Category: Opinion

Rahul Yatra Reaches Dhanbad

A Glimmer of Hope For Secular India

By Amit Sengupta

While the prime minister hops from one temple to another, and much of the mainstream media has gone on a relentless frenzy about the Ram mandir in Ayodhya, there is no doubt that India is steadily moving towards becoming a theocratic State. That the incomplete temple is the trump card for the BJP in the 2024 polls, especially in the Hindi heartland, is now as clear as daylight. This is yet again evidence that performance and good governance will be pushed to the backdrop, yet again, while social polarization and Hindutva would be the magic wand that the well-oiled BJP-RSS electoral machinery, with deep pockets, will wave in this election year.

It is being projected that the Hindi belt is going through a kind of religious resurrection, propelled by the ruling party in the Centre, and the constitutional principle that the State should be non-partisan and neutral in terms of the religious affairs of citizens, which is essentially a matter of private choice, has been effectively dumped. And, thus, the sacred preamble of the secular Constitution of India, and the values and ideals of the freedom movement – in which the Sangh parivar did not participate, nor make any sacrifice – too, has been dumped into the trashcan of history.

The walls of Delhi and its open spaces, for instance, have been glorifying the pran pratishtha ceremony all over the place, markets and shopping centres have joined in, government holidays have been declared, tempos playing loud devotional music float inside residential areas, and committed RSS cadre have gone from door-to-door distributing little packets with rice, a photo of the temple, and asking people to light diyas in their homes and in mohalla/colony celebrations. Amidst this organized political mobilization in the garb of religion, the PM is temple-hopping or posing for solo photo shoots, even while it is obvious that he is followed by a battery of camerapersons, officials, media and armed commandos.

Forgotten is the fact that the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the bloody aftermath in the Hindi heartland, was universally described then by the media and the nation as a ‘Black Day’ in the history of our secular democracy. A dark shadow of doom and disbelief had descended over India. Scores of journalists were beaten up and robbed in Ayodhya, the preparations for the organized demolition was in full swing much before the eventful destruction, top BJP leaders and certain loyalist-journalists were openly seen celebrating, while the then Congress PM, Narasimha Rao, alleged to be a closet RSS-lackey, chose to look the other way.

In the current circumstances, therefore, the theocratic dimension has become so brazen, that calling India a secular democracy seems like a misnomer. Besides, the ideological division between the North (barring Punjab and Himachal Pradesh), and South and East India, seems starkly apparent, as always in the past. Bengal and South India have been steadfastly holding the secular flag, and the drubbing which the BJP got in Karnataka recently is a big pointer. Besides, what the world now thinks about the ‘largest democracy’ remains an open question.

Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra Part II is gradually gaining momentum, starting with the effort to heal the still simmering wounds of Manipur, which continues to witness routine killings of citizens and security forces. The fact is that the prime minister, an avid traveller to distant places, has not visited Manipur till date, while his discredited chief minister continues to goof up and display brazen partisanship. As the yatra moves inside Arunachal Pradesh from Assam, even while there seems a near-total blackout in mainstream media, it is a reminder that the seven sisters of the Northeast, sensitively located on international borders, continue to remain distant and alienated from the mainland.

However, amidst this organized cacophony of the Ram Mandir, certain significant signs have emerged in the INDIA alliance which promise, if not promising hope, then, at least, a semblance of strategic and tactical fight. For once, a cocky Congress, which has the knack of snatching defeat from a certain victory, lost three crucial states in the Hindi heartland, including the two in which they were ruling. This has led to the BJP pumping its muscles and Narendra Modi absolutely confident of making it as well in 2024 – all they now need is the blessings of Ram, a surge in Hindutva, and the consequent polarization on the ground. The flipside is that if the Congress had won, it would have once again started flexing its one-upmanship, and the India bloc would have floundered.

ALSO READ: ‘BJP Has Raised And Dumped Ayodhya Issue Cyclically’

Now, the Congress has done at least two things which seem perfectly reasonable. One, they have abandoned the soft-Hindutva card (blatantly used by an arrogant Kamal Nath in Madhya Pradesh) by refusing to join the mandir inauguration, and second, that they have promised to restrict the party to 255 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. Not only the Congress, almost all the parties in the INDIA bloc refused to go to Ayodhya on January 22. This is certainly a good sign, and reinforces the opposition space as a secular space and defies the partisan dominant narrative.

Second, seat-sharing talks have started happening at a rate faster than imagined, and with reasonable consensus and flexibility. Even Akhilesh Yadav, who has already clichéd a deal with the Rashtriya Lok Dal in Western UP, is ready to be consensual, despite the fact the Congress, foolishly, refused to give his party even one seat in the assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, like it did with other smaller parties in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. With no base left in UP, Priyanka Gandhi having failed to break ground in the last instance, the Congress would do well to climb down from its disproportionate demands, and follow the dharma of the alliance. If the BSP joins the alliance in UP, despite the loud opposition of the Samajwadi Party, it might not be a cake-walk for the BJP.

The AAP has finally opened talks with the Congress, and their joint Mayor candidate in Chandigarh is a potential sign of unity. While the AAP must concede more seats in Delhi and Punjab, the Congress would do well to accommodate them with a big heart in Haryana, Gujarat and Goa. All forms of symbolism helps in a protracted tactical struggle.

The Congress has only two Lok Sabha seats in Bengal which Mamata Banerjee is ready to give them. These are their traditional strongholds in Murshidabad/Behrampur and Malda, Its demand for more seats, therefore, is unreasonable, as is the aggressive stance of Adhir Ranjan Choudhury. The CPM is a spent-force in Bengal, with zero seats, even while it should remember that its cadre and supporters voted for the BJP in the last general elections – leading to the BJP getting 18 MP seats, an impossibility at one time.

With the South firmly out of the BJP’s grasp, and Bengal and Punjab too joining, if the Opposition alliance can restrict BJP to less than 250 seats in the cow belt, then there is a real chance for a new government arriving in Delhi. Or else, the secular democracy that is India, will definitely enter an era of doom, and it will be once again, darkness at noon.

Pervez Musharraf A Dead Man Hanging

Pervez Musharraf – A Dead Man Hanging

By Mahendra Ved

So, the Pervez Musharraf era has ended in Pakistan with the Supreme Court upholding his death sentence, 11 months after he died in faraway Dubai. Or has it?

The unanimous verdict of a three-judge bench presided over by Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Qazi Faez Isa, convicts, even if posthumously, a military dictator. Charged with ‘treason’, he has been sentenced for his undemocratic actions and abrogation of the constitution.

In a country where no accountability has bound any military dictator, despite years of struggle against dictatorship, and where politicians and political parties have been hounded for going after military dictators. Politicians have been imprisoned and even hanged on frivolous charges. It is not surprising that there is unconcealed satisfaction with the all-powerful military, even if symbolically, being brought under the law of the land.

This is not the first time that the judiciary has delivered a harsh hand against the army domination. In 2019, the judge on the bench that delivered its verdict against Musharraf ordered that Musharraf’s body be “dragged to Islamabad Chowk” and “hang it for three days if he is found dead.”

But the military establishment stood by Musharraf whom it hailed as one who had served the army for four decades, as its Chief and held most top positions, besides that of the country’s president. Soon, the Lahore High Court annulled that verdict.

Given the record, it is tempting to see the military’s hand, all over again, behind the latest verdict. Is the army keen to exorcise the ghost of the last military dictator? Does it want to end a damning legacy and ensure that it does not linger over its current end and future role in Pakistan’s polity? Taking this thought further, if it is the end of direct rule by the military, does its current leadership feel confident that it can play through the proxies and avoid the opprobrium from democracies around the world? And if this is so, is the change of proxy from Imran Khan-out-Nawaz Sharif-in? It seems so.

As things stand now, the army has more or less surmounted the challenge it faced to its predominance, as well as dissensions within the ranks of its senior brass during the Imran Khan years. Caretaker governments of the unelected are ruling the country at the federal and the provincial levels and are at the military’s beck and call. The Khan rebellion – whatever the electoral prospects of Khan and his party – has been swept under the political and judicial carpet. Doubts persist over the national elections, although they are scheduled for next month. This is why, perhaps, Dawn newspaper writes the Musharraf verdict has come “at an inflexion point.”

“The decision can serve as an inflection point where Pakistan’s constitutional history and future are concerned, offering lessons for those willing to learn about the perils of veering from the democratic course, and respecting the country’s basic law.”

ALSO READ: Pervez Musharraf – A Warhorse Or A Peacenik

That also explains why the Supreme Court chose to go through the entire gamut and sentence a dead man to death when it could have declared the process ‘infructuous’ and closed the case.

Questions can still be asked: The sentence was for “high treason” under Article 6 of the Constitution and for destroying it by imposing an Emergency. Have these threats to the Constitution ended or even been curbed by the apex court? Pakistan did not have a Constitution till 1973 and the document has been suspended more than once. The anxiety to preserve the statute book even if it means attacking the actions of the once-powerful military man, is touching, to put it cynically.

Or, what about Musharraf’s “original sin” – removal of an elected government and imposition of Martial Law, most certainly not unprecedented? And Musharraf had only emulated Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan and Zia ul Haq. The Judiciary has to live down its record in the past of endorsing the “theory of necessity” to endorse the Martial Law.

And finally, while invalidating Musharraf’s many exertions, who will deal with the more lasting – and many times more damaging ones – of Zia ul Haq? What Pakistan has been going through for the last three decades and more – and making others suffer – is the direct legacy of the Zia regime.

The nurturing and export of terror groups, the excessive dependence on the Islamic clergy – more hardline the better – the blasphemy law, the thousands of ‘missing’ young men and women and much more, are all lasting Zia contributions to Pakistan’s polity. But while acting each time there is a gross abuse of law and faith-driven mayhem, Pakistan’s ‘militablishment’ has played safe, even footsie, with these forces.

Come to think of it, whether or not he was a religious extremist, Zia made faith-based politics the cornerstone of his dealings with his people and the world and earned applause. Musharraf, despite his many actions that hurt his country, was not, to say the least, a religious extremist. For one, he had pushed reforms to ameliorate the conditions of women, the very section that Zia had suppressed with the combination of religion, law and culture.

Of course, to apply correctives on any of these fronts would invite disapproval from the West, the country’s principal benefactors. Zia gleefully and Musharraf helplessly, would not have joined the ‘jihad’ in neighbouring Afghanistan but for collusion (with Zia) and coercion (on Musharraf) from the West. Conditions in and around Pakistan are only more complex and more volatile than they ever were to expect a larger overhaul – assuming that anyone wants it.

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Countdown To Modi's Third Term Begins

The Countdown to Narendra Modi’s Third Term Begins

By Sanjoy Narayan

The next time you are at an Indian railway station and it happens to be one of the hundred that has a selfie point, you can pass the time while waiting for your train by taking a photograph of yourself along with a life size replica of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The selfie points, if they’re of the permanent sort, cost around ₹6.25 lakh, while the temporary ones are cheaper at ₹1.25 lakh.

Railway stations aren’t the only places where you can take a selfie with the Prime Minister (albeit in a life-size 3-D avatar) beside you. Such points have also been installed at museums, parks, and other public spaces. According to media reports, universities and even the armed forces have been instructed to install them. One source says the total number of selfie points is 822.

At New Delhi’s international airport terminal, as you walk to the departure gates, there are several booths with Modi’s image along with that of Swami Gyananand where you can take a selfie. Swami, an Indian Mahamandaleshwar saint, is known for his research on Bhagavad Gita, the 700-verse Hindu scripture. He has also founded another organisation to globally promote the Gita.

The ubiquity of images and pictures of Modi, on posters, banners, official documents, and other commonly used official papers and forms for the past 10 years that he has been Prime Minister is not new but now their omnipresence seems truly larger than life and, quite clearly, this has much to do with the forthcoming parliamentary elections, which Modi and his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would like to win and extend the tenure of its rule by another five years.

Last December 31, The Guardian’s headline of an article said: BJP win in India’s 2024 general election ‘almost an inevitability’. It was written by Hannah-Ellis Petersen, the newspaper’s South Asia correspondent, and it described how, with less than six months left for the election (in which 900 million Indians will be eligible to vote) the Modi government had launched a nationwide campaign to highlight its achievements “despite criticisms of politicising government bureaucracy and resources for campaigning purposes”.

The Guardian’s use of the word “inevitability” in its headline (although in the article it is attributed to a prominent Indian policy analyst) displays the newspaper’s bias against Modi and his government, which are seen by the West as pushing a Hindu nationalist agenda and creating insecurity among minorities. Nearly 80% of Indians are Hindus and 14% are Muslims. As a percentage of India’s population of more than 1.4 billion, viewed against any global population statistics, both those numbers are huge.

Still, the view from the West could miss the reality on the ground in India. For instance, The Guardian article says: “At state and national level, the apparatus of the country has been skewed heavily towards the BJP since Modi was elected in 2014. He has been accused of overseeing an unprecedented consolidation of power, muzzling critical media, eroding the independence of the judiciary and all forms of parliamentary scrutiny and accountability and using government agencies to pursue and jail political opponents.”

To be sure, many Indian observers also agree that since the BJP-led regime came to power, elections, especially in the more populous northern and central states, have been marked by religious polarisation. And that inequality remains one of the biggest concerns and challenges. The richest 1% of Indians own 58% of wealth, while the richest 10% of Indians own 80% of the wealth. This trend has consistently increased–so the Indian rich are getting richer much faster than the poor, widening the income gap.

Also sadly, despite over 70 years’ of effort by the Indian government, the caste system (or social inequity) also continues to keep widening that gap. People coming from the marginalised sections of caste-based social categories, continue to be directly impacted in terms of their opportunities, access to essential utilities, and their potential as a whole.

The ordinary Indian voter, however, sees Modi as a strongman, a hero who has not only tried to enhance India’s prestige and status on the global stage–last year it hosted as rotational president the G-20 summit; and sent a space mission to land on the moon–but also tried to help improve the average Indian’s economic fortunes. India’s economy has grown at a higher rate than most large economies (although inequality has not been impacted significantly); a slew of subsidies aimed at the poor have benefited millions; and universal digital services have ensured that beneficiaries are not denied what they have the right to receive. Infrastructure, especially roads have improved impressively and so has public access to medical facilities and hygiene.

A well-known publicity and communications strategist of the Congress party, which is the BJP’s main challenger from the Opposition, admits that India will go to the polls with a clear advantage for Modi and his party. In 2019, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is led by the BJP, won 353 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha, or lower house of Parliament. The BJP on its own won 303 seats. This time, the Congress strategist who spoke on conditions of anonymity, said he wouldn’t be surprised if the NDA wins 350 seats, a staggering 65% of the total seats.

It is a fact that the Indian mainstream media is no longer a platform where criticism of the ruling regime or a focus on problem areas such as religious polarisation is encouraged. In fact, India’s largest newspapers and TV channels are dominated by hagiographic coverage of the Modi-led regime. Even “independent” media outlets, most of which are small and lack robust business models, have begun to shy away from criticising the government or its policies, some of them because they fear retaliation in the shape of tax raids or other regulatory action.

No one really cares. Last year, several leading Indian artists were “commissioned” to make artwork themed on the Prime Minister’s monthly addresses to the nation, Mann Ki Baat. The event, which occurs once a month, is aired by the state-owned TV channels (and co-telecast by many private channels as well) and streamed on the internet and social media platforms. The commissioning of artists marked the 100th episode of Mann Ki Baat and the art that they created was exhibited under the title Jana Shakti (people’s power) at Delhi’s prestigious National Gallery of Modern Art.

Last week it was announced that the Opposition alliance of nearly 30 parties, called I.N.D.I.A., would be headed by the Congress Party’s president, Mallikarjun Kharge. I.N.D.I.A., which stands for ‘Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance’, is a group of opposition parties, including the Congress, which have joined forces to challenge the NDA, led by the BJP, and stop it from securing a third consecutive term at the Centre in the Lok Sabha elections. Most Indians think that it will end in a whimper. And that Modi, 73, and his party will win the elections decisively and secure a third term for the regime he heads.

For more details visit us: https://lokmarg.com/

Mizoram’s Measured Approach

Mizoram’s Measured Approach And Search For Peace In Assam

By Kunal Bose

The strategic and also commercial importance of the seven north-eastern states Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura and also what is described as the brother state Sikkim cannot be overemphasized. All these states combined have common borders with China, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan. Security aspect aside, the north-east if given a robust infrastructure and commercial acumen could emerge as an important gateway for trade with neighbouring countries. As it would happen, the potential of the region, which is a rich mosaic of culture and social practices, has very largely remained unexplored because of continuing indifference of mainland powers that be and people in general to the north-east.

Such being the reality causing despair among north-easterners for not being able to meaningfully participate in and benefit from economic progress happening elsewhere in the country, it is good that the largely overlooked region left to fend for itself and periodically the scene of internecine conflicts has now Lalduhoma as chief minister of Mizoram. But what is so special about Lalduhoma that he could become the agent to bring national focus to a long overlooked group of states?

As an IPS officer who looked after the security of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and subsequently became a member of the Lok Sabha from Mizoram in 1984, Lalduhoma is familiar with the goings on in Delhi. His recent first trip to the capital and apparently productive discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and some other ministers go to confirm while he will maintain the distinct identity of Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) without aligning with either the Congress or BJP in any way, in true federal spirit he will be seeking the Centre’s help for the state’s development. Lalduhoma conducted himself in true federal spirit during his maiden trip to New Delhi as CM and seemed to have secured assurances of development from central ministers.

What actually is the outcome of the 74 year old Mizoram CM’s visit to Delhi? He came to the capital soon after the Union government announced the plan to build a fence over a 300-km stretch of unfenced boundary with Myanmar and also end the 40 year old free movement regime, allowing people living on both sides of international border to travel within 16 km into each other’s territory without visa. New Delhi’s compulsion to build the fence along the border with a disturbed country is well understood. Mizoram is hosting more than 31,000 individuals belonging to the Chin community from Myanmar who had to flee their country following a coup by the army in February 2021. Now, close to 10,000 displaced people from Manipur, victims of ethnic violence, have taken shelter in Mizoram.

It goes to the credit of Mizoram and all the local parties that they are bearing the burden of sheltering and providing basic support to refugees from across the border and also to Kuki-Zo community members despite fund crunch. That the CM has been able to secure some help from New Delhi in looking after displaced people is clear from what Lalduhoma said on his return to Aizawl: “Even though the Centre can’t accord refugee status to the Myanmar nationals, it is ready to collaborate with us in providing relief to them. People from Manipur, who fled their homes due to ethnic violence, will also be looked after with help of the central government.”

Thankfully, New Delhi took cognisance of the fact that the Chin community from Myanmar and Kuki-Zos from Manipur have common ethnic ties with the Mizos. Lalduhoma was bold enough to tell Modi that the Chin people “are not strangers, but brothers with identical blood running through our veins.” To the relief of the newly minted Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) government, Lalduhoma secured assurance from Shah that New Delhi though would not grant refugee status to people from Myanmar, it would not ask them to leave till normalcy was restored in their country. Moreover, there will be handholding of Aizawl in looking after the people from Myanmar and Manipur.

ALSO READ: Methodical Mizoram Votes For A Change

A much bigger challenge for Lalduhoma will be to ensure that the 12 priority programmes of ZPM government are implemented within 100 days and 2024 becomes the year of financial consolidation. The new regime having embraced economic development as the mantra says redemption will come with investments coming from the centre, particularly in infrastructure development and private sector making use of the state’s “rich natural resources.”

The Christian dominated Mizoram has a rate of literacy much higher than the national average of 77.7 per cent. Despite this, the employment scene, particularly among the young, has remained dismal. Before the last election in which ZPM won 27 of 40 seats, Mizoram was governed by the Congress and Mizo National Front (MNF) by turn. Both were found wanting in creating an environment for investment. The apathy of the centre was also palpable. In fact, Aizawl found New Delhi to be distant and domineering. That also is a common experience of other north-eastern states.

The other day, the country was witness to unbound rejoice in the Union Home Ministry and also in Assam government, which is ruled by BJP, over the signing of a ‘peace accord’ with pro-talks faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), led by Arabinda Rajkhowa. But such celebrations may be premature and peace in the north-eastern state may still be eluding, for Paresh Baruah heading the more aggressive and militant ULFA (Independent) has stayed away from the peace agreement.

A fugitive from his own country and reportedly moving in Myanmar-China border areas, Baruah has made his participation in peace talks difficult, if not impossible by insisting on the government conceding his demand for discussion on sovereignty. Thankfully, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has expressed the hope that it is only a matter of time before Baruah returns to the mainstream and “joins the peace process.”

ULFA formed four decades ago has a chequered history and the combined outfit was responsible for a series of violent acts in different parts of the state resulting in a couple of major army operations and also dismissal of the first Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) government for its failure to tame insurgency. ULFA militants would carry out disturbingly large insurgency operations striking terror and then disappear in their camps in Bangladesh.

Mercifully, the Sheikh Hasina government removed all such camps and steadfastly refused to play host to ULFA militants from across the border. The split between the pro-talk group and the obstinately uncooperative ULFA wing in finding a solution to contentious issues involving identity, land ownership and claims to natural resources of indigenous population has remained beyond repair.

Howsoever recalcitrant Baruah may still sound from the foreign base, he knows that the tripartite accord to which Rajkhowa group is a signatory has taken some steam out of his sovereignty campaign. The three principal features of the accord that would certainly make Baruah sit up and take note are: The highly controversial and sensitive Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), giving Army extraordinarily large powers is lifted from85 per cent of the state; proposed investment of around Rs1.5 lakh crore for a number of development projects and third, delimitation of the majority of assembly seats that should work to the advantage of indigenous communities. Shah has promised “tome-bound implementation of the terms of memorandum of settlement by the centre and the Assam government.” People will be watching the earnestness of the government in implementing the clauses of the agreement in letter and spirit.

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Gujarat Uncorks The Bubbly

Gujarat Uncorks The Bubbly, A Wee Bit

By Mahendra Ved

Gujarat, Mahatma Gandhi’s birthplace, is held as an example of all things Gandhian, good or otherwise. The dilution of Prohibition law to create a ‘wet’ oasis in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT), although not the first departure, has set the tongues wagging.

Of course, neither support nor criticism are loud since the decision supposedly came “from the top.” Also, the set of rules, temporary and with riders, are “business friendly”. That makes for a measure of pragmatism. Business is not a sin, after all.

Is Gujarat, which took to Prohibition even in its earlier avatar as part of the Bombay State in 1949 and has since stuck to it doggedly, experiencing anything new? The availability of liquor has always been an open secret.

Media reports say liquor sales were up by 20 per cent in 2023. Liquor permits on health grounds went up by 58 per cent since 2021, when 40-plus people applied on grounds of insomnia, and anxiety. Seventy-seven Gujarat hotels have permit-liquor stalls, with 18 more applying. The fact, however, is that like non-vegetarianism, non-consumption is deeply ingrained in Gujarat’s upper caste/business class ethos.

Gandhi was supposed to have said that if appointed a ‘dictator’ even for a day, one thing he would do is to impose Prohibition. There is no point blaming Gandhi and his many supporters who, when in power, worked for its success. The fact, again, is that there are as many, and as strong, arguments for and against alcohol.

Article 47 of the Indian Constitution talks about raising the level of nutrition and the standard of living in the country. The objective is to improve public health and the State shall endeavour to bring about the prohibition of intoxicating drinks and drugs which are injurious to health.

Six decades back, in a longish article culled out from the New York Times archives dated February 16, 1964, Thomas S. Brady had rightly predicted: “As anywhere else, law enforcement depends not only on consent but on approval of the governed. Murder and stealing are threats to everybody, and they can be held to a minimum. But tippling, despite Gandhi, is another matter and seems to be here to stay, inside or outside the law.”

Unsurprisingly, the arguments for and against have not changed much. But the values have. If the support is on health grounds, social security and pressures from women’s groups who are potential voters and have proved effective, the opposition ranges from freedom to exercise personal choice.

ALSO READ: ‘Awareness, Not Harsh Laws, Can Impose Prohibition’

Bar owners and alcohol manufacturers, usually men, see their livelihood destroyed and, instead of empathising with women on this sensitive issue, they feel threatened. Vested interests remain well-entrenched. Why, Brady writes that supporters of prohibition included, remotely though, the bootleggers who thrive when an unpopular law is in existence.

An amazing feature of all this grassroots democracy is that there has been no mention of any public health initiatives to tackle alcohol misuse.

As for personal freedom, it is argued that most of the domestic violence crimes against women and children are committed behind closed doors. The new awareness of women’s and children’s rights and welfare in this century has made no dent when it comes to booze-driven violence. It is the neighbour’s problem, not mine, attitude.

At the root is the revenue. And the states that operate the law are always short of it. Brady recorded that Bombay and Maharashtra spent USD one million and lost revenue to the tune of USD30 million in 1964. What Bihar, Telangana and other states lose today is phenomenal. Some like the late Jayalalithaa, in a seeming act of redemption, spent the revenue from alcohol to distribute election-eve freebies.

Liquor mafias have thrived in state after state. From among them come legislators and ministers, obviously in cahoots with the political class. Perish the thought of the alcohol they distribute being of any consumable quality. Little wonder, hooch tragedies are a frequent affair. Investigations are ordered, but nothing comes out.

India is a land where contradictions are clashing, all the time. Hooch sells, prime quality liquor sells even better. Indians’ alcohol intake is small compared to the global one. But Indians are the world’s largest consumers of ‘brown’ liquor, mainly whiskey and rum. It is mind-boggling how brandy, a drink of the colder environments is consumed in Kerala, so close to the equator.

Indian alcohol producers are edging out with their premier products fabled brands like Glenlivet and Chivas Regal. Why, the other day, the Chief Justice of India’s court witnessed an Indian-versus-Foreign tussle, with the rival brands placed on the court’s argument desk.

If premier brands of ‘brown’ liquor are for all to see, can wine be far behind? There is no party in an urban centre without wine being served. Indians are developing a taste for wine, both locally that is produced, and exported, in abundance.

According to October 2023 statistics, there are now 10 million Indians who drink wine regularly, and the wine consumption rate increased in India by 29% in 2022 alone. Furthermore, according to an India Wine Insider (IWI) report, India’s wine market is now estimated to be valued at $238 million.

India celebrates Sonal C Holland, its first and only Master of Wine. But be sure, the tussle between health-morality-social uplift and revenue-personal freedom and business will continue forever.

The writer can be contacted at mahendraved07@gmail.com

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Terror Attack in Iran

Terror Attack in Iran Augurs Bad Omen for West Asia

By Asad Mirza

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi joined mourners in the southern city of Kerman on Friday last week for the funerals of 89 people killed in twin blasts claimed by the Islamic State (Daesh), according to the Iranian media.

Suicide bombers struck crowds gathered near the tomb of Revolutionary Guards General Qasem Soleimani to mark the fourth anniversary of his killing in Baghdad in a targeted US drone strike. The terrorist attack on 3 January killed 89 people, which included many women and children as well as at least a dozen Afghans, state television said.

Raisi vowed to avenge the killings; saying, the time and place will be determined by our (Iranian) forces. Whereas, Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami said, we will find you wherever you are.

In a statement published on Thursday 6 January on Telegram, the Daesh claimed two of its members ‘activated their explosives vests’ at the gathering. A staunch enemy of Daesh, Soleimani headed the Guards’ foreign operations arm, the Quds Force, overseeing Iranian military operations across the Middle East.

Though some Iranian officials have already hinted at Israel’s involvement in the attack, journalists and active media members have also started bringing to the limelight the differences between Daesh’s latest statement and its previous ones to prove a second party’s complicity.

The Tehran Times reported that the extremist group acknowledged responsibility for the assault more than 30 hours following the explosions. This departs from its usual pattern, as the group typically asserts its role in acts of terror immediately after their occurrence.

Also, Daesh generally precedes attacks with ominous posts on its social media platforms shortly before they unfold. Surprisingly, no such forewarning preceded the blasts in Kerman, contrasting with the group’s established modus operandi.

Moreover, in the image disseminated by Daesh, faces of both the attackers are completely obscured, with their faces fully covered and their eyes deliberately blurred. While previous attacks carried out by Daesh members featured images of the perpetrators in full clarity.

An Iranian journalist Mona Hojat Ansari analysing the evidence says that the text of the recent statement also exhibited notable disparities from prior declarations made by the extremist group.

ALSO READ: Iron Women Of Iran

Historically, Daesh has consistently referred to Iran as the ‘land of Persians’ or the ‘state of Khorasan’. However, the latest communication from the terrorists explicitly uses the country’s actual name: Iran. This shift has sparked suspicions regarding the origins of the statement, prompting questions about whether it might have been authored by an external entity and subsequently handed over to the group for dissemination on its social media platforms.

Further the characteristics of the attack also raised suspicions about Israel’s potential involvement, Iranian media pointed out. As per an Iranian lawmaker who inspected the blast site, the explosives employed to trigger the suicide vests were identified as RDX, which has frequently been associated with Israel’s past use in carrying out targeted assassinations within Iranian territory.

Despite the claim from Daesh, Iranian officials have continued to accuse Iran’s arch foes Israel and the United States of complicity in the attack. “IS has disappeared nowadays”, Salami said, adding that its remaining members, “only act as mercenaries” for US and Israeli interests.

They assert that Israel has been trying to weave a web of provocations to turn the whole region into chaos, leading to an all out war in the Middle East. Further, the US wants to involve Iran first, in this foreseeable confrontation The Iranian media claims that following its significant setback on 7 October by Hamas, Israel has grown increasingly desperate for direct involvement from Washington in the on going war.

Despite the US’s diplomatic support and provision of weaponry used in Gaza, it has, thus far, displayed reluctance to escalate the conflict beyond Gaza. In fact, reports suggest that the US has been pressuring Israel to halt its fruitless campaign by the end of January.

Iranian media claims that recognising its inability to eliminate Hamas and its deteriorating international standing, Israel now views a regional war as necessary to permanently eliminate the so-called Axis of Resistance. From Israel’s perspective, the opportunity to draw the US into a war with Iran and its allied groups may not arise again.

This motive has led to a series of orchestrated attacks in recent weeks aimed at provoking Iran and triggering a full-scale regional conflict. The sequence began with the assassination of a top Iranian military advisor in Syria, followed by an attack targeting a Hamas leader in Beirut. While some analysts anticipated a similar assault on Iranian soil, the direct targeting of civilians in a terrorist attack was largely unforeseen.

Meanwhile, tensions remain heated on the Israel-Lebanese border. An Israeli strike on southern Lebanon on Monday, 8 January killed a top Hezbollah commander, the Iran-backed group said in a statement. Clashes between Hezbollah and the Israeli army have intensified since the war in started.

While it is still debatable who carried out the attack or on whose instructions, it is clear that any direct American entry in the region may escalate the Gaza conflict, besides bringing chaos to the whole region. So far, the US has rejected any suggestion that it or its ally Israel were behind the bombings, while Israel has not commented on the issue.

However, one should not pay heed to the provocative statements by Israel against its other Arab neighbours and by Iran against Israel, the collective aim should be to get the Palestinian issue resolved at the earliest, as per the aspersions of the Palestinian people and try to limit the war and stop its spread in the region, as any further confrontation or attacks may prove catastrophic for the global peace.

(Asad Mirza is a Delhi-based senior political and international affairs commentator)

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Earth’s Year of Elections

2024 Will Be Earth’s Year of Elections. What Should You Expect?

By Sanjoy Narayan

This year could be the year of national elections on Earth. In 64 countries (plus the European Union), two billion humans or one in every four of the eight billion of us that populate the planet will be set to go to the polls. An estimated 1.16 billion of these voters will be from the South Asian countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, with India alone accounting for more than 900 million voters, which is 100 million more than the number that was eligible to vote in the previous national election held in 2019.

After you have wrapped your head around those staggering numbers, consider also how the outcomes of some of those elections could impact the state of the world here on our planet. Take the big ones first. The US will hold its presidential elections in November. As of now, indications are that former Republican President Donald Trump, who served as the 45th president from 2017 to 2021, could be his party’s nominee for the 2024 election. Trump is facing a slew of legal problems but this does not seem to deter his supporters: with 52% of Republican voters or Republican-leaning independent voters, Trump is way ahead of his nearest rivals in the race for nomination.

If Trump, 77, is nominated, the face-off will likely be between him and the Democratic incumbent Joe Biden, 81. If Trump wins, as many analysts think he will if he is nominated, his policies and actions as President of the US will affect not only his country but also the state of the world. More on that soon. For now, turn to another election that will take place this year.

Two months from now, in March, Russia will go to the polls to elect a President. In all likelihood it will be Vladimir Putin who will be re-elected. Putin has been in charge of Russia since late 1999 or more than 21 years and is eligible for re-election this year, as a result of constitutional amendments that he orchestrated in 2020. The amendments reset his previous terms and allowed him to seek two more six-year terms, potentially extending his rule until 2036. Putin is 71 so, in theory, he can rule till he is 84.

Russia is a democracy only in theory. In reality it is an authoritarian state where elections are not free or fair. The Kremlin, Russia’s seat of power, controls the media, the security forces, and the election commission, and Putin has effectively suppressed all opposition, barred many of rivals from contesting the elections and either imprisoned dissenters or exiled them. 

A Trump-Putin Combo? If Putin is reelected, Russia will likely continue its aggressive foreign policy, especially in Ukraine and Eastern Europe, and face more international sanctions and isolation. Putin will also tighten his grip on domestic politics and suppress any dissent or opposition. If Trump is elected in 2024, the US will face more political and social turmoil, as Trump will try to overturn his 2020 election loss and pursue his populist agenda. Trump will also undermine democratic institutions and norms, and alienate many US allies and partners.

A Trump-Putin combo would mean that the world could face a more unstable and unpredictable geopolitical situation. Trump and Putin have a long history of mutual admiration and personal rapport, but their interests and agendas are often at odds. Trump could weaken NATO and other US alliances, while Putin could exploit the chaos and expand his influence in regions like Ukraine, Syria, and the Middle East. The risk of conflict and escalation between the two nuclear powers would increase, as well as the challenges for global cooperation on issues like climate change, human rights, and cybersecurity.

A third term for Modi? The biggest national elections this year will be in India, which has the largest electorate in the world, with over 900 million voters eligible to vote for the lower house of Parliament, Lok Sabha, which has 543 seats. India has a multi-party system, with two major alliances competing for power this year: the incumbent National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.), led by the Indian National Congress (INC) and its president, Mallikarjun Kharge.

India’s elections are held in multiple phases, spanning over several weeks, to ensure security and logistical arrangements. In 2019, the elections were held in seven phases, from 11 April to 19 May. The schedule for 2024 is yet to be announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI).

India’s elections also involve millions of polling staff, security personnel, electronic voting machines, and observers. In 2019, there were over 10 lakh polling stations, 17.4 lakh voting machines, and 23 lakh security personnel deployed across the country.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is widely expected to win a third term in 2024, as he enjoys a strong popularity and because the Opposition is weak. In recent months, his party has scored significant victories in state elections, which could be an indication that voters’ support for it is strong.

A third term may see India becoming one of the top three economies in the world. India’s economy is one of the largest and fastest-growing in the world. According to the latest data from the World Bank, India’s nominal GDP was $3.73 trillion in 2023, making it the fifth-largest economy in the world after the USA, China, Japan, and Germany. India’s GDP growth rate was 7.6% in the second quarter of 2023-24, higher than most of the major economies.

India’s per capita income was $2,389 in 2022, which ranked 112th in the world. India’s per capita GDP on PPP basis was $8,379 in 2022, according to the World Bank. In comparison, China’s per capita GDP on PPP basis was $21,476 in 2022. This means that China’s per capita GDP on PPP basis was more than twice as high as India’s.

Prime Minister Modi faces some challenges such as poverty, inequality, infrastructure gaps, environmental issues, and fiscal deficits. However, during his tenure, which began in 2014, India has also undertaken several reforms and initiatives to boost its economic potential, such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Make in India campaign, the Digital India program, and the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. India aims to become a $5 trillion economy by 2027 and a $10 trillion economy by 2032.

Led by Modi, India recently had a successful G20 presidency and a lunar mission. For a country of its size, it has also managed a satisfactory a post-COVID-19 recovery and achieved robust growth. India has also been part of a new Indo-Pacific alliance against China, along with the US, Australia, and Japan, to counter China’s expansionist ambitions and assert India’s role as a key player in the region.

In crisis areas such as the Russian aggression in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war, India has protected its own economic and political interests instead of taking sides. That sort of strategy could be expected to continue on the international front. Relations with China remain tense, though, especially on border disputes between the two countries although under Modi, the foreign policy targeted at China and Pakistan (with which there are continuing disputes on the western borders of the country) has been assertive.

Modi may, however, face some challenges in balancing the interests of different Indian states and regions, as well as in addressing the issues of social justice, environmental protection, and democratic rights.

Elections in the rest of South Asia. India’s neighbours, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, will also go to the polls this year. In Pakistan, elections are scheduled to be held in February but the Pakistan Senate has passed a resolution seeking to delay the elections due to security and weather concerns. The resolution is not binding and the final decision rests with the Election Commission of Pakistan. With the former Prime Minister Imran Khan in jail on corruption charges, the main contenders are the Pakistan Muslim League (N), led by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and the Pakistan Peoples Party, led by former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. In Pakistan, the army plays a key role in politics and the government and outcome of the election there will be keenly watched.

Elections will also take place this year in Bangladesh, where Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League has been in power since 2009 and where she is accused of silencing dissent and ruling with an authoritarian iron hand. She is expected to win another term.

India’s other neighbour, Sri Lanka, also goes to the polls this year. Two years ago, the then president of the island nation Gotabaya Rajapaksa was forced to flee his country after protests accused  him for the country’s worst economic crisis in 73 years. Inflation had soared and the nation had turned bankrupt leaving millions in the tiny country unable to get food, fuel or healthcare. That was when the current President Ranil Wickremesinghe took over. But elections haven’t been held in Sri Lanka since 2018 and if a date is finally announced for this year, all eyes will be on who gets the people’s mandate. Wickremesinghe, who helped get a loan from the International Monetary Fund and has led several reforms to get the economy back on track, will likely contest and hope for a second term.

Other notable elections in the world include Indonesia, where the current incumbent Joko Widodo (aka Jokowi) is ineligible due to term limits.

Besides this, there will be elections in Iran, South Korea, Panama, and several African Nations, including Rwanda, Libya, Mali, and Ghana. As I said, this year is the year of elections on Earth.

Gurjar Pratihar Debate

Gurjar Pratihar Debate: Separating the Grain from the Chaff

By Aeshvarya Thakur

In this era of identity politics, history has become the social capital on which almost all the communities are claiming their right & have, consequently, got entangled in a culture war, trying to find & assert their respective place. In the times of Post Truth, we often come across the practice of rewriting history. This rewriting of history is aimed at creating new heroes and at re-assigning new identity to historical characters as per vested motivations & conveniences of parties involved.

It is in this context that the debate on the caste identity of the Gurjar (Pratihar) empire has arisen, which soon took the form of ‘Kshatriya versus Gujjar conflict’. Gurjardesh: Itihas Aur Mithakon mein Ghamasan, a book written by Virendra Singh Rathore, seeks to put a full stop to this conflict.

The author writes (translated): “Creating history also results in the creation of political and social capital. The purpose of spreading dozens of myths is to acquire this capital in an unethical manner. These attempts to create a false history in the name of course correction will end our diversity and will be destructive for the entire society.”

Rathore walks a tight rope because on one hand, the subject is controversial due to the conflicting claims over history by the two major social groups of North India (Rajput and Gujjar), on the other hand, the challenge remains to avoid seepage of any personal biases in writing.

The basic argument of the author is that the word ‘Gurjar’, which is being conspired to identify with the Gochar/Gujjar caste, is actually a region-indicative word, which once comprised parts of today’s Gujarat and Rajasthan and was called Gurjardesh, Gurjaratra or Gurjaradharitri. But due to political allurements, with the intention of forcibly fabricating a new place in history, today the word Gurjar is being falsely propagated as a caste indicator so that a virtual caste pride can be instilled in the traditionally cattle rearing caste (Gujar). It is also being done to snatch from Gurjara Pratihar Rajputs their clan identity as rulers, divide it amongst other caste groups (Gujjars), and subsequently keep the groups entangled in social conflicts against each other.

It is noteworthy that the author raises the first question mark on the background of the recent propaganda woven around the Gurjar (Pratihar) identity when he sequentially presents linguistic, geographical and historical evidence related to the origin of the word ‘Gurjar’.

The author’s research confirms that the word ‘Gurjar’ originated as a region-marker and its association with the Gujjar caste is just a mischievous political experiment. In this informative research work, the author presents an in-depth study of genealogies (Gotrachar), ancient mentions, inscriptions, travelogues, epics and folklore, all of which have emphasized the same conclusion that the word Gurjar is a region-indicator and it has no connection with the Gujjar caste.

While writing the history of the Indian subcontinent, orientalists created a narrative that proved that after the fall of each empire, India always entered a long era of anarchy; Therefore, for peace and prosperity in India, it was necessary to maintain a ‘liberal autocratic’ system like that of British rule. The ill effects of European history writing (historiography) on Indian history writing cannot be underestimated. While throwing light on the vested political interests of history writing, the author has also examined with evidence the institutional and academic attacks on history by presenting examples from the present context and instances from the British era.

ALSO READ: ‘Unfortunate For Rajputs To Fight For Their Ancestry In Court’

Opening an academic front against this weaponization of history, the author has identified the root of the word ‘Gurjar’ through his research and presented many unprecedented facts to the reader. The chapter division of the book shows that the series of claims on the social heritage of the Kshatriyas is not new. The Gurjar controversy is a new episode in the same sequence whereas even before this the identity of Kshatriya clans has been divided among different communities for political reasons like calling Rana Poonja as Bhil and Teli community being given the surname Rathod or Naunia community being given the name Chauhan.

Rathore writes (translated): “These cases of identity change (theft) cannot even be called well-intentioned efforts to attain social justice because the process of changing surname in the pattern of “Gaon Tharo, Naav Mharo” (Village is yours, name is mine) was just a preparation. After this, came the next stage which is active these days – now on the basis of the newly self-proclaimed Kshatriya identity, there is a direct attack on the heritage of the medieval period. Many kings and dynasties are being claimed to be of that particular caste. Apart from this, some places are claimed to have been settled by a certain person of a particular (contesting) caste.”

The author considers the process of usurping Kshatriya clan identity & handing it over to other communities as an aspect of ‘Sanskritisation’ that was meant to increase the social prestige of other communities. Behind these devious designs, social organizations like Arya Samaj and Caste Mahasabhas including academic forces have also been continuously active.

The author argues: “The prevalence of this phenomenon can be gauged from the fact that in the name of Gujjar history, lofty myths are being sold not only to the Gujjars of India but also to the (Muslim) Gujjars of Pakistan. There too, some organizations like the Mahasabhas have been involved in these activities for the last several years. To mainstream these lies in both countries, initially by spreading the writings of Pakistani engineer Rana Hasan Ali as popular literature, propaganda has been carried out in the media through continuous press conferences in the last several years. Agents of these myths have collaborated with politicians to lobby wide, right from the streets of India to the Parliament. To attract the attention of the masses, threats of grave consequences were made by extremist elements if the protagonist was not shown as a Gujjar in a film made on famous historical personality. Now, there is a concerted effort to fetch formal acceptance for such myths in the form of so-called research papers.”

By exploring the history of the Pratiharas of the Rajput caste who were the rulers of Gurjardesh and other Rajput dynasties who were their feudatories, the author has once again proved that the Gurjar Pratihar dynasty had no relation with the Gujjar caste/tribe, but the Gurjar Pratihar Empire was a Rajput-led Empire. Only due to its geographical lebensraum being Gurjardesh, it was called ‘Gurjar Pratihar’.

Without making history-writing lengthy, the author has kept his writing style reader-friendly and stuck to facts & arguments. This book will not only work to weed out the misconceptions, but will also work as a communication bridge between Gujjar and Rajput communities, breaking the social bitterness spread due to distortion of history. By bringing this very important body of work to the public domain, the author has not only accomplished a momentous task of researching history, but has also documented history of public consciousness, which will prove to be a milestone for the coming generations. The choice of language (Hindi) for this book seems to be aimed at reaching the relevant grassroots.

The book, which brutally examines the misinformation and contradictory claims, is a necessary intervention, amid the ongoing debate on the subject.

The book is also available here on Kindle ebook format

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Tears Have Run Dry in Gaza

Gaza – Where Tears Have Run Dry

By Amit Sengupta

Benjamin Netanyahu quoted the ‘Old Testament’ in late October this year, to evoke a bloody revenge spectacle from the mythical Biblical times, as he bombed Gaza, with thousands of dead bodies of Palestinians buried in the rubble, including children: “You must remember what Amalek has done to you, says our Holy Bible. (1 Samuel 15:3) ‘Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass’.”

Unrepentant and hardline Zionists are now saying that killing of children is important because you nip the enemy in the bud. One expert on Israeli TV was heard, expressing unabashed glee, saying that he cannot sleep if there is no bombing in Gaza. Another said, what is wrong with war crimes? War crimes are necessary, it must be done!

It’s like certain Israelis, in the earlier conflicts, would have a picnic: sitting in a garden on an elevated place and watching the killings and ‘fireworks’ in the Palestinian areas. Similar to Nazi officers organizing a massacre, and, then, taking a break — happily going for a picnic with their wives, kids and friends on a week-end, or celebrating outside a concentration camp, with Jewish slaves as attendants.

Undoubtedly, this abjectly extremist, pathologically perverse, racist and supremacist Right-wing regime which controls Tel Aviv these days, is replicating exactly the Nazi model. It’s that there are no concentration camps, gas chambers, no trains jam-packed with Jews being taken to the slaughter houses in Aushwitz or Krakow, etc. There is no Warsaw Ghetto where the Nazis isolated 400 to 500,000 Jews, starving them, blocking their water and electricity, turning them into sick and emaciated creatures, before transporting them to the gas chambers and labour/death camps.

Gaza looks like the Warsaw Ghetto now, and it also reminds of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – following the Amlekites theory from the Biblical times. If this is not mindless madness enacted by mass murderers and backed by Joe Biden and the West, then what is? The Jews were then branded as pests, carriers of epidemics, dirty, filthy, sub-humans, animals, cockroaches and rats, selfish and self-seeking, a curse on society, untouchables and outcastes, not fit to walk on the same roads, or use the same transport, or, share the same space as the Germans.

Something is really wrong with this rogue State. A new clipping of famous Palestinian social scientist Edward Said, when he was young, has emerged; years ago, Netanyahu refused to share the same space with him in a TV programme because he apparently believed that the professor would murder him! Said had no such phobia.

Now, Netanyahu is using a myth to organize a relentless genocide, outside all international law, amidst mass hunger, amputated bodies, including that of severely wounded children, disease, thirst, hunger, dying and death, while the Palestinians are branded exactly in the same manner as what the Nazis did to the Jews! Clearly, in the warped and sick mindset of the Israeli regime and its followers, all Palestinians should be eliminated, especially women and children, so that no child is ever born in this ‘holy land’. Thereby, and after having already occupied the West Bank, they can now construct a Grand Zionist State with nuclear power in the whole of Palestine, including Gaza. Backed by American and Western powers, whose hearts bleed for the killings of innocents by Putin’s army in Ukraine.

Hence, every day, more and more grotesque stories are emerging from Gaza. The latest, unconfirmed news is that 80 bodies returned by the notorious Israeli Defense Force (IDF) had their organs stolen. If true, how is it different from the Nazis taking the body organs of the Jews, including the skin of children, hair and gold-teeth, in the concentration camps?

There are reports coming of targeted killings – execution style. Al Jazeera reported that bodies of new-borns, children and women were found piled up in the Shadia Abu Ghazala school in northern Gaza, with people reporting that they had been shot at point-blank range. Witnesses said the civilians were killed — execution-style — by Israeli soldiers.

Shoot before you ask. That is how IDF killed three bare-chested Israeli hostages, one holding a white flag on December 15. All of them in their 20s.

Meanwhile, amidst a litany of horror stories, scores of Palestinians, stripped, were lined up in a stadium, or filled like poultry chicken in a truck. Video footage showed Israeli soldiers, on tanks, pointing their guns at them. Were they tortured? Were they killed – execution style? War crimes – who cares, certainly not Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak!

At least 4,000 students, 300 medics, 136 United Nations staff and 90 journalists have been reportedly killed; journalists have been killed to block all news of the on-going genocide, even while others continue to report from the ground, including young women journalists with children.

Samer Abudaqa, a cameraman for ‘Al Jazeera Arabic’, was killed while reporting at Farhana School in Khan Younis. He was clearly targeted. His colleague, Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Wael Dahdouh, who lost his family earlier, was wounded. Journalists in Gaza are carrying a “human and noble message” for the world amid the continuing war and will continue to work despite Israeli attacks, Dahdouh said in his eulogy. “We will continue to do our duty with professionalism and transparency,” he said, as mourners and journalists around him wept.

Tears flowed from his eyes too when Dahdouh had lost everything in his life. He had moved away from the cameras of fellow journalists at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital after his wife, son, daughter and grandson had been killed in an Israeli air raid.

Take the case of a famous poet, as popular in the West for his sensitive poetry as in the Middle-East — Refaat Alareer. He had told CNN earlier that he and his family had no choice but to remain in the north, because they “have nowhere else to go”. He had said: “It’s an archetypal Palestinian image of a discussion, a debate on should we stay in one room, so if we die, we die together, or should we stay in separate rooms, so at least somebody can live?”

A professor of comparative literature at the Islamic University of Gaza, Alareer also taught ‘Creative Writing’ and was a mentor to young Palestinian writers, inspiring them to write stories about their occupied homeland. On December 7, Alareer was murdered by a targeted attack in Shajaiya, in northern Gaza, where he had taken refuge. He was staying with his brother, sister, her four children — all of them were killed.

Alareer had edited ‘Gaza Writes Back’, a collection of short stories by young writers, he was co-editor of ‘Gaza Unsilenced’, a collection of essays, photos and poetry, and he also contributed to ‘Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire,’ an anthology published in 2022. He had studied at University College and SOAS in London. His death created outrage from London to New York. His last poem, became viral. As a tribute, across the world, mourners carried white kites in his memory, and in protest.

In this poem, ‘If I must die’, he wrote:

If I must die,
you must live
to tell my story
to sell my things
to buy a piece of cloth
and some strings,
(make it white with a long tail)
so that a child, somewhere in Gaza
while looking heaven in the eye
awaiting his dad who left in a blaze—
and bid no one farewell
not even to his flesh
not even to himself—
sees the kite, my kite you made, flying up
above
and thinks for a moment an angel is there
bringing back love…

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A Gas Chamber Called Delhi-NCR

Of Life and Living in a Gas Chamber Called Delhi-NCR

By Sanjoy Narayan

It is a mild winter afternoon and I am meeting a friend at the DLF Golf and Country Club, a private members-only club in Gurugram. Widely acknowledged as the best golf course in India and a regular host to international tournaments, it is also a paradise for golf enthusiasts and a symbol of luxury and exclusivity in India. With an annual membership fee of around Rs 7 lakh (USD 8400) or 3.5 times the per capita income in India, it better be a paradise. We are sitting inside one of its glass-encased restaurants and the conversation turned to Delhi’s air pollution.

Through the glass we can barely see the carefully landscaped green lawns, undulating hills, and a manmade lake with a fountain because all of it was covered by a thick blanket of fog. Only, it was not fog but smog, or air that was polluted densely with tiny particulate matter that can get into your lungs when you breathe and lead to serious respiratory and other ailments. It is said that an average resident of Delhi-NCR (National Capital Region) inhales the equivalent of a pack and a half (or 30) cigarettes every day during the worst days of pollution. The worst days are now. And they are ubiquitous. Between October end and January, air pollution levels in the sprawling megalopolis, home to nearly 33 million people, which is about half the population of the UK, routinely turn horrific each year.

Air pollution is not a problem for Delhi and the NCR alone but has come to affect every large and medium sized city in India where construction activity is booming; the number of vehicles on the road is spiraling out of control; and where industrial activity in the form of smoke spewing factories mushroom as zoning restrictions are enforced only leniently. In northern parts of India, such as Delhi and the NCR, the problem is compounded by farmers burning crop stubble to clear the soil for fresh sowings and the smoke from that being swept over the city and its suburbs. 

My friend tells me how all his three cars have air purifiers, which also, of course, are in every room of his sprawling five-bedroom home in a luxury condominium on the edge of the golf course where we are sitting. He coughs frequently, though, and when I ask him whether he wears a mask when he is outdoors, he demurs and doesn’t answer. He is one of India’s privileged class of rich people who lives his charmed life in a bubble but even he doesn’t seem overly concerned about the havoc that the air in the city is wreaking on his body and his health. It is believed that in Delhi and the NCR, pollution may be slashing 10 to 12 years of a person’s life.

As we finish our coffees and prepare to leave, I check the real time Air Quality Index (AQI) on my phone. It is 402. That means the air quality is very very poor and may cause respiratory illness in people on prolonged exposure. It also means that the average concentration of PM 2.5, a harmful pollutant, is 250 micrograms per cubic metre, which is four times the permissible limit. I take out my mask, a N95 that is said to help filter out the dreaded particles–at least a bit–and put it on for the walk to my friend’s car parked about 800 metres from where we are. He doesn’t have a mask and even though he is still coughing a bit, he doesn’t seem to care.

My friend is among the 17,400 dollar millionaires (estimate courtesy Hurun India Wealth Report, 2021) in Delhi and NCR. And as I said, he doesn’t wear a mask when he is outside. Little wonder that very few of the millions of his co-residents in the megalopolis also don’t. Most don’t own and cannot afford air purifiers and millions have to work outdoors all day or live in homes that are just not equipped to prevent the spread of poor air.

This November when air pollution levels in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) reached alarming levels once again, a leading Indian newspaper did a feature titled, “Choosing the right mask for Delhi–your ultimate guide”. It was a timely article, exhaustive and well-researched, and listed different masks and their efficacies in tackling or, rather, lessening the grave consequences of breathing the urban sprawl’s terrible air. I am sure many other media publications have done the same thing: warning people about how bad the air quality is and how important it is to take precautions. They needn’t have. No one wears masks in Delhi or its adjoining areas that make up what is known as NCR.

This winter, Delhi and the NCR’s air quality was the worst in several years. On December 23, in parts of the city the AQI crossed 450. AQI values at or below 100 are generally thought of as satisfactory. When AQI values are above 100, air quality is considered to be unhealthy—at first for certain sensitive groups of people, then for everyone as AQI values increase. In Delhi and the NCR area, AQI levels during the colder months, beginning in November, routinely rise to beyond 400, which is not only unhealthy but hazardous and, for people breathing it over a sustained period, can have life-threatening consequences. 

A decade ago, China’s Beijing (population around 22 million) had a similar problem. Thick smog stubbornly enveloped the city and AQI levels soared. But the Chinese government declared a war against pollution in 2013. In Beijing, a $100-billion plan was actioned, which included clampdowns on factories, a ban on old vehicles, and a decisive move from coal and fossil-fuel sources of energy to natural gas. In 2020, Beijing was reported to have had 288 days of clear skies compared to 176 in 2013 when the war against pollution began.

And in Delhi? In 2021, according to one estimate, there were only 60 satisfactory air days (AQI of 100 or less). Things may have gotten worse since then. And, on the face of it, not much is being done to effectively improve things. 

One of the factors that made the Chinese government combat the pollution problem in its biggest cities was public outrage. Even under an authoritarian regime, people in Beijing and other cities protested publicly when air pollution began reaching hazardous levels. That and the fact that China was eager not to have its international image, particularly among investors, tarnished were what spurred the authorities into action. 

In Indian cities, especially Delhi and the NCR, there has hardly been any public protest. Instead there is a pall of fatalism that seems to be pervasive. On the streets of Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Faridabad, and other satellite towns, hardly anyone wears masks. And, while schools were closed briefly, and some offices reverted to Covid-era remote working for their employees, these were stop-gap measures. 

To be sure, the government has rolled out a set of plans. GRAP, which stands for Graded Response Action Plan, is a set of emergency measures that are implemented incrementally when air quality begins to dip in Delhi-NCR in the winter months. GRAP has four stages, depending on the severity of the air pollution: poor, very poor, severe, and severe+. Each stage has different actions to reduce emissions from various sources, such as vehicles, industries, construction, and waste burning. 

Has that helped? The short answer is no. That is because of several factors:

First, there is a lack of coordination and compliance among various agencies and states involved in implementing GRAP. Second, even after GRAP triggers actions such as a ban on construction, waste burning and diesel generators, these are not implemented by local authorities. Third, the response to changing air quality levels is delayed or insufficient. And fourth, there is a lack of a long-term plan to address the root causes of air pollution such as vehicular emissions, industrial activities, crop burning, and meteorological factors.

To be sure, there have been bans on certain categories of vehicles that don’t adhere to emission standards. There have also been some restrictions on factories and smoke-spewing industries in and around the megalopolis but clearly not enough has been done to have a meaningful impact on the quality of air that millions have to breathe.

Soon, India’s political parties will begin their run-up to the parliamentary elections scheduled for next May. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who will lead the campaign for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, is keenly expected to win a third term. By February or perhaps March when electioneering will really pick up momentum, the skies will be a bit clearer (read: AQI levels will no longer be hazardous but merely poor) and that would be good enough for everyone to forget about pollution. The issue of bad air quality, which has already become “old news” that is undeserving of highlighting for India’s media publications will by then disappear completely from their news reports; and you can be sure that air pollution will not be an issue that anyone is going to focus on during the high-decibel election campaigning that usually marks India’s polls.

Instead, the citizens of Delhi-NCR (as well as other Indian cities) will fatalistically breathe “poor” or “very poor” air, thankful perhaps that at least it is not hazardous… till the smog rolls in again next November. 

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