FirstPost Issue-03

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S A T U R D AY, F E B 9 - 1 5 , 2 0 1 9 | N E T W O R K 1 8 M E D I A & I N V E S T M E N T S L I M I T E D

Where RSS Men Love Their Pork

RSS IS MAKING INROADS INTO THE TRIBES AND ETHNIC COMMUNITIES OF THE NORTHEAST BY ADOPTING TRADITIONS CONTRARY TO THE SANGH WAY OF LIFE

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ISSUE 12

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NEW DELHI

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PAGES 20

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PRICE `8

People Who Grow Food Are Dying

The design of the collegium causes the judiciary to run the risk of cronyism

DESPITE 300,000 FARMERS COMMITTING SUICIDE IN THE LAST 10 YEARS, WHY DO GOVERNMENTS CONTROL THE PRICE OF FOOD, ASKS SADHGURU

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Mamata Sets Stage for BJP’s Bengal Play

SUMATHI CHANDRASHEKARAN

LAWYER, PUBLIC POLICY

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Black is the new White HOLLYWOOD LEARNS TO EXPERIMENT WITH POWER EQUATIONS OF THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN RACE

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inside Casting their net

Budget has its sights on LS polls

BESIDES FOCUSSING ON JATAVS, BJP IS ALSO TARGETING NON-JATAVS, WHO ACCOUNT FOR 14 PER CENT OF DALIT VOTERS IN WESTERN UP

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PIYUSH GOYAL ANNOUNCED SOPS SPECIFICALLY TARGETED AT FARMERS AND THE LOWER MIDDLE CLASS IN AN EFFORT DIRECTED AT ELECTIONS

12 CROSSROADS

Sanstha Decoded HYPNOTHERAPIST JAYANT ATHAVALE’S SANATAN SANSTHA, ACCUSED OF MURDER AND BOMB BLASTS, STILL REMAINS POPULAR FOR ITS IDEOLOGY 10

WILL DIDI’S FULMINATIONS against Modi and her acrimonious faceoff with Delhi allow the saffron party gain more than a foothold in her fiefdom, asks Sumit Mitra 2

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 SANTAN

C O V E R S TO R Y

THE BENGAL CM has created a national storm, one that would bolster her credentials as an unrelenting opponent to PM Modi, writes Swapan Dasgupta

POLITICS

ARTS

Why Bastar tribals left BJP in the cold

The billion interpretations of Draupadi

With forests degraded, incomes hurt, water sources depleted, ex-CM Raman Singh’s massive infrastructure projects and other initiatives failed to give the adivasis a better life

The Mahabharata’s most important female character is being interpreted even today.

She will continue to attract writers who will judge her and will be judged in the process

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Firstpost.

SATURDAY, FEB 9 - 15, 2019IIII

Deep Focus DIGITAL PLUS

EMIs TO DIP?

The Reserve Bank under governor Shaktikanta Das cut benchmark interest rate by 0.25 per cent to 6.25 per cent on expectation of inflation staying within its target range.

This is expected to translate into lower monthly instalments for loans. www.firstpost.com

Did Mamata do BJP a Favour?

THE BENGAL CHIEF MINISTER MAY HAVE INADVERTENTLY DONE THE BJP A FAVOUR. THE SAFFRON UNIT, WHICH HAS LITTLE FOOTPRINT IN THE EASTERN STATE, IS GROWING, ALBEIT AT THE EXPENSE OF THE CPM. www.firstpost.com

Centre forced Mamata to stand for wrong cause

` 6,000

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has walked into a BJP trap. Her image of simplicity, of maa, maati, manush took a beating as she stood up to protect the privileged instead of the poor. See article by Ajay Singh on firstpost.com

Amount to be paid to small and marginal farmers as assured income support under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme announced in the Union Budget. Some 12 crore small farmers stand to benefit.  SUNIL

Past Present

RBI cuts repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25%

Tigress by the Tail

A Brief History EARLY 1970s

Mamata Banerjee joins Congress

1984

At 29, wins Jadavpur Lok Sabha seat defeating CPM heavyweight Somnath Chatterjee

1989

Loses Jadavpur Lok Sabha seat to CPM’s Dr Malini Bhattacharya — the only election she has ever lost

1991

Wins South Kolkata Lok Sabha seat and retains it in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2009

1997

MAMATA BANERJEE may have seen moral victory in the Supreme Court verdict, but she has now set the stage for the BJP’s play for the Lok Sabha election campaign

Quits the Congress and establishes the All India Trinamool Congress

1999

Joins the BJP-led NDA government, becomes railway minister

2001

Quits NDA over Tehelka expose, allies with Congress in West Bengal assembly polls

2004

Returns to the NDA fold

I

2006 & 2007

SUMIT MITRA

n its best days, the office of the Commissioner of Police of Calcutta, now Kolkata, was the engine room of colonial efficiency. Sir Stuart Hogg, one of its early occupants, after whom the city’s New Market was named, spawned the feared detective department. In the later, and much more troubled, years, Sir Charles Tegart, demon to the freedom fighters, survived six attempts on his life, yet he drove around in hood-open car with his bull terrier lazing on the bonnet. Post-Independence, in the 70’s, Ranjit Gupta, the scholarly chief, made his mark as the scourge of Naxalites with the help of his favourite ‘encounter specialists’.

Breezily indifferent to their political masters’ passing whims, these men proudly did all they thought were within their remit, leaving moral judgment of their acts only in the hands of future historians.

This past sits ill THE CBI believes with the vaudeville that Kolkata police show that began at chief Rajeev Kumar their latest succesis guarding a pile sor Rajeev Kumar’s of evidence in the official residence on Saradha case on behalf Loudon Street last of the chief minister Sunday evening.

For over a month till IN 2015, on the eve of then, the Central Buthe 2016 West Bengal reau of Investigation assembly election, the (CBI) had been tryCBI summoned the then ing to approach him.

Trinamool general But he’d not give an secretary Mukul Roy appointment. On in the case. He later February 3, the CBI joined the BJP ran out of patience and sent a posse of its officers to his residence.

Kumar couldn’t have played a gracious host as he knew what the CBI team was looking for. As head of the Special Investigation Team that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had set up to look into a multi-billion-rupee Ponzi scheme scam in 2013, Kumar had access to hard evidence of the inflow and outflow of funds collected from the public on false promise of skyhigh returns. To the CBI, the evidence that could be particularly alluring was a red diary containing the details of transactions with politicians, reportedly obtained from Sudipta Sen, chief of Saradha, the largest

cash trail

Stalls Tata Nano plant in Singur and chemical hub in Nandigram

2009

Ties up with UPA; alliance wins 26 of 42 LS seats in West Bengal

2011

Becomes Bengal Chief Minister after TMC wins 184 assembly seats, retains power in 2016

2019

Holds a showpiece anti-Modi government rally in Kolkata on Jan 19 Holds dharna over CBI action against Kolkata police chief Rajeev Kumar on Feb 3-5

 ALANKAR

of the rogue chit funds, and the call detail constitution”. ‘Save Democracy’ read the records (CDR) of Sen and his associates. festoon above the stage. Opposition leaders The CBI had a hunch that Kumar had been across the country were connected. Next guarding a pile of evidence on behalf of Baday, on stage with her were Tejashwi Yadav nerjee, as, if disclosed, it could expose the of RJD and Kanimozhi of DMK. At a meeting on Monday in NCP leader Sharad Pawar’s inner working of a so-called ‘party of the poor’, its wheels greased with cash — reportresidence in New Delhi, the focus was on edly amounting to `40,000 crore — obtained “support to Mamata” in the attack launched by hoodwinking the gullible masses. Kumar by the Narendra Modi administration on was therefore playing hooky with the CBI her government. “What happened to Mamataji also happened in Delhi”, said Pawar, ever since the latter sought clarification. “(Arvind) Kejriwalji faced similar issues”. Its Banerjee was surprisingly quick in reecho reached Parliament instantly, with the sponding to the ‘noisome’ developments proceedings of the Budget Session stalled on Loudon Street. Local cops under her in the ruckus by lawmakers sympathetic control were out in large numbers to ‘save’ their Commissioner from CBI’s ‘clutches’. In to Banerjee’s ‘cause’. However, the show two hours flat, a 620-square-foot platform on January 19 had to fizzle out anyway as was up near Chowringhee crossing. Called the Supreme Court took a tough stand on “metro channel”, it had been popularised Kumar’s obduracy, ordering him to meet by none other than Mamata Banerjee more the CBI team at a “neutral” place. Banerjee than a decade ago when she sat in dharna promptly declared it as her “moral victory”.

But she could not order the winding up of there for weeks together to rouse public the street show without considerable trepanger against the erstwhile Left Front govidation. Her political allies also got ernment’s Singur land acquisition. the message from minister Arun It brought her a rich dividend Jaitley’s blog, describing them by bringing her to power, for as a “kleptocrats’ club”. nine years now.

However, having long Once on the stage, the earned its notoriety as polilady was in her element, The number of times ticians’ “caged parrot”, the striding up and down and that Mamata Baneroften switching on the mike CBI too was following the jee has lost in a Lok to announce that her’s was whistle of its master, the BJP. Sabha election In 2014, the year of Modi’s not a “political” campaign election, the Supreme Court but a platform to “save the

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Democracy is at stake in India. All of us have to unite to save democracy and the people of the country CHANDRABABU NAIDU

ANDHRA PRADESH CM

After the SC order, she has no right to remain in the chair; she should resign on moral grounds.

YOGI ADITYANATH

UP CM

ordered the West Bengal SIT to hand over the investigation to CBI. But the bureau would wake up only when a big election is around.

In 2015, on the eve of the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections, it summoned Mukul Roy, TMC general secretary with the reputation of being one of the party’s cash-handlers.

Banerjee was not amused, as suspicion arose that he’d spill the beans. She was right as Roy indeed cut a deal with the BJP, which he joined in 2017.

The party seems to have inducted Roy to use him as a strategist. It had worked in 2014 when the CBI raided Assam Congress leader Himanta Biswa Sarma on the charge of his involvement with the same chit fund scam.

Soon after, Sarma joined the BJP and played his new party’s divisive card with such dexterity that the credit of the BJP-led alliance capturing Assam in the 2016 election went solely to him. Similarly, it was thought that Roy too would have a card up his sleeve.

That card could well be ‘advice’ from Roy to target “four IPS officers” in the state. It circulated from an audio clip of a voice strongly resembling that of Roy telling BJP general secretary in charge of West Bengal Kailash Vijayvargiya to get two Income Tax officers moved into the state to “scare” the four IPS officers. Police Commissioner Kumar could be one of the four. Last week’s events follow from this script. The plan runs like this: use Kumar to share incriminating evidence with CBI; drag TMC leaders to court on that

IIIIISATURDAY, FEB 9 - 15, 2019

Firstpost.

Deep Focus MESSENGER ABUSE

WhatsApp honcho warns Indian politicians Carl Woog, head of communications at WhatsApp India, said, “We have seen a number of (political) parties attempt to use WhatsApp in ways that was not intended and our firm message to them is using it in that way will result in bans.”

“ He is my husband, he is my family...

I support my family...Everyone knows why this (questioning) is being done.”

PRIYANKA GANDHI VADRA

ON ED QUESTIONING HUSBAND ROBERT VADRA

basis; once the CBI gets Banerjee by the short and curlies, West Bengal, with its 42 Lok Sabha constituencies, gives BJP a valuable cushion against possible Lok Sabha election losses in the Hindi-speaking states.

However, the party is an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh which, in its imagined history, has a key place for Bengal.

The Hindu Mahasabha, RSS’s erstwhile political wing, took the leading role in the 1947 partition of Bengal. On 11 April 1947, Bengal Governor Sir Frederick Burrows sent a secret report to Viceroy that “partitionists mean business”, with the Mahasabha authorising Shyama Prasad Mookerjee to form a volunteer force to secure a homeland for Hindus in Bengal. The truncated Bengal has since then become, to the Sangh followers, the fount of emotion as in the psalm ‘By the rivers of Babylon’ for Jews.

The state’s 30 per cent Muslim population also offers to the BJP’s Hindu-first politicians the adrenaline-pumping challenge of confronting a home-made Gaza.

Banerjee’s mis-steps made such dreams look realisable to the BJP. On assuming office, she launched a brazen policy of coddling the Muslims. From the state treasury, allowances were given to the clerics and even to the town-criers of mosques. There were unwritten fiats to the police making it reluctant to take a complaint if the accused were Muslim. The rule of motor bikers wearing a helmet were not applicable

as long as they had a religious skull cap on the head. In low grade government jobs, the TMC administration made some effort, quite justifiably, to design recruitment policy for redressal of the inadequate Muslim representation. All these moves had turned her into an all-out hate object of the BJP trolls, who began calling her ‘Mamata begum’. The politically motivated fake-news industry has now spread the venom not only to the genteel society of Kolkata’s clubs and drawing rooms in leafy areas. It has percolated down to the mofussils, causing astonishing levels of communal divide in places where the two communities lived without rancour till recently. Its blowback on the majority society is felt not only in rising levels of Islamophobia but in growing rigidity along the Hindu caste boundaries. At Birati in Kolkata’s northern suburbs, Satirtha Club, an association of the locals, has suddenly introduced the service of offering free the ritual of wearing the ‘sacred thread’ by Brahmin boys.

Banerjee has understood she’d moved too close to the edge of the communal precipice, that too in a state with the minority population tightly clustered in just a few of the 23 districts. As Shutapa Paul quotes Banerjee in her effusive but informative recent book, Didi: The Untold Mamata Banerjee,, “I am very confident of seeing four things done by the government of West Bengal... holidays for a large number of pujas,... quiz competitions on Hindu dhar-

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Pope John Paul “I don’t want to hear it said that the Church has not got this problem, because it has. Must we do more? Yes! Do we want to? Yes!” ABOUT SEXUAL ABUSE OF NUNS

I have enough evidence against the Assam deputy CM. I dare PM Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah to have him arrested MAMATA BANERJEE

GOVERNOR, J&K

ma,... Varanasi-like aarti in Kolkata, and 2-3 places like the Ayodhya Ram mandir....”. Sadly for her, Twitter trolls have carried her old pictures wearing the hijab.

Banerjee tripped over into the communal crevice as she came to power through street protest. Her followers were a legacy from the leftist past, a rapacious army of violent, poorly educated and extortionist youngsters. They had no patience for job-creating factories to grow; instead they’d force the factory manager to buy from them inferior construction material, at twice the market price. While Banerjee captured power by stalling Tatas’ Nano plant, it ruined her image forever, with investors all smiles to her but their cheque books firmly sequestered.

Nowadays, the people of Bengal want to hear, more than “quiz competition on Hindu dharma”, any news about jobs. With even an auto rickshaw route permit costing `8 lakh, thanks to politically connected unions, they run to every political rally to gauge who could bring them jobs. Modi. Marx. Mamata. Who? Sumit Mitra is a senior journalist

Mahayudh Lines Drawn in Bengal PAGE 5

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Firstpost.

SATURDAY, FEB 9 - 15, 2019

First Person SADHGURU JAGGI VASUDEV FOUNDER, ISHA FOUNDATION

PHOTO R A G H U R A I , from his book Sadhguru

GURU MANTRA

This is Not the Time for a Coalition Government

S EXCLUSIVE

adhguru, since you are an ascetic who takes a lot of interest in nation building let me start by asking about the separation of Church and State. Is the ‘Nation State’ concept in the Indian context somewhat different from Western concept?

First of all, we don’t have the Church in India, that is, an organised setup except for the Christian church which is a small entity. The rest of the so-called religion, what we call as the Hindu religion, has never been an organised process.

That’s its strength, and its weakness. The only reason why this Hindu way of life has survived these 1,000 years of invasions and occupations is because nobody knew where the head is. If they knew where the head is, they would have cut it off. Because it was a billion-headed Hydra, whatever they did, it still lived on. So, this whole idea of separating church and state doesn’t even arise in this country.

It’s for people to decide. I’m not somebody who’s ever told even my family who they should vote for...

Unfortunately, across the political spectrum, we don’t see too many options

I’m asking you this because, of late, what has happened in India is that religion has got mixed up with State.

There is a monk who is heading the most populous state of the country.

Why do you see him as a monk? Do you say “here is a married person who’s heading the state”? Whether I am married or am I a monk is my business. What’s it got to do with you? Have you given him some special privileges? Can he drive on the street without a licence? Can he go without paying taxes? So, if there are no privileges, why are you taking away certain rights?

Identifying the State with reli-

gion, will that not have negative effect on administration?

How do you say that just because I practise something I will definitely impose it on you? Everybody practises something, isn’t it? Somebody drinks alcohol, and he becomes the chief minister. So will you suspect he may impose it on everybody? Actually, they are; you’re not questioning that! So somebody who meditates, will he impose it? Definitely he will recommend it. It’s for people to take it or leave it.

You are a votary of reforms in agriculture and business. If you were to rate the Modi government on a scale of 10, where will you rate him?

Economy wise, certain bold steps have been taken, politically unpopular but economically good. Our tax revenues have increased and more people are paying taxes, that point has gone across well.

I think infrastructure building has been on supercharge. I only wish it could be further speeded up by allowing private agencies to build infrastructure. We’ve still not taken such bold steps. We are still a little afraid of going 100 per cent market economy.

Somewhere in our head, still we have this welfare state idea. We take one step; when we find some difficulty we step back into socialism, again and again. If we want to succeed, we must make up our mind, which road we are taking. I am not a fan of capitalism, but that’s the only thing that has succeeded in the world.

We are the fastest growing economy, but is it fast enough for this 500 or 600 million people who are not eating properly? No. This speed is largely driven by a few industries.

I feel this should be driven by agriculture, which is very easy to do and most practical thing. You can multiply farmers’ income. The problem with agriculture right now is that there is no scale. Everybody is farming two acres, five acres, whatever.

You cannot scratch 2.25 acres and make it into a commercial success.

It is simply not practical. You need scale, so as a part of this, we got some relief for the Farmers Producers Or-

ganisations (FPOs) which is a very positive thing. In this country the rules were like this — if all of us are doing farming separately, in our own two-acre, five-acre land, no tax. But if all of us farm together and scale up, 30 per cent tax.

Straightaway 30 per cent?

Yes, up to 30 per cent. So we appealed to the government and they removed tax up to `100 crore turnover (for FPOs) but I’m saying why `100 crore? The most significant problem in the country right now is farmers’ distress. The root of this distress is lack of scale. If we scale up and let’s say our turnover goes into thousands of crores, why should we be taxed? The moment you tax it you are making sure there is no scale. One really frightening thing about the nation is if you ask any farmer, how many of them want their children to go into farming, it’s less than two per cent.

“If they are in a bad state, give them free seed, free fertilizer, free something else which goes towards productivity.

Free loan is not a good thing”

Absolutely.

So, in twenty-five years’ time when this generation passes, you will lose ability to grow food in this country; skills that you gained over thousands of years will be lost. It is not a small thing to convert mud into food. In this direction we should have done much more. Maybe there are various political things because somebody is offering farm (loan) waivers.

Every state government has been doing it…

Yes, the logic is that farmers are in a bad state. If they are in a bad state, give them free seed, free fertilizer, free something else which goes towards productivity. Free loan is not a good thing because it’ll change the whole culture. Ten people who have taken loan from me have to get together and scream and shout or burn a bus and my money won’t come back. I will definitely not lend money anymore, isn’t it? If you want money to multiply, it needs to be invested not given away.

Your understanding of economics and administration is impressive, but...

digital

For the full video of the interview scan this QR code using your mobile.

For a full photo feature along with Raghu Rai’s commentary, check out the Photo section on www.firstpost.com

See, for the farmers, one thing you have to do. Whatever I grow on my land, I can do whatever I want with it. I will take a bag of rice and sell it in the North Pole where it is as good as gold. You leave it to me.

Why are you trying to stop me? If you are running an electronic industry, you can take your product wherever you want. Just because I’m a farmer, I can’t take my product where I want. Why? What I grow on my land, let me be free to sell it wherever I want. Your problem is the middle class will have inflation.

Let them have it. In India you’re eating the cheapest possible food in the world. For `25 you can eat a limited meal in a hotel, okay? It is thirty cents. For thirty cents, in which country can you get a meal?

So the people who are growing food are dying. Not one or two, 300,000 farmers are supposed to have committed suicide in the last 10 years — and we are controlling the price of food? What for? There has to be some sense. Maybe innocuously, unknowingly, but we have been consistently against farmers.

We are the fifth largest economy in the world, which is a good thing but not good enough for 1.3 billion people. I’m not trying to deprecate everything. But this attitude that we have in the nation that we have a political thing going on for the full five years, this damn thing has to stop. You do the political thing for the last three months before the election. But full five years? I was the first one to suggest there must be only one election in five years.

I would say if it’s necessary, till India reaches say a certain level of economy, please make the election a once-in-eight-years affair. All the political parties are going to get me for this, but I am asking, is it about the nation or is it about the parties?

Talking of elections, in the Hindi heartland, there is an attempt to forge a coalition. How effective it would be?

See, earlier you asked me what are the significant achievements of Narendra Modi. One of the biggest things is across the world, the way people look at India. This has changed dramatically, believe me, just because of the prime minister.

Today, the way the economies are built, if the world doesn’t respect us and look up to us, I don’t think we can thrive.

International image is important. But would coalition adversely affect that image?

See, if coalition happens because of a certain direction in which they want to take the nation that would be fine. But right now the coalition that we are seeing is just about winning the election. I think this is not the time for a coalition, when we are on the threshold of a possibility. When I say a possibility, I mean that if we do things right in the next five, ten years, for the first

time in the history of humanity, we can move a large mass of people — nearly 600 million — from one level of living to another. Such a thing has happened in China but democratically moving such a mass of people from one level of living to another is a unique opportunity.

Youth is an important constituent of the electorate, so if you allow me to name names, Rahul is young, Modi is not. Should the electorate be guided by the age of the leaders or it should be the idea that they (the leaders) represent?

If you want to marry somebody, you will look at their age. For somebody who has to be a leader of the nation why are you concerned about age? Competence is the most important thing. So, it’s for people to decide. I’m not somebody who’s ever told even my family who they should vote for.

But when you speak about age and competence, would you allow me to draw an inference?

(Laughs) And what is that? In a country like India with 1.3 billion people, we should have hundred options as to who can become a prime minister. Unfortunately, across the political spectrum, we don’t see too many options.

So, the choice is obvious, is that what we can infer?

No, no, I’m not here to endorse or deprecate somebody because any human being can grow and transform; that possibility is always there. In the last five years, the stature of the nation has improved because of one leader. It is the prerogative of democratic world that we don’t have to agree with him on everything that he says. But the important thing is, is he genuinely working for the country? I think 100 per cent yes. Is he right always?

No. In intent and in purpose there is no doubt about how he’s working. The kind of schedule he keeps is inhuman. I think one reason for this is that in this country we have not created layers of leadership. If a leader takes the responsibility it is totally on him to prove or disprove whether he can do it or not. This is an unfair expectation from any human being. Right now he’s trying to initiate everything in the country.

You have to keep your streets clean; it’s his initiative. Children should wash their hands before they eat; that’s his initiative. You should do yoga for your health; it’s his initiative. I’m saying that he is the captain of the ship, not the crew. But unfortunately, he is also taking the role of the crew because in many things and so many places, the crew is missing.

This interview was conducted by Consulting Editor Ajay Singh in the last week of January

SATURDAY, FEB 9 - 15, 2019

Firstpost.

Politics North

by NE

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digital

For a deeper understanding of how the RSS is making inroads in the Northeast read Sanjib Baruah’s in-depth report on firstpost.com Keshav Baliram Hedgewar founded RSS in 1925; till 1940s no significant work happened in the Northeast Crossing the Brahmaputra was a problem, as was the remoteness and underdeveloped means of transport

SAFFRON CHARGE Being foot soldiers of Yogi brigade gives thousands of uneducated and jobless youngmen a sense of purpose, relevance

In 1946, Dadarao Parmarth came to Guwahati and established contact with a local businessman named Kesardeo Bhawri

Insecurity of non-locals was a driving force in getting into the RSS umbrella Realisation sunk in during anti-foreigner Assam agitation (19791985); then there were efforts to enlist locals One of the key figures behind the formulation of the RSS strategy in the Northeast was Krishnarao Sapre Sapre came to the conclusion that the NE tribal communities were much advanced economically, culturally and socially Strategies were devised to tamp down mass conversions to Christianity among the tribes of the Northeast The RSS works through its affiliate Akhil Bharatiya Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram among the tribes of the Northeast

Where RSS Men Love Their Pork SANJIB KR BARUAH

S

unil Deodhar loves his pork.

A key political strategist and a Maharashtra Chitpawan Brahmin, Deodhar is seen as the man behind Bharatiya Janata Party’s astonishing victory in the leftist bastion of Tripura during the state polls in February 2018.

Yasmin deshe hi yo jate: tazz tasyovaya hitam, a Sanskrit shloka that comes closest to meaning, ‘While in Rome, do as the Romans do.’ “We take everything. I have had wild rats in Meghalaya. I find gahori (Assamese and Nagamese for pork) delicious; it is one of my favourites.” This coming from Deodhar, who joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) when he was a child, before being catapulted to assume roles in the BJP, only underscores the relentless ambition of Sangh policy in the Northeast, which is to get to the grassroots at any cost.

In traditional brahmanical or Vedic Hinduism, pork is almost abhorred,

although, contradictorily, the tusked boar or varaha is worshipped as one of the ten incarnations of Vishnu. “Yes we take pork or rice beer, whatever we are offered. Where is the difficulty?” asks Atul Jog, an engineer who gave up his cushy job for Sangh work, and is now one of the top office bearers of the Akhil Bharatiya Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram (ABVKA), an organisation affiliated to the RSS that works with the tribal communities across India.

North-east India is home to many ethnic communities and tribes, where besides Hinduism and Christianity there co-exist numerous traditional faiths and belief systems with their unique culture and norms.

But the RSS and its Hindutva affiliates are making significant inroads into the many tribes and ethnic communities in the Northeast. Their objective: using the region’s 109 indigenous faiths to counter evangelical Christianity.

In December, the ABVKA organised the national tribal games in Sonapur,

near Guwahati. On the sidelines, a quiet meeting of delegates representing the 109 ethnic faiths took place.

Says Jog of the Sangh’s expanding network in the region: “There are about 250 ‘pracharaks’ from the Sangh. ABVKA has about 400 full-time workers, and there are other affiliated organisations too. So there are a total of about 2,000 to 2,500 of our workers in the Northeast. Our work in the Northeast has been expanding. Local workers have come up everywhere.

This is the result of our work”.

Explains Chandan Kumar Sharma, head of the sociology department, Tezpur central university, “The non-acceptance of pork and liquor by Hindu missionaries in the past was an obstacle in bringing the tribals closer to these workers. It was, however, not an obstacle for the Christian missionaries which helped them in attracting tribals to their fold. But while Christianity has done a lot for the social development of the tribals, the latter have lost their culture and heritage in

 ASHISH ASTHANA

There were very few local Assamese in the RSS in the beginning

the process”.

Like Deodhar, beef too is taboo for Jog. “We refuse with respect and they acknowledge it,” he says. “A Hindu is not determined by what he or she eats or doesn’t eat. We don’t have such exclusivity issues; we pursue inclusivity.”

“Go to Arunachal and you find the Donyi-Polo faith (the cult of the Sun and the Moon), or take the Bodos who worship Agni (fire god). If you look closely, there are many similarities.

There are certain superficial differences but that is the beauty”.

Both Deodhar and Jog have worked in the north-east region for at least a decade each. Between them they speak a variety of languages and dialects like Assamese, Khasi, Jaintia, Angami Naga, Manipuri, etc.

Rejecting the Sangh view, Sharma says, “All such tribes practising such religious rituals have been traditionally enumerated as Hindus in the censuses. Sociologist GS Ghurye defined them as ‘aboriginal or backward Hindus’. Others have called them ‘vanavasi Hindus’. It will, however, be preposterous to suggest that the Nagas or Mizos or Adis have anything to do with Hinduism”.

It’s a classic ‘who am I’ riddle for the genuinely puzzled Dhireshwar

Basumatary, about 45, who drives a taxi in Guwahati: “We perform two kinds of puja at home. A Hindu one, where we eat mutton in the community feast, and a Bodo one, where we kill a pig.” A Bodo tribal from Assam, Basumatary’s predicament is a familiar one for the many tribes and ethnic communities in the region that retain vestiges of their ancient traditional faiths that remarkably coexist with the adopted forms of organised religions.

And it is in this complex milieu of belief systems that the RSS and its affiliate organisations are investing in a major way, so much so that Sangh workers have evolved a distinct set of unstated rules to operate here.

Efforts like that of Deodhar and Jog are winning local support too. Says Lozhoho Khanyo, an Angami Naga who is the chief coordinator, Japfuphiki Pfutsana Keseko (indigenous faith society organisation of Angami Nagas). “Most people in my village have converted to Christianity. About 30 people follow our ‘Pfutsana’ cult that worships ancestors.”

From Viswema near Kohima, Khanyo has praise for the ABVKA. “It seeks to preserve our traditional culture and belief system. Every ethnic community is trying to codify laws, customs, traditions and rules today. ABVKA is helping in the logistics”.

“Our aim is to protect, promote and preserve the traditional belief systems which are no different from Hindu beliefs,” says Suryanarayan Suri, ‘pramukh’ of the ‘Purvattar Janajati Dharma Suraksha Manch’.

Says Jog: “The difference between the Church and us is that the Church is keen to convert; we don’t change anyone’s religion. We support preservation of one’s distinct identity.”

“We are not anti-Christian, but we are pro indigenous faiths and we definitely want to protect them. Forced conversions should not happen.”

The religious norms of mainstream ‘shashtric’ Hinduism represent the culture of a patriarchal, feudal and a settled agrarian society. “However, there is a recent tendency to impose one set of norms and parameters to define Hinduism on the basis of the cultural practices of the dominant segment of the Hindus. On the other hand, the traditional tribal culture represents a consumption-oriented, egalitarian society,” says Sharma.

It could easily be a text-book adaption of the ‘Great Tradition (GT)’ and ‘Little Tradition (LT)’ theory when staunch RSS men imbibe tribal traditions in a bid to counter the perceived threat of an evangelical Christianity.

“In this context, there has been a similar effort at ‘Sanskritising’ the little traditional elements. It has been a part of the nation-building exercise, but seen through the prism of a homogenised Hindu India,” says Sharma.

Lines drawn for Didi of all battles in West Bengal

THE CHIEF MINISTER has successfully managed to be in the centre of a national storm, one that would bolster her credentials as an unrelenting opponent of Prime Minister Modi

 GETTYIMAGES

SWAPAN DASGUPTA

CHALLENGE AHEAD The BJP hopes to clinch 22 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Mamata Banerjee’s West Bengal

There was both an intended and unintended consequence of Mamata Banerjee’s curious dharna against the CBI’s attempt to question the Kolkata Police Commissioner in connection with the Saradha scam.

What the West Bengal Chief Minister had hoped for, and successfully managed, was to be at the centre of a national storm that would bolster her credentials as an unrelenting opponent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Regardless of the fact that the dharna fizzled out after the Supreme Court’s not-too-favourable order, Banerjee did strengthen her gains from the 24-party rally in Kolkata on January 19.

The unintended effect of the chief minister overplaying her hand and even equating her dharna with the

freedom struggle was the acknowledgment that the BJP was now her foremost rival in West Bengal. When BJP president Amit Shah proclaimed six months ago that the BJP was targeting 22 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state, it was greeted with scepticism.

Today, after Modi’s two very successful rallies in Thakurnagar and Durgapur— no one will dismiss Shah’s assertion as an empty boast. The BJP’s challenge to the Trinamool Congress is real.

For the BJP, the strategic importance of West Bengal should not be underestimated. There is, of course, the emotional appeal of re-establishing the party in the province of Jana Sangh founder Shyama Prasad Mookerjee. However, more important is the necessity of the BJP bringing in a big haul of Lok Sabha seats from the four states of Assam, Tripura, Odisha and West Bengal to compensate for likely losses in northern and central India.

Yet, despite the determination and efficiency of the electoral machine that the BJP has built, winning West Bengal

is certain to be exceptionally difficult.

To begin with, Banerjee has built a political organisation that replicates the old Communist penetration of every locality and every institution in the state. Just as the Left allowed no space for alternatives, the Trinamool Congress has pursued a policy of absolute hegemony. Additionally, the political culture of West Bengal has remained faithful to the violent norms that have been in existence since the mid-1960s. Some 50 BJP activists have been killed in political violence since last summer’s violent Panchayat polls in which some 30 per cent of the seats were won by the TMC without a contest. Any effective BJP campaign for the 2019 general election will be disproportionately dependant on a strongwilled Election Commission.

Politically, the BJP’s organisational penetration is still weak and patchy.

Its ability to ensure a cadre presence in all the booths is in doubt. The party’s central leadership, however, believes that ground-level deficiencies will be

ironed out if the BJP is perceived as the real alternative to the TMC. In that event, it believes, the spontaneous resentment of people against the TMC’s high-handedness will manifest itself.

At present, the odds favour Banerjee. The TMC has begun its election campaign with the reassurance that the state’s Muslims population will be firm in its opposition to the BJP. On its part, the BJP is equally optimistic that Banerjee’s perceived pro-Muslim tilt will trigger a Hindu backlash. To offset this possibility, the chief minister is setting the stage for a campaign that will project the BJP as a party of Hindi-speaking outsiders. That may help the TMC in the short run but it could ruin Mamata’s national prospects in the event of a hung Lok Sabha.

In short, all indications are that West Bengal will see the fiercest battles of the 2019 election: a mahayudh involving Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee.

Swapan Dasgupta is a Rajya Sabha MP and a resident commentator for CNN-News18

6

Firstpost.

SATURDAY, FEB 9 - 15, 2019

Politics

Why Chhattisgarh’s tribals rejected BJP

OPINION

Ajai Sahni

WITH FORESTS degraded, incomes hurt, water sources depleted, the previous BJP government’s large-scale infrastructure works and other initiatives that doled out large sums of money failed to give adivasis a better life

The many shades of Red and how to erase them

G

uns or roses, what should the government’s strategy be against the nettlesome Maoist insurgency?

A vast body of incoherent literature on armed conflict has sought to push the idea that such struggles in general, and more emphatically the Left-wing or Naxalite rebellion, is not just another law and order problem. That there are root causes and political issues, which must necessarily be addressed before a solution can be achieved, and that consequently the use of force by the state is a counterproductive strategy of response.

The first difficulty with this perspective is the dyadic construction of the problem — as if the root causes and law and order approaches are unique and mutually exclusive. Insurgent conflict is enormously complex and goes through a wide range of stages, each of which requires a granular approach based on the prevailing dynamic.

Violence is a necessary component of this dynamic (otherwise, we would not be speaking of insurgency or rebellion), but does not exhaust the spectrum of actions and reactions that constitute both provocation and the policy of response. The degree to which violence prevails, moreover, is the measure in which the use of force as a counter will dominate responses. This is the inevitable consequence of the brute reality that, absent security and order, nothing else can work. We may talk of political and developmental solutions till we are blue in the face, but these can hardly be implemented where Maoist disruptive dominance is at levels that exclude any civilian presence of the state and its agencies. It is only after a degree of dominance has been secured through law and order measures that restoring civil govper cent of the problem ernance and a wide range of non-violent may be violence, but it’s interventions can be applied. the first 90 per cent Secondly, it is necessary to understand that the Maoists have enormously exploited the root causes argument to paralyse policymakers and even security forces from addressing crucial issues of law and order. Indeed, the Maoists derive a great deal of popular legitimacy because they harness a number of important and valid issues to their movement. What is little understood, however, is that this is essentially a strategy of ‘grievance harvesting’ rather than any committed effort to address such grievances. The Maoist choice of violence is not entrenched in broadly recognised root causes. It is ideologically dictated: an irreducible class conflict that can end only with the destruction of one class and the imposition of the ‘dictatorship of the proletarian’. As the Communist Party of India (Maoist) Political and Organisational Review states explicitly, in the context of the United Front activities that focus on mass mobilisation, “all this activity should serve to intensify and extend our armed struggle. Any joint activity or tactical alliances which do not serve the cause of the peoples’ war will be a futile exercise.”

It is significant, moreover, that both the Centre and governments in Maoist-afflicted states have long recognised the importance of instrumentalities beyond the use of force in addressing the insurgency. Every official document and approach emphasises ‘holistic’ or ‘multi-pronged’ solutions, and there are numberless programmes for development, improved governance and relief to underprivileged sections of the population, as well as generous surrender and rehabilitation policies for those who are willing to give up the gun (though their implementation may in some cases be dubious). The state has also engaged in efforts to secure negotiated settlement with insurgent groups in various theatres, and this has included cycles of dilution or suspension of operations against, and talks with, the Maoists. Historically, these alternative approaches come into play when the use of force has pushed insurgents into a situation where their survival is under threat, or where they have come to accept violence can yield no possible advantage. As one commentator notes, violence may be 10 per cent of the problem or 90 per cent of the problem, but it is the first 10 per cent, or the first 90 per cent. Our best intentions notwithstanding, law and order will continue to precede all other approaches for this reason alone.

90

The Maoists derive a great deal of popular legitimacy because they harness a number of valid issues

Ajai Sahni is the executive director of Institute for Conflict Management

 GETTYIMAGES

DEBOBRAT GHOSE

The road was paved with bullets.

Stretching from Konta to Sukma, across Chhattisgarh’s Maoist heartland, it was the centrepiece of the government’s efforts to transform the lives of the region’s adivasis and break their links with the insurgents. Local contractors refused to take on the work, fearing for their lives and the protection rackets run by the Maoists.

For 15 years, the Central Reserve Police Force stood along the road, braving ambushes and attacks.

Through the heart of the Maoist killing fields, the government built a skill city, an education hub, a multispeciality hospital and also set up a call centre. A one-time Maoist stronghold, Palnar turned into a digital village, hooked up to the worldwide web.

But November’s elections to the Chhattisgarh Assembly have called into question the government’s ‘clear-hold-and-build’ counter-insurgency paradigm that involves taking back an area from insurgents, keeping them away from it

quick read FOR 15 YEARS the CRPF stood guard in the Maoist heartland, braving attacks and ambushes on workers making the Palnar road A ONE-TIME Maoist stronghold,

Palnar turned into a digital village, owing to the efforts of the government

PART OF the problem is that what passes for development hasn’t done a lot for the adivasis and winning the confidence of the locals. The Bharatiya Janata Party made development the main plank of its campaign — but of the 12 seats in adivasi-dominated Bastar, the BJP won just one, and lost all 14 in Surguja.

The lesson is clear: New Delhi needs to think hard about its counter-insurgency model. Part of the problem is that what passes for development hasn’t done a lot for adivasis, despite the huge sums of money that have been spent.

Roads have been built to connect districts and blocks, which

only helps the villages within a periphery of 10 km or so from the local headquarters. While there is an education hub and a call centre at Jawanga village in Geedam block, other villages in the area such as Turmrigunda, Cherpal and Kaurgaon remain inaccessible.

It’s widely known that road-building businesses are the big beneficiaries of New Delhi’s open-handed spending: a recent Comptroller and Auditor General report found `4,600-crore worth of irregularities in e-tendering for work contracts.

For Bastar’s adivasis, development hasn’t translated into a better life. In towns such as Jagdalpur and Dantewada, government spending has sparked something of a construction boom — magnificent new homes and commercial buildings have mushroomed over the years.

In its third term, the Raman Singh government initiated large-scale development and infrastructure works. It also offered rice at `1 a kg to the tribal communities. The measures, however, didn’t reach the adivasis in Bastar, fanning resentment against the ruling BJP. Maoists cashed in on the anger to win over local youth.

“Tribals want development,” says BPS Netam, the president of the Chhattisgarh Sarv Adivasi Samaj, “but instead they’re getting construction. What about basic amenities? Unemployment and lack of education are pushing the tribal youth towards Maoism, but if an adivasi complains, he is branded a Maoist.”

In the villages, schools are without teachers and hospitals without doctors. In 2015, the state government closed 2,918 schools, including 782 in Bastar, under a ‘school rationalisation programme’— a byproduct of a chronic shortage of teachers. Students who walked 4 km to school now trek up to 12 km in the state where public transport is missing in rural areas.

The 15th Sarv Siksha Abhiyaan’s review report says 58.3 per cent of adivasi children remain out of school, which means they have little chance of capitalising on new opportunities in the towns.

Several Bastar villages do not have primary health centres either. For Dudepalli and Kerpe in the Bhopalpatnam block, the nearest medical help is 10 km away.

In a report auditing healthcare system for the 2012-17 period, the CAG found the state was 89 per cent

PROGRESS, MUCH? WHAT IS VEXING THE ADIVASIS

Roads built to connect districts and blocks only help villages within a periphery of 10 km from the local headquarters

While Jawanga village has a call centre and an education hub, villages like Turmrigunda, Cherpal and Kaurgaon remain cut off from the country

In the villages, schools are without teachers and hospitals without doctors

The 15th Sarv Siksha Abhiyaan’s review report says 58.3% adivasi children remain out of school short of its sanctioned strength of doctors and 34 per cent short of nurses. Even basic medicines were in short supply, says the report tabled in the Assembly in January 2019. Four of 10 children in the Kuwakonda and Katekalyan blocks, government data shows, are malnourished — perhaps the most graphic illustration of how the government’s development drive has failed Chhattisgarh’s adivasis.

Maoist hubs such as Basaguda, Jagargunda and Chintalnar villages still don’t have access to clean drinking water or electricity, let alone education or healthcare.

Adivasis defied a Maoist election boycott to participate in the Assembly election. The Bastar voter turnout was 83.64 per cent, against 76.35 per cent for the state, making it clear that adivasis want to participate in policy-making.

But the development blueprint rarely acknowledges their concerns

When the BJP government’s initiatives failed to reach the adivasis in Bastar, Maoists cashed in on the resentment — forests have become severely degraded, hurting incomes; land is incapable of sustaining agriculture; water sources have dried up and there is a lack of basic government services. British anthropologist Verrier Elwin, an authority on the Gonds and Baigas of Central India, warned that forcing “improvement on very simple people without at the same time having an adequate programme of development to make their lives fuller, richer and happier can be disastrous”.

For the most part, Indians are unaware of the long history of adivasi resistance to the appropriation of their resources, both in the colonial era and after independence. Pravir Chandra Bhanj Deo, Bastar’s hereditary raja, wanted a different model of development. His ideas became immensely popular with adivasis, but drew the wrath of the government. In March 1966, 36–year-old Deo was killed in his Jagdalpur palace by the police for “waging war against the state”.

It is that battle, in some sense, that is is still on, with Kalashnikov s replacing traditional adivasi weapons. Even today, adivasis resist big infrastructure development projects, arguing that their land is taken away but they don’t benefit.

Farms and water in villages adjoining the Bailadila mines, for example, have been contaminated with effluents and red oxide that have turned the land barren. “Land is taken away in the name of development and acquired without consent of gram sabhas,” says Netam.

“There’s a gap between the type of development the government has done and the kind the tribals need,” says Archana Prasad, a professor with Jawaharlal Nehru University’s School of Social Sciences.

“Development should be democratic and not thrust upon tribals.”

SATURDAY, FEB 9 - 15, 2019

Firstpost.

Politics

Voters don’t change allegiances overnight, but the RSS has lodged itself in people’s memory over time and is making inroads as the battle of 2019 looms larger

7

 IMAGING

RSS footsoldiers march to seize BSP’s Dalit base POLL TACTICS Facing what it knows will be a tough election, the Sangh has stepped up its efforts to retain and expand support among the Dalits of UP

which elected the BJP’s Satya Prakash Agarwal to the Assembly with 1,32,518 votes.

There is an economically weaker section within the Jatavs that seeks vikas, the mainstay of the BJP campaign. Voters don’t change allegiances overnight, but the RSS has lodged itself in people’s memory over time and is making inroads.

Proof of this are hundreds of people like Sunil who graduated from RSS-run schools and hold views different from that of the cadre-ised BSP voter, who shares a near familial bond with party founder Kanshi Ram and Mayawati.

How did this happen?

In the 2017 Assembly elections, the BJP fielded Jatav candidates in only 21 of the 85 constituencies that are set aside for Scheduled Castes. It left 49 seats for other Dalit communities such as the Paswan, Dhobi, Kori, Valmiki and Khateek.

One of the reasons for the BJP losing out on the PALLAVI REBBAPRAGADA intelligentsia and the more radicalised Jatav Dalits such as the Ambedkarites is its lack of strong Dalit year ago, a pole was dug deep leaders. Of its two prominent Dalits, former party into the muddy vastness of president Bangaru Laxman didn’t catapult into Meerut’s Jagriti Vihar, a huge a leader of national appeal and President Ram ground in this crowded Nath Kovind’s SC status was seen as incidental. western Uttar Pradesh city.

The RSS might also have failed to stem radicaliOne giant saffron flag went sation among Dalits, which is why the BJP has also focussed on the non-Jatavs, who account for 14 up at 101 feet. In its shadow per cent of the state’s total Dalit voters. But, in were nearly 350,000 people, most of them uniformed in brown and white, and around Meerut, a section of the Jatavs seems breaking into military-style salutes. to be veering away from the BSP. Modi’s glowing Rashtriya Uday was touted as the biggest-evutterances about BR Ambedkar, the architect of er congregation of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak the Constitution, have not gone unnoticed. On Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the BharaFebruary 19, the RSS will host events on Ravidas tiya Janata Party (BJP). Sunil Kumar Singh, 35, a Jayanti in Jatav-dominated areas.

Jatav and resident of Modipuram, on the northern There are 850 seva karyas, or centres, in western fringes of Meerut, was one of the key organisers.

Uttar Pradesh and 500 of them are in Dalit-domThe Jatav community, to inated areas, says Ajay Mittal, the region’s RSS which the Bahujan Samaj Party prachar pramukh. From stitching to computer leader Mayawati belongs, actraining, these centres that the RSS runs with an affiliate called Sewa Bharti are imparting skills that counts for nearly 55 per cent of the Dalit population in Uttar can help the young to earn a livelihood.

THE JATAV community, to Pradesh. They are also BehenOf the 2,200 shakhas in his district, not one which Mayawati belongs, ji’s core voters. The Jatavs are lacks Dalit participation, says Seva Das, the RSS accounts for nearly 55 more politically active than pramukh from Muzaffarnagar. per cent of the Dalit “The BJP plays the Dalit card strategically,” says other Dalit sub-castes, have Rajneesh Sharma, whose organisation Analog Inhad a history of Sanskritisapopulation in ternational conducts market research for political tion and are considered to be Uttar Pradesh parties. BJP Dalit leaders bring upper caste leaders against the upper-caste leanto the homes of Valmikis and Jatavs for sehbhoj, a ings of the RSS. community meal, says Sharma, who has studied On behalf of the RSS, Sunil invited supporters of the Ravivoting patterns in and around Meerut.

THERE IS an economically das ashram in Pavli Khas, close The broader question to the Jatav/non-Jatav dyweaker section within the to his home. Ravidasis are annamics is how the BJP versus gathbandhan (alliJatavs that seeks vikas, other Dalit sub-caste. ance) battle will play out in western Uttar Pradesh. the mainstay of the Since the alliance isn’t a national one, the local Vijay Das, a teacher at the BJP’s campaign ashram, says RSS footsoldiers voter won’t want instability at the Centre, says are the ones they turn to for Sharma. The transfer of votes within the gathbandhan isn’t a given—a Muslim candidate fielded by municipal issues and basics such as medicines the Samajwadi Party on a BSP turf may not appeal and school textbooks. to the Jatavs.

Vans of Sewa Bharti, the community service Last year, protests against alleged dilution of wing of the RSS, ferry medicines to Dalit coloa law protecting Dalits turned violent in Shobnies and that is probably why many Ravidasis hapur, near Meerut. Jai Kant Singh and Manish, campaigned for Sangeet Som. A Thakur, Som is both Jatavs, were arrested for inciting violence the BJP MLA from Sardhana. and spent eight months in jail. “Our problem In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP’s with the BJP is that the local adminisvote share among Dalits increased by tration is suspicious of us, but even 12 percentage points and the BSP’s the BSP did not help us get out of dipped by six. jail,” says Jai. A resident of Meerut CantonGopi Paria, a resident of Sobment, Raju says he supports was the percentage hapur and part of Dalit activPrime Minister Narendra Modi point increase in ist Chandrashekhar Ravan’s because he built toilets and Bhim Army, was murdered provided LPG cylinders which BJP’s vote share during the violence. His mothreplaced smoky stoves in poor among Dalits er doesn’t know which Dalit leadhouseholds. Nearly 5,000 Jatain 2014 LS polls er to support—no one has helped vs like him live in the cantonment,

A

quick read

12

THERE ARE 850 seva karyas in western Uttar Pradesh and 500 of them are in Dalit-dominated areas, according to Ajay Mittal, the region’s RSS prachar pramukh

her fight for justice. The silence of the BSP could cost it dear. The BJP may be reaching out to Jatavs but the scope for identity assertion within the larger machine of the party is limited and the Jatavs know that, says Joginder Kumar, Meerut chief of the BSP’s Dakshin Vidhan Sabha.

How much fruit the RSS’s efforts will yield remains to be seen. But as the forces of Hindutva catalyse new shifts in the political and social landscape of Uttar Pradesh, it could make a dent in Mayawati’s long-tended flock of faithful.

Vans of Sewa Bharti, the community service wing of the RSS, ferry medicines to Dalit colonies and that is why many Ravidasis campaigned for BJP MLA Sangeet Som

8

Firstpost.

SATURDAY, FEB 9 - 15, 2019

Versus

Collegium has to go, and it is just a matter of time before it does SUMATHI CHANDRASHEKARAN

T

he question whether the Supreme Court collegium should be dropped as a mechanism for appointing higher court judges has become redundant. Every day that passes points to this opaque process being completely incongruous with the democratic ideals of transparency and accountability that India aspires to.

During the constitutional challenge posed by the National Judicial Appointments Commission in 2014-15, several concerns were raised about the collegium process. However progressive the idea of the commission was, it was not surprising that a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court rejected the law for the commission’s composition as impinging on the judiciary’s independence.

In the months following the decision, one felt the judiciary would move towards transparency in its appointments. This was when the executive and the judiciary parleyed over a memorandum of procedure (MoP) for judicial appointments after the court (unusually) asked for public comments. Today, hundreds of comments on, there is no sign of the MoP coming to life.

One small concession in process was made: collegium resolutions are now available on the Supreme Court website. While this is a positive step, only the final resolutions are available.

There is no information on how

Collegium brings the risk of cronyism and similarity bias, that is, preferring to recruit someone known these resolutions came about, or what the meeting agenda was, or why certain individuals were identified for elevation or transfer. Are individuals selected on grounds of regional representation, or merit, or seniority, or something else entirely?

The absence of a clearly defined MoP means appointments, elevations and transfers of judges remain arbitrary, ad hoc and subjective. There is also no guarantee that the collegium’s decisions are final, as demonstrated by a recent reversal of a decision.

The design of the collegium causes the judiciary to run the risk of cronyism and a similarity

bias — i.e., judges may prefer to recruit those known to them, or are just like them.

There is sufficient data to point to cronyism in the judiciary. The prevalence of a similarity bias is less tested, but can be especially dangerous. The temptation of selecting candidates that are like yourself, whether in terms of gender, class, education, or other socio-economic factors, is very high for any recruiter in any field of work. It can mean valuable criteria such as merit and diversity are disregarded. More problematically, we can also end up having an institution that is highly homogenous. Even if it is sought to be mitigated, an unintended outcome of a similarity bias is it can get embedded in perpetuity. Judges who are picked by judges like themselves may continue to do the same. This can further impact how judges think about adjudication itself.

For example, it may well be that a shared socio-economic background has led to Indian judges becoming inclined to decide in favour of one group of litigants over another in certain kinds of cases. This has not been proven conclusively as yet.

But anyone concerned about the health of the judiciary will agree that implicit biases are not a good thing.

As noted earlier, the question whether the Supreme Court collegium should go is superfluous. The better, more relevant, question is, when will the collegium be relegated to the history books? Who will undertake this task? And what form will the selection process of judges take?

The two other arms of the State have made attempts at effecting change. The legislature tried to enact, but failed to retain, a constitutional amendment to set up a judicial appointments commission. The executive tried to work with the judiciary to redraft and finalise the MoP. While seemingly assuming the role of cooperator, the executive has also pushed back on many recommendations made by the collegium and delayed selection of judges.

Even within the judiciary, individuals have tried to protest, notably Justice Jasti Chelameshwar, who walked out of the collegium reportedly because he was unhappy with the non-transparent manner of proceedings.

His experience shows a solitary challenger can shake things up.

Institutions, like people, evolve.

We just have to be patient and wait. Change will come.

Collegium has flaws, but that’s the cost of judicial independence PRATEEK CHADHA

I

 SHATAKSHI

Is it time to rid SC of its collegium? facts first COLLEGIUM RESOLUTIONS are now available on the Supreme Court website. But there’s little information on how these resolutions come about NO DEFINED memorandum of procedure means

appointments, elevations and transfers of judges remain arbitrary

THE COLLEGIUM came into being because the judiciary

felt the need to insulate itself from the influence of the government

Sumathi Chandrashekaran is a policy lawyer with interests in legislative, regulatory and judicial reforms

If you are having problems in your marriage, you have two options: try and fix the issues, or get a divorce and bet you will find a better partner. Just like marriages, no system is perfect and there can be no question that the Supreme Court’s collegium formula of judges appointing judges has many shortcomings.

The critics of the setup are quick to point out that it suffers from nepotism and a lack of transparency. While there can be no getting away from the truth of these criticisms, the question we need to ask ourselves is whether they mean that the collegium system should be done away with?

I would argue that the answer to this question is clearly ‘no’.

To understand why, we need to appreciate the reason behind the collegium’s creation. The fact is that the system came about as a last-ditch attempt by the judiciary to preserve its independence after decades of executive interference. The years before the collegium came into being were marked by numerous instances of governments refusing to appoint deserving candidates whose political beliefs were inconvenient to them. There were even instances of judges being denied the opportunity to become Chief Justice of India on account of the fact that they had decided important cases against the Central government. All of this had created an atmosphere in which the judiciary completely failed the people of India during Emergency and in the infamous ADM Jabalpur vs Shivkant Shukla (1976) case, some judges went as far as to say that an ordinary citizen did not even have the right to life during a state of emergency.

Consequently, it was felt that there was a need to insulate the judiciary from the pernicious influence of the government.

As a result of the insulation of the courts from government influence by way of the collegium system, our judiciary routinely decides important cases against governments of the day. This can be seen from the decisions in politically significant cases such as those relating to the dissolution of the Uttarakhand Assembly and the turf tussle between the Centre and Delhi government.

By making judges solely responsible for the appointment of their successors, the collegium system has created a set of stakeholders with interests that will always be distinct from those of the government of the day. And while it can be persuasively argued that the interests of the judges are not always calibrated to ensure that only the most suitable candidates are elevated, the mere existence of the collegium means that the single-largest

litigant in India does not decide who will be hearing its cases.

Another argument that is often made is that the collegium needs to be done away with as it is inherently undemocratic and means that judges who do not enjoy any popular support at all are given tremendous powers over the lives of ordinary citizens. However, this argument ignores that the Constitution has deliberately created such a situation as judges are often required to make hard decisions that may well require ignoring the demands of the majority of citizens to secure the fundamental rights of all citizens. Any attempt to make the courts more amenable to the democratic will of the people will inevitably result in an India that has less regard for the rights of minorities and is, therefore, to be avoided.

Our courts have a proud history of being able to buck the popular will and do what is correct.

Decisions such as those in the Shah Bano, Kaushal and Sabarimala cases would never have emanated from a more overtly political judiciary.

None of the proposed alternatives to the system are guaranteed to ensure that only the most suitable candidates are appointed. Whoever is given the power in an alternative system will inevitably appoint judges that suit their own interests. Take the National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill that was struck down by the Supreme Court, for example. The provisions for selection of judges in it meant that

The existence of collegium means the single largest litigant does not decide who will hear its cases the central law minister of the day and some prominent members of the Supreme Court Bar would have had a significant say in the appointment of judges.

There has been increased scrutiny of the decisions made by the collegium and, hopefully, over time, this will lead to an improvement in the quality of appointments made by it.

Till that happens, however, the flaws of the collegium system will just have to be understood as the cost we pay for an independent judiciary.

Prateek Chadha is an advocate in the Supreme Court and the Delhi HC

Maya gets her Twittizenship MAYAWATI

SAURABH VERMA

@SushriMayawati Hello brothers and sisters. With due respect let me introduce myself to the Twitter family. This is my opening and inauguration. @sushrimayawati is my official Twitter handle for all my future interactions, comments and updates. With warm regards. Thank you.

@saurabhk_verma Welcome. Hope your tweets will reflect your thoughts unlike your scripted speeches. #MayawatiOnTwitter

TEJASHWI YADAV

@onlypriyansh Has @Twitter announced automatic 10k likes and retweets for verified SC/ST Users? #MayawatiOnTwitter

@yadavtejashwi Finally glad to see you here. Happy that you acknowledged and respected my request of joining twitter during our meeting in Lucknow on 13th January. Warm Regards

PRIYANSHU SINGH

twibate

SATURDAY, FEB 9 - 15, 2019

Firstpost.

Inside Out

Youth with limited reading and arithmetic abilities are more susceptible to being cheated

WRONG TARGET Successive governments have focussed on only large-scale training of youths, not on developing their skills or competence

It’s time to launch Read India before Skill India

A perception has been built that skills will provide livelihoods to all our youth even as our education system continues to flounder

SKILL TRAINING helps the learners build strong foundations for careers, but glass ceiling exists for those who lack basic reading and arithmetic abilities

T

AZEEZ GUPTA AND MEDHA UNIYAL

at the major policy announcements and speeches over the past 10 years demonstrates the hype around skilling and ‘Skill India’ with barely any emphasis on foundational competencies.

It is, after all, much easier to create a new skilling ecosystem rather than overhaul the long-established school system. The public is also usually willing to grant more time and rest its hopes on the creation of something new than transforming what already exists. So, a perception has successfully been built that skills will provide livelihood to all our youth even as our education system continues to flounder.

In fairness, skill development done properly does work. Development of practical and social-emotional skills along with industry-connections enable young people, even if functionally illiterate, to obtain an entry-level job and earn a basic income. However, our experience and data show that the lack of foundational education places a restrictive ceiling on the career prospects of even ‘skilled’ youth.

wenty-four-year-old Rakesh Gaikwad waits for his contractor to come and evaluate his work for the day. He is an expert mason at a construction site who underwent vocational training and has three years of subsequent work experience. Rakesh earns `600 daily, yet cannot even measure the square footage of bricks that he lays everyday. He is entirely dependent on his boss to determine the economic value of his work and, thereby, his payments due. When we ask him whether he too wants to be a contractor, Rakesh exclaims: “Every mason dreams of having his own project, but without knowing numbers, how will I account for work and money?”

Despite attending school diligently till Class 8, Rakesh did not learn basic arithmetic application.

Now, he is stuck as a construction worker failing to rise up the ranks to become a supervisor or COMPROMISED QUALITY OF LIFE AND contractor-entrepreneur despite possessing the requisite THE WORKFORCE OF THE FUTURE technical skills.

The experience of Pratham, one of India’s largest Rakesh is not alone. The reeducation and skills organisations, is instructive.

The NGO has provided vocational training to more cently released Annual Status 50 PER CENT of students of Education Report (ASER) , Inthan 100,000 youths. On tracking the career trapassing class 8 are unable dia’s largest NGO-run yearly surjectories of these alumni, we find that while skill to even divide numbers, vey, paints a distressing picture training helps the learners build strong foundaaccording to a recently of basic reading and arithmetic tions to careers, there is a glass ceiling for those released Annual Status of abilities of students, with 25 per who lack basic reading and arithmetic abilities.

Education Report cent of students passing Class 8 A back-end kitchen helper is unable to get prowithout any reading competenmoted to be a front-end restaurant steward; an cy, and over 50 per cent unable assistant electrician gives up his dream of startto even divide numbers. ing his own practice; a ward woman in a hospital The report also demonseldom moves up the value chain without the STUDENTS DON’T strates that students don’t ability to read and count dosage. While we see bridge or overcome bridge or overcome these youth building on their hands-on and technical their learning gaps skill during the course of their jobs, basic literacy learning gaps with either age with either age or more and numeracy are hard to pick up on one’s own. or more years in schooling, years in schooling, and There are other significant ramifications of this and continue to struggle with continue to struggle with issue. Youth with limited reading and arithmetic foundational skills. Functionfoundational skills abilities are more susceptible to being cheated. ally, this leads to an inability Lowered ability to handle money and transact digto read basic prescriptions, itally leave them legally and financially vulnerable. calculate discounts and challenges in other Additionally, with motor skills increasingly being everyday operations.

This situation persists despite 10 years having replaced by automation, these youngsters stand at the brink of becoming irrelevant. The new age of passed since the last major policy change in Indian education—the Right to Education (RTE) Act jobs in the knowledge economy will require agilin 2009. The RTE has made meaningful contriity to train and retrain ourselves. For youths who have missed the boat on reading, gaining the butions to infrastructure and ‘inputs’, and skill of self-learning may be implausible. the ASER reports over the years show this improvement. However, learning ‘outcomes’ received scant mention MOVING FORWARD in the Act and this neglect is visible The situation is bleak, but there in the results—the same reports are solutions. Organisations are describe how outcomes have experimenting with integrating of students pass remedial literacy and numeracy become worse, rather than betclass 8 every year modules in vocational training ter, over the past decade. There without any reading have been recent murmurs about courses. This is possible across the the HRD ministry contemplating skills ecosystem if incentivised by competency governments. Another option is techextending the RTE to Class 12. The nology, which can enable young people only reaction that comes to mind is to learn skills on their own even if they’ve alAlbert Einstein’s definition of insanity as ready joined the workforce. Such modules and doing the same thing over and over, but games will have to be thoughtfully designed to be expecting different results. effective for non-readers using techniques such EDUCATION, SKILLING AND THE as voice recognition and natural language proGAPS IN BETWEEN cessing—but it can be done.

Despite longitudinal evidence of this ‘learning Of course, the best solution would be to build gap’, the focus of successive governments has not been on developing basic foundational skills, but Azeez Gupta was formerly at NGO Pratham and McKinsey on bypassing this harder problem with a simpler & Company and is currently at the Harvard Business alternative of large-scale skilling for youth, who School and Medha Uniyal leads the vocational training and entrepreneurship arm of Pratham will presumably remain uneducated. A glance

quick read

25%

Foundational literacy and numeracy should be taught early in school

9

foundational literacy and numeracy skills early on in school. Effective and tested techniques exist, but governments and the public need to align on the urgency of the situation—Read India should precede Skill India.

We cannot circumvent problems of education by creating a parallel system of adult technical training.

Skill or entrepreneurship development in isolation cannot completely solve the future problems of the workforce. Foundational education is the bedrock to true opportunity.

Technology can enable young people to learn these skills on their own even if they’ve already joined the workforce

SATURDAY, FEB 9 - 15, 2019

Crossroads

Sanatan Sanstha A Hypnotic Attraction The secretive organisation set up by hypnotherapist Jayant Balaji Athavale has been accused of serious crimes like murder and bomb blasts but remains popular among the youth for its ideology

 GETTYIMAGES

10

Firstpost.

S

SONAL MATHARU

andeep Karnik saw his two young sisters staring at an empty carton, chanting mantras for hours. “We are transferring our negative energies into the box,” the women told Karnik.

That was five years ago. Karnik’s sisters, then 22 and 26, left home to be part of the Sanatan Sanstha, a ‘Hindu spiritual organisation’, in 2014 and never returned.

Kapil Kupekar witnessed a similar mind-boggling scene 19 years ago. His doctor sister walked up to the family altar in their Pune home, collected the ashes of incense sticks, added them to water and drank the mix. “It will protect me from evil powers,” then-24-year-old Neha told him. Kupekar, also a doctor, says the strange rituals started after Neha began attending discourses of the Sanstha. She was sucked so deep into its ideology that “she could have killed in the name of religion”, says Kupekar, who found a dagger in Neha’s belongings.

In their dimly lit home in Satara, a middle-aged couple’s wait for their daughter and son continues. The two left

BIZARRE THINGS THAT SANSTHA WRITES ABOUT ITS CHIEF JAYANT ATHAVALE

home in 2012 to join the Sanstha and went incommunicado. They only got back in touch with their parents last year—brief phone calls twice a month. “The Sanatan people are everywhere. If they see you here, they will tell our children and the phone calls will stop,” their mother Rita Takle told Firstpost, her husband Sachin seated next to her.

There are several such families across Maharashtra, where the young and bright have cut off all ties to turn footsoldiers of the Sanstha and to ‘revive’ Hinduism. It is hard to say how many sadhaks, or followers, the Sanstha has, but a rough figure would be 450 devotees who live in its two ashrams in Maharashtra’s Thane and Panvel, and another one in Ponda, Goa. More than 2,000 full-time sadhaks live outside the ashrams, says Sanjiv Punalekar, advocate and secretary of the Hindu Vidhidnya Parishad (HVP), a lawyers’ body that works with the Sanstha. Besides, there are people who give occasional service. “It’s a flexible number,” says Punalekar.

This secretive and shadowy outfit, which hides behind a maze of affiliates, is accused of serious crimes, including links to the murder of four rationalists and several low-intensity bomb blasts. But its popularity remains intact, as do its methods to reach out to the young. In the five districts Firstpost visited, families said that Sanstha’s stalls can still be seen at religious fairs, its in-house daily Sanatan Prabhat is dropped off at doorsteps, and satsangs are held every week.

Word of mouth, though, remains the most effective tool.

1

THE SANSTHA

Registered as a charitable trust, the Sanatan Sanstha was set up in 1999 by hypnotherapist Dr Jayant Balaji Athavale and his wife Dr Kunda Athavale, to propagate spirituality. Nine years of rallies and public meetings across Maharashtra, Karnataka and Goa have gone into the making of the Sanstha.

Lotus has appreared his forehead Om symbol on his head

The appearance of red shape on neck and yellow stripe on chest shows divine connection

The outfit gained notoriety for allegedly disrupting public speeches in Maharashtra in the early 2000s but was never named in any case. Its first link with serious crime surfaced in 2008 when two sadhaks were sentenced to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment for a blast in Thane and planting a bomb in Vashi. They were also fined for their role in a blast in Panvel. In 2009, the Sanstha was in the news again: two sadhaks were killed, allegedly when a bomb they were carrying in a scooter went off in Goa’s Margao, the police say.

2

INITIATION, INDOCTRINATION

2K

devotees are full-time sadhaks who live outside the ashrams

The Sanstha is careful in picking recruits.

For the first few months, recruits are reintroduced to Hindu traditions such as the meaning of folding hands and reason for wearing a tilak, which strike a chord, says Karnik.

On its website, the Sanstha projects itself as a religious and spiritual organisation, listing 16 chants for tasks as varied as eating, climbing a mountain or even waging a war. The tasks are linked to the larger good of Hindu religion and society.

“People are looking beyond their routine life to find meaning,” says Hamid Dabholkar, a psychiatrist and son of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, who was gunned down in 2013, allegedly by people with links to the Sanstha. Based in Satara, Dabholkar has seen the influence that the Sanstha has come to wield on middle-class Hindu families. It offers them identity and purpose—they feel they are doing something for the Hindu society.

“This is a justified psychological need for everybody,” he says.

And the Sanstha knows it.

Jobs or education define the life of most such families.

The Karnik sisters were graduates, but their lives revolved around household chores and helping their mother with her shop. As part of the Sanstha, they travelled to different states for social service. Similarly, Rita’s daughter was upset because she didn’t make it to the merit list of her ayurvedic medicine exams. She saw the Sanstha as the only route out of the depression, Rita read in her daughter’s journal. When her son moved to a different city to study engineering, outside the classroom, satsangs became his social life. Neha had started chanting to beat anxiety after a girl in her hostel introduced her to satsangs.

Reflection of the yellow railing in the balcony, visible in the glass of the door of Athavale’s room, is clearer than the railing itself

SATURDAY, FEB 9 - 15, 2019

Firstpost.

Crossroads

11

‘LINK’ WITH CRIME 2008 Six people with alleged links to Sanatan Sanstha arrested for a bomb blast at a Thane theatre where a Marathi play Aamhi Pachpute was being screened The blast injured 7 They were also accused of planting a bomb in Vashi theatre for staging the same play, and in a movie hall in Panvel for screening the movie Jodha Akbar

Sadhaks Ramesh Gadkari and Vikram Bhave were awarded 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment for the crime The Sanstha’s involvement was also suspected in the Malegaon mosque bomb blasts in 2008

2009 Six Sanstha members were accused of engineering an IED blast in Margao, Goa, on the eve of Diwali. The bomb exploded a few feet away from the Narakasur effigy set up for the burning ceremony that the Sanstha was opposing

2015 CPI leader Govind Pansare shot dead in Kolhapur Six months later, scholar MM Kalburgi shot in Dharwad. The Sanstha was again the suspect

Two alleged Sanstha members, Malgonda Patil and Yogesh Naik, died while planting the bombs. The six accused (in the picture above) were later acquitted due to lack of evidence

2017 Activist and journalist Gauri Lankesh shot dead outside her house in Bengaluru by two bike-borne men In the rationalists’ murders, investigating agencies suspect involvement of Sanstha sadhaks

2013 Two men on a motorbike shot dead Satara-based rationalist Narendra Dhabolkar in Pune.

The Sansthan’s role was suspected

2018 Crude bombs, gelatin sticks and batteries seized by the Maharashtra ATS at the house of one of thosearrested in Nalasopara. Twelve accused were named in the charge sheet

Cults, religious sects are not a thing of the past SONAL MATHARU

C

The Sanstha, Dabholkar explains, identifies such vulnerable, lonely individuals and families. Association with fringe religious organisations aligns an individual’s identity with a group identity, granting greater self-esteem and empowerment, Farhaan Wahi of the University of Wales writes in a paper studying how Hizb ut-Tahrir, a radical Islamic group in the UK, indoctrinates and radicalises the youth.

The new perspective offered by such religious outfits may contradict the established culture, arousing a sense of conflict with it, says Wahi. The families in Maharashtra experienced something similar. Their children, they say, started associating with their new Hindu identities and felt that Western ideas had weakened Hinduism. They saw it as their duty, as Hindus, to revive forgotten rituals and practices, and chanting was a weapon against a common enemy—the evil powers that reside in all those who oppose or question Hinduism.

The indoctrination is subtle. Once the new sadhaks become regulars, they are absorbed in a closed group where they are told about atrocities against the Hindus, says Rita, who attended a few satsangs with her children. Sachin noticed that soon after joining the Sanstha, his son started talking along communal lines. Sadhaks are told that communal riots, terrorism, spread of disease and natural and man-made calamities are signs of apocalypse, Karnik says. “They instil fear in people. They tell them that religious war is going to begin. God is going to come to earth in the form of a human avatar to protect; that avatar is ( Jayant) Athavale,” he says.

When the world didn’t end in 2008 or in 2012, as predicted, the sadhaks were told that Guruji [Athavale] had prevented the catastrophe, say the families.

But the Sanstha rubbishes these claims. Sanstha’s spokesperson Chetan Rajhans says Athavale has never claimed to be God. “He [Athavale] tells people that he is getting old; he is a patient. How can he be God? He has even published this in Sanatan Prabhat,” he says.

3

THE HYPNOTIC GRIP

“There is a complete mental breakdown.

The sadhaks are told that the only one who can save them is Guruji. So, they should come to the ashram,” says Kupekar. At a loss to understand their abandonment by their loved ones, families are convinced that their children have been hypnotised. In 2011, Lonavala-based scientist Vijay Rokde,

The fig tree outside Athavale’s room has green leaves due to the positive energy emitted by his body when he exhales

Prof. Shyam Manav, a hypnotherapist who was close to Sanstha founder Athavale, says giving suggestions during meditation can put people into deep trance and that is what the Sanstha is practising

whose wife was a Sanstha sadhika, filed a public interest litigation in Bombay High Court with three other families, saying the Sanstha was using the science of hypnotherapy to control people. He read up on hypnosis and found that those in deep hallucinatory state could be manipulated into committing crimes. Athavale is manipulating hypnosis techniques and applying them on the sadhaks, his plea says.

Rajhans dismisses the allegations as baseless. Hypnotherapy, he says, can only be done with a person’s consent. It cannot be done on a group and Athavale stopped practising when he set up the Sanstha.

Professor Shyam Manav, a hypnotherapist who was close to Athavale before the Sanstha was launched, explains that giving suggestion during meditation can put people into deep trance. He claims that is what the Sanstha is practising. “Athavale knows the science of this really well,” he says. Devotees share spiritual experiences with sadhaks, who then zero in on people who go into deep trance. “People who go into deep trance are then asked to do more so that they attain nirvana.

Then you can feed anything to these people,” says Manav.

They are then told it is okay to kill in the name of religion, he alleges. “It’s god’s work.”

Dabholkar doesn’t buy the hypnosis or the brainwashing theory. “They have used principles of hypnosis and religious fundamentalism and made a deadly concoction—which is the Sanstha,” he alleges. “It amounts to abuse of mental health knowledge.” The Sanstha is careful. Anyone who has an inquisitive mind and believes in questioning is screened out, Dabholkar claims. Is there no getting away from the Sanstha?

In the West, there are de-radicalisation programmes but the results are doubtful, he says.

4

WHAT LIES AHEAD

Will its alleged crimes bring down the Sanstha? Since 2008—the first time it was linked to serious crime—the Sanstha has not been named in even a single chargesheet. So, where does the question of banning it arise? Rajhans asks. In the rationalists’ murders, 700 sadhaks were questioned; not one was named in any FIR. “It is an intellectual war,” Rajhans says. “Those who are opposing the Sanstha are anti-Hindu; they are communist party people.”

The families have gone to the police, pleaded with sadhaks and hurled stones at the ashrams, only to be handed out legal documents signed by their children saying they had chosen to be sadhaks. HVP has sued many families for defamation. Unable to take on the Sanstha’s legal might, many have given up.

For years, Kupekar tried to bring Neha out of the Sanstha’s practices even when his parents wanted to give up. But he won’t tell Firstpost where she is. She has had long spells of psychiatric treatment, and reminding her of the past could act as a trigger and she may go back to being a sadhika, he fears.

All he is willing to share is that Neha is out of the ashram, goes to work and practises meditation at home.

Others aren’t that lucky. Sachin is pinning his hopes on a ban on the Sanstha. “Even if it is banned, we don’t know whether our children will come back to us,” he says, resignedly.

(The names of some individuals have been changed to protect their identities.)

Insects died on their own due to their inability to tolerate the energy in Athavale’s room

Rainbow-coloured rings are emitted by the flame of an oil or electric lamp due to the energy in Athavale’s room

ults, religious sects, call them what you want, mock them as much as you want, but they are here to stay. The tragic and inglorious end of Jim Jones’ Peoples Temple, Osho’s Rajneeshpuram, Japan’s Aum Shinrikyo and other such associations across the world by no means implies that cults are a thing of the past.

By the early 1980s, research on cults had branched out to almost all fields. The researchers were trying to understand what led to the boom of these so-called ‘religious sects’ in the 1960s and 70s. From digging the social, financial and emotional background of those who joined cults to accounts of grieving parents, ex-cult members and de-programmers, studies were assessing if cults provided a meaningful alternative to those looking to break free from conventional religions.

In India, the ashrams of Rajneesh—better known as Osho—continue to thrive 28 years after his death. The Peoples Temple, which started as a charitable organisation and ended with mass suicide, continues to be a hot topic as former members relive it in the media through their stories, books, movies and interviews.

In July 2018, the founder and 12 other leaders of Aum Shinrikyo, the Doomsday cult that released Sarin gas in the Tokyo subway in 1995, were executed. But the cult lives on in the form of multiple splinter organisations that recruit close to 200 youth every year, writes Rohan Gunaratna, head of International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, Singapore.

Unlike street corners and obscure towns, professional associations, academic institutions and the Internet are the favoured hunting grounds of new-age cults emerging with similar agendas and new names, writes Janja Lalich on her website Cult Research.

A few fundamentals remain unchanged. The cults offer a liberating, revolutionary path to religion, often through spirituality, and project their utopian communes as a haven from a conflicted, troubled and an unequal society.

They provide a new perspective with which to view the social world and attract the lonely, anxious, troubled youth who feel trapped in orthodox social constructs.

People join these cults willingly, firmly believing in the idea to which they choose to submit. The feeling that they matter and are devoting their lives to the larger good under a divine, charismatic leader is a promising start.

Once concretised, these sects create a moral panic with its basis in reality, say James Richardson and Massimo Introvigne in their 2001 paper on Journal for the Scientific Study on Religions. They add that a sect is then integrated by providing a common enemy. And to defeat that enemy, the cults have been linked with serious crime and even radicalisation of its members. For instance, Rajneesh’s personal secretary Ma Anand Sheela was charged and sentenced for attempting to kill US government officials, poisoning salad bars in Oregon and attempting to meddle with elections.

Similarly, Aum Shinrikyo used murders and kidnappings against their opponents and made several failed attempts after 1995 by using chemical gasses for attacks in railway stations in Japan.

India’s cults are no stranger to controversy. Gurmeet Ram Rahim, the head of Haryana-based Dera Sacha Sauda, was sentenced to life imprisonment just weeks ago in a 2002 murder case of a journalist, while Asaram Bapu is serving a life sentence for raping a minor girl in 2013.

And late last month, China’s police (ministry of public security) warned its citizens that spiritual courses offered by some Indian religious schools are mired in ‘sexual assault’ cases, after Taiwanese actress Yi Nengjing, aka Annie Yi, promoted a spiritual course offered by south India-based Oneness University.

China in 2017 started a website, China Anti-Cult Network, to spread awareness about preventative measures and policies that China has for tackling cults.

Warnings notwithstanding, cults have sustained over centuries and will thrive with new names, evolving recruiting fields, modified agendas and no dearth of followers. The continuing popularity of movements whose leaders are in jail, bears eloquent testimony to this truth.

Cults offer a liberating, revolutionary path to religion often through spirituality

Firstpost.

12

SATURDAY, FEB 9 - 15, 2019

Polinomics MORE THAN 1.43 LAKH TONNES PER DAY OF SOLID WASTE WAS GENERATED ACROSS INDIA AS ON JANUARY 31, 2018

128

If all the waste produced in a state is stored together IN TRUCKS (capacity 30 tonnes, height 4.1 metres each) PLACED ON TOP OF EACH OTHER

95

87

MOUNT EVEREST =

8,848

42

44

57

57

59 Source: PARLIAMENT QUESTIONS

NUMBER OF MT. EVEREST EQUIVALENTS COMPARED TO TOPPED UP GARBAGE TRUCKS

36

37

2,344,760

2,372,500

2,690,415

2,810,500

3,650,000

3,702,925

3,832,500

5,601,655

6,132,000

8,238,050

MADHYA PRADESH

RAJASTHAN

TELANGANA

WEST BENGAL

KARNATAKA

GUJARAT

NCT OF DELHI

TAMIL NADU

UTTAR PRADESH

MAHARASHTRA

METRES

TOTAL WASTE GENERATION (Million tonnes/year)

Bottomline of Budget is votes of EWS and farmers

THE TEN dimensional Vision presented by interim Union finance minister Piyush Goyal can be expected to frame the BJP’s election manifesto

SANJAYA BARU

T

he Interim Budget presented by interim Union finance minister Piyush Goyal fits into a pattern.

Taken together, the five Budget speeches of Union finance minister Arun Jaitley and the sixth one by Goyal present the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) vision for the economy and the polity.

How different is the BJP’s economic vision from that of the erstwhile Indian National Congress and its contemporary version, the Sonia Congress?

There is an increasing emphasis in the ‘Modi Budgets’, so to speak, on offering something to everyone. It is like what so many Indian restaurants offer: ‘North Indian, South Indian, Chinese, Fast Food’.

The BJP budget speech sounds so much like

TREND OF MAJOR ITEMS OF GOVT EXPENDITURE 2017-2018

RE 2018-19

BE 2019-20



IMAGING

While the Interim Budget speech promises many things to many people, Goyal has put his money where his mouth is—mainly on farmers and the lower middle class

good old Congress-speak. Goyal has not left any significant socio-economic group out of his speech.

From farmers to soldiers, salary earners to investors, there is something for everyone. At its core, the BJP’s economic vision is no different from that of the Congress. Borrowing political scientist Rajni Kothari’s evocative phrase, one can say the BJP is trying to put in place its own version of the old ‘Congress System’ of appealing to a wide cross section of society going beyond its narrow and limiting Hindu-Hindi heartland to emerge as a dominant national political force.

If there is any departure from the norm, it is the emphasis on the wants of the ‘aspirational Indian’, but there are limits to how much one can offer an aspiring voter. It is best to stick to the knitting and focus on the perspiring one. That is what Goyal has done. There are many promises for the future but the fiscal handouts here and now are for small and marginal farmers and the so-called lower middle class—the economically weaker sections (EWS).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s finance ministry has read the literature on political business cycles.

From Polish economist Michal Kalecki’s 1943 paper to American economist William Nordhaus’s paper of 1975 and beyond, there has been growing

literature on how political parties in government spend their way into elections in the hope of injecting a feel-good factor.

So, the promised reduction in the fiscal deficit to 3 per cent of national income will not happen anytime soon. Indeed, even the budgetary commitment to bring it down to 3.3 per cent has been compromised and the government has said that it would be comfortable with a revised as well as a budget estimate of 3.4 per cent. Such fiscal injections become even more necessary if there is a ‘feel-bad’ factor in play in the run-up to an election. More than the fiscal arithmetic of the Budget, is its political economy.

So, what is that ‘feel-bad’ factor that the Modi government’s Interim Budget seeks to address? Clearly, inflation is not such a major concern, with oil prices down and food prices low. But food has presented a problem. The terms of trade between agriculture and the non-agricultural economy have been adverse to the grower. Farm economists Ramesh Chand and SK Srivastava of NITI Aayog have argued that a moderate increase in the wholesale price index, along with a fall in food prices, have

The BJP is trying to put in place its own version of the old ‘Congress System’ of appealing to a wide cross section of society

resulted in adverse terms of trade for farm output.

That would explain the widespread view across the country that farmers are an aggrieved lot. The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM Kisan) seeks to address precisely this concern. Taken together, the PM Kisan initiative and the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan will benefit 22 crore citizens—12 crore farmers and 10 crore labourers.

The finance minister has provided PM Kisan `20,000 crore in the revised estimates of the Budget for 2018-19 and `75,000 crore in the 2019-20 Budget.

This sum is to be disbursed in three instalments of `2,000 each to 12 crore farmers and tenant farmers with up to two hectares of land. Since this scheme is to be rolled out with retrospective effect from December 1, 2018, it has generally been assumed in the commentary on the Budget that at least two instalments will be paid into farmers’ accounts before voting day. Assuming each instalment would cost `25,000 crore and given the additional provision already made in the 2018-19 Budget, it can be safely calculated that `50,000 crore will be injected into the farm economy this quarter. That is a lot of purchasing power and that is what perking up the political business cycle is all about.

A second feature of the Budget’s political economy is the concession made to the lower middle class through a rebate provided for taxpayers in the income bracket of up to `5 lakh per annum.

This gesture must be viewed along with the Union government’s decision in January to extend reservations to economically weaker sections among the upper castes. This EWS group of what are essentially lower middle class, mostly upper caste, urban families constitute the core of the BJP’s support base, especially in the Hindi heartland.

The tax rebate that is expected to benefit salary earners, small businesses, small traders, pensioners and senior citizens is estimated to cost `18,500 crore. Thus, while the Interim Budget speech promises many things to many people, the interim finance minister has put his money where his mouth is— mainly on farmers and the lower middle class. The rest of the Budget speech reads like the contours of the BJP’s election manifesto. The Ten Dimensional Vision presented by Goyal can be expected to frame the BJP’s election manifesto. However, if in 2014, the BJP got elected based on its promises and vision, in 2019, the voter’s decision will be based on performance rather than promise.

Sanjaya Baru was chief editor, The Financial Express and Business Standard

BOOST FOR FARMERS

(` CRORE)

1,80,000

1,60,000

1,40,000

1,20,000

1,00,000

80,000

60,000

40,000

20,000

0

` 20,000 cr

for Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi in the revised Budget estimates for 2018-19

AGRICULTURE & ALLIED ACTIVITIES COMMERCE & INDUSTRY

Our government is launching a historic programme PM-KISAN with an outlay of `75,000 crore for the FY 2019-20 and `20,000 crore in the revised estimates of FY 2018-19

SOPS FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS

` 6,000

will be disbursed to every farmer in three instalments

PIYUSH GOYAL Interim finance minister

EDUCATION

` 75,000 cr

HEALTH

for PM-KISAN in the 2019-20 Budget

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

` 3,000 cr

monthly pension under Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Mandhan (PMSYM)

SOCIAL WELFARE

12 cr

TRANSPORT URBAN DEVELOPMENT ���

RE: REVISED ESTIMATE; BE: BUDGET ESTIMATES

 AMRIT

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

farmers and tenant farmers with up to 2 hectares of land will benefit

22 cr

people will benefit from PM KISAN and PMSYM

The Interim Budget gave interim relief to middle-class taxpayers.

An income of up to `500,000 will not be taxable

Basic income tax limit raised from `2.5 LAKH TO `5 LAKH

TDS threshold on interest on bank and post office deposits up from

`10,000 to `40,000

Standard deduction up from

`40,000 to `50,000

SATURDAY, FEB 9 - 15, 2019

Firstpost.

Global Theatre

 GETTYIMAGES

ASIA BIBI’S acquittal is no indication of an inflection point for state-religion dynamics in Pakistan. The judges will most likely not go beyond acquitting those falsely accused of blasphemy

No country for Asia Bibi or other ‘blasphemers’ Blasphemy is a highly sensitive issue in Pakistan. In an environment of relacried alone putting my head in my tive impunity, the state’s opportunis“ hands. I can no longer bear the sight tic appeasement of extremist groups of people full of hatred applauding dedicated to the implementation of the the killing of a poor farm worker. stringent laws encourages their use as a potent tool of persecution and prevents I no longer see them, but I still hear reasoned debate or reform. them—the crowd who gave the judge a standing ovation saying: ‘Kill her, kill Bibi’s is the only most well-known case her! Allahu Akbar!’ The courthouse is inamong victims of these legal provisions, vaded by a euphoric horde which breaks which prescribe extreme punishments down the doors chanting: ‘Vengeance such as the death penalty for insulting the Prophet Mohammad and life imprisfor the holy Prophet. Allah is great!’ I onment for desecrating the Quran. While was then thrown like an old rubbish colonial in origin, it was dictator General sack into the van. I had lost all humanZia-ul-Haq, who enhanced the punishity in their eyes.”

This is how Aasiya Noreen, comments under the laws in 1986 in monly known as Asia Bibi, his political bid to Islamise described the day in the Pakistani state and 2010 when a Pakistani society. Exact numcourt sentenced her bers are not known to death under the but Pakistani hucountry’s draconiman rights groups an blasphemy laws. claim that blasBibi’s freeing by phemy cases have CASES OF BLASPHEMY the Supreme Court since increased REGISTERED IN PAKISTAN last October sparked from about a dozen SINCE PUNISHMENTS violent protests led by to more than 1,500.

WERE ENHANCED the hard-line Barelvi IsThe laws are typiIN 1986 lamist group Tehreek-ecally used to settle perLabbaik Pakistan (TLP), comsonal vendettas or feuds. mitted to vigorously implementing For instance, Bibi was accused the infamous laws. The government of of insulting the Prophet after she had Prime Minister Imran Khan quickly caa heated argument with a group of co-workers over her use of a cup of water pitulated to its demands that it prevent Bibi from leaving the country and allow at her village in district Sheikhupura, an appeal against the judgement.

Punjab. Those accused of blasphemy On January 29, the SC upheld the achave virtually no hope of receiving jusquittal of the Christian woman, who tice. Instead, many have been killed was on death row for more than eight by mobs or languish in jails like Bibi years over the false charges. did as most lawyers are unwilling to AQIL SHAH

DANGEROUS TERRITORY It is highly unlikely that any Pakistani political party or leader will touch the draconian blasphemy laws with a 10-foot pole

I

1.5K

defend them out of fear for their own lives. While Muslims also become victims of blasphemy accusations, the axe typically falls on Pakistan’s politically disempowered and pervasively persecuted religious minorities.

Asia Bibi became a global symbol for all that is wrong with blasphemy laws in Pakistan. Her acquittal understandably attracted international attention. But there is no indication that it represents an inflection point for state-religion dynamics in Pakistan. The judges are not out to make history, and will most likely not go beyond acquitting those falsely accused of blasphemy.

And legal experts believe this particular decision is unlikely to transform the way lower Pakistani courts handle blasphemy cases. Ultimately, the power to amend these laws lies with Pakistan’s parliament.

In 2002, the Supreme Court had similarly acquitted Ayub Masih, a Christian man accused of blasphemy, in a case that stemmed from a land dispute.

While the verdict in Bibi’s case applied the legal standard of proof needed for obtaining a criminal conviction, the judges quoted verses from the Quran at length to justify the need for the “severe punishment of death” for blasphemers since respecting the Prophet is an inviolable part of the Islamic faith.

Notably, their main focus was on the “misuse” of these laws, not the laws themselves. As one prominent legal analyst noted, the judges emphasised the necessity of blasphemy laws for properly prosecuting blasphemers lest infuriated Muslims lynch them. By implica-

tion then, vigilante justice in matters of religion is but natural and inevitable.

Yet, the judges ignored the fact that before these laws were promulgated in the 1980s, blasphemy cases were rare and lynchings unheard of.

For instance, take the TLP, a group inspired by the police guard Mumtaz Qadri who murdered Punjab governor Salman Taseer in 2011 over his call for pardoning Bibi and reforming the blasphemy laws. The TLP shot to meteoric national prominence in 2017 after it blocked the main highway into Islamabad to force the resignation of the-then law minister of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), who was accused of altering the oath of elective office declaring Mohammad as Allah’s final prophet.

As then-Opposition leader Imran Khan opportunistically sided with the TLP, the military refused to come to the aid of the government thus forcing it to accept the protesters’ demands, including the minister’s resignation.

Having publicly humiliated the PML-N government on account of its ousted leader Nawaz Sharif’s tussle with the Generals, the military subsequently weaponised blasphemy by encouraging the TLP to field candidates in the July 2018 parliamentary elections and by backing Imran’s Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI), which portrayed the PML-N as a party of blasphemers, an ultimately successful strategy designed to cut into Sharif’s conservative votebank to ensure that his party stays out of power.

After Bibi’s acquittal, TLP leaders had declared the judges apostates deserving death and even incited the Army to revolt against its chief of staff General Qamar Bajwa because he is an Ahmadi, a widely persecuted minority Muslim sect officially declared non-Muslim in 1974 because of their putative disbelief in the finality of the Prophet Mohammad.

Under pressure, the PTI government ceded to the TLP’s demands. It was only after the TLP leaders refused to call off another planned protest that the authorities belatedly sprang into action by detaining top TLP leaders and hundreds of their followers.

The military had to put the genie back in the bottle, albeit temporarily, since it had outlived its utility.

While there have been some procedural amendments to the laws to prevent their misuse, even suggesting substantive reforms, let alone their repeal, can prove to be deadly for politicians as demonstrated by Taseer’s murder.

The ruling PTI has shown itself capable of crass political cynicism on the blasphemy issue.

In fact, it is highly unlikely that any political party or leader touches the country’s blasphemy laws with a 10-foot pole.

Pakistan is no country for Asia Bibi or anyone accused of blasphemy.

Aqil Shah is Wick Cary assistant professor of South Asian politics in the David L Boren College of International Studies at the University of Oklahoma and a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Che of Pashtuns takes on Pakistan PEACEFUL STRUGGLE Pashtun Tahafuz Movement’s young leader demands end to forced disappearances, extrajudicial killings

FRANCESCA MARINO

He is young and handsome with a Che Guevara-esque beard. And he wears a distinctive cap that has become the symbol of the Pashtun struggle against the Pakistan government. He is studying to be a doctor like Che. But the similarities end here because, unlike the Argentine revolutionary, Manzoor Pashteen does not believe in guerrilla warfare or weapons.

The protest of the ethnic group under the umbrella of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), founded by Pashteen, commenced more than a year ago, and it has been peaceful even though many of them have been arrested, harassed, beaten up or even killed by police. The last one to die, on February 2, was Armam Loni.

“The state killed our friend and member of PTM,” says Pa-

shteen. “And they are not even letting us lodge an FIR against his killer, a police officer who had retired from the Pakistani Army. We were harassed while going to attend his funeral. They even shot at my car.”

In the following days, the police cracked down on protesters in several Pakistani cities. On February 5, five PTM members were arrested outside the National Press Club in Islamabad for no reason, says Pashteen.

“The same day in the same city there was a protest by Mujahideen fighters in solidarity with Kashmir. The security forces didn’t disturb them but tortured and arrested the peaceful non-violent PTM members asking for human and civil rights.”

The PTM took to the streets exactly a year ago after the killing in a fake encounter of Naqeebullah

Mehsud, a peaceful PTM activist and aspiring model. Mehsud, according to his assassins, was a terrorist. “Pakistani agencies and the Pakistani Army,” says Pashteen, “are doing this in a systematic way. They target someone, accuse him of being a terrorist, raise false allegations, and then kill him with impunity. This is what they call ‘war on terror’. Taliban commanders are sharing the same camps with the Pakistani Army; none of them is targeted.

In my area, out of 88 so-called Taliban killed by the Army, only one was real Taliban. All the others were civilian, common people.”

The PTM was started by Pashteen and his friends in their college days after their houses were first raided and then razed to rubble by the Army during the ‘war on terror’. They were staging demonstrations at the universi-

They can kill me, but they cannot kill the movement.

Our struggle will go on till the last man, the last day MANZOOR PASHTEEN

LEADER, PASHTUN TAHAFUZ MOVEMENT

MANZOOR PASHTEEN does not rule out the possibility of being killed by non-state actors such as the Taliban

ty. PTM’s tactics and objectives caught the imagination of the media and drew support from across the spectrum. But then a crackdown began and the media too was forced to black out the group.

Pashteen has been arrested a couple of times and his family told that he is mentally unstable.

He has been blatantly called up a number of times by the ISI and ordered to stop protesting because, “‘Otherwise, the morale of our troops will go down. Stop, if you don’t want to face consequences.’

But I told them, ‘I don’t care for my life. You can kill me, torture me, beat me up but I will go on until the end, denouncing what you are doing to my people. Stop killing the innocent, stop humiliating our women, stop making people disappear, stop cutting the throat of our elders. Stop hosting the Taliban in your fort’.”

Pashteen was released eventually and the protest went on.

The PTM is asking the government to stop forced disappearances, to stop extrajudicial killings, to send the ‘missing’ people to court and, if they are found

13

Odd World LETHAL HARVEST

Exploding potatoes

The Hong Kong police recently destroyed a German-made grenade from World War I after it cropped up in a shipment of imported potatoes at a local potato chip factory. The grenade was discovered at a factory run

by Japanese snack maker Calbee, the South China Morning Post reported. The grenade, described by authorities as being caked with mud and dirt, was almost certainly dug up along with the crop by harvesters in France, where many now-prosperous regions saw carnage during the war.

LOVE GENES

DNA match before dating

There’s Tinder for hook-ups, Trump Singles for President Donald Trump supporters and Fat Bastard for, well, ahem.

But Pheramor, a dating service, claims to match people by analysing and comparing their DNA. For a mere $29.99, it will ship you a DNA kit with a buccal swab to collect genetic material for analysis. Pheramor will sample and sequence 11 genes it claims are linked to attraction with others on its database. Three matches will reach you, graded from zero to 100.

WEDDING WOES

Divorced in three minutes

They met, they married and divorced three minutes later. The unnamed Kuwaiti couple, regional media reported recently, hit trouble when they were walking out of the court where they had just signed their marriage contract. The bride slipped and the groom called her “stupid”. She marched back to the judge and demanded a divorce. The case went viral on Twitter underlining changing cultural mores in the wealthy kingdom.

guilty of something, to punish them according to the law.

The PTM is asking the world to take notice of their situation. The result is they are called “foreign agents” by the same State that should give them justice. However, Manzoor is very clear on the matter: “RAW and India are supposed to be our worst enemies, according to them. But Kulbhushan Yadav who, they say, is an Indian spy, is not a missing person and has not been extrajudicially killed. If we are RAW agents, we should at least be granted the same treatment.”

Pashteen is not afraid to die.

“They will not kill me now, not when so many people are on the streets and the press and the rest of the world are aware of our fight. But I cannot rule out the possibility of being killed by somebody else, by non-state actors such as the Taliban or jihadis,” he says.

Francesca Marino is a journalist, writer and South Asia expert who has co-authored Apocalypse Pakistan: An Anatomy of ‘the World’s Most Dangerous Nation’ with Beniamino Natale

14

Firstpost.

first take

SATURDAY, FEB 9 - 15, 2019

Cinema

FEBRUARY 9, 1997

Perfectly Tooned

year

THE POPULAR ANIMATION SERIES THE SIMPSONS AIRS ITS 167TH EPISODE TO BECOME THE LONGEST-RUNNING SCRIPTED SHOW IN TV HISTORY.

The indie sports flick opens on Netflix after a Slamdance 2019 premiere. Shot on an iPhone, the film is about an agent pitching a basketball rookie.

& ENTERTAINMENT

wthaet ek this

HIGH FLYING BIRD

33.6 million

“It takes two to lie — one to lie and one to listen.”

IS THE HIGHEST VIEWERSHIP AN EPISODE OF THE SIMPSONS HAS ENJOYED TILL DATE. TITLED BART GETS AN F, THIS WAS THE FIRST EPISODE OF SEASON 2, ON OCTOBER 11 1990

HOMER SIMPSON

NEW HUE

NEW-AGE HOLLYWOOD is learning to experiment with the constantly-changing racial equations of Western society and looking at the African-American race with newfound seriousness and fresh perspective

Colour Coded Drama A LOOK at some of the finest feature films that have redefined race logistics in Hollywood lately

FILMS THAT underline a change in the way Hollywood now looks at the African-American identity include Black Panther, the Creed series, and BlacKkKlansman

GREEN BOOK

A black jazz pianist of the sixties employs a white chauffer. Peter Farrelly’s real-life account starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen is being tipped as an Oscar frontrunner.

21

is the number of nominations Green Book, BlacKkKlansman, Black Panther and If Beale Street Could Talk have garnered among themselves at the Oscars this year

C VINAYAK CHAKRAVORTY

Can black be the new shade of white? Or, to stretch the idea, can coloured people lording over whites ever become a norm in the ‘developed’ West — indeed, anywhere in the world?

The notion crosses your mind watching a couple of recent Hollywood films. Peter Farrelly’s Oscar-hopeful Green Book is a gentle comedy that narrates the bizarrely true-to-life account of a Black jazz pianist who employed a White man as chauffer-bodyguard. Bizarre, because the backdrop is racist southern United States of the sixties.

A few months before Green Book, Netflix released Set It Up, a film that would seem your average Hollywood rom-com but for a quirk of characterisation.

Glen Powell plays a White office assistant at the beck and call of his mercurial young African-American boss, essayed by Taye Diggs.

It has taken Hollywood decades to put those role reversals on screen. Even today in real life, not many powerful people of colour anywhere in the world have White chauffeurs driving them or white assistants rushing to fix a meal to mollify the whimsical

hunger pangs of their black boss at the dead of night. Green Book and Set It Up tread rare terrain.

Many observers in the West have looked at these films — particularly Green Book — as token feel-good gestures on the part of liberal White American filmmakers, as far as denouncing racism goes. Even if that be the case, these efforts perhaps signal a start. The African-American auteur Spike Lee recently made an interesting observation speaking to The New York Times, about his first-ever Oscar nomination as director for BlacKkKlansman this year, after a phenomenal 36-year-old career. “Any time there’s an award, you should think about who’s voting. And the membership of the Academy today is more diverse than it was. #OscarsSoWhite definitely prodded the Academy to open up its membership, and that’s why I think that you see films by people of colour are getting the recognition now that they didn’t get in the past,” he reasoned, on why his film managed six nominations at the Oscars 2019 despite its anti-racism theme.

Lee’s comment, about coloured people coming of age as far as decision-making at the Oscars go, would seem in sync with an era when Hollywood is talking of inclusion riders and protesting against the whitewashing of non-Caucasian roles. Although

it could be a while before other minorities (Indians, for instance) are incorporated, there seems to be an initiative in correcting how African Americans are depicted.

There are other recent examples, of films that have given African Americans the occasional upper hand in White man’s America. Creed II, along with its 2015 predecessor Creed, defines an important shift. The series marks Hollywood’s recognition of a significant truth — boxing owes its glory primarily to fighters of

though, has happened in the unlikely genre of superhero flicks. It was, perhaps, far tougher imagining the Black protagonist as a bigbudget superhero than moulding him as a jazz pianist or boxer — which is what Chadwick Boseman’s Black Panther avatar successfully does. The film’s seven Oscar nominations, coming after a monstrous $1.347-billion global haul, reorganises a Hollywood axiom: Blockbuster stardom is no longer just about America’s White sweethearts.

Green Book and the Creed series are among films that give African-American protagonists an occasional upper hand in White society African-American origin.

For nearly four decades, powered by Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky films, boxing greatness on the Hollywood screen was all about White protagonists. Finally, in 2015, The Rocky spin-off Creed legitimised African-American dominance in the sport for the Hollywood screen. The Creed films correct a racial anomaly by narrating boxing movies from the perspective of a Black fighter, played by Michael B. Jordan.

The most interesting representation of the change,

Traditionally, coloured superheroes as Black Panther and Black Lightning would mostly find success on television.

Down the years there have been attempts to turn many Black superheroes into box-office winners — notably Spawn, Blade, and Hancock, besides Storm in X-Men and Deadshot in Suicide Squad. None of these, however, managed to capture global imagination the way Black Panther did.

An interesting aside crops up.

The Black protagonist of interest can also be the brainchild

of a White filmmaker. Random instances lately would include Green Book maker Peter Farrelly, besides Quentin Tarantino, who has created some of the most fascinating characters of colour in his wildly entertaining dramas (think Jamie Foxx in Django Unchained and Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction or The Hateful Eight).

Tarantino or Farrelly trying to understand Hollywood’s renewed racial equation points at the notion that the industry is looking at African Americans with newfound seriousness. It also marks a move from the time when African-American themes were largely the domain of black filmmakers as Spike Lee, Sidney Poitier and John Singleton.

Few filmmakers have etched more absorbing shades of African-Americanism than Lee, evidenced by a filmography that includes Do The Right Thing, Malcolm X and Mo’ Better Blues. Lee is back in form with BlacKkKlansman, a biographical comic drama about an African-American cop of the seventies who infiltrated and exposed the local Ku Klux Klan unit of his hometown.

The fight off screen remains tougher for Hollywood’s African -American artists. Green Book star Mahershala Ali recently revealed how the protagonist of his popular small screen series, True Detective, was originally envisioned White, and that he had to convince the makers to reimagine the hero as a Black man.

Like the cop hero in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, Ali with True Detectives was also taking the fight for identity right into the White man’s turf in real life.

BLACKKKLANSMAN

Spike Lee’s film is a biographical comic drama about how a Black cop in America of the seventies infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan unit in his hometown and busted it.

CREED II

The film, coming after the 2015 hit Creed, affirms African-American contribution to the growth of boxing, without losing touch with essential entertainment quotient.

BLACK PANTHER

The first black superhero to create a global impact, Black Panther’s debut outing has garnered seven Oscar nods. Chadwick Boseman essays the African superhero in the Marvel Studios blockbuster.

SATURDAY, FEB 9 - 15, 2019

Firstpost.

iiiiiCinema

15

FRESH WHIFF

NOT JUST ANOTHER LOVE STORY

Mainstream Bollywood’s first-ever attempt at depicting lesbian romance is important for the way it gently yet firmly demands an overhaul of societal perceptions SAIBAL CHATTERJEE

Jat’s the way to do it!

HARYANVI HIP-HOP makes a mark, re-enforcing tropes about women and caste. Rappers from the state fuse rustic notes with electronic beats and lyrics that often overflow with local slang, to carve a new saleable musical sub-genre UDAY KAPUR

INSIGHT

NEW-WAVE HARYANVI music is using the blueprint set by Punjabi hits: catchy pop lyrics blended with local sounds and beats that are club-friendly

Duniya bani firre ghani tej Taine bera tera bhai bhola bhala sae, Inn sarkaari adhikaarion ke maine Mooh pe laa diya taala re (The world tries to be too clever And though I come across a simpleton, I know how to shut out these government officials for good)

T

hose lines, cocktailing rage and wit with heady Jat swag, are from Haryanvi rap star Pardhaan’s YouTube hit, Maar maar ke mukke. At 25, the music sensation from Karnal is among the first Haryanvi musicians to make a transition from being an underground MC to a commercial success. He is also one of several rappers to emerge from the state lately, along with Fazilpuria (who crooned Kar gayi chull as Alia Bhatt shimmied in Kapoor & Sons), Md Kd, Rossh and Laath Saab.

from the nineties parody rap of Baba Sehgal to the influx of Asian underground popularised by the likes of Punjabi MC, Asian Dub Foundation and Jay Sean.

Homegrown sounds in hip-hop, however, only arrived over the past few years.

It kicked off noticeably with Yo Yo Honey Singh, rapper sensation from Hoshiarpur in the neighbouring state of Punjab. Honey Singh’s success was soon followed by Badshah and Raftaar. Even as these artists forayed Bollywood, the likes of Naezy, Divine and Prabh Deep sustained the underground scene. Hip-hop suddenly became a bankable option for non-film musicians, and found an outlet to reach out to young India in YouTube.

As the popularity of rappers from Punjab and Haryana continued to grow, another thing happened. The jargon of these two states crept into the mainstream Indian consciousness, laying the foundation for a fullfledged musical advent from

lyrics of their region.

Pardhaan, often backed by Pakistani-American rap sensation Bohemia, has accumulated millions of views on YouTube for his hits. Fazilpuria, who has collaborated with Badshah in Bollywood as well as in the nonfilm scene, commands sizeable fan power all over India now. His frequent collaborator Rossh is another Haryanvi rapper who has been garnering a huge number of clicks in cyber space.

TAKING STOCK

Swag Gurus TOP HARYANVI rappers who have been making waves, and their biggest hits

Haryana is a state that rarely made an impact on the pan-Indian music scene.

That scene seems to be changing

READY BLUEPRINT

The obvious question: why is Haryanvi rap happening only now? In a way, the success of the genre in neighbouring Punjab over the past decade might be a reason. New-wave Haryanvi hip-hop is building on the blueprint set by Punjabi hits, which in turn has also been lapped up

by Bollywood. The blueprint is simple: catchy pop-hooks are fused with local sounds, plus new-age musical elements and club-friendly electronic beats.

What differentiates Haryan-

DISTINCT IMPACT

Haryanvi rap is perhaps more intriguing a phenomenon than rap music as a genre in most other parts of the world. While its themes — from anger to love, and from party-tripping to societal ills — may echo what rappers are talking about globally, its backdrop is what makes the sub-genre distinct. Haryana, after all, is a state that rarely made an impact on the pan-Indian pop music scene over the decades. That scene seems to be changing lately, with its new breed of rappers.

The Indian music industry has dabbled in hip-hop before,

objectify women being abundantly available. Assertion of male dominance is a norm in lyrics as well as visuals.

That does not make Haryanvi rappers exceptional, though.

Misogyny in lyrics is by and large associated with rappers all across the globe.

Another prominent trope is the assertion of caste. The Jat identity is a recurring theme, and the lyrics reflect the urgency with which we need to have conversations about caste and pop-culture in society, a conversation notably initiated elsewhere by anti-caste Odiya rapper Sumeet Samos.

FUTURE STOCK

POSTER BOYS: Fazilpuria and B.I.G Dhillon these regions. The early impact happened in Punjab, marked by the rise of the likes of Diljit Dosanjh and Sidhu Moosewala even as the arrival of the gully rap scene from Mumbai propelled underground artists from the lower-income communities.

Now, rap artists from Haryana are emerging to stake their claim, in the process redefining musical tastes with sounds and

vi rap is its liberal use of slang.

Content being disseminated through the genre has already generated debate. Recent news reports show Haryana registers a gangrape case every two days on an average, and is one of the most unsafe places for women in the country. The patriarchal mindset of the region is often reinforced through hip-hop lyrics, with music videos that

Will Haryanvi rap survive? Considering rap as a genre has captured global imagination with its mix of infectious music and socially relevant themes, there seems no reason why it should fade away in India. Puritans, however, insist traditional Haryanvi folk songs will outlast the current rap rage.

Artists such as Fazilpuria and Pardhaan, meanwhile, continue to rap the Haryanvi way, connecting with the masses. It remains to be seen if their swagger find cognisance in the broader cultural milieu of their state, as well as the nation overall.

PARDHAAN

LAATH SAAB

Collaborations include hits with Pakistani star Bohemia

Chaudhary X; Gucci gang; Chhora desi

Lakk; Jimmy Choo; Kar gayi chull

Chillum; Koka piece; Stuff

Rustic vibes mix with new-age swagger in his songs

He has made a mark in Bollywood, with hit numbers in Kapoor & Sons and Shaadi Mein Zaroor Aana

His lyrics are liberally laced with drug and substance references

Boys of Gudgawan; Haryana Roadways; Power peg

FAZILPURIA

ROSSH

Bollywood’s first-ever girlmeets-girl romance, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, has, needless to say, broken new ground. However, just as noteworthy are the film’s tone and texture. Its main ‘drawback’ is also its principal strength.

While it goes where no Mumbai movie has gone before, the film stays true to the need to deliver entertainment.

Fire, Margarita With A Straw and Angry Indian Goddesses, three indie projects that explored the theme of lesbian love in Hindi cinema before, were of a different timbre. Otherwise, gay characters in Hindi films have hitherto been male-oriented. This is true not just of Kal Ho Na Ho, Dostana, Student Of The Year and Kapoor & Sons (all from the Karan Johar stable) but also of sensitive off-mainstream essays like My Brother…

Nikhil and Aligarh.

Coming from a movie industry trapped in misconceptions about homosexuality, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha… had the option of over-compensating and landing sledgehammer blows on behalf of LGBTQ rights. It chooses gentle persuasion instead. Its tone isn’t recriminatory: it doesn’t take surly swipes at society. Its plea for inclusion and acceptance is calm yet decisive.

The restrained portrayal of a love that daren’t speak its name helps the Shelly Chopra Dhar-directed film make a difficult theme far more palatable for the general audience.

The two-hour film chips away at the viewers’ prejudices — pretty much like the screenplay does at the misgivings of the onscreen heroine’s family — until some kind of common ground is attained.

The film’s screenwriter is a transwoman. Does that have something to do with the way the film has turned out — self-assured but not brash, deeply empathetic but not all-knowing?

It sure does. Gazal Dhaliwal’s unflashy script embraces differences of all kinds, and not merely those that pertain to sexual orientation.

It gives religious identities and class divides the go-by.

In the smalltown household where the story is set, nobody

The two-hour film chips away at prejudices of the audience is ‘othered’. The servants are integral to the family and not lowly factotums of the kind who run menial errands.

The first time the female protagonist Sweety Chaudhary (Sonam Kapoor) meets the girl who goes on to become her partner — this occurs at the very outset during a Delhi wedding — the latter plays matchmaker for her brother, Raza. The name raises no eyebrows. Ditto when the heroine runs into playwright Saahil Mirza, played by Rajkummar Rao, who develops an instant crush on her and begins to see her as his Muse.

The heroine is no feisty rebel. Her coming out isn’t an act of defiance. It is more an entreaty. The film is also about three other characters chasing their dreams: Saahil, a movie producer’s son who wants to find his own voice; Sweety’s father Balbir Chaudhary (Anil Kapoor), a garments factory owner who once aspired to be a chef; and garrulous food caterer Chatro ( Juhi Chawla), whose ambition is to be an actress.

The multiple strands hinge on impeded individuals craving acceptance for who they are. Its all-embracing sweep defines Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga as more than just a lesbian love story.

Age is just a number “ (women become) Naughtier and hotter after 40.

We’re taught to be coy and not enjoy sex, but the reason women get better with age is you care less and less.”

VIDYA BALAN

on turning 40

16

Arts Firstpost.

SATURDAY, FEB 9 - 15, 2019

Events Calendar MUSIC

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Arth

An Idea Eternal: The Billion Interpretations of Draupadi terpiece, The Palace of Illusions,, gives us a peek into the child, she was born from the intimate world of Draupadi.

Moving to the next level, womb of fire. A woman, she Paramahansa Yogananda, was a pawn in the larger political sweepstakes of Aryavarta. while examining the charA wife, she legitimised the idea of polyacters of the Mahabharata from a spiritual window in andry. A queen, she embraced poverty.

An empress, she was humiliated beyond God Talks with Arjuna,, sees belief. An expert in the nuances of ethDraupadi as the kula kundalini,, the force binding the ics, she challenged the son of Dharma. chakras.. Elevated to the staA mother, she lost all her children. And tus of a goddess, there are at the end of a tumultuous journey, all she had was a fall — from grace and a cliff 408 Draupadi temples in In— to a solitary death. dia, notes Alf Hiltebeitel in The Cult of Draupadi.

Above all, as one of the most complex From a goddess worshipped to and intense characters in India’s greata subaltern exploited, we meet an est epic, the Mahabharata, Draupadi — indomitable Draupadi in Mahaswedaughter to the powerful king Drupada, sister to general Dhristhadhymnya, wife to ta Devi’s Breast Stories.. After several the formidable Pandavas, friend to Lord rounds of rape and torture, when the Krishna — is even today undergoing inJharkhand tribal woman ‘Dopdi’, suspected of being a terrorist, finally comes out terpretations and interpolations. The to meet Burra Sahib Senanayak, she refusfire she was born to continues to burn.

It scorched her, it scalds us, it will contines clothes and wears her nakedness as a ue to singe India. She will attract writers symbol of defiance, her bloodied body as who will judge her. And in the process of a weapon. “There isn’t a man here that I judging, they will be judged. should be ashamed of. Draupadi pushes Senanayak with her two mangled breasts, Released late January, Saiswaroopa and for the first time Senanayak is afraid Iyer’s Draupadi: The Tale of an Empress is the latest among several adventurto stand before an unarmed target, ers who have explored the charterribly afraid.” Five millennia acter over the years. To Iyer, earlier, we saw this fright Draupadi symbolises iccha in the blind eyes of King shakti, dignity, poise and Dhritarashtra after she inspiration. Earlier, and was disrobed. We saw among the best retellings this fear in the heart of of Sri Krishna’s life, KM Queen Gandhari, who Number of temples Munshi’s 1962 seven-volshuddered for the lives in India dedicated ume but incomplete Krof her sons. We saw this to Draupadi ishnavatara shows her to impotence of one of the greatest warriors, Bhishma, be a strong yet perplexed woman seeking the world’s best who hid behind reciting texts archer as her husband, within palbut lost his dharma.. We saw the city ace intrigue and Aryavarta politics. In his of Hastinapur tremble with terror. This 2010 Telugu book, Draupadi, Yarlagadda strength, this dazzling brilliance, this unLakshmi Prasad explores, among several shakable equanimity in the middle of another things, her sexuality. ger and shame, this fire. This is Draupadi.

In his 2009 The Difficulty of Being Good, She is a body as well as a soul, a characGurcharan Das’s Draupadi, following her ter as well as its evolution. She is at ease humiliation and the subsequent banishdiscussing statecraft with Bhima and Arjuna, as she is holding forth on the craft ment of the Pandavas, engages with the eternal questions of good and evil: “Why of managing five husbands with Krishna’s be good,” she asks Yudhishthira. In his wife Satyabhama. She jealously keeps the other wives of her husbands away, but 1992 layered analysis of the great text, makes space for Arjuna’s wife Subhadra.

The Lore of the Mahabharata, Amalesh Bhattacharya situates her uniquely: “DaShe manages her mother-in-law Kunti — mayanti and Sita were like the unvacilexperienced in private polyandry — and lating flame of a lamp, while in Draupadi her husbands in public polyamorous reprevailed the forceful fiery flame of sacrilationships seamlessly. This is Draupadi. fice.” In her 1968 Yuganta, Iravati Karve She will continue to be blamed for the destruction of kshatriyas, the cause of the captures her poignant life: “Two words keep recurring in reference to Draupadi — Great War. For Draupadi, beauty was her nathavati anathavat, “having husbands, crime, intelligence her undoing. Today, but like a widow”. we see new scenes of the same play being Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s 2008 masenacted in the lives of some of the most

Poetry

The Queen’s Many Names SOME OF the other names by which the Pandava queen is known

GAUTAM CHIKERMANE

HER CHARACTER was shaped on the anvil of dharma by kings and rishis, executed by lesser men, honed by desire, and cheated by her own

Today, we see new scenes of the same play being enacted in the lives of some of the most powerful women

digital

This is an abridged version. For the fulllength feature, go to Firstpost Print section of firstpost.com

A

KRISHNAA The feminine of Krishna; the one with radiating dark skin, and a pure heart.

YAGNASENI

Born out of a yagna fire.

Drupada wanted a son and performed the Putrakameshti Yagna, from which Draupadi and Drishtadyumna appeared.

DRAUPADI

Literally meaning ‘the daughter of Drupada’, she was initially unloved. She found her father’s affections when a sage predicted he would be blessed with fame due to his daughter, not his son.

408

PANCHALI

A princess; the one who comes from the land of ‘Panchal’ — her father’s kingdom. The tradition continues today in some parts of rural India.

MALINI

 SUNIL

beautiful, the most accomplished, the most powerful women, the same Draupadis. And yet, we see several of them break out of male dominance through grit. This is Draupadi.

Not for Draupadi the predictability of intimacy or dependability of relationships.

Even her bed was a serial 12-month sojourn with a new Pandava, who would return once every five years. Howsoever sexually liberating it may sound, this was no orgy; sexual urges were boxed within the confines of dharma. Draupadi’s body kept the five Pandavas together even if her heart was irreversibly mortgaged to Arjuna. Her character was beaten into shape on the anvil of dharma by kings and rishis, executed by lesser men, honed by desire, and cheated by her own. This is Draupadi.

A fire that cannot be extinguished, a

Video showing men vandalising Hampi pillars goes viral

character that cannot die, a force that energises as well as destabilises, a woman seeking perfection in the world of men, Draupadi is a journey. She is a river of molten lava, constantly burning new pathways to gender, transcending time, space and societies. She is a character that has not been moulded by the warm-loving hands of a potter but chiselled into shape by the cold-hard knocks of a sculptor. Whether this strong woman will get redemption is what writers will be compelled to explore. Not one, not hundred, not thousand. There is a Draupadi beating in the hearts of a billion Indians. An idea eternal, this is Draupadi.

Gautam Chikermane is vice-president at Observer Research Foundation and author of Tunnel of Varanavat

Be the Change

T A performance to mirror life’s pace and progress DATE

A

FEB 13

VENUE

ODDBIRD THEATRE

contemporary dance piece called ‘Momentum’ — that explores life through the prism of modernism — is coming to Delhi’s OddBird Theatre. Presented by the CocoonDance Company, the production will see dancers building the momentum slowly: from staying wilted on the floor to bursting with aggressive energy, taking the audiences on a feverish journey. Dramaturgy by Rainald Endrass, direction by Rafaële Giovanola, performed by András Déri, Álvaro Esteban and Werner Nigg. Light design by Marc Brodeur.

he state of protected monuments in the country became a cause for concern again, when a video showing three men wrecking pillars in Karnataka’s Hampi went viral last week. The video was widely circulated on social media and had people fuming. Several protests broke out immediately after. In the video, the vandals could be seen pushing down carved stone pillars at the UNESCO world heritage site. While the local police said the video was recent, the Archaeological Survey of India said it was at least a year old. A police probe is on.

C

RUSKIN BOND

(Scenes from a Writer’s Life)

PANCHAMI

The one with five husbands.

Draupadi was married to the five Pandava brothers, after their mother Kunti inadvertently ordered them to ‘share’ her.

PARSHATI

Named after her grandfather — the illustrious King Prishata of united Panchal. Prishata was the father of King Drupada.

ome 2020, China will open a section of Beijing’s Forbidden City to the public for the first time. The UNESCO world heritage site — which used to be an imperial palace — will give visitors a chance to explore the complex’s Qianlong Garden.

Spanning two acres, the garden was built circa 1770 by Emperor Qianlong, the fourth emperor of the Qing Dynasty. In 2004, the World Monuments Fund and China’s Palace Museum got toChina to open gether to initiate a preservation project for the garden, 80 years after palace doors to the last emperor had left. Prior to general public that, the garden had been in a state of neglect for decades.

Palace view

“And when all the wars are over, a butterfly will still be beautiful.”

‘The one who makes garlands’. Her secret identity in the thirteenth and the final year of the Pandava exile.

Disruption

SATURDAY, FEB 9 - 15, 2019

Firstpost.

17

POWERED BY

wired GIANT STEP

SpaceX successfully tests new engine for Mars-ready rocket

LIFE & TECHNOLOGY

SpaceX has just completed the first test of its brand-new Raptor rocket engine.

The engine will power the super heavy rocket as well as the Starship, the spacecraft that could take humans to Mars. The Raptor series of engines is fuelled by liquid methane and liquid oxygen using a staged combustion cycle. In other words, the fuel/propellant is burned in multiple stages rather than all at once, which results in a more complex, but also more fuel-efficient design. The current Raptor engine produces twice the thrust of the Merlin 1D engine that powers SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

 GETTYIMAGES

CRACKING CASES The databanks will act as a repository of DNA sequences for identifying remains of deceased or corroborating culpability

Why the DNA Bill is hardwired for failure

IN ITS CURRENT form, the Bill is a potpourri of good intentions aimed at governing too many outcomes without focusing on one thing. It may end up achieving little, and may well derail India’s DNA research

SHAMBHAVI NAIK

T

he promise of delivering speedy justice has moved members of the Lok Sabha to okay the DNA Technology Regulation Bill, 2018, early last month.

In response to concerns about privacy violations, the Bill proposes constituting a regulatory board, which will have the difficult task of finding ways to secure informed consent from people who may not understand what their DNA is, or its value. But even if the privacy and consent issues are adequately addressed, would the Bill deliver on speedier justice?

In its current form, the Bill is a potpourri of good intentions, but seeks to govern too many outcomes without focusing on one thing. By trying

Tech Talk

BY AL ANKAR

WIRELESS CHARGING

to achieve too much, the Bill may well end up subverting its own aims.

The Bill provides two things; one, regulation of laboratories performing DNA sequencing, and two, creation of a multi-tiered databank of forensic DNA sequences. The Bill regulates all DNA profiling laboratories, creates databanks with multiple indices for suspects, missing persons and offenders, and by doing this, expects an acceleration in justice.

Regulating laboratories that work with human samples is undoubtedly important and goes far beyond the stated purpose of forensic identification. Laboratories may use DNA for screening genetic diseases or tracing ancestry. In an unregulated sector, entities that collect human samples could exploit the data, violating the privacy of their clients.

But academic laboratories also conduct DNA sequencing routinely, and bridling them with accreditation requirements would increase the cost of research.

Regulating this sector to balance the various stakeholders requires dedicated legislation with effec-

Qi (pronounced as Chee) charging originates from the Chinese word Qi, meaning ‘energy flow’.

The technology, now, not just charges hand-held devices but also much bigger things like electric cars. Let’s look at how it works:

tive penalisation to prevent misuse of human samples.

The current Bill creates uncertainty because some of its provisions are formulated for forensic situations.

Their application if any to an academic or commercial setting is unclear.

Indeed, the targeting of all DNA profiling laboratories could dilute the focus from facilitating speedier justice.

Instead, the effective implementation of the Bill hinges on guidelines for quality assurance during DNA collection/analysis and the interpretation of the results in the niche of forensic science. Even the DNA Regulatory Board — likely responsible for creating these guidelines — will be encumbered by the requirement of creating universally applicable rules.

It therefore makes sense that an effective legislation for regulating laboratories that handle human samples be made separate from the regulation of DNA handling and application for forensic purposes.

The DNA databanks created through the Bill will act as a repository of DNA sequences for identifying deceased remains or for cor-

Gadget compatible with wireless charging has a receiver coil

The Bill stipulates regulation of labs and creation of a multitiered databank of forensic DNA sequences

roborating culpability. The system is technically simple: a relative of a missing person could provide their own or the victim’s DNA, which will be screened against DNA from unidentified deceased remains. A DNA match would identify the victim and help gain closure for the family.

Alternatively, charged criminals would have their DNA sequence entered into the databank for future scrutiny. DNA taken from crime scenes could be screened through this database of known criminals to detect the presence of any serial offender.

DNA fingerprinting has helped resolve cases across the world — not just in recognising perpetrators but also absolving wrongfully accused individuals. To replicate this success in India, however, we need trained law enforcement personnel for DNA handling and subject matter experts for guaranteeing proper interpretation of the evidence.

Further, while the DNA Technology Bill defines the chain of custody of the DNA samples from the crime scene to the databank, it may not influence the admissibility of that evidence in the court of law. In most cases, DNA evidence has only been used as a corroborating evidence.

To expedite cases, the Evidence Act 1872 and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, need to be correspondingly amended to better define conditions under which DNA evidence would be admissible.

Thus, to make DNA evidence truly effective, state capacity needs to be boosted to ensure proper processes are in place to obtain evidence, examine and interpret the results.

A demarcation between forensic and non-forensic DNA laboratories with comprehensive guidelines covering the use of any human sample will protect citizens from privacy violations. Instead of creating a databank with multiple indices, it would be prudent to stagger its implementation, and first build a databank focussed only on human remains.

Such a staggered approach would help build capacity and also allow time to sensitise law enforcement personnel and citizens to the use of the technology.

For the explicit purpose of meting out speedier justice, the introduction of this Bill is insufficient. In its current form, the Bill is riddled with ambiguities that need to be clarified to understand how it will be implemented. It is through this lens that the Rajya Sabha’s MPs need to discuss the constructive changes needed to make the Bill effectively deliver the results it seeks to.

Shambhavi Naik is a research fellow with Takshashila Institution’s technology and policy programme

‘The replicator’ uses light to print objects in synthetic resin Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have built a printer — they’re calling it ‘the replicator’ — that can create objects in one shot using light instead of ink. The printer first scans an object from multiple different angles and projects the scan onto a tube using different intensities of light beams. The tube is filled with a synthetic resin that goes solid when it is hit with light of a specific intensity. The team of researchers demonstrated the super-fast and super-cool 3D printer by building a mini-figurine of the popular The Thinker statue.

GENE DECODING

US scientist editing genes in human embryos — ethically

Last year, a Chinese researcher stunned the world by announcing his joy and success with editing human genes in tiny human embryos. A scientist in New York appears to be working on something very similar — modifying humans embryos to prevent the child from getting inherited or genetic diseases, according to an NPR report. While the Columbia University scientist, Dr Dieter Egli, isn’t creating any genetically-modified babies or implanting these gene-edited embryos into mothers, he admits that the ultimate goal of his future research is probably just that.

COSMIC CREATION

Collision in an alien galaxy hints at new theory in astronomy

Looking thousands of light years into the universe, scientists have found a pair of unusual planets possibly emerging from a massive cosmic collision in the alien galaxy. What makes them so strange is their density. While both planets are similar in size, one of them is twice as dense as the other. The researchers think that the stark difference comes from a huge collision that stripped away the mantle – the dense outer layer of rocky planets – from one of them. The planets are part of the Kepler-107 system 2,000 light years away.

MAGNETIC FIELD RECEIVER COIL

TRANSMITTER COIL

The wireless charger houses a transmitter coil

3D PRINTER

A magnetic field is generated using the alternating current in the transmitter coil. This induces a voltage in the receiver coil. The gadget uses this voltage to charge itself POWER OUTLET

18

Firstpost.

SATURDAY, FEB 9 - 15, 2019

Sports

Trevor Hohns AUSTRALIAN SELECTOR

“Scans have revealed that Starc sustained a tear to his left pec muscle in Canberra… he will be unavailable for the tour of India ”

AND FITNESS

action pack IN THE FIRING LINE

CHAOS, CONTROVERSY AND MISMANAGEMENT SUM UP 2 YEARS OF CoA

Two years might not seem much in the cricketing history of a nation, but because the Supreme Court formed the Lodha panel in January 2015 and the panel itself submitted its report on January 4, 2016, this state of flux appears as if it has been around for a long time. In two years, the CoA has not had a smooth ride. It started off as a four-person team with Vinod Rai as chairman, the other three being Diana Edulji, Vikram Limaye and Ramchandra Guha. “With the diverse experience, the CoA is far more capable of objectively evaluating the interests of cricket in India than people who have been in the job for a long time,” Rai had said of his team. He had also said that the BCCI should “stop confronting and start talking.”

Ironically, both the statements have come back to bite the CoA.

INDIA’S ICE HOCKEY STORY

Gombo Tashi runs a tourism business.

Tsewang Dorjay works for the Ladakh Scouts. Ali Amir is employed by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. During winters, the three get along with a ragtag group of armymen to be part of something bigger: the Indian men’s ice hockey team. It’s a team that has found scant recognition outside the tourism hub of Ladakh. “During winters in Ladakh, people don’t have much work. Business is slow. So what do people do? They play ice hockey,” says Tsewang Gyaltston, the captain of the men’s team. The national team trains on a frozen pond in Ladakh. Every evening, the players spray water on the ice and then scrape the

DAVIS CUP 2019

DESPITE DOUBTS AND CRITICISM, NEW FORMAT TAKES OFF ON A HIGH

Over the years, few Indians have cared enough about Davis Cup to bother finding out where to check the live scores. The Davis Cup official website — was (and still is) one of those dysfunctional relics of the web world that look like they haven’t had a tech upgrade in years. But now, with a brand new format and a compressed schedule, it’s suddenly a lot easier to track what’s happening in the tournament, especially with the new mobile app. It’s also easier to be engaged in the proceedings, and to root for the favourites as they fight for their right to lift the 119-year-old trophy. The verdict on how the new changes have been received can only be determined after the crowd attendance figures for the whole year are tallied, along with the TV viewership ratings. But the enthusiasm of the players doesn’t seem to have diminished, and the star presence has remained more or less the same.

PREMIER LEAGUE

AGUERO’S ADAPTABILITY, SKILL MAKE THE ARGENTINE IMPOSSIBLE TO REPLACE

Is he a fox or a grasshopper? Before Sergio Aguero turned into a silver fox, he was called the grasshopper in his younger days. The dyed hair may have triggered a decisive shift to his new name but Aguero has been a fox in the box for years. Yet, the Argentine striker still retains the slow-moving menace of a grasshopper. His game is arguably incomplete without either characterisation – Aguero remains the most accomplished finisher in the Premier League because he gradually positions himself in the right place and pounces on opportunities in a flash. This gift was exhibited once again last week as he put Arsenal to the sword, reminding us why he is one of the very few fixture-proof footballers.

 SUNIL

NATIONAL TEAM TRAINS ON FROZEN PONDS USING RE-PURPOSED EQUIPMENT

Muddle in the Middle SHANTANU SRIVASTAVA

INSIGHT

WHILE RAYUDU may have sealed the Number 4 position after an impressive 90 in the last ODI against the Kiwis, his feat is only a modicum of solution

TOP CONTENDERS FOR NO. 4, 5, 6 SLOTS Ambati Rayudu

MS Dhoni

AVERAGE

INNINGS

Dinesh Karthik

50.95

53.87

RED INK The graphic accompanying the story headlined ‘The Pied Piper of the Dravidian movement’ on Page 6 of issue dated Feb 2-8, 2019, incorrectly said that CN Annadurai’s party won the state elections in 1987. The correct year was 1967.

R

ohit Sharma was understandably chuffed. Having won the fifth oneday international (ODI) match on a difficult track against hosts New Zealand — that helped India bag the series 4-1 — he opened up about how he wanted to test his batsmen on a tough wicket with the World Cup closing in.

“I had a look before the toss and we knew that there was some moisture on the pitch which will always be helpful for the fast bowlers initially, first seven to 10 overs. So we decided, as a team, as a group, that we want to be going and facing those challenges, because it’s important,” he told the press.

Those who have watched Rohit’s captaincy closely in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and the odd occasions when he has led the national side would be acquainted with the natural wisdom and considerable calm that accompanies his astute leadership. So, for him to suggest that Indian batsmen and, importantly, the middle order, needed some workout must be taken seriously.

On February 3, for the second game running, India’s top order failed to fire. In an odd sort of way, the scoreline of 18/4 would have tickled Rohit’s audacious side. It was an opportunity that Ambati Rayudu — India’s most frequent Number 4 batsman since Virat Kohli took over as full-time limited-overs

skipper — grabbed with both hands.

Rayudu’s innings stood out not only for the 90 runs he scored, but also for its clinical acceleration once the initial movement off the pitch subsided. In doing so, he might have sealed his berth as India’s Number 4 in the World Cup. This, however, is only part of the solution for the larger problem accosting the team since the 2015 edition of the tournament.

In the last couple of years, India’s top three of Rohit, Shikhar Dhawan, and Virat Kohli have contributed two-thirds of the team’s runs. That has left India’s 4, 5, and 6 with far too few overs to create an impact. And with just five ODIs to go before India begin their World Cup campaign, the ‘happy headache’ that the team management keeps referring to doesn’t appear all that jovial any more.

India have lost only 13 of the 57 ODIs they have played since the beginning of 2017, and in none of those matches has the team fielded an identical 4, 5, 6 combination in the batting lineup for two consecutive games.

Consequently, the middle order averages a less-than-creditable 25.10 in those matches.

In the 41 games that India have won in the same period, the batsmen at 4, 5, and 6 together average 54.64 runs. The gap is telling.

In the finals and semi-finals of tournaments that India have lost in this period, the middle order has a sorry average of 11.66 runs. This is exacerbated by the fact that the team’s traditional strength — the top order — has failed in high-pressure matches: they average 8.66 runs in the finals and semi-finals lost since January 1, 2017.

At the root of the problem lies the struggle to identify an ideal No. 4. India have auditioned nine batsmen for that slot over the past two years, and the number stretches

to 11 since the 2015 World Cup. Worse, there seems no ready solution in the unfortunate event of an injury or loss of form of Rayudu.

The likes of Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, and KL Rahul have fallen by the wayside, which leaves one spot open for Dinesh Karthik, or a promotion for MS Dhoni or Kedar Jadhav — that’s three contenders for one slot again. Happy headache, anyone?

Karthik, who made his ODI debut before anyone else in the current Indian team, has played nine matches at No 4 since the start of 2017 — the second most after Rayudu — and averages 52.80, the most by any Indian in that position in past couple of years.

The constant flux at the two-down spot has had a cascading effect on the next two slots, which again have seen a number of contenders in the past couple of years: 11 different batsmen have played at No. 5, and seven have batted at No. 6.

India’s middle order is thus poised precariously on a precipice where their response mechanism oscillates between susceptible and suicidal. Things look more consistent at No. 7, where Hardik Pandya is an automatic shoo-in if he plays. The big-hitting all-rounder has batted there in 14 of his 29 international innings, and his medium-pace bowling can come in handy in the middle overs.

An off day for Pandya, though, would mean that India’s lengthy tail would be exposed early where, barring Bhuvneshwar Kumar, few have shown the aptitude to bat. The Men in Blue enter yet another World Cup as among the favourites, and it would be worthwhile to remember that much of the aura of invincibility is built by the other-worldly heroics of their top three and the much-recent arrival of the wrist spinners. Between them could lie India’s tryst with glory.

RUNS

All stats are cumulative of No. 4, 5, 6 since 2017

Kedar Jadhav

42.60

Rishabh Pant

34.69

20.5



11

431

36

1,227

15

377

23

693

2

41

COURTESY: UMANG PABARI

SATURDAY, FEB 9 - 15, 2019

Firstpost.

Sports

Lords of the Ring with a Deadly Punch

HOLDING COURT

THERE IS ONLY ONE DJOKER IN THE PACK BUT…

The Serb has been world No. 1 since November and looks unbeatable. But didn’t they say the same about Federer?

AFTER TWO DECADES of stagnation, the heavyweight boxing division has finally got its mojo back, thanks to the flamboyance and flair of three titans: Brits Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury, and American star Deontay Wilder PATHIKRIT SEN GUPTA

A NO GLOVE PUPPETS

While the triumvirate dominates the division, there are other pugilists in the mix who can spring a surprise or two WON

LOST

6’6” and 113 kg, Anthony Joshua is an intimidating presence and towers over mere mortals. Yet, he is dwarfed physically by two of his contemporaries, and fiercest rivals, in the 90kg-and-over division of international professional boxing, long regarded as the marquee of the sport. Joshua, fellow Brit Tyson Fury and American heavy hitter Deontay Wilder have, collectively, with their flamboyance and flair, rescued the heavyweight division that was on the ropes for years. It helps that none of this triumvirate has so far lost a bout.

A spectacular contest between the 6’7” Wilder and the 6’9” Fury on December 1 last year proved to be both a critical and a commercial success, despite ending in a 12-round split-decision draw. The outcome meant the American retained his WBC stripes, one among the four major championships in boxing. Joshua holds the other three. Promoters and patrons now breathlessly await a fight between him and one of the other two titans, which should

WBA (Super), IBF and WBO titles until he was beaten by Fury in 2015.

But then came a sucker punch. A year later, Fury relinquished his titles after suffering from mental health issues leading to alcoholism and drug abuse. The Gypsy King, as he is popularly known, returned to the ring in 2018 in a Hollywood-esque comeback and challenged Wilder, the

A dramatic draw between Wilder and Fury on December 1 proved to be a critical and commercial success

DRAW

able to beat the referee’s count before being handed a contentious draw. Fury out-landed Wilder in 9 of the 12 rounds, and many boxing fans and experts felt he should have won.

“I just showed the world tonight, everyone suffering with mental health, you can come back and it can be done,” Fury said after the bout. “Everybody knows I won that fight and if I can come back from where I’ve come from, then you can do it too. So get up, get over it and let’s do it. Seek help and let’s do it together as a team.”

SPIN-OFF ON THE CARDS

A Wilder-Fury sequel is almost certain, though 2012 Olympics gold winner Joshua is looking for an opportunity to conquer the Bronze Bomber and complete his collection. A late starter in the sport, the unified world heavyweight champion – who was a bricklayer before taking up boxing full-time – is perhaps technically the most accomplished among the trio and has exceptional punching power. He has finished all but one of his fights to date by knockout.

AJ’s next opponent has been a hot topic of discussion for many months, but it looks like the undefeated KO artiste from Brook-

SUKHWANT BASRA

M

Dillian Whyte 25

1

Luis Ortiz 30

AGE 33

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 GETTYIMAGES

Deontay Wilder

1

HEIGHT 6’7”

40

Anthony Joshua

AGE 29

|

1

HEIGHT 6’6”

22

be a rip-roaring contest and a massive money-spinner. But the ‘matchmaking’ has so far proven cumbersome, with Joshua likely to scrap a scheduled title defence in London on April 13 and a June fight in New York now on the cards.

BEFORE THE

emergence of the terrific trio, the heavyweight division was in a mire for several years when the Ukrainian Klitschko brothers used power and reach to break down opponents in a series of fights that weren’t exactly crowd-pleasers

FISTS OF FURY

Before the emergence of the terrific trio, the heavyweight division was stagnating for about two decades when the Ukrainian Klitschko brothers, well-known for their exceptionally large physiques and technical boxing styles, used power and reach to break down opponents in a series of fights that weren’t exactly crowd-pleasers. While the older brother, Vitali, hung up his gloves in 2013, vacating the WBC throne, and became a politician, Wladimir held on to the

Tyson Fury AGE 30

|

HEIGHT 6’9”

27 new great American hope who has his own made-for-celluloid backstory. The ‘Bronze Bomber’ from Alabama gave up the college of his choice to focus on his boxing career after his eldest daughter was born with a spinal defect. He has held the WBC title since 2015 when he became the first American world heavyweight champion in nine years – a shot in the arm for the sport in one of its biggest markets.

“I want to bring it back to the golden days of boxing,” he said in an interview. “It has not been back there since 2004 with Lennox Lewis. Everyone knows that as the heavyweight division goes, so goes boxing.”

THE BIG DRAW

Wilder is a bit of a wild swinger, but he has a sledgehammer of a right fist that has chopped down many opponents. In their epic encounter, he knocked Fury down twice — the second a mighty blow in the twelfth round that had Wilder celebrating a seemingly assured win. But the Brit was

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lyn Jarrell Miller will be the one.

“There are two types of warriors: the one that rides through on his horse and tries to slay everyone, and the sniper. I try to be more like the sniper. Bang. Bang.

Bang. Break them down, shot by shot,” Joshua once said.

Not since the days of Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis and Riddick Bowe has heavyweight boxing grabbed the kind of mind space as it does now. The division lost its mojo in the US around the time Holyfield lost a piece of his ear to a Mike Tyson megabite. It would perhaps be wise to allow a rematch between Wilder and Fury to play out before a blockbuster unification headto-head with Joshua. In any event, boxing fans would want a blow-by-blow account of what comes next.

has beaten Djokovic the last two times they played on clay.

A 20-year-old from Greece scalped the GOAT (greatest of all time) Roger Federer at the Australian Open and Stefanos Tsitsipas also had Djokovic’s number at the Canada 1000 last year. Alexander Zverev downed him at the season-ending finals at London last November.

Giving perspective to Djokovic’s losses to the younger brigade, former India player and world number 62 Somdev Devvarman says, “In a tour event anyone can be having a hot run, but the key is to maintain that intensity over two weeks of a slam.” Devvarman goes on to echo Paes, “If Djokovic keeps playing the way he is, his biggest opponent is himself. Only he can let himself down.”

The Commonwealth Games singles gold medallist is also backing the Serb against the feisty Spaniard and the cool Swiss. “Against Rafa, he has a gameplan which works brilliantly — as exemplified in the

ost fans tend to get swayed by the dominance of athletes at their peak.

The question of who can take down the mighty-of-now dissipates when examined through the lens of context. But human nature and fan enthusiasm revel in what’s in the face; history and long-term discernment is more in the realm of analysts.

The question of who is going to challenge Novak Djokovic is rampant now that the Serb has won three slams in a row while sitting comfortably at the number one spot since November. At 31, he is in peak physical shape. Given his work ethic — he turned down an invite from Vladimir Putin for the Sochi Winter Olympics as it clashed with a tour event at Dubai — stopping the man from his goal of becoming the greatest tennis player of all time (as his father, Srdjan, has been quoted saying) isn’t going to be easy.

“Novak’s greatest competition is himself. At this level when you are playing sublime tennis, it’s most important that the team that supports you and the systems that you have put in place continue to run smoothly.

The way he is hitting the ball, unless injury slows him down, Novak is certainly on the road to even greater heights,” says India’s most successful tennis player, Leander Paes.

Data culled from the men’s matches at the Australian Open reveals that 70% of the points were finished within four shots.

So, for a large majority of the matches, a player hit the ball just twice. Nine-plus shots only made up 10% of men’s matches.

Djokovic won 112 points more than he lost in rallies that had four or less shots. This killer edge and ability to finish things off quickly comes from years of experience at the top level. No matter how talented the next crop of youngsters are, it’ll take LEANDER PAES a while for them to hone their TENNIS PLAYER weapons to such precision.

That apart, it would be prudent to realise that tennis will Australian Open final. And even soon shift from the precise against Roger, he does go in the bound of the hard courts to favourite now, doesn’t he?”

In the past, Djokovic’s game the more whimsical clay. That surface is the domain of another had unravelled after domestic great of modern tennis, Rafael discord, with John McEnroe reNadal. As his run to the final portedly asserting that he had of the Australian Open proved, “off-court issues with family”. A Nadal is back and it would be section of the press notoriously foolhardy to discount him an- labelled him the Tiger Woods of tennis. All that, as well as ytime soon.

The vicious spin and short the experiments with celebangles that Nadal’s wiper-swing rity coaches like Andre Agassi forehand allows, make him the and Boris Becker, is well in the undisputed clay king. Nadal has past and now Djokovic devot33 ATP masters 1,000 titles. edly puts out family pictures Twenty-four of these are on on social media. clay. Djokovic has 32, eight on With 15 Grand Slams to his clay. So, as is the wont of sport, credit, Djokovic is looking to the master of today may well hunt down Federer’s record of look like the novice of yesterday 20. He wants to be the GOAT. the moment the tour gets dusty. The game’s there, as long as But now, the caveat: Djokovic the mind too stays on track, he does stay the only player to have looks unbeatable as of now. But beaten Nadal in four clay court then, didn’t they say the same finals. He won the French Open, about Federer once? too, in 2016 and beat Nadal in the 2015 quarters.

Sukhwant Basra is a senior sports writer Established stars aside, the and the former national sports editor of 25-year-old Dominic Thiem the Hindustan Times

Novak’s greatest competition is himself...

The way he is hitting the ball, unless injury slows him down, he is certainly on the road to even greater heights

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Lastword Firstpost.

SATURDAY, FEB 9 - 15, 2019

WHY CHHATTISGARH’S ADIVASIS VOTED OUT DEVELOPMENT 6

SIGNING OFF FOR THE WEEK

MUSIC KEYS

Forecast

61st Annual Grammy Awards on February 10 The 61st Annual Grammy Awards ceremony will be held on February 10 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The event, to be hosted by singer Alicia Keys, will recognise the best recordings, compositions, and artistes of the eligibility year, which ran from October 1, 2017, to September 30, 2018.

Modi to visit three states on February 9 PRIME MINISTER NARENDRA MODI IS SET FOR A WHIRLWIND TOUR OF ASSAM, ARUNACHAL PRADESH AND TRIPURA ON FEBRUARY 9 TO INAUGURATE SEVERAL PROJECTS. HE IS ALSO SCHEDULED TO ADDRESS A PUBLIC RALLY IN TRIPURA LATER IN THE DAY.

Time may have come for Islam to go local SULTAN SHAHIN

NEITHER THE Quran nor the Prophet give the Arabs superiority over their brethren, but the Arabs have imposed the language and dress code on Islam worldwide

A Turkish lawmaker, Öztürk Yılmaz, has proposed that the Muslims in Turkey be called to prayer in Turkish, and not Arabic. His Republican People’s Party threw him out for the demand, though when the party, which now leads the Opposition, was in power, the azaan was in Turkish.

Not just azaan, even namaz was offered in Turkish during 1932-1950. But, the Arab colonisation of Muslim minds was so comprehensive that it was a very unpopular decision, and was rolled back when the party lost the election in 1950.

The first time prayers were said in Turkish in an Istanbul mosque was on March 19, 1926 — the first Friday of Ramzan that year. Cemaleddin Efendi, who was leading the prayer, noticed that most of the people left without completing their prayers.

The issue of prayers in local languages came up the moment Islam crossed the Arabian Peninsula into the Sasanian Empire. In the second half of the seventh century CE, Islam was spreading in what is today Iran and the proud Persians asked for prayers in their language.

LANGUAGE BARRIER

This was fair and in consonance with instructions in the Quran that prayers be said in the language people understood.

The Quran says god’s messengers went to different parts of the world, conveying His message in local languages. God showed no preference for Arab hegemony. Jurists, too, weighed in. Imam M lik ibn Anas, Imam Muhammad al-Sh fi’ , and Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, all Arab jurists, opposed the idea.

A senior jurist of Persian origin, Imam Abu Hanifa, the founder of Hanafi jurisprudence, favoured the change but several of his followers didn’t agree with him.

Officially adopted by the Ottoman Turks in the 16th century, the Hanafi School is followed by many in West Asia, South Asia and the Far East. And yet, the idea of prayers in local languages has not taken off.

The push for languages arose from two sources: a pride in local culture and a desire to have a closer connection to god.

Not only god in the Quran, even Prophet Mohammad in his final sermon made clear that the Arabs don’t have superi-

ority over others.

But the Arabs, who used Arabic to further imperialistic ambitions, have not only sought to impose the language but also their dress code, architecture and other cultural identity-markers. The result is that some of the respected clerics in India feel honoured to call themselves slaves (ghulam) and even dogs (kalb) of Arab spiritual masters.

TALK TO ME

Does this mean that Islam does not have a regional colour? No. Indian Islam has features that the Arabs would not be able to identify with. For instance, our caste-system, the practice of dowry and married women wearing sindoor and bindi. But clerics have made every effort to obscure the syncretism of Indian Islam.

The word used for worship in the translation of the Quran by Shah Rafiuddin is p jn , associated with the Hindu ritual.

In the 18th century, both the indigenous p j and the Arabic ib d were permissible substitutes. It was only a century later, when the boundaries of Muslim identity began to tighten, that the Arabic

word became mandatory.

The world’s largest movement for preaching Islamic uniformity and exclusivism, Tablighi Jamaat, was started by Deobandi scholar Maulana Ilyas Kandhlawi in 1927 after he noticed that Muslims in Mewat continued to be well integrated with their original Hindu culture.

Tablighi efforts have been aided by an injection of Saudi petrodollars. The familiar Muslim greeting of Khuda Hafiz is now Allah Hafiz. It is no longer unusual to see a Muslim woman in a hijab or a man dressed in an abaya or sporting a keffiyeh. It’s all right in West Asia, where these clothes protect from sun, dust and sandstorms, but in Kolkata, Jakarta, London, Paris or Boston? It is nothing but a sign of a colonised Muslim mind.

Transition to local languages has not been easy for other religions too. A certain holiness does attach itself to some

languages. Vedic Sanskrit, for instance, is sacred for Hindus, Hebrew for Jews.

Christianity’s struggle to retain the Bible in Latin and Greek was intense and bloody, with a powerful Church putting up a stiff resistance. Eventually, the Bible did speak to the people in their language.

The Ulema in India refuse to accept as Quran an Urdu or English translation of the holy book. Mosques, too, do not display translated copies of the Quran, but in Europe and the US they do. In fact, much of Islamic literature is now easily available in translation on the Net. In South Asia, there has never been a call for azaan or namaz in local languages. How can Muslims come close to Allah if they don’t understand the language they are praying in? Maybe the debate in Turkey will open our hearts and minds.

Sultan Shahin is the foundereditor of a Delhi-based progressive Islamic website, NewAgeIslam.com  CHANDER

Printed and published by Ankit Singh on behalf of Network18 Media & Investments Limited. Printed at HT media Press, Plot No. 8, Industrial Area, Greater Noida, Dist-Gautam Budh Nagar, Uttar Pradesh and published at 428, Fourth Floor, Westend Mall, Near District Centre, Janak Puri, Main Najafgarh Road, New Delhi – 110058. Editor BV Rao, RNI NO. DELENG/2018/76684.