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Inequality is not inevitable, it’s a policy choice, says Oxfam

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Last month, Oxfam released its annual inequality report at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. This year’s report, titled “Reward Work, Not Wealth” highlights how the global economy enables a wealthy elite to accumulate vast fortunes while hundreds of millions of people struggle to survive on low wages.

indonesia
The global economy enables a wealthy elite to accumulate vast fortunes while hundreds of millions of people struggle to survive on low wages, according to an Oxfam report. EPA/Mast Irham

Athia Yumna, a senior researcher at the SMERU Research Institute who specialises in inequality issues, spoke to one of the report’s authors, Max Lawson, Head of Inequality Policy at Oxfam International, to discuss the report’s key messages and explore its relevance to Indonesia.

Athia: So, this year’s report highlights the theme of work and how we fight increased inequality by encouraging decent work. Is that the main message?
Max: Yes, exactly right. We know from the experience of countries like Brazil, and now quite excitingly Korea as well, big increases in minimum wage can make a big difference to inequality.

There’s a great graph in the report, which we got from fantastic work done by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Asia. When you look at the compliance rate of minimum wage as well as that between women and men, there is a huge variation between countries and it is clear you need more investment in higher minimum wages and enforcement of minimum wage to make a big difference.

The other thing that really stuck with me in producing the report, was the human cost of these things. In Bangladesh, women workers don’t drink enough water in very hot conditions because they don’t want to go to the toilet [as they avoid toilet breaks to fulfil their work target], and it is quite common to have infection as a result. In the US, you have stories of poultry workers wearing diapers to work.

Athia: What is the aim of launching this report in Davos [at the World Economic Forum]?
Max: The main reason for launching this report around Davos is not because we think that the problems of the inequality crisis would be solved by the people of Davos. We think the inequality crisis ultimately will be solved by progressive politics and the power of ordinary people to demand change.

But by using the Davos event, where media focus on the richest people, the business and political leaders attending this meeting, and the world’s awareness of that, [there] is an opportunity to show that the problem is getting worse.

I think my favourite statistic in the report is that billionaire’s wealth is increasing six times faster than wages. It illustrates the thesis of Thomas Piketty’s book “Capital” – the idea that if wealth is consistently growing faster than income then your inequality crisis is getting worse.

Athia: What have we learned from past inequalities of the 19th and early 20th centuries? Is there any distinct characteristic between the past inequalities and what we face today?
Max: I think what’s clear is that inequality isn’t inevitable. History shows us it can be reduced in a peaceful way through progressive politics, or sadly, more often through war or serious conflict.

If you look at the progress, firstly in the US after the Great Depression and then in Europe straight after the second World War, and then if you look at the nature of growth in countries like Indonesia in the 1950’s to 1970’s, it was very inclusive.

But contrast that with the growth that we’re seeing today, again in Indonesia and elsewhere, where the majority of growth is going mostly to the top [income bracket]. History showed us that this [reducing inequality] is what the West did in the 1950s and 60s, Latin America has done it in the last 10 to 15 years and others are doing it as we speak.

Athia: What are the new policy recommendations in the report?
Max: I don’t think there is anything massively new because for a long time we’ve known what the right thing to do and we just need to see how come. So, there is element of repetition which can always come in.

I think what’s interesting in the report is some companies stop paying dividends to shareholders until they can show there is a living wage throughout their supply chain. We certainly have not seen that before.

Limiting the ratio between the highest and lowest paid employees is also interesting. We’re exploring new business models in which companies can operate in a way that aren’t making the problems worse.

We use the example of Mondragon, a big multinational company in Spain, that manages to pay its boss no more than nine times its lowest paid employees. There are examples of successful companies that operate in ways that reduce inequality rather than increasing it.

But, in terms of recommendations, it’s basically the same: The rich have to be taxed more and the poor need to be paid more.

Athia: What can Indonesia learn from other countries that have successfully progressed their tax policy?
Max: If we look at across the region, you’ve seen countries that are introducing good tax policies: inheritance tax in Thailand, it’s not perfect but it’s good to see; or property taxes implemented in Cambodia.

In 10 years time, I want to see great taxation and wealth and that can mean direct wealth taxation but it can also mean capital gains tax, property tax or inheritance tax. I think there is scope in doing that and various developing countries are already doing that.

Investing in collection is the first thing we can do. I think tripling the budget for tax enforcement and collection can also make a huge difference.

Athia: What’s your main suggestion for Indonesia to tackle inequality?
Max: I don’t think there is one country that offers a blueprint for any other country. Obviously, tax is incredibly important but I think in terms of Indonesia, the basic principle is that within next four to five years, the tax to GDP ratio could be increased by 4 to 5%, done as progressively as possible.

I think it’s quite reasonable. That additional revenue could double your health budget, have huge implications for public spending, and in turn, massively impact inequality.

Athia Yumna, Senior researcher, SMERU Research Institute

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Report: 21 women raped on public transportation in 13 months in Bangladesh

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Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, a passengers’ welfare platform, published the report.

 
Report: 21 women raped on public transportation in 13 months
According to a report published by Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, a passengers’ welfare platform. 21 women have been raped in public transports in last 13 months Mahmud Hossain Opu/Dhaka Tribune

At least 21 women were either raped or gang-raped on public transportation across the country in the last 13 months, according to a report published by Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, a passengers’ welfare platform.

The report, published on Thursday based on media reports, also stated that nine of the victims were gang-raped by drivers and helpers of the vehicles.

Cases were filed in connection with all the incidents except a gang rape incident that happened in Manikganj on April 9, 2017. Police have so far arrested 55 people in connection with the incidents.

On January 21, 2017, a Dhaka University student filed a sexual harassment case with the Darussalam police station against a bus driver and an assistant of the Gabtoli-Nabinagar route.

The incident took place at Gabtoli Bus Terminal. Later, the police arrested the duo, according to the report.

A schoolgirl was gang-raped by an easybike driver and two others when she failed to pay the fare in Chuadanga’s Almadanga area on November 13, 2017.

On April 9, 2017, a woman was raped in front of her husband in a running bus on the Dhaka-Aricha highway.

On July 31, 2017, a girl was gang-raped in a bus of Padma Paribahan in Roumari, Kurigram on her way to Dhaka.

On the way to Narayanganj from Gazipur, driver Mahedi Hassan and his aid Sohan allegedly gang-raped a teenage girl on a moving truck on August 1, 2017. Police later arrested the driver.

On August 8, 2017, a man named Imran Hossain attempted to rape a girl in a car in Dhaka’s Banani area after kidnapping her. Police arrested Imran and seized the car.

On August 11, 2017, a madrasa student in Class VII in Mymensingh’s Muktagacha area was repeatedly raped by driver Joynal Abedin and helper Ripon. The police arrested them after the victim’s uncle filed a case.

The reports also mentioned that Zakia Sultana Rupa was raped and killed in a bus heading to Mymensingh by the driver and three of his assistants on August 25, 2017.

A Tangail court on February 12 sentenced the driver and his three assistants to death and handed seven years’ imprisonment to the bus supervisor for the offences.

This article was first published on Dhaka Tribune
 

You value a rape at Rs 6,500? ‘Shocked’ SC slams MP govt.

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The apex court on Thursday said it was “shocking” that Madhya Pradesh was disbursing a meagre Rs 6,000- Rs. 6,500 as compensation to each victim of sexual assault even though it was among the States that received maximum funds from the Centre under the Nirbhaya scheme.

“Are you doing charity by paying Rs. 6,500 to a rape victim?” asked an incensed court after going through the affidavit filed by the MP government as regards compensation paid by it out of the Nirbhaya Funds scheme.

It may be recalled that the Nirbhaya Fund scheme was set up by the Centre in 2013 after the shocking December 16, 2012 gang-rape and murder case in Delhi, to support the initiatives of governments and NGOs working for women’s safety.

A Bench comprising Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta, while perusing Madhya Pradesh’s affidavit, said: “According to your (Madhya Pradesh) affidavit, on an average you are paying Rs. 6,000 to a rape victim. Are you doing a charity? How can you do so? You value a rape at Rs. 6,500?”

“For Madhya Pradesh, the figures are fantastic. There are 1,951 rape victims in Madhya Pradesh and you are giving them Rs 6,000- Rs 6,500 each. Is that good, commendable? What is this,” the Bench asked, adding, “this is total insensitiveness”.

The apex court also slammed the Haryana government for failing to file an affidavit regarding disbursement of Nirbhaya Funds in the state. “It is a very clear indication of what you feel for safety of women in your State… You take your time and tell the women in your State that you do not care for them,” the Bench told the counsel for the state of Haryana.

Despite an order of the Supreme Court passed last month, as many as 24 States and UTs are yet to file their affidavits.
 

Tortured, denied food and threatened: Nine Bengali workers seek help to return from Saudi Arabia

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In another incident of Indian workers being abused in Gulf countries, it has emerged that nine workers from West Bengal who went to Saudi Arabia through a contract with touts have been detained in a single room for the last two months. Their passports have been taken away and they have been forced to do menial jobs although they were assured a secure job in multinational companies. Furthermore, they have been refused salaries for the last four months and have been given only one meal a day. To make matters worse, they have been subjected to abuse when they asked for salaries and there have been no arrangements for medical treatment of the ones injured.


Alauddin Dhabak

Though the families of some of the workers approached their respective district administrative authorities to bring them back home, the efforts are yet to materialise. The families are urging the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee for their return.


Sukdab Biswas


Gias Mondal

The nine workers are from three different districts of Bengal. Prabhat Biswas, Basudev Das and Sukhdev Biswas are from the same village, Goal Bathan, under Gaighati block of North 24 Parganas; Shymal Pal from Sulantu village of East Burdwan district. The other five: Ruhul Amin Biswas, Alauddin Dhabak, Babar Ali Mondal, Gias Mondal and Azhar Mondal are from Nadia district.


Ruhul Amin Biswas


Shyamal Pal


Prabhat Biswas

They all set out to Saudi Arabia on October 8, 2017, with the help of the two local touts, Jasimuddin Dhabak and Enamul Mondal.


Azahar Mondal.

These touts assured them the job of carpenters in multinational companies and for which they had to give them Rs 1.3 lakh each as fees. But it did not turn out as planned. Instead, they were compelled to do the job of scavengers and sweepers and most of the days they have to stay at home without work. The touts, meanwhile, have gone missing.

According to Inzamul Mondal, the brother of Azhar Mondal,“ since October 8 last year, my brother and the others had to move to four different places in search of a job and they are harassed every day in each possible ways.”


The workers are now kept at Al-Hamra village of Al-Khafji district, located 663 km from Riyadh and close to the Saudi border with Qatar.

The incident was highlighted last month and several local Bengali newspapers covered it after the families of Ruhul Amin and Alauddin Dhaba approached the S.D.O and D.M Office of Nadia but with little success. Najma Biswas, the wife of Ruhul Amin Biswas, was disappointed at the inactiveness of the Nadia district administration. She said, “ we approached the S.D.O and the DM office in January month and then we were assured that necessary steps will be taken to bring my husband and others back home. But till now, they haven’t taken any initiative to bring them back and due to the district administration’s ignorance, the workers have been living on one meal a day and being tortured.”

TwoCircles.Net managed to talk to Basudev Das over the phone and he said, “I was assured that I will be given a job with Rs 30,000 as salary by Jasimuddin and Enamul Mondal, the touts, in a good company. But here we are not given sufficient meals and work, only those days when we have work we are given two times meals and most of the days we are workless. We are pleading to all to rescue us from this place, otherwise, our condition will worsen with each day.” he added, “ I am the sole earner in my family of five members. My parents, my wife and my child are having an extremely difficult time making ends meet.”

Allauddin Dhabak said, “We are now in utter despair. we are kept in an old building quite far away from the city near the Qatar border. We are not allowed to go outside and are always rebuked by our boss whenever we request them to let us go home. We do have not a single penny. Four guards are always there to watch our every movement. Now I am talking to you from the bathroom after locking the door.” He added, “we don’t know whether we will go home alive because anything may happen to us at any time.”

TwoCircles.Net also contacted the officials at the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia and sent all the relevant documents of the nine workers including their passport copies and phone numbers to sort out the problem and bring them back home. The Officials said they will take all necessary steps to bring them back.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

Tripura: Left Fortress Unlikely To Be Breached

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In recent elections in Tripura, Left Front has been consistently getting a majority of votes.

 

Newsclick Image by Sumit

 

As the countdown begins for polling on 18th February for the Tripura Assembly, BJP’s heavy duty campaign in the tiny North-Eastern state has created an impression in the mainstream media that this time round, the Left fortress will be breached by the BJP. Although there are no such indications on the ground, the fawning media is giving wall to wall coverage to visits of govt. ministers (Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Nitin Gadkari and others) as also RSS bigwigs led by Ram Madhav and Sunil Deodhar, not to forget PM Modi himself.

Ground reports indicate a massive Left Front campaign spreading in every nook and cranny of the state has drawn in much larger number of people in its coverage than the BJP-IPFT alliance’s high profile campaigners. Then there is the door to door and village to village campaign by local activists of Left Front as opposed to the BJP’s campaign managed and executed by RSS ‘vistaraks’ and cadres brought in from as far away as UP and Gujarat.

In the past few years, several elections in the state have seen decisive victories for the Left Front. What is of note in these elections is that in all of them, the Left Front has got more than 50% of votes polled.

Tripura graph.jpg

This is of key importance because many distant pundits are arguing that since Congress and TMC have got decimated BJP-IPFT will consolidate all the anti-Left votes and thus breach the fortress. Past election results show that an all-out gang-up of any kind is still not sufficient to get more votes than the Left Front.

While the last Assembly elections saw the Left Front getting 52% votes, in the 2014 general elections (where a so called Modi wave swept the BJP to power at the centre) in Tripura, the Left Front got a staggering 65% votes. This was perhaps the collapse of Congress reflected in poll results. In the three-tier panchayat polls held in December 2014, again the Left Front swept to power getting 51% of votes cast. In 2015, the Left Front swept the Tripura Tribal Autonomous Area District Council (TTAADC) elections getting 54% votes and later in the year, it handsomely won the urban local bodies elections too getting 291 of the 310 seats and 66% votes.

Although the Modi-Shah duo has inculcated a belief that elections are all about campaign management, time and again this juvenile understanding has come a cropper. Despite all micro-management and data analytics and money-powered high profile campaigning, BJP lost in Bihar and Delhi Assembly elections, and barely managed to scrape through in Gujarat recently.

In Tripura, the situation is even more difficult for the BJP because it has no cadre base, in fact no base of its own. All of its organization is recently borrowed from the TMC, which in turn got them from the discredited Congress. This is clearly reflected in the BJP’s dependence on cadre from outside the state to carry out its campaign. It is also reflected in the wild accusations of misgovernance against the Left Front, and false figures being floated by the BJP to ‘prove’ this.

Taken together, what the past record and the current campaign shows is that the BJP-IPFT alliance – in itself a shamefully opportunistic marriage of convenience – is headed for a defeat in the elections. People’s trust in good governance is far more important in elections than the razzle-dazzle of star campaigners who fly in and out.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

An Unusual Funeral in Pakistan

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Asma Jahangir, the doyen of human rights and women’s liberation from Pakistan passed away due to a cardiac arrest on February 11, 2018 in Lahore, Pakistan. People across the world were drowned in deep sorrow and grief over the loss of this human being who was a symbol of resistance in authoritarian and Social media was stormed with condolence messages from across the world. One twitter handle read,


Photo credit: Geo TV

“A male friend once asked: why is #AsmaJahangir always so angry? What disturbed him perhaps was why she always spoke up and appeared utterly unafraid in this world dominated by masculinity’s apoplectic id. For me, this is what #AsmaJahangir was: she was brave enough to be angry”

True to her life, her funeral was also a symbolic resistance of immaculate stature with women and minorities participating in huge proportions giving it an egalitarian look. MarviSirmed in a Dailytimes article noted, “Asma Jahangir’s funeral was an emotionally draining yet an energising experience in unique ways. People of all ages, genders, ethnicities, religions, and social classes came to bid adieu to her. Only she could manage to amass such a wide spectrum of the society at such an occasion.”

Trans people, women, men youngsters, older people, people across classes arriving in different vehicles and on foot, destitute women and many others became a part of the funeral. Activists who had spent their lives in struggles for people’s rights, people who ahd benefitted from her mere presence, religious scholars who admired her work and more.Clerics, Mullahs who admitted how courageous she was, all eager to pay their homage.

Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the funeral prayer was led by Haider Farooq Maudoodi, who opposes Islamists and is considered closer to Marxists. He is known for his views against political Islam, mullahism and exploitation of religion for political power as much as his reputation for revolt, especially from his father MaulanaAbulA’alaMaudoodi.farooq stood by the side of Asma in many of her political battles and supported her family.

But the most striking feature of the funeral was the presence of a large number of women who performed all her last rites, as Marvinoted, “The striking feature of this unique funeral ceremony was the predominant presence of women and the role they played throughout the event. At 11:45am when the body arrived at Asma’s home from the mortuary, women took it from the ambulance to the drawing room, which had been emptied already by removing all furniture. Women of the family and Asma’s comrades from Women’s Action Forum were all clad in identical black dresses with yellow scarves inscribed with women empowerment slogans.After almost three hours, when the body had to be shifted to the ambulance again for the funeral procession, it was these women who carried her to the ambulance.While the close family, her husband, children, and siblings sat in the ambulance, other women escorted the slow moving ambulance to the venue on foot.”

In a truly exhilarating defiance of another regressive tradition, women shouldered Asma’s funeral bed – a practice conventionally considered a strictly male domain.

Unfortunately, the state of Pakistan lost yet another chance to redeem itself by maintaining a stark silence on the appeals made by the citizens’ demands of flying the national flag at half-mast or of arranging a state funeral for her. Asma was much bigger than a state funeral anyway. It was hardly surprising that no eulogy or two words of condolence were expressed in this solemn moment of the departure of the warrior for equality and liberation.

Asma was a fighter against every military regime and struggles for democracy and civilian supremacy. Not only did she struggle within Pakistan at the great cost of constant threats to her life, but also she criticized India for its treatment of the Kashmir issue. This did not go down well under the throats of hyper-nationalists and jingoistic elements of both countries and many concerted hate campaigns were propagated against her, even in her death.

But Asma was not the kind to fear criticism or uncalled hate. She got the kind of love that every human rights activist would consider themselves fortunate to receive. She was many things to many people. Her struggle gave hope to the alienated people of Balochistan of getting justice and civil liberties. A former chief minister of Balochistan, Akhtar Mengal tweeted on her death, “Balochis­tan is forever in your debt.” She had become a symbol of unity across borders. Not only Balochistan but she also supported the struggles against the staged police encounter of NaqeebullahMehsud in Karachi last month. She criticised the indiscriminate actions against the Pakhtuns in other parts of Pakistan. She also opposed the policies of enforced disappearances. Asma had been a strong critic of the disastrous state policy of using militancy as a tool of foreign policy that cost Pakistan massively, both in terms of human lives and the economy.

Asma also campaigned for peace between Pakistan and India which became a major issue for her in Pakistan. They started a campaign showcasing her picture with the Right wing Hindutva extremist Bal Thakeray, despite the fact that she had met him in her capacity as the United Nations special rapporteur on freedom of religion investigating violence against Muslims in India.

On the other hand, her haters also spewed venom in the solemn moment of her death. One twitter troll said, “India lost their prime asset today & Pakistan is blessed to get rid of a traitor” Many ran a shameful campaign of trolling. This kind of filth on social media reflected a sickening mind-set of powerful interest groups who were challenged by Asma. These are the same people who ran a vicious campaign when she was alive. During February 2017, when Asma took to twitter to criticize the High Court on the ban on Basant and Valentine’s day, a troll asked for her daughter’s number to wish her Valentine’s. In a style, befitting to her stature, Asma replied saying, “Wish me one first”. Truly, even from the skies, Asma must have been taking on these trolls in such style.

Asma had mentioned in an interview that whatever she did, she never deviated from her core principles; she never sought glory or ever tried to benefit from adversity. In her death, this was proved beyond doubts. Salaams to this courageous liberated woman. May her tribe grow across national boundaries, as also the boundaries of religion, caste and class.

Acute shortage of Doctors and Teacher in UP: MLA Sanjay Garg

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Saharanpur: The condition of public health systems is dilapidated in the state of Uttar Pradesh. There is an acute shortage of doctors in the government hospitals and this was confirmed in the State Assembly by the Minister of Health (Uttar Pradesh), Mr. Siddharth Nath Singh.

UP School Teachers
Image: Hindustan Times

MLA from Saharanpur and Samajwadi Party leader Mr. Sanjay Garg raised questions to the Health Minister that about the required number of specialist doctors in the area and that how many, correspondingly were appointed and functioning?To this, the Health minister responded that in total there were 7300 specialists required. In relation, 3769 doctors have been appointed confirming a shortage of more than 3500 doctors. The Health minister responded to the question of appointment of all doctors as per the necessary standards in the district headquarters in a very vague manner saying that the doctors have been appointed as per their availability in all the district headquarters of the state.

Not only the public health system, but the status of education and teaching staff seemed worrying. In response to questions on the number of posts for teaching assistants that were vacant, the Minister for Education replied that as many as 1,37,000 positions were vacant, but their task was being accomplished by shjikshak mitra (friends of teachers). On the question whether the government will fill in the vacant positions, the minister replied in affirmative. And said that as per government order 2609/79-5-18, dated January 9, 2018, for the purpose of filling in vacant positions of primary schools, the process of appointment has started for 68,500 positions. This process will be over by June.

MLA Mr. Sanjay Garg also asked the Minister for Transportation that how many Scania buses were operational under private contract given by the UPSRTC and what was their load factor?

In response the respective minister said that, for the financial year 2017-18, between April 2017 and December 2017, 52 Scania buses were operationalised. For the given period, the load factor derived for the operational Scania buses was 35%. Responding to the question on the fare of Scania buses, the reply received was that the fare was Rs. 2 per seat per kilometre. On this the toll tax and GST are also added. The government was not considering any concessions in the bus fare as of now.

In a separate letter Mr. Garg also drew attention to the sewerage system in Saharnpur area. He said that due to dilapidated system of sewerage, the dirty water is sometimes getting mixed with the drinking water stored in water tanks by the residents. This is causing them immense problems and this should be urgently looked at. He said that this should be looked into, as per the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT)

 

Mohan Bhagwat threatens takeover of the Indian Republic by Hindutva Mercenaries

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Despite four years of the RSS (via its pocket organization BJP) rule in India under the leadership of PM Modi, a hardened practitioner of the Hindutva politics, the RSS dream of converting democratic-secular polity of India into Hindu rashtra where Manusmriti would be law of the land seems to have  fizzled out. The RSS had declared the enthronement of Modi as PM in 2014 as return of Hindu rule after almost 1000 years; last Hindu ruler being Prithvi Raj Chauhan, ruler of Ajmer. However, with strong constitutional edifice in place keeping Indian Republic functional and safe, the RSS project of undoing it as a pre-requisite for establishing Hindu State in India, did not succeed. It is true that it was able to undermine parts of judiciary, administration-cum-police, media and political set ups, but the Indian constitutional polity, with in-built safeguards against the abrupt change of course, did not succumb largely to the Hindutva juggernaut.

Mohan Bhagwat
Image: www.indiatvnews.com
 
The RSS, including PM Modi, knows that constitutional coup for establishing Hindu State of its dreams has neither succeeded, nor is likely to in future. They could have waited for another victory in the next national elections due in 2019 to make another attempt, but are not sure of victory. This frustration with the Indian Republic is forcing RSS to adopt more insidious steps to undo the former.
 
The latest statement of RSS boss, Mohan Bhagwat at Muzaffarpur, Bihar that RSS has the ability to prepare an “army” to fight for the country within three days should be seen in this context. Speaking to the RSS cadres of eastern India, Bhagwat said,

“Sangh will prepare military personnel within three days which the Army would do in 6-7 months. This is our capability. Swayamsewak will be ready to take on the front if the country faces such a situation and Constitution permits to do so”.[i]
 
He went on to declare that RSS was following army discipline and its cadres were always happily ready to make supreme sacrifice for their country. Now Bhagwat was offering to safeguard India despite India having one of the largest armies apart from the territorial-army, central paramilitary forces, reserve police, home guards and NCC.
 
Unfortunately, many of the politicians and political commentators, without realizing the sinister and anti-Indian Republic politics behind Bhagwat’s statement, criticized Bhagwat only for denigrating Indian armed forces whose Supreme Commander was President of India, a seasoned RSS cadre. 
 
It is true that Bhagwat put Indian armed forces in the dock, but Bhagwat’s statement was stunning in another respect. It was, in fact, RSS’ open declaration of war against the Indian Republic. RSS was capable of mobilizing its militia within 3 days for the internal-external security of India. He found Constitution as the only stumbling block!
 
The Indian State should have immediately launched an investigation into RSS supremo’s claim that it could raise battle-ready battalions after battalions of militia in 3 days comparable with professional Indian army. It means RSS militia already exists, the RSS boss should have been called to know about the strength of the RSS militia, arms with which trained, from where finances came and details of the command hierarchy.
 
Even a rightist academic, Nitin Pai was worried about Bhagwat’s statement and commented:

“it is wrong and deeply worrisome to suggest that its [RSS] volunteers have any role to play in national defence or internal security. The Republic of India does not and must not outsource its fundamental responsibilities to political organisations.”[ii]
 
There is no doubt that Bhagwat’s threat for taking over the Indian Republic did not happen in isolation or without historical background. The RSS, flag-bearer of Hindutva politics was born in 1925 out of marriage with Hindu nationalist ideologies propounded by BS Moonje and VD Savarkar who adored Hitler and Mussolini. The militarization of Hindus and military take-over of India as a stepping stone to establish Aryan rule over the world has been a persistent project of the Hindutva ideologues.
 
Let us have a quick glance over Hindu nationalists’ project of militarily controlling India and the world in history.

(1) SAVARKAR AND GOLWALKAR WISHED ARYAN HINDU RULE OVER INDIA &THE WORLD
Both the prominent ideologues of Hindutva politics, VD Savarkar and MS Golwalkar stood for Aryan hegemony over the world beginning with India. Savarkar ended his treatise on Hindutva bearing the same title with the words that Hindus of India,
“bound together by ties of common blood and common culture, can dictate their terms to the whole world. A day will come when mankind will have to face the force.”[iii]
 
Golwalkar too concluded his work on Hindu nationalism with the same imperialist intention when he wrote:
“Let us rouse ourselves to our true nationality [Hindu], let us follow the lead of our race-spirit, and fill the heavens with the clarion call of the Vedic seers ‘from sea to sea over all the land—one Nation,’ one glorious, splendorous Hindu Nation benignly shedding peace and plenty over the whole world.”[iv]
 
(2) MOONJE FOR MILITARIZED HINDU NATION
Moonje, who inspired KB Hedgewar to establish RSS, was the leading protagonist behind the project of militarization of Hindus. After visiting military training institutions run by the Fascist Italian government of Mussolini and personal audience with Mussolini, he circulated a paper titled ‘Preface to the Scheme of the Central Hindu Military Society and its Military School’ among influential Hindu nationalist, which read:
“This training is meant for qualifying and fitting our boys for the game of killing masses of men with the ambition of winning victory with the best possible causalities (sic) of dead and wounded while causing the utmost possible to the adversary.”[v]
 
It is not to be missed here that what Moonje meant by ‘adversary’ was not the external enemy, the British, but ‘historical’ internal enemy, the Muslims. In fact, this School was inaugurated by then Governor of Bombay State, Sir Roger Lumley in 1935. Moreover, this School helped the British in supplying Hindu youth for the World War II. It may be noted that it is this military school which was found to have trained persons which were involved in training/undertaking terrorist activities against minorities in India.
 
(3) BHAGWAT KNEW OF HINDUTVA TERRORISTS
It is not first time that Bhagwat has talked about Hindutva militia connection. While addressing a meeting of the RSS top level cadres on January 10, 2011 at Surat, Gujarat made asignificant statement saying that
“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”.[vi]
 
It was a candid admission by the supremo of the RSS who was naturally better informed about the happenings within his organization which works in a clandestine fashion that many ofthese alleged terrorists were part of the RSS. Shockingly, police and intelligence agencies did not question for knowing the identity of those terrorists who left ‘voluntarily’ or were asked to ‘go away’. In fact, should have been summoned to seek the names of the ‘terrorists’, not only in order to verify whether the ones so far arrested were the same who were referred to by Bhagwat, but also to know about others who might still be indulging in terrorist activities andhave not been brought to book as yet.
 
(4) RSS BUILDING DEADLY ALLIANCE AGAINST MUSLIMS & CHRISTIANS
The world obsessed with Islamist terrorism has not bothered to take any notice of a new terrorism network developing fast in India and its neighbourhood between Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and two ultra nationalist Buddhist groups of Myanmar and Sri Lanka against minorities in the area. In a startling and focussed disclosure The International New York Times (October 16, 2014) in an editorial titled ‘Deadly Alliances against Muslims’ wrote:
“On his 79th birthday in July, the Dalai Lama appealed to Buddhist extremist groups in Myanmar and Sri Lanka to stop instigating attacks against Muslim minorities that have killed scores. Instead, in an affront to Buddhism’s core message of compassion, leaders of those groups announced an alliance to make common cause against Muslims.
 
‘The time has come to ally internationally,’ Galagodaththe Gnanasara, the leader of the radical Sri Lankan Buddhist group Bodu Bala Sena, announced at a convention held in Colombo last month. The guest of honor was Ashin Wirathu, a Buddhist radical whose picture Time magazine put on its July 1, 2014 covers as ‘The Face of Buddhist Terror.’ The government of Prime Minister Mahindra Rajapaksa ignored pleas by Sri Lankan Muslim and Christian civil groups, fearful of more anti-Muslim violence in their country, to deny Mr. Wirathu a visa. Granting Mr. Wirathu a visa can only reinforce the fears of many Muslims that the government —and perhaps more powerful regional allies—back Bodu Bala Sena, which translates as Buddhist Power Force.
 
“Last week, Mr. Gnanasara claimed he was in discussions ‘at a high level’ with the right-wing Indian Hindu group Rashtriya Swayam Sevak to form what he called a ‘Hindu-Buddhist peace zone’ in South Asia. A Rashtriya Swayam Sevak spokesman, Ram Madhav, promptly denied that there were any such discussions. But Mr. Madhav, now general secretary of India’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party, has written comments sympathetic to Bodu Bala Sena and Mr. Wirathu’s group 969 in Myanmar on his Facebook and Twitter accounts.[vii]
 
The International New York Timeseditorial ended with a serious warning to the then rulers of India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka. It read:
“It is folly for the governments of Mr. Rajapaksa in Sri Lanka, President Thein Sein of Myanmar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India, or their political allies, to give even the appearance of tolerating these Islamophobic groups in a region that has too often been convulsed by religious sectarian violence. They should condemn this mad alliance before it can spread further.”[viii]
 
(5) RSS LINKAGES WITH NEO-NAZIS OF EUROPE
Neo-Nazi mass murderer of Norway, Breivik, glorified Indian ‘Hindu Nationalists.[ix]He opened Pandora’s Box when declared ‘Hindu Nationalist’ movement as a key ally in a global struggle to bring down democratic regimes across the world. Just before he went to massacre a large number of people in Norway he released a ‘manifesto’ of 1,518 pages, of which 102 pages dealt with the glorification of Hindutva movement of India. It declared support to ‘Sanatana Dharma movements and Indian nationalists in general.’ This manifesto also laid down a plan of co-operation between Neo-Nazi movements of Europe and ‘Hindu Nationalist’ organizations of India. It said that it was essential that these two ‘learn from each other and cooperate as much as possible’ as ‘our goals are more or less identical.’ This manifesto specially mentioned the name of the fountain head of the Hindutva politics like RSS and its subsidiaries like BJP, ABVP and VHP in this regard.[x]Importantly, the manifesto pledged military support ‘to the nationalists in the Indian civil war and in the deportation of all Muslims from India’ as part of a larger campaign to ‘overthrow of all western European multiculturalist governments.’
 
(6) A GOVERNOR OF INDIAN STATE TALKS OF CIVIL WAR
Present Governor of Tripura, Tathagata Roy who is a hard-core RSS supporter and perennial Muslim and secular India basher in mid-2017 in a tweet went to the extent of wishing a civil war in India. As justification he quoted from January 1, 1946 entry in Syama Prasad Mookerjee which read that “the Hindu-Muslim problem won’t be solved without a Civil War”.[xi] Mookerjee wrote it in context of pre-partition Muslim separatists represented by the Muslim League but Tathagata Roy made it appear as something necessarily applicable in Independent India. It only showed RSS leader’s love for civil war.
 
(7) RAMDEV RAISING MILITIA
Ramdev, the Rajpurohit of RSS/BJP governments at the centre and in states was known for yoga and later as a business tycoon manufacturing Ayurvedic products. He is a regular celebrity at all RSS and VHP functions. He also became worried about lack of security in India. In September 2017 he launched his own security firm titled Parakram Suraksha Pvt Ltd. According to a report by news agency ANI, Acharya Balakrishna, managing director of Patanjali (business firm of Ramdev) while launching this venture said,
“Security is a very important issue either for a man or a woman. Our aim is to prepare individuals for self and country’s security and for this we have formed Parakram. This will help develop military instinct in each and every citizen of the country so as to awaken the spirit and determination for individual and national security…Swami Ramdev has hired retired Army and police personnel to train young interested recruits and plan to make a mark in security”.[xii] [Emphasis added to show significance of the statement]
 
So 15 months before the next general elections in India (to be held in May 2019) there is talk of taking over the internal as well as external security by a non-state player, RSS. This threat has ominous signals for the continuation of the Indian Republic. It makes clear that RSS has lost hope of its cadres winning next elections and threatening to take over by its privately trained militias. Only future will tell us whether India had had its last general elections or RSS is forced to retreat on its threats. It all depends on who succeeds RSS or patriotic Indians who will rise to save the Indian Republic from the Hindutva onslaught.
 
For some of S. Islam’s writings in English, Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu & Gujarati see the following link: http://du-in.academia.edu/ShamsulIslam

 

  • VD Savarkar, Hindutva, VV Kelkar, Nagpur, 1923, p. 128. 
  • MS, Golwalkar, We or Our Nationhood Defined, Bharat publications, Nagpur, 1939, p. 67.
[v]Marzia Casolari, ‘Hindutva’s Foreign Tie-up in the 1930’s: Archival Evidence’, The Economic and Political Weekly, January 22, 2000, pp. 218-228.
[vi]‘No place for radicals in RSS, says Bhagwat’, The Indian Express, Delhi, January 11, 2011.
[vii]http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/16/opinion/deadly-alliances-against-muslims.html?_r=0
[viii] Ibid.
[ix]http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/norwegian-mass-killers-manifesto-hails-hindutva/article2293829.ece
[x]http://ibnlive.in.com/news/norwegian-killer-anders-breiviks-manifesto-supports-hindutva/170496-3.html 
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