Inspite of all these, the BJP led Assam Government targeted Yatra and gave it to a communal angle to summarise the Yatra in Assam to a certain people and community. When Rahul Gandhi vehemently started called out the current Chief Minister of Assam on his alleged corruption, tagging him as the most corrupt CM in India, Himanta Biswa Sarma and his allies claimed that the Yatra was a “Miya Yatra”.

“Miya Muslims” have the majority in most of the districts of lower Assam while comparatively less in upper Assam. However the Yatra has gotten the support of numerous people due to its inclusiveness and for highlighting key issues from unemployment, price-hikes, inflation and corruption. But BJP’s propaganda tried to tie it with a specific religion.

The Yatra entered Barpeta district of Assam enroute to the last part of Assam that is Dhubri district. People from all caste, community joined the Yatra and gathered in huge numbers at the public meeting.

This did not stop the state BJP machinery to fuel the word “Miya” in order to colour the whole Yatra for a certain people and community.

In a recent post on the X (formerly Twitter) handle of Himanta Biswa Sarma, he published a video that showed the public gathering. He divided the screen as Hindu Majority Area vs Muslim Majority Area.

This sums up the “Bharat Bus Yatra”

एक ही बात की बहुत ख़ुशी है, मुसलमान बहुमत क्षेत्रों में माताएं और बहने इस यात्रा से नहीं जुड़ी। pic.twitter.com/eKuNPoNZwn

— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) January 24, 2024

While another Minister from his Cabinet and happened to be the second man in the Himanta led BJP government in Assam, Pijush Hazarika also posted a similar video.

The video is divided into three parts in a video clip from three different places that shows the “Yatra” moving through different areas. Lakhimpur where BJP got 60.47% votes in the last Parliamentary election, another one is from Jagiroad, which is his own MLA constituency and got 53.54% votes in the 2021 assembly election. The last one from Barpeta where INC MP got less vote share then the previous places mentioned in the video clips of Pijush Hazarika uploaded on X.

This is why it is a Miya Yatra .

BJ Yatra crossed 3 constituencies
Hindu population in each of them

Lakhimpur: 75%
Jagiroad: 79%
Barpeta: 29%

Look where people turned up@INCAssam pic.twitter.com/ZMjLbCfG9H

— Pijush Hazarika (@Pijush_hazarika) January 24, 2024

The Chief Minister has earlier in public meetings also spoken about the Yatra as a “Miya Yatra” that Rahul Gandhi is conducting throughout Assam.

Related:

Assam: Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra faces attacks, Congress demand judicial investigation

On The Road, with the Bharat Jodo Yatra

MP: Tribal School Teacher Suspended for Meeting Rahul Gandhi During Bharat Jodo Yatra

The post Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra sees large crowds in Barpeta, Assam appeared first on SabrangIndia.

In response to this, the Congress went ahead and announced protest demonstrations across state and district headquarters. They have stated that there were planned attacks on the yatra convoys in Assam. In one incident, it has been reported that Assam Congress president Bhupen Kumar Borah has reportedly sustained injuries in an attack on the yatra in Nagaon district. Furthermore, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh further claimed that his vehicle was also vandalised in the incident. The situation escalated when a crowd that reports allege was composed of BJP workers, reported attacked the yatra convoy led by Rahul Gandhi. According to visuals shared by ANI, Rahul Gandhi was seen getting of a bus and approaching the crowd that had gathered there. However, subsequently, amidst the chaotic scenes which saw the presence of various men who were displaying BJP flags, Gandhi’s security personnel and party members quickly ushered him back into the vehicle.

The Congress party has blamed the BJP, and has accused them of orchestrating the attacks, labelling it a desperate attempt to divert attention from administrative failures and corruption allegations against Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the BJP government at the Centre. The incident occurred during the yatra’s journey from Biswanth district to Nagaon.

In response, Rahul Gandhi has stated, “They think that Congress is scared of BJP and RSS, they’re dreaming. They can tear as many posters and placards as they want, we don’t care. We are not scared of anybody, we are neither scared of PM Narendra Modi nor Assam CM.”

Similarly, Rahul Gandhi and his convoy were reportedly forbidden and prevented from entering a temple in the same state. According to Hindustan Times, on January 22 Gandhi stated that he was prevented from entering a temple while attempting to visit Batadrava than in Assam which is considered the sacred birthplace of Saint Srimanta Sankardeva. The report has stated that this incident took place only a day after the Assam Chief Minister Himanta Kumar Biswa told Gandhi to visit the temple only after the Ram Temple inauguration in Uttar Pradesh, which is on January 22, so that no “unnecessary competition” would take place.

The Congress party is demanding a judicial inquiry and has highlighted the involvement of BJP members.

The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is charting a journey covering a substantial 833 kilometres, spanning across 17 districts in the north-eastern state. It is slated to travel across Assam until January 25, 2024.

Related:

The making of “Ram Ke Naam”: a Hinduism that is the mirror opposite of Hindutva

Vigilante violence against Muslims continues without rest

Hindutva enters Mumbai college campuses- Gaushala, Shobha Yatra in IIT B, restriction to freedom of speech at TISS

Sangh Parivar’s tortured bid to appropriate Dr Ambedkar

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The democracy of the country got strengthened through ‘one person one vote’. Social movements of workers, peasants and other sections of society boosted the democratic space and values. Barring the interlude of Emergency the country moved in a direction of gradually strengthening the democratic norms till the temple movement undermined the very ‘Idea of India’ which had emerged with the freedom movement. The planned installation of Ram Lalla Idols in Babri Mosque and refusal of the Collector of Faizabad, K. K. Nayyar sowed the seeds of the issue, which was to emerge as the major threat to values of Indian Constitution.

The well planned demolition of Babri Mosque on 6^th December paved the way for the Grand Ram Temple which is coming up now. The political party, which is ruling today, has not only focused on emotive issues, but has also been restricting the democratic spaces of the country. The very person who played a leading role in Ram temple movement Lal Krishna Advani has called the present times as undeclared emergency. Overall as emotive issues rule the roost and democratic aspirations, aspirations for better living conditions are bypassed by the Government. We are living in dismal times where the rising prices and worsening indices of livelihood are breaking the back of average people.

Where is the hope for better future, future making the path of ‘Idea of India’, which was the core spirit of freedom movement, which was the dream of the likes of Bhagat Singh, Subhash Bose, Gandhi and innumerable leaders who sacrificed their lives for the country?

Some glimpses of the latent democratic strengths have been seen in the last few years. As the three oppressive farm laws were introduced, the farmers in large numbers marched to Delhi and stayed put for months, sacrificing nearly 600 of their colleagues in the struggle. They did prove the democratic movements can shape the future of the society as the farm laws were withdrawn. Then we saw the shrewd move of the Central Government in the form of CAA, NRC to disenfranchise a large section of Muslim population. To oppose this there came up the remarkable Shaheen Bagh movement, to show that democratic struggles make the country and can influence the future of India.

The summation of the anguish of people came up in the form of ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ (Unite India March) a year ago. It gave the message of unity of the country, cutting across different religions and ethnicities. It transformed the social atmosphere of despondence into one of hope and drew the attention of the nation towards the real issues of the society, the issues related to hunger, shelter and employment among others. The response of people was as if they had been waiting for such an event to happen so that they can express their pain and deprivations in a democratic way. The hope for the inclusive society with earthly needs got rekindled and a new ground for national dialogue emerged.

This did make its mark but the communal forces have by now made very efficient machinery for spreading its propaganda related to the divisive issues, issues which have nothing to do with the real problems of survival of the people. So the Ram Temple inauguration is being projected as the big event. All wings of RSS Combine are putting their energies to mobilize the people through ‘Akshat’ (sacred yellow rice) as an invitation to take part in the programs around Ram Temple inauguration. The plans for running extra buses, trains are in the offing to hog the whole national attention to Lord Ram’s temple.

While one is waiting for 22^nd January when Prime Minister Modi will be putting life (Pran Pratishta) in the idol of Lord Ram, another event is already underway. That is ‘Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra’, from Manipur to Mumbai from 14^th January to 20^th March. This hybrid (foot and bus) yatra began from Manipur, the state neglected by the Central Government, the state which has been suffering from ethnic violence for the last over seven months. The response to yatra from the people of Manipur is overwhelming.

This yatra is going to focus on Nyay (Justice) as we see injustice all around. The Yatra’s focus is on unemployment, farmer’s issues, rising poverty, the dignity of women and rights of Adivasis. This is probably the best possible way to highlight the issues of people in the democratic way. While most of the media is gaga around the Ram Temple issue, the need is to spread the message of this yatra far and wide. The Ram Temple issue is the agenda of RSS-BJP and is strengthening authoritarian politics; the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is articulating the values related to Constitutional morality. It should not be seen as a program of any particular party. It is the summation of the expressions of needs and rights of diverse sections of society. It is an attempt to snatch the democratic space from the jaws of communal polarization being heightened by a particular formation which is out to achieve Hindu Rashtra in place of inclusive India.

Yatras in India have played important roles in preserving the inclusive values and reaching the message far and wide. In current times when the mechanisms of dissemination of thought and political values are being controlled by the retrograde political formation, this Yatra for justice for all the sections of society comes like a breath of fresh air, to kindle the lamp of Indian Nationalism.

The post Sustaining Democratic Spirit: Movements and Yatras appeared first on SabrangIndia.

For months since September, I had been devotedly following the forward movement of the Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY) as it wound its way through India’s five southern states. In early November 2022, the Yatra entered Nanded district in Maharashtra, kindling an earnest desire within me to welcome the yatris and walk with them on the soil of the state I call my home.

I am a gay man, someone who is attracted only to other men. My sexuality is an important and indivisible part of my identity, of which I am extremely proud. I work on diversity and inclusion at the national level within the All India Professionals’ Congress (AIPC), a forum through which I advocate justice for those marginalised because of their gender or sexuality: these include lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people. I also study history, a discipline which reveals that this marginalisation was not always true for all of our recorded past.

I have spent twenty years in activism for LGBTQ rights, beginning with queer student activism through a collective called Anjuman in JNU, New Delhi, and later fighting the case against Sec. 377 in the Delhi High Court and in the Supreme Court. Victory in that case meant that people like me have the right not to be deemed criminals just because of whom we love. More recently, I petitioned our judiciary to endorse the right of people like me to marry those we love. Our community has worked hard, and made a great deal of progress, but the ascendance of the Modi regime has resulted in a backlash against it, a communalisation of our movement, increasing constraints on our liberties, as well as rising violence from state functionaries.

Since September, I have been watching other progressive LGBTQ people like me walk and participate in the Yatra in Kochi, Hyderabad and later, Nanded. Along the journey, some of them also meet and converse with the chief yatri, Rahul Gandhi, who is an old defender of our community. Encouraged by this egalitarian engagement, I decided to join the Yatra on its last three days in Maharashtra.

I begin my journey in Shegaon, a pilgrimage center in Buldhana district, home to the samadhi of the saint Gajanan Maharaj. Accompanying me is my older brother Yuri, who has special needs because of an intellectual disability, but who was once an athlete, and is more enthusiastic than I am about walking through the rural hinterland. Also with me are friends from the queer movement, community leaders young and old, whose work has made a deep impact on people’s lives.

At home in Thane, I have been practicing long walks to train my feet to withstand the ordeals of the path ahead. First, I saunter six kilometers. Then, ten. City-dwellers from privileged circumstances like me are unused to this strain. I am also overweight, unsure of, and perhaps a little anxious about how my body will react to the realities of the road. The Yatra logs in around 25 km a day; I have never walked that much on a single day in my life. Yet, with Yuri and my friends, I turn up in Shegaon because it feels like an historic awakening is enveloping the terrain through which the Yatra traverses. There is joy in the air. Perhaps this is what hope looks like too. Buses and cars are streaming from all over the surrounding districts and beyond for a rally in which local leaders and the former Congress President will speak. Lakhs are here. I am one with the multitudes.

At Shegaon, Rahul Gandhi delivers his address on how hatred, fear, and violence have enveloped India. I notice that his voice is gruff from speaking to hundreds of fellow yatris continuously for the past seventy-two days. When Nana Patole, the head of the Congress in Maharashtra is speaking, a muezzin recites the azaan in a faraway mosque. It is maghrib on a Friday. Nanasaheb halts midway through his speech, almost by instinct. The crowds remain deferentially silent, until the rendition ends. The India I have always loved and cherished, that makes room for everybody, is here.

The next morning, we begin walking at dawn. At this absurd hour on a weekend, crowds from the villages nearby line up the entire route of the Yatra. They are here to catch a glimpse of Rahul Gandhi – groups of women holding up thalis to perform his aarti, to anoint and welcome him to their homeland. When he passes, however, they remain to greet the other yatris in a show of hospitality that is both tender and endearing. They generously offer water to the visitors, put up cultural performances – sometimes dancing with their lezims and playing the dhol tasha, sometimes dressing their kids up as leaders of the freedom movement, sometimes singing patriotic songs to welcome us pilgrims. Maharashtra’s kindheartedness is on bountiful display.

This magnanimity, however, does not end at their front door. As the day progresses, some women yatris must use a restroom. They knock on a random door and are welcomed in to use the domestic facilities. This seems almost foreign to townspeople like me, brimming with suspicion and cynicism, who attach metal grills to our home’s open windows to ostensibly fortify ourselves from the elements outside.

I walk the Yatra with a rainbow flag as long as my frame, tied like a cape upon my back. This flag with six colors is the international symbol of the LGBTQ community, of the diversity of our gender and sexual experiences as human beings. Yet, as a lyric in the Bharat Jodo Yatra song suggests, India’s diversity also makes us a “rainbow nation”. The rainbow flag also stands for the beauty that emerges when we overcome our differences and walk together. Wearing the flag on my body is simpler, and makes my journey far easier than mounting it on a stick and holding it in my arms, like some other queer friends did on other legs of the Yatra. Over time, the flag becomes a part of me.

Many fellow yatris who pass me by know what the colors symbolise. To my pleasant surprise, some of the local youth from Buldhana too know what struggles it represents. (Perhaps my surprise indicates my own innate prejudice and arrogance about what the youth of Vidarbha might or might not know.) Some give me a thumbs up as they walk ahead. A crew of documentary filmmakers ask me why I’m wearing it. I tell them, like all flags, this one too carries hope – a thing that is difficult to find, and yet impossible to live without in times like ours.

Many children on the way are amused at the sight of a squat, rotund guy like me wearing a rainbow cape. They assume I’ve dressed up as a superhero, and scream, calling me Superman, Batman, Shaktiman, and most charmingly, “Jadugar” – a magician. I squeal those appellations back in a fun game of back-and-forth with them. I allow them their fantasy; it is not my place to speak to children about my queer identity, to explain to them what the rainbow flag actually is, without their parents or guardians present. When adults, who are unaware of what the colors symbolize, ask me, I explain to them what diversity is contained within this simple piece of cloth. I ask them if they know people like me in their neighborhoods and villages. The answer is almost always a resounding yes.

At some point during the Yatra, ahead of Matargaon Budruk in Buldhana district, a group of us queer friends have the chance to meet and walk with Rahul Gandhi, because of the extraordinary efforts made by Chayanika Shah, a queer feminist activist from Mumbai. The security cordon around him is huge and intimidating. He walks at a fast pace. Many yatris are simply attempting to enter the cordon to shake his hand or say hello to him. Others call out to him from the outside, as he walks. He is gracious. He smiles and waves as he speaks to the diverse citizens that his staff bring into the cordon to meet him. He is hesitant to meet the men within our group, since it is his grandmother Indira Gandhi’s birthday and he has vowed to speak exclusively to women that day, but he makes a noble exception and engages with us too. We are surrounded by accomplished young leaders of the Congress: Jothimani of Tamil Nadu, as well as Praniti Shinde and Varsha Gaikwad of Maharashtra, who pull us forward and help ensure the conversation occurs.

Rahul Gandhi’s mind is curious. What are the disabilities that queer people in India face? Why is it that Indian families reject their queer children, especially those that are transgender? What really is behind the mindset that holds on to so much prejudice? I am unable to give him an answer that incorporates the truth of every queer story I know, so I only tell him mine. He listens. Without anxiety, without interruption, with an immense, patient empathy. I notice the tilak on his forehead. Assuming it to be from the samadhi in Shegaon, I tell him why I love the saint Gajanan Maharaj. We converse about food, taste, caste, life, history, meditation, and faith. We speak about his friend Sachin Rao, the head of Training for the Congress, who has begun transforming my life and is helping me grow into a better politician. He offers my brother Yuri a toffee, which thrills him immensely. Rahul’s simplicity and straightforwardness are winning me over.

Between the two legs of the day’s walk, it is time to recharge and rest. A huge tent with nourishing, delicious food for the yatris is set up by the local Congress organisation. Another tent filled with mattresses and pillows lets us catch a brief nap before we head out on the road once more in the afternoon. Before it is time to walk again, I meet Sachin Rao briefly in his tent. To my surprise, he isn’t resting, but reading. He is one of over a hundred yatris who will walk from Kanyakumari to Kashmir. He is doing so barefoot. I don’t quite understand this asceticism that is so harsh upon the body. Yet my own feet, padded by the best sports shoes in the market, have already developed blisters like the feet of many other yatris have. Perhaps Sachin has made the wiser choice by stepping out of the cycle. It is 3 p.m. and time to walk again. He parts with a goofy smile that will sustain me for the rest of my trek. I cup his face in my palm, and head out of the tent. On the road, I hear the great Husain Dalwai, former Congress parliamentarian, aged 79, raising slogans to bolster the yatris’ spirits.

On the Yatra, on both sides of the roads between villages, we encounter field upon endless field of the local Kharif crop, that will soon be harvested. This is a deeply moving experience for me, ingrained as I am into the ways of the city. On one side of our path, the white fluff of young cotton stands up aloft from above the ground. On the other, the yellow blooms of tur dal bristle in the wind. This is where my clothes might come from, I imagine. Along with the pulse that is indispensable to most Indian kitchens. On occasion, local vegetable patches and even the odd organic farm make an appearance.

I think about the labour that helped sow this crop, the farmhands that would help harvest it soon, many of whom are also walking beside us on the Yatra. Some local farmers in Buldhana tell me that they have been blessed with good weather, but excess rain in some parts of Khandesh and in eastern Vidarbha have ruined the tur. India’s farmers have faced the worst assaults on their livelihood in the past few years. The inequities of climate change – with altered weather patterns and more intense rainfall – as well as government apathy will only make their situation worse.

Many Indians who survive outside the structure of agricultural production, too, step out to support the Yatra. In Jalgaon Jamod, I speak to a group of Dalit women, who are worried about rising prices and unemployment. They quote the cost of cooking oil, of jowar to me. They ask me what the meaning of a worker without work is.

Even as we attempt to outpace and remain ahead of Rahul Gandhi’s huge security convoy and the crowds that surround him, its momentum quickly overtakes us, the humbler-paced walkers among the yatris. Eventually, the dust that accompanies the onward march of such a horde passes by. A bullock cart loaded with people and produce ambles on. I struggle to tread along. Santra Pardhi, an Adivasi activist sees me flounder. Almost as encouragement, she raises her palm and says, “Nafrat ki lathi todo, aur Bharat Jodo.” [“Break the baton of hatred, and unite India!”] I raise my own palm to meet hers.

Now, at twilight, it is just the solo yatri or smaller groups that walk this open road. The sun is about to set. The Satpura mountains that rise high to the north, on the border between Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, are in sight. Some local bikers offer me a precious pillion ride to help me get to the evening rest stop. They are flummoxed, when I, burdened by severe self-doubt about my ability to complete the day’s route, and clearly dragging myself along, decline their aid and say that this last mile is the best part. It is evidence that no matter how uphill, the task can be done. It turns dark quickly. There are no lights on the highway, and I have only my feet to guide me and keep me on the tar. Right before 7 p.m. I hear the faint strains of the National Anthem in the camp in the near distance. Rabindranath Tagore’s tune lifts my bruised, damaged feet across the finish line. Over two days, I clock over 35 km, but as the various human intimacies on this long road teach me, the Yatra is more about the journey than the walk. 

(This essay first appeared in Marathi in the quarterly journal Sarvankash; the author is an

AIPC office bearer and also a member of the Congress party)

The post On The Road, with the Bharat Jodo Yatra appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Bhopal: A day after a 48-year-old tribal school teacher met with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi during Bharat Jodo Yatra to raise the issues of the tribal community, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Madhya Pradesh government sacked the teacher for “violating service conduct rules”.

Rajesh Kannoje, a teacher at a primary school in Newali Tehsil of Barwani district met with Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi on November 24 in Khandwa along with tribal leaders. He also gifted Gandhi a bow and arrow as a token of respect and raised the issues of tribal rights, the Forest Rights Act, the implementation of Schedule 5 and others.

The teacher was suspended on November 25, a day after he took part in the yatra. The issue came to the fore after his suspension order surfaced on social media.

Appointed in 1997, Kannoje was posted at a primary school in a village named Kunjare – located 55 km away from the district headquarters. The school, which falls under the state’s Tribal Affairs Department in Kanasya, has a total of 27 tribal students.

Confirming it, NS Raghuvanshi, Assistant Commissioner of the Tribal Affairs Department said, “Kannoje was suspended for violation of service conduct rules and attending a political rally. He had sought leave citing important work, but he posted photographs on social media after attending a political event.”

 As per the order, Kannoje violated section 5 of Madhya Pradesh Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1965 by attending Bharat Jodo Yatra – a political rally on November 24.

Speaking to NewsClick, suspended tribal teacher Kannoje said, “Apart from being a school teacher since 1997, I have been working as a tribal rights activist for two decades. I often attend the rallies of tribal outfits and try to raise the voice of the oppressed class. But nothing troubled the government until I met Gandhi.”

Clarifying his stand he said, “I did not know that meeting with opposition leaders to raise the voice of the community is prohibited in the government services. I did attend the Yatra like a Bharat Yatra but as a representative of an oppressed community whose rights are being taken away.”       

Reacting over the issue, state Congress media department chairperson K K Mishra in a tweet said that the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government has allowed employees to take part in the shakhas of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), but suspended a tribal, Rajesh Kannoje, for gifting ‘tir-kaman’ (bow and arrow) to Rahul Gandhi “during a non-political march”.

The yatra, which arrived in Madhya Pradesh on November 23, entered Rajasthan on Sunday.

(With PTI inputs)

Courtesy: Newsclick

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By declaring the blocking of the @INCIndia and @BharatJodo Twitter handles “punitive action,” a division bench of the High Court of Karnataka has overturned the lower court’s order in a copyright infringement case.

The party was required by the high court to submit screenshots of the Twitter handle and the other social media accounts before the controversial content was deleted. The High Court issued the following ruling:  “We are of the opinion that prayer deserves to be allowed to set aside impugned order, subject to appellant taking down offending material,” as reported by the News Minute. 

The order is subject to the Congress party removing the offending content before noon on Wednesday, November 9. Before Wednesday noon, Congress agreed to delete the 45-second clip that featured the song that was protected by copyright from all of its social media sites.

On November 7, the lower court had issued the order in a case brought by MRT Studios, who claimed that 45 seconds of music from KGF Chapter 2 that was protected by copyright had been used by the Congress party in a song called “Bharat Jodo.”

The plea filed by the Congress was considered in an urgent hearing on Tuesday night, November 8, by the division bench of Justices G Narendar and PN Desai. Senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi presented the case for the party contesting the lower court’s Monday order. Allowing the appeal, the HC said, “Appeal is allowed in part, subject to appellants (INC) removing it from their social media accounts. This order shall not come in the way of the plaintiff making any request to court to protect their copyrights.”

Prior to that, the senior lawyer in his arguments emphasized that the Commercial Court had no urgent need to give the interim order and that Twitter would delete the party’s accounts if it wasn’t stayed. He said that the party was prepared to remove the 45 seconds of the disputed clip that violated MRT’s copyright. To block Twitter accounts for the 45-second clip has ulterior motives, he told the court. “Blocking Twitter handles will not help the respondents unless they have any ulterior motive,” he told the court. as reported by News Minute.

“There is no commercial purpose in using the audio clip. A disproportionate order could not be passed by blocking the national party accounts and affecting my freedom of expression, even when the Bharat Jodo yatra is ongoing,” the advocate further claimed. 

The MRT Studios’ counsel also made submissions arguing that the blocking order was appropriate. The High Court did point out that Congress was prepared to take the video down from its Twitter handles and stop using it, admitting that it had violated the copyright. Thus, the High Court declared that directions of the lower court were punitive.

Furthermore, the lower court’s appointment of a Commissioner to look into the matter, according to the court, was a hasty action.  “Once the mistake is admitted, where is the question of investigation into it? If you have filed an FIR, where is the question of appointing a technical expert as commissioner? You want the Commissioner to do the police’s job?,” the High Court said.

Brief about the case: The alleged infringing music clip was posted on the account’s Twitter page as early as October, but the copyright owner didn’t report the incident until November 2. It was then heard on November 5 and the lower court issued its ruling on November 7. He informed the division bench that an ex-parte injunction was issued without giving notice or providing a justification.

Related:

Rohith Vemula’s Mother Joins Rahul Gandhi, Extends Solidarity:Bharat Jodo Yatra

Two days on a yatra; that tiny glimmer

From a former Chief of the Indian Navy, Admiral Ramdas to Rahul Gandhi

The post Karnataka HC overturns lower court’s order blocking Congress Bharat Jodo Yatra Twitter accounts appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Hyderabad: Congress leader and former president, Rahul Gandhi was joined by the mother of Rohith Vemula, on November 1. Rohith Vemula, a Dalit student of the University of Hyderabad who died by suicide ( fellow students called it an ‘institutional murder’)  in 2016 following alleged harassment, in the Bharat Jodo Yatra here.

Radhika Vemula walked with Gandhi briefly during the morning leg of the Yatra.

“Extended solidarity to Bharat Jodo Yatra, walked with Rahul Gandhi, and called upon Congress to save Constitution from BJP-RSS assault, Justice for Rohith Vemula, passing Rohith Act, increasing representation of Dalits, oppressed sections in higher judiciary, education for all,” Radhika Vemula tweeted after the meeting.

The Congress from its official Twitter handle and several party leaders tweeted pictures of Radhika Vemula walking with Gandhi during the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

The death of the 26-year-old Dalit student on January 17, 2016 has triggered a nationwide agitation against not just casteism in institutions of higher learning but specifically the Modi 1.0 regime as two ministers from the central government were alleged to have been directly involved in denial of legitimately acquired scholarships by students as also criminalising protests. 

Related

Two days on a yatra; that tiny glimmer

From a former Chief of the Indian Navy, Admiral Ramdas to Rahul Gandhi

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Admiral Laxinarayan Ramdas, the oldest living former Chief of the Naval Staff from 1990-1993, responded to discussions among citizens on invitations to join the Bharat Jodo Yatra launched by Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi. Having lived in Delhi, in those “terrible years before partition” as he recalls, he witnessed first-hand the trauma of hate and communal violence that overtook us. 

He wrote this letter to Rahul Gandhi last month, in response to some interaction with many civil society groups and individuals with respect to an invitation to join the BJY (Bharat Jodo Yatra) initiative and has shared this publicly on the eve of Diwali. 

He writes on how countless Indians have welcomed the “focus, thrust and message being sent forth as a necessary and timely one…where the politics of hate and divisiveness must be countered with those of love, hope and Fraternity….indeed our Constitutional vision..” behind the Yatra. 

The letter to Rahul Gandhi, written in his individual capacity, reflects his “deeply held belief and perspective about what is the spirit and essence of our land and her diverse people, faiths, cultures communities, histories and unique heritage. It is this that we are seeking to revive and strengthen by being part of this unique pad yatra.”

Admiral Ramdas, or Ramu as he is fondly calls writes on behalf of himself and his life partner, Lolly : 

“This is why both of us, Lolly and I, are hoping to join the yatra, even if for a short while, as it transits Hyderabad next week. We have been following with interest the tremendous response, support, excitement and hope that the yatra has generated as it has made its way across five states so far. The prospect of being out on the street and in touch with people, after a long time, is definitely helping the feel good factor!” 

In the letter (full text below) Admiral Ramdas vividly recalls every word of the Tryst with Destiny speech made by Rahul Gandhi’s great grandfather, Jawaharlal Nehru, on that midnight of August 14-15, 1947. He was fourteen at the time and “with fire in my belly, joined the newly independent armed forces, determined to serve and protect our hard won democracy and freedom – with ‘fraternity’ being the defining vision of the new India.”

That India stood for equality, pluralism, diversity and social justice! 

Here is the text of the letter: 

Admiral L Ramdas
PVSM, AVSM, VrC, VSM
Former Chief of the Naval Staff
Magsaysay Award for Peace
Father Staines Award for Communal harmony Govt: of Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar

Dear Shri Rahul Gandhi,

Bharat Jodo Yatra

First, allow me to introduce myself.

Lara-Ramu Farm Bhaimala
P.O. Kamarle Alibag-402209 Dist: Raigad Maharashtra

26 Sep 2022

I am Admiral Ramdas, the oldest living former Chief of the Naval Staff [ 1990-1993].

I lived in Delhi in those terrible years before partition – and have witnessed at first hand the trauma of communal hate and senseless violence that overtook us.

I vividly recall every word of the Tryst with Destiny speech made by your great grandfather on that midnight of 14/15th August 1947. I was fourteen and
with fire in my belly, and joined the newly independent armed forces, determined to serve and protect our hard won democracy and freedom – with ‘fraternity’ being the defining vision of the new India.

Alas, much water has flown down the Ganga since then and today we find ourselves struggling to reclaim our democracy in an increasingly polarized scenario.

The current initiative of the Bharat Jodo Yatra is very timely and much needed. Hopefully we will join hands across party affiliations and reach out with the all-important message of saying NO to hate and YES to love and peace and Fraternity.

Had I been younger and fitter, I would have walked beside you and persuaded many others of the veterans’ community to do likewise. Alas my health does not permit, so will have to be content by following you from afar.

As we approach Gandhi Jayanti on Oct 2 – it is especially appropriate that the tried and tested forms of nonviolent direct action like the traditional Pada Yatra that Gandhiji revived and used with such effect to confront, challenge, and conquer colonial and imperial power, should once again become the chosen method of direct mass contact.

Wishing all success and more power to all who walk together in the Bharat Jodo Yatra (BJY).

May this movement serve to revive our democratic values, bring the Public back into the Republic, and above all to breathe new life and meaning into one of our revered ancient principles, of which our nation has always been so proud – ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakkam’

Laxminarayan [Ramu] Ramdas

Just

Ramu – with Lolly [without whom I would not be able to undertake such a venture!]

Related

Bharat Jodo pragmatism of the Congress & illusions of the progressives

Two days on a yatra; that tiny glimmer

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One day on the Bharat Jodo Yatra, we found ourselves with a group of people we had met while we walked. This was in the afternoon break between the two sessions of brisk walking. We were sitting on chairs outside two enormous tents. One had dozens of cots on which the Yatra’s yatris were resting. The other had long tables at which people sat to eat a simple lunch, served to them on bright green banana leaves.

Finished with lunch, our new friends were discussing why they had joined the Yatra. Mohan, a squat man with a greying beard, seemed to be working through his reasons right there and then, musing: “You know, I’ve been anti-Congress all my life! So why am I here at all?” He stopped to collect his thoughts. “But it’s just that now there’s this assault on Indian democracy,” he said. Several people nodded. Nobody needed Mohan to spell out what he meant. He went on: “So I want to defeat that and save democracy.”

He seemed suddenly aware of the full weight of what he had just said. Then: “It’s much better that we start getting organized a year-and-a-half before the elections, instead of only a month before.” Several others nodded again.

Soon after, Mohan got up to leave. After two days with the Yatra, he and his friends were returning home that afternoon. It was only after he disappeared that I realised I had not actually said ‘bye. For I had been sitting there, lost in thought spurred by what he had said.

Yes, this Yatra is happening a year-and-a-half before the next Lok Sabha elections. Yes, it seems a largely Congress show. Yes, Rahul Gandhi dominates the coverage. Yes, there are questions about the Yatra’s purpose and meaning, even among the small group I had come with. But with all that, there’s still an over-riding focus among many who join the Yatra: never mind past disagreements, never mind the need to hold your nose if you have to – for there’s a shared imperative here: to stand up to the party in power today.

Seen that way, it’s an ironic reminder of an earlier moment in our history. That’s when a group of parties came together – looking past disagreements and holding their noses – to form a coalition to front up to the party in power then. I refer to 1977, of course. Ironic, because the shared imperative then was to stand up to the party then in power – the Congress. And that year, the motley Janata coalition managed to dislodge the Congress from power.

It’s not clear that the Bharat Jodo Yatra can build up momentum and strength on that 1977 scale. But in some ways, and at least for now, that was irrelevant.

One face of the Yatra is the Congress. It’s a party in some disarray and depression, you might say, because of its nosediving political fortunes over the last several years. It has lost elections, it has lost veteran Congresswallahs, it has factions sniping at each other. If this Yatra is a way to rebuild political capital, to galvanize Congress activists, to show the Indian voter that this party will not roll over and fade away – well, for anyone who values Indian democracy, that’s welcome.

But another face of the Yatra is the diversity of people who join. There are those like Yogendra Yadav and Mohan above, known and severe critics of the Congress in the past. But there are also the people bringing their own incredibly varied palette of issues to the Yatra. I mean LGBTQ activists and farmers, manual scavengers and schoolkids, unemployed youth and nomadic tribes and many more. Again, if this Yatra is a vehicle for them to bring their concerns to the attention of the Congress, but also to the country as a whole – well, that’s welcome too. Because to me, this rich, colourful diversity is the authenticity and promise of India itself. This is what breathes spirit and life into the Yatra.

And why was I there? Partly because something like this gets my journalistic antennae quivering sharply. I wanted to simply watch and observe, in some sense not even really invested in the success or otherwise of the Yatra. Partly too, this was something I felt I had to do to stand up to the divisiveness, the hatreds, the polarisations that are marking out and deepening so many faultlines in this country. My solidarity with – luxuriating in, more like it – the diversity of India may mean very little in any broader sense. But it means a great deal to me, and that’s what took me to the Yatra.

But I was also accompanying a small group of public health professionals. Two of them, Ramani and Ravi, are doctors trained in community health and have worked in primary health care for years in rural Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Their friends and colleagues Guru and Prasanna are not doctors, but have worked with public health outreach organizations for years as well.

Working together over several days before we joined the Yatra, the four of them had prepared a brief on public health concerns – malnutrition, right to health care, and more. Their goal was to hand the brief over to the Congress leaders in the Yatra, including Rahul Gandhi. (They gave it to me to read and I had a couple of minor suggestions, which is why they added my name to the brief.) Through various contacts, there was actually a meeting scheduled – during the midday break on Monday October 10th – with Gandhi and others, where our group would present the brief. That was cancelled. Instead, the organisers arranged for us to walk with Gandhi for a while that morning.

Once we were positioned alongside him and walking, Prasanna and Ramani spoke to Gandhi about the brief. I should say straight up here that I’m terminally cynical about politicians, and especially at a moment like this when Gandhi was surrounded by surging crowds calling his name and wanting photos. It’s a measure of my cynicism that I honestly did not expect him to really pay attention to us. But even while waving out every now and then and acknowledging the crowd, he listened closely to Prasanna and Ramani. He asked a series of questions, making them back up their data and conclusions.

One example: Ramani mentioned her experience with migrant workers in Rajasthan. They get injured at work and try to get the free care that is available in that state. But because their Aadhar card is from Bihar, say, they are denied treatment. Why should that be? But Gandhi asked, well, how will a state cope if floods of people from another state come in to take advantage of the announced free care?

After a while, I took the chance to speak about my book “The Deoliwallahs: The True Story of the 1962 Chinese-Indian Internment”. I said to him that while I admired and respected his great-grandfather, this imprisonment of 3000 Chinese-Indians was one mistake he made. My co-author Joy Ma, I pointed out, was born in the camp and spent her first four years there. The Chinese-Indian community is longing for an acknowledgement of and apology for this injustice. Gandhi listened carefully, and asked me to send him a copy of the book.

We remarked how well the Yatra was organised. Gandhi said that was true, but organisation and mobilisation were two different things, and going forward, the mobilisation would be the test. Guru suggested he do an east-west Yatra too. Gandhi laughed and asked: “Will you join me then? All 3000 km?” Guru laughed in turn and said he would.

Just as we were moving off to the side to leave the cordon around Gandhi, he turned to Ravi and said: “Hey, I didn’t hear from you. Is there something you want to tell me?” So Ravi spoke to him. He urged that if and when the Congress returns to power, it should pay attention to health care. In particular, it should ensure that health care is not completely privatised, because that will take it out of reach of the great majority of poor Indians.

Of course we were glad for our time with Rahul Gandhi. But that was just the icing, really. It was the full experience of our two days with the Yatra that really left us stimulated and encouraged. In what is otherwise a time of hate and darkness, it lit, in the words of a friend, “a tiny glimmer of hope in our hearts.”

Photo Credits: Dilip D’Souza and Ramani Atkuri.

(The author is a writer in Mumbai)

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Thousands of Mumbaikars marched on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti on  October 2. History of sorts was made as people marched on the streets to commemorate the 153rd Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, as well as the Jayanti of former PM Lal Bahadur Shastri. Cries of ‘Mahatma Gandhi Amar Rahen‘, ‘Lal Bahadur Shastri Amar Rahen‘, ‘Nafrat Chhodo Bharat Jodo‘, ‘Samvidhan Bachao Desh Bachao‘, rent the air on the streets of Mumbai.

The march commenced from the historic August Kranti Maidan, where the marchers paid tributes to the martyrs of the freedom struggle. The march then continued to the Gandhi Statue opposite the Mantralaya in south Mumbai. On the way, homage was paid at the Hutatma Chowk. The march saw the participation of leaders of several political parties, holding the national flag right at the front of the march with Congress Sewa Dal volunteers marching with the tricolour wearing their Gandhi topis. Citizens organisations and political parties had together organised the effort. The political parties included the Indian National Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party, CPI, CPI-ML, Janata Dal Secular & the Republican Party of India.

Leaders from political parties who were visible included Digvijay Singh, Bhai Jagtap, Charan Singh Sapra, Yuvraj Mohite representing the Congress Party,  Narendra Rane & Rakhiji representing the NCP, Prakash reddy and Milind Ranade from the CPI, Abu Asim Azmi from the Samajwadi Party Arvind Sawant and Dr. Manisha Kayande from the Shiv Sena, Dr. Rajendra Gawai from the Republican Party, Ravi Bhilane from JD-S and Mittal from the CPI-ML.

The veteran freedom fighter Dr. G. G. Parikh, Tushar Gandhi, Feroze Mithiborwala, Kishor Jagtap, Irfan Engineer, Guddi S. L., Prof. Zeenat Shaukat Ali, Vishal Hiwale, Sarfaraz Arzu, Varsha Vidya Vilas, Amrita Bhatacharjee, Bharti Sharma, Farouk Mapkar, Yashodhan Paranjpe, Ali Bhojani, Suraj Bhoir among others also participated.

The people’s organizations that marched under the banner of Nafrat Chhodo Samvidhan Bachao ABhiyaan included the  Aarey Bachao Andolan, Ghar Banao Ghar Bachao, Bharat Bachao Andolan, Friends of Democracy,CSSS, Yusuf Meherally Centre, Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, Bombay Catholic Sabha, Vidyarthi Bharti, amongst others.

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