AN INTOLERANT DEMOCRACY!

Where are we hurtling to? Our constitutional forefathers must be turning in their graves as we are introduced to a new culture where difference of opinion is being seen as an act of anti-nationalism. Dissent, we are made to understand, is a three-letter word SIN. The concept of new one India means everybody will have to toe a particular ideology. That is NATIONALISM.  And if one does not kowtow to that ideology which defines rabid form of nationalism, he or she may even be branded a TRAITOR. Till now, India was seen as the epitome of the world because of its fundamental diversity. Right to freedom of speech as enshrined in our constitution, thus far, had been the essence of free society that India represented. But not, any more! Welcome to the new India!

What happened in the country’s prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) can’t be condoned. Every right-thinking person will condemn the behavior of a few misguided youths who allegedly shouted anti-India slogans and gave inflammatory speeches. But the government crackdown on JNU is equally reprehensible. The university should have been left to handle the issue, rather than the State taking the matter into its hand.

But as it appears now, a deliberate and diabolic attempt was made to create a controversy out of an issue, which is questionable. A sinister campaign was unleashed to brand the students of JNU as anti-nationalists on the basis of a controversial video, which was alleged to be doctored. And if it is proved that the video was indeed tampered with, will the political establishment and the so-called intelligentsia, which went on an overdrive in running down students and all those who stood up to lend their voice for them, stand up and apologize? Should they not be tried for attempting to polarize the society through their unabashed venomous campaigns?  The so-called self-proclaimed nationalists should hang their heads in shame because they are equal partners in the crime.

The issue has singed several universities across India after Delhi police arrested JNU students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar and slapped sedition charges against him. Police have yet to find any credible and irrefutable evidence against Kumar, who has claimed that he was not part of an event commemorating the death anniversary of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. The outcry against police action is growing since then and the students have been joined by politicians cutting across party lines inviting tag of “traitors” by the practitioners of nationalism. What essentially was a fight between two ideologies has been escalated to “US AND THEM” represented by jingoist nationalists and “anti-nationalists”.

 Wear your heart on your sleeve and become a champion of nationalism and you will get away with anything, even if you attack journalists, including women, bully students, that too, in the precincts of temple of justice! And the police will not do anything! The Men in Black pounced on students and journalists, but our Police Commissioner Mr. Bhim Sain Bassi, eyeing a lucrative government job post retirement, did not see any merit in arresting that bunch of hooligans! Even before a court could pronounce judgment, those lawyers purportedly linked to Hindu groups declared Kumar and his supporters guilty and took law into their hands. Was that not a crime that necessitated police action, Mr. Bassi? Encouraged by the police inaction or collusion, whatever it may be, the same bunch of lawyers repeated the offence and later took out a rally. But no action, again! Oh! They were NATIONALISTS. Holding high the national flag, they were chanting “BHARAT MATA KI JAI”. So, how could they be held responsible? Right, Mr. Bassi?

A six-member committee of senior lawyers appointed by the Supreme Court following the Patiala courts violence commented that that the attackers were shielded by the police. Not taking action against lawyers owing allegiance to the ruling establishment is your definition of maintaining law and order situation, Mr. Bassi? Sir, you have failed the nation by abdicating your responsibility as police commissioner. And rightly, you have been denied the post of information commissioner that you were eyeing to please your political masters.

Is JNU incident an aberration? Certainly not! Attacks on minorities by spreading rumours have increased in the past 20 months since the new government assumed office. Last September, a poor Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri district was mercilessly beaten to death by a rampaging mob infuriated by rumours that he and his family consumed beef.  An inquiry revealed that the meat over which Akhlaq was lynched was, in fact, mutton.

What happened to rationalists Dabholkar, Pansare and Kalburgi? They were violently silenced forever for believing and practicing in freedom of speech.

The writers and scholars have been hounded and punished for believing that they could practice free speech in the independent India. How foolish were they? In 2013, Narendra Dabhokar had to pay a heavy price for campaigning against religious superstitions. He was murdered. In February last year, communist leader Govind Pansare was killed. And months later, the 77-year-old M. M. Kalburgi, who was against Hindu idol worship, was gunned down in broad day-light. Where are we headed to? Why can’t there be room for different viewpoints in a pluralistic society? Sadly, the State has failed in its responsibility to protect the society from these fundamentalist forces who want to implement their own agenda. The increasing Talibanisation of Indian culture is very worrisome.  

A systematic effort is being made to infiltrate educational and cultural institutions with people having roots with a particular ideology. Foisting a not-so-qualified Gajendra Chauhan on the students of the premier Film and Television Institute of India is one among a few examples. His appointment was opposed by all and sundry, but the government of the day was unmoved forcing students to abandon their classes and take to streets.

At stake is the very democratic quintessence in our institutions and education system. Any attempt to impose a particular ideology and values in educational institutions and universities will not only weaken but lead to the complete collapse of the system. It is a dangerous trend which should best be avoided.

The people are anguished over the complete silence by Narendra Modi, who recently told parliamentarians during an all-party meeting that he is not the prime minister of BJP, but the prime minister of the country. Why does not his soul stir as some of his cabinet ministers and his party members continue to make stinking comments? It is high time the “Pradhan Sevak” of the country reins in such fringe elements which are bent to destroy the social fabric of the country.

MEHBOOBA IS NOT MUFTI

It has been a month since Mufti Mohammed Sayeed passed away and Jammu and Kashmir has remained headless since then. There seems to be serious reservations between the alliance partners – People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – to take a shot at government formation again. While the BJP would like to continue with the alliance, it is the PDP which is weighing its options to enter into an unholy alliance again.  Mehbooba Mufti, the political heiress of Mr. Sayeed, is in a quandary. She was dead against her father’s decision to join hands with the rival BJP. Both the parties had spoken ill against each other when the state went to polls in 2014. In fact, Mehbooba was the most vitriolic against the BJP. But the fractured verdict saw the birth of an alliance whose survival was in doubt from the very first day.

There has been nothing in common between the two parties. The two share extreme opposite views on important issues, on which the PDP fought the elections and emerged as the single largest party. The PDP favours immediate resumption of a dialogue with Kashmiri separatists. The BJP is opposed to it. In fact, the days-old alliance had run into rough weather after the release of Masarat Alam and his subsequent arrest under pressure from the BJP.  Expressing his anger in parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the Mufti of not consulting his government before releasing Alam, unaware of the fact that the state home department had taken a decision much before the formation of the government.

The PDP wants the controversial AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) to be withdrawn, at least from some areas, one of its major election promises. But the country’s ruling party feels that the withdrawal of AFSPA entails security risks at a time when incidents of militancy have increased since both the parties came to power.  Such has been opposition to the alliance that several angry youth from Mehbooba’s stronghold South Kashmir have picked up gun again and have hoisted Islamic State flags, causing alarm bells. 

For the BJP, the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, which grants special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir, is part of its core ideology. For the PDP, it is an article of faith. The two parties don’t see eye to eye on hoisting the state flag alongside the national tricolor. The controversy over beef consumption has also created a divide between the two parties. In fact, it was a BJP member who filed a PIL against the sale and slaughter of beef in the state where Muslims are in majority in the Kashmir Valley. The fault lines are too many to be ceased soon.

There is palpable anger among the PDP cadres over the government’s failure to rehabilitate the 2014 flood victims. The PDP has lost its face considerably in the Kashmir Valley as the relief has barely trickled in. The rehabilitation of flood victims was one of the main issues on which the Mufti had decided to join hands with the BJP in the hope that its government at the centre would be more sympathetic and release a healthy package. But the state government was left sulking when Modi announced the package last year.

Unlike Mufti Sayeed, who was mature in dealing with such irritants, Mehbooba is very vocal. Having seen collapse of governance in the first 10 months of the coalition rule, she wants written assurances from Modi, who is loathe to such an idea. With both the parties playing hard ball, it is unlikely that any of the two will blink first not before extracting its pound of flesh. In the death of Mufti Sayeed, the BJP sniffed an opportunity to increase its stake in the state cabinet and rotation of the post of chief minister by putting pressure on young Mehbooba. But that gamble not only went horribly wrong, it also backfired. Such pressure tactics further led to widening the chasm between the two parties. The trust deficit between the two parties has since widened.

Mehbooba does not have many political choices. Either she continues with the alliance, risking her party’s popularity, or calls for fresh elections. In going for elections, both the PDP and the BJP will suffer the most as their stocks have gone down considerably in the state and the likely beneficiary will be the National Conference. Mehbooba can still run the government after snapping ties with the BJP with the help from the Congress and independents. The Congress with 12 seats and five independents can bail out the PDP which has 28 seats in the 87-member assembly. This is a possible scenario. But will Mehbooba be prepared to suffer the humiliation as her party had snubbed the Congress when the latter had offered its unconditional support to it to form the government after no party got enough seats to form the government on its own? Politics is a strange theatre where unthinkable can also happen. Divorce and remarriage is not a taboo anymore in Indian society and certainly not in politics. Will Mehbooba opt for divorce? Only time will tell.

DAWN OF DEMOCRACY IN MYANMAR

Myanmar finally succeeded in realizing the dream for democracy after decades of struggle as the first popularly elected parliament in more than a half century held its first sitting early this week. It will go down as a landmark in history of Myanmar because of the smooth drawn-out transfer of power from the deeply entrenched junta to the first democratically elected government since 1962. And it could not have been made possible without the efforts of Aung San Suu Kyi, who did not waver in her struggle for democracy, despite being put under house arrest for more than 15 years.

Suu Kyi’s National League of Democracy-dominated parliament will officially begin its term in April after the election of a new president. Amidst an air of new-found optimism, the next few months will be full of anxiety. Suu Kyi can’t become the president under the controversial 2008 constitution. According to the military-drafted constitution, those with children who have foreign nationality are barred from the office of the country’s top post. Suu Kyi has two sons from her late husband, who are British. Her comments that she will be “above the president” and in complete control of the government have not gone down well with the military which will be sharing power in the new government. Has she envisioned a role for herself like India’s Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, who wielded considerable power despite being out of government when she made Manmohan Singh the prime minister in May 2014? Suu Kyi has remained tight-lipped so far as to who will replace the outgoing President Thein Sein.

Election of a new president is a long drawn out exercise in Myanmar. Unlike the most prevalent democratic practices, the President will not be chosen directly by the party or the voters. The parliament’s two chambers will choose a presidential candidate each and the military, which controls a quarter of seats, will also name its nominee. The two houses will then vote for the three candidates. The candidate winning the most of the votes will become president where as the other two will be his deputies. Here again one of the vice-presidents of the country will be from the military which has ensured a role for itself in managing the legislature.

Suu Kyi knows it very well that pressing her stake for the country’s top post right now will only vitiate the atmosphere and the fragile bonhomie that exists between her and the military generals may soon be a thing of the past. There is a likely possibility that Suu Kyi may appoint a figure-head president but will pull the strings of the government indirectly. The military has dropped enough indications that it is averse to changing the statute to make Suu Kyi the President of the country. In fact, Suu Kyi held a series of meetings with the ruling junta leaders soon after her landslide victory in the November elections. But the generals were unmoved.

As things stand today, Suu Kyi will have to work in tandem with the military as she attempts to deepen the roots of democracy in the country. Her victory was celebrated across the world. The international community hoped that Suu Kyi would usher in the truest form of democracy in Myanmar after her resounding victory. In the months to come, the army, which has ruled the country with an iron fist for almost half a century, will feel the heat from the global community as Myanmar will have to open its doors to the outside world for investments.  Myanmar will also be under pressure to unleash more political and economic reforms to create a favourable environment for foreign investors.

 “The Lady”, as Suu Kyi is known in Myanmar, is a revered figure. The people of the country voted for her party only to see her becoming the president of the country. In fact, she received a shot in the arm recently when a former defence minister and commander in chief, Tin Oo, also threw his weight behind her and supported her bid for the presidentship. The old lady knows that sooner or later the army will have to change its attitude and will have to listen to the voice of the people. Patience and perseverance will finally reward her with the coveted post.

But most importantly, it remains to be seen how the NLD will be able to implement its agenda of governance. The top three security ministries, namely defence, border and home affairs, will remain in the hands of the military under the constitution which was carefully drafted by the junta to establish its influence on politics. The military even tried to bring immigration matters under its control, but the proposal was voted down by outgoing lawmakers last week.

Suu Kyi will thus have to tread very cautiously as she begins her new inning. She can’t afford to take on the military, which has in the past prevented her from becoming the president and putting her under house arrest despite winning the 1990 elections overwhelmingly. She does not have much choice but to engage with the military. With both the NLD and the military having very little in common as far as their positions on important issues are concerned, it will not be an easy journey ahead. The NLD will be forced into constant negotiations with the military.

Aware of the challenges, Suu Kyi has tried to buy peace with the military establishment by making it clear that she is in no hurry for an immediate overhaul of the constitution and her focus is on the future. In fact, she took a step towards national reconciliation by offering the posts of deputy parliamentary speakers to the defeated Union Solidarity and Development Party and an ethnic minority Arakan National Party despite stiff opposition from her party.

Expectations are high for the Nobel peace laureate to cure the ills of the country from transforming an economy hit by decades of isolation to bringing peace with several of the country’s major ethnic armed groups, particularly in Kachin and Shan states.  Myanmar needs a new political and economic change that will uplift the impoverished nation of more than 51 million people. One of Southeast Asia’s poorest countries, Myanmar’s economy is in a shambles. The previous quasi-civilian government under ex-general Thein Sein undertook some reforms, both political and economic, which led to the lifting of sanctions. But challenges are too many for Suu Kyi. The new government has to outline vision on important policies which should not be seen a marked departure from the previous regime. She has a daunting task ahead in getting the country back on track.

GARBAGE POLITICS IN DELHI AT WHOSE COST?

As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) indulge in blame game over non-payment of salaries of municipal workers, it is Delhi which is paying a heavy price. Nobody knows who is speaking the truth or who is lying. But the fact is that people of Delhi have been made to suffer. In this tussle of one upmanship between BJP and AAP, politicians have been playing with the lives of the people. Politicians should hang their heads in shame for stooping so low just only to belittle their rivals. Whosoever is behind this crass kind of politics is the worst enemy of humankind!

Keeping the city clean is the job of the municipal corporation. When it can’t do its job properly then questions will be raised about the need of such a money guzzler body. Will Delhi not be better off if the job of cleanliness is outsourced to a private party which will be answerable? There is no doubt that the municipal corporation is plagued with corruption, and presided over by inept officials. There are a large number of ghost employees who are in cahoots with corrupt higher officials and drawing monthly salaries.  Then there are many registered employees who have outsourced their work to poor rag pickers and are doing side business. One gets to see the so-called MCD employee during important festivals like Diwali and Holi when they drop in to demand “bakshish”. A close scrutiny of the corporation books will unmask the ugly and corrupt accounting practices.

Never before Delhi witnessed such a culture of MCD employees dumping garbage at important intersections of the city? And this time it became dirtier when the protesting employees deposited heaps of garbage at the residences of government ministers to express their anger. Their anguish is understandable. Running the house without getting salaries for months is not a joke. And that too when prices of essential commodities are hitting the roofs! “Achche Din” is nothing but a “jumla” for them. What do you say, Mr. Amit Shah?

Going to strike is the fundamental right of municipal employees when the State fails them. But, it would have been better had they opted for some other novel method. Delhi generates roughly 9,000 metric tonnes of garbage every day. If this is not collected for days together, one can understand the amount of garbage littered across the city. It is unhygienic for the city. Uncollected garbage poses serious health hazards which can cause outbreaks of various diseases. And these diseases can strike anybody, including sanitation workers and their families. Therefore, this practice of protest should best be avoided.

One must complement the Public Works Department, Delhi Jal Board and the volunteers of AAP who came forward to clean the city. Had the garbage not been cleared and rains had come, the situation could have been very grave. Here again, the politics came to the fore with the BJP terming it a photo-op act by AAP functionaries. The BJP forgets that Prime Minister Narendra Modi also wielded broom in Delhi’s Valmiki colony and a spade in Varanasi at the ghats of the Ganges as part of his “Swatch Bharat Abhiyan”. Was that also a political stunt then? Unlike the Prime Minister, who did “shram daan” only for a few minutes before a battery of cameramen and photographers, the AAP volunteers were seen collecting stinking garbage.

The BJP could have escaped the censure had it taken the initiative. All the three municipal corporations are ruled by the BJP. And if the sanitation workers stopped work, the BJP, which claims to be the world’s largest political party among the democratic countries, could have asked its volunteers to do the job and contribute to the Prime Minister’s “Swatch Bharat Abhiyan”. Sadly, the BJP’s refrain is -- will not do anything and not let others to do.

Delhi has been suffering since the BJP was decimated by the rookie party in last year’s elections. The people of Delhi are being punished for voting overwhelmingly for the AAP.  The BJP will do well not to resort to the “revenge” politics. Not only did it face ignominious defeat in Delhi, it had to bite the dust in Bihar as well. The forthcoming elections in four states and a union territory also don’t seem to bring any good news for the country’s ruling party.  The country needs development and not garbage. And stinking politics will only sink the party which practices it.