Category Archives: Government

Government, Movements, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Terms of Endearment – Kashmir and the Possessive Cartography of the Indian Nation-State: Jhuma Sen

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Guest Post by JHUMA SEN

Kashmir – the average Facebook trotting, Twitter wielding, middle-class Indian will assert – is an inalienable, inseparable part of Bharat Mata, the anthropomorphic representation of cartographic territorial sovereignty of India. Atoot Ang or inseparable organ. Yeh Fevicol ka majboot jod hai, tutega nahin.

The adhesive in this case is a deadly cocktail of an occupying power periodically using the spectacle of a ritualistic and performative violence to discipline and punish the colony, brutalizing every peaceful protest, responding to stone pelters with bullets, and prisoners with execution, to satiate some imagined collective conscience that sleeps like a baby when a three-year old is shot with his father, a ‘former terrorist’. But Kashmir belongs to India, in the same way Kiran belongs to Rahul in the famed Bollywood film of 1998, Darr: A Violent Love Story, the Wikipedia page of which describe it as a ‘romantic psychological thriller’. [i] The film traces the ‘romantic’ obsession of Rahul (Shah Rukh Khan) with Kiran (Juhi Chawla)—the serenading Rahul, the stalker Rahul, the fragile male ego Rahul, the violent Rahul, the abductor Rahul, the killer Rahul and a traumatized Kiran simply wanting to be left alone and desiring freedom from the wretchedness of Rahul’s ‘love’–Tu Haan Kar Ya Na Kar, Tu Hai Meri Kiran (Whether you agree to it or not, Kiran, you are mine’). The relationship between Rahul and Kiran (or for that matter any violent and delusional relationship) mirrors the relationship between the Indian State and Kashmir—the desire to control and the desire to be free. Continue reading Terms of Endearment – Kashmir and the Possessive Cartography of the Indian Nation-State: Jhuma Sen →

Government, Movements, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Citizens’ Statement On Kashmir

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Government, Movements, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Kashmir – Cry my beloved country: Gautam Navlakha

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Guest Post by GAUTAM NAVLAKHA

burhan-wani-story_647_070916051953Image courtesy India Today

Burhan Muzaffar Wani and his comrades were born and died in the phase of militancy in Jammu and Kashmir that symbolizes the watershed in politics in J&K; pre and post ‘89-90. Unlike in the past, indigenous militants now neither travel to Pakistan for guns or for arms training. Armed resistance and its indigenous roots are etched on the faces of these young men.  Burhan’s killing on July 8 and following that, the turnout at his funeral as well as the protests that broke throughout the  state have rekindled memories of the early 90s, especially the death of Ashfaq Majid in 1990, which too had seen mass outpouring of rage.  Burhan and his comrades knew they would not survive for long; seven years is the average life span of a militant in Kashmir, as Burhan’s father poignantly stated long before his death.  Not because that was their own choice, but it was the only choice offered to a people by a ruthless military suppression by a state that has refused to recognize the popular demand for right of self determination.

Indians remain ignorant of the depth of the passion for ‘Azaadi’ from forced union with India, a union imposed in myriad ways. The policy of land grabbing to settle ex servicemen from outside the state (an old project of RSS); allowing non-state subjects unhindered access to land for industry, real estate, mining, for setting up fortified colonies for migrants; where control of the state government, especially Kashmir based ruling parties, over administration has always been circumscribed by New Delhi; and financial dependence  compounded by autonomy of the military from the purview of representative government – all of these point to the fact that the reins of government are held in New Delhi. Continue reading Kashmir – Cry my beloved country: Gautam Navlakha →

Bad ideas, Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Government, Identities, Images, Law, Violence/Conflict

The Killings in Kashmir: Kavita Krishnan

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Guest Post by KAVITA KRISHNAN

An appeal to the conscience of every Indian citizen – to tune down the shrill media noise for a bit, take a step back from the easy, packaged ‘discourse’ being dished out, and ask try and ask ourselves some uncomfortable but necessary questions. 

I am being asked by various persons in the media to comment on my apparently ‘controversial’ and ‘shocking’ claim that Burhan Wani’s killing was extra-judicial’ and must be probed. Let me begin with a few remarks about this issue.

For most Kashmiris, it may not matter all that much whether or not Burhan Wani was killed in a ‘fake’ encounter or a ‘genuine’ one. What matters is that the Indian State killed him – just as it has killed and is killing so many other Kashmiri youngsters. Their grief, their rage, does not depend on the authenticity or otherwise of the encounter. They have no expectations of due process or of justice from the Indian State. It it civil liberties activists who – in what sometimes feels like an exhausting, futile exercise – demand that due process be followed, that the mandates of the Indian Constitution be respected, that the armed forces in conflict areas be held accountable.

Continue reading The Killings in Kashmir: Kavita Krishnan →

Bad ideas, Debates, Everyday Life, Frontiers, Government, Identities, Images, Mirror Worlds, Movements, Violence/Conflict

Kashmir Burns, Again

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A hundred and twelve lives, most of them young, some very young, were lost in Kashmir when the army, paramilitaries and police forces opened fire on several occasions from June to September in 2010. That was only six years ago. The latest reports indicate that around twenty three lives have already been lost in the last two days alone, in the aftermath of state troopers, soldiers and paramilitaries firing at funeral protests, after Burhan Wani, a twenty two year old insurgent, who had acquired the aura of a folk hero in Kashmir, was killed in an ‘encounter’, along with two of his associates, on Friday morning in a village in Kokernag.

Several more people have sustained serious injuries. The body count is likely to rise. Curfews have returned, phone and internet links are suspended, but nothing seems to keep people from spilling out onto the streets, and unlike previous instances, the communications ban seems to be unworkable. No one can pretend that Kashmir is not in crisis, again, today.

The people in power, at the state and the centre, were different in 2010. Omar Abdullah, then chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, was offering mealy mouthed rationalizations for killing kids then, while Mehbooba Mufti, was weeping crocodile tears. It is the other way round right now. Omar is being ‘sensitive’, Mehbooba, who the roll of the dice has placed in the position of chief minister now, is ’sullenly’ presiding over a badly timed by-election victory. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was silent then, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is playing percussion instruments in Africa now. If Nero played the harp while Rome burnt, Modi beats drums while Kashmir goes up in flames.

Continue reading Kashmir Burns, Again →

Bad ideas, Culture, Everyday Life, Feminism, Genders, Government, Identities, Law, Media politics, Sex, Violence/Conflict

Moral Police-Police!

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The Kerala police has once more revealed how utterly unreconstructed it is since colonial times, in their brutal attack on transgender people in the city of Kochi. Stuck in 19th century Victorian morality on the one hand, and in the unabashed sense of power that only colonial authority can bequeath, these policemen thought it perfectly alright to use violence to correct what they perceive as a ‘moral problem’, sex work and that too, by transgendered persons. Continue reading Moral Police-Police! →

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

पवित्र किताब की छाया में आकार लेता जनतंत्र

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भारतीय लोकतंत्र: दशा और दिशा को लेकर चन्द बातें

Never Be Deceived That the Rich Will Permit You To Vote Away Their Wealth
– Lucy Parsons

 

..लोग सोच रहे हैं कि आखिर जनतंत्र हर ओर दक्षिणपंथी हवाओें के लिए रास्ता सुगम कैसे कर रहा है, अगर वह ‘युनाईटेड किंगडम इंडिपेण्डस पार्टी’ के नाम से ब्रिटन में मौजूद है तो मरीन ला पेन के तौर पर फ्रांस में अस्तित्व में है तो नोर्बर्ट होफेर और फ्रीडम पार्टी के नाम से आस्टिया में सक्रिय है तो अमेरिका में उसे डोनाल्ड ट्रम्प के नाम से पहचाना जा रहा है। वैसे इन दिनों सबसे अधिक सूर्खियों में ब्रिटेन है, जिसने पश्चिमी जनतंत्र के संकट को उजागर किया है।

ब्रिटेन को यूरोपीयन यूनियन का हिस्सा बने रहना चाहिए या नहीं इसे लेकर जो जनमतसंग्रह हुआ, जिसमें सभी यही कयास लगा रहे थे कि ब्रिटेन को ‘अलग हो जाना चाहिए’ ऐसा माननेवालों को शिकस्त मिलेगी, मगर उसमें उलटफेर दिखाई दिया है; वही लोग जीत गए हैं। और इस बात को नहीं भुला जा सकता कि जो कुछ हो हुआ है उसमें प्रक्रिया के तौर पर गैरजनतांत्रिक कुछ भी नहीं है। दक्षिणपंथ के झण्डाबरदारों ने ऐसे चुनावों में लोगों को अपने पक्ष में वोट डालने के लिए प्रेरित किया है, जो पारदर्शी थे, जिनके संचालन पर कोई सवाल नहीं उठे हैं।

( For full text of the article click here : https://sabrangindia.in/article/pvitra-kitab-ki-chaaya-mein-aakar-leta-hai-jantanta)

 

Bad ideas, Government, Metropolis

Outsmarting the Informal City

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In an online documentary archive called Delhi Digest, Saleem Shakeel, founder of an e-waste recycling company in the city, speaks to the camera about e-waste. The setting is familiar. Mr Shakeel sits on the single chair in what looks like a small, partially built room of exposed red brick. There are piles of objects which, like the room itself, appear used or discarded. If you conjured up an image of “informal” and “waste,” this is pretty much what you think of. Ashish Nandy would perhaps describe an outsider’s view of it it as he once did for the way we see the “slum”: all that stubbornly refuses to bow out of modernity’s way. It’s hard to imagine technology here, let along big data or smart solutions.

Yet as Mr Shakeel speaks, it is precisely technology and data that flood your mind. He describes how e-waste circulates through circuits and geographies in the city that we rarely see. Sophisticated flows of work and labour are ready when the computer comes, each finely skilled and discerning. Different workers take the different parts – CPU goes one way, the keyboard another. They break further: mother boards, drives, power supply, wires, the iron, the gold chip. Every last bit is used, and its use is determined by the current market’s daily prices. No two days, says Mr Shakeel, are the same; you have to know, and you have to be ready to adjust. Information – that less glamourous cousin of “data” – flows quickly, endlessly, in many modes and forms. The circuits are opaque, but they work.

Continue reading Outsmarting the Informal City →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Government, Left watch, Politics

Saffronization, Yoga and the Kerala Left: CP Geevan

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Guest post by CP GEEVAN

There are many ways in which ‘saffronization’ is being carried out at various levels. It takes the form of virulent battles at one extreme and persistent soft-campaigns at the other. It really does not require deep skills in socio-political analysis to see this entire spectrum of insidious divisive politics – all of that are in the clearly visible band. Surprisingly, the CPI(M) seems to have taken the attitude of a friendly match when it comes to certain variants of soft-saffronization, pretending not to see what is going on behind often innocuous-sounding things like Yoga – the latest weapon being deployed in the saffronization campaign. Instead of questioning the premises of this misplaced ‘national celebration’ and its belligerent imposition that defines the Modi government move, the party has chosen to play a friendly match by wholeheartedly joining the soft-saffronization race.

Pinarayi Vijayan at CPI-MK's Yoga event
Pinarayi Vijayan at CPI-MK’s Yoga event

The CPI(M, Kerala syndicate) has, in many ways, outperformed the RSS in Kerala so much so that the hyper-active media in Kerala had very little to report on how BJP and RSS celebrated yoga day in God’s Own Country. It seemed the Sanghis were pleasantly surprised at the saffronization of the CPI(M) itself! May be, the CPI(M) is gloating over how it out-smarted the Sanghis at their own game but that is not how it works in the world of everyday politics. For their part, the Sanghis could find nothing to object to in the way the new government in Kerala celebrated yoga. It seemed the Gods came to the CPI(M) party headquarters to pay obeisance to the newly enthroned in their glorious new clothes, new language, new style, new gait, new approach, and, of course, some inklings of a new, disquieting politics.

Continue reading Saffronization, Yoga and the Kerala Left: CP Geevan →

Government, Identities, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Hindutva Lands on Foreign Shores – A View from the Gallery: Rebecca de Souza

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Guest post by REBECCA DE SOUZA

Recently, I received the opportunity of a lifetime when I was invited to attend Indian Prime Minister (PM) Modi’s address to the joint session of US Congress on June 8th, 2016. When I got the call from Congressman Nolan’s office, I was surprised to say the least. I am not involved in politics, I did not know Rep. Nolan personally, and have not made any significant monetary contributions to politics in either country. My first reaction was to say no, because PM Modi and I could not be further apart on the political spectrum. But soon the significance of what had happened dawned on me. I, an Indian American, an academic, had just received an invitation from a US Congressman who knew about my work and had picked me to be his guest. As a minority in both countries, a Christian minority in India and an ethnic/ racial minority in the US, I was invited to a place of power which typically would be inaccessible to a person like me. Ironically, as an Indian-American I had more access to a transnational political arena than as an Indian living in India. I arrived in DC with eager anticipation not knowing what would unfold.

Attending PM Modi’s address has provided me with unique insight into transnational politics and my own identity as an Indian-American and one who is “not a Hindu”. As I was sitting in the gallery with other Indian Americans, I realized that in a post-liberalization world where political contributions flow easily across borders, Indian Americans play a huge role in the political economy of India and the message of Hindutva has become the single most powerful way to unite this group.

The term Hindutva refers to a nearly hundred year socio-political project promoted by right wing Hindu nationalist groups, which redefines people living in India as “Hindu” based on geographic, racial, and cultural identity. The Hindutva project is centered on the “invention of archaic Vedic Hinduism” and Vedic Aryanism and the belief that “…it was in India that Aryans had either originated or achieved the pinnacle of their culture and civilization which they had then bestowed on the world”.  While Hinduism has been known for being a diverse religion, Hindutva’s project is to construct a homogeneous Hindu community through universalizing upper caste practices and values to all castes and classes. [1] Continue reading Hindutva Lands on Foreign Shores – A View from the Gallery: Rebecca de Souza →

Capitalism, Education, Government, Media politics

Teacher Killings Ignite Calls for Revolution in Mexico

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The violent police crackdown on teachers’ union protests recently have spurred widespread condemnation of the government’s privatization drive, backed by repression. The following is extracted from two reports by Lauren McCauley, staff writer, Common Dreams (commondreams.org)

Oaxaca protests, Mexico
Oaxaca protests- teachers block highway, Mexico, (Photo: Luis Alberto Hernandez/ AP)

An initial report in Common Dreams, on 20 June 2016 reported: ‘A Mexican teacher protest against neoliberal education policies turned deadly on Sunday, with nine people killed, after police unleashed gunfire on the demonstrators’ road blockade.

According to TeleSUR, teachers from the dissident union, Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (CNTE), “had set up the blockade as part of protests over an education reform implemented by President Enrique Peña Nieto and the arrest of several of the unions’ leaders over the past week,” which they said, were politically motivated.

 

Continue reading Teacher Killings Ignite Calls for Revolution in Mexico →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Government, Identities, Images, Law, Left watch, Media politics, Movements, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Stop Trying to Portray Us as Extremists: Dalit Human Rights Movement

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The police investigation about the bomb blast at the Kollam Collectorate on 15 June 2016 has now turned against us. Neither the organization nor its activists have any involvement in this incident. The accusation against us is just a ploy to use draconian laws such as the UAPA to destroy dalit-adivasi resistance.

The demeaning and enslaving social norms in Kerala have, since centuries, denied dalit people the most basic human rights such as the right to education, the right to decently clothe one’s body, the right to travel on public roads, and express one’s views. But India became a democracy that aimed for social democratisation, and Dr B R Ambedkar raised the possibility of social equality and reservations for the underprivileged groups through the Indian Constitution. Yet, sixty-five years later, the classes fundamental to this society have made no social, economic, or cultural progress and they continue to endure caste slavery and and exploitation in all areas of public life. The mainstream political parties who surfaced as the protectors of these classes have never offered them complete protection at any time. Though they have been faithful followers and workers of these parties, members of the disadvantaged groups have had little economic security; they have lacked social education; they have had to cry out for tiny parcels of land. Continue reading Stop Trying to Portray Us as Extremists: Dalit Human Rights Movement →

Bad ideas, Debates, Government, Identities, Left watch, Media politics, Movements, Violence/Conflict

Crushing Dignity, Force-feeding Honour: The CPM is Back in Form Again!

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The hunt, it seems, is on again. The CPM in power has begun to show its fangs again, and shamefully, they seem to threaten only dalit people who refuse and criticise their disciplinary/welfarist embrace.  In north Kerala, two dalit women were arrested for having allegedly attacked a DYFI leader who abused them in casteist terms. In the south, the persecution of the Buddhist Dalit Human Rights Movement (DHRM)seems to have begun afresh, with the police and the press foisting on them responsibility for the recent bomb blast at the premises of the Kollam Collectorate. The two women mentioned belong to the Congress party; as for the DHRM, the CPM has had a long-standing grouse against them, carried forward now from their last term in power. I am not sure, but the recent ouster of Laha Gopalan, the leader of the Chengara land struggle in the wake of the CPM’s return to power, could be part of this story too. I have no love lost for that man, who evoked the name of Ambedkar but ran the village set up by the landless in Chengara like a crude caste headman. But the timing of his expulsion and the way the village seems to be under the thumb of the police arouses discomfort. Continue reading Crushing Dignity, Force-feeding Honour: The CPM is Back in Form Again! →

Bad ideas, Debates, Education, Everyday Life, Government, Movements, Politics

Resist the Modi Regime’s Assault on Students, Reject the Subramaniam Panel Report on Student Politics: Shehla Rashid

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Guest Post by Shehla Rashid

When politics decides your future, decide what your politics should be !

Shehla Rashid (AISA), Vice President JNUSU, speaks at a student protest, during the 'Occupy UGC' Movement
Shehla Rashid (AISA), Vice President JNUSU, speaks at a student protest, during the ‘Occupy UGC’ Movement

The recent government constituted panel‘s (headed by former cabinet secretary T.S.R. Subramaniam) report on student politics is unconstitutional, highly regressive and politically motivated, and signals the upcoming onslaught of total commercialisation of education and imposition of Hindutva ideology in universities. The TSR Subramaniam Panel’s report is the logical follow up to the Birla Ambani report (which was submitted in 2000), following which student unions across the country were banned. The Birla Ambani report had lamented that student unions are not allowing commercialisation of education: we accept the charge and take pride in it! We believe that education should be a right of everyone, not a privilege of a handful of people.

Continue reading Resist the Modi Regime’s Assault on Students, Reject the Subramaniam Panel Report on Student Politics: Shehla Rashid →

Education, Government, Politics

An Open Letter to the DU Teachers from a DU Student – I Stand with You: Fatma M. Khan

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Guest post by FATMA M. KHAN

Dear teachers,

After three years at the Delhi University, I have been disillusioned with a lot of things. But one thing which never ceases to surprise me is the tireless effort put in by a lot of you to create something better. It is often against the system, against the apathy of the students, against the examinations which reduce texts to regressive questions. This is for you.

This is for the teachers who hated the FYUP programme, but still tried hard to create meaningful project topics for the foundational courses out of the juvenile textbooks we had, not caring about the extra correction this created for themselves. This is for the teachers who went out of their way to conduct thought-provoking discussions on “Integrating Mind, Body and Heart”, a course which had no marking. Continue reading An Open Letter to the DU Teachers from a DU Student – I Stand with You: Fatma M. Khan →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Everyday Life, Government, Movements, Religion, Right watch

रौशनी के बीज बोने का माददा – ‘अंधविश्वास उन्मूलन’ पुस्तकत्रयी के बहाने चन्द बातें 

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(‘पहल’ के आगामी अंक हेतु )

Andhavishwas Unmoolan : Vichar - 1

1.

स्मशान में कवि सम्मेलन और वह भी अमावस की पूरी रात।

पिछले साल के अन्त में पुणे से आयी इस ख़बर की तरफ बहुत कम लोगों का ध्यान गया था। ( देखें इंडियन एक्स्प्रेस 14 नवम्बर 2015) उधर शहर में लोग दीपावली मना रहे थे और वहां सैकड़ों की तादाद मंे एकत्रित लोगों के बीच कविताएं पढ़ी जा रही थीं, एक कविता संग्रह का विमोचन भी हो रहा था, कुछ सांस्कृतिक  समूह भी बीच बीच में अपनी प्रस्तुतियां दे रहे थे। पुणे के उपनगर बोपोडी की स्मशानभूमि का परिसर उस अलग ढंग के कार्यक्रम का गवाह बना था।

‘अमावस्या की पवित्र रात में स्मशान में कवि सम्मेलन’ शीर्षक से आयोजित इस कार्यक्रम के मुख्य आयोजक थे , महाराष्ट्र अंधश्रद्धा निर्मूलन समिति – जिसके निर्माण में शहीद विचारक डा नरेन्द्र दाभोलकर ने पहल ली थी – तथा सिद्धार्थ संघ और सिद्धार्थ महिला संघ। समिति के सदस्यों द्वारा गाया एक गीत काफी चर्चित हुआ, जिसके बोल थे ‘बो रहे हैं हम प्रकाश बीज’। भूतों-प्रेतों के ‘अस्तित्व’ या उनके ‘विचरण’ को लेकर समाज में व्याप्त भ्रांत धारणाओं को चुनौती देने के लिए अंधश्रद्धा निर्मूलन समिति के बैनर तले आयोजित इस कार्यक्रम ने बरबस कुछ समय पहले कर्नाटक के बेलागावी सिटी कार्पोरेशन के अन्तर्गत आते वैंकुंठ धाम स्मशान में हुए एक अन्य आयोजन की याद ताजा कर दी थी,  जहां कर्नाटक के उत्पादनशुल्क/एक्साईज मंत्राी जनाब सतीश जरकीहोली ने सैकड़ों लोगों के साथ वहीं रात बीतायी थी अंौर वहां भोजन भी किया था। याद रहे कि महाराष्ट्र की तर्ज पर कर्नाटक विधानसभा में अंधश्रद्धा विरोधी बिल लाने में अत्यधिक सक्रिय रहे मंत्राीमहोदय दरअसल लोगों के मन में व्याप्त इस मिथक को दूर करना चाहते थे कि ऐसे स्थानों पर ‘भूत निवास’ करते हैं। Continue reading रौशनी के बीज बोने का माददा – ‘अंधविश्वास उन्मूलन’ पुस्तकत्रयी के बहाने चन्द बातें  →

Bad ideas, Education, Government

An Open Letter to Students from DUTA

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Dear Students,

I have received letters from some of you, especially final year students, expressing your anxiety about the likely delay in results caused by the evaluation boycott protest of teachers, and appealing to teachers to withdraw this particular form of protest.

Let me assure you that we are equally keen to get back to evaluation and to work overtime to bring out your results at the earliest. In fact, this is not a form of protest we would have embarked on had the situation not been so devastating. You would have seen in the last three years, we observed a one-day strike only once when services of two teachers were terminated, preferring alternative forms of struggle even during the grimmest of battles such as those over theSemesterisation, FYUP, CBCS, debilitating administrative corruption, no permanent appointments, violation of Constitutional provisions of reservation, denial of promotions, a draconian Code of Conduct to suppress dissent and extreme forms of victimization. Continue reading An Open Letter to Students from DUTA →

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

Islamic Banking in India – For Financial Inclusion of Muslims or to squeeze them further ?

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(Photo Courtesy : http://www.malaysiagazette.com)

Faith based banking in a country which has secularism enshrined in its constitution ! Does not it sound anachronous ?

Well, as far as the present dispensation at the centre led by BJP is concerned – which has an altogether different take on secularism – it does not seem to think so. And that’s why it has gladly accepted the proposal by the Saudi Arabia based Islamic Development Bank (IDB) – an international investment organisation – to start its operations here. In fact this proposal is considered a positive outcome of PM Modi’s visit to Saudi Arabia sometime back.( April 2016) Although a date has not been announced when the Bank would start its operations here, all the formalities regarding its launching have been completed and even the city for its first branch in India has been identified. Ahmedabad would see the first branch of this Bank. Continue reading Islamic Banking in India – For Financial Inclusion of Muslims or to squeeze them further ? →

Government, Politics, Right watch

Statement Condemning the Persecution of Lawyers Collective and Indira Jaising and Anand Grover by Home Ministry, GoI

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We, the undersigned, unequivocally condemn the efforts of the Ministry of Home Affairs to persecute the Lawyers Collective (LC), Indira Jaising and Anand Grover in order to obstruct the legal and human rights work being carried out by them.

We condemn the suspension of the FCRA registration of LC, as well as the mala fide and motivated manner in which the Ministry of Home Affairs, in a blatant violation of law, leaked the suspension notice to the press even before providing LC with a copy of the same.

There has been a systematic campaign and abuse of the legal process by the Central Government to malign Indira Jaising and Anand Grover as well as LC over the past six months. The suspension of LC’s FCRA registration is nothing but an escalation of the Government’s campaign to crush dissent and criminalise any person or organisation that questions or opposes the violation of fundamental rights and human rights by the State and its agencies.

The motivated campaign and actions against LC fit neatly into the present Government’s concerted campaign against marginalised and oppressed sections of society and any person, whether students, activists, academics or individuals who question the policies, actions and the abuse of power by the government.

Senior Advocates Indira Jaising and Anand Grover have an exceptional profile of public service, probity and personal and professional integrity as lawyers and as human rights activists. Their work has received global recognition.

Ms. Indira Jaising, has made an unparalleled contribution to law and jurisprudence on gender discrimination, whether relating to women’s right to property, sexual harassment at the workplace, domestic violence etc. She has also been a member of the CEDAW Committee. Anand Grover held the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on Right to Health between 2008 to 2014. He has made a tremendous contribution to the legal campaign against the criminalisation of homosexuality; rights of persons living with HIV; and access to medicine and healthcare. Ms. Jaising and Mr. Grover, through LC have and continue to advance the rights of the most vulnerable and marginalized sections of society, thereby upholding constitutional values. Instead of recognizing their invaluable contribution to the county and its people, the Government is making all efforts to obstruct their work.

Through the persecution and harassment of LC and Indira Jaising and Anand Grover, the present Government is sending a clear and chilling message to the citizens of this country that the inevitable consequence of questioning or criticising the present Government’s policies is repression and criminalisation.

LC has specifically and repeatedly countered and justified each of the bald allegations regarding misuse of funds that have been levelled by the MHA. However, the MHA has displayed an unusual vindictiveness by ignoring the official responses sent by LC and proceeding to suspend their FCRA registration. Continue reading Statement Condemning the Persecution of Lawyers Collective and Indira Jaising and Anand Grover by Home Ministry, GoI →

Bad ideas, Debates, Empire/ Imperialism, Government, Identities, Politics, Religion

Exit Hindutva Terrorists, Enter Lashkar bombers – Towards Clean Chit to Samjhauta Bombers ?

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Whether Indian Investigating Agencies Are Being Turned Into Voices of US Intel Agencies

Whether Indian Intelligence Agencies have decided to function as new ‘post offices’ of US intel agencies ? Put it other ways whether US intel inputs have started overriding the meticulous investigations done by Indian intelligence agencies?

There are enough indications which seem to corroborate this observation.

And perhaps the latest in series seems to be the Samjhauta Express bomb blast case, where NIA seems to be contemplating putting the blame on Lashkar terrorists and absolving the Hindutva terrorists involved in the case basing itself on some vague input from US supposedly involving Lashkar-e-Toiba operative. Continue reading Exit Hindutva Terrorists, Enter Lashkar bombers – Towards Clean Chit to Samjhauta Bombers ? →

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

Response on the Suspension of Registration under the FC(Regulation) Act, 2010 : Lawyers Collective

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Guest Post by Lawyers Collective

The Lawyers Collective condemns the blatant attempt  of the government of India to victimize the organization and its office bearers India Jaisng and Anand Grover .This is noting but a gross misuse of the FCRA Act which is being used to suppress any form  of dissent . it is far too well know that both Anand Grover and Indira Jaising have represented several persons in their professional capacity as lawyers is several cases against the government and the functionaries including  the President of the BJP party ,  Amit Shah  protesting his discharge in the Sorabudin murder case . The lawyers collective intends to challenge the order as   unconstitutional and required to be set aside . 

The order/show cause notice is a malafide act and an act of vindictiveness on the part of the Government. This is being done because of the cases that Lawyers Collective (‘LC’) and its Trustees, Ms. Indira Jaising and Mr. Anand Grover, are involved in, including but are not limited to Sanjiv Bhatt, Yakub Memon and Priya Pillai. The aim is to destroy the credibility of LC by leaking it to the media, before even serving it on LC. LC till today has not received the order purportedly issued on 31st May, 2016, though it is available to the press. Continue reading Response on the Suspension of Registration under the FC(Regulation) Act, 2010 : Lawyers Collective →