Opinions and Editorials

The reality of Narendra Modi’s politics – By Aakar Patel (Apr 14, 2013, Deccan Chronicle)

Let’s look at the myth of Narendra Modi as a development candidate. There is no problem with the idea of him being projected as a candidate, or even as THE candidate, for development. This is because it is a good and positive approach in what is generally a country where politics is done on the basis of identity, not policy or governance. However, is the claim true? Many in the BJP — Smriti Irani is one — have said that nobody else in India has ever campaigned on development alone. Modi is the only man not to divide the electorate by talking of identity issues.

Let us assume that this is the case, and that Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, others in parties like the CPI(M), and Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Behari Vajpayee before them, demanded votes purely on the basis of caste and religion. But even if we were to accept that this were so, it must be recognised that development is only a part of Modi’s appeal and attraction. In Gujarat, as elsewhere, the BJP is essentially a caste-based party. Its primary votebank is the peasant Patel, whom the rebel Keshubhai tried unsuccessfully to break in the last elections. To illustrate this, let’s look at the numbers. Four out of nine ministers in Modi’s previous Cabinet and three out of seven in his current one are Patels. This is votebank politics, not development politics, because in choosing his ministers, Modi looks at their caste. And so it’s wrong to say that the Gujarat BJP, including Modi, spurns caste politics. The second aspect of identity politics is the politics of religion.

It is difficult to be convinced that Modi’s appeal to a segment of the Gujarati population is not because of his tough and uncompromising Hindutva. Let’s look at examples here. When his minister Maya Kodnani was convicted for the killing of 95 Gujarati Muslims last year, Modi did not condemn her. Actually when most Gujaratis knew of her involvement in the massacre at Naroda Patiya, Modi first gave her a ticket to contest and then made her minister. She has been sentenced to 28 years in jail for her actions, but he has avoided taking questions about her crimes. When his deputy home minister Amit Shah was jailed after being charged in a case where a Muslim man and his wife were wrongly killed, Modi backed him. In fact, he had him elevated a few weeks ago to the post of general secretary in the BJP.

The signal that Modi has consistently sent out is that he is going to be tough on Muslims, and if his team makes an error, and even if they are convicted of crimes against Muslims, he will not back off from supporting them and he will not condemn them. He doesn’t disown them, and doesn’t distance himself from their awful actions because this is an achievement that has brought him the admiration of many in the Gujarati middle class. Modi doesn’t need to advertise this side to his divisive politics because the media does it for him. He says that he is unfairly accused, but the facts are quite clear, as we can see. We can continue to talk about him as a development candidate, but the reality of his politics does not validate that claim.

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/130414/commentary-op-ed/commentary/reality-narendra-modi%E2%80%99s-politics

SEE ALSO:

• Selling Modi – Editorial (Apr 20, 2013, Economic & Political Weekly)
  http://www.epw.in/editorials/selling-modi.html
• The problem with Modi – Editorial (Apr 15, 2013, Indian Express)
  http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-problem-with-modi/1102441/0
• Modi, the man and the message – By Harish Khare (Apr 4, 2013, The Hindu)
  http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/modi-the-man-and-the-message/article4577674.ece
• ‘If Godhra hadn’t happened, Modi would’ve been history’ – Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay with Vivek Kaul (Apr 15, 2013, First Post)
  http://www.firstpost.com/politics/if-godhra-hadnt-happened-modi-would-have-been-history-by-now-699598.html/2

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Profiles of prejudice – By Jyoti Punwani (Apr 11, 2013, The Hindu)

Is there a grand conspiracy among the country’s intelligence and police agencies to demonise the Muslim community and Islam as many allege? Or is it that when police of different States single out Muslims for different treatment, their conduct should be treated as unconnected random acts based on prejudice? A senior officer of the Mumbai police had to apologise this week to the Jamaat-e-Islami-e-Hind, one of the country’s two largest Muslim bodies. A circular issued by the Special Branch to police stations across the city, asked them to keep an eye on the Girls’ Islamic Organisation (GIO), the female students’ wing of the Jamaat. The GIO, the Marathi circular noted, was “trying to motivate girls towards Islam and asking them to live in accordance with the Koran and the Hadees.” Its main aim, said the circular, was to “inspire students towards orthodox Islam, prepare them for jihad, propagate Islam, and through such propagation, work for Islamisation of the world.”

Threatened with defamation, the officer apologised to the Jamaat – for the “hurt” the allegations had caused, not for the allegations themselves, though the circular bore his signature. This was the input he had received from “some other agency,” he maintained, and he had had to forward it. What he regretted was the leak of the internal circular. He would seek out the person responsible for the leak and make sure he was convicted, he said. Such determination to convict other colleagues who have hurt Muslims in rather extreme ways, not just their feelings, has never been shown by Mumbai’s senior policemen. The officer was livid not because his colleagues had made unsubstantiated allegations against a mainstream Muslim organisation, but because he had been embarrassed publicly. Ironically, the man in question is regarded as one of the few secular officers of the Mumbai police.

Police in other States aren’t so concerned about keeping up appearances. The Delhi Police Special Cell is quite open about the message it wants to convey about Muslims to the country. In 2008, they had draped the three boys arrested after the mysterious Batla House encounter in the red-and-white scarves popularised by the late Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat. The pictures of the boys, alleged to be members of the terror outfit, Indian Mujaheedin, wearing these scarves were flashed across the country. It turned out that the Delhi Police had bought these scarves in bulk, no doubt for the numerous Muslims they knew they would be arresting as “terrorists-who’d-slunk-into-the-capital-to-strike” (many of whom have since been honourably acquitted). Instead of the nondescript black hoods/coloured handkerchiefs/loose dupattas that detenus are made to wear in front of the camera, these scarves would leave an indelible, visual impression. Every time viewers saw these, they’d know some more Muslims with pan-Islamic terrorist links had been apprehended.

This long-term plan to stereotype terror accused was foiled by the furious response it evoked. But now, even more diabolic ways have been worked out by the police of other States to stamp Muslim terror suspects by marks of their faith. Yusuf Nalband was released in February after his name failed to feature in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) charge sheet in the Bangalore assassination case. He and four others, including Deccan Herald journalist Muthi-ur-Rahman Siddiqui and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientist Aijaz Ahmed Mirza, had been arrested from their shared apartment last August. The allegation against them was that they were part of an Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) plot to assassinate Hindutva leaders. …

The Special Cell’s attempt to project the suspected terrorist as a devout Muslim would have gone unnoticed some years back. Now, the police’s continuous targeting of Muslims has made them alert. The mischievous substitution was exposed by the Muslim Mirror, an online portal. Making suspects display signs of their religious identity when presenting them before the world is not the police’s job. Surely, such religious profiling constitutes an offence. The Jamaat-e-Islami, that threatened to sue the Mumbai Special Branch for defamation, may let the matter die with a written explanation, for the latter’s communal prejudice now stands exposed. But the Hyderabad, Bangalore and Delhi Police can’t be let off. Who will force them to explain?

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/profiles-of-prejudice/article4603258.ece

SEE ALSO:

• How BJP Lost The Caste Plot – By Imran Khan (Apr 20, 2013, Tehelka)
  http://tehelka.com/how-bjp-lost-the-caste-plot/
• The court of last resort – By Markandey Katju (Apr 9, 2013, The Hindu)
  http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/the-court-of-last-resort/article4595507.ece

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Carnage 84: The Ambushing Of Witnesses – By Ajmer Singh, Etmad A. Khan (Apr 10, 2013, Tehelka)

The dead cannot strike a deal so the living did. To bail out those who led the massacre of Sikhs in 1984. One witness was offered Rs 25 lakh to forget or not name the men who led the mob that killed 12 members of her family. She refused to give in. She was beaten and constantly threatened but she didn’t yield.

But some others did. They turned hostile one by one. Those who stuck to their deposition were left to fend for themselves, with neither the protector nor the adjudicator finding anything amiss. Congress leaders HKL Bhagat, Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar were let off, due to the behind-the-scenes machinations that included allurement and intimidation. And the not-so-subtle threat of a 1984 redux. Democracy and justice lay shamed.

Investigations reveal that in almost all cases, deals were struck to win over witnesses. In Bhagat’s case, Rs 25 lakh was offered to a witness. In Tytler’s case, a week after changing his statement the prime witness went abroad for a year and the second witness is still in the US. There were threats to their lives as well and a prominent Sikh leader was involved in pressurising the witness to say Tytler didn’t lead the mob.

Further sensational disclosures were made that a prime witness, who turned hostile, against Sajjan Kumar was taken to the Congress leader’s residence. Some of these witnesses enjoy a lavish lifestyle and their families misled Tehelka about their whereabouts. Our investigations uncovered the network of middlemen who struck dubious deals to win over witnesses, subvert the truth and derail justice.

http://tehelka.com/when-a-big-tree-falls-the-earth-shakes-2/

SEE ALSO:

• ‘Khoon Ka Badla Khoon’ – By Resham Singh (Apr 11, 2013, Outlook)
  http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?284929
• Tireless Warrior – By Brijesh Pandey (Apr 20, 2013, Tehelka)
  http://tehelka.com/tireless-warrior/
• Jagdish Tytler: A Recap – By Sundeep (Apr 10, 2013, Outlook)
  http://blogs.outlookindia.com/default.aspx?ddm=10&pid=2961&eid=5

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The Thin Line Between Dissent And Rebellion – By Sunaina Kumar (Apr 20, 2013, Tehelka)

For the past two years, Sheetal Sathe had not been seen, but her songs continued to haunt our consciousness. The young singer with the soul-stirring voice was portrayed as a symbol of hope in Jai Bhim Comrade, Anand Patwardhan’s searing documentary on the Dalits of Maharashtra. Sathe, a member of the Pune-based cultural group of Dalit protest singers and poets, Kabir Kala Manch, was branded a Naxalite in 2011. Since then she had been underground, along with Sachin Mali and Sagar Gorkhe and three other members of the group. On 2 April, Sathe and Mali surfaced in full media glare, staged a ‘satyagraha’ outside the Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai, and courted arrest. As they were taken into custody, Sathe retained her fieriness and raised slogans as she was whisked into the police jeep.

Sathe and Mali (both 27, married and expecting their first child) are facing charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Mali was retained in ATS (Anti-Terrorism Squad) custody, and Sathe sent to judicial custody on compassionate grounds until 17 April. The recent ruling by the Bombay High Court granting bail to Kabir Kala Manch members Deepak Dengle and Siddharth Bhonsle, who were arrested in May 2011 (along with Angela Sontakke, a member of the banned CPI(Maoist), still behind bars) gave hope to the disbanded cultural group and led to the decision of Sathe and Mali to come out of hiding. The high court declared that mere sympathy to Maoist ideology does not incriminate a person, and none of the Kabir Kala Manch members can be said to be active members of CPI(Maoist).

Through music and poetry, Kabir Kala Manch took up the cause of social inequality, exploitation of the underclasses, farmer suicides, female infanticide, Dalit killings and the widening net of corruption. Patwardhan of the Kabir Kala Manch Defence Committee, made up of civil society activists, says that Kabir Kala Manch members are at an impressionable age where their ideological thinking is still in process and their work covers a wide spectrum of political ideas such as Ambedkarism, socialism and Marxism. “I have known them since 2007 and can vouch for the fact that they have never taken up arms,” says Patwardhan. Kabir Kala Manch was formed in Pune in 2002 in the wake of the Gujarat riots and made up of students and young professionals who performed protest poetry and plays in slums and streets, shaking up the cultural scene in Pune as they presented a voice for the voiceless. Both Mali’s and Sathe’s academic backgrounds are exemplary; Sathe being a gold medallist and post graduate from Pune University.

Mumbai-based lawyer and activist Kamayani Bali Mahabal, also a member of the Kabir Kala Manch Defence Committee, says that the existence of the group is crucial as they create space for dissent through shayari and songs that are much more effective than speeches. “They are responsible artists who interpret art as a catalyst for social change. Unfortunately, for the State there is no distinction between Dalit protesters and activists and Naxalites,” says Mahabal, who was exposed to their work through Jai Bhim Comrade. Mihir Desai, the lawyer for Sathe and Mali, says the defence is waiting for the Anti- Terrorism Squad to complete its investigation and file a supplementary chargesheet.

“A lot of people who fight for radical changes in society get attracted to different ideologies, but as the Bombay High Court stated, as long as you don’t act in pursuance of those ideologies, you are not guilty,” says Desai. Despite repeated attempts, TEHELKA was unable to reach the Anti-Terrorism Squad. Patwardhan says that the case against the Kabir Kala Manch proves that the State does not tolerate the voice of weaker sections of society. “In our democracy, only the upper-class elites are allowed to have a voice,” he says. Kabir Kala Manch member and poet Deepak Dengle, who is out on bail after two years in prison, penned a poem in jail called Kis kis ko qaid karoge, mocking those who imprison lovers of freedom. The stirring words of the poem promise that the young revolutionaries will not be kept quiet for long.

http://tehelka.com/the-thin-line-between-dissent-and-rebellion/

SEE ALSO:

• Descent that never ends – Editorial (Apr 11, 2013, The Hindu)
  http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/descent-that-never-ends/article4603262.ece

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Murder In The Tea Garden – By Ratnadip Choudhury (Apr 3, 2013, Tehelka)

Lush green tea gardens meet the eye on both sides of the National Highway 37. Providing both succor to the onlooker and livelihood to the lakhs of people dependent on the tea industry, these estates are the lifeline of upper Assam. The Panitola Tea Estate in the Tinsukia district is one of the oldest tea gardens of this region. Among the many Adivasi families (also known as tea garden workers) living in the labour lines of Panitola, is the family of 43-year-old Gangaram Koul, a popular leader of the All Assam Tea Tribe Students’ Association (AATTSA). A breakaway from the norm where tea tribe children follow their fathers to work in the gardens, Koul passed his Higher Secondary with first division. Graduating from the Dibrugarh University, Koul had taken on the mantle of fighting for the rights of tea tribes in his garden and surrounding areas. A fight that was to cost Koul his life.

On the evening of 25 March, on his way back home, Koul was attacked by a group of people wielding machetes and iron rods, who first beat him up and then hacked him to death. The gruesome murder has left the entire tea tribe community shocked. Koul was not only a popular leader among the tea garden workers, he was also their crusader who stood up to the corrupt practices in the region. Koul had been fighting against the corruption in the Public Distribution System (PDS) meant for the tea labourers in Tinsukia and neighbouring Dibrugarh district. The Tarun Gogoi administration ordered a CID probe into Koul’s murder. Under severe criticism from the media and protests by AATTSA activists over allegations of local Congress leaders’ hand behind the killing, on 2 April, the government had to approach the CBI to take over the investigation.

“We feel that the same forces involved in the corrupt activities my husband was trying to expose is behind his murder,” says Koul’s wife Sakhila Munda, who teaches in a primary school in nearby Digboi town. “He had been instrumental in creating awareness among our community on how they were being exploited and their foodgrain looted.” Sakhila is having a hard time explaining to her shocked son Bishal, 14, and daughter Meghali, 9, on why their father was killed for doing the right thing. Koul’s tryst with politics began during his college days, when he was attracted to communist ideals and joined the CPI(ML). He raised the Sangrami Chah Shramik Sangha (SCSS) to counter the “monopoly” exercised by the Assam Cha Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS), the largest tea labourers’ union in the state, also known to be close to the ruling Congress. Following his death, the CPI(ML) called for a statewide bandh, and the police was forced to file an FIR against local Congress MLA Raju Sahu, two panchayat leaders of the Congress, two local office-bearers of the ACMS in Panitola and Purushuttom Singh, a PDS licencee as accused in plotting the gruesome murder.

Koul had reportedly found that 29 of some 50 Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards from a fair price shop owned by a Sudha Devi Singh in the Panitola Tea Estate were bogus, and the rice drawn on these cards were sold in the black market. Sudha Devi Singh is the sister-in-law of one of the accused, Purushuttom Singh. With the help of his colleague Subrajyoti Bardhan, Koul raised the alarm and soon the tea tribe community joined the movement that led to the suspension of Sudha Singh’s PDS licence. A case on this issue is still pending at the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court in Tinsukia district. Koul found that Purushuttom Singh, a PDS licencee himself, was operating along similar lines. Local people found that he had lifted two quintals of wheat from the Laipuli GPSS but did not distribute it, and had also shown a huge number of bogus consumers in the population list of 2004-06. But the Office of the Deputy Director of Food and Supply of Consumer Affairs reinstated his licence. “The Food and Civil Supplies Department allowed Singh to lift PDS items from the Laipuli GPSS on 26 December last year when Singh had no valid licence,” alleges Bardhan, also a state committee member of the CPI(ML). “It proves how corrupt officials are involved in this loot and plunder of the PDS.”

Koul had alleged that district officials were openly violating norms of transparency in the sub-allotment of PDS items. PDS items are sub-allotted by the deputy commissioner’s office and the list of the items must be uploaded on the National Informative Centre’s website. In Tinsukia district, all these ground rules were violated. “Koul found that all mandatory norms were violated and how the PDS mafia makes a separate sub-allotment list that shows much less than the actual quantity sub-allotted by the deputy commissioner,” says a tea garden worker on condition of anonymity. Koul’s stand against corruption added to his popularity. He even contested the Assembly polls in 2006 and 2011. In 2006, he contested from Chabua and finished fourth, with 3,042 votes. Again, in the 2011 Assembly polls, Koul secured more than 7,000 votes, a clear indication of his increasing popularity. In 2009, he had also contested for the Lok Sabha from the Dibrugarh constituency. He fought elections every time as a CPI(ML) candidate. However, more than his growing political clout, it is his crusade against the irregularities in the PDS that has forced the government to ask for a CBI probe. What it throws up could well decide the Congress’ fortunes among the tea tribes of Assam.

http://tehelka.com/murder-in-the-tea-garden/

SEE ALSO:

• Manipur and Its Demand for Internal Autonomy – By Thangkhanlal Ngaihte (Apr 20, 2013, Economic & Political Weekly)
  http://www.epw.in/commentary/manipur-and-its-demand-internal-autonomy.html
• When North East Came Calling! – By Shah Alam Khan (Apr 15, 2013, Countercurrents)
  http://www.countercurrents.org/akhan150413.htm

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Let’s help realise the vision of Ambedkar for Dalits – By Anurodh Lalit Jain (Apr 14, 2013, The Hindu)

As the nation pays tribute to Dr. B.R. Ambedkar on his 122 birth anniversary (April 14), one would realise that much more remains to be done to achieve his aim of social equality for the suppressed classes. A principal architect in drafting the Constitution, he made significant efforts at giving political rights and social freedom to Dalits. However, till date, members of Schedule Castes continue to face caste biases. Dr. Ambedkar had a first-hand experience of untouchability in school, where he was segregated from caste Hindus. He was allowed to drink water from vessel only if it was poured from a height by the peon. In his biography, he spoke of school days when he would not drink water as very often the peon intentionally became unavailable.

Even today, there are instances where Dalit children are made to sit separately for the mid-day meal. Also, in some places students belonging to caste Hindus refuse to eat the food cooked by the ‘lower caste’ people. In a few districts of Madhya Pradesh, Dalit children are reportedly served food from a distance. Such caste biases in school will not only deprive these children of education but also fill their minds with pessimism about society at a tender age. Dr. Ambedkar throughout his life advised Dalits to get educated before agitating for their rights. Data from the House listing & Housing Census 2011 highlight the continued injustice done to Dalits through the demeaning practice of manual scavenging. These workers collect human excreta with their brooms and tinplate and carry it for disposal.

This work division continues based upon the traditional Hindu social order, which assigns to the Dalits the dirty, mean jobs. Dr. Ambedkar said that “in India, a man is not a scavenger because of his work. He is a scavenger because of his birth irrespective of the question whether he does scavenging or not.” A depressing fact as revealed in the 2011 census data on households is that an estimated 8 lakh people are traditionally engaged in manual removal of night soil – a great embarrassment to the State governments that are still in denial mode. Dr. Ambedkar’s efforts to root out such caste biases were perceived to be advanced by Mayawati, who eventually became Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. However, the census data show that Uttar Pradesh continues to have the dubious distinction of leading the list with approximately 3.2 lakh people still involved in manually removing human waste.

The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act in 1993 has provision for punishment, including fine, for employing scavengers or constructing dry toilets. However, manual scavengers are continued to be employed to this day by municipalities, the Railways and defence establishments. The UPA government, on the advice of the National Advisory Council, has recognised manual scavenging as a social problem rather than as a sanitation issue and is looking for ways to stop the abhorrent practice.

Dr. Ambedkar is considered the messiah for his efforts to bring equal opportunity and social justice to the marginalised communities. A real tribute to the great leader would be to continue with his efforts of empowering the Scheduled Castes and helping them overcome the vicious cycle of caste and cultural barrier, rather than merely offering flowers to his statue on his birth and death anniversaries.

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/lets-help-realise-the-vision-of-ambedkar-for-dalits/article4614717.ece

SEE ALSO:

• Dr Ambedkar As The Champion Of Women’s Rights – By Shura Darapuri (Apr 15, 2013, Countercurrents)
  http://www.countercurrents.org/darapuri150413.htm
• Structures of Discrimination: A Response – By Gayatri Nair and Rahul Menon (Apr 13, 2013, Economic & Political Weekly)
  http://www.epw.in/discussion/structures-discrimination-response.html
• Dr.B.R. Ambedkar Is The Most Popular Celebrity – A Tribute – By Dr.K.Vidyasagar Reddy (Apr 13, 2013, Countercurrents)
  http://www.countercurrents.org/reddy130413.htm

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