AMU has always been a university of national importance and never has it been discriminated against on the grounds that most of its students belong to minority groups. It has produced loads of students who are proud to call themselves Aligs everywhere in the world.

But things started changing in 2017, soon after Ajay Singh Bisht aka Yogi Adityanath became the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. Leading BJP politicians and ministers from the started had already been speaking against AMU’s minority status and soon Yogi Adityanath joined the herd and raised the demand of scrapping the AMU’s minority status.

However, things took a violent turn last year with a protest started to remove the photo of Mohammad Ali Jinnah from AMU’s student union building. The controversy behind Jinnah, the honorary member of AMU students union, sparked after BJP MLA Satish Gautam raised the same question.

Following the controversy, BJP-ABVP goons entered the University premises while ex-Vice President of India Hamid Ansari was in the campus.

Fast forward to 2019 and something similar happened a week or so ago when a reporter from Republic TV—an ultra-nationalist news venture—visited the AMU campus. According to the students, the reporter said, “I am reporting from the University of terrorists,” and when the students objected, she and the cameraman got into a tussle with students.

What followed was a violent clash and incidental firing when a group of individuals belonging to ABVP and Hindu Yuva Vahini entered the campus just after Republic TV van left and started vandalizing the premises.

And in a strange turn of events, just after the tussle, Police officers lodged an FIR against 14 students of AMU charging them with sedition. No action was taken yet against the ABVP-HYV protestors.
 

Students Islamic Organization of India (SIO) and AMUSU were the main attendees of the joint press conference but the ex, as well as current office bearers of AMUSU, were prevented from attending attend the conference.

Syed Azharuddin, General Secretary of SIO, said, “The sedition is a draconian law and can only be applied in cases where the sovereignty and integrity of the Union of India are threatened by violent acts. It is unclear how the law of sedition was applied to a scuffle that happened with a University campus, and that too applied not against the culprits but against the victims. it must be noted that among the 14 students against whom sedition case was filed, some were not even present in Aligarh at the time.”

Mashkoor Ahmad Usmani, the ex AMUSU president, clarified on Wednesday, the day the FIR was lodged, that he was not present on the campus for three days. He further said, “The series of attack on our university before every election is the testimony of their cheap politics. The entry of private media channel and doing coverage without having the permission of university administration and using the derogatory comment for the university and students, shouting and fighting with students raises severe questions.”

He further said, “I request Mr Modi  to kindly give tuition classes to Aligarh BJP workers, so that next time they do homework before filing FIR for sedition charges, otherwise you will get exposed like always.”

SIO National Secretary Syed Azharuddin said, “It is also disheartening to see the role played by a national media outlet in these events, which called AMU a University of terrorists and once again tried to provoke an unnecessary controversy around AMU. We believe that such provocative and polarising coverage should be held to account and some semblance of journalistic responsibility and media ethics should be restored.”

It has been quite a strange thing that most of the Indian political leaders—who went along in the name of secularism or “mahagathbandhan”—did not utter a word on the campus fracas at AMU and the consequent case of sedition against 14 AMU students. Most of them spoke after they were pinged on social media.

Jignesh Mewani, independent MLA from Gujarat, wrote on Twitter, a day after the police case, “First they disinvited me in HK arts college, Hemant Shah resigned, then attack Allahabad University’s Richa, now these sedition charges and the dangerous Republic TV lies in #AMU?”
“We must condemn the dadagiri of these Sanghi students & media. Ruining peoples lives, futures!”

Moreover, BSP president Mayawati did not utter a word until pressed. She put a statement about the controversy two days after the fracas happened inside AMU campus. In her statement, Mayawati not only attacked Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh for its action against AMU students, but she also lashed out over Congress government in Madhya Pradesh for slapping NSA against Muslims for a suspected case of cow slaughter.

She said, “Both the parties (Congress and BJP) are working on the agenda of spreading communal hatred and casteism.”
On Sunday night, following the police FIR, police arrested four students from the campus. Following the arrest, AMUSU panellists started protesting at Bannadevi police station of Aligarh.

Later police release three out of four arrested students. The fourth student Talib Ali was presented in court on Monday, where he was ordered to keep under police remand for 14 days.

Following this, AMUSU members with several other students of University sat on protest at the university gate and raised the demand for an early release of Talib Ali. They also said that if police authorities would fail to meet the demand, hundreds of AMU students would give themselves to the police as part of the protest.

Soon after this, Aligarh authorities promised to release Talib at earliest, and protest was called off soon after the announcement.
However, the conditions inside AMU have been tense in recent past. And almost every incident was found related with the Hindu Yuva Vahini—a Hindu young militant outfit founded by Yogi Adityanath—and members and activists of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student’s wing of BJP.

During the fracas within the campus last year, police showed an extremely lenient attitude towards perpetrators belonging to HYV and ABVP. The Police lathi-charged at the AMU students, who were opposing the violence instigated by HYV and ABVP members, injuring many of the AMU students including the then AMUSU representatives.

Following the tussle, AMU students handed over six members belonging to Hindu Yuva Vahini to the police, but police immediately released them without any action or case. The police action trend followed the last week’s event as well, where authorities did not book any fringe elements or the crew from Republic TV but surprisingly booked the students who were opposing the TV channel crew for making derogatory remarks on live television.

In January this year, AMU was dragged once again into controversy when Ajay Singh, a student of LLM and grandson of BJP MLA Dalveer Singh, led a “Tiranga Yatra” inside the campus on bikes without prior permission from the university authority.

While there is nothing wrong with waving Indian flag inside AMU but as University’s proctor pointed at the time, “AMU itself celebrates Republic Day and Independence Day with full passion and lot of cultural programs. Students should join what is already happening instead of trying to create chaos.”

Such bike-Tiranga rallies have proven to be toxic in the past when one such rally created communal violence in Kasganj, western Uttar Pradesh. And such procedures have been the keys of “dialogue” protocol of the BJP.

Soon after the antics of Singh, the BJP Yuva Morcha floated a demand of establishing a temple in AMU premises. Mukesh Singh Lodhi, BJYM district president, wrote to AMU VC Tariq Mansoor to establish a temple inside AMU campus following the agenda of “Sabka Saath-Sabka Vikaas” in 15-days of receiving the letter, otherwise, BJYM will enter the premises and will lay stone for temple construction.

Meanwhile, the things inside AMU are still tense. On February 23, the university’s Disciplinary Committee will hold a meeting regarding actions against the students as per the University’s code of conduct. Students believe that tension could spark again that day.

Faisal Nadeem, a student from AMU, told TwoCircles.net, “Things are mostly silent right now. After the assurance from the authorities that no action would be taken against students, the protest was called off.”

“But students are avoiding to go outside of the campus. Moreover, they are not going into far areas inside the campus to avoid any episode which can be used to harm AMU’s or fraternity’s reputation further,” said Nadeem.

Courtesy: Two Circle
 

The post The never-ending attack on AMU, India’s top-ranked university appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Raman Singh held the Chief Minister post of Chhattisgarh for three straight terms of fifteen years and Shivraj Singh Chouhan held Chief minister post in Madhya Pradesh from 2005 until 2018. The factor about Rajasthan which has been cited most is that the state has a tradition of giving power to BJP and Congress alternatively in assembly elections and that the win of Congress is the result of the same tradition.

However, these are not the regions where BJP was anticipated to fail. Reasons have been given from anti-incumbency to the tradition-following-voter to rule out the actual causes behind the BJPs huge loss in these elections, and believe me, the cited ones come last. And here’s why.

Hindutva agenda is not always plain sailing
If assessed correctly, the politics and rhetoric of Hindutva were continuously prevailing in the campaign structure of BJP. Introducing Yogi Adityanath—whose image has never been of a politician but a campaigner of Hindutva repute—to campaign for BJP is part of the same agenda. Just a few days before the polls, BJP’s sister organisations started lobbying in Ayodhya on November 25 actually trying to “protest” for the creation of Ram Temple. The chief organizers of the event were Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. When the question was put before the organisers that against whom they were protesting, there were no answers.

The same is with the case with the politics of Hindutva. This has been the largest outcry in the election agenda of BJP, but the enemy to the Hindutva has always been imaginary. The Hindutva policies do not have the exact idea over to stand against whom, when and why? The pre-poll act in Ayodhya and the fiasco to erect Rama’s statue along Saryu river had a clear goal: to polarise the voters in favour of BJP. But the party failed to acknowledge that not only Rajasthan and MP did not care much about this campaign, even UP did not take much interest in this issue.
Moreover, the political idea of Hindutva works mostly in the minds of youth. The youngsters between 21 to 35 years have been the target of BJP, as it conducted several campaigns and rallies in these states with the help of its students’ organisation, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) to create a young cadre. But the party surely failed to acknowledge that the idea of Hindutva would only work well if the youths get job opportunities. The unemployment rates have been highest in the recent past, and as one RSS Pracharak from Rajasthan told me, “We could not console a disappointed vote by giving it something it does not need at all.”

Hindutva’s tone could have worked well for the majority of votes if the youth was not disappointed with the basic problems and demands it has been raising.

Why we must pay more attention to the agrarian crisis
During the 2017 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, when everyone was talking about possible alliances, social equations, and caste politics in the state, one more agenda was one the table of the BJP: farm loan waivers.

The BJP firmly promised to waive farm loans and the result of such a promise also reflected in the election results. But coming to 2018 assembly elections in MP, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, BJP passed the agrarian baton to the Congress where it took the lead and promised to waive farm loans within a week of coming into the power.

This tactic—which was earlier exercised and excelled by BJP—was played well by Congress especially in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the states which have been hit the worst with the farmers’ issues.

Madhya Pradesh has been facing farmers’ protests—the major violent role in which was played by RSS-backed farmers groups—and Shivraj Singh Chouhan played out a high voltage drama of protesting against the protest last year, giving out idea to the rural population that he has been incompetent in dealing with farmers’ issues of the state. RSS backed organisations tried to destabilise Chouhan’s government with the help of Kailash Vijayvargiya, a veteran BJP leader who has waiting long to sit on CM’s chair in MP, but RSS could not make inroads for Kailash or any other BJP leader, leaving out the turf open for Congress to address farmers’ issues.

The situation with the Raman Singh government in Chhattisgarh was similar. He reportedly did a fair job in implementing central government schemes on the ground level but failed to address issues of farmers during his tenure. Farmers picked up the tone of Congress that it would waive off loans in ten days and went against the incumbent Raman Singh.

Moreover, the rural votes in these three states were chiefly affected by the Kisaan Long March which happened earlier this year under the umbrella of several socialist and left-leaning farmers organisations of the country. Combining the peaceful long marches, and the violent protests that happened in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat, Congress tried to cash the anti-BJP mood, which has been told just a matter of anti-incumbency.

Nehru-Gandhi-70 years and negative publicity
Narendra Modi and star campaigners in BJP have been projecting one image of a country that during its 70 years of rule, Congress did not give anything to this country. The dynasty politics of Nehru and Gandhi has also been one of the major focal points for the Narendra Modi.

But Modi failed to notice that he was giving out a golden opportunity of Congress exploiting this negative publicity by him. Every time Modi used his tone to scold Congress, Congress was also in the news and social media along Modi. Moreover, the public in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, which was already trying to get rid of incumbent government and Raje’s stubbornness, soon realised that even Modi did not have something concrete to deliver. He promised a few things from his rallies, but his tone used to return to Gandhi-Nehru bashing all the time, giving out the idea that it was tough for him to stand by the public side.

Pic from twitter

BJP’s failure to manage upper castes’ anger
On August 28, a day-long meeting including BJP’s chief ministers and deputy chief ministers was called in New Delhi. The meeting was being chaired by Narendra Modi and BJP’s own ‘Chanakya’, Amit Shah. While many issues were discussed in this meeting, the pressure was given on the Upper caste anger in many of the states. The anger was the result of the SC/ST Act, which parliament brought to restore the original bill.

Many of the Savarna pages on social media were urging upper caste voters to press NOTA in upcoming elections. The meeting on August 28 was essentially called to address this upper-caste anger. Instructions were given to CMs to reach out to upper-caste groups in their states and to make them aware of government’s welfare schemes which are equally beneficial for them. Meanwhile, strategists inside the party would work on the way to bring back its core trust base back to the party. This way, BJP thought, it could resolve the anger.

According to the party’s sources, the party could chart out a clear strategy to reach out upper castes and to make them believe that BJP is their party, as it has always been. But as a result, the BJP could not lose the tag of “upper caste party”—same as that of Congress—even after several attempts. Not that many Savarna people pressed NOTA, but they went on to press the Congress button on EVMs knowing that the latter has also the same repute between the upper caste voters of India.

Anti-incumbency, boredom and loss of Modi wave
One Twitter handle named @zoo_bear has tweeted a series of tweets after the results of the election came out on Wednesday. The series of tweets compare Modi’s rallies in certain constituencies of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, and the performance of the BJP candidates in those constituencies. In a majority of these place, the BJP candidates lost the election to Congress by huge margins and the others, the BJP won by small margins.

On the television panels, BJP leaders and spokespersons have been claiming that there is no loss of Modi wave and state election reflecting the nation’s mood is not a wise way to think. But, seeing the actual performance of BJP candidates in those areas tells a completely different story.
On the day of the elections results, Indian Express published a report telling if the mood of the nation goes like this, BJP can lose as much as 30 Loksabha seats from Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan. BJP has also sensed it quickly, that is why it has sent an emergency note Intelligence Bureau (IB) asking it to assess the mood of the nation and submit a detailed report in the following weeks.

In the past as well, IB submitted reports to Modi-Shah predicting the mood of the voters before election results in these five states. Moreover, the IB reports are said to have taken as case studies to predict the election results and make strategies further.

Another important factor has been the negligence of Schedule Tribes and Schedule Castes in these three states, especially Chhattisgarh. The continuous anti-reservation gimmicks played out by BJP in Telangana and Madhya Pradesh to attract Savarna votes in its favours turned badly against itself in Chhattisgarh, where the rural farming population is mostly tribe.

As a political party, BJP must be mulling for future strategies. If sources are to be believed, it will also intensify the Ram Temple movement (with unstable and foggy agenda) to polarise voters in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Uttarakhand to regain its hold on Hindu votes. The sign is clear that BJP is facing a tough road ahead, but one can only wait to see if the new and aggressive campaign strategies will work or not.

Courtesy: Two Circles

The post How a variety of factors, not just anti-incumbency, contributed to BJP’s demise in three states appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Raj Babbar and Ghulam Nabi Azad in Sonia Gandhi’s roadshow in Varanasi (Photo: Siddhant Mohan/TwoCircles.net)

Various leaders and activists from Varanasi have come out in protest, alleging district as well as state Congress committees of ignoring minorities, especially Muslims.

They accused the Congress party of using Muslims only for votes and not paying them enough attention within the party or before the media.

The issue erupted a couple of weeks back when Anwar Ahmad Pappu, a senior Congress leader and ex-Councillor, wrote a Facebook post alleging that the Congress party is ignoring the minorities of Varanasi and using them only during the election time. The post went viral within hours and a great rift could be seen in the comments on the post. District Congress president Sitaram Keshari commented that with such posts, Ahmad can only be reduced to a politician of social media.

The grievance raised by Ahmad aggravated and soon, he threatened to resign from the party after the festival of Navratri. Many Muslim leaders from the party along with the Corporators joined the chorus, exposing how Muslims were being ignored by the Congress party.

Ramzan Ali, a Corporator from the Congress party and an executive body member in Municipal Corporation of Varanasi, spoke with TwoCircles.net in detail. Ali said, “A few things must be kept in mind…Muslims have been supporting Congress in the city and other areas around. In 2017 UP assembly elections, Muslim voted for the SP-Congress alliance and workers did their jobs at booth level. But after that, we did not get invitations for party meetings and public functions. Senior Muslim leaders of Congress party no longer get invited on the stage when party organises any meet or public function.”

Ajai Rai, senior Congress leader who contested against Narendra Modi in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, lost his security deposit but the few votes he got were from the Muslim community, according to party’s booth-level workers. “Most of the votes from Muslim community went to Arvind Kejriwal then as he came across as a bigger alternative, but whatever votes Congress got was because of Muslim workers and voters,” added Ali.

At the local level, Congress party has 21 Corporators and unsurprisingly, 14 are Muslims. In the Municipal Corporation elections held last year, many Muslim candidates were elected for a second term, but the party decided not to choose any Muslim as the leader of the Congress corporators in the Municipal Corporation.

Ramzan Ali further said, “We put these issues before the leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad in a meeting a few months back, but we are still fighting to get our issue heard.

“It is not like we want a division in the party, but the party should rise above Rais, Mishras, or Sharmas of Varanasi. It should not look towards the Muslim community as a vote bank. We are mulling to form a parallel committee inside the Congress party. We will fight for our right to dissent but with all our devotion to the Congress,” Ali added.

It must be noted that it has always been a tough task for non-BJP political groups to consolidate Muslim votes in their favour. In a major road show by Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi last year, both the parties tried to keep the route intact to Muslim-dominated localities of Varanasi. A senior non-Muslim Congress leader based in Lucknow told TwoCircles.net, “Muslims have been voting for Samajwadi Party since the past few years, and the reason is within the Congress party. It has become a party driven by Brahmins, Thakurs, Bhumihars and other business classes. It does not see its voters as its leaders, and that is where such dissents erupt.”

Anwar Ahmad Pappu, the leader who posted his dissent on Facebook, deleted his post after facing pressure from senior Congress leaders. He is not working with the party anymore and is not willing to talk on the issue as well. When contacted, he said, “I have no role with the Congress party anymore. I am overseeing my business and am least involved with the party.”

When pressed, he said, “My issues have not even be addressed, let alone resolved. If the party would pay heed, then I will think about re-joining.”

Prajanath Sharma, district Congress president, refuted all issues saying that the Congress will not pay heed to social media posts. He further said, “Those who are saying such things they are being influenced.” However, Sharma did not answer the query “influenced by whom?” He further said, “We give importance to Muslim leaders according to their eligibility.”

Afzal Ahmad Ansari, another prominent Muslim leader and two-term Corporator from Congress party, told TwoCircles.net, “The worry is is real, and maybe many leaders will not speak up. We have non-political people as leaders holding posts, ones who do not even understand the booth structure. They will not understand our problems.”

Ansari further said, “When you talk about repercussions, you should understand that it is Varanasi—the Lok Sabha constituency of Narendra Modi—we are talking about. And if it goes on like this, the party may suffer again in 2019 general elections.”

Courtesy: Two Cirlces
 

The post Rift in UP Congress out in open after Muslim leaders express dissent in Varanasi appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The main gate of Banaras Hindu University (Photo: TwoCircles/net)

However, just a year back, Narendra Modi and Yogi Adityanath both were in the Varanasi as well—Modi spent a full night even—and they were welcomed by the girls of Banaras Hindu University, who sat on the main gate of University demanding security and gender sensitivity in the campus.

It was September 21, 2017, when a girl was sexually harassed on the main road of the university campus. It was dark and the victim was returning to her hostel when few boys harassed her on the university road taking the benefit that the road was not well lit.
Terrified by this, when the girl went to register a complaint in the university proctorial board, she was asked that why she was wondering outside the hostel. As the Prime Minister was about to visit Varanasi the next, she was also told to not create a fuss about the incident to keep things quiet.

However, when the victim complained about the incident and insensitive behaviour of University security staff with her hostel mates on the same night, it infuriated girls and on the next day, September 22, when the hostel gates were opened in early morning, hundreds of girls came out to BHU’s main gate demanding prosecution and punishment of accused of the previous night.

When the protest settled in the morning, BHU’s several girls’ hostels were already in the news for curfew like situations inside the hostels. Girls were not being provided non-vegetarian foods inside the hostel mess. BHU administration had limited the timing of hostel entry until 8 pm only, and many of the girl hostels did not have good Wifi connectivity. At several points, girls were also told to wear “decent” clothes inside the hostels even. Prof Girish Chandra Tripathi, the former vice-chancellor of the university, had once told girls himself that they should not wear shorts inside the hostels.

After the harassment episode on September 21, girls occupied the university’s main gate and did not vacate it until the district administration lathi charged at them over the request of university administration.

In and around the protest, TwoCircles.net did extensive as well as exclusive coverage of the whole thing, and that too, in various formats. As the whole event complete one year, TwoCircles.net tried to look at the event more closely and register the changes inside the campus regarding girls’ security and gender sensitivity inside the campus. And to do this, who could be better than the girls who were leading and taking part in the protest of last year, who still think that BHU still needs gender sensitization and freedom of expression inside the campus.

I met Sakshi Singh at the protest site last year. She and her friends, who belonged to Women’s College at BHU, were trying to make a continuity and unity among the protestors. Sakshi Singh, 20, is a graduate student of Physics. She is originally from Varanasi but as her home in far outskirts, she has to live in the hostel. Both of the Sakshi parents are into academics.

Sakshi Singh ( Photo: Siddhant Mohan/ TwoCircles.net)

“The protest made me politically aware of the situation I live in. I was only 19 then. But I knew that I had to raise my voice for the safety and security. And after all, it was the question of justice for one of the girls who was harassment in one of the worst ways possible,” Singh told me.
At the night, when police forces barged into the girls’ hostel and charged at the students—without any female police—Sakshi made a panic call to me and had said, “Sir, they are sparing no one. We did not harm anyone but still we being beaten mercilessly. We want to tell this to everyone outside.”

Next day, BHU announced holiday for several days and cut off the electricity and water supply inside the hostel in order to force girls to vacate hostels as soon as possible. Sakshi had to leave, but she was a bit worried that she could face questioning at her home, after all, she was a 19-year-old graduate student.

“Even when the protest was happening, my father called me up. He said that I should continue the protest and take what I am fighting for. It gave me immense hope at the moment, and it also relaxed me that I wouldn’t face intimidation at home,” said Singh.
But for Deeksha Agrawal, things were not easy at home. 21-year-old Economics undergraduate Deeksha comes from a conservative family where everyone loves to watch propaganda news channels. She recalls, “I left for my home on the night of 23rd. Soon I reached home, and I was welcomed with criticism for my so-called acts.”

Deeksha Agarwal (Photo: Siddhant Mohan/ TwoCircles.net)

Discussing the specifics, Deeksha said, “I was told that why I was doing politics when I was sent here for the studies. Why I was trying to defame one central university”—which has been established on the core “Malviya’s values”—“which is giving cheaper education to many. The days I spent at home was not easy. I felt under constant watch.”

The story is same for Akanksha Singh, 20-year-old Statistics undergrad from the university who comes from a joint family of Kanpur. Her argument over the gender security and sensitivity may or may not have been heard in the university she is studying, but her parents surely did not entertain the argument. Akanksha told me, “I was at the protest until the night of 23rd, then I left for my home. I didn’t hope to be welcomed at my home after protesting, as I know my parents very well, but I didn’t hope to be criticised and to be taught a lesson on ‘how to be a good girl’ or ‘how to be a good student’.”

Akanksha Singh ( Photo: Siddhant Mohan/ TwoCircles.net)

Akanksha, who talks without any interruptions and apprehensions, explains that whatever episodes of intimidations she has been facing in the university campus, she did not face a small fraction of it even at her home. She told me, “BHU is a good place to study, but I still do not feel that the university space is easy and comfortable for girls. Even after our fight of last year, I don’t see if we have achieved what we fought for.”

In the early morning of September 22, girls decided to sit on protest demanding justice for the victim. As the mid-semester examinations were already on, many students thought that protest shouldn’t last for more than a couple of hours. As per what students tell me, the girls decided that they would meet vice-chancellor—as he could come in few minutes only—and demand for the strict action against the security staff and hostel warden for the insensitivity. But soon, it turned out that vice-chancellor was not ready to entertain the meeting request and consequently, the protest extended until the VC could meet students.

BHU’s gate was flooded with girls and police force. Placards like “Unsafe BHU” or “Would you like if it was done with you” were swinging in the tough humid day of September. Poster of Prof GC Tripathi, the vice-chancellor, in an outfit resembling the one of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was posted several places at the gate with the slogans “VC GC go back” and “GC Commission go back” being raised by hundreds of girls at the same time. “Everything was rubbed away from the scene with the use of violence because our vice-chancellor did not want to meet us,” said Anushka Kaushik, 20, an undergraduate student of Zoology.

Anushka Kaushik (Photo: siddhant Mohan/ TwoCirlces.net)

Kaushik met me in the BHU’s famous Vishwanath Temple, she came confident in the evening, after dark, and talked comfortably and proudly about what she has been going through or passing through. She told me, “Earlier, girls used to think several times before coming out of hostels at this hour, but thanks to the protest, we have freedom to a greater extent.”

Not associated with any political and ideological groups in and out of the campus, Anushka could be seen at the protest last year helping the girls and taking lead in the protest at several ends in various capacities. I asked her about her involvement in the protest, she said, “I don’t have any grudge against BHU or vice-chancellor. I have been facing episodes of intimidation and discrimination inside the hostels. But I have never been so much politically outspoken and aware of the social changes around me. It was the spur of the moment that day last year which compelled me to protest for justice and rights.”

The home was welcoming for Anushka. “On the second day of protest, I could not even speak well because of sloganeering and shouting continuously. I was literally talking in a hissing tone. But even then, my father called and told me that I should fight if I think this is the right thing to do. This lowered apprehensions, if there was any.”

Anushka has seen changes in the university for her. She said, “We are allowed to go out without any questioning. We see security in the campus. There are female guards, who were appointed right after the protest last year. We get three kinds of vegetables every day and non-veg food once a week. There are much fewer episodes of verbal sexist abuse or harassment cases, and with that, we can sense that we have brought a good change in the campus.”

“Now people listen to us, they pay attention to what we are saying,” said Anushka.
Every student I talked with, has raised the issue of killing of freedom of expression. According to the allegation against the administration of BHU, the university is trying to suppress the free voices in order to minimize the further damage as well.

Right after the protest, BHU appointed Prof. Royana Singh as the first female proctor of the university. The appointment was welcomed at first, but soon it came out that Professor Singh was the piece of the same board which has been accused of gender insensitivity. For the attention, she has stated that “girls were given pizza and cold drinks through large delivery trucks during the protest last year” and also “any girl would not be stopped from drinking alcohol”, which has created enough controversy in the campus.

Just a few months back, Police booked twelve students of BHU, most of them took part in the protest last year as well, under murder charges. The charges imposed on the students include the sections 147, 148, 353, 332, 427, 504, 307 and 395 of Indian Penal Code, based on the complaint raised by Proctor Royana Singh. The FIR was lodged after students went to meet Royana Singh after her “pizza-soft drinks supply” remark to ask for a proof or apology otherwise.

Last month, BHU administration debarred 14 students from taking further admission in any of the courses being taught in BHU. Shivangi Choubey, a postgraduate student of linguistics at Delhi University, is one who also faced the FIR with the charges of attempt to murder. While talking on the phone, Shivangi broke into laugh several times imagining the extent of corruption and intimidation inside the campus. Originally from Buxar, Bihar Shivangi spent around 13 years in Varanasi just for education and getting debarred from BHU makes her sad. She told me, “Implicating me in a police case or debarring me from further education makes me sad, but if you look it from outside it is one sequential protocol of BHU in which it is trying to kill dissent and expression.”

Shivangi Choubey ( Photo: Siddhant MOhan/ TwoCircles.net)

“I wasn’t welcomed at home after the protest. My parents told me that they did not want to see me taking any more such leads or part in the protests. They asked me to complete my studies without any politics, as in my second year only, university administration made several complaints against me, and that reflected at my home,” said Shivangi.

Shivangi’s implication in police FIR or her being debarred is still hidden from her parents. When she came back after curfew ended in BHU, everything was silent. Nobody was talking about it anymore but for good, girls felt secure. Shivangi continued her participation in debates, discussions, and protest, but in a very covert way, hiding it all from her parents. “I have been an active participant in the campus activities, but the protest gave me an enlightenment, it opened the perspective even more for many of us girls,” added Shivangi.

But Thriti Das, an undergraduate student of sociology at BHU’s Women’s College, thinks that even BHU has become secure and students have become more politically aware, the sensitization is missing. Originally from Durgapur, West Bengal, Das wanted to come out of Bengal for further studies so she opted BHU as her next stop. But, the institute did not meet her expectations. She took part in the protest and got praise from her father, as he himself has been active student politics and has an inclination towards left. “I did not expect such regressive culture in BHU. I came here to become more independent and to move out of my comfort zone, but it was a more closed and conservative environment. I personally heard many times that I should not talk on the mobile phone after 10.30 pm,” Das told me.

Thriti Das ( Photo: Siddhant Mohan/ TwoCircles.net)

She further said, “When I went back to my home after the protest, I could substantiate at my home that how situations were tough. We had a VC who was not willing to meet but was indeed willing to ask for the use of police force against us.”

For Das, a two-day-long protest is a life event where she has taken a stand for the women and the community but as campus claims to provide more security to the women, it is policing things more. Das said, “Now the episodes of police have increased. Security guards interrupt and stop any couple inside the campus claiming that it is for the security of the girl. We are still being given a moral lecture inside the hostel, offices and in our departments. Many of the students have become sensitive but there is a substantial lack of sensitization in the administration, which is still a cause of trauma and stress for many.”

BHU indeed took some points to consider after the protest. It installed multicolored LED lights to beautify the main gate, while many of the campus roads are still dark. It claims to have brought down violence up to many folds with the use of face-recognition surveillance system, but in just last couple of weeks, there have been at least a dozen of small-large violent incidents inside the campus. Wondering around the campus for several times, I noticed that security guards close several roads after dark and no personnel is allowed to pass from those roads, the reason is security.

Almost every girl I talked with took the name of Prof Chandrakala Tripathi, the newly appointed Principal of Women’s College, who has brought a lot of positive changes in the college in the last couple of months. Such changes also include the good behavior of professors and non-teaching staff, hostel wardens and care takers, and security guards. Girls have also said that they feel much free since Prof Tripathi took charge a couple of months back. A girl went on to say that other hostels and institutes under BHU should take a lesson from Prof Tripathi.
Prof Chandrakala Tripathi is a woman of Hindi literature and philosophy and has written several books of poetry and literary criticism. This is the thing, she understands, that makes her create a positive environment for girls. “I have been a student as well as a scholar of literature and I feel that answer to the problems girls have been facing is more humane and grounded as that of the literature.”

She further told me, “See, people have to understand. These are just little girls and many of them still under the age of 20. They do not understand politics or chains or ideologies. They just demand certain freedom so that they can enjoy their studies without any burden. They have no fault. So whose fault is this basically? The staff, who has not been cordial with them.”

“The day I took charge, I informed everyone that I am here for my students and will not give any excuse if they want to meet me. I told everyone that I would not spare anyone if the girls will complain against them,” said Prof. Tripathi.

Girls wish to see more such examples around campus, but the appointment of Prof. Royana Singh as chief proctor is one biggest problem for them. Apart from the allegedly false cases and her statements before propaganda news channels, Singh herself is also booked in one FIR pertaining to attempt to murder. After the protest and violent crackdown last year, the National Commission for Women visited the university for inquiry. What Prof Singh did was surprising. As a proctor, she lined up students from institutes and hostels other than in question, and when Commission representative asked whether they face intimidation or abuse in campus or hostels, the girls said no. Sakshi Singh told me, “We went to the commission’s inquiry by ourself and tried to make them aware of the actual condition, but Professor Singh was not letting us speak even.”

Moreover, when an internal inquiry over an attempt to murder Royana Singh was set up, Royana Singh was chairing the inquiry panel killing chances of free and fair inquiry, if there were any. Several attempts to reach Prof Royana Singh regarding the story were failed.

BHU still lacks Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH), a necessary practice inside all university campuses across India, and a grievance cell has been constituted as makeshift arrangement, in which no representative from the student side has been put.
The Banaras Hindu University still lacks a Student Union, and the practices to bring it in the campus have been killed multiple times. Students say that it is not a bit easier for them to get their voices heard, but university administration is clever enough to kill dissent by FIRs or debarring the students from further study inside BHU.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

The post A year after protests, BHU’s female students recount how their lives changed for better or worse appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Five children put at Neonatal warmers at BRD Medical College in August 2017, the middle neonate has passed away (Photo – TwoCircles.net)
 

However, the reason behind Adityanath’s strange claim lies in the data released by the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP). In the data released earlier this month, NVBDCP miraculously reduced the number of deaths until the end of the August.
Until the end of July, NVBDCP reported that the total number of deaths because of Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and Japanese Encephalitis (JE) were 124. Out of this, AES accounted for 118 deaths while JE was responsible for 6 deaths. But when data was released in September, which also included the total number of deaths until the end of August, the total number was strangely reduced to 113. Out of this number, 110 deaths were because of AES while only 3 deaths were said to have been due to JE.

NVBDCP September

NVBDCP has reported that until July 31, UP had 1,299 cases of AES out of which 118 lost their lives. The number of cases pertaining to JE was 75, out of which 6 patients lost their lives. But until August, NVBDCP reported, that UP had 1,545 cases of AES out of which 110 people lost their lives, and 3 patients died out of 90 cases of JE.

The data released by NVBDCP shows that the total deaths this year by August compared to the figures released in July. Even simple calculations prove that the authorities have been playing with the death data and it is possible that such manipulated numbers are the basis of the claims made by Yogi Adityanath and several other politicians.

NVBDCP Augut

In August, we released a detailed investigation explaining why and how Baba Raghav Das Medical College, Gorakhpur had stopped providing death figures to anyone in the state. We also reported that detailed death numbers—which were being issued every day until October last year—were handed out to one or two persons, including chief medical officer (CMO) Gorakhpur, in sealed envelopes.

If only the numbers from BRD Medical College would be taken into account, 89 children lost their lives because of encephalitis until the end of July. The number, revealed by our sources at the medical college, was confirmed by CMO Gorakhpur in a detailed meeting last month.
So if only at BRD Medical College 89 deaths were recorded due to encephalitis, there is very less possibility that the whole state would have seen only 118 deaths. What remains unanswered is how the total number of deaths actually decreased in August versus July, making the official report look dubious and faulty.

Gorakhpur has been fighting the outbreak of encephalitis for the past several years. After last year’s August tragedy in which a few dozen children lost their lives because of a critical shortage of oxygen, BRD Medical College has indeed learned some lessons.

The hospital has created a couple of big wards with an increase of around 200 beds. Ganesh Kumar, the Medical College Principal, who is upset with media because of “negative reporting”, claims that the hospital has managed the load so well that the staff is free most of the time. However, many doctors refuted this by saying that authorities still have to do many things to ensure life for children.

We also reported that BRD Medical College was actually not reporting the cases of Japanese Encephalitis to ensure that there would be lesser patients of encephalitis in the records.

In our prolonged reports and investigations, we have managed to produce the number of dead children only, but the death number released by NVBDCP comprise deaths occurred in every age group. So if the number of dead children is 89 at just BRD Medical College, how is the cumulative death number only around 110 for the state?

A senior paediatrician at Lucknow’s King George Medical College told TwoCircles.net, “The numbers are indeed misleading. If around 90 children died at Gorakhpur medical college only, how is it possible that only 28 deaths occurred in rest of the state?”

He further said, “It clearly shows that central government is suggesting the state authorities in Uttar Pradesh to basically lie about deaths of innocent children.”

When TwoCircles.net reached out for comments over the misleading numbers, this correspondent did not get any reply from regional centres and officers of NVBDCP.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

The post Is a central govt agency manipulating encephalitis-related death data from UP? appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Hiralal Alawa with his supporters (Photo – TwoCircles.net)
 

Since July 29 this year, JAYS has also launched “Adivasi Pride Rallies” across Madhya Pradesh’s several districts, claiming to continuously grow its support base among Adivasi youth. Dr Hiralal Alawa, the convener at JAYS and assistant professor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, told TwoCircles.net, “We are getting the support of young people among the Adivasi groups. They want to see us fight and win because we are putting Adivasi pride before everything.”

In the student body elections held last year across Madhya Pradesh, JAYS bagged key seats in various colleges of Madhya Pradesh defeating candidates of NSUI, the student wing of Indian National Congress, and ABVP, the student wing of BJP by huge margins.

“We noticed that we are getting the support of people, mostly young ones, and they want us to win,” said Alawa. “The reason is simple. People have not seen Adivasi leadership in a state where Adivasis are still the deciding factor in electing a government.”
 

Tribal rights rally of JAYS (Photo – TwoCircles.net)

According to the functionaries of JAYS, Madhya Pradesh’s authority should be given back to the Adivasis because mainstream politics and parties have not been able to address the issues of Adivasis of the state. The administration at Madhya Pradesh has also been accused of doing consolation practices with Adivasis—like Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan giving slippers to the Adivasis which were infected with carcinogenic chemicals—which is nothing more than a mockery of social injustice.

After the conclusion of statewide Adivasi Pride Rallies, JAYS convener Hiralal Alawa announced that the outfit will fight assembly election on 80 constituencies. According to the several projections, JAYS may bag 20-30 seats in the areas where Adivasi populations are deciding factor. However, Alawa said that JAYS will easily get 40 seats in upcoming elections.

He said, “We are certain about our winning and wish to assure the Adivasi brothers and sisters that in the immediate future, we will be deciding factor in deciding the chief minister of the state.” He further said, “Both Congress and BJP ruled Madhya Pradesh for ages, and that too on the votes of Adivasis, but they never gave the leadership to us. JAYS is all set to stop that.”

JAYS, originally a social movement, started in 2011 and is not registered as a political party, but according to party’s activists and workers, JAYS is in talks with Bharatiya Tribal Party or Gondwana Republic Party for contesting elections. Alawa said, “We will decide that after taking everyone into confidence.”

The recent upliftment of JAYS has indeed put Congress and the BJP under stress. According to sources, the party leaders from both the sides have been instructed to camp in Adivasi areas more aggressively. Moreover, BJP’s leaders have been busy in talking to the core and leading figures of JAYS to get hold of the strategy and most importantly, break them. On August 9, Shivraj Singh Chouhan welcomed several Adivasi leaders in the BJP claiming that they were from JAYS, a point neither confirmed nor denied by JAYS. But the heavy crowd which JAYS has been attracting in its rallies is also a point of worry for political rivals.

But BJP leaders claim that they are stress-free when it comes to JAYS. Rajneesh Agrawal, the spokesperson at Bharatiya Janata Party, told us, “See, JAYS is nothing but a B-team of Congress…these are not mere accusations…Listen to their speeches, it is clear as crystal. When they were more of a social movement, everyone was welcoming for them. But equations changed soon after they announced that they will be fighting elections.”

“A large chunk of JAYS leaders from Dhar region came into BJP,” said Agrawal, adding, “ I am sure many more are in the way to join us. BJP does not see any kind of threat to its vote bank from JAYS.”

But Congress has opened its gates for a coalition with JAYS in order to welcome “like-minded political groups” of the state. Pankaj Chaturvedi, the state spokesperson of the Congress, told TwoCircles.net, “If the party notices that JAYS could help in defeating BJP in the state, the party will think of an alliance with it.”
 

With slogans such as “Abki Baar, Adivasi Sarkaar” and “The JAYS Express”, Hiralal Alawa and other JAYS members and moving around villages of Madhya Pradesh trying to increase their base among the Adivasis. While JAYS may not be able to form a government in the state, experts are sure that it can help create one large coalition against the BJP.
 

Tribal rights rally of JAYS in Madhya Pradesh (Photo – TwoCircles.net)

Courtesy: Two Circles

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AES patient at epidemic ward of BRD medical college (Photo – Siddhant Mohan/TwoCircles.net)

When the train stops at Gorakhpur railway station, one can smell the city which saw one of the most surprising political changes of this year. Vendors, rickshaw pullers, autorickshaw drivers and every other person talks about ruling Bharatiya Janata Party losing the Loksabha by-poll in Gorakhpur— a seat which Yogi Adityanath held for decades—to Samajwadi Party.

But another subject they do not forget to talk about is the Baba Raghav Das Medical College or more popularly known as “BRD Medical College”. Pradeep Saini, a 34-year-old rickshaw driver, said, “Even if Baba (Yogi Adityanath) lost the election this year, he has made sure that everything is good at (BRD) Medical College. He goes there in his every visit to Gorakhpur to make sure that what happened in August 2017 is not repeated,” while taking me to my place of stay at Gorakhpur.

It was a disaster at Medical College on the night of August 10 and 11 in 2017. A critical shortage of the liquid oxygen at the Medical College led to the death of 36 children in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Paediatric Intensive Care Unit of Nehru Hospital associated with BRD Medical College. The lesser reported death number is of adults. Around the same critical shortage period, about 18 adults lost their lives, more likely due to a shortage of oxygen, in the Medicine ward of the hospital. If sources at the medical college are to be believed, the Medical College as well hospital most likely manipulated and hid the number of deaths that occurred that night in the Emergency Ward of the hospital.

Following the incident, three separate investigating committees were constituted under various powers, and surprisingly, all refuted the claim that the shortage of oxygen had anything to do with the deaths. Committees went a step further claiming that there was no particular shortage of oxygen which could be termed “critical”. But committees held Pushpa Sales, the firm responsible for supplying oxygen, and store manager responsible for deaths and both were put behind the bars along with several doctors of the medical college. Siddharth Nath Singh, a BJP leader and health minister in the state, showed his apathy for human values by dismissing the deaths, saying, “Children usually die in August.”

Baba Raghavdas Medical College (Photo – Siddhant Mohan/TwoCircles.net)

So one must wonder that things would have been improved or changed at BRD Medical College—at personal as well as administrative level—to minimise the damage to human lives. To witness the same, we conducted an investigation across several days including interviews with various officers, doctors, sources, and journalists, and on a broader scale, we could possibly infer that things at BRD Medical College as well as associated Nehru Hospital is standing behind a black curtain to regulate and censor the incidents as well as practices going inside the premises.
From January 2018 to July 2018, about 89 children suffering from encephalitis lost their lives out of total 278 admitted. Until the end of June, 1,049 children had lost their lives collectively, and by the end of July, this number reached about 1200.

Until the oxygen shortage controversy in August last year, the Medical College used to give out death numbers to media, the municipal department as a public record. But it soon stopped doing so. So for media, the verbal quotes from the sources at the medical college are the only possible way to get into the College’s system.

Entrance of BRD Medical College and Hospital (Photo – Siddhant Mohan/TwoCircles.net)

Soon I entered the Medical College on a rainy morning, I saw a freshly made road in the premises—which was still emitting the heat of the fresh tar—and the walls painted with the saffron colour. Taking a left turn from the entrance, I entered into Nehru Hospital, which showed the high dependency of nearby districts and villages over a single hospital. The plan was to completely understand the admission, checkup and discharge procedure at BRD medical college, especially of paediatrics department, to witness the loopholes. I could see one enquiry counter right from the entrance, but there was no one inside. When no one showed up for about 15 minutes of waiting—during busy working hours at a government hospital—few people sitting by it told me that they had rarely seen anyone there. During random conversations with people, people around said that they were there from Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Deoria, Ballia, Mau, Siddharthnagar districts of Uttar Pradesh, as well as from Siwan and Bettiah district of Bihar, revealing the high dependency of individuals on BRD Medical College.

Enquiry counter at BRD Medical College (Photo – Siddhant Mohan/ TwoCircles.net)

Ramesh Kumar Agrahari, a 42-year-old resident of Mau, came with his wife at the medical college after her repeated complaints of back and stomach pain. His wife, Phulmati, was sleeping alongside him wearing a yellow coloured saree. Agrahari said, “I got her examined at the district hospital in Mau, but she did not go any better. From Mau, we can either go to Banaras (Varanasi) or come to Gorakhpur for better treatment, but treatment, as well as stay cost, is high in Banaras, so we decided to come to Gorakhpur.”

Not only Agrahari, many counted the same point of cheaper facilities at Gorakhpur than Varanasi or Lucknow as the reason behind them choosing this as the treatment centre. Many told that there were not enough facilities and staff at the government hospitals in their district, which is why they chose Gorakhpur.

Pramila Devi, a 68-year-old housewife from Deoria district, came to the hospital with her 13-year-old grandson to have him examined for continuous fever. Devi was sitting by the same enquiry counter, while her husband had the sleeping grandson in the lap. When I touched the forearm of his grandson, I noticed he had an extremely high fever. Devi told me, “At first it was just a fever, but now whenever fever comes, he nearly faints.”

From the entrance of the medical college from the main road until the ward entrance, banners have been put asking people with encephalitis patients to go directly into ward number 12 or Epidemic Ward, as if most of them are aware of their patient is suffering from one. Devi said that a couple of the attendants told her to take the grandson directly into the ward number 12 but she did not know where it is, and also she does not have the idea if he is suffering from encephalitis. This was the reason she was sitting by the enquiry counter, while her son—also the father of the sick child—went to clear the confusion about admission and examination.

Located after several tries, I found a way to NICU and PICU of the hospital, where most of the deaths have occurred last year due to the scarcity of oxygen and are still happening. The passage to connect these intensive care units with the hospital’s main lobbies was supported by public toilets alongside. I could see human excreta as well as discarded sanitary pads/cloths soaking up in the rainwater out in the open just few meters from NICU and PICU.

Passage to NICU/PICU at BRD Medical College (Photo – Siddhant Mohan/ TwoCircles.net)

At my first try, I could not go into NICU and PICU. There was an unusually high number of security guards at the gate of these ICUs. Patient attendants standing outside of the gate told me that such guards came up after August deaths in 2017. Rekha (32) said, “My second son is admitted to PICU. He is getting better so I tried to click his picture to send it to my sister. Soon I pulled out my mobile phone, the staff started scolding me that why I was clicking pictures,” while smiling. “Why would anyone want to click the photograph his / her son? Should there be any specific reason for that?”

Ward number 12 or Epidemic Ward was filled with nurses and doctors who became kind of hostile when they noticed me taking several rounds of the ward and looking into their files. Later, Mahima Mittal, the head of the paediatrics department, and Ganesh Kumar, the principal and dean at BRD Medical College, allowed me—after hours of pursuance—to take rounds and pictures of the concerned wards and units which have been showing the highest number of deaths since past several years. To take control, a couple of resident doctors were assigned to take me to these units and to tell me things I was not interested in.

Way to Epidemic Ward of BRD Medical College (Photo – Siddhant Mohan/TwoCircles.net)

First I was taken to the newly made ward number 11 of 76 beds which was not even started yet. I was told that this ward could reduce the load at the paediatrics unit of medical college but the ward had not started yet. By the time this copy was filed, the ward was still being prepared for regular purposes, however, it was already inaugurated by the authorities as one could easily notice the ribbons and decorative items. “It is just new. We are hoping that more children will come in this,” said the resident who was accompanying me. “Where are the children now, if they are supposed to be here?” I asked. To this, the resident replied, “They are being treated, of course, but we have more facilities here. Things have changed since August 2017.” Obvious question came up “So there were no such facilities here earlier to August 2017?”, the resident hesitatingly smiled, did not say anything and took me to the ICUs.

At the entrance of PICU, I was asked to wear a shoe cover—a necessary practice in intensive care units—but it was a different scene inside. As it looked clean and ‘protocol-following’ unit, it was filled with the attendees and none of them were wearing any shoe cover or protective masks, even when several of the admitted children were put on a ventilator, a vulnerable condition to get infections.

On the bed sheet of a severely malnourished child, who was just taken out of the ventilator, I could see stains of blood and wound exudates. And worse, it was not just a single case in the PICU. One could notice blood stains, excreta stains, spots made by exudates—risking infections—on several beds where patients did not have any wounds or any cause that could lead to such bed sheets. One attendant came to me and said, “Actually, these beds were like this even before our child came up. We asked to get them changed, but we fear that if we pursue more, they will not take care of our child.”

Malnourished child in PICU at BRD Medical College, Bed showing blood stains from a different patienet (Photo – Siddhant Mohan/TwoCircles.net)

One staff at PICU anonymously, told, “Critical care code is not so much in practice here. If checked, patients could be dying because of the infections coming in from the dirty mattresses and beds, who knows.” Despite an occupancy of about 40 patients, I could notice only four staff nurses and ward boys. When raised it with the resident—who was kind of “following” me to my every talk—he said it is indeed less for a such a big hospital. He even went to say, “We have beds, what we lack is trained medical staff,” reiterating the same crisis which Principal Ganesh Kumar told me back in April this year.

Gyanti with her encephalitis affected daughter Kajol (Photo – Siddhant Mohan/TwoCircles.net)

I met seven-year-old Kajol and her mother Gyanti from nearby Rakhat village of Chauri Chaura in the newly-made paediatric ward. Kajol, a patient of encephalitis—or Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES)— was discharged from PICU just three days back. Gyanti, who was worried because her daughter was still in a COMA and was being fed through a pipe, revealed that she had to buy several medicines from outside of the hospital, contrary to the claims of authorities that AES patients are being provided medicines inside the hospital free of cost. Gyanti’s claim disturbed the resident doctor, who has been accompanying me, and he fired over her, “Which medicines did you have to buy from outside? You must be getting all from inside,” and he turned towards me, “She does not know exactly, or maybe she is confused.” While the doctor was trying to make me aware of the fact, Gyanti pulled out all the medicines from a bag and showed me exactly the same ones which she had to buy from outside.

Gyanti showing the medicines some of which she has to buy from outside of medical college (Photo – Siddhant Mohan/TwoCircles.net)

Surprisingly, she had to buy Piracetam syrup—a routine drug which is given to AES patients to improve brain function—from outside of the medical college. Gyanti said, “When my daughter was in ICU, there were few more medicines which I had to buy from the medical stores.”
It was not a single case in the same “newly established ward”. Many of the patients I met complained that they had to buy many drugs from outside. According to the rules, district hospitals and state-run medical colleges have to maintain a good stock of medicines, but at BRD medical college, such rules have been put aside.

The resident doctor accompanying me tried to take control of whatever I found in these wards. He said, “Some medicines they get to buy from outside, but they get many from here.” When I pressed that attendees are buying neurotropic drugs, a routine and essential ones, from the shops, the doctor said, “It is not that a big deal.”

In the same section of the medical college, there was NICU as well, which recorded the highest number of deaths in August 2017. On the horrifying night of August 10 and 11 last year, parents whose children were kept in NICU were called and were given resuscitator—a device to manually pump oxygen in the lungs—to keep their neonates breathing. Evidence showed that at least four to five kids were put on one neonatal warmer, which is to be used for a single baby.

The resident accompanying me took me to the same level in the building where NICU was located but told me, “You cannot go in. Even doctors are not allowed to go in there.” I asked, “Not even doctors? Really?” He did not say anything. Even after several tries, I could not get into neonatal ICU, however, it revealed minutes after why one was not allowed to go into one. Another doctor, who saw me taking rounds of the ward, came to me when I was alone and said, “If you are searching again for oxygen scarcity, yet again, let me assure you that it is not the case this time. But condition inside NICU has not changed since August.”

NICU at BRD Medical College (Photo – Siddhant Mohan/ TwoCircles.net)

The doctor requested anonymity and said, “They rarely allow anyone in there. Because the practices are not up to the code of treatment. We still keep four-five neonates on bed warmers.” For the confirmation of what happened last year at BRD’s NICU, I showed the doctor the photographs provided by my sources. There were pictures of parents using resuscitator and warmers full of babies, several of whom were already dead. The doctor said, “Yes. Warmers still get full like this. Babies still die. But oxygen is not the reason.”

I was into much-debated Epidemic ward (12) where encephalitis patients could go directly. There was a separate OPD setup inside the ward, and thanks to the newly made paediatric ward discussed above, the ward had a lesser number of patients.

Satya Devi with her encephalitis affected daughter Reena (Photo- Siddhant Mohan/TwoCircles.net)

I met Satya Devi of Karjahan village of Ramnagar, whose 16-year-old daughter Reena was admitted in the hospital on July 6 following the symptoms related to AES. While Satya Devi was talking to me, she was also holding her unconscious daughter by tilting her body to the left side. She said, “She has been given food from the nose pipe. I have to tilt her to let the food settle.” Prior to BRD Medical College, she took Reena to a CHC in her locality, but she could not be treated there. She immediately took her to BRD Medical College for treatment, where Reena was kept in PICU for several days, and shifted to the wards just a week ago. Devi told me, “In my locality, back at the village, several people have lost their sons and daughters here at the medical college. One has died in August 2017 due to lack of oxygen, but I had to get my daughter treated, otherwise she would have died anyway,” while discussing the necessity to come here.

In the ward, some beds were lying vacant, giving a kind of a relief to the patients as well as doctors. In the same ward, I managed to count six patients suffering from AES as well as five patients of meningitis.  Several patients were suffering from malnutrition, followed by developmental delay, and the third largest number of the patients were of sepsis, commonly known as blood infection.

For the obvious reasons, another doctor was again put by my side for the ward visit.

This time I raised the question with the doctor accompanying that why was there was an unusually high number of meningitis cases, “this is the season,” he replied.

However, it was not the case that meningitis patients were increasing at BRD Medical College unless authorities were not trying to minimise the encephalitis cases by labelling them as meningitis. One paediatric doctor, requesting anonymity, confirm this rumour to me. Catching me alone in the hospital corridor, he told me, “You were asking about meningitis, no? The thing is that indeed meningitis cases happen in this season, but for the medical college, encephalitis is always the bigger problem. There are around one or two cases of meningitis.”

He further said, “But the pressure from the government is immense. The college has to achieve lesser encephalitis death, so the instruction has been passed on to report few encephalitis cases as meningitis, so at least authorities would stop pinging every time.”

When I talked with the senior resident accompanying me, he said, “Actually, AES is like an umbrella and meningitis comes under it.” I asked, “So, why are you not labelling it as AES just like you are doing with other encephalitis patients?” He did not say anything.

In the second and final part, we look at how the administration is both trying to fight the menace as well as cover up any possible investigation into it’s affairs. As we find out, they are failing ok both these fronts.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

The post A year after the Gorakhpur tragedy, TCN investigation into BRD College shows all is well as long as you don’t dig too deep appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The mass exodus followed the incident on June 29 when two groups landed into the clash with each other over a truck loaded with sand. According to a local source, Dr. Nisar Ahmad, a resident of the same village, had called a sand truck for some of his work, but the truck was allegedly overloaded.

Manoj Dwivedi, the former village head, and his brother Rajendra Dwivedi immediately started filming the sand trucks entering into the village with their cellphones. This matter led to a clash between Dr Nisar and Dwivedis, who have been alleging Nisar as a member of the Sand Mafia.

The sources further informed that people from both the sides gathered at the site of the clash, and soon it turned into a violent episode. Followed by this, a case was registered at Sarai Akil police station against 11 named individual including Dr Nisar and about 60 unnamed people. Charges put are sections 307, 147, 148, 323 and 504 of Indian Penal Code.

Soon after the FIR was filed, the local police started raiding the Muslim colonies and houses in Surseni village, making police action look biased against one community. The locals have alleged that the Police have been acting only against Muslims after receiving such order from Sanjay Gupta, a BJP MLA from Chail constituency of Kaushambi.

The locals, as well as the sources, have alleged that while Police successfully arrested seven people named in the FIR, it continued the search for the remaining four people. During their raid, Police allegedly barged into the houses of Muslims and mistreated women and children for several days. As per the locals, the police action has been “religiously” as well as “politically” motivated.

Aggravated by the police actions, Muslims of the village started abandoning the village by locking their houses and taking their belongings with them. Soon, the issue caught the attention of Reena Shukla, the current village head, who rushed to the Muslim neighbourhood and promised an end to atrocities. While few families stopped, but many decided not to stay. The practices to call them back to the village have already started, and reportedly, few families have returned back on the assurance of justice.

However, police deny that any such exodus has ever happened in the village. Hemant Mishra, the Station House Officer at Sarai Akil, said, “The accused Nisar is part of the sand mafia, and we were there on the spot on June 29 to catch him red-handed. But when the sand trucks came in, we immediately got stuck in violence with Nisar and his companions. Muslims of the village joined them in attacking us, followed by which we filed FIR.”

“But the allegation of police atrocity is completely false. We did out pressure to arrest the rest, but we did not raid houses and mistreated locals to arrest the rest accused,” added Mishra accepting the fact that several families have fled the village “to escape arrest”.

Rajendra Dwivedi, one of the brothers who locals have accused, talked to TwoCircles.net after saying that “I am a Hindu, so I have a Hindu ideology”. Dwivedi said, “They are complete frauds, no such exodus has happened in that village. My brother has been the head for 15 years and I know their reality.”

When asked how he got involved in the issue, Dwivedi said, “Let’s say that I was at the wrong place at the wrong time. The police stopped a sand truck but Nisar and his friends attacked them, and even me and my brother Manoj,” adding that the whole exodus fiasco has happened after “few Samajwadi Party-backed Muslim journalists asked locals to do so just for pictures.” Dwivedi denied any direct association with BJP leader Sanjay Gupta saying that he only voted for him in the elections.

Sanjay Gupta too said that no exodus has ever happened in the village. He said, “Palayan nahin, nataunki kar rahe hain. Aur ye sab kuch patrkar logon ka karnaama hai. (This is not an exodus, but just a drama which is scripted by few journalists).”

Gupta said that he has been taking inputs from the police and sure that police did not raid houses, and it did not threaten or mistreat Muslim families on his orders or request. “Police were just trying to arrest one guy who was doing illegal work, but this all drama is of opposition in Kaushambi whom I have defeated in elections,” said Gupta. “This is just an episode of politics of blame for which I am being victimized.”

This is not the first episode of Muslim exodus in UP because of police torture. Last year, Muslims fled Paida village of Bijnor in western Uttar Pradesh after police allegedly killed three Muslims in order to raid for arresting accused.

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The shocking fact came in a response to an application filed under Right to Information (RTI), the response to which was sent on June 30, 2018.

The response addressed to applicant Anuj Verma from Kannauj district of Uttar Pradesh, stated that no development works conducted in the four villages adopted by Narendra Modi have been budgeted from the funds allocated under Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS). 

The Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) states that all Members of Parliament have to adopt villages in their constituency and to develop the same as a modern village. The MPs must adopt a minimum of three villages in one tenure.

As the official website of SAGY states, “Since the SAANJHI has activities cutting across different spheres, in order to implement the Scheme successfully close coordination and convergence will be required across different Ministries, departments, Schemes of the Government of India, MPLADS, State Government and the private sector,” the cost of developing a modern village under SAGY would come from different resources including MPLADS.

It further states, “Tied and untied funds for e.g. untied resources of the Gram Panchayats like own revenue, Central and State Finance Commission grants etc must be used to optimize implementation.”

In one​​​ of his address​es​, PM Narendra Modi himself said that an MP is unable to unify the expenditure of MPLADS, therefore the SAGY scheme would help him in focusing his funds in a single village in developing it as a modern one. But, apparently, Narendra Modi himself has failed to do so. He first adopted Jayapur on November 7, 2014, then Nagepur on February 16, 2016, Kakarahiya on October 23, 2017, and lastly Domri on April 6, 2018. All of the works in four villages have been done by the private authorities, government banks, state-level institutions, and some central government bodies, locals informed TwoCircles.net.

For instance, a Gujarat-based firm has constructed all the bio-toilets in Jayapur, and Vedanta group has constructed one Anganbadi Centre in Nagepur village. The solar street lights have been installed by various public banks. 

The RTI response and the issue followed has given an edge to the opposition. The leaders of Congress have started raising this debate on Social media. Ajay Rai, the former Congress MLA from Varanasi and opponent to Narendra Modi in Loksabha 2014 has told media that it is unfortunate that MP has not spent a single penny in developing the village he has adopted. Rai further said, “Most of the works done by the private companies in these villages are to please Narendra Modi, rather make the villages modern,” he told TwoCircles.net.
 

RTI-Response to Modi’s adopted villages. (Photo: TwoCircles.net)
 

Following the RTI revelation, the heads of the adopted villages are refraining to talk to media on the issue, but locally, in the constituency of Narendra Modi, the issue has created a negative vibe for the leading party. 

The MPLADS fund, worth Rs 5 Crore per year, can be utilised anywhere in the constituency of an elected MP. But the opposition voices in Varanasi are accusing Modi of not setting an example before other MPs by not spending his own fund for development. 

Manoj Rai Dhoopchandi, a leader from Samajwadi Party and former Minister of State during the Samajwadi Party regime in Uttar Pradesh, said, “See, if people love someone, they wish to do things for them. The same applies here. Corporates and big industrialists love Narendra Modi so they carried out in the villages adopted by him.

“But by allowing the same, PM Modi did not set an example before other Member of Parliaments. If he would have conducted so many works with his MPLADS funds, other MPs would be motivated. So, he forgot to set an ideal working procedure for other MPs while creating an ideal village,” he added. 

Courtesy: Two Circles

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Nearly a year ago, the draft of a proposed law MASUKA-Manav Suraksha Kanoon-came into light when several lawyers, civil rights activists, and politicians came together to demand a unified and a separate law which could bring justice to the lynching victims and also could help in preventing such crimes in future.

A peculiar feature of MASUKA was that it was supposed to be a specialized law—like POSCO and SC/ ST Act—the draft of which was made public on July 7 last year. Opinions and change suggestions were asked from the common public in order to make the law more inclusive.

But even after a year since MASUKA came into existence, the draft is still struggling through its way to becoming a law, and worse, no one is now talking or campaigning about it anymore. In fact, just today, a writ petition filed by the same parties who were campaigning for MASUKA was heard in the Supreme Court, where a bench comprising of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asserted that it is the State’s duty to ensure efficient functioning of the law and order situation. However, even the name MASUKA was missing in the entire judgement.

There are many reasons why MASUKA slipped into oblivion. Many of the campaigners have either moved away from the cause completely or have started refraining from commenting on the issue completely. The Facebook page National Campaign Against Mob Lynching, which was created to gather public support to stop mob lynching and to amplify the campaign for MASUKA did not become popular with only 14,500 likes. Also, the page has not been updated after November 22, 2017.
The digital campaign to stop mob lynching incidents and to bring MASUKA as a concrete law also failed miserably. The website established for the same “stopmoblynching.com” is now closed, and the domain’s registration lapsed on June 10, 2018. At the time of writing this story, the web address denoted “It’s your lucky day! This domain is available now”, and anyone could buy the domain in just Rs 753.42, intending towards the seriousness of the intention of the campaign.

screenshot of the website for MASUKA and stop mob lynching campaign

Civil rights activist and once a Congress leader Shehzad Poonawalla has been a leading figure in the MASUKA campaign. The idle Facebook page to stop mob lynching has featured several videos of Poonawalla, who is a prime figure on the evening news channel debates. However, Poonawalla changed his tone in December 2017, coming hard on the “dynasty politics” being exercised by the Indian National Congress. Poonawalla’s stand on the family politics of the Congress—which came at the time when Rahul Gandhi took over as the National President of Congress party—coincided with him moving away from the MASUKA campaign. As Poonawalla came hard on Congress politics, his elder brother Tehseen Poonawalla, who has also been actively involved in MASUKA campaign, broke all relations with him. And for Shehzad Poonawalla, this “souring of relationships between the brothers” has led him to pull out from MASUKA campaign.

When asked about the roadblock in the MASUKA movement, Shehzad Poonawalla told TwoCircles.net, “The movement was Tehseen’s brainchild and since the souring of our relations, he has not involved me. So I am unable to give you any further information in this regard specifically.”
What Shehzad Poonawalla further told us gives the idea that personal, as well as political reasons, are behind a law draft which could prevent lynching in the country. “I am no longer part of the movement as Tehseen was behind it and he broke off all relations and may not want me involved as he has made it clear,” he further said. He also lashed out at the Congress party allegedly blacking him out from appearing on various news channels, thereby denying him a chance to talk more about the project. He said, “If Congress doesn’t get me boycotted by blackmailing some channels where such topics are discussed, I will be happy to go and explain the need for such a law or for appropriate changes in current laws.”

However, Tehseen Poonawalla, a political activist, is still associated with the MASUKA and accepts that there have been several roadblocks which have come in the way. Tehseen told TwoCircles.net, “There are indeed several personal as well as political reasons due to which the movement suffered a major setback. Sometimes people leave behind a campaign when they see it not giving out the desired result. But I think this is the time when we can stand again for the desired campaign.”

“We gave a copy of the law draft to Ravishankar Prasad, the law minister, a few months back and he forwarded it the home minister Rajnath Singh. But I don’t think the current central government is ready to come up with the MASUKA as a law,” Tehseen Poonawalla further said.

File image from the campaign launch for MASUKA and against mob lynching.

According to Tehseen, the government is mulling to introduce MASUKA as Private Member Bill in the parliament, but there are very fewer hopes that a Private Member Bill could turn into a law.

On July 19 last year, an all-party meet was organised keeping MASUKA on the table in which Shashi Tharoor (INC), Prakash Ambedkar (Bharatiya Republican Party), Pawan Verma (JD (U)), Manoj Jha (RJD), Digvijay Singh (INC), Salman Khurshid (INC), MB Rajesh (CPI-M), Sanjay Singh (AAP), TKS Elangovan (DMK), Devashish Jarariya (BSP) and Pankhuri Pathak (SP) took part. However, none of the aforesaid politicians is talking about it anymore.

When the campaign to enact MASUKA started, several activists and scholars came in who actually came together during ‘Not In My Name’ protests which were held countrywide where people, mostly Hindus, asserted that the lynchings could not be linked to their religious and social identities. Shehla Rashid, the former vice-president in students union of Jawaharlal Nehru University, was one of them. When we tried to reach her for the story several times, she did not comply to the request.

Another chapter in the MASUKA campaign was an online petition at change.org which was addressed to Narendra Modi to enact MASUKA. Started by Bollywood actress Swara Bhaskar, the petition was signed by several Bollywood celebrities, however, it failed to reach its target 50 thousand signatures. We contacted Swara Bhaskar several times over this story. She did not reply. However, we have sent her questions about the petition and MASUKA in general to her WhatsApp, and the story will be updated if we receive her response on this.

The lawyers who drafted the MASUKA have also seemed to be moved away from it, but the reason is different. Sanjay Hegde, the Senior lawyer at Supreme Court, assisted by Advocate Anas Tanwir submitted few guidelines for recommendations through a writ petition in Supreme Court containing preventive, remedial and punitive guidelines in a case pertaining to lynching by cow vigilantes. When contacted for comment, Anas Tanwir said that he could not comment on MASUKA as they have already submitted guidelines in the Supreme Court. The guidelines submitted before the Supreme Court are intended to potentially address the issues discussed under MASUKA.

Reserving its decision on the aforesaid petition on July 3 this year, Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra said, “The concept of vigilantism is not about any particular incident or motive. It is about mob violence. Members of any concerned group cannot take the law into their hands. Even if there is no law, they are nobody.”

He further said, “We intend to pass the judgment on the petitions, keeping the contempt alive. These kinds of instances cannot occur. It is the obligation of the states to prevent the same, hence, an elaborate judgment is needed.”

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court in its response to the writ petition directed registration of FIR under Section 153A of the IPC (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.) and other relevant provisions of law against people “who disseminate irresponsible and explosive messages and videos having content which is likely to incite mob violence and lynching of any kind.” While the SC has issued a series of directives on the issue, it is important to note that these are not binding either on the Central government or the state governments.

But in the entire debate, the absence of MASUKA points out how the attempt to introduce a law fell flat on its face because the people who were promoting it fell into political arguments with each other. It also shows how celebrity activists latch on to every burning issue until their own goals are met and then discard those very issues once the ‘debate’ around it subsides.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

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