Opinion
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| | Killing messengers | | | | ON July 18, 1948, home minister Vallabhbhai Patel wrote to Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the Hindu Mahasabha leader who set up the BJP's ancestor Jan Sangh, on the RSS and the Mahasabha's role in Gandhi's murder.
He made no charge but said: "Our reports do confirm that, as a result of the activities of those two bodies, particularly the [RSS], an atmosphere was created in the country in which such a ghastly tragedy became possible."
It was precisely in such an atmosphere that the brutal killing of Gauri Lankesh took place on Sept 5. She was respected for her fearlessness and commitment to values as editor of the journal Lankesh Patrike founded by her father P. Lankesh. Demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992 made her a strong opponent of the Hindutva brand of politics.
A New York Times' editori... |  | |
| | | Glimpses of the divine..! | | | | Was walking with a friend when he talked about the bill stations in our country. "You know Bob," he said, "you don't have to visit the rest of the world, India has some of the most beautiful spots." I agreed and we went over some of the exotic holiday spots.
Though I have visited and holidayed along with family quite a few of the hill stations, the visit I remember so well was the Rohtang Pass in Kulu Manali. The sudden appearance of the mighty Himalayas, peak after peak after peak, like old sages of wisdom, grouped together, not concerned with petty problems below, quiet and solid and reassuring. "Don't worry Bob," they seemed to say without looking in my direction, "there's nothing to worry about that can't be handled higher up!"
Down south I have visited the virgin hills of Yercaud, ... | | |
| | | A cruel joke on the poor of India | | | | It is a tragedy of Indian politics that the massive amount of Rs. 1.10 Lakh Crores being spent Bullet Train project from Ahmedabad to Mumbai is hailed by Modi government as a great achievement. Still, more tragic and utter lack of people's politics is the reaction of other political parties. Thus Malikarjun Kharge, the Congress leader in parliament has hastened to clarify that the Congress is not against the project but wants to draw the attention of the public to the motive of the inauguration on the eve of Gujarat poll - and it is a political use of national project. To leave no one in doubt that the Congress is even more keen on bullet train concept in the whole of India, he has openly welcomed the project and has emphasized that it was first conceived in 2005 and later in 2013 when Co... | | |
| | | My Dog and The Stray..! | | | | A few years ago, two dogs were part of my life. A female Alsation, who lived with me, inside my house and a stray who parked himself outside. The stray was allowed to come inside through the day. He walked in, in the morning, strolled around the house, ate his heart out, looked for me, gave me a couple of hearty licks and then lay himself down on my sitting room carpet and had a nap.
After an hour or two, he hears barking outside and rushes out to join his gang who bully some poor pup who has strayed outside its territory and then with the same gang raids every garbage dump and dust bin in the vicinity; this after he has had tasty meal at my place!
My other dog used to look out through the window and sees getting involved in dog fights, flirting with every female dog on the road and do... | | |
| | | Rohingya injured by landmines as they flee violence | | | By Asian Human Rights Commission | |
| | This week Just Asia begins with Burma, where many Rohingya are suffering horrific injuries and loss of limbs by landmines along the Burma-Bangladesh border in their attempt to flee the violence. After the militant Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa) attacked several police posts on August 25, the Burmese government carried out a brutal counter-insurgency clampdown. The UN estimates some 300,000 Rohingya to have fled the violence and arson in Rakhine. Just Asia speaks to Adem Carroll, Burma Task Force Director for UN and New York Programs, for his thoughts.
Next, in Pakistan, a 17-year-old Christian student, Sharoon Masih, was beaten to death by his fellow students for drinking water from the school's water cooler. His body lay on the floor for some time, but no teacher or head master c... | | |
| | | What is social smuggling? | | | By Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd | |
| | The concept Social Smuggling I coined in my book Post-Hindu India (Sage 2009) has generated a law and order issue, created by the Arya Vysya organizations of the two Telugu States.
The Vysya Associations have issued a death threat to me for applying this concept to the Vysya model of caste based business historically leading to a massive amount of wealth being hidden under ground called Guptha Dhana.
The chapter Social Smugglers that was first translated by Msco publishers in the whole was published by a small local book seller with the title Samajika Smugglerlu: Komatollu. This booklet is being burnt all over Andhra Pradesh and Telengana to pressure the state Governments to ban it. In this context the concept Social Smugglers needs to be examined at some length here.
The Social Smugg... | | |
| | | 'Swadeshi Fascism' is knocking at the door of Indian democracy | | Only a total unity of secular forces can meet the challenge | | | India is passing through treacherous times. There is no Dickensian dual scenario-it is one way- it is the worst of times. Indian democracy is at peril. The voice of dissent is being throttled. The ruling establishment is encouraging the most heinous type of abuses and abetment to violence in social media.; Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is considered as the darling of the online netizens, has found no time to send any condolence message on the brutal murder of one of the most respected journalists in the country Gouri Lankesh. Rather, he is following in twitter still the saffron heroes of online who are expressing glee at the death of one of the anti- Hindutva voices in the media. There is fear, apprehensions in the Indian media, more so in the states and the districts as the different... | | |
| | | Death of A Journalist..! | | | | Bang! Bang! Bang!
The first lot of people who are murdered when a country is headed in the wrong direction, are thinkers and writers! Because, the powers that be, don't want thoughts except those expressed by them, and no communication except what they want to tell. So, bullets, or the strong arm of government machinery are used to still those voices. India has just seen this in the dastardly killing of Gauri Lankesh, an outspoken woman journalist.
And yet the pen is mightier than the sword. How's that?
"Hey you two killers who shot the Indian journalist dead, hey!"
"We've got guns! Don't shout at us, we'll shoot you!"
"But your guns have no bullets! You've emptied them into a defenseless woman!"
"You should have seen her fall!" laugh the gunmen brandishing pistols, "We knew she... | | |
| | BETWEEN THE LINE | | Reflection on Triple Talaq | | | | The triple talaaq had no place in a secular society. Most Muslim countries in the world, including Pakistan and Bangladesh, have banned it. But the situation in India is such that a debate on the subject is not possible. Even a semblance of discussion is rejected outright as an interference. The triple talaaq continues to be invoked and the male dominance remains undiminished.
The Supreme Court's judgment is harsh and unequivocal. There could be no compromise on the basics of the Indian Constitution, freedom to women and men to lead their lives as they wanted. I wish the Muslim community had accepted the bar on triple talaaq, which goes against the spirit of the Constitution. But it looks as if the fundamentalists have been having their way.
This was even the case with Shah Bano, a Musl... | | |
| | | Brainy Children and Me..! | | | | Recently there's a not a day gone by that I haven't been stopped by friends and relatives and asked, "Do you know how much my child scored?" "No," I reply, thinking they have mistaken me for the examiner. "Ninety per cent!" "Ninety per cent!" I exclaim. A little farther a lady who I hardly know and who generally favors me with a morning scowl, is all beaming, "John got eighty seven per cent!" she says. "You don't say!" I exclaim, "And who is John?" Her scowl comes back in place.
All I ask of all these ninety and eighty per centers is that they don't ever ask me how much I scored in school. I have this sneaky feeling I could be thrown out of my city, state and country for being intellectually different.
I thought I'd spend this morning cocking a snook at education, school children and te... | | |
| | Kashmir | | From conflict management to a conflict resolution? | | | | There has been ample attention in strategic literature to the use of force in Kashmir, but not quite as much to the peace strategies also deployed alongside in Kashmir. These peace initiatives have not only been within Kashmir, but have also been in relation to Pakistan, seen as part of the problem and solution to Kashmir. However, that the two strands of peace strategies have not been taken to their logical conclusion so far and currently stand suspended.
The past failure to clinch the peace and the present status quo in a 'no talks' limbo put a question mark over the sincerity in intent behind the peace prong of India's Kashmir strategy.
But, first, a survey of India's political engagement along the two strands of peace talks: one with Pakistan and the other within Kashmir. The onse... | | |
| | | Burma: Rohingya genocide | | | | During the past 65 years of military rule in Burma, the army has killed thousands of people from almost every one of the country's numerous minorities: Shans, Karens, Kachins, Karennis, Mon, Chin and many smaller groups. But the only ones who have faced a genocide are the Rohingya, and it is happening right now.
Only two-thirds of Burma's 52 million people are ethnic Burmese, and almost all the other groups have rebelled from time to time because they have no autonomy. Indeed, the original military take-over in 1962 occurred to stop an elected civilian leader from creating a federal state where the minorities would have some control over their own affairs. But the 1.1 million Rohingya are special, because they are almost all Muslim.
The other minorities are all Buddhist, at least in the... | | |
| | | Colour Prejudice..! | | | | …."Dogs bark at everyone they do not know.."
—Heraclitus
Some weeks ago I asked a soloist with a particular choir why she did not sing in that choir anymore. "The conductor is prejudiced,: she said sadly.
"How?" I asked.
"Colour," she said, "there's a clear white, brown divide."
I felt sad, not just because the choir had lost a good singing voice but because such an attitude by any leader leaves immense scars on a young person for life.
"Couldn't the conductor see beauty in her voice?" I asked myself, "and not be jaundiced by colour of skin?"
Robert was born at Aldershot; his mother was Japanese and father English. When Robert started school he was tormented by the other children. One Christmas his parents bought him a watch but this was taken from him by some other older children... | | |
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