Debates, Law, Politics, Right watch

Some Reflections on the neutrality of political institutions and the project of making Modi more palatable: Moiz Tundawala

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Guest Post by MOIZ TUNDAWALA

“ … . however good a Constitution may be, it is sure to turn out bad because those who are called to work it, happen to be a bad lot. However bad a Constitution may be, it may turn out to be good if those who are called to work it, happen to be a good lot. The working of a Constitution does not depend wholly upon the nature of the Constitution. The Constitution can provide only the organs of State such as the Legislature, the Executive and the Judiciary. The factors on which the working of those organs of the State depend are the people and the political parties they will set up as their instruments to carry out their wishes and their politics.”

[Dr. Bhimrao Amdedkar]

These observations of Babasaheb Ambedkar, made on the 25th of November, 1949, one day before the Constitution was finally adopted after three years worth of labour, should suffice for anyone who dismisses Modi skeptics as excessive scare mongers. As a second year law student in 2006-07, I couldn’t quite understand why our revered constitutional law teacher Prof. M.P. Singh would keep reiterating these sentiments in class, something which I thought was so axiomatic it did not need emphases. With only a few days left for the outcome of what is being called an election for the soul of India, I now realize the wisdom underlying those constant reminders, especially in a law school converted by the culture and priorities of its students into a factory churning out smart but unreflective products for the corporate sector. I think those of us who find Modi problematic, but would still vote him in for the lure of the promised economic miracle, while at the same time consoling ourselves with the talk of sufficiently robust political institutions capable of surviving any onslaught, must listen to Ambedkar carefully. The Constitution is an artefact, a human creation, constantly needing ‘good people’ at the helm to work it out. If nothing else, resistance to Modi’s rise to power is at least resistance against the enthronement of ‘bad people’, who deep down have only harboured contempt for the Constitution as a foreign document.

Continue reading Some Reflections on the neutrality of political institutions and the project of making Modi more palatable: Moiz Tundawala →

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

Condemn the Massacre in Assam: A Statement by Civil Society Groups, Activists and Concerned Citizens

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Text of a statement issued by Civil Society Groups and Concerned Citizens

5th May 2014

Condemn the Massacre in Assam, Demand immediate arrest of Pramila Rani Brahma; Ensure safety of Muslims in BTAD: A Statement by Civil Society Groups, Activists and Concerned Citizens

We, the undersigned, express our profound sense of grief and alarm over the gruesome massacre of Bengali-speaking Muslims on 2nd May. This most recent round of killings — in which 32 people, mostly women and children have lost their lives – is another link in the long and… bloody sequence of ethnic cleansing being carried out by tribal Bodo militant groups with impunity.

For years, Hindutva politics has successfully created the bogey of the ‘Bangladeshi’, rendering Muslims as suspects and targets, locked in a perpetual battle with the tribal Bodos. In his rally at Silchar, the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate reiterated precisely this. He said: “There are two kinds of people who came from Bangladesh to Assam: those brought as part of a political conspiracy for vote bank politics of a particular party (Muslims) and others who were harassed in the neighbouring country (Hindus). Those brought for vote bank politics and smugglers must be pushed back, while the second category must be accommodated.” (Silchar, 22nd February). Continue reading Condemn the Massacre in Assam: A Statement by Civil Society Groups, Activists and Concerned Citizens →

Debates, Everyday Life, Identities, Politics

India’s 16th Lok Sabha General Elections and Persons with Disabilities: Avinash Shahi

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This is a guest post by Avinash Shahi

When the challenges and daily difficulties of approximately 70 million persons with disabilities in public life are not highlighted in political rallies and in the TV studios, it raises a serious question about an elite political class’s commitment to empower persons with disabilities. Do they consider persons with disabilities as India’s citizens to be taken seriously? Politicians of major political parties are crisscrossing India’s vast geographical terrain to address voters. But neither Narender Modi nor Rahul Gandhi have ever bothered to utter a single word about their plan for voters who are persons with disabilities in their campaigns. Continue reading India’s 16th Lok Sabha General Elections and Persons with Disabilities: Avinash Shahi →

Culture, Images, Language, Right watch

नरेंद्र मोदी और मुसलमान

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कुछ दिन पहले तक माफी की माँग की जा रही थी. पिछले कुछ सालों से नरेंद्र मोदी से बार बार अनुरोध-सा किया जा रहा था कि वे मुसलमानों से माफी भऱ माँग लें,बात रफ़ा दफ़ा हो जाएगी।मुसलमानों को सुझाव दिया जा रहा था कि वे माफी की सूरत में इंसाफ की अपनी जिद छोड़ दें.  ऐसे मुसलमान खोज लिए गए हैं जो यह बता रहे हैं कि इस्लाम में तीन दिन से ज़्यादा शोक की इजाजत नहीं है,अब तो बारह साल गुजर चुके हैं. यह भी कहा गया कि 2002 के बाद गुजरात में जो सामान्य विकास हुआ है, उसका लाभ आखिर वहाँ के मुसलमानों को भी हुआ है. मानो हत्याओं और बलात्कार की भरपाई उस विकास के माध्यम से कर दी गई है.

अब पिछले कुछ वक्त से यह कहा जाने लगा है कि नरेंद्र मोदी तो अपने अतीत से आगे बढ़ जाना चाहते  हैं, ये तो उनके निंदक हैँ जो उन्हेँ आगे बढ़ने देना नहीं चाहते. इस तर्क से नरेंद्र मोदी प्रगतिशील, भविष्यद्रष्टा और उनके आलोचक प्रतिक्रियावादी व शिकायती दिखने लगे हैं. मुसलमानों को पहले से ही कहा जाता रहा है कि उन्हें पीड़ित-ग्रंथि से बाहर निकलने और आगे देखने की आदत डालने की ज़रूरत है. इस प्रकार का सुझाव कई बार दबे-ढँके तरीके से और अब तो खुले आम दिया जाने लगा है कि उन्हें यथार्थवादी होना चाहिए. मतलब मान लेना चाहिए कि भारत में यह सब कुछ बीच-बीच में उनके साथ होता रहेगा. अगर वे इंसाफ वगैरह की जिद पर अड़े रहे तो उनकी बाकी जिंदगी का क्या होगा ! क्या वे तमाम ज़िंदगी रोते-कुढ़ते ही गुजार देंगे? Continue reading नरेंद्र मोदी और मुसलमान →

Media politics, Politics

Two days with AAP in Banaras

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‘Varanasi’ is only the official name. Sometimes, to make a poetic point, someone may say Kashi.   But ‘Banaras’ is how Banarasis refer to their city.

Banaras ki parampara, they say. Or hum Banaras ke musalman.

Kaal Bhairav Banaras ke kotwal hain, says the mahant of the Shitala Mata temple. Kaal Bhairav (Shiva) is the keeper of the gates of Banaras.

And of course, Banaras ki chaat khaayi hai aapne? Banaras ka paan nahin khayenge?

do seet

Sticker on wall of home in Rajmandir, a Hindu locality (All pictures by JAMAL KIDWAI)

My old friend and comrade Jamal Kidwai and I were in Banaras to observe the AAP campaign, being supporters of AAP (me) and of Arvind Kejriwal in Banaras (Jamal), and to hang out with the (largely young) volunteers who have landed up – from IT and advertising, from colleges and small government jobs, from Bangalore and Mumbai, from Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh – to map Banaras with their feet. So this does not purport to be an objective account – unlike journalists’ accounts of the ‘Modi wave’, which do claim to be purely factual. As Professor Randhir Singh is fond of reminding us – in Paris in 1968, the first question the students would hurl at all speakers was always – “Where do you speak from?” Continue reading Two days with AAP in Banaras →

Countryside, Ecology/Environment, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

The Carnage in Kokrajhar: Saba Sharma

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Guest post by SABA SHARMA

Since the evening of the 1st of May, it has been reported that at least 23 people have been killed in Kokrajhar and Baksa districts in Assam, administered under the Bodoland Territorial Council. All the victims were from the Muslim community, and were allegedly shot by the militant Bodo group, the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit), named after its ruthless leader Songbijit, from the Karbi Anglong area in Assam. Indefinite curfew has been imposed here and in neighbouring districts as well, as rumours of other killings and beatings filter in, impossible to separate from facts in the atmosphere of panic that currently prevails.

Polling ended in the Kokrajhar constituency in Assam on the 24th of April, ending a temporary sense of calm and normalcy. Ethnic violence between Bodos and Bengali Muslims took place in July 2012, majorly affecting Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri district. Nearly 5 lakh people were displaced from their homes, and most did not return until January 2013, staying in relief camps, too afraid to return. Once the camps were formally shut down and people returned to their homes, normalcy was still a distant reality. An economic boycott imposed by Bodo leaders on the Bengali Muslim community meant that agricultural labour, a primary occupation for Bengali Muslims, was all but non-existent. In the last year, this economic boycott has slowly been relaxed in some areas, while in other areas, it prevails as strongly as ever. In most areas, markets were among the first spaces to become mixed again, an almost neutral zone where people began to interact with one another again. But in other markets, like Koila Moila bazaar in Chirang, Muslims are still ‘banned’. Continue reading The Carnage in Kokrajhar: Saba Sharma →

Debates, Identities, Language, Politics, Right watch

Professors of Political Science and the Modi Phenomenon

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Ashutosh Varshney has written yet another piece on the Modi phenomenon. This time he has invoked “the discipline of political science”, which he has “taught for two decades”, and underlined that it fundamentally disagrees with an “institutions-free” view of the rise of Narendra Modi. [See my response to his earlier piece here.] Before I examine Varshney’s ‘arguments’ about present politics, let me cite the following from nothing less than the American Political Science Review – a revealing chapter from the history of the discipline that he and I share:

Following World War I came the turbulence of the 1920s and 1930s. Communism and fascism rose to prominence as the world’s great powers fell to deflation and imperialism. Yet during this time of great political upheaval, political science became a study in irrelevance. Perhaps as a result of no longer sharing common theories and assumptions, the discipline fragmented and retreated inwards. Scanning the American Political Science Review from 1923 to 1936 for any sustained analysis of the great events of the day such as Mussolini’s march on Rome, Japan’s occupation of Manchuria, or even the Great Depression, one will come up empty. What one does find are, for example, reports of constitutional change in Estonia (Roucek 1936), predictions that the German administrative structure would stop Hitler becoming a dictator (Friedrich 1933), and analysis of the legal monism of Alfred Verdoross (Janzen 1935). [Mark Blythe, ‘Great Punctuations, Randomness, and the Evolution of Comparative Political Science’, APSR, Vol. 100, No. 4, November 2006. All emphasis added]

Perhaps this delusional business of waxing on the strength of institutions has been a professional pastime in the discipline but one could excuse the political scientists of the 1920s and 1930s, insofar as they were making the mistake for the first time. What do you say of someone who repeats the same error with ever greater self-righteousness, eighty/ ninety years down the line? And if this business of repeating the same error over and over again is something more than a pastime, if it is integral to political science, then all one can say is, so much the worse for political science! Continue reading Professors of Political Science and the Modi Phenomenon →

Centre watch, Culture, Debates, Language, Politics

What is ‘communal’? The problem of false equivalence: Sheba Tejani

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Guest post by SHEBA TEJANI

Although the BJP has attempted to build a campaign around the issue of “vikas” during this election, the hate filled fumes of “communalism” keep slipping through the cracks. Last week, we heard Ramdas Kadam say that Modi would find a permanent solution for recalcitrant Muslims and ship them off to Pakistan, which he would also incidentally destroy in six months. Giriraj Singh wanted to send everyone who opposed Modi to Pakistan. A video clip showed Praveen Togadia inviting his audience in Bhavnagar to evict Muslims and forcibly occupy their homes, openly encouraging criminal activity. FIRs have been filed against Kadam and Togadia after the Election Commission took note of their speeches while Singh has been barred from campaigning.

But then some would say other candidates and parties are no better and make similarly incendiary remarks: Shazia Ilmi, AAP’s candidate from Ghaziabad recently urged a group of Muslims to be more “communal” and less “secular” in deciding whom to vote for. She urged them to defend their own interests and to vote for one of “their own”, including Arvind Kejriwal in that category. Continue reading What is ‘communal’? The problem of false equivalence: Sheba Tejani →

Genders, Government, Politics, Sex, Violence/Conflict

Anatomy of a Rape and Its Immediate Aftermath – A Report from Kolkata: Kasturi

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Guest post by KASTURI

Time flew fast. Over the last two days and sleepless nights. A girl I knew, a cheerful bubbly college first-year, eyes wide open with dreams, has been subjected to sexual violence. We had walked together in many marches against injustice, oppression, gender violence. I remember the day I first met her, several months back. It was opposite the Indian Coffee House on College Street. She had become an activist of the radical left students’ organization AISA by then. After that I met and chatted with her on many occasions. On the very day she was raped, she had participated in a students’ demonstration against the corporate-communal onslaught personified by Narendra Modi. She was slated to participate in another program the very next day. When night struck.

The night that rolled on to dawn
Continue reading Anatomy of a Rape and Its Immediate Aftermath – A Report from Kolkata: Kasturi →

Government, Language, Right watch

A Wave is a Dangerous Thing: R. Umamaheshwari

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This is a guest post by R. Umamaheshwari

A wave, as in, something that engulfs, leaving you to suffocate and die, is a dangerous thing. It smothers to the point of numbness, listlessness, leaving the subject of that smothering out of synch with even a basic natural harmony of simple breathing. So, if at all, as the mainstream TV media brands are shouting at us to believe (all brands are included in this, with little difference in terms of projection of images or blaring of sounds couched in very urbane elite language of ‘dialogue’ that essentially means shouting down or politely stating the bias towards that so-called ‘wave’) that the idea of Modi is a ‘wave’, and if it indeed is a ‘wave’, then it is indeed dangerous. If the current spate of interviews with Modi are analysed, what I see is a man with the craftiness of a character playing with and teasing and flirting with the media, and making them hear just two words (to the exclusion of all else) – “good governance” and “development” (not necessarily value-less, non-problematic, opaque terms by themselves). He sits there pontificating to the journalists interviewing him about these two terms as if they existed in a vacuum; he is perpetually in a teaching mode to the journalist in question who is either listening in awe or seems to beam in a strange elite, urbane, civility and sometimes veneration and respectability even as he or she asks him questions on the Muslim massacres of Gujarat, almost empathising with him even as he plays ‘victim’ with such panache. This Modi cannot be a cruel perpetrator of crimes against humanity, it seems, from the image constructed through advertising and clever make-up and PR (obviously by industry that truly wants him to win for a never-before free-market loot that is expected from him as a token of appreciation post-elections, if at all he wins, which at the moment, is a mere idea, or a prediction based on the construct of the ‘wave’). Continue reading A Wave is a Dangerous Thing: R. Umamaheshwari →

Capitalism, Debates, Government, Right watch

Petromax Light in Modi’s Gujarat? Sanjeev Kumar

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Guest Post by SANJEEV KUMAR 

Electricity Guj Kafila

The most visible hype that Modi and his supporters have been generating is over their claim of supplying round-the-clock electricity all over Gujarat. There is no doubt that Gujarat has almost doubled its electricity production between 2001 and 2011. But in the same period Haryana has tripled its generation [1]. Moreover, during Modi’s period (2000’s) the total installed capacity in Gujarat increased by only 44% when during the 1990s it had increased by 73%.

Consider now the consumption pattern. In a state which has been increasing its electricity production rapidly in the recent past, it is expected that the consumption of the electricity must be relatively higher than other states. But here’s what the figures show.

Gujarat claims that they are giving 24 hour electricity to villagers but if we examine the comparative figures with other states, the per capita consumption of electricity in Gujarat (15.547 Kwh per month) is much less than the per capita consumption of electricity in nine states or union territories while  there are five states that are only marginally behind Gujarat. Moreover, the growth in consumption of electricity in Gujarat was less during the Modi regime than in the decades before it – 143.97% during 1990s while during the decade-long rule of Modi, the growth was only 59.97% [2].

What is the reason for low consumption of electricity in Gujarat? The duty on use of electricity which is the highest in India. The tariff rate on electricity in rural areas is 20% if the consumption is less than 40 units per month,and 25% to 30% if the consumption is more 40 units [3]. Continue reading Petromax Light in Modi’s Gujarat? Sanjeev Kumar →

Bad ideas

Tsundur Massacre – Normalising Injustice the Judicial Way

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Tsundur, Guntur, A.P. which had made headlines way back in 1991 when eight dalits were lynched by a 400 strong armed mob of Reddys is again in the news. The recent judgment of the A.P high court has overturned the judgment of the Special courts and has acquitted all the accused involved in the case for ‘want of evidence’.

As rightly noted by Human Rights Forum (HRF) the judgment is ‘brazen injustice’ and is ‘reflective of upper caste anti-dalit bias’ and ‘betrays insensitivity in the judiciary to an inhuman caste atrocity.’ It is expected that the state does not waste time in moving the Supreme Court to get this retrograde judgment overturned and render justice to the families of dalits.

What is more disturbing and shocking is the fact that when the Special Court formed to deliberate on the case had finally given its verdict seven years back, it was considered a ‘historic’ in very many ways. The conviction of the perpetrators – twenty one of the accused were life imprisonment and 35 of the accused were asked to serve one year rigorous imprisonment – was considered a significant milestone in the ongoing dalit emancipation movement. Continue reading Tsundur Massacre – Normalising Injustice the Judicial Way →

Culture, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Modi Thugs on the Rampage – Where is the EC?

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UPDATE on yesterday’s news

BJP's lie exposed

Reports of Modi Thugs on the rampage in Benaras: Over the last few days, as the days of the election appraoch, Modi supporters have become more and more desperate and violent. This is just one in a long series of disruptions of meetings and attacks that has been meted out by the goon squad to AAP volunteers.

जिन्हें नाज़ है हिन्द पर वो कहाँ हैं? उन्हें  ये गलियाँ, ये कूचे, ये मंज़र दिखाओ…

AAp activists attacked by Modi Thugs

Continue reading Modi Thugs on the Rampage – Where is the EC? →

Bad ideas, Government, Images, Politics

पार्टी विहीन गठबंधन का दिल्ली फतह ! संजीव कुमार

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Guest post by SANJEEV KUMAR
अभी अभी सत्तरहवीं लोकसभा (2019) के चुनाव परिणाम आये है, देश की कोई भी पार्टी खाता भी नहीं खोल पाई है, जनता ने सभी सीटों पर निर्दलीय उम्मीदवार को चुनकर संसद का रास्ता दिखाया है। हमारे राष्ट्रपति महोदय सरकार बनाने के लिए आमंत्रित करें तो किसे करें? देश को इस संवैधानिक और क़ानूनी संकट से बाहर निकालने के लिए राष्ट्रपति ने सर्वोच्च न्यायलय के न्यायधीश को ख़त लिखा और दोनों ने मिलकर ये फैसला लिया कि सभी नव-निर्वाचित सांसदों को दिल्ली बुलाया जाय और उन्हें समग्र रूप से अगली सरकार बनाने का आग्रह किया जाय।

इधर हमारे सभी नव-निर्वाचित सांसदगन कन्फ्यूज्ड भी है पर दिल्ली के लिए अपना बोरिया बिस्तरा भी बाँध रहे है, आखिर महामहिम का आदेश जो है। दिल्ली पहुँचाने पर सभी सांसद जब राष्ट्रपति भवन में पहुंचे तो राष्ट्रपति ने सदन के दोनों सभाओ के संयुक्त बैठक को संबोधित कर सरकार बनाने की प्रक्रिया का ढांचा प्रस्तुत किया जिसमे सबसे पहले सभी नव-निर्वाचित सांसदों को एक एक कर देश की समस्याओं और उसके समाधान के उपाय पर बोलने की अनुमति दी जाएगी और उसके बाद उन सांसदों को प्रधान मंत्री बनाने का दावा पेश करने के लिए सामने आने को कहा जायेगा जिनको कम से कम 60 सांसदों का समर्थन प्राप्त हो। 60 सांसदों का समर्थन जुटाने के लिए उन्हें एक हफ्ते का समय दिया जायेगा और फिर उसके बाद संसद में प्रधानमंत्री पद के लिए अनुपातिक मतदान पद्धति से चुनाव होगा और हमारे प्रधान मंत्री को चुना जायेगा। उसके बाद ठीक इसी प्रकार से देश के अन्य मंत्रालयों के मंत्रियों का भी चुनाव होगा। सभी सांसदों को सभी मंत्रालयों को चलाने की क्षमता को संसद में सांसदों के सामने प्रकट करने का सामान अधिकार होगा। Continue reading पार्टी विहीन गठबंधन का दिल्ली फतह ! संजीव कुमार →

Culture, Debates, Education, Everyday Life, Identities, Language

Implausible Deniability – Reading Amish Tripathi’s ‘Shiva’ Trilogy: Eric Gurevitch

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Guest Post by Eric .M. Gurevitch

A few years ago I had the pleasure of sitting in on a seminar Wendy Doniger taught on Hindu Mythology. On the final day of the class, Professor Doniger was addressing the continuing questions of students. A young man raised his hand and was called upon. “Professor Doniger,” he said somewhat sheepishly, “why do Indians keep retelling the same stories over and over again?” The rest of the students looked on somewhat aghast—clearly this student hadn’t understood the point of the class at all. But Doniger just chuckled. “Well,” she said, a sly grin creeping across her face, “because they can never get them quite right.” Her point is a simple but powerful one. As she went on to explain to the class (and in her book The Implied Spider), the stories we tell reflect the world around us. And as soon as we write a story down, the world we were trying to capture has changed. We cannot help but retell the stories that we value—after all, they are never quite right for us—in our time. And even if we manage to get them quite right, they are only right for us—other people living around us will have different reasons for telling similar stories, for appealing to the same stock of authoritative figures for different purposes. The importance of analyzing the implications of retelling of Indian stories takes on new meaning in a modern India where Wendy Dongier’s controversial book The Hindus, an Alternative History is no longer sold in stores.

Continue reading Implausible Deniability – Reading Amish Tripathi’s ‘Shiva’ Trilogy: Eric Gurevitch →

Media politics, Right watch

David Cohen’s superficial understanding of Indian politics: Pran Kurup

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Guest post by PRAN KURUP

This article is in response to a piece published in The Hindu by David Cohen: “Is India about to elect its Reagan” An American backing Modi seems to have got BJP fans all excited, given that the western media has, for the most part, taken an anti-Modi stance driven largely by his rather suspect human rights record.

Cohen finds that Indian elites “look down their noses at Mr. Modi, cringing at the thought of being led by a common chai wallah who can barely speak English.” Cohen is completely wrong here and appears to have a superficial understanding of India and the controversies surrounding Modi.

India has elected any number of leaders over the years who rose from humble beginnings and don’t speak English. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, former PM and BJP leader, is widely revered across the country though he never spoke English in public. Even to this day, you have so many elites who back leaders like Achutandanan from Kerala, Mayawati in UP, or Mamta Banerjee in Bengal. In fact, there are a whole host of Indian leaders who fit this “humble beginning, don’t speak English” profile. So Modi is no exception in this regard.  Continue reading David Cohen’s superficial understanding of Indian politics: Pran Kurup →

Debates, Politics, Right watch

A letter to Father Frazer Mascarenhas SJ

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Endorsed by academics, activists and educationists across India.

Dear Father,
In these troubling times, when the mightiest are being bought over, lured, seduced, or silenced, we salute you for your courage and moral clarity in asking your students to choose wisely. By drawing the attention of your students (who would have voted for the first time) to the seamy underbelly of a ‘model’ that is being promoted unabashedly by the corporate media as the panacea of all that which ails India, we believe you acted responsibly and ethically. The purpose of education is to inculcate critical thinking, to provide
tools of analysis, and to make students sensitive to social realities – no matter how unpleasant they may be. Far from abusing your position, as the BJP is alleging, we think that your advice is the appropriate way for a teacher, and head of an academic institution, to act. Continue reading A letter to Father Frazer Mascarenhas SJ →

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 →

Capitalism, Ecology/Environment, Politics

Unbroken History of Broken Promises – Adivasis and Election Manifestos: Kamal Nayan Choubey

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Guest Post by KAMAL NAYAN CHOUBEY

Election manifestos of political parties have a distinct and vital role in the parliamentary elections. Parties present their policies on crucial issues of the country and their programmes to address the problems of the country. These elections, however, have seen minimal discussions on the contents of the manifestos of different parties because perhaps these elections are less policy centric and more individual centric. That is why the principal opposition party in the Parliament, BJP had not released its manifesto till the first day of polling. Election manifestos of all parties explain their policy and programme for the each and every section of society. It would be useful to consider that what kind of policies and programmes are promised for adivasis in the manifestos of prominent political parties. This is also necessary because these people have paid the price of the ‘development’ based on the extraction of natural resources and the use of corporate capital for this purpose. (Here I want to clarify that I will not focus on the issue of adivasis of North East India, because their problems are very different from the adivasis of the rest of India and one cannot do full justice by analyzing them as one unit).

In last twenty years this expropriation of resources has increased in the forest areas of the country. In each tribal dominated state, State Governments have signed hundreds of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with many national, international and multinational companies. These are the areas where Maoists have strong influence as the ‘biggest internal security threat’ of the country. So, it is important to ask what the policies of various political parties for adivasis are and is there any continuation in their policies and their actual performance as the ruling party in the Centre or in the States? Can adivasis expect, on the basis of these policies and programmes, that next government would follow more sensitive approach towards their problems? Continue reading Unbroken History of Broken Promises – Adivasis and Election Manifestos: Kamal Nayan Choubey →

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 →

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