Dalit, Bahujans resist attempts to spread terror : Bhima Koregaon

January 1, 2018

Sanghi goons roaming in motorcycles instigate community residing at Koregaon to throw stones on groups gathered near Bhima river commemorating 200th anniversary of Bhima Koregaon.

People assembled to pay their respects to the martyrs of Bhima Koregaon in Koregaon, 30 kms away from Pune, were taken aback as they found themselves confronting a sudden stream of stones raining down on them from the nearby houses.

Thousands of Dalits Bahujan women and children gather every year at Bhima koregaon to commemorate the valiant battle that a regiment of 500 Mahars fought against a strength of approximately 28,000 soldiers of the Peshwa Kingdom. This was the first time in centuries of oppression and exploitation of the Peshwai and other castes that Mahars, a community among Dalits had waged an immaculate battle of emancipation against the Brahmanical seats of power.

This year is special as it is the 200th anniversary of this battle.

Today at around 12 pm as people were relaxing near the Bhima river after travel and walk till the Koregaon park, panic engripped them as the localities residing in the area suddenly started pelting big stones on them.

The youth were not the ones to take it lying low and retorted back by pelting stones and waving blue flags in a symbolic gesture of resistance. The police were clearly outnumbered and ill prepared to deal with this situation which could’ve easily turned into a blood fest had the visitors, mostly Dalits been lesser in number. Because of the massive strength of the crowd, the community which is suspected to comprise of upper caste people couldn’t carry on for a long time. Eye witnesses present at the spot said that as people were walking towards the Bhima river a couple of motorcycle waving saffron flags passed through the crowd and went towards the residents trying to instigate them against the Dalit community members. The local community residing in the area was said to comprise mostly of upper caste members. Infact a man driving a White Maruti Omni having press written on the back glass shouted out at the crowd, “All of you are Hijras”trying to imply that Dalits were cowards. And trying to use the term as an insult to the people present.

Some others present at the spot said this was bound to happen as a few days back a person belonging to “Neechi jaati” was threatened in this area. This couldn’t be confirmed. Another woman who had come to pay her respects at Bhima Koregaon said that the glasses of her car were broken by the stone pelting.

The people at the spot were angry and upset and kept throwing stones on a saffron flag that was raised on one of the houses.

The police tried to dissipate the crowd but people stayed and kept chanting Jai Bhim as a symbol of protest.

Pursuing Peace

January 1, 2018

A new year has just dawned! To the hoots of sirens and the blasts of trumpets, to firework displays and the singing of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ the world bade goodbye to 2017 and welcomed yet another year. As one looked back the past year, there was certainly much to be thankful for. Our good God continued to rain down his blessings in abundance to all. Yes, tragedies and suffering continued to be the lot of many too. Sadly many of the tragedies, which affected millions across the globe, though referred to as ‘natural’ calamities, are in reality man-made caused by greed, over- consumption, wanton destruction of the eco-systems and over-exploitation of natural resources. Above all, war and violence continued to rule the roost; peace in 2017 remained as elusive as ever.

Come 2018 the world will continue to pursue peace. It will not be easy by any count. Despotic leaders, who seem to revel in war and violence, control a good part of the world today. They constantly search for the ‘enemy’ – very often far away from their own shores. The military-industrial complex has reaped rich profits (drenched in blood) in the recent past. Some economies thrive when wars continue elsewhere. Then there are those countries, which continuously display an arrogance doing what they want, aggravating violence and tension in other parts of the world, despite UN resolutions or the common understanding of most other countries.

It is therefore fitting that for the fifty-first time, the Catholic Church celebrates New Year Day as the ‘World Day of Peace’ with a universal call for substantial action in the pursuit of peace. This year the message of Pope Francis is based on the theme ‘Migrants and refugees: men and women in search of peace’. Given the challenges that most migrants and refugees face today the message is not merely relevant, it is an urgent call to action. The message begins with the words, “Peace to all people and to all nations on earth! Peace, which the angels proclaimed to the shepherds on Christmas night, is a profound aspiration for everyone, for each individual and all peoples, and especially for those who most keenly suffer its absence.” Pope Francis making it very clear that his message is addressed to all, that peace is something we all long for and above all, there are people in this world like migrants and refugees who are deprived of it.

He goes on to say that migrants and refugees are also genuinely in search of peace. They flee “war and hunger, or forced by discrimination, persecution, poverty and environmental degradation to leave their homelands”- because they have no choice. They long for a more stable, safe and secure environment – in which they can live peacefully, with dignity, equity and liberty. These are, as Pope Francis says, “men and women, children, young and elderly people, who are searching for somewhere to live in peace. In order to find that peace, they are willing to risk their lives on a journey that is often long and perilous, to endure hardships and suffering, and to encounter fences and walls built to keep them far from their goal”.

His message of peace is a call to embrace them in a spirit of compassion. He goes on to add, “We know that it is not enough to open our hearts to the suffering of others. Much more remains to be done before our brothers and sisters can once again live peacefully in a safe home. Welcoming others requires concrete commitment, a network of assistance and goodwill, vigilant and sympathetic attention, the responsible management of new and complex situations that at times compound numerous existing problems, to say nothing of resources, which are always limited. By practising the virtue of prudence, government leaders should take practical measures to welcome, promote, protect, integrate and, “within the limits allowed by a correct understanding of the common good, to permit [them] to become part of a new society.”

In the face of growing xenophobia, racism, jingoism and exclusiveness, Pope Francis highlights the fact that migrants and refugees contribute significantly to the societies, which accept them; besides when host communities transcend bigotry, there is mutual enrichment. “When we turn that (contemplative) gaze to migrants and refugees, we discover that they do not arrive empty-handed. They bring their courage, skills, energy and aspirations, as well as the treasures of their own cultures; and in this way, they enrich the lives of the nations that receive them. We also come to see the creativity, tenacity and spirit of sacrifice of the countless individuals, families and communities around the world who open their doors and hearts to migrants and refugees, even where resources are scarce”.

Pope Francis makes a fervent appeal to all to mainstream what he refers to as the ‘Four mileposts for action’: to welcome, to protect, to promote and to integrate migrants and refugees. “Offering asylum seekers, refugees, migrants and victims of human trafficking an opportunity to find the peace they seek requires a strategy combining four actions: welcoming, protecting, promoting and integrating.” He goes on to provide explanations of how these mileposts for action can be realized practically.

Finally, in keeping with a commitment made by 193 nations in September 2016, he challenges world leaders to keep up to their promise. “It is my heartfelt hope this spirit will guide the process that in the course of 2018 will lead the United Nations to draft and approve two Global Compacts, one for safe, orderly and regular migration and the other for refugees. As shared agreements at a global level, these compacts will provide a framework for policy proposals and practical measures. For this reason, they need to be inspired by compassion, foresight and courage, to take advantage of every opportunity to advance the peace-building process. Only in this way can the realism required of international politics avoid surrendering to cynicism and to the globalization of indifference”.

Our ‘common home’ has been very much in the vision of Pope Francis: the way we treat it, nurture it; the way we care for another very specially for the excluded like migrants and refugees. Every human years for peace and so do the migrants and refugees. As we enter a New Year, we all need to do our best to make peace more tangible. Welcoming, protecting, promoting and integrating the excluded: migrants, refugees and others forcibly displaced will surely lead to that peace we all pursue!

1 January 2018
* (Fr Cedric Prakash sj is a human rights activist and is currently based in Lebanon and engaged with the Jesuit Refugee Service(JRS) in the Middle East on advocacy and communications. He can be contacted on cedricprakash@gmail.com )

A Looming Crisis for Turkey’s President

January 1, 2018

The very tools that Erdogan has used to make himself into a sort of modern day Ottoman sultan are backfiring.

(Image: Democracy Chronicles / Flickr)

Viewed one way, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan looks unassailable.

He weathered last year’s coup attempt, jailed more than 50,000 opponents, fired more than 100,000 civil servants, beheaded the once powerful Turkish military, eviscerated much of his parliamentary opposition, dismissed almost half of the county’s elected officials, and rammed through a constitutional referendum that will make him an all-powerful executive following the 2019 election. In the meantime, a seemingly never-ending state of emergency allows him to rule by decree.

So why is the man running scared?

Because the very tools that Erdogan has used to make himself into a sort of modern day Ottoman sultan are backfiring.

The state of emergency is scaring off foreign investment, which is central to the way the Turkish economy functions. The loss of experienced government workers has put an enormous strain on the functioning of the bureaucracy. And the promises he made to the electorate in order to get his referendum passed are coming due with very little in the till to fulfill them.

“No Neighbors Without Problems”
Part of the problem is Erdogan himself. In that sense he’s a bit like U.S. President Donald Trump, who’s also alienated allies with a combination of bombast and cluelessness. The Turkish president is in a war with Washington over a corruption trial, at loggerheads with Germany (and most of the European Union) over his growing authoritarianism, and — with the exception of Russia, China, Qatar, and Iran — seems to be quarreling with everyone these days.

It’s certainly a far cry from a decade ago when the foreign policy of Ankara was “zero problems with the neighbors.” As one Turkish commentator put it, it’s now “no neighbors without problems.”

What’s thrown a scare into Erdogan, however, isn’t so much the country’s growing diplomatic isolation, but the economy — and how that might affect the outcome of presidential elections in 2019.

Hot Money, Cold Corruption
In the run up to the constitutional referendum last year, the government handed out loans and goodies to the average Turk. Growth accelerated, unemployment fell, and the poverty rate was reduced.

But the cost of priming that pump has come due at the very moment that international energy prices are on the rise. Turkey imports virtually all of its energy, but when the price of oil was down to a little more than $30 a barrel, the budget could handle it.

The price of oil in December, however, was close to $60 a barrel, and a recent agreement between Saudi Arabia and Russia to curb production will drive that price even higher in the future. Rate hikes for gasoline and heating will be up sharply in the coming months.

Meanwhile, Turkish unemployment is over 13 percent, inflation is close to 12 percent, and the Turkish lira has fallen 12 percent against the dollar. With energy costs rising and currency value declining, Turkey is struggling through an economic double whammy.

Economist Timur Kuran of Duke University says the Turkish economy is in serious trouble. “The AKP (Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party) is doing massive long-term damage to the Turkish economy. Corruption is up, the quality of education has fallen, the courts are massively politicized, and the people are afraid to speak honestly.”

Kuran argues that any growth is based on short-term investments, so-called “hot money,” drawn in by high interest rates. “This is not a sustainable strategy. It makes Turkey highly vulnerable to a shock that might cause an outflow of resources.”

Under Erdogan, corruption does seem to be increasing. In 2013, Transparency International ranked Turkey 53rd out of 175 countries on its Corruption Perception Index. By 2016, the country had risen to 75th out of 176 countries.

Turkey’s economy is highly dependent on foreign money, but the continuing state of emergency and rule by decree is scaring off investors. Figures by the country’s central bank show that Turkey is losing $1 billion a week in foreign investments. The United Kingdom, a major investor in Turkey, has reduced its investments by 20 percent since the declaration of the state of emergency.

The uncertainly has spread as well to Turkish citizens, who are putting their money into foreign investments in order to preserve their savings. From the end of 2016 to this November, Turks moved $17.2 billion to foreign firms.

Erdogan is blaming Turkish banks — in particular the central bank — for rising interest rates and the downturn in the economy. But Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the centrist and secular opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), argues: “The real reason why foreign investments other than real estate purchases are decreasing is that [foreign investors] feel insecure in a country where law, justice, and press freedom are non-existent.”

Outflanked at Home
The state of emergency allows the government to suppress trade union strikes, but it has been less successful in damping down what was once a AKP strong suit: rural farmers.

One of Erdogan’s economic “reforms” was to open Turkish markets to foreign competition, which has resulted in losses for the country’s livestock farmers and agricultural growers. Meat producers are up in arms over an agreement with Serbia to import 5,000 tons of red meat, and tea, grape, tobacco, and apricot growers have been hard hit by falling prices and foreign competition. Hazelnut growers were so incensed at the government’s base price for their produce that they organized a large march under the banner of “Justice for Hazelnuts.”

A study found that foreign imports had reduced the number of families involved in growing tobacco from 405,882 families in 2002 to 56,000 in 2015.

It’s not so much the marches that worry Erdogan, but the fact that some 20 million rural Turks are up in arms against the government, anger that might translate into votes in 2019. In the April 2017 referendum, rural votes solidly supported the AKP, while urban centers — particularly their youth — voted no. Losing cities like Ankara and Istanbul — the city where Erdogan began his political career — was a shock for the AKP, but losses in rural areas would be a political train wreck.

While Erdogan strains to keep the economic lid on long enough to get through 2019, there are fissures opening within his own party. A wing of the AKP is not happy with Erdogan’s foreign policy disputes and the impact that they’re having on the economy.

On his right, former interior minister Meral Aksener has formed the Iyi Parti — or “Good Party” — and says she plans to challenge Erdogan for the presidency. Aksener appeals to the more nationalist currents in the AKP and hopes to attract support from the extreme right wing National Action Party (MHP). She is currently polling around 16 percent.

Polls indicate that the “Good Party” is cutting into the AKP’s support, which has dropped to 38 percent. Erdogan needs at least 51 percent, the figure that he claims he got in the referendum (outside observers called the election deeply flawed, however). Aksener could split Erdogan’s support within the AKP and the MHP, thus denying him a majority.

Nor has the CHP thrown in the towel. Besides organizing marches by angry rural residents, CHP leader Kilicdaroglu pulled off a 25-day, 280-mile “Justice March” last summer that may have involved as many as a million people.

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), Turkey’s leftist party closely tied to its Kurdish population, has been decimated by arrests and seizure of its assets, but it is still the third largest party in parliament. “It may appear that injustice has won, but this will not last,” HDP parliament member Meral Danis Bestas told
Al-Monitor. “Turkey’s future truly lies in democracy, rights and freedom.”

Erdogan has enormous power and has out muscled and out maneuvered his opponents for the past 20 years. But Turks are growing weary of his rule and, if the economy stumbles, he may be vulnerable.
That’s why he is running scared.

Conn Hallinan can be read at dispatchesfromtheedgeblog.wordpress.com and middleempireseries.wordpress.com.

Courtesy: http://fpif.org/

Party didn’t allow me to speak against Triple Talaq Bill in Lok Sabha, says Congress MP Asrarul Haque

January 1, 2018

Just a day after the Congress party supported the hugely contentious Triple Talaq Bill in Lok Sabha, voices of dissent have started emerging from the party. Its lone Muslim MP from Hindi heartland, Maulana Mohammad Asrarul Haque Qashmi, has accused the party of not allowing him to speak against the Bill in the Parliament despite his insistence.

Voicing his strong opposition, Kishanganj MP said the Bill is against the Constitution, the ‘Shariat’ and women rights and said he wanted to vote against it but couldn’t reach the Parliament on time due to traffic jam. Maulana added that he is against party line on the issue and it should not be passed in Rajya Sabha.

A video of Qashmi’s statement shared on various social media platforms has drawn huge criticism for Congress which is trying hard to move away from the policy of minority appeasement. Twitter users questioned the party for silencing Muslim voices, called it a ‘lame excuse’and party’s ‘damage control mode’.

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The harshest criticism came from AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi who wrote on the micro blogging site, ‘May be Hazrat Maulana didn’t knew that the debate lasted for 3 hours but was “struck in traffic of Janedharu”politics’, referring a claim by Congress that its president Rahul Gandhi is a janeu-dhari Hindu.

Talking to TwoCircles.net, Asrarul Haque’s arch-rival AIMIM Bihar chief Akhtarul Iman questioned his silence on Triple Talaq Bill in Lok Sabha. He said his act has disturbed the ‘millat’ and termed it an ‘unforgivable political offence which must have troubled Maulana’s conscience’.

Tanzil Asif is founder of Main Media and tweets at @tnzl_

Congress MP Maulana Asrarul Haque’s arch-rival AIMIM Bihar chief @Akhtaruliman5 questions his silence on #TripleTalaqBill in Lok Sabha, says his act has troubled the ‘millat’, terms it an ‘unforgivable political offence’ @asadowaisi @TCNLive @kaaashif pic.twitter.com/qGHWLTOm3l
— Tanzil Asif (@tnzl_) December 30, 2017

Courtesy: Two Circles

2017 — The Year Gender Justice Took a Back Seat

January 1, 2018

While judgements become part of the history of law in a country, they are also part of its history of power. With both law and justice in its root word ‘jus’, it would not be difficult to understand in our times that what becomes legal following a judgement, or what is ordained by the law of the land, may not always be just, even though this is quite easy to assume in a country where we put all our faith in courts of law. The recent introduction of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 (recall the old colonial saviour complex of saving brown women from brown men) on Friday last week to criminalise instant triple talaq, the passing of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016, the Supreme Court Judgement on Hadiya, the Delhi High Court Judgement acquitting Farooqui, bear testament to this fact – gender equality and gender justice took a back seat this year. To find out more about these bills and judgements, please find below a list of posts compiled by the Indian Cultural Forum:

Delhi High Court’s Judgement Acquitting Mahmood Farooqui

Image courtesy The Quint

Read the Delhi High Court’s Judgement Acquitting Mahmood Farooqui in Rape Case here.

Feminists Say “No” To Recent Rape Judgements: And There is Nothing Feeble About It!

In the wake of the protests following the 2012 Delhi gangrape, India had witnessed a welcome sharpening of understanding around sexual violence and consent. Legal reform recognized the principle of affirmative consent – i.e the principle that consent must be nothing short of an unequivocal positive ‘Yes’ (whether through words or gestures) to engage in a sexual act. In public discourse and popular understanding too, the understanding that ‘No means No’ had been strengthened. Recent Court verdicts and orders have however dealt a deep blow to this hard-won progressive advance.
As women and women’s groups with a long history of working on issues of gender justice and with survivors of sexual violence, we are deeply disturbed by the 13th September 2017 bail order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court (HC) which cited the victim’s “experimentation in sexual encounters”, “promiscuous attitude and voyeuristic mind” as part of its legal reasoning for granting bail to three men convicted in the Jindal Law School gangrape case. In so doing, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has strengthened the dangerously patriarchal notion that rape is not rape when the woman is “promiscuous”, and that “promiscuous” women invite rape since their “promiscuity” can be read as consent. It also stands in clear violation of the Indian Evidence Act that specifically prohibits referencing the victim’s sexual history or character in adjudication of cases of sexual assault…
Read the entire statement here.

Violence Against Women – Two Patriarchal Judgements
Do a woman’s attire, appearance, sexual history or prior relationship with a perpetrator of sexual violence constitute a valid defence for a perpetrator of a sexual offence? Does the meaning of consent vary for educated women? The law, as it stands, doesn’t permit these factors to be taken into account while adjudicating crimes of violence against women nor does it prescribe varying standards. Unfortunately, however, deeply ingrained patriarchal mindsets rear their ugly heads ever so often flouting express statutory proscriptions, most recently demonstrated by two judgments delivered in the last fortnight dealing with rape.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court suspended the sentences of three students granted by the trial court for the rape of another student. The basis for this suspension, amongst others, was the victim’s “misadventures and experiments”, her “promiscuity” and the absence of brutal violence accompanying the sexual assault. Close on the heels of this, the Delhi High Court, on appeal, acquitted Mahmood Farooqui, a filmmaker, overturning the trial court’s verdict of finding him guilty of rape having performed forced oral sex on a visiting woman scholar. While so doing, the Delhi High Court purposively misinterpreted the position of law on what constitutes consent and seems to have been largely influenced by the victim’s previous relationship with Farooqui, her being educated (a “woman of letters”), the supposed feebleness with which she said ‘no’ to the sexual act, and the fact of Farooqui’s bipolar disorder…

Read the entire story here.

Hadiya Case Supreme Court Judgement

Image courtesy The Hindu

Read the entire judgement here.

Why Has Hadiya Not Been Allowed to Join Her Husband?

There is this 25 year old girl, an age where parents happily marry off their daughters or even today start sharing their “worry” if a potential groom is not on the horizon, and we are being subjected to the sad spectacle of the courts intervening in the life of an adult woman. Why? Because her parents did not want her to marry outside her religion. And more because the BJP sensing an opportunity to further its “love jihad” agenda has decided to “investigate” the “terror links” of the young husband, as he is a Muslim and hence can be so pilloried. Hadiya, as she prefers to be called, has gone through sheer hell in the recent past, her trial having started when she married Shafin Jehan of her own free choice—-that has been established without doubt now—-with the Kerala High Court annuling the marriage and terming it as an incident of ‘love jihad’. And the Supreme Court that was expected to give relief taking the rather strange position of directing the girl to go back to college, with the Dean as her guardian.

Why not to her husband? She is an adult, the man is still innocent, both want to be together so should not an adult woman be allowed to join the man she married? More so, as she has declared—not once but repeatedly despite tremnedous pressure from family, society, and the state— that she was not coerced or forced, and just wants to be with him…

Read the entire story here.

The Stories of Ishrat Jahan and Hadiya: Victims of Communal Politics
Hadiya’s story has four striking similarities with that of Ishrat Jehan, the young woman killed in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case:
1. In both cases the girls were in love, made a choice, and refused to budge from it;
2. The state confronted and fought both Ishrat Jehan and Hadiya for their choice, although given Sheikhs background Jehan met with a violent death at the hands of the state; while Hadiya is undergoing tough and constant pressure from the state’s National Investigation Agency;
3. Ishrat Jehan protested when she heard of the ‘encounter’ death of the man she had hitched her life to right or wrong and was killed so that she did not speak out; Hadiya has refused to retract from her marriage and her belief, despite being placed in the custody of her father, and subjected to immense pressure from the state;
4. Both women are victims of political connivance finding its basis in communalism. Ishrat Jehan paid the price for the games being played in Gujarat; Hadiya is suffering because of New Delhi’s power play to somehow link the Left government in Kerala to ‘terrorism’ with the ‘love jihad’ ideology being used as the reasoning board…

Read the entire story here.

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016

The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016 Criminalises Transgender Persons
The Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill 2016 poses threat to some of the basic rights of transgender people in India. Far from guaranteeing their protection, the bill gets the definition of a transgender person wrong, and ends up excluding a majority of the community. Individuals and groups came together to protest the bill at Parliament Street, Delhi on 17 December, 2017.

Statement by the Lawyers Collective on the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016

It is important to remember that the transgender community in India has never demanded a law but demanded equal and undiluted rights under the Constitution and other existing laws. The NALSA judgment did exactly that – affording rights and recognition to transgender persons within the constitutional framework – the highest law of the land. As a result, many transgender persons are approaching Courts for claiming their fundamental rights, especially in relation to equal opportunities in education and employment. However, since the introduction of the MOSJE Bill in the Lok Sabha, many such cases have been kept pending at the instance of the Respondent authorities, even though the Bill has no status in a Court of law or application to the case. If passed in its current form, the MOSJE Bill will spell a death-knell on the hard-won rights to equality and freedom for transgender persons, which the State was expected to advance and not truncate, post NALSA…

Read the entire story here.

Fading Identities: Parliament’s Transgender Bill is Downright Contemptuous and Demeaning
The Bill in fact requires a transgender individual to make an application to the District Magistrate for issuing a certificate of identity as a transgender person which would be referred to the District Screening Committee constituted for the purpose of recognition of transgender persons. The District Screening Committee would consist of the Chief Medical Officer, District Social Welfare Officer, a Psychologist or Psychiatrist, a representative of transgender community, and an officer of the appropriate Government to be nominated by that Government.
Such provision is patently in violation of the rights of the third gender guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution and, indeed, the entire human rights jurisprudence. No individual can be forced to undergo medical screening to identify and recognise his/her sexual orientation and gender identity, which is one of the most basic aspects of self determination, dignity and freedom…

Read the entire story here.

Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017
Read excerpts from the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down instant triple talaq here.

Bill on Triple Talaq: Unjust and Alarming, Needs Parliamentary Standing Committee Review

The move to criminalise triple talaq, is not just against the men, but the women too…

Read the entire story here.

Three Students Respond to the Triple Talaq Judgement
They ask: Why should patriarchy within Muslim men be seen as an exceptional form of patriarchy, one that is more severe than other religions?

Watch the entire conversation here.

Courtesy: Indian Cultural Forum

Hatred & Intolerance are Your Parentage, Devanoora Mahadave tells Anant Kumar Hegde

December 30, 2017

An Open Letter to Anant Kumar Hegde Sahi: ‘Sahanadharma’ (‘Religion of Tolerance’) ought to exist within religion as well as between different religions.

Union Minister, Mr. Anant Kumar Hegdeji,

It is frightening to have to listen to the words you have spoken at Kuknoor in Yelburga Taluk. ‘Those who are unaware of their parentage are the ones who call themselves secularists’ you say deridingly. Now we have to make you aware of your own parentage – It is hatred that is your father, intolerance your mother, illusion your ancestry, falsehood (Mithya) the source of your knowledge. I think this should be enough.

What hurts me even now, whenever I remember it, is AB Vajpayee, BJP’s leader, being in an insensate state. Similarly, George Fernandes, a part of the NDA and who comes from a socialist background, is also in an insensate state. It then seems that precisely because leaders like these are not active in your party today that the present BJP and the NDA has sunk so low, ending up making such senseless and irresponsible statements.

And then another statement of yours – ‘Every human being is an animal when he is born but it is what he does that makes him a human being’. In your case it somewhat feels quite the opposite. Even amidst the din you make, I would request you to pay attention to Kuvempu’s concept of ‘being the universal human at birth itself’.

Furthermore, your knowledge of history is so polluted. You say that the deformity called caste has grown in recent times. Notice, you say ‘in recent times’. In that case which era’s caste would you want to look at? That of the Peshwas? At the time of the Sepoy uprising, if the British were to lose in their war against the Peshwas then Peshwa rule would end up creating hell for marginalised communities. This reality was acutely felt among conscientious members from these marginalised communities including Jyotiba Phule.

What is this? Why so? If you understand this, you will understand India.

Then, like sounding a battle cry on from a battlefield, you say ‘We will change the constitution…. that is why we are here’. If the task of drafting the constitution had fallen into the hands of the likes of you, your ancestors, the illusionists, would have created hell and called it heaven. Mother India survived precisely because Dr. Ambedkar drafted the constitution. Care should be taken to ensure that constitutional amendments move in the direction of the constitution’s preamble. It would bode well for you to remember this especially as a member of parliament.

Recently, there has been some news that has been circulating widely. In case the BJP comes to power, in Karnataka, the Vibhuti-across-his-forehead-Yeddyurappa would end up with the mark of the Vaishnavite tilak (Urdhva Pundra) and have a shell and gong placed in his hands while Anant kumar Hedge will himself become the chief minister, says this news. If you look at BJP’s Delhi – Nagpur lagaami politics, this could actually happen. And if this were to happen there is utter dread that you will make Karnataka a graveyard. It might then even feel like Yeddyurappa might have just been better. Instead, the wise voter may decide that if this were to happen, with whoever at the helm, they will make sure the BJP lose their electoral deposits. I believe that. Because our Mythology and History has consistently curbed the crossing of limits.

Now, a few words for you – religious fundamentalists who were rattled by Kuvempu’s rationality kept responding abhorrently to him. Kuvempu disregarding all this says – ‘Those who enter the wrestling ring ought to wear a loincloth. I will not battle with those who don’t even wear one.’ I would ask you to keep these words by Kuvempu with you. Maybe then you, and the likes of you, who make the streets your battlefield, could save yourselves some honour.

Once, while Yogendra Yadav, Swaraj India’s president, and I were discussing the word secularism, he said, “There is no proper translation in India’s vernacular languages for the word secularism. Instead of translating, we need to search for a word from amongst us that is its equivalent. In India, Dharma is usually understood to mean duty and words such as Vrittidharma (duties towards one’s profession), Rajadharma (duties of the king), Putradharma (duties of the son) are born from that very meaning.

“Can you find a word?” he had asked. Just like the way plants absorb muck producing fruits and flowers, the muck of your speech transformed itself birthing a new word for secularism. That word is ‘Sahanadharma’ (‘Religion of Tolerance’). This ‘Sahanadharma’ ought to exist within religion as well as between different religions. Having found this word because of you, Mr. Hegde Sahib, I thank you.

(Devanura Mahadeva is an award-winning novelist and a public intellectual who writes in the Kannada language. The article was authored in Mysuru)

Widows too have right to live in happiness, Sushma ji

December 30, 2017

Kulbhushan Jadhav’s mother and wife were made to look like widows, our external affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj remarked in the Parliament. She added that the Pakistani authorities actually asked them to remove their mangalsutra, bindi and saree and wear simple salwar kameej, before meeting Jadhav in the Jail. It is humiliating, she said, forcing the married woman to look like widow. Many Parliamentarians were equally shocked.

We would like to say here that we are disgusted with such PR exercises by both the governments in this case which has now grabbed international headlines without really making any headway in the right direction. Pakistani authorities were using their ‘faithful’ media to look more liberal in allowing the mother and wife duo to meet a convict who has allegedly accepted committing crime according to Pakistani law. The matter is also in the International Court of Justice but more than that it has become a kind of war of words and perception between the two nations.

The media on both sides of the border has become absolutely farcical and a complete joke, playing with sentiments of their respective countrymen and cooking up stories. Both India and Pakistan have engaged in this perception building exercise for years. As far as India is concerned, it is a complete failure of foreign policy and requires serious introspection. We would definitely like both India and Pakistan to allow their prisoners to meet their families as well as provide them full legal aid. There are hundreds of innocent citizens languishing in the jails of both the countries and a special court should be formed in both the countries to look after the cases and their nature. Except for the very serious crimes, all other people should be released as good will gesture.

Both India and Pakistan need to live accepting the realities of time. India and Pakistan will never grow and will allow the western powers to manoeuvre in the subcontinent if they continue to fight. There is no need to dig up history now. Pakistan is a reality and so is India and the blame game must stop. Supporting terrorism of any kind on Indian soil must be stopped. Pakistan must rein in on the Islamic Jehadis who give open call of violence against India and its vast population. Kashmir and Islam are the pet projects in Pakistan to instigate people and their Sanghi counterparts in India are only engaged in similar exercise which is unable to counter Pakistan diplomatically. They are only using it to clampdown on activists, writers, dissenters and peaceniks to strengthen their poll prospects by polarizing people, a move which threatens the very integrity and communal harmony of the country.

How Kulbhushan Jadhav is being treated is a matter of concern in exactly the way in which we treat many Pakistani prisoners. We can only suggest to the government that they should make every effort to get Kulbhushan released but that would only be possible when the government allow the diplomacy to do its task independently and not use the material to appease their domestic constituency. Diplomacy is not the street tu tu main main that we have most of the time but a serious issue to protect our national interests. So nothing wrong for the government to do its best to get Kulbhushan out. But so far it has failed miserably.

The saddest part of the government’s policy failure was to make this issue look similar as the Pakistani did as a PR exercise for their domestic constituency. Government of India might have realized it later that Pakistanis are equally expert in these theatrics as we are… after all we hail from the same family not more than 70 years ago. They shamelessly asked the mother and wife of Kulbhushan to put off their religious signs of bindi, chappals and mangalsutra in the name of ‘security concern’. I am not sure how wearing bindi or mangalsutra become a security threat for the Pakistanis. Unfortunately, the way Sushma Swaraj referred to the issue in Parliament made it more theatrical… just like the Pakistanis.

“It is sad that the Pakistan authorities forced the wife and mother of Kulbhushan Jadhav to appear before him as widow,” she said. Now this is a serious and very disturbing statement by a Minister who is known for being articulate. How does not wearing a mangalsutra and bindi make a woman a widow or look like one? What does Sushama ji want widows to look like? Wear white, don’t do any make up, don’t smile, don’t look happy?

It is sad that Sushma Swaraj has lifelong promoted those filthy Brahmanical ideals against which all Indians should struggle and fight. Do widows have right to life and live with dignity or not? But then those who know Sushma Swaraj and her antics would remember what she threatened to do when UPA-1 came to power in 2004 and Sonia Gandhi, in all, likelihood was to become the Prime Minister of India. Sushma threatened to tonsure her head and live ‘like’ a widow. In fact, I wrote an article that time too castigating Sushma. I have seen my mother living a life of a widow for long. Smile from her face had gone off and she lived an extraordinarily simple life. She would sit on the floor even if young boys of our age would come to home. She tried to be away from all the make-up products and other things. We know and have seen in many parts of Poorvanchal that widows can’t even perform Kanyadaan of her daughter in the marriage ceremony and are kept away from all the auspicious occasions. ‘Widowhood’ according to Brahmanical traditions is a curse and Sushma ji must have known it. Such codes of conduct that Gita Press Gorakhpur made so popular that the life of a widow in a traditional Hindu society became curse. It is that curse and miseries attached to the lives of widows that forced people to commit Sati or murder their widows for the fear of living a life of misery.

We know these are the times when Sushma ji’s atrocious statement would not attract any criticism by media or even the feminists and human rights defenders. We have not seen any statement so far on their part as to why Sushma Swaraj brings these issues into picture and why she thinks widows should look recluse, dejected and totally isolated. The fact and dirty reality is that what Sushma Swaraj said was a reality of our lives.

Thousands of widows are forced to live in horrific conditions in many of the ‘holy’ places including Brindavan and Varansi. I have seen them from close quarters. These days, Brahmanical ideologues are providing them ‘freedom’ such as ‘allowing’ them to play holy and put colour on each other’s face while the other one want them to put sindoor over their head in the name of looking good.

Looking good and attractive is no issue for any one as it is individual choice. Sindoor and mangalsutra never protected women and are actually symbol of their slavery. Why should a woman’s life be guided by those symbols which take her right to choice particularly in relation to food habits, clothes and even opting for a partner or remarriage? Years ago Jyoti Ba Phule, Savitri Bai Phule, Baba Saheb Ambedkar, Periyar and Ram Mohan Roy actually supported, encouraged and promoted these reforms as well as education for all women. If sindoor and mangalsutra are sign of married women then why are they taken away from them if their husbands pass away?

It indicate that Sushma ji, wants a woman to be happy only when their husband is around and then lead a life of recluse and dejection once he is no more. Is this the idea where the Hindu right make marriage laws so rigid that no woman would ever dare to go for a remarriage even if she wishes to, because ‘widowhood’ can’t be a permanent condition in which to live?

The condition of widows all over the country is terrible because of various taboos attached to them. Social environment need to be developed where remarriages must be encouraged and even if they don’t wish to enter into marital relationship, they must be allowed to live in happiness on their own. But if a Minister and that too a woman minister fancy widow living with tonsure head, sleeping on floor, eating spice less food and wearing colorless clothes lifelong, then she need to change her attitude. She could become a big ambassador towards the rights of widows when on the Teej day she can make a beginning by asking women who have lost their husbands to be part of the celebrations.

The violence against women and girls does not happen all of a sudden. It is because of the social environment that has been created by the feudal Brahmanical order which is being glorified day and night by the Sangh Parivar and its ideologues. They are worried about Muslim women and want to fill the Indian jails with more Muslim men now in the name of triple talaq but there is no interest, no demand by these champions of Hinduism to make their atrocious value system more equitable towards women where they can live with dignity.

Will they bring a law where husbands leave their wives without giving them a divorce? Will they bring laws where widows, single women are not harassed because of their status and if they are not positive to someone, do not face character assassination or be accused of being a witch? Most of the charges of witchcraft are levelled against women who are either widows or single and face the wrath of the society. There are no laws for the protection of these women in our society. Manusmriti has been the worst code book as far as women and shudras are concerned. But the Sangh Parivar and its various offshoots glorify it. We don’t know whether they glorify Manu’s law or miseries of women so that their feudal den is safe and protected.

We hope Sushma ji and her other colleagues in the Ministry will seriously introspect and not make statements that further isolate women who have lost their husbands. Making widowhood a permanent position is to ensure that women live in desperate and helpless circumstances, blaming themselves for the wrongs that happened to their husbands without ever thinking or even imagining of another person in their lives. We don’t say that they must do it but that option should be with the women and even if you don’t want to suggest such things saying that the woman loved her husband too much, why do such code to live a life of recluse after losing their husbands.

Should women not contribute to nation building or do they lose right to citizenship or their capacities to govern or lead once they become widows? I hope she has not forgotten that Indira Gandhi was one of the most powerful prime ministers of the country, a leader which people still remember as Prime Minister even today in Modi era in many parts of India. Hope the intellectuals of Sangh Parivar will look into these aspects and provide ideas to the government. In the meanwhile, we can say no government in the world would be able to serve their citizens if they are guided and surrounded by the religious fanatics whether in India, Pakistan or any other country.

Constitutional values must uphold dignity of individuals and equal opportunities to all which the religious laws have never granted. Political governments can’t impose religious values and therefore we expect government to think about these issues. Will Sushma ji ever learn that her theatrics damage the cause of women in India particularly those who lose their husband and want to live life in dignity and contribute towards making our society better and humane. Baba Saheb Ambedkar developed Hindu Code Bill in the greater interest of the Hindu women which gave her right to divorce and right in property too and was thoroughly opposed by the Bharatiya Jan Sangh and the Hindutva ideologues like Shayama Prasad Mukherjee as well as many conservative elements in the Congress party including the then president Dr Rajendra Prasad. Will the government promote widow remarriages and their honorable rehabilitation so that they too can feel part of our life and share their happiness and sorrows like any other citizen so that they are not compelled to live life in dejection in various bhajanashrams of Brindavan and Varanasi? May be, Sushma ji can start the process.

December 30th, 2017

Callous Disregard of Cyclone Ockhi Survivors by Politicians, Administration: People’s Inquest

December 30, 2017

Shocking findings have come to the fore on the Survivors of Cyclone Ockhi. What us worse is the deafening media silence on the issue. While Bollywood celebrities had joined in to focus on the ghastly Tsunami that had rocked the same coast, there is no celebrity concern or participation in rescue efforts this time.

Image: PTI

On the findings of the first People’s Inquest on Cyclone Ockhi and its devastation in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu Nagercoil, December 29, 2017

A people’s inquest on the devastation in Kanyakumari because of Cyclone Ockhi finds a shocking lapse on part of the central and state governments to the victims of Cyclone Ockhi a month after the disaster struck. This extends both to the technical and the human aspects of the tragedy.

The victims and their family members in Kanyakumari are being treated as non-citizens.

The honourable Member of Parliament representing Kanyakumari considered it fit to visit Iran and not the affected fishing villages in his constituency. The people’s inquest was undertaken on December 28-29, 2017 by a team of 15 members (list at the end) comprising of a retired justice of high court, senior journalists, academicians, disaster management experts etc.

Interim Observations

No lessons have been learnt from Tsunami disaster management.

Citizens have been left in the lurch because they were considered as outside of some bureaucratic map, for example the deep-sea fishing community who left for the seas before 29th November were completely abandoned.

The invisibility of this group is distressing.

Most of the rescue efforts were done by the community with their own resources despite the calamity and the effect on their livelihood

Citizenship does not cease in a disaster situation because it mainly affects their entitlements.

They have a right to protest, complaint and demand as citizens and demand to immediate and long-term relief and the right to articulate without harassment

While the government relates it as a law and problem negates the principle of natural justice.

The community in collaboration with the Church played a remarkable role in attending the physical, emotional and psychological vulnerability of its people, in this context the strength of the community vis-a-vis the State should be recognised while responding to disasters.

The contrast between the language of the government and the community was dark and worrying. Bureaucratic responses tend to emphasise policy details and demographic numbers while the language of suffering is lost.

It is interesting to note that the community emphasises the unity of the society cutting across caste and class while being sensitive to the requirements of marginal tribes.

The state has responsibility for understanding the unity of citizens and any attempts by political and other groups to communalise/ethinisize the situation should be openly condemned.

The survivor questioned whether the value of life in fishing community has far less meaning compared to powerful groups. In situations of calamity of this nature, the differential value of life becomes sadly apparent and has to be consciously resisted.

There was no attempt to establish a framework of accountability post cyclone at all levels.

Any attempt to reduce compensation to mere doles and nominal sums of money should be condemned.

Tracking of money spent on immediate relief/ proposed rehabilitation at different levels of the hierarchy must comply with RTI rules.

The team is surprised by the lack of robust response by the elected-representatives particularly with the indifference of the local Member of Parliament who has not bothered to visit the affected fishing community.

Interim Recommendations

Re-look at the functioning of the early warning system with the consultation and participation of the community to ensure transparency.

Terms of ensuring the safety of fish-workers going to the sea.

Registration of departure & arrival of boats of all kinds.

Safety audit of boats to ensure minimum requirements with respect to size, no. of crew and the distance

Free provision of life-jackets, first-aid kits and flare guns.

Provision of satellite phone and other appropriate communication equipment. People’s security is as important as national security.

It is obvious that the disasters in the sea for fish-workers leads to loss of sole- male bread-winners, therefore compensation packages should take into account the long-term livelihood loss in the family

The relief amount given Rs. 5000 as of today is not only meagre, but extremely insensitive and considered insulting by the community.

The loss of boats, other fishing equipment and damage to crops should be compensated and a system of insurance should be initiated urgently

Expedite the finalisation of issuing of death certificates within 30 days.

The disaster is not sufficiently acknowledged at all level – Centre & State. The Centre Government should immediately notify as a National Disaster.

The government should immediately address the debt-burden of farming and fishing communities and write of immediately

There is an urgent need to assess the damages on the farming community

Immediate need to establish professional trauma-care and psychological assistance for families and communities

Education burden of children of deceased as a result of any disaster should be taken care by the government

Immediate withdrawal of all cases against all protestors seeking relief, rehabilitation and justice.

The inquest focused on the issue of missing fishermen, loss to lives and livelihoods, damage to housing and agriculture etc. The inquest looked at the response of the central and state governments, role of local administration, measures undertaken from cyclone warning till this date and the rescue and rehabilitation processes and actions. The inquest team met the families of missing fishermen, fishermen who managed to sail back, affected farmers and district and state officials.

The team also made an effort to reach out to several other stakeholders including fisheries department, marine police, coast guard and the Indian Navy, however some meetings are yet to be completed. This is an interim observation and recommendation prepared by the inquest team and will be followed by a detailed report within a period of two weeks.

People’s Inquest Panel

Justice (Retd.) B.G. Kolse Patil, Former Judge of Bombay High Court

Prof. Dr. Shiv Vishvanathan, Professor, Jindal Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University

Mr. DJ Ravindran, Former Secretary of the UN International Inquiry Commission on East Timor. Director of Human Rights Division & UN Peace Keeping Operations in East Timor, Sudan and Libya.

Dr. Ramathal, Former Chairperson, Tamil Nadu State Commission for Women

Ms. Saba Naqvi, Senior Journalist, New Delhi

Mr. Nanchil Kumaran, IPS (Retd.), Former ADGP, Tamil Nadu

Prof Dr. L.S. Ghandi Doss, Professor Emeritus, Central University, Gulbarga

Dr. K Sekhar, Registrar, NIMHANS Bangalore

Prof. Dr. Ramu Manivannan, Department of Political Science, University of Madras

Mr. John Samuel, Former Director – UNDP and Former International Director Action Aid

Dr. K M Parivelan, Associate Professor, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

Dr. Paul Newman, Department of Political Science, University of Bangalore

Dr. Suresh Mariaselvam, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore

Dr. Fatima Babu, St. Mary’s College, Tuticorin

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