From busy Jehangirpuri to quiet Tungnath peak, blaming Muslims is the new fad

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*
The bulldozer politics has now reached Delhi. It is shameful that the Delhi chief minister 'condemned' the violence during shobhayatra at Jahagirpuri, but could not find out the truth behind it. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is an 'expert' organisation, and elections show, they have their volunteers who have plenty of 'information' and 'sources' everywhere. In propaganda they are second to none; perhaps they compete with the Sangh Parivar.
What stopped the Delhi chief minister from speaking against the illegal drive? Why is it happening that governments are now taking law in their hand, destroying livelihood of the poor just because they happen to be Muslims, without following the due process of law?
The collapse of our institutions is complete. The only answer to this is the political unity among all those who believe in an inclusive, socialist India. Land sharks are eyeing all the urban land and some sections have become the biggest obstacle for them. Netas don't even think before speaking: they are seen blaming everyone as being Bangladeshis.
A few days back when I was trekking Tungnath peak at the altitude of 3,600 metres in Uttarakhand Himalayas, while returning, a boy was walking briskly, dancing. His mobile speaker was loud: "Ayodhya me bhagwa fehrayaa hai, abhi Mathura me bhi fehrayenge, mandir wahi baneygne". Thee song has the lines, "Shiv bhi bole, Jai Shri Ram..."
I stopped and asked the boy as why should Lord Shiva, who is termed as Adi Dev, call Jai Shri Ram? How is Lord Shiva expected to chant Jai Shri Ram? But this has happened. There were two other persons who started asking me whether I knew Puranas, told me Shiva worshipped Lord Ram. I told them all this is Brahminical mischief -- of stealing the Gods of indigenous people, defining these Gods as per their whims and fancies.
Anyway, my problem was not what was being said but the way the song was being interpreted. All these bhajans are being made to create provocation, thought. I felt how much poison are we creating among our youth.
It was strange: I was travelling to an old temple of Lord Shiva, which is located at the highest altitude in the world, and yet there were no bhajan dedicated to Lord Shiva; you are instead chanting Jai Shri Ram even at this high altitude and saying, "Mandir wahi banayenge."
The way things are being defined and taken to the places which are peaceful suggests how much our youth have been driven by such propaganda in the name of faith and identity.

Tungnath

Indeed, we are at a very critical phase of our national life when the political class has decided that it is not going to provide any hope in terms of socio-economic development of the people.
For every failure, Muslims are sought to be blamed. The middle classes of the dominant caste groups which had felt till now that all their issues are happening because of the reservation being provided to SC-ST-OBCs, has found one more villain in the form of Muslims.
Will political parties speak up loudly? I don't think that media or judiciary will come to the rescue of citizens on their own; still, the fact remains, the Constitution and existing institutions, are the only way to fight it out. When the political system changes, institutions too follow up and that is the only hope.
Everywhere in the world, we are witnessing authoritarianism and majoritarianism raising their head. We are no different than our other friends in South Asia; actually we have become very much like these others.
Gone are the days when we were proud in saying that India is a democracy and we respect diversity of faiths and culture. It is time for political parties to make alliances and start thinking for a strong coalition much before the 2024 polls. That only is the hope.
---
*Human rights defender

Comments

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu. He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat* As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra* It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

Women's rights leaders told to negotiate with Muslimness, as India's donor agencies shun the word Muslim

By A Representative Former vice-president Hamid Ansari has sharply criticized donor agencies engaged in nongovernmental development work, saying that they seek to "help out" marginalizes communities with their funds, but shy away from naming Muslims as the target group, something, he insisted, needs to change. Speaking at a book release function in Delhi, he said, since large sections of Muslims are poor, they need political as also social outreach.

Sardar Patel was on Nathuram Godse's hit list: Noted Marathi writer Sadanand More

Sadanand More (right) By A Representative In a surprise revelation, well-known Gujarati journalist Hari Desai has claimed that Nathuram Godse did not just kill Mahatma Gandhi, but also intended to kill Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Citing a voluminous book authored by Sadanand More, “Lokmanya to Mahatma”, Volume II, translated from Marathi into English last year, Desai says, nowadays, there is a lot of talk about conspiracy to kill Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, but little is known about how the Sardar was also targeted.

Weaponizing faith? 'I Love Muhammad' and the politics of manufactured riots

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* A disturbing new pattern of communal violence has emerged in several north Indian cities: attacks on Muslims during the “I Love Muhammad” processions held to mark Milad-un-Nabi, the birthday of Prophet Muhammad. This adds to the grim catalogue of Modi-era violence against Muslims, alongside cow vigilantism, so-called “love jihad” campaigns, attacks for not chanting “Jai Shri Ram,” and assaults during religious festivals.

Counterview

Search This Blog