The Legacy of Nelson Mandela

Striking Similarities and coopting power elite

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Nelson Mandela is no more. As Indians were readying to remember their founding father Dr Ambedkar in the early hours of December 6^th, came the news of demise of Nelson Mandela, the father of ‘modern’ South Africa. World over, there is a grief yet Africans are celebrating his life. Amidst this pouring grief is another gimmickry of the western powers who are now canonizing Nelson Mandela today for their own benefits and ignoring their vast track record of violation of human rights of the people in Africa and elsewhere.

A common point of the tributes emerged is that Mandela was great because he did not believe in ‘retribution’. He was for ‘reconciliation’ and is father of a ‘united’ South Africa. I heard President Obama’s speech at White House converting Mandela as his icon and maintaining that his first ‘political action’ was fight against apartheid. The British Prime Minister David Cameroon went a step ahead saying the ‘light has gone’. Mandela was a man of reconciliation said his former tormentor FW D Clerk who shared the Nobel Peace Prize along with him.

In India the prime minister and commentators lost no time in describing Mandela as their friend and ‘inspired’ by Gandhi. The President, Prime Minister and all were in unison proud that Mandela learnt so much from ‘Gandhi’. It is other matter that Indian political class learnt little from Gandhi except in manipulating things and distorting the facts.

Let us try to recapture some of the historical facts of Mandela’s life before analyzing his politics and life. He was first arrested in 1955 along with 156 activists. Later he was sentenced to life imprisonment in June 1964. The struggle for life and dignity of the majority black population continued and African National Congress was their legitimate representative.

It is not mythological story that the American, British and rest of the western governments had no shame in supporting the racist South African regime till 1986. Mandela for them was a terrorist and ANC a terrorist organization. In fact US Congress passed Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act in 1986 against the veto of President Ronald Reagan who termed ANC as terrorist organization. Dick Chaney, American Vice President was a member of American Congress and voted against the bill. The ruling Republican Party was against the bill which was putting some stricter restrictions against the apartheid regime of South Africa. Chaney is not unhappy for what he did in 1986. Mrs Margret Thatcher and President Reagan have openly supported the racist P.W.Botha regime of South Africa against the wishes of international community. It is a fact that the same ‘champions’ of human rights have no shame in defending the illegitimate government of Israel and its discriminatory attitude towards the Palestinians.

In February 1990 Mandela was released from the prison after lots of pressure and realization in the western world that it was impossible to stop violence and retribution in South Africa. The darker side is that in the name of ‘reconciliation’ a lot of things have happened which can say that ‘political’ South Africa may be led by the blacks but economic power remains in the hands of white minority and somewhere Mandela was unable to challenge that. One can see in sports and other sectors too, there is little change in Africa as far as representation of blacks is concern. The African cricket team still consists of a majority of white minority players. One does not know whether blacks have got fair representation in the government services and power structure but one of the biggest ‘victory’ of the minority white regime was that the ‘reconciliation’ was done without ‘legitimate’ ‘land reforms’ and banking and financial institutions of South Africa remained solidly and powerfully in the hands of minority white community.

Mandela was definitely a revolutionary influenced with communist ideology. He had got support from all those regimes who were fighting against US hegemony. Countries like Cuba supported the movement for the rights of blacks and that is why Mandela’s first invite was to Fidel Castro to visit to Africa. In an interview he said, ‘

“From its earliest days, the Cuban Revolution has also been a source of
inspiration to all freedom-loving people. We admire the sacrifices of the Cuban people in maintaining their independence and sovereignty in the face of the vicious imperialist-orquestrated campaign to destroy the impressive gain made in the Cuban Revolution. … Long live the Cuban Revolution. Long live comrade Fidel Castro.”

In fact after his becoming president of South Africa, Mandela was categorical in his opposition to Israel and war in Iraq. He condemned it. He supported Palastinian demand for their homeland and said,’

“Israel should withdraw from all the areas which it won from the Arabs in 1967, and in particular Israel should withdraw completely from the Golan Heights, from south Lebanon and from the West Bank.”

For many in the West, these are difficult points and they do not expect Mandela who was now absolutely ‘fixed’ in Western ‘democracies’ to support Saddam or have any relationship with Castro regimes. But when the outpouring started today, western commentators completely ignored Mandela’s ideological tilts.

Though, it is not that Mandela changed according to western framework yet the influence was visible in the later years. Perhaps when you participate in power structure it coopt you. Mandela became a ‘statesman’ without fulfilling his party’s agenda. The blacks of South Africa still revere him yet the reality is that the ‘freedom’ has not got them much except the ‘political participation’. Is it not irony that when people seek justice they are fired and killed by the police?

In the new set-up of Africa when Mandela was being canonized and glorified to maximum hiding the western hypocrisy and double standard about human rights and democracy, the person who stood with him and took his battle further in his absence, his partner Winnie was villainised. In a revealing interview to Nadira Naipaul, in March 2010, she said, ‘

"This name Mandela is an albatross around the necks of my family. You all must realise that Mandela was not the only man who suffered. There were many others, hundreds who languished in prison and died. Many unsung and unknown heroes of the struggle, and there were others in the leadership too, like poor Steve Biko, who died of the beatings, horribly all alone. Mandela did go to prison and he went in there as a burning young revolutionary. But look what came out," she said, looking to the writer. He said nothing but listened.

It is hard to knock a living legend. Only a wife, a lover or a mistress has that privilege. Only they are privy to the intimate inner man, I thought.

"Mandela let us down. He agreed to a bad deal for the blacks. Economically, we are still on the outside. The economy is very much 'white'. It has a few token blacks, but so many who gave their life in the struggle have died unrewarded."

She was pained. Her uncreased brown face had lost the softness.

"I cannot forgive him for going to receive the Nobel [Peace Prize in 1993] with his jailer [FW] de Klerk. Hand in hand they went. Do you think de Klerk released him from the goodness of his heart? He had to. The times dictated it, the world had changed, and our struggle was not a flash in the pan, it was bloody to say the least and we had given rivers of blood. I had kept it alive with every means at my disposal".

We could believe that. The world-famous images flashed before our eyes and I am sure hers. The burning tyres - Winnie endorsed the necklacing of collaborators in a speech in 1985 ("with our boxes of matches and our necklaces we shall liberate this country") - the stoning, the bullets, the terrible deaths of "informers". Her often bloodthirsty rhetoric has marred her reputation.

"Look at this Truth and Reconciliation charade. He should never have agreed to it." Again her anger was focused on Mandela. "What good does the truth do? How does it help anyone to know where and how their loved ones were killed or buried? That Bishop Tutu who turned it all into a religious circus came here," she said pointing to an empty chair in the distance.

"He had the cheek to tell me to appear. I told him a few home truths. I told him that he and his other like-minded cretins were only sitting here because of our struggle and me. Because of the things I and people like me had done to get freedom."

Winnie’s pain has to be understood. She was sounding bitter but then it is a reality when friends part ways, when you see the one become larger than life while other colleagues are painted as villain then what can we expect? Except for Mandela, most of the ANC team was relegated to nothingness and those who were assertive were projected negatively by the western media. Can we truly say that South Africa is a country of unity at the moment? The lofty ideals of ‘forgiveness’ as being hailed by Clintons and Obamas need to be asked to those who have witnessed those humiliation of living life pushed as slaves.  I know Winnie was charged with murders, retribution, frauds and what not but none can deny her commitment to the cause of her people and her struggle in building up organization with other people in the absence of Mandela. After Mandela was released, she was sidelined and it is certain that a person who commits herself so much feel bitter which the interview clearly reflected.

The double standards are visible. You glorify a person because he has been fixed into your ‘democratic’ ‘tolerant’ model. So, you are great because you have ‘forgiven’ the tyrants, the democratic ones, who left no stone unturned to kill you and your ‘violence’. ‘We’ are opposed to ‘violence’ they would say without giving any alternatives to those who suffers in indignity and humiliation daily. Yes, violence does not mean the P.Botha regime was killing the blacks, firing upon them when they were raising issues of their human rights. Yes, ‘slavery’ is not violence perhaps and that was you can bring Gadhafi to law books, kill Saddam Hussein for violating human rights of the people but whether it is Yitzhak Rabin or FW D Klerk you baptize them through your Nobel Prizes and the entire ‘past’ is ‘forgiven’. In this battle the Western regimes have won but they have actually created differences among the communities who have been oppressed. Whether Mandela or Yasser Arafat, people of both South Africa and Palestine felt betrayed as their dream lands still eludes them.

Many of the Western commentators are still not happy with Mandela as they charge him of befriending Fidel Castro, Gadhafi and others. How much adjustment would they like once you are in power? Yes, you want ‘reconciliation’ and not retribution but is it possible to talk about ‘reconciliation’ without justice. If that is true then should we say that has happened in South Africa? Have the heart melt? How should people forget the inexplicable wounds that have been inflicted on them over a period of time? Why the racist regimes actions have gone unpunished? You punished Pinochet of Chile, executed Saddam and Ghadafi. You got Nazib killed even though by the Talibanis but you want forgiveness for a regime that violated all norms of human values and governance of modern day.

The Indian hypocrisy is much bigger than the Western World. Though it was Nehru who stood clear in his condemnation of the apartheid regime of South Africa, it would be highly unjust to say that we did enough to eliminate that regime in Africa. We are we proud of? To hide our own hidden apartheid, we can speak volumes on Africa but not allow our own people to power structure. The hatred that exists in India today clearly reflects even in the tribute to Mandela.

Leaders after leaders and speakers after speakers have mentioned Mandela that he was influenced by Gandhian values. One does not know what Gandhi did for the toiling masses of Africa. Even when Gandhi was in Africa, his struggle was not really for the blacks of Africa but for the Indian community there, which was mostly businessmen Gujaratis who actually remain dominant in a large part of Africa and who as many people allege are no less racist and casteist than their white counterparts.

Secondly, India is home to a system which is much bigger and more discriminatory than Africa. Over 160 million people in India suffer from hidden apartheid which has divine sanction and constitutional framework has not been able to protect those rights which are violated every day. Yes, Mandela came to India in 1990, a year which was the most turbulent in the history of independent India. A year in which the most marginalized got right to participation in governance structure, a long standing demand of reservation for the OBCs was fulfilled. It was a year when a government honored the father of Indian constitution with the highest honor of Bharat Ratna. It was along with Baba Saheb Ambedkar, Nelson Mandela also was awarded Bharat Ratna by the V P Singh government. Hence these two icons are entirely different in the entire list of Bharat Ratnas which has always been used by power elite to promote their own people. For the first time, we felt that Bharat Ratna deserving went to right people.

Mandela died just in the intervening night of 5^th and 6^th December. None of our commentators could find similarities with Ambedkar who fought singlehandedly the battles for the rights of Dalits in India who suffer similar prejudices and discrimination in India. He appreciated Gandhi as it is a ritual for every head of a state or a leader to appreciate Gandhi and Nehru as they are part of power structure now. There are awards and ceremonies in their names. If Mandela had time to read Ambedkar, I am sure, he would have appreciated his struggle. I don’t know how much he would talk about ‘forgiveness’ and ‘large-heartedness’. I am amused why the ‘forgiveness’ and ‘large-heartedness’ is expected from the victims. When there is laws then why not take all these action to law and human rights bodies? Can ‘forgiveness’ and ‘large-heartedness’ undo historical wrongs which the parent systems of our societies have inflicted upon the oppressed masses? If not then what is the remedy for that? If the black population in South Africa still suffers and Dalits in India are still asking for basic human dignity then what is the meaning of the so called ‘transfer of power’ and ‘inclusive democracy’. The fact is the power elite have very well manipulated this ‘inclusive’ democracy to validate on their ‘exclusive’ rights over our natural resources, our finances and our power structure.

Mandela is gone and he will always remain there. It is essential that we do not ‘deify’ him. Let there be a critical analysis of his legacy so that the movement that he launched is not stuck in the din of ‘forgiveness’ forever.

Towards a new darkness

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

As the ASI officials start digging the ‘grave’ of enlightened India questions are being asked about the authenticity of the claims made Hindu seer Shobhan Sarkar and the way the government of India jumped into it and engaged ASI in it. For days, it became the favorite on our TV channels and all the bluff masters of  Hindutva were there to justify and interpret ‘dreams’ until Narendra Modi jumped and suggested that the ‘world was laughing at us’.  Word of wisdom by a communal fascist whose party is unable to come out of ‘Ram Temple’ complex and therefore making a bigger joke of itself.

This issue has many dimensions and need to be exposed. It has also given us an opportunity to put the secular rationalist view point in front of the people which they were not habitual off. It has also given us some insight in which direction the media is going and lastly it also shows that Indians still will not leave believing in miracles to make us a great nation.

The area

Let us start with how it started. If I dream today that there is gold underneath my house and inform it to ASI, will they start digging. Perhaps, you will need a cabinet minister at the Centre as your chela to get that happen. In a place called Dondia Kheda, we are informed Raja Rao Rambaksh Singh fought with the British in 1957. The brave king had looted huge amount of gold from the British who finally captured him and executed him. It took three days.  Interestingly, before Sant Shobhan Sarkar, none had heard about the heroics of Rajah Rao Rambakhs Singh. It is not an old story, just about four hundred years back so the documentation of this period must be there with our historians. From all our understanding we know the richest princely states in India were Jammu and Kashmir, Hyderabad, Gawalior, Jaipur, Mysore etc. but never ever heard of these unheard states where thousands of tons of gold was lying. Frankly speaking there is nothing in Dondiakheda which makes it unique. The whole area of Unnao, Pratapgarh had a number of Talukdars and most of those who claimed to be former princes or Rajas were just Talkudars and exploited the local populace more than anything. In fact, the historic uprising of marginal people in the Avadh, in Pratapgarh, Ayodhya and Faizabad regions is a great example of how people were fed up with these ‘local kings’ who left no stone unturned in exploiting the people. If these kingdoms were great then why have we not seen growth in these regions? The impact of the erstwhile kingdom of Kashmir, Hyderabad, Gwalior, Mysore are visible in various forms in those regions particularly in terms of infrastructure but in Uttar-Pradesh, we find none of those signs.

The fact is that if we go on digging these places more traces of Buddhist history would be found as Prof Angne Lal has already done much research on it and the information now is being circulated on social media too. If we dig too much, the Hindu lunatics will have to hide their faces as underneath these forts, graves lies Buddhist India which was progressive, free from prejudices and also prosperous. So, even if there might be wealth underneath, definitely, it belonged to the age of Buddhist period and not of these Rajas who were merely Talukedars.

Politics of competitive communalism

The whole story of Dondiakhera village and dream of Shobhan Sarkar can be unfolded easily. It lies in the politics of competitive communalism. It lies in desperations of political parties to use religion for the sake of power and for that they are ready to go to any extent even to create frenzy and hysteria, all at the cost of the nation. Shobhan Sarkar is Guru of the Central Minister Charan Das Mahant, who is a devoted Satnami and hails from Chhattishgarh. He came to Unnao to meet the Baba who informed him about his dream. The Minister could not ignore the ‘prediction’ of his Guru and went to Dilli darbar for an approval of digging by ASI there. For Congress Party it seems to have provided a wonderful opportunity to woe the Sant Samaj which is absolutely hijacked by the saffron party and hence the whole ‘dream’ thing was added to it. Now, once the Sadhu dreamt of one thousand tonnes of Gold came into public, the Hindutva’s forces also found a way to pontificate about the great virtues of our ‘shastras’ and the power of ‘seers’. Arguments were given how the country will develop and the ministers jumped into it. Akhilesh Yadav, the UP Chief Minister felt that he ‘wish’ every village of UP has gold mine underneath so that people are happier. Many of the Sant Samaj also jumped into the fray to justify but after people like us who have been opposing it at various forums openly and unambiguously, it seems that many of the  saffron family also realized the game and started targeting the whole issue though very carefully.

Indian politics is a strange paradox. Today, when Modi is trying to look secular and attempting everything to decast his image, it is the Congress which is weaving a bigger plot to attract upper caste Hindus who have virtually left it. It is the price of politics that Dondiakheda things happen. The problem with the government is that if it had not started the entire process, the saffron brigade would have made  the life of the government more difficult for insulting a seer who is honest enough to ‘help’ the nation. Don’t we know how they are expert in raising the issue and making a mockery of rule of law?   Each Indian is dreaming of one thousand tons of Gold in the coffers of RBI and Indian rupee turning equal to British Pound as ‘wished’ by Omi Baba, the Hanuman of Shobhan Sarkar who has rarely made any appearance to the people. The saffron Parivar may be worried as Congress has made inroads in their consolidated family but the reality is that seers had always been closure to power politics of Congress Party.

ASI’s Defence

ASI and GSI teams visited the area and conducted some surveys. It is only after that they decided to jump into the fray. They are government’s specialized agencies and none doubt about their credibility. There is nothing wrong for a government to order survey on the advice of a senior person who want to ‘help’ the government in the time of economic ‘crisis’ but ASI has to answer whether it will go all those places where any seer or madariwallah suggest is ‘gold’. The job of ASI is not to search for gold for the ‘troubled’ economy.  The specialized agency of the government is supposed to search for historical sites and maintain and preserve them so that we are aware of them.

However, in the past one decade these agencies are also used for political purposes. We have seen the entire Ayodhya fiasco and inability of the agency to put its work clearly on the same and tell the nation in unambiguous term as what is its position on the digging that it did several years back.  Further, if the ASI were working on its own, we would not have been seeing Sobhan Sarkar to inform the government about a fort which is of a historical value. Unfortunately, most of our historical places are lying in dilapidated shape where thugs, cheats, drunks etc use for time passing. The structures are virtually dying. Many of such structures have collapsed due to negligence. Historical buildings cannot be allowed to die at the hands of those who just feel them and structure of concrete.

Media Hype more dangerous

The pressure of TRPs actually forced the media to convert the entire event into an entertainment zone. It was a serious issue which snowballed into huge controversy as everyone wanted to ‘milk’ their perception through it. The politicians jumped as it gives them limelight, the seer were again demand as it is the best way of promoting brahmanical propaganda. Fine, if ASI is making a digging, how can you convert that entire operation into the ‘dream’ of a seer? And the fact is that the entire dream theory is being rejected by the spokesperson of seer now. He says that the slain Raja walks every night and speaks to every villager and the story is known to all.

The fact is that ASI is not there to dig Gold but on a special mission which was already decided in advance. My issue with the media is that fine if someone dreamt and used his offices with the government for the greater benefit of the people as it is an ancient site and already ASI has suggested that it was an important monument. But the entire thing has been made as if the country would become richer than Europe and America and rupee would suddenly turn stronger than US dollar and British pound once the gold is found. Such hypothetical questions and on those the answers only made a mockery of entire issue. All the thugs were brought on TV to defend this indefensible. You have got an opportunity to sanitize the people but you are yourself promoting those Babas, Tantriks, and so called Vastu Shastris whose only power is the ignorance of people. The whole issue was converted into a attempting to find gold and thesis being built up on that.  Can countries be developed just because of ‘gold’ and money? Are civilization just built up on those things. Will Indians not need to work after the Gold is found there? We are expert in creating this frenzy. Baba’s colleague said,’ we want to build the ‘biggest’ hospital of Asia in Unnao. I don’t know why he didn’t demand the ‘biggest’ of the world. “We want better roads, jobs and prosperity for all’, said the Baba. Now many claimants for the throne are also emerging. We are hearing that many Rajput clans are demanding a cut if the gold is found. They suggest it is their money and they have the first right.

The problem with the frenzy is that if the gold is not found then what happen? Will people hang Sobhan Sarkar and his colleague who is ready to be hanged? They are continuously speaking loudly and making larger claims. They are making claims at other places also. He has suggested there is gold worth 2500 tones in Kanpur and other places too resulting in people digging the places themselves. In a country like India where people have too much of faith on these Babas, it may lead to chaos and deterioration of law and order situation. It will only create ill will towards the ASI and other authorities of the government. The people are not going to believe in science after this digging as arrangement to keep them subjugated are permanent. The caste interests work much bigger than anything and through these ‘miracles’ Brahmanism shows its supremacy. You can see who are the people joining hands and explaining the power of ‘dharma’. It is the Brahmins, and media has a deep interest in maintaining this brahmanical supremacy and suppressing the voices of change. Everyone who challenged this was ‘anti Hindu’ and ready to be bitten by these so called dharmacharyas.

The fact is that religion is always double spoken and from last night we have seen some of the seers who are speaking now contradictory. Many suggested that the time was not auspices because of ‘lunar eclipse while other suggested that the gold change place. There was a woman ‘dream’ analyst whose only quality was on reinforcing the Manusmriti and its values. She said we were the first the first one who developed test tube baby and also added that in Mahabharat period we had so many instrument, missiles and aero planes. If we have people like her discussing things on India, I am sure you would not need a seer to tell us about the greatness of India. Therefore, if tomorrow, there is no Gold found in Dondia Kheda village, the priests have already started finding an escape route. The people and the seer will only blame the ASI and the government for their inability to find. It is the power of religion which has blinded our people and snatched their thinking capacities. It is shameful display of ignorance and romanticisation of superstition.

Positive debate

However, I will compliment Shobhan Sarkar for his frank observation.  He says that the entire ‘Gold’ must be given to the government of India so that it could be used for nation building which is in the great ‘economic distress’ at the moment. Whether there is Gold or not will only be known in next few days or months but the entire debate on this look like a Ramdev debate who want the ‘black money’ stashed in Swiss bank be brought to India. And both these issues reflect the brahmanical mindset and its crookedness. The grave fact is that Indians have huge money in India itself and if that is unearthed the fate of the country would be better. Secondly, we are trying to dig history and find gold and whether we will get it or not does not matter. Let us ask our religious places, temples, churches, mosques, Gurudwaras to declare the gold that they have so that this could be used. We know the immediate question will be the invocation of the name of God but are the religious institutions, temples, mosques, churches bigger and greater than the nation? World Gold Council recently estimated that our temples have over 2000 tonnes of Gold whose current value was approximately over USD 84 billion. Reserve Bank of India wrote a letter to our major temples to inform them the gold that they have but most of them temple management refused to divulge details. They have readymade answer that governments have no rights over the things which are gifted to God. The fact is what will ‘God’ do with this gol ? Is God eating the gold or will ‘He’ be angry if the gold is not there. It is clear that the political parties use religion as a card and big businessmen also using religion to outsource their illicit wealth. The government must investigate into the business-baba-babu nexus on the usage of religion for their own dubious dealings.  Should we not ask this question that if a nondescript Seer such as Shobhan Sarkar can think of nation beyond religion, cant our temples and mutths who have tonnes of Gold, too think of the same. 

And finally, the calamities also provide opportunities for secular humanists to express themselves. I am sure with the growth of social media, the mainstream media too remain under tremendous pressure and hence the issue of science will come. It is the sacred duty of the government to respect Article 51 ( h) of the constitution which talks of ‘developing spirit of inquiry, humanism and science’ in the country. We cannot shy away from it. A government should not be seen as spreading ‘darkness’ in the name of ‘faith’ but more than the government it is the media which need to be questioned.  Government has taken a well-planned route but not the media and the brahmanical forces inside it. I have no issues with Shobhan Sarkar who may be a rustic Sanyasi but the people who ‘theorize’ him are more dangerous.

India cannot become great with such ‘chamatkars’ or miracles. It is time we focus on our education which must develop spirit of inquiry among our students. Let the governments in India invest 9% of GDP on education. Let us build up industries and focus on developing agriculture. Let us groom our young minds for literature and art, science and technology. Let us humanize India first and build a humanist society without any prejudice. India cannot become great and strong with the dreams of a Baba or a priest in finding Gold. Only a great civilization has a potential of making India a great nation. Miracles and more searches for them will only take the country into further darkness. We cannot allow the country to hand over to those again who killed its spirit of inquiry and blinded it in superstition.

Why India need a federal law against ‘miraculous claims’ of God men?

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

It was the month of November 2000 and I was in Lucknow to attend a wedding. It was in close relation hence the responsibility was a bit big. We arrived in the city two days prior to the wedding but our euphoria evaporated as the brother of the woman getting married disappeared. All efforts were made though the matter was kept under the wrap till the marriage was over which also reflect the brutality of social system where nobody want to take a chance and marriages are not made of convictions but of chances and money.

After the marriage ceremony was over, we lodged an FIR in the police station. For nearly a week, the police was active, giving us all the details of ‘bodies’ they recovered in accidents or unknown but later the matter was never really investigated. Being in Delhi, it was not possible for me to provide every day support but I did my best to help the family out. The mother of the boy was getting perturbed and still waiting for her son even after so many years.

In those initial days mother and sisters of the disappeared man were ready to do anything anyone suggested. And the problem was they would seek my opinion and active engagement in their matter as there was no male member in the family. Despite my being absolutely away from these nonsenses as I do not normally join marriage ceremonies unless they are self-arranged or simple in nature, I had to provide them my active support being present to them whenever needed.  One day, I was told that the police are unable to find it and we have to do at our own. The boy’s mother was doing her best to go to these ‘tantriks’ as people were suggesting. One of them told her that her son was alive, roaming around Lucknow, Faizabad side and is influenced under the evil spirit of a widowed woman. She was sure that being her only son, many girls were after her son and he must have been influenced by them.

So in those tense moments, whoever was suggesting, the family was obliging it diligently. The problem was that in many cases, I was asked to accompany them. One day, the younger sister of the disappeared man called me and said that she had heard there is a ‘well-known’ astrologer in Lucknow whose predictions are ‘perfect’ and to the point. To strengthen her point she gave numerous example of people who vouched by the ‘miraculous’ power of the priest. I told her to desist from these non-senses as nothing will come out of it and it would only be an exercise in futility. My opinion was that we must put pressure on police but the concerned sister said,’ when we are doing so many things, then what is wrong in trying this too, may be his predictions could help us find her brother’.  So one fine evening around 8 pm, we went to meet this ‘siddhast’ priest. There was a big board in the front with lots of ‘claims’ and ‘world known’ facts about him. We were asked at the gate about our motives to come and then put straight to his room where he was sitting in his room. He talked to us. The girl did all the talk about her brother and everything. After listening to her he said that her brother was alive and is with in the vicinity of Lucknow only and he would definitely return. He suggested we need to perform some special Pujas and that should be performed by the only blood relations. He just kept me separate distance, talking to the girl only and said that the Puja would be performed at his place and its timing would be in the mid night. The young sister would have to sit in the puja and very careful about it. She must ensure that she is not in the menses during that period as the entire mantras would become invalid. The most shocking thing he said was that the girl would have to come alone in the mid night to perform the puja and will have no cloth on her body when performing this only then the mantras would be effective. We both were shocked. First time, I saw the face of this girl just turned pale. We decided to come and the girl decided to not push further this. Perhaps, this opened her eyes not to believe in these thugs who use women in the name of miraculous powers.

The aim of writing this story is clear. I do not claim to save a woman from the clutches of a Baba but the fact is fortunately the woman accompanying me understood the games of the Baba and immediately decided to do away with such tactics. Today, the exploitation of women in the name of religion is growing. The story of the girl allegedly exploited and raped by Asaram Bapu is similar. One should realize how the faith and deep faith is used to exploit people and that is why it is time for the government to intervene. These issues are not going to resolve with just polite appeal but with the strict arms of the law. The claims of such Babas must be verified and testified by an independent authority.

The problem is that the devotees of these Babas only know about ‘miraculous’ power of them and hence no reasonable debate or arguments can be done with them. The endless devotees are a fodder for them to promote their senseless ideas and remain powerful without being accountable and it is not just the poor but educated middle classes too who have become ‘followers’ of them. Some of them are rustic like Asaram while others are sophisticated such as Ravishankar and the devotees will not leave any stone unturned in glorifying their power and knowledge.

In the past thirty years, we have seen enormous growth of these ‘cultural’ gurus influencing our polity and society. The basic principle of faith is not to question and only believe in their powers. It is the first work of a devout faith person to tell people that they could realize the power only when they ‘truly’ believe in them. Hence, if you do not believe truly then your work will remain incomplete and in deep faith people are forced to do many things. Among the devotees, there is a competition as who is ‘close’ to Baba. Women are the easiest target as most of they belong to middle class families suffocating at home and no chance to express. Hence when these Gurus started ‘dance’ and ‘songs’ in their ‘satsang’ all of them enjoy it. In the toughest family environment, you can only go out freely in the name of ‘satsang’. Nobody question you as why were you dancing because it is a ‘satsang’. So for many women who cannot venture out of home without a male escort, these congregations are a relief and also a status symbol. Once you are a ‘volunteer’ then you are trained to glorify the babas and force the women to follow the male diktats. Why are there more women in these congregations? And you will realize how Babas are using gender as a soft target. Women are suffocated in this feudal religious culture. When the culture of brutality so strong and locked, it is just a small window and make them feel that they are ‘something’. Most of them don’t want to lose the opportunity of coming out from their homes and ‘enjoying’. Later in the larger group, you happen to meet many people and when emotionally close then you are ready to do anything.

Last year a Srilankan woman had narrated her own experiences with one of the ‘greatest’ Gurus of India, whose ‘miraculous’ power were well known. She belonged to an influential political family of Srilanka. In the Ashram of the Baba in Andhra Pradesh, people would line up to have a ‘darshan’ of the Baba for hours and hours. In such a situation if you are considered close and ask to come to ‘his’ cottage, then it is a matter of great pride. The Baba would call himself as Rama and had many Sitas for him as he would bless everyone close to him as his ‘sita’. All these Babas have political connections and hence these ‘mutual’ understandable things never come out in open. We have seen the stories of Swami Nityanand in Karnataka and yet his ‘followers’ feel that he has been trapped.

All these stories have one thing common that women are the biggest ‘strength’ of these Babas and they use this connection to promote themselves. It is easier to push her up under the pressure of culture and also emotionally blackmail her. The babas will always tell them how they can convert them into ‘goddess’ or powerful ‘orator’ or leader. In today’s cutthroat competition, connection and ‘juagad’ have to be used and these Gurus know that psychology very well and that is why they are providing ‘liberation’ to women.

It is not unusual therefore when women come in large number and protest against the arrest of Asaram as presence of large number of women will only ‘prove’ how women are ‘safe’ in these ashrams and all the charges against Asaram are ‘fabricated’.  Today, the media is against Asaram but he can very much come back with greater advertisement and sponsored programmes on their channels. Already the Hindutva organisations are targeting the government for trying to defame the ‘Hindu culture’. The power of money actually bring  Nirmal Baba to our homes early morning despite so much of hue and cry about his ‘methods’ and ‘claims’. There are many others like him making tall claims about their miracles which have neither been verified or testified. When any item that come in the market has to pass through tests and cover under MRTPC then why are these miraculous babas left unchallenged? It is time these claims must pass through the scrutiny of a commission and people must be made aware about the dangers of them. Like the warning on smoking, let these sponsored programmes also have a warning that faith is good but blind faith kills and exploits and is detrimental to the development of human being.

It is important that the central government bring a guiding legislation against the superstition and miracle so that these claimants can be challenged in the court of law and punished under the law. With each of their sponsored programme not only should it be mentioned that these are sponsored programme but also a note about their claims that these are not verified and people must authenticate them before adoption.

In this age of science and reasoning, these Gurus are the biggest threat to reasoning and building up an enlightened society. They are the biggest threat to democracy itself as they promote a class of hoodlums who will take law on their hands and violently protest if their Guru is questioned or charged. There is no concept of equality and hundreds of girls will be vulnerable to them as their parents are ready to offer them to these ‘babas’ to wield away ‘evil spirit’.

We must thank to the bold girl and her father who dared to file case against Asaram. His eyes got opened. He listened to the cry of his daughter and realized that enough is enough. All those who blindly follow such farce actually help the cause of these powerful unaccountable elite who use religion and culture to dominate the socio-political system. From the last 12 months, we have seen a persistent hue and cry against the sexual violence on women in India. People came on street and protests forced the government to bring anti rape law. It was a great effort of the middle classes even when we know they are calculative and conspicuously silent on many other similar occasions but we felt that the law would help every woman. Today, it is not shocking that the upper caste middle classes have completely exposed themselves. Those who were crying against government to stop crime against women and hang the ‘culprits’ for rape are silent and seeking recourse in ‘law of the land’ jargon. Why the same can’t be applied to others. Problem is that we want to hang the guilty immediately when they are ‘Dalits, OBCs, Muslims and slumdwellers’ but want the law to take its own course when the perpetrators are upper castes, priests, Gurus and big people. That is why there is no outrage on violence against women in Haryana as victims are predominantly Dalit girls and the perpetrators of the crime are the powerful upper castes? There is no outrage against Asaram and Nityanand the way we saw against others and interestingly no demand for their ‘public hanging’. It is the selectivity of the issues which is destroying Indian society to unite and combat against such onslaught on women’s freedom and liberty.

Well known anti superstition activist Dr Narendra Dabholkar was killed in Pune and the Sanatan Dharm Sabha took pride in his elimination. ‘He died as per God’s wish’, they said. It was good than dying in bed or in old age, they justified. What had Dabholkar done? He was just trying to bring out an anti-superstition law which would stop activities of Tona-totka, ‘tantra-mantra’ but then those who benefit out of it would not allow it. How can the right wing allow a law against street thugs and cheats who make millions with miracle claims and super natural powers? Dabholkar’s voice was that of reasoning and those who killed him were afraid that if the society becomes enlightened and if there is a law against such claims then it would be difficult for this extra constitutional and unaccountable power to befool people in the name of culture and super natural powers.

Fight against superstition is important. One can understand nature of faith as long as it does not hurt. Nobody has a right to take life of any individual in the name of these powers. It is the duty of the state to curb on such miraculous claims. It is important because if we do not stop them then not only will we justify ‘narbali’ shishubali’ (human sacrifice-child sacrifice’) but also allow our girls to be ‘sexploited’ by these thugs. A strong federal law against superstition is essential and for that it is important that our health services must be easily accessible to rural poor but also our school and college curriculum should inculcate the spirit of ‘spirit of inquiry’ and humanism. It is also important that charitable status from such institutions which are religious and making billions must be withdrawn and they must be taxed and this tax could be used for the benefit of the poor. It is time to put a tight noose over such obscurantist forces that violate our rights and thwart the process of law.

Monstrous propagandists

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

As the reach of web world is being recognized and realized across the political spectrum, the hate mongers have also started working on their agenda. Political debate must confine on the principles and policies of political parties and their performances but unfortunately now the personalized nature of targeting is being done by the multi-headed propaganda machinery of the Sangh Parivar. These offshoots may or may not be registered but every day, you will find a new ‘national’ organization preaching us to be united and fight against corruption and false ‘secularists’ who do not speak against Muslims.

Muslims are the favorite target of the Hindu communalists because it gives them the strength to spread their vicious agenda. They know the compulsion of ‘Hindu secularists’ who hails from the upper caste-class segments and have at their heart of heart the feeling of Islam being a problem. It is this class who feel that Muslims cannot be secular and Hindus are ‘too’ ‘liberals’. I have been forced feed on this issue of Islam many times that I am too ‘liberal’ to Muslims and too harsh on ‘Hindus by many of my secular-humanist friends.  It is not just the ordinary souls but academically sound people too have the same idea. One of them once said that a Muslim cannot be secular to which I countered as which religious person can be secular. The person further argued that Quran cannot be a secular book and I responded how Gita or Ramayana can be different then. To this, he suggested that Gita is a secular book, it does not spread animosity and that great scholar like S.Radhakrishnan and others around world actually spoke highly of ‘Gita’. I asked him to read the analysis of Baba Saheb Ambedkar and Periyar and I realized the deep contempt for them. The whole issue then reached to reservation. And unfortunately on the issue of reservation the attitude of Muslim elite who may look secular, Hindu elite, Communist elite, and Humanists elite look the same. It is disgusting how there are are point of convergence in India among the elite masquerading to follow different ideologies and yet find their common convergence in looking down upon the Dalits and rarely speak against the caste atrocities.

My point is not the glorification of Islam but definitely a legend like M.N.Roy looked to Islam in a different way in India and wrote ‘The Historic Role of Islam’. Yes, the role of Islam in India was of social change and bringing a voice of dignity to many of the marginalized. And therefore, the secular humanist breeds in India have two varieties. One who lead ‘Muslims’ through fighting for their rights particularly during the communal disturbances but does not bother to speak about the ‘internal’ issues of the community which actually are very useful in strengthening the stereotype that the Hindutva’s thugs have created about them that everything that they do is ‘appeasement’.  So, India considers ‘not speaking’ as an appeasement while a majority of the community languishes in poverty. The issue of Pasmanda Muslims is out of bound for the ‘seculars’ at the moment. The ‘seculars’ represent ‘tolerant’ Hindus who feel that India has suddenly being communalized and hence the conceptualization and myths being built up around ‘Hindu tolerance’ which is farcical.

It is important therefore to visualize what is invisible and how media plays with names and stereotype thing very similar to what the Bombay films did long back. A Brahmin in any of the Bombay film would always be poor but honest and hardworking while a Dalit or a black as ‘kamchor’ or a cunning caste-ist gangster. People with disability and dark skinned were to be laughed at and look down upon in contempt. The media story is dirtier here and need to be analysed. How they create ‘identities’, make hero of a ‘community’ and create ‘villain’ of others.  Durga Shakti Nagpal is clearly a name which helps media to promote the idea of ‘honest’ officer, ‘meritorious’ who is upright and has taken on the ‘Bhatis’ who will definitely an OBC. The problem is that there are numerous other local mafias who may be Sharmas , Tyagis, Aggarwals and others but they will not be in the ‘hit list’. Similarly, when a blast occurs anywhere, it is the people related to Islam or Muslims whose name is chanted from the very beginning quoting extraordinarily on those ‘home ministry’ or ‘intelligence’ reports which are nothing but thoroughly communalized but at the same point of time when Pakistan does the same tactics, parade Indian national or a Hindu as a terrorist then our ‘nationalism’ wakes up. You  can make it from the arrest of Abdul Karim Tunda and the way he is being ‘projected’ despite the known fact that our own ‘Tundas’ in Pakistan would be treated as ‘nationalist’.

The communal Hindutva agenda has many facets and one need to understand it deeply. They are hand in glove with crony capitalists and hence media shamelessly and nakedly coming in their support. Now, media because of its very nature cannot really chant Sangh’s anti- Muslim rhetoric’s openly hence playing with the story indirectly. For that perceptions are developed carefully and news is built in a way that does not show you propagating the ‘Hindutva’ but demolishing all those who stand against the communal fascists. So, an Arnab Goswami will scream for the right of Durga Shakti Nagpal and ask question on behalf of ‘India’ as why is she not being instated but the fact is does the state government has right about her or not. Can she decide about things on her own? So justify her act, we will bring stories of that she ‘demolished’ a temple too but nobody asked her anything. That shows the ‘Hindu’ ‘tolerance’. Then, we ‘break’ the story of a Muslim MLA’s father in Rajasthan and how he is engaged in ‘anti national’ activities and an ‘honest’ officer has been shunted just for taking him. It means that every transfer needs to go to Arnab Goswami’s table first for clearance otherwise he will scream on TV and call Madhu Kishwar for ‘justification’.

In this country, the bureaucrats never actually treat people as ‘sovereign’ but mostly as servant. Anybody, who is working with the government institutions in this country, is a my-baap of the ordinary citizen. There is no doubt that the Uttar-Pradesh government has mishandled the Durga Nagpal’s case but just to make her a demigod the media is showing its true colour. This trend is turning into other farce which media has tried to create in the past five years. After the Anna-Kejriwal farce, they went to every sound bite by him who also fizzled out. For a long period we found that the notorious Subrahmanyam Swami is the ‘model’ for our media and they lapped up each word that he spoke against the Gandhis and Muslims. If Amartya Sen has to be condemned then bring frustrated Jagdish Bhagwati whose only problem with Sen is his Nobel Prize.  Is this the job of the media to discredit the political institutions and boss over us through unaccountable arrogant bureaucratic institutions?

Yes, the political leadership is going through crisis but it reflects our society. We need to protect our democracy and change the social system to make it more equitable. Democracy can’t be strengthened if we discredit the entire process of democracy and allow the supremacy to be non-elected unaccountable bureaucratic classes in India who have developed contempt towards democracy. It is ironical that the classes which glorify Indian democracy abroad have deep contempt towards it and to understand that we must revisit the post mandal India when the political parties have been mandalised. 

A decision on August 7^th, 1990 for the acceptance of Mandal Commision report by V P Singh’s government jolted the entire nation. They tried to create anarchy in the country but failed. The upper caste forces have persistently tried to create anarchy in the country whenever their hegemony is challenged. Mandal was the biggest threat to them. Mandal’s biggest contribution may not be the rising number of OBC bureaucrats but the growth of the new leadership which emerged. As the demand for fair representation grew, the apprehensive caste forces used all the tricks to thwart that change process and ensure that some areas remain out of bound for the majority of this country, just in the name of ‘merit’.

India’s parliament is the best representative of Indian people. No other Indian institutions really represent people of India and what is the merit of the ‘selection’ process of these unaccountable ‘meritorious’ ‘experts’ in media, judiciary and academic world. Most of the appointments are done through connections whether they have political, bureaucratic or media itself. Was there a national examination organized for getting some one into Times Now or NDTV ? What was the process of appointment of Arnab Goswami or Rajdeep Sardesai ? How did Chandan Mitra got ‘Pioneer’ and haven’t we forgotten a former chief justice appointing his sister as judge of high court and attempted to bring her to Supreme Court just before he retired. Find out the family history of those who are donning our judiciary? Are there no other meritorious people in this country except those selected? These are the very similar process in the universities and colleges who have thwarted every attempt to bring diversity inside their campuses in the name of ‘merit’. 

We talk of transparency for everyone. Yes in the name of transparency create anarchy, make people fight with each other. None will ask the food bills of Ambanis or Amitabh Bachchan as they have ‘fundamental right’ to spend money of their choice as the billions and trillions they have is ‘their money’ but if Sonia Gandhi organize a party then file cases. What about Arnab’s party and the high society parties organized by the Jain brothers of Times of India. Can we seek RTI for many newspapers whose circulations are not even thousands yet their budget is in crores? How are they running their empire? 

So, news is being created here very carefully. It is created to discredit some and make other benefit. Nobody is shouting when Modi government discriminate against Sikhs and decide to throw them away from Kutch, in Gujarat. These are the people who developed that region as a wonderful place but now Modi’s Gujarati nationalism and pure business sense feel that these people should be thrown away but no hue and cry, no campaign to save people.

Soni Sori’s is languishing in Indian jail. The policeman who butchered her, violated her, tortured her has got presidential medal. Her husband died of torture. Soni Sori is a tribal so our heart doesn’t melt for her. Crime against her does not melt the heart of these women who were in Jantar Mantar. Yes, we make a rape victim as ‘symbol’ of bravery because she happens to be an upper caste but the woman who fought for her right, for her people, is languishing in Jail. None ask question to Indian state. Nobody seek inquiry. No court issue any warrant. No government fall, no heart-break, no dharnas, no tears, nothing moves. Why the nation does not question the state’s brutality? Is Soni Sori not a woman? Is she not a citizen of the country? Yes, the argument they would give is that she is a Maoist but then the jailed persons too have right to defend themselves.

The Hindutva propaganda machinery is expert in distorting facts as over centuries they have expertise in lies and deceits. The analogy is selective and so are the campaigns so that the fence sitters are influenced. The Madhya Pradesh government ordered Gita to be taught in Madarasas and we find justification. ‘Muslims and Christians can teach their religious books in their schools then why are Hindus denied to teach their holy-books in their schools’, they say. The problem is that RSS and Sangh Parivar have very cleverly converted all the government and national institutions as ‘Hindu’ institutions and hence when the minority institutions teach their values, they counter it that we too have a right to do so. Secondly, Madarasas are not Hindu institutions but Muslim religious institution but the tragedy is that such fascist imposition are being ordered in the name of ‘culture’ of tolerance and there is no hue and cry by those who have been speaking.

A number of Hindutva leaders have been caught on various scandals but that does not become an issue and therefore it is clearly visible that media is fighting the battle on behalf of Sangh Parivar today. Fortunately, the people of this country know very well the brahmanical nature of media and hence have learnt the tricks of the game. Now the news is coming clearly how and why a big staff at a famous news channel is being shunted just to make way for more saffronised journalists to be recruited who can campaign for Modi and his team.

It will be deeply disturbing if media remain unaccountable in the name of freedom of expression propagating the business interest of companies and hiding facts from the people. Political class must reflect on themselves as the goons and musclemen will only discredit them further. We desperately need political statesmen today who can rise up and speak without their own narrow sectarian interest. The middle classes may enjoy the mocking of political class who anyway can be changed but who will seek accountability from these loudspeakers who are spreading lies and spreading hatred. The day political system in India collapse, the fascist communal forces will take away all our liberties and this ‘free’ media will never come for our rescue that time. We have seen their criminal silence on Soni Sori, on Kashmir, on AFSPA and hence it is time that people must change their polity. Politicians are bad, they are corrupt ( but media men are not holy cows and many of them have turned ‘successful’ politicians too) but sweeping generalization will be dangerous and secondly if idea of India has to survive fighting against communalism and sectarianism is no less importance then fight against corruption. Do Indians really love those who fought against corruption. who are the role model? Will they love VP Singh, RamSwroop Verma, Narendra Dev, Madhu Dandwate, Ramdhan, Indrajeet Gupta, Manik Sarkar and many like them who lived their life in honesty? There are hundreds of political workers silently committed to their work without media galore but the past 20 years have degenerated political system because of media reach and we have film stars, business tycoons, media monarchs jumping in the political bandwagon and enjoying the power. It is a challenge. The biggest challenge is to expose the corrupt crony media and its unaccountable power. If India has to be saved from fascist communal onslaught, the people must understand and expose the role of these crony journalists who have nothing but khaki shorts underneath and their disinformation campaign against the poor and marginalized. If politics became the symbol of change even if it might have been negative at many places, the media, judiciary and academia are the biggest obstacle to social change and propagandist for status quo. They are simply pushing their casteist, communal agenda in the absence of a political consensus on major issues of saving the democracy. Democracy is endangered today as it will only create more problems and isolation for the marginalized and those who believe in freedom of expression and political thoughts. We must be careful of those propagandists who are using this political vacuum to strengthen their sinister fascist designs.

Looking beyond Hyderabad for the growth of Telangana

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

Telangana is set to become the 29^th state of India. After much dilly dallying the Congress Party finally approved the formation of Telangana state but before that it had a lot of heart burn among people. New ideas were floated for inclusion of Ananthpur and Kurnool into the new state against the wishes of the Telangana people.  The biggest issue was Hyderabad where a lot of conspiracy theories were working such as declaration of joint capital or union territory, however, it is good that the centre decided to give 10 years period for Andhra Pradesh government to function from Hyderabad and after that it will become the capital city of Telangana alone.

Hyderabad is undoubtedly the heart of Telangana but over the period of time it has grown multifold and attracted loads of foreign investment. Today, it has become a cosmopolitan city like Bombay, Banglore and Delhi.  It is already developed and will attract more funds and investment. Political leaders who are   against the division of Andhra Pradesh have their huge properties in the city and hence they are resisting the bifurcation. The fact of the matter is that Andhra leaders would never have bothered to division of the state had it not been the issue of Hyderabad. There are other issues such as sharing of river water resources but that does not affect the politicians more than the status of Hyderabad where they have invested in everything right from real estate to business and entertainment industry. The grim reality for them is that Hyderabad cannot become joint capital as it is situated in the heart of Telangana and distance of any Andhra city would be nearly one hundred fifty kilometer to say the least. In such a situation, the state cannot be run smoothly whose capital is surrounded and situated at the heart of other state.

The protest by the Andhra Pradesh leaders and people are highly unnecessary and show one thing that those enjoy fruits of power do not want to share it at all. The merger of Telangana with Andhra Pradesh state was never complete and the ‘gentlemen agreement’ was neither respected nor implemented. The feeling was that state continued to neglect the Telangana region. The fact is that Telangana had more resources than many other parts of Andhra Pradesh but it is also a reality that none of the Telangana city was as developed like Vishakhapattanam, Vijayawada, Tirupathi, Guntur, Kurnool etc.

The reality is that Hyderabad was the focus and the realtors actually wanted that only. In the past 30 years, since we adopted the so-called ‘economic liberlisation’ policies, the focus of most of the states have been to develop the capital cities along with a few other cities and ignore the vast rural towns and villages. While the cities are modernizing themselves with cosmopolitanism the villages are sought to be strengthening the caste identities. A majority of these areas remain undeveloped despite the grave fact that the leadership of the states are still controlled by the rural caste elite and their continued interest have been to keep villages subjugated in their own contradictions while enjoy the ‘maharaja’ life in the capital cities. In the name of Andhra, actually a few cities got developed but the maximum amount came for Hyderabad. We all feel proud of a ‘Jewel’ but that is feudal. What does it mean that the people living in capital city are more pampered and become ruling class, with more facilities as not just the political leaders, bureaucrats, businessmen, media and academia also hails from these parts and hence rural towns do not get our attention?

During the Nizam period too, Hyderabad was the symbol of his ‘prosperity’ and hence his entire focus was on that resulting in wide scale of superstition, poverty and feudalism among his subjects in places like Gulbarga, Bidar, (now in Karnataka), Medak, Nizamabad and Adilabad etc in Telangana, Aurangabad and other regions of Marathwada  which are now in Maharastra. The Muslims who were picked up to lead the Nizam’s government as well as army and other services never really were the son of the soil but always hailed from outside the country. The development that time was uneven resulting in a huge gap between towns and cities, rich and poor. Moreover, the conditions of the most marginalized people like Dalits, Aadivasis, and even Muslims Dalits was worst off. The impact of that regime continued as the political class has just changed but the ‘subject’ remain the same. That is why the condition of Dalits and even Muslim Dalits in these regions is a matter of great concern and the fruits of development have not reached them. Their socio-economic conditions remain difficult and being used by religious parties to use their own ulterior political agenda. The Hindu communalism was gaining ground in this region as the power elite realize that it is the best way to counter ‘Muslim’ parties like MIM of the Owaisies who feel Hyderabad is their traditional fiefdom. Therefore, the rest of the people in the Nizam’s period became victim of his ‘lavishness’ for Hyderabad which was considered to be one of the best cities, most prosperous among Indian princely states but the conditions of people in remote regions of Nizam’s regime was worst and that is impacted their socio-political conditions even today.

A very similar situation is arising now. The political class has been focusing on capital cities and use different tactics to bring people into their ‘false’ nationalistic vision. Some time it is the ‘others’ who are responsible for your plight and when you become leader and questions are raised about the leadership qualities then some other issues will crop up. So till now, the Andhra leadership were to be blamed though there were many from Telangana region who were ministers and hence they cannot be absolved from their acts of omissions and commissions in various governments of which they were part of. The point here is that the fight for Telangana cannot be confined to Hyderabad. 

It is very much part of the state and it has required infrastructure which is a very positive things. For our political class, the Nizam has already built up huge palaces and other luxurious things hence they will have no worry about the residences, secretariats etc of the new state. So, we will have democratically elected Rajas, Maharajas to rule the state. The point is that now Telananga and Andhra need to focus on their multiple cities and rural populace. Let the capital cities remain the seat of assembly but let them not become hub of everything which is happening. If everything has to happen from Hyderabad or other capital city then 20 years later, people will have nobody else to blame except to themselves. Hyderabad was already developed and will develop any way but the focus need to be on the heart of Telangana’s rural populations who have been denied and who were the real ‘warriors’ of this movement. As this movement for separate state has raised hopes, it is basically not for the people of Hyderabad but for the people of other regions who have been kept away by the power elite. The power need to go to them, understand their issues and problems and implement the policies like comprehensive land reform, people’s access to water and forest resources. The development of a people is not just ‘investment’, real estate and capital cities but more of the people who have struggled for long. They felt betrayed by others but now they need justice. Will our leaders show some statesmanship as their real test lies ahead.

In the olden days, the capital city, the palaces, the wealth of the kings and queens were synonymous with the people of those states. Living in those feudal days, we have become habitual of being proud of the ‘wealth’ of our ‘political class’. We walk around the cities and feel proud of the loot of people’s resources. If Rajasthan has some of the best palaces today which we appreciate, I can assure you, the result is the deeply feudal system of that state. What is the human development index in Rajasthan today? Has social equity found a way there? And probably that is a reality of all those states which were ruled by Rajas and Maharajas. We feel ‘proud’ of them and defend them according to our ‘ideological’ or ‘religious’ locations and they have become instrument of spreading vicious political agenda of the communal forces too but the fact remain that most of these Nawabs, Rajas were feudal and enjoyed lavishly slaughtering their own people in deep poverty and superstition.

The British regime was different in working as they focused on developing institutions and not buildings alone which the princely states were not fond off as King was the law unto himself. We can find the difference between the two regions of Andhra Pradesh itself. The Andhra part which was part of Madras Presidency had more colleges and institutions and in the Telangana region, we do not have much except development of Hyderabad only. Anyway, my attempt is not to discuss the difference between the princely States and former British dominions but a reality that it is time now we get out of those notions of ‘nationalism’ which revolved around one political family, religion and capital cities and their development.

The people of India have paid heavy price for these kinds of nationalism which has resulted in uneven development and unbreaking of our social system which is iniquitous. The leadership of the Telangana state will have to show more maturity because till date they have blamed the Andhra lobby but now they will have to work on their own. The blame game must end but the fact is for politicians it never ending and that is the tragedy of India.

One hopes that the government of India will be sincere this time and will not succumb to any pressure. This is rather unfortunate and very manipulative when you see Andhra lobby trying its best to scuttle the process even today. India cannot be strengthened if the issue of one state should be decided by someone else. Since independence, the issue of Kashmir in India has been a political hot potato for non-Kashmiris. It became our ‘symbol’ of secularism for Congress and for BJP and Hindutva it was like loss of India’s might but what is disturbing is none ask the Kashmiris what do they think? Similar situation is in Nagaland, Meghalaya, Darjeeling and elsewhere. The problem with the corrupt political class is that they ask the question of division outside those areas which have nothing to do with the issue except to ‘fancifully’ claim it is ‘India’. What will a person in Kolkata speak about Darjeeling or Gorkhaland issue? Why should Mamta Banerjee seek answer from Bengali population of Kolkata and not from people in Darjeeling? It is the same tactics of the ruling elite when we ask Telangana question to people in Andhra and Seema Andhra region. When Telangana people have for the past five year with their persistent demand have rejected to be in the state of Andhra Pradesh, why is the political class not ready to respond positively? And here lies the colonial mindset of Indians. Yes, we are happy to colonize people and feel happy to showcase it.

In the coming days, when the information technology reaches homes, when education changes our minds, these questions will further disturb us. We are a huge country and every nationality here is seeking answer. Some of the areas have not been developed and other feel different culturally. India will have to respond to them. It will have to sit with those people who feel betrayed and ask questions and not those who enjoyed the fruits of their colonialism. It is time we change our perception as it will be counterproductive and create further divisions and hatred among people. Let us learn some lessons from not just the struggle of Telangana but also from the mess created by an absolutely shameless political class whipping up passions of people against it despite known fact that the unification of two different regions actually never happened mentally. It is better for everyone to separate peacefully, respect each other and not stick together for the sake of a ‘unified’ family, fighting daily and blaming each other for every fault. No state can run on uncertainty and strike every day. It is time to go on work and build our regions brick by brick without living in concealed hatred. Let the people focus on their work, cities, towns and people who laid down their lives for the state of Telangana rather than focusing too much on Hyderabad which is already developed and is not the same what it was during Nizam’s regime. The infrastructure that was developed during that period remained the same and the population might have grown ten times more and hence it is crumbling. Hence, it is important that Hyderabad be relieved from burden of ‘hope’ and ‘despair’ of the new states so that focus of both the new states is more on their populations and towns which deserve attention from the power now.

Death of Ethics

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat

There has been no news from the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Art regarding the deaths of three sanitation workers who died in the campus on July 14^th while cleaning the sewage line near to AC plant. The families of deceased have not heard anything from the company which has Rajesh as supervisor. The National Human Rights Commission and other government bodies need to act on it as one of the prime witnesses of the issue is Chhotu, 30 who was part of the team and survived. In an interaction, Chhotu and his mother provided horrific details of the incidents and how they have been treated at the hospital.

It was early morning at 7.30 am on that day when Chhotu along with his friends Rajesh and others started from Trilokpuri for the ‘work’. He was not told the nature of the work. He was informed that he would have to clean water tank, he said. At 8.30 am they reached Indira Gandhi National Centre for Art and the watchman at the gate took them to the AC plant side to carry out the work.

Chhotu was perhaps the youngest and hence was worked more than his elderly colleagues.  There was no big deal in cleaning the five pits as they did not have gas but just ‘water’. They had cleared five pits. Bahadur, the watchman of the Centre  helped them. They had pump also but that was not used fully. Bahadur left after the five ‘holes’ were cleared. It was five in the evening. A couple who too was working had gone out to have tea.

Chhottu felt that it was time to finish the last one too and go. As he entered the sixth pit, there was gas inside it. He could not face it and fell unconscious. His friends from the above were watching. So, they pulled him up but the person who tried to save him actually died.  He was Satish. Each one of them was trying to save but actually died. Satish, Ashok and Rajesh died trying to save each other facing the terrible gas. There was no staff of IGNCA. The couple who had gone out for tea had returned. There was commotion as they called police at 100 number. It came fast and took all the victims to Ram Manohar Lohia hospital where Satish, Ashok and Rajesh were declared dead while Chhotu was admitted. He was responding to the treatment.

The death of medical ethics

Chhotu’s parents at Trilokpuri were informed late in the night and both of them rushed to hospital. His wife was pregnant and got worried. His mother was in a very disturbed condition. At the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, they found them unwelcomed. The doctors were not interested in them. The mother rushed here and there but finally found the boy in the ward. He was unrecognizable as the body was completely oil and absolute black. None in the staff could think of cleaning him or washing his dirt. In the early morning when Chhotu came to senses, he saw his mother and asked her about his children. ‘They are all fine’, said the mother. He then inquired about Rajesh and others and his mother said that they too were fine. His mother was worried about his condition and hence felt that it was good not to inform him. Suddenly, he got up and went outside the ward. He was feeling unease and uncomfortable. It was very unfortunate and shocking that when he, returned to his bed after 10 minutes, the doctor and the nurse did not allow him. They were asked to leave. The doctors did not even give them the papers of their treatment and what he needs. His mother begged but the doctors at Ram Manohar Lohia hospital did not bother to address.

Both mother sun due remained at the hospital only. Now, Chhotu had realized that his three other colleagues were dead as the families of them were already in the hospital. He was in deep shock but fortunately he could tolerate all this. Despite in terrible mental and physical condition, he helped the families of the deceased and was there with them till they had got the bodies of the three victims.

If we see the pattern of treatment meted out to all these victims including Chhotu, then one thing is clear that the doctors in India suffer from prejudices and perhaps not ready to touch those who clean the human excreta and other garbage in our cities as well as go deep into these sewage lines, the modern day night-soil. All of them were acknowledged as ‘unknown’ and their concerns were not addressed. Their families got the dead bodies at 12 pm next day. One can understand the amount of seriousness that the doctors showed. They were not given any report and when they asked for Post Mortem Report, they were asked to come after 40 days. Why are the doctors denying the patient the post mortem report?  Shockingly, the cause of death is not mentioned in the certificate issued so far.

  

Some More Fact

After speaking to Chhotu, who is the witness to the event following facts emerged and must be inquired.

The entire work was being supervised by Rajesh who is no more. He took them and promised Rs 300/- each for cleaning. They were promised that there was no sewage pipe but water pits at the Centre.

The other fact is coming to the notice is that Rajesh was employed at the IGNCA by a private company who has so far not approached the family after death. It needs to be seen as why IGNCA has not spoken on the issue. Who is responsible for the deaths of these people? Why has the police not filed an FIR and if yes, why the copies of FIR not provided to the family. It needs to be seen whether the FIR contain any case of negligence against civic authorities or IGNCA. What are the rehabilitation measures done so far? After the privatization process, contractors have given it to subcontractors and hence no social security for those who enter. Most of the time, it is the younger member or older one, who are not employed or are wage labour enter into the pit just for earning a few rupees. Despite High Court’s order in the past, why were these people not informed about the last pit which was not really of ‘water’ but contained ‘oil’ which was really dangerous and contained gas. Chhotu informed us that till the five pits were covered, the watchman Bahadur was with them but when they opened the last pit, very suspiciously Bahadur left that time. The question is whether Bahadur had known what contained in that pit and if yes then why did he not inform them. They were clearly told that unless they clear each of these pits, no payment would be made to them.

Defied death

Chhot defied death. He is a daily wage worker. He parents are sweepers at different places. His mother works in a local hospital and is too concerned about him as he is the only son. Fortunately, they have their own house unlike other colleagues who died. Chhotu’s mother clearly does not want him to do this work.  ‘I would have died if anything had happened to him’. She is more than happy. Just next day after Chhotu came back from this danger zone, his wife delivered a baby girl and now his mother says,’ the daughter has brought her father back, so she is a special child. He is now father of four children and one shudder to think the event which happened in his life.  His daughter was born one day after this horrific incident had happened. So for mother, this daughter has brought her father back. 

Chhotu’s story is of deprivation, denial and rejection. It is a social violence brutally legalized by the state apparatus which has failed to provide protection to Dalits all over the country. The state which claims to work on the secular principles of its constitution has not been able to construct a secular bureaucracy which treats all of its citizens without any preconceived notions.

There are serious questions from this incident and I am sure it is not the last despite our wishes because neither the people nor the civic authorities have any civic sense here. They go scot free because the power elite have not taken these issues seriously. There are provisions for protection and punishment for violating yet shamelessly nothing moves. Can the NDMC, MCD, Delhi government or Ministry of Social Justice keep quiet on the issue since the entire sanitation work is now ‘privatised’. The problem is that things remain the same. The death occurs in the heart of Delhi and at the premium institution of India. It has shown the callousness of our police which did not show any concern of the people. We don’t even know what they are doing as far as this case was concern. The story of RML doctors is well known who did not even bother to give full treatment to Chhotu. He is still going to the doctor at the Lal Bahadur hospital in East Delhi. He is still not well and faint but the authorities have no botheration. One does not know whether they have any shame now even so many days of the death of three ‘murders’ which has been committed to keep our city safe. Where are the masks, gloves and machines meant for this work? We hear so much of mechanization process and yet we send people from a particular community to die in these gas chambers without proper protection measures or medical insurance.  Manual scavenging is prohibited legally and on papers and in the heart of our capital city, the community which has been compelled to do this work is dying daily without any dignified response to their issues including rehabilitation.

A challenge to human values and constitution

The deaths in sewage system and subsequent treatment given to those who died and those who continue to suffer doing this inhuman work need to be properly investigated. The role of each agency must be clearly mentioned. Doctors and other medical staff, Delhi Jal Board, New Delhi Municipal Corporation or Municipal Corporation of Delhi, private contractors should not be allowed to go unquestioned. Let there be heavy penalties on them. Let them answer for the deaths of all these people and maltreatment to them. Will the National Human Rights Commission and National Commission for Scheduled Caste wake up? They take up suo-motto actions which are published in newspapers but what happens to things which are not taken up by the media seriously? It is wakeup call and time for a decisive battle against all form of  manual scavenging has come which will not disappear just with mechanization process but will need a complete overhauling of our social value system as well as strict implementation of anti-discriminatory laws including SC-ST prevention of atrocities act. In the meantime, we wish the authorities to answer to the families of the victims as what is their planning for them. Who is responsible for these deaths and what is being done to the families of these people who languish in humiliation and uncertainty of life. Each death in the sewage line or toilets is an upfront to our constitution as it is the very negation of society based on equity, liberty and fraternity as envisaged by Baba Saheb Dr Ambedkar.