'I'm a Muslim & I'm not Bangladeshi'

For the past two weeks we have been witness to ethnic cleansing of Serbian proportions in India. The riots in Assam, if we can call these targeted killings riots, have been among the worst that the country has witnessed. So far, it is estimated that 100 persons have lost their lives and around 500 villages have been torched to the ground. Nearly 400,000 people mainly belonging to the  Muslim communitiy have been forced to move to 273 temporary refugee camps. The magnitude of this human tragedy is overwhelming considering the short span of two weeks in which it occurred.

What is surprising is that rather than focusing on the immediate need for a humanitarian call to stop the killings and the violence, leaders of the Bodo community, large sections of mainstream Assamese society, and a section of the media and the political class took it upon themselves to allege and prove that the responsibility for this human tragedy lies squarely on “illegal Bangladeshi migrants” and that the undifferentiated Muslim masses inhabiting western Assam are “Bangladeshis”.

It cannot be simply assumed that the BTAD leadership and the mainstream Assamese society are innocently mistaken in believing that all Muslims inhabiting this area are illegal migrants from Bangladesh. Rather it is a conscious “mistake” laced with communal undertones. The rhetoric of “illegal” migrants flooding the region that appears to be fuelling the attacks is backed largely by what seems to be paranoia about the perceived growing numbers of Muslims in the area, all of whom are assumed to be “illegal” migrants.

It has been claimed by various people, including the Bodo leadership, that the Bangladeshi population in Kokrajhar district — where the violence erupted first and which is also the political seat of power in BTAD — has increased by leaps and bounds in the last decades. Contrary to what popular perception might hold, even a cursory glance at the census data gives a different picture. There has been no alarming increase in Kokrajhar district of the Muslim population in decades. In 1971, the Muslim population in Kokrajhar stood at 17 per cent. It stood at 19.3 per cent in 1991 and, in 2001, it stood at 20.4 per cent.

It is clear that simplistic propositions like ‘Bangladeshi illegal migrants are the root cause of the violence’ not only prevent us from understanding the complex reality of the situation but also reek of communal propaganda. The demographic reality of western Assam is a mosaic of different ethnicities with their own claims of identity and territorial aspirations.

In the light of this, some glaring questions stare us in the face. What informs this fear of the growing number of Muslims? How are these fears of the swamping of the ethnic and cultural identity of the Bodos being fuelled, and by whom? How and when did all Muslims in the area get classified in the public mind as “illegal migrants from Bangladesh?” Looking for answers to questions like these, rather than raising the bogey of numbers and formulaic xenophobic explanations might make the difference, literally, between life and death in this region today.

Attack on Prashant, Kejriwal... this was bound to happen

The very  youths that  provided the bulwark of Anna's movement have started hitting out against his team. There have been two incidents in the recent times where Anna's team members have been attacked. What is the catalyst which has suddenly made the youths who recently carried Team Anna on their shoulders to throw slippers on them.

The attacks on Prashant Bhushan & Arvind Kejrival are reprehensible but I think they are an indications towards a larger malaise. I think this is the time when team Anna needs to self introspect. They need to find an answer to the fact that the youths who defied everyone to support their movement have now taken cudgels against them. Not just the youths but also people who openly supported them have now started criticizing them. People like Justice Santosh Hegde have openly criticized team Anna for their stand against Congress in Hissar.There are reports of financial irregularities against Team Anna & in fact some youths are sitting on Dharna at Jantar Mantar protesting against this. Team Anna is now standing at the crossroads. It can either ignore these sporadic incidents or can question itself & ask why they have started losing support.

When Anna started his movement, people joined him spontaneously as everyone was fed up with the wide scale corruption prevailing in the country. The 74 year old became a cult hero with the youths. But somewhere, team Anna lost its focus & instead of fighting corruption started behaving like politicians. Hissar is a perfect case study to know what went wrong. Arvind Kejriwal opposed Congress in the by-elections. If team Anna purportedly believes that it is fighting corruption then why did it oppose the only candidate which had no criminal cases against himself. The way Kejriwal behaved all this while smacked of his political aspirations in his birthplace. Team Anna has started behaving as an extra constitutional authority & in fact have started considering themselves superior to the people, the masses.

Time is a great leveler & it'll surely teach team Anna a lesson.

Maya's Stone Age

A jungle, somewhere in Uttar Pradesh. A crow and a dove in deep gastro-intestinal conversation.

Dove- Hey Blakie, heard the news. We have a swanking new toilet on the outskirts of Delhi. I wish I could vote. I would have voted for Behenji. She has been taking such good care of our defecating exercise. New statues...all so well built & polished ... just imagine new faces to explore and deface... new heads to crap on.

Crow: And 'waise-bhi'... I was too bored of the same statues. That same old bald man, semi-clad in dhoti. My forefathers have been visiting his head ever since he was frozen in stone. This Gandhi fellow talked about equality, freedom, non-violence, social justice and what not. Our leaders found these ideas too cumbersome. They created his stone statues and froze his ideas then and there. They silenced his philosophy. Ever since then the ruling class has been shitting on his ideologies and we have been shitting on his stone cold head.

Dove: And that reminds me of my father. He was the child of Nehruvian era. Of lofty ideas and idealism, of development and progress, of belief in rupee and disbelief in dollars. But his generation failed him. After his death his philosophy was considered too idealistic to be digested by the next generation. So what did they do? They flushed out his socialism from their body and metamorphosed his body into stone. His statues mushroomed all over 'India of his dreams' and we got our new 'wash room'. My father told me how he always remembered at 'every stroke of midnight' to relax his posteriors on Nehruji's stoned Gandhi topi... and...

Crow: crap!

Dove: Yes! And now Behenji is spending crores for our sanitation exercise. Unveiling new toilets(oh sorry) new statues.

Then both the dove and crow flew happily thinking about their new excreting pastures.

So here goes the story. You see, we Indians are very egalitarian in our statue making exercise. A statue of our first lady prime minister can be found in villages and towns where women are most disempowered. Children are hungry and illiterate... yet a statue of Nehru and Rajiv still manages to have a stoical smile on their impoverishment. The government of the day ensures that the poor is not left alone with their agonies and shabby existence. There is a statue for every illiterate mind and every empty belly. Statues of politicians, leaders, litterateurs, freedom fighters... You name the breed and our country has it. And so if the rich have it... why can't the marginalised.

So, here comes the messiah of all those who have peripheral existence. Here comes the Maya of all statues. And her statues are the assertion of the 'dalit' existence... their identity... their new found place in the social system. At least she has convinced dalits that she is their only saviour. So a statue of Ambedkar holding the constitution in one hand is not enough for the amelioration of the downtrodden. Ambedkar could never find the 'key' to power. It was a powerless affirmation of the dalit rights... a mere ornament in the social landscape of the country.

The Deccan Plateau saw Periyar... a formidable face for the social upliftment of dalits. But he too could not dislodge the brahaminical setup of the political system. Babu Jagjeevan Ram became the dalit face of the ruling bourgeoisie... the Congress. Their statues did come up, but dalits were still powerless. It was Kanshiram who successfully engineered the dalit baptism into the folds of power. But he side-stepped... working more for dalit mobilization and making them realize that they too can rule. He anointed Mayawati as his political heir. Maya became the political face of Dalit emancipation... a living realization of their empowerment. But hold your breath... pause and think.

Do you really see the dalits climbing up the social ladder... the power of Mayawati trickling down and energising the poorest and the most marginalised? Pardon me but I beg to differ. Ironically it is only Maya and her social engineers who are getting empowered and the marginalised are entering their stone-age. The stone age of statues. So she is saying to UP wallah's... 1-2-3-Statue. Reversing the Lucknawi tehzeeb of 'pehle-aap', she's proclaiming a new tehzeeb of Mayadom- 'pehle main aur mera statue'. So let unemployment keep humiliating the youth of UP, a robust Maya's bust will make a mockery of their dreams... In front of every raped woman there will be a Maya statue... tall, dark and silent.

Tall in its promises, dark in its reality and silent, on its inability to truly empower.

Overseeing every bribed pocket of Babu's and policewallah's will be a statue. Every empty belly will be fed by the magnanimity of the statues. There will be a new mantra for these impoverished souls. Don't be hungry and cry over it. Don't crib on corruption and criminals... don't let your dignity be dwarfed by a rape... don't think that unemployment will rob the youth of whatever ego is left in him or her. All you UP wallah's in general and dalits in particular... hold your head high... just look at her statue and proclaim... 'We have arrived'. It will be called the 'statue therapy'.

Let Uttar Pradesh be at the lower end of all socio

Let the state exchequer become anaemic, she will spend a cool 700 crores or something on buying stones and building a Dalit prerna sthal. And remember she doesn't forget her ancestors... So the state will see more stone-faced Ambedkars and Kanshirams(or may be Rati Devi or Prabhu Dass from now on), their philosophy and scheme of social justice muted by the 'rocky' zeal of Maya. That's her stoney resolve.

Getting back to the deep jungle somewhere in UP, an elephant was moving with all pomp and gaiety. He was the only animal in the jungle having his statues in the landscapes of NCR. He had heard the news too. He passed by the crow and dove, ignoring them altogether.

The birds consoled each other and said... 'Don't worry mate... We'll crap on him too'.

Rioting Khaki

‘Untold story of Riots’

This headline in today’s Indian Express was again a stark reminder about the biased functioning of the men in Khaki. Bharatpur riot is not the first & surely not the last where bullets fired from police guns have the names of only one community written all over them. Cases of police inaction & ‘action’ litter the annals of Indian policing history & each time it is just one community which is at the receiving end. As it happens after every act of atrocity, an enquiry commission has been set up to find the ‘truth’. The truth which is as obvious as the hatred of the policeman who was pictured stomping the face of a rioter ( from the same community, obviously) in Forbesganj.

What makes the people in Khaki, the very people who have been entrusted the task of protection become perpetrators of the worst kind of violence?

The answers to this questions are two fold. The first & foremost is the underrepresentation of minorities especially Muslims in armed forces of any kind. Police in all states of India are grossly under represented by Muslims to proportion of their population.

There are well-known historical and sociological reasons that explain why Muslims are under-represented in the country's police forces, the Central Reserve Police and crucial gendarmeries like UP's Provincial Armed Constabulary. Obviously, we cannot infuse a significant number of Muslims into these forces overnight.

But it's obvious that we need to enhance the recruitment and retention of minorities in the police forces and to conduct police outreach to minority communities. Such an approach would simultaneously reduce a major source of grievance in the Muslim community, increase the trust between the police and the people they are policing.

We also need to recognize that if we want under-represented Muslims to compete effectively for police jobs, they need to feel the police is part of them, rather than an external entity. It's clear we need to: actively solicit applications from minorities for the police at all levels (including the Provincial Armed Constabulary and the Central Reserve Police); offer special catch-up courses open only to members of the minority communities that will prepare them for the entrance examinations; at the moment few feel qualified to take the exams, and fewer still pass; and require police officers to work with community organizations, mosques and madrasas to encourage minorities to apply.
In other words, instead of more "reservations", with the resentment that breeds, let us make it easier for minorities to join the police. But let's not stop with recruitment: we also need to focus on the retention and progression of minority officers. Unless young people from minorities see that the police service offers real career opportunities and a good quality of life in the workplace, they will not overcome their negative perceptions.

'HITLERESQUE' MODI

Not just the  Amabanis & the Tatas, but also Ford & General Motors have one thing in common, their love for Gujrat. This laboratory of Hindutava, headed by one the one & only Mr. Modi has found takers in industrialists of all hue & colours. They fall over each other, extolling the virtues of investing in this most ‘peaceful’ state of the country. This race to industrialize Gujrat is eerily similar to what happened in Germany during 1927- 33. Capitalists projected Hitler as their saviour, who could provide strong leadership, the very virtues that are being lauded in Mr. Modi by the Indian capitalists.

What is being touted as the reasons to overlook the genocide of 2002 & move ahead were the very basis on which the foundation of the Third Reich was laid & Hitler cemented his position.

As a journalist who has toured Gujrat extensively & has been to almost all the riot affected people in Ahemdabad & Godhra, it is frightening when people try to gloss over all that happened in the Gujrat pogrom & talk about moving ahead.

Does being a good leader absolves you of all your crime?

Does making Gujrat the most industrialized state of the country wipe your hands clean off the blood of 3000 people?

Does the politics of exclusion (the sham of ‘upvas’ now behind us) give you the legitimacy to stake claim as a national leader?

Answer these questions Mr. Modi & I assure that I’ll be campaigning for you in the next elections. As I said in my earlier blog I’ll prefer you over congress. Its always better to face an openly hostile man instead of facing someone who stabs you in the back.

Thank God... I'm not French

After the infamous Burqa ban another ban has now come into force in France. The ban on praying in the street which came into effect yesterday again highlighted France's problems assimilating its 5-million-strong Muslim community, which lacks prayer space.

People offering Namaaz on a street in Paris

Growing up in Delhi, I don’t remember the last time when I had prayed inside a mosque on Eid. It’s the same in every city on every Friday. People spilling over onto the streets, roads, by-lanes, school grounds, government land, whatever, wherever, every where.

I’ve seen Hindu shopkeepers in Chandni chowk reverentially sweeping their shop fronts to make it fit for Namaaz. Never have I heard someone grumbling about it & never anyone including the saffron brigade has labelled it as Islamization of the country.

Namaaz in Old Delhi

We in India understand (thankfully), that praying on the streets in not a show of strength but more a forced necessity. Friday prayers & other special prayers like Eid see Muslims swarming to mosques & since everyone cannot be accommodated inside people spill out on the streets. This is very common in every country where Muslims reside & every week cities like Lahore & Dhaka come to standstill due to this very phenomenon.

The continuous anti Muslims legalizations in France & other European countries have damaged the very secular fabric of the society that they purportedly protect. The banning of face veils or Namaaz on streets once again will give hardliners within the Muslim community to raise the spectre of Crusades pitting Muslims against others.

Thank God (or Allah in my case) that I was not born in France. Chandni Chowk will be any day better than Champ Elysse & more so on Fridays.

"I won't mind if Modi becomes the next PM".

"I won't mind if Modi becomes the next PM".
The whole room turned towards me with such aghast faces as if I've announced that I'm having an extra marital affair six months in my marriage( I'm sure even then the faces would have retained some color). "What?". "Why?"
As the aftershocks of this siesmic statement became milder, inquestive eyes bored at me. They all wanted an answer & they wanted it quickly( I could hear KBC's miss tictiki in the background).
Why the hell did I say that.
" Don't you rember what he did to your people in Gujrat?".
" You want him in Delhi?".
" Will you not feel unsafe, insecure?".
Not letting a person speak while constantly demanding answers is a parlimentary trait, (watch Lok Sabha TVfor further validitation) which suddenly seemed to have infected some well meaning journalists.
"Chup rahiya aap sab. Desh ka musalman ab samajh raha hai ki uski bhalai kahan par hai." The well meaning gentelman chided everybody & looked towards me with benovalent eyes full of compassion. The startched saffron kurta he was wearing, his favorite colour, made him look larger. He came towards me , patted me on my back.
"Tum jaise pade likhe musalmano ko hi pahel karni padegi."
I smiled back as my thoughts went to the nightmare of the night before.

The Day before:Modi's Wikileaks were on TV as we sat for a light dinner( Kofte, Kheer, Khamiri roti, light?) . My father was paying more attention to what was being served on his plate then on Modi.( Modi- Kofte. No brainer). Eating quitely has never been my dad's virtue so after talking about the texture & aroma of kofta, the coversation veered to the 'disha & dasha' of politics.
"Ye amrika kyu iski itni tareef kar raha hai". I remained silent( as usual ).
"Waise PM ban bhi jaye to kya hai. Theek hi rehega. Rahul se to accha hi hai"
Kheer edged out both Modi & Rahul as my Dad paid no further attention to wikileaks.

As I setteled down to sleep I could feel the gravy working its way back towards the wrong way( I am a glutton & some day I'll pay for it). Many glasses of water later , I could feel my eyelids drooping. Suddenly I was in a room filled with people.

The dream Cast:
Sonia- wearing her usual sari & deadpan expression
Mulayam- in white dhoti kurta & skull cap
Mayawati- pastel color suit & sullen expression
Laloo- One size bigger kurta pajama with more hair sticking out of his ears then on his head



The Dream:
Sonia- Bhaiyo aur behno..
Laloo- Soniya ji, bhashan mat dijiye. Aur waise bhi apke bhashan sunne se to accha hai ki mein himesh reshamiya ko sun lo.
Mayawati- Jaldi bataiye, hume kyu bulaya hai. Mujhe ek aur ambedkar park ka udghatan karne jana hai( all the while she was admiring her new sandals)
Mulayam- Haan, mujhe bhi kaam hai...( To show how busy he is, he took out the phone gifted by kalyan singh, then suddenly realized his folly & kept it back in his pocket, making a mental note of never taking ot out in front of Azam Khan)
Everyone looked at Mulayam...
Mulayam- Acha theek hai, koi kaam nahi hai. Ab bolo
Sonia- Dekhiye election aane wala hai. Hame apne vote bank ki chinta karni chahiye. 5 saal mein unko nahi pucha, ab to pucha padega.( She said this while looking at a turbaned man who was asking for some permisssion)
Mulayam- Maine to pucha tha, Saifai mein Iftaar party bhi di thi.
Laloo- Sirf, Iftaar party se kaam chalta to aaj Paswan desh ka pradhan mantri hota.
Sonia- Sahi baat, Hume unke liye kuch to karna hoga. Hamari party to pichle 60 saalo se unke liye kitna kuch kar rahi hai.
Mayawati- Jaldi bolo , kya karna hai, mujhe naye sandal khareedne jana hai.
Sonia- Maine ek aadmi ko bulaya hai. Aata hi hoga. Wo garuntee se hume jita sakta hai.
Suddenly, a man with crimson red hands , enters the room. He looks all around him & then starts glaring at Mulayam. Seeing him in so much rage, Mulayam becomes fidgedity & wipes his head, taking his skull cap off. The man's expression suddely changes & he starts smiling.
Mulayam- Puff... Pehle kyu nahi bataya ki apne ese bulaya hai. Mein topi to hata leta. Aaj to baal baal bacha hoon.
Sonia- Is election mein ye un logo ko darayge aur jab wo dar kar chillayenge to hum unko sambhal lenge. Vote pakka, sarkar hamari. Bas na school ki zaroorat aur na naukri dene ki. Arre, abki baar to unke kisi candidate ko ticket dene ki bhi zaroorat nahi padegi. Ye itna darawna hai ki wo apne aap dode chale aayenge.

General handshakes all around with Mayawati carefully avoiding Mulayam & vice versa. Suddenly, things go haywire & there is pandemonium all around.

I get up to find myself all sweaty. A sachet of Eno sent the kofta back to their place but the dream lingered on. Is modi such a bad thing after all. I had made up my mind.

Next day in the office, I dropped the bomb.

"I won't mind if Modi becomes the next PM".