‘India’s anti-minority tag will hurt companies, damage foreign reputation’: Raghuram Rajan

 ‘India’s anti-minority tag will hurt companies, damage foreign reputation’: Raghuram Rajan

Former RBI chief Raghuram Rajan said that an anti-minority tag on India will damage the markets for domestic companies.

Reported By:DNA Web Team| Edited By: DNA Web Team |Source: PTI |Updated: Apr 23, 2022, 08:37 PM IST

‘India’s anti-minority tag will hurt companies, damage foreign reputation’: Raghuram Rajan

Photo - PTI

Amid concerns over minorities being targeted in India, former Reserve Bank governor Raghuram Rajan on Thursday cautioned that an 'anti-minority' image for the country can lead to loss of market for Indian products and may also result in foreign governments perceiving the nation as an unreliable partner.

India enters the perception battle from a position of strength, the professor at Chicago's Booth School of Business said, alluding to credentials like democracy and secularism, but warned that this battle is "ours to lose".

The comments came a day after bulldozers tore down several concrete and temporary structures close to a mosque in Jahangirpuri as part of an anti-encroachment drive, days after the northwest Delhi neighbourhood was rocked by communal violence.

Speaking at the Times Network India Economic Conclave, Rajan said, "If we are seen as a democracy treating all our citizens respectfully, and, you know, relatively poor country, we become much more sympathetic. (Consumers say) 'I am buying this stuff from this country which is trying to do the right thing', and therefore, our markets grow."

He added that it is not just consumers who make such choices over whom to patronise, but warmth in international relations too is decided by such perceptions, as governments take a call on whether a country is a "reliable partner" or not, based on how it handles its minorities.

The outspoken academic added that China has been suffering from such image problems because of its treatment of Uighurs and to an extent the Tibetans as well, while Ukraine has seen huge support because President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is seen as someone standing up to defend ideas that a democratic world believes in.

The services sector export presents a large opportunity for Indians and the country will have to seize it, Rajan said, adding that we need to be very conscious of the West's sensitivities on privacy.

One of the opportunities which can be leveraged is in the medical sector, Rajan said, warning that being perceived as a country which does not satisfy data security and privacy concerns can make it difficult to succeed.

He also said undermining the constitutional authorities like the Election Commission, Enforcement Directorate or the Central Bureau of Investigation (SBI) erodes the democratic character of our country.

In other comments on domestic affairs, Rajan said the Indian administration will have to grapple with the challenges of governance by discussing changes with key stakeholders to avoid instances like the three farm laws. The three legislations were repealed last year after protests by farmers.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who also spoke at the event, blamed IT companies for poor planning, saying this lack of foresight has led to wage inflation in the over USD 230 billion sector.

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Raghuram Rajan explains how ‘anti-minority’ tag will hurt Indian firms

Governments decide whether the nation is reliable or not based on how it treats its minorities, says Rajan

Photo of News Desk News Desk|   Published: 23rd April 2022 9:13 am IST

Raghuram Rajan Raghuram Rajan

New Delhi: Former Governor of Reserve Bank of India Raghuram Rajan on Thursday explained that the ‘anti-minority’ tag will lead to a loss of market for Indian products.

Apart from it, foreign governments will also believe that the nation is unreliable, he said.

While speaking at the Times Network India Economic Conclave, he said that the customers will be ready to buy a product from a democratic poor country that treats all its citizens respectfully thinking that the country is trying to do the right things.

MS Education Academy

He further said that even international relations work on similar logic. Governments decide whether the nation is reliable or not based on how it treats its minorities.

China facing image issue

Justifying his claim, he cited an example of China which is facing image issues due to problems being faced by Uighurs and Tibetans.

Ukraine is able to garner support from western countries as its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is fighting for democratic values, he added.

 

Highlighting the importance of the Election Commission, Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation, and other authorities for the democracy, he said that undermining these authorities is not good for the nation’s democratic image.

Recent violence

These comments of the former RBI Governor came a day after bulldozers razed several structures in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri.

Recently, various states in the country have reported communal violence. After the violence, authorities have undertaken anti-encroachment drives which were seen by many political parties as an attempt to target a particular section of the society.

 

However, the authorities have rejected the claims being made by opposition parties and said that the demolitions were part of anti-encroachment drives.

Raghuram Rajan News : अल्पसंख्यकों पर RBI के पूर्व गवर्नर रघुराम राजन ने ऐसा क्या कहा, ट्विटर पर भड़क गए लोग

Compiled by अनुराग मिश्र | नवभारतटाइम्स.कॉमUpdated: 23 Apr 2022, 1:01 pm

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टाइम्स नेटवर्क के चर्चित कार्यक्रम इंडिया इकनॉमिक कॉनक्लेव में रघुराम राजन ने ऐसी बात कही जो एक बड़े वर्ग को पसंद नहीं आया। हाल में कई शहरों में सांप्रदायिक हिंसा हुई और बुलडोजर की कार्रवाई की गई। राजन ने कहा कि अगर देश की छवि अल्पसंख्यक विरोधी बनेगी तो भारतीय कंपनियों को नुकसान होगा। लोग भारतीय प्रोडक्ट से दूरी बना सकते हैं।

 

फिर गरजे गिरिराज : समरसता बिगाड़ने वाले वही जिन्‍होंने CAA का विरोध किया, देश की पहचान के लिए NRC जरूरी

हाइलाइट्स

जहांगीरपुरी हिंसा के बाद बुलडोजर कार्रवाई के दो दिन बाद रघुराम राजन का बयान

पूर्व गवर्नर बोले, अल्पसंख्यक विरोधी छवि से भारतीय कंपनियों को नुकसान

कहा, दुनिया के बड़े निवेशक दूरी बना सकते हैं और विश्वसनीय भागीदार नहीं मानेंगे दूसरे देश

Amazon पर शानदार ऑफर - इलेक्ट्रॉनिक्स, कपड़े, होम डेकोर और अन्य सामानों पर पाएं भारी छूट.

नई दिल्ली: आरबीआई के पूर्व गवर्नर रघुराम राजन के एक बयान की सोशल मीडिया पर काफी चर्चा हो रही है। राजन ने कहा है कि अगर दुनिया में भारत की छवि अल्पसंख्यक विरोधी देश के रूप में उभरती है तो प्रोडक्ट्स बनाने वाली भारतीय कंपनियों को नुकसान हो सकता है। हाल के कुछ हफ्तों में भारत में कई जगहों पर सांप्रदायिक हिंसा की घटनाएं हुई हैं। जहांगीरपुरी में शोभायात्रा के दौरान पथराव और आगजनी हुई तो सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने बुलडोजर की कार्रवाई पर रोक लगा दी। ऐसे वक्त में राजन ने आगाह किया है कि एंटी-माइनॉरिटी इमेज भारत के लिए नुकसानदेह साबित हो सकती है। सोशल मीडिया पर लोग भड़क गए हैं। कुछ लोग उन्हें असफल गवर्नर बता रहे हैं तो कुछ लोग उनके बयान पर स्क्रीनशॉट शेयर कर रहे हैं। लोग क्या कह रहे हैं, इससे पहले पढ़िए कि पूर्व गवर्नर ने अल्पसंख्यकों के बारे में क्या कहा।

सब पर्सेप्शन की बात है...

टाइम्स नेटवर्क के इंडिया इकनॉमिक कॉनक्लेव में बोलते हुए राजन ने कहा कि जनता का पर्सेप्शन काफी महत्वपूर्ण होता है। कुछ हद तक मुझे लगता है कि हमें काफी सावधानी बरतनी चाहिए। यूके में हमने देखा कि कैसे इन्फोसिस को परेशानी का सामना करना पड़ा। यह राजनीतिक था क्योंकि वह रूस में लगातार बिजनस कर रही थी। दरअसल, भारतीय सॉफ्टवेयर सेवा कंपनी इन्फोसिस के कारण ब्रिटेन के वित्त मंत्री ऋषि सुनक की भी मुश्किलें बढ़ गई थीं। इस कंपनी में सुनक की पत्नी अक्षता मूर्ति की हिस्सेदारी है। उनसे रूस के साथ संबंधों पर सवाल हुए। उनसे कहा गया जो सलाह दूसरों को दी जा रही है उसका पालन घर में क्यों नहीं हो रहा है। राजन ने इसी मसले का जिक्र किया। उन्होंने कहा कि ये चीजें काफी तेजी से प्रसारित होती है।

Raghuram Rajan: रघुराम राजन ने बताया भारत में किस आधार पर बनती हैं पॉलिसी, सुझाया किस तरह की होनी चाहिए व्यवस्था

समान व्यवहार तो मार्केट बढ़ता है

उन्होंने कहा कि ऐसे में जनता का पर्सेप्शन ये बनता है कि जो हमारे हिसाब से काम नहीं कर रहा है उसे हम दंड देंगे। अगर हमारी छवि ऐसे लोकतांत्रिक देश की बनती है जहां सभी नागरिकों के साथ समान रूप से व्यवहार किया जाता है तो हमारे प्रति लोगों की सहानुभूति बढ़ेगी। लोगों के मन में ऐसे भाव आते हैं कि हम यह चीज उस देश से खरीद रहे हैं जो सही दिशा में बढ़ रहा है और इस तरह से हमारा मार्केट बढ़ता है।

इनाम जीतने का सुनहरा मौका, यहां क्लिक कर इस आसान सर्वे के सवालों का दें जवाब

और अल्पसंख्यकों को प्रताड़ना पर...

राजन आगे कहते हैं कि दूसरी तरफ अगर लोगों को लगता है कि देश में तानाशाही है और यह देश अपने अल्पसंख्यकों को प्रताड़ित करता है और आप रोज यही देखते और पढ़ते हैं। यह न केवल न्यूयॉर्क टाइम्स और द इकॉनमिस्ट में... कई तरह से। आपको पता चलता है कि कितनी मौतें हुईं, इसके भी आंकड़े देश छिपा रहा है तो लोग इससे नाराज हो सकते हैं। उन्होंने यह भी कहा कि दुनिया के बड़े निवेशक देश को विश्वसनीय भागीदार के रूप में नहीं देखेंगे।

लोग राजन के बयान की आलोचना कर रहे हैं। प्रशांत लिखते हैं, 'इसका मतलब सुब्रमण्यम स्वामी शुरुआत से ही सही थे। उनकी रुचि भारत विरोधी है। क्या वह आरबीआई गवर्नर के तौर पर हमारी अर्थव्यवस्था को नुकसान पहुंचा रहे थे? स्वामी का शुक्रिया, उन्होंने बीजेपी में बिना किसी के सपोर्ट के लड़ाई लड़ी जिससे राजन को गवर्नर के तौर पर दूसरा कार्यकाल न मिले।'

Published: Sun, 24 Apr 2022 

యాంటీ మైనారిటీ దెబ్బతీస్తుంది : రాజన్

 ఆర్‌బీఐ మాజీ గవర్నర్ రఘురామ్ రాజన్... ‘యాంటీ మైనారిటీ’ చిత్రం భారతీయ ఉత్పత్తుల మార్కెట్‌ను దెబ్బతీస్తుందని, ఫలితంగా విదేశీ ప్రభుత్వాలు భారత్‌ను నమ్మదగని భాగస్వామిగా భావిస్తున్నాయని పేర్కొన్నారు. ముంబైలో జరిగిన ఓ కార్యక్రమంలో ఆయన మాట్లాడారు. ‘మన పౌరులను గౌరవప్రదంగా చూసే ప్రజాస్వామ్యంగా మనం కనిపిస్తే... మనం మరింత సానుభూతితో ఉంటాము(వినియోగదారులు అంటున్నారు).  'నేను సరైన పని చేయడానికి ప్రయత్నిస్తున్న ఈ దేశం నుండి ఈ వస్తువులను కొనుగోలు చేస్తున్నాను’ అని ఆయన పేర్కొన్నారు.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6PmsxFAEQY

Headlines: "Anti-Minority" Image Will Hurt Indian Companies, Warns Raghuram Rajan| RBI| PM Modi| BJP

CBSE Drops Verses from Faiz Ahmad Faiz's Poems from Class 10 Curriculum

 CBSE Drops Verses from Faiz Ahmad Faiz's Poems from Class 10 Curriculum

The two excerpts from Faiz's poems had been part of Class 10 social science syllabus for over a decade.

CBSE Drops Verses from Faiz Ahmad Faiz's Poems from Class 10 Curriculum

Urdu poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz.

The Wire Staff

The Wire Staff

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BOOKSEDUCATION

23/APR/2022

New Delhi: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has excluded two excerpts from poems written by renowned Pakistani poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz from its curriculum for the academic year 2022-23, which was released on Thursday, April 21, the Indian Express reported.

The two excerpts had been part of the curriculum for over 10 years as part of the section on ‘Religion, Communalism and Politics – Communalism, Secular State’ in the Class 10 National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbook, Democratic Politics II.

The excerpts were included in two images which showed posters created by Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD), an NGO, and the Voluntary Health Association of India; both of which were removed from the syllabus.

According to the Express, the ANHAD poster quoted the lines:

“Not enough to shed tears, to suffer anguish, not enough to nurse love in secret… Today, walk in the public square fettered in chains.”

These lines were reportedly taken from Aaj Bazaar Me Pa Ba Jola Chalo (Let Us Walk in the Market in Shackles), one of Faiz’s poems written at a time when he was in jail in Lahore. He penned the specific poem when he was being transported from the jail to the dentist’s office in a tonga, himself in chains, crossing lanes familiar to him as he was recognised by passers-by.

Also read: Calling Faiz’s Hum Dekhenge ‘Anti-Hindu’ Is Both Laughable and Insulting

The other poster, issued by the Voluntary Health Association, quoted lines from Dhaka Se Wapsi Par (On Returning From Dhaka): 

“We remain strangers even after so many meetings, blood stains remain even after so many rains.”

Faiz wrote the lines translated above after returning from a visit to Bangladesh in 1974, three years after the country’s war for independence.

In addition to the Faiz verses, a cartoon by Ajith Nath, published in the Times of India, has also been removed from the curriculum. The cartoon shows an empty chair which carries a variety of religious symbols along with the caption: “This chair is for the CM-designate to prove his secular credentials…There will be plenty of rocking!”

Other exclusions

The Express report details several other components of the existing curriculum that have been removed for the upcoming academic year. 

In the Democratic Politics II textbook itself, chapters on ‘Democracy and Diversity’, ‘Popular Struggle Movement’ and ‘Challenges to Democracy’ have been removed. It is worth noting that the first of these chapters deals with social divisions and inequalities along caste, race and other lines in countries all over the world, including India.

From the history curriculum for Class 11, a chapter on ‘Central Islamic Lands’ has been removed, the Express reported.

Additionally, content on the “impact of globalisation on agriculture” has been removed from the Class 10 syllabus and one on the “Cold War era and the Non-Aligned Movement” has been removed from the Class 12 political science syllabus. 

Some chapters on mathematical reasoning have also been left out of the syllabus for Class 11.

Calling Faiz's Hum Dekhenge 'Anti-Hindu' Is Both Laughable and Insulting

Just as there was no dearth of the Right slandering an enlightened, secular poet like Faiz in Pakistan, there is no lack of such people in India too. The laughable charge that his iconic poem, ‘Hum Dekhenge’, written against the Zia-ul Haq dictatorship, is anti-Hindu, proves that.

Calling Faiz's Hum Dekhenge 'Anti-Hindu' Is Both Laughable and Insulting

Urdu poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz.

Raza Naeem

Raza Naeem

CULTURERELIGIONRIGHTS

16/JAN/2020

Truth is certainly stranger than fiction. Otherwise, a poem written by an avowed communist in opposition to a fundamentalist dictator would not have been branded anti-Hindu by some people in an august institution such as the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur. Students who recited Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s iconic Urdu poem, ‘Hum Dekhenge’ (We will see) in solidarity with Jamia Millia Islamia students who were subjected to police brutality on December 15 while protesting the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), were accused of reciting a poem that provoked anti-Hindu sentiments. Following several complaints, a committee was set up to probe the affair and we await its decision on whether the extremely popular ‘Hum Dekhenge’, recognised as a universal poem of protest, is ‘anti-Hindu’ or not. Clearly, it is a measure of the times we live in.

Faiz wrote Hum Dekhenge in January 1979, while visiting the US. It was a time when his country’s (Pakistan) first democratically elected prime minister, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who had been overthrown in a coup by General Zia-ul-Haq in 1977, was about to be hanged. Apart from writing this poem against the Zia dictatorship, Faiz also had in mind the Iranian people who were struggling against a dictatorial monarchy in their country at that time:

We will see

It is incumbent that we too will see

The day which it has been promised will be

Which is written on the tablet of eternity 

When the mountains of tyranny and oppression

will be like cotton scattered by an explosion

When the earth will palpitate in apprehension

beneath the feet of the ones bowed in subjugation

And over the head of the ruler

when lightening claps with thunder

When all the objects of idolatry

will be lifted from the Kaaba of God’s country

When we, the pure-hearted, the rejects of the holy sanctuary

will be made to sit on the throne of royalty

All the crowns will be thrown

All the thrones will be  strewn

Only the name of God will have eternal presence

who is absent, but also in attendance

who is the beholder as well as the countenance

The cry of ‘I am Truth’ will rise

Who is me and you likewise

And there will be the reign of God’s creation

Who is me and you even

Faiz passed away in 1984 and the famed singer Iqbal Bano immortalised this poem by performing it before a packed audience in 1986 in the Alhamra Arts Council auditorium in Lahore. During the dictatorship of General Zia, Pakistani women were prohibited from wearing the sari because it was deemed un-Islamic attire. Opposing the military dictatorship, Iqbal Bano performed wearing a white sari. A recording of the poem, done secretly, was smuggled out of Pakistan and reached the world.

Also Read: To Decide on ‘Hum Dekhenge,’ the IIT-K Panel Must Learn to Read First

While one does not know what the IIT committee will say in its decision, but to order an investigation into the poem is a clear indicator that the ideology of the ruling dispensation is as regressive as that of Pakistan at the time when Faiz wrote Hum Dekhenge.

This iconic poem forms part of Faiz’s collection, Mere Dil, Mere Musafir (My heart, my traveller). The shadow of remembrance of the homeland is very deep in this poem. Such too was the demand of the time. But in this sorrow, there is not a trace of the darkness of despair or defeat. The same trust in the human’s ability to overcome all travails, the same glad tidings of the victory of truth in the battle between good and evil, which was the philosophy of Faiz’s thought and art is dominant here as well.

Protests at IIT Kanpur. Photo: By special arrangement

Faiz and Sufi metaphors

Like many other poems written during Faiz’s incarceration by the Pakistani establishment, his poems abounded with Sufi metaphors. For example, he incorporated Masoor Hallaj’s famous declaration, An-al Haq (I Am God), as a political cry in Hum Dekhenge. The poem became as much an anthem of protest for Pakistanis struggling for democratic rights and civil liberties under Zia-ul-Haq as it has now become a call for resistance for the current generation of Indians under the Narendra Modi regime. This poem is the closest one can get in Urdu to an equivalent of Shelley’s equally iconic poem, Ozymandias, juxtaposing the inevitable decline of rulers with their pretensions to greatness.

The reference to the ‘objects of idolatry’ being ‘lifted from the Kaaba of God’s country’ was not intended to demean the followers or sacred images of a particular religion; nor is the pious hope, ‘Only the name of God will have eternal presence’, an advocacy of the religion Faiz was born into. He wrote the poem at a time when a dictator was claiming to be following God’s evangelical path, labelling those who opposed him as infidels, hence Faiz resorted to religious imagery to challenge Zia’s claims. The phrase, ‘the objects of idolatry’, becomes a metaphor for all the false and transient idols like fundamentalism, dictatorship, oppression and injustice – like Ozymandias for Shelley – and ‘God’ stands for secularism, humanism, democracy and justice, values which are destined to be permanent.

Just as there was no shortage of those from the Right slandering an enlightened, secular poet in Pakistan in Faiz’s own time, there is no shortage of such people in neighbouring India as well. Indeed, such slanderers are the real connoisseurs of Faiz, these men of ‘truth’ and ‘purity’. Just like the censor grasps the hidden secrets of the tavern better than the one who drinks, the circle of abusers understand the dangerous mysteries of Faiz’s personality and poetry better than his admirers. Indeed, Faiz said:

With the censor, indeed all is well

With his name, the names of the drunkards, bearer, wine, jar, measure all swell

If there were to be a Mount Rushmore of Urdu poetry, Faiz’s face would be in serious contention. Like Ghalib and Iqbal, Faiz has been written about, translated and commented upon abundantly.

Also Read: Why the Controversy Around Faiz’s ‘Hum Dekhenge’ Is So Fatuous

Faiz was a Ghalibian, a Gandhian and a Marxist rolled into one. His poetry was infused with an unsurpassed lyricism, but spoke evocatively and urgently against the regimes of exploitation. He was an early member of the Progressive Writers’ Association, and formed a Punjab chapter in 1936. He wrote poems against colonialism, and after Independence/Partition, he settled in Lahore. He was among the Pakistanis who travelled to India in 1948 to attend Gandhi’s funeral.

His activism in the labour movement irked the right-wing elements in the Pakistani state, especially Ayub Khan. Months after Khan’s elevation to the position of commander-in-chief of the Pakistan Army in 1951, Faiz and several of his colleagues were imprisoned under trumped-up conspiracy charges. He was incarcerated for four years, during which he wrote some of his finest poetry. More than half of Faiz’s verses are the creation of his days in prison; almost all of the poems and ghazals of Dast-e-Saba (The hand of the breeze) and Zindaan Nama (The book of prison) were written between 1951 and 1955, when he was in jail. His fourth collection, Dast-e-Tah-e-Sang (Hand under the stone) also includes poems from his time in prison.

Even after his release, he was subjected to surveillance and harassment and he spent many years in quasi-exile in the Soviet Union and the Middle East, where his poetry developed a truly international ethos. He won the Lenin Prize in 1962, and things came full circle when the Pakistan government bestowed its highest civilian honour, the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, on him (posthumously in 1990).

How Muslims are used as cannon fodder by power obsessed politicians

 

Head-on | How Muslims are used as cannon fodder by power obsessed politicians

Recent incidents of communal violence in Khargone and Jahangirpuri were carefully orchestrated

Minhaz MerchantApril 23, 2022 09:38:33 IST

Visual from Jahangirpuri. ANI

The objective is political power. Since losing power in 2014, the Congress and its self-proclaimed secular allies in the UPA have used Muslims as cannon fodder. The politicians don’t care about Muslim welfare. If they did, Muslims wouldn’t be the country’s most impoverished community after over 55 years of Congress governments.

In Jahangirpuri, it was again Muslims who ended up suffering in the service of their masters. For over 70 years, those masters gave them no education. They remained food delivery boys and car mechanics. No startups. No empowerment. And yet they trooped out obediently every five years to vote for the parties that gave them nothing but instilled in them a fear of the “other”.

Even today, as communal tensions peak, Muslims — both educated and impoverished — don’t realise how they have been tricked for seven decades into a life of backwardness.

Their masters couldn’t care less. Political power is what they want to regain. Muslims are expendable fodder. India, as a nation, is collateral damage.

To retake power, the Congress ecosystem began plotting right from May 2014 to weaponise communalism and Naxalism to foment civil unrest. The cold-blooded logic: Communal riots would inevitably follow, tarnishing the BJP’s image and eroding its credibility.

But the real key to evict the BJP from power lay in damaging India’s global reputation. India must be portrayed as an unsuccessful country. To bring Modi down, India must be brought down.

Academics and journalists were commandeered. Their job was to amplify the message: The BJP is unfit to govern; India’s social fabric was torn. Media op-eds relayed the message using terms, as The Indian Express columnist Pratap Bhanu Mehta did, like “vile prejudice” — not realising it more accurately reflected his views.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi led the attack from the front in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha election. His chowkidar chor hai taunt was meant to damage Modi sufficiently to give the Congress-led UPA a fighting chance to form a minority government in 2019 with support from regional parties.

The Congress’ in-house data analytics team told Gandhi with confidence bred on the campuses of American Ivy League universities that the UPA would win 170-190 seats in 2019 and the BJP could be kept down to 150 seats. A repeat of 2004 when the Congress stitched together a government with just 145 seats against the BJP’s 138 seats was, the party analytics team said, plausible. It was “game on”.

It wasn’t. To the Congress’ shock, the BJP won 303 seats in May 2019. Its own tally crawled from 44 seats in 2014 to 52. The data analysts who had briefed Gandhi on the likelihood of the Congress winning 170-190 seats in 2019, fell silent, emerging only later to write hand-wringing op-eds in newspapers.

But make no mistake. The 2019 Lok Sabha defeat further enraged the Congress and its allies. The plotting resumed.

The party had by now realised that personal attacks targeting Modi on, for example, corruption in the Rafale deal were backfiring. The COVID-19 pandemic came as a Godsend.

The Congress-led Opposition set aside its Muslim cannon fodder for the moment. It now turned to foreign media like The New York Times and The Washington Post to question the government’s handling of the lethal first wave of the pandemic in the summer of 2020.

The collateral damage done to India by falsifying the Covid narrative was immaterial. To bring the BJP down and regain power the ecosystem was perfectly willing to damage India.

In the second wave that struck India a year later, the Congress ecosystem hit pay dirt. Bodies floating on the Ganga became the scimitar to cut the BJP government down to size.

Journalists, activists, NGOs, Naxals, lawyers — all heeded the call to arms. Anchors and online news sites played devil’s advocate. Stories extracted from the foreign media were gleefully highlighted.

Surely, the ecosystem thought, Modi can’t recover from this. May 2024 now became the lodestar. The general election was still three years away but the Left-Congress ecosystem in mid-2021 thought they finally had their man.

And then the government’s new centralised vaccination drive that began in June 2021 upended the narrative once again. By December 2021, India had vaccinated a significant majority of its adult population. The third wave — Omicron — gave rise briefly to hope in the ecosystem. The hope waned with the third wave. The fourth wave — Xe — remains on the periphery.

***

Also Read

No more ‘bulldozer justice’? With Supreme Court stepping in, will Jahangirpuri ‘rioters’ be spared?

Jahangirpuri clashes a 'conspiracy', probe role of illegal immigrants, says Delhi BJP

Hindus must uphold unequal secularism via continued concessions while Muslims get the licence to use violence as leverage

***

What next? Still reeling from the shock of the BJP’s 2022 Uttar Pradesh victory and with the 2024 Lok Sabha looming, the ecosystem knew it was now or never. It turned back to what it knew best: Using Muslims as cannon fodder.

Incidents of communal violence in Khargone and Jahangirpuri were carefully orchestrated. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the viscerally anti-Modi British press provided useful background as former US President Donald Trump and the US media had done in February 2020.

Once again, Muslim history-sheeters like Mohammad Ansar were requisitioned. The controversy over azaans on loudspeakers, hijab and halal provided the frame for the canvas.

“Secular” politicians who routinely exploit Muslims to regain power at the Centre proved that they had learnt nothing from history.

The writer is editor, author and publisher. Views expressed here are personal.

Bulldozer Baba, Bulldozer Mama, bulldozer justice

 

‘Bulldozer Baba, Bulldozer Mama, bulldozer justice’: How the modest machine has become the buzzword in Indian politics

After Uttar Pradesh, the bulldozer has become the go-to tool to deal with alleged rioters in Madhya Pradesh's Khargone and Delhi's Jahangirpuri. Backed by the BJP, the demolition drives have been slammed by the Opposition, who call it the 'bulldozing' of democracy

FP ExplainersApril 21, 2022 09:38:40 IST

Illegal structures being razed during a joint anti-encroachment drive by NDMC, PWD, local bodies and the police, in the violence-hit Jahangirpuri area, in New Delhi. PTI

Nine bulldozers rolled into Jahangirpuri on Wednesday morning, tearing down several structures close to a mosque as part of an anti-encroachment drive by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled civic body.

Chaos and mayhem ensued as residents saw their homes being torn down and their source of livelihoods being razed. It was only after the Supreme Court intervened twice that the drive was paused.

Politics quickly broke out over the demolition drive with the Opposition accusing the BJP of ‘bulldozing’ democracy, while the latter held its ground, stating that ‘bulldozer justice’ was the right way to move ahead from the communal violence that had earlier broken out in the northwest area of Delhi.

At one point during the drive, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI{M}) leader Brinda Karat was seen blocking a bulldozer waving the copy of a Supreme Court order. Speaking to NDTV about the incident, she said, “We saw the bulldozers just smashing structures. They just bulldozed everything selectively. We had to stop it. After we stopped it, a senior police official came. I spoke to him and showed him the court order. Then he said yes, yes, we will stop it now.”

CPI(M) Leader Brinda Karat stood in front of a JCB to halt demolition drive in Delhi’s Jahangirpuri at 12.10 pm. Drive continued till 12.15 pm despite SC asking MCD to maintain status quo around 11 am. Action a few days after communal clashes on 16 April. @TheQuint @QuintHindi pic.twitter.com/JLH8RcvprZ

— Eshwar (@hey_eshwar) April 20, 2022

Wednesday’s incidents weren’t the first time that the nation saw ‘bulldozer politics’ being played out. In the recent months, the bulldozer has suddenly become the buzz word in politics. We trace this development.

Rise of ‘bulldozer baba’ in UP

Ironically, the beginning of bulldozer politics began with a jibe.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath earned the nickname of ‘Bulldozer Baba’ in Uttar Pradesh for his extensive use of the machinery to free up over 67,000 acres of government land from the clutches of land mafia in the state.

During the Assembly elections, his rival, Samajawadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, used his nickname to attack the chief minister. He had then said, “He (Yogi Adityanath) changed the name of everything. Till now, we were calling him ‘Baba Chief Minister’, but today one English newspaper called him ‘Baba Bulldozer’. I have not kept this name, this name was kept by a reputable English newspaper.”

Unfazed by Yadav’s comments, Yogi then used the bulldozer jibe as a campaigning tool, saying it was a sign of how his government had cracked down on the mafia and was a symbol of development in the state.

Also read: How bulldozer becomes the most iconic weapon against land mafia’s illegal encroachments in Uttar Pradesh

At one of his election campaigns, Yogi had said: “We have a special machine which we are using for building expressways and highways. At the same time, we are using it to crush the mafia who exploited people to build their properties.”

Unsurprisingly, when the BJP won the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, workers and party members used bulldozers to celebrate.

Shivraj’s transformation to ‘Bulldozer Mama’

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was quick to realise the popularity of Yogi and took a leaf out of his Uttar Pradesh’s counterpart’s playbook.

He passed a very stringent law to recover damages during acts of rioting. It has a provision of recovering the double value of damaged properties within a fixed time.

On 22 March, when a youth died in Raisen district after a clash between two communities, the chief minister ordered demolition of the accused persons’ houses, News18 reported.

Also read: Nine states, 15 days: India is witnessing a spate of communal violence

The bulldozers came out once again when clashes erupted in Khargone district of the state on the occasion of Ram Navami. The rioting in Khargone saw the destruction of more than 50 houses and properties. The chief minister then used bulldozers to demolish 16 houses and 29 shops of alleged stone-pelters.

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ఫోన్లో మాట్లాడితే ప్రేమిస్తోందని జులాయి ఊహ

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ఇంట్లోకి దూసుకొచ్చి కత్తితో గొంతు కోసి పరార్‌ 

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నిందితుడిని శిక్షించాలి.. గవర్నర్‌ ఆగ్రహం

బాధితురాలికి మెరుగైన వైద్యానికి ఆదేశం

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నయీంనగర్‌(హనుమకొండ), హైదరాబాద్‌, ఏప్రిల్‌ 22: (ఆంధ్రజ్యోతి): అతడో జులాయి. యువతి చనువుగా ఫోన్లో మాట్లాడితే దాన్నే ప్రేమగా ఊహించుకున్నాడు. ఒకానొక రోజు ప్రేమిస్తున్నానంటూ మేసేజ్‌ ద్వారా ప్రపోజ్‌ చేస్తే.. అప్పటి నుంచి అతడిని ఆమె దూరం పెట్టింది. దీంతో అతడు ఉన్మాదంతో రగిలిపోయాడు. పథకం ప్రకారం యువతి ఇంటికి వెళ్లి ఆమె గొంతు కోశాడు. హనుమకొండ జిల్లా కేంద్రంలో ఈ దారుణం జరిగింది. తీవ్ర గాయం కావడంతో ప్రస్తుతం ఆమె పరిస్థితి విషమంగా ఉంది. సుబేదారి సీఐ రాఘవేందర్‌ తెలిపిన వివరాల ప్రకారం.. వరంగల్‌ జిల్లా నర్సంపేట మండలం లక్నేపల్లికి చెందిన కుటుంబం 15 ఏళ్ల క్రితం బతుకుదెరువు కోసం కరీంనగర్‌ వెళ్లింది. ఆయన కుమార్తె(23) ఎంసీఏ చివరి సంవత్సరం చదువుతోంది. ఇటీవలే ఆ కుటుంబం, హనుమకొండకు మకాం మార్చింది. గాంధీనగర్‌లో ఓ అద్దె ఇంట్లో ఉంటోంది. తండ్రి వెల్డింగ్‌ షాపులో పనిచేస్తుండగా, తల్లి కూలీ పనిచేస్తోంది. యువతి ఎంసీఏ చేస్తూనే పోటీపరీక్షల కోసం హైదరాబాద్‌లో ఉంటూ ఓ కేంద్రంలో శిక్షణ తీసుకుంటోంది.

వరంగల్‌ జిల్లా సంగెం మండలం మొండ్రాయి గ్రామానికి చెందిన మహ్మద్‌ అజహర్‌ (24) ఐటీఐ పూర్తి చేసి, రెండేళ్లుగా జులాయిగా తిరుగుతున్నాడు. ఏడాదిక్రితం మొండ్రాయిలో ఓ పెళ్లిలో యువతిని చూసి పరిచయం చేసుకున్నాడు. అతడిది తమ అమ్మమ్మ ఊరే కావడంతో అప్పుడప్పుడు ఫోన్లో మాట్లాడేది. యువతితో ఈ పరిచయాన్ని అజహర్‌ ప్రేమగా ఊహించుకున్నాడు. ఫోన్‌ చేయడంతో పాటు ప్రేమిస్తున్నానంటూ మెసేజ్‌లూ పెట్టేవాడు. దీంతో ఆమె అజహర్‌ను దూరం పెట్టింది. ఇది జీర్ణించుకోలేని అజహర్‌ ఫోన్‌ చేసి ఆమెను వేధించసాగాడు. తాను పోటీ పరీక్షలకు సిద్ధమవుతున్నానని, మెసెజ్‌లు పెట్టి, ఫోన్‌ చేసి తనను ఇబ్బంది పెట్టవద్దని ఆమె ప్రాధేయపడింది. దీంతో అతడు యువతిపై కక్ష పెంచుకొని చంపేయాలని నిర్ణయించుకున్నాడు. గురువారం హైదరాబాద్‌ నుంచి యువతి ఇంటికి తిరిగొచ్చింది. ఇది తెలిసి.. పథకం ప్రకారం జేబులో కత్తి పెట్టుకొని శుక్రవారం ఉదయం 10 గంటలకు  యువతి ఇంట్లోకి ప్రవేశించాడు. ఎందుకొచ్చావంటూ నిలదీసిన ఆమెతో గొడవ పెట్టుకున్నాడు. ఈ క్రమంలో వెంట తెచ్చుకున్న కత్తితో ఆమె గొంతు కోసి పరారయ్యాడు. బాధితురాలు కేకలు వేయడంతో చుట్టుపక్కల వారొచ్చారు. 108లో ఆమెను ఎంజీఎం ఆస్పత్రికి తరలించారు. ప్రస్తుతం ఆమెను ఎమర్జెన్సీ వార్డులో ఉంచి చికిత్స అందిస్తున్నారు.

బాధితురాలిని 48 గంటల అబ్జర్వేషన్‌లో పెట్టామని ఆస్పత్రి సూపరింటెండెంట్‌ డాక్టర్‌ చంద్రశేఖర్‌ తెలిపారు. శ్వాస ఇబ్బందులు తలెత్తడంతో ఆక్సిజన్‌ అమర్చామని వెల్లడించారు. మంత్రులు ఎర్రబెల్లి దయాకర్‌రావు, సత్యవతి రాథోడ్‌తోపాటు పలువురు ప్రజాప్రతినిధులు ఘటనపై ఎంజీఎం సూపరింటెండెంట్‌తో ఫోన్‌లో మాట్లాడారు. మరోవైపు ప్రత్యేక బృందాలతో వేట మొదలు పెట్టిన పోలీసులు శుక్రవారమే నిందితుడిని అరెస్టు చేశారు. 

కఠిన శిక్ష పడేలా చూడాలి: తమిళిసై హనుమకొండలో యువతిపై ప్రేమోన్మాది దాడి ఘటనపై గవర్నర్‌ తమిళిసై సౌందరరాజన్‌ ఆగ్రహంవ్యక్తం చేశారు. ఇలాంటి ఘటనలు పునరావృతం కాకుండా చర్యలు తీసుకోవాలని కోరారు. నిందితుడికి కఠిన శిక్ష పడేలా పోలీసులు కృషి చేయాలన్నారు. వరంగల్‌ ఎంజీఎం ఆస్పత్రి సూపరింటెండెంట్‌కు ఆమె ఫోన్‌ చేసి.. యువతి పరిస్థితి గురించి అడిగి తెలుసుకున్నారు. మెరుగైన వైద్యం అందించాలని ఆదేశించారు.

Dangerous deceptions: On Jahangirpuri demolition drive - The HIndu Editorial

 EDITORIAL

Dangerous deceptions: On Jahangirpuri demolition drive

APRIL 22, 2022 00:10 IST

UPDATED: APRIL 22, 2022 09:31 IST

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Demolition drive betrays use of state machinery to harass Muslims

The bulldozer has now emerged as a dominant symbol of state-backed intimidation of Muslims in the country. After Khargone in Madhya Pradesh, Jahangirpuri in Delhi has seen the use of demolition of shops and houses seemingly as a punitive measure in the wake of a riot that followed a provocative religious procession. The Jahangirpuri demolitions, halted by an order of status quo passed by the Supreme Court, one which had to be reiterated as the drive went on for more than an hour after the order, represent an egregious violation of the rule of law. Even though described as part of a demolition process that had begun a few months ago, and done after prior notice, few would believe that the drive in Jahangirpuri had anything to do with ‘encroachment’, coming as it does in the wake of communal disturbances and in the middle of Ramzan. By intervening in time, the Court may have halted what could have been a series of demolitions of small businesses and households belonging to some of the poorest residents of the capital. CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat, who was present at the site, has highlighted the continuance of the demolition even after the court order was made known to the authorities. The Supreme Court should deal with this contumacious behaviour as part of the ongoing proceedings, in which its main concern, of course, ought to be to push back against the dangerously divisive and partisan manner in which authorities are responding to law and order issues.

There are aspects to the controversy that betray an emerging pattern of the use of state machinery to inflict misery on Muslims. One is the role of the ruling BJP, whose Delhi chief wrote to the North Delhi Municipal Corporation to carry out the demolition targeting ‘rioters’ who had allegedly thrown stones at a Hindu religious procession in the vicinity of a mosque. As the counsel contended in the court, this wish seems to have been treated as a command, and police force mobilised within a day to carry it out. Another aspect is the attempt to conflate the legal consequences of rioting and communal violence with administrative measures to deal with encroachments in public spaces. The official line leans towards the theory of clearing encroachments even as the political message is that ‘rioters’ will be dealt with. It is of concern that the Aam Aadmi Party, which while blaming the BJP on the one hand, has also made an unsubtle insinuation that those fomenting trouble are ‘Bangladeshis’ and ‘Rohingya’, terms that will render the residents of the area vulnerable to denial of their rights. The most dismal aspect is the apparent enjoyment that the BJP’s communal constituency derives from the infliction of suffering on the ‘other’. The challenge before the country’s political opposition is not only to take on the unlawful ways of the state but also to reverse this polarising slide in the wider society.

BJP Leader's "Wish Became Command": Top Delhi Demolition Case Quotes

Jahangirpuri Demolition: The Supreme Court said it would take a "serious view" of demolitions that took place after its order pausing them.

All IndiaNDTV NewsdeskUpdated: April 21, 2022 4:37 pm IST

BJP Leader's 'Wish Became Command': Top Delhi Demolition Case Quotes

Jahangirpuri Demolition: Communal violence had erupted Delhi's Jahangirpuri on Saturday.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today said demolitions will be on hold in Delhi's Jahangirpuri, where bulldozers rolled in four days after communal violence on Saturday. The court said it would take a "serious view" of demolitions that took place after its order.

Here are top quotes from today's hearing:

"We will take a serious view of the demolition which was carried out even after Supreme Court orders, even after NDMC Mayor was informed. We will take that up later."

On Solicitor General Tushar Mehta saying the civic body may remove "stalls, chairs and tables" without notice, the court asked: "Demolition yesterday was of only stalls, chairs, tables etc? To remove these you need a bulldozer?"

"We want affidavits from the petitioner on the notices if served, and counter affidavits, and till then, status quo order will continue."

When lawyer Kapil Sibal, on behalf of the petitioner, urged the court to stay such demolitions, the court said: "We can't put a stay on all kinds of demolitions across the country."

Earlier, senior lawyer Dushyant Dave, representing the Jahangirpuri petitioners, had argued that after a complaint by the Delhi BJP chief to the Mayor of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, a decision was taken to remove encroachments from the violence-hit area. "They took his wish as their command," Mr Dave said

The Kashmir Files: Using art for the cause of hate

 The Kashmir Files: Using art for the cause of hate

The brazen display of animosity is part of a crafty political narrative that would further embolden polarisation 

Sayandeb Chowdhury, 

MAR 19 2022, 22:52 ISTUPDATED: MAR 20 2022, 03:20 IST SDPI) 

It is no news that the government has heavily endorsed The Kashmir Files. Known, by now, is also the purported plot of the film, which chronicles the ‘genocide’ and exodus of Kashmiri Pandits at the peak of political unrest in the insurgent Valley. At the very outset, it must be said that the film’s basic premise is not ahistorical, for there are innumerable testimonials in the media, in the public domain and in memoirs of Pandits, more than one of which have been in circulation for decades.

There should also be no hesitation in recognising the systemic lack of willingness to acknowledge, even in retrospect, the persecution and precarity that the Pandit diaspora was forced to go through. This is especially the case for liberal and left commentariat; for no one expects counterintuitive understanding from right-wing observers anyway.

Ironically, a film that claims to have corrected this forced amnesia omits some elemental facts itself: how the insurgency actually took shape, the nature of local politics, the brutal role of the Indian state (and police), and how Kashmir was made to walk, almost on a razor’s edge, between federal dependence and cultural autonomy.

The most obvious lapse of memory is that in 1990, the year in which the film is set, the government at the helm of the union of India was not that of the Congress — the arch-nemesis of the current regime — but V P Singh’s Janata Dal, which was in power with support from the Left and the BJP. And for all their concerns now, the BJP did zilch for the fleeing Pandits then. 

For a popular (Bollywood) film this incongruity is not uncommon. The industry has barely concealed its exasperation with facts, research and nuance. We have seen laughable alterations of facts in Mohenjo Daro, Jodha Akbar, Manikarnika or even Padmaavat (the rage against whose imaginary historicity was well-engineered).

There are exemptions to such vulgarisation — Sardar Udham being a prominent and recent one. The Kashmir Files takes liberties with facts, lacks political nous and is tone-deaf about the ethnic complications of Kashmir’s history.

It could still have been left alone as another example of a lurid, popular film that tries to excavate an act of ethnic violence from relative obscurity with characteristic romp and hyperbole, being cavalier about things actual and delicate. Gadar had done it long ago.

But we are in an India different from when Gadar was released. The ready relish with which the rightwing has endorsed and encouraged The Kashmir Files makes it difficult to see it just as an entertainer. The devotees of the film are calling it an act of correction of a historic wrong, the more dramatic of them even calling it an act of catharsis.

Tax exemption Several BJP-ruled states have offered tax exemption for the film’s exhibition, an honour once reserved only for films of genuine artistic merit or those validating the values enshrined in the Constitution. Government employees are being offered half-a-day leave to watch the film in the theatres, bolstering its cult. In keeping with the gross misappropriation of the privilege of tax exemption is the endorsement that has come from the Prime Minister.

There is little doubt that the film is deliberately being used as a work of documentation to drum up hysteria of hate. 

It demonises Muslims, who are accused of programmatic Hinduphobia and a murderous jehad against the Pandits. This brazen display of animosity is part of a calibrated and crafty political narrative that would further embolden, if there is still space for it, the entrenched Islamophobia of the country’s rightwing. 

In the more immediate future, such overt state-support and sanctions in the form of tax exemption might create a line of identical films. India’s history has numerous lacerations, which resuscitated with a declared aim of vilification or feasting on unhealed or repressed ethnic injuries augers very poorly for us all.

A time-honoured tactic To that end, the lure of propaganda as a tactic of hate mobilisation will not be immediately lost to those who thrive on it. It is, after all, a time-honoured tactic. The Nazis did it with considerable success in the early years of World War II with films like Suss the Jew, The Rothschilds, The Eternal Jew among several others.

The exercise could be easier in India, because there is a tendency among a very large section of the cinema-going public to consume cinema as a loud lesson, especially in contested spaces of history and politics. However, quiet efforts to make similar inroads into the popular consciousness with caste exploitation, neoliberal slavery or working-class misery usually come with paltry rewards.

In other words, there is something ingrained in historical propaganda that shows all hurt of the past as collective. But contemporary depictions of social exploitation tend to fragment into one of individual suffering. It is here that propaganda gets more complicated than usually understood. And this is precisely why a film like The Kashmir Files or the fact of it masquerading as history, is a case for acute concern.

It is even more obvious when we compare it with a romance like Shikara (2020) — with a similar background and co-written by a Kashmiri Pandit — which sunk into oblivion no sooner than it was released. And this government, which has come out with  all guns blazing in support of this film as a historical corrective will likely do everything to stonewall a film made on the Godhra Riots, the Nellie massacre or Babri Masjid demolition which rendered the country’s minorities weaker and poorer. We have seen the chequered public life of Patwardhan’s Ram ke Naam.

To that end, historical correctness is only a matter of perspective from the vantage of whoever is in power. 

(Sayandeb Chowdhury teaches at Ambedkar University Delhi)

https://www.deccanherald.com/specials/the-kashmir-files-using-art-for-the-cause-of-hate-1092856.html