Unforgettable Chavez

Viva Chavez

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

The death of Hugo Chavez is a great blow to movement against imperial world order unleashed by powerful and greedy corporates. As Venezuelan president, Chavez instilled sense of self respect and dignity in the masses of Latin America. After Fidel Castro, he was the most influential leader of Latin America who inspired people world over.

The powerful president of Venezuela Mr Hugo Chavez passed away last night battling a two year long cancer. The man who rose to the highest office of his country passing through various phases and difficult childhood actually had huge fan following world over despite deep rooted racial prejudices against him in the American and European countries. It must be understood why Chavez has attracted extreme reactions world over. As the world moan over his death, we can analyze the entire perspective with the tribute that have started pouring in as the news broke in by the vice president of Venezuela on the state TV. The Latin American countries went into moaning on the death of hero who stood against the tyranny of powerful countries and taught them to stand up keeping their head high. Cuba, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, and many other countries have stood together, formed coalition and tried to provide an alternative to the current economic social policies being pursued by the greedy transnational corporations who are the modern invaders with the help of powerful nations.  Evo Morales, Bolivian President said they felt "destroyed" by the news of the passing of his Chavez. "It hurts, but we must stand united in this process of liberation, not only of Venezuela but of the whole region..." Morales said. "Chavez is now more alive than ever", he added further.

The most important factor of Hugo Chavez is that he strengthened the legacy of Fidel Castro, the living legend from Cuba who challenged the might of United States of America and taught his country to live with preserving their resources. Chavez was a great admirer of Fidel Castro and tried to implement his vision by forming alliance with neighboring countries against a common threat. Today, all there is a breeze of freshness and change blowing in the entire Latin America where the US interventions were order of the day. Nobody can deny the fact that prior to Chavez, Venezuela was a non-entity at the international map but now people have got an identity and respect world over. That way, Chavez filled a sense of dignity and self-respect among his people and converted the entire system of governance more and more people centric much the chagrin of the western commentators who always found his rule as tyrannical violating human rights of the people. Yes, in his efforts to promote social justice and state socialism, Chavez might have angered many others who dominated the horizon of his country but then masses adored him for his actions.

A new wave of change is blowing in the entire Latin American world which feels betrayed by the successive American policies towards it. Several years back when I travelled to some remote part of Bolivia, I tested that feeling of anti- Americanism in the masses for they were enjoying. The urbanized cities are Americanised but the rural population, the ethnic communities who were just crushed before were founding their new sense of dignity and empowerment. It was not for nothing that Che Guevara, the much revered figure in the entire Latin American world was not given due space and respect by the American sponsored governments in Bolivia. There was not a single monument for a man who devoted his life to Bolivian people and was executed by the American sponsored forces as for them he was a criminal but for millions world over, Che is the ultimate icon of revolution. Today, the ethnic identities are asserting in these countries and that resulted in victory of president Moralis in Bolivia, who too is following the same path as shown by Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez and giving his ethnic communities a new sense of dignity and self-respect.

The western reactions on Chavez’s death are based on their future calculations, depending whether Venezuela would be able to hold together as one nation as it was till today. Former American President Jimmy Carter said, ‘Although we have not agreed with all of the methods followed by his government, we have never doubted Hugo Chávez's commitment to improving the lives of millions of his fellow countrymen.  President Chávez will be remembered for his bold assertion of autonomy and independence for Latin American governments and for his formidable communication skills and personal connection with supporters in his country and abroad to whom he gave hope and empowerment. During his 14-year tenure, Chávez joined other leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean to create new forms of integration. Venezuelan poverty rates were cut in half, and millions received identification documents for the first time allowing them to participate more effectively in their country's economic and political life.’

But Carter also mentioned the ‘divisions’ created by Chavez’s policies and said, ‘ At the same time, we recognize the divisions created in the drive towards change in Venezuela and the need for national healing. We hope that as Venezuelans mourn the passing of President Chávez and recall his positive legacies — especially the gains made for the poor and vulnerable — the political leaders will move the country forward by building a new consensus that ensures equal opportunities for all Venezuelans to participate in every aspect of national life.’

Problem here is that in the process of national reconstruction and social justice those who ruled and absorbed the national resources would always feel left out or sidelined. The modern Human Rights principles and ‘democratic’ laws actually save those in the name of human rights who have violated it to the most. We must not forget that Human Rights Principles have been used and misused by the western democracies according to their conveniences. Though there is little doubt that in the name of providing social justice, most of the governments in the third world countries actually violated the human rights of their opponents, arrested political leaders and executed writers, activists and journalists who they felt were the opponent to government’s policies or were exposing them. These oppressive systems actually led to the fall of many communist regimes in the 1990s in various parts of the world. It never meant that people did not like socialist secular values but the fact that people wanted to get rid of tyrannical regimes where one individual was supreme and all others were orphaned if that individual passed away. Human Right Watch documented the violation of human rights in Venezuela and stood to its ground even today when Hugo Chavez passed away. It says that ‘Hugo Chávez’s presidency (1999-2013) was characterized by a dramatic concentration of power and open disregard for basic human rights guarantees.

It added:

By his second full term in office, the concentration of power and erosion of human rights protections had given the government free rein to intimidate, censor, and prosecute Venezuelans who criticized the president or thwarted his political agenda.’

In recent years, the president and his followers used these powers in a wide range of prominent cases, whose damaging impact was felt by entire sectors of Venezuelan society.’ President Chavez was very angry and expelled the director of Human Rights Watch José Miguel Vivanco,
after he issued a report criticizing the country's human rights record in 2008. This charge was rebuked by the intellectuals and academics of Venezuela vehemently.

The fact is that despite his short comings and violation of human rights here and there, Hugo Chavez was truly a world leader who tried to organize the poor nations against the growing tendencies of powerful nations to use their natural resources in the form of neo liberalism. Learning from Cuba, he reformed the health and education sector in his country. His boldness and unambiguity was never liked by the Western World as he could stand up and challenge George Bush in the UN general assembly by saying he was the biggest ‘devil’. Many of the western commentators may term these as harsh and undiplomatic words but then the American administration too has been using undignified terminology against their opponents. Even when he was highly critical of US policies particularly of its corporates, Chavez was exporting 90% its crude oil to United States only and praised President Obama suggesting he were a US citizen, he would have voted for Obama,

It has to be understood that when any political leaders work for people, he get enormously popular and that result in his ‘larger than life’ image. The fact is that all the third world countries are still living in ‘developing’ democracy where the institutions of democracy are still at very nascent stage and often used by the powerful elite for their own benefits. The leaders of the countries who emerge from the mass movement become tyrannical and bigger than the movement which result in uncertainty later on. Today, most of the countries have not developed democratic principles and are turning into self-serving despots. It is therefore important for the leaders of mass movement to prepare their generation and instill among their people the sense of democracy and decision making process should be made more transparent and discussed threadbare. Hugo Chavez redefined the governance in his country as he would invite people, academics, journalists to his decision making process and would speak on TV shows without a prepared script for hours and hours. We have heard how Fidel Castro is a vociferous reader who scan more than 100 newspapers a day even today and how he speak on any given subject with great authority, more than any world leader or an academic too. This tradition of knowledge in leadership is what makes a Castro or a Chavez legend.

In the absence of democratic structure or it percolating further at the grassroots, political leaders become bigger than the institutions must to the detriment of the process itself. Hugo Chavez was a revolutionary but still a human being. At the fag end of his life, his ideological boldness as a Marxist became questionable when he started following Christianity, met Pope and said, ‘ Today, the revolution is more alive than ever. I feel it, I live it, I touch it ... If Christ is with us, who can be against us? ‘If the people are with us, who can be against us?’ These are contradictions of our life and many people suffer from them and Chavez was no different to that. In political life, a political leader has to use contradictions of our life for his own purposes. It is sure that even when he invoked Christ’s name, he never used Christ for his political purposes.

Hugo Chavez is no more but he reminds us that even when you belong to a small country yet an inspiring leader can convert the country into greatness. It needs lot of intellectual, mental and moral strength to stand up against mighty forces and make people belief in their power. Chavez made people believe in themselves. For a country like India, Chavez is provide a great inspiration as how to make our people believe in state socialism as well as how can a country like India hold its head high against the neo colonialism being imported to us through powerful countries. As the biggest nation of South Asia, India can initiate the process of uniting the countries and make common cause with them. It will need a visionary and strong leadership to do so. Will India have such statesman and visionary who can stand up and challenge the hegemony of these greedy corporations and their mentors sitting in Europe and America?

Understanding 'Dalit Priest Project' of Narendra Modi in Gujarat

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

The Dalit priest theory of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi is an aim to deflect the attention from the real issues of the Balmiki community which is isolated and face severe untouchability. Modi has rarely spoken against caste discrimination and the historical injustice done to Dalits hence it is nothing but plain hypocrisy to grab positive headlines.

Much has been written about shining Gujarat in the media and now it is time to unleash social ‘revolution’ hence the ‘Hindu Hriday Samrat’ is on his mission to ‘train’ the dalits for performing ‘rituals’ like marriage, birth ceremony or in temples. His government has kept an amount of Rs 22.50 lakh for this purpose so that people particularly from the Valmiki community could be provided ‘knowledge’ of ‘Sanskrit’ so that they can do it independently. These students would be trained in performing rituals at two universities including Somnath Sanskrit Vidyapeeth. In the period of millions, a tiny sum kept for ‘social revolution’ shows the real intents of those behind it and how serious they are in their efforts. Is this effort aimed at bringing equality in the society or is it aimed to further co-opt the Balmikis or manual scavengers into the broader Hindu fold?

The step taken by Narendra Modi and his government are being projected by his ‘chums’ as ‘revolutionary’ and reformists. Some say, he is an OBC and hence it is a great effort to bring all the Dalits and OBCs into the Hindu fold with great respect and dignity. Addressing a meeting of Valmikis Narendra Modi actually termed them as the ‘priests’ of ‘our cities’. You keep our cities clean and hence you are no less than priests. Sound good words and Modi who is being touted as ‘future’ ‘prime minister’ of India is now on a ‘social reform’ mission. He did it with aadivasis with organizing ‘Sabari mela’ and now with this ‘Dalit priest’ theory he is again trying to coopt them into the Hindu fold and subside their anger against the government for its abject failure for addressing the issue of the Dalits particularly manual scavengers in Gujarat.

Since 1992, Gujarat government has declared that manual scavenging is absolutely abolished in the state. Ofcourse, caste system and untouchability are closely link and none can claim that Gujarat does not have a caste system or untouchability does not exist in Gujrat whether it is owned by Modi or Gandhi. In the din of Hindu Muslim affair, Gujarat successfully hid the dirtiest realities existing in its cities and towns. It was quietly forgotten that Gujarat’s caste society is still powerful and has successfully stalled the march for change among the Dalits and OBCs as whenever there are assertion for their rights and dignity among them, the caste Hindus even use all tactics including economic blockade of those people. The fact is that Modi’s Gujrat is only for the upper caste Hindus who have deep contempt for the Dalits, aadivasis and backward communities, apart from Muslims.

Questions may be posed to Modi and his government on the status of manual scavenging in Gujarat which he and his predecessors have denied having any presence. The fact is that there are numerous reports, videos, photographs that the dirty practice can be seen in Ahmedabad itself. It is shameful that people are still cleaning human excreta by hand and that in a state which claims to be a model state and whose chief minister is looking himself as the future prime minister of India. No problem in his thinking to be the prime minister of India but why does he want us to believe that Gujarat is a different state then rest of us. Yes, it is different because the forces of social change are not active and aggressive in Gujarat and have tamely succumbed to religious-capitalist upper caste groups in the state.

According to census 2011, Gujarat has over 2,500 households where manual scavenging is practiced. The number amuses me as it reflect a fact that Gujarat government does not have money to develop flushed toilets in these 2500 houses if that is the only case. The reality is more frightening actually. The same census survey reveals that out of 1.2 crore households in Gujarat, over 64 lakh do not have drainage facility. Actually, 52 lakh homes have no toilets at all and therefore they must either be defecating in open or using the public toilets. It is found that over 49 lakh people actually defecate in open in Gujarat which shows the standard of shining Gujarat.  There are only 2 lakh public toilets in that state which is planning to give Indian ‘alternative’.

These data are easily countered by social activists and research institutions which have done their own surveys even when we can easily say that too have leakages and unsubstantiated figure like national average yet according to Tata Institute of Social Sciences study there are over 12,506 manual scavengers in Gujarat. According to a report published in the Indian Express, it says,’ study says a total of 2,456 households with 12,506 individuals in Gujarat are involved in manual scavenging. Of this, 4,333 (2,755 males, 1,578 females) persons are directly involved in the practice, the rest being children, women, old, unemployed and others. Region wise, Saurashtra leads with 928 households, followed by central Gujarat (569), north Gujarat (529), and south Gujarat (430). Over 50 per cent are involved in removing open defecation, mostly with bare hands’. The fact is that this study was conducted only in municipal corporation areas of over ten thousand population and therefore has left a huge number of smaller towns, villages which are outside the ambit of municipalities and where caste discrimination and untouchability are equally prevalent along with manual scavenging.

While we must appreciate the study, the fact is that Gujarat is a deeply hierarchical society and caste prejudices prevail in that society. The Dalits face more marginalization and even not allowed in the temple. Though, people like us believe that temple entry movements are not really to help the Dalits but to keep them subjugated under the brahmanical system and somehow stamp the ugly reality of caste prejudices.

Gujarat claim to have no dearth of money and Gujarat is shining economically then why such a huge number of Gujaratis are still defecating in open. Is not it a shame but the hidden reality behind this open defecation is the economic status of those who defecate in open. Yes, it is the state with very high number of children suffering from malnutrition and the chief minister mentioned that the girl eat less to look slim. The question is why has Gujarat government failed to eradicate manual scavenging in the state and where is the issue of caste discrimination and untouchability in the Hindutva scheme of things. If it is a model state of Hindutva then how do Balmikis and other dalits live in Gujarat? During a study on Indira Awas Yojna, several years back, I found, how the Balmikis were never really given houses along with other communities. In fact, to save the communities from mixing up, Modi and his protégé actually developed a Balmiki Awas Yojna and houses under this scheme were absolutely isolated and at the last point of a village. Can a Balmiki be allowed to enter in the house of a Patel or any Brahmin in Gujarat? Does Gujarat not have honor killings in the name of castes? Are all the temples open for Dalits?

The question is why does Modi want the Balmikis or Dalits to study Sanskrit? How many of Gujarati Brahmins are studying Sanskrit. Why not open a school for them. Modi want to the Balmikis to perform in the temples. A good idea would be to hand over the temples and their managements of temples such as Somnath, Ambaji and Akshar Dham to the Balmikis so that they have enough income to run their families and favor others. Dalits and any other community today need modern education, access to good universities and availability of jobs in the government as well as private sectors. It would be a great achievement if Modi’s enterprenual Gujarat can stop the caste discrimination within the campuses of Universities and colleges, in companies and factories?

These are desperate attempt to hide the real issues of untouchability and caste system. The caste forces will work over time to hide these realities and hence chose soft target. They know it well that even if Balmikis or Dalits become priests, it is not going to open ‘inter caste’ marriages for them or marriages ceremonies in general for them. Most of them will be confined to their own community and the other way round help the Brahmins who refuses to go there to perform these rituals. As far as temples are concern, there are hundreds of temples where nobody comes and the priests suffer as the powerful temples will always be in the hands of caste Hindus. Basically, Narendra Modi is trying to halt the march of dignity of Dalits through these cunning methods so that people do not question the historical injustice done to them. If he is concerned about Balmikis, has he ever spoken about the untouchability and caste discrimination that is the order of day in Gujarat?

The temple entry movement and putting people back to religious rituals are nothing but deeply flawed and cunning move by the power elite to hide the ugly reality which they have played and their inability to condemn the gross violation of human rights of Dalits through such practices. A few days back, another ‘revolutionary’ took the Balmiki women to Kumbha for a bathing in the Ganges. It was claimed that after bathing in the Ganga, they have challenged the status quo. The same champions did not bother to see the gross violation of basic dignity and human rights of over seven thousands Safai karmcharis during Kumbha fair. The issue of untouchability and caste discrimination cannot be solved by these juggleries and treacherous ways without questioning the authority of varnashram dharma and its divisive philosophy which is anti-human and anti-human rights.

Those who want to install the caste-ist vaidik values on us cannot really have love and respect for human rights and that way Gujarat government’s Dalit priest project is nothing but anti Dalit and full of hypocrisy as it want to keep them in the Hindu fold without demolishing the caste hierarchies and caste system. Is it possible to have an equality based human society without the demolition of caste system? Does Modi want to demolish caste system or he want to keep it further to perpetuate his agenda on everyone. Will he ever apologize to Balmikis and other dalits for years of discrimination and untouchability which has divine sanction as he claim to represent the saffron brigade and the ideology of Hindutva?

Theocracy Via Democracy

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Consolidation of ‘majority’ community after careful vilification of minorities at different places have resulted in massive mandates both at the Centre in 1985 as well as in Gujarat post 2002. Such trends are dangerous but continuously being used by political parties for their own purposes. India cannot afford to repeat them as it would only be at the cost of peace and stability of the country.

A fatal incident on this day exactly 11 years back in a nondescript town of Godhra in Gujarat changed the face of the state and misused by the ruling elite of the state for its political purposes. On February 27^th, 2002, S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express was burnt by the miscreants killing 59 innocent travellers in the train. It was a heinous crime which jolted everyone who listened and saw the eye witnessed account. After that what happened in Gujarat is a blot to the democratic governance anywhere in the world. It was said that that the Godhra’s carnage was instigated by the Muslims and hence the people had a right to ‘teach’ them a good lesson. For days the state of Gujarat forgot its ‘rajdharma’ and allowed the anti-social communal elements solidly supported by the state and its administration to butcher and kill Muslims all over the state.

The state machinery abdicated its responsibility to act as a protector for all the people living in the state irrespective of their religion. Instead, its leader had a field day, vilifying Muslims and instigating the goons and thugs of the Hindutva variety. In the next fortnight we saw the worst kind of slaughtering of innocent people in Gujarat with active participation of the state authorities in connivance with the political thugs who were out rightly spreading hatred for their political gains.

Over three thousand Muslims were killed in the so-called ‘communal riots’ which were nothing but organized pogroms by the state. Gujarat state was systematically isolating Muslims and the power elite there communalized the entire operation. The relief camps tell the story of the fear in the minds of Muslims. The goons were given political protection and some of them became Ministers too but since they were so called upper caste Hindus hence nothing matter.  Contrary to this, Muslims were targeted by the police and arrested for reacting.

There is no doubt that the incident of Godhra was carnage of innocent people yet it is the duty of the state to investigate the incident impartially and protect the people. You cannot allow the Muslims of Ahemedbad, Baroda, Bharuch and elsewhere to be killed by the religious thugs in the name of ‘retaliation’ for the Godhra carnage. It is sad that the Indian state has allowed itself to be hijacked and communalized by such majoritarian tendencies where any crime committed by a criminal belonging to minority community is painted as the ‘activity’ and ‘thought’ of the community and hence to ‘rectify’ the champions of ‘Hindu nationalism’ must take to street and teach them a lesson.  Gujarat incident of a communalized state is not the only one in the history of India but it continues with our selective targeting and leakages of the information through media to vitiate the atmosphere. Prior to Gujarat we saw the state managed pogrom of Sikhs in Delhi in the aftermath of her assassination by those who happened to be Sikhs. The goons this time belong to the Congress Party but in their faith and belief they were not different than the thugs of Gujarat who killed Muslims in the Post Godhra carnage. For years, every Sikh in Delhi had to bear the brunt of being a ‘terrorist’ and traitor who felt happy when ‘Indira Gandhi was assassinated’.

For years the majoritarian tendencies find ways to violently oppose the assertion of the minorities and marginalized and tag them. The duty of a secular state is to handle these issues with great sensitivity and utmost impartiality. But in these cases and later on many other occasions, Indian state actually turned out to be a Hindu state which has to ‘honor’ the sensitivity of the ‘upper castes’ but react violently to the reactions and assertions of minorities and marginalized. One can compare these things with violence against Muslims in the aftermath of Ayodhya demolition in 1992. There have been communal disturbances in different parts of the country including Mumbai but the perpetrators of these riots only got legitimacy through manipulating our electoral system.  The so called majority people got power and prestige and legitimized their anger in the name of ‘national’ ‘sentiments’ or people’s consciousness but our jails were filled with Muslim youths in the name of terrorism.

It is shocking what our home minister admitted in parliament the other day replying to question raised by some of the members of parliaments such as Basudeb Acharia of Communist Party of India ( Marxist) who was backed by RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, SP suprimo Mulayam Singh Yadav and others. Minister of State for Home Affairs (MoS) RPN Singh evaded his direct question. He said, "Terrorism has no colour or religion and if any case of prolonged incarceration of any individual belonging to any community without any charge sheet against him is brought to light, the government will take appropriate action to ensure justice."

The minister said that Section 211 of IPC gave a person the right to seek compensation in case he had been falsely implicated in a case. He said under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act if a charge sheet is not filed within 180 days against an arrested person, he is entitled to bail."

In reply, MoS RPN Singh said, "The National Investigation Agency (NIA), set up after the Mumbai terror attack, has investigated 52 cases and arrested 334 people since 2009. Out of the 334, over 200 youths are Muslims. We don't have details on member of other religions who have been arrested by the NIA on terror charges."

 "NIA has filed chargesheet in 29 cases while 23 are under investigation," the minister said.

It is interesting to note how the government and the authorities work according to prevailing prejudices in our system against Muslims. How is it that the Minister has data about the Muslim arrested youths but not about others. At the one end, the government continues to inform us that its agencies are doing their best and on the other side the political authority of the government is being clearly violated by the communalists inside the intelligence agencies.

How will the government explain to us the number of arrests made by them in the aftermath of killings of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Babari demolition and post Godhra riots. The government acted fast on individual cases where the Muslim and Sikh individuals were the ‘direct’ perpetrators of the crime but remained mute when they were the victims of a hate crime instigated by political interest groups resulting in mass killings of Muslims and Sikhs.

It is not just the government and its intelligence set up but carefully planned strategy of the Hindu nationalists to keep the issue of ‘terrorism’ as an offensive so that anybody who talks of justice to people is termed as ‘traitor’.  The issue of Afzal Guru is similar and the disgraceful way in which his case was handled at least his last moment resulted in Kashmir feeling alienated. Major political parties including PDP and National Conference actually have demanded the government to return Maqbool Bhat and Afzal Guru’s body to their families. Parties like BJP and Congress are opposed to it making it clear that he was ‘anti national’ and his dead body would only raise passions. But the hypocracy of both these parties is exposed when the government does not act with same will in the other cases of death penalty such as the killers of Rajiv Gandhi and former Punjab Chief Minister Beant Singh. The Punjab assembly passed resolution against the hanging of the person who happened to be a Sikh. In fact, many times, SGPC has often glorified the killers of Indira Gandhi. Similarly, Jayalalitha and Karunanidhi are together in their opposition of death penalty against the killers of Rajiv Gandhi as well as the gang members of Veerappan, the notorious sandalwood smuggler. All of a sudden our sympathies have risen and none oppose commutation of death penalties into life imprisonment. It becomes an election issue only when the crime is committed by a ‘Muslim’ and that is why the Congress government agreed to everything that the Hindutva outfits were demanding. The only problem at the moment is that there are not many of their fellows waiting for gallows as that process will take time. Problem is that political parties are not against death penalty but only wake up when they have to make a political capital out of it. Therefore, it is time for India to completely abolish capital punishment so that these politicization of crime stops immediately.

Some time back a senior army officer told me that Maoists are our own people and hence the army cannot wage a war against them. I was amazed because the same idea does not come when the army battle in Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland or Kashmir. Why are the people in these regions not our ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’, why no sympathy is generated for them and the answer lies in the complete communal mindset prevailing in our system where Muslims, or people from north east are not our own and looked down in suspicion. Such a stereotyping of communities is dangerous for the well-being of our society and national integration. India needs to grow up and speak up against communal agenda of political parties as well as our power elite which strengthen stereotyping of communities for their own political benefit. Such unlawful arrests as well as vilification of Muslims in particular will only alienate them further and help those who want the gap between different communities grow so that their agendas for a divisive India succeed. We must stand and counted against such dangerous stereotyping which is against our national interest. Any political victory after marginalizing the minorities will not strengthen democracy but will only benefit those who wish to install Hindu theocracy in India under the garb of democracy.

Intelligence Failure

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Our intelligence apparatus has become highly politicized and used by the ruling parties for their own benefits but today the power hungry bureaucrats and big corporation fed media are creating the security scare in the country to further impose the ‘intelligence’ network our us much to the danger of even intruding in our private domain which would be detrimental for democracy in the country.

It is not surprising that whenever a bomb  blasts or something happen the daily barking channels start giving us names of people engaged in such blasts as if this information was known to them in advance. We have ‘reporters’ who bring these ‘break news’ to submit it to people and then discussion revolve around the ‘expose’, which actually is nothing but the intelligence game plan. For the journalists who rarely venture out of their newsrooms, such ‘leaks’ give them an aura of ‘investigative’ journalists.

Indian media has become notorious in ‘faking news’ and is closely working with the intelligence people. This close relation between media and intelligence is a matter of grave concern and in fact threat to our freedom of expression and people’s right to have their privacy. It may be possible that many of media reporting and funding emerge from the unaccountable source of these agencies. This dangerous trend has grave implications for India as media has shifted its responsibility from being the ‘fourth estate’ to the Public Relation body of various governments and its intelligence agencies.

It is also a fact that more we crib about the ‘security’ and intelligence ‘failure’, the bigger the opportunity for big business houses and their investments in these sector. After the arms industry, it look that ‘spying’ apparatus are becoming the biggest show of the market. Now the governments are forced to spend huge amount of money and human resource on the so-called security apparatus in the name of ‘public good’ and public ‘safety. The cost of spy cams, CCTV, scanners will be unbearable to put in each place. Right from railway stations, to bus terminuses, chaurahas, schools, shops, colleges, the demand for CCTV is growing and it will become one of the biggest industries in the coming days. The problem is that security scare does not convert into high jobs for jobless youth as government is not keen on jobs in these times of austerity. It will procure more weapons, more security apparatus to help the big industries gain ground in India. It is the way how the international organizations work. They ensure that their product is demanded as that would result in high cost as well as bigger quantity. Given the size of our metropolitan cities, these spy products are going to alter our budgetary provisions. At a time when the country need to focus on health care, poverty reduction and its educational system, these security scare will take away our budget. This is the price of terrorism and war mongering but that is what our right wing fundamentalists always want so that the voices of assertion and share in power structures are always pushed to further marginalization and their brand of nationalism is placed top on the agenda of the nation.

The intelligence network gets legitimacy through media and creates a situation when people are compelled to speak in support of ‘strengthening’ it. Now, the government is talking of National Counter Terrorism Centre ( NCTC) which is being opposed by the states as it would violate the principles of federalism. And this is a Chidambaram idea of making the political leadership virtually redundant and hand over the running of the state in the hands of unaccountable bureaucrats. With power to arrest anyone anywhere in India, such agencies will create more security scare and will remain unaccountable in arresting individuals and will super impose their structures on the state. There is nothing wrong in making a center which does the data analysis and provide inputs to the state but why should policing be allowed to be given to the NCTC without any accountability to states in the name of fight against terrorism.

In 1975 the then Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi was actually more depended on bureaucracy and her ‘intelligence’.  Prime Minister’s son was actually the boss of Congress Party and had developed larger than life image. He converted the Congress party into a completely spineless class who would be happy to crawl when asked to bend. The result was the total dependency of the government on the ‘intelligence’ and not on their political leaders who were facing flaks for the policies of the government. The ‘intelligent’ people were reporting to the prime minister that the country was very happy with the ‘disciplinary’ measures and hence it would be good if the country goes for the polls. Mrs Gandhi had no other source of information as most of the newspapers were writing what her chums wanted them to write and the intelligence was only looking for ‘political opponents’. The government ordered for polls and the outcome was that Congress party was completely routed in the elections paving the way for the first non-congress government at the Centre.

After the 1977 debacle, there were hundreds of failures. The problem is not that there are no ‘intelligence’ among us but the fact is that governance structure need an over hauling. Today’s intelligence is not about harassing people and reporting to your bosses about our activities but more about doing it yourself and trying to read in between. How is a person who is supposed to pick up his gun and fire, one day become an intelligence operative?  What does an intelligence person ask about a programe being organized anywhere. ‘Who are the sponsors or leaders of the programme ? What is the matter? The fact is they are not doing any analysis but only spying for the government to hound the opponents. And they do not really know what the ideological positions of persons are and how democracy respect difference of opinion.

Each one of us has a story to tell about our encounters with these ‘intelligent’ brains. Our system need to change and intelligence operations are not meant to make political capital out of something. In this multi polar world, all those who joins our agencies first need to understand the secular character of state and the rights of minorities, marginalized to voice their protest. If our agencies go out in public with an idea of ‘we verses them’, I am sure, they cannot really help anyone except helping the right wing forces and their favorites in the media who are ready for those sound-bites  which gladden the heart of right wing fundamentalists. They should more focus on their work and stop these ‘leakages’ as most of their work would not be able to sustain in any court of law but their sustained campaign against minorities and marginalized will only create social unrest in the country.

I have many such encounters when the intelligence people came along with local journalists and introduced each one of them as journalists. And ridiculously they ask questions about ‘what book you read’, ‘who is your favorite author’, who do you like ‘Gandhi or Mao’ and such nonsensical questions. Can any intelligence operative really get answer from these stupid questions? Is it important for us to like what our governments want to like? Do our intelligence people know that there are millions of people who may neither like Gandhi nor Mao. Is it necessary for anyone to hate Gandhi to love Mao? And what is so dangerous about reading Mao when everything is available on the web world. And most importantly, Mao was not anyone but leader of a revolutionary movement in world’s biggest country. It is disturbing to see that media become party in spreading the ‘intelligence version’ as ‘break news’. This trend is a great threat to political freedom of the country. The more the thin line between media and intelligence disappear, the bigger would be the threat for the independence of media and free thinking traditions of the country which are the heart of any democratic dissent and deliberations. The diversity of ideas strengthen democracy and attempt to paint them anti national and against ‘rule of law’ shows the antipathy of the power elite towards world of ideas and freedom.

For a country like India, it is more important that we do not become a party to instigate false alarms and baseless information which spread rumors and chaos in our society. For that our intelligence agencies must understand the enormity of the situation and diversity of our society. Just creating media frenzy they would only help in strengthening the TRPs of the news channels but not to the cause of justice in society. It is time, our policing is strengthened and communities are taken into confidence and security scare is not created all around in the name of ‘national security’. The day our marginalized and minorities consider them part of system and their participation is ensured in our power structure, the meaning of ‘intelligence’ will change. An intelligence service cannot be just to harass and defame the minorities and the marginalized who are fighting for their genuine democratic rights democratically. May be our political class is much more intelligent than our intelligence organizations and give them good lesson about India’s multi-cultural societies and great pluralistic heritage so that they do not hound the Muslims and the marginalized in the name of ‘national security’.

Shanbagh moment for Bangladesh

Jai ho Bangla

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

The biggest untruth of partition of India was the division in the name of religion. The fact is that it was impossible for two people who have lived side by side for centuries to be divided by the thin line of religion as interdependency on our work and culture was the most important aspect of Hindu-Muslim relations in India. Even, the founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, who was a staunch secularist and who Sarojini Naidu once described as Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity, always felt that the issue of Pakistan was not religious but political.

Unfortunately, the idea that religion unites was supported and sponsored to suit the interest of many fanatic groups in India as well as Pakistan. The idea that all Hindus of the world think alike and behave alike is similar to when the Muslim fanatics feel. Today, if the brutal killings of Hazaras in Pakistan are any indication then we must realize religion has always been used to place the supremacy of some forces. Pakistan failed as a society in responding to fanatic Islamic fundamentalists and allowed its Shias, Ahmedis and other minorities to be targeted in the name of Islam. It inflicted enormous damage and today it is a country at the cross road.

The situation is also bad in the neighboring Bangladesh where people have now risen spontaneously against the fundamentalist Jamat-e-Islami party which has openly sided with the Pakistani army that raped and killed thousands of Bangladeshis during the war. The problem with many sympathizers is they produce reams of literature to say that this is propaganda by India and therefore ignoring and disrespecting the huge mass movement lead by the founding fathers as well as the people of East Bengal which began immediately after Pakistan became an independent country.

It is a proud moment for many who have participated in the historical movement for the liberation of their country. The history is not very old but it is a proud moment for many that it is not religion but ethnicity that matters the most. Language and ethnicity unites people more than religion. If religion was the only uniting factor than all the Muslim countries should have been one and all the Christian countries should have one value of life. We know well that the Sab Saharan African people also practice Christianity and the people in Canada too have faith in Christianity but there is no similarity between the two. In fact, dissimilarities are more. An African Muslim would be close to an African Christian than a Muslim from Pakistan. A Punjabi Muslim is close to a Punjabi Hindu than a Muslim from Bengal or Tamilnadu and Kerala. The cultural ethos of a Bengali Muslim would match more to a Bengali Hindu than to a Muslim from Uttar-Pradesh and a Malayali Muslim and a Malayali Christian would speak the same language. But off late these differences are being increased under one agenda to keep the religious rights busy and relevant. The religious rights have funds to organize them under one identity in the name of ‘religion’ and develop ‘separatist’ tendencies among them. There is nothing wrong in emphasizing the religious identity but that is not the end of the world and for your daily bread and butters, these identities should work with other identities too and vice versa.

The founding fathers of Pakistan actually tried to ignore these huge issues of diverse ethnicities and the result is utter chaos prevailing in that country. There are those ‘historians’ who feel India dismembered Pakistan to teach it a lesson and remain powerful in the subcontinent do underestimate and absolutely ignore their own follies. The historical struggle of Bangla people against the oppression of Pakistani elite cannot be kept aside by saying that India created Bangladesh. Indira Gandhi might have taken a decision that suited India but at the end of the day, rise of Bangladesh on the international map was the victory of people against sectarianism and importance of language as uniting factor.

Pakistani leadership failed to understand the importance of mother tongue and imposed Urdu on unwilling Dhaka. They felt that Islam is the only binding identity and Urdu is the language of Muslims. It was a farcical idea as Urdu has been a wonderful language which reflected the great syncretic cultural heritage of India. It had revolutionary poets, writers and gave voice to millions of people who did not understand ‘revolution’, music and culture. It was basically a language of ‘adab’ but Jinnah’s master folly converted Urdu into a ‘sectarian’ language. It was a sad irony that ethnic issues were sought to be undermined and a beautiful language became the hate figure in the other part of nation. Frankly, it is not the language which should be hated but the political class who used language as a tool to impose their political agendas on those who are different. India faced the same crisis with Hindi as ‘national’ language. Even when Hindi is largest spoken language in India does not give it a licence to be imposed on those who do not know it and hence government has done reasonably well in that direction though Tamilnadu always had problem with this tendency of imposing Hindi through central government notifications and All India Radio and Doordarshan.

There had been violent protests against imposition of Hindi in Tamilnadu in 1950s. The same ‘language’ nationalism actually uprooted the ‘religious’ nationalism of Pakistan in Dhaka. The people’s perceptions and rejection of Governor General Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s announcement that ‘Urdu shall be the language of Pakistan’, were loud and clear. It was on Feb 21, 1952, students at Dhaka University took to the street in protest against the then government's denial of Bangla as the national language and imposition of Urdu as the sole official language of Pakistan. Eleven people were killed mostly the students from Dhaka University in the indiscriminate police firing when they tried to move out of their campus, breaching Section 144, demanding recognition of Bengali as a state language of the then Pakistan.

The Pakistan government was ultimately compelled to incorporate an article in the Constitution on Feb 29 in 1956 that declared "the state language of Pakistan shall be Urdu and Bengali". But it was too late to assuage the feelings of isolation and dejection of the Bangla people who were regularly discriminated by the Punjabi dominated Pakistan elite. The result was that the resentment against the Pakistan leadership and its various ways to coopt the language movement grew louder day by day and culminated in the formation of a separate nation of Bangladesh in 1971

After the state came into being, Bangladesh became victim of the same forces who opposed its liberation movement. There were forces like Jamat-e-Islami which openly and rabidly spoke for Islamisation of Bangladesh against the popular sentiments for a secular Bangladesh. Attempt were made to convert Bangaldesh into another Islamic country. The enemy property act is still applicable in Bangladesh with Muslim fanatics using it a tool to grab the property of non-Muslims particularly Bangla Hindus. The divisions were sharp. Human Rights organisations have reported how the Jamat and other organisations were fanning anti Hindu sentiments in that country and trying to impose the fanatical Talibani kind of Islam on a society which never accepted it. The irony is all the three countries with shared history : India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have ‘enemy property Act’ and the communal fascist people have grabbed land of the minorities in these countries is an open reminder of how our societies are deeply in the grip of religious right wings.

Political uncertainty ensured that blatantly communal and fundamentalists outfit like Jamat get leverage to power structure. It is shameful that when Bangladesh government was trying to bring war criminals of 1971 liberation struggle to justice, the Jamat could dare to challenge them and call for Bandh. The role of the Jamat in Bangladesh liberation struggle is that of backstabbers and exploiting their own people. The rise of Bangladesh as a secular republic would be the defeat of very forces who wish to see Bangladesh strictly on the basis of Islam and Sharia. In the past twenty years it has been growing and the history of that country was distorted. Political opportunistic parties even tried to take away the contribution of the father of that country Shekh Mujeebur Rehman.

But enough is enough and it look that the youths of Bangladesh have decided to force its political parties to accept that their country cannot allow fascist communal organizations like Jamat-e-Islami who denigrate the historic struggle of Bangla people for their country. For the unity of a country, ethnic and linguistic identities are important. It is not for unseen reasons that a writer like Tasleema Nasreen is living in exile in India and Islamic zealots are so apprehensive of her writing as if she will replace Islam with something else.

The massive crowds that have started swelling at Shanbagh since February 5th are spontaneous and a reflection of what is building up in Dhaka. If the Bangla people want to pay real tribute to their liberation struggle then it is time to throw their communal organisations into the dustbins of history. A secular multi ethnic Bangladesh could be the best bet for all the communities and people to live together. It is not that those who participated in liberation struggle or opposed the imposition of Urdu are not Muslims but they ignited the flame of common struggle and shared cultural values which Indian subcontinent always have. I wish we have a similar Tahrir day in India against our own fascist organisations who feel Muslims cannot be secular and Hindus cannot be terrorists. A secular Bangladesh can actually demystify the myth based on religion and identities and emphasize the importance of common language as a uniting factor in a society.

Bangladesh is standing at the stage where it can give world new ideas particularly on the importance of mother tongue and how it can ignite the minds of all. It is a shining example of how a language unites people and does not discriminate. The flame of current mass protests in Dhaka should not be allowed to die to throw away the communal fascist forces from that country. It would be the second liberation of that country. No society can grow on hatred and therefore Bangla people should also understand that they cannot make capital punishment for those who disagree with them in the street. The huge leaderless protests have lot of symbolism but they do send us message of what people want and it would be good if political parties listen to them and act on those values. One sincerely hope that the politicians in Dhaka will not let their people down who want a secular Bangladesh for all who fought jointly in the war for liberation of their country.

Right of a child in the battle field

Crime and Punishment

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat


The sustained campaign against Sri Lanka for so-called war crime may not be politically motivated but definitely an attempt to break it down further when it is limping back to normalcy. The army officers who killed the 12 year old innocent boy on point blank range are responsible for gruesome murder and must be punished but that reconciliation is possible if both parties soften their stand and not engage in humiliating each other.

There is a feeling of outrage over the latest revelation of Channel 4 story on Sri Lankan army’s brutalities in the anti LTTE operations in North of the country, a territory which was the stronghold of LTTE. There is no doubt that Sri Lanka was a fighting one of the biggest battle for its survival against a fascist organization which rarely cared for human being and butchered them like animals. There is no denial in facts that LTTE used child soldiers and Sri Lankan army complimented it when they ran out of soldiers in their army to combat the LTTE pressure. The government used all resources to eliminate the most ferocious man called V.Prabhakaran, stories of whose ‘bravery’ is part of folklores in Tamilnadu while making him a perfect villain and hateful figures for rest of Sri Lanka. Prabhakaran was eliminated but now disturbing evidences are coming to the fore that his 12 years old son was brutally murdered on point blank range by the Srilankan armed forces. Though the Lankan army has out rightly rejected these charges yet it is difficult to find that there were no brutalities in the operation and therefore it will be good if the Sri Lankan government apologize to its Tamil population for the excesses happened during the anti LTTE operations and start a ‘reconciliation’ commission so that the country is united and Tamils live there with dignity and self-respect as citizens of that country.

There are definitely some gruesome facts which we need to understand broadly. No army in the world is saint and whenever there are army operations even when each country pretend and say that they follow the ‘Geneva convention’, the fact remain that they violate the principles of war. In fact, has any war been fought on ‘principles’ so far where the army follows all the rules and people are not butchered? That is why my contention is that human rights cases must be followed up and raised by people without boundaries and those who champion the cause of it without having any prejudices. Those who believe in one particular kind of nationalism and want to counter the other one through political motives are highly unfit to raise the issue. There is no denial that when we see the rights violation, we have to raise the issue and bring the guilty to the book but for that can an entire country and an entire society be blamed? Why should power elite of the world use human rights as a tool to infringe the sovereignty of ‘minor’ countries? Will US or UK or Switzerland ever think of censoring Israel for its blatant violations of all kind of human rights of the Palestinian people for the past 40 years. You cannot even think of an economic embargo against that country which terrorizes others while atrocious sanctions against Cuba and Iraq were imposed once violating all norms of civility.

In each society the majoritarian tendencies rules and we are no exceptions. We blame Pakistanis for not being able to take action against Jamat ud-Dawa, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad who sit there and speak of a grand Jehad against non-Muslims but have we in India been able to take any action against the Hindutva lunatics using the same language. What would an ordinary Kashmiri think about Indian army and its operations in the Kashmir valley? What does an ordinary woman in Manipur feel of Assam Rifles? In Tamilnadu itself, why do the Dravidian Parties keep silence when the Dalit Sarpanch is not allowed to hoist a flag or when a Dalit boy is brutally murdered when he try to marry a girl he loves, who does not belong to her castes? Have we seen that brutalities by state and societies reduced so far? Have we forgotten the brutalities inflicted by LTTE against the Tamils who did not agree to their positions?

The British Prime Minister is here in India and today he visits Jalianwala Bagh which became symbol of British oppression in India killing innocent people who protested against them. He talks about our shared legacy and historical ties but the fact is history of British India would be read by two different people in different ways and cannot be the same. A majority of Indians would definitely feel that the British government must apologize for atrocities it inflicted on Indians who were fighting for their freedom. And Britain had more than 60 such ‘jewels’ in its crown in the 20th century where it ruled but it has till date not offered any apology to anyone. No UN body has asked it to do so. Why? Interestingly, no one in their dreams could ever think of seeking economic boycott or stopping political linkages with a country that have a lot to explain. Definitely, many like me, feel, British contribution to India is enormous but definitely there have been loads of errors too and historical wrongs cannot be undone through creating new wrongs but through reconciliation and social justice. Our own record against Untouchability and caste discrimination is absolutely tainted and call for an international censorship against the government which has rules but no application. But internationalism does not help all the time as it can only help those who want to remain separate as all the treaties will have to be implemented by the state agencies or in the bigger case, through a mediating country. Sri lanka is a small country and hence each one of us feel we have got a right to intervene there and squeeze it. In Tamilnadu political parties feel it is their domain and rather than focusing on their issues, the parties are deliberately raising the Tamil issue in Srilanka and want to gain through people’s sentiments. It is unfortunate as at the end of the day the issue will have to be resolved in Srilanka only.

One does not know the motives of the people who wish to bring the issue of censoring Sri Lanka in the UN Human Rights Council in its forthcoming session in Geneva. The timings of these reports are clearly linked and hence show the motivation emerging from London. The question is whether the Human Rights Council is the best to judge about the human rights violation in countries and whether Sri Lanakan government should be censored on a resolution moved by the United States or may be by United Kingdom. For a moment, let us keep aside the issue of Sri Lanka and see the track record of the Council. What has it done to the people of Afghanistan and Iraq where millions of children are now suffering in hunger, malnutrition and have caught up with different diseases due to chemical warfare launched by the United States and its allies? Even when human rights organisations have boldly spoken against the international aggression, the UN Human Rights bodies just played second fiddle to these aggressions. Similarly, Bangladesh is witnessing some of the biggest protest against the atrocities committed on its people by the Razakars and the agents of the Pakistan army in 1971. Both the countries have strained relationship as Bangladesh always wanted Pakistan to apologize for the mass atrocities unleashed by Pakistan army.

If the Tamils in India feel that there is no future of Tamils in Sri Lanka and it need separation then perhaps there could not be any answer to that at least at the government level. No government would be able to support such motions as each country in South Asia has a tainted record, must worst then Sri Lankan government. The only thing that Srilankan atrocities on Tamils have proved that when the state become highly religious and use religion then even a religion like Buddhism become a tool for spreading state propaganda and not a mean for spreading love and peace. Therefore, Sri Lanka can remain peaceful if it has fair representation for Tamils, Dalits, Muslims and Christians living there and ensure that constitutionally the state remain a secular state. It is also important for the Sri Lankan government to conduct an impartial inquiry and punish those responsible for this ghastly act of killing an innocent child at the point blank range. Such heinous crimes should not go unpunished and let the government send a message of reconciliation that it believes in it and would go miles to bring the Tamils to the mainstream of that country. International pressures are great but if they become norms of the day in the hands of powerful countries who have violated human rights of all for years, then it would be difficult to find the truth and societies in our countries will never be able to reconcile much the benefit of those who wish to fish in troubled water.

Status of Nat's in our society

No to begging yes to dignity
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Hasina, 35 is mother of 4 daughters and 2 sons is leading a rally of over 500 people from her community at the district headquarter of Kushinagar for their rights. A charming woman she was the first one in recent time during our Humanise India yatra who could tell me correctly ‘How many children do you have’. Normally, families never count their girl child and hence it was a very pleasant surprise when she told me first about her daughters and then about her sons. I was quite surprised seeing her in traditional ‘sindoor’ over her head and asked who is her Husband? ‘Jamalu, she said. Do you know the names of your children and she started Pinky, Manoj, Madhuri, Arjun, Arti, Varsha and so on. Spectacular for me as at many places I found people failed to count how many children they have and more because names never matters for Nats.

Hasina is the leader of Nat community in Kushinagar. As our Yatra reached Kushinagar, more than 500 members of Nat community assembled at the district headquarter of Padrauna to demand for their basic rights including land to them as well as BPL cards and other. Nat community is one of the most marginalized communities in India. They fall under the category of ‘scheduled castes’ but the villages they live in have never accepted them. They are an absolutely landless community. Most of the people do not have access to natural resources. Nats were nomads and hence always moved here and there to ‘entertain’ people and that resulted in their having different identities.

Fulmati 35 lost her husband some years back. She has two daughters and sons each. They are Sadiq, Rehman, Vikrama and Gulli. She says that they have to get to live their life. They even try to rear goats and chickens but because of unavailability of land they cannot do so. They live in temporary shelters and have to send their children for begging otherwise it would be difficult for them to adjust to their meals. In the village, they are isolated and cannot be touched.

Problem with Nat community is that they have adopted traditions of all the religions particularly Hinduism and Islam. They never believed in particular names so a Mohammad can have children like Ram and Seema while Ram can have daughter such as Parveen and Sulatana. As far as the living style is concern, they follow both the traditions. Women sports sindoors and follow the traditions of Hindus but on any festivities they keep fasting on Navratra but also keep Rozas during Ramzans. It is not that ‘begging’ is the only ‘profession’. The boys do work at brick kiln, catching snakes, selling dry woods etc but since they have been nomads, none of the villages ever accepted them as them as citizen of the village. Due to lack of their numbers, villagers too treat them in contempt so they do not get NREGA work, nor land and houses are allotted to them.

Village Ravindra Nagar has about 65 families from NAT community. In all their strength is over 450. The village has Muslims and Yadav as dominant members and NAT are not touchable. They are looked down upon as they have no resources. In the village list they do not match as they are neither considered Hindus nor Muslims. Due to openness, their women do not cover themselves with Purdah and hence considered as ‘cheap’. Daily when they go to beg they have to face lot of comments for being ‘beautiful’. In a region where women are supposed to cover from head to toe, Nat women go and do work of tattooing and hence become ‘visible’ to public and that make them and their young girls vulnerable to all those ‘poachers’ who do not consider them human beings. That is why the villagers keep a safe distance from them as they live nomadic life. The villagers get Indira Awas for poor people but not a single person from the NAT community has ever got this. They are bypassed and not even considered for the same.

Ravindranagar is about 35 kilometer from the district headquarter of Padrauna. The community is living in makeshift tents. Some of them have land papers but no access to it. They do not get any BPL card. The children do not go to school. It is a community which bears the brunt of isolation with in the Dalit movement too. Since they are nomads and once upon a time declared a notified tribe during the British regime when any theft and murder would take the police to these communities without any fault of them. Education in the community is almost nowhere. Children cannot go to school as their parents send them for begging which is risky.
‘Sir, we are Mangta’, says Hasina and many others. How we can get ‘respect’ when they look down upon us, she adds. Hasina, with the help of other friends have formed a community organization for the NATs and now she has been elected as Vice President of ‘ Uttar-Prades Land Alliance’ in its recent convention in Lucknow. How she feels now, I ask. ‘It is a great feeling. I don’t deserve to be here. I am not educated. How can I speak in front of so many people? Having come from the community it is difficult to make our feeling public but I can assure you that I will organise people and fight for our right.’ Don’t say you are Manta as this country itself is ‘Mangta’. Brahmins do survive on alms so were the Bikkhus and none called them Mangta. This country seeks international support and never called mangta, so for the self-respect of your movement, it is important leave this ‘Mangta’ term aside, I tell them. It is time for a self- respect movement in the community.

It is tragic that young children are put for ‘begging’ and hence it is hoped that women like Hasina will place more emphasis on education of young children. The group was in Lucknow to participate for the first time in a state level conference and the impact were visible. A participant got a call from her husband,’ where have you gone? You are becoming a politician now.’ And the woman replied.’ I am a woman and proud of it. I have equal right and will fight for it.’

Meena says that due to illiteracy and superstition we only live in ‘deras’ in the orchards. We never thought of ourselves and begged for our living. Today, people do not give us anything. It is more dangerous as they play with the ‘self-respect’ of young girls. There is a problem for us to send the older people for begging. No village considers us its citizen hence it is difficult for us to survive. Government must do something for us.

There are more problems particularly in death. They are not allowed to either cremate or burry their dead. Hindus and Muslims are united in denying them their legitimate rights. Despite the known fact that you won’t find a community which follows the tradition of both Hindus and Muslims, it is shocking that they are not even allowed to perform their last rites according to tradition. It become more difficult for them because they are not consider village person.

One of the major quality works that community does is ‘Godna’ or what we called tattooing. It is a very old form of art in the tradition and they have kept it alive but they do not get more than Rs 150 in any day during the festivities and marriage season. That is the only occasion when they can touch people otherwise not. Nat community is very warms hearted and colorful. They live on their own conditions and religion was not really an important issue for them. They may be named as ‘Mangta’ i.e. beggar, but the fact is that they have transcended the boundary lines of religion. It also shows that religious boundaries are so narrow that people are ready to kill each other just in the name of identity. Nat samaj can give lesson of secularism to all those who claim secular values came to India from outside. It is not for the reason that Habib’s father was Babu Ram while his son is Newton. Can we find any other sect or community in the world where a community has taken good values from all religions and names never mattered for them? Marriages are done both the ways. Some of them are tilted to Islam while others towards Hinduism but there have been no animosity but only warmth. Perhaps, in this caste-ist world where ‘identities’ matter so much that Nats are unable to be accepted because of their ‘secular’ values. They may not know the meaning of ‘secularism’, but they have given all of us values of life. It is shameful that those who can be lessons for others do not find time and space in our books of sociology and history. Nats are symbol of secular plural values even when they are termed as beggars. It is time, so-called civil society listen to them and take their message of love and affection. Government would do well to take care of their pains and agonies and give them a dignified life. Nats have woken up now as their battle for dignity and self-respect has just begun. Let us all make it a success.

Understanding Aadivasi movement for Self Rule

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat


The world’s largest democracy is suffering from various ailments in this representative system which is more suitable to ‘democratic’ ‘symbolism’ then providing solutions to issues of survival, identity and culture of the indigenous communities in India. That way, Indian democracy is largely inadequate and manipulative which has been coopted by various corporate interest groups who are fixing agenda for it through complete control over information technology and medium of communications.

The result of a corporate influenced democracy is the vast mass unrest which India is currently witnessing. While the media is enthusiastically reporting the anti-corruption movements yet it has little time to report the historical demands of the tribal and Dalits for their rights all over the country. The battle for the tribal culture and rights over resources in Chhattishgarh is not alone as Jharkhand, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka shamelessly looted tribal resources and handed over those regions to greedy miners and big corporates who sucked the natural resources, damaged the environment for their profit making ventures.

Though Indian parliament reserve seats for tribal representation, the fact is that this representation is more symbolic in nature and less representation of the community leadership. There are numerous tribal and Primitive Tribe Groups who remained unrepresented in Indian parliament. Is it not a paradox that a state like Chhattishgarh which was created on the issue of tribal identity does not have a tribal chief minister? The region of Bastar which is the hotbed of Maoist insurgency at the moment has not seen a tribal leader at the moment. When democracy is manipulative and adjustment of a few votes here and there, the real representation of the communities will never happen. Unless there is a real representation of our representatives in Parliament and assemblies, the issue of tribal would never get addressed properly.

Boxas, Kol, and Tharu are two very important tribal communities in Uttarakhand, Uttar-Pradesh and Bihar. They reside in the forest zones of foothills of Tarai and in Bundelkhand region. It does not look unprecedented that these communities virtually have no representation since independence neither in the assemblies nor in the Parliament. There might be some aberrations but yet the reality is hard. Indian democracy does not seem to have any concern on these issues and the result is that tribal have paid heavy price for this political brinkmanship of Indian political class. Kol resides in the Bundelkhand region which is partly in Madhya Pradesh and partly in Uttar-Pradesh. For them, there homeland is Bundelkhand as they don’t care the new boundaries created by our state. Historical town of Chitrakoot is divided between Uttar-Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and it is shameful how the politics have denied the tribal their due right. Kol are declared as scheduled tribe in Madhya Pradesh but scheduled caste in Uttar-Pradesh hence in Uttar-Pradesh the Kols cannot have the same right to the forest produce according to Forest Right Act as in Madhya Pradesh.
Similarly the condition of Boxas and Tharus is dismal in the Tarai region of Uttar-Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Their land has been illegally occupied by the migrant Sikhs who have misused the ignorance and naivity of the tribe communities for their own purposes. Today, right from Pilibhit to Rudrapur, Khatima and Nainital has become a new territory of the Sikh land lords who are selling their land in Punjab and buying huge plots of land here. There is another reality and dirty show. In the entire Tarai region, the sale-purchase of tribal land is prohibited under Indian law. Sale of land from tribal to non-tribal is now allowed yet it is happening fraudulently with active connivance of the authorities. Today, Tharus and Boxas have become bonded in their own lands. In the entire belt of Uttar-Pradesh, Uttarakhand as well as Bihar, there is just one Tharu MLA in Uttarakhand. This non representation of the tribal population results in their alienation in public life and policy making.

In the last 50 years over 90 lakh people have been displaced due to various projects in India and a huge majority of them belong to the tribal. The forest lands were out of reach for the government for years as they never ever thought of venturing into those regions. Hence there was no development in the region. It is not an irony that the state did nothing to the areas and people who should have been its first priority according to the directive principles of the constitution. Tragically, there are no hospitals where the people could go and get treatment. People are still dying of those diseases which have effective treatments such as Malaria, typhoid and brain fever. Ofcourse, in the absence of proper health care, cases of HIV AIDS have also been reported among many of the primitive tribe groups in Andhra Pradesh. The neglect of the state caused to education resulted in unemployment and more beliefs in supernatural powers. Today, the tribal zones have forest and water but no other facility. They live in dark as electricity is out of bound of them. In the name of development, new road networks are being developed in these locations where our planners never ever visited. The neglect resulted in these zones under the new regimes of the Maoists who redistributed some of the land and developed them as ‘independent’ Zone. It is not that the government is helpless in taking action against them but it is the government which has created them and both justify their positions.

If the Indian state is slaughtered one culture and community, it is the tribals as they are paying the price of our neglect to their welfare. Post 1990s when the big corporate started coming to India in search of their ventures.
Tribal population in India is 8.2% of the total population which is 8,43,26,240 according to 2011 census. A majority of them are landless who live in difficult terrains and yet happier than others. The sex ratio among them was 978 as per 2001 census which was much above average to ‘normal’ Indian’s 933 despite abysmally low literacy rate of 47%. The tribal love their habitats which are now prized possession for the industries and for protecting that they have become victim of state highhandedness. According to an ILO report 85.39 lakh tribal have been displaced between 1947 and 2001 in various development projects in India. It is about 55.16% of all the displaced population of India. More than 64.32% of them are yet to be rehabilitated. Chhattishgarh government went much ahead when it created Salwajudam, an unaccountable brutal army of young Aadivasis to counter the Maoist insurgency in Bastar and other districts resulting in displacement of nearly four lakh people in over 644 villages. Over 40,000 people were living in relief camps and the situation was grim reminder of how state has thrown the people from their own land and converted them into strangers.
Article 244 of the Indian Constitution provide administrative control of the tribal in states other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram which falls under the Vth schedule of the Constitution in the hands of tribal community. This was extended in Panchayats also terming it as PESA (Panchayat Extension of Scheduled Areas Act) but it is deeply disgusting and shameful that Panahcyats have rarely been asked before launching a project in these regions. PESA came into force in 1996 which provided key provision of International laws into it particularly related to governance of natural resources in their region and protection of their culture. Over the years, the PESA has become a bone of contention for the Central and the state government as in their greed to handover the naturally rich resources to trans-national corporations, we have bypassed the tribal autonomy and Panchayat institutions. In fact in 1994, the Supreme Court gave the historic ‘Samata’ judgment delivered by Justice K.Ramaswamy who maintained that the government has no authority to bypass the Panchayat if they want to handover these places to big mining companies in India and abroad.
Today, the tribal question has jolted the people who have conscience. It needs a thoughtful and sensible understanding as why there is unrest in the entire tribal belt of Central India. Let us first have a look at the government records. According to Ministry of Rural Development,’
3.75 lakh cases of tribal land alienation were registered covering 8.55 lakhs acres of land.
Out of the above, 1.62 lakh cases ( 43.2%) were disposed of in favor of tribal covering a total of 4.47 ( 55. 28%) lakh hectare of land.
1.55 lakh cases covering an area of 3.63 lakh acres were rejected by the courts on various grounds
57,521 cases involving .44 lakh acres of land are pending in various courts of the country.
(Report quoted in ‘ India and the Rights of Indigneous people published by ILO).

There are huge mining in these regions. Forests are out of bound for tribal now. The areas where they developed their culture and nurture India’s huge forest are now under the government control. There was no attempt to bring them into national mainstream. Health, road network, schools, PDS , communications were out of bound for them. For years, tribal suffered in the abject and shameless neglect by the Indian state and hence different forces entered there to ‘liberate’ them. In the absence of credible leadership, tribal looked for messiah in different varieties of ‘political’ thoughts right from ’Marxism’ to Maoism. The Christian missionaries also went to them but perhaps failed to reassure them of their future. The Hindu fundamentalists went there and only ensure that tribal become ‘Hanuman’ who can only ensure faith against all the odds and no questioning to the racist philosophy which isolated them. The fact is that tribal do not come to them because of their ‘ideological’ affinity to these people. They come because it has become the issue of their survival. When the Hindutva fanatics rarely bothered about their cultural issues and never ever questioned the corporate take over the tribal habitat then why should they go to them? The Missionaries were pious enough to help them in education as well as provide them health facilities yet there was no answer to the growing annihilation of tribal home land and their culture. Hence, when so called Maoists or armed struggle ventured into these forest zones, it gave them a new strength to fight back with keeping their head high to fight for their land and forests. They kept these forests intact and beautiful for generations and now government want to hand it over to companies for commercial greed without even talking to the community. The Maoist captured that vacuum left by democratic space. In the din of identity politics, nobody really cared for tribal questions. This is shameful that those who talk about dalit bahujan identities rarely thought beyond their own question and understood the tribal question.
Tribal questions cannot be spoken without understanding the issue of land, forest and water. For many of the Dalit Bahujan ideologues these are ‘bogus’ theories to keep us ‘subjugated’. It is a dangerous connotation. The tribal community had a historic track record of fighting for their autonomy and we cannot ignore the historic and heroic struggle of Birsa Munda against the British colonialism. In the constituent Assembly, we had a historical representation from the tribal community of Jharkhand, Captain Jai Pal Singh who was also the captain of India’s world cup winning Hockey team as well as Olympian with Gold medal. They all realized the tribal questions and its autonomy and that is why the constitution made specific provisions for maintaining them but our political class always tried to serve the bramanical interests and hence tribal were duped.

The Movement for self-respect and saving their Resources
It is not that the tribal are just working under the leadership of non- tribal. The movement is strong and resistance is growing. In Jharkhand Dayamani Barla, indefatigable Aadivasi woman who has fought intensively for the rights of the tribal on their resources is behind the bar. She was arrested on a fake case filed by the state government several years ago when she organized the NREGS workers. In the Nagri village of Jharkhand, just about 25 kilometers from Ranchi, tribal residents are protesting against the government attempt to acquire over 200 acres of farmland for setting up a law university and a campus of the Indian Institute of Management.

Dayamani Barla has been in the jail since October 18, 2012 for a case dating back to 2006, where she was accused of leading a protest that caused a roadblock. Two days later, the land rights activist got bail in the case, but was immediately re-arrested and put back in jail in two other old cases where she is accused of disrupting law and order during a protest. It is tragic that the Jharkhand High Court too has rejected her bail petition. People have been protesting against her arrest which is absolutely unlawful and show how highhanded the governments have become when the question of tribal land is concern. Civil society organisations as well as tribal organisatons have been protesting against her arrest.

Jharkhand’s state movement itself was the movement for tribal home land which was led by Shibu Soren who later became chief minister of the state. In fact, despite his weaknesses and media making him a villain on various issues, Soren, remains the tallest tribal leader of the community who organized his people against the regular onslaught of outsiders.

It was not for easy reasons that the Bihar was ready to handover Jharkhand as a separate state but stiff tribal protest under the leadership of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha which was the sole tribal voice for the tribal home land.
In Odisha, the movements to save Niyamgiri hills have now reached internationally. The Vedanta after sucking the blood in Chhattishgarh entered into a deal with Odisha government in 1997 for Boxite mining in these hills endangering the bio diversity as wel as the Kondhs tribals. People resisted and despite oppressive government machinery, they continue to fight against forcible land acquisition. Over 25 villages belonging to tribal with a population of 15,000 face complete destruction of their lives and they are resisting against the same. The anti Posco movement to save the tribal land is well known and building up. These movements may not be visible all over the country on our TV screens and newspapers but they exists everywhere. Tribal may not have credible face from their own community but there are many like Dayamani Barla working for their community at different places locally. Here is a report shown on CNN-IBN on September 7th, 2010 about the growing resistance by the tribal against Vedanta in Niamgiri.
“Rahul Gandhi may have heard the voice of the tribals fighting to save their forest in Orissa. But how do the Kondh tribal feel about Vedanta?

Lakhpada is a village here, where Dongria tribe lives. This is the tribe that has been leading the anti-Vedanta movement in Niyamgiri. Development is bleak here with the nearest hospital 20km away. Hence, when people fall ill, their only hope for survival is prayers to their God 'Niyamraja'.
Kanu Majhi of Dongria tribe said, "Many of us are suffering for last two months. We use 'cheri muli' (herbs) for cure but do not go to doctor." Health workers say that most of these villages are suffering from malaria and scurvy.

It is the same village where the villagers are often falsely branded as Maoists by the district police for raising their voices against Vedanta.
Lado Sikaka Majhi, Dongria tribe leader said, "Vedanta is going to harm our Niyamgiri hill which is the place of our Niyamraja God. Our God has got angry and that is why our prayers and herbs, which used to have magical cure earlier is not working anymore."
The tribals here live off the forest and don’t want development at the cost of their forest.
Bugda Sikaka of Dongria tribe said, "Vednata has come here for its own interest, not for us. We are happy that the government has denied permission to Vednata for mining Niyamgiri."
However, in the village of Phuldumur that has a school and a centre for vocational training, built by Vedanta, some seem in favour of the project
Kalti Majhi of Dongria tribe said, “We earn around three to four thousand per month by selling these stiched kendu leaves. We want Vedanta to remain here."
But that’s the crux of the mining debate - the number of people economically displaced by the mining project, is far greater than those who will enjoy the benefits.
Mukesh Kumar, COO, Vednata Aluminium Ltd. said, “Give us the opportunity for only two years and we will do all the necessary developments for each and every Dongria under the Langigarh Project development Foundation that we have already set up."
But given the large scale opposition by the Dongriya Kondhs against Vedanta - winning their hearts and minds maybe the biggest challenge
Orissa's chief minister Naveen Patnaik has been advocating that Orissa's backward districts like Kalahandi, which is quite infamous for starvation needs development. But the big question is development at what cost?’

Ref : http://ibnlive.in.com/news/orissa-tribals-still-apprehensive-about-vedanta/130435-3.html

In Chhattishgarh, the tribal are resisting the mining being imposed on them. In the border areas with Andhra Pradesh the tribal are protesting against Polevaram Dam which will uproot over 3 lakh tribal from Odisha, Chhattishgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

The problem is that the tribal movement though growing in India is still fighting against forcible land acquisition and to save their culture. It is resisting land, forest and water in Chhattishgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Bengal and Jharkhand irrespestive of who is leading them. The reason for that is isolation of tribal from the beginning and their distinct cultural conditions which isolated them from rest of the country.
It has also to be noted that tribal movement in India for their life style and autonomy from the very beginning as the tribal would never allow their culture to be assimilated in the broader non-tribal culture. They may be simple yet would always resist any attempt to ruin their culture which is ‘protection of forests, wild life and bio diversity. That way the unambiguous rejection of the forces of mining and ‘development’ by the tribal all over the country means that they are wary of the danger to their cultural value system and destruction of natural wealth in their region which they are not ready to do away with. They have lived with nature for centuries and have never termed those ‘resources’ in terms of material wealth and hence this resistance is a ‘war of civilisation’.

There is a learning of lesson for the tribal today. They can learn a lot from Dalit movement and its success particularly in political spectrum. It may have weaknesses and we agree when the movement grows there are bound to have some weaknesses yet in terms of political representation and social movements, dalit succeeded in a much better way. The region is in their growth of leadership emerging from the communities and emancipation in Ambedkarism. While there is no denial that tribal should fight for their forest and water yet also important is to embrace modern values and democratic institutions. It is important that a credible tribal leadership is allowed to emerge from within those communities. What has happened that everybody else is ready to work for tribal as long as they are being made as leaders? Many of the people say that tribal could not have survived if Maoists were not there as there is a heavy onslaught by the government. Unfortunately, this fact again ignore the historicity of tribal struggle in various parts of the country much before independence and even today without the Maoists being its leader. Yes, when the Maoist came, the issue of tribal question became important and that all the tribal who joined in their bandwagon may not know exactly what Maoism is and what Mao stood for as most of them are there to protect their land and resources. This has happened because the democratic forces failed there and did not even bother about their physical condition. It is surprising that despite so much of violence and displacement, we do not hear anything from Member of Parliament from Chhatishgarh and Jharkhand.

There is another danger which seems to be being played both by the government and the Maoists. By treating every tribal who is asking for his right as Maoist the government has conceded that the entire tribal zone has turned Maoist and idea that suits to the Maoists also who were feeling isolated for long and confined to a few zones of Chhattishgarh and Odisha. There are reports of rebellion in Jharkhand and Odisha against the upper caste imposed leadership from Andhra Pradesh. For government, this gives an excuse to enter the tribal zones with arms to vacate their land to handover to the powerful corporations who are eyeing these places. If the tribal were not projected as Maoists, the government of India would have been liable to answer to international community for the annihilation of tribal culture and people in the past sixty years but with branding all the tribal as Maoist they have escaped that and continue with their assault on tribal people without any shame. A credible tribal leadership must emerge from the communities and start open dialogue with the government as this is a historic moment to rise up and come out of the shadows of various ‘isms’ so that only issue to discuss and deal with remain the tribal identity and its protection.