Hindu Pakistan- A reality not far away

If they are able to win a repeat of their current strength in Lok Sabha, then frankly our democratic constitution as we understand it will not survive. Because all the three elements they need to tear up the constitution of India and write a new one are there. And that will be a new one that will enshrine the principle of a Hindu Rashtra, that will remove equality for the minorities, that will create a Hindu Pakistan.

– Shashi Tharoor (MP)

If you are a resident of the great nation of India for the past several years (past 4 yrs to be precise), it won’t be hard for you guess what followed next in this chain of events. If you are new then let me clue you in, Shashi Tharoor’s office got vandalized with black engine oil and protesters shouted slogans demanding Tharoor leave for Pakistan. Tharoor later clarified that he still stands by his statement and that they were made in his personal capacity and not on behalf of Congress.

Why did such an academic and learned person with a career in diplomacy make such a statement? Usually, these kinds of statements are just political banter which is to be ignored like the rest of the things that go in our country unless it is associated with Pakistan in some way because then it is a matter of national security and patriotism. Since this statement was related to Pakistan it did require further scrutiny.

“So far what is preventing them is that they need three things to change the constitution. They need two-thirds of the Lok Sabha, two-thirds of Rajya Sabha and half the states. You know, right now they have two-thirds of the Lok Sabha with the NDA alliance. They have more than half the states. They control 20 states and they are in coalition in 2 more out of 29 states. The only thing that they don’t have is a majority in the Rajya Sabha. But because they have so many state governments and the state assemblies elect the Rajya Sabha you can be sure that in four or five years they will have a majority in Rajya Sabha. So the great danger then is that if they have been able to win a repeat of their current strength in Lok Sabha, then frankly our democratic constitution as we understand it will not survive because all the three elements they need to tear up the constitution of India and write a new one. And that will be a new one that will enshrine the principle of a Hindu Rashtra, that will remove equality for the minorities, that will create a Hindu Pakistan. And that is not what Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Azad, Sardar Patel and the great heroes of our freedom struggle fought for,” Tharoor said.

Now we know the context and all of a sudden, this statement does not seem as offensive as it did earlier. If only the vandals had read this and properly understood the context of this statement before going all out on a member of parliament, things could’ve been different.

According to 2018 World freedom of press index by  Reporters without borders suggests that India ranks 138 and shockingly enough Pakistan ranks 139 out of 180 countries with both countries scoring 43.24. To get more perspective on this ranking, Norway has topped with a score of 7.63 North Korea has flunked with 88.87. India ranks lower than some of the absolute religious monarchies of the world like Qatar, Oman, Morocco. Even if this isn’t shocking enough, we rank lower than a complete terrorist (Taliban) state with no stable government, Afghanistan.

It is shameful that a Socialist, Secular, Sovereign, Democratic  Republic and the largest democracy in the world has less freedom of the press than a war-torn country with a totalitarian regime and terrorist rule. As if this wasn’t worse enough, we even slipped two places in the ranking from just last year whereas countries like Afghanistan and Palestine gained two places.

Saying that India has a near totalitarian control and sense of fear wouldn’t be an understatement in the light of these facts and doing nothing about it only makes our situation worse. If we want to become a global capital of culture and freedom, we have to give up our right to get offended and enact to some level, Right to offend because in order to be able to think we have to risk being offended. We cannot have a meaningful dialogue or reach a conclusion without both parties taking certain offences.

Being offended is a beautiful thing as it gives us insight into what matters to us deeply and how it matters to us. It creates outrage but it also creates a window of dialogue where we connect to our human side more than ever and at this juncture of humanity we will edge closer to finding solutions that matter, to problems that matter.

Violence in Chachar, Assam

There has been a yet another incident of communal violence in Katigorah in Assam’s Chachar district on Sunday evening when a carcass of a cow was found near a religious institute. As soon as the news of the carcass spread, large crowds from the majority community gathered near the site and they turned violent when a local leader of the All India Democratic Front, Khalil Uddin Majumdaar, went to the site to take stock of the situation. Two police personnel were also injured amid the ruckus and the mob also blocked the NH-6.

If we notice this run of the mill incident and every other similar incident we find one thing common among them all, somebody with a political association is always around when things go south. It is common knowledge that politicians are exhibitionists and will say or do anything to hog limelight. We need to remember that people in almost every community are always peaceful, it is the politicians that instil violence in the otherwise peaceful crowd by making extremist remarks and their remarks are taken seriously by some because it is human nature to believe thing when they come from a higher authority. Come on pacifists, stop this falling prey to these attention mongers and use your senses to raise your voice against them. Redivde the extremists from Hindus and Muslims to Political and Apolitical.

When symbols become more important than people

The national flag, the national animal, the national fruit, national river hell we even have a national microbe! Symbols have always been an important tool for the governments to promote national agendas in public and to distract people from the real issues. We have grown up with the idea that to respect the national symbols is necessary to become a ‘True national’ and people who disrespect the national symbols should be ‘taught’ a lesson.

Recent verdict of our Hon’ble supreme court that made playing the national anthem compulsory in cinema halls across the country just goes to show how misguided our notions of national pride have become. Cinema halls are meant to be a place of relief and light entertainment, not a place to showcase your patriotism. The problem just doesn’t stop at that but some violent extremists take it to next step and thrash people who don’t stand up for the anthem when it is played in the cinema halls. These extremists don’t even spare the women and disabled from this ‘ritual’. In doing so they forget that the citizens of this country are a way more important part of national identity than any song or a flag.

It is the fault of the government that makes use of these symbols to gain votes. We have not even spared the dead from this symbolism game, Dr.Ambedakar has become a representation of the Dalit community and his words and symbols are deliberately thrown around during elections. It is not to be assumed that we are urging the people to disrespect our national symbols but we are simply condemning the use of violence to forcefully display approbation.

It is good that we value our national motifs deeply but the real reason our founding fathers set those symbols was that they signify our true Indian values and should be used to identify India across the globe. In some cases, the government declare national animals and trees that are endangered to make their preservation easy. We need to set our priorities straight, values of a true Indian lie in our compassion and empathy. Everything about being an Indian relates to our ability to accept people and ideas, not songs and flags. We have more important problems like education and corruption at our hands than wasting time on jingoism. It is the duty of us, the pacifists of this country to redivide the nation from patriotic and non-patriotic people to compassionate and callous people. Let us make compassion our national emotion and work hard to keep it in our hearts.

Save the free thinkers

“To be able to think freely isn’t a crime, it’s a gift. A real privilege; one not enjoyed by a vast majority of people globally, unfortunately.”

-Mamur Mustapha

We are a country born out of a revolution and revolutions are created by people who think freely without the constraints of society, race, caste, gender and authority.  These are the people that inculcate the very idea of freedom of thought. The freedom of thought with itself brings freedom of expression and naturally is followed by freedom of religion, education, peaceful protest and so on.

We live in a country that is formed by the very idea of the Freedom of Expression. Freethinkers are at the foundation of this nation. Rabindranath Tagore, the author of our national anthem is an example of what influence the freethinkers hold on governments and why they are considered a threat to a nation if their thoughts are not aligned with the government. Socrates and Giordano Bruno were executed because they were freethinkers, they dared to differ and that has made all the difference.

Now looking at our country and more specifically the state of creative freedom in our country, we won’t be wrong to say that it is in grave danger. Writers, cartoonists, moviemakers and reporters that ‘offend’ a group of people are issued life threats and some of them even lose their lives doing what they are supposed to do.

Take Gauri Lankesh for example, she was a reporter who strongly opposed a certain set of political ideologies and the parties that followed those ideologies; the validity of her convictions is not of the question here but the fact that she was murdered because she upset the wrong people. Organisations, people and associations all over the country condemned this and even rallied against it, what impact it had is of little importance but the fact that these acts have become more prevalent in recent years. Another recent example is the entire row over the movie Padmavati that has taken a turn for worse when people and especially one insignificant group ‘Karni Sena’ are making violent protests against a movie; claiming it hurts the sentiments of the Rajput community by distorting the facts regarding a fictional character ‘Rani Padmavati’. The mere fact that people can issue life threats and bounties to behead people in public should rock your senses and send shivers down your spine.

The solution to this menace is that the authorities should listen to the woes of the creative community and uphold the law above all because as they say “without the rule of law we are no different from savages”. The elected officials should for once give more importance to something other than getting re-elected and make way for creative freedom and take a stand.  Nextly the peace-loving people of this country should raise their voice and generate enough momentum to make a significant difference.

We need to remember that art of any form has been a medium to influence and mobilize mass support throughout history. Art is a tool when it comes to establishing a state that has social welfare at its heart because a society with creative freedom is the one that prospers. While the stick can be used in place of expression, words will always retain their power. Art of any form offers inspiration and to those who admire it the reason to live.

 

Redivide

Pacifism is the idea of using non-violence to fight violence. It is a belief that war and violence are unjustifiable under any circumstance. It is a great concept for creative welfare but not so much for social welfare. A major chunk of every society has people who believe in pacifism and because pacifism is based on non-violence it is intrinsically a passive belief rather than an active one. It urges people to not do anything rather than to do something.

What we want to accomplish by our campaign is that we want to promote active Pacifism,  we acknowledge that societal differences and boundaries exist but we urge the people to draw them right.

All acts of extremist violence occur between two or more extremists who just happen to hold different and often conflicting religious or political ideologies. If enough people from their respective communities disassociate themselves from these extremists we will be left with only two kinds of people; Pacifists and extremists.

We at redivide do not say that people should not hold convictions but rather should use more sophisticated, peaceful and intellectual ways to showcase their beliefs. Everybody has a right to believe in something and to persuade other people to see their point but we should be ready to accept other ideas too.

Come on pacifists, take a stand and make a difference. Only two things wrong with this world are Extremist Violence and Pacifist silence.

Making movies is not illegal, issuing life threats is.

It’s not about a simple movie if it is fit or not is the for the CBFC to decide. This fiasco is about the right to life that guarantees citizens of this country to live freely without the fear of their lives. Insignificant organizations and significant people like the CM of Madhya Pradesh, Gujrat, Rajasthan(interestingly enough BJP states and some of them facing elections) are upholding the election above law.

Making movies is not illegal, issuing life threats is.  We don’t care about the movies we care about people. Today it is a filmmaker tomorrow it can be you. Sign this petition to ensure we live in peace and not in fear. Let democracy take it’s course, signing this petition is your contribution to this great democracy. This petition is a  symbol just like the movie and symbols are given power by the people. Come on pacifists wake up, take a stand and make a difference by urging the CBFC to take a non-political stand and the government of MP release the movie if and once cleared by the CBFC. 

Scars of Terrorism

Do you know what’s worth fighting for, when it’s not worth dying for.

Does it take your breath away and you feel yourself suffocating.

-21 Guns by Greenday

The world has witnessed terrorist attacks since the end of the cold war when the dissolution of The Soviet Union led to the rise of terror outfits like the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. They have succeeded in never before seen kind of terror attacks called suicide attacks where some deranged individuals blow themselves up in crowded places thus killing hundreds of people in their vicinity. These attacks have rocked both the developed and the developing world at regular intervals. We have the attacks of 9/11 in New York, 7/7 in London or the 13/11 in Paris. These attacks have changed the way governments have operated and people have reacted across the last two decades.

These scars of terrorism are seen everywhere, they determine what policies come into effect, what people come into power and what ideas propagate in cultures. Some of these attacks led countries to initiate wars against other countries and plunge entire regions into chaos.

Take the Afghanistan war for example. Two planes were hijacked by terrorists and were flown into the World Trade Center in New York claiming the lives of around 3000 people. After which the American government rallied the world powers and invaded Afghanistan. They responded to violence with violence.  The repercussions of this war that has lasted for 16 years and counting were tremendous and resulted in the formation of the rogue state of Afghanistan. It is now controlled by a group called the Taliban and is now a breeding ground for terror manufacturing entities.

Civil Liberties get curbed

“When those exceptional things happen it’s so easy for any government to propose these new laws – and they never fail to do so – and they get support, support from both sides,” Professor Philleppe Marlière told Euronews. “Given the emotion, given that people cannot see beyond a kind of response that involves curbing people’s liberties in general, instead of focusing more on police power to chase up and spy on potential terrorists”.

Governments increase surveillance on their citizens but they forget that more surveillance doesn’t necessarily mean better intelligence. The budgets for security agencies have increased three folds and they have been given more power. The status of civil liberties, privacy and freedom of speech gets reduced from rights to mere privileges, that can be suspended anytime by the governments and they will be justified to do so in the name of national security.

Political shift towards the right

The rising support for rightist parties like Republicans in the USA, Conservative party in the UK, The AFD in Germany, Front National Party in France and The BJP in India. All these trends show that we breathe in an environment of fear and suspicion. Fear of one’s physical safety and of one’s integrity. The American president Donald Trump has put travel bans on passengers from many countries. It is an example of how terror activities make it justifiable for governments to act in this way and why people choose to vote for such extremist ideologies.

Increase in Racism

The insidious and xenophobic rhetoric that often draws a blanket equation between terrorism and Islam is what encourages politicians to claim that the ideologies of a certain religion are not compatible with the national ideologies. They perpetuate racism and xenophobia. What is happening here is the scapegoating of the Muslim population, concepts of Islam like jihad are being callously misrepresented among the general masses and an entire religion is being put under scrutiny.

If this continues we will have a future where people will live under fear and the very concepts that are the ingredients of democracy and human well-being will cease to exist. It is upon us to decide what values we want to inculcate in our future generations. There is still hope, that we can leave the world a better place than how we found it. Condemn the hatred, condemn the violence, condemn the terrorism and save the people, save the democracy and save humanity by healing the scars of violent extremism.

#healthehumanity

 

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Inspired by

http://www.euronews.com/2016/01/07/charlie-hebdo-attacks-five-ways-france-has-changed

Quotes are taken from

21 guns: Song by Greenday

 

I am Gauri Lankesh

Murder of a journalist is the death of freedom of speech.

Thousands gathered in Bengaluru and around the nation to protest the killing of Gauri Lankesh, a senior journalist and a staunch critic of right wing hindtva politics. She ran a weekly tabloid ‘Gauri Lankesh Patrike’. She was shot dead on 5th September ’17 after unidentified assailants opened fire outside her residence in Bengaluru.

It was not just the death of the person that mattered but what she stood for; The freedom of press, the gay rights. The media is a pillar of this great democracy, it has the power to bring down entire governments or create new ones. We have to accept that there is an environment of hatred and intolerance and it has perpetuated under the current BJP government. This government has done little to ensure that the civil liberties of its citizens is secured.

The entire media community showed their solidarity and staged numerous protests. They were joined by activists like Medha Pathkar of Narmada Bachao Aandolan, Ravish Kumar from NDTV and so on. This was also condemned by students groups across the country as they were the major chunk of the people on the streets.

We can condemn these killings, lynching and intolerance all we want but what we have to focus on is the loss of humanity, loss of empathy, loss of the very values of democracy. In a democracy if every opinion matters and has a right to be heard; Every life matters and everyone has a right to live. If only for once people could stop taking offence and start taking initiative we can make the truly great nation that was envisioned by the likes of Mahatma Gandhi and Dr. Ambedkar.

It was rightly said in the movie V for Vendetta  “While truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning and those who listen, the enunciation of truth”. We listen; We listen to the voice of Gauri Lankesh and thousands of voices that were suppressed by the noise of violent extremism.

 

Violent extremism faced by students in India

India is a young country with it’s median age around 26 therefore it naturally follows that we have a huge student population. Also India is a country of many religions, ethnicities, languages and political affiliations. History tells us that where there is a presence of different ideologies more often than not clashes are meant to happen. Students have always been on the forefront of every major revolution, demonstration and protest everywhere and India is no different. What accompanies these revolutions is violence.

Some beleifs often get so deeply embedded in our thoughts that it shapes into extremism and this extremism persuades people to take violence as a means to impose those extremist ideologies on other people and this is what leads to violent extremism.

India in its recent history has witnessed many such cases like the case of JNU student activists led by Kanhaiyya Kumar got into violent clashes with other groups, the authorities and the government itself. They were termed anti national by some parties. Their protests initially peaceful turned violent later as the police tried to use force to control the protesters.

Then we have the case of Gujarat violence caused by the demands of Patels in Gujarat wanting to avail reservations in government jobs and colleges. This demonstration was also led by group of students headed by Hardik Patel. Later Hardik was arrested which in turn fuelled the clashes furthermore and in no time they turned violent. Curfew was imposed in Mehsana district of Gujrat and around 500 people were arrested.

The JNU protest and Patel Quota Movement were examples of political extremist violence. The participants of these incidents were politically motivated and despite of whatever their religion. They had in their minds a political ideology which took the form of political extremist violence. Both the leaders of these movements were students and were charged with sedition.

Then we have religious extremism on the other hand where for example we take the stone pelters in Jammu and Kashmir. Most of the people involved in protests in these areas are students. These students may or may not hold any strong political beliefs but what they do hold is a deep religious belief. The cases in J&K is quite different in a way that they are controlled by religious terrorist outfits like Indian Mujahideen and Lashkar E Tayiba.

The main difference between political extremism and religious extremism is that the violence in most cases of political extremism cedes as soon as their demands are met. That is not generally the case with religious extremism. The outfits that propgate religious extremist views do not generally have any specific goal except that they would like to cause as much destruction and violence as possible.

The only way we can counter political extremism is if we have a framework where people with certain demands can make their voices be heard and have meaningful talks with the concerned authorities. As students are concerned they should be negotiated with, reasoned with instead of charging them with sedition. The government has to learn to take in criticism more positively. This way we can curb any possibility of violence before it blows out of proportion.

As far as the religious extremism among students is concerned the only feasible way is to eradicate the very people that propgate hateful religious ideologies. It is the responsibility of the government to provide jobs and engage students in skill development rather than violence.

What we have to remember is that the power of student activism is immense and if channeled correctly it can bring down governments. The cases of violent extremism should not prevent students from voicing their opinions. Rather we should learn to channel our energies into rallying for things that matter keeping in mind that violence is never the solution. We have to fight against violence extremism itself if we want to make this world a better place. A place where there is equal  opportunity for everyone to flourish regardless of  their religious or political beliefs that is the kind of world we as students should thrive to build for us and our future generations.

Saffron Terror

On June 22, with Rs 1,500 in his pocket, Junaid Khan, the fifth of Saira and Jalaluddin’s seven children, left home in Khandawali village of Haryana’s Ballabhgarh district with elder brother Hashim, and friends Moin and Mohsin. Eid was days away and they had to buy new clothes, shoes and ittar. Some gifts for sister Rabiya too, and her three children. On their way back in a Mathura-bound train, Junaid was stabbed to death by a group of men after an argument over seats turned ugly. The men allegedly mocked the boys, tugged at their beards and accused them of being beef eaters. This was before they threw the boys out of the train at Asaoti station, where the 15-year-old bled to death on his brother Hashim’s lap.

This is one of the many stories that stir the nation and make us wonder, how come the largest democracy in the world, a country of all religions turn so violent. Cases like Junaid lynching are neither new nor rare. Dalits and Muslims across India are beaten up, harassed and murdered in the name of Gau Raksha. This is now being termed as Saffron Terror as the saffron colour is deeply associated with Hinduism.

Hinduism is a religion of peace and has been there for 86000 years, then why is it suddenly turning violent? the problem arises when a particular religion and its ideologies are associated with nationalism. Then the entire system gets biased. The people carrying such shameful activities think that they are doing a national service. They indulge in lynching because they think they can get away with doing whatever they want because they are doing it for their religion and for the nation. They often forget that the minorities they are oppressing are also citizens of the same country as they are, irrespective of their religion.

What is actually happening here is that a few deranged people are waging their vendetta on innocent people and colouring it with hindutva just to get support from the society and right-wing groups like RSS. What really needs to be done is that such acts should be condemned and the accused should be tried and brought to justice. People should be made aware and the authorities have to take an unbiased stand. They have to let go of the vote bank politics and risk upsetting the hindu majority for once by doing what is right. It is the responsibility of the elected officials and law enforcement to ensure the protection of the fundamental rights of every citizen.

We as citizens of this great nation must come together and take a firm stand against such acts of violence and work towards restoring the glory of the Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic Republic of India.