Indian judiciary has in the recent past earned a penchant for interfering with Governance issues. Courts have been passing orders which dictate policy matters, which should ideally be left to the Governments. Added to this, the Chief Justice of India TS Thakur is also known for his plain-speak, which is often contrary to Government of India’s views. Just as PM Modi finished his Independence Day address, CJI Thakur took a dig at the PM saying that he expected the PM to speak on the judicial appointments issue.
Along with the above, another news report was circulating on social media on Independence Day, which was attributed to CJI Thakur. PM Modi had landed a powerful punch to Pakistan by addressing the atrocities in Balochistan by Pakistan. This comment had found support from most, except the rabidly anti-Modi brigade such as Rajdeep Sardesai and Sagarika Ghose, who almost seemed to echo Pakistan’s stance. It was in contex of this news item, that Times of India tweeted the following:
Times of India’s tweet
According to the above tweet, CJI Thakur had not only stepped beyond his jurisdiction as the Chief Justice, but also embarrassed the Government of India and the PM, by taking a contrarian stance. Understandably there was considerable outrage on Twitter:
CJI TS Thakur has spoken out of his jurisdiction. How can a judge define India’s foreign policy?
Chatukarita or …? pic.twitter.com/530gq4rMfZ
Overall, for the entire morning and more, CJI Thakur was pummelled by social media users for his alleged comments. But by afternoon, Times of India had mysteriously deleted the tweet. Many users were not aware of this as screenshots of the tweet were still circulating. So what happened?
Apparently, the CJI had never made such comments on PM Modi’s Balochistan remarks. It is possible that Times of India had mixed up Congress leader Salman Khurshid’s comments with the CJI’s remarks. It was only in the evening that Times of India admitted their grave error:
We picked the news about CJI’s statement on Balochistan from TV. We deleted it as soon as we realised it was inaccurate. We regret the error
Even in the admission of guilt, they chose to pass on the buck to an unnamed TV channel, from which they claimed to have picked up this news. Considering Times of India’s track record, this is almost certainly a poor excuse to avoid outrage. Does a media house of the size and reach of Times of India just pick up news from “TV” without verification? If they indeed picked up the news from TV, why not name he TV channel?
The question now is this: Barkha Dutt doesn’t want the media to be “tried”. Supposed media watch-dog Newslaundry’s Madhu Trehan is also batting for saving the media in such situations. But here is India’s most popular media house committing a very grave error by attributing completely unrelated comments to a the highest judicial authority in India. Not only has his reputation been tarnished, it will continue to get further impacted as although Times of India has retracted, the screenshot of the tweet has gone viral.
Will the CJI let Times of India go scot-free? It is hard for politicians to take on the media as they have a love-hate relationship, and media can always cry political vendetta. Hence it appears the CJI is in a great position to take Times of India to task. But will he?
General Gagandeep Singh Bakshi, a highly decorated retired officer from the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles, a veteran of many battles and skirmishes on the LoC, a Vishisht Seva Medal winner who led a battalion during the Kargil War, is now a regular on TV panels, where he has developed a reputation for his emotional and unabashedly nationalist views. Gen Bakshi recently addressed a gathering of IIT Madras students.
Once again, as we have seen repeatedly in the recent past, a bunch of radical leftist students along with some Kashmiris objected to General Bakshi’s speech for suggesting that the only way peace could be brought to Kashmir was to divide Pakistan into 4 parts. These miscreants then tried to raise slogans against him and stop him from speaking. This falls into a set pattern as was noted in JNU where leftists along with Kashmiris raised anti-India slogans like “Bharat Tere Tukde Honge Inshallah Inshallah” in the name of free speech. Only this time, they could not get away with it so easily as other students out-shouted this leftist lobby and did not let them disrupt Gen Bakshi’s speech.
Earlier this year, we had seen a similar episode where self-proclaimed proponents of “free speech”from JNU, who belonged to the Left ideology opposed a talk by Baba Ramdev on their campus.
“Left” with no other recourse due to failure of strong-arm tactics on campus, a student wrote a letter supposedly to the Director of IIT-M but in reality addressed to a wider audience through compliant media houses ever eager to give space to such nefarious elements, labelling Gen Bakshi’s talk a “hate speech” and “controversial”. General Bakshi retorted in style on Facebook and called out the bluff, pointing out that the alleged students were in fact Leftists of Ambedkar-Periyar group who had no popular support and that the majority of IIT students who were present there jeered and booed the Ambedkar-Periyar group into silence. He stood completely by his statements and again pointed out that Pakistan’s constant provocations on J&K were dangerous and that India needed to hit back.
Gen Bakshi on Facebook
Two other students Deepak Ojha and Chirag Khalde who were present at the talk also wrote in defence of Gen Bakshi and pointed out numerous factual inaccuracies in the claims made by Abhinav in his letter.
And thus began a massive assault on Gen Bakshi by alleged journalists, AAP and Congress politicians and hidden and actual spokespersons of the party. Mihir Sharma, a journalist whose political preferences and depths of thuggery aren’t exactly a secret, called Gen Bakshi’s talk “pretty deranged“. I’m sure many in the audience would’ve retorted that a person making such remarks is more likely to be the one who is pretty deranged. Priyanka Chaturvedi of Congress went so far as to say that a “there is no bigger war monger than him“. Attacks on Gen Bakshi are not a new obsession for Congress people: another former Congress spokesman Tehseen Poonawalla had called Gen Bakshi an “idiot” and compared him to Javed Miandad of Pakistan!
A well known Congress supporter pretending to be a neutral person, Sanjay Hegde, tried to mock Gen Bakshi for saying that Dehradun derived its name from Dronacharya and was originally called Dehra Dron.
Unfortunately for Sanjay Hegde and his supporters, this is mentioned in books on Uttarakhand and it is so well known, in fact, that several prominent educational institutions in Dehradun are named after Dronacharya. Moreover, Gen Bakshi taught at IMA Dehradun for three years, and obviously knows the place much better than most. Yet, for the sake of furthering an agenda, everything is fair game, and facts don’t matter at all.
Another alleged journalist whose political preferences are pretty obvious through his social media feed, Salil Tripathi, openly abused Gen Bakshi, calling him a “poorly educated 56-inch mucchiwala“.
This poorly-educated 56″ muchhiwala shows how fortunate India is that it keeps its army in the barracks: https://t.co/Z47QatOdEw
The general of course, is a highly intelligent man and a prolific writer, having published 35 books and authored over 200 papers in leading research journals – probably much more than Tripathi may have done in his lifetime. But our ill-informed alleged journalists, blinded by agenda and hate, actively try to show their monopoly right over education. Ordinary citizens who feel for the country are labelled “hyper-nationalists” by this cabal. It took another common citizen to retort with a very appropriate label for the cabal – “hypo”-nationalists” – who have a deficiency of patriotism and love for their own nation that leads them to run down anyone who doesn’t.
The sapling of anti-nationalism in the form of leftists installed by Indira Gandhi in our premier institutions is now producing its poisonous fruit that threatens the very integrity of India and bemoans calls for destruction of our notorious neighbour which constantly sponsors attacks against Indian civilians and armed forces. It has spread to journalism, politics, education, history, literature, social service and every field one can think of.
Yet, Congress supporters and alleged “journalists” continue to back these poisonous elements against the very people protecting them from being killed – our armed forces. We have seen the same people lead movements against use of “pellets” on stone-pelters and acid-bombers attacking the armed forces in the valley following the death of one of the poster-boys of terrorism, Burhan Wani – who was called “son of school headmaster” by NDTV journalist Barkha Dutt.
A pointed question on whether he was a terrorist or not, asked to Ms Dutt by a columnist, went unanswered. The threat to our nation from these developments, from the consistent refusal to recognise the enemy and blame our protectors for oppression, is now becoming more and more obvious, and increasingly, people are realising this and calling it out on the only medium they can: Social Media.
It is heartening that the ordinary citizens of our nation are now fighting back against this distorted narrative of the “hypo”-nationalists and those who are responsible for creating it, and this fills me with immense hope and happiness. The narrative is being changed by the citizens of India who have the country’s interests at heart. This must now develop into a full blown movement to kill the poisonous tree and liberate India’s elite educational institutions from the grip of leftist anti-nationals who teach our children to hate our nation.
To paraphrase Roosevelt: “We can. We will, We must”. Let’s do it.
Recently, I was lucky to be a part of a gathering of interesting people from various walks of life, who were invited for a two day conference by India Foundation, rather embarrassingly titled ‘Young Thinkers Meet’. India Foundation is a self-described ‘independent research center focused on the issues, challenges and opportunities of the Indian polity’.
The foundation’s board of directors comprises of many prominent figures, some of them union ministers in the current government, based on which one could make a fair assessment of their ideological and political leanings. This diverse bunch of participants from all over the country, consisting of students, entrepreneurs, scholars, professors and artists many of whom met each other for the first time, exchanged ideas around the general theme laid out by the conveners.
Most of the sessions were focused on the government’s policy initiatives and the unique challenges in implementation of the same. Interestingly, media discourse was another prominent theme and how to prevent distortion in the flow of information from the government to the public was also debated, without great success, I must confess.
Now, this conference, in which I participated for the first time, is an annual affair whose venue changes every year. This year, it happened to be held at Patnitop, Jammu and Kashmir and the choice of venue was the only thing about the conference that had anything to do with the word ‘Kashmir’.
I received the invitation on May 3, 2016, long before there was any inkling of Burhan Wani related trouble in the valley. So, the only way that the organizers could’ve included the present crisis in Kashmir in the program would be through an act of clairvoyance or by actually instigating the cycle of violence themselves so that it could eventually be discussed.
However, minor things such as facts cannot be allowed to discourage the media from influencing public opinion in a way they think appropriate.
Ram Madhav, one of the board members at India Foundation, who was also present at the conclave, tweeted at the end of the conference:
Ram Madhav’s tweet
As is their wont, the media did precisely what they were warned against and while “flying their kites” also showed off the various techniques employed in the sport. Here are eight of them:
According to this account by PTI, there were many issues discussed and one of them was Kashmir. It says, “The sources said the role of security forces in dealing with the situation and how the ongoing unrest was being instigated and backed by Pakistan also figured during the deliberations”. If my memory serves me right, the only time that there was a mention of security was when the security of the complex was tightened just before the arrival of Mrs. Smriti Irani for her brief session on “Challenges in the education sector” based on her two year stint as HRD Minister.
2. Kashmir discussed at pro-BJP think tank meet? Ram Madhav says no [Hindustan Times]
Again, you have an important politician unambiguously denying any link of the conference with the Kashmir issue. But obviously for the reporters concerned (Toufiq Rashid and Ravi Krishnan Khajuria), the word of a politician must be always proved wrong, even if it is by inventing facts, which in this case is the claim that Union Minister MJ Akbar attended the function. It looks like I was so mesmerized by Patnitop’s ethereal beauty that Mr Akbar had arrived, delivered his lecture and gone back, without me even noticing.
3. Kashmir unrest: At Patnitop conclave, BJP-RSS leaders mull option of including Hurriyat in peace process [India.com]
Mohammed Uzair Shaikh informs us that “the agenda was to restore normalcy in Kashmir valley, and integrate the Muslim dominated region with the rest of India” and that “the right-leaning politicians did not show aversive attitude towards the suggestion of including secessionist forces in the talks.” As clarified earlier, there was simply no discussion on Kashmir, which is a good thing because if the government were to frame its policy on Kashmir based on the views of participants in this conference, many of whom had just discovered that Jammu is 12 hours away from Srinagar, it would be very bad news for the country.
4. BJP’s Ram Madhav in search for J&K ‘solution’ [The Asian Age]
This statement, written on August 8, after the conference was over, refers to it in the future tense for some inexplicable reason. It also says that “The national security adviser is also likely to take part in the deliberations at some stage.” Now, although it is reasonable for a father to keep a tab on the activities of an adolescent son, Doval junior is not exactly a teenager. Mr Ajit Doval, just because he is the NSA of India, has no business to gatecrash into a professional event organized by an organization his son is part of and thankfully, good sense did prevail over him. What sounds more probable is that he never planned on coming.
5. Ram Madhav holds meet in Kashmir; intellectuals, civil society attend [Deccan Chronicle]
According to this report, “a special conclave, led by Mr Madhav, has brought together around 80 intellectuals, members of the civil society and some senior ministers – in what is seen as an unofficial, new outreach by the government to the Kashmiri people.” It beats me as to how 80 people sitting in a room talking about random things helps the government reach out to Kashmiris. If that were the case, the near full house in parliament debating the GST bill would be far more of an outreach to the people of the valley. In any case, this story by Deccan Chronicle is based on a report by NDTV. Enough said.
6. Meeting at Patnitop ‘maps out’ troubled areas of state [The Tribune] (again!)
This one is really good because the correspondent goes beyond the call of duty by not just speculating on the agenda but also the outcome. Dinesh Manhotra informs us, “Although consensus eluded the meet on how to reach out to different groups of the turbulent Valley, the troubled areas of the state were mapped out, both geographically and demographically, during deliberations so as to devise a comprehensive strategy to set agenda for the future course of action.” What does mapping out the troubled areas actually mean? If Indians are still figuring out on the map where the valley is located, then we surely deserve the hatred of the people inhabiting it.
7. Pro-BJP think tank ‘India Foundation’ meets in hill resort amid Kashmir unrest [DNA]
Right next to the suggestive headline, the DNA correspondent artfully places Ram Madhav’s denial, demonstrating how politicians can lie with a straight face, except that in this case the politician is only telling the truth and thoroughly enjoying the ensuing media circus, I presume. The rest of the report follows the same pattern as others.
8. New Kashmir Outreach? Ram Madhav, Ministers Brainstorm with Civil Society [NDTV]
When it comes to Kashmir, the red dot of NDTV is where the buck always stops. Barkha Dutt, the author of this report, deserves a compliment for setting the ball rolling on Patnitop by indulging in “speculation of an unofficial track-two initiative” after “the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani.” Having been a part of many such multi track initiatives in the past, it is a pity that she fails to inform her readers that Wani is not just a terrorist but also the son of a school headmaster. So much for switching tracks!
Those of us who use social media as a source of news and views would be aware of the nose-diving credibility of the mainstream news media (MSM) in this age of the internet. It cannot be said enough that to depend exclusively on MSM for informing one’s political views would be akin to chopping off the umbilical chord that connects us with reality, a travesty of objectivity. On TV debates, we often find a carefully chosen panel of ‘experts’ waxing eloquent on issues that millions of people are invested in, emotionally and materially, and which they themselves have only a quasi-intellectual grasp of.
One can still cut some slack for the media for giving a certain slant to the reportage if the issue is overly sensitive, say a rape or an act of racism. But it is alarming that even a trivial, largely inconsequential affair like the above-mentioned conference is made to fit a narrative that the media is desperately trying to spin.
To me personally, the reporting on the Patnitop event has been an eye-opener and it has gravely undermined whatever semblance of credibility the mainstream media had in my assessment. I mean, if the reporters and their editors can resort to such blatant forgery in reporting a harmless brainstorming session, what do we make of their broadcasts on complex matters as foreign policy or internal security?
In my view, journalism has ceased to be investigative and journalists are now always seen to be “flying kites”. The question is how long before the thread of the kite starts inflicting cuts on the hand that holds it.
With the US elections entering the decisive phase, after the conventions, the outcome is up in the air. Either candidate can win this. Going by the way campaigns are run and by the way conventions were managed, Hillary Clinton definitely seems to have an edge.
Under Barack Obama and Narendra Modi’s stewardship, one can definitely say that the Indo-US relationship has moved a notch up. It is no mean achievement for India that Obama hasn’t visited Pakistan, after visiting India – as was the norm earlier. However, what direction this will take, in a way, will determine PM Modi’s success in the economic and foreign policy fronts. This isn’t a conventional Republican and Democratic way of dealing with India. The candidates come with too much of a baggage to substantially alter the direction or give fillip to the relationship.
It is increasingly becoming clear that if Donald Trump wins this November, we have to expect the unconventional in the foreign policy front. Trump will not look at India (or for that matter any country) through the GOP lens. The way he has embraced Russia and the way he is belittling NATO allies, India needs a lot to think about.
Yes, Trump has mentioned on occasions that Pakistan is where the terror begins. But does it really mean he will favour India? Most of Trump’s understanding has been business like. As John Allen said during the Democratic convention, Trump sees foreign policy as a business transaction. What can India offer Trump to win him over? Will Trump keep his word?
On the economic front, Trump is running a campaign against immigrants. With the Republic party also aligning with him on this tough immigration policy, one can expect difficult times for IT vendors. The impact on the number of H1B/L1 visas will likely have a negative impact on the IT industry. Also, PM Modi’s “Make in India” will have a serious challenge, if the American companies (like Boeing, etc) back away from their decision to set up a facility in India.
Continuing on the economic front, Trump’s plan are expected to increase deficit in US. How will this have a follow-on effect across the world, is anybody’s guess. Will India continue to enjoy FDI inflows? What are the fall-back options for India?
Hope Indian policy makers are actively working out alternate plans, if faced with such a scenario.
On the other hand, Hillary Clinton offers much more predictable relationship. I am not judging if that will be a favourable one or not. That depends on various factors. One thing is given: based on Modi’s record, he will go out of his way to get her to India’s side. Will that be enough?
Simply from a political point of view, there is merit for Clinton to continue with Obama’s policies. Both coming from the same party, many of the advisers are likely to continue. Also, Clinton would do well not to negate a major success in Obama’s foreign policy legacy. Also, Indian-Americans have, in the 2012 elections, voted decisively in favour of democrats. If this continues in 2016, one can expect PM Modi to leverage some of this towards India.
Historically, it is perceived that Clinton will be softer on Pakistan. Will she continue or follow President Obama’s lead? It is important to remember that Clinton had backed the mission to kill Osama Bin Laden. Has this changed her views on Pakistan’s trustworthiness as a reliable partner?
And then, there is the issue of Clinton’s proximity to various NGOs. With Modi government, rightly, going after the crooks – will Hillary feel the heat?
USA and India now have a common issue to deal with – the South China Sea. Obama and Modi have spoken in one voice opposing China’s moves. It is fair to assume that, on this one, Clinton will follow Obama. However, how influential can Modi be? What more can India do to thwart China’s moves there?
Unlike Trump, Clinton is unlikely to be a shock to world business. She is more of a status-quo candidate. Which is probably what the market will prefer, when confronted with the other option.
Hopefully, the next 100 days will give us some answers.
On today’s (11/08/2016) Times of India, a shocking news appeared on the first page, titled ‘Sweltering Shahjahanpur gets a Snowplough’. The story says that the municipality of Shahjahanpur town has bought a Snowplough machine! Like most of India, Shahjahanpur never gets a snowfall, and the story mentions that temperature of 45° Celsius & above is routine during summer in the town. So a snowplough bought by municipality of such a town looks like one of those blatant corruptions that we regularly see in various levels of administration in India. They published a photo of the snowplough with the story, and informed that it is a JCB 170, that model number can be seen on the vehicle in the photo also.
The image of the vehicle TOI has posted with the story
After seeing the photo, two things immediately struck my mind. The vehicle does not look like a Snowplough, and the machine looked like those Bobcat Skid Steer Loaders that Guwahati Municipal Corporation here is using to clear garbage and mud from ground and load onto trucks. So I Googled for JCB 170 and found yes, it is indeed a Skid Steer Loader, not a Snowplough!
Lets explain both the machines a bit. Snowploughs are used to clear snows from ground. They come in various sizes, from small ones for home lawns to gigantic ones for clearing hundreds of kilometres of highways. Although most of us have not seen these in India, we have seen these in action on movies and TV.
JCB India’s Skid Steer Loader webpage, the image is enough to know its use.
On the other hand, Skid Steer Loaders are the smallest of such machines. The Bobcat loaders I have seen are smaller than a Tata Nano. They are used to clear things from ground and load onto trucks. They don’t have a conventional steering mechanism, their wheels on both sides are independently attached to transmission, and they turn by varying the speed of wheels on either side, much like tanks & other vehicles on tracked wheels do. Hence the name Skid Steer Loader, their wheels skid on the ground to steer. Due to this, they have zero turning radius, which allows them to work efficiently in narrow lanes and confined places. They have a very rigid construction, making them very reliable. Originally made by two American brothers for use in farms who later founded the Bobcat Company, this machine is now also used across the world to clean roads & other urban areas. Their small size, extreme maneuverability, and unique broom design make them ideal for collecting garbage and mud and loading them onto trucks.
So, while Shahjahanpur nagar palika may have purchased a machine which will help them in keeping the town clean, it is a bizarre that Times of India mistook the machine as Snowplough and published the story on front page, alleging potential corruption.
2014 was a watershed year in Indian politics. Not only did a non-Congress backed coalition gain an absolute majority (comfortably at that), it did so by traversing through one of the trickiest and most rewarding political terrains in India. For decades, Uttar Pradesh, has been ridden with caste-based politics. The two prime regional parties are both founded and popular solely based on the caste arithmetic and no other reason. Given the ground realities of caste-arithmetic and poor organisational base, BJP did a stellar job picking up 73 seats from UP (along with its ally), out of the possible 80, decimating its opponents.
Post poll analysis showed that BJP won, because it succeeded in uniting the fragmented vote, which was always divided on caste lines. As study after study showed, BJP and its allies enjoyed a very strong vote share from across cross-sections of the society, from Dalits to Upper Castes.
Come 2016, we are now are very close to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. And the traditional foes of BJP have woken up. Having licked their wounds from 2014, they have learnt their lesson and their strategy is out in the open. For Delhi 2015, it was the fake “Christians under Attack” routine which was eventually demolished by investigators. For Bihar 2015, it was the “Award Wapsi” season, which sank without a trace the very day the elections were over. For UP 2017, the idea is clear: break-up the united castes of UP.
A dangerous game is now being played, that of turning castes against each other. Atrocities against Dalits are being highlighted by some interested parties. Yes, the backward castes of India are indeed in many places under-privileged, and any genuine atrocity against them needs to be dealt with, but this time we are seeing a new wave of manufactured outrage.
Congress Social Media cell operators are digging out videos from 2011 and blindly labelling them as atrocities against Dalits. How once can figure out who are Dalits and who are not, just from a grainy video is beyond comprehension. These are then spread by a select coterie of journalists. AAP leaders, who were formerly against caste politics are now openly batting for caste-related outrage.
It may be argued that it is expected of political parties to be playing this game, but now we have media also giving a helping hand. The unfortunate attack on Dalits in Una by “cow vigilantes” was hyped and discussed to no end on mainstream media, so much so that even PM Modi was forced into condemning Gau Rakshaks who took law into their hands. But no media house is hyping the fact that one of these cow-loving criminals was a Muslim.
Earlier, we had shown how a journalist working with the Times of India lied on social media, trying to give a casteist angle to a crime. He had claimed that “dalit boys” were beaten by “upper caste”, which was then reported as gospel truth by many media houses, and was used for political propaganda. It was later revealed that 4 Dalits were among the people arrested for the crime. The Times of India reporter had by then deleted the tweet, but the news reports still exist.
Now, Times of India, is running a full-fledged campaign titled “Dalit Fury”. Every few days one sees a full page or at least a half page worth of articles, news reports, opinion pieces focusing solely on the above issue. If you see the caption on top of the page, you will see the words “Dalit Fury”. This of course has nothing to do with the news pieces in Times of India itself where they report how a Times of India owned University has been approved by the Samajwadi Party Government in UP. Conflict of Interest is of course not applicable to media houses.
Hacks from The Indian Express, are desperately trying to spin any event related to Dalits to Cows and Cow vigilantes. Regional journalists are left to clarify the facts:
The attack this time, is not one-sided though. It is not only “Dalits under attack”. Bigots masquerading as media persons have now left all pretence behind. Editor of The Telegraph, has taken to openly baiting lower castes by promoting enmity against Brahmins, all this based on shoddy data:
First we had “Mahaul is more important than Data” from the ever-disappointing Madhu Trehan of Newslaundry, then we had NDTV’s Sunetra Choudhury proclaiming that “news is always subjective”, now another journalist claims “Data is metaphorical”.
As columnist Rupa Subramanya pointed out, Sakarshan’s “data”, comes from an article written by Khushwant Singh way back in 1990! Not only is this “metaphoric data” more than 26 years old, it does not even come from an authentic source. By no stretch of imagination is Khushwant Singh any sort of authority on such data, and neither does he mention any reliable source for his assertion. This is the intellectual and moral bankruptcy journalists in India are ready to plummet to, only to make a point in a set narrative.
All this points to only one thing: There is a clear, concerted effort by some in politics and in the media, to split India along caste fault-lines, primarily for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections, and as they would hope, even for any other electoral battles in the future. On the one hand manufacturing of atrocities against Dalits, and on the other, manufacturing hate for upper castes.
In all this, the biggest casualty will obviously be the real crimes happening against lower castes and dalits. By creating fake data and fake news, media will eventually trivialise the issue, leading the reader to be sceptical about every such event. Where media and civil society should have been fighting earnestly against atrocities on Dalits, we will now see a situation where exaggerated and false reports from media will take away the importance from the real issue.
Not so long ago, getting heard by even your local municipality corporator was unfathomable by most Indians. Then came the social media blitzkrieg by people like Shashi Tharoor and Modi. Modi was perhaps the first politician who saw the vast potential of social media in reaching out to masses and as he formed the government, he enforced his belief in social media outreach across the political and governance spectrum, forcing ministers and government officials and even opposition leaders like Lalu Yadav were forced to follow suit just to keep up with the competition.
And then came first hand social media support by cabinet rank ministers and government agencies over Twitter and Facebook, which literally was perhaps the most game changing move in participative governance, something which isn’t seen anywhere else. However like every other fairy tale, this one was about to find its eventual vamps and villains too.
Recently Twitter was abuzz with tweets about one man from Delhi having to go on his “honeymoon” alone because his wife had lost her passport 2 days before their honeymoon. This was suspiciously similar to this story of a Pakistani woman going on Honeymoon alone cause her husband’s visa was rejected. But there was something more suspicious here than that. Here is the sequence of events:
1. Faizan Patel (who apparently wasn’t a huge fan of Sushma earlier) suddenly out of nowhere posts a tweet praising her on 2nd August:
THENNOW
2. Soon, he goes on to post couple of tweets announcing loss of passport (at home) 2 days before “honeymoon”:
Visa Lost at home
3. And on the 6th of August, leaves abroad for the honeymoon, alone:
4. A few sympathy seeking posts, pics and tweets to Sushma:
5. Sushma replies and issues a duplicate passport to help the couple unite on the trip:
Bet that Pakistani girl who went on Honeymoon alone wished she had a Sushma Swaraj! Fairy tale! But hold on, social media users found a plot twist – The honeymoon wasn’t a honeymoon, the just married couple had not just married.
The couple in question got married in December 2015. They went on Honeymoon to Jim Corbett soon after. The current trip in question seems to be a group tour. Combine all of this together with “losing your passport at home” bit and you will be forgiven for questioning the intent behind the whole saga.
Was it a publicity stunt all the way? Should such privileges meant for emergency situations be extended to the most careless amongst us who lose their passport sitting in the comfy couches? Did they think about milking the situation half way through it? It gets worse when you come across dire situations completely ignored by Sushma Swaraj and her team like these:
Nothing to take away from the amazing work done by Sushma Swaraj and other government departments but in light of genuine dire cases being ignored and seemingly non urgent publicity stunts being given urgent attention, it does make one wonder if the boon of social media is also its bane, if chances of you getting help on twitter is directly proportional to virality of your request and even your marketing skills and social clout.
Faizan Patel, his wife and a lot of their friends could have been, at the very least, unethical in their behaviour for creating a sob-story about newlywed couple on their first honeymoon. They received help based on that story, which appears spiced up. The issue here should not be about whether a Modi-Government hater can ask the Government for help. He certainly can because a Government is elected to serve all people, supporters as well as adversaries. The focus should be on the possibility that a set-up was used to deceive a ministry.
Also, should ministers and government departments have a relook at their social media strategy to make sure the most urgent cases get their attention first and not non urgent publicity stunts? You be the judge.
A running acrimony necessitated a walk down memory lane for me, into a time when the sun seemed to be a little cooler, the air a little clearer and we heard the chirp of birds more than honking vehicles.
For as long back as I look into my childhood I remember the annual celebration of “Saawan” with the unbroken chain of my parents’ Kaanwar Yatras with their large yatra group. I remember my father going on the yatras with my grandmother who was in her late 60s then. After I learnt to button my own shorts, grandmother stopped and my mother joined my father on the annual pilgrimage. My father had an unbroken run for more than 30 years, I remember my mom going along with him for more than 20 years.
Preparations would begin a couple of weeks before the onset of Saawan. There was great excitement for visiting Lord Shiv in Devghar on the first Somvar (first Monday) of Saawan. The saffron kurtas, shorts, mom’s saffron saree would be brought out, washed and dried. My sisters and I were tasked with repairing and decorating the Kaanwars. On the day of departure, many uncles and aunties (everyone in your parents’ age group is either an uncle or an aunty) would gather at one place, men in saffron short sleeved kurtas adorned with the words “Bol Bum” and/or images of Lord Shiv, and shorts, and women in saffron sarees.
My parents’ group, like all others, had people from diverse backgrounds. There’d be Singhjis, Jhajis, Sinhajis, Paswanjis, Manjhijis. There were Brahmins, Rajputs, Bhumihars, Baniyas and Dalits, men and women, young, not-so-young, and old, many of them my father’s subordinates at office. But on the pilgrimage, they’d all address each other with perfect equanimity suffixing “bum” after the names, as Singh-bum, Manjhi-bum, Tiwari-bum, Babloo-bum, Chhotu-bum etc.
This cultural tradition perhaps predates by centuries (possibly millennia) the communist discovery of the need to call each other “Comrades” for equality’s sake!
The kaanwariyas congregated and pooled auto rickshaws to the bus stand and even the autos would have stickers of Lord Shiv or ‘Bol Bum’ written. The entire road and nearly the entire colony would be in a deluge of saffron, for almost every house had a kaanwariya. Before they left they’d sing and dance on the roads to beats of the dholak and folk songs in honor of the Lord. Maithilis would tastefully sing Vidyapati’s songs written in the 14th century. It was great fun to watch the otherwise grumpy looking uncles in shorts, dancing clumsily but spirited, happy and carefree, to the beats of the dholak.
The party would leave and the colony would be in the hands of the kids until the next week. This was particularly exciting for me because there’d be no one to stop me from watching TV or playing beyond sunset or coaxing me to study. Or so I would think…
My sisters would suddenly turn mom for me and stop me from doing everything that mom or dad would stop me from. In a few years I would myself learn to conduct more responsibly in my parents’ absence. The colony would also turn up to parent us in the interim, with aunties and uncles paying visits and checking if we needed something. The neighborhood doodh-wala would deliver milk at homes of all the pilgrims. The kirana-wala would often reassure “paisa rakho, kuchh aur zarurat pada toh? Note kar lete hain, papa ayenge to le lenge”. (Don’t pay, you might need it for something else. I’ll make a note in my books. I will take it from your father upon his return).
This annual pilgrimage brought out the best even in those who did not go for it. Apart from the inherent human goodness and community values, they did it for sharing the blessings of Lord Shiv by serving families of the pilgrims in whatever little way they could. They were not bound by considerations of caste or status.
On the 108 km barefooted walk from Sultanpur to Devghar, my parents and their group would walk together in the rain and the sun, support when one slipped, nurse each other’s blisters or when one hurt their feet. They cooked and ate together, sang religious and folk songs together. The speed of the journey was determined by the slowest, for nobody should be left behind.
Upon their return from the Kanwar Yatra, us kids and our neighbours would get together and we would wash the feet of all Kanwariyas with lukewarm water and wipe them dry. All kids and our neighbours would partake in washing the Kanwariyas’ swollen feet, ridden with cuts, huge blisters and the skin of their soles scaling out. It was believed that Kanwariyas on the pilgrimage and back are manifestations of Lord Shiv himself and serving them is the surest way to earn the Lord’s bliss.
My mom was particularly greedy about it and would ensure that we had touched and washed every foot. I would feel icky about the blisters and the hanging skins initially and would make sure I only touched the cleaner areas. Embarrassed, my mom would yell at me and order me to wash properly. One Majhi uncle, a Dalit, would feel very shy and coyly tell my mom, “Ap bachho se pair chhulwa ke paap karwayengi bhabhi ji” (You’ll make me sin by having my feet touched by children). But he’d have to give in to my mom’s insistence.
The next few days would be very difficult for my parents as it would be for others. They’d invariably fall ill. They’d be cranky and irritable and in a lot pain with aching bodies and blisters. Hoards of people would visit us to touch their feet, as with other pilgrims at their homes. As long as the blisters stayed, the grace of Lord Shiva was with them! And my parents wouldn’t mind elders by a few years, touching their feet because they knew they only wanted to earn some of the lord’s bliss and were happy to share it.
With such fond memories of Kaanwar yatras alive and vivid in my mind, it hurts to see news articles and tweets from eminent media personalities viciously attacking and maligning Kaanwariyas. Over the last few days, in interludes between “dalit atrocities have risen under Modi” stories, kaanwariyas have been charged with being traffic nightmares, being hoodlums, being jobless and causing terror:
This is how Kaanwar Yatra and kaanwariyas are mentioned now
One eminent journo who specializes in coup-fiction, fell short of declaring them as the cause of deluge in Delhi and Gurgaon. I am intrigued by the sudden attention to and animosity for Kaanwariyas in the liberal circles.
There are complaints of angry behaviour, bordering on “terror”, from kaanwariyas. The dumbing down and appalling usage of the word “terror” is shocking. One must understand that a crowd has a different mentality and a lesser bandwidth for reason vis-à-vis instigation. A crowd oppressed with travail may be even more flippant towards commuters (I mentioned my parents’ crankiness earlier). But likening them to “terror” is doing grave injustice to the people who have suffered at the hands of real “terror”.
The scale may be less pronounced but we are not unknown to the socio-ecological phenomenon at play here. In ecology, we study man-animal conflicts, in demography we study migration, refugee crises and the conflicts that fall out of it.
Kaanwariyas used to own the tracks, but the tracks have now been replaced by pitched roads. The cities and their motorists own the roads. There are two kinds of participants on the same route now, each unable to relate with the other’s priorities, each thinking of the other as the “invader”. Lately, governments have thought over it and laudably so:
The conflict?
But could this administrative focus have brought Kanwar Yatras into liberal focus too? A celebration so massive that governments have to ramp up and make elaborate arrangements, and that must prove to be an eyesore for the “liberals”.
Holi has been beaten with the stick of water conservation concerns, Diwali with environment conservation and scared stray dogs’ concerns, Maha-kumbh with drug abuse and prostitution concerns, Ganpati Puja with law & order, corruption, water pollution concerns, but fortuitously, Kaanwar Yatras were left out… until now. Will they be beaten with law and order and administrative concerns until studies are conducted in JNU, Jadhopur and by Oxbridge liberals and more solid concerns, threatening human existence on planet earth are identified?
At a time when liberals are disturbed, pained and outraged by “sudden appearance of, and rapidly increasing atrocities against Dalits under Modi”, the egalitarian tradition of Kaanwar yatras where castes and classes evaporate, should give them hope! Or could this be their biggest problem?
At a time when they’re assiduously peddling re-emergence and virulent propagation of Dailt atrocities, Kaanwar yatras stand in the way of their targeted imagery? The entire liberal ecosystem’s existence in India depends on keeping Dalits as Dalits. When dalits stop feeling wronged, there’ll be none to outrage for! More importantly, if Dalits connect with their Hindu identity, their entire dream of a divided Hindu society falls flat. This would be a giant thorn sticking from their throats right down to the liberal intestines!
Maybe it’s a combination of all these concerns for the detractors. That’s why the modern propaganda must be countered to keep these age-old traditions alive and realize their integrative potential. All the same, the genuine concerns should be dealt with administratively and with targeted messaging in order to deal with changes and conflicts.
My parents’ Kaanwar group transmorphed into an extended family, specially post-retirement. All Kaanwariyas from the group keep in touch and visit each other often. Owing to age & frailty, their kaanwar yatras have discontinued but have been replaced by get-togethers once a year over satsangs. Most kids have families and the kids are each other’s family friends now. 108 km of torturous walk together has given all of them friendships that would comfort them for life.
Towards the end of a ‘town hall’ organized by MyGov, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave an unexpected headline to the media: he launched an attack on those calling themselves ‘gau rakshaks’ i.e. cow protectors.
The statement by Modi was not in response to any direct question posed by any participant of the town hall. Thus it can be argued that he considered it important to convey this message.
There is a context to it: Of late, there have been many reports in the media, especially after the Una incident in Gujarat, where cow vigilante groups have taken law into their own hands and indulged in violence under garb of cow protection. On most occasions, the victims of violence in these cases were dalits.
In fact, it all started with the beef ban debate in March last year when an almost 20 years old law passed by Maharashtra assembly banning cattle slaughter and sale of beef became talking point again. The so-called liberals made it appear as if ban on cow slaughter and beef consumption was something introduced in India by Narendra Modi, even though it has been a part of Directive Principles of the constitution.
The beef debate reached its climax with the Dadri lynching incident in Uttar Pradesh in September last year, where a man named Akhlaq was killed on suspicion of killing a cow and consuming beef. Many commentators in media questioned Narendra Modi’s silence on the issue, but Modi never issued a direct statement about it.
The closest Modi came to talking about the Dadri incident was during an election rally before Bihar assembly elections when he asked Hindus and Muslims not to fight on petty issues. But he didn’t say anything about beef or cow protection. In fact, before the last leg of Bihar elections, BJP issued ads that talked about cow protection.
Apart from Dadri incident, another incident that hogged limelight was one where two suspected cattle smugglers were killed and hanged from a tree in Jharkhand in March this year. The media chose to focus on religion of the victims, who happened to be Muslims, and made it about beef even though it was about cattle smuggling. Modi didn’t speak up about cow vigilantism after this as well.
A couple of months back media highlighted yet another report where two suspected cow smugglers – again Muslims – were beaten up and reportedly made to eat cow dung by “gau-rakshaks”. This was the first major story that involved gau-rakshaks as earlier ones were mostly about some village groups not necessarily belonging to any political or social organization. This incident was filmed and triggered a series of many videos showing cow vigilante groups indulging in violence. Again, Modi didn’t speak after it.
But Modi has spoken now.
Has he surrendered to the media narrative and reacted to an agenda set by the “liberals” by doing so?
Some on the “right” appear to think so.
It’s a clear climb down; however, it will be quite naive to think that Modi has surrendered only due to the media pressure. Media has been cooking the beef story for around 2 years now claiming “minorities” under siege. What is noteworthy is that Modi chose to break his silence only after “dalits” entered the scene, that too in his home state Gujarat i.e. after the Una incident last month.
There was nothing special in media coverage of Una, which could be argued to be missing in Akhlaq or other stories. What was special this time was large group of people – dalits – coming out in streets to protest against the incident. And unlike a rowdy group damaging properties, some of these dalits used “suicide” as a mode of protest. Unfortunately one person who committed suicide to protest died earlier this week.
Modi surrendered to that pressure.
It should be noted that the attempt to hyphenate Muslims and Dalits over beef issue has been on agenda since March 2015 itself. When the ‘beef ban’ chatter of Maharashtra started, the Adarsh Liberals tried to claim it was anti-dalit as well, but that chatter was limited to their inner circles only in their board rooms and editorial spaces. The Una incident took the chatter to streets, and the agenda threatened to materialize.
Modi surrendered to that threat.
It’s clear that Modi sees dalits as his potential voters, and that he needs to reach out to them. He was not trying to score brownie points with media or Adarsh Liberals by branding majority of gau-rakshaks criminals, but he was sending a signal to the dalits – that someone appearing to represent me can’t damage your dignity and security.
The section on the “right” angry over Modi sees his statement as surrender to the “liberal” agenda. From that point of view, Modi appears erring by issuing a statement itself, and thus responding to an agenda. Not only that, he errs by not raising the issue about cow slaughter, cattle smuggling (it can destroy a rural family for whom cattle could be the only asset), and Hindu sentiments for cows while condemning gau-rakshaks.
But for Modi, he was not reacting to any liberal agenda, he was communicating to dalits.
Whether he has been successful in communicating, we will know after the elections in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
Of late the BJP government has been heavily criticized for silence on Cow Vigilantes. Before today, Narendra Modi had not given any powerful statement on the issue. Today, while speaking at the first MyGov townhall, Narendra Modi has expressed his anger against people who are running around as cow vigilantes
#WATCH PM Narendra Modi’s strong criticism against so called “gau rakshaks” (cow protectors) in the nation.https://t.co/qF3vbbjnJv
Modi said that he was extremely angered by these so called Gau Rakshaks who are in fact involved in anti social activities and use Cow Vigilantism as a facade. He also requested state governments to track people who are leading cow-vigilante groups. He ask people to instead become Gau Sevaks by saving cows who die due to ingestion of plastic. Modi’s angry statement against cow-vigilante took no time to make national headlines and a hot topic on the social media. This is how social media have reacted:
PM @narendramodi rightly said in his Town Hall Interaction a few people are indulging in anti social activities under garb of Gau Rakshaks.
