Category Archives: Right watch

Debates, Politics, Right watch

Speak to us, not for us: students respond to media coverage of the St Xavier’s letter

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On April 21st, 2014, Dr. Frazer Mascarenhas, S.J., Principal of St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, posted a letter on the college’s official website. In it, Fr. Mascarenhas, who also teaches a course in Anthropology of Development, dissected the “Gujarat model of development”. He warned against the dangers posed by an “alliance of corporate capital and communal forces coming to power”, and stressing the importance of a strong welfare state, ended by informing students to “choose well.”

The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission, claiming this was “an attempt to influence the minds of students”, and that it “violated the Model Code of Conduct.” A simultaneous campaign on electronic and social media alleged Fr. Mascarenhas had overstepped his authority. Unfortunately, all this is being said on behalf of students of St Xavier’s, without considering their views on the same.

While we as alumni and students might not agree unanimously with Fr. Mascarenhas’ statement, or the method he chose to disseminate it, we strongly oppose the biased media reports and falsehoods propagated on social media, which are twisting this case beyond merit. Thus, we, students and alumni of St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, wish to strongly bring home a few points: Continue reading Speak to us, not for us: students respond to media coverage of the St Xavier’s letter →

Debates, Politics, Right watch

In the Background of Elections – The Development Debate: Frazer Mascarenhas

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This is the post by FRAZER MASCARENHAS, SJ that came under attack from the Moditva Brigade, aided ably by the ‘propaganda machine’ that the media has become, and which has since been taken down from the St Xavier’s College website. We have Fr Mascarenhas’ permission to reproduce it here. As any committed teacher would certify, it is our privilege and responsibility to place before our students a range of views, including our own, provided we make clear what our own views are, and do not cloak these as truth or the only valid view. I believe in this piece Fr Mascarenhas has adhered to this ethical principle.

It is also not a coincidence that the Moditva  Brigade frontally attacks particularly people from minority communities when they express their views fearlessly, whether it be Shazia Ilmi labelled as communal for asking Muslims to vote for their “own” – Arvind Kejriwal, mind you, not a Muslim, thus redefining the very idea of community as has been pointed out here – or Fr Mascarenhas placing his views before his students.

Of course, the fear of the Modi Masks is that “minorities” are communities that are “led” by their own.

The truth that they dare not confront is that Fr Mascarenhas and Shazia Ilmi belong to another community altogether – our community of Indians who believe in a strongly democratic society, a society that secures to its citizens justice, equality and dignity. As the two statements endorsing Fr Mascarenhas (that will shortly go up here on Kafila) show – one from the St Xavier’s academic community and the other from a wider set of people –  “We the People” will never ever fit neatly into the hateful divisions the Hindutvavaadis try so hard – and keep failing – to propagate.

The approaching elections have brought an interesting discussion to the public forum on what constitutes human development and how it is to be achieved. The Gujarat model has been highlighted for our consideration. That is very apt because it puts in stark contrast two current views. Is the growth of big business, the making of huge profits, the achievement of high production – what we seek? Or is it the quality of life for the majority in terms of affordable basic goods and services and the freedom to take forward the cultural aspirations of our plural social groups that make up India? Continue reading In the Background of Elections – The Development Debate: Frazer Mascarenhas →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Government, Media politics, Politics, Right watch

Modi-Fascism and the Rise of the Propaganda Machine

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Almost every day, Modi takes off from Ahmedabad airport in an EMB-135BJ, an Embraer aircraft, for his rallies. The jet is owned by Karnavati Aviation, a group company of the Adani Group. “We record two movements of Modi’s aircraft daily. No matter where he goes to address rallies, he always comes back home,” said an air traffic control official.

Recently, Modi’s aircraft was denied permission to fly by DGCA in Delhi for over two hours, following which he lashed out at the central government for stalling his movement. Ever since, Modi has increased the use of choppers to cover smaller distances. “Mostly, politicians use chopper to reach places where bigger aircraft can’t reach,” said an ATC official.

Over the past few days, Modi flew in an Augusta AW-139 chopper, owned by the DLF Group, for his rallies in north India, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. ‘Fleet of 3 aircrafts ensures Modi is home every night after day’s campaigning’, Times of India, April 22, 2014

The Political Culture of Fascism

In an earlier post, I had joined issue with a section of liberal intellectuals, whose ‘liberalism’ was either rendering them too gullible or simply complicit in the formation of the Narendra Modi phenomenon – which I have no hesitation in referring to as the Indian edition of fascism. The gullibility or complicity of many of these intellectuals also manifests itself in the myopia that grips them when the talk about the impending challenge before democratic politics in India – a brief glimpse of which is provided in the quote above, that indicates the alliance, the power bloc that will rule, were Modi to come to power.

The Modi-formation is ‘fascism’, in the sense that it takes direct inspiration from the particular history that goes by that name, especially its Nazi episode and knows that even though it cannot replicate the conditions of its existence in India, it can nevertheless use its cardinal ideas. The exaltation of the Nation/ nation-state, the manic obsession with ‘national security’ to the extent of the destruction of democratic rights, identification and suppression of scapegoats – the Other (the Jew, the Muslim, the homosexual, and all kinds of ‘wayward’ sexualities – often, all rolled into one) and of course, the intellectuals, artistes and human rights activists. A key aspect of this political culture is the combination of violence with mass frenzy that is sought to be continuously whipped up and directed against the imagined enemies of the ‘Nation’. Continue reading Modi-Fascism and the Rise of the Propaganda Machine →

Identities, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Pogrom Politics from 1984 to 2002: Sanjay Kumar

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Guest post by SANJAY KUMAR

Delhi 1984 and Gujarat 2002 are among the darkest spots in India’s post independence history. Like all other communal killings in the country, they too were similar in the mechanics of their violence. Connivance of the top state authorities, active role of elected politicians, police and bureaucratic indifference, a cornered and hapless minority, and participation of ordinary folks in violence and looting, all elements of the process of communal killings almost reached the  point of perfection in these two pogroms. So much so, that they indeed were not contained, but played themselves out fully, till the time killers and looters got tired, or when nobody was left to be killed, and nothing remained to be burnt and looted. All those who talk, think, write or make claims about civilisation in India, should take a few moments off to come to terms with these two events. Victims of these pogroms too, like of other communal killings in the country, continue to wait for justice. Collusion of investigative agencies, protective shadow of state power and judicial lethargy has meant that prime movers behind these killings have remained beyond the arm of justice. In fact, particularly in these two cases, the political fortunes of parties involved in killings witnessed an unprecedented boom. Congress party under Rajiv Gandhi in 1984 returned with the largest ever national mandate to Lok Sabha; and the BJP under Narendra Modi has successfully decimated all political opposition in Gujarat, and is now eyeing central power under his leadership. Continue reading Pogrom Politics from 1984 to 2002: Sanjay Kumar →

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

The Pro-Establishment Intelligentsia and the Modi Phenomenon

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

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

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

Genders, Law, Right watch

(En) Gendering a Rights Revolution: Siddharth Narrain

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Guest Post by SIDDHARTH NARRAIN

The Supreme Court, in the National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) judgment delivered today has recognized the legal and constitutional rights of transgender persons, including the rights of the hijra community as a ‘third gender’. In judgment of immense breadth and vision, Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and A.K. Sikri have brought hope and a promise of citizenship to a community that has largely been outside the legal framework.

NALSA filed this petition in 2012. In 2013, this matter was tagged together with a petition filed in the Supreme Court by the Poojaya Mata Nasib Kaur Ji Women’s Welfare Society, an organization working for kinnars, a transgender community. Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, a well-known transgender rights activist from Mumbai also intervened in this case.

In this piece, I will point to the highlights of this judgment and why it will go down in history as one of the most rights enhancing decisions in the Court’s history. I cannot but remark on the irony of this judgment being delivered just a few months after Koushal, in which the Supreme Court recriminalized LGBT persons and upheld the constitutionality of section 377 of the IPC. The Court acknowledges this, but makes it clear that while it recognizes that section 377 is used to harass and discriminate against transgender persons, this judgment leaves Koushal undisturbed, and instead focuses specifically on the legal recognition of the transgender community.

Continue reading (En) Gendering a Rights Revolution: Siddharth Narrain →

Law, Right watch

Supreme Court recognizes transgender people as third gender

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A two judge bench (Radhakrishnan and Sikri, JJ) of the the Supreme Court has delivered a judgment in  National Legal Services Authority versus Union of India which  recognizes transgendered people as a third gender. We will follow this post with a more detailed analysis of the judgment, but for now the operative part of the ruling

129. We, therefore, declare:

(1) Hijras, Eunuchs, apart from binary gender, be treated as “third gender” for the purpose of safeguarding their rights under Part III of our Constitution and the laws made by the Parliament and the State Legislature.

(2) Transgender persons’ right to decide their self-identified gender is also upheld and the Centre and State Governments are directed to grant legal recognition of their gender identity such as male, female or as third gender.

(3) We direct the Centre and the State Governments to take steps to treat them as socially and educationallybackward classes of citizens and extend all kinds of reservation in cases of admission in educational institutions and for public appointments.

(4) Centre and State Governments are directed to operate separate HIV Sero-survellance Centres since Hijras/ Transgenders face several sexual health issues.

(5)Centre and State Governments should seriously address the problems being faced by Hijras/Transgenders such as fear, shame, gender dysphoria, social pressure, depression, suicidal tendencies, social stigma, etc. and any insistence for SRS for declaring one’s gender is immoral and illegal.

(6) Centre and State Governments should take proper measures to provide medical care to TGs in the hospitals and also provide them separate public toilets and other facilities.

(7) Centre and State Governments should also take steps for framing various social welfare schemes for their betterment.

(8) Centre and State Governments should take steps to create public awareness so that TGs will feel that they are also part and parcel of the social life and be not treated as untouchables.

(9)Centre and the State Governments should also take measures to regain their respect and place in the society which once they enjoyed in our cultural and social life.

 

 

Bad ideas, Politics, Right watch

फेंके जा, फेंके जा – ये तीन सौ टॉफी भी गुजरात मॉडल की देन हैं!

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चला मुरारी हीरो बनने. मगर इत्ती जल्दी काहे की – टॉफी और ट्रॉफी का फ़र्क तो जान ले पहले. भक्तों और भक्तिनों से ही पूछ लिया होता तो वो भी बता देते. मगर इत्ता भी सब्र किसे जब सामने कुर्सी दिखाई दे रही हो. वो भी परधान मंत्री की. और जब सारे मुनादी करने वाले, बैंड बाजे वाले चुगलिया, फुगलिया, शर्मा, गुप्ता, कंवल, फंवल में बादशाह के नए लिबास की तारीफ़ों के पुल बांधने की होड़ लगी हो, तो कौन है सुसरा जो हमारे सामने बोल सके है? अब मुरारी बोलता है और बैंड बाजे वाले दाद देते हैं. लीजिये समाअत  फरमाइए उन्हीं की ज़ुबानी और आनंद लीजिये:

Debates, Identities, Politics, Right watch

Muslims Will Consider Supporting AAP, if it Offers Concrete Programme for Them: Jamaat-e-Islami

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An Interview with the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Amir (National President) MAULANA JALALUDDIN OMARI conducted by MISHAB  IRIKKUR, MOHAMMAD RAGHIB and ABHAY KUMAR

Amid the talk of communal forces emerging stronger, India is going to polls. The fear of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is perhaps more felt by the Muslim minority than anyone else. The “secular” Congress—charged with corruption and misrule—does not seem much energetic and confident at this moment. At this crucial juncture what strategy should the largest religious minority community of the country adopt in the upcoming General and assembly elections? What are the options available for them? To learn about this and more, Mishab Irikkur, Mohammad Raghib and Abhay Kumar interacted with Maulana Jalaluddin Omari, the Amir (national president) of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) last week at its New Delhi headquarter. The seventy-nine year old Amir–who is an Islamic scholar and author of dozens of books–spoke on a host of issues such as elections, politics, the social and economic problems of Muslims, reservation, framing of innocent Muslim youth on terror charges etc. The JIH—which came into existence soon after the Jamaat-e-Islami had split into two separate organisations at Partition–is one of the most influential Islamic organizations among Muslims that mainly does “intellectual” work and carries out welfare activities as well. The excerpts are as follows.

Amir_JIH_Omari
Amir_JIH_Omari

What are the major concerns of Muslims ahead of the upcoming elections?

Omari: Our Constitution does not discriminate any citizen on the basis of caste, colour, religion, region, sex etc. It has also given minorities some special rights related to their personal laws and culture. Muslims, therefore, should vote to power those forces, which are committed to upholding democracy, secularism and the principles of Indian Constitution. At the same time we should defeat the parties which are opposed to diversity. The very language of cultural assimilation is a threat to the spirit of our Constitution and interests of people. Continue reading Muslims Will Consider Supporting AAP, if it Offers Concrete Programme for Them: Jamaat-e-Islami →

Law, Media politics, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

De-recognize the BJP!

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The BJP has been clamouring for the de-recognition of AAP for its ‘anarchism’ and its lack of faith in institutions put in place by the Constitution, but faced with the sting by Cobrapost on its own responsibility for the Babri Masjid demolition, its only response is that  the Election Commission should stop its broadcast in view of the elections. In its characteristic fashion, the BJP leaders went on to accuse the sting operation of being ‘Congress sponsored’ – looks like this party has even lost the capacity to make a reasonable argument about anything. Meanwhile, all of yesterday the major channels were  dancing tango with the BJP in expressing suspicion about the ‘timing’ of the release. Not one of the channels had anything to say about the content of the sting.

Who is setting the terms of ‘debate’ here?

And why does the BJP want the EC to stop the broadcast? Because now it is clear that even as top BJP leaders and the Kalyan Singh government gave their commitment to the Supreme Court of India that nothing would happen to the mosque, the leaders were planning its demolition. That is what the sting operation shows. It shows, in the words of the actual dramatis personae, how the young recruits were trained by retired military personnel, without  being told what their mission was. The training was conducted in strict secrecy and with the full knowledge of at least some of the BJP bigwigs, the RSS and the Shiv Sena. Continue reading De-recognize the BJP! →

Culture, Everyday Life, Government, Identities, Right watch

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

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Guest post by SANJEEV KUMAR

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

Bad ideas, Images, Media politics, Politics, Right watch

56 इंच का सीना और बोलती बंद?

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सरकती जाए है रुख़ से नक़ाब, अहिस्ता, अहिस्ता….

इसे कहते हैं ५६ इंच की छाती
इसे कहते हैं ५६ इंच की छाती

बहुत दहाड़ते हैं फेकू महाराज. गुजरात के शेर. 56 इंच के सीने वाले. यकीन न हो तो यह देख लीजिये बाएँ बाज़ू पर छपी तस्वीर. गरजते हुए शेर के कम लग रहे हैं? ऐसा दहाड़ना, ऐसा गरजना की अच्छे अच्छों की रूह कांप जाए. और क्यों न हो? कौन भूल सकता वो दिन – जिसे आज मीडिया की धुआंदार बमबारी भुला देने पर अमादा है. अंग्रेजी में एक शब्द है इस तरह की बमबारी के लिए – carpet bombing, यानि कालीन कि माफ़िक बम से ज़मीन को ढक देना. पिछले कुछ वक़्त से हमारी इन्द्रियों पर जो हमला हो रहा, कुछ इसी किस्म का है. मगर वो लाख चाहे कि इन महाशय की सारी करतूतें भुला दी जाएँ, ऐसा कैसे हो सकता है? जब जब यह शक्ल सामने आती है तब तब नाखूनों में खून दिखाई दे जाता है. वैसे भूलने भुलाने वाले भी अजीब मिट्टी के बने होते हैं. अब देखिये न जी, हिन्दुओं से कहते हैं की चार सौ साल पुरानी मस्जिद भी मत भूलना – बाबर का बदला लेना है और मुसलमानों से कहते हैं इतनी पुरानी बात – 2002 का रोना अब भी रोये जा रहे हो? इसे कहते हैं “चित भी मेरी, पट भी मेरी – और अंटा मेरे बाप का”. खैर जिन्हें बदला लेना था उन्होंने ले लिया. किस का बदला किससे – कौन जाने? क्या फ़र्क पड़ता है आखिर? वैसे गनीमत है कि पब्लिक सब जानती है – इसलिए ज्यादातर हिन्दू भी इनकी नहीं सुनते. इसी लिए इन्हें हर चुनाव से पहले आग लगानी होती है. खैर, ये तो ठहरे मर्जी के बादशाह – मगर उन मीडिया वालों की क्या कहिये, या उन नए नवेले भक्तों और भक्तिनों की जो सब जान कर अनजान बने हैं?

मज़े की बात यह है कि जैसे की यह शेर अकेले में धर लिया जाता है – जहाँ खुले मैदान में दहाड़ना क़ाफ़ी नहीं, जहाँ सवाल का जवाब देना ही होता है, जहाँ चालाकी से किसी को भी “पाकिस्तानी एजेंट” वगैरह कहा नहीं जा सकता है – वहीँ फेकूराम बगलें झाँकने लगते हैं. घूँट भरते हैं, पानी मांगते हैं और फिर मौन व्रत. एक बार तो स्टूडियो से ही उठ कर चल दिए थे. अभी हाल में हेलिकोप्टर में फँस ही गए तो चेहरा फीका पड़ गया (देखिये नीचे दूसरा वीडियो).

Continue reading 56 इंच का सीना और बोलती बंद? →

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

Revenge is the Only Motive of the Vindictive Modi government – A Statement in Support of Teesta and Others

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The following is a Statement issued by SAHMAT in Support of Teesta Setalvad and others

We are shocked and outraged by the continuing attempt of the highly vindictive Modi government and the Gujarat police to somehow implicate activists Teesta Setalvad and Javed Anand, along with three victim-survivors of the state-sponsored Gujarat carnage in 2002 on patently trumped-up charges.

This is nothing but a desperate bid to delay or derail the justice process, in particular Zakia Jafri’s appeal which is now before the Gujarat High Court. Mrs. Jafri has accused Gujarat chief minister and home minister, Narendra Modi along with 59 other top politicians, police officers and civil servants of conspiracy for mass murder and other serious criminal offences.

It is significant that the Supreme Court appointed amicus curiae in the case, Mr. Raju Ramachandran, has told the apex court there was enough prima facie evidence to prosecute Modi. Continue reading Revenge is the Only Motive of the Vindictive Modi government – A Statement in Support of Teesta and Others →

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

फेकू की भजन मंडली उर्फ़ खिसियानी बिल्ली खम्बा नोचे

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

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

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

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

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

Bad ideas, Politics, Right watch

Narendra Modi’s Plans for India if He Becomes PM!

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Narendra Modi’s Plans for India
For a detailed explanation of how Mr. Narendra Modi plans to run the country if elected Prime Minister, Click here.
Culture, Language, Politics, Right watch

डेमॉगॉग का वक्त

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

Debates, Media politics, Politics, Right watch, Scams

Naked Bias Threatens Media’s Credibility – A Statement by Some Mediapersons

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An Appeal to Indian Journalist Fraternity by a Group of Media persons, released in Chandigarh, 16 March, 2014

In a terse comment, Aam Aadami Party leader Arvind Kejriwal said that a part of the media, particularly some TV channels “sold itself to Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and is indulging in running a propaganda spree in favor of BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi”. As has happened earlier in many cases relating to deprived and unprivileged sections of the Indian society, that section of media took an undue offence to the comment that was completely out of proportion, and it launched a virulent campaign against AAP. This section of media is peeved at Arvind Kerjriwal’s remarks that if his party came to power, a punitive action would be taken against those media outlets which have been biased in their news coverage and suppressed the anti Modi news stories projecting his false claim to an ‘unparalleled development of Gujarat’.

During his field tour to Gujarat, Kejriwal started taking on Modi , attempting to expose the chinks in ‘Gujarat Vikas’, which according to him, is a ‘hollow projection’ made with ‘active support’ of a section of media. In what could be called an overreaction, a naked anti-Kejriwal slant became a routine affair in the coverage of some media outlets. It is not difficult to smell from the reports and debates of these media outlets that their journalists (by order from above or own their own) have shamelessly started walking in the footsteps of Hitler’s notorious spin doctor Joseph Goebbels, who also did a stint in journalism. Continue reading Naked Bias Threatens Media’s Credibility – A Statement by Some Mediapersons →

Bad ideas, Identities, Language, Politics, Right watch

Jamaate-E-Islami’s Tryst With Politics – Tilting at the Electoral Windmills: Fahad Hashmi

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Guest Post by FAHAD HASHMI

‘It was all very well to say “Drink me”, but the wise little Alice was not going to do that in a hurry. “No, I’ll look first,” she said, “and see whether it’s marked ‘poison’ or not”; for she had read several nice little stories about children who had got burnt, and eaten up by wild beasts, and other unpleasant things, all because they would not remember the simple rules their friends had taught them: such as, that a red-hot poker will burn you if you hold it too long; and that, if you cut your finger very deeply with a knife, it usually bleeds; and she had never forgotten that, if you drink much from a bottle marked “poison,” it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later.’

(Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland)

Continue reading Jamaate-E-Islami’s Tryst With Politics – Tilting at the Electoral Windmills: Fahad Hashmi →

Debates, Politics, Right watch, Scams, Violence/Conflict

Modi and Godhra – Review of Manoj Mitta’s ‘The Fiction of Fact-finding’: Monobina Gupta

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MONOBINA GUPTA reviews The Fiction of The Fact-finding: Modi and Godhra by Manoj Mitta, Harper Collins India, 2014

My most embarrassing moment during my recent Eastern UP trip was hearing RSS and BJP men sing praises of the media. “Aap log Modiji ka bahut madat kar rahen hain” (You all in media are really helping Modiji), they said warmly, throwing cheerful smiles all around. “Sometime ago, you were giving Arvind Kejriwal too much of coverage. Now you have brought the focus back on Modiji,” was the discomfiting refrain in these upbeat quarters.

I squirmed beneath my fake smile and grumbled to myself: this was a stiff penalty to pay for covering these fraught general elections. I would rather these men complain about why we in the media were still so troubled about Narendra Modi’s role in the 2002 Gujarat riots; why were we still persisting with our questioning the process of investigation, particularly the role of the Special Investigation Team (SIT), that led to Modi’s exoneration in the charge of complicity in the 2002 pogrom.

But that’s not how political discourse in the run up to the 2014 elections is shaping up. Skeptics holding the judiciary to be fallible are blasted for daring to express doubts about the ‘hallowed’ courts; those not rushing in to embrace Modi’s acquittal as manifestation of the truth and nothing but the truth are regularly shouted down on television talk shows. Dissidence is drowned out in the noisy din raised by Modi drum-beaters. Continue reading Modi and Godhra – Review of Manoj Mitta’s ‘The Fiction of Fact-finding’: Monobina Gupta →
Capitalism, Culture, Debates, Media politics, Right watch

Crafting the Modi Mask – India Inc and the Big Media

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

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

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

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

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

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

Culture, Politics, Right watch

Despatch from Ayodhya: Monobina Gupta

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Guest post by MONOBINA GUPTA

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

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