For Keenan & Reuben

Will the brutal killing of two guys in Mumbai  make us stand up and realize that how weak and indifferent we have become to things that is happening around us?

Keenan Santos and Reuben Fernandes, the two boys were stabbed to death because they reacted in a way that the majority of us would not. 

Those who killed them have been arrested and I am sure the law, because of the relentless media pressure will surely take its due-course and punish them.

But what about the hundred others who acted deaf and blind when they were being stabbed? 

Is the Booker prize winner right this time?

Yesterday I was reading excerpt of what Arundhati Roy spoke on a talk show where she was elaborating on her article that was published in the Hindu in which she had severely criticised Anna Hazare for holding the parliament to ransom during the recent anti-corruption activism at Ram Lila ground.

I had first met her as a curious teenager in Bhopal at the British library in somewhere 2001-02 when she was there to promote her book.

And then as I became a part of a law school my gray cells started working and with time I became critical of her views. The prime reason for this was her views on Kashmir and on naxalism.

Till yesterday I have never been impressed by her arguments and writings. 


And I would not have probably been writing this if I would not have read the transcripts of what she said on the talk show yesterday.

To the critics and to the supporters of Anna

I,along with thousands of others, was present at India gate in Delhi on 17^th August as we heeded the call of Anna Hazare and marched to Jantar mantar sweating under the merciless sun to show solidarity with fight against corruption and discontent with the leaders. 

We were the same people who had elected these very parliamentarians and now we were marching to express our resentment against them. There were Congress supporters and there were the Saffron sympathizers and all were walking in unison.

There were youths, small children and aged people. And almost all of them had one thing in common; no one was there for Rs.150 or a piece of samosa  as it generally happens in a political rally. Nor they belonged to a particular stratum of the society or caste and class.

Equally true was that majority of them who were present there were not aware of the nuances of the Jan Lok pal bill. The only underlying sentiment that had brought them together was the common feeling of helplessness against Corruption. Period.

If it was not Anna Hazare and if it was Abdul Kalam, the former Indian president, then too people would have come out in the same numbers. It’s not about the individual as much it’s for the cause.

Anna Hazare in this 'movement' which is an expression of sentiments that resonates across crores of hearts, has emerged as someone whom the common mass can look up to in their struggle against corruption, a struggle that was always there in their life, but was not vocal enough, as it has become now under Hazare.

Why Congress won't lose 2014

When Mumbai was attacked in 2008 even the most loyal of Congress supporters would have felt that it was the last nail on the coffin for the beleaguered UPA-1.  That was not the first time such a hair-raising misadventure had happened and most of the political pundits said that the next general election that were just months away would see the demise of the Oldest party of India.

They had every right grounds to arrive on such an assessment.


October 2005 brought death of 66 people in Delhi when three serial blast shook the capital out of the festive mood of Diwali, March 2006 saw attack on Sankat Mochan Mandir in Varanasi, Malegaon happened in September  followed by Samjhauta in March 2007. May 2007 went red with blast in mosque in Hyderabad, July witnessed serial blasts in Jaipur, Gujarat and Bangalore. It did not end here. In September 2008 Delhi was struck again resulting in death of 18 civilians and then the mother of all, 26/11 Mumbai happened.

This ' carpet bombing' of sort in no way substantiates a claim about a country that prides in being a resurgent, emerging,torch bearer and what not for the rest of the whole world.

But 2009 election gave a new mandate to Congress, even better than what it had got in 2004. Congress was riding high. No one can definitely say as to why India voted for a party that had let them down in the previous 5 years. 


Were we still evolving as electorates , easily vulnerable to the rhetoric,sweet talks and the goodies of the smiling Neta?

Of temples and and their wealthy gods

India and Indians have this pleasant habit of always making news and depending on whether you are an optimist or of the other genre, you can cite scores of examples to elucidate this tendency of ours to make headlines worldwide.

Recently we forced the globe to stand up and take notice of us when scores of scam were unearthed and as economist, sociologist and political pundits were burning their midnight oil to analyse the multi-faceted impact of corruption, we assembled at Jantar mantar and the Ramlila ground to raise our voice against the vicious fangs of corruption which like rain drops spares no one.

An indigenous Jasmine revolution of sort was playing out on the on the streets of Delhi as the whole nation joined the call of ending Corruption once and for all.

But no one in their wildest dream would have thought that it would be God himself who would steal the show by showing his brilliance as he announced his arrival to the scene in an ultra-extravagant way. A most pompous debut of sort was witnessed as wealth amounting to more than 1 lakh crore was unearthed at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala.

A case for a ‘Dalit’ in the higher echelon of the society

The Varna system that has plagued India for millennium still continues to rule roost in the country which is often hailed as the role model for emerging democracy in the world. We talk about a society for all, a compound where everyone despite and in-spite of his caste and creed gets an equal opportunity to rise and shine. But have we truly been able to break the chains of the Varna system that shackles our minds?

The Brahmins, the Khatriyas,the Vaishyas and the Shudras are the four pillars of our society,  rather the demarcation that still exist and continues to divide the society into four parts on the basis of birth. And it’s not that nothing has been done to dilute this demarcation.

The Constitutional forefathers tried hard to remove this demarcation by providing for reservations for the mass that had the misfortune to be born in this ‘low-caste’,a term that was defined many centuries ago  by those who were in the higher pedestal of the caste system.

Whether this reservation policy has worked for the 166,635,700 persons, Scheduled Castes population, constituting 16.2 per cent of the country’s total population can be argued upon for hours and yet when the talks will end there will be no concrete conclusion. And the same holds true for the merits of providing reservation, it’s hundred times harder to arrive upon a conclusion when it comes to the merits of reservation.

Reservation is something that tries to make the playground equal and fair for those who because of their birth have been deprived of quality living and education.

The question is whether providing for reservation enough? Is the policy of providing for empowerment at the bottom of the strata so that it can gradually gain strength and social acceptance as as it grows effective enough? Is this affirmative action not required at the higher level? 

As guilty as Rupam Pathak

The murder of BJP MLA Rajkishore Keshari by a school principal Rupam Pathak has brought back Bihar in news, albeit for a wrong reason.

The popular MLA was stabbed in full view by the lady when Kishore was receiving visitors at his home in Purnea. According to her, the MLA along with his associate had raped her earlier.

During the election campaign in the state earlier, she had filed an FIR against the MLA but later withdrawn her complaint saying that she had registered her complaint under the influence of political pressure from opponents of Kishore .

This crime in itself cannot be termed or seen as just another murder. For two reasons.

Firstly for a forty three old educated lady to kill someone that too in public without giving a damn to her life which she knew would be at perils once the supporters of the MLA catch her in itself speaks about the mental stress and pressure that she might be experiencing for a long period of time which finally burst out in open through the killing of Keshari. What prompted such a drastic step?

Binayak Sen – we a nation of hypocrites

The conviction of Dr.Binayak Sen for life by a Chhattisgarh court for supporting the naxalites has drawn expression of anger and sadness from many quarters. Which I dare to say was expected.

Sen was arrested by the the Chhattisgarh police in 2007 for allegedly acting as a courier between a jailed naxal leader and a businessman.

The reactions that have come from various sides of the globe have blasted the Indian judiciary, the Indian governing system and alike to all corners. Activists have till now organized many a rallies in support of the doctor. One such rally was organized in the heart of Delhi where the great “Arundhati Roy” too made her presence felt. Online petitions have already flooded emails of many an enlightened Indians asking them to register their protest. Amnesty too has joined in.

The charade of the 'intellectuals' is at full swing for the world to see and to mock the Indian democracy which according to them is trembling in fear of a doctor.

Candle light- Mumbai's only way out

It will be exactly two years, two hours from now when the insanity that is called Jihad played havoc in Mumbai . And as we remember the innocent death due to the countless senseless bullets I am sure many of us will light candles at the busy squares of our cities.

Last year this lighting of candles happened in every city be it Mumbai,Delhi,Patna or Bhopal. At that time I was in Bhopal and I saw two radio jockeys standing under a pandal as they distributed candles to the curious guys that had gathered around them.

And like everyone I too noticed that the reason that so many candles were burning to death was not because of the cause but because of the girls who were distributing them.

I don’t have issues with it- lighting of candle nor I find forming of human chains a very senseless act of displaying oneness. But what troubles me is that why do we stop at such symbolic gestures. Why do we have this feeling of contentment and satisfaction after a hard night work of lighting candles.

Why I 'hate' India

A long list of people will come up if I start thinking of people who are Anti-Indian. (And what may be anti-Indian to me may be a patriotic individual to you, but that’s a subjective matter.)

But maybe then that list will appear peanuts if I start thinking about those who glorify such people who like to dislike India.

I pose this question to myself and search for answers that why we glorify those who de-glorify India? And for the starters I will make a disclaimer that No I am not a saffronwadi nor a Swaymsevak nor a BJP supporter.

The moment someone starts talking about people who propagate anti India feelings they are attached to an invisible tag of a fundamentalist, a dogmatic and an unsecular intellectual.

You blurt words against the professional dissenters like Arundhati Roy and you are called someone who is in cahoots with the people who perpetrated the terrible riots in Gujarat. The moment you call Geelani , both the Kashmiri and the Professor , anti Indian, you find yourself being measured on the scale of a Saffron promoter.

The man who moved the mountain

In this midst of election fever that sweeps Bihar I randomly remembered a Greek tale that I had heard many years back. And like every other Greek tale this was also a story of love, valor and determination. Of words of courage that were transformed into action. And like every other Greek story it had a sad end.

I first heard this story when I first came to Patna in 1997. And the story goes like this.

There was a young man who lived in a village. He was a frail built man with not much ambition but to live a simple happy life with his beautiful wife. He used to earn his bread while working as a farmer. And whenever it would rain, he and his beautiful wife would sing local love songs that would enthral the whole village.

Every morning he would arise and cross the huge mountain that separated his village and the small piece of land on which he cultivated vegetables. It was a treacherous pass with high raised sharp rocks. This bed of black rocks would become even more dangerous during rain as people would slip and devoid of any medical facility would be disabled for life.

One day her wife who was bringing lunch for him slipped and fractured her ankle. And that day this hero of ours decided that the mountain that had caused hurt to her wife will have to go.­­

And he sold his goat to buy a hammer, a chisel and a rope to chisel the mountain away. And he started working, day and night, ignoring the voices that called him insane.

He hammered and hammered and this went on for twenty two years. And when he finally finished he had excavated a 360 feet long, 30 feet high and a 25 feet wide passage. Due to the carving out of this new passage the distance between his village and the neighbouring village was reduced from 75 km to 1 km. Yeah you read it right, from seventy five to one.

And then one day this man died. As another Greek story of love, courage and determination ended without much fanfare, just like the many other fictitious stories. But this story is different.

The hero in this story was no Greek, but an Indian. And this was not a tale of fiction.

Dasrath Manjhi was a SC (Mushar, rat eating family). And he was born in a village of Gaya in Bihar. And it was sometimes in 1960 when he was still in his 20s that his wife slipped and it was on that day he decided that he would move that mountain.

And it was in 1982 that he chiselled that mountain away. All with a hammer and a chisel.

He died in 2007, long after his wife had passed away. He died amongst tall claims made by political leaders who saw him as a good investment to bank on. While he was alive, leaders visited him and made sure that this visit was publicized as it would mean a good impact on the backward class.

A movie was made on his deeds. But he himself died as a common man.

Promises that were made during his time still remain unfulfilled. Still his family continues to live in poverty and still there is no sign of the hospital that was promised by the state government that would be made in his name.

I am sure that when he decided to break the mountain he never had any intention that he should become famous. He chiselled those mountains because his wife broke her ankle. He made her a promise that he will remove those mountains.

Sometimes it’s hard to believe that human deeds of such higher degree was born out of such small reason.

It’s even harder to believe that we still live in a society where some huge, painstaking promises are fulfilled by an individual while some less difficult ones are forgotten by the state.

But then if they would have been fulfilled then this tale wouldn’t have qualified to be called as a Greek tale.

Why are we such a great nation

Socho yaar kitna mast desh hai apna,not taunting,but think.

We are spending crores of rupees daily on Kashmir. So many people have given their life and its repercussions are felt all over India. Majority of us know that India is trying to thwart attempts of Pakistan to win over Kashmir yet we have no complaints when an author openly shouts in Delhi that India should free Kashmir. The same lady once wrote an eye watering piece on Naxalism and she famously said that one should not cry over the CRPF personnel killed in the anti-naxal operation as they are getting killed because they are killing the naxalites. Tit for tat. Simple.

We have kept alive Ajmal Kasab so that he can spit on the judiciary. Remember we have also kept a guy called Afzal Guru? He should have been hanged long back. Why? Don't quip that judiciary will take its own course. It will only work as it should if we don't ask it to go slow. But sadly that’s exactly what’s happening. Accepted that terrorist attacks are common in India but even a diehard secularist will say that it’s not daily that you have attack on Parliament or it’s not every third morning that you wake up to find five gun totting men consigning everything that falls in their sight to flames. Parliament attack and Mumbai attack were, are and will remain "a remarkable, out of the blue" incident. And it requires action of the same kind; an action that will be remembered and will serve as a precedent.

Why it is that one leader or author speaks for the whole Muslim community. Who asked them? Who told them that Indian Muslims will feel insecure if the parliament accused is hanged and they will feel anger if Kasab is sent to the gallows? None of my Muslim friends told me so. And I never felt that I should ask them this question because I know they too feel the same like every Indian feels.

Why do these intellectuals say that Kashmir is not a part of India, it never was? Just because they are intellectuals? Didn't we had intellectuals before? Or is Roy the epitome of the Intellectual culture of India? And why shouldn't we condemn her statements? And why is that whoever speaks anything that’s against Roy and her intellectual coterie termed as a Fundamentalist? Why is it that we have adapted ourselves to such double standards? And adapted so well that we don't even realize that we have reached the zenith of hypocrisy and the nadir of having respect for India, which I am sure many of us still regard it as our Country.

Yeah, I am done for now.

Is the Marathi manoos at Stake?

A few hours back I was going through a blog of a friend and I came across his recent post in which he has written about how a member of the Thackeray clan, Aditya Thackeray, son of Uddhav Thackeray walking on his ancestral footsteps, forced the prestigious St.Xaviers college, Mumbai to stop prescribing to a book because he felt that this particular book is not worthy and suitable to be taught at the college.

Just for the records it was not a cheap publication that are available at the numerous book stalls on the railway station of Dadar. The book is titled “ Such a long journey” written by the well known writer Rohinton Mistry. It was first published in 1991 and was nominated for the Bookers and won many recognition including the “ Common wealth writers prize”. In 2007-2008, it was prescribed for the BA ( English) course in Mumbai university. And since then it is being taught there. It is a novel about how a family go about their daily life.

But one fine day a boy who is still struggling with the pull and push of attaining puberty, decided that he has to do something to gain some media attention as he was about to start his political career and add more stench to the already nauseous gutters of “India’s secular politics”. As he was considerate enough to not to resort to use of sticks and swords, he decided to go after “Such a long Journey”.

This guy, Aditya has nothing much to write about him. He is a student of the same college from where Rohinton passed out. And by gods grace he has also managed to churn out a collection of poems which he has aptly named “Black and White”.

Its noteworthy to mention that when Rohinton Mistry was penning down the lines of his book, this dude was probably wetting his nappies while listening to the gory achievements of his father and grand father post 1992 bomb blast.

But then creativity and hooliganism runs deep in this family. His father is a photographer, his grand father too is a cartoonist and his uncle as we all know is a painter. So it was but obvious that Aditya too would inherit this creativity and this rogue character. So, I don’t blame him.

This Thackeray feels that the book talks about the Shiv Sena in a negative sense. As far as he is concerned no other reason is required. If the Thackerays don’t like something ; then they don’t like it. And he issues a dictum 'banning' the book. Simple as that.

I won’t talk or write much about Mr. Poet Thackeray because as much as I know this guy by now has gained enough media coverage and I am sure the sycophants Barati around him would add more color and push him more towards the sky for his success in losing his virginity of hooliganism. He passed his debut test of showing his strength without a blood being shed and a office being vandalized.

Welcome to the world of right is might Mr.Black and White . But as a friendly advice, keep writing heart rendering emotional poems, for you have to show the people that you have a tender side too; just like the other members of your clan.

But I would like to comment on the audacity on the part of the university officials. I mean I just can’t stop admiring their ‘bravery’. They just couldn’t stand a college teen hooligan because he was from the notorious Thackeray clan and was going to start his own group of activist , which he has proudly christened “Yuva sena” . This sena will see to it that India’s cultural value or more specifically Marathi culture is not vandalized, burnt or destroyed.

I would like to commend people on their maturity for still regarding the Sena as a political entity. My immaturity suggests that it ceased to a political party long back. I always thought it was a bunch of mentally deranged goons who had decided to conglomerate on one fine day and start a party. Post the 1992 riots my inexperienced mind told me that soon this ‘party’ will disappear from the political scene of India. But as I now see, I was a fool then.

I was in a good mood today as I watched India successfully concluded the Common wealth games. I was enjoying every moments as I felt goose bumps when the army contingent played the band and I was ‘liking’ every facebook status that my friends were posting about the success of the CWG.

But then reality dawned and I realized that still we are what we were. Still we fear some Hindu clans and still we bow too their fancies without even taking a ‘token’ stand.

I have friends in Maharastra and they are much more forward and liberal than me and they are more into activism than me but I just can’t find questions to my answer that why they keep tight-lipped when they should speak.

I am not in Mumbai, many of us are not. But those who are in Mumbai why don’t they say that “ Ok you may not like whats written in the book but that doesn’t give you the right to destroy it”. Is it that difficult thing to make people understand? Does that require too much of courage?

Is being called ‘Bhartiya’ sounds more derogatory than taking pride in being called a Marathi manoos, UP ke Bhaiya aur Tamil Nadu ka Mallu.

You have to decide that , not those bunch of goons who pride themselves in hurting and destroying everything that doesn’t please them.

Its not Marathi manoos at stake, its your freedom to oppose tyranny and to speak your mind out thats the burning question right now.

I sleep to rise again

People say that I am past my days of glory. They say that my days are numbered now. They feel that I have nothing to give, nothing to take and nothing to smile about.

They say that the last time I shined was years back when some politicians decided that I was shining and they came out with the "India Shining" slogan. And when the truth dawned, everyone lost, including those very leaders who had banked on me to make sure that they enter the revered house, affectionately called Parliament. I was not shining, I was still sleeping on the street, hungry and I was still nakedly poor. And nothing has changed much even now.

But that doesn't mean that I cannot and don't fight back.

They thought that I was a bride without golden ornaments when I had to pledge myself at the World back in the early 90s.

More than a decade later its me who helps out the World Bank when it needs financial assistance. I have bounced back.

One day my neighbour Pakistan thought that I would go down without a fight and Kargil happened. Young boys then turned into men as they fought with courage to reclaim whatever was lost to the enemy. And I bounced back.

Years back I was struck by the pains of Bhopal Gas tragedy. Then recently a fallacious judicial pronouncement that exonerated the accused increased the pain and with that came a rude insult to those who died on that fateful day. Everyone thought that, me, India had lost this time. But it was not to be, as people took to street and announced that enough was enough and this time they will not go down. And I bounced back.

When some insane mind attacked Mumbai, it was not just a part of me that stood tall, rather, it was the whole India who stood as one. Martyrs from many a different state died that day , fighting the terrorist and successfully ending the terrible crisis.

Yet there are times when I myself feel that its better to bid a final goodbye rather than to bounce back again and again. I felt such emotions when incidents like Godhra and post Godhra happened. I felt bad when I see a helpless person being brutally beaten just because he is from a different region. And I feel bad when I see thousands of hungry stomach going to sleep when thousands of tonnes of grains in rotting away.

I am India, and I am full of stories of happiness and Sadness. Of hope and despair. And When it looks that I have fallen never to rise again I do bounce back.

Every end that happens here is a new beginning. Just like every night signifies arrival of a new morning. I am India.

For the love of Hussain

The MF Hussain bundle of sex,paints and goddess was once again in news as the 95 year old Maharastra born Indian Picasso was granted Qatari citizenship.

The ever active intellectual guardian population of India ably lead by Miss Booker Arundhati Roy have been raising a heart rendering hue and cry ever since this news broke and have cast a serious doubts on the Indian establishment on their ability to protect "genuine expression of art" and the repeated attack on the more sacrosanct Freedom of Expression enshrined in the Indian constitution.

I am a just bit worried that how much more battering our poor old Constitution will be able to withstand. Every alternate day some Tom, Dick and Harilal rises up with a copy of the Constitution waving in the air and shouting on the top of their voice that " The fundamental rigfhts of Mr.X has been violated".

And after the initial war cry has been shouted, the constitution is consigned to flames, not literally though.

What starts with a question of fundamental Rights turns into an opportunity to gain spotlight and to show that "yeah we are still alive and protecting the intellectual wealth" of India from the saffronist dacoits.

But in this high flying emotive surcharge environment the real issue is lost. Always, without fail.

Forgotten is why is the common people who worship goddess not allowed to feel offend when some one paints those very goddess in nude. Where do their religious rights vanish?

Forgotten is why the religious sentiments ( not the cliche one, but the real one, the one which makes us bow our head whenever we pass a temple) not kept in mind by these intellectuals when they cry over the treatment meted out to people like Hussain.

Forgotten is why Hussain never apologised on the second place after it is forgotten that he should have been asked that why did he chose to paint only Hindu gods in nude in first place.

Miss.Bookers like people shout on the vandalization that was done to Mr.Hussain's painting but they don't ask the Indian Picasso that was not he aware that religion is an integral part of any Indian, be it Hindu or Muslim.

Lets put an open question to our " intellectuals" on What they will choose if given two choices.

Whether the intellectuals will focus on freedom of expression or they will shout violation of breach of privacy if this very Picasso paints them or their close one in nude.

Now that he has shifted his base to Qatar all that remains to be seen is that whether he will express his creativity like the same way as he used to in India.

I have stayed in Qatar and if i am even 10 percent right then I don't think he will even think of letting his artistic creativity go wild.

Hussain should not live under any disillusionment, Allahs right has always been more enforceable in any part of the world, be it India or Qatar.

But in the end it is not about a Muslim artist and a Hindu godess, it is about an Indian artist and an Indian god.

Also at ----- http://desicritics.org/2010/03/05/171947.php

Who is right?

In Mangalore, pub goers are assaulted by an unknown group which calls itself the Ram sene. Their “crime”; spreading indecency and promoting pub culture.

Moral policing in our country, which traditionally has been called a tolerant culture that prides in accepting every thing with open arms, is not a new phenomenon. Every year one or the other group emerges in a part of this country and purports an ideology that violates the rights of the very individual that they seek to protect.

Ram Sena, Shiv Sena, Maharastra Navnirman Sena all these ‘sena’ follow the same ideology; to somehow impose their ideology on the common mass.

One of them is against the pubs, one of them is against the westernization of expressing love and one of them finds the concept of regionalism too hard to resist.

When these conglomeration of chauvinist come out on street to show and pursue their intent the result is trampling of rights; rights that accrue to a human being because he/she is a human being, not because they are prescribed under any law.

Right to enjoy life, right to express feelings, right to interact with members of the opposite sex, right of not to be manhandled, right of not being degraded and humiliated and many such innumerable rights are violated, trampled in the most bizarre way.

The surprising and the sad part is that it’s just not the illiterate section of the society that are associated with such chauvinism but these groups have supporters from the educated class too. Working class, students support this ideology and find nothing offensive in whatever they do. So is the theory that education opens the mind, a myth?

Is this not like the classical scenario of a fight between the ‘right’ and the ‘wrong’. The good and the evil? For followers of the 'Senas' the moral and the regional policing that they are practicing is correct. Their critics will give them hundred reasons to put forward their point but in the same breath the supporters will point out hundred and one reason to prove that they are right.

It is the personal perception that defines what is right and what is not. And then it is personal sensitivity that determines which of the two ‘right’ one will veer towards. But sometimes we ignore the fact that it’s the personal sensitivity that shapes up the sensitivity of the society and the nation as a whole.

Empowerment means the right to decide. Let everything be decided by those who have to take the call. The concept of state and citizens right emerges from this very notion; the right to choose without fear and without favour.

A question of dignity

“Bharat Mata-an art of work: SC” screamed today’s The Times of India. A Supreme Court bench yesterday refused to entertain a petition in which the petitioners had pleaded the Supreme Court to initiate proceedings against M F Hussain for depicting a nude woman as Mother India.

Supporters of the artist have time and again evoked the freedom available under the right of freedom of expression as enshrined under Article 19 of the Indian Constitution to justify the works of Hussain. Is this the purpose of right to freedom of expression? To offer immunity to work of art that shows a woman who is in nude as Mother India? If yes, then for me this is nothing but a gross violation of the reasons for which the above said article was added into the constitution.

MF Hussain while commenting on the Supreme Court judgment applauded the decision and said ‘At last they (Supreme Court) have understood the ‘dignity’ of contemporary Indian art. Dignity? Whose dignity? Does the dignity of Indian art is upheld by depicting India in nudes? I don’t know how many of us would like to practice this definition of dignity as stated by the artist in our personal life. Will the artist himself practice what he preaches? I doubt it.

Imagine a scenario where an artist from European country paints a picture in which he depicts Indian without clothes and in tatters. How would we react? More specifically how would the ‘liberal intelligentsia’ which till date have not condemned Hussian’s work of art, react?

Nationalism, love for ones country, is not defined anywhere nor can it be forced on anyone. But I am sure that the definition doesn’t say that not getting offended by paintings that depicts the nation in nude is one of the essences of showing respect towards your motherland. Have I stated something that is too lowly or rural for the ‘intellectuals’ to understand?

Ancient temples that have been for long used to justify any work of offensive art have been reduced to just mere examples. The sculptures of nude king and queens are frequently equated with religious sculptures. How much is this justified is a question that needs to be dwelt on much.

Earlier the same artist had depicted Hindu goddess in forms that are undignified by even the farthest stretch of imagination.

Those who raised their voice against it were called ‘Right wing individuals’. Agreed that the violent way in which they protested was condemnable but what about the work of Hussain that incited the reaction? Is that not condemnable? The price of being the majority population cannot be so much.

If the same artist had painted religious pictures of other religion, he would have been running from one county to another for asylum, but for Hinduism. For Hinduism embraces everyone and ‘everything’ with open arms. Some section of the ‘learned’ feel that it’s imperative for this religion to not be offended and to smilingly embrace the dignity stated by Hussain. Is the Hindu god-goddess and mother India ‘children of the lesser gods’?

The more I force myself for searching reasons to look at Hussian’s work rationally, the more I feel that our Constitution has been taken for a ride. The fact that the Constitution also prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion has been conveniently forgotten.

Majority, like the minority, too value their religion. Just being numerically strong doesn’t mean that a particular religion cannot get offended by offensive things. We cannot have a double standard for deciding the dignity of the majority and the minority.

Where are the classes of the intellectuals that throng the street on the slightest pretext? Do they only represent those who are less in number? What about those who are humiliated because they are more? Who will speak for them? Artist like Hussain or the activists like Babu Bajrangis? Both of them are the extremes and sadly the middle path has been hijacked by the ‘Liberal –intelligent-class’, who not only believe but also practice double standards.

The time has come to follow secularism not just in the minority spirit but also in a spirit that was the force behind drafting the word 'secular' in our constitution.

A nation of hypocrites we are speaking only when the situation is favorable, let’s stop our tread for a minute and question ourselves. Questions which are not that hard to answer.

Naxals turning Urban

Recent developments have suggested that the intellectuals supporting the Naxal revolution in India are working on devising a strategy to demand the status of ‘Political prisoners’ for the naxals that have been captured and arrested.

Recently villagers comprising of women and young girls from Bihar, orissa, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Jharkhand, staged a demonstration near Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda’s residence in Ranchi demanding that arrested Naxalites be treated as political prisoners. Earlier, they had organized a march at Jharkhand Raj Bhavan seeking political prisoner status for the detained Maoists.

The general definition of a political prisoner is someone who is imprisoned because of their political views.

The Maoist calls themselves the beacon of the landless and the poor, and pride themselves in waging a struggle for the uplift-ment of the common mass. The same naxalites raid and kill security personnel in cold blood. 

If the naxalites who are accused of killing innocent villagers, political activists and policemen are awarded the status of political prisoners then they would be in the distinguished company of Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Fidel Castro, former president of South Korea Kim Dae Jung , Myanmari poet and journalist U Win Tin , who at some point of time in their life were all termed as political prisoners and imprisoned.

These leaders waged a ‘war’ that was based on non-violence and drew its strength from protests that were displayed by way of speeches, writing and non-cooperation. Does the same thing hold true for a hardcore Maoist?

International organization like Amnesty International campaigns for the release of prisoners of conscience or POCs, which include both political prisoners as well as those imprisoned for their religious or philosophical beliefs. But as a matter of principle, the organization's policy is to work only for prisoners who have not committed or advocated violence.

Political prisoners have never been associated with violence against the un-armed. They are the exponent of democracy and civil rights. Can the same thing be said about the Maoist?

The red bastion that they have managed to establish in states like Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh stands testimony to the kind of violence they propagate.

Chhattisgarh is at present the worst hit by Maoist activities. The affected area is Bastar in southern Chhattisgarh, comprising five districts. Kanker (northern Bastar), Bastar (Jagdalpur), Dantewada (southern Bastar), Bijapur and Narayanpur combined together add to 39,000 sq km, a area that is little larger than Kerala and a little smaller than Haryana.

The pathetic and callous attitude of the successive state government in various states towards the development of backward areas has contributed in no small way in the spread of the naxal movement from 1967 when it was first started in Naxalbari in West Bengal.

Even now the answer to eradicating this menace does not lie in the brutal use of force but a strategy that is based on pushing the agenda of socio-economic development in the rural and remote areas. Generating employment opportunity, which is resented by the naxals, will go a long way in dissuading more young legs in joining the movement.

On the other hand excessive use of force will make wounds more deep. Salva Judum campaign in Chhattisgarh has forced the villagers to take side; either they are with the Judum supporters or they are naxalites supporters.

Earlier in 2007 the home ministry came under intense pressure to act against several serving and retired bureaucrats and academics after receiving reports that they were propagating naxalism at a seminar in Delhi.

The report, drawn up by home ministry officials, said the seminar which was held in campus of a university in Delhi had a “pro-Naxalite” theme. The participants engaged themselves in “anti-state” discussions that seemed to justify armed uprising. But a “top-level intervention” stopped the Home ministry from taking any action.

Recently an arms-making-cum-R&D unit of the Maoists was un-earthed in Bhopal. A similar arms-making unit was busted in Rourkela, Orissa. These new development should not be taken as stray incidents but they are a sign of a much larger plan. Now the naxalites are encouraging even the bourgeois and the affluent class to join them. Earlier the membership to their organization was strictly limited to the strata coming from low and poor economic background.

In Nandigram, a fact finding committee has established that the maoist were responsible for inciting the violence in Nandigram and singur.

A report submitted by the West Bengal CM, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya to the Manmohan Singh on the Nandirgam violence has blamed the left wing extremist for the flare up in violence. The report says “It may be noted that Left wing extremists (LWE) have stepped up their propaganda pertaining to the espousal of the causes of farmers by raising the issue of displacement of farmers from their own land for industrial and infrastructural projects. Frontal organizations of LWE activists named the Gana Pratirodh Manch carried out propaganda against the acquisition of land in Singur and have also generally opposed land acquisition for large projects throughout the state,"

The above developments coupled with Maoist shifting their focus on urban intrusion, striving for status of political prisoners, recruiting ‘elite’ class suggests that the naxal leaders have decided to adopt an approach that will bring them out of the rural-deep-forest to the urban areas. Like every thing this movement too is adapting and changing its working with time.

Earlier in December 2007 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh while addressing a conference on internal security attended by chief ministers of all states, cited Naxalism as the lone biggest threat to nation’s internal security and stressed the need of a special force for curbing the growing Naxalism and terrorism menace. The government in the current budget increased the allocated funding on internal security from Rs 17,674 crore to Rs 21,715 crore. Now it remains to be seen that how the government plans to deal with this ‘biggest threat’ to the nation. Merely increasing the funds will not make much difference if there is an absence of political will.

Oh Bhopal

In a chilly night on 3rd December, 1984 a gas leak took place and 3800 people died in Bhopal. It was as simple as this.

24 years have passed and those who lost their loved ones still fruitlessly yet religiously take out processions demanding action against Dow, the new owner of UCC, the company which was responsible for the leak. 

Warren Anderson, the then head of UCC is in US and his extradition constantly refused.

More than 1.5 lakh people were affected by the methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas leak and now they are living their lives in complete oblivion. Though the same does not hold true for Dow. The US giant has been allowed to continue providing its service in India and in 2006 the Industrialist and investment commission headed by Ratan Tata requested the Planning Commission to absolve Dow of any liability so as to increase and strengthen the trade between the two country. Reliance too is now working with Dow in the chemical production field.

Another not so important fact that should be noted here is that under the Indian legal eyes UCC is still an absconder. Maybe the law will acquit UCC because it has managed to achieve what no one could do: put Bhopal on the world map.

Dow is represented by Abhishek Manu Singhvi in India and just for the records the PMOs file on Bhopal gas tragedy contains legal opinions that have given by Singhvi. During my law-studying days I frequently use to hear the saying " I am the jury and I am the judge". At that time these lines were too complicated for my nascent mind and it would have been more helpful if we were taught the same principle by illustrating the above example. Now I know what this 'Jury-judge' connotes.

5 years ago while waiting for my train at the Bhopal station I met a crippled man and in the course of having tea on the platform we struck a conversation. He told me that he was an unfortunate survivor of the 3rd December holocaust and he lost his wife, mother and 2 daughters on that fateful night. With moist eyes he told me that was able to survive because he was sleeping on the floor, one on which her wife had recently applied a fresh coat of dung to keep the place warm and insect free. According to him the gas released from the dung neutralized the MIC gas. His family was not so fortunate as they were sleeping on the bed above the ground when the gas leaked.

The dung saved him, at-least that’s what he believes.. He also had one more belief : America used Bhopal as a testing ground for its chemical weapon- the MIC.

In the year 1999 on the 25th anniversary of the tragedy the city of Bhopal observed a two minutes silence in respect of the departed souls. December comes every year. And every year rallies are taken out, speeches made and victims remembered.

For many it is enough. What else do you expect for a bunch of unknown toddlers, aged-old infirm, men and women who died many years ago?

Maybe some justice, not much, but still a small token as to convey the message that those who lost their lives were not worthless and expendable.

3800 people may not be enough to bring people out on the streets of Delhi for a candle-lit protest at the India Gate. Maybe the number is not just enough to warrant a 2 minutes slot on the news channels.

The survivors have now accepted their fate. The Bhopal victims don’t shy away from their helplessness, they have learnt to love with that. Probably we all have.

But at-least we can try to delay the inevitable by 10 years. Can't we resist ourselves from inviting Dow and the UCC to India for some more years? Till the last of the remaining survivor go to a never ending sleep and never awakes to see the ignominy.

"We are not expendable. We are not flowers offered at the altar of profit and power. We are dancing flames committed to conquering darkness and to challenging those who threaten the planet and the magic and mystery of life."

-- Rashida Bee, Bhopal gas leak survivor

http://desicritics.org/2007/12/01/092214.php

http://www.centralchronicle.com/20071210/1012303.htm

The predicament of being North-eastern

When most of us were busy watching the India-pakistan test match, somewhere in the north-eastern state of Assam, tribals and villagers were being brutally beaten by a mob comprising the local 'urban' people and police personnels.

Their crime : They had taken out a procession demanding ST status and were on their way to stage a dharna in-front of the assembly.

What was meant to be a march for demanding their legal rights soon turned into a ‘rural versus urban’ battle. In the ensuing use of force more than 15 tribals were killed and more that 250 including woman and children were seriously injured. Those who died didn't fell to bullets but were beaten to a painful death.

The tribals who according to media reports were armed with bows and arrows were hopelessly outnumbered and when they sought protection from the police, the police threw them to the urban-educated-class who assaulted them with sticks and blows. In one of the TV footage a constable is seen handing over a teenage-protestor to his would be killers.

Amazingly the print media neglected the whole incident and most of them including The Times of India decided that the suicide attack in Pakistan was more important and as a touching gesture placed the Guwhati incident in s four line snippet with the details in the inside pages.

A couple of months back one of my colleagues in PTI who hails from Silchar, Assam expressed his sense of dejection and hopelessness after he saw a shootout in Mumbai where two gangsters were killed was given more media attention than a bomb blast in Assam where 15 innocent people lost their life. He sadly yet candidly said that life in the north-eastern states is cheap and expendable.

Sadly the term "Quality matters not the quantity" is now increasingly being used by the media houses to decide how important the news is.

Some section of the state population of the seven remote states of India are demanding separate statehood. Doesn't the step motherly treatment that has been meted out time and again by the Center to them justifies their demand ?

A journalist is manhandled in Bihar and the whole administrative machinery stirs up into action. Central ministers condemn the incident , talk shows on news channels take the front seat and the whole media unites in protest the assault.

But in these hill-locked states local journalists are stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea in the form of the army and the militants. There have been instances where editors have been threatened for refusing media coverage to the militant organizations. Those who bow down to their demands are harassed by the army and police on charges of assisting the militants.

The region is also known as the land of seven sisters. The North eastern states are very different in many ways from the other part of India. These States have the maximum number of Tribals living within. Many tribal languages are spoken throughout these seven states. The northeastern states have the highest percentage of Christians. Territory wise this region is the most sensitive region touching many countries like China, Tibet, Bhutan, Myanmar & Bangladesh.

Both Kashmir and NE-states face the same problem, extremism and lack of economic developmet. But Kashmir gets more attention and a seperate article of the constitution governs the state. '. Why are the North eastern states provided with the same exemptions and economic subsidies ? Is it because Kashmir is more important internationally?

Is Delhi waiting for situation is the seven states to get worse? or does it imply that until the Northern states encounter militancy of the same magnitude they won’t be attended to? Here comes the notion of "step-motherly treatment

It is hardly surprising that though India has made rapid industrial progress with growth rate touching 9% the entire northeastern region has remained largely an agrarian economy. The only industries that came up were set up by the public sector. The North East’s ties with the Indian hinterland have been expensive and regressive. The presence and discovery of oil reserves has brought some respite but that is not enought

The successive regimes in Delhi have not been able to appreciate the consequences of their isolationist policies.

To ‘fair-minded’ regimes who are more interested in consolidating power in the centre of Delhi , the North East are a burden , best left to army and police to manage. In the name of development military-used infrastructures have been erected.

India in recent years has embarked on a "look east policy but will it usher in a new era of economic growth and increasing trade and commerce in the region is a million dollar question.

The eastern region has absolute poverty ranging between 42-58% making it one of the most backward regions in India. Its per capita income too is far below the national average, with Assam having a per capita income of Rs 10,000 in 2001-02, compared to Rs 18,000 for India.

Intelligentsia and political leaders are raking up the issues of civil society, rule of law in view of the Nandigram violence. Authors, writers, artists are pressuring the government to protect Taslima and uphold the freedom of speech.

Less than 24 hours have passed and Assam has been forgotten.

What about these 'trivial-not so important states' ? Aren’t principles of civil society , rule of law and intellectual thinking applicable to these states?

Does the number of parliament seat allotted to a state decides the level of favour granted by the Centre? Is that why UP, Maharasthra and the south states more important for people sitting in Delhi?

It’s a very simple fact yet a very important one : 28 states constitute India not 21.

http://merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=128058

http://desicritics.org/2007/11/28/235936.php