विभाजन की लकीरें

- जावेद अनीस

सआदत हसन मंटो ने अपनी मशहूर रचना 'टोबा टेक सिंह' में एक मेंटल हॉस्पिटल का जिक्र करते हुए बताया गया कि सन47 में सिर्फ हिन्दुस्तान के लोग और ज़मीन नहीं बटें थे बल्कि मानसिक रोगियों का भी विभाजन हुआ था, दरअसल कहानी में ये मानसिक रोगी तथाकथित होशमंदों के प्रतीक थे.भारतीय उपमहाद्वीप के उस विभाजन को 66 साल हो रहे हैं जिसके नतीजे में भारत और पाकिस्तान नाम के दो राष्ट्र अस्तित्व में आए। यह 2015 है जब विभाजन के दौर की संतानें अपने उम्र के अंतिम पड़ाव पर हैं ,लेकिन ऐसा लग रहा है कि समय तीन सौ साठ डिग्री घूम कर फिर वहीँ पहुच गया है जहाँ हम उसे 1947 में छोड़ कर आगे बढ़ आये थे और 'टोबा टेक सिंह” के मेंटल भूतों की वापसी हो गयी है। विभाजन का सोया हुआ जिन्न जाग गया लगता है, हिन्दूओं और मुस्लिमों के नाम पर बनीं सियासी जमातों की राजनीति की मुख्यधारा में वापसी के संकेत बन रहे हैं और पंथनिरपेक्ष, बहुलतावादी और सहअस्तित्व के विचार हाशिये पर पंहुचा दिए गए लगते हैं।

वर्ष 2014 लोकसभा चुवाव ने मुस्लिम वोट बैंक, अल्पसंख्यक समुदाय के समर्थन के बिना भारत में कोई सरकार नहीं बना सकता है जैसे कई मिथ तोड़ दिए थे और देश में पहली बार एक बहुसंख्यकवादी मुकम्मल दक्षिणपंथी सरकार वजूद में आयी थी, जिसके मुखिया ने अपने चुनाव प्रचार के शुरुआत में मुम्बई की गलियों में पड़े पैमाने पर बड़े-बड़े होर्डिंग्स लगवाये थे जिसमें बड़े -बड़े अक्षरों में लिखा हुआ था ‘मैं हिंदू राष्ट्रवादी हूं’। अब जहाँ एक तरफ मुल्क के राजनीतिक पटल पर एक ऐसी राजनीतिक विचार सबसे बड़ी ताकत बन चुकी है जो बहुसंख्यकवाद की पैरोकार है और ऐसे दृष्टिकोण को बढ़ावा दे रही है जिससे राष्ट्र की एकता खतरे में पड़ सकती है, वहीँ दूसरी ओर एक ऐसी सियासी जामत भी पटल पर प्रवेश कर चुकी है जो चारमीनार के परछाईयों को दूर छोड़ते हुए पूरे देश के मुसलमानों के राजनीतिक गोलबंदी की दिशा में आगे बढ़ रही है। एक तरफ जहाँ आये दिन लव जिहाद, धर्मांतरण और हिन्दू राष्ट्र का शोर उठाया जा रहा है तो दूसरी तरफ यह ऐलान किया जा रहा है कि “इस्लाम सभी धर्मों का वास्तविक घर है और जब सभी धर्मों के लोग इसे अपनाएंगे,तब यह वास्तविक 'घर वापसी' होगी।“

इसी खेल को जारी रखते हुए केंद्र और महाराष्ट्र में बीजेपी सरकार के सहयोगी पार्टी के नेता और भारतीय संसद के सदस्य संजय राउत ने मुख्यपत्र “सामना” में मुसलमानों से वोट देने का अधिकार छीनने की मांग करते हुए लिखते हैं कि‘‘अगर मुसलमानों का इस्तेमाल केवल राजनीति करने के लिए इस तरह किया जा रहा है तो उनका कभी विकास नहीं हो सकता। जब तक मुस्लिमों का इस्तेमाल वोट बैंक की राजनीति के लिए होता रहेगा, उनका कोई भविष्य नहीं होगा और इसलिए बालासाहब ने एक बार कहा था कि मुस्लिमों का मताधिकार वापस लिया जाए। उन्होंने सही कहा था।’’ उन्होंने ऑल इंडिया मजलिस-ए-इत्तिहादुल-मुस्लिमीन (एमआईएम) और उसके नेताओं ओवैसी बंधुओं की तुलना भी ऐसे जहरीले सांपों से की जो अल्पसंख्यक समुदाय का शोषण करने के लिए जहर उगलते रहते हैं।अब बारी इस खेल के दूसरे खिलाडी एमआईएम के नेता असादुद्दीन ओवैसी की थी जिन्होंने “पलटवार’ करते हुए कहाकि “कोई माई का लाल मुसलमानों मताधिकार नहीं छीन सकता है”।

Praful Bidwai Is No More

-Subhash Gatade

Praful Bidwai is no more. He died in Amsterdam on Tuesday evening due to a cardiac arrest.

With his death we have lost the 'best left-wing journalist' in this part of South Asia whose articles appeared in many newspapers and magazines in the subcontinent and in the middle east and was frequently published by The Guardian, Le Monde Diplomatique as well.

Praful will be missed by thousands and thousands of his readers (this pen pusher included) who were 'groomed' by him in a career spanning more than four decades. For them he was one such voice who remained uncompromising in his strident criticism of communal fundamentalisms of various kinds and the crony capitalism which is having a field day these days. He was a leading voice for nuclear disarmament and peace as well and had written extensively on it.

It was a strange coincidence that we met last in the capital when a memorial meeting was organised by Communist Party of India to remember the legendary Comrade Govind Pansare who was assassinated few days back. He was to speak in the meeting. The meeting was yet to start and I could steal some time to talk to him. He told he is working on a book - which was near completion - on the left movement in the country and had interviewed many activists associated with the movement to listen to their understanding of challenges before the left. And in that connection he had long meeting with Com Pansare - once in Kolhapur and one possibly in Mumbai. He shared his fascination about the energies he still had at that age for 'the cause'.

Few days after the meeting, there was a call from him asking for a phone number of a dalit activist which incidentally I did not have. Yes, that was the last time I spoke to him.

Hey Ram ! Madhav

- Subhash Gatade

Ram Madhav, the first official spokesperson of RSS (later removed or discharged from this role) and these days 'loaned' to BJP as a 'senior leader' engaged in what an analyst called double delete asana on International Yoga Day. The first of this kind of 'asana' - unheard before - was rather necessitated by the impetuosity with which the net savvy leader tweeted about 'absence of Vice President Hamid Ansari' from the celebrations and the 'blackout of the programme by Rajya Sabha TV which is chaired by him' and later tweeted 'an apology about the confusion' and within no time deleted both the tweets.

By evening it was clear that not only the Rajya Sabha TV had provided a live coverage of the programme but also provided clarifications about honourable Vice President's absence. It was revealed that he was not invited for the programme by the concerned minister. In fact his office had to issue a press release to the effect because of the insinuations which were being spread targeting him and perhaps also tell the likes of Ram Madhav that there is something called protocol which the Vice President has to follow.

One does not know whether it would be possible for Mr Ram Madhav to comprehend such nuances of democratic procedures because for him such details are of no consequence. In fact if he was really concerned about absence of Vice President of India in the said programme, he could have easily phoned his office and made further enquiry. But as we know he just wanted to underline his absence from such a programme of 'national glory' when India was supposedly 'leading the world'. It was an indirect way to further the illiberal and exclusivist agenda he has been exposed to since younger days. 

We know that this is not for the first time that the honourable Vice President has been targeted in such a lowly manner and a campaign of calumny and insinuation has been launched against him. During President Obama's visit also a similar controversy was raked up by the same elements when national anthem was being played during Republic Day celebrations at Rajpath. A photo of the programme was widely shared on social media wherein the President of India was seen to be saluting the national flag whereas Vice President Hamid Ansari and many other dignitaries were seen merely standing. 

"Why didn't Hamid Ansari salute the national flag?" This question seemed to be top most on the minds of the self-proclaimed defenders of patriotism then. In fact, home minister Rajnath Singh and external affairs minister SushmaSwaraj didn't salute the flag either, but as expected their patriotism was not questioned. Many hate tweets were hurled at the Vice President then ranging from "Jihadi sympathiser", "anti-India", "traitor", few of them even demanded that he be impeached also.

No To Ambedkar-Periyar in ‘Modern Day Agraharam’?

- Subhash Gatade

Whether discussing issues of contemporary concern among students, raising debates around them on the campus – taking inspiration from the ideas of leading social revolutionaries of 20th century – should be construed as an act of creating ‘social disharmony’ or ‘spreading hatred’ ?

Any sane person would rather reject this weird proposal but it appears that the bureaucrats in the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD) think otherwise. It was evident in the way they acted on an anonymous complaint regarding the activities of a group of students in IIT Madras which calls itself ‘Ambedkar-Periyar Study Circle’ (APSC) – which comprises mainly of dalit, bahujan andadivasi students. Perhaps they were worried that the particular students group, has been critical about PM Modi’s policies and has been raising issues of caste, communalism as well as corporate loot of resources and challenging the ‘development’ narrative which is popular these days among a section of people. The impetuosity with which they acted when they wrote to the management of the Institute can also be gauged from the fact that in this process they violated the recommendations of the CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) itself which has ‘barred’ organisations from taking action on such (anonymous) complaints.

As of now the issue of ‘derecognition’ of APSC by the IITM management, has snowballed into a major controversy, with issues of curtailment of freedom of expression, infringement of autonomy of educational institutions and dominance of caste in higher education all coming to the fore. There have been demonstrations in Madras/Chennai and other major cities protesting this arbitrary clamping down on a student’s group. There are reports that students from other institutions like Mumbai, Delhi and Kharagpur have come forward to form similar groups on their campuses to express their solidarity with them.

The way this issue has unfolded has also caused unease in the academic world in the west also and one learns that Prof Mumford, president of the International Mathematical Union and a former Harvard University professor, – who has been a regular visitor to the IITM campus – expressed his displeasure over the developments there in a mail. He has reminded the management that

 “..[c]ampuses must allow open discussion of divisive issues even when it offends some people so that all its aspects are out in the open. Today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders and one wants them to think deeply about the direction to which we are headed.”

It is true that neither the ministry nor the management had expected that this move would be met with any resistance. Their assessment must have been that this ‘derecognition’ would give a signal to all dissenting voices on different campuses to either fall in line or face consequences. Taken aback by the strong reaction, they do not know how to wriggle themselves out of the situation.

According to reports the Smriti Irani led MHRD is at pains to explain that it did not try to dictate terms to the management of the IITM, and had nothing to do with this ‘clamping down’. It also wants to assure its detractors that it respects the autonomy of academic institutions. It is a different matter that there are no takers of this ‘line’ in the academic world. People are aware that the same ministry which felt concerned about activities of APSC has been a silent spectator about the activities of other right-wing Hindutva groups on the same campus, who have been spreading irrational ideas, superstitions and have no qualms in inviting controversial Gurus on the campus, freely using IIT’s name and resources. An idea of the activities such groups take up can be had from ‘Vivekananda Study circle’ (VSC) which was founded in late 90’s which has held talks which advocate Intelligent design and which claim the existence of Quantum Physics in Vedic Sciences. Forget action or censure, such organizations receive complete support of IIT administration.

Of course, it is not for the first time that actions by Ms Irani’s ministry have caused consternation on the campuses. Few months back, acting on representation from a RSS worker in Madhya Pradesh, it had taken the unusual step of policing university campuses to find out what was cooking in their kitchen. The directors of all IITs and IIMs were sent letters seeking details of cooking and catering arrangements in their institutions, and directing them to send “action taken’’ report on RSS swayamsevaks’ demand for separate dining halls for vegetarian and non-vegetarian students on grounds that “these institutes are spreading bad culture from the West (“kusanskar”) and causing grief to the parents’’.

Not some time ago the same ministry again caught itself on wrong foot when Director of IIT Delhi resigned supposedly to express his displeasure over the pressures brought on him allegedly at the behest of the top bosses. It was rumoured that there was pressure on him to ‘allot’ IIT’s playground to a Cricket academy run by someone close to the corridors of power and he had refused to oblige.

Anyone who has closely followed the trajectory of this government which is becoming more and more infamous for violating procedures/processes, bypassing institutions and challenging established norms of governance would not be shocked about the present turn of events in IITM. And let me admit that it would be ‘unfair’ to single out MHRD for such arbitrary action. This is part of new culture which is being fostered these days. Few days back this same government ‘appointed’ an information officer as director of DD news, asked her to report directly to the IB ministry, completely bypassing the Prasar Bharati, which is the only authorised body to make such appointments and thus signalling that the autonomy of Prasar Bharati under the Modi dispensation can henceforth RIP (rest in peace).