Yoga Negated Through Modi’s Hate Speeches

The societal harmony being flagged to mark International Yoga Day celebrations this year is negated by Modi’s numerous hate speeches against Muslims delivered just over two weeks ago while campaigning in the recently concluded 18th general elections.

The PM’s diatribes against people pursuing Islamic faith and his repeated utterances that they are “infiltrators” out to take away properties of Hindus if his political opponents acquire power, was contrary to the ideals of societal harmony. Even his repeated false assertions that certain political parties on coming to power would make Muslims entitled to reservation meant for Dalits, Scheduled tribes and Other Backward Classes, were aimed at causing societal disharmony for electoral gains.

Such Islamophobia demonstrated in his speeches shocked the nation and outraged the international community.

Vivekananda Linked Yoga With Ability to Fight Tyrants

Had Swami Vivekananda been alive, he would have found it despicable that a person occupying the post of Prime Minister and taking credit for sensitising the UN to celebrate June 21 every year as International Yoga Day, is in his actions and speeches spewing venom against people in the name of faith.

Swami Vivekananda would have recalled one of his remarks on Yoga made while speaking in the US  on the subject “Sadhanas or Preparations for Higher Life.” He said, “No breathing, no physical training of Yoga, nothing is of any use until you reach to the idea, “I am the Witness.” Say, when the tyrant hand is on your neck, “I am the Witness! I am the Witness!” Say, “I am the Spirit! Nothing external can touch me.” When evil thoughts arise, repeat that, give that sledgehammer blow on their heads, “I am the Spirit!

Tragically, the ruling leadership has dragged our country down to the level of electoral autocracy where the all- pervasive doctrine of frightfulness sustains their rule.

Swami Vivekananda’s words “the tyrant hand is on your neck” have become a reality in India during the past 10 years. We need to be empowered by Yoga to say “I am the witness” to get our freedom and democracy back. This is the revolutionary meaning of Yoga for emancipation from dictatorial methods of governance being perpetuated in India now in complete contravention of the constitutional vision of country. Mere asanas, Yogic postures, are not enough; we need to imbibe the spirit of Yoga to defy leaders who trample upon our life and liberty.

Yoga Compliments Religious Pluralism

In another speech delivered in the US on the theme “The Goal and Method of Realisation”, Vivekananda referred to the different types of Yoga — Karma, Bhakti, Raja, Jnana — and said, “These are all different roads leading to the same centre — God.”

Adding further, he upheld coexistence of all faiths by saying, “Indeed, the varieties of religious belief are an advantage, since all faiths are good, so far as they encourage man to lead a religious life. The more sects there are, the more opportunities there are for making successful appeals to the divine instinct in all men”.

Vivekananda’s ringing words, “…the varieties of religious belief are an advantage, since all faiths are good” articulated by him in the context of explaining the meaning of Yoga, assume greater significance when Modi, as Prime Minister, tramples upon the essence of Yoga by delivering toxic speeches against Muslims, stoking religious disharmony, discord and hatred. Hence, how do Modi’s pronouncements promote “…both individual well-being and societal harmony” one of the themes of this year’s International Yoga Day?

Gandhi and Yoga

Yoga is rooted in the meditative aspects of religion that are integral to the values of ethics and non-violence. In Patanjali’s eight-fold Yoga, the first fold prescribed, among others, truth, non-violence, non-possession and non-stealing. These ideals constitute the first syllable of Yoga. Mahatma Gandhi did not follow any yogic practice but made truth and non-violence the sheet anchor of India’s struggle to attain freedom from British rule.

Modi, on the other hand, has been delivering hate speeches that constitute a travesty of Yoga and its foundational ideals of truth and non-violence. He should redeem himself of the breaches of those ideals first before waxing eloquent on Yoga and societal harmony.

The writer served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K R Narayanan. The views are personal.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Anti-Christian Riots

Earlier from 2000 to 2009, the BJP, during the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani, was part of a coalition government of which BJD was a key partner, with its president Naveen Patnaik occupying the post of Chief Minister. Patnaik snapped the alliance in 2009 after anti-Christian riots in the Kandhamal region triggered by Hindutva forces. He then formed the government in 2009, 2014 and 2019, after BJD got a majority on its own and BJP got consigned to a distant second position; with only 23 Assembly seats in 2019.

A sense of apprehension has been rekindled that Odisha, which in 2008 saw anti-Christian riots associated with the Hindutva forces when the BJP-BJD coalition government was ruling in the state, might see communal discord and resultant violence.

Such apprehensions are accentuated because the new Chief Minister Majhi, with his RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) background and as a fourth-time MLA of Keonjhar, in 2022, had joined a protest led by the Sudarshan TV’s editor-in-Chief Suresh Chavhanke in Keonjhar, demanding the release of Bajrang Dal activist Dara Singh. Singh has been sentenced to life imprisonment for committing the horrendous crime of killing (burning alive) Christian missionary Graham Staines and his two children in Odisha in 1999. Recall that Chavhanke has always used his TV channel to peddle hatred against the minorities, specifically Muslims and Christians. So, Majhi revealed his sinister motives in standing in solidarity with him in support of the dreaded criminal Dara Singh.

It is worth recalling that then President of India K R Narayanan had referred to the heinous crime of Singh as part of “the world’s inventory of black deeds,” while then Prime Minister Vajpayee had described as “’a blot on our collective consciousness.”

That is why Odisha’s new Chief Minister, with his track record of demanding the release of a convicted criminal, has generated apprehensions that during his tenure, Hindutva forces might become more aggressive. Such apprehensions get stronger when people recall the anti-Christian riots in Kandhamal when BJP was sharing power in Odisha as a coalition partner of BJD. Several people fear that with Majhi as Chief Minister and BJP commanding a majority in the Assembly, there would be no restraint to Hindutva forces in the event of any communal violence erupting in the State.

Recent Attack of Hindutva Forces on Muslims

It is rather sad that a few years ago (2017), Hindutva groups unleashed violence in the coastal Bhadrak region triggered by a Ram Navami procession taken out in an area where a good number of Muslims reside.  The community suffered badly after houses and business establishments of several of them were destroyed. The situation was brought under control with great difficulty. Luckily, there was no loss of life.

Similarly, last year, the Hanuman Jayanti procession was deliberately taken through the area of western Odisha’s Sambalpur city where several Muslims reside and their houses and shops were vandalised.  The violence caused economic damages not only to Muslims but also Hindus who lived together and in partnership pursued several economic actives for their sustenance.  That tragic development was followed by circulation of Odia leaflets across the state calling for total boycott of Muslims from the social and economic arena in a bid to exclude and deprive them of all opportunities to live as citizens of India.

Such divisive narratives had raised serious concerns with leading Odia newspapers writing editorials and flagging Odisha’s ethos of celebrating secular values and bhaichara (brotherhood) of people, regardless of the faiths they pursued.  The calculated Hindutva assault on amity and unity of the people in the name of faith was very unusual in Odisha, which hardly has any record of communal violence.

Historically, Odisha Has Celebrated Secular Values  

With Christians constituting 2.77% of the population and Muslims with 2.1%, Odisha, in spite of its deeply religious attributes defined by Hinduism, has always embraced people of all faiths. All the legendary leaders of the state, such as Utkal Gaurab Madhusudan Das and Utkalmani Gopabandhu Das, who struggled to form a separate entity for Odisha during the freedom struggle, always kept religion away from that struggle. Madhusudan Das famously said in the second decade of the 20th Century that there would not be any discussion on religion in the forum of Utkal Sammilani or Utkal Forum, which, after its formation in 1903, started a movement for a separate province of Odisha on the basis of Odia language and it was eventually created on April 1, 1936,

It is apprehended that during the tenure of the new Manohar Majhi government, that historical ethos may be lost sight of.

Travesty of Constitutional Morality

It is a travesty of constitutional morality that Majhi, who stood for Dara Singh’s release in 2022, has taken oath in 2024, bearing true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India to occupy the office of the Chief Minister of Odisha.

Modi’s Anti-Muslim Tirades

Also, we need to be mindful of the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while campaigning for the recently concluded general elections, shockingly delivered toxic speeches against Muslims, terming them as “infiltrators” and expressing utter contempt against them.  He did so in contravention of the Constitution, law and civilised values which a person occupying such a high constitutional office is required to follow. Modi did not do so, and even the Election Commission, which is legally mandated to put a check on him, did not do anything and just took a frivolous stand that he being an occupant of that exalted office is conscious of his responsibilities.

People of Odisha Need to be Vigilant

Modi was an RSS pracharak (propagandist) and Majhi has been groomed by RSS which has always a record of doubtful credibility vis-a-vis its commitment to the Constitution.  

With such a background, marked by Majhi’s support to Dara Singh, the people of Odisha need to be vigilant for safeguarding its pluralistic ethos and communal amity.

The writer served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K R Narayanan. The views are personal.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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While paying tribute to Nehru and recalling his rich legacy to build a new India from the ravages of centuries of colonial rule, and lay its foundation, among others, on the strength of science, technology, scientific temper and secularism, it is of crucial significance to reflect his ideas on elections, which he articulated a few days before the conduct of the first general elections in 1951 and during the conduct of its different phases.

It is illuminating to note that those articulations of Nehru on elections were so prescient that those are immensely relevant for our country today, when the conduct of 18th general elections are in full swing.

Nehru’s Warning on Coercive State Apparatus to Benefit a Party

In a letter to the Chief Minsters on June 5, 1951, five months before the commencement of the 1st general elections in November that year, Nehru wrote that he was accused by several opposition parties that he was instrumental in passing several legislations for the purpose of creating a coercive State apparatus with a view to winning the elections. He described the conduct of the 1st general elections as “a colossal affair taxing our administrative capacity to the utmost.”  “They will,” he remarked, “tax also our forbearance and will be a test for all of us”.

He proceeded to add that in the shadow of those elections, there were heated debates in Parliament and in the press, and in several quarters the legislation passed by the provisional Parliament was interpreted as a measure connected with those elections. Possibly, Nehru was referring to the Representation of People’s Act of 1951 and described the twisted interpretation given to it as “….a completely wrong inference.”

“Indeed,”, he sharply stated, “there could be no greater folly for a government, such as we are, than to use the repressive apparatus of the State to benefit any party”. “That itself,” he sensitively observed, “would rouse antagonism and lose support for that party.”  

Nehru’s utterances that “Indeed there could be no greater folly for a Government, such as we are, than to use the repressive apparatus of the State to benefit any party” resonate when people of India and Opposition parties are confronting a highly coercive State headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has employed several government agencies against Opposition parties and leaders, arrested leaders and even the Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal, former Chief Minister of Jharkhand Hemant Soren before and during elections.

Even the bank accounts of the Congress party have been frozen by the income tax authorities in a bid to financially paralyse the party from conducting its election campaign. So, today, the State apparatus is being used to benefit a particular party.

The contents of the aforementioned letter of Nehru need to be recalled while paying tribute to him on his death anniversary and remind the nation that how, with a farsighted vison, he wrote therein that bullying tactics of the State for winning elections for the party in power would generate antagonism and diminish people’s support for it. What Nehru wrote before the conduct of general elections is being replayed now when the election process is in full swing across the country.

Warning on Communal Forces

In that letter, Nehru also wrote that dangerous attempts were being made to cause trouble during the elections by, what he called “some ill-disposed persons” and he very prophetically stated, “Mostly it is expected from communal groups”. He, therefore, cautioned that the nation should be prepared to meet that anti-social challenge, which he candidly said, represented “fascist forces who never participated in freedom struggle.”

And 60 years after Nehru’s sad demise and during the election campaign, none other than Prime Minister Modi, as a star campaigner of the ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) is engaged in stoking communal passions and targeting Muslims by spewing poison against them.

The Election Commission of India has written to the BJP president, J P Nadda, that the star campaigners of his party should desist from violating the Model Code of Conduct , which prohibits parties or candidates from indulging in activities that “may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic.”

While first Prime Minister Nehru, a few months before the conduct of the 1st general elections in 1951, indicted the communal groups for their attempts to engage in anti-social activities, the present Prime Minister, as BJP’s star campaigner, is being indicted by the Election Commission, albeit half-heartedly, for using religion and communally divisive narratives for appealing to the electorate to vote for his party.

It is instructive to note that Nehru, in another letter to Chief Ministers on October 4, 1951 wrote, “The near approach of elections has galvanized all kinds of communal parties into fierce activity”. He stated that this concerned itself not with any positive proposals but falsely targeted the Congress for its so called ‘appeasement’ policy toward Muslims.

Nehru also noted with deep anguish that the communal forces indulged in “an abundance of vulgar abuse” which, he said, went down with the crowd. He wrote with pain that the “vulgar and foolish approach and the inherent poison of communalism, which, if allowed free play, would break up India”.

However, he also expressed his optimism by writing that the “vulgar abuse peddling communalism” could be countered with presentation of facts before people, who were good enough to accept the narratives anchored in truthful account.

In another letter to Chief Ministers on November 1, 1951, Nehru referred to several aspects of electioneering as depressing and described the “ugly phenomenon of communalism” being pushed forward during the election campaign as the most dangerous development of the time.

That “dangerous” development flagged by Nehru during the first general elections is now being embraced by Prime Minister Modi with impunity, and in complete disregard of the law and the Supreme Court’s directions.

Nehru and Saving the Constitution

It is illuminating to note that Nehru, during the first general elections, wrote about the responsibility of the people in general and those occupying high offices in particular, for proper implementation of the Constitution. In a letter to Chief Ministers on April 15, 1952, while referring  to the formation on Congress ministries in Coorg, Delhi, Pepsu, Ajmer, Mysore and Madras, he wrote about the Constitution of India, defining the rights and responsibilities of the Centre and of the States. “But,” Nehru remarked, “however good the Constitution of a country might be, it depends ultimately on the people of that country, and more especially on those in positions of responsibility, how work is carried on and what results are achieved”.

Those utterances made by Nehru 72 years ago, assume added significance on the occasion of his 60th death anniversary in 2024, when election campaign is on and people have made “saving the Constitution” an electoral issue. They did so because those in positions of responsibility, such as several BJP leaders contesting to get elected to the Lok Sabha, stated that Modi after winning 400 plus seats, would change the Constitution.

The words of Nehru “however good the Constitution of a country might be, it depends ultimately on the people of that country, and more especially on those in positions of responsibility” resonates in today’s India and constitutes a propelling force for people to remind those occupying positions of responsibility not to tinker with it.

It is rather fascinating that the issue of the Constitution and its proper implementation, which Nehru said rested with those wielding power, is now being reiterated by people and they are in the forefront to defend it by making it a major election issue.

Nehru’s legacy is of enduring significance and in upholding it, we can defeat communal forces who are out to cause havoc to the ‘idea of India’ and the Constitution.  

The writer served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K R Narayanan. The views are personal.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

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Today, while celebrating the 126th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, one recalls the lesser-known fact that he, before leaving India for Europe incognito in 1941 to launch a war against the British regime in India for the freedom of our country, met several leaders. They included Mahatma Gandhi, Mohammed Ali Jinnah and VD Savarkar. He gave an account of those meetings in his book Indian Struggle: 1920-1942, first published in 1997, and that account is of contemporary significance.

MEETING BETWEEN BOSE AND GANDHI IN 1941

During his meeting with Gandhi, Bose stated that the Forward Bloc had launched a Civil Disobedience Movement, and many of the leaders of the Bloc were in prison. He also gave his assessment of the British Empire’s predicament to Gandhi and believed that the Empire would be overthrown. He then requested Gandhi to start passive resistance and allow India to play her part in the second World War. Gandhi said that people were not prepared for a fight and that any step to aggravate and hasten it would be counterproductive.

Bose said his interaction with Gandhi lasted for a long time, and the talks were hearty. He wrote in the aforesaid book that Gandhi wished him success in his “passionate endeavour” to free India from British rule. In the event of India attaining liberation on account of Bose’s struggle, he would be the first to receive a telegram of congratulation from Gandhi.

BOSE’S MEETINGS WITH JINNAH AND SAVARKAR WERE DISAPPOINTING

While Bose’s talks with Gandhi concerning India’s independence were hearty and cordial, his meeting with Jinnah, President of the Indian Muslim League, and Savarkar, President of Hindu Mahasabha, was disappointing. He made a passionate appeal to Jinnah to join the united struggle of people for the independence of India. He told him he would be the first Prime Minister after the country’s liberation.

So far, we only knew that Gandhi persuaded Congress leaders to make Jinnah the Prime Minister of India to avoid the country’s partition. But a peep into the book reveals that in his quest for making India free and keeping it undivided, he made relentless efforts to dissuade those whose actions polarised the freedom struggle and aimed at partitioning the country. Therefore, while his meeting with Gandhi was centred around the idea of making India free through a struggle of people regardless of their faith, his meetings with Jinnah and Savarkar were primarily to keep the country united by persuading them to join the common struggle for freedom and independence.

Despite his fervent pleas to Jinnah that he would become the first Prime Minister of free India, the latter remained hell-bent on his
demand for the creation of Pakistan by dividing India based on religion.

Bose wrote: “Jinnah was then thinking only of how to realise his plan of Pakistan (a division of India) with the help of the British.”

About Savarkar, he wrote: “Savarkar seemed to be oblivious of the international situation and was only thinking how Hindus could secure military training by entering Britain’s army in India.”

He concluded that “…nothing could be expected from either the Muslim League or the Hindu Mahasabha.”

PM MODI SHOULD READ BOSE’S VIEWS ON SAVARKAR

Bose’s writings in the book show that he was unsparing of any communalism, be it of the Muslim League or Hindu Mahasabha headed by Savarkar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is the only Prime Minister of our country to have invoked the name of Savarkar along with Gandhi, Bose and Nehru on more than one occasion in his addresses to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the occasion of Independence day, should be mindful of Bose’s articulations that Savarkar was only persuading Hindus to join the British army.

Bose’s leadership and the role the Indian National Army played in its war against the British Army for the liberation of our country upheld our secular ethos as it united people of all faiths for the cause of India and set an example of harmony and reconciliation, which is being demolished by the distortion of history and polarisation process unleashed by divisive narratives of the ruling leaders of the Union government.

BOSE’S SECULAR OUTLOOK DETERMINED HIS UNDERSTANDING OF HISTORY

In this context, Bose’s understanding of Indian history by eschewing a religious approach to understanding our past is of immense and contemporary significance. In his book, An Indian Pilgrim, he outlined the composite culture of both communities who shared a common destiny for thousands of years and shaped their future together in the face of all sorts of challenges. In the book, he described the Battle of Plassey as a joint Hindu-Muslim endeavour to confront an adversary which had caused an existential crisis.

“History will bear me out when I say that it is a misnomer to talk of Muslim rule when describing the political order in India before the advent of the British. Whether we talk of the Moghul Emperors at Delhi, or of the Muslim Kings of Bengal, we shall find that in either case, the administration was run by Hindus and Muslims together, many of the prominent Cabinet Ministers and Generals being Hindus. Further, the consolidation of the Moghul Empire in India was affected by the help of Hindu commanders-in-chief. The Commander-in-chief of Nawab Sirajudowla, whom the British fought at Plassey in 1757 and defeated, was a Hindu and the rebellion of 1857 against the British, in which Hindus and Muslims were found side by side, was fought under the flag of a Muslim, Bahadur Shah.”

Such an understanding of our history, free from communal bias, is the need of the hour. It constitutes an antidote to RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) chief Mohan Bhagwat’s reiteration of his predecessor Golwalkar’s manufactured formulation that Hindus are at war with both an external and internal enemy for a thousand years.

It is of immense significance to recall Bose’s secular outlook and correct understanding and interpretation of our past and defeat the communal interpretation of our history reminiscent of James Mill’s two-nation theory – the Hindu nation and Muslim Nation. Historian Romila Thapar, in her recent lecture, “Our History, Your History, Whose History,” stated that such an approach to history based on religion reduced every cause to a single one –religious difference– and ignored and minimised other causes.

Bose’s approach to history discarded the religious approach; therefore, when India is witnessing the replay of the colonial approach to history writing, it is important to revisit Bose’s worldview rooted in our shared heritage and composite culture. In doing so, we would serve the cause of the idea of India and pay fitting tribute to Bose.

SN Sahu served as Officer on Special Duty to the late President of India, KR Narayanan. The views are personal.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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The Supreme Court has asked for the Gujarat government’s response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the remission of eleven convicts in the Bilkis Bano case. The court has asked the petitioners, CPI(M) leader Subhashini Ali, journalist Revathy Laul and activist Roop Rekha Verma, to implead the eleven released convicts in their application. Now, the government of Gujarat has two weeks to respond to the PIL, while the court has also asked the petitioners why these eleven men stand apart from other convicts whom a state government might grant remission.

Indeed there are several reasons why remission in the Bano case is getting opposed. For one, she struggled to secure these convictions, and it is now up to the highest court to restore her faith in the justice system. This PIL is hopefully the first step in that process. Second, in his independence day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi waxed eloquent about ‘Nari shakti—women power’. He asked from the Red Fort, “Can we not pledge to get rid of everything in our behaviour, culture and everyday life that humiliates and demeans women?”

But when the BJP government of his home state, Gujarat, released eleven murderers and rapists convicted for life on independence day itself, it contradicted his lofty utterances. For the sake of consistency in the words and deeds of the State as well, these killers and rapists must not earn a reprieve.

Thirdly, the Gujarat government seems to have applied the 1992 remission rules of the state in complete violation of procedure. As the petitioners have pointed out, a committee including BJP legislators and office-bearers announced this remission. Naturally, it outraged the nation, but the heaviest blow fell on Bano and her family. After all, these eleven men were convicted for killing fifteen members of Bano’s family, including her three-year-old daughter. Their heinous crimes, including gang rapes, occurred during the 2002 Gujarat riots.

So outrageous were the deeds during this pogrom that then President KR Narayanan had called it a “crisis of our state and society”. That is why, twenty years later, the remission intensifies the victimisation of Bilkis and her family. That is why Bano’s agonising words after the release, “How can justice for any woman end like this?” will echo for a long time. “My sorrow and wavering faith are not for myself alone but for every woman struggling for justice in courts,” she rightly said. This is another exception in this case—it occurred in a larger context of a communal conflagration, and it was directed against the most vulnerable women.

Recall again the Prime Minister’s speech, in which he said, “Can we not pledge to get rid of everything in our behaviour, culture and everyday life that humiliates and demeans women?” Going by this remark, has not Bano been deliberately humiliated and demeaned? Those who released these criminals seem to mock her. After all, the released men were garlanded and fed sweets in full public view.

Such sinister developments on the 75th anniversary of independence also affront Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of Swaraj. On 14 August 1921, writing in Navjivan, Gandhi defined his notion of Swaraj in the context of women. He said Swaraj would mean “Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis, Christians and Jews should all be able to follow their faith and respect those of others.” He asserted it is a condition in which “a young girl could, without danger, move about alone even in the dead of night”.

Writing again on 20 October 1929 in Navjivan, Gandhi said Swaraj meant more than the transfer of power from British to Indian hands. “To my mind, Swaraj means regulated power in the hands of thirty crores of people. Where there is such a rule, even a young girl will feel herself safe,” he said.

Does this not strike a discordant note with Bano’s statement that the release of these convicts has “taken from me my peace and shaken my faith in justice”? Her words convey the stark insecurity of having a trauma from two decades ago replayed, reviving her fears for her life and dignity. The government of Gujarat has multiplied the threat to Bano and made her vulnerable to her perpetrators again. This amounts to mocking Gandhi’s Swaraj, defined in terms of women’s well-being and freedom from danger. Justice did not come easily or automatically to Bano; she struggled with trauma and an unjust system to gain these convictions.

It is all the more shocking that a BJP legislator member of the committee granting remission said these convicts deserve convictions because they included Brahmins who have “good sanskars”. The Supreme Court will no doubt notice that the caste of a perpetrator has no bearing on the sentence or the remission. If the identity of these men weighed on the minds of the committee that granted remission, does it not fall on the court to reverse their decision? The same legislator cast doubts on the conviction itself, saying it may have been a conspiracy hatched because of their caste and good nature! Clearly, the real intent here is to target and humiliate all victims from minority and disadvantaged communities.

During the Partition, many questions were raised about the effectiveness of some governments in the former British provinces. On 15 March 1947, someone asked Gandhi, “Should or should not those who have committed murder, rape, arson, and other heinous crimes receive appropriate punishment?” Gandhi’s response is significant today. He said, “Of course, those responsible for devilish deeds must be punished. A government which believes in the theory of crime and punishment but does not punish the criminal has no right to call itself a government.”

Applying the logic to the Gujarat government, remission of these eleven convicts negates the guilt established by the law courts. To revoke the punishment awarded to rapists and murderers by ignoring rules that deny remission for heinous crimes means the government did not care to uphold justice. The impression one gathers is that it backs the convicts and is least concerned for the dignity, safety and security of the victim, who is a Muslim, a woman, and has suffered immensely on account of the crime committed against her and her struggle for justice.

Indeed, Bano’s tenacity ensured the perpetrators of the crime were punished. But we cannot forget the Supreme Court decided to move the trial in cases related to the 2002 riots outside Gujarat (to Mumbai) to protect the witnesses and evidence from the state’s BJP government. Few would fail to notice that the remission has been granted by the same state, led by the same party’s government, once the law put the ball in its court.

Gandhi was very clear about it—women must feel safe for there to be Swaraj. It is our duty, and of the state and courts, to ensure no survivor is left to fend for herself in the seventy-fifth year of independence.

The author served as an officer on special duty to the former President of India, KR Narayanan. The views are personal.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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