Patanjali, Ramdev "eclipse" Gandhi Ashram main gate, as Abe, Modi visit Ahmedabad; slums covered with green curtain

Even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe visited the Sabarmati Ashram on Wednesday following the latter’s arrival in Ahmedabad from Tokyo, an aware citizen has created a major ripple by making public photographs showing the main gate the Mahatma Gandhi's Ashram covered by a huge hoarding of Patanjali Yogpith.
Posted on her Facebook page, Mudita Vidrohi commented, “This is how we are going to welcome the PM of Japan Mr. Shinzo Abe, by putting Patanjali Yogpith hoarding which hides even Sabarmati Ashram name plate.”

Interestingly, soon after putting up the Patanjali hoarding at the main entrance of the Gandhi Ashram, the organizers "inserted" the photograph of Baba Ramdev, the owner of Patanjali Yogpith, prominently. Vidrohi told Counterview, “A little away, there was a hoarding of Modi and Abe with Ramdev, which I did not click.”

Releasing yet another photograph, about 50 feet away, she said in a separate Facebook post, “And then you have Brahmakumaris... Other hoardings like Rabari Samaj, Jain Samaj etc are also seen.” Brahmakumaris is a well-known religious sect, headquartered in Mount Abu, the hill station in Rajasthan.

She said, whether we are “trying to show how peacefully we coexist with all different faiths”, wondering, “Do they think the Japan PM and Japan government is really that fool? Also don't they feel shame in fooling them?”
Yet another Facebook post by one Vijay Sambrani, another keen citizen has put up two photographs of an Ahmedabad street, covering the slums with green curtains, Sambrati comments, “Today for Japanese PM Abe's visit. Ahmedabad streets are covered in green cloth to "hide" the slums. When will Authorities wake up and actually beautify their cities?”

Exactly three years ago, on September 17, Modi’s birthday, when Chinese president Xi Jinping was in Ahmedabad, similar green curtains covered up the entire slum area on the banks of Sabarmati and along the road leading to the Sabarmati Ashram, Ahmedabad from the east.

In fact, even the Dandi bridge, from where Mahatma Gandhi began his famous march towards Dandi for his historic 390-kilometres-long Salt Satyagraha in March-April 1930, was covered up with the curtains, as the slums are situated just next to the Dandi bridge.

This time, said an official who accompanied Abe, the Japanese Prime Minister “the route was not next to the Dandi bridge”. He added, “Coming straight from the Airport, he reached Sabarmati Ashram, then took a U-turn to go to the 132 metres wide road towards Vastrapur area, to Hotel Hyatt."

Significantly, no correspondent was allowed to visit Sabarmati Ashram, where Modi and Abe paid their visit at about 4:50 pm.

Comments

Modi govt distancing from Adanis? MoEFCC 'defers' 1500 MW project in Western Ghats

Is the Narendra Modi government, in its third but what would appear to be a weaker avatar, seeking to show that it would keep a distance, albeit temporarily, from its most favorite business house, the Adanis? It would seem so if the latest move of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) latest to "defer" the Adani Energy’s application for 1500 MW Warasgaon-Warangi Pump Storage Project is any indication. Quoting the September 27 MoEFCC's Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) meeting, released on October 2, a senior scholar-activist of the top environmental advocacy group South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) has reported that in a "respite" to forest dwelling communities, fragile biodiversity and community conservation areas, the EAC has "rejected" the Adani application for project. However, the window for continuing with the controversial project hasn't been entirely closed. To quote Parineeta Dandekar, the ...

NHRC failing to 'effectively address' human rights violations: NGO groups tell UN-linked body

In a joint submission to the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions' (GANHRI's) Sub Committee on Accreditation (SCA), two civil society groups -- All India Network of NGOs and Individuals working with National and State Human Rights Institutions (AiNNI) and Asian NGO Network on National Human Rights Institutions (ANNI) -- have said that the National Human Rights Commission's (NHRC's) accreditation, deferred in 2016, 2023, and 2024, fails to find space on its website. In their submission to the top global body which coordinates the relationship between NHRIs and the United Nations human rights system, AiNNI and ANNI said, the accreditation status of NHRC "has not been updated" since 2017, and as of September 21, 2024, the "website falsely states that the NHRC has retained its 'A' accreditation status from SCA for four consecutive five-year terms." They added, such omission diminishes "civil society's trust" in N...

Will Supreme Court also come forward to end legally-sanctioned segregation on religious lines in Gujarat?

My Vadodara-based activist-friend, Jagdish Patel, who has long championed the cause of the victims of silicosis, a deadly occupational disease, has forwarded to me an interesting blog by the executive editor of Pulitzer Center, Marina Walker Guevara, written in the context of the U.S. election results, in which Donald Trump has won.

Two persons with old typewriters off SLC's fashionable street, writing poems on postcards!

A few days back, after taking a round of beautiful hills surrounding Salt Lake City (SLC), we drove down to a popular, somewhat fashionable spot -- Harvey Milk Blvd -- not very far from the Down Town. We visited a few shops, where mainly souvenirs were being sold, and also a few sex toys! Finally, we visited an ice cream parlour, where we tasted Italian ice cream. It is a well decorated parlour, with different coloured lovely goodies hanging across the restaurant. I took a lemon flavoured ice cream -- really liked it. The parlour is called Dolcetti Gelato. Thereafter, while returning to take the car, we found two persons sitting on outdoor chairs, with old manual typewriters on makeshift tables. They were typing out exactly the same way I used to in 1980s to do my stories before faxing them from Moscow to Patriot office in Delhi.

Addressing caste discrimination in US higher education: Rutgers report sparks controversy

In a surprise move, an American university has published a "controversial" report titled "Caste-Based Discrimination in US Higher Education and at Rutgers". The report has sparked debate, as no sooner was it released than an Indian diaspora advocacy group, CasteFiles, filed a complaint against Rutgers University and Prof. Audrey Truschke, co-chair of the task force that prepared the report. The complaint, filed under Title VI of the US Civil Rights Act of 1964, alleges violations of the right to education free from harassment and discrimination.

When Congress leaders in Gujarat forgot to remember Jawaharlal Nehru on November 14

It was November 14, Jawaharlal Nehru’s 135th birth anniversary. While the national leaders everywhere – ranging from Congress’ bigwigs to Narendra Modi and Rajnath Singh – paid their tributes to the India’s first Prime Minister who also happened to be one of the most important freedom fighters, I was a little surprised: The Congress leaders in my state, Gujarat, seemed to ignore him at the place where mediapersons were called to interact with them.

Strange rituals observed around Diwali and Gujarati new year amidst celebrations

While the fever around that the Gujarati new year, Bestu Varas, which fell on the next day of Diwali, November 1, has still not fully subsided, with noise of crackers still heard in the urban area where I live, what appears strange to me how on the eve of every Diwali is how superstitions take round among believers. One of these I noticed is, people cook some bit of food on a day before Diwali, which is called Kali Chaudas, and place it on the crossroads.

Search This Blog