आओ हम ढोएं हिन्दुत्व की पालकी

-सुभाष गाताडे

अस्सी के दशक में उत्तर भारत के कुछ शहरों में एक पोस्टर देखने को मिलता था।रामबिलास पासवान के तस्वीर वाले उस पोस्टर के नीचे  एक नारा लिखा रहता था ‘मैं उस घर में दिया जलाने चला हूं, जिस घर में अंधेरा है।’ उस वक्त़ यह गुमान किसे हो सकता था कि अपनी राजनीतिक यात्रा में वह दो दफा राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ के आनुषंगिक संगठन भारतीय जनता पार्टी का चिराग़ रौशन करने पहुंच जाएंगे। 2002 में गुजरात जनसंहार को लेकर मंत्रिमंडल से दिए अपने इस्तीफे की “गलती”  को ठीक बारह साल बाद ठीक करेंगे, और जिस शख्स द्वारा ‘राजधर्म’ के निर्वाहन न करने के चलते हजारों निरपराधों को अपनी जान से हाथ धोना पड़ा, उसी शख्स को मुल्क की बागडोर सम्भालने के लिए चल रही मुहिम में जुट जाएंगे।

मालूम हो कि अपने आप को दलितों के अग्रणी के तौर पर प्रस्तुत करनेवाले नेताओं की कतार में रामबिलास पासवान अकेले नहीं हैं, जिन्होंने भाजपा का हाथ थामने का निर्णय लिया है।

रामराज नाम से ‘इंडियन रेवेन्यू सर्विस’ में अपनी पारी शुरू करनेवाले और बाद में हजारों अनुयायियों के साथ बौद्ध धर्म का स्वीकार करनेवाले उदित राज, जिन्होंने इक्कीसवीं सदी की पहली दहाई में संघ-भाजपा की मुखालिफत में कोई कसर नहीं छोड़ी, वह भी हाल में भाजपा में शामिल हुए हैं। पिछले साल महाराष्ट्र के अम्बेडकरी आन्दोलन के अग्रणी नेता रिपब्लिकन पार्टी के रामदास आठवले भी भाजपा-शिवसेना गठजोड़ से जुड़ गए हैं। भाजपा से जुड़ने के सभी के अपने अपने तर्क हैं। पासवान अगर राजद द्वारा ‘अपमानित’ किए जाने की दुहाई देते हुए भाजपा के साथ जुड़े हैं तो उदित राज मायावती की ‘जाटववादी’ नीति को बेपर्द करने के लिए हिन्दुत्व का दामन थामे हैं, उधर रामदास आठवले राष्ट्रवादी कांग्रेस पार्टी से खफा होकर भाजपा-शिवसेना के महागठबन्धन का हिस्सा बने हैं।

इसमें कोई दोराय नहीं कि इस कदम से इन नेताओं को सीटों के रूप में कुछ फायदा अवश्य होगा। पासवान अपने परिवार के जिन सभी सदस्यों को टिकट दिलवाना चाहते हैं, वह मिल जाएगा, वर्ष 2009 के चुनावों में जो उनकी दुर्गत हुई थी तथा वह खुद भी हार गए थे, वह नहीं होगा ; उदित राज सूबा यू पी से कहीं सांसदी का चुनाव लड़ लेंगे और अपने चन्द करीबियों के लिए कुछ जुगाड़ कर लेंगे या आठवले भी चन्द टुकड़ा सीटें पा ही लेंगे। यह तीनों नेता अपनी प्रासंगिकता बनाए रख सकेंगे, भले ही इसे हासिल करने के लिए सिद्धान्तों को तिलांजलि देनी पड़ी हो।

इसके बरअक्स विश्लेषकों का आकलन है कि इन नेताओं के राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ के आनुषंगिक संगठन भाजपा के साथ जुड़ने से उसे एक साथ कई फायदे मिलते दिख रहे हैं।

अपने चिन्तन के मनुवादी आग्रहों और अपनी विभिन्न सक्रियताओं से भाजपा की जो वर्णवादी छवि बनती रही है, वह तोड़ने में इनसे मदद मिलेगी; दूसरे, 2002 के दंगों के बाद यह तीनों नेता भाजपा की साम्प्रदायिक राजनीति की लगातार मुखालिफत करते रहे हैं, ऐसे लोगों का इस हिन्दुत्ववादी पार्टी से जुड़ना, उसके प्रधानमंत्री  पद के प्रत्याशी मोदी की विवादास्पद छवि के बढ़ते साफसुथराकरण अर्थात सैनिटायजेशन में भी मदद पहुंचाता है। यह अकारण नहीं कि कुछ ने संघ-भाजपा के इस कदम को उसकी सोशल इंजिनीयरिंग का एक नया मास्टरस्ट्रोक कहा है। एक अख़बार में प्रकाशित एक आलेख ‘नरेन्द्र मोदी की आर्मी’ में - जिसने दलित वोटों का प्रतिशत भी दिया है, जिसका फायदा भाजपा के प्रत्याशियों को मिलेगा।

भ्रष्टाचार मुक्त शासन और विकास के भ्रम साथ हिंदुत्व का घालमेल

- किशोर झा 

भारतीय जनता पार्टी ने अडवाणी को लोकसभा चुनाव में गाँधी नगर से प्रत्याशी बनाने का फैसला किया है. कहा जा रहा है कि यह निर्णय अडवाणी की असहमती होने के बावजूद मोदी के इशारे पर लिया गया है. अटकलों का बाज़ार गरम है कि वो गाँधी नगर से चुनाव नहीं लड़ना चाहते क्योंकि उन्हें आशंका है कि मोदी उन्हें इस सीट पर हरवाने का प्रयास कर सकते हैं . यह मुद्दा कोई नया नहीं है बल्कि इसकी शुरुआत अडवाणी की इच्छा के विरुद्ध पार्टी द्वारा नरेन्द्र मोदी को राष्ट्रीय चुनावों की कमान सौपने के साथ हुई थी . उस समयइसकी प्रतिक्रिया में अडवाणी के इस्तीफे देने और थोड़े नाटक के बाद वापस लेने और अब सीट के मुद्दे पर इस तनाव के कई आयाम है, जिन्हें बारीकी से देखने की जरूरत है, पर हमारा मीडिया सिर्फ इसे मोदी बनाम आडवाणी के रूप में पेश करना चाहता है ..

एक समय मोदी और अडवाणी दोनों को बी जे पी के भीतर एक ही ख़ेमे के खिलाडियों के तौर पर जाना जाता था. बी जे पी में प्रगतिशील राजनीति का पक्षधर तो कभी कोई नहीं रहा पर मोदी और अडवाणी दोनों को पार्टी में घोर कट्टरपंथी ख़ेमे के तौर पर जाना जाता रहा है और बाजपेयी जैसे नेताओं को नरमपंथी ख़ेमे के तौर पर. गुजरात जनसंहार के बाद बाजपेयी ने जरूर राजधर्म की आड़ में मोदी की छुपे तौर पर आलोचना की थी पर आडवाणी ने हमेशा मोदी साथ दिया है .

इन दोनों नेताओं की मुलाकात आपातकाल के दौरान हुई थी और तब से लेकर 2005 तक आडवाणी मोदी का समर्थन और संरक्षण करते आये थे. सिर्फ समर्थन ही नहीं मोदी की उंगली पकड़ के उन्हें सत्ता के गलियारों की उचाईयों तक पहुचाने में भी आडवाणी की अहम भूमिका रही है. केशुभाई पटेल और शंकर सिंह वाघेला जैसे दिग्गजों को पछाड कर मोदी को गुजरात के राजनैतिक पटल पर चमकाने में भी आडवाणी की भूमिका रही है .मोदी ने भी 1991 में आडवाणी को गांधीनगर से चुनाव जितवा कर और आडवाणी की रथयात्रा को सफल बनाने में योगदान देकर अपने शिष्य धर्म को बखूबी निभाया था .

Public Lecture by Michael Lebowitz: Fall of 'Real Socialism' and Visions for Socialism in the 21st Century

Public Lecture by Prof. Micheal Lebowitz

'Fall of 'Real Socialism' and Visions for Socialism in the 21st Century'

1.30 pm, Friday, 21st March, Lecture Theatre, Dept. of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, Delhi University, Opposite Daulat Ram College

Michael Lebowitz is a founding member of the Socialist Studies Society and a Professor Emeritus of Economics at Simon Fraser University. From 2004-2011, he was an advisor in Venezuela and headed the programme ‘Transformative Practice and Human Development’ at Centro Internacional Miranda in Caracas, Venezuela. 

As of 2013, he had published 10 books and numerous articles; among countries where editions of his books have been published are Cuba, Venezuela, Chile, China, India (several languages), South Korea, Spain, Turkey, Greece and Norway. His current projects include books on human development and market self-management in Yugoslavia. Among representative publications are: "Beyond Capital: Marx’s Political Economy of the Working Class" (2003) - winner of the 2004 Isaac and Tamara Deutscher Memorial Prize for best work in the Marxian tradition; (2006) Build it Now: Socialism for the 21st Century; (2009) Following Marx: Method, Critique and Crisis; (2010) The Socialist Alternative: Real Human Development; and, (2012) Contradictions of ‘Real Socialism’: the Conductor and the Conducted.

For the facebook event page, click here

RSPV: 9818557916, 9013074978, 9911078111

Fear of Small Numbers

- Siobam Haripriya

Photo Courtesy: Shruti Batra

The past couple of months have seen sporadic racial violence in the national capital. A lot of people from the “Northeast”, especially in the academics and civil society, have also been asked to put their perspectives on the “issue”. So finally after a long time racism seems to be in the radar which is good news. But one need not rejoice much as one still needs to think through what kind of racism is on the radar. The incident against the Ugandan women led by the former law Minister of a party which calls itself the Aam Aadmi Party is not discussed still to the extent as the racism against the “northeast” is. The incident also points to the collusion of the state, its representatives and its machinery in racist attacks, similar to its endorsement of communal, caste and gender based violence. There is still a huge discomfort to admitting that we are a racist society and “race” based crimes get endorsed on the excuse of saving the “north Indian” society from the cultural affront that women and men of certain “race” or nationality presents. Our selective anger and mobilisation on the lines of nationality is deeply problematic and reveals the lack of an intention to engage with racism head on. The attempt now should be to connect these different incidences as stemming from the same way of looking at people who are “different”. 

Discourse on race teaches us that race is essentially a false category made socially real by our belief in it. Racism is propelled by the placing certain values on physical difference, values that mostly create hierarchy and fear. The idea of “race” which lies at the heart of racism has been long dismantled by works both in disciplines of sciences and social sciences, yet this false category remains a historical and lived reality. What people perceive of as characteristics of a certain “race”/ “people”/ “community” are not real yet lazy stereotypes abound in thoughts and consequently in words that we use as a part of our everyday. The stereotypes also seem to create an unnatural and absurd fear –the fear of small numbers (“Fear of Small Numbers” is the title of a book by Arjun Appadurai). The fear of small numbers is perhaps an almost pathological disorder when you start seeing the minority everywhere, when you fear being overrun by them. For the “mainstream” we seem to be just that –the racial other, a small number to be feared, who make insidious insinuation against the national army or perhaps the idea of the nation itself. 

Hidden in Plain Sight: Problems of Democracy under Capitalism and Socialism

Note: This is the text of a talk delivered at the International Seminar on “Democracy, Socialism, and the Visions for the 21st Century”, 7th to 10th March, 2014 Hyderabad, India

- Ravi Sinha

If one has to say something brief and short about a large and complex subject, which is also a much discussed topic, one always runs the risk of stating the obvious. But one may also chance upon the unexpected and the counter-intuitive. Problems of democracy under capitalism and under socialism have by now a ring of tiring familiarity around them, but they also contain surprises that are hidden in plain sight. While fixing my coordinates by recounting the obvious, my hope is to point towards aspects that may be counter-intuitive to the political common sense prevalent in much of the left and the social movements.

Let me begin with the status of democracy under capitalism. Popular mind considers them complementary to each other. Ancients – whether in Greece or in India – were familiar with the concept of democracy and, at least in some famous examples, they are also supposed to have practiced it. But the large-scale acceptance and practice of democracy overlaps with the history of capitalism. In addition, the history of socialism of the twentieth century has been such that this association got further entrenched in the popular mind. I will come to the socialism question a little later. For now, let me stay with the relationship between democracy and capitalism.

If I were to say, then, that at the core of this relationship lies a tension that is fundamentally irresolvable, it would appear counter-intuitive to the popular common sense. On the other hand, it would appear obvious to a leftist. On both counts there are reasons to dig a little deeper. Truth is often counter-intuitive for the wrong reasons, but at times it is also obvious for the wrong reasons.

If democracy is irreconcilable with capitalism at some fundamental level, how is it that they have coexisted in the real world for such a long time? The short answer is – always at the cost of democracy. They have lived together but not on equal terms. Capitalism always had the trump, although one should not overlook the fact that, over time, it has also shaped up to the growing rigors of democracy. During much of the early history of capitalism citizenship rights were confined to the property owners. Slaves and women, for example, were not considered full humans worthy of citizenship and democratic rights. The situation has now changed, but not entirely. Democracy is allowed into many parts of capitalism’s mansion and this access has enlarged over time, but it is barred from the gilded central halls and it would never be allowed into the sanctum.

One of the non-negotiables is private property. Not that many would like to negotiate over it. Everyone loves private property, especially one’s own. This virtue or vice, whichever way you look at it, is not confined to the capitalists. Everyone, it seems, would like to keep both – private property and democracy. And, private property is part of the genetic code of capitalism. Where, then, is the case for democracy being irreconcilable with capitalism?

Let us do a bit of unpacking of the concepts. Take the case of democracy. Its conceptual map can be drawn along two axes – one of power and the other of freedom. If democracy means people will govern themselves, some mechanism would have to be put in place for the formation and execution of the popular will. Ideally, every citizen must participate actively and equally in this process. There must also be social accountability of the exercise of power even when power emanates from popular will. Institutions, mechanisms and practices of democracy are supposed to approximate this ideal. 

The second axis is that of freedom or liberty, although we on the left often feel shy of using the latter word. It is taken as a code word for capitalism, private property and individualism. In any case, having aligned the axis of power along the democratic principle, we are still faced with a critical question. How much of life do we wish to bring under democracy? If you are surprised by this question, especially coming from a leftist, let me rephrase it. In how many aspects of your life would you be willing and happy to live in accordance with the popular will? 

It is not an easy question to answer. And, answers keep changing through history and across social conditions. Perhaps, we can more fruitfully ask – what is the desirable direction for this answer to change? This, I believe, can be answered more firmly. The direction should be such that increasingly larger domains of life get released progressively from the grip of the system – from the grip of any system, including the most democratic ones.

Marginalised within the Margins: Meitei Muslims in Manipur

- Soibam Haripriya

Ever since childhood I remember being in highly homogeneous groups of friends and familial circles. Such circles have the tendency to numb us to differences, an easy sedate living insulated from those different from us. It was not a shock though considering the direction the country and the state is heading when a friend narrated to me in a series of conversation the travails any muslim girl growing up in Manipur would have most probably undergone. “‘Amina Begum’ is one of one such verbal harassment thrown at anyone wearing the hijab or have wrapped herself up in a scarf or chaddar,” she explained. People like us who are not subject to such particular harassment and targeting based on religious affiliation might even state that such harassment is to be taken lightly. Harassment of such kind is mildly called laknaba, a term as innocuous as eve teasing, a term which could include an array of other activities which are indeed innocuous and thereby makes it difficult for women to argue that laknaba is verbal harassment also, or perhaps what is required is to coin another term which would encompass the ordeal that such an act embodies. While it is more often than not understood and (hopefully) a consensus built around the fact that women undergo harassment at most public and private spaces such harassment of the minorities should be understood as of much more virulent an attack and the fear of being small in numbers is not to be underestimated. The point here is not to compare the degrees of ordeal that women undergo but to state that women belonging to different communities are marked out differently, the minorities always bearing the brunt and in the case of Manipur, the muslims become the other. Just as we are in other parts of the country marked out by our features, they are in their own land marked by other visible markers.

Sites that we as “mainstream”, at least in Manipur (by we, I mean the majority community of Manipur, the Meiteis regardless of being hindus or followers of Sanamahi religion) have taken as sacred if looked at through a different lens gives quite an altogether different picture. For instance, Kangla (in the news for quite some time now) has easily morphed from being a site of kingly subjugation to a site of resistance, if only, for the Meiteis. Manipuri muslims or Meitei pangal is the category in the census and such colloquial words –pangal, hao have in time acquired prejudices by what the majority community prefix and suffix with these words that most people with political sensitivity prefer the English replacement –muslim, tribal. A series of conversation with this friend from the Meitei pangal community revealed for me the many flaws of my own community. Her research interest being sacred spaces she interviewed some of the priests in Kangla. It is difficult to identify her as the “other” from her name or her “looks”. She was entertained with her queries for a few days after which she was told in no uncertain terms that she has polluted the space. As a political move there has been many feasts organised in the space of Kangla wherein people from other religious and ethnic communities have been invited, if only for political correctness. The priest also gave her some of his own opinion on how such moves pollute the space of Kangla. Are we to think then that it is only on such marked off days that “the others” are invited, allowed inside the so-called sacred space? It is to be remembered that spaces only become sacred by exclusivity, an exclusivity that more often than not is built on an exclusion, an exclusion that marks certain people as unpolluted and thereby those who are so. It is time we look at such spaces and understand that in the exalted histories of such spaces lie narratives of subjugation/ discrimination.

Meitei Pangal boys celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr

Peoples Alliance for Democracy & Secularism - Resolutions Adopted on February 27, 2014

The Peoples Alliance for Democracy & Secularism, comprising activist groups and individuals from across the country, held a one day national convention in New Delhi on Feb 27, 2014. After due discussions, reports and debates, the convention resolved as follows:

1. The national convention of the Peoples Alliance for Democracy & Secularism calls upon members of the public to uphold communal harmony at all costs; oppose communal propaganda and violence; defend democratic liberties and practices; and resist communal forces of all hues in the coming elections. It also notes that democratic freedoms are a life and death issue for workers, the poor and dispossessed.

2. The convention asserts the need and requirement for state institutions to be divested of religious symbolism and display of any variety.

3. The convention notes that public peace depends upon the proper functioning and accountability of the police and criminal justice system. It calls upon public officials at all levels and in all branches of administration to discharge their constitutional duties without fear, favour or bias.

4. The convention notes that women and children are often the worst affected by communal violence and communal ideas; it resolves to support women’s movements in their struggle against the politics of patriarchal domination.

5. The convention asks the Union government and governments of states to produce a White Paper on action taken after all Commissions of Inquiry into communal incidents since Independence; and provide justice to all victims of communal violence. It calls upon both Houses of Parliament to offer condolences to all victims of communal violence; and apologise on behalf of the Union of India for its failure to uphold Article 21 of the Constitution that assures all citizens of their right to life and liberty unless deprived of it by due process of law.