The modern thinking Indian

The current turmoil in Jammu shows no sign of letting up. Part of the turmoil has been scripted, with the BJP and other parties such as the Shiv Sena also using this as an opportunity to demonstrate against both the State Government (previously headed by a Congress Chief Minister and now by the representative of the Central Congress Government), and against the Central Government. However, as of now, the agitation seems to have caught on a rage of its own, and the turmoil over there is threatening the peace in the region.
What is the background of this agitation ? Some time back, the State Governor (as head of the Amarnath Yatra Board) proposed that some land be transferred to the Yatra Board so as to facilitate the building of some pre-fabricated structures for the benefit of pilgrims. The conditions over there are not very easy, and building such facilities would make a lot of sense. However, once this decision was ratified by the State Government, the crisis started. There were agitations in Srinagar against this move, with many calling this a move to do some population shifts. Soon, the situation began to be seen as an anti-Hindu move, and Islamists started to take advantage, marking the resurgence of pro-Independence and pro-Pakistan slogans.
After this agitation threatened to shut down the Valley, the State Government shifted stands, and decided to reverse the transfer of land, portraying a Congress Government as again buckling down to pressure and taking a decision that was against the interest of Hindus. Historically, Jammu has always suffered in the state - Jammu and Kashmir has always been composed of 3 major regions, Jammu, Ladakh and the Valley. Jammu is hindu-majority, Ladakh is Buddhist, and the valley is muslim majority. In all these years, there has been a feeling that because of the need to keep the sensitivities of the only muslim majority state in the country, Jammu has always suffered second-grade treatment. It seems that the move to make this issue as a major issue in Jammu (and many other parts of India) is able to use this feeling.
What can be done now ? It's very tricky. The Government in its current state will not be able to again reverse itself and grant the land to the Amarnath Board, and it will do all it can to please with the BJP and the other parties to withdraw the agitation in Jammu.

Labels: Anger, BJP, Congress, Discrimination, Morality, Muslim, Politics

Who would have believed that something like this could happen even a month back ? When last year the Prime Minister had declared that his (actually, the Congress party of Sonia Gandhi) was not a one-issue Government, it was taken for granted that with the Left putting a veto on the nuclear deal, and with the allies unwilling to sacrifice the Government for a nuclear deal, the nuclear deal was as good as dead. And even recently, when the Government again raised the issue, it seemed like with the Left unwilling to back down, the deal would not happen, and the entire issue would be political posturing.
And then, suddenly, like a Jack in the Box suddenly popping out, the Congress and the Prime Minister appear to have outsmarted the Left. With the Left even otherwise not leaving a chance to criticize the Government over many issues, the Government must have been chafing at the tone used by the Left (the Congress, even in a coalition Government is never really tolerant of the people providing support). And the political movement by the Congress and the Samajwadi Party must have surprised the CPM and their other left brothers the maximum. They have been so used to being able to turn the heat on the Government that even the slightest hint of alternate support from the SP will be enough to make the Congress stand up and look the left in the eye.
And this is what precisely seems to have happened. The Congress will appreciate the support provided by the 39 MP's of the SP (vs. the 59 MP's of the Left); at the same time, the SP is in a bad state in its home state of Uttar Pradesh. Mayawati's political stars look to be continually on the rise, and the SP really needs an alliance to prevent the split of its votes. And one has to admire its political cunning - in order to avoid the charge of being anti-Muslim and get a reason for changing its stand to a nuclear-deal supporter, it used a meeting with APJ Kalam to showcase as a reason for changing its stand. He is a former President and a missile man, so his support is important to justify a change in stand, and he is a middle class and educated Muslim icon, so this will help mollify its Muslim base.
Where does this leave the Left ? It has an alltime high of 59 MP's, but Kerala is famous for changing its political mind quickly, and the Left suffered some major reversals in West Bengal local elections, thus ensuring that early next elections could see a much reduced Left MP count. Even now, it could almost seem like that they are no longer relevant.

Labels: Congress, Deal, Election, Left, Muslim, Nuclear, Reform

Probably a major under-statement, given the events so far over the 2 separate agitations that has taken place in 2007, and 2008. Crores worth of public property has been destroyed, the railways has lost massively both because of destruction of railways lines and equipment and due to large scale cancellation of trains. Tourism in the region will take a knock (especially with the bombs of just a few weeks back in Jaipur) with advisories already having been issued and coverage of these protests in the international media; and normal people have been put to massive hardships. But, this is not the end. As long as the politics of reservation will keep on getting patronized by various Governments, they will face such kind of issues. For example, who would have believed that the North East could see such a problem:

SHILLONG: As protests of the Gujjars, who are demanding ST status, spread to fresh areas, the community living in the North-East will also take up the cudgels and launch an agitation in support of the cause.
Representatives of the community from the entire region met in Guwahati on Friday to chalk out a programme to join the protests.

There is no good solution. If the Government bows down to these demands and grants them the ST status (it makes no logic to give the Gujjar community an ST tag, the only reason is that the Jats have been granted OBC, and hence the Gujjar community sees the ST as a way to get more benefit of reservations, and hence these pressure tactics of violence). If they do get such benefits, then other communities will also want to avail of similar benefits, and this is a very slippery slope to go down. Already, both the Central and Rajasthan government have come under fire for letting the agitations causing so much disturbance.
The courts also know this, and from time to time, they have asked the Governments about whether there is plan to take empowered communities out of the net so that only the truly backward get such benefits, but any political party will find it suicidal to remove reservations for any benefit. And yet, parties continue on this policy, well knowing that any benefit is only transient, and other parties will also try to garner the same benefit. As an example of Governments trying to provide reservations even when courts have ruled against this, here is an example of the Tamil Nadu Government providing reservations on the basis of religion:

The Tamil Nadu government on Friday issued orders to "ensure" that Muslims and Christians got 3.5% reservation each in government services to overcome some 'practical problems' faced by the two communities in availing the benefit.

The Andhra Pradesh Government attempts in this regard have been periodically rejected by courts, yet here is another State Government trying the same.

Labels: BJP, Caste, Congress, Empowerment, Law, Minority, Muslim, Parliament, Politics, Railways, Reservations, Responsibility, Security

India has always had a problem regarding Bangladeshi immigrants, including about deciding what to do with them. In the states neighboring Bangladesh, particularly Assam, this has caused major problems including a long agitation against their presence. The increasing influx of these immigrants has also caused changes to the demography of many districts in these states. Even if they are immigrating for the purpose of economic betterment, no country can accept an unprecedented influx of outsiders, and for a long time, the security agencies have been claiming that they are a security problem as well. Bangladesh has active terrorist bases inside it, and many of recent blasts in India have been blamed on these groups by the police and intelligence agencies.
In addition, the intelligence agencies believe that these migrants are susceptible to being picked up the terrorist groups and made active members who will connive at planning for blasts, being members of active terrorist cells as well as providing support as sleepers. Over a period of time, various courts (including the Supreme Court) and even the Central Government appointed Governors have asked for a policy to urgently identify these immigrants and deport them back to Bangladesh.
The only problem in all this mixture is the Congress which is actively playing with the security of the country; it believes that these immigrants are a natural support base and hence the Congress does all it can to prevent them from being deported, and actually local leaders will help in getting them Government papers such as rations cards, voter identity cards and so on.
In the latest such indication, the practically useless and ineffective home minister, Shivraj Patil, is getting into blatant lying, claiming something that official letters sent by his ministry say otherwise:

While Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Monday termed Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s revelation about the Centre’s controversial suggestion to states to set up detention centres for illegal Bangladeshi immigrants as “not true”, official records obtained by The Indian Express contradict his claims.
Minutes of the meetings of the Nodal Authority, under the chairmanship of Union Home Secretary on January 24, 2007 and April 25, 2007, to review the progress of detection and deportation of illegal Bangladeshi migrants, clearly show that the Centre wanted the states to set up detention centers for illegal immigrants.
In the April 25 meeting that year, the Union Home Secretary had even told the participants that the “primary objectives” of the deportation exercise was to effectively control illegal immigration “by instilling a sense of fear and insecurity” in their minds. Raje said today: “It is very clear from the communication sent by the Ministry of Home Affairs in February, March and May 2007 that there was a conscious decision of the Union Home Ministry that state governments are required to set up detention centers for illegally staying foreigners pending their deportation.”

Right now, the Congress wants to distance itself from any such communication that it actually asked for deportation of Bangladeshi migrants, since this could have an impact on its vote base; while the priority should be to do whatever it needs to enhance the security of the country; the Prime Minister, as the head of this Government, is literally responsible for playing with the security of the country for electoral gains.

Labels: BJP, Congress, Court, Election, Governance, India, Law, Muslim, Politics, Security, Terrorism

It is a known fact of life that there are many communities in India that are backward; many of them get benefits on the basis of caste such as reservations in jobs and education. There is some debate on a policy of reservation, but the prime justification is that these castes have been suppressed as part of social and religious practices; there is also a whole host of politics involved in this whole affair.
It is this problem of politics that causes most problems; for some time now, the Congress has realized that it has been losing the support of Muslims, and this is not something that the Congress can easily accept. In order to regain power in the states and center, it needs to bring together a coalition of many parts of society such as the Dalits (except in Uttar Pradesh where Mayawati has got their support), forward castes such as the Brahmins, and the Muslims. Hence, a concerted plan to take measures that would be seen as benefiting the Muslim community; it is these that are now causing it problems.
The Government asked to get numbers of Muslims in the armed forces (something that was vigorously opposed); it wanted to get banks to apportion a certain amount of loans for the minorities (something even banks were unsure of in terms of implementation); the Andhra Pradesh Government tried to bring in reservation for Muslims (in spite of the Court rejecting it more than once). These policies, especially ones dealing with promising reservation to the backward section in the Muslim community have even come under fire from Muslim leaders. Islam as a religion has strict policies against any form of discrimination, and proclaim the equality of all before Allah, and to say that there are caste like discriminations in the community goes against the very concept.
So, the Government has now come under some severe questioning from the High Court:

The Central government came in for some searing criticism by Delhi HC on Monday with respect to implementation of Sachar Committee recommendations for welfare of Muslims. "You are trying to please one community. Poverty is the common enemy. You should fight against poverty rather than saying that you would fight against poverty for one community only," the bench observed during the hearing.
The bench wondered why the government's benevolence was targeted at one community alone, "You are saying that more money be spent for one minority community. Should it not cut across caste and religion? Does the Sachar committee say that facilities are available to other communities?" the HC demanded.

It is further likely as the election comes closer, the Government will move closer to trying to provide for pleasing the Muslim community, and will keep on facing both political opposition and in the Courts. In addition, the Constitution of India forbids any sort of religious discrimination. What the Government needs to do is to take less political pleasing but more effective steps such as increase education facilities, promote role models, try and increase integration, and stop treating them as a vote base to be milked.

Labels: Congress, Discrimination, Education, Muslim, Reform, Reservations

In a stinging criticism of the Indian Government, the Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen has left the country, and accused them of being hand-in-glove with the Muslim fundamentalists who have harassed her. In a talk with reporters on her way out of India, she bemoaned the fact that the Indian Government did not support her, harassed her and kept her under surveillance:

"If I disclose my destination my security will be compromised. My face has now become recognisable and I could be target of religious fundamentalist", Taslima said, adding that she will not hesitate to discuss what she said the traumatic experience she allegedly went through during various international seminars lined up in Europe in the next few months.
"I was put under tremendous stress but I could not speak out as I was under their (government) surveillance and could be harassed by them," she said in a choked voice.
"The government is no better than religious fundamentalists," she said.

Of course, we all know that the Indian Government was also under a lot of stress since her presence in the country was very uncomfortable for it. The Government could not have kicked her out because of the adverse publicity, but at the same time, could not allow her free reign because of the feared reaction from the Muslim community. So the Government essentially buckled down and made her a prisoner, unable to move out and kept in a Government security house.
Nobody comes out of this with any praise. The Congress Government in Andhra Pradesh did not prosecute the politicians who led an attack against her, the central Government even refused to giver here the barest of support, instead warning her that she should behave or else ... The Left Government refused to provide her security, instead kicking her out of Calcutta. Everybody has got a bad name out of this, and India is seeming like a country where you cannot speak freely without offending people, and where the Government will not protect you for political reasons. Shame on Manmohan Singh.

Labels: Congress, Governance, India, Law, Left, Muslim, Politics, Security

It is quite clear that Taslima Nasreen is a person from whom most politicians want to stay away from. So, while the Prime Minister feels for a terrorist's family suspected of involvement in a terrorist attack in Britain, he is absolutely quiet about the hounding of a writer all over India. This whole attitude is what leads to hardening of majority opinion against the kind of secularism practised in India.
I consider myself a moderate Hindu, not very religious, but aware to a large extent about what happens all around. And one keeps on watching what the Government does when faced with a ticklish issue, and invariably the Government keeps on failing to remain even-handed when dealing with the same issues but across different scenarios.
So, do people remember the case of M F Hussain? He is the most famous painter from India, but he has been massively criticized by many for the paintings he has done of Hindu goddesses in the nude. He was threatened by right-wing Hindu organizations, and there was an instant uproar at the threats, with the Government and many sections of civil society reacting sharply at such threats (my opinion of MF Hussain however changed when he withdrew his movie, Meenaxi - A Tale of 3 cities after there were some protests by fundamentalist Muslim organizations. This sudden capitulation to fundamentalism was not protested or criticized).
And back to la affair Taslima Nasreen. Her works are controversial, and she is essentially a refugee from Bangladesh (there is a strong chance that she will be killed if she goes back to Bangladesh). The Indian Government has never claimed that she will not be allowed into India, and has issued her a visa regularly. If she is a person under threat by fundamentalists, then she deserves to be protected.
And what does the Government do ? First, the Left Front essentially pushes her out of Kolkata under the pressure of religious Fundamentalists, then ties itself in knots when questioned about this action. And of course, the usual clutch of critics do not say much when it comes to either the Left or such actions. And now that the author has herself admitted that the Left pushed her out, it is a black mark on the Left and CPM:

Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen on Monday said that she had not decided on her own to leave Kolkata but chose to remain silent about her controversial departure. "Why should I take a decision on my own? It did come to my mind that someone would come and kill me. Many like my writings, many others don't," she told a Bengali TV news channel.
"I want to return to Kolkata. I have not received any green signal as yet. I wonder from where the green signal will come", she told the channel in a telephonic interview from Delhi.

Given how the CPM is unlikely to do anything to imperil its Muslim support, it is unlikely that she will get a call from anybody in the CPM Government that she can come back. As it is, the Congress Government in the center is unable to decide what to do. Ideally, they would like her to go back to Europe, but that does not seem likely. Pushing her out of the country would make the Congress come under too much fire.
And one wonders about the impact this has on the majority community. Given the highly politicized society that we have now, if there is a perception that the Government (essentially, everybody else except for the BJP) is pandering to minority fundamentalists, then there is an equal reaction against such thoughts. Almost all the media coverage that I have read till now in mainstream magazines and newspapers also points out this contradiction on the part of the Congress, Left, left-leaning intellectuals, and the like. Such an attitude only reinforces the feeling that the Government will cave in whenever it is pushed by the thought of losing minority vote; at the same time, there is absolutely nothing in this position that can provide some support to moderate opinion (moderate opinion in turn gets marginalized). It's a never ending spiral, and one can be quite sure that in the next campaign, there will be more political push about the Congress pandering to minority fundamentalism and atleast a section of people will be convinced.

Labels: BJP, Congress, Discrimination, Governance, Law, Left, Minority, Muslim, Politics, Responsibility, Security

What happens when a Government is so taken up by populism that it won't listen to reason ? Well, now is a good time to find out. The Andhra Pradesh Government of Y. Rajsekhar Reddy has been trying to implement a separate reservation quota for Muslims in state colleges. Now reservation vs. merit has been a tricky subject currently, with plenty of impassioned speech for and against the subject. However, most debaters seem to agree that trying to implement reservations with a religious agenda is just not on; it smacks too much of a populist move (not bad by itself if it works for public good), it goes against the concept of the state not discriminating between against religions (sacrosanct in the Indian system), it militates against the concept of targeted reservations where reservations are only meant for those people who have been denied or suppressed for a historically long time (and you just cannot say that about the Muslim community in Andhra Pradesh) and is against the concept of judicial review where the ultimate correctness of a Government action is viewed against the intention of the constitution by the courts (and in this case, this particular stand is being reviewed by the Supreme Court).
So what did the Andhra Government do ? 2 years back, it passed an ordinance whereby a 5 % reservation was introduced for the entire Muslim community in Andhra Pradesh. Most people considered this an obvious attempt to curry favour with the Muslim community since the Government knew what was going to happen (it would not pass court approval with the High Court very clearly ruling against providing reservation on a religious basis). So the state filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, although it knows that the Supreme Court is very very likely to rule against such an ordinance and declare it ultra vires of the Constitution.
Then in July this year, the Andhra Pradesh Congress Government struck again, passing another ordinance giving 4 % (and not 5%) reservation in Professional colleges for Muslims. This is when the Supreme Court is already hearing the earlier case. And the Government must have felt to be very clever, after it all reduced the figure to 4% so as to not exceed the 50% quota limit introduced by the Supreme Court in the landmark Indira Sawhney case. Now, this latest quota has been challenged in the Supreme Court again:

The Supreme Court would hear on September 24, a petition challenging the Constitutional validity of an Ordinance granting four per cent reservation to Muslims in professional colleges by the Andhra Pradesh government.
The petition filed by T Murlidhar Rao and K Sriteja has challenged the Andhra Pradesh High Court order declining to stay the Ordinance issued by the state government on July 6, 2007, under which it provided four per cent reservations to several sub sects within the Muslim community by treating them as backward classes. The High Court refused to stay the ordinance after the state government submitted that the issue relating to reservation for OBCs was pending before the apex court and hence no order be passed till the matter was adjudicated by the Constitution Bench.

The State Government submitted before the High Court that since a matter related to OBC reservation in professional educational institutions was pending before the Supreme Court, the Andhra High Court should not intervene, and the court bought into this argument. The fact of the matter is that this is different, since this pertains to reservation on religious lines, and is a much more serious manner. But will the Congress listen ? It needs to be seen as implementing the Sachar committee report and doing something symbolic for the Muslim community, and this trend is hard to reverse.

Labels: Congress, Court, Development, Discrimination, Education, Governance, Judicial, Law, Muslim, Politics, Reservations

It has been quite clear for some time that the Left Central Leadership is not satisfied with the policies of the Congress Government in the center, looking at the Government as being too tilted towards the US (nuclear deal, military exercises, overall globalization, etc); at the same time, their Government in West Bengal, wanting to continue to stay in power, has to show actual development on the ground. For this, it has to adopt policies of liberalization, and has to attract investment in the state. And guess what, if you looked at the West Bengal government in terms of what it is doing for industry, it would not seem any different from other states in terms of policies or actions. They need a friendly central Government, and so far has been able to get the Congress Government to help them out. But, if the Congress gets miffed, or really starts to feel the heat in the center, they will try to strike back in the state. And they just got a big start:

The buzz has been there for quite some time now but Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee chose the setting of a madrasa students’ programme today to indicate, more clearly than she ever has, that she is set to part ways with the BJP. “We are now with no one and are trying to stand on our own,” she said, adding that her party was going ahead with agitation programmes on its own, be it Singur or Nandigram. “In West Bengal, our party is going it alone,” she reiterated.
The Congress, which has been prompting her to snap off ties with the BJP, was quick to welcome her statement. “We urge Mamata Banerjee to come back to Congress and fight the CPM jointly. We are sure that if she leads us, we will be able to throw the CPM out of the state,” Manas Bhuina, Congress Legislature Party leader, told.

Mamta Banerjee is feeling resistance from Muslims when she tries to get their votes due to her ties with the BJP, and given the large scale migration of Bangladeshis and their acquiring voting power, she needs their support. This is a good enough reason for her to spurn the BJP and go back to her voters with a claim of breaking away from the BJP.
Now, Mamta Banerjee is a highly populist leader, capable of stirring up lots of emotions, and if she does opt to go with the Congress, it has the potential to be a major challenge for the CPM rule. At this time, because of the way that the CPM has gone about implementing its SEZ agenda and land acquisition, there is an under-current of resentment against the party and Mamta Banerjee can take some advantage out of that, provided that she builds up an organization. And that is where the Congress can come in. It will be able to provide the requisite cadre such that the combined might will be able to overcome the immense pressure applied by the CPM cadre (who aim to win using any and all tactics).
The biggest question is, when does this play out. If Mamta Banerjee opts to join hands with the Congress in the next few days, it will put the Congress central leadership in an awkward situation. One the one hand, they are depending on the Left to not withdraw support, and on the other hand, they are courting the biggest opponent of the Left in their strongest state.

Labels: BJP, Congress, Left, Muslim, Politics, Sharing

There is this excellent article by Jug Suraiya in the Times of India that took on the Taslima Nasreen episode, namely the attack on her (including by elected representatives of the MIM), and subsequent silence by most of our liberal class. Called 'Taslima and the soft underbelly of liberalism', do read the article:

Where have all the liberals gone, now that Taslima Nasreen, the outspoken Bangladeshi novelist living in exile in India, has come under attack from Islamic fundamentalists? Barkha Dutt and a few other media people have questioned the scant protest the incident has provoked among the country's liberalati who are, rightly, very vocal in condemning any flexing of Hindu fundamentalist muscle.
This is not an isolated case. Time and again, acts of violence and intimidation by Hindu zealots have been pilloried while similar instances of Islamic bigotry and intolerance have been received with an embarrassed silence and an averting of eyes on the part of self-professed champions of freedom of expression.
All this, of course, is gleeful grist to Hindu fundamentalists who point to this blatant example of double-standards to show up the hypocrisy of what they call 'pseudo secularism'. And they're right. Bigotry is bigotry, whether it comes from the majority or a minority community. So what's the liberal justification of its selective righteousness in the face of religious fanaticism?

Jug Suraiya writes on comedy, but he must have been moved enough to write this. And this is not an isolated problem. There was a vast under-current of shock when there was the furore over the Danish cartoons, and when a UP Minister (mind you, an important politician in the most important state of the country) spoke about an award to whoever gets the head of the Danish cartoonist, there was some media coverage; but no major criticism on the incitement to murder and no police action. Imagine if some Hindu (you know who, the Bajrang Dal or the VHP) put a price on the head of M F Hussain over the nude statues of Hindu gods, then imagine the furore there will be.
But when this happens in the case of Islam, there are very few people who speak up. In previous occasions, it has been people like Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar who have spoken up to denounce this, but none of the customary liberal apologists such as the Left parties and the intellectuals. Maybe they don't realize this, but they lose an important amount of credibility when this happens.
And not to talk about election stuff. How much do you want to bet that the BJP will not try to use this, creating CD's of the release of Madani in Kerala and his courting by the various parties, and also this current threat. To top it all, the Andhra police released the politicians involved very quickly, and then filed a case against Taslima over the charge of insulting religious feelings.
This puts very clearly, the attempt of Y S Reddy (Andhra Chief Minister) to not do anything against Muslim interest. This will no doubt backfire on him. The MIM retains a hard core Muslim loyalty, and this gambit might lose his some Hindu votes. But then thinking ahead is not the strong point of the Congress. The biggest losers among all this are the liberals who have been pointed out as bigots by even mainline newspapers.

Labels: BJP, Community, Congress, Discrimination, Governance, Law, Left, Minority, Muslim, Politics, Protest, Responsibility, Security

We all know the extent to which the politicians of the country are dependent on trying to woo their sections of voters. They would like society to be comprised of solid blocs of castes, and religious groups so that they can make policies to pander to these groups and aim to get their votes. No matter that this leads to them doing things against common sense, and against even court orders. Examples of this is the entire reservation drama, the Congress aim to woo Muslims in Andhra Pradesh by reservations despite court disapproval, and the BJP Government in Gujarat hesitating to crack down on people enforcing discrimination despite court orders to do the right thing.
This policy is exemplified by the response of states over the Supreme Court asking the states to bring in laws to make registration of marriages compulsory. And why had the court tried to bring in such a policy? Simple. There are a number of cases where women are fighting for their rights in marriage, for child support, for maintenance. In India, in a significant section of society, women normally are in a situation where they are stay at home, dependent on their husbands for financial support. In most cases, this is because this is the way society is constructed with the responsibilities being delineated in such a way.
Now what happens? With marriages not being registered, there are many cases when the husband could deny that the marriage happened, or make the girl fight for trying to prove such a thing happened. In addition, there are many cases where men commit polygamy, and a lesser number of cases where the girl commits polyandry. There is no perfect solution, but a simpler way to make this happen less is when all marriages are properly registered. In fact, that is the norm in a number of countries where the marriage has to be registered.
So what stops the government in India, whether the central government or state governments, to make registration of marriages compulsory. The Government believes that there is an influential section of the Muslim community, hardliners and the clergy, and to avoid rubbing them the wrong way, the Government will not push for compulsory registration of marriages. Even though the Government knows that poor Muslim women suffer from the inability to prove that the marriage happened in case of a dispute, and it would really help them if they had proof of the marriage.

State governments have been chary of compliance with the court's directive on registration of marriages for the fear of offending representatives of Muslims who have resisted the extension of law to their personal matters — that is, matters pertaining to marriage, divorce, adoption, inheritance etc.
The court, moved by the plight of women fighting for their rights under marriage — like maintenance and custody of children, had last year asked the governments to amend the law or frame rules for compulsory registration of marriages and notify them within three months.

And of course, no such thing happened. The Governments have refused to bring any such laws and notify them for fear of alienating the Muslim community. Such a measure would help the community overall, but would provoke elements of the clergy to protest interference and hence the lack of movement on this issue. The issue is just politics, not any welfare.

Labels: Community, Court, Empowerment, Family, Governance, Law, Minority, Muslim, Politics, Reform, Responsibility, Welfare

In India, the concept of a Uniform Civil Code is a very controversial subject. Even though it is not mandated as per the Constitution, it is a Directive Principle to try and bring this about (as per discussions in the Constituent Assembly where it was thought that the aim should be that people of different religions will eventually converge towards a common law). So, in India, it is currently seen as impossible to try and bring about a common civil code for all. Civil code is the one dealing with family matters, with disputes, maintenance, marriage, divorce and so all. Each religion has their own traditions.
However, there have been many social movements in the past to deal with improvements in traditions, especially with respect to the Hindu religion. So, for example, reprehensible practices such as sati (which is actually not even a civil case, but a criminal case), the caste system and discrimination against the lower castes are all illegal, and not sanctioned in any way by the Government.
A 'uniform' civil code is in many a misnomer, one could instead call the steps to have equal rights for all as a common civil code, something that is agreeable to citizens, no matter what the religion. However, realistically, given the state of parliament right now and politics, no such movement could hope to succeed.
In some ways, especially when it comes to things such as adoption laws, rights of women in marriage and in divorce, it is difficult to justify differential treatment based on marriage. The courts are going a long way in this, with the lower courts and the Supreme Court stepping in from time to time to try and correct laws that end up reducing some of the rights that a women should have in a humane way. One example of this was the Shah Bano judgement which the Rajiv Gandhi government over-ruled through a constitution amendment in 1986 after tremendous pressure.
And then I read this article, and even though it was concerning the Muslim community, it was still something that seemed fairly shocking:

In a move to emphasise primacy of Sharia, the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board has sought a review of SC orders which have progressively enhanced safeguards for Muslim women in divorce, marriage and maintenance cases on the grounds that they conflict with Islamic law.
The Board's decision to set up a 11-member 'social reform committee' is born out of its concern over some recent SC judgments. Members point to SC's interpretation of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, in the Daniel Latifi and Others vs Union of India case in September 2001. The apex court has held the former husband alone as responsible for the woman's maintenance. But this seems to have drawn a conservative response from the board which maintains that such a ruling was not in keeping with Sharia laws. A more recent case is of Iqbal Bano in June 2007 where SC set aside an Allahabad court judgment and ruled that a Muslim woman who had been deserted could avail maintenance under section 125 of CrPC irrespective of provisions of the 1986 Act.

This is a very uncomfortable situation. The Board is recommending essentially that some hard-won rights that have been won by women should be kept aside because they conflict with Sharia. Now, it is not easy to condemn the practises of a religion, but many of the interpretation made by the Islamic clergy regarding the rights of women are retrogade, and not deserving the rights that they should have.
In fact, for a modern democracy, it would seem very impossible to have the case of 2 women having very different rights because of their religion. It should be within the rights of any women (or any man for that matter) to invoke the recent judgments and not have to defer to the clergy, After all, this is the same clergy that recently ruled that girls should not have mixed schools, but should study in different schools that are girls-only.
Once we move into this mindset of having religious courts in play, we start going down a slippery path. At some point, any religious practitioner will then be able to easily question the right of the courts or parliament to pass a law that affects them.
This sorts of reminds me of the situation of that lady in Malaysia who was stuck in a legal mire. She was a Muslim, and wanted to marry a Christian. But, she was unable to do so. She was not allowed as per religious law to either convert, or to marry outside her religion. Strange, is it not.

Labels: Community, Court, Discrimination, Family, India, Law, Minority, Muslim, Parliament, Reform

India, an exporter of terrorism to the world? That would be an incredible cross for the country to bear, and yet recent events have brought that question much closer to everybody's mind. There does not seem to be much doubt that the recent terrorists attempts in England were the work primarily of Indian Muslims from Bangalore, notwithstanding the Prime Minister's attempted confession of shock at this and his degree of concern over the condition of the families of those caught.
The trail of events seem to lead to the fact that a fair amount of the inculcation into jehadist and terrorist thought had been already there in the minds of the people already arrested. The fact that they were fully indoctrinated during their stay in England does not clear us of the need to ensure that this country does not come under the shadow of international terrorism. India already has too many home grown terrorists of all religions and types (ULFA, Maoists, Kashmiri, Naga, Sikh, etc).
However, and this is a very delicate issue, the type of mass death and destruction that can happen due to the terrorists taking inspiration from a hardline interpretation of Islam is much greater than any other that the country has seen. Kashmiri terrorists of the JKLF type are strong believers in the concept of liberating Kashmir from Indian control, but it is only when the more hardline Islamic inspired terrorism of the Lashkar and its like took control that we saw many more attacks all over the country, especially the ones aimed at creating discord between communities (attacks on temples and mosques).
There are many such organizations in the country that are inspired by a so-called Wahabi path of Islam which believes that non-believers eventually need to be conquered and all nations need to be under one God, Allah. An example of a terrorist organization is the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) that was banned, but even when it was being banned, Laloo Prasad Yadav was in support.
Even now, the Government will be very careful about a crackdown on the areas where such hardline thoughts are being preached, primarily the madrasas. This is rotten justice. If somebody is preaching separatism or jehad or terrorism, measures need to be taken to shut it down and bring such a person to justice, but due to politics, the Government will not take such actions. A case in comparison is the situation in Assam where there is widespread pressure on the Government to take quick and hard action against ULFA, with no concerns about it being an organization comprising primarily Hindus.
If we have to prevent the radicalization of the minority community (and we have already seen an example of how bad that can be in Punjab), then we need to take the required measures to ensure that there is no atmosphere where such breeding can happen, where people can preach jehad or terrorism or separatism and get away under the guise of being a minority.

Labels: Community, Discrimination, Governance, Image, India, Law, Minority, Muslim, Security, Separatist, Terrorism

The Congress government in Andhra Pradesh is at it again. After being rebuffed by the courts earlier in an attempt to implement a separate reservation quota for Muslims, they are trying again. The constitution is clear, reservations were only considered due to the centuries of discrimination against the Scheduled Castes and Tribes resulting in their being very repressed, and reservation could be one of the measures to bring them up. Because no one wants to be seen as removing reservation, it is likely to be with us for a very long time.
However, what causes a problem is when the reservations are seen as a pure political tool, and this is what the Congress is guilty of. The reservations for OBC's were also first implemented by V P Singh as a move to checkmate his ambitious deputy Devi Lal, and have been sought to be extended in the education area by Arjun Singh as a measure by the wily thakur to get a support base for himself. However, the Congress, being a broad based party has always suffered from not being able to fully tom-tom its reservation agenda due to fear of alienating other castes (as seen freshly in the Gujjar-Meena issue). In this case as well, the Congress will end up with egg on its face.

The Andhra Pradesh government’s decision to promulgate an ordinance on 4% Muslim quota, despite it having been struck down twice, is seen as part of Congress strategy to gamble on a clutch of double-edged issues to consolidate its support base for bigger battles ahead.
The Congress leadership is anticipating judicial intervention even though the state has repackaged religious reservation on Mandal lines, as passed by the AP cabinet on Wednesday. The insistence on Muslim quota, despite serious apprehensions, may confound observers but a senior AP leader said it was meant to prove its commitment to the community’s welfare. Having won the points with Muslims with three attempts, the state is unlikely to push it further in case of a fresh judicial roadblock.

This is pure politics , and nothing else. In order to show the Muslim community that the Congress is the one that is concerned about their welfare, the political party will try to do something that they know is not going to succeed. But as usual, these are short-term measures.
In order to get actual development of the Muslim community, the Government (Congress in this case) needs to take actual measures that result in development, such as providing good education, helping the artisans who are affected by rapid industrialization, providing good role models, and so on. The basic problem with reservations is that it provides a good handle to the political community to claim that they are working for the benefit of disadvantaged communities without having to do any actual work.
In addition, this move to separate the Muslim community based on reservation benefit available or not is deplorable. Hinduism has tolerated in the past severe discrimination among its adherents on the basis of caste, but Islam has severe strictures against any discrimination among its adherents, and the state should not try and implement some. It is time that the Muslim community saw through such pretenses and favor people who actually work for their benefit.
But the Congress will continue on this line, it needs to line up support for the AP next elections in 2009, and with its relations with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti on a nadir, it needs more measures; apparently just working for people and improving their lot is not enough.

Labels: Caste, Community, Congress, Development, Discrimination, Election, Governance, India, Minority, Muslim, Politics, Reform, Reservations, Welfare

This presidential election has just got murkier. In India, presidential elections (like the elections to the speaker's post), are seen as political contests between the ruling combination and the opposition. And so it was in this particular election, where there was a massive tug-of-war, not between the Congress and the BJP, but between the ruling party (Congress) and its supporters, the left combine. It is known thoroughly that the left views itself as the conscience of the ruling combine, and it never hesitates in wielding this power.
So, the run-up to the Presidential election has been much more tortured this time, starting with reports about how the Uttar Pradesh elections were seen as important due to the number of votes wielded by UP in the presidential election. In addition, the post of President is seen as having immense prestige for most politicians in the Congress. They know very well that with the Gandhi dynasty controlling the levers of power, there is no way that they can become powerful. Any politician who threatens to become powerful in any way is typically cut to size (in that way, Sonia Gandhi has all the instincts of Indira Gandhi).
So, the Congress has floated the names of a number of politicians, but with the left having a veto (how that must distress ordinary Congressites!), a number of names have floated and shot down due to rejection. Shivraj Patil (a disaster as Home Minister, but loyal) was tried out, and he would have fancied his chances, but the left did not like the way he conducted himself as Speaker (apparently was close to the BJP, or more likely, did not rule against the BJP often enough) and so was rejected. Next, Karan Singh (a true blood, but the left did not like him either, and you know what would happen). In between, Mayawati apparently rejected a few other names, for one not willing to have another Dalit be the President.
One wonders as to why this much drama for the name of the President. The President in India has much glamour associated in terms of perks, state visits and the like, but no real power. Discretionary power of the President is being carefully cut down, with the Supreme Court giving adverse comments when it sees some discretionary power being utilized in the wrong way.
So, eventually the Congress announced that it will recommend the name of Pratibha Patil, as a loyal party member (anyone who believes that it will go to somebody not seen as loyal has spent too much time in the North Indian sun). This was seen as a killer, given that she is a women, and also of the same caste and community (by marriage) as the vice-President. On cue, she gives statements about how she will act independently, hah !
And after much celebration, she does the very thing geared to provoke left opposition. In a public speech, she claims that Purdah was meant as a protection against Muslim invaders. My, in one stroke, she ha turned the left against her. How could she make comments about the Muslim invaders threatening local Hindus. If this issue catches fire, it is possible that she may have to withdraw her nomination, with the left wielding a veto. And what will the Congress do then ? Refer this article:

Even before the photo-ops are over, the ruling coalition's presidential candidate Pratibha Patil has run into a messy controversy over the origin of the purdah in India by claiming that it was introduced to protect women from Mughal invaders and, in the process, annoying many among her backers and giving her opponents gratuitous ammo for attack.
Patil's interpretation of history, say historians, is not accurate. But more than that, her statement at a function to commemorate the 467th birth anniversary of Maharana Pratap, was politically incorrect. And this has triggered a massive controversy with Muslim outfits, the Left intelligentsia and women's groups protesting against it.

The next few days are bound to be interesting. The BJP will be watching to see whether this will make a difference to the chances of its Presidential candidate.

Labels: BJP, Congress, Election, India, Minority, Muslim

So the results of the Uttar Pradesh election is out, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has made a stunner of a win. Mayawati has moved towards the half-way mark of 202 on its own, and with the Congress having declared outside support for the BSP, it is all set to form a stable Government on its own. In addition, with the way that political elements in Uttar Pradesh type of politics are, one can count on independents to swing the way of power, and provide more support to Mayawati. Further, splits in established parties to increase the strength is not ruled out.
For elections in states such as Uttar Pradesh, what really counts is the caste mathematics of the voting. The Congress used to have a combination of Muslims, Dalits, and forward castes when it used to win elections after elections. HOwever, over a short period of time, caste politics broke the party's winning ways, and reduced it to an also an after-ran. Now, in this election, the BSP has managed to stitch together a coalition of the Dalits plus a section of the forward castes (primarily Brahmins). This sort of voting on caste lines is not exactly something that we should be happy about, given that it tends to deepen the divisions of caste. But as a pure electoral gambit, her strategy of wooing Brahmins has really paid off; she always had the support of the Dalits, but with more Brahmins voting for her, she is now the next chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
What went wrong for Mulayam Singh Yadav ? It would be hard to say that it was just people getting tired of his administration - it was a general layer of dissatisfaction with the level of law and order in the state, and his inability (or maybe not even attempting to do much) about preventing local strongmen from taking over entire districts. Further, he did not exactly set the state on fire through development; the state's power situation was a mess, water is not exactly something that people are assured of at all times; and lots of earlier bright cities in the state are in a state of decay (with the exception of Noida). Further, he has the reputation of having a hand in every deal that happens - people talk about all these all the time, and a lot of them have been proved almost correct if you evaluate the various controversies that happen in the state over a period of time.
What can this state expect next ? One can be sure that the money making routine will continue in the sense of a large overhaul of the babudom and police services so that pliant people can be brought in. One really does not expect too much to happen otherwise, the only difference being that not too many expect Mayawati to not be corrupt, but she is the unquestioned leader in the party, and does not suffer even a second line in the party heirarchy. One can hope that she has learned from last time, and tries to make this most populus state of the country into an Uttam Pradesh, but with out current cynical level of belief in politicians, you will not find people who really believe that.
It is the unintended measures that could help. In her fight against Mulayam Singh Yadav, she could end up breaking his network of local goondas and make things safer for people, especially because her constituency of the dalits are the ones who are most affected by local bahubalis. One example is Raja Bhaiiya, who must be literally shaking in his boots.
Losers - the BJP and the Congress. The BJP has been stopped in its revival, and is more dependent on the elections in other states now to bring back the feel-good spirit. And the Congress, they lost their vote bank to the 3 other parties, and all the promised Rahul effect went for a toss (although they can still claim that he is building a party for the future). Now they can offer outside support to the BSP without being actually needed by the BSP.

Labels: BJP, Caste, Corruption, Development, Election, Electricity, Governance, India, Muslim, Responsibility

A story that is bound to be present in a number of political blogs about India. Political parties have a great way of shooting themselves in the foot. The BJP, ever since the loss of the last elections has been lurching from one problem to another. They lost their great rabble rouser, Uma Bharti; lost the heavyweight of Delhi, Madan Lal Khurana, and lost one of their great fixers, Pramod Mahajan. In the meantime, the controversy about Lal Krishna Advani and his comments about Jinnah struck the BJP like a arrow to its heart. This whole drama went on for a long time, caused a major discord between Advani and his own people, and gave the RSS renewed power over the BJP, something that the duo of Advani and Vajpayee had managed to grow out of to a large degree.
And now, with some changes in their management and leadership, and after some good results in the past, the BJP has managed to do it again. It looked set to do some good results in the UP polls (pulling back its earlier constituency of the upper 'castes'), but now it seems to have landed itself in trouble.
These are changed times. After the advent of Seshan in the 90's, and then the activism of the courts, independent institutions such as the Election Commission feel an increase in their power and asserting abilities, and are more liable to crack the whip on any party they feel is not acting as per rules.
In the midst of all this, the BJP, for the Uttar Pradesh elections, somehow managed to release a CD that is supposed to be a controversial one, attacking Muslims and trying to bring back the Hindutva of the old. Now, this may or may not have had the permission of the top authorities of the BJP (and they claim that this is not part of the official propaganda), but for a party that ruled the country and projected an image of a country on the move, the attempt to try to pander to communal interests is not advisable.
The BJP has, in the past, tried to project iteslf as a party with a difference, and one expects the party to try to do positive things. Such a CD somehow undercuts that impression, and is bound to make a number of people who support the party uncomfortable.
The party should think again about such moves. Doing soft Hindutva where you appeal to nationalistic sentiments, taking a hard line on unity and terrorism is fine, but making negative steps such as this CD reminds one of the likes of the hard-line lunatics that pop up now and then.
Read the report:

BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the CD was not part of the official campaign material and conveyed this view the same to the Election Commission.
Following demand from political parties for derecognising the BJP, the Commission had issued a showcause notice to the BJP on Thursday and directed it to file a reply on Friday.

Labels: BJP, Election, India, Minority, Muslim

The courts are suddenly starting to seem like a perpetual enemy to the Congress and a few of its like. They have been over-turning quite a few laws in the recent past, with some of the more prominent ones being the Ninth Schedule, the Foreigners law in Assam, the move by Andhra Pradesh to give reservations to the muslim community, and the recent staying of educational reservations for OBC's. But this one promises to be very controversial, and raise the hackles across a wide section of politicians. In fact, I am sure that this will
be covered in a number of Indian political blogs in the next few days.
What am I talking about ? Well, read a bit of this article:

In a landmark judgement, the Allahabad High Court on Thursday held that Muslims couldn’t be treated as a religious minority anymore in Uttar Pradesh.
Justice S N Srivastava gave the ruling after considering various criteria including the population of Muslims as enumerated in the census reports of 1951 and 2001.
The judgment, which is likely to cause polarization among political parties, comes two days ahead of the first phase of the crucial Assembly elections in UP starting on Saturday.

What makes the emerging situation even more interesting is that the UP polls are just around the corner, and political parties seeking the Muslim vote are most likely going to be trying to promise a quick reversal of this judgement and granting of minority rights to the Muslim community.
What will happen next ? There are bound to be a number of petitions filed in the Supreme Court, and the Congress Government is likely to get into the act. I am sure that there will be promises made to try and reverse this judgement through a new law (the first and foremost promise that a politician can make). And, opponents of the Samajwadi Chief, Mulayam Singh are going to try and pin the blame on him.
Another situation that I think will happen is that parties that try to mobilise the Hindu vote such as the BJP and the VHP will try and create a fear psychosis in the state to the effect that, Hindus in the state are on the edge of losing their majority, and unless the Hindu masses are mobilized and a party that does not promise appeasement is brough to power, there is not going to be any relief.

Labels: Community, Court, India, Law, Minority, Muslim

Yet again the Congress party tries it out - why does it consider that the Muslim community will fall under its spell and vote en masse for them in the UP elections?

In a conference attended by Muslims, the Congress party made the same promises that it has been making for some time now: it will give Muslims reservations in jobs, will implement the Sachar committee report, and overall will work towards the upliftment of the Muslim community.

If the Congress was actually serious about bringing the community up economically, it would leave aside these gimmicks and try and take some serious measures. The Government knows that religion based discrimination is never going to pass court approval, and now that the cover of the 9th schedule has also been thrown away by the Supreme Court, there is no way that the Congress can pass a law without it getting challenged in court.

In addition, trying to split the OBC and Scheduled Castes reservation quota will be opposed by those who are currently gaining from these quotas (whether these quotas actually benefit is another question altogether).

What should the Congress be doing ? I should re-phrase this question - what should all concerned people be doing about trying to bring a community (that is a significant minority in the country and equal citizens) to be able to share in the economic growth and prosperity in the country?

What ails the community? In not too many words, the number one problem is education. Make sure that the Muslim community (actually all citizens) have access to good quality education for their children. However this entails making sure that there is a thrust on providing facilities for all, as well as making sure that education standards are followed, teachers are made accountable, etc. As this starts to happen, there will be an appreciable increase in the economic prosperity of the Muslim community as they will start to get a more proportionate share of the job market.

The next major issue that needs to be improved in overall improvement in the quality of the areas that they live in. Like all other depressed communities, a significant section of Muslims live in areas that do not have clean sanitation and healthy living standards. Now, this is primarily a matter of leakage of funds. Municipal authorities have enough funds to make a major improvement in living standards (as the example of Surat after the plague scare shows). It is more a matter of making sure that these funds are properly deployed and there is a good auditing (with citizen communities if necessary) to make sure that these funds are properly utilized.

Another major problem has been that a lot of Muslims have been self-employed in the past (artisans, small scale industries, etc), but with greater consolidation and industrialization, a lot of these sections have been badly hit. The Governments (central and state) need to take up the matter of making sure that there are alternative methods of employment available (easier loans, more training programs, etc).

Finally, as part of a policy framework, the Government has to inculcate a no-tolerance zone towards any kind of discrimination against Muslims. This includes acting against the kind of economic boycotts that have been seen in Gujarat against Muslims, making sure that clashes and riots are rigidly prevented and trouble-makers, no matter what the religion, are acted against.

What the Congress instead is doing is trying to take public, short term measures for political gain. It will not reap any benefits. Instead, if they keep on taking measures that start offending the majority community, they will be massive losers in the political space. After all, we do need to realize that this slow pace of economic growth of the Muslim community has mostly happened during Congress rule.

Labels: Community, Development, Discrimination, Empowerment, Governance, India, Minority, Muslim, Reform, Welfare

In a bizarre twist, the Government of India has pleaded for the life of Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq (the same one who gassed a lot of Kurds to death; who crushed a rebellion with brutal force; the same one who killed almost all the male (men and boys) of a village where an assassination attempt on his life happened; and the same one who got voted with more than 99% of the popular vote in a truly 'impartial' referendum).
India has recognized the transitional Iraqi Government, the court has been formed under the same arrangement, and after a long trial, he has been found guilty. What can be the possible motive to oppose his death. It would be a long shot to believe that the Government is concerned about the Shia-Sunni reconciliation in Iraq and has given its view in that respect. Maybe they do not want him to die before they can learn from him as how to win a vote with more than 99% majority,especially in a free and fair election :-)/
Make no words, Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who actually believed that his countrymen were his to deal with as he likes. And like many other dictators who went beyond the pale in their doings, he has to reckon with his past actions.
I believe that the Government of India is so besotted with the minority vote, especially with an upcoming election that they believe that pleading for his life will get the Congress party some votes. After all, it is not that India is one of those countries that is against the death penalty and is opposing his death sentence out of some principle. India actively sentences people to death for their heinous crimes and carried out those sentences.
I believe that the Congress party is making a fundamental mistake in its electoral calculations. If they believe that the Muslim community will get inspired by these actions to vote for the party, the Congress strategeists are sorely mistaken. And if they are looking for the Shia vote, they have forgotten that the Shia majority in Iraq was severly oppressed during the Saddam dictatorship, and that a wide section of the Shia population of Iraq is looking forward to the end of Saddam Hussein.

Labels: India, Iraq, Muslim