SUNDAY GENTLEMAN

Malegaon at Crossroads

2011-01-23T13:41:00.002+05:30


Malegaon bomb blasts 2006: The scene outside the Bada Qabristan

In his famous novel Jimmy the Terrorist, Omair Ahmed brilliantly portrays Muslim alienation in the fictional town of Mozammabad in Uttar Pradesh. The protagonist of the novel Jamaal, also referred to as Jimmy, grows up in the shadow of mosque demolition, curfews and the rise of religious intolerance. In the end Jimmy stabs a police inspector and is beaten to death. The last words he utters are, “My name is Jimmy the terrorist.” The gripping portrayal of Mozammabad can be a story of any town with a sizeable Muslim population. Mozammabad can be easily replaced with Azamgarh or Malegaon.

Like Mozammabad, a deep sense of alienation and mistrust runs through the psyche of Malegaon. Listening to fiery speeches of emotive orators amidst jeering crowd on Friday night in Malegaon created a thought that crossed my mind: Was there any Jimmy in the audience? One can easily call this question ‘provocative’ but yet it would be foolhardy to dismiss this hypothesis with a shrug. A Jamaal can easily be a Janardhan.

As India marches ahead on the world map, it cannot overlook the broader theme at the heart of this debate, which is alienation and a sense of victimhood irrespective of religion. The ordinary Muslim of Malegaon has every reason to feel like Jimmy though he is yet to fall into the dangerous trap of stabbing the inspector. That is not to suggest that there have not been any of the same violent manifestation. The burning of a police van after 2006 blasts and clashes with police after 2008 blast are two examples in the making of Malegaon’s Jimmy. These episodes are a defining moment in drawing a distinction between Jimmy as himself and Jimmy as the terrorist.

The 2006 Malegaon blasts are a watershed in the history of Indian Muslims. The trend of targeting mosques and Muslim localities originated like a sparkle in Nanded, Parbhani and Jalna in 2003 and the sparkle turned into fire when it reached Malegaon, Mecca Masjid, Ajmer and Samjhauta Express. The screaming voices of Indian Muslims to investigative these blasts from all possible angles were lost in wilderness and it came back like an echo at Mahabaleshwar’s Arthur point. Then all of a sudden the 2008 blast took place. It was the honesty and integrity of a brave officer that lead an investigation to turn the tables. There is a gap of five years between 2003 and 2008. The political voice of Indian Muslims is so weak that it took five years to travel from bylanes of Malegaon to power corridors of Delhi. The political Muslim dispensation is still living an age of defeat; they have yet to come out of slump of 1857.

The reinvestigation of 2006 Malegaon blasts will be a litmus test for Central Bureau of Investigation. It remains to be seen which path CBI chooses to tread. Its battered image can get a fresh coat of paint if it applies the rule of common sense. It will not be unfair to suggest that Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur knew about the 2006 blasts. She visited former RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi’s house on December 30, 2007, the night after he was murdered by his “own” men in and took away a briefcase without telling the family members. The family was unaware of Joshi’s death and nobody questioned Sadhvi since she was a “regular” visitor. Sadhvi told investigators that the motorcycle used for the Malegaon blast was the one she sold to Joshi. Aseemanand’s confession is a masterstroke in the sense that the main-accused person, Sunil Joshi, was murdered under mysterious circumstances. Both Sadhvi and Aseemanand seem to suggest that Sunil Joshi was the main player in 2006 and 2008 blast. It will be an uphill task for CBI to connect dots with a dead man. Which court in the world has successfully prosecuted a dead man?

With Swami Aseemanand’s confession the mood in Malegaon seems to be celebratory. The same mood prevailed when the inquiry into the 2006 blasts was mischievously handed to CBI after the filing of chargesheet. The same mood prevailed when approver Abrar Ahmed turned hostile. The same mood prevailed when CBI told the Bombay High Court that it has not found anything incriminating against the nine accused. This vicious cycle of justice seems to be as evasive as a mirage of barren desert. At each episode, the key players involved in the struggle of justice have enjoyed their 15 minutes of fame, but nothing has happened. Will Jan. 28, 2011, the date of hearing for bail, turn out to be an extension of this vicious cycle?

Media is the mirror of society. It returns to Malegaon only when there is some ‘development’ in the bomb blast case. One cannot blame the media for this trend because news-hunt is its job. Omair Ahmed sarcastically describes the role of media members in covering Mozammabad this way, “Look at them, how they gather, descending like kites upon a fresh kill.” In doing so, media has greatly affected the collective behaviour of Malegaon: leaders only appear on scene when there is any ‘development.’ There is no persistent attempt for justice. The air-conditioned office of a chief minister or a home minister (be it RR Patil or Chidambaram) is not the ideal place to seek justice in a democracy. The days of Mughal Empire are long over! In a democratic setup, justice is sought in court of law. One understands the importance of building political ‘pressure’ but this exercise is always performed discreetly not in front of camera. No Kashmiri went to meet the home minister when SAR Geelani was wrongly convicted in the 2001 Parliament attack case. Instead they turned to famous lawyer Ram Jethmalani who successfully fought Geelani’s case free of cost, despite strong opposition from the right-wing quarters.

The mad race to take ‘credit’ is a shameful act while the innocent accused are still anguished in jail and their families going through an agonizing experience. No civilized society will tolerate petty politics over the lives of the innocents. The only boy worthy of any credit is Abdul Kaleem of Hyderabad, if Aseemanand’s confession is genuine.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a sincere man and he comes from the Sikh minority. He understands the anger, despair and helplessness of the minority. The general feeling in Malegaon can be summed up in the words of Noor-ul-Huda’s wife, Samira Bano, who told Tehelka magazine, “I would only tell Allah about my misery. I don’t have any faith in the media or in the courts.” One hopes that Manmohan Singh understands her voice is the voice of Malegaon.

Meanwhile, Jimmy can take a break as Swami Aseemanand has taken his place.

Sunday Inquilab, January 23, 2011

Whispers have become Words

2011-01-09T17:37:00.001+05:30

Swami Aseemanand: The Man behind five bomb blasts (Pic Courtesy: Tehelka)

Whispers have become words. Murmurs have taken form of sentences. Private conversations and personal convictions are no longer confined within the four walls of a decrepit Muslim household. A quiet sign language has been replaced by a wild scream. The guilt-soaked eyes have got new sparkle of hope and redemption. The Indian Muslim has finally got the guilt-free-pass handed by a ‘devout’ Hindu priest Swami Aseemanand of Dangs, Gujarat.

Aseemanand’s judicial confession – that he and his Hindutva men were responsible for five major bomb blasts – has opened Pandora’s Box. The bees of the box have stung so many men in Khakhi. One confession has destroyed the credibility of countless police officers. It is safe to assume that Rajwardhan, the then Rural SP of Nasik, did not sleep properly on Friday night. He weaved a dangerous fictional tale in order to implicate 11 innocent Muslims in Malegaon’s 2006 blasts. It is equally safe to assume that the conscience of former ATS chief KP Raghuvanshi must be cursing himself. It was Raghuvanshi who proudly displayed sketches of two suspects who bought new cycles. How conveniently he forgot the fact that the sketches don’t match with the bearded Muslims languishing in jail! How conveniently he forgot the fact that Shabbir Masiullah, one of the accused, was already in Mumbai police custody since many months before the blasts! How conveniently he forgot the fact that Noorul-Huda, the accused number one, was under close police watch since many years!

Aseemanand’s confession has brought open the divide within the CBI. The confession is an indictment CBI as well. CBI blindly followed the footprints of KP Raghuvanshi when it filed a supplementary chargesheet in Malegaon 2006 blasts repeating the lies woven by ATS. How conveniently CBI relied on ATS theory that Zahid, the Imam of Phoolsavangi, planted bomb when he was leading Friday prayers hundreds of miles away! It is altogether a different matter that Aseemanand was arrested by CBI! Therefore it can be safely assumed that there are two kinds of CBI; one highly communal and the other secular. Does CBI stand for Communal Bureau of Investigation?

Harish Gupta, the then Hyderabad Joint Commissioner of Police, took inspiration from KP Raghuvanshi when he falsely implicated 19 Muslims in Mecca Masjid blast case.

The role of RSS has come on spotlight after Aseemanand’s confession. Ram Madhav, RSS spokesman, has said that confession was given under “duress”. He should know that it’s a judicial confession recorded as per the guidelines laid down in Section 164 of Criminal Procedure Code which says that confessions recorded before a magistrate are legally admissible evidence. Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab had given confession under the same section. It is very difficult to retract the confession given under this section. If one retracts confession then it is quite possible that perjury charges will be slapped on him. Retired Bombay High Court judge Justice Hosbet Suresh is of the opinion that the accused can retract his statement. In a recent interview Justice Suresh remarked, “Even if the prosecution relies on it, the magistrate who recorded the confession is summoned and he will give evidence in the court. The magistrate can be cross-examined”.

The communal and biased role of investigating agencies must be fully examined by Prime Minister Manmoham Singh. There is an urgent need for a legislation which will hold our investigating agencies accountable for their misdeeds. Delivering the Fourth R.N. Kao Memorial Lecture on January 19, 2010 organised by the Research and Intelligence Wing (RAW), Vice-President Hamid Ansari had called for greater “oversight and accountability” in the operations of the country’s intelligence agencies. He had suggested setting up of a standing committee of Parliament on intelligence. He passionately argued that just like other democracies like the United States and the United Kingdom, the “concerned agencies should make public their mission statement, outlining periodically their strategic intent, vision, mission, core values and their goals”. It is high time to implement the suggestion of Hamid Ansari.

Similarly we need to have a mechanism in place whose job is to keep watch that no innocent is falsely accused on terror charges. 32 Muslims have been wrongly imprisoned on terror charges. Four years of incarceration has ruined their lives; their families had literally given up the hope that they will get justice. It remains to be seen how the Indian government is going to right the wrongs done by law-enforcing agencies. Will the offending police officers be booked under the same stringent laws which were abused by them? This will be the biggest test of Indian democracy.

Indian Muslim’s quest for inclusion in new India will remain a dream unless the guilty police officers are punished. The average Indian Muslim is still trapped between two keywords: Justice and survival.

Can Indian politicians learn from Aseemanand’s judicial confession? 2010 was a year of loot and plunder. 2011 began on a happy note if Aseemanand’s “penance” is true.

Sunday Inquilab, January 9, 2011

Omar Khalidi: An Icon says Goodbye

2010-12-05T15:15:00.002+05:30

Omar Khalidi addressing April 2010 workshop at MIT (Pic: TwoCircles.net)

The fallen leaves outside the magnificent building of MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) will not rustle with the step of a man who walked inside the famous university each morning with a purpose. The infinite corridor of MIT will feel the emptiness and void left behind a scholar whose works overshadow the unending corridor. The books of massive MIT library have lost their best friend; an intellectual who was not merely a librarian but a book-lover as well. The sudden demise of Dr. Omar Khalidi in a train accident in Boston on November 29 was a severe blow to Indian Muslims in India and United States. The best way to honour him would be to constitute a chair in his name at Osmania University or Aligarh Muslim University or Jamia Millia Islamia. The chair should should promote the kind of research work Dr. Khalidi had been doing for the past 30 years.

I first heard the name of Omar Khalidi in 2006 when he wrote an article in Hindustan Times passionately arguing that Sachar Committee should do a consensus of minorities in armed forces. The demand was indeed provocative but Dr. Khalidi never shied away from taking a firm stand by substantiating his point of view with solid facts. Persistence finally paid off and his demand was quietly accepted by the Sachar Committee though no official till date has acknowledged this! Dr. Khalidi proved the age-old proverb that pen is mightier than the sword. From then on, I have read almost all articles written by him. To me, Dr. Khalidi signified the power of pen. Sittings 12,000 kms away in MIT office, his flawless yet simple prose had the potential to cause unrest in Prime Minister’s minority agenda.

When I was introduced to him via email on ninth of April, 2009, he was working on the second edition of his pathbreaking book ‘Khakhi and Ethnic Violence in India’. Without any customary exchange and flattery, he directly asked a question:

“I understand from a Mumbai-based activist (takes a leading activist’s name) that she and another journalist in Nanded obtained from Maharashtra government the statistics about Muslims in Maharashtra police. Do you anything about this matter? The activist was going to send me that document but did not - she said she will send the document in November last year (2008) but nothing happened. She did not disclose the name of the journalist. I am revising ‘Khakhi and Ethnic Violence’ and can use the document if you are able to procure it.”

I pursued this matter for two months to get the report but the activist never cooperated. At no point in my email exchange with Omar Khalidi, he lost his cool at such unprofessionalism on the part of the activist. He took this denial with a pinch of salt. In the last email on this subject, he retorted to Hyderabadi sarcasm. He wrote, “Have you spoken to masruf logan (busy people) as we say in Hyderabad sharif? Let me know if you find out anything from them.”

In his career spanning over 30 years, Dr. Khalidi was always the target of Hindutva brigade. In April 2010, he organised a workshop on a theme which rattled the ranks of Sangh Parivar. The workshop was titled ‘Terrorism and Group Violence - Challenges to Secularism and Rule of Law in India’. There was a sustained campaign to call off the workshop but the higher authorities of MIT had faith in Dr. Khalidi. The workshop was successful but Dr. Khalidi was branded “anti-Hindu” and “soft Jihadi”.

I discovered the humility of Dr. Khalidi when I first met him on November 13, 2010 in Cambridge. Accompanied by his family, Dr. Khalidi had come to listen to me on the subject of Malegaon. He was fascinated by history of Malegaon. He sat on my left like a commoner. When I broached the topic of his book ‘Khakhi and Ethnic Violence’ thinking that he would talk about the activist, he said, “Send me an email, I will ask the publisher to despatch you a copy of the revised edition.” Here was a man with no ill-will and malice against anybody. He was a walking embodiment of dictum of Dr. Abdul Haq, “Baat kum aur kaam zyada.”

For 16 days, I didn’t send him any email. On the 17th day, Allah took away a leading light from us.

Sunday Inquilab, December 5, 2010

US Media on President Obama's India Visit

2010-11-08T19:00:00.000+05:30


US President Obama with Indian Pime Minister Manmohan Singh

New Orleans, Louisiana: There is a famous line in American lexicon: When the President fails at home, he travels abroad to succeed! As President Obama starts his 10-day Asian tour starting with India just after his party lost majority in the House of Representatives, the saying still rings true for most Americans.

Unlike Indian media which has gone euphoric on President Obama's visit, the US media tends to view Obama's India visit as a "routine Presidential obligation" and there is no front-page sensationalism and hype. Only a small segment of media has came out against his visit to India. Here are some of the key issues raised by American media about President Obama's India visit:

Indo-Pak Relations and Afghanistan:

New York Times in its November 5 edition says that President Obama will not push India "hard" on the issue of Pakistan though senior American military commanders strongly believe India must disavow from an "obscure military doctrine" which they believe is fuelling tension between India and Pakistan thus affecting American war efforts in Afghanistan. The doctrine is officially known as "Cold Start" which means a plan to deploy new ground forces that could strike inside Pakistan quickly in the event of a terrorist attack or conflict. India has always denied the very idea of a "Cold Start". New York Times has termed this issue as "victory for India" since President Obama may not touch on this issue when he meets Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday. The newspaper also narrates the Indian point-of-view that both the countries should focus on broader issues including "commercial ties, military sales, climate change and regional security". And that US must stop looking at India from the lens of Pakistan and the war in Afghanistan.

Miami Herald quotes Richard Armitage, the deputy secretary of state under President George W. Bush, thatIndians' frustration about the United States in connection with the 26/11 attacks had been receding but the recent Headly developments gave them a new life. CNN says that terror battle will likely be the top Obama agenda in India.

False reports in Indian Press:

American media has slammed the reports in a section of Indian Press that US government would be spending approximately 200 million dollars (Rs. 900 crores) per day on President Obama's India visit! New York Timesblogger Michael D. Shear has termed this report as "false". Writing on White House blog, Dan Pfeiffer, the communications director, called the story as “a long trip from reality” and said the rumour so far overstates the amount actually to be spent that “it’s not even close to being true.” The story which originated from India has found some takers in pro-Republican American press. Fox News host Glenn Beck calculated the total 10-day cost of Obama's Asia tour as just “$2 billion"! Pentagon has termed this figure as "comical". One US website Fact Check says that the per day figure of 200 million dollars would be higher than the daily cost of entire Afghanistan war!

Military assistance to Pakistan:

Voice of America has raised Indian concerns about US policies particularly its billions of dollars in military assistance to Pakistan. It quotes Lalit Mansingh, a former foreign secretary who says, "If it is used for fighting terrorism, we have no complaint. If its is for using arms to fight India, we have a real problem." It must be noted that Obama administration has pledged to increase its military aid to Pakistan to $2 billion per year to help the country fight terrorism. Voice of America also says that delicate subjects like violence between security forces and separatists in Kashmir will remain off the table.

Economy and Job Creation:

A large section of American Press has highlighted that creating jobs and bolstering US economy would be the topmost agenda of President Obama. This assumption is rooted in Obama's statement just before leaving for India. He said, "One of the keys to creating jobs is to open markets to American goods made by American workers. Our prosperity depends not just on consuming things, but also on being the maker of things." He also said he wants to double American exports by 2016. Washington Post said that President Obama has left for Asia tour "preaching jobs and open market". The newspaper asked whether India is a "neglected power". It says that the value of US goods exported to India has quadrupled to $17 billion annually over the past 7 years. It said, "Indian officials want Obama, who will address India's Parliament in New Delhi, to take the next step by expanding military-to-military relationships, removing business barriers such as the increase in US visa fees." USA Today says that Obama's agenda in Asia will be the same as it is in America: job creation.

"Unnecessary Trip" to India:

Conservative television host Glenn Beck has come down heavily on Obama's visit to India terming it "unnecessary". In a programme on Fox News he provocatively said, "The President has blocked off 800 hotel rooms. Do we still - do even know if he's travelling with 3, 000 people? Do we know if that's true?" He also said that Obama is visiting Mumbai just in time for Diwali, the festival of lights. "I don't know if that's why he is going, you know? I don't know if that's why we are paying all of this money, for lights," he said. He also drew parallels between 9/11 and 26/11. "He'll also be talking to survivor of the Mumbai attacks. I personally think he could probably spend less money and talk to the 9/11, you know, family victims here."

Inquilab, November 8, 2010

Mosque Ruling Angers India Muslims

2010-10-03T16:54:00.003+05:30

Tight security in Ayodhya (Pic Courtesy: Reuters)

MUMBAI – A court ruling over the site of a demolished mosque that largely favored the majority Hindus has angered India’s Muslims, raising fears of a new bout of ethnic tension in the Asian country.

“The judgment is inextricably confusing because it is not a straight two-to-one judgment,” Syed Shahabuddin, President of All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM), told OnIslam.net on Saturday, October 2.

“There are in fact three judgments and they go on shifting their verdict on vital issues. Therefore essentially the judgment does not settle or resolve the issues.”

A court in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh on Thursday ruled that the site of the Babri mosque to be divided between the Hindus and Muslims.

The 2-1 majority verdict gave Muslims one-third of the land, while two-thirds were given to two Hindu groups.

“The judgment is extra-legal based on myths and legends, ‘faith’ and superstitions, and not on the evidence on record,” said Shahabuddin.

“The judgment ignores the fact that the Supreme Court order of 1994 treated the disputed site as one entity and did not envisage any division,” he said.

Thousands of Indian Muslims rallied Friday after the weekly prayers to denounce the mosque verdict.

Despite the anger, the Muslim reaction was measured with no violent protests reported.

The 16th century-mosque was demolished by Hindu mobs in 1992.

More than 2,000 people were killed in ensuing ethnic violence between Hindus and Muslims over the mosque demolition.

Muslims want the ancient mosque to be rebuilt, while Hindus want the lands to build a temple.

Extra-legal

Muslim leaders and political analysts lamented that the verdict lacked legal grounds and largely favored the majority Hindus.

“First Hindus installed idols in Babri Masjid in 1949, and then they demolished the Masjid in 1992. What is the fault of Indian Muslims,” Dr. Rehan Ansari, a political commentator, told OnIslam.net.

“Nobody asked for the one-third share in the disputed site yet the court has ordered trifurcation of the land.”

Navaid Hamid, member of the National Integration Council, was also critical.

“I am crying for my future generations, what they would respond when they will be teased that they have demolished a temple and an Indian court proved that they were guilty,” he said.

“Indian Muslims need to seriously think of surrendering all rights in Ayodhya and announce that they would not accept any land of piece as given by court because they think that this country would be run on astha (belief) rather than judicial rationale.”

Muslim leaders warned that the ruling risks to fuel sectarian tension in the country, vowing to appeal against the verdict.

“It (verdict) will only mean a mini-Masjid and a mini-Temple next to each other giving rise to constant friction,” Shahabuddin said.

“The Muslim community is dissatisfied and shocked by the judgment and is determined to exercise its right of appeal to the Supreme Court with a view to reverse the judicial stand from the mythological to the legal.

“The Muslim community is ready to accept the final judicial verdict of the Supreme Court as it is committed to the Constitution and the rule of law. It does not see any scope for negotiations among the parties until the final judicial verdict establishes the rights and status of parties concerned,” he said.

Muslims make up 13 percent of India’s 1.1 billion population, while Hindus account for 80 percent.

OnIslam.net October 2, 2010

Note: This story which I wrote for Egyptian website OnIslam.net has been badly edited thus omitting some of the positive comments by members of Muslim community.

‘Schools are like maintenance workshops’

2010-09-12T18:07:00.003+05:30

Abu Saleh Anis Luqman Nadwi

On a damp summer night of 1976, an 11-year old boy walks inside a tiny classroom of Madrasa Faizul Uloom located in a narrow lane behind Islampura’s Juni Masjid. An Arabic class led by the late Maulana Mafuzurrahman is in progress where the students are in their late 40s, 50s and even 60s! Escorted and asked by his father, the boy joins the night class and becomes the “youngest” and the “brightest” student in no time! 23 years later, the “boy” becomes the first and the only Indian approved by United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Education to teach Arabic and Islamic studies! The boy’s name was Anis Ahmed.

How Anis Ahmed became Maulana Abu Saleh Anis Luqman Nadwi is an inspirational story of sheer obsession with Arabic. All these years, the soft-spoken Islamic scholar-turned-teacher has dangled between “obsession” and “madness”. He took pride when people labelled him “mad” in 1980s; for him the word MAD was an acronym which stood for ‘Make A Difference’!

After passing standard 7 from a Municipal Urdu school, Maulana was enrolled by his father Luqman in Malegaon’s Madrasa Baitul Uloom. It was the late Maulana Mafuzurrahman who persuaded Luqman that Anis must join full-time madrasa. After securing two degrees of “Alimiyyah”, first from Baitul Uloom and second from Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, Lucknow, Maulana taught Arabic, literature and Islamic sciences in Malegaon. He also designed and taught a crash course on Modern Standard Arabic for young Muslims, school teachers, doctors, engineers and businessmen in Malegaon, Mumbai, Delhi and Abu Dhabi.

A student of renowned Islamic scholar Syed Abul Hasan Ali Miyan Nadwi, Maulana has closely worked with renowned Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiddudin Khan for seven years as a full-time research assistant and translator at Delhi-based Islamic Centre for Research and Da’wah. “I have critically revised/thoroughly rechecked/minutely edited almost every single page ever penned by Maulana Wahiddudin Khan”, he told Inquilab from Abu Dhabi.

He has translated Wahiddudin Khan’s Tazkirul Qur’an into Arabic, revised and edited the famous translation and commentary of Qur’an by Abdullah Yusuf Ali. He was also on the editorial board of the Encyclopaedia of the Qur’an.

In 1996, Maulana shifted to Abu Dhabi and joined Islamia English School as a senior teacher. He was simultaneously assigned the job of school’s PRO (Public Relation Officer) in view of excellent command over Arabic language and effective negotiation skills.

In 1999, Maulana became the first Indian to get Ministry of Education’s licence to teach Arabic which, as per the existing bylaws, is granted exclusively for the native Arabs nationals who have to pass a number of extremely tough written and oral tests. He had challenged Ministry officials to exceptionally allow him to appear for the exam. To the surprise of officials, he passed the exam with the highest marks ever! This breakthrough remained a “secret” for three years because Maulana was not keen to “publicise” it. In 2002, Ministry of Education organised a programme for the Arab teachers to launch a nationwide campaign for raising the standards of teaching Arabic. He delivered the keynote address of the programme which was attended by 500 Arabic teachers. It was at this programme that Government Inspectors of Arabic language narrated the tale of how Anis Luqman had challenged them!

Maulana has translated not less than 8,000 pages from English and Urdu into Arabic or vice versa. “As a matter of routine, every month I translate no fewer than 150 – 200 pages consisting of Ministerial Circulars, official letters, documents, welcome addresses, etc. from Arabic into English and vice-versa”, he said.

Maulana became “passionate” about learning Arabic at a much later stage in life after passing out from Baitul Uloom and Darul Uloom Nadwa. His ‘mastery’ in Arabic is a “byproduct” of his “voracious reading” of Arabic books and his “madly” attempt during 20s to revolutionize traditional Madrasa education starting with an unprecedented experiment of teaching Arabic to non-Madrasa people without any textbook! “I consider it a ‘byproduct’ because to get mastery over any language had never been my aim”, he said.

Maulana’s obsession with Arabic can be gauged from the fact that from mid 1983 he stopped reading Urdu except few books! He used to converse in Arabic at home. “Since then on I started unconsciously speaking a language which may be called as’Anglo-Arabic Urdu’; that is Urdu in Arabised accent ‘loaded’ with Arabic and English phraseology”, he said. In the meantime, Maulana’s ‘command’ over Arabic unconsciously improved but he didn’t realise that his spoken or written Arabic is good according to the Arab scholastic standards until a compliment by Dr. Abdul Halim Owais, a renowned Egyptian thinker and widely read author in mid 1987. After hearing Maulana and reading some of his translated pieces, Dr. Abdul Halim was impressed. He asked Maulana for how long he has been studying in Egypt or Saudi Arabia. Upon realisation that Maulana has not spent a single day in both the countries yet, he was stunned and said, “Wow, you write and speak Arabic much better than some of those who teach there in the Arab universities!”

Maulana has always taken an alternate stand in matters of education. “Education is generally defined as ‘answering the questions’ but I would prefer to define it as ‘questioning the answers’!” he said.

Maulana considers himself as a “natural-born teacher”. His teaching style contradicts traditional methodology and is extremely popular among the students. He says that traditional teaching hardly constitutes 10% of real teaching.

“Teaching is essentially a mind-activating activity which can be exercised between two or more young or old persons. Text books, charts, writing board, lesson plans, e-devices and other ‘teaching stuff’ are useful but not indispensable tools for this ‘mind-activating activity’”, he said.

Maulana is a harsh-critic of traditional as well as modern education and schools run by Muslims. “Education, theoretically, is supposed to be an ongoing process of ‘behaviour modification’. But, practically, education has caused throughout the generations more ‘behaviour distortion’ than positive ‘behaviour modification’”, he said.

Maulana is known to sum up his lectures in the form of 5 to 10 keywords. For instance, QE=EBUC (i.e. Quality Education is equal to Expected Behaviour Under Unexpected Circumstances/Mutawaqqa kirdar ghayr mutawaqqa halat mein).

Maulana counters the long-held view that school is a place where “the destiny of a nation is shaped.” He claims that school, at best can be likened to a “maintenance workshop” where students are either “well-maintained” or at worst would even be “spoilt and mutilated.”

Apart from this, Maulana has been closely working to help Indian Diaspora living in United Arab Emirates. He has voluntarily handled a number of tough labour disputes involving Indian workers. Indian Embassy often requests him to appear for legal disputes concerning immigration, release of passports from Labour Ministry etc. During the 2007 Amnesty period, Maulana facilitated release of thousands of Indian passports’ from Ministry of Labour. In recognition of voluntary services, he was awarded an Appreciation certificate and a Memento by the then Indian ambassador Talmiz Ahmed.

Maulana says that with the rapid commercialisation of schools, his concept of teaching, though theoretically much appreciated, would hardly get general acceptance.

“It is, therefore, most likely that within next few years I will have to quit teaching as a ‘profession’ and devote my time and energy to Dawah and research.”

Inquilab, September 11, 2010

How Cordoba House became “Ground Zero Mosque”?

2010-08-29T14:55:00.003+05:30


The proposed Cordoba House near Ground Zero

G.K. Chesterton, English author and mystery novelist once wrote, “Journalism largely consists of saying ‘Lord Jones is dead’ to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive! Seven decades later, Chesterton’s words still stand true. Journalism is synonymous with truth but these days media neither tells full truth nor complete lie. Media employs a pendulum that prefers to swing in the space between the full truth and the complete lie. It is in this context, we must zero on the so-called ongoing “Ground Zero Mosque” debate.

Media barons and editors transact with their readers in the currency of words. Words can be loose as well as loaded. Loose words can convert an issue into a non-issue. Loaded words act like a burning matchstick on dry grass. Therefore, the word “Iraqi insurgent” or “enemy combatant” is example of the loose words which have been heavily used by American media in Iraq war. On the contrary, “Jihadist” or “Muslim fanatic” is the example of loaded words which have been employed by a section of American press. The word “Cordoba House” will fall in the category of loose word while “Ground Zero Mosque” consists of loaded words.

So at what point proposed “Cordoba House” became “Ground Zero Mosque”?

Cordoba House is two long blocks away in north from the World Trade Center site. The five-storey building housed Burlington Coat Factory till September 11, 2001. The factory building was lying vacant since then until a group of Muslims led by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf bought it in July 2009. The factory building is being used for Friday prayer. New York Times was the first newspaper that ran a front-page feature on December 9, 2009 on the proposed Islamic centre but it never used the term “Ground Zero Mosque.” The front-page report did not attract any attention. On December 21, 2009, Daisy Khan, wife of Imam Abdul Rauf was interviewed by conservative media personality Laura Ingraham on Fox TV. The interview was cordial and Ingraham seemed to support the Cordoba Project. It was on this programme that the misnomer “Ground Zero Mosque” was used onscreen for the very first time. The term may have been used unconsciously on the programme but there was no controversy immediately after that. In fact, according to a search on Nexis newspaper archive, there was not a single news article on the mosque for next five and half months!

On May 6, 2010, New York City community board committee unanimously voted in favour of the Cordoba House. On the same day, anti-Islam blogger Pamela Geller wrote against the Cordoba House terming it as “monster mosque”. It is precisely at this point that a proposed 13-storey proposed Islamic cultural centre, which, in addition to a prayer room, will include a basketball court, restaurant, swimming pool and 9/11 memorial, was just reduced to a “mosque”! Geller went further to plant a lie that the “mosque” was being built on the site of World Trade Center! “What better way to mark your territory than to plant a giant mosque on the still-barren land of the World Trade Center?” she wrote on her Atlas Shrugs blog. “This is Islamic domination and expansionism. The location is no accident. Just as Al-Aqsa was built on top of the Temple in Jerusalem.”

On the same day, Rupert Murdoch owned New York Post ran a story which deliberately identified Cordoba House as “WTC Mosque.” News agency Associated Press (AP) ran a story on May 7 quoting relatives of 9/11 victims with differing opinions on the “mosque”. On the same day, Geller’s group Stop Islamization of America (SIOA), launched a campaign “Stop the 911 Mosque!” She posted the names and contact information for New York mayor and members of the community board, encouraging people to write. Uninformed, gullible Americans and anti-Muslims from all across the world wrote to the board without verifying the details that there is no mosque being built on the site of the terrorists attack!

On May 8, 2010, Geller and Robert Spencer, a known-Muslim-hater and associate director of SIOA, announced first protest against the “911 Mosque” to be held on May 29. One May 10, New York Post columnist Andrea Peyser becomes the first journalist-victim of Geller campaign. She openly wrote against the “mosque” saying that “there are better places to put a mosque.” On May 13, she devoted an entire article to Cordoba House provocatively titled “Mosque Madness at Ground Zero”. The article played an important role in raising and shaping the debate in the sense that it was the first article to be published in a newspaper which portrayed the Cordoba project as inherently wrong and suspect. Peyser quoted Geller thus giving credence to an agony aunt! (Geller once suggested that Malcolm X was Obama’s real father!)

Thus within a month, Cordoba House, unnecessarily became controversial. It began with anti-Islam blogger Pamela Geller. Andrea Peyser peddled it into conservative media. Mainstream media lapped it up further. A serious newspaper like The Wall Street Journal used the erroneous term “Ground Zero Mosque” in its headline several times. Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York, termed the mosque as “desecration”. Politicians like Sarah Palin, Peter King, Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty followed suit.

Today, the atmosphere has become so much charged and heated in America that according to CNN poll 7 in 10 Americans say that they are against the Cordoba Project. By joining the words “Mosque” and “Ground Zero”, peddlers of hate have succeeded in creating fear in American hearts. To many Americans, “mosque” is still a dangerous place. “Ground Zero” is another dangerous word. Two meanings from the American Heritage dictionary would suffice. Ground Zero means; a) Area where an atomic bomb is detonated, b) A center of explosive change.

It is also true that many Americans including Mayor Bloomberg of New York have spoken in favour of Cordoba House. But men like Bloomberg seem to be in minority. There is another mosque in Manhattan, near WTC and Pentagon, another terrorist attack site, has a prayer room. Why have not Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer spoken against these two “mosques” in the ongoing debate?

Americans aren’t dumb but an average American is more ignorant than an Indian. According to a recent poll one in five Americans believes Barack Obama is a Muslim, even though he isn’t! A quarter of those who believe he is a Muslim also claimed he talks about his faith too much! Where are they getting their information? Sixty per cent said they learned it from the media!

America needs to have a mass public awareness campaign against the likes of Gellers and Spencers and misleading media. Barack Hussein Obama must make a distinction between “full truth” and “complete lie.”

Till then Pamela Geller will laugh that her wildest dream has crossed the Atlantic.

The Sunday Inquilab, August 29, 2010

Indian Dates Ready for Ramadan

2010-08-12T01:16:00.000+05:30

“Ramadan is the most fruitful month for the business of dates,” Shaikh told OnIslam.net.

MALEGAON – Zaheer Shaikh, a dates’ retailer is a busy man. He sits in the middle of dates showcased in small glass cubicles of his Arabic Dates Center in this small town of Maharashtra state.

A flurry of potential buyers throngs the center to get a taste of season’s biggest fruit draw: dates. With the holy month of Ramadan on the doorstep, dates sell like hotcakes.

“Dates are the lifeblood of Ramadan,” Shaikh told OnIslam.net.

“Since the Ramadan fasts are usually broken with dates, there is no Ramadan without dates.”

In Ramadan, adult Muslims, save the sick and those traveling, abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex between dawn and sunset.

Most dedicate their time during the holy month to become closer to Allah through self-restraint, good deeds and prayer.

Fast-breaking with dates is the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and therefore given prominence in Indian subcontinent especially in Ramadan.

Abu Osama, an accountant, believes that since breaking the fast with dates is Sunnah it is an act of virtue during Ramadan.

“I am going to buy the dates tomorrow,” he told OnIslam.

“I enjoy dates when mixed with watermelon. It tastes delicious.”

Booming

Shaikh, the dates’ retailer, has been busy preparing for this season.

“We have stocked all kinds of dates for the holy month,” he explains.

“Ramadan is the most fruitful month for the business of dates.”

His father Najmuddin, a former mayor of the town and the biggest dealer as well as retailer, notes that date-sale skyrockets during Ramadan.

“In Ramadan alone, 40 tons (equal to 40000 kgs) dates are imported in Malegaon alone from different Arab countries,” he told OnIslam.net.

He compares that to minimal date-sale in normal days. “In Ramadan, date sells ten times more.”

With Ramadan on the doorstep, even street vendors have put up temporary stalls which do quick business.

“Dates are the most sold out fruit in Ramadan. It makes business sense to sell dates,” Imran Ahmed, a street vendor on Malegaon’s Kidwai road, told OnIslam.

Ahmed sells fruits like bananas and watermelon in usual days but switches to dates in Ramadan.

He earns up to 1000 rupees now and hopes that his earning will go up as Ramadan starts.

“I rush to date shops to fill my cart. The big shop owners always cooperate with us though we are competitors.”

Malegaon’s dealers offer almost all types of dates including popular Mabroom, Ajwah and Anbarah.

Prices of dates range from 25 rupees to 300 rupees per kilogram.

This, according to Abu Osama, is a double blessing.

“Dates are cheaper as compared to other fruits and therefore even poor Muslims can afford it,” he explains.

“The wide range of variety offers convenient choices. From poor to rich, everybody can afford dates depending upon one’s economic condition.”

OnIslam.net August 11, 2010

Kashmir Diary-I

2010-08-01T02:07:00.001+05:30

Shikaras on Dal Lake

From the sky Kashmir looks serene. Snow-clad peaks of Pir Panjal range emerge in sight. For a moment, it looks like that some brainy child has erected ice-toys by splattering snow in his snow-covered apple orchard! Kashmir can be an illusion for perceptive thinkers. One enters into hibernation looking at the marvellous mountain-range. The serenity of Kashmir gets a break as the plane touches the tarmac of Srinagar International Airport with a bang. After a violent sprint, pilot applies brakes and the plane comes to a screeching halt. Its 11.15am and the outside temperature is 30 degree; a bright and sunny day. Gun-trotting CRPF men guard the entrance of the terminal but there is no security check. Kashmir seems to be an integral part of India for an incoming tourist…

The car slowly drove out of Srinagar airport. We drove past soldiers, bunkers, loops of barbed wire, armoured vehicles, school children both boys and girls stand waiting for school bus, and pedestrians walking slowly as if time has come to a standstill. There is an air of suspicion on the street. Suspicion and Kashmir go hand in hand. Kashmir is India’s most suspicious state. Big Urdu hoardings and signboards instantly create an impression that one is in Pakistan! Shahrukh Khan smiles from a Dish TV ad beautifully done in Urdu. Tata sheets and Airtel ads are every where in Urdu. Kashmir is India’s only state where Urdu has become the language of commerce.

The new city – which lies very close to the airport – is an architectural wonder. On both sides of a long artery, red brick houses covered with tin-sheets sit squarely. This part of the city is known as ‘new city’ but it resembles like British countryside! The other two portions of the city are called ‘Old city’ and ‘Civil Lines’.

After half an hour’s drive, we reached our destination Dal Lake where accommodation is on a houseboat. Houseboats are peculiar to Srinagar and offer the most memorable accommodation. At least there are 1000 houseboats moored on the banks of river Jehlum, Dal and Nagin lakes. Boulevard road runs next to the Dal Lake. The road in many ways is Kashmir’s marine drive or far better than that. It starts at Tourist Chowk and makes a circular angle leading to Hazratbal mosque.

A Shikara ride over Dal Lake is the most spectacular adventure in Srinagar. Away from the clutter and clang of city life, we step onto a beautifully decorated Shikara for a smooth 2-hour ride over the still waters of the Dal. A thick layer of silence engulfs the Dal. The depth of silence can acquire frightening proportions for the weak-hearted. Dal is the place where one is with oneself. One can converse with nature without uttering a word! Silence is the only form of communication over a tranquil Dal lake. Floating flowers and plants on Dal are called floating garden. The shimmer of floating garden against the Lake water creates an aura of gratification and eternal bliss. The lake is 6 km long and 3km wide. In winter, Dal is frozen and children play cricket on it! In the middle of the lake there is an island. There are four princely chinar trees on the island; it’s popularly known as char chinar. There is a beautiful garden under the shadow of four chinar trees.

Srinagar is also famous for Mughal gardens which were beautifully built and maintained by Mughal emperors. Nishat Bagh is the biggest Mughal garden and lies at the east side of Boulevard road overlooking Dal lake. One can see the citadel of Emperor Akbar known as Hari Parvat on the west side of the Dal Lake. It is in ruins now and under the control of Army. Nishat is constructed stepwise and divided in 10 parts. The water channel flows from centre of the garden. There are so many fountains, fruits of garden and flowers. Chinar, cypris and lush green grass creates a soothing atmosphere.

Shalimar Bagh lies on north side of Nishat. It was constructed in 1616 by Emperor Jahangir for his wife Noor Jahan. The garden served as a meeting point for the two. The garden has four terraces, rising one above the other. A canal runs through in the middle of the garden. There is a small hut-like palace in the middle of the garden where Emperor Jahangir used to sit with Noor Jahan.

Chashme-Shahi is a small tastefully-laid garden with terraces. A cold water spring runs through in the centre. The water of spring is said to cure many diseases. One will forget the taste of mineral water after drinking the spring water. A road upside leads to Pari Mahal. Pari Mahal is situated on a hillock overlooking the beautiful Dal lake. The terraced arched garden was built by Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in mid-seventeenth century. In the upper most terrace, there are ruins of two structures resembling a baradari and a reservoir. In the middle of second terrace is a large tank. The façade of the retaining wall is ornamented with a series of twenty one arches built in descending order. The third terrace has the main entrance. On either side of it are a series of specious rooms. The fourth terrace has the remains of the tank. The fifth terrace has an archade retaining wall with pigeon holes. The sixth terrace has a rectangular tank in the middle and octagonal bastions at its ends. Fragments of earthen water pipes are still to be seen in the structure.

Pari Mahal and Chasme-Shahi are located in highly sensitive and VIP area. It was by sheer chance that I spotted Omar Abdullah descending from a helicopter with his family. As I zoomed the lens of my camera on the helicopter from the top terrace of Pari Mahal, a gun-trotting CRPF jawan stood next to me making sure that young Abdullah family is safe. Omar came out of the helicopter with his Sikh wife Payal and son Zahir. It seemed that Omar was returning from a holiday as Kashmir was in turmoil.

A memorable meeting with legendary journalist M.J. Akbar in Lalit Grand Palace, former Palace of Raja Gulab Singh, will always be etched in memory. M.J. Akbar argued that two irreligious men Nehru and Jinnah were responsible for partition of India while two deeply religious leaders Gandhi and Maulana Azad never accepted partition and therefore were sidelined after 1947. In the lawn of the Palace, there is a 110-year old historical chinar tree under which Gandhi sat with Maharaja Gulab Singh in June 1947, just two months before the partition.

Shankaracharya temple was built in 220 BC on a hillock overlooking Dal Lake. It offers the panoramic view of Dal Lake and Srinagar. The legend has it that the temple was built on Takhte-Sulemani. Archeological Survey of India confirms it! My driver insists that there existed a mosque before the temple.

On the left bank of Dal Lake, the imposing dome of Hazratbal Mosque makes its presence felt. It may not be as grand as the Dome of Rock in Jerusalem but it can certainly be viewed from a distance. The mosque is considered holiest shrine as it preserves Moi-e-Muqqadas (the sacred hair) of Prophet Muhammad. The history of holy relic requires another article but suffice it to note that it was Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb who helped to restore it. There is a huge hand-written Qur’an from Aurangzeb era inside the mosque.

In a narrow lane outside the Hazratbal Shrine, Gulzar Ahmed sells sweets. A poster of Pakistani cricket team adorns the filthy wall behind him. Kashmiri patriotism has changed in the last six decades. The deep sense of alienation and betrayal has resulted in pictorial protest and patriotism. Not far from Gulzar Ahmed’s sweet shop, Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, the lion of Kashmir, rests on the banks of a tranquil Dal. A lone gun man guards the empty and deserted marble mausoleum of Kashmir’s greatest contemporary leader. Sheikh Abdullah was betrayed by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru but he did not lose hope. Gulzar Ahmed needs to visit the grave of Sheikh Abdullah to understand his message.

The Return of Holy Cow!

2010-07-25T01:33:00.000+05:30

Saffron souls clash with police on July 22 in Malegaon

At what point did in Indian history cow become holy to Hindus? The question is obviously rhetorical but needs an honest deliberation. The cow has never been sacred to all Hindus. The view that cow is sacred is merely a sectional Hindu view. It has been a matter of inter-religious debate for decades but one thing is certain: cow slaughter and beef-eating are proven Hindu traditions. Beef used to be served as honour to guests in ancient India. Therefore, the cow became holy at a much later period as part of Hinduism reforms. In traditional or ancient Hinduism, cow has never been sacred.

The month of July can be rightly described as the month of holy cow! It has returned to haunt us in more than one way: Malegaon-Manmad-road cow row was just a flashpoint. The holy cow made a quiet entry from down South in Karnataka assembly. The controversial Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Prevention of Cattle Bill, 2010 was passed in the legislative council on July 15 amid protests by the opposition. If the bill becomes a law, it will affect eating habits of many communities, sportspersons, animals in the zoo etc.

The holy cow entered Maharashtra on July 21. We do not know the exact entry point but the holy cow did a road-show on the outskirts of Malegaon before landing in Mantrayla on July 22!

Why did the Opposition protest the passing of the bill in Karnataka assembly? Does the opposition consists of only Muslims?

The sacredness of cow is not a Hindu-Muslim question alone as it has been persistently made out in the media. Karnataka opposition was representing millions of Hindus who still eat beef. Dalits and tribals have always eaten beef as part of ancient Hinduism. A ban in would mean imposition on hundreds of millions of Dalits and tribals. Also, beef is eaten regularly in India’s North-East.

The “Malegaon cow slaughter”, as the mainstream media reported, never took place. Ignorance, as we say in journalism, is bliss. The phrase “Malegaon cow slaughter” is a misnomer. First, the incident did not take place in Malegaon town; eight cows were found dead on Malegaon-Manmad road. By highlighting the word ‘Malegaon’ with the cows, media is playing in the hands of communalists; they want to defame a peace-loving town which did not lose its cool after witnessing two deadly bomb blasts. Media must remember that Malegaon is not a slaughterhouse of all goodness! The word ‘Malegaon’ immediately creates a sensation. Anything sensational in media sells these days.

Second, there was no ‘slaughter’ of the cows; eight cows died because of suffocation and the post-mortem report confirms this. There was no trace of injury or cuts on the body. But not all are convinced. Miscreants belonging to Hindutva brigade are spreading a lie with the help of some pictures. Any sane man would know that body needs to be cut in order to perform autopsy. Veterinary surgeon performed autopsy of the cows. The pictures of cuts borne by the vet’s knife are being circulated over the internet. It is being claimed that cows were indeed ‘slaughtered’! (Hindu Jan Jagruti Samiti is one such website; it puts the number of “slaughtered cows” to 25!) These pictures serve as the propaganda weapon for the right-wing brigade which is consistently becoming violent. Some of the Muslims might interpret the cow incident as part of a “conspiracy” to cause riot. The cow incident does not seem to be part of any conspiracy as of now; it seems more like a co-incidental accident. But people of Malegaon may have reasonable doubts which may or may not be valid. After all, one such ‘conspiracy’ has already taken place in Malegaon in 1984. A Hindu deity was garlanded with a bone-necklace by an RSS activist in order to cause riot. Malegaon could have witnessed a massive riot because the temple of the deity stood next to a mosque. It was the genius of S. M. Mushrif, the then ASP of Malegaon, who unearthed the mystery of bone-necklace and prevented Malegaon from communal frenzy.

The right-wingers are in a mood for mischief. Kesari Chand Mehta, president of Gau-Raksha Samiti spit venom against Muslims on July 22 while presenting a memorandum to the local administration. Muslims must maintain the traditional chain of peace culminated in the aftermath of 2006 and 2008 blasts.

Interestingly, opposition survived the day of July 22 on a lie. A lie can breathe transient life in the lungs of an almost dead opposition but the life of a lie is shorter than a hyphen.

Mother cow, on whose horns universe survives according to Hindu worldview, must be angry over the lie. A slight movement of the horns will send Sena-BJP alliance into deep ravine of eternity.

The Sunday Inquilab, July 25, 2010

Paradise Lost?

2010-07-11T01:09:00.002+05:30

A deserted Lal Chowk, Srinagar, June 22, 2010

“How shall I write its praise? As far as the eye could reach flowers of various hue were blooming, and in the midst of flowers and verdure beautiful streams of water were flowing: one might say it was a page that the painter of destiny had drawn with the pencil of creation. The buds of heart break into flower from beholding it.”

(Mughal Emperor Jahangir on seeing Guri valley of Kashmir, Tuzuk-I-Jahangiri, Memoirs of Jahangir)

Peace in Kashmir is a delicate illusion. The placid calm of magnificent Dal Lake in Srinagar can be confused with peace. But Dal Lake has been silent for centuries. So how does one measure peace in the Valley? One need not take a dip in Dal Lake to measure the depth of peace. Peace floats on its surface in Shikaras and houseboats. Floating Shikaras are a sign of peace. The absence of any human activity over Dal is a proof that all is not well in the “earthly paradise”, a phrase uttered by Mughal emperor Jahangir.

The present trouble began on June 5 when Tufail Ahmed, a 17 year old student who passed SSC exam with distinction, was shot in head by security forces while he was playing in Ghani Memorial stadium. This gave rise to protests in northern areas of Kashmir. For the next 14 days, protests and stone-pelting followed. Omar Abdullah government did nothing concrete to contain the situation. The flashpoint came only on June 19, the day this writer landed in Srinagar. Mohammed Rafique Bangroo – a shawl weaver who has lost seven members of his family to security forces – was severely beaten up by CRPF (Central Police Reserve Force) and breathed his last a day later. During his funeral procession on June 20, people shouted anti-India slogans (One of the most famous slogans of the past 60 years is: Hum kya chahate hain?....Azaadi…Azaadi…Allah-o-Akbar). CRPF fired on the funeral procession resulting in the death of Rafique’s cousin, 17-year old Javed Ahmed Malla.

On June 21, CRPF camp was attacked in Sopore by militants of self-proclaimed Jamiatul-Mujahideen in which one CRPF died and a dozen got injured. When people protested on June 25 about the “fake” encounter, CRPF went berserk and killed 17-year old Firdous Ahmed Kakroo, a farmer and 18-year old Shakeel Ahmed, an electrician. 22-year old Bilal Ahmed of Sopore was shot in his throat when he was watching a protest march against rampant killings. More deaths followed in Baramulla, Anantnag and Srinagar.

Where was Omar Abdullah for almost a month?

Omar Abdullah, chief minister of India’s only Muslim-majority state entered into the picture only on June 19. The local media reported that Omar Abdullah was “extremely angry” over the death of Tufail Ahmed. He came down heavily on CRPF officers. Later, he addressed a press conference.

Is this the way to dissuade street anger?

Street anger can only be contained by stepping on the street. Omar Abdullah realised this only on July 5 when he visited Baramulla and patiently listened to peoples’ grievances. Contrast this with the behaviour of his grandfather, the late Anwaar Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, the lion of Kashmir. On October 4, 1947, addressing Kashmiris, Sheikh Abdullah said Rajas and Nawabs had no right to act on behalf of the people; the people must speak for themselves. Sheikh Abdullah said this as a response to Maharaja Hari Singh’s desire that Kashmir should remain an independent state.

Central government does not seem to have any concrete solution to the present crisis of Kashmir. Deployment of army may bring transient relief but in the long run it will further alienate Kashmiris. A territory cannot be ruled by application of force. As Pandit Kalhana, the first celebrated historian of Kashmir wrote in Rajtarangini:

“Kashmir may be conquered by the force of spiritual merit but never by the force of soldiers.”

Ashoka the Great and his soldiers brought Kashmir under the control of Mauryan Empire and made Srinagar its capital. But it did not last. In fact, spiritual merit of Buddhist missionaries had more impact. Same was the case with arrival of Islam. The message of Hazrat Bulbul Shah and Shaikh Nuruddin had a lasting impact.

Why do Kashmiri Muslims indulge in Kani Jung (stone-pelting)?

If only a stone can change the destiny of a nation. A stone is no equivalent to AK-47 which was once a popular form of Kashmiri resistance. Perhaps to a Kashmiri mind stone-pelting is the only way they can draw the world’s attention. A psychologist will term this as a sign of frustration and helplessness.

A thick layer of humiliation has formed over Kashmiri mind. How would one react if forced to prove one’s own identity? In one’s own state? To a Kashmiri, a valid identity card is his passport to nationalism.

Every nook and corner of Kashmir is guarded by CRPF. In the words of Pratap Bhanu Mehta, “I cannot imagine what it is to live like under half a million troops…”

So when will peace return to Kashmir? The last line must be left to M.J. Akbar:

“Kashmir will never be at peace with itself as long as the mazar of Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah needs to be protected with guns.”

Sunday Inquilab, June 11, 2010

Alvidaa “Head Sir”?

2010-07-04T17:23:00.001+05:30

Our Head sir: Ansari Mohammad Raza sitting on my right

In my head, I swim, slow laps in the chilly waters of a long rectangular pool that exists only in my imagination. My arms, pale and thin, dip in and out of the water in methodical strokes. I am alone, and the sun is shining. It seems the sun is always shining…. I swim whenever I start to panic: when my breath comes in short gasps and I feel like I will float away, a drifting, tattered kite that disappears into the endless red glow of a desert sunset. If I don't keep moving, I won't survive. (Jackie Spinner, an American Journalist)

The year was 1990. A lean man in his mid thirties walks inside a tiny classroom full of tiny tots wearing a light-grey safari suit. There is a sense of sincerity as the deep penetrable eyes of the lean man pore over students. The deep sockets quickly scan over its innocent audience to familiarize with young Turks. The lean man leaps forward on the teacher’s bench and clears his throat. Then his composed voice breaks the eerie silence and fills the vacuum left by the chatter of students. Sentences of advice and inspiration that flowed from mouth of the lean man on a June 1990 morning are a blur. Suffice it to note that was my first impression of our “Head Sir” as we affectionately called our principal. The first indelible and brief encounter left me with awe and reverence. I was in second standard. It’s been twenty years and a lifetime but the impression still remains etched in memory. So does the phrase “awe and reverence”.

So how does one say farewell to the man who has given many farewells to thousands of students over the last 33 years of service? Words fail me as I punch my keyboard in the last nerve and muscle wrenching phase.

The word ‘farewell’ would be gross injustice; I would rather use the word ‘tribute’. We will never say farewell to Ansari Mohammad Raza, our beloved “Head Sir”.

It is true that “Head Sir” never taught us. He inspired us to dream. Dream shapes in one’s imagination. And imagination is far more important than education. It is also true that he didn’t educate us. He inspired us to seek knowledge. And knowledge is far more important than education. It was head sir’s pat on the back that made me distinguish between ‘education’ and ‘knowledge’. I literally fainted in class 7 when I was ranked 4^th in the annual examination. It was Mohammad sir who consoled me by patting my back as if nothing went wrong. That was one of the finest moments of non-verbal communication in my life. That pat signified the difference between education and knowledge. From then onwards, I have never chased for numbers. Mohammad sir would never know how many students he must have inspired; each in unique way. Inspiration has always been the core ideology of “Head Sir”; he devised new means to inspire students.

As William Arthur Ward, the American teacher, once said, “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” Lebanese philosopher Khalil Gibran adds, “The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.”

I have coined 3 ‘I’ of success which can be applied in almost all walks of life: Imagination, Implementation and Introspection. As far as I know Mohammad sir has always believed and followed in these three words. I am tempted to quote writer Hanif Kureishi who once remarked, “It’s not the lack of opulence that disturbs me, but the poverty of imagination”.

Mohammad sir departs from us at a crucial time when the post of “head master” like that of an editor is under threat from proprietors and school management. In the heydays of journalism, editor enjoyed full editorial control. Same was true with the post of “head master”. I have no hesitation to declare that Mohammad sir belongs to that rare and vanishing breed of head masters who have always maintained independent control over educational matters.

It is often said that a good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for others. This is a canard. At least I will not use the analogy of candle for Mohammad sir. He is that candle who will always light us. The time has come for the candle to move o

As Jackie Spinner wrote, “If I don’t keep moving, I won’t survive.”

Righting Reporting Wrong

2010-06-06T15:17:00.001+05:30

The primary purpose of journalism is to tell the truth. Truth is a subjective noun and therefore journalists would love to narrate their versions of truth and readers will stick to the version they consider closest to their heart. To some journalists, truth may be objective; a monolithic entity and they would go to any length and breadth to hammer their version. They will employ means to peddle and thrust a particular version upon readers. It is in this background that modern-day journalism has become infested with a pest called ‘opinion’. From breaking news to talk shows, we are being constantly bombarded with opinion disguised as “news”. Views have filled the vacancy of news. The ratio of opinion in a news report is on the rise. In journalistic parlance news is described as “impatient” but views have become so “impatient” that it has dethroned news.

Yet the importance of opinion in journalism cannot be understated as beautifully depicted in the famous one-liner: In journalism, your opinion is as good as mine.

Despite this, the word opinion does not figure in principles of reporting. Once the opinion of journalist seeps into reporting, it no longer remains a “news story” as we say in journalism. It rather becomes a “views story”.

The above-mentioned traditional rule has been replaced by the prevalent trend of opinionated news story. Every day, such reports appear in newspapers and unconsciously affect readers’ way of thinking and perception. One such example of opinionated report appeared in Times of India titled Maulvis excommunicate 5 Muslims in Malegaon. (The Times of India, Page 1, page 3, June 2, 2010, Mumbai edition).

The news snippet on front page began with opinion and drew parallels with Taliban and Khap Panchayats:

1) “In a shocking decision that’s as regressive as some of those taken by the Taliban and the Khap panchayats, a group of maulvis in Malegaon have excommunicated five Muslims forallegedly being “apostates and infidels”. Their crime: they believed in and preached ideas and beliefs which reportedly went against Islam.”

The web edition of the same news report went a step further. The first line began with a provocative and opinionated question mark:

2) “Has Talibanism breached the solid wall which guarded Indian Islam for centuries? If the diktat issued by a Sharia panchayat comprising a dozen or so clerics in the Muslim-majority town of Malegaon last week is any indication, it seems to have.”

The news report quotes local MLA Mufti Mohammed Ismail that they have not pressed for any social boycott against the five “excommunicated” men and people have been advised not to harass them.

Immediately, the report brings an alternate perspective and opinion:

3) Despite Ismail’s claims, however, a boycott is already in place as the excommunicated men are too afraid to visit the local mosque. And they are feeling the heat.

The report further claims:

4) Islamic scholars and liberal thinkers insist that such a unilateral decision has no standing, especially as Islam doesn't recognise priesthood and the practice of ex-communication is non-existent, unlike in Christianity.”

The report concludes on a quote of an Urdu “columnist”:

5) “Indian Islam is not Talibani Islam. Moreover, there is a law of the land. If the clerics of Malegaon felt that these five Muslims were threat to peace, they could have approached the court instead of passing a medieval diktat.”

Now, let’s analyse each one of the quotes in order of numbers.

It is not the job of a journalist to pronounce judgement. A news report can never be judgmental in nature. A journalist is only required to state facts as they are and get out of the reporting. In the same way drawing parallels is not intrinsic in the nature of good reporting. As Melvin Mencher, professor emeritus of Columbia School of Journalism, said, “Keep your opinions to yourself.”
This provocative opening advocates that “Talibanism” has breached the solid wall of Indian Islam. Once again this falls in the category of opinion. Strictly speaking, it can never become part of a news report. News is sacred and views can be venomous. This is an edit page material where one is free to rant and rumble!
This is journalist’s own perspective rather than the truth. The statement is a result of telephone journalism. A reporter is obliged to visit the place of incident to gain direct access to people involved in the news report. Journalism guru Roy Peter Clark terms this guideline as “unobtrusive”. He writes, “This guideline invites writers to work hard to gain access to people and events, to spend time, to hang around, to become such a part of the scenery that they can observe conditions in an unaltered state.” Also, this is no way to authenticate and verify that the five men are facing “social boycott”. Melvin Mencher has an advice for those who practice telephone journalism: “Don’t report from the office chair.”
This claim is based on sheer falsehood. A Google search will reveal that people can be ostracized (I avoid the word “excommunication” simply for the reason that it originated from Church) in Islam. There have been many historical incidents where people have been declared “apostates” and “infidels.” The primary purpose of journalism is to tell the truth. Melvin Mencher says, “When in doubt, check it out.”
There is nothing wrong with this statement as a “quote” in news story. People have right to express their views. The point here is the nature of hypocritical journalism some journalists practice. The Urdu “columnist” should raise this issue in the Urdu newspaper he is associated with!

The deadly cocktail of news and views is an insult to the noble profession of journalism. Readers have a right to get pure “news” on news pages. The venom of “views” can be splattered on edit page!

Postscript: As I write this, there is no “social boycott” against the five “excommunicated” men in Malegaon. They have in fact taken a press conference to narrate their side of the story. There has been no untoward incident so far. Contrary to the untruthful reports in The Times of India and The Indian Express, Malegaon remains peaceful.

The Missing Malegaon Dot

2010-05-16T21:48:00.001+05:30

The recent arrests in Ajmer blasts of October 11, 2007 flies in the face of then Home Minister Shivraj Patil who had publicly blamed Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami (HUJI) of Bangladesh without taking any laundry break! The standard statement of Home Minister is not issued in individual capacity but a reflection of official stand of the government. So who fed the words in the mouth of Home Minister? It is clear now that he was misled by a section of intelligentsia. This episode speaks volumes about the power of intelligence agencies: it has the potential to mislead any government.

The notorious right-wing trend of targeting Muslims began with Malegaon September 8, 2006 blasts. It was a pioneer project whose first experiment was performed in Malegaon’s Bada Qabristan. Emboldened by false arrests and biased investigation, these elements swore to repeat ‘Malegaon syndrome’. The syndrome first travelled South in the form of Mecca Masjid blast on May 18, 2007. Here again, they met with success. The syndrome raised its ugly head in North in the form of Ajmer blast on October 11, 2007. It returned to Malegaon once again on September 29, 2008 to complete a full circle. It was grit, determination and honesty of Hemant Karkare that exposed the face of right-wing terror. Malegaon 2006 blast occurred on Friday on the day of Shabe-Barat. Mecca Masjid blast took place on Friday again. Ajmer blast was triggered on Thursday; the day people throng Ajmer Sharif dargah. Malegaon 2008 blast went off in the holy month of Ramadan at Bhikku chowk where Muslims gather in large numbers after tarawih prayers. All this falls under one pattern. Therefore, it will not be incorrect to assume that Hyderabad and Ajmer blasts were exact replica of Malegaon.

Like Malegaon, dozens of innocent Muslims were rounded up and beaten in Hyderabad in order to weave a fictional narrative of terror. Senior journalist Seema Mustafa who interviewed all the accused has remarked that “In Hyderabad not a single policeman has been made to pay for the illegal detention and terrible torture of young Muslims detained for days and weeks for alleged involvement in terror attacks. All were finally released as no evidence substantiating the charges was found, but not before their lives were ruined with many of them still unable to pick up the pieces.”

Soon after the Ajmer blast, investigators had found a SIM card that led them to link dargah blast to Mecca Masjid blast but yet intelligence agencies blamed Muslims! A little investigation would have revealed the identity of the SIM card holder but investigators didn’t bother to investigate! It has now become clear that Devender Gupta procured the fake identity of Babulal Yadav from Ranchi which helped Chandrashekhar Barod to buy the SIM cards that were used to trigger both the blasts. Both used low intensity explosives, kept in tin boxes with iron pipes folded around them. Cellphones were used to trigger both explosions; using SIM cards bought with the same fake identity and Telugu newspapers were used in both cases to wrap the bombs.

All these years security agencies have been sniffing out the same old and ‘standard pattern’. The theorists of the old and standard pattern suggest that whatever happens in India (Prime Minister’s sneeze included!) is the ultimate outcome of the designs made on the other side of the border. And designs are implemented by the educated Muslim youths of the country. Isn’t it a unique case of remote-control governance? What more, deadly designs direct these youths to kill their co-religionists in mosques and dargahs!

So if our intelligence agencies are to be believed, believers are being killed by the believers. So is it safe to assume that the devotees at Akshardam temple were gunned down by their co-religionists? Or should we conclude that the 7/11 train blasts were the handiwork of Hindus? What would be the reaction of the Hindu mass, if we extend believers versus believers’ theory in the Varanasi temple blast?

The turn of events in Ajmer and Hyderabad blasts have shown a new path which intelligence agencies need to tread carefully. Time is ripe for India to come out of its conditioned mentality. Investigators must break their mental blocks. Indian law enforcement agencies suffer from the fatal disease of prejudice. India is once again going through the ‘siege within’ phase. Our National Security Advisor must ensure that a new and broad pattern of investigation continues instead of selective intimidation.

Surprisingly, Malegaon 2006 blasts have not figured anywhere in the ongoing Ajmer and Hyderabad investigation. The root of right-wing terror lies in Malegaon’s Bada Qabristan. There is an urgent need to connect the dots and form a triangle of Malegaon, Hyderabad and Ajmer. Perhaps, the mystery will unfold in MCOCA court later this month when Malegaon case stands up for argument.

CBI does not have any Hemant Karkare but there are judicial officers like Justice ML Tahiliyani who firmly believe in rule of law and fast-track justice.

Sunday Inquilab, May 16, 2010

Clowns and Drumbeaters of IPL

2010-05-15T22:25:00.000+05:30

Sunanda Pushkar should have known that mainstream media cannot sustain on the virtue of silence which she very closely guarded till it became unbearable. Silence can never transform into a sound bite. Is there any newspaper or news channel in the world which can boast of running a successful “story” on silence? Media cleverly follows the rules of sacrifice. It has to perform the ritual irrespective of the fact that there is no sacrificial lamb in the slaughter ring. Journalists shudder when they think of their “deadlines”. In journalism deadline is equivalent to death. Thus Sunanda Pushkar became the sacrificial goat of IPL. And her partner Shashi Tharoor sacrificial lamb or scapegoat!

Sunanda and Shashi make an odd couple in the sense that the former chose silence and latter preferred noise! As they say, opposite attracts!

When Sunanda refused to entertain media, she was turned into a vamp from woman. Rumour, gossip, derogatory slant replaced pure reporting. Sunanda was portrayed as morally loose woman with “insatiable ambition”. It’s not crime to be ambitious. One reputed English magazine said, “It’s a bit ambitious on her part to claim she’s a businesswoman in her own right when her present job profile says she is a mere sales manager at TECOM Investments”. From a “gawkish girl from small-town Jammu” to event manager of “C-class” fashion shows, the portrayal of her personal life in the media is highly questionable on principles of journalism. The media did a “medieval witch hunt” instead of doing investigative journalism.

The controversy started when Lalit Modi revealed the investment pattern of Kochi franchise on Twitter.com at 3:16 am on April 11. “25 per cent of Kochi team is given free to Rendezvous Sports for life. The same equity is non-dilutable in perpetuity. What does that mean”? Modi wrote on Twitter. He further wrote that he was told by Shashi Tharoor “not to get into who owns Rendezvous. Specially Sunanda Pushkar”.

Each one of us has political loyalty and Lalit Modi is no exception. He was keen to get a team from Ahmedabad because of his “proximity” to Narendra Modi. It is precisely for this reason he was delaying signing of contract with Kochi team. It was only after Shashi Tharoor sent his Officer on Special Duty Jacob Joseph in the middle of night, at 2.30 am that Modi signed the contract. Soon after that Lalit Modi went online and deliberately revealed the name of Sunanda Pushkar to embarrass Shashi Tharoor or more precisely Congress party.

It is no big deal that Shashi Tharoor tried to get a team from Kochi. It is also no big deal that Shashi Tharoor “promoted” Sunanda Pushkar because that’s how IPL has been functioning ever since it began. Lalit Modi’s friends and relatives are stakeholders in IPL but there has been no controversy over so-called “impropriety”. BCCI did nothing to tame this professional misconduct on the part of Lalit Modi. Congress government is guilty of connivance. The ownership of IPL teams is no secret but yet Central government sat quietly. Congress woke up from the deep slumber only when its minister Shashi Tharoor’s name figured in the controversy. Therefore, it would be safe to assume that everyone is guilty in this circus called IPL. As veteran journalist M. J. Akbar wrote, “Everyone knew what was going on, from Mauritius-funding to insider-betting to coke-and-company parties. Silence was purchased by the allotment of some direct or indirect slice of the expanding pie….from each according to ability, to each according to greed”.

The shelf life of news is very short. News, like humans, dies every day. Akbar aptly writes, “The most useful weapon in the politician’s armoury is public amnesia about yesterday’s news, replaced by fresh reports that emerge from the baking oven of information, accusation and speculation”.

Phone-tapping has already taken over IPL. The process of “public amnesia” has just begun. Media has always been effectively utilized to serve this purpose. Media should play the role of a watchdog and not an embedded drumbeater.

We all will forget that there are dozens of Lalit Modis, Sunanda Pushkars and Shashi Tharoors in the IPL circus. We have only identified three clowns although the truth is that this circus is full of clowns.

We need a magician to get rid of these clowns. And a watchdog to chase drumbeaters.

Sunday Inquilab, May 2, 2010

Justice of the Black Robes

2010-04-11T21:35:00.000+05:30

At a time when media is salivating at the prospect of Sania-Shoaib wedding, it will be good occasion to cut through the layer and inspect the underbelly of India’s judicial system. The cosmetic surgery begins to peel off once we do a careful inspection of third pillar of democracy. Let’s begin with an acknowledgment: judges are human beings; not angels and therefore prone to human tendency of error of judgement. Bias lurches in every intelligent mind and judges are no exception.

So what was India’s first Dalit Chief Justice of India (CJI) K. G. Balakrishnan thinking when he attended a programme of Gujarat National Law University along with Narendra Modi, who was grilled a day before by Supreme Court appointed SIT concerning his role in 2002 riots? CJI sat on the right side of Modi, while Gujarat High Court Chief Justice S J Mukhopadhyay was seated on the left of the chief minister! It was a sight to behold! Can we imagine mass butcher of Gujarat seated in the middle of country’s two topmost judicial-guardians? Dr. B. R. Ambedkar would have been really happy to see a Dalit become CJI but he would not have surely approved of sharing dais with a man accused of genocide! How would we Indians react if Dawood Ibrahim shares dais with CJI? There would be public uproar; the media will cry hoarse; and chances are that there will be mass violence on the streets. One may not agree with drawing parallels between Narendra Modi and Dawood Ibrahim but one thing is certain: both have been guilty of presiding over mass murder. It’s a different matter that Modi happens to be democratically elected representative while Dawood is an underworld don. One is accused of masterminding 1993 serial blasts while other is responsible for the 2002 Gujarat riots. On February 28, 2002, Modi made a six-minute speech in which he talked about ‘peace’! In the speech he talks about Godhra tragedy and says “an example will be set that in future no one will dream to commit such heinous act.” It was indeed a grave provocation which was followed word by word.

No man of conscience would ever share a dais with Narendrabhai Modi. But in these politically correct times, everything can bought and sold including a judicial conscience!

For those who have problems drawing parallels with Dawood Ibrahim can do one thing: try replacing Dawood with Sanjay Dutt or even a Sajjan Kumar!

CJI may have shared dais with Modi on technical grounds as it is not illegal to do so. But there is something called judicial ethics and morality. Think of another Chief Justice of India who retired in 2004 after pronouncing a landmark judgement in Best Bakery case and gave Modi the title of “modern-day Nero.” Later in an interview given to veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar, Justice Khare said, “Had I been an ordinary citizen, I would have filed an FIR against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi”. “When ghastly killings take place in the land of Mahatma Gandhi”, he added, “it raises very pertinent questions as to whether some people have become so bankrupt in their ideology that they have deviated from everything which was so dear to him.”

Justice V. N. Khare set an example but judges like him are rare in judicial world. Y.K. Sabharwal, former CJI, has been accused of delivering a judgement (Delhi ceiling case) which allegedly benefited his sons. His orders were against the principles of natural justice which say that no judge can hear a case in which he has a personal interest.

Justice Nirmal Yadav of Punjab and Haryana High Court was transferred to Uttarakhand High court after her name figured in ‘cash-at-judge’s-door scam’ after the recovery of Rs 15 lakh at the door of another Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Nirmaljit Kaur, which was said to have been delivered there due to confusion over names. The CBI was denied permission by the government in April 2009 on the advice of then Attorney General Milon K Banerjee to proceed in the case, following which the collegium recommended the transfer of Justice Yadav.

Not all judges share the same fate. Justice A. P. Shah, who brought CJI under Right to Information Act, was not elevated to Supreme Court because a collegium member was reportedly not happy with one of Justice Shah’s judgements. Constitutional expert Rajeev Dhavan termed this as “travesty of justice” and said, “collegium runs on rumours, not facts.” There is no transparency in appointment of Supreme Court judges. Centre must bring transparency in appointment of judges.

Recently, there was a tussle between CJI and Karnataka High Court judge Justice D.V. Shylendra Kumar over the declaration of assets by judges. Justice Kumar became the first High Court judge in the country to have questioned the chief justice’s stand on the issue of declaration of judges’ assets. On his blog, he has reported to have questioned the moral authority of CJI, calling him a “serpent without fangs”. CJI has slammed the views of Justice Kumar. “He wants publicity and such a thing is not good for a judge. Judges should not be publicity-crazy.”

CJI is right in his stand that judges should not be “publicity-crazy”. But CJI would also agree that judicial ethics demand judges should not freely mingle with public including politicians. It is in this context, Gujarat National Law University programme where CJI sat next to Modi must be interpreted.

Surprisingly, Bombay High Court dismissed a petition on April 6 concerning fresh probe of Malegaon 2006 blasts. The judgement of case not only depends upon the facts but also on the nature of judges. Consider this: On November 16, 2009, Justice J. N. Patel came down heavily on CBI for not filing any report after three years of investigation in Malegaon 2006 blasts. The CBI clearly stated in Bombay High Court that it does not have evidence against accused arrested in 2006 blasts. (Hindustan Times, November 17, 2009, Mumbai edition).

CBI filed supplementary chargesheet in February implicating all the accused arrested. No judge questioned the contradictory stand of CBI. In November, CBI declared in Bombay HC those accuseds are innocent. In February, CBI declared that all the accused are guilty by filing a supplementary chargesheet!

Who will iron this judicial irony of black robes?

Sunday Inquilab, April 11, 2010

No Bend in the River

2010-03-07T02:11:00.010+05:30

“When you reach the end of your rope”, goes an old saying, “tie a knot in it and hang on.” For last three and half years, people of Malegaon have clung to the last knot in their ropes but there seems to be no bend in the river upon which there are hanging on. There is no bend in the river. The torrential flow of stream runs in the same direction with the same old pace. Occasionally, tiny bubbles of hope are followed by hopelessness. Bubbles emerge to disappear into oblivion. Bubbles of hope are like a mirage in a barren desert which keeps deceiving the desert travellers.

September 8, 2006 Malegaon blasts are a watershed in the history of Indian Muslims. It was for the very first time that Muslims were specifically targeted on a mass scale: 31 deaths and 300 injured. We could nothing practical to prevent the arrests that followed. We screamed. The democratic scream was loud enough to be heard at 10 Janpath. There was a sense of relief in public when the investigation was transferred to Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from ATS in December 2006. Frankly speaking, our sense of relief was based on a fallacy we failed to recognise. The ATS was allowed to file the chargesheet just a day before the case was transferred to CBI. The intent of State and Central government was hidden in this one single act. Congress-led State and Central governments connived to fool Indian Muslims but we failed to understand the judicial puzzle. There was no need for celebration but yet we celebrated transfer of the case. Politicians in Mumbai and Delhi must have laughed at this sheer madness. They must have felt happy that Indian Muslims had mortgaged their common sense in exchange of one single announcement.

There was only one Muslim, a former top cop, who warned against the mad movement for transfer of the case to CBI. His voice, like Maulana Azad, was subdued.

We should have taken a hard look at matters of judiciary but we were swayed by the so-called “victory.” There was no legal mind who could explain to us the judicial entrapment thrown by Central government with the active help of state government. By law, CBI could only file an investigative report in the form of a supplementary chargesheet because the matter was in a court of law. There was no single lawyer who could ask: Will CBI file a contrary chargesheet? Can a supplementary chargesheet be contrary to the original chargesheet? Is there any penal code which specifically states that a supplementary chargesheet fundamentally differs from the actual chargesheet?

CBI has finally done the expected: It has put the judicial stamp of approval on the investigation carried by the ATS. ATS took less than 120 days to file the chargesheet comprising of 3000 pages while CBI has taken at least 1200 days just to submit a supplementary chargesheet of merely 75 pages! Perhaps CBI should be renamed as CBS (Central Bureau of Sub-editing!) That brings to us to an interesting question: Which investigating agency is better as far as productivity and judicial delay are concerned? ATS was a far better agency than CBI. CBI sat quietly on the investigations for more than 3 years. Had the case not been transferred to CBI, the judiciary matter must have progressed.

The judicial battle started very late by Kul Jamati Tanzeem (KJT) is going to be a long one. It should be driven by mere judicial merit rather than any religious rhetoric. The focus of the judicial debate must focus on the innocence of all the accused rather than the blame-game on the investigating officers. Rajwardhan, the then Rural SP, may have been involved in pressurizing Abrar into wrongful confession but there is no actionable evidence against him. The same is true of the accusations made against Sadhvi and company.

Judgements are not based on individual conviction. It is based on the subject-matter and evidence laid down in a court of law. Therefore, unless KJT has actionable evidence against Rajwardhan and Sadhvi in 2006 blasts, it should keep quiet and focus on the innocence of the accused the ongoing judicial delay.

Hundreds of innocent Muslims have been framed by intelligence agencies in terror-related charges across the country. At least 20 Muslims have been acquitted in Hyderabad. This raises an important question: Cant intelligent agencies held accountable as suggested by Vice-President Hamid Ansari recently at an Intelligence seminar?

Justice and equality are our rights enshrined in Indian Constitution and we must strive hard to achieve them.

Sonia Gandhi’s Congress party has not done enough to give justice to Indian Muslims. An investigating agency like CBI may walk away without any accountability but political establishment has to bear the burden of wrongdoing.

The volcano of anger, of injustice is building up in Malegaon.

Can Sonia Gandhi step in to right the wrong?

Sunday Inquilab, March 7, 2010

Ruchika and Media Campaign

2010-01-17T00:55:00.003+05:30

Commenting on the famous Mughal-e-Azam song ‘Jab raat hai aisi matwali phir subah ka aalam kya hoga’, M.J. Akbar once wrote,

“I have rarely come across a more startling and poignant metaphor for power.” Elaborating the metaphor he concluded, “Everyone in power is permitted the luxury of just one night, and no one ever believes that the night will come to an end. Deceivers promise a dawn filled with wine, when the truth is that dawn will bring a drug that will put the miracle to sleep. And you will wake up with nothing around you except loss; the mind swooning with the memory of what was, and the mouth bitter with the ash of what might have been.”

S.P. Singh Rathore, former DGP of Haryana and the accused in Ruchika Girhotra molestation case, belongs to Mughal-e-Azam generation and therefore it is safe to assume that he must have watched the epic film. Rathore was 19 when the film was released in 1960 and broke all the records. 30 years later, Rathore forgot the metaphor for power and molested 14-year old lawn tennis player Ruchika in 1990. For the next 19 years, Rathore was so blinded by power that he used all the available means to harass Ruchika’s family and to delay the verdict. It took more than 400 hearings with 40 adjournments to decide that Rathore was indeed guilty of ‘molestation’. (Guinness book of World Records must make a separate chapter on India: Judicial delay. Each year, it will find new records!)

Mainstream media has been totally consumed by Ruchika case. The media is running a campaign titled ‘Justice for Ruchika’. As the principles of journalism stand, it’s not for the media to crusade. The job of the media is just to report facts and not sensationalise it. Witch-hunt of S.P. Singh Rathore is not the job of media. Witch-hunt has never been part of good journalism. Witch-hunt is the duty of law-enforcement agencies and not journalists.

In the recent past, media has run successful campaigns for victims. One such name is Jesica Lall who was shot dead in 1999 by Manu Sharma, son of a Haryana Politician. Manu Sharma was acquitted by lower court in 2006. There was uproar in the media over his acquittal. A powerful media campaign ‘Justice for Jesica’ ensued. Finally Delhi High Court awarded Sharma life imprisonment based on the evidence.

One can argue for media campaign in favour of victims. But a close scrutiny of media’s behavioural pattern reveals it has vested interest in such campaigns. Such media campaigns have only been selective like ‘Justice for Ruchika’ and ‘Justice for Jesica’ although the list of such victims is long. Ishrat Jahan instantly comes to mind. Despite the different nature of the case, nobody can deny the fact that Ishrat Jahan was murdered in fake encounter. S.P. Tamang report, which has been stayed by High Court, has termed the entire operation as “planned” and cold-blooded murder.”

There was no media campaign for Ishrat Jahan. There was no slogan ‘Justice for Ishrat’.
Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Kausar Bi also deserved a media campaign for justice. Their extra-judicial killing is a much larger issue than Ruchika’s case. It’s a different matter that the accused D.G. Vanzara is behind the bars – thanks to Gujarat’s government’s “confession” in Supreme Court.

There was no media campaign for Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Kausar Bi . There was no slogan ‘Justice for Sohrabuddin and Kausar’.

Khawja Yunus case surpasses all limits. 7 years after his mysterious disappearance from police custody, trial is yet to be completed and all the 16 accused are free. There is no doubt that Khawja Yunus was murdered in police custody.

There was no media campaign for Khawja Yunus. There was no slogan ‘Justice for Khawja Yunus’.

Isn’t it strange that Narendra Modi-led BJP government is Gujarat has “confessed” to extra-judicial killings of Sohrabuddin Sheikh and Kausar Bi while the behaviour of Congress-led Maharashtra government in Khawja Yunus has been that of an old confused lady?

Strictly speaking, media should not crusade for any cause. And if it does so, there should not be any selective campaign as it has been argued. There should be no double standards. It is a fact that there was no media campaign when the victim happened to be a Muslim as discussed with three examples above.

The Rajput smile of S.P. Singh Rathore has infected the mainstream media. We hope that media will detoxify it before it becomes a disease! Rathore may have learnt to smile from Jawaharlal Nehru when one is in adversity but he would do well to remember this: Nehru did not smile when he lost China war; nor did he forget the power metaphor of Mughal-e-Azam.

Sunday Inquilab, January 17, 2009

A Food-thought for Adam Smith

2009-12-27T11:22:00.005+05:30

Adam Smith, father of modern economist, wrote a book titled The Wealth of Nations in 1776. The book is considered the magnum opus written at the outset of the Industrial Revolution advocating a free market economy which will be more productive and beneficial to society at large.

In the book, Adam Smith wrote,

“When the quantity of any commodity which is brought to market falls short of the effectual demand, all those who are willing to pay... cannot be supplied with the quantity which they want... Some of them will be willing to give more. A competition will begin among them, and the market price will rise... When the quantity brought to market exceeds the effectual demand, it cannot be all sold to those who are willing to pay the whole value of the rent, wages and profit, which must be paid in order to bring it thither... The market price will sink...”

To put it simply, it means when demand exceeds supply, the price goes up. When the supply exceeds demand, the price goes down.

The above law as laid down by Adam Smith is being challenged in India. The steady rise in the prices of essential commodities is not necessarily a result of law of demand and supply. There is one more element which has the potential to deceive the operating market forces: artificial food inflation.

Artificial food inflation is a creation of long chain of middlemen. The humble price of essential commodities becomes steeper by the time it reaches the ultimate consumer. The cursory glance at the current market prices of essential commodities will make one sweat. Potatoes are retailing at 100 per cent more than a year ago. Fruits and vegetables are 30 per cent more expensive than the last year. It was only when the inflation touched 19% (highest food inflation of the decade), government stepped in just to utter one phrase: that the rising prices are a “cause for concern”.

Outlook magazine has proved that the current food inflation is not a result of law of demand and supply rather it is the result of law of the middlemen. It followed the essential commodities from farm to the neighbouring shop. The survey compared farm prices, Mandi prices and retail prices of tomato, potato, cabbage and onion. The farm prices of four commodities is extremely cheap while the retail price is at at least five to six times higher. This cycle of steep price ride does not benefit millions of farmers as it is evident from the fact that farmer suicide continues to take place. It only benefits a handful of rich and powerful middlemen. This is the irony of a rising India that the price rise of essential commodities does not benefit the actual farmer rather it paves the way for the middlemen to make a booty out of it.

Where does central government stand in this artificial food inflation?

First of all, there is no effective mechanism to check whether there is the real scarcity of food grains. And even if corrective measures are taken to overcome this, there is no way to control the price of essential commodities. As Ashok Gulati, director of International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) puts it,

“The value chain is too fragmented. And if there’s even a slight supply shortage, agents, end-retailers raise prices arbitrarily.”

It is the job of Sharad Pawar, Union agriculture minister, to devise and smoothen the ways in which farmers cut the long chain and sell essential commodities at decent prices. Cutting the long-chain will not only benefit farmers but also the end-consumers.

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s statement in Kolkata on Thursday that ‘cost-push’ element is behind the price rise is silly. He said, “It has to be understood that a cost-push element is responsible for the rise in food prices... it emerges from the Centre’s decision to give fair and remunerative prices to farmers among others [procurement, transportation and stocking prices].” Pranab Mukherjee very conveniently forgot the role played by the middlemen in the price rise. Pranab Mukherjee is no naivete who wouldn’t be aware of the role of the middlemen. One would like to believe in Centre’s sincerity behind such a measure but honestly speaking farmers are not getting much money out of it.

Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (EAC) must take note of Pranab Mukherjee’s insensitive statement.

India is poised to take centre stage as it has the second largest economy after China. India Rising story has graced dozens of magazine covers across the world. We boast of four of the world’s 10 richest billionaires. But yet that does not help. That’s just one-side of the story. The other-side is ugly. Poverty and hunger are written on so many faces of Nehru’s India.

Tarun Tejpal rightly points out,

“While acquire and consume has been the anthem of the elite, a low hum has been gathering in the vast undergrowth of the country’s destitute. By official figures — and we may generously add to them if we are feeling particularly dark — more than 350 million Indians still live below the poverty line (which in itself is appalling: Rs 12 for rural and Rs 18 for urban).”

Adam Smith is no longer alive to witness the wonders of a free market. But economist Manmohan Singh is.

Sunday Inquilab, December 27, 2009

A Judicial Ray of Hope

2009-11-22T13:23:00.008+05:30

Shaikh Dastagir, a victim of September 8, 2006 Qabristan blasts

Ashwani Kumar, director of Central Bureau of Investigation, and his committed team of sleuths have suddenly discovered that power is not absolute in a secular democracy. Power comes with responsibility and subject to checks and balances by the short arm of legislators and by the long arm of judiciary. CBI sleuths were so confident of power that they went on to sleep for three long years before being woken up by a judicial bite. Isn’t it amazing that CBI took three years just to utter one sentence – which everybody in Malegaon knows – that accused of Malegaon 2006 blasts are innocent. Had it not been the deep and effective judicial bite of Justice J.N. Patel, CBI would have slept till eternity!

The response of judiciary was quick; Bombay High Court came out with its terse judgment in three months. There was no political response for three long years. Should one assume that the two arms of a democratic republic are in complete disharmony? Should one equate Manmohan Singh-led UPA with notorious CBI? Where PC Chidambaram’s golden-rule of democracy is which he very keen taught to Muslims at Deoband? Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, National Security Advisor and Home Minister must admonish CBI in two words: perform or perish.

Before being bitten by the judicial jaw, CBI had an opportunity to prove and reaffirm nationwide belief that it is indeed country’s most trusted and prestigious investigating agency. CBI had a golden chance to capitalize on the so-called “public outcry” which rose from Malegaon. It had a golden opportunity to score over ATS. But unfortunately it treaded the path of ATS which has a dead end. It followed the misleading footprints of a “communal” (that’s how SM Mushrif describes KP Raghuvanshi in his new book: Who Killed Karkare?) officer like KP Raghuvanshi. CBI inquiry may have been a ray of hope to some in Malegaon but it has proved to be eyewash.

The demand for CBI inquiry was not because of “public outcry” as the public prosecutor has claimed in the high court. It was a personal outcry borne with the desire to fill Muslim leadership vacuum. The lone voice filled the empty spaces in newspapers’ columns and each one of us accepted it as a gospel. It was S.M. Mushrif alone who publicly castigated and criticised this insane decision to demand a CBI inquiry on October 10, 2006 at KC College auditorium. CBI inquiry converted an easy puzzle into a complicated riddle.

The formation of Kul Jamati Tanzeem (KJT) did not help; it, in fact, made matters worse. KJT wanted to spearhead a democratic movement in order to release the accused but yet it forgot a golden-rule of democracy: to take help of secular activists. It aggressively portrayed itself as a Muslim organization which proved suicidal. It is precisely for this reason that KJT refused to cooperate and share its report with Teesta Setalvad and Justice Kolshe Patil. The inflated egos of its members must have further inflated when it submitted its so-called “report” to CBI. Is CBI a court of law? Was CBI legally bound to follow the report? Has KJT got any legal credentials that country’s premier investigating agency will follow its diktat?

CBI sleuths must have mocked at this blind and insane decision. The decision to handover the report was a collective mockery of people of Malegaon. KJT is guilty of connivance; it presented all the “evidence” to CBI the way a fresh bowl of soup is given to guests!

Centre and State government have been playing the role of hide and seek. Both are morally and politically responsible to pressurize the concerned agencies to speed up the pace of investigation. Home Minister PC Chidambaram need not become a judge to discover that justice is one of the foremost problems of Indian Muslims. He would do well to remember what American editor and reformer Frederick Douglass was fond of saying,

“I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.”

Frederick once wrote:

“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”

Judges have performed their duty. Politicians have not.

Sunday Inquilab, November 22, 2009

Raj Thackeray: Dissecting a lingual terrorist

2009-11-15T20:14:00.003+05:30

The worst way to reason is to have no reason. There may be reasons not to have a reason. No reason is a good way to keep people guessing the reason. If you have the reason, you can’t actually fool people not to know the reason. The reason has to be real and not imaginary.

Raj Thackeray, the nefarious nephew of Bal Thackeray, has been on rampage citing a single reason: imagined insult to Marathi language. Does speaking Hindi or any other language in the state of Maharashtra belittle Marathi? By taking oath in Hindi Abu Asim Azmi has not shown any disgrace and disregard to Marathi language. Raj Thackeray’s elected goons’ rampage in Maharashtra assembly has proved that Abu Asim Azmi can alone bring disrespect to Marathi language! Is Marathi language and culture so hollow that it can be brought to disrespect by the utterance of a single being? In the recent past Raj Thackeray’s men have targeted Bollywood personalities. Jaya Bachchan’s unintentional utterance that ‘she will speak Hindi because she is from Uttar Pradesh’ did not go well with Raj although Jaya had apologized right there to the people of Maharashtra for not speaking in Marathi. Is Hindi, our national language, a threat to Marathi, Maharashtra’s official language? Can’t Hindi and Marathi co-exist in Maharashtra? Language should promote harmony and not hatred.

Raj must salute India’s tolerant democracy that allows him to indulge in lingual terrorism. Raj believes in lingual hegemony of aggression. He portrays himself as a messiah of Marathi language and Marathi manoos (Marathi population). Will his intolerant attitude towards Hindi promote Marathi? Aggression does not promote a language. It degrades the language and covers it with the dirt of exclusivity. If Raj sincerely wants to promote Marathi, he should rebrand his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) as Multi-National Sena!

State government must make provisions to recognise ‘lingual terrorism’! The term “lingual terrorism” must find space in terror statues!

Raj is using his mother-tongue to flex his political muscle and put himself on the state’s political radar. The explosive entry of MNS in the assembly is a result of espousing a so-called ‘Marathi’ cause. Politics is the art of the impossible and Raj is very keen to master that ‘art’ even if he has to coin his own slogan of regionalism which is an antithesis to the very idea of Indian nationalism.

Raj’s theatrics began with the formation of MNS when he felt that he is being ‘sidelined’ by Udhav, Bal Thackeray’s son. A political party needs an ideology and issue to keep breathing. Raj raised an issue which became the core ideology of MNS: to check uncontrolled migration to Bombay from North India especially from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. This might have been a valid issue to an economically-impoverished Marathi but Raj’s constant maneuvering and tirade transformed it into venom. Raj suddenly jumped to language from economics. What happens when a politician propagating regional economics tries to become a linguist? He becomes a political snake whose bite is communicable.

Bal Thackeray became the first victim of the snake-bite when he had blasted Shahrukh Khan as an “outsider” who calls himself a “Dilliwala.” Why should Bollywood become a battleground for the uncle-nephew political rivalry? The answer lies in one question: What have the uncle-nephew done to improve the lot of hapless Marathis? They have only paid lip-service while Bollywood has paid fat cheques. Not many would know that Bollywood, the world’s biggest film industry, employs thousands of Marathis. To cover their collective failure, Bal Thackeray and Raj are competing with each other to target a symbol of economic success: Bollywood.

In the past, state has acted like a mute spectator. The reason was simple: The Congress-NCP alliance was in no mood to offend Marathi sensibilities. It had adopted an old British dictum: Divide and rule. It tacitly supported Raj’s rants in order to divide Sena’s Marathi votes. This political trend can’t survive any more.

Maharashtra’s mainstream political parties have reacted cautiously to issue of Marathi language after infamous slap-episode in assembly. Any official utterance is bound to have a long-term consequence. Marathi mass will not gain from this political game because players involved in this game are concerned about their private rather than public interests!

It is a dangerous game where Indian nationalism is being challenged by Marathi jingoism.

Lingual compulsions cannot succeed in a country like India. How would Raj react if Marathis working in the Middle East are forced to speak Arabic at public functions? Will Raj support the compulsion?

Bombay is a city that does not belong to any particular community. It is a city which has produced Suketu Mehta and Salman Rushdie. It equally belongs to Dileep Padgaonkar and Shobhaa De`. It is a city of dreams where a Marathi as well as a Bihari co-exist to eke out a living. It is a city of irony where thousands come for bread and butter. And a few have come here in search of the bomb as well. Bombay is Bombay not because of Marathis like Raj but because of Gujaratis, Parsis and Muslims who have nurtured this city into a cultural mega polis.

Having stayed in Poona, I know the fact that Marathi is a civilised language. Raj Thackeray and his frustrated men are making a mockery of Marathi. Average Marathis must realize the fact that lingual compulsion as demanded by Raj is not going to improve their condition. Raj is using it as an “ideology”. The empty Marathi stomach can not be fed by an ideology. The last word should be left to a Pune-based Marathi friend:

“If proficiency in speaking in Marathi was the only criteria, why not subject these politicians to examinations and elect them on that basis, rather than wasting resources on elections.”

Raj Thackeray’s terrible 13 should press to implement the above suggestion!

Sunday Inquilab, November 15, 2009

Vande Mataram and Rise of Religiosity

2009-11-08T16:44:00.002+05:30

30th General Session of Jamiat Ulema at Deoband

Jamiat Ulema has breathed a fresh leash of life into a decaying body called Sangh Parivar. The legitimate and illegitimate babies of the Sangh Parivar, who were on a deathbed, have suddenly discovered the art of resurrection and are on a revival path – thanks to Jamiat’s endorsement of an old fatwa of Darul Uloom Deoband against singing of the controversial song Vande Mataram. It’s akin to activating the dying cells of BJP! One doesn’t intend to question the validity of fatwa since it has already been settled by Darul Uloom. The subsequent endorsement by Jamiat and its timing are questionable since the matter has been decided by Supreme Court and it’s not mandatory. Also the issue of Vande Mataram was not at all being discussed!

Before we discuss the historical significance of Vande Mataram; three important issues must be made clear. First, the song is completely Un-Islamic. One may not agree with the second issue but many Muslims believe that Jamiat has always been the stooge of Congress. And thirdly the sound health of ‘Hindutva forces’ is a pre-requisite condition for the so-called secular parties to entice Muslim community on emotional issues, so that it may forget its legitimate demands and throw them into oblivion. The strengthening of Hindutva forces means that Muslims will be likely to go with the so-called ‘secular’ parties. This creates a conducive environment and greater prospects for secular parties to capture Muslim votes through false slogan of ‘secularism’.

One may recall that a few years ago, it was Arjun Singh, the then HRD Minister, who declared that the centenary of Vande Mataram would be celebrated with its singing in all institutions. Muslims reacted aggressively giving an opportunity to Hindutva forces to spew venom against the community. Arjun Singh later withdrew the circular and emerged a secular figure in the eyes of the Muslims! The purpose, perhaps, was served: to divert community’s attention from its main problems!

The unholy nexus between ‘Hindutva forces’ and the ‘fictitious secularism’ is the most effective instrument since independence to deceive Muslims.

Indian Muslims must understand the fact that Vande Mataram is more than a hundred year old-trap.

The controversial song Vande Mataram occurs in Bankimchandra Chatterjee’s novel Anand Math which was published in 1882. The song was originally written in 1876. Bhavananda, the hero of the novel plans an armed struggle against Muslims of Bengal. While reciting the song, he meets Mahendra. When Mahendra asks the meaning the song, Bhavananda replies, “Our religion is gone, our caste is gone, our honour is gone. Can the Hindus preserve their Hinduism unless these drunken Nereys (a term of contempt for Muslims) are driven away?” When Mahendra is not convinced, he is taken to temple and shown four-armed Vishu, with two decapitated and bloody heads in front. The priest tells Mahendra, “She is the Mother. We are her children Say ‘Bande Mataram’. The same procedure is repeated at the temple of Kali and Durga. Others have been portrayed as saying, “Will the day come when we shall break mosques and build temples on their sites”? The land of Bengal has been identified with a Hindu deity. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that Vande Mataram is a religious homage rather than national tribute to ‘Mother India.’

Nirad C. Chaudhuri describes the times in which the song was written. “The historical romances of Bankim Chatterjee and Ramesh Chandra Dutt glorified Hindu rebellion against Muslim rule and showed the Muslims in a correspondingly poor light. Chatterjee was positively and fiercely anti-Muslim. We were eager readers of these romances and we readily absorbed their spirit.”

Congress Working Committee which met on October 26, 1937 decided that the first two stanzas out of five will be sung (The last three stanzas have got religious connotation and therefore considered controversial). The first two stanzas began to be sung in some provinces and gradually it became associated with India’s freedom struggle. Commenting on this noted jurist and writer A.G. Noorani wrote in 1999, “’National’ songs do not need political surgery; the songs which do, do not win national acceptance.”

A.G. Noorani has termed Vande Mataram as “unconstitutional” citing Article 28 (1) and (3) of the Constitution which read:

(1) No religious instruction shall be provided in any educational institution wholly maintained out of state funds.

(3) No person attending any educational institution recognised by the State or receiving aid out of State funds shall be required to take part in any religious instruction that may be imparted in such institution or to attend any religious worship that may be conducted in such institution or in any premises attached thereto unless such person or, if such person is a minor, his guardian has given his consent thereto.

Should a particular religion play any role in a secular democracy like India? The question is obviously rhetorical. The deadly mixture of majority religion with India’s democratic framework has acquired frightening proportions.

Why do public servants break coconuts inaugurating new buildings? Why are religious mantras recited in the presence of bearers of public office? Why do judges invoke goddess Saraswati inaugurating a new court building? What has goddess Saraswati’s picture got to do with Indian judiciary? All this has happened recently at the inauguration of new court building in Malegaon in the presence of Chief Justice of Bombay High Court.

All this injures the spirit of world’s longest Constitution whose preamble contains words “sovereign socialist secular democratic republic.” It is the duty of judiciary and law enforcement agencies to check potent mixture of religion and public life.

Since singing Vande Mataram is not compulsory, Supreme Court must take suo moto cognizance of Bal Thackeray’s utterance that those who refuse to sing it, their tongues must be chopped off. Thackeray’s statement amounts to contempt of court. KG Balakrishanan, Chief Justice of India, must intervene to reassure that India does not believe and practice jungle law.

Sunday Inquilab, November 8, 2009

Crime: the Swine flu of politics

2009-11-01T01:59:00.006+05:30

Ashok Chavan: The Man in command needs to take initiative

Now that the electoral dust has settled down in Maharashtra, its time we carefully studied each of our representatives with a magnifying glass of honesty. Each one of them is our elected representative and therefore in a democratic parlance our mirror-image. The image which emerges is a collective reflection of us, the voters. It may be beautiful, ugly, twisted and in some cases a camouflage to delude ordinary individuals but nobody can deny the fact that we, the voters, are responsible for that image. Narendra Modi has presided over the genocide of innocent Muslims in Gujarat but he remains a democratic symbol and representative and therefore a mirror-image of Gujaratis. This paradox of democracy is like a bitter pill which each one of us has to swallow it.

We must have celebrated the hat-trick of “clean” and “secular” Congress-NCP alliance. Many of us would have been relieved that voters rejected “communal” and “filthy” saffron brigade. But there is one factor which cuts through all party lines – criminal record of elected members of legislative assembly. Not many would have noted this phenomenon. And those who are aware of this societal reality may not care about it. Or perhaps it makes little difference in their lives.

According to the data compiled by National Election Watch, an NGO working for electoral reforms, Maharashtra leads the list of largest number of legislators with criminal cases pending against them followed by Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh. Out of 288, 143 MLAs have a criminal background or some criminal case is pending against them. Almost half of our representatives come from a criminal background or done some nefarious activity which entitled them to enroll themselves in the muster roll reserved for criminals. The magical figure of 145 is required to form government in Maharashtra. What will happen if all the MLAs with criminal cases pending against them come together to cobble up an alliance and manage to get support of two more MLAs? Will Maharashtra government be led by criminal-like-creatures? This assumption should never come true but the number of 143 is a collective blot on our conscience. It’s a blot on the very idea of democracy because there is no law in India which bars persons with criminal cases from contesting elections. This democratic flaw has enabled some criminals win an election right from inside the jail!

Shiv Sena has 33 MLAs with criminal cases pending against them, the highest from a single party. Congress and BJP are on the second position with 26 MLAs each. NCP is ranked third with 24 MLAs. Then there are 36 successful candidates who are either independents or from other regional parties and have criminal cases pending against them, according to National Election Watch data.

India’s democratic framework is such that crime and politics have always been intertwined. Money and muscle power are supposed to be the first steps in climbing up the political ladder. This political trend does not necessarily apply to all because this election has produced the candidates who have won against the might of money and muscle power. But there can be no denying that fact that use of money and muscle power lead to criminal cases.

The 143 tainted MLAs are dirtying Maharashtra’s political pond. Each one of us is responsible for this criminal contamination. Each one of us is guilty for injecting the criminal blood which is polluting the entire Maharashtra. Each one of us owes a responsibility to wipe out this swine flu which is slowly eating us without our realisation.

Perhaps judiciary can play an important role in the operation cleanup. If not, we can’t expect much from our legislators! Legislators of all hues – green, red and saffron – will come together to save themselves! Therefore, a people’s movement seems to be the last and the most practical option.

Is Mr. Ashok Chavan listening?

Sunday Inquilab, November 1, 2009

Hindu Iftar for Malegaon Muslims

2009-09-19T00:38:00.005+05:30

Muslims at the Hindu-hosted Iftar

MALEGAON – Hastimal Vardera, a Hindu, is busy preparing iftar for fasting Muslims in the northwestern Indian city of Malegaon, setting an example of communal harmony in the Hindu-majority Asian country.
“I arrange Iftar party for our Muslim brethren once every Ramadan with the help of my Hindu friends and some members of Malegaon Lions club,” Vardera, a businessman, told IslamOnline.net.
Every year, the Hindu trader leads a team of 50 colleagues to host the iftar in the communally sensitive city.
At least 600 Muslim weavers attend the iftar every year.
“The basic purpose of organizing such an Iftar party is to strengthen our business relations so the society can live amicably,” said Vardera.
Muslim weavers dominate the grey cloth production in Malegaon while Hindu traders act as intermediaries who sell the finished product outside the city.
The idea of hosting iftar for his Muslim neighbors first came to the Hindu trader in 1992.
“Earlier, it used to be a close affair with Muslim weaver friends. Only a handful of people used to attend it,” he said.
It was only in 2002 that Vedera decided to expand the iftar.
“Initially the idea of inviting hundreds of Muslim for Iftar was difficult but slowly I picked it up.”

Malegaon, in the northern state of Maharashtra, has a long history of Muslim-Hindu tension.
The city was rocked by two deadly blasts in 2006 and 2008, leaving many Muslims dead.
Eleven Hindus, including a serving army colonel and a retired general, were accused of masterminding the attacks.
“Ramadan provides an opportunity for Iftar and this exercise helps to improve business relations as there is a lively inter-community dialogue which rarely takes place in a town like Malegaon,” Vadera said.
In Ramadan, adult Muslims, save the sick and those traveling, abstain from food, drink, smoking and sex between dawn and sunset.
Most dedicate their time during the holy month to become closer to Allah through self-restraint, good deeds and prayer.
“We earn from our Muslim brother so it is our duty to give them back even if it is in the form of an Iftar party,” said Vedera.

Praise

The Hindus-hosted iftar is drawing praise across the city.
“This Iftar is very special,” Sanjay Patil, additional superintendent of police, told IOL.
“It improves Hindu-Muslim relations between weavers and traders and both act as the lifeline of this town.”
Outbreaks of communal violence between Hindus and Muslims are not uncommon in India.
Last year, hundreds of Muslim homes and shops were burnt to ashes by Hindu mobs in different areas of Jammu and Kashmir.
The unrest was triggered by the local government's decision to donate local land to a Hindu pilgrimage trust, a decision opposed by Muslims.
In 2002, at least 2,000 Muslims were hacked or burned to death by Hindu mobs in Gujarat after 59 Hindu pilgrims died in a train fire first blamed on Muslims but which a later inquiry concluded was accidental.
“The fate of Hindus and Muslims is linked to each other,” said Patil.
“The inter-dependency factor is like two wheels of the same cart.”
Aziz-ur-Rahman, a businessman, shares the same view.
“Iftar acts as a meeting point for the two communities,” he said, adding that the iftar also helps local authorities to deal with sensitive Hindu-Muslim relationship.
“People to people interaction in any form must be welcomed.”
IslamOnline.net September 18 2009

Unbottling the Djinn of Jinnah

2009-08-23T00:01:00.002+05:30

The powerful persona of Jinnah still reverberates in India sixty years after his death. Dead Jinnah has the potential to shatter and disintegrate an increasingly fascist BJP where freedom and forgiveness are being applied selectively. What would have been the fate of BJP had Jinnah been alive? Nehru and Gandhi have been painted as permanent saints while Jinnah has been portrayed as a permanent sinner in the Indian history. When one looks closely at the cult figure of Jinnah, the famous line comes to mind: No man can be hero all through his life…

Nobody would have thought that Jaswant Singh, one of the tallest BJP leaders, would unbottle the jinn of Jinnah from the bottle of history and mystery! The core issue of the ongoing debate is not that Jaswant Singh’s new book on Jinnah has rattled the BJP but his contention that Jinnah was not responsible for the Partition of India and the blame lay with Nehru and Vallabhai Patel. We will examine this assumption later; let’s first have a look at the kind of man Jinnah was and what drove him towards two-nation theory which culminated in the creation of Pakistan.

Jinnah was a towering national leader much before Gandhi returned from South Africa and entered public life. Jinnah was a colleague of Gopal Krishna Gokhale and Bal Gangadhar Tilak. He was better known than Motilal Nehru, Tej Bahadur Sapru and M.R. Jayakar. Gandhi’s rise to prominence lies in the Khilafat movement which Jinnah bitterly opposed. Jinnah was a permanent secular liberal while Gandhi adjusted his secularism according to the prevalent condition and the requirement. Gandhi believed in the idea of compromise while Jinnah didn’t. Gandhi appeased Muslims with Khilafat movement and Hindus by intoning Ramrajya. Therein lays the popularity of Gandhi. It is this “compromise” of Gandhi that made him more popular than any other leader in the Indian subcontinent.

In a letter dated October 30, 1920 – which is of historic importance – Jinnah wrote to Gandhi:

“I thank you for your kind suggestion offering me ‘to take my share in the new life that has opened up before the country’. If by ‘new life’ you mean your methods and your programme, I am afraid I cannot accept them; for I am fully convinced that it must lead to disaster. But the actual new life that has opened up before the country is that we are faced with a Government that pays no heed to the grievances, feelings and sentiments of the people; that our own countrymen are divided; the Moderate Party is still going wrong; that your methods have already caused split and division in almost every institution that you have approached hitherto, and in the public life of the country not only amongst Hindus and Muslims but between Hindus and Hindus and Muslims and Muslims and even between fathers and sons; people generally are desperate all over the country and your extreme programme has for the moment struck the imagination mostly of the inexperienced youth and the ignorant and the illiterate...I have no voice or power to remove the cause; but at the same time I do not wish my countrymen to be dragged to the brink of a precipice in order to be shattered. The only way for the Nationalists is to unite and work for a programme which is universally acceptable for the early attainment of complete responsible government. Such a programme cannot be dictated by any single individual, but must have the approval and support of all the prominent Nationalist leaders in the country; and to achieve this end I am sure my colleagues and myself shall continue to work.”

Jinnah was beginning to dislike the dictatorship of Gandhi yet he remained a nationalist. After this, Jinnah’s disillusionment with Congress began to develop and there is historical evidence to this. The famous Nehru report which adopted alternative constitutional proposals ignored Jinnah completely. Jinnah’s 14-points were rejected the report. Further, he was personally humiliated at All-Parties Convention yet Jinnah remained steadfast and did not lose self-control. At the Convention he said, “We are all sons of the soil. We have to live together... If we cannot agree, let us at any rate agree to differ, but let us part as friends.”

In 1928, Jinnah advised and insisted Congress to seek Hindu Mahasabha’s assent to which Nehru arrogantly replied, “There are only two parties in the county, the Congress and the government.” Jinnah shot back, “There is a third party in the country and that is the Muslims.” Jayakar questioned Jinnah’s credentials as a representative and Nehru did the same in 1937 when he said, “May I suggest to Mr. Jinnah that I come into greater touch with the Muslim masses than most of the members of the League.”

Jinnah took up this challenge personally and began to work in order to establish his political credentials.

All this did not dishearten Jinnah to such an extent that he demands a separate homeland for Muslims. Till 1937, Jinnah saw “no difference between the ideals of the Muslim League and of the Congress, the ideal being complete freedom for India.”

Jinnah became to nurse a grudge against Nehru and Congress after his repeated attempts to obtain constitutional safeguards for Muslims and attempts at power-sharing had failed.
In October 1937, he said that “all safeguards and settlements would be a scrap of paper unless they were backed up by power.” In Britain the parties alternate in holding power. “But such is not the case in India. Here we have a permanent Hindu majority....”

This is where Jinnah went horribly wrong. His constant humiliation led him to majority-minority trap. He forgot that the key issue to Muslim development was through empowerment on all fronts including politics. Jinnah was so frustrated that he raised the slogan of “permanent Hindu majority”. As ace commentator A.G. Noorani writes, “The solution lay, not in aggravating the communal divide by his two-nation theory; but in the tactics of the Jinnah of old - mobilise both communities, espouse secular values and seek protection for the rights of all minorities as Dr. B.R. Ambedkar had urged him to do.”

In February 1938, Jinnah delivered a speech which is not well-known. There he poured his heart out: “At that time there was no pride in me and I used to beg from the Congress.” The first “shock” came at the Round Table Conference; the next, in 1937. “The Musalmans were like the No Man’s land. They were led by either the flunkeys of the British government or the camp-followers of the Congress…”

When viceroy asked him about the alternative, he replied on October 5, 1939, that “an escape from the impasse ... lay in the adoption of Partition”.

If Nehru compromised on minorities rights then Jinnah on India’s unity although both men were secularists. A.G. Noorani writes,

“Therein lies the tragedy. Nehru harmed secularism by denying the legitimacy of minority rights. Jinnah ruined it by the two-nation theory.”

He adds,

“Yet, it is doubtful if, in the entire history of India’s struggle for freedom, anyone else has been subjected to such a sustained, determined denigration and demonisation as Jinnah has been from 1940 to this day, by almost everyone - from the leaders at the very top to academics and journalists.”

The Cabinet Mission’s Plan of May 16, 1946, for a united India failed and dragged it “into the abyss of inevitability.” Everyone including Nehru and Patel had given up; only Maulana Abul Kalam Azad remained opposed to it. Both Nehru and Jinnah were equally responsible for the Partition.

“Jinnah”, in the word of A.G. Noorani, “was of a heroic mould but fell prey to bitterness and the poison that bitterness breeds.”

No man can be hero all through his life. It equally applies to Jinnah as well.

The last word should be left to M.J. Akbar:

History might be better understood if we did not treat it as a heroes-and-villains movie. Life is more complex than that. The heroes of our national struggle changed sometimes with circumstances.

Sunday Inquilab, August 23, 2009