Dalits are the worst victims of the ongoing Dalit revolution

We all know Una in Gujarat, but how many of us really know Saharanpur. May be you had heard some headline about Saharanpur someday, but it certainly doesn’t haunt your mind and soul as much Una haunts. And it’s not about me and you. Even the people doing all their politics on the name of Dalits are concerned about Una only, the people enjoying their aero plane sojourns, TV appearances, 1000s of likes and comments on social media pages/handles to their Dalit “well-crafted allegiance”, are not having sleepless nights as they had remembering Una.

Now, let’s revisit the happenings in Una and Saharanpur briefly on point to point basis so that the contrast could be understood properly.

Place	Una (Gujarat)	Saharanpur (UP)
Event	Some hooligans flayed 4 Dalit youth on the name of cow vigilance. It was filmed (a Muslim boy was coerced to do it by the same goons as per the revelations made by the investigators) and then uploaded on the social media.	A person from some other caste asked a Dalit to “deposit” his daughter in return for the debt he had taken. The fateful event got escalated as community war and a riot like situation erupted in the village.
Socio-Political reaction	A national brouhaha erupted. CM Anandiben, Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejariwal visited the victims’ family. The event was widely covered in the national and international media. Both the houses of parliament was rocked by protests on what happened in Una. A landmark Dalit movement started in the leadership of Jignesh Mevani from Una which mobilized Dalits from across the states. Dalits decided that they wouldn’t indulge into the job of skinning and declined to clear carcasses.	No political heavyweight visited the ground zero “Usand” village. Newspapers and TV news channels took it up as a routine news story. No news channel rushed its OB Vans and cared to beam the visuals of a total chaos in the village. The news was shifted to internal pages in some newspapers and dropped by some others in just a couple of days. The Dalits of Usand didn’t find any nation wide support either from likes of Arvind Kejriwal, or Rahul Gandhi, or even Mayawati. Akhilesh couldn’t get time to visit the village. And Dalits didn’t start a movement to leave a lasting effect on system.
State Response	FIR lodged. Police flung into action. 22 people were arrested and are in police custody. Investigation on.	When the situation in the village got tensed and two communities confronted each other, police came in the village. The situation was so grave, as according to the police, that lathi charge was ordered. But the lathis were charged only on Dalits. Two dalit women succumbed to the lathi injuries. Police attacked on Dalit women with infants, old age villagers and even bed ridden patients from Dalit community. As ToI reports on 22nd August that since 15th August, the Dalits are so terrified that they scram in the forests every night to evade the state’s wrath. Deafening silence follows from the political class as well as Dalits leaders.

So, what is the take away? What I understood from the event chains that local administrations, be it in Una or Saharanpur, are equally insensitive towards the plight of weaker sections of the society. But what’s about the media response and that of the political class? At both places, Dalits were subjected to atrocities by dominant classes. But what baffles me is the the socio-political responses aroused by both the events. By simple political calculation, it should have happened other way round because all the political parties have their stakes higher in UP than in Gujarat. So, why is this contrast?

If the victim is same, system is same, political parties are same and the police is same, what has changed? The only changed element is the perpetrator. In Una, it was a group whose so-called concern of ‘Gau Raksha’ could easily be attributed to Hindu nationalist organizations in general and Narendra Modi (the event having been happened in Gujarat was an added benefit) in particular. Whereas in Saharanpur, the perpetrator was an advocate with no political or ideological identity. So, the Dalits struggling for their self-respect and right to life have no takers.

The inference I am compelled to draw in these circumstances is that nobody is worried about the self-respect and plight of Dalits, in fact. Nobody means, absolutely nobody. Not even Dalit leaders, Dalit sociologists, Dalit academicians, Dalit reformers, Mothers of Vemullas (who travelled to Una to take part in Dalit agitation), Gandhis, Kejriwals, Mayawatis etc. The degree and depth of the agony of “Dalitwadis” depends upon who is holding the other end. This is why the day ToI reports about the atrocities Dalits being faced at the hands of state police in Saharanpur, it publishes a statement by Mayawati in 5 columns saying “Muslims, Dalits are not safe under Modi” and by Congress in 3 columns saying “Modi ignoring Dalit atrocities in Gujarat”.

So, it is not about Dalits, in fact. It is about Modi, it is about RSS and it is about anything and everything about those who proud on their Hindu identity. The question arises then, in spite of a visible upsurge in Dalit conscience, how much are the ground realities going to change. I doubt, there is any possibility for the same. Because Dalits have become a vote bank like Muslims used to be in this country for last seven decades. No one is actually concerned about changing their lives, but everyone wants to show up. The most unfortunate part of the saga is that Dalits themselves are now part of the machinery that sucks the community. So after all the hoopla being played with so much noise, the situation of Dalits is going to get worse, it seems.

Will Modi live-up to His Newly Found Wit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has found some new facts about Pakistan, it seems. As a career Sangh Pracharak and an icon of hardline Hindu nationalists, Modi brandished all kind of rhetorical sarcasm in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections while campaigning. His “biryani” jibe against UPA govt. and the “Miyan Nawaz Shareef” sloganeering with a clear connotation got jubilant echoes from the crowds during his campaign for May 2014 elections. But after he got an unprecedented single party majority for his Bhartiya Janata Party to take the reins of the country, everything changed overnight. Showing an extraordinary bonhomie, he invited Shareef in his swearing-in ceremony. The move was widely acclaimed by “Aman ki Asha” brand day-dreamers. The rightists took solace from the fact that Nawaz Shareef was only one of the SAARC nation heads.

In the days to come, the nation had to hear many high voltage statements from the Home Minister Rajnath Singh about BSF acting in vengeance to reply Pakistani rangers’ misadventures on border and terrorists getting befitting replies from paramilitary forces. Apart from such strong statements (which we heard nth times in last 2 decades or so), everything else remained the same on ground. Then came the decision of Modi government to cancel the secretary level Indo-Pak talks after the Pakistani High Commissioner in Delhi went ahead with meeting Kashmiri separatists despite Modi government’s strong reservations. People like me got ecstatic saying this was the first instance the Government of India showed its backbone. But with egg on my face, I heard just weeks after that the same secretary level talks were going to be resumed. I thought I missed some very important development regarding the Indo-Pak relationship. May be, Pakistan had given some assurance about not repeating such misadventure anytime in future again. Or, may be Pakistan had expressed, at least a superficial sorry for the recent past. I surfed google frantically cursing myself about not being up to date about such important developments. On the contrary, I found same stubborn provocating statements from Pakistani ministers and diplomats. And could never understand what made Narendra Modi to take an U-turn on his erstwhile stand of cancelling the talks.

Then came the Pathhankot air base attack. Again we heard all kind of blistering which were also used after 26/11 Mumbai attack. And then, Modi government did what no Congress government would have dared to do, of course, fearing a political backlash on back of BJP’s nationalist chest thumping had it been out of power. Mr. Narendra Modi permitted a Pakistani security apparatus comprising personnel of Pakistani army and infamous ISI to take a stroll across the air base for investigation. There couldn’t have been found a more stupid parallel in the world of international diplomacy. At one hand, Indian government claimed it had proof of direct handling of Pathankot attackers throughout their mission by Pakistan based terrorists who have openly been enjoying the patronage of Pakistani government and army. And on the other hand, the same Indian government, invites the Pakistani army in the garb of a legitimate Pakistan government investigation team to investigate the attacks and hands over the proof to them. In other words, you had a robbery in your house. You have clear-cut knowledge or proof that your neighbor committed the crime. Still, you call him to inspect your house and try to prove to him by giving him the proof that he was the robber. Great diplomacy!!! May be, we common people do not have a sense of true diplomacy. So would the great diplomats of the Modi government spell out what they really achieved by inviting Pakistani army and ISI officials to investigate the Pathankot air base attack venue.

And now the masterstroke has come right from the horse’s mouth. The one and the only protagonist of this government, Narendra Modi has declared that the only talking point will be PoK. But he has already lost his credibility as far as his government’s policy towards Pakistan is concerned. The image of a no-nonsense leader with a clear focus and result oriented determination that Modi acquired with a subtly calibrated campaign over years have been damaged badly by his UPA-style confused and fearful Pakistan diplomacy. Now this is the last chance Modi has got to reclaim the image of his hard minded focused national leader. Only giving a statement that PoK is the part of Jammu and Kashmir won’t work. Pakistan occupied part of Kashmir by force and so the only unfinished task is to take the PoK back. But unfortunately, we have been on pains for last 70 years to explain the oneness of J&K (one third of the original that we had in 1947) with India. Now the Modi government has left with about 32 active months in office. So does it really plan to take this point forward and make it a centre point of Indian policy towards Pakistan?

Besides, Baluchistan and Gilgit are two provinces that are undergoing unbelievable formidable atrocities on human kind. Pakistan has even used its air force for bombing on Baloch people. It has lost its moral right to govern Balochistan. And even from diplomatic point of view, to help Balochistan and Gilgit in getting independence from Pakistan is the only practical solution to get rid of this disease called Pakistan. Modi has already tried Noble peace prize winning gestures to tame Pakistan. But, we may only hope that he would have understood it that getting into the history with “Aman ki Asha” bandwagon may leave him fumbling in the no man’s land. Rather, he may carve his place in the lanes of history by helping struggling Pakistani provinces to get independence. Indira Gandhi is an example who is always revered as an iron lady for what she did on the eastern borders.

RSS is the biggest loser in Una, When Will it React with Vengeance

Una has once again exposed the brazen inhuman attitude of a small, but dominant section within the Hindu society towards one of its largest and inseparable part, popularly called Dalits. I have nothing to say about the likes of Anandiben Patels, Rahul Gandhis, Arvind Kejriwals and Mayawatis who lap such occasions vigorously to play as according to their political lines. The effect of such political maneuvering is only targeted towards some kind of political benefit and the rhetoric is, without an exception, to condemn the political opponents. So reacting to such shameful events politically has absolutely no value.

But such events has grave implications that go much beyond winning or losing elections. And it is not like such implications are so complex to ascertain that the Hindu society can’t fathom it. Much before foreign faiths started attacking the body and the soul of the Hindu society, such disrespect towards a part and parcel of its own existence started weakening the very roots of the idea of India. That prepared the ground on which first Muslims zealots and then Christian missionaries found their expansion endeavor a cakewalk. The bigger chunk of the Hindu society got disassociated with the roots of Indian culture and the study of Vedas, Vedantas, Puranas, Upnishadas and even practicing Yog became a fiefdom of handful. This started degrading the inner strength of the whole society and we reached in a state where we are now.

So, my concern is neither political nor electoral. My concern is entirely national and cultural. So why, after such events I never look for the reactions and rhetoric of the political parties or, not even the Government. The most disappointing thing for me after such events is the deafening silence of those who claim to be the protectors of the idea of Bharat. I always miss the RSS leadership, I always miss the VHP workers on the sites of such heinous crimes which involve atrocities against Dalits. I have had the privilege of witnessing the internal thought process of RSS quite closely and I also have had the privilege of knowing some of the highest echelons of RSS leadership personally. So, I know the organization really works with a 100% Hindu perspective and it has no place of any casteist hegemony in the concept of its Hindu Rashtra.

Then I always wonder why the Sangh’s leadership doesn’t think that events like Una or Jhajjar need urgent remedial action on behalf of the Hindu society. If ABVP or Bajrang Dal karyakartas think that mere sitting in a park with one’s opposite-sex (male or female) friend is like destroying the whole Indian culture, why don’t they act with vengeance when a mother or sister of some downtrodden caste is paraded naked in a village? Why don’t Sangh and VHP leaders go and camp in the villages where some Dalit boys are lynched only because their cattle intruded into a field owned by some babu sahib? Why don’t the blood of the organized proud Hindus boils when reports come in about fledging of some Dalits just because he/she wanted to ascertain his/her Hindu identity by entering into a temple? The list may continue for thousands of incidents, but the theme is same. Only 3 or 4 castes can’t take the glory back for Hindu society. If 80% of the Hindu population will continuously be got alienated from the roots of Hindu ethos and values, the society is destined to doom.

If the youth of 80% Hindu population is beaten black and blue on roads, how can the RSS even think of achieving the dream of creating proud and glorious Hindu society for which Dr. Hedgewar started the organization. If the RSS still thinks achieving the goal set by Dr. Hedgewar is its ultimate target, I appeal it to please postpone each and every social movement in favor of a true and homogeneous integration of Dalts and other alienated Hindu castes in the main stream, otherwise Narendra Modi might rule the country till 2040, but the very purpose of Sangh would be vanished. 

Don't take it on its face value, It's a letter from a feared Kashmiri

Shah Faisal, the decorated 2009 IAS topper from Kashmir, has written an article in Indian Express. As this is an article from a highly respected Indian Government official who is also a native of Kashmir, it automatically acquires a great importance for people like me, who earnestly yearn to understand what exactly is the psyche behind all the brouhaha that we have been witnessing on the streets of Kashmir for last three decades in general and for last 12 days, in particular.

The subject of the article is very apt and relevant as Faisal appeals to the Government of India to rein in the ever shouting and chest thumping Delhi based so-called national electronic media in the backdrop of youth unrest on the streets of Kashmir. He has named four channels, Zee News, Times Now, Aaj Tak and News X. His point is that, as all the traditional communication lines between the Center and the people of Kashmir have vanished, what these news channels are running or what the anchors there are commenting are being taken by Kashmiris as a de-facto Indian government stand and attitude towards Kashmir and Kashmiris. In his article, Faisal has very rightly represented the Kashmiri pain and agony towards Indian state and the treatment they are meted out in the hands of Indian security forces.

But what Faisal has completely missed is the Indian view-point which he is supposed to exhibit being part of the backbone of Indian bureaucracy that is Indian Administrative Service (IAS). He has not, even partially, mentioned the outright and overt support Pakistan is pouring in to flare up the situation in Kashmir. He has not, even for once, mentioned the atrocities and trauma people of Jammu and Kashmir undergo with in the hands of terrorists. He is mum on the issue of numerous foreign mercenaries fighting the “cause of Azadi” in Kashmir and abundant funding the terror network in Kashmir is receiving from many countries.

Killing of Burhan Wani can in no way be equated to rape of a Kashmiri girl by “demon Indian security forces” nor it could be misspelt as a fake encounter of some college going innocent guy. So I would be expecting Faisal to tell us about how a patriot Indian Kashmiri mind perceives the stone pelting events, continuous attacks on police stations and CRPF camps, murder of a cop by drowning him with a police vehicle in reaction to killing of a dreaded terrorist. And also, being a top administrative official, I would expect him to suggest some ways to the Government of India in dealing with violent mobs by Gandhian tricks if he is to blame only security forces for killing of around 50 Kashmiris in the aftermath of Wani encounter.

At last, coming to the theme of his article again that is taming, if not gagging the Delhi based national TV media (as he has very categorically absolved the newspapers from his tirade). It is amazing to know if the people of Kashmir are so naïve that they think Indian Government is actually communicating with them through Sudhir Chowdhary or Arnab Goswami or some anchor on Aaj Tak or News X. And if it so, why don’t they take recourse under the coverage of likes of Burkha Dutt and Rajdeep Sardesai. Indian media is full of all time powerful journalists who speak exactly what Geelanis and Maliks and even the Hafiz Saeeds and Salahuddins would love to hear. If Indian government has not tried to tame those till date, what logic works in favor of Faisal saheb’s suggestion against those who are “fomenting the poison of ulatra-nationalism”  through their news studios.

Well, having said all these things, I do understand the compulsions of Shah Faisal. In fact, he has articulated it in his article also when he writes that he don’t want to get killed by his own people only for Rs. 50,000 monthly salary and Rs. 50 lakh interest free home loan. This is where his article originated from when a news channel, just in its quest to tell the Kashmiris (and to the nation) that Burhan Wani is not the way the youth of Kashmir should sail towards, put his picture side by side to Wani. It might be an honest story telling method used by the channel to differentiate how youth of Kashimir should drive their dreams to build their state from the ruins of terror, but seeing it with Faisal’s perspective, this story telling method really exposes him to utter risk of life and property.

So, I think we should not take this article on its face value and the takeaway for the national media is that please take into account the safety and sensitivities of local personalities while doing stories from and for Kashmir.

A Letter to Mr. Shekhar Gupta

Shekhar Gupta writes in Indian Express (June 6) that the jolt Rajeev Gandhi got in 1989 elections is a worth learning lesson for present UPA government. His inference is that Rajeev's decline started when party's clergy and polity overpowered his fresh and ameture overtures after almost 2 years of his historic 3/4th victory. Mr. Gupta counts Shahbano case and subsequent unlocking of Ayodhya temple as the beginning of Rajeev's political blunders. I wrote a letter to Mr. Gupta in his personal official mail over his article, which I am publishing here on my blog for the Jury:
　
Dear Shekhar,
I am a journalist working with a Hindi business newspaper. Indian Express has been a newspaper closest to my heart for a long time now. I very often read your articles in the newspaper and so I did today also. I want to say something about the article and so am writing this letter.
Sir, you have done a great analysis of what went wrong with Rajeev Gandhi, even though he had led a historic electoral victory for Congress. But, what I doubt in the whole analysis, is the marks given to the general Indian voter's wit. With due respect to the public's maturity and wisdom, I have completely failed to analyse the recently concluded election outcome. You have rightly pointed out that Rajeev Gandhi's flip-flop over first, Shahbano case and then, unlocking the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple was the inception point of Rajeev's decline. But here lies my doubt. Was it really the issue alone that started the decline process or it was the powerful manifestation by the VHP and BJP of government's pro-Muslim and pseudo-secularism agenda, that worked really.
If one Shahbano can mitigate a party having 3/4th majority to such an extent that even after 25 years, it is rejoicing its 200 mark in Lok Sabha like a fantasy, how can one explain numerous Shahbano's in last 5 years having made no impact on Congress's electoral impact. Consider some events in last 5 years,
1. Prime Minister of more than a billion people resolving again and again that minorities (often synonymous with Muslims in our country) have the first right on nation's resources. Meaning 80% of the country are in second priority only because they follow a particular faith. (Is this the definition of a secular country?)
2. Government has been exerting pressure on publicly listed banks to reserve 15% of their loan fund for Muslims. Is it not ridiculous? How can a particular style of prayer or specific religion be the basis of economic decisions? I am a poor farmer but deserve secondary consideration on my loan application form vis-a-vis a Muslim trader only because I go to a temple or I recite Ram Charit Manas or my name doesn't contain Mohammad as prefix.
3. Supreme Court's stern comments on IMDT and Congress's subsequent stand on the issue. In fact, it no longer needs a RSS ideologue to prove that the provision of IMDT were framed only to provide Bangladeshi's an effective cover to settle down on Indian soil. Even Supreme Court has articulated the same in the most ardent voice.
4. We kept on losing numerous lives in one after one terrorist's attack for 5 years. For 80 per cent of the tenure we were compelled to endure the most feeble and weakest home minister at the helm. The person was same who had lost his personal constituency and elevated to the coveted post only due to his devotion towards Sonia Gandhi. Only before 6 months of the general elections, Mrs. Gandhi got the revelation of his inefficiency. Was not it a glazing proof of her apathy towards the plight of common people.
5. The Mumbai terrorist attack. Your ongoing series in itself is an eye opener and nothing left to say in that particular regard.
I can cite 10s of more incidents. Each incident is greater in both magnitude and impact than what Shahbano case was. But the only difference this time is that there is no VHP or BJP of the kind that we had in 90's. One Shahbano is echoing in our political system even after 25 years of its existence, but we are told that hanging of Afzal is a non-issue. Some 20 odd convicted persons, who have got capital punishment in some family feud or land related murders are being equated with a terrorist caught for attacking Parliament. Our Prime Minister and Home Minister are making this comparison and our intellectual class is pioneering the idea of being it a dead issue. So Shahbanos are there, Rajiv Gandhis are there, Mullas are there. The only missing link is the fierce opposition who can snatch the hijab from the faces.
If one Shahbano can change the course of Indian Politics, how can 100s of Shahbanos go unnoticed. The corrupt, beleaguered and bemused BJP have lost its way and so a vaccum has been created in political space. Otherwise, there is no explanation why none of the above issues could be heard all over the one and half months of electoral campaign. I have been always of the view that failure of BJP in Indian polity is no less than a catastrophe or our democratic process and I still stand by with my view. The reason is because, once the people lose the faith in any alternative on national level, they will finally fall in the lap of piffle regional and cast vested interests. And that would ultimately cost the integrity of our country.

We Are Still An Immature Democracy, Aren't We?

We very often boast to be the greatest and biggest democracy of this world. But are we really...? We are going to face the most mammoth democratic exercise in a few weeks.

We just saw a similar exercise in America. Incidentally, Americans boast in a same way, to be the oldest democracy (in modern definition of democracy, of course) in the world. Now just compare the political activities during a couple of weeks preceding the elections in both the countries.

The Democratic and Republican parties were both busy making their people understand about the policies regarding foreign, economic and social security policies. And see what Congress and the Bhartiya Janata Party is striving for in the run up to the general election. The most decisive factor that would decide the fate of these two national parties are not their policies towards terrorism, poverty, education, internal security, Pakistan etc. Amazingly, the factors are how likes of Ramvilas Paswan, Mamata Banerjee, Naveen Patnayak, Chandrababu Naydu, Jayalalitha etc. think of their political foes and freinds. Is not it ridiculous?

It is an election to decide the fate of our whole country or to decide the fate of bank balances and cheap power brokering capacities of these regional players? If Patnayak and Naydu has snapped their ties with BJP, has it anything to do with how BJP thinks about the national, economic or foreign issues. Or, if Ramvilas joins hands with Lalu and Ajit Singh sits in BJP’s lap, has it anything to do with what these two leaders and parties have common in between. I don't think so and I guess not even any of them gonna claim the same. Therefore, It is a shame on the part of our democracy, that people with narrow visibility and sight far from national paradigm, are having the keys of our national politics.
No matter, how loudly we shout the slogans of our democracy being matured and great, I think it is not only immature but have fully derailed from the tracks of our constitutional dream.

Are we at the mercy of terrorists till May 16th ?

India is preparing for the most mammoth democratic drill of this world. So, it is very natural that all our security forces, para military forces, police forces and all other institutions bestowed with the responsibility to protect Indian citizens are busy with preperations of general elections. But is it equally natural that the Home Minister should tell the country that during the election process, the government is incapable of giving protection to the countrymen.

Mr. P Chidambaram, incharge of internal security of our country and the UPA Govt in the leadership of Congress party had done exactly the same thing. They have pleaded that the govt can't secure the IPL tournament because the all the
security instruments are busy conducting elections. But can the govt be absolved of his responsibilities in the name of elections.

Should we conclude that no ambassy, no national leader, no monument, no market, no mall, no railway station and no public place is safe enough during the two month long election process. So, if the government has conceded its incompetence vis a vis the terror netword in and out side of this country, why don't this government send a request letter to LeT, JeM, Taliban and Al Qaeda pleading for a recess period because more than 1 billion people in Hindusthan are at their mercy as long as the biggest democratic exercise is on.