Opinions and Editorials

State Honour To Hate Propagandist – By Vidya Bhushan Rawat (Nov 19, 2012, Countercurrents)

Bal Thackeray is no more. His funeral attracted lakhs of people. Mumbai remained shut for so many days. It is time to sit and ponder over the what really is the legacy of Sena. The champion of Hindu Nationalism enjoyed every damn thing which we claim as ‘western’ influence while spiting venom at ‘outsiders’. Mumbai’s biggest event management show is over as the person who converted a cosmopolitan Bombay to a parochial narrow Mumbai was cremated with State Honor. A man who did not hesitate to violate the very principles of Indian tricolor was taken in the state carriage with his body wrapped in the Indian National Flag and was finally provided Guard of Honor before his mortal remains were consigned to flames. Is not it a tragedy that the Indian state that the man who should have been asked to account for his role in various riots in the city actually was seeking the same from others? A modern city of Bombay actually pathetically turned into a medieval one where fear became the buzz word. The crowd assembled there was undoubtedly huge and it also shows how the issues raised by Thackeray touched the chord of the people in Maharashtra. It reflects the failures of the secular leadership of the state which needed a Thackeray to legitimize itself to fight against ‘communal’ Shiv Sena. The party though wanted to dominate Maharashtra politics yet never believed in democracy itself. The fact is that Thackeray was not a believer in democracy but Shiv Sena was necessary evil for him through whom he could run his ‘Sarkar’ and bargain with political parties particularly Congress which gave him strength and protection. Often we hear from commentators that Thackeray was unambiguous and spoke what his heart wanted. Yes, that was a great quality but it is also a fact that those who believe in democratic voices and dissent can never speak like the fascists who damn care for anything and are ready to even kill people for dissenting with them. There was no space for dissent in Shiv Sena as party never really believed in democratic values as its core values were absolutely fanatic and fascist. That is why funds and crowd was never a problem for Shiv Sena as their core constituency ensured that ‘everyone’ participate in their programmes. Hence it was not out of ‘love and affection’ that people kept their market closed in Mumbai but out of fear. And here the elected government of Maharashtra remained complete failure. It may have handled the situation politically but it allowed the atmosphere of fear to grip the city and that was condemnable.

The hypocrisy of the Indian elite from Bombay Film world as well as political class was visible. From the day when Thackeray’s was on ventilator, Amitabh Bachchan tweeted and asked for prayers. If anyone who follow politics know about Amitabh Bachcchan then he turn out to be the biggest hypocrite who can keep one ‘secular’ Mulayam in his pocket on left side while the absolute right winger Narendra Modi on the other side. It is the same ‘bhaiyaa’ from UP, who would always flaunt his Hindi background in puritanism while dining with Bal Thackeray in the evening. How these contradictions are managed by these stars are well known to us but the people who throng at their films and shows must ask this question whether Amitabh Bachchan support Thackeray’s fulminations and hate propaganda against the North Indians? Whether they and others who feel that Mumbai is now ‘anaath’ without him support Sena’s digging the pitches before an Indo-Pak match? Maharashtra is the land of extreme contradiction. It was land where Tilak and later Sangh Parivar grew up. They always used the religious identities to build huge crowds during Dushara festivities. In true sense Maharashtra was a purely brahmanical land. But this Brahmanism also got the biggest challenge in Maharashtra and in the heart of their places. Right from Jyotiba Phule to Baba Saheb Ambedkar, Maharashtra was a land of revolution of also. It created a new wave of assertion among the Dalits and other marginalized communities. Those commentators who are making the entire issue as unprecedented must visit Diksha Bhumi on every Dusshera day in Nagpur and Chaitya Bhumi on every December 6th to see what is unadulterated devotion to leadership and ideology. If the crowds are the measurement of popularity then definitely many in India can be unparalleled in that and particularly the cadre based parties are managers in bringing people but the crowds that throng Nagpur on Dusshera and Mumbai on December 6th come at their own to pay their respect to Baba Saheb Ambedkar. How many times, we report this event on our TV screens. Hence it is essential to understand why our political class as well as ‘mainstream’ media loves to create a larger than life size image of even the so-called ‘undemocratic’ people who it was crying against just few months back on the Marathi Manus issues. It want to create an impression that Brahmanism and Hindutva have got wider support in India and government must understand this but then Karunanidhi, Maywati, Lalu Yadav, Communist Parties can always manage huge crowds and have shown that too. How many time, we had live broadcast of their meetings and programmes?

There are few things about Thackeray, which most of the commentators portray that he was very unambiguous about his views and that he never hid his words, he spoke what he wanted. But that is exactly the quality of fascist characters. Since, they do not believe in any dissent and democracy they do not care what other think. A person like Thackeray was promoted by Congress to protect its own interest. The more his abuses and fulminations against Muslims and North Indian, the biggest was the opportunity for the party to project itself as the ‘well-wisher’ of this section. This has resulted in the marginalization of the Muslims in particular because their issues never got that much highlight as the north Indian media went on the other issue of Thackeray on the issue of Marathi Manus. For the votaries of Hindutva, Thackeray’s anti-Muslim rhetoric made him an iconic figure but when the same Thackeray spoke against the North Indian or Mumbai becoming ‘dharmshala’ then the same clientele of Thackeray turned against him. And that is why question may be asked as how has a person who spat so much of venom against Indian nationals from other state and different religion that he practiced, is given state honor in cremation and allowed the ‘public’ farewell. It has two meaning for me. One, that the entire Maharastra is sharply polarized like any other parts of the country on caste, religious and ethnic lines and that whatever Bal Thackeray spoke was accepted by the local Maharashtrians particularly upper castes. Of course, it is also true that the Shiv Sena’s largest vote share come from OBCs too who were used against naming of Marathwada University as Dr Baba Saheb University, against Dalits. Strange that we do not find much of the Bahujan politics in Maharastra where it originated in the form of vast struggles and social movements of Jotiba Phule and Chhatrpati Shahuji Maharaj. Is it not an irony that son of Prabodhan Thackeray, who was a devout follower of Joti Ba Phule and his Satya Shodhak Samaj rarely spoke about Phule and the struggle that he committed himself for social change.

It need to be analyzed whether we are witnessing an upper caste counter revolution in India these days which is being reflected in the form of Hindutva, anti-corruption movements or various other urbanized forums and then in the name of farmers, to make it rural also. There is a commonality among them. If the crowd at Thackeray’s funeral or at Anna’s Ram Leela or Arvind Kejriwal’s dramas in Delhi, they are quintessentially upper caste middle class background people with deep prejudices towards the Dalits and Muslims. They were accused of not stepping out of their homes and were not a vote bank. Perhaps, it is an indication that they too are now becoming solid blocks so get their issues addressed by the power elite. Corruption never matter for Thackeray and the anti-corruption messiahs of India never bothered to touch him for it was clear that they know he never believed in niceties. As he was very clear about his perception, many times, it was felt, he spoke the language that suited political parties and other people. The Babari Masjid was demolished on December 6th, 1992 in Ayodhya and Thackeray got an opportunity to spread his hate agenda in Mumbai. Another Maratha veteran Sharad Pawar was the chief minister of the state and yet when the communal riots began in Mumbai in January-February 1993, the police and administration was closely working with Shiv Sena gangs. Hundreds of Muslims were killed and there are proofs of the participation of various political leaders yet the state government did nothing. It never pursued cases against those culprits in these riots. What happen if the people do not get justice when their near dear ones are killed and butchered in front of them? We know international terrorism is there but we also know that this terrorism or ideas will never get support from people if justice is there. And in the aftermath of bomb blasts in Mumbai where underworld dons are considered to be the real culprits, the Mumbai police have been active in arresting Muslim youths. It is clear that the organisations like Sena were there to pressurize and communalise the entire administration and they succeeded. Today, Mumbai live in uncertainty as the underworld uses different guerrilla tactics to retaliate and avenge the attacks or discrimination against Muslims and Sena and its gang have active state support to protect the ‘Hindus’. It is strange how they change their tactics. When the anti-Muslim or anti-Pakistani rhetoric does not work then Marathi Manus issue is raised so that non Marathis live in constant fear.

The dirty games of Sena are well known. Bal Thackeray was not just rabidly accusing and abusing Muslims but he stood against all forms of rights granted to Dalits and OBCs under Indian constitution. He vehemently opposed reservation for Dalits and OBCs and his Sena was responsible for bloody war in Aurangabad for the renaming of Marathwada University in the name of Baba Saheb Ambedkar in which thousands of Dalits came on the street and many sacrificed their lives for the cause. So, it is clear that the caste Hindus, afraid of Dalit assertion and rights of OBCs and Muslims found Shiv Sena ‘candid’ and ‘unambiguous’ but their own hopes were dashed when ‘all of them clubbed’ together in the name of ‘Bihari’ and were threatened with dire consequences. That way, Thackeray and his clans were helping Bihar’s ‘secular’ leaders to get united under one umbrella shedding their caste identities which is still impossible for any state in India, leave alone Bihar. In one of his interviews with Shekhar Gupta, on ‘ Walk the Talk’ at NDTV, Thackeray was proudly drinking white wine with him which makes him different than others who will speak against smoking and drinking in public but will do the same in private. It is well known that he loved warm Indian beer. His Cigar was very famous and unlike other Sangh Parivar wallahs, he enjoyed life particularly with the glamour world and never hid his relationship with film stars. Irony is that the Hindutva brigade used Nehru’s lifestyle to target him as a ‘westerner’ and always created an image as if smoking and drinking was the sign of an ‘evil’ person. Hopefully, with Bal Thackeray’s open love for all these things, they will change their views and take people based on their ideology and action. …

http://www.countercurrents.org/rawat191112.htm

SEE ALSO:

• The right to dissent – By Justice Markandey Katju (Nov 19, 2012, Tehelka)
  http://tehelka.com/story_main54.asp?filename=Ws191112Opinion.asp
• The Legacy Of Bal Thackeray – By Binu Karunakaran (Nov 19, 2012, Countercurrents)
  http://www.countercurrents.org/karun191112.htm
• ‘This Arrest Itself Appears To Be A Criminal Act’ – By Markandey Katju (Nov 19, 2012, Outlook)
  http://outlookindia.com/article.aspx?283029

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Claims on test – By Anupama Katakam (Nov 17, 2012, Frontline)

This October, the British government announced that it was ending its decade-long boycott of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. In the aftermath of the 2002 Gujarat riots, several countries had declared that Modi would be denied entry into their countries because he had violated religious freedom. Only the United Kingdom has revoked this now, a decision that made Modi tweet thus on October 11: “I welcome U.K. govt’s step for active engagement and strengthening relations with Gujarat. God is great.” The decision followed the British High Commissioner to India Sir James Bevan’s meeting with the Chief Minister on October 22, where the former largely discussed business and investment opportunities in Gujarat. Soon after the meeting, Modi said: “I am very happy that world leaders think they should meet me and do business in Gujarat.” For Modi, the British move has been the fruit of all the hard work he put in to shake off the communal label. The man who was once associated with the worst-ever communal riots India has witnessed in recent history has been working relentlessly for several years now to establish himself as the leader who brought industrialisation and thereby progress to Gujarat and thus gave it a great future. The timing of the British decision could not have been better. Gujarat goes to the polls at the end of this year, and Modi faces a tough battle. Since he obviously cannot use communalism to win this election, he has worked tirelessly to project himself as a “Vikas Purush” (man of progress and development), who brings in massive investment and creates no obstacles for business and industry desirous of coming to Gujarat and as the only “thinking, progressive and honest” politician around. Some observers call it a “massive public relations stunt”.

Frontline spoke to a cross section of people in Gujarat to find out if this election will be easy for Modi. The State’s middle classes seems convinced of his capabilities as the Vikas Purush, so do the rich Indian and non-resident Gujarati populations. The vote of the middle classes may be all his, but the poorer sections have begun to have serious doubts about this “progress”. Modi’s inability to deliver on crucial fronts such as employment, education, health and water supply will rob him of the votes of the poor in the urban and rural areas. According to Rev. Cedric Prakash, a human rights activist, malnutrition, hunger, unemployment, sanitation, water scarcity, and inadequate schooling facilities persist all over the State. “He may talk of development, but statistics prove otherwise.” The high growth rate is not in keeping with its patchy social development record, and if the social sector is not taken care of, it cannot be progress, says Prakash. Every alternate year, Modi hosts a huge business summit, called Vibrant Gujarat, to attract investment from across the globe. According to the organisers of the 2011 summit, about 7,936 memorandums of understanding (MoUs), worth Rs.20,83,000 crore ($450 billion) in all, were signed then. Moreover, around 100 tie-ups were forged with leading institutions from across the globe for exchange of knowledge. The summit had representatives from over a hundred countries participating in it; several top Indian industrialists spoke. Modi has repeatedly proclaimed that the summits have been a huge success for the State and that the model should be emulated by other States. However, a report titled “Investment and Growth Patterns Across 20 Major Indian States”, released in September this year by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), says Gujarat may have bagged the largest number of investments but has lagged behind when it comes to their implementation.

According to Assocham, Gujarat attracted Rs.16.28 lakh crore in investment until December 2011. However, 51.8 per cent of the projects are yet to pick up steam. The report says that of the total investment proposals, Gujarat attracted 39.2 per cent in power generation, 24.2 per cent in manufacturing, 16.2 per cent in services, 14.3 per cent in real estate, 5.2 per cent in irrigation and 0.9 per cent in mining space. “Because of the massive public relations exercise, the State is able to garner investments; however there are no significant results. Soon Modi will have to answer some tough questions from not just industrialists but also his vote bank,” said an industrialist based in Ahmedabad. “The problem is that while Modi is efficient, his administrators are like any other in the Indian bureaucracy. These bureaucrats have to execute the projects for Modi to honour the promises. Otherwise he is going to look like a fool. For the vote bank, the kind of investment Modi is getting is not translating into jobs. These are heavy or manufacturing industries, which are not labour intensive. Therefore, no one is seeing the benefits,” he added. “Gujarat needs to focus on increasing investments in the services sector,” said Jay Ruparel, vice-chairman, Assocham. “The absence of the information technology sector and the preference for [financial] capital over human capital by the State government, present and past, have affected investments in the State.”

Gujarat’s industry consists mainly of sectors such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, petrochemicals, oil and gas, power, gems, engineering, automobiles, food and agri-businesses. Owing to the focus on the manufacturing sector, employment is not being generated in the numbers required to show growth. Admittedly, the Modi government has been more efficient than governments in other States. A third-generation industrialist from Maharashtra recently signed an MoU with Gujarat to start a unit producing pumps and compressors. “It was amazing how smoothly and how fast the process went. We got land, power and labour issues resolved within months. I would have never moved from Maharashtra as we have all our units there, but we took this decision as Gujarat promised efficiency and delivered.” Gujarat has many advantages that other States do not have. And Modi has been shrewd enough to capitalise on that, says Vijay Parikh, who owns a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Vadodara. For instance, it has a massive coastline, which has been a boon for trade since historical times. An attraction for industry, particularly the oil and gas industry, are the ports. The State has a mercantile community, which makes matters easier. What Modi may have done is to make Gujarat a power-surplus State and ensure that it had a reasonably good infrastructure, says Parikh. Modi has a penchant for yatras (road trips). Just before the announcement of the Assembly elections and the implementation of the code of conduct, Modi and his band of Ministers went on a month-long Vanthambhi Vikas Yatra (Non-stop Development Yatra). Travelling the length and breadth of Gujarat, the politicians propagated the State’s achievements. Officials say that more than 27,000 works involving an expenditure of Rs.30,000 crore were inaugurated or started during the yatra.

The month-long yatra ended on September 15, the same day as the Garib Kalyan Melas (GKMs), a scheme for the lower-income groups, ended. The State government claims it has distributed benefits worth Rs.13,000 crore in the nearly 1,000 GKMs held across the State. “He comes to us only during elections. The poor in Gujarat are not on his agenda,” says Ramesh Solanki, who works in a denim factory in Ahmedabad. Meanwhile, former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, who is Modi’s bête noire, said that the State was opening its treasury to companies such as the Tatas; it had given the company Rs.33,000 crore against an investment of Rs.22,000 crore for the Nano project, he said. He said the State had fallen to the sixth rank in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) and had a debt of over Rs.10,000 crore. The number of farmers’ suicides had gone up to 5,000, and malnutrition was rampant in the poorer and tribal districts of the State, he said. Patel also said the State was run by an autocrat and that no one else had any powers—this was not healthy for the State, he warned. The former Chief Minister may not be far from the truth. Several reports and studies by academics are beginning to bust Modi’s claims. A paper called “Myth of Vibrant Gujarat”, written by Ram Punyani, a well-known human rights and communal harmony activist with the All India Secular Forum, says: “Through conclaves like Guava Gujarat and the annual meetings of NRIs and industrialists, investment is being solicited, and more than the forthcoming investment, projections are being made of the flow of dollars, creating the image that it is during Modi’s regime that Gujarat has begun to progress. The fact is that there are some investments; there is some industrialisation, but it is far from what is being projected. In previous Vibrant Summits, claims of big capital investments have been made. For example, in 2005 claim for Rs.1,06,161 crore had been made. Out of that, investment of Rs.74,019 crore (63 per cent) was made as stated by the Chief Minister but in reality, as per the information availed under RTI, only Rs.24,998 crore (23.52 per cent) projects were under implementation.” …

http://flonnet.com/fl2923/stories/20121130292302500.htm

SEE ALSO:

• An Alliance in Trouble – By Soumik Mukherjee (Nov 24, 2012, Tehelka)
  http://tehelka.com/story_main54.asp?filename=Ne241112Alliance.asp
• Vote on issues – By T.K. Rajalakshmi (Nov 17, 2012, Frontline)
  http://flonnet.com/fl2923/stories/20121130292302100.htm
• The Deccan Revolts – By Madhavi Tata (Nov 26, 2012, Outlook)
  http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?282993

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Dubious dealings – By Venkitesh Ramakrishnan (Nov 17, 2012, Frontline)

“A big upheaval” was the buzz in the upper echelons of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS)-led Sangh Parivar from the moment revelations on some doubtful investments in Nitin Gadkari’s business empire came out in the last week of October. Questions had been raised earlier, too, about the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president’s business dealings and the decisions he had taken as a Minister in the erstwhile Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra, but the “expose” on “ghost investors and amazing friendly loans” was perceived to be much more serious for a number of reasons. According to senior Sangh Parivar activists, this perception was essentially based on three factors. First, the charges about Gadkari’s wrongdoings had come at a time when the BJP was planning a major offensive against the ruling Congress, including members of the “first family” of the party, on the issue of corruption, and had, therefore, weakened its political initiative. Second, this had all the potential of accentuating the multilevel power struggles within the BJP. Third, the context had raised questions about the special treatment meted out to Gadkari by RSS chief Mohan Bhagawat and this, in turn, had caused palpable strain in the relations between senior RSS leaders. What significant sections of the Sangh Parivar found particularly galling was that the revelations seemed to equate Gadkari with Robert Vadra, the controversial son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Vadra’s meteoric rise in business over the past five years was also self-confessedly aided by “a little help from friends”.

Responding to allegations of financial impropriety in business dealings against him, Gadkari, too, stated that “his companies’ balance sheets were not fit for any bank to lend him money and hence he requested his good friend D.P. Mhaiskar of Ideal Road Builders (IRB) Group to help him out”. The request was accepted by the IRB Group and it advanced money to Gadkari’s companies. As in the case of the loan advanced to Vadra’s Sky Light Hospitality by the real estate developer DLF, it is not clear whether Gadkari’s benefactors had asked for any security or whether IRB shareholders were aware of the extraordinary advance. The revelations showed that more than 100 companies had brought in amounts ranging from lakhs to crores for many of Gadkari’s business-related activities. What complicated the situation was the high positions held by Gadkari’s close associates, including his driver, in the various companies that were part of this business activity. Clearly, the allegations had the effect of blunting the BJP’s attack on the Congress. The fact that the revelations came less than a month before Gadkari’s re-election for a second term as party president enhanced their impact. The decision to allow Gadkari to run a second term was opposed by many senior party leaders, including L.K. Advani. Apart from the inner-party tussles relating to his re-election, there was the multilevel struggle over the choice of a prime ministerial candidate for the next general elections. Advani, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Delhi-based senior leaders such as Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, and Gadkari himself are aspirants to the nomination.

Though it is not clear whom the RSS will favour, there is little doubt that its top brass in Nagpur has a special regard for Gadkari. In fact, the RSS went the extra mile at the BJP’s National Executive in Mumbai in May to get Article 21 of the party constitution amended in order to allow its Nagpur man to seek another term when he completes his present tenure in December. For this, it succumbed to Narendra Modi’s demand seeking the expulsion of RSS pracharak Sanjay Joshi from the National Executive. Modi had made it clear that he would attend the Executive only if Joshi was removed. This was done, and Modi supported the validity of the amendment enabling an active party member to hold the post of president for two three-year terms. However, according to a senior RSS activist, the revelations on Gadkari’s business dealings have put a question mark on the constitutionally approved second term for the party president. “The leaders opposed to a second term for Gadkari, including Advani, would certainly up the ante now. You will see many manifestations of this in the days to come,” the activist told Frontline. Sure enough, BJP leader Ram Jethmalani called for Gadkari’s resignation. Subsequently, his son Mahesh Jethmalani resigned from the National Executive, saying the issue of Gadkari’s financial wrongdoings was affecting the party’s image. More importantly, he said the revelations had weakened Gadkari’s chances of putting up a good fight in the race for the prime ministerial nomination.

It is in this context that the sustained patronage of Bhagawat that Gadkari enjoys has come into question. Those who apparently have reservations about Bhagawat’s support to Gadkari include top leaders of the RSS, Suresh Soni and Madan Das Devi. In fact, Sangh Parivar activists told Frontline that in view of the reservations expressed by some RSS leaders, Bhagawat made Dattatreya Hosabale, RSS joint secretary, another point man to manage the relations with the BJP. Earlier, the charge of liaising with the BJP was mainly with Suresh Soni. By all indications, these issues were discussed at the RSS national conclave held in Chennai in early November. The formal view of the conclave, expressed by senior leader Suresh Joshi, specifically on the charges against Gadkari, was as follows: “If the allegations are true, then the accused person should be punished. This is the stance of the Sangh on charges of corruption against anybody, including Gadkari.” But Suresh Joshi also added that one cannot pronounce anybody guilty on the basis of allegations by the media. All these developments do raise a question over Gadkari’s second term as party chief. However, there are indications that the RSS will in no way accede to the demands of those seeking Gadkari’s removal before the conclusion of his term.

Some sections of the Sangh Parivar aver that there are two reasons for this. First, advisers of the RSS, such as S. Gurumurthy, believe that despite the allegations levelled against him, Gadkari’s management of his financial affairs has been such that nothing can be proved against him legally. Secondly, sections of the RSS, too, had benefited from Gadkari’s business operations and this is known to the top brass. This found reflection in the meeting of the core group of the BJP’s leadership on November 6 in New Delhi. Following a two-hour-long presentation by Gurumurthy, the core group asserted that Gadkari had not done anything wrong, legally or morally. While this support by the RSS could help Gadkari for the time being, there is little doubt that the affairs in the Sangh Parivar, and especially the BJP, will continue to be tumultuous for a considerable period of time. A signal of this was visible in the boycott of the core group meeting by Advani, who has been opposed to the RSS micromanaging the BJP’s affairs, at least in the past five years.

http://flonnet.com/fl2923/stories/20121130292303300.htm

SEE ALSO:

• A Thread That Holds – By Saba Naqvi (Nov 26, 2012, Outlook)
  http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?283005
• What is S Gurumurthy up to? – By Rana Ayyub (Nov 24, 2012, Tehelka)
  http://tehelka.com/story_main54.asp?filename=Ne241112WHAT.asp
• ‘Spoilt child’ – By Lyla Bavadam (Nov 17, 2012, Frontline)
  http://flonnet.com/fl2923/stories/20121130292303500.htm

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Who Milks This Cow? – By Ramachandra Guha (Nov 19, 2012, Outlook)

I was born in a home of broad-minded Hindus. My father, though by caste a Brahmin, never wore a thread. His own father’s brother was a lifelong opponent of the caste system; a hostel he opened for Dalit students still functions in Bangalore city. My mother went from time to time to a temple, but was happy to eat with or make food for humans of any background or creed. Two of her brothers had married out of caste; a third had married a German. When, in 1984, I got my first job, at the Centre for Social Studies in Calcutta, I had to fill in a questionnaire which, among other things, asked me to denote my religion. I wrote ‘Hindu’, immediately attracting the ire of a friend who worked at the same centre. He felt that a secular state had no business asking for a person’s religion, and thus I should have left the answer blank. This friend was a Marxist, so (although he would not then recognise or admit it) he actually subscribed to a faith of his own.

As I saw it, I was brought up, if loosely, in the Hindu tradition. One could still be a Hindu and not believe in—indeed, militantly oppose—caste discrimination and the subjection of women. One could be a Hindu and still be respectful of other faiths and traditions. That is what my reading of Gandhi had taught me. And if Gandhi, who in adult life did not enter a temple, and who was vilified by sants and sankaracharyas, could yet call himself a Hindu, so—when pushed—could I. Five years after this debate with a Marxist, I encountered a rather more direct challenge to my Hindu faith. I had been with a team of scholars to investigate a communal conflict in and around the town of Bhagalpur, in Bihar. The riot was sparked off by the brick worship ceremonies connected with the plans to build a Ram temple on the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. The ceremonies clashed with a Muslim festival, and violence broke out between young men of the two religions. The conflict spread outwards from the town into the countryside.

Nearly two thousand people died in the Bhagalpur riots. Many more were rendered homeless. Although Muslims were less than 20 per cent of the population, they constituted more than 70 per cent of those who had been killed or displaced. We visited a once-flourishing village of Muslim weavers, or julahas, whose homes and looms had been totally destroyed by a mob of Hindus. The survivors were being taken care of by a prosperous Muslim weaver in Bhagalpur town, who had laid out tents in his garden. Other refugees were being provided food and shelter by a Muslim religious organisation. Of government work in the resettlement and rehabilitation of the refugees there was not a sign. I was shaken to see that my fellow Hindus would willingly partake of such savagery, and that my government would take no responsibility for the victims. Till then, the politics of religion had no place in my scholarly work or writing. My principal field of research was the environment. I had just published a book on the social history of the Himalayan forests, and had written scholarly essays on environmental conflicts in Asia and North America. However, I was now provoked to write an essay on the Bhagalpur riots for theSunday Observer. That newspaper collapsed soon afterwards, but I remain grateful to it for publishing the first article I wrote on the bloody crossroads where religion and politics meet in modern India.

In the 1990s and beyond, as the religious right gained in strength and importance across the country, I was making the move from academics to becoming a full-time writer. I now published fortnightly columns in two different newspapers. My brief, in each case, was very broad; I could, and did, write on history and sport apart from politics. But since these were the years in which the Sangh parivar moved from the margins to the centre of public life in India, naturally I wrote about their activities as well. In the past two decades, I must have published some forty articles that have dealt with the politics or policies of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, or of state and central governments led or directed by them. This constitutes somewhat less than 10 per cent of my total output—that is to say, at least nine in ten of my articles have dealt with other subjects. However, it is always articles that touch on the philosophy and practice of Hindutva that attract the most attention (and anger). They have brought me into contact with a certain kind of Indian who gets up before dawn, has a glass of cow’s milk, prays to the sun god, and begins scanning cyberspace for that day’s secular heresies. If a column I write touches in any way on faith, Hinduism, Hindutva, Guru Golwalkar, Gujarat, or Ayodhya, by breakfast I have had deposited, in my inbox—or perhaps in the ‘Comments’ section of the newspaper’s own website—mails which are hurt, complaining, angry, or downright abusive. …

http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?282904

SEE ALSO:

• Slammed for a scoop – By G Vishnu (Nov 24, 2012, Tehelka)
  http://tehelka.com/story_main54.asp?filename=Ne241112SLAMMED.asp
• ‘Nobody In The BJP Is Happy, Everyone’s Keeping Quiet’ – B.S. Yediyurappa with Imran Qureshi (Nov 26, 2012, Outlook)
  http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?283008

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Charminar, once an icon of Hyderabadi pride, now a combat ground of religious dominance – By Mohd. Ismail Khan (Nov 11, 2012, Twocircles.net)

It’s Saturday afternoon and its business as usual at the circle around Historic Charimnar it is bustling with traffic and hundreds of petty vendors doing their trade. Seeing the current scene tourists who are visiting the nearly 500 year old monument will hardly have any idea that since past two weeks this area is deep in neck with communal boil and both Muslim and Hindu communal elements have decided to made this cultural icon of Hyderabad a battle ground to challenge each other’s supremacy over the city. Bhagya Lakshmi Mandir resembles a fort now, shielded 100 meters from left to right by police barricades and from Inspectors to ACP’s, and DCP’s every one keeping an eye on every movement near the temple. Bhagya Lakshmi Mandir goes a long way with controversies; the recent one is just another corner stone to a list of disputes. It was normal thing during Friday prayers at Mecca Masjid to see that security was beefed up at the Mandir, but now it has become an everyday affair. The mid night of October 31st witnessed a new round of controversy, when temple authorities under the protection of police were erecting tin shed over the temple roof. Locals along with Majlis-e-Itehadul-Muslimeen leaders gathered there and protested till the early hours of morning, alleging that expansion is illegal and it will harm the monumental structure of Charminar, thus kick started a new round of dispute with right wing Hindu groups like VHP, Bajrang Dal and even BJP which has announced extension of Mandir at any cost. Interestingly the controversy broke out just when International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) team was in the city to inspect the efforts made by the state government to remove the encroachments around Charminar which is suggested for UNESCO World Heritage status. Bhagya Lakshmi Mandir has a vague history; temple authority contends that temple is as old as Charminar. But the old timers, historians, heritage activists and even Archeological Survey of India have refuted this claim.

According to the locals, during Qutub Shahi period a stone was erected as a milestone announcing the ending of Plague in Hyderabad. After some centuries that stone was regarded auspicious by some locals and was decorated with ‘Haldi’ and ‘Kumkum’. Soon years after the annexation of Hyderabad state by Indian army, mass prayers began and temporary shed was put in place. Soon the ‘auspicious’ stone was replaced by idol of Lakshmi Goddesses of wealth as new symbol of prosperity of a new Hyderabad. Now days one can even spot the big frame picture of RSS protégé Gowalkar welcoming devotees in the Mandir. In many communal riots in 80’s and 90’s temple was damaged, but it recovered soon, it grew, and expanded in every passing festival. The temporary sheets and decorations put in for the festivals were later converted into a property of temple. Slowly a stone idol became a one floor high concrete structure, right under the nose of ASI which was conserving Charminar since 1951. In 1992 finally an amendment was made in Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act of 1958 restricting any constructions within the 100meters of the site. But even by then, as claimed by some heritage activists ASI was blind to the illegal constructions around Charminar. Vasant.K.Bawa was the first director of newly formed Archeology and Museum department in the erstwhile Hyderabad State, he has done an extensive work in the field of cultural heritage of Hyderabad Deccan. Reacting to the recent controversy of Bhagya Lakshmi temple Mr. Bawa said it is down low to give a religious color to a cultural and heritage monument. Speaking to TwoCircles.net he said, “Heritage should be neutral of all religions, art and culture of our past is more valuable than present communal politics. Politics with cultural monuments is a bad precedent to be laid.” “When I heard about this news, first thoughts came in my mind was about Spanish mosques converted into cathedral and churches converted into mosques in Turkey, we should not jump to such religious bigotry of that 14th century,” Mr. Bawa said. But ASI who is being believed by many as an important player in the whole issue, is totally absent from the scene. The Superintendent Archeologist when contacted was always on inspection tours, Dy. S A refused to talk on the issue. And even when we tried to contact Conservative Officer of Charminar he was also not reachable.

What we can get is only anonymous quotes of ASI officials in the newspapers, a sensitive matter on which no officer is willing to put their name to. According to some anonymous sources quoted in the newspapers, ASI denied that temple officials took permission for any construction and even ASI expressed their surprise on the midnight renovation work. Frustrated Muslim leaders over the failure of ASI on stopping, as what they term ‘illegal prayers’ in the Charminar, they has asked permission from ASI to offer prayers at the historic mosque situated at the terrace of the monument. The mosque build along with Charminar has the capacity of 250 people and it has also being mentioned in the ASI website’s catalogue of brief description about Charminar. When ASI officials rejected the request by reportedly saying that when ASI took over the monument prayers was not going on at the mosque at terrace, whereas Mandir was concerned prayers were on at one of the pillars of Charminar. The blatant response of ASI officials on Muslims assumed right to perform prayer in Charminar, didn’t stop Muslims to counter Hindus, who were assembling in large numbers especially during Friday prayers to perform’ Aarti’. Last Friday Muslims finally found a way to counter Hindu ‘presence’ in the Charminar. A 2/3 small room in Charminar which was ones use to keep ‘Alawa’ black flag of Shia’s is now home for a Ghous-e-Azam Flag which is situated under the fourth tower of Charminar adjacent to the Mandir, after Friday prayers at Mecca Masjid thousands of Muslims crowded the tiny room to offer ‘Salam’ at the flag, as oblivious to counter the Bhajans from the Mandir. Now the new strategy of Muslims and their leaders has got police on tenterhooks, fearing the same communal volatile situation every Friday. Heritage activist from Old city of Hyderabad S.Q. Masood said ASI is directly responsible for the chaos created by the communal elements, “ASI has not fulfilled its duties, the reactions in Charminar and around the old city streets regarding temple issue, is the result of decades of negligence and ignorance ASI has put in to the crucial issues.”

Mr. Masood believes that only way to solve the current problem is, by shifting all the religious structures from in and around Charminar to different locations. Dr. N. Mandal of Forum for Better Hyderabad speaking to TwoCircles.net said the act of expansion and further construction of temple or any other religious place at in and around Charminar is illegitimate. “The construction of Bhagya Lakshmi temple is wrong, Charminar is a protected heritage monument, it should not be converted into a prayer hall of religions.” “Even in ancient temples which are now under ASI prayers are not allowed in them, so it is out of question to entertain religious prayers in the cultural and heritage monuments,” said Dr. Mandal. On the other hand another heritage activist Jaswin Jairaj believes that political parties which are least bothered about protecting monuments are hijacking the issue of charminar to gain political mileage for 2014. “All of them minority community, majority community, and even the Govt. is playing dirty politics over the protection of a monument. Political parties from both the communities have decided to test their power on this sensitive issue, while Govt. which is politically dependent on M.I.M and can’t offend majority community is turning a blind eye over a delicate issue.” On ASI, Mrs. Jairaj said, “ASI is a spineless body; they don’t have guts to implement their own rules. If ASI would have intervened in this matter in the first period, this communal politics wouldn’t have arrived. They should confront the situation and should shift all the religious objects in around Charminar including the Mandir to some other place.”

Majlis-e-Itehadul Muslimeen got their biggest boost in the Mandir-Monument cold war when A.P. High court granted a stay order on any further construction on the Mandir structure, M.I.M’s local Counselor Mohsin bin Ahmed Balala was one of the petitioner. The division bench comprising acting chief justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and justice Vilas Afzalpurkar directed the state government and its police and archaeology departments to maintain status quo as of on October 30, 2012. Senior Advocate Bhuja Tarakam who appeared for one of the petitioner in the case told TwoCircles.net, that Temple authorities indeed damaged the structure of Charminar by putting holes under the wall. He said, “Any construction within 100 meters of the Charimnar is illegal let alone creating holes in its walls to erect bamboos.” Mr. Tarakam took exception and didn’t blame ASI for the mess; he said it is local police which is responsible for encouraging illegal construction at midnight under their protection.” But interpreting the High court order, Mr. Tarakam said there is no barrier for temple administration in decorating the Mandir in approaching Diwali as it is their norm to do it annually. Now with Deepavali approaching and right wing Hindu groups at valor to decorate the Bhagya Lakshmi temple as ostentation of their power, fireworks and crackers of other way is expected to be high around Charminar. It once stood tall as an icon of Hyderabad’s rich culture, heritage and communally harmony. Now it is nothing less than a battle ground for religious supremacy.

http://twocircles.net/2012nov11/charminar_new_battleground_communal_forces.html

SEE ALSO:

• The Riot and the Rot – By Dhirendra K Jha (Nov 18, 2012, People’s Democracy)
  http://pd.cpim.org/2012/1118_pd/11182012_10.html
• Silent revolution is going on at grass roots of India – By Lenin Raghuvanshi (Nov 15, 2012, Twocircles.net)
  http://twocircles.net/2012nov15/silent_revolution_going_grass_roots_india.html

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Some hope, lots of despair – By Abhijit Patnaik (Nov 15, 2012, Hindustan Times)

Arvind Kejriwal has resorted to publicly naming and shaming everyone from politicians to corporates. Anna Hazare has reignited the Jan Lokpal debate, scandals are being exposed with increasing frequency. The anticorruption movement has gathered momentum in the last twelve months, and presumably, corrupt officials are running for shelter. Yet, according to a Hindustan Times survey, 41.2% of respondents feel that government officials are more prone to take a bribe today. The movement may have many followers on various social media platforms and thousands may have turned out for candlelight vigils, but practising what you preach is a different ball game. Only a third of respondents said that they are less likely to offer a bribe even in today’s atmosphere where corruption is the big sin.

The survey, conducted by research agency Hansa, covered 13 cities and over 28,000 respondents. Some of the results were unsurprising. No prizes for guessing who most people blame for corruption. An overwhelming 64.7% say it is politicians. This anti-politician sentiment is strongest in north India. But blame is also placed on the nature of our politics today. With no single party in a majority, coalitions are here to stay. But that is not always a good thing. Vested interests in some parties have kept others hostage, which is perhaps why over half the respondents said that this leads to more corruption in the government.

The media, which has played a central role in the anti-corruption fight is viewed favourably by respondents, with 45% saying its role has been positive. The need for improving governance assumes particular importance in the background of a government battling various scandals and having lost opportunities for furthering growth and pushing reform. The government has sought to silence its critics by boldly ushering in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Retail sector, aviation and has approved bills to open up insurance and pension sectors to foreign investment, apart from a slew of other measures. But when it comes to issues of bureaucracy, polity and administration, concerted action is lacking.

We asked respondents what they feel India needs to concentrate on most. Education and health topped the answers, unsurprising for a country like India. But interestingly, it was governance reform which came third – more than other crying needs of the nation such as power, roads or transport. “Public spending is notoriously leaky and fosters corruption. Fundamental reforms in this area are necessary and are long overdue to push growth,” said Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Rajya.

A growing India is increasingly looking for effective governance skills in its leaders. No wonder, a quarter said that Narendra Modi is their leader of choice, with Sonia Gandhi a distant second with 16.4%. Only 13% chose Rahul Gandhi. But the Gujarat leader’s popularity doesn’t transfer to his party. While 35.8% feels that a Congress or Congress-led government is best equipped to steer India through its economic slump, only 30% have similar confidence in a BJP or BJP-led government.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/959348.aspx

SEE ALSO:

• From Lokpal to Lokniti – Editorial (Nov 17, 2012, Economic & Political Weekly)
  http://www.epw.in/editorials/lokpal-lokniti.html
• Neo-liberalism and “Corruption” – By Prabhat Patnaik (Nov 11, 2012, Peoples Democracy)
  http://pd.cpim.org/2012/1111_pd/11112012_10.html
• Stung by the Sting – Editorial (Nov 17, 2012, Economic & Political Weekly)
  http://www.epw.in/editorials/stung-sting.html

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