Prof Ram Puniyani MD

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Art-Literature for Social Change – Annabhau’s Struggles: Contributions —— Prof Ram Puniyani

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Prof Ram Puniyani

“The Earth does not rest on the forehead of Sheshanaga. It is safe in the hands of the Dalits, the farmers and the workers.” (Annabhau Sathe)

As we celebrate the birth centenary of Tukaram (Annabhau Sathe) we not only see the relevance of his writings at that time but even today. Here is a man who belonging to Maanag (Matang) community, an untouchable, who left his education as he was humiliated due to his caste from 4thstandard, but self learned to create a corpus of work which spans, novels, articles, film scripts, Powada (Marathi folk song) at prolific pace. The profound all round legacy of Annabhau, which took deeper shape between the years 1942 and 1966. It has 32 novels, 22 collections of stories, 10 folk plays, 10 ballads, 2 plays, 1 travelogue, and 2 urban literatures. It is not just quantitatively huge it is very deep in ideology and commitment to social issues. And so much is the profoundness of his message that it is translated in most Indian languages and also has reached the world as it is translated in many foreign languages like, German, Russian, and Slovak. Czech and French. Most of his work in a way comes from the travails which he suffered and him and observed from close quarters in his life.

The intense poverty of his household forced them to migrate to Mumbai, walking on foot over a period of six months. Not only in their village he saw the exploitation on the ground of caste and class, while travelling also he got entangled and landed up as bonded labor, from which he escaped with difficulty. The experiences in Mumbai are a bit different, exploitation continues but the livelihood comes in due to multiple opportunities which are available, dish washing in hotels, as artist in Tamasha (a Folk form of entertainment) and as a mill worker in textile factories. All this while living in the atrocious conditions of Ghatkopar slums which is a suburb of Mumbai. His observations and experiences pop up in his literature rather his literature is the mirror of the life which he lived and experienced. His literature and brilliant oratory is aimed at lending a helping hand of agitations and struggles of which he is a part.

Initial part of his life was the period of India’s slavery to British and when he became part of Communist Trade Union he raised his voice against the exploitation of labor. He became part of the resistance against exploitation of workers. The scripts of his films, the novels took his fame to Russia, where he was invited twice and could see as to how revolution transformed that country from abject poverty and derivation to a better condition for the laboring masses. Though later things took a turn towards worse!

As he was not an armchair writer, the pangs of his own huger and humiliating social situation gets expressed in his work, which is prolific by any standards. His statement that the Earth is not resting on the head of a multithreaded snake but on the labor of dalits and workers speaks of his ideological foundations. While his biography is a fascinating reading, much to learn from and even debate in today’s changed context, what remains etched in one’s mind after reading his life trajectory is the story of a man totally committed to social change for better society. A man raised in caste riddled, a man who suffered caste oppression which included residing in Mangwada (area where untouchables live), outside the village, society but also determined to raise his voice against the ignominies of caste system through his performances and writings. A man raised in prevalent poverty- deprivation all round but presenting his characters with respect, dignity and equality. Even in the midst of the dominant patriarchal society, his woman characters are presenting with dignity of equal beings.

His troupe “Lal bavta’ (Red Flag) had performed in various places for raising the copiousness of workers to stand against the intense exploitation by the capitalists and adding his might to strengthen the progressive movement for economic rights of workers. This also reminds one of the later similar contributions of Safdar Hashmi, who was killed while performing in a slum of Delhi. To add on to taking up of struggle of workers, he took up the issue of caste injustices and tread on the path of Jotirao Phule and Ambedkar.

There can always be a debate about the politics’ of left parties and those which focused on caste system, rights for dalits. It is unfortunate that these supplementary issues have been presented as opposing and contrasting paths. If we see the path adopted by Joti Rao Phule we see that in his book, Shetkaryache Asud, Phule sees the same person as a cultivator and same person is put on the low scale of caste system, to be exploited both the ways: caste and class. In case of Babasaheb Ambedkar, he not only leads the Chavdar Talav and Kalaram Mandir agitation but also goes on to form Independent Labor Party.

This dichotomy between caste and class has been a big handicap for the progress of social movement for equality in India. Today’s communist parties seem to have woken up partly to the caste issues in a positive ways. What is needed is to overcome the thought of left parties disagreeing with Babasaheb in the past. Left surely needs to go beyond just the worker-farmer’s struggles and try to form a joint front where issues of dalit-Adivasi and workers are treated at the same level, where alliances rooted on economic and social issues need to be mooted and the rise of authoritarian tendencies in the name of religion need to be curbed.

Caste hierarchy has always been couched in the garb of religion. Same Religion which gave the legitimacy to caste-Varna is today being presented in the form of nationalism. How would Annabhau have seen today’s political scenario? Today we see that politics, which wants to retain status quo, politics, which creates hysteria around nationalism is not only targeting the religious minorities but also ensures that ancient values of the times of manusmriti are glorified. This is a signal to retain or bring back caste-gender hierarchy in newer forms.

One can surely say that in current context the great literary person with all talents coming from his lived life and longing to see a better society, exploitation free society, would have stood tall to oppose the religious nationalism. This nationalism is not the one which Annabhau associated in the period of British slavery. This nationalism is the one which stood against the rights of equality. It kept aloof the workers struggle which opposed exploitation caste. This nationalism is the one which never supported Babasaheb’s efforts for eradication of untouchablity and his concept of caste annihilation. The same sectarian-religious nationalism regards communists as an internal threat to ‘Hindu nation’.

Annabhau’s literature emerges from the characters he met in his life during his long years of roaming about, his travels, his work as textile worker and observing his neighborhood with deep empathy, the slums where he spent most of his life. It is because of this that he does not look a class and caste struggles as binaries, it is because of this that his women characters are the ones with dignity and looked up be males as equal beings.

In today’s context all what Annabahu stood for stands opposed by the dominant politics’ in the name of religion. This politics aims at hegemony of dominant castes and class, this politics’ in a subtle way is gradually restoring the inequality in a subtle way. Glorifying caste system and supporting the monopoly capital is built-in part of this ideology which is hiding in the garb of religion. The ideology which is dominating today is putting the clock back and the achievements of left movement and Babasaheb’s struggle’s aim to the done away with through clever formulation, through raising emotive issues of temple, beef, nationalism, love jihad and merit. The workers movement has been weekend due to the changes I industrialization pattern automation etc.

The rifts between religious communities are being heightened and issues raised by downtrodden are being hidden from the sight of the society and social thinkers. This is the time when the path shown by Annabhau is most relevant. A society free from exploitation, fulfilling the basic needs of food, shelter, employment and health are the need of the hour. The communities and social groups for whose uplift he struggled are having a very adverse time. Their livelihood levels are on decline; their fundamental basic needs are nowhere near fulfillment. The caste system is being manipulated to follow the path of ancient values of hierarchy, i.e. Manuvaad, all through.

Undoubtedly Annabhau rises tallest in the literary contributions and urgings for social upliftment in a most humane fashion. Call it Marxism; call it Ambedkarism he wants to embrace all the values and principles which can uplift the downtrodden of the society. This is the message of his life. Fight against injustice in a most positive way; synthesize the ideologies which can unite the oppressed of the society to stand as a united movement to counter the class-caste-gender exploitation.

His own journey, full of deprivations shows that he did not look at himself as a victim, but as an agent of change. One can sulk about the deprivations in one’s life. When he was told to shift to a bigger house after he got some money through his writings and film scripts etc. he stated that “sitting on arms chair I one can just imagine the poverty, but I cannot feel the pain of hunger without my own hunger pangs!” A fourth standard drop out creating literature on which hundreds of PhD research can be engaged is a real phenomenon. It is so because he learned in the school of life; it is possible because he converted his own hunger pangs into the social issue, something which is to be overcome for the whole society.

He did receive the highest literary honor from Maharashtra, but his work is no less than the one deserving Nobel Prize. He is in the league of Tagore and Premchand at literary level. He is the best embodiment of the values which Marxism propounds, and he is the best expression of what Ambedkar struggled to achieve.

Surely he must be a compulsory read for all those who dream of a society with equality, freedom and Dignity. 

Prof Ram Puniyani

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
(IITB)

Mumbai, Maharashtra,
India

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Is Congress a Muslim Party, is it against interests of Hindus? –Prof Ram Puniyani

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Prof Ram Puniyani

Currently there is propaganda from BJP combine that Congress is anti Hindu party. On every conceivable occasion it states that Congress is insulting Hinduism. In the wake of the verdict of Mecca Masjid blast cases; as the accused got released; BJP spokespersons went hammer and tongs saying that Rahul Gandhi-Congress have defamed Hindu religion, they should apologize for that. In the ongoing campaign for Karnataka elections (2018) BJP has taken out a Yatra against so called ‘anti Hindu policies’ of Congress. The propaganda has gone to such an extent that even Sonia Gandhi, the ex-Congress President had to say that Congress is perceived as a party for Muslims!

How should we understand the policies of a party for any religious community? BJP is propagating that it is a party which is taking care of Hindu interests. Is it true? It has taken up issue like Ram Temple, Holy cow, article 370, love jihad etc. Have Hindus at large benefitted from it? We see that economic slide in the conditions of farmers, workers, dalits and increasing atrocities against Hindu women. The claim that these emotive issues are for the benefit of Hindus is a pure make believe propaganda which has led to polarization, increased hate and increase in the acts of violence. The major victim of these policies is not only the Muslims but Hindus in large numbers.

What about Congress being Anti Hindu, against Hinduism? Let’s take the case of Mecca masjid blast. The major part of investigation was initially done by Hemant Karkare, who was killed in the 26/11 act of terror on Mumbai. Swami Aseemanand, the accused, himself had confessed of his crime in front of a magistrate, which was not under duress, and his confession was legally valid. Most of the investigations pointed fingers to Aseemanand, Sadhvi Pragya, Lt. Col Purohit et al. During last four years of BJP rule the case has been so presented by agencies as to exonerate them all and put the blame of wrong investigation on the part of Maharashtra ATS. While Karkare was proceeding with the investigations, Modi and Thackeray had called him anti-Hindu. Karkare felt so much pressured by these intimidations that he sought the advice of his distinguished elder, Julio Reibero, who advised him to carry on with his honest work, ignoring the pressures.

While anti Hindu image of Congress has been constructed around such issues, its pro Muslim image has been constructed in last few decades more so after the reversal of Shah Bano issue by Congress government, which apparently was a flawed decision. Still it was just yielding to retrograde elements within Muslim community. Muslim community as a whole did not benefit from it. Dr. Manmohan Singh’s statement ‘Muslims have a first claim on national resources’, is yet another statement flouted to assert that Congress is pro Muslim. What this hidden from the public view is that this statement came in the wake of the Sachar Committee Report. This report had debunked the claim that Muslims have been appeased, it concluded that the economic condition of Muslims has got a big slide back while they are also the victims of communal violence, and that the only place they are over represented is the jails!

As such attempt to walk on the path of secularism in our country, which has suffered the impact of ‘divide and rule’ policy of British is not easy. With the rising Indian consciousness, Indian Nationalism, Indian National Congress came up with the people from all religions. Badruddin Tybaji presided over the Congress session in 1887. It also had Presidents who were Parsi, Christian, and Hindu notwithstanding. This time around Congress faced criticism from Muslim communalists (Sir Syed for example), as being a Hindu Party, while Hindu communalists (like Lala Lalchand) dubbed that Congress is appeasing Muslims at the cost of Hindu interests. All through Congress had to face criticism from these elements, as it had the primary focus on Indian Nationalism; it was practicing secularism with some slips here and there.

The criticism of Muslim communalists, Muslim League culminated in the formation of Pakistan. Hindu communalist, Hindu Mahasabha RSS criticism was that Gandhi is appeasing Muslims, it is due to Gandhi that Muslims have raised their head, due to which Pakistan was formed. The sharpest articulation of this came in the actions of Nathuram Godse, who was a trained RSS Pracharak and also became the Secretary of Pune Branch of Hindu Mahasabha in 1936. In his statement in the Court (‘May it please your honor’), he says that Gandhi is responsible for formation of Pakistan, he has compromised the Hindu interests and been pro-Muslim!

The present criticism of Congress, it being called a Muslim party, it being against Hindu interests seems to be a continuation of the arguments, which began with Hindu communalists in 1880s, via the articulations of Hindu Mahasabha-RSS-Godse, which have become intensified during last couple of decades. Surely the condition of Muslims has worsened during last several decades and during last four years, its status is having a ‘free fall’, while those in power, making these accusations, anti Congress propaganda are having a field day with emotive issues in which Hindus are as much of the losers as the other sections of society are.

Walking the secular talk is becoming more difficult by the day. Gandhi was killed for this and his disciple Nehru is being the subject of vilification and calumny for the same. The Muslim communalists rejoiced formation of Pakistan, where development and amity is missing. With Congress-Gandhi Nehru we could make a small journey towards fraternity and progress. The criticism of Congress as being Muslim party, as being against Hindus, reflects more about the sectarian agenda of those propagating it rather that the nature of Congress, which despite all the flaws has been trying to protect secular values, despite massive limitations!  

Prof Ram Puniyani

He taught in IIT Mumbai till 2004 and now works for the preservation of democratic-secular values. He is associated with initiatives like the Centre for study of Society and Secularism, All India Secular Forum and has been part of various rights investigations and people’s tribunals which investigated the violation of rights of minorities. He is also the recipient of the Indira Gandhi National Integration Award 2006, the National Communal Harmony Award 2007 and the Mukundan C Menon Human Rights Ward 2015.

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How to Revive the spirit of Quit India Movement?

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Ram Puniyani

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The ‘Quit India’ movement 1942, whose 75th anniversary is currently being celebrated, was the major landmark in the struggle for India’s Independence. On 8th August the Indian National Congress Working Committee Meeting at Gowalia Tank Maidan (now August Kranti Maidan) decided to launch the movement against British rule. This was the major popular mass movement after the non-cooperation movement of 1920 and Civil Disobedience of 1930. Gandhi’s’ magic of involving the Indian people against the British was the spinal cord of struggle for India’s Independence. Earlier the politics of Congress was exclusively done by the educated and other elite. Gandhi in tune with his philosophy, the major ingredients of which were Satya Graha and non-violence, revolved around the involvement of all the people irrespective of their caste, class, religion or gender.

Earlier in May 1942, Gandhi was already telling British to leave India. With this resolution of Congress, the biggest battle for Independence came into being.  The term for this upsurge, ‘Quit India’, was provided by a Socialist Congressman, Yusuf Mehrali. Most of the Congress leaders were arrested, and thousands courted arrest to make the point of their participation in the direction of Indian nationalism. The revolt was massive to the extent of shaking the British rulers. What were the core values of this movement?

It is true that Congress was the major party unquestioningly standing for this movement, providing the ideology and logistics of the movement. The other political formations like that of Communists and Hindu-Muslim nationalists kept aloof from this. For communists, as Russia joined the war against Germany, this war was labelled as Patriotic War and they supported British. Muslim Nationalism, Muslim League with Jinnah in the leadership, had already talked of separate Muslim Pakistan. They were unconcerned about this movement. They felt an undivided India is synonymous with Hindu Raj.

As far as Hindu nationalists are concerned, there were two major streams. Hindu Mahasabha under the leadership of Savarkar, which was opposed to Quit India movement and gave firm instructions to supporters of Hindu Mahasabha to stick to their assigned duties in the state apparatus. The other stream was RSS. Its Chief Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar issued the instruction to all the Shakhas, not to do anything which will annoy British authorities and to abide by the law. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the RSS worker, was arrested during this period, but he was quick enough to clarify that he was a mere onlooker and not the part of agitation and so he was let off. The founder of the previous avatar of BJP, Bharatiya Jansangh, and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was at that time leader of Hindu Mahasabha in Bengal. He promised the British that he would do everything in Bengal to defeat the Quit India movement.

The participation of the people of the country was remarkable. This movement was the peak expression of what the concept of ‘India as a Nation in the making’ stood for. As people of all religions fought shoulder to shoulder, Gandhi’s central credo of Hindu-Muslim unity was there for all to see. By this time the support for Muslim League was minuscule and Hindu Mahasabha did not have much electoral support from Hindus. It is these values which culminated in the Indian Constitution.

Today what is happening while we commemorate the 75th Anniversary of a great mass movement? The ruling party which is not aligned with the spirit of Indian freedom movement and so also of Quit India movement has to blow some trumpet for electoral considerations. So our Prime Minister in his ‘Man Ki Baat’ expresses the hope that people quit communalism, casteism, corruption etc. This is a noble thought but seems to be a mere slogan. We have seen that due to the policies of this Government, communalism has grown by leaps and bounds. Adding on to the divisive issue of Ram Temple, Love Jihad, and Ghar Wapasi has been added a more potent issue of Holy cow-beef eating. This issue itself has led to incitement of mass hysteria leading to lynching after a lynching. The IndiaSpend data of last six years of lynching has shown that these incidents have gone up many times over during last three years since Modi came to power. The insecurity of Muslims has gone up by leaps and bounds; they have been marginalized from the political stream at a rapid speed.

It is during last three years that we have witnessed the atrocities against Dalits going up and assuming frightening proportions. The institutional murder of Rohith Vemula, the brutal flogging of Dalits in Una is a sampler of the state of Dalits in the country. While the economy is taking a rapid downturn for weaker sections of society, the issues of corruption like that of Vyapam are being put under the carpet. The Nobel sentiments expressed by Prime Minister will remain hollow trumpets unless steps are taken to unite the people in the spirit of what Mahatma taught, i.e. Hindu Muslim unity and freezing the issues like that of Holy Cow-Beef for the sake of better social atmosphere.

BJP is launching nationwide ‘Sankalp Se Siddhi’ (Determination for Achievement) program at all India level in which among others film on Savarkar will also be shown. It is a total negation of the spirit of Quit India movement, as Savarkar had strongly opposed the movement, as he was for the Hindu nation, for collaborating with British to oppose the Muslim nation. The basic ideology and spirit of this great mass movement urges upon us to value the spirit of fraternity and equality rather than paying lip service to Mahatma by making him an icon of cleanliness, to follow him on the path of communal politics. Remarkably Gandhi had refused to endorse to move to ban cow slaughter in deference to the diversity of the country. One hope that the resolution being passed in the joint house of parliament will have a mention of Gandhi and Congress, who were the pivot of the struggle for Independence.

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Prof. Ram Puniyani

Prof. Ram Puniyani

was teaching in IIT Mumbai till 2004 and now works for the preservation of democratic-secular values. He is associated with initiatives like the Centre for study of Society and Secularism, All India Secular Forum and has been part of various rights investigations and people’s tribunals which investigated the violation of rights of minorities. He is also the recipient of the Indira Gandhi National Integration Award 2006, the National Communal Harmony Award 2007 and the Mukundan C Menon Human Rights Ward 2015.

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Three years down the lane, has the Modi Government taken the citizens for a ride?

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Dr Ram Puniyani

On May 26, 2017, the Modi Government completed three years in office. Various programmes such as the Modi fest were organised at various places and there are plans to celebrate them in different cities across the country. The underlying message of these programmes is that Modi government has done remarkable work and the country is moving towards prosperity for all. Modi has been labelled as ‘Garibon ka Masiha’ (Prophet for poor) by his acolytes. Many channels and commentators gave him excellent grade citing various achievements.

As such, what has happened during last three years? Precisely, there has been centralisation of power in the hands of the Prime Minister. It seems the cabinet system has been given a go by.

Modi mirage and the politics of disillusion

To begin with, one does concede that this regime scores extremely high in image creation. It has been able to sell damaging moves like demonetisation as something good for the country. While a majority of the people are living under the illusion propagated by the government and its promotion by the subservient media, the situation on ground is degrading in the cases of production, prices of daily commodities, number of jobs created and the average standard of living.

The healthcare system has taken a further beating. Farmer suicides have gone up. Protest against anti-farmer policies by peasants from Tamil Nadu has been underplayed like most of the protests in the country.

Shift from black money to the Holy Cow

The fate of electoral promises is well reflected in non-fulfillment of the promise of deposition of 15 lakh INR in accounts of all and in absolute failure of job creation. After using Ram Temple issue for polarisation, now the Holy Cow has been brought into the arena of politics. This cow worship has led to the violent lynching of Muslims and Dalits. The cow-protection policies of the government have emboldened vigilantism and killings in the name of ‘gauraksha’. While those guilty of crime are let off, the victims have been penalised on several grounds.

Failures in the garb of achievement

The social scene is dominated by illusory promises and issues related to identity. One recalls that in the UPA regime, the propaganda was much less and the major issues to be debated were related to the rights of the people to have food, education, healthcare and employment.

Currently, a false bravado permeates the air. One surgical strike is touted to be the achievement of the Government, while regular skirmishes are going on at the border with serious casualties to the army men. The Kashmir policy has created a situation where not only the disgruntled boys but even girl students have taken to the streets, pelting stones. The anguish of Kashmiris remains unattended, while the failure to establish dialogue with Pakistan is aggravating the situation.

Redefining patriotism: The rise of Hindutva

In matters of political orientation, Hindutva is the overarching concern. Most glaring intrusions of ideological nature are in the field of education. The autonomy of Universities has been gradually taken away and the culture of erosion is dominating the field of academia. The new slogan is to revive the ‘traditional faith’ as ‘knowledge’ and to treat the mythology as history and to accord the status of science to the age-old empirical knowledge. Here, the traditional knowledge is cherry-picked which is elite or Brahmanical one, like the promotion of the Gita, Sanskrit and everything that is Hindu.

From among all sections of people who contribute to the well-being of society, the military has been given the exalted status of saviour of the country, while the food producers and other sections providing service to the nation have been marginalised. In the times of Lal Bahadur Shastri, the slogan was ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ (Hail the army man, hail the farmer). Now, the farmer has been dropped.

The dawn of realisation

The overall democratic space has been stifled, with a large section of the media bowing to the ruling government and taking to task the Opposition. The media has given up its role of being the watchdog of the Government and the proverbial fourth pillar of any democracy. This trend of intolerance which began with murders of Narendra Dabholkar, who was a crusader against superstition, Govind Pansare and M. M. Kalburgi, has reached its zenith.

Favourable public opinion, in spite of all these failures on the part of the government, signifies how a propaganda can create an illusion of well-being. Nonetheless, the dissatisfaction of the people is rising. During the last three years, one has witnessed major uprisings against policies of the Modi Government.

While the mobilisation of farmers has forced the government to withdraw the Land Reforms Bill, the agitation by Kanhaiya Kumar, the protests in Ramjas College, Hyderabad University and the resentment in Una tell us that the goodwill of the Modi government is in retrograde motion. While Hindutva forces are becoming more assertive, these campaigns and movements raise our hope for a plural and liberal society based on values of the Indian Constitution.

 

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Prof. Ram Puniyani

Prof. Ram Puniyani

was teaching in IIT Mumbai till 2004 and now works for the preservation of democratic-secular values. He is associated with initiatives like the Centre for study of Society and Secularism, All India Secular Forum and has been part of various rights investigations and people’s tribunals which investigated the violation of rights of minorities. He is also the recipient of the Indira Gandhi National Integration Award 2006, the National Communal Harmony Award 2007 and the Mukundan C Menon Human Rights Ward 2015.

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Hindu Rashtra: Is it good for Hindus?

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Prof Ram Puniyani


Hindu Rashtra is the goal of Hindu nationalist politics, which is also called as Hindutva. In contrast to Hinduism, Hindutva is a politics of in the name of Hinduism with Brahmanism as the core of the same. In nutshell Hindutva is a politics based on Brahmanical values of caste and gender hierarchy. The concept of Hindutva-Hindu nation is a modern one, which developed as a parallel to Islamic nationalism, and in opposition to the concept of Indian Nationalism. Indian nationalism developed during colonial period as the inclusive nationalism of people of all religions, different castes, languages and regions based on values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.

Hindu nationalism developed from the section of Hindu landlords and kings with associated clergy on their side. As Indian nationalism was arguing for equalityof all the people, the previous ruling classes, felt threatened socially. Now their social privileges were under threat and so they gave a war cry of ‘Hinduism in danger’. This was a cry which was similar to the slogan of Muslim landlords and nawabs, who when their social status started declining; shouted ‘Islam in danger’.

Hindu Nationalism harped on the ancient glory of the times of Manusmriti and Vedas where the caste system was deeply entrenched in society. While national movement was articulating the need for land reforms, though they could never be properly implemented, Hindu nationalism harped on the earlier systems and was hiding its agenda of social inequality. It called for revival of a glorious period, despite the fact that the condition of women and dalits in those times were abysmal.

The needs of majority of Hindus were expressed in the national movement, which strove for democratic norms and its values got enshrined in Indian Constitution in the form of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. The Hindu nationalists were opposed to these values and also the formation of Indian Constitution, which not only stands for liberation of all people from feudal bondages, it is a path of liberation of large sections of Hindus, barring of course the upper caste ones’, who stand to lose their primacy. Most of the Hindus participated in the freedom struggle while a handful of them wedded to ideology of Hindu Rashtra kept aloof from this massive process which was to pave the path of liberation of all the people including majority of Hindus.

Those standing for cause of majority of Hindus opposed the idea of Hindu Rashtra. Ambedkar points out, “It is a pity that Mr. Jinnah should have become a votary and champion of Muslim Nationalism at a time when the whole world is decrying against the evils of nationalism… But isn’t there enough that is common to both Hindus and Musalmans, which if developed, is capable of moulding them into one people?… If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will, no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country…’ Compare the Sangh Parivar’s view of nationalism with these two conceptions and draw your own conclusions. (https://www.kractivist.org/tag/history/)

Gandhi the greatest Hindu of his times pointed out, “In India, for whose fashioning I have worked all my life, every man enjoys equality of status, whatever his religion is. The state is bound to be wholly secular”, and, “religion is not the test of nationality but is a personal matter between man and God, and,” religion is a personal affair of each individual, it must not be mixed up with politics or national affairs” (Harijan August 31, 1947)

After Independence, the followers of Hindu nationalists were very small and they kept working for breaking the core pillar of Indian nationalism, Fraternity. They kept spreading hatred against religious minorities. This hatred became the foundation of communal violence in times to come. While majority Hindus were going along with the national policies for building modern India through modern education and modern industries, the Hindu nationalists were criticizing and opposing these policies all through. While the majority of Hindus are faced with the problems of bread butter shelter employment and dignity, Hindu nationalists have been raising the emotive issues to divide the society along religious lines. The result is that in the din of hysteria, in the name of Hinduism and Hindus; they have been sidetracking the real issues of Hindus and substituting them with identity issues.

When BJP led NDA came to power it opened the path of restoring blind faith by introducing courses like Paurohitya (priesthood) and Karmakand (ritualism). Hindus need to be liberated from the clutches of blind faith while these policies are intensifying the retrograde, obscurantist values and undermining the real needs of average Hindus as well.

Last three years (since 2014) Modi-BJP-RSS government has come to power; the identity issues have been hiked up. Attempts have been made to undermine and bypass the issues related to Rights for food, education and health. The attempt was made to grab farmer’s land in the name of land reforms; somehow they could not succeed in that. The attempt to bring in land reform legislation was against interests of Hindus so to say. The labor reforms brought by Hindu nationalists have ruined the lives of workers at large. De-monitisation was propagated as a blow to black money holders, but its real victims have been average Hindus, who have suffered in silence. A series of emotive issues are dominating the social scene, Ram Temple, Bharat mata ki jia, Vande matram, Cow protection, Love Jihad and Ghar vapasi among other. The vigilante culture is getting promoted due to Hindu nationalist agenda. The beneficiaries of these policies have been affluent corporate sector, section of upper and middle classes while average Hindus are suffering the pain and anguish.

The society is suffering as age old values of love and amity are being demolished; the issues of poverty, illiteracy, hunger and health are being relegated to the margins of policy making. All this is against the interests of Hindus at large. Average Hindus are a big victim of this agenda.

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India’s Kashmir Policy: Way Forward

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Prof Ram Puniyani

Burhan Wani

The turmoil in Kashmir, which got intensified after the fake encounter of Burhan Wani (July 2016), does not seem to abet. It has been worsening as reflected in the ongoing violence leading to low turnout of voters in the by poll (April 2017). Shockingly there was a turn out only of 7.14 percent of voters. The by-polls were also marred by violence in which, many a civilians and security force person also died and lately one witnessed with great horror a Kashmir youth being tied to the military truck to prevent stone pelters from throwing stones on the vehicle.

Farooq Abdullah

Those pelting stones don’t seem to be stopping despite the lapse of period of time. These young men are being looked at in various ways. Farooq Abdullah had stated on the eve of elections that those young men throwing stones are doing so for their nation. This statement of his came under scathing criticism from various quarters and section of media and was dismissed by many as a pre election statement.

Maqbool Butt

Another way of looking at those pelting stones; as gleaned from section of media; is that these are pro-Pakistan elements. They are being instigated by Pakistan and that they are doing this for money. As such stone pelting has been used as a method of protest in Kashmir since ages but has become glaringly obvious from last

Afzal Guru

few years. Intimidated by the terrorists-militants on one side and the security forces on the other these young men have been resorting to pelting stones as a form of protest and anguish. One can see the clear pattern in worsening repression and an increase in their activities. As such after every major act of hanging-murder the protests have become more intense e.g. after the hanging of Maqbool Butt (1984), then after the hanging of Afzal Guru (2013) and now after the killing of Burhan Wani (2016).

Who are these boys who pelt stones? Are these merely Pakistan inspired and funded youth? In the aftermath of state crackdown; hundreds have died, thousands have been wounded and many more have lost eyesight! A section of TV and other media is going hammer and tongs about the role of Pakistan and the funding they receive. The question which needs to be introspected is that will young people risk their life, loss of eyesight or other harm to body just for someone’s bidding or some money? Many of them are teenagers, tech savvy and they are so much full of deep hatred that they are willing to risk their lives, not caring about their future. The degree of frustration among them must we horrific.

Only a small section of media has gone deeper into the issue and have interviewed some of them. The stories of their experiences and feelings shatter one’s perceptions about law and order in Kashmir. Many belong to families which have given up hope of any type. Most of these young boys have experienced torture, beating, harassments of sorts and often humiliation For many of them stone throwing comes as sort of catharsis, a feeling of having taken revenge of what has happened to them. It is the only strong way of protest they must be feeling is left for them. Many of them are Pro Pakistan for sure but the basic point remains political alienation which is seeping in deepening. This in turn is due to the suffering and pain to which Kashmir has been subjected due to the prolonged military presence in the area.

Mahbooba Mufti

Post Burhan Wani murder, the Kashmir based PDP, or even national Conference has been able to see the intensity of the situation. Mahbooba Mufti, the Chief Minister of the ruling coalition, wanted to go for a dialogue with the dissenters, but coalition partner and the party leading at center BJP shot down the idea. Mahbooba Mufti felt that dialogue is the only way out but BJP feels that dialogue is a way to befool the people. It seems the ruling BJP wants to take a hard line to deal with dissidence, regards that dissidence is there only due to Pakistan or ISIS and so repression should be intensified.

What have earlier efforts for peace which need to be recalled in the present damning times? In one of the most significant move UPA II had appointed a team of interlocutors to understand and suggest the way out. The eminent team suggested that the autonomy of Kashmir Assembly, which is part of treaty of accession, be restored, dialogue with dissidents to be initiated and also talks with Pakistan be undertaken along with repeal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel

Today there can be two approaches one is to recall the treaty of accession and gravitate towards that and take the recommendations of Interlocutors seriously. Nearly seven decades after the accession of Kashmir to India, there is a need to recall that forcible merger; repression of dissent was never the idea of founders of Indian nation. Let’s see what Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel had to say on the matter way back, Deputy Prime Minister Vallabhbhai Patel said at a public meeting in Bombay on October 30, 1948: “Some people consider that a Muslim majority area must necessarily belong to Pakistan. They wonder why we are in Kashmir. The answer is plain and simple. We are in Kashmir because the people of Kashmir want us to be there. The moment we realize that the people of Kashmir do not want us to be there, we shall not be there even for a minute… We shall not let the Kashmir down” (The Hindustan Times, October 31, 1948).

Sheikh Abdullah

The situation in Kashmir is critical, and worsening by the day due to the high handed dealings from the center. Even the Chief Minister of Kashmir and the people like Sheikh Abdulla need to be listened to, if we want peace in the green valley, peace which is crucial. The deeper peace can only be won through winning the hearts and minds of the people of Kashmir, ultranationalist formulations don’t work in the long run.

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Yogi as CM: Portents for Politics in India

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Visitors: 102

Prof Ram Puniyani

The spectacular victory of BJP in UP Assembly poll was capped by choosing of Adityanath Yogi as the Chief Minister of UP. He had not contested for the Assembly nor was he projected as the Chief Minister by BJP before polls. Why so many eyebrows have been raised with the nomination of Yogi is very apparent. Yogi has been the most assertive and aggressive face of the politics in the name of religion. He has many criminal charges against him. His statements against Muslim minority so far have been dubbed as coming from ‘fringe elements’. His hate statements are innumerable and have been in the media off and on. His campaigns and speeches around ‘love jihad’, ‘ghar wapasi’, and ‘cow protection’ have been unpalatable to moderate media and the moderate posing leaders of BJP itself.

So, why Yogi in preference to other mild and moderate sounding leaders! This is also despite the fact that Yogi has built his own support base away from the usual RSS base. Yogi has rooting among the Hindu Mahasabha ideology, which overlaps greatly with the RSS politics. He has never made bones about his anti Muslim stance on most of the issues. It seems that those who matter in RSS-BJP politics seem to have come to various conclusions, which become apparent with the choice of Adityanath Yogi. First is that this election result is the culmination of the processes in which communal polarization played the key role.  All development issues were linked to Hindutva and the message to Hindus was that you are deprived of these fruits of Vikas (development) as Muslims are being pampered, appeased and that BJP is the only hope for vikas of Hindus. The make believe issue of exodus from Kairana was compared by Yogi himself to the migration of Pundits from Kashmir valley. The BJP stance in elections was very clear, not a single seat was given to any Muslim candidate. The election results show that BJP succeeded in its strategy of ‘dividing Muslim votes’ and uniting Hindu votes.

Yogi’s elevation is a signal that now RSS-BJP are going to use the communal card in the most blatant way and they are not going to bother about Muslim votes as this election has shown that even 20% of Muslim votes did not matter as these votes were effectively neutralized between Akhilesh on one hand and Mayawati on the other. The other message is tactical that now the RSS-BJP is going to launch the offensive for Hindu Rashtra in an overt fashion. Yogi himself had vouched that he wants to convert UP into Hindu rashtra before converting the whole India into the same. In the aftermath of Gujarat carnage and the phrase laboratory of Hindu Rasthra for Gujarat, in 2002 he stated that UP will be next inline.

With the ascendance of Modi-Yogi type politics and threat of Hindu Rashtra, what has been the response of opposition parties? So far mostly they have taken a suicidal path, except in case of Bihar Assembly elections. Many leaders have been pampering to their own narrow egos rather than sticking to the values their political agenda espouses. The threat of Hindu Rashtra is not just to minorities. As such it is threat to all what the Constitution of Indian stands for, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, social justice and affirmative action for the weaker sections of society.

The argument put forward by many political analysts is that democratic forces need to come together at this juncture. There is a growing realization about Hindu Nation agenda of BJP. While other parties have some semblance for toeing democratic norms, BJP is working for the goal of Hindu Rashtra. It is the only party which in ideological sense is controlled by RSS, the organization which glorifies the past times where caste was the norm and authoritarian state was the political system.

It is true that most other parties have not been able to sustain the democratic and secular values to full earnest. They have made opportunistic alliances but most of them are within the gambit of Indian Nationalism. BJP is for Hindu nationalism. Can its march be halted? The 2019 General elections seem to be a giveaway unless the other political formation takes Yogi’s coming to power as a wakeup call. One has seen that a determined opposition can come to power overcoming the electoral and social engineering resorted to by BJP-RSS. In last general elections BJP had polled 31% of votes. In UP that time its vote share was around 41%, now in Assembly elections it is 39 odd percent. How do other political parties see the agenda of BJP? The party with largest base in society till now, Congress has been totally against BJP-RSS, though ideologically it has not been able to sustain the secular credential of the times of Gandhi, Nehru and Maulana Azad.

Communists, CPI and CPM do see it as an aggressive communal party, while good section among them also sees it as a fascist party. The regional parties’ attitude is very uncertain, as many of them have allied with BJP in the past. AAP, the new rising star for many a citizens, is so far a single agenda ‘anti corruption’ party. Will it be a part of anti communal alliance? Time alone will tell, as so far its main goal has been to jump in the electoral fray only at places where there is a straight fight between BJP and Congress; time will tell whether they see divisive politics as a threat to democracy and ally with other parties to form a Democratic coalition at national stage.

Social movements for the rights of weaker sections of society need to come up to form a platform for defense of democracy.

Writing is clear on the wall with Yogi coming to power, either non RSS controlled parties hang together or be ready to be decimated in the dust of electoral politics. Electoral alliance of Bihar alone type hold the key for times to come.

ram-puniyani

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Let’s Welcome Kareena-Saif’s son Taimur – by Prof Ram Puniyani

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Visitors: 94

Prof Ram Puniyani

The domination of communal consciousness in social space is very frightening. The prevalent ‘social common sense’ looks at history through the prism of Kings’ religion and that too in a very selective way. This version picks and chooses from events to ‘construct a past’ suitable to its ideology, the communal one. This ideology has been at the roots of the hatred which has been built up among communities, hate for Hindus propagated by Muslim communalism and vice versa, hate for Muslims by Hindu communalism. This hatred has formed the foundation on which communal violence was and is being orchestrated. This violence kills the innocents on one side and polarizes the communities for electoral benefits on the on the other. The same ideology looks down upon inter-religious marriages and cultural expressions which unite the people, cutting across boundaries. Currently the marriages between Muslim boy and a Hindu girl are denigrated as ‘Love jihad’. To cap it all now the baby born from such a marriage, is being hurled abuses at, instead of the usual welcome which a new born deserves in our society.

Kareena Saif Taimur

On 20th September (2016) Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan were delighted as their bundle of joy, baby boy, arrived.  They named him Taimur (also pronounced as Timur). With this; the whole hell was let loose on the social media.  Many tweeters wished ill for the baby. These communalists seem to be pained by the name Taimur as he had invaded Delhi in 1398, looted plundered and killed the people in Delhi. Interestingly Delhi that time was being ruled by a King, who was a Muslim with Turkish lineage Mohammad Tughlaq. Taimur, Ghenghis Khan and Aurangzeb in particular are presented as the major villains of Indian medieval history and also are identified with Muslims of India today. Ghengis Khan was builder of Mongol Empire who was a Shamanist (not Muslim) who had also killed and plundered north India. Aurangzeb is regarded as a tyrant who imposed Jizia, forcibly converted people to Islam and destroyed Hindu temples. All the demonization of these kings is reflected upon Muslims of India today. These kings belong to various religions and did not undertake these acts for their religion in any way. Again this is just one small side of the story.

The plunder of wealth and associated killings are part of the invasions of Kings, unrelated to religion. Surely sometimes cover of religion is put up by the courtiers for the actions of kings. Plunder and killing was not a monopoly of any particular king from one religion or one region. Kings were plundering in the neighboring areas and extracting tribute in their own territory. It was not a period of ‘laws’ or ‘nationalism’ as understood today. Kings were sovereigns, above being questioned. Incidentally the clergy, cutting across religions, provided the ideological cover, cover of religion and sanction of God for the acts of these Kings. The concept of India or Bharat does not apply to this period and it was in a way ‘free for all’, depending on the strategy of the kings and his alliances as for as the outcome of battles was concerned. One knows that it was Babar who was invited by Rana Sanaga to ally with him to defeat Ibrahim Lodi. The Muslims kings had many courtiers who were Hindus in top rungs of power and vice versa in the subcontinent.

In India today Muslim Kings or Kings with Muslim sounding names are presented as villains.  At the same time Shivaji, Rana Pratap and Govind Singh are projected as the Heroes for Hindus. Godse, the killer of father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi, says that as a nationalist, Gandhi was a pigmy as compared to the nationalists like Shivaji, Rana Pratap and Govind Singh. While today Shivaji is being eulogized as a great national hero, it’s interesting to note that initially there was a great resistance to accepting Shivaji as a National hero in Gujarat and Bengal in particular. These are two areas where Shivjaji’s armies plundered and killed the local people. Today, to say that Shivaji was also looting and plundering is tantamount to insulting ‘national icon’. One Bal Samant, who was close to Bal Thackeray, very much accepted by Hindu nationalists, devotes nearly 21 pages in his book ‘Shivkalyan Raja’ to the chapter on the looting by Shivaji. He quotes from Dutch and British sources to give the account of massive plunder and looting by Shivaji’s army. The massive carnage by Ashoka in Kalinga is well known. Most kings have undertaken the killings to expand their empires to take revenge against the enemy Kingdom.

With the communal ideologies holding the sway; the interpretations have also changed. The looting by Shivaji’s army has been described by Narendra Modi as looting of Aurangzeb’s treasury! The account of Maratha armies destroying Shrirangpatanam Hindu temple are being hidden in the margins of consciousness. Similarly the account of 1857, First war of Independence has suffered the fate of distortion. While Savarkar the Hindutva ideologue describes it as the First war of Independence, Golwalkar another major ideologue of Hindutva says that the rebellion failed as it was being led by a Muslim, Bahadur Shah Jafar as he could not inspire Hindu soldiers. While one knows that the failure of revolt was due to the reason that Punjabis and Gorkhas came to the rescue of the British.

Communal ideology sits on the distorted and selective version of history and religion is presented as the primary motive in this narrative. Taking it to murkier depths some commentators have gone to the abysmal low by abusing this child as a terrorist and a jihadi. All newborns deserve welcome into this universe. Saif Ali Khan in his article in Indian Express tells us as to how their marriage was opposed as ‘love Jihad’. One tweet warns the Hindu girls that they should not marry Muslim boys as they may give birth to a Ghengis Khan or a Taimur or a Aurangzeb. The divisive mindset is pushing the culture to low ebbs in society!

Credits : http://peoplesvoice.in/2017/01/08/suswagatam-taimur-ali-khan-pataudi/

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Gita is a Not National book, its Hindu Scripture!

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Visitors: 53
Professor Ram Puniyani, PhD
Rtd, IIT Bombay

The Haryana government organized Gita Festival in Kurkshetra with a budget of Rs 100 Crores. This was to celebrate the teachings of Bhagavad Gita. This is the place where Lord Krishna is believed to have delivered the sermons that form the core of a version of Hinduism. The celebration of the Gita Festival has been very meticulous to involve most of the districts of Haryana and is replete with seminars and cultural programs around the teachings of this holy book. As such it is a Holy Scripture, which has been most in news from last quite some time.  Those taking part in the festival include the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Yog Peeth, Ram Krishna Mission, and ISKCON.

This state funded festival comes in the backdrop of the Modi Sarkar coming to power at the centre. Modi, in his innumerable trips abroad has been gifting Gita to the dignitaries overseas. Also his foreign minister Sushma Swaraj had once proclaimed that Gita should be declared as the national book. One recalls that many BJP ruled state Governments like MP have started teaching Gita Saar (Essence of Gita) in their schools. When BJP was in power in Karnataka, the State government had planned to introduce the teaching of Gita in its schools. There is also an attempt to present this holy tome not as a religious book but a book of Indian Philosophy, cutting across different religions. For example Madhya Pradesh High court has ruled (Jan 2012) that “Gita is essentially a book on Indian philosophy, not a book on Indian religion”. This judgment seems to be influenced more by the dominant political ideology than the theological understanding of Hinduism or the principles of Indian Constitution or even by the practices of the Courts themselves. One knows that Gita is used in the courts for administering oath to Hindus before they depose.

The Bhagwat Gita or Gita (Song of God) is a 700 verse scripture that is part of the epic Mahabharata. As it is drawn from Mahabharata it can be labeled as Smriti text (from memory). Some sects of Hinduism give it the status of Upanishad, thereby making it sruti (revealed) book. It is also regarded to represent the summary of Upanishadic teachings and so it is also called as ‘Upanishad of Upanishads’. In this Holy Scripture Lord Krishna teaches Arjun about his duties as a Prince belonging to Kshtriya Varna. Arjun was faced with the dilemma of the war, the possibility of killing his own kin. Lord tells Arjun that it is his holy duty to undertake the war. As most holy scriptures are the revelations from the supreme God, in Gita also Krishna reveals his identity as Supreme Being himself (Svayam Bhagvan) and this book is also regarded as the core of Hindu philosophy.

The Gita elaborates on the central part of Hindu theology, the origin of Varnas. In Purush Sukta of Vedas tell us as to how Lord Brahma created four Varnas from the body of Virat Purush (Primeval man). In Gita on similar lines Lord Krishna also tells about the divine origin of Varna’s. Lord says that the fourfold order was created by him according to the divisions of quality (Guna) and work (karma).

One knows that origin of Hinduism is different from the Prophet based religions like Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity and Islam. Here there has been an evolution of the Hinduism over a period of time and today while Hinduism is a religion, Gita is its Holy Scripture. To take the stand that it is Indian philosophy and not religious one is far from truth. There is philosophy also in many a Holy Scriptures. Notwithstanding that, they are primarily religious scriptures. From the religion of Pastoral Aryans to the practices of Hindus today, there is a long journey. The communal forces want to introduce this text in schools as not only they want to impose Hindu nation in this country but also through this book, they aim to reinforce the concept of Varna, which is one of the core doctrine of Brahmanical version of Hinduism, and Gita tells this by attributing Varna to the divine creation by Lord Himself. While there are many a philosophical formulations in this divine book there is also the subtle defense of what the Hindutva politics wants to bring in today, Varan- Jati in a repackaged form.

Dharma spoken of in Gita is essentially is Varnashram Dharma, which is a graded hierarchy, which is against the spirit of Indian Constitution, the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Gita’s Varnashram Dharma violates the principles of equality. So here you are showing that violation of norms of equality. Surely, Gita is a Holy Hindu scripture. We are a secular country, where citizenship is equal for people of all religions. So here you violate the secular ethos of our country by state sponsoring a festival in its name. Ambedkar, the Chairman of drafting committee of Indian Constitution, had an interesting take on Gita. In his work ‘Philosophy of Hinduism’ (Critical Quest 2010) where he points out that ‘Bhagwat Gita is a Manusmriti in Nutshell’. His supporting the burning of Manusmriti was symbolic of opposing the hierarchy inherent in the Brahmanical Hinduism. It is also true that what has been asserted as Hinduism from last two centuries is Brahmanical Hinduism. Gita does represent the Brahmanical Hinduism, in contrast to other Hindu traditions like Nath, Tantra, Siddha, Shaiva and Bhakti. These traditions are away from Brahmanical hierarchical values. RSS-Hindutva has made Brahmanical values as the base of their politics.

So while there is a lot of confusion among many who eulogize Gita, the practitioners of Hindutva politics RSS-BJP are very consciously promoting Gita, as the restoration of caste and gender hierarchy is the core agenda of their politics. Gita is not a national book; it is a Holy Hindu Scripture for sure. Indian Constitution is our National book. The verdict of the court needs re-examination as it is not conforming to the belief of millions of Hindus who have been away from Brahmanical notions.

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First published at – http://peoplesvoice.in/2017/01/06/gita-not-national-book-hindu-scripture/

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Gita is a Not National book, its Hindu Scripture!

0 Comments

Visitors: 47
Professor Ram Puniyani, PhD
Rtd, IIT Bombay

The Haryana government organized Gita Festival in Kurkshetra with a budget of Rs 100 Crores. This was to celebrate the teachings of Bhagavad Gita. This is the place where Lord Krishna is believed to have delivered the sermons that form the core of a version of Hinduism. The celebration of the Gita Festival has been very meticulous to involve most of the districts of Haryana and is replete with seminars and cultural programs around the teachings of this holy book. As such it is a Holy Scripture, which has been most in news from last quite some time.  Those taking part in the festival include the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Yog Peeth, Ram Krishna Mission, and ISKCON.

This state funded festival comes in the backdrop of the Modi Sarkar coming to power at the centre. Modi, in his innumerable trips abroad has been gifting Gita to the dignitaries overseas. Also his foreign minister Sushma Swaraj had once proclaimed that Gita should be declared as the national book. One recalls that many BJP ruled state Governments like MP have started teaching Gita Saar (Essence of Gita) in their schools. When BJP was in power in Karnataka, the State government had planned to introduce the teaching of Gita in its schools. There is also an attempt to present this holy tome not as a religious book but a book of Indian Philosophy, cutting across different religions. For example Madhya Pradesh High court has ruled (Jan 2012) that “Gita is essentially a book on Indian philosophy, not a book on Indian religion”. This judgment seems to be influenced more by the dominant political ideology than the theological understanding of Hinduism or the principles of Indian Constitution or even by the practices of the Courts themselves. One knows that Gita is used in the courts for administering oath to Hindus before they depose.

The Bhagwat Gita or Gita (Song of God) is a 700 verse scripture that is part of the epic Mahabharata. As it is drawn from Mahabharata it can be labeled as Smriti text (from memory). Some sects of Hinduism give it the status of Upanishad, thereby making it sruti (revealed) book. It is also regarded to represent the summary of Upanishadic teachings and so it is also called as ‘Upanishad of Upanishads’. In this Holy Scripture Lord Krishna teaches Arjun about his duties as a Prince belonging to Kshtriya Varna. Arjun was faced with the dilemma of the war, the possibility of killing his own kin. Lord tells Arjun that it is his holy duty to undertake the war. As most holy scriptures are the revelations from the supreme God, in Gita also Krishna reveals his identity as Supreme Being himself (Svayam Bhagvan) and this book is also regarded as the core of Hindu philosophy.

The Gita elaborates on the central part of Hindu theology, the origin of Varnas. In Purush Sukta of Vedas tell us as to how Lord Brahma created four Varnas from the body of Virat Purush (Primeval man). In Gita on similar lines Lord Krishna also tells about the divine origin of Varna’s. Lord says that the fourfold order was created by him according to the divisions of quality (Guna) and work (karma).

One knows that origin of Hinduism is different from the Prophet based religions like Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity and Islam. Here there has been an evolution of the Hinduism over a period of time and today while Hinduism is a religion, Gita is its Holy Scripture. To take the stand that it is Indian philosophy and not religious one is far from truth. There is philosophy also in many a Holy Scriptures. Notwithstanding that, they are primarily religious scriptures. From the religion of Pastoral Aryans to the practices of Hindus today, there is a long journey. The communal forces want to introduce this text in schools as not only they want to impose Hindu nation in this country but also through this book, they aim to reinforce the concept of Varna, which is one of the core doctrine of Brahmanical version of Hinduism, and Gita tells this by attributing Varna to the divine creation by Lord Himself. While there are many a philosophical formulations in this divine book there is also the subtle defense of what the Hindutva politics wants to bring in today, Varan- Jati in a repackaged form.

Dharma spoken of in Gita is essentially is Varnashram Dharma, which is a graded hierarchy, which is against the spirit of Indian Constitution, the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Gita’s Varnashram Dharma violates the principles of equality. So here you are showing that violation of norms of equality. Surely, Gita is a Holy Hindu scripture. We are a secular country, where citizenship is equal for people of all religions. So here you violate the secular ethos of our country by state sponsoring a festival in its name. Ambedkar, the Chairman of drafting committee of Indian Constitution, had an interesting take on Gita. In his work ‘Philosophy of Hinduism’ (Critical Quest 2010) where he points out that ‘Bhagwat Gita is a Manusmriti in Nutshell’. His supporting the burning of Manusmriti was symbolic of opposing the hierarchy inherent in the Brahmanical Hinduism. It is also true that what has been asserted as Hinduism from last two centuries is Brahmanical Hinduism. Gita does represent the Brahmanical Hinduism, in contrast to other Hindu traditions like Nath, Tantra, Siddha, Shaiva and Bhakti. These traditions are away from Brahmanical hierarchical values. RSS-Hindutva has made Brahmanical values as the base of their politics.

So while there is a lot of confusion among many who eulogize Gita, the practitioners of Hindutva politics RSS-BJP are very consciously promoting Gita, as the restoration of caste and gender hierarchy is the core agenda of their politics. Gita is not a national book; it is a Holy Hindu Scripture for sure. Indian Constitution is our National book. The verdict of the court needs re-examination as it is not conforming to the belief of millions of Hindus who have been away from Brahmanical notions.

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First published at – http://peoplesvoice.in/2017/01/06/gita-not-national-book-hindu-scripture/

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Demonetization : Assault on the People

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Visitors: 50
Professor Ram Puniyani, PhD
Rtd, IIT Bombay

The month old gamble of Mr. Modi (November 2016) has put the whole country in an unprecedented chaos. The demonetization of 86.4% of the circulating currency in the form of Rs 500 and 1000 rupee notes has put into jeopardy the life of major sections of society. Nearly seventy people have died in the queues to withdraw the money from Banks/ATMs. The daily wage workers have to lose their daily earning to withdraw the cash, many daily wage earners had to go back to their villages for lack of work, the small trade has been damaged severely, farmers are neck deep in trouble while probably those holding the ‘black money’ don’t have to suffer such an ordeal. The 80% of estimated black money is stashed in the overseas tax heavens; roughly 15% of such wealth is in the form of real estate, gold and shares etc. Its only 5% of money which is in the form of currency notes. It is for this 5% quantum that 86% currency has been demonetized and millions of people, who barely make their two ends meet, have been put to such a massive discomfort.

The impact of this is that the hard earned money of the peasants and common people in the cooperative banks, agricultural credit societies, housing societies and so on has been frozen in a single stroke. The agricultural-rural economy is close to paralysis. The massive loans of corporate houses have been labeled as ‘Bad loans’ and have been waived off. All these expose that the true intention of this assault is not eradication of black money, but to unleash a social engineering for draining away the meager earnings of the common people in to the coffers of corporate billionaires through the banking system. This move has full backing of those who deal with black money or those Corporate giants who stand to benefit as their loans are being waived off.

The response to this has been very diverse. Most of those standing in long queues have expressed their opinions though their life and sweat. While few among them have also praised the effort by saying that in the long run it will be better for them. Most of the opposition parties though disunited as usual have vehemently criticized the move of the government. Prominent economists and substantial section of media have scathingly criticized the move of the government. The critics of the Modi policy, again as usual are being labeled as anti Nationals. Baba Ramdev, the fellow traveler of Modi politics used the word ‘Deshdrohi’ (anti national) and RSS groomed Devendra Fadanvis, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, used the word Deshvirodhi (against the nation) for these critics. The large section of followers of Modi mania, despite their discomforts are holding that it is a good move. Their delusion is that in the long term the system will be better and they will benefit. Modi launched an app to conduct the survey to show that people’s opinion is with him, while few surveys are showing growing resentment against this move.

It’s no mystery as to why this must has been undertaken. Two major Gujarati papers had carried the news of demonetization several months ago. Many are arguing that it is to cripple the opposition parties in the forthcoming elections in UP and Punjab in particular. The idea is to reduce the campaigning capability of opposition parties. There are reports that BJP has lots of real estate just prior to demonetization. The problem of ‘bad loans’ given to the corporate are being aimed to be solved through the public funding for Corporate giants through the banks, through the massive deposits which is the goal of this move.

Modi campaign for power in 2014 was built around the promise of Acche Din and bringing the black money from overseas banks and then depositing of 15 Lakhs in every body’s account. The social scenario has worsened abysmally during last two years. The prices of commodities reached sky high during this period. Tur dal has shot up from Rs. 60 to 150 per KG. Despite the drastic fall in the prices of crude oil in international market from 119 per barrel to 30 per barrel, the petrol price in India has come down only from Rupees 67 to 60 or so only. Corporates like Mallya have made merry by running away with huge debts. This along with the non realization of boastful promises like rupee becoming stronger viv a vis dollar are nowhere in sight. The agrarian crisis has been worsening. With the demonitisation the production in unorganized sector has come to a near halt. It seems Mr. Modi, taunted by opposition and critics on his boastful promise, now wants to claim that so many efforts are being done in this direction. As such the major area of non taxed money remains untouched. There is a push towards cashless economy where large number people seem to be unprepared for that.

During last over two and a half years the so called fringe elements of RSS combine, Modi’s ideological pond; has become bolder and has thrown up non issues, identity related one’s in the public domain. These emotive issues which took off from the Ram Temple-Babri Mosque dispute have been joined in by issues related to Holy cow, beef, pseudo nationalism Bharat Mata ki Jai, abolishing the autonomy of education institutions, creating a growing atmosphere of intolerance leading to returning of awards by eminent writers and social workers has come to the fore. The deeper issues related to poverty alleviation, employment, malnutrition, health and matters pertaining to agrarian crisis have been buried under the weight of pseudo nationalism. This hyper nationalism has also worsened the state of affairs in Kashmir and relations with neighbors; with Pakistan and Nepal in particular.

This seems to be a move which will benefit the corporate World and is creating huge suffering for the average people. The propaganda, ‘this will benefit us’ has been created with great amount of success. But can this deceptive propaganda win over the reality for so long?

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TAX  OFFICIALS  ARE WEAK  LINK  IN  MODI  GOVERNMENT

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N S Venkataraman Nandini Voice For The Deprived
N S Venkataraman
Nandini Voice For The Deprived

The demonetization of high value currency by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has certainly rekindled hope amongst Indians that Modi government would take earnest steps to root out corruption in India.

People’s support :

While the demonetization announcement has created some genuine  temporary problems for the common man , particularly daily wage earners, street vendors etc. there is considerable understanding and appreciation amongst the cross section of Indians in the middle and lower income group about the strong measure initiated ,that can  go a long way in rooting out black money and curbing corruption in India.

People have responded positively by putting up with the discomforts,  which reveals the concern of the common man in India about the widespread corruption and urgent need to put it down at any cost and their willingness to extend support to the anti corruption measures of Modi government.

What would be Mr. Modi’s next step?

Now,  people wonder as to what would be the next step that Mr. Modi would initiate to carry on the fight against corruption. People recall that in 1978 there was demonetization by  the then Morarji Desai government which caused some immediate sensation which was short lived and there was no visible change in the situation for the better. There is anxiety amongst people that the present exercise of Mr. Modi should not fall in the same pattern as it happened after the demonetization in 1978.

Little result so far from anti corruption measures :

Modi government has initiated some meaningful steps to eliminate corruption and black money in India in the last 30 months, which include steps to open bank account to large section of poor people in the country, enlisting more than 90% of the people as Aadhaar card holders and linking Aadhaar card to various schemes  as well as income tax department etc. to ensure transparency. But, such move has really not made any big dent in the extent of corruption in the country at various levels so far.

Section of tax officials are corrupt themselves :

The problem for Mr. Modi in his fight against corruption is that considerable section of tax officials at various level serving in the government of India and state governments including income tax department, central excise , sales tax department are corrupt themselves.

In the past,  several senior officials in these department have been caught red handed while indulging in corrupt activities and some of them have been punished and quite a number of them have  escaped punishment by  exploiting the loophole in the law. The question is how can Mr. Modi catch the tax evaders and put down corruption, when several of his tax officials themselves are corrupt.

While the demonetization move have caught the imagination of the people and people want Mr. Modi to initiate  more anti corruption   measures, Mr.Modi can take the anti corruption crusade to logical end only if he has strong force of tax officials who are committed to the cause of anti corruption and would be willing to put forth their honest efforts in discharging their responsibilities.

Obviously, Mr. Modi is aware of this disturbing scenario as he himself made the observation  in his nation wide address on 8th November, stating  “Which honest citizen would not be pained by reports  of crores worth of currency notes stashed under the beds of government officers?”

Challenge ahead of Mr. Modi :

It is not clear as to how Mr. Modi would  weed out the  corrupt and errant tax officials and restore the tax departments with the character that is required , to enable Modi government to carry on with the anti corruption measures.  So far, there is no indication that any fear has been created in the officials who indulge in corruption .

It appears that the corruption system has become fool proof in the tax departments and lengthens over long chain from top to bottom.  Breaking the chain in a big country like India where there is considerable collusion between corrupt politicians, business men and officials is  no easy task.

While Mr. Modi has just demonetized the high value currency and created hopes amongst the people, the next step of cleansing the tax departments of corrupt officials , which is a pre condition for his anti corruption crusade to succeed, does not seem to be an easy task. There is the grim challenge facing Mr. Modi in the coming days.

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Confusions around term Hindutva by Prof Ram Puniyani

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Professor Ram Puniyani, PhD Rtd, IIT Bombay
Professor Ram Puniyani, PhD
Rtd, IIT Bombay

On October 25 (2016) the seven member Supreme Court Bench started hearing to revisit ‘Hindutva’ cases. These are group of cases where the use of term Hindutva-Hinduism to be used during elections is to be opined. One such case was that of Manohar Joshi who in his election speech said that if he is voted to power he will work for making Maharashtra as the first Hindu state in the country. In another incident Bal Thackeray, Shiv Sena founder and supremo of BJP associate Shiv Sena, said in November 1987, declared that his party is contesting elections “for the protection of Hinduism, we do not care for the votes of the Muslims. The country belongs to Hindus”.  And “[The Muslims] should bear in mind that this country is of Hindus, the same shall remain of Hindus… if Shiv Sena comes to power… everybody will have to take diksha (initiation) into Hindu religion.”

The 1995 Judgment, where Justice Varma opined that the word ‘Hindutva’, “is used and understood as a synonym of ‘Indianisation’, i.e. development of uniform culture by obliterating the differences between all the cultures coexisting in the country.” This came to be known as ‘Hindutva as a way of life’, judgment and became popular as ‘Hindutva judgment’, was used by RSS combine to reinforce their Hindu rashtra agenda. In Guruvayoor temple case again similar opinion was given. Also one recalls that way back in 1966 in a case involving Satsangis, who were asking for status of a separate religion, the court had given the similar opinion, that Hinduism is a way of life, so where is the question of Satsangis being given the status of a separate religion? This does not exhaust the list of such judgments in this category.

Teesta Setalvad, eminent social activist, has intervened in the court in the matter with an application stating that religion and politics should not be mixed and a direction be passed to de-link religion from politics. The hearing of the case is on. This is a great opportunity for the court to clear the air about the terms Hinduism and Hindutva. So far many opinions have been given that since Hinduism has so much diversity, so it is not a religion and that it includes all the communities so ‘it’s a ‘way of life’ The words Hinduism and Hindutva have been used interchangeably many a times.

The confusion and nature of the word Hinduism and Hindutva emerge as Hinduism is not a prophet based religion; with a clear cut single Holy book the teachings of the prophet or a single God. Its nature is different from prophet based religions like Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and Sikhism for that matter. It has been identified with Vedas, where the life and norms of Aryans is expressed. In matters of faith starting from animism to atheism may come under its umbrella. The term Hinduism itself came into usage from eighth Century onwards. The term was coined by those coming here from Central Asia and they coined the word Hindu as a derivative of the word Sindhu which they had to cross to this part of the sub continent. Essentially what were prevalent here were multiple religious traditions, Brahmanism, Nath, Tantra, Siddha, Shiava Siddhanta and later Bhakti also. The first construction of Hinduism takes place to refer to these diverse tendencies. Later Hinduism as religion starts being referred to for the people around these sects. Jainism and Buddhism were also present in good measure. With British coming the construction of Hinduism became well delineated. With seeds of communalism coming up Hinduism started being contrasted against Islam and Christianity in particular.

In late early twentieth century ideologue of Hindu nationalism, Savarkar put forward the concept of Hindutva in a sharper way to present it as ‘whole of Hinduness’, i.e. it includes Hindu religion as conceived by them and also it includes the politics of Hindu nationalism. So inherent in the term was religion, Hinduism, which had the dominant part of Brahmanism, and it was blended with the Hindu nationalism. Hindu nationalism was being projected by the upper caste, landlord-kings sections of Hindus who were weary of the emerging “India as a nation in the making and accompanying ideas of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. The Hindu nationalists upheld the scriptures like Manu Smiriti, while the majority of Hindus led by Gandhi were aspiring for secular democratic ethos.

Hinduism is the most complex umbrella where interpretations are dominated by the caste factors. Ambedkar does point out that Hinduism is a Brahmanic theology. Other streams of Hinduism. Nath Tantra, Bhakti etc. have been marginalized and undermined and it’s around Brahmanical hierarchy that Hindutva movement has emerged. It’s clear that Hinduism is not the religion of all the Indians. Also that Hinduva has been built around Brahmanical stream of Hinduism. This complex understanding needs to be unraveled before opining on the Representation of People’s Act. In S. R. Bommai case the court the Supreme Court recognized the value of this understanding of terms Hinduism-Hindutva. Justice B.P. Jeevan Reddy wrote, “To fight elections on a plank of religion, was tantamount to eroding the country’s secular fabric.” But, barely a year later, this was subverted when India’s secular credentials came to be undermined with the rulings known as ‘Hindutva cases’.

The foundation of this understanding is already there in what Dr. Ambedkar writes, B.R. Ambedkar, who played a sterling role in the RPA’s drafting; his aim was to ensure that the statute conformed to secular principles. “I think that elections ought to be conducted on issues which have nothing to do with… religion or culture,”. Further that “A political party should not be permitted to appeal to any emotion which is aroused by reason of something which has nothing to do with the daily affairs of the people.” This is the spirit of Indian Constitution which wants to separate religion from politics

It is a Historic opportunity for the Court to set the matters straight and put the norms back to the basic structure of Indian Constitution, the values of secularism. And finally Hindutva is revolving around Hinduism which is religion to be sure.

 

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Book : Ambedkar and Hindutva Politics by Ram Puniyani

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2016-10-book-prof-ram-puniyaniAbout the Book

“The BJP-RSS’s ascent to power at the Centre has led to the increased assertion of Hindutva politics, which is focused on Hindu nationalism in contrast to the Indian nationalism envisaged by the freedom movement and the Indian Constitution.

One of the components of Hindu nationalism is to perpetuate the caste hierarchy in new forms. In this direction, RSS and its affiliates are adopting multiple strategies. On one hand, they pay obeisance to Babasaheb Ambedkar and on the other they promote the values of caste inequality in the name of “our glorious heritage”. At the same time, RSS floats organizations like Samajik Samrasta Manch to co-opt the Dalits into Brahmanic fold.

This book examines the issues raised by the politics of RSS and its effort to suppress the Dalit aspirations of social justice and equality. It refers to writings of Babasaheb to show that RSS-Hindutva politics stands in total opposition to the ideology of Ambedkar and Dalits’ emancipation.”

52 page / PB / Rs 50
ISBN-10: 81-7221-081-7
ISBN-13: 978-81-7221-081-6

The book is available at – books@pharosmedia.com / www.pharosmedia.com

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Do Educational Institutions need lectures on Patriotism? – Prof. Ram Puniyani

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The issues related to our educational institutions-patriotism started coming up to the fore with this Government coming to power (May 2014). One after the other news of Government intervention in different institutions, more so the nationally well known ones started disturbing us. There was the case of IIT Madras where Periyar Ambedkar Study Circle was banned. Then IIT Bombay Director Prof Shevgaonkar resigned due to high handed attitude of the Ministry of MHRD. Close to follow suit was Prof Anil Kakodkar who resigned from the Chairmanship of the Board of Governors of IIT Bombay again.

The case of FTII Pune dragged for a long time as students opposed the appointment of a RSS-BJP sympathizer, a B grade film actor, Gajendra Chauhan. Students went on for a long strike and after trying to make their point for eight long months, withdrew their strike as the recalcitrant government refused to heed to the demands of students. Many other incidents kept happening including those of Allahabad University, Ferguson College in Pune among others. Two incidents which stood out and shook the student community were related to Hyderabad Central University (HCU) and the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). In both these cases the issue of nationalism, patriotism was thrown up by the Central government, along with the ruling BJP and its associates in RSS combine.

In HCU the local BJP MP, on insistence from the ABVP branch of the university wrote to MHRD Minister that anti-national and casteist activities are going on and action should be taken against the students belonging to Ambedkar Students Association (ASA). Incidentally the ASA was opposed as they had organized meetings which were opposed by ABVP as per their political agenda. The incidents were, screening of the film Muzzafarnagar Baki hai, a film on Muzzafarnagar violence in UP. Then there was beef festival. On participation in beef festival Vemula wrote on his face book that he participated in the festival as solidarity with those who consume beef. Then there was a meeting to oppose the death penalty to Afzal Guru. The argument of ASA was that the death penalty is inhuman and it is opposite of what the norms of a civil society should be.

Following this; the Vice Chancellor, under pressure from Ministry expelled Vemula from the hostel and stopped his fellowship. This is what forced him to take his life. In the case of JNU, the issue of patriotism was brought up in a deliberate way. In a program organized in JNU some masked students came in and shouted anti India slogans. Kanhiaya Kumar and two other friends were not a part of this slogan shouting gang. Incidentally the slogan shouters have not been apprehended and identified so far, for the reasons best known to the authorities. On the contrary the authorities arrested Kanhaiya, Amirban and Umar on the charges of sedition. A doctored video was played repeatedly by some channels and it became clear that arrested student leaders of JNU had nothing to do with anti India sloganeering. Incidentally the occasion was that of the anniversary of Afzal Guru. As far Afzal Guru is concerned lesser said the better! BJP after hectic deliberations have tied up with the PDP in Kashmir and PDP upholds Afzal Guru as a martyr and someone was who did not get justice. So it becomes clear that BJP is using the JNU issue to build up an emotive issue out of the whole thing.

One knows that such slogans have been there in Kashmir, on similar lines talks of secession have been there in North Eastern states. The demand for secession from Indian was raised also raised C.N.Annadurai of DMK, a prominent leader from Tamil Nadu, who had opposed the imposition of Hindi as a national language. In nut shell there are different places in the world where the part of the nations have been demanding autonomy or separation. That has not been presented as an act of anti nationalism. Many groups and political tendencies have criticized the ruling governments, but that is not what sedition is. This is a right inherent in democratic society.

Even in India there have been various groups which from time to time have been demanding autonomy, secession etc. In countries there are diverse political tendencies and they do keep changing with time. It is a question of their dissatisfactions being met. Students-youth are groups where all types of ideas and ideologies are discussed. There is a long tradition anti-British Nationalist struggle by student bodies like All India Students Federation and likes of them. They were not lectured by so called nationalists to become patriotic. During freedom movement the most patriotic role was played by the followers of Gandhi who were learnt by the example of the national movement.

Even at that time the youth and students influenced by communal ideology of Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha-RSS kept aloof from the patriotic act of participation in nation building, the freedom struggle. One recalls that even the earlier Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee was arrested in 1942 as he was n onlooker in the movement led by students-youth inspired by Gandhi. Vajpayee in a letter to authorities confessed that he had nothing to do with the national movement and he was released from prison in two days time. (http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl1503/15031150.htm)

Universities and other educational institutions are the places where patriotism is in-built in our syllabus and pattern of society. One has never been thinking of such lecturing as is being indulged in by the RSS combine. The cases of JNU and HCU demonstrate that this patriotism is being manufactured as an emotive issue for dividing the society. This has been linked with the slogan of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. The way Bhagwat first called for the need to teach this slogan to youth, and the way Asaduddin Owaisi responded to that shows that both these groups are in for bringing up Bharat Mata ki jai as a divisive issue, RSS-Bhagwat is having an aggressive stance on this issue. The position of Constitution as seen in the Jehovah’s Witnesses case is that one should respect the national symbols but it is not mandatory to chant or shout any slogan as such is not a must.

In that sense patriotism stands for following the laws in our Constitution, abiding by them. Criticism of ruling government can’t be equated with anti-Nationalism. So the present exercises in imposing slogans etc have nothing to do with patriotism. It is being used as a political tool. We need to overcome the sectarian tendencies like that of Bhagwat, Devendra

Fadanvis, Baba Ramdev who are trying to force such non important issues on the society. Baba Ramdev’s statement is very frightening. There is a very apt phrase, “patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels’ I will like to modify that to ‘In India patriotism is being made the refuge by pseudo nationalists for their political goals’.

Our educational institutions need to cultivate the culture of debate and dialogue even with dissenting voices; the need is to promote the deeper values of Indian nationalism and humanism.

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Undermining Democracy: Stifling Academic Institutions

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Prof. Ram Puniyani (Rtd)

Late Rohit Vemula
Late Rohit Vemula

On the back of the death of Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad Central University (HCU), one of the most prestigious University of the country Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been targeted by the ruling Modi Sarkar. The frightening things which happened in HCU were just the beginning of attack on autonomy of universities, on the free thinking in a democracy. Rohith was forced to kill himself by the machinations of ABVP, which had brought pressure through a BJP MP on the ministry to get Rohith expelled from hostel and to stop his fellowship. Similarly the local ABVP unit brought pressure through its usual channels to intimidate and stifle the democratically elected student union in JNU.

Kanhaiya Kumar President, JNUSU 2015-2016
Kanhaiya Kumar
President, JNUSU
2015-2016

It is alleged that in JNU some anti India; Pro-Pakistan slogans were shouted. There are confusing versions as to who did it. Truth of the video has come out, it was doctored. On the pretext of that Kanhiaya Kumar, the president of the JNUSU was arrested and the charges of sedition were slapped on him. Now Kumar is a member of AISF, the student wing of CPI, which is opposed to the separatist-pro Pakistan stance and in no way can he be part of type of slogan shouting which is supposed to have taken place. The original video also makes it clear. He neither shouted the slogans nor can anybody be arrested on the charge of shouting slogans. The constitutional position as clarified by noted lawyer Soli Sorabjee is that incitement to violence alone can be termed anti-National.

How come Delhi police enter the campus? The Vice chancellor, a BJP appointee, is indulging in double speak on the issue. On TV he stated that he will be the last person to call police in the campus. The investigation shows that he wrote letters to police calling them to take suitable action. Delhi police, working under Home Minister Rajnath Singh; went on recklessly to put the charge of sedition against Kumar. The lawyers in the court indulged in violence against those who looked like JNU students. One BJP MLA is involved in mercilessly beating up a CPI activist. This MLA also said that had he got the gun he would have shot those raising anti India slogans. One journalist was also attacked by BJP supporters. The same violence was repeated by lawyers the next day also and when Kanhaiya was being brought to court he was also beaten.

Now what is happening is a blatant attack by RSS controlled ABVP-BJP to crush the democratic secular voices in the country. As in Rohith Vemula case the ABVP, has become emboldened to call all those opposing their politics as anti national and are getting the state support to intimidate the voices for social justice; the progressive voices. BJP related organizations are creating a mass hysteria around ‘Anti national’. All those who don’t endorse the ‘RSS promoted Hindutva nationalism’ are being called as anti national. Prashant Bushan calls it a fascist onslaught.

All this is a big erosion of the values and practices which India has been nourishing. RSS combine is seeing this as an opportunity to wipe out all the norms and ethos of democratic culture and dissenting voices. It is a matter of shame that the police lacks the spine and professionalism and arrests the likes of Kanhaiya Kumar.

Rahul Gandhi who went to the campus and showed solidarity with the students was shown black flags and stones were thrown at him in Lucknow. Those agitating said that they are very angry as Rahul is sympathizing with anti Nationals. The MLA who beat up the CPI worker also said that anti national activities are going on and so he is showing his anger against those who shouted the pro Pakistan slogans. In TV debates the BJP spokespersons are harping on the same slogans and social media is resorting to the similar language.

The argument has been uniformly spoken by the Delhi lawyers taking law in their hands to those indulging in violence, from the ministers and top BJP leaders to those indulging in street violence. The second observation is that JNU students have been demonized through the propaganda as being anti National, and JNU being the den of anti India activities. One recalls that all this demonization of JNU has started with this Government coming to power. The RSS affiliates, VHP etc have been taking the marches to JNU gate to protest against the anti National JNU students and faculty.

Both these arguments show the deeper agenda in a way. The anti national rhetoric has been created to generate a mass hysteria against those disagreeing with BJP politics. The resorting to violence on this pretext clearly shows that this is a concerted effort to browbeat the practices and ideas which are not in keeping with the RSS-BJP mindset. This hysteria has been created to distract the attention from the social movement building up around the death of Rohith Vemula. The all round anger on the Rohith issue had put the BJP on the back foot. This creation of mass hysteria around anti India slogans has been created and is leading to street violence. This is an attempt on the part of BJP associates to wrest the initiative away from the movement which is building around Rohith. Apart from the attempt to abolish autonomy of universities this is also an attempt to sidetrack the issue of Dalits. The latter has also been reflected in the resignation of three office bearers of ABVP of JNU. These office bearers in their letter point out their dissatisfaction with the Government-BJP-ABVP interference in JNU affairs and their attitude of undermining the dalit issue as reflected in their attitude to the death of Rohith.

The demonization of JNU again is on purpose. This institute has reflected the democratic spirit, the freedom of thought, and the progressive values, all of which are an anathema to the agenda represented by ABVP-BJP. They want to abolish the autonomy of academic institutions as reflected in their policies in case of FTTI, IIT Madras, IIT Delhi and HCU to name the few. JNU was a particular target due to its outstanding contribution to high level of scholarship and adherence to progressive secular values. The concerted move by the ruling dispensation and its political associates’ to create a mass hysteria around anti-Nationalism and to erode the image of a progressive institution like JNU is as such an attack on the principles of democracy in the country.

While hopefully Courts may give some relief to Kanhaiya Kumar, the issue remains whether the mass hysteria and the street violence which has been unleashed on the pretext of anti India slogans can be brought under control. The massive rallies of the students demanding the release of Kumar, demanding that government should not interfere in autonomy of universities and opposing the demonization of JNU drew a massive response. ABVP and family in a recalcitrant manner is mobilizing all through the country to protest against ‘Anti nationalism’. Those who were part of the JNU students meeting and of JNU have condemned the anti-India pro Pakistan slogans. The need is to take up the struggle for preserving democratic values to the masses.

.

Professor Ram Puniyani, PhD Rtd, IIT Bombay
Professor Ram Puniyani, PhD
Rtd, IIT Bombay

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Undermining Democracy: Stifling Academic Institutions

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Visitors: 81

Prof. Ram Puniyani (Rtd)

Late Rohit Vemula
Late Rohit Vemula

On the back of the death of Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad Central University (HCU), one of the most prestigious University of the country Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been targeted by the ruling Modi Sarkar. The frightening things which happened in HCU were just the beginning of attack on autonomy of universities, on the free thinking in a democracy. Rohith was forced to kill himself by the machinations of ABVP, which had brought pressure through a BJP MP on the ministry to get Rohith expelled from hostel and to stop his fellowship. Similarly the local ABVP unit brought pressure through its usual channels to intimidate and stifle the democratically elected student union in JNU.

Kanhaiya Kumar President, JNUSU 2015-2016
Kanhaiya Kumar
President, JNUSU
2015-2016

It is alleged that in JNU some anti India; Pro-Pakistan slogans were shouted. There are confusing versions as to who did it. Truth of the video has come out, it was doctored. On the pretext of that Kanhiaya Kumar, the president of the JNUSU was arrested and the charges of sedition were slapped on him. Now Kumar is a member of AISF, the student wing of CPI, which is opposed to the separatist-pro Pakistan stance and in no way can he be part of type of slogan shouting which is supposed to have taken place. The original video also makes it clear. He neither shouted the slogans nor can anybody be arrested on the charge of shouting slogans. The constitutional position as clarified by noted lawyer Soli Sorabjee is that incitement to violence alone can be termed anti-National.

How come Delhi police enter the campus? The Vice chancellor, a BJP appointee, is indulging in double speak on the issue. On TV he stated that he will be the last person to call police in the campus. The investigation shows that he wrote letters to police calling them to take suitable action. Delhi police, working under Home Minister Rajnath Singh; went on recklessly to put the charge of sedition against Kumar. The lawyers in the court indulged in violence against those who looked like JNU students. One BJP MLA is involved in mercilessly beating up a CPI activist. This MLA also said that had he got the gun he would have shot those raising anti India slogans. One journalist was also attacked by BJP supporters. The same violence was repeated by lawyers the next day also and when Kanhaiya was being brought to court he was also beaten.

Now what is happening is a blatant attack by RSS controlled ABVP-BJP to crush the democratic secular voices in the country. As in Rohith Vemula case the ABVP, has become emboldened to call all those opposing their politics as anti national and are getting the state support to intimidate the voices for social justice; the progressive voices. BJP related organizations are creating a mass hysteria around ‘Anti national’. All those who don’t endorse the ‘RSS promoted Hindutva nationalism’ are being called as anti national. Prashant Bushan calls it a fascist onslaught.

All this is a big erosion of the values and practices which India has been nourishing. RSS combine is seeing this as an opportunity to wipe out all the norms and ethos of democratic culture and dissenting voices. It is a matter of shame that the police lacks the spine and professionalism and arrests the likes of Kanhaiya Kumar.

Rahul Gandhi who went to the campus and showed solidarity with the students was shown black flags and stones were thrown at him in Lucknow. Those agitating said that they are very angry as Rahul is sympathizing with anti Nationals. The MLA who beat up the CPI worker also said that anti national activities are going on and so he is showing his anger against those who shouted the pro Pakistan slogans. In TV debates the BJP spokespersons are harping on the same slogans and social media is resorting to the similar language.

The argument has been uniformly spoken by the Delhi lawyers taking law in their hands to those indulging in violence, from the ministers and top BJP leaders to those indulging in street violence. The second observation is that JNU students have been demonized through the propaganda as being anti National, and JNU being the den of anti India activities. One recalls that all this demonization of JNU has started with this Government coming to power. The RSS affiliates, VHP etc have been taking the marches to JNU gate to protest against the anti National JNU students and faculty.

Both these arguments show the deeper agenda in a way. The anti national rhetoric has been created to generate a mass hysteria against those disagreeing with BJP politics. The resorting to violence on this pretext clearly shows that this is a concerted effort to browbeat the practices and ideas which are not in keeping with the RSS-BJP mindset. This hysteria has been created to distract the attention from the social movement building up around the death of Rohith Vemula. The all round anger on the Rohith issue had put the BJP on the back foot. This creation of mass hysteria around anti India slogans has been created and is leading to street violence. This is an attempt on the part of BJP associates to wrest the initiative away from the movement which is building around Rohith. Apart from the attempt to abolish autonomy of universities this is also an attempt to sidetrack the issue of Dalits. The latter has also been reflected in the resignation of three office bearers of ABVP of JNU. These office bearers in their letter point out their dissatisfaction with the Government-BJP-ABVP interference in JNU affairs and their attitude of undermining the dalit issue as reflected in their attitude to the death of Rohith.

The demonization of JNU again is on purpose. This institute has reflected the democratic spirit, the freedom of thought, and the progressive values, all of which are an anathema to the agenda represented by ABVP-BJP. They want to abolish the autonomy of academic institutions as reflected in their policies in case of FTTI, IIT Madras, IIT Delhi and HCU to name the few. JNU was a particular target due to its outstanding contribution to high level of scholarship and adherence to progressive secular values. The concerted move by the ruling dispensation and its political associates’ to create a mass hysteria around anti-Nationalism and to erode the image of a progressive institution like JNU is as such an attack on the principles of democracy in the country.

While hopefully Courts may give some relief to Kanhaiya Kumar, the issue remains whether the mass hysteria and the street violence which has been unleashed on the pretext of anti India slogans can be brought under control. The massive rallies of the students demanding the release of Kumar, demanding that government should not interfere in autonomy of universities and opposing the demonization of JNU drew a massive response. ABVP and family in a recalcitrant manner is mobilizing all through the country to protest against ‘Anti nationalism’. Those who were part of the JNU students meeting and of JNU have condemned the anti-India pro Pakistan slogans. The need is to take up the struggle for preserving democratic values to the masses.

.

Professor Ram Puniyani, PhD Rtd, IIT Bombay
Professor Ram Puniyani, PhD
Rtd, IIT Bombay

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Lord, Why Am I Banned from your Abode? :: Women’s entry in Places of Worship

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Visitors: 69

One is witnessing strange incidents where the women from Muslim and Hindu community are facing similar obstacles. This relates to the issue of entry into places of worship. While the women from Bhumata Brigade are struggling to get entry into Shani Shingnapur temple (Ahmadnagar Mahrashtra), the Muslim women are fighting a legal battle to restore their access to mazar of Haji Ali dargah in Mumbai. In yet another incident the women are trying to get the right of worship in Sabrimala temple. The Hindu women in an act of brave initiative landed up in many buses to the Shani Shingnapur temple, where they were denied the entry while police had to resort to some force to prevent their entry.

Shani Mandir, Shiganapur, Maharashtra
Shani Mandir,
Shiganapur, Maharashtra

In case of Shani Shingnapur while men are allowed to the Chabutara (raised platform) it is believed that going to the Chabutara will be of bad omen for women as Lord Shani (Saturn) will cast an evil eye. So it is claimed that prohibiting women to enter is a matter of spiritual science. Sanatan Prabhat, the rightwing daily says that the movement of women must be prevented to save the Hindu traditions. In response to the agitation led by

Trupti Desai Bhumata Brigade
Trupti Desai
Bhumata Brigade

Trupti Deasai of Bhumata Brigade the spiritual Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar of Art of Living tried to mediate between the women’s group and the temple trustees. Interestingly he advised that neither women nor men should be allowed to the Chabutara. The matter is being negotiated; solution does not to be near the sight. Also the RSS mouth piece Organiser opines that while initiating any move to amend the existing regulations care should be taken to preserve tradition and prestige of these places.

Haji Ali Dargah Mumbai, Maharashtra
Haji Ali Dargah
Mumbai, Maharashtra

In case of Sabrimala shrine, the argument is that Lord is a celibate and the women in menstrual age group will be distracting him. One recalls that one IAS officer, who happened to be a woman had visited the shrine for overseeing the arrangements in readiness for the pilgrimage in her official capacity. She was also denied entrance on the ground of her being a woman. In case of Haji Ali in Mumbai the local women’s group Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan has filed a writ in the court demanding the entry of women to the mazar be restored. The women’s groups have cited different clauses of the Constitution where one have equality before the law and that one cannot be discriminated against on the grounds of gender. The argument of Dargah trustees is on the ground of security of women, which to say the least is ridiculous. In case of Sabrimala the earlier argument that the path to the shrine is difficult for women on the grounds of security was later was clarified by the Devswom Board Travancore by stating the ‘real’ reason for denying entry to women is celibacy of Lord Ayappa.

Muslim women have a varying degree of access to the mosques, much lesser in South Asian Countries than in countries like Turkey for example. In Hindu temples the entry is again not uniform; there are different pretexts to prevent their full access to the places of worship. While in many countries the law for equality is very much there, the traditions and the controllers of these places have been preventing the women from having full access to the holy deity. The patriarchal control over access top places of worship is there in various degrees.

This does not apply to Churches in general, where access is not the issue, what is talked there is as to why women do not have the right to be on the higher levels of priest hood. In Hindu temples, Muslim mosques and shrines the women priests are practically not there, some claims of such positions will be more as an exception than as a rule or norm.

gender equality-001In case of India where the equality is guaranteed by law, these laws of equality don’t have entry into the places controlled by the conservative trusts. The controllers of institutions of religion are generally exclusively male bastion, the degree of control and its expression is varying though. In Hindu fold there is an additional factor is that is that of caste. One understands there is ‘caste in the practice’ of Muslims and Christians also, but so far as the places of worship are concerned they are accessible to all, irrespective of caste. One recalls the struggles of Babasaheb Ambedkar for temple entry, the Kalaram Temple agitation, before he decided to renounce Hinduism calling it as being Brahminic theology. As such most religions do have the hierarchical structure in-built into the institution of religion.

Talking of South Asia as a whole the Mosques, Dargahs and temples have lot of rigid rules as far as women are concerned. These are the norms which are imposed by traditions. Thus we see a bit of variation in different religions, different religions as far as treating women is concerned. As such it the differential treatment and this depends on the degree of secularization of the particular institution and particular country and region. By secularization we mean the extent of erosion of hold of landlord-clergy combine on the society. No uniform pattern is discernible but at the core there is the understanding which regards women as inferior beings, secondary to the men, being regarded as property of men so to say.

Earlier it was regarded that their secondary position is purely due to biological functions, with time and with the impact of women’s movement, it is clear that the gender roles are psychological and social, determined by time and location. In early matriarchal societies women had a predominant role in the family and social affairs. With the rise of slave society and later the feudal society, women’s subservient role came to be the norm. Again with Industrial revolution and the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity gaining political ground, women started entering into social space and the social equations started changing towards those of equality. As degree of secularization is different the degree of success of women towards equality is different. The nations which saw Industrial revolutions, the path to women’s equality were paved by the underlining slogan of revolutions or social transformations. Still the equality of women has not been automatic, there is a path of struggle through which women expressed their aspiration; longings and struggled for new equations towards equality.

woman-sketch-001The movement for gender equality again has highs and lows; ups and downs. Currently one understands that the politics in the name of any religion, fundamentalism-communalism, is a politics of status quo to begin with and then it aims to throw back the society to the earlier feudal values of caste and gender hierarchy. Talking of recent times world witnessed this first in the form of rise of Christian fundamentalism in America in the decade of 1920, in the face of the rise of industrial society with modern education and industrialization coming to the fore. In the societies which had to undergo the painful experience of Fascism, Nazism, there also the role of women were defined to be in the confines of ‘Kitchen Church and Children’ by the political ideology, which can be regarded as the close cousin of religious nationalism. With coming of Islamic fundamentalism again the attempt was made to further subjugate the women to lower positions in society. The cover of Islam was used for this social-political agenda. Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan are few examples of that.

Here in India we saw the rise of majoritarian and minoritarian communalism. Both these again try to push back the women, to restrict their social space, all in the name of religion. With the rise of religious nationalism in India, various issues came up which gave a glimpse of the attitude towards women. Many of these are not the fully blown up pictures, but they have in root the goal of subjugation of women, in the language of Sharia or a sophisticated version of Manu Smriti. In India while the secularization process; the overthrow of the hold of landlord-clergy combine; remained half way through. With the assertion of religious nationalism primarily Hindutva, the striving of women for equality is being countered strongly.

In the ideology of dominating Hindutva the subordination and secondary position of women is asserted by invoking the noble traditions. In literature from Gita Press Gorakhpur, the major publication promoting traditional conservative values amongst Hindus which is generally the base of Hindutva politics, one can see millions of books being distributed which advise the home making role, the ideal of Sati (women being burnt on the funeral pyre of their husband), the stree dharma (duties of women as ordained by their religion) are propounded. Instructions to women about dress code and choice of life partner are handed down. One of the major agenda of the divisive love jihad campaign is to restrain the Hindu girls, to do away with their choice in matters of life and choice of life partner.

Overall the role of religious institutions has been to maintain the social status quo, And the issues related to priesthood in holy places, the entry to these shrines do reflect the same in varying degrees. It seems that despite the obstacles, the women from different religious communities are making their statement loud and clear that their march towards equality cannot be halted by these institutions, and that’s is the portent of these moves for entry to the abodes of the Lord!

.

Dr Ram Puniyani Rtd Professor, IIT Bombay
Dr Ram Puniyani
Rtd Professor, IIT Bombay

/ / / /

Lord, Why Am I Banned from your Abode? :: Women’s entry in Places of Worship

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Visitors: 67

One is witnessing strange incidents where the women from Muslim and Hindu community are facing similar obstacles. This relates to the issue of entry into places of worship. While the women from Bhumata Brigade are struggling to get entry into Shani Shingnapur temple (Ahmadnagar Mahrashtra), the Muslim women are fighting a legal battle to restore their access to mazar of Haji Ali dargah in Mumbai. In yet another incident the women are trying to get the right of worship in Sabrimala temple. The Hindu women in an act of brave initiative landed up in many buses to the Shani Shingnapur temple, where they were denied the entry while police had to resort to some force to prevent their entry.

Shani Mandir, Shiganapur, Maharashtra
Shani Mandir,
Shiganapur, Maharashtra

In case of Shani Shingnapur while men are allowed to the Chabutara (raised platform) it is believed that going to the Chabutara will be of bad omen for women as Lord Shani (Saturn) will cast an evil eye. So it is claimed that prohibiting women to enter is a matter of spiritual science. Sanatan Prabhat, the rightwing daily says that the movement of women must be prevented to save the Hindu traditions. In response to the agitation led by

Trupti Desai Bhumata Brigade
Trupti Desai
Bhumata Brigade

Trupti Deasai of Bhumata Brigade the spiritual Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar of Art of Living tried to mediate between the women’s group and the temple trustees. Interestingly he advised that neither women nor men should be allowed to the Chabutara. The matter is being negotiated; solution does not to be near the sight. Also the RSS mouth piece Organiser opines that while initiating any move to amend the existing regulations care should be taken to preserve tradition and prestige of these places.

Haji Ali Dargah Mumbai, Maharashtra
Haji Ali Dargah
Mumbai, Maharashtra

In case of Sabrimala shrine, the argument is that Lord is a celibate and the women in menstrual age group will be distracting him. One recalls that one IAS officer, who happened to be a woman had visited the shrine for overseeing the arrangements in readiness for the pilgrimage in her official capacity. She was also denied entrance on the ground of her being a woman. In case of Haji Ali in Mumbai the local women’s group Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan has filed a writ in the court demanding the entry of women to the mazar be restored. The women’s groups have cited different clauses of the Constitution where one have equality before the law and that one cannot be discriminated against on the grounds of gender. The argument of Dargah trustees is on the ground of security of women, which to say the least is ridiculous. In case of Sabrimala the earlier argument that the path to the shrine is difficult for women on the grounds of security was later was clarified by the Devswom Board Travancore by stating the ‘real’ reason for denying entry to women is celibacy of Lord Ayappa.

Muslim women have a varying degree of access to the mosques, much lesser in South Asian Countries than in countries like Turkey for example. In Hindu temples the entry is again not uniform; there are different pretexts to prevent their full access to the places of worship. While in many countries the law for equality is very much there, the traditions and the controllers of these places have been preventing the women from having full access to the holy deity. The patriarchal control over access top places of worship is there in various degrees.

This does not apply to Churches in general, where access is not the issue, what is talked there is as to why women do not have the right to be on the higher levels of priest hood. In Hindu temples, Muslim mosques and shrines the women priests are practically not there, some claims of such positions will be more as an exception than as a rule or norm.

gender equality-001In case of India where the equality is guaranteed by law, these laws of equality don’t have entry into the places controlled by the conservative trusts. The controllers of institutions of religion are generally exclusively male bastion, the degree of control and its expression is varying though. In Hindu fold there is an additional factor is that is that of caste. One understands there is ‘caste in the practice’ of Muslims and Christians also, but so far as the places of worship are concerned they are accessible to all, irrespective of caste. One recalls the struggles of Babasaheb Ambedkar for temple entry, the Kalaram Temple agitation, before he decided to renounce Hinduism calling it as being Brahminic theology. As such most religions do have the hierarchical structure in-built into the institution of religion.

Talking of South Asia as a whole the Mosques, Dargahs and temples have lot of rigid rules as far as women are concerned. These are the norms which are imposed by traditions. Thus we see a bit of variation in different religions, different religions as far as treating women is concerned. As such it the differential treatment and this depends on the degree of secularization of the particular institution and particular country and region. By secularization we mean the extent of erosion of hold of landlord-clergy combine on the society. No uniform pattern is discernible but at the core there is the understanding which regards women as inferior beings, secondary to the men, being regarded as property of men so to say.

Earlier it was regarded that their secondary position is purely due to biological functions, with time and with the impact of women’s movement, it is clear that the gender roles are psychological and social, determined by time and location. In early matriarchal societies women had a predominant role in the family and social affairs. With the rise of slave society and later the feudal society, women’s subservient role came to be the norm. Again with Industrial revolution and the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity gaining political ground, women started entering into social space and the social equations started changing towards those of equality. As degree of secularization is different the degree of success of women towards equality is different. The nations which saw Industrial revolutions, the path to women’s equality were paved by the underlining slogan of revolutions or social transformations. Still the equality of women has not been automatic, there is a path of struggle through which women expressed their aspiration; longings and struggled for new equations towards equality.

woman-sketch-001The movement for gender equality again has highs and lows; ups and downs. Currently one understands that the politics in the name of any religion, fundamentalism-communalism, is a politics of status quo to begin with and then it aims to throw back the society to the earlier feudal values of caste and gender hierarchy. Talking of recent times world witnessed this first in the form of rise of Christian fundamentalism in America in the decade of 1920, in the face of the rise of industrial society with modern education and industrialization coming to the fore. In the societies which had to undergo the painful experience of Fascism, Nazism, there also the role of women were defined to be in the confines of ‘Kitchen Church and Children’ by the political ideology, which can be regarded as the close cousin of religious nationalism. With coming of Islamic fundamentalism again the attempt was made to further subjugate the women to lower positions in society. The cover of Islam was used for this social-political agenda. Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan are few examples of that.

Here in India we saw the rise of majoritarian and minoritarian communalism. Both these again try to push back the women, to restrict their social space, all in the name of religion. With the rise of religious nationalism in India, various issues came up which gave a glimpse of the attitude towards women. Many of these are not the fully blown up pictures, but they have in root the goal of subjugation of women, in the language of Sharia or a sophisticated version of Manu Smriti. In India while the secularization process; the overthrow of the hold of landlord-clergy combine; remained half way through. With the assertion of religious nationalism primarily Hindutva, the striving of women for equality is being countered strongly.

In the ideology of dominating Hindutva the subordination and secondary position of women is asserted by invoking the noble traditions. In literature from Gita Press Gorakhpur, the major publication promoting traditional conservative values amongst Hindus which is generally the base of Hindutva politics, one can see millions of books being distributed which advise the home making role, the ideal of Sati (women being burnt on the funeral pyre of their husband), the stree dharma (duties of women as ordained by their religion) are propounded. Instructions to women about dress code and choice of life partner are handed down. One of the major agenda of the divisive love jihad campaign is to restrain the Hindu girls, to do away with their choice in matters of life and choice of life partner.

Overall the role of religious institutions has been to maintain the social status quo, And the issues related to priesthood in holy places, the entry to these shrines do reflect the same in varying degrees. It seems that despite the obstacles, the women from different religious communities are making their statement loud and clear that their march towards equality cannot be halted by these institutions, and that’s is the portent of these moves for entry to the abodes of the Lord!

.

Dr Ram Puniyani Rtd Professor, IIT Bombay
Dr Ram Puniyani
Rtd Professor, IIT Bombay

/ / /

Kashmir Issue – Kashmiri Pundits

0 Comments

Visitors: 41

Ram Puniyani

Politics is a strange game where no holds are barred for electoral advantages. It also expresses, to some extent, the political ideology of those playing these games in addition to the distortion of events, which are done deliberately. Interpretation of the very same events is diametrically different for different political groups. The sad plight of Kashmiri Pundits exodus is no exception to this.

During his election campaign the BJP leader Narendra Modi has been making several statements which at one level are factually inaccurate and at another level they have communal interpretation through and through. He stated that biggest blow to secular fabric of India was delivered from Kashmir from where Kashmiri Pundits were forced out and that Abdullah’s (Sheikh Abdulla, Farooq and Omar) were behind it. (28th April 2014) In response Farooq and Omar shot back that exodus of Pandits took place under the Presidents rule with Jagmohan, a BJP hand, as the Governor of Kashmir. That time it was the V.P.Singh Government at Center and this Government was being supported by BJP from outside. While all three Addullah’s  are not the same, nor is their role a continuum nor all of them secular angels the tragedy of exodus of Pundits is much more complex than being attributed to them. The role which each of the Abdulla’s played cannot be put in the same basket.
 
As such communalism has been the great bane of the subcontinent and its biggest and most tragic expression was the partition of India in which millions were butchered and a larger number migrated to both sides of the border. Apart from these migrations which took place, forcing people to far off lands, there are local migrations also, which follow the communal violence of mass scale like the one in Mumbai 1992-93 or Gujarat 2002 where the people left their homes, where they were living for decades and had to shift to the other parts of the same city leading to formation of ghettoes, Mumbra in Mumbai and Juhapura in Ahmadabad being two major ones’.

The roots of exodus of Kashmiri Pundits lies in the aftermath of the partition, the decision of Maharaja of Kashmir to remain independent, the attack of Kabayilis, Tribal, from Pakistan and the Sheikh Abdullah’s strong stance to accede with India and not with Pakistan. This decision was not on religious considerations but was with the hope that in India secularism will flourish with leaders like Gandhi and Nehru. With murder of Gandhi by communal forces and the pressure of communal forces to forcibly abolish article 370, the autonomy of Kashmir started being questioned. Just to recall Article 370 was the basis of accession of Kashmir to India. This Article gave to autonomy to Kashmir Assembly in most matters barring defense, communication, currency and external affairs. With the opposition to this clause and demand for forcible merger of Kashmir to India by communal forces, the Sheikh started feeling jittery. He started reconsidering his decision of accession to India, leading to his arrest and starting of process of alienation in Kashmir. This process of alienation led to militancy in due course and with the encouragement from Pakistan took on dangerous proportions. Still this militancy was centered on the concept of Kashmiriyat. Kashmiriyat is synthesis of Buddhism, Vedanta and Sufi traditions. After the hanging of Maqbool Butt in 1985 and the entry of Al Qaeda type elements in Kashmir in the aftermath of Afghan war, this militancy got transformed to being communal. The result was that the Hindus, Pundits, started being targeted badly.

Even before1990, the first major exodus of Pundits took place after the partition riots and partly due to land reforms introduced by Sheikh Abdullah. Incidentally the Hindu population in Kashmir had gone through a very complex history of conversion to Buddhism and later to Islam through Sufi saints. The Hindus started being referred to as Pundits from 15th Century onwards. This happened after Akbar won over Kashmir and employed the Hindus in his administration. He was impressed by their qualities and conferred the title Pundit on them.     

The process of latest exodus begins with communalization of the militancy, a transition from Kashmiriyat to Islamism. One version a la Modi says that Kashmiri Pandits were driven from Kashmir valley by the Muslim militants and this was a planned move by the Muslim majority Kashmir. The Muslim majority was totally opposed to the harassment of Pundits.

In this militancy while Hindus were targeted in a big way, even Muslims were not spared. We will have a look at the figures of the casualties and destruction of property in Kashmir by the militants. Thousands of Muslims from different parts of the Kashmir valley also had to migrate to the neighboring Himachal Pradesh in search of employment. Over 40.000 Muslims from Kashmir also live in a refugee camp in New Delhi. They have also taken to various jobs like coolies etc in neighboring states. One of the Times of India report (5th Feb.1992) based on official figures reported that militants killed 1585 men and women, including 982 Muslims, 218 Hindus, 23 Sikhs and 363 security personnel between January 1990 and October 1992.

The wholesale migration of Pundits from the valley was a big blow to the traditions of the valley. The damage by militants was to both the communities and not to Hindus alone. The Pundits were intimidated much more and had considered migration first in 1986 but this decision was held in abeyance due to the appeals of a goodwill mission, which was constituted by reputed Kashmiris, steeped in plural culture. As we saw in 1990 the militancy was stepped up. This time around Mr. Jag Mohan, who later became a minister in BJP led NDA Government, was the Governor of Kashmir. Balraj Puri in his book Kashmir (Orient Blackswan, 1993) points out that Jagmohan  ensured dissolution of the goodwill mission to Pundits by pressurizing one of the Pandit members of the team to migrate to Jammu (Puri, 2000, 65).

Balraj Puri in March 1990 stated " I found no hostility among common Muslims in Kashmir against Pundits, and that allegations of gross violations of Human rights by security forces needs to be investigated"(Puri, 2000, 66). At that time Hindu Communal forces took it upon themselves to spread fear amongst Pundits, "Much disinformation is being spread in Jammu and Delhi that scores of Hindu temples and the shrines have been desecrated or destroyed in Kashmir. This is completely untrue and it is baffling that the Government has not thought it fit to ask Doordarshan to do a program on mandirs in Kashmir just to reassure people that they remain unharmed."(Press Council of India, 1991)

All things considered the problem of Pundits migration is unfortunate outcome of the alienation of Kashmiri people resulting in militancy, communalization of militancy in late 1990s, Hindu communalist outfits’ baseless spreading of fear psychosis and pressure of Governor Jag Mohan and not due to the Hindu-Muslim hostility, not due to Abdullah’s.

Poet Kalhan of Kashmir, in his classic Rajtarangini writes that it is only through punya (noble deeds) and not force that Kashmir can be won over. We need to remind ourselves of this profound wisdom of Kalhan while making policies about Kashmir. Rather than putting the blame on one political stream. The role of global politics, the historical baggage of partition and post partition problems, the role of global terrorism propped up by US policy of control over oil resources; its influence on militancy in Kashmir and the role of communal forces in spreading fear also need to be kept in mind while commenting on this tragedy of mammoth proportions.


.


 

/ / /

Kashmir Issue – Kashmiri Pundits

0 Comments

Visitors: 50

Ram Puniyani

Politics is a strange game where no holds are barred for electoral advantages. It also expresses, to some extent, the political ideology of those playing these games in addition to the distortion of events, which are done deliberately. Interpretation of the very same events is diametrically different for different political groups. The sad plight of Kashmiri Pundits exodus is no exception to this.

During his election campaign the BJP leader Narendra Modi has been making several statements which at one level are factually inaccurate and at another level they have communal interpretation through and through. He stated that biggest blow to secular fabric of India was delivered from Kashmir from where Kashmiri Pundits were forced out and that Abdullah’s (Sheikh Abdulla, Farooq and Omar) were behind it. (28th April 2014) In response Farooq and Omar shot back that exodus of Pandits took place under the Presidents rule with Jagmohan, a BJP hand, as the Governor of Kashmir. That time it was the V.P.Singh Government at Center and this Government was being supported by BJP from outside. While all three Addullah’s  are not the same, nor is their role a continuum nor all of them secular angels the tragedy of exodus of Pundits is much more complex than being attributed to them. The role which each of the Abdulla’s played cannot be put in the same basket.
 
As such communalism has been the great bane of the subcontinent and its biggest and most tragic expression was the partition of India in which millions were butchered and a larger number migrated to both sides of the border. Apart from these migrations which took place, forcing people to far off lands, there are local migrations also, which follow the communal violence of mass scale like the one in Mumbai 1992-93 or Gujarat 2002 where the people left their homes, where they were living for decades and had to shift to the other parts of the same city leading to formation of ghettoes, Mumbra in Mumbai and Juhapura in Ahmadabad being two major ones’.

The roots of exodus of Kashmiri Pundits lies in the aftermath of the partition, the decision of Maharaja of Kashmir to remain independent, the attack of Kabayilis, Tribal, from Pakistan and the Sheikh Abdullah’s strong stance to accede with India and not with Pakistan. This decision was not on religious considerations but was with the hope that in India secularism will flourish with leaders like Gandhi and Nehru. With murder of Gandhi by communal forces and the pressure of communal forces to forcibly abolish article 370, the autonomy of Kashmir started being questioned. Just to recall Article 370 was the basis of accession of Kashmir to India. This Article gave to autonomy to Kashmir Assembly in most matters barring defense, communication, currency and external affairs. With the opposition to this clause and demand for forcible merger of Kashmir to India by communal forces, the Sheikh started feeling jittery. He started reconsidering his decision of accession to India, leading to his arrest and starting of process of alienation in Kashmir. This process of alienation led to militancy in due course and with the encouragement from Pakistan took on dangerous proportions. Still this militancy was centered on the concept of Kashmiriyat. Kashmiriyat is synthesis of Buddhism, Vedanta and Sufi traditions. After the hanging of Maqbool Butt in 1985 and the entry of Al Qaeda type elements in Kashmir in the aftermath of Afghan war, this militancy got transformed to being communal. The result was that the Hindus, Pundits, started being targeted badly.

Even before1990, the first major exodus of Pundits took place after the partition riots and partly due to land reforms introduced by Sheikh Abdullah. Incidentally the Hindu population in Kashmir had gone through a very complex history of conversion to Buddhism and later to Islam through Sufi saints. The Hindus started being referred to as Pundits from 15th Century onwards. This happened after Akbar won over Kashmir and employed the Hindus in his administration. He was impressed by their qualities and conferred the title Pundit on them.     

The process of latest exodus begins with communalization of the militancy, a transition from Kashmiriyat to Islamism. One version a la Modi says that Kashmiri Pandits were driven from Kashmir valley by the Muslim militants and this was a planned move by the Muslim majority Kashmir. The Muslim majority was totally opposed to the harassment of Pundits.

In this militancy while Hindus were targeted in a big way, even Muslims were not spared. We will have a look at the figures of the casualties and destruction of property in Kashmir by the militants. Thousands of Muslims from different parts of the Kashmir valley also had to migrate to the neighboring Himachal Pradesh in search of employment. Over 40.000 Muslims from Kashmir also live in a refugee camp in New Delhi. They have also taken to various jobs like coolies etc in neighboring states. One of the Times of India report (5th Feb.1992) based on official figures reported that militants killed 1585 men and women, including 982 Muslims, 218 Hindus, 23 Sikhs and 363 security personnel between January 1990 and October 1992.

The wholesale migration of Pundits from the valley was a big blow to the traditions of the valley. The damage by militants was to both the communities and not to Hindus alone. The Pundits were intimidated much more and had considered migration first in 1986 but this decision was held in abeyance due to the appeals of a goodwill mission, which was constituted by reputed Kashmiris, steeped in plural culture. As we saw in 1990 the militancy was stepped up. This time around Mr. Jag Mohan, who later became a minister in BJP led NDA Government, was the Governor of Kashmir. Balraj Puri in his book Kashmir (Orient Blackswan, 1993) points out that Jagmohan  ensured dissolution of the goodwill mission to Pundits by pressurizing one of the Pandit members of the team to migrate to Jammu (Puri, 2000, 65).

Balraj Puri in March 1990 stated " I found no hostility among common Muslims in Kashmir against Pundits, and that allegations of gross violations of Human rights by security forces needs to be investigated"(Puri, 2000, 66). At that time Hindu Communal forces took it upon themselves to spread fear amongst Pundits, "Much disinformation is being spread in Jammu and Delhi that scores of Hindu temples and the shrines have been desecrated or destroyed in Kashmir. This is completely untrue and it is baffling that the Government has not thought it fit to ask Doordarshan to do a program on mandirs in Kashmir just to reassure people that they remain unharmed."(Press Council of India, 1991)

All things considered the problem of Pundits migration is unfortunate outcome of the alienation of Kashmiri people resulting in militancy, communalization of militancy in late 1990s, Hindu communalist outfits’ baseless spreading of fear psychosis and pressure of Governor Jag Mohan and not due to the Hindu-Muslim hostility, not due to Abdullah’s.

Poet Kalhan of Kashmir, in his classic Rajtarangini writes that it is only through punya (noble deeds) and not force that Kashmir can be won over. We need to remind ourselves of this profound wisdom of Kalhan while making policies about Kashmir. Rather than putting the blame on one political stream. The role of global politics, the historical baggage of partition and post partition problems, the role of global terrorism propped up by US policy of control over oil resources; its influence on militancy in Kashmir and the role of communal forces in spreading fear also need to be kept in mind while commenting on this tragedy of mammoth proportions.


.