Column

From last three decades or so the debate comes up intermittently as to whether Congress and BJP are two sides of the same coin. Many political parties; time and over again; have been taking up this formulation as a justification for Third front, which is away from BJP and Congress both. In previous Bengal elections Congress-Left coalition did come up but could not muster a victory against Trinmool Congress. Currently such a choice is posed by many dalit parties and lately such a formulation is being proffered by AIMIM, Asaduddin Owaisi’s party.

Recently binge-watched a six part mini series directed by Mira Nair on Netflix, titled “A Suitable Boy”, an adaptation of Vikram Seth’s novel of the same title. And while I am neither a movie critic or reviewer, nor a fan of watching series with a backdrop of the post Independence era, I was still moved to write about it. To lay down my emotions on paper with nothing but words. It isn’t extra-ordinary, or brilliantly amazing, neither the characters are made to grow on you nor the plot is meticulously twisted, then what was it, you may ask.

Allahabad High Court in its recent judgment opposed the conversion to get married to the person of another faith. The logic is that in the Special Marriages act, interfaith marriages are totally acceptable. One Muslim woman had converted to Hinduism to get married to a Hindu man. Talking in this aftermath the UP Chief Minister launched a tirade against Muslim men. As per him many Muslim youth hide their religious identity, lure the Hindu girls and then convert them to Islam. They will be dealt with sternly and their own funeral processions (Ram Naam Satya Hai) will be taken out.

There is news that in UK, Chancellor Rishi Sunak has unveiled (17/10/2020) 50 Pence 'Diversity coin’ to celebrate Britain’s diverse history and recognise the profound contribution minority communities have made to the shared history of the country. The coin carries the message “Diversity Built Britain”. This is in the backdrop of the campaign led by ‘We too built Britain’ group. The release of the coin is the beginning of the series which will honour the country’s ethnic minorities. There can be a detailed elaboration as to how different ethnic minorities have lived and made Britain their home. A significant number of these are from South Asia, including India.

A Year ago, RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat had stated (October 10, 2019) that Indian Muslims are happiest in the World due to Hindus. Now he goes on to say that most content Muslims are only in India. Not content with that he went on to state that “if there is any example world over wherein a foreign religion that ruled over the people of a country still exists there”, it is here in India. And further “"Our Constitution did not say that only Hindus can stay here; hereafter only Hindus will be heard here; if you want to stay here, then you have to accept the superiority of Hindus. We created a space for them. This is the nature of our nation, and that inherent nature is called Hindu". Wearing the hat of a historian he stated that many a Muslims fought for Rana Pratap against Akbar, exemplifying that people of all faiths stood together whenever there was an attack on India’s culture. He labeled Ram Temple is a symbol of national values and character.

Mr. Satyapal Singh, the BJP MP, while speaking in Lok Sabha on amendments to FCRA went on to support the forthcoming restrictions to the foreign contributions. While making his arguments, to buttress his point, he put forward the case of Pastor Graham Stewart Stains. In the process he poured venom on the late Pastor by saying that the Pastor had raped 30 Tribal women and was involved in the work

When James Mill periodized the Indian History into Hindu Period, Muslim Period and British period, he not only gave the tool to British to pursue their policy of ‘divide and rule’, he also gave the potent weapon to the future pursuers of communal politics to intensify the divisive policies in the future. The Muslim communalists later claimed that India was ruled by Muslims and Hindu communalists claimed that Muslims are foreigners and this has been the land of Hindus from times immemorial.

When Babri Mosque was being demolished in broad day light, the slogan being chanted by the leaders was, Yeh to Kewal jahnki hai, Kashi Mathura Baaki hai (This is the beginning, Kashi Mathura are next on the line). Supreme Court despite giving the same land to those who demolished the Mosque did call it a crime. The Ram Temple was used to the hilt for electoral purpose and for dividing the society along religious lines. The faith that ‘Lord Ram was born precisely at that spot’ was constructed. This constructed faith formed the base of politics and later the judgement of the Courts.

The Delhi Police believes that there was a conspiracy behind the communal violence in Delhi during the third week of February. We agree. But the actual conspiracy was a very different one from the one which Delhi Police is propagating. The truth is that not just the Delhi 2020 carnage; no major episode of communal violence is spontaneous: it is always planned, organized and facilitated. Such

Prashant Bhushan, the up, Bindaas Bol, which light legal luminary and social activist has shown the mirror to the Judiciary in a reamarkable way. But thats not the whole story. Recently two interventions of the Courts do give a hope that the judiciary is the hope for preserving the democratic values in the osicety. The first one of this was the judgement where the Tabiligi Jamaat members were exonerated from the charges of spreading Corona (Corona Jihad, Corona bomb). The second one is the courts coming to stop the transmission of hte series Bindass Bol by Sudarshan TV. Its Editor Suresh Chavanke in his tweet had announced the relay of the series which aims to expose the UPSC jihad, Bureucracy jihad by Muslims. As per him through a conspiracy the Muslims are infiltrataing (ghuspaith) into our bureaucracy by getting place in the UPSC exam, which will entitle them to become IAS or IPS officers.