Statement by teachers and scholars in solidarity with the students of Film & Television Institute of India (FTII)

In Solidarity with the Students of the Film & Television Institute of India (FTII)

We, the undersigned teachers, scholars and researchers within and outside the university system in India, are disturbed by the repeated and systematic attempts to undermine the academic autonomy of universities and other institutions of teaching and learning, such as the FTII (Pune), by the government. There is a concerted effort to monopolise academic spaces by replacing substantive academic autonomy with policies aimed at destroying academic excellence, diversity, creativity and an atmosphere in which students and teachers can think critically and function freely.

Further, we strongly protest the organised attacks against students and other individuals, in universities and elsewhere, for critiquing the state, be it through film screenings, books, talks or exhibitions. The growing number of censorships and bans is encouraging a widespread culture of intolerance and anti-intellectualism that is openly threatening the freedom of academic expression, democractic and participatory governance, and fundamental rights.

1. We mark our solidarity with the students of the FTII who have been on strike since June 12, 2015. We support their view that Mr. Gajendra Chauhan, an official member of the BJP since 2004, was chosen to be President of the FTII Society and Chairman of the Governing Council for his loyalty to the party and not because he has any credentials to occupy these posts. Mr Chauhan’s appointment is in sharp contrast to previous appointments of nationally and internationally acclaimed personalities such as UR Ananthamurthy, Girish Karnad, Shyam Benegal, Saeed Akhtar Mirza, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and Mrinal Sen, each of whom had built solid reputations for themselves in their respective fields. We urge the government to desist from taking any steps that would harm the future of students, as well as the longterm interests of an institute such as the FTII. We suggest that the current Governing Council be held passive until such time as the FTII society is reconstituted. In the interim, a temporary body, acceptable to all concerned, could be put in place in order to supervise the transition.

2. Through its dubious appointments not just in the FTII but also in other key institutions like the ICHR, ICCR, NFDC, NBT, CBFC, Prasar Bharati, the IIMs and the IITs, among others, the current government has made it amply clear that it has scarce respect for eligibility critera, academic accomplishments or professional reputation. If appointees, including four out of the eight appointees to the FTII society, are chosen on the basis of loyalty to the Sangh Parivar and for commitment to its exclusivist and authoritarian ideology, then institutional autonomy, merit, credentials, professionalism, scholarship, and academic excellence stand destroyed and replaced with propaganda. We demand that professional standards of appointments be re-instituted, and the politics of partisanship stopped.

3. We strongly condemn the actions of organizations such as the ABVP, which assaulted FTII students when they screened Anand Patwardhan’s Jai Bhim Comrade. Last week the ABVP prevented the screening of a film that seeks to understand the recent riots in Muzzafarnagar and their impact on the lives of people living in the area, at a college in Delhi University, even as all students present wished to continue watching the film. This same group pressurised Delhi University to excise AK Ramanujan’s acclaimed essay on the many Ramayanas from the university syllabus in 2011/12, and continues to act, together with sundry other anti-democratic formations of varied political hues, as a violent extra-legal, self–appointed censor board across campuses in the country. Law Schools, we learn, are now being directed to incorporate a Minister’s books on animal rights as part of the syllabus!

We urge the government to take serious note of the political and administrative processes that are gravely undermining academic and institutional autonomy, substituting dialogue with censorship or violence, creating an atmosphere of fear, and fostering an exclusivist, propaganda-ridden anti-democratic political culture instead of one that encourages citizens to read, write, think, create and speak freely and critically, without fear of community, ‘hurt sentiments’ and God.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the statement belong to that of the signatories. They do not represent the position of their institutions.

[Mukto-Mona Statement] On Murder of Bangladeshi Atheist Blogger and Activist Niloy Neel

Image courtesy: Daily Star, 8th August edition, Dhaka

Following the murders of Rajeeb Haider, Avijit Roy, Washiqur Rahmna, and Ananta Bijoy Das, today, the Mukto-Mona writer, blogger, and activist Niloy Neel has been hacked to death. He wrote in Mutko-Mona as well as in Istishon, and Facebook under the name of “Niloy Neel” (twitter: #NiloyNeel). In addition to writing, Niloy Neel was involved in various social justice movements and was the founder of the Bangladesh Science and Rationalists Association.

Ansar Al Islam, the Bangladesh branch of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) has claimed responsibility for murdering Niloy Neel in his own home, in front of his family, because of his writing. The fundamentalists continue in their tradition of responding to the pen with machetes; the government of Bangladesh continues to supply the fundamentalists with all that is necessary to keep their machetes honed. One by one the enlightened, the freethinking writers, and activists of Bangladesh, are being brutally murdered. Their only crime is taking a stand against injustice, and superstitions prevalent in society. A machete may kill, in a cowardly manner, a human being of flesh and bone; it cannot kill their ideology. Our fight will continue. With all our strength we will continue to speak our minds, our dreams. For as long as there is even a single member of the freethinking community alive; for as long as a single sentence written by freethinking writers survives.

Niloy Neel’s FB status regarding lack of safety:

“Two men were following me two days ago. This happened when I was on my way back from attending the rally organized to protest “The Murder of Ananta Bijoy Das.” First, when I reached a certain place via public bus, they came with me to the same spot. Then, when I got on to a Laguna to reach my destination, one of them climbed aboard the Laguna with me. On the Laguna I realized this was the same guy who was on the bus with me, but there were two of them then. I thought to myself, well, it’s possible; perhaps one of them was going somewhere else so he took a different route.

Until then it seemed as usual. But on the Laguna, the young man was continually texting from his cellphone which made me suspicious. When I exited the Laguna before I reached my actual destination, he got off with me. I was quite scared, and hurried into a unfamiliar alley. Later when I looked back, I noticed that another young man, who had also been on the bus, had joined this young man, and they had not followed me into the alley; they were waiting at the alley entrance. Then I was quite certain that I was being followed. Because even if their destination was the same, they reached their through separate routes, following me. I went farther into the alley, and took a rickshaw keeping the hood up, and traveled to my destination. I reached in apparent safety with the help of a friend nearby.

When I tried to lodge a General Diary about this incident, I faced an even more bizarre situation. A police officer had told me in confidence that the police do not want to accept General Diaries like this because the officer who accepted such a General Diary, related to the personal safety of an individual, remains accountable to ensure the personal safety of said individual. If the said individual faces any difficulty, then the relevant police officer may even lose his job for negligence in duty. This is what I saw when I visited the thanas to file a General Diary. When the surveillance on me had occurred, I had had to pass by several thanas, and so today when I visited one that had been in the vicinity, they refused to accept my General Diary. They told me this isn’t under our jurisdiction, go to this other thana, it’s their jurisdiction, and also, leave the country as soon as possible.”

FTII Protests in Delhi on 3rd August 2015: Resist the Attack on Higher Education

JOIN THE STRUGGLE AGAINST SAFFRONISATION! 

RESIST THE ATTACK ON HIGHER EDUCATION!

Friends,

For the last 52 days, Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) students, are on strike against the questionable appointments made in the apex decision making body of FTII - The FTII Society.

The strike has brought into focus a trend of appointments of highly unqualified individuals associated with RSS and BJP The recent appointments at institutions like NFDC, CFSI, & CBFC have already started to affect independent critical & artistic endeavors on issues faced by the country. Nalanda university, ICHR, IIT, NBT, ICCR, ICHR, NCERT, TIFR & IIMs are all resisting governments interference in academics and governance.

FTII continues to persist despite the underhand tactics like threats of expulsion, flimsy FIRs against the students, vandalism and relentless character assassination of the students and the institution.

The voice of the students at FTII has resonated with other students, artists, filmmakers, cultural organizations, civil rights and political groups across the country that have openly come out in support. Support for the students is pouring in from a plethora of cities and centers every day. International students and mainstream media, alarmed at the developments, have started registering their support. 

In midst of it all, FTII students has decided to take our democratic protest to the streets of Delhi

100+ students from FTII will lead a march from Jantar Mantar to the Parliament Street, at 2pm on 3rd of August.

We call out to all the students, youth, parents, artists, educators, everyone who is concerned about the institutions of higher education & throttling of independent & critical voices in our country. This is a call to all who value spaces where rational, reasonable and scholarly debate can happen. Where voices critical of majority are not labelled as 'anti hindu' ,where a certain variety of nationalism is not forced upon people. We urge people, from all walks of life who are concerned and alarmed by the 'environment of fear' where any criticism is simply not allowed, to come out vociferously in support of the students and join them in this march which represents a historic struggle for the sake of preserving academic autonomy and the universal tenets of freedom of thought, expression and right to criticise and dissent. 

On 3rd each voice will be standing for the fight to save our institutions from undemocratic and fascist forces.

JOIN US AT JANTAR MANTAR, 2 pm , 3rd August (MONDAY).

"NOTHING STRENGTHENS AUTHORITY SO MUCH AS SILENCE" - Albert Einstein

warmly

FTII STUDENTS' ASSOCIATION

मोदी राज, माइनॉरिटीज और बहुसंख्यकवाद के खतरे

जावेद अनीस

पिछले साल गर्मियों में लोकसभा चुनाव नतीजे आने के दिन 16 मई 2014 को कर्नाटक के मंगलौर में नरेंद्र दामोदरदास मोदी के जीत के जश्न में दो मस्जिदों पर पथराव हुआ था, मोदी सरकार के गठन के बाद पुणे में कुछ इस तरह से जश्न मनाया गया कि मोहसिन शेख नाम के आईटी इंजीनियर नमाज पढ़ कर अपने घर लौट रहा था इस दौरान हिंदू राष्ट्र सेना के सदस्यों ने उसकी पीट-पीटकर हत्या कर दी। हत्या के बाद आरोपी हिंदू सेना के कार्यकर्ता ने मोबाइल से एक मैसेज फॉरवर्ड किया, जिसमें लिखा था, 'पहली विकेट पड़ी' यानी पहला विकेट गिर गया है। मोहसिन शेख पर यह इल्जाम लगाया गया था कि उसने सोशल साइट पर शिवसेना प्रमुख प्रमुख बाल ठाकरे और छत्रपति शिवाजी के आपत्तिजनक तस्वीरों को शेयर किया था। हालांकि घटना के वक्त मोहसिन के साथ रहे उसके दोस्त रियाज ने खुलासा किया कि मोहसिन को भीड़ ने इसलिए निशाना बनाया क्योंकि वह 'मुस्लिम टोपी' पहने हुए था और लंबी दाढ़ी रखे था। रियाज उस वक्त किसी तरह से अपनी जान बचा कर भाग निकला था। इसके कुछ दिनों के बाद महाराष्ट्र में ही शिवसेना के एक सांसद द्वारा एक रोजेदार के मुंह में जबरदस्ती रोटी ठूसे जाने का मामला सामने आया था । 

पहली बार हर साल दशहरे पर नागपुर में होने वाला राष्ट्रीय स्वयं सेवक संघ के कार्यक्रम का प्रसारण दूरदर्शन पर किया गया, इस दौरान इसकी झांकी दिखाई गई और संघ प्रमुख मोहन भागवत का पूरा भाषण दिखाया गया। मोहन भागवत ने अपने भाषण में केरल में जिहादी गतिविधियों और गोरक्षा जैसे मुद्दों का ज़िक्र किया। यह सरकारी मशीनरी का खतरनाक दुरुपयोग था और साथ ही सन्देश भी कि आने वाले दिनों में मोदी सरकार के लिए संघ परिवार और उससे जुड़े संगठनों की क्या अहमियत रहने वाली है। देश के शीर्ष इतिहासकार रामचंद्र गुहा ने इसपर सवाल उठाते हुए कहा कि “आर.एस.एस. एक सांप्रदायिक हिन्दू संगठन है, यह एक गलत परंपरा की शुरुआत है।’ इसपर तत्कालीन सूचना प्रसारण मंत्री प्रकाश जावेड़कर ने इस तरह के सवाल उठाने वालों को जवाब दिया कि “लोग आर.एस.एस. प्रमुख को सुनना चाहते हैं..सवाल तो ये उठना चाहिए कि अब तक इस वार्षिक कार्यक्रम को क्यों नहीं दिखाया जाता था।" खुद प्रधानमंत्री मोदी ने ट्वीट किया कि “आर.एस.एस. प्रमुख मोहन भागवत ने अपने भाषण में सामाजिक सुधारों के जो मुद्दे उठाए हैं वो आज भी प्रासंगिक हैं।” साथ ही साथ उन्होंने भागवत के भाषण का लिंक भी सांझा किया।

मोदी सरकार के शुरुवाती दिनों में ही इसी तरह का एक और मामला सामने आया था जिसमें तेलंगाना के एक भाजपा विधायक ने पूरी दुनिया में भारतीय महिला टेनिस खिलाडी के रुप में पहचान बना चुकीं टेनिस स्टार सानिया मिर्जा को “पाकिस्तानी बहु” का खिताब देते हुए उनके राष्ट्रीयता पर सवाल खड़ा किया था। इसी कड़ी में गोवा के एक मंत्री दीपक धावलिकर का वह बयान काबिले गौर है जिसमें उन्होंने कहा था कि ‘प्रधानमंत्री नरेन्द्र मोदी के नेतृत्व में भारत हिन्दू राष्ट्र बन कर उभरेगा।‘

नयी सरकार के गठन के बाद पिछले एक सालों में लगातार ऐसी घटनायें और कोशिशें हुई हैं जो ध्यान खीचती हैं, इस दौरान धार्मिक अल्पसंख्यकों के ख़िलाफ़ हिंसा बढ़ी है और उनके बीच असुरक्षा की भावना मजबूत हुई है, देश के लोकतान्त्रिक संस्थाओं पर हमले हुए हैं और भारतीय संविधान के उस मूल भावना का लगातार उलंघन हुआ है जिसमें देश के सभी नागरिकों को सुरक्षा, गरिमा और पूरी आजादी के साथ अपने-अपने धर्मों का पालन करने की गारंटी दी गयी है। मई 2014 में निर्वाचित प्रधानमंत्री नरेन्द्र मोदी की नई सरकार आने के बाद से भारत में धार्मिक अल्पसंख्यकों को आतंकित करने का एक सिलसिला सा चल पड़ा है। संघ परिवार के नेताओं से लेकर केंद्र सरकार और भाजपा शासित राज्यों के मंत्रियों तक हिन्दू राष्ट्रवाद का राग अलापते हुए भडकाऊ भाषण दिए जा रहे हैं, नफरत भरे बयानों की बाढ़ सी आ गयी है, पहले छः महीनों में “लव जिहाद”, “घर वापसी” जैसे कार्यक्रम चलाये गये, 2015 में गणतंत्र दिवस के दौरान केंद्र सरकार द्वारा जारी विज्ञापन में भारतीय संविधान की उद्देशिका में जुड़े ‘धर्मनिरपेक्ष‘ और ‘समाजवादी‘ शब्दों को शामिल नहीं किया गया था। केंद्र के एक वरिष्ठ मंत्री ने इस विज्ञापन को सही ठहराया। भाजपा की सहयोगी पार्टी शिवसेना ने तो इन शब्दों को संविधान की उद्देशिका से हमेशा के लिए हटा देने की वकालत ही कर डाली थी। दरअसल मोदी सरकार के सत्ता में आते ही संघ परिवार बड़ी मुस्तैदी से अपने उन एजेंडों के साथ सामने आ रहा है, जो काफी विवादित रहे है, इनका सम्बन्ध धार्मिक अल्पसंख्यक समूहों, इतिहास, संस्कृति, धर्मनिरपेक्षता और राष्ट्रीय राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ के भारत को हिन्दू राष्ट्र बनाने के करीब नब्बे साल पुराने सपने से है।

हेडगेवार का पथ: मिथक और यथार्थ

– सुभाष गाताडे

'आधुनिक भारत के निर्माता: डाक्टर केशव बलिराम हेडगेवार’ के बहाने चन्द बातें '

राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ के आनुषंगिक संगठन भाजपा के केन्द्र में तथा कई राज्यों में सत्तारोहण के बाद शिक्षा जगत उनके खास निशाने पर रहा है। विभिन्न अकादमिक संस्थानों में अपने विचारों के अनुकूल लोगों की महत्वपूर्ण पदों पर नियुक्ति करने से लेकर, स्वतंत्रामना अकादमिशियनों पर नकेल डालने के प्रयासों से लेकर, पाठयक्रमों में बदलावों तक इसे कई तरीकों से अंजाम दिया जा रहा है। पिछले दिनों केन्द्रीय मानव संसाधन मंत्राी सुश्री इराणी ने संघ से सम्बधित शैक्षिक संगठनोें से प्रस्तावित नयी शिक्षा नीति के मसविदे के बारे में बात की, जिसका प्रारूप नवम्बर में रखे जाने की योजना है। इसके अलावा विभिन्न संस्थानों और विश्वविद्यालयों में खाली हुए या होने वाले पदों पर नियुक्तियों के मसलों पर भी बात हुई।

सूबा राजस्थान – जो केन्द्र में सत्तासीन भाजपा सरकार की कई नीतियों के लिए एक किस्म की प्रयोगशाला की तरह काम करता रहा है, फिर चाहे श्रमिक कानूनों में बदलावों का मामला हो, पंचायतों के चुनावों में खड़े रहने के लिए न्यूनतम शैक्षिक योग्यता तय करने का मामला हो – एक तरह से शिक्षा जगत में आसन्न बदलावों के मामले में भी एक किस्म की ‘मिसाल’ कायम करता दिख रहा है। स्कूलों के रैशनलायजेशन/ यौक्तिकीकरण के नाम पर सतरह हजार सरकारी स्कूलों को आदर्श स्कूल में मिला देने का मामला हो या पूर्ववर्ती अशोक गहलोत सरकार द्वारा कायम हरिदेव जोशी पत्राकारिता विश्वविद्यालय को बन्द करने का निर्णय हो या राजीव गांधी ट्राइबल युनिवर्सिटी को उदयपुर से डुंगरपुर जिले के बनेश्वर धाम जैसे अधिक दुर्गम इलाके में भेजने का मामला हो, उसने इस दिशा में कई कदम बढ़ाए है। अब अपने ताज़े फैसले में उसने संघ के संस्थापक सदस्य केशव बलिराम हेडगेवार की जीवनी को खरीदने की सिफारिश राज्य के कालेज पुस्तकालयों की है। अपने सर्क्युलर में शिक्षा विभाग की तरफ से कहा गया है कि कालेज के पुस्तकालय अकादमिक राकेश सिन्हा द्वारा लिखित ‘आधुनिक भारत के निर्माता: डाक्टर केशव बलिराम हेडगेवार’ नाम से किताब को पुस्तकालय हेतु मंगवा लें।

प्रस्तुत निर्णय की तीखी प्रतिक्रिया हुई है, राज्य सरकार पर आरोप लगा है कि वह शिक्षा के केसरियाकरण को बढ़ावा दे रही है। प्रस्तुत कदम को ‘देश के युवाओं के मनमस्तिष्क पर हिन्दू राष्ट्र की मानसिकता लादने के तौर पर, सामाजिक विभाजन पैदा करने के े कदम के तौर पर’ देखा जा रहा है। यह भी आरोप लगे हैं कि उसका मकसद है युवाओं के मनों को हिन्दू बनाम गैरहिन्दू के आधार पर बांटना, उपरी तौर पर सांस्क्रतिक और धार्मिक तौर पर बहुवचनी दिखना, मगर एक ऐसे समाज को प्रचारित करना जो हिन्दू समाज व्यवस्था से निर्धारित हो।’

याद रहे कि प्रस्तुत किताब का प्रकाशन भाजपा की अगुआई वाले राजग गठबन्धन सरकार के पहले दौर में – वाजपेयी के प्रधानमंत्रित्व काल में हुआ था, तथा प्रस्तुत किताब के विमोचन समारोह में स्वयंसेवक प्रधानमंत्राी, उपप्रधानमंत्राी से लगायत तत्कालीन संघ सुप्रीमो सुदर्शन तथा कई सारे वरिष्ठ मंत्राीगण उपस्थित थे लेकिन इन सबके बावजूद यह बात छिप नहीं पायी थी कि प्रस्तुत किताब में हेडगेवार के मूल्यांकन के बारेमें संघ के चन्द वरिष्ठ नेता नाखुश थे । प्रस्तुत किताब मंे किये गये हेडगेवार के मूल्यांकन को लेकर एक समय संघ के मुखपत्रा ‘आर्गनायझर’ के सम्पादक रहे श्री के आर मलकानी द्वारा उठाये गये आक्षेपों के बारेमें राजधानी के प्रमुख अंग्रेजी दैनिक (टाईम्स आफ इण्डिया,2 अप्रैल 2003, फाउंडर्स बायोग्राफी स्प्लिटस परिवार, अक्षय मुकुल) ने समाचार भी दिया था।

Modasa - It is just a beginning

- Subhash Gatade

How Hindutva Supremacists are rushing to give themselves Clean Chit in terror related cases?

I

Whether investigations into Hindutva terror related cases are changing course? A series of apparently unconnected developments definitely strengthen the belief.

Close on the heels of renowned public prosecutor Rohini Salian's revelations that she is being pressurised to go slow on the Malegaon bomb blast case (2008) and news of no of witnesses turning hostile in the Ajmer bomb blast case (2007) and sudden decision of the NIA to shift the Sunil Joshi murder case back to M.P, has come the news that the NIA has finally decided to close the Modasa bomb blast case citing 'insufficient evidence'. 

As is being rightly said it is the first concrete indication that with the assumption of power by the BJP investigations into Hindutva terror related cases a shift in emphasis is visible. Perhaps an indication of the changed times is the statement by a senior Minister that there is 'nothing like Hindu terror in the country' despite being aware of the fact that the NIA, the premier investigating agency formed after 2008 terror attack in Mumbai to focus on terror related cases, is handling at least a sixteen high profile cases supposedly involving Hindutva terrorists and many of their top bosses are still under scanner.

Bomb blast at Modasa, part of Sabarkantha district then and recently made into a separate district, which witnessed one death and injuries to many, is one of the least explored bomb blast in the country. The following write-up tries to discuss the blast, discusses the prevalent ambience then when bombs were discovered at different places without anyone claiming responsibility for it, the interim findings of the NIA when it took over the particular case during the UPA II regime and the announcement by the then home minister P Chidambaram that the central probe agency has achieved a “breakthrough” in the 2008 Modasa (Gujarat) blast case.

The sudden turnaround by the NIA is baffling and incomprehensible, to say the least. 

II

Ramzan, the period when Muslims observe fast for a month, proves especially painful for Abida Ghori and her husband, both from Modasa, a newly carved out district from Gujarat. No not that they are not able to withstand the strenuous routine which is expected of a religious person, the particular period brings back memories of their only son Jamal Abdeen Ghori, hardly 15 years old then, who died in a bomb blast in Suka Bazar, seven years back just two days prior to Id when the people were about to begin their evening prayers (Sept. 29, 2008).

Abida can recollect each moment of his last goodbye when he had rushed outside to buy few things for the next day Sehri (eating something before dawn), when a low intensity bomb which was kept in a Hero Honda Passion motorcycle (GJ 9 R-2896) parked outside the Suka Bazar mosque exploded killing Jamal Abedeen on the spot and injured 16 others. She later learnt that the motorcycle used in the blast was having a fake number plate. Jamal was a bright lad in studies and work and a darling of the whole neighbourhood who had chalked out many plans for the coming days with his siblings. Little could he have the premonition that he would not be around to witness the celebrations, and would be buried deep in a graveyard in the town ?

Few days back Abida has learned from a local reporter that the police has closed the investigations in the case and she would never be able to know who killed her only son for no fault of him. She was not surprised to hear this as she has seen the behaviour of the police and administration people who had never bothered to visit her once all these intervening years. In fact, from day one she was not hopeful about the police who had exhibited connivance with the communal elements during the 2002 riots and in fact, the person who was handling the Modasa blast case was infamous for such behaviour. 

From one of her relatives who lived in Ahmedabad she had learnt that this particular police officer was reported to have told victims seeking protection then ‘today your time has come . We have been told not to help. These are orders from the top.” She was also informed that one of the worst massacres of Muslims happened in an area called Naroda Patiya, Ahmedabad which was then under the jurisdiction of this man only. 

Confronting Discrimination - New Issue of Critique Magazine

New Issue of Critique "Confronting Discrimination" is out. Critique Magazine, March-August, 2015, Volume: 3 Issue: 2. Pg. 48. Rs. 30 /-. Critique is brought out by Delhi University chapter of New Socialist Initiative. Sharing below the cover of this issue and the content list.

Content

1. Editorial: Confronting Discrimination

2. सम्पादकीय: भेदभाव के विरोध में 

3. White-washing the Paints on the Wall: A Reflection on Racism - Amrapali Basumatary

4. सिक्के के दो पहलू हैं निजी और राजनीतिक - सिंथुजन वरथराजा 

5. Why its Difficult to See Eye to Eye - Vikramaditya Sahai

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).

A Tribute and a Bibliography: Remembering People’s Historian Amalendu Guha (1924-2015)

- Bonojit Hussain and Mayur Chetia

স্বৰ্গত ৰুচি নাই, যাওঁ মই ভাটিখানালৈ

জুৱাৰী-মদপী-বেশ্যা-সিহঁতকো মেলত গোটাই

মনৰ চিতাৰ ছাই উৰুৱাই গাওঁ আশাবৰী :

আকাশত উৰা মাৰে জাকে জাকে ফিনিক্স চৰাই !

I have no desire for heaven,

Instead I go to the brewhouse,

Gamblers, drunkards, prostitutes - bringing them together

I sing of hope, sprinkling ashes from my soul’s pyre:

In flocks the phoenix flies to the sky.

- “মোৰ কবিতা / My Poetry” Amalendu Guha 1960

I

Prominent Marxist historian, revolutionary, poet and a litterateur from Assam – Dr. Amalendu Guha – passed away at the age of 91 in the wee hours of 7^th May at his humble residence in Guwahati. Remaining true to his rationalist outlook, he had willed in 2005 that his bodily remains should be handed over to Gauhati Medical College for scientific research. Before and during Dr. Guha’s final ride to the Medical College, large numbers of people had gathered to pay their tributes at his residence, Assam Sahitya Sabha office in Cotton College State University premise and Ellora Vigyan Mancha office in Guwahati.

An unwavering pillar of left democratic movements in his home state, although Guha was mostly known as a historian in mainland India, his contributions and presence in the field of poetry and literature are also immense.

He presided over the History conclave and Poetry convention of Axom Sahitya Sabha in 1978 and 1994 respectively. Among his many other writings in Assamese and Bengali, his incisive travelogue on Afghanistan ‘Afghantistanot Ebhumuki’ (A Glance into Afghanistan) published in 1961 is considered to be one of the classics in Assamese travel writing. Apart from a revised edition published in 2002, the book has also been translated into and published in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada.

Despite publishing only two anthologies of poetry, Guha is counted among the most prominent modern poets of Assam. Guha has earned his place in the annals of Assamese literature as the poet of social consciousness, human sufferings and aspirations. His first anthology, called Luit Parer Gatha (in Bengali) was published in 1955 followed by his second anthology Tomaloi (in Assamese) published in 1960. Both these anthologies are resplendent tribute to Assam and the struggles and aspirations of its people.

In the lines of Neruda, Guha’s poetry resonate the universal themes of dreams, historical consciousness, poverty, political values, love, city life and nature; wherein aesthetics and politics mutually define each other. Markedly an optimist, for him poetry was one form of public salutation (ৰাজহুৱা সম্বোধন). A lover and balladeer of his land, Guha’s Assam is its splendid natural beauty, jhum farming, spring, rose chestnut, rivers, valleys, Oraons, Santhals, Mundas, laboring masses, Naga, Mizo, peaceful Manipur, mridang, cuckoo and weaving girls.

Talking of inspiration, writing in November 2000, Guha reminiscences that “around 1948 Hemanga Biswas gave me to read Pablo Neruda’s famous poem ‘Let the Rail splitters Awake’; inspired by it I wrote and published a long poem in Bengali corresponding to the situation prevailing in Assam as well as the world.” This poem composed and published in 1950 was a 136 lines poem called Luit Parer Gatha which was later used as the title of his first anthology with the same name.

Guha’s old friend Gautam Chattopadhyay recalls that sometimes in 1945 or 1946, when Guha was a BA student in Presidency College, they were travelling in a train to Guntur along with over a hundred fellow activists of Communist Party affiliated All India  Students’ Federation. Amidst discussions on politics and revolution, someone blurted out that “Amalendu writes wonderful poems!” Upon request to recite, tall, dark and lanky with a shock of bushy hair, Guha came forward and recited “Tram” his poem about a imagined journey from a Tram station to Dalhousie Square. The poem ends with this riveting line:

কন্ডাকটর ! বলতে পার, তোমার আর আমার, সাম্যের আর প্রাচুর্যের পৃথিবীটা কতদুর ?

Conductor! Can you tell us, how far is the world of equality and abundance?

Guha got involved in active left politics at the age of 14 as a high school student when he joined the All India Students’ Federation (Assam unit) in 1938/39, also around that time he started his engagement with Marxist study club “Progressive Union”.

1938 to 1940 was the time when leftist politics started making inroads into Assam. Many students around that time got attracted to Marxist ideas under the influence of Bengali leftists like Soumendranath Tagore, Kamal Ghosh, Biswanath Mukherjee and Amiya Dasgupta who had shifted to Assam for political work. As a result two different Marxist study groups took shape; those under the influence of Soumendranath Tagore gravitated towards “Radical Institute” which was associated with RCPI. Amiya Dasgupta and Kamal Ghosh took the initiative in the formation of “Progressive Union” which was associated with Student Federation. By 1942, during his Intermediate College days, Guha had already started to see himself as a communist. He remained an active member of Student Federation until 1947. He became a member of the Communist Party of India in 1943 and remained active as a party cadre until 1965 when he left his job at Darang College in Tezpur, Assam and moved to Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics in Pune. But he continued his participation in politics and movements till his last years.

During the 1962 Indo-China war, within 15 days of his return to Darang College after finishing his PhD at Indian School of International Studies in Delhi, Assam Government arrested Guha under the Preventive Detention Act. From Tezpur, first he was brought to Nagaon jail and then to Guwahati jail. Within days around 52 inmates were flown in a special plane and shifted to special cells of Behrampur Jail in Orissa and were imprisoned there for six months. Among those 52 were prominent leftist intellectuals and activists of Assam like Bishnu Rabha, Baneswar Saikia, Achintya Bhattacharya, Biresh Misra, Gauri Shankar Bhattacharya, Jiban Kalita and Mohanlal Mukherjee.

In a 2004 interview on his 80^th birth anniversary, Guha said that academically he always wanted to be based in Assam but the right prospect never came his way. Despite being one of the best candidates, he was denied a job at the newly established Gauhati University in 1948, and Guha strongly felt that he was denied the job because of his leftist ideology. That very year he joined Darang College, Tezpur, Assam as a lecturer of Economics and taught in the college till 1965. In between, from 1959 to 1962, he did his Phd from Indian School of International Studies, New Delhi and wrote his thesis on ‘Economic Transition in Afghanistan, 1929-1961’. From 1965 to 1973 he worked, first as a Research Fellow and later as a Reader, at the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Econmics in Pune. In 1973 he moved to Centre for Studies in social Science, Calcutta to teach Economic History and retired as a Professor in 1990. In between he also taught at the Delhi School of Economics in the years 1969-1970.

II

As a historian, Guha was primarily known for his work ‘Planters Raj to Swaraj: Freedom Struggle and Electoral Politics in Assam: 1826-1947’ published in 1977.  Till recently, it was the only academically informed work that was available on the region that professional historians could refer to, without hesitation. It was supposed to be a boring, factual and sarkari history of Assam legislative assembly, as part of a plan to write official histories of different provincial and central legislatures of India. It was commissioned by the Indian Council of Historical Research, as per the request of the Education Ministry of the Government of India, to commemorate the 25^th anniversary of India’s independence. But with  Guha’s enthusiasm and ICHR director R S Sharma’s full support,  the book turned into a comprehensive history of Assam, touching as diverse topics as the national movement, labour struggles, peasant rebellions, politics of migration, effects of colonial economy  and so on. People have long forgotten the other books published in the series and yet Guha’s book has since become a classic, with thousands of students, researchers and activists still devouring its pages for rare insights and excellent handling of primary sources.

'गब्बर इज़ बैक' एन्ड ही इज मोर डैंजर

जावेद अनीस

शोले फिल्म के ओरिजिनल क्लाइमैक्स में ठाकुर द्वारा गब्बर को मारते हुए दिखाया गया था जिसे बाद में सेंसर बोर्ड की दखल के बाद बदलना पड़ा, सेंसर बोर्ड नहीं चाहता था कि फिल्म में ठाकुर का किरदार कानून को अपने हाथ में ले। लगभग चालीस साल बाद आयी “गब्बर इज बेक” के क्लाइमैक्स में सरकारी कर्मचारियों की बेधड़क हत्यायें करने वाले फिल्म के “हीरो” को किसी शहीद की तरह फांसी की सजा पाते हुए दिखाया गया है, यही वह फर्क है जो हम 1975 और 2015 के बीच की अपनी फिल्मों में पाते हैं। तो क्या यह परिवर्तन सिर्फ फिल्मों के मामले में हुआ है और हमारे समाज, संस्कृति और राजनीति के कोने इससे अछूते है? जरा ठहर कर विभिन्न क्षेत्रों के सितारों पर एक नज़र डाल लीजिये जवाब खुद बखुद मिल जायेगा,आज साहित्य के सबसे बड़े ब्रांड और सितारे चेतन भगत है, संगीत में हनी सिंह और मिक्का सिंह, सिनेमा में सलमान खान,अक्षय कुमार, अध्यात्म में बाबा रामदेव,आशाराम,राजनीति में नरेंद्र मोदी,केजरीवाल,अमित शाह, ओवेसी ब्रदर्स हैं। इस लिस्ट को देख कर स्पष्ट है कि अब हमारे नायक बदल गये है, अब वे दूध के धुले नहीं हैं और ना ही वे मूल्यों की परवाह करते हैं, श्रेष्ठ होने का पैमाना भी बदल चूका है। लीडरों, नायकों के साथ चलने की जगह उनके पीछे चलने की भेड़चाल की प्रवृति और ज्यादा हावी हो गयी है। 

हम उदारीकरण के दौर में हैं जहाँ अपने आप को बाजार में बनाये रखने के वास्ते सब को ब्रांड बनने के लिए संघर्ष करना पड़ रहा है,अगर एक बार भी आप ब्रांड बन गये तो सक्सेस हैं, फिर आप चाहे अन्दर से कितने भी खोखले और फर्जी ही क्यों ना हो और जो ब्रांड नहीं बन पाता है उसे हाशिये पर ही रहना है, फिर वह चाहे कितना भी प्रतिभाशाली क्यों ना हो, इस खेल का दूसरा नियम यह है कि ब्रांड वही बनता है जो मार्किट के रिक्वायरमेंट के हिसाब से फिट बैठता है, तभी तो ठीक पार्लियामेन्ट के पास आत्महत्या कर लेने वाला एक किसान न्यूज़ इंडस्ट्री के लिए एक ब्रांड बन जाता है जबकि वर्षों से ग्रामीण भारत के अलग–अलग हिस्सों में आत्महत्या कर रहे हजारों किसानों की आत्महत्यायें का कोई न्यूज़ वैल्यू नहीं बन पाता है, इन ब्रांड्स को ही रोल माडल के रूप में गढ़ा जा रहा है, लोगों में इनकी लत डाली जा रही है जो बाद में करोड़ों की संख्या में फैन्स बनते हैं, फैन्स होने की पहली शर्त अंधभक्त होना है। हमारे दौर के “रोल माडल” तानाशाह भी होते जिनका करोड़ों फैन्स आँख और कान बंद करके फालो करते है। सलमान खान से जुडी हालिया घटना इसका ताजा मिसाल है। 

1975 में आई फिल्म शोले का खलनायक गब्बर सिंह इस फिल्म का ही नहीं हिंदी सिनेमा का भी एक ब्रांड है, अब 2015 में फिल्मी परदे पर गब्बर एक बार फिर वापस आ गया है, इस बार वह विलेन नहीं हीरो है, हालांकि उसके कारनामे एक विलेन की ही तरह हैं लेकिन उसके विलेननुमा करतूतों का ना केवल महिमामंडित किया है बल्कि 'नाम विलेन का, काम हीरो का' जैसे पंच लाइन के साथ उसे स्थापित करने की कोशिश भी की गयी है। शोले फिल्म में गब्बर अगर अपने करतूतों पर शर्मिंदा नहीं भी था तो भी कम से कम उसने नायक बनने की कोशिश नहीं की थी। लेकिन गब्बर इज बैक का गब्बर एलान करता है “ना मैं सरकारी हूँ ना गैर कानूनी, ना मैं कोई नेता हूँ और ना ही कोई टेररिस्ट, काम से हीरो नाम से विलेन हूँ, मैं गब्बर हूँ”।

Farmers’ Struggles at Battleground Peripheries

- T Venkateshwarlu

The farmer suicide in the Aam Admi Party (AAP) rally at Delhi once again facilitated national level discussions on farmers’ suicide in the country. The rally was organized by the AAP against ‘Land acquisition Bill, 2014’. The farmer suicide is a big tragedy and very painful thing. Ruling party BJP and opposition party Congress blamed AAP to the farmer suicide. Delhi Chief Minister and AAP party leader Aravind Kejriwal accepted his mistake that to continue the meeting after the farmer suicide. Rahul Gandhi promised to the farmers that he will fight against land acquisition in the country. These statements and tragedies are all became the part of history. In the country farmers’ suicides have been happening for three decades without any interruption. From 1995 almost every 30 minutes one farmer is committing suicide. In these three decades nearly three lakh farmers were committed suicides. This is the according government data. In reality this number may be three times higher. In 2014 the rate of farmers’ suicide increased 26% comparing with previous year. No party did not take serious about farmers’ suicides and not wage struggles against the farmers’ major problems which are causing to the farmers’ suicides.

Many parties, organizations, forums and Non- government Organizations are waging struggles in various forms against ‘Land Acquisition Bill, 2014’. Modi government designed the ‘Land Acquisition Bill’ 2014’ by making changes to earlier Land Acquisition Bill, 2013. After curtailing the workers’ rights in the name ‘Sramevajayati’ Modi started his attack on farmers’ rights. Once again these actions proved that people took disastrous decision by electing Modi government. The tragedy is that many political parties did not respond and wage struggles against ‘Sramevajayati’ which is against workers and serve the industrialists interests. It shows that the parties’ interest in farmers’ vote bank in Indian politics.

In the new Bill Modi removed the consent and social impact assessment clauses in the Land Acquisition Bill, 2013. He wants to provide a lot of opportunities to the corporate companies to grab the farmers’ land and make huge profits. So, he removed the consent and social impact assessment clauses in the previous Bill. After the prolonged struggles for decades farmers succeed in getting ‘Land Acquisition Bill, 2013 which included progressive clauses such as 70% to 80 % consent of land owners which provides bargaining powers to the farmers to get better compensation to them at the time of land acquisition. The social impact assessment prevents corporate companies to make real estate business with the farmers’ land which were taken in the name of establishing industries and projects. There is no doubt that the Modi Land Bill is against farmers’ interests. He wants to serve the interests of the corporate companies. So, he thought that consent clause and social impact assessment may give troubles to corporate companies at the times of land acquisition. He never feels and hesitates to work for the corporate companies. Actually he proved himself that he is the best servant of the corporate owners. The corporate media is projecting him as a ‘savior’ of the country. He changed the Bill to fulfill the corporate companies’ aspirations. So, struggles against ‘Land Acquisition Bill, 2014’ are genuine and required. Any farmers’ family should not fell into vulnerable situation because of the land acquisition. Before taking farmers’ land for private companies, development projects and infrastructure projects, government should provide sufficient compensation and sustainable livelihoods to the land owners. Most of the parties which are waging struggles against ‘Land Bill, 2014’ largely confined to compensation. But compensation will not suffice to the farmers. We should demand that along with sufficient compensation land owners should be include as shareholders in the industries and development projects. No government has right to grab land from the farmers and distributes it to the corporate companies in the name of development. Farmers have the right on their lands. No government has to take their right on their lands. Only at the time of building cooperatives by themselves farmers may give their rights on the lands for collective benefit. The agriculture labourers and other people those who depend on lands and other natural resources for their livelihoods have to consider as the victims development projects at the time of land acquisition. Sufficient compensation has to pay them for losing their livelihoods opportunities. Even within the land acquisition arena those who are fighting against land acquisition are not demanding shareholder status of the land owners in industries and developmental projects.

Most of the ongoing farmers’ struggles are almost confined to the problem of ‘Land Acquisition Bill, 2014’. But we have to remember that this is one of the problems of the farmers’. Focusing more on ‘Land Acquisition Bill’ these parties put aside the other major burning problems of the famers’. Because of these problems small, marginal and middle class famers are facing serious crisis in agriculture. Famers have been gradually drowning in to the debt trap. Throughout the year farmers and their family members’ hard work did not get any reasonable income to survive. Instead of providing income to their hard work it gives huge debts and pushes them into more vulnerable conditions. These conditions are facilitating tragedy of farmers’ suicides across the country. Farmers are facing many serious problems such as lack of sufficient and timely financial assistance from the government banks, increasing prices of seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, lack of irrigated water facility, decreasing the soil productivity, lack of agricultural department services, lack of drying platforms and storages, lack of agriculture produce processing centers, marketing facilities to the produce and Minimum Support Price (MSP) to the agriculture produce.

नर्मदा के संतानों की रूहें

- जावेद अनीस

कई सालों से देश के किसान मुसलसल आत्महत्या कर रहे हैं लेकिन किसानों के इस देश में यह एक मुद्दा तब बन पाया जब एक किसान का बेटा लुटियंस की दिल्ली में ठीक हुक्मरानों के सामने खुदकशी कर लेता है। इसके बाद देश भर में भूमि अधि‍ग्रहण कानून और किसान आत्महत्या से जुड़े मुद्दे कुछ समय के लिए बहस के केन्द में तो आ जाते हैं लेकिन इसकी मियाद ज्यादा लम्बी नहीं होती है, व्यवस्था के चेहरे से गजेन्द्र के खून के छीटें अभी सूखे भी नहीं थे कि इधर मध्यप्रदेश में नर्मदा की संतानें अपने आप को रूह बनाने के लिए मजबूर हैं। खंडवा जिले के घोघलगांव में ओंकारेश्वर बांध क्षेत्र के डूब प्रभावित किसान पिछले11अप्रैल से नर्मदा की पानी में अपना शरीर गलाते हुए प्रतिरोध कर रहे हैं और सैकड़ों लोग पानी से बाहर से उनका साथ दे रहे हैं। यह वही नर्मदा नदी है जिसे यहाँ के लोग प्यार और सम्मान से “नर्मदा मैया” कर के बुलाते है और जो सदियों से उनकी जीवन रेखा रही हैं, लेकिन विडम्बना देखिये कि हमारे सिस्टम ने सैकड़ों सालों से लोगों की पालनहार रही नर्मदा की धारा को उसकी आँचल में बसे लोगों के लिए जानलेवा बना दिया है, यह विस्थापन बनाम तथाकथित “विकास” की लडाई है जिसमे जीत अक्सर “विकास” की ही होती है और जिनकी कीमत और नाम पर यह “विकास” होता है वह हार जाते हैं। भोपाल और दिल्ली में बैठे इस लोकतंत्र के हुकमरानों के कानों में जैसे लोहा जम गया है क्योंकि अपनी जान की बाजी लगाकर जल-समाधि ले रहे इन आवाजों को सुनने के लिए उन्हें पूरे 21 दिन लग गये। इक्कीसवें दिन बाद सरकार सत्याग्रहियों से मिलने के लिए पुनासा के तहसीलदार को अपने प्रतिनिधि के रूप में भेजती है जिसके नतीजे में ना तो कोई हल निकलना था और ना ही निकला। 

इससे पहले प्रदेश के मुख्यमंत्री शिवराज सिंह चौहान बीते 24 अप्रैल को खंडवा के चांदेल में पुनासा उद्वहन सिंचाई योजना का लोकार्पण के लिए आये थे लेकिन उन्होंने सत्याग्रहियों से मिलना मुनासिब नहीं समझा उलटे उन्होंने जलसत्याग्रहियों से कहा कि ‘निमाड़ अंचल के किसानों की आकांक्षाएं पूरा करनें के लिए ओंकारेश्वर बांध की उंचाई 191 मीटर तक करना जरूरी है और जो लोग पूर्वाग्रहों से ग्रसित होकर सत्याग्रह में शामिल हो गये हैं वे जनहित की आवश्यकता को समझते हुये इसे तत्काल समाप्त कर दें और निमाड़ के समृद्धि उत्सव में शामिल हो जायें।‘ अब मुख्यमंत्री महोदय को कैसे समझाया जाए कि बर्बादी के उत्सव में शामिल होना कितना दर्दनाक होता है, यह मुख्यमंत्री और उनकी सरकार के लिए निमाड़ का समृद्धि उत्सव तो हो सकता है लेकिन उन किसानों के लिए बर्बादी का दंश हैं जिनकी उपजाऊ जमीने इसकी भेंट चढ़ाई जा रही हैं। उनके लिए इस उत्सव में शामिल होने से अच्छा है कि वह अपने लोगों के लिए इन्साफ की उम्मीद में खुद के शरीर को उसी नर्मदा में गला दे जो उन्हें और उनके पुरखों की सदियों से जीवन और समृद्धि देती आई है।

सत्याग्रही यही तो कर रहे हैं, वे ओंकारेश्वर बांध के जलस्तर बढ़ाए जाने को लेकर जल सत्याग्रह कर रहे हैं, क्योंकि पिछले दिनों मध्यप्रदेश सरकार द्वारा ओंकारेश्वर बांध के जलस्तर को 189 मीटर से बढ़ाकर 191 मीटर कर दिया गया है जिससे उस क्षेत्र में आने वाले किसानों की कई एकड़ उपजाऊ जमीन डूब क्षेत्र में आ गयी है। किसानों का कहना है कि सरकार ने अपनी मनमर्जी से बांध का जलस्तर बढ़ा दिया है, इसके बदले सरकार द्वारा जो जमीन दी गयी है वह किसी काम की नहीं है। इधर लगातार पानी में खड़े होने से सत्याग्रही किसानों की हालत लगातार बिगड़ती ही जा रही अब उनके पैर लगभग गल चुके हैं ,वह बीमार भी हो रहे हैं,उन्हें सूजन,सर्दी- जुखाम, बदन दर्द हो रहे हैं,धूप भी लगातार तीखी होती जा रही है, डॉक्टरों ने सत्याग्रहियों के पैरों की जांच और इलाज की सलाह दी है मगर उन्होंने उपचार लेने से मना कर दिया है, इतना सब होने के बावजूद प्रदेश सरकार असंवदेनशीलता नजर आ रही है, लेकिन जल सत्याग्रही “लड़ेंगे, मरेंगे ज़मीन नहीं छोड़ेंगे", “हक लेंगे या जल समाधि दे देंगे” के नारों के साथ डटे हुए हैं। उनका कहना है कि सरकार हमें जीते जी मारने पर तुली हुई है इसलिए हमने भी ठान लिया है कि मर जाएंगे, मगर जमीन नहीं छोड़ेंगे।सत्याग्रहियों की मांग है कि पुनर्वास नीति के तहत जमीन के बदले जमीन और सर्वोच्च न्यायालय द्वारा निर्धारित मुआवजा दिया जाए। 

Rulers’ Inefficiency and Brutality end the Labourers’ Lives

T. Venkateshwarlu

On 7 April 2015 at early morning Andhra Pradesh police killed 20 red sandalwood labourers in the name ‘encounter’ at Sheshachalam forest area. According to police version, nearly 300 sandalwood labourers with red sandalwoods are found in ‘Chikatigala Kona and SacchinOdibanDa’ areas in Sheshachalam forest. The police warned the labourers but they attacked on police with their ‘sophisticated and dangerous’ weapons such as ‘axes and stones’. The police started firing to protect their lives from labourers attack. In that ‘war’ 20 labourers were killed in 20 miters range. Beside each labourer body, there is sandalwood, their shirt and footwear. Nobody is injured and arrested in hundreds of labourers even sandalwood did not recovered from other labourers those who escaped from the spot. This is the police narration of their ‘encounter’ story. It’s not a big puzzle to understand what happened in the Sheshachalam forest. Actually police killed 20 red sandalwood labourers with a strategy according to the rulers’ direction. The police did not have the courage and honesty to admit the truth that they did it. Because they thought it’s a best way to create fear among the sandalwood labourers to prevent sandalwood smuggling. The police and rulers want to cover their murderous act with a silly story. Their story may useful to the comedian cinema directors those who make comedy films based on nonsense scripts. 

Along with encounter story the police and rulers revealed some issues relating the red sandalwood smuggling. Those issues are that they arrested nearly 4000 sandal labouers and made propaganda in the village to create awareness about the ban on red sandalwood cutting. But they did not prevent the sandalwood cutting. Even some times they faced attacks by the labourers. But the arrested 4000 people are all belonged to labourers. The people who took the labourers for sandalwood cutting, who transport the sandalwood, who sell it in the international market, the officials who cooperate to the smuggling, the political leaders who protect the smugglers never arrested. These people did not get punishment. Only the labourers punished and put in jails those who came for this work to get some income for their families’ survival. Killing the sandalwood labourers is not the solution. It did not prevent smuggling. Actually the rulers did not have the commitment to eradicate the smuggling. If they have the commitment they would appoint efficient and honest officials and involve community in this operation. These officials would take stringent actions on smugglers including government officials and political leaders those who support and protect the smuggling. The sandalwood smuggling has been running for decades. Government has the information about smugglers, supporting officials and involving political leaders. The rulers would put vigilance in all ways in & out from the forest. The smugglers are not selling the sandalwood beside Sheshachalam forest area villages and the sandalwood is not small item like safety pin. They are selling sandalwood and that too they are transporting the wood to other countries through ships and flights. If Tamil Nadu is supporting to this smuggling activity, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister (CM) can discuss with the Tamil Nadu state CM and request to cooperate to end sandalwood smuggling. If the AP government did not get proper response from TN government it can put this issue before the center. AP rulers did not work in this way. Basically they did not have sufficient commitment to end the red sandalwood smuggling. This is the cause behind their inefficiency to prevent the smuggling. 

For the decades red sandalwood cutting is happening in Sheshachalam forest in Andhra Pradesh. Even nearby forest villagers used to cut the sandalwood to prepare home need material. The smuggling also has been happening for decades. In 2000 the government banned the sandalwood cutting and smuggling. Recently the sandalwood price has increased in the international market. Now in the international market one tone sandalwood price range Rs. 30 Lakh to 70 Lakh based on the quality of the wood. Last year AP government sold 4500 ton sandalwood for Rs. 1000 Crore and there are 8500 ton sandalwood reserves which were collected from the smugglers. AP government wants to sell this wood and it is eager to sell and earn money for the new capital city construction.

The Sin and the Error

- Ravi Sinha

…it takes an error to father a sin.

─ J. Robert Oppenheimer[1]

Future historians of India may well describe the past year as a year of political sin. This was the year in which the man who had earlier presided over the Gujarat Carnage was awarded the ultimate prize. The year saw an election that touched a new low marked by shallowness, vulgarities and lies – in no small measure by the labors of the man himself. Equally appalling have been the exertions of a large class of literati and glitterati to portray philistinism and inanities spouted by the most powerful mouth as wisdom of a visionary leader.

An entire country seems to have gone blind – unable to see that the emperor has no clothes. In this age of incessant television it should be obvious to anyone that the supreme leader does not carry conviction even when enunciating relatively higher banalities. He is at his natural best only when he mocks someone as a shehzada or slanders and vilifies an entire community through phrases such as ame paanch, amara pachees. It is an irony of history that the republic which had Nehru as its first prime minister has one now for whom even common mythology is too cerebral. He must vulgarize Pushpak Viman and Ganeshaand reduce them to quackeries of aviation and surgery.

Misfortune of the nation goes beyond the man. Forces of the diabolic housed in the hydra-headedParivaar can now accomplish the impossible. They can now occupy the political center stage without leaving off the lunatic fringe. They can adopt Gandhi without renouncing Godse; erect world’s tallest statue of a leader who had punished their forefathers for assassinating Gandhi; even co-opt Bhagat Singh without batting an eyelid about what he stood for and what he had to say about ideologies like theirs. They can further refine the art of doublespeak. Their “statesmen” can pave the way for corporate plunder and call it sab ka vikas (development for all). Their “ideologues” can advocate sab ka saath(inclusion of all) by exhorting Hindu women to give birth to a minimum of four children each, lest Hindus are reduced to a minority “in their own country”.

All second comings are farcical but none more so than the ones in which caricatures come alive. It would be a cliché to invoke Hitler’s example while describing the megalomania of the current prime minister. But it would not be entirely wrong. He is larger than life because no one else – whether in the government or in the party – is allowed to be visible even as a pygmy. The Cabinet of Ministers seems to have been demoted lower than the back-room boys who formulate policies, write speeches and take sartorial decisions for the supreme leader. Even those stalwarts of yesterday, who brought the party to the center stage by unleashing havocs such as the Ram Janma Bhoomi Movement, have been consigned to the political dustbin. But, rather than a second coming of Hitler, this sordid episode appears more like Chaplin’s Great Dictator coming to life. The prime minister’s relentless globe-trotting and hobnobbing with the rulers of the world without any significant diplomatic achievement or concrete gain for India so far – except, perhaps, getting the United Nations to declare June 21^st as the International Day of Yoga – evokes memories of a scene in Chaplin’s movie where the dictator plays around with an inflated globe.

The prime minister’s telling the Japanese corporate honchos that he has money in his blood, his frequent recounting of uncountable things that India’s ancient wisdom can teach to the world, his recent observation that Indian grandmother’s recipes are enough to save humanity from environmental disasters and this makes India worthy of leading the global endeavor to save the planet, and other such gems that he scatters regularly across the globe, also bring to mind one of Kurosawa’s later movies,Kagemusha. In the movie a political decoy was deployed to impersonate a dying warlord who had kept his enemies in awe for long. The impersonator manages to get over his many temptations and actually learns to act like the warlord within the royal house as well as on the battle field.

That day may yet be far in this case. The body-language of the prime minister – while posing with a world leader or posing conspicuously to the camera when all other statesmen and diplomats around the table are busy with their papers – betrays the countenance of an imposter, even if anointed to the throne through a process every bit constitutional and politically legitimate. The acts and demeanor of the prime minister are constant reminders that Indian people have been tricked into committing a political sin. And the irony is that they have committed it against themselves.

And then they came for Oyasiqur Rahman Babu !

- Subhash Gatade

….It is not the young who are writing obituaries for the old,…I have seen the blood shed by so many young people steadily mounting up until now I am submerged and cannot breathe. All I can do is take up my pen and write a few articles, as if to make a small hole in the mud through which I can draw a few more wretched breaths. What sort of world is this ? The night is so long, the way so long….

( Lu Xun, Written for the Sake of Forgetting, P 234, Selected Works of Lu Xun, Vol III, Beijing)

Md Oyasiqur Rahman Babu , aged 27 years is dead. A travel agency executive by profession and a secular blogger by passion he was killed by radical Islamists in Tejgaon, Dhaka when he was going to office in Motijheel. The three assailants – who did not personally know each other – met just for planning the murder and then executed it with military precision.

Thanks to the courage exhibited by trans genders living nearby who caught hold of these murderers while the locals who watched the act before their eyes just dithered to move. Zikrullah, a student of Hefazat-e-Islam’s Hathazari Madrasa in Chittagong, and Ariful, student of Mirpur Darul Uloom Madrasa – were caught while the third member of the team, Abu Taher of Mirpur Darul Uloom, managed to flee the spot. The arrestees said they had killed Oyasiqur for writing on religious issues. It is a different matter that none of them had read his blog, they even did not know what blogging is, they  just executed the order issued by some mastermind. The duo told a police official :

“Our Hujur [religious teacher] told us that he [Oyasiqur] is an anti-Islamic person. It was our responsibility as believers to kill him. So, we killed him,”

It is a third killing by Islamists within a span of two years. First it was Ahmad Rajib Haider, who was killed by Radical Islamists in February 2013, when the historic Shahbagh movement was at its peak. Then came the turn of Avijit Roy, a Bangladeshi-American blogger, when death pounced on him last month, in Dhaka when he was coming out of the Ekushe Book Fair and now it is Washiqur Rahman.

All the three were premediated, copycat murders, one imitating the other. Cry of ‘hurt sentiments’, use of machetes, key role played by young Islamists associated with this or that Madarsa, brutality of the crime. Washqur’s case, they had tried to deface him in such a manner that it was difficult to even recognise him.

In an interview to NPR radio, Zafar Sobhan, editor of ‘Dhaka Tribune’ told that Oyasiqur Rahman Babu was part of a bloggers group called ‘Logical Forum’ – which carried lively debates on religion and fundamentalism and were critical of all religions.

He was known as Oyasiqur Babu on Facebook and used to write under pseudonyms on popular blogs. He had written several notes opposing irrational religious beliefs, superstitions and radical Islamists. An admirer of Avijit Roy who had recently changed his profile picture to the hashtag “#iamavijit” on a black background. His Facebook cover photo also displayed the hashtag #WordsCannotBeKilled. After Avijit’s death he had also mourned the killing of Ahmed Rajib Haider, known online as Thaba Baba and vowed to continue fighting.