The Iron man Begins To rust – By Rana Ayyub (Nov 10, 2012, Tehelka)

Just before the Navratra celebrations, Chief Minister Narendra Modi addressed a meeting of senior Gujarat BJP members in Nabhoi village. In attendance were the 500 most important functionaries of the party from Gujarat. The venue was significant. Nabhoi is a stronghold of the Kadva Patels, at the centre of attention in Gujarat. On the podium were close confidants of Modi and a life-size portrait of Swami Vivekananda found prominent display. Seated in the first few rows was an MP from the state known for his opposition to Modi. As the chief minister rose to speak, the MP whispered to the person next to him that Modi would cry while delivering his speech. The news spread across the room, whisper to whisper. Some laughed it off; others waited, curious to know if the prediction would come true. Modi did not disappoint; he recollected a quote of Swami Vivekananda and a tear dropped from his right eye. As if on cue, the cameras zoomed in on him as he wiped his eye with a linen kerchief. The stunned neighbour turned searchingly towards the MP. The latter laughed. “In Gujarat,” he said, “our seniors, including the likes of Ashok Bhatt, have resorted to the same tactic when they seemed to have been losing ground among their own men.” It’s an interesting anecdote coming as it does in the wake of opinion polls that give Modi a sweeping victory in Gujarat. State Intelligence Bureau officers, however, are foretelling only a narrow win. There is no doubt the odds are in favour of India’s most controversial politician, but as TEHELKA toured Gujarat, some factors pointed to the unpredictable nature of politics. It is possible that a different picture may emerge.

Shrewd as he is, Modi has sensed the possible pitfalls. So, while his public relations machinery went overboard playing up the visit of British High Commissioner James Bevan, the man himself made a hasty visit to the RSS headquarters in Nagpur just a day before Bevan arrived. A fitness freak and religious man, Modi broke a rule he had set himself. Known to fast for nine days during the Navratra festival and abstaining from leaving Gandhinagar, he made an exception for Nagpur. Why? His concern was that the mood on the ground was changing. In 2002, the Gujarat riots and religious polarisation had won the BJP a thumping victory. In 2007 the “maut ka saudagar” statement backfired on the Congress. But today, the BJP, or rather Modi, is caught in the complexities he himself has created. In 2002, newspapers such as Sandesh and Gujarat Samachar were labelled Modi’s pamphlets by critics. Today, their headlines lampoon him. “Troubled Narendra Modi runs to Nagpur with his can of worries” said Gujarat Samachar. Other newspapers, which till recently were toeing the government line, seem to have become “neutral”. Recently, Modi came across the editor of a newspaper that has started carrying scathing editorials. The editor was subjected to a rather terse remark: “I’m told you are not keeping well. Take good care of your health, you will need it to write against me.”

MODI’S ATTEMPTS to woo voters are in full throttle. Radio advertisements talk of the UPA government selling the country by inviting FDI in retail and being anti-farmer. But here is where Modi’s real problem lies. Here is where the Congress has decided to focus all its attention. Here is where BJP rebel Keshubhai Patel and his new political entity have chosen to hit Modi. At an election rally in the BJP stronghold of Bhavnagar, Congress leaders gathered an impressive crowd of 4,000 people. In the old days, a chunk of the crowd would have comprised Muslims, who make up 30 percent of Bhavnagar’s population. Much against expectations, the audience was a combination of cattle traders, farmers and disgruntled local villagers, including Talatis and Patels, castes being wooed by Keshubhai’s Gujarat Parivartan Party. Congress MP Jagdish Thakur said, “Narendra Modi talks of Miya Musharraf, but why should the farmers of Saurashtra care for Miya Musharraf? They should be concerned about taxes, subsidies and returns.” The audience roared. Surprisingly, none of the three Gujarat Congress leaders present on the dais raised the 2002 issue or tried wooing the minorities. This could either reap benefits for the Congress or backfire and is a risk they run. Indeed, Congress leaders in Gujarat have chosen to maintain a stoic silence over the participation of Modi’s lieutenant Amit Shah, the former home minister charged with masterminding fake encounters, in Modi’s election management. “We have decided we will focus on issues like pension plan, on widows’ empowerment, on corruption, on the VAT on diesel and petrol,” says Shaktisinh Gohil, the Leader of the Opposition. He brushes aside talk of division in the Congress ranks and of the alleged chief ministerial ambitions of people such as Shankarsinh Vaghela.

The Gujarat Congress has been seen as the party’s weakest unit. Though the party has sought to keep its internal squabbles aside till the elections, the show of strength at election rallies does not seem enough to counter Modi’s charismatic appeal, especially to the woman voter. But it’s here that Modi’s PR machine seems to be losing on two fronts – the Keshubhai challenge and a Congress that has decided to use the same marketing gimmicks to target the middle-class voter. Free and low-cost housing to unemployed and poor women is an example. The announcement saw long queues outside Congress offices. For the first time, Modi was forced to launch an offensive against the Congress he had been dismissive about. Sonia Gandhi, who chose to begin her campaign from Rajkot, too seemed to have been advised about the wave that had gripped Gujarat. Unlike 2007, there were no references to Sohrabuddin Sheikh or the 2002 riots. True, the disclosures made by Arvind Kejriwal about Robert Vadra and BJP chief Nitin Gadkari and the subsequent media expose have indeed brought the discourse back to corruption. Suggestions are being made that it was the Modi-sympathetic group in the RSS that was behind the disclosures against the Gandhi family and Gadkari. An RSS insider says, “Narendra Modi knows the art of playing his games. Do not be surprised if tomorrow he wins by a narrow margin and pins the blame on corruption accusations against senior party leaders.” While Kejriwal might have chosen not to mention the findings of the CAG reports against the Modi government, lawyer Anand Yagnik has not been quiet. Yagnik is the petitioner for villagers affected by the Adani Group’s Mundra Port Special Economic Zone (MPSEZ). He has got a stay order on the project from the Supreme Court and believes Modi will be caught in his net of corruption. “He will talk of 2G,” says Yagnik, “but what’s happening in Gujarat is worse than 2G, and it’s happening every day.” The reference is to the MPSEZ. A fact-finding team lead by environmentalist Sunita Narain is assessing the project now.

“Modi’s corruption does not need analysts,” says Yagnik. “Here 189 million sq m have been sold to the Adani Group at the rate of Rs 11 per sq m. The market value was Rs 1,100 per sq m. All Modi has to do is answer the public of Gujarat as to why land was given at throwaway rates.” Yagnik is stunned by the silence of the Congress, but believes that it will be an issue the new-generation Gujarati will keep in mind. Activist Mukul Sinha of the Jan Sangharsh Manch has been a petitioner in the 2002 riots cases as well as the fake encounters cases. He says the pro-Modi wave in Gujarat has changed direction: “The Narmada canal is hailed as one of the biggest achievements by Narendra Modi, but why does he not talk of its failure to benefit the farmers of Dholka, Bavla, Sanand taluka, etc? These are agrarian areas and these farmers will now seal his fate.” Activists and analysts say if one were to take a careful look at the big decisions taken by the Modi government, they seem to have furthered the cause of big industry. Modi plays this up as a sign of ‘Vibrant Gujarat’, but none of the benefits have trickled down to the farmers and labourers, many of whom belong to the Leuva and Kadva Patel communities. These voters are now being wooed by Keshubhai. Villages in Saurashtra and northern Gujarat are a glaring example of apathy. Mohan Solanki, a farmer in Junagadh, launches a scathing attack on Modi: “I don’t travel by international flights. So I guess I don’t know about development… There is a rage among farmers about the jantri prices (minimum price at which land is sold). Farmers across Rajkot, Amreli and Junagadh were asked to sell their surplus land at jantri rates. The government then declared them Special Economic Zones and the rates went up 10 times. Now we can’t afford our own land. So, is this development?” A recent survey gave Keshubhai just one seat, but a close look at the 40-odd seats in Amreli, Junagadh and Rajkot shows a clear shift in the attitude of farmers as they come out in huge numbers to the BJP rebel’s meetings. “The cadres are with him,” says a VHP insider. “they will galvanise the farmers to vote for Keshubhai.” …

http://tehelka.com/story_main54.asp?filename=Ne101112Coverstory.asp

SEE ALSO:

• Modi versus the rest – By Lyla Bavadam (Nov 3, 2012, Frontline)
  http://flonnet.com/fl2922/stories/20121116292202100.htm
• The Baba And The Blusterer – By Saba Naqvi (Nov 12, 2012, Outlook)
  http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?282839
• Tactless Modi hits new low – By Amulya Ganguli (Nov 3, 2012, Deccan Herald)
  http://www.deccanherald.com/content/289862/analysis-tactless-modi-hits-low.html
• Why is the Congress playing Safe on fake Encounters? – By Mukul Sinha (Nov 10, 2012, Tehelka)
  http://tehelka.com/story_main54.asp?filename=Ne101112WHY.asp

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Stuck in a time warp – By Rajdeep Sardesai (Nov 1, 2012, Hindustan Times)

Nitin Gadkari isn’t quite known to mind his language. A few weeks after he took over as BJP president, he expressed himself with typical candour to a group of journalists: “I know you must be wondering who is this bloody ‘mota’ guy from nowhere. I want to tell all of you I am on a mission, not here for commission!” Three years later, those words may well come to haunt him as he is slowly pushed into exile from the Delhi durbar. In this open season against corruption, it would be easy to see Gadkari as yet another high-profile ‘target’ of the growing public anger against political corruption. What might have been dismissed as ‘sharp’ business practices in another period is now evidence of yet another politician trying to wink at the law by a mix of recklessness and subterfuge. Why else would a self-proclaimed ‘social entrepreneur’ choose to set up a maze of fictitious shell companies unless he believed he could get away with it using political clout?

And yet, the eclipse of Gadkari is not just about a popular rage against the neta. It also reflects a growing crisis within the country’s premier Opposition party. In the last three years, in the relentless gaze on the wrongdoings of the UPA 2, the BJP has been in soft focus. And yet, the travails of the BJP at times suggest that its future is just as uncertain as the Congress’s. The Congress is a private limited company tightly controlled by one family. The BJP, on the other hand, is increasingly resembling a shell company where the directors exist on paper, but the real investors have their address in Keshav Kunj in Nagpur. The Gandhi family may have escaped stern scrutiny but at least its top leaders have to face the people during elections. The RSS leadership, on the other hand, remains an extra-constitutional grouping which can determine the fate of the BJP without being tested in electoral waters. It is this conflict between an elected, accountable BJP leadership and an unelected, unaccountable RSS that lies at the heart of the BJP’s present crisis.

Gadkari was appointed president of the party as a result of this conflict within. The 2009 election debacle, LK Advani’s refusal to retire gracefully and the squabbling between the BJP’s Generation Next leadership appeared to have convinced the RSS that the time had come to stage an internal coup. So, disregarding all claimants from its Delhi parliamentary wing or any of its upwardly mobile chief ministers, the RSS anointed an ‘outsider’ as its president, someone whom they hoped would rise above factional politics. As the friendly neighbourhood swayamsevak from Nagpur, Gadkari was ideally placed to restore the RSS’s dominance over the BJP’s decision-making. While the RSS has tried to sustain the fiction of being distanced from politics, the fact is that there have been only two periods in the Jan Sangh-BJP’s history where the RSS has actually shown signs of a retreat. The first was in the aftermath of the collapse of the Janata Party experiment when a growing disillusionment with the BJP’s so-called Gandhian socialism and an attraction towards Indira Gandhi’s soft Hindu politics saw many Sangh members drift towards supporting the Congress. The second period was when AB Vajpayee asserted his autonomy in the post-1999 NDA. The personality cult that was built around Vajpayee as the ‘Man India Awaits’ clearly appeared to dwarf the RSS.

But as the Advani-Vajpayee era drew to a close, the RSS decided to reassert itself as the pater familias of the saffron brotherhood. The rise of Narendra Modi has only accelerated this process. Modi, in many ways, is the antithesis of the original vision of a swayamsevak. In the RSS worldview, community matters more than self: common rituals, common training and an austere lifestyle are seen to bind swayamsevaks into an organisational whole where ideology matters more than the individual. Modi may have cut his teeth in an RSS shakha, but clearly he has chosen a highly personalised style of functioning where the organisation becomes subservient to the cult of Modi. In the process, an entire generation of RSS loyalists in Gujarat has been edged out by newer, more ambitious political entrants. Even Sangh offshoots like the VHP have been pushed to the margins in Gujarat. While Modi’s experiment has met with spectacular success in Gujarat, the RSS is worried that the politics of Gandhinagar could now be replicated on a larger stage in Delhi. It is this fear of Modi above all else which prompted the Sangh to prop up Gadkari as their protective armour. In every interview when the BJP president was asked about the BJP’s prime ministerial contenders, he would smile, “We have six to seven people in our party who can be prime ministers. Narendra Modi is one of them.”

By seeking to equate Modi with other BJP leaders, Gadkari was trying to emphasise the notion of a ‘collective’ leadership, a concept which is fiercely patronised by the RSS. Unfortunately, the Sangh is caught in a time warp, its ideas shaped by the past and not by the changing realities. This is an era of presidential- style politics where individuals have to be strongly projected to define a ‘brand’. A Gadkari-style leader could never be a magnet to attract new voters to the BJP nor could he ever really assert his authority over a fractured party. However, it is now apparent that the RSS will not admit the failure of its Gadkari experiment. Nor will it loosen the umbilical cord with the BJP and allow it to function as an autonomous political outfit. A second term as party president for the beleaguered Gadkari appears unlikely now. A Gadkari may be dispensable as a ‘damaged’ politician, but who will hold the RSS accountable?

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/953555.aspx

SEE ALSO:

• An Insurance Policy – By Prarthna Gahilote (Nov 12, 2012, Outlook)
  http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?282841

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Revival Of Communal Agenda In Uttar-Pradesh – By Vidya Bhushan Rawat (Oct 31, 2012, Countercurrents)

Faizabad burnt horribly on the Dusshera day when crowd attacked many places of Muslims including some of the mosques too because of a rumor of the theft of idols from Devkali temple by the Muslim miscreants. It turned out later that the idols were actually stolen by the Hindus themselves but then by the time the truth was found out, the hate mongers had succeeded in their agenda and completely torn the peace of town which has seen many worst cases in history and yet remained symbol of multicultural fabric of India. It is more than shocking because the state of Uttar-Pradesh is under Samajwadi Party which claims loudly and shouting that it is the sole protector of Muslims in the country. Mulayam Singh Yadav, in the 1990s, would travel across the state and assure Muslims that as long as he is there ‘babari masjid ko parinda bhee nahee chhoo sakata’. Unfortunately, after March 2012 when Akhilesh Yadav took over as chief minister of the state, his government has failed to stop the communal disturbances in the state which had become a thing of past. It has been over two decade after the demolition of Babari mosque that Uttar-Pradesh is witnessing communal tensions at different places and the latest in the series was Faizabad which remained quiet and calm even during those heydays when the rest of India was burning in the fire of Ayodhya. The twin cities of Avadh actually sealed the fate of two national parties in the state and the result is that both BJP and Congress are mere spectators on the sidelines. However, both of them also know it well that road to Race course has to go via Lucknow and hence efforts to create space. Therefore, despite all the hangama over the corruption issue, the BJP has found that it is now hounding the ‘party with a difference’ with Nitin Gadakari himself on the trouble and the party is unable to recover from the jolt. Hence, it reverts to regressive agenda of Hindutva which is actually the only agenda it has gained ‘expertise.’ Now, the political situation in Uttar-Pradesh is an unambiguous power struggle between the Dalits and the Other Backward Communities and for all political purposes it is basically a power struggle between Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav. It is also a well-known fact that a massive OBC population is still too religious as no efforts have been made to ‘enlighten’ them of the dangers of Hindutva and hence the chanting of ‘ram mandir’ is again in the air. It is not for nothing that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat raised the issue on the Vijayadashmi day in Nagpur and afterwards various political leaders of BJP started singing the same song. With Himachal elections on the way and Narendra Modi campaigning for his party there while the president Nitin Gadakari remained an unwanted person, things in the party are getting clearer. Now, the Bihar BJP has also started slogan of Narendra Modi as future prime ministerial candidate while systematically, Kalyan Singh, the former chief minister of the state, in a press conference ‘owned’ the demolition of Babari Masjid. He said, he would be dying a satisfying death once a huge Ram Temple is built in Ayodhya. That is the desire of Kalyan Singh as well as many like him such as Uma Bharati. All these people are now placed in Uttar-Pradesh and Kalyan Singh is returning to the party.

In this background, if we see the revivalism of Hindutva agenda in Uttar-Pradesh then we should not remain in doubt that the more the agenda is revived, the bigger the benefit for Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav as he emerges the sole champion of ‘secularism’ and absolute ‘guarantee’ of ‘protection’ of Muslims in Uttar-Pradesh. There is no denial of fact that the growing assertion of Dalits and backward communities halted the Hindutva agenda in Uttar-Pradesh. Their relations with Muslims and that too with Pasmanda Muslims have made a rainbow political constitution in Uttar-Pradesh where the most marginalized social forces are plunging into politics and asking for their share in power. The Hindutva’s agenda was therefore successfully subsided to the growing caste identities in Uttar-Pradesh. A politician like Kalyan Singh or Uma Bharati would never be useful for the party if they were not coming from the backward communities. That is the irony that while a majority of Dalits are quite assertive and culturally challenging the brahmanical notions, the backward caste remain isolated culturally and totally subjugated to Hindu cultural ethos. That has resulted in their being used by the Hindu elite in violence against Dalits.

This anti Dalit mindsets from the powerful OBCs were strengthened further with Samajwadi Party came to power. The fact is that Dalits and lower OBCs have lot in common but the upper OBCs being land owning community has not really accepted the importance of agrarian and land reform. The caste hierarchy and Hindu caste system dominate their minds most of the time resulting in violence against the Dalits. They felt that once all the anti-Dalit forces are united, it would be easier for Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav to pursue his goal to Delhi. That is one reason that while the state government continues to behave in the same way while raising the issues of Muslims. If the trend in Uttar-Pradesh have anything it is clear that Mulayam Singh and his team want Uttar-Pradesh in the pre-1990 stage where BJP was deliberately trying to consolidate the Hindu votes while Mulayam Singh Yadav became champion of Muslims and secular votes in the state. Faizabad and Ayodhya are two places which are symbol of strong cultural affinity between different communities. It is also a fact that a majority of the people are not much interested in the Dalit issues and Buddhists explains how various temples of Ayodhya are basically Buddhist ones and converted into the Hindu temples. During the Babari demolition in 1992, many historical mosques and Dargahs in Ayodhya were attacked by the Hindutva lunatics. These places are continuously on their agenda even today and hence whenever opportunity comes they strike at those places. We should not assume that violence against Muslims or the places of historical importance on the target by those who instigated violence.

The General elections are due in 2014 but the political parties are up in preparation right now. Tragically, people continue to look for alternative among those who have failed them. Those of us who have followed up the communal violence in the country know very well about the pattern in these cases. They are not just communal but based on high voltage rumor machinery of communal minds. Even the issues of two individuals if they happen to belong to different religion is easily converted into the issue between the two communities and giving ample space to such regressive forces to spread and promote their vicious political agenda. There is a strong need to revisit the Communal Violence Bill. Unfortunately, in the din when Parliament does not function, a bill has not seen the day. The BJP has opposed it because it harms the party and makes the vulnerable for spreading violence. Yet, it would be good for UP government to act hard, strengthen the bureaucracy and make them accountable for their act. More political interventions in bureaucracy will only communalize their minds and result in their failure to address the issue on time.

In the meanwhile, the state government must act fast and take action against all those who instigated violence in Faizabad. It is clear that the HIndutva agenda is clearly working various dimensions. We have seen how they hoisted Pakistani flag in Manglore and then spread the rumor that the Muslims have done so. It has come out clearly how the theft of idols from Devkali temple in Ayodhya was the work of Hindus only and why this was made an issue to convert it against Muslims. It is clear that such mastery of the Sangh Parivar in trying to instigate communal discord can only be countered if our administration and police are allowed to work independently and state government follow the ‘rajdharma’ whose duty is to protect the citizens of the state irrespective of their caste and religion. If the state government does not fix accountability and stability of the administration, Uttar-Pradesh might further see the escalation of communal violence as it is actually not people who are turning communal but the political parties who want to set agenda for 2014 and definitely governance and corruption cannot be the issue hence the state seems to be returning to agenda being fixed by the Hindutva fanatics and perhaps that suits to the Samajwadi Party too and hence their failure to act on time. But, India cannot afford to lose its communal amity to political manipulations and hence it is on the people too lies greater responsibility. It is important not to look for messiah to save us from the problems. The agenda of the communal minds are clear to take us back to primitive ages and decide about our future denying us our individual freedom. A people’s movement against communalism must start at all level and it is equally important that local people must interact more and not heed the rumors. My own experience with Faizabad and Ayodhya is that while there might be differences among communities, their issues have been hijacked by big politicians’ masquerading as ‘spiritual leaders’. It is time for Faizabad and Ayodhya to dump aside these religious issues and come closer fighting for communal amity as they have to live together and not those who come from outside and instigate the disturbances. There are already so many temples and mosque in this region. The only thing which is not there are good schools, better hospitals and job prospectus. It is time; common people seek answer to these growing issues and not allow the religious thugs to set political agenda for future.

http://www.countercurrents.org/rawat311012.htm

SEE ALSO:

• Ending the silence – By Vikram Kapur (Nov 3, 2012, Frontline)
  http://flonnet.com/fl2922/stories/20121116292208600.htm
• An accord for more violence? – By Ratnadip Choudhury (Nov 3, 2012, Tehelka)
  http://tehelka.com/story_main54.asp?filename=Ne031112violence.asp
• The original sin of November 1984 – Editorial (Nov 1, 2012, The Hindu)
  http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/the-original-sin-of-november-1984/article4052657.ece

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Shock strategy – By Purnima S. Tripathi (Nov 3, 2012, Frontline)

Naming and shaming politicians is how Arvind Kejriwal hopes to make an impact as the newest entrant in Indian politics with a political party that will be given its name on November 26. The anti-corruption crusader-turned-politician began by questioning the legitimacy of the real estate deals involving Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and claiming to have documents that bring out his nexus with a business group. In a span of three years from 2007, Kejriwal claimed, Vadra’s fortune grew from Rs.50 lakh to Rs.300 crore. Congress governments in Haryana and Rajasthan, he said, helped facilitate Vadra’s real estate and land deals, which were valued in crores of rupees. These were allegations that had been reported in the media several months earlier and forgotten. They created a buzz for a few days when political exchanges filled television news channels with the viewers being none the wiser at the end of it all. Of course, Vadra shut his Facebook account in a hurry after he made what was widely seen as a distasteful comment, ‘mango people in a banana republic’. The heat and dust of this exposé had hardly settled when Kejriwal turned his focus on Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid and his wife Louise Khurshid, alleging that the Dr Zakir Hussain Trust, the non-governmental organisation (NGO) they run, had misappropriated public funds, running into several lakhs of rupees, meant for helping disabled persons. This allegation was the subject of a sting operation by a media house. The Khurshids held a press conference to explain their position but it ended up in an ugly exchange of words between them and a section of the media. The allegations against the trust included forgery of signatures and fake names in the lists of beneficiaries. Kejriwal claimed that the Khurshids had not answered the five questions put to them by India Against Corruption (IAC), the organisation he runs. But even as the tempo of the charges was building up, Kejriwal suddenly announced that he was ending the agitation in Delhi and moving it to Farrukhabad, Salman Khurshid’s Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh, starting November 1.

With two of his “exposes” still hanging fire, he went on to a third one a couple of days later. This time his target was BJP president Nitin Gadkari, who, he alleged, got farmers’ land at throwaway prices for his business ventures in what has come to be called the “irrigation scam”. However, the charges, made by Anjali Damania of the IAC, were seen to be “soft’ when compared with the other two. Besides, the allegation-a-day kind of activism did not go down well with even serious civil society members in the fight against corruption. Several questions were raised against Kejriwal’s strategy. If Kejriwal was serious about fighting corruption and if he indeed had proof of corruption in all these cases, why did he not approach the courts? Is he only doing it to sensationalise corruption? “Why should we approach the court all the time? It is for the governments to take action. We are only trying to make people aware that there is corruption cutting across party lines. It is a cosy nexus at the top in all parties. We are trying to raise people’s awareness about this cosy nexus so that this corrupt system can be changed,” Kejriwal told Frontline. Said Prashant Bhushan, a Senior Advocate of the Supreme Court and a crusader against corruption: ” Paise se satta, phir satta se paisa, kab tak chalega?” (power through money, then earning money using this power , how long will this continue?). “It is this adulterous relationship between money, power and politics, in which the common man has been totally marginalised, that we are trying to break,” said Kejriwal. “And for doing this we have to prove that all parties are together in this, we have to expose all,” he added.

But can the fight against corruption alone ensure electoral success? Can a political party based only on the anti-corruption plank succeed? “Corruption is the most secular concept of all. It hits across caste, class or religion, so it should appeal to people irrespective of barriers,” Kejriwal said. And this, he added, was why he believed his campaign against corruption could actually be translated into a successful political venture. That, if achieved, would be a first in Indian electoral politics. “Going the political way is not an end for us; it is the means to an end. Fighting elections is not the end of our movement against corruption, but is part of our movement itself, whose objective is to change the system.” The political analyst Yogendra Yadav agreed. “If they can articulate the issues properly and maintain their focus, they can succeed because there is a massive scope outside the mainstream political domain even now,” said Yadav. According to him, the time has come when real issues like corruption have become topics of political discourse, and in this discourse money, for once, will not be able to play a role. “For the younger generation today, which finds itself totally sidelined in a corruption-riddled system, this is the defining moment when swaraj can actually become a reality.” Gopal Rai, a close associate of Kejriwal, said all the money and muscle power of established political parties had ensured only 50-55 per cent voting. “The rest, who never vote, are waiting for an alternative and this is the segment we are targeting. We are promising them the alternative politics, which will be politics for change,” he said.

If the reaction of political parties to Kejriwal is any indication, there is some unease among them. The Congress trashed his charges against Vadra, saying that as a private individual Vadra’s business transactions were nobody’s business, but a battery of Union Ministers and party functionaries was quick to defend him. Similar was the case with Gadkari, with senior BJP leaders, including the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, defending him. Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh gave an indication of the unease in political circles when he said Kejriwal had broken the understanding among political parties of not targeting family members of politicians. In effect, he gave credence to Kejriwal’s charge of a cosy nexus at the top in all political parties. The unease has brought forth counter-charges against members of Kejriwal’s team. Prashant Bhushan was accused of purchasing land at cheap rates in Himachal Pradesh, ostensibly for some educational institution, and Anjali Damania was accused of shady land deals in Maharashtra. Another associate, Mayank Gandhi of Mumbai, was accused of being in cahoots with builders and using his clout to get land cheap. All of them are now being investigated by the party’s internal Lokpal, headed by the retired Delhi High Court Judge A.P. Shah. “Probity and transparency is what we are demanding from other parties and we are setting an example by putting our colleagues under investigation. Why don’t the Congress and the BJP do the same? Why don’t they at least declare that they will get the charges looked into by an impartial agency?” Kejriwal asked.

Kejriwal’s biggest challenge, perhaps, is responding to criticism from civil society itself. His close associate Y.P. Singh, a former Indian Police Service officer who was until recently with the IAC, accused him of shielding Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar. He said the charges against Pawar in connection with the Lavasa township near Pune were far more serious but Kejriwal did not raise them. Kejriwal responded by saying that the charges against Pawar had been mentioned in his charge sheet against 15 Union Ministers in May and that he had sat on a nine-day fast in July demanding action against them. “These are issues anyone launching a big movement has to face. One has to take these things in one’s stride.” He said vipassana, his daily morning walks and yoga kept him cool and grounded. The vision of his party will be declared on November 26 but swaraj, as the draft document shows, is its leitmotif. His party’s elected candidates will shun all VIP trappings such as red beacons, government bungalows and government cars and will have only as much security as is available for any common man. His party structure will not be the high command type, but one where even candidates will be decided by the local party workers. And if his candidates get elected, all decisions concerning the people, barring a few, will be taken collectively by the people themselves. “There are models for such governance and we will show that it is possible,” he said. Besides, of course, Jan Lokpal, the right to reject and the right to recall, will form an integral part of his agenda. “We will have a time frame for implementing our programmes. We will also have a mechanism that will keep us in touch with people who are not part of our organisation, otherwise we will be doomed,” he said. He admitted that building the organisation was a daunting task. “We have enormous support even in the remotest areas, but we will have to reach out to people and that is a challenge,” he said. As for the party’s core ideology, he said the fundamental principles such as reservation and protection of minorities would remain non-negotiable. All the rest would be discussed, debated and then finalised. “Various committees are already at work,” he said. Though their immediate slogan is “Dilli chalo”, it is going to be a long journey ahead.

http://flonnet.com/fl2922/stories/20121116292202300.htm

SEE ALSO:

• ‘It Is Not Enough To Be Honest And Be Oblivious To Corruption’ – J.S. Verma with Anuradha Raman (Nov 12, 2012, Outlook)
  http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?282831

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Hisar’s shame – By T.K. Rajalakshmi (Nov 3, 2012, Frontline)

THE road leading to Dabra village in Haryana’s Hisar district is not very difficult to locate. It was at Dabra, a mere 15 kilometres from the district headquarters, that a heinous crime was committed on September 9. It would have gone unnoticed had it not been accompanied by another tragedy. Sixteen-year-old Suman (name changed), daughter of a daily wage labourer, was on her way to her grandmother’s home in Patel Nagar, a residential colony in Hisar town, when she was accosted by some young men from her village near a semi-deserted canal. The young men, all from a dominant caste in the village, abducted her. They then took her to a field on Tosham Road and forced her to consume some intoxicant. She was then raped by seven people, while five stood guard. And this happened in broad daylight. On September 18, nine days after the incident, she mustered enough courage to tell her mother, who had been wondering why the cheerful and intelligent girl was morose and unhappy. Her father sent his family away to a relative’s house and discussed the matter with some other residents of the village. But his attempts to file a police complaint failed because of fears within his own community and threats from the caste group to which the rapists belongs. After he was sent word that pictures of the incident would be made public if he reported the matter, he committed suicide by consuming a pesticide.

In Dabra, where caste polarisation is strong, there are around 800 households of Jats, 150 homes of Chamars (a Scheduled Caste to which Suman belongs), 150 homes of Dhanaks (another Scheduled Caste), and a few families from other castes and social groups. The S.C. community is dependent on the dominant caste groups as agriculture is the main occupation, like elsewhere in the State. “In Hisar in particular, the caste divide and hierarchy are very strong. At Dabra, Dalits cannot sit on chairs in the presence of Jats,” said one of Suman’s aunts. It was no surprise, therefore, that until September 21, none of the accused was arrested despite being identified by the victim. There were other reasons too. State Industries Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala’s wife happens to hail from Dabra. “A lot of pressure was put on my father not to register a case. They tried to bury it by making us compromise, saying that I would have difficulty in getting married,” Suman told Frontline. Her two aunts, one of whom is a former Councillor, have stood by her. Suman’s mother hardly spoke a word during the interaction with Frontline. The loss of her husband, the violence her daughter suffered, and the public humiliation of it all had numbed her into silence. The mother, who had studied until Class 12 and taught in a school, sat there with her head held low, swallowing deeply from time to time.

Eight of the 12 accused were arrested almost a fortnight after the incident. The police security provided to the family—around 20 policepersons are posted in the village—has failed to instil confidence in the household. “We want the family to be relocated in the city. It is not safe for them here. If they stay here, they will be forced to withdraw the case and compromise. I wonder which Dalit girl will go to school at this rate,” asked another of Suman’s aunts. The Dabra case is not a stand-alone one in Haryana. There has been a spate of attacks on women of all ages, including minor girls, in recent years. In May last year, Sweety, a Class 12 student, was kidnapped from a market in Kurukshetra district, gang-raped and murdered. For four continuous days, there were angry protests by students who blocked the roads. Over the last one month, as many as 20 instances of rape, including gang rape, were reported. On October 11, the six-year-old daughter of a migrant labourer from West Bengal was kidnapped from her father’s rickshaw by some young men, raped, and then left to her fate. She survived, but doctors said she would not be able to conceive.

On September 28, a newly wed woman was lured, kidnapped and raped by four persons in Sonepat district. On the same day, a Class 11 student was lured into a godown and raped by four persons. On February 28, a Class 9 girl from Barar village in Bhiwani district was kidnapped while on the way to the market, taken to the fields and raped by five men. There is no denying that there is a broad pattern to the violence, but it cannot be seen purely in caste terms. While the majority of rape victims have been Dalits, crimes in the name of honour have taken place where girls from the dominant castes have been the victims. In some cases, the victim and the perpetrators were from the same community. In this context, the statements of Congress and opposition leaders and of self-styled khap panchayats have been far from responsible. One Khap Mahapanchayat leader demanded that the age of marriage be lowered to 16 years as a response to increasing crimes against minors. The statement was later retracted on October 13 at a Jat Khap Mahapanchayat meeting at Sonepat following strong protests.

The meeting, which held the electronic and print media responsible for the rise in crimes against women, reiterated the demand for an amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act to prevent rapes. Khaps had made a similar demand for an amendment in the Act declaring same-gotra marriages illegal after the award of the death sentence (later commuted to life) in a brutal honour-killing case. In July, the stamp of approval for khaps came from none other than Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who urged them to deal with issues as serious as the implementation of the Pre-Conception Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act.

http://flonnet.com/fl2922/stories/20121116292202800.htm

SEE ALSO:

• Jatland Of Haryana: A Rapists’ Republic – By Anand Teltumbde (Nov 3, 2012, Countercurrents)
  http://www.countercurrents.org/teltumbde031112.htm
• Khap and the government – By T.K. Rajalakshmi (Nov 3, 2012, Frontline)
  http://flonnet.com/fl2922/stories/20121116292203300.htm

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Four Days Of News Paper Blackout In West Bengal – By Ranjit Sur (Oct 29, 2012, Countercurrents)

An unthinkable and unprecedented thing happened in West Bengal. That too without much noise. Four days of news paper blackout. Not a single newspaper was published from 22nd October to 25th October throughout West Bengal- during Durga Puja days. Eariler some newspaper have been closed for one day at Dussera only. That too not all newspapers. Publicly it was announced this time that due to distributing industry’s- distributors-vendors and hawkers unwillingness to work during the puja days is the reason of non-publication of all the newspapers. They were to enjoy puja holidays with their families just like other Bengalees. But surprising aspect of the whole episode is that newspaper Barons of Bengal also swallowed it silently. All of them accepted the distributing industry’s unethical, nonsense and never in history proposal without any protest. As if it was a joint move by the publishers and distributors.

What about the Government? Surprise! Surprise! The super active Chief Minister of West Bengal and her Ministers were conspicuously silent – none of them uttered a single word over this issue. So it is clear that they had not only supported this blackout but they had organized it from behind. Ruling TMC have several MPs from newspaper industry and has serious clout over vernacular news media. But why the publishers accepted it ? The Chit Fund controlled newspapers donot have the guts to disobey Government wish. But the proffessionally managed big houses also surrendered.

There is a rumour that inter-house rivalry also played a role in this blackout and played as a willing partner in the crime against readers. Except The Statesman , none of the news paper published any criticism of the distributors and vendors act or Government’s tacit support for this unethical act. None of them bothered to think of readers’ right to information. It is a fact that no mechanism is evolved to gauge readers’ opinion or consult the readers- the ultimate consumers of the industry, for whom, atleast they say, the news paper is published. Even they, the publishers, expressed not even a word of regret to their readers for failure to supply the paper, not even to their subscribers who paid in advance . So there is reasons to believe that the Publisher, distributors and the Government-ruling party collectively forced this news blackout for four days with ulterior motive behind. Even the opposition parties, the Congress and the Lefts, also surprisingly kept mum on the whole issue. The vote politics, chance of annoying the thousands of newspaper vendors and hawkers, who are only a voter to them, probably kept them silent.

The CPI and the CPM also kept their daily publications suspended for these four days. The Government action is understandable. To them , world will be happier if there is no news paper. But parliamentary opposition in India is newspaper fed. So their silence and inactivity is suicidal- perhaps they moved for temporary gain. Its a fact that they lost control over the industry in all sense of the term yet they fail to do their duty as opposition and saviour of democracy.

The loss is of readers. Its really a punishment for an educated person to stay without news paper – that too four days at a stretch. Their fundamental and democratic right is denied. It is decisively proved that the Television and Internet is no match for newspaper- particularly vernacular newspaper. Moreover, this four days’ blackout of newspaper off course is a threat to freedom of Press. Government and ruling party perhaps made the newspaper industry understand how far they can go to teach them a lesson if they not fall in line to obey them. The newspaper industry hope learnt their own lesson and will see this is not repeated. Readers are not ready to accept this flexing of muscles- whoever it might be, the publishers , the Government or the distributors. In this age of information this black out is simply not acceptable and should be protested by all and sundry. The sooner the better.

http://www.countercurrents.org/sur291012.htm

SEE ALSO:

• Media, where is thy sting? – Editorial (Oct 27, 2012, The Hindu)
  http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/media-where-is-thy-sting/article4035459.ece
• Our Words Are Our Weapons – By Rebecca Solnit (Oct 29, 2012, Countercurrents)
  http://www.countercurrents.org/solnit291012.htm

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