Monday, November 14, BBC reposted Nehru’s first TV appearance recorded in June 1953 with leading editors in London when he had gone to participate in the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. Look at the way the presenter introduced Nehru as one of the most important voices from Asia and the prime minister of India. Those who think India became the ‘vishwaguru’ only after May 2014 should watch this video and see how the veteran editors asked diverse international questions to Nehru right from China to Asia Pacific, Europe and Africa. There are no ‘advisors’ and support when Nehru faces the mighty editors. Remember, India had just got independence and yet he is continuously being referred to as the leader of Asia.

The BBC interview actually gives a lot of insight about Nehru and how calmly and confidently he interacts with top editors. There is no hype but simple answers. His words are measured and to the point. There is no attempt to reexplain or impose his view. Most of his answers were crisp and straight forward.

It has become more important to read and listen to Nehru in today’s time. Globally, it is an acknowledged fact that Nehru nurtured democracy in India which today is one of the most successful modules world over despite its varied failures. The public sector that he strengthened, the rule of law, the seriousness with which he attended parliament and respected leaders of opposition parties are reflected in his answer when an editor says that there is no opposition in India to which he responds that out of 500 odd seats of Parliament we only have 350 and rest 150 are with the opposition and they raise their voice.  He further says that though it is divided and unable to raise the issue in one voice yet we cannot impose a two party system on our people. There is an opposition, good opposition within and outside the parliament.  Nehru respected Acharya Narendra Dev, Jai Prakash and Lohia, and listened to their speeches in Parliament and outside. It is a well-known fact that he wanted Jai Prakash to be his political heir and wanted him in his cabinet.

Nehru is determinedly committed to a ‘secular’ India despite all kinds of divisions and religious polarisation which hurt the subcontinent and he had to accept it along with other political leaders of his time. Nehru clearly mentions why the Muslim League was unable to stay on. He points out that Muslim League was a party of Zamindars who were afraid of land reforms. India introduced the first biggest act for social justice in independent India with Nehru categorically emphasising that Zamindari must be abolished for an equal society. The Pakistan elite protected itself from such reforms. The first reform happened in Pakistan in 1959 under the Martial Law regime of Ayub Khan while second and third reformed happened during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who himself had a big feudal background. For the first land reforms in 1959, Pakistan imposed a ceiling on 500-acre land for irrigated land and 1000 acres for unirrigated land. If this can be called a ‘land reform’ then, I have nothing to say. The feudal elite of Pakistan protected its vital interest and that remains true even today. So, Bhutto introduced amendments in the 1970s that brought down the ceiling for irrigated land to 150 acre and unirrigated land to 300 acre per individual. 

Unfortunately, the Pakistan Supreme Court held the Land Ceiling Act to be un-Islamic and Unconstitutional. Today, Pakistan is ruled by this landed feudal elite from Sind and Punjab.   Compare this with India when in the 1970s Indira Gandhi introduced a ceiling limit to 12 acres for irrigated land. He says that the relations between India and Pakistan are improving and we are on the right path. Look at the democracy that Nehru nurtured in India. Despite  all its failures, it provided space to the most marginalized communities to reach at the top while in Pakistan it will still be a dream where Anglican feudal elite control the political discourse. Nehru is often criticised for his approach on caste but still India provided all the remedial matters.  Can we  compare this with the other Asian countries where the issue of caste has not been accepted in political parlance except for Nepal ? The Pakistan elite did not even recognise the Dalit question compelling its first law minister Jogindernath Mandal to resign, surrender his citizenship and return to India. 

The most fascinating point that I found during the interview was the journalist’s attempt to push him to condemn communism. He did not feel any threat from communism to Indian democracy. He never accepted that violence had any role in democracy but there are issues which make the communist parties popular and we need to develop our own perception about countries and ideologies and not that from the Western lens. He refused to toe the line of the Western criticism of China and says that India shares a 2000 kilometer border with it and hence knows better about them. Nehru was definitely fascinated by the progress made by China and Russia and felt no threat from communism threatening Indian democracy even though he decried their ‘anarchy’ many times. He says, “But there is a tendency, if I may say so, for leading statesmen in Europe and America to look at the world from Europe and America. Well, if we look at the same world with the same principles, let us say Delhi or Karachi, the world looks slightly different.” “Geography counts. Take the question of China. China is a distant country to most people in Europe and America. China, the country, having a 2,000-mile frontier with India, well it’s a different picture to us immediately,” he adds.

It is an undeniable fact that the international media and intellectuals looked upon Nehru as a Statesman of the developing world or the countries which were decolonised. His voice had power and courage of conviction. He says there is an ‘awakening and enormous upsurge in a sense after three or four hundred years of European domination in Asia and Africa. It has upset their own order. Asia is coming on its own some time rightly or wrongly. We have to understand it, appreciate it or not get angry with it.”

The editors reminded him of the situation in Africa where anti colonial struggle continues and tiny white communities dominate politically through racist laws. After the decolonisation there might be unrest and tensions with the white communities in these countries. Nehru responded with great care and statesmanship. “Africa, please remember, is a continent, the most tragic continent. Hundreds of years it suffered terribly. Maybe they are not as developed as others or because they did not have the opportunity. I am deeply distressed by what is happening in Africa’. He clearly understands that there is a big difference between the problems in East Africa and West Africa. He also knows well that Western part of Africa was colonised by the French and hence he does not want to poke his nose everywhere. He says, as a prime minister, he has limitations and has to see that all his words are measured as per the government of India policy. He knows that he is speaking as head of the government to the global audience so his words are well measured. Actually, one can understand how Nehru as prime minister felt constrained and how he is missing his independence as an author, a journalist or a politician. He says Africa’s problems are different in north, central and south Africa. However, many Europeans may live there but ultimately, they have to work in cooperation with the native African people. They are outnumbered tremendously by the African population. Either they cooperate or try to suppress each other. If Europeans try to suppress Africans, undoubtedly the African will push them out.”

An editor reminds him that Indians too have been there in Kenya and other countries and perhaps more than the Europeans so what would be his advice to the Indians living over there. Now, I loved the absolutely candid reply from the Prime Minister without making any ‘nationalistic’ overtures. He says, “ Yes, we have told the Indians there year after year that they must cooperate with Africans, they should not ask for any privilege. They must not exploit the Africans or take advantage of them. I have told them, we will not support them for their demand of any privilege against Africans. If they have to live in Africa they must cooperate with Africans otherwise get out of Africa”.

What an unambiguous reply by asking people to be loyal to their countries of residence and cooperate with the majority in those countries. Look what happened to those who hate Nehru saying today. Yes, they are celebrating English victory over Pakistan just because the ‘Goras’ have a prime minister with Hindu lineage despite the well-known fact that his family had migrated to Kenya and then to UK afterwards.

Nehru’s word of advice for Indians and Europeans in Africa would have attracted prominent headlines. His opponents blame him for the Kashmir crisis and going to the United Nations without knowing the facts or distorting the history. An editor asks him about whether it would be good for UN or other countries to mediate between India and Pakistan to which Nehru reply that India went to UN not because it wanted mediation but because Pakistan was the aggressor but he also felt that there is no need for a third-party mediation as the two nations are capable of solving their own issues. Even today, India continues to have this policy as the centre of our foreign policy doctrine despite Pakistan’s attempt to internationalise it and involve third parties from the western world to intervene.

One thing is clear that a Jawahar Lal Nehru in today’s time would have been far more popular at least on the television channels as people would love his articulation. He would have been far more candid and categorical on the issues that we face today. It is unfortunate that the government of the day suffers from a serious inferiority complex as leaders after leaders who may not even write ten sentences are writing op-ed pieces condemning Nehru as the sole person for India’s crisis. It is sad that the person who respected the people’s voice in Jammu and Kashmir and worked hard to get Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah released from the jail and stand with the idea of India is being targeted in such a shameless way. 

I always felt that Nehru as a politician meant a loss  to the world of history and literature. His writings and communications with chief ministers and others show his intellect and capacity. If India today feels proud of the diversity and achievements of people from the margins and minorities then we can not ignore that the seeds of modern democratic nation were sown by Jawahar Lal Nehru. Nehru’s greatness can be understood from the fact that most of the anti-colonial leaders, the heroes of their countries turned dictators and became law unto themselves. It was Nehru who nurtured democracy. Just look around any of our neighbouring countries in those times, it was India alone which had democracy and political stability.

For today’s bootlickers watching Nehru interacting with top editors of the world or speaking with the students at the universities or meeting with various world leaders at international conferences can be shocking as they have only learnt history through WhatsApp and post 2014. Every interaction gives you lots of food for thought, his selection of words and the lyricism in his language is simply fascinating. India was fortunate to have a prime minister with such a big vision which made us stronger and better comparatively. 

We have examples of our neighbour where religion intoxicated the political climate and military interventions denied people their legitimate democratic rights. India performed well because political leadership was secular, respected diversity of languages, cultures and religions. Today, the vision that Nehru gave to India is under threat. Instead of respecting diversity the state keeps imposing oneness on this huge country. Oneness for them is imposition of Brahmanical values on every one in the form of Hindi-Hindu-Hindustan. 

Oneness can happen despite being diverse but the Hindutva’s oneness is through imposed uniformity which is actually threatening our national integrity. India is not just an administrative unit run by the caste elite of north India but an emotion where each one despite being of diverse languages, regions, religions and cultures actually feel for each other and care for the idea of an inclusive India where all have space to flourish. That way, we need Nehruvian India where all communities live together, respect each other and enjoy their relationship on the basis of being citizens of India. 

Let India remain a republic by focussing on people’s centric issues and not convert it into old forms of Kingdom where the Raja Maharaja were least bothered about people’s rights but gave them ‘temples’, mosques’ and dharmshalas in the name of people’s ‘welfare’. 

A modern secular democratic India is an aspiring India and the thirst of the young India can not be quenched through enslaving people more and more into religious rituals but developing the scientific temper, respecting humanist values and submitting to our modern constitution which our constitutional forefathers led by Baba Saheb Ambedkar gave us.

Jawahar Lal Nehru’s first TV appearance provided us with a glimpse into the power of his personality and convictions as he responded to all the questions aimed at him with confidence and absolute clarity. Remember, it was the beginning of television and he was speaking for the first time. 

These editors were not there to ‘flatter’ him nor was there any PR agency like what we witness today. Can we expect our leaders speaking to international media in such a simple manner without any ‘assistance’ or ‘makeover’? 

Frankly speaking, the Nehru conversation proved that those who are abusing him day and night are suffering from a great inferiority complex both politically as well as intellectually. There are huge lessons for all of us when we hear him and we must make use of all his writings and videos in the greater interest of our nation.

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The bridge collapse at Morbi in Gujarat killed over 140 people and many missing but no head has been rolled. According to reports there were 33 children aged between one to ten years. The 143 years old and 230 meters long suspension bridge was made during the British period. It was also claimed that the bridge was in an extremely bad conditions and a private contractor was asked to renovate it. The company was asked to complete it by December 2022 but the inauguration was advanced and we all know ‘why’. Elections in Himachal Pradesh have been declared. There is a gap between the voting and the results in that tiny state where results could easily be declared on the very next day but the Election Commission deliberately kept it like that because it will finally declare the dates for Gujarat polls but that would not happen unless all the programmes that both the prime minister and union home minister Amit Shah had been completed. Now the Election Commission has finally declared dates for Gujarat elections, citing delay in the declaration because of the Morbi tragedy.

Now coming back to Morbi,  and the tragedy that unfolded on the evening of October 30, we are informed that about seven persons have been arrested who include the clerk and other workers of the company. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was busy both campaigning and inaugurating various schemes in Gujarat also felt ‘pained’ to hear the deaths of innocent at the Morbi Bridge collapse. He did not, however, bother to cancel his programmes. The lavishness with which these programmes were organised show the highest level of insensitivity at the time when the nation was mourning this tragic loss of life. The prime minister was however participating in various event to promote his party and his personality.  

While Modi was busy ‘electioneering’ in Gujarat, it was the Manu-stream media that started building up another narrative. The shameless and thuggish ‘experts’ wanted people ‘not to politicise’ the issue. They did not have the courage to demand that the prime minister stop his political campaigns using public funds (in Gujarat) but they continued to ask questions to people. A well-known anchor on ‘prime time’ actually blamed the people themselves for the collapse of the bridge. This is the man who dishes out ample ‘wisdom’ to people on his prime-time programmes with a one-point agenda: to defame opponents of the prime minister and defend his most indefensible actions.

Look at who was given the contract to repair the suspension bridge by the Morbi Municipality. You should not be surprised because that is the modus operandi being followed diligently for the last so many years under Narendra Modi. It is the same method which make Anil Ambani’s company ‘expert’ in defence manufacturing as happened in the case when Rafael deal was done. At Morbi town, the Oreva company, which makes watches and bikes was given the ‘revadi’ for repairing and maintaining the bridge. What does the company do? It paints the cables of the old structure, put some artificial aluminium plates and is compelled to advance the inauguration. Why?

The bridge was being maintained by Oreva company since 2008. Its owner Jayasukh Bhai Patel reportedly told media that the company invested Rs 20 million in repairing and maintenance of the bridge and nothing would happen to the bride for next fifteen twenty years, as reported by the BBC. After the tragic manmade disaster, however, the police arrested two managers, two ticket clerks, three guards and two more people but nothing happened to Oreva group owner and the Morbi municipality leaders. The fact that the lawyers in Morbi decided not to fight the cases of these low-level employees making them responsible and guilty before any court could pronounce them so, shows the complete hypocrisy on their part.

Now the government claims that only Rs 28 lakh was spent (not Rs 2 crores) as the cable which was supposed to be changed was never done. The question is what action will the government take against the owner of the company and the corporation who seem hand in glove with each other? Unfortunately, rather than questioning those responsible for not carrying out maintenance accordingly and those who gave it a fitness certificate, the lawyers of Morbi, too, feel that the poor people are responsible for the same. It is very much like the Manu-stream TV anchors who say that it is the people who were responsible for the accident.

For readers here, Jaysukh Bhai Patel is reported to have authored a book ‘Samasya aur samadhan’ i.e. The problem and the solution, 2019 when he writes and analyses as to what stops India from becoming Vishwaguru? He says, ‘stop the elections and hand over the country to some ‘able’ man for next 15-20 years like China who works like Hitler’. He is anti-reservation and feel that only dictators can give us freedom from corruption. He is upset about land acquisition and opines that the government must act like China as it is the owner of all the land in India and farmers and zamindars are just leaseholders.’ 

Now, one can understand just what kind of people have been promoted by the BJP’s crony-ism and why action has not been taken against this criminal who violated all the laws to open the bridge when it was not ready.

Why are the people of Gujarat,  political parties –including those in Opposition – quiet quiet on Jaysukh Patel? Why has he not been arrested?

Narendra Modi visited the Morbi hospital the next day. The hospital was made ‘lively’ for the prime minister so that he does not experience any hardship when inside the hospital. It was painted. The rescue operations were stopped to ensure that they work when Narendra Modi was there. It was converted into an event. Since Narendra Modi has finished giving ‘revadis’ to Gujarat, the Election Commission has now declared the dates for Gujarat polls today. 

How is it that Narendra Modi and his party continue to disregard common concern and public opinion in Gujarat? Is it because the Savarna (read upper caste) culture in Gujarat has become so dominant that despite absolute an failure of governance during the Covid crisis, joblessness, health crisis and despicable educational system, Modi’s Gujarat model is ‘famous’ and the Gujaratis world over feel so overwhelmed with his model.

Is this decay of Gujarati society responsible for the fact that political parties refuse to stand with Zakia Jaffari who is genuinely fighting to get justice? Why is it that Gujarat needs a Muslim villain to protect its ‘identity? The Aam Admi Party which, in Punjab and Delhi, claimed to be following the path of Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar is functioning in opposition to the ideologies of the two legends.

While the BJP’s central leadership cannot deny its justification for the release of the rapists of Bilkis Bano and killers her children and family members, Arvind Kejriwal and AAP’s deafening silence on the issue exposed the nature of Gujarat politics and the opportunism of many political parties. 

All these convicts were released for ‘good conduct’ in the jail. These are the same parties and people which exploited the ‘Nirbhaya’ rape case in 2013 in Delhi. Ar that time the common refrain among the ‘activist’ was to hang the culprits and so the case was fast-tracked and culprits were hanged to death. The same parties and leaders refused to take a stand on criminals and thugs who have –on August 15, 2022, India’s 75^th Independence Day–been released by the Central and Gujarat government. This is India’s biggest shame that a man who claim to speak on behalf of 130 crore Indians refuses to take a stand on the issue of the peremptory release of rapists and murderers by the government he heads, the central government.

There is no protest in Gujarat against the release. There are no protests and no outrage around the Morbi’s killings. All efforts will be made during elections to again create the favourable pitch of bringing in a ‘Muslim villain’. The positive stories, the sacrifices and the work by the Muslim community is given either a miss or is completely ignored. Three men, Taufik Bhai, Naeem Sheikh, Hussain Pathan saved more than 85 people including children. They have been hailed as heroes by all Indians but the Gujarat government would not do anything to give them a heroic salutation. Let us see how long will this story remain in the media. They would Come election time and amnesia will grip media too.

For years, Narendra Modi and BJP never bothered about political niceties and was also responsible for crude politicisation. In April 2016, when an overbridge collapsed in Kolkata, Modi’s words reflected a cynical language, unbefitting of a prime minister. As reported by India Today, he said, “It is an act of god in the sense that it happened during election time so that people may know what kind of government she has been running. God has sent a message to the people – that today this bridge has collapsed, tomorrow she will finish off entire Bengal. God’s message to you all is to save Bengal.”

Right from Uttarakhand’s devastating Kedarnath tragedy in 2013 or the 2016 Nirbhaya gang rape, both the BJP and RSS have used all opportunities politically. They gave no credit to the government of the day if the response was quick or good. They brazenly shifted the narrative to say that it not other elected governments but the Indian forces who did the work! For all  subsequent “successes” of the Indian army under their own regime, it was the achievement of only one man, the prime minister.

The Union government is writing a new script every day with the active support from manu-stream media and the bureaucracy. It is re-defining Indian nationalism, vilifying Muslims. The biggest achievement of Narendra Modi government is ‘nationalisation’ and ‘normalisation’ of hatred against Muslims and absolute freedom to ‘institutions’ which are supposed to protect our rights to behave like the organs of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Media and politicians both are speaking the language of their cronies who are funding them and it is reflected very much in the crisis that has happened in Delhi which is the most polluted city of India. All standards of clean air (minus pollution) have gone haywire in Delhi. It is a regular feature after Diwali but the media and the government put the blame on the stubble burning by Punjab farmers. Kejriwal used to accuse the Punjab government in the earlier times but right now he is doing nothing. His ministers blame farmers but shamelessly don’t tell people that fire crackers, unmindful construction work and vehicular traffic are the real cause. In the last few years corporate sponsored politicians as well as media have kept the blame of the Delhi’s pollution on farmers alone so that the criminal cronies are saved and continue to fund these parties.

Right from Gujarat to Delhi, the message from those in power is clear that they will protect their cronies and build new, twisted narrative to blame the people, the poor for the fault of those in power. They will not express any regret or apology for any mistakes or misdeeds but continue to play politics with people’s lives.

As citizens of India, we can only express our sorrow at things happening. The question however is how long will the people in power protect the cronies? How long will the manu-stream media continue to play the role of the biggest villain of our democracy? We must share our own blame for not supporting the right people and those who are trying to bring facts and analysis to us. The time is ripe for people to support all the alternative forms of media which stand for people and their rights. If we do not support such initiatives, we will ourselves have to blame for the crisis after Morbi, nothing would happen to the party as it will continue to win ‘trust’ of people in Gujarat.

The country needs to be saved from such cynicism but that is only possible if intellectuals too come out of their safety zones and speak up and support independent alternative media which can expose the attempt by the cronies to create the narrative of the alternative against the BJP by promoting Arvind Kejriwal who has clearly shown where does he stand and what are his priorities. 

If. we don’t wake up sooner than later we will realise all liberals, seculars media will be jumping on this conclusion as the corporate want everything in its hand. It would not allow India go back to those who commit to secularism-social justice and welfare state. 

The Gujarat model is nothing but the same where our national assets are handed over to private cronies and in return they charge money from people without providing them any safety. The crime of Overa company therefore, at Morbi is much bigger because it charged money from the people but did not provide any safety. Uttarakhand states have numerous such Jhoolapuls, suspension bridges and hopefully, the Gujarat model does not come there where they charge every one who uses these to reach his village.

For the people of Uttarakhand, these bridges are not ‘history tourism’ but the need for connecting one village to other. Morbi has the rot been called or showcased as the Gujarat model. Will the people of Gujarat ever accept it ?

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author’s personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Sabrangindia.

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I have not seen the film Kashmir Files but there is enough debate around the film on social media, on TV channels and elsewhere. Many persons in high positions are so ‘proud’ of it that the governments in states are asking their ’employees’ to watch it. The Prime Minister of India too has been deeply ‘influenced’ by the film and his party, leaders, and cadres are going overboard to promote the film. Several state governments have already made it tax free.

Many people argue that, ‘ what is the issue if people are watching Kashmir files. It is about Kashmiri Pandits who faced ‘ethnic cleansing’ by the Pakistan sponsored Islamic terrorists; that the ‘rest’ of the country ‘except’ those with affiliations to the rightwing sangh parivar and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), did not speak up for them’.  Rather than holding Pakistan accountable for its act and misadventure in Kashmir, the sanghis and their ilk have made –yet again–the entire Indian Muslim the scapegoats and the villain of the piece.  For the BJP, the purpose is clear that they want to keep the communal pot boiling and given the inability of the ‘secular’ forces to respond to these issues with courage and conviction, Hindutva gains ultimately.

It is also argued that the film does not refer to former Prime Minister, VP Singh, under whose regime the Pandits faced mass displacement from Kashmir.  The Congress and some ‘liberals’ are bringing V P Singh into picture and putting the blame on him for the mass migration of Kashmiri Pandits out of the valley into Jammu and the rest of India. However, the incidents of 1989-90 will have to be seen in the broader atmosphere prevailing in the valley, also caused by the earlier, inept handling of the situation by a previous prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi.

There is an emergent unanimity around who is the villain of the story. Both the opposition Congress and some liberals, now point to V P Singh, who was the prime minister of India at the time. Despite being one of India’s most honest and secular political leaders, V P Singh remains the target of this calumny and slander by many of India’s intellectuals and activists, many of whom are both brahmanical and seculars who in any case find in him someone culpable of the ‘Mandal sin’. That implementation of Mandal commission report providing 27% quota in the government services to other backward communities was the biggest challenge to brahmanical hegemony both in politics and governance. This radical move is today openly embraced by all the political parties. Let us discuss some of these issues and the hypocrisy of sections of the political elite.

Is VP Singh responsible for Kashmiri crisis?

Let us discuss whether V P Singh is responsible for what happened with Kashmiri Pandits. The Kashmir issue is historical and one cannot deny the fact that the roots of it lies in our denial of the situation there and imposition of puppet regimes there.  So, let us discuss some events that took place in Kashmir while V P Singh was in power from December 1989 to November 1990, that is, for nearly 11 months.

Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, a former Congressman from Jammu and Kashmir, contested from Mujjaffarnagar and won the elections. V P Singh government assumed office on December 2, 1989 and Mufti Sayeed was made the Home Minister in VP Singh’s cabinet.  Within 48 hours after taking charge of the government, VP Singh made a historic visit to the Golden Temple, along with his cabinet that included Devi Lal, Inder Kumar Gujral and Mufti Sayeed. Unfortunately, the situation in Jammu and Kashmir was turning volatile due to the highly unpopular government of Farooq Abdullah which came to power due to allegedly high rigging during the elections.

Jagmohan, a controversial bureaucrat with roots of anti-democratic conduct even during the infamous Emergency of 1977, was made the governor of Jammu and Kashmir. This appointment was certainly due to the pressure of BJP, a party that had given outside support to the government in power. Besides the pressure from the BJP, according to the autobiography of VP Singh, home minister, Mufti Sayeed also played a role in the appointment of Jagmohan due to local politics of Jammu and Kashmir. 

Then, on December 8, 1989, home minister Mufti Sayeed’s daughter, Rubaiya Sayeed was kidnapped by the terrorists of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front. It was a big blow to the government, soon after assumption of office. Events in Jammu and Kashmir were spiralling out of control.  Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah was said to be holidaying in London during that period while his state was burning. A question that begs an answer is, how was the daughter of the Union Home Minister kidnapped? Were no precautions taken to avoid such acts? General K V Krishna Rao who was then the governor could do little to handle the situation. When Jagmohan was appointed the governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Farooq Abdullah resigned in protest and the state was placed under president’s rule. Jagmohan was ‘well respected’ by the Hindus but considered a villain by Muslims for his highhandedness in dealing with the situation in which a large number of Muslims youths were arrested by the police and kept in jail.

One must not ignore the historical facts of the Jammu Kashmir problem lies in privileged section of Hindus resenting the  1950 law entitled Land Estate Abolition Act’ which was responsible for ending Zamindari in the state which hurt the class and financial ‘interests’ of Kashmiri Pandits and Dogras who benefited under Maharaja Hari Singh’s rule. The ‘Hindus’ could not accept this policy move though not all Hindus were Zamindars. However, the powerful Hindu Zamindar lobby who were opinion makers and the political elite successfully portrayed the issue as a Hindu-Muslim issue.  Issues within Jammu and Kashmir cannot be used or made an excuse to settle other political scores and need the honest introspection on behalf of all.

The wider Indian leadership has always wanted Jammu and Kashmir to be their ‘secular tag’ while the militants in the valley wanted to eliminate Hindus and Muslims who were pro Indian. Still under the dynamic leadership of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, Jammu and Kashmir was solidly behind India and we had a leader who had huge influence on the Kashmiri masses. In the 1980s, Sheikh Saheb was not in good health and slowly his son Farooq Abdullah was being seen as his legitimate heir, but, by then, the situation in the valley was getting out of control. So various political as well as ‘national’ events in the early 1980s can be said to be the cause behind the unrest in Kashmir which compelled the Kashmiri Pandits as well as Muslims to migrate the valley and settle in either Jammu region or other parts of the country.

Indira Gandhi’s dominant politics and looking for a puppet regime

So it can be said that the roots of migration of the Pandits from Kashmir actually started after Mrs Indira Gandhi returned as Prime Minister again in 1980. Jammu and Kashmir that time was being ruled by Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, the undisputed leader of Kashmiri nationalist movement. At the end of his life, Sheikh got his son Farooq appointed as President of National Conference in 1981. After the death of Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah in 1982, Farooq Abdullah became the chief minister of the state. He was a different man, full of ideas and wanted to be part of the broader coalition that was emerging in India against Indira Gandhi particularly on the issue of states and their autonomy. The initiative started with Andhra Pradesh chief minister, N T Rama Rao and involved several other non-Congress chief ministers including Rama Krishna Hegde and those from left parties. Indira Gandhi wanted to have an alliance with National Conference but under Farooq, it was not ready to do so.

In 1983, when the West Indian Cricket team came to India to play a full series of six one day and six test match series, one of the one day international was held at the Sher-e-Kashmir stadium in Srinagar but the atmosphere in the stadium was absolutely hostile to India.  Various anti India groups were active in the valley and it was a concern for the then government headed by Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. As Farooq was new in politics and trying to ally with the opposition parties, particularly various chief ministers who were not comfortable with Indira Gandhi, the Centre wanted to dismiss Farooq Abdullah but governor B K Nehru refused to oblige and the result was he was removed. Jagmohan, an old loyalist who was infamous for his ‘excesses’ during emergency, particularly the famous Turkman gate slum demolition case, was made the governor in April 1984. Indira had full trust in him and acknowledged it in the form of Padma Shri awarded to him in 1971 and the Padma Bhushan in 1977 for his ‘services’ to the nation. 

Within a short period of time, he was at loggerheads with the chief minister who enjoyed a majority in the house. How do you remove a chief minister who enjoyed a majority in the house. The old Congress model came handy for Jagmohan who created a rival group in the party. The result was a split in the National Conference with Farooq’s brother in law Ghulam Muhammad Shah was made chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir in August 1984.  This was a sad story of a leader who was determined to topple state governments who had enough majority in the Vidhan Sabha. In October 1984, Mrs Indira Gandhi was assassinated.  Jammu and Kashmir was witnessing many upheavals during the period. Under G.M Shah, Kashmir began to polarise again.

Rajiv Gandhi’s Hindutva politics alienated Kashmiris further

The impact of unlocking the doors of Ram Temple became the turning point for this polarisation in the Kashmir valley. There were riots in Kashmir in which homes of Hindus were attacked and their properties were targeted. Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister and, arguably, the 1984 mandate to Congress was majoritarian. Between November 1-3, 1984 following the assassination, a brutal anti-Sikh pogrom was conducted in the nation’s capital where close to 3,000 Sikhs were murdered in targeted killings. Elections that brought Rajiv Gandhi to power took place in December 1984. Rajiv followed his mother’s footsteps.

The mischief of opening locks of Ram Janamabhumi at Ayodhya in February 1986 and mishandling of the Shah Bano case, his government was being seen in the valley as trying to push Indian Muslims to the wall. These actions at the national level fuelled the anti-India Pakistani supporter groups in the Valley who targeted Hindus and Kashmiri Pandits. Riots in Anantnag were the last straw. As the atmosphere continued to be intimidating for both Hindus and pro Indian Muslims, many of them had already started migrating to safer districts in the Jammu region.

Rajiv Gandhi, worried about the repercussion of anti-Hindu sentiments in the valley dismissed the government of Ghulam Muhammad Shah in 1986. There is no doubt that Delhi wanted a puppet regime for most of the time in Jammu and Kashmir. Later the relationship between Farooq and Rajiv improved resulting in an alliance between the National Conference and the Congress Party. New Elections were called out in 1987 which brought back Farooq Abdullah to power. These elections were actually considered thoroughly rigged and had no acceptability in the valley where militancy was returning. It is also well-known that democratic deficit ultimately gives rise to dissension and violence.

When Jawaharlal Nehru went to the UN against Pakistan’s invasion on Jammu and Kashmir and then promised a plebiscite, it was the thought of winning over the people through democratic means. Jawaharlal Nehru’s policy was dubbed a blunder by many and subsequently his daughter Indira Gandhi started dealing with the issue more and more administratively.

After the demise of the tallest leader of Jammu Kashmir Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah, the centre played different games in Jammu & Kashmir. It also made the ‘National Conference’ led by Dr Farooq Abdullah realise that they could not move without being part of New Delhi’s establishment. Confrontation with the centre was not useful for a border state but then Farooq Abdullah was considered as the ‘stooge’ of India by many in the valley yet he continued to defend the Indian flag and constitution in Jammu and Kashmir.

Turmoil in Kashmir and absence of Farooq Abdullah

General K V Krishna Rao succeeded Jagmohan as governor of Jammu Kashmir between July 1989 to January 1990 when the situation in Jammu Kashmir was extremely difficult and deteriorating. It was thought that the veteran General would be able to handle it both administratively and politically but after the Rajiv Gandhi government lost the election and V P Singh assumed office, the anti-India sentiment grew. In fact, for the first time, the rest of the country saw the protest in Kashmir on their TV sets within their homes. The mishandling of Rubaiyya Sayeed kidnapping by the VP Singh government — and the release of terrorists to protect her life– was a dark chapter.

It was clear that Farooq Abdullah had no understanding of the issue that time and was accused of inept handling. Sadly, he was not even there in the state for over a month when the crisis happened. It was reported that he was in the UK and USA for nearly one month under the pretext of getting medical treatment.  No doubt, Farooq Abdullah is a secular leader but at that time completely disconnected with the Kashmir population. Most of the people felt that he was the spokesperson of the government of India.  When the Union government took the step to make Jagmohan governor –and as a protest Farooq Abdullah resigned—the state was placed under the President Rule.

On December 8, 1989, the kidnapping of the Union Home Minister’s daughter changed everything. Were the Indian security agencies unable to provide security to the family of the Union Home Minister who hailed from the valley? While the release of terrorist was not a good idea, should VP Singh alone be blamed for it? His was a coalition government and the prime minister had just assumed charge. He sent a team of senior leaders including Arif Mohammad Khan and Inder Kumar Gujral to negotiate and do the needful. Questions should also be asked to Arif Khan, now governor of Kerala as to what was his role in the release of the militants. If he was unhappy with it then why didn’t he resign or protest? We never heard that he protested or resigned.

It is clear that Kashmiri separatists could not digest a Kashmiri leader as India’s home minister and V P Singh’s choice of home minister impacted Muslims in the rest of the country. This case of kidnapping of his daughter was an absolute failure of the government as it allowed the terrorists and anti-India people to dictate terms and conditions. A good will gesture by a man who is now being vilified, would have made a soothing effect in the psyche of the people of the state.  V P Singh making a Kashmiri Muslim as union Home Minister was historic but it failed because of the inept handling of the situation by Farooq led administration which collapsed completely. 

When Farooq and Jagmohan became part of NDA under Vajpayee

The Kashmir story does not end here. It exposes more hypocrisy of those in power. In 1999, Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the Prime Minister of India and he ran his government till 2004. Farooq Abdullah was the Chief Minister of Jammu Kashmir and his son Omar Abdullah was Minister of State, External Affairs in the same government. In fact, Omar went to the historic Durban Summit against racism and xenophobia and claimed that there is no caste discrimination in India.  Now, the most ‘fascinating’ part of the story is that Mr Jagmohan too was a Minister in the Vajpayee cabinet. So Farooq was part of NDA which had Jagmohan as Minister and he did not oppose inclusion of his son in the same cabinet.

Look at the Farooq of 1990 when he resigned as soon as Jagmohan was sent as the governor of J & K. Now the main question is why have all these worthies done nothing and no questions asked? What efforts were made by either the BJP or NDA or UPA to rehabilitate the displaced Kashmiris, many of them were Kashmiri Muslims. The fact is many people blame Jag Mohan instigating Kashmiri Pandits to migrate to polarise the situation and take strongest possible action against the ‘militants’. 

Let us speak about some other facts in the valley. As per reports from 1989-2004 a total number of 219 Kashmiri Pandits were killed though the sangh parivar makes the numbers look in thousands.  Secondly, the total number of internally displaced people is still not clearly known but it could be between 70,000 to one lakh families. It could be more. It can be easily said that Jagmohan was part of the problem of a government and an administration who played the majoritarian/Hindu Card and was the darling of not merely the Hindutva forces, who celebrate him today but the Gandhis too. In fact, all the legitimacy to Jag Mohan was provided by the Gandhis.

Jammu and Kashmir is a political problem and not really an administrative one. Undeniably, Kashmiri Pandits faced trauma as nobody would like to leave his place of birth and not return. That pain is like those who faced it during the partition of India. This is the biggest one. Kashmir files do not resolve the issue but put the blame of the migration of the Kashmiri Pandits on Muslims as well as the non BJP leadership. This is disturbing to say the least. It is the story of Indian leadership’s political and administrative failure.

The Kashmiri Pandit story can only be resolved through a political process where Kashmiri people matter. The current regime has branded all those who stood by India and felt pride in being Indian, as anti-national. Farooq Abdullah might have been a failure but he remained a die-hard Indian. Mufti Sayeed’s daughter Mehbooba Mufti’s People’s Democratic Party was in alliance with BJP. Why were these issues never resolved?

Using Kasmiri Pandit story to whip up anti Muslim sentiments will not solve the issue but exacerbate things further There is nothing wrong in making a film and portraying the condition of a community but Kashmir crisis is not between Hindus and Muslims but between Pakistani sponsored terrorism and the idea of India. An issue cannot be made a tool to spread poison and spread hatred.

Historical facts used to selectively to spread poison and hatred

Creative community must work with sensitivity on the issues of human rights and oppression but if it becomes a propaganda tool of the ruling establishment then it will only poison the minds of the people. If Kashmiri Pandits were forced to exile by those who had a vision of Islamic Kashmir then how could they be the agent of those who want to do the same with Muslim minorities in Hindutva India?

India has witnessed numerous hatred based on caste against Dalits by the dominant caste Hindus and the people keep quiet on the same. Shankar Bigha, Tsundur, Karmchedu, Bharatpur, Lakshmanpur Bathe are well known to be documented. Nobody can forget what happened to Nellie and Hashimpura-Maliana. Of course, everywhere, the victims were Dalits and minorities. It is also a fact that the majority community did not support the perpetrators of the crime but certainly remained silent because of fear or political compulsion.  It is a fact that in any conflict while not all people participate, the silence of the vast majority helps creating false binaries. This in turn helps all those who do not want people to come together whether this side of the boundary or the other.

It also brings us to the fact to understand that we all have to live in harmony as there is no other answer. Every community is a majority somewhere and minority elsewhere.  All of us migrate at some point of time to other places for bettering our lives and seek equal rights for all. We need to look at every issue with greater sensitivity towards resolving it and learning lessons from it so that such incidents do not happen again but using historical wrongs to perpetrate another wrong will always be counterproductive and will not take us anywhere.

Kashmiri Pandits were wronged and so were Kashmiri Dalits too particularly the Balmikis or Wattals who were manual scavengers or Safai Karmcharis. They did not have any right under any regime but how many raised their voices against their plight? We must fight against institutional violation and make our laws stronger to have no such incidents repeated. Kashmiri Pandits should not allow themselves to be used as a political tool by the Hindutva propagandists to vitiate the atmosphere by vilifying the Muslims community in the rest of the country.

The post Beyond Kashmir Files, a call for reason appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The poll outcome in five states have gladdened many and disappointed others with BJP’s extremely impressive performance. But it is also a complete failure of the Opposition parties particularly Congress and BSP. The results have also exposed the embedded media. It is not merely Modi Bhakts but there is a ‘big’ anti-Modi anti-Yogi industry which gained enormously since 2014.

After the demise of ‘media’, the so-called alternative media too came from those segments of ‘professionals’ who were part of the what is termed as ‘Godi’ Media or ‘Darbari media’. The popularity these ‘alternative’ portals went extremely high. Individuals became ‘nayaks’ and Kisan Andolan ‘strengthened’ it further when ‘journalists’ became spokespersons of the ‘anti-Modi’ lobby, or in Uttar Pradesh, the anti-Yogi narrative. Their monologues were often full of misinterpretations yet in the current trends, it does not matter what you write or how qualitative and objective you are, like Godi media, the ‘alternative’ too thrived on falsification of news and complete disconnect from reality.

Those claiming ‘alternative media’ were neither alternative nor analytical but more a party, perhaps setting news ‘agenda’ for the political sponsors. They attended political rallies, spoke to ‘bhakts’ and made us ‘feelgood’ that BJP has become ‘unwanted’. The Kisan Andolan, the anti CAA Protests were legitimate movements and protests, but they cannot be projected as ‘alternative’ political parties to BJP.

Movements and their Crises

An analysis of the politically ‘apolitical’ social movement can give you understanding that most of them have ended up in helping the ‘Sangh Parivar’ and its ‘idea of India’.  The longer these ‘movements’ are pushed, the better for the BJP to exploit the inherent contradictions of society. The fault line of the political analysts and ‘social scientists’ is in their portrayal of a ‘progressive’ movement but the facts are they were more due to political marginalisation of the communities. Anna Hazare-Arvind Kejriwal’s anti-corruption movement actually emerged after Congress-led UPA won second term in the Lok Sabha in 2009. The movement in the name of ‘anti-corruption’ was led by the Savarna forces who felt that Congress was a marginalising the ‘upper castes’.

The issue of reservation in Promotion had haunted the upper castes after the Supreme Court had validated the issue of reservation for Backward communities. Congress allowed AAP to grow and dent the Hindutva party but ended up with egg on its face. Kejriwal ultimately has become the biggest tool to finish the Congress. With Punjab win, AAP is going to all the states to make it look as if it is the only alternative to BJP however the dark realities must not be forgotten that in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Goa, most of the AAP candidates forfeited their deposits. In Uttarakhand, their state president and chief ministerial face too forfeited his deposit. While Kejriwal might have become unchallenged ‘king’ of Delhi, his ‘anti-corruption’ movement ultimately helped the Sangh Parivar gain ground and decimate Congress. It also reflected that ruling Congress Party was unable to deal with political protests and it was second biggest dent after the party failed to associate with the backward communities when Mandal Commission report was implemented.

Modi government faced various movements whether the students’ protests against the marginalisation of the Dalit Adivasi students in Universities, or anti CAA-NRC protests or the farmers. Each of these movements were handled by the ruling dispensation with great contempt. The attempt was to keep them on for longer period so that it become easier to create fear among ‘others. BJP has now become ‘expert’ in the art of manipulating and using the inherent contradictions in our society. Any ruling party does so and Congress was no exception to it when in power.

The nature of the farmer protests was actually exclusive without much sympathy and support of the agricultural workers. Though Dalit participated in these protests, yet it was a reality that most of the farmers were happy with their Zamindar status and certainly turned political. BJP tried to polarise it at every level. Initially, it was dominated by the Punjab’s farmers but after the Republic Day incident last year, the farmers, particularly the Jats from Western Uttar Pradesh under Rakesh Tikait took the lead with their massive participation.

It was extremely difficult condition for BJP which has made deeper inroads in Western Uttar Pradesh by feeding into Jat insecurities through anti-Muslim narratives. The problem is that BJP was never unwanted, and like Godi media, the so called ‘secular’ or activist journalists too had their eyes shut. While the farm protests were genuine, it is also true that it became a tool for ‘political’ rehabilitation of Jats in the Western Uttar Pradesh. It is also a factor that farmer’s issues with the ruling party got resolved once the ‘bills’ were withdrawn but it seems carrying on the movement to fight against BJP at different places became counterproductive and helped the BJP. We must understand that farmer issue is important but it is merely one of the issues and not the entire issue. ‘Experts’ are ‘shocked’ to see BJP winning all the nine seats in Lakhimpur Khiri where farm protests were sought to be crushed by Union minister’s son. 

Even in Uttarakhand, Congress’s central leadership was speaking about ‘farmers’ and ignored other issues. In the Tarai region of both Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, Sikh farmers are always considered as ‘landed’ and exploiters. A big number of people in Lakhimpur Khiri region are actually migrants from Eastern Uttar Pradesh. BJP was able to convert the narrative into Sikhs verses non-Sikhs. Farmers issues actually was unable to challenge the citadel of castes and I had actually warned about this long back in several of my videos and articles that while the issue is extremely important to protect agriculture in India, in the villages, people still vote as per their caste identities. It was surprising that Congress was focusing more on farmers issues and ignored other important issues in Uttarakhand. In Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bundelkhand the farm laws and the movement were unable to reach agricultural workers. It was always perceived as big farmers movement and no efforts were made to make it inclusive. 

Most of the time ‘movements’ are basically related to particular issues. They have limited appeal and over-emphasis on them boomerangs most of the time. Movements have always helped the BJP in the last few decades because they have better understanding of who ‘support’ and ‘oppose’ the movement.

Caste is much powerful weapon than the issues. Frankly speaking, it was Rahul Gandhi, who had launched the farmers protests in Punjab against the farm bill. His tractor yatras were well received but once Charanjeet Singh Channi’s name was announced as chief minister the situation changed. The announcement was made very late after AAP declared Bhagwant Man as their chief ministerial candidate. It looks like the announcement was taken as an attempt to create caste-based formation. Most of the farmers were Jat Sikhs and loyal to Akali Dal. Many were Congress supporters too, but with the declaration Congress was unable to work as a team.

The party suffered from credibility crisis as party’s state president was not ready to play second fiddle. At the end, it was a reality that the Jat Sikhs were not ready to vote BJP but they opted out of Congress because of Channi being a Dalit. Unfortunately, even the Majhabis i.e. Valmikis did not come to Congress. The caste question among Sikhs is a dirty reality which most of the ‘liberal’ ‘social justice friendly’ authors and journalists deny but the defeat of Congress Party has clearly shown that Punjab was not ready for this experiment and therefore AAP benefitted from it. The Hindus in Punjab voted for AAP and not to the Congress party.

BSP’s ‘bhaichara’

The shocking results of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh as it only got one seat reflect the growing marginalisation of the party. Even when the party’s vote percentage is 12%, it got just one seat. There is a crisis of electoral system too, as Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) with 2% votes got 8 seats while Congress got 2 seats.

BSP’s supporters were active on social media and many of them were challenging the narrative that the party is not in a position to give a fight. The party gave tickets to a large number of Muslims, but that did not help. The party felt that by giving tickets to the Muslims, it would be able to get their support. The problem that the BSP leadership did not understand was that Muslims were facing insecurities and at the moment their whole concern is to defeat BJP and for that they were ready to defeat their ‘own’ candidate to allow victory of the ‘secular’ party most likely to defeat BJP. In Uttar Pradesh, Muslims had made up their mind to vote for Samajwadi Party (SP) though both BSP and SP did not really raise their issues properly but still Muslims have always preferred SP over BSP.

It is disturbing to see Ms. Mayawati blaming Muslims for BSP’s poor performance. It is a well-known fact that BSP had started ‘Brahmin Bhaichara’ and other ‘bhaichara’ committees. The focus was on Savarna communities, particularly Brahmins. To exploit the ‘anti-Thakur’ sentiments, BSP went overboard on promoting the Brahmin power and promising Parshuram’s temple and statutes. Prabuddha Varga sammelan’s were organised and fairly large number of Brahmins got BSP tickets. The Party not only gave Brahmins tickets in large number, but has been only speaking about them. It was disappointing that no efforts were made to reach the other Dalit communities. BSP’s core voter in Uttar Pradesh is Chamar-Jatav community, and when late Kanshiram began his political journey, his focus was bringing together all the Dalits and MBC communities but that programme has now been converted into ‘sarvjan’ idea which has actually let down the other Dalit communities like Pasi, Dhobi, Khatiks and Balmikis.

During a visit to Kushinagar a few months ago, I met a district coordinator of the party from the neighbouring district. I did not know him but I was discussing the issue of party’s outreach programme, and my simple question was why the party not trying to reach to Balmikis in particular. Our Buddhist friend was also upset. After listening to us, the BSP leader said that they tried their best to bring Balmikis to the party but the community has never cooperated with them. Most of the time, the community is ‘drunk’, he said. I was enraged, and said the same argument was given by the dominant communities when speaking about Dalits as a whole. This is extremely poor argument. The neta said that they were a political party and not an ‘NGO’ and need to work as per the political ‘sameekarans’ of the area. I was shocked to hear this and informed that Baba Saheb’s mission was not an NGO but bringing all the communities together. This is the dark reality of the cadre who converted Dr Ambedkar as leader of a particular community resulting in counter movement from Sangh Parivar in other communities and creating their ‘caste’ icons. 

It is also a reality that in the battle for perception BSP had already lost as it started very late, it was not visible in the ground. Its more focus was on Brahmin Bhai chara and after Samajwadi Party’s ticket distribution, it gave ticket selectively and many people say, intentionally, though, it is party’s prerogative, to Muslims.

I do not agree with the argument of BSP fielding candidates to defeat Samajwadi Party. It is a national party and facing elimination now but, in my opinion, it is still relevant and need to be strengthened and collective leadership need to emerge particularly from diverse communities. It needs to look beyond mere calculations and raise issues of public importance. BSP has a big challenge but one can only say that it is important that party go back to its original mission started by late Kanshiram and build social coalition of various marginalised communities who are still looking for their political participation and representation.

Samajwadi’s Brahmin Mission

Samajwadi Party got 32% votes and 111 seats which was way above it got in the last assembly. Akhilesh Yadav campaigned powerfully. His rathyatras attracted huge crowds and his social media too had a dedicated team. Of late, he started speaking aggressively. His initial approach to the elections was of plain political issues such as Highways, Metro etc., and shying away from the identity issues, social justice, reservation etc.

It was only after three OBC leaders of the BJP, Swami Prasad Maurya, Dara Singh Chauhan and Dharm Singh Saini resigned and joined SP, that Akhilesh Yadav realised that the issue of OBCs matter. But those who resigned knew it well that their getting ticket was difficult. Their resignation created flutter. Suddenly, fake news started looking real since it was coming from ‘alternative media’. None of the OBC leaders raised the issue of NEET or reservation. The only issue Akhilesh Yadav spoke was of Caste census which offended none.

Like BSP, Samajwadi Party too engaged with Brahmins just to counter Yogi Adityanath’s Thakurwad. Akhilesh got trapped in the narrative being spread by the Brahmanical media in Lucknow and Delhi about ‘Brahmins’ unhappiness with Yogi Adityanath even when many of his media and close advisers were Brahmins. In his attempt get votes from the Brahmins, Samajwadi Party gave ticket to them, promised statues of Parshuram and many more things. For Brahmins, the real issue has never been Parshuram, but their political representation. They were compelling parties to give them more seats and for that, issues of Brahmin discomfort were created.

One should have asked the basic question – Why should Brahmins be ‘unhappy’ with BJP? Afterall, what has BJP done against them?  Unfortunately, it was not merely Akhilesh Yadav, but many of these allied parties too handled the things badly. The issue of Chandrashekar was handled rather badly. I had written during that time that Chandrashekhar Azad did not show maturity, but it would have been better for Samajwadi Party to deal with him. Now, Chandrashekhar Azad has fought and got the taste of political defeat, one is sure that he will focus on a particular constituency and not contest elections for the sake of media headlines.

There is a lesson for Samajwadi Party that it needs dedicated cadres and not merely Yadav loyalist. It might have leaders from different communities but it frankly does not have cadres at that level. It worked very hard but it needed much bigger alliance at the ground level. Perhaps, all the political parties need to sit and ponder over for their future programme. The party must launch its own paper and support social cultural movement. It cannot hide from the issues of the marginal farmers as well as reservation. The Party must know that mere entry of a big heavy weight politician is not an ‘assurance’ of the vote transfer from their community.

When Swami Prasad Maurya was given ticket from Fazil Nagar, the BJP had already given ticket to local MLA Ganga Singh Kushwaha’s son Surendra Singh Kushwaha. This belt is dominated by Kushwahas who have now become strong supporters of BJP very similar to Lodhs in the Central Uttar Pradesh. Kurmis and Kushwahas main contradiction these days is not with the Brahmins but with the Yadavs hence it was natural for them to go towards BJP. This work to bring diverse communities is only possible with a longer cultural movement and a strong cadre like DMK in Tamil Nadu. Samajwadi Party would do well to learn from DMK movement if it wants to survive and provide an alternative in India. It will need to work together with all the like-minded parties then it needs to support specific civil society movement with a categorical agenda of the party and not merely Bijli-sadak-pani which the Brahmanical media continue to hype.

While Akhilesh Yadav has wider acceptability, it is also a fact that Shiv Pal Yadav has better network and understanding of the political situation. The treatment given to him is well known but hopefully, things will be settled now. Akhilesh Yadav’s alliance with RLD too failed. Perhaps, it was over hyped due to farmers agitation but did not work on the ground. There are three big communities in Western Uttar Pradesh and they are Gujjars, Jats and Yadavs. The first two have now become solid supporters of Hindutva while Yadavs mostly remained with Samajwadi Party. This time, the Muslim-Jat alliance stories helped RLD win a few seats in the Mujaffarnagar-Meerut areas, but could not move beyond that.

Western Uttar Pradesh did not dent BJP’s victory march and became part of it. Perhaps, all the non-BJP political parties took this region for granted and felt that people are ready to vote to them but they ignored that the Kisans are powerful communities but they alone are not the factors as there are other communities too related to agricultural sector and caste identities come to the fore. Historical differences cannot get wiped out with merely an anti-government protest, you need to strengthen the outreach and socialise your politics.

Congress’s Ladki Hoon

Congress failed miserably. It has now been reduced to 2 seats with 2% voting. Priyanka Gandhi has been in the field for last one year and raised issues of Sonbhadra Adivasi massacre or Unnao Rape victims’ case or that of Hatharas. It was she who decided to go to Lakhimpur Khiri and was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police. The Congress gave 40% ticket to women and their campaign slogan was ‘ladki hoon lad sakatee hoon’ which was attractive. They organised various marathons and it was reported that the crowds were ‘unprecedented’. Social media reporters of the Congress IT cell were giving thumps up to party’s campaign. It is true that Congress’s party under Priyanka Gandhi carried the biggest campaign and created an environment that benefitted Samajwadi Party the most. The feeling that BJP is facing defeat actually was created by Priyanka’s various campaigns but then when suddenly she announced ‘Ladki hoon lad saktee hoon’ as focus campaign. I felt that the campaign was more of the NGO kind of event management and not really political.

When the tickets were distributed, the Congress party knew it well that their conditions were absolutely grim and they were not in a position of coming to power but Priyanka and her team felt that they might get substantial numbers to ‘influence’ the government in Lucknow. Through ‘Ladki hoon lad sakatee hoon’ campaign, it tried to send a signal that it cared for girls and women, but politics is not merely slogans, but much more.  Most of the tickets went to ‘celebrities’ who were more active on Twitter and Facebook, but without much track record of any social or political work. The result was a large number of these over hyped ‘activists’ who might have been victims of state brutality and needed justice but does not make them leaders got much lesser votes than their Facebook or Twitter likes or retweets.

When Priyanka Gandhi found Ram Raj Singh Gond, an Adivasi leader in Sonbhadra, that was extremely bold decision and despite defeat he could be good for the party but in terms of women, most of them were ‘active’ on social media. Ladki hoon lad sakatee hoon might have generated good response but it was bound to fail as ‘celebrities’ on social media do not necessarily make it politically viable. Priyanka campaigned for the rights of the Unnao rape victim but giving ticket to her mother Asha Singh might have got symbolically more points in social media but failed to enthuse the people. Look at the over hyped Pankhuri Pathak for who Priyanka campaigned for two days but could get on 13,000 votes. She was reduced to nothing as the seat was won by Pankaj Singh, son of defence minister Rajnath Singh with a massive margin. There was another celebrity in Lucknow who too was rejected by the people. Congress refused to understand that elections are not merely the ‘celebrities’ but also powerful social mobilisation particularly in Uttar Pradesh where communities are seeking participation and representation. Most of the Congress’s candidates except for ‘secularism’ and Hindu-Muslim binary knew nothing.

Congress did not raise issues of the communities particularly Dalits, MBCs, Muslims and was superficially speaking about ‘sarv dharm sambhav’, temple visiting and that they are against the politics of ‘caste and religion’. Now, if you really want to provide a counter to politics of religion and castes, you will have to speak about them and not side track the issue. Most of the leaders in Congress party are still Savarnas and space for SC-ST-OBC-Muslims is very limited. Party has not been able to raise hopes for these sections. The party does neither have leaders nor network. Ajay Kumar Lalloo worked hard but he himself was reduced to third position in his constituency.

Congress needs a complete over haul. It needs a strong, big leader who give his or her total time for Uttar Pradesh. Important to create local leaders who have hold in the community and strengthen Congress’s cultural wing. Congress is still considered an upper-caste party and no serious efforts have been made by the party to win over the most marginalised sections who used to vote it earlier. The Congress’s rainbow of castes is now powerfully hijacked by BJP.

Rahul Gandhi has given Congress an ideological shape. He is also encouraging young leaders from different communities but it is time Congress develop regional satraps as it had in the past who could manage things for it. Of course, despite all its efforts, Congress leadership has not been able to connect with the people. The reason for this is probably their approach which was focusing on particular issues and though these particular issues are important but cannot change the government unless there is a massive grassroot cadre. It will not be possible for the party to emerge as an alternative in Uttar Pradesh but it still needs to focus and rebuild a strong social coalition, train activists and build narrative. It’s a gigantic task, which is difficult as most of the parties whether BJP or its opponents, both have a commonality, they have abhorrence towards the Gandhis but it is also important that despite attempt to discredit them, they remain an all-India alternative to BJP.

Each party goes through such a process and though Priyanka Gandhi campaigned powerfully, Congress was unable to stitch the coalition in Uttar Pradesh, it became a part of discourse but it was never in picture. Congress’s revival is difficult in Uttar Pradesh unless the party is revived in rest of the country and become part of power. With 2% vote share, Congress will find it difficult to revive at the moment but as a political party it must continue to raise people’s issues and build alliances much before the elections to remain relevant.

In Punjab Congress defeated its own self. The way Amrinder Singh was replaced was incorrect. Priyanka Gandhi promoting Navjot Singh Siddhu over others was also the reason. In all, a divided Congress lost all the battle. It is shameful.

The most disgusting example of Congress killing its own prospectus was Uttarakhand. While in Punjab it declared the Channi as party’s Chief Minister, in Uttarakhand it refused to acknowledge the contribution of the senior most leader Harish Rawat. Since 2002, Congress has refused to accept and respect Harish Rawat, who is still considered the tallest leader in Uttarakhand. When all the poll surveys of the hill state were predicting a tough fight but in terms of popularity of individual leaders, all the surveys indicated that Harish Rawat was way ahead of others yet party leadership refused to accept him. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi rarely visited Uttarakhand. They travelled to the state just on election eve. Contrary to them, Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have been regularly visiting Uttarakhand and made the people feel that they are wanted and respected. Congress cannot expect victory by their leader’s tourism in the state on election eve. There was nothing specific in Rahul and Priyanka’s speeches in Uttarakhand to offer to the people which has different issues than Uttar Pradesh and Punjab.

Yogi’s Thakurwad

Yogi Adityanath was charged with preferring Thakurs and it was claimed that Brahmins were being side-lined despite the facts that brahmin presence in the Ministry as well as bureaucracy was substantial and perhaps more. Secondly, Yogi’s close media adviser was both Brahmin and Bania. To target Yogi’s Thakurwad, a few ‘experts’ in Lucknow and Delhi started this campaign that there is a ‘huge’ anti Yogi sentiment among Brahmins. Both BSP and SP jumped into it and started organising meetings to get support from the ‘brahmin’ community. In their zeal to attract the Brahmin votes, all the parties went beyond board to ‘placate’ the Brahmins who have voted massively to BJP. The attempt to create an anti-brahmin sentiment also helped Yogi Adityanath who in an interview to a national channel said that he was proud to be born as ‘kshatriya’. Many political commentators and experts felt bad about it but in the politics of identity Yogi can’t remove himself from that reality that if he loses his core constituency then he is nowhere.

BJP gave tickets to 68 brahmins and 67 Rajputs. Banias got 31. The massive chunk was for the OBCs like Kurmis, Kushwahas, Shakyas and Lodhs. Among the Dalits, it gave 30% seats to both Jatavs and Pasis. Now the results are out and one can see how BJP’s gamble paid. Total number of brahmins from BJP who got elected were 46 while SP got 5. Among the Thakurs, BJP got 43, SP 4 and BSP 1. 27 Kurmis, 19 Jatavs, 18 Pasis and 3 Yadavs are said to be elected on BJP tickets.  Clearly, the massive brahmin outreach programme of Samajwadi Party and BSP failed miserably as all the Savarna communities are extremely comfortable with BJP at the moment. Hence anti Brahmin accusation on Yogi Adityanath fell flat and looked as if was created to confuse the Opposition from raising other issues of importance.

His continuous anti-Muslim rhetoric did not help much but one cannot ignore the fact that in Uttar Pradesh things are still polarised and it worked. This is an extremely worrying phenomenon. Yogi Adityanath also got benefitted from wrong priorities by his opponents. Akhilesh Yadav’s attempt to provide space to all those who left BJP did not work well.  Today, Yogi is the most powerful face of BJP after Narendra Modi. BJP is a party which is in election mode all the time and they will definitely learn from the past mistake hence formation of Ministry and its shape will be important reflection as in which direction the party will move.

Media, money, narrative and Limits of FPTP System

While it is important to acknowledge that BJP has a powerful cadre and election winning machinery but one cannot and should not ignore the factor that they also made use of technology and system. Though Prime Minister and Chief Minister were doing big rallies prior to declaration of Election schedule, the Election Commission’s ban on big rallies was helpful for the BJP. No other party has even one third strength of BJP in terms of money and technology. There was no level playing field. There were reports of EVM malfunctioning and serious allegation on officers on duty yet nothing happened. The issue of VVPAT has never been addressed giving rise to speculation. I don’t have the data, but any win below one thousand votes gives rise to speculations and the best way would be to get the VVPAT counted and matched with the machines result. 

This was an uneven fight because BJP had massive political machinery and also used Income Tax, Enforcement Directorate and other department against political opponents. It did not care for election code of conduct and Election Commission was quiet on various violations. The language of BJP leaders during the election campaign were absolutely unparliamentary, many times threatening and intimidating but no action was taken. The Prime Minister and Uttar Pradesh chief minister used media interviews to promote their party violating the election code of conduct but no action was taken. The politics was one channel would broadcast the interview on the eve of the polls and others will ‘report’ all the time. Journalists became BJP’s propaganda agent. Every day, opinion polls were being conducted, media was organising events and social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook have become the biggest agent of the ruling party, denying spaces to voices of opposition. Links exposing the ruling party never get enough visibility and have been limited in reach.

For a healthy democracy, we need strong Opposition, independent media and autonomous institutions. Unfortunately, all this is under heavy assault by the ruling party. BJP has created ‘history’ as officers from civil services are asked to resign and join the party and given tickets. How can anyone trust that the bureaucracy is doing its work independently when it becomes a party. As the thin line between institutions and ruling party disappear, it will ultimately ruin democracy which a country like India cannot afford. It is time political parties start thinking on electoral system change. India must move away from First Past the Post System towards proportional electoral system. Look at the examples to reflect the crisis that we face. RLD with 2% vote share got 8 seats in Uttar Pradesh while Congress with the same got 2 seats. BSP with 12% vote share got 1 seat. BJP got 41.3% vote share got 255 seats, SP got 32% but got 111 seats. If vote percentage reflect the seat won then BJP would have got only 165 seats and SP would have got 128.

First Past The Post (FPTP) System makes a large number of votes virtually invalid. If voting percentage has anything to do, then with 41% votes in Uttar Pradesh, BJP is in power. Its allies got nearly 6.5% votes. It means more than 54% people still voted against NDA but then in this system those votes don’t matter. Political parties will have to think on this anomaly. It is not that this has been ‘invented’ by BJP as all the political parties who come to power use this mechanism to consolidate and strengthen them. BSP came from a movement which speak of proportionality on everything, DMK too was born out of this movement for fair representation. It is time, we need serious discussion on electoral reforms as well as autonomy of our institutions. If the political leadership is not ready to protect their autonomy, will the top court of the country step in and issue directions in this regard in the greater interest of Democracy. If we do not wake up, we will be moving towards one party democracy in the country. Election Commission is saying that it is ready to organise one election for all assemblies and Lok Sabha. It is risky and will not succeed but the idea is being toyed by the ruling party with an agenda to rule from Panchayats to parliament and obliterate the opposition or make it irrelevant. Even a thought about such a situation is scary and hence all the opposition parties must stand together and prepare for 2024 by building a bigger alliance and start preparation now. Important for political parties to strengthen civil society movement as well as autonomous media institutions so that people’s voices survive and protect democracy. 

*Views expressed are the author’s own.

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The post Crisis of Democracy: Lessons from UP elections appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been claiming that the Uttar Pradesh model has become ‘ideal’ for the rest of the country. Darbari media has already hailed UP as one of the best ‘governed’ states.

As the first phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh ended, things are not that rosy for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as they claim. Hence BJP leaders, including the prime minister as well as chief minister, have been making such comments which are aimed at polarisation. Each statement is made in an extremely ‘well planned’ and ‘calculated’ way so that there is a consolidation through polarisation.

BJP’s growth is the story of this calculation and shifting goal posts, developing perceptions and building up narratives. Every powerful leader has a ‘dirty trick department’ which is ‘weaving’ new ‘narratives’ and converting them into ‘perceptions. Politics is not ideology, but perceptions and for that ‘WhatsApp’ forwarded messages comes handy.

In a way, Narendra Modi and BJP have succeeded in bringing knowledge from ‘elite’ class to ‘aam admi’ through Whatsapp. So, there is a ‘whatsappisation’ of knowledge which is extremely dangerous but it is for this the chief minister’s comment may be ‘fascinating’ but for the rest of the world, who knows facts, the chief minister’s statements ignore facts about Kerala and there cannot be any comparison between the two states which even the government’s own ‘NITI Ayog’ have said many times. We will discuss those issues in the coming days. Let us first discuss what the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh said.

Yogi Adityanath released a video statement on social media saying, “I want to say something from my heart today. In the past five years, many wonderful things have happened. However, if you make a mistake, the hard work of these five will be wasted. And this time, it will not take time for Uttar Pradesh to become Kashmir, Bengal or Kerala. Your vote is a blessing on my work for five years, but remember, the vote will also guarantee a fear-free life in your future.”

It is not that Adityanath has spoken like this for the first time. During his campaign in Kerala, he spouted the same rhetoric that Uttar Pradesh’s health system is the best in India and Kerala must learn from it. Kerala people rejected Adithyanath’s politics and ‘sermons’ outright, as did people in West Bengal and elsewhere. He has been a ‘star campaigner’ for his party, but is right now stuck in Uttar Pradesh and unable to campaign elsewhere which reflects his ‘confidence’ level.

BJP leadership deliberately use such tactics which polarise people. They know well to raise an issue which will become a hot discussion point with people in other states will be pick up the issue and counter it so that a ‘controversy’ is created. That is the way they wanted to create ‘sub-nationalism’ where it suits their interest. As Hindus and Muslims join hands in Uttar Pradesh, such politics is bound to happen which can create division among them. Right from Hijab to Kerala, all are deliberate efforts which have paid them in past.  During the Gujarat elections, BJP and Narendra Modi had often used ‘Pakistan’, ‘Mian Musharraf’ or confronting the then chief election commissioner Mr Lingdoh deliberately raising fingers at his faith, has been part and parcel of Sangh Parivar’s agenda to win elections at any cost. The language issue, the Hijab controversy too comes handy for them. Kashmir has often been invoked by the Hindutva leaders deliberately to create a sense of ‘insecurity’ among people. All this is used to ‘otherise’ the Muslims and ‘eliminate’ ‘caste differences’ to consolidate them as ‘Hindus’ in this ‘war’ against ‘jehad’.

However, comparison with Pakistan or Bangladesh too is highly unwarranted during the elections as it creates a diplomatic row. But the issue is that Sangh Parivar, and leaders who have emerged from it, don’t understand those things which can put our diplomats too great embarrassment as happened during ‘abki bar Trump Sarkar’ slogan that Narendra Modi raised in the United States against all norms of political decency which suggest one should not involve in electoral processes of other countries as a ‘party’. What will happen if the Americans or Europeans start supporting political parties of their choice here in India?

Similarly, responsible people should not engage in such comparisons among the states for their electoral benefits because all these states are run by the Constitution of India and are part of the Indian Union. Each one of us loves India and definitely will have respect for our state, even if it has not functioned well just because of the failure of the political leadership. I was born in Uttar Pradesh and can say that it is not that bad. It’s a state which not only led during the freedom movement but also gave strength to Baba Saheb Ambedkar. It is the state which has become the best hope for the political success of Ambedkarite polity. It is the state where Dalits and backward classes have gained in political leadership and roots of democracy now deepening. But these are the very facts that the Hindutva forces are unhappy about and want to undo through their ‘nationalists’ agenda.

However, you will not become anti-UP if you accept the real facts that Uttar Pradesh cannot be compared to Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra or Punjab with respect to developmental indices. All these states and many others have performed fairly well in the health, education and agricultural sectors.  The social justice record of Tamil Nadu exceeds all other states in India, let alone Uttar Pradesh. Kerala remains perhaps the best Indian state in terms of health infrastructure and education.

The Kerala and Uttar Pradesh comparison is not being explored for the first time. The most fascinating analysis is actually explained by Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen in their book  Indian Development long back in 1997. The contrast is remarkable and will not really ‘gladden’ the ‘heart’ of those who ‘vouch’ for the ‘thok do model’ of the government. In this extraordinary work, Prof Amartya Sen writes, “Kerala’s achievements in the social fields have been quite remarkable, including an achieved life expectancy of well over 72 years (69 for males and 74 for females by 1991) that compares well with China’s (69 years) and South Korea’s (71 years) achievements, despite the much greater economic advancement of these other countries. At the other end, Uttar Pradesh remains one of the most backward states in India, and had this state of 140 million people been an independent country, it would have been not only one of the largest, but also one of the most socially deprived countries in this world—giving its citizens less than some of the worst-performing economies in sub-Saharan Africa. We have to ask why—and to what extent—Kerala has succeeded, and why Uttar Pradesh has failed so badly in precisely those fields.”

I want to explain further what Prof Sen says that if Kerala were a separate country, its life expectancy would be compared to China and South Korea, two highly developed countries. If Uttar Pradesh was a separate nation, its economic performance would be worse than sub-Saharan countries.

One drawback of the Amartya Sen-Jean Dreze work is that it is from the late 1990s and things have now moved ahead and two sectors of Health and Education the things have deteriorated further. After the 1990s things have deteriorated further. With the mushrooming of private schools, the conditions of the government schools have worsened. The health sector crisis is far bigger where the crisis at Primary Health Centre has only escalated with continued neglect of the health sector. The Corona crisis actually provided an opportunity to our health sector but disturbingly the government used the opportunity to privatise the health sector in India. More focus on ‘insurance’ and less on strengthening the existing infrastructure or developing the new PHCs so that to overcome the crisis that the country faced. Despite the fact that Uttar Pradesh claims to have increased the number of medical colleges in every district, all this is in the private sector and health remains the core concern for people as private health services remain out of bounds for even the middle classes.

Southern India has been out of bounds for the BJP, and the only state where it has been able to enter is Karnataka. It failed miserably in both Tamil Nadu and Kerala though the party’s leadership tried to create the same type of narrative as they have been able to do in various north Indian states. In Karnataka too, the party is facing a serious crisis as there is nothing that the party can show as ‘achievement’. In the Southern part of Karnataka, the party seems to be following the UP model of vilifying the minorities but it will ultimately boomerang.

Southern parts of India have progressed more because of the politics of social justice and inclusive India. Kerala and Tamil Nadu today are the best governed states of India and are attracting the foreign investment too. Both the states have shown the power of inclusive development where Christians and Muslims can live in complete harmony with their Hindu counterparts and none feel threatened or challenged. There is no fight on what you eat or what is being cooked by your neighbours. Nobody feels threatened by an Azaan or the ringing bells of churches during the festive times. In fact, most of these states are ideal examples of the idea of an inclusive India. Kerala is the best example of religious diversity in India and how they live in greater harmony. Christianity and Islam came to Kerala much before they could reach Europe. Bengal has been the vanguard of our inclusive culture where a huge number of people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar found their life and employment for generations.

It was good that Kerala Chief Minister Pinyari Vijayan responded it in his tweet:

If UP turns into Kerala as @myogiadityanath fears, it will enjoy the best education, health services, social welfare, living standards and have a harmonious society in which people won’t be murdered in the name of religion and caste. That’s what the people of UP would want.

— Pinarayi Vijayan (@vijayanpinarayi) February 10, 2022

In fact, Yogi Adityanath has, on many other occasions as well, spoken about the Uttar Pradesh model but one does not know whether it was the ‘health’ model or ‘thok do’ model that he was speaking about. A lot has been spoken about Uttar Pradesh’s law and order. Right from Unnao to Hathras, Agra and many other incidents victims are just running from pillar to post. As far as the goondas are concerned, it is a clear case of ‘our goonda is better than your goonda’. While nobody will blame Yogi alone for the state of Uttar Pradesh and nobody can rule a state by vilifying one community or where the minorities are openly threatened and considered as unwanted.

Whether mistakenly or deliberately, Yogi’s statement has only created embarrassment for him and his ‘advisers’ and social media ‘doctors’ will be busy countering all those including Professor Amartya Sen, World Bank or anyone else as prejudiced against BJP or Uttar Pradesh but how would they ignore the Health Index brought out by the Niti Ayog and reported in various papers. A report in the Indian Express by Esha Roy on December 28, 2021 says, “Kerala remained the best-performing state in the health indicators for a fourth consecutive time, according to an index released on Monday, which also ranked Uttar Pradesh at the bottom of the rankings although the state also saw the most progress.”

Kerala got a score of 82.2 and UP, 30.57 — a difference of 51.63 points, which was an improvement from a difference of 56.54 points from the previous index. 

The survey[1] ranked states on indicators such as neonatal mortality rate, under-five mortality rate, sex ratio at birth, maternal mortality ratio, modern contraception prevalence rate, full immunisation coverage, antenatal care, identification and cure of TB, etc. 

In fact, Uttar Pradesh can also learn from the Kerala model of politics. The coalition politics in Kerala is a great example of how coalitions are cemented and can remain intact over a period of time. Uttar Pradesh’s maverick and self-serving politicians have actually undone the social justice agenda as they can make and unmake any coalition on the eve of the elections and hence ‘ideology’ if there is, get side-tracked to ‘opportunity’ offered by the ruling party. 

So, not only can Uttar Pradesh learn from Kerala’s welfare model, particularly its health services, but also through the coalition politics as without social coalition there is no possibility of representation of various marginalised and minority communities. Kerala grew because of full participation of minorities in its growth where Uttar Pradesh continued to vilify them resulting in nearly 20% of the state citizens feeling threatened and outside the developmental paradigm. It is not merely the issue of access to welfare policies but also about using the strength of minority institutions and networks to further them in the greater interest of the people. Exclusion of the minorities and marginalised is essential for development of the state. 

Nobody suggest that Southern states are flawless but definitely they have performed much better than the north Indian states in the developmental indices because society is learning to behave with the political changes of the time and politics understand need for social justice and inclusion where Uttar Pradesh model of the BJP tried to undo the strength developed through Mandalisation of the politics. BJP’s persistent focus on religion and nationalism was a clever plank to deny the OBCs and Dalits the leadership in Uttar Pradesh. Whether the marginalised of Uttar Pradesh will ensure that the Mandalisation process comes back or not will only be known after the results are out on March 10, yet one thing will remain that Uttar Pradesh will only gain through pursuing Kerala model of inclusion and welfare politics.

*Views expressed are the author’s own.

The post Kerala story is inspiring for all Indians and Uttar Pradesh would do well to follow it appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Whatever be the election results in Uttar Pradesh on March 10, two things will always remain extremely important in Indian Politics as they can rise like a phoenix any time. They are the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and its leader Ms. Mayawati.

Many of the experts have written political obituaries of BSP and they feel that Ms. Mayawati has become irrelevant. Many call her isolated, safe inside her home and every ‘expert’ in the ‘electoral’ system says that she can’t speak a sentence or two and read her text even in the press conferences. All this happens when we do not know the history of a movement or a person. Even if Ms. Mayawati does not do anything, her life will always remain inspiring and we need to understand that.

One cannot ignore how BSP became a party to reckon with particularly in Uttar Pradesh. Manywar Kanshiram worked hard, traveled across the country but he succeeded in Uttar Pradesh but could do very little elsewhere. One cannot ignore the difference elsewhere and Uttar Pradesh was Ms. Mayawati who became a symbol of aspiration and hope for all the candidates.

She was the first candidate fielded by her party in 1984 elections from Kairana but lost. One can understand that Rajiv Gandhi and Congress party swept the election under the massive sympathy wave in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination, and it was impossible for an entirely new political party to perform. She lost in two other subsequent elections that she contested Haridwar, 1987 and 1991, and Bijnaur in 1985. Coincidentally, the 1985 elections in Bijnaur brought Ram Vilas Paswan too to contest as he had lost his Hazipur constituency and wanted to enter the Parliament but failed miserably. In fact, Congress fielded Mira Kumar against them and both of them lost. Paswan again tried in 1987 from Haridwar constituency but lost.

The two elections of Bijnaur and Haridwar reflected the politics of big leaders to use Dalits as their own vote bank. If you go to these constituencies today, none will ever remember Mira Kumar and Ram Vilas Paswan there. Today, both Bijnaur and Haridwar remain strong bastions of BSP.

One cannot ignore the historical role played by BSP in defeating the Hindutva forces in Uttar Pradesh in the aftermath of Babri Masjid demolition under Kalyan Singh. That alliance between the two parties was a historical need, and could have built a pan Indian alliance between Bahujan communities but unfortunately, it did not happen.

One may or may not like BSP or Ms. Mayawati but none can ignore her strong grip over administration. None can blame her that she benefitted her community when she was the chief minister. Everyone in UP knows that Ms. Mayawati has been a fire brand speaker where people would wait to listen to her. She emerged from the Bahujan movement that did not succeed in one day. That was the time when while men were coming in large numbers to join Kanshiram’s movement, there were not many women. It was a tough decision for a young woman to take a decision and remain completely loyal to her commitment.

Yesterday, we saw photographs of several savarana netas eating ‘food’ at the house of ‘Dalit’ family and tweeting as if they have done a great favour. Ms. Mayawati does not need to do so as people know her commitment towards her community. She is the only politician who has not used the Brahmanical idioms and vocabulary to get votes. She remains the tallest in my eyes who did not pretend to go to a ‘temple’, ‘mosque’, ‘gurudwara’ or even a ‘dargah’ for the sake of pleasing the ‘voters’. She has not pretended to ‘celebrate’ all the festivals which netas and film stars have become so habitual of. She is the only leader, who stand up with confidence and without any pretense. She does not need to chant a few bhajans or chaupais of Ramayana to emphasise a point. As a woman, she did not use her woman identity to get votes. We saw her strength when she performed the last rites of late Kanshiram and recently that of her mother.

Politics is changing fast. Youths are now joining it and their aspirations are very high. Ambedkarite youths are now challenging the status quo in the campuses. Good old days have gone when people would wait for hours in political rallies and listen to the songs all night. Now, youths want to use technology and need immediate responses. It took several years for the Congress party to understand the power of social media but when they became active by that time BJP and Hindutva had huge control over it as they spread their narrative. BSP too is lacking heavily on social media. Now, Ambedkarite youths are raising issues and challenging the manustream narrative. A large number of youngsters have started their own YouTube channels and all have followers in millions. BSP needs to tap this huge space in the greater interest of the country. It is a pan-India party with a presence everywhere.

There is enormous good will for Ms. Mayawati everywhere among the Dalits even when there are new young aspiring leaders who have emerged but still it will be difficult for them. It is sad that the energy of the aspiring Dalit youngsters is dissipating in other political parties. It is time BSP played the historical role of bringing all the Bahujan forces together and providing a credible challenge. A party like BSP which has a historic Bahujan legacy needs to be protected and encouraged as loss of the political identity of Dalits and I am saying it because elsewhere Dalits will have to be under the patronage of the ‘other’ parties.

On the 66^th birthday of Ms. Mayawati, apart from good health and success, we wish that the BSP will get strengthened and carry forward the mission that was started by Manywar Kanshiram Saheb. BSP’s core strength lies in Uttar Pradesh and it is important that this should not be diluted. For a stronger democratic India, we need diverse groups and political parties. BSP is a brand which has come after a lot of sacrifices, and therefore rather than investing in hundreds of self-styled smaller groups, Ambedkarites should strengthen it at least they should avoid creating multiple political groups in Uttar Pradesh which will only hurt BSP. For BSP, it is essential to reach diverse Ambedkarite-Bahujan groups and create an all-India platform otherwise these young voices will only go elsewhere or make smaller outfits which will not take us anywhere. The duty of bringing all people together rests on the leadership so that people do not get disheartened and stand with the party when needed. It is important for all to understand that creating an alternative of the Manustream parties is difficult and they should not do anything where the available alternative is weakened. Uttar Pradesh’s election results will ultimately show in which direction the Bahujan politics will move and everything depends on the success or failure of BSP.

*Views expressed are the author’s own.

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The post Why BSP and Ms. Mayawati are important for future of democracy in India appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Uttarakhand is in the news for all the wrong reasons at the moment. The video of a meeting of the so-called ‘Dharm Sansad’ in Hardwar has gone viral on social media where the speakers masquerading as leaders concerned for ‘Hindus’ have used absolutely filthy, gutter-level, genocidal language against minorities particularly the Muslims.

It is not that these people spoke such filth for the first time. They have been doing it for past so many years but during the last 7 odd years or we can since our ‘independence’ in May 2014, they have ‘truly’ ‘enjoyed’ their ‘freedom of expression’ which is using the vulgar, intimidating language against Muslims and getting away with it. Now look at the track record of the government; any one utter anything against such criminal acts, face action themselves! UAPA, sedition laws have been used against activists, intellectuals for opposing illegal and unconstitutional methods of the government.

The brutality and insensitivity of the authorities against people speaking truth to power remained the hallmark of the current regime which is using absolute control to damage democratic institutions. It is not democracy but electoral system which has allowed them to manipulate polity and mandate against India’s own people who they wish to convert into a second-class citizen depending on the ‘mercy’ of the caste Hindus. Intellectuals have been left to rot in the jail while the goons shouting and threatening genocide have perfect freedom as police ‘investigate’ the matter and filed FIR against the one who has just ‘joined’ the Hindu dharma leaving Islam.

Agenda setting for Uttar Pradesh Polls

Hardwar’s ‘Dharm Sansad’ is nothing but a purely Brahmanical agenda to control the non-brahmins in the country particularly the Bahujan Samaj. These kinds of Sansads are nothing but desperate attempt to get media attention as they know it well that even the ‘negative’ publicity is a great publicity for them. For all those who show allegiance to the ruling party and its thoughts, are one hundred percent sure that nothing would happen to them. They have only one objective, and that is to shout loud against Muslims and minorities of India. A majority of them don’t even respect and accept the Constitution of India. But then they don’t care as they know well that those who have to take action against them are actually with them and blessing them.

The modus operandi of the ruling party is well known to be described here. With Uttar Pradesh going to poll soon, they want to back to Hindu-Muslim agenda. Frankly, they never moved away from that and all the bogus talks about ‘Gujarat Model’ of ‘development’ has now been forgotten and Uttar Pradesh only saw for the last five years the Hindutva model of intimidation, threat and misuse of state power to promote divisive agenda.

However, Hindutva anti Muslim pitch will never pay all the time. The brahmins have realised it in Uttar Pradesh as they enjoyed both communal-secular-liberal politics of the state. None of these Brahmanical ‘liberals’ ever question why the Prime Minister’s office has the largest number of brahmins or why our ministries, bureaucracy, media, judiciary and academia have disproportionate presence of brahmins. Have the brahmins in Uttar Pradesh really changed and thrown ‘Hindutva’? Who can deny the fact that except for Brahmin Banias none of the other communities are represented in the ‘National Committee’ to build the Ram Temple? Why are the brahmin journalists-intellectuals so upset with Yogi Adityanath? Are they upset with BJP too? Are they disappointed with Narendra Modi and his policies too? Will they support any other leader if the party replace Adityanath? Within the Hindutva fold there are numerous caste groups and ambitious leaders fighting for the top position hence all those who disagree with Yogi Adityanath do not become champion of social justice or socialism. One cannot ignore the example of recent recruitment at the GB Pant Institute in Allahabad where not a single recruitment from OBC community took place under the pretext of ‘suitable candidate not found’.

Long ago, Vivekananda said, for a stronger India, we need the confluence of two great civilisations. Vedantik Brain and Islamic Body but today one has to understand the dynamics of the Hindutva politics which revolve around brahmanical ‘brain’ and ‘Bahujan’ ‘body’. So anti Muslim propaganda is actually not that much against Muslims even when they are direct target but aimed at controlling the Bahujan masses who seek their share and representation in all walks of life. We should not forget that the Ram Temple Yatra launched by Lal Krishna Advani from Somnath to Ayodhya, in September October 1990 was essentially aimed at countering the impact of Mandal Commission report whose recommendations were accepted by the then prime minister V P Singh in the Parliament.

Why quiet on discrimination against Dalits?

We need to ask a few questions to these champions of Hindu dharma. A report appeared in the media of boycott of Bhojanmata, the cook who prepare mid-day meal for the school children, in district Champawat, Uttarakhand, just because she happened to be a Dalit. So far, we did not hear any condemnation or campaign against caste system and untouchability. They won’t even like to speak about this. In fact, the person who work against caste system and untouchability are abhorred by the Manuwadis. You call it Devbhumi and yet not ready to condemn such incidents where Dalits are not allowed to enter the temple or sit with other children. What kind of religious seers are they who keep their eye and mouth shut on the issues that exposes the varna dharma? The fact is that the root of such violence and contempt towards Dalit is part of the varnashrama dharma sourced from Manusmriti. A majority of these champions have never spoken against such foul practices rather they have justified caste system as very ‘scientific’ and not really ‘birth based’ but based on your ‘personality’ and ‘quality’.

A few years ago, we had seen the murder of a Dalit man in a wedding party simply because he did not sit separately and ate food along with others. In the Jaunsar region, adjacent to state capital, Dehradun, Dalits still face severe discrimination and yet the goons get away with the law because the entire region has been ‘categorised’ as Scheduled Tribe zone resulting in nullification of the SC-ST prevention of atrocities act.  Even today, the Dalits are the lowly paid drum beaters in villages used not only in the marriages but also in all the traditional and religious functions. Without them, no work is complete yet they are ostracised and lowly paid. In the movement for separate Uttarakhand, they were in the forefront for many many months beating drums in front of the massive crowds and leading it many times yet were not ‘acknowledged’ as ‘rajya andolankari’ who are now getting pensions by the state.

Real targets are the asserting voices of Dalit Bahujans in Uttar Pradesh

Let me categorical here. These Babas and shouting brigade might have assembled in Haridwar but very little impact in Uttarakhand polity where BJP is actually facing severe crisis. Frankly speaking, except for the few urban pockets of the plains, Ram Temple movement and Hindu Muslim binary does not work much in Uttarakhand and there is a significant dissatisfaction against the BJP in the state. The Haridwar gathering is actually aimed at the politics in Uttar Pradesh where the Dalit-OBC-minorities are asserting their identities and seeking their space in the political sphere. Truly dedicated government to Bahujan identities in UP and Bihar can ultimately prove disaster for those trying to maintain their caste hegemony through war cries against the minorities in the name of ‘Indian culture’ as if they are not part of Indian culture and have not contributed anything.

The roots of political democracy are still strong in India even if we say that are a highly undemocratic society. Baba Saheb Ambedkar suggested that without social democracy our political democracy will be peril. The current dispensation has now tested enormous power and is not ready to cede with it. It can’t imagine a day without power which it has enjoyed just on the basis of absolute polarisation. The Savarna power came back to them through Hindutva but now there is bound to be a crisis among them too for the top positions. The brahmin opposition to Yogi Adityanath is not ideological but purely opportunistic. With growing influence of Banias on Indian polity through Gujarat model, the Brahmins are playing the second fiddle to them which may not be acceptable to many in the cow belt. So, it is purely ‘grapes turning sour’ as majority of the Savarna elite is still with BJP despite all the failure of the party to deliver at the governance level. The thing is people know it well how the government has diluted reservation, how our universities are denying representation to SC-ST-OBCs and remained the fiefdom of brahmin Banias. Media is still dominated by the same class and castes and yet not a single sentence about it.

Look at the campaign the prime minister and UP chief minister have launched. Ayodhya and Kashi have been ‘delivered’ with millions of rupees expenditure. Now, they are focussing on Mathura too. They know it well that common person in Uttar Pradesh and any other state will ask question about governance, about job, employment and security but here we are being given the full dozes of ‘religion’ all the time. Never in the history of India, a government used resources at its hand to promote its religious agenda.

So, what happened in Haridwar should not surprise us because these ‘liberals’ too enjoyed the Hindu Muslim binary wrestling. To understand the dynamics of Brahmanism, one need to go through the life time and analysis of Jotiba Phule, Baba Saheb Ambedkar and EVR Periyar. Thankfully, with the growth of Ambedkarite movement world over, youngsters are raising these issues, developing their own media, bringing out their own narratives. The more this family of Ambedkarism, Periyarism, Bhagat Singhism, humanism grow, the bigger will be the worries of the religious lunatics of all varieties. Uttar Pradesh has seen growth of Ambedkarite movement and it will succeed in setting the agenda of social justice, political participation and proportional representation everywhere for the coming elections. The more the Dalit Bahujan leaders emerge stronger in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the bigger will be these war cries against the minorities by those blessed by the ruling party.

Ambedkarism will challenge the Brahmanical hegemony

Amidst all this depression is sign of hope and fight back. The Dalit students in Champawat districts have decided to boycott the food being cooked by the brahmin woman which is a good sign. While the Delhi government has ‘offered’ a job to the Bhojanmata, we all know it is not that easy for the woman to come to Delhi to do the cooking job. These ‘offers’ are more political than real in nature. Kejriwal was first to offer job to Rohit Vemula’s brother too but he rejected it. There are various other issues before a person can a move to come out of his or her town. Rather than addressing the issue there, politicians are actually doing more dramas and nautankis. The question is what is the stand of Aam Adami Party in Uttarakhand on the issue and whether it is just the issue of a job or caste discrimination or both. I wish to congratulate these Dalit students from Uttarakhand for this bold step which reflect that they are not ready to accept any more insult in the name of culture and traditions. India has to be run on the principles of our constitutions as framed by Baba Saheb Ambedkar and that annihilation of castes must be made part of the curriculum from the primary level till the graduation level.

Can our school inculcate the spirit in the students that caste system is bad, inequality is unconstitutional, untouchability is a crime as per our Constitution? Will they start teaching the values of Equality, Liberty and Fraternity in the classroom on a serious note? We all know this will be hard for the system which thrive on double speak and hence it is for the Ambedkarites, humanists and all those who believe in equality and constitutionalism to start a big campaign against untouchability and caste discrimination. A 21^st century India can be strengthened only on the constitutional values of secularism, equality, freedom of expression and belief, and not through the imposition of theocratic values of Varnashram dharma that glorify the iniquitous past and justify the hierarchical system based on birth.

*Views expressed are the author’s won.

Other pieces by Vidya Bhushan Rawat:

Gail Omvedt passes away 

Conspicuous silence of political parties on OBC reservation issues in the North 

Tribal man dies under mysterious circumstances in UP

The post Poisoning people’s minds to ensure polarisation in the coming polls appeared first on SabrangIndia.

One of the major accusations against the historians in India is that of neglecting and ignoring the role of the marginalised in the freedom struggle. Most of the time, we were ‘informed’ that there were some ‘heroes’ and ‘villains’ of the freedom movement, and then there were historians fighting the ‘political battle’ of ‘history’ and interestingly all of them belonged to the same stock of caste as well as ‘power’ positions as their opponents. None of the them really bothered that a huge country like India will have different take on history or presenting the historical figures.

History is also about events, and not what we personally like or dislike but the fact is history has become the most powerful tool at present to decide our ‘future’. There are claims and counter claims about whose ‘history’ is most authentic, and whose isn’t. But there are vital questions that should be asked:

• Why have been the issues of Dalits and Adivasis been relegated to the back pages of history?
• Why do we deny them agency over what happened?
• Far more importantly, can history be based only on documents, thereby excluding Dalit Adivasi history narratives, recorded in oral traditions?

This is why folk-lore and live stories too become an important tool for understanding history.

Subhash Chandra Kushawaha has emerged as an extremely important chronicler of the history as far as the issue of the marginalised is concern. He has come out with a book that should be essential reading for all who are keen to further study on the Bhil Tribe. His book: ‘Bhil Vidroh: Sangharsh ke sava sau saal’ (Bhil Revolt: One Hundred and Twenty-Five years of Struggle) has been published by Hind Yugm and is in Hindi. It has chronicled their history of 125 years, and a large part of his documentation has been explained through accessing the historical documents in various archives, both in India as well as abroad.

He has covered the period between 1800 to 1925, which has mostly been covered by international newspapers as well as various documents available in various archives. It is not that the history of Bhils has not ‘existed’ prior to it, but there is a historical truth in the fact that documentation pertaining to that period need to be explored as you might not get it in archives but probably in folklore by visiting those places, speaking to people or even visiting the old monuments, structures, listening to traditional songs or understanding whether there is any celebrations or festivities related to that.

Most of the time, the history of Dalits and Adivasis has been obliterated from our ‘manustream’ history writings projects under the flimsy excuse that the “documents or data are not available”. Subhash Chandra Kushwaha has painstakingly done enormous work in connecting the dots. However it needs more exploration now, as he has started a process which must be strengthened further by reaching out to those places and people about whom the work is being done.

Bhils have been victims of our hierarchical caste system and were brutalised and criminalised by the kingly clans of Rajputs prior to arrival of British, explains the author. Bhils were the owner of Khandesh as well as Central India, but were pushed to forest by the ‘Rajput invaders’. Though reading through an extremely important article written by Captain E Barnes and Thomas Emily Young published in ‘The journal of society of Art’ on February 8, 1907, suggests that Jhabua till 1550 was a Bhil Kingdom passed to Rajputs by Akbar. The whole article is extensively narrative which reflect how the British used the data to understand communities but there was much more than mere data in their work. The 1931 census which was done based on caste, gave ample example of scholarship of the British and attempt to understand India’s diversity through different angles including caste and ethnicity.

Subhash Chandra Kushwaha has built up narrative chronologically and they help us understand the areas where Bhils were residing. One full chapter on Khandesh and Bhils of Khandesh, where both the Mughals as well as Marathas fought to control the Bhils. With the ascendency of Bajirao as Peshwa in 1798, Khandesh saw the down fall of various Bhil Jagirdars and anarchy grew afterwards. It is reported that Peshwas remained the most brutal force who actually criminalised Bhils. Equally brutal were Marathas too. The Bhil Rajput relations are well discussed here in the book but it is also acknowledged that ‘Bhilala’ community of Bhils emerged out of relationship between Rajputs men and Bhil women or vice versa. Bhilala’s considered themselves superior to others because of their lineage but other Bhils don’t think so.

The British felt that the Brahmin rulers of Western India made Bhils what they became at that time due to brutalities and criminalisation of Bhils. The story of anarchy and chaos in Bhil land has been very well described in the book. By 1818, anarchy was it was at its prime when British took control of the Khandesh and had to face 80 notorious gangs (these are not my words but as per the book) with over five thousand followers. The British knew it well that it would be difficult to control the anarchy in Khandesh unless Bhils are taken into confidence. They had realised that the chaos and anarchy in the Bhil zones are basically because of the criminalisation process started by the Peshwas and Marathas so the British focused on the ‘policy of reclamation’ and not on policy of extermination as was during the previous regimes. 

By April 1827, Khandesh Bhil corp was born as peace was restored in the region. Mr Kushwaha has explained in the policy of British against the Bhils of Central India and Madhya Bharat in the chapter giving detailed example of how robbery and looting in the region was rampant. It is important to understand why the English felt Bhils could be useful for them as they were brave and loyal.

The chapter ‘Bhil Rebellion in Khandesh and Madhya Bharat’ is extremely informative as it gives example of reasons of Bhils turning to gangs of looters and rebels as the old kingdoms left them unattended during the time of massive drought and famine killing hundreds of people and compelling them to fend for themselves. Bhils were becoming rebels because of their socio-economic condition and exploitation. They were witnessing death and yet never lost fighting honorably.  In 1823, as many as 172 Bhil prisoners out of 232 who were sent from Khandesh died during the journey which reflected the behaviour of the police towards them.

Bhil Revolts

The first Bhil revolt happened in 1804 against Peshwas who as mentioned earlier too were brutal and criminalising Bhils. Prior to British taking over, Bhils fought against the local chieftains, caste prejudiced Rajas and Majarajas who were exploiting them. The book document important heroes of Bhil rebellions such as Nadir Singh Bhil (1802-1820), Gumani Nayak (1819-1820), Cheel Nayak, Dasharath and Kania revolt in 1820, Hiriya Bhil, 1822 and Bhari Bhil 1824. All these are well narrated.

There are numerous other stories ranging from Mulher (Nasik, Maharashtra) historical battle of 1825 till Kunwar Jeeva Vasava in 1846, which also explain how the English tried to divide Bhils on religious lines, as Muslim Bhils were more aggressive and rebellious in nature.

But two important things need to be understood to identify the Adivasi rebellion in India and why the British had actually soft corner for them. The first thing is that Adivasis were fighting to protect their own land from outsiders and for them, whether it is Indian outsiders or British, did not matter. However, the British too wanted to exploit their natural resources. Adivasis in India have always revolted against any attempt to change the nature of their life style and culture. British wanted to exploit the forest resources and wanted to push their ‘citizenship agenda’ everywhere. The census operations started for the purpose of identifying people and resources so that everything is documented. In 1852, land survey was ordered in Jal Gaon area as East India Company wanted to push through its new revenue model and forest was an income generating or revenue generating model for them. There was massive revolt against the British in 1853 and 1858 against their exploitation of the local resources. 

An interesting part in this is that rest of India was also revolting against the British policies but Adivasis and Dalits were always maltreated by those who were claiming discrimination from British. That was the irony that the initial anger and rebellion among Dalits and Adivasis was mainly against the feudal lords who were exploiting them and treating them worse than animals. Subhash Chandra Kushwaha has already brought this aspect in his two-landmark work, ‘Chauri Chaura Revolt and Freedom Movement’ (now available in English too) as well as on ‘Avadh Kisan Vidroh’, gives the other side of the history which has been neglected by the historians. All these movements subsided in the nationalist war cries of Gandhi and Congress party which assimilated them and converted the entire issue as the fight against British Raj. Ignoring the local feudal caste culture was the biggest drawback of Gandhi’s movement though he symbolically tried to address the issue of ‘untouchability’ without attacking the caste system which made it a complete farce.

The second part of the book is focused on Rajputana, Revakanta and Mahi Kanta agency which give us details about the geographical location of the region followed with an analysis of Rajputs and Bhils of Rajputana. Rajputs and Bhils had complex relationship and perhaps historians can work further on the issue particularly in Rajasthan where Rajputs are particular about their historical heritage and mention Maharana Pratap as an extremely benevolent ruler and friend of Bhils. Revakanta was an agency in Gujarat and Mahi-Kanta in Bombay Presidency where Bhils lived in large number and revolted against British policies of acting against Bhil Jagirdars and the military action in 1820 hardly got any success and were able to contain the rebellion to some extent by December 1823.

A separate chapter is on the icons or heroes of Rajputana, Revakanta and Mahi Kanta Bhil revolt beginning with Baroda Bhil revolt in 1804. The first among those heroes by Jagga Rawat (1817-1830) who rejected the domain of the Rajput kings and was arrested on February 27, 1826, and was kept till 1830. But not much is known about his condition later on. Another interesting documentation is the Banswada Rebellion (1872-1875) led by Dalla, Deva, Onkar Rawat and Anupji Bhil. This is explained in a better way which says that the pact in 1868, between Banswada State and the English got the right to suppress Bhils and exploit the natural reserve in those areas. There is also a short yet interesting description of Mewar Bhil Revolt of 1881 but heroic fight of Govind Guru at Mangarh Tekari in the Dungarpur province in 1913 is narrated in extreme details and how the British finally neutralised the Bhils in the region. It was unambiguous that Bhils were revolting against exploitation and refused to do slave labor. There was campaign against alcoholism as well as for vegetarianism, monogamy and against dowry.

Tantya Bhil

In the third part of the book, a biographical sketch of Tantya Bhil who was referred as The Great Indian Moonlighter by foreign media. He was a rebel with a cause and most ferocious who got a Robinhood image as he was a messiah for the poor. Born in 1842, Tantya saw exploitation from the childhood as his ancestral property was illegally grabbed by local feudal lord whose caretaker was killed by Tantya. He was arrested in 1873 and got one year imprisonment. Tantya continued his fight against exploiters and have been in and out of jail for so many times. Since 1878 to 1888 Tantya had over 400 cases of dacoity against him but he was never caught. Police always disturbed his relatives and other family members. Tantya was finally arrested on August 11, 1889. On October 19, 1889, Tantya was sentenced to death by session Judge Lindse Niel in Jabalpur. On December 4, 1889 Tantya was hanged to death inside the Jail.

Though this book itself has a big chapter on Tantya Bhil, Mr Subhash Chandra Kushwaha is writing a separate book on Tantya Bhil.

This book is extremely important to understand the history of Bhil revolt in India though I would say that it is an entry point for future generations to know in details but as a person keen to understand the viewpoint of those who have been denied spaces and deliberate omissions by those suffering from prejudices, it is advisable that attempt should be made to find the local narrative about these incidents. As most of the documentation or references in this book emerge from various archives or international media, there should be an Adivasi side of it too and to explore that it would be good to visit some of these places and document the oral history of the region so that we get the ‘other’ side of the narrative particularly prior to British period as well as during that period.

Subhash Chandra Kushawaha is working on these issues passionately and voluntarily for the last so many years. It is his zeal that made him do this extremely difficult task of documenting things from various archives and libraries. Researchers in the Universities and institutions should now follow it up and dig the Adivasi history further so that they get a fair deal.  We need more and more such initiatives particularly from Adivasi communities and their scholars to take this further towards a logical conclusion.

Name of the Book: Bhil Vidroh: Sangharsh ke sawa sau saal

Author: Subhash Chandra Kushwaha

Publisher: Hind Yugm

Pages: 352

Price: Rs 249

The post BOOK REVIEW – Bhil Vidroh: Sangharsh ke sawa sau saal appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Two of India’s most beautiful regions, where thousands of people go to watch and feel the wonders of nature, are suffering because of the extremely heavy rains and subsequent floods. Well, the pain that the rains brought to Kerala and now to Uttarakhand, is warning to all of us. It’s nature’s warning to us to mend our ways.

Nobody would have doubted the fury of rains and floods if it were the monsoon season. We all know, India suffers from both heavy rains as well as a shortfall of rains. The monsoon in India this year was more than its forecast, and eventually by the middle of September we assumed that the Monsoon was over, giving happiness to farmers and others.

Unfortunately, whether Monsoon left or not, rains remained there. I was travelling in the high ranges of Uttarakhand with friends and the weather really disappointed us. First, we could not complete our track to Dayara Bugyal which was about 3000 meters above the sea level offering a splendid view of the Himalayas. When we were just short of about 4 kilometers from meeting our summit, heavy rains compelled us to look for a shelter in the dense forest. After two hours when the ferocity of the rains stopped, we decided against climbing up and returned which was more difficult as it was a height at nearly 50-60 degrees slopes. Once we reached our hotel, it rained extremely heavily the entire night. The rains in the Himalayas really frighten you. The rains only stopped in the morning around 7 A.M and suddenly we saw a bright sun and snow-covered peaks. 

One day later, when we wanted to trek Gomukh from Gangotri which was about 18 kilometers away, we were happy that finally we could see some sunshine but after 9 kilometer’s stressful walking, it started raining and we could cover our first night journey with great difficulty. It was cloudy and raining, bringing down the temperature significantly. My friends from Mumbai found it extremely difficult to sustain and had breathing difficulties. Next morning when we got up, the situation was not clear and we had made our mind to abandon the trip as reaching back safely was more important even when we knew well that it was difficult terrain to walk in the rains as landslides were common there.

When I had planned my trip after, it was ideal to enjoy the bright sun shine as Uttarakhand looks stunning in the winter when the entire North India suffers with gloomy fog all around, the mountains in the Himalayas glitter in the bright sun making it a fascinating region to enjoy your winters. A couple of days prior to our journey, there was heavy rainfall and a landslide. I thought the worst was over and decided but now the heavy rains, floods and disaster has proved how unpredictable the weather has become today.

It was a rarity when we heard rains and floods together everywhere and not even in the mountains. We know Monsoon starts in mid of May in Kerala when the gates of the holy shrines in Uttarakhand are opened to the public, as that is the best period to visit the hills. People who suffer in the dirty, rotten heat of North India or even in the West or South, visit to Uttarakhand in a very large number. Most of the time July-August is the rainy season and by mid-September, Monsoon is officially over but this year it is shocking beyond doubt.

Kerala has lost over 42 persons to these unpredictable rains with towns like Kottayam, Thiruvalla, Idukki, Pathnamthittha facing the biggest jolt of swelling waters in the rivers. Houses collapsed like the cards and car swept away. The dams in Kerala and Tamil Nadu are overflowing at the moment and water level is rising high in various districts due to opening up of the gates of these dams. Once we thought the rains were over in Kerala, the met department forecasted heavy rains for Uttarakhand. I was not sure, but the next day, when we got the information, it just reminded us of the terrible tragedy of 2013 which was termed as Himalayan Tsunami killing thousands of people and damaging the huge infrastructure in the state. The world saw unprecedented destruction at that time where houses, roads, bridges, vehicles floated and swept away in the furious water of Ganges and numerous other tributaries, some known and various unknown or seasonal. So far, more than 58 lives have been lost, hundreds wounded. Many of the trekkers who had come to enjoy the beauty of the regions are still untraceable. A majority of the roads have caved in and in many places will take time to come back to normalcy.

Tsunami occurred in 2004 while Uttarakhand’s tragedy happened in 2013 but it looks that our governments learnt very little from that. The magnitude of the devastation did not affect any change in the policies pursued by the government as well as the bureaucracy. It is clear that Climate crisis is an issue which has been ignored. In the name of ‘development’ our mountains, rivers, seas are under the assault of greedy companies and political leaders as well as governments who have become their ‘agents’.

Kerala is a beautiful state but ‘development’ has reached there with growing urbanisation and ‘cemented infrastructure’ to meet the demand for the growing population. Urban population which was merely about 15% in 1971 was now crossing nearly 50%.  Moreover, the heavy migration for jobs to the Middle East result in ‘idea’ of ‘development’ by the individuals in the form of houses which are never according to local environment and needs but as per fancies seen elsewhere. Rampant mining to satisfy the need of the urban population particularly for sands and stones has aggravated the crisis. Deforestation to pave the way for ‘industrialisation’ and annexation of the sea beaches to attract ‘tourists’ and their demands are ultimately paving the way towards bigger disaster. There are about 58 big or small dams in Kerala and one is certain that many of them are in important ecologically sensitive zones. For the first time we heard that many of these dams were running beyond their capacity this time. The fact is that the reason for floods in many areas in India are these overflowing dams which suddenly open up their gates for the waters resulting in massive flooding everywhere. Indian experts will have to think it over now as to how long this will be allowed. Whether Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, we have seen such things happening every year damaging property, crops and human lives. It is time to focus on these things in the beginning so that human lives are not lost because of human error.

Look at what is happening in Uttarakhand. It is destruction. The greedy business lobby wanted to destroy the sea coast, backwater system, small rivers for mining, in Uttarakhand they wanted to reach the ‘top’ to ‘promote’ tourism and for that they have no shame in destroying our basic identity, the mountains. The Chardham yatra project added with bringing railway network to high hills are invitation to disaster. Nobody denies that we should have good road infrastructure but it is important how and whether the destruction that we are causing to nature is bigger or not. It pained me to see how the mountains were being drilled by the big machines and concrete was replacing the natural forests. We cannot have four lane roads in the Himalayan region unless we destroy the entire ecological system. If we destroy that, how much damage it could create to the entire northern and Eastern India will be unheard of.

Dams need to be damned. Unlike Kerala, hills of Uttarakhand have shown a negative growth rate in population. The winters bring chills and many villagers move to other regions during the winter. It’s a kind of nomadism when people migrate to other towns or villages from Middle of October till February- March end when the entire Himalayan region is covered with deep and dense snow. Forest cover is much higher which is controlled by the government. Many villages don’t even have public utility places as they have to seek permission from the forest, yet big resorts have come in. You can see big resorts in Jim Corbet National Park which is actually in the Tarai region (Himalayan plains) but elsewhere too in the higher ranges above 3,500 meters. It is this lobby of ‘environmentalists’ who make the local people look like enemies and project themselves as ‘champions’ of environmentalism. Frankly, it is this lobby, which has damaged the cause of the nature.

Laws must ensure local cultures, communities and ecological issues are protected and respected. The problem that has created this huge crisis is the absolute disregard and inability of the Indian states to respect people and their knowledge which is often regarded as ‘localised’ hence ‘experts’ are brought in and they legitimise the political propaganda of the power elite in their effort to create a ‘homogeneity’ among us. The fact of the matter is that all ‘developmental’ projects have ‘ideas’ and ‘experts’ emerging from private companies sitting in big metropolitan cities whose major work is ‘lobbying’ with the politicians, ministers and political parties to get through their work. Most of them have least concern for local sentiments or environmental protection, or what is essentially known as Free Prior Informed Consent which is an international practice whenever there is a developmental project planned in an area of greater environmental concern as well as indigenous communities. World over, the rights of people are respected and it is assumed that local communities are the best bet to protect the environment but back home the contractors in big cities with political connections and ‘experts’ funded by the Industrial houses have used judiciary for their purposes where ‘local communities’ are perceived as ‘threat’ to environment.

Hailing from the hills, I consider them my identity. I have often said whenever a friend wishes to visit that you find huge palaces, big buildings, historical spaces like those in Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Lucknow, Mysore, Chennai etc. in the hills. If you are coming to hills, you will only find glacial rivers, fountains, mountains and other natural thing and they are not ‘resources’ for us but our basic identity. If there is no ‘pahad’ then there cannot be any Pahadi/Pahari which is our identity. If the mountains are destroyed, we will have to pay a heavy price and we will ultimately eliminate our identity.

Even when I am a humanist, I live with different rivers in the hills. Listen to their songs, if you have the capacity to understand the soulful humming and observe their ferocity at places, the power, the serenity and intensity unparalleled. They are a treat to watch. Enjoy the sublime, pure water and how it is playing but what have we done to them? We have tried to control them. How many dam(n)s are being built on various rivers in Uttarakhand which ultimately gave us Ganga, the most fertile and revered river of the country. A journey from Rishikesh or Dehradun to both the Gangotri, Yamunotri as well as Badrinath-Kedarnath would give you visibility to how mercilessly we have betrayed the mountains as well as our beautiful and revered rivers. This is nothing but a brutal assault on the greatest gift of nature to India. We live in a strange society at the moment where in the name of ‘respect’ we pollute our rivers and mountains but remain quiet on the issue of their destruction.

The nature’s wrath at Kerala and Uttarakhand have sent a categorical warning. You call both the states ‘Gods own country’ and ‘Devbhumi’. For me, both of them are the finest creation of nature to enjoy. The beauty of Arabian sea and stunning greenery of mountains in Munnar, the loving backwaters at Kumarkom and many more places are nature’s creation now being destroyed by greedy humans. Just travel to Uttarakhand and you will get fascinated with the beauty of Ganges and the more upward you move, the beautiful snowy rivers with the pristine water and humming attract you. The snow-covered peaks of Himalayas which literally protect India from its mighty neighbour is our best defence. There are lakes, meadows, fountains and what not but what happens is that human greed and comfort create infrastructure that hurts nature.

We all know that global warming is a reality. Climate change is a reality. So far, our governments, political parties and politicians have no time fighting with their pitching one person against others. Our divisive agenda has already hurt India and its ideas. The developmental model that is being pursued is purely to provide contracts to those who are close to those in power. Unfortunately, the power center of the ruling party has not been able to come out of its Gujarat obsession. It is trying to create a Gujarati monopoly everywhere which is dangerous and detrimental. Look at the contractors, airports, big ports, telephone companies, internet services and find out who the people are. What is the diversity in them? For these ‘versatile’ geniuses, profit is everything even if it has devastated humanity.

 We shout that from the Himalayas to Arabian Sea, India is one but here I want to say, from the Himalayas to the Arabian sea, we must not underestimate the warning signals from nature. Whether it is the mountains, rivers or sea, nature is sending an emphatic message for all of us to mend our ways or face the devastation. It is time, political parties, activists, and the government to give serious thought. Local municipal bodies, state governments, must act and develop local models in terms of structures and development. We can’t see a beautiful city like Nainital suffering in flood or the devastating videos that emerged from Kottayam.

We need to protect our heritage which emerges from nature. Respect nature, learn to live with it, respect local communities that protect nature and live a natural life and stand up against those who come to you with their ‘profitable’ ‘developmental’ mantra. Nobody should be allowed to exploit nature for private profit. There must be an eco-audit of our schemes and programmes so that we know what is happening on the ground and what are the threats to our nature and biodiversity.  It is time for all of us to stand up and be counted. We cannot allow our lonely planet to be destroyed by the ‘developmental mafia’. Wake up call for all. We hope both people of Kerala and Uttarakhand will stand up for protecting their natural identity and make environmental-ecological issues a prominent political agenda. Time has come to question the ‘developmental’ model to save our fascinating and enchanting natural heritage.

Related:

Stop mindless concretisation ‘projects’ in Uttarakhand
Who is Responsible for the Current Climate Crisis in Delhi?
Around 170 still missing in the tragedy in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli
India Floods, again: What Happened and Why
Floods displacing millions partly due to reckless development, inefficient water management

The post Nature’s message to planners in Kerala and Uttarakhand appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Gail Omvedt is no more. She passed away today on August 25, 2021 in Kasegaon. On August 18, I went to see her along with my dear friend Rahul Nirmal. Her condition was deteriorating and her partner Mr Bharat Patankar was doing everything to serve her at their ancestral house in Kasegaon, Maharasthra where Gail and Bharat decided to live and work for the people.

Gail is known for her extraordinary documentation of Ambedkar Phule movement in Maharasthra. Her work on Maharastra’s Bahujan poets and Sufis which she translated from Marathi into English shows her commitment to the cause of Ambedkar Phule ideology.  Some of her extremely important works are: Cultural revolt in Colonial society: Non Brahmin Movement in Western India 1873-1930, Dalit & Democratic Revolution, Dalit Vision, Understanding Caste from Buddha to Ambedkar and Beyond, Songs of Tukoba, Seeking Begumpura, Untouchable Saints, Jyoti Rao Phule and ideology of social revolt in India. 

She was not an arm chair scholar, but would meet people as well as work with Bharat Patankar whose work on water rights of the Konkan region is remarkable.

Gail was born on August 2, 1941 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. Her ‘affairs’ with India started since 1963-64 when she visited the country. She was impressed by the Dalit movement as well anti caste movement. Her Ph.D work too ensured that she visit the country again in 1970-71.   She got married to Bharat Patankar in 1976 and became an Indian citizen in 1983. Despite her wide-ranging engagement with academia, invitation for lectures in universities and elsewhere, it was Kasegaon which was her first love.

I came to know about Gail through her work that I found at Dr. Mulk Raj Anand’s place in the early 1990s. I was actually staying at his place in Delhi where I got access to extremely important work of literature particularly that of the Dalit Bahujan movement. I had no understanding of it in the beginning but my major interaction with Gail started around the year 2004. I had been writing, blogging, and working, and she got attracted to my writing and work about the Manual scavenging communities in Uttar Pradesh. She was very keen to develop an organisational partnership and spoke to many people about ‘Consciousness raising’ work that we were planning to do together in the form of bringing out the publication, videos, personal stories, oral and other mediums.

Whenever she would come to Delhi, she would write to me to come over to South Extension. She was keen on people like me who have worked on the ground be brought to work with academia. In fact, when she was working with IGNOU, she said that people like myself, Chandra Pradhan Prasad who has been contributing through their writings and work, must be associated with research work in various universities. For her, this kind of fieldwork was extremely important to promote new ideas.

When she became part of the Balijan cultural movement, she wanted me to be part of it and I joined it because I felt her presence was enough to motivate all of us. Of course, there were many issues which she herself was uncomfortable with, but I would say, she has been courageous and categorical whenever she spoke things. At a Balijan meet in Nagpur, when all were discussing our work together, an issue came as to who ‘could’ be a member of the Balijan movement. Prof Kancha Illaiah was chairing the session. Some of our friends from Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh spoke of ‘exclusivism’ of Dalit, OBC, minorities, Kabirpanthis, etc making it virtually impossible for anybody else to be a member. The formulations were clearly identity-based, as many people wanted to mention it clearly that no ‘outsider’ can be a member of the movement. Gail was upset about it. She said that if such criteria become part of it, then it would be difficult for her to be a party to such a movement. In fact, in an interaction, I said she was more Indian than me as she came to India in 1963-64 while I was born in four years later.

I wanted to interview her many times but somehow it could not happen because of her busy schedule, her own research work too. Also, as we have been speaking regularly, I realised, perhaps, she was not comfortable with it. One day, I had planned to interview her when she was in Delhi and we met at the rooftop of the Indian Social Institute. I took some photographs of her but the interview could not happen. After that when I visited Pune two years ago, I had thought along with Bharat ji, I would interview her but she was not well at that time. Frankly speaking, it was a very difficult interview that I did with Mr Bharat Patankar because Gail was sitting along with him virtually still and unresponsive.

I have been deeply influenced by Gail’s work particularly her work on Dalit Bahujan Saints and their humanism. Perhaps that kind of work was not done before particularly the translation of Marathi poetry into English. For a non-Marathi speaking person to know about the Saints and poets from Maharashtra, she became the reason to read their work. She shared with me many of her writings.

For me the most important was her acknowledging my work, and encouraging me to write and bring document the oral traditions particularly the Saints like Kabir, Ravidas, and others. She was keen on encouraging young ideologues and build up a network of such writers, filmmakers, activists who can bringing consciousness among the fellow citizens.

Her work spoke for her even when she would not allow her to be in the front, a thing very different than other academics here who are known more for their ‘visibility’ and not through their ‘work’. The amount of work Gail has produced is not merely extraordinary but inspiring too. That a person who may not have born here, may not belong to a particular caste or community, but share the passion as a humanist. That to work for the uplift of a community or society, you need committed ideology even when you may not be born in a particular community. She never showed any sign of arrogance to ‘speak’ or ‘lead’ the communities which a majority of those working in the communities have become. What I like about her was that she completely enjoys her work and has never boasted about it.

Her critique of Arundhati Roy’s work upset many people. I had actually questioned her on this but that was the time when Gail spoke to me about Bharat Patankar ji’s work related to water conservation as well as people constructed small dams which suggested that water right does not mean right to access to drinking water, but also rights of the farmers to have water for their crops. Many people felt that she was ‘deliberately’ critiquing ‘Marxism’ and soft on the Christian church but these arguments are complete overreactions and perhaps those people read her from one angle. Gail’s work is too big to be reduced to such one-liner. Her Dalit Vision is the need of the hour. All the Dalit Bahujan saints actually spoke of humanism, love, and compassion.

In a commentary published in Economic and Political Weekly titled Capitalism, globalisation, Dalits and Adivasis, she explains emphatically,

She was keen that Ambedkarites should work with other marginalised communities such as manual scavenging communities. It is my work with the community in Ghazipur around 2004 that got her in touch with me. She once asked me to find what do the Balmiki community think of Saint Raviadas? Whether they celebrate his Jayanti or not.

For me, her work was not merely in writing books but she was also keen to build up a team of young writers, activists, thinkers, social action people who can bring stories from the ground, document oral traditions, and bring various communities together. Her understanding of the movement and acknowledging its diversity is the key for our generation. Important for her to restart building these linkages and India need that humanist vision more than ever.

Over the years, she was getting involved in Balijan movement and other such movements dedicated to Phule-Ambedkar ideology. Fact of the matter is Gail was not merely an academic but worked along with Bharat Patankar and other friends to build Shramik Mukti Dal, Stree Mukti Sangharsh and Shetkari Mahili Aghadi. The clarity of her views on women’s right and autonomy are best reflected in

In an interview with noted writer, translator Meena Kandaswamy, Gail says, “Caste can only survive if women’s sexuality is controlled! To keep the jati identity you have to keep marriages within the jati. In Marathi it’s said roti-beti-vyavahar, “exchange of bread and girls” has to be within the caste. For that to happen, girls have to be guarded and married off when they’re pre-puberty, so there’s no danger to the caste. The man is not polluted if he has sex with anyone, because the semen goes out; the woman is polluted because she takes it in. (This is the way many anthropologists analyze it). So — Manu says, “Women when young must be under control of their father, when adults under control of their husbands, when old under control of their sons, women must never be independent.”

To another question, Gail was clear about the issue of land and property rights for women when she said, “Ambedkar’s words – educate, agitate, organise – still hold good for all of us. And women should fight for their land rights; the only reason they don’t have these rights is that the whole system is so patriarchal that only men are viewed as heirs of names, property, and land. This is part of caste-patriarchal oppression and we have to fight together to end it.”

When the UID process was started by the government under UPA in August 2011, she advised us to sign petition against it as, “This is getting to be too much intrusiveness. PAN cards are enough, why the need for UID?”

She was a dedicated to the ideals of Satyashodhak Samaj established by Jyotiba Phule in 1873 and was part of the Balijan Cultural Movement and questioned the census procedures and demanded caste to be included in it. That was the time when we all were demanding caste must be part of the census. She termed the current model of development as unsustainable.

She would participate in group discussions and did not hesitate to disagree and speak up strongly on the issues which she felt were wrongly mentioned. When some Ambedkarite were criticising V T Raj Shekar, Editor of Dalit Voice, she wanted them to know the history of the person and then react:

“I would not call VTR a “lunatic.” He sometimes takes extreme positions which I also don’t like, but he is a very nice person. You young people, should have some concern for heritage. VTR ran Dalit Voice for years, and it was for years the only organ in which Dalits could really find a voice. Argue against him, but do it nicely. In fact, that is also a Buddhist message. “Engaged Buddhism” means that. “Right speech” does not mean we only talk sweetly like the Dalai Lama. We may sometimes need to talk harshly to have an effect on our enemies,” she had said then.

Actually, in today’s social media world, when our ‘intellectualism’ has confined to ‘twitter’ and where people are not even aware of the intellectual history of the movement, Gail’s word are actually full of wisdom. This is sad that most of the youngsters active on these spaces know little about the rich cultural and literary heritage of Ambedkarite Phule movement in India as most of them have confined them to political parties and rhetoric.

Gail’s contribution to Dalit Bahujan movement in India in terms of strengthening it through documenting the historical oral traditions which often get neglected, will always show young activists and academics to work on the ground. At the time, when most of Ambedkarite academics do not move beyond their drawing rooms, she worked with people which resulted in each of her work as landmark. Nobody would have written the history of Non-Brahmin Movement in Maharashtra with that power and grit unless there was a conviction. Her horizon was definitely wider than many of her contemporaries who focussed more on critiquing Brahmanism but did little to bring out the glorious Bhakti traditions of Bahujan Samaj. Her writings and articles will always be considered among the best researched pieces on Ambedkarism, Dalit Bahujan movement and Untouchable Saints. She only strengthened the values that set up by her predecessor in the Ambedkarite writings from the United States.

Gail’s work showed that if you are really committed to the cause, it does not matter where you are born and who you are. It is important what do you do and what have you done so far.

Gail Omvedt has liberated herself from the pains that come with old age-related issues. Her husband Bharat Patankar remained with her till end taking care of her. They were an ideal couple on the lines of Satyashodhak traditions. She may not be here physically but Gail Omvedt’s incredible journey to India through her work will always make her alive in the heart of scholars and activists particularly those keen to understand Phule Ambedkari traditions and socio-cultural movement in Maharashtra.

Related:

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