About Us Contact Us
Home Blog Page 1895

Dalit Desertion: Dalit ideologue Mulchand Rana quits RSS, BJP after 48 years

By
-
0

In a development that has been largely been left un-reported, and a move that will undoubtedly dent the saffron combine, RSS’ Dalit ideologue from Gujarat, has, after expressing a sense of discontent for months, finally deserted the RSS as well as the BJP. The 64-year old finally called it quits through letters sent to both organisations, the BJP and the RSS, asking them to relieve him from all his duties. Navbharat Times and Ahmedabad Mirror reported this and even went on record to say that he was compelled to quit as he felt that both organisations are no longer interested in narrowing the rift between Dalits and other Hindu communities. In a sharp reference to the RSS/BJP hypocrisy, he stated that the party’s ‘Samrasata’ is nothing but ‘Karmakand’ (a ritual), something they talk much about, but don’t value or implement.


NBT file photo: फाइल फोटो: 1993 में नरेंद्र मोदी के साथ मूलचंद राणा

Rana has been vice-president of Samajik Samrasata Manch of Gujarat, an RSS wing of Social Unity, since 2006. The ideologues spoke at length to the Mirror after his resignation from both organisations. He expressed his pain at the move: “I did it with a heavy heart. For the past couple of years, I have been telling both RSS and BJP units of Gujarat that the rift between Dalits and other Hindu communities is widening. The importance of Dalits in BJP and RSS has been dropping over past 10 years. But in past five years, the rift between Dalits and other communities has widened so much that it has led to an increase in cases of atrocities.
 
In 2016, after the infamous Una incident in Gujarat, Dalit leadership all over the country had expressed discomfort with the BJP/Sangh’s anti-Dalit moves. The death of Rohith Vemula and his treatment as that of his mother and colleagues was no better.
 
Then too in Gujarat, Mulchand had admitted that Dalits have united against BJP and its ideologues.“This has harmed BJP’s image and the RSS’s initiative towards equality .“ The party’s Dalit leader in Porbandar, Babu Pandvadra, quit the party with over 200 supporters weeks after the Una violence. For over two years now, Dalit and other activists have been openly questioning Modi’s 2014 poll plank of the `Gujarat model’. “Fact remains Gujarat’s development model never included Dalits.Most eke out a living as daily wagers and labour,“ says Kaushik Parmar of the Una Dalit Atyachar Ladat Samiti, that was spearheading the state’s antiBJP Dalit stir.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, UP was the feather in PM Modi’s cap, where the Dalit vote swung in his favour. “We voted for Yogiji (Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath).“ Then a cynical split vote in 2017 (SP-Congress and BSP) denied the Dalits their anger against the saffron establishment. At 32%, Punjab has the country’s largest population share of Dalits clearly voted away from the saffron combine.

Coming back to Rana and Gujarat, Mirror reports that Rana joined the RSS in 1970 when he started attending the Bapunagar Shakha. Though he came from a poor Dalit family in Bapunagar, he became a bank officer through sheer hard work. In 1998, he was appointed as secretary in BJP SC Morcha. Looking at his good work, he was asked to resign from his bank job and devote time to RSS and BJP full-time. In 2000, he was appointed as member of Gujarat Public Service Commission where he worked for six years. After his term was over in 2006, he actively started his work with RSS Samrasata Manch which he continued till he resigned on December 26, 2017. The Navbharat Times has a file photo of Narendra Modi and Rana.
 
One of his biggest disappointments has been that Rana has been trying hard to get Gujarat to implement the Special Component Plan for Scheduled Plan (SCP for SCs) and Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) for uplift of Dalits and tribals. As per SCP for SCs, 7% of the State budget must allotted to Dalit welfare, and as per TSP, 15% of the budget must be given to tribals.

Resisting Saffronisation of Textbooks: Karnataka’s Success Story

By
-
0

Today I am here to narrate a story to you. It is a longish story but has been pruned to fit the time available. Friends, it is a story of success. It is a story about a two-year long battle against saffronisation of school textbooks in the state of Karnataka. But before delving into the subject I would like to say a few words about textbooks in general in the pan-India context.

Saffronisation of Education

‘The Child is the Father of the Man’, goes the famous saying. It follows therefore that one of the foremost duties of a responsible society is to ensure a wholesome development of the child’s personality. And since textbooks play a major role in shaping the thoughts and critical thinking personality of the child, it goes without saying that utmost care should be exercised in the preparation of textbooks. Obviously textbooks with contents that run counter to and are not in conformity with the Directive Principles of the Constitution should have no place in India. But the actual situation is somewhat different. I will come to that presently.

Now, an authoritarian regime seeks to perpetuate itself and tries to impose its ideology on the people through coercive methods. The permeation of ideology also goes on through education, dance, drama, music, arts, folk theatre, cinema, TV Serials, etc. In addition story books, comics etc too are sprinkled with varying doses of the ruling ideology.

According to the famous sociologist Anthony Giddens, ideology as “shared ideas or beliefs which serve to justify the interests of dominant groups” succeeds in its permeation depending upon the means the dominant groups choose and the age group they target.

Once the consensus is achieved, the mass which received the dominant ideology believes that it is the only possible way of seeing the world. Since ‘knowledge’ plays a pivotal role in reinforcing an ideology, the educational field becomes the first choice for any dominant group seeking to perpetuate its ideology. Well aware of the fact that the young are quite impressionable the state directs a considerable part of its energy towards giving an ideological orientation to their education.

In India, we made a clear choice to be a socialist secular democratic republic. Coming to the education sector we have the Central Advisory Board on Education or CABE, National Policy on Education or the NPE, National Curriculum Framework or the NCF which are meant to ensure wholesome education for our young. NPE 1986 and NCF 2005 lay down certain norms and guidelines for textbooks and the latter must necessarily conform to these both substance-wise and content-wise.

The NPE 1986 stipulates that all textbooks must contain certain common core values along with other components that are flexible. And these common core values have been defined as “history of India’s freedom movement; constitutional obligations; promotion of values such as India’s common cultural heritage; egalitarianism; democracy and secularism; gender equality; protection of the environment; removal of social barriers; observance of the small family norm; inculcation of the scientific temper.” 

NCF 2005 guidelines clearly state: “India will be discussed from the perspectives of the adivasi, dalit and other disenfranchised populations and effort should be to relate the content much as possible to the children’s everyday lives”.

All this is fine, but in practice something entirely different is happening. Some political parties, from the moment they come to power, do their best to tamper with the textbook contents. The NCERT apparently does not have any control over the state institutions and the textbooks produced by them. This is probably why many are found to flout the NPE and NCF guidelines. Without doubt it is mainly due to infiltration of persons inimical to secular and democratic principles into the textbook preparatory bodies – such as persons owing allegiance to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS which is the fountainhead of the far-right Hindutva ideology in India.

The RSS itself runs the single largest education enterprise in the country through its Vidya Bharati and Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Sansthan. Its Vijnana Bharti wing deals with ancient Indian achievements in science. RSS runs thousands of Saraswati Mandirs and Shishu Mandirs spread across the country with lakhs and lakhs of students. Besides it controls many institutions of higher learning. Since many decades the children studying in RSS schools have been brain-washed by textbooks with a completely biased, motivated and vicious syllabus. Here are a few samples
 

  • Arabs were barbarians who advanced to convert other people to their religion.
  • Islam spread in India solely by way of the sword.
  • With the finds of bones of horses, yajna altars etc, scholars are beginning to believe that the people of the Harappa and Vedic civilisation were the same.

Between 1998 to 2004,  when the BJP was heading the NDA 1 government at the Center, it did all it could to change the content of education. But the present NDA 2 government has gone much, much further. Textbooks in all the BJP ruled states are now totally communalized. As recently as January this year the Modi government has revised the B Tech curriculum to include knowledge of ‘Indian values and ethics and ancient wisdom in science and technology’.

Apparently the inspiration for all this is coming from RSS and the ‘Honorable’ Dinanath Batra. Batraji’s rabid Hindutvawadi textbooks get messages from our PM Narendra Modi in which he praises the textbook board and Batra’s organization Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti. Incidentally Batra also runs a sister organization called the Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas. According to Modi, Batra’s movement aims to cleanse the distortions in Indian education! The PM himself, members of his cabinet and several RSS and BJP functionaries seem to be the torch-bearers of this cleansing exercise with their fantastic claims about India’s glorious scientific achievements!

Friends, these tall claims about the ‘Airplanes of Vedic Times’, ‘Plastic surgery of Ganesha’s Head’ etc, etc have made our country a laughing stock in the eyes of the global community.  The latest one in the series is the Union minister of state for education attacking the theory of evolution. All these fake claims of Hindutvawadis arise from what can be classified as an extreme ‘anxiety of Indianness’ where an inferiority complex manifests itself in jingoism. Friends, it is my firm belief that it is lack of critical education that is at the root of this anxiety and this is exactly what makes such people vulnerable to such half-truths and untruths.

RSS idea is to revive ‘the culture of India’ which it believes was damaged by the various colonisers. It  says “The content of education from the primary level to the higher education stage should be “Indianised, nationalised and spiritualised”; “Courses  at all levels, including vocational training courses, should  incorporate the essentials of Indian culture”;  “Sanskrit should be made obligatory for students between classes 3 and 10”. It has tried to achieve this by systematic infiltration of either its own members or persons sympathetic to its ideology into textbook committees.

Hence we have this situation in India where textbooks prescribed by even ‘secular’ education boards promote religious, caste and gender prejudices. Textbooks produced under the ambit of the state textbook boards, as well as those of prominent national boards, echo the same historical misconceptions and formulations. Most of them continue to perpetuate the colonial legacy of portraying ancient India as synonymous with the Hindu and the medieval Indian past with the Muslim. I don’t think any textbook so far has ever written about the many ‘Hindu’ kings who looted temples of rival kingdoms and took away images from temples as trophies of war. King Harshadev of Kashmir had a separate ministry to raid and loot temples. Professor Richard Eaton in his essay “Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States” provides many such examples. 

Though one can find ample material regarding the Indian upper caste oppression of dalits and adivasis, our textbooks are found to highlight oppression by Europeans alone. While there are lessons which speak about the “immoral behaviour of Catholic priests in the middle ages” no textbook discusses the Indian caste system and the practice of ‘untouchability’. Our so-called secular textbooks are also completely silent on the ideology that led to the assassination of the Mahatma and the organizational background of the assassin.

Such factual misrepresentations and deliberate exclusions of certain historical events and modern day social realities of India are clearly designed to orient the child towards one particular ideology. In the process the concept of ideological neutrality of education is given a quiet burial. Infiltration of the ‘Hindutva’ ideology into the textbooks constructs a homogenized culture of India. Such textbooks are preventing school-going children from becoming progressive and secular in their thinking and outlook. Moreover they demonise thoughts that run counter to the norm. Saffronization of textbooks is subtle and insidious. Its effects are long-term. It would not be an exaggeration to say that this is what ultimately leads to polarisation of society and horrors like communal riots including the 2002 Gujarat massacre.

Coming to the state of Karnataka, the pattern is quite similar. Textbooks containing lessons with a pronounced tilt towards the Hindutva ideology were prescribed for years together. The process of saffronisation began pretty early with RSS sympathisers occupying key positions in textbook committees. The late Prof. Mudambadithaya was one such person. He remained the chief convener for the textbook committees for many years. He was the mastermind behind the saffronisation of school textbooks in Karnataka from the year 2001 onwards. It was Mudambadithaya who prescribed the colonial violence and the contents of Hindu mythology in secondary school English textbooks in 2001. Blatant changes were made during the time of a JD (S) – BJP coalition government in 2006-07 and later during the rule of the BJP government between 2008 and 2013. With guidance apparently from Vidya Bharati and persons like Dinanath Batra, the government went ahead with large scale insertion of the ‘hindutva ideology’ especially in social science and languages textbooks.

Such developments naturally alarmed the educationists and progressive members of society. Voices began to be raised. But they were few and far between. On the whole the campaign was pretty low key. Actually till the year 2012 there was not much of an organized resistance to saffronisation of textbooks. A resistance movement of a serious nature started from the beginning of 2012. And it was spearheaded by the Karnataka Communal Harmony Forum (Karnataka Komu Souharda Vedike; KKSV).

The Shimoga unit of the Forum initiated a state-wide movement against saffronisation in the education field. A state level seminar was organized in Shimoga on April 4, 2012. More than 280 delegates from educational institutions, students and research scholars of Kuvempu university, writers, columnists, priests, nuns and lay people from all sections of the society attended. After extensive discussions with leaders of progressive groups it was planned to hold protests, rallies, seminars, discussions etc all over the state and submit memoranda to the concerned authorities. To pursue the matter a twelve-member committee called ‘Committee for Resisting Saffronisation of Education’ was set-up by the KKSV. The Committee based in Mangalore arranged several meetings and seminars and held protests with active assistance from over forty concerned organizations.

Meanwhile the government and its spokespersons vehemently denied any communal tilt to textbooks. Prof.Mudambadithaya staunchly defended the textbook contents through an article in newspaper with the heading ‘Saffronisation of Education- A Clarification”. Mr.Mudambadithaya was of the opinion that since our students going abroad forget their country and culture we need to instill in them patriotism and culture through adhyatma (Spirituality) using our textbooks. He lamented that such attempts were referred to as saffronisation. But Mr. Ishwarappa the then Deputy Chief Minister let the cat out of the bag when he said “Saffronisation is inevitable because in the textbooks of the past there is a lack of reference to great leaders of India and the culture of India.”

The Committee asked a lawyer to study the possibilities of either taking legal action against the government’s move or to bring a stay against distribution of the affected textbooks. Meanwhile a one-man Commission headed by Francis D’Souza, a research scholar (his subject: Ideologies in English Textbooks for High School and Pre-University classes) was appointed by the Committee to make a detailed study of the textbooks prescribed since 2012 and prepare a report. The Commission submitted a detailed report in August 2012. The Report was officially released during a seminar held in Mangalore in September 2012. The seminar drew overwhelming response from the public and the teaching community.

The Commission in its Report stated that adherence to NCF 2005 is observed in its breach and that the major portions of the analyzed textbooks did not come anywhere near it. Though NCF 2005 has recommended that stress should be given to social justice and justice for the downtrodden, these books in fact contained lessons that would result in the creation of an opposite viewpoint in children. The Commission noted that these books contained lessons that treated dalits, women, adivasis and minorities as inferior beings. The Commission also found extensive distortion of history and observed that it was most frightening. There was hardly any attempt to build a foundation of scientific understanding of history, the Commission said. It was felt that these textbooks were not only anti-democratic but also went against the very spirit of the Indian Constitution. It said the dominant Hindutva ideology found in the analyzed textbooks fails to project pluralistic nature of Indian nationalism.

The following were some of the important findings of the Commission:

  • Textbooks had for the most part, gone against the spirit of NCF 2005.
  • NCF 2005 guidelines distorted.
  • Public opinion not sought prior to release.
  • The books were not subjected to scrutiny by well-known and independent educationists.
  • There was no ‘constructive approach’. No scope for children to construct anything in the class.
  • Textbooks prepared on communally divisive lines.
  • Mythology getting dressed as history.
  • Claiming pre-Mughal era as the greatest period in Indian History.
  • Glorification of wars between Hindu and non-Hindu rulers.
  • Cautioning minorities through certain lessons.
  • A casual or no mention of caste system, untouchability, hegemony of the upper castes and blind beliefs.
  • Gender insensitivity, stereotyping of women, Dalits, minorities and other marginalized.
  • Due importance not given to contributions of marginalized sections in the field of history, culture, literature, art and science.
  • Trying to turn students into ‘national citizen’ instead of a ‘critical citizen’.

Here are a few specific examples of saffronisation:

  • Some Roman Catholic churches of Bengaluru described as built by the British
  • It is stated that the roots of Aryan civilization can be found in the Harappan civilization
  • In the lesson entitled “Punyakoti”, original poem called “Govinahaadu” or the “Song of the Cow” has been changed to give an openly communal colour. In the original poem the tiger says “…Consumption of cow’s meat is a wicked thought. So I will take a pledge not to eat any cows hereafter…”. Whereas in the original poem the tiger simply walks away without killing the cow. 
  • Suggestive titles such as “Vijayanagara-The unforgettable empire”, “The rise and fall of the Mughal Empire”.
  • Explanation of Crusades given in unnecessary great detail.
  • There is just a casual mention about Indian caste system and blind beliefs.
  • The chapter on Delhi Sultans strengthens stereotypes on Muslims and Muslim rulers in India. Delhi Sultans are addressed as parakiyaru or outsiders.
  • In the group discussion part there was this question: “Why did the Directive principles enjoin the state to prevent the slaughter of cattle?” with a note to discuss the issue in the class.
  • In the lesson on protection of places of historical interest, there is no mention of historical places of Muslims, Christians and other minorities.
  • In science section there is a model conversation between teacher and the students regarding their food habits. Answering a question put by the teacher, students recall only the vegetarian food items they had for their breakfast before they came to school. Significantly, they do not mention any non-vegetarian item such as meat and fish.
  • In history section an elaborate explanation is given about how missionaries used to convert Indians.
  • While explaining the phenomenon of ‘terrorism’, six major terrorist attacks from 1993 to 2013 have been mentioned. But missing from that list are the blasts Samjhauta Express blasts (February 18, 2007), Meccca Masjid blasts (May 18, 2007) and Malegaon blasts (September 29, 2008).
  • Under the side heading ‘Test tube babies in ancient India’ (Chikitsa 1979) the lesson says Drona of Mahabharatha is the first test tube baby 7.500 years ago. It is stated that, “…one day Baradwaja went to the Ganges for a bath, he saw a beautiful apsara named Ghritachi. He was over came by desire, causing him to ejaculate. Bharatdwaja captured the fluid in an earthen pot (drone), from which Drona was born and got his name.”
  • In the section ‘the role of micro-organisms’ it is written “…the urine and dung of the cow increases fertility of the manure …” (This sounds as if buffalo’s urine and dung does not perform the same function). The same column starts with the statement “In India cow has been considered holy”.
  • Three pages devoted to explain the immoral behaviour of the Catholic Church and the fight between Catholics and Protestant in the 16 century.  
  • Lessons on Religious reformation in India and Bhakti movement conceal the hypocrisy of the Indian priestly class and the reasons behind the rise of Religious reformers and the Bhakti saints. 

 
In November 2012 the ‘Committee for Resisting Saffronization of Education’ wrote to the DSERT (Department of State Educational Research and Training) and the NCERT detailing how the textbooks had flouted the NCF 2005 and asking for recall and review of the affected lessons.  It said, ‘……..these findings ……….are most alarming. The deviations from NCF 2005 are of an extremely serious nature and the consequences can be far-reaching. The Committee has no hesitation in declaring that sizable portions of these textbooks have undergone saffronization and it is quite obvious that a lot of deliberate and shrewd thinking has gone into this exercise. One can clearly discern a hidden agenda here to instill and build-up non-secular values, religious fundamentalism and the idea of a Hindu Nation (Hindu Rashtra) in crores of young and impressionable minds. The committee feels that this process must be stopped at the earliest. We most definitely do not want our future generations to become intolerant and fundamentalist.

The committee would like to point out that saffronization is but one aspect of a far more serious problem. Eminent educationists and practicing teachers ……..have observed that these textbooks, besides being saffronised, are academically impoverished. According to them some of the books (e.g., 8th Standard Mathematics and 5th Standard English) are far above the mental capabilities of the learners. Though according to NCF 2005 textbooks must include theory of constructivism, critical pedagogy, auto-learning etc., actually all these concepts are conspicuous by their absence. Neither can one find in these textbooks any word about the new concept of evaluation’.

The NCERT and the Union Minister for Education were asked to take note of the Committee’s findings and immediately order a thorough and comprehensive probe into the non-compliance with NCF 2005 by their counterparts in Karnataka.
The Committee demanded that
 

  • The present saffronised and poor quality textbooks should be withdrawn and work on the proposed textbooks for the next year should be suspended.
  • The existing textbook committees should be scrapped and they should be reconstituted with such educationists as are committed to NCF 2005.
  • The Karnataka Textbook Society must publicise the drafts and invite suggestions and recommendations from the public as well as independent educationists.
  • All such textbooks shall be compulsorily offered for scrutiny by an NCERT-approved committee consisting of independent experts. The entire process of scrutiny shall be transparent.

 
In February 2013, when more new textbooks were released the Committee did some investigations on its own. It found out that though drafts had been dispatched to various districts for tryout, this was nothing but a mechanical exercise conducted purely for record’s sake. Actually the drafts were distributed in the evening of the first day during a four-day-workshop conducted for the purpose. And the participants were told to come prepared the following morning with all their comments and suggestions!  Whereas a crucial exercise of this type would actually require at least a fortnight’s hard work, if not more! The Committee pointed all this out in another letter to the various authorities. It also listed the several objectionable contents that had been found in the new textbooks and concluded that scant attention had been paid to the substance and content of the textbooks.

The Committee put forth the following demands:

  • Copies of the new textbooks should immediately be made available to us, to well-known academics, experts in the field and to civil society groups for a thorough and proper tryout.
  • Henceforth drafts of all new texts should be placed in public domain.
  • The views and suggestions of the general public as well as the parents of learners should be given due consideration.
  • The curriculum vitae of all members and other functionaries of textbook drafting committees should be widely publicized. 
  • A State Textbook Council should be set up at the earliest. It shall work as a permanent vigilance body to monitor not only the textbooks taught in public schools but also the parallel textbooks taught in schools outside the government system. It shall function as an independent body, free from all state interference. The STC shall also function as a complaints authority.

 
In the ensuing months elections were held to state assembly and a new Congress government came to power in May 2013. But when the Committee observed that the RSS ideology still continued to hold sway in the textbooks, it sent another letter in June 2013 this time to the Primary & Higher Secondary Education Minister asking him
 

  • To stop the teaching of the saffronised lessons in the new textbooks.
  • To withdraw the books from the next academic year.
  • To change all textbook committees and prepare new textbooks as per NCF 2005.

Besides these the other demands we had put forth in the previous letter were repeated.

When there was no response, another report on the new textbooks for the standards 7 and 10 was prepared and sent to the government in July 2014. The introduction to the Report ran somewhat like this:  Any person with even a modicum of concern for the future of our children would be greatly dismayed at the ineffable goings-on in the vital field of education in our state of Karnataka. Coming to the subject of textbooks for the primary and secondary classes the situation is extremely distressing, to say the least. ……..there is continuation of influence exercised by Hindu fundamentalist groups over the contents, especially the social science and language textbooks. ……..an RTI application has bared the truth that most of the textbook committee members are either unqualified or under-qualified. All these discrepancies, distortions and objectionable contents have already been brought to the notice of the various authorities including the honorable minister for primary and secondary education. Our three letters apart from several articles on the subject in the media have only met with a deafening silence. There is absolutely no response. Neither is there any corrective action except some vague promises made by the concerned minister. ………The complete apathy and extreme lack of interest shown by the government is not only most shocking it is totally unpardonable. ……….The government would do well to heed the eminent educationist Krishna Kumar’s words (He is ex-Director of NCERT. NCF 2005 was prepared under his leadership). In the year 2005 Krishna Kumar observed that the reason for the rise of cultural revivalism in India was the failure of education to support a secular national identity. These are his exact words: “The secular national identity that the state made an attempt to project, received little substantive support from education. This was one of the many reasons why the endeavour did not get far, and why within less than half a century of acquiring independence, cultural revivalism has again surfaced as a major force in political life”. The Committee rests its case. The ball is in government’s court’.

Subsequently three meetings were held with the education minister. Sadly they did not yield any result. But the Committee did not give up. It kept up the pressure through press conferences, public meetings, protests etc. In the end it was decided to meet the Chief Minister and apprise him of the entire case. The Chief Minister gave a patient hearing and assured the Committee of immediate action. We were glad when he kept his word.

On December 2, 2014 the government announced the appointment of a textbook revision committee headed by Dr Baragur Ramachandrappa, a renowned scholar and progressive writer. The revision committee with around 164 members was mandated to review and revise all textbooks from classes 1 to 10. It took nearly two years to complete its task and the revised textbooks were finally printed and distributed from the academic year 2016-2017 onwards.

In general the revised textbooks are found to be satisfactory. But still there are a few shortcomings. The Committee Against Saffronisation of Education has recently written to the revision committee   pointing out the discrepancies and asking for corrections. It is hoped that the revision committee   takes note of this and initiate necessary actions to further improve the textbook contents. However one nagging worry remains. How to ensure that successive governments do not tamper with textbook contents as per their will and wish? This is the challenge before all right-thinking persons concerned about the future of India. Till a lasting solution is worked out all one can say is:  Eternal vigilance is the price of knowledge.

Friends, before concluding I would like to thank the organizers of this event for having provided this opportunity to share our experiences with you all.

(This is the full text of a paper presented by the author at a conference held by Vicharved in Pune on February 17,2018; the Conference was on the Communalisation of Education)
 

For the CPI (M), Has the Buck Stopped in 2014?

By
-
0

Leftists in India and elsewhere are good at perceiving the grand design. They are masters in their assessment of principle trends of global finance capitalism, inviolability of cyclical crises in Capitalism, the ensuing inter-imperialist contradictions and fascism on a global scale etc. Accordingly the recently released Draft Political Resolution (DPR) of Communist Party of India (Marxist) sheds some light on the emergence of neo-fascist tendencies. While dealing with international situation the DPR discusses about the Rightward Shift in paragraphs 1.12 and 1.13. In assessing the broad trends in international situation, the draft resolution has concluded, “The period has seen a further political rightward shift in many countries in the world with the rise of extreme rightwing neo-fascist forces in Europe. The ascendancy of Donald Trump as the President of USA, representing the most reactionary sections of the US ruling class, further strengthened this trend”

Before coming to the section on the rightward shift, the draft resolution has dealt with the Global Capitalist Crisis, Global Unemployment, Widening Inequalities and Growing Popular Protests. Drawing from its assessment of each of these aspects of Global Capitalism the DPR has concluded, “In the face of the current crisis, imperialism pursues aggressive neo-liberalism combined with a global divisive agenda fostering domestic local and regional tensions. This engenders the growth of racism, xenophobia and extreme rightwing neo-fascist tendencies.” While hoping for better prospects, the DPR rightly concluded, “It is clear that in the coming days, the political direction of many of the countries of the world will be determined by the political success in marshalling popular discontent between left-oriented democratic forces and the political right.” So far, so good.

Let us assume that the understanding expounded in the draft political resolution is correct. Then we shall look into it, for the basic characteristic features of neo-fascism. Neo-fascism, political philosophy and the movement that arose in Europe in the decades, post World War II. Neo-fascism advocated extreme nationalism, opposed liberal individualism, organised persistent multipronged attack on Marxist traditions, exhorted majoritarianism, transformed the Other into a punching bag to galvanise the majority population (for short term and long term gains), portrayed themselves as protectors of traditional national culture and religion, glorified violence and military heroism, and promoted populist right-wing economic programs.  The neo-fascist tendency places blame for the country’s problems on the other. This Other keeps varying from country to country. In multi-cultural and multi-national societies, this becomes the minority populations, in multi religious societies the minority religion becomes the punching bag under neo-fascism.
 
The other important aspect that these neo-fascists present before respective nations is that the achievement of orderly society is possibly only through their grit and determination. If fascism at the beginning of 20th century was a manifestation of  a crude Monopoly Capitalism, the neo-fascism of today is like finance capitalism, concealed and deceitful in its approach. Monopoly Capitalism strangles the ordinary lives of people like a beastly wolf; globalised finance capital strangles public life by adopting crocodile-like movements under water. The characteristic of the neo-fascists is akin to that of crocodile under water rather than a wolf in forest.

Apart from these similarities, neo-fascism is not a simply revival of fascism. Neo-fascism’s approach towards 21st century hegemony is intertwined in sustaining the hegemony of globalised finance capitalism by drawing the domestic markets into the backyards of the former by stifling, strangling any kind of dissent in its form and content. Neo-fascists tended to focus on non-nationals in European context and Muslims in the Indian context. After decades of post-war decolonisation, neo-fascists in the west fought battles for “urban space,” capturing the minds of a new generation by demonizing the Other. With increasing urbanisation also came a shift in the electoral bases of fascist-oriented movements which gave a new turn for mobilisational politics. The rise of the Shiv Sena is the best example for this trend. Finally, the gradual acceptance of democratic norms by the vast majority of third world countries reduced the appeal of authoritarian ideologies and required that neo-fascist parties make a concerted effort to portray themselves as democratic and “mainstream.” Some neo-fascists even included words like “democratic” and “liberal” to name of their movements.

Hinting at the ultra modern optics adopted by the neo-fascists, indicating a transformation, in 1996 Roger Eatwell cautioned: “Beware of men—and women—wearing smart Italian suits: the color is now gray, the material is cut to fit the times, but the aim is still power.…Fascism is on the move once more, even if its most sophisticated forms have learned to dress to suit the times.” Similarly, historian Richard Wolin described these movements as “designer fascism.” Here it is pertinent to draw the attention of John Wiess, a Wayne state University history professor, who described ‘what is fascist’ in his 1967 book The Fascist Tradition: Radical Rightwing Extremism in Modern Europe who ascribed the notions of organised conceptions of community, philosophical idealism, idealisation of masculinity, virtues, resentment of mass democracy, elitist conceptions of leadership, rascism, militarism and imperialism to the representative concepts of neo-fascism.

Weiss observed, “Any study of fascism which centers too narrowly on the fascists and Nazis alone may miss the true significance of right-wing extremism. For, without necessarily becoming party members or accepting the entire range of party principles themselves, aristocratic landlords, army officers, government and civil service officials, and important industrialists in Italy and Germany helped bring fascists to power.” Without the aid of President Paul von Hindenburg, Chancellor Franz Von Papen and other German conservatives, Hitler, who never won an electoral majority, would not have been appointed chancellor.

If we go back to the years of 2012-2014 India, we could find several similarities in the sequence of events that lead to position of Narendra Modi as Prime Ministerial candidate. During the Great Depression, thousands of middle-class conservatives fearful of the growing power of the left abandoned traditional right-wing parties and adopted fascism. The ideological distance traveled from traditional conservatism to Nazism was sometimes small, since many of the ideas that Hitler exploited in the 1930s had long been common currency within the German right. Similarly John Luckacs, Hungarian Marxist, who authored Hitler of History, argued that there is no such thing as generic fascism.

Had the draft political resolution’s assessment of the preconditions for the emergence of neo-fascist forces stood on sound foundation, it would have considered the preconditions existing in current day India. To recap from the draft resolution itself, the preconditions of the rise and consolidation of neo-fascism in the West lies in  Global Capitalist Crisis, Global Unemployment, Widening Inequalities and Growing Popular Protests. Obviously all these preconditions prevailed in India as well, states the draft political resolution. In its own words, the draft resolution says this about the Modi dispensation, “This regime is characterised by an intensified pursuit of neo-liberal policies, resulting in all round attacks on the working people; the concerted effort to implement the RSS’s Hindutva agenda which threatens the secular democratic framework of the State, accompanied by attacks on the minorities and Dalits; a reinforcement of the strategic alliance with the United States and playing the role of a  subordinate ally; and building the architecture of authoritarianism by curbing parliamentary democracy, subverting constitutional institutions and democratic rights.”
 
On account of economic growth, it says, “The economic slowdown has been sharpest in the real sectors of the economy and in particular in the informal sectors.” On unemployment there is a detailed discussion: “The biggest failure of the Modi Government has been on employment. According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data, about 1.5 million (15 lakh) jobs were lost during January-April 2017 as compared to the previous four months of September to December 2016” and “after 25 years of liberalisation, India has become one of the most unequal societies in the world. A 2016 study on the basis of the data collected by the National Sample Survey Organisation showed that the richest 1 per cent of Indians hold 28 per cent of all the wealth in the country.”is what it says about the widening inequalities in the country. It lists scores of other forms of attacks on ordinary lives in subsequent sections. The resolution also lists out instances of growing popular protest by drawing our attention towards the flurry of movements, some achieved instant relief like those of Kisan movements, some occurred as part of routine, like all India strikes by trade unions.
 
The resolution admits, “The last nearly four years have seen the unfolding of the blueprint of the RSS utilising State power to infiltrate (hierarchies and structures) and RSS personnel in key positions in various institutions of the State. Most of the Governors of states appointed are BJP-RSS men, some of whom utilise their positions to advocate the communal agenda. Constitutional bodies are being subverted from within. BJP and RSS leaders openly express their desire to change the Constitution.”
 
The last one, then, is the distinguishing feature from the preconditions that existed (before), when the resolution talks about the emergence of neo-fascism. Let us mark this distinguishing feature. The Party’s think tanks including the premiere ones – Polit Bureau and Central Committee – have arrived at a conclusion that reflect a peculiar situation, not akin to any international pattern and is peculiar to India alone.

 After observing all these phenomena , developments and instances correctly, one would have expected that the Party would equate the emergence of this extreme rightward shift that coincides with the concentration of unbridled power in one single man’s hand with that of neo-fascism. But that has not happened. This author strongly feels that the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the foremost lead thinker of the Indian Left movement (and also the one who provided a guiding light to analyse the global events in the post Soviet era), has faltered in recognising the character of the impending danger.
 
While summing up the possible consequences of the above listed features, the draft resolution states, “2.78: The BJP has consolidated its political position. Under the Modi Government, there has been an intensification of the neo-liberal capitalist exploitation of the people; the secular-democratic framework of the Constitution is being eroded with the pursuit of the Hindutva agenda; and the BJP-led government has bound India closer to the imperialist strategy of the United States. All this marks the onset of an authoritarian-communal regime.”
 
This conclusion, is, I feel, is dictated by the assessment made in the 21st Congress rather than taking subsequent developments into consideration. The 21st Congress of the Party, held at Visakhapatnam in 2015, had evaluated the situation that emerged after 2014 general elections as, “This (2014 general election results and consequential developments)  has set the stage for a rightwing offensive comprising an aggressive pursuit of neo-liberal policies and a full-scale attempt by the RSS-led Hindutva forces to advance their communal agenda. Such a conjuncture presages growing  authoritarianism”. (Para 2.1).
 
The BJP-RSS duo is in power in more states than it was in 2015. The BJP-RSS occupied the highest positions that the democracy can offer – President,  Prime Minister, Vice President and Lok Sabha speaker. More than dozen RSS Sevaks have occupied Chief Ministerial positions. The top bureaucratic positions are occupied by persons who are eager to prove their allegiance to RSS directly. The top defence establishment is tilted more rightward than ever before. The essence of mass democracy, fundamental rights of all are being openly discarded and vehemently opposed. The wisdom of a barbaric age is being depicted as divine wisdom. After first, USA and the UK, for the first time in any third world country, the Darwinian theory of evolution is shunned by persons in constitutional authority. However, unfortunately, the CPI (M) is still stuck in its 2015 assessment of the Modi government, particularly in its use of the vocabulary, ‘presages’.
 
The draft political resolution has failed to recognise the impending threat of this Indian variant of an emergent neo-fascism. There could be only three possibilities behind such a flawed understanding. First, that the Party might not have considered the described pre-conditions (as arrived at by its own conclusions) as not dangerous enough to pose the eventual threat. In that case, the conclusion of “2.115 (i) Given the experience of the nearly four years rule of the Modi Government it is imperative to defeat the BJP government in order to isolate the Hindutva communal forces and reverse the anti-people economic policies,” is itself an objective that becomes redundant. Second, it must be stuck in a time warp, which goes against the basic tenets of Marxism. For Marxism, nothing is static. Everything changes. If we have conclude that the Party’s thought process is stuck in a time warp, we would need to admit that the Party is thinking in reverse gear. If these two are not the reasons, then, the Party is willfully refusing to recognise and accept the changing circumstances and the dire need to change its tactics in tune with the times. This would be suicidal for any Communist Party. The history of the First and Second Communist International is replete with examples of several parties that were stuck a in time wrap and got decimated at the hands of class enemies.
 
In this context, the words of the pragmatic theoretician, German Marxist Dimitrov’s found in his report to the Communist International provide a dire warning, “before the establishment of the fascistic dictatorship, bourgeois governments pass through a number of preliminary stages and institute a number of reactionary measures, which directly facilitate the accession to power of fascism. Whoever does not fight the reactionary measures of the bourgeoisies and the growth of fascism at these preparatory stages, is not in a position to prevent the victory of fascism, but on the contrary, facilitates that victory.”

Large Scale Protests Erupt across Gujarat after Dalit Man Immolates Self

By
-
0


Image Courtesy: Mid-Day
The Gujarat police detained VadgamMLA,  JigneshMevani in an extremely uncivilised manner on February 18, 2018 as the protests against the self-immolation of 60 year old Dalit activist BhanuVankar intensified. He was pulled out of his car and his car keys were broken. He was detained by the police while he was still on his way to peaceful protests at Ambedkar statue in Sarangpur, Ahmedabad. Congress legislator Naushad Solanki was also detained along with Jignesh Mevani. Apart from both of them, as many as 40 protesters were detained from Sarangpur while 40 were detained from Jashodanagar. Around 28 people were, in all, held from Unjha, six from Mehsana and 29 from Patan. Hundreds others were also detained.

The protest was organised to meet the demands of the deceased, BhanubhaiVankar’s family. Their demands included allotment of land, action against the guilty officials and formation of a special investigation team to probe his death. A member of the Rashtriya Dalit AdhikarManch,Vankar has set himself on fire on February 15, 2018 protesting against the apathy of the Gujarat government towards demands of land for two Dalit labourers. The labourers alleged that the authorities refused to regularize the land allotment despite collecting Rs. 22,236 in 2013. This  struggle for land, on for several months, had met with no response from the government. Vankar’s body was taken to the Sola Civil Hospital for the post-mortem and it was lying there for two days. His family collected his body only today after the Gujarat administration gave a written assurance to the family that their demands would be fulfilled as per a report by PTI.


Image Courtesy: Indian Express

As a response to Bhanu Vankar’s death, Mevani and other leaders from Dalit community in Gujarat had given a call for a Bandh in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. A peaceful rally was also announced from Sarangpur on February 18. The police refused to give permissions for the rally but the outraged citizens decided to go ahead with the peaceful protest.

As Mevani reached the site of protest at around 9 am on the morning of February 18, the police tried to forcefully detain him. A video that surfaced later showed the brutality (and uncouthness) with which the MLA was treated. JigneshMevani’s official twitter handle tweeted, “Is this a way to detain an elected MLA? If a legislator is in this condition, then think about any Dalit’s situation in Gujarat.

#BJPAgainstDalit”
https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/965164954734260225

Media reports suggest that this is the second largest protest after protests broke out the aftermath of Una incident in July 2016. Apart from Jignesh, Patel Anamat Andolan Samiti leader Hardik Patel, Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor and Congress leader of the Opposition, Paresh Dhanani came together to support of Bhanuji’s family.

At a press conference held after the arrests, joint police commissioner (crime branch) J.K. Bhatt made the dubious claim that Mevani was misbehaving with officials and did not co-operate. The video showed however that Mevani’s agitation grew as he was being mis-treated. Mehul Manguben, a Dalit activist said, “We were protesting peacefully but the police used force in which two people got injured and have been hospitalized. The police it seems is working on the directive of the state government. If the government is so serious about our demands, why does it not issue a written directive or meet the family and assure them support. The ruling government wants us to end our protests so they do not face any embarrassment in the assembly session,”

The Una movement and Jignesh Mevani’s leadership along with many others brought once again to the fore, the issue of land rights as central to the question of caste annihilation. The community leaders demanded 5 acres of land for every landless Dalit family as per the Gujarat Land Ceiling Act. The movement popularised the slogan, “Gai ki dum aap rakho, humein hamari zameen de do (You can keep the cow’s tail, we want our land back)”

Another Dalit rights activist, Martin Mackwan said, “Of the 3.75 million acres of land to be distributed to Dalits and Tribals, only one-third of this land has been distributed in all these years. While a lot of this land is encroached, many Dalits who have got land entitlements are not getting possession and forced to work as labourers in their own fields. In Surendranagar district, we had to fight for eight years to get 6,000 acres of land for Dalits and it was only after the high court’s intervention that it was done”

The Budget session of the Gujarat assembly is scheduled to start on Monday. It is likely that the issue will create a lot of uproar. Moreover, the state of Gujarat has been in a constant state of turmoil for about 2-3 years now on the question of annihilation of caste and government’s inability to bridge the gap through policy measures is becoming more evident by the day. One can only hope that the state of affairs is likely to see a radical shift through people’s struggles and movements.

Related Articles:

1. Land to the Dalit Tiller, not to Tycoons is our Mission: Jignesh Mevani

2. How Hate BuildsAn account of speeches inciting hate in light of FIRs on Umar Khalid and Jignesh Mevani
3. The New Opposition at the Barricades Challenges Manuvaad & the Market
4. Dalit Freedom March, Azaadi Kooch to Continue even as Guj Govt Cancels Permission
 
 
 
 

 Modi appears Petty and Churlish as He snubs Trudeau 

By
-
0
Image Courtesy: Reuters                                                                                            The Trudeaus at the Taj

For a man whose PR strategy is one of the most carefully crafted among world leaders, Narendra Modi scored a self goal when he acted in a manner unbecoming of a nation’s Prime Minister. In a move that is being touted and even hailed by Modi supporters as a ‘royal snub’, not only did Modi fail to receive Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at the airport, he also failed to either host a grand banquet in Turdeau’s honour or accompany him on any official visits. 

 
Modi also did not tweet about Trudeau’s visit even once. This only goes on to show Modi in poor light as he appears petty, churlish and un-statemanlike. Previous international dignitaries like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu have had the red carpet rolled out for them and lavish feasts thrown in their honour. Giving Trudeau the cold shoulder is rather ridiculous, given how he is vising India at Modi’s invitation.
 
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj was also conspicuous by her absence at Trudeau’s welcome. She also did not tweet anything about the Trudeau visit. Welcoming was left to junior ministers and diplomats. Speculation is ripe that the ‘snub’ might have to do with Canada’s alleged support for Khalistanis, an allegation that holds little water. The Khalistani connection does not stick as merely having Sikh Canadians in one’s cabinet does not make one a Khalistani sympathiser.
 
But none of this has put a dimmer on Trudeau’s now famous exuberance. He was seen beaming with his wife and three children as they visited the Taj Mahal in Agra, the Akshardham Temple in Gujarat and an elephant sanctuary in Mathura. 

“A real wonder woman”: Artist Behind Che Guevara’s Iconic Poster Paints Ahed Tamimi

By
-
0

“There is a real Wonder Woman” is the title of a new painting from Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick, who is famous for drawing the iconic 1968 poster of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, depicting Palestinian imprisoned teen Ahed Tamimi as a superhero.

Fitzpatrick said he was amazed by Tamimi’s bravery when he first learned of her two years ago. “Ahed Tamimi, to me, signifies nobility in the face of oppression. This is a kid, a child,” Fitzpatrick told Newsweek magazine in an interview earlier this week.

“When I was 15, I think I would have been petrified. Wherever she’s getting her courage from, there’s a resonance of it echoing across the world. I’m just a part of it. There are organizations doing more than I could do, but I do think the pen—in my case, the brush—is mightier than the sword.”

He also said the title of his latest painting is directed at Gal Gadot, the former Israeli soldier-turned hollywood star who was the star of the latest “Wonder Woman” movie and has publically come out against Palestinian rights. “That’s deliberate … I think: Hold on, there is a Wonder Woman, and it’s this kid,” the renowned artist further told the magazine.

“I’ve been collecting comic books all my life. I’ve been a guest at San Diego Comic Con. I would not say anybody in that [comic book] community has an idea that she was an IDF soldier and supports the persecution of Palestinians as young as Ahed Tamimi. I think they’d be shocked if they knew that.”

In December Ahed was arrested and indicted on 12 charges including assaulting an Israeli soldier and throwing stones after a video of her slapping an Israeli soldier in her home’s yard went viral. It was revealed later that the Palestinian girl was upset after soldiers had shot her 14-year-old cousin in the face a day earlier.

The teen, who turned 17 behind bars last month, has received large international attention and solidarity since her arrest as many prominent actors, artists and academics in the United States and other countries signed letters and petitions calling for her release.

Fitzpatrick said that he fears for her life as many in Israel are calling for sentencing her to life in prison or even executing her over “insulting” the Israeli occupation. “I’m afraid they’re going to kill her. And that’s why I’m doing what I’m doing,” he said in an attempt to echo the international campaign he kicked off against injustice with his Viva Che painting.

Ahed is being tried in an Israeli military court and the judge has denied her bail. Her first hearing Tuesday was held behind closed doors as media and the public were kicked out of the courtroom. Israeli military courts have a conviction rate of more than 99 percent.

Over the years Ahed gained international attention for her brave actions against Israeli occupation forces during protests and clashes in and around her village. In 2015 a video of her, along with female members of her family, went viral showing her fighting an Israeli occupation soldier who was pinning down her 12-year old male cousin.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum
 

On India’s Prime Time TV Debates, Women Are Mostly Invisible

By
-
0

On any evening, those watching primetime television news debates in India may get the impression that women rarely have opinions worth airing on any subject–politics, economy, stock market or geopolitics. 

For five days starting February 5, 2018, IndiaSpend counted the number of men and women who appeared as panellists (commentators/spokespersons/newsmakers) on debates on 10 English news channels, between 8 pm and 10 pm.
 
Over four times more men than women–a total of 264 men as opposed to 54 women–appeared as panellists during the sample period, indicating the under-representation of women’s views in the broadcast media.
 
The gender count was restricted to invitees (not anchors) and debates (not interviews). The numbers were based on screenshots of groups of panellists who appeared in the first half of the shows (There may be minor discrepancies in total figures, as some panellists are brought in after the debate begins). The number of panellists on these shows ranges from three to 10 and some panellists appear on multiple channels the same evening.
 
The results highlight the need for further studies and empirical data to better understand why India’s professional women are largely unseen and unheard on primetime TV news in a nation with 780 million television viewers, more than the population of Europe. There are roughly 220 million viewers of English content and over 400 news channels in India.
 
Female panellists outnumbered their male counterparts on only one of the 10 shows in the five-day sample–Epicentre on CNN-News18 (which shifted from 7 pm to 10 pm from February 6, 2018).
 
Two of the shrillest shows on television with nationalist leanings–Republic TV’s The Debate at 9 pm and 10 pm with Arnab Goswami, and The Newshour at 9 pm and 10 pm on Times Now-had the lowest representation of women.
 

Gender Sample Of Panellists On English News Channels (February 5-9, 2018)
ShowChannelSlotMale panellistsFemale panellists
Left, Right & CentreNDTV 24×78:00 PM335
The Urban DebateMirror Now8:00 PM238
People’s CourtIndia Today8:00 PM117
Face-off TonightCNN-News188:00 PM254
The NewshourTimes Now9:00 PM361
The Urban DebateMirror Now9:00 PM239
Arnab Goswami on The DebateRepublic TV9:00 PM382
EpicentreCNN-News1810:00 PM 911
Arnab Goswami on The DebateRepublic TV10:00 PM383
The NewshourTimes Now10:00 PM284

 
Women depicted less as experts, more as victims in news shows
 
The under-representation of expert women in the media is a global trend. In 2015, women comprised only 24% of the people “heard, read about or seen in newspaper, television and radio news, the same level found in 2010”, according to the five-yearly Global Media Monitoring Project (GMMP).
 
In Europe, women are “much less likely to contribute to stories as experts, as professionals, as politicians or as business people”, the 114-nation GMMP reported in 2015. “The news is still dominated by men’s voices talking about things in which they have the starring role, voices of authority.”
 
This could easily be a description of the scene in India, where women comprise nearly half the population.
 
A Mumbai-based media survey released last year showed that only two respondents–the BBC and IBN Lokmat, a Marathi-language news channel–agreed that “at least” one female voice makes for a “right mix” of television panellists. More than half the respondents in the study led by Population First and KC College were of the opinion that gender is not a decisive factor in the selection of panellists. But 15.78% of the respondents said that the “appearance” of panellists played a role.
 
In 2015, an International Federation of Journalists survey on media and gender in India showed that only 6.34% of respondents felt that women were depicted as experts/leaders in news programmes; 21.73% said they were depicted as victims.
 
Why is it important to ensure that more women professionals are seen on TV news shows? The depiction of gender stereotypes in the media could influence how communities perceive women and their place in society, say experts. “The media as a whole plays an important role in perpetuating or challenging cultural and societal norms so it is important that this industry is more representative of today’s society,” the British government stated in 2015, responding to a House of Lords inquiry into women in news and current affairs broadcasting
 
Why news managers tend to pick male experts for their mostly male audience
 
Men comprise half the viewership of Indian television and they watch news either at the start of or at the end of the day, India’s Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) estimated.
 
From 7 pm to 10 pm, considered prime time, the share of women’s viewership of news “across urban, rural and megacities drops visibly” in India. This maybe a factor that influences media decisions on who features in news debates.
 
“Male TV anchors form a boys’ club with male commentators and (they) naturally gravitate towards them on most issues,’’ journalist Sagarika Ghose told the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (RISJ) in Oxford, the UK, in an interview for a three-month fellowship paper on which this report is based.
 
There’s a belief among TV news managers in India that news audiences are “mostly male who prefer to get opinions from men rather than from women”, she added. There is also “discrimination against younger men, as TV and media platforms prefer elderly established male commentators”, she said.
 
Women called in mostly to discuss gender issues
 
Women speakers are generally called upon to speak more on gender than politics, geopolitics, defence, finance or the economy.
 
For example, all-male commentators discussed India’s Pakistan policy problems on three of the 10 shows sampled on February 5, 2018–Left, Right & Centre (NDTV 24×7), Face-off (CNN-News18) and The Debate (Republic TV).
 
An all-female panel appeared only twice during the sample period. On February 9, 2018, four women commentators appeared on Epicentre (CNN-News18) and on February 8, 2018, on People’s Court (India Today) to discuss gender politics around Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent remarks on Congress MP Renuka Chowdhury’s laughter in Parliament.
 
On The Urban Debate on Mirror Now, for example, there were no female panellists for a debate on the long-term capital gains tax, but an equal representation of three men and three women the next day discussed the goods and service tax (GST) on sanitary napkins.
 
“A handful of strong women columnists and authors in India are called on panels,” said Ghose. But they are mostly slotted as liberal feminists to speak on social and gender justice issues, she pointed out.
 
In 2016, the websites SheThePeople and Safecity released results of a survey of over 100 conferences, events and television shows that revealed that women are mostly approached for comments on women’s issues. They recorded a quarter or less women panellists on news channels: 26% on CNN-News18, 25% on NDTV 24×7, 18% on Times Now and 12% on others.
 
The highest number of women panellists were invited to discuss sexual violence: 39%, followed by 26% on panels on crime and social issues. Women’s views were least heard on technology (14%) and industry (12%).
 
India’s rising gender gap, across professions
 
Television journalists argue that women commentators are available in fewer numbers than men across specialisations.
 
This general observation can be backed by data. India ranked 108 among 144 nations in the World Economic Forum’s ranking of gender-equal nations in 2017–down from 98 in 2006. The low ranking was partly due to a “gender gap in women’s share among legislators, senior officials and managers, as well as professional and technical workers”.
 
“Most commentators and thought influencers are men,” said Ghose, “and mostly on issues of politics or governance, it’s elderly men who are called to panels.”
 
The World Bank, in 2017, recorded a decline in the female labour force participation by 19.16 million women and girls in India’s workforce from 2004-05 to 2011-12. Girls comprised 48% of India’s student population in 2015-16, but as the Times of India reported on September 24, 2017, women’s participation in work is 27%, representation in Parliament and state legislatures is 11% and 8.8% respectively. Also, only 17 of the CEOs of India’s 500 largest listed companies are women.
 
But there are also more varied and nuanced reasons why women anchors pose questions on breaking news mainly to male experts/commentators who provide the answers on the state of the nation and world. Here are some explanations.
 
We look for best experts, gender balance isn’t priority, say anchors
 
Television anchors who were interviewed said they look for the ‘best’ speakers, irrespective of gender, and added that it is difficult to get women experts on business, finance and economic issues.
 
“I look for expertise, different points of view, also people who are articulate and comfortable on TV, which not everyone is,’’ said executive editor Nidhi Razdan, anchor of Left, Right & Centre on NDTV 24×7, in an interview for the RISJ paper. Women anchor five of the channel’s six prime-time shows.
 
“To be honest, I’ve never thought of panels from a gender perspective,’’ Razdan said, adding that she has hosted all-women panels too and frequently invites women to speak on politics and foreign policy. “I don’t consciously look for gender balance, but maybe I should!”
 
On the economy, Razdan noted that “it’s easier to find a male guest”, with exceptions for frequently seen panellists such as leading industrialist Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, banker Naina Lal Kidwai and economist Ila Patnaik.
 
“Again, I’ve never looked at this through a gender prism,’’ she emphasised. “Since I joined 18 years ago, it is women who have run NDTV, who hold top positions and anchor prime time shows. So, I’ve grown up in an environment that hasn’t really differentiated between men and women and we have been very lucky that way. So perhaps that’s why I’m also not as conscious of it. I look at inviting panels based on who I believe is the best person to speak on an issue, not their gender.”
 
Karan Thapar, former host of To The Point on India Today TV, said that the disparity in the number of men and women on news debates is “not deliberate… for example, some of the best and most knowledgeable speakers on foreign affairs are women”.
 
“I have to tell you, my priority is not to create balance,’’ Thapar said. “Gender representation is important but not the priority. Getting good people who speak well and are articulate is important.”
 
Political editor Marya Shakil at CNN-News18, one of the channel’s two primetime female news anchors, linked the shortage of women commentators to the shortage of women in charge of newsrooms. “Newsrooms are very, very male-centric,’’ said Shakil, “so they may overlook the contributions of women.”
 
Women not aggressive, assertive enough for TV debates?
 
Nearly every political party in India has female spokespersons but they are still a minority of one or two on panels. During the sample period, a 22 of 50 shows had all-male commentators, on issues ranging from Pakistan to Modi’s speech in Parliament, and the Ayodhya dispute to the Maldives crisis.
 
Journalists may also doubt women’s ability to cut through the din on primetime shouting matches.
 
Journalist Kalpana Sharma noted that only “a very small number” of women are invited to political discussions. “It’s easier to get the ‘usual suspects’, almost always male, to come on panels rather than make effort at balance and diversity,’’ Sharma said. “Even if they get a token woman, they want her to be a film star, or a prominent socialite rather than someone with scholarship who will address the subject seriously. They need individuals who can perform, take up extreme positions, be rude, interrupt others, and basically be deaf to what anyone else is saying.  Even men with sensible views are excluded because they will not perform. Of course, there are women who do; and predictably, they are the only ones called repeatedly.”
 
CNN-News18’s Shakil said she deliberately seeks women panellists, especially as spokespersons of political parties, and tries to give female panellists the last word on news debates, because “men tend to dominate the conversations” while women are “less assertive and aggressive”.
 
Ghose observed that “women speakers tend to shy away from overly confrontational debates and contentious subjects”, except in the case of the female spokespersons of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
 
A lesson for India: How UK narrowed the gender gap in media panels
 
The broadcast news industry in the UK has experimented with several ways to end the under-representation of women’s views on television and radio.
 
The overall gender gap between male and female experts on flagship shows in news and current affairs broadcasting in the UK has narrowed from 4:1 in 2014 to 2.9:1 in 2016, research at the journalism department of City University, London, since 2013, indicates.
 
This 30% improvement is attributed to a slew of initiatives including the publicity around City University’s data on the under-representation of women experts in news programmes and its surveys on the attitudes of the media and professional women that may hinder their participation on television. The data stirred the House of Lords into asking for an investigation into the issue and in 2015, this report on the representation of female experts was released.
 
In 2013, the BBC Academy in London launched its first training day for expert women interested in becoming media commentators. There were 24 seats. Two thousand women applied.
 
In 2013 alone, at the end of four training days in London, Salford, Glasgow and Cardiff, the BBC Academy trained 164 women. Imagine the potential for such an initiative in a nation the size of India. The BBC continues to expand its Expert Women Database.
 
At the City University, Lis Howell, the director of broadcasting, leads a team of student researchers who regularly monitor flagship shows to record the gender balance of panels. Howell was of the opinion that journalism institutes in India could conduct similar projects to compel the media to explore ways to narrow the gender gap. The challenge would be finding the funds to pay student monitors to collect daily data. Television journalists would also question the methodology, Howell predicted, and “always be defensive”. Some broadcast journalists, for instance, responded to her department’s research surveys to say that it was more time-consuming to convince expert women to appear on screen, compared to men.
 
In 2013, when the City University published data on the lack of women experts in the media, the BBC considered it “a big strategic issue”, said Gurdip Bhangoo, head of Future Skills and Events at the BBC Academy, in London. In 2017, they had identified 48 new women experts.
 
“We aim to find 100 new expert women to appear in factual news programmes every year,’’ said Bhangoo. “Anecdotally, we found that more than half of the women we trained have been heard. We’ve got a format that works.’’ Bhangoo said that their initiative is replicable anywhere, but its success would depend on the “top editorial leadership” driving it.
 
(This article is based on, and partly reproduced from research and interviews for a December 2017 fellowship paper, Breaking News; Missing Views, for the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism in Oxford, UK, by Reshma Patil).
 

Time to ‘Militarise Hindus, Hinduise Nation’

By
-
0

The RSS Supremo Mohan Bhagwat belittles the Indian army, boasts of the sangh parivar’s superior “military preparedness” but none dare utter a word of rebuke; not the army chief, not the Prime Minister, not even the President who is also the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed forces.


Photo credit: North East Today

Can you imagine the leader of any organisation openly declaring that her/his people/activists have the ability to prepare an “army” in three days, can be deployed on the front within three days, question the ability of the security forces for quick operations, and yet not face any legal hassle?

A lesser mortal would definitely have been hauled up by now for such ”ánti-national” act. Well, when it comes to the ‘Pitrusangathan‘ – as the RSS is called in the larger Parivar – and its numero uno Mohan Bhagwat things move bit differently. Forget any hassles, what one witnessed is unbelievable. A minister of the government rushed to Bhagwat’s defence when RSS supremo’s speech in Muzaffarpur, Bihar caused an uproar in the country.

An apology from the RSS Supremo was demanded for ‘disrespecting the army and our martyrs’ and adding “an insult to every Indian…” (Rahul Gandhi) or transgressing ‘constitutional propriety’ ( Vijayan, Kerala CM), or ‘lowering the morale of the force. (Mayawati) etc…

The clarification of sorts provided by the Akhil Bharatiya Prachaar Pramukh of the RSS, Manmohan Vaidya, about this controversial statement added further insult to injury:

“..[B]hagwat ji had said that if a situation arises and the Constitution permits, Indian Army would take six months to prepare society, whereas swayamsevaks can be trained in three days as swayamsevaks practise discipline regularly. ..”

What Anand Sharma, spokesperson of the Congress said was more scathing. Demanding Bhagwat’s apology and a response from PM on this remarks, it said how the statement itself and the clarification provided smacked of a dangerous mindset:

“What the RSS chief has said is deeply disturbing and unacceptable. It amounts to insulting the Indian Army. Mohan Bhagwat’s statement about mobilising RSS supporters like an Army also means he is talking about RSS running a private militia. We have already seen the dangerous consequences of such private militia in Afghanistan, in the form of IS in Syria and in many African countries such as Angola. We will not allow such a design in India.”

A moot question arises: Whether RSS Supremo would have a change of heart and would seek apology for his ‘misrepresented’ statement or issue clarification.
Looking at the intransigence shown by the ruling dispensation on various occasions – where it has rather perfected the art of not saying sorry – it would be daydreaming to think that the RSS Supremo, formally head of the ‘largest cultural organisation in the world’, would express regrets. Anyone who entertains any doubt about this can have a look at the regular consultations between the ‘Pitrusangathan‘ and various stakeholders in the government or the fluidity of the boundaries between RSS and BJP, where Pracharaks metamorphose overnight into leaders of BJP and are easily accepted.

2

While debate would continue around the ‘ínsult’ heaped by the RSS Supremo on the army, one was bit surprised over the candidness with which Mohan Bhagwat spoke , frankly admitting what goes on within this ‘biggest cultural organisation in the world’.

In fact there are rare occasions when you get to hear such clear cut statements from people associated with it. e.g. Not very many people would remember today that when involvement of Hindutva fanatics in terror acts had made headlines, and RSS had found itself on the defensive, Mohan Bhagwat had made this significant statement talking to RSS members in Surat:

..of the majority of the people whom the government has accused (in various blast cases), a few had left voluntarily and a few were told by the Sangh that this extremism will not work here so you go away... (‘No place for radicals in RSS, says Bhagwat’, The Indian Express)
 

A combination of strict discipline, military type of training and action against the óther’ pervades the broad universe of Hindutva organisations.

Critics and opponents of this exclusivist project have been underlining it since quite some time.

Commissions appointed by governments to look into riots in post-independence India have been consistent in underlying the alleged role of the local level cadres of the Hindutva Brigade.

Scholars of communal conflicts who have observed /studied Hindu-Muslim riots in post-Independent India have talked about emergence of “institutionalised riot systems” in which the organizations of militant Hindu nationalism are deeply implicated.

e.g. The demolition of Babri Mosque by hordes of Hindutva Supremacist forces – which recently completed twenty five years – was also a very organised affair – which was cloaked under ‘spontaniety of the masses’ by interested quarters. e.g. The video magazine ‘Newstrack‘ had then sent a team of reporters on the infamous day:

The recordings captured Hindu leaders, including .., exhorting the crowd that the masjid must be destroyed and a temple built… Rehearsals of demolition teams practising with ropes, pick-axes and boulders were recorded by Newstrack. The images included Bajrang Dal leader .. in khaki shorts ‘directing’ with a whistle…

The idea of discipline and penchant for military type action is even visible in co-travellers on the Hindutva path. Remember what Justice Srikrishna commission – which was formed to look into Mumbai riots in Dec 1992 and Jan 2013 – had said about Bal Thackeray. It had unambiguously stated that Thackeray “like a veteran general commanded his loyal Shiv Sainiks to retaliate with organised attacks against Muslims”.

Interestingly relative newcomers on this path – who want to turn India into Hindu Rashtra – seem more explicit. Organisations like Sanatan Sanstha and Hindu Janjagruti Samity (SS and HJS) – where destruction of evildoers’ is an integral part of ‘spiritual practice’ and where this ‘destruction’ is to be done at ‘physical and psychological level’, seekers ( called ‘Sadhaks) are also provided with training in arms – rifles, trishuls, lathis and other weapons’ to facilitate this ‘Dharm Kranti’ (religious revolution) . A very important text in the training of the seekers/ Sadhaks is ‘Texts on Defence’ where seekers of divine kingdom are also imparted training with air rifles ( Vol 3 H – Self Defence Training, Chapter 6, Page 108-109).

3.

Could it be said that Bhagwat’s claim was ‘a slip of tongue’ or was an empty boast made to boost the morale of its cadres or he was serious about it.

While one can debate the timing of the statement, but nobody can say that he did not mean what he said or is ignorant of what he meant.

Reports galore where affiliated organisations of RSS – namely Bajrang Dal, Durga Vahini – are seen imparting training supposedly for self defence which also involves rifle training.

But what has largely gone unnoticed is the establishment of a proper military school by Dr BS Munje, mentor of Dr Hedgewar and one of the founders of RSS. (Apart from Dr Hedgewar, and Dr BS Munje, Dr LV Paranjpe, Dr BB Thalkar and Baburao Savarkar – VD Savarkar’s brother were present at the inaugural meeting of RSS on Vijaya Dashmi (Page 16, Khaki Shorts and Saffron Flags, Tapan Basu, Pradip Datta, Sumit Sarkar, Tanika Sarkar, Sambuddha Sen) which completed eighty years last year.

This military school had come under scanner when investigations started to unearth the sprawling network of Hinduva terror when it was discovered that premises of this school were used for holding military style training camps for band of fanatics. Reports had appeared in a section of the press that ‘[t]here are leads of some Hindu leaders from Bangladesh having attended the training camps held at the Bhonsala Military School, “(Outlook, 23 Nov 2008).

In one of the first exhaustive writeups “Hindutva’s foreign tie-up in the 1930s: Archival evidence” in Economic & Political Weekly, January 22, 2000 Marzia Casolari had provided details of Dr Munje’s tour of Italy, his meeting with Mussolini and his impressions of The Balilla institutions an idea conceived by Mussolini for the ‘military regeneration of Italy’ and his resolve to develop similar institution with ”our institution Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.”

India and particularly Hindu India need some such institution for the military regeneration of the Hindus: so that the artificial distinction so much emphasised by the British of martial and non-martial classes amongst the Hindus may disappear. Our institution of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh of Nagpur under Dr Hedgewar is of this kind, though quite independently conceived. I will spend the rest of my life in developing and extending this Institution of Dr Hedgewar all throughout the Maharashtra and other province. (Munje’s Diary)

After returning to India Moonje formed the Central Hindu Military Education Society at Nasik in 1935 and started the school on 12th June 1937. If one refers to the official website of the School one discovers that:

“…[T]he school started functioning in the Surgana Palace in Nasik city with 90 students on its roll. The Maharaja of erstwhile Gwalior state, H H Shriman Jivajirao Scindia inaugurated the main building of the school. In his inaugural speech, He said, “It is not a mere coincidence that within a short period of the opening of a first rate public school in India (he was referring to the Doon School, Dehradun), we are here today to open a first rate Military School.”

It is aimed,

“..to bring about military regeneration of the Hindus and to fit Hindu youths for undertaking the entire responsibility for the defence of their motherland. … to educate them in the ‘Sanatan Dharma’, and to train them “in the science and art of personal and national defence” (‘Central Hindu Military Education Society,’ NMML, Munje Papers, subject files, n 24, 1932-36).

As rightly noted by Prof Shamsul Islam it provided “Hindu military officers to the British Army in its campaign to crush the attempt by Subhash Chandra Bose led INA to liberate India” and it was thus a “colloborative project between the British rulers and their Indian stooges” which was executed by these Hindutva organisations’.

The school celebrated platinum jubilee of its founding in 2012 and Mohan Bhagwat was invited as a chief guest for the function. In his long speech he had made two significant points: One, “..[E]xpressing concern over the dominance of ‘rich and powerful people’ in politics, besides the soaring inflation rate, he said that India’s situation was better during the British rule”” Two, he …”laid stress on the need for imparting military education to students, citing rising threat to the nation”
 

1...1,8941,8951,896...2,696Page 1,895 of 2,696

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST

Join our mailing list to get the latest human rights news that matters, straight to your mailbox.

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST

Join our mailing list to get the latest human rights news that matters, straight to your mailbox.

Important Links

Other Links

CONNECT

Email: sabrangind@gmail.com

© Sabrang | All Rights Reserved