Fariba Dalir and Sakin Behjati’ prison sentence has just begun.

It was in the month of April that the Iranian courts finally convicted these two  women – recent converts to Christianity – for their ‘attempts to put national security in danger’. One among them has been sent to a much dreaded jail near Tehran. (https://www.en-hrana.org/tag/fariba-dalir/)

Interestingly neither Fariba nor Sakin were involved in any terrorist act or anything akin to treason, they had just organised a Church service at their home which was joined in by few of their friends / acquaintances.

In a country which calls itself Islamic Republic where Islam – especially its Twelver Shii version – is the official State Religion and where apostasy is punishable by death, their very act of joint prayer to their gods was found to be worth prosecution.

Definitely Iran is no exception today- at least in the mid-eastern world – when it comes to religious rights of minorities.

What is less emphasised is that the phenomenon of stigmatisation or criminalisation of people worshipping ‘other gods’ – which has ancient origins – is not limited to the region.

Today’s world – where there is explosion of religiosity – and a dangerous mix of religion and politics is ruling the roost in many countries, it is also finding takers in officially secular countries.

India which calls itself the ‘biggest democracy’ in the world and sings paeans to its long history of pluralism has discovered this stratagem with a vengeance under a Hindutva Supremacist regime  and recent experience demonstrates that the religious minorities here are biggest losers.

The much reported instance from Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh where pilgrims were made to do sit ups and give an apology for offering roadside Namaz (https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/pilgrims-made-to-do-sit-ups-say-sorry-for-offering-roadside-namaz/cid/1886605) just brings out the situation on the ground.

A brief recap of the incident tells us that these pilgrims were first harassed and allegedly even thrashed up by a local Hindutva leader for this ‘illegal act’ and were marched to the police station where their intimidation and harassment continued unabated. The ordeal ended only after they gave a written apology for their attempt to pray their own god – a right which has been granted to every Indian citizen under article 25 of the Constitution which underlines “freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion” the only caveat is “subject to public order, morality and health and to the other provisions of this Part”.

Definitely the hapless citizens from faraway west Bengal were not in a position to ask the police officials how their act of offering Namaz beside a roadside could endanger ‘public order’, vitiate ‘morality’ or negatively impact ‘health’ of others.

No doubt it would be rather incredulous to even think that police officials questioned the self-proclaimed “protectors of Hinduism” for taking law into their hands, and harassing the pilgrims , who handed over these people to them.

What happened in Shahjahanpur could be seen as just a tip of the iceberg as earlier events very well demonstrate.

Merely few days before this incident, police action in a village named Dulhepur, Muradabad, Uttar Pradesh had reached headlines (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bareilly/mass-gathering-for-namaz-at-home-26-booked-in-up/articleshow/93841669.cm) where police personnel had reached a house of a Muslim family where prayers were being held . As there was not a single mosque in the village nor nearby areas, possibly these people  had gathered at that place to offer prayers in communion with each other.

Perhaps this very gathering caused tremendous ‘anxiety’ to their neighbour who even sensed that if no action is taken ( or police does not intervene to disturb the Namaz being offered there ) a question of ‘law and order’ would suddenly erupt. And police which normally takes time to address complaints promptly arrived within no time.

Initial statements by the police even claimed that these people – who were offereing Namaz – had gathered there without any ‘prior intimation and had been warned earlier as well not to do so’. It is a different matter that this whole episode leaked to the media received  so much oprobium at various levels that the police deemed it fit to close the case quickly without offering any satisfactory explanation to save itself from further embarrassment.

The incident at newly inaugurated Lulu Mall in Lucknow which happened earlier was no different.

Here a similar controversy arose and police filed cases against unrecognised people who were found to be  offering namaz inside the Mall itself under Indian Penal Code sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups) and 295-A (deliberate act intended to outrage religious feelings).

Gurugram ( earlier Gurgaon) , which is part of National Capital Region of New Delhi, hardly 30 kilometres from the national capital and which is India’s second largest information technology hub and third largest financial and banking hub, represents a classic case where today this denial has reached extreme levels which is witnessed in increased shrinking of Namaz space. There are only six spots left for open namaz, down from 150 in 2018 ( https://www.newslaundry.com/2022/04/18/we-dont-want-conflict-dont-want-to-fight-the-battle-of-shrinking-namaz-space-for-gurugram-muslims)

This shrinking of space has not happened overnight. Thanks to the activists of various Hindutva groups – whose actions had made it increasingly difficult to offer Namaz even at designated places – who felt emboldened with official attitude towards their protests, perhaps the Muslims there have decided to be ‘super low profile..to live a peaceful life’ ( -do-)

One can just go on narrating similar incidents and spots from other parts of the country as well ..

What connects Shahjahanpur to Dulhepur, Muradabad ; Lulu Mall, Lucknow or Gurugram etc ?

One thing is evident that they are signs of arrival of a New India, where majoritarianism is on the upswing and religious minorities, socially marginalised have been put on the defensive.

The ascent of authoritarian / totalitarian forces in country – which would have been impossible without the deep penetration of exclusivist viewpoint focussing itself around particular faith and its larger acceptance by the so called civil society – has been accompanied by a synergy of sorts between Hindutva rigthwing storm troopers and the various organs of the state – a deadly alliance which seem to be playing havoc with the lives of the vulnerable communities.

If the Nazi project of Aryan Supremacy veered around race – where the Jews were considered / peddled as the ‘other’ – majoritarianism here veers around the idea of Hindutva Supremacism, which is impossible without the criminalisation and stigmatisation of the practice of the ‘faith of the other’

The idea may have ancient origins and had even resulted in en masse massacres of the ‘others’ and even the forcible assimilation of the ‘rest’ earlier  has been weaponised in the 21 st millenium as well.

Whether one wants to recognise or not mainstreaming of bigotry is nearly complete.

There is no denying the fact that barring a stream of voices of dissent and difference, either there is a conspiracy of silence by the articulate sections of society about such blatant violation of religious rights of minorities – which are an affront to the constitution – or even its glorification / celebration on occasions.

The duplicitous behaviour of the so called opinion makers is evident to everyone.

Neither they are bothered by the fact that in a multi-religious, multi faith country of ours  while festivals of majority community receive official sanction at every level nor they are concerned how ‘others’ are not even allowed to practice their faith peacefully or worship their own gods in their own private space.

The official support to festivals of the majority could be seen even in the fact seniormost police officials of the state have no qualms in sprinkling flower petals from Helicopter on  Kanwariyas – who have come under scanner of Supreme Courts now and then for their acts of violence (https://scroll.in/article/889863/violence-during-kanwar-yatra-the-police-need-new-ideas-to-tackle-an-old-problem)

It is true that such acts which are an effective denial of freedom of conscience granted to citizens under constitution are not limited to the biggest religious minority – namely Muslims – only, it extends to other minorities as well.

Christians in India, whose number is hardly 2.3 per cent of the population are similarly at the receiving end of this Hindutva Supremacist forces. If Muslims are stigmatised for ‘being terrorist’, the bogey of conversion is used when it comes to intimidating Christians.

Reports appear in section of the press about how police in north Indian states uses Bible and even prayer groups as evidence of illegal conversion by pastors. Article 14 had even published a detailed report about many such incidents (https://article-14.com/post/up-s-growing-attacks-on-christians-police-use-bible-prayer-groups-as-evidence-of-illegal-conversion-by-pastors-628456af30552) and how ‘policemen have aligned themselves with complainants from Hindutva groups.’

Few BJP ruled states have even passed ‘anti conversion laws’ in the name of ‘freedom of religion’ bill  where religious conversion becomes a congnisable and non bailable office and the accused is supposed to prove his innocence in courts. In UP itself many pastors find themselves at the receiving end of this law as the accused has to prove his innocence, and under a law which is very loosely defined, someone convicted under this law can face jail upto 10 years in a prison.

Karnataka, which is ruled by a saffron dispensation, Christians have come under attack  in a similar manner where there are increasing instances where they find it increasingly difficult to practice their faith.A report brought out by PUCL Karnataka (http://puclkarnataka.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Criminalising-the-Practise-of-Faith-Final-date-12-02-22.pdf) narrates thirty nine such incidents from different parts of the state afte talking to victims as well as pastors and ordinary Christians and tells how it has created an atmoshere of fear and terror. These reports reveal the common pattern used by the saffron supremacists to intimidate and terrorise them.

For example, many victims as well as pastors narrated how the rightwing groups attack during their weekly mass all of sudden and the police normally arrives few minutes after the incident and in fact tries to diulte the case by pressurising for  a compromise.

Can we expect any let up in the situation in the coming days.

It would be improper to sustain ourselves on false hopes.

Unless and until the secular, liberal forces, democratic as well as left forces are able to put a sustained resistance one cannot expect a significant  change in the situation and such a resistance cannot be put up without getting ready to break new grounds as far as strategy is concerned.

Of course, in the interim period, one can envisage immediate tasks which could be taken up or contemplate about new ideas which can be pushed further.

Perhaps an important recommendations by the PUCL report (-do-) to stop such attacks or deter undue interference in private lives of people or to ensure religious rights of people can be seriously brooded over.  It talks of implementing the directions of the Supreme Court in Tahseen S Poonawalla v Union of India ( AIR 2018 SC 3354) regarding cases of mob violence and lynching strictly.

The recommendations include registration of an FIR without delay, preventing harassment of family members of victims, ensuring cases of mob violence are tried by Fast Track Courts on a day to day basis, and holding police officials who fail their duties in preventing the violence accountable. The highest courts have even emphasised formulation of the victim compensation scheme under Section  357A  of  the  CrPC  for  the  victims  of  hate  crimes.

There could be many such interim steps and they should be taken up with utmost urgency.

What is also needed is to comprehend this criminalisation of the practice of faith of the others in a wider context of overwhelming dominance of Hindutva Supremacism and its unholy alliance with Crony Capitalism. It is not just a slogan that the ruling dispensation at the centre has shown much ‘benevolence’ towards two big business houses, which is often targetted by the opposition as a government of ‘Hum DO, Hamare Do’

One, this needs to be seen as an integral part of the growing socio-economic marginalisation of religious minorities, which has been preceded by their growing political marginalisation.

It is an old story but the percentage of representatives belonging to religious minorities in the parliament today is at the lowest since independence. It was widely reported how in the elections to the Parliament in 2019, the ruling dispensation at the centre did not deem it necessary to distribute ticket to a single Muslim candidate. The same understanding was reflected when elections to the Upper House ( Rajya Sabha) were held few months before. Despite the fact that Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was the only Muslim member left from BJP who was on the Rajya Sabha, his term was allowed to lapse.

Call for the ‘economic boycott’ of Muslims from time to time, the bogey of ‘Love Jihad’ which effectively criminalises any relation between a Hindu and Muslim belonging to different sexes, the bogey of Corona Jihad which was raked up more than two years back basically to further marginalise them or the very idea of ban on Hijab wearing girls / women from educational institutions – which was raised in Karnataka – and which led to the violation of right to education without discrimination indiscrimnately, all these attempts put together, definitely cobbles up a scary scenario and similar other measures / slogans have been found to be effective measures to restrict the religious minorities – especially the Muslims – to their ghettos.

As we look at this increasing normalisation of bigotry and hate and the increasing difficulty faced by the religious / social minorities to live life as an equal citizen in the 75 th Year of India’s independence, it would be inhaling fresh air if we look back at the debates in the Constituent Assembly in the wee hours of independence when our founders were laying down rules for us so that we live a peaceful, inclusive, equitable life without facing discrimination of any sorts.

One can recall the discussions taking place on the issue of freedom of expression in the Constituent assembly and how they slowly broadened to include the issue of freedom of conscience and how it resolved to ensure the said right to every citizen of the newly independent nation and even ensure her right to its practice and propagation.

Definitely none of them would have imagined in their wildest dreams that in the 75th Year of India’s independence, days would arise where people in power – who had taken oath of the constitution itself – would put roadblocks that a section of people praying a different god would feel further diminished.

It is a different matter that for followers of the world view of Hindutva Supremacism, the unfolding situation is a dream come true.

For them the idea to turn an independent, secular, democratic, liberal India into a Hindu Rashtra is coming to fruition of a long winding struggle, launched by the likes of Savarkar, Hedgewar etc and effectively pushed ahead by the likes of Golwalkar, Deoras.

Was not it Golwalkar who in his famous monograph ‘Bunch of Thoughts’ categorised Muslims, Christians and Communists as Internal Enemies ? Or how he in his earlier monograph ‘We and Our Nationhood Defined’ considered that the minorities would have to live at the benevolence of Hindus, the same controversial book which glorifies ‘ethnic cleansing of Jews’ in Hitler’s Germany

Subhash Gatade is a left  activist associated with New Socialist Initiative

Courtesy: https://countercurrents.org

The post When worship itself becomes a crime appeared first on SabrangIndia.

1.

We lost Gauri Lankesh, journalist, activist and very passionate human being, exactly five years back

It is now history how she was assasinated by rightwing Hindutva fanatics outside her home in Rajarajeshwari Nagar on 5 September 2017.

A killing which shocked not only the people of Karnataka but everyone who believed in a just and equitable society elsewhere.

For us this is a day of rememberance and also renewing a pledge, to rededicate ourselves to the tasks she bequeathed to us.

2

There are many aspects of Gauri Lankesh’s  life which are inspiring to everyone, the way she abandoned a bright career in English Journalism and opted to continue her father’s glorious legacy by writing in Kannada, the way she did not limit herself to writing but also turned to activism, the way she adopted a very daring path of speaking truth to power- without fearing for the consequences.

One is rather amazed by the tremendous energy she possessed that she persisted in the struggle against heavy odds, did not give up despite cases being filed against her in different courts of Karnataka for her work of defence of human rights and a consistent opposition to communal politics. A tactics much used by the rightwing forces to deter conscious people from challenging them and to keep them booged down in cases after cases, in a  judicial system where the process itself becomes a punishment.

In one such case of defamation lodged by a BJP leader, the court had even convicted her and she was out on bail.

3

One of the remarkable intervention she did in public life pertained to her raising questions about the then Chief Justice of Karnataka’s speech at Udupi Mutt – which he had visited at the invitation of Pejavara Swamy,  known as  one of the founding members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.  The honourable justice supposedly had talked the language of Hindu Unity there to build a Ram temple.

‘When the Eye of Justice is Jaundiced’ (https://www.roundtableindia.co.in/when-the-eye-of-justice-is-jaundiced/), the title of her intervention  itself displayed how she viewed the speech. Her contention was that judiciary in a democracy is ‘expected to be independent of not just the legislative and the executive’ but also ‘be independent of social biases’  and when a judge ‘displays his/ her biases blatantly’ s/he fails miserably.

4.

It is for everyone to see that by her committment to the cause and the way she evolved into an uncompromising figher against rightwing extremism, she has touched lives of thousands of people which was evident in the tremendous outpouring of grief on the streets of Bengaluru when she was taken for cremation.

We know people’s anger over her killing in fact further propelled investigation into her murder and the conspiracy behind it hatched by the rightwing fanatics who consider ‘destruction of evil doers as spiritual practice’.

I still remember the brief meeting I had with her in Bengaluru in mid August 2014 when Karnataka Kaumu Sauhardu Vedike [Karnatak Communal Harmony Forum] had organised an all India Consultative meeting of Progressive Organisations and individuals to discuss the post-poll situation .

Looking back one just wished one had met her more and learnt from her wide experience in the social field as an activist and a journalist.

As an aside it need be told that this unique anti communal forum in Karnataka  had its beginning in the famous struggle by democratic, secular organisations and justice loving individuals around the famous Baba Budangiri Shrine, where exclucivist elements were trying to disturb its syncretic character.

Gauri Lankesh was one of the moving spirits behind this forum.

5.

As records tell us the planned killing of Gauri was the fourth such assasination of activists and scholars within a span of four years executed by the same rightwing formation.

The spree of killings of activists and scholars had its beginning in the year 2013  when Dr Naredra Dabholkr, the legendary anti superstition activist was killed while he had gone out for a morning walk in Pune. (20 th August) which was followed by assasination of well known Communist Leader Govind Pansare  ( Feb 2015) in Kolhapur. The third one who fell to their bullets was Prof M M Kalburgi,  famous Kannada Scholar, known for his prolific writings ( August 2015).

It is true that the killings were a basically a message to everyone that the the ideas these activists, scholars represented, the work they were doing, was an anathema to those people who wanted to usher India into a majoritarian Hindu Rashtra.

It was a message that whosoever is working to raise the consciousness of people, for propagation of values of reason, rationality, scientific temper  and also preparing them to fight inequality, discrimination, obscurantism,  mental slavery, sectarianism based on caste, creed, religion, even within  the domain of Constitution, has basically no place in their vision of things.

Investigation into Gauri Lankesh’s murder had also led to the discovery of the hit list prepared by these fanatics which included names of many leading writers, activists, social workers not only from Karnataka but also outside who had consistently opposed the exclucivist agenda to make religion a basis of nationhood in 20 th Century, who were opposed to turn a Secular Democracy like India, into a Hindu Rashtra

The topmost name on the list was that of legendary actor, director and public intellectual Girish Karnad

This evening, when we have gathered here to discuss Gauri Lankesh’s legacy and also discuss the perils of fighting for freedom of expression, on the one hand it gives us  good feeling that there similar programmes are being held in different parts of Karnataka and many other places in the country, it gives us strength but simultaneously there is a realisation that things are not the same since when Gauri left us.

Whether we agree to it or not challenges before us  increased in very many ways.

5

Today, it is more common to criminalise or stigmatise someone who merely tweets her / his opposition to the powers that be and even send her / him to jail under draconian acts.

The state of affairs in the country can be gauged by the simple fact that in 2021 alone six journalists were killed in India basically to do their duty and more than 100 were seriously injured by enemies of freedom of expression.

Ascendant Hindutva Supremacism in its first Avatar rediscovered the phenomenon of lynching – a relic of a bygone era in US society when Blacks were hounded by White Supremacists – when many innocents belonging to religious minorities – namely Muslims – and social minorities – namely dalits and adivasis were lynched merely for the suspicion of carrying beef or were badly wounded.

With its second coming at the centre, lynching has not only been normalised but today open calls for genocide of the ‘others’, the religious and social minorities, in so called Dharm Sansads, have become more common, with the judiciary either turning a blind eye or not rising to the expectations of people seeking justice and enforcing implementation of rule of  law according to Constitution.

In today’s India the whole idea of justice is being turned on its head where bulldozer has emerged as the new dispenser of justice, where throwing all judicial procedures to the winds, police and administration are found to be engaged in literally bulldozing houses and shops of sections of people – who are already under assault of majoritarian storm troopers.

We have been witness to the way in which people who were convicted for gang rape of Bilkis Bano and her close relatives and murder of thirteen people and were punished for life imprisonment were released by the state of Gujarat prematurely by clearly violating the necessary procedures involved and with the central government turning a blind eye to this act, what irked people further was the way in which they were garlanded and even felicitated.

What we are witnessing today is unprecedented in India’s 75 years journey, where weaponising of institutions and the judiciary’s rather pusillamanious behaviour on occasions at various levels has not only made any sustainable resistance to it – at the electoral level, as well as at the social level – difficult.

A new feature of the present state of affairs is not that state and its various apparatus is ready to pounce upon any dissenting voice but there are hordes of people – reminiscent of the storm troopers in the Nazi era – who are acting as the extended hand of the government.

Critics tend to compare the situation with the internal emergency clamped by the Indira Gandhi regime but normally forget to underline the qualitative difference between then and now.

We should not forget the long work done by the Hindutva Supremacists organisations to change, influence the minds of the people and it has definitely impacted the psyche of the people where they are ready to look at things in a similar ‘us’ and ‘them’ narrative.

6

Question arises what should be done today ?

The first and foremost thing is to be fearless, Nirbhaya.

Everybody should bear in mind what the legendary activist across the border Sabeen Mahmood had written somewhere :  ‘Fear is just a line in your head, You can choose what side of that line you want to be‘. Whenever I think of Gauri Lankesh, the face of Sabeen Mahmood flashes in my mind who was similarly assasinated by Islamists with due support from Pakistan’s deep state, merely two years before Gauri’s murder, for daring to raise questions and prepare an atmosphere of debate and discussion and dialogue in the country.

The second important thing to understand is that see reality as it is today, do not be under any illusion.

Illusion of any sorts among thinking people in this part of world will be disastarous in the long run.

Rêmember that fascination for Hindu Rashtra is not limited to RSS or various Hindutva activists, its fascination exists among what can be called as liberal sections also.

Do not forget that the idea that if Jews can have their nation, Muslims can have their nation has a deep resonance even among a section of otherwise liberal hindus.

The ‘success’ of the Hindutva Supremacist organisations to turn religious minorities into the ‘other’ or use the Hindu Muslim faultlines to their advantage is a fact and if we are keen that India retains its secular democratic character, we will have to understand why such faultlines can easily be instigated and how  to save the cause of secularism by adopting more creative and multifarious ways.

The third important feature of the unfolding situation which is evident elsewhere as well is the fact that with deepening of democracy in our country, with democracy becoming more vigorous her, it has facilitated emergence and strengthening of majoritarian forces through those very democratic route, which themselves are hell bent on weakening, subverting of that route and hollowing out of the various institutions.

A fourth important feature of the present juncture is the unholy alliance of Champions of Hindu Rashtra and crony capitalism is in full view today. It is not for nothing that leading opposition party claims that it is  a government of ‘Hum Do, Hamre Do’ – alluding to the dominance of the Modi -Shah at the political level and likes of Adani and Ambani at the level of economy.

7

The first and foremost thing on our agenda should be to give an electoral defeat to this forces of exclusion, hatred.

For this to happen it is important that political formations – who still believe in the Vision of the Constitution and are opposed to India becoming  a Hindu Rashtra should build broad based alliances.

It is clear that an electoral victory to formations with  a pluralist, inclusive agenda cannot be long lasting unless the deep rooted biases in the social mind are cleansed. For this to happen it is important that work at social – cultural level is also enhanced in very many ways.

We can learn from what Prof K N Panikkar has written somewhere, where he compares left and rights intervention in social-cultural sphere. He describes the left, progressive work as ‘ cultural intervention  ‘ whereas emphasises the work by the right as ‘intervention in culture’

We should remember that it is not a question of word play or semantics. It is the way one is able to influence minds of the people. You open a school and slowly get hold of a generation where you can easily slowly influence scores of children who come to the school but if you limit yourself to performances, or art and cinema or drama etc, it would be definitely appealing to large section of people simultaneously but its impact would not be long lasting.

With thousands of schools propagating its agenda – right from the Ekal Vidyalaya at the grassroot level where the single teacher himself – who also doubles up as an activist of the formation – to top institutions in capital, it has been possible for the rightwing forces to carve out an entire generation according to their own agenda of exclusion.

We will have to gauge ourselves whether our work in the field of culture and society is really leaving long term impact or it is of a transitory , effervescent kind.

At the end we should remember what a famous poet, novelist, singer, song writer Leonard Cohen had written somewhere ” There is a Crack, Crack in Everything, that’s how light gets in’ and continue our efforts to fight forces of obscurantism, sectarianism.

( All India People’s Science Network (AIPSN) organised an online meeting to  to remember Gauri Lankesh on the fifth anniversary of her assasination. Leading journalist Aarfa Khanum Sherwani, Dr Asha Devi, Writer and Critic from Karnataka and the present writer participated in it. Prof Raghu Nandan, chaired the discussion. This is an enlarged and edited version of the author’s presentation in the meeting.Here is a facebook link to the programme https://fb.watch/fmg-kbgUSb/

Subhash Gatade is a left  activist associated with New Socialist Initiative

Courtesy: https://countercurrents.org

The post Remembering Gauri Lankesh, Renewing A Pledge appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Bhupendra Singh Chudasama, Education Minister of Gujarat and his colleague Atmaram Paramar, who handles the Social Justice Ministry, were in the news sometime back – albeit for wrong reasons. A video went viral which showed them participating in a felicitation ceremony of exorcists in Botad. They were also seen watching how a couple of the exorcists were beating themselves with metal chains to live music near the stage.

Perhaps it did not matter to them that the Constitution frowns upon such activities and Article 51A (h) of the Indian constitution clearly says that it shall be a fundamental duty of all citizens “to develop the scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.” Neighbouring state Maharashtra has even enacted a law (The Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013) to rein in all such activities. It criminalises practices related to black magic, human sacrifices, use of magic remedies to cure ailments and other such acts which exploit people’s superstitions. And it was a culmination of a prolonged movement led by activists like Dr Dabholkar – who even faced martyrdom for his activities.

It is possible the ministerial duo could foresee that their participation could easily be glossed over/justified if they invoke question of faith, which they promptly did. Chudasama was reported as saying, “[i]t was a gathering of worshippers of divine power, not those who spread superstition.” Parmar also defended himself by saying, “The people who are protesting don’t know about Hindu culture. These are holy men of divine power.”

Anyway, it was noteworthy that their participation did not go unnoticed and there were protests as Dalits and other oppressed sections felt that it was promotion of harmful superstitions. People found it disturbing that despite the fact that rural Gujarat is in grip of such exorcists who engage in all kinds of acts of superstitions, the ministers did not have any qualms in felicitating them.

Rationalists have been working hard to expose the wrong doings of such exorcists – who are thousands in number – and who at times are also found helping /facilitating robbing of women’s properties by their relatives by declaring them as witches.

Close on the heels of this incident has come another piece of news which emanated from Uttar Pradesh. It concerned pruning of guler (Ficus carica is an Asian species of flowering plants in the mulberry family, known as the common fig (or just the fig)) trees lying on the Kanwariya route as they are considered ‘inauspicious’ by them. For the uninitiated it may be told that the Kanwad Yatra commences in the Hindu calendar month of Shravan (second week of July) coinciding with the monsoon, during which devotees of Shiva (called as Kanwariya) walk miles to collect Ganga water, in Varanasi and other places.It was said that while reviewing preparations for the Kanwar Yatra, a meeting which was chaired by the CM himself, this announcement was made.

People who are in the know of things say that the claim that the tree is ‘inauspicious’ has been spread as a canard by a section of astrologers who say that if the pilgrims pass under it or perform religious acts under it, the ‘punya’ which one earns through such yatras get reduced. And it has led to bypassing of the tree by the Kanwariyas.

Question arises while it is for the devotee to decide what s/he should do about things s/he considers ‘inauspicious’ why should the government which claims to abide by a secular Constitution spend its resources to cater to the sentiments of a particular community and thus put an official stamp on their weird world view and commit acts which seem to contravene Constitution itself. In fact, of late this catering to sentiments of dominant community has gone to the ridiculous extent that the Yogi government has even ordered setting up of ‘Navgraha Vatika’, ‘Panchavati’ or ‘Harishankari’ in every tehsil of all 75 districts of the state during a plantation drive which will start from July 1. It is an attempt to plant specific kinds of trees which find mention in religious books of Hinduism including Vedas and Ramayana.

Pruning of particular trees – an act which has been questioned equally by rationalists and environmentalists – or participation in felicitation ceremony of exorcists rather pales in significance when education minister of a state (Rajasthan) makes a bizarre claim that cows exhale oxygen and thus puts his stamp on the ‘sacredness’ of the bovine in an ambience when cow related violence has seen quantum jump.

As a data analysis website has recently emphasised:

As many of 97% of these attacks were reported after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government came to power in May 2014, and about half the cow-related violence–32 of 63 cases–were from states governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when the attacks were reported, revealed our analysis of violence recorded until June 25, 2017.Of the 28 Indians who died over the seven-year period, 24 were Muslim, or 86%. As many as 124 people were also injured in these attacks. More than half (52%) of these attacks were based on rumours, our analysis found.

People who are still enamoured about the Modi magic may say that why single out only BJP ruled states, promotion of superstition has been an integral part of other ruling class parties as well. In fact, nobody can claim that, barring left parties, other parties and their governments do not engage in promoting/practising superstition. We have before us examples of governments who organised prayers at different religious places when the states ruled by them were facing a drought like situation (Congress) or there are examples like the newly created Telangana or for that matter even Andhra Pradesh where leaders are found spending crores of rupees to remove ‘Vastudosh’ from their houses or organise Yagyas to ‘propitiate gods’ so that the states ruled by them usher into prosperity. We can quote similar examples from our distant as well as not so distant past.

But it cannot be denied that promotion of superstition has gathered tremendous momentum since the ascendance of Hindutva at the Centre. And it has definite connection with the exclusivist worldview of RSS. Remember the manner in which Modi – who started his social-political life as a RSS Pracharak in his young age – as Prime Minister had linked ‘medical science to mythology’, citing “plastic surgery” and “genetic science” to explain the creation of Lord Ganesh and Karna respectively while inaugurating a Reliance Foundation hospital in October 2014.

Speaking at a function in Mumbai, Modi had said,

“We can feel proud of what our country achieved in medical science at one point of time. We all read about Karna in Mahabharat. If we think a little more, we realise that Mahabharat says Karna was not born from his mother’s womb. This means that genetic science was present at that time. That is why Karna could be born outside his mother’s womb.”

According to the text of the speech posted on the PMO website, he further said,

“We worship Lord Ganesh. There must have been some plastic surgeon at that time who got an elephant’s head on the body of a human being and began the practice of plastic surgery.”

It is no mere coincidence that ascent of right-wing Hindutva has also severely impacted the level of discussion in the Indian Science Congress – where there are instances of pseudo science being peddled as science – or funding of scientific institutions has been further curtailed to promote particular agenda. Cowpathy or cow science seems to be the new entrant to this club.

New Delhi: Cow science, or “cowpathy”, as it has been termed by Hindutva ideologues, is in for a new national level makeover. Last month, what was generally regarded as pseudo-science – or at best ‘fringe science’ – was elevated to the status of a major agenda for national level scientific research cutting across many scientific departments and national laboratories.

On April 25, the Science for Equity, Empowerment and Development (SEED) division of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) issued an office memorandum (OM) to constitute a National Steering Committee (NSC) for ‘Scientific Validation and Research on Panchgavya (SVAROP)’. The tenure of this 19-member committee will be three years.
(https://thewire.in/136259/panchgavya-svarop-iit-csir-cow-urine/)

It remains to be seen how things progress ahead?

The Prime Minister keeps talking about emergence of New India under his leadership. With victory in UP elections this voice has become more assertive.

A cursory glance at the unfolding scenario makes it clear that it is definitely a ‘New India’. An India which has rediscovered old prejudices, exclusions and discriminations and is surging ahead on the path of unreason decked with superstition..
 

This article was first published on Kafila Online.

The post Promoting Superstition – Everything Official About It! appeared first on SabrangIndia.

( Photo Courtesy : https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org)

Cow vigilantes attacked six people, including a 9-year-old girl in the Reasi district of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday and fled away with their flock. The vigilantes beat up the nomad community blue and black and the minor girl has suffered multiple fractures when the community was en route to Talwara area…
(Times Now).

In yet another chilling instance of self-styled gau rakshaks targeting cattle traders — and mob mentality thriving undeterred — three men transporting buffaloes were attacked by “cow vigilantes” in south Delhi’s Kalkaji late Saturday
(Hindustan Times).

“Cow protectionism was the spirit behind India’s freedom movement”. The innocuous looking statement by Ms Nirmala Sitharaman on the floor of the House when she defended the shutting of illegal slaughter houses in UP had not raised any debate then.

Now the real import of this statement is coming to the fore when the alleged killers of Pehlu Khan – a farmer from Haryana – are being compared with martyrs of freedom struggle. The video of the whole incident – where a lady, who heads  a ‘cow protection group’ – who recently came into news when she allegedly forced Jaipur administration to close down a hotel owned by a Muslim under some flimsy pretext, has gone viral where she is comparing one of the accused in the case — who is part of a self-proclaimed band of cow vigilantes – as “Bhagat Singh and Chandra Shekhar Azad of today".

For close watchers of the incidents of cow vigilantism, which are increasingly coming under scanner everywhere, there was nothing surprising about this glorification. People had watched with horror when body of one of the accused in the Dadri lynching case was covered with tricolour. It is now history how the lynching took place when the crowd had been mobilised by giving open calls using loudspeaker placed on the local temple and the frenzied mob had killed Akhlaq in front of his house supposedly for storing beef.

When a senior minister of the central cabinet can even deny the happening of such an incident on the floor of the house and where the first FIR filed in this case is not against the violence unleashed upon the victims but the victims themselves on fraudulent charges, it is obvious that anything can happen in all such cases. Perhaps people in this part of South Asia have now to come to terms with this ‘new India’ which was promised to us post UP elections.

As plans are now afoot to organise a three-day national dharna outside the Rajasthan State Assembly from 24-26 April 2017 under the joint initiative of many political, social and human rights organisations, to protest killing of Pehlu Khan and demand justice for him, the sanitisation of the image of the murderers should worry us all.

Reports have appeared in a section of newspapers which tell that the murder accused are being projected as social activists. What is more disturbing is the manner in which freedom fighters are being openly humiliated by comparing them with fanatic murderers and historic struggle of Indian people for liberation is being trivialised. In fact, this has been an established practice of the saffrons now.

As every law abiding individual is watching with trepidation how “cow terror” is spreading throughout the country – from Dadri to Latehar, from Una to Alwar and from Jammu to now the national capital – with custodians of law and order turning mute spectators and “.. [h]uman slaughter in the name of the bovine” becoming “tragically the new normal in India. There are reports that the apex court of the country is also seized of the matter. In fact it intervened in the issue few days back and has sought responses not only from the Centre and but also six states within three weeks. The six states are Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Karnataka. Except for Congress-ruled Karnataka, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in power in the remaining states. A three judge bench of the apex court is hearing public interest litigation petition filed by activists and an alleged victim of similar vigilantism.

According to reports focus of the petition is on “Animal protection laws such as the Maharashtra Animal Protection Act, 1956, which prohibit any legal action against persons for actions done in good faith under the law.” In fact, some states also grant the power of search-and-seize to officials under such laws. The petition also referred to a 2011 ruling of the apex court in which it had directed the government to disband vigilante groups.

Whether the honourable judges would give a direction on the issue and ban such groups and come forward to defend rule of law remains to be seen.
 

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Bhima Bhoi, saint, poet and social reformer, who lived in later part of the 19 th century and who wielded his pen against the prevailing social injustice, religious bigotry and caste discrimination, would not have imagined in his wildest dreams that in the second decade of the 21 st century there would arrive such new claimants to his legacy who stood against everything for which he stood for. A populariser of Mahima movement or Mahima Dharma which 'draws elements from Islam, Buddhism, Jainism, Vaishnavism and Tantra Yoga,' the movement Bhima  led was a 'deeply felt protest against caste system and feudal practices of western and central Orissa.' and goal of his mission was "Jagata Uddhara" ( liberation of entire world).

Recently Bhima Bhoi's name reached national headlines once again when BJP, the ruling dispensation at the centre, named the venue of its national executive meeting held in Bhuvaneshwar after him. The symbolism was not lost on people who understood it as part of the parties electoral calculations as it wants to 'woo dalits who constitute over 17 per cent of Odisha's population.' Inaugurating the media centre, Dharmendra Pradhan, a central minister explained the rationale behind this move as he told how the 'revolutionary poet's ideology was being followed by crores of people in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.'  (http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/bjp-names-party-meet-venue-in-odisha-after-dalit-poet-bhima-bhoi-1681490)

It is a different matter that the first steps being taken by the ruling dispensation to co-opt Bhima Bhoi in their pantheon of Prat Smaraniya ( worth remembering in the morning) or the launch or relaunch of  digital pay app  called BHIM (adding one more name to the 'acronym crazy' of this government) which is a very crude manner to tap sympathy/support of the followers of Bhim (Rao) Ambedkar, have come at a worse time for all such people who venerate Bhima Bhoi or who are ready to walk in the footsteps of Ambedkar.

The saga of Buta Singh, son of a dalit farm labourer from Mansa, Punjab – who is now 'accused no 10 – accused of culpable homicide' along with 70 others who were protesting the massive fee hike by the Punjab University administration, Chandigarh, brings out poignantly how this plan is being executed. It has been widely reported that there was simmering discontent on the Punjab University campus when the administration notified that from coming session there would be 8 fold or 10 fold increase in fees in various courses supposedly to get over curtailment of funds from UGC which finally erupted in a militant protest movement led by a united front of students from revolutionary left to other democratic organisations barring the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). (https://kafila.online/2017/04/12/reclaiming-punjab-university-student-protests-erupt-in-chandigarh/)

The Chandigarh Police found it fit to lodge charges of sedition against these protesting students and thus further extended the sphere of 'sedition' to its ridiculous extent. ( As an aside it may be reminded here that the Central Minister for Ayush ministry had called all those people who prescribe 'non-aurvedic drugs' as 'anti national' /http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolhapur/Doctors-prescribing-non-ayurvedic-medicines-are-anti-national/articleshow/52058067.cms/) It was finally forced to drop these charges because of tremendous public pressure. Describing the arduous struggle waged by Buta Singh to get education and reach his dream destination Punjab university,  when '.. Universities are known by packages and vice-chancellors boast of campus placements,' who ' rarely talk about the knowledge the universities are producing.' the write-up poses a question which none has bothered to ask :

" Why was Buta ready to brave water cannons? Why didn’t the police cane scare him? Why was his fragile body ready to face third-degree torture?" ( 'Why Buta Singh Must Protest Again' (http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/ludhiana/education/why-buta-singh-must-protest-again/392603.html))
and the article ends with a note :

He should protest because every wretched of the earth has the right to access to knowledge; he should protest because the courage to disagree shouldn’t die; the dream to rebel should live on. He should protest so that the university doesn’t become a cage, a placement centre, a package deal. He should protest because now protest seems the only way to survive. (-do-)

Any cursory glance at the trajectory of Buta's young life makes it clear that young people like him are to be found in various campuses and one should be ready to listen to stories of their childhood or adolescence to get to know how even after 70 years of independence it is difficult for students from ordinary background to reach good academic institutions. e.g It was only last year that an activist writer had looked at the social composition of JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University) and concluded

..for years, JNU has been home to the finest and most fertile minds from economically and socially deprived sections of society. And when they analyze the hows and whys of their socio-economic background, they get drawn to Marxism. …Estimates suggest that at least 70 per cent students of the university come from either poor or lower-middle-class families…

After the enrolments last year, the percentage of students in JNU from SC, ST and OBC has gone up to 55. A large number of Muslims are enrolled in Arabic, Persian and other language courses in JNU. Data on them is not available. But if, along with them, the number of Ashraf Muslims and other minorities is added, it can be safely presumed that at least 70 per cent of the students in the university are non-Dwij. Note that the number of OBC students in JNU has gone from 288 in 2006 to 2434 in 2015, ie a tenfold increase in nine years. The number of women students has also gone up substantially
(/kafila.online/2016/03/01/bahujan-discourse-puts-jnu-in-the-crosshairs-pramod-ranjan/)

Sedition charges against students from Punjab University might have been dropped but repression continues.  There are reports that the police is raiding houses of students based upon video inputs and terrorising students but it is a very positive thing that developments in Punjab University has given rise to solidarity movement all across Punjab and thousands of people from different strata of society have come out on streets demanding justice for students and teachers.

Definitely what is unfolding before our own eyes in Punjab University could be said to be a microcosm of the developments elsewhere on other campuses of the country. Methods adopted might be different, targets chosen might be different and objectives bandied about might be different but the aim is very much clear. The saffrons want to weed out all dissenting elements from campuses or silence them, make arrangements so that there is no fresh inflow of such elements and are able to turn campuses into modern day gurukuls where students would have no qualms in paying obeisance before their teachers. They want to create a new breed of disciplined students who would be mainly interested in utilising the transitory period at such institutions in rote learning which could be regurgitated at places of employment ( of course, if they are fortunate enough to get one)

Perhaps Banaras Hindu University – one of the central universities seems to be a model University which they want every other institution of the country to turn into.  Much has been written about the fact that here how attempts are on to subvert the idea of democracy in insidious ways. Girl students have been a primary target in this plan and various restrictions have been imposed specifically on them. A girl student cannot use mobile phone after 10 p.m., they are disallowed to use the 24 7 library at night, they are not allowed to use the bus facility which has been provided to all students, they were asked to give an affidavit that they won't indulge in any protest or demonstration. There are dietary restrictions also on them, thus while male students can consume meat, women are not allowed to do so. When there was an agitation by students to establish a cyber-library, the administration refused to concede to their demand under the specious plea that   “such a library will be used by the students to watch pornography. There is no need for a cyber-library because students need not study anything outside the syllabus”. ( (thewire.in/67205/bhu-rsss-new-education-lab-open-gender-discrimination/))

And as the on-going developments in JNU demonstrate they have no qualms in using any method – using fake videos, planting fake news or freely using the might of the police force, the tactics of 'dumbing down' by the media or even using young storm troopers of the Hindutva Right – to accomplish this. Their 'defeat' of a different kind in the first round of attack, when bogey of anti-national slogans was raised – kudos to the unprecedented movement which emerged in the campus putting majority of students and teachers on the same side of the barricade which received massive national, international support –  has not deterred them from continuing with their designs to 'shut down' JNU or turning it into its anti-thesis.

The manner in which funds are not being released leading to many students facing tremendous hardships – under one pretext or another – or the planned manner in which more than 70 to -80 per cent seats have been reduced in different courses, is just an indication that they are ready to go to any extent.

A recent write-up 'BHIM on lips, lock on cash for students' which appeared in The Telegraph explained in detail how there has been a 'drought in scholarship funds at JNU' (https://www.telegraphindia.com/1170416/jsp/frontpage/story_146624.jsp#.WPUy7Pl97IU)

– Stopping the Rs 2,000-a-month merit-cum-means scholarship that nearly 1,000 undergraduate and master's students at JNU are entitled, which is given to students whose parents earn less than Rs 2.5 lakh a year.

– Drying up of the flow of another allowance called the "non-National Eligibility Test" scholarship from the higher education regulator, the University Grants Commission,  affecting around 3,000 JNU research scholars. The non-NET scholarship is given to research students not covered by the Junior Research Fellowship, on offer for the top 3,200 performers in the National Eligibility Test, or by the handful of other fellowships.

– Severe cut in seats for integrated PhD-MPhil courses, now it can admit just 130 students against the 1,068 last year, under pressure from UGC and the HRD (human resource development) ministry

– Scrapping of additional "deprivation points" awarded during admission to research students from backward regions and marginalised sections

For close watchers of the education scenario in this country it is abundantly clear that while Ambedkar said, 'Educate, Agitate, Organise'," the present regime is "is instead practising the mantra of 'exclude, alienate, oppress'." Whatever might be the claims of the BJP and its cheerleaders, it is evident that 'Drona mindset' is in full play and doors of better educational institutions are being closed for 'Eklavyas' and 'Shambuks' of today's times.

The post Talk Bhima or Bhim, Walk Manu appeared first on SabrangIndia.

To save time one can focus more on the last decade of his life – the most tumultuous period in his as well as the newly independent nation’s life – to know the important concerns which bothered his mind and how he envisioned the future trajectory of the movement he led and how he tried to chart a roadmap for the nascent nation with due support/cooperation and at times resistance from leading stalwarts of his time…

These are no ordinary times to discuss Dalit vision* or rather reach a consensus around what could be called Dalit Vision.You have on the one hand the upheaval witnessed in the country especially among educated young dalits and broader democratic sections symbolised by the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula and the mass movement which it has generated and at the other end of the spectrum renowned Dalit leaders paying obeisance before rabid reactionary forces. You have on the one hand slogans of Jai Bhim and Lal Salaam being raised in unison on campuses across the country and on the other the process of mythologising Dr Ambedkar and marginalising ‘his’ meaning being underway nonetheless.

Today as we embark on the task of understanding/analysing/debating Dalit Vision we have before us its multiple readings. A new radical reading of it visible in the experiences of the Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle at IIT Madras or Ambedkar Students Association at HCU or at the other end of the spectrum people who venerate globalisation as the panacea of Dalit’s ills or tell us that with advance of capitalism castes will vanish away are also there to proclaim that they are the true legatee of this vision.

In fact a possibility does exist that the emancipatory thrust in this worldview is slowly being marginalised on the altar of pragmatic politics or around our immediate concerns of daily life. As an aside it is important to remember that Dr Ambedkar did have apprehensions about it and had cautioned his followers to this effect. It is one of the most poignant moments of his life that in a public meeting held in Agra in Feb 1956 – where there was a large gathering of newly educated youth from oppressed communities – he literally became emotional (in fact the late Prof Tulsi Ram has written that he literally cried) when he realised that they were not bothered about society or other depressed sections.

2.

How does one proceed then to define/debate/discuss Dalit Vision in the present context, which is ‘beyond rhetoric, decorative politicos and Brahminical hegemony’?

One way is to ‘collect’ all those ‘visions’ or readings and find some commonality from them. Definitely an impossible task ! What commonality could be derived from a ‘vision’ whose one manifestation supports status quoist politics and the other opposes it.

Perhaps the best option available is to not to look at its present day exponents or its various manifestations available but its best exponent ever and see how he envisioned things, how he analysed ‘his’ present or how he forecasted ‘future’, what sort of cautions he shared with his comrades to be taken note of and taking him as our pole star look at ‘our’ present, and define Dalit Vision for our times.

This revisiting would also serve another purpose.

We have been witness to a new brand of converts supposedly to Ambedkar’s worldview who have started claiming him more aggressively these days surpassing even his loyal followers. Our search would also help demonstrate how the forefathers of these new converts derided him when he was alive and even after his death and how he opposed their politics tooth and nail and cautioned his followers about it.

Today when they are competing with each other to lay claim over his legacy let us not forget that one of their ideologues had even penned a few hundred page monograph ‘Worshipping False Gods’ in mid-nineties – which spew venom against Dr Ambedkar (http://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/falsifying-the-truth/203929) – an act for which he was suitably rewarded by them when they held reins of power at the centre for the first time, an act for which one is yet to see any apology or self-criticism from them.

3.

Everybody would agree that it is challenging task to encapsulate a great wo/man’s vision in a few words- who as a public figure has impacted not only her/his generation but future generations, initiated or channelised debates in the society, led struggles, mobilised people, wrote thousands of pages and left a legacy for all of us to carry forward ? And within a short timespan available before us it is next to impossible to look at Ambedkar’s complete journey or rather quest to usher into – what Prof Gopal Guru writes – ‘enlightened, inclusive India’ from a ‘bahishkrut’ India.
To save time one can focus more on the last decade of his life – the most tumultuous period in his as well as the newly independent nation’s life – to know the important concerns which bothered his mind and how he envisioned the future trajectory of the movement he led and how he tried to chart a roadmap for the nascent nation with due support/cooperation and at times resistance from leading stalwarts of his time.

It is true that such a focus would obviously rob us of an opportunity to look at the historic MahadSatyagrah – which we in Marathi call as ‘Mahad Kranti’ (1927) an important milestone in his political life, neither we will be able to look at the historic rally he organised against KhotPratha- a feudal practice – alongwith Communists, or his growing disillusionment with Hinduism witnessed after the unsuccessful Satyagrah for temple entry at ‘KalaramMandir, Nashik’ which continued for five years, the way he formed Independent Labour Party or how he told his followers (in his speech to Dalit Rail Workers) that they have to fight the twin enemies of ‘Capitalism’ and ‘Brahminism’ etc and many other milestones of his life.

4.

First of all what was his vision for independent India or how he looked at a future roadmap for India. Yes, he has been rightly called the Chief architect of the Constitution and it was his intervention/presence – definitely with due support from Nehru and others – that he could include important pro-people or pro-dispriviledged provisions into it but we cannot be under any illusion that it was only ‘his vision’ which triumphed ultimately. The making of constitution itself was marked by pressures and counterpressures – from believers of radical change to the status quoists – and what came out can at best could be called a compromise document between various contending forces, ideas. Dr Ambedkar’s separation between beginning of political democracy in India with the advent of one man one vote regime and the long hiatus he viewed for ushering into social democracy- regime of one man one value while dedicating constitution to the nation was in fact a reminder of the fact that the struggle is still not over.
At another place he similarly underlined the limitations of such a constitutional exercise in a backward society like ours
 

‘Indians today are governed by two ideologies. Their political ideal set in the preamble of the constitution affirms a life of liberty, equality and fraternity whereas their social ideal embedded in their religion denies it to them’
 

(As an aside let me mention here that I continue to have my reservations about Dr Ambedkar’s participation in the making of constitution. What would have been the course of history if he would have decided to remain outside and fought for inclusion of pro-people provisions? While one can marvel at the strategic move by Gandhi who insisted for his inclusion – despite his lifelong struggle against Congress – but why Dr Ambedkar felt compelled to take up the work.Of course, that is for another time to sort out. )
And if we are keen to know his ‘vision’ about a future India then it can be discerned in the less discussed monograph ‘States and Minorities : What are Their Rights and How to Secure them in the Constitution of Free India’ which was basically a ‘[m]emorandum on the Safeguards for the Scheduled Castes for being submitted to the Constituent Assembly on behalf of the Scheduled Castes Federation’ he led. (http://www.ambedkar.org/ambcd/10A.%20Statesand%20Minorities%20Preface.htm) The said monograph by the political organisation he led then does not limit itself to ‘safeguards’ but also talks of danger of majoritarianism, incompatibility of Hinduism with any change, and also suggests model of economic development which he himself describes as ‘state socialism’

5.

It would be quite enlightening for many of us how in the same monograph he envisaged that ‘state shall not recognise any religion as state religion’ and ‘guarantee to every citizen liberty of conscience’ but coming to the aspect of protection against economic exploitation declared that ‘key industries shall be owned and run by the state’ and even basic industries ‘shall be owned by the state and run by the state’. He was of the opinion that ‘agriculture shall be state industry ‘where – state shall divide the land acquired into farms of standard size, and farm shall be cultivated as a collective farm, in accordance with rules and directions by the government and ‘tenants shall share among themselves in the manner prescribed the produce of the farm left after the payment of charges properly leviable on the farm’

He further explains this clause in the following words:
 

‘The main purpose behind the clause is to put an obligation on the State to plan the economic life of the people on lines which would lead to highest point of productivity without closing every avenue to private enterprise, and also provide for the equitable distribution of wealth. The plan set out in the clause proposes State ownership in agriculture with a collectivised method of cultivation and a modified form of State Socialism in the field of industry.’..’State Socialism is essential for the rapid industrialisation of India. Private enterprise cannot do it and if it did it would produce those inequalities of wealth which private capitalism has produced in Europe and which should be a warning to Indians. Consolidation of Holdings and Tenancy legislation are worse than useless.’
 

Interestingly he does not propose that the idea of state socialism should be left to legislatures but by ‘law of the constitution.’
 

The plan has two special features. One is that it proposes State Socialism in important fields of economic life. The second special feature of the plan is that it does not leave the establishment of State Socialism to the will of the Legislature. It establishes State Socialism by the Law of the Constitution and thus makes it unalterable by any act of the Legislature and the Executive.’
 

6.

(Photo : Drafting Committee Members of the Indian Constitution)

In the same monograph he clearly differentiates between ‘Untouchables’ and ‘Hindus’.

Gone were the days when he felt that Hinduism would reform itself from within and also it had been more than a decade that he had declared at Yeola conference that he ‘may be born a Hindu but he will not die a Hindu’.

He is unequivocal about the ‘Hindu population which is hostile to them (untouchables)’ and emphasises that it is ‘not ashamed of committing any inequity or atrocity against them’. He is also not hopeful about their situation under Swaraj
 

what can Swaraj mean to the Untouchables ? It can only mean one thing, namely, that while today it is only the administration that is in the hands of the Hindus, under Swaraj the Legislature and Executive will also be in the hands of the Hindus, it goes without saying that such a Swaraj would aggravate the sufferings of the Untouchables. For, in addition to an hostile administration, there will be an indifferent Legislature and a callous Executive. The result will be that the administration unbridled in venom and in harshness, uncontrolled by the Legislature and the Executive, may pursue its policy of inequity towards the Untouchables without any curb. To put it differently, under Swaraj the Untouchables will have no way of escape from the destiny of degradation which Hindus and Hinduism have fixed for them…
 

He was very much aware about the dangers of majoritarianism implicit in the way Indian nationalism has developed which according to him
 

[h]as developed a new doctrine which may be called the Divine Right of the Majority to rule the minorities according to the wishes of the majority. Any claim for the sharing of power by the minority is called communalism while the monopolizing of the whole power by the majority is called Nationalism.
 

And to protect the rights of the minorities (remember he does not restrict himself with religious minorities here but also includes the ‘scheduled castes’ in his definition) he proposes a form of executive which could serve following purposes
 

(i) To prevent the majority from forming a Government without giving any opportunity to the minorities to have a say in the matter.
(ii) To prevent the majority from having exclusive control over-administration and thereby make the tyranny of the minority by the majority possible.
(iii) To prevent the inclusion by the Majority Party in the Executive representatives of the minorities who have no confidence of the minorities.
(iv) To provide a stable Executive necessary for good and efficient administration.
 

In fact, his fears vis-a-vis the majoriatarian impulses were evident in the political manifesto of the Scheduled Castes Federation itself— the political outfit which was set up by him in 1942 which rejected the RSS and Hindu Mahasabha as “reactionary” organizations.
 

“The Scheduled Castes Federation will not have any alliance with any reactionary party such as the Hindu Mahasabha or the RSS,”
(See Vol 10 of Dr BhimraoRamjiAmbedkarCharitragranth, a Marathi book by ChangdevBhavanraoKhairmode, or refer to http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2016/04/appropriating-ambedkar#sthash.b53dwFL4.dpuf)
 

And anyone who has looked at the making of Indian constitution would tell us why he considered them ‘reactionary’ parties. History is witness to the fact that they opposed its making and suggested in their organs that instead of a new constitution, the newly independent nation should adopt Manusmriti. A laughable suggestion right now but was seriously raised by its proponents.
 

“The worst [thing] about the new Constitution of Bharat, is that there is nothing Bharatiya about it… [T]here is no trace of ancient Bharatiya constitutional laws, institutions, nomenclature and phraseology in it”…“no mention of the unique constitutional developments in ancient Bharat. Manu’s laws were written long before Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day his laws as enunciated in the Manusmriti excite the admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous obedience and conformity [among Hindus in India]. But to our constitutional pundits that means nothing”.
(Excerpts of Editorial on Constitution, Organiser’ November 30, 1949, whose final draft had just been presented to the Constituent Assembly by Ambedkar.
 

In his monograph ‘Pakistan or Partition of India’ he reiterates his fears vis-a-vis the possible majoritarian turn at the hands of those who vouched for ‘Hindu Raj’
 

“If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country. No matter what the Hindus say, Hinduism is a menace to liberty, equality and fraternity. On that account it is incompatible with democracy. Hindu Raj must be prevented at any cost.”
– Ambedkar, Pakistan or Partition of India, p. 358
 

7.

( Photo : Ambedkar with Periyar, 1954 Rangoon, when they met at a Buddhist Confernece, http://www.frontline.in)

Much on the lines of lack of debate/discussion around ‘States and Minorities’ another important intervention during that period led by him has also received little attention. It was related to the struggle for Hindu Code Bill and happened to be the first attempt in independent India to reform Hindu personal laws to give greater rights to Hindu women. Attempt was to put a stamp on monogamy and also ensure separation rights to Women and also grant them rights in property. We know very well that it was a key reason that Ambedkar resigned from the Cabinet led by Nehru because he felt that despite lot of attempts not much headway could be made in granting these rights. In his resignation letter he underlined the importance he attached to the bill
 

“To leave inequality between class and class, between sex and sex, which is the soul of Hindu Society untouched and to go on passing legislation relating to economic problems is to make a farce of our Constitution and to build a palace on a dung heap. This is the significance I attached to the Hindu Code.” – (See more at: http://www.hardnewsmedia.com/2016/04/appropriating-ambedkar#sthash.b53dwFL4.dpuf)
 

It is now history how the Hindutva Right and the Conservative Sections within the Congress coupled with the Saffron robed Swamis and Sadhus had joined hands to oppose the enactment of Hindu Code Bill. In fact, this motley combination of reactionary, status quoist forces did not limit itself to issuing statements it opposed the bill on the streets and led large scale mobilisation at pan India level against the bill. There were occasions when they even tried to storm Dr Ambedkar’s residence in Delhi.

The main argument peddled against Ambedkar was that the bill was an attack on ‘Hindu Religion and Culture’ One can get an idea of the resistance to the bill listening to the intervention by AcharyaKriplani on the floor of the house. While supporting the bill he said
 

“I am afraid I do not see the point in Hindu religion being in danger, Hindu religion is not in danger when Hindus are thieves, rogues, black marketeers and bribe-takers. Hindu religion is not endangered by people who want to reform a particular law . May be, they are over zealous, but it is better to be over zealous in things idealistic than be corrupt in material things. “
.. AcharyaKripalani on the floor of the house while discussing Hindu Code Bill, (24 Dec 1949, Economic Weekly)
 

An excerpt from RamchandraGuha’s book gives an idea about the resistance to the bill.
 

“The anti-Hindu code bill committee held hundreds of meetings throughout India, where sundry swamis denounced the proposed legislation. The participants in this movement presented themselves as religious warriors (dharmaveer) fighting a religious war (dharmayudh). The RashtriyaSwayamsewakSangh threw its weight behind the agitation. On the 11th of December, 1949, the RSS organised a public meeting at the Ramlila grounds in Delhi, where speaker after speaker condemned the bill. One called it ‘an atom bomb on Hindu society’… The next day a group of RSS workers marched on the assembly buildings, shouting ‘Down with Hindu code bill’… The protesters burnt effigies of the prime minister and Dr Ambedkar, and then vandalised the car of Sheikh Abdullah.” (‘India after Gandhi’, Guha ; See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/bhagwats-ambedkar/#sthash.6ZNPVwHq.dpuf)
 

Shyama Prasad Mookerjee, founder of BJP’s predecessor, the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, had said the Bill would “shatter the magnificent structure of Hindu culture.”

In fact, like Mahatma Phule – whom he called the ‘Greatest Shudra’ and included him in the triumvirate of Buddha, Kabir whom he considered to be his teachers – the concern for women’s emancipation always existed in movement led by Ambedkar.

8.

( Photo : Conversion to Buddhism at Nagpur, courtesy :https://lordbuddhatv.wordpress.com)
 

I will accept and follow the teachings of Buddha. I will keep my people away from the different opinions of Hinyan and Mahayan, two religious orders. Our BouddhaDhamma is a new BouddhaDhamma, Navayan.
—Dr.BabasahebAmbedkar,Press interview on 13 October 1956 at Sham Hotel, Nagpur

An important development in the last decade of his life was his decision to embrace Buddhism with lakhs of followers. Apart from his deep fascination for Buddhism from younger days, his conversion to Buddhism had also to do with his contention that the ‘untouchables’ were in fact former Buddhists. He elaborates it in his book ‘The Untouchables: A Thesis on the Origin of Untouchability(1948). ( For details : https://kafila.org/2016/04/26/jayadeva-uyangoda-on-ambedkars-legacy/) Thus it could be also said to be return to ‘their’ original religion than a conversion. Interestingly one finds deep commonality between Dr Ambedkar and JyotheeThass, the great Tamil-Buddhist Scholar, who also maintained that ‘Untouchables’ were early Buddhists.
His ‘conversion’ to Buddhism was also renouncement of Hinduism which according to him had
 

‘[p]roved detrimental to progress and prosperity of my predecssors and which has regarded human beings as unequal and despicable’ ( See Pledge 19)
 

If one refers to the 22 pledges he administered to the followers on the occasion then one can broadly categorise them into four -complete rejection of Hindu gods (e.g. I will not accept Brahma,Vishnu and Mahesh as God and will not worship them) and their worship and the related rituals (I will not perform shraddhaPaksh or Pind Dana(Rituals to respect the dead), acceptance of the principles and teachings of Buddhism, declaration that ‘all human beings are equal’ and ‘no faith in divine incarnation’.

An important aspect of this ‘return’ or ‘conversion’ is the fact that it was also a reinterpretation of Buddhism which he described as Navayan – a new vehicle. Apart from a big monograph ‘Buddha and His Dhamma’ where he tries to revisit Buddha one can get a glimpse of his reading of Buddha and his teachings from the speech he delivered in Kathmandu, merely a fortnight before his death which was posthumously published as ‘Buddha Or Karl Marx.’ (http://www.ambedkar.org/ambcd/20.Buddha%20or%20Karl%20Marx.htm)

Summarising ‘The Creed of Buddhism’ he while underlining necessity of ‘religion for a free society’ says many things which would be rather unacceptable to a scholar or follower of religion where he seems to reject the ‘necessity of God’ as well as Shastrasand rituals . Like he says ‘Religion must relate to facts of life and not to theories and speculations about God, or Soul or Heaven or Earth’ ‘It is wrong to make God the centre of Religion.’, It is wrong to make salvation of the soul as the centre of Religion, It is wrong to make animal sacrifices to be the centre of religion; real Religion lives in the heart of man and not in the Shastras ; Man and morality must be the centre of religion. If not, Religion is a cruel superstition; It is not enough for Morality to be the ideal of life. Since there is no God it must become the law of life.’

Ambedkar differentiates himself from popular definitions of religion first by criticising the way religion(s) have tried to explain origin and end of world around and says that its ‘function is to to reconstruct the world and to make it happy’. And he further explores source of unhappiness and does not talk about ‘sins’ or ‘otherworldly affairs’ but says that ‘unhappiness in the world is due to conflict of interest and the only way to solve it is to follow the AshtangaMarga’ Further elaborating on ‘Creed of Buddhism’ he says that ‘private ownership of property brings power to one class and sorrow to another’ and ‘it is necessary for the good of Society that this sorrow be removed by removing its cause’ While religions the world over have remained the basis of ‘othering’ – which in extreme cases have resulted in big genocides also – Buddhism as perceived by Ambedkar ‘ All human beings are equal’ ‘Worth and not birth is the measure of man’.

While supporting ‘War for truth and justice’ and also emphasising that ‘Victor has duties towards the Vanquished’ in the last portion of his summary of creed of Buddhism’, he not only challenges monopoly of the few over learning (Every one has a right to learn. Learning is as necessary for man to live as food is) , he also discusses that ‘ Everything is subject to the law of causation’ and ‘nothing is final,; Nothing is infallible. Nothing is binding forever. Everything is subject to inquiry and examination’ ‘Nothing is permanent or sanatan. Everything is subject to change. Being is always becoming.’

9.

This speech – as the title shows – also throws light on his views about Marxism. Of course it is not for the first time that he had expressed his views on the theme. In his famous booklet ‘Annihilation of Caste’ he had already made it clear that while he appreciates goal of Marxism but is repelled by its Indian Practioners.

In this speech also he declares that ‘Buddha is not away from Marx’ if ‘for misery one reads exploitation’,

For him non-violence is not an issue of principle. ‘The Buddha was against violence. But he was also in favour of justice and where justice required he permitted the use of force. ‘ Ambedkar further writes that
 

‘Violence cannot be altogether dispensed with. Even in non-communist countries a murderer is hanged. Does not hanging amount to violence? Non-communist countries go to war with non-communist countries. Millions of people are killed. Is this no violence? If a murderer can be killed, because he has killed a citizen, if a soldier can be killed in war because he belongs to a hostile nation why cannot a property owner be killed if his ownership leads to misery for the rest of humanity? There is no reason to make an exception in favour of the property owner, why one should regard private property as sacrosanct.’
 

He also underlines that even ‘Buddha established Communism so far as the Sangh was concerned’
 

The Russians are proud of their Communism. But they forget that the wonder of all wonders is that the Buddha established Communism so far as the Sangh was concerned without dictatorship. It may be that it was a communism on a very small scale but it was communism without dictatorship a miracle which Lenin failed to do.
 

Of course he underlines that
 

‘The Buddha’s method was different. His method was to change the mind of man: to alter his disposition: so that whatever man does, he does it voluntarily without the use of force or compulsion.
 

Perhaps the last para in his speech he makes concluding remarks in this debate and seems to validate [what friend AnandTeltumbde calls] ‘his decision as confirming to Marxism, minus violence and dictatorship in the latter.’ (http://www.countercurrents.org/teltumbde160812.htm)
 

..It has been claimed that the Communist Dictatorship in Russia has wonderful achievements to its credit. There can be no denial of it. That is why I say that a Russian Dictatorship would be good for all backward countries. But this is no argument for permanent Dictatorship. …
We welcome the Russian Revolution because it aims to produce equality. But it cannot be too much emphasised that in producing equality society cannot afford to sacrifice fraternity or liberty. Equality will be of no value without fraternity or liberty. It seems that the three can coexist only if one follows the way of the Buddha. Communism can give one but not all.

10.

As I said in the beginning these are no ordinary times to discuss Dalit vision. We have before us an India where (to quote Prof AchinVanaik)
 

‘..[t]he centre of gravity has shifted perhaps decisively to the right, in three crucial spheres : economy, secularism and democracy.’
 

It is an India where the political dispensation at the centre is busy furthering the exclusivist/majoritarian worldview of HindutvaSupremacism coupled with the neoliberal agenda under the glib talk of development and concerted attack has been unleashed on (what Ambedkar defined as ) minorities of various kinds and other deprived sections.

What can be said to be the contours of Dalit Vision for our times then.

It will have to be necessarily for ensuring that’state shall not recognise any religion as state religion’ and ‘guarantee to every citizen liberty of conscience’, it has to be against ‘majoritarianism of every kind’ and specifically -to prevent majority from forming a Government without giving any opportunity to the minorities to have a say in the matter.- for women’s emancipation,, for State ownership in agriculture with a collectivised method of cultivation and a modified form of State Socialism in the field of industry, against inequalities of wealth which private capitalism produces, it will have to be necessarily for annihilation of caste as ‘The existence of the Caste System is a standing denial of the existence of ideals of society and therefore of democracy.’(Speech on the ‘Voice of America’ radio (20 th May 1956) It will be for reason and rationality and scientific temper and not for dumbing down of minds.

It does not need reminding that it will not be based on sanitisation or vulgarisation of Dr Ambedkar in any form as it is being experimented these days. While his appropriation by the Hindutva Right has been widely commented upon and exposed as their attempts to carve out a ‘suitable’ Ambedkar for their project based on exclusion and hatred, much needs to be done to expose his projection as a free market economist. (http://www.countercurrents.org/teltumbde110911.htm) Scholarly sounding pieces have appeared based on selective quotes from his vast corpus of writings to project him as a ‘Free Market Economist” [ http://blog.mises.org/16519/ambedkar-the-forgotten-free-market-economist/ ] or Capitalism is being valorised supposedly for annihilation of caste (Chandrabhan Prasad and MilindKamble, Manifesto to end caste : Push Capitalism and industrialisation to eradicate this pernicious system, Times of India, 23 rd January 2013). It is being argued by noted columnists and upcoming industrialists from the oppressed communities that
 

Capital is the surest means to fight caste. In dalit’s hands, capital becomes an anti-caste weapon; little wonder that the traditional caste code prohibits dalits from accumulating wealth. Dalit capitalism is the answer to that regime of discrimination. The manifesto demands promotion of dalit capitalism through a variety of means-procurement, credit options and partnerships.
 

An important point is Dalit Vision will have to be wary of ‘Hero worship’ or laying ‘liberties at the feet of a great man’ as it can culminate in ‘subverting of institutions’ in a Democracy as Ambedkar has warned us. In fact he had this to say while dedicating Constitution to the nation.
 

“This caution is far more necessary in the case of India than in the case of any other country. For in India, Bhakti or what may be called the path of devotion or hero-worship, plays a part in its politics unequalled in magnitude by the part it plays in the politics of any other country in the world. Bhakti in religion may be a road to the salvation of the soul. But in politics, Bhakti or hero-worship is a sure road to degradation and to eventual dictatorship.”
 

Everybody can see that this caution has contemporary import. It was only few months back that a responsible minister of the ruling dispensation told us that honourable PM was “God’s gift to India’

While Bhakts can rejoice about this unique gift to India every sensible person would agree that if this trend is allowed to continue then it is a ‘sure road to degradation and eventual dictatorship.’

(Draft of Presentation made at a Discussion on ‘ Dalit Vision : Beyond Rhetoric, decorative politicos, Brahminical hegemony and Maharashtra’ 1 st May 2016, organised by India International Centre, Maharashtra SanskritikaniRannanitiAdhyaynSamiti and Working Group on Alternative Strategies. A revised version of the writeup has appeared in IICquarterly)

Courtesy: kafila.online
 

The post For A New Rendezvous With Dr Ambedkar – Focus on Last Decade of his Life appeared first on SabrangIndia.

(Photo Courtesy : The Hindu)

Big news – at times – go completely unnoticed.

(Thanks to the mediatised times we are passing through)

And thus it did not appear surprising that the decision by Posco, the South Korean steelmaker, the fourth biggest in the world, to exit the proposed 12 million-tonnes a year steel plant in Odisha did not cause much flutter. Yes, newspapers duly reported POSCO India’s ‘request to the Odisha government to take back the land provided to it near Paradip’ where it was supposed to invest 52,000 crore Rs.’ The letter stated company’s ‘failure to start work on the proposed plant’.

Perhaps none from the media wanted to showcase a negative example which is at variance with the efforts by the powers that be to project the idea of ‘ease of doing business’ here. Undoubtedly at a time when the government is keen to attract foreign capital and inducing it in very many ways, the way in which a Corporate Major – supposed to be one of the leading in the steel sector – had to exit from its project can easily shake their confidence about investing here. Or was it to cover up the fact that over the years how the South Korean Steel Major had dealt a heavy blow to the local environment by felling down more than eight lakh trees at the project site and residents are demanding accountability and compensation over such large scale environmental destruction.  What is more disturbing has been the fact that while the Union Environment Ministry never gave permission to cut the trees the MNC with due help from the local administration and law and order machinery went ahead with it. A case has been filed before the National Green Tribunal about this issue. (http://www.orissapost.com/residents-demand-compensation-for-rampant-tree-felling-by-posco/)
Question arises why did POSCO decide to quit despite receiving continued support from the central as well as the state government? Remember the company had been handed over 1,700 acres of land by the Odisha state for the project and around 1,000 acres of land was still lying with the state which it had acquired for the project. In fact, the Odisha government went ahead with the forcible land acquisition for the steel plant despite the fact that POSCO did not have an environmental clearance for the project. And also the environmental clearance given by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) on January 31, 2011 had also been suspended by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on 30 March 2012.

Whether it had a ‘change of heart’ about concerns expressed by local people – who were leading and continuing with the struggle which was billed as one of the ‘largest social movements in recent times’ – about the devastation it had brought out in the lives of the people or the company decided to become ‘green’ and decided to discontinue the project.

Definitely not.

Capital or capitalists never get moved by such humanitarian concerns ( which are exhibited by lesser mortals like us). Soul of capital or capitalists rest in profit only. It is the sole criterion for it to make decisions. (As an aside if capital/capitalist would have been really ‘moved’ by human misery neither we would have seen giant armament factories manufacturing weapons of death or and human trafficking becoming ‘lucrative’ business or crores of children slogging out on peanuts).

It is now history how the proposed project witnessed resistance by masses since its inception- which was spontaneous first and which later coalesced into formation of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti – since the state government signed an MOU with POSCO in June 2005 to set up a steel plant on 4,004 acres of land in Kujang at a plan outlay of `54,000 crore. The project was then claimed as the ‘largest investment by any multinational in the country.’

The mass movement which compelled the company to scrap its project altogether – wherein people showed exemplary courage, determination and creativity was led by activists of CPI (Communist Party  of India) and other progressive formations – had to face brutal repression at the hands of the goons of the management which were in connivance with the police and administration. A statement issued by Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (http://icrindia.co.in/mydirectory/2017/03/24/update-from-posco-pratirodh-sangram-samiti-ppss/) hailing the victory tells how four persons associated with the movement were martyred during the struggle and scores have been injured, how ‘several leaders of the movement have been jailed multiple times’ and how ‘more than 2000 warrants have been issued against the people and more than 400 false cases both men and women have been registered at the Kujang police station since 2005.’

Excerpt of a memorandum submitted by various organisations and individuals who had organised a protest in Delhi against killing of anti-Posco activists and forcible land grabbing makes it clear the intensity of violence perpetrated by the corporate–police-goonda nexus in the region to suppress the voice of the people. It said :
 

On 2nd March, hired musclemen of POSCO with the full complicity of Odisha Police threw bombs at anti-POSCO activists in Patana village, in which 4 activists were killed and several others were seriously injured. Out of the 4, 3 were killed as a direct consequence of the police’s refusal to arrive at the spot for 15 hours after the bombing, or arrange for an ambulance to take the injured to a hospital. ..(http://nsi-delhi.blogspot.in/2013/03/protest-held-in-new-delhi-against_10.html)
 

And it cannot be denied the support garnered by the movement outside the affected area also proved helpful in reaching out to a large cross section of people and create a favourable public opinion. (http://nsi-delhi.blogspot.in/2013/02/demonstration-outside-indian-embassy.html)

It is noteworthy that the victory achieved by the united struggle of peasants, fisherfolks, forest dwellers to protect their land, livelihood and environment is breath of fresh air for all fighting forces in this part of the world where one finds a strange co-existence of Corporate Interests and Religion centred exclusivist politics..

But while celebrating this victory we should also bear in mind that while Posco has quit the project the issue of land acquired and transferred to Posco still remains. Odisha’s Industry minister has told the assembly that the land will be kept in a land bank and plans are being made to fence the land. As rightly pointed out by Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samity it is “illegal, undemocratic, anti-peasants, and unwarranted” and the state government “must follow the Supreme Court decision on the pattern of Singur where land of farmers acquired by Tata’s Nano plant in West Bengal was returned to them.” (http://icrindia.co.in/mydirectory/2017/03/24/update-from-posco-pratirodh-sangram-samiti-ppss/)

Another important issue is related to chopping down of thousands of tress – like mangroves, cashew nut, betel vines, fruit bearing trees – in the project area and adjoining villages. These trees had played a key role in 1999 Super Cyclone when because of the vast green cover and sand dunes, while thousands of people from nearby villages perished, people in this area remained unaffected. Now with the cutting of trees, these villages have also become vulnerable to cyclones. While substituting the natural forest looks impossible, what the government can easily do is pay compensation to these concerned villagers who remained dependent on these trees. and initiate a campaign to plant eco-friendly trees in the region.  One can be sure that people of Jagatsinghpur and adjoining areas who humbled a big corporate major with their collective efforts can as well compel the government to concede to their demands.

As rightly said by legendary revolutionary Che Guevara, people united are always victorious.

This article was first published on kafila.online
 
 

The post Victory of Anti-Posco Struggle appeared first on SabrangIndia.

(Photo courtesy : livehindustan.com, From left to right – Golwalkar, Deendayal Upadhyay and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Photo taken in Mathura during Goraksha/Cow Protection movement, 1965)

“Deendayal Upadhyaya is to the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] what Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was to Congress” opined R Balashankar, former editor of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh’s (RSS) organ Organiser and now a member of the BJP’s central committee, on Prasikhshan Maha Abhiyan.
(The Indian Express,; September 24, 2016).

Cows inhale, exhale oxygen, says Rajasthan education minister Vasudev Devnani
(The Times of India)

Rajaram (name changed) principal of a school near Jaipur, Rajasthan is a worried man.

An honest teacher all his life, is not able to comprehend the rationale behind the recent order by the state education ministry asking every secondary and senior secondary school to purchase collected works of Deendayal Upadhyay.

Not only that he has never heard this name before but does not know how funds can be managed for the same. The school does not have a proper library till date. The budgetary situation of the school is such that despite repeated demands by the girl students the sole toilet in the school still remains unrepaired.

The circular sent by the state government on February 27 has asked all secondary and senior secondary schools to buy the compendium of essays and speeches titled ‘Deendayal Upadhyay Sampoorna Vangmay‘ – which has been published by a Delhi publisher in 15 volumes at a concessional rate of Rs 4,000. Schools are asked to draw from the school development fund – meant to be utilised for local needs – to make the purchase. The compendium has been edited by Mahesh Chandra Sharma – former state BJP president – which was released by PM Modi in October last year.

Where can one keep all these 15 volumes and how can their purchase benefit ordinary students – who lack good quality text books – he asks himself but does not get satisfactory answer.

Definitely, as principal of a secondary school Rajaram is not alone who finds himself in such a quandary. There are scores like him spread across the state who have similar questions before them . It need be added that this is not for the first time that state government has ordered/instructed schools to order a particular book which is not at all related to their course. It was only last year that Rajasthan government was in the news when it was reported that a biography of RSS founder-member Dr Hedgewar – written by Rakesh Sinha – should be purchased by every government school.

Directions for purchase of Hedgewar’s biography earlier and instructions now to buy collected works of another RSS ideologue, it is becoming increasingly clear that the state education ministry is not concerned about the growing criticism of the status of education in state but more keen to push what Congress has called ‘saffron agenda’ in schools.

Close on the heels of the order to schools to buy Deendayal’s works came another news – credited to the education minister himself that he has changed the name of Akbar Fort in Ajmer to Ajmer fort. His alleged remarks about Emperor Akbar also created controversy.

 Rajasthan Education Minister Vasudev Devnani Saturday indicated that the emperor Akbar may have been a terrorist. Devnani made the reference while responding to the alleged threat he received for changing the name of Akbar fort to Ajmer fort. He later denied that he called Akbar a terrorist, and had called him an invader.
 

And the biggest problem with all such orders and the debate or the controversy they generate is that the status of education in the state never gets discussed which suffers not only from lack of sufficient funds, good quality teachers and satisfactory infrastructural facilities in all schools but is also inundated with textbooks which as an expert committee said suffer from ‘limitations of content’ and implicit biases.

It was only last year that a website had provided details about ‘what is wrong with Rajasthan education’ through four charts. The story published exactly a year ago had described the education minister’s zeal to introduce “major changes” in the curriculum to “inculcate the feeling of patriotism in students”, ‘circumventing Right to Education law by scrapping “no-detention” policy that is believed to help keep students motivated to complete their education’ and his lack of concern “to remedy the falling standards of education in Rajasthan.”  According to the report,

“Only about 45% of students of Class 3 in the state could actually read words while 20% of those in Class 2 were unable to recognise letters, according to the latest Annual Status of Education Report published in 2014.” and over the years the reading and comprehension ability of primary students has actually decreased.

Quoting the survey report the write-up had also talked about ‘deteriorating learning outcomes’ in the state and compared it with nationwide figures and how “more than 80% of the students in Class 3 across the country were able to recognise words as opposed to Rajasthan’s tally of 55% in 2014.” The state’s record in keeping children enrolled had also come under scanner. According to it,

” A 2013 study carried out across 21 cities at the behest of the Ministry of Human Resources Development found out that school leaving rates in the state are almost double the national average in some cases.”

Around two years back the state government’s move for Public Private Partnership (PPP) in School Education had also come under scanner from members of civil society and educationists. The open letter issued by them had not only exposed status of education in the state and questioned the way government wanted to ameliorate the situation. It pointed out ‘extremely low levels of investment in the public education system in the state and expenditure made by the state government in elementary level of education which was above 3% of Gross State Domestic Product and per-student expenditure by the government was much less in Rajasthan than in other states’ and how the state ‘has the highest number (in absolute numbers) of out-of-school-children in India and ranks 4th among the Indian states with respect to child labour, how as per the recent Socio Economic and Caste Census, 2011, Rajasthan has the highest number of illiterates in the country and how its transition rate in secondary education is likewise below the national average.  This move to go in for PPP in education was later rescinded by the government when it faced resistance from more than 3.5 lakh teachers and also it feared a political backlash.

While the state suffers from double ‘school leaving rate than the national average’, ‘low levels of investment in education’, ‘highest number of out of school children’ it had no qualms in closing down thousands of government schools in rural areas since last more than two years under the name of rationalisation and curbing of ‘under utilisation of resources’. It did not take into consideration the possibility that with increase of distance between home and school the poorer among them will not be able to bear the cost of commuting and will have to drop out.

As an aside it may be mentioned here that the Centre advised states to “follow the Rajasthan model of “merging” government schools with low enrolment” and the Union human resource development ministry has even decided to prepare guidelines for such mergers.

The content of textbooks of Rajasthan state board has also been a cause of concern among academicians. 

A team of academicians which reviewed the revised textbooks had even decided to file a public interest litigation in the Rajasthan High Court looking at the inherent flaws and limitations of content from a pedagogical point of view. Apart from questioning the hurried manner in which these textbooks were prepared in mere 45 days they also questioned the surreptitious manner in which content was saffronised and the way marginalised communities remain unrepresented.

For example, the study material refers to Indus Valley Civilization as Sindhu Ghati Culture, calls Aryans the native of India, hails Varna Pratha as a good practice and striking as wrong or demonstrates its bias towards minority communities openly.

In such a milieu where Jawaharlal Nehru hardly finds mention or Nizamuddin Auliya is described as a great saint ‘despite being a Muslim’ it does not appear surprising that Deendayal Upadhyaya is being introduced before the impressionable minds with a bang.

Born in the year 1916 (death Feb 1968) Deendayal Upadhyay started his social-political life as an RSS Pracharak under the direct guidance of MS Golwalkar, second supremo of RSS. He joined RSS in his early 20s and decided to become a Pracharak (full time worker) in the year 1942. Although it was a period of tremendous ferment in Indian society – where anti colonial struggle against the Britishers was at its peak and people were going to jail or facing batons, bullets – he like all the fellow Swayamsevaks/Pracharaks kept himself aloof from them and concentrated on organisation building. As a loyal soldier of the organisation he was just following the line set by Sangh Supremo Golwalkar as he had famously said :

“In 1942 also there was a strong sentiment in the hearts of many. At that time too the routine work of Sangh continued. Sangh vowed not to do anything directly. However, upheaval (uthal-puthal) in the minds of Sangh volunteers continued. Sangh is an organisation of inactive persons, their talks are useless, not only outsiders but also many of our volunteers did talk like this. They were greatly disgusted too.”[MS Golwalkar, Shri Guruji Samagra Darshan (Collected Works of Golwalkar in Hindi), vol. IV, Bhartiya Vichar Sadhna, Nagpur, nd, 40]

Remember the contemporary reports of the British intelligence agencies on the Quit India Movement were straight forward in describing the fact that RSS kept aloof from the movement. According to one such report,

 “..the Sangh has scrupulously kept itself within the law, and in particular, has refrained from taking part in the disturbances that broke out in August 1942”.[Andersen, Walter K & Damle, Shridhar D.The Brotherhood in Saffron: the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu Revivalism, Westview Press, 1987, 44.

Deendayal Upadhyay is credited with starting a monthly Rashtra Dharma from Lucknow in the 1940s for spreading the ideology of Hindutva nationalism. Later he started a weekly Panchjanya and a daily Swadesh. He later became one of the most important leaders – its  theoretician and ideologue as well – of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the forerunner of the present day Bharatiya Janata Party. The Jana Sangh adopted “Integral Humanism” as its “guiding ideology” in 1965 which was also adopted by the BJP in 1980. His death at Mugharsarai station still remains a mystery with one of his colleagues (Balraj Madhok) in his autobiography even pointing fingers towards few key leaders of the Parivar itself.

 “He was killed by a hired assassin. But conspirators who sponsored this killing were those self-seekers and leaders with criminal bent of mind of Sangh-Jan Sangh”
[Balraj Madhok, Zindagi Ka Safar—3: Deen Dayal Upadhyay Ki Hatya Se Indira Gandhi Ki Hatya Tak, Dinman Prakashan, Delhi, 22, 23.]

A cursory glance at some of his speeches and writings gives one an idea about his thinking. He was of the firm opinion that “the solution of the world’s problems lies in Hinduism and not in socialism”. For him Hindus only form the nation,

“Hindutva alone is the basis of nationalism in Bharat […] It is altogether wrong for the Hindus to prove their nationhood by European standards. It has been accepted as axiomatic for thousands of years.”[ibid., 27.]

and Muslims were a ‘complex problem’:

“after independence many important problems had to be faced by the government, the political parties and the people… But the Muslim problem is the oldest, the most complicated and it assumes ever-new forms. This problem has been facing us for the last twelve hundred years.”[[v] BN Jog, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya: Ideology & Perception-Politics for Nation’s Sake, vol. vi, Suruchi Prakashan, Delhi, 73.]

Anybody can see that the manner in which Deendayal Upadhaya looks at Muslims as a ‘problem’ has deep resonance with the worldview of Golwalkar – the second Supremo of RSS who has described Muslims as 'Internal Threat no 1' in his book, Bunch of Thoughts or his ideas about freedom struggle, or Hindus as basis of nationhood are no different from Golwalkar’s worldview.

It followed that he disliked, rather abhorred, the idea of secularism. In an RSS meeting in Aligarh, Upadhyaya said:

“By declaring Bharat as a secular nation, the soul of Bharat has been attacked. A secular state is full of woes [sic]. Although Ravana’s dharmaless state of Lanka had plenty of gold, it had no Rama Rajya (state) in it.”

In one of his articles he said:

“If we aspire for unity, we must really understand Bharatiya Nationalism, which is Hindu Nationalism, and Bharatiya Culture is Hindu culture.”

For him the Constitution had to be changed radically as,

“It runs counter to the unity and indivisibility of Bharat. There is no recognition of the idea of Bharat Mata, our sacred mother land, as enshrined in the hearts of our people. According to the first para of the Constitution, India, that is Bharat, will be a federation of States, i.e. Bihar Mata, Banga Mata, Punjab Mata, Kannada Mata, Tamil Mata, all put together make Bharat Mata. This is ridiculous. We have thought of the provinces as limbs of Bharat Mata and not as individual mothers. Therefore our Constitution should be unitary instead of federal. [The] Jana Sangh believes that Bharatiya culture like Bharatvarsh is one and indivisible. Any talk of composite culture, therefore, is not only untrue but also dangerous, for it tends to weaken national unity and encourages fissiparous tendencies” (Jana Sangh’s Principles and Policies, January 25, 1965, page 16).

Or he defended casteism in no uncertain terms,

“Even though slogans of equality are raised in the modern world, the concept of equality has to be accepted with discretion. Our actual experience is that from the practical and material point of view, no two men are alike… Considerable bitterness could be avoided if the idea of equality as conceived by Hindu thinkers is studied more carefully. The first and basic premise is that even if men have different qualities and different kinds of duties allotted to them according to their qualities or aptitudes, all duties are equally dignified. This is called swadharma, and there is an unequivocal assurance that to follow swadharma is itself equivalent to the worship of God. So, in any duties performed to fulfill swadharma, the question of high and low, dignified and undignified does not arise at all. If the duty is done without selfishness, no blame attaches itself to the doer.” [CP Bhishikar, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya: Ideology and Perception: Concept of the Rashtra,vol. v, Suruchi, Delhi, 169.]

Unpacking Deendayal Upadhyaya’s much talked about ideas of 'Integral Humanism', Christophe Jafferlot discusses fascination of the Hindutva idelogues towards Varna vyavastha for whom it was ‘a model of social cohesion to which each caste could adhere, including the ‘untouchables’. Jafferlot adds:

“Upadhyaya shared similar beliefs. The organic unity of the varna vyavastha is one of the key ideas of his philosophy of ‘integral humanism’, referred to as the cornerstone of their ideology by Sangh Parivar leaders. In 1965, he wrote: ‘In our concept of four castes, they are analogous to the different limbs of Virat-Purusha, the primeval man whose sacrifice, according to the Rig Veda, gave birth to society in the form of the varna vyavastha.’ For him, the varna vyavastha was endowed with the organic unity that could sustain the nation-making process.
 

Or he denigrated the freedom struggle in these words:

“We were obsessed by the misleading notion that freedom consisted merely in overthrowing foreign rule. Opposition to a foreign government does not necessarily imply genuine love of Motherland… During the struggle for independence great emphasis was laid on the opposition to British rule… It came to be believed that whoever opposed the British was a patriot. A regular campaign was launched in those days to create utter dissatisfaction against the British by holding them responsible for every problem and misery which the people in our country had to face.”[Ibid., 11.]

His euologisation in the Sangh-BJP camp is understandable as he stuck to ‘Golwalkar’s organicist thought’ but also ‘supplemented it with Gandhian discourse’.The Danish scholar Thomas Blom Hansen records:

“Deendayal Upadhyaya… developed a set of concepts that, under the name of ‘Integral Humanism’, was adopted by the Jana Sangh in 1965 as its official doctrine. Integral humanism did not depart much from Golwalkar’s organicist thought but supplemented it by appropriating significant elements of the Gandhian discourse and articulated these in a version of Hindu nationalism that aimed at erasing the communal image of the Jana Sangh in favour of a softer, spiritual, non-aggressive image stressing social equality, ‘Indianisation’ and social harmony. This creation of a new discourse suited specifically to the legitimate problematics and dominant discourses of the political field of the 1960s and 1970s in India also reflected an attempt to adjust the party and the larger Hindu nationalist movement to a new high profile on the right fringe of the political mainstream, with a considerable following in the urban middle classes in north India after the 1967 general elections. One of the most significant changes in relation to Golwalkar’s writings was the use of the term ‘Bharatiya’, which Richard Fox has aptly translated ‘Hindian’, a mixture of ‘Hindu’ and ‘Indian’” (The Saffron Wave: Democracy and Hindu Nationalism in Modern India, Oxford University Press, pages 84-85).

Pralay Kanungo, a Delhi Academic, expresses similar ideas :

““Deendayal Upadhyaya supplements Golwalkar’s cultural nationalism with his theory of integral humanism (Ekatma Manavavad). This new theory adds some sophistication to the RSS concept of Hindu Rashtra and enriches its ideological underpinnings” (RSS’ Tryst with Politics; Manohar, page 118).

A year and half ago a special issue of Rashtra Dharma a journal which was started by Deendayal Upadhyay – former PM Atal Bihari Vajpyaee had also served as its joint editor once – was released by  Union Minister Kalraj Mishra in Lucknow. This special issue of the monthly carried articles about him and his views.

An article in the magazine written by Dr Mahesh Chandra Sharma, who has edited the 15 volume compendium of Deendayal Upadhyay’s works caught eyeballs as it clearly said that Sangh ideologue Deendayal Upadhyaya was against ‘Hindu-Muslim unity’ and believed that issue of ‘unity’ was ‘irrelevant’ and appeasement of the Muslims was the problem. It also claimed that Upadhyaya said that “a person turns an enemy of the nation after becoming a Muslim”. According to the article, Upadhyaya also believed that while a Muslim may be good individually, he in “bad in a group”, and further a Hindu – who may be bad individually — is “good as part of a group”. According to the author, Upadhyaya called those advocating Hindu-Muslim unity as Muslimparast and opposed such ‘unity’ policy of the Congress. 

“If the nation’s control is in the hands of those who belong to India but are not different from Qutubuddin, Allauddin, Muhammad Tughlaq, Firoz Shah Tughlaq, Shershah, Akbar and Auarangzeb, then it should be said that centre of their affection isn’t the Indian life,” it read. (do)

As we write these lines one can very well surmise that there would be many schools in Rajasthan who would be busy implementing the latest circular mentioned above by the education ministry or few might have put their orders for the delivery of the compendium from the Delhi publisher.

And principal Rajaram’s (name changed) query about the proposed purchase that how can it benefit ordinary students – who even lack good quality text books, must have remained unanswered still.

References :
1. Merchant of Hate – A G. Noorani, Frontline, Nov 11, 2016 ; http://www.frontline.in/the-nation/merchant-of-hate/article9266366.ece
2.  http://www.countercurrents.org/2016/09/29/resurrecting-pandit-deendayal-upadhyay-who-died-a-mysterious-death-for-shudhi-of-indian-muslims/

This article was also published on Kafila.
 

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…My birth is my fatal accident. I can never recover from my childhood loneliness. The unappreciated child from my past.

(Excerpts from Rohith Vemula’s suicide note)

The middle of this month would witness a different type of Yatra on the streets of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. It would neither be led by high profile leaders – who have the aura of Z plus security with them – nor would it be undertaken in an ultramodern bus – fitted with latest facilities and which could even be used as podium for a public meeting.

It would be taken out on a blue pickup truck renamed Bhim Auto and would be led by a 50-year-old woman Radhika Vemula  along with her son Raja demanding justice for her elder son Rohith.
 
During this yatra Radhika intends to visit one Velivada ( Dalit hamlet) after other in the two states to tell people how castiest forces are hell bent upon denying dalits their due rights and how justice is still being denied to her son who committed suicide because of the machinations of such people. (http://nsi-delhi.blogspot.in/search/?q=rohith+vemula).
 
She would also communicate to them that the ruling dispensation at the Centre led by BJP but the and the state governments in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have been callous towards the plight of the Dalits and have joined hands to deny justice to her son. Not so long ago the government of Andhra Pradesh had made outrageous statements about Rohith not being a Dalit and earlier in February had demanded that Radhika 'prove' that she is Dalit in 15 days.

Speaking at a rally in Bengaluru Radhika Vemula announced her plan in detail. 
 
“On March 14, Raja (her other son) and I will start the Dalit Swabhiman Rath Yatra. We will travel across Telangana and Andhra for a month and conclude it on Ambedkar Jayanti (April 14). We will try and cover every Dalitwada (Dalit settlement) in these two states.” She also exhorted the audience "[t]o revisit what Rohith use to say the radical Ambedkar for 'liberation of dalits.'
(http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/rohith-vemula-s-mother-announces-dalit-rath-yatra-in-telangana-andhra/story-9uKlANIBSDUVovfS66U67N.html)

She plans to raise two key demands through this awakening programme: 
– Sacking of Hyderabad University vice chancellor & his prosecution under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. 
– Passage of 'Rohith Act' aimed at stopping discrimination in educational institutions.  

Today Radhika Vemula might have become a household name for her uncompromising struggle to render justice to her deceased son but a year and two months back not very many people – barring those from her own village and surroundings – had even heard her name. The mass upsurge which erupted immediately after Rohith's death, demanding justice to him and the manner in which she joined the ongoing struggle, has helped her emerge as a symbol of resistance against the dispensation at the Centre.
 
And she has not kept her concerns confined to her deceased son only. She was there when thousands of Dalits and other anti-caste forces and democratic formations gathered in Una, Gujarat on 15^th August (2016) to demand 'land to dalits. She joined Fatima Naseem, mother of JNU student Najeeb Ahmed whose sudden disappearance – after a scuffle with the members of ABVP on the JNU campus – has become a cause of concern.

It has been more than a year that Rohith ended his life but there have been no concrete steps to ensure justice to him. We know how this activist of Ambedkar Students Association – who had started his political journey with a left student group – had decided to take the extreme step, how a biased administration with due connivance of a rightwing student formation and support from representatives of the central government continued to play havoc with the lives of dalit students, how it expelled them from hostels, how it stopped their scholarships, how it was instrumental in compelling them to live on 'Velivada' of a different kind on the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) campus.  

Podile Apparao, the controversial vice chancellor of the university, who had to leave office temporarily in the immediate aftermath of the movement, has since resumed duties. And an all-out attempt is being made to silence all dissenting voices on the campus.
 
The authorities are so keen to mute all such oppositional voices that they did not even allow a rally of students, youth led by Radhika Vemula to enter the university campus and pay their homage to Rohith on his first death anniversary. (17^th January 2017). All those students and concerned citizens were arrested at the gates of Hyderabad Central University itself. Perhaps authorities feared that if they are allowed to get in it might well rekindle the mass uprising which was had rocked the campus last year.
 
While justice still seems to elude Rohith, the only saving grace is that bowing to tremendous public pressure put up by the mass movement of student and youth, cases have been filed under strict provisions of the SC-ST Act, 1989 against all those who allegedly had a role in the whole episode. We are told that Podile Apparao and two central ministers do find mention in the FIR filed in the particular case. It is a different matter that things have stood still since then. And there has been no action against them.

What has further added urgency to the whole case is the planned manner in which attempts are on even today to deny Rohith his identity as a Dalit and portray him as basically a cheat and fraud and not a radical activist.(http://www.epw.in/journal/2017/9/margin-speak/robbing-rohith-his-dalitness.html). The logic is simple: Deny dalithood to Rohith, and thus dilute the case filed against all those people who find mention in the concerned FIR.
The authorities have tried every trick in their kitty to deny him his identity and instead portray him as a member of the backward Vaddera caste – to which his father – who had deserted his mother long ago belonged. The latest in the case is the manner in which it was declared that Raja – Rohith's younger brother – has submitted false certificate to prove that he was a Dalit.

It is clear that the powers that be have deliberately glossed over the historic judgement by a two member Supreme Court bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai which deliberated on the caste of the offspring in an inter-caste marriage where the mother happens to belong to one of the scheduled castes. It had clearly opined: “The determination of the caste of such a child was essentially a ‘question of fact’ to be decided on the basis of evidence in each case.” The child can claim the mother’s caste if he or she is brought up by the mother as an SC or ST 

In a marriage between a tribal woman and a forward caste man, the offspring will get tribal status if the child is brought up in the mother's environment and will be entitled to reservation, the Supreme Court has held.
 
Though earlier judgments of this court said that “in an inter-caste marriage between a tribal woman and a non-tribal, the woman must in all cases take her caste from the husband,” these were not binding precedents, said a Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Desai.

Writing the judgment, Justice Alam said: “To hold that the offspring of such a marriage would in all cases get his/her caste from the father is bound to give rise to serious problem
(http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/intercaste-child-can-get-st-status-if-raised-in-mothers-tribal-environs/article2821924.ece)
 
Perhaps the matter should have ended at that but it still simmers, thanks to their machinations.

The authorities are not even bothered about how Rohith self identified himself as a Dalit in his last video (http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/i-am-a-dalit-says-rohith-vemula-video-before-suicide-3088768/) The video was released by his comrades since many questions were being raised about his caste.In the video Rohith Vemula clearly says: 

“My name is Rohith Vemula. I am a Dalit from Guntur. Jai Bheem to all. I am a student of UoH since 2010. I am doing PhD in the social science department. The university has decided to suspend five Dalit students and they have expelled us from the hostel premises. They have said that the notice that we were served says that our presence in public places, hostel premises and administration building can be treated as criminal acts. I am the son of a daily wage labourer and my mother raised me.’’ 

The mischievous manner in which retired Justice Roopanwal Commission – which was formed to look into the case – declared that Rohith was not a dalit clearly transgressing its brief was also evident. In fact the one man commission had been assigned to two specific tasks via a proper notification: 

– Examining the circumstances and facts, which led to the death of PhD Scholar Rohith Vemula and bringing the perpetrator, if any, to task.
– To review the functioning of the grievance committee and suggest measures for its improvement.

A cursory glance at the 12 pages of the judgement report of the committee makes it clear that four of its pages were devoted to declare the caste of Rohith Vemula and this despite the fact that it was not even asked to give an opinion about his caste nor the judge was the competent authority to do so. Retired justice clearly glossed over the fact that Guntur district collector Kantilal Dande, had already communicated to the National Commission on Scheduled Castes that Rohith was a dalit. Based on the inputs by the district collector and all related documents the National Commision on Scheduled Castes had also clearly declared that Rohith was a dalit. P L Punia, its then chairman had even demanded strict action nder SC-ST ( Prevention of Atrocities) Act against all those who compelled Rohith to end his life.

The powers that be did not want to take any chances.

Perhaps looking at the growing controversy around the determination of Rohith's caste and their dubious role to deny Rohith his due they planned another move. One Darsanpu Srinivas, who himself is a dalit but belongs to some Hindu organisation was asked to file a complaint to the Guntur collector regarding Raja Vemula. Darsanpu approached the Guntur collector with the complaint that Raja has obtained his caste certificate by fraudulent means. It is difficult to understand why the same collector who had already confirmed Rohith's caste sent the complaint to the Caste Scrutiny Committee of the district for verification. And this district level committee came out with a report that Raja was not a dalit. 

Anybody can gather that the stakes are really high for the dispensation at the centre. Imagine one fine morning they have a change of heart and they decide to admit the dalithood of Rohith Vemula then what would happen. Under the strict provisions of the SC-ST Prevention of Atrocities act, actions will have to be initiated against all those people – which includes central ministers also – against whom FIR has been filed.
And this possibility looks remote.

Taking into consideration all the aspects of the particular case the powers that be seems to have resolved that Rohith's dalithood can wait for few more years.
On further probing one understands that it is not merely a question of Rohith alone and the manner in which this whole episode has exposed the anti-Dalit content of the Hindutva worldview. There are instances after instances where this facet of their politics has come to the fore again and again. Ranging from the banning of a student group Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle to the (http://nsi-delhi.blogspot.in/search/?q=ambedkar+periyar+study+circle) to the demolition of Ambedkar Bhavan (http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/mumbais-ambedkar-bhavan-demolition-from-left-to-right-leaders-join-protest-2924596/) to the way they tried to hush up the rape and murder of a dalit girl Delta Meghwal (https://sabrangindia.in/article/real-story-behind-rape-and-killing-dalit-girl-student-delta-meghwal) or the planned manner in which they tried to axe the admission policy of JNU which had made easier entry rule for deprived students. (https://www.telegraphindia.com/11a70102/jsp/nation/story_128075.jsp#.WL-HlG997IU), a random selection of news clippings makes it evident whatever might be there pretensions they Manuvadi to the core.

It was not for nothing that they decided to raise the whole bogey of 'nationalism' focussing themselves on JNU with a pliant media – ready with doctored videos – even to further their agenda just when the movement around justice for Rohith was at its peak. Remember, it was a time when the government had been put on the defensive because of the large scale churning among student youth as well as broad section of dalit masses. 

Looking at the ambience in the country and the way powers that be seem determined not to 'listen' to the demands of aggrived sections it is not difficult to predict what would be the outcome of this Dalit Swabhiman Rath Yatra. A layperson can even predict whether the demand for Justice to Rohith and enactment of Rohith Act would be fulfilled or not? But it is difficult to hazard a guess whether the onward journey of this ordinary looking woman would help rekindle similar mass movement across campuses to pressurise the powers that be to listen to the voices of the humiliated and the marginalised.

Victory of the struggle or its continuation, one thing is certain that the justness of the cause which Radhika Vemula represents and the indomitable manner in which she has persisted – thanks to the grand support she has received from concerned individuals and various, left, Ambedkarite and democratic organisations – has already delivered a moral victory to her against the unholy trinity of insensitive and biased university administration, duly supported by people in power at the centre and a brigade of violent young lumpens who with all their acts and analysis seemed to imitate the storm troopers of the Nazi era.

Rohith might be dead but the cause for which he fought remains incomplete.

Question arises what people like us- students, youth, members of the academia and other concerned citizens, who are keen that Justice should be ensured to Rohith and who are themselves under onslaught of various types- can do in this unfolding situation?

We should remember one thing. Hindutva Supremacists have reached the citadels of power on their own for the first time but they are not going to remain there forever. If we join hands and launch united struggles it would be difficult for them to curb all such voices. Perhaps the issue of justice to Rohith could be a starting point once again.

Let us resolve to light a candle in Rohith's memory wherever we are and raise our voice in unison remembering a Chinese proverb which says :

Earth Sticks to earth and makes a wall
Poor people stick to poor people and overthrow a kingdom.
 
 

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भक्तगणों का – अर्थात वही बिरादरी जो ढ़ाई साल से लगातार सुर्खियों में रहती आयी है –  जवाब नहीं !
 
अपने आराध्य को इस कदर नवाज़ते रहते हैं गोया आनेवाली पीढ़ियों को लगने लगे कि ऐसा शख्स कभी हुआ न हो। वैसे टेक्नोलोजी की तरक्की ने उनके लिए यह बेहद आसान भी हो गया है कि वह फोटोशॉप के सहारे दिखाए कि कथित 56 इंची सीने के बलबूते वह कुछ भी कर सकते हैं।

मिसाल के तौर पर वह बाढ़ के हवाई सर्वेक्षण के लिए निकलें और धुआंधार बरसते पानी में उनकी आंखों के सामने समूचा शहर नमूदार हो जाए। यह अलग बात है कि उनकी इस कवायद में कई बार उनके इस हीरो की हालत हिन्दुओं के एक पवित्रा कहे जाने वाले एक ग्रंथ में नमूदार होते नारद जैसी हो बना दी जाती है, जिसे इस बात का गुमान ही न हो कि उसने कैसा रूप धारण किया है और उनका यह आराध्य दुनिया भर में अपने आप को मज़ाक का निशाना बना दे। 
 
हम याद कर सकते हैं अमेरिका के तत्कालीन राष्ट्रपति ओबामा की अगवानी का प्रसंग जब दिन में तीन तीन बार ड्रेस बदलने या अपना खुद का नाम अंकित किया दस लाख या करोड़ रूपए का सूट पहनने की उनके आराध्य की कवायद विश्व मीडिया में सूर्खियांे में रही, उसका जबरदस्त मज़ाक उड़ा और इसी दौरान मीडिया ने इस तथ्य को उजागर किया था कि इसके पहले ऐसी आत्ममुग्धता भरी हरकत मिस्त्र के अपदस्थ तानाशाह होसनी मुबारक ने की थी।
 
अब चूंकि आलम यह है कि फिलवक्त़ मुल्क में भक्तों एवं उनके आंकाओं की ही तूती बोलती है लिहाजा वे कुछ भी करने के लिए आज़ाद है। कमसे कम आने वाले ढाई साल तक भारतीय लोकतंत्रा को ऐसे कई नज़ारे देखने को मिलेंगे, और वह सभी लोग, जमातें जो संविधान के बुनियादी मूल्यों की हिफाजत की बात करते हैं उन्हें ऐसी विपरीत परिस्थितियों से बार बार रूबरू होना पड़ेगा और उन्हें लोहिया की उस उक्ति को विस्मृति से बचाना होगा जिसमें उन्होंने कहा था कि ‘जिन्दा कौमें पांच साल तक इन्तज़ार नहीं करतीं।’
 
बहरहाल, कभी कभी भक्तगण भी अति कर देते हैं जैसा कि पिछले दिनों देखने को मिला, जब किसी अलसुबह लोगों ने खादी ग्रामोद्योग आयोग के कैलेण्डर पर गांधी के बजाय वजीरे आज़म नरेन्द्र मोदी की तस्वीर देखी। पहले तो लोगों का यकीन भी नहीं हुआ कि उनके देखने में कुछ गलती हो रही हो, मगर जब बारीकी से देखा तब लोगों को पक्की तौर पर यकीन हुआ महज यह दृष्टिभ्रम नहीं है। अपने फकीरी या सन्तनुमा अन्दाज़ में बैठ कर सूत कातते गांधी को मोदी की तस्वीर ने प्रतिस्थापित किया है। सियासी दलों, गणमान्यों की तरफ से तीखी प्रतिक्रिया आयीं मगर इसके पहले मोदी द्वारा गांधी के इस अलग ढंग से प्रतिस्थापन को लेकर सोशल मीडिया में इसे लेकर कई फोटोशॉप्ड इमेजेस शेअर की गयीं जिसमें भारतीय इतिहास के इस ‘पुनर्लेखन’ का जम कर मज़ाक उड़ा। भारत के इतिहास की कई अविस्मरणीय घटनाओं में शामिल शख्सियतों के स्थान पर मोदी की तस्वीर चस्पां करके लोगों ने इस प्रयास की धज्जियां उड़ा दीं, फिर चाहें दांडी मार्च की तस्वीर में दिखाए जो रहे ‘मोहनदास करमचंद मोदी’ हों या आज़ादी के वक्त भारत की अवाम को संबोधित करते नेहरू के स्थान पर नज़र आते मोदी हो, किसी शरारती व्यक्ति ने खादी ग्रामोद्योग के बाद अब किंगफिशर कैलेण्डर पर भी जनाब मोदी की तस्वीर चस्पां कर दीं। (https://scroll.in/article/826756/modi-fying-history-social-media-photoshops-modi-into-the-freedom-struggle-and-kingfisher-calendar) तस्वीर की कई अंगों से विवेचना भी हुई जिसमें एक पहलू यह था कि बारह पन्ने के समूचे कैलेण्डर में महिलाएं लगभग अनुपस्थित हैं या अगर नज़र भी आ रही हैं तो बेहद धुंधली नज़र आ रही हैं।
 
भाजपा की असमावेशी राजनीति की मुखालिफत करनेवाली तमाम पार्टियों ने, समूहों ने इस भोंडे प्रयास की जम कर आलोचना की, कई जगहों पर प्रदर्शन हुए। अब कायदन होना यही चाहिए था कि कैलेण्डर को वापस लिया जाता और जनता से माफी मांगी जाती कि जो कुछ हुआ वह खेदजनक था और जिसके लिए उपर से अनुमति नहीं ली गयी थी । मगर हुआ बिल्कुल उल्टा। भाजपा की तरफ से आधिकारिक तौर पर यही कहा गया कि गांधी उनके लिए आदर्श हैं और उन्हें प्रतिस्थापित करने का उनका कोई इरादा नहीं है। और इस बयान के विपरीत पूरी कवायद यही की गयी कि मामले को औचित्य प्रदान किया जाए। कई मंुहों से कई बात की जाए। 
 
खादी आयोग के हवाले से बताया गया कि किस तरह मोदी खादी के लिए बड़ा ब्राण्ड बन गए हैं, वह किस तरह यूथ के आइकन हैं, गुजरात भाजपा की तरफ से कहा गया कि किस तरह मुख्यमंत्राी पद के दिनों में जनाब मोदी ने खादी को बढ़ावा दिया था आदि। हरियाणा भाजपा नेता और कैबिनेट मंत्राी अनिल विज इस मामले में सबसे आगे निकले। अंबाला में एक कार्यक्रम में उन्होंने कहा कि ‘खादी गांधी के नाम पेटेण्ट नहीं हुई है। खादी उत्पादों के साथ गांधी का नाम जुड़ने से ही उसकी बिक्री में गिरावट आयी। वही हाल रूपये का भी हुआ है। जिस दिन गांधी रूपये की तस्वीर पर अवतरित हुए तभी से उसका अवमूल्यन शुरू हुआ है। धीरे धीरे रूपए के नोट से भी उनको हटा दिया जाएगा। मोदी गांधी से बड़ा ब्राण्ड बन चुके हैं।’ 
 
उधर ब्राण्ड मोदी को लेकर राहुल गांधी का संक्षिप्त बयान आया:  ‘हमें नहीं भूलना चाहिए कि हिटलर और मुसोलिनी भी बड़े ब्राण्ड बने थे।’
 
2.
 
प्रश्न उठता है कि गांधी का यह प्रतिस्थापन क्या खादी आयोग के स्थानीय अधिकारियों के अतिउत्साह का नतीजा था – जैसा कि मीडिया के एक हिस्से में कहा जा रहा है – या यह पूरी कोशिश एक व्यापक योजना का हिस्सा है। अगर बारीकी से पड़ताल करने की कोशिश करें तो देख सकते हैं यह सबकुछ ‘भूलवश’ नहीं हुआ और इसके पीछे एक सुचिंतित सोच, योजना काम कर रही है। और गांधीजी की छवि को अपने में समाहित करने या उसे अब ‘विलुप्त’ करने की यह कवायद कई चरणों से गुजरी है। खादी आयोग का कैलेण्डर तो महज एक टेस्ट केस है। 
 
यह सर्वविदित है कि 2014 में जबसे भाजपा की हुकूमत बनी है तबसे गांधी के हत्यारे आतंकी गोडसे के महिमामंडन की कोशिशें कुछ ज्यादा ही परवान चढ़ी हैं। हिन्दु महासभा के लोगों द्वारा गोडसे के मंदिर बनाने से लेकर समय समय पर दिए जानेवाले विवादास्पद वक्तव्य गोया काफी न हों, ऐसे उदाहरण भी सामने आए हैं जब सत्ताधारी पार्टी के अग्रणी नेताओं तक ने गोडसे की तारीफ में कसीदे पढ़े हैं। दिलचस्प हैं कि एक तरफ गांधी को अपने प्रातःस्मरणीयों में शामिल करने के बावजूद उसके हत्यारे गोडसे के महिमामंडन को लेकर न भाजपा और न ही संघ ने कभी आपत्ति दर्ज करायी या न ही उसके जैसे एक आतंकवादी की छवि को निखारे जाने को लेकर कुछ कार्रवाई भी की। एक घोषित आतंकी के महिमामण्डन के माध्यम से हिंसा को बढ़ावा देने के लिए किसी के खिलाफ प्रथम सूचना रपट तक दर्ज नहीं की गयी है। 
 
निश्चित ही यह कोई पहला मौका नहीं रहा है कि पुणे का रहनेवाला आतंकी नाथुराम विनायक गोडसे, जो महात्मा गांधी की हत्या के वक्त हिन्दु महासभा से सम्बद्ध था, जिसने अपने राजनीतिक जीवन की शुरूआत राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ से की थी और जो संघ के प्रथम सुप्रीमो हेडगेवार की यात्राओं के वक्त उनके साथ जाया करता था, उसके महिमामण्डन की कोशिशें सामने आयी थी। महाराष्ट्र एवं पश्चिमी भारत के कई हिस्सों से 15 नवम्बर के दिन – जिस दिन नाथुराम को फांसी दी गयी थी- हर साल उसका ‘शहादत दिवस’ मनाने के समाचार मिलते रहते हैं। मुंबई एवं पुणे जैसे शहरों में तो नाथुराम गोडसे के ‘सम्मान’ में सार्वजनिक कार्यक्रम भी होते हैं। लोगों को यह भी याद होगा कि वर्ष 2006 के अप्रैल में महाराष्ट्र के नांदेड में बम बनाते मारे गए हिमांशु पानसे और राजीव राजकोंडवार के मामले की तफ्तीश के दौरान ही पुलिस को यह समाचार मिला था कि किस तरह हिन्दुत्ववादी संगठनों के वरिष्ठ नेता उनके सम्पर्क में थे और आतंकियों का यह समूह हर साल ‘नाथुराम हौतात्म्य दिन’ मनाता था। गोडसे का महिमामण्डन करते हुए ‘मी नाथुराम बोलतोय’ शीर्षक से एक नाटक का मंचन भी कई साल से हो रहा है।  
 
हम याद कर सकते हैं कि लोकसभा चुनावों के ठीक पहले 30 जनवरी को 2014 को महात्मा गांधी की हत्या के 66 साल पूरे होने के अवसर पर किस तरह गांधी के हत्यारे नाथुराम गोडसे की आवाज़ मंे एक आडियो वाटस अप पर मोबाइल के जरिए लोगों तक पहुंचाया गया। अख़बार के मुताबिक ऐसा मैसेज उन लोगों के मोबाइल तक पहुंच चुका था, जो एक बड़ी पार्टी से ताल्लुक रखते हैं और वही लोग इसे आगे भेज रहे थे। मेसेज की अन्तर्वस्तु गोडसे के स्पष्टतः महिमामण्डन की दिख रही थी, जिसमें आज़ादी के आन्दोलन के कर्णधार महात्मा गांधी की हत्या जैसे इन्सानदुश्मन कार्रवाई को औचित्य प्रदान करने की कोशिश की गयी थी। इतनाही नहीं एक तो इस हत्या के पीछे जो लम्बी चौड़ी सााजिश चली थी, उसे भी दफनाने का तथा इस हत्या को देश को बचाने के लिए उठाए गए कदम के तौर पर प्रस्तुत करने की कोशिश की गयी थी।
 
क्या गोडसे के महिमामंडन पर ‘आधिकारिक चुप्पी’ इसी बात का परिचायक थी कि उस प्रसंग के खुलते ही संघ परिवार के लिए कई सारे असहज करनेवाले प्रश्न खड़े हो जाते हैं ? हर अमनपसन्द एवं न्यायप्रिय व्यक्ति इस बात से सहमत होगा कि महात्मा गांधी की हत्या आजाद भारत की सबसे पहली आतंकी कार्रवाई कही जा सकती है। गांधी हत्या के महज चार दिन बाद राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ पर पाबन्दी लगानेवाला आदेश जारी हुआ था -जब वल्लभभाई पटेल गृहमंत्राी थे – जिसमें लिखा गया था:
 
संघ के सदस्यों की तरफ से अवांछित यहां तक कि खतरनाक गतिविधियों को अंजाम दिया गया है। यह देखा गया है कि देश के तमाम हिस्सों में संघ के सदस्य हिंसक कार्रवाइयों में – जिनमें आगजनी, डकैती, और हत्याएं शामिल हैं – मुब्तिला रहे हैं और वे अवैध ढंग से हथियार एवं विस्फोटक भी जमा करते रहे हैं। वे लोगों में पर्चे बांटते देखे गए हैं, और लोगों को यह अपील करते देखे गए हैं कि वह आतंकी पद्धतियों का सहारा लें, हथियार इक्ट्ठा करें, सरकार के खिलाफ असन्तोष पैदा करे ..
 
27 फरवरी 1948 को प्रधानमंत्राी जवाहरलाल नेहरू को लिखे अपने ख़त में -जबकि महात्मा गांधी की नथुराम गोडसे एवं उसके हिन्दुत्ववादी आतंकी गिरोह के हाथों हुई हत्या को तीन सप्ताह हो गए थे – पटेल लिखते हैं:
 
‘सावरकर के अगुआईवाली हिन्दु महासभा के अतिवादी हिस्से ने ही हत्या के इस षडयंत्रा को अंजाम दिया है ..जाहिर है उनकी हत्या का स्वागत संघ और हिन्दु महासभा के लोगों ने किया जो उनके चिन्तन एवं उनकी नीतियों की मुखालिफत करते थे।’’ 
 
वही पटेल 18 जुलाई 1948 को हिन्दु महासभा के नेता एवं बाद में राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ की सहायता एवं समर्थन से भारतीय जनसंघ की स्थापना करनेवाले श्यामाप्रसाद मुखर्जी को लिखते हैं: 
 
‘‘..हमारी रिपोर्टें इस बात को पुष्ट करती हैं कि इन दो संगठनों की गतिविधियों के चलते खासकर राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ के चलते, मुल्क में एक ऐसा वातावरण बना जिसमें ऐसी त्रासदी (गांधीजी की हत्या) मुमकिन हो सकी। मेरे मन में इस बात के प्रति तनिक सन्देह नहीं कि इस षडयंत्रा में हिन्दु महासभा का अतिवादी हिस्सा शामिल था। राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ की गतिविधियां सरकार एवं राज्य के अस्तित्व के लिए खतरा हैं। हमारे रिपोर्ट इस बात को पुष्ट करते हैं कि पाबन्दी के बावजूद उनमें कमी नहीं आयी है। दरअसल जैसे जैसे समय बीतता जा रहा है संघ के कार्यकर्ता अधिक दुस्साहसी हो रहे हैं और अधिकाधिक तौर पर तोडफोड/विद्रोही कार्रवाइयों में लगे हैं।"
 
प्रश्न उठता है कि गांधी के हत्यारे अपने इस आपराधिक काम को किस तरह औचित्य प्रदान करते हैं। उनका कहना होता है कि गांधीजी ने मुसलमानों के लिए अलग राज्य के विचार का समर्थन दिया और इस तरह वह पाकिस्तान के बंटवारे के जिम्मेदार थे, दूसरे, मुसलमानों का ‘अड़ियलपन’ गांधीजी की तुष्टिकरण की नीति का नतीजा था, और तीसरे, पाकिस्तान द्वारा कश्मीर पर किए गए आक्रमण के बावजूद, गांधीजी ने सरकार पर दबाव डालने के लिए इस बात के लिए अनशन किया था कि उसके हिस्से का 55 करोड़ रूपए वह लौटा दे।
 
ऐसा कोईभी व्यक्ति जो उस कालखण्ड से परिचित होगा बता सकता है कि यह सभी आरोप पूर्वाग्रहों से प्रेरित हैं और तथ्यतः गलत हैं। दरअसल, साम्प्रदायिक सद्भाव का विचार, जिसकी हिफाजत गांधी ने ताउम्र की, वह संघ, हिन्दु महासभा के हिन्दु वर्चस्ववादी विश्वदृष्टिकोण के खिलाफ पड़ता था और जबकि हिन्दुत्व ताकतों की निगाह में राष्ट्र एक नस्लीय/धार्मिक गढंत था, गांधी और बाकी राष्ट्रवादियों के लिए वह इलाकाई गढंत था या एक ऐसा इलाका था जिसमें विभिन्न समुदाय, समष्टियां साथ रहती हों।
 
दुनिया जानती है कि किस तरह हिन्दु अतिवादियों ने महात्मा गांधी की हत्या की योजना बनायी और किस तरह सावरकर एवं संघ के दूसरे सुप्रीमो गोलवलकर को नफरत का वातावरण पैदा करने के लिए जिम्मेदार ठहराया जा सकता है, जिसकी परिणति इस हत्या में हुई। सच्चाई यह है कि हिन्दुत्व अतिवादी गांधीजी से जबरदस्त नफरत करते थे, जो इस बात से भी स्पष्ट होता है कि नाथुराम गोडसे की आखरी कोशिश के पहले चार बार उन्होंने गांधी को मारने की कोशिश की थी। (गुजरात के अग्रणी गांधीवादी चुन्नीभाई वैद्य के मुताबिक हिन्दुत्व आतंकियों ने उन्हें मारने की छह बार कोशिशें कीं)। 
 
अगर हम गहराई में जाने का प्रयास करें तो पाते हैं कि उन्हें मारने का पहला प्रयास पुणे में (25 जून 1934) को हुआ जब वह कार्पोरेशन के सभागार में भाषण देने जा रहे थे। उनकी पत्नी कस्तुरबा गांधी उनके साथ थीं। इत्तेफाक से गांधी जिस कार में जा रहे थे, उसमें कोई खराबी आ गयी और उसे पहुंचने में विलम्ब हुआ जबकि उनके काफिले में शामिल अन्य गाडियां सभास्थल पर पहुंचीं जब उन पर बम फेंका गया। इस बम विस्फोट ने कुछ पुलिसवालों एवं आम लोग घायल हुए।
 
महात्मा गांधी को मारने की दूसरी कोशिश में उनका भविष्य का हत्यारा नाथुराम गोडसे भी शामिल था। गांधी उस वक्त पंचगणी की यात्रा कर रहे थे, जो पुणे पास स्थित एक हिल स्टेशन है (मई 1944) जब एक चार्टर्ड बस में सवार 15-20 युवकों का जत्था वहां पहुंचा। उन्होंने गांधी के खिलाफ दिन भर प्रदर्शन किया, मगर जब गांधी ने उन्हें बात करने के लिए बुलाया वह नहीं आए। शाम के वक्त प्रार्थनासभा में हाथ में खंजर लिए नाथुराम गांधीजी की तरफ भागा, जहां उसे पकड़ लिया गया।
 
सितम्बर 1944 में जब जिन्ना के साथ गांधी की वार्ता शुरू हुई तब उन्हें मारने की तीसरी कोशिश हुई। जब सेवाग्राम आश्रम से निकलकर गांधी मुंबई जा रहे थे, तब नाथुराम की अगुआई में अतिवादी हिन्दु युवकों ने उन्हें रोकने की कोशिश की। उनका कहना था कि गांधीजी को जिन्ना के साथ वार्ता नहीं चलानी चाहिए। उस वक्त भी नाथुराम के कब्जे से एक खंजर बरामद हुआ था।
 
गांधीजी को मारने की चौथी कोशिश में (20 जनवरी 1948) लगभग वही समूह शामिल था जिसने अन्ततः 31 जनवरी को उनकी हत्या की। इसमें शामिल था मदनलाल पाहवा, शंकर किस्तैया, दिगम्बर बड़गे, विष्णु करकरे, गोपाल गोडसे, नाथुराम गोडसे और नारायण आपटे। योजना बनी थी कि महात्मा गांधी और हुसैन शहीद सुरहावर्दी पर हमला किया जाए। इस असफल प्रयास में मदनलाल पाहवा ने बिडला भवन स्थित मंच के पीछे की दीवार पर कपड़े में लपेट कर बम रखा था, जहां उन दिनों गांधी रूके थे। बम का धमाका हुआ, मगर कोई दुर्घटना नहीं हुई, और पाहवा पकड़ा गया। समूह में शामिल अन्य लोग जिन्हें बाद के कोलाहल में गांधी पर गोलियां चलानी थीं, वे अचानक डर गए और उन्होंने कुछ नहीं किया।
 
उन्हें मारने की आखरी कोशिश 30 जनवरी को शाम पांच बज कर 17 मिनट पर हुई जब नाथुराम गोडसे ने उन्हें सामने से आकर तीन गोलियां मारीं। उनकी हत्या में शामिल सभी पकड़े गए, उन पर मुकदमा चला और उन्हें सज़ा हुई। नाथुराम गोडसे एवं नारायण आपटे को सज़ा ए मौत दी गयी, (15 नवम्बर 1949) जबकि अन्य को उमर कैद की सज़ा हुई। इस बात को नोट किया जाना चाहिए कि जवाहरलाल नेहरू तथा गांधी की दो सन्तानों का कहना था कि वे सभी हिन्दुत्ववादी नेताओं के मोहरे मात्रा हैं और उन्होंने सज़ा ए मौत को माफ करने की मांग की। उनका मानना था कि इन हत्यारों को फांसी देना मतलब गांधीजी की विरासत का असम्मान करना होगा जो फांसी की सज़ा के खिलाफ थे। ..
 
3.
 
बहरहाल गांधीजी के नाम की इस कदर लोकप्रियता थी कि संघ या उसके प्रचारकों के लिए इससे आधिकारिक तौर पर दूरी बनाए रखना लम्बे समय तक मुमकिन नहीं था, लिहाजा उन्होंने उनके नाम को अपने प्रातःस्मरणीयों में शामिल किया, अलबत्ता वह इस नाम से तौबा करने या उसके न्यूनीकरण करने की कोशिश में लगातार मुब्तिला रहे।
 
अटलबिहारी वाजपेयी के प्रधानमंत्रित्व काल की दो घटनाओं पर रौशनी डालना इस सन्दर्भ में समीचीन होगा, जो बताती हैं कि किस तरह अपने लिए एक ‘सूटेबल’ /अनुकूल गांधी गढ़ने की उनकी पुरजोर कोशिश रही है। उदाहरण के तौर पर उन दिनों गांधी जयंति पर सरकार की तरफ से एक विज्ञापन छपा था, जिसमंे गांधी के नाम से एक वक्तव्य उदध्रत किया गया था, जो तथ्यत‘ गलत था अर्थात गांधीजी द्वारा दिया नहीं गया था और दूसरे वह हिन्दुत्व की असमावेशी विचारधारा एवं नफरत पर टिकी कार्रवाइयों को औचित्य प्रदान करता दिखता था। जब उस वक्तव्य पर हंगामा मचा तब सरकार की तरफ से एक कमजोर सी सफाई दी गयी।
 
गांधीजी की रचनाओं के ‘पुनर्सम्पादन’ की उनकी कोशिश भी उन्हीं दिनों उजागर हुई थी, जिसके बेपर्द होने पर तत्कालीन सरकार को अपने कदम पीछे खींचने पड़े थे। इकोनोमिक एण्ड पोलिटिकल वीकली जैसी स्थापित पत्रिका में गांधी विचारों के जानकार विद्वान त्रिदिप सुहरूद ने इसे लेकर एक लम्बा लेख भी लिखा था।  ( http://www.epw.in/journal/2004/46-47/commentary/re-editing-gandhis-collected-works.html#sthash.8LRVLB1x.dpuf) जिसमें उन्होंने तथ्यों के साथ यह बात प्रमाणित की थी कि 

‘महात्मा गांधी की संकलित रचनाओं के पुनर्सम्पादन की यह कवायद अपारदर्शी और दोषपूर्ण है और एक ऐसी अकार्यक्षमता और बेरूखी का प्रदर्शन करती है जिसके चलते संशोधित प्रकाशन को स्टेण्डर्ड सन्दर्भ ग्रंथ नहीं माना जा सकेगा। इस नए संस्करण को खारिज किया जाना चाहिए और मूल संकलित रचनाओं को गांधी की रचनाओं एवं वक्तव्यों के एकमात्रा और सबसे आधिकारिक संस्करण के तौर पर बहाल किया जाना चाहिए।’
 
या हम याद कर सकते हैं कि ‘‘क्लीेन इंडिया’ के नाम पर 2014 को गांधी जयंति पर शुरू की गयी मुहिम को जिसमें भी बेहद स्मार्ट अंदाज़ में गांधीजी की छवि का एक अलग न्यूनीकरण सामने आया था। चन्द विश्लेषकों ने इस बात की तरफभी बखूबी इशारा किया था कि उपनिवेशवाद और हर किस्म के सम्प्रदायवाद के खिलाफ उनकी तरफ से ताउम्र चले संघर्ष को लगभग भूला देते हुए महात्मा गांधी की विरासत को इस अभियान के तहत महज ‘सफाई’ तक न्यूनीक्रत किया गया था और अतीत के असुविधाजनक दिखनेवाले पन्नों की भी ‘सफाई’ करने की कोशिश की गयी थी। यशस्वी कहे गये प्रधानमंत्राी की अगुआई में शुरू इस अभियान के जरिए एक अलग किस्म के साफसुथराकरण अर्थात सैनिटायजेशन से हम सभी रूबरू थे, जिसके जरिए हमारे समाज के एक समरस चित्र प्रस्तुत करने की कोशिश हो रही थी जिसमें सफाई या उसका अभाव ‘भारत माता’ की तरफ हमारे ‘कर्तव्य’ को ही उजागर करता दिख रहा था।
 
दिलचस्प है कि न्यूनीकरण की या समाहित करने की ऐसी कोशिशें महज गांधीजी के साथ नहीं चली हैं। डा अम्बेडकर, जिन्होंने ताउम्र हिन्दू धर्म की बर्बरताओं की मुखालिफत की और हिन्दु राष्ट के निर्माण को आज़ादी के लिए खतरा बताया, उन्हें भी इसी तरह हिन्दुत्व के असमावेशी दर्शन एवं व्यवहार का पोषक साबित किया जा रहा है। यह अकारण नहीं कि बीते छह दिसम्बर को डा अम्बेडकर के परिनिर्वाण दिवस के अवसर पर प्रकाशित सरकारी विज्ञापनों में कुछ स्थानों पर अम्बेडकर की तुलना में अपने आप को ‘अम्बेडकर का शिष्य’ बतानेवाले जनाब मोदी की तस्वीर बड़ी दिखाई दी थी।
 
लेकिन वह किस्सा फिर कभी !
 
 

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