Vidya Bhushan Rawat

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Caste and Punishment in Tamilnadu

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Vidya Bushan Rawat

Another 'honor' killing in Tamil Nadu, this time in Tirunelveli, where a software engineer from the Scheduled Caste community was hacked to death by the family of the girl he loved since childhood. #KevinSelvaganesh was a 27-year-old young man, once a brilliant student, and now working at Tata Consultancy Services. He was in a relationship with Subashini, his school days girlfriend, and was planning to marry her. It seems that the girl's parents knew about it. Both of them work with the Tamil Nadu Police, and it appears a plan was hatched by the family to eliminate Kevin. The girl's brother, Surjith, enticed Kevin when he had gone to meet her to discuss certain issues. Unfortunately, Kevin, as reported in the media, trusted Subashini's brother Surjith and went along with him. After some distance, Surjith suddenly stopped his scooter, abused Kevin and  hacked him to death with a sickle he was carrying. Thus, another brilliant young man was slaughtered in Tamil Nadu just for the sake of false 'caste' pride. It is extremely disturbing to see this kind of crime being committed in Tamilnadu regularly. Not that it does not happen elsewhere and we have recently seen in Gurugram where a young girl Radhika Yadav was murdered by her father though it was not mentioned that the case belongs to an honored killing but in fact it was. Tamilnadu is a model state for many of us who respect the Dravidian movement and the heroics of Thanthai Periyar. His struggle for justice and dignity are role models for others outside the state but it is also a fact that the political parties swearing to the ideology of Periyar have not been able to do anything beyond their traditional rhetoric on the issue. #Anticaste movement and philosophy is not merely #Antibrahmin movement but it must actually support the independence of individuals as espoused by Baba Saheb Ambedkar as well as Thanthai Periyar.  

The increasing number of these killings in #TamilNadu also reflects a social reality of our country: so-called social reforms are acceptable as long as we maintain our own caste identities and hierarchies. It is a sad reality that while Tamil Nadu has done better on many indicators than the rest of the country, in interpersonal caste relationships, it remains violent whenever the norms of castes are challenged. It is reported that between 2018 and 2023, there were nearly 400 dishonor crimes, including honor killings, in Tamil Nadu, while, like every other state, the government records suggested only 13 honor killings took place during the same period. Nationally, government data indicates around 500 honor killings since 2014, predominantly targeting women, but activists argue the actual number is much higher due to underreporting and cases disguised as suicides. It remains a stratified society which feels proud of 'graded inequality' as Baba Saheb Ambedkar said and that is why the fight here is much more difficult. The rights of individuals are often overridden by the combined strength of caste identities. In the name of these caste identities, we dont hesitate to slaughter the individuals. And it happens when the laws are not honestly implemented and political parties least bothered as caste is a tool for them.

Brutalization of Dalits and Caste Dynamics

Look at the economic and educational background of both the boy and the girl. Kevin's mother is a teacher, while Subashini's parents are sub-inspectors working with the Tamil Nadu Police. Both are well-qualified. Kevin was a brilliant student, completed his engineering, and joined TCS, while Subhasini was working as a consultant with a private Siddha clinic after completing her Bachelor of Siddha Medicine and Surgery. Kevin's mother was a teacher with a Panchayat, while his father was a farm worker. This shows that education has not changed our social thought, and caste identities in India remain the most vital factor. All other formulations by social scientists and politicians are a farce. Each caste in India wants to remain distinct, claim to be the purest, and boast of a great past. This is a harsh reality.

In the current case, Kevin belonged to the Devendra Kula Vellalar, categorized as a Scheduled Caste, while Subashini belonged to the Maravar community, categorized as a Most Backward Community. Interestingly, the Devendra Kula Vellalar, a combination of seven communities officially, has been campaigning to be delisted from the Scheduled Caste category. I remember the leader of the community, Dr. K. Krishnasamy, leader of the Puthiya Tamilagam party, has been at the forefront of this campaign. Sadly, it was the same Krishnasamy who got 'inspired' by BSP's rise in #UttarPradesh and wanted to replicate that in #TamilNadu, but after 20 years, I found him leading a campaign to delist from the SC list. I asked many friends participating in the protest why they wanted to dissociate, and they said they did not want to be associated with Scheduled Castes as they are not untouchables and face caste stigma. Look at the irony: a brilliant boy from the Devendra Kula Vellalar community is hacked to death by a family from the Maravar community who felt they were from an inferior caste.

Dalits, classified as Scheduled Castes (SCs), face systemic brutalization in Tamil Nadu and across India, particularly when they challenge caste norms through inter-caste relationships or social mobility. Dominant castes, such as the Thevars, Vanniyars, and Maravars, often react violently to perceived threats to their caste identity, driven by a sense of entitlement and fear of losing social dominance. This violence is not limited to SCs but extends to intra-caste dynamics within Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Most Backward Communities (MBCs), as seen in cases like the 2020 killing of M. Sudhakar, an MBC youth, for marrying a Vanniyar woman.

No politician wants to end it. #Caste has become the biggest instrument for political mobilization. You don’t need to do anything but invoke caste and create a false notion of historical pride, and thousands will join you. The Babas are doing it differently, using Hindutva identity, but they cannot eliminate castes because they themselves suffer from the disease of caste purity.

Another important point: the girl’s parents are working with the police. They are sub-inspectors. What does this reflect? The Constitution is not part of our socialization process. We don’t respect it. We need it when we are in trouble; otherwise, we don’t. At the end of the day, we are dedicated to our caste identities, and all other created identities discovered later for political expediency and sweeping generalizations by social scientists are nothing but fictions. Go to any village, and you will find the only terminology people use is their caste identity, not #OBC, #Dalit, or #MBC but their own #jaatis. The categorization of identities is done for governance purposes, but it has not eliminated the walls of caste identities internally anywhere and it looks perfect as long as there are no interpersonal relationships. In politics, we can shout 'All Bahujans are united', All Dalit Bahujan Adivasi Muslim are one, but the fact is each one of us and our political leaders are using these terminologies for their own purposes. In the end, caste matters. It is the most powerful instrument to get political power but at the same time it can be highly regressive for individuals who cross the boundaries. The #anticaste battle is diluted and few takers but sociologically we all wish to enjoy the privileges of castes. As an individuals, Dalits, OBCs and others face enormous issues and problems in the universities and work places where they are a micro minority but in the villages it gives strength to communities to assert as a community identity and everything is great and wonderful as long as we have not crossed those boundaries of the castes. It does not matter whether you are marrying  in the same castes or the other. 

Reflection on the Anti-Caste Movement

The #anticaste movement will not succeed when parties inject caste pride among people and use it as a tool for their political mobilisation. Very few cases reach the police station or the court of law. Most of the time, they are treated as mere murder cases and disappear after some noise in the media. There is little follow-up. The Indian media has no time for it. It will have time when it is useful for the benefit of political masters. #Anticaste movement will not succeed as long as it does not come out against all forms of violence. It must speak vocally and not as per convenience. A few days back we saw the same honor killing in #Gurugram where #RadhikaYadav was killed by her father, but very conveniently the #caste intellectuals kept silent. It was not their issue. The issue would have only become a caste issue if some other caste had killed her. Sadly, no politician of the #SocialJustice parties and their intellectuals speak on the issue. This reflects the absolute hypocrisy of the people claiming to work on the #anticaste movement or for #socialjustice.

Tamil Nadu’s Dravidian movement, rooted in Periyar’s anti-caste ideology, aimed to dismantle caste hierarchies, yet the state’s record on honor killings reveals a disconnect. The movement’s focus on self-respect marriages has been diluted, failing to protect inter-caste couples adequately. Political parties often exploit caste pride for votes, undermining anti-caste efforts. The lack of a specific national law against honor killings, reliance on general penal provisions, and inconsistent application of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act further hinder justice. 

Kausalya’s Historic Struggle for Justice

I remember the case of Kausalya and Sankar in 2016, when Kausalya’s parents butchered her husband Sankar, a Dalit young man, in Udumalpet, Tamil Nadu. Kausalya belonged to the #Thevar community, and her parents despised her marriage to Sankar. After the murder, Kausalya continued to stay with her in-laws’ house and was determined to fight for justice for Sankar. She testified against her family, leading to a 2017 lower court ruling that sentenced six individuals, including her father, Chinnasamy, to death. However, the Madras High Court overturned the convictions in 2020, acquitting most of them, prompting Kausalya to appeal to the Supreme Court, where the case remains pending. Her continued activism against caste-based violence exemplifies her resilience and makes her a shining example of #anticaste activism in Tamil Nadu.

Kausalya’s historic fight to get justice and continue to work in the memory of Sankar is a shining example of #anticaste activism in Tamil Nadu despite the social problem, but one cannot isolate Tamil Nadu for this issue. At least in Tamil Nadu, activists are speaking up, and valiant fighters like Kausalya continue to fight for it despite personal losses. Now, the murder of Kevin has again brought the issue of tense caste relations in Tamil Nadu to the forefront. Will Subashini fight for Kevin’s rights like Kausalya did? It is time for all victims of caste hatred and caste violence to stand up and speak. We hope the Tamil Nadu government will act swiftly and constitute a special court for this case. It is time for the government to come clean on this and act to get Kevin’s parents justice. 

Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Author and activist


Vidya Bhushan Rawat is a distinguished political commentator, radical humanist, and human rights activist with over 35 years of dedicated work in social movements across India. His journey, marked by resilience and a relentless pursuit of justice, has made him a leading voice in the fight against caste oppression, untouchability, and social inequities. Influenced by luminaries such as Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, EVR Periyar, Joti Ba Phule, and Justice V.M. Tarkunde, Rawat has devoted his life to building an anti-caste movement rooted in scientific temperament, rationalism, and humanist values. Through his extensive writings, documentaries, and grassroots activism, he has chronicled the struggles of marginalized communities, particularly Dalits, Adivasis, and other oppressed groups, while advocating for land rights, food security, and secular governance.

Rawat’s work spans multiple domains, including authorship, filmmaking, and community organizing. He founded the Social Development Foundation in 1998 to foster young leadership in human rights and secularism, and established Prerna Kendra, a community center for the Mushahar community in Uttar Pradesh. His recent focus on documenting the cultural and environmental significance of the Ganga River has further amplified his impact, blending ecological concerns with social justice.

Key Influences and Ideological Foundations

Rawat’s ideological framework was shaped by his early associations with eminent figures:

  • Dr. Mulk Raj Anand: As a student of English Literature, Rawat worked closely with the renowned novelist in the early 1990s, igniting his passion for social reform.
  • Shri Bhagwan Das: A prominent Ambedkarite, Das guided Rawat in embracing Ambedkar’s philosophy of social justice.
  • Justice V.M. Tarkunde: A revered humanist, Tarkunde inspired Rawat’s commitment to rationalist and liberal values.
  • V.T. Rajshekar and Dr. R.M. Pal: Their writings in Dalit Voice and The Radical Humanist reinforced Rawat’s focus on anti-caste activism and scientific temper.

These influences culminated in Rawat’s mission to build a movement grounded in the principles of equality, fraternity, and liberty, as espoused by Dr. Ambedkar and other global humanists.

Major Contributions

Rawat has been a pioneer in several landmark campaigns:

  • Right to Food Campaign: One of the founding members of  Solidarity Committee on Right to Food, Rawat persistently raised the issue of hunger deaths among the most marginalized particularly Mushahar, Kol and other marginalized communities and stood in solidarity with campaign for Food Security bill and other important right based legislation brought out by the government. 
  • Campaign for Electoral Reforms: He one of the national committee members of Campaign for Electoral Reforms in India initiative under M.C. Raj to promote a proportionate electorate system for equitable representation.
  • International Land Coalition (ILC): As a founding member, Rawat represented the Social Development Foundation (SDF) and served on the ILC’s first Coalition Council.
  • He focused on agrarian reforms and developed effective local leadership from the most marginalized communities. .
  • FIAN International: Rawat helped establish FIAN chapters in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi in 1995, raising awareness about hunger and malnutrition when national human rights organizations overlooked these issues.
  • Humanist Movement: A staunch advocate of secularism and scientific temper, Rawat has been associated with the International Humanist and Ethical Union, promoting rational thinking and combating superstition.

Social Development Foundation (SDF), Founded in 1998, SDF is a cornerstone of Rawat’s activism, focusing on:

  • Training young humanist leaders to champion social justice and secularism.
  • Leading land literacy programs for village leaders, activists, and women in Uttar Pradesh.
  • Advocating for land rights, particularly through the Uttar Pradesh Land Alliance, which unites marginalized communities for land reform.
  • Conducting studies on the impact of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and commercial pressures on land governance.
  • Empowering communities like the Mushahar in Deoria and manual scavengers in Ghazipur and Fatehpur through dignified economic alternatives and political education.

Prerna Kendra

Rawat established Prerna Kendra, a community center on the Deoria-Kushinagar-Gopalganj border, to empower the Mushahar community through education, leadership development, and advocacy for social justice.

Foot Marches, Rawat’s foot marches have been instrumental in highlighting systemic injustices:

  • 2002: A 300-km march in Bundelkhand to advocate for Kol tribal rights over forest and water resources.
  • 2007: A 700-km march in Poorvanchal to address caste discrimination and constitutional failures.
  • 2008: A march in the Tarai region to highlight land encroachments and marginalization of Dalits and tribals.
  • 2012: The Humanise India campaign, covering 22 districts, engaged over 100,000 people through village meetings and educational programs to combat untouchability and gender prejudice.
  • 2013, a footmarch conducted against Untouchability and Caste discrimination with manual scavenging community in the district of Fatehpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Published Works
Rawat’s prolific writing includes books, articles, and reports that address caste, land rights, and social justice:

Upcoming Books

  • Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, INA and India’s Freedom Movement (Institute of Objective Studies, Delhi, in press)
  • Chandra Singh: Ek Mulakat (Biography of Shri Chandra Singh, senior IAS officer, Uttarakhand)
  • Ganga: A World Heritage (Hindi and English, under preparation)

Published Books

  1. Contesting Marginalisations: Conversations on Ambedkarism and Social Justice (Compilation of interviews with 23 veteran Ambedkarites who had either seen Dr Ambedkar or had worked with him or were highly influenced with him.
  2. Contesting Marginalisation: Conversations on Social Justice, Identities and Resource Rights (2022, 22 interviews from 12 countries)
  3. Ambedkarwad: Vichardhara aur Chunautiya (Hindi, 13 interviews with Ambedkarites)
  4. Periyar: Caste, Nationalism and Socialism (Conversation with S.V. Rajadurai)
  5. Press and Prejudice (Analysis of Hindi media, Institute of Objective Studies)
  6. Sufi Shrines of Ayodhya (Booklet on Sufism’s impact in Ayodhya)
  7. Ayodhya: Sanjhi Sanskriti Sanjhi Virasat (Books for Change)
  8. Dalits, Land and Dignity (Global Media Publications)
  9. Ambedkar Ayodhya aur Dalit (Danish Publications)
  10. Bhumi Saksharata ki Aur (Social Development Foundation)
  11. Land Rights are Human Rights (Manual for activists, SDF)
  12. Impact of SEZ in India (International Land Coalition)
  13. Tark ke Yoddha (Hindi, on India’s humanist heritage)
  14. Land Acquisition & Land Alienation in India (People’s Literature Publications)
  15. Land for Development: Understanding Free Prior Informed Consent
  16. Rise and Role of the Marginalized in India’s Freedom Struggle (Institute of Objective Studies)
  17. Land Ceiling Act in India
  18. Gender Relations in Land Discourse (Case studies from multiple countries with Sunila Singh

Documentaries and Films
Rawat’s filmmaking has brought critical issues to the forefront:

  • Ayodhya Se Maghar Tak: Avadh ki Sanskritik Virasat (Praised by Frontline, The Hindu, and The Times of India): YouTube
  • Ayodhya: Virasat ki Jung
  • Threat to Existence (Tharu tribal struggles)
  • Badlav Ki Chah (Scavenger women in Ghazipur): YouTube
  • Living on the Edge (Dalit struggles against caste and unsustainable development)
  • The Silence of Tsunami (Discrimination in tsunami relief): YouTube
  • Mushahars Fighting Hunger (Landlessness and starvation): YouTube
  • Land, Dignity and Freedom (2007 Padyatra in Eastern Uttar Pradesh)
  • Threat to Dalit-Adivasi Dignity in Tarai
  • Marching Towards Freedom (Manual scavenging community struggles): YouTube
  • Ayodhya or Saket: The Politics of Ram Temple: YouTube
  • A Taal of Hope (Fishermen’s struggles in Mau)
  • Uttar-Pradesh ke Swachchakar Samaj ka Sangharsh (Manual scavenging community): YouTube

Ganga Documentation
Rawat’s recent work on the Ganga River includes:

Articles on Ganga:

Lectures and Media Appearances
Rawat has delivered lectures at prestigious institutions, including:

  • University of Mumbai
  • University of Sussex, UK
  • University of Southampton, UK
  • University of Utrecht, Netherlands
  • Cambridge University
  • UN General Assembly (invited by Dr. Kofi Annan)

He has participated in numerous TV panel discussions, notably on Rajya Sabha TV, addressing untouchability and modern slavery: YouTube.

Awards and Recognition

  • International Humanist Award (2011, International Humanist and Ethical Union, Oslo): For spreading humanism and protecting human rights in India.
  • Ambedkar Award by Ambedkar Association of North America om 2016
  • Honored by various organizations for his contributions to marginalized communities and freedom of expression.

Personal Journey

Born in Dogadda Garhwal, Uttarakhand, Rawat faced significant hardships from a young age. Losing his father at nine, he grew up in poverty without ancestral property or familial support. Despite these challenges, he pursued a Master’s in English Literature from HN Bahuguna Garhwal University, often working low-paying jobs to fund his education. His struggles with financial instability and social exclusion fueled his commitment to social justice. The 1990s Mandal era introduced him to the Dalit-Bahujan movement, where Ambedkar’s writings transformed his worldview, leading to the formation of the Social Development Foundation and a lifelong dedication to marginalized communities.

Lokayat Conversations

Rawat’s Lokayat series preserves the legacy of Ambedkarite and secular activists through in-depth interviews:

These conversations document the struggles of Ambedkarites across India, Nepal, and the UK, ensuring their stories endure.

Vision and Philosophy

Rawat advocates for constitutional morality, rule of law, and secular governance. He believes religion should remain a private matter and that the state must uphold international covenants to address systemic crises. His work emphasizes empowering marginalized communities through education, political awareness, and economic dignity, drawing inspiration from Ambedkar’s vision of equality and justice.

Online Presence

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पहचान पत्रों की बढ़ती संख्या और गायब होता नागरिक

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Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Vidya Bhushan Rawat

हमें बताया जाता है कि हम विश्व के सबसे बड़े लोकतंत्र में रहते हैं, लेकिन एक ऐसी व्यवस्था कितनी लोकतांत्रिक है जहां कुछ भी वास्तव में "रिकॉर्ड पर" नहीं जाता? जहां सरकारी प्राधिकरणों द्वारा व्यापक जांच-पड़ताल के बाद जारी किए गए आधिकारिक दस्तावेज़—रोजमर्रा की ज़रूरतों के लिए तो आवश्यक हैं, लेकिन सबसे मौलिक अधिकार: मतदान के लिए अपर्याप्त घोषित कर दिए जाते हैं।

उदाहरण के लिए आधार को लें। वर्षों तक इसे हमारी मौजूदगी का अंतिम प्रमाण माना गया। इसके बिना आप बैंक खाता नहीं खोल सकते, मोबाइल फोन का उपयोग नहीं कर सकते, न ही होटल में चेक-इन कर सकते। आधार आधुनिक भारतीय पहचान का आधारस्तंभ बन गया था। इसे मतदाता पहचान पत्र से जोड़ने की भी योजना थी, ताकि मतदान को "आसान" बनाया जा सके। लेकिन अब, बिहार जैसे राज्यों में, हम एक विचित्र उलटफेर का सामना कर रहे हैं—आधार अब "निराधार" (बेसलेस) हो गया है, जो हमारी मतदान पात्रता को सत्यापित करने में असमर्थ है।

विरोधाभास चौंकाने वाले हैं। राशन कार्ड, मतदाता पहचान पत्र, आधार—सभी आधिकारिक दस्तावेज़—अब अपने लोकतांत्रिक अधिकार का उपयोग करने के लिए अपर्याप्त माने जा रहे हैं। यह इन दस्तावेज़ों की विश्वसनीयता के बारे में क्या कहता है? इससे भी महत्वपूर्ण, यह उस व्यवस्था के बारे में क्या कहता है जिसने इन्हें जारी किया?

इस बेतुकेपन में मतदाता सूचियों की खंडित संरचना और जोड़ देती है। कोई व्यक्ति लोकसभा मतदाता सूची में हो सकता है, लेकिन विधानसभा या नगरपालिका चुनावों में गायब हो सकता है। हमारे अपने घर में, पिछले आम चुनावों के दौरान तीन परिवार के सदस्यों को दो अलग-अलग मतदान केंद्रों पर वोट डालना पड़ा। यह असंगति न केवल प्रशासनिक अक्षमता को दर्शाती है, बल्कि लोकतांत्रिक प्रक्रियाओं में विश्वास के क्षरण को भी दर्शाती है।

यह समझ में आता है कि मतदाता सूचियों को अद्यतन करना आवश्यक है। लेकिन क्या चुनाव आयोग को यह प्रक्रिया इतनी जटिल करनी चाहिए? यदि किसी व्यक्ति को सरकारी विभाग द्वारा आधार या मतदाता पहचान पत्र जारी किया गया है, और यदि वे दस्तावेज़ धोखे से प्राप्त किए गए हैं, तो दोष केवल व्यक्ति पर नहीं, बल्कि जारी करने वाले अधिकारियों पर भी है। फिर भी, हमेशा की तरह, नौकरशाही का तथाकथित "स्टील फ्रेम" बिना किसी खरोंच के बच निकलता है—जवाबदेही एक अनजान अवधारणा बनी रहती है।

हम केवल लिपिकीय त्रुटियों की बात नहीं कर रहे। हम लाखों लोगों के संवैधानिक मतदान के अधिकार से वंचित होने की बात कर रहे हैं। कुछ क्षेत्रों में मतदाताओं की संख्या अचानक क्यों बढ़ जाती है, जबकि अन्य में रहस्यमयी ढंग से कम हो जाती है, इस पर कोई स्पष्टता नहीं दी जाती। आज के भारत में, सबूत का बोझ पूरी तरह से नागरिक पर डाल दिया गया है। व्यक्ति को बार-बार यह साबित करना पड़ता है कि वे अभी भी जीवित हैं—लाक्षणिक और शाब्दिक रूप से।

इससे भी बदतर, कुछ मामलों में लोगों को मृत घोषित कर दिया जाता है ताकि अन्य लोग बीमा या संपत्ति का दावा कर सकें। उत्तर प्रदेश के संभल में हाल ही में ऐसा एक रैकेट उजागर हुआ। मध्य प्रदेश में, सांप के काटने के पीड़ितों के लिए सरकारी फंड को नकली मौतों के नाम पर हड़प लिया गया। ऐसे उदाहरण एक बड़े रोग को उजागर करते हैं—हमारा प्रशासनिक तंत्र लोगों की सेवा करने की तुलना में उनका शोषण करने में अधिक रुचि रखता है।

लेकिन संकट केवल नौकरशाही की विफलता तक सीमित नहीं है; यह एक सामाजिक संकट भी है। हम एक अत्यधिक राजनीतिक समाज बन गए हैं, न कि जागरूक नागरिकों के अर्थ में, बल्कि राजनीतिक खेमों के प्रति अंधी वफादारी के अर्थ में। सार्वजनिक बहस ऑनलाइन चिल्लाहट में बदल गई है, जहां आम नागरिक की एकमात्र भूमिका अपने चुने हुए नेता के लिए ताली बजाना है। असहमति का मजाक उड़ाया जाता है, और वास्तविक चिंता पक्षपातपूर्ण शोर में डूब जाती है।

लोकतंत्र बहिष्कार पर नहीं, बल्कि समावेश पर फलता-फूलता है। व्यक्ति की शक्ति अपने अधिकारों का उपयोग करने की क्षमता में निहित है—न कि उनकी भीख मांगने में। एक सरकार जो लोगों का प्रतिनिधित्व करने का दावा करती है, उसे मतदान को सुगम बनाना चाहिए, न कि इसमें बाधा डालना। चुनावी भागीदारी को अधिकतम करना चाहिए, न कि अवरुद्ध करना।

बिहार की स्थिति, जहां वैध सरकारी पहचान पत्रों के बावजूद मतदाताओं को उनके अधिकारों से वंचित किया जा रहा है, को तत्काल संबोधित करना होगा। यदि आधार, मतदाता पहचान पत्र और राशन कार्ड पर्याप्त नहीं हैं, तो सरकार को यह स्पष्ट करना होगा कि क्या पर्याप्त है। और यदि इन दस्तावेज़ों का दुरुपयोग हो रहा है, तो उन लोगों को दंडित करें जिन्होंने इसे सुगम बनाया—न कि उस निर्दोष नागरिक को जो वोट डालने की कोशिश कर रहा है।

अब सवाल यह है: क्या सुप्रीम कोर्ट लोगों के मतदान के अधिकार को बनाए रखने के लिए हस्तक्षेप करेगा?

या फिर आम भारतीय अपनी वास्तविक मृत्यु से पहले हज़ारों प्रशासनिक मौतें मरता रहेगा?

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बाबा साहेब का धम्म का मार्ग स्वतंत्र भारत की सबसे बड़ी अहिंसक क्रांति है —— Vidya Bhushan Rawat

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बाबा साहब अंबेडकर की 22 प्रतिज्ञाओ को लेकर बहुत हंगामा हो रहा है। 14 अकतूबर 1956 को अशोका विजया दशमी के दिन नागपूर की ऐतिहासिक दीक्षाभूमि मे बाबा साहब के साथ उनके लाखों अनुयायियों ने बौद्ध धम्म मे दीक्षा ली। धम्म दीक्षा कार्यक्रम केवल नागपूर तक ही सीमित नहीं रहा, बाबा साहब इन अगले दिन चंद्रपूर मे भी बहुत बड़ी संख्या मे लोगों को दीक्षा दिलाई। उसके बाद से ही नागपूर के उस मैदान को लोग दीक्षाभूमि के नाम से जानने लगे और प्रतिवर्ष अशोक विजयादशमी के दिन जिसे धम्मचक्र प्रवर्तन दिवस भी कहा जाता है, लाखों की संख्या मे लोग वहा आते हैं और बाबा साहब के रास्ते पर चलने का संकल्प दोहराते हैं। बहुत से लोगों के लिए तो यह वर्ष का सबसे महत्वपूर्ण कार्यक्रम होता है नागपूर मे दशहरे के अवसर पर दो कार्यक्रम होते हैं जिन पर देश की नजर होती है। एक कार्यक्रम मीडिया मे छाया रहता है और दूसरे मे जनता बिना मीडिया के आती है। दोनों कार्यक्रमो मे अंतर यह है कि एक मे केवल मीडिया ही रहता है लोग नहीं और दूसरे मे लाखों लोग कई दिनों से आते रहते हैं हालांकि मीडिया के किसी कोने मे वो खबर लगती है। नागपूर का अशोका विजयदशमी दरअसल आर एस एस के दशहरे के कार्यक्रम से बहुत बड़ा होता लेकिन मीडिया मे संघी प्रवचन को प्रमुखता से छापा जाता है और अब तो दूरदर्शन भी उसका सीधा प्रसारण करता है लेकिन यही मनुवादी मीडिया दीक्षाभूमि से गायब रहता है जबकि भाजपा और संघ के बड़े बड़े नेता भी अब दीक्षाभूमि जाकर बुद्ध और बाबा साहब को प्रणाम करने जाते हैं। 

दीक्षाभूमि और संघ के नागपूर कार्यक्रम मे एक और बड़ा अंतर है जिसको समझने की आवश्यकता है। संघ के कार्यक्रम मे शस्त्र पूजा होती है लेकिन दीक्षाभूमि का विद्रोह पूरी तरह से अहिंसक है। बाबा साहब के धम्मा दीक्षा का असर महाराष्ट्र मे विशेषकर और देश के अन्य हिस्सों मे भी सामान्यतः इतना बढ़ रहा है कि सत्ताधारियों के पास इसकी कोई काट नहीं है। अशोका वियजदशमी के दिन नागपूर पूरा बुद्धमय नजर आता है और पूरे शहर मे देश भर से और महाराष्ट्र के अनेक हिस्सों से लाखों लोग दीक्षा भूमि आते हैं। इसलिए मै कहता हूँ कि बाबा साहब अंबेडकर भारत मे अहिंसक क्रांति के सबसे बड़े नायक है। आखिर वह भी दलितों को कह सकते थे कि तुम भी शस्त्र पूजो, वह भी हिंसक जवाब देने के लिए कह सकते थे लेकिन उन्होंने ऐसा नहीं किया। जो लोग शस्त्र पूज रहे है उनके पास अब अपने जातिवादी भूतकाल को छुपाने का कोई रास्ता नहीं है। वे तथ्यों को तोड़ मरोड़ कर प्रस्तुत करते हैं। देश भर मे होली, दिवाली, ईद क्रिसमस आदि त्योहार मनाए जाते हैं जिनमे सब कुछ बिकता है सिवाय उसके जिसकी लोगों को जरूरत है। लेकिन धम्मचक्र प्रवर्तन दिवस पर हजारों करोड़ रुपये का साहित्य बिकता है। दीक्षा भूमि मे देश भर बहुजन प्रकाशक अपनी अपनी पुस्तके, पेंटिंग्स, कैलेंडर आदि बेचते हैं।  बाबा साहब अंबेडकर ने एक ऐसी पीढ़ी की नीव रखी जो सोचती है, तर्कवादी और मानववादी है। बाबा साहब की अहिंसा मे विश्वास गांधी की अहिंसा से कही बड़ा है क्योंकि गांधी की अहिंसा यथास्थितिवादी है जबकि बाबा साहब की अहिंसा बदलाव का प्रतीक है। 

बाबा साहब की 22 प्रतिज्ञाओ को लेकर मनुवादी मीडिया बेहद परेशान है। ये भी हकीकत है कि इन प्रतिज्ञाओ का उद्देश्य लोगों को एक मानववादी और अंधविश्वासमुक्त सोच की और लाना था। बाबा साहब जानते थे कि उनका समाज अभी भी बहुत उत्पीड़ित है और धार्मिक कुरीतियों के जरिए उनकी बची खुची कमाई भी खत्म हो जाति है। पुरोहितों ने उनका मानसिक रूप से शोषण किया है इसलिए उन्होंने बुद्धिज़्म मे आने के लिए ये प्रतिज्ञाये दी। यदि समाज विकसित अथवा पढ़ा लिखा होता तो शायद उन्हे ये सब लिखने की जरूरत नहीं पड़ती क्योंकि ये प्रतिज्ञाये बौद्ध धम्म नहीं है। बाबा साहब का उद्देश्य था पहले लोग अपने पुराने सडेगले आवरण को या जिस सांस्कृतिक परम्पराओ से दूर करने की कसम खाए और फिर दीक्षा ले। ये भी हकीकत है इन प्रतिज्ञाओ मे को अपमानजनक भाषा नहीं इस्तेमाल की गई है। सिर्फ ये कहा गया है के अब ये मेरे देवता या परंपरा नहीं है और ये भी हकीकत है के बौद्धधम्म मे आने के बाद बाबा साहेब का पूरा फोकस भारत को प्रबुद्ध भारत बनाने की और था। 

बुद्ध और उनका धम्म मे बाबा साहब कहते है कि आखिर धर्म का दर्शन क्या होना चाहिए। अधिकांश धर्म दर्शन भगवान और दैवीय शक्तियों को खुश करने और उनके इर्दगिर्द घूमते हैं लेकिन बुद्ध ये कहते है के धम्म का दर्शन वो हो जिसकी धुरी मे मानव और मानवकल्याण हो। बाबा साहब अंबेडकर ने जिस बुद्ध दर्शन का परिचय लोगों से कराया वो धर्म नहीं पूरी तरह मानववादी मूल्यों पर आधारित है और इसलिए अंधविश्वास से दूर और धर्म ग्रंथों को सवाल करना भी उसी परंपरा का हिस्सा है जिसके बल पर आज दुनिया इतने आगे बढ़ी है। सामान्यतः धर्म आपको सवाल करने से रोकते है और ये कोशिश होती है बताने की कि धर्मों मे सभी बातों का मुकम्मल जवाब है लेकिन अगर ये सब सही होता तो दुनिया मे कभी विकास नहीं हो पाता। हम सब जानते है कि जबभी लोगों ने स्थापित मान्यताओ को चुनौती दी तो पुरोहित वर्ग और उनके चेलों ने हिंसा का सहारा लिया और ऐसे लोगों का मुंह बंद करने की कोशिश की या उनके साहित्य या खोज को नकारा लेकिन आज 21 वी शताब्दी मे ऐसे नकारा राजाओ या पुरोहितों को कोई याद नहीं करता और गैलीलियो से लेकर न्यूटन तक हमारे बीच सम्मान से याद किए जाते हैं। 

बाबा साहब अंबेडकर ने दलितों की मुक्ति के लिए आंदोलन किए, राजनीति का हिस्सा बने, संविधान सभा मे भी आए लेकिन अंत मे उन्हे महसूस हुआ कि मुक्ति का रास्ता सांस्कृतिक है और बिना इसके बदलाव के मानसिक गुलामी राजनीतिक सफलताओ या आजादी को खत्म कर देगी। संविधान सभा मे उनकी चेतावनी कि राजनीति मे एक व्यक्ति एक वोट का सिद्धांत तो मिल गया लेकिन अगर सामाजिक जीवन मे ये उपलब्ध नहीं होगा तो हमारी राजनैतिक आजादी के कोई मायने नहीं है। 

ये एक हकीकत कि आज देश भर मे दलित पिछड़े वर्ग मे बुद्ध धम्म को लेकर व्याप्त बदलाव की बाते आ रही है। नागपूर मे दीक्षाभूमि मे हर वर्ष भदंत नागार्जुन सुराई ससई पिछड़े वर्ग के हजारों लोगों को बुद्ध धम्म की दीक्षा दे रहे है। पिछड़ी जातियों की समझ मे आ रहा है के सांस्कृतिक तौर पर दलितों की धम्म क्रांति ने उनके जीवन मे सकारात्मक बदलाव लाए है और उन्हे भी इसकी आवश्यकता है। कुशीनगर जैसे जगह पर अब बहुत बड़ी संख्या मे बौद्ध भिखु पिछड़ी जातियों से हैं और कुशवाहा, यादव, मौर्या जातिया भी अब बुद्ध धम्म की और बदलाव का रास्ता देख रही है। अच्छी बात यह है के वे लोग बाबा साहब अंबेडकर को भी जान रही है और अपना मान रही है। 

अभी समाजवादी पार्टी के नेता धरतीपुत्र मुलायम सिंह यादव का निधन हो गया। जिन लोगों ने उन्हे जीवन भर गलिया बाकी, मौलाना मुलायम कहा, जातिवादी और हिन्दू विरोधी कहा वे उनके अंतिम संस्कार मे सबसे अधिक संख्या मे उपलब्ध थे। वही मानुवादी मीडिया उन्हे देश का सबसे बड़ा नेता बना रहा था और शब्दों की ऐसी बौछार कर रहा था मानो मुलायम सिंह को कितना प्यार करते थे। मुलायम सिंह जी के अंतिम संस्कार के समय ब्राह्मणों ने अखिलेश यादव को एक ‘जनेऊ’ पहनाया जो उनके पिता को जीवन भर उपलब्ध नहीं था। यानि अखिलेश ने वो सब किया जो उनके पिता चाहते थे और उनकी पूरी सेवा की लेकिन ये एक कटु सत्य है ब्रह्मणवाद अपनी सांस्कृतिक ताकत के बल पर राज करता है। पूरे अंतिम संस्कार के समय महिलाओ की भूमिका गिनी चुनी ही थी और ये दिखाता है कैसे राजनीतिज्ञ हवाओ मे बह कर क्रांतिकारी फैसला नहीं ले सकते। इसकी तुलना कीजीये मान्यवर कांशीराम की मृत्यु के बाद की घटनाओ से। सुश्री मायावती ने उनका अंतिम क्रियाए स्वयं की, एक सशक्त संदेश भेजा कि महिलाये किसी से कोई कम नहीं और मान्यवर कांशीराम साहब की उत्तराधिकारी होने के नाते उन्होंने सभी प्रक्रियाए स्वयं ही की। ये भी हकीकत है की भारत की मनुवादी फेमिनिस्टस को सुश्री मायावती के ये काम याद नहीं आएंगे। 

कहने का मतलब ये हमारी सांस्कृतिक परम्पराये हमे उन्ही ताकतों के सामने नतमस्तक होने को मजबूर करती हैं जो हमारा शोषण और  तिरिस्कार करती है। सोचिए यदि ज्योति बा फुले, बाबा साहब अंबेडकर , पेरियार, अन्ना दुर्राई, कांशी राम जी के तरह मुलायम सिंह यादव भी अपने जीवन मे सांस्कृतिक विकल्प को अपना लेते तो सैफाई का माहौल दूसरा होता, पिछड़े वर्ग मे इतना बड़ा संदेश जाता कि वो बदलाव कि और अग्रसर होता और वो लोग मुंह नहीं चिढ़ा रहे होते जो सुबह शाम उन पर हिन्दू विरोधी होने का आरोप लगाते थे। उत्तर भारत के अधिकांश राजनेताओ ने सांस्कृतिक परिवर्तन को नहीं माना चाहे राम विलास पासवान या मुलायम सिंह यादव क्योंकि वे अपने को ‘बहुसंख्यक’ ही दिखाना चाहते थे और शायद बुद्ध की दीक्षा लेने के चलते ब्राह्मणवादी सत्ताधारियों से टकराना शायद उनके बस की बात नहीं थी क्योंकि उन्होंने तो इन शक्तियों को अपने बगल मे रखकर ही ‘क्रांति’ करने की सोची और नतीजा ये निकला के कुछ समय बाद ये ताकते उन्हे अपना बताने लगेंगी। 

बाबा साहब के धम्म क्रांति के मिशन मे ही सबकी आजादी है क्योंकि बिना सांस्कृतिक आजादी के कोई राजनीतिक परिवर्तन संभव नहीं है।


Vidya Bhushan Rawat


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दलितों की भागीदारी और सम्मान के बिना द्रवीडियन मोडेल सफल नहीं हो सकता —— Vidya Bhushan Rawat

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Vidya Bhushan Rawat

तमिलनाडु का द्रवीडियन मोडेल की आजकल उत्तर भारत मे बहुत चर्चा है। बहुत से लोग डी एम की सरकार के आने के बाद इस मोडेल की चर्चा शुरू किये। इसमे कोई संदेह नहीं के तमिलनाडु के मुख्यमंत्री एम के स्टालिन ने राज्य को एक ऐसी सरकार दी है जिसकी लोग बहुत दिनों से तलाश मे थे। राज्य मे स्कूलों की बेहतरी के लिए उन्होंने दिल्ली राज्य के स्कूलों को देखा। नीट के प्रश्न पर उन्होंने केंद्र की नीति का खुलकर विरोध किया और उनकी सरकार ने ऐसे फैसले लिए हैं जो देश भर के लिए एक संदेश हैं चाहे वह स्कूलों मे नाश्ते का सवाल हो या मंदिरों मे गैर ब्राह्मण तमिल बोलने वाले पुजारियों का प्रश्न, सभी पर उत्तर भारत मे दलित ओबीसी  नेता चुप्पी साधे रहते हैं। तमिलनाडु के वित्त मंत्री ने तो खुले तौर पर नरेंद्र मोदी के मोडेल को ही चुनौती दी है और उनका वो विडिओ बहुत लोकप्रिय हुआ है जब वह दिल्ली के एक प्राइम टाइम शो मे एंकर को ऐसे जवाब दिए कि शायद दोबारा उस शो मे वो उन्हे न बुलाए। उत्तर भारत के बहुत से बहुजन बुद्धिजीवी जो यहा के बहुजन नेताओ के इग्नोर किये जाने से दुखी है उन्हे तमिलनाडु मे एक नई आशा की किरण दिखाई दी है। तमिलनाडु का पेरियार मोडेल भारत के लिए भी एक संदेश है और हालांकि आज एम के स्टालिन हो या डी एम के हों वे सभी राजनीति की मज़बूरीयों को भी समझते है और बदलते वक्त मे आप पुराने मोडेल के आधार पर बार बार उपलब्धियों का बखान भी नहीं कर सकते। मतलब ये के ब्राह्मणों को पानी पी पी के कोसने से कोई द्रवीडियन मोडेल सफल हो जाएगा ये मानना बहुत बड़ी भूल होगा। उत्तर भारत मे अक्सर पेरियार एक वर्ग मे हीरो तो दूसरे मे विलन बना दिए गए। लेकिन विलेन बनाने वालों की ताकत इतनी बड़ी थी कि बसपा ने अपने  प्रमुख बैनरों से पेरियार का नाम हटा दिया हालांकि बसपा के सत्ता मे आने के बाद 17 सितंबर 1995 को लखनऊ के परिवर्तन चौक मे तीन दिवसीय पेरियार मेला आयोजन किया जिसका भाजपा ने विरोध किया था।

पेरियार अक्टूबर 1968 अखिल भारतीय पिछड़ा वर्ग के सम्मेलन की अध्यक्षता करने लखनऊ आए थे भदंत आनंद कौतसयालायायन, अखिल भारतीय भीम सेना के अध्यक्ष श्री बी श्याम सुंदर, श्री शिव दयाल चौरसिया, श्री छेदी लाल साथी, श्री ललाई सिंह यादव, और मुस्लिम मजलिस के श्री ए जे फरीदी शामिल थे। पेरियार के लखनऊ आने का जनसंघ और आर एस एस जैसे संघठनों ने विरोध किया भी किया था लेकिन वे पेरियार को लखनऊ आने से नहीं रोक पाए। पेरियार एक क्रांतिकारी व्यक्तित्व थे और उनका सामाजिक सांस्कृतिक दृष्टिकोण तमिलनाडु मे बृहत्तर परिवर्तन लाया। गैर ब्रह्मणवाद आंदोलन को सामाजिक नये और बहुजन समाज का प्रश्न बना कर पेरियार ने तमिल समाज मे बहुत बड़े राजनीतिक परिवर्तन को जन्म दे दिया जिसकी तुलना दूसरे प्रदेशों से नहीं की जा सकती। तमिलनाडु मे 1967 के बाद से ही द्रवीडियन पार्टियों की सरकारे रही हैं। उससे पहले वहा के कामराज के नेतृत्व मे काँग्रेस की सरकार थी लेकिन 1967 के बाद से पहले डी एम के और उसकी प्रतिद्वंदी के रुप मे अखिल भारतीय अन्ना द्रुमउक पार्टी उभरी। दोनों पार्टियों की वैचारिक पृष्टभूमि पेरियार के सामाजिक न्याय के आंदोलन की रही है हालांकि ये भी हकीकत है के ए आई दी एम के का झुकाव सवर्णों और दलितों के साथ भी था और इसी कारण वो तमिलनाडु मे सफल रही।  तमिलनाडु मे आज भी 69% आरक्षण है जो सुप्रीम कोर्ट के 50% आरक्षण सीमा से अधिक है और उस समय आया जब सुश्री जयललिथा वहा की मुख्यमंत्री थी और उन्होंने इस संदर्भ मे केंद्र सरकार पर दबाब डाल जिसमे अन्य पार्टियों का पूरा समर्थन था और इस प्रकार वहा की सभी पार्टियों के आपसी एकता से केंद्र सरकार को पूरा आरक्षण संविधान कि 9 वी अनुसूची मे डालना पड़ा जिसे किसी भी न्यायालय मे चुनौती नहीं दी जा सकती। तमिलनाडु मे आरक्षण जस्टिस पार्टी के समय से था और अब यह लगभग आनुपातिक व्यवस्था पर आधारित है। लेकिन ये भी एक कटु सत्य है के ब्रह्मणवाद विरोध के नाम पर ताकतवर पिछड़ी जातियों के हाथ मे सत्ता आई और दलितों की स्थिति बहुत गंभीर बनी रही।

अभी तमिलनाडु मे डी एम के नेता ए राजा का एक बयान बहुत ‘प्रचलित’ हो रहा है जिसे उत्तर भारत मे ‘क्रांतिकारी’ रूप मे प्रस्तुत किया जा रहा है। ये वही उत्तर भारतीय हैं जिन्होंने पेरियार को केवल भगवानों का विरोधी तक सीमित कर दिया और उनके विस्तृत सामाजिक न्याय के सवाल, भाषा के सवाल और पिछड़े वर्ग के लोगों की सत्ता मे भागीदारी के सवाल को गायब कर दिया जाता है। पेरियार के स्वाभिमान आंदोलन मे विवाह और जेंडर का प्रश्न बेहद महत्वपूर्ण था। लेकिन बावजूद पेरियार की विचारधारा के हकीकत यह है के द्रविड पार्टियों की राजनीति के केंद्र मे पिछड़ा वर्ग और उसकी ताकतवर जातिया रही है। ब्रह्मणवाद विरोध के नाम पर राजनीति से तमिलनाडु के सभी दलों के दलित विरोधी चरित्र को भी समझना पड़ेगा। अगर राजनीति मे उसका असर देखे तो तमिलनाडु मे दलित आंदोलन के लिए सबसे मजबूत काम वी सी के नामक पार्टी कर रही है हालांकि उनके भी दो सांसद जीत के नहीं आते यदि डी एम के के साथ उनका समझौता नहीं होता। आज डी एम के किसी भी तरीके से अपने आप को ‘सवर्ण विरोधी’ या ‘हिन्दू विरोधी’ के तौर पर नहीं प्रस्तुत करना चाहती है और वो अपने काम पर फोकस कर रही है। सत्ता मे रहते हुए पार्टियों को ध्यान रखना चाहिए के वे क्या बोले क्योंकि ए राजा के बयान से डी एम के को कोई लाभ नहीं होने वाला। आज एम के स्टालिन की छवि एक काम करने वाले व्यक्ति की है जिसे अपना द्रविड मोडेल प्रचारित करने के लिए किसी भी समुदाय को गाली देने की जरूरत नहीं है। एक प्रश्न और भी है, 1960 के बाद से ही तमिल राजनीति और समाज पर पेरियार के आंदोलनकारियों की पकड़ है, वे सत्ता मे हैं और विपक्ष मे भी तो फिर ए राजा के बयान के क्या मतलब निकाले। क्या तमिलनाडु मे आज भी दलितों पर अत्याचार ब्राह्मणों के द्वारा हो रहे हैं ? यदि हाँ तो डी एम के और ए आई डी एम के की सरकारों को इसके जवाब देने पड़ेंगे। खाली लफ्फाजी करने के लिए कुछ भी कह कर ताली पिटवाना एक बात है और तथ्यों के साथ बात रखना दूसरी बात।

अभी तेनकासी नामक स्थान पर दलितों के आर्थिक बहिष्कार की खबरे आई। दुकानदार बच्चों को कोई भी आइटम देने से इनकार कर रहे थे। ये बायकाट पिछले दो महीने से चल रहा था। सामाजिक संगठनों ने पिछले पाँच साल मे दलितों की हत्याओ के 300 मामले चिन्हित किये जिसमे 13 मामलों मे ही आरोपी लोगों को सजा हुई है। 28 मामलों की जांच चल रही है और 229 मामले पेंडिंग हैं। एससी एसटी कमीशन की एक रिपोर्ट कहती है कि कुल लोगों ने  दलित पर अत्याचार के 1100 मामले पुलिस को दिए  जिसमे 900 दलितों से संबंधित और 200 आदिवासियों से संबंधित हैं लेकिन 90% मामलों मे पुलिस ने कोई केस ही फाइल नहीं किया।  583 मामलों मे कोई रिपोर्ट ही पुलिस को नहीं मिली।

ये आरोप भी अक्सर लगते है के तमिलनाडु मे भूमि सुधारों के कार्यक्रम ईमानदारी से नहीं लागू किये गए. तमिलनाडू मे दलितों की आबादी 21% है लेकिन उनकी स्थिति बेहद गंभीर बनी हुई है। उनकी जमीनो पर उन लोगों का कब्जा है जो गैर ब्राह्मणी आंदोलन के अगुआ जातिया रही है। 1892 से 1933 के मध्य मद्रास प्रेज़िडन्सी मे लगभग 12 लाख ऐकर जमीन दलितों को पट्टा की गई लेकिन आज मात्र 10% जमीनो का कब्जा ही दलितों के पास है। दरअसल ब्राह्मण नॉन ब्राह्मण की पूरी बहस मे दलित हसिए पर है। क्या ये बहस दलित वर्सेस नॉन दलित नहीं होनी चाहिए और उस परिपेक्ष्य के अनुसार दलितों की स्थिति का आँकलन किया जाना चाहिए।

तमिलनाडु के मीनाक्षीपुरम मे 19 फरवरी 1981 को पलार ( दलित) समुदाय के 180 लोगों ने इस्लाम ग्रहण कर लिया और आज भी वे लोग बेहद स्वाभिमान के साथ जिंदगी जी रहे हैं। पूरे क्षेत्र मे मारावर समुदाय, जो थेवर जाति से ही निकली हुए है  ( जो वहा की सबसे ताकतवर कृषक जाति) का दबदबा था और उनके अत्याचारों से प्रताड़ित होकर दलितवर्ग ने इस्लाम धर्म कुबूल कर लिया। ये ठेवर जाति ही डी एम के और ए ऐ डी एम के का मुख्य हथियार है। ये सभी जातिया पिछड़े वर्ग के नाम पर तमिलनाडु मे गैर ब्राह्मणवादी आंदोलन की अगुआ भी रही है लेकिन अपने अंदर से कट्टर ब्रह्मणवाद को नहीं मिटा पाई।

आज भी तमिलनाडु मे स्थानीय निकायों और गाँव पंचायतों/जिला पंचायतों मे जीते हुए दलित प्रतिनिधि स्वतंत्रता दिवस हो या गणतंत्र दिवस पर वे तिरंगा तक नहीं फहरा पाते और उन्हे उसका विरोध झेलना पड़ता है। तमिलनाडु के 24 जिलों के एक सर्वे के मुताबिक कुल 386 दलित पंचायत अध्यक्षों मे से आज भी 22 को अपने कार्यालयों मे बैठने के लिए कुर्सी तक नसीब नहीं है। दलित पंचायत प्रतिनिधियों के विरुद्ध आज भी 17 किस्म की छुआछूत तमिलनाडु मे होती है जिसमे राष्ट्रीय अवसर पर राष्ट्रध्वज न फहरा देने का सवाल, स्थानीय निकायों के बोर्डों पर दलित प्रतिनिधियों का नाम न लिखने का प्रश्न, पंचायत अध्यक्षों के लिए निर्धारित कुर्सी या स्थान पर दलित प्रतिनिधि को न बैठने देने का सवाल, पंचायत ऑफिस मे ही उन्हे न बैठने देने का सवाल, गाँव साहब की बैठक मे गैर दलितों द्वारा बहिष्कार जब दलित प्रमुख उसकी अध्यक्षता करते हैं, पंचायतों को उपप्रमुखो द्वारा दलित प्रमुख के चलते अपने लिए अलग कार्यालय की मांग, दलित प्रमुखो को पंचायत के डाक्यमेन्ट न देखने देना, गैर दलित उप प्रमुखो का असहयोगी रवैया, दलित पंचायत प्रमुखों को धमकी देना, दलित महिला सरपंचों के साथ दुर्व्यवयहार और भेदभाव, दलित पंचायत प्रमुखों को मुख्य डाक्यमेन्ट नया देना, दलित पंचायत प्रमुखों को उनके कार्य मे सहयोग न देना आदि शामिल है। यह सर्वे तमिलनाडू छुआछूत उन्मूलन फ्रन्ट ने किया है। सवाल ये है के कौन है ये लोग जो ऐसा कर रहे हैं ? क्या तमिलनाडु मे द्रविड आंदोलन से ये सवाल नहीं किए जाने चाहिए के आखिर दलितों के साथ उनका व्यवहार कैसा रहा है। 70 वर्षों मे गैर ब्राह्मणों की सरकारों को क्या ये हिसाब नहीं देना चाहिए कि उन्होंने दलितों के लिए आखिर किया क्या ? तमिलनाडू देश का सबसे बड़ा अर्बन राज्य है लेकिन तब भी दलितों की 80% से अधिक आबादी गांवों मे है और गहरे भेदभाव का शिकार है। दलितों के पास कुल जमीन 8% से भी कम है और ये उस हकीकत को बयान करता है कि भूमि सुधार का प्रश्न द्रवीडियन पार्टियों के अजेंडे मे नहीं था और अंग्रेजों ने मद्रास प्रेज़िडन्सी के समय जो भूमि आवंटन दलितों को किया था उसका अधिकांश हिस्सा इन्ही ताकतवर खेती की जातियों के पास है जिसे हटाने की संकल्प शक्ति सरकार के पास नहीं है।

2004 के अंत मे तमिलनाडु मे भयानक सुनामी आई थी और मुझे वहा जाने का अवसर मिला था। मैंने चेन्नई से लेकर नागपट्टनम, कदलूर, तेनकासी, चिदंबरम, नगोर, वेलंकिनी और पॉन्डिचेरी का दौरा किया। दलितों के साथ भेदभाव को लेकर मैंने एक फिल्म बनाई जिसका नाम था द साइलन्स ऑफ सुनामी यानि सुनामी की चुप्पी। पूरी यात्रा मे मैंने ये देखा के किस प्रकार से आपदा मे दलितों को कोई सहायता न पहुँच पाए ऐसे प्रयास किए गए। जब भी किसी गाँव मे मै लोगों से दलित बस्तियों मे जाने की बात कहता तो लोग मुझे कहते हमसे बात क्यों नहीं कर रहे हो, वहा क्यों जाना चाहते हो ? एक गाँव मे जहा धार्मिक लंगर चल रहे थे, दलितों की उपस्थिति से मछुआरे समाज के लोग नाराज हो गए लिहाजा आयोजकों ने दलितों के लिए अलग से लंगर लगा दिया। शवों को लाने और उठाने के लिए भी अरुंधतियार समाज जिसे हम उत्तर भारत मे वाल्मीकि समाज या स्वच्छकार समाज के नाम से जानते हैं, को अलग अलग स्थानों से बुलाया जा रहा था। सुनामी ने सब कुछ तबाह कर दिया था लेकिन वो वर्ण व्यवस्था को खत्म नहीं कर पाई। सब कुछ लुटा देने के बाद भी लोग अपनी जातियों और भगवानों से चिपके रहे। ये दुखद था कम से कम उस राज्य मे जहा पेरियार ने क्रांति की।

हकीकत ये कि दलितों के प्रश्न पर द्रविड आंदोलन असहज हो जाता है। ब्रह्मवाद के विरोध के नाम पर वो सबसे अधिक मुखर होता है लेकिन ब्राह्मणों को हटा कर कोई सद्भाववादी या बराबरी का समाज बन गया हो ऐसे तो तमिलनाडु मे नहीं हुआ। जातियों की ताकत आज भी बनी हुई है और दलित हासिए पर हैं। ये एक कटु सच्चाई है के दलितों के सबसे बड़े क्रांतिकारी नेता, तमिलनाडु मे अंबेडकरवाद के प्रमुख स्तम्भ इमैनुयाल सेकरण की 11 सितंबर 1957 को हत्या कर दी गई। हत्यारे थेवर जाति से थे और उनकी हत्या इसलिए की गई क्योंकि उन्होंने ठेवरों के बड़े नेता मूथुरामलिंग थेवर के सम्मान मे खड़े होने से इनकार कर दिया था क्योंकि उन्हे लगता था के दलित पर अत्याचारों के मामले मे थेवर सबसे आगे हैं।  जुलाई से सितंबर 1957 के बीच मे रामनाथपुरम मे जो दंगे हुए उसमे 42 दलितों की हत्या हुई थी। इस मामले मे जो भी आरोपी थे उन पर अन्नादुर्राई की सरकार कुछ नहीं कर पाई और सभी रिहा हो गए।

आज भी तेनकासी की घटना को सरकार भले ही हल्के मे ले रही हो लेकिन ये सच आ चुका है के गाँव मे 80 परिवार पिछड़ी जातियों के और 50 परिवार दलितों के हैं। गाँव की पंचायत ने अन्य जातियों को  दलित बच्चों के साथ खेलने कूदने पर रोक लगा दी और दुकानदारों ने उन्हे समान देने से इनकार कर दिया हालांकि मंत्री कह रहे है के छुआछूत की खबर गलत है। सवाल इस बात का है के 70 वर्षों के स्वाभिमान आंदोलन मे क्या छुआछूत का प्रश्न महत्वपूर्ण नहीं है या द्रविड आंदोलन ये मानता है के छुआछूत खत्म करने की लड़ाई केवल सवर्णों और दलितों का प्रश्न है और पिछड़ी जातियों का इससे लेना देना नहीं है?

मानवमल, सीवर मे घुसकर मरने वालों मे तमिलनाडु भारत के ‘अग्रणी’ राज्यों मे है। सफाई कर्मचारी आंदोलन के अनुसार पिछले तीन वर्षों मे तमिलनाडु मे सीवर मे घुसकर मरने वालों की संख्या 55 है। 3000 से अधिक लोगों ने सरकार को लिख के दिया था कि वे मानवमाल ढोने के काम मे लिप्त है लेकिन वर्ष 2008-19 मे सरकार ने मात्र 264 लोगों के इस काम मे लिप्त होने की बात कही।

आज भी तमिलनाडु उन राज्यों मे है जहा अन्तर्जातीय विवाहों को लेकर बेहद तनातनी हो जाती है और जाति की सर्वोच्चता के सिद्धांतों का पालन करते हुए अपने बच्चों तक कि हत्या कर देते हैं। तमिलनाडू की एक संस्था एविडन्स की एक रिपोर्ट ये बताती है कि 2014-2019 तक 195 मामले ऑनेर किलिंग के सामने आए हैं लेकिन एक भी मामले मे न्याय नहीं मिल पाया है। आखिर जिन प्रश्नों के लिए पेरियार ने अपनी जिंदगी लगा दी वे सवाल ही अभी वैसे ही खड़े दिखाई दे रहे हैं। ब्रह्मणवाद निसन्देह इनमे से बहुतों के लिए जिम्मेवार है लेकिन 70 वर्षों से द्रविड अस्मिता के नाम पर पिछड़े वर्ग की राजनीति करने वाली सरकारों को भी तो हिसाब देना होगा कि उनकी ‘क्रांतिकारी’ धरती पर दलित अभी भी उत्पीड़ित और हसिए पर क्यों है ?

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The Queen is dead, long live the King −− By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

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Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Queen Elizabeth II, the longest serving monarch of British empire died on September 8th, at the age of 96 and since then the crazy 24x7 channels including BBC and CNN are minutely reporting every event related to her death. The funeral will take place on September 19th but till then people will watch various events and engagements of the Royal family, particularly the new King Charles III and his Consort. The Queen ruled for over 70 years and hence one can understand the feeling of loss by a nation which ruled a large part of the world. India too declared a one-day national moaning on September 11th. World leaders are expected to pay join the funeral procession on September 19th and London police is expecting massive gathering of people and leaders on that day.

This question comes for discussion many time as why United Kingdom despite being a robust democracy still hang on with Monarchy. The question become more important to countries like Canada, Australia and New Zealand where anti Monarchy sentiments too are growing yet continue to remain part of the ‘Realm’. The conservative lobby in the United States remain aggressively pro monarchy and market forces have tapped their ‘popularity’. The disturbing point is as why British Royals are so popular with the American public who revolted against them so many years ago. There is a lot of anger among the natives in the Caribbean Islands and six countries had indicated that they wish to become republic in the coming years and these countries are Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenadines. The process started with Barbados which became a republic on November 30th, 2021. Three other countries Dominica, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago became republics in the 1970s. Protesters in these countries have sought a formal apology for brutalisation and enslavement of the local people particularly Africans and compensate it through reparation. It is reported that over 14 million blacks were brought in the European Slave Trade to Caribbean and 10 million were used in  Arab Trade. These countries are out of the British Realm but still part of the 54 members Commonwealth. The question is how can the people who have been treated worst than animal rejoice being part of ‘Commonwealth’ which the Crown and elite in Britain feel so much proud off. 

India was ruled by the British Empire since 1858 till 1947 though prior to that East India Company had already started controlling India’s large part since 1757. After independence, India maintained good relations with Britain and a big Indian diaspora now live in UK which is hugely successful and politically influential. However, there are segments of people who feel as if the British had come to benefit them and these are two diversely opposed side. One, the Hindutva elite and their followers still ‘celebrate’ British as for them India’s enslavement started from Mughal period and hence British came as liberator for wider Hindu population. A big section of Ambedkarite too feel that British opened door of ‘liberation’ for them through education. Recently, a fox TV anchor was widely criticised when he ‘counted’ the greatness of British empire in his show.  Anchor Tucker Carlson said, “The British Empire was not perfect, but it was far more humane than any other ever. It's gone now, barely even remembered. Queen Elizabeth II was the last living link to a truly Great Britain. Today on social media, the usual ghouls celebrated her death. "May her pain be excruciating," a Carnegie Mellon professor called Uju Anya wrote on Twitter of the queen. "May she die in agony." When the U.S. government withdrew from Afghanistan after 20 years, we left behind airstrips, shipping containers and guns. When the British pulled out of India, they left behind an entire civilization, a language, a legal system, schools, churches and public buildings, all of which are still in use today. Here's the train station the English built in Bombay, for example. There's nothing like that in Washington, DC right now, much less in Kabul or Baghdad. Today, India is far more powerful than the UK, the nation that once ruled it and yet, after 75 years of independence, has that country produced a single building as beautiful as the Bombay train station that the British colonialists built? No, sadly, it has not. Not one.”

Unfortunately, there are many who share Tucker’s views about the British Raj in India without acknowledging the fact that Indian civilisation and great architecture of Buddhist, Rajputs, Mughal, Maurya architecture, Cholas and many others were already visible in India. To suggest that India did not have the kind of structure like VT Railway Station of Mumbai only reflect of Victorian arrogance.  The British ruled in India for such a long period that it was impossible for them to rule without involving local people in their administration. There is no doubt they created vast Railway network so that the expensive timber from the Himalayas can be transported to Kolkata port comfortably. As they needed an effective and loyal bureaucracy who can interact with them, they promoted English language and brought some reforms. There is no doubt that many things which look positive to us are not because the British wanted but it was a collateral benefit. Of course, the quality of their work is no doubt far superior to the things we are doing it today whether it is the bridges or train tracks or railway stations.  

There is no doubt that being a ‘neutral’ party whose only interest were to exploit India’s vast mineral resources for the benefit of their society and country, the British had better attitude in handling the issues of Caste question and untouchability. The simple question any one can ask is that without British the whole question of participation of the marginalised communities in political and power structure would have been difficult if not impossible. Whether it was in their own interest or they wanted to reform British policy of English education helped the marginalised sections to some extent otherwise the upper caste elite would not have allowed the Dalits to come up to their level politically, socially and economically. Apart from providing us laws even when the aim was to control us but it ultimately helped us. India became the biggest English-speaking country of the world which helped Indian community to become a powerful group in diaspora.  Despite all this, the fact remain that British did not come to India to liberate us but to reap its economic power. India’s foreign Minister S Jaishankar in a programme informed that British loot in India was close to $45 trillion as per today’s estimates. Says, JaiShankar,” “India had two centuries of humiliation by the West in its predatory form it came to India in the mid-18th century. An economic study tried to estimate how much British took out of India, it ended up at a number of $45 trillion in today’s value,”. 

Eminent Economist Prof Utsa Patnaik calculated this figure of GP 45 trillion loot from India. In an interview she says, “Between 1765 and 1938, the drain amounted to £9.2 trillion (equal to $45 trillion), taking India’s export surplus earnings as the measure, and compounding it at a 5% rate of interest. Indians were never credited with their own gold and forex earnings. Instead, the local producers here were ‘paid’ the rupee equivalent out of the budget—something you’d never find in any independent country. The ‘drain’ varied between 26-36% of the central government budget. It would obviously have made an enormous difference if India’s huge international earnings had been retained within the country. India would have been far more developed, with much better health and social welfare indicators. There was virtually no increase in per capita income between 1900 and 1946, even though India registered the second largest export surplus earnings in the world for three decades before 1929”.

Ironically, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was inaugurating the grand of statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose at the India gate where Rajpath has been renamed as ‘Kartvyapath’. Modi called to do away with the symbols of slavery and be proud of being Indian. However, Narendra Modi was among the first to respond to the death of the Queen, giving a very ‘personalised’ message on twitter : 

“ Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will be remembered as as stalwart of our times. She provided inspiring leadership to her nation and people. She personified dignity and decency in public life. Pained by her demise. My thoughts are with her family and people of UK in this sad hour.”

He further said, ‘ I had memorable meetings with Her Mejasty Queen Elizabeth II during my UK visits in 2015 and 2018. I will never forget the warmth and kindness. During one of the meetings she showed me the handkerchief Mahatma Gandhi gifted her on her wedding. I will always cherish that gesture

The government of India declared a national moaning on September 11th though many people questioned it but realistically it was done as per the traditions and many countries are doing so. We can not ignore our relationship with British empire whether it was good or bad. Important for all to learn from history and move ahead. In the modern world, we know the importance of Great Britain and our relationship with them though both the countries view the relationships from a different perspective. For the British, India is the biggest country of the ‘Commonwealth’ but as an Indian, we don’t know anything about Commonwealth except for the games where Indians look performing better than any other international event. The historical fact is that Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru played an extremely important role to be part of Commonwealth just because he gave importance to India’s relationship. It was on his insistence ‘Republics’ who were part of British Commonwealth but now do not have Queen as its head, were allowed to be part of it. Today, even countries like Rwanda who were never part of British empire have officially joined Commonwealth. Perhaps, the power is that it brings diverse countries together who had commonality in the form of British Raj. All these countries are now ‘power house’ and can become strong trading partners. Anyway, Commonwealth mean nothing for us except for that historical lineage but as I mentioned earlier this has a different meaning for the British Empire particularly the Monarchy which uses it to describe their power. The fact is that The Queen or the King is head of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland apart from Australia, Canada and New Zealand and 14 other countries now part of the British Realm. 

While the sentiment of being a Republic or having their own monarchy has been strong enough in most of the Asian, African and Caribbean countries which formed part of British Empire and later gained independence, the stand of the ruling elite in Australia, Canada and New zealand look intriguing. Why these countries don’t have the sentiments like India and others in the Indian subcontinents in relation to Monarchy?  And the harsh reality is that ‘experts’ like Tucker Carlson are plenty in the United States and leadership from both the Republican and Democrats really love to have the ‘special’ relationship with the monarchy. It is not without reason that the Royal Wedding of Harry and Meghan Markel drew 29.2 million views on the various television channels. Their popularity remains equally high in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Important to decode this relationship of these countries with British monarchy.

Monarchy is dynasty 

When an Indigenous member of parliament refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Queen, she was asked to redo it. Now, every member of Parliament in Victoria state of Australia has to take an oath of allegiance to the new King Charles III as done by the British Parliament. The heads of states have to do the same in Canada, New Zealand and Australia.  Monarchy is dynasty and look absolutely at odd with the modern democratic principles. When Prince Charles was being officially declared as the new King and we saw how the entire British Parliament of Lords and Commons stood for hours to listen to the king. There was not even a space for them to sit. All of them looked like old courtiers in the Raj Darbar, a highly unlikely scenario in any democracy. 

Now, dynasty is often used in India for the Gandhi family. Can there be a bigger irony that the person and family who is being blamed as ‘dynast’ actually is walking in the streets of India to win over the hearts of the people, facing the onslaught of the ruling elite which continue to use the term dynasty for one family. The Rajas and Maharajas who are the role models of the political and religious rights of India were the original dynasts but we never ever critique them. In politics, there can not dynasty as they have to follow all procedures and if the public don’t want them, they won’t be able to come back. Rahul Gandhi and other Gandhis are not in power in real sense since 1989 after Rajiv Gandhi lost his elections. Rahul Gandhi does not have the same privilege as that of the Prince Charles who became the King without any questions being raised anywhere and all the big parliaments of the world actually clapping for his ascendency. The Gandhis are out of power for so long and will only come back if people want it through a democratic process yet are demonised the most for being ‘dynast’.  

British Monarchy is definitely the most powerful institution which has kept the country united and is a symbol of the Empire. So somewhere, it is a ‘feelgood’ factor for not merely the British but also for the other European settlers in the America, Canada , Australia and New Zealand. Somewhere, the Royals have survived because of this ‘connectivity’ with the ‘glorious’ past where every body want to associate. In the liberal democracies it is difficult to spent money on building big castles, palaces but people love those royalties and their style. In the capitalist societies now questions are not asked about the wrongs done but ‘celebrate’ the ‘grandeur’   as a big market event’. The people still love to have those ‘fairy tales’ of King and Queen or Prince and Princesses and perhaps the royalty in UK provide each one of us to ‘quench’ our insatiable thirst of knowing everything about their personal lives. So royalty is now a new magnet which might not have the political power but soft cultural power to influence the market and the power elite. British Royalty and their public actions are marketed by this elite in the United States and elsewhere to justify their own obscene wealth and spending. Look at the political elite standing in front of the new king like courtier suggest clearly that they understand the soft cultural power of the royalty and hence can’t do anything remote even to challenge their authority or relevance. 

The Real question is the issue of Sovereignty of the indigenous people

It is not that there are no murmurs against monarchy but the fact is it is not merely the question of monarchy verses democracy it looks clearly and visibly that Monarchy is actually the symbol of white supremacism or ‘glorious days’ of white world. It is this feeling perhaps that keep the right wingers’ white supremacists in the United States supporting the Royals and media obligingly promote them in the market or perhaps vice versa. A question to monarchy means a question about annihilation of the indigenous people and their culture in US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. To put it in simple world the ‘greatness’ of Monarchy lies in actually ensuring the white supremacy in all these countries which were the domain of indigenous communities. All these countries saw the biggest demographic changes where the indigenous people were pushed more towards the forest areas while European settlers annexed their land and natural resources. The policy was not merely pushing the indigenous communities to nothing but strangely and shockingly, all these ‘great’ countries have rarely given them Constitutional recognition. The treaties that happened with the Crown have been forgotten. A simple question can be asked as where are the indigenous people in the government structure of these countries which claim to provide ‘affirmative action’ for minorities and immigrants. Why so much of hatred towards the original inhabitants of these countries. The question of treatment to indigenous people has been perhaps the darkest chapter of the history of the British Raj.  The dirty fact is that it did not merely ‘isolated’ and further marginalised the ‘indigenous people’ but also brought ‘slaves’ from Africa to the Americas but did not give them dignity and human rights. The main reason for that seemed denying the local communities and crush their movement for their rights. When King George III ‘abolished’ slavery on March 25th, 1807, they had already made another plan for their huge farm land in the Caribbean and in Africa. They developed a new term in place of ‘slavery’ and it was ‘Indentured labors’ or what they called Contractual labors. These ‘labors’ were taken from India and other colonies of the British and other European colonisers to Americas particularly in the Caribbean where the European settlers had huge sugarcane farms. This created a conflict of interest between the local communities and those brought from outside after the British left. The Raj used the contractual labors to ignore the local communities or perhaps to ‘teach’ them a lesson. A majority of those who were taken from India on false promises were people from the most marginalised sections of our society, the Dalits and backward castes. These people were dumped in agricultural farms thousands of kilometers away in colonies in the Caribbean and in Africa. A clash with local communities was therefore inevitable. The people suffered indignities, loss of culture and their relationship with near dear ones. 

In India too, the British never apologized for Jalianwallah massacre on April 13th, 1919 in which officially 379 people were killed but the unofficial count is said to be around 1,500 deaths. The hanging of Bhagat Singh and other freedom fighters as well as brutalities inflicted on people of India remain a dark chapter in the history of Raj. There are many other chapters of brutalities and exploitation of India by the British. India can not ignore or forget the Bengal famine in 1943 and how Prime Minister Churchill was responsible for 3 million deaths in Bengal due to it. Monarchy can not ignore the fact that it did nothing to protect Indians. It never had any regret related to the same. Churchill blamed Indians for ‘breeding like rabbits’ and denied India 1 million ton wheat that was requested by the Viceroy to tackle with the Bengal famine. 

The crisis of Asia today is actually the ‘gift’ of the British Raj to its former colonies. Whether the issue of border dispute between India, Pakistan and China or issue of Tibet as well as Jammu Kashmir, the role in keeping these issues deliberately on the boil was a British strategy to keep playing the role of a ‘mediator’. The mistrust is so deepening between different countries that any adventure can bring the world close to perhaps the biggest disaster in human history as three nuclear nations have border disputes with each other. The denial of right to exist as an independent nation to Palestine has today become the biggest threat to world peace.

So, why is the British Monarchy so much popular with the people and in democracies. One factor, which I have already explained is the sense of history and power of the British Empire but there are many other factors which we need to understand that make the British better than others.

Change with modern time and strengthened democracy

One of the biggest contradictions or ironies of the Raj was that most of our political leadership actually got their ‘education’ in the prestigious colleges and Universities in England. Britain was a super power not because of its military might but because during the Raj, it progressed in industrialization, literature, liberalism and sports. The British might have come to us as ‘explorers’ or ‘invaders’ yet they not only documented our best and worst practices but provided us huge infrastructure. As a country Britain might have colonised so many countries and people but as a society and a governance structure it built credible and knowledgeable institutions, respected freedom to expression and individual choices. It is also a fact that slavery was not invented by the British but it was already being used by the local chieftains and British ‘learnt’ the trick and magnified it since they were the ‘business’ people. What could be the biggest irony is that most of the leaders, opposition leaders, social movement leaders, dissenters, publishers who are unable to get along with their respective governments found a space to breathe and enjoy in United Kingdom. Even today, UK is perhaps one of the most diverse countries in the world. A travel in the London Tube will explain you the power of this diversity that UK enjoy more than any other country. 

People from their former colonies who are now residing in UK enjoyed the life and opportunities provided by this country. Anti-Colonial feeling evaporate as the political and intellectual elite which build up narrative lives in UK and other part of the Western world, enjoy the fruits of liberal democracies. This feeling has deepened in many places that the Goras were better because of failure of the democratic institutions in our parts of the world where the heroes of anti-colonial struggle could not develop any credible institutions and became bigger than their institutions. Except for India, where Jawahar Lal Nehru was a hugely popular leader and respected by the masses who build up institutions and was a thorough democrat, rest of the world saw the anti-colonial heroes becoming despots in their own countries. 

The strength of the West particularly United Kingdom is the system that they created for themselves where autonomy of the institutions flourished and people enjoyed not only rights to live with dignity but there was no interference in your personal lives. Contrary to this, all the countries which got rid of the Colonialism actually were unable to provide an autonomous governance structure. The ethnic crisis escalated and right-wing political leadership grew everywhere. With science and technology, we saw growth of fundamentalism and fake nationalism and severe erosion of democratic values which remain on paper. Look at South Asia, the majoritarian nationalism is not able to digest people from minorities. The Hindus don’t want Muslims in India, the Muslims don’t like Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh, the Buddhist hate Muslims in Myanmar and Sri Lanka ignoring the historical fact that we lived together.  More than 75 years have passed since the British left us and in India we had the right priorities in the beginning but today India want to follow the capitalist model without addressing the issue of social inequality and the result is growth of brahmanical dominance and violence on minorities and marginalised.

Britain still offer us a lot for introspection and correction. In July 2022, Prime Minister Boris Johnson finally admitted defeat of being a minority in his own Conservative party and resigned. To elect a new leader, the process in UK take three month as those who are interested to contest the leadership race have to go to their voting members of the party. If there are more members, the final race will have to be between the two. The process was completed just a couple of days before the Queen died. Liz Truss became the new prime minister when the Queen invited her to form the next government. Can you think such a process in India where leaders will cling unless thrown out? And these days the pattern in India is unambiguously clear that if any one try to dissent from the government, he or she will soon have Enforcement Directorate (ED) or intelligence agencies officer asking for his financial and other details. The misuse of government machinery against political opponents have become order of the day in our part of the world. I can never imagine that we can have that much of patience to elect a new leader where money bags are ready to buy your members of Parliament and assemblies. 

Finally, look at The Queen’s funeral process and its management which provide big opportunity to our security agencies and those who manage big events. It is always fascinating how things are managed in Britain where people enjoy the process without much fuss. In June 2002, I was visiting Nepal when the news of royal family’s massacre came on the Television. I was schedule to participate in an international event but got the information very late and it was difficult those days to contact people as communication was still difficult. There was no taxi at the Kathmandu airport when I arrived but good thing was that I found Shri Anand Swroop Verma, Editor, Samkaleen Teesari Duniya and we had to walk to reach the house of a friend where I had to stay in the night. It was difficult to reach anywhere. On the radio and TV, the announcement was being made that people should ‘shave off’ their head and should not eat ‘salt’ for a week as per the Hindu tradition. The cremation of the King and his family happened immediately the next day without giving people enough time to pay their respect to their beloved royal family. The reason was because of the ‘needle of suspicion’  was not on the late King’s son who himself got killed but on the King Gyanendra and his family. Anyway, the entire process of coronation of the new King was so empty and filthy that one would just hate the system. At the time when the country was in shock, the new King could not really connect with the people.

In India we have seen the death of our political leaders. If it is a violent death then it is difficult for politician to keep quiet and speak for peace. They want to use it. The biggest problem in our part of the world is politicisation of the process who make it massive, unorganized and unmanageable. Of course, people have love for the leader and they want to see the body, touch it and go near the cremation place but that create huge issues of security and protocol for those who have to manage the things peacefully. Contrary to this, look at the way things are being managed in London which not only gives an opportunity for all of us to see how even a death can be celebrated with great dignity and without making much fuss of it. 

The process of proclamation of the new King is dignified as it follows all the procedure but it does not look awkward. The entire Royal family follow all the processes, right from meeting the people to giving a personal touch to the entire event which make them dear to the people. The British monarchy is a democratic institution which has kept people attached to its ‘glorious’ past, ofcourse, it is not so glorious for many but it survived because it rarely interfered in the democratic process and moved with the passage of time. Unlike many other countries where monarchy interfered in the political process every moment, the British Royal kept them relevant by remaining irrelevant to the political process. 

For the former colonies of British Empire, we have a right to question their motives and loss of inheritance as well as exploitation of our resources but nothing will move unless we as a society and as a nation do not democratise our entire process, built up independent institutions, bring our diverse communities together and not to make them fight against each other for our narrow political goals, develop credible education system which open up the minds of our scholars. It is a fact that power elite controlled the system and British caused us enormous loss but the same question can be asked by the Dalits and Adivasis in India to its brahmanical elite whether they ever thought of apologising to these communities for the historical wrongs done to them snatching their right to education to right to own land and property. We all have our dark chapters and the best way forward is to build up a humane, rule based society which ensure each one of us get opportunity to flourish and live our life with respect and dignity. Colonialism is past but capitalism is the new form of it carrying it forward through our elite class, educated young, scholars, doctors and engineers have been exported to their ‘former’ colonial masters and back home we ‘clap’ for them as ours while they serve the purpose of the latter. The process will continue as long as we have inability to create credible institutions, Universities and colleges. Now, you cant blame the colonial power all the time as they will only say what have you done yourselves when you got the opportunity to rule. We are divided more than ever at the moment and we can not blame the British for the same when those who rule us create a false nationalism whose only meaning is to create two kind of citizens, one with the rights and other as an occupied one. We need to learn from our own faults and now we can not blame the colonial masters for all the evils that we have today and are unable to resolve our crisis. Caste discrimination and untouchability was not the creation of the British in our part of the world and even after seventy years, we are unable to remove it and fight against it shows our political commitments towards it.

Isn’t it a fact that our democratic rulers are worst than the monarchy with obscene love for ‘royalty’ and its style. Look the way our ‘netas’ live and spent money luxuriously on their ‘safety’ ‘security’. The Coffin of Queen Elizabeth travelled in a small cavalcade of 6 car with a ‘security’ protocol on the ‘bike’. Is it possible to have the similar in India. A local MPs cavalcade carry more than fifty cabs and if a Chief Minister move from one place to another, we stop the traffic and the cavalcade will have more than 100 vehicles of different variety. If the Prime Minister travel than you can not imagine what will happen. Have we ever seen our prime minister meeting people in person, shaking hand with them?

There is a big cultural difference. Feudalism is part of our structure and even we call ourselves democratic, our political leaders are our mybaap, and common person look towards them as a messiah. We don’t look towards our leaders as a fellow human being but as somebody specially created. The result is we are a democratic monarchy where we elect a new monarch as prime minister whose words and actions only reflect monarchy even if he talks about democracy. A feudal and caste ridden society can not create a powerful democracy unless we become socially democratic as Baba Saheb Ambedkar said and India need to do much more in this regard. Shashi Tharoor’s reparation demand from the British would have sound ideologically correct if he had also spoken about the dirty caste system and whether the brahmanical elite in India will do the same as it is demanding from the British.

Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Vidya Bhushan Rawat

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गरीबों का आरक्षण —— Vidya Bhushan Rawat

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Vidya Bhushan Rawat

आर्थिक आधार पर आरक्षण के प्रश्न को लेकर इस समय सुप्रीम कोर्ट मे एक सुनवाई चल रही है। वैसे भी सरकार ने संसद मे 103 वे सवैधानिक संशोधन के बाद 10% आरक्षण आर्थिक आधार गरीब ‘सवर्णों’ के लिए कर दिया है। सुप्रीम कोर्ट को इस पर सुनवाई करनी है लेकिन हम सब जानते है इसका क्या होगा। दरअसल आरक्षण एक ऐसा विषय है जिसने भारत मे मलाईदार तबकों को बेहद उद्वेलित किया है क्योंकि आरक्षण के कारण इन तबकों का सत्ता पर नियंत्रण लगातार घट रहा था। 7 अगस्त 1990 को तत्कालीन प्रधानमंत्री विश्वनाथ प्रताप सिंह के द्वारा पिछड़े वर्ग के सदस्यों के लिए मण्डल आयोग की सिफ़ारिसों को स्वीकार करने के कारण इन तबकों मे खलबली मच गई और एक राजनेता जिसे राजर्षि और मिस्टर क्लीन का खिताब दिया गया था भारतीय राजनीति के इतिहास मे सबसे बड़ा खलनायक बना दिया गया। आरक्षण को खत्म करने की राजनीतिक रणनीति मण्डल आरक्षण के बाद से ही शुरू कर दी गई और इसके पहले हीरो थे पी वी नरसिम्हाराव जिन्होंने निजीकरण की बात को आगे बढ़ाया और उसके बाद की सरकारों ने निजीकरण को अपने लिए राजस्व प्राप्ति का साधन बना लिया। अटल बिहारी वाजपेयी ने एक मंत्रालय बनाया जिसका काम था सरकारी कॉम्पनियों को बेचना और इसे ‘विनिवेश’ मंत्रालय का नाम दिया गया और इसके ‘पथप्रदर्शक’ थे आरक्षण और बाबा साहब की नीतियों के विरुद्ध दुष्प्रचार करने वाले ‘बुद्धिजीवी’ अरुण शौरी। बाद मे डॉ मन मोहन सिंह के नेत्रत्व मे यू पी ए की सरकार बनी और उसमे सामाजिक न्याय की बात करने वाले श्री अर्जुन सिंह को हसिए पर रखने के प्रयास किए गए। अर्जुन सिंह को केन्द्रीय मानव संसाधन मंत्रालय दिया गया लेकिन उन्होंने आरक्षण और धर्मनिरपेक्षता के प्रश्नों पर केन्द्रीय विद्यालयों के पाठ्यक्रमों मे बहुत बड़े परिवर्तन किए जो आज भी मील का पत्थर कहे जा सकते है हालांकि वर्तमान सरकार ने पूरे पाठ्यक्रमों और शिक्षा नीति को बदल दिया है। अर्जुन सिंह के ही मंत्री रहते ओबीसी आरक्षण का प्रश्न हायर लेवल पर जा पहुंचा। प्रमोशन मे आरक्षण को भी मान्यता मिली। आरक्षण विरोधी सवर्ण लाबी ने अन्ना हज़ारे और अरविन्द केजरिवाल के आंदोलन मे भाग लिया और अंततः नरेंद्र मोदी और भाजपा के हाथ मजबूत हुए। 2014 के बाद से ही नरेंद्र मोदी की सरकार ने ये धर्म ही बना लिया कि भारत सरकार की सभी संपतियों को जितनी जल्दी है बेचा जाए और अपने पसंदीदा लोगों को दिया जाए। सरकारी नौकरियों से आरक्षण बिल्कुल खत्म ही कर दिया गया है और विश्वविद्यालयों मे भी कोई नई नियुक्तिया नहीं हो रही है।

टेलीग्राफ अखबार की एक रिपोर्ट के अनुसार, 45 केन्द्रीय विश्व विद्यालयों से प्राप्त जानकारी के अनुसार जिसे संसद मे रखा गया, अनुसूचित जाति का एक, अनुसूचित जन जाति के पाँच और पिछड़े वर्गों के मात्र तीन रजिस्ट्रार है। अप्रेल 1 , 2022 तक के आंकड़ों के अनुसार कुल 12,373 अध्यापकों मे, 1306, अनुसूचित जाति, 568 अनुसूचित जनजाति और 1740 पिछड़े वर्ग से सम्वन्धित थे। बाकी 8386 ‘सामान्य’ वर्ग के पास थी। इसी प्रकार नॉन टीचिंग स्टाफ के कुल 22096 लोगों मे से 2063 एससी, 1186 एसटी और 2342 ओबीसी के थे। यहा भी 16,132 ‘सामान्य’ वर्ग के थे [PTI report on Telegraph]। अगर आप पूरे आँकड़े को देखे तो सभी की संख्या बहुत कम है और इसका मतलब है कि आरक्षण का पालन नहीं किया जा रहा है। 

मण्डल रिपोर्ट के बाद अक्सर ये कहा जाता था कि लोग आरक्षण के विरुद्ध है और यदि मदद करनी हो तो शिक्षा के क्षेत्र मे मदद कर सकते है लेकिन जब दलित-पिछड़े आदिवासी मेरिट लिस्ट मे टॉप करने लगे तो जातिवादियों के लिए समस्या खड़ी हो गई। ये आरोप लगता था कि 10% वाले को 90% वाले के ऊपर थोपा जा रहा था। मतलब ये के आरक्षण का जो नेरटिव बनाया गया वो ये था कि ये ‘अयोग्य’ लोगों को दिया जाता है जिसके फलस्वरूप भ्रष्टाचार बढ़ रहा है और आरक्षण से आए लोग सरकारी दामाद हैं। लेकिन पिछले कुछ वर्षों मे जब से दलित पिछड़े आदिवासी सामान्य सीटों से भी आने शुरू हुए तो सताधारियों को नए तरीके ढूँढने पड़े। पहले जनरल का मतलब होता था सामान्य मतलब सबके लिए जिसके तहत कोई भी आ सकता है लेकिन अब दलित-आदिवासियों-पिछड़ो को सामान्य से बाहर करने के लिए सामान्य का मतलब सवर्ण से हो गया है और वर्तमान सरकार मे उसके अधिकारियों ने तो इस काम को आगे बढ़ा कर अपनी मंशा को साफ कर दिया है। 

सबसे पहले आर्थिक आधार पर गरीबों के लिए आरक्षण दिया गया। सवाल ये है कि यदि आर्थिक आधार पर आरक्षण दिया जाता है तो ईमानदारी से इसमे भी दलित-आदिवासी और पिछड़ो का स्थान पहले आएगा क्योंकि जो भी सर्वे करवा लीजिए भारत मे सामाजिक विषमता ही आर्थिक विषमता की जननी है। सरकार को गरीबों की चिंता नहीं है बल्कि उसके नेताओ मे इस बात की परेशानी साफ झलकती है के किसी तरीके से दलित -पिछड़े-आदिवासियों का प्रतिनिधित्व कम क्या जाए। पिछड़े वर्ग के लोगों मे भी वह विभाजन करवा रही है और दलितों मे भी। अति दलित, आति पिछड़ा आदि पर ध्यान दिया जा रहा है। सरकार कहती है के इन सभी वर्गों के मलाईदार तबके ही आरक्षण का लाभ ले रहे है इसलिए वो आरक्षण के अंदर आरक्षण करना चाहती है और इस बात को सबका समर्थन  मिल रहा है। एक सवाल जो बार बार उठाना चाहिए लेकिन कोई उठाता नहीं है वो यह कि आखिर सवर्णो के आरक्षण मे कौन जातिया माल खा रही है? क्या किसी भी कोटा को मात्र सवर्ण कहकर आप उन जातियों के साथ न्याय कर पाएंगे जिनकी सत्ता मे भागीदारी बहुत कम है। 

इस सवाल का उत्तर हमे उस ब्राह्मणवादी नेरटिव बनाने वाली मशीनरी से मिलजाता है जिसने उत्तर प्रदेश मे अलग अलग समय मे हर एक नेता पर अपनी जाति का फैवर करने का आरोप लगाया । मायावती पर चमारवाद, अखिलेश पर यादववाद के आरोप लगाए। योगी आदित्यनाथ पर भी उत्तर प्रदेश मे ठकुरवाद फैलाने के आरोप लगाए गए। मै इन प्रश्नों के उत्तर इन जातियों के सत्ता मे भागीदारी से देख रहा हूँ। दरअसल उत्तर प्रदेश मे प्रसाशन मे जातियों का प्रतिनिधत्व बताया देगा कि उत्तर प्रदेश मे सबसे बड़ी ताकत किन जातियों की है। आखिर किस बिरादरी के कितने अधिकारी है ये तो नेताओ को और पत्रकारों को भी पता होगा। जूडिशीएरी भी ये बात जानती है क्योंकि ये बहुत बड़ा काम नहीं है जब हम ये पता करें के इलाहाबाद और लखनऊ की हाई कोर्ट बेंच मे सबसे अधिक जज किसे बिरादरी के हैं? उत्तर प्रदेश मे आई ए एस किस बिरादरी के हैं? उत्तर प्रदेश मे अखबारों मे मालिक और उनके संपादक, पत्रकार किस जात के लोग है? उत्तर प्रदेश के विश्वविद्यालयों मे किसका कब्जा है? अगर आपको पता नहीं है तो कृपया पता कीजिए। इसलिए बार बार मे कहता हूँ जातियों का नाम लिखिए। सवर्ण या पिछड़ा या दलित बोलकर काम नहीं चलेगा। 

सवर्णों का नाम लेकर जो जातिया सत्ता मे आ रही है उन्हे देखे क्योंकि सवाल अब प्रतिनिधित्व का है और मात्र सवर्ण कहकर ब्राह्मण-बनिया मोनोपॉली को आप छुपा नहीं सकते। आप जूडिशीएरी और मीडिया मे देखिए कौन हावी है?  2018 से सरकार ने सिविल सेवाओ के लिए लैटरल एंट्री की व्यवस्था कर ली। मतलब ये कि ‘विशेषज्ञता’ के नाम पर लोगों को सीधे जॉइन्ट सेक्रेटरी, डायरेक्टर या उपसचिव तक मे नियुक्त कर दिया जाएगा। पहले पाँच लोग लिए गए। वैसे उनकी जातिया ढूँढ़नी चाहिए और आसानी से पता चल भी जाएंगी। अक्टूबर 8, 2021 को द हिन्दू अखबार की एक रिपोर्ट के मुताबिक केंद्र मे कुल 275 महत्वपूर्ण पदों मे अभी 13 अनुसूचित जाति, 9 अनुसूचित जनजाति और  19 अन्य पिछड़ा वर्ग से हैं।

वैसे यू पी एस सी की भर्तिया या बड़े बड़े स्थानों पर तो खबरे पता चल जाती है लेकिन हकीकत ये है के विश्वविद्यालयों मे जिस बेशर्मी से ये काम हो रहा है वो शर्मनाक है। अभी अगस्त 2022 मे जननायक चंद्रशेखर विश्व विद्यालय बलिया मे ‘अनारक्षित’ स्थानों पर जो नियुक्तिया हुई है वो अगर जातिवादी नहीं है तो क्या है ? हिन्दी, समाजशास्त्र, राजनीति विज्ञान और अर्थशास्त्र विभागों मे अनारक्षित और आर्थिक रूप से कमजोर वर्ग के नाम पर जिस प्रकार से ब्राह्मण भूमिहार लोगों की एंट्री की गई है वो दिखाता है के कैसे ये ताकते है जो मीडिया मे नेरटिव सेट करती है और अपनी बेशर्मी की खबरों को या तो दबा देती है या तो उन्हे मेरिट के नाम पर सही साबित करते है। सत्ता मे भागीदारी सभी को चाहिए और इसलिए इसकी सही जांच के लिए एक आयोग बने और हर एक जाति का उसमे पार्टिनिधित्व देखे और फिर उसके बाद निर्णय हो कि किन जातियों का प्रतिनिधित्व कम है और किनका अधिक। सवर्ण आवरण पिछड़ा नाम लेकर लड़ने वालों को सभी स्थानों मे जातियों के आधार पर उनका प्रभुत्व देखना पड़ेगा। आज सभी को प्रतिनिधित्व की जरूरत है और तभी भारत सही मायनो मे आगे बढ़ेगा और मजबूत बनेगा नहीं तो आर्थिक आधार पर आरक्षण ब्राह्मणवादियों की पिछले दरवाजे से एंट्री ही होगा।

विद्या भूषण रावत

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सामंती जातिवाद से आजादी —— Vidya Bhushan Rawat

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विद्या भूषण रावत

राजस्थान के जलोर जिले के सायला क्षेत्र के सुराना गाँव मे स्थानीय सरस्वती विद्या मंदिर स्कूल के तीसरी कक्षा के एक बच्चे इन्द्र कुमार मेघावल को स्कूल टीचर छैल सिंह ने इतना मारा के 23 दिन तक संघर्ष करने के बाद एक नर्सिंग होम मे उसकी मौत हो गयी। ऐसा कहा गया कि छैल सिंह के क्रोध का कारण बच्चे इन्द्र का उसके पानी पीने के मटके को छू देने का है। घटना 20 जुलाई की है और पहले इस घटना की गंभीरता का पता नहीं चला क्योंकि परिवार के लोग अलग अलग अस्पताल मे उसे दिखा रहे थे लेकिन जब स्थिति गंभीर हो गई तो वे उसे गुजरात मे अहमदाबाद दिखाया गया जहा 13 अगस्त को उसकी मृत्यु हो गई। घटना के बाद से ही जालोर मे तनाव व्याप्त है और जिला प्रशासन ने इंटरनेट सेवाओ को बंद कर दिया है। देश भर मे सोशल मीडिया मे दलितों के आक्रोश के बाद राजस्थान सरकार ने एस एसटी ऐक्ट लगाते हुए छैल सिंह को गिरफ्तार कर लिया.  14 अगस्त को इन्द्र कुमार मेघवाल के शव को लेकर जब लोग सरकार से अपनी मांग करना चाहते थे तो पुलिस ने जोर जबरदस्ती से उसका अंतिम संस्कार करा दिया। दरअसल ये पुलिस का हाथरस मोडेल है वैसे पहले भी पुलिस इस प्रकार के घटनाक्रम मे लोगों को एकत्र होने से रोकने के लिए ऐसा करती है। राजस्थान सरकार ने इन्द्रकुमार के परिवार को पाँच लाख रुपये की आर्थिक मदद की है जो दरअसल एस एसटी ऐक्ट के अधीन ही है। विभिन्न सामाजिक कार्यकर्ताओ की मांग थी कि राज्य सरकार को स्थिति की गंभीरता को देखते हुए तुरंत कार्यवाही करनी चाहिए थी लेकिन अशोक गहलोत ने इस पर देर से कार्यवाही की और परिवार को आर्थिक मदद भी बेहद कम थी। यह वही गहलोत है जिन्होंने अभी कुछ दिनों पहले उदयपुर मे अंतकवादियों के द्वारा मारे गए टेलर मास्टर कन्हैया लाल के परिवार को पचास लाख की मदद की और उसके दोनों बेटों को नौकरी देने का वायदा किया। सवाल ये है के अशोक गहलोत इस मामले मे क्यों ढीले दिखाई दे रहे है ? वैसे देखा जाए तो विपक्षी भाजपा भी इस विषय को उस तरीके से नहीं उठा रही है और वह इसे केवल काँग्रेस सरकार की असफलता कह रही है। इस विषय मे बसपा ने ही पूरी ताकत से सवाल खड़े किए है लेकिन ग्राउन्ड मे तो चंद्रशेखर आजाद और उनकी पार्टी के लोग ही दिखाई दे रहे है।

घटना को लेकर दो प्रकार की प्रतिक्रिया आ रही है। अधिकारी और छैल सिंह के परिवार और मित्र लोग ये कह रहे है के छुआछूत की कोई घटना नहीं थी क्योंकि स्कूल मे तो सभी बच्चों के लिए के नल लगा हुआ है। ये भी बताया जा रहा है के स्कूल मे कुल 8 अध्यापकों मे से 5 दलित समाज से है और पहले से ऐसा कोई आपराधिक रिकार्ड नहीं है छैल सिंह का। कई लोग इन्द्र के परिवार वालों और छैल सिंह के लोगों के बीच समझौता की बातचीत का औडियो भी चला रहे है के यहा कोई जातिवाद जैसी बात नहीं है। स्कूल के एक दलित अध्यापक का विडिओ भी कही चलाया गया है के उनके स्कूल मे कोई भेदभाव नहीं होता। मान लीजिए कि स्कूल मे भेदभाव नहीं होता जो मेरे दृष्टिकोण मे बहुत असंभव है। यह उत्तर प्रदेश की बात होती तो मै ये समझ सकता हूँ के अभी बाते इतनी आसान नहीं है हालांकि भाजपा के सत्ता मे आने के बाद से सवर्ण जातियों की चौधराहट बढ़ी है और दलितों पर हमले भी बढ़े है लेकिन फिर भी वहा लोग लड़ रहे है क्योंकि बसपा के उदय के बाद से ही उत्तर प्रदेश मे बहुत बदलाव आए है। फिर पिछड़े समुदायों की पार्टिया भी खड़ी हुई है लेकिन उनके अपने अंतरदवंदों का लाभ मानुवादी शक्तियों को मिला है हालांकि इस पर चर्चा किसी अन्य आलेख मे होगी क्योंकि यहा हम राजस्थान की बात कर रहे है। राजस्थान मे त्राशदी यह है के दलितों का कोई स्वायत्त नेतृत्व नहीं है और उन्हे दो उन पार्टियों पर निर्भर करना पड़ता है जिनका अधिकांश नेतृत्व जातिवादी है। अभी एक विधायक ने त्यागपत्र दिया है लेकिन क्या ये समाधान है ? सवाल इस बात का है के 22 जुलाई को इन्द्र को अध्यापक ने मारा लेकिन इतने दिनों तक क्या लोगों ने कोई प्रयास किए। मतलब ये के क्या इस घटना का पता राजस्थान के जन संगठनों को था या नहीं ? यदि था तो उन्होंने क्या प्रयास किए और यदि नहीं तो ये उनकी असफलता है। 

इस घटनाक्रम से दो बाते उभर के सामने आ रही है। एक यह के राजस्थान मे दलित उत्पीड़न बेहद अधिक है और उत्पीड़न करने वाली जातिया राजपूत, जाट और गुर्जर हैं। अब कौन ज्यादा और कौन कम है इसमे मै नहीं जाओंगा। मुझे नहीं पता के ब्राह्मणों का कितना बरचस्व है वैसे परंपरागत राज्य होने के कारण ब्राह्मणों की सांस्कृतिक सत्ता तो बरकरार है । लेकिन मुख्य सवाल ये है के अशोक गहलोत इस प्रश्न पर बात करने को क्यों तैयार नहीं। क्या सवर्ण लोग अपने किसी अपराधी को अपराधी मानने को तैययर नहीं है ? क्या कोई जाति पंचायत की बैठक हुई है जिसने सरकार पर कोई दवाब बनाया है। यदि राजस्थान मे पानी को लेकर कोई छुआछूत नहीं है तो सरकार बताए नहीं तो स्कूलों का सर्वेक्षण करवाए के वहा दलितों के साथ कैसा व्यवहार होता है। 

अपराधी राजपूत, राजपुरोहित या भौमिक राजपूत  

क्योंकि इस देश मे किसी भी घटना का महत्व उसकी बीभत्सता या क्रूरता से ज्यादा इस बात का होता है के ‘अपराधी’ किस जाति का है क्योंकि हर बात मे राजनीति होनी है इसलिए अलग अलग नेरटिव जातियों के अनुसार बन जाते है। एक शुद्ध मानवाधिकार उल्लंघन का मामला जातिगत राजनीति का हिस्सा बन जाता है। बहुत से लोगों ने कहा के आरोपी अध्यापक छैल सिंह राजपुरोहित समाज से आता है जो ब्राह्मण होते है। दूसरों ने कहा वो राजपूत है और इस प्रकार से लोगों के रिएक्शन जातीय समीकरणों के अनुसार आ रहे है। फ़िर ये बात सामने आई कि वह भौमिक राजपूत है जो राजस्थान मे पिछड़े वर्ग मे आती है और जालोर और उसके आस पास के इलाकों मे इस जाती का बहुत बड़ा दबदबा बताया जाता है। राजपूत इसे पूरी तरह से राजपूत नहीं मानते और ये अपने को किसी से कम नहीं समझते। मामला जो भी हो इनकी स्थिति भूमिहार लोगों के समान है जिनके पास जमीन है लेकिन ये अपने राजपूत कहते है। अब बात ये है के चाहे किसी भी जात का हो, मामला दलित उत्पीड़न का है और उसकी भयवाहता का है इसलिए इसकी न केवल कटु निंदा होनी चाहिए लेकिन ऐसा उदाहरण पेश किया जाए कि स्कूलों मे कोई ऐसी हरकत न कर सके। दुर्भाग्यवश, जो लोग अभी गुजरात मे पिछड़े वर्ग के छात्रों द्वारा दलित वर्ग की महिला द्वारा बनाए गए खाने के बहिष्कार पर चुप्पी साधे थे वे खासा ऐक्टिव हो गए। जिन्होंने तमिलनाडु मे 60 वर्षों बाद भी दलित महिला सरपंच को तिरंगा न फहराने देने की धमकी को लेकर एक शब्द नहीं बोला वो भी आज हैश टैग पर हैश टैग चलाए जा रहे है। सवाल इस बात का नहीं है के राजपूतों ने या पिछड़ो ने या ब्राह्मणों ने छुआछूत की है, सवाल ये है के क्या हम इस पर ईमानदारी से बहस करेंगे। जब एक बच्चे के साथ अन्याय हुआ तो हमे बोलना होगा। छुआछूत का सवाल वर्नवादी व्यवस्था का सवाल है जिसने हम सभी को प्रभावित किया है। ये प्रश्न हमारी चरमराती राजनैतिक व्यवस्था का भी है जो हर मुद्दे को वोट की राजनीति से तोल कर, उसके नफे नुकसान के आधार पर कोई निर्णय लेती है। 

अब जो कहानिया या रही है वे इस प्रकार है। बताया गया है के सरस्वती विद्या मंदिर एक निजी स्कूल है जिसके दो पार्टनर है। एक छैल सिंह था और दूसरा जिंगर, दलित समाज से आता है। ये भी बताया जा रहा है कि स्कूल मे कुल 8 अध्यापकों मे से 5 दलित वर्ग के है और मटके जैसे कोई बात ही नहीं है बस अध्यापक ने मार दिया था। दरअसल ये बताने मे सब पूरी ऊर्जा लगा रहे है के ‘छुआछूत’ नहीं होती। गाँव अच्छा है। हाँ, गाँव अच्छे इसलिए होते है कि हर जाति कि अपनी ‘गिरोहबंदी’ है और सब अपनी ‘लिमिट’ जानते है। जब तक दलित खेत मजदूर, सफाई का काम आदि पारंपरिक काम करते रहेंगे किसी को क्या परेशानी। दरअसल परेशानी तो तब है जब एक सफाई कर्मी का बेटा अच्छे कपड़े पहन ले और बुलेट चलाए या वह बड़ी बड़ी मूँछों पर ताव दे कर सेल्फ़ी ले या शादी मे घोड़े पर सवार होने की जिद करे। अब परम्पराओ मे ये सवर्णों के लिए निर्धारित है हालांकि ये पितृसत्ता ही ही लेकिन ये ब्राह्मणवादी पितृसत्ता है जिसे वे दलितों मे भी नहीं जाने देना चाहते। असल मे दलित मूलतः इन परम्पराओ के बिना ही अच्छे है लेकिन ऐसी परम्पराओ पर क्यों चले जिन पर ब्रह्मणवाद का कॉपीराइट है। 

अब सवाल आता है के मास्टर साहब ने बच्चे को कितना मारा ? मुझे तो नहीं पता लेकिन एक हकीकत है। चलिए मान लिया के उन्होंने बच्चे को  जाति के आधार पर न मारा हो लेकिन मारा तो है। और शायद बेरहमी से मारा तभी तो बच्चे की हालत खराब होगई।  क्या अध्यापक द्वारा बच्चे को मारा जाना अपराध नहीं होना चाहिए। मै इस प्रकार की मार का भुक्तभोगी हूँ। उस समय मै चौथी कक्षा का छात्र था और सरकारी नगर पालिका स्कूल मे पढ़ता था। सबसे किनारे की पंक्ति मे आगे से दूसरे नंबर पर बैठा था। हमारे गुरुजी जिन्हे भट जी कहते थे, गणित पढ़ा रहे थे। वो दौर ऐसा था था जब हम सभी जमीन पर बैठते थे। गुरु जी को मेरे ऊपर गुस्सा आ गया क्योंकि मैंने सवाल का उत्तर लिखने की बजाए प्रश्न ही कॉपी मे लिख दिया। उन्होंने मुझे लातों से मारना शुरू किया और फिर जब लाते थक गई तो बेत से मेरे ऊपर हमला बोला। मेरा सर फट गया और खून बहने लगा। गुरु जी थोड़ा सहम गए और उन्होंने मुझे तुरंत घर भेज दिया। रोते हुए मै घर वापस गया तो मेरे पिता ने स्कूल के प्रधानाध्यापक को इसके विरोध मे एक पत्र लिखा। गुरु जी ने आइंदा से मेरे ऊपर हाथ नहीं उठाया लेकिन उनके कारण मेरे दिल मे जो डर बैठा वो उस क्लास से पास होकर ही खत्म हुआ जब मैं पाँचवी मे चला गया और स्कूल के प्रधानाध्यापक ही हमारे गुरु जी थे और बहुत प्रेम से हमको पढ़ते थे। उसे स्कूल मे दूसरी कक्षा मे मेरे गुरु बेहद हंसमुख स्वभाव के थे और मुझसे अपना कान पकड़वाते थे। चौथी कक्षा की मार इतनी भयंकर थी कि मैंने उन अध्ययपक को जिंदगी भर न माफ किया और न ही उनसे बात की हालांकि वह बहुत बार दिखाई दिए। हमने भी प्राइमेरी कक्षा मे गुरु जी के लिए पानी भरा, उनके घर के काम किए। लड़कियों को खाना बनाने की और लड़कों को दूर नल से पानी भरने का काम मिलता था लेकिन उन कामों को हम खुशी से पूरा करते थे क्योंकि सबको क्लास छोड़कर बाहर जाने का दिल करता था। इसका मतलब यही था कि हमारी शिक्षा प्रणाली ऐसे थी कि वह बच्चों को शिक्षा की तरफ आकर्षित नहीं कर सकती थी, उन्हे कोई सार्थक शिक्षा नहीं दे सकती। 

ये संस्मरण मै इसलिए दे रहा हूँ क्योंकि बच्चों को बेरहमी से मारने की घटनाए होती है और वो उस बात को घर पर भी नहीं बताया सकते। गांवों मे अध्यापक जातीय दुराग्रह से भी मारते है। उत्तर प्रदेश के कई इलाकों मे अभी भी टीचर दलित बच्चों से दूर रहते है और हाथ से मारने की बजाए, लंबी सोटी का इस्तेमाल करते है ताकि बच्चे मे डर भी बना रहे और ‘छूत’ भी न हो। आज भी गांवों मे लोगों मे एक धारणा व्याप्त है के ‘बुजुर्ग’ दिखने वाला अध्यापक जो बच्चों को ‘खूब’ पीटता हो, अच्छा माना जाता है। मैंने ये प्रयोग भी करके देखा था जब मैंने अपने केंद्र मे बच्चों को पढ़ाने के लिए नौजवान अध्यापक रखे तो लोगों को पसंद नहीं आए क्योंकि उन्हे गाँव के बुजुर्ग मास्टर जी ही पसंद थे जो बच्चों को गिनती पहाड़े सुनाने के लिए कहते थे और पीछे बैठकर सुनते रहते थे और जो बच्चा कुछ गलत बोल दिया तो फिर सोटी घुमा देते है। मैंने मास्टर जी को कहा के वह बच्चों को न मारा करें लेकिन बाद मे पता चला कि उन्हे तो गाँव के लोगों का समर्थन कि वह बहुत अच्छा पढ़ाते है। 

आज राजस्थान मे जो हुआ है वो शर्मनाक और निंदनीय है। हम अपने बच्चों के साथ कैसा व्यवहार करते है वो दिखाई देता है लेकिन उससे भी खतरनाक ये तब होता है जब समाजों के बीच मे इसको लेकर अलग अलग नेरटिव बनने शुरू होते है। अब सवर्णों का समूह ये कह रहा है के दलितों की और से बाहर के लोग इसको हवा दे रहे है और छैल सिंह ने ऐसे ही चांटा मारा होगा तो ये बात तो नहीं पचती। पानी की टंकी के हाल भी दिखाई दे रहे है और ये के वो तो नई नई लग रही है जिसे मैनेज किया गया है। वैसे स्कूलों मे अध्यापक अपना पानी हमेशा से ही अलग से लाते है और ये तो गारंटी है कि अध्यापक उस नल से पानी पी ही नहीं सकते जो हम फोटग्रैफ मे देख रहे है। नेरटिव मे ये अंतर भारत की जातीय विभाजन को दिखाता है और ये इसलिए होता है क्योंकि संविधान की शपथ लेकर जो लोग अपने पदों पर पहुंचते है वे उसके प्रति ईमानदार नहीं है। हमारा संविधान सत्ता तक पहुँचने की गारंटी है लेकिन वहा पहुंचकर हम अपनी जातियों के प्रति ही प्रतिबद्ध होते है इसलिए न्याय मिलने मे देरी होती है और लोगों का भरोसा टूटता है। यदि कानून का शासन ईमानदारी से होता तो लोगों को पुलिस और प्रसाशन की रिपोर्ट पर भरोसा होता। फिर अफवाहे मजबूत न होती और फिर लोग अपनी अपनी बिरादरी के अनुसार ‘सच’ नहीं ढूंढते। सत्ता के मनुवाद ने लोगों को अपनी अपनी जातियों के अनुसार घटनाओ को देखने की आदत डाल दी। आप कहते है भारत और पाकिस्तान, हिन्दू और मुसलमान लेकिन हकीकत यह के हर जाति अपने नेरटिव के अनुसार चल रही है और यही कारण है के न्याय नहीं मिलता देश मे पाँच हजार से अधिक किस्म के जातीय ‘सच’ और जातीय ‘इतिहास’ है। 

जातिभेद का यह कोढ़ भारत को खाए जा रहा है लेकिन नेता क्या अभिनेता सभी इस पर तब शिकायत करते है जब आरक्षण का मसला सामने आता है तो कहा जाता है के ‘आर्थिक आधार’ पर आरक्षण होना चाहिए।  सरकार ने जिस बेशर्मी से आरक्षण को तोड़ है और शक्तिशाली जातियों के प्रसासन मे आने का रास्ता बिना यू पी एस सी के बनाया है उसने ताकतवर और सत्ताधारी जातियों मे संदेश भेजा है के वे अपने काम मे लगे रहे और घटनाओ के नेरटिव बदल दे। आज यही शक्तिसाली जातिया गांवों मे मनुवाद का महिमा मण्डल कर रही है। बाबाओ और ज्ञानियों के ‘सत्संग’ गांवों मे लगातार चल रहे है जिसमे न केवल जातिप्रथा को सही ठहराया जा रहा है अपितु लोगों को इतना भ्रमजाल मे फँसाया जा रहा है जैसे हमारी संस्कृति से अच्छा कोई नहीं है। मोदी और संघ की ‘स्वर्णिम भूत’ वाला नेरटिव हर एक समुदाय मे जोर पकड़ रहा है। हर एक को अपने ‘महान’ भूत काल को खंगालना पड़ रहा है इसलिए ‘धर्म संसद’ भी अपने हिन्दू राष्ट्र का ‘संविधान’ तैयार कर रही है जो वर्ण व्यवस्था पर आधारित हो। जब अपनी महानता की बाते बार बार दोहराई जाएंगी तो किसके पास समय है के वह ये कह सके कि हमारी संस्कृति मे जरूर अच्छी बाते रही होंगी लेकिन उसकी बुराइयों पर चर्चा करने पर क्या प्रतिबंध है ? क्या जातिवाद और छुआछूत के प्रश्न पर हमारे प्रधानमंत्री ने कभी एक शब्द कहा ? अगर वह चाहते तो ‘स्वच्छ भारत अभियान’ को सीधे सीधे मैनुअल स्कवेनजिंग खत्म करने और स्वच्छकर समुदाय का सम्मानपूर्वक पुनर्वास से जोड़ सकते थे लेकिन उन्होंने नहीं किया। बजाए इसके उन्होंने इसे इतने हल्के मे बना दिया जिसे लोग तमाशा बनाकर सेल्फ़ी खींचकर अपने दफ्तरों मे लगाने लगे। ऐसे ही घर घर तिरंगा अभियान का हश्र हुआ और अंत मे पता चल के इसने उनके लोगों की 500 करोड़ से ऊपर की इंकम कर दी। गांवों मे गरीबों को जबरन तिरंगा बेचो और अपने दोस्तों को लाभ पहुचाओ। 

जालोर की घटना को इस संदर्भ मे देखे के भारत का राष्ट्रीय नेतृत्व इस पर बात नहीं करना चाहेगा। वो इसे भाजपा बनाम काँग्रेस के नजरिए से बनाकर चुनावी लाभ लेने के प्रयास करेगा लेकिन ये सवाल दलगत राजनीति का नहीं है। ये सवाल है हमारे समाज मे व्याप्त जातिवाद और छुआछूत का जिस पर चर्चा करने के लिए हम सब तैयार नहीं है। क्या हमारी संसद मे दो दिन केवल इस बात को लेकर ही बहस हो सकती है ? क्या हमारे देश की संसद छुआछूत और जातिभेद के बने रहने पर दलितों आदिवासियों से माफी मांग सकती है? जालोर की घटना इस बात का संकेत भी है कि हम एक लोकतान्त्रिक समाज नहीं है क्योंकि राजनीति मे वोट देने से सामाजिक बराबरी अभी तक नहीं आई और मनुवादी सामंतवाद की जड़े मजबूत है और उसके आगे हमारा राजनैतिक लोकतंत्र असहाय है। 

क्या सरकारे इस सवाल पर ईमानदारी से बहस करेंगे ? क्या हमारा प्रशासन तंत्र इस बात को ईमानदारी से सोचेगा कि क्यों वह निष्पक्ष होकर काम नहीं कर पा रहा जिससे उत्पीड़ित परिवार का भरोसा उस पर कायम हो ? कब तक आप हरएक राजनैतिक और सामाजिक प्रतिरोध को राष्ट्र विरोधी और अराजक तत्वों द्वारा प्रायोजित कहते रहेंगे ? ये राजस्थान की बात ही नहीं है कि वहा के गांवों मे ही  आज भी वर्णव्यवस्था का राज है। ये कहानी तो भारत के गांवों की है और शहरों मे भी उसका स्वरूप बदला है। पहले मीडिया मे थोड़ा शर्म होती थी तो कुछ ईमानदारी दिखा देते थे लेकिन अभी तो बेशर्मी से जातिवादी मीडिया ये बताने की कोशिश कर रहा कि ये मामला छुआछूत का नहीं है, कोई मटकी नहीं थी क्योंकि वहा बड़ा नल था। इतनी मेहनत करने की क्या जरूरत है ? केवल ये बता दीजिए कि क्या राजस्थान के गांवों मे छुआछूत  खत्म हो गई है। भारत के गांवों मे ‘भाई चारे’ का असल मतलब ये है कि सब लोग अपने अपने परंपरागत काम मे खुश है और किसी को कोई परेशानी नहीं है। यानि, जब तक लोग जातिप्रथा की व्यवस्था को मान रहे है तब तक कोई परेशानी नहीं और यदि कही कोई गुस्ताखी हुई तभी गाँव का तांडव नजर आता है। सवाल इस बात का है के हमे सब कुछ पता है और परेशानी तब होती है जब कोई बात ‘खबर’ बन जाती है। आप घटना क्रम का अंतर देख सकते है। जब एक मुस्लिम आतंकवादी ने कन्हैया लाल की हत्या की तो उदयपुर मे कई दिनों तक तनाव था और हिन्दुत्व के प्रहरी सबको ललकार रहे थे। सोशल मीडिया मे तो वो वैसे भी वीर है चाहे सीमा पर कभी गए न हो, लेकिन जालोर की इस घटना पर वे चुप है। ऊपर से मीडिया इसमे कोई मनुवादी साजिश नहीं देखता केवल पूरे प्रश्न को भाजपा काँग्रेस के नजरिए से देखकर नए चुनाव की तैयारी हो रही है। 

मैंने ये बात कई बार कही है और आज भी दोहरा रहा हूँ कि भारत की मुख्य समस्या जातीय भेद और छुआछूत है लेकिन महान संस्कृति का ढोंग रचने वाले इन सवालों पर ऐसे चुप रहते है जैसे ये सब अचानक से हो रहा है और फिर हम पूरी घटना को एक व्यक्तिगत हिंसा के नजरिए से देखते है। इन सभी कांडों मे हम लोग उत्पीड़क की जाति तराशते है ताकि हमले का मौका रहे। अब चाहे वह राजपूत हो या यादव, ब्राह्मण हो राज पुरोहित, भूमिहार हो या थेवर, वॉकलिंगा और लिंगायत हो या रेड्डी, जाट, गुर्जर हो या मराठा, वनियार हो या कममा या कापूस या कुशवाहा, दलितों पर हमला करने मे कोई पीछे नहीं रहा है और न ही ऐसा हो गया है कि इन जातियों ने अपने अंदर से जातीय अहंकार या जातीय घृणा कम कर दी हो। अगर इस लड़ाई को मात्र कानूनों तक सीमित रखेंगे तो हमेशा संघर्ष होंगे लेकिन यदि आज समुदायो के अंदर से लोग और संघठन खड़े हो जाए और ऐसे घृणित काम को नकारे और नए सिरे से गांवों मे सामाजिक लोकतंत्र बनाए तो फिर बात बन सकती है। यदि विभिन्न जातियों के लोग ये चाहते है के एक व्यक्ति की हिंसा या कुकर्म के कारण सारे समाज को बदनामी न झेलनी पड़े तो सबको हिंसा और घृणा का प्रतिकार करना पड़ेगा। जातिया सर्वोच्चता के सिद्धांतों को खारिज करना पड़ेगा और कम कम लोगों को उनके तरीकों से रहने, खाने, पहनने की तो छूट होनी पड़ेगी। 

शासन के लिए जरूरी है के उसके अधिकारी अपनी जातियों के प्रति नहीं संविधान के प्रति समर्पित बने और समय सीमा के अंदर अपनी जांच खत्म करें।  एस सी एस टी ऐक्ट के तहत कितने मामले अपने अंत तक पहुंचे है इसकी जांच हो। क्यों मामले अंत तक नहीं पहुंचे है बताए। राजस्थान मे दलितों के नरसंहार की सबसे बड़ी घटना 5-6 जून 1992 मे कुमहेर मे हुई थी जिसमे जाटों ने  17 दलितों को जिंदा जला दिया गया था लेकिन 30 वर्षों बाद भी इस घटना के कातिलों को सरकार सजा नहीं दिला पाई। इसी वर्ष अंबेडकर जयंती पर गूजरों ने दलितों पर हमला किया था। सरकार और समाज दोनों को इन मसलों पर गंभीरता से विचार करना होगा कि आखिर दलितों पर हो रहे इन क्रूर हमलों के मूल मे हमारी जातिवादी मनुवादी व्यवस्था है और अगर स्कूलों, कालेजों, खेतों, गाँव की चौपालों, विधान सभा और संसद मे इस पर चर्चा नही होगी तो कहा होगी। जातिवाद के खिलाफ लड़ाई मे हमसब को आना होगा। अपनी सुविधाओ के अनुसार क्रांतिकारी दिखने वालों से बचना पड़ेगा और कानूनों मे प्रावधान कर मुआवजे की राशि को बढ़ाया जाए, एफ आइ आर लिखने मे देरी और पोस्ट मॉर्टम के समय मे उपस्थित लोगों का विवरण भी आधिकारिक तौर पर होना चाहिए। अगर किसी  गाँव या व्यक्ति के विरुद्ध दलितों के खिलाफ हिंसा या धमकी की लगातार शिकायते आए तो उस पर न केवल जुर्माना लगाना चाहिए अपितु सरकारी योजनाओ का लाभ उन जातियों या व्यक्तियों  को बिल्कुल न दिया जाए जो जातिवादी हिंसा और छुआछूत करती है। आज जरूरत इस बात की है कि बात बात पर बुलडोजर चलाने वाले और उसे पसंद करने वाले लोग छुआछूत और जातिवाद के खिलाफ बुलडोजर चलाने की बात कब करेंगे ? फिलहाल, अशोक गहलोत और काँग्रेस पार्टी की इस विषय मे निष्ठा पर भी सवाल है क्योंकि राहुल गांधी और प्रियंका ने इन्ही  जैसे सवालों पर हाथरस और उन्नाव कांड मे आंदोलन किया लेकिन राजस्थान के सिलसिले मे वह चुप रहे या बहुत देर से बोले, ये निराशाजनक है। जातिवाद और छुआछूत को लेकर काँग्रेस पार्टी को अपना मन्तव्य साफ करना चाहिए और भविष्य मे वह किस प्रकार से इस सवाल का समाधान चाहती है उस पर भी बात रखनी पड़ेगी। फिलहाल, हम उम्मीद करते है के राजस्थान कि इस घटना की फास्ट ट्रैक कोर्ट मे जांच हो और इन्द्र कुमार के परिजनों को पर्याप्त मुआवजा और उनके परिवार की अन्य मांगों को राजस्थान सरकार को शीघ्र  पूरा करना चाहिए ।

Vidya Bhushan Rawat

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Dangerous trends and need for greater restraint and autonomous institutions ——— Vidya Bhushan Rawat

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Vidya Bhushan Rawat

The Supreme Court has dismissed a plea by Nupur Sharma for clubbing together all the FIRs against her in different parts of the country. But before rejecting her plea, the court passed strong observations against her. The Court said that ‘she was single-handedly’ responsible for what is happening in the country today. The courts also observed that whatever happened in Udaipur was because of her observation. Justice Suryakant actually asked her to apologise to the country and said that she was the spokesperson of a political party and should have been more restrained. 

After the Supreme Court’s observation, suddenly, there is a return of faith in our ‘institutions’. Actually, what can we do except to have ‘faith’ whether we like it or not, Supreme Court is the final authority over anything that happen around us and hence whether we have faith or not, we have to accept its verdict.

However, as I said many times, in the last few years, we have more lectures and lesser judgement which provide us hope for the protection of freedom of expression and human rights. There used to be off the record observations, but now there are open observations, but they do not necessarily form the part of the Court order or judgement, but they create an impression which is difficult to ignore the lower courts which might make a person guilty much before the trial has begun.

Different yardsticks

Just a few days back, the Supreme Court dismissed Zakia Jaffari’s petition on the Gujarat riots in 2002 when her husband Ehsan Jaffari was brutally burnt to death at the Gulbarga Society in Ahmedabad. Ehsan Jaffari was a freedom fighter, a Congress leader and former Member of Parliament belonging to the Congress party.  She had been pursuing the case and had a right to be heard. There were people who stood with her and supported. Activist Teesta Setalvad stood with the people and was instrumental in getting many of them justice. We don’t know, but possibly she was also helping Zakia Jaffari in filing her petition or providing her legal guidance to fight the case. The court finally found no merit in Zakia Jaffari’s petition and dismissed it. But that was not all, it actually made strong remarks against Teesta Setalvad and two other police officers who were instrumental in helping many of the victims. It was like punishing the petitioner or human rights defender as why they stood with the victims. There is a dangerous precedent here, which is any petitioner who is unable to ‘win’ the case in the Supreme court, might be pulled up for ‘conspiring’ against the state or the prime minister or any leader. 

Look at the police response to the two orders of the Supreme Court. Immediately after the Supreme Court delivered its final order in Zakia Jaffari case, STF of Gujarat police arrested activist Teesta Setalvad from her residence in Mumbai. The other noted arrest in the case is Mr R B Sreekumar, former Director General of Police, Gujarat.  Former IPS officer, Sanjeev Bhat is already languishing in jail for years too was named by the apex court in the conspiracy angle to defame the then chief minister Narendra Modi.

Nupur Sharma remains out without any action her as Justice Suryakant had already spoken in the court, getting the VIP treatment, but on the other side, Delhi Police arrested one of the founders of Alt News, Mohammad Zubair, from his Bengaluru residence for posting a tweet in 2018 which according to the police hurt the sentiments of Hindus. The tweet was nothing but clipping of an old film made by Hrishikesh Mukherjee. It is also reported that the anonymous twitter handle, under whose complaint Zubair was arrested actually did not exist and is not available on twitter but the action on the complaint has already taken. At the Delhi High Court, Solicitor General appeared on behalf of the complainant and the date for next hearing was fixed after four weeks. We don’t know whether Zubair will remain in jail or some lower court will give him bail. 

Crime against humanity in Udaipur

In the meanwhile, an atrocious terror incident has happened in Udaipur, Rajasthan where two terrorists who happened to be Muslims brutally murdered a tailor named Kanhaiya Lal for his alleged blasphemous Facebook post supporting Nupur Sharma. The incident enraged the entire country, but a timely action by the Rajasthan government helped douse the tempers which were being aggravated as the elections are due in Rajasthan next year hence attempt was made to keep it boiling and get the political mileage. The Hindutva organisations have been blaming Rajasthan government for inaction, but there are certain things which need to be clarified here. That this heinous act of terror was condemned by the Muslims activists, individuals as well as political leaders. The accused were almost immediately arrested by the Rajasthan police.

Contrary to this look at the action of the government as well as the political leaders of the similar crime committed by Shambhu Lal Raigar when he chopped off the head of a Bengali labourer for alleged Love jehad, made the video and posted it online. Raigar was made a hero and there were people who came out in his support. We don’t know where is the case and why it was not fast tracked when Vasundhara Raje Scindia was the chief minister of the state.

Now, there are several questions which need to be understood and probably one can disagree with the Supreme Court’s observation as they do not reflect in the final order related to Nupur Sharma. The point is that the court observed that she should apologise to the nation, but why didn’t the court order her arrest if it was so much disturbed by her statement. All the observations are oral and means nothing as far as the case is concerned. Nupur Sharma’s lawyer had to withdraw her case. I don’t think she was wrong in asking the court to club together all the petitions or FIR filed against her because of the ‘threats’ that she now might have from the radical groups.

The role of the Supreme Court is to look into the constitutionality of an issue, and whether any one of us have violated it or gone beyond it.  The Courts are here to protect our rights, but in recent years, a pattern has been normalised, which is that most of the judgements have two parts. One is theoretical aspect and the other operative part. That apart, court makes lots of comments. Unfortunately, most of the cases, the Court’s observations find more space in the media than the real judgement and unfortunately most of the observations have rarely found a place in the written judgement. So, despite all the hypes, Nupur Sharma’s lawyer withdrew the petition, but all that the judges said so ‘powerfully’ does not form the part of the order. Though it is also a fact that the court did not give her any relief which she wanted, but that is the crux of the problem because the state can use such tactics against others who they dislike. 

The issue of Frivolous FIRs needs to be dealt with seriously

Now, a trend has also been observed that whenever a political party want to create trouble for its opponents, it actually encourages its cadres and leaders to file cases in different states against the individuals. Many activists, authors and journalists are facing this and they don’t even know where the cases against them have been filed. Any unknown entity’s feelings are hurt and the case is filed in a local case. In many cases, both the BJP as well as the Congress was responsible for doing this. In the Arnab Goswami case various FIRs were filed against him in several states, but the Supreme Court took a strong view and asking all of them to be clubbed together and transferred to Mumbai or Delhi. Even when we disagree with Goswami and his ranting, I think, this issue is serious because procedures have become punishment for the human rights defenders. It is a direct threat to not only activism, but also free thought and freedom of expression. How can any one expresses his views if one does not know that some body’s feeling might get hurt and someone can file a case at a remote place. Those who are in the organised sector, have powerful background and back up whether they claim to be with some parties or not, can survive as they can afford to have a lawyer to defend them in the court of law but those who write just for the sake of convictions and without making any money or being part of any organised political or ‘civil society’ structure, they might face bigger problem. It will just compel them to keep quiet. Such things will be disastrous as those voices are needed more who are individuals and outside the organise groups of competitors today claiming to be the ‘real’ Indian. There cannot be different yardsticks in this regard, particularly when FIRs are filed in different places with anyone in the name of feeling getting hurt. These are deliberate political tactics to humiliate a person to engage him in procedures which are cumbersome and expensive too.

Is Nupur Sharma responsible for the current crisis?

Is the current crisis really started by Nupur Sharma? Yes, she crossed her limit, but for that we need to look a record of the ruling party’s spokespersons and TV channels spreading lies and hatred. The IT Cell provides distorted and mischievously edited clips of the opponents and that are circulated through not only social media, but magnified through television channels as prime time debates revolves around them. Is it possible for these spokespersons to cross the line without the encouragement and blessings of the top leadership of the ruling party? Has any one of the top leaders of the ruling party ever expressed regret, pain, shock of what has been happening in the country during the last five years? Has there ever been an appeal of communal amity so often used by Indira Gandhi and other leaders.

 Contrary to peace appeal, a pattern that developed was to legitimise and justify things according to political perceptions. The anchors were facilitating the hatred against minorities particularly Muslims. The debate today is not about the socio-economic issues of all but our birth-based identities which are not chosen by us. Someone is a hero and other has been a villain just because of his or her faith. While Muslims have unequivocally condemned the crime in Udaipur, the Hindutva groups have always tried to justify the killings of the innocent people such as the similar murder by Shambhu Lal Raigar or the lynching of Pahlu Khan or Akhlaque whose lynching was celebrated by the Hindutva groups.  In the last few years the atmosphere has been vitiated particularly on our prime time shows which are actually promoting hate filled political agenda. The spokespersons are competing along with the anchors to get attention and then get ‘out of turn’ promotion and benefit of being member of ruling party. For that they are ready to cross the ‘limits’ of decency and physically fight in the studio. The anchors are ready to push the war further as aggression and shouting brings TRPs. More than that, such aggression help divert the real issues of the public and humiliate the minorities and in this case, the Muslims as it fetched politically to BJP hence all their spokesperson make every effort to humiliate the Muslims, for they know well that most of those in the TV studio will not be able to respond and the anchor will ensure that the humiliation is complete. The fact is that these TV debates are nothing but deliberate pushover agenda where anchor allow you to play your politics. In fact, it would have been better for the Supreme Court to take up the issue of media and frame a guideline. Don’t we know how channels are spewing venom daily and all this is not possible without the blessings of the top political leadership. Can the courts act against the channels? Can they frame guidelines and seek responses from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting regarding hate speeches? That ‘Sudarshan news’ is a channel and Suresh Chavhankve is a journalist can only happen in a country where autonomous institutions have decided not to act against people and channels spreading hatred, prejudices and open threat against minorities. Who will take notice of it. The open threat, intimidations and distortion remain unchallenged institutionally and that shows the political clout of the channels and their owners who have gotten a free hand to issue open threats to minorities in the name of ‘freedom of expression’.

Blasphemy laws must be abolished

It is also a reality that Muslims normally have not agitated on any other issue except the issue of Islam and Prophet Mohammad and there are sacrosanct for them.  It is a global phenomenon and many of the Islamic countries have extremely dangerous blasphemy laws which are often used against dissenters and minorities. The punishment of these blasphemy laws normally death penalty through primitive torturous and brutal methods. Often, political leaders and religious leader speak loudly on these issues, suggesting that ‘Muslims’ won’t speak on anything but are extremely sensitive on the issue of Prophet Mohammad. The Hindutva counterpart of blasphemy laws in India is the Cow protection laws and conversion laws. The unfortunate part of all these ‘laws’ is that people don’t wait for the courts to give a final judgement. Emotions and rumours make the maddening crowd takes the law into its hand and the administration becomes ‘helpless’ or plays a supportive role everywhere to the majoritarian ‘emotions’ and ‘sentiments’. For the first time in the last few years, Muslims in India actually spoke up for their democratic rights with a large of women’s participation. Issue of CAA and NRC disturbed them as there was no effort to assuage their feeling and the entire community was made to believe as if they were being thrown out of India. The feeling of insecurity was powerful but people resorted to peaceful protests, sitting and Dharanas but that was countered by media lies and the harshest response by many of the states. Many people have been jailed and their houses got demolished, but we have not heard a categorical response so far that evictions and demolition is not the way out and are actually against the constitution as well as international law. You cannot declare an accused as criminal and decide yourself without following the due process of the law. A State that way has much bigger responsibility than individuals because the state is legitimised through constitution and due process of law. The State must set up example to follow the rule of law so that people follow it. Intimidations will never make people to follow procedures and rules otherwise western countries would have been the worst because they have the minimum number of police on the street and people follow the rule of law on their own. This responsibility only comes when there is a trust between the state and its citizens. The State is not here to boss over people by intimidating them, but must open channel of communications which is absent these days.

It is not surprising that all the voices that came from the middle eastern countries against Nupur Sharma’s fulminations were those countries where blasphemy is a crime and attract the death penalty. While Nupur Sharma may have spoken deliberately to fulfil the agenda of Sangh Parivar here, those who are facing the death penalty or waiting for it in these countries are innocent humanists, seculars-liberals who were just trapped by the majoritarian fanatics just because they dissented or did not agree with their religious viewpoint. In a country like Pakistan, Blasphemy law is used against the poor Christian community of Pakistan, a majority of those are actually Dalit convert and that too from Chura or Valmiki community. How can a 10 years old boy be charged with blasphemy? How can an illiterate sweeper be charged with blasphemy? This is happening in Pakistan and now we are following the same pattern. 

Shockingly, while the middle eastern countries were vocal against Nupur Sharma, they remain silent on the Udaipur Murder? Why?  The problem is that the kind of argument which the murder of Udaipur gave are often heard among the clergy. The same countries do not speak on violence and discrimination against Muslims in India. So, the fact is Muslims may be in troubles and might face discrimination in non-Muslim majoritarian societies, but it is not the issue for any of the Islamic nations as they too suffer from the old phenomena that religion is in danger. A historical and powerful religion like Islam cannot be at risk by petty comments on the very similar way about Hinduism or Christianity. A hate speech or a comment which we disagree can be handled academically or even legally, but no need to promote primitive barbaric methods to deal with such acts.

Differentiate between hate speech and right to critique religion or its bad practices

The most dangerous things which we are witnessing today is that hate speeches have grown and being targeted towards the other religions. Television channels are facilitating these debates deliberately. India must have a law against hate speech which is being used frequently for the political purposes and polarise the society. Unfortunately, the hate speeches during elections have gone unpunished as election commission could do nothing, purely because it involves the top leadership of the ruling party. 

The counter to these hate speeches should be constitutional values and not hate speech, but unfortunately it is further creating the rift. Hate speech cannot be overcome through hate speech, but it is also a well-planned strategy. Hate speech actually creates an environment in the opposite side where the similar group of leaders emerge and then they compete with each other to capture the ‘imagination’ of their respective communities. The result is there is little space for reforms. You cannot discuss problems of our own religious values and how we have to reform because in the binary of ‘religion in danger’ and ‘religion beyond criticism’, we actually play into the hands of fanatics and fundamentalists of religion who do not want any reform and will have no issues to discuss. 

Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar, Jyotiba Phule, EVR Periyar spoke about the evils of caste system in the Brahmanical hierarchical society. Shaheed Bhagat Singh spoke about the dominance of religion in our life and why it is important to be rational and work towards people’s cause. It is also important for all of us not to selectively target particular religion, but takes a broader look that most of the religions have wonderful humanitarian ideas and promote universal truth, but it is also a fact that organised religions have led by many heinous crimes against humanity.  In modern societies, we need to bring together the universal ideas of religion, but also not feel offended if someone disagrees with it. Our feeling gets hurt very easily on religious issues, but not on the people’s issues. Untouchability and caste discrimination issues would not have come or outlawed if Dr Ambedkar and other great heroes of our society had not raised and critiqued them.  

While I agree that no mischief should be made when we critique religion and humanists world over are doing that not for the purpose of humiliating or embarrassing a community or an individual, but to protect individuals from the onslaught of people or governments who justify every evil and wrong in the name of religion. Religions world ever gets reformed over a period of time, but it is also true that none of them will ever accept that their ‘holy’ things are ever for scrutiny, but definitely it needs to be a common understanding that we should not develop prejudices against people who believe in this religion or that religion or no religion. At least our laws, constitutions and institutions should show impartiality in this regard and remain absolutely neutral in terms of people’s faith but ready to intervene whenever an individual’s rights are violated because of his differing certain things or not following certain principles. Our fight is the common good and not against individuals or communities practicing certain faiths or no faith. We can not vilify communities and individuals as after all, religion survived for so many centuries not because it has greatness, but because it has a strong social-cultural capital. While religion and religious people-communities are enjoying modern science, technology and democratic rights, religious communities, theocratic societies are unable to tolerate any fair criticism. The Even right to be not religious is not acceptable in such societies. Actually, multiculturalism is the best bet for growing as we will learn to live with each other keeping our religion and faith in absolutely personal domains and developing a common agenda for public spaces. World over, authors, humanist critique religions and have their own views. Bertrand Russel wrote why I am not a Christian and someone else had a problem with Islam and many others wrote critique of Brahmanism or Hinduism, but then this discussion must go as critique help us improve ourselves and not really meant to humiliate people or communities because of their faith but to warn them that everything written in the holy books cannot be true and that we need to grow hand in hand with other communities too.

Let religion be private and constitutional values our common agenda

Today, the world is growing village. We need each other’s help. Communities bring their own experience which ultimately helps us grow together. A country like India is melting pot of various civilisations and they complement us. Our food habits, cuisine, cultural value system only grows and get strengthened by this diversity of culture, hence it is important that we need to come out of the mindset that divide us all the time and try to correct history. You can only learn lessons from history, you can not really correct it as there are hundreds of others who may seek the same questions from you. If the Hindus seek answers from Muslims or Christians, the Dalits, the Adivasis, OBCs seeks the response to the same questions from the Brahmanical elite. Don’t dig the past to humiliate others. Don’t dig past to correct it or do politics as digging will only weaken our secular foundations.   Our constitution, our institutions need to stay strong and autonomous so that even if politicians try to use religion for their political purposes, then these institutions must stand tall and protect us from the forces of divisions.  Once the law is applied to everyone equally the things will improve and as Indians we will be proud of our heritage that ensure that different faiths, cultures, languages, ethnicities thrive here and not merely live here but also enjoy it fully. Let us strengthen India’s diversity by building up relationships and following the constitutional values which does not discriminate on the basis of our birth-based identity but treat us as equal on the basis of our citizenship. Important to understand that growing hatred and divisions will not take us anywhere and it will only weaken us. For a stronger India, we need to follow the constitutional values and treat every citizen as equal, keep faith in your personal domain, stop hating speeches prejudices which will only deepen the divisions. For that to succeed, our institutions will have to protect their autonomy as well as the rights of citizens when they are violated or intimidated.

Vidya Bhushan Rawat


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Justice Rajinder Sachar : A life dedicated to people’s movement, socialist vision and human rights –by Vidya Bhushan Rawat

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Vidya Bhushan Rawat

One does not remember Justice Rajinder Sachar when he was the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court in 1985 but it is a fact that a forthright person like him was never to the liking of those in power.  As a judge in Delhi High Court, he was deeply disturbed and upset with the lack of seriousness and justification of brutal massacres of the Sikhs in the aftermath of the assassination of Mrs Indira Gandhi.  He spoke against it, passed orders but an interference from the then prime minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi, who had a massive mandate in Parliament, Justice Sachar was denied hearing the cases related to 1984 pogrom in Delhi. He had been openly critical of the emergency in 1975 and was transferred from Delhi high court. That a chief justice of Delhi high court could not make it to the Supreme Court then we should understand that the loss was of judiciary and not the other way round. The rest is history. His ‘punishment’ became a boon for the civil liberty movement in India. Perhaps the period post retirement were more fruitful for him and for all those who got associated with him and engaged with him on issues of public concern. It is a reality that anyone who challenged those in power became victim of the power politics.

The fact is that Justice Sachar’s name would come among the top three jurists of India for their remarkable contribution for the rule of law and standing upright to the power as well as defending civil liberties and human rights after they got retired from their ‘official’ work. In fact, they never got retired because all these legends did extraordinary work of service to public life after they demitted their office. They are Justice V R Krishna Iyer, Justice V M Tarkunde and Justice Rajinder Sachar. Interestingly, all the three might not be called the best in the legal profession yet their concern for human rights, human values and social inclusion put them at very high pedestal than those who might be called ‘constitutional experts’. All the three were actually political personalities and participated in political movements and hence the pro-people thoughts were part of their basic DNA. Justice Krishna Iyer was a Minister in the first left government in Kerala while Justice Tarkunde played a very important role during the emergency and was close associate of Jai Prakash Narain, though prior to that Tarkunde was part of the Radical Humanist party formed by M N Roy and Justice Rajinder Sachar came from a very illustrious family background as his father was Bhim Sen Sachar was the chief minister of Punjab and an important leader of the Congress Party yet in thoughts and practice Justice Sachar was deeply influenced by Ram Manohar Lohia and his socialist thoughts in his very young age. In fact, he associated with various socialist political thoughts and talked about an alternative to both the Congress and the BJP.

One of the pioneers of civil liberties movements in India, Justice Rajinder Sachar was a very humble person and easy to access. Unlike many other luminaries, Justice Sachar was more comfortable in sitting and talking with activists of the grassroots. He would stand in solidarity with all the secular liberal forces seeking justice and fair implementation of law. When the human rights organisations were putting pressure for a National Human Rights Commission, he was among very few involved in supporting initiative for it. He was well versed with International affairs and was appointed the UN rapporteur for the Housing Rights but his main concern was the issues of minorities in India and the growing hatred being spread by the Hindu right in India.

Justice Sachar became a household name after the famous Sachar Commission Report that he submitted to the Union government in the year 2006 on the Social, Economic and Educational status of Muslim community in India. Nobody was expecting a miracle from this report. Many were skeptical about the ‘Lahore’ club as upper caste upper elite ‘seculars because Sachar Saheb and others who migrated from Pakistan actually never really bothered too much about the caste discrimination. They were thoroughly secular and would go to any extent to defend the rights of minorities but would rarely speak about the caste discrimination as an issue but the Sachar report surprised many because it did admit unambiguously that Muslims are not a monolith group as being made out and caste system exists among the Muslims in India. Though the issue of the Pasmanda Muslims were already gaining momentum but after the open admittance by the Sachar Committee that there are backward Muslims and they need to be identified and provided protection, the movement gained ground. Till date, a large number of Muslim elite institutions too avoided speaking about the caste discrimination among the Muslims terming it a lie and suggesting that Islam does not permit it but now they have realized that conversion to other religion does not actually remove our caste identity and prejudices remain the same.

Justice Sachar was one of the most active members of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties and was very pragmatic person. People would go to him to seek advice whenever there was a crisis and his words were like final for many.  While human rights were his primary concern yet he was an active political activist whose concerns about growing isolation of minorities particularly Muslims in India was shared by many. Not many among his profession were that forthright as Justice Sachar when he spoke about the politics of intimidation and marginalization of Muslims. It takes a lot of courage of conviction when a man of his stature spoke as why djd not government act against those Hindu dealers who are owners of the slaughter houses and export beef. At the time when beef and Muslims were made synonymous, Justice Sachar openly spoke how a majority of the beef exporters in India are Hindus which infuriated many in the Hindutva camp.

Very few people know that Justice Rajinder Sachar had actually suggested a change in our electoral system and switch to proportionate electorate system. He submitted this to Justice Jeevan Reddy Commission suggesting that vote percentage and seat one must be the same. He was worried about the low voting percentage. When Campaign for Electoral Reforms in India actually organized a National Conference in Delhi in 2012, I had gone to invite Justice Rajinder Sachar for the meeting as I had found out that he had given a written submission to Justice Jeevan Reddy Commission. To my surprise, Justice Sachar said that he does not hold the same view now because now the Dalits and OBCs are coming in fair number in our parliament and no one party has the monopoly in our polity. Justice Sachar came to the programme and so did Justice D.S.Tewatia, former Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, who he recommended. Ofcourse, that day, both of them disappointed.

I was disappointed with the turn of event on part of Justice Sachar for not supporting the cause of proportionate electorate system. Like many others, he too felt it was a bit complicated. He wanted to focus on the other issues of electoral reforms such as corruption, criminalization of the polity and the most important part was that voting percentage must be above 50% if any candidate has to win. I feared that most of the ‘libertarians’ were afraid that the proportionate Electorate System would open a Pandora box and divide the already divided society and hence they wanted to keep it in cold storage.

One thing remarkable about him was his enthusiasm and friendly approach to people. He was much in demand in the conferences, Dharanas and seminars and gave his subjects utter importance. I have observed him on many occasions where he would have spoken extempore but he came with notes and full presentation. He was very comfortable speaking on the issues of Muslims and minorities in India and was fairly popular among them.  Hailing from Punjab, he knew the Islamic culture and was well versed with Urdu language. This was the reason he felt at-home with the Muslim intellectuals and youths.

Partition created psychological scars in both the Hindus and Muslims. Punjab and Bengal were the most affected regions. The world saw the biggest migration of people, unthinkable hitherto from one place to other. Millions were killed. People saw brutalities of worst kind. The Hindu Right worked among these communities in India and the Muslim rights in Pakistan feeding them with all kind of rumours about Muslims and Hindus relatively. That resulted in the large number of refugees in both the countries developed virtual hatred against each other. Their narrative would give worst kind of picture of their ‘enemy’. The ruling elite also encouraged such and got strengthened on the fear psychosis of the people. As a young person he Rajinder Sachar must have seen and felt this and yet he did not succumb to all these narratives and stories that was being regularly fed to people. It needs strong conviction and courage to stand up and challenge these popular narratives when the atmosphere was thoroughly polarized. Perhaps, this was his biggest strength to stand up with the people suffering because of their identity. He has seen Pakistan and the failure of it because of the religious right dictated political system and therefore failed it. In India, thankfully, the first generation of the political leaders despite their differences, were secular and liberal democrats and hence we survived as a democracy and gave minorities equal rights unlike Pakistan. Therefore, it need big courage to stand up against the popular narrative and speak for the rights of all which he did all his life. Right from the issue of Kashmir to those dying in communal violence whether against Sikhs in 1984 or Gujarat in 2002 or Mumbai in 1993, he was always there standing with the communities marginalized by the bureaucratic and administrative structure because of pure communal polarization. He had seen it in pre-partition days, the division and hatred it created and that is why he knew the repercussion of it which made him a person championing the cause of minorities and their rights.

Justice Rajinder Sachar lived every moment of his life. There was never a dull moment for him. In fact he was very serious about socialist party and has been speaking to various people about its vision. At the age of 94 when most of his contemporaries avoided going to political protests, seminars and conferences, Justice Sachar was exception. The last time, we were at one platform was the huge public programme at the Talkatora Stadium organized by All India Milli Council where he spoke and defended the rights of the Muslims a citizen of India. His was the voice of sanity and for much authenticity too. At the moment when our judiciary is facing slumber and conspiracy theories are roaming around as the highest court of the land is under scrutiny, Justice Sachar’s voice would have been very sane and useful for all of us who believe in constitutionalism and rule of law. His death is a big blow to the civil liberties movement in India as well as to all the secular forces who looked upon him as a guardian. The country’s secular liberal democratic space will definitely miss him in these moments of national crisis when his solidarity and presence encouraged activists to fight their battle more vigorously.

Vidya Bhushan Rawat

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In Conversation witih Mr Arun Kumar, General Secretary, Federation of Ambedkarite and Buddhist Organisation, UK

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Mr Arun Kumar is the General Secretary, Federation of Ambedkarite and Buddhist Organisation ( FABO) UK. He originally hailed from Punjab and migrated to UK in 1977 after completing his matriculation. He has been a very hard worker who had documented huge amount of glorious work done by Ambedkarites in United Kingdom. He lives in Bedford which was actually hub of the Ambedkarite movement in UK which actually promoted and encouraged Ambedkarite movement world over. Legendary Ambedkarites like Bhagwan Das, Lahori Ram Balley had been frequent to United Kingdom and hosted by greatly by the Ambedkar Mission people in UK. Before going to present his extraordinary presentation at the UN Human Rights Commission on the condition of Dalits in Asia, Bhagwan Das had stayed for several days in Bedford. Mr Arun Kumar is a key member of the Ambedkarite fraternity in UK and persistently working to strengthen it.

Vidya Bhushan Rawat

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Musings: Christianity’s social message of Love conquers all still remain most powerful

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Vidya Bhushan Rawat

I never got the luxury of studying in the schools owned by the Christians but learn a few things about them when my daughter got the opportunity to study there.  Most of these schools are purely commercial and cater the middle class upper castes. The children will learn values of different faiths in these schools and even if they are teaching Christian values, it is because they are not government schools and hence comparison cant be made but today the Sangh and its PR agents have made all the sarkari schools as Hindu schools and then want the minority institutions not to follow their value system. Though all these institutions have to follow law of the land and there is nothing like an autonomous zone outside the constitution of India. So the farcical narratives emerging from the whatsapp universities of Sangh Parivar must be countered.

This is my narrative of 1999 when we wanted the non-faith school for my daughter also but perhaps atheists and seculars don’t have a space or the schools there were beyond our reach, we zeroed in for a school owned by Christians but in the first year my daughter was denied admission when my wife wanted to push being atheist as our faith. It is not possible, said the father, an adamant, my wife walked out though my daughter got admission next year studied there, none forced anything in terms of religion on her.  I too had a small period of association with a noted Christian institution in Delhi when I enrolled for the mass media courses in the 1990s and most of the staff assigned for us had absolutely brahmanical minds except for very few. In my project report, I decided to analyse the role of media in spreading anti Mandal violence in Delhi and other parts of northern India but later realized that it was a bad subject to do so given the nature of the journalists who were consultants there but to my surprise the guide was happy with the subject and wanted me to explore more. I told him my fear in writing the report and he nodded.

The fact is that Christian institutions in India are not making the best Christians but creating sophisticated Brahmins. Most of the RSS and Sanghi ideologues today must have their background in the elite St Stephens College of Delhi. Whether it is a ‘secular’ Mani Shankar Aiyer or ‘communal; Swapan Das Gupta or middle class Anglican deshbhakt, Shashi Tharoor or business friendly Sangh ideologue of yesteryears, Arun Shourie or BJP spokesperson of past Chandan Mitra, or all have one commonality and that is that they belong to St Stephens College in Delhi and can ‘proudly’ claim being superior to any other institution in India as Mani Shankar famously said about Ajay Makan, who hailed from Hansraj college in Delhi. I don’t know what would be the fate of those like me who never got the opportunity to study in these ‘famous’ institutions as well as hail from not only nondescript places. Most of the Christian Institutions cater the upper caste upper elite and have been best used by them. They are outside the purview of a majority of Dalits, OBCs as well as adivasis except for a few cases which can always come through their own connections.  So, how can these institutions ever raise the issue of social justice and secularism when they are trying to be the B copy of the Sangh school. I can bet now Gayatri mantra, Bharat Mata, Yoga, Vivekananda, Gandhi, Bankim Chandra and hopefully in the coming days, Savarkar, Hedgewar and Deen Dayal Upadhayay too will become part of the cultural assimilation of the Christian Institutions. We have seen it. We blame on Rahul Gandhi as why is he trying to project as a Hindu but the thing we can ask these questions to all those who are not in politics and should have no compulsion. Why are Christian Institution being brahmanised ? Have the RSS succeeded in doing so? I think much before that the brahmanical forces controlled Christian institutions otherwise where are the tenants of liberation theology if the institutions have failed to educate the Dalits, OBCs and Adivasis. Have they provided any reservation for them in their institutions? On an NDTV debate we heard Christian educationists that they provide 40% of education to students outside the government bodies. Now, the question is how much reservation is granted for various students of marginalized communities. Has there been any interest shown by them? As far as I know the same St Stephens college went against the reservation policy of the government under the garb of minority institution and never wanted to provide that to SC-ST students.

The work of Christianity in India cannot be really understood in terms of the elite institution it occupies. It wide work has to be appreciated what thousands of unknown soldiers have worked in remote villages of India where education and health failed. The social message of Christianity has delivered to some of the most marginalized people in India. There are a lot of things to learn from them. The point I wish to make it that while Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and all other faiths in the world are not exactly birth based unlike the manuwadi brahmanical system where your future is caged in the category of caste that you are born. Religions have their own problems and I have fiercely critiqued most of them yet there are commonalities and good points too. There are things which evolve and Christianity has evolved over a period of time. Of course, like any other organized religion, the dominance of the religious right would always be there and a fight between religious supremacy and democratic spirit and values will always be there.

I had no earlier relation with Christianity in childhood except once I saw a congregation of the Sangh parivar who forced a pastor become a Hindu and converted him in a big ceremony. He was asked to chant Hanuman chalisa for several days and asked to reject Christianity but we found out that after some days, he returned to Christianity.  Those were period of early 1980s and I was just a school student so not much known as how did and why it happened. There were two Christian students with us but not much interaction with them during our childhood days. But my real relations started with Christianity after I left home in 1990 and came to Delhi. I wanted to narrate this in the first persons account because it is important that I have never witness any one compelling people to embrace religion. As an Ambedkarite, I have seen the philosophy of Buddhism through embracing new ways of life. Why should one live at a place which has no social message of equality in opportunity. Those who have read Phule, Ambedkar and Periyar would definitely not need to get it explained through those elitist writers who talk of sarv dharm sambhav and therefore create an illusion of tolerance in Brahmanism.

Today, I am a humanist but my journey to become a radical humanist pass through various phases. I grew up in a family where religion was not that hardcore yet my mother was definitely spiritual. She might have been conservative in following certain unharmful rituals but never hardcore orthodox. I won’t go into the details but there was one fact that my childhood to youthful days were in denial mode. In 1990, I was brought to Delhi by one of the best known Indian authors in English language and I felt that a change would come to my life but here his so called family made my life a hell. That was the time when I came in touch with Ambedkarite writings and that of other revolutionaries like Periyar and Jyoti Ba Phule but my social life in Delhi was that of isolation and neglect. The family that I was into ensured that I should not be treated more than a domestic servant and that too like a bonded labour who was not allowed to move out of the home. Frustration started coming in as I had none to look towards in this vast Delhi when the place I was living gave me just a Pahadi identity and an innocent village boy. My ambition to study further never happened. There was none with who I could share my thoughts and pains. Suddenly, a friend in the nearby vicinity, asked me to join with him to a south Delhi free- Church. And then it began a journey which I can’t forget.

Initial days, I would sit in the back of the church because it was the upper middle class kind of church. Because of my pahadi nature, I was more like an introvert. Secondly, hailing from a background of miserable childhood, I had not seen many things and cultural taboos were big problems. At the green park church, I would rarely understand what the pastor was speaking in his typical Malyali English.  Also, it was difficult to understand the theological references for an entirely novice like me but nevertheless, it was a refreshing thing for me that nobody ever asked me as who I was and why I am there. My background never mattered. One day, sitting in the church, one Mrs Marfatia came to me and inquired about me as why I am so alone. I wanted someone to listen to me and she was so happy. For her, it became a kind of idea of offering to help the needy, disillusioned. Slowly, I gained confidence.  In the coming days, I came in touch with another noble soul who was absolutely a wonderful human being. After many days, I decided to take theological classes that she was delivering and thought that I must convert because I felt absolutely lonely and unwanted.  I started taking classes. I was deep in love with Christ and felt that he would resolve my issues. Once inside the church, I felt wanted and not forlorn soul. Interesting part of loving Christ was that love conquer us all unlike the violent gods and goddesses to justify ‘victory’ of ‘dharma’.

In Lucknow, my friend, Namita was already going to Methodist church as Lalbagh. She was another unwanted child at her home. Victim of neglect at just second month of her birth, she had a polio attack which paralyzed her one leg thus compelling her to walk with the help of crutches. Bold, as she was, every step of her was met with equal resistance from the family. Discrimination began at home when a physically challenged girl was working to earn for herself from her graduation days and staying at the girl’s hostel when the family had the big house. Pastor Kuruvilla Chandi and his wife Roshini came as a big support for her. She would park her Kinetic Honda in the church compound to go to her school. It was the Chandis who offered me their hospitality in the church when I used to come to Lucknow in those days to meet Namita. The backyard of the Lal Bagh church was the place where we often met and enjoyed our Sunday mass. Pastor Chandy was an excellent orator and a wonderful human being. The Chandis encouraged Namita and the relationship grew. Namita never converted to Christianity but in thought she was. There was never a force on her to convert but we always felt at home at the house of Chandis and the relationship is still there.

In Delhi, my involvement with Ambedkarite movement made me question many things inside church particularly the issue of the treatment to blacks and Dalits. An issue of black is evil could not convince me and I decided against converting to Christianity. Somehow, I felt, it was more based on faith of miracle than a powerful philosophy. There was no heartburn when I said that I don’t want to convert. The Punjabi Brahmin boy, son of a big man in Haryana, who was my friend those days, converted. After reading Baba Saheb Ambedkar, I realized that religion was not my cup of tea and I can’t sit in organized ignorance of faith but my relations with all the friends remain the same.

I might not have agreed to philosophy of the Christianity but I can say that their social message, their love and affection matters. Years ago, many humanists would quote Tariq Ali’s famous ‘Hells Kingdom’ on Mother Teresa’s work but I only felt that it was a typical western way of looking at things. There was nothing hidden about Mother being a religious woman. People made her Saint and miracle provider and we disagree on both points but for those who believe in miracles that was reality. I also drew closure to Christianity in the initial days because of miracle. I wished to get Namita healed through ‘miracles’ and for that I even paid for Paul Dinanakaran’s special services. I went to attend his huge congregation at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium and realized the farce but that never changed my understanding of Christianity and the people. I don’t want to respect Mother Teresa for her miracles but for her love for the most marginalized, for those who are rejected. A country where touching someone is a crime and in that society, she touched and hugged those who were denied dignity, gave them hope and feeling of acceptance is a huge thing which those who have not faced discrimination perhaps won’t understand. I don’t care if these suffering from various ailments embrace Christianity or not. It is upto others to think as why people convert and I can definitely say that if upper castes might have been converting for money and power, the poor, marginalized in India, convert for dignity and self-respect which has been persistently denied to them in the varnashram dharma.

My wife Namita I came from two diverse backgrounds and places. We had known to each other only through letters those days and it was the church that helped us to unite. We never converted as we felt that God has no space in our personal lives but we always remained in touch with friends and receive all their messages and good wishes. On the other hand, Namita and my marriage had heart burnt among all the friends and my so called relatives. They would come to our place to see her work and make fun of her. Both of us went to my ancestral place nearly after 10 years of our marriage and that too when we could not enter our traditional house. We were virtually boycotted. I never felt that much of isolation in my life. We still live the same kind of isolation even in Delhi but now we enjoy isolation as it has become part of our life. Namita’s self-respect has made her isolated more particularly when the middle classes societies that we live have turned religious and you are expected to participate, donate and devote for all the idiotic things which are happening in the name of religion. We have kept ourselves away from that but face tremendous pressure. It is a difficult journey yet we enjoy it today but we know we are monitored.

I have criticized the church and its elitist attitude but I can say at the common place, the contribution of Christians in India is enormous. All the people born in India embraced various religions because of different reasons. A majority of Christians in India are poor and marginalized communities but those who own Christian institutions are upper caste Christians. Anyway, the community has contributed to India’s strength and none can ignore the three important sectors that Christians actually strengthened in India: civil society, health and education. We hope they will continue to do so.  As a secular humanist, I will oppose too much religious education but I never found that in these institutions. The most important part should be how our education, health and civil society become inclusive and Christian community can help with its vast commitment to social causes as well as the wider network that it has all over the country. The more they spread their outreach the caste forces will be upset with them. We feel at the end it will be Satyamev Jayate and forces of evil and destruction will be destroyed.  It is time people must speak up their own experiences with the community so that the false propaganda is exposed in the greater interest of our combine cultural heritage as well as unity and integrity of the country.

Vidya Bhushan Rawat

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Life of Kalandars in Uttar Pradesh

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Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Kalandars or Faqirs are one of the most marginalised communities among the pasmanda Muslims in India. They face tremendous hardship in villages as none of the locals want them to be in the village. Traditionally, a nomadic community, they developed skill on 'madari' or what we call as roadside Tamasha or roadside animal show like money dancing and bear dancing. They are considered to be as beggars.

Political leaders do not come to them. People dont call them. They are wanted only when some one is dead or in trouble. He says, why should we expect much from others when our own Muslims do not treat us equal.

Now their traditional occupation is gone. Government is not keen. Menka Gandhi has ensured that all those who worked with animals are pushed behind the bar. Frankly speaking, it was an art. If you see the talent and if these children are nurtured, they will give all the professionals of Mumbai as run for their money. So, it was like theatre where these artists would also do mimicry. They work hard to train the animal.

This interaction show how much they work hard and how they loved their animals. Today, they are totally a landless, workless, moneyless community. They dont have ration cards. They dont have land to till. 


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Declare Adivasis as Indigenous people of India

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Vidya Bhushan Rawat

 


Today we celebrate World Indigenous people’s day but in the backyard of the biggest democracy of the world is the systematic isolation and displacement of millions of Adivasis in the name of development. A veteran activist is fighting for the rights of the Adivasis in the Narmada valley, but the government is determined to ‘develop’ the state even when it ensures dislocation of thousands of Adivasis in India. Can we expect anything from those in power who have already decided what is ‘good’ for Adivasis by dislocating them without any honourable rehabilitation? The state does not even allow activist to peacefully protest against a project which has never been shared with those who are going to be affected. The brutal and condemnable police action against the Narmada activists led by Ms Medha Patkar, in Dhar, Madhya Pradesh reflect the methodology of the Indian state which does not believe in dialogue on the issue of ‘development’. Those who challenge it peacefully are anti-national while others who have picked up the guns have only given state legitimacy to brutally suppress the Adivasi revolt in the name of Naxalism. Frankly speaking, fasting methods will not move Indian elites unless it is either done by the prime minister or some Swamies and Babas. Anna Hazare’s fast was to discredit the Manmohan Singh government, and the nation is paying the price for it. Not that we loved Dr Singh but definitely he was much soberer and better than his alternative’.

Medha Patkar has courageously led the movement of the Narmada people for two decades or more, but at the same point of time, there is a need to introspect the strategies adopted by the movement. It needs to push the Adivasi resistance like Jharkhand where they have courageously fought the state apparatus and its attempt to amend the CNTA and SPTA. While no fix module could be developed as things depend on local conditions and many other things but definitely Gandhian methods have kept people apolitical and have only strengthened the opponents. I have never supported Gandhian methods of fasting because the state apparatus knows better when should the ‘fast” be given a national status and when not. Gandhi’s fast could not provide justice to people, neither did it create leadership from those communities for whom it was done. Gandhian fasts are largely meant to strengthen the leaders and not the people most of the time. The focus of a movement should be to politicise the battle and develop young leadership from those sections of society which we lead. That is my criticism of most of the movement as they are built around one person who is a ‘Nayak’ or messiah. All of sudden we take the person to high mountains, make him or her responsible

The focus of a movement should be to politicise the battle and develop young leadership from those sections of society which we lead. That is my criticism of most of the movement as they are built around one person who is a ‘Nayak’ or messiah. All of sudden we take the person to high mountains, make him or her, responsible for the fate of people and after some time the mistakes of these ‘great’ people then cost the entire society too much. It is not merely in political circles, the disease of hero worshipping has ruined democratic processes everywhere right from political parties to social movements to trade unions, or the individual family lives where ‘hero’ cant to anything wrong and can’t be critiqued. India must get out of hero worshipping. It is not merely with Modi or Gandhis, but it exists at every level. We need to focus on developing combined leadership keeping future of the movement in mind. A movement must change our perception too. It has to adopt diverse methods too that develop democratic spirit and democratize our mindset and social behaviour patterns.

Our solidarity with the cause of the Narmada and the heroic struggle that Medha ji has lead so far, but it is also time to think beyond. It would be great if some Adivasi leadership is evolved and allowed to lead the movement and decide their future too. I am not saying this without any reason as we find more and more Sangh Parivar element now active in the Adivasi regions as more Babas, more Eklavya Vidyalayas and more Hanuman Mandirs in these regions. Like Shiv-charcha in Uttar Pradesh, they depoliticised many among the Dalits and OBC communities. It is going the dangerous way in the Madhya Pradesh, Chhattishgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand and other regions.

As we know the Jharkhand government has brought the anti-conversion law which is a deliberate attempt actually to divide the Adivasis on religious line. Such things are bound to happen. It is, therefore, time to develop much more powerful political leadership among the Adivasis who can raise the issue and compel the governments to accept their demands. A movement has to highlight the issues of the people which in all fairness Narmada has done, but it now should take it further in the greater interest of the community. Narmada’s issue is not a merely ecological disaster that it is bound to bring but also annihilation of the Adivasi culture.

The government of India is duty bound to protect the Adivasi land and culture. Today when the world celebrates Indigenous People’s Day on August 9 and lets us remind the government to protect and promote the Adivasis natural habitats, their land and culture but is it possible from those who take pride in their Aryans values and feel everyone living in India is indigenous’ person. It is time for the international community to ask the government of India to acknowledge Adivasis as indigenous persons as only then they would be duty bound to protect them under the international laws for the protection of the indigenous people. India simply has no such laws because it has depoliticised the Adivasi leadership and promoting superstition in the name of culture among them. The state has failed to protect Adivasi zones and whatever little laws are there from the past are being amended to hand them over to greedy corporations.

On the World Indigenous People’s day we realise how in the name of ‘development’ the Adivasi lives are being threatened, their lands are being taken over forcibly, and their areas are being converted into militarised zones to protect those looters who are coming there to mint money destroying the naturally rich environment. The aim of raising the issue of indigenous people meant to protect the Adivasi zones from not merely encroachments of outsiders but also from the mindless destruction in the name of development which has virtually made them landless and homeless in their land. India and its neighbours have deliberately not treated the Adivasi people as indigenous persons for political purposes. The RSS in India has called them ‘vanvasis’ or forest dweller a clever term to defunct the Aryan invasion theory.

India must embrace the UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous People adopted on September 13th, 2007 at the UN General Assembly which is the comprehensive document to protect the rights of the indigenous people and India is duty bound to protect the rights and culture of Adivasis.

Article 10 of the ‘declaration’ says that ‘Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories. No relocation shall take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned and after agreement on just and fair compensation and, where possible, with the option of return’.

In the past 70 years, more than 9 million Adivasis became victims of ‘development’, and the governments have rarely shown any concern about that. If India amends its constitution and technically categorise the Adivasis as Indigenous people, it will be accountable to UN General Assembly on the Indigenous People’s right. Like Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many other democracies, India needs to apologise to its indigenous people for the historical wrongs and neglect to its first people. It has done gravest damages to Adivasis culture and land and a constitutional amendment giving them the status of indigenous people will enhance the Adivasi rights and provide them much more strength and power to protect their culture and land from the onslaught of greedy corporates who in active connivance of the power elite are responsible for large scale displacement and cultural annihilation of Adivasis. It is time to take this issue seriously. The Adivasis have protected our environment, and the nation needs to protect them, and the best way would be to allow them to develop their land through their traditional democratic methods which are defined and protected under the international laws.

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One day National Convention of All India Milli Council in New Delhi

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Visitors: 72
Vidya Bhushan Rawat

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Over five thousand people from different parts of the country came to attend a one day National Convention organised by All India Milli Council, in New Delhi at the Talkatora Stadium which saw a galaxy of activists, political leaders, academics and other concerned citizens condemning the attempt of the government to muzzle freedom of expression and creating fear psychosis among the minorities and vulnerable sections of people.

The people stood in silence for one minute in memory of those sacrificed their lives on the border as well as all those who have been killed by the lynch mob, the innocent pilgrims killed by the terrorists in Amarnath as well.

There is no doubt that this was a huge show of strength and it reflected the mood of the community, particularly the Muslims through the participation of Dalits, OBCs as well as Sikhs was pretty high. Presence of Muslim and other women were also visible in the convention.

Those who spoke on the occasion were Justice Rajinder Sachar, Justice A M Ahmadi, Ms Teesta Setalvad, Mr Sharad Yadav, Mr Mani Shankar Iyer, Mr S N Gautam, Mr Thomas Mathew, Bhai Tej Singh, Shri Chandra Singh, Mr Zafaryab Jilani, Mr Ram Puniyani and many others. Actually, it is for the first time that we saw such huge presence as speakers also.

The convention passed a resolution asking all the like minded people irrespective of their caste, communities and other affiliations to join hands and fight to not just protect the constitution but also build the nation.

 

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An Interview with Prof Ram Puniyani

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[themify_box]Vidya Bhushan Rawat[/themify_box]

[themify_quote]Communal politics in India is primarily due to absence of land reforms; absence of process of secularization and failure to reduce the hold of clergy: Dr Ram Puniyani[/themify_quote]

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Prof. Ram Puniyani

Dr Ram Puniyani has been one of the foremost voices against communalism and has been active in promoting communal amity and national integration through various engagements at the grassroots. A regular commentator on the important socio-political issues, Dr Ram Puniyani has written as well as edited many books on communalism and for secular polity in India. In this detailed conversations with activist-writer Vidya Bhushan Rawat, he explains various issues confronting the nation.[/themify_quote]

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VB:  India is passing through one of the toughest period since independence. You have seen the emergency time too. What difference do you find today and during emergency in 1975?

 

RP: Emergency period and today’s political scenario cannot be compared. Emergency was the authoritarian imposition of the dictatorial norms by a small coterie around Indira Gandhi through the existing mechanisms of state. There was a censorship on the press. Snajay Gandhi’s over enthusiastic family planning drive led to the Turkmen gate incident.  The state was operating arbitrarily though its own will.

Today’s situation is like a semi fascist rule. The power is exercised by the political party through its different allied organizations. While BJP is in power, the dictates of RSS are at the core of the situation. Whole RSS combine (The allied organizations of RSS like VHP, ABVP, Bajrang Dal to name the few) is on the run, and repression is applied through these organizations. These organizations have created a base among a society. This section of people stands with the state in repressing the minorities and the poorer sections of society. Cow vigilantes and Hindu Yuva Vahini are an example of that. The hate other ideology, which has been spread through RSS shakhas is now part of ‘social common sense’, and this forms the basis of Hatred and violence in the society. Emotive issues are dominating the social space and an atmosphere of intolerance is the order of the day.

 

Vidya Bhushan Rawat

VB:  What are the reasons of the growth of the Hindu communal politics in India? Definitely, it would not have been possible without the ‘liberal’ upper caste Hindu interests of the Sangh variety inside the Congress Party and their failure in tackling the communal politics in India.

 

RP: Communal politics in India is primarily due to absence of land reforms; absence of process of secularization, failure to reduce the hold of clergy, which are missing in Indian society. While Muslim communal elements were primarily in Muslim League, the Hindu communal elements were spread in Hindu Mahasabha, RSS and Congress as well. Their influence of these elements within Congress party was marginal till Nehru was there. These communal elements in the party did keep communalism alive within Congress as well. After Nehru’s death they started getting more hold and their influence led to opportunist communal politics of Congress coming to the fore. Nehru did warn that communal elements are within the party as well, but they could not be rooted out from the party.

 

VB: You have recently mentioned that Nehru’s letters to the chief ministers must be published for wider dissemination to understand how he used to interact with his chief ministers. In fact his letter to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Govind Ballabh Pant with regard to Ayodhya issue is eye opener. There may be other similar letters. At the time when Nehru is being blamed for every evil that we have, how important will these letters be?

 

RP: Nehru was a thorough democrat. At the same time he was trying to root secularism in a society gripped by religiosity. In order to keep the state chief ministers in the loop for secular democratic values and things related to education, industrialization etc., he was writing regularly to them. The letter he wrote to Govind Vallabh Pant was for removing the Ram lalla idols which were forcibly installed in the Babri Mosque in 1949. Similarly on all crucial issues, he was corresponding with the CMs. These letters contain the wisdom of state craft along with the values of liberal democratic state.

 

VB: BJP tried to co-opt every icon. They started with Sardar Patel then came to Subhash Chandra Bose and now to Ambedkar. In between they have used Gandhi, Vivekananda as well as Bhagat Singh. At the moment, the focus seems to be totally on Dr Ambedkar. Some people wrote that RSS do not its own icon and hence it needs someone else. All of these icons might have differences with Nehru as well as Gandhi but all of them stood for idea of inclusive secular socialist India. Why do you think Nehru has become so important for the Sangh parivar and current dispensation that they want to discredit him through using the differences that he might have with contemporary leaders which was natural?

 

RP: There are multiple reasons for co-opting these icons of freedom movement, those who contributed to the process of India is a Nation in the making. As RSS kept aloof from freedom movement, due to its agenda of Hindu nation (In contrast the Indian nation agenda of these icons), which was the goal of freedom movement. It discouraged its volunteers to participate in freedom movement.  In addition the attempt to co-opt Ambedkar is for electoral purposes, to win over sections of dalits in particular.

 

Nehru apart from being a very popular mass leader standing for secular values was also a person who had vision of modern India with Industrialization and modern education. He is the total anti thesis of what RSS wants to bring in. Nehru’s domestic policies for a democratic state are anathema to RSS. Nehru’s policy of global peace, peace with neighbors and alliance with neighbors is totally opposed to expansionist ideology of RSS. Nehru’s impact on the masses, mass consciousness has been too strong and respectable all around, so to establish the hegemonic Hindu Nation, they need to undermine what Nehru stood for.

 

VB: Why has Congress party become so weak that it is unable to respond the current political crisis? It has the legacy of political leaders and yet it failed to challenge the distorted narratives that were being built around its top leaders. 

 

RP: Congress was a movement in pre Independence period. The national movement was educating the masses through the anti colonial movement. After Independence Congress became the party in power and later party for power. The elements of mass education for a democratic society was totally missing in its programs, while it was best suited to counter the narratives being developed in RSS shakhas and later through RSS led campaigns like Ram Temple and Holy cow. The writing of its leaders like Gandhi and Nehru has dealt with some of the issues which are dominating social scene. Like Gandhi’s writing of Indian History, his understanding of Cow as mother are totally opposed to what RSS is exploiting for its political goals. The main strength of Congress came from the downtrodden sections of society; it failed to speak for them effectively, paid mere lip service to the issues of dalits and religious minorities for example. Similarly in case of these icons, Congress has all the material from its history to keep them away from the grip of RSS, but somehow the will power for this is missing. Most of the top Congress leaders are office holders and none of the tall leader is devoted for promoting and protecting the legacy of freedom movement

 

VB: While it is easier to blame to Rahul Gandhi for so-called inexperience or whatever fault line but the fact is that he has a legacy and the carrying the burden of it is too difficult at the moment when things are against the family but what are the reasons of dismal state of affairs in the left parties. Is it because they become the biggest bastion of upper caste politics and failed to carry the SC-ST-OBC-Minorities along with it?

 

RP: Rajiv Gandhi’s mistakes cost the nation very heavily. In addition the left parties failed to grasp the issue of caste in Indian society. They failed to intervene against the rising tide of communal politics. The RSS agenda has twin tracks. On one hand it targets minorities and on the other the dalit-ObC. On both these counts left failed to come up to take the challenge thrown by the Hindutva politics. Rahul Gandhi has been targeted by Hindutva leaders, though his intentions seem to be serious, the backup from the supporters is lacking in intensity. Things have by now become too complex to achieve the goals of dalit-Bahujan upliftment without alliances, which are not easy to forge. Left parties have not addressed the caste-minorities issue in any seriousness. Their pivot of understanding is mainly around class analysis of society.

 

VB: Uttar Pradesh results have not just disappointed many but it has also given strong sense of approval to the ruling party on the issues such as Demonetization and the communal rhetoric. What in your opinion has failed the non BJP opposition in Uttar Pradesh particularly SP-BSP who were the main players there. 

 

RP: UP strategy of BJP was strongly communal. Most of the issues were presented in the communal angle. Even demonetization was sold as a move to curb Muslims’ clout, as Muslims generally are part of cash economy. In addition most of the issues were presented as if BSP, SP and Congress are appeasing Muslims, while BJP is the only party for Hindus. This line led to consolidation of non Yadav Hindus and non chamar SCs around BJP. The failure of SP-BSP in coming together helped the BJP plan very well. The national line taken by RSS-BJP that demonetization will harm the rich and help the poor in ling term also helped the matters for BJP.]

 

VB: Attempt is being made to convert India into a US module of Presidential form of democracy which is thoroughly dominated by corporate funding. The tragedy in the United States is that despite the country of such a huge size and variety the corporate democracy has only allowed the two party systems. The power elite in India want the same thing. How dangerous is it to attempt India into and a model.

 

RP: RSS seems to have realized that it may not be possible to replace Indian Constitution. They have been arguing for Presidential system from last quite some time. The main point is that RSS wants to do away with the diversity of the country, also Corporate World, which has a strong alliance with BJP also is more comfortable with the Presidential system.. With that system the voice of the marginalized will not have much place in influencing the policies of the country. The concerns of deprived, marginalized will have no place in the political-economic policies]

 

VB: In the past three years the Hindutva forces are fixing their agenda on the country. They are raising such issues which are difficult to counter by the political parties for the fear of losing the ‘Hindu’ votes. Whether it is ‘terrorism’, beef, cow or nationalism debate, it is aimed at occupying the sole moral high ground for being the ‘sole’ authority on the issue on behalf of India. Everyone else except them and their allies therefore becomes villain. How can such agendas are countered politically.

 

RP: The identity based politics; the emotive issues are difficult to combat on the grounds of reason. A concerted campaign where all non communal political and social forces come together to struggle for real issues of society is the only way out. During UPA I and II, the major issues being discussed on regular basis were related to issues of basic rights as Indian citizens, the rights to employment, food, health, education, information and what have you. The social discourse has been shifted away from real issues to emotive issues. The only way is a concerted attempt by all those standing for secular democracy to come together and strengthen the social movements and political campaigns for these issues, issues related to survival and dignity.]

 

VB:  After the Uttar Pradesh government’s order of closing slaughter houses the meat business in the state has come to virtual standstill. The industry has huge number of non Muslims too. There is a dark side of the story too. That India’s ‘pink revolution’ which Prime Minister Modi talked during his electoral campaign in 2014 grew further during his tenure. Now, he seems to have forgotten that. Shouldn’t the government release a white paper on beef Industry and who is the owner of it and how much revenue it is bringing to India? 

 

RP: The idea of white paper on the issue of Cow slaughter, beef trade, cattle fares, the importance of Cow /buffalo in agrarian economy is a good one. There is immense lack of information, gaps in popular knowledge about these issues. The knowledge of these will ensure that people don’t then blindly support or ignore the Cow vigilantes. But the point is why this government should do this. Such a move will harm their political agenda. Probably a Peoples’ white Paper on the issues may be a more realistic idea.

 

VB: What do you think the idea behind ‘ anti Romeo Squad’ by the Uttar Pradesh government? Government failed to protect individuals against the Khap dictates and yet it encouraged people to adopt anti constitutional provisions in denying youths to enjoy right to choice. Why, in your opinion, the Uttar Pradesh government adopted such tactics.

 

RP: There are multiple goals behind this move. First it generally such squads promote vigilantism, which the ruling party can use in its own favor. Secondly it is a sort of continuation of their Love Jihad campaign to demonize Muslim youth in particular. And thirdly as you correctly say it is an assault on the freedom of Right to choose.’ It also strengthens the patriarchal values of controlling the lives of girls.   Demonetization failed but government wants to use the election results as an approval to it. What is your opinion it. Has the opposition failed in to raise this issue?

 

Demonetization is the case of learning how you can sell a bad idea in a successful way. One kept hoping that this move will boomerang on the Government. Their word of mouth propaganda mechanism is so strong and well lubricated that they could spread that this is a small sacrifice for the sake of the nation that the rich will suffer etc. Still there are large numbers of people who have suffered. The opposition did try to raise it but their efforts were too small compared to the propaganda might of BJP-RSS combine.

 

VB:  The recent incidents at Sukma and then in Kashmir are being used as a tool against the human rights defenders. The government is promoting the idea that all those who speak against human rights violations are anti national. What is your view on the same?

 

RP: This Government is very uncomfortable with the human rights defenders and those leading the movements for the rights of deprived and vulnerable sections of society. Right at the start they muzzled the funding of NGOs. They also want to assume hard muscular policies which are worsening the situation in these areas. It is their well programmed work due to which anybody disagreeing with them is labeled anti National. This also shows their faith in democratic dissidence is skin-deep; essentially they are having intolerant ideology of Hindu nationalism.

 

VB:  How do you respond to government initiative to deny JNU to provide opportunity to students in the PhD and M.Phil courses? Is not it a step against the Dalit backward students? How do they respond to it?

 

RP: JNU has been special target for this Government as JNU is the bastion of liberal progressive voices where dissent is handled in a democratic way. These ethos have strong roots in the principles of Indian nationalism. In JNU again apart from other aspects, the percentage of women, dalits, OBCs as students has been very good. This move of Government in reducing the seats for research has twin objects. On one hand they want to stifle the progressive nature of JNU, and on the other to reduce the opportunities for the marginalized sections. The movements which began from JNU and HCU need to take note of this and create a larger protest/campaign on this issue.

 

VB: The issue of nationalism has put the other parties including Congress into a very defensive mode despite the facts the track record of the Hindu right wing is well known to us. Why are the parties on defensive and not able to carry the historic legacy of our freedom fighters who talked about an inclusive India?

 

RP: India Nationalism has been the foundation of Congress in particular. This party has not much focused on the intellectual front to educate the people. The all round rise of Hindu nationalist ideology, from bottom to top, has lead to a situation where other parties seem to have been taken aback and they don’t seem to be prepared to counter it ideologically. There are hoards of material which can come handy for these parties to counter the sectarian nationalist surge. The issue is that of ideological and political preparedness, which seems to be missing.]

 

VB: In the normal Hindu discourse, Muslims are brutal and too conservative. How do you counter this particularly when Europe and America too suffer from Islamophobic tendencies? 

 

RP: This discourse is a construct, which has come up in two major ways. One, the British introduced communal historiography was picked up by Hindu Mahasabha and RSS. RSS shakhas started propagating it in a systematic way. Later other mechanisms were added to spread this propaganda far and wide. This is based on selective incidents. The large presentation of interaction of social life of Hindus and Muslims is missing in this discourse. The narrative of alliances of Muslim and Hindu kings has been erased in this version. What remain dominant in this, is, the aggressive ‘foreign’ Muslims versus noble native Hindus. With Ram Temple movement, this discourse found a strong vehicle for its propagation.

 

The second component of this comes from the imperialist lust for oil resources. The promotion of Al Qaeda in some Madrassa in Pakistan, funded hugely by US created the monster of terrorism. To cap this retrograde step, the coining of phrase ‘Islamic terrorism’ by US media added further venom to this issue. In last couple of decades the migration of Muslims from ex colonies of European colonial powers, and then the migration from war torn countries have been worsening the situation. Islam as a religion has strong ethical component, while the present propaganda is based on some social practices and some versions of Islam which oppressive rulers have encouraged, like the Salafi version by Saudi Arabia. The consequent events, which are the product of this cancer of terrorism, have been adding on to the negative image of Islam and Muslims.

 

These two major components of demonization of Islam and Muslims have been topped up by issues like triple talaq, polygamy and higher (poverty related) fertility among Muslims]

 

VB:  The powerful Hindu upper caste and powerful backward communities seems to join hand against Dalits and Muslims. The Hindutva is using the dominant communities in each region. How can the Dalits, Muslims, OBCs and adivasis get along against this onslaught?

 

RP: Hindutva politics has used all means to ally with the upper castes and to co-opt other castes. The social engineering put into operation by RSS has confused the communities and has also shown them carrots. Some of the opportunist leaders from the dalit, Adivasis have been given lucrative positions to woo them to Hindutva politics. It is a dangerous situation, where Hinutva is emerging as the central, dominant force.

 

Last three decades have also seen a decline in the social movements at all the levels. The social alliances to protect the interests of Dalits-Muslim are long overdue. This needs to be supplemented by political alliances at electoral level which can overthrow the march of Hindutva politics.

 

VB: The secular political discourse failed to take caste issues into account and therefore Dalits, OBCs, and adivasis were out of its agenda. Now many of them are realizing it but the gap in the narrative and discourse is quite big. How can we strengthen secular alliance if there is no participation of Dalits, OBCs and other marginalized sections in it?

 

RP: There is an urgent need to reach out to these sections of society. The impact of globalization on their lives has been tremendous. In this worsening scenario, there is a need for taking up their real issues in a substantive way and to connect them up. We need to learn from the new movements which have come on the social scene. The one’s like that of Una has been very innovative in using the strength of dalits for their agitation, at the same time it went on for the demands like land for dalits. It is movements like these which should be the fulcrum for future campaigns and agitations.

 

VB: The secular parties or alliances have failed to take the student unrest along with them. The incidents at JNU, then Hyderabad University and other universities failed to attract attention of secular organizations. Why?

 

RP: The student’s wings of many of these organizations have been dormant for quite some time. These parties need to realize that it is movements like this which hold the hope for future. There have been some marginal attempts to relate with these promising movements and other movements built around the needs of students and their future aspirations have been there, but they have remained notional only.

 

VB:  The government has been targeting civil society organizations. It is targeting students. It is targeting trade unions and all those who speak against the dominant Hindutva practices. Despite all this, we still have not been able to forge a common alliance against Hindutva. What may be the reason and how can we come together. Do you think anti congressism is now a thing of past and we need to look beyond it and forget new alliances based on Common Minimum Programmes.

 

RP: I totally agree. Anti Congressism has been playing a very negative role during last many decades. Also there have been special efforts to defame Congress on purpose. The whole Anna-Ramdev-Kejrival movement was primarly brought up to defame Congress as that can be the real kernel around which secular movement can crystallize. With consequent defeats like that in UP, many parties will realize the need for all democrats to hang together. The failure is subjective and well as rooted in material conditions.

 

 

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Unwanted male calf

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Vidya Bhushan Rawat

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Just a few days back one of the cows at our Prerna Kendra delivered a male calf. My colleague called me to inform about the birth of it. Everyone there was waiting for the cow to deliver and as usual each one was expecting a female calf. My colleague was sad to inform me about the birth of male calf. Human being are very ‘matlabi’ or selfish as in the so called civilised world, they celebrate the birth of the boy but in the animal kingdom particularly of those whose milk we use without their permission, actually, we feel highly disturbed of a male calf.

In the olden days it was not an issue as most of the male calf would be used as an Ox for ploughing but now with mechanisation male calf are unwanted as farmers are not in a position to take care of them. With fast disappearing meadows and high cost of fodder, it is impossible for farmers to keep male calf without its usage. So most of the time the farmers leave those male calf and it become nuisance particularly for the crop as they damage it.

With the cattle markets coming to virtually stand still, farmers will have to suffer more unless government come out clearly as what is its idea. We are hearing that the government want Adhar Card for cows. I don’t know who has been giving such fantastic ideas to government. Cows are definitely not endangered species and if sale and purchase of cows are risky then this is a conspiracy against farmers to leave this occupation voluntarily and then allow the likes of M/s Ambanis and Adanis to take over. The problem with them is that they want to occupy every small thing which were part of the unorganised sector or informal sector work.

If a farmer want to sale old cow or buffaloes to buy new one, it has become impossible now.

After lots of thoughts, three years ago, I thought of starting a diary and purchased several cows and a buffalo. The number has now grown to 15 in three years though we are still not able to have enough milk to survive. As part of our initiative to empower the most marginalised communities like Mushahars, Kalandars, we started these animals of share basis as per the normal practice in the village. Which means after the cow or buffalo’s deliver their babies or when they are about it, the villager find out the possible price of the cattle which is then divided equally between the owner and the person who took care of it. That way, a Mushahar family could earn between 20,000 to 30,000 for taking care of one cow or buffalo which they could use for their personal work. Most of them time, people use the money for the marriages of their children.

The cow which delivered the male calf was with a Mushahar family. It was waiting for the day. We asked them to find out and decide. I am shocked to inform you that the price of the cow which is now giving milk and delivered its first calf, was priced for Rs 20,000/- which means they will only get Rs 10,000/-. It is disturbing that so many families depending on these cattles are facing the brunt of the idiocies of the politics in the name of cows. We decided that we will try to help out the family through our own ways and will not go by market logic at the moment.
A few months back, we had lost a cow. We fed it for nearly one month when her condition was bad. Villagers use to come, worship her. When she died, we buried her with all our best effort. It need nearly one quintal of salt during the process.

Rearing cattles are difficult but they were part of empowering processes to the communities. Government should promote it but at the same point of time if there is no market for them, the farmers will commit suicide as it is very difficult to maintain them.
The fodder cost is too high while the milk in the village is still Rs 25/- per liter.

There are big gaushalas of Babas and mutths. They get huge donation in the name of cows. The devotees send them fodder but if the government want to help farmers, promote cooperatives, it must not only allow sale and purchase of them but provide subsidies in fodder as well as buy the product. The government must further decide as what should be done with the male calf. Should the people leave them as is happening these days. If not then what is the option ? We must understand where is the space for keeping these animals if their sale purchase is not allowed. Where should the farmer send their bulls and oxen or old cows. May be the government can think of old age homes for these animals as it will be beyond the strength of people to feed them in these times of heavy inflation when everything has to be procured from the market.

 

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Unwanted male calf

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Vidya Bhushan Rawat

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Just a few days back one of the cows at our Prerna Kendra delivered a male calf. My colleague called me to inform about the birth of it. Everyone there was waiting for the cow to deliver and as usual each one was expecting a female calf. My colleague was sad to inform me about the birth of male calf. Human being are very ‘matlabi’ or selfish as in the so called civilised world, they celebrate the birth of the boy but in the animal kingdom particularly of those whose milk we use without their permission, actually, we feel highly disturbed of a male calf.

In the olden days it was not an issue as most of the male calf would be used as an Ox for ploughing but now with mechanisation male calf are unwanted as farmers are not in a position to take care of them. With fast disappearing meadows and high cost of fodder, it is impossible for farmers to keep male calf without its usage. So most of the time the farmers leave those male calf and it become nuisance particularly for the crop as they damage it.

With the cattle markets coming to virtually stand still, farmers will have to suffer more unless government come out clearly as what is its idea. We are hearing that the government want Adhar Card for cows. I don’t know who has been giving such fantastic ideas to government. Cows are definitely not endangered species and if sale and purchase of cows are risky then this is a conspiracy against farmers to leave this occupation voluntarily and then allow the likes of M/s Ambanis and Adanis to take over. The problem with them is that they want to occupy every small thing which were part of the unorganised sector or informal sector work.

If a farmer want to sale old cow or buffaloes to buy new one, it has become impossible now.

After lots of thoughts, three years ago, I thought of starting a diary and purchased several cows and a buffalo. The number has now grown to 15 in three years though we are still not able to have enough milk to survive. As part of our initiative to empower the most marginalised communities like Mushahars, Kalandars, we started these animals of share basis as per the normal practice in the village. Which means after the cow or buffalo’s deliver their babies or when they are about it, the villager find out the possible price of the cattle which is then divided equally between the owner and the person who took care of it. That way, a Mushahar family could earn between 20,000 to 30,000 for taking care of one cow or buffalo which they could use for their personal work. Most of them time, people use the money for the marriages of their children.

The cow which delivered the male calf was with a Mushahar family. It was waiting for the day. We asked them to find out and decide. I am shocked to inform you that the price of the cow which is now giving milk and delivered its first calf, was priced for Rs 20,000/- which means they will only get Rs 10,000/-. It is disturbing that so many families depending on these cattles are facing the brunt of the idiocies of the politics in the name of cows. We decided that we will try to help out the family through our own ways and will not go by market logic at the moment.
A few months back, we had lost a cow. We fed it for nearly one month when her condition was bad. Villagers use to come, worship her. When she died, we buried her with all our best effort. It need nearly one quintal of salt during the process.

Rearing cattles are difficult but they were part of empowering processes to the communities. Government should promote it but at the same point of time if there is no market for them, the farmers will commit suicide as it is very difficult to maintain them.
The fodder cost is too high while the milk in the village is still Rs 25/- per liter.

There are big gaushalas of Babas and mutths. They get huge donation in the name of cows. The devotees send them fodder but if the government want to help farmers, promote cooperatives, it must not only allow sale and purchase of them but provide subsidies in fodder as well as buy the product. The government must further decide as what should be done with the male calf. Should the people leave them as is happening these days. If not then what is the option ? We must understand where is the space for keeping these animals if their sale purchase is not allowed. Where should the farmer send their bulls and oxen or old cows. May be the government can think of old age homes for these animals as it will be beyond the strength of people to feed them in these times of heavy inflation when everything has to be procured from the market.

 

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Minorities and dissenters under intimidation and deep stress in South Asia

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Vidya Bhushan Rawat

‘If you are black or you are brown or you are gay or you are lesbian or you are Trans or you are Introvert , Anyone that is treating you unkindly , It’s only because they are afraid or they have been taught to be afraid of how important you are. Because being different means you make a difference. so f*** em, Facebook Post of Mashal Khan on March 6th.

‘What you wish to ignite in others,

…must first burn within yourself’

Aurelkus Augustinus, a quote from Mashal Khan’s post on Facebook.

Hide History and Hate Hindus . This is what we are taught in Schools,  a tweet by Mashal Khan

It was April 13th when a group of students at the Abdul Wali Khan University of Mardan, in Pakistan had come to the department of journalism, looking for two students Mashal Khan and Abdullah for committing blasphemy against Islam. The teacher Prof Ziaullah tried to protect his students but failed in front of the surging crowd which was baying for the blood of the two. Despite police and administration, Mashal was allowed to die in the savagery that was unleashed by the religious thugs masquerading as students. Rather than taking action against the criminal goons, the university administration ordered in very dubious way, investigation into the blasphemy charges against Mashal, literally after his death. It shows how the university administration remain shameless and spineless to the religious goons who lynched Mashal Khan in full public view without bothering of what will happen to them. We know at the end unless there is a pressure the things would not move much as they won’t find enough witness to the event. According to Prof Ziaullah, ‘Mashal was a humanist; he was into socialism and Sufism. He would often discuss Sufism with me,” remarked the teacher. “I never saw Mashal without a book in his hand.” He was well-versed in different languages and striking a conversation with him always proved to be fruitful. Ziaullah also said Mashal was his student, friend and son.

“Mashal was a ‘diya’ [lamp]. If all the lamps are put out then the nation will continue to live in darkness,” he said. “Mashal’s killing was politically motivated.

I was stunned to watch the very hearty conversation at Geo news channel of Pakistan with Prof Ziaullah, who stood by his student and despite all the threat and pressure on his life decided to resign from the university against the shocking and disturbing behavior of his own colleagues and administration. A video has now come out where the students celebrated killing of Mashal Khan and shouted religious slogans.

What was Mashal Khan’s fault ? He did not defame Islam nor did he spoke against Quran. His only fault was that he spoke against hatred which was being perpetuated in the name of Islam. He spoke for women for the courage they were facing the issues in Pakistan. He was talking of humanism where human lives were more important than religious texts. It is as simple as we ask what was the fault of Akhlaq or Pehlu Khan who were killed without any reason on the basis of rumours spread by those who seems to think the sole custodian of religion as well as our nation.

There are protests in Pakistan and many people have spoken against it. Having faced it for over 35 years, it is time for them to stand and speak up this religious terrorism against its own people. We saw some politicians speaking against it but unfortunately leaders at the highest level remain quiet like ours. This reflects that we follow each others very well and are not keen to learn from our failures.

Pakistan’s notorious Blasphemy Law clause 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code clause was amended on July 10th, 1986 under Zia-ul- Haq regime. The new 295-C – Use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Holy Prophet included life imprisonment or death penalty for all those who insult Prophet :

Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.

Asian Human Rights Commission ( AHRC)  Report on Blasphemy law in 2013 says :

The known blasphemy cases in Pakistan show that from 1953 to July 2012, there were 434 offenders of blasphemy laws in Pakistan and among them were, 258 Muslims (Sunni/Shia), 114 Christians, 57 Ahmadis, and 4 Hindus.

The report mentions that since 1990, 52 people have been extra-judicially murdered, for being implicated in blasphemy charges. Among these were 25 Muslims, 15 Christians, five Ahmadis, one Buddhist and one Hindu.

According to Dawn, around 1274 persons have been charged under blasphemy laws in Pakistan since 1986. The problem is not that the people who are dissenters or minorities are being charged under the blasphemy law but this law is an easy excuse for the thugs in the name of Islam in Pakistan to intimidate, humiliate and exploit the minorities like Ahmedias, Christians, Shias and Hindus in the name of insulting Islam. One of the common thing that we hear about is the rumour about ‘insulting’ Prophet or Quran or Allah’ and then you will find numerous propagators who spread hatred on street and TV channels. The political parties in Pakistan speak for ‘misuse’ of blasphemy law but none of them have come out openly for a complete abolition of this barbaric law which should not be allowed in any democratic society.

Many of the secular democratic friends from Pakistan were always proud that India has that democratic space where dissent was allowed. But the trends here are no great than Pakistan. In fact, it look, Hindus and Muslims, India and Pakistan, seems to be quick learner from each other faults and mistakes and they use each others faults and mistakes to instigate the crazy and illiterate rustic masses. The opium of religion is being deeply injected by the growing army of the Babas and Maulvis in our regions threatening the very edifice of democracy. We may be a democracy but it is being controlled by the religious rights who wish to convert it into a theocracy.

In the past three years, we have been hearing the Cow Protection laws and a new breed of Gaubhakts ready to lynch individuals in the name of cow smuggling and cow killing. Now the cow team has been extended to buffaloes too.

Now Gujarat has amended the Gujarat Animal Preservation Act of 1954 extending maximum punishment for cow slaughter from 7 years to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs five lakh on the convicted person.  According to India-Spend, India’s data journalism initiative, more than 99% of Indian population is now covered under the Cow Protection laws where state after state are competing with each other to make them much severe and harsher. It is a cognizable offence and in more than half of Indian state which have banned cow slaughter, it is non-bailable offence.

After the BJP lead NDA came to power in India in May 2014, the Cow campaign has gained a new height. Now the cow campaigners are not just interested in complaining to the government or seeking stringent laws but they have themselves become the vigilante and had no shame or fear of law in lynching and killing innocent. While the laws existed in India it is the current dispensation where the cowbhakts behaving very much similar to the Islamic zealots seeking Sharia laws in Pakistan during the Zia-ul-Haq regime and taking law unto their hands.

The brutal killing of Pehlu Khan, a 55 years old, dairy man hailing from Nuh, in Mewat district of Haryana, near Behror, on the Jaipur-Alwar highway by a mob of street goons claiming to Gaurakshaks, on April 1st, is an extension of what we witnessed at  village Bisara, near Dadari on September 28th, 2015 when a mob of Hindus entered into house and lynched him in full public glare for the ‘sin’ of killing a calf. The entire village turned against him and his family who had been living there for years. But that relationship was now over as village sharply divided itself on communal lines, a thing very suitable for the political leaders to exploit the emotions during the elections.

How are these things same in relations to Pakistan’s blasphemy law is that here too like Mashal Khan’s case, police filed cases against the victims and the accused roaming around. None want to speak against the dangerous cow protection act despite the fact that India is losing business internationally and a large number of people inside India who eat beef. The things are not related to beef alone as attempt has been made and impose the Vaishnavite-Jain traditions of vegetarianism on Indians where a huge number of people are meat eaters.

A recent video of a foreign national who had come to Goa for her holidays is going viral on youtube when she was nearly lynched by the goons in the name of Gowsevaks. Her fault was that she just tried to put a cow away from her who was wandering on the beach where most of the tourists actually come for their holidays. The goons assaulted her shamelessly and none in the crowd ever bothered to defend her.

Actually, India is fast following the majoritarianism of Pakistan which has been exploited by the religious rights at the cost of minorities. As Pakistan’s blasphemy law target minorities so is Indian Cow Protection Laws targeting minorities and beef eaters. Over the period of time, Pakistan has been turned into a failed state as the state power is unable to control those loudspeakers who want to silent dissenters as well as minorities in the name of Islam but we in India are learning from them. The loudmouth cow goons are doing the same and have the open protection of the state. The way the Indian dispensation is defending them through spreading rumors and wrong information about those who disagree. Whatever are the laws, let us honor them as these things will have to be fought politically but then it is too important to emphasize as whether we will allow the goons to take over the state and decide everything on the street. Right and wrong of cow protection laws are issue of another article but the fear is that how come we allow the goons to take law unto their hand without any sense of fear of it, in a state which has a constitution and a law implementing machinery.

Pakistan’s blasphemy law was used by Zia-ul-Haq to legitimize his undemocratic takeover of Pakistan and had a huge support from the religious thugs who got a chance to enjoy the power without any accountability. India today is heading for the same way through ‘democratic theocracy’ where the unaccountable religious rights are taking law unto their hands, suggesting various other ways to suppress, intimidate and isolate the minorities. Each day, we hear one or two persons giving new ideas to Muslims to isolation through various means, through social exclusion and eliminating their business under the garb of legalities. From Slaughter Houses to triple Talaq to Love Jehad and now loudspeakers at Ajan are smart moves to keep the Muslims in perpetual business of defending their lives and justify their positions. Even when the state has not given them anything in terms of socio economic cultural development, it want to snatch whatever they have achieved through own hard work.

Cow Protection Movement in India has quite similarities of that of Zia’s regime though unlike him they were duly elected democratically. Indian governments even though led by non BJP parties brought law under pressure from the cow brigade which has full support from the Sangh Parivar which knew well that the issue of cow is more to embarrass government that time but today it is a tool to humiliate and intimidate Muslims in particular. Unfortunately for most part of their movement, India was led by Congress and other governments. About 50 years ago when a huge protest against the government of the day was organized in Delhi, police had to fire at the unruly protesters killing several of them. The congress though claimed to be secular party was led by the Brahmin leadership whose ‘credentials’ for the ‘nation’ were never questioned. In fact, from time to time, RSS supported Congress and the last one was Rajiv Gandhi but today the Sangh is enjoying power it never had and hence its various offshoots are now behaving as if there is no tomorrow.  The power at center have given them extraordinary strength to intimidate the opponents in various means from physical to threatening through legal action and most importantly trolling on social media against the opponents. The mediocre ‘karyakartas’ whose only quality was speak loud and threaten the opponents have become leaders or mainstream therefore it is becoming difficult for the politicians to completely dissociate from them as they know during the elections it is the same workers who will bring votes through their polarization.

While there is no similarity between the deaths of Akhlaq, Pehlu Khan and Mashal Khan but if we think beyond boxes then we realize that they have similarities. All of them are victim of religious hatred. All of them have supposedly ‘hurt’ the ‘sentiments’ of majority communities. In fact in all the three cases there is another common factor that rumor worked well? The cow slaughter issue and beef has become a kind of blasphemy law in India with Muslims becoming its major target along with Dalits many of who do the skinning work of the dead animals. Akhlaq and Pehlu Khan are considered dissenters in India because of their community identity in a very similar way as Ahmedis, Shias, Hindus, Dalits or Christians are considered in Pakistan. They are easy to target under the garb of ‘hurting’ the ‘religious’ sentiments. In all these cases, police has worked with the majoritarian tendencies and filed case against the victims. This is the new low of South Asia that victims are further victimized and humiliated by the ruling elite which remain conspicuous. We have not heard our political leadership coming out so openly in unambiguous terms against such brutal public murders which the world has now seen through their TV screens or on youtube.

South Asia has the least tolerance for the dissenting voices. Bloggers are being killed in Bangladesh by the Islamic zealots and the government remain mute. Pakistan saw the brutal murders but the deaths continue there because the fundamentalists don’t want the dissent of choices, food eating habits and so on. In Myanmar, the ruling Buddhist elite do not want the Rohingyas to be there. Sri Lanka’s Buddhist and Tamils have not yet reconciled fully. Nepal’s Madhesis and rest of the country and their Janjatis are still not completely called off their hostilities. India, which was a model for all the South Asian countries, very unfortunately, is following the path of some of its neighbors. The issue of protection of minorities is the job of each of these nations but it would be good if South Asians actually start talking to each-other in terms of protecting their minorities and marginalised through legalized mechanism. If SAARC can take a lead and government agrees then it will be able to bring various civil society organisations together working on minority rights. Whether these agencies and governments agree for a common minimum programmes on minorities or not, it is essential to understand that conditions of minorities in each society gives way to rumors and prejudices elsewhere. Moreover, South Asia will never develop as long as it has religious thugs dictating the political discourse and democracy hijacked by loudmouth hatemongers who make villain of dissenters and minorities in their respective countries. Strong constitutional mechanism need to be worked out so that such barbaric cases of violence do not get repeated again. Unfortunately, for such mechanism to happen, we need to matured leadership and statesmanship at the highest level. India being the biggest democracy of the region can take lead but it is only possible if we show the way and take control of our own fringe which is fast becoming the mainstream.

In the last years we have seen killings of secular rationalist intellectuals and activists like Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare and Dr Kalburgi by the allegedly Hindu fanatic organisations and yet nothing moved. This year, we have seen a brutal murder of A Farooq, a young man in Coimbatore whose rationalist humanist writings and postings were not acceptable to many of his Muslim friends and he was brutally stabbed to death in March.

Violence on the basis of religion will never take us anywhere. I still remember Ajure Abbas, who is in his 90s and had to migrate to Pakistan in 1947 with his parents. His eyes remain moist when he speak to me and want to listen to Pul Bangas or Mori Gate where he spent his childhood. Partition was never good for us he says but both the Hindus and Muslims were killing each-others. Millions killed yet we learn nothing. He still shivers from those days. My friends in Bangladesh have seen the destruction that the Pakistan army unleashed on the Bangla people. It was a nation that revolted against Urdu and Wahabi nationalism of Pakistan but what happened there. The same kind of religious nationalists have started taking law unto their hand and killing people as we have witnessed in our parts. Today, Bangladesh is struggling to protect its secular identity as dissenters have been killed by the Islamic fundamentalists and yet no will from the government to deal with such a situation.

Governments in South Asia are fast buckling under the majoritarian religious gangs which are intimidating the minorities or feeling apprehensive of minority culture and value system. Such a huge gap between majority-minority will only damage the social fabric of these societies and bring uncertainty in the region. It is easy for democracy to turn into theocracy or for the military to take over. Our political systems are not completely fool proof and hence it is time for all of us to ponder over these issues seriously and strengthen our secular democracy which alone is the guarantee for protection of minorities. For secular democracies, we must stop judging people through their food habits, language, culture and religious values. No laws should be made to placate the religious rights in our societies who might use them to intimidate minorities and marginalized. It is time we understand the repercussion of such laws and encouragement by the state to all the religious goons claiming to represent the voice of majorities in their respective countries. The only way to judge its citizen is following the principle of rule of law and constitution which must include all the international laws and treaties that protect rights of minorities and marginalized so that they are not bulldozed by an intimidating majorities which in South Asia is only counted in terms of religious identities. It is time we learn to live with diversity and dissent as it will only enhance the beauty of this region and ensure a healthier democracy in these countries.

 

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Kashmir need a healing touch today

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Vidya Bhushan Rawat

What is the meaning of victory of Farooq Abdullah from the Srinagar constituency where not even 7% votes polled. In many of the booths merely 2% votes were polled. I know there are past precedences of such a situation in at least three Indian states when people boycotted and government determinedly went for polls and were áble” to form governments. But when the world is watching and we claim to be the biggest democracy of the world, shouldn’t it a matter of deep concern. Can any democracy of 7% vote would legitimise. Farooq Abdullah may enjoy Lutyens housing complex as a senior leader but the credibility of the political parties at all time low in Kashmir. You may win elections but you are loosing people. How to win over people ? Has there been any credible attempt by the government. Kashmir seeks serious answers from us all.

The outrageous video of a Kashmiri youth being taken as hostage or human shield by the armed forces is a dangerous act and will further alienate people in the valley. We know the forces are under deep stress and so are the people of kashmir who have been facing deep insecurities and all kind of difficulties for past so many months.I am happy that Lt General H S Panag, a highly decorated officer of the Indian army, who is retired now, expressed deep shock and anguish over it. Let us acknowledge that life is not normal in Kashmir despite a ‘çivilian’ government.

It is easy to blame the army but the fact is they are just doing their job. Their problem is that when they are send to Kashmir or north east, most of them go with a mind as if they are entering into a ‘dushman ki territory’ or énemy territory’. Most of them do not have any understanding of the Kashmir conflict or the issue of aadivasis or north east. As they enter into these areas, every dissent and protest become anti national, a foreign agent. In terms of Kashmir, anti national has a direct connotation which means pro Pakistani and the result is well known to us. Without understanding the deeper political issues of the region, forces will not be able to control the situation. One need to realise that these are not the old age wars where you can conquer everything by guns and ammunition but by winning over the heart of the people. These days it has become more so because of the uncontrolled tongue of political leadership. It is the failure of the civil administration and political leadership of the country which continue to treat the kashmir issue as an administrative one ignoring the historic reality of the entire issue. Political rhetorics and jargons will not take Kashmir further. The unfortunate part is that the politicians of the day has used Kashmir as a political tool to create hatred and phobia among their respective constituents without understanding the complex issue in all its sincerity.

The PDP-BJP government in Kashmir today has no control over the situation. They remain a government on paper as violence continued. Mehbooba Mufti does not have a stature of her father who could have definitely spoken to all the groups. We do not have a Sheikh Abdullah who was a power house and had credibility among people. The other leaders including his son and grand son Omar Abdullah remain isolated today. The entire situation seems to be being looked after by a set of éxperts” who perhaps despise any political person of the state. It has resulted in the entire issue being discussed and decided by the self proclaimed ánti terrorism experts’ and those hypers who want to discuss the entire problem in Indian Pakistan binary without speaking to local Kashmiri civil society and political leadership.The problem with the Kashmir experts is that they want to isolate all others and addressing the issues to Non Kashmiri population in the Indo Pakistan issue. They have little time for introspection and the only thing they advise is more arms, more forces and more power to military. None of them is ever bothered about how to initiate a political process. Though there is a civilian government there but its credibility is lowest and it is also isolated. Delhi’s media and expert look down in suspicion to every political person and civil society activists, media from the state, Once the political parties and civil government fail, who does the government initiate the negotiations. It is here the maturity of a political leaderships counted as how much liberal it is in countering such a situation. In the age of whatsapp and internet when everything is now coming out in open, it is important for political leaders to show their better side but for Hindutva supporters, Kashmir is a bigger political agenda for elections. The ranting over Kashmir is so high pitched which comes to how the Pandits were forced to migrate to how our women were molested and raped by the Jehadis. The emotions on Kashmir in the rest of country are too high and help in consolidating one people against its own minorities named as Muslims.

It is sad to see authors, celebrities, diplomats joining debates on Kashmir in a very parochial way. It looks more as if are more worried about a geographical landscape without an inch of sensitivity of feeling towards the fellow Kashmiris. We talk of Kashmiri Pandits but forgotten completely the Muslims in Kashmir who have faced the harassment, intimidation all their lives. Why it is politically correct to speak of Kashmiri Pandits but completely ignore the issue of Kashmiri Muslims ? The whole propaganda and perception developed outside Kashmir is that Muslims are not pro Indian and only people defending India is Hindus particularly Kashmiri Pandits. This happen when we build our perceptions from those for whom the land mass is more important then the people in the region. When you want to know about Kashmir, you can not ignore the past, the history and crime perpetrated on kashmiri subjects by different rulers including Dogra regimes.

For years, we have been fetched in our mind how much Indian government is providing subsidies to Kashmiris and how everything is so cheap and easy in Kashmir and how each one of them is a traitor Pakistani agent. In the 1990s when the Ram Mandir movement grew and we had a few high decibel ‘loudspeakers’ who became ‘heartthrob” of the people used to describe Kashmir situation as ” atrocities” committed on Hindu families in general and women in particular”. Kashmir became a highly hell zone in the perceptional ideas of middle class Hindus where everything is anti Indian and our forces are there to defend the people.

Such issues can not be handled in a surcharged atmosphere but with cool mind and acknowledging that the history of Kashmir was complex and need a careful understanding. That nothing can be resolved in the region without taking into account the people which means inclusion of the leadership of Kashmiri Muslims in the valley. It can not be just political leadership but also academics, civil society and other actors. Just by terming every one as anti national we are pushing the whole valley into the brink of disaster. If the political leadership is discredited then who are you going to talk ?

The role of the armed forces is to protect our borders. They cant be used for day to day administrative work which is the job of civil administration. The army jawans come from diverse socio cultural background and living in deep stress. For them obeying the orders from the higher up is the most important thing and therefore J & K for them become an alien area. Most of them come with their own understanding and follow the orders. With active militancy in the region, it become difficult for them to manage things. Whatever is happening today in J & K is the extensive usage of army which is not advisable in long term. Unfortunately, there are many self proclaimed nationalist expert who want to make us believe that we should do what Donald Trump did in Afghanistan ? How can you not feel offended when some one want to suggest that the hapless man who was taken as human shield by the forces in Kashmir was not the first of its kind incident and Israel have been doing it for long ? Does not it look shocking when we hear people spreading message to send Yogi Adityanath to Kashmir. The connotation of such messages is clear that Kashmir is a Muslim problem and it need to be handled with iron hand. It is with that idea that government knows well that whatever the armed forces are doing, has got ‘support’ from ordinary masses. It look as if the government is acting ‘decisive’ in Kashmir because it is not állowing’ secessionists to stand. But if these issues were that simple, the problems would not have been there.

I would not blame on army for the disturbing situation in Kashmir but on the political leadership which continue to ignore the need of a political dialogue. Can we rise up on the occasion and engage with Kashmiri people and all the stake holders including Ladakh, Jammu as well as other parts of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. We must remember that Kashmiris have been a peace loving people but the antipathy of our civil administration and lack of will among political leadership has created such a situation today that most of the youths in the valley seems to be completely alienated? The government need to think beyond administrative mechanism ? Farook Abdullah’s win may not bring any result as at the moment both the parties of Kashmir, PDP and National Conference are at the lowest of their credibility and there are no other political groups in the valley who the government will engage for a negotiations.

It will do good if political parties think of this seriously and not use Kashmir issue as a political plank to enhance their domestic TRP ratings. If the government is serious it must start to work otherwise it will be too late for any negotiations. Let government speak with Kashmiris as it is time to heal scar and build confidence among people so that peace and normalcy is returned. We know that Pakistan’s inter services intelligence and military leadership will always play the religion card and try to exploit its sentiments, for us it is important is to show our sincerity and discuss the issue on table with all the stakeholders. There are proof of direct involvement of Islamic groups too which need to be handled administrative way by police and paramilitary. But all our efforts to win over Kashmir will remain of no use if ordinary Kashmiri’s faith in civil administration is not restored and political leadership is not made accountable towards people. You can win people with sincere effort and healing touch and not through highhandedness. Let us hope that good sense will prevail and there will be a political effort to bring normalcy in the region.

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An Interview With Anand Patwardhan :: Gandhi and Ambedkar as liberation theologists

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Anand Patwardhan


For over 40 years Anand Patwardhan’s documentary films have stood for freedom of expression. He faced censorship on numerous occasions, took the government to court, and won each time. Anand is not just a filmmaker but an activist in the cause of Indian democracy, clearly under threat today. In this candid conversation with Vidya Bhushan Rawat, Anand discusses his views on the challenges before us, and most importantly, how he perceives both Gandhi and Ambedkar as liberation theologists whose ideas are in danger of being revised by their enemies.

VB: As a freedom lover secularist what is the difference between today’s media and that which existed during the official Emergency in 1975.

AP: The Emergency of 1975 was visible to all. The world condemned it and in India some brave newspapers protested with blank editorials. Within a fairly short time a strong resistance movement grew. Today’s Emergency is largely invisible to the masses because Indian media houses have been corporatized and these corporates, both Indian and foreign, are direct beneficiaries of an economic system that has been surreptitiously imposed on the country not just by the present regime but by forces that were already moving in the same direction but at a slower pace. We have sold our sovereignty to USA and the global corporates and people have been told that this is for our own good. The invisible Emergency of today depends on what Chomsky called “manufactured consent”.

VB: Today we face the biggest challenge to Indian democracy since independence when our civil liberties are under the attack, when freedom of expression is under threat and when media is constructing the ‘news’. Is ‘free media’ now the biggest threat to democracy?

AP: The media is free in the sense that it now has the freedom to tell lies about both, the domestic economy and about national security – lies that parrot an American-Israeli-Saudi axis which created, nurtured and unleashed Al Qaeda and ISIS on the one hand and pretended to “fight terror” on the other.

VB: You have documented major events not only of communal violence but also of violence against Dalits in Maharashtra. After the death of Rohit Vemula, in HCU, JNU and other campuses, students of all ideological frames – from the Left, to Ambedkarites and other Bahujan groups, joined in a common struggle against the ABVP and its attempt to vitiate the climate in the universities. Today that unity appears to be crumbling and we are again at the cross roads. Why ?

AP: The fault lies as much with the Left (of all shades) which is still unclear about how to destroy the caste system within, as with Dalit groups that fall prey to red-baiting and exclusivist identity politics. On one side are traditional Marxists who were brought up to think that caste is part of a superstructure that will automatically wither away when the economic base becomes socialist. On the other side are those who think that the caste of your birth alone forever determines how you think and how you act. Not only is such thinking contrary to the teachings of Dr. Ambedkar, it mirrors the mindset of the worst Manuvadis who believe that caste determines everything.

Luckily reality is proving both positions wrong. I believe that the Left and Dalits are natural allies so it is a matter of time before a genuine, long-lasting unity is forged. People like Govind Pansare, Kanhaiya Kumar and Jignesh Mevani have shown us that this unity is possible. Into this mix I would add progressive Gandhians – people like Narendra Dabholkar and Medha Patkar. Together these forces represent the politics of Reason that this country so desperately needs.

VB: Your film Jai Bhim Comrade was an extraordinary work which brought us back the memories of the struggle for justice of the people of Ramabai Nagar in Mumbai. You screened the film in various places. What were the reactions?

AP: The film as you know took 14 years to make. In the winter of 2011 we screened it in the open air in Dalit bastis across urban Maharashtra. We bought a powerful video projector, made a huge foldable cloth screen, and in each basti erected bamboo scaffolding to mount it on. As the screen was being erected, we played progressive film songs and Dalit movement songs to alert and attract the audience. Often the crowd would swell to well over a 1000 people. As we could not afford so many chairs, people sat on the ground or stood at the back and on the sides for the three hour duration of the film. At the end of the screening we tried to organize a discussion but often instead of a back and forth question and answer session, people just grabbed the mike and poured their hearts out about what the film had meant to them. It was an overwhelming experience for me. Later I began to understand the reasons for this amazing response. Although in the bastis, little of the hardship shown in the film was unknown to people, the fact that the film presented its protagonists not as victims but as resisters, was a morale booster. The genre of music heard in the film was in danger of either dying out or getting commercialized, so the film, so full of these songs captured over decades, served as a valuable archive. Lastly the politics of the film was appreciated, as it did not pull punches. It called to task not only sections of the Left for not recognizing the primacy of caste, but also Dalit leaders who were being lured by Manuvadi Hindutva to betray the legacy of Dr. Ambedkar.

Much later I began to show the film in colleges and schools and other middle class and elite circles. Here the response was enthusiastic but very different from that in the bastis. Even though people generally appreciated the film, almost invariably someone would ask about the evils of “reservations”. It was as if the audience had been blind and deaf to what they had just seen. After 3000 years where manual scavenging has been reserved for one caste alone and education has been forbidden, was it not time to reserve education seats for the dispossessed? In the end after long discussions, we agreed that reservations could be done away with only when the children of the rich and the children of the poor start going to the same schools – from the primary to the college level. Such prolonged inter-caste, inter-class contact could also open the door for inter-caste marriages. Many generations of such mixed marriages could finally end the caste system. This sounds idealistic but in my view this is the only way to finally end caste – when bloodlines become so mixed that no one can clearly say what caste they come from.

VB: Do you think that as secular activists we have not been able to communicate to common people in the language they understand or have failed to use the great secular legacy of India which was radical and rational as well?

AP: In general this is true but in particular some people are genuinely trying to address this. Of course the task is huge and we are up against a fascist force in the Brahminist RSS that has created a hydra-headed, cadre based organization that indoctrinates people in the name of cultural and religious pride, as well as today, of fake nationalism. In the early days they attracted mainly Brahmins. Today they are drawing in all castes and tribes that can be mobilized against their stated three enemies – Muslims, Christians and Communists. Religious culture and right wing politics is a potent combination and we rationalists have so far failed to match the organizational genius that runs this fascist machine.

VB: This government has been in hyper-active mode to keep people busy but if we analyse their actions we find clear attempts to divide people and polarize the debate. It started with their favorite topics like ‘Gaay’, Ganga, Rastrawaad, beef, Jana Gana Mana and then to Kashmir. Things went horribly wrong in Kashmir and the last part was a surgical strike but that too was questioned. Then came demonetization which hurt the poorest of the poor but was dressed up to look like an attack on “black money” and the rich. Each act is commonly linked, in my opinion, to privatizing our national resources and creating business for crony capital.

AP: Yes there is a clear strategy. Nothing in the Hindutva Parivar happens ad hoc or without central planning. At the same time perhaps Modi and Amit Shah have surprised even their own cadre by their willingness to be brutal and dishonest. Demonetization is an example. Even the direct beneficiaries, like the crony capitalists who emptied the banks and refused to pay back their loans must have been surprised at how the poor were squeezed to fill the bank coffers up again and then sold the idea that this was a strike on the unscrupulous rich. Even when all the “black money” came back into the banks and became white money, no question was raised while thousands of jobs were lost across the nation. It may be the undoing of Modi in the long run but in the short term he is still fooling most of the people most of the time.

VB: Communalism or I would call it Brahminism has joined hands with capitalism here but the resistance too is stronger. Unfortunately, political parties are unable to join hands with their egos and brinkmanship for votes. Will people’s pressure bring them together?

AP: At the moment there is no visible peoples’ pressure. There is visible suffering but the anger is not yet visible. Let us see if it manifests later.

VB: Do you feel that the Indian way of secularism i.e. equal respect to all religions, or what we call Sarva Dharma Samabhava is damaging the cause of social change as it allows religious dogmatics to hijack the leadership of different communities? There is a virtual competition between the religious right taking place in the polity thereby denying common persons of all communities the means to counter them. How do we respond to it?

AP: All over the world rationalists have found that religion that has existed for centuries is hard to stamp out and some form of co-existence is the norm in most secular countries. After the Soviet Revolution, St. Petersburgh became Leningrad but in 1991 it became St. Petersburgh again.

In India, both Gandhi and Ambedkar recognized that this country was so steeped in the idiom of religion that atheism or pure rationality would not be easily accepted by the masses. I consider Gandhi and Ambedkar, each in their own right, to be liberation theologists. Of course, Gandhi unlike Ambedkar, did not choose his own religion, he inherited it. But to whatever he inherited, he applied post-Enlightenment ethical values that were essentially modern. When he began to do manual scavenging and began to advocate this (even force it) on to his followers, he actually destroyed the very basis of the Pollution/Purity dichotomy that is at the heart of the caste system. Theoretically he for a long time infamously clung to the concept of Varnashram Dharma, but in actual deed he destroyed it the day he took up manual scavenging, a job that had been hitherto reserved for the so-called ‘untouchables’. As time went on Gandhi became ever more radical. He clearly learned from Dr. Ambedkar as well as from his own intuitive understanding of the world he was witnessing. For instance, towards the latter stages of his life, Gandhi refused to attend any marriage that was not an inter-caste marriage. By the end of his life he had fashioned out of his inherited Hinduism, something entirely new. Only the idiom remained, and not the original hierarchical Sanatan dharma. Whether his reluctance to discard the idiom was a practical decision that stemmed from a desire to remain in touch with the vast Indian masses in a language they could easily follow, or from his own inner belief system, is something that can be debated, but is of no great interest to me. What is unmistakable is that Gandhi’s ethical code bears little resemblance to the hierarchical and vengeful structure of traditional Hinduism.

Dr. Ambedkar in some ways was more fortunate than Gandhi in that he clearly saw how oppressive the religion of his birth was, being as he was, a direct victim of it. So he discarded it and searched for the best alternative to it. After examining many religions he finally chose the religion that was closest to Reason. Buddhism is the one world religion that does not posit an external, all-knowing God. However it has a very strong ethical core that Dr. Ambedkar highlighted. At the same time he discarded irrational and unproveable Buddhist tenets like Reincarnation that many traditional Buddhists ardently follow. This is why I see both Ambedkar and Gandhi as liberation theologists. In the same way that Left wing priests like Ernesto Cardinale in Latin America, a minister in Nicaragua’s revolutionary Sandinista government, re-interpreted Jesus Christ as a revolutionary who fought and died for justice to the poor and powerless, Gandhi and Ambedkar gave new ethical meaning to the religions they adopted and adapted.

Make no mistake that I am equating the two. Their differences are obvious. One came from a privileged caste, the other from the most oppressed. One was educated in a limited sense and steeped in traditional religion in his formative years while the other came from a caste denied the right to education and rose to become the best-read and easily the greatest intellectual of modern India.
I am not at all blind to the things about Gandhi that are paradoxical and irrational like his life-long demonization of sexuality.  Gandhi’s insistence on chastity puts him in the same irrational, patriarchal boat as the priests and monks and nuns of many world religions. To examine this aspect in depth would take a whole chapter. And yet this same sex-denying man, by introducing the Charkha as a weapon of non-violent resistance, brought thousands of women into the mainstream of the Indian freedom movement.

I realize that I have let my stream of consciousness diverge from your original question. To get back to the issue about whether Sarva Dharma Samabhava can take the place of constitutionally guaranteed secular democratic rights, I think it cannot.  We need Dr. Ambedkar’s Constitution much more than we need holy books. And yet as many in our country are still hooked to holy books and unholy pretenders, we need liberation theologists who can help people to culturally discard the worst features of their inherited religious culture and replace these with ethical, just and non-exclusivist interpretations.

Waiting for everyone to become atheist or rationalist may take centuries. Ethics is the answer. Small wonder that Ambedkar and Gandhi, each in their own way, arrived at individual definitions of Ahimsa.

VB: In post-Mandal India communities are seeking their space in the polity. In the earlier phase of secularism the Indian elite always kept the marginalised communities like Dalits, OBCs, Muslims outside the gates of their decision making bodies and public platforms but things are changing now. Very unfortunately more than the seculars it is the communalists who are jumping into identity politics and social engineering. Meanwhile communist parties still retain their upper caste leadership. Will we be able to face the challenge in such a way?

AP: Actually identity politics is a double-edged weapon. As long as oppression of identifiable groups exists, it is perfectly legitimate for oppressed groups to unite according to their identity. “Black is beautiful’ was a necessary movement for Afro-Americans in the USA, just as pride in Dalit or Buddhist identity is necessary in India. The trouble begins when this turns into an exclusivist or separatist movement. Malcolm X went through a Black Muslim phase when he described all white people as “devils”. But in the latter stages of his life he completely rejected this theory for a much more inclusive critique of injustice and inequality. That is when the American deep State killed him. Similarly while a broad section of Dalits are inclusive and fully understand the distinction Dr. Ambedkar made between the ideology of Brahminism and individuals who happen to be born into one or the other “upper” castes, there is a tiny section of separatist Dalits today who see birth as the sole determining factor. The fact that Western post-modern academia encourages such identity politics in preference to class analysis has given this form of separatist politics international acceptance. Meanwhile in India Manuvadi forces feel obvious glee when Dalits attack the Left or Gandhi, as both have long been the enemies of Hindutva.

VB: Hindutva people are expert in appropriating icons who are secular. They used Ambedkar, Bhagat Singh, Vivekananda, Subhash Chandra Bose, Sri Narayan Guru etc for their purposes. Is this because an overdose of Gandhi and Nehru’s role in our freedom struggle minimized all other icons that a kind of resentment began against Nehru and Gandhi?

AP: Frankly I am not a fan of Subhash Chandra Bose. I cannot swallow his alliance with Hitler and Hirohito. Freedom could not be wrested at such a cost. Vivekanand is also very troubling because he advocated a kind of machismo that I think is deeply problematic. Also what is little known about him is that he was deeply casteist. In fact he seems perfectly suited as a BJP icon. The resentment against Gandhi lies at the heart of the project of Hindutva which is why they killed him first and then attempted to appropriate his glasses and broomstick later. Nehru is hated because his development paradigm goes against the grain of privatization. Ambedkar they do not dare criticize openly these days so the only option is to use his image, minus any content.

VB: Your uncle Achyut Patwardhan was an icon of the socialist movement in India. We heard a lot about his relationship with Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar. Was there any influence of him on your socio-political thoughts?

AP: Achyutkaka and Aruna Asaf Ali, according to British records, were amongst the most wanted underground leaders of 1942. He ran the underground radio and was a master of disguise amongst other things but in later years he ensured that history erased him. You hardly hear or read about him anywhere because soon after Independence he became disillusioned with mainstream politics. He did educational and social work but he would never discuss the past, even with me. He felt it had all been mostly an illusion. His elder brother, Purshottam (Raokaka to me) was also a freedom fighter and spent over 10 years in British jails. In the 1930’s while he was making an anti-communal speech, Madanlal Pahwa tried to assassinate him but was caught. Raokaka who was a Gandhian socialist, refused to file charges and Pahwa was let off. Later this same Pahwa threw a bomb at Gandhi and was part of the conspiracy that finally killed him.

To answer your next question, it is true that in the decade of the 1930’s Dr. Ambedkar spent several months living, writing and studying at our family farm home in Ahmednagar, but this again is a chapter of history that has been irretrievably lost. Raokaka like Achyut left active politics after Independence and both, by their own choice, were written out of history. I have heard that Dr. Ambedkar and Achyutkaka were friends and met when Achyutkaka was underground, but I have no documents about this. What I do know is that my family opposed the caste system and many married outside their own caste, including my parents.

VB: You have always tried to bring together not only left and Ambedkarites but also what you call ‘Progressive Gandhians’. Why are you using this term ? You have been critical of people who as you say ‘blow out of proportion’ the differences between Gandhi and Ambedkar. Many of the Ambedkarites feel it quite disturbing?

AP: I must speak the truth as I see it. I have always felt that the affinities between Gandhi and Ambedkar are greater than their differences. They were both egalitarian humanists at heart. It may not win me any popularity contest today but I think those who are ready to set prejudice aside and undertake a proper historical study will come around to this point of view. Take the act of “Satyagraha”, a term coined by Gandhi. Ambedkar used this very term and form of struggle to launch his Mahad Satyagraha to claim drinking water rights. There are many other examples of common ideas and action. I was pleasantly shocked to read what Dr. Ambedkar had to say in 1932 immediately after concluding the now infamous Poona Pact (where the idea of separate electorates for Dalits was abandoned in favour of reserved seats for Dalits). Popular theory is that Ambedkar was blackmailed by Gandhi’s fast-unto-death into accepting a bitter compromise. But Ambedkar’s statement in 1932 after signing the pact was totally different in tone. He had high praise for Gandhi and stated that the “Mahatma” (yes, contrary to popular belief, Ambedkar referred to Gandhi as “Mahatma” at this point in time) offered a much better deal for Dalits in terms of reserved seats than Ambedkar himself had asked or hoped for. There is no denying however that Ambedkar did get disgusted with the Congress in later years. How much of the blame for the failures of Congress are attributable to Gandhi is a matter of discussion and debate. We know that Gandhi’s writ did not work in preventing Partition or the bloodshed that preceded and followed it and that Gandhi did not attend the Independence Day flag hoisting at the Red Fort in Delhi. He was busy fighting the communal inferno in the countryside.

Gandhi had a lot of obscurantist ideas to start with but as time went on he was honest enough to keep evolving. In the end I see him as a great humanist who died for his belief in non-violence and religious universality. He was also an inventive anti-Imperialist (though in his earlier days he had supported the British Empire) and an organic naturalist that today’s madly consumerist, globally warmed world desperately needs. Are most of today’s Gandhians like that?  Of course not. That is why I used the term ‘progressive Gandhians’. It describes dedicated non-violent fighters like Medha Patkar, Narendra Dabholkar, the whole Baba Amte family, Sandeep Pande, S.P Udaykumar, Teesta Setalvad, Aruna Roy, Admiral Ramdas, and so many others. It certainly does not include government-fed Gandhians and those Gandhians who jump onto the Hindutva bandwagon as soon as it gathers steam.

Today I believe that all humanists, rationalists and fighters for social and economic justice must unite to fight the usurpers of our democracy and our history.

Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Vidya Bhushan Rawat,

a social and human rights activist. 
www.manukhsi.blogspot.com