Senior journalist P Sainath talks about the changing face of media in the country, its evolution and ultimate takeover by the corporate world. How the “layers of conflict of interests” steered the fourth pillar of democracy into a different direction. Excerpts:
The issue of cow has covered our vision. We need to look into our souls and build strength to resist the dark storm coming in its garb.
On the earth, we separated from animals a few hundred thousand years ago. We felt affinity to animals and made them our food too. Just as the animals, barring the pet ones, die of starvation or as victims of violence, so did the man die.
The elements of selfishness and dominance also arose; man enslaved man and subjected him to humiliation and deprivation worse than death. The urge for freedom also grew.
Philosophy and religion evolved to contain barbarism. They emphasized control your vanity and exploitative tendencies, don’t treat yourself as the master, and love each other. Kindness towards animals also came here and there but the focus of all religious practices remained on behavior and love towards humans.
Buddhism, the propagator of “Ahimsa parmodharmah” (non-violence as supreme religion), spread in China, Japan, Vietnam, Sri Lanka etc., where meat of all sorts of animals is natural food, because its non-violence was linked to man rather than the animals.
Gautam Buddha himself died of tasting piece of meat from Chund Lohar. In Khandavdah, Arjuna, on the insistence of Fire God, stopped the clouds from raining, to help him satisfy his appetite by burning the animals in the forest.
We are vegetarian or non-vegetarian due to our family tradition. However, there is no difference in these two people in terms of compassion towards other humans and truthfulness.
Pathans proved to be the truest nonviolent satyagrahis. Just as vegetarians eat grains produced by others, non-vegetarians also eat meat produced by laborers and are not cruel to animals. The laborers do that job as profession hence they also do not lack kindness.
We may remember that the vegetarian elite in India exploited the working classes such that the servants of animals never got milk or enough food grains and were to survive on fish and pig. We should not feel apathy to them.
In North India, both Hindus and Muslims pet cows and refrain from beef.
The issue of bulls is serious. Before the use of tractors and trucks, bulls served in plough and cart hence farmers sustained them. Now the bulls are jobless. Cattle fields and forests have diminished; hence over 10 million bulls are dying of starvation every year. Some are going to slaughter houses, owned mostly by caste elite.
The farmer has no strength to feed the useless bull for 20 years while his own children are hungry and many farmers are committing suicide.
In such a scenario, the changes made in animal laws in last three years have struck at the root of civilization and provided impetus to fanatics to spread hatred and terror. The permission of collector, needed to take animals from one state to another, is difficult to get.
On its pretext animals are being seized, innocent farmers and workers are being lynched and cases are being filed against the victims. Vendors are targeted on fake suspicion of contents of biryani.
The control of narrow minded organizations on religious institutions has destroyed the human aspect of religion. Academic institutions are suffocating. Farmers are ruined by markets.
Superficial nationalism is being propagated. The Kashmir policy is widening the gulf between the masses of Kashmir and rest of India. In Assam, Bangla-speaking countrymen are being harassed on suspicion of being Bangladeshis.
We must rise to change the situation.
At a time when Muslim women are breaking into many a male bastion, a mosque on Yari Road has taken an exemplary decision — which is being touted as a first in the city — to allow Shia women to don the role of Ulemas.
While the “Jumme ki namaz” is still read out by the Maulana at Mehfil-e-Saani-e-Zahra or the Zaib Palace mosque, as it is popularly called, there are women Ulemas or scholars, who impart knowledge about the Quran and Islamic teachings to females in the community. Uzma, the wife of Maulana Mohammed Fayyaz Baqri, is one such woman scholar.
Maulana Baqri told the Mumbai Mirror that his wife offers sermons on the importance of women’s education and the role of women in Islam.
“Once you educate women, you educate a family. Once you educate a family, you educate a society. Women who sermonise offer lessons on a number of subjects — how to read Quran, how to bring up children and educate girls, and how to become better human beings by leading a righteous life. They basically preach on Islamic beliefs and the need to find a balance between ‘deen’ (knowledge of religion) aur ‘duniya’ (world),”he said.
Uzma said, “I also conduct classes on the Quran at the mosque. I teach girls and women from 5 to 15 years of age on how to pray and how to behave in the society according to Islamic rules.”
Read the full report published on Mumbai Mirror.
It is time that Hindus stand up against the new avatar of the arrogant Kauravas whose ideals are people like Godse and not Karkare who was a far better Hindu than Modi.
On the auspicious occasion of Janamashtami, our Hindu friends, brothers and sisters need to revisit the story of one of their most adorable and adored gods. Especially because India is presently ruled by a right wing Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government that claims to be the defender of the Hindu faith.
Ever since the BJP came to power with a brute majority in 2014 under Prime Minister Narendra Modi – the attacks on religious minorities have grown, while there is no end to sexual violence and state repression either.
Lord Krishna who grew up in the backward community of cattle raisers had finished off the tyrannical Kans, broke gender barriers by mingling with girls, fought for the five Pandavs and their small family unit against the powerful Kauravas, stepped in to save Draupdi from sexual assault and preached to the world through Bhagwad Gita the time-tested words: we must focus on our duty rather than worrying about the consequences.
Yet, under the BJP rule and those who wish to see India turned into a Hindu theocracy, who have also been trying to make Gita a national text an entirely different kind of value system from that espoused by Krishna, is being imposed. The actions of Modi supporters (or bhakts) resemble more the deeds of Kans and the Kauravas while nothing seems to be in line with the teachings of Lord Krishna.
The backward classes and Dalits — so called untouchables — continue to be oppressed through structural violence. Their lands are being taken in the name of development and are being given away to the extraction industry. The BJP government is more inclined to safeguard the corporate interest over people’s interest.
If Kans enjoys a reputation of being one of the worst tyrants, the BJP government has proved to be even worse. This government has been persecuting political prisoners, throwing dissidents in jails, charging them for sedition and muzzling any voice of reason. The killings of political activists through extra judicial means is another addition to the long list of excesses this establishment is known for.
Whereas, Krishna introduced modernity to Hinduism and allowed an open relationship between men and women, BJP supporters have been indulging in moral policing and attacking and shaming dating couples.
Unlike Krishna who chose to side with Pandavas over the powerful Kauravas, the BJP government is giving patronage to majoritarian extremist groups and suppressing activists from minority communities with an iron fist. It remains a mute spectator to the continuous violence against Muslims, Christians and Dalits, unleashed by goons owing allegience to Hindutva.
While Draupadi was fortunate to have been saved from disgrace by Krishna, there are many like her who have been subjected to sexual harassment and violence under the BJP rule. Only recently, the son of a BJP leader from Haryana was caught stalking a woman in Chandigarh. A few months earlier, a young woman Gurmehar Kaur was threatened with rape by the BJP supporters for questioning right wing politics on social media, and even speaking up for peace, not war, with Pakistan. Not only that, the BJP supporters are known to have been involved in anti Muslim and anti Christian violence during which the women from the minority communities were raped in the past.
What can be more hypocritical than asking for Gita to be adopted as national text, when you do not follow its principles in practice?
One of the values that the Gita teached us is to focus on our Karma or the duty without worrying about the consequences.
The BJP wants the intelligentsia, the judiciary, the police and the intelligence to behave in a manner that suits their agenda. It does not want the protectors of the law to work independently and that’s why the penetration of prejudiced officials have increased under the current government. This has made the lives of the minorities miserable. Most of the time its the Muslims or the tribals who are at the receiving end. They can be easily branded as Jihadists or Maoists and charged under false cases.
On the other hand, there is no action against Hindutva terrorists. Rather, the late Hemant Karkare, a police officer who had smashed the Hindutva terror network was hounded by the BJP. Though Karkare was a practicing Hindu who drew inspiration from Gita and was only doing his karma he was constantly harassed by the BJP until he died during a terror attack in Mumbai.
Modi himself came to the defence of the Hindutva extremists back then. As a Chief Minister of Gujarat at that time, he was responsible for anti Muslim pogrom in 2002 when the police was made to protect the BJP activists involved in the violence against the very spirit of Gita. Likewise, the appointments of scholars and judges who agree with the ideology of the BJP isn’t something surprising.
This is not to suggest that the previous governments were perfect. State violence and sexual abuse have also been happening during other regimes, but what is unique about the BJP is that due to its Hindu nationalist (supremacist) mandate the attacks on minorities have grown. More importantly, the BJP has always been playing the card of religion and has been using the Hindu gods as political icons to further their agenda.
It has to be therefore challenged for its double speak and only devout Hindus whose brand of Hinduism is more open can do that.
Bachao MP government trying hard to crush the movement by implicating thousands of displaced persons in Kukshi, Dhar and Badwani in many false cases.
Badwani, Madhya Pradesh. August 14, 2017: The day Medha Patkar and others broke their 17 day indefinite fast, Madhya Pradesh police foisted cases of disturbing peace, kidnapping and many other trumped up charges on 55 named and 2,500 unnamed project affected and activists of Narmada Bachao Andolan. Most of the cases are related to the incident on August 7thwhen 2,000 strong police force violently attacked the fasting protesters, injured 42 and forcibly hospitalised 10 of them in Dhar and Indore Hospitals. This itself speaks volumes of the terror and oppression being unleashed in the Narmada valley today.
Medha Patkar, Dhurji Bhai, Vijay Bhai, Santu Bhai have completed five days in different jails of Madhya Pradesh today. All these fabricated cases have been imposed so that movement against the illegal and unjust forced eviction of 40000 families in the Narmada Valley can be crushed. Police vehicles are roaming around the villages all day and is creating fear in the minds of people, however, people stand firm in their villages for their rights. According to the compiled information, FIRs have been registered against 72 people in 9 cases in Barwani, and FIRs have been filed against 94 people in 12 cases in Kukshi, District Dhar. There are also many other serious charges and non-bailable warrants pending. While, the government maintains stoic silence on the demands of the people, the police are busy in naming activists and displaced persons in false cases.
Today, the world recognizes the 32 years of non-violent struggle and Satyagraha of the Narmada Bachao Andolan. But the Madhya Pradesh Police, at the behest of the Government is charging them in cases, such as under section 307, accusing them of being involved in murder and kidnapping. This is highly condemnable and can only be termed as actions aimed at hiding the failures of the government. The police should be working to protect the public and implementing the laws, not to suppress the people struggling for the rights. Unfortunately, what we see is the same old tactics of the government, where they have resorted to such tactics to suppress the democratic voice of different movements across the country.
Narmada Bachao Andolan condemns such actions of the police and administration. We also want to reiterate that, our movement is non-violent and it is the State and its different bodies which are unleashing violence and terror in the Narmada valley. We consider the attempted submergence of the 40,000 families in the Narmada Valley, also an act of state violence, which will kill many dreams and livelihoods.
On the Independence Day, as we greet all the countrymen, we also ask, is this freedom not for people of Narmada Valley ? Is this freedom not for the falsely implicated non-violent movement activists like, Medha Patkar and three others, who are lodged in the prison? Does struggle for rights of people, enable government to take our freedom ? Can we remain quiet, when we see so much repression and inequity in this society ? We can’t. We in Narmada Valley are struggling with these questions today and invite our fellow countrymen and women to join us in struggle for true independence.
It is rightly said that, when injustice becomes law, then the struggle becomes duty. We in Narmada Valley believe it’s our duty to continue to fight for the ideals enshrined in the Constitution and for freedom and justice through non-violent means and Satyagraha. Our fight is not only for the Narmada Valley but for the humanity and well being of mother earth. We remain committed to this struggle.
On the eve of independence, we also present to you the song we wrote more than two decades ago, which remains relevant even today.
We shall fight, we shall win !
Shyama Behen, Bhagwati Bai, Pushpa Bai, Rahul Yadav, Gendaram Bhai, Bachuram Bhilala, Rohit, Pawan Yadav, Mukesh Bhagoria
Can we be proud of such independence?
Medha Patkar
When millions are evicted in the name of nation’s development
Can we be proud of such independence?
When the forests, the life and culture,
Nurtured for centuries are destroyed forcibly
Can we be proud of such independence?
The nature suffering silently, reminds
Wake up the consumerist, or else we perish.
Can we be proud of such independence?
The dreams of ‘foreign’ land, remain chained in foreign hands
Without shame, they mortgage the country,
To bring suffering to all.
Can we be proud of such independence?
The loot prospers only few,
While millions struggle to survive,
Such distribution is injustice and inequitable.
Can we be proud of such independence?
They, who believe, destruction is development,
Are in a trap.
Unfortunately, those who speak the truth face the police and jail.
Can we be proud of such independence?
Don’t embrace the song, let the chains clash,
The free people, let us fight for true independence.
Let people ask,
Why they be evicted, always, in the name of nation’s development?
When millions are evicted in the name of nation’s development
Can we be proud of such independence?
In another move of the Modi government in censorship of diverse and dissenting political opinion, the speech of the chief minister, Manik Sarkar of the Left Front government in Tripura was not aired as us customary on Independence Day.
The Prasar Bharati and under it, both Doordarshan and All India Radio refused to broadcast the customary Independence Day address of Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar, advising him to “reshape” the speech after it was recorded by the chief minister.
The public broadcasters did not air Sarkar’s six-minute speech which was scheduled to be aired at 6.30am on Tuesday after the Sarkar government refused to make changes.
Sarkar, in his unaired speech, a copy of which is available with sections of the media was reportedly slated to have said, “Unity in diversity is India’s traditional heritage. Great values of secularism have helped in keeping Indians together as a nation. Today, the spirit is under attack. Conspiracies and attempts are underway to create an undesirable complexity and divisions in our society; to invade our national consciousness in the name of religion, caste and community, by inciting passions to convert India into a particular religious country and in the name of protecting the cow.”
The Tripura CM, who has commandeered the north-eastern state for the last 19 years, also said, “These unholy tendencies cannot be harboured or tolerated. These disruptive attempts are contrary to the goals, dreams and ideals of our freedom struggle. The followers of those who are not associated with the independence movement, rather sabotaged the freedom movement, were servile to the atrocious, plunderer and merciless British, aligned with the anti-national forces having decorated themselves today in different names and colours are striking at the root of unity and integrity of India.”
Dooordarshan is not the private property of the BJP or the RSS. Its refusal to broadcast Tripura CM’s speech is undemocratic and illegal, said Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the party, sharply criticising the move of Doordarshan under the Modi regime not to telecast the Indpendence Day speech of Tripura chief minister, Manik Sarkar.
” The PM can repeat homilies to cooperative federalism while instructing all his cronies to black out voices of the Opposition, including an elected CM. If this is not authoritarianism and undeclared Emergency, what is? This will be fought back by the CPI(M), people of Tripura and all citizens of our country,” he tweeted.
Meanwhile, the Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the refusal by the Doordarshan and All India Radio to broadcast the customary Independence Day address of Manik Sarkar, Chief Minister of Tripura.
The Doordarshan and All India Radio had recorded his speech for the occasion. However, they subsequently informed him that the speech cannot be carried as it is and asked him to “reshape” it.
This is a gross infringement on the right of a Chief Minister to address the people of his state on Independence Day. The statement issued by the CPI-M said that “this act is reminiscent of the Emergency days and goes beyond as it seeks to gag the elected Chief Minister of a state. The Central Government is trampling upon the autonomy of Doordarshan/AIR and Prasar Bharati by such acts of censorship.”
The Polit Bureau has demanded action against those responsible for prohibiting the broadcast. The Modi Government should stop treating the Prasar Bharati as a department of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the statement said.
Exactly seventy years ago, it was freedom at midnight for millions of Indians, as the country made her tryst with destiny and awoke to a new dawn! India has certainly made rapid strides in several fields these past years(thanks to our freedom fighters, the members of the Constituent Assembly and many others); however , if one looks back at various happenings in the country, one cannot help but conclude that as a nation, even at the ‘mature’ age of seventy, we still have to awake!
In recent weeks, we have witnessed several glaring examples of how corruption, communalism, casteism and criminalization of politics have seized the nation with a stranglehold .The elections to the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat, was a blatant act of corruption by the current political dispensation, to buy up MLAs from the opposition, at mind-boggling amounts; the son of the BJP chief of Haryana, literally thought that he could get away for stalking a girl, due to his political clout; Medha Patkar was arrested in the midst of her hunger strike on behalf of the oustees of the Narmada Dam; India’s new President and Vice-President are steeped in the ideology of the RSS; over sixty children in Uttar Pradesh, died due to lack of oxygen in a hospital. All this and more, as efforts are made to plunge the country into abysmal depths.
On August 9th, the 75th anniversary of the ‘Quit India Movement’ brought to mind the selfless sacrifices of Mahatma Gandhi and the other freedom fighters who ultimately ensured that India won her freedom in 1947. It is a historical fact, that the Hindu Mahasabha ,the RSS and their ilk refused to take part in the freedom struggle; very ironically, it is they who today control the destinies of the country, they wax eloquent about the freedom struggle and since untruth is their forte ,they even take “credit” for it, which in actuality, they deeply resented!
The Constituent Assembly, in November 1949, gave to the country a path-breaking and sacrosanct Constitution. Enshrined in the Preamble are the core values of Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity whilst simultaneously guaranteeing the sovereignty, the secular and socialist nature of the country. Thanks to the visionary leadership of Dr. B. Ambedkar, this was ‘the idea of India’: which like a beautiful tapestry would preserve, protect and promote pluralism and respect the rights and freedom of every citizen
The country today is a far cry from what is envisaged in the Constitution. The rulers today seem to have no qualms of conscience in destroying democratic values. The situation of India’s minorities for one, is going from bad to worse daily; in the last few months a Christian Pastor was shot dead in Punjab, a Muslim family was brutally attacked in a train in UP, sacred Christian objects and cemeteries were vandalized in Goa, young Muslims were lynched for allegedly carrying or eating beef; just last week, the Government of Jharkhand issued a full-page advertisement (with public money) in some of the national dailies denigrating the Christians. The list is endless; the minorities in India have never had it so bad!
Since May 2014, there has been a consistent negation of Article 25 of the Constitution, which guarantees to every Indian the “freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion.” One needs to revisit Narendra Modi’s election campaign in the run-up to the 2002 election in Gujarat and particularly his promise to bring in an anti-conversion law once they assumed power. True to his word, on March 26, 2003 (and without any opposition) under his mantle, the ‘Gujarat Freedom of Religion Act 2003’ was passed and five years later in 2008, the rules necessary to govern the implementation of the law, were introduced. It is one of the most draconian laws of the country, which necessitate that anyone seeking to change his or her religion must first seek the permission of the District Magistrate. The Constitutional validity of this law was challenged in 2009 in the High Court of Gujarat and a judgement is still awaited.
The country is aware that the ideology of the RSS has never been in sync with the Constitution of India. There have been threats to repeal Article 370, a promise in the BJP manifesto and even a pronouncement from the PMO. On July 24th 2014, speaking on the floor of the Assembly in Goa former Minister Deepak Dhavlikar stated “I am confident that under the leadership of Modiji, India will develop into a Hindu nation. Prime Minister will work in this regard is what I feel”. When the BJP have the required numbers in both Houses of Parliament, they will certainly tamper with the Constitution of India or even perhaps change it drastically.
Education is gradually becoming a major casualty. There are several indicators, which point to this. These include: in some BJP-ruled states, Sikhs, Christians and other minorities are denigrated in school text books published by the Government; there are attempts to introduce text books by Hindutva hardliners; to make yoga and the singing of ‘vande mataram’compulsory in schools; to ‘sanskritise’ the curriculum The Government interference in prestigious institutions of higher learning like the JNU, Jamia and Nalanda lend weightage to the talk that the Government would ultimately want to nationalise education.
Freedom of speech and expression has all but disappeared in the country. Most media houses are corporatized and have to toe the line of the establishment. Any real issue in a BJP- ruled state like official corruption, scams, scandals are easily swept under the carpet; whereas relatively minor issues in non-BJP ruled states hog the headlines! Anybody who thinks, speaks and acts differently is bound to be hounded, harassed and victimised. False cases are foisted on them; raids by vindictive Government agencies make life difficult for those who have the courage to stand up and speak out!
On August 10th, the last day of his decade-long tenure as the Vice-President of India and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Dr. Hamid Ansari (a distinguished statesman and scholar)in his farewell speech, stressed that the Rajya Sabha was the creation of the Constitution that portrays Indian diversity; quoting former Vice-President S. Radhakrishnan he said, “a democracy is likely to degenerate into a tyranny if it does not allow the opposition groups to criticise fairly, freely and frankly the policies of the government.”
Significant words today! India at seventy is like a sleeping giant, which needs to awake NOW! We, the people of India, need to act fast to ensure that country gets back on the right tracks and also pray in the words of our Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore from his ‘Gitanjali’:
“Where the mind is without fear
and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up
into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms toward perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by Thee
into ever-widening thought and action —
Into that heaven of freedom,
my Father, let my country awake”.
August 14th 2017
(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. Contact: cedricprakash@gmail.com
Maulana Kalbe Sadiq. Photo credit: Times of India
Two days ago Shia leaders and activists from Mumbai condemned the Shia Central Waqf Board for submitting an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that rebuilding the Babri Mosque some distance away from the disputed site was acceptable to it. Now senior Shia cleric, Maulana Kalbe Sadiq on Sunday has said Indian Muslims will have much to gain if following a Supreme Court verdict in their favour, they voluntarily handed over the Babri Masjid site to Hindus.
Slamming Wasim Rizvi, chairperson of the Shia Central Waqf Board presented little difficulty to many Shias as Rizvi is widely perceived to be an “opportunist” who is close to the BJP. With Maulana Sadiq, however, it is a different matter. A sober, highly respected person, he is also the vice-president of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, a body which all along has stuck to the once-a-mosque-always-a-mosque standpoint.
Maulana Sadiq’s comments were made in the course of his speech at the inter-faith World Peace and Harmony conclave in Mumbai on Sunday. Anticipating a hostile Muslim response to his suggestion, he reasoned that if the Supreme Court judgment was not in favour of Muslims they should gracefully accept the decision of the highest court in the land. If however, the verdict was in their favour Muslims should voluntarily surrender their claim and hand over the disputed land to Hindus.
By giving away one thing that is precious, one often stands to gain in thousands, he reasoned. “I would rather urge the community to give away the disputed land to Hindus whose feelings are so deeply attached to the place.”
But the maulana’s suggestion found no favour from the convener of the Babri Masjid Action Committee, Zafaryab Jilani who told The Times of India: “The AIMPLB, which is an umbrella organization of various Muslim bodies in the country, maintains its stand that land of a mosque cannot be given, gifted, donated or sold or exchanged. The same holds true for Babri Masjid as well. We all in the AIMPLB, including board’s vice-president Maulana Sadiq, are bound by that decision. I wonder how and why he said this. It appears to be his personal opinion.”
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said Allah is the rightful owner of a mosque and therefore no individual or organization has the right to give it away. “Masjids can be managed by Shia, Sunni, Barelvi, Sufi, Deobandi, Salafi, Bohri but they are not the owners. Allah is the owner,” tweeted the Hyderabad MP in an obvious reaction to Shia Waqf Board’s latest stand.
Meanwhile, the BJP was quick to welcome the statement of Maulana Sadiq. “Maulana Sahab (Sadiq) has won our hearts. Lord Ram is neither of Hindus nor of Muslims. He is soul of India,” said Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, who spoke after the cleric at the event.
In a 30-page affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on August 8, the Shia Waqf Board had asserted that the Babri Masjid site was its property and only it was entitled to hold negotiations for an amicable settlement of the dispute. The affidavit further stated that a mosque can be constructed at a place near birth place of Lord Ram.
For Maulana Sadiq apparently the issue is not who – Sunni or Shia – has the rightful claim to the Babri Masjid property but the fact that the place is dear to the hearts of Hindus and therefore it should be given away as a goodwill gesture.
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