Category Archives: Right watch

Empire/ Imperialism, Identities, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Palestinian Women from Occupied East Jerusalem Call for Protection: Jerusalemite Women ’s Coalition

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A Statement by the JERUSALEMITE WOMEN’S COALITION

We women of occupied East Jerusalem call for immediate protection as we witness and suffer the widespread and serious violations of Palestinian human rights, including physical attacks and injuries, severe psychological threats, and persecution by the Israeli settler-colonial state and settler entities.

We urge the international community to act and defend the rights of Palestinian children, women, and men, including the right to a safe life amidst the constant attacks, excessive and indiscriminate use of force used by the Israeli oppressive apparatus, acts of violence and daily terror committed by Israeli Jewish civilians, including settlers. This brutality is intimidating our lives, provoking our youth, willfully causing death and bodily and psychological harm, and disabling and injuring of our community members.

We, a group of Palestinian women, mothers, sisters, daughters and youth—and in the name of the “Jerusalemite Women’s Coalition”—call upon the international community to protect our families, community, and children. We are calling for the protection of our bodily safety and security when in our homes, walking in our neighborhood, reaching schools, clinics, work places, and worships venues. Continue reading Palestinian Women from Occupied East Jerusalem Call for Protection: Jerusalemite Women ’s Coalition →

Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

When I see them, I see us

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Received via LINDA GORDON

Produced by Black Palestinian Solidarity

Education, Movements, Right watch

Statement From Teachers And Researchers In Support Of ‘Occupy UGC’ in Delhi

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Statement in support of students protesting against the UGC’s proposal to scrap the Non-NET fellowship for research scholars, and in condemnation of the police crackdown on agitating students in Delhi on October 23, 2015

This is to express our complete solidarity with, and extend our full support to, students from universities across Delhi as well as other locations in the country who are protesting against the UGC’s decision to scrap Non-NET Fellowships for MPhil and PhD research scholars, and demanding an increase in the fellowship amounts. In particular, we condemn strongly the violent police action upon the peacefully protesting students on October 23, 2015, after the students had spent close to 48 hours in a sit-in at the UGC office in New Delhi protesting the failure of  the UGC authorities to extend a hearing to their grievances. We are shocked by the rapid escalation in aggression demonstrated by the UGC authorities against the students. At 6 am on Friday, 23rd October, about a hundred protesting students were forcefully evicted from the UGC premises and taken across the city to be detained for one whole day in the police station at C block, Rajiv Nagar, Bhalaswa Dairy.

As pressure from students and the public mounted, the police were obliged to let the students go at the end of the day. Meanwhile at the UGC a police lathi-charge grievously injured students who had gathered again to protest there, and from reports at least two students needed to be hospitalized. Continue reading Statement From Teachers And Researchers In Support Of ‘Occupy UGC’ in Delhi →

Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Low Intensity, High Impact Communalism Targeting better off Muslims: Janhastakshep Report on Dadri killing

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See also another fact-finding report earlier published on Kafila.

National Minorities Commission report on Dadri killing here.

JANHASTAKSHEP REPORT:

On 2nd October 2015 a team of Janhastakshep comprising of academics, journalists and a student went to Basehada village in Dadri tehsil of Gautam Buddh Nagar District to investigate the incidence of communal lynching of a Muslim man Akhlaq and attack on his son Danish (who is battling for life) on the 28th of September for allegedly killing a calf and eating beef. The team comprised of academics Dr Vikas Bajpai from Jawaharlal Nehru University and Prof Ish Mishra from Hindu College, Delhi University; journalists – Anil Dubey, Rajesh Kumar and Parthiv and student activist of Hindu college, Delhi University, Sheetal.

The Context

It is noteworthy that the incident at Bishara village comes in wake of uninterrupted controversies and communal tensions that have been kept alive around the issue of cow slaughter / ban on beef in different parts of the country; as also several incidents of communal violence; intimidation and killing of intellectuals who have opposed the Sangh parivar’s communal designs and its retrogressive sociopolitical agenda. i

It is in this context that the present incident of communal lynching at Bishara village cannot but be seen as another link in the chain of above mentioned developments.

Bishara Village

The village itself has a long existence in time that was claimed to date back to at least four to five centuries. It is a big village with as many as 9,500 votes corresponding to a population of around 15,000 and up to 2,500 families approximately. The village is part of a satta i.e. a grouping of seven villages dominated by Rajputs. Apart from the Rajputs the other Hindu castes are the Brahmins, the Lohars (blacksmiths), the Kumhars (earthen ware artisans), the Jatavs (leather workers), Dhimars (a caste of fishermen and palanquin bearers) and the Balmikis (the sweepers). Along with these there are between 35 to 40 Muslim families in the village. Continue reading Low Intensity, High Impact Communalism Targeting better off Muslims: Janhastakshep Report on Dadri killing →

Bad ideas, Everyday Life, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Protest Demonstration Against Burning of Dalit House and Children in Haryana

The endless violence that has always been part of Dalit life is now acquiring new dimensions as Dalits refuse to carry out upper caste diktat and confront aggressive upper castes emboldened by the Hindutva brigade.

Citizens call for demonstration
Citizens call for demonstration
Bad ideas, Everyday Life, Government, Politics, Right watch

You are wrong Mr Prime Minister – It was not a fight, but plain murder : Sanjay Kumar

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Guest Post by Sanjay Kumar 

In an election rally in Bihar on 8 October, country’s Prime Minister exhorted his audience with a homily pretty standard in India’s secular discourse. He asked Hindus and Muslims to decide whether they want to fight each other, or fight poverty together. His call against communal strife had come ten days after a Muslim man was lynched by a mob in Bisada, a village near the mofussil town of Dadri, 50 km from the national capital. There was no reference to events in Bisada in Mr Modi’s speech, yet ‘PM has spoken on Dadri lynching’ became the prime news on TV, and headline news in every newspaper the next day. If nations are imagined communities, then the media in the neo-liberal era imagines itself to be the prime mover and shaker of national imagination. And, when the ‘national leadership’ had remained silent on an important national news for more than a week, a subtle disquiet had indeed settled; as if, the story maker was not getting suitable yarn to complete the web and tie open leads. This may explain media’s eagerness to combine Mr Modi’s election rally remarks with Dadri lynching, about which he actually said nothing. Perhaps the media is expecting too much, and has a rather pompous self image. The women of Bisada had assaulted reporters and TV crews on 3 October, accusing them of presenting only one side of the story, bringing a bad name to their village and disrupting normal life. We have a Prime Minister who is pained even when a pup is killed under a motor car. Is not it unjust to expect him to express his anguish publicly every time some one is murdered in this  huge country of ours? The PM has declared many times that his one motivation and project is to build a strong and vibrant India. Should not his country men and women be content with the nation’s highest elected official using his exemplary social media skills for projecting a happy and confident mood. Would not shouting from the roof top on issues about which he is genuinely worried tarnish the very image he has been so painstakingly trying to build? Continue reading You are wrong Mr Prime Minister – It was not a fight, but plain murder : Sanjay Kumar →

Government, Politics, Right watch

Neoliberalism, Hindutva Supremacism and Challenges before Revolutionary Movement

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Dear Comrades

I feel honoured to be here to be part of the sixth conference of Human Rights Forum*. Many thanks are due to the organisers to invite a left activist like me to this deliberations and giving me an opportunity to share my ideas.

For me it was a belated realisation that the conference is taking place around sixth death anniversary of the legendary activist for human rights and for justice late K Balgopal, who played a key role in the formation of the Forum. It does not need underlining that late K Balagopal was a rare combination of a scholar – mathematician by passion and lawyer by commitment – and activist who not only broke new grounds in the discourse around civil liberties and human rights but did not hesitate to raise uncomfortable questions when the time came. One can still imagine the loss you all must have felt when he suddenly left six years ago. As rightly mentioned by the late K G Kannabiran in his obituary then, how he was ‘one in a century rights activist’ who brought on agenda ‘jurisprudence of insurgence’. Continue reading Neoliberalism, Hindutva Supremacism and Challenges before Revolutionary Movement →

Culture, Government, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

A Letter to Modi from a Former Supporter: Bhawni Mehrotra

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Guest post by BHAWNI MEHROTRA

Dear Modiji,

I’m glad you spoke. Even though it was devoid of any personal remorse and limited to calling the Dadri lynching an “unfortunate and unwarranted” incident at Sasaram. Even though it was to cash in on ‘communal harmony’ during an election rally in Bihar. Even though it was a mere paraphrasing of the President’s quote once before at Nawada (we know of your limited vocabulary beyond acronyms and your “may-the-force-be-with-you” love for quoting). Still, I’m glad that you managed something! However, the one thing that you have failed miserably to manage (and let’s leave the ambling economy and your familial relations out of this) is the ‘fringe elements’ that come as part of the ‘BJP family pack’ offer.  Sadly, under your ‘good governance’, the fringe has been asserting itself as the mainstream. Even sadder is that under ‘you’, the fringe is the mainstream.

The icing on the cake are your own MPs and ministers. Initially, what I thought of as verbal diarrhea on their part is actually proving to be a string of comments that are a part of a larger orchestrated communication message. Each message has a defined audience suited to their language and idioms. They all suffer from a dangerous saffron strain, exactly the kind that has fathered the ISIS, the Taliban and so on. Whether it be Yogi Adityanath’s remark, calling on Hindus to organize themselves; or Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti’s unparalleled comparison between a “Ramzaada” and a “Haramzada”; or Nitin Gadkari’s reminder of the government being one of “Rambhakts”- all seem to be competing for being the most ridiculous. Did you mean “Hindutva First” and not “India First”? I’m sorry that I was so awestruck by your gazillion rupee election campaign (the one thing that you managed brilliantly) that I didn’t read the fine print. Therefore, it is not your failure, it’s mine. Had I voted sensibly, Mohammad Akhlaq wouldn’t be dead today. Continue reading A Letter to Modi from a Former Supporter: Bhawni Mehrotra →

Culture, Debates, Government, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

आज़ादी और विवेक के पक्ष में प्रलेस, जलेस, जसम, दलेस और साहित्य-संवाद का साझा बयान

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देश भर में चल रहे लेखकों व साहित्यकारों  के विरोध के सन्दर्भ में  लेखकों के पांच संगठनों – प्रगतिशील लेखक संघ, जनवादी लेखक संघ, जन संस्कृति मंच, दलित लेखक संघ व साहित्य-संवाद – ने आज दिल्ली में निम्नलिखित बयान जारी किया :  

देश में लगातार बढ़ती हुई हिंसक असहिष्णुता और कट्टरपंथ के ख़िलाफ़ पिछले कुछ समय से जारी लेखकों के प्रतिरोध ने एक ऐतिहासिक रूप ले लिया है. 31 अगस्त को प्रोफेसर मल्लेशप्पा मादिवलप्पा कलबुर्गी की हत्या के बाद यह प्रतिरोध अनेक रूपों में प्रकट हुआ है. धरने-प्रदर्शन, विरोध-मार्च और विरोध-सभाएं जारी हैं. इनके अलावा बड़ी संख्या में लेखकों ने साहित्य अकादमी से मिले अपने पुरस्कार विरोधस्वरूप लौटा दिए हैं. कइयों ने अकादमी की कार्यकारिणी से इस्तीफ़ा दिया है. कुछ ने विरोध-पत्र लिखे हैं. कई और लेखकों ने वक्तव्य दे कर और दीगर तरीक़ों से इस प्रतिरोध में शिरकत की है.

दिल्ली में 5 सितम्बर को 35 संगठनों की सम्मिलित कार्रवाई के रूप में प्रो. कलबुर्गी को याद करते हुए जंतर-मंतर पर एक बड़ी प्रतिरोध-सभा हुई थी. इसे ‘विवेक के हक़ में’ / ‘इन डिफेन्स ऑफ़ रैशनैलिटी’ नाम दिया गया था. आयोजन में भागीदार लेखक-संगठनों – प्रलेस, जलेस, जसम, दलेस और साहित्य-संवाद — ने उसी सिलसिले को आगे बढाते हुए 16 सितम्बर को साहित्य अकादमी के अध्यक्ष विश्वनाथ प्रसाद तिवारी को एक ज्ञापन सौंपा जिसमें उनसे यह मांग की गयी थी कि अकादमी प्रो. कलबुर्गी की याद में दिल्ली में शोक-सभा आयोजित करे. विश्वनाथ त्रिपाठी, मुरली मनोहर प्रसाद सिंह, चंचल चौहान, रेखा अवस्थी, अली जावेद, संजय जोशी और कर्मशील भारती द्वारा अकादमी के अध्यक्ष से मिल कर किये गए इस निवेदन का उत्तर बहुत निराशाजनक था. एक स्वायत्त संस्था के पदाधिकारी सत्ता में बैठे लोगों के खौफ़ को इस रूप में व्यक्त करेंगे और शोक-सभा से साफ़ इनकार कर देंगे, यह अप्रत्याशित तो नहीं, पर अत्यंत दुखद था. अब जबकि अकादमी की इस कायर चुप्पी और केन्द्रीय सत्ता द्वारा हिंसक कट्टरपंथियों को प्रत्यक्ष-परोक्ष तरीके से दिए जा रहे प्रोत्साहन के खिलाफ लेखकों द्वारा पुरस्कार लौटाने से लेकर त्यागपत्र और सार्वजनिक बयान देने जैसी कार्रवाइयां लगातार जारी हैं, यह स्पष्ट हो गया है कि लेखक समाज इन फ़ासीवादी रुझानों के विरोध में एकजुट है. वह उस राजनीतिक वातावरण के ख़िलाफ़ दृढ़ता से अपना मत प्रकट कर रहा है जिसमें बहुसंख्यावाद के नाम पर न केवल वैचारिक असहमति को, बल्कि जीवनशैली की विविधता तक को हिंसा के ज़रिये कुचल देने के इरादों और कार्रवाइयों को ‘सामान्य’ मान लिया गया है. Continue reading आज़ादी और विवेक के पक्ष में प्रलेस, जलेस, जसम, दलेस और साहित्य-संवाद का साझा बयान →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Culture, Debates, Government, Identities, Images, Law, Movements, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

House of Cards

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Courtesy Indian Express
Courtesy: Indian Express.

Anybody with a passing interest in consistency or coherence might be forgiven for being stumped at the political spectacle unfolding right now. Yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured us that his government was committed to reservations. The statement was made at a ceremony to inaugurate the Ambedkar memorial at the Indu Mills compound in Mumbai. The fact that ordinary Dalits, in the habit of thronging any joyous celebration on Ambedkar in big numbers, were kept out of the ceremony, is possibly irrelevant. After all, officialese is officialese, and no political party – certainly not the BJP – has a monopoly on stiff-necked commemorations of people’s leaders that want nothing to do with the people. It is Modi’s commitment to reservations and the Indian constitution that is of interest. In some ways a statement of this nature made at the inauguration of an Ambedkar memorial, makes perfect sense. Apart from the occasion and locale, also not coincidental was the timing of Modi’s statement – one that he himself alluded to, when he referred to the bitterly fought Bihar elections now underway, “With a BJP government in power and polls getting under way, a malicious propaganda is being spread that the government is against reservation…”. The fact that the anti-BJP mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) in Bihar has made reservations one of their chief planks, with Lalu Prasad Yadav declaring in his inimitable style that he will kill himself if reservations are removed, is relevant.

Zooming back from the Ambedkar memorial event, the PM was clearly also responding to the threat to his Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas model begun a couple of months ago by the irrepressible Hardik Patel. Patel – erstwhile BJP supporter, self-styled Patidar-Patel revolutionary and a wild child in imminent danger of being silenced (or coopted) by the BJP – was temporarily subdued by the Gujarat administration following the wave of violence over his first call for reservation, but resurfaced a couple of days ago to be the nightmare Modi hadn’t dreamed yet – saying his aim was to expose the “Gujarat model of development”. This is for the current party nothing short of the youngest born of a rambling illustrious family running into the street from the family mansion saying our house is made of mud! our house is made of mud!

Continue reading House of Cards →

Bad ideas, Law, Politics, Right watch

श्रीराम सेने से नफरत, सनातन संस्था पर इनायत !

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उत्तरी गोवा के बंडोरा गांव की पंचायत का एक फैसला पिछले दिनों राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर सुर्खियों में आ गया। उन्होंने न तो किसी नए सड़क की मांग की न किसी स्कूल की। वे एक संस्था पर पाबंदी चाहते थे। वे चाहते थे कि उस संस्था का मुख्यालय गांव से हटे। उनका कहना था कि उस संस्था के चलते गांव की बदनामी हो रही है। उसी के कारण आए दिन पुलिस और गुप्तचर एजेंसियों के लोग वहां पहुंचते रहते हैं। उनका कहना था कि अगर उनकी मांग नहीं मानी गई तो इसके लिए वे जल्द ही आंदोलन शुरू करेंगे। गौरतलब है कि कुछ साल पहले भी उन्होंने यह मांग की थी, जिस पर ध्यान नहीं दिया गया था। दरअसल हाल के दिनों में नए सिरे से चर्चा में आई ‘सनातन संस्था’ का मुख्यालय इसी गांव में है।

नैतिक पहरेदारी

यह वही संस्था है, जिससे जुड़े सांगली के समीर गायकवाड़ को पिछले दिनों कॉमरेड गोविंद पानसरे की हत्या की साजिश रचने के आरोप में गिरफ्तार किया गया। इस साजिश में उसके अन्य साथी भी पकड़े गए। पुलिस को उसके अन्य कार्यकर्ताओं रुद्र पाटिल और सारंग अकोलकर की भी तलाश है, जिन्हें अक्टूबर 2009 के मडगांव बम विस्फोट में फरार घोषित किया गया है। महाराष्ट्र के मुख्यमंत्री ने बयान दिया कि लंबी निगरानी के बाद ठोस सुरागों के आधार पर ही ये गिरफ्तारियां हुई हैं। पानसरे की हत्या की जांच के आगे बढ़ने के क्रम में इस बात के भी संकेत मिल रहे हैं कि 2013 में हुईर डॉ. नरेंद्र दाभोलकर की हत्या और पिछले दिनों कर्नाटक में हुए प्रोफेसर कलबुर्गी के मर्डर में भी आपसी रिश्ता रहा है।

आध्यात्मिकता की बात करने वाली, मगर अपने कार्यकर्ताओं की हिंसक कार्रवाइयों के कारण विवादास्पद बनी ‘सनातन संस्था’ पर पाबंदी की मांग कांग्रेस और आम आदमी पार्टी के अलावा वामपंथी दलों ने भी की है। फिलवक्त बीजेपी इस बात को लेकर असहज है कि संस्था पर पाबंदी की मांग उठाने वाले अपने ही विधायक विष्णु वाघ को क्या जवाब दे? वाघ ने अतिवादी संगठनों पर पाबंदी को लेकर सरकार के दोहरे रुख को उजागर किया है। उन्होंने सनातन संस्था की तुलना प्रतिबंधित संगठन ‘सिमी’ (स्टूडेंट्स इस्लामिक मूवमेंट ऑफ इंडिया) से करते हुए दलील दी है कि इस संस्था पर अगर बाहर के कई देशों में पाबंदी लग सकती है, तो यहां क्यों नहीं? अगर प्रमोद मुतालिक की अगुआई वाली श्रीराम सेने की गतिविधियों पर रोक लगाई जा सकती है तो सनातन संस्था पर क्यों नहीं? Continue reading श्रीराम सेने से नफरत, सनातन संस्था पर इनायत ! →

Culture, Government, Identities, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Modi’s Speech, his Silence and Dadri Redux in Mainpuri

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Every newspaper in India carried the same headline on Friday, the 9th of October: ‘Modi breaks silence on Dadri lynching.’ It says something about the breathless desperation of the Indian press to hear the prime minister say something, anything, that could be interpreted as his disapproval of political barbarism, that there wasn’t, in fact, a word in his speech about the Dadri lynching. – Mukul Kesavan in ndtv.com

You know what has been agitating the minds of millions of us, Indians — the future of our pluralism. You have stated your position in terms of ‘sabka sath, sabka vikas‘. And this is quoted and cited on your behalf repeatedly as a mantra. But, Pradhan Mantriji, this is certainly not adequate. We need to hear you, our Prime Minister, directly and clearly and with an urgent reference to the present situation, which is nothing less than a tragedy. Over the last few months we have had more than one tragedy. Can we really not see the connections between the so-called stray incidences all over the country, from the murders of Dabholkar, Pansare and Kalburgi to that of Mohammad Akhlaq. Your direct voice needs to be heard now, unless you do not consider this an event of significance. And now, the ambiguity of what you said yesterday only makes me send you this appeal for your truthful intervention. TM Krishna’s Open Letter to the Prime Minister

While Modi’s cheer leaders in the media were telling us that the prime minister had finally ‘broken his silence’ (see Apoorvanand’s piece on this here), there were others who read the meaning of his speech far more  accurately.They knew exactly what Modi was saying; they knew without having to do a content analysis of His speech that, if anything, despite being shamed to an extent by the President, Pranab Mukherjee’s statement the previous day, he actually refused to say anything about the Dadri incident let alone condemn the crime or its perpetrators. They understood clearly that his speech was merely a continuation of his sinister and devious silence. They understood like no media commentator or analyst did that what he said in Munger was a green signal for them to go ahead with their activities. Thus what happened in Mainpuri today is nothing to be surprised about.

Mainpuri: Police in action after villagers vandalised properties and resorted to arson in Mainpuri district on Friday over rumours of cow slaughter in the area. PTI Photo (PTI10_9_2015_000290B)
Mainpuri: Police in action after villagers vandalised properties and resorted to arson in Mainpuri district on Friday over rumours of cow slaughter in the area. PTI Photo (PTI10_9_2015_000290B)

Continue reading Modi’s Speech, his Silence and Dadri Redux in Mainpuri →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Culture, Education, Government, Right watch, Scams

Another One Bites the Dust: “Cultural Pollution” and the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library: Niyati Sharma and Snigdha Kumar

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This is a guest post by NIYATI SHARMA AND SNIGDHA KUMAR

Courtesy thequint.com.
Courtesy thequint.com.

The latest in a line of institutions to fall victim to the BJP government’s campaign against “cultural pollution” is The Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML). The agenda is loud and clear – anything which ‘pollutes’ the current government’s preferred way of life and thinking will be done away with. Bans such as the recent ones on porn and meat are the most obvious instruments at the disposal of the government to achieve this goal. The more effective interventions, however, are not those which instantly deny people their choices and freedoms. Presented instead as minor improvements and renovations, interventions in art, history and academic institutions allow the government to introduce subtle long term changes – changes with the capacity to access and alter our very being.

Given the enormity of these interventions in the long run then, it is particularly curious how the clear recent attempts to take over academic institutions such as the ICHR, FTII and now NMML have managed to raise only a few eyebrows while the bans on porn (and meat to an extent) have met with much protest and were subsequently lifted. Perhaps this is because such spaces appear to be remote islands inhabited only by those interested in history, film and/or academic research. Only such an impression can explain the rather meek public debate and outcry that these clearly targeted changes have generated.

Continue reading Another One Bites the Dust: “Cultural Pollution” and the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library: Niyati Sharma and Snigdha Kumar →

Culture, Government, Identities, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Dadri Beef Rumour and Lynching – A Report from Bisara village

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The following is a report on the Dadri beef rumour and lynching, prepared by a fact finding team from NEW SOCIALIST INITIATIVE, PEOPLE’S ALLIANCE for DEMOCRACY and SECULARISM, SAHELI and DELHI SOLIDARITY GROUP, released in New Delhi on 05/10/2015

 The investigation team with the following members visited the village on 3 October 2015: Bonojit Hussain (New Socialist Initiative), Deepti Sharma (Saheli), Kiran Shaheen (writer and activist), Naveen Chander (New Socialist Initiative), Sanjay Kumar (People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism and New Socialist Initiative) and Sanjeev Kumar (Delhi Solidarity Group)

Akhlaq's house
Akhlaq’s house

On the night of 28 September, in a heinous instance of hate crime Mohammad Akhlaq a resident of Bisara village of Dadri in western Uttar Pradesh was lynched to death and his son Danish brutally assaulted by a mob of villagers over a rumour that Mr. Akhlaq and his family had slaughtered a calf and consumed its meat. Just before the lynching, an announcement was made from the local temple to spread the rumour, and within moments a mob constituted itself and attacked Mr. Akhlaq resulting in his lynching. Mr. Akhlaq’s son Danish has been in hospital since that night and despite undergoing two brain surgeries his condition is still said to be critical. Continue reading Dadri Beef Rumour and Lynching – A Report from Bisara village →

Bad ideas, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

बढ़ती असहिष्णुता और फासीवादी प्रवृतियां : किशोर

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Guest Post by KISHORE

(Image : Courtesy – http://www.huffingtonpost.in)

अख़बारों में आई खबर के अनुसार ग्रेटर नॉएडा में भीड़ ने एक व्यक्ति को इस अफवाह के आधार पर मार दिया कि वह गौमांस के व्यापार में लगा था. यह बताने की जरूरत नहीं कि मरने वाला किस धर्म को मानने वाला था और मारने वाले किस धर्म के अनुयायी थे. अब आ रही खबरों के अनुसार यह अफवाह झूठी थी और जिस पुजारी ने इस अफवाह की शुरूआत करी. उस पुजारी को यह अफवाह उड़ाने के लिए मजबूर किया गया था. कुछ लोग यहाँ तक कह रहें हैं कि यह बर्बर हत्या किसी ग़लतफ़हमी के कारण हुई है, पर मेरे एक मित्र ने बड़ा ही प्रासंगिक प्रश्न उठाया कि हम अगर यह मान भी ले की वह व्यक्ति गौ मांस के व्यापार से जुड़ा हुआ था तो क्या उसकी हत्या को उचित ठहराया जा सकता है.

इस बात में कोई दो राय नहीं कि अगर मेरा धर्म मुझसे अपेक्षा रखता है कि मैं ये खाऊँ और ये ना खाऊँ और मैं उसमे विश्वास रखता हूँ, तो यह मेरा चयन हो सकता है कि मैं कुछ ना खाऊँ. कोई मुझे वह चीज़ खाने के लिए मजबूर नहीं कर सकताण. पर क्या यह जरूरी है कि मेरे खाने या ना खाने के चयन का पालन बाकि लोग भी करें. खाना.पीना, पहनना-ओढना और कुछ अच्छा लगना या न लगना हर किसी का निजी मामला है. क्या समाज यह तय कर सकता है कि मैं क्या खाऊँ और क्या ना खाऊँ ? और एक वर्ग की प्राथमिकताओं के हिसाब से न चलने पर उसको मौत के घाट उतारना किसी न्यायोचित समाज की निशानी है या बर्बर समाज की ? Continue reading बढ़ती असहिष्णुता और फासीवादी प्रवृतियां : किशोर →

Culture, Everyday Life, Identities, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

अखलाक़ की मौत उठा रही है हमारी सभ्यता और जनतंत्र पर सवाल

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दिल्ली के करीब दादरी के बिसराड़ा गाँव की अस्करी गमी में है। अपने पचास साल के बेटे मोहम्मद इख़लाक़ की मौत का गम वह मना रही है।  और साथ में उसका  परिवार। बाईस साल का उसका पोता दानिश हस्पताल में मौत से जूझ रहा है।यह शोक मामूली नहीं है और न यह मौत साधारण है। यह आपको तब मालूम होता है जब आप देखते हैं कि  गम की इस  घड़ी में अस्करी के कंधे पर रखने वाला कोई पड़ोसी हाथ नहीं है।

अस्करी पूछती है, जहां कोई हमारा पुरसाहाल न हो, उसे हम अपना देस  कैसे कहें! हमारे यहाँ  गाँव को देस कहने का रिवाज है।  अस्करी का  सवाल वाजिब है: जहां गम बँटाने पड़ोसी न आएं, वह अपना देस कैसे हुआ!

Akhlaq's family, image courtesy rediff.com
Akhlaq’s family, image courtesy rediff.com
इख़लाक़ की मौत का शोक  कितना ही एकाकी क्यों न हो मौत उसकी एकाकी न थी. वह मारा गया, ऐलानिया, खुलेआम-शोर-शराबे  के बीच।
बिसाराड़ा गाँव में मोहम्मद अखलाक़ की हत्या जितनी दिल दहलाने वाली है, उसके बाद की प्रतिक्रियाएं उस ह्त्या से अधिक चिंतित करने वाली हैं। सबसे ज़्यादा मुखर भारतीय जनता पार्टी के नेता हैं। मोहम्मद अखलाक़ के घर पर हमला करके उन्हें पीट-पीटकर मार डालने और उनके बेटे को गंभीर रूप घायल करने वाली भीड़ के छह  लोगों को पुलिस ने नामजद किया है। लेकिन भाजपा के नेताओं ने इस पर गहरा ऐतराज जताया है। उनका कहना है कि यह इरादतन किया गया क़त्ल न था, इसलिए ह्त्या की धाराएँ न लगा कर गैर इरादतन ह्त्या की धारा लगानी चाहिए। तर्क यह यह है कि  अखलाक़ की ह्त्या की कोई पूर्व योजना न थी, वह तो ‘गोवध’ और ‘ गोमांस’ खाने की खबर से हिंदू ग्रामीणों की धार्मिक भावनाएं भड़क उठीं। उन्होंने कुछ कड़े रूप में  अपनी भावनाएं व्यक्त कीं, जिसके नतीजे में अलखलाक़ की मौत हो गयी। वे उलटे अखलाक़ के परिवार पर गोवध और गोमांस भक्षण के लिए आपराधिक मामला दर्ज करने की मांग आकर रहे हैं। धमकी दी जा रही है की अगर ऐसा न किया गया तो महापंचायत की जाएगी।

Continue reading अखलाक़ की मौत उठा रही है हमारी सभ्यता और जनतंत्र पर सवाल →

Capitalism, Feminism, Government, Right watch, Scams

A Statement Protesting Approval to Introduce Injectable Contraceptives in the National Family Planning Programme

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The following is the text of a letter written by activists and scholars working in the field of medicine, public health and women’s rights, to the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare:

To

Shri Jagat Prakash Nadda,

Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare,
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,
Nirman Bhavan, Maulana Azad Road,
New Delhi 110 011

22nd September 2015

Statement Protesting the Approval to Introduce Injectable Contraceptives in the National Family Planning Programme

We, the following health groups, women’s organisations, peoples’ networks and individuals are extremely disturbed by the news report published in the Times of India (dated 16th September 2015) that the Union Health Ministry has approved Depo Medroxy Progesterone Acetate (DMPA) for use in the National Family Planning Programme (FPP).

It may be re-called that following a Supreme Court case filed in 1986 by women’s groups regarding serious problems with injectable contraceptives like Depo and Net-En, the Court directed the government to monitor safety issues in use of injectable contraceptives but did not ban its use. While they are available in the private medical sector, the Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB), the highest decision-making body on technical matters in the Ministry of Health &Family Welfare, in 1995 held that Depo-Provera is not recommended for inclusion in the FPP. Continue reading A Statement Protesting Approval to Introduce Injectable Contraceptives in the National Family Planning Programme →

Capitalism, Centre watch, Countryside, Politics, Right watch

Bihar Needs a Corbyn Moment: Sushil Chandra

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Guest post by SUSHIL CHANDRA

If the media discourse on Bihar elections has any semblance of truth, this election is a choice between Pepsi and Coke. Whatever you choose, you get a cola of casteism, corruption and gangsters. On one hand we have winning combination of intermediate castes, the assured Muslim vote, the great legacy of fodder scam and kidnapping rings with added glitter of so called good governance and on the other hand the return of feudal dominance, the guaranteed promise of a theocracy and another band of gangsters. It is difficult to fathom from the media coverage that there is a third alternative available in shape of left which is free from all these attractions and offering a principled platform. You can see on television Upendra Kushwahas and Pappu Yadavs holding forth on their great vision for Bihar, the daily tantrums of Majhi and Paswan for their tug-of-war on seats but talk of the left and even Ravish Kumar forgets to mention them on his daily shouting matches on Bihar election. Is it because of our corporate media is not willing to invest in those not willing to invest on caste and religion? Continue reading Bihar Needs a Corbyn Moment: Sushil Chandra →

Debates, Government, Identities, Right watch, Scams

Cow Slaughter – Can a Directive Principle Trump Fundamental Rights of the Most Marginalized? Mariya Salim

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Guest post by MARIYA SALIM

The debates and demands around the issue of the prohibition of cow slaughter in India are a highly volatile, political and contentious subject, with the cow being revered as sacred by most Hindus in the country. Although almost all the proponents calling for a national legislation for a total ban on slaughter of cow and other cattle today look to the directive principles of state policy and use an economic and agrarian argument to defend their demand, it is interesting to note that the constituent assembly debates around this directive principle clearly indicate that it was as much a religious issue, reasoned on science and agriculture instead however, for some of those who wanted it to be an integral part of the Indian Constitution.

After much debate and deliberation in the Constituent Assembly and a demand from a few members of the assembly, to include a total ban on the slaughter of cows as part of fundamental rights in the Indian Constitution, a compromise was reached and the protection of the revered bovine found place in the Directive Principles of state policy, which incorporates this Hindu sentiment in a somewhat guarded and hesitant form[1]. Most notable among the members raising the issue were Pandit Thakur Dass Bhargava and Seth Govind Das[2]. Syed Muhammad Sa’adulla, another member argued that he would rather have the insertion on the protection of cow slaughter as a religious ground, as, the argument on economic grounds will ‘create a suspicion in the minds of many that the ingrained Hindu feeling against cow slaughter is being satisfied by the backdoor’ and he went on to give facts and figures on how cow slaughter is not as bad ‘as it is being made out to be’ from the economic point of view. [3]  Continue reading Cow Slaughter – Can a Directive Principle Trump Fundamental Rights of the Most Marginalized? Mariya Salim →

Debates, Identities, Politics, Right watch

Scramble for Muslim Votes as Owaisi Jumps into Bihar Polls: Abhay Kumar

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Guest post by ABHAY KUMAR

Ever since Asaduddin Owaisi, president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (henceforth MIM), addressed a well-attended public meeting in Kishanganj  on August 17, speculation about his party contesting election in Bihar has been rife. Three weeks after the rally, Owaisi, eventually, decided that he would field candidates in Muslim-dominated Seemanchal region of Kishanganj, Araria, Purnia and Katihar. “MIM will put up candidates in Bihar’s Seemanchal region, which is not only backward but also has a lot of problems. There has to be over all development,” Owaisi told media, giving the leaders of anti-Hindutva Grand Alliance jitters.

Contrary to Owaisi’s latest move, some political observers had held the view that given the weak organisational structure of the MIM in Bihar and late entry in the state, Owaisi was unlikely to jump into assembly election. For example, senior journalist and political commentator, Khurshid Hashmi said that if Owaisi had been serious about Bihar election, he would have launched his campaign much earlier as he did in UP. Continue reading Scramble for Muslim Votes as Owaisi Jumps into Bihar Polls: Abhay Kumar →

Bad ideas, Centre watch, Law, Right watch

पेटलावद विस्फोट – मौतों पर बजती तालियाँ : जसबीर चावला

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Guest Post by Jasveer Chawla

Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who visited the blast site at Petlawad near Jhabua this morning, faced protests from angry residents               (Photo courtesy : http://www.odishanewsinsight.com)

मध्यप्रदेश के झाबुआ जिले के पेटलावद क़स्बे में बस स्टेंड के पास भीड भरे स्थान पर रहवासी और व्यवसायिक क्षेत्र के एक मकान में अवैध रूप से रखे विस्फोटक जिलेटिन के भंडार में शनिवार विस्फोट हो गया. विस्फोट से ९० लोगों की मौत हो गई और दर्जनों घायल हैं जिनमें से कई की हालत गंभीर है,जिन्हे इंदौर,दाहोद अादि जगह भेजा गया.

मुख्यमंत्री श्री शिवराज सिंह चौहान ने रविवार को घटनास्थल का दौरा किया और सार्वजनिक रूप से घोषणा की कि सरकार हायकोर्ट के किसी जज से इसकी न्यायिक जाँच करवायेगी.दोषियों को दंडित किया जायेगा. मृतकों के परिजनों को १० लाख रुपये और घायलों के इलाज का सारा खर्च सरकार करेगी और पीड़ित परिवारों के रोजगार पर भी सरकार ध्यान देगी.

✔️ ‘व्यापमं’ प्रदेश के मुख्यमंत्री जब ये घोषणायें कर रहे थे तो उनके पास खड़े उनके दल के लोग उनकी ‘भामाशाही’ घोषणाओं पर बार बार तालियाँ बजा कर स्वागत कर रहे थे.सामने दुखी और पीड़ितों का विरोध करता हुजूम था.

✔️ इस ‘विस्फोट’ से सीधे प्रश्न उठते है.मध्यप्रदेश कोई सीमावर्ती राज्य नहीं है जहाँ कोई आतंकवादी आ गया और मुठभेड़ हुई और मकान में रखे विस्फोटक सुलग उठे ना ऐसी आतंकवादी घटना है जिसमे आतंकवादी बाजार/घर / ट्रेन/बस में बम प्लांट कर देते हैं और रिमोट से या आत्मघाती तरीके से विस्फोट कर देते हैं.ऐसा कुछ नहीं था.

यहां के जैन समुदाय का एक व्यापारी (आतंकवादी की कोई जाति या धर्म नही होता,ऐसा ही लिखते हैं ना ?) जो भाजपा के स्थानीय व्यापारिक प्रकोष्ठ का पदाधिकारी था (अपराधी किसी भी राजनैतिक दल का हो सकता है ?) १० वर्षों से क़स्बे में एवं मध्य व्यवसायिक क्षेत्र में अवैध रूप से किराये के मकान में भारी मात्रा में रखे जिलेटिन डायनामाइट का भंडारण कर रहा था.

इतनें वर्षों तक पुलिस, प्रशासन सोया था जो वहाँ पर इतनी मात्रा में कुएँ /खदानों में वैध/अवैध विस्फोट के लिये जिलेटिन का भंडारण हो रहा था ? Continue reading पेटलावद विस्फोट – मौतों पर बजती तालियाँ : जसबीर चावला →