Category Archives: Right watch

Right watch

Phoney Jihadis, Real Culprits!

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Ramvilas Vedanti, a senior leader of the VHP, refuses to remain out of controversies for very long.

If last year he was caught in a sting operation by CNN-IBN alongwith many leading stalwarts of the spiritual world ‘explaining how he changes black money into white albeit with little bit of commission’, this year he reached headlines when he issued ‘death sentence to Mr Karunanidhi supposedly for ‘insulting Lord Ram’. One still remembers how he asked Muslims to ‘vacate’ the Parikrama area of Ayodhya after the ‘terrorist attack in Ayodhya’ with a specious argument that their presence in the area creates a feeling of insecurity. It is true that if one were to create a rating for making provocative statements then there would not be much controversy over the fact that Vedanti like his more famous colleagues in VHP will not remain far behind. Continue reading Phoney Jihadis, Real Culprits! →

Identities, Left watch, Media politics, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

A New ‘Kerala Model’

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The latest news from Chengara is alarming. As if in retaliation to the rally taken out by dalit and human rights activists on 30 August, the very next day, a group of people who were travelling to the struggle site were attacked by the goons who continue the blockade. The whole group — eight men and thirteen women, including Omana, six months pregnant,were beaten heavily, and Omana’s two-year-child was snatched and thrown down. The injured are in hospital and activists are trying to get a case registered with the police.Intimidating posters have appeared all over Pathanamthitta town, declaring that the estate will be ‘cleared’on 3 September by the unions. All this, while the police watches, and a spineless admininstration looks the other way. Apparently, the administration now takes its orders from the CPM district committee.Meanwhile, the leadership continues to talk of the package, which will apparently come only after the protestors have been thoroughly intimidated, physically and emotionally,and reduced to cowering, nervous wrecks.

Continue reading A New ‘Kerala Model’ →

Right watch

Holy Cows and Scapegoats

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….It is difficult to say what will happen next !
Whether the police and security forces would understand their folly and would release Tariq Ahmad Batloo unconditionally or whether Delhi police who have branded two of their earlier contacts Irshad Ali and Mohammad Marouf Qamar  as ‘Al Badr Terrorists’ would make amends to their steps ? Whether media would engage in a deep soul-searching about its complicity to join the powers that be in making ‘terrorists’ out of innocent people ? Neither it is possible to predict when would the process of ‘terrorisation’ and ‘stigmatisation’ of particular communities would end nor it is possible to  predict when would the division of peoples in Holy Cowsand Scapegoats would end.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the future of India as a republic is at stake here.] Continue reading Holy Cows and Scapegoats →

Identities, Law, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

The Continuing Violence Against Christians in Orissa

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From John Dayal and Madhu Chandra of the All India Christian Council, an update on the continuing violence against Christians in Orissa. Continue reading The Continuing Violence Against Christians in Orissa →

Right watch

Bomb Makers of Hindutva

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Two bajarangdal leaders were killed while 2 others injured on 24 August when they were making bombs in Kanpur in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) as reported by Urdu daily Rashtriya Sahara in its front page. According to Sahara, the blast was so strong that the wall of the room in which the blast occurred collapsed. In other rooms, the walls were damaged. Pieces of glass were strewn everywhere.

The bomb blasted in a house in Rajeev Nagar area on Sunday afternoon. According to the report, the police recovered 3 kg lead oxide, 500 g red lead, 1 kg potassium nitrate, 11 country made grenades, several bomb pins, seven timers and batteries from the spot. According to the IG, “The recovery shows that a massive explosion was on the cards.

The deceased have been identified as Rajeev Mishra and Bhupinder Singh. While Rajeev is the son of S S Mishra, the landlord of the house, Bhupinder was a resident of Shastri Nagar. Continue reading Bomb Makers of Hindutva →

Government, Identities, Left watch, Media politics, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Update on Chengara

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On 14 August, leading dalit activists from Kerala protested in Pathanamthitta against the continued road blockade organised by the joint front of trade unions which claim to be fighting for the rights of plantation workers. They were prevented from proceeding to Chengara and were arrested, to be released by evening. Meanwhile, the trade unions agreed to lift the blockade by 3 at noon. They however demand that the people who have occupied the plantation should all leave in 10 days’ time, and if this does not happen, the blockade will be on again.

Press coverage has improved somewhat but not much. Even the sworn enemies of the left, like the Malayala Manorama, have kept largely silent. Not surprising, though — the Congress and others, including the interests that this newspaper represents, are patiently waiting for the LDF government to dig its own grave by provoking a Nandigram-like situation. Once the calamity begins, they will of course move in, like vultures. The Centre too of course is watching and waiting for CPM to make another big mistake.

These are strange times.There is a raging debate now on within the CPM and the LDF about the pending approval to proposed SEZs, and one of the key points of the conflict has to do with trade union presence within them.While a powerful section within the CPM wants to curtail workers’ rights within the SEZs,outside, on the road to Chengara, trade unions attack their ‘enemies’ — landless and marginalised people.

The Chengara Struggle Committee has called for protest meetings all over the State on 23 August; it has also appealed for a protective human chain around Chengara on 25 August.

Bad ideas, Law, Right watch

Breaking News – Shiv Sena’s secretly Maoist!

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Narcoanalysis, it has been scientifically proved by Indian law enforcement agencies, is the final frontier of truth. What comes out of narcoanalysis is solid stuff, the real thing. Confessions and self-implications account for almost all the crimes the cops “crack” – when was the last time you heard of a revelation of who dunnit coming out of careful deductive reasoning based on evidence? Terrorists send emails that can be tracked to physical addresses (“the IP address led the police to B ek batta chaar, gali number 2, Balli Maran”), or they are caught bearing in their pockets, maps of sensitive border areas, scribbled over with little reminders like “death to hindus” in Urdu; or murderers confess under narcoanalysis, like Krishna the compounder in the Arushi murder case, that he and four other “servants” were responsible, thus freeing, thangod, all middle-class people so far involved, from the taint of suspicion. Without confessions no crimes would ever be solved, and narcoanalysis is the scientific, sophisticated, twenty-first century alternative to the “Abey bol, kaise nahin bolega, tera baap bhi bolega” school of confession extraction which has been the mainstay of coppery so far.

So narcoanalysis reveals the truth. And the truth is apparently, that the Shiv Sena and Bal Thackeray have funded Maoist activities. “Suspected naxalite” Arun Ferreira confirmed our deepest suspicions in his narcoanalysis test – while other political parties, bless their souls, will never fund maoist activities, he blurted out, Shiv Sena and the ABVP have always helped out the comrades with money.

Shiv Sena has issued a strong denial. It has in fact, “rubbished” these allegations, making the bizarre claim that “Naxalism is born out of a communist agenda” (oh come on!), and since the Shiv Sena is well known to be anti-communist, why would they pour money into naxal coffers? I don’t know, it all sounds very plausible to me, and anyway, it’s not up to us to decide whether the claim is false or not. This fact came out of narcoanalysis, let me remind you, and we HAVE TO TAKE IT SERIOUSLY.

To add to their cavalier disregard for truth, the Sena spokesperson further added, “a drugged person might talk any rubbish“.

I propose the Shiv Sena be immediately banned for its anti-national contempt for narcoanalysis, the unimpeachable symbol of the nation’s commitment to truth.

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

Ahem-dabad again

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Update: Yaha sab shanti hai, yeh public hai sab jaanti hai

Sheela Bhatt’s assertions that the Gujarati Muslim hasn’t been seeking retribution by a long shot are not surprising at all. What is illuminating is this:

One of the surprises of Saturday’s blasts was that except one blast in Sarkhej, all the blasts were executed in East Ahmedabad, which includes the highly communally sensitive walled city area. The accuracy of the planning suggests that a person with a complete grip on the social-political mindset of the city and its communal geography must be behind the blasts.

No one in this shaken city doubts that these blasts were planned by someone who has a thorough knowledge of the past 25 years history of communally sensitive areas and the Sangh Parivar’s role in it. Continue reading Ahem-dabad again →

Debates, Left watch, Right watch

Farewell to our Humid Weimar

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Dear All,

I find it sad that all those who live in India are being sent headlong into a period of turbulence following the unilateral  decision by the so-called Left parties in response to the Indo-US  Nuclear Deal to withdraw support from the UPA government. This decision is not a response to basic issues like the rising cost of living, but in support of the chimera of ‘sovereignty’ in military affairs. It is shameful that parties that continue to call themselves communist should feel no embarassment at all in exhibiting the worst and most pathetic form of militarist nationalism, premised on the maintainance of an obscene Nuclear military policy. In all likelihood, if the government of the day fails  to pass the test of numbers on the floor of parliament, India will head straight for early elections.It will do so entirely because of the ‘Patriots’ on the so called ‘Left’. Continue reading Farewell to our Humid Weimar →

Frontiers, Identities, Politics, Right watch

Foreboding

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Five years ago, in an article called “Srinagar, Four Years Later,” Suvir Kaul wrote:

A Ram Mandir is being built at the site of the ancient sun temple at Martand (Mattan). This is not simply an addition to what is already there – it is a deliberate refashioning of Kashmiri Hindu worship to obey the dictates of Hindutva practice. But worst of all are the excessive displays put on ostensibly for the benefit of the Amarnath yatris, but which actually function as a warning to local Kashmiris: all along the route past Pahalgam, and to some extent on the Baltal route, banners and wall-slogans sponsored by the CRPF and the BSF (and occasionally, the Jammu and Kashmir police) welcome the yatris. These units also make available tea and snacks, and announce them as prasad. There is no constitutional separation of temple and state to be found here – the yatris, and those who guard them, are equally, and aggressively, Hindu. [Link]

Politics, Right watch

Spiritual As Communal ?

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It is really difficult to believe how an organisation which supposedly ‘aims to present religious mysticism in a scientific language for the curious and to guide seekers’ and which ‘conducts weekly spiritual meetings, discourses, child guidance classes, workshops on spirituality, training in self-defense and campaigns to create awareness of righteousness’ to further these aims can double up as an organisation which can invite prosecution under ‘laws meant for unlawful and terrorist organisations’.

But any impartial observer of the activities of ‘Sanatan Sanstha’ and ‘Hindu Janjagruti Samiti’ would concur with the view that these organisations need not be allowed to spread their venomous agenda among innocent people any further. The recent bomb blasts in Maharashtra where members of these organisations have been found to be involved is another reminder about the danger which these organisations present before the communal harmony situation in our country. Continue reading Spiritual As Communal ? →

Government, Right watch

Join The Dots: Silent Emergence of Hindu Terrorism

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What is common between Kathmandu – the capital of Nepal ; Thane, Vashi which happen to lie in Maharashtra; Tenkasi, which is part of Tamilnadu and Indore, which lies in Madhya Pradesh? Aprops there seem to be no commonality, although a close look at stray sounding incidents in these places brings forth a pattern which has serious import for the manner in which (non-state) terrorism is viewed in this country. It is disturbing that media which calls itself ‘watchdog of democracy’ and which has no qualms in stigmatising the minority community on unfounded allegations of ‘terrorist acts’ has suddenly gone mute since the perpetrators of terrorist acts in all these cases belong to the majority community.

Continue reading Join The Dots: Silent Emergence of Hindu Terrorism →

Government, Left watch, Right watch

The Hyde Act and the 123 Treaty

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I have for a long time wondered about the noise that constantly gets made on the possibility of an Indo-US nuclear deal. And recently, for quite unrelated purposes, had to do some thinking on this for a posting on the Sarai Reader List. I thought that the substance of what I had to say in that posting, might be of interest to Kafila readers. So apologies for cross posting of this material, which has appeared previously on the Reader List.

Now, what is the Hyde Act, what exactly is the 123 Treaty? These matters need a little clarification.

The Hyde Act, or, the Henry J. Hyde United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act of 2006, to give the act its full title, is a piece of legislation, introduced by Congressman Henry Hyde, passed by the US Congress, which creates the legal basis for co-operation between the United States and India. See the Wikipedia articles on the Hyde Act and the 123 Agreement. Continue reading The Hyde Act and the 123 Treaty →

Bad ideas, Right watch

Why NAMO Loves To Hate Prof Nandy

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Prof. Ashish Nandy, India’s leading intellectual acknowledged as one of the the founding fathers of postcolonial studies has recently got a new ‘identity’. According to the Gujarat Police he is now an accused in a criminal case supposedly for ‘promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth and language.’ Definitely neither Prof Nandy nor many of his admirers would have ever imagined in their wildest dreams that a day would arrive when he will face prosecution for his writings. But as they rightly say it, in Gujarat things happen bit differently. Continue reading Why NAMO Loves To Hate Prof Nandy →

Identities, Left watch, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Understanding the Nepali mandate

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(Three years back, Nepal was in the middle of a miserable war. 7 people were killed every day, mostly by the army but also by a ruthless Maoist military. An autocratic monarch ruled from his palace in Kathmandu. The street agitation led by established parties was not going anywhere. The Maoists were waging an armed struggle with control over most of the hill hinterland, as well as the strength to block supplies to the capital. There was a political deadlock among the three power centers and a military stalemate between the Royal Nepal Army and the People’s Liberation Army. Continue reading Understanding the Nepali mandate →

Right watch

Jaswant Singh ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai?

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There are rare occasions when one is witness to the making of history before our own eyes. The dismantling of the 240 year old Nepalese monarchy and the ushering of Nepal into a Republic has been one such occasion.

As rightly said by a senior Nepali leader “A day comes once in a century. Today is day that Nepali’s long cherished dream has come true.”

But as far as the Sangh Parivar and its affiliated organizations are concerned they have openly expressed their displeasure over these developments. Looking at their sectarian worldview and anti-human understanding of history it does not look surprising. These are the very forces who supported Monarchy till the very end and were enamoured about the ‘model Hindu Rashtra’ in operation here which denied every right to broad cross-section of people. People who still pat themselves on the back for the ‘successful Gujarat Experiment of 2002’ or who celebrate demolition of a five hundred year old mosque as ‘Day of Valour’ can have only such convoluted understanding of things.
Continue reading Jaswant Singh ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hai? →

Debates, Identities, Politics, Right watch, Theory

“There is no such thing as the caste system anymore”

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In April last year, Avinash Dutt and I had interviewed the political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot. We walked around Lodhi Gardens, tape recorder in hand, and I ended up transcribing more than five thousand words that night. Tehelka had published a shorter, edited version. Here’s the full thing.

I was reminded of this interview after encountering the argument here that there should be, and is, a Dalit-Brahmin alliance against the already much-demonised OBCs. I thought that this way of seeing the BSP’s victory in the Uttar Pradesh elections was not only incorrect, but also seemed to be in need of the argument that Jaffrelot makes in this interview: that seeing caste as a ‘system’ is outmoded, at least as far as electoral politics is concerned.

1- Shivam: Which is more important for the average Indian, religion or caste?

It is sometimes not only those two but much more. Continue reading “There is no such thing as the caste system anymore” →

Identities, Media politics, Right watch

Many Ramayanas and Hindutva Brigade

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A lot of you must have seen the edit in today’s HT condemning the act of vandalism and the news of the arrest of three ABVP activists. You must have also seen reports in today’s newspapers about the demonstration yesterday in Delhi University of students and teachers demanding punishment to the guilty and reiterating the pledge that the text should not be expunged just because ABVP/BJP finds it objectionable. For those who want to look up, the text in question is A K Ramanujan’s Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation, also available in a volume edited by Paula Richman: Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia (OUP; 1991.)

Continue reading Many Ramayanas and Hindutva Brigade →

Right watch

Gangrape in Modirashtra: Sangh Parivar Stands Indicted

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What is a Chief Minister supposed to do if victim of a gangrape and her batchmates – who have similarly faced assault at the hands of the rapists – and their parents come to meet him to seek strict action in the case which has rocked the entire state ?

Courtesy demands that the chief minister spares time and at least meet the victim and formally tell them that ‘no guilty would be spared’.But when it comes to Narendra Modi, all such courteous behaviour, it appears is just a waste of time. Continue reading Gangrape in Modirashtra: Sangh Parivar Stands Indicted →

Right watch

Terrorism’s ‘Tenkasi’ Moment

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Tenkasi, called as Kashi of the South – supposedly for its Kashi Vishvnath temple, part of Tirunelveli district (Tamil Nadu) witnessed a pipe bomb attack on RSS office on 24 th January at 9 p.m.

Interestingly nobody was injured in the attack as no one was in the office at that time. As can be expected it led to tension in the area with Sangh Parivar organisations coming out on streets demanding action against ‘fundamentalist’ groups for spreading their tentacles.

It may be noted that the city had witnessed another explosion at Tenkasi New Bus Stand just before this attack where one person suffered minor injuries.

Continue reading Terrorism’s ‘Tenkasi’ Moment →

Right watch

Ignoramuses Unlimited?

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Saffrons have once again demonstrated their idiocy in an ingenious manner.

If you find this to be an exaggeration, then perhaps you are not reading the newspapers properly. Perhaps it is high time that you get to know the recent controversy around a textbook brought out by the NDA government in Orissa. One can just imagine that if it would have been any other state ruled by the ‘pseudo secularists’ then by now a full scale violent agitation would have seen the light of the day with all the affiliated organisations of the Sangh Parivar, lending their support. Unfortunately it is not the case. And the person in charge of education department is none other than Mr Samir Dey, a hardcore RSS pracharak from his early days. Continue reading Ignoramuses Unlimited? →