“I am Lalit Kumar, area in charge from Hindu Sena. We have come to Jihadi Assaduddin Owaisi’s house to teach him a lesson. At every speech and rally, he and his brother say wrong things about Hindus and Hindu gods and goddesses. His brother  says ‘remove police for 15 minutes, we will destroy Hindus’. If he can stand up alone and threaten 100 crore, then we six seven can teach him a lesson,” says the man who later was identified by the police as a resident of Mandoli in North East Delhi. He is not wearing a face mask but flaunting an orange/saffron gamcha or scarf around his neck. This kind of a scarf, is often worn as an identifier by members of many Hindutva groups who carry out such attacks of vandalism, and harassment in various areas. They make sure the attack is filmed, and the clips shared along with their threats and hate messages calling for more violence. Some of these goons eventually become local leaders, and a select few even join the political party they idolise. 

Often such goons target and assault poor Muslims, and at other times choose ‘VIP targets’ for greater visibility. This time they chose to vandalise the official residence of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, in the heart of New Delhi in one of the most high security zones. According to news reports, the accused also allegedly assaulted Owaisi’s aide Raju, who was at the venue. Delhi Police have detained five members of the right-wing organisation Hindu Sena for their alleged involvement in the incident. A clip of the attack was shared by journalist Asad Ashraf.

Members of Hindu Sena attack the official residence of @asadowaisi, Member of Parliament from Hyderabad in Delhi today. #AsaduddinOwaisi pic.twitter.com/GqHXWxg9CW

— Asad Ashraf (@Asad_Ashraf88) September 21, 2021

pic.twitter.com/jEPSbpwLpa

— Asad Ashraf (@Asad_Ashraf88) September 21, 2021

Owaisi has blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) holding them responsible for the “radicalisation’ that leads to such attacks. He took to social media and posted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “preaches to the world how we must fight radicalisation,” and asked him to “please tell who radicalised these goons?” Owaisi added that his residence was attacked even though it is in a high security zone and is near the Election Commission, Jantar Mantar and Parliament Street Police Station.

एक सांसद के घर पर हमला होता है दिल्ली में, @BJP4India हुकूमत देश को क्या पैग़ाम देना चाहती है? #radicalisation pic.twitter.com/CIOmGL2ylL

— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) September 21, 2021

@PMOIndia preaches to the world how we must fight radicalisation, please tell who radicalised these goons? If these thugs think that this is going to scare me, they don’t know Majlis and what we are made of. We’ll never stop our fight for justice n/n

— Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) September 21, 2021

He told The News Minute that he was not in Delhi when the incident happened adding that “earlier also, they always came with a camera and protested outside. Earlier too, they damaged my nameplate, broke some flowerpots and banged at my gate. That time also, Raju, the caretaker of the house, was assaulted. So I wrote a letter to authorities to open the back gate and the front gate was closed, and open only when people come to meet me.”

According to a report in The Indian Express, DCP (New Delhi district) Deepak Yadav said that the men were arrested from the spot. He said, “They claimed during initial questioning that they were agitated with his (Owaisi’s) comments. We are questioning them further.” The IE added that Owaisi has said he will write to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla drawing his attention to the repeated attacks at his official residence.

He told the NewsMinute that the attack was “shameful” and an example of “classic radicalisation sailing in the face of the government.” He said that those who vandalised his house and allegedly assaulted the caretaker “were not ‘fringe’ elements but mainstream elements of the ‘Hindutva brigade.” Owaisi said that the goons are emboldened and “if an MP’s house can be targeted and vandalised today, they can go one step further tomorrow.”

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The post Not fringe, but main elements of the Hindutva brigade: Assaduddin Owaisi on attack appeared first on SabrangIndia.

UPDATE:

Sabrangindia received clarifications in the summary and story done by Indiaspends. These have now been incorporated into the story.
– Editors

Candidates with hate-speech cases against them have three times greater chance of winning elections, as this survey by Indiaspends shows. This analysis has been undertaken from the self-disclosed crime records of candidates who have contested various elections nationwide over the last 12 years.

Of the 70 candidates surveyed, unsurprisingly, the RSS-driven Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) tops the list with 28 candidates with hate crime records. This numero uno position is followed by nine MPS each from the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS), six MPS from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), five from the Samajwadi Party (SP), four from the  telugu Desam, three from the Indian National Congress (INC), three others and 12 independents. 

So, being guilty of hate-speech with a case registered provides a candidate with a better chance of victory.

Candidates with hate-speech cases against them were three times more successful in elections compared to those without a criminal record, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of self-disclosed crime records of candidates who have contested various elections nationwide over the last 12 years.

To put these data in perspective, over the last 12 years, 10% of candidates with no criminal cases won elections, while the figure was 20% for candidates with criminal cases of any kind.

As many as 70 members of Parliament (MPs) and members of legislative assemblies (MLAs) have hate-speech cases pending against them, according to their own disclosures to the Election Commission (EC) of India.

 A season of hate speeches by politicians—including union ministers, MPs and MLAs—is underway across India, riven by inflamed, opposing views on nationalism and free speech.
 
Some recent examples:
 

Union Ministers

Members of Parliament

Members of Legislative Assemblies (MLAs)

Political party chiefs

 
How “hate speech” is identified, numerous laws in force
 
“Hate speech” currently has no specific legal definition, although the Law Commission has been tasked by the Supreme Court to do just that.
 
There are several sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that pertain to hate speech, including:
 

• 153(A)—statements aimed at creating enmity related to communal, racial, linguistic, ethnic and descent;
• 153(B)—statements against sovereignty;
• 295(A)—statements aimed at hurting religious feelings;
• 505(2)—statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes; and
• Section 125 of the Representation of the People Act—promoting enmity between classes in connection with elections.

BJP has given tickets to most number of candidates with “hate-speech” cases
 
As many as 399 candidates with “hate-speech” cases have been fielded by political parties in various parliamentary and state assembly elections over the last 12 years. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leads the list with 97 candidates.

How political parties violate their oath given to ECI at the time of registration

 
Each political party, at the time of registration, has to provide a self-sworn oath to the EC, declaring that the party will adhere to the principles of “socialism, secularism and democracy”.
 
A party must provide a copy of memorandum of rules, which should contain a specific provision—drawn from Representation of the People Act, 1951—that says “….and such memorandum or rules and regulations shall contain a specific provision that the association or body shall bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established, and to the principles of socialism, secularism and democracy, and would uphold the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.”
 
By giving tickets to candidates with “hate-speech” cases, political parties in a way violate their self-sworn oath to the EC.

(Manoj K is a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and the founder of the Centre for Governance and Development. He has a special interest in transparency and accountability in governance and has spearheaded several projects on these subjects.)

Courtesy: IndiaSpend
 

The post How a Hate-Speech Record Increases Chances of Election Victory by 3 times appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Bharat Mata by Dr Lal Ratnakar

This image is from a post by Shachi Seth on India Resists:

Are demands for ‘azadi’ from blind state worship, systems of power and exploitation, such an impediment in the identity of Bharat Mata? Is the idea of Bharat Mata not ironic, given the depth to which the roots of patriarchy infiltrate our society? Is it not ironic that the Gau Maata and Bharat Maata which must mandatorily be respected and protected are bound by ideas of selfless giving and motherhood? Is the maata really not okay with being called by other names? Does the maata get to retaliate when her rights are violated, or is she an eternal symbol of sacrifice and docility? Where does the maata go when her resources are stripped to bring about development and when other females are stripped of their dignity on a daily basis? Is this benevolent, great mother in such great need of patronizing protection from the same men that threaten it when it isn’t dressed in a tri color sari? Will the mother ask me to go to the neighbors’ place if I happen to get in an argument with her? Am I not patriotic if I criticize my nation for knowingly or unknowingly allowing exploitation of its people?

During the Swadeshi movement in 1905, Abanindranath Tagore painted an image of ‘Banga Mata’ but decided to title it as Bharat Mata. An ascetic figure, very different from RSS’s Bharat Mata as depicted below.
This image is from an article by Sadan Jha in The Indian Express

In a milieu when allegations and allegiances are marked on the basis of slogans shouted or the refusal to chant one, it may be pertinent to note that Waris Pathan was willing to say ‘Jai Hind‘. His refusal was only for ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’.
Both these slogans emerged during India’s freedom struggle. Both are reverential. Yet, both are markedly different. While in the first, the nation is abstract, in the second it is both abstract and an icon, a goddess, a mother. We know that various religions, including Islam, forbid the practice of idol worship and goddess worship…
In Kerala in early 1980s, three children of the Jehovah sect were expelled from a school for refusing to join other students in singing the national anthem. Instead, they stood in respectful deference during the singing. The sect of Jehovah’s Witnesses does not endorse or believe any sign/symbol of temporal power and only pays obeisance to its God, Jehovah. A case was filed against the children. The Kerala High Court maintained that, “there was no word or thought in the National Anthem, which could offend anyone’s religious susceptibilities; therefore, the plea that singing of the anthem infringed on one’s freedom of religion could not be sustained”. The Supreme Court, however, reversed the order by observing that no disrespect was shown to the national anthem by not joining in the singing. The court further observed, “Article 25 is an article of faith in the Constitution, incorporated in recognition of the principle that the real test of a true democracy is the ability of even an insignificant minority to find its identity under the country’s Constitution.”
What was applied in the case of the national anthem may also be judicious for a sacred national slogan like Bharat Mata ki Jai. Though the court maintained the significance of Article 51 (A) that deals with fundamental duties, it also recognised that the national flag and the national anthem are means to propagate the cause of the nation rather than the nation itself.

Om Thanvi writes in Sabrang, in an article titled हिंद को भारत से अलग करने की साज़िश:

यमुना पाट के आयोजन में पाकिस्तान ज़िंदाबाद के जवाब में रविशंकर महाराज ने ‘जय हिन्द’ कहा, भारत माता की जय तो नहीं कहा?
नहीं कहा, तो क्या फर्क पड़ता है अगर वे “जय हिन्द” कह देते हैं। भारत की जय बोलने में भारत माता की जय क्या शरीक नहीं? निश्चय ही शरीक है।
इसी तरह, ओवैसी अगर जय हिन्द अर्थात जय भारत कहते हैं, तो ‘भारत माता’ की जय अलग से बोलें न बोलें, उसमें इतनी हाय-तौबा क्यों?
भारत माता की जय बोलना न बोलना या राष्ट्रगीत वन्दे मातरम् को गाना न गाना देशभक्ति का पैमाना नहीं हो सकता। खयाल रहे, वन्दे मातरम् राष्ट्रगीत (National Song) है, राष्ट्रगान (National Anthem) नहीं है।
हमारे झंडे के रंगों की तरह कुछ जुमलों को भी धर्म और सम्प्रदाय के रंग में रंग दिया गया है। दुर्भाग्य से भारत माता की जय, मातृभूमे, Motherland, वन्दे मातरम् कुछ इसी किस्म के संघ-प्रिय जुमले बनते जा रहे हैं। उन्हें जबरन बुलवाने की जिद उन्हें सांप्रदायिक रंग दे रही है। भारत के झंडे में केसरिया रंग है, इसके बावजूद उस रंग से परहेज करने वालों पर हम उस रंग को उनके पहनावे आदि में थोपते तो नहीं; तो चुनिंदा जुमले या नारे उन पर क्यों थोपे जाएं? 

The RSS Bharat Mata, Hindu upper-caste and militant, superimposed on Akhand Bharat
This image is from an article by Shoaib Daniyal in Scroll.in

However, other streams of political thought in India at the time disagreed with this and strove to reclaim the Bankim Chandra tradition of conflating the nation with Hindu divinity. Chief amongst them was Vinayak Savarkar, a Maharashtrian who, like Aurobindo Ghosh, had once believed in violent struggle. Justlike Ghosh, Savarkar had been sent to prison by the British and had emerged a changed man, swearing to abjure anti-British violence.
In his seminal 1923 work, Hindutva, Savarkar outlined a nationalism based on religious identity. Charging the Indian landmass with sacredness, Savarkar’s definition of nationality was based on whichever religious groups had their places of worship in the subcontinent. Faiths such as Islam and Christianity, which originated in the Middle East, were seen to be unIndian. Otherwise a nonbeliever, Savarkar imagined “Hind” to be the “richly endowed daughter of god”.
Since then, Hindutva has reclaimed and greatly magnified the Bankim Chandra idea of Bharat Mata. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh conducts almost every event of its with blazing banners of Bharat Mata holding a saffron flag – and not the Indian tricolour.

Which leads us finally, to our fun quiz:

Image from the FaceBook page of Sherna Dastur

Courtesy: Kafila.org

The post Many faces of the mother – Four voices on Bharat Mata and a quiz appeared first on SabrangIndia.