Harassment and Molestation after Slum demolitions routine: Women speak on March 8, 2018

March 9, 2018

This International Working Women’s day, March 8, 2018 saw over 100 women from slums across Mumbai come together at a temporary shed in Jai Ambe Nagar in Govandi, to share experiences and challenges faced by them. The public meeting was organised by Ghar Bachao Ghar Bano (GBGB) Andolan, a group engaged in advocacy for the rights of residents of slums.

The women, who came from slums in Mandala, Annabhau Sathe Nagar and Govandi, revealed how even in Mumbai, which is known to be one of the safest cities in India, they were not entirely free from gender based violence and that their safety and security largely depended on the material structures they occupied and the area in which they lived.

A Woman’s Burden

Living in slums could be challenging in more ways than one, especially when compared to the conditions of living in other regularised buildings. Women who live in slums, not only have to worry every day about managing basic amenities like water, that is not available at their door steps, but they also need to deal with the imminent threats of demolitions and sexual abuse and molestations, that follow almost as a pattern.

Speaking at the meeting, Sushila Gulab Kale, a resident of Jai Ambe Nagar in Govandi, said, “When we are evicted from our homes without notice, we are left on the roads, with no toilet facility. It puts our safety at risk in several ways, including possibilities of sexual molestation”

Additionally, pregnant women have to face more hardships. “My daughter gave birth to her child three days after our house was demolished by the government. We spent nights without shelter. No words can explain the pain that we went through after eviction” said Fatima, another resident who works as a sweeper on sub-contract with the Mumbai municipal corporation, present at the meeting. Fatima lamented on the tragedy and contradiction of her work and her living conditions, “I clean gutters throughout the day. But in our slums, we are forced to defecate in the open. Even then, people living in high-rise buildings adjacent to the open ground where we defecate throw stones at us. You tell us what are we supposed to do? Shall we not defecate and allow our stomachs to swell,” she asked. Fatima feels that even though people like her are the ones who are helping the government with its Swacch Bharat mission, it is they who suffer most, without any systematic intervention in their situation.

Several women from neighbouring settlements of Anna Bhau Sathe Nagar, Mandala, Bheemchhaya and Sanjay Nagar came forward to give testimonies about similar difficulties.

In a press release, the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) highlighted the perils of housing in Mumbai. It said, “Housing, which is a basic necessity, has simply been reduced to a commodity. It implies that if one can afford to buy a house only then he/she will have a house and if one cannot afford to buy a house then there is no provision to get the protection of even a minimum shelter.” NAPM says that the commoditization of housing is the reason for the existence of slum housing and closely linked to urban poverty. It draws attention to the terminology that is evolved around ‘slums’ and said that it is meant to ridicule those who were living in it. It added that the demolition of these settlements was not eradicating poverty but, in fact, has forced people to become “homeless, voiceless and invisible” population of the city who actually help sustain it. This aspect was closely linked to the women residing in these neighbourhoods who face multiple levels of marginalisation due to their socio-economic situation.

Voicing the collective anger towards politicians who make false promises before elections, Maya Sutar, a dweller of Jai Ambe Nagar said, “We have spent several years seeing politicians come to us with folded hands and promise us better facilities. After the elections, everyone forgets us. The only things the politicians leave behind are words. Shall we hold the words, like we hold air? They simply betray us!”

The women resolved to fight for their rights, “Though we are suffering, we have not given up. We will fight and we will win”, said Jameela Begum of Sathe Nagar slum and who also moderated the public meeting. Girija Gupte and Mary Antony of Jagrut Kamgar Manch were invited as guests in the public meeting.

Due Process Flouted in Most Demolitions
India’s Housing Crisis
Bombay HC order misused

The Chilling Lies the White House Tells to Stoke Suspicion About Muslims and Immigrants

March 9, 2018

The Trump administration’s own data shows that homegrown right-wingers and mass shooters are bigger threats than Muslims or immigrants. They want you to believe the opposite.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions (FBI / Flickr)

When you see an immigrant or a foreign visitor, especially from a Muslim country, should your first thought be that you might be looking at a possible terrorist?

Clearly, that’s how the Trump administration wants Americans to react. It was the message in the president’s first address to Congress a year ago, when he declared that “the vast majority of individuals convicted of terrorism and terrorism-related offenses since 9/11 came here from outside of our country.” At that time, he urged that the U.S. immigration system be reshaped because “we cannot allow a beachhead of terrorism to form inside America.”

There’s a misleading omission in Trump’s formulation, though: homegrown fanatics have killed many more Americans on U.S. soil than foreign-born terrorists have.

The disparity grows much wider if you include mass killings carried out not for any religious or ideological cause but (as we have recently been tragically reminded) by mentally troubled individuals. Indeed, in just two such shootings in the last five months in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Parkland, Florida, deranged shooters with assault rifles killed more than three times as many people as all foreign-born jihadists have killed in this country in the last 16 years.

Another key fact is missing, too: Only a fairly small number of those “terror-related” convictions were for acts committed or planned in the United States. Many more involved support, in various forms, for terrorist activity in other countries.

Still, Trump and his associates have repeatedly declared that terrorists sneaking into the country through a too-lax immigration system are a pressing threat to public safety in the United States.

That was, for instance, the administration’s principal headline earlier this year when it released a report from the Justice and Homeland Security departments, which claimed that nearly three out of every four individuals convicted in international terror cases in U.S. federal courts from 9/11 through 2016 were foreign born — a total of 402, by their count. Announcing that report, Attorney General Jeff Sessions proclaimed that it highlighted the ways in which “our immigration system has undermined our national security and public safety.” In the same press release, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen warned that the United States “cannot continue to rely on immigration policy based on pre-9/11 thinking that leaves us woefully vulnerable to foreign-born terrorists.”

Those and a long list of similar statements range from simply misleading to completely false. The deceptions occur in two stages. As a start, the data compiled within government agencies significantly overstate the incidence of Islamist terrorism in this country. Then the president and his associates regularly misrepresent what that already flawed data actually tells us, leaving the truth even farther behind.

“Terror-Related Cases” That Have No Relation to Terrorism
The basic database on which Trump and his associates rely is the “Chart of Public/Unsealed International Terrorism and Terrorism-Related Convictions.” It’s compiled and updated every year by the Justice Department’s National Security Division and lists defendants convicted on federal charges in cases since September 11, 2001.

Despite its title, the list includes a significant number of cases that are verifiably not terrorism-related, and a good many more in which a terrorism connection was not only not proved but remains highly unlikely.

Take Ansar Mahmood’s case. It’s far from the only example, but what makes it unusual is that the public record includes an explicit official acknowledgement that terrorism turned out not to be involved.

Mahmood, a 24-year-old legal immigrant from Pakistan, came under suspicion a few weeks after the 9/11 attacks when he was noticed taking photographs at a scenic spot along New York’s Hudson River. A nervous security guard called the police to report that a Muslim-looking man might be taking pictures of a nearby reservoir and water treatment facility.

He was soon picked up, but investigators quickly concluded that he had no connection whatsoever to terrorism. They did, however, turn up evidence that he had registered a car and cosigned an apartment lease for a Pakistani couple who had overstayed their non-immigrant visas and were in the United States illegally. He was quickly charged with “harboring aliens,” a deportable offense, and convicted. After a drawn-out appeal process, Mahmood was deported in 2005.

In a letter notifying him that his final appeal to set aside the deportation order had been rejected, William Cleary, a Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement official, wrote: “It was determined that you were not engaged in any terrorist activity and were quickly cleared of any suspicion of terrorist activity.” A few lines later, Cleary added a second time, “I am confident you did not engage in terrorist activity, you have never been charged as a terrorist or accused as being a terrorist.”

There could hardly be more conclusive evidence that Mahmood’s case had nothing to do with terrorism. Yet, years later, his name still appears on that Justice Department list of “Terrorism and Terrorism-Related Convictions.” His two friends, also deported after being found guilty of visa violations and obtaining false IDs, are on the list, too, although there was absolutely no suggestion of any terror connection in their cases, either.

Nor are these isolated examples.

Others on the conviction list who clearly were not terrorists include three Arab Americans, at least two of them naturalized U.S. citizens, convicted for buying a truckload of stolen breakfast cereal, and a group of 20 defendants, predominantly Iraqis, found guilty in a scheme to fraudulently obtain commercial driver’s licenses and permits to transport hazardous material.

There are also cases involving defendants convicted for false marriage claims, foreign students who illegally got jobs in violation of student visa rules, a young man from Saudi Arabia who stored child pornography on his computer, and various others where the record shows no mention of any terrorist link.
Even the most dangerous sounding of these, the one involving hazardous-material permits, may sound ominous, but the scam itself occurred in the 1990s, well before the 9/11 attacks, and prosecutors made it clear that there was no link with terrorism. So did the trial judge, who said he could not “characterize this as a successful prosecution of a terrorism case, because it was not.”

None of the 20 defendants who illegally obtained those licenses received any prison time. All were given probation; some paid modest fines. Those sentences would certainly have been far harsher if there had been any genuine suspicion that the defendants might be dangerous. (The driver’s license examiner they paid off at the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, an American, remains on the “terror-related convictions” list, too.)

Why Are They on the List?
Given the clear evidence that they were never terrorists, why are Mahmood and his friends, as well as those Iraqi truckers and others in similar cases, still officially identified as having been “convicted of terrorism,” as the Trump White House has inaccurately characterized everyone named on the Justice Department chart?

Or, in the only marginally more careful wording used in the list itself, why are they still guilty of “international terrorism-related offenses”?

The immediate reason is that, like Mahmood, they originally came to the attention of investigators looking for possible terrorist ties. In other words, their cases started out as possible terrorism ones and, under Justice Department procedures, simply remained in that category even when no such ties were found.

The broader reason? Counting them and others like them that way plays right into the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant, anti-refugee, and anti-Muslim agenda. It magnifies, falsely, the supposed threat of “foreign nationals” connected with “terrorism-related activity” in the United States.

Setting aside the cases that were clearly not in any way linked to terrorism, there are many more on the chart in which individuals were suspected of ties of some kind to terrorism but were never charged. In those cases, the question is simply left unanswered, but there can be no doubt that some of those suspects, too, were neither terrorists nor supporters of terror movements. In other words, that group similarly inflates the claimed total.

There is another strong hint that many on the Justice Department list are unlikely to have been either terrorists or to have had serious ties to such organizations and it requires no additional research.

It’s right there on the chart itself, in a column listing the sentences that defendants received for their crimes. More than 130 of the offenders on the list (both foreign and U.S.-born), when convicted, were given probation but no prison time at all or were sentenced only to time served before trial. Another 45 were sentenced to one year or less, including several token sentences of one day or, in a single case, a week.

Those light sentences — for more than a quarter of all the cases on the chart — certainly seem to indicate that no authority thought the defendants represented a terror threat.

Another Distortion…
Counting cases that have nothing to do with terrorism as “terror-related” isn’t the only way the administration has distorted the facts about immigration and the threat of terrorism. It also counts cases that have nothing to do with immigration.

For example, a White House fact sheet, summarizing the main findings of the January 16th Justice/Homeland Security report, says that 402 foreign-born defendants — the total given in the report — all “entered the United States through our immigration system.”

That is false. The report doesn’t say that at all.

You have to look carefully to find it, but the document explicitly says the opposite, stating that along with those defendants who had at one time or another passed through immigration controls, the 402 foreign-born offenders also include individuals “who were transported to the United States for prosecution.” Presumably, some of them were captured overseas by U.S. military or security agencies and some were turned over to the U.S. by a foreign government.

The Justice Department has not disclosed how many such individuals are on the list. The number, however, is apparently substantial. Researchers for the Lawfare Blog, working from an earlier version of the chart, determined that an even 100 defendants (later reduced to 99) “were extradited, or brought, to the United States for prosecution” without going through any immigration procedure. Including those cases as evidence of a lax immigration system is plainly deceptive.

They undercut the Trump administration’s anti-immigration narrative in another way, too.

Obviously, defendants who were extradited or otherwise brought into the United States for prosecution were more likely than those on the list as a whole to be charged with serious offenses and to receive much stiffer sentences. So adding them to the overall “foreign-born” figure not only gives a false impression of failures in immigration screening, but also inflates the threat that actual immigrants represent.

… And One More
The Trump administration’s message about “foreign-born terrorists” and the U.S. immigration system is clear enough: Dangerous people are coming into this country to do bad things to Americans.

Though you wouldn’t guess it from listening to the president or his attorney general and homeland security secretary, a much larger number of cases involved exactly the opposite problem: people leaving the United States, or trying to leave, to do bad things elsewhere.

Only a small minority of the guilty verdicts on the Justice Department’s conviction list were for committing or planning violent acts on U.S. soil. Significantly more defendants were tried for supporting terrorism abroad.

The comparison is dramatically clear in an analysis by the Cato Institute’s Alex Nowrasteh. Examining an earlier version of the Justice Department’s chart of convictions, he discovered that only 40 foreign-born defendants had been found guilty of “planning, attempting, or carrying out a terrorist attack on U.S. soil.” More than 200 were, however, convicted for “material support for foreign terrorists, attempting to join foreign terrorist organizations, planning a terrorist attack abroad, or a similar offense taking place abroad.”

The same pattern is evident even in the recent Justice/Homeland Security report, despite all the accompanying dire rhetoric about threats to public safety in America.

The report summarizes eight terror-related cases as “illustrative examples” of crimes by foreign-born offenders. Not one of those crimes caused harm to a person or damage to property in the United States itself. Three of the eight defendants came to the United States as young children. No immigration process, no matter how rigorous, could have screened them out. The same is true of a significant number of others on the Justice Department’s list.

Just one of the eight defendants — the only offenders actually identified in the report — had anything resembling a concrete plan for a terror attack in this country. Of the other seven, one made vague threats about carrying out “an act of martyrdom” in the United States, but only if he wasn’t able to go to Syria to join jihadist forces there. The other six cases involved individuals accused of supporting terror groups in other countries, with no mention of any possible acts inside the United States. The case summaries give no indication that any of the eight killed or injured an American anywhere.

A Chilling Footnote
There is one other revealing thread in the administration’s campaign to link immigration to terrorism. In the Justice/Homeland Security report’s statistical breakdown of terror-related convictions, a footnote to the last line, which shows that 147 defendants were “U.S. citizens by birth,” says: “Information pertaining to the citizenship status of the parents of these 147 individuals was not available at the time of this report’s issuance.”

The White House fact sheet repeated that point in its summary of the report, noting that it “does not contain information regarding the number of terrorism and terrorism-related offenses committed by individuals who are the children of foreign-born individuals.” It then added: “Terrorist attacks carried out by children of foreign-born individuals include the attack in Orlando by Omar Mateen, which killed 49 people and wounded more than 50 others, and the attack in San Bernardino, California, by Syed Rizwan Farook, which killed 14 people and injured 22 others.” (For the record, and it’s odd the White House didn’t mention it, Syed Farook’s wife, who accompanied him in the San Bernardino shootings, was an immigrant.)

Neither the report nor the White House statement explained what crimes committed by U.S.-born shooters have to do with its declared subject: terror-related acts by “foreign nationals in the United States.” Nor, obviously, does a mass shooting by a killer born in Chicago (Farook) or Long Island, New York, (Mateen) tell us anything about the effectiveness of immigration screening procedures or any other aspect of the U.S. immigration system. But it does fit a Trumpian vision of a world under threat from dangerous Muslims.

Perhaps those references to the “children of foreign-born individuals” were not meant to cast suspicion on the entire Muslim-American community. Possibly the White House and the Justice Department were not intentionally stoking public hostility and fear by implying that all Muslims, whether immigrants or born in the United States, should be regarded as potentially disloyal or dangerous.

But if there was a less chilling motive, it’s hard to imagine what it might be.

Arnold R. Isaacs, a journalist and writer based in Maryland, has written widely on refugee and immigration issues. He is the author of From Troubled Lands: Listening to Pakistani and Afghan Americans in post-9/11 America and two books relating to the Vietnam war. His website is www.arnoldisaacs.net.

Courtesy: http://fpif.org/

Women in Bangladesh parliament: Impressive only in number

March 9, 2018

In the current parliament, there are a total of 71 women lawmakers, 50 of whom occupy reserved seats

Women in parliament: Impressive only in number

Photo: Mehedi Hasan/Dhaka Tribune

Women’s representation in Bangladesh Parliament may seem satisfactory in terms of number, but when it comes to active participation in policy-making and public service, the picture is quite different.

In the current parliament, there are a total of 71 women lawmakers, 50 of whom occupy reserved seats. The elected lawmakers are mostly from the Awami League. Despite occupying one-fifth of the parliamentary seats, the women lawmakers do not get the same space as their male counterparts in decision-making and legislative processes, and are also held back in terms of facilities and allocations.

“The difference between allocations to the elected MPs [members of parliament] and the reserved seat MPs is huge, but we work as hard as the elected MPs,” said Safura Begum, Awami League lawmaker from Reserved Seat 2.

Gender-based discrimination is also a huge obstacle.

“Competing against our male colleagues is difficult; negative bias against women still exists in the political parties. Our male colleagues do not want to see us rise, and we face discriminatory attitudes even from our leaders,” said Hazera Khatun, the sole reserved seat MP from the Workers’ Party of Bangladesh.

Reserved seats hold no authority

The provision of reserved seats for women was introduced in the first parliament in 1973, with 15 seats reserved for women in addition to the 300 general seats. The number was later raised to 50 gradually.

The reserved seat MPs are not accountable to any constituencies like the elected MPs are, and they do not have a direct role in policy-making and legislative processes.

“We do not have any specific role to play, nor do we get specific instructions from the government,” said Awami League lawmaker Selina Jahan Lita from Reserved Seat 1.

However, reserved seat MPs have to work at the upazila-level, with an MP sometimes covering as many as 12 upazilas at once, said Awami League lawmaker Selina Akhter Banu from Reserved Seat 7.

“Yet, the [financial] allocation that we get to do our work is nothing compared to what the elected MPs get,” she told the Dhaka Tribune. “We get a lump sum, while the elected MPs receive three times the size of the allocation we receive.”

Workers’ Party lawmaker Hazera Khatun said: “All we can do is just raise the local issues and demands in parliament. The government does not really do anything to help us with our work.”

Gender bias still a huge problem

The political arena in Bangladesh is still dominated by men, and very few women succeed in rising up and taking the lead, said several women MPs.

Compared to their male counterparts, women political leaders do not get nearly enough backing during elections, nor the financial support, access to political networks, or cooperation within their parties – which is the main obstacle to the political empowerment of women, they added.

“Women are still afraid to stand against men when it comes to fighting for candidacy in general seats,” said Mahabub Ara Begum Gini, Awami League lawmaker elected from Gaibandha 2 constituency.

“Our male colleagues are not supportive enough to see us grow and take leadership roles in politics,” said Lutfa Taher, the sole reserved seat lawmaker from Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal. “This is why we have lost many aspiring women leaders with great potential.”

The number of elected women lawmakers in parliament is still too small, and that is because the political environment is not in favour of women, said Shirin Akhter, the only elected woman lawmaker from Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal.

“The lack of financial support is a big factor here. Women politicians still do not know how to raise money in politics, so in most cases – unless they have support of their families – they do not get enough money to get nominations or run their own campaigns,” she added.

Another huge factor is that most women political leaders lack clout on the ground, commented some lawmakers.

“If the government wants to empower women in politics, they have to give us the opportunity to step into more active roles,” said Reserved Seat 1 lawmaker Selina Jahan Lita. “More women must be given nominations – based on their qualifications – to take part in elections from general seats.”

The lawmakers also said the number of women representatives in the House should be increased to ensure the political empowerment of women.

Rowshan Ara Mannan, Jatiya Party lawmaker from Reserved Seat 47, said: “The government must raise the number of reserved seats in parliament to 60 from 50, and at least 60 women candidates should be nominated in general seats.”

This Article was first published on Dhaka Tribune

The Real Losers In The Northeast: Women

March 9, 2018

Mumbai: While the national-ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made unprecedented electoral gains in India’s northeast after assembly elections in Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland, women’s representation remains below India’s average and has declined further in Meghalaya and Tripura, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of electoral data.

Barely 3%, or six of 180 seats, across the three state assemblies (60 seats for each state) have gone to women–three each in Meghalaya and Tripura and none in Nagaland, show election data in this March 2018 report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a non-partisan advocacy.

This is a third of the national average of women representatives in state assemblies (9%), and a quarter of women’s representation in Parliament (12%), as IndiaSpend reported on March 8, 2016. Globally, India ranks 148 among 193 member-nations of the UN for women’s representation in parliament.

The low representation across these states comes despite a 48% rise in the number of women contesting elections in the three states this year–from 42 women in 2013 to 62 in 2018.

Women’s representation in decision-making is critical for socio-economic and political transformations, shows this UN study on women’s political participation and leadership.

Low participation of women in politics in the northeast region runs contrary to their performance on other gender development indices–where these states rank among the best in India–as IndiaSpend reported here, here and here.

Nagaland: No woman elected in 55 years

In a continuing trend since the state was formed in 1963, no woman has been elected to the Nagaland state assembly.

For the first time in 15 years since 2003, the state recorded five women contesting the elections, according to this ADR state report. In 2003, three women stood for the election; none were elected. In these 15 years, no woman stood or contested elections in Nagaland.

On a number of gender development indicators, Naga women do better than the Indian average. Fewer women here suffer from anaemia (23.9%), are forced into early marriage before 18 years of age (13.3%) or report spousal violence (12.7%). Most women in the state (97.4%) have a say in household decisions.

Source: Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report 2018 and Election Commission of India reports 2013, 2008 and 2003

Tripura: High female literacy but scant women MLAs

In Tripura, of 297 candidates who contested the 2018 assembly elections, 24 were women, shows this ADR state report. While this is nine more women than in 2013 (15), only three were elected–two fewer than in 2013 and equal to the state’s female representation in 2008.

The newly elected women representatives include two from the BJP, which won 35 seats, displacing the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). Of the 16 successful candidates of the CPI-M, one is a woman.

In the previous state assembly election in 2013, fewer women (15) had contested the election. Yet five were elected, two more than this term.

This low representation persists despite Tripura’s female literacy rate (89.5%) being among India’s highest, as IndiaSpend reported on February 17, 2018.

Source: Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report 2018 and Election Commission of India reports 2013, 2008 and 2003

Meghalaya: 33 women contested, three won

In matrilineal Meghalaya–where family descent is traced through the mother rather than the father–33 of 370 candidates standing for the 2018 state assembly elections were women, according to this state report by ADR.

Of these, three women, or 5% of 59 members of the legislative assembly, were elected. The state recorded its highest representation over the last 15 years since 2003 in 2013 when four of 25 women who stood for the elections won.

In the recent elections, the Congress was the single largest party, garnering 21 seats of which two are held by women.

The BJP, with two seats–both held by male candidates–forged an alliance with National People’s Party (NPP), United Democratic Party, Hill State People’s Democratic Party and the People’s Democratic Front to form the government in the state.

The new coalition has one woman elected from the NPP, which won 19 seats.

Meghalaya boasts of one of the best literacy rates (82.8%) for women in the country and has amongst the lowest rates of early marriage (16.9%). Most women in the state (91.4%) have a say in household decisions–higher than the national average (84%). However, the matrilineal state’s performance on gender indices has been slipping, as IndiaSpend reported on February 26, 2018: From 2006 to 2016, the rate of crime against women has risen three-fold from 7.1 per 100,000 population to 26.7.

Source: Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report 2018 and Election Commission of India reports 2013, 2008 and 2003

Anomaly of women’s empowerment in the northeast

Most of the states in the northeast region, like the rest of India, follow a patriarchal structure.

Last year, in February 2017, violence broke out over women’s political participation in municipal elections in Nagaland, killing two persons.

Traditional tribal bodies vehemently protested the imposition of Article 243 (T) in the state, which mandates 33% reservation for women belonging to scheduled castes and tribes in urban local bodies. The law was viewed by men as an infringement on Naga tradition and customs, as protected under Article 371(A) of the Constitution, and the state government argued it would impede the fragile peace in Nagaland, the Hindu reported on February 8, 2017.

Women’s groups, such as the Nagaland Mothers’ Association and Joint Action Committee for Women’s Reservation, challenged the state assembly’s decision in the Guwahati High Court, and later the Supreme Court, which upheld the women’s right to participation.

Traditional Naga law clearly defines gender roles and gendered responsibilities, explains this article in the Conversation from March, 2017. While men deal with societal issues, including village administration and councils, women are in charge of domestic issues and kept out of public office.

Even in Meghalaya, matriliny serves to reinforce tradition more than empower women, according to this 2012 Shillong Times report. “Women are not groomed to take part in politics due to various traditional and cultural restrictions but there has been a gradual change wherein women are allowed to take part in the Dorbar,” the report said.

“What makes it different from the rest of India is that the women in these societies have spaces where they can get organised, prioritise their agenda, voice their opinion and enact within their prescribed normative condition,” explained this April 2017 paper in the Indian Sociological Society, a journal. “The difficulty arises when these spaces get a defined rigidity. Political space has largely been an exclusive domain of men. Hence decision making and policy intervention takes a back seat for these women.”

(Mohan is an intern and Saldanha is an assistant editor with IndiaSpend.)

Courtesy: India Spend

How Saudi Wahhabism spread hatred of non-Muslims in Egypt

March 9, 2018

In October 2017, a special incident of killing took place in Cairo, the capital of Egypt. This was not the first and nor the last incident of its kind. In this incident a follower of Wahhabi theology stabbed to death a Coptic orthodox priest identified as Samaan Shehata. The murderer was caught and sentenced to death. During investigation it was revealed that he had been famous for his radical Wahhabi ideologies and that he made a cross mark on the victim’s forehead, which expressed his contempt for Christians.

This is not the only incident. Such incidents occur every day in all parts of Islamic world, but only a few are reported. When the incident of Coptic priest’s murder was reported, it sparked debate on the change of religious opinions. This is a complicated debate, as the sermons of the mosques located in parts of Egypt are not completed without cursing the Jews and Christians. In the 1970s when Wahhabism entered Egypt and Islamic world, such sermons and incidents started spreading. Saudi Arabia hosted al-Azhar’s religious clerics on official expenses, honoured and awarded them. After returning, these clerics polluted al-Azhar with the poison of Wahhabism, and thereby its theology spread across the country.

Today Al-Azhar and the Egyptian Ministry of Awqaf are willing to stop the history of the Wahhabi Islamic theology and reform the sermons. However the Takfiri thought after the three-quarter century has become so widespread that its end is not possible in any traditional way. In most Arab countries, including Egypt, people are accustomed to hearing not only the sermons cursing non-Muslims but also consider it their duty to utter “Aameen”. Almost from the pulpits of all mosques the cursing sermons are broadcasted. While doing so, the orators of these mosques do not even think for a moment that they are insulting the religion of five and a half billion people of this world and defaming Islam throughout the globe. In their sermons they have also started cursing all sects and schools of thought of Islam, other than Wahhabism.

Such curses [bad Dua] are mentioned in the books of Sirah narrating the Prophet’s biography (peace be upon him), while the same books also narrate and witness that the beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) never cursed any Jews or Christian. There is a contradiction in such a narration, but Muslims are or have been made accustomed to living in such contradictions. The elimination of such contradictions is not possible unless the hateful thoughts are expelled from these books. Such hateful thoughts are harmful for the Quran and Sunnah. Hence it is important to note that we can’t end terrorism unless we eliminate such thoughts.

However, the followers of Wahhabism insist that “the righteous Salafs” have narrated these curses from the beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) and thus they consider their duty to repeat such curses at the end of every Friday’s sermon. One of such curses is translated as, “Oh, Allah! Blind and deafen the polytheists, Jews and Christians, make their leaders poor, their women widows and their children orphans…”

The repetition of such a frightening and immoral speech in the minds of people increases hatred for non-Muslims so much that it becomes impossible to bring them towards moderation and toleration. While making their sermons, the Wahhabi orators also curse all other sects and schools of thought of Islam such as Shiites, seculars, nationalists, Sufis and so on.

Instead the orators should have prayed for guidance and progress of the non-Muslims, as the Quran says, “Allah does not forbid you from those who do not fight you because of religion and do not expel you from your homes – from being kind toward them and acting justly toward them. Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly.” (60:8) It is clear that in this verse the mention of kindness and justness towards those non-Muslims who are not involved in fighting Muslims is like a command, otherwise it should not have been mentioned in this verse. We can see what a huge difference there is between this universal message—which calls for kindness towards non-Muslims—and the act of cursing that displays intellectual deterioration of Muslims and defames Islam!!

This sort of curse does not categorically harmonize with the universal message of Islam. The essence of Islam is peace and brotherhood. There is no place for arrogance in Islam. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) always prayed for guidance of his opponents. It is mentioned in the books of Sirah themselves that even after the people of Ta’if attacked the Prophet by throwing rocks and stones at him, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “Oh, Allah! Guide Thaqeef” and also “Oh, Allah! Guide the tribe of Daus”. Removing the discrimination between Muslims and non-Muslims on the occasion of Hajjat ul Wida’ the Prophet said “O people, undoubtedly your Lord is one”. He could have said “O believers” but he cared for depth of harmony and coexistence. The holy Quran has also mentioned and praised good jobs of non-Muslims, as it says, “All of them are not alike; among the People given the Book(s) are some who are firm on the truth – they recite the verses of Allah in the night hours and prostrate (before Him). They accept faith in Allah and the Last Day, and enjoin good deeds and forbid immorality, and hasten to perform good deeds; and they are the righteous. And they will not be denied the reward of whatever good they do; and Allah knows the pious”. (The Quran 3:113-115)

Indeed long arguments can be presented in this regard that Allah does not want Muslims to curse non-Muslims. But what will happen, if Muslims accept that it is the will of Allah to curse non-Muslims? If that is so, then after becoming powerful, they will start massacring non-Muslims, create the history of another holocaust, and then non-Muslims will be denied their rights it is such crimes that the ISIS is perpetrating. If it is Islam, then will we have the right to say that the majority of Muslims condemn the terrorist organizations like ISIS, while they internally support them? It is impossible for one to attain nearness of Allah and His Prophet, if one adopts such an anti-human behaviour. One should know that Islam has not come to ruin the world but to settle it. Hence it is necessary to identify the symptom of ISIS and then eliminate it. It is important to note that you will need a ‘Kafir’ in order to attain the reward of converting one to Islam.

Courtesy: The New Age Islam

Gorakhpur: SP alliance to pose a tough challenge to BJP thanks to NISHAD party’s consolidation

March 9, 2018

A few kilometres east of Gorakhpur railway station, there is a lake named Ramgarh Tal. Walking along the banks of the lake, one might get a feel of walking around Mumbai’s seaside while looking at the multi-storey apartments under construction around the lake. The same path leads to Champa Devi Park where Akhilesh Yadav, the national president of Samajwadi Party and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, held a political rally on March 7 for the campaign of Samajwadi Party’s candidate Praveen Kumar Nishad, who also adds ‘Engineer’ as a suffix before his name.

By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net

Akhilesh Yadav sat on the stage with senior leaders of various small political outfits of the state, strengthening the argument that he has succeeded in forging a sort of “grand alliance” in Uttar Pradesh as well.

Along with him, Rajendra Chaudhary from SP, Dr Ayyub from Peace Party, Sanjay Kumar Nishad from NISHAD party, and RK Chaudhary from Rashtriya Swabhiman Party also shared the stage, with their joint candidate Praveen Kumar Nishad standing on the left side of the stage.

Apart from the above-mentioned political parties, several Communist parties, Rashtriya Lok Dal, and Rashtriya Vikas Party have also joined this alliance in Uttar Pradesh before the by-election in Gorakhpur Lok Sabha constituency to be held on March 11.

Dr. Ayyub, the founder-president of Peace Party made the aims of the alliance clear while speaking on stage. “A secular alliance comprising every group of the society needed in the state. This alliance is a first major step towards that.

“We will bring justice to Dalits, OBCs, Muslims and poor people in the polling on March 11,” he said. Even though the Peace Party does not have much of a base in Gorakhpur, it has a long association with NISHAD party. Even in Muslim-dominated localities of Gorakhpur, people have only heard of Peace Party. Rashid Qureshi, a 43-year-old meat seller in Urdu Bazaar of Gorakhpur, said, “We know about Ayyub, his son, and their party. But I must add here that we have not seen them ever among us.”

Muslims in Gorakhpur are likely to vote in the majority for the newly-forged alliance but the only reason behind this is the name of Samajwadi Party, which is an old favourite of Muslims of the state. “Samajwadi Party is only alternative to the Bharatiya Janata Party, and that has nothing to do with Peace Party or its campaign,” added Qureshi.

However, one of the biggest game changer in the by-election equation is the NISHAD Party. The ‘Nirbal Indian Soshit Humara Aam Dal’ better known as NISHAD party was founded by Sanjay Kumar Nishad, who has also been a member of The All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF). Experts in Gorakhpur believe that in the last few years, BAMCEF-trained Sanjay Kumar Nishad has managed to create a large base in the rural areas of the district.

Maybe this explains the reason behind the huge turnout in March 7 rally of Akhilesh Yadav in Gorakhpur. “We did not have to do much to gather people here. Workers and supporters of NISHAD party did most of the work to gather people here,” confessed one of the workers of Samajwadi Party on the condition of anonymity.

On Tuesday, March 6, hundreds of Nishad party members along with Sanjay Kumar Nishad entered Gorakhnath Temple and prayed for their win in the election. Sanjay Nishad conducted a press briefing outside the temple and made the same old, but well-known claim that the Gorakhnath Temple belonged to the Nishad community and lashed out at Yogi Government. This issue has often been brought up by the Nishad community especially in the context of the current politics of Gorakhpur, but very few media outlets carried the news next day.

According to journalists and the spectators, the rally on Wednesday was one of the biggest political rally someone held for the upcoming elections. Women, children, and senior citizens were fairly visible in the crowd. Sunita Devi, a 36-year-old housewife who held the flag of NISHAD party high, told TwoCircles.net, “It is an added attraction for us to see Dr Sahab (a famous nickname for Sanjay Kumar Nishad) with Akhilesh Ji. Yogi Ji is the leader of the temple and the people around it, but this alliance will take care of all.”

In his address, Sanjay Nishad called the ‘BJP’ the “Bharat Jalao Party” and said, “This (the alliance) is an attempt to consolidate the 70 percent votes which were cast against BJP in last general elections, and we will succeed in doing that.”

He further said, “I have committed my son — Gorakhpur candidate Praveen Kumar Nishad — to the principles of Samajwadi Party,” a statement which Akhilesh Yadav endorsed later by saying that “Praveen is the son of NISHAD party, but he is also the younger brother of the Samajwadi party.”

Sanjay Kumar Nishad also attacked Yogi Government, holding them responsible for infant and child deaths in Baba Raghavdas Medical College, Gorakhpur last year. “Yogi should have been resigned from the post taking moral responsibility of the same, but he did not,” Nishad said.

It is important to note that the Samajwadi Party started losing ground support in Gorakhpur since Yogi Adityanath aka Ajay Singh Bisht became the MP of Gorakhpur. It was always the division of votes of Nishad, Muslim and other backward communities between several parties which used to give a huge winning margin to Gorakhnath Temple. But the current by-election has put SP back in the fight. Ravi Kumar Gaud, 32-year-old rickshaw puller said, “I used to give my vote to Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) or NISHAD Party, but this time I hope my vote to SP will not go for a loss.”

As the BSP has extended support to SPs alliance for the by-election — even though none of the leaders from BSP was present on Wednesday rally — a major chunk of votes are likely to shift towards SP alliance. Raju Kumar, a 29-year-old jobless voter shares, “We have the conviction to vote for BSP since long. But in this election, Mayawati has told us to go with SP. Hope that will change something.”

The mysterious Tiwari Hata, which is ‘silent’ this time
The rift between Brahmins and Thakurs in Gorakhpur is not new, but it came out in the open after a raid that was conducted on ‘Tiwari Ahata’ or more popularly known as ‘Hata’ — the house of Harishankar Tiwari, Yogi’s rival in Gorakhpur situated in the middle of the Gorakhpur — soon after Yogi sworn in as a Chief minister last year.

Tiwari Hata of Gorakhpur (Image: Siddhant Mohan/ TwoCircles.net)

Ex-cabinet minister and BSP leader Hari Shankar Tiwari has been a source of Brahmin pride in Gorakhpur and nearby areas. Considered a Bahubali, Tiwari has succeeded in creating a centre of Brahmin consolidation in Gorakhpur, a city which has a large chunk of Thakur voters. Yogi Adityanath, who comes from a Thakur background, has been a rivalry of Harishankar since he bagged the Loksabha seat of Gorakhpur 20 years ago.

Tiwari, who has been one of the favourites of BSP leader Mayawati, faced humiliation after UP Police conducted a raid on his residence on April 22 last year, and apprehended six people. Irrespective of the administrative explanation, people in the Gorakhpur knew that the raid was conducted on the direct orders of Yogi Adityanath, who wanted to humiliate Tiwari. Otherwise, there was no specific reason which caused the police to dare to enter the premises of Harishankar Tiwari’s house after almost three decades.

But even after such episodes, Hata does not speak. None of the members of the family of Harishankar Tiwari or any of the men living in the Hata want to speak to the media over election strategies. We entered a ‘Hata’ early evening and met Bahubali Mishra, one of the several managers in Hata in his early 30s. After many attempts, Mishra spoke freely, “Everyone knows here that BSP has supported Nishad candidate of SP. But we see no activity in Hata about that.”

It certainly feels strange that owing to BSP for a powerful politics, Hata seems silent when it actually has the chance to defeat Yogi Adityanath or BJP or the power centre of Gorakhnath Temple. The compound is filled with four-wheelers, but they rarely leave for campaigning. None of the vehicles or establishments has the flag of Praveen Kumar Nishad or Samajwadi Party or even the BSP. Mishra concludes by whispering, “This is not an election day in Hata. We are doing almost nothing besides our daily managing activities.”

Vinay Shankar Tiwari, Member of Legislative Assembly from BSP and son of Harishankar Tiwari, is in Lucknow for assembly session. Another worker tells us, “MLA Ji is in Lucknow. If he would have given us responsibility, people would have been roaming around campaigning.”

The idleness implies that the Hata does not want to oppose the BJP this time, which has fielded Upendra Dutt Shukla, a Brahmin. Rather, the Hata seems unaffected with the politics going on both sides. Senior journalist Manoj Kumar Singh tells, “Hata has always been following a closed-door politics leaving everyone in dark. But this time they are not even trying to consolidate Brahmin votes against BJP. It seems that they are trying to keep themselves out of the equation.”

But where will the Brahmin votes go in the absence of Hata’s voice? Akhilesh Kumar Pandey, a 39-year-old social activist, says, “Brahmins, especially the ones who are not part of the set up of Gorakhnath Temple, have a long history of opposing it. But when it comes to lining up with Nishad or Muslims, we refrain. So obvious choice would be going with BJP.”

Usually, Brahmins tend to go against Yogi Adityanath, but seeing his diminishing power in the larger politics, the Brahmins may support BJP’s Shukla. “In absence of a voice from Hata, people have no one to influence their insight. So they may go for BJP this time,” added Pandey.

Hindu Yuva Vahini: A missing ‘talk of the town’
“When I hear the word Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV), two things come to my mind: Yogi Adityanath and Gorakhpur,” says Pankaj Jaiswal, a fellow traveller with us to Gorakhpur. But keeping the HYV in focus, no one in Gorakhpur talks about Yogi anymore. Keshav Kumar Singh, 32, a member of HYV, meets us in Gorakhnath Temple. Keshav says, “Soon after Yogi Ji won the election, we were almost stopped assigning tasks. Soon, upar ke log cleared to us that we have to look at the organization’s function and agenda unlike what we were doing earlier.”

Singh clarifies. “Earlier, we had to create a momentum in the society about Hindu pride and the young generation’s association. But we all are now a part of a larger politics which is controlled by Bharatiya Janata Party, so we exercise other sorts of tasks.”

A BJP supporter at Gorakhnath Temple (Image: Siddhant Mohan/ TwoCircles.net)

Most of the members of Hindu Yuva Vahini have either left or joined other organisations. Many work with the BJP, many shifted to some other party, few have left the path of radical politics and are now involved in a business. However, there remains a small section of people who are willing to revive the Vahini even after Yogi’s denial. One of such member talked with TwoCircles.net on the condition of anonymity. He said, “Yogi Ji does not need the organisation which actually built his stature as ‘Hindu Hriday Samrat’ (the king of Hindu hearts). He has a larger base of workers from BJP and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh which is spread in more diverse areas, and they are doing enough to keep him in the sky.”

“Now many of the members of HYV take orders from BJP’s small-scale leaders, which is somehow not understandable because it was Yogi earlier who used to be our boss. But we know that if we want to be involved, we have to accommodate with the new development,” added the member who admitted that he has been trying to get a ticket for next village-level elections.

Gorakhnath Temple in Gorakhpur (Image: Siddhant Mohan/ TwoCircles.net)

With the candidature of Upendra Shukla, the claim to govern Gorakhpur has slid from the hands of Gorakhnath Temple to the BJP. With this, one of the last local reasons to keep Hindu Yuva Vahini alive has also come to an end. Many in Gorakhpur were influenced by HYV groundwork, but now at least among the lower castes and Muslims, the BJP does not have a good image.

Even Yogi Adityanath did not want to have Shukla as a candidate because the latter never had good relations with Yogi or his camp. Maybe this is the reason that workers close to Yogi Adityanath are half-heartedly involved in the campaign. But Yogi has sorted his ties with Shukla, which explains why just a week back, Yogi arranged the quick and efficient treatment of Updendra Shukla when he was diagnosed with a blood clot in his brain.

BJP might be covering the story of Shukla’s illness and his comeback in just five days of time after operation, but Shukla is not clever enough to do that as he announces from the stages now, “Yogi Ji has saved my life.”

Muslim factor supports the new equation
Maybe it is the new social engineering of Samajwadi Party, or the recent anti-Madrasa or anti-Muslim announcements or decisions by the Yogi government, or even the recent interference with the personal laws, but Muslims are clearly alienated from the Yogi camp this time. This also applies to Rasoolpur, a Muslim-majority locality surrounding Gorakhnath Temple, where a fair amount of Muslims used to vote for Yogi Adityanath as his camp inside the temple still deals with the everyday problems of Muslims.

Mohammad Shamim Ansari runs a cloth shop in Rasoolpur. He said, “This time, we are keeping our political and social equations far apart from each other because socially, the Temple helps us in the everyday matter, no doubt. But when it comes to politics, there is BJP which is strictly against Muslims. Many of our brothers are not voting for BJP this time.”

Rasoolpur locality of Gorakhpur (Image: Siddhant Mohan/ TwoCircles.net)

“Many of us are of the opinion that we will collectively go for Samajwadi Party, as many of us had already been doing that, which will make our survival easier, at least in Gorakhpur,” adds Ansari. If claims made by Ansari stands correct, then BJP might lose few more votes of Muslims, apart from those of Nishads, Jatavs, a few Brahmins and other backward castes.

But will these changes in social equations affect Yogi’s kingdom for the two decades? Let’s look at the numbers. In the general elections of 2014, Yogi bagged 51.8% votes and ended up winning the election with the margin of 3.12 lakh, a number which was not touched by SP, BSP, and Congress collectively in the same year.

SP and BSP, have both been picking Nishad and Brahmin candidates alternatively for the past many Lok Sabha elections thereby cutting the votes of each other thus handing over the seat to BJP almost as a gift. So the past numbers indicate that indeed BJP is on the victory side, but the newly-forged alliance between SP and BSP by including NISHAD party in between is sparking a debate that first time in three decades, Gorakhpur is going to witness a real political fight.

If 3.5 lakh Nishad voters, 2 lakh Dalit voters and about 2 lakh OBCs in Gorakhpur consolidate without much difference, it may give rise to a new political episode in the district.

No game for Congress, yet again
In Gorakhpur, there is either Yogi Adityanath or Samajwadi Party. Almost no voter in Gorakhpur talks about Surahita Karim Chatterjee, the Congress candidate for upcoming by-polls. Karim is a well-known name in Gorakhpur and tries to win the election, but even many of the state and national level leaders and planners of Congress party do not have high hopes for her.

A senior state-level party worker told TwoCircles.net, “Surahita indeed is going to lose her deposit this time. It was never a fight for us, even though she performed well in 2012 Mayoral elections.”

For the past many years, Congress’ vote percentage has remained between 2.6% and 4.9% and almost every time, it has lost its deposit. And this time too, all thanks to the polarisation of votes between SP and BJP, Congress may face the same fate again.

The social engineering adapted by Samajwadi Party, and formulated by NISHAD party, has made the by-election extremely interesting in Gorakhpur. If this alliance performs well on March 11, the alliance may continue for 2019 general elections also, but it is indeed sure that if BJP witnesses a tough win or even a loss, Yogi will sure try to take back the charge.

Courtesy: Two Circles

A Look at Sexism in the Medical Field

March 9, 2018

To commemorate the International Women’s Day, we decided to publish a short excerpt from an essay, written originally in Kannada, by H S Anupama. The excerpt examines sexism and sex/gender based discrimination in the medical field. An English translation of the essay, in its entirety, will be available on our website soon.

Translated by Yogesh S

Sexual and gender based discrimination is unique to the human species. There are number of ways in which this discrimination is practiced across the world, irrespective of culture and time. Even before a female child is born, she is subjected to discrimination and injustice; and this continues till her death. To understand the reasons for such discrimination, we need to begin by looking at the nuances of sexl/gender based politics. Social and religious institutions are, essentially, purveyors of sex/gender based discriminatory practices and inequality; these institutions are fundamentally discriminatory, where women are treated as second class citizens; the history of women is a history of repression.

This history of repression, and its continuation today, has made it necessary to for us to look at sex/gender, while discussing any issue. No analysis or discussion can be free of sex/gender. When we discuss the nature of the institution of family, social issues, and political developments, it is very important for us to also consider the sex/gender politics, and how it plays out in families, in our society, and in politics. Sex/gender based inequality can be seen taking diverse forms today, which is indicative of the change in sexual politics.

The hierarchical caste system in India has assigned a second class status to women; this is true for women of all castes. A woman enjoys no rights guaranteed by the law of the land. As per 2018, only 2.23% of the representatives in power are women; 60 crore women in the country are represented by 59 women in the parliament, a mere 9%. The policy of reserving 33% seats for women has been followed for decades now, but it has proved ineffective. On the one hand, women’s roles in many fields are neglected, and, on the other hand, women are forced to give in to restrictive moral values and belief systems in the name “tradition”. In such a scenario, the sexual politics in the medical field also reflects this.

In the medical field, we have the responsibility of attending to everyone and anyone who needs medical attention; it is a field which gives a ray of hope to all those who want to live a long life. One would assume that medical professionals, at least, would be able to see the dark side of the human society; would be able to identify the discrimination; would not engage in it. But, it is unfortunate that the medical field is far from being a space free of gender discrimination.

Medical practitioners have reduced women to mere consumers. Women trust the doctors to help them during pregnancy, childbirth, menstruation, along with any other health issues that they might have. This, in turn, makes doctors “trustworthy,” a “source of strength,” for many women, especially in times of distress caused by physiological conditions that require medical attention. This is an overly romanticised, almost idolised, image of doctors and the medical field. After all, medical professionals and doctors are a part of the same society which practices sexual/gender discrimination, and one can see the influence that this has even on this “noble” profession.

Starting from a woman’s birth, right up to her death, the medical field exploits the vulnerability of women’s position and adds to the sexl/gender based discrimination that they face in the society. This reality of the medical field only becomes visible when one talks about female infanticide. This article dwells upon other discriminatory practices, apart from infanticide, which doctors, and the medical field in general, perpetuate and engage in.

Womanhood: Culturally constructed and technologically modified
Indeed, today, every part of a woman’s body has become a site of medical interventions. Including surrogacy, the uterus has been reduced to an object of research, study, and trade. There is a difference in the way that sexual/gender politics plays out in the case of a female doctor and a female patient.
Sexism, that finds legitimacy in the cosmetic industry, is a result of growing capitalism. A woman’s body is seen as an object of pleasure, to be put to aesthetic purposes. Cosmetic dentistry and cosmetic surgery are the most popular. Teeth brightening, making it gleam like crystals; changing the skin colour and hair colour, which come with the added burden of having to take colour protection measures; “enhancing” the shape of the nipple —all these, and other such procedures, are not medically necessary, they’re not done in order to cure someone of an ailment or medical condition. Doctors appear in the advertisement for these procedures and cosmetic products, such as advertisements for a product that prevents of hair loss, split ends, wrinkled skin, or advertisements for hair tip cleansing. India’s cosmetic industry is valued at $ 950 million. By 2020, Indians will be the largest consumers of cosmetic products in the world. Baldness, split-ends in the hair, facial wrinkle, these aren’t life-threatening conditions. Yet, millions of rupees are invested in the drug industry to manufacture drugs that treat these conditions.

Plastic surgery is a good example to discuss here. The hospitals that perform these procedures are more like “garages,” meant to repair and fix the shortcomings in one’s beauty. There are surgeries to increase the size of breasts, change their shape, to rectify noses, to shape eyelids. Plastic surgery, which was once used for disfigured or maimed people, is, today, being used for most cosmetic purposes. Believe it or not, most of the plastic surgery procedures in the 21st century are done to increase breast size, followed by hymen repair surgeries. A woman is still expected to maintain her virginity in order to be considered chaste. It is regrettable that her body is reduced to a mere object, meant only for the sexual gratification of a man.

As everyone knows, the hymen in the vagina breaks during the first sexual intercourse. Girls who are involved in strenuous physical activity, which can sometimes rupture the hymen, are scared of being labelled as promiscuous and shamed. In some cases, a girl is made to go through a virginity test, where her bleeding on the first night after marriage, after having sexual intercourse with her newly wedded husband, is seen as a marker of virginity. Instead of challenging these customs, and trying to change them, the availability of hymen repair procedures is only popularising such beliefs. Girls in metropolitan cities wait eagerly for hymenoplasty. It is shameful and ridiculous that a woman would do this to herself.

Women, through social conditioning, are made to believe that it is only their sexual organs that are of any value. The medical field, and the advances in technology, instead of breaking this parochial belief, pander to it. Instead of cultivating scientific temperament in people, unscientific beliefs, archaic morality, and superstitions are being catered to.

Genital mutilation is another practice that needs to be looked into. Women’s genital mutilation surgery is a common practice in many Muslim countries around the world. Their genitals are cut off during circumcision and sewed into a hole. It is a practise based on the belief that the virginity of a woman has to be protected till her marriage. On the first night, the bridegroom, using a small knife, breaks the stiches. For many of these women, sex can be a painful activity for up to three months, while some cannot have intercourse at all. When these women deliver babies, the surgery is repeated again, preventing them from having sexual intercourse. It is almost as if female sexual genitals are only meant for the sexual gratification of men and for producing children, but not for the sexual pleasure of the woman herself.

Even today, 6000 females are subjected to genital mutilation. Doctors facilitate in secret, as it is illegal. And let us not forget the British surgeon who cut off the clitoris of girls he considered dirty, or those who were euphoric, or amber, claiming that they were wicked and that their wickedness stemmed from their clitoris.

This just shows us that all the medical education and training that these doctors get has failed to rid them of their sexist world view.

H S Anupama is a doctor by profession. She finished her medical degree at Bellary Medical College. She has been running Jalaja General And Maternity Clinic at a small village in coastal Karnataka since 24 years. She works in collaboration with many women’s, dalit and democratic organisations. She runs a publishing house called “Kavi Prakashana” and is an ex-member of Kuvempu Bhasha Bharathi Pradhikara.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

Why the Sangh Parivar Wants to Break Lenin’s Statues

March 9, 2018

They are afraid that his ideas will appeal more to Indian people and uproot their own retrogressive ideology.

Image Courtesy: Marxismo Crítico.com

Since the BJP-IPFT government has assumed power in Tripura dozens of CPI (M) offices have been vandalized and their cadre is being constantly attacked. The CPI (M) has claimed that more than 500 cadres have been attacked till now and more than 200 hundred offices have been vandalized. In this complete breakdown of law and order, supporters of BJP broke Vladimir Lenin’s statue in south Tripura . A video of this incident shows how the goons wearing saffron caps are breaking down the statue using a bulldozer and others are shouting “Bharat Mata ki Jai”.

But we should understand here that it is not just about a statue. What is the Sangh Parivar trying to prove by pulling down Lenin’s statue? They have already declared that this is an ideological war. But then the question arises: what is the symbolic influence of Lenin which BJP and the Sangh want to destroy? Another question which is being raised by some Sangh supporters is what is a foreign leader’s statue doing in India?

Let us first understand the symbolic significance of Lenin. Lenin is one of the biggest pillars of the ideology of socialism. He not only gave the ideology new dimensions but also played an important role in building the first socialist state of the world. Socialism in very basic language is an ideology which says that capital should not rule the world, it should be ruled by the common people and it also shows the path for achieving this goal. If we state this in even more simpler terms then socialism aims for an equal and just society ultimately moving towards a classless society. Here it should be added that even the preamble of Indian constitution states that “WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens…..”

The ideology of socialism was formulated in a scientific way by Marx and Engels, and Lenin took the flame forward. Socialists believe that whenever there is a change in modes of production new classes emerge, but it does not put an end to the exploitation of one class by the other. Socialism showed the world which was divided on the lines of religion, race and delusions that it was actually constantly being divided into two classes – capitalist and the working class. The capitalists have control over means of production and the working class sell their labor to live a miserable life. The world is ruled by the capitalists because they control the means of production and the working class have to lead a miserable life because they don’t have any other option but to sell their labor at a minimal price. The world for the first time in history got to know that poverty is not because of sheer chance or ones past sins but it is a result of exploitation of workers by the capitalists. The solution to this problem was that the workers of the world have to be united and break the chains of this unfair system to establish a fair and just system.

This beautiful idea was developed by Lenin to apply in conditions of countries like Russia. He gave the teaching of how to make a vanguard party for which revolution would be the sole purpose. He explained to the masses what revolution would actually mean and showed how it could be achieved.
In his book “State and Revolution” Lenin explains how all the states which exist in the world are representatives of the ruling class – mostly capitalist in today’s world – and hence they are used as a tool for exploiting the working class. How if workers and peasants gain control over the means of production they can end this exploitation and build an egalitarian society. One of his great contributions was also that he explained what imperialism is. Lenin taught that when capitalism develops to a very advanced stage, it is no longer able to get enough profit from one country and it economically (and often physically) captures and starts ruling over other countries. This is called imperialism and he also explained how to defeat it by breaking it at its weakest link.

The historical importance of Lenin is so big because under his leadership a truly peoples’ state was established for the first time in the world. The people of Russia breaking the chains of oppression created a state, the USSR, which gave women economic and social rights and for the first time in history gave them voting rights. Apart from this it gave free health care, it achieved 100% literacy in a small period of time and made huge advances in the area of science and technology which included sending the first man in space. According to the famous economist Angus Maddison “Soviet economic growth per capita between 1913 and 1965 was the fastest in the world, of all the major or developed countries – faster, that is than in Japan”. Apart from this, Soviet Union became the first state in the world which made employment a fundamental right and ended unemployment till 1936.
After the Russian revolution it was the ideology of Marxism Leninism which inspired the Cuban, Vietnamese, North Korean and Chinese socialist revolutions.

For all those who ask the question that why have a statue of Lenin in India, the answer comes here. The taking down of the Tsarist regime in Russia inspired all the third world to break the shackles of colonialism which resulted in the liberation of India and other third world countries. Lenin had been a supporter of national liberation struggles and also extended his support for Indian independence.

Our country’s biggest revolutionary Bhagat Singh was also inspired by Lenin as is very evident from his writings. In his article “To young political workers” Bhagat Singh has urged the youth of India to learn from Lenin and to work for a socialist revolution. He writes “We require — to use the term so dear to Lenin — the “professional revolutionaries”. The whole-time workers who have no other ambitions or life-work except the revolution. The greater the number of such workers organized into a party, the great the chances of your success.”

On 21st January 1931 Bhagat Singh and his comrades wrote a Telegram on Lenin’s Day which they read out in the court, it read “On Lenin Day, we send hearty greetings to those who are doing something for carrying forward the ideas of the great Lenin. We wish success to the great experiment Russia is carrying out. We join our voice to that of the international working class movement.” It is a historical fact that just before his death Bhagat Singh was reading Lenin’s Biography.

Apart from Bhagat Singh the Gadar revolutionaries and Chittagong revolutionaries also joined the socialist movement. Bhagat Singh’s comrades like Shiv Verma, Ajoy Ghosh and Yashpal all became important figures of the socialist movement. Not just socialists but when the Russian Revolution happened, even the radicals in the Congress like Bipin Chandrapal , Bal Gandhadhar Tilak and Lala Lajpat Rai welcomed the event and drew inspiration from it. The workers movement of India got a massive boost after the 1917 revolution and between 1919 and 1921 the country witnessed massive workers strikes. From Jawaharlal Nehru, Periyaar to Ravindranath Tagore all praised the Soviet Union when they visited the country in 1930s.

This is the answer to all those who ask what is the impact of Lenin on Indian freedom struggle. As far as the question of a foreign ideology is concerned, socialism shows the way ahead for ending poverty and exploitation which can be applied in all the countries but in different ways. Socialism is an international ideology because capitalism has been established across the world. The economic recession of 2008 this became evident as the crisis affected ever country on the globe. In these times of huge income inequality where we see 1% of people in India control 73% of the wealth the ideas of Lenin become even more important. Also, all those so called nationalists who are saying his is a foreign ideology, take lessons of nationalism from Hitler and Mussolini. One look at the texts of the “Guruji” of RSS Golwarkar shows that.

It is clear that the BJP and Sangh are scared of the ideas of Lenin and that is why they broke the statue. They along with the Congress represent the capitalist class which has the control over all resources of the country and are creating this income inequality. The Sangh Parivar knows that only the torch bearers of Leninism can demolish their rule of tyranny. In Lenin’s own words “fascism is the decay of capitalism” and hence they are scared. But they are forgetting that just breaking his statue can’t kill his ideas. Till there is exploitation in the world his ideas will keep on giving strength to the people who are fighting against exploitation. This reminds me of these lines of the revolutionary poet Pash “mai ghaas hun mai apke har kiye dhaare par ug jaunga” [I am grass, I will grow on all that you have ever done]

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

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