Indian Express
SP ticket for ex-BJP leader Kundanika Sharma with history sheet, hate speech arrest
SP government had begun the process of withdrawing 11 cases against her almost eight months before she crossed sides.
Written by Lalmani Verma
Lucknow
Published: May 4, 2016
File Photo | AUSU president Richa Singh and BJP vice-president for Braj region Kundanika Sharma with SP’s in-charge for 2017 polls Shivpal Yadav, in Lucknow. (Express archive)
Agra BJP corporator Kundanika Sharma, arrested for an alleged hate speech in March following the killing of a VHP worker, switched loyalties last month and joined the SP which promptly handed her the Agra North ticket for the 2017 assembly polls. But it now emerges that the SP government had begun the process of withdrawing 11 cases against her almost eight months before she crossed sides.
Sharma told The Indian Express: “At least 18 cases were lodged at different police stations of Agra in the past few years regarding protests, agitation and rioting over matters concerning the public and workers.” She said the cases were withdrawn by the state government in the last six-eight months. [. . .]
READ MORE AT:
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/kundanika-sharma-joins-sp-hate-speech-mulayam-singh-akhilesh-yadav-govt-up-assembly-elections-2017-2783311/
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Showing posts with label Samajwadi Party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Samajwadi Party. Show all posts
May 05, 2016
February 24, 2016
India: ‘soft Hindutva’ of Samajwadi Party the ruling party of Uttar Pradesh State
hindustantimes.com
The Samajwadi Party (SP) – the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh – has
decided to raise the issues of protecting cows and cleaning up the Ganga
prominently in its bid to counterbalance the Bharatiya Janta Party
(BJP) in the Hindi heartland.
To begin with Shivpal Yadav, UP irrigation minister and party president Mulayam Singh Yadav’s younger brother, met Hindu saints in Haridwar in Uttarakhand on Monday and later discussed strategy with party leaders in Dehradun on Wednesday.
“Gai aur Ganga koi unkee akele ke hain kya? (Does the cow and the Ganga belong to them alone (BJP)?” Shivpal Yadav said while replying to Hindustan Times’ query.
The powerful state minister said his party will soon start mobilising people on protecting cows and the Ganga, which originates from Gangotri in Uttarakhand and flows till the Bay of Bengal and is considered sacred by millions of Hindus in the country.
The party has a following among minorities in UP. However, in the last few months as the debate on banning beef was raging, some of the SP leaders including cabinet minister Azam Khan, Rajya Sabha MP Munnavar Salim and Mulayam’s daughter-in-law Aparna spoke against cow killing.
“Cow is treated as the mother in many parts of the country and we are no different,” Shivpal said.
He claimed during his two-day visit to Uttarakhand he met several saints and they have given him ‘blessings’. “The saints are with us in our mission (to clean Ganga and save cows),” he added.
The SP seems to be working on a similar direction, considering the fact that UP goes to polls next year, as the Narendra Modi government whose ambitious Namami Ganga project is also aimed at cleaning the Ganga.
On Tuesday, Yadav laid the foundation stone for developing ‘Shiv-Ki-Pauri’ on the banks of Ganga in Haridwar. Some of the Ganga canals in Uttarakhand are still under the control of UP irrigation department and the upcoming project will come up on the state’s property.
During the programme, Yadav was joined by some saints including Chidanand Muni, head of Rishikesh-based Parmarth Niketan.
Cows, Ganga: Samajwadi Party’s ‘soft Hindutva’ plank to counter BJP
- Anupam Trivedi, Hindustan Times, Dehradun
- Updated: Feb 24, 2016 13:30 IST
Shivpal Yadav says his party will soon start mobilising people on protecting cows and the Ganga.
(HT File Photo)
To begin with Shivpal Yadav, UP irrigation minister and party president Mulayam Singh Yadav’s younger brother, met Hindu saints in Haridwar in Uttarakhand on Monday and later discussed strategy with party leaders in Dehradun on Wednesday.
“Gai aur Ganga koi unkee akele ke hain kya? (Does the cow and the Ganga belong to them alone (BJP)?” Shivpal Yadav said while replying to Hindustan Times’ query.
The powerful state minister said his party will soon start mobilising people on protecting cows and the Ganga, which originates from Gangotri in Uttarakhand and flows till the Bay of Bengal and is considered sacred by millions of Hindus in the country.
The party has a following among minorities in UP. However, in the last few months as the debate on banning beef was raging, some of the SP leaders including cabinet minister Azam Khan, Rajya Sabha MP Munnavar Salim and Mulayam’s daughter-in-law Aparna spoke against cow killing.
“Cow is treated as the mother in many parts of the country and we are no different,” Shivpal said.
He claimed during his two-day visit to Uttarakhand he met several saints and they have given him ‘blessings’. “The saints are with us in our mission (to clean Ganga and save cows),” he added.
The SP seems to be working on a similar direction, considering the fact that UP goes to polls next year, as the Narendra Modi government whose ambitious Namami Ganga project is also aimed at cleaning the Ganga.
On Tuesday, Yadav laid the foundation stone for developing ‘Shiv-Ki-Pauri’ on the banks of Ganga in Haridwar. Some of the Ganga canals in Uttarakhand are still under the control of UP irrigation department and the upcoming project will come up on the state’s property.
During the programme, Yadav was joined by some saints including Chidanand Muni, head of Rishikesh-based Parmarth Niketan.
September 26, 2015
Ajit Ninan's cartoon on both BJP and Samajwai party being indicted by riots commission for role in Muzaffarnagar riots
The Times of India
UP riots: Panel indicts SP,BJP
February 11, 2014
India: Modi, Mulayam, Muzaffarnagar | Sukumar Muralidharan
Modi, Mulayam, Muzaffarnagar
The Communal Riot and the Electoral Politics of the Ghetto
by Sukumar Muralidharan (EPW, February 15, 2014)
As electoral competition intensifies, the key battleground of Uttar Pradesh begins to experience severe stresses. Low level conflicts, amenable to resolution through local processes, are likely to explode into major electoral issues.
http://www.epw.in/perspectives/modi-mulayam-muzaffarnagar.html
The Communal Riot and the Electoral Politics of the Ghetto
by Sukumar Muralidharan (EPW, February 15, 2014)
As electoral competition intensifies, the key battleground of Uttar Pradesh begins to experience severe stresses. Low level conflicts, amenable to resolution through local processes, are likely to explode into major electoral issues.
http://www.epw.in/perspectives/modi-mulayam-muzaffarnagar.html
February 01, 2014
India: Modi, Mulayam and Muzaffarnagar | Sukumar Muralidharan
Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has been spending very little time in the state he was elected to lead. With highly-paid advertising and public relations agencies helping out, the man who would be prime minister has established a presence in every crucial battleground state, addressing political meetings and ensuring that giant election posters plastered with his visage are erected at every possible vantage point. There is a didactic purpose in his pervasive presence in the riot-scarred territory of Muzaffarnagar in the western part of Uttar Pradesh (U.P.), as too in the conspicuous absence of the reigning patriarch, Mulayam Singh Yadav.
http://thecitizen.in/city/modi-mulayam-and-muzaffarnagar/
http://thecitizen.in/city/modi-mulayam-and-muzaffarnagar/
January 13, 2014
India: How ghettos get made: It’s dangerous that Akhilesh’s government has outsourced riot relief work to religious outfits
[by] Rakhi Chakrabarty | Jan 13, 2014, 12.06 AM IST (The Times of India)
As fog and dusk enveloped Muzaffarnagar's Loi village, riot victims huddled in their cramped tents - a fragile refuge after rioters destroyed their ancestral homes in September. Mothers clung to their babies, striving to protect them from the bitter winter chill. Hungry children cried for food as women struggled to make rotis on a chullah fired by dry sugarcane leaves.
About 50 yards away, stood a couple of monstrous excavators - the most visible sign of the state in riot-ravaged Muzaffarnagar. While the world celebrated New Year, these excavators had rolled into Loi and demolished shelters of about 3,600 riot victims.
While tracking the communal riots that singed Muzaffarnagar and neighbouring Shamli, it has increasingly become clear that the Uttar Pradesh government has abdicated its responsibility and let wounds fester. First it failed to save lives and property in one of the most vicious riots in recent times. Then, it failed to assuage the pain of riot victims by not providing adequate relief and compensation. The government's supply of ration, medicines and doctors, milk for babies, clothes and blankets for riot victims has been intermittent and hugely inadequate. And when the Sup-reme Court rapped it for suffering and deaths in the relief camps, the UP government responded with a drive to dismantle most of the 58 camps.
By Muzaffarnagar district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma's estimate, the riots displaced 51,000 people - 27,198 from Muzaffarnagar and the rest from Shamli - from 150 villages. Four months after the riots, only 950 families from nine ''severely affected'' villages have received Rs 5 lakh compensation from the state government. Yardstick for picking only nine villages is not clear. Fate of the other homeless riot victims is uncertain.
The government has also failed to remove fear - many riot accused still roam freely - and restore confidence so that victims return home. Instead, Samajwadi Party's government forced many of them to sign affidavits pledging never to return to their ancestral villages if they accepted the Rs 5 lakh compensation. This move deliberately or otherwise has heightened a sense of hurt and injustice. It could deepen the communal divide.
Other mainstream political parties too have been scarce in their solidarity with or relief for riot victims. There is scant investment in confidence building between the warring communities. The vacuum left by political parties and civil society groups in this rural belt of western UP has been filled in by religious outfits. A slew of Muslim religious organizations have been helping with a steady supply of relief and even mass marriage of daughters of riot victims. They are also building houses and helping riot victims, who lost their livelihood, earn.
A fact-finding team of intellectuals from Delhi University and JNU found that the UP government has outsourced relief work to religious outfits. A reality check at ground zero lends credence to this finding and bares an insidious design as old as the idea of India, but not yet rusty. Politics perilously continues to stir the religious-emotional cauldron, either to consolidate electoral power in our ballot box democracy or to save an eroding political base.
Muzaffarnagar has a notorious crime record, but its communal amity stood out in UP.
In the Jatland, Muslims and Hindus have lived in harmony for centuries. It remained mostly unscathed in the communal frenzy over Partition or Babri masjid demolition.
Village communities built over the ages included people from all backgrounds contributing to the rural economy. Muslim farm labourers worked on land owned by Jats, artisans - blacksmiths, carpenters - were settled by landlords regardless of their religious identity to make the village self-sufficient.
Economy and not religion was the overriding factor. Every member preserved his religious or social identity while being part of a cohesive whole. The September 2013 riots changed that, rupturing social relations cemented over centuries. This is bound to tell on the economy of the country's sugar bowl.
Demography of the region is poised for a change too. Villages here had a largely mixed population. The riots drove out mostly Muslims. A large section of them refuse to return ever. The pattern of settlement of riot victims, mostly with help from religious outfits, portends ghettoisation. Communal homogeneity is inimical to a secular democracy like India. But this could be the future for post-riot villages, churned by a blend of religious segregation and political opportunism.
Help in adversity strengthens bonds and extracts loyalty. During the riots, community leaders and village pradhans - both Hindus and Muslims - emerged as saviours and guardians. If Muslim riot victims are beholden to their community leaders for standing by in crisis, Hindu villagers commend theirs for pandering to the majority's victimhood - lurking in their collective subconscious.
These pradhans and community leaders are potential ghetto overlords. After all amidst UP's political ferment, ghettos could well become the newest captive vote banks controlled by ghetto overlords. They would be open to exploitation by political parties - at a price - for gains in elections.
History, as Stephen Chan says, shows that reconciliation is difficult in a polarized society till each pole lives out its subjectivity. Without reconciliation, the future does not augur peace. Muzaffarnagar's communal frisson spells the end of certainty, at least for now.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/How-ghettos-get-made-Its-dangerous-that-Akhileshs-government-has-outsourced-riot-relief-work-to-religious-outfits/articleshow/28713529.cms
As fog and dusk enveloped Muzaffarnagar's Loi village, riot victims huddled in their cramped tents - a fragile refuge after rioters destroyed their ancestral homes in September. Mothers clung to their babies, striving to protect them from the bitter winter chill. Hungry children cried for food as women struggled to make rotis on a chullah fired by dry sugarcane leaves.
About 50 yards away, stood a couple of monstrous excavators - the most visible sign of the state in riot-ravaged Muzaffarnagar. While the world celebrated New Year, these excavators had rolled into Loi and demolished shelters of about 3,600 riot victims.
While tracking the communal riots that singed Muzaffarnagar and neighbouring Shamli, it has increasingly become clear that the Uttar Pradesh government has abdicated its responsibility and let wounds fester. First it failed to save lives and property in one of the most vicious riots in recent times. Then, it failed to assuage the pain of riot victims by not providing adequate relief and compensation. The government's supply of ration, medicines and doctors, milk for babies, clothes and blankets for riot victims has been intermittent and hugely inadequate. And when the Sup-reme Court rapped it for suffering and deaths in the relief camps, the UP government responded with a drive to dismantle most of the 58 camps.
By Muzaffarnagar district magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma's estimate, the riots displaced 51,000 people - 27,198 from Muzaffarnagar and the rest from Shamli - from 150 villages. Four months after the riots, only 950 families from nine ''severely affected'' villages have received Rs 5 lakh compensation from the state government. Yardstick for picking only nine villages is not clear. Fate of the other homeless riot victims is uncertain.
The government has also failed to remove fear - many riot accused still roam freely - and restore confidence so that victims return home. Instead, Samajwadi Party's government forced many of them to sign affidavits pledging never to return to their ancestral villages if they accepted the Rs 5 lakh compensation. This move deliberately or otherwise has heightened a sense of hurt and injustice. It could deepen the communal divide.
Other mainstream political parties too have been scarce in their solidarity with or relief for riot victims. There is scant investment in confidence building between the warring communities. The vacuum left by political parties and civil society groups in this rural belt of western UP has been filled in by religious outfits. A slew of Muslim religious organizations have been helping with a steady supply of relief and even mass marriage of daughters of riot victims. They are also building houses and helping riot victims, who lost their livelihood, earn.
A fact-finding team of intellectuals from Delhi University and JNU found that the UP government has outsourced relief work to religious outfits. A reality check at ground zero lends credence to this finding and bares an insidious design as old as the idea of India, but not yet rusty. Politics perilously continues to stir the religious-emotional cauldron, either to consolidate electoral power in our ballot box democracy or to save an eroding political base.
Muzaffarnagar has a notorious crime record, but its communal amity stood out in UP.
In the Jatland, Muslims and Hindus have lived in harmony for centuries. It remained mostly unscathed in the communal frenzy over Partition or Babri masjid demolition.
Village communities built over the ages included people from all backgrounds contributing to the rural economy. Muslim farm labourers worked on land owned by Jats, artisans - blacksmiths, carpenters - were settled by landlords regardless of their religious identity to make the village self-sufficient.
Economy and not religion was the overriding factor. Every member preserved his religious or social identity while being part of a cohesive whole. The September 2013 riots changed that, rupturing social relations cemented over centuries. This is bound to tell on the economy of the country's sugar bowl.
Demography of the region is poised for a change too. Villages here had a largely mixed population. The riots drove out mostly Muslims. A large section of them refuse to return ever. The pattern of settlement of riot victims, mostly with help from religious outfits, portends ghettoisation. Communal homogeneity is inimical to a secular democracy like India. But this could be the future for post-riot villages, churned by a blend of religious segregation and political opportunism.
Help in adversity strengthens bonds and extracts loyalty. During the riots, community leaders and village pradhans - both Hindus and Muslims - emerged as saviours and guardians. If Muslim riot victims are beholden to their community leaders for standing by in crisis, Hindu villagers commend theirs for pandering to the majority's victimhood - lurking in their collective subconscious.
These pradhans and community leaders are potential ghetto overlords. After all amidst UP's political ferment, ghettos could well become the newest captive vote banks controlled by ghetto overlords. They would be open to exploitation by political parties - at a price - for gains in elections.
History, as Stephen Chan says, shows that reconciliation is difficult in a polarized society till each pole lives out its subjectivity. Without reconciliation, the future does not augur peace. Muzaffarnagar's communal frisson spells the end of certainty, at least for now.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/opinion/edit-page/How-ghettos-get-made-Its-dangerous-that-Akhileshs-government-has-outsourced-riot-relief-work-to-religious-outfits/articleshow/28713529.cms
January 12, 2014
India: Politics of a riot | Badri Narayan
Since the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and its leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav, have been the political party of choice for Muslims in Uttar Pradesh. This came after the Ram bhakts had been fired upon by the police under orders from Mulayam in Ayodhya in 1990. Hindutva forces sarcastically conferred the title of “Mullah Mulayam” upon him. However, after Kalyan Singh left the BJP to join the SP, UP’s Muslim voters became disillusioned with the SP and voted for the Congress en masse, which resulted in the Congress winning 21 seats in the 2009 parliamentary elections.
But this dissatisfaction with the SP failed to persist, and in the 2012 assembly elections, they once again voted en masse for the SP, which helped the party to form a government in UP. The SP followed up by conferring several posts on Muslim religious and other leaders.
Since September last year, after Narendra Modi was declared the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, UP witnessed small communal riots allegedly instigated by Hindutva forces even before the riots that rocked Muzaffarnagar. The SP failed to control these riots, which many political analysts believe was a deliberate choice to ensure that Muslims would return to the SP in search of protection. Mulayam is thought to have felt that day-to-day communal tension might prevent the Muslims from moving towards the Congress in the forthcoming general elections if the SP were to play saviour in the aftermath.
However, Mulayam appears to have miscalculated in allowing the Chaurasi Kosi Parikrama in Ayodhya last year and entertaining the VHP leaders who visited his residence. First, the Hindutva forces were emboldened by this and second, Muslims started to suspect the SP’s motives. Their suspicions would have been strengthened after the riots in Muzaffarnagar, after which thousands of Muslims are estimated to have fled to relief camps.
The relief camps became the administrative, moral and political responsibility of the SP. They have now emerged as a political space for appropriating Muslim votes in the elections, evident from the visits of political leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Prasad. Their visits have made Mulayam insecure about the Muslim vote, but his own controversial statement made on December 24, after Gandhi’s visit to some relief camps, has further agitated Muslim voters. He said, “There are no riot victims at all in the camps. There is not even one. You can go and check. These are people who are conspirators. The BJP and Congress have conspired. They have asked people to stay there at night and protest. This is a conspiracy.” On January 4, he added the BSP’s name to the group.
Although the administration has promised to give compensation to the riot victims in the relief camps, they were ordered to vacate them. The victims who stayed there claim that many have not yet received the promised compensation and those who have will not be able to construct new houses right away. Many are also afraid to go back to their villages. But these people are being coerced to leave via police threats and the threat of cases being brought against them for encroachment. With winter coming, the problems of the victims have increased further, and the media spotlight on the conditions in the camps is adding weight to the perception that the current situation is a failure on the part of the SP administration.
Mulayam’s over-possessiveness and consequent insecurity regarding Muslims has brought the SP to a position where they have now become disillusioned with a party that is dependent on their votes. The conflict between the leaders of different Muslim sects supporting the SP and Muslim leaders within the SP can also be seen as a factor contributing to the stand taken by the SP on the relief camps. Clerics like the Shahi Imam Maulana Ahmed Bukhari of the Jama Masjid, Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan of the Ittehad-e-Millat Council (IMC), etc, are opposed to Azam Khan, an important SP leader.
The Muzaffarnagar riots have also affected the SP’s Hindu vote. Reportedly, the RSS, VHP and BJP have circulated propaganda material claiming that the riots occurred to defend the honour of Hindu mothers and sisters. This has grossly affected the SP’s Yadav vote bank.
The party this turn of events most benefits is the Congress. It is planning a big rally in Meerut on January 21 on the Muzaffarnagar riots. On the other hand, the BSP is still irresolute on its stand. There are two reasons for this. The first is that the BSP leadership is alleged to have played a role in the riots, and MP Kadir Rana was arrested. Additionally, the Jatavs, Chamars and Bhangis, as also the Dalits living in those villages, sympathise with the Hindutva propaganda about the riots. As a result, the SP’s strongest opponent in UP, the BSP, is faced with a dilemma over this, while the SP is caught in the net of Hindu mobilisation. It remains to be seen how this political crisis is resolved.
Badri narayan
The writer is professor, G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, University of Allahabad
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/politics-of-a-riot/
But this dissatisfaction with the SP failed to persist, and in the 2012 assembly elections, they once again voted en masse for the SP, which helped the party to form a government in UP. The SP followed up by conferring several posts on Muslim religious and other leaders.
Since September last year, after Narendra Modi was declared the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, UP witnessed small communal riots allegedly instigated by Hindutva forces even before the riots that rocked Muzaffarnagar. The SP failed to control these riots, which many political analysts believe was a deliberate choice to ensure that Muslims would return to the SP in search of protection. Mulayam is thought to have felt that day-to-day communal tension might prevent the Muslims from moving towards the Congress in the forthcoming general elections if the SP were to play saviour in the aftermath.
However, Mulayam appears to have miscalculated in allowing the Chaurasi Kosi Parikrama in Ayodhya last year and entertaining the VHP leaders who visited his residence. First, the Hindutva forces were emboldened by this and second, Muslims started to suspect the SP’s motives. Their suspicions would have been strengthened after the riots in Muzaffarnagar, after which thousands of Muslims are estimated to have fled to relief camps.
The relief camps became the administrative, moral and political responsibility of the SP. They have now emerged as a political space for appropriating Muslim votes in the elections, evident from the visits of political leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Prasad. Their visits have made Mulayam insecure about the Muslim vote, but his own controversial statement made on December 24, after Gandhi’s visit to some relief camps, has further agitated Muslim voters. He said, “There are no riot victims at all in the camps. There is not even one. You can go and check. These are people who are conspirators. The BJP and Congress have conspired. They have asked people to stay there at night and protest. This is a conspiracy.” On January 4, he added the BSP’s name to the group.
Although the administration has promised to give compensation to the riot victims in the relief camps, they were ordered to vacate them. The victims who stayed there claim that many have not yet received the promised compensation and those who have will not be able to construct new houses right away. Many are also afraid to go back to their villages. But these people are being coerced to leave via police threats and the threat of cases being brought against them for encroachment. With winter coming, the problems of the victims have increased further, and the media spotlight on the conditions in the camps is adding weight to the perception that the current situation is a failure on the part of the SP administration.
Mulayam’s over-possessiveness and consequent insecurity regarding Muslims has brought the SP to a position where they have now become disillusioned with a party that is dependent on their votes. The conflict between the leaders of different Muslim sects supporting the SP and Muslim leaders within the SP can also be seen as a factor contributing to the stand taken by the SP on the relief camps. Clerics like the Shahi Imam Maulana Ahmed Bukhari of the Jama Masjid, Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan of the Ittehad-e-Millat Council (IMC), etc, are opposed to Azam Khan, an important SP leader.
The Muzaffarnagar riots have also affected the SP’s Hindu vote. Reportedly, the RSS, VHP and BJP have circulated propaganda material claiming that the riots occurred to defend the honour of Hindu mothers and sisters. This has grossly affected the SP’s Yadav vote bank.
The party this turn of events most benefits is the Congress. It is planning a big rally in Meerut on January 21 on the Muzaffarnagar riots. On the other hand, the BSP is still irresolute on its stand. There are two reasons for this. The first is that the BSP leadership is alleged to have played a role in the riots, and MP Kadir Rana was arrested. Additionally, the Jatavs, Chamars and Bhangis, as also the Dalits living in those villages, sympathise with the Hindutva propaganda about the riots. As a result, the SP’s strongest opponent in UP, the BSP, is faced with a dilemma over this, while the SP is caught in the net of Hindu mobilisation. It remains to be seen how this political crisis is resolved.
Badri narayan
The writer is professor, G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, University of Allahabad
- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/politics-of-a-riot/
December 13, 2013
India: BJP refuses to spell stand on Section 377; Lekhi supports SC order / Samajwadi Party supports supreme court ruling
1.)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/BJP-refuses-to-spell-stand-on-Section-377-Lekhi-supports-SC-order/articleshow/27261418.cms
BJP refuses to spell stand on Section 377; Lekhi supports SC order
TNN | Dec 13, 2013, 06.02 AM IST
NEW DELHI: While opposition BJP stuck to its non-committal official line on the Supreme Court's verdict on homosexuality, party spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi came out in support of SC's controversial order for restoration of Section 377.
"I welcome the decision of the court because it is important that Section 377 remains. It is not only women who can be exploited and harassed but men also get exploited so there is a need for a law to protect men too," Lekhi said minutes after her senior colleagues, leaders of opposition Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, had refrained from declaring their stand on the issue.
BJP sources sought to distance the party from Lekhi's comments saying she had articulated her personal viewpoint on the matter. The spokesperson, who is also an SC lawyer, emphasized that she had spoken in her individual capacity, but her statement trained the spotlight on the unpreparedness of the party to take up cudgels publicly for the LGBT community.
Its PM candidate Narendra Modi has kept quiet on the issue, refusing to be baited by opponents like Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha who taunted him for staying silent.
The reticence contrasts starkly with Congress's vocal stand against the SC order, as well as that of AAP which overcame its initial diffidence to criticize the revival of Section 377.
Speaking against the backdrop of the support of fellow saffron outfits like the VHP for the SC order on restoration of Section 377, Swaraj said, "Supreme Court has also said Parliament can legislate on this issue. Government can call an all-party meeting and we will tell our view there on the issue after seeing the government proposal."
She also said it was not enough for the UPA chairperson to express disappointment over the verdict, and expressed hope that the matter will be brought to Parliament shortly.
Meanwhile, speaking to TOI, Lekhi said she saw the outrage over the SC order as a perfect case of "much ado about nothing". People are little informed about the criminal law process and how it gets activated, she said, adding, "You need a complainant or victim for that. Unless someone lodges a complaint, the police cannot do anything about it."
As for soliciting for sex in a public space, it is punishable by law in any case, whether it is between men and women or between same sex people, she elaborated.
2.)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/SP-against-any-move-to-amend-Section-377/articleshow/27267050.cms?intenttarget=no
NEW DELHI: The Samajwadi Party on Thursday said it would oppose any amendments to Section 377 if it came to Parliament for discussion.
Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav said, "Homosexuality is unethical and immoral, it is against the culture of the country and we will fight it."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/BJP-refuses-to-spell-stand-on-Section-377-Lekhi-supports-SC-order/articleshow/27261418.cms
BJP refuses to spell stand on Section 377; Lekhi supports SC order
TNN | Dec 13, 2013, 06.02 AM IST
NEW DELHI: While opposition BJP stuck to its non-committal official line on the Supreme Court's verdict on homosexuality, party spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi came out in support of SC's controversial order for restoration of Section 377.
"I welcome the decision of the court because it is important that Section 377 remains. It is not only women who can be exploited and harassed but men also get exploited so there is a need for a law to protect men too," Lekhi said minutes after her senior colleagues, leaders of opposition Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, had refrained from declaring their stand on the issue.
BJP sources sought to distance the party from Lekhi's comments saying she had articulated her personal viewpoint on the matter. The spokesperson, who is also an SC lawyer, emphasized that she had spoken in her individual capacity, but her statement trained the spotlight on the unpreparedness of the party to take up cudgels publicly for the LGBT community.
Its PM candidate Narendra Modi has kept quiet on the issue, refusing to be baited by opponents like Congress spokesperson Sanjay Jha who taunted him for staying silent.
The reticence contrasts starkly with Congress's vocal stand against the SC order, as well as that of AAP which overcame its initial diffidence to criticize the revival of Section 377.
Speaking against the backdrop of the support of fellow saffron outfits like the VHP for the SC order on restoration of Section 377, Swaraj said, "Supreme Court has also said Parliament can legislate on this issue. Government can call an all-party meeting and we will tell our view there on the issue after seeing the government proposal."
She also said it was not enough for the UPA chairperson to express disappointment over the verdict, and expressed hope that the matter will be brought to Parliament shortly.
Meanwhile, speaking to TOI, Lekhi said she saw the outrage over the SC order as a perfect case of "much ado about nothing". People are little informed about the criminal law process and how it gets activated, she said, adding, "You need a complainant or victim for that. Unless someone lodges a complaint, the police cannot do anything about it."
As for soliciting for sex in a public space, it is punishable by law in any case, whether it is between men and women or between same sex people, she elaborated.
2.)
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/SP-against-any-move-to-amend-Section-377/articleshow/27267050.cms?intenttarget=no
NEW DELHI: The Samajwadi Party on Thursday said it would oppose any amendments to Section 377 if it came to Parliament for discussion.
Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav said, "Homosexuality is unethical and immoral, it is against the culture of the country and we will fight it."
December 01, 2013
India: CPM Should Learn from Late PC Joshi and Not from Mulayam Singh Yadav
INSAF Bulletin 140 December 2013
International South Asia Forum (32 Cowan Ave, St. John’s, NL, Canada A1E 3N7 (Tel.709-368-3252; e- mail; bulletin@insafbulletin.net
CPM SHOULD LEARN FROM LATE PC JOSHI AND NOT FROM MULAYAM SINGH YADAV
by Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
The Communist Party of India (CPM) is the life-line of the communist movement in India. There are other communist parties too, like CPI, but there is no apparent political and ideological reason for their existence; they reflect the decay and not the rejuvenation of the communist movement. The only radically different trend and, indeed, the greatest vulgarization of Marxism is represented by the Maoist movement, which is neither Maoist nor a movement but seems to get undue attention on the part of the media because of its violent nature.
The task of rescuing the communist movement and making it a decisive political force in India lies with CPM. For this and only this reason we argue that CPM is on a suicidal path and must desist from it.
Why do we say so?
Communist party of India and Rashtria Swayamsewak Singh (RSS) were founded at about the same time in the mid 1920s; CPI by the best talents and dedicated revolutionaries that India had at that time and RSS by a zealot Hindu doctor who could not think beyond his high caste Hindu upbringing. Some eighty five years later RSS through its many fronts, including its political arm Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has become the second most influential political party and might even form the new government. CPM is, however, trailing behind Mulayam Singh Yadav in its quest to build an anti-Congress and anti-BJP Third Front.
Since the end of the glorious Telangana struggle, and the first Indian elections when the CPI emerged as the second largest party in Parliament behind Congress, the communist movement has steadily declined. The era of the dynamic leader PC Joshi ended and the reckless era of Ranadive began. The expulsion of PC Joshi from the Party set the trend of split after split. Joshi could as well have formed a different communist party and many would have joined him but he refused to do this.
Nineteen sixty four was an year of historic significance with the split of CPI into CPI and CPM compounded by the next split in 1969 engineered by the juvenile exuberance of Charu Mazumdar. The responsibility of rejuvenating the communist movement has now fallen on the shoulders of CPM. Since Prakash Karat is the General Secretary of CPM, it is his responsibility to give a serious thought on how to lead the communist movement to its rightful place as the savior of India from a fundamentalist and potentially fascist Hindu Rashtra.
It is ironic that when in the 1990s the name of late Jyoti Basu came up to become the Prime Minister of India, a communist Prime Minister of such an important country as India, Prakash Karat opposed it because CPM was in the minority and would not be able to implement a socialist program. Now he is all for a secular anti-Congress, anti-BJP front in alliance with secularists or communalists turned secularists. What CPM can possibly accomplish by becoming a tail of Mulayam Singh is not hard to recognize.
The only genuinely secular party in India is the communist party. True, there are a few others who do not wish to suppress or kill Muslims but they are not secular in the true sense. How can a caste-based party be secular? Moreover, Mulayam Singh is the father of goonda politics in India. For him, Charan Singh was a socialist. He is anti-China and anti-Pakistan. How can any one have an anti-Pakistan view and safeguard the interest of Muslims? Pakistan might have become a different country hostile to India but the Pakistanis are also “desis” first and foremost, sons and daughters of the same soil as Indians. It is impossible to assure the safety of Muslims in India coupled with hostility against Pakistan.
Besides this Third Front for which CPM is doing the leg work has already been taken over by Mulayam Singh in his quest not to decide who will form the next government but to fulfil his historic ambition to become the Prime Minister of India.
Furthermore and most importantly the anti-Congress and anti-BJP front is in essence an anti-Congress and, objectively, a pro-BJP front. Whether one likes it or not, Congress is the only party at present that can prevent India from going into the hands of criminal Modi. Almost any member of the CPM- engineered Third Front with the exception of CPM and CPI can by bought by BJP. Even Mulayam Singh can join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) of BJP if he is offered some important post that will stoke his ambitions.
International South Asia Forum (32 Cowan Ave, St. John’s, NL, Canada A1E 3N7 (Tel.709-368-3252; e- mail; bulletin@insafbulletin.net
CPM SHOULD LEARN FROM LATE PC JOSHI AND NOT FROM MULAYAM SINGH YADAV
by Daya Varma and Vinod Mubayi
The Communist Party of India (CPM) is the life-line of the communist movement in India. There are other communist parties too, like CPI, but there is no apparent political and ideological reason for their existence; they reflect the decay and not the rejuvenation of the communist movement. The only radically different trend and, indeed, the greatest vulgarization of Marxism is represented by the Maoist movement, which is neither Maoist nor a movement but seems to get undue attention on the part of the media because of its violent nature.
The task of rescuing the communist movement and making it a decisive political force in India lies with CPM. For this and only this reason we argue that CPM is on a suicidal path and must desist from it.
Why do we say so?
Communist party of India and Rashtria Swayamsewak Singh (RSS) were founded at about the same time in the mid 1920s; CPI by the best talents and dedicated revolutionaries that India had at that time and RSS by a zealot Hindu doctor who could not think beyond his high caste Hindu upbringing. Some eighty five years later RSS through its many fronts, including its political arm Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has become the second most influential political party and might even form the new government. CPM is, however, trailing behind Mulayam Singh Yadav in its quest to build an anti-Congress and anti-BJP Third Front.
Since the end of the glorious Telangana struggle, and the first Indian elections when the CPI emerged as the second largest party in Parliament behind Congress, the communist movement has steadily declined. The era of the dynamic leader PC Joshi ended and the reckless era of Ranadive began. The expulsion of PC Joshi from the Party set the trend of split after split. Joshi could as well have formed a different communist party and many would have joined him but he refused to do this.
Nineteen sixty four was an year of historic significance with the split of CPI into CPI and CPM compounded by the next split in 1969 engineered by the juvenile exuberance of Charu Mazumdar. The responsibility of rejuvenating the communist movement has now fallen on the shoulders of CPM. Since Prakash Karat is the General Secretary of CPM, it is his responsibility to give a serious thought on how to lead the communist movement to its rightful place as the savior of India from a fundamentalist and potentially fascist Hindu Rashtra.
It is ironic that when in the 1990s the name of late Jyoti Basu came up to become the Prime Minister of India, a communist Prime Minister of such an important country as India, Prakash Karat opposed it because CPM was in the minority and would not be able to implement a socialist program. Now he is all for a secular anti-Congress, anti-BJP front in alliance with secularists or communalists turned secularists. What CPM can possibly accomplish by becoming a tail of Mulayam Singh is not hard to recognize.
The only genuinely secular party in India is the communist party. True, there are a few others who do not wish to suppress or kill Muslims but they are not secular in the true sense. How can a caste-based party be secular? Moreover, Mulayam Singh is the father of goonda politics in India. For him, Charan Singh was a socialist. He is anti-China and anti-Pakistan. How can any one have an anti-Pakistan view and safeguard the interest of Muslims? Pakistan might have become a different country hostile to India but the Pakistanis are also “desis” first and foremost, sons and daughters of the same soil as Indians. It is impossible to assure the safety of Muslims in India coupled with hostility against Pakistan.
Besides this Third Front for which CPM is doing the leg work has already been taken over by Mulayam Singh in his quest not to decide who will form the next government but to fulfil his historic ambition to become the Prime Minister of India.
Furthermore and most importantly the anti-Congress and anti-BJP front is in essence an anti-Congress and, objectively, a pro-BJP front. Whether one likes it or not, Congress is the only party at present that can prevent India from going into the hands of criminal Modi. Almost any member of the CPM- engineered Third Front with the exception of CPM and CPI can by bought by BJP. Even Mulayam Singh can join the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) of BJP if he is offered some important post that will stoke his ambitions.
November 13, 2013
India: Rehabilitate UP riot victims for meaningful normalcy, says AB Bardhan
Economic Times
Rehabilitate UP riot victims for meaningful normalcy, says AB Bardhan
PTI Nov 6, 2013, 04.57PM IST
ALIGARH: Senior CPI leader A B Bardhan today said that no meaningful normalcy can be achieved in the riot-hit districts of western Uttar Pradesh till the victims are fully rehabilitated and return to their original homes.
"There can be no meaningful normalcy in the riot-affected districts of western Uttar Pradesh until all riot victims, presently staying in make shift camps, are fully rehabilitated and return to their original homes," Bardhan said.
The CPI leader was delivering the inaugural address at a two-day national conference here organised by All India Tanzeem-i-Insaf, a leading Muslim social organisation, to charter a course to ensure that the policies for the minorities are implemented by different state governments.
More than 300 delegates from 28 states are participating in the conference.
Bardhan also asked the Uttar Pradesh Government to ensure that the affected people are provided adequate security and they feel safe to return home.
"It is the prime responsibility of the Samajwadi government of Uttar Pradesh to ensure that all the displaced persons are provided full security for returning to their homes and leading their normal lives.
"If the SP Government is unable to do so, it will be failing in its constitutional obligation to the people of the country," Bardhan said.
Speaking on the occasion, national convener of the conference, A A Khan, urged that that all forces committed to communal harmony should join hands for national progress.
He also said that the leaders of Muslim community should share the responsibility and create awareness about welfare schemes for minorities.
Attacking the Narendra Modi-led government in Gujarat, Khan said, "the present Gujarat Government has made a mockery of welfare schemes for minorities by refusing to implement these schemes on the flimsy ground that it does not believe in differentiation between communities while implementing public welfare schemes."
"It was only on the intervention of the Supreme Court that Gujarat was reluctantly forced to fulfil its constitutional obligations to the minorities of the state," he added.
source: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-11-06/news/43733435_1_welfare-schemes-b-bardhan-minorities
Rehabilitate UP riot victims for meaningful normalcy, says AB Bardhan
PTI Nov 6, 2013, 04.57PM IST
ALIGARH: Senior CPI leader A B Bardhan today said that no meaningful normalcy can be achieved in the riot-hit districts of western Uttar Pradesh till the victims are fully rehabilitated and return to their original homes.
"There can be no meaningful normalcy in the riot-affected districts of western Uttar Pradesh until all riot victims, presently staying in make shift camps, are fully rehabilitated and return to their original homes," Bardhan said.
The CPI leader was delivering the inaugural address at a two-day national conference here organised by All India Tanzeem-i-Insaf, a leading Muslim social organisation, to charter a course to ensure that the policies for the minorities are implemented by different state governments.
More than 300 delegates from 28 states are participating in the conference.
Bardhan also asked the Uttar Pradesh Government to ensure that the affected people are provided adequate security and they feel safe to return home.
"It is the prime responsibility of the Samajwadi government of Uttar Pradesh to ensure that all the displaced persons are provided full security for returning to their homes and leading their normal lives.
"If the SP Government is unable to do so, it will be failing in its constitutional obligation to the people of the country," Bardhan said.
Speaking on the occasion, national convener of the conference, A A Khan, urged that that all forces committed to communal harmony should join hands for national progress.
He also said that the leaders of Muslim community should share the responsibility and create awareness about welfare schemes for minorities.
Attacking the Narendra Modi-led government in Gujarat, Khan said, "the present Gujarat Government has made a mockery of welfare schemes for minorities by refusing to implement these schemes on the flimsy ground that it does not believe in differentiation between communities while implementing public welfare schemes."
"It was only on the intervention of the Supreme Court that Gujarat was reluctantly forced to fulfil its constitutional obligations to the minorities of the state," he added.
source: http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-11-06/news/43733435_1_welfare-schemes-b-bardhan-minorities
October 12, 2013
India: Former BJP hand who has the honour of umpteen criminal cases against him back in the UP govt
Controversial Kunda MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh “Raja Bhaiya” was re-inducted in the Akhilesh Yadav Ministry on Friday after a gap of seven months. He resigned the next day after the murder of DSP Zia-ul-Haque’s at Balipur village in Pratapgarh district on March 2, 2013. The move to re-induct him is said to have been governed by political compulsions with the Samajwadi Party eyeing the Thakur or Kshatriya voters considering that the BJP is also trying to manage the Thakur votes.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/raja-bhaiya-is-back-as-minister/article5224617.ece
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/raja-bhaiya-is-back-as-minister/article5224617.ece
September 17, 2013
Violence by Political Design | Report of CPA initiated fact finding team on Muzaffarnagar violence
This fact-finding exercise was coordinated by the Centre for Policy Analysis. Team members were the human rights activist and former civil servant Harsh Mander, former Director-General of the Border Security Force, E N Rammohan, Professor Kamal Mitra Chenoy of Jawaharlal Nehru University, National Integration Council member John Dayal, senior journalist Sukumar Muralidharan and CPA Director and senior editor Seema Mustafa.
http://www.sacw.net/article5612.html
http://www.sacw.net/article5612.html
September 13, 2013
India: Muzaffarnagar riots - On the ground, Muslims take stock of 'a new situation'
From: Indian Express, 13 September 2013
Muzaffarnagar riots: On the ground, Muslims take stock of 'a new situation'
by Seema Chishti
New Delhi :
Amid the violence of a scale these areas of UP have never seen before, there is restlessness in the Muslim community about “adjusting to a new situation” — and it is not just about displacement, disposession of assets, or attacks .
Express Editorial: Akhilesh Yadav - young and regressive
Several Muslims familiar with the area and its dynamics point out that in these areas seen as communal flashpoints, including in 1947 and 1992, what has been consistent is a political sync between Jat and Muslim interests. The rise of Charan Singh, his family and the Rashtriya Lok Dal, and even the success of farm lobbyist Mahender Singh Tikait, owed a lot to the two communities sticking together.
Muzaffarnagar: Fearing more clashes, families flee homes in affected areas
Kawkab Hamid, four times an MLA since 1984 from Baghpat, is touring affected villages, hoping people can soon go back to their homes. “I am amazed why 500 people in the VHP’s yatra were deemed fit to be banned by this government and yet thousands allowed to congregate at the maha panchayat,” Hamid says. “It is clear that the BJP is trying to gain mileage but what was the state government doing?”
Column: Muzaffarnagar memories
The sudden violence is being seen as an attempt to break the age-old Jat-Muslim equation. The BJP is seen as the beneficiary, but there are differing opinions whether the Samjawadi Party, publicly a rival, is helping the BJP push the mood. Must Read: Few choices on flight to safety
Former RLD MP Mahmood Madani, also the head of one faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, was in the region. Unlike his rival and uncle Arshad Madani, who has been hesitant about critcising the SP, Mahmood Madani has gone all out against Mulayam Singh Yadav, writing to the prime minister that the state government should be dismissed.
“It has not been about any communal riot but about gangs of VHP and Bajrang Dal people firing in villages; clearing the villages has been the aim,” he said. “If the government could not see it coming after the mahapanchayat, originally a Jat khap panchayat, was hijacked by the BJP as a ‘save Hindus panchayat’, then they clearly allowed it to happen, wanting to pretend to be saviours of the community.”
This theory about the government having allowed VHP and Bajrang Dal cadres to run amok, so that the SP could later apply the balm, has gained some currency here, especially among senior Muslim workers of the Bhatatiya Kisan Union. One member said, “This is happening as the SP never got seats here. It was either the RLD or the BSP and Muslims voted with them. Charan Singh would never have been PM but for that. It helps the SP to go for this area and allow insecurity to develop so that they can then play patrons.”
Says Delhi-based academic Shams-ul Islam, “It is almost a Kalyan Singh moment again for the SP. Worse, Mulayam is playing into the hands of Narendra Modi. The SP hoped that by going easy on VHP and RSS cadres, it could get away with simmering communal tension but not riots, and that Muslims would be grateful to it. But this was akin to creating a monster and it spun out of control. It can only hurt Mulayam now. The BJP thinks it need not worry about the Muslim vote, so it is trying to just get Hindus to vote en bloc.”
Journalist Masoom Moradabadi sees a deep, twin conspiracy. “How come it is in those UP areas where Mulayam does not have a firm foothold that communal trouble is being sought to be fomented? It was in the Faizabad region for the yatra sometime back, and now it is in western UP. In Faizabad the Congress had got some seats; here the RLD has been dominant. Why did Mulayam meet Ashok Singhal of the VHP for two hours and make an issue about the yatra ?”
Mulayam’s calling card of late has been his unpredictability in switching positions on various national issues. Within his core support base are several of UP’s Muslims who don’t see these frequent switches as a virtue. They cite Mulayam’s meeting with L K Advani secretly in 1999 (as written by Advani in his autobiography) and then his tryst with Kalyan in 2007 as examples of untrustworthiness.
Mulayam’s party this time has come to power on several promises, among these being 18 per cent reservation for Muslims. But, say several Muslims, he has been unable to get even basic things done, such as a state minorities commission. “Minorities have special rights under the Constitution but this SP government has deprived Muslims of these rights to help communal forces,” says Aligarh-based Prof Razaullah Khan, who had got together people to demand a UP minorities commission. Activist N Jamal Ansari had said at the same meeting, “A writ petition was filed in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, which has ordered the UP government to constitute the minority commission within two months. But why did such a situation arise?”
There are, however, several willing to cut the party some slack. “Of course there has been administrative ineptness, but we must not lose focus on who or what caused the riots,” says Lucknow-based Hisam Siddique, journalist and once a close associate of Mulayam. “The VHP-BJP cadres see this year as the one chance to get votes. It’s about consolidating the Hindu vote, not about the Muslim vote. Let’s wait and watch.”
At over 20,000, the highest number of fleeing villagers have set up camp in Kandla. Many have also fled to Khairana, Dharampur and Basai Kalan. Police have formed teams who are trying to convince them to return home.
It is locals who are looking after the campers. “There has been no support from the government yet and people in this town and surrounding villages are donating essential supplies,” says Samiullahah, who runs the madrasa in Khairana.
Muzaffarnagar riots: On the ground, Muslims take stock of 'a new situation'
by Seema Chishti
New Delhi :
Amid the violence of a scale these areas of UP have never seen before, there is restlessness in the Muslim community about “adjusting to a new situation” — and it is not just about displacement, disposession of assets, or attacks .
Express Editorial: Akhilesh Yadav - young and regressive
Several Muslims familiar with the area and its dynamics point out that in these areas seen as communal flashpoints, including in 1947 and 1992, what has been consistent is a political sync between Jat and Muslim interests. The rise of Charan Singh, his family and the Rashtriya Lok Dal, and even the success of farm lobbyist Mahender Singh Tikait, owed a lot to the two communities sticking together.
Muzaffarnagar: Fearing more clashes, families flee homes in affected areas
Kawkab Hamid, four times an MLA since 1984 from Baghpat, is touring affected villages, hoping people can soon go back to their homes. “I am amazed why 500 people in the VHP’s yatra were deemed fit to be banned by this government and yet thousands allowed to congregate at the maha panchayat,” Hamid says. “It is clear that the BJP is trying to gain mileage but what was the state government doing?”
Column: Muzaffarnagar memories
The sudden violence is being seen as an attempt to break the age-old Jat-Muslim equation. The BJP is seen as the beneficiary, but there are differing opinions whether the Samjawadi Party, publicly a rival, is helping the BJP push the mood. Must Read: Few choices on flight to safety
Former RLD MP Mahmood Madani, also the head of one faction of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, was in the region. Unlike his rival and uncle Arshad Madani, who has been hesitant about critcising the SP, Mahmood Madani has gone all out against Mulayam Singh Yadav, writing to the prime minister that the state government should be dismissed.
“It has not been about any communal riot but about gangs of VHP and Bajrang Dal people firing in villages; clearing the villages has been the aim,” he said. “If the government could not see it coming after the mahapanchayat, originally a Jat khap panchayat, was hijacked by the BJP as a ‘save Hindus panchayat’, then they clearly allowed it to happen, wanting to pretend to be saviours of the community.”
This theory about the government having allowed VHP and Bajrang Dal cadres to run amok, so that the SP could later apply the balm, has gained some currency here, especially among senior Muslim workers of the Bhatatiya Kisan Union. One member said, “This is happening as the SP never got seats here. It was either the RLD or the BSP and Muslims voted with them. Charan Singh would never have been PM but for that. It helps the SP to go for this area and allow insecurity to develop so that they can then play patrons.”
Says Delhi-based academic Shams-ul Islam, “It is almost a Kalyan Singh moment again for the SP. Worse, Mulayam is playing into the hands of Narendra Modi. The SP hoped that by going easy on VHP and RSS cadres, it could get away with simmering communal tension but not riots, and that Muslims would be grateful to it. But this was akin to creating a monster and it spun out of control. It can only hurt Mulayam now. The BJP thinks it need not worry about the Muslim vote, so it is trying to just get Hindus to vote en bloc.”
Journalist Masoom Moradabadi sees a deep, twin conspiracy. “How come it is in those UP areas where Mulayam does not have a firm foothold that communal trouble is being sought to be fomented? It was in the Faizabad region for the yatra sometime back, and now it is in western UP. In Faizabad the Congress had got some seats; here the RLD has been dominant. Why did Mulayam meet Ashok Singhal of the VHP for two hours and make an issue about the yatra ?”
Mulayam’s calling card of late has been his unpredictability in switching positions on various national issues. Within his core support base are several of UP’s Muslims who don’t see these frequent switches as a virtue. They cite Mulayam’s meeting with L K Advani secretly in 1999 (as written by Advani in his autobiography) and then his tryst with Kalyan in 2007 as examples of untrustworthiness.
Mulayam’s party this time has come to power on several promises, among these being 18 per cent reservation for Muslims. But, say several Muslims, he has been unable to get even basic things done, such as a state minorities commission. “Minorities have special rights under the Constitution but this SP government has deprived Muslims of these rights to help communal forces,” says Aligarh-based Prof Razaullah Khan, who had got together people to demand a UP minorities commission. Activist N Jamal Ansari had said at the same meeting, “A writ petition was filed in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, which has ordered the UP government to constitute the minority commission within two months. But why did such a situation arise?”
There are, however, several willing to cut the party some slack. “Of course there has been administrative ineptness, but we must not lose focus on who or what caused the riots,” says Lucknow-based Hisam Siddique, journalist and once a close associate of Mulayam. “The VHP-BJP cadres see this year as the one chance to get votes. It’s about consolidating the Hindu vote, not about the Muslim vote. Let’s wait and watch.”
At over 20,000, the highest number of fleeing villagers have set up camp in Kandla. Many have also fled to Khairana, Dharampur and Basai Kalan. Police have formed teams who are trying to convince them to return home.
It is locals who are looking after the campers. “There has been no support from the government yet and people in this town and surrounding villages are donating essential supplies,” says Samiullahah, who runs the madrasa in Khairana.
August 13, 2013
India: Uttar Pradesh Minister Azam Khan instigating 'Muslims': Intellectuals, civil society come out in support of Dalit Scholar
The Hindu
NEW DELHI,
Published: August 12, 2013 09:46 IST | Updated: August 12, 2013 15:59 IST
Azam Khan instigating Muslims: Dalit scholar
Staff Reporter
Intellectuals, civil society come out in support of Kanwal Bharti
Dalit scholar Kanwal Bharti on Sunday described his recent arrest by the Uttar Pradesh Police for a Facebook post taking on the Samajwadi Party (SP) as a move aimed at encouraging anti-social elements.
Mr. Bharti came down heavily on Uttar Pradesh Minister Azam Khan, calling him “communal in the garb of a socialist”.
The post had criticised the U.P. Government, led by the SP, for suspending IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal and its policy on reservations. It said that senior SP leaders such as Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Shivpal Singh Yadav and Azam Khan were blind to the fact that the public did not consider them fit for democracy. This led to the registration of a case against Mr. Bharti at his hometown, Rampur, based on a complaint purportedly made by Mr. Khan’s media in-charge.
At a press conference held at the Press Club of India here, Mr. Bharti, who was granted bail on the same day as his arrest, said the complaint was made at Mr. Khan’s behest.
“Mr. Khan is instigating Ulemas and other Muslims in the State to run a campaign and demand that the National Security Act be slapped against me besides putting pressure on the State government to expedite actions against me. I just highlighted that demolitions, like the one for which Mr. Nagpal was suspended, had taken place in Rampur also but no action was taken against officers there as they enjoyed Mr. Khan’s patronage and backing. Perhaps this is what irked him,” Mr. Bharti said.
Recalling the day he was arrested, the scholar said he was taken to the police station in the vest and pyjama he was wearing. He claimed the police personnel who came to his house did not even give him time to change his clothes.
“I was made to wait at the police station for five hours and wasn’t even told what the charges against me were or who the complainant was. I found this out when I reached the court later in the day,” he said.
At the conference, held under the aegis of Jan Sanskriti Manch, several intellectuals and those from different spheres of society expressed their solidarity with Mr. Bharti. Citing recent examples, the speakers said regimes, of late, have become increasingly intolerant when it comes to individual freedom of expression.
Comparing Mr. Bharti’s case with that of BJP leader Varun Gandhi, who allegedly made a hate speech in U.P. a few years ago, speakers said the State government has different standards for dealing with the two cases despite the fact that Mr. Gandhi’s speech posed a threat to communal harmony.
Without naming anyone, the speakers said that on one hand “the biggest rioter in the country is being glorified” but on the other, a witch hunt is on to target those standing up for civil liberties.
NEW DELHI,
Published: August 12, 2013 09:46 IST | Updated: August 12, 2013 15:59 IST
Azam Khan instigating Muslims: Dalit scholar
Staff Reporter
Intellectuals, civil society come out in support of Kanwal Bharti
Dalit scholar Kanwal Bharti on Sunday described his recent arrest by the Uttar Pradesh Police for a Facebook post taking on the Samajwadi Party (SP) as a move aimed at encouraging anti-social elements.
Mr. Bharti came down heavily on Uttar Pradesh Minister Azam Khan, calling him “communal in the garb of a socialist”.
The post had criticised the U.P. Government, led by the SP, for suspending IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal and its policy on reservations. It said that senior SP leaders such as Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Shivpal Singh Yadav and Azam Khan were blind to the fact that the public did not consider them fit for democracy. This led to the registration of a case against Mr. Bharti at his hometown, Rampur, based on a complaint purportedly made by Mr. Khan’s media in-charge.
At a press conference held at the Press Club of India here, Mr. Bharti, who was granted bail on the same day as his arrest, said the complaint was made at Mr. Khan’s behest.
“Mr. Khan is instigating Ulemas and other Muslims in the State to run a campaign and demand that the National Security Act be slapped against me besides putting pressure on the State government to expedite actions against me. I just highlighted that demolitions, like the one for which Mr. Nagpal was suspended, had taken place in Rampur also but no action was taken against officers there as they enjoyed Mr. Khan’s patronage and backing. Perhaps this is what irked him,” Mr. Bharti said.
Recalling the day he was arrested, the scholar said he was taken to the police station in the vest and pyjama he was wearing. He claimed the police personnel who came to his house did not even give him time to change his clothes.
“I was made to wait at the police station for five hours and wasn’t even told what the charges against me were or who the complainant was. I found this out when I reached the court later in the day,” he said.
At the conference, held under the aegis of Jan Sanskriti Manch, several intellectuals and those from different spheres of society expressed their solidarity with Mr. Bharti. Citing recent examples, the speakers said regimes, of late, have become increasingly intolerant when it comes to individual freedom of expression.
Comparing Mr. Bharti’s case with that of BJP leader Varun Gandhi, who allegedly made a hate speech in U.P. a few years ago, speakers said the State government has different standards for dealing with the two cases despite the fact that Mr. Gandhi’s speech posed a threat to communal harmony.
Without naming anyone, the speakers said that on one hand “the biggest rioter in the country is being glorified” but on the other, a witch hunt is on to target those standing up for civil liberties.
August 11, 2013
India: Why Mulayam is getting desperate in UP
The Asian Age. Aug 10, 2013
Desperate father…
Bharat Bhushan
How does one explain the experienced politician in Mulayam Singh Yadav letting the controversy over the actions of a young civil servant escalate to a wholesale alienation of the bureaucracy?
As no incumbent government would want to go into an election with a hostile bureaucracy, it suggests extreme desperation on the part of the Samajwadi Party (SP).
Political interference in the functioning of the bureaucracy in Uttar Pradesh is so great — and the SP alone is not to blame — that out of the 556 Indian Administrative Service posts sanctioned for Uttar Pradesh, less than half — about 228 — are filled. Uttar Pradesh cadre officers who are posted at the Centre or are on inter-state deputation are reluctant to go back to their state. And now there is speculation that even Ms Nagpal and her IAS husband may seek a change of cadre because of the harassment she is being subjected to.
Anyone who knows the style of functioning of the elder Mr Yadav would know that it is he who decides the transfers and postings of IAS and Indian Police Service officers. He is even known to involve himself in the transfer and posting of police inspectors and Station House Officers.
Transfers, postings, rewards and reprimands to civil servants are important signals sent out by political parties to their clients and votebanks that their interests are being protected. It is not farfetched to suggest that the action taken against Ms Nagpal is a demonstration to the Muslim voters of Uttar Pradesh that the SP stands firmly behind them.
The need for mobilising Muslim voters is urgent as the political balance which existed in the state during the Assembly elections no longer holds. Then the two dominant players were the SP and the incumbent Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), with core caste-based votebanks. These were topped up by wooing Muslim and upper-caste voters, both of whom have carved out a strategic niche for themselves by supporting one or the other caste formation.
The two national parties, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party were insignificant players in the state elections but are the main contenders in the upcoming national parliamentary election. With the entry of Narendra Modi, the pro-Hindutva vote has begun to consolidate in favour of the BJP in north India, including Uttar Pradesh. The question that bothers the other political parties is: which way will the Muslim vote go?
In every constituency where it matters, the Muslim vote will go to the candidate who is best placed to defeat the BJP candidate; at this juncture it could go to any of the non-Hindutva parties — the Congress, the BSP or the SP. There’s speculation that the Congress might be the larger gainer, as voters believe that the other two parties are unlikely to form the government at the Centre, and will use their parliamentary numbers for personal ends, such as slowing the investigation against them for amassing disproportionate assets or dodging income tax.
If Mr Yadav sees the 2014 general election as his last chance to get the top job in New Delhi, he will have to win more than 40 of the 80 parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh’s Muslims form 18.5 per cent of its population and have a deciding influence in 36 Lok Sabha constituencies. The Durga Shakti Nagpal case could be a desperate gamble by the SP to attract the Muslim vote.
Muslim anger against the SP is palpable at the moment. Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav admitted in the state Assembly that in the 10 months since he took over in March 2012 there have been 27 communal riots. Not a single IAS or IPS officer was suspended for allowing the disturbance of communal harmony — a charge against Ms Nagpal.
One wonders whether the Muslims of Uttar Pradesh will be convinced by the Yadav clan “showcasing” their protection of an illegally constructed mosque wall when it has done less to protect their lives or icons of their community, like DSP Zia-ul-Haq. The young and honest Muslim deputy superintendent of police was murdered in broad day light allegedly by the henchmen of SP minister Raja Bhaiyya aka Raghuraj Pratap Singh in his constituency of Kunda. SP leaders spared no effort to see that Raja Bhaiyya was absolved of any personal involvement.
The upper caste vote is also on top of the mind of SP and BSP leaders as tactical voting by this section of voters has often decided their fortunes in the Assembly elections. The BSP was organising Brahmin conferences till early June when they were banned by the high court. But Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav will find it harder to pursue upper caste voters.
OBC youth in the state are upset with the government’s implementation of the OBC reserved quota in the State Public Service Commission. They opposed the inclusion of those OBC candidates who had qualified in the general category within the 27 per cent OBC quota. This would, in effect convert the 50 per cent general seats remaining after SC/ST and OBC reservation into an upper-caste quota. The controversy erupted when candidates were called for the final interview for the PSC examination given in 2011. The government ordered the commission to modify its selection process under pressure from OBC candidates.
However, it was decided to stall this order after massive counter-agitation by upper caste students at Allahabad University, and pressure from the SP’s upper caste leaders like Reoti Raman Singh and Ranjana Bajpai.
The Akhilesh Yadav government gave an affidavit regarding this to the Allahabad high court. What’s being seen as appeasement of upper caste youth might cost the party dearly.
The hike in rural electricity tariffs and deterioration in the law and order situation further add to the electoral discomfiture of the SP. Perhaps sensing public anger, the SP government has lauded the performance of its government in full-page advertisements in the press.
Unfortunately, apart from contributing to the revenues of an ailing newspaper industry, they only demonstrate how desperate times are for Mr Mulyam Singh Yadav.
The writer is a journalist based in New Delhi
Desperate father…
Bharat Bhushan
How does one explain the experienced politician in Mulayam Singh Yadav letting the controversy over the actions of a young civil servant escalate to a wholesale alienation of the bureaucracy?
As no incumbent government would want to go into an election with a hostile bureaucracy, it suggests extreme desperation on the part of the Samajwadi Party (SP).
Political interference in the functioning of the bureaucracy in Uttar Pradesh is so great — and the SP alone is not to blame — that out of the 556 Indian Administrative Service posts sanctioned for Uttar Pradesh, less than half — about 228 — are filled. Uttar Pradesh cadre officers who are posted at the Centre or are on inter-state deputation are reluctant to go back to their state. And now there is speculation that even Ms Nagpal and her IAS husband may seek a change of cadre because of the harassment she is being subjected to.
Anyone who knows the style of functioning of the elder Mr Yadav would know that it is he who decides the transfers and postings of IAS and Indian Police Service officers. He is even known to involve himself in the transfer and posting of police inspectors and Station House Officers.
Transfers, postings, rewards and reprimands to civil servants are important signals sent out by political parties to their clients and votebanks that their interests are being protected. It is not farfetched to suggest that the action taken against Ms Nagpal is a demonstration to the Muslim voters of Uttar Pradesh that the SP stands firmly behind them.
The need for mobilising Muslim voters is urgent as the political balance which existed in the state during the Assembly elections no longer holds. Then the two dominant players were the SP and the incumbent Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), with core caste-based votebanks. These were topped up by wooing Muslim and upper-caste voters, both of whom have carved out a strategic niche for themselves by supporting one or the other caste formation.
The two national parties, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party were insignificant players in the state elections but are the main contenders in the upcoming national parliamentary election. With the entry of Narendra Modi, the pro-Hindutva vote has begun to consolidate in favour of the BJP in north India, including Uttar Pradesh. The question that bothers the other political parties is: which way will the Muslim vote go?
In every constituency where it matters, the Muslim vote will go to the candidate who is best placed to defeat the BJP candidate; at this juncture it could go to any of the non-Hindutva parties — the Congress, the BSP or the SP. There’s speculation that the Congress might be the larger gainer, as voters believe that the other two parties are unlikely to form the government at the Centre, and will use their parliamentary numbers for personal ends, such as slowing the investigation against them for amassing disproportionate assets or dodging income tax.
If Mr Yadav sees the 2014 general election as his last chance to get the top job in New Delhi, he will have to win more than 40 of the 80 parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh’s Muslims form 18.5 per cent of its population and have a deciding influence in 36 Lok Sabha constituencies. The Durga Shakti Nagpal case could be a desperate gamble by the SP to attract the Muslim vote.
Muslim anger against the SP is palpable at the moment. Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav admitted in the state Assembly that in the 10 months since he took over in March 2012 there have been 27 communal riots. Not a single IAS or IPS officer was suspended for allowing the disturbance of communal harmony — a charge against Ms Nagpal.
One wonders whether the Muslims of Uttar Pradesh will be convinced by the Yadav clan “showcasing” their protection of an illegally constructed mosque wall when it has done less to protect their lives or icons of their community, like DSP Zia-ul-Haq. The young and honest Muslim deputy superintendent of police was murdered in broad day light allegedly by the henchmen of SP minister Raja Bhaiyya aka Raghuraj Pratap Singh in his constituency of Kunda. SP leaders spared no effort to see that Raja Bhaiyya was absolved of any personal involvement.
The upper caste vote is also on top of the mind of SP and BSP leaders as tactical voting by this section of voters has often decided their fortunes in the Assembly elections. The BSP was organising Brahmin conferences till early June when they were banned by the high court. But Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav will find it harder to pursue upper caste voters.
OBC youth in the state are upset with the government’s implementation of the OBC reserved quota in the State Public Service Commission. They opposed the inclusion of those OBC candidates who had qualified in the general category within the 27 per cent OBC quota. This would, in effect convert the 50 per cent general seats remaining after SC/ST and OBC reservation into an upper-caste quota. The controversy erupted when candidates were called for the final interview for the PSC examination given in 2011. The government ordered the commission to modify its selection process under pressure from OBC candidates.
However, it was decided to stall this order after massive counter-agitation by upper caste students at Allahabad University, and pressure from the SP’s upper caste leaders like Reoti Raman Singh and Ranjana Bajpai.
The Akhilesh Yadav government gave an affidavit regarding this to the Allahabad high court. What’s being seen as appeasement of upper caste youth might cost the party dearly.
The hike in rural electricity tariffs and deterioration in the law and order situation further add to the electoral discomfiture of the SP. Perhaps sensing public anger, the SP government has lauded the performance of its government in full-page advertisements in the press.
Unfortunately, apart from contributing to the revenues of an ailing newspaper industry, they only demonstrate how desperate times are for Mr Mulyam Singh Yadav.
The writer is a journalist based in New Delhi
August 10, 2013
India: Aligarh academics call to oppose religious and communal politics played in UP ; demand reinstatement of suspended IAS officer
From The Times of India
Aligarh academics call for reinstating Durga Nagpal
Ayaskant Das, TNN Aug 9, 2013, 05.33AM IST
NOIDA: The Aligarh-based Forum for Muslim Studies and Analysis and Milat Bidari Muhim Committee have passed a resolution demanding immediate reinstatement of suspended Gautam Budh Nagar sub-divisional magistrate Durga Nagpal during a meeting of non-profit organizations of researchers and academicians.
In yet another resolution passed in the meeting held in Aligarh on Wednesday, the organizations condemned the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party state government for deliberately trying to vitiate the inter-communal atmosphere in Uttar Pradesh for political gains.
Tearing apart the reasons advanced by the state government for issuing suspension orders to Nagpal (viz. her alleged role in the demolition of the wall of an under-construction religious structure in Gautam Budh Nagar), members of both organizations have accused the state government of flexing its muscles to protect the sand mafia.
"About 27 incidents of communal or sectarian violence have been reported in the short tenure of the Akhilesh government. Not a single officer was suspended for these incidents. Nagpal was promptly suspended just on basis of anticipated communal tension," Prof. Razaullah Khan, president of MBMC, said.
During the meeting, the academics said they would remain isolated from the "dirty politics played by SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav". "Mulayam's younger brother, Shivpal, had recently misbehaved with a delegation of Muslims from Firozabad. Minorities are being treated like the personal fiefdom of the Yadav clan," said Prof. Humayun Murad.
The SP is being accused by the intellectuals of playing the minority card and encouraging illegal mining to fatten its purses ahead of the 2014 general elections. Even a year after having been voted to power, the party has failed to rein in criminal elements or control the poor law and order situation in the state, said fora members.
"The political elite in the state is emotionally blackmailing minorities in the name of religion. It's happening at a time when poorer sections of minority communities stay deprived of basic amenities like health and education," MBMC member N Jamaal Ansari said.
Participants said they are strongly opposed to the religious and communal politics played in UP. "We have planned to hold a dharna at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on August 21," Jasim Mohammad, another MBMC member, said.
Aligarh academics call for reinstating Durga Nagpal
Ayaskant Das, TNN Aug 9, 2013, 05.33AM IST
NOIDA: The Aligarh-based Forum for Muslim Studies and Analysis and Milat Bidari Muhim Committee have passed a resolution demanding immediate reinstatement of suspended Gautam Budh Nagar sub-divisional magistrate Durga Nagpal during a meeting of non-profit organizations of researchers and academicians.
In yet another resolution passed in the meeting held in Aligarh on Wednesday, the organizations condemned the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party state government for deliberately trying to vitiate the inter-communal atmosphere in Uttar Pradesh for political gains.
Tearing apart the reasons advanced by the state government for issuing suspension orders to Nagpal (viz. her alleged role in the demolition of the wall of an under-construction religious structure in Gautam Budh Nagar), members of both organizations have accused the state government of flexing its muscles to protect the sand mafia.
"About 27 incidents of communal or sectarian violence have been reported in the short tenure of the Akhilesh government. Not a single officer was suspended for these incidents. Nagpal was promptly suspended just on basis of anticipated communal tension," Prof. Razaullah Khan, president of MBMC, said.
During the meeting, the academics said they would remain isolated from the "dirty politics played by SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav". "Mulayam's younger brother, Shivpal, had recently misbehaved with a delegation of Muslims from Firozabad. Minorities are being treated like the personal fiefdom of the Yadav clan," said Prof. Humayun Murad.
The SP is being accused by the intellectuals of playing the minority card and encouraging illegal mining to fatten its purses ahead of the 2014 general elections. Even a year after having been voted to power, the party has failed to rein in criminal elements or control the poor law and order situation in the state, said fora members.
"The political elite in the state is emotionally blackmailing minorities in the name of religion. It's happening at a time when poorer sections of minority communities stay deprived of basic amenities like health and education," MBMC member N Jamaal Ansari said.
Participants said they are strongly opposed to the religious and communal politics played in UP. "We have planned to hold a dharna at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on August 21," Jasim Mohammad, another MBMC member, said.
India - 2014 elections: So why does India's big left party lend weight to the opportunist and retrograde Samajwadi party ?
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-07-23/india/40748038_1_prakash-karat-third-front-2014-elections
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/prakash-karat-prime-minister-post-mulayam-singh-yadav-rahul-gandhi/1/295790.html
India: SP’s sledgehammer tactics are prompted by Durga Sakhti Nagpal’s gender
From: The Times of India
SP’s sledgehammer tactics are prompted by Durga Sakhti Nagpal’s gender
by Arati R Jerath
08 August 2013
It’s no big deal for a ruling party to get rid of an “inconvenient’’ bureaucrat. A quiet transfer to the backwaters does the trick. It’s simple and non-controversial. Curiously, the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh used a sledgehammer to slam rookie IAS officer Durga Sakthi Nagpal. She was first suspended, then served a chargesheet and now has the threat of dismissal hanging over her head like a Damocles sword. Her crime? She took on the sand mining mafia flourishing in Greater Noida.
It is indeed surprising that the SP went in for overkill and landed itself in controversy. But party leaders have only made matters worse with a stream of bluster and invectives that smack of a feudal mindset more suited to medieval times than a democratic nation on the cusp of modernity.
Consider the discourse. SP leader Narendra Bhati brags at a rally that he had Nagpal suspended within 41 minutes of a phone call to chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. UP health minister Ahmad Hasan questions her character and family background. SP parliamentary party leader Ram Gopal Yadav says they don’t need the IAS to run the government. Even young affable Akhilesh starts talking like a feudal baron and says punishing errant government officials is like a parent beating a child who has done something wrong.
Durga Nagpal fell victim to a deeply conservative patriarchal mindset that brooks no lip from women. How dare she? That Durga, a mere slip of a girl, dared was an affront to the streak of chauvinism that runs in the SP’s DNA. This is a party that has consistently and almost violently opposed the women’s reservation Bill on spurious grounds.
This is also the party that sent a pack of goons to teach Mayawati a lesson when the BSP toppled Mulayam Singh’s government in Lucknow in 1995. The mood outside the guest-house where Mayawati took shelter before she was sworn in as chief minister was so ugly, it sparked fears that she would have been molested had the mob managed to get inside.
The gender question is just one part of the Durga story. The other equally disturbing aspect is the brazen attempt to give a communal twist to the episode with an eye on the forthcoming general elections. No government would admit to punishing an honest officer to protect corrupt vested interests. But only the SP, which has always pandered to minority vote-bank politics, could have thought of accusing Durga of lighting a communal fire because a half-built unauthorised mosque wall was demolished in a village under her charge.
There is increasing evidence to suggest that the charge was fabricated to suit the party’s brand of politics. The BJP and SP would seem to be two sides of the same coin. If one aims to consolidate the Hindu vote, the other looks to polarise the Muslim vote. It worked once in UP. But this is not the 1990s when the political discourse was domi-nated by the secularism debate. And Muslims are no longer willing to be used as cannon fodder for political gains.
If the SP needs evidence of the changing realities of India in 2013, it should listen to the protests coming from Muslim groups at the manner in which the community is being dragged into the Durga controversy. Several Muslim clerics as well as a committee affiliated to the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board have spoken out in her favour and criticised the SP government for giving a communal colour to a political decision. The voices are scattered but the important thing is that they are coming.
The Durga controversy has come at a bad juncture for the SP. Its boss, Mulayam Singh Yadav, has made no secret of his determination to bid for the prime minister’s post if the 2014 polls throw up a fractured mandate in favour of the regional parties. Surely, he cannot afford the kind of media bashing and political isolation he and his party are facing today over an issue that smacks of poor governance.
India is struggling with economic and social transformation to make the transition to a modern democracy. Progressive forces must unite to weed out the remaining vestiges of feudal thought. The question is: Who will lead the movement for change? Historically, this was the role the Congress played during the freedom struggle. But somewhere down the line, it lost the appetite to challenge the forces of conservatism and orthodoxy.
A case in point is the abject capitulation by Rajiv Gandhi to the Muslim conservatives in his party in what is famously known as the Shah Bano case. He took a bold decision to fight the clerics on a Supreme Court ruling granting alimony to a Muslim divorcee under civil law. But when the pres-sure started mounting, he backed down.
Sonia Gandhi made the right noises in her letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, asking for justice for Durga. But an election is round the corner and the Congress has a dismal record of pandering to vote-bank politics. Can she stay the course?
SP’s sledgehammer tactics are prompted by Durga Sakhti Nagpal’s gender
by Arati R Jerath
08 August 2013
It’s no big deal for a ruling party to get rid of an “inconvenient’’ bureaucrat. A quiet transfer to the backwaters does the trick. It’s simple and non-controversial. Curiously, the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh used a sledgehammer to slam rookie IAS officer Durga Sakthi Nagpal. She was first suspended, then served a chargesheet and now has the threat of dismissal hanging over her head like a Damocles sword. Her crime? She took on the sand mining mafia flourishing in Greater Noida.
It is indeed surprising that the SP went in for overkill and landed itself in controversy. But party leaders have only made matters worse with a stream of bluster and invectives that smack of a feudal mindset more suited to medieval times than a democratic nation on the cusp of modernity.
Consider the discourse. SP leader Narendra Bhati brags at a rally that he had Nagpal suspended within 41 minutes of a phone call to chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. UP health minister Ahmad Hasan questions her character and family background. SP parliamentary party leader Ram Gopal Yadav says they don’t need the IAS to run the government. Even young affable Akhilesh starts talking like a feudal baron and says punishing errant government officials is like a parent beating a child who has done something wrong.
Durga Nagpal fell victim to a deeply conservative patriarchal mindset that brooks no lip from women. How dare she? That Durga, a mere slip of a girl, dared was an affront to the streak of chauvinism that runs in the SP’s DNA. This is a party that has consistently and almost violently opposed the women’s reservation Bill on spurious grounds.
This is also the party that sent a pack of goons to teach Mayawati a lesson when the BSP toppled Mulayam Singh’s government in Lucknow in 1995. The mood outside the guest-house where Mayawati took shelter before she was sworn in as chief minister was so ugly, it sparked fears that she would have been molested had the mob managed to get inside.
The gender question is just one part of the Durga story. The other equally disturbing aspect is the brazen attempt to give a communal twist to the episode with an eye on the forthcoming general elections. No government would admit to punishing an honest officer to protect corrupt vested interests. But only the SP, which has always pandered to minority vote-bank politics, could have thought of accusing Durga of lighting a communal fire because a half-built unauthorised mosque wall was demolished in a village under her charge.
There is increasing evidence to suggest that the charge was fabricated to suit the party’s brand of politics. The BJP and SP would seem to be two sides of the same coin. If one aims to consolidate the Hindu vote, the other looks to polarise the Muslim vote. It worked once in UP. But this is not the 1990s when the political discourse was domi-nated by the secularism debate. And Muslims are no longer willing to be used as cannon fodder for political gains.
If the SP needs evidence of the changing realities of India in 2013, it should listen to the protests coming from Muslim groups at the manner in which the community is being dragged into the Durga controversy. Several Muslim clerics as well as a committee affiliated to the UP Sunni Central Waqf Board have spoken out in her favour and criticised the SP government for giving a communal colour to a political decision. The voices are scattered but the important thing is that they are coming.
The Durga controversy has come at a bad juncture for the SP. Its boss, Mulayam Singh Yadav, has made no secret of his determination to bid for the prime minister’s post if the 2014 polls throw up a fractured mandate in favour of the regional parties. Surely, he cannot afford the kind of media bashing and political isolation he and his party are facing today over an issue that smacks of poor governance.
India is struggling with economic and social transformation to make the transition to a modern democracy. Progressive forces must unite to weed out the remaining vestiges of feudal thought. The question is: Who will lead the movement for change? Historically, this was the role the Congress played during the freedom struggle. But somewhere down the line, it lost the appetite to challenge the forces of conservatism and orthodoxy.
A case in point is the abject capitulation by Rajiv Gandhi to the Muslim conservatives in his party in what is famously known as the Shah Bano case. He took a bold decision to fight the clerics on a Supreme Court ruling granting alimony to a Muslim divorcee under civil law. But when the pres-sure started mounting, he backed down.
Sonia Gandhi made the right noises in her letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, asking for justice for Durga. But an election is round the corner and the Congress has a dismal record of pandering to vote-bank politics. Can she stay the course?
May 24, 2013
India: Rising Communal Chashes and Religious polarisation in Uttar Pradesh of the Samajwadi Party
Outlook Magazine - Web | May 23, 2013
A History Lesson
The death of Khalid Mujahid in police custody, and communal clashes in UP, underscore the urgent need for Akhilesh Yadav-led SP to halt the growing alienation and anger amongst Muslims
by Jamal Kidwai
The death of Khalid Mujahid in the custody of Uttar Pradesh police has once again reinforced the perception that the Akhilesh Yadav led-Samajwadi Party has failed to provide security to Muslims in UP. Mujahid was one of the accused of the 2007 serial bomb blasts in UP. His death triggered a knee-jerk response by the Yadav government, which suspended the nine cops escorting him from Faizabad to Lucknow Jail; a total of 42 police officers, including former DGP Vikram Singh, ADG Brijlal and others who were on duty during the time of Khalid's arrest, have been booked. The UP government has also requested the central government to institute a CBI inquiry about the incident. Within days of that, Mohd Saleem, a lawyer associated with the legal defence of Mujahid was brutally attacked in the Faizabad court premises by fellow lawyers who had earlier passed a writ against defending those accused of terrorism.
Yadav's decision to suspend police officers clearly indicates that his Samajwadi Party government is desperately trying to halt a downward swing in its popularity amongst Muslims, whose votes will be crucial in the 2014 general elections. What would be bothering Yadav most is the near unanimous criticism of his government by representatives of the Muslim clergy, all from the leading seminaries of UP. These include the Darul Uloom Deoband, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind and the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat in UP. Even the Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid has been critical. These seminaries and the various clerics associated with them have till now had a cosy relationship with the Samajwadi Party. They have often extended official and unofficial support to the SP and they, in turn, have received state-government patronage from various SP-led governments in UP.
UP has been a bitter battle ground for differing political paradigms claiming to be representative of Mandir-Mandal-Bahujan. UP has also been the home to the Babri Masjid conflict and the epicentre of the communalism versus secularism debate. In all this ideological churning, the Muslim vote has played a decisive role in selecting which party would rule UP. Since the days of the Ramjanambhoomi movement, it has become political common sense that Muslims will vote for the candidate who will ensure the defeat of the BJP candidate. In other words, for them, it’s not the ideology of the SP or the BSP or, for that matter, the Congress, that inspires them to vote for a particular candidate. For the Muslims of UP, keeping the BJP out of power is essential and a motivating factor for reclaiming their lost sense of dignity, security and justice.
With the 2014 Lok Sabha elections round the corner, the question is, can administrative correctives like the suspending of police officers and ordering a CBI inquiry halt the growing alienation and anger amongst Muslims against the Samajwadi Party? Unfortunately for Akhilesh, the answer is the negative, unless he takes some urgent political steps. It is important to analyse how, in less than 14 months, the Akhilesh-Yadav led SP is being perceived as one of the most hostile administrations vis-à-vis the Muslims as far as their physical security and issues related to justice and dignity are concerned.
By voting for the SP in large numbers in 2012 assembly elections and ensuring that it got a simple majority, the Muslims of UP reasserted their faith in Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son and hoped that the promises he had made would be fulfilled. One of their major promises, seen as both radical and controversial, was that when they came to power, they would withdraw cases against some 400 Muslims youth who were wrongly arrested on charges of terror. This was welcomed by all democratic and civil rights groups, but, more so, by Muslims. They had been feeling anxious and insecure during Mayawati’s rule, when there were a series of raids against and arrests of Muslims youth for their alleged involvement in terror activities. Overnight, towns with large Muslims population, such as Azamgarh, became associated with madrasas where, it was claimed, Muslim youth were being trained and recruited for terror activities. Even the trail of the now infamous Batla House encounter in Delhi led to Azamgarh. All these incidents, including the arrest of Mujahid, had happened under the chief ministership of Mayawati.
When Akhilesh came to power, he didn’t take any legal steps that would fulfil the promises he made related to the release of Muslim youth. Nor did he launch any policy-related schemes that would address the social and economic backwardness of the Muslim community. What he did, instead, was to nominate several Muslim political figures from conservative backgrounds as spokespersons of the party and give them posts in his government. Many of these individuals, like Kamal Farooqui, T Rehmani and the old Mulayam loyalist Azam Khan have a history of taking positions on Muslim identity that are highly sectarian in nature. Akhilesh has even tried to appease the Imam of Jama Masjid by giving one of his close relatives a position in UP government. These acts are mostly symbolic in nature and by no means have a positive impact on the everyday life of ordinary Muslims.
However, the biggest failure of the Akhilesh Yadav government, one that may cost him dearly in the next Lok Sabha election, is the series of incidents of communal violence and the partisan role played by the UP police during these incidents. To add to this has been the obvious complicity of one his senior ministers, the dreaded mafia don Raghuraj Pratap Singh “Raja Bhaiya” —who is considered to by a close associate of Mulayam-Akhilesh— in the murder of Deputy Superintendent of Police Zia-ul-Haq. Besides the killing of Mujahid and Haq, between June-September 2012, there have been at least six major incidents of communal violence where the police have been accused of acting in a partisan manner against Muslims. Two Muslim youth were burnt alive in Mathura in June and, in the same month, large-scale burning and looting of Muslim houses took place in Raja Bhaiya's constituency Partapgarh. In July, communal clashes occurred in Bareilly over the use of loudspeakers during the Janamasthami processions, two Muslims were killed and there was massive looting and arson. To make matters worse, intermittent clashes continued over several weeks and various Muslims localities remained under curfew for nearly a month creating immense hardships for its residents. In September, six people, including three teenagers, were killed in Ghaziabad during violence over the burning of the Quran. Four of the people killed were reported to have been shot from a distance ranging four to ten feet, once again indicating the high-handedness of the police.
This short history of the Akhilesh-led SP government reminds one of the Indra-Rajiv Gandhi governments of the 1980s when there were large-scale communal violence in UP and the police were accused of indulging in targeted killings of Muslims. The brutality of the police during the Maliana-Meerut and Moradabad violence is still fresh in the memory of people. Instead of making the police accountable and punishing the guilty, the then governments tried to create a sense of balance by appeasing the conservative Muslim clergy. The best example of that was the overturning the Supreme Court judgement by Parliament in the Shah Bano case. This eventually resulted in not only the downfall and complete destruction of Congress in UP, but also gave rise to right wing Hindutva forces, eventually leading up to the tragic demolition of the Babri Masjid.
One of the major reasons for the emergence of Mulayam Singh Yadav and his Samajwadi Party, besides the Mandal Commission, was the support he got from Muslims, who had felt a deep sense of injustice and insecurity during the Congress rule of the 1980s. If Akhilesh wants to survive in UP, he should learn from history and not repeat the mistakes of the Congress. Otherwise, not only will he lose the next election but he and his party might become totally irrelevant in Indian politics. Because, unlike the Congress, his party does not have a presence in any other state of India and relies completely on Uttar Pradesh. But more importantly, Muslims who are the biggest minority of India and a significant proportion of UP's population, will be alienated further, which will be a disaster for India's secular polity and democracy.
Jamal Kidwai is the Director of AMAN Trust
A History Lesson
The death of Khalid Mujahid in police custody, and communal clashes in UP, underscore the urgent need for Akhilesh Yadav-led SP to halt the growing alienation and anger amongst Muslims
by Jamal Kidwai
The death of Khalid Mujahid in the custody of Uttar Pradesh police has once again reinforced the perception that the Akhilesh Yadav led-Samajwadi Party has failed to provide security to Muslims in UP. Mujahid was one of the accused of the 2007 serial bomb blasts in UP. His death triggered a knee-jerk response by the Yadav government, which suspended the nine cops escorting him from Faizabad to Lucknow Jail; a total of 42 police officers, including former DGP Vikram Singh, ADG Brijlal and others who were on duty during the time of Khalid's arrest, have been booked. The UP government has also requested the central government to institute a CBI inquiry about the incident. Within days of that, Mohd Saleem, a lawyer associated with the legal defence of Mujahid was brutally attacked in the Faizabad court premises by fellow lawyers who had earlier passed a writ against defending those accused of terrorism.
Yadav's decision to suspend police officers clearly indicates that his Samajwadi Party government is desperately trying to halt a downward swing in its popularity amongst Muslims, whose votes will be crucial in the 2014 general elections. What would be bothering Yadav most is the near unanimous criticism of his government by representatives of the Muslim clergy, all from the leading seminaries of UP. These include the Darul Uloom Deoband, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind and the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat in UP. Even the Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid has been critical. These seminaries and the various clerics associated with them have till now had a cosy relationship with the Samajwadi Party. They have often extended official and unofficial support to the SP and they, in turn, have received state-government patronage from various SP-led governments in UP.
UP has been a bitter battle ground for differing political paradigms claiming to be representative of Mandir-Mandal-Bahujan. UP has also been the home to the Babri Masjid conflict and the epicentre of the communalism versus secularism debate. In all this ideological churning, the Muslim vote has played a decisive role in selecting which party would rule UP. Since the days of the Ramjanambhoomi movement, it has become political common sense that Muslims will vote for the candidate who will ensure the defeat of the BJP candidate. In other words, for them, it’s not the ideology of the SP or the BSP or, for that matter, the Congress, that inspires them to vote for a particular candidate. For the Muslims of UP, keeping the BJP out of power is essential and a motivating factor for reclaiming their lost sense of dignity, security and justice.
With the 2014 Lok Sabha elections round the corner, the question is, can administrative correctives like the suspending of police officers and ordering a CBI inquiry halt the growing alienation and anger amongst Muslims against the Samajwadi Party? Unfortunately for Akhilesh, the answer is the negative, unless he takes some urgent political steps. It is important to analyse how, in less than 14 months, the Akhilesh-Yadav led SP is being perceived as one of the most hostile administrations vis-à-vis the Muslims as far as their physical security and issues related to justice and dignity are concerned.
By voting for the SP in large numbers in 2012 assembly elections and ensuring that it got a simple majority, the Muslims of UP reasserted their faith in Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son and hoped that the promises he had made would be fulfilled. One of their major promises, seen as both radical and controversial, was that when they came to power, they would withdraw cases against some 400 Muslims youth who were wrongly arrested on charges of terror. This was welcomed by all democratic and civil rights groups, but, more so, by Muslims. They had been feeling anxious and insecure during Mayawati’s rule, when there were a series of raids against and arrests of Muslims youth for their alleged involvement in terror activities. Overnight, towns with large Muslims population, such as Azamgarh, became associated with madrasas where, it was claimed, Muslim youth were being trained and recruited for terror activities. Even the trail of the now infamous Batla House encounter in Delhi led to Azamgarh. All these incidents, including the arrest of Mujahid, had happened under the chief ministership of Mayawati.
When Akhilesh came to power, he didn’t take any legal steps that would fulfil the promises he made related to the release of Muslim youth. Nor did he launch any policy-related schemes that would address the social and economic backwardness of the Muslim community. What he did, instead, was to nominate several Muslim political figures from conservative backgrounds as spokespersons of the party and give them posts in his government. Many of these individuals, like Kamal Farooqui, T Rehmani and the old Mulayam loyalist Azam Khan have a history of taking positions on Muslim identity that are highly sectarian in nature. Akhilesh has even tried to appease the Imam of Jama Masjid by giving one of his close relatives a position in UP government. These acts are mostly symbolic in nature and by no means have a positive impact on the everyday life of ordinary Muslims.
However, the biggest failure of the Akhilesh Yadav government, one that may cost him dearly in the next Lok Sabha election, is the series of incidents of communal violence and the partisan role played by the UP police during these incidents. To add to this has been the obvious complicity of one his senior ministers, the dreaded mafia don Raghuraj Pratap Singh “Raja Bhaiya” —who is considered to by a close associate of Mulayam-Akhilesh— in the murder of Deputy Superintendent of Police Zia-ul-Haq. Besides the killing of Mujahid and Haq, between June-September 2012, there have been at least six major incidents of communal violence where the police have been accused of acting in a partisan manner against Muslims. Two Muslim youth were burnt alive in Mathura in June and, in the same month, large-scale burning and looting of Muslim houses took place in Raja Bhaiya's constituency Partapgarh. In July, communal clashes occurred in Bareilly over the use of loudspeakers during the Janamasthami processions, two Muslims were killed and there was massive looting and arson. To make matters worse, intermittent clashes continued over several weeks and various Muslims localities remained under curfew for nearly a month creating immense hardships for its residents. In September, six people, including three teenagers, were killed in Ghaziabad during violence over the burning of the Quran. Four of the people killed were reported to have been shot from a distance ranging four to ten feet, once again indicating the high-handedness of the police.
This short history of the Akhilesh-led SP government reminds one of the Indra-Rajiv Gandhi governments of the 1980s when there were large-scale communal violence in UP and the police were accused of indulging in targeted killings of Muslims. The brutality of the police during the Maliana-Meerut and Moradabad violence is still fresh in the memory of people. Instead of making the police accountable and punishing the guilty, the then governments tried to create a sense of balance by appeasing the conservative Muslim clergy. The best example of that was the overturning the Supreme Court judgement by Parliament in the Shah Bano case. This eventually resulted in not only the downfall and complete destruction of Congress in UP, but also gave rise to right wing Hindutva forces, eventually leading up to the tragic demolition of the Babri Masjid.
One of the major reasons for the emergence of Mulayam Singh Yadav and his Samajwadi Party, besides the Mandal Commission, was the support he got from Muslims, who had felt a deep sense of injustice and insecurity during the Congress rule of the 1980s. If Akhilesh wants to survive in UP, he should learn from history and not repeat the mistakes of the Congress. Otherwise, not only will he lose the next election but he and his party might become totally irrelevant in Indian politics. Because, unlike the Congress, his party does not have a presence in any other state of India and relies completely on Uttar Pradesh. But more importantly, Muslims who are the biggest minority of India and a significant proportion of UP's population, will be alienated further, which will be a disaster for India's secular polity and democracy.
Jamal Kidwai is the Director of AMAN Trust
October 09, 2009
Shun Western Music and English! Retrograde demands of BJP and Samajwadi Party
The New Indian Express
06 October 2009
Editorial
Primitivism for political yield
Two recent manifestos issued by political parties reflect a retrograde trend which is typical of the Hindi heartland. Apart from their sectarianism, for which they are known, their declaration of intent underlines an aggressive opposition to any hint of modernism. Since their objective is to win hearts and minds, the curiously backward-looking outlook emphasises a belief that a promised retreat to primitivism can yield political dividends. Strangely, the BJP, which is regarded as a national party, is one of them. It is surprising, therefore, that its manifesto for the Haryana assembly elections promises to outlaw ‘western music’.
It is clear that the party believes that an expression of its aversion to firangi tunes will boost its prospects in Jat territory, which is not exactly known for cosmopolitanism. But the party does not seem to care that such condemnation of a form of western culture may restrict its appeal elsewhere, and especially among the younger generation. Apparently to hedge its bets, a spokesman clarified that it did not favour a blanket rejection of western music, but only the vulgarity associated with it. However, it is not the music which is vulgar, but the behaviour of those who misinterpret its liveliness. Besides, such music not only comprises rock n’ roll and its later-day innovations, but also classical compositions like Beethoven’s ninth symphony whose first impact has been compared to the opening of the gates of paradise.
If such views are ignored by the BJP, the reason perhaps is that it wants to revive the old equation of western culture with colonialism, which was thought to be politically useful immediately after Independence. It is also no secret that the party’s associates in the saffron brotherhood, like the VHP, are equally adamant in their opposition to pub culture, which is depicted as another aspect of the western lifestyle.
If western music is the target of the BJP in Haryana, English is the SP’s bete noire in UP. In addition to demanding a ban on it, the party wants to do away with computers. Again, the belief apparently is that a fairly large section of voters is not in favour of anything which reminds them of a world outside their immediate environs, where Hindi is the lingua franca and local folk songs are the only source of entertainment. Yet, how far this preference for backwardness will help them in the long run is open to question.
06 October 2009
Editorial
Primitivism for political yield
Two recent manifestos issued by political parties reflect a retrograde trend which is typical of the Hindi heartland. Apart from their sectarianism, for which they are known, their declaration of intent underlines an aggressive opposition to any hint of modernism. Since their objective is to win hearts and minds, the curiously backward-looking outlook emphasises a belief that a promised retreat to primitivism can yield political dividends. Strangely, the BJP, which is regarded as a national party, is one of them. It is surprising, therefore, that its manifesto for the Haryana assembly elections promises to outlaw ‘western music’.
It is clear that the party believes that an expression of its aversion to firangi tunes will boost its prospects in Jat territory, which is not exactly known for cosmopolitanism. But the party does not seem to care that such condemnation of a form of western culture may restrict its appeal elsewhere, and especially among the younger generation. Apparently to hedge its bets, a spokesman clarified that it did not favour a blanket rejection of western music, but only the vulgarity associated with it. However, it is not the music which is vulgar, but the behaviour of those who misinterpret its liveliness. Besides, such music not only comprises rock n’ roll and its later-day innovations, but also classical compositions like Beethoven’s ninth symphony whose first impact has been compared to the opening of the gates of paradise.
If such views are ignored by the BJP, the reason perhaps is that it wants to revive the old equation of western culture with colonialism, which was thought to be politically useful immediately after Independence. It is also no secret that the party’s associates in the saffron brotherhood, like the VHP, are equally adamant in their opposition to pub culture, which is depicted as another aspect of the western lifestyle.
If western music is the target of the BJP in Haryana, English is the SP’s bete noire in UP. In addition to demanding a ban on it, the party wants to do away with computers. Again, the belief apparently is that a fairly large section of voters is not in favour of anything which reminds them of a world outside their immediate environs, where Hindi is the lingua franca and local folk songs are the only source of entertainment. Yet, how far this preference for backwardness will help them in the long run is open to question.
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