Secularism and shit

Have we exhausted all options that political parties are fighting over who spoke about sanitary facilities first? If this is a necessity, then go and build those toilets instead of throwing up nonsense.

In his now familiar style of useless rhetoric, Narendra Modi told a group of 7000 students in Delhi:

"My image is that of Hindutva but I'll tell you my real thinking. I have said in my state: pehle shauchalaya, phir devalaya (toilets first, temples later)."

It is not his image that is the problem, but his fake attempts to wipe that image when and where it suits him. Addressing a young audience in the capital is different from repeating these words before the RSS, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and his own party, the BJP.

Will Modi say this in Ayodhya? Will he say this while talking to the sadhus who blessed him at the Maha Kumbh? Will he make this into an electoral issue and expunge any reference to temples? Will he be able to sell this idea at the woo-the-minority rallies and add other places of worship too?

It is not only Hindutvawadis who need to use the facilities.

He further stated:

"I define secularism as nation first, India first. Justice to all, appeasement to none. No votebank politics - a poor man is a poor man, where he prays is immaterial."

Why is this only about the poor? The majority that lives in the rural areas have figured out how to use waste as manure. He knows that the poor do not vote if they are promised toilets. They first need something to eat before they can digest it. They need water, they need jobs, they need healthcare, they need electricity, they need roads. They are not looking for a special place to take a dump. Not until their other needs are fulfilled.

And they really do not spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about where they can pray. They just raise their hands when they want rains, and they fall to the ground when they want the earth to sustain them. They do not need temples or mosques or churches.

Justice is not only about toilets. Modi should know that.

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Not to be left behind, the Congress has joined in to claim credit for the toilet idea.

Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh is on surer ground here, though. He had said this last year, and now recalls:

"When I spoke, Rajiv Pratap Rudy said I should respect the fine line between faith and religion. Then he went on to say that the BJP maintains that one should not get into the debate of whether a temple or toilet is more important. Prakash Javadekar also attacked me. Activists of the RSS and VHP came to my house and left bottles of urine. I wonder where they are now when Mr Modi has suddenly discovered the value of toilets. I still believe we need more toilets than temples. I wish Modi had discovered this 20 years ago, then we would not have had the Babri Masjid episode."

The point is, has the Congress done anything about those toilets? Talk is cheap.

After the demolition of the Babri Masjid, there were many ideas floated by Indian citizens, not politicians. Among those that suggested building hospitals and schools, some even mentioned toilets.

I personally think this is reductionism. Nobody is really interested in these non-controversial issues unless they are used to promote 'development'. Imagine a basic facility being touted as development. Worse, it is not the ones who are supposed to benefit making the demand, but those with all the amenities. They start the fire and then use the smoke. A stinky smokescreen for secularism again.

© Farzana Versey

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Images: GujaratIndia & New York Times

Hindus, Muslims and a Toilet

Next time I want to become part of the ‘mainstream’ I will wear red bracelets. If any of you thought that Hinduism was associated with saffron, then according to the ISI’s Major Iqbal it is not quite so. It is red. The Left parties are still nursing wounds and here some Pakistani even takes away their colour. Oh, but the Hindutvawadis had also taken away the hammer during Babri no? And maybe the sickle during the excavation? Commies are bereft and all because of the ISI.

One more story on the David Headley 'investigation'. He bought 15 red bracelets to be worn by the attackers so that they could disguise themselves as Hindus. This is part of the evidence and I can imagine those American backpacker tourists saying, “Yeah, yeah, that’s wotwesaah at those aahsim taimpills.”

I saw Shakti Kapoor wearing one. At the Ajmer dargah. Every religion has this red thread/bracelet thing, okay? Honestly, can we get serious about this? Would the Indian intelligence authorities look at the wrists of suspects? Next they will say people with varicose veins are chosen to be disguised as green Muslims.

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Smita Thackeray has complimented Muslims for not being swayed by LeT and al Qaida. What to do, Smitaji. We only sway when we are drunk.

“It is a matter of great satisfaction that Muslims have retained faith in India’s unity and communal harmony.”

Gee, thanks. Now your turn.

“The prayers of Hindus and Muslims will shield Balasaheb from any threat. The Ajmal Kasabs, Ranas and David Headleys can’t touch him, Sonia-ji or Manmohan Singh.”

What about atheists?

Ms. Thackeray’s new-found interest is because she is making a film called Babri on Babri. She insists it will be from the common man’s perspective. Of course. I should hope to see a lot of Behrampada, of Madhukar Sarpotdar and the arms, of people being made to pull down their pants in cosmopolitan Mumbai, of honest cops who were transferred. It can all be fictionalised.

Incidentally, Aamir Khan has helped her with the script. This is one common man we can wash our hands of and who will do anything to market anything.

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I do not know of many people who if they need to go the loo will take the name of the toilet. Will someone who happens to be in the Bhuleshwar area and wishes to use the facilities say, “I want to go to Kasturba Gandhi”?

No. But we have to create a noise. One bloke is angry because of one such toilet name:

“This is my fight because the public seems to be afraid to speak up. I think the British (appear in a better light) at this point since they named the road after Kasturba Gandhi, thus honouring her. We, on the other hand, have done the opposite and degraded her.”

Her husband degraded her long ago when he gave her a broom and expected her to clean lavatories. Mahatma Gandhi had great respect for ‘toilet training’. The self-righteousness by citizens is unnecessary. Shit happens, so no need to get pissed off.

Rishtey mein Lord Ram hamare baap lagte hain?

It is lecture time. “The interest of ordinary Muslims in new India lies in embracing modernity,” says Minhaz Merchant. The headline of the editorial page piece in The Times of India is ‘Educate, Don’t Appease’. It assumes, therefore, that only the uneducated are appeased and the white knights like Mr. Merchant are not.

I will tell you how they are. In his own precious words:

As a group of visiting senior Muslim clergy from Ayodhya, with wisdom born of great learning, said recently to Swami Shri Swaroopananda Saraswati, the highly respected Shankaracharya of Dwarka: “Even though our religions are different, we share the blood of the Hindus.” The Shankaracharya replied gently: “That makes our Lord Ram your ancestor as well.”

Very well, we are family and all. Then, rishtey mein Babar is also daddy dearest to Hindus, no? And most certainly Emperor Akbar? After all, he was married to Jodha bai and used to rock the cradle with Krishna’s idol, at least that is what they showed in Mughal-e-azam. So, if you want to play ball, then you have to be on the same court. You can’t just lob it up in the air.

The author goes on to state:

This is not just about genealogy – it reflects India’s embedded religious diversity.

Sure. The TOI used this picture with the headline, ‘Reinforce the tolerance that unifies’.

Tolerance has to be mutual, even though I dislike the word tolerance. You cannot have one idea of god and a stereotype of another religion paying obeisance to that god and call it diversity.


I had written about just such a narrow vision in the article Mainstream Terror:

It is interesting that while the urban elite has taken over religious celebrations and consumerised it, they use the ‘backward’ idea to drive home the point of India’s colourfulness. It almost seems like they are sitting away and cheering at a spectator sport.

My real issue, though, is how the Muslim clergy and the shankaracharyas are considered the only wise folks around worth quoting. Does the author not talk about modernity? Then why is he appeasing religious heads?

Grow up and get your priorities right. It is shameless and insensitive that this piece was written as a prelude to the December 6 Babri Masjid demolition’s 18th anniversary. Was that appeasement or modernity?

Why wait for the verdict?

Let’s wait. No, said the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad Supreme Court. A retired bureaucrat, Ramesh Chand Tripathi, filed a petition challenging this.
It gets even more bizarre:

The Court fixed September 28 as next date of hearing, keeping in mind that one of the judges would be retiring on the 30th of this month.

So, instead of a week, it is five days because a judge is to retire? Can’t his retirement be deferred? What if a judge falls ill or something worse happens?

It has now become an issue about disagreement among judges about whether the verdict should be delayed rather than the verdict. What is Tripathi’s motive?

In the petition filed through advocate Sunil Jain, he cited several reasons for deferment of the verdict, which he said would be in "public interest" in view of the apprehension of communal flare up, upcoming Commonwealth Games, elections in Bihar and violence in Kashmir Valley and Naxal-hit states.

There is always something happening in this country and insurgency movements are not going to disappear. I have said this earlier, the communal flare-up idea creates a fear psychosis and works as auto-suggestion. Besides, this issue was establishment-created militancy. How will a delay help? According to the senior counsel:

the matter of judgement should be deferred so that religious, political and national leaders could try and work out a solution. He also said it was not a matter of just 10 or 20 parties in the case but related to lakhs and crores of people and the mediation could result in some way out.

Why did he file a case this late? How will a solution be worked out when the matter is subjudice? It has been 17 years and about nine months. No mediation has worked. And what is there to mediate about? This is not about lachs and crores of people; it is about the property. Once that has been determined, then there is scope for mediation. Whoever it belongs to will need to prove how the structure came up there, why it was demolished, why it resulted in large-scale riots and why nothing has been done.

Just putting it off by a few days is not going to change things. In fact, it will create tension, which is perhaps the whole intention. Nobody likes a quiet judgement where the parties will have to come to terms with the verdict and then act upon it in some concrete manner and answer the queries I have posed above and which have far greater ramifications than whose land it is.

Tripathi has not got the bureaucratic worm out of his system and is into prevaricating and file pushing.

The Supreme Court should have insisted that the Allahabad High Court go ahead and make the announcement. We are wasting time and resources on this and it appears to be a devious trick to keep the fire burning.

Ayodhya door ast

L.K. Advani is by far the shrewdest politician India has produced since Mahatma Gandhi. When he talks about pseudo-secularism he should be looking at the mirror for no one is as pseudo about it as he, his seal of secularism to Jinnah being precious irony. He has pretty much created the worst possible post-Partition partition in India. And all he had to do was "dream", his word, about a temple in India...

Pushing the idea of Papa Babar, Advani completely destabilised the middle-class...These people have puja rooms in a little corner of their homes, visit the local temple, go on pilgrimages, but never did they hallucinate about such a fractured fantasy. Now, having an opinion on the Ayodhya issue has become a psychological need.

Full column at Express Tribune:

http://tribune.com.pk/story/52475/ayodhya-door-ast/

Beyond Ayodhya's property dispute

What judgement can they pronounce on the Ayodhya case when it is now referred to as the “60-year-old Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhoomi title suit”? 18 years ago it was just the Babri Masjid, a mosque that was demolished with the connivance of the political leaders. Just as it supposedly was several hundreds of years earlier by the Mughals. They were conquerors, as I have to point out each time I write about this. The people who called for its demolition in 1992 were our own politicians in our own democracy.

The judgement to be announced on September 6 will be about the piece of land. The media has one more topic to create fear and then try to assuage the dread. Since the Vishwa Hindu Parishad held a core meeting in July, some fellow from the Helal Committee and a tea stall owner, one Muslim, one Hindu (cute) are afraid because when that happened in 1992, there was also a four month gap. Are these guys calculators?

Then there are cops stationed outside and someone “lowers his voice” and says they were there the last time too! They have been there all these years, the site has been fenced. What do they expect? It has nothing to do with judgement day but the way things have been.

To make the event more interesting in what the TOI refers to as the ‘temple town’ – could someone tell me how many temples are there and how many are regularly visited as pilgrim sites? – we have the sadhus enter the fray:

Recently, Ayodhya woke up to another high drama—this time a non-stop recitation of Hanuman Chalisa, 11 times in 121 temples, to mark the official launch of the Hanumat Shakti Jagran Anushthan—a four-month long saffron jamboree to “awaken the somnolent Hindu pride”. “Lord Hanuman, say scriptures, needs to be reminded of his might now and then. He tends to be quite oblivious of his true potential,” says Mahant Nritya Gopal Das, the burly head of Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas.

Sitting in the Maniram Chhavni, a sprawling marble fortress amid a bevy of guntotting security men, the mahant insists it is purely an apolitical and religious affair. “We are seeking His intervention to rehabilitate Ramlalla, and no offence meant to anyone,” he said with a smile.

They have every right to do their recitation, but why does a man of god need gun-toting security men? How is it apolitical when the idea is to rehabilitate the idol, which was a political act? Is Hindu pride dependant on such recitations and how will it get awakened? Why does Lord Hanuman have to be reminded of his might now? And why does he have to intervene when the case is in the courts and there is no Sita to be saved, for the marauders were the ones using the name of Hanuman’s hero, Ram?

Whatever the court verdict, and I hope politicians stay out of it and not make political capital, it will help the vote banking parties, and they run across the spectrum. I am not particularly concerned about who gets the property. And I hope Muslims just accept the judgement on it. The mosque has gone.

However, no Indian citizen should permit anyone to take charge of the site until those who were responsible for the demolition and the engineered riots and deaths are punished. Not a single individual must go scot-free. Not the cops, not the politicians, not the bureaucrats, not the religious leaders, not the lumpen elements who can be identified.

And make sure that the compensation monies are paid with interest for all these years when people have been at the mercy of the Establishment. This was not separatists; they were people who get elected and who in fact came to power after this. They are paid to look after our interest and to protect every citizen. If citizens commit any crime, there is a judicial process where they must be tried.

Just in case these leaders forget, they happen to be citizens of India too and they darn well be treated like us.

Justice?

I am not terribly enthused about the 1,000 page report by Justice M S Liberhan. It says what has been said so many times these past so many years. It was obvious that it was a conspiracy by the BJP, Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal and VHP...

to not just demolish the Babri Masjid but bring the country “to the brink of communal discord”.

To the brink? It was a communal carnage, dammit.

Some of us have called Atal Behari Vajpayee a “pseudo-moderate’’ and worse.

Bal Thackeray is saying what he has said often:

“My brave soldiers were on the forefront in this battle. Some of them even laid down their lives for the cause.”

Amar Singh’s secular stunts do not even count.

Tell us who is going to be put behind bars and when will those who have not yet got justice get it.

Do we know? Are there records?

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We seem to know more about our neighbour. Take this from General Deepak Kapoor:

“There are estimated 42 terrorist training camps in Pakistan as per intelligence reports. The total number of militants staged in these camps is roughly between 2,000 and 2,500, and they are ready to infiltrate to this side.”

The Army is, of course, prepared:

“We are ready to deal with them to ensure safety and security of the people of J&K.”

Jammu and Kashmir is not all of India, Sir. If we have all this information, how come we did not know anything about the handful who landed in Mumbai?

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Vaishali Ombale may not meet Sonia Gandhi, but she is doing her bit. The daughter of assistant sub-inspector Tukaram Ombale, who was killed in the 26/11 attack, has declined any monetary aid without making a fuss over it.

She has asked the organisations to use it for needy children; she also handed over a cheque of Rs 1 lakh to Rukhsana, the Kashmiri girl who killed a Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist when militants barged into their house. (Seen in the picture with Vaishali on the left.)

Explaining her stand, she said:

“Had the money, which is being donated to us by many, been used to purchase modern arms and ammunitions, lives of a few policemen could have been saved today.”

End quote:

“God bless you for saying that!” cried Miss Harrison. “If we keep our courage and our patience the truth must come out.”

– Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Naval Treaty

Thanks, Justice Liberhan, but no thanks

I understand these things take time. That is not my grouse against the M. S. Liberhan Report into the 1992-93 riots following the demolition of the Babri Masjid that has finally been handed over to the Prime Minister. I dislike the attitude of secrecy. Some of us had already questioned the lies of these leaders as recently as two months ago. (Those who are waiting for the report to be made public, please do take a look at the link.)

The report is not public and there are only titbits being shared with the people – people who are still waiting for justice for what happened 17 years ago, people who lost homes, families, dignity. People who became ‘others’. If it is being kept under wraps, then how are newspapers mentioning who has been indicted and for what? Here is the rogue’s gallery:

• L K Advani: For the rath yatra he took out to mobilise support to build a Ram temple where the masjid stood, and, on the fateful day, for failing to control the crowds he had helped mobilise
• Murli Manohar Joshi: Was present on the platform near Babri with Advani
• Uma Bharti: At the site, had reportedly expressed joy when the mosque was pulled down
• Sadhvi Rithambara: Allegedly incited mob
• Ashok Singhal: Was present, allegedly incited the frenzied mob
• Kalyan Singh: Was CM of UP, failed to control BJP’s kar sevaks
• Faizabad district officials: Severely indicted for their role during the demolition.
• P V Narasimha Rao: The PM of the Congress government at the Centre who allegedly failed to act in time and prevent demolition

It took 17 years, 399 sittings, 100 witnesses, 48 extensions and Rs 9 crore, most of this money was spent on staff salaries.

I am also angry that newspapers are making it into a Muslim issue. It is a Muslim issue in as much as the community was targeted during the riots, but the onus of justice is on the government, the judiciary, and the country. Indians, every Indian, must be involved in the process.

There were several people affected and many activists who worked to get justice. Now one of the reports in the TOI has a headline that has the gall to state: “Delay robs Liberhan report of fizz”. This is not some cola we are talking about. Did they talk about losing the fizz when the saffron fellows went hammering at the mosque? Did they mention that raking up an old Mughal era ‘wrong’ took away the fizz? No. In those days TOI had stopped covering the Srikrishna Committee hearings. This is a matter of national interest and national justice. You want your Response Department to get cola ads, try some other trick.

The judge says he is now free.

No, he is not. He has a responsibility since he has mentioned that the report got delayed due to the non-cooperation of some people. He will have to see it through. That is what the judiciary is about. It is not there to warm some benches in court. Should the government fail to act or act selectively, then he must be in the forefront to question it. This is not some private gupshup session where you can allege things but not give a damn about making those alleged culpable.

Has anyone noticed how the Times of India that flashes “Let truth prevail” on its masthead has started writing alleged in every report?

Worse, the 'alleged' is in italics. Is a newspaper not supposed to have the courage when it reports something? Does it only want to save itself from legal action should the situation arise? It alleges even for civic cases. I wonder how the reporters feel about their hard work and investigative skills going to waste. This is doubting your own women and men doing the legwork and making you the big newspaper you claim you are.

I have also seen columns with this execrable word. Don’t the columnists have any convictions? Aren’t their opinions important enough to them? Of course, there are some lightweights who become turncoats all too easily, but even so after all claims to be frank and fearless I cannot understand why they don’t protest.

A Times of India gem from the main front page report: “Incidentally, half of India’s T-20 squad was in primary school when Justice Liberhan was tasked with the probe.” What has it got to do with the Commission? Was any member of their families affected or part of the brigade that engineered the riots? There were several young people in this country who were children then, most have never been to primary school.

Another TOI nugget: Its Times Global page has a little homily over it: ‘Love all nations alike’! I think Karan Johar is their subconscious guest editor…

Uma Bharti ji, may I show you the light?

Dear Sadhviji:

You talk of upholding the truth, but you are lying that you don’t know who demolished the Babri Masjid. This is like saying Hanumanji, who you called your brother, did not burn Lanka.

You said, “...In fact, everyone was in the dark about the demolition except those who did it. We still don’t know who did it… Advaniji and (H V) Sheshadriji (of the RSS) have also said this…”

I will show you your own lies soon. Let us first get the reason for your new-found amnesia out of the way first.

Kalyan Singh cries he don’t know whodunit.

He said he was given to understand that a symbolic “kar seva’’ would be performed for the construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya.

Oh yeah? A symbolic kar seva with thousands of kar sevaks gathered at the site and engraved bricks being transported? This does not happen overnight. They also had designer padukas made; interestingly, the guys who made these wooden sandals are Muslim. And it all started with Advaniji's rath yatra.

Advani starting the process in his Toyota caravan

So Umaji, you are being audacious. You think you can get away with it? Yes. Because our people don’t care. But some of us want to show you your face, not just in the mirror but in the muddied pool you have been a part of. You, dear lady, had told the Press Trust of India in February:

"I feel sorry for him (Kalyan Singh), as why he tendered an apology in the Babri Masjid demolition. After all it was the issue of Ram Temple, which made him the chief minister."

On the Ram temple, you said:

"The issue has ended on December 6, 1992 itself. It could be said that the demolition of Babri Masjid was a victory for the Hindu society and a defeat for the BJP. Now the Ram Temple could be built only through consensus."

Kar sevaks atop the mosque

Still in the dark?

Here’s some light:

The Indian Express did a detailed report on this ‘being in the dark’ business some years ago:

Anju Gupta, an IPS officer, was barely two months into her job when she was asked to take charge of L K Advani’s security on December 6, 1992. Her testimony to the police, to the CBI and to the Liberhan Commission, is perhaps the most damning against Advani.

Ms. Gupta was sitting next to Shri Advani on the dais. This is what she said:

• “Advani ke aate hi, mahaul garam ho gaya. Jaise hi Advani bolte gaye, mahaul garam hota gaya. (No sooner had Advani arrived than the situation became tense. And it worsened as he spoke.)”

• “I did not see any of these leaders making any effort to stop the demolition of the disputed structure. Advani was sad only about the fact that people were falling off the domes and dying.’’

• “When the first, second and third domes fell, Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Rithambara hugged each other and distributed sweets. They also hugged men. Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Rithambara expressed happiness by hugging Advani, Joshi and S C Dixit. After the domes fell, they congratulated each other.’’

If you don’t know who did it even after this, then you wouldn’t be aware that Advaniji, our country’s PM candidate from the BJP, was shouting on the loudspeaker asking the kar sevaks to come down. If he did not know who did it, then who was he calling out to?

To quote Ms. Gupta again:

• “Advani asked me what was happening elsewhere and I told him I did not know anything.’’

Now comes the real smart part. The magistrate decided it meant that Advani was ‘‘in the dark’’ about the demolition!

It was a slimy thing, but one does not expect any better. Ms Gupta said that he started appealing to kar sevaks to come down from the domes only after he learnt from her that the mosque was being demolished from below and that those on top were falling down and getting injured.

Kaam khatam, paisa hajam.

Remains of the day

Umaji, even if one gives you the benefit of doubt as zakat, you can see these pictures. This was 1992. Internet had not arrived in India. The photographers from the media all over the world could not possibly have sat with the same Photoshop software to create this only to keep you in the dark, right?

Look at these pictures closely and tell me who these people are. Indians. Hindutva goons. Kar sevaks. Gathered there for a purpose. With the blessings and incitement of the saffron party leaders.

Why did you hug Sadhvi Rithambara after the demolition if you didn’t know who did it? Do you applaud when someone wins a match if you don’t know who is playing? Get over it.

I hope you are biting your tongue right now. Yes. Do it hard. And hold your ears and seek the pardon of Lord Ram over whose shoulders you and your fellow liars ride. It would be an insult to him, but you have been insulting him for years.

You people are an insult to the nation. Next time, think a hundred times before you want to take credit for trying to usher in Hindu Raj. You might even forget that...you don't need light, but lightening.