black out Kejriwal and AAP news and then went on to assert its objectivity and fairness against the “unsubstantiated and unverified allegations” against the news channels.

The BEA said in its statement:

“BEA condemns Arvind Kejriwal’s irresponsible statement on media. BEA believes that electronic media is discharging its responsibility in a fair and objective manner. It is wrong to say that TV channels are pursuing a biased agenda in favour of any person or party. BEA believes that such statements are a conspiracy to dilute the credibility of media. We have strong faith in the self regulatory institutions that electronic media has developed…”

Let us concede for the sake of argument that Arvind Kejriwal went overboard and his statement about ‘jailing mediapersons’ was uncalled for. But does the claim of the BEA, NBA and other bodies really stand up to scrutiny? Is the electronic media really dïscharging its  responsibility in a fair and objective manner”? What precisely, may we ask, are the “self regulatory institutions that electronic media has developed” and what have they done by way of reigning in the Indian media that have sunk to new lows in recent years with “paid news”and “advertorials” – not to mention private treaties with big corporations ? We ask the BEA and the NBA and 0ther defenders of the media, is this the ethical behavior they talk of? Is this self-regulation? Maybe Kejriwal’s allegations are “unsubstantiated” in the sense that there is no “proof”, but there is little doubt from the instructions that journalists have been receiving from their bosses, that a lot more than mere reporting is at stake. And just for the record, the the Chairman of one of media houses accused by Kejriwal, Subhash Chandra of Zee News, is currently facing a case of extortion – using his channel’s news-gathering for blackmail. We would love to hear how this qualifies as ‘fair and objective’in the eyes of the BEA and other luminaries. Continue reading Time For a Code of Conduct for Media →

Capitalism, Culture, Debates, Media politics, Right watch

Crafting the Modi Mask – India Inc and the Big Media

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AAP Rally in Gujarat. Courtesy Mukul Sinha
AAP Rally in Gujarat. Courtesy Mukul Sinha

Two things stand out for their sublime quality in the current round of pre-election campaigning. First, the danger to Indian democracy has assumed unprecedented proportions, and there is a clear sense of desperation in the air. The threat emanates, you guessed right, from a group of anarchists who are poised to take over Indian democracy.  This is perhaps the dirtiest and most dangerous election that India has ever seen – what with the bunch of anarchists ‘fixing the media‘, ‘spreading anarchy‘, ‘hijacking democracy‘, ‘taking foreign funds‘ for their election campaign (while the others, the impeccable democrats of the BJP and the Congress have to make do with ‘local’ capitalists like  Mukesh Ambani). What’s more, these people are ‘political mercenaries‘,  urban Maoists in disguise and they want to wreck the neatly and painstakingly built edifice of our hallowed democracy. This widespread love of democracy is touching. For someone like me who has closely watched (and participated in) politics from the mid 1970s, the panic evident in the tone of those attacking AAP is as unprecedented as it is revealing. It is revealing of the fact that the political class is thrown into disarray by this new way of doing politics that AAP represents. In BJP’s case, in particular, one can discern complete befuddlement – neither its hope to reap the benefit of the mass anger against the Congress, nor its tried and tested polarizing communal vocabulary seem to have any meaning any more.

Thus, during the days of AAP rule in Delhi, the official BJP state executive resolution came up with this claim:

“Delhi is currently being ruled by a bunch of political mercenaries hired, supported and controlled by Congress party. The words and action of AAP leaders expose the fact that it is a Maoist outfit.”

Of course, the Maoists are “hired, supported and controlled by the Congress”!

Continue reading Crafting the Modi Mask – India Inc and the Big Media →

Culture, Debates

No Country for Cricket: Umang Kumar

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Guest post by UMANG KUMAR
I have to confess that there are many times that I too have wanted to stop supporting the Indian cricket team and root for some other team. And this is not just with the current lineup and their losses in South Africa and New Zealand. Why, even when Gundappa Viswanath failed in inning after inning, when, in the pre-Kapil days, Indian pacers (“fast medium”) like Karsan Ghavri and Mohinder Amarnath huffed and puffed, there were times I just wanted to say good riddance. Thank you India, I think I’ll switch allegiance – I’ll go support Clive Lloyds’ West Indies or Asif Iqbal’s Pakistan. Much better teams, so much more exciting to watch!

The Indian cricketers could neither bowl well nor defend modest totals with the bat. And they were lackluster on the field save that one saving grace, Eknath Solkar.
Continue reading No Country for Cricket: Umang Kumar →

Culture, Everyday Life

Fundamentalism, Liberalism and Muslims – Review of Hasan Suroor’s ‘India’s Muslim Spring’: Abhay Kumar

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ABHAY KUMAR reviews Hasan Suroor’s India’s Muslim Spring: Why is Nobody Talking about It?, Rupa Publications, New Delhi, 2014.

Hasan Suroor is a London-based veteran journalist. He began his career with The Statesman and later he worked as The Hindu’s UK correspondent for over a decade. He continues to write in newspapers on important issues such as Muslim identity, secularism, communalism and Islam. He was brought up and educated in Delhi after his family left Lucknow for the national capital post-Partition. Their new destination, at least in the beginning, did not receive its guests warmly as his parents’ identity as Muslim worked as a hurdle for them to rent a flat in New Delhi. Eventually they had to seek refuge in the Muslim-majority Ballimaran of the Walled City where his mother worked as a Communist Party activist. Suroor, who is regarded as one of the “progressive” and “liberal” voices among Muslims, has recently been in news for an interesting thesis which he offers in his new book, India’s Muslim Spring: Why is Nobody Talking about It?

He argues that for the first time since Independence a “seismic” and “tectonic” shift has taken place in Indian Muslim community with an emergence of “liberal spring” among new generations Muslims, who were born after the late 1970s. For Suroor, the elder generations of Muslim were “fundamentalist” and “emotional”, “intolerant” of freedom of speech, prioritized “cultural” and “identity” issues over substantive ones, had “contempt” for women and blamed others for the plight of Muslim community while the young Muslims are just the opposite of their elders; they, are  “tolerant”, “pragmatic”, “moderates”, “secular”, “cosmopolitan”, “optimistic” and “confident” and “forward-looking” as well as “nationalistic”. In short, he creates a binary between fundamentalist old Muslims versus liberal young Muslims. Continue reading Fundamentalism, Liberalism and Muslims – Review of Hasan Suroor’s ‘India’s Muslim Spring’: Abhay Kumar →

Culture, Politics, Right watch

Despatch from Ayodhya: Monobina Gupta

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Guest post by MONOBINA GUPTA

Ayodhya, Faizabad: As our taxi approaches the site of the controversial Ram temple, two young men on motorcycle ride alongside our car. “ We will be your guides. Want to see the temple? Only hundred rupees,” they shout. My unofficial ‘guide’ Vineet Maurya, a fierce crusader against representing the site as the birthplace of Ram, rolls down the window and snaps back,” We are not here to see the temple.” Further down the lane, more young men run behind the car with similar offers. Temple sightseeing has turned into a veritable industry at Ayodhya.

From the narrow alley, the disputed plot, closely barricaded with high yellow railings and watched 24/7 by men from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Provincial Armed Constabulary(PAC), images a heavily guarded fortress: one that is in danger of imminent attack. This is the holy site over whose ownership Hindus, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had waged such a fierce battle and spilled so much of blood. The manifestations of that unholy battle are overwhelmingly present in the form of deployment of countless security forces guarding Ram Lalla. What is lost in this murky stand-off is the sanctity of a holy place.  Ayodhya ranks among the top holy sites of India. Continue reading Despatch from Ayodhya: Monobina Gupta →

Culture, Debates, Education, Government, Language, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

राष्ट्रवाद का मौसम

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मेरठ के एक निजी विश्वविद्यालय में भारत-पाकिस्तान के बीच हुए क्रिकेट मैच में पाकिस्तान की जीत पर कश्मीरी छात्रों की खुशी जाहिर करने पर स्थानीय छात्रों द्वारा उनकी पिटाई और तोड़-फोड़ के बाद तीन दिनों के लिए छियासठ छात्रों के  निलंबन (निष्कासन नहीं) और फिर ‘उनकी हिफाजत के लिए’ उन्हें उनके घर भेजने के विश्वविद्यालय के फैसले के बाद उन छात्रों पर राष्ट्रद्रोह की धाराएं लगाने से लेकर उन्हें वापस लेने तक और उसके बाद भी जो प्रतिक्रियाएं हुई हैं,वे राष्ट्रवादी नज़रिए मात्र की उपयोगिता को समझने के लिहाज से काफी शिक्षाप्रद हैं.आज यह खबर आई है कि ग्रेटर नॉएडा के शारदा विश्विद्यालय में भी छह छात्रों को छात्रावास से ऐसी ही घटना के बाद निकाल दिया गया है जिनमें चार कश्मीरी हैं. मामला इतना ठंडा क्यों है, ऐसी निराशा जाहिर करते हुए फेसबुक पर टिप्पणी की गयी है और उसके बाद तनाव बढ़ गया है.

रोशोमन नियम के अनुसार घटना के एकाधिक वर्णन आ गए हैं और तय करना मुश्किल है कि इनमें से कौन सा तथ्यपरक है. स्थानीय (राष्ट्रीय या राष्ट्रवादी?) तथ्य यह है कि पाकिस्तानी खिलाड़ियों के प्रदर्शन और फिर उस टीम की जीत पर कश्मीरी छात्रों ने पाकिस्तान जिंदाबाद के नारे लगाए जिससे  भारतीय टीम की हार से पहले से ही दुखी स्थानीय छात्रों में रोष फैल गया. निलंबित कश्मीरी छात्रों का कहना है कि वे हर उस खिलाड़ी के प्रदर्शन पर ताली बजा रहे थे जो अच्छा खेल रहा था. बेहतर टीम पकिस्तान के जीतने पर उनका खुशी जाहिर करना कहीं से राष्ट्रविरोधी नहीं कहा जा सकता. उनके मुताबिक  इसके बाद उन्हें पीटा गया और तोड़-फोड़ की गई. Continue reading राष्ट्रवाद का मौसम →

Culture, Debates, Feminism, Right watch

The Embarrassed Modern Hindu (Upper Caste Man)

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Perhaps the clearest statement on what exactly it is in Wendy Doniger’s work that bothers some people – and who these people are – is outlined in Jakob De Roover’s empathetic account of the imagined ‘Hindu boy with intellectual inclinations’ born in the 1950’s.  This boy grows up going to the temple, hearing stories about Bhima’s strength, Krishna’s appetite, Durvasa’s temper. If you were this boy,

Perhaps you rejoice when Rama rescues Sita, feel afraid when Kali fights demons, or cry when Drona demands Ekalavya’s thumb as gurudakshina.

The boy goes to school and learns about caste discrimination in Hinduism (that he had to go to school to learn about caste discrimination establishes his own caste position very clearly).  This makes

You feel bad about your “backward religion” and ashamed about “the massive injustice of caste.”

But

You sense that it misrepresents you and your traditions—it distorts your practices, your people, and your experience…Everywhere you turn, people just reproduce the same story about Hinduism and caste as the worst thing that ever happened to humanity: politicians, activists, teachers, professors, newspapers, television shows… Continue reading The Embarrassed Modern Hindu (Upper Caste Man) →

Culture, Debates, Right watch

Terrorized By The Past: Janaki Nair

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Kafila normally does not carry guest posts that have appeared elsewhere, but I think JANAKI NAIR’s article from The Telegraph needs to be read widely – a scholarly, lively, feminist take on sexuality in Hindu traditions.

It is our good fortune that our knowledge of Hinduism does not come from the authorized versions that Dina Nath Batra and his Shiksha Bachao Andolan wish to propagate. Neither does our collective imagination remain reined in by his fantasies about the Indian past. This large and luxuriantly complex society, even when all else has been brutally taken from its wretched millions, has its imagination intact. And, we fervently hope, for some time to come. Therein lies the challenge to our desperately needed “historical temper”.

As an 18-year-old, I had read the sexually frank passages of the Rig Veda with wonder and amazement. In a small village called Sanehalli, Karnataka, where the performing arts have been vigorously patronized by Swami Panditaradhya, I recently watched, along with the people from surrounding villages, the Kathakali performance at the annual theatre festival, in which Shakuntala incrementally raised the decibel level and shouted “Anarya!” at Dushyanta, violating all norms of womanly behaviour and appropriate performance voice. There was thunderous appreciative clapping at the end. I have filed past, with lots of ardent devotees of Krishna, the brilliant murals at the Cochin Palace at Mattancherry, where Krishna does not waste a single digital extremity of his eight hands and two feet in pleasing his gopis (his two flute playing hands excepted). Ditto the Guruvayur Temple, whose sexually explicit murals are now, alas, being modestly covered in (NRI-sponsored) gold plate. The erotic sculptures at the Nellaiappar Temple at Tirunelveli, the great Chalukyan temples at Aihole Pattadakkal and Badami, all visited daily by hundreds of chattering and irreverent school children, continue to stand as testimony to what our illustrious forebears were also preoccupied with. One could go onad nauseum, about the little and great traditions of Indian mythology which are not only sexually explicit but bloodstained to boot. It is Wendy Doniger’s triumph that she brings us these complexities in just one book. Continue reading Terrorized By The Past: Janaki Nair →

Culture, Debates, Education, Politics, Right watch

CHS, JNU Statement on the Wendy Doniger Issue

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The following is the text of a statement issued by the Faculty of the CENTRE FOR HISTORICAL STUDIES, Jawaharlal Nehru University, protesting against the recent decision by Penguin India to withdraw and pulp all remaining copies of Wendy Doniger’s Hinduism. An Alternative History

We are outraged by the news that Penguin India has agreed to withdraw Wendy Doniger’s much acclaimed book The Hindus: An Alternative History and pulp all existing copies of the book in stock. Professor Doniger is one of the most respected Indologists in the world. She has spent a lifetime exploring the richness of India’s religious pasts, showcasing the creative interplay between multiple traditions — the Puranic and the Vedantic, the folkloric and the Brahmanic. Innovatively drawing on many disciplines, she has investigated the variegated world of Hindu mythology and theology, to explore what they say about order and chaos, morality and ethics, the good and the evil, the erotic and the non-erotic. Her reading of Hinduism has inevitably disturbed those who wish to sanitize and straitjacket Hinduism, and repress the multiplicity of traditions that constitute it. While welcoming all critical engagements with the book, the faculty of the CHS condemns any attempt to curtail the circulation of this book in any form.

The decision of Penguin India to sign an out-of-court settlement to withdraw Professor Doniger’s book is therefore an act of abandoning the basic ethics of publishing. What is most disturbing is the fact that Penguin Books — which had in the past a sturdy reputation of defending freedom of expression — has agreed to a settlement even without the Indian state or the Indian judiciary taking a position against the book. This decision will affirm the power of the forces of religious intolerance, encourage further attacks on authors who question the fundamentalist interpretation of the past, and subvert the right to freedom of expression. It will undermine further the rapidly eroding public space wherein critical debates and discussions can take place. This is a space that all who believe in democratic values — publishers included — need to preserve and defend.

Please note that individual names are not being listed in this statement as this is emanating from the entire faculty.

Thank you,

Professor Rajat Datta

Culture, Education, Politics, Right watch

Statement by Scholars in North American Universities on Withdrawal of Wendy Doniger’s book

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This statement expresses the views of the individuals listed below and does not represent the views of the University of Chicago or any of its departments.

We, the undersigned, as students of South Asia, strongly condemn the withdrawal by Penguin Press India of Wendy Doniger’s The Hindus: An Alternative History from distribution in India. We believe that this work has been attacked because it presents a threat to orthodox Brahminical interpretations of Hinduism. We believe that this attack is part of ongoing attempts by upper-caste extremist Hindu forces to stifle any alternative understandings of Hinduism. As students in the United States, we are acutely aware that North American organizations of the Hindu right initiated the protests against Wendy Doniger’s scholarship. Hindu right wing organisations in India have worked in tandem with their North American counterparts to suppress alternative voices in India and too often violently. We are deeply concerned about the alarming increase in attacks on any academic study of Hinduism that does not fit these groups’ narrow and exclusionary vision of Hinduism which is part of their desire to create a Hindu India that excludes the religious minorities of Indian Muslims and Indian Christians. Continue reading Statement by Scholars in North American Universities on Withdrawal of Wendy Doniger’s book →

Culture, Debates, Identities

Of Khap and AAP: Eight Myths about Culture and Caste : N. Balmurli

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Guest Post by N. Balmurli

Delhi chief minister Mr. Kejriwal’s claim that “khaps serve a cultural purpose” reproduces some popular myths about culture and caste. These myths predate AAP and have been put into place over the last few years by official and expert statements in public discourse such that they are now part of a “commonsense” of worldviews about caste and culture.

Consider two other statements made by political figures whose parties are at pains to show how retrograde AAP’s statements are.

Continue reading Of Khap and AAP: Eight Myths about Culture and Caste : N. Balmurli →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Language, Law

Demand to Reconsider and Revise Sections 153a and 295a of the Indian Penal Code to Protect Freedom of Expression in India: Concerned Academics and Public Intellectuals

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Statement by Concerned Academics and Public Intellectuals: Ananya Vajpeyi, Sheldon Pollock, Partha Chatterjee, Laurie Patton, Romila Thapar, David Shulman and many others

We the undersigned are appalled by the recent settlement reached between Dina Nath Batra for the Shiksha Bachao Andolan and Penguin Books India, to cease the publication of Wendy Doniger’s The Hindus: An Alternative History (Penguin USA 2009; Penguin India 2010), and to withdraw and destroy remaining copies of the book on Indian territory. Continue reading Demand to Reconsider and Revise Sections 153a and 295a of the Indian Penal Code to Protect Freedom of Expression in India: Concerned Academics and Public Intellectuals →