India, an evaporating state!

India today magazine on its cover called India a “Failed state”. Shekhar Gupta in his national interest, a weekly opinion piece called India a “flailing state”. I would like to humbly disagree with both these characterisations, would instead like to say that in my view the Indian state is an 'evaporating' one. You may say that all three adjectives are not very distinct from one another and you will not be wrong but you have to accept that despite similar-sounding titles; both India today and Mr Gupta, present a very different description of the state of affairs. While India today, with its cover story is trying to compensate for what it does not calculatedly do from the television studio it owns. India's largest television network and also the most credible for the political class, when it comes to spreading propaganda. Mr Gupta has recently become soft on the failures of Modi, so much so that in his latest 'Off The Cuff' with Dr Jha, he said and I quote “someone forgot to order the vaccine” as if he was referring to a child who forgot to turn the lights off before leaving the room, not sure what stopped him from saying 'ignorant and arrogant Modi regime did not take steps necessary in the passage of a full year, not ordering the vaccine is one of many missteps taken'. I do know not what stops him from calling the 2nd wave, a Modi creation outrightly? I must however admit that we the citizens have no right to expect anything from either Mr Gupta or any other news outlet in the country because the “truth” is so stark and unfortunately for us so dark too, that no matter who tries or how organised one gets in the attempt, it just can’t be pushed under the carpet. 

It is impossible to hide (not report) deaths occurring in thousands, on an everyday basis! Though "undercounting" in the official records can be easily pulled off and as it has been proven by reporting of a few responsible news outlets that the media scene is left with, like the Lallantop, Caravan and the Scroll. Officials are undercounting covid mortality with great alacrity and efficiency. Various mathematical models have also beyond any reasonable doubt have proven that India is under-reporting death by a factor ranging from 2 to 6. To know the real death count, multiply the reported number by 6, that is how grave the situation is.

You might ask why am I bothering to write about it then, am I trying to uncover unknown truth? Nope, that is not the reason. In fact to be fair, with some hesitation, all media houses have broadcasted grim images from India's many crematoriums and graveyards. We could also argue that they did not have much of an option, with social media rife with helpless images, sore stories and vivid videos, there is no way they could not have reported? The tale of tragedy is available for anyone willing to look around. Like Mr Gupta, they too never name the one at fault, some say 'system' and others try and put the blame on the past and the opposition - such is the stronghold of the current regime on the narrative. 

And that is why it becomes important for citizens to chronicle the time; as these write-ups will serve as the first draft of history. So in a way, I am addressing the researchers of the future, who would like to dig back to know, what was happening in India in 2021; perhaps a century from now.

Well, coming back to my description of the Indian state, why do I call it evaporating and not failed or flailing. Because it is not as if the Indian state has ceased to exist. It is present in areas of its choosing. Weeks ago, the Indian state was conducting elections, facilitating mega rallies in 5 Indian states. No less than the PM participated in rallies exultant to witness a sea of people, on a day when India reported 2 lac cases, in the books of the government. All of the states that went to polls are now reeling under the 2nd wave pretty badly. The Indian state has not failed in lodging FIRs against desperate citizens who made the mistake of giving out SOS call on social media. The Indian state did not flail in organising the Kumbh Mela, attended by millions, right when the Covid curve stood perpendicular. The mighty Indian state is present and determined to collect GST on vaccines and oxygen concentrators. The Indian state is also intent on broadcasting every inch of movement in any direction, look at Twitter how cabinet ministers post drone shots of 5 oxygen containers being transported by the railways. How could the construction of central vista be categorised as 'essential services' if the thoughtful Indian state was not behind it? Therefore, it is wrong to conclude that the Indian state has either failed or has flailed. A truer statement is; that it chooses where it wants to be and evaporates from inconvenient spaces to evade accountability and public scrutiny. PM Modi is the only head of a democratic state who hasn't done any press conference on the Covid tragedy, that must tell you how healthy is the state of democracy in our glorious nation is.

The truth is that the pandemic has exposed both the shortcomings of an underinvested public health infrastructure and the incapacity of the current rulers. Nowhere in the world, such a shortage of oxygen has been experienced or reported. The government as it comes out now, was sitting on information that asserted eminent 2nd wave. It chose to let elections take precedence over everything else. It just did not act in the interest of public health and safety.

Every crisis brings both the best and the worst in people, this pandemic is no different. Exploiting the pandemic for commercial gain or cheap publicity is not cool, though! Corporate India must know that people see through their "donation schemes". These circumstances demand sincerity more now than ever. We must never forget what goes around comes around, natural justice is both inescapable and infallible. 

We must all trade very carefully!

Humans are dying of Covid and humanity of filthy greed and stinky shamelessness. Ambulance agencies, petty oxygen refilling centres and some hospitals are fleecing the hell out of people struggling to breathe. Makes one sick to the stomach.  A careful study of the socio-economic background of black marketers of oxygen concentrator and other essential drugs who have been arrested in the last few days in the Delhi NCR region reveals that these corrupt individuals come from particularly wealthy and well-connected backgrounds, easily from the top 1% of the country (wealth wise). 

What does it say about our social makeup and collective responsibility? How morally degenerate and emotionally insensitive can, we get as a society?

Caught between the apathy of the elected representatives and greed of these rich and influential inconsiderate monsters; the common man is dying unable to breathe on pavements of hospitals and on sidewalks of uncaring heartless cities the poor ill has been naively calling their home.

History will absolve none of us for the atrocities that are being rampantly committed against humanity. 

In these grim times, I gather hope from the selfless action of civil society groups and the interventions that our wise courts are making, particularly, Honourable 'Delhi High court, Allahabad High Court, Madras High court and the High court of my city Patna'.  We must root for the apex court to recognise universalised and government-funded vaccination for all under the right to life and personal liberty enshrined in Article 21 of the constitution of the Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic of India.

But till that comes by, it is we the people, who would have to assume the responsibility that the elected government has criminally abdicated, in whatever way we can; to save the nation and her people.

National vaccination policy seems informed by Social Darwinism; the fittest in this context means most resourceful. They will get access to the jab first and those who do not have the muscle (of wealth and influence) latter (which is basically in distant and unknown future). PM Modi, in yet another attempt to manage the headline and create a favourable narrative, announced that India will start vaccinating all above the age of 18 from 1st of May 2021, knowing fully well that both the vaccine manufacturers put together do not nearly have enough vaccine in stock to even cover another 10% people with one dose let alone 2 doses and entire population above 18, which is roughly 90 cr. The little we say about deferential pricing for the state and the centre the better - it is foolish economics and shrewd politics. 

Racial, ethnic and religious minorities and those economically disadvantaged are feeling the weight of the pandemic more than others. Higher rate of infection and lower recovery in this group point towards biased and collective apathy of one class of citizenry towards the ‘other’. This inequality is a global phenomenon and not just a blot on the Indian spread; though in our subcontinent, the social, political and economic aftereffects are more pronounced than anywhere else on the planet. 

Bharat is the ‘herd’ in the ‘herd immunity that India so desperately desires today.

Bharat has been bailing out India since time immemorial, with the only notable exception of the Indian freedom movement. Bharat fights India’s wars. Bharat grows food for India. Bharat erects the mansion India calls home. Bharat lays the roads and the runways on which India rages its motor of choice. Bharat participates in drug trials for India to have safe vaccines. Bharat curls empty stomach in moonlight so that India could party in the empty streets. Bharat toils on assembly lines on hot and humid shop floors for India to test the speed limits of its sports cars. Bharat labours in mines for India to have electricity powered life and lifestyle. 

Bharat votes for India to rule.

It is this Bharat that keeps the myth of India alive.

Will Bharat get its due, most certainly yes .. but sadly none of us will live that long to see it, not happening in our lifetimes, so stark and pronounced is the inequality.

Sending a prayer for India that is Bharat.

So for our own good, we must help the underprivileged, today!

India’s ok to do, middle classes and the above, which is roughly top 40% of the country have a choice to either amplify the shortsightedness of the policy with myopic selfishness or to behave in accordance with Gandhian Idea of inclusivity to help those who can’t afford to get a vaccine in an expensive 5-star hospital. Know this, that if the top 40% do not show magnanimity, the virus will continue to infect the poor and in the process mutate and then will come back stronger to hunt those living in the ivory towers later, too. 

The anaemic pace of vaccination, coupled with inelastic supply and high hesitancy not just among regular people but also medical practitioners (only 60% took the vaccine when it was available for all of them in the first phase); is going to ensure that virus keeps raging for next 2 years (most conservative estimate).

Given that social vaccine, which is ‘mask, social distancing and hand hygiene’ and state-mandated lockdowns and curfews; blunt as they may be are the only tools that the majority of our country will have access to fight the pandemic. 

The sooner we make peace with it the better it will be for us, all.

Don’t let your guard down, not now and not even in the near future.

A palace surrounded by graveyards from all sides, no matter how beautiful & grand, is seen as haunted. If for nothing else then to save the sanctity of our castles save the humble huts from burning in despair and disaster.

If India incorporation (all firms big & small) decided to cut its marketing spending (advertisement) by half for the rest of this year and diverted the funds to vaccination and rehabilitation of those infected from the bottom 30% of our impoverished country. It will become possible for India to imagine a future without Covid wrecking havoc, as early as the mid of 2023.

It may not be a legal requirement, one may argue that welfare is not the core objective of the private entities that operate to earn profit and that they are being unfairly expected to do what the Govt that collects lion’s share of their profits as taxes (both direct & indirect ) have been elected to do. They won’t be wrong, after all, they have worked hard to accumulate, raise the lifeblood of their org, the capital.

As much as they are right in ‘not spending’ it is also correct that the Govt of the day is both incapable and inconsiderate; so someone will have to come forward.

Come forward to help the desperate and destitute of this country today; after all, it is them whom you wish to sell to.

Money is not an issue, collective will is!

The amount of money that India spends each year on weddings and festivals is obnoxious, more than 100 billion dollars (conservative estimate). Imagine, if all of India decided to give up festivities and the expensive circus around weddings for a year - how easily can she wade through the crisis of Covid? 

At times like these India misses the charisma of figures like Bapu, Pundit Nehru, even Lal Bahadur Shashtri; who could rally the country behind such a mission.

Well, they may not be around; but their ideals live - we need to take inspiration from them, and give up what must be given up to offer people who would otherwise die if not from the disease then from hunger that would follow; the gift of life. 

Think long and hard and then act, we can’t be sitting on the fence.

The national duty of every Indian today is to do everything within their means to not fall sick; thereby saving an already collapsed medical infrastructure from further desecration. Her graveyards and crematoriums and other resting places (tower of silence) alike are tired and exhausted - they deserve to rest.

Shun social, political, religious and economic responsibilities in the interest of national well-being, support the nation: Do not venture out, save the country!

No effort is too small; no contribution, insignificant!

Keep in view the legend from the epic the Ramayana, ‘the little squirrel and the Rama Setu’, whenever you feel small and inadequate when faced with strong urge to help. For matters of kindness are not measured so much in volume but in purity of intent and by the degree of selflessness. Your contribution of sponsoring vaccination of one unrelated and underprivileged individual is in no way any lesser then someone choosing to dump a billion dollars in an already wealthy charity, in the book of the Karma.

I appeal to your humanitarian senses and not just patriotic propriety ; come forward to help, in whichever way you can.

Humanity demands action, we can’t leave those in need today to suffer in silence initially and then settle in eternal quiet eventually. We have to think creatively, cut costs wherever possible to find the ‘funds’ needed for good intentions to manifest in tangible acts of help. 

Here are a few things that we can attempt. 

1) Healthy individuals: Volunteer for non-medical efforts at hospitals: wheeling patients, filling forms, waiting in queues, distributing food and water, etc.

2) We can lobby with RWAs to cut the maintenance expenditure of the societies that we reside in, divert the saved funds to the needy, instead.

3) We can have common spaces in our gated communities and apartments converted into isolation centres for those who live in houses woefully small to maintain any social distancing; thereby limiting the chain. 

4) Cut personal expenditure to the bare minimum: Donate amount equal to electricity tariff of the ACs that we use, drop all non-essential purchases even the budgeted ones. Donate in kinds. 

Indiscriminate aid should become the principal character of public policy response and also that of independent social outreach programs funded by concerned citizens and NGOs.

In helping, that is if we have the resources to help, we should not see any group of needy as ‘the other’. Wherever possible, we must direct relief in the direction of those who need it the most and not towards those with who we know or identify the most with.

Helping people is serving GOD.

Take care and stay safe.

Idea of India!

 

'Self-rule' & 'liberty' are things that my generation has not had to struggle to earn - we were the fortunate ones, we were born free. Our forefathers paid the price for the freedom that we enjoy so dearly all the time (also abuse, on occasions). So in that sense, it is rather hard for someone like me who was born in the monsoon of 1984 to imagine, how alluring the scent of the 15th August must have been to those who toiled their life for it, in the fateful year of 1947. It would have taken a nerve of steel to deliver that iconic and historic 'Tryst with destiny' speech in the marvellous assembly setting.

They do not create such men any more!

Think of it, Bapu lodged himself far away in Kolkata; doing what he liked best - helping and building communities, dousing the fire of hate off, away from the glitters and the lustre of the New Delhi, the capital of a nation that had just become a sovereign. Such saintly demeanour, one can not but stop in awe of the great Mahatma. India is a deeply spiritual land, home of rituals, traditions and customs; most of which predate the modern identity of the nation by a few centuries if not millennia. The sense of community, the idea of belonging comes to us Indian in 'plurals'. Amalgamation, in my view, describes us the best. We're the ultimate culmination; like multiple rivers, streams and tributaries meet the ocean to become one, all citizens when they pronounce their Indianness, other identities that they also hold; of caste, creed, colour, culture, cuisine, custom, language and others fade into the background, (or should I say, "should fade into the background")

If winning freedom from the British demanded every drop of blood of our forefathers, sustaining and securing its 'free' state expects every drop of sweat of us Indians. Keeping a continent size country, which is home to 1.3 billion people is not an easy chore. There is a constant struggle, often complex and multidimensional between forces that unite and also the influences that seek to divide us. We are in a category of our own. Within the overarching Indian identity that all of us wear with pride, other sub-antecedents compete with one another sometimes in a moderately violent and uncompromising selfish way too. In the last 73 years, India has seen caste divide what religion united (I will vote for the candidate of my caste) and also religion uniting what caste divided (We have to make Hindus win), she has also endured religion divide what nationhood united (Go to Pakistan). It is humanly impossible to sum the idea of India in a way other than to say that there are 1.3 billion Indians and there are 1.3 billion ideas of India. (I am taking the liberty of assuming that everyone begets just one Idea of India, which we know is not true, entirely)

Given the circumstances, how do we conclude and more importantly how do we converge everything Indian in a capsule, is a question that has remained at the core of all nationalistic and political debates that have occurred in the country over the course of the last 73 years? Someone like me (with limited intelligence and scant erudition) thinks -"Is such a thing even possible"?

To me, ‘The Idea of India’ is neither static nor a singular one, it has never been and it never will be. India is about knitting a variety of Ideas by the combined thread of constitutionality, plurality, equality, civility and unity in diversity. We’re a land of peaceful co-existence, of harmonising difference and worshipping morality and fundamentals of natural justice, not just social but also economic and that of ethnicity. For India to exist, it will have to remain together!

"We're a constitutional parliamentary representative democracy amidst federal structure (centre and the state), with liberal signature"; at least that is how the idea of India was conceived originally by our founding fathers and mothers.  And that right there is one expression that sums it all up. It has the depth the width and the length to accommodate everyone, every notion, every idea, every imagination, every fact and even has generous room for fiction. Our constitution is the supreme binding force, which most eloquently outlines the set of principles that we all shall uphold in our conduct. The creators of the constitution kept the provision for the document to remain current by giving the legislators the powers to add, delete and modify laws. 

'Rule of law' was established, peace-loving and law-abiding citizens of this great nation, allowed the book of the constitution to shape our lives and thus a contour of the modern Indian identity was forged.

In the last 73 years, India conceded multi-party, multi ideological political parties to be formed and operate freely and fairly, as should be the case in a liberal civil society. Evolution is not always a happy process, it is effectively about becoming 'something else'; when species get lucky, they develop into a form that gives them the ability to cope up and adapt to the changing circumstances better and to survive first and then thrive. There are also times when evolution goes wrong which results in the extinction of the species. The idea of nationhood is deeply connected with the system of governance and in a multi-party democracy, politics is equated with governance in an umbilical bond. A highly competitive political system, opens the stage for lateral entries, leading to a wider stage of participation but it also inadvertently reduces mainstream constructive, and citizen-led narrative to a number game; in which getting to 2/3rd majority becomes more important that journey that a party or an individual takes to get there. The number and only the number matters - this mindless, rush creates grounds for all kinds of practices to creep in the electoral process. Morality is forgotten and is often considered a hindrance in the path of blatant and audacious ambition. Citizens unknowingly start craving for a bloody fight; gladiatorial contest comes up for display, every time elections are announced.

In the transition of power from colonial rule to democratic self-governance, in the last 73 years, we have had a peaceful run. When I say that I discount the passionate political jostling, poor policymaking and missteps that might have been taken by various leaders, to further the cause of their 'idea of India'. The first dastardly attack was launched on the state by the daughter of the 1st PM of the country and the freedom fighter who spent nearly 4K days in jail in the struggle for independence, when she declared emergency, rolled back fundamental rights and jailed every voice of opposition. The nation was young then it had not forgotten the freedom struggle, it got back together, brought her to her knees and the atrocity ended in 2 years.

The 2nd and perhaps, even more, potent blow to the founding principles of India is underway now. This time we are living in an undeclared emergency. This version of the attack is intelligent, sophisticated, aided ably by legal and commercial resources and it wears the mask of the mandate of the people but is every bit as brut as all authoritarian regimes have been in the human history. In 6 yrs of BJP-RSS rule under PM Modi India has witnessed, a departure from its rich traditions. The large heart of the republic seems to have shrunk itself so that it could be hidden and locked inside the bud of the lotus flower, the political symbol of India's right-wing. In the last 6 years, we have seen dissent being punished, jailed and even killed. Individual liberties have been crushed under the feet of the strong deep state. Almighty PM rules on whims, he showed his dictatorial streak for the first time when he invalidated 84% of currency notes in circulation. Economic destruction that followed still has not passed us. India is undergoing the rise of majoritarianism, values of constitutional morality have been forgotten. Parliament, the temple of democracy, is used as a notice board, the tradition of debate on legislation is no longer in vogue. The PM steamrolls every piece of legislation by force of brute majority in the lower house and the upper house, institutions like CBI and ED are unleased to make those opposing to fall in line. Election after election we have seen opposition leaders and their aids raided by the central agencies, and if that does not work out, a perfect deployment of horse-trading wins the day for the ruling party. Goa, Haryana, MP and Karnataka are fine examples. Weeks before the 74th independence day, the ruling party was hell-bent to bring the Rajasthan assembly down too; but it survived against all odds.

Nehruvian consensus does not have the approval of the ruling dispensation. How article 370 was abrogated and then the manner in which an entire state was converted in an open jail is no secret, a year has passed but still, all the political leaders of the valley have not been released. Those who have come out have had to trade their right to speak about the abrogation on a bond for freedom. The supreme court refused to hear the petition of habeas corpus, as a result, it is pending for over a year; citizens are under curfew without (high speed) internet for nearly a year in the world's most militarised zone and all of this in Bapu's land under a functional democracy.

A wise man once said that 'we have very strict rules but it gets compensated by the fact that none of us is required to follow them all, at all times' - such is the state of our constitution at the moment. If you look closely you'll find democracy is in suspension. Civil rights in recession and the state freedom of speech can be assessed by the fact that a lawyer was found guilty of contempt of the court because he tweeted criticising the CJI; the fact that the lawyer is a harsh critique of the PM and also a political opponent should tell you the rest of the story. The ethnocultural diversity that India recognised and celebrated as a strength has been lost too. We're no longer a land of equal citizenship, for the first time in its history, the parliament signed off on a bill that takes 'religious' identity of a person before granting citizenship, into account- CAA. No prizes for guessing that the Hindu right-wing party in power excluded, Muslims and accepted everyone else, in that piece of legislation. Dissent is being criminalised, poor Dr Kaleef is in jail for 6 months and a day before the 15th of Aug, his stay has been extended by 3 more months, for making a speech criticising strong man CM of the ruling party.

Founding fathers of the nation envisioned an India on the ideals of shared patriotism, but that notion is being challenged by the communal supremacists, who believe India is the place for Hindus and everyone else and especially Muslims are 2nd class citizens. Communal majority under the gab of poplar sovereignty is asserting its right-wing ideology upon the soul of this nation, that was built for all people, on the principles of 'equality before the law'.

Time has come for India to unite again to fight to retain its freedom from - majoritarianism, despotic rule. To re-establish, a humane liberal state one which values civil liberty and liberal constitutionalism. India needs to find its provincialism from the darkness of cultural and religious nationalism, that surrounds it. Constitutional morality is required to be established again, dissent needs to find its respectable space again in the public discourse. Media needs to be freed from clutches of the fascist forces. Indian people have to come together to protect the diversity of the state.

We need to resurrect the India of love, the India of hope and the India of equality again.

My idea of India recognises her identity from antiquity to eternity but not at the cost of freedom of its citizens.

Jai Hind .. Jai Bharat.

Sab Changa Si!

 

Do we mindlessly pursue idea/habit/decision/comment which has a large following? The simple answer to that question is a straightforward NO, we pick things which make sense to us or which serve a purpose that we hold dear. A concept can not be deemed right or wrong basis who or how many second it. Every choice must be weighed against every piece of wisdom known, before qualifying it legit. When democracy is reduced to a tug-of-war it becomes 'mobocracy', in which numbers alone count for everything! Let’s take a moment to acknowledge the grave challenges this great nation of ours faces today from suffocating economy to soaring unemployment and food inflation, growing social injustice, a crime against women the most heinous of all 'rape' is on the rise - yet what do we hear the current political dispensation talk about, often if not always? ‘Hindu Vs Muslim, India Vs Pakistan’, they have managed to wickedly destroy our collective intelligence. Don't we live in times when media houses shamelessly shout ‘मंदी को नहीं मोदी को देखो"? What are we doing to ourselves?

Given the feeble global standing of academic structures of our great motherland in the world, a government that should work towards improving the state of education is today too busy destroying whatever is left of the leading learning institutions. It has gone ahead and astronomically increased not just tuition fees but also tariffs of other ancillary services like hostels, canteen, etc. What would such a disastrous move cost us in the long term? Economically weak but deserving students won’t get the education that could have successfully lifted them from the rut of poverty and when you see it in knowledge that India is a poor country where more than 250 million people are forced to survive below the poverty line defined to give rulers (It was done by Congress) a face-saver; so it will not be wrong to deduce that current government is for ignorance and poverty. Education is not BJP’s top priority why else would a democratic country not get to see or know where its head of state went to get educated, his academic achievements are as fictitious as his slogans “सबका साथ सबका विकास और सबका विश्वास' whereas what he seems to be doing is 'सबका विनाश'. We have got a minister who was a graduate in her affidavit in 2014, 2019 faced up she regressed to being the 12th pass, 'क्यूँकि स्नातक भी कभी बारहवीं पास थी'. No less than the HRD minister could not defend the questions that got raised on his Ph.D. - So we, the people, or as Telegraph puts it, we the Idiots, should not expect his lordship government to work for the betterment of education.  

Socialist, sovereign & secular republic is how our founding fathers chose to define us; this idea was not only apt but also progressive, liberal and thoughtful at the same time. India is required to be a welfare state because the majority of its citizens struggle to make ends meet even after 72 years of self-rule. Things like decent education, timely and able medical care are still seen as a luxury in our country, even among those who live in high rise buildings, drive German motorcars and use the best of the computing resources available on the planet today. It is rather unfortunate that our government is working actively and decidedly against each of those founding values, it is particularly opposed to the plurality of our republic. It is hell-bent on destroying it bit after bit before we get to the war BJP has wedged against secularism. Let’s take a moment to appreciate the hypocrisy that they champion, in some detail.

Dynasty in politics : 

Since 1999, the Congress has had 36 dynastic MPs elected to the Lok Sabha, with the BJP not far behind with 31. In 1999, the beginning of the 13th Lok Sabha, 8% of Congress members of parliament were either descended from or married to former MPs, only slightly ahead of the 6% among the BJP.

The most similar density of dynastic politicians was in 2009 when the Congress and BJP had 11% and 12% dynasts elected, respectively.



Read more on : https://scroll.in/article/918234/is-the-bjp-less-dynastic-than-the-congress-not-so-lok-sabha-data-shows

Corruption & Criminal Record:

Across parties, of the 521 Lok Sabha members of parliament (MPs), 106 (20%) are charged with serious offenses such as murder, inciting communal disharmony, kidnapping and crimes against women.

As many as 55% of these are from the BJP (92), compared with 2% from the Congress (7), 3% from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) (6), 17% from the Shiv Sena (15) and 7% from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) (7), an analysis by National Election Watch (NEW), a campaign run by the advocacy group Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), shows.

Read more on : https://www.indiaspend.com/55-of-lok-sabha-mps-facing-criminal-charges-are-from-bjp/

Transparency : 

The essential problem with electoral bonds is that it removes transparency and accountability in political funding. Voters have the right to know which fat cats fund their political parties and if such funding has an influence on policies framed by governments formed by these parties. 80%+ of these donations have been received by the BJP, this very tool has made them the richest political party! Let’s not forget that they misled the nation by stating that these bonds were anonymous, recent findings have revealed that they can be easily tracked following the Bond number and details of the buyer!  

Read more at:

//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/72187122.cms?from=mdr&utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Gandhi Vs Godse : 

It is not a secret that the brand Gandhi is powerful and relevant, embracing him at international gatherings gives one a certain kind of immediate acceptance and respect; therefore the 56’ chested man leaves no opportunity to go by without making the most of it. But when it comes to actions, he favors those who worship his killers with ticket, ensures their victory and even places them in high offices.  

Terrorism & National Security :

Modi supporters often invoke “देश बचेगा तब तो अर्थव्यवस्था काम आएगी” to shield the supreme leader from the criticism that has been coming his way for his abysmal performance on the economy. He makes moving speeches to drill a fear deep among ordinary Indians from Pakistan and from Muslims at large, to the enticed public he then presents himself as the only savior. You’d often hear his followers saying “ If not Modi then who? “. The fact is that there has been a rise in not just the number of incidents of infiltration but also fatalities under his incompetent and careless watch. When it comes to security and terror; Modi has failed not only on the administrative ground but has also lost miserably on the moral standards by letting Pragya Singh Thakur who is a prime accused in the Malegaon terror attack became an MP on BJP ticket. He did not stop there, he even elevated her to a parliamentary committee. Only when nationwide protest grew strong, his party reacted superficially, to give people the false perception of his being serious, she was stripped of that committee but she continues to be a BJP MP.   

Frugality & Hard Work : 

In the last 8 months alone our man has addressed 142 political rallies if you add all the foreign trips just the traveling time and other speeches at GOI events- you’ll see that our man is practically working for furthering the BJP political agenda 85%+ of his time in office. He is either busy in some state election or a foreign trip. His attendance in the Parliament is lowest among all PMs that India has had! I will say nothing about frugality because we know that he has spent more exorbitantly than any other Indian PM on his PR. Practically all of the media houses have been bought over by advertisements. 

Hinduism and Beef: 

His silent approval has been motivating those who see it legitimate to kill provocative by mere suspicion of beef and his Bhakts carry out these punitive Lynching in the name of the Hindu religion as they consider the cow to be Holy if not a Goddess herself than nothing less than a deity. Even on the question of Cow BJP is inconsistent, in the NE and in Goa where people enjoy their steak, our man is ok, allowing Beef to be served hot on a platter everywhere else his men kill for it, while he chooses to conveniently look the other way.

These facts point to the conclusion that BJP under Modi  is as hypocritical as one can get and all that they care about is fooling voters into casting in their favour.

Let’s come back to the Tug-of-war that we spoke about in the first part of this article. The country has witnessed how they bulldozed CAB through both houses of the parliament. CAB is a prelude to the sinister NRC that will be pushed upon us, as a result of which if a Ram is not able to produce documents he will still retain his citizenship but on the other hand same failure will render Rahim stateless. This is not only unconstitutional, discriminatory but also immoral and is incumbent upon every Indian to fight against it in tooth and nails. This disaster in the making will render Muslims the largest minority sidelined, reduced and disenfranchised: All Indians must oppose it.

There I say on my twitter handle 

@LKstates

#1 Discrimination against ’one’ is discrimination against all!

#2 Diversity that all of us have been proudly giving away as a way of introduction of our motherland comes from various minorities that inhabit this country,with #CAB coming into effect we will be stripped of this advantage as #BJP moves its brute majority to alienate the largest minority.

#3 Dear India, 

When you graciously hand brute majority to fascist forces this is how they cast assault on the character of the constitution, fundamentals of this nation & tenets of social fabric of India. Secularism is not an idea to be tempered with, it is central to our identity!

#4 #CitizenshipAmendmentBill2019 the most ghastly form of an onslaught that #BJP is forcing upon the composite nature of our society & nation at large! All but #Muslims is most bizarre, undemocratic, and plain evil of all things that #Modi has unleashed on our nation. Egregious & sad!

#5 A majority that doesn’t protect the rights of its minorities crumbles under the weight of its own doing! History is littered with examples that suggest that collective oppression & exclusionary actions lead to less than ideal results. India must in one voice reject #CAB & #BJP

#6 Illiterate of the 21st century is not someone who can’t read and write, we have moved past that, current day knowledge disability is not knowing to reject discrimination, it is to consider fundamentals of natural justice unnecessary! Know someone with that ailment? Do help them!

#7 Dear #Modi, 

Do you know how bad your #CitizenshipAmendmentBill2019 decision is? Well, let me break it to you, even #ArnabGoswami from your PR rig @republic finds it repulsive, retrograde & regressive. He termed it worst form of majority appeasement - drop it, and say sorry!

#8 If you’re a student of political history (like me)you’d know every political movement that gets vehement support of students of the day becomes successful. Don’t take my word for it, read abt #JP movement or how students made a difference in civil rights movement! #CAB must go!

#9 If a billion people were to come out on the streets, all at once, demanding #CAB to be thrown out of the window with its creators would it happen? Yes it will. The administration doesn’t have the wherewithal all to use force against a gathering of a billion, they cannot! So get together!    

Undemocratic India!

Discrimination by the law is unjust, on that account both Article 370 and 35A, did not have a place in present-day India. Special status by definition is discriminatory and particularly hated by the Indians who live outside J&K and did not benefit from its provisions.  The gripe, however, has been getting relentless support from the view that anti-India sentiments were breeding freely in a land that enjoyed at the cost of the rest of us (Indian). The idea of ‘one nation- one flag- one constitution’ is a legitimate one, the fact that it is being received so well by Indians is a satisfactory proof, for most. I’m not going to challenge the constitutionality of the move which is being seen as not only bold and decisive but also nationalistic by the supporters of the government; because I still hope that, nothing that is unlawful beyond a reasonable doubt is going to stand the legal scrutiny by the Apex court. So if it is indeed wrong, the supreme court with right it by a verdict. What I’m hugely concerned about is democratic decency or should I say morality in governance, though. Hyperactive Indian media most of which is appreciative of everything that Mr Modi does, according to them, even the way the man breathes is the real Indian way to inhale and exhale, has already told, retold and in some cases even misread the history of Kashmir coming together with other 540+ princely states to form the union of India as it exists today, doesn’t require my endorsement. Everything that gets done, unknowingly but definitively, forms the basis of what will be done in the future and that aspect of it alone, should encourage the whole of the democratic world and not just India to ponder over this historic decision. 

Does the end justify the means in your world? 

Well, if it does, then there is no space for a conversation, you can leave this page right here and move to other titillating arguments that are being screeched from the rooftop to further the agenda of those who are strong enough to shape the narrative of the nation. But then if you are part of the minuscule minority that does value method just as much as the result, then you and I should spend some more time on this together. We know how the BJP cleverly, formed the government with Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP and then pulled back support midterm to push Governer’s rule. We are fully aware of the arguments that were given to support delaying of fresh elections in the valley for as long as 13 months. Truth is that if it had happened, not only Omar would have seated the CM’s chair one more time but made it practically impossible for BJP led NDA to abrogate 370 and annul 35A. So the masterminds, amended article 367 to elevate the legislative assembly to the stature of constituent assembly, in this case, and then letting Indian parliament surrogate for state assembly of J&K, then it took consent from the representative that it had appointed to the state itself and then superimposed president’s notice to make what we know has happened. Does it smell of a coup? A constitutional coup, yes, of course, it does!

The monument that made Kashmiris hide their inhibition on their way to what we (citizens from the rest of the country) call the ‘mainstream’ has been obliterated, to be never erected back again. An attempt will have to be made to remove the debris of the destruction, as step one, of infusing clarity into what is perhaps the most chaotic intricacy of independent India. Here are a few things that will be found in my view. 

Shattered Pakistani Dream: This is a delightful thing to find, not because, as Indians, we must eschew everything from across the border but because their claim on Kashmir has been illegal, immoral, and evil to say the least. Pakistan sponsored terror has claimed more than a hundred thousand lives and uncountable souls disturbed with their untimely and tragic demise. Two complete generations have been burning in the unholy fire. With this move, Mr Modi has comprehensively briefed the world that he is determined to take back whatever is rightfully ours. Fatuous offer from President Trump for mediation has also been answered in a BOLD and CAPITAL NO! Pakistan which is begging for 6 billion dollars and is willing to surrender its economic sovereignty for such a petty sum is in no position to deal with it. Even if PM Imran tries, he will wipe himself off the face of Pakistan for real and for good. But I suspect he would, anyway.

The Kashmiri groups: Mainstream leaders, the Abdullah clan, Mufti mandal, and new breeds of politicians that mushroomed months before the general election of 2019, now have before them the rare opportunity of finding a fresh account to shine their politics on but because it will essentially require shaping people’s perception towards accepting what has been done, it will be twice as difficult for those guys because for long they have survived by passively supporting the idea of either freedom from both India and Pak or Freedom from just India. PDP has been most notorious. The separatist will use this development to their advantage, for them this decision must be equivalent to striking a pot of gold. They will use it to inflame anti-India sentiments. Deflecting ordinary citizens may appear an easy task in their wicked lab, they will go for no just regular citizens but also those who have been for a long time pro India. The third category is the poor people of Kashmir; they will find themselves in a split again. They will need to make choices yet again; we hope and pray that they choose the republic of India over everything else.

The corpse of democracy: Let me in most certain and unequivocal terms say that the manner in which this ‘operation’ was carried out is by no means one of the finest display of democratic spirit. It has not only been undemocratic, rash, ill-thought of but also against the federal structure and soul of our parliamentary democracy. A few years ago, I would have never imagined something like this but then realities of today are different in which anything is possible. Democracy is a government of the people, for the people and by the people. And where were the people in this decision? They were locked in their own homes, their street was combed by the unprovoked imposition of sec 144, they were completely cut off from information and all modes of communication. Phones were dead, the internet was not yielding anything, even the democratically elected representatives of the people were confined in unexplained home arrest. The entire world watched Indian parliament steamroll abrogation with the force of brute majority in both houses of the parliament, barring the very people it impacted. Already guarded streets of Kashmir was supplied with more troops. Rest of India celebrated and congratulated PM Modi and his friend Shah. Integration of Kashmir with rest of India is being sighted as the prime objective of this move by the government, then we can safely say that this marriage does not have the consent of the people of Kashmir; rest of India seems happy without it, which is worrisome. 

I’m not even wanting to comment on the irony which surrounds supreme leaders address to the nation, in which he spoke about Kashmir for 40 minutes, all of us heard him but the affected people of Kashmir did not have access to the television broadcast.

I would have also applauded this decision if the government displayed the will to listen to the people of Kashmir. If it called for consultation, allowed mainstream politicians to freely voice their opinion both for and against the move if it did not lock people and communication down; I would have supported Mr Modi. Remember, numbers are on the side of the BJP, allowing democratic ways, would not have made it difficult for them to win it in the voting in both houses of the parliament, yet he made the deliberate choice to move unilaterally, disregarding rich democratic traditions of the largest democratic country on the face of planet earth.

Abrogation of Sec 370A and annulment of 35A would have then become a good example; currently, it is not! Article 3 of the constitution was also not spared from the legal trickery, a full-blown state tore down into two union territories. HM Amit did announce from the floor of the parliament that statehood would be restored as normalcy returns. It is anybody's guess that in 70 years with 370 on the situations did not get normal, would it ever become so after it getting revoked? For all practical purposes, this is what is going to be the design of the northernmost part of our country.

What this regime needs to know is that while Kashmir can momentarily deflect attention from the failing economy and mounting unemployment, it will never make people forget the questions around falling rupees and rising debt, permanently. It would have been awesome to hear from Mr PM on that as well, in the address that he submitted to the nation!

Goodbye!

Padmavati is not the only issue!

Dear Readers - You’ll find the tone and tenor of this write up cynical and even negative to some degree, it on purpose focuses on things which are not quite alright. It is my attempt to tell you ..romanticising without reason or results in view will not serve your long term interests well. For larger good sometimes you need to leave the neutral plain and lean towards one of the two extremes. Go forward, only if you’re up for it, too!

A country, that, under arguably most corrupt regime in independent India grew at a rate of 9% has come shattering down to 5.7% under a nationalist who is not only brutally honest, insanely hardworking, reclusively righteous but also sports a 56’ inch chest. Superb schemes likes start up India, skill India, stand up india has forcibly made job creations sit down in a pit that someone unknown seems to have dug quite deep, govt took a target of creating 2 cr. jobs in the formal sector every year on itself, so far as per their own figures they have created just about 1% of their own target. FDI kept headlines hot and brewing for good about six months, but in real terms, those promises have not even transformed in one nail getting driven into the ground for real, as Dr. Tharoor exclaims in his famous talk. A rather healthy and agile country suffered a massive fracture in its right limb when it was hit by a rod that read ‘creative & courageous’ without a reason and inflicted upon itself a wound that’s sore even after a year of the injury. Demonetisation monetised banks and rendered the informal sector crippled. If that blow was not enough ‘one country one tax' idea that was originally conceived by the very economist who opened India’s economy to the world, was snatched from him made someone else’s and then implemented in haste - resulting in one confused country with 3 taxes and 6 GST rates. Nothing in the recent decades has been known to create perplexity this grave - every businessman is trying to wrap his head around the rates and the filing methods - accountants are spinning their mills like crazy though. 

We live in times when dissent is perceived seditious, sloganeering and sensationalism fills the air, cows feel safer than those who even dream of seeing source of protein in its flesh, stories of people getting lynched float with ease and repeatedly. The whole nation is busy, registering PAN numbers, linking Aadhar with banks and SIM cards and then back with PAN, so much so that they have no time to notice that prices of commodities like fuel and cooking gas have been revised over a dozen times in last three year and on an crude comparison basis, prices have gone up 30%. The railway platform ticket which used to be 2 rupees at one time not too long ago in the past is now 20 bucks but we’re so overwhelmed by the news of a bullet train on loan and the idea of hyperloop between already well connected Mumbai and Pune that we have no time to take note of the fact that poverty line that was wrongly defined at 32 rupees per day hasn’t been revised and every year more people are getting added to that lot, helplessly.

Children’s are dying for lack of life saving oxygen but the administration  is busy finding ways and means to erect another temple!

God knows what has happened to the quality of discourse, we do not speak or critique jobless slowed growth as much or put our heads together to solve the pollution issue but we are hurt immensely when we do not see a man on a wheelchair stand up for national anthem before a movie screening.We are too busy sending disagreements to Pakistan , glorying Bharat by disintegrating it from its own glorious past, TAJ has suddenly become undesirable. Mugalsarai Jn. has been remanded "Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Jn.”. Not just journalists and writers but also qualified judges are killed in cold blood and no one knows who murdered them or is even bothered finding out. Will you please pinch me and wake me up to the India that I used to be in the year 2013 when I believed my vote for BJP will pull India out of the mess that then seemed unbearable. In reality it has thrown on our faces arrogance and mindless race of finishing first in elections. PM’s love for winning elections after elections in eyes of many Indians has made him suitable for trumping Mr. Trump in next US election. 

What is this stupid thing that we’re trying to chase? Why does a Modi postcard on Times square, New York, makes us go swell? Don’t we realise that the money that got our man up on that wall would have fed many kids who die of hunger in world’s larger democracy? Grand respect for Patel doesn’t have to be shown by wasting monumentally in erecting a statue. India would be better served if that money is invested in ensuring timely supply of oxygen cylinders to hospitals where kids die. What kind of India are we living in? Where an elected CM has the audacity of saying criminals will be killed in encounter - where does this man get the courage from? I fail to understand!

Padmavati, yes, an imaginative figure occupies centerstage today! I’m a student of history have read it all my life, I specialise in Indian history - I haven’t read one .. yeah you heard me right, not even one historical account of Padmavati, who is now being referred to by an honourable BJP member as mother of the nation? Can we ask father of the nation his views please?

People have taken to streets, men and women alike, all in no uncertain terms are threatening to create mass ruckus if a director who merely tried  to imaginatively and creatively tell a story about a character that never really lived in flesh and blood, is allowed to go live on the 75 MM screen? What saddens me even more is that it is not the first time when we Indian people are behaving unreasonably.. our past is full of such foolish instances. Satanic verses was banned even before the physical book made it to the indian shores, ‘Mohammad, the Idiot’ article by times of India met the same fate. A flick on Jesus was not allowed to get screened in India become handful of people found it offensive. Taslima Nasreen is a living proof of the fact that we are people who have not become intolerant suddenly but have actually never been quite accepting of differences. Our constitution provides us freedom of speech but it unlike the west imposes reasonable restrictions in interest of morality, foreign relations, religion etc - so you can and at the same time can’t express freely - Article 19 (2)!

The Apex court has on innumerable occasions said that it is duty of the Government to provide its citizens with security so that they get an environment to freely express their views but because the government is also the upholder of law and order it often take hiding into that fact and for a perceived threat chooses to dismiss freedom of expression. States like Rajasthan, UP, MP etc have already banned the movie in their states sighting the same reason - but in reality what they care about is votes and just that!

Offending Rajputs means loosing a state .. so even if their demands are utterly rubbish it must be met! This is the truth!

In a democracy everyone has a right to disagree but as the great Mahatma once argued that so long as we agree on the ground rules of disagreement, expressing disagreements will never be a problem! But in present times disagreement has found ‘threat’ as it companion.

So here is what I’d like to say to all of you who are opposing Padmavati or just glorifying any such stupid move without really checking facts. 

If you find the director taking liberty with historical facts .. why don’t you make a movie with facts? If you find a book or an article offensive - write one carrying your views! You are free to not watch it but you can’t stop others from watching it!

On that note .. I would say that we really need to become a little critical sometimes to understand what is wrong around us. Unless we scrutinise we would not know how urgent we need to correct our course.

Bye for now .. see you in the next one.