The world’s largest ‘cultural’ organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteer Organization) recently met with the minister responsible for what is probably, in real terms, the world’s smallest ‘culture’ ministry, the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. Under Khaki shorts, size does matter. The big tell the small, what’s what.
Category Archives: Right watch
Statement Against Prof. Kalburgi’s Murder: Academics for Democracy, Chennai
The following statement against the murder of Professor Kalburgi was issued by Academics for Democracy, a forum of academics based in Chennai.
As a group of academics and scientists who are involved in various ways towards promotion of democratic values, we wish to condemn the murder of Prof. M. M. Kalburgi, who was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on August 30th , in strongest possible terms.
Prof. Maleshappa Madivalappa is a well known writer in Kannada and a former Vice Chancellor of Hampi university, who raised his voice against religious malpractices and superstitious ideas on several different occasions. He is an authority on vachana sahitya, whose collection of research articles titled Marga were academically acclaimed. He was awarded the Karnataka Sahitya Academy Award in 2006 for Marga. Continue reading Statement Against Prof. Kalburgi’s Murder: Academics for Democracy, Chennai
Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai – Critical Readings Online and Offline: Akash Bhattacharya and Arif Hayat Nairang
These are guest posts by Akash Bhattacharya and Arif Hayat Nairang
The film Muzaffarnagar Baaqi Hai has been in the news recently, and not always for the right reasons, having attracted disruptive and abusive protest at some screenings. Following a day of counter-protest in which the film was screened all over the country, a friend teaching in a Delhi University college suggested screening it in her college, only to be told by the student representative that it would “cause trouble” (“bawwal mach jayega ma’am!!”). She asked what that meant and if he had seen the film, and he simply said, “nahin, bhaiyya logon ne kaha hai ki woh film bahut buri hai” (No, but our elder brothers have said it’s a bad film).
In an atmosphere where political self-censoring comes as easily to the current generation of students as scouring the net for “blocked content” we present below two readings of the reception of the film, the first ruminating on whether the film addresses the complexities of communal mobilisation adequately; and the second inquiring in the context of social media and particularly Facebook, what constitutes the ‘liking’ of an image or idea. The idea of posting these comments is as much to give space to these arguments as it is to make a larger point that the ‘sickular left’ voices that are presumably behind the film love discussion, critique and disagreement. That to my mind is the way forward, not pre-empting the always-already hurt sentiments of the bhaiyya log whosoever they may be.
Hindutva: A Political Theory of Nationhood?: Aman Verma
Guest post by Aman Verma
It is disheartening to see amongst supporters of Hindutva these days a silent acquiescence and at times even active support for extra-constitutional techniques being adopted by organizations like the RSS and its offshoots towards attaining the goal of Ram Rajya. An assessment is necessary of what would ultimately entail on the social, political and economic fronts if such a policy that envisages a supposedly ‘Hindu’ cultural and linguistic hegemony over cultures and languages represented by minority communities becomes reality. However, being a student of law what disturbs me more is the absence of any socio-political entity or civil society movement rooted in values of democracy that can effectively counter the impact of Hindutva organizations on the Indian social fabric. While the BJP has its RSS, every other political party claiming to be the upholder of secularism lacks its equivalent, or at the very least an effective social protégé.
Further, my personal interactions with supporters of BJP reveals that there is some deep sense of hurt and helplessness, part valid for the sake of argument, but for the most part carefully manufactured by Hindutva propaganda, which manifests itself in questions a friend recently put to me, “What are the other ways in which the Hindus can also claim their rights and send out a message that they have been too tolerant for too long?” and another which sounded like “How else to keep our dignity and identity alive in our land?”. These questions, based upon presumptions like those of “Hindu tolerance” of acts perpetrated by other communities supposedly only against Hindus and, protection of a completely vague concept of “Hindu identity” are clearly an outcome of a campaign strategy that relies upon upping the antics on the romantic-nationalist front.
Continue reading Hindutva: A Political Theory of Nationhood?: Aman Verma
P.A.D.S. Statement on the killing of Prof MM Kalburgi – a sane voice against communalism and superstition
People’s Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS)
Murder of another rational voice against communalism and superstition
The respected and loved Kannada scholar and writer MM Kalburgi was murdered by two unidentified men on August 30 at his home in Dharwad. The seventy seven year scholar was actively researching Vachanas literature of early Kannada and literature produced during the Adil Shahi period in Northern Karnataka. He was a source of wisdom for many students and scholars, and his killers gained access posing as students. He was also a vocal critic of religious superstitions and had been targeted by fundamentalists within his own Lingayat community and by Hindutva organisations. He had received many threats and his house had been attacked with stones and bottles. He was given police protection, which was withdrawn only days before his murder.
Professor Kalburgi’s cold-blooded murder has caused widespread shock and dismay in the literary and intellectual circles of Karnataka. Many protests involving ordinary citizens have been held in Bangalore and Dharwad. At least one Hindutva Bajrang dal activist has publicly welcomed the assassination, warned another rationalist of Karnataka, Prof KS Bhagwan of the same fate.
Prof Kalburgi’s killing comes after the murders of two other prominent critics of religious superstitions. Dr Narender Dabholkar was killed in 2013 in Pune. Trade Unionist and Communist Govind Pansare was killed in Kolhapur in February this year. There are uncanny similarities in the modus operandi of all three cases. It is likely that as in the earlier cases, the police will fail to solve Prof Kalburgi’s murder. Continue reading P.A.D.S. Statement on the killing of Prof MM Kalburgi – a sane voice against communalism and superstition
On keeping Open the Door that was Opened by Dr. Malleshappa Kalburgi
On Sunday morning, seventy seven year old scholar Dr. Malleshappa Kalburgi opened his door in Dharwad town in Karnataka to some people who asked for ‘sir’. They pumped bullets into ‘sir’ when he appeared in front of them. Throughout his life, Dr. Kalburgi had the habit of opening doors. His scholarship into Kannada literature opened many doors. Those who killed Kalburgi abused not just his hospitality, and his willingness to open his doors to strangers (he had asked that his security be ‘lifted’ despite threats to his life), they abused all the traditions in the world that promise kindness to strangers, and keep doors open.
Continue reading On keeping Open the Door that was Opened by Dr. Malleshappa Kalburgi
The Murky Fourth Estate: Asifa Zunaidha
This is a guest post by ASIFA ZUNAIDHA.
[Some time ago, I wrote on Kafila about my experience of attending a televised interaction with HRD Minister Smriti Irani. The audience, packed with supporters of the particular party Irani belongs to, was set up in that debate as the neutral ‘public’, thereby killing two birds with one stone – boosting the popularity of the Minister on news media, and legitimising the news channel as a site of punchy political debate. We have below a similar case of manipulation of the powerful medium of electronic news media, this time by another channel.]
What is the role of the news media in a society if not to disseminate information and opinions as an impartial media(tor)? ‘Half truth is no truth’ is a popular aphorism, but ‘selective’ truth is also a lie and certainly does not befit the content of a news channel. It seems that in an age of corporate media, one would be foolish to expect impartial truths, let alone ‘undiluted or uncensored’ opinion of diverse groups. A recent episode inside the JNU campus shows how ‘news’ presented by News Channels can be easily manipulated and the opinion of a ‘select few’ is showcased as the ‘unanimous opinion’ emerging from the premier higher educational institute of the country.
In Solidarity with the Students of the Film &Television Institute of India (FTII)
We, the undersigned teachers, scholars and researchers within and outside the university system in India, are disturbed by the repeated and systematic attempts to undermine the academic autonomy of universities and other institutions of teaching and learning, such as the FTII (Pune), by the government. There is a concerted effort to monopolise academic spaces by replacing substantive academic autonomy with policies aimed at destroying academic excellence, diversity, creativity and an atmosphere in which students and teachers can think critically and function freely.
Further, we strongly protest the organised attacks against students and other individuals, in universities and elsewhere, for critiquing the state, be it through film screenings, books, talks or exhibitions. The growing number of censorships and bans is encouraging a widespread culture of intolerance and anti-intellectualism that is openly threatening the freedom of academic expression, democractic and participatory governance, and fundamental rights. Continue reading In Solidarity with the Students of the Film &Television Institute of India (FTII)
Of Housing, Jobs and Everyday Communalism: Saidalavi P.C.
Guest post by SAIDALAVI P.C.
“True generosity consists precisely in fighting to destroy the causes which nourish false charity”
Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed
On the evening of 21 February, 2015 I and my friend walked through the narrow lines of Vasant Kunj, New Delhi looking for an accommodation for him. On both sides of narrow roads, three-storied buildings blocked sun rays reaching the ground. Here and there scrapheap assaulted our nostrils and a flock of bees and mosquitoes hovered around the area keeping watch. Our eyes waded through the gates of the buildings looking for a signboard announcing vacancies. We pushed a gate open and entered the building looking for the owner. A middle-aged man announced his presence pushing his belly in front of him. We asked, room koi khali hai, bhayya (Is there any room vacant, brother?) He scrutinised us for a moment. May be nonplussed by seeing no marks of our identity (we are clean shaven, well-dressed, normative secular self with supposedly a neutral identity in public) he was bit confused and his lips contorted a bit towards the left. Impassively, he nodded us to follow him since the room was on the second floor. My friend was visibly satisfied by the room, it was well-furnished, with a bathroom, kitchen and a balcony. He said he would take it. Listening to it, the owner’s face had taken a bit more serious expression, and at last he asked what our names are. It seemed our neutral identity was the bomb he wanted to diffuse. The moment we uttered our names, his facial expression changed into one who is caught by colic, he was startled and flushed, and his ears instantly became red. We were unable to make sense of what he was thinking. Then, he spoke hoarsely and told us to leave immediately. He said that if he had known earlier that we were Muslims, he wouldn’t have invited us to see the rooms. He never let rooms to Muslims. We tried to reason with him by asking why he is not renting it to Muslims.
Continue reading Of Housing, Jobs and Everyday Communalism: Saidalavi P.C.
Teesta, Yakub and Hijab – The Triple Tests of Nationalism: Saif Mahmood
Guest post by SAIF MAHMOOD
If you are Indian but not a supporter of the present Government, on social media your loyalty to your country will be tested on the following touchstones :
- Have you said anything against the CBI’s palpably malicious agenda against Teesta Setalvad or even hinted that, even if the CBI’s allegations are taken on their face value, she is entitled to anticipatory bail ?
- Do you think that the decision to hang Yakub Memon deserves one last re-look ?
- Have you criticised the manner in which female Muslim and Christian PMT aspirants were told to take off their hijabs and scarfs if they wished to take the test and / or the intemperate language in which the Supreme Court refused to interfere in the matter?
If the answer to any of the above questions is in the affirmative, you have just failed the loyalty test; and failed you have, irrespective of the reasons that you may have for your answers. Continue reading Teesta, Yakub and Hijab – The Triple Tests of Nationalism: Saif Mahmood
The courts of this country are on trial, not Teesta: Indira Jaising
INDIRA JAISING writes in The Times of India
The hounding of Teesta Setalvad is timed to coincide with the publicly articulated urge of the Prime Minister to get a “clean chit” from the courts in relation to the ongoing cases in Gujarat, which Teesta has been doggedly pursuing. She is the victim of the pursuit for justice.
We are being asked to roll back the clock, consign the 2002 Gujarat carnage to the dustbin of history and replace Teesta Setalvad as the villain, who hounded the then chief minister…Can the collective amnesia on the Gujarat riots, and the view that we must move on be legitimized?
All this could possibly happen if Zakia Jafri and Teesta Setalvad, who are doing everything constitutionally and legally possibe to hold the head of the then government accountable, are checkmated, preferably gagged, and put into jail.
Read the rest of this damning indictment of the Indian justice system here.
Animal rights or Hindutva Wrongs? Sriranjini R
Guest Post by SRIRANJINI R
Finally it has happened. ‘Debeefing Kerala’ has arrived. That’s not what the leader of Hindu Makkal Katchi said, though. He said that he’s out to defend animal rights. Really? Then, do animal rights in India help to protect all animals or only specific animals?
These were the questions that popped into my mind when I saw the news of Hindu rightwing activists physically preventing the export of beef from Tamil Nadu to Kerala (The Hindu, Trivandrum edition, July 21, 2015). The trucks carrying the cattle for slaughter to Kerala, are being stopped by the Hindu Makkal Katchi and the Hanuman Sena on the Tamil Nadu border and taken to a Goshala near Coimbatore, where these animals are supposedly being taken care of. But according to the traders, the cattle are being mistreated in the Goshalas. If this is true, it is not only the traders who are in big trouble, it is also the cattle that probably prefer quick and painless deaths rather than life as pawns of the Hindutvavaadis in the Goshalas!
And all this is happening because the leader of Hindu Makkal Katchi, Arjun Sampath, claims that almost 50 heads of cattle are being stuffed into a truck during transportation, such that they are not able to drink water or even move. The Hindutvavaadis are out to stop this. This is where the animal rights card is being played. Even if we consider all these as violations of animal rights, then the question arises: why does the Hindu zealot have no mercy for other animals apart from cattle? Elephants, chickens, goats – these animals also go through terrible things humans do to them. Don’t they deserve animal rights?
Continue reading Animal rights or Hindutva Wrongs? Sriranjini R
Gujarat State Crime Branch Claims and the Reality Behind the Charges Against Teesta Setalvad
[In the light of a concerted campaign against Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand and their organizations Citizens for Justice and Peace and Sabrang Trust, launched by the Gujarat government and parroted by the media at large, we are reproducing a note prepared by Teesta and Javed, along with the details regarding their statement on finances (which were prepared over four months ago in February 2015 and which are also submitted before the Supreme Court). There seems a veritable media trial on with the versions of CJP and Sabrang Trust virtually blacked out, except for a few honourable exceptions. ]
A NOTE ON CITIZENS FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE; SABRANG TRUST
Concerning the allegations of embezzlement of funds by Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand by the Gujarat police, presented below are some facts:
CITIZENS FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE:
Primary Activity: Legal Aid to victims of mass crimes (communalism, terrorism)
- Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP) was formed in April 2002 by 11 prominent, law-abiding Mumbaikars, each one of whom had been individually and collectively engaged in building peace and seeking justice in the aftermath of the 1992-93 communal violence in Mumbai. Noted playwright, late Vijay Tendulkar was the founding President of CJP and remained at that post till his sad demise in May 2008.
- Bearing in mind that the victims of the 1984 communal carnages in Delhi and in Mumbai in 1992-93 had been denied justice, the founding members of CJP resolved to focus their efforts in legal intervention in the courts to ensure Rule of Law and impartial policing.
- The very first activity of CJP was to set-up a Citizens Tribunal headed by the late Justice VR Krishna Iyer, former justice of the Supreme Court of India. Other members of the Tribunal included former judge of the Supreme Court of India, Justice P. B. Sawant and former judge of the Bombay High Court, Justice Hosbet Suresh.
CBI Mis-reporting on Search: Teesta Setalvad
We reproduce below the full statement (partially reported in the newspapers) from Teesta Setalvad on the CBI search at her office premises regarding the continuous misreporting that was going on during the search:
As I write this, the search is still not concluded. It is shocking that while over a dozen members of the CBI are still in our premises conducting the search, Delhi spokesperson is misleading the public and our vast supporters by a series of misinformations and official tweets.
In our view, and we repeat no laws have been broken by us. This is a continuation of the persecution and witchhunt first launched by the Gujarat police in 2014 then under the dispensation that rules Delhi. The CBI has taken the same documents that we had voluntarily on inspection given the MHA (FCRA dept). Over 25,000 pages of documentary evidence has been given to the Gujarat Police. When they could not succeed with the bizarre and desperate attempts to gain custody (February 2015), it was the Gujarat Government Home Department that wrote to the MHA and the current round of the persecutions began.
Its is shameful political vendetta. The Zakia Jafri case begins its final hearings on July 27 2015. The Naroda Patiya appeals (Kodnani and Bajrangi) are being heard in the Gujarat High Court tomorrow. This is nothing but a bid to subvert the cause of public justice and ensure that no justice happens in these cases. Continue reading CBI Mis-reporting on Search: Teesta Setalvad
Hindutva Media – An Online Upheaval: Saif Ahmad Khan
Guest Post by SAIF AHMAD KHAN
The year 2004 saw the Indian electorate defying the verdict of psephologists by voting out the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party led National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre. The fundamental reason behind the defeat of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government was the slogan of “India Shining” which was perceived by the voters to be nothing more than a poll gimmick as millions of ordinary Indians were trapped in the vicious cycle of poverty and struggling due to high inflation.
However, a decade after 2004, one has reason to believe that “India Shining” was a blessing in disguise for the BJP. Traditionally, BJP was an anti-technology party owing to its Swadeshi leanings. When computer technology was being introduced by the Rajiv Gandhi government during the 1980s, the socialist parties opposed the move and argued that mechanization would lead to unemployment. The Sang Parivar echoed similar sentiments.
The general elections held in 2004 brought about a paradigm shift in BJP’s approach towards technology as the saffron party ran India’s first computer-centric, Hollywood-style electoral campaign. The most talked about thing of the 2004 elections was the “Indian Shining” slogan of the incumbent government. Prathap Suthan, National Creative Director of Grey Worldwide, was the man responsible for coning the term. India Shining was originally an initiative of the Central Government which sought to promote the country’s economic achievements and industrial progress on a global scale.
Continue reading Hindutva Media – An Online Upheaval: Saif Ahmad Khan
#SelfieWithDaughter – Ehsan Jafri and Nishrin Jafri Hussain
A picture that says more than a thousand words
Recently, under increasing pressure for the growing incidents of communally targeted violence by BJP and its allied Hindutva groups, the PM Narendra Modi met Muslim leaders and assured them he would be available to address their issues even “at 12 in the night.” In the face of this blatant hypocrisy we will remember that in Gujarat in 2002, Ehsan Jafri, his house filled with Muslims seeking shelter from the murderous mobs, made several desperate phone calls, including to Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat at the time, and he got no response but abuses.
The Special Investigation Committee investigating the Gulbarg Society massacre concluded laughably, as we know, that Jafri’s death was caused by his “provoking a violent mob”, and predictably gave Modi and the state authorities the proverbial “clean chit”.
Are there any limits to the shamelessness of this Prime Minister, this party, this government?
बाक़ी चीज़ों की तरह इनका योग भी फ्रॉड है…
Dilip C Mandal के फेसबुक पोस्ट से साभार (तस्वीर और नीचे की टिप्पणी दोनों)
जो लोग कभी नहीं करते और फ़ोटो खिंचवाने के लिए नाटक करते हैं, वे सबसे आसान आसन- पद्मासन भी गलत करते हैं।
मोदी जी के पैरों की मुद्रा देखिए। सही पद्मासन में पीछे वाली लड़की बैठी है। देखिए, दोनों पैर ऊपर हैं। जो कभी नहीं करते हैं, वे नाटक के लिए भी नहीं कर सकते।
जब पद्मासन में बैठने को कहा गया है और सभी लोग वही कर रहे हैं, तो रेगुलर योग करने का दावा करने वाले को पद्मासन ही करना चाहिए। अर्ध नहीं पूर्ण।
56 इंच का सीना नहीं, 56 इंच का पेट है। रामसनेही को अब पूरा यकीन है कि सुनने में धोखा हुआ था।
बच्चों को इनसे शिक्षा नहीं लेनी चाहिए।
Appeal to Release Raif Badawi, a Saudi Blogger: Peoples Alliance for Democracy and Secularism
Guest Post by Peoples Alliance for Democracy and Secularism
To:
The Ambassador,
Embassy of Saudi Arabia at New Delhi,
2- Pachchimi Marg, VasantVihar,!
New Delhi-110057 Fax: 00911126144244
This is an appeal regarding Raif Badawi, a blogger and Saudi citizen, founder of the website ‘Free Saudi Liberals’. Mr Badawi has been under arrest since 2012 for insulting Islam and apostasy. He was sentenced to be punished with 10 years in prison along with 1000 lashes (50 lashes to be received on every Friday) and a fine of one million riyals. Though he was cleared of charges of apostasy in 2013, there are new reports that indicate he may be tried again under the same charge.
We are mindful that India and Saudi Arabia have long-standing friendly political and commercial relations and that large numbers of Indians live and work in your country. It is because of this that we feel constrained to convey to you our concerns. Raif Badawi is a public intellectual who communicated his thoughts to the public through a blog. We do not believe that any of its contents constituted a threat to the state. To the contrary, his advocacy for secularism and the separation of religion and state is a suggestion that would strengthen it.
Whether or not his ideas are pleasing to your government, the fact remains that as a member state of the United Nations, Saudi Arabia is presumed to be respectful of the freedom of speech that is provided for under Article 19 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. This article states: ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers‘.
The sharing of information and ideas is a basic human practice and natural right that should be available to everyone regardless of their nationality or identity and (barring extremist incitement) should not be restricted by law. The state should protect and promote our rights instead of restricting them.
It has been reported that Raif Badawi received the first set of lashes on 9 January, after Friday prayers outside the Al-Juffali Mosque in Jeddah. The next round of punishment has been suspended on medical grounds to give his wounds time to heal prior to wounding him again. We consider this an example of barbaric cruelty, not befitting any member state of the UNO. Such practices are a travesty of justice and will bring you only disrepute.
We are Indian citizens who speak for human rights both within our own country and beyond. We are in solidarity with Raif Badawi and all those demanding freedom of speech in Saudi Arabia. We condemn the inhuman punishment being meted out to him as we condemn all measures that punish people for defending human rights and sharing their thoughts
We ask that Saudi Arabia:
• Immediately suspend the punishment of Raif Badawi,
• Release Raif Badawi and provide him security,
• Take measures towards the provision of full freedom of expression in Saudi Arabia
Submitted by:
Ravi Nitesh, Peoples Alliance for Democracy and Secularism , Dipak Dholakia , Rajashri Dasgupta, Prithvi R Sharma, Rana P Behal, Shamsul Islam, Suman Keshari, Aseem Shrivastava, Viren Lobo , Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, Kashif Ahmed Faraz, R.Sasankan, Journalist, Delhi , Rohit Sharma, Pilani, India , Mandeep Singh from Revolutionary Youth Student Front , Firoz Ahmad, Public School Teacher , Chaman Lal, J.S.Bandukwala , Devika Mittal (Mission Bhartiyam), Apoorvanand , Sudha Vasan , Dheeraj Gaba, Nawed Akhter, Dilip Simeon , Shabnam Hashmi, Rohini Hensman Ovais Sultan Khan, Ram Puniyani, Vinerjeet Kaur, Kiran Shaheen , Battini Rao, Convener, Peoples Alliance for Democracy and Secularism (PADS) , Javed Anand , Harsh Kapoor , Subash Mohapatra, Global Human Rights Communications, Bhubaneswar Sagar Rabari, Ahmedabad , Nayanjyoti , Shailendra Dhar, Journalist, Nihal Parashar , Linus Ayangwoh Embe, Peter Marshall , Sudarshan Juyal , Dhruv Singhal (Political Science student), Mohammad Imran, NRISAHI, Suresh Bhat , Prof. S Ratnagar, Mumbai , Ilma Iqbal , Michael Karadjis , Vasantharajan, Research Scholar , Rabin Chakraborty, Shruti Arora , Hiren Gandhi, Anand Patwardhan, Dr. D. Gabriele, Mukul Mangalik, Neeraj Malik, academic, Suhas Borker , Virginia Saldanha, Mumbai , Kasim Sait , Waliullah Ahmed Laskar , Kaveri Rajaraman, University of Hyderabad, Parth Sarthu Ram , Mahesh Elkunchwar, Suman Kumar , Kamayani Bali Mahabal, Syed Ghazanfar Abbas, Jawad Mohammed , Prof. Anil Sadgopal, Shiksha Adhikar Manch, Bhopal Satya Pal, Secretary General – South Asian Fraternity Deepak Kabir / Veena Rana, Dastak, Lucknow Madhu Sarin , Kavita Panjabi, Kolkata , Xavier Dias Editor, Khan Kaneej aur ADHIKAR ,Jharkhand India , Muhammad Murad, from Pakistan, Sindh , Sanjay Halder , Gurpreet Singh, Ravi Tripathi, Francis Gonsalves , Subhash Gatade, New Socialist Initiative, Shahid Siddiqui , P.I. Jose, Ishwarbhai Prajapati, Deepak Kabir , Fr. T.K.John , Professor Rohan Dandavate – TPI WORD, Daniel Varghese , Sanjay T , Prasanth Menon , Zakia Soman and Dr. Noorjehan SN from Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan , Antony Aruloraj, New Delhi, India, Aarti Tikoo , Ashish Biswas, Online Journalist, Dhaka, Bangladesh, Devaki Khanna, Alok Chadha , Renu Singh, Samir Dholakia, Mushtaq Dar , Narinder Singh Sandhu, P R Vaidya, Bombay , Dr V Prasad , Ameeque Jamei , Padma Velaskar, Bhanu Bharti, Shuddhabrata Sengupta, Delhi , M.Balanna, PADS, Andhra Pradesh , Ajay Kumar, PADS Andhra Pradesh , Roja Ramani Mahila Sravanti, Kurnool
Stop the Coercive Imposition of Yoga to Enforce Cultural Homogeneity – A Petition
We write as concerned scholars, many of whom have long been indebted to yoga and pranayama for their therapeutic effects, about the many plans that are being made to declare June 21 as a successful start of International Yoga Day. While mindful of yoga as a most desirable option for health care, we are concerned by the central compulsion driving the directives issued by the present Government, namely about entering the Guinness Book of Records through a show of numerical strength. We are even more alarmed about the government order addressed to university teachers and staff and school students to perform yoga on 21st June in public, and construe this as a compulsion that amounts to misuse of state authority.
Continue reading Stop the Coercive Imposition of Yoga to Enforce Cultural Homogeneity – A Petition
Muslims, Yoga and the Empty Heart of Fanaticism: Kaif Mahmood
Guest post by KAIF MAHMOOD
As a Muslim, a student of Comparative Religion and a practitioner of yoga for over a decade, I believe that both those Muslims who object to the practice of yoga on religious grounds and those others who force the practice on the unwilling, trivialise their own traditions in the service of power and identity politics. Neither is Islam an inane system of punishments and rewards, nor is yoga an ancient version of a modern gym. Both groups are a parody of what their traditions were meant to be, and pose to us the question of how to be culturally rooted without assuming an isolationist, chest thumping fanaticism of the religious kind on the one hand, and of a culturally deracinated, materialistic kind on the other – two sides of the same coin. I attempt here a reading of both the religious traditions involved in a manner that is both philosophical and personal.
The recent objections by certain Muslims over compulsory yoga in schools brings to mind a scene from Richard Attenborough’s film Gandhi.
A group of RSS workers, waving black flags, stop Gandhi’s car and request him to not meet with Jinnah. Gandhi replies with a sorrowful agitation: “What do you want me not to do? Not to meet with Mr. Jinnah? I am a Muslim, and a Hindu, and a Christian, and a Jew, and so are all of you. When you wave those flags and shout, you send fear into the hearts of your brothers. That is not the India I want. Stop it, for god’s sake, stop it.” The car moves on, leaving the protestors, including Nathuram Godse, in anger and incomprehension.
The difference between one who breaks down walls of separation and one who creates them could not have been clearer. Continue reading Muslims, Yoga and the Empty Heart of Fanaticism: Kaif Mahmood
Iceland Jailed Bad Bankers While Modi Govt Bails Out Defaulting Sugar Mills
In February this year, Iceland jailed four of its rogue bankers for market manipulation and for defrauding ordinary people. No, the heavens did not fall. Thunder and lightning did not strike. The wrath of God did not descend upon the people of Iceland. On 13 February 2015, Reuters had reported:
Iceland’s Supreme Court has upheld convictions of market manipulation for four former executives of the failed Kaupthing bank in a landmark case that the country’s special prosecutor said showed it was possible to crack down on fraudulent bankers. Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson, Kaupthing’s former chief executive, former chairman Sigurdur Einarsson, former CEO of Kaupthing Luxembourg Magnus Gudmundsson, and Olafur Olafsson, the bank’s second largest shareholder at the time, were all sentenced on Thursday to between four and five and a half years. –
In less than four months since this happened, Mathew Yglesias reported in Vox Business and Finance two days ago that the economy had in the meanwhile done quite well:
Yesterday, Iceland’s prime minister, Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, announced a plan that will essentially close the books on his country’s approach to handling the financial crisis — an approach that deviated greatly from the preferences of global financial elites and succeeded quite well. Instead of embracing the orthodoxy of bank bailouts, austerity, and low inflation, Iceland did just the opposite. And even though its economy was hammered by the banking crisis perhaps harder than any other in the world, its labor didn’t deteriorate all that much, and it had a great recovery.
For those who have seen the brilliant documentary film Inside Job, which exposed the unscrupulous game played by the bankers and the financial oligarchy in defrauding millions of ordinary people and eventually triggering of the financial crisis in the US and the world at large, the story of Iceland’s descent into the dystopic neoliberal world must still be fresh in their minds. Continue reading Iceland Jailed Bad Bankers While Modi Govt Bails Out Defaulting Sugar Mills
KAFILA - COLLECTIVE EXPLORATIONS SINCE 2006 