Human Rights activist Seema Azad's wrongful sentence.

Miscarriage of Justice
Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Human Rights Activists Seema Azad and her husband Vishvavijay have been awarded life imprisonment by a lower court in Allahabad on charges of sedition, waging war against nation under the provision of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The district judge Sunil Kumar Singh also slapped a fine of Rs 70,000 on the couple. It has to be noted that both Seema and Vishwavijay were shown arrested in police record at the Allahabad Railway station when they were returning from Delhi after participating in the World Book Fair on February 6th, 2010 by the Special Task Force. The police had ‘recovered’ ‘offensive’ literature of Mao, Che-Guevara and Lenin from them. According to police they were associated with Communist Party of India (Maoist) which is banned in the country. Since then, all the efforts to get the release by the human rights organizations have failed. Now, this judgment by a lower court has shocked the nation as they are again questioning whether any association if it is with any one makes you criminal. Whether possession of so called ‘banned’ literature is crime? Can the government of India come out clearly what is a ‘banned’ literature?

Hundreds of activists, theatre artists are facing police torture in different jails of India for promoting ‘banned’ literature. They are being charged with ‘war against state’. Even writing an article or doing a fact finding in the forest areas where big companies have ravaged our beautiful forests and suppressed innocent tribal are act of ‘war on nation’. Any protest against the current mode of governance is a war on nation. Seema and Vishwvijay had been scholars at Allahabad University. Both of them were sensitive to the human rights issues of the poor particularly the Dalits and farmers. Seema Azad was the editor of bimonthly magazine ‘Dastak’ which has been publishing reports about land acquisition as well as terror of mining mafia in the Bundelkhand regions particularly adjacent to Allahabad such as Koshambi and Shankargarh. In both these regions, Dalits and the Kol Adivasis are exploited by the stone and quarry mafia and any effort to organize them is met with the severe terror by these mafias. As reported, Vishwavijaya was active in the University politics and ideologically closure to the marginalized communities and their efforts to get justice against exploitation. They investigated many cases and published their fact finding reports. As members of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) they were part of many human rights investigations and protest movements all across the country. They brought out report against the malpractices in the Ganga Express Highway which was displacing thousands of farmers and poor people in Uttar-Pradesh. We all know Ganga is the latest victim of not just mining mafia but ‘developmental terrorists’ too. ‘Dastak’ reported how the Muslim youths in Azamgarh were being branded as ‘terrorist’ by the investigating agencies and their parents were facing allegation and humiliation in public.

The arrest itself was dramatic from the railway station. They were charged for being member of CPI (Maoist) and shown to have possessed Maoist literature. Now the court has found them guilty and pronounced a harsh verdict of life imprisonment and a fine of Rs seventy thousand. The two sensitive souls who dare to write against the state terror are now declared ‘terrorists’ by the court. It is shocking how the lower courts do not even follow the preceding verdict of similar nature in the Binayak Sen Case when the apex court actually suggested that reading any kind of literature is not a crime. The court has also said that even being member of a banned organization does not amount to a crime unless somebody is directly linked with any kind of terror activities. It is unfortunate that the lower courts did not question the police version and went on for harsher punishment without really hearing the other side of the story.

The time for human rights activist is tough as the courts which have always upheld fundamental rights of individuals in the past through their historic judgments are unable to carry the same legacy. Why are the authorities so much worried on our writings even when all of us are expressing nonviolently and arguing for the human rights of the people? Our assemblies and Parliament have number of people who have criminal cases of serious nature against them. They are not simply political cases but related to heinous crime like rapes and murders and yet they become our law makers. In Uttar-Pradesh, Mafias are still enjoying their day as most of them have greater stake in mining, quarrying and other government programmes which are meant to serve the poor. The courts have not covered them with great glory and we have seen person who should have been in the Jail are now ruling the state. It is deeply dissatisfying moments that scholars who defy the popular myths have to face the people’s terror but those who defy the stated position of the state are being targeted in such a way that it would be difficult for ideologically strong people to join the people’s movement. It is shocking that bright young scholars who could have got fanciful job elsewhere decided to devote their lives for the cause of the people and the outcome is disappointing. Rather than appreciating their contribution for the cause of human rights and dignity of the people, an issue which Indian state should have done it long back, and the state apparatus is terrorizing them and branding them with different names.

Can Indian state really challenge the power of ideas? A country where literacy rate is dismal and where the gender discrimination is growing and showing negative growth, sending ideologues to jail will only prove that we are afraid of ideas. The state can accommodate the goons to become political leaders. It can accommodate all kind of people who are not a ‘threat’ to the stated anti people position of the state. All those are in the good books of the state as ‘people’ have ‘elected’ them but ‘writer’ or an ‘activist’ is not ‘elected’ hence you are free to arrest them and humiliate them. It is a great sign of depression. Nothing much will happen if we do not attain 9% growth but more and more writers, activists, film makers face threat from the Indian state for loving freedom and expressing solidarity with those who are victim of ‘developmental terrorism’ and such a situation will send India into real depression. We faced the state repression during emergency in 1975 but what is being seen today is much larger as State is not alone in its activities against people. It is using mass media and ‘developmental’ agencies against ‘people’s voices. It is justifying its misdeeds in the name of ‘democracy’ where ‘majoritarian’ voices even if they are wrong, have to be ‘respected. That is why, despite cry of Bastar’s tribal or Kudankulan’s people to save their lives, the Indian state and its middle classes still talk about ‘nation building’ even when the cost of human lives is too high in the affected regions.

A few months ago, we all showed our solidarity with Salman Rushdie when he was wrongly denied visit to Jaipur Book Festival as his visit would cause ‘law and order problem’. We all know why Rushdie is an unwanted man in India despite being citizen of this country. We felt that as a writer he has a right to speak and his freedom of expression must be respected. Our media and their loudspeakers continued for days for the freedom of expression hounding Muslims as if all other religious minds respect that freedom. People like us supported Rushdie’s right to express his views despite our differences of his depiction of Islam. But what is most unfortunate is that this freedom of expression is reserved for the power elite of this country and therefore there would not be such special shows on our mainstream programmes and newspapers which condemn the illegal arrest and detention of Seema Azad. How can you deny me my write to read something? Should the state has the power what I should read and what not? If reading Maoist literature is a crime then this crime is being committed by millions of Indians and let the government send all of them to jail. Government must act on the things where it is wanted to work and not to decide about our choices to read or write.

The threat to freedom of expression in India is real particularly if you are speaking against the stated policies of the state which have a near ‘unanimity’ among political parties. Of course, we will have to think whether Indian people are only represented by political parties or are there other elements also who represent people. But as a writer and activist and not claiming to speak on anybody’s behalf, I would like to state that has not freedom to read and write come with my fundamental right and it is not necessary for me to justify my writing and speeches as how many people read it or like it. It is time for us to respect international covenants and human rights laws so that we really become a society which respects freedom to read and write despite political and ideological differences. Let the government of India respect of fundamental rights and not afraid of our ideas to serve our people. The essence of a true democracy is in respecting the dissenting voices and trying to integrate them by accepting their viewpoints too. All those dissenters who are writing are not asking anything for themselves. They too have worked tirelessly for the people and it would not bring any glory to Indian democracy if we continue to treat our dissenters as terrorists. We hope the higher courts will rectify the error committed by the lower court by releasing Seema and Vishwavijay unconditionally as well as honorably.

'Greatest Indian'...

The Politics of the ‘greatest’ Indian

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Indian’s have always been fascinated in comparing people and using the best available adjectives for their favorite leaders and sports stars. It is unknown to us to respect the diversity of these people and understand that each one of the leaders had their own qualities which influenced us. It is also important to understand that different political leaders and sports persons were born in different era and had different sets of challenges before them hence a comparison cannot be made. Of course, it is important that when we do such surveys, we keep in mind growing realities of the time and their relationships with the people. The fact is that, you would find it difficult to vote for a writer or a philosopher as the ‘greatest Indian in this age when Saas Bahu serial are so powerful that an Smriti Irani could find way for the ‘greatest’ Indian slot than a writer who might have influenced our thoughts. It might also be possible that a Cricket Star or a Film star may get more votes than many of the personalities who dedicated their lives for the nation building.

There is no problem in organizing such contests as they help the TV channels linked with various sections of people and at the end work towards increasing their TRPs. However, the manner in which some of these channels have done their surveys makes everything laughable. We have to also understand, can we make people ‘greatest’ by just a few votes online. For example, a recent survey on greatest Indian Bollywood Star reveal that Shahrukh khan was the ‘greatest’ Indian film star of the film Industry at No 1, followed by Amir Khan and then Salman Khan. Amitabh Bachchan came at no 4, while Dilip Kumar at No 5. The greatest showman of India and arguably the first Indian International Star Raj Kapoor fell at no 14. Now, anyone who knows films in India will laugh at this whole drama of greatest Indian film star. Is Shahrukh Khan the best and most popular Indian film star even today leave aside the claims of the ‘greatest’ in last one hundred years. For voting on these things impartially, one will have to understand the work of all the people who have been posted for the slot. If you do not know about the era of Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, and Devanand then how would one comment on their film making. Can anyone speak of Indian cinema if does not know about Guru Dutt, Kamal Amrohi or Sanjeev Kumar? Why do our channels make joke of themselves. If cricketers are to be voted, then definitely Sachin Tendulkar will get such a support that none will come close to him but after 5 years, when Sachin would be out of the game, one should not be surprised hearing Virendra Sehwag, the greatest Indian. Not long ago when Virendra Sehwag broke record of Pankaj Roy in the first class cricket and he was informed about the same, he was not amused as he did not ever hear of Pankaj Roy. The greatest problems with Indians are their understanding of history which is very limited. So, the present day boys would not even know in what circumstances Tiger Pataudi played or how wonderful was to see Gundappa Vishwnath in full flow or how Chandrashekhar used to bowl. This generation, clearly cut from the past, end up with the latest players and their best revolve round them. We, as a nation, have no sense of history in any stream. That is why these polls are farcical and cannot decide about the greatness. You cannot decide who is great and who is not based on these surveys. The problem with such a poll is that they are unscientific and are meant to promote certain individuals and provide legitimacy to them for fixing the agendas of the nation.

Now, we are hearing about the ‘greatest’ Indian and that include people from different streams. So, you have so many people in the list including businessmen, cricketers, film stars, and off course, political leaders of different variety except for Mahatma Gandhi who we have already anointed as ‘greatest’ Indian. Why and how come Gandhi has been declared as India’s ‘greatest’. Which survey or referendum is making Gandhi the ‘greatest’. When you are putting Gandhi’s contemporaries on the poll, why Gandhi was left aside? Was it a fear that Gandhi might be defeated in the online survey and that would expose all the hollowness of Gandhian greatness? It is a very smart move by the channel to save them from the wrath of the government who might feel offended with any reference to Gandhi.

The interesting part of the online poll is the hollowness of the idea itself. Now among Jawahar Lal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Maulana Azad, Rajendra Prasad and Mahatma Gandhi the poll is easier and undoubtedly Gandhi will be the greatest Indian and you can always claim who is the next one after Gandhi if we have to discuss among ourselves. But when there are diverse issues and history is being reevaluated with Gandhi and Congress party’s role being scrutinized in a more scientific way then it was done earlier, a poll who is greatest Indian after Gandhi is a betrayal of the sentiments of the country as we would like to ask when was the survey for ‘greatest’ Indian ever done and who got what? The greatest Indian need contemporariness and cannot be found which look like a match fixing event. Definitely, it could be the person who influenced India or maximum number of Indians. Now, if we say, Gandhi influenced our psyche the most, then we must analyze what is that point of Gandhi that influenced us and where do we stand. Just by voting who is the ‘greatest’ by random online voting will not change the realities of our life.

Our question is not that channel should not do it. They should do it and sit and analyze it. But why who is greatest Indian after Gandhi when we are talking about the contemporaries of Gandhi himself. During his life time, Gandhi was projected to be the greatest among the upper caste Hindus. Definitely, any poll would have left Jinnah on the support of the Muslim votes only and Ambedkar did not have a possibility of winning the poll that time as the Dalits had not come to the age as middle classes. If you opt for a referendum today in India about the greatest Indian, Gandhi may not get that walk over as our people think and Ambedkar may easily push him down. The editors can depute their reporters on four important days and find how people celebrate them. Yes, depute your reporter on October 2nd or January 30th which are Gandhi’s birthday and the day he was shot by Nathu Ram Godse. Find, how many people attended the programme and whether these programmes were government sponsored or self sponsored. Let us also depute our reporters on April 14th and December 6th, the day of Ambedkar’s birth and when he passed away respectively. And you will realize who influenced India the most and who is the greatest.

Let us not forget that this is growing Ambedkar era with rising Dalits sentiments which were never ever accepted and respected during Congress lead freedom movement when Gandhi was at the helm of affairs. That time, the Dalits were just marginalized and their voices were drowned in the upper caste hatred, contempt and anger. Today, things have changed. Despite efforts by the power elite to deny Dalits their history and glory, they have traced their history and did not depend on what the upper caste intellectuals have been projecting them about the greatness of others. Ambedkar remained the tallest and unquestionable the greatest icon for the Dalits who changed their lives. There is no other thought and no second person who can come near him. That is why the Dalits feel hurt when the poll suggests the ‘greatest’ Indian after Gandhi. None of them would ever accept Gandhi as ‘greatest’ Indian.

It is a very questionable motive to start the online poll as who is the ‘greatest’ Indian after Gandhi. Perhaps, they had feared it in advance that Ambedkar can easily over take Gandhi in these voting as with growing number of Dalit middle classes online users whose life was vastly influenced by Dr Ambedkar will never settle for anything less than the greatest. India is a subcontinent and it would be difficult to decide about such things as the ‘greatest’. The greatest of the upper castes may not be the greatest for the Dalits and other marginalized communities. If ‘greatest’ has to be done through the referendum then the government must come out with a referendum as who are the greatest. Let these TV channels not play politics with people’s sentiments. India cannot have ‘greatest’ Indian after Gandhi when we have engaged contemporaries of Gandhi who differed with him sharply and never ever called him a Mahatma leave alone the ‘greatest’. It is time when we evaluate our people impartially and agree that there were weaknesses in them and they too made mistakes. The business of ‘greatest’ Indian must stop as it exploit the sentiments of the people and do not allow them to think rationally that all these ‘greatest’ people were human being and acted according to situation that time and made mistakes too.

Civil Laws verses Personal Laws
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Delhi High Court has held that a marriage of minor (Muslim) is valid even if she is under age but has attained puberty. A bench of Justice Ravindra Bhatt and Justice S.P.Garg said that ‘according to Mohamadan Law, a girl can marry without the consent of her parents once she attains the age of puberty and she has the right to reside with her husband even if she is below the age of 18.’ The girl in question was 15 years of age and had married to a person of her choice. Her parents filed a case in the Delhi High Court citing that the girl was minor and parents were still the legal guardian of her. The court has rejected the parent’s petition and allowed the girl to stay with her husband.

The judgment can be interpreted in many ways including right to privacy and freedom of choice. The court has respected girl’s right to choice. It has accepted albeit indirectly that age for consensual sex could be below 18 if the girl attained puberty. In other way, the judges suggest that a Muslim girl attaining puberty can have consensual sex even if she is below 18 which is legally defined age for consensual sex in our laws. It is clear that the court have accepted the supremacy of the Personal Laws and used it to give protection to the girl. Problem is that the same yard stick may not be applied to a girl from other religion. What will happen if the lovers are from two different religions and have gone for civil marriage and the age of the girl is 15. Will the ‘consensual sex’ not become rape even if she has attained puberty?

The Parliament has recently passed The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 which defines a child as any person below the age of 18 years and provides protection to all children under the age of 18 years from the offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography. Accordingly, the Act has strengthened our resolve to fight against Child Sexual Abuse.
Punishments for Offences covered in the Act are:
• Penetrative Sexual Assault (Section 3) – Not less than seven years which may extend to imprisonment for life, and fine (Section 4)
• Aggravated Penetrative Sexual Assault (Section 5) –¬ Not less than ten years which may extend to imprisonment for life, and fine (Section 6)
• Sexual Assault (Section 7) – Not less than three years which may extend to five years, and fine (Section 8)
• Aggravated Sexual Assault (Section 9) – Not less than five years which may extend to seven years, and fine (Section 10)
• Sexual Harassment of the Child (Section 11) – Three years and fine (Section 12)
• Use of Child for Pornographic Purposes (Section 13) – Five years and fine and in the event of subsequent conviction, seven years and fine (Section 14 (1))



Now the question is why the civil courts are using personal laws in their jurisdiction when their duty is to interpret the constitutional laws. If we accept the supremacy of our constitutional provisions then all other laws of the country including personal laws, must be subordinate to our civil laws. And this must come strongly in the judgments. Unfortunately, the Judges have been using these religious moralities to explain or strengthen their arguments which seem to be quite dangerous. The Court’s should not ignore the historic judgment that Supreme Court had given in the Shabano case about 25 years back which virtually challenged the supremacy of the Muslim Personal Laws which were adamant against a divorce woman getting any alimony. It is a landmark judgment with an equally retrogressive move by Indian Parliament to undo it when Rajiv Gandhi was compelled by the Muslim fundamentalists to do so. According to them, no law of the land is above the Muslim Personal Law and hence the government must respect these personal laws.

Over the years, we have seen that Sharia Courts have been established in different parts of the country which provide instant justice to Muslim families who go there. They are primitive in nature and their judgments mostly are absurd to say the least. These Sharia Courts give the clergy a leverage to control and direct the community and decide about their fate. Deeply rooted in traditional prejudices, these courts are openly anti women and have always justified their act in the religious terms. Muslim women who are victim of these courts are now challenging them and approaching the civil courts where they have often got justice.

There is no doubt that Delhi High Court has rescued the girl who might have married to her lover out of her own choice. That that a teenage girl is capable of making her choice related to her partner must be respected. It is also a fact that most of the parents who are unhappy with their children’s love relationships actually file cases of abduction and kidnapping on the boy. Most of the time, the police use this tool brutally to exploit both the families. If the boys’ family is unable to pay to the police then he is tortured and the family faces the wrath of all. Hence, as a judgment it need to be respected but the point of danger is that it is a communal judgment as it is applicable to one community only. The courts should not give judgments which are communal in nature. Their judgments should be useful for all the citizens of the country irrespective of their caste, color, religion and region as people look forward to these judgments for their benefit. Unfortunately, the Delhi High Court’s judgment is bound to create disharmony among people and will strengthen the supremacy of religious values. It is the duty of the court to encourage the values of the modern democratic traditions of equality, liberty and fraternity on which our constitution has been founded. Our constitutional provision and civil laws must supersede all the existing religious laws in the country so that each one of its citizen get justice according to our modern laws. It is the duty of the Court’s to see whether the interpretation of religious texts violate of the constitutional provisions in our laws. The court will have to stand up for our secular constitution which should be equal for all. Our laws cannot be interpreted in different ways for different communities particularly in an issue like sex and marriages. The Judgment will virtually make Child Protection Act 2012 invalid for the Muslim Children in the country who face a lot of victimization and sexual abuse like children for other communities and need strong legal protection.

Is there untouchability in Sri Lanka
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Sri Lanka’s mainland has returned to normalcy after decades of war in that country. It was the period when all the issues of social concern actually got sidelined in the bigger issues of ethnic nationalist identities. Unlike India, where the caste identities are very sharp and movement against brahmanical domination has reached to a new level, in Sri Lanka, the impact of Buddhism as well as Brahmanism are visible parallel in two distinct cultural identities called Sinhalese who practice Buddhism and Tamils who claims to be Hindus. Most of the mainland people converted to Therveda Buddhism which is also known as Hinayana in the third century BC.

It is not unknown fact that untouchability is a ‘gift’ to humanity by the ‘varnashram dharma’ popularly known as Brahmanism or Hinduism in India. Those of us who felt that it disappear once you converted to other religions or migrate to other countries should be surprised to see the prevalence of it outside India, particularly in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Of course, it is also a reality that while in Nepal it is too powerful as it remained a Hindu Monarchy state till a few years back where brahamnical rulers did everything to maintain status quo in favor of the brahmanical castes however in Pakistan and Bangladesh it is practiced with in the Hindu society which means wherever the popular way of life is not the brahmanical Hinduism, the impact of untouchability or caste system might not have been completely eliminated but definitely reduced though the governments there did not provide any legal protections to the untouchables just in the name of protection of minority rights as all of them were clubbed together in the Hindu category. In this context, Sri Lanka is the best example of the negligible impact of untouchability and caste system in their national lives.

On my recent visit to Sri Lanka, it was important for me to understand the dynamics of untouchability or caste system in that country which we all look upon as a Buddhist nation though in the post British colonial period the country is marred in ethnic violence and complete distrust between the major ethnic groups of Tamils and Sinhalese. Walking through the streets of Colombo and other regions, one does not find stream of beggars and people living in extreme poverty which are very much visible in the other countries of South Asia. In fact, the railway stations and airport normally in South Asia are preceded by millions of squatters and their filthy unthinkable living hell but in Sri Lanka they remain clean and better governed. While it would be untrue to say that I did not find people cleaning the street or the small roadside shops of shoemakers but the truth was also that they were nominal in number and secondly most of them never looked isolated and do not really have the caste attachment to their work. On the Vaishakh Poornima day, which is basically known as Buddha Poornima in India, SriLanka celebrate with great joy and thank giving when people not only have mass lunch programme but also share with others. My host wanted to distribute 25 packets of lunch to street people and it took us driving several kilometers to be able to give the food to different people. I do not know what the poverty ratio in Sri Lanka is but it is definitely not as chronic as exist elsewhere including India. The fact is that, to a large extent, the influence of Buddhism has vanished untouchability as well as caste system from Sri Lankan society. It is clear that though different Sinhalese groups may have distinct ethnic identities and may be marrying among those distinct identities yet there is no graded inequality among them as exist among the Hindus which has provided both untouchability and caste system a divine sanctity. Untouchability is not practiced among them. Most of the intellectuals as well as social activists that I met during this trip to Sri Lanka mentioned that it is the influence of Buddhism which has given them new identity and democratize socially a culture which suffered from the disabilities of caste system and untouchability.

Human rights organisations talk of an untouchable community named as Rodi which too is not visible very much. This community was engaged in various kind of menial work including manual scavenging but that too is does not exist in Sri Lanka. Moreover, there is an interesting story to Rodi’s becoming untouchable or lowest of the low in the caste hierarchy. Rodi legend suggests that they are descended from Ratnavalli who was the daughter of King Parakrama Bahu in the 12th century. Ratnawalli was also known as Navratna Valli. The historical background was recorded by a British civil servant Hugh Nevill about a century back.
It was found that Navaratna Valli had developed longing for human flesh which was being brought to her by Veddha hunter. The Veddha accordingly waylaid youths in the woods, and disposed of their flesh to the royal kitchen. The whole country was terrified by the constant disappearance of youths and maidens. When the king knew about this incident, he stripped his daughter of all the royal linkages and got her married to a scavenger community person compelling her to make her living from menial work such as sweeping the streets and cleaning.

Many of the intellectuals feel that Rodis that way is only a class factor as its lineages are definitely linked to royal family of the past and hence it cannot be attributed to caste system. That the king got his daughter married to the boy from this community even as a punishment may reflect that caste might not have mattered that much during those days.
The fact is that among the Sinhalese the caste system is actually not as pervert as it persists among the Tamils. Like any other country, Srilankan Buddhist society is also becoming class conscious. But it is equally important to analyse and understand the crisis of ethnic identities of Tamils and Sinhalese. It is also important for us to understand the Sri Lankan ethnic crisis from the caste angle and spread of Buddhism in the region resisted by the brahmaical Hindus represented by the Tamils who practiced caste system and untouchability in the worst form.

During the colonial period the British brought people from Southern India particularly poor Tamils, a majority of who belong to Dalit community, to work in the tea plantation estates. They got settled in Jaffna and other northern provinces. Later many of them were brought to up hills in Nuwara Eliya area about 70 kilometer away from Kandy in the huge tea estates. Their conditions were dismal and never a concern for the upper caste brahmanical leadership of Tamils who treated them as refugees and practiced untouchability with them. Even today, the condition of tea plantation workers in Jaffna and in the north is a matter of great concern. The interesting point is that the political leadership of the Tamils in Sri Lanka always came from the power elite of Tamil predominantly Brahmins from the mainland of Sri Lanka. The issue of Tamil Elam matter little for those who were fighting for their survival in the tea estates in the Northern Province of Jaffna. According to sources, the inter caste marriages are impossible and migrated Tamils from India, mostly low caste remain isolated and unwanted in the region. It is also a fact that as a leader V.Prabhakaran of the LTTE was not accepted as genuine representative of Tamils by leaders of major Tamil parties in Sri Lanka who actually hail from mainland in Colombo and the surrounding areas. The reason for this might also have been his low caste background. Though, unfortunately at the end, LTTE became ruthless and eliminated all those who came in its way. It is also true that the same LTTE had little concern about the caste issues in the region.

A fairly large number of the Dalits migrated from Tamilnadu are working as tea plantation workers in the Tea estates developed by the British in the hilly areas of Sri Lanka. Their conditions are not great and had never been a matter of concern for the political parties in Sri lanka. The high caste Tamils rarely raise their issues or mingle with them. In the din of the Tamil nationalism, the issue of the Dalits has been relegated to nothing as if they do not exist or face any caste discrimination. It also need to be understood in India that the battle for a separate Elam of Tamil Nation has nothing to do with the issue of Dalits or social justice unlike Tamilnadu where the anti caste movement actually dethroned the brahmanical forces from the state. The dominance of backward classes in Tamilnadu is the sign of strength of Periyarist movement in Tamilnadu though it is also a fact that the same movement could not really bring Dalits in its fold. But the situation in Sri Lanka is sharply different and that have nothing to do with the social justice movement in Tamilnadu. The Tamil identity is being constructed as unified without addressing the issue of the plantation workers. Culturally, the Buddhist temples are being countered with huge Hindu temples with active cooperation and support of the Tamil Brahmins. This has given a fertile ground for regrouping of the Hindu right wing forces in Sri Lanka.

One sincerely hope that one day the issue of Dalits in Sri Lanka will get international recognition and they will get fair deal in the administration. Hopefully, the Tamil groups which are highlighting the issue of ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Sri Lanka will also be able to highlight the issue of isolation and ostracisation of migrated Dalits from Tamilnadu, a majority of those working in Tea Estates both in the high lands as well as northern province of Jaffna. Sri Lankan government must acknowledge this and start providing legal protection and support to Dalits in that country so that they too participate in the nation building process.

Democratic deficit in Naxal affected areas..

Is Maoism a law and order problem

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

The abduction of Sukma’s District Magistrate Alex Paul Menon by the Maoists has raised serious issues of crisis of governance in India. According to the Maoists, he was ‘arrested’ on April 21 when holding a public meeting at a village. The Maoists have demanded that about 8 of their colleagues be released immediately and operation green hut be stopped.

It is a well known fact that a very large part of India is now under the Maoist or Naxal control but somewhere we miss an important fact of India’s ‘growth’ story which we have been speaking since 1990 in the post liberlisation era. Before India opened its horizons for the international brands and companies, the value of the areas where tribal were living was nothing for the big companies and government authorities as they were considered backward regions and none was interested to go there. We allowed them to languish in ignorance, miseries and humiliation. Our government never ever bothered to reach those zones which needed state to protect them, provide health care, housing and better schooling. Today, if you travel to these zones they look stark contrast to what you see in Delhi which we all claim is becoming one of the ‘finest’ capitals of the world, though with little ‘heart’. The problems of the tribal were aggravated by the greedy government officials who would never venture to those zones and forest department which is given the task of maintaining the forests actually exploit the tribal.

Indian state failed to work for the betterment of tribal. Rather than acknowledging the fact that it has not taken care of about 10% of its population which we call as Aadivasis, we made tribal like animals in the cage. The urban middle class go there on ‘Safaris’ to watch them naked and then comment on their life style. There were no attempt by the state as why people are dying of Malaria and other diseases in those regions. Now, in the post globalization era, these poorest regions of India have become virtually the most sought after areas. With enormous natural wealth in the form of mines, minerals and ores, the big industrial corporations are eyeing the region for their own benefits. The Indian state became a real estate agent and a facilitator to dislocate its own people and victimize them if they opposed acquisition of their land. India’s growth model became the death sentence for millions of Aadivasis and they rose up against it. Those who ignore these facts of tribal life must make a visit to Chhatishgarh, Jharkhand, Odhisa and agency areas of Andhra Pradesh and find out why the tribal resisting the state despite the power of Indian state.

The ‘Indian’ ‘ Nationalists’ want the government to give the military a free hand to ‘demolish’ these zones. Well, the military is already there in the form of operation green hunt. These are the soldiers who are well paid and trained to fight the guerilla war in the forest terrain. And they have played havoc in those regions as they go without any sympathy. For them, it is a war against ‘enemy’. How can a person protecting his or her land become ‘enemy’ in his own region? No army can win a war if the people have no faith in it. Indian army knows it well and therefore most of the generals were against war on its own people.
Often, we are reminded the example of Punjab and our security hawks want that story to be replicated everywhere. It is not possible. Much work was done to assuage the feelings of Sikh in Punjab. In fact, the congress party apologized too for the same. Before that, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi invited Harcharan Singh Longowal for negotiations which culminated in the famous peace accord which brought peace in Punjab. Punjab was never won over by army but by confidence building measures which brought Sikh back to Indian mainstream. Similarly, in Kashmir, it is the governance that would win us the day and not the army.
The problem with the ruling establishment in India is that it is playing a big mind game. It is not coming into picture but want to fight the battle by defaming a whole movement. Maoists or Naxalism is not going to end with so called ‘law and order’ game. They are political battles and without active politicization you cannot win a war like this. Where are our political leaders who can go to Baster and talk to Naxals or Maoists? When the government can speak to different terror outfits why is Chidambaram not asking them to come on negotiating table. But for that the government has to show its real inclination. Home Minister Chidambaram and his colleagues do not want to call this battle off because they have to push these greedy corporations inside the forests.

Has Indian state ever apologized to tribal for its failure to protect their interest and identities? Australia and, Canada could do so with special session of their parliament when they acknowledge the indigenous people as ‘first nation’. Have we ever thought of showing our gratitude towards tribal for preserving our nature, our environment and habitat?
The Indian state has gone beyond all their reach to get its big people released from the Maoists heartland. The negotiators have refused to condemn the abductions as they say the state agencies have indulged in heavy violence against the tribal. That is a brute reality. The solution to the Naxalism lies in speaking with the people in the region and sincerely talking of peace. When Nepal could do so with Maoists why not India? More importantly, when Indian government could speak to various Naga nationalist groups or Mozo-Bodo groups demanding autonomy in the North east, what is wrong in inviting to Maoists to negotiations? At least the government must make political effort. We need a political home minister and not a bureaucrat. Unfortunately, most of the South block today is being handled not by the political class but the so called civil servants and right wing security hawks who have failed to understand India and its vast diversity. We need a political solution to these issues otherwise today it is Alex Paul tomorrow it could be some else and the Indian state would always be on its toes finding little time to do work for people. Let the government take initiative for peace talk and come with sincere proposal for the tribal zone. It is certain that Aadivasis too want to live in peace and develop their regions but they would definitely like their stake in whatever is planned for their regions. Any imposition of leadership and ideas from New Delhi would only be counterproductive and will never bring peace.

* already published in www.halabol.com

Towards a new political intolerance in Bengal

Is it Mamatagiri or Dadagiri in Bengal
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat



West Bengal chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s antics are proving to be too dangerous for the country. It seems she is either blackmailing the already fragile UPA government or finding a way out to dissociate with it. Whatever are the differences, her posturing and unprofessional attitude have not helped strengthen her image. Moreover, they are proving too populists which will harm the interest of the people in long term.

Her stand against the railway minister Dinesh Trivedi was highly objectionable and absolute anarchist. The prime minister finally succumbed to her unreasonable demand by forcing the railway minister Trivedi to resign after presenting his maiden railway budget. Ms Banerjee is carefully nurturing her image as ‘messiah’ of the poor and has reacted undemocratically against all those who, she feels, are creating obstacle in her way. The way entire issue of resignation of Mr Dinesh Trivedi from railway ministry was dealth with by the United Progressive Alliance at the Centre does not bode well for the health of the country. India is in a coalition age and there is no chance of a single party government in Delhi in near future. It means stability at the policy level must be there despite coalition nature of the government otherwise all of us will have to pay for a heavy price of the instability of the political class. India has grown over the years and people of different regions are looking for their participation in power in Delhi. Therefore, it is more important for all the political parties to behave reasonably and not make their personal issues as national issues. Internationally, we will be reduced to non entity if the government ministers speak different tones according to their political ideology because they happen to be from different political parties. And Mamata’s action on Mr Dinesh Trivedi has rightly been criticized by journalists, writers and intellectuals who had supported her. In fact, one of the first persons who supported Mamata’s Singur and Nandigram movement was Mr Kabir Suman, MP of her party, has openly challenged her to take action against him. Even an icon like Mahashweta Devi is finding it difficult to support Mamata’t action.

In politics differences are natural and they are resolved democratically. There is no problem in Mamata’s asking for more from the Central government and demanding different schemes for her state but that need to be done according to coalition dharma not through humiliating your coalition partners or those who differ with you. Unfortunately, Mamata’s actions on the ground are looking like a person who is in a hurry to destroy the legacy of the left front government.

In her bid to control criticism, her supporters got a senior professor of Jadavpur University, Mr Ambikesh Mohapatra arrested for ‘spreading derogatory messages’ against ‘respectable’ persons. Actually, Prof. Mohapatra had circulated on email a political cartoon on Mamata’s treatment to Dinish Trivedi and appointment of Mr Mukul Roy as the new railway minister. Trinamul Congress workers continue to threaten the administration and politicizing the issues of public. Mamata has also asked the state education department to do away with the writings of Marx and Angels, two all time great political thinkers. Her actions are only proving that she is not different than her predecessors in playing vindictive politics and believe in politicizing the educational system according to her own ideological perspectives.
Mamata’s populist measures will cost Bengal heavily which is already reeling under severe debt crisis. Her continuous ranting of not increasing railway fares has already proving heavy on railways as it would be difficult to run railways on such charitable way. Just to make the train fare cheaper, she forced to compromise on the safety and infrastructure of railways. Unfortunately, like in Delhi where every wrong is thirst on the Congress party, Kolkata desperately wants to see changes which Mamata had promised before she took over the Writer’s Building.

Dictators are not really courageous but very cowards. They are afraid of public criticism as they fear the hollowness of their arguments will get exposed soon. Therefore, attempts are being made to divide the public opinion and blame the past for everything today. Despite all shortcomings of the political class, they did not carry the political differences home. Many of them were part of different political parties but would meet warmly on a tea party. But, the recent order by Mamata to her colleagues in the party that her party workers and sympathizers must not have any relationship with anyone who is close to CPM, is disgusting and sickening to say the least. Political differences do not make you enemy of each other and will not take our society anywhere.

We have seen differences of outlook and ideology between father and son, husbands and wife, between brothers, between mother and brother but that did not make them enemy of each other. It would be better for Mamata to concentrate on her work and leave the media doing its duty. She must not feel offended by media criticism. Now, she is in power and obviously the focus on the government’s work will automatically bring her in limelight. Is not it a fact that you like constant media glare when in opposition but when come to power feel they are offending you. Political satire keeps us going and we should be bold and liberal enough to accept our mistakes and allow this criticism to go. As Sudhir Telang, noted Cartoonist said that if people disappear from political cartoons means his or her political death. They keep politicians in lime light. Mamata would be damaging herself and her party if she feels that she can stop criticism by starting her own channels and dailies. We all know despite a dutiful Doordarshan and Aakashwani, people rose up against emergency in 1975 and defeated Congress Party in the general elections in 1977.

Power corrupt people and absolute power corrupt you more than anything else. Very few people survived this politically. In India such examples are too many where simple politicians got corrupted in the corridors of power. Their life style changed and they started maintaining distances with their own people resulting in their down fall. Mamata has got huge mandate and there is still a great good will towards her. She is considered to be honest and hardworking and it is time for her to concentrate on her work and not on her critiques. No politicians in India could survive because of their mouth pieces. If that were true then Ambanis would have been ruling India as they have everything at their disposal. Most of the big political families in the South have their own channels but they also got defeated. Karunanidhi, YSR and Jayalalitha have their own channels but they also have tasted heavy defeats and their corruption cases also unfolded. CPM has Gonashakti as their party mouth piece but then they were also defeated after 35 years. Mamata must not think that she would be able to control people’s mind through her newspapers. It is time for her to move beyond her critiques and focus on development of Bengal. People will take care of her critiques if her work help the people otherwise the same people would not wait till she is ousted.

Need to revive Kanshiram's mission in Uttar-Pradesh

A historic opportunity for Akhilesh in Uttar-Pradesh By Vidya Bhushan Rawat It may be a co-incident that Akhilesh Yadav is taking over the reins of Uttar-Pradesh today on March 15th which is the birthday of Bahujannayak Manywar Kanshiramji but samajwadi party should utilize this day to reach out a wider section of people who are committed to the Bahujan philosophy of Kanshiram. That it was Kanshiram’s experiment with Samajwadi Party which brought Mulayam Singh Yadav back as chief minister of Uttar-Pradesh in 1993 after the Babari-Masjid demolition. We all remember the euphoria created all over the country over the merging of two icons of the Dalit-Bahujan movement though we knew it well that there were weak links and a political revolution will not succeed in the absence of a cultural revolution despite the good will this combination created all over the country. The counter slogan Uttar-Pradesh witnessed after the thorough communalization played by the Hindutva gangs was ‘mile mulayam kanshiram-hawa ho gaye jaishreeram’. It is a fact that this unity literally threw away the Ram Temple movement from Uttar-Pradesh. Hence a Ram mandir may be an issue for Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh or elsewhere for political reasons but for Uttar-Pradesh, the people have clearly understood the brahmanical agenda behind it and hence rejected it wholeheartedly. That experiment of 1993 threatened to destroy the status quo in Delhi itself and many states were on the verge of following the same experiment. The hitherto political marginalized forces started taking centre stage and started deliberating their own future in the current polity and deciding about their strategies. And the result was that the political changes which were threatening everyone were nullified by creating a permanent wage between the two. Mayawati was propped up BJP to break the alliance in Uttar-Pradesh and the rest is history now. Mulayam’s own behavior during this has been absolutely unfair and not worthy of a chief minister. The guest house incident shook not only Uttar-Pradesh but all of us who believe that parting ways in politics does not mean humiliating the person who was your partner just an hour before and that humiliation was not just political it threatened to be physical that time. Fortunately, the situation was saved from getting into worst and what followed rest is well known to us. That is why I write today that Akhilesh is young and dynamic. He does not have a history of political manipulations. He seems to be forward looking and to make his success stronger he can actually follow the mantra of late Kanshiramji. He can restart the process of building the bridges between the Dalits and OBCs by bringing them together and vigorously following certain things which make Dalits a bit suspicious about Samajwadi party. One of the major focuses of Kanshiram was actually cultural changes though most of them remain symbolic yet they were very important for us. Those changes are now permanent. Buddhism born in Uttar-Pradesh is given its due respect in the state by BSP and it will be good for Akhilesh not to touch upon any of these things. He could do well to promote it but should not anything in the negative that stop this cultural revolution in Uttar-Pradesh. Secondly, Akhilesh should implement the SC-ST Prevention of atrocities act more powerfully if there are cases of violence against Dalits. In Mayawti regime this act was actually made redundant and nobody could question that. Thirdly, it is time for government to evaluate its land acquisition policy. You need development but you cannot develop yourself at the cost of dislocating people and making them landless. UP must come out with a progressive policy where land must not be acquired at any cost if it makes people landless and impact on environment. The government should continue with both Ambedkar village scheme as well as Mahamaya and Kanshiram Awas Yojna. They are important to empower landless Dalits. In fact, the government of Uttar-Pradesh must focus on land redistribution process which has been side tracked by the government in the state. Land Ceiling laws are being circumvented and huge track of lands are being acquired in the name of religious trust. Akhilesh would do well if he and his advisers can formulate policies where the thugs in the name of religion do not amass huge tax free property and absolute uncontrolled land. It is ironical that while government claims it does not possess much land to redistribute to landless people while at the same point it has enough strength and will power to distribute huge plots to religious gurus, big companies. It would be prudent not to destroy people’s livelihood. Uttar-Pradesh needs development. It needs investment in education and health. It needs a lot of planning as the educational system in Uttar-Pradesh is in complete mess. Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav has already done a lot of damage to that system when he virtually ‘legalised’ mass copying forcing the teachers to pass every student. Such ‘favor’ to students will only kill them. Government schools and colleges should be made more accountable and workable. Let the teachers be accountable to village Panchayat. Government must stop the politicization of these schools which is the order of the day. Most of the new colleges and schools are mushrooming out of the MP and MLA local areas funds in connivance of both. It is a dangerous precedent. These colleges are nothing but political power to control. It is time we make them more accountable towards students so that they create better environments. Thousands of children have died in Poorvanchal during the past 5 years because of Japanese encephalitis and yet nothing happened. Our medical colleges and hospitals are in pathetic shape. They do not give patience a confidence of his health and well being. Like a police thana, our hospitals too frighten the people to keep away from them. Many of the Samajwadi party workers, MLAs have already become ‘ministers’ and are taking control of the districts. It is time when party send strong signal to them to behave. It is true that Samajwadi party has not compromised on the issue of Muslims and they voted the party in the largest. The faith of Muslims on Samajwadi party actually sealed the fate of Congress Party’s return in Uttar-Pradesh. So it has a bigger responsibility to take care of them particularly bringing the developmental programmes to Muslim homes. It would be difficult to implement all that is promised in the manifestoes and if they are able to do it, it will give people a confidence. In the last term, Amar Singh and company had control of the Samajwadi Party. There is nothing wrong to invite investors to Uttar-Pradesh but it is also important that they do not take things for granted and given specific task. They cannot dictate to the government against people’s welfare. In Mayawati regime, law and order was relatively better than the previous regime of Samajwadi party. It is therefore important that party’s rogue element be sending clear message not to take law on their hands. Just by blaming the opponents for every criticism will take the government nowhere. Today, when Akhilesh formally become chief minister of Uttar-Pradesh, he must realize one fact that Kanshiram’s biggest achievement was to bring together Dalit Bahujan communities and reviving the great legacy of Dr Ambedkar which was confined to academics and a few pockets, to general masses. It is this legacy of him which has empowered people in Uttar-Pradesh that even the most marginalized people in the state can speak of a political language and fight for their battle. Is it not great that when Bahujan Samaj Party lost power during this election, the new government of Akhilesh Yadav is Samajwadi Party by name but represent huge good will of the shudra communities and Muslims and not from the Brahmins or Thakurs? As a chief minister, he rightly says that the government was voted by all the caste and religions and there is no problem in admitting that but there is a reality also. Nobody can deny that BSP was formed by Kanshiram and that he build up Mayawati to lead it but there is nothing wrong in implementing the vision of Kanshiram by Samajwadi party. Great people become not individual centric but anyone to follow. Kanshiram’s efforts to empower the most marginalized communities as well as bring a cultural change need to be strengthened further. In democracy, people make parties and part ways but it is also the beauty of democracy that we can always take good things from all. Dalit Bahujan history of India cannot ignore the immense contribution of Kanshiram for their political and social empowerment. Uttar-Pradesh today would not have been the same if Kanshiram had not come into the horizon. Both Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party may be fighting against each other but they can always implement and work towards the vision and mission of Kanshramji. And what else could be a better day then today when we celebrate his birthday. Let us salute him and his contribution for the vast Dalit Bahujan masses of India and take his message further. Therefore Akhilesh has a historic opportunity which his father lost in 1993. May be that time he was in the coalition government but this time he has got an absolute majority and Samajwadi Party can do well to strengthen the Dalit Bahujan movement initiated by Late Kanshiramji as people all over the country are watching them in great expectations for future. One hope that Akhilesh’s tenure will not give leaverage to those powerful groups who have lost their political power but are manipulating people’s mandate to maintain status quo. These power communities are lying low but have not lost hope. They will try to create a wage between different communities by targeting Muslims particularly raking up the nondescript Ayodhya issue again and again. Therefore, it is important for Samajwadi Party to understand well the philosophy of Kanshiram in keeping a safe distance from these forces who are hell-bent to destroy our peace. Uttar-Pradesh has no place for the communal Hindutva forces and a big contribution for it is the unity of the Dalits and Shudra communities under the leadership of Samajwadi party and Bahujan Samaj Party. It is time to revive the thought of unity among communities. If leaders find time to unite well and good but people must be united towards a new enlightened agenda for future and not putting them to religious fanatics maintaining status quo. Akhilesh has enormous good will of the people and one sincerely hope that he would be able to deliver if he overcome all the prejudices of his party in the past. Uttar Pradesh welcome him with open arm and great hope for future.

In the name of democracy...

Need for radical electoral reforms By Vidya Bhushan Rawat Uttar-Pradesh’s poll results are out. Every body claiming their poll predictions have come true. The election commission has been able to maintain its dignity and impartiality in handling the situation though political parties which are at the receiving end of the Commission’s reprimand normally blame the commission for being bias against them. However, barring some small incidents they have handled the situation better so far. Yet, despite all this, the role of illicit money has not been curbed during the elections and every day we receive reports of money being confiscated by the police in these states. After the results are out Uttar-Pradesh has seen an unprecedented tense situation in the ground zero which is its rural areas. The Samajwadi party workers and BSP workers have clashed at many places. Those who understand Uttar-Pradesh and Bihar, know it well that the litmus test for Samajwadi party now comes in Uttar-Pradesh. Elections are not development as suggested by our electoral analysts but sharing in power. And it is this which has resulted in fight among different communities and manipulations by political parties. It is not just political parties, communities are too engaged in these manipulations to gain political power and hence alliances are developed and ‘villains’ are ‘constructed’. For millions of BSP supporters all over the country, Mulayam Singh was the villain number one but today it is Behajni’s term to face the wrath. The problem is that in the great ego of political leaders, it is the poor which is facing the brunt of the mafias and goons. It must stop now. Though, parties have been manipulating castes to get into parliament or assemblies and our media and election commission thumping its chest even if the poll percentage was just around 60, in fact in many places it was below 60%, it is time to seriously think about a better and alternative system. The system which will give dignity to even smaller group or communities rather than taking them as either a vote bank or enemy who will be thrashed once the results are out as happening in Uttar-Pradesh at the moment. We need a serious analysis of the community wise representation in the assemblies. A preliminary analysis of the data showed that Samajwadi party got 29% votes of the total vote polled yet got 56% seats i.e. 225 in an assembly of 403 while BSP which got just less than 3% votes than Samajwadi party got just 19% seats. Congress Party’s vote share in UP was 14% but the seat it could secure was just 9%. While in Uttar-Pradesh the tragedy of vote polled and seat secured is not visible that way as it shows in Punjab where Akali Dal secured 34.75% votes and got 56 seats (nearly 48%) while Congress Party got 41% votes yet 46 seats which is around 39% of the seat secured. While Poll observers may eagerly explain the ‘dance’ of ‘greatest’ democracy in Uttar-Pradesh which is a laboratory for all the experiments based on caste, religious and region. In the past twenty years, Uttar-Pradesh has the political parties which used these terminologies for their own purposes whether it is empowerment of Dalits or Bahujan but the fact is that in the past assembly Uttar-Pradesh did not have a single MLA from Balmiki community which is very large community mainly confined in urban areas of the state. There are other most marginalized communities among the Dalits, Muslims and backward communities which would never ever get representation unless something is done to protect their interest. Tharus, one of the tribe community in the Tarai of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, right from Maharajganj, Baharaich, Lakhimpurkhiri and Khatima have virtually no representation in the assembly except for one Tharu MLA in Uttarakhand from Khatima constituency, though latest report is that he too lost during these elections. Boxas, one of the primitive tribe groups of Uttarakhand, Kols, a tribal group in Bundelkhand (Ironically, Kol crossing over to Madhya Pradesh are tribal in government list and in Uttar-Pradesh are scheduled castes) are virtually unrepresented in assemblies and parliament. Such situation exists for many other marginalized communities among Muslims as well as backward classes. The concern over reducing Muslim representation in our parliament and assemblies is not without any reasons for they do not even have reserved constituencies though the Dalits and Aadivasis in particular feel that reserved constituencies have not really worked for the political empowerments of these sections of society but a few individuals from these communities who are elected on the votes of all electorates and therefore in this age of caste polarization, it is the other vote that matter as political leaders take their own community votes for granted. This was the reason for Dr Ambedkar asking for separate electorate for the Dalits in the famous round table conference in London in 1932. There is a dire need to address the follies of our electoral system which has not been able to curtail political corruption. Today, candidate are fielded not just to win, but to get some particular candidate defeated in the constituency. Money is being paid hugely to field bogus candidate who are called ‘vote katua’ whose sole aim would be to get his community vote and indirectly benefit to the opponent. This apart, some parties benefit from low turn out of the voters while some other benefit from neutral voters. There is no benefit to people who boycott a candidate as some other would vote and these voters who boycott would be used by the opponent or supporters according to their political loyalty. To curtail such an unhealthy practice and making communities as vote bank or vote katua, mixed member constituencies could be created to provide representations to those communities who remain unrepresented despite their huge number. Various suggestions are being put forward to improve the system but the fault line is our parliamentary system which is based on First Past the Post System. This system gives enough chances of manipulations to powerful groups and moneybag holders. There is no ceiling of getting minimum votes for winning a constituency which has resulted in a shocking trend of manipulation to win the election by using different methods of caste, religion and moneybags. The biggest fault of this system is that the winner vote through a minority vote resulting in a vast majority of voters voting against the candidate as unrepresented and uncounted. Is not it an irony that out of 542 members of Lok Sabha, we do not even have 2% of the members whose winning margin is over 50% of the total vote polled in his constituency. Similarly, there is a huge anomaly in voting percentage (national average or state average) and the seat won in the assembly. That too results in hugely unrepresented votes. For example, in the 2009 general elections, Congress party got 28.55% votes out of the total vote polled but it got 37.94% seats ( 206), similarly BJP got 18.80 votes but 21% seats. Contrary to this, the party’s which belong to particular segments of our society and have been trying to create a niche for the poor remain marginalized. The Bahujan Samaj Party got 6.17% of the total votes but got only 3.87% of the seats in Lok Sabha while CPI (M) got 5.33% of the total vote polled yet got 16 seats which is 2.95% of the total seat won. Such vast gap between the votes polled and seat won need to be questioned if we want to reduce political corruption. Is not it a great joke that Nitish Kumar is the most popular leader with just 21% of total vote polled while CPI(M) is ‘wiped out’ with 40% vote polled. It is time to address these fault lines so that every party get seat according to vote polled and every winning candidate must get over 50% of the total valid votes in his constituency. Democracy in India need to go beyond symbolism and therefore it would be advisable that we slowly switch over to Proportionate Electorate System (PES) which could address these anomalies and provide us a truly representative character of democracy. PES is widely being the main electorate system in Europe and many other parts of the world and India must start thinking on it before it is too late for us to handle the situation. After the Punjab fiasco Congress must have courage to look into it and ponder over Proportionate Electoral System and its benefits. India must adopt a political system which strengthen its integrity yet be more representative. It is also a fact that if BSP support PES, it has larger chances in the electoral system. Even today, as far as vote share is concern, Mayawati has got 26% of total votes polled in UP which should have given her 105 seats in the current assembly in PES. India will pay a heavy price if we do not shift to a better political alternative which is more representative in nature and yet unite India and its diverse communities where those who do not vote to a particular parties do not get thrashed as happening in Uttar-Pradesh at the moment., a system which give minorities their right to participate in power on equitable term and not at the mercy of a dominant community. The current trend of democracy revolve around ‘particular’ community in each states which cobble together a few others ‘like minded’ while pitched in against those who ‘differ’. This has resulted in chaos and virtual caste war in different parts of the country which media may be reporting some time and hiding at other. Uttar-Pradesh will go through this phase now and it is the biggest challenge but then the poll results of Uttar-Pradesh and Punjab are an opportunity for those who fights for genuine representative democracy to push forward agenda for Proportionate Electorate System.

India Need Electoral Reforms

American model of electoral system detrimental for democracy in India By Vidya Bhushan Rawat ‘Our Parliament is not functioning’, says Shashi Tharoor adding that we must ensure that the governance is not reduced to a complete paralysis as India’s geo political situation is very delicate with Pakistan on one side and China on the other. Therefore, lack of political will and inability of Parliament to get through important bills and legislations will have serious consequences on our national security and hence we must start thinking better options for democratic governance where executive is not held captive by the ‘parliament’ under various pulls and pressure of different parties in the coalition era. Tharoor does not stop here, he goes further that it is important that ‘knowledgeable’ people must join governance so that they can put their ‘expertise’ for the ‘national’ cause. And what could be the best model for India other than following the presidential form of government that United States of America follow where the Executive led by the president does not need to be in the Congress every day to get their things passed. India is already in the coalition era and will have to learn live under this. Coalition politics these days is being termed as politics of compulsion. Today, all the ills of corruptions are being blamed on coalition politics without ever understanding that in the past we had coalition government lead by prime ministers whose integrity were beyond doubt. Whether it was Morarji Desai or V.P.Singh, one might have differences with their brand of politics but not with their political financial integrities. Both of them did not cling to power by compromising their basic principles or hire purchasing political leaders to save their governments and immediately resigned. In fact, V.P.Singh’s Mandal action formed the foundation of social coalition of various marginalized and oppressed communities to achieve political power through peaceful democratic means. Today, faced with growing assertion of the marginalized sections of people, the mainstream parties are under severe pressure to exceed to their demands. However, the main problems these parties are facing is the growth of the hitherto unrepresented communities for participation in the decision making and power structure which was aptly defined by late Shri Kanshiram, the founder of BSP as vote hamara raj tumhara nahee chalega nahe chalega. Suddenly, the middle classes started an aversion for democracy. With Lalu, Mulayam, Mayawati, Ramvilas Paswan, etc coming to the forefront of politics was highly detested. Unfortunately, in the absence of a statesmanship among the leadership created opportunistic alliances. The leaders of these communities also started opportunistic politics and making alliances with powerful people to remain in power. Power became a tool to further family interest while family became the ‘voice’ and ‘dignity’ of an entire community. Since 1989, India is passing through another phase which is called coalition politics. The power of the strong north Indian based parties dominating India has sharply diminished and regional parties have become voice of the people of their region. This is a good sign as long as these parties pursues politics of people and not centered around individuals but unfortunately things are going from bad to worst as our entire electoral system is based on promoting individualities. The problem is that India was not prepared institutionally to tackle such situations which are arising in the coalition era. It needs political maturity and statesmanship to handle issues out of regional and communal identities as well as parties speaking in the name of their region or communities. Today, these have become regular chant of rhetoric posing serious threat to the stability of the government at the centre. Though, in the states we have option of tackling such a situation with presidential rule, in the centre there are no such mechanism. Coalition governments are not bane at all as Kanshiram said once, but better for the people as the dominating parties would not listen to the people. People have seen how duly elected governments were dismissed in different states by the Congress party in the 1980s. The dismissal of NT Rama Rao government in Andhra Pradesh by governor Ram Lal and then by Jagmohan in Jammu Kashmir are well known to be documented here. Such dictatorial actions of political leaders harm the democracy and ultimately give rise to anti democratic activities in the region. There is a serious democracy deficit in various parts of India. Whether it is Kashmir or North East, Chhatishgarh or Jharkhand, the political parties are unable to take up the challenge of insurgency. The war in Chhattishgarh is a glaring example how we perceive the issue of tribal. There are issues to seriously ponder over as why we have been unable to provide a credible political alternative in the aadivasi areas. Our parliament can discuss the issue of Anna Hazare in a special session with 24 hours news channels but it has no time so far to assuage the feelings of tribal, their issues and therefore their alienation is complete in Central India. The government is withdrawing every where from social sphere which is a phenomenon in post 1990s but in one area where the government is heavily spending is nuclearisation and militarization of our country. Secondly, governments have become virtually real estate agents and were more interested in 9% growth phenomena then looking after the interest of the people. With active support of corporate media, governments ignored the people’s protest against land acquisitions and went on crushing any kind of dissent related to that terming those support protest and rights of tribal as anti national. However, the end result of this process was corruption and more corruption. When the governments become brokers, there is bound to be corruption around. Whether it was land acquisition or privatization process, the level of political corruption has grown so much that for the first time in India, the middle classes felt the punch. With prices of essential commodities hitting over the roof top the voices of protest were growing yet unreported and unconcerned political parties were looking at these issues with ‘ultra-nationalists’ propaganda. As the violent protest increased in the forest of Bastar or regions of Orrisa, Jharkhand and Bengal, industries were pressurizing the government to ‘act’. Amidst this, regional political parties were raising their own vote bank with populist measures and the government at the centre has realized unless something is done drastically, it would be difficult to run the government. As the parliament remain unfunctional on various issues and frankly not on the issue of tribal unrest or land acquisition but on the issue of ‘corruption’, a congress member of Parliament Shashi Tharoor, who had worked with United Nations has come out with an idea of switching to American model of presidential system. Tharoor’s idea is not new as in the past former senior Congress leader late Vasant Sathe and BJP minister Arun Shourie has openly advocated to switch over from the current system to American model. It is not just the political parties, in fact the so-called direct democracy concept itself is nothing but promotion of individual based system making the parliament virtually captive to the executive and developing an executive without any accountability to our parliament. What could be the reason for the same? It is clear that status quoits forces are up in arm against the growing assertion of identities. Today, the ‘educated’ and ‘intellectual’ class of upper castes are feeling ‘threatened’ with non passage of various bills which are important for the ‘industry’. How can government get through FDI bill which fell through in Rajya Sabha in the absence of a majority of UPA . In Lok Sabha too, the government has to do a lot of hard work to get things done. Government had many other agenda items to facilitate the international agencies, to industries as well but its inability to do so is costing it the tag of being a ‘credible’ government. It still wants to be a ‘facilitator’ for the industries and coalition politics and numbers are a big worry for it. Hence rather than finding a solution for betterment of this situation, it want to go for a short cut which would be useful to those who can manage media well. India is a diverse country and hence it needs a political system where the interest of minorities, Dalits and Aadviasis are well protected. It still need a system where supremacy of parliament remain but where the parliamentarian must get a minimum of 50% total votes polled to be eligible to be a member of Parliament. How can we accept a winner who has lost his deposit? Is it not a sham democracy then? Can we allow a system where popular governments are being formed on 20-30% votes polled. There is a huge gap between the vote polled and the actual seat won in our assemblies and parliament. Many time the party which has bigger vote share lose the election while party with lesser vote share is in the power. A margin of 2% of votes change the power equations. How can we ensure that these votes convert into seats so that there is no wastage of votes. Therefore, India need to develop a model of its own on the basis of Proportionate Electorate System. Why cant we have some mix member constituencies so that some of those communities which never got a representation are able be there in our power structure? Proportionate Electorate System is needed to a diverse country like India to ensure a representative government. Today, in the name of representation, we have individuals who have been winning from particular constituencies for years. Cant we fix term for our member of parliaments and others so that politics does not become a business for them. The American model will undo whatever we have got due to this lengthy parliamentary process. Today, we are campaigning on the basis of the American model which centres around individuals. With usage of advertising agencies, media and helicopters to reach the masses, the money power is already visible in these elections. It is not just advertisement but the dangers of paid news is already seen by us. The thin line between advertisement and paid news is already blurred as it is difficult to make out for a common man whether it is a paid news or advertisement or actual news. Ads agencies are working over time and parties are spending millions of rupees in it. How can you reduce expenses. The dangers of American model is that the corporate become integral part of your fund raising for the president India can not afford that much of resources by corporate pitching in for political parties. Very easily such crony capitalists will force government to fulfill its agenda. As we know, American president can make any one as his minister who is not necessarily a member of Congress and presidential decisions are not based on Congress as ultimate power of veto lies with him, it would be dangerous for India to have a system where parliament become virtually redundant. We have seen that in 1975 in a dictatorial regime of Indira Gandhi when she imposed emergency on the country. A powerful prime minister without his or her accountability to the Parliament can be a virtual threat to democracy itself. We can not afford to have corporatocracy in this country. The ‘experts’ are looking for greener pasture. The problem with them is that they are winning election because many times hypes are woven around them. Now, the corporates, experts want to become Ministers without going to the people as happens in America. Arun Shourie and the likes feel why should ‘poor’ ‘rustic’ villagers become ministers. ‘Why should those who were always ruled are todays rulers’. ‘ They do not know English, they are corrupt and an obstacle to India shining’. So we need some ‘presentable’ face to attract foreign investment and therefore our cabinet must be covered with these experts who may not like to go to people with folded hands as they might not have done so ever. The parliamentary process makes all the arrogant fellows also to beg for votes and even cry in front of the people though we know these cries are also farcical most of the time. Yet, whether these are called nautankis or not, they have to do it. Our election commissioner mentioned that corruption is the biggest threat to our electoral system. I want to add here that it is only in the proportionate electorate System that state funding could be ensured and no chance of creating hatred and winning votes. Actually, the first past the post system, which are practicing today is quite close to American pattern. Here a Narendra Modi could come with huge mandate of the people without ever careing that people means Muslims, Dalits and Aadivasis too in the similar way as we witnessed the 1985 elections which brought Rajiv Gandhi with huge mandate on the hatred created against Sikhs. If India has to be a truly secular democracy where voices of its marginalized are heard and represented in our democratic institutions then it must go for bigger reform and most importantly think about Indian model of Proportionate Electorate System and not to imitate the American model for its purposes to get rid of the dissenting people. India suffers from democratic deficit and true representation of its marginalized and minorities and an American model imitation would be suicidal for the very health of democracy with unfettering invisible powers in the hands of crony capitalists will only prove detrimental for the idea of India which stand for social justice and democratic values. * The writer is the National Executive Member of Campaign for Electoral Reforms in India ( CERI) which has launched a campaign towards Proportionate Electorate System in India.

Happy New Year 2012

A new year wish to end the caste corruption in India Dear friends, This is to wish you all wonderful days ahead in year 2012. We have witnessed the strong role of the social movements in changing the fortunes of many countries. But it is also a fact that in the absence of an alternative there seems to be an organised chaos existing in many of these countries which hoped that they would change the power for the better. India also witnessed a strong protest for the Lokpal bill which is now proved to politicised. While there is no doubt that we need strong Lokpal or ombudsman yet it is equally important it does not infringe the constitutional provisions and delicate power balance by handing over the power to some unaccountable retired or present day 'experts'. The fight for a Lokpal need to be understand in that way. After years of struggle, we were able to form a constitution of ours which gave opportunity to all ( I can understand many would disagree) but the Dalits, Minorities and backward communities feel it as their constitution. It is not that they all respect the government structure or not interested to eliminate the corruption. How can people victim of caste, religious and gender violence in India ignore the issue of corruption. The problem is those who shout at top and added with great media circus are the one who have no opinion or cleverly sideline the issue of the marginalised sections of society. Yes, they would not speak against the corrupt corporate, film stars, business houses and illegal land grab by the religious gurus as all of them want to 'fight' against 'corruption'. The joke of this campaign is that it has actually awakened the marginalised sections of society against the social fascism which exists in India. India's political system will not work unless we attain social democracy. Unfortunately. Anna Hazare and his team does not think that way as they think that more the laws are better to govern India. It is unfortunate that in the name of eradicating corruption, middle classes which enjoy the power through corruption is now talking of corruption. Anyway, corruption without fight against social fascism in India and a war against untouchability and caste system will never succeed. Yes, the religio fascist forces are up in arms. They are using science and technology. Middle class Indians can not survive without these babas, sadhus and hypocrites which are perfect breeding grounds for fanatic middle classes which want to enjoy the globalisation, power without question and control India in the name of fight against corruption. Yes, a perfect wish for a happy new year would be to get rid of these thugs who cheat people as Prof Venkat Ramakrishanana said by maintaining that Astrology is not science. It will be good if government of India understand this and regulate TV Channels including the news channels who are spreading this poison of Brahmanical system into our mind. If these things are not controlled and stopped, there will be a big disaster for India. The fascist forces will use these 'super natural' power holder for their own purposes. Interestingly, none of team Anna member ever question these Babas and how they amassed huge properties. Is that not corruption when they claim to treat every disease. Is that not corruption when Sai Baba died in a first class medical hospital despite claiming super natural powers. Hope in the coming days, these fads will be exposed. The only hope is not middle class and our new channels but from India's poor who despite all this orchestrated campaign are still not attracted to them. Hope the middle classes will develop a scientific attitude and question these thugs who want to control their mind. Government of India must head to the advise of Justice Markandey Katju, the chairman of the Press Council of India regarding the contents of these programmes. Many of them could be booked under gambling and cheating act. We must canvas for a law that control these tricktsters in the name of possessing the super natural power. I wish India will be a Prabuddha Bharat, enlightened India where the dirty character of our great society is exposed and all those fighter against corruption understand that caste is the most corrupt thing that could happen to India. Let us eliminate caste system and untouchability. Are those fighting against corruption ready to expose our notorious caste system and truly ready to fight against it. In the din of fight against corruption, we have completely forgotten the tribal war against corruption where the corrupt Industries are in land grab. Is the fight against corruption, a clear cut deviation from other important issues where people are fighting for their rights, autonomy and human rights. Is India just Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata with a few middle classes claiming to be more Indian than others. Such communal colours of nationalism must be rebutted. Nationalism is not the monopoly of those who take a tricolor in the street and violate the traffic rules and hound the nation. In fact, this nationalistic perception is actually asking the government to be more stringent in law making rather than understanding the issues. Hope the land struggle of millions of Dalits, tribal and farmers will be given due space in our media. Indian media need to take these issues into consideration particularly the loudmouth TV channel otherwise, it is indeed the need of the hour to expose the hidden agenda of the media. I hope some of our media analyst would do it so that we can understand what is behind the news. And finally, I wish, India could be saved from Messiahs. It would be better. Please do not create these fatalistic messiahs as Messiahism takes you to fascist tendencies. India can do better without Gods, goddesses, babas, Sadhus and messiahs. Have a safe year ahead and keep up writing against the corrupt practices of our 'great' 'culture' that remain hidden so far. Wish you all success in your life. Yours Sincerely, Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Tribute : Dev Anand

A legend who celebrated life By Vidya Bhushan Rawat None of us can believe that Dev Anand is no more. Dev Anand is going to live for ever as long as there is music in life as art transcends cultural boundaries, nations and generations. In this age of stolen stories, corrupt practices to promote films and communalised mindset to gain patronage from political groups, Dev Anand was refreshing challenging to the system without mincing so many words. He was never hypocrite even when his films were banned by Sanjay Gandhi and his brigades during the emergency for not toeing the ‘official line’. While we can remember lot of his films and songs which will always make us feel younger, Dev Anand’s life gives us many new insights for living. That one can never be a legend in hatred. We all have suffered in our lives. Some suffer more and some less. That happiness and sorrow are part of lives. Dev Anand and his generations of artists particularly Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar hailed from undivided Punjab. The partition had created animosity and a sense of despair. Major States of India like Bengal and Punjab witnessed communal disturbances. Even today, the popular psyche remains communal in these states despite all pretensions of secularism. Similar things have been witnessed in Pakistan too. Yet, the most fascinating part of it is that the legacy that these legends left on us was not of hatred or communalism but of secular values, of love and compassion. Dev Anand proudly carried that legacy which actually transcends everything, hatred and despair. He was an eternal optimist, a life giver, a man who believed in his principles of life and never tried to get them justified. Often, we live according to society and try to get fixated in the norms of society. Dev Anand broke that tradition. He lived on his conditions of life. He challenged the norms of life without making loud noise. Whether it were his films which despite poor business, could never made him depressed or his own personal life which was linked to so many beautiful stars of his time. How can a man be of so much energy in this age of 89. Well, I could say having lived a small part of my life with Dr Mulk Raj Anand that for the legends, it is romancing with life, spreading love and eschewing hatred and prejudices, which make people into legends. The day we are able to overcome these, a Dev Anand will emerge inside us. It is important to understand the cinema of that period when India was passing through change and its political leadership was still swearing to basic principals of secularism and socialism. If Raj Kapoor could bring Shri 420, Awara and Jis Desh Mein Ganga Bahti hai, which reflected the political statement of the film maker, his belief in democratic secularism, then film like Paying Guest, Guide, Teen Deviyaan, Prem Pujari made by Dev Anand showed eternal optimism of young India. Film maker like B.R.Chopra created magic with Naya Daur and Waqt. Even when India’s polity could not completely turn secular yet it were the films and lyrics in the cinema which reflected how India’s destiny was in living together spreading love and overcoming hatred. Naushad, Dilip Kumar, Sahir, Shailendra, Mazrooh Sultanpuri, S.D.Berman, Mohammad Rafi and many like them with deeply nationalistic secular socialist principals entertained us. The entertainment was not just symbolic but their belief and values as well as part of their life and culture. They showed that despite partition of India, the division of the heart and minds of people was difficult and the people of India as well as that of Pakistan loved them. These songs and lyrics not just entertained us but provided healing balm to many broken heart. It is a fact and I want to admit that despite my reservations to orthodoxy in the films, there were very few at least of that generation, who influenced the psyche of youngsters like me and help us build our ideals. It is important to see how these icons succeeded in their lives. Partition uprooted many and yet when they came to India and moved to Mumbai to make their attempt in the film industry, it was not an easy task. Their films and depictions had the close reflections of our life particularly that of rural India. Each film had dynamism and films like Guide are epitome of love and life. At the time, when most of our films were making people cry, many narrating stories of pains in the life of good people, Dev Anand suggested that there was life beyond pain. Life is not just Dukha dukha, it was happiness too. Among all the stars of his time, he reflected the urbane young face of our films. Cinema of the 1950s and 1960s is nothing without wonderful lyrics and entertaining music. Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand were the three iconic figures of that period and yet the generations even loved them. None of them tried to copy and yet all the three had wonderful partners. Mukesh, Mohammad Rafi and Kishore Kumar flourished that time. Who can think a Raj Kapoor with out Shankar Jaikishan, Khwaza Ahmed Abbas and Mukesh, Dilip Kumar without Mohammad Rafi, Naushad as music director and Sahir as the lyric writer and then Dev Anand, without S.D.Berman and Mazrooh Sultanpuri. It is not remarkable that Mazrooh’s romantic numbers of Dev Anand remain unmatchable even today and can be seen being played at the radio more than ever. Dev Anand gives us message of living life to the fullest even in most disturbing time. That life is not to be legitimised by your popularity or acceptability as despite being an iconic figure his films did not do well in the past thirty years. One does not know which his last hit films were yet the passion which he made them showed us the way. Even if he were not making any films, his life remained an example. In today’s time, when we try to find the outcome in the beginning, when we look that film makers, writers compromise with their perceptions and are ready to go to any extent to make their film successful. He never believed in so called remixing terming that those who are making them have run out of ideas. He never thrived on his past glory and continued with working. That I am still working is the best award, he opined in an interview with Star News. Love of people is the best award and ‘ I enjoy life he had said’. It is this energy in him that inspired me a lot. Do your work with complete conviction and do not get bothered about comments and ‘acceptability’. We all know ours is a huge country where to gain popularity and acceptability we do all kind of tricks. Dev Anand was an unIndian that way. He never believed in that hero worshipping which we are habitual of. He broke many myths including that only sadness would make you hit. Ofcourse, during his period Dilip Saheb was the ultimate Devdas yet Dev Anand would never be a devdas, instead he would make another attempt to a romantic life and would not accept failure. He would not drink to celebrate his failure but make another attempt to live a better life and romance with it. Today, it was sad day. I know many of my friends with whom, I passed some of the most fascinating moments of my life, are sad today. How they would jump on every action of Dev, his style, dresses and songs of his films. All of them will always be part of our life to celebrate life and romance with it. Life is not just to cry and weep but to enjoy. Life is to do something in deepest struggling moments. And today, when Dev Anand breathed his last in London, his story will always reminds us the power of love and power of romance. His face, smile and untiring work will always provide energy to all of us who believe in positive energy of life. ‘ The biggest love he says is getting engaged to your work without expecting too much of it. The ‘Guide’ whose ‘Gata rahe mera dil’ is committed to his love and promise her to be with her in happiness as well as difficult moments of life, who dare to dream despite all adverse situation. It was a movie much before its time. The songs, lyrics or acting, the films for Dev Anand were not just entertainment but mission of life with his convictions which has become a rare commodity today. The biggest casualty in today’s entertainment industry is its honesty and marketing of hypocrisy. In his films, Dev Anand rarely used religious symbolism to promote his values; instead he remained far more progressive and liberal democrats. That is why despite differences on remixing and remaking of old films and songs, he defended the rights of people to make it, though he never believed that any body could recreate Guide. Dev Anand is physically no more yet his life and films will always inspire us and entertain the people and his values of life would be more than ever relevant in today’s world. Thank you Dev Saheb for entertaining us and making us believe that romance of life is the best award that anybody could get. It is to make ‘ pyaar ka jahan’ every where in complete harmony with nature. Life is romance and romance is not just love and sex but engagement with work. Definitely, as long as we live we will always get inspire from ‘ main jindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya…