Editor: Rekha Saraswat

Vol. 78 No 6

SEPTEMBER 2014

Rs. 20/month

THE RADICAL HUMANIST (Since April 1949) Formerly : Independent India (April 1937- March 1949)

534

Founder Editor: M.N. Roy

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

Veteran Radical Humanist Balraj Puri Passes Away August 5, 1928 - August 30, 2014 Mr. Balraj Puri’s last article published in the RH was “Closer Understanding between India & Pakistan needed”. I will be republishing it in the next issue.

His last email to me read, “With a very heavy heart, I have to inform you my inability to attend the Radical Humanist conference. I realize that the loss is entirely mine. For, it might have been my last opportunity to meet the precious remnants of the mighty intellectual movement which I joined sixty years ago.”

Yes, now we will never have the opportunity to hear him speak his views in his humble and soft-spoken manner of oratory.

He will always be remembered for his crystal clear opinion on J&K issues and his continuous belief that majority of Muslims living in J&K would prefer India over Pakistan, if ever a decisive plebiscite were to be conducted there!!

We would request his children, Luv and Ellora, to participate actively in the radical humanist movement and begin to write for the RH. It will definitely help fill the void created by their father, in the years to come!!

—Rekha Saraswat 2

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

Remembering Balraj Puri ith the passing away of Shri Balraj Puri on 30th August 2014 at the age of 86 India has lost a great champion of human freedoms and democratic values. His was a full and rich life of extraordinary achievements in various fields. He was a social worker, human rights activist, political analyst, writer, author and a scholar in his own right. He had participated in Quit India Movement against the British in 1942, and along with Pt. Premnath Bazaz was a close associate of Sheikh Mohd. Abdullah in the Quit Kashmir Movement launched against the Dogra dynasty in 1946. He organized peace committees in Jammu in 1947 to restore communal harmony and peace. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, regularly sought his opinion relating to Kashmir affairs. He did his utmost to reduce differences between Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah. He was also a part of the committee for recovery of holy relic which was mysteriously removed from the sacred shrine of Hazartbal in Sri Nagar in 1963-64. He also made significant contribution and worked out almost all details for the Indira Gandhi - Sheikh Abdullah Accord in 1974. In 1967 when a Hindu mob tried to attack a Muslim locality in Jammu, he offered his own life and thus foiled the attempt. In 1984 he was also able to stop anti-Sikh riots in Jammu from spreading. He similarly intervened in many communally critical situations in the country particularly Kashmir, Punjab and places like Meerut and Aligarh.

He was the first person from the outside in Kashmir Valley to visit it after outbreak of militancy in 1989 and since then he has been constantly monitoring human rights violations both by the security forces and the militants. He was associated with Dogri Sansthan in Jammu ever since its formation in 1944. He campaigned for Dogri’s recognition by the Sahitaya Academy and by the Govt. of India. He organized the first conference of the Gujjars of the State where national leaders of the community were also invited. Indira Gandhi accepted his suggestion to initiate process of recognizing Gujjars as a scheduled tribe. Similarly he organized the first conference of the Pahari community and articulated their problems. He was appointed working chairman of regional autonomy committee constituted by Farooq Abdullah govt. after consulting top experts in various disciplines at the national level and representatives of all communities of the State. Puri also sponsored social work particularly in rural areas. He was founder member of Himalyan Sewa Sangh and worked with environmentalists like Sunderlal Bahuguna and Chandi Prasad Bhatt of Chipko Movement. He has worked on developmental issues as well in Delhi, Rajasthan and Bihar in association with different organization like the Centre for Science and Environment and Indian Cooperative Union. Having written articles on Urdu, Hindi, Dogri and Punjabi literature, he was the founder president of the J&K Anjaman-e-Tarraq in the J&K State. He had written scholarly papers on subjects of Political Science, Sociology, History and Economics and inter-disciplinary subjects like multiculturalism in India, Indo-Pak relations and dimensions of Kashmir problem for academic journals, seminars and lectures at prestigious academic institutions and universities in India and abroad. Puri was an author and co-author of about 40 books and approximately 1000 articles for important papers in India and abroad. He was founder member of the Citizens For Democracy which came into being in April 1974 during J.P. Movement, a non-party organization launched for protection and promoting democratic values, set up by Lok Nayak Jayprakash Narayan. He was also founder member of PUCL, a premier civil liberty organization which was established during the Emergency. He was part of many teams which investigated into human rights violations in Kashmir, Punjab and UP. As the Director, Institute of Jammu & Kashmir Affairs, he had organized many Seminars and undertook research studies on problems of the state. He regularly contributed to The Radical Humanist.

W

3

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

Tribute To Balraj Puri —N.D. Pancholi the sad demise of Shri Balraj Puri at InJammu India has lost a great champion of human rights and a political analyst of high repute. He was 86. He was participant in momentous political events such like ‘Quit India Movement’ of 1942 and ‘Quit Kashmir Movement’ of 1946 in association with Sheikh Abdullah and Pt. Prem Nath Bazaz against Dogra Ruler Maharaja Hari Singh. He did his utmost to prevent outbreak of communal violence or check its spread in Jammu in 1947 and on many occasions thereafter- even at the risk of his life.

Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, sought his opinion on Kashmir affairs on crucial occasions. Puri always tried to bridge the gap between Nehru and the Sheikh Abdullah.

He rendered great help in the conclusion of Indira-Gandhi-Sheikh Abdullah Accord in 1974.

Puri’s activities encompassed various fields –from active social and political to academic and journalistic work of high standard. His friends and associate are writing about his many-faceted work elsewhere. However, I would confine here myself to some aspects of his human right work in which I had the privilege to associate with him on few occasions.

Jayprakash Narayan had inaugurated the Citizens For Democracy in April 1974 at Delhi and he became its founding member. I came in touch with him at that time. He was also founding member of the PUCL in 1976. He was member of the National Council of both the organizations for several years and was very active.

Militancy had started in Kashmir at the end of 1989 and by the start of January 1990 Jammu & Kashmir was under Governor’s rule under Jagmohan. Militancy was at its height leading to killings of large number of people –both Muslims and non-Muslims whom the militants suspected as government agents and it led to exodus of Kashmiri Pandits on large scale. On

4

the other hand the entire Kashmir valley was placed under army rule and the Kashmir police was sent to the barracks by Jagmohan as he suspected almost all the Kashmirees. Clashes between militants and security forces were the daily occurrences and indiscriminate firing by the security forces in retaliation was resulting into large number of casualties of the innocent people. Curfew used to be imposed between 21 to 22 hours daily which was causing great deal of misery and hardship to the people and this situation continued for several months. Patriotic Indian journalists were crying for blood and asking Governor to block the electricity, water supply and the other essential necessities from reaching the people with a view to discipline them. There were frantic messages to the PUCL and CFD from the people in the valley requesting for sending a team to investigate into human rights violation by the security forces.

It was with the initiative and assistance of Balraj Puri that a team of PUCL & CFD was formed for the purpose which visited the valley in the last week of March 1990. The team members were Justice V.M. Tarkunde (Retd.), Justice Rajinder Sachar (Retd.), Balraj Puri, Inder Mohan, Ranjan Dewedi, T.S. Ahuja and I. On the first day when we were at Hazaratbal in Srinagar in connection with an incident, suddenly 4/5 militants with AK-47 rifles appeared and began to enquire about us and our purpose. Our local guide conversed with them in Kashmiri.

However he told the militants that we were Christians and not Hindus as he felt afraid that militants might do some harm if they come to know that team members were Hindus. We did not know Kashmiri but Balraj Puri knew and as soon as he heard the team members being described as Christians he became angry and reprimanded our guide. He told the militants that we were not Christians but Hindus and that we were not representing the Govt. or any party but were representing Indian Human Rights Organizations and had come to the valley for the cause of ‘Insani Haquq’. Militants appeared to be

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

confused and after some deliberations among themselves disappeared from the scene.

The report which was brought out by the team exposed the darker side of the rule of Jagmohan at that time and was widely discussed and debated nationally and internationally.

Subsequently several human rights teams used to visit the Kashmir valley and in most of them Balraj puri either used to be part of the team or

adviser. He not only took up the issues of human rights violations in Kashmir but also of Punjab, Noth-east and other parts of India.

He had deep commitment for human rights issues and his whole life was a supreme dedication to the cause of secularism. He has always been a great inspiration to me and many others in the human right s movement.

Please register yourself on the RH Website (http://www.theradicalhumanist.com) ¨Please log in to it to give your comments on the articles and humanist news which are uploaded from the world over on the Website almost daily. ¨You may also send in news and write-ups from your part of the land for uploading on the Website. ¨Please send in your views and participate on the topics of debate given in the debate section. ¨You yourself may also begin a debate on any topic of your choice in this section. ¨Please suggest themes for the coming issues of The Radical Humanist, discuss them in the Themes Section of the Website; the content of which may be later published in the RH journal. ¨It is your own inter-active portal formed with a purpose of social interaction amongst all Radical Humanists as well as Rationalists and Humanists from different forums also. ¨Do make it a practice to click on the RH Website http://www.theradicalhumanist.com URL daily, ceremoniously. ¨Please utilise the RH Website to come closer for the common cause of ushering in a renaissance in our country.

—Rekha Saraswat

5

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

The Radical Humanist

www.theradicalhumanist.com

Vol. 78 Number 6 September 2014

Contents

Monthly journal of the

1. From the Editor’s Desk: The Travesty a Movement —Rekha Saraswat 7 2. From the Writings of M.N. Roy: Historical Role of Islam: Mission of Islam 8 3. Guests’ Section: Science-Directed Evolutionary Socialism —Bhagwat Prasad Rath 10 Freedom from Servitude Need for Humility and Accommodation —Uday Dandavate 14 The Controversial Bard:U.R. Ananthamurthy —Nandana Reddy 16 4. Current Affairs’ Section: a) Method of Appointment of HC & SC Judges–A Closer Look Necessary b) Abolish Padma Awards —Rajindar Sachar 21 a) The Idea Of Partition Recedes In Shadows! b) Politics of Kashmir —Kuldip Nayar 25 Elders’ House is Sixty years Old —K.S. Chalam 29 5. IRI / IRHA Members’ Section: Endangered freedom —Vidya Bhushan Rawat 31 6. Academicians' Section: Udupi Rajagopalcharya Anantha Murthy —Ashok K. Chaudhury 35 7. Book Review Section: Japan Takes a Look at India —Dipavali Sen 39 8. Humanist News Section: 38 Book Release: M.N. Roy: Marxism & Colonial Cosmopolitanism Kris Manjapra

Indian Renaissance Institute Devoted to the development of the Renaissance Movement; and for promotion of human rights, scientific-temper, rational thinking and a humanist view of life.

Founder Editor: M.N. Roy Editor: Dr. Rekha Saraswat Contributory Editors: Prof. A.F. Salahuddin Ahmed, Dr. R.M. Pal, Professor Rama Kundu Publisher and Printer: Mr. N.D. Pancholi Send articles to: Dr. Rekha Saraswat, C-8, Defence Colony, Meerut, 250001, U.P., India, Ph. 91-121-2620690, 09719333011 E-mail articles at: rheditor@gmail.com Send Subscription / Donation Cheques in favour of The Radical Humanist to: Mr. Narottam Vyas (Advocate), Chamber Number 111 (Near Post Office), Supreme Court of India, New Delhi, 110001, India n.vyas@snr.net.in Ph. 91-11-22712434, 91-11-23782836, 09811944600 Please Note: Authors will bear sole accountability for corroborating the facts that they give in their write-ups. Neither IRI / the Publisher nor the Editor of this journal will be responsible for testing the validity and authenticity of statements & information cited by the authors. Also, sometimes some articles published in this journal may carry opinions not similar to the Radical Humanist philosophy; but they would be entertained here if the need is felt to debate and discuss upon them.

—Rekha Saraswat 6

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014 lack of dedication and many times inefficiency of its diminishing line of followers in associating with the problems of the masses around them; and two, the complete detachment with the ideology in their personal lives in taking their day to day decisions. They are neither recognized as living their ideals differently from the others nor have they built faith in the masses about their fair intentions. What are the initiatives coming from them?

Contesting elections may be a just move in the present scenario for some of them. O.K. for once if we stand by them in this trial and error effort where is that radical humanist who is ready for his candidature who has exclusively built his mass-base for his support in winning the elections?

I still strongly believe in the simple logic of new humanism that if those radical humanists (who wish to participate in the election process) work with and for the masses, educate, emancipate and build their confidence in themselves and in the principles of renaissance, form people’s committees from amongst the enthusiasts amongst these masses no money would be needed by them as contestants for campaigning and propaganda because their fair intentions and their full time dedicated service to the people’s needs would automatically make the radical humanists their first choice. But because most of them did not indulge in this ground work they have no other option but to support the socialists or some other independent candidates. Who would object to this decision?

They are free to go ahead if this in any way supports the cause of our renaissance movement. Gandhi, Vinobha, Lohia, J.P. and Roy all started single-handedly in treading the path of their beliefs. People came to them and remained with them because of the honesty and dedication they saw in the formers’ pursuance of their values.

All are free to propound and propagate new theories. Followers will join them in abundance once they show honesty in living by their ideals!!

From The Editor's Desk:

The Travesty of a Movement —Rekha Saraswat Roy updated himself and revised M.N. his views till he survived and formed the new philosophy of Humanism in his final years of mental consciousness. Those who continued to travel with him in his dialectical process of political reformation and cultural renaissance were the ones who faced experiences similar to his and agreed upon the basic tenets of the new ideology formed by him and even helped him in developing it.

Those of them who are still surviving and are continuing to take pride in calling themselves radical humanists are therefore, expected to necessarily agree with the fundamental principles of New Humanism enunciated by them together with him.

But if some amongst them feel that certain tenets of this philosophy are outdated which are unable to cater to the present political, social and cultural crises and want to critically examine and reform them in the changed circumstances they are free to go beyond New Humanism.

Roy went beyond Communism even while Stalin was alive. He continued to cherish the socialist ideals and egalitarian goals defined by Marx but stopped calling himself a ‘communist’ as soon as he realized that the communists were following a process that was antithetical to attaining these goals.

The dilemma with some of us is that we neither have the ability and capacity to go beyond new humanism (because it is easy to criticize an ideology but very difficult to synthesize another) nor do we want to leave the tag of ‘radical humanism’ (because this may lead us to the problem of severe identity crisis).

Radical Humanist movement is facing an impasse not because of its belief in party-less democracy but because of two basic weaknesses in its so-called followers. One, the

7

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

From the Writings of M.N. Roy:

Historical Role of Islam Chapter IV

The Causes of Triumph historical background and the social Itsconditions in which it was born put on Islam the stamp of toleration, which, to the undiscerning eye, may appear to be incongruous with the spirit of fanaticism traditionally associated with it. But there is no contradiction. The basic doctrine of Islam – “There is but One God” – itself makes for toleration. If the whole world, with its defects and deformities, the entire mankind, with all its follies and frivolities, is admitted as the creation of the self-same God, the believer in this elevating doctrine may deplore the deformities and laugh at what appears to him to be absurdities and perverseness; but the very nature of his faith does not permit him to look upon them as the works or worshippers of some other God of Evil, and declare war upon them as such. Those who worship differently are for him mistaken and misled brethren, but nonetheless children of the self-same Father, to be brought to the right road, or indulgently tolerated until they are ready for redemption.

The terrifying of the followers of the Arabic Prophet offering to the world the Koran or the sword, cast such an ominous shadow over the history of the rise of Islam as concealed the third alternative so freely offered, and generally accepted. That was the main cause for the triumph of Islam. As a matter of fact, the alternatives were very differently offered. It was: “Accept the Koran or pay tribute to the Saracen conqueror!” The “Sword of God” was unsheathed only when neither of the alternatives was accepted. The economic interest of the Arab trader, which produced the monotheistic creed of Islam, was antagonistic to

8

indiscriminate bloodshed. The lands through which the trade-routes lay must be conquered and brought under the domination of the unitary State. The object would be all the better realized, should the conquered peoples accept the new religion; for, then the Unitarian State would be established on a solid foundation. But production and consumption of commodities are the essential factors of trade. Therefore, it was not compatible with the historic role of Islam to massacre the artisan and peasant masses, or to destroy opulent cities for the impiety of rejecting the Koran. What was necessary was their subjugation to the believers of the new creed. Under the domination of the followers of the Prophet, unbelieving peoples were allowed to hold their imperfect faiths and to continue their perverse worships.

When Jerusalem capitulated to Khalif Omar, the inhabitants of the vanquished city were left in possession of their worldly goods, and allowed the freedom of worship. A special quarter of the city was allotted for the residence of the Christian population with their Patriarch and his clergy. For the protection thus granted, a nominal tax of two pieces of gold was imposed upon the entire Christian community. The pilgrimage of the Holy City was stimulated rather than suppressed by the Muslim conquerors, on account of the commercial value of that devout traffic. Four hundred and sixty years later, when the Holy Land reverted to the Christian rule of the crusading knights of Europe, “..the Oriental Christians regretted the tolerating Government of the Arabian Khalifs”. (Quote from: “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”) In contrast to the toleration of the Muslims the following account of the occupation of Jerusalem by the Crusaders is highly illuminating: “In the pillage of private and public wealth, the adventurers had agreed to respect the exclusive property of the first occupant. A bloody sacrifice was offered by mistaken votaries to the God of the Christians; resistance might provoke, but neither age nor sex could

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

modify, their implacable rage; they indulged themselves three days in a promiscuous massacre. After seventy thousand Muslims had been put to the sword, and the harmless Jews were burnt in their Synagogue, they could still reserve a multitude of captives whom interest or lassitude persuaded them to spare. (Again, quote from: “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”) On the testimony of a whole series of authoritative historians, Christian as well as Muslim, contemporary as well as modern, the critical Gibbon conclusively proves that “to his Christian subjects, Mohammad readily granted security of their persons, the freedom of their trade, the property of their goods and the toleration of their worship”. This profitable principle of toleration was observed with more or less strictness not only by all the immediate successors of the Prophet, but over the whole of Arabic ascendency. It was abandoned only after Islam had played out its historical role, and its leadership had passed from the noble Saracens to the notorious barbarians of Tartary. Even under the first Turkish Sultans, Islam was not completely divorced from its original spirit of toleration.

In its days of glory, the native toleration of Islam not only developed into wide freedom of thought and rationalism, but, from the orthodox point of view, even degenerated into positively heretical and irreligious notions. Most of the earlier Abbasside Khalifs of Bagdad were not only devoted to the study of profane science, and free in their thought; some of them, Motassen for example, even did not believe in the divine origin of the Koran.

For centuries the Saracen Empire offered hospitable asylum to the persecuted Jews as well as to the unorthodox Christian sects of the Nestorians, Jacobites, Eutychians and Paulicians. After the consolidation of the Saracen conquest, the toleration of Islam was extended even to the Catholic Church. Many Christian historians themselves bear testimony 9

to this effect. The Ecclesiastical historian Renaudot, for example, informs that, “the rank, the immunities, and the domestic jurisdiction of Patriarchs, Bishops, and the clergy were protected by the (Muslim) civil magistrates (of Egypt); the learning of Christian individuals recommended them to the employment of secretaries and physicians; they were enriched by the lucrative collection of revenue; and their merit was sometimes raised to the command of cities and provinces”. A Khalif of Bagdad declared that the Christians were most worthy of trust in the administration of Persia. The Paulicians, those valiant fore-runners of the Protestant Reformation, not only received freedom of worship in the Saracen Empire, but were actively supported by the Khalifs in their prolonged efforts to subvert the degenerated Catholic Church, and re-establish Christianity in its original form.

Chapter IV continued in the next issue.....

[Publisher’s Note: This book, first published in 1939, was written when Roy was in jail in the early thirties under a sentence of twelve years rigorous imprisonment, later reduced to six, for ‘conspiring to deprive’ the king-Emperor of his sovereignty in India. Looking back at events in the intervening period, one might wish that this book had been read more widely in the decade before the Indian sub-continent became independent and at the same time partitioned into two States. A better knowledge and more objective understanding of the history of Islam on the part of Muslim as well as non-Muslim India might have prevented much of the later tragic developments and human suffering. But it is never too late for knowledge and understanding to undo the harm that the lack of them has done. Hence, this small book on the historical role of Islam, in East and West, may itself have a historical role to play, apart from its intrinsic value as a scholarly treatise, beautifully written, on a fascinating chapter of human history]

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

Guests' Section:

Science-Directed Evolutionary Socialism —Bhagwat Prasad Rath is scaling new heights. New Science problems are threatening our existence. Nature is our master. We have to learn from it. So, instead of repeating what earlier great thinkers wrote about socialism, we must subject all thoughts to ruthless criticism. Kisen Patnaik, a leading Lohia socialist thinker, with profound sadness, lamented the poverty of thought at the world level. Einstein is one of our path-finders. He wrote the seminal essay ‘Why Socialism?’

Einstein Wrote, ‘But historic tradition is, so to speak, of yesterday; nowhere have we really overcome what Thorstein Veblen called “the predatory phase” of human development. The observable economic facts belong to that phase and even such laws as we can derive from them are not applicable to other phases. Since the real purpose of socialism is precisely to overcome and advance beyond the predatory phase of human development, economic science in its present state can throw little light on the socialist society of the future’ Thorstein Veblen wrote that the four predatory institutions that dominate our societies are ‘rulers, warriors, men of religion and sports men’ C. Wright Mills, a great socialist of America adds more twentieth century predatory institutions to the list of Veblen. They are ‘media – moguls, film- stars and film- makers’. Veblen says that these institutions indulge in ‘crack- pot realism’ and wallow in the slough of conspicuous consumption. Mills agrees with him. Today’s most powerful predatory institution is that of finance-dictators. Can we dream of a society free from these predatory institutions?

The world is divided into different groups of humanity who are constantly warring with each other. As Tagore said, ‘the world has been

10

divided into fragments by narrow domestic walls’. Psychologists like Erich Fromm think that insane people are powerful in almost all predatory institutions.

The greatest living intellectual of the present world, Noam Chomsky, says, “In the moral calculus of capitalism, greater profits in the next quarter outweigh the fate of your grandchildren.”

Harvard professor Robert Stevens accuses the government representatives in the IPCC panel (Inter- governmental panel on climate change) of deleting 75% of the report prepared by scientists.

That Governments are subservient to the profit-crazy corporations is no secret.

Next to climate change, the other grave issue that bedevils human future is the preparation for war by the states, particularly the rich ones. The US tops the list of world warmongers. The greatest danger comes from the existence of nuclear weapons.

Like Kisen Patnaik, P.M. Sweezy, a great Marxist thinker, is worried about the poverty of thought.

After the collapse of communist societies in the world, P.M. Sweezy, in his essay A Crisis In Marxist Thought (The book is Post-Revolutionary Society) wrote that Marx’s idea was ‘…. It (The Communist Society) would be a classless society, a stateless society and a society of genuine and not merely formal or legal equality among nationalities, races, sexes, and individuals …… These goals would certainly be very long term in nature and might never be fully achieved…… Certainly they establish guidelines and rough measuring rods. Only a society genuinely dedicated to these goals and shaping its practices accordingly can be considered socialist in the Marxian meaning of the term.

Now, as I have already indicated, the generally accepted Marxian interpretation of modern history leads us to expect that capitalism will be overthrown by proletarian revolutions, and that

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

these revolutions will establish socialist societies. The theory, in fact, is so taken for granted as a reliable clue to what is happening in the world that every society which originates in a proletarian (or proletarian-led) revolution is automatically assumed to be and identified as a socialist society.

And this is where the anomalies begin. None of these “socialist” societies behave as Marx-and I think.

Most Marxists up until quite recently-thought they would. They have not eliminated classes except in a purely verbal sense; and……. they have not attempted to follow a course which could have the long-run effect of eliminating classes.

The state has not disappeared; no one could expect it to, except in a still distant future; but on the contrary, it has become more and more centralised and dominating institution of society.

Each interprets proletarian internationalism to mean support of its own interests and policies as interpreted by itself. They go to war not only in self defense but to impose their will on other countries, even ones that are also assumed to be socialist. The result has been a deep crisis in Marxian theory…… the trouble with the Marxist hypothesis is that it quickly leads to many anomalies”.

Sweezy calls Marxism ‘….a magnificent and scientific creation far superior to anything achieved by bourgeois science…” Kuhn in his epoch-shaking book ‘The Structure of Scientific Revolution’ says that science develops through a series of revolutions, each rejecting much that has gone before and starting on new foundations. His key concept is that of the paradigm- shift which means a new way of looking at reality.

The capitalist, the socialist and the welfare societies are all at the predatory phase. All nurse predatory institutions, led by ‘crack-pot realists’ as pointed out by Thorstein Veblen.

11

Evidently humanity is nurturing its death- wish and rushing headlong into colossal disasters.

When did we come to such a doom-spelling precipice?

To quote Marx ‘The mode of production of material life conditions the social, political and intellectual life process in general. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness. (Preface to the Critique of Political Economy).

Fifty thousand years back humanity made the wrong choice in the mode of production. The society of gatherers was mainly dependent on females collecting food material (80% of the food consumed by the family) from nature. The society was peaceful and contented.

50,000 years ago, the mode of production changed from gathering fruits and roots to that of killing animals (even big ones) because of the efficiency of the killer tools invented in that period.

As Marx said, this change brought about a change in consciousness. The social, political and intellectual life processes changed completely. The egalitarian society where men and women enjoyed equal rights gave way to the society of male-hunters dominating society.

Labour lost its pre-eminent position in society. Instead of labour, the capacity to kill became the most respectable value in society.

Thus started the first great exploitation, men exploiting women sexually and also in the field of labour when hunters turned into warriors. Women facilitated this process initially by preferring meat diet to fruit and root diet and choosing hunters to peaceful caring and sharing people as sexual partners. The chiefs of warrior society became kings and men imagined a super-natural king of kings whom they called God. Thus religions had their birth.

The non-labouring leisure classes of rulers, warriors, men of religions and sports men cultivating physical fitness for becoming better

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

warriors came into prominence. Thorstein Veblen's book 'The Theory of Leisure Class' refers to these classes as the important members of the predatory society that dominate the modern world. Not only economic science but almost all our systems of knowledge are not free from the predatory consciousness.

Capitalism is destroying society. Socialism is the only way out. What sort of socialism do we need? Man is a product of nature and society. Our knowledge of nature and society is always expanding. We have to take account of the latest discoveries in science. Does nature have a purpose in creating man?

In the animal world, man alone developed the capacity to control the violent tendencies of his amygdale through his pre-frontal cortex. This shows a direction tendency from violence to non-violence. There is also the existence of mirror neurons in human brain alone. Mirror neurons are there in the brain of the chimpanzee. But they are much less in quantity.

Mirror neurons are the nurses of empathy. This also shows a direction tendency towards solidarity (MAITRI) with all living beings.

Brian Goodwin is a biologist, professor of biology at the Open University outside London, Erode. He wrote … ‘The metaphors I use are related to emergence and creativity and the concept of the creative cosmos.

Evolution is an aspect of this creativity. The central metaphor I feel emerging in the new biology is all connected with creativity. You see, in genetic reductionism Whitehead’s fallacy of misplaced concreteness par excellence. Genes are not themselves creative but function within the context of the organism.

Whitehead’s phrase for evolution is “the creative advance into novelty’. This dance of creation is a never-ending dance that goes nowhere but is simply expressing itself’…….

‘Darwinism stresses conflict and competition; that doesn’t square with the evidence. A lot of organisms that survive are in no sense superior 12

to those that have gone extinct. It’s not a question of being “better than”. It’s simply a matter of finding a place where you can be yourself. That’s what evolution is about. That’s why you can see it as a dance. It’s not going anywhere. It’s simply exploring a space of possibilities………

There’s still struggle in the sense that if you’re going to be creative you have to believe in you ideas and struggle for them. Every single species has a struggle. But because there is as much co-operation among species as there is competition, the struggle is to express your being, your nature. These are metaphors whereby science can begin to connect with the arts: people, being creative and playing. There’s nothing trivial about play. Play is the most fundamental of all human activities and culture can be seen as play.

There’s too much work in our culture, and there’s too much accumulation of goods. The whole capitalist trip is an awful treadmill that’s extremely destructive. It needs to be balanced out. This is why indigenous cultures are beginning to be recognized for their valuesbecause they were not accumulating goods; they were living in harmony. They were expressing their own natures as cultures. Nature and culture then come together.……”

Francisco Varela is a biologist, director of research at the centre National de Recherché Scientifique, and professor of cognitive science and epistemology at the Ecole Polytechnique, in Paris. He wrote, “I guess I’ve had only one question all my life. Why do emergent selves, virtual identities, pop up all over the place creating worlds, whether at the mind/body level, the cellular level, or the trans-organism level?

This phenomenon is something so productive that it does not cease creating entirely new realms: life, mind, and societies. Yet these emergent selves are based on processes so shifty, so ungrounded, that we have an apparent paradox between the solidity of what appears to show up and its groundlessness. That, to me, is

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

a key and eternal question.”

A great scientist, Theodosius Dobzhansky wrote, “In a sense human genes have surrendered their primacy in human evolution to an entirely new non-biological or super organic agent, culture.”

Scientists at the world level are engaged in a controversy regarding the subject of socio-biology. Eo Wilson, a prize-winner socio-biologist, thinks that the science of biology can provide the way to solve the problems of humanity. Scientists opposing him are led by Gould and Lewontin.

A scientist writes, “….including Steven Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin… formed ‘The Sociobiology Study Group, noting… that theories that attempted to establish a biological foundation to social behaviour provided an ‘important basis… for the eugenic policies which led to the establishment of gas chambers in Nazi Germany”.

American and European thinkers and scholars as well as thinkers and scholars of other countries influenced by them have missed the true path for humanity fixed by nature. The controversy regarding socio- biology among two groups of scientists illustrates this position.

Einstein throws doubt on the systems of knowledge that are prevalent in the present predatory society. Both the groups supporting and opposing socio-biology become irrelevant in a non-predatory society though it cannot be denied that the Marxist thinkers have a lofty aim.

The phenomenon of emergence always leads to the creation of a new entity devoid of the qualities and characteristics of the constituting elements. The creation of man is an emergent phenomenon and cannot be understood by studying the genes alone. Genetic determinism is discredited but the role of science cannot be denied in understanding humanity.

Human societies took different shapes in different times and different countries. Science was the greatest gift of nature to humanity and

13

the only community, non-predatory in nature, used science (‘Science and Society in Ancient India’ by D. P. Chatterji) to reach great heights of world.

Maitri (Solidarity) cannot be ignored in the name of natural fallacy. The unique nature of ‘emergent’ man (‘woman’ is a more truthful word) in pre-Vedic India has not been studied properly by scholars.

Has nature any purpose in creating man? All most all the leading scholars deny the role of ‘purpose’ in creation. Scientist Brian Goodwin uses the words ‘play’ and ‘dance’. In India, we have a better word. That word is ‘Lila’. Creation is nature’s ‘Lila’ and covers both the words ‘play’ and ‘dance’. The purpose of nature is that its ‘Lila’ does not come to a stop at any time. If any creature destroys other creatures by becoming omni-potent, nature’s ‘Lila’ cannot go on. ‘Lila’ is a spontaneous process and can go on when all elements flourish and vanish spontaneously.

Any type of violence will disturb ‘Lila’.

Nature uses male nature of the carnivores (tigers, lions and other such creatures) to check their population. Carnivores destroy their own progeny. This goes against the conceptions of the survival of the fittest and the selfish gene (Richard Dawkins).

Prof. Robin Dunbar and his colleagues give priority to social evolution before the brain development of the human species. According to them the bigger brain is the gift of nature to the animal whose range of Maitri (solidarity) extends to bigger circles of the same species.

[Bhagwat Prasad Rath, was the Editor of Vigil.

He may be contacted at: 3rd Line, Roith Colony, PO/Dist. – Rayagada –2 PIN- 765002, Odisha. Ph: 06856-235092;Mob:-08895860598; bagwat_prashad@rediffmail.com; satyabhamajankalyantrust@rediffmail.com www.samalochanal.blogspot.com; www.samalochana.blogsome.com]

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

Freedom from Servitude —Uday Dandavate 15th was Independence Day in August India. We had our new Prime Minister unfurling the national flag at the red fort in Delhi.

There was a general expectation that he would make a few radical announcements that would set the tone for better times ahead. The general mood in India is upbeat. Having delivered a crushing defeat to the congress party in the recent Parliament election, the country expects significant improvement in governance and concrete steps for elimination of corruption in the administration. I often wonder what independence means to the ordinary people in the street and to the toiling masses in the rural areas and in the fields. On August 15th 1947 India attained freedom from 200 year long subservience to the British Raaj. The dream of self rule (Swaraj) was unfolding as Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, delivered his famous Tryst with Destiny speech in the Central Hall of the Parliament.

67 Years after attaining independence India is still in search of a leader who can inspire a positive change. India is looking for a psychological environment where regardless of one’s religion, caste, gender everyone has the freedom and the opportunities to work towards a better future. India’s greatest challenge today is attaining independence from servitude to the rulers. Our rulers have changed but our servitude has not. The idea of a participatory democracy has not found deep roots inside India’s imagination. We still look for a hero to come rescue us from the squalor of corruption that has crept into the administration. India has no dearth of talent. India is known for its native entrepreneurship. Indians have been successful as thought leaders in academic institutions around the world. However, when it comes to experimenting with possible approaches for a better future we tend to lack confidence in the wisdom of the common person and seek

14

direction from a strong leader. No wonder after three decades of coalition governments, Mr. Narendra Modi was able to secure a decisive mandate from the electorate. ‘I am, and I know it’ was his promise of homogenizing a culturally diverse nation and imposing a firm top down model of governance that appealed to the population tired of failed heroes and shy of playing their own role in a more demanding participatory process. Does the current government have the will to help every Indian attain independence from the ruling elite? Will the new government unshackle India from the culture of discrimination based on religion, caste and gender? That is the key question we are trying to seek answer to in the new set of promises made by the new hero.

Need for Humility and Accommodation Prime Minister of India, Mr. TheNarendra Modi presented the Hindu Holy book, Bhagwat Gita, to the Emperor of Japan. He then went on to declare, “My secular friends will now want to have a discussion about this.” This comment of Mr. Modi exposes a few important aspects of Mr. Modi’s mindset.

1. Mr. Modi does not understand secularismsecularism does not deny an individual citizen the freedom to practice his religion; rather, it ensures that every citizen has the right to pursue his/her beliefs. So if Mr. Modi wants to gift Gita to the Japanese emperor, it should only represent his personal beliefs. 2. By taunting the secularists Mr. Modi has undermined his own intentions. Any offerings coming out of religious beliefs should come with humility, not with a twisted sense of scoring a point. His barb at secularists while giving a gift to the Japanese Emperor diminishes the importance of making a genuine gesture to his host in Japan. It creates doubts about his real intentions.

3. It is clear that the gift of Bhagwat Gita was directed foremost at appeasing the Hindu constituency, then at provoking secularists into

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

falling into the trap of insulting the religious identity of Hindu majority.

4. It is clear that Mr. Modi wants to provoke a discussion about asserting the Hindu identity as a part of India’s political discourse. The timing of such a provocation-just before assembly elections-is consistent with Mr. Modi’s campaigning style.

5. Future implications of Mr. Modi’s symbolic gesture are very clear. I only hope that people of

India will not get drawn into a debate that creates divisions in the society. The need of the hour is accommodation of religious plurality not assertion of Hindu majority.

[Uday Dandavate heads a design research consulting firm, SonicRim in U.S.A. He writes and speaks on topics related to people centered design and innovation in international journals and conferences. uday@sonicrim.com]

An Appeal to the Readers Indian Renaissance Institute has been receiving regular requests from readers, research scholars, Rationalists and Radical Humanists for complete sets of books written by M.N. Roy. It was not possible to fulfil their demands as most of Roy's writings are out of print. IRI has now decided to publish them but will need financial assistance from friends and well-wishers as the expenses will be enormous running into lakhs. IRI being a non-profit organization will not be able to meet the entire expenses on its own. Initially, following 15 books have been ordered for print: New Humanism; Beyond Communism; Politics, Power and Parties; Historical Role of Islam; India’s Message; Men I Met; New Orientation; Materialism; Science & Philosophy; Revolution and Counter-revolution in China; India in Transition; Reason, Romanticism and Revolution; Russian Revolution; Selected Works-Four Volumes; Memoirs (Covers period1915-1923).

Cheques /bank drafts may be sent in the name of ‘Indian Renaissance Institute’ at (address): Shri B.D. Sharma, Advocate, Chamber No.111 (Old), Supreme Court, New Delhi-110001 Online donations may be sent to: ‘Indian Renaissance Institute’ Account No: 02070100005296; FISC Code: UCBA0000207 UCO Bank, Supreme Court Branch, New Delhi (India) We make an earnest appeal to you to please donate liberally for the cause of the spirit of renaissance and scientific thinking being promoted in the writings of M.N. Roy. Thanking you.

B.D. Sharma

N.D. Pancholi,

Narottam Vyas

President (IRI) Secretary (IRI) Treasurer (IRI) A note of Appreciation and Thanks: We have received the following donation from our veteran Radical Humanists: 1. Sri. T.P. Babaria - Rs. 2,500/- 2. Prof. Kameshwar Wali - 100 Dollars (Rs. 5212/-)

15

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

The Controversial Bard: U. R. Ananthamurthy —Nandana Reddy

Udupi Ananthamurthy

Rajagopalacharya or Ananthu as I affectionately called him was one of the Bards of Indian polity. Not unlike William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, he commented on events, ridiculed fundamentalism and mocked authority. From his deeply embedded Socialist convictions he examined modern times through the lens of Democracy. He questioned all things and analyzed all motives in the belief that it would lead to a deepening of democracy. On January 26, 2014 he said; “…everything is politics. In a democracy, one has to constantly respond...it is not about what is right in the eternal sense. We’ll have to do some things that are right at the moment. But that is politics and we’ll have to do what is right.” He believed that the role of a watch dog was not a duty that can be abdicated by anyone irrespective of who they were. Our paths first crossed in 1967. I was 15 and though my parents were not in politics they had many friends in the Socialist Party that shared their political beliefs, but also their love for art, music and literature. One day over lunch at our home Shantaveri Gopal Gowda, a long time friend of Ananthamurthy’s and the one who introduced him to Lohia Socialism and shared his passion for Kannada literature, told the story of Ananthamurthy’s novel, Samskara to Dr. Lohia and Madhu Limaye. He said that Ananthu was a Lohia follower [though he had never met Lohia in person]. My parents Sneha and Pattabhi were struck by the story and decided to make it into a film. Dr. Lohia encouraged them and with the help of many talented friends the film was made1 and Ananthu became a part of the ‘Family Pattabhic’.

Interestingly ‘Samskara’ the novel was inspired by a film. When Ananthamurthy was in England he went to see “The Seventh Seal” by the celebrated Swedish Director Ingmar Bergman

16

with his teacher Malcolm Bradbury. Though it didn’t have subtitles he ‘experienced’ the film and could relate to the plague, the atmosphere of death and the indecision of the Protagonist.

There had been a plague in his hometown and he remembered how the upper castes were treated by the doctor while the Dalits were not.

Ananthu was intrigued by the fact that time was so linier in the West while in India they ran spirally like an archaeological site where the layers of time were sandwiched together as Ananthu said; “You in England or Europe in order to create the medieval ages, you have to go back to a library and collect all information.

But the medieval times are already there in me.

They are there in my mother. I can see and feel the 18th century in my mother and the 10th century in my grandmother. Different times in Europe are simultaneously present in India. As we walk the road, we are simultaneously walking the different times.”2 Malcolm Bradbury challenged Ananthu to write and apparently the novel ‘Samskara’ was written as my father said; “in four furious days, synchronizing with the four day time lapse in the novel. A very great part of the novel reads like a film script. The details and mannerism of the Brahmins are so graphic and visual possibly, due to the influence of the film on the novel.

Besides these superficial similarities the novel is brilliantly original.”3 He wrote it in 1965.

The book created a literary sensation in Karnataka and when the film was banned by the Censor Board it sparked a major political controversy. It was finally released in 1970 and won the National Award for Best Film and several International Awards including the Bronze Leopard at Locarno. A. K. Ramanajan Professor of linguistics at the University of Chicago saw the film and said; “If I had seen this film in Chicago, I would have danced in the streets with joy!” In 1976 he translated Samskara into English and began using it as course material. The film was path breaking and ushered in the parallel cinema movement in South India and took

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

Ananthu to the International Stage.

Interestingly the controversy around the book was after its publication while the controversy generated by the film died out after its release.

My father felt that this had something to do with the treatment of the story in the film. “One major departure of the film from the novel is the later half. In the novel the burning of Narayanappa’s body, takes place halfway through. In a way, the story ends half way through the novel” wrote my father in his paper ‘Literature and Film’. He said; “The interest in the novel is sustained by Praneshacharya meeting Putta and undergoing experiences the exact opposite of his earlier experiences. His previous religious ritualistic Brahmanical world is contrasted with the amoral physical world of the Non-Brahmins, with its cock fights, prostitutes and sensual entertainment. The novel’s interest is further sustained by the devise of dramatic irony and black humour where the Brahmins prepare for an elaborate funeral for a non-existing body, which has already been spirited away by the Muslims.” He felt that this will not work in the film. “Both the novel and the film start with the problem of the dead body. If the dead body is disposed of half way through the film as in the novel, the film will lose interest. In the novel, literary devices like dramatic irony could be made use of to keep interest. Not so in the film.

The film starts with the conflict of to burn or not to burn the body of Narayanappa. The conflict is resolved in the very end when Praneshacharya returns back to the village to do the cremation.

Thus the interest is sustained till the very end.

“According to Sri A.K. Ramanujan who translated Samskara into English, Samskara is a novel of decadent Hinduism. This is exemplified by the Madhva Brahmin Community’s concern with materialism and greed and their internecine quarrels. Even Praneshacharya, though inspired by noble motives, is forever in the grip of indecision and scarcely shows any leadership.

The dead body is a symbol of decadent Hinduism and the Brahmin community is unable

17

even to dispose of it, where as the Muslims cart it away in a jiffy and cremate it. When we made the film, we had no doubt that the Muslims stealing the body and burning it should totally be omitted. There arose a big literary controversy when the book was released. We did not want that to become a communal controversy when the film is released, besides the censors would have certainly objected to it. We tried to tone down the literary controversy that the novel was anti-Madhva by ennobling the character of Praneshacharya in the film. Praneshacharya in the book discusses his inner feelings of guilt of doing secretly what Narayanappa did brazenly, but he is unable to tell anyone. In the film by his open confession to Putta, his stature rises immeasurably. The film has a positive ending and Praneshacharya redeems himself by his open confession of his guilt and his new determination to act; that is to cremate the dead body.”

Strangely ‘Samskara’ has several associations with the lives of both Ananthu and my father. It brought them together, not only on the artistic plane but politically as well. They were both writers with strong political moorings in socialism. They were good friends. When my father was alive they would visit each other at least once a month to discuss their latest ideas or work. Invariably, the personal intertwined with the intellectual as they both drew heavily from their life experiences. They had much in common and yet were very different beings.

Their life in a way mimicked their art – or was it the other way around?

Ananthamurthy is considered as one of the pioneers of the ‘Navya (new) movement’ in Kannada literature that began with his novel ‘Samskara’ that was a scathing attack on decadent Hinduism and critic of Brahmanism, its superstitions and hypocrisies. My father is considered the father of modern Telugu Poetry as he rebelled against the sweet, rhythmic poetry of Tagore under whom he studied at

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

Shantiniketan and wrote instead about the squalor and filth of Calcutta city.

They both fell in love and married Christians – Ananthu made that a political statement; while my father never did. We, even as their children, were never conscious of the fact that our parents were not belonging to the same religion and this was a daring and courageous step to take in those times. Marrying the person you loved was just the right thing to do!

Ananthu who was born on 21 December, 1932 in the village of Melige, in Tirthahalli taluk in Shimoga District, grew up in an orthodox Madhava Brahmin family as the grandson of a priest. His schooling began in a traditional Sanskrit school before he went to the University of Mysore and to Birmingham, England, for a doctorate in English on a Commonwealth Scholarship where he was awarded a doctorate in 1966 for his dissertation on ‘Politics and Fiction in the 1930’s’.

The amalgam between politics and his literary expression began early and as he grew older developed into a literary activism very few writers have achieved in history. In a TV interview he stated that “We should not be politically correct - then we are NOT correct. If there are enough people who can swim against the tide, then democracy is safe. Hence political correctness which places all value on the majority is a wrong thing. Even one voice is enough, because ideas have a way of living... We should be able to say whatever is unpleasant...”4 Ananthu was greatly influenced by Lohia’s writings and that was another thread that bound us. Just before Indira Gandhi promulgated a State of Emergency, we saw a lot of Ananthu. My father and mother were shooting ‘Chanda Marutha’ [Wild Wind], an uncanny prediction of things to come. Then my mother passed away after eight months in jail. Ananthamurthy wrote her obituary in which he said; “It is hard to believe that Snehalata is dead at the age of forty-four. She will remain a vivid memory for …..people from all walks of life: socialist leaders 18

and intellectuals, theatre artists from India and abroad, writers and above all many young people still searching for a meaning and purpose in life. She could never tolerate injustice and ugliness. …..she is one of the martyrs of our age. By her manner of life and death she has redeemed us who have had to live in a state of sin, because of our quietism and indifference in the face of evil.”

This was perhaps a turning point in Ananthu’s life. The Emergency strengthened his convictions and he became the most vocal secular, socialist voice Karnataka has seen in recent years. Ananthamurthy was greatly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and Shakespeare during his childhood, which shaped his political and social conscience. He was also a close associate of stalwarts of socialist movement, like Jayaprakash Narayan, Madhu Limaye and Shanthaveri Gopala Gowda.

After the Emergency during the Chickmagalur elections where I campaigned against Mrs. Gandhi, Ananthu had been campaigning too and when I was beaten by the police and lay in a semiconscious state he visited me. He was the person who accompanied me back home from the hospital to Bangalore at night shining a torch on my face so the crowds that had gathered could see me.

In 2013, he made a statement that in the Mahabharata it is described how the Brahmin community used to eat beef, but this was claimed as baseless by several prominent people like the Pejavar Mutta Swamijee and the Vishwesha Thirtha Swami, Udupi. The Pejavar Mutta also requested Ananthamurthy to reconsider his statement, as it hurt sentiments of a caste, but Ananthamurthy ignored his request.

He set off another controversy when he denounced the politics of Gopalkrishna Adiga even though he considered him to be one of the leading poets. He believed that being left of centre was better than being right of centre and that it was important to say these things out

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

loud.

Many people create controversies, some unknowingly, some to stay in the news and most out of stupidity, not so in Ananthu’s case. These were not just spontaneous acts based on emotion, not principled responses to situations – even though that may have been the original motivation – but well thought out calculated and sculpted political interventions designed to cause ripples of controversy and debate. This also ensured that the space for democratic dissent remained intact.

The controversies reached a new height during the recent elections, when he said he does not want to live in an India where Modi rules. In a telephonic interview with CNN-IBN from his hospital bed in Bangalore, he said; “I won’t live in a country ruled by Narendra Modi. When I was young, I used to criticize Prime Minister Nehru.

But, his supporters never attacked us. They always respected our views. Modi supporters are now behaving like Fascists. They are behaving like the Fascists in Germany during Hitler. I don’t want to see a man like Modi in the chair, where once a man like Nehru sat and ruled. I am too old and unwell. If Modi becomes the PM, it will be a big shock to me. I won’t live.”5 Ananthu was gracious enough to attend a screening of Samskara just three weeks before he passed away. He came and spent two hours interacting with Tom Cowan the Australian cinematographer of Samskara, the audience and the press. On the dais he whispered to me about Modi. He was concerned that Modi would bring about a “shift in our civilization.” He said; “I have a feeling that we are slowly losing our democratic rights or civil rights, but much more than that when there is a bully we become cowards.” I added that we were already in a state of emergency, but only this time, Modi did not have to promulgate it – he was doing it through the brute force of his election mandate. That was the last time we met. He was his charming and affectionate self though one could see the strain his illness was having on him. I spoke to him a 19

couple of times after, inviting him to lunch at home, but he could not make it as he was in hospital that day undergoing dialysis.

During the last months he often joked about his illness and the extreme cleanliness it imposed on him and those around and compared it to the ‘Madi’ or cleanliness he had to observe in his orthodox Brahmin home as a child where he could not touch anything without washing and bathing.

The day he died, I went to visit him in hospital with another close friend Dr. Ratna, not knowing that a few hours later he would be no more. He was on a ventilator, but looked so peaceful and serene. We did not want to disturb him so we spent time with Ester, the children and grand children. The doctor’s prognosis was positive, so we left with the hope that he would recover as he had done so many times before. After all he was a fighter!

By the time I reached home we got the news that he was no more. He had threatened to leave India if Modi came to power and some members of the Sangh Parivar had bought him a ticket to Pakisthan. Ananthu then recanted his statement and said; “That was too much to say because I can’t live anywhere except India.” Ananthu decided his own departure – not by an Emirates flight, but his own.

I said my goodbyes to Ananthu in the privacy of his home the evening he died. I did not want to share that moment with the large crowds that would be part of the State Honours. Ester was inconsolable and I was at a loss for words. What can you say to a partner of more than 50 years, one who cared and watched over him? Despite her own ailments she guarded and protected Ananthu zealously. She was his strength and foundation. Ananthu could not have done what he did without her. Though this was rarely recognized, Ester is the reason for the person Ananthamurthy is. Many were surprised that his last rights were performed according to religious convention. Though Ananthu broke all traditions, his fascination for the spiritual was

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

deeply imbedded and perhaps his inner strength came from this. My father was the same and this was not a contradiction, but an intellectual rejection of the negative aspects of organised religion while pursuing the search for a greater truth.

Now Ananthu is in good company – my father and mother, Lankesh, Lohia, Gopal Gowda, Madhu Limaye, Karanth and Ramanujan and many others with whom I am sure he is debating our predicament here in this world. Farewell my dear friend and God speed. May your journey to the other world be safe and adventurous and your search of answers exciting. May the mysteries of the universe unfold and your explorations take on another dimension. We thank you for your legacy – we who remain, will try and keep it alive by taking the struggle forward.

References: 1. T. Pattabhi Rama Reddy /”What Life Has

Taught Me” - Deccan Herald November 13 1993 2. The Inner World of U. R. Ananthamurthy/An interview by Arvind Radhakrishnan, Editor-in-Chief of The Bangalore Review (TBR) and Sudeep Reguna, Executive Editor of TBR 3. T. Pattabhi Rama Reddy/ “Literature and Film”/ Paper presented at the International Seminar on Indian literature and film, September 24-26, 1992 and published in Abhinandana Gandham.

4. Interview with Girish Nikam, anchor and senior journalist, in the programme ‘To the Point’ for Rajya Sabha TV 5. Telephonic Interview with CNN-IBN [Nandana Reddy is a political and social activist working on issues of democratic decentralisation, human rights, civil liberties and children’s right to self determination. She is the Founder & Director of Development of CWC nandana_reddy@vsnl.net ]

—THE RADICAL HUMANIST SUBSCRIPTION RATES— In SAARC Countries: For one year-Rs. 200.00; For two years-Rs. 350.00 For three years-Rs. 500.00; Life subscription-Rs. 2000.00 (Life subscription is only for individual subscribers and not for institutions.)

Cheques should be in favor of The Radical Humanist. For outstation cheques: Please add Rs. 55.00 to the total. In other Countries: Annual subscription (Air Mail) $ 100.00; GBP 75.00 Note: Direct transfer of subscription amount from abroad may be sent to: SWIFT Code: CNRB0000349, MICR Code: 110015012 in the Current Account Number 0349201821034 at Canara Bank, Maharani Bagh, New Delhi, 1100014, India.

Cheques and money transfer details may be sent to: Mr. Narottam Vyas (Treasurer), Chamber No. 111, (Near Post Office) Supreme Court of India, New Delhi-110001, Ph. Chamber 91-11-23782836, Res. 91-11-22712434, Mob. 09811944600

20

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

Current Affairs:

Method of Appointment of High Court and Supreme Court Judges – A Closer Look Necessary —Rajindar Sachar udiciary is very much in the news – some praise it for its role in exposing high level corruption in the political field. To counter this some point out the bad name judiciary is getting amongst others for its defective system of selection of judges by its collegiums system.

In order to prevent further easy public slapping of the judiciary I feel that we must now finalize the method of appointments.

The suggested pattern of a Judicial ‘Appointment Commission Bill 2013’ broadly fills the void. It is headed by Chief Justice of India and includes the next two senior judges, the Union Law Minister, two eminent persons (emphasis added) to be selected by Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha. Some feel rightly that “eminent Jurist” be substituted instead, because the word eminence is too vague – (it could include champion wrestler, Boxer though I have all respect for their achievements, but they are as unfit as a High Court Judge or a Minister would be to make selection in their respective field) I would instead substitute ‘eminent Jurist’ which would provide a larger field of academicians, authors, outstanding lawyers (of course no longer in practice). The fear that presence of a lay person will interfere with the independence of the judiciary is misplaced. As Judicial Commission of New South Wales (Ireland) Annual Report said - “Judicial independence is not some kind of industrial benefit generously extended to judges and magistrates; it is fundamental principle of our society’s constitutional arrangements”. The provision however with regard to the appointment of a High Court judge suffers from

J

21

the unacceptable provision that the Commission is only required to elicit (emphasis added) the views of Governor, Chief Minister and the Chief Justice of High Court. I can hardly see any relevance of eliciting the view of Chief Minister separately from the Governor – the latter’s view is obviously after getting the view of Chief Minister. I have however strong objection to reducing the position of Chief Justice of a High Court to merely eliciting his view. In my opinion the advice of Chief Justice of High Court as to the suitability or otherwise of a person to be appointed a judge of High Court should normally be accepted unless for grave reasons to the contrary.

From Reports in the press, though technically collegium is being sought to be abolished, yet the C.J.I has asked the Chief Justice to consult two more of his colleagues even junior ones as much as possible – why this uncertain state of affairs – this suggestion may only be observed in breach. I remember when in 1977 Janata Government's informal suggestion was given for the Chief Justice of High Court to consult his two senior colleagues, it was observed more in breach. It was only when the collegiums system was established by a judicial decision that Chief Justices of High Court had no option but to consult their colleagues. However it did not mean that government accepted collegiums recommendation in all cases. I remember that in 1985 Chief Justice of a High Court and his two senior most colleagues (and who in normal course were and did succeed as Chief Justices of the same High Court) sent recommendation of four names with specific clarification that they must be appointed in the order in which names were sent. This was done so as to prevent the government from picking and choosing on the specious suggestion that some names have not yet been cleared by C.B.I. and their appointments may be delayed, and those lower down in the list may be appointed immediately.

However this was opposed by the Chief Justice – such was the effrontery of the Law Ministry that

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

instead the government did not appoint any judge during Chief Justices tenure; thereafter also the law ministry first appointed new names and only then appointed those recommended by the earlier collegium. So the government’s intervention can only be checked by the strong stand of judiciary. It is for this reason that I have my reservations on doing away with the principle of collegiums totally. I had thought collegiums was a welcome move for selection in as much it constitutes a wider circle of three judges, rather than leave it to the sole choice of the Chief Justice of High Court. The present advice of Chief Justice of India to consult two more judges is welcome. I see no logical reason to abolish the collegiums system in the High Court (which after all is only recommendatory) – the appointments now are to be made under the provisions of proposed Judicial Commission.

In all this discussion I am amazed that one of the most serious self inflected wound by judiciary is being overlooked, i.e. of appointing Chief Justice of High Court to outside his parent court.

I have never understood the logic of transferring the senior most judge whose turn has come to head the court in which he has worked for almost 10 to 15 years and with the functioning of which and also the lower judiciary he is most familiar. To transfer him out of the state to a new court for a period of one or two years or even less to which he is a total stranger, and most likely not even knowing the names of his colleagues, is a strange concept of advancing the administration of justice. No one has suggested that I.A.S. officer when his turn comes to be the Chief Secretary in his parent State should be appointed outside. Why this gratuitous insult to local Chief Justice. At present one has the embarrassing spectacle of a Chief Justice on transfer being sent to a State whose language is not even understood by him.

More embarrassing there are more than one transfers. I am of the view the Chief Justice should be the senior most judge of the same court – this alone will lend strength and dignity

22

to the High Courts. Section 8 of Judicial Commission contemplates asking the state and Central Government to send recommendations in respect of selection of Judges. I find this provision a frontal attack on the Judiciary. After the appointment of a Judicial Commission State or Central Government have no locus-standi and are outsiders to the process of selection. I however agree that the Commission should make public the names it is contemplating for appointments to High Courts and Supreme Court of India. This will make the process more open and participatory and also negate the charge of secret maneuvering in the appointment of Judges. As is famously said Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Abolish Padma Awards public debate is going Anonacrimonious as to the names which may be picked up by the Central Government for award of Bharat Ratna. The conferment of civilian awards has no sanction in the Constitution. It was introduced by an Executive order in 1954 by the Central Government. They are of various categories beginning with Padam Shri to the highest of Bharat Ratna. Their concept as propounded by government describes Bharat Ratna as per (India 2013 Pg. 1154) “The highest civilian award. It is given for exceptional service towards advancement of Art, Literature and Science and in recognition of public service of the highest order. Since its inception in 1954, 41 persons have been decorated with Bharat Ratna so far.” There are also three categories of Padma Awards – ‘Padma Vibhushan’, ‘Padma Bhushan’ and ‘Padma Shri’.

Such awards have had their critics right from the beginning. That is why many individuals including Gandhians, eminent journalists, historians and Human Rights activists have politely declined to accept the awards as recently as 2007. That is why the assumptions and actuality in giving these awards needs to be debated in a brutally open manner. The first

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

Bharat Ratna was given in 1954 to first Governor General of India C. Raja Gopalachari, then to S. Radhakrishnan and to Pt. Nehru in 1955. Pt. G.B. Pant in 1957. It is unfortunate that Pt. Nehru who was the tallest of leader in 1955 set up a bad precedent by being persuaded to accept Bharat Ratna. He was the Prime Minister. He did not require the award to increase his stature. In fact there is credible information that Maulana Azad declined to accept it in 1955 and advised Nehru to do so accordingly. But once Nehru had accepted it, politicalisation and partisanship of the award was inevitable. So we have a curious example of Maulana Azad (though he was against this institution) being given the award posthumously in 1992; Sardar patel in 1991, while Pt. G.B. Pant had already been given in 1957. Is that not perverting seniority and history? The only way out is to abolish the institution of awards. But then I suppose politicians suffer from the vanity and enjoy giving awards in all spheres; curiously even in sports, when in reality they may not even know what is off break bowling in cricket or offside in Hockey. That is why hockey in which we had wizards like Dhyan Chand (in 1936), the winner of Olympics has not been given Bharat Ratna, because the present day small politicians find more money in IPL Cricket. It is money angle that determines the supremacy of game. Is that not the reason why ‘Kabaddi’ our home grown game, and especially so popular in North especially Punjab was never picked up – was rather scoffed at by the Anglicized Indians when Dr. Lohia, the socialist leader wanted it to be treated as a national game. Now of course it is one of most upcoming event (all because of T.V. IPL presentation and the consequent money making in the bargain). The awards of Bharat Ratna raise serious question of propriety, and especially the conceit and impudence of present small time politicians to arrogate the right to recognize the contribution of our national heroes of past. I firmly believe that any attempt of pygmies like our generation to pick our

23

heroes and freedom fighters of pre 1947 like Netaji Subash Chander Bose and Bhagat Singh is shamefully presumptuous. Who do these small politicians think they are – puny individuals strutting in false feathers by purporting to confer honour on our heroes, when we should instead be bowing our heads for their sacrifices in the fight for freedom? Let their life be an inspiration to all of us.

Let me share with you the courage and bravery of Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru. In 1930 after they had been sentenced to death, efforts were being made by some well-wishers to persuade him to sign the application to be sent to the government for his commutation to life imprisonment. My father was also in Central Jail Lahore, where he had been detained as a Satyagrahi started by Gandhiji. In the evening prisoners were allowed to come out of a cell for some time to walk and exercise in the outside lawn. Father and Bhagat Singh used to walk in the same place. After his death sentence father told Bhagat Singh “Many people are requesting you to sign the petition. Do not you think that if your life is spared, movement will get a big push”? On this the young man of 23 years said unflinchingly ‘No, Sachar Sahab, I feel my sacrifice will bring higher results’. Such was the courage of a young man. We all know the wave of revolutionary ferment which swept the country after his execution. Of course I was a young kid, but I still remember the electrifying current in the country. And lest anyone forget – the Congress which was up-till that time content with asking for Dominion Status, was forced into demanding complete independence as insisted by Bhagat Singh when it held its Annual Conference on the banks of River Ravi at Lahore on January 26th 1930 (Bhagat Singh was hanged on 23rd March 1930) One of the suggestions given by an eminent columnist is to give Bharat Ratna to Field Marshall Maneskshaw. Personally speaking if awards are to be continued, it is an apt name.

But then the journalist in his enthusiasm has

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

made the unfortunate comment that Maneskshaw’s contributions were greater and more memorable than those of awardee Aruna Asaf Ali……” I feel that in his over-enthusiasm, journalist friend has hit his own toe. Probably he was too young in 1942, when Quit India movement called by Gandhiji was at its peak. All the Congressmen even at the village level were put in jail. Quit India movement was led by Socialist leaders, Jaya Prakash Narian, Dr. Lohia and Aruna Asaf Ali. In 1942 Aruna Asaf Ali was the face of underground movement. She bravely traveled throughout the country and inspired the youth. To try to underestimate her contribution is unforgivable. But then modern newspapers have a different priority. I say this

because none of the main newspapers even carried a small information chip of 9th August being the Quit India movement day. In this background the only respectable and dignified course is to abolish the awards – in democracy the affection and recognition by the masses is the best tribute to stalwarts in various fields of life.

[Justice Rajindar Sachar was Chief Justice, High Court of Delhi, New Delhi; Chairperson Prime Minister’s High Level Committee On Status of Muslims; UN Special Rappoetuer on Housing; Member, U.N. Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities and President, PUCL, India rsachar1@vsnl.net; rsachar23@bol.net.in]

Citizens For Democracy All India Conference (20th-21st September 2014) Venue: Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi.

Theme: “Development & Democracy” Shri Kuldip Nayar will preside. th Saturday, 20 September: Ist Session: 11.40 AM to 1.30 PM; “Communalism & Development” 2nd Session: 2.15 to 5 PM; “Development, Media and Democracy” Prof. V.K.Tripathi, eminent educationist, IIT, New Delhi, will initiate the discussion Sunday, 21st September: Ist Session: 10.30 AM to 1 PM: “Electoral Reforms & Democracy” 2nd Session:2 to 5 PM: “Future activities and organizational matters.”

Those who require accommodation may inform Sri. N.D. Pancholi, General Secretary, C.F.D. (M) 9811099532 ndpancholi44@gmail.com

The Radical Humanist Rates Of Advertisement/Insertion Journal Size:18cm x 24cm-Print Area:15cm x 20cm Ordinary

Special

Second Back Cover Rs. 2,500

Rs. 3,000

Rs. 3,000

Rs. 3,500

Last Cover

Ordinary

Special

Third Back Cover

Rs. 2,500

Rs. 3,000

Half Page

Rs. 1,000

Ordinary Page: Full Page

Rs. 2,000

Rs. 2,500

Rs. 600

Quarter page

Rs. 900

nd

For One Year 2 Back Cover Rs. 20,000 Rs. 30,000 Last Cover

Rs. 25,000

Ordinary Page: Full Page Rs. 15,000

Quarter Page

Rs.6,000

Rs. 1,500

rd

3 Back Cover

Rs. 20,000

Half Page

Rs. 10,000

Rs. 30,000

Rs. 30,000 Rs. 20,000

Rs. 9,000

24

Rs. 15,000

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

The Idea Of Partition Recedes In Shadows!

—Kuldip Nayar independence or the migration of India’s Hindus and Muslims on the basis of religion is as old as fifty seven years. I remember leaving my home in Sialkot city on August 14 itself because the new state of Pakistan did not entertain non-Muslims, just as East Punjab did not want any Muslim in their midst. I heard Jawaharlal Nehru’s famous ‘tryst’ speech in Pakistan itself at my home town, Sialkot.

However, I crossed the border only on Sept. 17, thirty two days after independence. By then, the fury of killing and looting had subsided. I did not see Hindus and Muslims quarrelling actually fighting. But I saw the pain etched faces—men and women with their meager belongings bundled on their heads and the fear-stricken children following them. Both Hindus and Muslims had left behind their hearth, homes, friends and neighbours. Both had been torn on the rack of history. Both were refugees.

The tragedy of partition is too deep to describe in words. But to convert it into a Hindu and Muslim question is politicizing the problem. The riots took the toll of 10 lakh people and uprooted more than two crore Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs. Some biased elements in Pakistan propose to depict the rioting in reliefs to highlight “the oppression of Muslims”.

Unfortunately, this will whip up hatred against Hindus, who were as much at the receiving end in Pakistan as were Muslims in India.

Despite the stories of brutal killings there were examples of bravery and courage shown by the Muslims to save Hindus and that of Hindus saving Muslims in India. A study done by Ashish Nandy, a leading intellectual in India has estimated that both communities saved 50 per cent of the opposite community from the brutality.

Why were the killings of people when they had lived together for centuries? Nothing would be 25

more futile than the effort to pin down who was responsible for the partitioning of the subcontinent. With the sequence of events stretching back for over six decades, such an exercise can only be an academic study. But it is clear that the differences between Hindus and Muslims had become so acute by the beginning of the forties that something like the partition had become inevitable. Pakistan Founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah went on plugging that Hindus and Muslims were two separate nations and this made them increasingly distant from each other.

For those who still regret the division, I can only say that the British could have probably kept the subcontinent united if they had been willing to ladle out more power in 1942 when Sir Stafford Cripps tried to reconcile the aspirations of people in India with his limited brief. The Congress Party could also have done it if it had accepted in 1946 the Cabinet Mission proposals of a centre with three subjects—Foreign Affairs, Defence and Communications—and four states included in the zones.

But the history’s ifs are at best hypothetical and at worst subjective. The partition was like the Greek tragedy. All knew what was happening.

Still they could do nothing to check it. The climate in the country had become too polluted to escape the carnage and the migration that came in its wake. The speech on August 11, 1947, by Qauide Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, a title given by Mahatma Gandhi, that you were either Pakistanis or Indians and that religion had nothing to do with politics could not assuage the parochial feelings which had been advanced to justify the constitution of Pakistan. The speech was too late. The mood of fanatics in that country can be judged from the fact that they suppressed the speech itself.

Has partition served the purpose of Muslims? I do not know. During my trips to that country, I have heard people saying that they are happy that at least they have “some place” where they feel secure, free of “Hindu domination” or

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

“Hindu aggression.” But I feel that the Muslims as Muslims have been the biggest losers. They are now spread over three countries—India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Imagine the influence that their numbers—their votes—could have commanded in the undivided subcontinent!

They would have been nearly one-third of the total population.

The reliefs at the border would only widen the gulf between the two communities. Instead of blaming each other, it would have been far better to deal with the enmity and hatred that has been the fallout, keeping the two countries on tenterhooks.

I have returned from the Wagha-Amritsar border disheartened, not because there is no lessening of martial posture of soldiers at the sunset parade, but because of a new monstrosity that has come up there. The Pakistan authorities have put up 10 reliefs, projecting figures in carving on boards to show how Hindus and Sikhs had killed and looted Muslims during partition. The reliefs have been displayed in such a way that they are visible only from the Indian side. They cannot be seen from the Pakistan side because the back of the reliefs are merely large bill boards.

The happenings depicted are offensive in expression and deprave in purport. They have been installed in the last two months, probably because the voice of peace with India is gaining strength in Pakistan and because nearly 50 people came to the border, the zero point, for the first time last year to light the candles since independence six decades ago.

Again, the reliefs put up at the border distort facts. Whatever has been shown happened on both sides. Hindus and Sikhs were victims in Pakistan and Muslims in India. It was the same sordid spectacle in the newly-born countries, neither less in brutality nor more in compassion.

Women and children were the main targets.

If someone were to tell me that Hinduism is greater in generosity or that Islam emits more

26

love, I would beg to differ. I saw the followers of the two religions killing in the name of faith.

They were raising slogans of Har Har Mahadav or Ya Ali while piercing sword or spear into one another. Some incidents were captured in the books which were published at that time. Aur Insan Mar Gaya is the famous book by Ramanand Sagar and Peshawar Express by the eminent Urdu writer, Krishen Chand, to narrate events of how man dies when the Satan in him awakes. Then there are Sadaat Hassan Minto’s short stories in Urdu that tell how the two communities touched the depth of crime and callousness.

Politics of Kashmir 370 is not meant to reflect the Article liberal tilt in the Indian Constitution. It is specific. It gives a special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir—a status which the people of Jammu and Kashmir won after waging a long, tough fight for freedom both from the British and the Maharaja ruling the state.

Sheikh Abdullah was in the lead and achieved what looked impossible at one time, an autonomous status within the sovereign, secular Republic of India.

Except three subjects—Defence, Foreign Affairs and Communications—the Indian Parliament had no power to legislate without the consent of the state legislature. The state could have merged with Pakistan, but preferred to integrate with secular India because the entire struggle by the Kashmiris was secular.

The undertakings given at that time are sacred and cannot be written off by the people who are of different thinking. The state had adopted even a separate constitution passed to make it clear that the state would not compromise on its autonomy.

Watering it down now will amount to betrayal of the confidence which the people of Jammu and Kashmir had reposed in New Delhi. If any change had to be made, it has to be done by them. The Indian Union which the state had

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

joined cannot amend its powers without the consent of the state people.

To give more subjects to Delhi is the prerogative of Srinagar. Sheikh Abdullah joined the Union on that understanding. Some elements trying to undo the understanding accorded to the state people are neither serving the cause of India, nor that of the state. In fact, most of what is happening in Kashmir is irrelevant and confusing.

Take the meeting of some Hurriyat leaders with the Pakistan High Commissioner Basit Ali in Delhi. Such meetings had taken place in the past too. The Indian government did not raise any objection to them then because they were taken as exercises to exchange views from the sidelines. Shabbir Shah was only following a practice of several other Kashmiri leaders. To be charitable to him, one can say that he met the Pakistan High Commissioner as he or some other leaders would have done in the past, without a furor.

The Pakistan High Commissioner, however, is to be blamed because he knew that the Narendra Modi government had discontinued such practices. In his case, New Delhi made a request not to meet the Hurriyat leaders. Despite the majority in India being opposed to the “cozy relationship,” the Pakistan High Commissioner went ahead with the meeting. He should have anticipated the anger sweeping through India.

Apart from some sort of bravado, there was nothing positive about the meeting. New Delhi’s policy on Kashmir is to monopolize power and dilute the special status of Kashmir. Sheikh Abdullah had kept the issue alive with some authoritarian thinking. When he challenged New Delhi, he was detained in a special jail at a faraway Tamil Nadu for 12 years.

No doubt, Jawaharlal Nehru tried to rub off the stigma of being power crazy and put up the Sheikh at his house after the detention. But history judged Nehru as a ruthless ruler who did not spare even his intimate friends. The same thinking prevails when those who want 27

independence are called separatists. They are wrong in projecting a demand which has acquired a fundamentalist edge. In the bargain, the secular Sheikh’s contribution has been forgotten.

No doubt, the Hurriyat is a divided house. Some, led by Syed Shah Gillani, want the state to ‘join’ Pakistan. And the others, led by Yasin Malik, demand azaadi. Then there are those who are confused. Not long ago, when most Kashmiris, alienated from India as they are, favoured the integration with Pakistan, the Kashmiris would have voted for Pakistan if there had been a plebiscite. Today, a preponderant majority of Kashmiris, want azaadi. Yasin Malik has been able to veer them round from being pro-Pakistan elements to making them accept the demand for an independent, sovereign state.

Yet what the Hurriyat does not realize is that azaadi is an ideal, not a feasible proposition.

When the British left India in August 1947, they gave the princely states an option to stay independently and they did not want to join either India or Pakistan. Maharaja Hari Singh, the then Jammu and Kashmir ruler, declared that he would stay independent. The land-locked state had to have the support of both India and Pakistan for access to the outside world. He did not want to depend on one.

With the Muslims in a majority in J & K, Pakistan expected its accession. When it did not take place, Pakistan sent its irregulars, backed by the regular troops. The Maharaja sought the help of India which insisted on the accession before sending its troops. He had to sign the Instrument of Accession Act. The task of the Hurriyat is more difficult than that of the Maharaja. The two parts of the states are against azaadi. Jammu, the Hindu majority part, would like to join India. The Buddhist majority Ladakh, the other part, wants to be a union territory of India. Therefore the demand for azaadi is essentially that of the valley which has nearly 98 percent of Muslims.

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

When India is in the midst of endeavour for polarization and when a political party is playing a Hindu card, it is difficult to imagine that the Congress or any other political party, including the Communists, would support the Hurriyat.

Even otherwise, all political parties are opposed to the demand for independence, although some may go to the farthest in giving powers to the state. After 67 years of partition, the wounds inflicted because of the division have not healed yet. How does the Hurriyat expect the people in India to reconcile to another partition, however genuine and strong are the sentiments of the

Kashmiris? If partition is again on the basis of religion, the secular state may not survive as it is. True, the 15 crore Muslims in India are equal citizens and they cannot be treated as hostages.

But the valley’s secession may have such repercussions which are dreadful to imagine.

The Hurriyat has to introspect and change its tactics. It has to prove that it counts.

[Kuldip Nayar is a veteran syndicated columnist catering to around 80 newspapers and journals in 14 languages in India & abroad. kuldipnayar09@gmail.com]

Dear Friends, Your article for the RH should be emailed to me at: rheditor@gmail.com.

Or posted at: C-8, Defence Colony, Meerut, 250001, U.P. Please send a passport size photograph and your brief resume if it is being sent for the first time to the RH. A note whether it has also been published elsewhere or is being sent exclusively for the RH should also be attached with it.

— Rekha Saraswat (Mob. : 91-9719333011)

28

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

Elders’ House is Sixty years Old —K.S. Chalam recent prorogued Parliament has Thedemonstrated that its proceedings are different from the previous sessions. The breadth and depth of debates in the Rajya Sabha providing wise counsel to the law makers and at the same time extracting what is essential for the country is really admirable. The upper house or elder’s house would be completing 60 years of its existence in the present form very soon. It was named as Rajya Sabha on 23rd August 1954, though it was constituted in May 1952 after the elections. Thus 2014 is the year of its sixtieth year of birth. The creation of a bicameral system under a Parliamentary form of democracy based on Westminster structure was the gift of our visionary leaders. There was a serious discussion in the Constituent Assembly as to the need for a ‘Council of States’ the upper house, with no money Bill coming for its approval. The intense debate about the purpose of the house clearly display how our leaders forethought about the crucial presence of elders in the Parliament to guide the destiny of the nation.

The Indian structure is either analogous to the House of Lords who function under the crown in the UK or the Senate in the USA Constitution to represent states. Indian bicameral seems to be a compromise between the UK, Canada and the US structures with varying functions. The conciliation between different provisions found at that time in diverse countries appeared to have been modified to suit our conditions. B.R. Ambedkar being a Buddhist by conviction at that time seemed to have adopted the middle path.

He has pointed out in his speeches that India is a union of states and should reflect the aspirations of the people both in the lower house and in the upper house. In reply to a question on the disproportion between the membership of the Upper House and the membership of the Lower House, he said that the proposed Article 172

29

follows a different procedure that was to be adopted with regard to the two chambers at the centre, namely a joint session. ‘What we propose to do is to permit the view of the Lower House to prevail over the view of the Upper House in certain circumstances. Consequently, the Upper House by reason of this different political complexion has no possibility of overturning the decision of a majority or a large majority of the Lower House’. Some commentators assert that the Upper House has no value in view of its character of non- intrusion in financial matters including passing of budget, however, it does express its importance at the time of political uncertainty through a course of joint session. It seems the founding fathers had predicted that there would be different groups of members with distinct political ideologies sitting in the two chambers deliberating on issues of national importance, and the presence of a permanent house would work as a shock absorber.

Therefore, we have article 108 for joint sitting of both the Houses.

However, the upper house is not representative of the society as it carries only those who are sponsored or elected from particular political parties out of 238 members and the remaining 12 are nominated by the President to make it 250. But, in practice the government in power keeps their own people, alleged to be cronies or those who could not make it in direct elections as sponsored candidates. In fact, the quality and back ground of some of the members is so knave that many commoners comment that RS is no more an elder’s house but, demonstrative of the ill-gotten wealth through different manipulations after liberalisation. This is not absolutely correct and we can contest some of the allegations as the number of such individuals and their voice in the House is very placid (notwithstanding Sachin, Rekha). Yet, given the practical functioning of the parliament built on standing committees, their presence on issues that are close to their heart being passed,

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

no doubt gives credence to some of the contentions.

The elders' house should have been more active than it is today in the formulation of policies concerning the majority of the people who are poor. The RS and even the LS have not been able to stall any of the economic strategies that are against the interests of the people and the sovereignty of the nation. The left and democratic forces have tried to voice the concerns of the people, but due to the limited mandate, RS could not do much for the people of the country. It is likely that their share would dwindle in future. There is another serious weakness in the formation of our RS. There is no representation to the scheduled castes and tribes like that of LS. In fact, there was a discussion in the Constituent Assembly by Muniswamy Pillai who raised the issue of representation to scheduled castes and tribes.

There seemed to be very little debate and Ambedkar being convinced of the political reservations being continued for 10 years, did not evince interest in the matter. But, the six decades of RS experience suggest that the House is not very impulsive as far as the needs of the socially and economically disadvantaged are concerned. It is only in the recent times that issues relating to poor and downtrodden are taken for discussion by the Upper House may be due to the dynamic presence of some honest representatives.

Some commentators consider that the RS should be made responsible to deal with issues of national importance in the light of the

Directive Principles of State Policy and should not leave the Judiciary to interfere and direct the Government to pass Acts like RTE, RTI. It should be made as a watchdog of judiciary that is becoming constricted and non-representative of Indian plurality with little accountability. In the USA, federal Judges are appointed by the President and confirmed by the senate, could be as well followed here with necessary amendments.In fact, the RS shouldtake on itself the obligation to initiate debates on the basis of the preamble and basic structure of the Constitution.

Socialism, Secularism and Scientific temper are being disparaged by some motivated individuals with the help of a section of the media in recent times. But Members of Parliament irrespective of the political ideology of the party who affirm their faith in the Constitution by oath as per Art 99 were infrequently found defending it. This would have definitely enhanced the prestige of the House.

The basic structure as interpreted by the apex court needs to be taken seriously by the permanent House as the lower house or Lok Sabha keeps on changing every five years or whenever it is dissolved, but not the Rajya Sabha.

Therefore, Rajya Sabha being represented by elders in terms of the age prescribed in the Constitution has sufficient message for the incumbents and the people that the Members would not have behaved differently. [With inputs from D. Raja M.P. (R)] [K.S. Chalam is Former Vice-Chancellor and Ex-Member, UPSC. He may be contacted at: chalamks@hotmail.com]

"It is quite possible that Hegel felt Vico's influence through the intermediary of Rousseau, who was at Venice when the finalised version of Scienza Nuova was published there. Judging from his essay on the Origin of Languages, one can assume that Rousseau had picked up from Vico the idea of the philosophical approach as the clue to the problems of the origin of society." "Marx and Engels seem to have taken from Vico, perhaps in the first place, through Michelet, but later at first hand, the formula that 'men make their own history', from which their Historical Materialism' was developed......Historical Materialisn, in this sense, went beyond anything directly asserted by Vico, but it seemed to his Marxist interpreters, in a direction in which he himself had gone a long way." 窶認rom: M.N. Roy, Reason, Romanticism and Revolution, Vol. I, page 4

30

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

IRI / IRHA Members' Section:

Endangered Freedom —Vidya Bhushan Rawat that was hardly noticed Theafterfirstthecasualty new government took over in Delhi was the deletion of important documents of the home ministry. It was taken rather casually and the voices who expressed their concern and anguish over it were targeted.

Initially, the incident might have looked a slight mistake on part of the government as home minister informed parliament that files related to assassination of Mahatma Gandhi were actually safe with government department. Initially many thought that this government is friendly towards business as the people have given it mandate for ‘good governance’ but we all know such image creation was part of the media which had, it appears, taken the role of a propagandist for the Bharatiya Janata Party. Media just played as a dutiful Public Relations Organization of the Sangh Parivar and left no stone unturned in discrediting the opponents particularly the ruling Congress which definitely had not done anything worthy of sympathy yet in the greater interest of impartiality, media forgot its own role as a watch dog of the society.

Government began with greater symbolism like Ganga cleaning operation or Prime Minister deliberately choosing the Ganga Maha-arati to start the tenure. None ever thought that the government and the party heading it would ultimately return to their original agenda of Hindutva and polarization. The scars of Mujaffarnagar have not yet healed and we have witnessed now series of reports of communal polarization in Uttar Pradesh. A peaceful district like Saharanpur has been assaulted by the communal violence that engulfed the Qutubsher police station of the city resulting in loss of properties and human lives. Meerut and Mujaffarnagar are again on the rock with rumors 31

and stories of a forcible conversion and rape of a Hindu girl who was working with a Madarasa.

There should be no sympathies with the perpetrators of any crime whether the rape or conversion or spreading rumors for political gains but it speaks volume of the irresponsibility of the Hindutva organizations who are rushing everywhere, becoming moral police and now deciding to escalate their ‘fight’ against ‘Love Jehad’ which according to them is responsible for all this. If you know well, Hindu organisations have long blamed the Muslim youths for enticing ‘their girls’ in love and then converting them to Islam. Unfortunately, all this is a war against Indian Constitution, which guarantees individuals to have a choice in their marriages, which treats ‘individual’ as ‘supreme’ being.

Marriages are not a choice of communities but of individuals who must be respected at all cost.

There is nothing like Love Jehad but an attempt to communalize and then polarize the entire social fabric for political gains.

The Prime Minister’s speeches at both Bhutan and Nepal Assemblies used Hindu symbolism to its best. His travel to Pashupatinath and then a heavy donation of 2500 kilograms of sandalwood to the temple while deliberately not sending customary greetings of Eid to Muslims in India reflected how the government was functioning and what is in store ahead in the coming days. How can the Prime Minister of a secular nation be so blatant in disrespect for secular values and ideals? Has secularism become so vulnerable a word that fanatic Hindus are looking for a better choice for people? The problem with the Hindutva’s political philosophers is that it equates ‘secularism’ with Muslim fanaticism and therefore cleverly diverts the entire debate towards communal polarization. For a person devoted to every body's human rights, I would add here that if speaking for the rights of minorities and marginalized makes us fanatics then we must be prepared to accept the tag.

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

The problem is much bigger and needs to be understood seriously. The Hinduisation of Indian polity started long back with Congress Party being unable to respond to modern India’s challenges of fair representation for all the marginalized and minorities. It did not develop leadership from these segments.

The result was a deep erosion of secular values in our institutions, which are now resulting in deep unrest and anguish among the marginalized sections of our society and creating a fear-psychosis among minorities particularly the Muslims and Christians. The agenda holders of Sangh Parivar have made every effort to even break the unity of the minorities so Christians and Muslims are separated from Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs, which are cleverly being presented as part of ‘broader Hindu family’. These are the ‘panths’ which originated from India and Sangh parivar clearly made a distinction between them and the religions which originated from outside India.

So, Muslims and Christians do not fall in the category of the ‘Indian religions’ according to this agenda long unleashed by the saffron ideologues.

The saffronisation of education was a well-planned initiative and the government is actively promoting it. There are some top priorities for the government. One, privatize the education and second saffronise it completely particularly to influence the minds of young kids who can be shaped according to the whims and fancies of those who wish to see India as a theocratic Hindu state where caste system would be ‘defined’ as ‘scientific’ as the new Chairman of Indian Council of Historical Research suggests.

And he is not alone. Now we have saffron historians and social-scientists who are threatening to undo everything that has happened in the name of education and secularization. So, who are these new ‘historians’ of Sangh parivar. The biggest name is Arun Shourie. He is back with his favorite issue of bashing the ‘secular’ historians and

32

questioning their motives, vilifying the Muslims, putting all the invaders under the Muslim category though they came from different regions.

The state government of Gujarat has already introduced for its children the books written by saffron historian Deenanath Batra who is on a fast mode to change the entire curriculum. The children of Gujarat government’s schools will have a different idea of Indian nation and its achievements. So, don’t feel amused about the general knowledge of your children when they respond to your questions such as ‘who invented Aeroplane ‘ and the answer would not be ‘Wright Brothers’ but a mythological one that they always existed in Mahabharat. Don’t scold him or her for answering that plastic surgery and other important inventions had already been there in our Vedas and Puranas. Don’t feel absurd when you find them searching for answers of modern system in our ‘mythologies’ prescribed by Batra. History for Sangh Parivar has to be of ‘achievements’ of our society and our past must look golden. Whatever was horrific and unpalatable in the past we must justify that by blaming it on the ‘foreign’ rulers namely the Mughals and British, and also add the ‘secular’ and ‘western’ historians for their ‘misrepresentations’ of facts. Batra’s history talks of ‘Akhand Bharat’, which includes Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and even Afghanistan. One can now see how such countries are going to have a healthy relations with India if Indian history text considers them as parts of ‘Hindustan’, with the feeling that the ultimate aim of Batra’s history lesson is to work for that Akhand Hindustan which basically would be a threat to the integrity of their nationhood.

Things are moving perfectly as envisaged by the chittapavan priests of Sangh Parivar. A Christian minister from Goa said that he believes Modi will convert India into a Hindu nation. The Ram Sena chief was already in Goa dictating how the girls should wear and what time they should venture in and out of their homes. In Maharastra Shiv

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

Sena continues to rant against the migrants from UP and Bihar and now we see the same thing being actively pursued by Delhi BJP leader Vijay Goyal though he later on tried to explain that he did not mean that.

The promotion of Hindi is being done deliberately at the behest of the government. An oriental language like Sanskrit is being imposed on people. The anti-English language protest against C-Sat of Civil Services is clearly an attempt to make language issue a national one and impose Hindi on non-willing partners. It has already created heartburns in states like Tamil Nadu.

The situation is alarming but at best being ignored either due to political pressure or patronage by industrialists to certain media organisations. The result is the reign of terror and intimidation inside the newsrooms. The situation seems to be worse than what was perceived during the emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975. That was the time when state terrorism in the form of intimidation was the order of the day and media resisted it with full cooperation of the civil society as well as political parties.

Today, the situation has drastically changed as India of 2014 is diametrically different than the one that existed before 1975 when State was the sole arbitrator on the national issues. Today, with active participation and encouragements from the corporate giants, media has become a big challenge to the state itself. Today, corporate fascist tendencies are growing in a much faster way and there is an atmosphere of distrust and uncertainty in the media. Those who are considered to be dissenters to the current establishment, both in Industry as well as in governments are being shunted out unceremoniously. The image of media as watch-dog is now a matter of past as today the corporate wants them to act as their muscle-flexing Public Relations Organisations.

When the fourth estate is in an absolute overhaul with likes of Deenanath Batra and Arun Shourie 33

taking Centre stage, the condition of judiciary cannot be considered as very bright. The way government scuttled the appointment of former solicitor General Gopal Subrahmanyam reflects that mindset of the state in which those who stood against its leadership in the past would be eased out and are now unwanted for them. It is not surprising therefore that Justice Anil Dave of the Supreme Court, on the other day, actually, endorsed the demand of the likes of Batra, when he said that if he were a ‘dictator’, he would have enforced strictly studies of Gita and Puranas upon our students at the very beginning as he could then manage all the conflicts.

You can imagine the state of the judiciary of a country where one of the Judges is ‘fond’ of dictatorship and openly accepts the fact that if he were allowed he would have enforced the ‘spiritual’ and ‘religious’ education on us. There are two points here. One dictatorship and other enforcement of Hindu values as defined in Gita and Vedas. Surely, the honorable Judge knows it well that Indian Constitution is a secular Constitution and is committed to democracy and socialist ideals.

India is home to nearly 200 million Muslims.

They are not invaders. They are indigenous population of this country, those who embraced Islam to save themselves from the clutches of brahmanical tyranny. There are nearly 10 million Christians in this country and they have not migrated from Europe or West Asia but children of this soil. They too liberated millions of people from the vicious cycle of caste-based discrimination. Of course, caste dominance prevailed in these societies too as attempts to find answers in organized religions have failed but that is another matter because being religious or being an atheist is a matter of personal choice of an individual and state and the parties swearing to the Constitution of India must respect that. Baba Saheb Ambedkar embraced Buddhism with nearly 400,000 of his followers in 1956, which redefined Buddhism in India and revived it too.

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

Caste system and untouchability are still prevalent in our country and violence against Dalits and marginalized continues to happen.

The social norms and rituals actually dominate our political lives also and hence India has remained a secular state in papers and not in practice. Secularism or Hindu secularism became victim of the competitive communalism in India with parties' leaders blaming others for their problems. It is not surprising therefore when newspapers welcome the ban on ‘loudspeakers’ at the Masjids but do not speak whether it is on the temples too or whether it is just Muslim alone who created nuisance and not others including Hindus. What about the regular torturing of people during the month of Sawan when thousands of Kanwars bring Ganga water to their homes? In such a scenario, how can our courts and judges take recourse to constitutional values when they have a mind-set which says that all that was in the past has ‘meritorious’ structure and we can resolve all our modern day problems through them. Suppose we want to resolve the current crisis of caste discrimination and violence against the marginalized, can we take resource in the teachings of Gita and Puranas?

Long back Baba Saheb Ambedkar disclosed to us how Gita preached violence and justified caste order. Ambedkar’s Riddles Of Hinduism is a clarion-call to Dalits and marginalized to be vary of such brahmanical crookedness.

Joti Ba Phule and Savitri Bai Phule campaigned relentlessly against the tyranny of scriptures on the Dalits, marginalized and women. Periyar propagated 'self-respect' marriages and 'movement for self-respect' among various Dravidian communities. They remained the biggest champions of Dalit Bahujan movements of the country. All of them asked people to choose the path of enlightenment through modern scientific and humanist education. All of them propagated the path of ‘spirit of inquiry’ and reasoning and humanism. India cannot move ahead ignoring the clarion call of Baba

34

Saheb Ambedar to develop scientific temper and be an iconoclast, question everything that comes before you according to the path shown

by Buddha. It is sad that today’s ruling establishment feels that the biggest ‘enlightenment’ is the biggest threat. It reflect the idea of the current dispensation which is afraid of modernity and free thinking and therefore is trying to control every institution that has kept us informed and protected whether it is media, judiciary or education.

Today, all these sectors of our democratic life are under severe threat as the admirers of Hitler and Mussolini have really started their work.

Deenanath Batra is a symbol of a bigger crisis that is threatening to challenge India and its age-old secular humanist values propagated by Buddha, Ambedkar, Phule and Periyar. In 1991 Kalyan Singh’s government withdrew Kabir from the textbooks of UP government’s high school and intermediate courses as their writings and thoughts were considered a challenge to those who wanted to play the politics of religion for their own power games.

Muslims in India are direct victims of this Brahmanical assault but the real targets are the Dalits, tribal and backward communities who are asserting their rights and identities as well as seeking their participation in power structure.

The corporate Brahmanical elite are essentially trying to stop this march of assertion of dignity of these segments; hence these various plans, games and conspiracies. It is a wakeup call for all enlightened people of the country and only those who understand the age old conspiracies of India’s caste elite, can really defuse the Brahmanical bomb which has been planted over us.

[Vidya Bhushan Rawat is a social activist, human rights activist, anti-caste worker, & works against manual scavenging. He is the founder of Social Development Foundation. www.thesdf.org]

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

Academicians' & Research Scholars' the Brahmins of his home state to bureaucrats dealing with politics influencing their works. A Section:

More than a Writer: Udupi Rajagopalacharya Anantha Murthy (1932-2014)

—Ashok K. Choudhury A Decisive Force of the Navya Generation of Kannada Literature he question of ‘identity’ raised by Samskara (The Funeral Rites, 1966) is itself emblematic of a cultural encounter between tradition and modernity, between the ascetic and the erotic, the dualities of life and of religious experiences. Samskara looks for an answer to the question: What is Samskara? Is culture maintained only if tradition is followed blindly. With his multiple visions of the contemporary situation, and his profoundly subtle and metaphysical insights, Udupi Rajagopalacharya Anantha Murthy (henceforth URA), who died on 22nd August, explored various intriguing facets of modern life. His childhood influence, his impression of the society he grew up in, the intellectual equipment he gained from his studies, and the various thoughts that influenced him, all left a hallmark on his writings. Caste system, religious rules and traditions and the new values of a changing world are his major themes. As a rightful heir of a great tradition pioneered by Kuvempu and Shivram Karanth, he was greatly influenced by the Kannada heroes like Pampa, Kumara Vyasa, Basava; and from West, Tolstoy, D H Lawrence and Camus.

Writing, a site for self-interrogation, a magic-ritual of creating a metaphor out of the painful and awkward details of life has always been an act of becoming an authentic being for him. Most of his works deal with psychological aspects in different situations, times, and circumstances, and also analyze aspects ranging from challenges and changes faced by

T

35

follower of a staunch socialist Rammanohar Lohia, to him casteism was the root of immorality and evils of Indian society. He once remarked, “For me, born and brought up as a Brahmin, hurting Brahmins is not an issue that I like. But it is inevitable. My writings Samskara and Bharatipura have hurt Brahmins… What I have written is the essential truth that Brahmins must face”. Known for his humanity and its courage in questioning cultural norms, URA grew up to be a Gandhian socialist.

K. Satchidanandan, Malayalam poet and critic, says, “URA was more than a writer, he was one of those literary personalities who influence generations of writers and whose social and cultural interventions lead to new perspectives on the whole civilizations”. URA questioned discrimination through caste system in his magnum opus, the repressive practice of the Brahmans. “It was a chance to stand up for the rich vernacular literature. I was thrilled that India could be represented by one's own language, by Kannada. Some of the greatest authors wrote in regional language. A tribal language can produce a Homer. And I thought it was good for Europe to recognize that there are other languages rich in literature, too”, this is what he observed when he lost Man Booker last year.

Writing for nearly five decades, his acute intellectuality was manifest in his new thinking which kept alive the Kannada sensibilities. His contributions reflect many areas of culture. He was committed to social activities on issues of vital importance e.g. conservation of environment, communal harmony and others.

Both his works and social engagement made him known far beyond the Indian language borders and abroad. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Chandrahas Choudhury, a writer based in Mumbai, remarked, “URA's fictions reside in the way its universal ideas are worked out through the frame of the local”.

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

URA had been conferred numerous awards: Golden Jubilee Fellowship of Sahitya Akademi (2004), Jnanpith Award (1994), Masti Award (1994), Padma Bhushan (1998), Karnataka Sahitya Akademi Award (twice: in 1983 and 1984); Ganakrishi Award for Literary Distinction (2002), Fakirmohan National Award (2009), Rabindranath Tagore Memorial Medal (2011).

Apart from his Samskara, Ghatashradha has been filmed and won the Best Story Award in 1978. Several universities bestowed on him Honorary Doctorate i.e. Rabindra Bharati University (1995), ‘Vakpathi’, Kendriya Uccha Tibati Shiksha Samsthnam, Sarnath (2002), Central University of Karnataka (2012). His selection as one of the ‘The Fifty People who Matter in the Country’, a survey conducted by the Illustrated Weekly of India, was the most memorable for him. The Zee TV selected him as one of the outstanding personalities of the last millennium in January 2000.

The Pundits on various subjects exposed him to the debates during his early days. All these turned out to be interplay of worldviews of different centuries and stimulated his intellectual development. These formative influences were to leave a lasting impression on him and gave an early shape to his creative work. URA stirred the Kannada literary world with his Samskara. Wrote the novel when he was studying for his doctoral programme, he reiterated, “I was in England. I had not spoken Kannada for a long time. I was fatigued. I sat down to write and it happened. Even now when I read, I am surprised I wrote it”. Set in a traditional village, a Brahmanical agrahara, in the pre-independence period, Samskara, a multifocal Sanskrit word, is one of the major works of the Navya movement. An invitation to a storm, the classic offers a trenchantly satirical picture of a small decadent Brahmin settlement on the bank of the Tunga.

Rich in metaphorical ambiguity, Samaskara revolutionized the orthodox concepts of a community in Karnataka. It is the story of an

36

earnest and learned Brahmin. Praneshacharya is the best product of the despised system. He (Praneshacharya) has deliberately married a sickly woman that he might gratify his passions.

He has an antagonist—the unashamed Naranappa, also a Brahmin, who dies of an epidemic creating a crisis in the village. The novel ends with the protagonist on the threshold of a new life. The term ‘Samskara’ does not merely mean the rituals of disposing off the mortal remains of Naranappa but also signifies the transformation that came about in Pranescharya’s personality. It splendidly conveys the belief that life should be faced squarely.

The novel stormed the citadels of Hindu orthodoxy. A death, which stands as the central event in the plot, brings in its wake a plague, many more deaths, live questions with only dead answers, moral chaos, and the rebirth of one man. The volume provides a useful glossary of Hindu myths, customs, Indian names, flora, and other terms. Samskara serves as an allegory rich in realistic details, a contemporary reworking of ancient Hindu themes and myths, and a serious, poetic study of a religious man living in a community of priests gone to seed. The philosophical system that has informed the making of the novel offers a severe indictment on Brahmanical values and social system. It deals with the conflict resulting from the incursion of colonial modernity into the traditional society represented mainly by decadent Brahmanism.

Ramanujan’s English translation of Samskara, serialized in the Illustrated Weekly of India during 1976, received critical attention. Lauded

by Erick Erikson and V S Naipaul who interprets Samskara in his book India: A Wounded Civilization as the ‘allegory of a nation’. A film made of the novel in 1970 by Pattabhi Rama Reddy ushered in the Indian new-wave cinema of the south, and won the ‘President’s Gold Medal’, and the ‘National Award’. The film ran into trouble with the censors but was released following a surge of public anger. Like the novel,

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

the film also created a stir. After success with Samskara, URA wrote four more novels: Bharatipura (1973), Avasthe (1978), Bhava (1997), and Divya (2001). Most of his novels reflect the reaction of individuals to situations that are unusual and artificial.

The socio-political influences and the results of economic changes on traditional Hindu societies of India and clashes due to such influences between a father-son, wife-husband, and father-daughter are portrayed.

He used many literary genres to explore and articulate his dynamic and reflective imagination. The medium of short fiction was the voice he articulated to discover the relevance of some of the traditional values in the changed social context of today. His stories portray intensely sensitive individuals caught in moral and spiritual crises. URA made insightful use of poetic devices for purposes of expression of abstract ideation. In the genre of poetry, Bavali (1963), followed by three more collections, Influenced by Leavis, Lukas, and Lohia, he was holding an even balance between his literary and sociological interest.

Being a critic of the Navya generation in Kannada, URA came out openly with his bold and controversial positions of life and society.

He had a seminal influence in changing the course of Kannada criticism by his emphasis on the socio-cultural dimensions of literature. He popularized the principles and techniques of the new critics of Britain and America. Most of his articles and essays in English appeared in Transatlantic Review, Humanist Review, Iowa Review, New Quest, Indian Pen, Indian Literature, and Vagarth, Literary Criterion etc., which make a real difference in too many areas of culture.

He was well known for his famous interviews of notable Kannada writers for Mysore Radio. They were on K Shivram Karanth, Gopalkrishna Adiga, R K Narayan, R K Laxman, and K M Cariappa. His idea to rename ten cities in Karnataka including Bangalore from their 37

colonial forms to actual native forms on the golden jubilee celebration of the formation of Karnataka was accepted by the state government. He delivered lectures on varied topics on “Culture and Destiny", given at Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal; “Indian Literature”, in University of Madison and Chicago in 1985; “Indian Society, Culture, Politics, and Literature”, at University of Birmingham, Alabama in 1987; ”Colonialism and Indian Literature", at University of California; “Art in the Modern Age” at Bangalore University in 1989; and ”Nationalism and Indian Culture: The Relevance of Bhakti Poetry".

U R Ananthamurthy Omnibus (2007), edited by N Manu Chakravarthy, a single anthology, gives a comprehensive view of the major figure in the post-independence world of Indian letters. The volume recognizes the diverse transformations and upheavals that India as a community, culture, and society, and more significantly, as a nation has undergone during the last five decades. Poet-critic Ashok Vajpeyi writes, “The theme URA explored in his fiction, the complex experiences he analyzed in his critical writings all together constitutes a corpus revealing tensions and anxieties of our times, hope for equality and justice in contemporary Indian society”.

Born in an orthodox Vaidika Brahmin family on 21 December 1932 in Melige, a small village of Thirthahalli taluka in Shimoga district of Karnataka, he grew up at the agrahara, a ‘Brahmin’ street. URA had his early education in Veda Pathsala. As a boy his day began with japa followed by attending Sanskrit classes. He was aghast in the middle school when untouchability dawned on him. After completing B.A. (Hons.) from Maharajah College, Mysore, he obtained a first class in M.A. in English literature with Poorna Krishna Rao Gold Medal for securing first position from Mysore University in 1956 and became a lecturer. With a Commonwealth Fellowship he went to Birmingham University,

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

UK, in 1963 and earned his doctorate with a thesis entitled Politics of Fiction of the 1930s.

On returning in 1966, he joined as a Reader in English in the Regional College of Education, Mysore. He rejoined the Mysore University in 1970 as Reader and became Professor and retired in 1987. He was the Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala from 1987-1991. He served as a visiting professor in many renowned Indian and foreign universities: JNU, Shivaji University, Hyderabad University, Cornell University, Eberhard Karls

University of Tubingen, University of Iowa, and Tufts University. As an ardent educationist, he had a distinguished position in different learned and academic bodies. He was President of Sahitya Akademi, and Chairman of National Book Trust, India, and also of Indian Institute of Social Sciences. He was Chancellor of the Central University of Karnataka, and Chairman of Film and Television Institute of India.

[Ashok K. Choudhury, an independent literary critic, works with Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi. choudhury_ak@rediffmail.com]

Humanist News: Book Release:

M.N. Roy: Marxism and Colonial Cosmopolitanism Author: Kris Manjapra (English) 1st Edition; Publisher: Routledge India, 912, Tolstoy Marg, New Delhi-110001; ISBN-13-9780415446037;ISBN-10-0415446031; Series Name- Pathfinders; p.p. 175 It can also be purchased online from: Amazon.in in Rs.295.0 & from Flipkart.com in Rs.221.0

Book Description given on: http://www.indiabookstore.net/isbn/9780415446037: This is a work of South Asian intellectual history written from a transnational perspective and based on the life and work of M.N. Roy, one of India’s most formidable Marxist intellectuals.

Swadeshi revolutionary, co-founder of the Mexican Communist Part, member of the Communist International Presidium, and a major force in the rise of Indian communism, M.N. Roy was a colonial cosmopolitan icon of the interwar years. Exploring the intellectual production of this important thinker, this book traces the historical context of his ideas from nineteenth-century Bengal to Weimar Germany, through the tumultuous period of world politics in the 1930s and 1940s, and on to post-Independence India. In this book the author makes a number of valuable theoretical contributions. He argues for the importance of conceiving the ‘deterritorial’ zones of thought and action through which Indian anti-colonial political thought operated, and advances a new periodisation for Swadeshi on this basis. He also argues against viewing ‘international communism’ of the 1920s as a single monolith by highlighting the fractures and contestations that influenced colonial politics worldwide. These slim volumes written by leading scholars are intended for the intelligent layperson and expert alike, and written in an accessible, lively and authoritative prose. Through telling the lives of celebrated names and lesser known ones in context, this series will expand the repertoire of ideas and individuals that have shaped the history and culture of South Asia.

38

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

Book Review:

Japan Takes a Look at India —Dipavali Sen [Inclusiveness in India –A Strategy for Growth and Equality, edited by Shigemochi Hirashima, Hisaya Oda and Yoko Tsujita, IDE-JETRO, first published 2011 by Palgrave Macmillan, hardbound, pp 310, price unstated] of us still cannot make up our Many minds about the recent announcement to substitute the Planning Commission of India with a new ‘think-tank’.

Is it necessary to do so? Has it completely failed to deliver, or is simply being too slow?

The book Inclusiveness in India can serve as an unbiased source-material to find out our answers from.

The Preface (by the editors Shigemochi Hirashima, Hisaya Oda and Yoko Tsujita) begins with a simple introduction to Indian developmental planning.

“India’s developmental process started with the centrally planned economic framework placing development as a priority in the capital goods sector. This was a unique and challenging development strategy at that time compared with other developing countries. India has been unique also in placing equal weight on growth and equity in development process at the outset…..

“However, the cost of this strategy has been the slow development of the physical as well as social infrastructure and low efficiency under strong bureaucratic regulations…In the face of this reality, India started introducing market principles towards the latter half of the 1980s and declared the final departure from the centrally planned economy in 1991….The Inclusive Growth Strategy (IGS) set forth in 2006 appears to illustrate the strong determination of the Union Government in response to this situation.” (p xvi)

39

The Institute of Development Economies (IDE), Japan, carried out a research project in 2008-9, on the IGS. The Asian Development Research Institute (ADRI), Patna, did joint research work.

The book is the outcome of this research. The overall support has come from the Japanese External Trade Organization (JETRO), an independent government agency established by Japan Export Trade Research Organization as a nonprofit corporation in Osaka in February 1951, and reorganized as the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) in 1958.

Professor Hirashima’s research interests include land and water in developing economies and international commodity trade. Professor Oda’s research interests are in economic development, migration theory and South Asian area studies. Tsujita's has research interests in education, migration and urban development.

Together these three internationally recognized researchers bring to bear upon the IGS a “multidimensional” approach.

Other contributors are P.P. Ghosh (ADRI, Patna), Takeshi Inoue, Seiro Ito, Norio Kondo, Kensuke Kubo, Kazuki Minato and Mayumi Murayama (all from IDE-JETRO).

“Inclusiveness in India –A Challenging Strategy for Growth and Equality” (pp 1-32).

The book is in four parts, each with a different theme.

Part I is entitled Growth-Poverty Linkage and Income-Asset Relationship in the Inclusive Growth Strategy (pp 35-108).

By focusing on the statistical data on infrastructure provision and economic growth Oda has found that there has been a positive impact in the post-1991 era but inter-state disparity remains.

By using NSS data, Hirashima and Kubo have found that in states of high non-agricultural growth there tend to be fewer agricultural labourers or enthusiastic farmers buying land.

By using RBI data on 25 states and union territories, Inoue has shown that in the

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

post-1991 era access and usage of financial services have contributed to poverty alleviation in both rural and urban India.

Part II studies Disparity in Access to Social Services (pp 111-171).

Using NSS household-level data, Ito has examined health service utilization. For example, they find that for rural households, water connection, water treatment, provision of toilet on the household premises..all need attention.

Studying Delhi Slum Children, Tsujita has found that migration affects school attendance for underprivileged children, especially initial attendance. Part III is about Issues of Weaker Sections in the Inclusive Growth Strategy (pp 175-240). Kondu has found that evidence with respect to basic social facilities like drinking water, electric light, size of house clearly demonstrates the weak position of Muslims.

Murayama has described the problems and needs of ‘homeworkers’, specifically, embroidery homeworkers involved in SEWA Delhi’s programme compared with those working with thekedars or middlemen. A major finding is that such women suffer great time constraints but still would like to take on more work.

The last section, Part IV, is named Perspectives for Overcoming Underdevelopment: A Case-Study of Bihar (pp 243-295).

Minato has come to conclude after a statistical study of Bihar that this state has followed quite a distinctive path of economic and political development in comparison with other states, mainly because of colonial land tenure institutions and a caste-based hierarchical system. Any recent growth has been urban and

rural Bihar is still to take-off.

Ghosh has studied Inter-state Disparity in India and Development Strategies for Backward States. His conclusion is of regional inequality widening in the recent decades.

The articles are enforced with mathematical formulae, and statistical tables, diagrams, graphs and many References.

The Index (pp 297-310) ends the book. Perhaps there should have been a summing up or a concluding section. Of course, the Introduction had said it all. “The goal of overall economic performance in the post-reform period has ostensibly been successful in achieving higher economic growth and in reducing poverty in general, but at the same time it has increased disparities in many socio-economic aspects. …A common observation has emerged from the chapters that there still exist many challenges if we are to reduce disparities in the process of social and economic development.” (pp 27-28) Now if this is the state of affairs after so many years, do we really need an alternative to the Planning Commission? That is what many stalwarts in the country feel, and say with a lot of feeling. The Planning Commission need not be included in the Inclusive Growth process. Or, must it? Should ‘acquaintance be forgotten.’?

This edited volume from IDE-JETRO may help you decide.

[Dipavali Sen, from DSE & Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (Pune), Visva Bharati University, Santiniketan teaches at Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce, Delhi University. She is a prolific writer and has written creative pieces and articles both in English and Bengali. dipavali@gmail.com]

"Materialism is the essence of the Marxist system. But it did not originate with Marx. It is as old as human thought. The rationalism of the primitive man subordinated him to the gods. Philosophy was born of the earliest revolt against that original fall of man. Ever since then, it has had a dynamics of its own." — From: M.N. Roy, Reason Romanticism & Revolution, Vol. I, page 5

40

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

A Poem On M.N. Roy —Swarajbrata Sengupta His ardent love for freedom is invincible.

His solemn voice blazing.

And in him wisdom is inherent.

And all these are for the sake of freedom; Then to them he adds abhorrence and contempt Aimed firmly at utterly wretched powers of social vices and maladies.

This is all on account of freedom— And freedom he promises to give to mankind, Alongwith all these other attributes like reason and intent devotion to truth.

Or the powwrful envoy of slavery and subjection.

You can never deter him by instilling fear and lie, He is light and fire....

—THE RADICAL HUMANIST SUBSCRIPTION FORM– The Manager, The Radical Humanist C/o Mr. Narottam Vyas (Treasurer) Chamber No. 111, (Near Post Office) Supreme Court of India, Delhi-110001 Dear Sir, I/We wish to be enrolled as subscriber/s for The Radical Humanist for a period of one year/two years/three years/life.

Name...........................................................................................................

Address........................................................................................................

Phone No...........................................E-mail..................................................

41

THE RADICAL HUMANIST

SEPTEMBER 2014

"When the great wave of Renaissance humanism ebbed out into nineteenth century liberal backwash, it revealed stretches of quicksand and sharp rock-edges. The second wave of social revolution consequently began as a recoil from that backwash. The ideological expression of that recoil was socialism. Unfortunately, like every other recoil in history, the second wave was incapable of distinguishing between the first wave and its backwash. In reacting against medieval immobility and instrumentalism, the first Renaissance has stressed the liberating significance of reason and individuality. In its anxiety to remove the contradiction and anarchy of laisser-faire society, socialism gave too much importance to institutional consistency and the deterministic logic of history."

—From Chapter: "Radicalism as a Philosophy of Revolution in our Times" in Ripeness is All by Sibnarayan Ray, page 47

Books By M.N. ROY Published By Renaissance Publishers, Indian Renaissance Institute, Oxford University Press And Others 1. POLITICS POWER AND PARTIES

Rs. 90.00

2. SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY

Rs.95.00

3. BEYOND COMMUNISM

Rs.40.00

4. THE HISTORICAL ROLE OF ISLAM

Rs.40.00

5. MEN I MET

Rs.60.00

6. INDIA’S MESSAGE

Rs.100.00

7. MATERIALISM

Rs. 110.00

8. REVOLUTION & COUNTER REVOLUTION IN CHINA

Rs. 250.00

9. REASON, ROMANTICISM AND REVOLUTION

Rs.300.00

10. NEW ORIENTATION

Rs 090.00

11. ISLAAM KI ETIHASIK BHOOMIKA (IN HINDI)

Rs.25.00

12. HAMARA SANSKRITIK DARP (IN HINDI)

Rs.40.00

13. NAV MANAVWAD (IN HINDI)

Rs.90.00 42

43 41

Post Office Regd. No. Meerut-146-2012-2014 RNI No. 43049/85 To be posted on 10th of every month At H.P.O. Meerut Cantt.

RENAISSANCE PUBLISHERS PRIVATE LIMITED 15, Bankim Chatterjee Street (2nd floor), Kolkata: 700 073, Mobile: 9831261725 NEW FROM RENAISSANCE

By SIBNARAYAN RAY Between Renaissance and Revolution-Selected Essays: Vol. I- H.C.350.00 In Freedom’s Quest: A Study of the Life and Works of M.N. Roy: Vol.Ill H.C.250.00 Against the Current - H.C.350.00

By M.N. ROY Science and Superstition - H.C.125.00 AWAITED OUTSTANDING PUBLICATIONS

By RABINDRANATH TAGORE & M.N. ROY Nationalism - H.C.150.00

By M.N. ROY The Intellectual Roots of Modern Civilization - H.C.150.00 The Russian Revolution - P.B.140.00 The Tragedy of Communism - H.C.180.00 From the Communist Manifesto - P.B.100.00 To Radical Humanism - H.C.140.00 Humanism, Revivalism and the Indian Heritage - P.B. 140.00

By SIVANATH SASTRI A History of The Renaissance in Bengal —Ramtanu Lahiri: Brahman & Reformer H.C.180.00

By SIBNARAYAN RAY Gandhi, Gandhism and Our Times (Edited) - H.C.200.00 The Mask and The Face (Jointly Edited with Marian Maddern) - H.C.200.00 Sane Voices for a Disoriented Generation (Edited) - P.B. 140.00 From the Broken Nest to Visvabharati - P.B.120.00 The Spirit of the Renaissance - P.B.150.00 Ripeness is All - P.B. 125.00

By ELLEN ROY From the Absurdity to Creative Rationalism - P.B. 90.00

By V. M. TARKUNDE Voice of A Great Sentinel - H.C.175.00

By SWARAJ SENGUPTA Reflections - H.C 150.00 Science, Society and Secular Humanism - H.C. 125.00

By DEBALINA BANDOPADHYAY The Woman-Question and Victorian Novel - H.C. 150.00

Published and printed by Mr. N.D. Pancholi on behalf of Indian Renaissance Institute at S-1 Plot 617 Shalimar Garden Extension I, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad-201005 Printed by Nageen Prakashan Pvt. Ltd., W. K. Road, Meerut, 250002 Editor-Dr. Rekha Saraswat, C-8, Defence Colony, Meerut, 250001