Hasi toh Phasi!
Delhi has got used to shocking news nowadays. Hence it wasn’t of much shocking to hear one Pushpam Kumar Sinha, a PhD scholar working on wave mechanics at IIT Delhi assaulted, strangled and burnt 19-year old Manipuri girl. Indian english media raised its eye brows exclaiming at an IIT-ian turning in to a cold blooded murderer. So how come a ‘gentle genius’, that’s what his relatives say, turned in to a killer overnight? The events that led to fateful night seem to be simple.
Police said that on Saturday around 4.30 p.m., Pushpam Kumar Sinha found that the girl was alone in the house. He entered the kitchen where she was and made advances towards her. When she protested, he got scared and strangled her to death.
“He feared that the girl would report about him to others and he would face police action. He then torched her face. But because of the fire, her torso also suffered 30 percent burn injuries” Dhaliwal said.
Earlier, the police thought it was a case of accidental fire. However, the post-mortem examination revealed that she did not die of burns but had been strangulated.
Dhaliwal said the girl`s sister Timila, who works in a Delhi restaurant, had during the investigations raised suspicions about her next door neighbour Sinha.
“Timila said he was trying to befriend her sister but there was never any occasion when she had made any complaint about him. On Diwali they had burnt fire crackers together, so he mistakenly thought that she was attracted to him” Dhaliwal said.
The usual thinking of the Indian male is Hasi toh Phasi!(if she laughs, then she is trapped) Police now claims he had mental disorders as if they hold degrees in psychology. we are not sure of this Obsessive Compulsive Disorder theory will really help or harm the accused. But whatever the name you put it, the otherwise enviable IITian, educated urban younster is yet another ‘victim’ of the same Hasi toh Phasi syndrome. This incident also proves that the education without imparting basic human values is futile.
The growing trend of crass consumerist culture which is shaping the urban male in to a robot who only gets excited to gizmos, girls and cash and the commodification of women by the Indian cinema which is being aired 24/7 from all the directions are the social causes for all these kind of unimaginable, inhuman excesses. There are more Sinhas and Shiney ahujas amongst us who are continuing to be ‘gentle genius’ for the simple fact that they haven’t got the opportunity.
Other than the sexual aspect, the racist aspect also plays a deep role in this episode. Indians who raise hue and cry over Australian racism are in reality very good at perpetrating racism on their fellow country men and women. Leave the centuries and centuries of caste oppression and untouchability system which still continues, the racism and bias towards north eastern people in recent times are reaching its heights.
A survey by the centre shows that 86% (or 86,000) of people from the northeast in Delhi face some or the other sort of discrimination on a daily basis. Sixteen severe cases of molestation, rape and brutality against people from the northeast were recorded in Delhi this year. Four of these took place in the last fortnight. They include Hongray’s murder, molestation of an Arunachal girl by school boys, molestation of a Naga girl and beating up of a Naga couple.
Kamakshi Sinha of Assam, who is pursuing an undergraduate course in DU, says, “The police circular is just a piece of paper. People call us ‘Chinky’ and other names, but the police laugh when we go and complain”Most girls from the region are even scared of approaching the police. “Many cases have come up where the police do not respond to our cries. We are treated like outcasts” said Priyadarshini Nath, a DU student.
“We are often blamed for dressing provocatively and inviting trouble. A week ago, some men punctured the car tyres of a Naga couple and beat them up. The police blamed the Naga couple for the incident” Nath said. For safety’s sake they live together in groups. But they are called names when they venture out. “People view us as objects of sexual abuse only because we look different and wear western outfits. It’s like our community versus theirs and we feel we can never intermingle” Kamakshi said.
Agatha Sangma, Minister of State for Rural Developmet and the youngest member of parliament had say with despair, that incidents of women from the north east being molested in Delhi has been quite rampant. The situation in Delhi has been disgraceful, she said.
Manipur and other north eastern states are burning for the last 50 years for the ‘crime’ of raising self determination demands. Indian state is crushing the lives of Manipuris with an iron fist saying they shouldn’t ask for secession at one hand. On the other hand, proud indians are mocking at them and at times murdering them calling Chinkies. Wonder what’s the option left?
This sad episode reminds me the forgotten Irom Sharmila whose hungerfast is entering the tenth year, yes it’s not a joke, the tenth year, this november. One more corpse from delhi is certainly reiterating with force, the cause for which Irom fights for.
There are no short cuts!
Professor, Human Rights Activist, Lawyer K.Balagopal passed away. I don’t know much about him other than occasionally reading his articles on encounters, state atrocities and on Maoists. Often wondered the way, the resoluteness with which he puts out his strong arguments, which is nourished with years and years of experience in the fight for justice. Probably this is the right moment to start reading about him more and to know his ideas better. Wikipedia has a brief note on Balagopal to start with. pls read his article “Maoist Movement in Andhra Pradesh” published in EPW which gives a balanced view of the Maoist movement. Selected excerpts from his Article, “Beyond violence and non-violence” are given below.
The plain and stark fact is that while all strategies have been effective in curbing some injustice, none has succeeded in forcing the government to take back a single major policy in any sphere. And none has been able to reverse the trends inherent in the structures of society and economy.
The general understanding is that governance of the country – and may be the systemic infrastructure of society – is fundamentally wrong and needs remedying, maybe overturning. Do we know of any effective strategy for that? I am not talking of political strategies, but strategies of struggle that will successfully put pressure upon the State and the polity to stop them in their tracks. The struggle may be built around class or caste or any other social combination. It may in the end seek reform or the upturning of the polity. It may operate mainly or in part within the polity or keep out of it altogether. Whichever it is, the common problem is this: the experience of this country is that governments do not stop doing some thing merely because it has been demonstrated to be bad. Or even contrary to constitutional directives and goals. They stop only if going along is made difficult to the point of near impossibility. No democratic dispensation should be thus, but Indian democracy is thus. Short of that, you demonstrate the truth of your critique till you are blue in the face or shout till you are hoarse in the throat, it is all the same.
This is the question that haunts all movements, and none has an answer. All strategies, whether violent or peaceful, have found that they are not without success, if by success is meant stemming of local forces of oppression or the local manifestation of global forces, and improving the situation of its victims at the margin or even more. One does not wish to belittle these achievements, and in any case its beneficiaries are grateful, and belittling makes no difference to them. But any attempt to go beyond that has been faced with an insuperable wall which defines the limits of Indian democracy.
The naxalites – in particular the largest of them, the Maoists – are generally credited with having used strategies of violent struggle to great effect. That they have had substantial effect on the local social and political structures is beyond doubt. From Telangana to Bihar, local society would not be what it is but for their effect in turning much of it upside down. That they have often acted as a very effective deterrent to knavery and charlatanry of all kinds too is true. But looking back on nearly forty years of the naxalite movement, one is surprised how few are the important policy decisions of the State or tendencies inherent in the logic of unequal development that the naxalites have been able to stall. In fact, one cannot off-hand think of even one. They themselves may answer that it is because they have not tried. It is true that their strategic thinking does not turn around defeating the State politically but mobilizing against it militarily. Hence inflicting major political defeats or reversing trends of unequal or destructive development is not on their agenda. Yet it is also true that even if they tried they would not know how to go about stalling such decisions or forces.
To put it simply, you can hold a gun to a landlord’s head but Special Economic Zones or the Indo-US Nuclear Deal have no head to put a gun to. This degree of simplification of the issue may be criticized as unfair, and one would readily agree that Maoist violence is not just the armed action of individual Robinhoods. Nevertheless, after dressing up this skeleton with sufficient flesh and blood to make it real, you still do not get away from the basic truth of the caricature.
Peaceful mobilization has one advantage over violent mobilisation. A larger number of people can participate in it, and it can choose its targets and devise its methods of agitation more subtly. It gives space for dialogue even the while agitation goes on, dialogue not so much with the establishment as with society, and so the vital dimension of critique is alive without suspending the agitation to clear space for it, and this is essential in any struggle against an opponent who operates in a universe of intelligent rationality. This is one reason why peaceful methods of struggle are not only morally but also politically healthier. But in terms of its effectiveness in reversing policy decisions or structural trends, peaceful methods are even more ineffective than violent methods. Quite plainly, dharnas and street plays and hartals and half-an-hour-at-a-time road blocks and street corner speeches and jathas can go on for ever and ever and neither the State nor the Ambanis lose any thing. This is what often makes activists cynical and gives them that urge to seek an appointment with the Maoists. When they are so tempted they think the only problem they have had with violence is that it is morally problematic and physically unsafe. It is assumed that it is necessarily more effective. It isn’t, and it has not been.
Can we turn to the law to make governance answerable to popular disapproval other than at election time? Constitutional democracy as we know it in India gives little scope for such a hope but PILs have held a lot of fascination for activists. Much of it is born of out of ignorance of the law as much as the sociology of adjudication. The average intelligent Indian thinks of PIL as the modern equivalent of the bell which the better kind of king is reputed to have strung outside his palace for the desperate citizen to tug at and get an instant hearing and instant justice. The average intelligent Indian also thinks that all the limitations of judicial power that he or she is otherwise familiar with will vanish when the Courts sit to hear PILs, namely that they become benign despots who can set every wrong right by passing a condign order. Desperation can be the only reason for these illusions. Less excusable is the ignorance of the sociology of adjudication. Judges, taken as a class, are at one with most of the political and economic tendencies since liberalisation for no more subtle reason than that they belong to the social class that has benefited and will benefit much more from these tendencies. Extremely derisive comments about PILs are made with juvenile exuberance by the Supreme Court these days to send out a signal that the activist or desperate citizen need not take the trouble to go all the way to New Delhi. Law journals report some divergence of opinion and even snide comments about judicial activism in the Supreme Court, but the divergence is between conservative judicial activism and conservative aversion to it.
There is no option but to devise ways of stopping the system in its depredations. Since Indian democracy has not learnt to respect reasoned criticism unless it is armed with the strength to physically prevent the execution of the policies criticized, ways of achieving such strength must be sought by agitational movements. In principle the best method is to mobilize the people likely to be affected in large numbers and physically sit in the path of the State and Capital. But then the people in their concreteness are driven by diversity of interests and insularity of communities, crushed by poverty and misery, weakened by the disease of opportunism even at the lowest levels which has been the greatest contribution of the Congress party to Indian political culture, enfeebled by attachment to their political patrons, and disillusioned with empty rhetoric and moral corruption of agitations and movements. In particular, they see that activists who were in an earlier generation characterized by sacrifice of personal concerns are no longer the same. To my mind, this is the greatest disservice done by the NGOs, but this culture is now common to a large section of political activists, too. On the other hand, the very effect of politicization has been that the people have lost their innocence and often weigh the costs and benefits of struggle with greater caution than in the past. One cannot blame them, especially when the caution is reinforced by the fact that activists themselves exhibit the same attitude these days. All this combines to make strong mobilisation difficult and tempts honest activists to look for short cuts, ranging from armed action to PILs. But there are no short cuts.
image courtesy: Tehelka
READ MORE AT http://balagopal.org/
Swamy and his friends!
Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy and Vishwa Hindu Parishad international president Ashok Singhal at the Chidambaram temple on Tuesday.
Yesterday(23-08-09) Morning, i was filled with smile admiring the ‘story’ that came up in ‘The Hindu’, on Subramanian swamy, along with Ashok Singhal and Vedantham visiting Chidambaram Nataraja Temple .
This is how the story evolves.
Dr. Swamy along with Vishwa Hindu Parishad international president Ashok Singhal and VHP working president S. Vedantham offered worship at the Natarajar temple on Tuesday.
When they were going around the temple a group of women belonging to the Podhu Dikshithars’ families and members of the Hindu Temples’ Protection Committee, led by Geetha Anbalagan, with tearful eyes appealed to them to restore the temple to the Podhu Dikshithars.
The leaders categorically said: “We will win, we will win” (the matter is now before the Supreme Court).
I had a doubt about how the historical meeting of the group of women with Swamy took place. Whether Swamy announced he will visit the temple or it was an accidental meeting when he was going around the temple as mentioned in the story? But I immediately shrugged off my doubt since ‘The Hindu’ is known for it’s journalistic credentials, especially in it’s ‘originality’ and ‘creativity’ more than 100 years.
I’ll summarise the issue for the better understanding of the readers. Chidambaram Lord Nataraja Temple situated in Tamilnadu is alleged as a ‘denomination’ temple, which means a community owns the temple, by the Dikshithar Community, a sect of Brahmins. Recently after years and years of legal battles, Tamilnadu Government appointed an Executive Officer for the temple, through the HR&CE (Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments) Department on february 2009 on the basis of verdict given by Justice Mrs. R Banumathi. Podhu Dikshithars, leading Priests of Dikshithars appealed again and recently on September 15, 2009, Madras High court division Bench dismissed the plea.
So, I was moved by the emotions of the above mentioned scene of the story, the tears of Dikshithars who lost the case and the cries of the ‘leaders’. I was relieved as the ‘leaders’ not once but twice said that they will win. I mean the count.
Swami and his friends at the Chidambaram Temple on Feb 13,2009.
Because, some time back, When the appeal filed by the Podhu Dikshithars was in court, Swamy visited the temple and said that he will win the case in High Court on Feb 13,2009. He said the words,”We will win” only once at that time. He was showered with slohas and with the spiritual impetus, he entered the High Court at Chennai to implead himself in the case on the fateful day, 17 February 2009. Alas, he had to face rotten eggs allegedly thrown by the lawyers who were strike on Eelam Tamils issue. It’s alleged that they did the heinous crime of throwing eggs against Swamy’s support of Sinhala Chauvinism.
Ironically, there is a similarity with the present story. That time he was ‘going around the court hall’ and accidentally or incidentally, the meeting with the protesting lawyers happened. Swamy shouted for dismissing Tamilnadu Government as throwing eggs on him was a clear sign of ‘law and order breakdown’ in Tamilnadu. Some strongly condemned the incident and admonished the advocates for ashaming eggs by throwing on Swamy which could have otherwise become hot omlettes or sweet chickens.
The attacks on lawyers by the police as a consequence flashed all television screens in the days followed. Some said this is the classical ‘law and order break down’ breaking the heads of protesting lawyers.
Coming back to the story, unrelenting ‘leader’ Swamy who was sure of winning the case, was allowed to implead in the case. But unfortunately, he and his friends had a worst defeat as the Madras High court division Bench Categorically said that in view of the finding of the HR and CE Commissioner that there had been a large-scale misappropriation of temple funds, the court would be failing in its duty to safeguard and preserve the ancient temple if it interfered with the E.O’s appointment.
The Bench said in view of the admitted stand by the appellant, it was proved beyond doubt that neither the appellant nor their predecessors or forefathers were the founders of the temple and they were not entitled to have the benefit of protection under Article 26 (Freedom to manage religious affairs) of the Constitution.
Historical records indisputably proved the fact that the temple was established by Chola and Pandya kings and the rulers of Vijayanagaram between 10th and 13th century and worshipped by both Saivites and Vaishnavites. Hence, the Podhu Dikshidars could not claim it as a denominational temple.
The Bench said there was a startling revelation that the Dikshidars never maintained accounts either in receipt of 400 acres of fertile land or in respect of gold offering, hundial collections and cash donation for ages. Also, no account was maintained for fixing of rent and collecting them from tenants. These revealed that the Commissioner rightly concluded that the Podhu Dikshidars had continuously neglected to perform their duty. Had there been a proper administration and management of the properties, the temple would have become another rich temple like the ones in Tirupati and Palani, the Bench said.
Well, whatever the court may say, Dikshithars had been alleging the ownership on the basis of their popular theory known in Tamil as Dikshithar Moovayiram. They claim that 3000 Dikshithars came from Kailash, and the last and foremost Dikshithar was lord shiva itself. They along with lord shiva started maintaining the Temple. Now i really don’t know why the courts are not accepting this ‘historic and scientific’ fact.
Anyhow, coming back to the story, this time I am sure Swamy will win the case in Supreme Court as from what Swamy addressed a ‘gathering’ at the temple. I would prefer to call the event as ‘coming together’ rather than ‘gathering’. Swamy said he and his friends will join hands with ‘intellectuals’ to get back the temple from the government. I appreciate the statement as Ashok Singhal and Vedhantham, whose ‘historical and intellectual’ contributions to the Indian society right from Babri Masjid to Ram Sethu, ofcourse with the ‘intellectual’ help of Swamy are remarkable. I am sure they will enlighten us this time too. Swamy fought the Ram Sethu case on the basis of unquestionable ‘historical’ evidence, Tulsidas Ramyana. Yes, commoners like Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib, ‘some’ officials in Archeological Survey of India (ASI) may disagree the historical value of Swamy’s evidences. As a true Swamy fan, I would say, they should be ignored.
HRPC, PLF members agitation - 17.7.2009, against the fifth attack on Arumugasamy by Dikshithars.
Many say that now the entire news media in Tamilnadu is undermining the role of HRPC (Human Rights and Protection Council) and Arumugasamy, a shiv devotee who were also litigants in the case. They say Arumugasamy, an old shiva devotee was attacked by the Dikshithars for singing Tamil hymns before the sanctum-sanctorum in 2001. His arms were fractured by the Dikshithars and was thrown to the street. HRPC took up his case and fought for his religious right. It exposed the malpractices, murders and the immoral acts of Dikshithars, waging a long and ardous struggle both in court halls and to the masses. They say, in a way, HRPC and Arumugasamy waged the real struggle for the rights of ordinary Hindu devotees. Well, again as a true swamy fan, I have nothing to comment on any human rights organisation or any other samy or swamy.
Now coming back to the story again, Swamy further said that none could destroy the Hindu force that constituted 83 per cent of the total population. A death knell was now sounded against those who were undermining dharma. Siva Thandavam (the ferocious cosmic dance of Lord Siva) would render them powerless.
I started trembling with fear to read those words. An image of the ferocious cosmic dance of Swamy and his friends, the living avatars of Lord Shiva started filling my mind. “We will win, we will win”! “We will win, we will win”!
Some say Swamy is a mere political tout, a paid CIA agent whose at best political activity is to create confusions and commotion. Initially he was toppling governments with many other power brokers. now he has taken the avatar, the au savior of Hinduism. Well, again as a true swamy fan, I don’t pay attention to such allegations. My only sincere wish is that, there shouldn’t be any naxal or dravidian or eelam elements amongst Supreme court Lawyers, as rotten eggs are available in delhi too.
Face the ‘Truth’!
image courtesy: sify movies
North Indian news channels, be it hindi or english, have a view that, whatever is a news in north or whatever the news they generate in north, is the news of India. Ofcourse English news Channels are bearable if not to ponder much on the polished class affinities. ‘Sach ka Saamna’, a so-called reality show is now making news in these circles.
The so-called reality show is getting aired in the Indian pillar of Murdoch kingdom, Star Plus. (ya, root cause of recent indian oscars. if Star wouldn’t have imported ‘who wants to be a millionaire’, how come we would hav got the oscar? Now you bet another oscar based on ‘Sach ka Saamna’) So, they have come up with a next giant leap, ‘Sach Ka Saamna’, the Indian version of the popular American game show, ‘The Moment of Truth’. The original show debuted on Fox Network in January last year.
In the show, the contestants are asked 21 varied questions about their personal and professional life. The prize money for correctly answering all the 21 questions is ‘mere’ Rs 1 crore. The correct answers are determined by the results of a polygraph test done on the contestants before the show is filmed.
As Samajwadi Party member Kamal Akthar stated yesterday in parliament, a woman was asked in the presence of her husband whether she would have physical contact with another person. Though she said no, the polygraph test said the answer was wrong. Ironically,during the promotion of the show, Keertan Adyanthaya, executive vice-president and general manager, Star Plus, said that unlike Moment of Truth, the questions have been designed keeping Indian sensibilities in mind. “Some questions will be edgy though. The Indian society is at the cusp of change and it can take such entertainment,” he says. Now you wonder what are the so-called indian sensibilities.
Prannoy roy was lashing the moral policing of parliamentarians yesterday, while Siddarth Basu, producer of the show said, “Even indian emblem has ‘Sathyameva Jayathe’ inscribed in it. We are not forcing anyone to ‘play’ in the show but only voluntary participation. why should we fear to face the truth?”
We are amazed at the selfless service and conviction of the media tycoons who bear the cross of moving India forward pushing the ‘cusp of change’ tirelessly, envisioning a future free of moral policing and openness. Leave the imitation, after all that’s what means Globalisation. we reach where the west reach. How come one can deny Globalised Culture when we crave for a Globalised Market? If that’s the case, why complain the ‘innovations’ of Globalised Culture Market?
I request our ‘progressive’ media doyens to stop issuing money in the show so as to teach the moral policing backward, idiotic voices. After all every one is for admitting ‘truth’. Why should they take money in return? this will prove that it’s a cultural change and not a mean, vulgar, voyeuristic-exhibiting urge, complemented with loads of money. Will they be ready do that? Will ‘voluntary’ participation be there if pea nuts will be given in return? You may say negative. I don’t think so. After all, india is in the ‘cusp of change’.
Moreover, if money is not only the criterion, we can expect many other celebrities who can answer better questions than with whom they slept. There are some wide open secrets which are always under denial by the concerned who are successful enough to evade all these times.
For example, Narendra modi can face questions on Gujarat genocide and undergo a polygraph test. Sajjan Kumar can face a question on 1984. Manmohan Singh on what exactly is in the agreement between India and US. Pinarayi Vijayan on his role in SNC-Lavlin scam etc., If this will happen, the parlimanterians won’t be shouting this is dangerous to indian culture. Instead it will be dangerous to the notion of India itself. Keerthan and Basu are much sensible to these kind of ‘indian sensibilities’. Now let us ask, Do you have courage to take this task and face the Truth, Star Plus?
‘Sunny Deols’ Everywhere!
Image Courtesy: The Hindu
Beyond all the uproar of Kasab’s four hour long confession, there is a small incident which couldn’t find much importance.
The court took exception to a remark made in jest by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam. In a jibe at Ajmal’s lawyer Abbas Kazmi, Mr. Nikam said Ajmal had not mentioned “Abu Abbas Kazmi.” The court immediately asked Mr. Nikam to withdraw his comment.
What made the well learned lawyer to pass such a demeaning remark? After all, Kazmi is performing his duty just as the over excited Nikam. Was that a simple joke? Didn’t we saw how humor started with Anjali waghmare forcing her to quit? Some time later, Kazmi was ousted by Islam Gumkhana for the ‘kaffir’ act. We heard the bar council resolutions in various north indian courts that no lawyer should defend ‘Terrorists’. We saw how some lawyers were thrashed inside court premises for the ‘crime’.
Things are moving in that direction. Like how an ‘ordinary middle class man’ want to pronounce sentences in ‘Wednesday’, a hindi movie, instead of wasting time. The hate and ultra patriotism is in air.. ‘Sunny Deols’ everywhere, intolerant towards all ‘traitors’. Rules are pretty simple. Just be with us. Don’t use words like democracy, rule of law etc., We will joke. We will ridicule. At times things may go out of control. We can’t help.
