Sahu has more than 25 million followers on his YouTube channel which centres on fitness related content. He recently also made a reel on his channel prior to the elections, arguing that BJP will get 400 Lok Sabha seats and above this time. He is featured in photos with Bhajan Lal Sharam, Rajasthan’s current chief minister from the BJP led government when the CM was campaigning for elections.

Another video on Ayodhya Voter’s.

Pawan Sahu, a social media influencer from #Bhilwara #Rajasthan, is disrespecting the voters of #Ayodhya and using derogatory language. pic.twitter.com/toco8QjzRn

— Hate Detector (@HateDetectors) June 8, 2024

Several social media users, including the CPIM Maharashtra’s X account have called for his arrest in the light of these derogatory statements.

Arrest Pawan Sahu from Bhilwara immediately @dgpup @RajPoliceHelp @PoliceRajasthan for fueling hate in the community. https://t.co/Te0f1aUqiz

— CPIM Maharashtra (@mahacpimspeak) June 8, 2024

In the Faizabad constituency, where Ayodhya is located at the heart of the Babri Masjid and Ram Temple dispute, Akshaya Yadav of the Samajwadi Party had gotten a victory, winning by a margin of over 89,000 votes against his opponent, Vishwadeep Singh. The BJP had built the Ram Temple and held its inauguration on January 22 this year in a ceremony that had invited scores of people, dignitaries, actors and leaders.

Another BJP supporter, Sunil Lahiri, known for his role of Lakshman in Ramanand Sagar’s Ramayana TV series has also talked against voters from the recent Lok Sabha election. In a video message posted on Instagram, Lahiri questioned the people of Ayodhya and their integrity, saying that the people of Ayodhya have always betrayed the kings, “We have forgotten that residents of Ayodhya had questioned the virtue of Sita after she returned from exile. Even if God himself would appear in front of them, they would reject him. Ayodhya has always betrayed its true king,” one of the posts read. I salute the greatness of Ayodhya residents. You didn’t even spare Mata Sita, so how could you not betray the ones who took Ram out of a tent and enthroned him in a grand temple? India will never view you kindly.”

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The post YouTuber who campaigned with Rajasthan CM, Pawan Sahu uses slur against Hindu voters appeared first on SabrangIndia.

One needs to thank the people of Tamil Nadu for decisively throwing BJP out. It is also the result of political arithmetic, and MK Stalin needs kudos for his rainbow coalition. He is an example for all other political forces as how to run a coalition. The Congress needs to learn, particularly where it is the main power by giving space to smaller parties.

Maharashtra was supposed to give a big jolt to the BJP and the NDA, and people have done that. Unfortunately, Karnataka and Telangana could not sustain much for the Congress. The party needs to evaluate as why it is unable to hold on to its domain area even for a year. The Congress must understand how Bhupesh Baghel was over-hyped in Chhattishgarh. The party could win merely a seat of Korba.

Madhya Pradesh has remained in the grip of Hindutva for long and the Congress will have to work from ground level and look for committed cadres and leaders for that. Someone like Kamal Nath will not benefit the party and must be allowed only to the confines of Chhindwara.

The Congress party in Karnataka and Telangana must ponder over as what went wrong. Is the powerful Voklinga-Lingayat lobby still unable to digest Siddharamaiyya?

Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh remain in the tight grip of Brahmin-Bania-Rajput Hindutva politics. The absence of a powerful Ambedkarite or backward class movement or caste consciousness has resulted in Hindutva lobby gaining.

UP and Bihar have common factors largely unacknowledged by powerful parties. Lalu Prasad Yadav and RJD need to come out of family politics. Nitish Kumar, despite his diminishing aura, remained acceptable to Mahadalits.

While Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh accommodated of non-Yadav OBCs and other Dalit communities, Lalu’s resistance in accepting these cost RJD a lot.  Kanhaiya Kumar would have made a big difference in Bihar than in East Delhi.

Be that as it may, the fact is, in Uttar Pradesh the Ambedkarite movement and awakening is much more powerful than in Bihar, and that makes a huge difference.

One cannot also forget the brave battle of the Punjab farmers, youth resistance and the anger among Muslims, who were blamed for every evil that India has today. There were efforts to divide the unity of Dalits and OBCs by invoking the Muslim reservation issue, but they remained calm and politically mature.

Long ago Kanshiram said that we don’t need a mazboot (strong) government but a majbur (vulnerable) government in Delhi, as it works better for thepeople. With a majbur sarkar in the horizon, one hopes it gets into work and breathes in fresh air.

India remains indebted our Constitution, Baba Saheb Ambedkar, and of course Jawaharlal Nehru. Nehru remains an icon of India, our best address to the world when we speak about our prime ministers. Being Nehru means much more than merely winning elections.

People have said categorically that they need humble mortal leaders to lead, and not those who call themselves emissaries of God. They ask for an account of five years and don’t want for a 1000 year ‘vision’. One hopes the majbur sarkar will work better for the people of India, also respect and protect our Constitution and institutions.

Author is Human rights defender

Courtesy: CounterView

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As many as 65 former civil servants are signatory to the statement. They include Sundar Burra, Nitin Desai, Sanjay Kaul, Anita Agnihotri, Julio Ribeiro among others.

In the detailed statement, they say,

​”Religion is a private matter according to India’s constitutional arrangements. All persons, including public officials, are free to follow their religious beliefs. However, it is imperative for public officials to be mindful to carefully separate their religious beliefs and practices from their official duties.

    “This is especially important for a person holding the high constitutional office of Prime Minister, as the leader not just of people of one religious identity but of all people of India of diverse religious beliefs.

“​This separation between personal religious belief and practice and official duties was breached on January 22, 2024 when, in the presence of the Prime Minister, the statue of Shri Ram was installed and consecrated in the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. The event brings to our mind the advice given by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to President Rajendra Prasad at the inauguration of the reconstructed Somnath Temple in Gujarat at a juncture when the wounds of Partition were still healing in the subcontinent: “This is not merely visiting a temple, which can certainly be done by you or anyone else, but rather participating in a significant function which unfortunately has some implications.”

“​In the present case, the consecration of the idol of Shri Ram was undertaken at a site where, while granting the right to construct the temple at the site, the Supreme Court had clearly observed in its judgment of November 9,2019:

“The exclusion of the Muslims from worship and possession took place on the intervening night between 22/23 December 1949 when the mosque was desecrated by the installation of Hindu idols. The ouster of the Muslims on that occasion was not through any lawful authority but through an act which was calculated to deprive them of their place of worship. After the proceedings under Section 145 of CrPC 1898 were initiated and a receiver was appointed following the attachment of the inner courtyard, worship of the Hindu idols was permitted. During the pendency of the suits, the entire structure of the mosque was brought down in a calculated act of destroying a place of public worship. The Muslims have been wrongly deprived of a mosque which had been constructed well over 450 years ago.”

      “Despite its above observations, the Supreme Court permitted the construction of the temple by a trust set up under Section 6 of the Acquisition of Certain Area at Ayodhya Act 1993.

The statement adds,

           “Given the troubled history of the last three decades, it would have been in the fitness of things if the consecration of the temple had been undertaken by heads of the Hindu religious faith rather than by a constitutional functionary, which goes against the basic credo of secularism enshrined in the Preamble to the Constitution of India.

           “Of even greater concern to us are the developments in the last month before and after the consecration of the temple. In the Prime Minister’s speech at Ayodhya on January 22, 2024, he affirmed that the Ram temple construction reflected Indian society’s maturity. Further, he stated that the consecration was an occasion of not merely triumph but humility too.

      “However, the incidents at Mira Road in Maharashtra and some other places in the country have witnessed a wholly unnecessary show of triumphalism by certain elements from the Hindu community leading to reactions from elements from the Muslim community.

      “At times like these, it behoves the majority community to show restraint and maintain dignity, especially when a fractious issue has finally reached resolution.

      ” On the contrary, the efforts over the past few days to raise fresh issues concerning the religious faith of the two communities – Gyan Vapi mosque at Varanasi, Krishna Janmabhoomi at Mathura, the conduct of the Shah Jahan Urs at the Taj Mahal and the Haji Malang dargah at Kalyan (Maharashtra) – are unnecessary irritants to social peace and harmony at a time when so many more important issues confront the nation. Nor have matters been helped by the unnecessary haste shown by the authorities in Delhi in demolishing the Mehrauli dargah and madarsa and raising the issue of the removal of the Sunehri Bagh Masjid in the heart of New Delhi ostensibly on grounds of streamlining traffic flow. Surely, government agencies should have a senseof propriety to know when to bring up contentious issues.

         “As a multicultural society which has absorbed people from so many other lands over millennia, it ill behoves us as a nation for its citizens to adopt a narrow, xenophobic approach towards those who have different religious beliefs or belong to other ethnic communities. India’s status in the world since 1947 has been, to a considerable extent, founded on its ability to successfully run a country of so many diverse groups and faiths on democratic principles. It is the primary responsibility of the Union Government and the State Governments tomaintain an equal distance from all religions, inculcate in theircitizens the principle of fraternity enjoined by the Preamble to the Constitution of India and apply strictly the rule of law in ensuring that all citizens conduct their day to day affairs as laid down by the Constitution of India and the laws thereunder.

The entire text of the statement and list of signatories may be viewed below:

The post Ayodhya, January 22: Growing influence of religion in state & society matter of disquiet say 65 former civil servants appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The institute shockingly, failed to intervene. Even worse, the names of the signatory students who had signed the letter was made public. One masters’ student, who was among those instrumental in getting students together to sign the protest letter, has even been arrested!

It is a 23-year-old student belonging to a Dalit community from Latur district was arrested on January 22. This arrest took place after a senior student filed an FIR against him for putting out a status on WhatsApp against the frenzy created all around on the consecration day. In this post, the student took a critical view of the “celebration.” This was a copied post from another fellow student. In fact, many students had put out social media statuses in protest of the ongoing celebrations on the IIPS campus. However only this one student was singled out and arrested

Some students that The Wire spoke to say that the post was a mere excuse. “The said student would have become a target anyway. Many students and even the administration were not happy with the student and his friends’ endeavour of organising students against the Ram Mandir celebration,” said one of the students, who too had signed the letter sent to the director.

In the letter, the students have written: “IIPS is a multicultural campus annually organising various celebrations which includes Ganesh Chaturthi, Dussehra, Christmas, etc. which epitomises the promise of grooming a secular young generation who can contribute prosperity to a diversified nation-state like India. But the celebration of Ram temple consecration is a pure act of political agenda orchestrated by the various outfits, which can harm the secular sentiments of students while celebrating in an institute like IIPS, where such celebrations cannot be done.” In the letter, the students sought restrictions on celebrations on campus and said the celebration had the potential of “further deepening the divisions among student fraternity by spreading hate and fear”. The Wire has a copy of the letter.

 The letter was overlooked. But after the student’s arrest, those who had submitted the letter were even forced and bullied into writing an apology. Quite contrary to the concerns raised in the earlier letter, the students this time round were made to apologise for “hurting sentiments of those celebrating the Ram temple consecration.” Both the letters were addressed to the director.

Not only is such an arrest of a student from campus is unusual as normally, the police never enter the space without the institute administration’s permission. Instead of immediately criminalising the issue, whenever there is such a dispute between students, a complaint is made first with the institute before escalating it with the police. But here, the complainant from a second-year master’s student, went directly to Govandi police station. It was also entertained. The student was booked under Section 153 (A) and 295 (A) of the Indian Penal Code for “creating enmity between religion”.

The police in the remand application claimed that the student had offended “Hindu students with his WhatsApp post.” The student was arrested and kept in police custody for two days. On the third day as he was sent to Arthur Road central jail, a local court granted him bail.

The student is back on campus. The Wire even reached out to him for comment but he did not want to speak.

As an aftermath of the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony, students’ organisations like the Ambedkar Student Association (ASA) have been disbanded. A student, who was a part of the association, said that soon after the arrest, students dropped out and their WhatsApp group was deleted. “We are being targeted for our political understanding and assertion. Most of us come from poor family backgrounds and we don’t have the wherewithal to fight the right-wing forces. So, students just decided to dismantle the group,” a student who was earlier associated with the ASA said.

Apart from this institute, even the prestigious Film and Television Institute (FTII) saw violence break out over protests against the January 22 Ayodhya event. Though the issue there was some of the students wanting to show Anand Patwardhan’s documentary Ram ke Naam, here too goons from outside somehow got to know, were allowed inside the campus and in fact indulged in violence against FTII students.

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In Uttar Pradesh’s Agra, a shobha yatra organised by right-wing activists saw about 1000 to 1500 people armed with lathis and sticks that forced their way into a Mughal-era mosque on January 22 and hoisted a saffron flag on the historic mosque, according to the Indian Express. The people reportedly raised religious slogans and also issued threats to those present within the mosque. An FIR has been registered invoking Sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with a deadly weapon), 452 (trespass after preparation for hurt or assault), and 505 (2) (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code, according to The Hindu. According to Scroll, the mosque, which dates back to 1677, is a monument that comes under the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India.

Similarly, on January 22, 2024, the town of Menhdawal in Uttar Pradesh’s Sant Kabir Nagar district witnessed a mob take out a Shobha Yatra and reportedly tried to force its way into a mosque. The Free Press Journal has reported that the police have arrested five people so far on charges of ‘breach of peace’ and of ‘creating nuisance’ outside a place of worship during a religious procession.

Meanwhile, an almost identical incident unfolded in Shahjahanpur district of the state. Three people, Rohit Joshi, Ankit Katheria, and Rohit Saxena were arrested on January 22nd for allegedly replacing a flag on a mosque with a saffron one, according to the Deccan Herald. At the same district, in Tilhar, another incident occurred where five people have been officially charged by the police, along with 12 unidentified persons, on allegations of vandalising a flag that displayed the name of the deity Ram.

Similarly, in Kushinagar, ten Muslim men, along with several unidentified people, are facing charges for reportedly hurling stones and bricks at a dwaj yatra (shobha yatra). Reports suggest that this incident took place after an altercation Muslims reportedly objected to Jai Sri Ram slogans. According to The Wire, the Superintendent of Police Kushinagar Dhawal Jaiswal, has stated that it was an issue that took place due to people arguing over the bursting of firecrackers.

Similar 3 such incidents were reported from Kanpur, as religious tensions continued to remain flared with two more from Shahjahanpur, and one from Azamgarh, marking an intensely charged set of days for the state.

Related:

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Payment denied for hiring a Muslim server: Tide of hatred against India’s Muslims continues

The post Around the inauguration of Ram Temple, communal tension erupted in Uttar Pradesh appeared first on SabrangIndia.

On the same occasion, Shri Mohan Bhagwat, the Sarsangh Chalak (chief) of RSS, which led the campaign for construction of Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in place of Babri Masjid said, “Shri Ram is the most worshipped deity of the majority society and the life of Shri Ramchandra is still accepted as an ideal of conduct by the entire society. Hence, now the conflict that has arisen as for and against over the dispute should be ended” (Singh, 2024).

Both, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shri Mohan Bhagwat, emphasized on values of compassion, unity and inclusion and bringing all disputes and controversies pertaining to the construction of the temple to an end. Lord Ram was presented as unifier of the country. There can be no two opinions about what the Prime Minister and Bhagwat spoke. India needs to be united on the values of inclusion, equality and justice.

Lord Ram is worshipped for being Maryada Purushottam who stands for righteousness, justice and truth. One who upholds dharma, who chose to sacrifice his claim to the throne in order to honour his father’s promise and accepted 14-year exile in forest? Mahatma Gandhi and Kabir’s Ram had all the attributes that human beings must have. In his war against adharma, Lord Ram took everyone along, including smallest creature – squirrel.

However, contrary to these attributes, the Sangh Parivar converted the Maryada Purushottam’s calm and serene qualities into a symbol of a belligerent fighter, ready to shoot his arrow and used this image throughout their campaign for Ram Janmabhoomi Temple vilifying Muslim community and targeting them. Lord Ram, to them is an instrument to establish hegemony of one community over other.

“Jai Shree Ram” became a slogan of a war of Hindu nationalists against Muslims forcing their targets to chant it if they wanted to escape atrocities and violence being inflicted upon them. This became a slogan of Hindu nationalist processions entering minority inhabited areas to assert their power and establish their domination with belligerent intentions. It also became an instrument to tease the political opponents of the BJP and provoke a reaction, as they did with Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal. These war cries have never appeared like religious chants. Is the Sangh Parivar now sincere about their offer to end all disputes and revert back to hold Lord Ram as symbol of righteousness, compassion, justice and truth? If the answer is in the affirmative, it would be welcome and all disputes would end. However, the track record of the BJP led government does not inspire confidence that this will actually happen.

The Centre for Study of Society and Secularism has documented instances of violence that accompanied Ram Navami processions in 2022 and 2023, and the “shaurya” yatras in Muslim inhabited areas and organized under the pretext to collect donations for the construction of the Ram temple.

The intention of those in these processions to assert their power and domination over the minority community and the areas inhabited by them was evident from their conduct, behaviour and preparations.

The partisan behaviour of the BJP ruled states in inflicting collective punishment on the minority community did not seem like the state was inspired by the Maryada Purushottam and observing its maryadas – the laws and the Constitution of India.

We revisit of some incidents documented by the CSSS teams what unfolded during Ram Navami processions in recent years. The Prime Minister and Shree Bhagwat chose to remain silent over such behaviour in the name of Ram by the Hindu nationalists and did not remind them about what Lord Ram stands for. Lord Ram, was transformed into a tool of mobilization leveraging the sentiment of Hindu pride against a constructed adversary—the Muslim community.

The processions organised by the Hindu nationalists were often equipped with various weapons, such as swords, rods, trishuls, and sticks, in violation of the conditions upon which administrative permissions for such events are granted.   The politically motivated Hindu nationalists would often deviate from the permitted route of the procession and meander into minority inhabited areas looking for trouble and shouting political, and even abusive slogans.

In Ujjain for instance, during the procession of Ram Navami, the slogan, “Baccha baccha Ram ka, chachiyon ke kaam ka” rented the air. The subtle meaning of the slogan implied sexual relation between the progeny of Ram (Hindu men) and Muslim women. In Koderma (Jharkhand), those in Ram Navmi processions are seen in a viral video dancing ecstatically and abusing Muslims using the worst anti-women expletive in chorus. These processions are accompanied by loud and even deafening DJ vans and halt outside the mosques for a very long time during their prayer time. This stands in stark contrast to the traditional processions of Ram Navami organised by the residents of specific neighbourhoods that are also traditionally welcomed by the minorities and offered snacks and drinks.

In the Ram Navami procession in Vadodara organised by Hindu right wing in 2023, the participants of the procession shouted slogans, “Hindustan mein rehna hoga to jai shri Ram kehna hoga” and “hum aayenge toh nazar niche Karni padegi”. The participants in the Shobha Yatra vandalised the Dhuldoyawad Masjid and Hazrat Kalu Shahid – Balu Shahid Dargah. They also shouted the aforesaid slogan.

The provocative and demeaning slogans during Ram Navami processions and loud DJ music, serves as a deliberate strategy to incite and provoke the Muslim community into some sort of a reaction. Given the abusive slogans, loud music in front of mosques for long period, it is not possible for the community to restrain every Muslim from reacting. The participants in the processions use even a minimal reaction from Muslims to such provocations as a pretext for launching violent attacks on the Muslim residents.

The years 2022 and 2023 witnessed a staggering 28 communal riots directly linked to Ram Navami processions. Disturbingly, the state apparatus, instead of quelling the violence, aid and abet the rioters by either being silent spectators or actively using force on the Muslim community.

Police actions in the aftermath of these riots have been widely perceived as one-sided, resulting in the disproportionate arrest of Muslims, a significant number of whom are innocent. Their homes are raided. In Vadodara, Muslim women were assaulted. The local administration demolish the homes of Muslims as witnessed in Vadodara, Himmatnagar, Khambhat, Ujjain, Indore, etc. The properties owned or occupied by Muslims are declared as “illegal” and demolished without following the due process of law, and without notices, hearings etc.

“Jai Shri Ram” once a benign greeting now has become a war cry. The invocation of “Jai Shri Ram,” culturally an innocuous salutation, has undergone a transformation into a rallying cry with ominous connotations.

This evolution is underscored by the haunting imagery of Tabrez Ansari, who was tied to a pole amidst a jubilant crowd cheering. The assembled mob, comprised of men, women, and children, demanded that the injured Tabrez chant “Jai Shri Ram.”

Despite his compliance, Tabrez succumbed to grave injuries inflicted upon him during a lynching perpetrated by the mob. In another incident, Shahrukh Halder, a madarsa teacher, was beaten up and thrown off a moving train for refusing to say “Jai Shri Ram”. There are other such incidents where this chant was used to humiliate and kill non-Hindus.

Such an instrumental use of Lord Ram by those in the Ram Navmi processions organised by Hindu nationalists and their belligerent behaviour has not come from nowhere. It is the essentially politically-motivated, Hindu nationalist ideology, as propagated by the Sangh Parivar that misrepresents and distorts history wherein the Muslim rulers are presented as oppressors of Hindus who were out to destroy the Hindu culture, demolish their temples, forcibly convert the Hindus and sexually assault Hindu women. That is why the Prime Minister once asserted that Hindus were enslaved and colonised for over a thousand years. The Prime Minister also asserted once, contrary to facts, that all terrorists are Muslims, subtly associating terrorism as an instrument rooted in Islam. The BJP leaders, including the Home Minister Shri Amit Shah in Bihar, asserted that if the party loses elections there will be celebrations in Pakistan – a country, which the Hindu nationalists are taught to treat as an enemy state. This subtly establishes that Indian Muslims are loyal to Pakistan and that country is where they belong. Muslims are often called upon to migrate to Pakistan. It is the persistent vilification of Muslims as enemies of Hindus that has misled those under the influence of Hindu nationalist ideology and made them violent towards Muslims. In order to end the conflict, a Ram temple in Ayodhya alone would not be sufficient.

What we need is that the Hindu nationalists learn truth from historical and cultural facts and respect the cultural, religious, ethnic, linguistic and social diversity of the country.

Will the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya inspire the Hindu nationalists to reconcile, accept, and adhere to truth?

Will it inspire them to overcome their ideologically constructed resentment of Muslims? Will they learn from Lord Ram his serenity, calm, adherence to truth and not be attached to power and hegemony?

All communities and peoples need to do so. We hope that the Prime Minister and Shri Bhagwat condemn instrumentalisation of Lord Ram as a symbol of hegemony and exclusion as manifested during the Ram Navmi processions in the past.

References:

Indian Express. (2024, January 22). Retrieved from Indian Express: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/pm-modi-ram-mandir-speech-highlights-9121495/#:~:text=%E2%80%9COur%20Ram%20has%20arrived%20today,centuries%2C%E2%80%9D%20said%20PM%20Modi.&text=Prime%20Minister%20Narendra%20Modi%20Monday,PM%20Modi%20said%20in%20Ayo

Singh, A. K. (2024, January 21). Times of India. Retrieved from Times of India: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/ayodhya-reconstruction-an-occasion-to-move-on-end-the-bitterness-bhagwat/articleshow/107026633.cms?fr

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(sourced from social media)

It is unfair to stand in judgement of a newspaper’s front page, which is more dynamic (as in evolving) than most other sections, until we make an attempt to understand what must have gone through that hard-to-pin-down impulse called the collective mind of the newsroom.

I have hence steered clear of commenting on pages with which I am not directly involved. But I am breaking that resolve today, possibly putting EP Unny, the cartoonist, ill at ease.

Most English newspapers I saw today has religiously stuck to the straight and the narrow, reporting what happened in Ayodhya yesterday. As I said, there must be a collective mind behind that decision. Amid the tide of cynicism, I would like to believe that the newspapers did so to ensure that they do nothing to inflame the fraught situation. Unlike some TV and social media outlets, most newspapers have managed to retain their responsibility on days that run the risk of spinning out of control. In that sense, straight reporting without any hint that may tip the scales over the precipice with terrible consequences is the right decision, I feel.

So, after such a long preamble that shows how uncomfortable I am writing this, I must now mention the headline of The Indian Express New Delhi edition.

After a strapline or kicker in red ink that quotes Prime Minister Modi as saying “Not a date on calendar, origin of a new kaal chakra”, the main headline is just the date: January 22, 2024. (Visual below)

As I said, the headline states a fact, not provoking but respecting the intelligence of the reader to figure out whether what happened was just. This is a widely accepted form of journalism, especially so soon after such a polarising event marked by naked triumphalism endorsed by the State.

At the other end of the spectrum, a question does exists whether it is not the duty of a newspaper to send a reassuring message to those who must have felt wounded by this triumphalism. I suppose to err on the side of caution is better than taking a chance that can inflame passions. Besides, it is the editor’s prerogative, which should not questioned by an editor-at-large.

Then, I stumbled on Unny’s pocket cartoon, which, by definition, lurks way below, almost unnoticed, locked, loaded and ready to strike like a viper.

I do not know whether it is by design or happenstance. Unny also plays on dates — and the outcome is a stiletto thrust that kills but spills no blood.

The disjointed but sequential calendar in the pocket cartoon shows three dates: January 22, 26 and 30. Then Unny’s Calvin, the bespectacled lad that gives the strip its leitmotif, if not mascot, takes over and goes on to demolish Modi, Bhagwat and yesterday’s spectacle with one fell blow.

“A great way to begin the year — thinking of Ram, the Republic and a Ram bhakt.”

The banner headline  (a single date) took up eight columns in light font at the top with some white space to spare —  a design device to enhance the impact.

The strip in netherland takes up only one-eigth of the column space of the headline and uses far fewer words than the kicker and the headline. Yet, the kicker has not left anything unsaid. It is more evocative and more powerful than any editorial on the subject I have seen. In fact, it has become the shortest yet loudest signed editorial — a rarest of rare statement that newspapers seem to have forgotten these days, probably because  editors realise how hollow they sound.

Unny has produced several world-class cartoons. But Calvin’s Calendar takes the podium as far as I am concerned. I wonder, I marvel: what if the headline writer also had thought up the same idea? Who would have yielded ground then? How would the three dates have looked in eight columns with Calvin’s thought bubble? We can only wonder. What a wonderful place the newsroom will become then!

As I said, I don’t know if the Express did so by design. If so, it is worthy of a Pulitzer. If not, it is still worthy of a Pulitzer because it shows how a newsroom that allows diverse opinions to thrive can deliver masterstrokes untrammelled by one another.

I hope some university will add this page to their syllabi for journalism.

Why is it that it usually takes children to shout out that the emperor has no clothes? All of you must have seen Adarsh Raj, the boy who is telling it as it is to a Godi Media propagandist.

I was hoping some newspaper would be audacious enough to make Adarsh the lead story of the day. It does not cost anything to hope.

The clarity of Adarsh is out of the world. So is that of Unny’s Calvin. The kids are all right, unlike us.

Then my friend Jayan sent me a video (below Video 2 ). It is in Malayalam but language is not a barrier here. It shows a thief being chased at the Kannur bus terminal yesterday. He has stolen a lamp — so that he can light it as singer Chitra had exhorted Malayalis. Chitra’s call shocked several Malayalis — she is free to light any number of lamps but how can she exhort others to do so?

 Turns out the thief was part of a street play ridiculing Chitra’s call without mentioning her at all. The play ends with the question, unknowingly taking Calvin’s observation to the next level: on January 30, there were two Ram bhakts. One was assassinated, the other called Nathuram pulled the trigger. “ON WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU?” the protagonist in the play asks.

The guy speaking out is not a boy, for a change.

Adarsh, Calvin and the Stage Workers — they have proved that they can communicate better than the loudest and ugliest propaganda machine in India.

There is a lesson for those of us who give up hope — and our fight — so easily.

The post The day Calvin stripped the Emperor: Jan 23, 2024 appeared first on SabrangIndia.

January 22, 2024

Dear Rama,

I have little choice but to write directly to you today on the eve of the grand consecration of your temple to speak my heart.

Hopefully you will understand better than this Government led by a Mere Mortal aspiring to take your place in the hearts of those who revere you. Why He is even changing dresses like a chameleon every day in order to beat you in the dashavatara and antaryami department! It is all very confusing….is He man, superman or cameraman? Only you will know.

Infact as the Shankracharya, in an interesting interview the other day with the fellow who speaks very oddly with an Oxbridge accent said, this MM seems to be thinking of Himself as the next Vishnu Avatar! Much of what the Shankracharya said about “political” Hindus (a species evolved in Kalyuga you may not be familiar with) and Hindus of faith infact echoes what Pandit Lal Das said way back when Anand Patwardhan interviewed him for his documentary “Ram ke Naam.”

You will remember Lal Das. He was the priest of your idols within the Mosque compound when the Babri Masjid still co existed with the temple. When asked what he thought about the plans for building the temple at the spot of the Masjid he said something so important. “This is a political game played by the VHP. There was never any ban on building the temple.

Besides according to our tradition any place where idols of God are kept, is a temple. That is a Hindu custom. And even if they wanted to build a separate temple why demolish a structure where idols already exist?

Those who want it are actually more interested in creating tensions all over India inorder to cash in on the Hindu vote. They don’t care about the genocide that will occur. How many will be killed. How much destroyed.”

Prophetic words. Words that preceded not only the bloodbath that followed the destruction of both the Masjid and infact the temple that housed your idols, but his own death. He was shot dead on 16 November 1993 in the middle of the night 20 km from Ayodhya. And who murdered him and why only you will know.

You know on December 6, 1992 when the Mosque and the temple that was within it was razed to the ground I was devastated. Like so many of my generation born into the Hindu faith I raged and mourned at this Great Betrayal of what I was brought up believing. That this faith would never goad me to become a “good Hindu” but guide me to become a better human being. That the feminine greeting of Jai Siyaramji ki would never morph into the macho murderous battle cry “Jai Shri Ram.”

I protested with fellow mourners through multifaith gatherings where we remembered the best of all faiths that are in danger from their fundamentalist followers.

But strangely enough three decades later today on the eve of the inaugural of the glitzy new temple built I feel neither rage nor sorrow. I feel, in fact, rather still. Still. In the midst of the unholy noisy melodrama around it which reveals the ridiculous depths to which this country has been driven. So low that PVR cinema can advertise free popcorn with the livestreaming of the consecration of your temple! Popcorn? Seriously??

Am sure even you are laughing at the way you have been turned into an electoral mascot and salesman from a maryada purshotham.

So you will please excuse me if I do not light four lamps in front of my house as is the diktat from above.

But what I will promise to do is light four lamps within my heart.

One for Sita who exiled herself from the Ram Rajya your followers built (now that is another quarrel we need to have another time) leaving behind the memory of a strong self respecting woman willing to stand up and walk away for what she believed.

One for Gandhi who was killed for being a self proclaimed Sanatani. You will remember that he died with your name on his lips and believed that “The chief value of Hinduism lies in holding the actual belief that all life is one i.e. all life coming from one universal source, call it Allah, God or Parameshwar”

One for Ambedkar who was a fierce critic of caste ridden Hindu dogma and for who true religion was to promote a universalist ideal of humaneness and fellow feeling that he enshrined in the concept of Fraternity underlying the remarkable Constitution of this country.

And finally one for Bilkis Bano that most inspiring of women in our times who kept her faith in this country and its justice system alive despite how both failed her.

Until the Supreme Court stood firmly with her by sending those who raped her and murdered her back to jail where their inhuman crimes have driven them.

These lamps will help to not only keep out the darkness of despair within but also keep bright our belief in the power of love – the most divine and transcendental of all faiths that can conquer all fear, hate and injustice.

Am sure you will accept and bless these lamps, for as Gandhi’s favourite bhajan went: “Raghupathi raghava raja ram patita pavana seeta ram Ishwar allah tero naam sab ko sannmathi de bhagawan.”

Yours in peace and love

Madhu Bhushan

https://www.facebook.com/madhu.bhushan.18/

The post To Rama, Four Lamps i will light today within my heart appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The making of “Ram Ke Naam”

In 1984 after her Sikh bodyguards assassinated Indira Gandhi, a revenge pogrom took the lives of over 3000 Sikhs on the streets of Delhi. Many killer mobs were led by Congress Party members, but some were led by the RSS and BJP as well. This is a fact forgotten by history but recorded in newspaper headlines of the day.  It was this massacre that set me on the to road to fight Communalism with my camera. For the next decade I recorded different examples of the rise of the religious right, as seen in diverse movements from the Khalistani upsurge in Punjab to the glorification of Sati in Rajasthan and the movement to replace the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya with a temple to Lord Ram.

The material I filmed was very complex and if I had tried to encompass it all into a single film, it would have been too long and confusing. Eventually three distinct films emerged from the footage shot between 1984 and 1994, all broadly describing the rise of religious fundamentalism and the resistance offered by secular forces in the country. “Una Mitran Di Yaad Pyaari/ In Memory of Friends”, the first film to get completed, spoke of the situation in the Punjab of the 1980’s where Khalistanis as well as the Indian government were claiming Bhagat Singh as their hero, but only people from the Left remembered the Bhagat Singh who from his death cell wrote the booklet, “Why I am an Atheist”.

The second film was “Ram Ke Naam/In the Name of God” on the rise of Hindu fundamentalism as witnessed in the temple-mosque controversy in Ayodhya. The third was “Pitra, Putra aur Dharmayuddha/Father, Son and Holy War” on the connection between religious violence and the male psyche. All three films tackled Communalism, but each used a different prism to analyse what was happening. “In Memory of Friends” highlighted the writings of Bhagat Singh suggesting that class solidarity was the antidote to religious division. “Father, Son and Holy War” looked at the issue from the prism of gender.

For this article, I will concentrate on “Ram Ke Naam”, the middle film of what became a trilogy on Communalism. While the film covers a two year span from 1990 onwards, the back story begins in the mid-1980’s when the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and sister organizations of the Hindutva family (the Sangh Parivar) was searching for a way to capture the imagination of the Hindus of India who at 83%, constitute the real vote bank of this country.  A Dharam Sansad (Parliament of Priests) in 1984 (the year Indira Gandhi was killed and the Congress rode to power on a sympathy wave) identified 3000 sites of potential conflict between Hindus and Muslims that could mobilize the sentiments of Hindus and polarize the nation. The top three sites chosen were at Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura. The Dharam Sansad decided to start with the Ram temple/Babri Mosque in Ayodhya. Soon a nationwide village to village campaign to collects bricks and money to build a grand Ram temple in place of the Babri mosque began. The campaign went international as NRI’s chipped in from distant lands. By design or by remarkable coincidence, India’s state controlled TV channel, Doordarshan started to run a never-ending serial on the Hindu epic – The Ramayana (The story of Lord Ram). In those days there were few other TV channels and the whole nation was hooked onto mythology. These were the ingredients already at play when BJP stalwart L. K. Advani set out on his chariot of fire.

“Ram Ke Naam” follows the Rath Yatra of L.K. Advani who in 1990 traversed the Indian countryside in an air-conditioned Toyota dressed up by a Bollywood set-designer to look like a mythological war chariot. The stated objective was to gather Hindu volunteers, or “kar sevaks” to demolish a 16^th century mosque built by the Mughal emperor Babar in Ayodhya and build a temple to Lord Ram in its exact location. The rationale for this act of destruction and construction was that Babar had supposedly built this mosque after demolishing a temple to Lord Ram that had marked the exact location of Lord Ram’s birth. This was justified as an act of historic redress for the many wrongs inflicted by Muslim invaders and rulers on their native Hindu subjects, a theme that runs through all Hindutva discourse like a flaming torch.

I started the film instinctively, shooting the Rath Yatra when it arrived in Bombay in 1990 and then following it through various segments of its journey. At many places the Rath passed through, it left a trail of blood as kar sevaks attacked local Muslims either for not showing due respect or just to display their might. By the end of its journey over 60 people had been killed and many more injured in the wake of the Rath.

Most of our shoot was done with a two-person crew consisting of myself with an old 16 mm camera and colleagues who accompanied me on different legs of the shoot. For the leg that eventually reached Ayodhya, Pervez Merwanji recorded sound on our portable Nagra. Pervez was a dear friend and a filmmaker in his own right, having just made his brilliant debut feature “Percy” which went on to win a major award at the Mannhein International Film Festival. Despite this he was not too proud to don the mantle of sound recordist on an unheralded independent documentary project like ours. It turned out to be the last film he would ever work on. Pervez contracted jaundice, probably during our shoot, seemed to recover, but then his liver failed him and he passed away never having seen the final edit of our film.

Our actual filming was staggered over a year and a half, and we were able to research as well as shoot in this period.  We learned that contrary to the theory that votaries of Hindutva were propagating that claimed that there was a temple underneath the mosque, the artefacts that archaeologists had originally found in digs in the vicinity had nothing to do with any temple. According to historians, in the 7^th century at the location of present day Ayodhya, probably stood the Buddhist city of Saket.  We learned that the proliferation of Akhadas (military wings attached to temples) in Ayodhya had nothing to do with the long war to liberate the birthplace of Lord Ram as was being claimed by Hindutva ideologues, but owed their origin to the ongoing rivalry between armed Shaivite and Vaishnavite sects in the middle ages. Most importantly we learned that in the 16^th century, the poet Tulsidas visited Ayodhya many times as he composed his famous Ram Charitra Manas, a text which converted the relatively obscure Sanskrit Ramayana into khadi boli, a form of Hindi, that popularized the story of Lord Ram for the ordinary folk of North India. Not only does Tulsidas never mention that a temple marking the birthplace of Lord Ram was just demolished by Babar, there is another telling fact. Until the 16^th century the Rama legend was largely restricted to the few Brahmins who knew Sanskrit. It is only after Tulsidas’s Hindi version had spread that Ram became a popular god for the masses and Ram temples sprouted across the country. In other words in the middle of the 16^th century when the Babri Mosque was built, it is highly unlikely that there were any Ram temples at all. Today Ayodhya is full of Ram temples and at least twenty of them claim to be built at the birthplace of Ram. The reason is obvious. Any temple that establishes itself as the birthplace of Ram gets huge donations from its devotees.

Some of this research is hinted at in the finished film but rarely made explicit as I felt that it would be more powerful for our film to rely on the logic of events unfolding before the camera in 1990-91 rather than become a theoretical and didactic treatise. Ideally I, or someone else should have made an accompanying booklet to point out the many footnotes and annotations that such a film really needs.

30^th October 1990 had been declared by L.K. Advani as the target date for “Kar Seva” at the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi/Babri Mosque site in Ayodhya. Pervez and I headed to Uttar Pradesh. We were trying to catch up with the Rath at some of its scheduled stops. The trains were already jam full. We squeezed into a Third Class compartment where we could barely sit on top of our luggage. We had got on a wrong train and it was impossible to get out! It turned out to be a stroke of luck as the train took us to Patna, Bihar where the Left front along with Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav were holding a huge anti-Rath rally at the Gandhi Maidan. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7XRvjYQOaI)

A.B. Bardhan of the CPI made a brilliant appeal to preserve India’s syncretic culture and Lalu Prasad Yadav gave a stern warning telling Advani to turn back from the brink. A few days later he kept his promise. Advani was arrested and the Rath Yatra finally came to a halt in Bihar.  Not so the kar sevaks who used all modes of transport to continue to head towards Ayodhya.

We caught a train back to Lucknow. There we spent almost 10 days trying to get permission to enter Ayodhya. Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had vowed to protect the Babri Mosque and claimed that he had turned Ayodhya into an impenetrable fortress where not just kar sevaks but “parinda par na kar payega” (not a bird could fly cross). As it turned out in the end the only people who had difficulty getting into Ayodhya were journalists and documentarians like us.

We finally reached Ayodhya on the 28^th of October, two days before the planned assault on the mosque. Here we met Shastriji, an old Mahant  (temple priest) who in 1949 had been part of the group that had broken into the Babri Mosque at night and installed a Ram idol in the sanctum sanctorum. From that day on, the site had become disputed territory as District Magistarate K.K. Nair refused to have the idols removed.  As “Ram Ke Naam” points out, K.K. Nair after retiring from government service went on to join the Jan Sangh Party (precursor of the BJP) and became a Member of Parliament.

Shastriji, the Mahant, was proud of installing the idols and a little miffed that everyone had forgotten his role. Hindutva videos, audios and literature had proclaimed that what happened in 1949 was a “miracle” where the god Lord Ram appeared at his birthplace.  Shastri was arrested and released on bail by the District Magistrate, K.K.Nair. Till the day we met him 41 years later, he had remained free.

We went across the Saryu bridge to Ayodhya’s twin city, Faizabad. Here we met the old Imam of the Babri Mosque and his carpenter son who recounted the 1949 story from their perspective. The District Magistrate had told them after the break-in that order would soon be restored, and that by next Friday they could re-enter their mosque for prayers. As the Imam’s son put it “We are still waiting for that Friday”.

As 30^th October dawned and we made our way on foot to the Saryu bridge at Ayodhya, we could see that CM Mulayam Singh’s promise that no one would get through to Ayodhya was proving false. Already several thousands had gathered by the bridge, despite the curfew. There had been a small lathi charge while shoes and footwear were scattered all over the bridge. Busloads of arrested karsevaks were being driven away after arrest. What we did not notice at the time was that many of these buses would stop at a short distance and the kar sevaks would disembark to rejoin the fray. By the side of the bridge thousands were chanting at the police “Hindu, hindu bhai bhai, beech mein vardi kahan se aayee? (All Hindus are brothers. why let a uniform get between us?)”.

As the day progressed it was heartbreaking to those of us who knew that any attack on the mosque would rent apart the delicate communal fabric of the nation.. We had believed Mulayam Singh’s strong rhetoric that he would stop karsevaks long before they reached the mosque. What we saw on the ground was bewildering. Not only were thousands pouring in despite the curfew but at many places there was active connivance from the police and paramilitary forces. There was utter confusion. In the end some karsevaks did break through to attack the mosque but at the very last instance, the police opened fire. Some karsevaks reached the top of the mosque’s dome and tied their orange Hindutva flag. Others broke into the sanctum sanctorum where the idols were kept but police firing prevented the larger crowd from demolishing the mosque. In all 29 people, young and old, lost their lives.  Later BJP and VHP propaganda claimed that over a thousand had been killed and thrown into the Saryu river. The think-tank of Hindutva then initiated another Rath Yatra across the country carrying the ashes of their Ayodhya “martyrs”.

On the night of the 30^th, in the sombre mood that the attack had spawned, we met Pujari Laldas, the court-appointed head priest of the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi/Babri Mosque site. Laldas was an outspoken critic of Hindutva despite being a Hindu priest and had received death threats. The UP government had provided him with two bodyguards. It is this wonderful interview of one of independent India’s unsung heroes that gives “Ram Ke Naam” its real poignancy. Laldas spoke out against the VHP pointing out that they had never even prayed at the site but were using it for political and financial gain. He spoke of the syncretic past of Ayodhya and expressed anguish that Hindu-Muslim unity in the country was being sacrificed by people who were cynically using religion. He predicted a storm of mayhem that would follow but expressed confidence that
this storm too would pass and sanity would return.

For “In Memory of Friends”, I had used a prism of class as seen through the writings of Bhagat Singh to speak of the Punjab of today. In reality, by the late 1980’s classical Marxist analysis and class solidarity were no longer exclusively effective tools in an India and a world where the ideas of the Left were losing out to consumer capitalism. The Soviet Union was collapsing and China was embracing state capitalism. The USA was the only super power left in the world, which itself was fragmenting into its religious and ethnic sub-parts. Yugoslavia disintegrated into internecine warfare. The USA with its ally, Saudi Arabia, stoked Islamic fundamentalism in Afghanistan and Pakistan to fight Communism which in turn helped Kashmiri militants take up the gun. In Punjab, Sikh militants were rising and in Northern India, Hindu militants came into their own. For “Ram Ke Naam” the sane voice of the Hindu priest Pujari Laldas played the role that Bhagat Singh’s writings had done in my previous film. The Left antidote to Communalism was still present through the Patna speech of CPI’s AB Bardhan. But it was now joined by a liberation theologist in the form of Pujari Laldas. The violent reaction of upper caste Hindus to the attempt by Prime Minister V.P. Singh to implement a Mandal Commision report granting reservations to ‘backward’ castes, had led to upper caste Hindus embracing Hindutva and the Mandir (Ram temple) movement. This had not yet trickled down the Caste order. Wherever we went in UP, Dalits and “Backward Castes” spoke out against the Ram temple movement. This became the third spoke in the anti-Communal wheel.

The film was complete by late 1991. We had some hiccoughs and delays from the censors but finally cleared this hurdle without cuts. The film went on to win a national award for Best Investigative Documentary as well as a Filmfare Award for Best documentary. At the 1992 Bombay International Documentary Film Festival, Jaya Bacchan was head of the jury. “Ram Ke Naam” did not get a mention. Several critics commented that the film was raking up a dead issue as the Babri Mosque was intact and the film would unnecessarily give the country a bad name abroad. Later that month I attended the Berlin Film Festival with “Ram Ke Naam”. I learned to my horror that Amitabh and Jaya Bacchan, who were also guests at this festival, had told the Festival authorities that should not have selected such an “anti-India” film.

On the strength of our national award I submitted it for telecast on Doordarshan. Any government that actually believed in a secular India, would have shown such a film many times over so that our public could realize how religious hatred is manufactured for narrow political and financial gains. Widespread exposure may have undermined the movement to demolish the mosque. The BJP was not yet in power. Yet Doordarshan refused to telecast the film and I took them to court. 5 years later we won our case and the film was telecast, but the damage had long been done.

After the October 30 attack in 1990 and the death of 29 karsevaks, the BJP, which had been in coalition with VP Singh’s Janata Dal Party government at the centre, pulled out its support. Chandra Shekhar briefly came to power at the centre but quickly lost to Narsimha Rao’s Congress in the wake of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. In UP Mulayam Singh’s government gave way to a BJP government. One of its first steps was to have Pujari Laldas removed as head priest of the Ram Janmaboomi/Babri Masjid, and then to remove his bodyguards. Conditions were now ripe for the major assault.

On December 6, 1992 with the BJP in power in UP, and a strangely acquiescent Narsimha Rao led Congress government at the centre, the Hindutva brigade finally succeeded in demolishing the Babri Mosque. Pujari Laldas’s predictions of large scale violence in the region came true. The old Imam and his son from Faizabad I had interviewed were put to death on 7^th December 1992. While Muslims were slaughtered across India, in neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh, the Hindu minority was targeted and temples destroyed. In March 1993, bomb blasts in Mumbai organized by Muslim members of the mafia killed over 300 people. The chain reaction set into motion since those days has still to abate.

Back in 1991 our première had been held in Lucknow, capital of UP. Pujari Laldas came for the screening and asked for several cassettes of the film. When I asked about his own safety, he laughed and said he was happy that now his views would circulate more widely. As he put it, if he had been afraid, he would not have spoken out in the first place.

A year later, a tiny item on the inside pages of the Times of India noted-“Controversial priest found murdered.” Pujari Laldas had been killed with a country-made revolver. The newspaper article never told us that the real “controversy” was the fact that this brave priest believed in a Hinduism that is the mirror opposite of Hindutva.

The post The making of “Ram Ke Naam”: a Hinduism that is the mirror opposite of Hindutva appeared first on SabrangIndia.

According to multiple media reports, huge banners and posters have cropped up along the campus showing that a religious procession named “Shriram darbar shobha yatra” will be organised on January 21. In addition to this, an email sent by the institute’s administration to all students and residents on campus on January 17 announced a musical event titled “Ramdhun”, inspired by the Geet Ramayan, is scheduled for January 20 at the IDC auditorium within the campus.

The poster may be seen here.

As per a report of News18, the said email sent by the institute’s public relation office read “It is a pleasure to share the announcement with you of a program, based on the celebrated ‘Geet Ramayan’, on coming Saturday, January 20 at 4:30pm in the IDC auditorium…The program ‘Ramdhun’, will present a selection of songs from ‘Geet Ramayan’ together with some ‘Ram Bhajans’. The performers are from IIT-B community, including the spouses and children of staff and faculty members as well as some students. Hoping to see many of you in the program.” The News18 report also provided that when their team contacted the institute’s spokesperson on the events, they denied holding any event officially.

The email may be viewed here:

The said events end with a gaushala being inaugurated on the campus on the day of the consecration ceremony of the structure in Ayodhya on January 22 by IIT Bombay’s Director, Subhasis Chaudhuri. As per the News18 report, another email approved by the administration addressed to campus residents on January 19 said that IIT-Bombay’s director Subhasis Chaudhuri will be inaugurating a gaushala on January 22. As per the internal event invitation, Ashwini Bhide, additional municipal commissioner, will be the chief guest at the inauguration.

According to News18, “The inauguration ceremony for the new gaushala is scheduled for January 22, 2024 (Monday)… Ashwini Bhide AMC (BMC) and Prof Subhasis Chaudhuri, director, IIT-B will be inaugurating it…”

News 18 is a channel owned by the Ambanis and is one electronic media outlet that has seen aggressive overtones of majoritarian reportage.

An internal invite email by Sudhir Shantaram Bhave, on behalf of the IIT-B cattle management committee stated: “As you all can witness, our campus, streets, grounds, academic, hostel and residential areas and various other activity locations are now free from uncontrolled cattle movement. This has become possible through the dedicated efforts of the committee in collaboration with the Cattle Welfare Group (CWG) and an esteemed NGO. This initiative of the institute, creating dedicated shelters and arrangements, helped in the enhanced management of cattle movement and the mitigation of cattle-human conflict. Since December 2019, gaushala activities have been managed in temporary sheds, albeit with certain limitations. It is with great pleasure that we announce the completion of our new improved gaushala in the picturesque lakeside area behind the Devi Padmavati temple. This milestone project marks a significant step forward in our commitment to the welfare of our campus environment.” According to the email, Gopal Rai, an IIT-B alumnus, and his construction company, Dhirendra Group of Companies (DGC) helped make the gaushala a reality. The said cowshed will a permanent gaushala behind the Padmavati temple near the campus’s lakeside.

The email may be read here:

Notably, in the third email shared on January 19, the institute announced a half-day closure on January 22, as per instructions by central government, till 2:30 PM.

These aforementioned events being organised at campus has attracted severe criticism. In response to these developments, the Ambedkar Periyar Phule Study Circle, a student collective at IIT Bombay, has raised concerns with the increasing alignment of the institute with “Hindutva political forces”, compromising its commitment to the values of secularism enshrined in the Indian Constitution.

The group also condemned what they perceive as the institute’s submission to right-wing political forces while suppressing activities of independent student collectives, shedding light on the use of contradicting “apolitical” guidelines to cancel academic talks and gatherings. As per these guidelines, which were issued on November 14, 2023, students and faculty are only allowed to only organise “apolitical” events at the campus.

The guidelines may be read here:

“The institute had very recently declared that it shall ‘remain apolitical in all its endeavours’ and has been using the new guidelines to cancel and censor several academic talks and gatherings on campus. It is shocking that the institute allowed such politically-aligned events to be organised while inviting all campus residents to it. The institute bows down to political forces while on the other hand it continues to suppress any activity by the independent student collectives,” said APPSC on their post on social media.

The guidelines for holding events on campus stated that these may be classified in two categories – “purely non-political’ and “potentially political”. The latter can cause socio-political controversies and must be avoided, it said.

The social media post of APPSC stated the follows:

“A line of events being carried out on campus by the IITB administration shows that it has started crawling in front of Hindutva political forces, giving up on the principle of Secularism in the Indian Constitution.

The institute has reportedly given permission to a procession called “Shriram darbar shobha yatra” happening on 21st January in campus. The Director will be inaugurating a Goshala on 22nd. Another musical event called “Ramdhun” will be happening on 20th.

Very recently though the institute had declared that its shall “remain apolitical in all its endeavors,” and has been using the new guidelines to cancel and censor several academic talks and gatherings on campus.

We condemn the surrender of this institute in front of the right-wing political forces while on the other hand it continues to suppress any activity by the independent student collectives.”

The post may be read here:

A line of events being carried out on campus by the @iitbombay administration shows that it has started crawling in front of Hindutva political forces, giving up on the principle of Secularism in the Indian Constitution. pic.twitter.com/DunAwQ8SEg

— APPSC IIT Bombay (@AppscIITb) January 19, 2024

Another highly regarded educational institute of Mumbai, namely the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has taken adverse and unconstitutional steps in view of the approaching inauguration ceremony of Uttar Pradesh. As per a report of Maktoob media, a notice has been issued by the registrar of TISS Mumbai restricting their right to freedom of expression and speech, asking the students to not organise or participate in any public program opposing the Ram temple consecration.

The circular, which was published on January 18, stated that the administration had decided to officially prevent any such activities after having heard that a group of students were planning to protest against the Ram temple event as per Maktoob media. Students have been asked to refrain from any gatherings of dissent failing which the “law-enforcing agency” will take action against those who violate the warning.

“We advise all students not to indulge in any such unauthorised activities and we also strictly warn students not to participate in any such activities or demonstrations, failing which the law-enforcing agency will take necessary action against those students found indulging in such activities. Please take urgent note of the same and take care of yourself,” the notice read, as per the Times of India.

Related:

Journalist Aman Chopra casually visits a gaushala with sexual harassment accused Brij Bhushan Singh

Invites to Ayodhya temple inauguration extended to judges who gave the verdict in Babri Masjid demolition-Ram Janmabhoomi case

How and why the Ram Temple is just a political tool for the BJP  

Riddles of Ayodhya Ram Temple: Consecration of Bhagwan Ram’s idol, but which one?

From Ayodhya to Trivandrum, are Dalits still unsafe in India?

Three hundred Ramayans

Babri demolition to Ram Temple: A trajectory of Indian politics

The post Hindutva enters Mumbai college campuses- Gaushala, Shobha Yatra in IIT B, restriction to freedom of speech at TISS appeared first on SabrangIndia.