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Mob Lynching activism by celebrities: It stems from a lot of narcissism and even more stupidity

K Bhattacharjee
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Mob Lynching activism by celebrities: It stems from a lot of narcissism and even more stupidity

Celebrities from the entertainment industry are a special brand of idiots. However, they do have the minimum intellect required to invent new ways to be stupid. They are often talented, very creative but are found lacking in common sense. Anurag Kashyap captures this specific tendency of celebrities beautifully.

On Saturday, Kashyap tweeted that the country needs a law against lynching. According to him, if such a law is passed, lynching will magically cease to occur. This is not a joke. Anurag Kashyap actually tweeted that. And he felt pretty smart about himself while tweeting it too.


It doesn’t require great intellect to realize that laws do not prevent crimes from occurring, they only enable the government to punish specific actions. People don’t stop committing crimes merely because a law has been implemented, that is why we still have criminals in our midst. You cannot legislate away crimes. Anyone with an IQ above 50 knows that. And lynching is already a crime. If it were not, people wouldn’t have been arrested for it.

For Anurag Kashyap, the few seconds it requires to realize this obvious fact is too much time to waste when it could be much more productively spent on a pompous display of self-righteous indignation. His tweet is evidence of the fact that he isn’t concerned with finding viable solutions to the menace of lynching. If he harbored genuine concerns, he would have at least taken an hour out of his busy schedule to ponder upon the matter. And if he had done so, he wouldn’t have sent that asinine tweet.

The tweet also reveals a certain facet of the personality of activist celebrities. Their show of concern has very little to do with actual concern. The entire purpose of the charade is to enable them to feel good about themselves. The solutions they propose would destroy more lives than they would save but they don’t worry about such trivial matters. They want to convince the world of their moral superiority.

Celebrities indulge in activism because they want to show people how virtuous they are. By flaunting their virtues, they seek to bend people against their will. The whole demonstration is an elaborate exercise in capturing power. They want to tell ordinary citizens that they are superior to them in every way. They want to make morally inferior individuals kneel before them. Pesky facts cannot be allowed to get in the way. Kneel and obey, bigot.

When people are concerned about something, they make an effort to gather more information about it. They wish to have a better understanding of the phenomenon. They spend a lot of time studying the matter in great detail. They are a source of credible information on the issue. That is how we know they are interested in something. That celebrities are utterly clueless about the subject of their activism only shows that they are not really concerned about the issue at hand. It’s only activism that they care about. Because it allows depraved individuals to claim moral superiority over others.

Mob lynching is a very complicated matter. It is a manifestation of the darkest aspects of mob violence. There are only two reasons why vigilantism and mob violence occur. Firstly, when the state is unable or unwilling to enforce its laws. And secondly, when the state implements a law that goes against the cultural ethos of the populace it rules over.

In India, most lynchings occur because of the first reason. Even then, there are two broad categories. Cow Vigilantism, as it is so-called, is a consequence of the failure of the state to curb the menace of cattle smuggling. Cattle theft is a huge issue in rural India and the state machinery has failed utterly to curb it. Often, people take matters into their own hands because they believe the state will not punish the perpetrators. And unfortunately, it is often the case. Sometimes, law enforcement is even in cohorts with the smugglers. It is a sad reality.

There are other cases where thieves are lynched to death because citizens believe they will be allowed to escape scot-free by the Police after taking some bribe. Or, they will manage to get bail and walk away without consequences. All of this is a consequence of the state’s inability or unwillingness to enforce its laws.

There is another set of mob violence that can be clubbed under this category. Mob violence also occurs because a particular section of the population has no fear of the law at all. The primary reason for this is because law enforcement treats them with kid gloves due to fear of reprisal from the assorted set of propagandists who would go after them with hammer and tongs. I am, of course, referring to the ‘community crimes‘ committed by the toxic elements of the Muslim community.

For instance, Muslim mobs are known to attack the Police themselves when efforts are made to arrest criminals in their midst. Muslim mobs are known to go on a rampage over trivial matters and imagined horrors. They run riot over Facebook posts, damaging public and private property of people from other communities at will. There have been numerous occasions when Muslim mobs have run riot after their usual Friday prayers motivated largely by religious bigotry. In many cases, such incidents have resulted in the deaths of individuals.

When esteemed celebrities, like Anurag Kashyap, who want the world to acknowledge their moral superiority speak of a new law against lynching, they mean that a law ought to be implemented against mob violence of the first category, not the latter. They go to extraordinary lengths to avoid speaking of the latter.

Their intellect is so hollow that they wish to a new law only against lynching, they do not demand a new law against mob violence in general. Why should a new law focus only on lynching when mob violence in recent times has been as bad if not worse? For the great love of God, they do not bother explaining such things.

Ostensibly, Cow vigilantism is not specifically a hate crime as the motivations for it is not religious bigotry. It is a brand of vigilantism that is motivated by the theft they have suffered or the fear of it. ‘Community crimes’, however, are nearly always motivated by religious bigotry. Despite reality staring at them in their eyes, esteemed celebrities brand the former a hate crime while ignoring actual hate crimes that are committed.

When celebrities say they want a law against mob violence, they do not mean that they want a law that enables the Police to go to any extent necessary to arrest criminals despite opposition by locals, no matter how many people are injured in the process. When they say they want a new law, celebrities do not mean that they want a law that enables the Police to use any amount of force required to control an unruly mob, even pellet guns or actual bullets if necessary. When they say they want a new law, they do not mean that the Police should be given more power and more liberty to deal with unruly mobs. Oh no, if the Police does that, celebrities will be screaming Police brutality.

They do not want an actual solution to the phenomenon of mob violence. They only want to feel good about themselves. Therefore, their activism focuses entirely on a matter that’s already dealt with by existing provisions in the Indian Penal Code. When someone is lynched, the Police makes an effort to arrest the perpetrators. Cases are filed against them and they are tried in courts after their arrest. That is how our system functions, at least theoretically. A new law will not change anything.

The idea of a new law against lynching isn’t Anurag Kashyap’s brainchild. He doesn’t care enough about the matter to come up with it. He has probably picked up the idea from Tehseen Poonwaala who came up with a proposed law called MASUKA along with his comrades. The name sounds horribly like ‘Mashuka’ (lover). The MASUKA does resemble a Mashuka you had a bad break-up with. The MASUKA is only another version of the anti-Hindu Communal Violence Bill with a cuter name.

It also explains why Anurag Kashyap and his coterie of celebrities do not demand a new law against mob violence in general. They only know about the matter as much as they have read and heard about it from Poonawaala, they haven’t thought about it. So how can they talk about something which Poonawaala hasn’t?

Poonawaala has political interests, therefore, he is playing to the gallery. Celebrities are too stupid and self-centered to understand that. They only know that they are in the same camp. Therefore, they buy whatever liberal politicians are selling. It also explains why celebrities around the world are going a bit crazy.

They are engaging in political partisanship by indulging in political battles. Therefore, inevitably they end up making one faction terribly angry. When they realize they are receiving a lot of hate for their opinions, they do not understand why, partly because they are stupid and partly because they are too self-centered.

In their eyes, they have followed the textbook to the T. They have taken the high ground on a matter of great import. They have raised their voice against the ruling dispensation, they have preached vocally for a solution they claim they have already found, they are fighting for the masses, powerless and the downtrodden. And yet, they are receiving so much hate. They are doing the right thing and exactly how the textbook said they should be doing it, shouldn’t the world be falling at their feet already? It should, that’s what the textbook said. But that doesn’t appear to be happening. Instead, people are enraged with their conduct. Why?

When ordinary citizens look at the mirror, they see a slightly improved version of themselves or sometimes, slightly worse. When such esteemed celebrities look at the mirror, they see a Knight of yore, cloaked in regal garb with a sword dangling by their waist complete with a cape billowing in the air and shining white armour. They cannot find a fault with themselves if someone held a gun to their head. Therefore, they come to the obvious conclusion. It’s their critics who are evil. They are morally superior and everyone who criticizes them does so because they are inferior to them in every aspect.

Esteemed celebrities indulge in activism only because they are fully aware that they will not have to suffer the consequences of their actions. They are sowing the seeds, sure, but they are not going to eat the fruits. Someone else will, someone they have never met or couldn’t care less about. If celebrities had to suffer consequences for their actions, we will definitely see a decline in stupid celebrity activism.

Currently, they are only reaping the benefits of it. They get to feel good about themselves, they get to live in a make-believe world where they are morally superior to everyone else and the entire charade is a massive exercise in ego-inflation. If they were to suffer consequences for their actions, the bubble they are living in will burst and they will come crashing down to reality.

The same goes for politicians. They are advocating for a new law because they are fully aware that laws are for puny mortals. Politicians are beyond such trivialities. If our ruling class had to suffer consequences for the policies they advocate, they will surely be a lot more responsible they are now. The utter lack of accountability has led to a situation where risk widening deep fissures within our country for the sake of political gains.

Naliya gang-rape case: Panel gives clean chit to probe authorities as victim turned hostile, no evidence of rape and sex-racket

OpIndia Staff
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Naliya gang-rape case: Panel gives clean chit to probe authorities as victim turned hostile, no evidence of rape and sex-racket

The inquiry commission constituted to look into the Naliya rape case has submitted its report to the government saying that there is no conclusive evidence that the woman was raped by the accused and that they ran a sex racket involving other victims. Though the commission headed by retired high court Justice A L Dave submitted its final report in 2018, the report was tabled in the Gujarat assembly on Friday.

The commission report says that the victim didn’t depose before the commission. It is also noteworthy to mention that the victim, who had accused of being gang-raped several times even turned hostile in the court during the trial of the case. The case concerns a native Kutch woman who had levelled grave allegations of blackmail and gang-rapes for over a year against eight people including four local BJP workers. She had also accused them of running a sex racket in Bhuj.

The panel in its report said that the claim of rape and blackmail were ‘uncertain’. Moreover, it said: “The victim and her husband both didn’t appear before the commission. The evidence presented by the probing officer shows that the victim had been unforthcoming to the prosecution during the trial and was declared hostile”.

Thus, with the evidence not conclusively proving that the alleged incidents occurred or not, the commission gave a clean chit to the authorities of having committed any slips into the investigation. To shore up its conclusion, the commission put it on record that the complainant woman didn’t depose before it and it turned hostile before the trial court in the case.

A woman, a resident of Mumbai, had lodged a complaint at Naliya police station on 25 January 2017, claiming that she was frequently gang-raped and threatened by 8 men, including local BJP workers, during the last one year. Following her complaint, an SIT was instituted which arrested Vinod Thakkar, 67, his son Chetan Thakkar, 35, and Ashwin Thakkar, 44, before producing them in a Naliya court, which had ordered them to 15-days police remand.

After having a spat with her husband, the woman who lived with her in-laws in Mumbai’s Nalasopara suburb returned to her hometown in Kothara village of Naliya in Gujarat in 2015. She was reportedly looking for a job and asked help from one Bababhai, a mobile shop owner in Naliya town. Bababhai not only promised her of helping her but also said he would get her a job in two days time. Bababhai soon introduced her to Shantilal Solanki, the vendor of an LPG gas agency and the convenor of the OBC cell of BJP unit for Abdasa taluka of Kutch district, who offered her a job at Rs 5,500 per month.

According to the FIR filed by the complainant, when she had asked for an advance salary as Diwali 2015 was approaching, Solanki asked her to collect it from his house where she was offered a spiked cold drink and was subsequently raped by three persons, purportedly including Solanki. The woman had alleged that was the first of several occasions where she was allegedly raped in moving cars, hotels and houses of other accused. She also accused the trio of filming the act and blackmailing her of circulating the video. Besides, she had also mentioned in her FIR that the accused ran a sex racket involving other victims.

But later she turned hostile when the case was being heard by a trial court, and also didn’t appear before the inquiry commission.

I served in the Indian Army for 20 years, and ‘liberal’ Sagarika Ghose is wrong – War is not ‘elite bloodlust’

rohitagarwal
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I served in the Indian Army for 20 years, and ‘liberal’ Sagarika Ghose is wrong – War is not ‘elite bloodlust’

Is it an act of ‘liberalism’ to label anyone holding a different opinion ‘Sanghi’, ‘Bhakt’ or ‘Hypernationalist’ without going into the merits of the opinion itself? Does disrespecting the national flag or refusing to stand up when the national anthem is played imbue the person with a sense of liberalism? Is it an act of liberalism to defend those accused of carrying out or facilitating terrorist attacks on the parliament?

Is it an act of liberalism to deliberately ridicule every festival, every tradition, every practice of the majority community while providing justifications for practices by a minority, no matter how regressive?

Is it an act of liberalism on completely ignoring whatever good the government is doing?

This is in response to an extract from a book by Sagarika Ghose (socialite, daughter of the former Director-General of Doordarshan, wife of television personality Rajdeep Sardesai, and part-time columnist) published in The Wire. As someone who has served in the army for 20 years, and has been in the corporate world for 9 after that, I would like to address some of the issues talked about Ms Ghose in the extract.


I begin with the title of The Wire piece itself. I would like to point out to the editor that a soldier’s death is not “Celebrated” – its not a joyous occasion. It is commemorated. So, to answer the question asked in the title, Yes, celebrating a soldier’s death isn’t remotely patriotic. But neither is ignoring it. If a young son of the nation has laid down his life to ensure that the likes of Ms Ghose continue to sip her Bloody Mary without any explosions rocking her neighbourhood, it is a patriotic duty to ensure that the sacrifice doesn’t go unsung. Not for the sake of the soldier himself – I’m yet to find out if Valhalla has cable – but for those whom he has left behind.

There was no media jamboree in 1971. A war was won, the people were proud of their armed forces, and state-controlled broadcasters or newspapers controlled by a few rich men were the only media. How many men who died heroically in 1971 can Ms Ghose name without Googling? How many can YOU? Yet, when you think of Kargil, you think of Capt Vikram Batra, Maj Saurabh Kalia, Capt Vijayant Thapar, Subedar Maj Yogendra Yadav and many others. In 1971, we took and released 93,000 Pakistani prisoners of war. 54 Indian prisoners of war are still missing. Yet, when Wing Commander Abhinandan was taken prisoner on 27th February 2019, he was released voluntarily by Pakistan two days later. It doesn’t take a bachelor’s degree in History from St Stephens, a Rhode’s Scholarship or an MPhil from Oxford to figure out what was different in the two situations. If Abhinandan had continued to rot in a Pakistani jail for another 30 years, it would not have affected the quality of Bloody Mary in Delhi. The ‘liberals’ sipping it in Delhi would have continued to label citizens’ demand for his release as “feudal warrior cults”, while his family would have faced agonising years not knowing whether he was dead or alive and whether they would see him again.

Ms Sagarika Ghose talks about war as if she’s witnessed one first hand, deriding the television coverage of it as “glamorising it as part of a militarist syndrome obscuring the blood, grime, the waste of lives…” The closest first-hand experience she’s had to war is probably clawing with others at a sale at Mark’s and Spencers. Unlike her spouse, who has some combat experience on the streets of New York. People like her hear big words and develop some notions during the years they spend in elite institutions, hugely subsidised by taxpayer’s money. Then they spend the rest of their lives making a living off selling trash based on these notions to cronies in their entitled ecosystem.

So, to put the record straight in the correct perspective – yes, war is bad. It isn’t noble, it isn’t something worthy of celebration. But peace is highly overrated too. We have been deluding ourselves into thinking we’re in a state of peace when actually, we have been at war since 1990. Pakistan has been slowly bleeding us in a low-cost option of spreading dissension and terror within our borders without actually having to confront us on them. So what people like Ms Ghose think is peace, is actually so only for them, enabled by troops who continue to die in Kashmir since 1990. Yet, till recently these deaths were relegated to 3 inches on page 14, or ticker tapes during prime time news – “Three soldiers killed in Kashmir”. More often than not, the nation wouldn’t even come to know the names of those who had died fighting for them. It was low cost for everyone except the families who lost their member forever.

But the so-called ‘hyper-nationalism’ has brought about a change in that state of affairs. When an Army camp in Kalu Chak was attacked in 2003, the nation took the deaths of a few officers and men, including a Brigadier, in its stride. This, despite the fact that the entire Indian Army was at that time, lined up at the border at a hair trigger’s notice to go to war. Yet when Uri and Pulwama happened, the nation wanted retribution. And while a nation that wants retribution can be a bad thing, when faced with an adversary looking at a low-cost option of continuing to bleed it through pinpricks, it is an extremely good thing.

Coming back to why I am a liberal (and Ms Ghose isn’t). I am far more conversant with the evil and horrors of violence than her. I have lost close friends and comrades to wars of various nature. I have seen their families devastated by bullets fired by a sneaky enemy whom the nation as a whole even refused to categorise as a full-fledged enemy. I have seen their names and heroic deeds being forgotten by all but the closest. I realise that war isn’t a choice, but a compulsion forced upon a liberal country like India by our fundamentalist neighbour. And we, as a nation, can choose to ignore the lives lost in this slow bleeding of our nation, as has been happening for almost thirty years. Or we can turn around and demand that each drop of blood be accounted for. We can demand that the cost of this blood be raised so high that the enemy thinks a hundred times before sending the next terrorist across. I am a liberal because I’m not deluding myself with the notion that by fraternising with the cocktail circuit of our adversary, the war will go away.

I am a liberal because I recognise that the only way to stop the blood of my comrades being spilt is by making it precious.

Chhattisgarh: Muslim man issues triple talaq to wife over the phone and marries another woman, father-in-law wants nikah halala

OpIndia Staff
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Chhattisgarh: Muslim man issues triple talaq to wife over the phone and marries another woman, father-in-law wants nikah halala

As the opposition parties continue to oppose the Tripple talaq bill, another incident of triple talaq and nikah halala has emerged. A woman from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh received a triple talaq from her husband over the phone. The husband went on to marry another woman after that. After that, her father-in-law had asked her to undergo nikah halala in order to get back with her husband. The victim has filed a complaint regarding the incident with the State Women Commission and the case was heard on Friday. Anil Bhediya, the Child and Woman Welfare minister, was also present during the hearing.

As per reports, the husband was having an affair with another woman. As a result, he called up this wife and said “talaq” three times. After that, they started to live separately, and the husband married the other woman.

Now the woman wants to get back with her husband. However, her father-in-law asked her to undergo nikah halala as a pre-condition as per sharia rules. A complaint of dowry harassment was also filed by the police. As the matter is serious, the Women Commission has adviced the woman to approach the courts.

The Sharia custom of nikah halala requires a divorced woman to marry another man and consummate the marriage in order to return to her first husband. Often, such temporary marriage is done with another male member of the husband’s family, including father and brothers of the husband.

At the hearing on Friday, the woman had appealed to her husband to arrange for her maintenance. But the Women’s Commission has said that the woman can’t be divorced by just saying talaq three times. The Commission directed the victim to seek redressal from the courts.

The incident comes to light just days after the Lok Sabha passed the bill to criminalise triple talaq. The practise of Triple Talaq has already been declared as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2019, seeks to criminalize the act of instant divorce among Muslims with a three-year jail sentence for men who practice triple talaq, which has been made illegal by the Supreme Court.

Recently, a Surat man had given triple talaq to his wife after her parents could not give dowry to buy an auto-rickshaw. In another shocking incident, a man issued Triple Talaq and then pressurized her to undergo halala with his younger brother and uncle.

In Uttar Pradesh, Muslim clerics objected to Lucknow University’s decision of including Triple Talaq in the curriculum and demanded it to be dropped.

Media uses maliciously edited video to spread fake news, allege that BJP minister forced Muslim MLA to chant Jai Shri Ram

OpIndia Staff
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Media uses maliciously edited video to spread fake news, allege that BJP minister forced Muslim MLA to chant Jai Shri Ram

‘Nationalist’ channel Times Now has joined the rank of left-liberals in peddling the fake narrative that Hindus are forcing Muslims to chant Jai Shri Ram. They used a cropped video to accuse a BJP minister in Jharkhand of spreading hate in the name of Hindutva.


Reporting on an incident that happened outside Jharkhand assembly, Times Now alleges that minister CP Singh crossed the line when he forced Congress MLA Irfan Ansari to chant Jai Shri Ram. The same allegation with the same video clip was published by other media houses also, including the usual suspects who are expected to present such distorted news to peddle their agenda. All of them claimed that the BJP minister forced Ansari to chant Jai Shri Ram.


From the video clip aired by the media houses, it can’t be denied that CP Singh did ask Ansari to chant Jai Shri Ram. But that is the half-truth, and media deliberately cropped the video of the full incident to present the BJP leader as the villain. The full video, which starts almost a minute before the video shared by media houses, shows that CP Singh was responding to the comments of the Congress MLA on Jai Shri Ram.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGPk3f2o7-k]

As we can see in the full video, while talking to a reporter, Irfan Ansari was saying that Jai Shri Ram belongs to everyone. It is not a property of Bharatiya Janata Party, Ram belongs to everyone, he said.

After that, the crew of the channel recording the interview ask CP Singh, who was standing nearby talking to someone, for his reaction to the comment of Ansari. They repeat the statement made by Ansari to him, as he didn’t hear the conversation. After listening to the same, he says, ‘of course, I am saying that Irfan bhai should chant loudly Jai Shri Ram’. After this he adds, your forefathers also belonged to Jai Shri Ram. He reminds Ansari that his previous generations were Hindus, and not the Mughal invaders.

This makes it clear that CP Singh asked Ansari to chant Jai Shri Ram because Ansari was claiming that Ram and the slogan belong to everyone, not just BJP. It was an on the spot reaction to the comment of Ansari. He did it to expose the hypocrisy of Ansari, who will say that Ram belongs to everyone in the country, but won’t chant Jai Shri Ram. ut the media houses published an edited video, removing the comment of Irfan Ansari which trigger the reaction by the BJP minister. Moreover, he had asked Ansari to chant Jai Shri Ram, not ‘forced’ him to do the same, as all the media houses are reporting.

It may be noted that Irfan Ansari didn’t object to the CP Singh asking him the chant Jai Shri Ram, in fact, he laughed it away by showing that he was having Hindu sacred thread on his wrist. He continues to argue that Ram belongs to everyone, and goes on to taunt the BJP leader for the ‘poor situation of Ram’ in Ayodhya.

CBI summons TMC leader Derek O’ Brien over party income issues and Saradha Chit Fund scam

OpIndia Staff
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CBI summons TMC leader Derek O’ Brien over party income issues and Saradha Chit Fund scam

The Center Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had summoned the quizmaster-turned-politician Derek O’Brien on Thursday in regard to a probe into Trinamool Congress’ income and expenditure. Later on Friday, he was summoned once again by the CBI in a case related to Saradha ponzi scheme.

The CBI issued summons for Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien to facilitate them in their investigation of the Saradha ponzi scheme case. According to the officials, the Rajya Sabha MP, who is also a spokesperson of West Bengal’s ruling party, has been asked to appear before a CBI team in the first week of August.

The agency had summoned Derek in January this year as well in connection with chit fund cases and allegations of money laundering after the CBI had questioned Manik Majumdar, a close aide of CM Mamata Banerjee.

The Saradha scam broke in 2013 when a ponzi scheme run by the Saradha Group, a consortium of over 200 private companies, collapsed after collecting hundreds and thousands of crores from over 15 lakh investors.

Senior leaders of the Trinamool Congress have been alleged to be intimately involved in the scam ever since the CBI initiated its investigation. Earlier, it was reported that the agency had questioned Manik Majumder in connection with the case who is believed to be a close aide of the Bengal CM. The CBI suspects that Majumder had knowledge about the purchase of paintings by the CEO and CMD of the Saradha Group, Sudipto Sen, and that he is a key player in managing the funds of the party.

TMC has sniffed a conspiracy allegedly orchestrated by the Central Government as the summons regarding investigations into TMC’s accounts were sent to Derek at 2pm on July 25, at the same time as the TMC’s motion in Rajya Sabha to oppose amendments to the RTI Act was about to start.

Fight for ideology of the nation is the responsibility of its citizens, we have to take control and not wait upon the Indian State

Saket Suryesh
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Fight for ideology of the nation is the responsibility of its citizens, we have to take control and not wait upon the Indian State

Ever since the Narendra Modi government came into power, the left felt a sense of absolute despondency and the Right felt a sense of absolute emancipation. Both are wrong. Narendra Modi has won a constitutional election, through the constitutional process and has been appointed to a constitutional position meant to run the constitutional system in a constitutional way.

The left believes his appointment to be unconstitutional, him to be unconstitutional and expects him to work as the fascist they make him out to be. The Right wants him to surrender constitutionality in at the altar of ideology. Modi, the Prime Minister, refuses to do either and in the process, frustrates the left and disappoints the right.

If the first tenure of Prime Minister Modi was a time of experimentation for him and the people alike, the second tenure brought a definiteness to the very abstract and shaky optimism of the first term. Suddenly even those who boasted the democratic moorings of much-maligned man, suddenly want him to be a dictator. We want him to fight the battles we ourselves are not willing to get into for the fear of our clothes getting sullied, particularly with respect to the minority.

The Hindu voters, neglected for long and maligned for no good reason, thought him to be a medieval-age warrior in his war-fatigues, ready to die and kill for what we construed to be true Dharma. We looked at Modi, the politician as some kind of mix of a religious fanatic with constitutional authority. He is simply not the guy. And we as Indians must thank our stars that Narendra Modi is not the person we thought him to be and want him to be. We, both on the left and the right, want him to work in a manner that flatters our illusions.

This is a dangerous demand for a democracy to have from her leaders. Left to his own designs, every Modi has the possibility of turning into an Indira under Emergency. We must tread that path very carefully. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. To even suggest to a politician, a power unhindered, an authority unchallenged (in return of turning into a war machine for his proclaimed ideology) is a call for dictatorship.

We need to take a broader view of the polity. This is what I said when a heap of garbage on the street corner was shared as a justification for NOTA option in MP elections, and this is what I say now. The leftist-Islamist force is attacking in desperation. The statement of a noted journalist-cum-politician wherein he wanted to hold the citizens by their collar for voting Modi back in power, illustrates the sense of desperation, albeit craftily covered by cunning sophistry. As they attack temples, lynch Hindus, rape cases are reported with scary regularity- people want Modi to go all out, as a kind of knight from the ancient time, with his sword shining under the lone moon. He cannot do that. He is called names for that. His masculinity is mocked. But then when a person becomes large enough to embody a nation, his strength cannot be measured in muscles. Prime Minister Modi’s brute strength is not in midnight attack by the Police at a Muslim Basti (like the one on Ram Lila Maidan by Congress government). His strength shows in Mission Mars, Chandrayaan, Surgical Strikes and the Latest weaponry for the forces.

The ideology of a nation is not defended through street skirmishes. These are the battles fought beneath the surface. There are many ideologues who have emerged and flourished in the confidence which previous Modi government brought to the majority community. Today, for the first time in Seventy years, out of continued shame and embarrassment merely on account of being numerically larger, Hindus are emerging. It did not help us much that India’s first leadership was headed by a near-atheist prime minister, who presided over nation being partitioned over a fake narrative of insecurity of the minority and latter leadership was equally embarrassed about its Hindu roots. Now that the Hindus has emerged out of forced embarrassment, guilt and shame, as little as an utterance of a religious slogan sounds like a war-cry to the intelligentsia. But this is a battle that we as believers and citizens need to fight. Modi cannot fight this battle for us.

Another thing which happens in such times of transformation is the emergence of orthodox ideologues. They are smarter people who are willing to become the shepherd of a ready flock of sheep. Such moment of ideological flux will always bring in unscrupulous men who will try to build their armies using the anxieties of the masses. Just as Islamist fanatics play on the insecurity of the Muslims, Hindu fanatics will play on a fake narrative of being abandoned by Modi to create insecurities thereby creating their fiefdom of faithful fanatics.

India has 20% Muslim population. It is absurd to believe that we can get rid of our Muslim friends. It is absurd and impossible. The leftists and Congressis have struggled hard to create into Modi some sort of Muslim-slayer. Now the right-wingers want Narendra Modi to settle into the mold created for him by the left. You cannot wish Muslims away. The same society which gave us Owaisi has also in the past given us Abdul Hamid, APK Kalam and Ashfaqullah Khan. The way Indian politics played post-independence, the Congress continued with its previous game of appeasement of the minorities, initially adopted to ween away the Muslims from the league. In the process, the leaders committed to Indian thought and idea like Dr Rajendra Prasad, KM Munshi, Patel, Pant and Lal Bahadur Shastri were sidelined. This overall radicalization of the Muslims, created a united and fanatic force to support Congress in the name of faith, without asking for good governance, liberty, education. The liberal Muslims like Arif Mohammad Khan were pushed to the sidelines and the narrative was built that Islamic faith could only flourish with the subjugation of the Hindus.

Fanatic thoughts supported subtly by wily intellectuals crowded the ghettoized Indian Muslim society and still does. The rich would send their kids to Europe for studies and insist on Madarassa education for the poor. Modi is trying to bring in a society in which Ashfaq could live happily with Ram Prasad Bismil. We must ensure that Ashfaq of Muslims society outnumber the Owaisis. We must understand this and support him. This is not to say that there is no flab in Modi 2.0. There are non-performers. There are those entrusted to be the voice of the majority when no one takes their plea. They need to step and not let the majority feel an orphan. The case of Hauz Qazi is not because of the failure of Modi, rather the failure of local leadership. The administration is a heavy machine and continues to work in the fashion of last seventy years, but Modi has given us a recourse. When the police wantonly arrests Hindu activists, you know you can raise voice and it will be heard. It is not that a Hindu activist of Hauz Qazi will be thrown to prison charged with terror for a decade without any charge sheet. Let us count our blessings. Ideology must be strengthened from the bottom. We need to read our history, our past, our philosophies. Battles of ideologies are not fought in the marketplace.

“If there is anything that links the human to the divine, it is the courage to stand by a principle when everybody else rejects it.” ― Abraham Lincoln

If today, Modi as a Prime Minister is able to stand by our constitution, in face of attacks from both the ends, we must thank our stars. We must not want to unleash a demon.

Kerala: Daughter blackmailed to join Orthodox Church to ensure decent burial ground for Jacobite Christian mother

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala: Daughter blackmailed to join Orthodox Church to ensure decent burial ground for Jacobite Christian mother

The daughter of a deceased octogenarian woman in Kerala had to consent to join the Orthodox Church to ensure that the St. Thomas Orthodox Church allows her Jacobite mother to be buried in their cemetery, the New Indian Express has reported.

Mini, the daughter of the late Chinnamma, was emotionally blackmailed into converting to the Orthodox faction so that her mother could receive a decent burial at the family crypt. The St. Thomas Church, which earlier belonged to the Jacobite faction, was transferred to the Orthodox faction following a Supreme Court verdict.

“My mother always told me that she should not be buried in another cemetery. She wanted to be buried in the family crypt, but now it belongs to the Orthodox faction. When I approached them, they were ready for burial only if I joined their faction,” said Mini, as per the report.

Father Joseph Malayil, the vicar of St Thomas Church, said “We are not against the burial of any faithful. She approached us for a decent burial and we did not deny it. It is a matter of humanity.” However, a source from the Jacobite side claimed that there were many instances on which the Orthodox faction had refused decent burial grounds for Christians.

Factionalism within the Christian community runs extremely high. Despite their vaulted claims, Churches in India are known to discriminate between Christians, on many occasions even on the basis of their caste.

RTI Amendment Bill 2019 and the fake charade of Shashi Tharoor

Ashish Shukla
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RTI Amendment Bill 2019 and the fake charade of Shashi Tharoor

Andimuthu Raja of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) calls it “a dark day for democracy.” Shashi Tharoor of the Congress sees it as a bid to remove “the two greatest armours of institutional independence” and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, views it as an attack on “our democratic right to information.” Serious isn’t it. Who doesn’t know Raja or Tharoor or Chowdhury. I mean we all have heard of 2G licenses,  Sunanda Pushkar and “gandi naali (drainage)” slur. They are our much-in-news parliamentarians who today have hogged our newspapers for faking their concern on the amendments to the Right To Information (RTI) Act 2019.

On Monday, Lok Sabha trembled to their din on the amendment to the RTI Act, 2005. As per the amendment, the Information Commissioners (ICs) will have terms and salaries decided by the Centre, instead of being on par with those of Election Commissioners. Tharoor bristled with rage: “Are you bringing this amendment because an IC asked the PMO to reveal the PM’s educational details?” Chowdhary found it an attempt to “keep tab on the Commission and kill its freedom.” NK Premachandran of Revolutionary Socialist Party (never mind if you haven’t heard of him) is convinced the amendment is an attempt to benefit the Central government.

All this for defining the terms and salaries of Information Commissioners?

So, here are the facts. The RTI Amendment Bill 2019 in no way compromises the autonomy or independence of RTI Act 2005. The amendment leaves Section 12(4) of the Act, which ensures autonomy and independence of the Act, untouched.  The appointment of Information Commissioners (Section 12.3) is also not tampered with.

Now to the terms and salaries of Information Commissioners.  The present amendment bill seeks to amend section 27 of RTI Act 2005 which doesn’t define the tenure and terms of conditions for the ICs in its present form!!! Does clearing “ambiguity” on RTI Act sound like a “dark day for Indian democracy” to you?

As per the RTI Act 2005, chief information commissioner is equal to Chief Election Commissioner and there by equal to a Supreme Court judge. Similarly, the state Chief Commissioner is equal to election commissioner and thereby equal to Supreme Court judge.

This itself is an anomaly, considering the fact that Election Commission is a statuary body while Supreme Court and Election Commission are constitutional bodies.

The other contradiction is that CIC and state information commissioners enjoy the status of Supreme Court judge but the verdict passed is liable to be challenged in the High Court.  The present bill seeks to correct this anomaly.  Besides this amendment hasn’t originated from the government alone but also held by several sections of society and judiciary.

For example, the Rajiv Garg vs UOI Supreme Court judgment of 2013 directed that decision be taken on uniformity of service condition of various tribunals. Similarly, the Second Reform Commission in its 13threport of April 2009 also recommended that there is need for greater uniformity in service conditions. The recent judgment of high court of Kerala states that the Chairman and member of the CAT do no occupy the exalted position of the judge of high court merely because they are given the same benefits.

The present amendment merely is enabling legislation which will authorize the government to frame the rules by amending Section 27 and to deliberate upon the tenures and terms of Central and State Information Commission through Section 13 and Section 16 of the RTI Act 2005. The amendment would further streamline and institutionalize the RTI Act and further facilitate its delivery.

BJP sources say that the commitment of Modi government to strengthen the RTI Act is manifest in the fact that it has introduced the 24-hour portal and a mobile App for convenience of filing RTI anytime, 24 hours, 365 days in a year.

The present government has also implemented Section 4 of RTI Act whereby suo motto (on its own) information is now available on all the government websites even without having to file an RTI to seek information.

The leader of the largest opposition party (read Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of Congress) is also a member of the selection committee when there is no recognized member of opposition in Lok Sabha.

And for all this good, Shashi Tharoor calls it a RTI Elimination Bill.

Said a BJP source: “Those who have vested interest in using RTI as a tool of blackmail are making motivated allegations against the RTI Amendment Bill 2019 which are totally unfounded and unsubstantiated.”

Oh is it? RTI as a tool of blackmail? So next time you read screaming headlines in the Indian Express or The Hindu or Times of India or Hindustan Times or any other Indian daily curse the mugger who might have gained behind this charade of “scrutiny” for public good.

Meanwhile, the RTI Amendment Bill was passed with 218 “yes” and 79 “no” in Lok Sabha on Monday.

By providing platform to anti-social elements like Mahmood Paracha, John Dayal and others, media is playing a dangerous game

K Bhattacharjee
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By providing platform to anti-social elements like Mahmood Paracha, John Dayal and others, media is playing a dangerous game

An FIR was filed recently against Mahmood Paracha after he announced in a press conference, along with Muslim Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawad, that the two of them would be setting up a camp in Lucknow to teach Muslims and Dalits about the ‘right to self-defence’ and how to apply for a firearm license.

The FIR doesn’t appear to have had any impact at all as he conducted a training camp inside a Lucknow Mosque training Muslims how to fill out licenses and acquire firearms.  Mahmood Paracha proclaimed that Scheduled Castes, Schedules Tribes, and Minorities are under threat today and that they are not safe even in Uttar Pradesh. He asserted that the administration is not enough (presumably in protecting Muslims).

Intriguingly enough, Mahmood Paracha is a regular feature at news channels where his opinion is sought in debates. It appears to be a pattern across news channels where hoodlums and uncouth individuals are provided platforms that provides them with an opportunity to augment their credibility.

For instance, Trinamool supporter Garga Chatterjee who appears to be on a crusade to establish Dravidianist politics in West Bengal has been portrayed as an ’eminent intellectual’ by the mainstream media. While he spends much of his time on Twitter peddling hate and promoting divisive rhetoric among the citizens of this country, the mainstream media has provided him with an opportunity to spread his malicious agenda across a much larger audience.

John Dayal, a Christian bigot, is another communal hack of questionable integrity who is regularly invited to debates on news channels. He calls himself a human rights activist, however, his activism, more often than not, always leans towards a particular side. In the many debates that he has featured in, Dayal is yet to offer an opinion that is conducive to social harmony and larger national interests.

Dayal is also the secretary-general of the All India Christian Council and a past president of the All India Catholic Union. He was part of the 32-member group that drafted the anti-Hindu Communal Violence Bill. Recently, he triggered a huge controversy by telling a fellow panellist to go, rape anyone, he wanted.  He had also written to Prime Minister Modi to not deport the illegal Rohingya immigrants from India despite these posed a national security threat to the country.

Another individual who is invited as a panellist in debates is Colin Gonsalves, the Founder of the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN). The HRLN is a division of the Socio-Legal Information Centre (SLIC). The SLIC receives huge donations from Christian organizations abroad. It has received donations from the European Union, George Soros’ Open Society Institute and Oxfam, international organizations which do not have India’s best interests at heart.

HRLN works in a variety of areas such as Child Rights, Labour Rights, Prisoners’ Rights, Criminal Justice, Refugee Rights among a host of others. It also claims to have provided free legal aid to Rohingya detainees across the country. HRLN is also part of a campaign to abolish sedition laws along with PUCL, PUDR, APDR, CPDR, APCLC, which are coordinating organizations of CDRO. These organizations have intimate links with Naxals. Therefore, the fact that the mainstream media provides him with a platform to further his agenda is a matter of deep concern.

The conduct of the mainstream media has been troubling in recent times, to put it mildly. They have invented fake hate crimes against minorities to suppress the news of actual hate crimes against Hindus. They have regularly provided platforms to the families of terrorists to further their anti-Army, anti-India narrative. Under such circumstances, it would not be far fetched to argue that the mainstream media is the enemy of the people.

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