M.J. Akbar to Kathua: Decoding the silence of Teflon-coated Narendra Modi
D.K. SINGH 15 October, 2018
File image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi | Atul Yadav/PTI
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The irony is Narendra Modi used to mock his predecessor, Manmohan Singh, for his silence, calling him ‘Maunmohan’.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in May 2014, he kept thinking that he was new to Delhi and people believed he would take a year or two to understand the intricacies of the government’s functioning. After a month in office, he revealed that the thought did not exist in his mind any longer. He took no time to figure out the snakes-and-ladder games played in Lutyens’ Delhi.
Over four years since then, trust Modi to predict the next moves of the veteran players of this game, but the latter still seem clueless about his game. What else could explain the haste to declare the political epitaph of union minister M.J. Akbar in TV studios and newspapers!
He was widely anticipated to be the biggest catch of the #MeToo movement, but he just dismissed all the allegations of sexual harassment against him, giving it a political colour by linking them with the general elections a few months away. Akbar’s (read Modi’s and Amit Shah’s) decision to brazen it out should come as no surprise. When was the last time Modi or Shah sacrificed a trusted lieutenant under pressure from opposition parties?
Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh had exposed their vulnerability by sacrificing then-external affairs minister Natwar Singh in the alleged oil-for-food scam early in the UPA’s first term (in December 2005). Having tasted blood, the BJP, the principal opposition party at that time, went on to force the Congress leadership to drop union ministers and chief ministers – Shivraj Patil, A.R. Antulay, Ashok Chavan and A. Raja – among others. Sonia Gandhi is said to rue those decisions now. Modi and Shah learnt their lessons from her ‘mistake’. Nobody in the NDA government or the BJP can do any wrong now.
And that explains Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence, yet again. He hasn’t said a word on the #MeToo movement, not even to defend Akbar.
Also read: By removing M.J. Akbar from his government, Narendra Modi must do our dirty job
He was silent when BJP leaders and sympathisers in Jammu were holding marches in support of the accused in the rape and murder of an eight-year-old child in Kathua. He was silent when there was a nationwide outrage over Yogi Adityanath government’s inaction against rape accused and BJP MLA from Unnao, Kuldeep Singh Sengar, despite the rape survivor’s attempted suicide outside his residence and the alleged murder of her father.
Modi spoke on these incidents after weeks. That’s the norm, not an aberration. His responses to controversial incidents, especially the ones involving those associated with the BJP or the Sangh affiliates, have been usually belated, often indirect and vague, and at times evasive.
Modi as well as the ruling BJP’s entire central leadership have chosen to look the other way as BJP leader and actor Kollam Thulasi declares that women who dare enter Sabarimala temple should be “torn into two pieces”. They did the same when external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj was at the receiving end of trolls, many of whom are said to be followed by the Prime Minister.
The irony is Modi, when he was aspiring for the top job in Delhi, used to mock his predecessor, Manmohan Singh, for his silence, calling him ‘Maunmohan’. Singh’s political mentor, former Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, was known to speak through his silence. Interactions with Modi’s ministerial and party colleagues familiar with his thoughts and views on different issues suggest that his silence is not strategic as Rao’s was. It’s not blithe indifference either. The reason is a mélange of factors –past experience, strong self-preservation instincts, combativeness, and confidence or self-belief bordering on conceit.
Also read: The curious silences of Modi: Kathua rape not the only case where PM chose not to speak
Under persistent attack from the media, the intelligentsia, civil rights activists and political adversaries since 2002 post-Godhra riots – which started when he was barely 20 weeks in office as the Gujarat chief minister – Modi has developed deep apprehension about them.
When violence broke out at Bhima-Koregaon in Maharashtra early this year, he didn’t react although it involved Scheduled Castes whom the saffron party has been aggressively wooing. That was because of the belief at the top echelons of the government that it was a “bunch of JNU people”, and not commoners, who were trying to instigate them, an insider shared with this writer.
Similarly, the Prime Minister maintained a prolonged silence when four senior judges of the Supreme Court in January virtually rose in rebellion against the Chief Justice of India at that time. “Some media people then asked why he was not intervening. But if he said or did something, the same media would say ‘look, Modi is interfering in judiciary’. He knows the Delhi media,” said the insider.
The media, the ‘JNU people’ (broadly, the section of the intelligentsia who are perceived to be Left-leaning), the NGOs, and the opposition parties have all come to be seen – and projected – as purveyors of half-truths, if not outright falsehood. If the Prime Minister starts responding to every issue raised by them, he would be “playing into their hands”, say his lieutenants.
There is a pattern to Modi’s silence. When he himself is under attack from the opposition – say, on Rafale deal or Sahara diaries – he lets his ministers do the talking. He maintains prolonged silence when the BJP’s political interests are at stake, for instance the Kathua incident, which local BJP leaders sought to use to mobilise the majority community in Jammu, or the Unnao incident involving a BJP MLA. And when he does break his silence, it’s confined to generalities – “our daughters will definitely get justice”. The BJP hasn’t expelled Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the Unnao rape accused, from the party yet.
Also read: Is mandatory clause a smoking gun to make Rafale BJP’s Bofors or an opposition stretch?
Despite all the controversies and public outrage over a host of incidents, Modi has remained Teflon-coated. Veteran politician Sharad Pawar may be right that people have no doubts about his intentions in the Rafale deal. In fact, none of the allegations levelled against Modi by the opposition seem to have stuck. Surveys still find him the most popular leader in the country.
But the Prime Minister better start breaking his silence on issues agitating the minds of the people. A common refrain during conversations at tea stalls, restaurants and in metros nowadays (not in air-conditioned drawing rooms, mind you) is: “Modi is good, but he is surrounded by the wrong people”. And, that’s not a flattering assessment of a government six months before the next general elections.
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Rediff.com » News » BJP has decided to use Assam as its key to 2019
BJP has decided to use Assam as its key to 2019
September 07, 2018 11:32 IST
'As demonetisation showed us, the Shah-Modi duo can take big risks.'
'Risking economic damage for political benefit, however, is one thing, stoking old fires in complicated Assam is another', warns Shekhar Gupta.
IMAGE: Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Anilchandra Shah at a rally in Kolkata where he attacked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Congress President Rahul Gandhi for opposing the National Register of Citizens in Assam, asking them to 'clarify whether the country comes first or the vote bank'. Photograph: Swapan Mahapatra/PTI Photo
Don't ask me to tell you a story about Rwanda. Wikipedia would tell you more than me.
You might not even need me to tell you stories about the great massacre of Nellie 35 years ago. It's part of our political folklore now.
Let me tell you, instead, about less familiar places: Khoirabari, Gohpur, and Sipajhar. These places on the north bank of the Brahmaputra must be remembered when a deeply polarising debate over the National Register of Citizens in Assam is raging.
In the killings of 1983 in the Brahmaputra Valley, about 7,000 people died.
A little over 3,000 of these were Muslims, slaughtered in Nellie in a few hours on February 18 morning. The rest were scattered all over, and mostly Muslim.
In the three places we mentioned, those killed were almost all Hindu. And by fellow Hindus.
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So why were Hindus massacring Hindus if the anger was against 'foreign nationals' (read Muslims)?
Like most things in the north east, it's a complex story.
Let's lift the layers. The attacking Hindus were Assamese-speaking, those massacred were Bengalis.
The linguistic and ethnic hatred was as vicious as the communal bloodlust.
Where the two impulses got rolled into one, as in Bengali Muslim enclaves like Nellie, the story was simpler as Assamese Hindus killed Bengali Muslims.
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Everybody was at each other's throat.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, and a well-meaning Supreme Court have stirred the same deadly cocktail.
Four million people have failed to make the cut in the final NRC draft. They have been described differently, depending on whether the BJP is speaking as the government or a party.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh says it's only an interim first draft.
Amit Shah in Parliament calls them 'ghuspethiyas' (infiltrators). How will you read this if you were on this list? You will feel targeted.
Next, the finance minister (and the real chief minister, never mind the title) of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, told us that about a third of these 4 million are Hindus.
The BJP's solution: The new citizenship Bill, whereby Hindus and Sikhs from neighbouring countries would be given Indian citizenship as a norm.
Even if this law passes, let's see how the 'indigenous' Assamese react to this. This -- sharing space with Bengalis, Muslim or Hindu -- isn't what they wanted.
Remember, they were killing them both in 1983.
Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, a former chief minister, Asom Gana Parishad chief and a junior BJP ally now, has already expressed disagreement with this.
From all estimates, chances are that no more than half a million of these 4 million will ultimately be left out in the final tally. There's an anomaly in the process that can't sustain.
The Gauhati high court, in its wisdom, sanctified the 'indigenous' demand that certificates granted by village panchayats be not treated as proof of citizenship.
Now, what other evidence would these poorest of people bring from a pre-Aadhaar past? The state government didn't appeal against this. It would have ended all the fun, you see.
Someone else knocked at the Supreme Court's door. It didn't approve the high court order, but passed the buck back, asking the high court to draw up the norms for which panchayat certificates will be legitimate.
It was in this confusion that the Supreme Court rail-roaded the preparation of the NRC.
If any reasonable view is taken of these certificates, hardly any proven 'aliens' will remain. This isn't what the BJP would want.
The court had gone by the spirit of the 1985 Rajiv-All Assam Students Union/All Assam Gana Sangram Parishad peace accord.
It promised an NRC with March 25, 1971, as the cut-off year for determining citizenship. What this meant was anybody who had come to India before that date would be a legitimate citizen.
This was based on the Indira-Mujib Agreement, whereby Bangladesh had agreed to take back all its 10 million or so refugees from India. Almost 80 per cent of these were Hindu.
Indira Gandhi wanted them all, Muslim and Hindu, to return.
It was in 1985, 33 years ago, when Rajiv Gandhi signed the accord with Assam agitators, promising the NRC on this basis. For all the various reasons, the NRC wasn't made until now.
Two more generations have grown since. Can you deport or disenfranchise them now? Even the BJP knows it won't happen.
If anybody from the BJP says there is no politics to it, ask them if they didn't hear Amit Shah's speech.
He is to be given full marks for transparency as he laid out his pitch for the 2019 campaign. Since claims of 'vikas' are always less tempting than its promise, 'nationalist'; polarisation will be the BJP's vehicle for a second term.
The issue in Assam will keep festering until then. The BJP will keep calling millions ghuspethiyas and, by implication, extend the insinuation to all Bengali-speaking Muslims in the country.
The expectation is that the 'secular' Opposition, pushed along by its Left-intellectual support base, would ultimately be baited into defending these and, by implication, the infiltrators.
The subtext will be: They are pro-Muslim and anti-national.
The Congress sees the trap, but doesn't have an answer.
If 2019 is set up as a vote for or against Muslims, the BJP has it in the bag.
Assam for Amit Shah, therefore, is just a giant dog whistle to rouse the 'nationalist' faithful all over the country.
Amit Shah and the BJP know their electoral politics better than anybody else. But do they know Assam?
I will take you back 35 years, to my little room in Guwahati's Nandan Hotel. My four visitors had an aura of power with humility. They were also bewildered.
The leader was K S Sudarshan, then bouddhik pramukh (intellectual chief) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He rose to sarsanghachalak later.
A couple of the rest, north east 'specialists' in the RSS, now occupy key positions between the Sangh and the BJP government.
The reason they had sought me out was to figure out how come so many Bengali Hindus had been killed in the Assam riots early that month.
How can these Assamese not make the simple distinction between 'Muslim infiltrators and Hindu refugees'?
How could they kill so many Hindus in Khoirabari, Sudarshan asked.
I explained the ethnic and linguistic complexities in Assam which made the massacres, in a brutal way, secular. 'Kintu, Hindu toh arakshit hai (but the Hindu is unprotected),' Sudarshan said.
That conversation is recorded in my 1984 Assam: A Valley Divided (pages 121-22).
The RSS then launched a patient campaign to re-educate Assamese agitators. The last assembly election was the trophy of their success.
The BJP in Assam now consists almost entirely of former AASU and later AGP converts, including the chief minister and his more powerful colleague.
But like they did in their youth in 1983, they will again struggle to deliver on the NRC on RSS/BJP terms: Target Bengali Muslims, embrace the Hindus.
The BJP has decided to use Assam as its key to 2019. As demonetisation showed us, the Shah-Modi duo can take big risks.
Risking economic damage for political benefit, however, is one thing, stoking old fires in complicated Assam is another.
It's possible that things will remain calm, but if they don't, it will again be Hindu against Muslim; Assamese against Bengali, Hindu or Muslim; Hindu against Hindu; and Muslim against Muslim.
By Special Arrangement with The Print
'In 2019, RSS will declare India a Hindu Rashtra'
April 17, 2017 08:57 IST
'Putting Yogi Adityanath in the CM's seat two years before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls is something to be read carefully.'
'Opposition parties would be dishonest themselves and unfair to secular people if they failed to unite and work as a single force to defeat the BJP.'
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Justice (retd) Rajinder Sachar headed the Sachar Committee which studied the socio-economic and educational status of Muslims in India.
A champion of civil liberties for decades, the 93-year-old former chief justice of the Delhi high court spoke to M I Khan in Patna about India today.
In recent months, hate crimes against Muslims seem to have increased. Is it a reflection of rising intolerance or something else?
Oh yes, hate crimes against Muslims are rising, but it is not mere intolerance. It is far worse than intolerance.
As a matter of fact, this danger has become further catastrophic after the BJP's (Bharatiya Janata Party) victory in Uttar Pradesh.
The most dangerous signal came after Yogi Adityanath was made UP chief minister. It is part of a deliberate plan by the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh).
Let us not forget that (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi is only the face.
Earlier, he was chief minister in Gujarat. Thanks to corporate backing, he was propagated as a development man.
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Modi as PM hardly bothers to say a few words to check and control hate crimes against Muslims.
'Hindu middle class doesn't like anti-Muslim rhetoric'
The RSS has now made up its mind that 2019 is its target to declare India a Hindu Rashtra after the BJP returns to power, I think the danger of which is not being realised by the Opposition parties.
Putting Yogi Adityanath in the CM's seat two years before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls is something to be read carefully.
All Hindus have nothing to do with the RSS and are not its supporters or sympathisers. They belong to different cultures, different traditions, have different food habits.
Why is the RSS so upbeat in your view?
Look, the BJP victory in UP has given more strength to the RSS. Now it controls a state with the largest number of seats in Parliament (the Lok Sabha).
Opposition parties would be dishonest themselves and unfair to secular people if they failed to unite and work as a single force to defeat the BJP.
What happens if the RSS pushes its agenda of a Hindu Rashtra?
It is not possible and when I say not possible, I mean there will be lots of resistance.
If India declared itself a Hindu Rashtra, it will not progress. There will certainly be resistance by Hindus themselves in different parts of the country. They will be the biggest hurdle.
A large number of people do not want a Hindu Rashtra at all. Today, there may only be a few people who are vocal against it.
(The Shiromani) Akali Dal in Punjab will never want a Hindu Rashtra. It will not support it.
Minorities, not only Muslims, but Christians and Sikhs are also against it.
Who wanted the British empire? Nobody wanted British rule. Ultimately, people fought against it and won.
'Not my Hinduism' should be our slogan
To avoid the danger of 2019, I would suggest that Opposition parties come together.
Take the case of Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. The CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) and Congress should realise that Mamata is more powerful than them like the BJD (Biju Janata Dal) is in Odisha, the RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal) and the JD-U (Janata Dal-United) is in Bihar.
The Opposition only talks about stopping the BJP, but what practical measures are they taking to take it on?
BJP leaders including Union ministers have said Muslims should no longer be treated as a minority as their population has grown.
Not only Muslims, Christians, Jains, Sikhs are religious minorities. They are minorities because they belong to different religions with a population less than the majority community.
There is no question that Muslims will not be minorities in India.
If we remove the minority tag from Muslims, then we cannot be a member of the United Nations. The international community will boycott us.
It has been clearly mentioned in the UN's minority council that a special commission should be set up for minorities in each country. The council also recommended a targeted approach for the upliftment of the minority communities.
Union Minister of State Giriraj Singh has stated that the Muslim population in India has reached such a level that the minority tag should be removed from it.
According to the Sachar Committee report, at the end of the (this) century, the population of Muslims will consolidate at 18 to 19 per cent approximately. Even in this scenario, the population of Hindus will remain at about 80 per cent.
The latest figures have revealed that Muslims have a lower birth rate than others including Hindus in the last decade.
Modi and Muslims need a political outreach
A decade after the Sachar Committee submitted its recommendations, the RSS and BJP say the move to constitute such a committee to study the socio-economic status of Muslims was a wrong approach in a secular country.
But the reference to the Sachar Committee categorically specified that it was tasked to collect the comparative figures of poverty, education, service of Muslims vis-a-vis upper caste Hindus, Other Backward Classes and Dalits. So, it was a comprehensive report. It was clearly not a communal approach.
The report was not only for the Muslims. The report mainly highlighted Muslims because if you look at the parameters -- education, poverty, health and others -- they were at the bottom of the table.
One of the most important recommendations of the Sachar Committee report was the setting up of an equal opportunities commission. This exists in the United Kingdom and the United States.
There is also talk about Muslim appeasement.
The socio-economic status of Muslims is very low and poor. Muslims are still deprived and marginalised. You can see it for yourself if you visit any town across the country.
If you are improving the lives of Dalits, who are Hindus, then can you call it appeasement?
Like any other community, Muslims are citizens of this country. Their condition is improving, but there is urgent need for an equality commission.
Muslims have been part of this country for centuries, large numbers of Muslims have converted (in the past) for different reasons.
Swami Vivekananda said they (the Muslims) converted because they were in the worst conditions.
Hindus and Muslims coming together, Vivekananda said, is the only remedy for India.
RSS is a lot more diverse than it used to be: Author Walter Andersen
By Charmy Harikrishnan, ET Bureau|Aug 04, 2018, 11.00 PM IST
Constructing Muslim Enemy : RSS/BJP game plan for 2019 parliamentary elections
New Delhi: The next Indian parliamentary elections slated for the first half of 2019 (though some political commentators believe that this election may not take place if Modi finds that he would not win) are going to be held on the issue of the persecuted 'Hindus' versus appeasement of minorities, specially, 'Muslims', if the Hindutva juggernaut continues its bloody run as per the plan of the RSS/BJP rulers of India. The RSS which immediately after Narendra Modi's ascendency to power in 2014 had declared that latter's rule was return of the Hindu rule after one thousand years, and with this 'Hindu rule', Hindu nation would be cleansed of Muslims by 2021.
The Hindutva zealots though had declared 2021 as the deadline for converting the Indian democratic-secular Republic into a Hindu state/nation seemed to be in an extra-ordinary hurry. With Modi's coming to power, violence against Muslims and Christians and their religious institutions instantly increased many-fold. These were not physical attacks only but also a brazen nation-wide campaign of converting Muslims and Christians to Hinduism named as 'ghar wapasi' was unleashed patronized by the State and glorified by the media in general. In less than a year of Modi rule, Julio Ribeiro (renowned retired IPS officer who served as Mumbai police commissioner, DGP Gujarat and DGP Punjab and as former Indian ambassador to Romania) expressed anguish [The Indian Express, March 17, 2015] against the Hindutva zealots in the following words:
'Today, in my 86th year, I feel threatened, not wanted, reduced to a stranger in my own country. The same category of citizens who had put their trust in me to rescue them from a force they could not comprehend have now come out of the woodwork to condemn me for practicing a religion that is different from theirs. I am not an Indian anymore, at least in the eyes of the proponents of the Hindu Rashtra.'
He was clear about those who were patronizing such criminal elements against the Christian population, a mere 2 percent of the total populace, 'Is it coincidence or a well-thought-out plan that the systematic targeting of a small and peaceful community should begin only after the BJP government of Narendra Modi came to power last May? 'Ghar wapsi', the declaration of Christmas as 'Good Governance Day', the attack on Christian churches and schools in Delhi, all added to a sense of siege that now afflicts these peaceful people.'
Julio Ribeiro feared in the same write-up that 'if these extremists later turn their attention to Muslims, which seems to be their goal, they will invite consequences that this writer dreads to imagine'. In fact, the recent utterances and actions of the RSS/BJP rulers demonizing Indian Muslims despite the fact that the former took oath to protect democratic-secular polity make it clear that the fear of Ribeiro has proved to be absolutely true. The main opposition party Congress is being described a 'party of Muslims' as if Muslims were some kind of Untouchables to be hated and abandoned. How much disdain RSS/BJP has for Muslims was made clear during last UP assembly election when no Muslim (who constitute about 20% of the total electorate) was fielded by the BJP.
The hatred for Muslims is ingrained in the RSS/BJP rulers as this is what they have imbibed in the boudhik shivirs (ideological camps) conducted by RSS ideologues. The most prominent ideologue of RSS, Guru Golwalkar in his book, Bunch of Thoughts (holy book for RSS cadres) devoted a chapter (xiv) discussing 'Internal Threats' in which all Indian Muslims were declared as Internal Threat number ONE and all Indian Christians as Internal Threat number TWO. The other important ideologue of the RSS, Deendayal Upadhyaya described Indian Muslims not as equal citizens but as the 'complex problem' which 'is the oldest, the most complicated' problem being faced by the Hindus 'for the last twelve hundred years'. Even the liberal face in the RSS fraternity, former PM, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, demanded that Muslims of India should be 'purified' by giving Hindu samskaras. The present PM keeps harping on it and misses no opportunity to demand the same purification of Indian Muslims.
This characterization of followers of Islam in India needs to be compared with what Swami Vivekananda, who is described as a philosopher of Hindutva, said about Islam. According to him 'if ever any religion approached to this equality in an appreciable manner, it is Islam and Islam alone'. He concluded that 'for our own motherland a junction of the two great systems, Hinduism and Islam 'Vedanta brain and Islam body' is the only hope.I see in my mind's eye the future perfect India arising out of this chaos and strife, glorious and invincible, with Vedanta brain and Islam body'. Swami innumerable times praised Christianity for its love of poor and spirit of sacrifice which is decreed as Internal Threat number TWO by the RSS.
How fictitious the bogey of Muslim appeasement in India spread by RSS fraternity is, can be known by the official data and surveys. The Sachar Committee report (2006) which was the most authentic study (based on the official records) clearly showed that Indian Muslims were placed below Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in backwardness. Muslims had the lowest average monthly per capita expenditure among all communities. There was a huge mismatch between the percentage of Muslims in the population and in decision making positions such as the IAS and IPS, and the general poor representation of the community in the police. As per the Census of 2001, Muslims were 13.43% of India's population but according to the Sachar Committee report percentage of Muslims in the IAS and IPS was 3% and 4% respectively.
The Muslims of India pose no challenge to political, social, educational and economic hegemony of the majority community which is presented as victim by the RSS/BJP rulers. Evaluating the allegation of Muslim appeasement, Julio Ribeiro in an amazing piece (THE MAJORITY COMPLEX, The Indian Express, May 17, 2017) wrote that the claim that Muslims were pampered for vote-bank politics is not true: ' In actual fact, all concessions made to Muslims were made to their religious leaders on matters that the latter arbitrarily interpreted as affronts to their personal laws. The community, as such, continued to live in poverty, no attention being paid to the education or health of its members, particularly women, because of which the community continued to remain backward.' Another reality should not be missed that Hindu holymen/women have been accorded status of cabinet ministers under the present regime.
The reality is that construct of the Muslim enemy is a ploy to hide the nefarious agenda of the RSS about Indian Hindus, democratic-secular polity and love for money bags. It declares without any remorse that Hindu nation/state under them would be ruled by a dehumanized text known as Manusmriti. For Savarkar and RSS this Code of Manu is the most worship able scripture after four Veds. It is to be noted that Manusmriti decrees a sub-human status to Hindu women and Sudras. The Dalits are not Muslims but facing the brunt of the Hindutva aggression for riding a horse, motor-bike or a bridegroom riding a buggy, for passing through a high caste locality with chappal on, for listening a song praising Baba Saheb Ambedkar, for falling in love with a high Caste girl and for skinning a dead cow with valid licence.
The renowned social activists and intellectuals like Narender Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, MM Kalburgi and Gauri Lankesh were not Muslims but assassinated as they were challenging the Brahmanical, in fact, Peshwa rulers' vision of India. Broadcaster, Udayan Mukherjee recently made an amazing point that the Muslim enemy factor will be more stridently in vogue with mounting pauperization of Indian masses who constitute 80% of the population.
Under Modi rule India has 101 billionaires, and the wealth of the richest 1 per cent of Indians grew by Rs 21 lakh crore in 2017 only which roughly amounts to the size of India's annual budget. Simultaneously, India has emerged as the world capital of unemployed youth, hungry masses devoid of healthcare, TB patients, maternity deaths, human trafficking and under-nourished children. The Indian farmers are facing a crisis where suicides are not exceptions but rule.
According to Udayan, 'Our farmers, small businessmen, wage labourers, the jobless? For them, there is the opium of the masses—religion. After four years of falling short, the BJP knows that it cannot go back to the larger, non-urban electorate with economic delivery as its election plank. For this section, achhe din still remains a mirage and any mention of it may actually rile sentiments'. Since Hindutva rulers have forsaken farmers and latter should not expect any great turnaround in their fortunes, how would Modi win India in 2019. The Hindutva patent medicine seems to be to instigate against Muslims and motivate them 'to emerge more patriotic and more Hindu, and cement their 'rightful' domination of this great nation. What is money, after all, compared to these far loftier ideals?. our prime minister has cracked the winning formula. Horses for courses: More wealth for the rich, Hindutva for the poor'.
In fact, even if there were no Muslims and Christians in India Hindutva rulers would have invented them. But the million dollar question is whether a sectarian and fascist world outlook will be able to overthrow a polity which took birth after a very long joint struggle of people of all religions.
By Mr. Shamsul Islam
Courtesy 'Muslim Mirror'
Dailyhunt
2019 Lok Sabha election: How Mohan Bhagwat complements Modi
On several occasions, the RSS has taken stands which were in variance to that of the BJP governments. However, in the new avatar it may be complementing the Narendra Modi government's efforts for the 2019 Lok Sabha election and also the BJP in the forthcoming Assembly election in five states.
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Kumar Shakti Shekhar
New Delhi
September 21, 2018UPDATED: September 21, 2018 08:47 IST
Mohan Bhagwat with Narendra Modi. File photo
HIGHLIGHTS
Bhagwat's outreach to Muslims gelled with Modi government's efforts
On lynching by cow vigilantes also, Bhagwat aired same view as Modi
On reservation, Bhagwat echoed Modi's views
RSS has usually been seen charting its own course, unmindful of what the BJP governments at the centre have been doing. On several occasions, the RSS has taken stands which were in variance to that of the BJP governments. However, in the new avatar it may be complementing the Narendra Modi government's efforts for the 2019 Lok Sabha election and also the BJP in the forthcoming Assembly election in five states.
Yes, RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat did make a couple of remarks that were in variance with the views expressed by Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah in the past. For instance, Modi-Shah duo has often talked about a "Congress-mukt Bharat".
However, Mohan Bhagwat lauded the role played by the Congress in India's independence. "In the form of Congress, a big freedom movement had started in the country which gave many great personalities," he said during his three-day lecture series on 'Bharat of future: An RSS perspective' in New Delhi.
While doing so, Bhagwat also departed from the established stand of the RSS being against the Congress and its leaders who were in the forefront of the freedom struggle, including first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
But on several other issues, RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat was seen complementing Narendra Modi and Amit Shah - for instance, on Muslims.
Mohan Bhagwat said Mohan Bhagwat said RSS believed in Hindu rashtra, but it did not mean that they were against Muslims. "We believe in vasudhaiva kutumbakam and every panth (sect) has its space in it."
He went on to say that a Hindu rashtra does not mean that it has no space for Muslims. "The day it happens, we would not be a Hindu rashtra," he said.
This also is a departure from the RSS's stated position so far. RSS called Muslims as "unwanted" and "enemies".
He said the RSS had discarded a chink of "Bunch of Thoughts" - a compilation of speeches of its former chief MS Golwalkar.
"Bunch of Thoughts is a collection of speeches made in a particular context and cannot be eternally valid. Sangh is not dogmatic. Times change and accordingly, our thoughts transform. Dr Hedgewar, RSS founder, said we were free to adapt to times as they change," said Bhagwat.
What Bhagwat said gelled with the Muslim outreach of the Modi government.
The Modi government promulgated Ordinance of triple talaq on September 19. Last week, the prime minister participated in Ashara Mubaraka, the commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Husain, organised by the Dawoodi Bohra community, at Indore's Saifee mosque.
It was an attempt to woo the Shia Muslims as Dawoodi Bohras are a part of this sect.
Mohan Bhagwat asserted during his lecture that the organisation fully supports reservation and also came out in support of a contentious law on atrocities against the Scheduled Caste community, but said it should not be misused.
"Reservation is not a problem but the politics over it is a problem," he said in reply to questions on the last day of the RSS's three-day conclave.
He further said there is a need for bringing the backward sections of the society on par.
"RSS completely supports the reservation given by the Constitution to remove social stigmas. The decision regarding reservation continuity has to be taken by those to whom reservation has been granted. Whenever they feel it is not necessary, they will decide," Bhagwat said.
However, in contrast to his position on reservation now, Bhagwat had kicked up a controversy before the 2015 Bihar Assembly election by reportedly stating that there was a need to review quota policy. The Mahagathbandhan comprising RJD, JDU and the Congress highlighted his statement to score a point over the BJP.
Bhagwat's remark was considered as one of the main reasons behind the BJP's defeat in Bihar.
Modi and Amit Shah have time and again reiterated that reservation would not be ended come what may. Bhagwat is now on the same page as the prime minister and the BJP chief.
On the issue of lynching by cow vigilantes also, Mohan Bhagwat aired the same view as Modi. Just as the prime minister, the RSS sarsanghchalak also disapproved of lynching and said it is not gauraksha.
While departing from past on several issues, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was seen complementing PM Modi and Amit Shah's efforts to win the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
Rashtriya Shia Samaj supports Narendra Modi for PM in 2019
Shia community, under the banner of RSS (Rashtriya Shia Samaj)has decided to support Narendra Modi as BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
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Press Trust of India
PTI
New Delhi
June 25, 2018UPDATED: June 25, 2018 15:20 IST
Rashtriya Shia Samaj backs Narendra Modi for PM in 2019
Bukkal Nawab, head of Shia Rashtriya Samaj (Photo- @ANI)
HIGHLIGHTS
Rashtriya Shia Samaj (RSS) has backed Narendra Modi for PM in 2019
It has also supported construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya
Samaj's head Bukkal Nawab alleged SP's Azam Khan repressed Shias in UP
Shia community, under the banner of RSS (Rashtriya Shia Samaj)has decided to support Narendra Modi as BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
"Shia Muslims will be supporting Narendra Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. We are also in favour of the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya," Shias' RSS head Bukkal Nawab, who is also a BJP MLC told PTI.
"Shia community will unitedly support the BJP to ensure Modiji becomes PM once again after 2019 elections," he said, adding no other political party except the BJP cared for Shia Muslims, who form about 18 per cent of the Muslim population.
Dwelling upon the Shias' reasons for supporting the BJP, Nawab said, "It was former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who helped lifting a 20-year-old ban on Shia processions in the state capital".
He added that various Shia leaders like Union minister Muktar Abbas Naqvi, state minister Mohsin Raza, National Commission of Minorities Chairman Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi, UP Minority Commission Chairman Haider Abbas have been given respectable positions by the BJP government.
He alleged that in previous regimes of the BSP and the SP in the state, Shia Muslims were subjected to "harassment" and he himself was put in jail by the Mayawati government.
"In SP regime, its leader Mohammad Azam Khan did all possible things to repress the Shia community. Going by the treatment meted out to the community in the past by various political parties, the Shia community has decided to support Modi this time and ensure the BJP's victory," he said.
Rashtriya Shia Samaj or RSS was conceptualised in 2016 and several public programmes were started under its banner last year.
On one of the 'Bada Mangal' day (a Tuesday observed as the day of worship to Lord Hanuman), RSS organises a large-scale bhandara (community feast) besides engaging in activities, which it claims, was for betterment and welfare of the people.
About the abbreviation RSS, which is generally associated with the Hindu nationalist group, Nawab said it is in a different 'avtar' here.
After formation of the BJP government in the state in 2017, Nawab, who was a Samajwadi Party MLC resigned to pave way for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma to enter the state Legislative Council.
He later joined BJP and was given a legislative council ticket by the party in April and is now a BJP MLC.
All India Shia Personal Law Board spokesman Maulana Yasoob Abbas when asked about the Shias' RSS support to the BJP, told PTI, "I am not aware of the development as I am out of station. We will sit and discuss it before reaching any decision as it is a very sensitive issue."
Rashtriya Shia Samaj supports Narendra Modi for PM in 2019
Shia community, under the banner of RSS (Rashtriya Shia Samaj)has decided to support Narendra Modi as BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
ADVERTISEMENT
Press Trust of India
PTI
New Delhi
June 25, 2018UPDATED: June 25, 2018 15:20 IST
Rashtriya Shia Samaj backs Narendra Modi for PM in 2019
Bukkal Nawab, head of Shia Rashtriya Samaj (Photo- @ANI)
HIGHLIGHTS
Rashtriya Shia Samaj (RSS) has backed Narendra Modi for PM in 2019
It has also supported construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya
Samaj's head Bukkal Nawab alleged SP's Azam Khan repressed Shias in UP
Shia community, under the banner of RSS (Rashtriya Shia Samaj)has decided to support Narendra Modi as BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
"Shia Muslims will be supporting Narendra Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. We are also in favour of the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya," Shias' RSS head Bukkal Nawab, who is also a BJP MLC told PTI.
"Shia community will unitedly support the BJP to ensure Modiji becomes PM once again after 2019 elections," he said, adding no other political party except the BJP cared for Shia Muslims, who form about 18 per cent of the Muslim population.
Dwelling upon the Shias' reasons for supporting the BJP, Nawab said, "It was former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who helped lifting a 20-year-old ban on Shia processions in the state capital".
He added that various Shia leaders like Union minister Muktar Abbas Naqvi, state minister Mohsin Raza, National Commission of Minorities Chairman Syed Ghayorul Hasan Rizvi, UP Minority Commission Chairman Haider Abbas have been given respectable positions by the BJP government.
He alleged that in previous regimes of the BSP and the SP in the state, Shia Muslims were subjected to "harassment" and he himself was put in jail by the Mayawati government.
"In SP regime, its leader Mohammad Azam Khan did all possible things to repress the Shia community. Going by the treatment meted out to the community in the past by various political parties, the Shia community has decided to support Modi this time and ensure the BJP's victory," he said.
Rashtriya Shia Samaj or RSS was conceptualised in 2016 and several public programmes were started under its banner last year.
On one of the 'Bada Mangal' day (a Tuesday observed as the day of worship to Lord Hanuman), RSS organises a large-scale bhandara (community feast) besides engaging in activities, which it claims, was for betterment and welfare of the people.
About the abbreviation RSS, which is generally associated with the Hindu nationalist group, Nawab said it is in a different 'avtar' here.
After formation of the BJP government in the state in 2017, Nawab, who was a Samajwadi Party MLC resigned to pave way for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma to enter the state Legislative Council.
He later joined BJP and was given a legislative council ticket by the party in April and is now a BJP MLC.
All India Shia Personal Law Board spokesman Maulana Yasoob Abbas when asked about the Shias' RSS support to the BJP, told PTI, "I am not aware of the development as I am out of station. We will sit and discuss it before reaching any decision as it is a very sensitive issue."
Also Read: Muslim politician donates bell at Hanuman temple in Lucknow
Mohan Bhagwat says no Hindu Rashtra without Muslims: Is RSS changing before 2019 polls?
THEPRINT TEAM 19 September, 2018
Illustration by Neera Majumdar | ThePrint
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Mohan Bhagwat, during the three-day RSS lecture series called ‘Bhavishya Ka Bharat’, said that the Sangh’s interpretation of Hindutva does not exclude Muslims and that they are a part of the Hindu rashtra.
ThePrint asks– Mohan Bhagwat says no Hindu Rashtra without Muslims: Is RSS changing before 2019 polls?
Saying Hindutva includes Muslims furthers good Muslim vs bad Muslim distinction
Nazia Erum
Author, Mothering A Muslim
It is important here to understand who his audience was, and if he takes the same message across to everyone.
Was this an illusionary inclusive statement made to ‘appease’ a certain block, which is unsure of its political alignment in the wake of widespread sustained attacks on the minorities, Dalits and liberals?
Is this an attempt to set the ‘tone’ right? Because the bottom line is that actions speak louder than words. And, in an era where murderers of minorities are garlanded and celebrated, saying that Hindutva includes Muslims only goes further to draw the good Muslim vs bad Muslim distinction. In other words, Muslims who behave in a certain way are ‘welcomed’, but those who don’t are not part of India. I think that this is simply a new packaging of the same old philosophy.
Remember, whoever lives in Bharat has one identity, and we call it ‘Bharatiya’. Unity in diversity, that’s the backbone of being Indian. It is not some self-serving definition that appears to concede some space to a community which deserves equal status as per the Constitution.
Those who want to demonise the Sangh are spreading lies for votes
Raghav Awasthi
Lawyer and RSS member
Mohan Bhagwat today made it amply clear that he does not see the RSS as a political organisation at all. Hence, in my opinion, to speculate that the RSS is changing in the run-up to one election does not make any sense whatsoever.
Hindutva, in its most classical sense, is not supposed to exclude Muslims or Christians as long as it is acknowledged that even though their mode of worship may be different, their commitment towards India’s spiritual and temporal unity is retained.
As far as the RSS is concerned, irrespective of religion, all such people are adherents of Hindutva and therefore, Hindus. This time the sarsanghchalak even went one step further and stated that for the Sangh, even if this nomenclature is not accepted, there is no problem. Walter Andersen’s latest book also documents the increasing presence of Muslim pracharaks in the Sangh. Hence, to say that the outreach towards Muslims is a recent development and is being done with the 2019 election in mind would be quite inaccurate. The Sangh’s position on all of these issues is clear. It is only those who have a vested interest in demonising the Sangh for the sake of vote bank politics are spreading misinformation on the issue.
The most important and the best takeaway over the three-day lecture is that all of these lies are being nailed one by one.
RSS may employ Bhagwat’s lecture to gain wider acceptability among ‘neutral’ Hindus
Hilal Ahmed
Associate professor, CSDS
Mohan Bhagwat’s comment that Muslims are an inseparable constituent of RSS’s imagination of Hindutva underlines two related yet slightly divergent sets of arguments.
Bhagwat does not deviate from RSS’s known position on Muslims. Sangh’s literature conceptualises the ‘Indian’ identity of Muslims in strictly Hindu terms. Hence, defining Muslims as Hindavi Musalman does not pose any challenge to RSS’s established imagination of Hindu Rashtra or loosely worked out conception of Hindutva.
Second, Bhagwat invokes the Constitution to justify RSS’s version of ‘unity in diversity’ and ‘universal brotherhood’. This invocation of the Constitution could be read as a political necessity to counter the allegation that Sangh disregards Indian republicanism. After all, RSS leaders often remain uncomfortable with certain provisions of the Constitution, especially with regard to the rights given to religious minorities. In fact, the previous NDA government actually constituted a commission to review the Constitution!
Bhagwat’s unequivocal ‘celebration of the Constitution’ to accommodate Muslims in Hindutva fold, thus, must be seen as an interesting threefold political strategy.
First, as a self-declared cultural organisation, RSS may employ Bhagwat’s lecture to gain wider acceptability, particularly among those neutral Hindus who are not interested in the violent anti-Muslim conception of Hindutva.
Second, this strategy may also be used to reconfigure the internal balance of power within the Sangh Parivar. By projecting RSS as a Constitution-loving democratic outfit, Bhagwat may be able to assert Sangh’s supremacy over the highly powerful and overtly centralised BJP.
Third, this so-called ‘Muslim accommodation’ will help the RSS to disassociate itself from individuals and organisations involved in anti-Muslim cow protection movement, mob-lynching and organised Hindu communalisation at the grassroots level.
RSS may legitimately say that those who indulge in violence do not belong to Sangh, and therefore, anti-Muslim violence is ‘a natural reaction of Hindus’, which has nothing to do with RSS!
Also read: If you could please accept Hindu supremacy, RSS can become whatever you want it to be
Those who think RSS is turning accommodative towards Muslims have short memory
Apoorvanand
Hindi professor, Delhi University
What is pronounced for public consumption by RSS functionaries is never taken seriously by RSS workers. They are adept at getting the real message. And that real message is to use all means to capture every field of life in India. If it means speaking contrary to the principled position of RSS, the swayamsevak understands the context.
Those who think that RSS is changing or turning accommodative towards Muslims have a short memory. From our childhood we have been hearing RSS people patronisingly say that Muslims are acceptable as ‘Mohamdan Hindus’.
So, there is nothing new in the address by RSS chief. First, it seems to establish the supremacy of Hindutva by claiming that as opposed to the non-Indic religions, it is diverse and tolerant of hundred ways to approach god. So, everything comes under its fold. It doesn’t mind them calling themselves by different names. For RSS, they remain unconscious Hindus.
Listen to him carefully – “Whoever lives in Bharat are all of one identity and we call that identity Hindutva. But we have no problem with those who don’t want to call themselves that”. In the same breath, he dubs their self-identification dishonest, driven by “material considerations and political correctness”. He unambiguously declares that it is the Hindutva values, which helped bind a diverse society such as India’s together.
So, the doctrine is the same old one, which Deendayal Upadhyaya tried to articulate with a different metaphor: there’s a core to the Indian civilisation, all others have to confirm to it or submerge themselves to be purely Indian.
When a bully tells you that I want to make you my own, one needs to put him/herself on guard. One way of integrating the other is to devour it. Thus, it becomes one with you. This is the not-so-hidden message from the chief of RSS.
RSS never tweaks organisation’s philosophy for electoral politics
Ratan Sharda
Author, Secrets of RSS: Demystifying The Sangh, and columnist
What Bhagwat has said about Muslims is not new. He has said the same thing earlier too – all people born in this country who treat it as their motherland and connect to its past are Hindus. He re-asserted that Hindu is a way of life that celebrates diversity, respects plurality, finds unity in this diversity, and respects its ancient Hindu heritage.
Hindu and Hindutva are inclusive by nature not exclusivist. All the proclamations made by the rishis and saints since ages have been for the benefit of the mankind and not for a particular group of people.
RSS has asserted that 98-99 per cent Muslims and other converts have Hindu forefathers, and they remain culturally Hindus, whatever be their way of worship. No RSS top leader has ever talked of throwing minorities out.
Guru Golwalkar in his interview to Saifuddin Jeelani in January 1971 for Organiser had expressed the same opinion. Jamat-e-Islami had similar pleasant experience with RSS leaders when they were in jail together during the infamous Emergency. Those who quote Golwalkar selectively from Bunch of Thoughts forget the historic context of those lectures on the back of violent partition in which RSS swayamsevaks sacrificed their homes, hearths and lives to save their brethren.
It is incorrect to assume that RSS takes the Hindutva definition exactly as defined by Veer Savarkar. In fact, the 1942 Quit India was a major point of friction between Hindu Mahasabha and RSS because RSS refused to boycott the movement.
Bhagwat has only used simpler language to make RSS stand very clear. RSS never tweaks it organisation’s philosophy for electoral politics. If it wished to, it would have delayed this lecture series to a later date to match with 2019 elections.
RSS chief understands that no news is not good news
Yashwant Deshmukh
Founder-director, CVoter International
My simple take is that RSS is not changing in terms of its fundamental ideas. What has changed is its outreach programme. All RSS heads have been saying the same things all along, but only when someone reached out to them in order to understand the organisation. This is probably the first time that RSS chief himself went out of his way to explain his organisation.
Earlier, when any top editor requested for an interview or just a casual conversation, they were always welcomed by RSS heads on a personal basis. I personally know about the meeting of S. Mulgaonkar, the fiery editor of Hindustan Times (and later The Indian Express), with Guru Golwalkar in the presence of my father (who was editor of Panchjanya), which positively changed the outlook of many senior journalists of that generation.
The difference is that for the meeting, Mulgaonkar asked my father (they were colleagues at Editors Guild of India and good friends) rather intriguingly, “Yadu, does this Guruji ever meets anyone outside RSS?” My father said “let’s check out right away” and took him to Guru Golwalkar just like that. They had a free flowing conversation on all questions that could come along, and Mulgaonkar just couldn’t believe how easy it was to get an access and have a conversation.
Problem was (and still is) that the Lutyens zone, more so the English one, was never interested in talking or understanding RSS. It was more interested in not talking and misunderstanding it on purpose. The RSS was never inclined towards such outreach earlier, simply because it just wanted to focus on its work. If someone asked, it was happy to answer.
The current RSS chief has consciously gone for this outreach as he understands that no news is not good news, particularly when your swayamsewak is a Prime Minister with majority.
Bhagwat’s comment shows Sangh understands that all Muslims can’t be marginalised
Ruhi Tewari
Associate Editor, ThePrint
To think that a cadre-based organisation like the RSS, whose very foundation and existence is based on its worldview and ideology, will change merely for an election is both myopic and superficial.
The RSS sarsanghchalak, in the first two days of the three-day lecture series, has attempted to present a more nuanced, finely-combed avatar of the Sangh, with the aim of clarifying its position on multiple issues.
Given the Sangh’s perceived (and real) suspicion of Muslims, does this mean that there is a fundamental change in the organisation’s worldview?
It is important to understand that the view on Muslims within the Sangh has actually been evolving over the past four decades. Till the time Golwalkar was the chief, there was a rather clear line which saw Muslims outside the fold. But gradually under Balasaheb Deoras, Rajendra Singh and even K.S. Sudarshan, there were gradual efforts to engage with Muslims. The fact that the Sangh even has a Muslim Rashtriya Manch (led by senior pracharak, Indresh) indicates that it has been open to engaging with Muslims. Bhagwat’s statement must be seen in this context where the Sangh understands that all Muslims cannot be marginalised in India; they cannot be expelled.
But the RSS can only be tested by its actions on the ground. The fact remains that the Sangh believes that India must be a Hindu rashtra and that itself assumes supremacy of one group over another. The Sangh would like to deny the distinct cultural and religious identity of Muslims and seek to assimilate it within majoritarian symbols.
By stating that a Hindu rashtra does not mean there is no place for Muslims, the Sangh is putting forth a rather patronising approach to Muslims wherein they are told that they are not unwelcome here. The Sangh organisationally may not have a bar on Muslims – but remains a Hindu organisation. To talk about any change, therefore, is premature.
By Fatima Khan, journalist at ThePrint. You can follow her on twitter @khanthefatima.
"We look forward to you to uphold the dignity of the many women who have put their reputations at stake in making these allegations," the Constitutional Conduct Group said in its open letter to President Ram Nath Kovind.
Hours Before M.J. Akbar Resigned, Former Bureaucrats Asked for His Dismissal
Former minister of state and editor M.J. Akbar. Credit: Facebook
The Wire Staff
The Wire Staff
GOVERNMENT
13 HOURS AGO
New Delhi: As the allegations of sexual harassment piled up against minister of state for external affairs M.J. Akbar, a group of former civil servants on Wednesday wrote an ‘open letter’ to the President of India, with a copy to the Prime Minister of India, expressing its outrage at the failure of the Government of India to take appropriate action.
The Constitutional Conduct Group, in its letter, maintained that in light of the allegations of sexual harassment over a number of years made by sixteen women against Mr Akbar, constitutional propriety and morality dictate that he should step down from office or be removed from the Union Council of Ministers.
The Wire is reproducing the open letter in full below.
§
Honourable Rashtrapatiji,
We are a group of former civil servants of the All India and Central Services, who have worked for decades with the Central and State Governments in the course of our careers. We wish to make it clear that, as a group, we have no affiliation with any political party but believe in the credo of impartiality, neutrality and commitment to the Indian Constitution. We continue to uphold the oath of allegiance to our Constitution we took when we entered service.
We write this letter to express our deep disappointment and outrage at the conspicuous lack of action by the Government of India in responding to the statements by sixteen women regarding the sexual harassment faced by them from a person who is today a member of the Union Council of Ministers. In clear and explicit terms, these women have detailed the behaviour of the present Minister of State for External Affairs, Shri M.J. Akbar, over a period of almost three decades from about the mid-1980s to the end of the first decade of this century, when he was in a position of power and responsibility in some of the major news organisations of this country. A number of instances of such harassment by men in positions of power and authority in the fields of journalism, advertising and films have come to light since the first week of October 2018 through social media, print and electronic media. While many of these organisations have initiated action to enquire into the allegations by the affected women and have either removed the persons involved from their employment or distanced those under investigation from participation in the day to day affairs of their organisations, it comes as a rude shock to us that no action whatsoever has been forthcoming from the institution primarily charged with upholding the rule of law, namely, the Government of India, against one of its senior members.
As former civil servants, we are fully aware of the need to follow the due process of law. At the same time, Constitutional propriety and morality dictate that the functionary concerned should resign from his office pending an enquiry and must not be reappointed to a high Constitutional post till he is cleared of all the charges against him. The Vishakha Guidelines issued by the Honourable Supreme Court in 1997 and the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (“POSH Act”) have clearly laid down the steps to be taken to protect women at their workplaces. While it is true that the instances referred to where the Minister was allegedly involved refer to the period before the POSH Act came into effect, it is also a fact that the Vishakha Guidelines were in force when at least three of these incidents are said to have taken place. It is a sad commentary on our respect for the rule of law that the newspaper organisations concerned had not put in place mechanisms to implement the Vishakha Guidelines, which would have provided an avenue for redressal to women who felt they were the victims of sexual harassment.
While the facts will come out in a full-fledged impartial enquiry, which we hope will be entrusted to a committee comprising eminent citizens, it behoves the Government of India to act in a manner which gives the public confidence that the government is responsibly discharging its Constitutional duties. As reported in sections of the media, Shri Akbar is attempting to involve the complainants in time-consuming and costly litigation to avoid answering the allegations which have been levelled against him. We look forward to you, Honourable Rashtrapatiji, to uphold the dignity of the many women who have put their reputations at stake in making these allegations.
We earnestly request you, as the first citizen of our country, to advise the Government of India to seek the resignation of Shri Akbar, failing which it should recommend his removal from the Union Council of Ministers. We also request you to issue directions to the Government of India and the State Governments to put in place robust mechanisms to ensure that women can engage in gainful employment free of the fear of sexual harassment and to ensure that all organisations (in the public and private sectors) follow the provisions of the POSH Act in both letter and spirit.
List of signatories:
1. Anita Agnihotri, IAS (Retd.), former secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, GoI
2. V.S. Ailawadi, IAS (Retd.) former chairman, Electricity Regulatory Commission
3. S.P. Ambrose, IAS (Retd.) former additional secretary, Ministry of Shipping & Transport, GoI
4. Gopalan Balagopal, IAS (Retd.) former special secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
5. Chandrashekhar Balakrishnan, IAS (Retd.) former secretary, Coal, GoI
6. Meeran C Borwankar, IPS (Retd.) former DGP, Bureau of Police Research and Development, GoI
7. Sundar Burra, IAS (Retd.) former secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
8. Som Chaturvedi, IRTS (Retd.) former additional member, Railway Board, GoI
9. Kalyani Chaudhuri, IAS (Retd.) former additional chief secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
10. Javid Chowdhury, IAS (Retd.) former health secretary, GoI
11. Anna Dani IAS, (Retd.) former additional chief secretary, Govt. of Maharashtra
12. Surjit K. Das, IAS (Retd.) former chief secretary, Govt. of Uttarakhand
13. Vibha Puri Das, IAS (Retd.) former secretary, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, GoI
14. Nitin Desai IES, (Retd.) former secretary and chief economic adviser, Ministry of Finance, GoI
15. Keshav Desiraju, IAS (Retd.) former health secretary, GoI
16. M.G. Devasahayam, IAS (Retd.) former secretary, Govt. of Haryana
17. K.P. Fabian, IFS (Retd.) former ambassador to Italy
18. Hirak Ghosh, IAS (Retd.) former principal secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
19. Tuktuk Ghosh, IAS (Retd.) former special secretary and financial adviser, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Shipping & Tourism, GoI
20. Meena Gupta, IAS (Retd.) former secretary, Ministry of Environment & Forests, GoI
21. Ravi Vira Gupta, IAS (Retd.) former deputy governor, Reserve Bank of India
22. Wajahat Habibullah, IAS (Retd.) former secretary, GoI and Chief Information Commissioner
23. Deepa Hari, IRS (Resigned)
24. Sajjad Hassan, IAS (Retd.) former commissioner (Planning), Govt. of Manipur
25. Siraj Hussain, IAS (Retd.) former secretary, Department of Agriculture, GoI
26. Dr. M.A. Ibrahimi, IAS (Retd.) former chief secretary (rank), Govt. of Bihar
27. Kamal Jaswal, IAS (Retd.) former Secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI
28. K. John Koshy, IAS (Retd.) former State chief information commissioner, West Bengal 29. Ajai Kumar Indian Forest Service (Retd.) former director, Ministry of Agriculture, GoI
30. Arun Kumar, IAS (Retd.) former chairman, National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, GoI
31. Brijesh Kumar, IAS (Retd.) former secretary, Department of Information Technology, GoI
32. Subodh Lal, IPoS (Retd.) former deputy director general, Ministry of Communications, GoI
33. Harsh Mander, IAS (Retd.) Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
34. Aditi Mehta, IAS (Retd.) former additional chief secretary, Govt. of Rajasthan
35. Shivshankar Menon, IFS (Retd.) former Foreign secretary, GoI and Former National Security Adviser
36. Sonalini Mirchandani, IFS (Resigned) GoI
37. Sunil Mitra, IAS (Retd.) former secretary, Ministry of Finance, GoI
38. Noor Mohammad, IAS (Retd.) former secretary, National Disaster Management Authority, GoI
39. Deb Mukharji, IFS (Retd.) former high commissioner to Bangladesh and former Ambassador to Nepal
40. Nagalswamy, IA&AS (Retd.) former principal Accountant General, Tamil Nadu & Kerala
41. Sobha Nambisan, IAS (Retd.) former principal secretary (Planning), Govt. of Karnataka
42. Surendra Nath, IAS (Retd.) former member, Finance Commission, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
43. Amitabha Pande, IAS (Retd.) former secretary, Inter-State Council, GoI
44. Niranjan Pant, IA&AS (Retd.) former Deputy Comptroller & Auditor General of India
45. Alok Perti, IAS (Retd.) former secretary, Ministry of Coal, GoI
46. T.R. Raghunandan, IAS (Retd.) former joint secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, GoI
47. N.K. Raghupathy, IAS (Retd.) former chairman, Staff Selection Commission, GoI
48. C. Babu Rajeev, IAS (Retd.) former secretary, GoI
49. M.Y. Rao, IAS (Retd.)
50. Julio Ribeiro, IPS (Retd.) former adviser to Governor of Punjab and former Ambassador to Romania
51. Aruna Roy, IAS (Resigned)
52. ManMohan Sagar, IPS (Retd.) former CMD, Assam Police Housing Corporation, Govt. of Assam
53. Umrao Salodia, IAS (Retd.) former chairman, Rajasthan Road Transport Corporation, Govt. of Rajasthan
54. Deepak Sanan, IAS (Retd.) former principal adviser (AR) to Chief Minister, Govt. of Himachal Pradesh
55. N.C. Saxena, IAS (Retd.) former secretary, Planning Commission, GoI
56. Ardhendu Sen, IAS (Retd.) former chief secretary, Govt. of West Bengal
57. Abhijit Sengupta, IAS (Retd.) former secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI
58. Aftab Seth, IFS (Retd.) former ambassador to Japan
59. Ashok Kumar Sharma, IFS (Retd.) former ambassador to Finland and Estonia
60. Pravesh Sharma, IAS (Retd.) former additional chief secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
61. Raju Sharma, IAS (Retd.) former member, Board of Revenue, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh
62. Rashmi Shukla Sharma, IAS (Retd.) former additional chief secretary, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh
63. Sujatha Singh, IFS (Retd.) former foreign secretary, GoI
64. Tirlochan Singh, IAS (Retd.) former secretary, National Commission for Minorities, GoI
65. Jawhar Sircar, IAS (Retd.) former secretary, Ministry of Culture, GoI, & CEO, Prasar Bharati
66. Narendra Sisodia, IAS (Retd.) former secretary, Ministry of Finance, GoI
67. Dr.K.S. Subramanian, IPS (Retd.) former director general, State Institute of Public Administration & Rural Development, Govt. of Tripura
68. Sanjivi Sundar, IAS (Retd.) former secretary, Ministry of Surface Transport, GoI
69. Parveen Talha, IRS (Retd.) former member, Union Public Service Commission
70. P.S.S. Thomas, IAS (Retd.) former secretary general, National Human Rights Commission
71. Hindal Tyabji, IAS (Retd.) former chief secretary rank, Govt. of Jammu & Kashmir
72. Ramani Venkatesan, IAS (Retd.) former director general, YASHADA, Govt. of Maharashtra
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Sexual Harassment
MJ Akbar, stop with the lying. You sexually harassed me too. Your threats will not silence us
‘If I don’t speak up now, I feel I’ll be complicit in your crimes,’ writes Tushita Patel.
MJ Akbar, stop with the lying. You sexually harassed me too. Your threats will not silence us
Oct 16, 2018 · 01:52 pm
Tushita Patel
I am reading with indignation, but not surprise, about your complete lack of contrition, your lies, your facetious arguments, your lack of sensitivity in your attempt to victim shame and some remarkably stupid statements. If I don’t speak up now, I feel I’ll be complicit in your crimes.
It was 1992, Calcutta. I was a trainee in the Telegraph. You had left journalism for politics and had come to visit Calcutta. A group of my colleagues was going to meet you at your hotel. I was asked if I’d like to meet MJ Akbar. Who didn’t? Sure. I went along. I met you. It was a fun evening. After that day, you found out my home phone number (from someone else) and started calling me incessantly, asking me to come and meet you at your hotel, always under a thin veil of some work-related discussion. After trying to deflect several of your advances, you finally wore me down. Telling myself to not be old-fashioned, I rang your doorbell.
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You opened the door dressed only in your underwear. I stood at the door, stricken, scared and awkward. You stood there like the VIP man, amused by my fear. I did go in and carried on blabbering out of fear till you finally put on a bathrobe. What would you say that was? Does greeting a 22-year-old in a state of undress pass your test of morality? Is that not “doing” something? I have visions of you like that. After that it’s a bit hard to imagine you as the minister of external affairs representing India.
‘I wriggled out’
1993, Hyderabad. You were the editor-in-chief of the Deccan Chronicle, I was a senior sub-editor. You came in to town and summoned me to your hotel to discuss my pages. I was late (I had to finish my pages). When I reached your room, you were sullen, sitting there drinking tea and in a vile mood. You started yelling at me about being late, about my work. I was trying to mumble some words. Suddenly you got up, grabbed me and kissed me hard – your stale tea breath and your bristly moustache are still etched in the recesses of my memory. I wriggled out and ran till I reached the road, jumped into an auto rickshaw and started crying. There was comfort in crying in an open auto being driven by a sympathetic stranger.
The next morning I came to the office and tried to hide in a corner and finish my page. The other thing about working for you is that we never had any resources. We were always short-staffed, you always got us to sacrifice our off days for the greater cause of the paper and we loved our jobs above all else and felt it was normal to do this. When you couldn’t find me, you desperately sent out a search party. At some point, someone found me. Akbar saab is looking for you. Heavy with dread, I waited till it was almost time for your flight and met you at the most public of areas in the office – near the reception. You said chirpily, “Where did you disappear? I’ve been looking for you – we have to discuss your page.” And with that you ushered me into the empty conference room, grabbed me again and kissed me.
Defeated, humiliated, blinded by hurt and tears, I stayed in that room till I stopped crying. I waited till you had left the building, went to the bathroom, washed my face and carried on to finish my page.
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‘Our time to speak up is now’
So please stop with the lying. Stop lying about your plywood and glass cabin in the Asian Age. Ghazala Wahab is not the only woman to have been molested in that cabin. There are other victims who you almost broke and destroyed with your lust and power trip. They are enraged too, and they will come out.
And enough with the legal intimidation – we can see you in court too. The same sisterhood of solidarity that held our hands through the darkest times of our lives will come out only because you continue to be brazen. We are not confused, conflicted or vulnerable any more. Our time to speak is now – when we don’t have to run to a police station to lodge a complaint before anyone would give us a hearing.
You know who we are. You’ll recognise us when you see us at the barricades.
Show some contrition. Get some help.
MJ Akbar To Record Statement In Defamation Case On Oct 31: 10 Points
In his criminal defamation suit, MJ Akbar has accused Priya Ramani of "intentionally putting forward malicious, fabricated and salacious" allegations to harm his reputation.
All India | Edited by Anindita Sanyal | Updated: October 18, 2018 14:41 IST
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MJ Akbar To Record Statement In Defamation Case On Oct 31: 10 PointsThe Editor's Guild has said that MJ Akbar should withdraw the defamation case against Priya Ramani
NEW DELHI: A court in Delhi is examining MJ Akbar's defamation suit against one of the multiple women who accused him of sexual harassment and will take a call on whether it should be heard. Mr Akbar, who stepped down from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's council of ministers yesterday, has trashed the allegations against him, saying "accusation without evidence has become a viral fever among some sections". Journalist Priya Ramani, who was the first woman to call out Mr Akbar under the growing #MeToo movement in India, has said the truth is her 'only defence".
The court said it will hear the case again on October 31, when the former minister has been asked to be present. Mr Akbar was not present in court today. MJ Akbar's lawyers told the court that Priya Ramani's article has spoiled his reputation. "I have resigned yesterday. The incident is from years back," Mr Akbar's lawyers said. The 1200 likes and 200 retweets show how widely the article has been read, they added.
In his first detailed statement after returning to India from a foreign visit, Mr Akbar said, "Ms Priya Ramani began this campaign a year ago with a magazine article. She did not however name me as she knew it was an incorrect story. When asked recently why she had not named me, she replied, in a Tweet: "Never named him because he didn't 'do anything. If I didn't do anything, where and what is the story? There is no story. This was admitted at the very inception."
Priya Ramani, who has agreed to fight the case, said, " MJ Akbar seeks to silence through intimidation and harassment. Those who have spoken against Akbar have done so at great risk to personal and professional lives,.. truth and the absolute truth are my only defence."
A group of 19 women journalists who have worked with 'The Asian Age' newspaper, have expressed support for Priya Ramani. The journalists have urged the court to hear their testimonies against MJ Akbar, claiming that some of them suffered sexual harassment by the minister and others have been a witness to it.
The Editors Guild of India has come out in support of the 20 women journalists. Expressing concern over Mr Akbar's defamation case against one of the journalists, Priya Ramani, the Guild said he should withdraw it.
"Since I have decided to seek justice in a court of law in my personal capacity, I deem it appropriate to step down from office and challenge false accusations levied against me, also in a personal capacity," MJ Akbar said in a short statement announcing his resignation on Wednesday evening.
The former editor of newspapers like The Telegraph and the Asian Age was named by Ms Ramani in a tweet on October 8. She said MJ Akbar was the man she had written about in a magazine article a year ago, when the Harvey Weinstein scandal in the US set off an avalanche of #MeToo allegations.
After Ms Ramani named him, more women posted their stories against MJ Akbar. The list includes Prerna Singh Bindra, Ghazala Wahab, Shutapa Paul, Anju Bharti, Suparna Sharma, Shuma Raha, Malini Bhupta, Kanika Gahlout, Kadambari M Wade, Majlie de Puy Kamp and Ruth David.
The MeToo movement, which began in the US more than a year ago in response to accusations of sexual harassment and abuse by powerful men in the entertainment industry, gained traction in India last month after former actor Tanushree Dutta accused her co-star Nana Patekar of sexual harassment on the sets of a film in 2008.
Since then, several men in the media, entertainment, political and art worlds have been accused of offences, ranging from sexual harassment to rape.
