Founder: Vishva Nath (1917-2002) VOLUME 10 • ISSUE 2 Editor-in-Chief, Publisher & Printer: Paresh Nath FEBRUARY 2018

cover story / politics 26 Model Minority The hard questions facing the poster boy of Canadian multiculturalism daniel block

The young and stylish Jagmeet Singh is the first non- white person ever to be elected the leader of a major Canadian political party. While his impressive rise is a testament to Canada’s multicultural ethos, Jagmeet is controversial within India and has a testy relationship with its government. His activism around India’s 1984 anti- Sikh pogroms has exposed tensions between Punjabi and diaspora Sikhs, and within the Sikh diaspora itself. In his quest to become the Canadian prime minister, Jagmeet will have to contend with his country’s turbulent relationship with religious minorities, his party’s inconsistent electoral fortunes and certain violent elements of Sikh politics.

perspectives

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18

politics 18 Temple Run Will Karnataka’s real, devout Hindus please stand up? narayana a

50 satire 22 A Modest Proposal For preventing the children of poor people in religion India from being a burden to their parents or 50 Bearing The Cross the economy, and for making them beneficial Pakistan’s Christians struggle to keep the faith to the public sarah eleazar kushanava choudhury

FEBRUARY 2018 3 the lede

8

communities 8 A Pack of Troubles 64 How Spiti is coping with its stray-dog problem bhanu sridharan

agriculture 12 Barren Land A saffron farmer’s take on crop photo essay / environment failure in Kashmir 64 The Great qazi wasif Outdoors The picnicking subculture communities in eastern India 14 Shifting Impressions arko datto What the preservation of a Roma identity entails alexander hurst

books 94

arts 78 Out of Focus What Raghubir Singh did not see ratik asokan 78 the bookshelf 92 showcase 94 NOTE TO READERS: THE “SPONSORED FEATURES” ON PAGES 48–49 AND 62–63 editor’s pick 98 ARE PAID ADVERTISING CONTENT.

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editor Anant Nath executive editor Vinod K Jose political editor Hartosh Singh Bal associate editor Roman Gautam books editor Kushanava Choudhury senior assistant editors contributors Martand Kaushik and Puja Sen copy editors Aria Thaker 8 Bhanu Sridharan is an independent journalist interested in writing about ecology and the THE LEDE and Maya Palit environment. web editor Nikita Saxena 12 Qazi Wasif is a freelance journalist, based in Kashmir. He is interested in digital storytelling. assistant editors (web) His work has been published in various local and national organisations. Surabhi Kanga and Arshu John 14 Alexander Hurst is a journalist based in Paris. He has previously written for the New contributing editors Republic, The Daily Beast and France 24. Deborah Baker, Fatima Bhutto, Chandrahas Choudhury, PERSPECTIVES 18 Narayana A is an associate professor with the school of policy and governance at Azim Premji Siddhartha Deb, Sadanand Dhume, University, Bengaluru. He writes on issues of politics and governance in both Kannada and Siddharth Dube, Christophe English. Jaffrelot, Mira Kamdar, Miranda 22 Kushanava Choudhury is the books editor at The Caravan, and the author of Epic City: The Kennedy, Amitava Kumar, Basharat World on the Streets of Calcutta. Peer, Samanth Subramanian and Salil Tripathi REPORTAGE 26 Daniel Block is a Delhi-based 2017-2018 Luce scholar working for The Caravan. staff writers Praveen Donthi AND ESSAYS 50 Sarah Eleazar is a Lahore-based journalist. and Atul Dev web reporters Sagar and PHOTO ESSAY 64 Arko Datto is a photographer based in Kolkata. He won the Arles Prix Voies Off in 2017 and Kedar Nagarajan the Gomma Grant in 2016. He works on visual projects of his own and also curates the works editorial manager of others. His interests include surveillance in the digital era, forced migration, techno-fascism Haripriya KM and disappearing islands. fact checker Nileena MS photo editor Tanvi Mishra Tanvi Mishra is the photo editor at The Caravan. photo coordinator Shahid Tantray BOOKS 78 Ratik Asokan is an assistant editor at Art in America. graphic designers Paramjeet Singh and COVER Photo: Mark Blinch / Reuters Sandhya Visvanathan luce scholar Daniel Block editorial interns Abhinaya Harigovind, Gena Fazel and Sneha

Corrections: Nikita Saxena and Atul Dev’s “No Land’s Man,” published in December 2017, mistakenly stated that PV Kalyanasundaram, the owner of the news channel Polimer News, is a former leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. While a PV Kalyanasundaram was earlier an organising secretary of the DMK, he is not the same individual as the owner of Polimer News, and does not have any connection with the channel. The story also mistakenly identified Partho Dasgupta, the CEO of the Broadcast Audience Research Council, as the author of an [email protected] email to the television journalist Rahul Shivshankar that was sent by Asti Misra, the vice president of business development at the organisation. The story also misspelt the first name of Shweta Kothari, a former reporter with Republic TV, as “Shwetha.”

Gopu Mohan’s “The ‘p’ word” misspelt the academic Rupa Viswanath’s last name as “Vishwanath.” facebook.com/TheCaravanMagazine

The Caravan regrets the errors.

subscribe [email protected] website www.caravanmagazine.in @thecaravanindia

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6 THE CARAVAN

THE LEDE Thinley returned to his home in Kibber, A Pack of Troubles I asked him how many dogs were ster- How Spiti is coping with its stray-dog problem ilised in Kaza this year. “A hundred,” / Communities he said, and the other NCF staff burst into laughter. “Actually it was 12,” he admitted with a small smile. “Nobody brought any dogs on the second day.” / bhanu sridharan done systematically and in a humane The first sterilisation camp took manner.” place in 2013. In preparation for it, the On a windy afternoon in July, Mool- On 14 and 15 July, the animal hus- village council in Kaza instructed every chand walked into Kibber, a village in bandry department and veterinary household to catch at least one dog, or the Spiti Valley in northeastern Him- hospital in Kaza—the subdivisional pay a fine of R500 if they failed to do achal Pradesh, following closely at the headquarters of the Spiti Valley—host- so. Ajay Bijoor, who manages NCF’s heels of a foreign tourist. “Moolchand ed an animal birth-control programme, conservation projects in Spiti, told ji,” a passerby called out. “Izzat toh an annual camp arranged to sterilise me over the phone that 102 dogs were deni chahiye”—you should show some some dogs in the town, where the ca- sterilised during the first camp and respect. A group of people, waiting for nine population was growing rapidly. It around 326 dogs were sterilised in the the daily bus out of Kibber, laughed. was a collaboration between two NGO. annual camps held between 2013 and Moolchand, a friendly and trusting dog, Funds for medicines were provided by 2017. In the last two years, the number is regarded with affection by tourists Ecosphere, which works on tourism has steadily reduced. Only 35 dogs were and tolerated by villagers, even when and local livelihoods, and four staff sterilised in 2016. Bijoor estimated the he wanders near the sheep pens. members from the Nature Conserva- stray dog population to be between But the treatment he receives is tion Foundation, or NCF, which works 700 and 900 today, while Home’s study rare. In this corner of the Himalayas, on snow leopard conservation, had suggested that there are at least 571. dogs are entangled in a difficult con- come down from Kibber to assist in the “Sterilised dogs still have a lifespan of flict with locals. Spiti has long been a proceedings. Led by Tanzin Thinley, a at least eight to ten years,” Bijoor said. pastoral economy, and it depends on field coordinator at NCF, they cheerful- “They continue to hunt livestock and livestock—sheep, goats, horses, yak, ly sedated, cleaned and prepared dogs wildlife during this period, and this donkeys and dzo—to provide resources for the operations, while two vets from has made local people lose interest in such as meat, manure and wool. A the Animal Husbandry Department sterilisation.” Yet it is still the preferred study published in January 2017, in performed the surgeries. method of dealing with the problem. the Swedish journal Ambio, found that When I visited on the first day, the With dogs in Kaza, Bijoor explained, feral dogs were responsible for a little mood at the camp was almost festive. sterilisation might be an adequate mea- over 63 percent of the livestock deaths Cups of Rasna were passed around to sure, but villages where dogs reside in in Spiti, and 80 percent of those that organisers and onlookers, and a colour- pastures or the jungle might need a dif- died were sheep and goats. Chandrima ful tent under a willow tree functioned ferent strategy. Home, a doctoral student at the Ashoka as a makeshift operating theatre. But Another dilemma faces the people Trust for Research in Ecology and the the success of the camp hinged precari- of Spiti—a predominantly Buddhist Environment, Bengaluru, and the lead ously on the residents of Kaza catch- society—who feel that killing dogs goes researcher of the study, found that over ing dogs and bringing them in. When against their faith. In 2014, students the span of one year, dogs had killed from the Kachen Dugyal Memorial Girl’s 238 livestock in 25 villages. Although Although sterilisation was Hostel in Kaza made a short film, urg- sterilisation was thought to be the the preferred method for ing locals to co-operate with the annual best way to tackle this problem, local sterilisation drive. In one scene, a young enthusiasm for participating in sterili- dealing with the killing of student interviews Phunchok Namgial, sation camps has dwindled. According livestock by stray dogs, an elderly resident, who claims that he to Home, culling measures need to be local enthusiasm for sold his stock of sheep and goats because considered. “I think we have to come sterilisation camps has he could not bear to lose any more of to terms with the fact that we have to dwindled. them to dogs. “I feel very angry when physically remove some dogs from the I lose my animals because of the losses landscape,” she said, “but it has to be w w I face,” he says. “I am old and I cannot

8 THE CARAVAN a pack of troubles · the lede himanshu khagta himanshu kill these dogs.” After what appears to the killing of stray dogs, and instructed above: “If they are not fed, they become be some prodding by the interviewer, he municipalities across India to sterilise aggressive and attack people,” Angdui, a also says, “It is a sin and the laws also and vaccinate dogs instead. “The Ani- Kibber resident, said. “Besides, we have to do not permit such action.” Namgial’s mal Husbandry Department used to show compassion.” response suggests that people in Spiti routinely cull dogs in the region,” he are sometimes caught between the com- said. After the 2001 rules, according to when we met in Kaza in July that his passion that their faith preaches and Angdui, the department “washed their office provided around R10,000 towards their urge to protect their livelihood. For hands of it.” The population of dogs in- the cause. “We help as much as we can,” instance, Bijoor recounted that during creased, as did attacks on livestock and he said. the Dalai Lama’s Kalachakraa lectures wild herbivores. Meanwhile, in Kaza, The Spiti Welfare Society, a women’s in 2000 at the Kye Gompa—a well- restaurants and cafes that sustained self-help group in Kaza, began mak- known Tibetan monastery—around 200 dogs during the summer by generating ing chapatis for the dogs in the winter dogs were loaded onto a truck by local food waste shut down in winter, cutting of 2016—a decision that irked some people. The dogs were then transported off food supply for the dogs. They either locals in Kibber. Thinley appeared to to Manali, because it was considered died or became aggressive, sometimes be frustrated that the administration inauspicious to kill them during a holy even resorting to cannibalism. Bijoor itself is sustaining dogs in Kaza, despite event. Last year in Kibber, according to recounted that in February 2017, the ongoing attempts to reduce the dog Thinley, 33 dogs were rounded up and issue captured the attention of People population. “Do not kill them, but why killed. “They troubled us so much. Noth- for Animals, or PFA, an animal welfare feed them?” he said. “In smaller villages ing”—referring to livestock—“remained organisation run by Maneka Gandhi, when we try to organise sterilisation last year,” he said. a well-known animal-rights activist camps, they tell us to first take care of Sonam Angdui, a Kibber resident, told who is currently the cabinet minister all the dogs in Kaza. But in Kaza, people me during a phone conversation that for women and child development. PFA are encouraging the dogs.” Angdui, on dogs were not a problem in Lahaul and contacted the local administration, the other hand, was adamant that locals Spiti until the central government pub- and suggested that it start feeding the hardly have a choice in the matter. “If lished the Animal Birth Control Rules dogs in winter with the support of lo- they are not fed, they become aggres- (Dogs) of 2001—guidelines on the treat- cal NGOs. Vikram Singh Negi, the ad- sive and attack people,” he said. “Be- ment of stray dogs. These rules banned ditional district commissioner, told me sides, we have to show compassion.” s

10 THE CARAVAN the lede Barren Land A saffron farmer’s take on crop failure in Kashmir / Agriculture

/ qazi wasif after his father’s death in 1967. “My grandfather used to tell me, the deeper you dig, the land will Mohammad Habib Mir looked pensive as he become more viable for sowing, and you will walked towards his saffron field on a cold day in produce more,” he said, referring to the labour- November. Fifty years ago, the 67-year-old farmer intensive nature of saffron production. was accustomed to collecting between 20 and 40 Since farmers have to extract the stigma of kilograms of saffron from each kanal—around saffron flowers, and each flower only has three 4,500 square feet—in large baskets made from stigmas, it takes anywhere between 100,000 and willow twigs. Nowadays, he is lucky if he man- 200,000 flowers to produce a kilogram of dried ages to collect around two kilograms, and he only saffron. needs a small bag. India is the third-largest producer of the spice. Mir, who was brought up in Pampore, a town It is used as an ingredient in cosmetics, medicines, around 13 kilometres from Srinagar, took up saf- dyes and perfumes. Nearly 7.3 percent of the

fron cultivation full-time to support his family world’s saffron is produced in Jammu and Kash- / ap photo yasin dar

12 THE CARAVAN the lede

mir, where saffron cultivation is the second-larg- 62-year-old saffron grower and the president of opposite page: est industry. But the last two decades have seen All J&K Saffron Growers Association, set up an Mohammad Habib more than a 25-percent decline in saffron cultiva- irrigation facility on his own last August. “The Mir, a saffron farmer tion in the state. Heavy construction in Pampore borewells were already dug up by the govern- in Kashmir, felt that reduced the area under saffron cultivation from ment, but were defunct,” he told me in October there had been a move away from 5,707 hectares in 1996-1997 to 3,785 hectares in last year. “I brought some equipment used to make saffron cultivation 2014-2015, which led to a decrease in yield per the borewell work and connected them with a to other livelihoods, hectare from 3.13 kilograms to 1.88 kilograms. motor, ensuring a regular water supply for my and suggested that, Today, around 3,500 hectares are available for cul- part of land.” He said he experienced a 40-percent nowadays, families tivation. A severe drought in 2017 exacerbated the increase in yield. hire workers with crisis. The state received around ten millimetres Mir was not impressed by the government’s little expertise in of rainfall between August and October, a tenth of efforts. To begin with, he said, it should provide growing the spice. the average for those months, which drastically crop insurance for saffron—a longtime demand reduced the yield. of producers which has not yet been granted. Mir felt that other factors had contributed to “The government needs to build proper infra- the slowdown of saffron production. “Nowadays, structure for sprinkle irrigation, like they have families hire workers from outside who have little in Iran,” he said. “The reason they are far ahead or no expertise in cultivating the spice,” he said. of us is because they are utilising the technology He noted that there had been a move away from properly. Lately I heard that they have some sort saffron cultivation to other livelihoods, and sug- of machinery there that does the saffron pick- gested that the new generation was not enthusias- ing.” He was referring to the saffron separator, tic about learning the techniques of saffron farm- a new device recently invented in Iran, that ing, because of the social taboo attached to the extracts flower stigmas. Mir appeared annoyed occupation of farming and also the low pay-out of at the proliferation of imported Iranian saffron, the labour-intensive work. “I want my children which is cheaper and frequently sold as Kashmiri to do this job,” he said. “The new generation feels saffron. He recalled an incident from 2007, when a sense of disgrace at being called a ‘farmer,’ and a foreign client asked for laboratory certification they find other means to earn their livelihood.” to ensure that Mir was not selling fake saffron. In 2010, the central government created the Since no saffron-testing laboratories exist in National Saffron Mission, a project with funds Kashmir, he had to go to a private laboratory of R371.18 crore—which was later increased to in Delhi, which cost him around R10,000. Basu R400.11 crore—that included subsidies for fertilis- agreed that Kashmiri saffron was losing cred- ers and pesticides, and plans to install borewells ibility in the international market because of fake and other irrigation facilities, such as sprinkler saffron. “It’s high time for government to set up a systems. Although 101 out of a planned 126 bore- saffron research lab in the valley, where products wells were built, only eight of the planned 128 will not only be tested, but they can study why sprinkler systems were installed, and, according to the saffron yield is going downhill,” he said. Mir, only a few of these function. The centre has Mir told me that according to Kashmiri legend extended the scheme till March 2018, but farmers saffron was brought to the region by two Sufi as- are not content with it so far. Mohammad Shafi cetics, Khwaja Masood Wali and Sheikh Sharifud- Basu, a saffron grower who has been in the busi- din Wali. They fell sick, and begged a local chief- ness for over five decades, said, “I have never seen tain for a cure. When he obliged, the two holy men such low yield in my life. The core thing needed gave him a saffron flower as payment and a sign of for saffron cultivation is water, which the govern- gratitude. Every year, devotees offer prayers to the ment has failed to provide us. The government Sufi saints—who have a golden-domed shrine and installed tube-wells and laid pipes for sprinkle tomb dedicated to them—during the harvesting irrigation, but most of them are defunct.” season, in late autumn. A few saffron growers in Pampore have set Basu appealed to a different god. “We are up their own irrigation facilities, and have seen dependent on the weather gods for rain,” he said. better yields since. Disappointed with the lack of “If it fails, our crop also fails, which is what has a proper irrigation system, Abdul Majid Wani, a happened this year.” s

FEBRUARY 2018 13 the lede Shifting Impressions What the preservation of a Roma identity entails / Communities

/ alexander hurst

Miroslav Brož, holding a can of Krušovice beer, greeted me and Eli Naegele, a Czech reporter, one April afternoon last year. We had just arrived at Předlice, a neighbourhood 15 minutes by bus from the desolate centre of Ústí nad Labem, a visibly poor industrial town near the Czech-German border. Gesturing at the graffiti, grime and abandoned buildings that bordered the open field in front of us, Brož, the 38-year-old president of Konexe, a Prague-based Roma-rights NGO, described Předlice and its dilapidated housing as “the worst Roma ghetto in the country.” The conditions under which the Roma or Romani—a traditionally itiner- ant group, comprising between 10 and 12 million people in Europe—live in the Czech Republic are particularly

dire. According to a survey conducted sovfoto / uig getty images in 2015 by the European Commission, In 1939, weeks before the Nazi invaded Czechoslovakia , the country’s government built a respondents in the Czech Republic re- labour camp in the quiet southern Bohemian village of Lety u Písku. ported the most negative views towards the Roma out of all respondents in François Hollande, with more than on that design; in 2016, the Indian countries of the European Union. The 56,000 Romani deported between 2012 minister of external affairs declared Czech Roma—48 percent of whom live and 2017. that the Roma were “children of India.” below the poverty line—are three times Studies suggest that roughly 1,500 Although some Roma groups are enthu- more likely than the general population years ago, the Roma left the mountains siastic about creating a shared identity, to have gone no further than primary of northern India and began to settle discourse on the Roma has pointed out school, and face unemployment rates as on the steppes of the Caucuses, before the difficulty in a non-territorial, tradi- high as 90 percent in some communi- starting to arrive in Eastern Europe in tionally itinerant group seeing itself as ties. the 1100s. From there, Roma groups unified. The Roma experience hostility across took disparate paths, but there have On the evening of 30 April 2017, Brož the European continent. A 2016 survey been attempts at organising them joined dozens of Roma families in a conducted by the Pew Research Center, under a cohesive identity in the past field at the eastern corner of the Roma an American think tank, found that 48 two centuries. In 1933, for instance, the neighbourhood. It was Carodejnice, percent of respondents, largely from first Congress of the “United Gypsies Walpurgis Night, or “the Night of western European countries, had an of Europe” adopted green and blue Witches,” when vast crowds across the “unfavourable” view of the Roma. This horizontal bars as the Roma flag; in Czech Republic gather around fires and included respondents in Italy, France 1971, a 16-spoked chakra was overlaid consume sausages and beer in a night- and Germany. France began deporta- long celebration. Children chased each tions of Roma in 2009, under the then other around a scarecrow witch on the president Nicolas Sarkozy. Despite LETTER FROM field, while a few women roasted pork the European Parliament’s objections, THE CZECH sausages over an open fire and clusters expulsions continued during the re- of men stood around drinking beer. In maining three years of Sarkozy’s term, REPUBLIC the middle of the clearing, a Catholic and intensified under his successor, priest prepared for a mass that would

14 THE CARAVAN shifting impressions · the lede

later be celebrated on the soft grass, in the shadow histories. Eventually, he uncovered documents of the scarecrow witch, circled by empty cans. from a regional library in Bohemia as well as At one edge of the field, Veronika Kmetzová testimonies from elderly people in and around stencilled big letters onto a blank white banner the village of Lety, which indicated that the to spell out “Amare Předlice”—Our Předlice. She camp was a fully Czech operation. In 1995, the stood in front of another banner with a picture Czech government erected a memorial to Lety of what appeared to be a pig farm called Lety. next to the former camp, and held an inaugural A farm of that name was a concentration camp memorial service attended by the president at for Roma people during the Second World War. the time, Václav Havel. Kmetzová’s great-grandmother had lived, worked Human-rights groups such as Konexe and the and died there. “My grandmother told me once European Grassroots Anti-Racism Movement, about a pile of dead bodies in the camp, and how or EGAM, have mobilised around the image of weak my grandfather was,” she said. It is a his- the pig farm. After years of pressure, in October tory she was both aware of but also distant from 2017 the Czech government agreed to pay AGPI while growing up, as it was rarely brought up by 17.5 million euros to purchase the pig farm, and her family. Kmetzová said she first visited the to replace it with a memorial to the victims. “The camp several years ago. “We definitely left with construction of a dignified memorial will have an heavy hearts,” she said. She thought it was her impact for all Roma in the Czech Republic,” Ben- duty to see the place, learn the history and teach jamin Abtan, the president of EGAM, told me. His it to her children. She felt that it is important for group is planning to cooperate with the Museum the Roma to recognise what happened to them of Romani Culture in Brno to make the site “a collectively, and to ensure that the memory of it place of dignity and transmission.” stays alive. There are those, however, who refute the idea of a single Roma identity. In his writings, Slawo- Human-rights groups have mobilised around the mir Kapralski—a professor at the University image of the pig farm in Lety. The EGAM hopes to of Kraków—suggests one possible path to the creation of a common identity. Kapralski argues make the site “a place of dignity and transmission” that it is through memorialising the shared history for the Roma. of suffering and persecution, with the Holocaust w w as ground zero, that the Roma identity might be preserved. Polansky went as far as to say that The history of Lety was recovered from obscu- academic projects to construct a unified Roma rity in Black Silence, a controversial 1998 book by identity are “pure hogwash.” He alluded to the Paul Polansky, an American author researching 1995 ceremony for the memorial in Lety, and told the Czech Roma. Polansky told me over the phone me that he and other organisers had invited Roma that in 1939, just weeks before the Nazis invaded people, who had refused to participate because, as Czechoslovakia, the country’s government decid- a Slovakian man told him, “they”—referring to the ed to build a labour camp in the quiet southern Bo- Roma in Lety—“weren’t our Roma.” hemian village of Lety u Písku. When the original Polansky added that conditions for Czech population of inmates—local, white-collar Jewish Roma are worsening. “It’s very, very difficult to people—proved to be inefficient manual labourers, get Czechs to be in favour of Roma issues,” he they were replaced by around 1,300 Roma people. said. Over the course of his interviews, he found After the war, the camp was largely forgotten, that nearly every Roma person he spoke with felt as Czechslovakia’s decimated Roma population that life was better under Communism, and that could not memorialise it. The state subsequently conditions have declined since 1989. Abtan echoed banned nomadic behaviour, dispersed settlements Polansky’s views. “Apart from poverty,” he said, and moved people into state housing blocks. Once “the educational system doesn’t allow Roma indi- again viewing them as ready unskilled labour, it viduals to build a future because of lack of access, also brought in Roma from Slovakia and forcibly lack of quality, and discrimination.” settled communities in areas close to the German Andrej Babiš, a far-right billionaire and the border. In 1973, the Czech government transferred Czech Republic’s second-richest man, was sworn the land to a local agriculture firm, AGPI, which in as prime minister in early December 2017. Soon installed a pig farm on the property. afterwards, I asked Brož, via email, if things had “Around 300 Czech Roma survived World gotten worse for the Roma since the far right’s War II,” Polansky told me. “And only 100 were ascension to government. He responded with a left by the mid 1990s.” In the 1990s, Polansky terse line—“Not yet.” s began gathering as many interviews from the Roma as he could, collecting over 400 oral Eli Naegele contributed additional reportage.

16 THE CARAVAN

PERSPECTIVES

Temple Run Will Karnataka’s real, devout Hindus please stand up? / Politics

/ narayana a the case with the BJP, whose state leadership has looked weak, and cannot bank merely on the his- On 7 December 2017, Karnataka’s chief minister, tory of anti-incumbency. The BJP’s campaign will the Congress leader Siddaramaiah, addressed an have to rely heavily on Modi’s enduring popularity event in the Uttara Kannada district marking the and the party’s Hindutva rhetoric. The Congress’s inauguration of several public-works programmes soft Hindutva approach is an attempt to neutralise by the state government. “They accuse us of being the BJP’s pitch. anti-Hindu. Are we not Hindus?” he asked the au- Karnataka’s voters have been famous for al- dience. “My name is Siddarama. My name too has ternating parties in every election since 1985. bhagwan Ram’s name. We are the devotees of Lord However, this anti-incumbency is more nuanced Rama and Hanuman. … The real Hindu is one who than meets the eye. In 2013, the BJP went to loves all religions. You judge who the real Hindus polls after five years of lacklustre rule marred are. Us or BJP leaders?” by corruption, sleaze, dissidence and countless Then, the minister for public works in Siddara- incidents of moral policing by fringe elements of maiah’s government, HC Mahadevappa, took the the Sangh Parivar. Although the BJP expectedly stage and also declared his allegiance to Hindu- lost the election, a closer reading of the results ism. And soon after, the medium- and large-scale suggests that voters did not decisively choose the industries minister, RV Deshpande, informed Congress. The party won the election not so much the audience that he too was a devout Hindu. “By because people overwhelmingly voted in favour birth, I am a Hindu,” Deshpande said. “All other of it, but rather, because of a three-way split in people are my bandhu”—brothers. the expected BJP vote caused by the presence of Siddaramaiah and his ministers’ scramble to the Karnataka Janata Party, or KJP, floated by the prove their Hindu credentials surprised many former BJP chief minister BS Yeddyurappa, and in the state. For years, the chief minister had the Badavara Shramikara Raitara Congress, or embraced the moniker of an “ahinda” leader—a BSR Congress, led by the former BJP state minis- Kannada term that is an acronym for minorities, ter B Sriramulu. In the 120 constituencies where backward classes and Dalits. the Congress won, the combined votes polled by Siddaramaiah’s comments seemed to be in sync the BJP and the two splinter parties far exceeded with the speculation that the Congress will again the votes polled by the Congress. The BJP’s vote- adopt a “soft Hindutva” strategy to counter the share declined by roughly 13 percent, from 34 Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming state- percent in 2008 to 20 percent in 2013. But the re- assembly election. The Congress president, Rahul duction in the BJP’s vote share was nearly just as Gandhi, had made several highly publicised visits much as the combined vote-share of the KJP and to temples in Gujarat ahead of the recent polls in BSR Congress. The KJP polled 10 percent and the that state, and had also talked about his religious BSRC secured 2.7 percent of votes. affiliations. Congress leaders have said that Gan- Similarly, in 2004, the Congress government dhi will be seen temple-hopping during the cam- led by SM Krishna went to the polls on the back of paign in Karnataka too. a good performance in government, but lost nev- The fact that Siddaramaiah and his fellow min- ertheless. The BJP emerged as the single largest isters took the initiative early on is an indication party, but was short of a majority in the 224-mem- of how much the party is depending on its state ber assembly. The party had to wait until 2008 leadership to win this election. The contrary is to come to power on its own, after elections were

18 THE CARAVAN perspectives

held follwing a spell of governor’s rule, precipi- tarnished his image among voters. He has lost above: The tated by the fall of the BJP’s coalition government, the respect of the party rank-and-file because Congress president, formed with the support of the former prime of his desertion of the BJP in the previous elec- Rahul Gandhi, had minister, HD Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal (Secular). tion. Yet the BJP decided to project him as its made several highly publicised visits to If this trend is any indication, then even if vot- chief-ministerial candidate, considering him the temples in Gujarat ers deliver a harsh verdict against the Congress unchallenged leader of the powerful Lingayat ahead of polls in this time, one cannot take it for granted that their community, whose votes are crucial for it. How- that state, and also alternative choice will be the BJP. The presence ever, in a strange twist to the tale, he is no longer talked about his of the JD(S), which has strong pockets of support seen as the pivot around which all Lingayats will religious affiliations. in parts of Vokkaliga-dominated southern Karna- rally. A faction of the community has launched Congress leaders taka, further complicates matters for the two main a movement demanding the status of a separate have said that Gandhi will be contenders. minority religious group for the Lingayats. While seen temple- The BJP’s state leadership, represented by its the Congress has pledged its moral support to hopping during chief-ministerial candidate BS Yeddyurappa, does the cause, the BJP is in a bind, as it cannot back the campaign in not look strong. Yeddyurappa no longer wields any effort to break Hindu unity. Although it is Karnataka too. the kind of clout he enjoyed within and outside not yet clear how this agitation is going to affect the party in 2008, when he led it to victory. Cor- the election, those who support the movement ruption charges, which he continues to fight in have been questioning the BJP and Yeddyurappa the courts, and the stigma of having been the over their silence on the issue. This means it is no

arijit sen / hindustan times / getty images arijit sen / hindustan first chief minister in the state to go to jail, have longer a foregone conclusion that the Lingayats

FEBRUARY 2018 19 temple run · perspectives

At the moment, it appears that Siddaramaiah’s leadership and an alternative version of Hindutva are the two main weapons in the Congress armoury that could halt the Modi juggernaut. w w will vote en masse for the BJP and Yeddyurappa. Siddaramaiah already had the image of an able Meanwhile, the dissent within the party is re- administrator. The media often characterised him fusing to die down. Media reports said that the as a “bureaucratic politician,” which meant he was recent parivarthana yathra that Yeddyurappa took good at governance but weak as a political strate- out across the state, as a prelude to the election gist. But five years down the line, the perception campaign, witnessed a poor turnout, mainly be- appears to be on the verge of a reversal. Sidda- cause of the infighting in the party, which came ramaiah’s administration seems to have nothing to the fore in many places where Yeddyurappa spectacular to boast of, but his record as a politi- addressed public meetings. In Bidar, for example, cian has surprised many. He dealt a big blow to two factions put up separate stages, forcing him the JD(S) by poaching seven of its MLAs. He also to address the crowds from both. managed well the insider-outsider conflict within With no strong state leadership to steer the the Congress—between original partymen and campaign, no big issues to attack the govern- those who joined the Congress from other parties. ment on and no assured Lingayat vote bank, the Although he joined the Congress in 2006 from the BJP’s election strategy seems to revolve entirely JD(S), he has emerged as the unchallenged leader around Modi and Hindutva. Amit Shah, the BJP of the party in Karnataka. Siddaramaiah has as- president, has been making repeated visits to the siduously tried to cultivate the support of the state to galvanise the cadre for booth-level work. Other Backward Classes and the state’s minori- For the task of communal polarisation, the party ties by significantly increasing the budget of the has roped in Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister, Ad- social-welfare department. ityanath. During the two rallies he has addressed The Congress has also been playing the re- in the state so far, his speeches focussed primar- gional card in order to counter the BJP’s nation- ily on religious issues. The party has declared alist agenda. A water dispute over the Mahadayi that the UP chief minister is going to be one of its River between Karnataka and BJP-ruled Goa has star campaigners. Union minister, Anant Kumar become an election issue. Modi’s unwillingness Hegde, a five-time member of the Lok Sabha from to intervene in the dispute has been held up as an the Uttara Kannada constituency, has attacked the example of how the prime minister and the BJP “minority-appeasement” politics of the Congress. have been discriminating against Karnataka. He did not stop his provocative speeches even The Congress is also repeatedly reminding vot- after he was made to apologise in parliament for ers that Modi has done nothing to help Karnata- his recent disparaging remarks on secularists. The ka in its longtime feud with neighbouring Tamil state’s coastal belt, consisting of Dakshina Kan- Nadu over sharing the Kaveri River’s water. It nada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts, has has also tried to whip up pro-Kannada sentiment seen a series of communally motivated murders by proposing a separate flag for Karnataka, and over the past five years. Although both Hindus and resisting the use of Hindi in government com- Muslims have been victims of communal tension, munication in the state. The Congress is using the BJP has accused the Congress of siding with the BJP’s silence on these issues to argue that the Muslims and carrying out a massacre of the Karnataka’s interests are not safe under the BJP, Hindus. and that the latter pursues a nationalist agenda To build on this groundwork, Modi is slated to at the cost of the states. But, being a national address a series of rallies, starting in the last week party, the Congress has obvious limitations in its of January. His popularity, illustrated by the BJP’s attempts to play up regional identity politics and victory in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, would language issues. definitely help the BJP. In that election, just a year At the moment, it appears that Siddaramaiah’s after the BJP’s rout in the Karnataka assembly leadership and an alternative version of Hindutva polls, the party won 17 of the 28 seats in the state. are the two main weapons in the Congress ar- Demonetisation and GST do not seem to have moury that could halt the Modi juggernaut. In all dented Modi’s image much. likelihood, therefore, the Congress’s new electoral However, in Karnataka, Modi will be up against strategy of inclusive Hindutva is going to have its a powerful state leader in Siddaramaiah. When first real litmus test in the upcoming Karnataka he assumed office as chief minister five years ago, election. s

20 THE CARAVAN perspectives A Modest Proposal For preventing the children of poor people in India from being a burden to their parents or the economy, and for making them beneficial to the public/ Satire

/ kushanava choudhury

The roads of the capital are shrouded in a haze. The toxicity of the air is at many times the permit- ted level by global standards. International flights are being cancelled. Visiting cricket teams refuse to play on our fields. Schools are often closed. Sim- ply breathing in Delhi is now equivalent to smok- ing around 40 cigarettes a day. We act as if we had not expected this occur- rence and cannot understand how to solve it. We purchase face masks and air purifiers and grumble about the air. We wait for it to pass. But it never passes, because the air is toxic all year round. Only for a very short period, in the rainy season, does the amount of particulate matter dip to permis- sible levels. As a father, I am deeply concerned about the permanent damage being done to my three-year-old daughter’s health, as indeed to the health of all the city’s children. Even the protec- tion I can afford to provide my child, by travelling in the metro or in air-conditioned cars and having her sleeping with an air purifier at night, cannot shield her from all exposure to the air. It makes me depressed to drive through this great capital when I see the streets and traffic intersections crowded with homeless people in rags, followed by children of three or four, bang- ing on the windows of every passing car demand- ing alms, exposed to air of a toxicity I shudder to imagine. They have no air-conditioned cars or air

purifiers, and are forced to employ all their time visvanathan sandhya on the roads, begging for sustenance. I think everyone would agree that the prodi- gious number of children at our intersections children, too many, continue to be employed as tagging along with their mothers, and frequently labourers in hotels and shops, in carpet-making their fathers, is in the present deplorable state and embroidery workshops, and in a whole range of the national capital a very great tragedy, even of industries, so that they can contribute to their aside from the fact that they obstruct traffic, and and their families’ upkeep. But even their pathetic are a threat to themselves and others. state is not as alarming as that of children who are But my thoughts at this time are far from being abducted, trafficked and forced into sex work, or confined to only the children of professed beggars; into slave-like labour in sugarcane fields or brick they are of a much greater extent, and consider the kilns. Under these circumstances, perhaps it is whole population of infants in the national capital time to think of solutions which are out of the or- born of parents who are not able to provide them dinary, which reflect visionary thinking about the with the kind of care and protection they need to future instead of simply parroting the same old become healthy, productive members of society. failed mantras of universal education and poverty Is anyone thinking about their, and our, collective reduction. future? In the absence of any genuine schemes to The population of the capital is estimated at 19 improve their condition, the reality is that many million people, of which, according to my calcula-

22 THE CARAVAN perspectives tion, 4 million are children aged four you will read through in full without allowed up to 20 POTAs each to accom- and below. From this, we can subtract prejudgment. pany them while running between the 50,000 children like my own child, Research by paediatric pulmonolo- wickets. whose parents are able to provide them gists at the All India Institute of Medi- POTAs who prove to be exceptional with the best education and equip them cal Sciences shows that a child of the gaspers will be rewarded with plush to be global citizens of the future. We age of two, when well nursed and cared postings at government events such as can also perhaps subtract, at most, an for, can each day inhale and absorb, the Republic Day parade, the opening additional 200,000 children whose par- without immediately falling ill, a quan- of the flower gardens at Rashtrapati ents are conscientious and able enough tity of pollutants equivalent to that Bhavan, and state visits by the Queen of to guarantee their progeny a basic produced by as many as 40 cigarettes. England or the president of the United private-school education, which will at If properly conditioned, particularly to States of America. least ensure that they gain some fluency nurture lung capacity, by the age of four Of the 3.5 million POTAs, one million in English and thus become employable a child’s daily intake and absorption of will be kept available at all times for in service positions with reputable In- pollutants can reach quantities closer private functions, such as polo matches, dian or multinational firms. This being to those produced by 200 cigarettes. lawn parties at the Gymkhana Club and granted, there will remain 3.75 million I therefore propose that the capi- weddings at Chhattarpur farmhouses. children. I can again subtract 200,000 tal’s 3.5 million otherwise future-less Wedding season in Delhi will become children of poor parents who will be children be trained to be Purifying a dazzling affair, with squadrons of admitted to good private schools under Organisms for Toxic Air, or POTAs, for between 5,000 and 10,000 youngsters, the present regime of quotas, study hard our city. At the age of two, they shall be resplendent in sherwanis and lehenga- and thrive, and another 50,000 who may sent to organic farms in the Himalayan cholis, marching before the procession- demonstrate special talents, as the chil- foothills, where they will receive fresh al brass band, the groom’s white steed dren of the poor often do, as, say, singers food, clean air and water, and a daily and myriad revellers, sucking clean the on Indian Idol, or Slumdog Millionaires regime of eight hours of yoga breath- air in their path. or tearaway fast bowlers for the Indian ing exercises. Upon reaching the age of Some persons are greatly concerned Premier League. But there still remain four, they shall be fitted with enormous about the life expectancy of POTAs, 3.5 million children with no future. funnels in their gullets, and organised which I confess will mercifully not be The question, therefore, is how these into teams of gaspers, to be posted in as long as that of workers employed millions of children shall be made to rotating shifts at intersections across today in the open dump at the capital’s become proud, productive and contrib- the National Capital Region. Ghazipur landfill, which by my records uting members of our society. Unlike I have spoken to highly placed of- is 39 years. The extended lifespan of the children of peasants in the country- ficials in the Delhi government, who these persons is due to the inexpedi- side, they can neither work the land nor have committed to initially hire ent use of their resources, as a result make handicrafts. And few are able to 100,000 POTAs on a contract basis of which they spend long stretches in develop the fine motor skills required to serve at five busy intersections—at unemployment in between phases of for pickpocketing till they reach the age Ashram, Anand Vihar ISBT, Punjabi productive labour, which invariably of ten—except in certain parts of the Bagh, ITO and Azadpur Mandi—and to stretches the duration of their lives. country such as Kolkata, where I was arrange for enough open green space Regressions run by a private consult- informed by an officer in a boys’ proba- at these locations to accommodate ing firm of international repute suggest tionary home that many of the inmates large teams of gaspers and offset their that, all variables considered, POTAs were third-generation pickpockets, carbon-dioxide emissions. Delhi’s will expire after six years of full ser- who began practising at the tender age Indira Gandhi International Airport vice, at the age of ten, at which stage of four by discreetly slicing open bags has pledged to hire 375,000 POTAs to they will be rationally disposed of. of rice, and were renowned for the be stationed along all final-approach I was recently discussing this scheme quickest proficiency in the art. routes to improve visibility. The Delhi with an eminent environmentalist, a In Delhi, in interviews with employ- and District Cricket Association has true lover of this nation’s green spaces, ers in embroidery workshops and road- agreed that visiting international whose values I highly esteem, who of- side dhabas as part of a social-scientific cricket teams will be provided with fered a refinement upon my scheme. study of an industrial neighbourhood, POTAs as per their requirements. The He said that many gentlemen of this my colleagues and I discovered that starting allocation will be for a cordon city who own farmhouses feel that the children below the age of ten have no of five gaspers around each foreign charm of patrician country living has economic value. Parents cannot sell fielder from a third-world country, and been entirely lost because of the foul- children past that age for above R3,000, seven around each fielder from a first- ness of the air. To own a farmhouse and even then a child needs to work world one. Fast bowlers will be granted without being able to have a shandy in for many years to repay the employer’s retinues of up to 20 gaspers to chase a planter’s chair on the verandah while investment. them on their run-ups, medium-pacers the sun fades away in an auburn haze Let me now humbly propose my own up to 15, and spinners up to 12, upon is as good as not having a farmhouse at thoughts on this matter, which I hope request. Additionally, batsmen will be all. My gentleman friend suggested that

FEBRUARY 2018 23 a modest proposal · perspectives sandhya visvanathan sandhya

POTAs displaying better social graces Wedding season in Delhi only keep out foreign missiles but also may be employed in such farmhouses, will become a dazzling external pollutants—such as those, where they may, in between gasps, also as per a National Intelligence Agency recite short poems on nature’s bounty affair, with squadrons of study, being deliberately launched into in the Queen’s English. With due defer- between 5,000 and 10,000 our airspace by the aggressive burning ence to my friend’s suggestion, I cannot youngsters, resplendent of agricultural material in Pakistan. To be altogether in his sentiments; for as in sherwanis and lehenga- expel pollutants produced within the scientists at AIIMS who have studied cholis, marching before the capital itself, the ministry proposes to the matter assure me, to maximise commission an elaborate network of the lung capacity of children requires processional brass band, suction fans feeding into a 500-kilo- single-minded focus on breathing, leav- the groom’s white steed and metre pipeline to the border crossing ing little time for side ventures such as myriad revellers, sucking at Wagah, where the black air will be learning the rudiments of reading and clean the air in their path. thrust upon our enemies. writing, much less English Romantic I think the advantages of the propos- poetry. Besides, it is not improbable w w al I have made over such schemes are that some scrupulous people might be obvious, as well as of the highest im- apt to censure such a practice (although particularly clever chap named Hamza, portance. For one, it is organic and en- indeed very unjustly), as a little bor- three Latin stanzas from the Aeneid. tirely sustainable, the supply of future- dering upon the insensitive; which, I Those with a fetish for costly high- less children within our present system confess, has always been with me the tech gimmickry have proposed alterna- being almost limitless. For another, it strongest objection against any project, tive schemes for purifying the capital’s would reduce the toxicity not only of however so well intended. air. The defence ministry has been in our air but also our social body. There But I considered the proposal of my close communication with its counter- may be those with vested interests in friend, who said this inspired idea was part in Israel ever since the thawing the status quo who say that it cannot put into his head by an account he had of bilateral relations under the pres- be done. But society can be changed read of his great-grandfather, who ent government. Inspired by Israel’s and so can individuals. We can make served as a district magistrate in Mid- missile-defence system, an invisible a difference if we but try. As a gesture napore, where he taught his punkah- contraption referred to in the media as of good faith I would offer up my own pullers not only to make gin and tonics an Iron Dome, the ministry proposes to progeny for service as a POTA, but she but also to recite “The Rime of the An- construct a literal dome over the entire will soon be four and past the training cient Mariner” and, in the case of one National Capital Region. This will not age for gasping. s

24 THE CARAVAN perspectives

FEBRUARY 2018 25 reportage

Model Minority The hard questions facing the poster boy of Canadian multiculturalism

COVER STORY / POLITICS

DANIEL BLOCK

“my name is jagmeet singh, a member of provin- 50 most influential people as one of the five rising cial parliament for Bramalea-Gore-Malton. I want stars on the verge of greatness,” he said, “and all of to thank all the organisers and all the volunteers this I have to attribute to my principles and beliefs who made this event possible.” in Sikhi. I want to make sure that’s very clear.” It was December 2013, and Jagmeet Singh was Jagmeet was speaking in a mix of English and addressing an award ceremony taking place in Punjabi. He emphasised how, as an elected official, Punjab, hosted by the Social Educational Welfare he had promoted “Sikhi values,” spearheaded ef- Association, in association with International forts to get the massacre of Sikhs in India in 1984 Fateh Academy. A legislator in Ontario—Canada’s recognised as a genocide, campaigned to have largest province—Jagmeet was receiving SEWA’s kirpans allowed inside courthouses and have April “Sikh of the Year” award, given to a Sikh who has designated as Sikh Heritage Month in his prov- “overcome challenges to restore the honour and ince. pride of Sikhism and to spread its fragrance in the Though he was indeed on “the verge of great- entire world.” He made it clear why he was, quite ness,” Singh’s address to SEWA seemed somewhat literally, an attractive choice. muted. “I had prepared to be there in person,” Jag- “The largest daily newspaper in Canada, the meet, impeccably dressed in a three-piece suit and Toronto Star, recognised me as one of 2012’s top 12 a yellow turban, explained. “But it is very sad that people or 12 personalities for the year,” Jagmeet the Indian government did not give me permis- said. “I was also recognised and put on the front sion to reach you.” He was delivering his address page of the largest Canadian fashion magazine as from behind a desk cluttered with papers, books Toronto’s most stylish.” The catalogue of accolades and files, via videoconference, while thousands of

went on. “I was recognised in the list of Toronto’s kilometres away in Canada. alex tetreault

26 THE CARAVAN FEBRUARY 2018 27 model minority · reportage this spread: The Indian government’s decision to bar Jag- Party—becoming the first non-white, non-aborig- The Sikh diaspora meet’s entry in 2013 was historic—he became the inal member of a minority to lead one of Canada’s has mobilised first Western legislator ever to be denied a visa three main political parties. His achievement most significantly to the country—and made news in both Canada made international headlines, and prompted around the 1984 and India. It was particularly surprising because celebration from socially conscious Canadians in Sikh massacre, in which government- Jagmeet had visited the country earlier that same general and the country’s young, progressive Sikhs backed mobs killed year. In an op-ed for the Ottawa Citizen, Jagmeet in particular. thousands of Sikhs, argued that, by this act of exclusion, India had and burned their jeopardised its ties with Canada. “It is my belief jagmeet singh’s meteoric rise in Canadian poli- vehicles, homes and that the relationship is now in question and the tics is seen as a triumph of multiculturalism and shops. international community must defend Canada’s an advertisement for Canada’s much touted toler- place as a country whose law-abiding citizens are ance and celebration of difference, which stands welcomed by the world.” in contrast to the rising xenophobia in the United When asked to explain why Jagmeet’s visa States and many other Western countries. Jagmeet application was denied, India’s consul-general knows how to play the part of poster boy. Over the in Canada at the time tersely told reporters that past years, his stylish appearance and progressive people “who seek to undermine” Indian political activism, combined with formidable social-media institutions and “foment contempt to the country” savvy, have won him numerous accolades from the were only “misusing the pretext of human rights media. A 2015 BuzzFeed article took readers on to pursue their insidious agenda of disrupting a tour of his Instagram account and proclaimed the social fabric of India.” Although there was no him “the most stylish politician in Canada by like official statement on why Jagmeet was suddenly a million kilometres.” The men’s magazine GQ persona non grata with the Indian government, praised his outreach to young voters, his support many concluded that it had to do with his activism for a bevy of liberal causes and his “sharp as hell” around the 1984 Sikh massacre and his perceived suits, describing Jagmeet as “the incredibly well- ties with Sikh separatists. dressed rising star in Canadian politics.” To the likely consternation of Indian officials, Canada is home to the world’s largest Sikh less than four years later, in October 2017, Jagmeet population outside of India. Its 454,965 Sikhs com- was elected to head Canada’s New Democratic prise roughly 1.5 percent of the country’s popula- rick eglinton / toronto star / getty images rick eglinton / toronto star

28 THE CARAVAN model minority · reportage tion. On the face of it, they constitute a “model minority”—hard working, peaceful and politically well repre- sented. There are currently four Sikhs in the federal cabinet. The community can boast of several cultural celebrities, such as the comedian Jasmeet Singh, or “Jus Reign,” and the Instagram poet Rupi Kaur. Jagmeet’s elevation to the leadership of a federal party is an- other confirmation of the community’s achievements. But Canada has a chequered history with its Sikh diaspora, replete with racist policies and actions. The rela- tionship between Canadian Sikhs and Punjabi Sikhs is also fraught. Salman Rushdie, who moved from India to the United Kingdom as a teenager, fa- mously wrote that emigrants’ “physical alienation from India almost inevitably

means that we will not be capable of / getty images langevin / sygma jacques reclaiming precisely the thing that was lost: that we will, in short, create behind only 9/11. And when asked if To become Canada’s fictions, not actual cities or villages, but he supports an independent Sikh state, invisible ones, imaginary homelands.” he has spoken in broad terms about his first leader from Canadian Sikhs are no exception. enthusiastic support for the right to a visible minority, Canada was a hotbed for Sikh reli- self-determination. gious separatism during the 1980s and Jagmeet’s activism around 1984 has Jagmeet will need 1990s, when a number of Sikhs advo- helped make him popular among left- to defeat the Liberal cated for the creation of an independent leaning Canadian Sikhs, who see his Sikh homeland in the Punjab called stance as illustrative of his—and their— Party’s Justin Khalistan. The movement for a “Sikh broader embrace of human-rights Trudeau—the popular nation” was violent, as was the Indian and social justice. Jagmeet’s public government’s clampdown against it. outreach to marginalised groups, current prime The differences it sowed—between particularly the LGBT community, and minister—and win over Sikhs and the Indian government, but his strong positions on labour laws and voters still sceptical also among Sikhs themselves—have tax reforms, are also part of his project: never been fully reconciled. Many creating a broad coalition that includes about open displays of Sikhs in Canada, especially younger social-justice activists, young progres- religious identity. ones, remember those years very differ- sives and what Canada calls its “visible ently from Sikhs in Punjab, who had to minorities”—non-white, non-aboriginal contend directly with the violence. citizens—that will, if all goes according between Sikhs in the two countries. Jagmeet has brought many of these to plan, deliver him to the post of prime These, taken with his icy relations with divisions back to the fore with his state- minister. the Indian government, have troubling ments and acts. A sharp critic of the It will not be easy. To become Cana- implications for both states. The rep- Indian government, he advocated for da’s first leader from a visible minority, resentation of Jagmeet as a youthful, many years to declare the 1984 massa- Jagmeet will need to defeat the Liberal exciting social-justice activist has made cre—thousands of Sikhs were murdered Party’s Justin Trudeau—the popular him into an international icon. But his following the assassination of the current prime minister—and win over positions have also dredged up painful Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi— voters still sceptical about open dis- elements of Canada’s past and shown a genocide. In a controversial interview, plays of religious identity. Although he that, despite its progressive Western he revealed a crack in his carefully has turned the difficult history of Sikhs reputation, identity politics can have a managed image when he declined the in both Canada and India into a rallying dark side. chance to denounce the Canadian Sikh point for a politics that declares itself widely considered responsible for the against discrimination of all forms, the first sikhs to visit canada were bombing of Air India Flight 182, the his stances have alienated certain Punjabi soldiers travelling across North world’s second deadliest plane attack, older Sikhs and sharpened differences America after Queen Victoria’s 1897

FEBRUARY 2018 29 model minority · reportage courtesy vancouver public library vpl 86540 courtesy vancouver

Diamond Jubilee. They returned home migrants—and it soon extended its jects of the British empire and Canada impressed—particularly by the prov- unwelcoming attitude towards South was part of the Commonwealth, mean- ince of British Columbia, on Canada’s Asians. As British subjects, Sikhs had ing that the government could not sim- Pacific coast, with its fertile lands and the right to vote in Canadian elections. ply ban Sikhs from entry. On 8 January generally mild climate. Word spread But, in 1907, British Columbia passed 1908, the federal government passed a quickly. Around 5,000 East Indians, al- a law disenfranchising all Indians not series of ordinances requiring that In- most all Sikh men, moved to Canada be- born to Anglo-Saxon parents. dian immigrants entering the country tween 1904 and 1908. There, they found Disenfranchisement was only one of each have 200 Canadian dollars in their ready work as unskilled and (from their multiple techniques employed to make possession (as opposed to 25 dollars employers’ perspective) cheap labour- it clear that Sikhs were considered for immigrants from Europe) and that ers in the railway, forestry and lumber transient workers—not part of Canada’s they arrive in Canada by continuous industries. nascent national fabric. The govern- journey—in other words, with through- But life was difficult. White Cana- ment made it nearly impossible for tickets from the state of their birth or dians depicted Sikhs in alarmist and people pejoratively called “Hindoos” their nationality. Between India and derisive terms, which was reflected in to bring their families into the country, Canada, no direct route existed. unflattering coverage from the local and immigration officers were known The legislation led to perhaps the press. One newspaper ran a front-page to harass Sikh-Canadian residents who most infamous incident in Canada’s headline declaring that Sikhs “cover had temporarily left Canada and were Sikh history. In 1914, a Sikh business- dead bodies with butter.” Authori- trying to return. The Canadian federal man chartered a Japanese ship called ties tried to funnel new arrivals out of government even paid for a delega- the Komagata Maru to sail from Hong Vancouver, the largest city in British tion to travel to British Honduras and Kong to Vancouver, with occasional Columbia, and into jobs in the prov- explore the possibility of relocating stops along the way. But the Maru— ince’s interior. Isolated from their fami- all British Columbian Sikhs to Central with 376 passengers on board, of whom lies, communities and culture, most of America. Local Sikhs unanimously 340 were Sikhs—was not allowed to the immigrants planned to eventually rejected this plan. dock when it reached its final port of return home with their savings. Canada was also searching for ways call. Instead, it spent over two months For the Canadian government, this to stop Sikhs from entering what the parked offshore, during which time was preferable. Canada was already early-twentieth-century British Colum- only around 20 passengers were al- denigrating its other Asian commu- bia Premier Richard McBride called “a lowed to disembark, all of them former nities—particularly Chinese im- white man’s country.” Sikhs were sub- Canadian residents.

30 THE CARAVAN model minority · reportage

The Vancouver Sikh community organised The country’s official attitude towards its mi- opposite page: around the issue, spending thousands of dollars norities soon changed radically. On 8 October 1971, In the early trying to get their compatriots clearance. The Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau—the father twentieth century, city’s Khalsa Diwan Society—founded in 1907 to of the current prime minister—announced that the the Canadian government made manage the affairs of Vancouver’s gurdwara— government would adopt a policy of multicultur- it impossible for became heavily involved. The community even alism. In 1976, Trudeau appointed the aboriginal those it pejoratively offered to pay every passenger’s 200-dollar admit- Canadian Len Marchand as his minister of small called ‘Hindoos’ to tance fee, but to no avail. Eventually, the Canadian businesses, making Marchand the first non-white bring their families navy forced the Maru and its despondent tenants federal minister in Canada’s history. Two years into the country. to sail for India. When it reached Calcutta, British later, Trudeau selected the Palestinian-born MP below: The first officers attempted to arrest many of the ship’s pas- Pierre De Bané to serve as the minister of supply Sikhs to travel to sengers, and a scuffle broke out. Ensuing gunfire and services. Bané became the first visible-minori- Canada found ready from a nearby British boat killed multiple passen- ty member of the country’s cabinet. work as unskilled and cheap labour gers. Others were sent to jail. “Cultural pluralism is the very essence of Ca- in the railways, The incident demoralised Canada’s Sikhs, many nadian identity,” Trudeau declared, and no ethnic forestry and lumber of whom went back to India in disgust. But it group should “take precedence over any other.” industries. galvanised those who remained into organising The policy was largely symbolic at first, with for more rights. In 1919, the government finally few financial resources flowing towards helping allowed the wives and young children of Sikh minorities promote their identities and participate Canadians to migrate to join them, and, gradually, more fully in society. But it has since gathered Canada’s Sikh population began to increase. The year before that, there were only 700 Sikhs left in British Columbia. By 1920, the slow trickle of Indians into Canada resumed. Indo-Canadians—including Sikhs—gained political rights in the middle of the twentieth century. In 1947, the government granted Indians the franchise, several months after India itself was granted independence. The NDP’s predecessor— the labour-oriented Cooperative Commonwealth Federation—endorsed and aided Indians in their quest for the right to vote. It was a significant shift. Previously, the CCF leader JS Woodsworth had referred to Sikhs as “profoundly grotesque.” Despite gaining voting rights, discrimination against Sikhs persisted. The same year that Sikhs got the right to vote, the Canadian prime minister, William Lyon Mackenzie King, declared that it was “clearly recognised with regard to emigration from India to Canada, that the native of India is not a person suited to this country.” Canada’s immigration laws were eventually liberalised, and, during the 1960s and 1970s, Canada’s Sikh population began to grow dra- matically. In 1962, new regulations allowed all Canadian citizens and permanent residents to sponsor close relatives and non-adult children for immigration. A few years later, the government adopted a points-based system to help determine immigration eligibility. Points were assigned on the basis of such things as educational attainment, occupational skills, employment prospects and age. Anyone who received 50 points or more out of a possible 100 was allowed to enter the country, irrespective of race or national origin. By 1969, over 5,000 Sikhs a year were moving to Canada—a 67-percent increase over arrivals in 1968, and a

650-percent one over arrivals a decade before. public library vpl 7641 courtesy vancouver

FEBRUARY 2018 31 model minority · reportage below: The strength to form the basis of Canada’s reputa- contrast, continues to have some of the world’s Komagata Maru— tion as a progressive stalwart, even as right-wing most open borders. with 340 Sikhs on populism has gradually overtaken the country’s In 1993, Gurbax Singh Malhi became the first board—was not southern neighbour, the United States. Canada’s turbaned Sikh to sit in any federal legislature in allowed to dock federal government now spends roughly a billion the Western world. He was elected to represent a when it reached its final port of call. Canadian dollars a year—about $800 million—on federal constituency that closely maps on to the It spent over two ethnic heritage festivals, immigration-friendly district Jagmeet represented in Ontario’s provin- months parked television programmes and other celebrations of cial parliament. Two other, non-turbaned Sikhs offshore, before diversity. were simultaneously becoming visible figures. being turned away. It is not driven by just good ethics. “They des- One, Herbance Dhaliwal, became Canada’s first perately need these immigrants,” Papia Sengupta, Indian-origin cabinet minister, in 1997. The other, a professor of political science at Jawaharal Nehru Ujjal Dosanjh, a Sikh born in Punjab, became the courtesy leonard frank / vancouver public library vpl 6232 courtesy leonard frank / vancouver

University and a student of Canadian multicul- country’s first Indo-Canadian provincial leader, turalism, told me. The influx of new residents has in 2000. helped Canada avoid the kind of demographic Few groups, if any, have as effectively capital- ageing crisis that now confronts much of the ised on Canada’s relative accessibility as have developed world. Even the spectre of indefinite Sikhs. The Canadian Sikh community nearly economic stagnation caused by an ageing popula- doubled in size between 2001 and 2011, and its tion has not done much to convince some other members are concentrated in important electoral countries, such as Japan, to rethink their long- districts. All three major parties—the Conserva- standing aversion to immigrants. Canada, by tives, the Liberals and the NDP—actively try to

32 THE CARAVAN model minority · reportage win over Sikh voters, giving them Out of 338 seats, 17 are occupied by Sikhs— significant influence. Parties make a point of fielding Sikh candidates, and forming a share that outstrips the corresponding provinces have been attentive to Sikh percentage of Sikhs in Canada’s overall rights. In 2008, the British Columbia provincial government formally apolo- population. Within three generations, Canadian gised for the Komagata Maru incident, Sikhs have gone from disenfranchisement to and the province unveiled a monument to its victims in 2012. disproportionate representation. “I think they’ve been really smart about understanding the way that the for the World Sikh Organisation, said. between brown people with religious Canadian electoral system operates,” “Even throughout his childhood, he headwear. One of the first retaliatory Erin Tolley, a political scientist at the was always someone who cared a lot killings to follow the hijackings was of University of Toronto, said. Their suc- about the people around him.” a Sikh man in the US state of Arizona. cess is evident in the composition of Like others who knew Jagmeet at a Across the world, Sikhs were sub- Canada’s parliament. Out of 338 seats, young age, Balpreet said that the future jected to acts of discrimination large 17 are occupied by Sikhs—forming a NDP leader was something of a mentor and small. Jagmeet—who has spoken share that outstrips the corresponding when it came to embracing Sikh iden- of having been needlessly stopped percentage of Sikhs in Canada’s overall tity. “He was like an older brother to by the police multiple times—was no population. Within three generations, me,” Balpreet said. “He definitely gave exception. Canadian Sikhs have gone from dis- me a lot of advice on turban-tying.” “9/11 resulted in a whole new wave of enfranchisement to disproportionate Jagmeet’s appearance made him a extreme racism and hatred,” Jagmeet representation. frequent target for teasing, even bully- told Macleans, a Canadian weekly Rachna Singh, an NDP legislator for ing, in his childhood. To escape it, his magazine. “People driving by yelling British Columbia, chalked up the com- parents sent him to Detroit Country ‘Osama,’ physical confrontations. I was munity’s relative success to its experi- Day School—an elite private school just able to stand up for myself. But it cre- ence fighting adversity. “When people across the US border. Later, he studied ated a lot of tension, a lot of negativity. came here on the Komagata Maru, they biology at the University of Western People would be afraid—literally—and were not political activists. They were Ontario. Jagmeet has said his style—the walk away in fear.” just trying to make a good living,” she custom-designed suits, the colourful The attacks helped orient Jagmeet’s said. “But what happened to them—the turbans—came about as a response to understanding of politics. Soon, his sheer black-and-white racism—it really unfriendly gawking. “If people are go- education gave him the tools to act. He did affect them. It taught them that ing to stare at me, I might as well give had originally planned on becoming a they have to fight for their rights.” them something to look at,” he told GQ. doctor, but went to law school instead Dressing up is an anti-discrimination when his father became ill (Jagtaran jagmeet singh jimmy dhaliwal was tactic that dates back to Canada’s first eventually recovered). Jagmeet’s deci- born on 2 January 1979, in Scarbor- Sikhs, many of who donned three-piece sion to switch paths propelled him into ough, Ontario—60 years after the Ko- suits at the instruction of Vancouver’s activism. One of his earliest political magata Maru incident and five before Khalsa Diwan Society. This might forays was a campaign against tuition India’s 1984 Sikh massacre. His mother, have done little back then to head off hikes at Osgoode Law School, where Harmeet, moved to Canada in the incidents such as that of the Komagata he was studying. After graduating, he 1970s, sponsored by her sister. She mar- Maru, but it appears to have worked worked at a prominent Toronto law ried Jagmeet’s father, Jagtaran Singh better for Jagmeet, now an Instagram firm before creating his own practice. Dhaliwal, in Punjab, and he followed phenomenon. “The groups I worked with—fighting her to Canada. Yet, despite his style it has not fully against poverty, against tuition fees, Though born in Ontario, Jagmeet exempted him from North America’s and for immigrants and refugees—felt spent his earliest years living with his general suspicion of brown men. Jag- unsupported,” his website says. “They grandmother in Punjab. He returned to meet was 22 years old on 11 September didn’t have an ally they could turn to Canada after his father was admitted 2001, when members of the extremist in government.” This, the website con- to medical school, in Canada’s east- outfit Al Qaeda hijacked and crashed tinues, is part of what drew him into ernmost province. When Jagmeet was four planes in the United States, killing politics. seven years old, the family moved back 2,996 people. The event caused mas- Events overseas were also critical to to Ontario, where Jagtaran worked as a sive grief and expanded state surveil- Jagmeet’s growing activism. psychiatrist and Harmeet as a teacher. lance, and played a role in provoking “People have asked me the story “He was always very outgoing, very two wars. It also ushered in a new era about how I got into politics. Let me friendly, very social, and he cared a lot,” of Islamophobia in the West. Jagmeet, tell you the real story,” Jagmeet said in Balpreet Singh, Jagmeet’s cousin and a of course, is Sikh, but white chau- a speech at his campaign advisor and spokesperson and legal representative vinists typically do not distinguish close friend’s Sikh wedding in 2017,

FEBRUARY 2018 33 model minority · reportage opposite page: before describing his political awakening and the Calgary. Kathleen Wynne, the premier of Ontario, On 1 October 2017, 1984 Sikh massacre. is gay. And now Jagmeet Singh, a turbaned Sikh, Jagmeet was His awareness of the event deeply impacted his heads Canada’s third-largest party. elected to head and his friends’ political outlook. Jagmeet became Jagmeet became the leader of the New Demo- Canada’s New loosely involved in the Sikh Activist Network, cratic Party in part by signing up new members Democratic Party— becoming the first a social-justice group founded by his younger from minority groups. But his decision to launch non-white, non- brother, Gurratan, and Gurratan’s best friend. his political career under the NDP’s auspices aboriginal member The group organised around a variety of issues, also relates to Indian politics. When Kamal Nath of a minority to lead but 1984 was central to their work. When Kamal visited Ontario, the leader of the NDP at the time, one of the country’s Nath—a prominent Indian politician from the Jack Layton, was one of the few Canadian politi- three main political Congress party, who allegedly helped organise cians to endorse Gurratan’s protest. “The voices parties. The NDP has 44 of the 338 seats the anti-Sikh violence—visited Ontario in March of a great many Indo-Canadians from all across in Parliament. 2010, Gurratan organised a protest. Speaking over the country have been very clear,” Layton said of the phone this January, he told me that he and Nath’s invitation. “They are especially hurt by the Jagmeet saw Nath’s invitation as “an affront to us presence in Canada of a man who allegedly organ- as Canadians.” ised anti-Sikh pogroms.” “We pride ourselves on standing up for human Jagmeet mounted his first political campaign rights and speaking out against injustice,” Gur- the year after Nath’s visit, in 2011, narrowly losing ratan said. “Seeing complacency by our elected of- a vote to represent a federal parliamentary district ficials in that respect really prompted us to say we that no New Democrat had ever won. Soon after need politicians who are not afraid to speak truth that, he triumphed in a provincial legislative elec- to power.” The Sikh Activist Network decided it tion. needed an ally in government. Jagmeet, with his In many ways, Jagmeet and the NDP are a legal background and charisma, was a natural natural fit. It was, after all, the CCF—the NDP’s choice. main predecessor—that helped Sikhs gain the For many of Canada’s young, second-generation right to vote. The party is further to the left than Sikhs, awareness of the violence in India has been Canada’s other two major parties—the governing, politically and religiously transformational. “They centre-left Liberals and the nominally right-wing are growing up in the legacy of 1984,” Michael Conservatives. The NDP’s constitution describes it Nijhawan, a York University sociologist who stud- as coming from “democratic socialist traditions,” ies Canada’s Punjabi diaspora, said. “This looms in working through “farmer, labour, co-operative, the background.” Anger over the atrocities and the feminist, human rights and environmental move- subsequent lack of justice—none of the high-level ments, and with First Nations, Métis and Inuit politicians purportedly involved in organising peoples”—the country’s indigenous population— the massacre have been convicted—also became “to build a more just, equal, and sustainable a vehicle for other, Canada-specific concerns, in- Canada.” cluding disproportionate targeting by police, hate At the same time, Jagmeet is something of an crimes and unflattering racial stereotypes. outlier in the history of the party, which was “They reframe it more in terms of the griev- founded in 1961 when the CCF merged with ances they have as second-generation immigrants Canada’s largest trade union. The NDP has tradi- in a Canadian society where they’re racialised by tionally been focussed on working-class economic the mainstream,” Nijhawan said. issues, and it has never performed as well among These issues are hardly unique to Sikhs, and South Asians as the Liberals or Conservatives. have been central to the rise of identity politics Singh’s focus on identity politics is in many ways a across a much broader spectrum. “They’re con- departure from this history. “Institutionally, it is a nected to other movements, around Palestinian big step for Canadian Sikhs,” Balpreet said. issues or what have you,” Nijhawan said. This was evident in Jagmeet’s campaign for the Mo Dhaliwal, a strategist for Singh’s campaign, NDP leadership, largely managed by younger, pro- argued that the rise in minority activism in Can- gressive activists who were nonetheless electoral ada in recent years stems from people of colour, neophytes. Jagmeet was said to have turned down born and raised in the country, demanding equal help from more experienced party hands. Jus recognition. “What you’re seeing is a broad-based Reign, whose comedy has made him a YouTube decolonising of people,” Dhaliwal told me. “I think sensation, made Jagmeet’s earliest campaign vid- this is prevalent across all cultures in Canada.” eos. In one of these, Jus Reign conducts an inter- He was heartened by the current trajectory of view with Singh that is part satire, part serious— Canadian politics, with the historically disadvan- complete with references to the iconic Canadian taged finding increasing success. Naheed Kurban donut chain Tim Horton’s and the all-white 1990s Nenshi, a Muslim, presently governs the city of American television sitcom “Full House.”

34 THE CARAVAN model minority · reportage chris young / the canadian press ap

Since winning his seat in provincial parlia- Jagmeet Singh’s political approach is ment, Jagmeet has made outreach to traditionally disadvantaged constituencies a hallmark of his notable for how closely it mirrors the path strategy. Jagmeet refers to the queer community forged by Justin Trudeau. Like his new as “LGBTQIA2S+”—a sprawling acronym pre- ferred by many left-leaning queer-rights activists. challenger, Trudeau is known for his stylish He has pledged to let individuals self-identify outfits, youthful charisma and embrace of their gender on all government forms, and has said he plans on “uprooting systemic discrimina- progressive identity politics. tion within the criminal-justice system.” The policy section of Jagmeet’s website is a laundry and embrace of progressive identity politics—all list of Canadian social-justice causes—invest- of which helped him win Canada’s 2015 federal ing in indigenous languages, publishing data on election. Trudeau’s cabinet, designed to “look the quantity of sexual assault complaints against like Canada,” is half female, and has numerous Canadian law-enforcement agencies, opposing members who are minorities. Trudeau is fond of fossil-fuel pipelines. boasting that there are more Sikhs in his cabinet Young Sikh activists such as Balpreet argue than of India’s current prime minister, Narendra that Jagmeet’s embrace of intersectionality is not Modi. Trudeau has won praise for increasing a tactic but part of his identity. “Reaching out to the country’s intake of Syrian refugees and has others, standing up for others—it’s not a strategy,” even issued a formal apology for Canada turning Balpreet told me. “It’s who we are as Sikhs.” away the Komagata Maru. “For the laws that But Jagmeet’s political approach is notable for discriminated against you so senselessly, and for how closely it mirrors the path forged by Justin not apologising sooner,” he told Canada’s parlia- Trudeau. Like his new challenger, Trudeau is ment in 2016, “for all these things, we are truly known for his stylish outfits, youthful charisma sorry.”

FEBRUARY 2018 35 model minority · reportage below: Talwinder “It’s Trudeauism,” Naveen Girn, the communi- “What do we believe in?” Jagmeet asked the Singh Parmar, the ty-relations director for the mayor of Vancouver, crowd. “We believe in love and courage.” chief architect of told me. The task before Jagmeet, he said, is “how The crowd responded by chanting “love and the Air India 182 to respond to Justin Trudeau and frame himself in courage,” Jagmeet’s campaign slogan. A video Bombing, which is comparison to that.” recording of the event went viral. The politician Canada’s deadliest terror attack, is Separating his politics from Trudeau’s is tricky, was widely praised for the way he handled the controversially but Jagmeet’s skin colour and appearance do situation—and also for the way he did not. regarded by some create a clear contrast. Indeed, Jagmeet’s most “Many people have commented that I could as martyr of the famous moment of progressivism came from have just said I’m not Muslim. In fact, many have “Sikh nation.” a misreading of his appearance and religious clarified that I’m actually Sikh,” he later ex- identity. plained. “While I’m proud of who I am, I purpose- During his campaign for the NDP leadership, ly did not go down that road because it suggests Jagmeet was interrupted by an Islamophobe ac- their hate would be OK if I was Muslim.” cusing him of being part of the Muslim Brother- Jagmeet went on to win the election handily. hood and wanting to implement Sharia law. As his “I’ve got other friends and relations that work in supporters jeered the protestor, Jagmeet preached politics or in the political arena in some capacity,” tolerance. Dhaliwal said. “Jagmeet is the first candidate for whom I’ve come out in a really vocal way.”

less than 24 hours after winning the race to lead the NDP, Jagmeet sat down for an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation journalist Terry Milewski. Aired on “Power & Politics,” CBC’s prominent evening news show, the conversation was arguably Jagmeet’s most impor- tant to date. It did not go as planned. To begin with, Jagmeet’s campaign tried to get hold of the list of questions beforehand. “Jagmeet Singh soon on @PnPCBC after threatening to cancel if not told the questions first,” Milewski tweeted out hours before the programme. “He reconsidered on being told no.” It was an embarrassing moment for Jagmeet, whose public persona was thus far largely built on his own team’s astute use of social media and on flattering press coverage (the writer who conduct- ed Singh’s fawning GQ interview later joined his campaign). Another CBC correspondent replied to Milewski’s tweet, noting that it is “against CBC’s journalistic standards to give questions. Party comms ppl know that.” As the interview unfolded, it became clear why Jagmeet’s team preferred staged interviews with Jus Reign to professional journalistic question- ing. In general, news stories discussing Jagmeet’s mixing of Sikh identity and politics had depicted it as an uncomplicated good. But during the conver- sation with Milewski, it became evident that there were some dark elements of Sikh politics that Singh would rather not discuss. “Do you think that some Canadian Sikhs go too far when they honour Talwinder Singh Parmar as a martyr of the Sikh nation?” Milewski asked. Parmar was once the leader of Babbar Khalsa International—a Sikh militant group dedicated to carving out an independent Khalistan. Bab- bar Khalsa orchestrated the bomb attack on Air

tony bock / toronto star / getty images tony bock / toronto star India Flight 182 in 1985 to retaliate against the

36 THE CARAVAN model minority · reportage

1984 massacre. The bombing, Canada’s deadliest writer Jonathan Kay said Jagmeet’s failure to terror attack, killed 329 people—mostly Canadian assign blame for the bombing was tantamount citizens. Police in Punjab killed Parmar, a natu- to “an American politician saying he had no idea ralised Canadian citizen, while he was on a visit to who was responsible for Sept. 11.” Bal Gupta, the India in 1992. His portrait is displayed in certain chairman of the Air India 182 Victims Families Canadian gurdwaras and, occasionally, during Association, was similarly critical. “He should Canadian Sikh parades. have disowned the glorification of terrorism, even Jagmeet responded somewhat tangentially to suspected terrorism or promoters of terrorism,” Milewski’s question, saying he was offended by he said. the idea there was any conflict between Hindus In response to the controversy, the CBC’s om- and Sikhs, something he has repeated many times. budsman, Esther Enkin, launched an inquiry into “I grew up with a lot of close friends and dear Milewski’s questioning. She concluded that while family friends that were from the Hindu faith,” he the questions could have been better structured, said. “One of my goals was to erase this narrative they were journalistically appropriate given Jag- of a false Hindu-Sikh conflict, and what I really meet’s longstanding relationship to Sikh activism believe in—” and identity politics. “He was asked this question “Forgive me,” Milewski interrupted. “You could because he is a national leader who has taken posi- do that right now by saying, ‘No, it isn’t appropri- ate to put up posters of Canada’s worst-ever mass While the Western media probed murderer.’” “Well let me just clarify a point here,” Jagmeet Milewski’s controversial interview replied. “We’ve been living in existence as neigh- with Jagmeet as one of implied racism bours, as—” “Third time I’m asking,” Milewski interjected. against an elected official from Canada’s “It’s not a hard question.” visible minorities, it largely missed the In the following 60 seconds, Singh tried awk- wardly to shift the subject to 1984 and Hindu-Sikh underlying contradictions regarding Sikh relations. But Milewski kept pressing. identity politics. “What about putting up posters of Parmar, the architect of the Air India bombing, as a martyr,” Milewski said. “Is that appropriate, yes or no?” tions on issues related to the Sikh community and Jagmeet demurred, criticising “the heinous its on-going grievances against the Indian govern- massacre that was committed.” ment,” she said. “So you won’t denounce those posters of Par- While the Western media probed this contro- mar?” Milewski asked, for the fifth and final time. versy as one of implied racism against an elected “I don’t know who was responsible,” Jagmeet official from Canada’s visible minorities, it largely said. “I think we need to find out who was truly missed the underlying contradictions regarding responsible and make sure the investigation actu- Sikh identity politics. Milewski alluded to the ally results in a conviction of someone who was “Sikh nation” in the course of the interview, with- actually responsible.” out qualification, as if it were an existing entity, Though Parmar was never convicted, a govern- and not a deeply contested idea—with relatively ment inquiry—overseen by a retired justice of the strong currency in the West but practically anach- Canadian supreme court—had determined that he ronistic in present-day Punjab. masterminded the attack. “Numbers had always been the chief problem The exchange caused outrage. Some journalists, of the Sikh community,” the Indian journalist activists and academics criticised Milewski, argu- Khushwant Singh wrote in his essay “Genesis of ing his line of inquiry was racist, unnecessary and the Hindu-Sikh divide.” Punjab is home to more betrayed the Western media’s double standards than 16 million Sikhs—the largest Sikh population around politicians of colour. “Why is he being in the world, around 35 times the size of Canada’s. put in that position?” Chandrima Chakraborty, Sikhs form the majority of the state’s population, a professor at McMaster University in Ontario but roughly 38 percent of Punjab’s residents are who studies memories of Air India Flight 182, Hindus. And the story of how Punjab became ma- said. “Why is he not being questioned about the jority-Sikh is complex. “Sikh politics has always decriminalisation of marijuana?”—one of Jag- had a bit of an identity crisis,” Kanwar Sandhu, an meet’s policy proposals. “Why is it always about MLA in Punjab and an erstwhile journalist who Sikhism?” covered India’s conflict zones, said. “I don’t think But others found Jagmeet’s response, or lack this area has enjoyed comparative peace for too thereof, equally troubling. The Toronto-based long, ever.”

FEBRUARY 2018 37 model minority · reportage below: Jarnail Singh Many of Punjab’s present-day scars trace back not a Sikh state. But the Akali Dal, in its manifesto, Bhindranwale’s to Partition. In 1947, the unified, Muslim-majority wrote, “The Shiromani Akali Dal has reason to hardline stance on Punjab province of British India was split in half, believe that a Punjabi-speaking province may give what constituted with the western part joining the newly created the Sikhs the needful security.” Punjabi Hin- Sikh identity state of Pakistan and the eastern part joining an dus interpreted this as a bid for a Sikh-majority emboldened Sikh separatists in the independent India. The new border separated the state. In response, many Hindus rejected Punjabi 1980s. birthplace and burial site of Sikhism’s founder, as their mother tongue in a census, and Hindu Guru Nanak, from the religion’s holiest site, the groups aggressively promoted Hindi as their ver- opposite page: Golden Temple, in the Indian city of Amritsar. The nacular language. The divide was reflected in local The Indian military vast majority of Sikhs living in Pakistani Punjab media and politics, as various sides tried to exploit stormed Sikhism’s migrated to Indian Punjab, and most Muslims in it to their advantage. holiest site, the Indian Punjab embarked on the opposite journey. By 1966, Punjab was split into Haryana, Hi- Golden Temple, Both migrations were accompanied by a spiral of machal Pradesh and the Punjab we know today, to flush out Bhindranwale and communal bloodletting that left millions dead. It with a majority-Sikh population. Punjabi was his supporters on 5 was these events that left Indian Punjab with a recognised, finally, as the official language of June 1984. Sikh majority. Punjab. But it was not until the Akalis adopted The idea of an autonomous Sikh state took shape the Anandpur Sahib Resolution in 1973—six years as part of fierce battles over linguistic identity after modern Punjab came into existence—that that swept across India in the 1950s. Faced with the idea of an autonomous Sikh state received any the task of nation-building and demarcating state formal articulation. Although there are at least boundaries, the Indian government announced three versions of the resolution, with rival factions a reorganisation of states according to language adopting different interpretations of it, one signed demographics. But Punjabi was not considered for in 1982 emphasised, among other things, the a state of its own. In response, the Akali Dal, a re- constitution of a “single administrative unit where gional political party, launched the Punjabi Suba. the interests of Sikh and Sikhism are specially A key demand of this two-decade movement was protected.” that regions of Punjab with Punjabi-speaking and The Akali Dal president Harchand Singh Lon- other language majorities be divided into separate gowal stated, “Let us make it clear once and for all states. that the Sikhs have no designs to get away from By and large, the Punjabi Suba was centred India in any manner.” But the central government around creating a majority Punjabi-speaking state, remained wary. In its “White paper on the Punjab indian express archive

38 THE CARAVAN model minority · reportage agitation,” an official document on the lead-up to 1984, the central government declared, “The Anandpur Sahib Resolu- tion is at total variance with the basic concept of the unity and integrity of the nation as expressed in our constitu- tion. It cannot be accepted as a basis for discussion.” Even while the Akali Dal was at the forefront of the Punjabi Suba movement and central in pushing Sikh inter- ests—and even providing formidable resistance to Indira Gandhi’s draconian Emergency in the preceding decade— the party’s electoral success was not guaranteed. Punjabi Sikhs did not vote as a block, and the dominant Congress, under Gandhi, courted and sometimes won Sikh votes. In its confrontation with the Akalis, the central govern- ment, under the Congress, shored up a figure who was proving to be a deft

navigator of the tensions of this era—a group / getty images india today charismatic, incendiary preacher named Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. gress fell out. The preacher and his led mostly by Congress politicians—oc- An orthodox Sikh with a substan- increasingly militant followers moved curred in the three days immediately tial following, Bhindranwale openly into the Golden Temple complex in afterwards. According to reports made preached violence in pursuit of his Amritsar, from where Bhindranwale available by one of several subsequent desired ends. His followers are thought issued commands and ordered assassi- enquiry commissions, public buses to have assassinated two of his ideo- nations. The stage was set for one of the were used to transport the mobs, vot- logical opponents, and his organisa- most infamous incidents in Sikh—and ers’ lists were used to identify Sikh tion contributed to Punjab’s escalating Indian—history. homes and the police disarmed Sikhs pre-1984 militancy. When asked if he On the evening of 5 June 1984, the who were trying to defend themselves. supported Khalistan, Bhindranwale Indian military stormed Sikhism’s holi- said “We are not in favour of Kha- est site, hoping to kill Bhindranwale the air india flight 182 bombing was listan nor are we against it.” He often and flush out his backers. Gandhi was just one instance of the use of lethal used the term “qaum” to refer to the told that the raid—named Operation methods by Khalistani separatists to religious characteristics of Sikhs, mark- Blue Star—would be quick and rela- retaliate for 1984 and advance their ing them out as a distinct and homog- tively devoid of violence. Haphazardly cause. According to Human Rights enous entity. His rhetoric emboldened planned and hastily executed, it instead Watch, “Sikh separatists in Punjab Khalistani separatists. “Sikhs are living took all night and killed scores of civil- committed serious human rights abus- like slaves in independent India,” he ians. Government troops succeeded in es, including the massacre of civilians, claimed. “Today every Sikh considers killing Bhindranwale—a deeply divisive attacks upon Hindu minorities in the himself as a second-rate citizen.” The figure among Sikhs to this day—but state, and indiscriminate bomb attacks scholar Harnik Deol has written that also caused serious damage to the Akal in crowded places.” The Indian gov- Bhindranwale was “able to convey a Takht, or “timeless throne,” which ernment carried out a brutal counter- specific definition of a Sikh” that “led stands across from the Golden Temple insurgency, led by the police officer to the dissemination and consolidation itself. Tank guns blew a hole in the KPS Gill. Through the 1980s and 1990s, of a puritanical Sikh identity to a large structure’s iconic central dome. militancy in Punjab was stamped out. section of the population for the very Operation Blue Star further polar- The methods used by Gill, himself first time.” ised India along religious and ideologi- Sikh, were vicious and inhumane, and Bhindranwale’s allegiances shifted cal lines. In the aftermath, some Sikh included the torture and extrajudicial between the Congress and the Akalis military troops mutinied, and support killing of thousands. depending on what was most expedient for Khalistan grew. On 31 October On his website, Jagmeet Singh refers to his survival. As he grew increasingly 1984, two of Gandhi’s Sikh bodyguards to this as part of a 20-year “genocidal powerful, he began making demands killed her as she was walking out of her campaign” in which “Sikh youth disap- of the Congress that Gandhi would not residence. The anti-Sikh pogrom—per- peared, torture was rampant, and Sikhs accept. Bhindranwale and the Con- petrated by organised Hindu mobs and endured relentless state-sanctioned

FEBRUARY 2018 39 model minority · reportage opposite page: terrorism.” He has been openly critical of the ex- There is some evidence that Jagmeet is sym- KPS Gill is widely cesses of the Indian state, both under the Congress pathetic to those who want an independent Sikh considered and under the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party. state. In 2016, when he was deputy leader of the responsible for But when pressed to denounce Talwinder Singh Ontario NDP, Jagmeet spoke at an event on “Sov- stamping out Parmar, he did not. ereignty and Polity” organised in London by the Sikh militancy in the Punjab, often To some long-time observers of Canadian British-based National Sikh Youth Federation. He through brutal politics, Jagmeet’s difficulty in condemning Sikh shared the stage with the NSYF’s British Sikh co- extrajudicial means. violence has troubling communal connotations. founder, Shamsher Singh. Speaking after Jagmeet, “Identity politics is very attractive if you feel op- Shamsher advocated advancing Sikh sovereignty, pressed,” Ujjal Dosanjh, the former Liberal Party which he defined in fairly supremacist terms. politician who served as the premier of British “It endorses the superiority of our culture, our Columbia, told me. “But it’s not really a means of language and our ideal. It is about Sikh spaces and dealing with that oppression. It sort of walls you Sikh institutions,” Shamsher said. “And it endorses in and walls the other out, and in the end we all violence as a legitimate form of resistance and suffer.” survival.” It was not the first time the NSYF expressed “Where are they going to have a Sikh state? these views. One year before Jagmeet’s visit, the group ran a pro-separatist online series entitled In Canada? In Alberta?” Ujjal Dosanjh “Khalistan: Origins of a Nation.” In the videos, asked. “If you are a Sikh sovereignitist, you NSYF leaders argue that the separatist violence in Punjab in the 1980s had “immense support from can’t be for self-determination for Punjab, all sections of the Punjabi population.” They reject because Punjab has Hindus too.” peaceful human-rights protests by Sikhs in the West as being “futile,” “not effective,” and “under- mining Sikh sovereignty.” He spoke from personal experience. Dosanjh I spoke to Shamsher over the phone in Janu- always identified as a politician who “happened to ary. He animatedly laid out his vision for an be Sikh” rather than as a Sikh politician. He was independent Khalistan that would incorporate staunchly critical of Sikh separatism in Punjab, both Indian Punjab and parts of Pakistan. In his and the logistical and moral support it received telling, this “Sikh raj” would be firmly commit- from its backers, including a number of overseas ted to uplifting oppressed communities. “It’s like Sikhs. His outspokenness put him in their cross- the Punjab of my dreams,” he said. I sent Jagmeet hairs. In February 1985, a Khalistani sympathiser and his staff multiple interview requests over jumped Dosanjh in a parking lot outside his law several months, but received no response. When office and beat him with an iron rod. I sent specific questions to his press office on Jagmeet has faced tough questions on his view Jagmeet’s association with the NSYF, his press of the Khalistan movement beyond just Parmar. secretary responded “Jagmeet Singh denounces When asked by another CBC interviewer, David violence in all its forms. Mr. Singh has spent his Common, whether he supports secessionism, the entire career working towards peace and recon- NDP leader was vague, saying he supports “self- ciliation.” determination” and “the right for every human be- When I asked Gurratan why Jagmeet would ing to have that ability to determine their future.” share a stage with someone who endorses political In an interview with the Huffington Post, Jagmeet violence, he said his and his brother’s position elaborated, “So whether it is in Punjab, for the was clear. “Our record in regards to any form of people of Punjab, or whether it is in Catalonia, for violence is that we’ve rejected any sort of vio- the people of that region, whether it is in Basque, lence,” he said. “I’m not really familiar with who wherever that is, whether it is in Quebec, it’s a is within the NSYF. But if there is anyone who had basic right. I support that right.” any of those comments or any of those positions ... Balpreet, speaking of the World Sikh Organisa- we don’t support that position.” Harwinder Singh tion’s position on Khalistan, told me, “We support Mander, the British web editor of Naujawani.com, the right for Sikhs within Punjab to take whatever who was the third speaker at the event, told me political positions they want so long as they do so he found Jagmeet’s event remarks guarded. When peacefully. That’s really the extent of our involve- Mander argued that the way ahead for the Sikh ment in this issue.” movement relied on being able to see Bhindran- “Where are they going to have a Sikh state? In wale as a “man who was actually a great humani- Canada? In Alberta?” Dosanjh asked. “If you are a tarian,” Jagmeet apparently said, “People could Sikh sovereignitist, you can’t be for self-determina- have different opinions and we could still move tion for Punjab, because Punjab has Hindus too.” forward and evolve.” Although Mander himself

40 THE CARAVAN model minority · reportage does not identify with the term Kha- of Canada’s NDP,” the Times of India listani sympathiser.” Raveen Thukral, listani, he said, “I am in favour of Sikh titled a story on Jagmeet’s elevation Amarinder’s media advisor, told me in statehood and sovereignty.” to the party’s leadership. An opinion text messages that Jagmeet “is echoing Later in our conversation, Gur- piece on the website Newslaundry the sentiments of those out to destroy ratan circled back to the NSYF to add asked, “Why doesn’t India like Jag- the state’s peace and tranquillity. that it was important to create spaces meet Singh?” Naturally, this is a matter of concern, as for people impacted by oppression to Distaste for Jagmeet runs especially his statements smack of an anti-India express their views freely. “When we high among politicians in Punjab. The sentiment, indicating a strong radical talk about issues of Punjab and we talk state’s chief minister, the 75-year-old mind-set.” about people and their experiences in Amarinder Singh, has been outspo- This is an especially forceful example regards to anything around human- ken in his aversion. Amarinder is of the general distrust that Punjab’s rights abuses in Punjab, you deal with no stranger to criticising Canadian old-guard political elite has of second- people who have a lot of hurt,” he said. Sikhs—he made international headlines generation Canadian Sikhs, whom “My brother has never shied away from by calling Canada’s current defence they view as dangerous at worst and going to a place where people are hurt minister, Harjit Singh Sajjan, a “Kha- misinformed at best. Tript Rajinder and where people are feeling hurt, and though he may disagree with the posi- tions around violence—which has been very clear—I think that around the process of healing and reconciliation we need to be able to have a dialogue with all individuals.” Shamsher said that Jagmeet reached out to the NSYF as part of an effort to network with diaspora Sikhs outside Canada. The co-founder’s own opin- ions on Jagmeet were decidedly mixed. On the one hand, Shamsher criticised Jagmeet for embracing a “Western” po- litical outlook and being “selective” in his engagement with Sikh politics. “I’ve met Jagmeet multiple times, he doesn’t know jack about Sikhi,” he said. On the other hand, Shamsher praised the NDP leader for engaging with his group and for his refusal to denounce Parmar during the Milewski interview. “I have immense respect for Jagmeet Singh,” he wrote in a Facebook post, “because not only did he take a position, he took a Sikh political one, he did not throw Shaheed Bhai Talwinder Singh ‘under the bus.’” Jagmeet’s routine criticisms of the Indian government and his statements on self-determination have attracted the attention of major Indian news outlets. These have put out a fair share of flattering articles about the NDP leader’s personal celebrity, but they have also highlighted the controver- sies surrounding him. “Jagmeet Singh criticised for glorifying Khalsa chief accused of 1985 AI bombing,” read a headline in the Hindustan Times fol- lowing the Milewski interview. “Sikh hijacker among others to congratulate

Jagmeet Singh on being elected leader indian express archive

FEBRUARY 2018 41 model minority · reportage below: Khalistani Singh Bajwa, a minister in the Punjab cabinet, the village of thikriwala—Jagmeet Singh’s flags and other argued that relatively younger members of the ancestral home—lies roughly 165 kilometres east symbolism are not Sikh diaspora were too far removed from India of Chandigarh, inside Punjab’s Barnala district. uncommon at Sikh to understand “the real situation in Punjab.” He The family is related to Seva Singh Thikriwala— events in Canada. noted that their parents had, in many cases, immi- an early-twentieth-century resident of the vil- grated to Canada almost half a century ago. “They lage who became famous for fighting against the are misinformed,” Bajwa said. “There’s more than British. a generation gap.” Thikriwala has taken pride in Jagmeet’s suc- Canadian activists I spoke to bristled at the cess. Posters of the NDP leader adorn various notion that they should not comment on Punjabi buildings, and after he won the party election, vil- politics. “If one of us raises our voice and says, lagers gathered in the town’s gurdwara to hear the ‘India is making human-rights violations,’ then news and be congratulated by local leaders. “We a finger gets pointed and it’s like, ‘Oh, well, you are very happy to know that Jagmeet Singh is an keith beaty / toronto star / getty images keith beaty / toronto star

know, no one in India—no one in Punjab—has a elected member of parliament. Jagmeet Singh is problem with it,’” Dhaliwal said. “The reality is it’s respected here,” Jagdit Singh Aulakh, an 89-year- only foreigners that can speak up about it, because old who has lived his entire life in Thikriwala, if locals speak up about it, there’s this very serious said. “We hope in one or two years he will take the threat of being killed or attacked.” place of prime ministership.” Dhaliwal argued there is little daylight between Excitement around Jagmeet has not been lim- Indian and Canadian Sikhs, including on attitudes ited to Thikriwala. Though Punjab’s government towards India and Khalistan. “The notion that this is critical of Jagmeet, some of the state’s citizens is a Canadian sentiment is false,” he said. “This is celebrate his success just as they do that of many a sentiment of people that are oppressed. These Sikhs who live abroad. “What I hear about him are people who have the boot on their throat that is in a positive sense, that he is doing well for the are suffering, that once they escape the suffering, people of Canada,” Karanbir Singh Randhawa, a they speak out about it. This is a ground reality of 22-year-old student at Panjab University, told me. people in Punjab.” “It’s very powerful for us.”

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When I asked Sikhs in Punjab about 1984, it 1984 to Sikhs and how they were killed,’” she said. was clear they do share many opinions with “Gurpreet and I were very surprised by this. Kids their counterparts in Canada. The violence still are talking about this in school.” haunts many, and locals were anguished by the Rachna attributed the comparative prominence state’s failure to punish many of its perpetrators. of the discussion on 1984 within Canada to dif- Sandhu, the journalist turned legislator, said he ferences in Indian and Canadian politics. She said was impressed with how states such as Canada that for children reared in Canada, a state with and the United Kingdom were handling internal strong rule of law and a reputation for peaceful ac- dissension, including threats of secession. Aulakh, commodation, it is “beyond their comprehension whose grandson lives in Toronto, praised Canada’s that nothing was done.” She added that though the relative harmony when compared to India’s own 1984 pogrom was a horrible human-rights viola- history of internal conflicts. “We want more har- tion, many Sikhs born and raised in Canada—a mony—Hindu, Sikh, Muslim,” he said. “We are all group that includes Jagmeet—do not fully appreci- Indians. We should be like brothers.” Despite its turbulent past, Punjab is now one The political discrepancies between of India’s most affluent regions. The state has the second-highest human development index of any Canada and India are part of why Jagmeet Indian state. Most of the people I spoke with in Singh’s language, while innocuous to most Punjab listed unemployment and the state’s ongo- ing struggles with drug addiction and suicide as Canadians, sounds far more threatening in their main concerns. None brought up Operation Delhi and Chandigarh. Blue Star or the 1984 pogrom until I specifically asked. No one expressed any desire—on the record or otherwise—for an independent Sikh state. “Sikh ate the communal context from which the atrocity separatism was always stronger in the diaspora, arose. “There’s no way I rationalise 1984, but I and specifically in Canada, than it was in India have another perspective of what was happening itself,” Narendra Subramanian, a political-science in the 1980s,” she told me. “I know what kind of professor at McGill University who studies India, terrorism was there.” said. He added that most estimates suggest sepa- The political discrepancies between Canada and ratism did not enjoy majority support among Sikhs India are part of why Jagmeet Singh’s language, at any point. while innocuous to most Canadians, sounds In India, communal violence is unfortunately far more threatening in Delhi and Chandigarh. routine and its perpetrators usually go scot-free. Jagmeet “is emphasising all of the positives of Expending energy on 1984 thus makes little multiculturalism,” Karen Bird, a political scientist strategic sense. “When you are living in India, at McMaster University in Toronto, said. “And every day there are new issues,” Gurpreet Singh, we know there is a dark underside. I think that in a 47-year-old journalist who moved from Punjab India there’s much more familiarity with that dark to Canada in 2001, explained. “It’s like a roller underside and much less so in Canada.” coaster. So 1984 wasn’t the first black mark, and it It is in this context that the Indian govern- wasn’t the last.” ment’s decision to deny Jagmeet a visa became a Sandhu argued that Indian Sikhs talk less about flashpoint. Balpreet Singh compared India’s stance 1984 and human rights than Canadian Sikhs do, towards Jagmeet with Canada’s willingness to let not because of fear but out of practicality. “Here, Indians accused of crimes, such as Kamal Nath, the element of pragmatism sets in. After all, if you into the country. “Alleged human-rights viola- are living in Punjab, there is local politics, you tors—alleged murders—can get Canadian visas,” have work, you have business, you have relation- he said. “Canadian Sikhs are regularly threatened ships, you have normal life to carry on,” he said. with and denied visas exclusively on their freedom “It does kind of come up again and again, but not of speech. I think it’s kind of ironic.” very prominently.” Jagmeet’s relationship with the Indian official- Rachna, who migrated to Canada in 2001 along dom has not thawed since 2013. During the NDP with Gurpreet, her husband, told me she was leadership election, he told a major Canadian caught off guard by the intensity with which daily, the Globe and Mail, that someone with links second-generation Canadian Sikhs focus on 1984. to the Indian high commission in Ottawa was tell- This was especially true with her son, who grew ing Indo-Canadians not to support or contribute up in Vancouver. “We had never talked to him to his campaign. Neither the Indian high com- about 1984 and what had happened to Sikhs. But mission nor its Toronto consular office responded he goes to school—I think he was in grade seven— to my calls and emails. The office of Akhilesh and he says, ‘Oh, you know what happened in Mishra, the former consul-general in Toronto and

FEBRUARY 2018 43 model minority · reportage

“There’s been a lot of injustices that entering their premises. They joined a dozen or so Ontario gurdwaras that had just issued a similar have been done to Sikhs, and the Indian ban. government has done nothing,” Harjinder A press release from the Sikh Coordination Committee East Coast, one of several US groups Singh, a spokesperson for the Sikh involved in the ban, said that the decision had Coordination Committee East Coast, said. been driven by the Indian government’s failure to reckon with 1984 and the rise of Hindu national- now India’s ambassador to the Maldives, told me, ism. “There’s been a lot of injustices that have been “It would not be appropriate for him to comment done to Sikhs, and the Indian government has on issues relating to India-Canada relations.” done nothing,” Harjinder Singh, a spokesperson More recently, Jagmeet has angered Indian for the SCCEC, told me. “This is one way to convey officials with his statements on the arrest and the message to the Indian government.” alleged mistreatment of Jagtar Singh Johal. A In follow-up interviews with me, the group also Scotland-born British citizen, Johal was arrested said that India’s attitude towards politicians such while visiting Punjab in November 2017. Pros- as Jagmeet had been an important factor. “The ecutors and police said he was involved in the concern is Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh, targeted killings of Hindu nationalists. His lawyer he’s blamed Mr Jagmeet Singh, he said that he’s dismissed this, and said he has been subjected to a Khalistani,” Himmat Singh, one of the SCCEC’s police torture. The UK prime minister Theresa coordinators, said. Harjinder told me that North May told reporters her government was “pursu- American Sikhs were frustrated by “false propa- ing the case and watching what is happening with ganda” from India against Jagmeet. concern.” Jagmeet tweeted that the torture al- But even in Canada, not all Sikhs are as protec- legations against “Indian authorities” are “deeply tive of Jagmeet. He has alienated many older Sikh chilling & requires immediate attention.” Thukral, Canadians with memories of the 1980s. Intra-Sikh of Amarinder’s office, told me, “Jagmeet has also divisions exist within North America itself, and unleashed a baseless campaign against us with his the concerns of Punjab’s politicians get vocalised open support for Johal.” by Sikh Canadians too. “I see people who I know Canada’s next general election is scheduled for are of the older generation who are focussed the latter half of 2019. The Indian government on the issue of Khalistan and—particularly in would likely prefer a Canadian leader who does Vancouver—the Air India bombing,” Naveen Girn, not have Jagmeet’s critical stances. But, Subrama- who works in the office of Vancouver’s mayor, nian told me, “I don’t think the Indian government said. “It’s easy for people outside of Vancouver to will interfere in a major way in the Canadian elec- be romanticising about Khalistan and the freedom tion.” Canada is not a major world power, and re- movement. It’s not romantic here. It’s real.” ceives only so much Indian attention, and the two Yet for the 37-year-old Girn and many younger, countries’ relationship is now much more focussed politically involved Canadian Sikhs, the question on trade and commerce than the diaspora. of whether Jagmeet himself is a “Khalistani” is at Yet, for many Punjabis, discord between best an aside. Canadian Sikhs and Indian officials is of major “I don’t know if he is or not,” Girn told me. “It concern. Punjab receives a good chunk of India’s doesn’t really matter to me.” What does mat- overseas remittances, which have been especially ter, he said, was Jagmeet’s outreach to different beneficial for rural communities. In Thikriwala, groups, his charisma and his insistence—in both residents proudly showed me a large new house his positions and his appearance—that he can be financed in part, they said, by the emigrant son many things at once: an LGBTQ ally and a person of the family who owned it. Sandhu—who has a of colour, a labour-rights activist and an environ- child in Canada and hosts a radio show for the mentalist, a Canadian and a Sikh. diaspora—worried that the Punjab government’s “He challenges people to look at him as a multi- failure to understand Canadians’ concerns about faceted person, a person who can have different 1984 could drive a wedge between Sikh popula- points of view, a person who can be a South Asian tions. This lack of cohesion is “leading to a very and not just care about freedom issues in India,” new kind of mini-Punjab emerging abroad which Girn said. “That’s what the issue is.” is alienated from their home country and their home state,” he said. “A stage may come when the “he got elected in the NDP pool,” Nijhawan, the twain may not meet.” York University sociologist, told me. “That in and There is already evidence of a breach. In Janu- of itself is quite a powerful statement.” ary, 96 gurdwaras in the United States announced Jagmeet’s victory was historic not just because that they were banning Indian officials from he is from a visible minority. He was the first NDP

44 THE CARAVAN model minority · reportage leader elected on the first ballot in a leadership ible minorities, predicted that having a person below: Canada’s vote since the party’s founder—an impressive feat, of colour as party head would lead to an uptick prime minister especially considering his initial polling was weak. in support for the NDP among these groups. But Justin Trudeau But that victory alone will not be enough. “When- she cautioned against automatically assuming received a standing ovation after ever I’ve met Jagmeet or met some of his team, that most Indo-Canadians, or even most Cana- delivering a formal there’s a confidence that they’re ready to win,” dian Sikhs, would support Jagmeet. His eco- apology for the Girn said. “That group wants him to be prime nomic progressivism, for example, may dissuade Komagata Maru minister, and that’s how they define success.” wealthier Indo-Canadians who prefer lower incident in the Winning the next federal election will be ex- taxes and fewer regulations. “These are divisions House of Commons tremely challenging for Jagmeet—and not just for and confrontations within any community,” she on Parliament Hill in reasons related to identity politics. The NDP came said. “No one leader is going to be able to satisfy Ottawa on 18 May 2016. in second in the 2011 national election and third in everybody.” 2015, in which the party was leading for much of It is also unclear if Jagmeet’s efforts to open the the campaign. It has formed governments in six of party to new constituencies while preserving its Canada’s ten provinces, and it currently controls roots will succeed. Canada’s unions and minor- Alberta and British Columbia. But the party, often ity groups have long had close ties, but there are called “the conscience of Canada,” has never early reports of Jagmeet rankling his own party’s won federally. Jagmeet is thus looking to be two union over working hours. Similarly, he has been “firsts”—the country’s first prime minister from a criticised for a progressivism that has, at times, visible minority, and its first prime minister from seemed uncritical. the NDP. But what is perhaps most concerning is his “The NDP is kind of behind the liberals and the party’s underwhelming recent track record. conservatives in organisation building,” Subra- Though the NDP leader himself has favourable ap- manian said. “In the next election, chances are proval ratings, according to the CBC’s poll tracker, against an NDP prime minister or Jagmeet Singh the party’s polling numbers have worsened since as prime minister.” Most experts I talked to were he took charge. A 23 January estimate projected similarly sceptical about Jagmeet’s odds. To win, that the NDP would win 15.6 percent of the vote they said, he would have to combine unprece- and 19 out of 338 parliamentary seats, far less than dented youth turnout with both a strong showing the 44 it currently has. Were that to happen, it is from Canada’s visible minorities and the NDP’s likely Jagmeet would suffer a fate similar to that of traditional working-class base. There are reasons his predecessor, Thomas Mulcair, who was forced to doubt things will all come together. Bird, an resign after losing more than half of the record expert on voting patterns among Canada’s vis- high 103 seats the party won in 2011. chris wattie / reuters chris wattie

FEBRUARY 2018 45 model minority · reportage opposite page: It is not just polls that are concerning. The NDP tionist ideology. His most significant achievement, In the run-up to has performed poorly in all six of the special par- dramatically expanding the US healthcare system, the 2019 Canadian liamentary by-elections that have occurred after was designed to benefit all middle-class and poor election, Jagmeet his elevation. Even Jagmeet’s supporters, such as Americans equally, irrespective of race, religion or is looking to be Gurpreet, were worried. “Jagmeet, who won the ethnicity. two “firsts”—the country’s first prime leadership this year, couldn’t make an impact in And yet, Obama’s aspirations for “change you minister from a these elections,” Gurpreet said. “He never even can believe in” did not stop him from becoming visible minority, came once for door-knocking.” bogged down in issues of identity and belonging. and its first prime Trudeau’s Liberals performed best in the by- His successor, Donald Trump, got his political minister from the elections, and the current prime minister may start by vigorously promoting the lie that Obama N DP. be the most formidable obstacle to Jagmeet’s was not born in the United States—a lie that a sub- ambitions. Though not as popular as he once was, stantial percentage of Americans still believe. Trudeau retains substantial support, and polls Trump himself is a case study in the downsides suggest his Liberal Party would win again were of ethnicity-oriented politics. An identity politi- the election held today. cian to the core, he won the 2016 US election by Jagbir Singh, who runs the Social Educational appealing to disgruntled white Americans. Part Welfare Association and was responsible for of this involved pledging to crack down on im- Jagmeet’s selection as “Sikh of the Year” in 2013, migration—particularly Muslims and Mexicans, was effusive in his praise of the politician when the latter of whom he branded as “drug dealers,” we spoke. But when asked whom he would support “criminals” and “rapists.” Since taking office, in the federal election, Jagbir—a naturalised Cana- Trump has stepped up deportations and curtailed dian and a liberal satisfied by Trudeau’s perfor- immigration—including by attempting to stop mance—was not ready to commit. wholesale the entry of people from a number “I can’t really decide right now,” he said. of Muslim-majority countries. He has singled minorities out for attack, and once stated that a and then there is jagmeet’s identity. For all its federal judge hearing a fraud complaint against protestations as a progressive nation, for all the his businesses should not be allowed on the case immigrants and visible minorities in government because of his “Mexican” heritage. cabinets, is Canada ready for a turbaned Sikh The rise of Trumpism and the general upsurge prime minister? in majoritarian identity movements across the “Put me in front of people, and I’ll win them world have some worried that the rise of identity over,” Singh told a crowd at an NDP debate. A politics in Canada could lead the country down a poll in October found that nearly 70 percent of similar path. “If you engage in minority identity Canadians would vote for a national party leader politics, it leads to its exact opposite—majority who wears a turban and carries a kirpan. But half identity politics—and that’s dangerous,” Dosanjh of the respondents said that some or most among said. “I’m worried a majoritarian backlash is com- their family and friends would not vote for some- ing in Canada.” one who looks like Jagmeet. He is not alone. Virtually every person I Jagmeet is often likened to Barack Obama, who interviewed, regardless of her or his opinion on inspired millions of young voters and became the Jagmeet, agreed that Canada’s multicultural first black president of the United States. It is a reputation was not by itself enough to protect the comparison many, including some of Jagmeet’s country from majoritarian exclusion. “Canada is supporters, reject. “Obama didn’t come from a given a little too much credit because of its brand,” civil-rights kind of movement or from a history of Dhaliwal said. slavery,” Girn said. He noted that Obama, raised These fears are particularly salient in the prov- by a single, white mother, was both deeply familiar ince of Quebec, where the majority of residents with the history of race in the United States and speak French and view themselves as culturally able to “speak as someone who understands a distinct from all other Canadians. The province Caucasian’s perspective.” has had two referendums on whether it should se- Jagmeet’s activism, by contrast, is firmly rooted cede from the country, both of which have failed. in his understanding of Sikhism. “With Jagmeet, But its political values often clash with those of the difference is that when he speaks about issues Anglophone provinces. Most Quebec residents of civil rights or things like that, he comes from a subscribe to the French concept of secularism, tradition—religiously—of calling for social-justice called laïcité. Unlike in Indian secularism, in la- change,” Girn said. ïcité the state enforces religious neutrality by ban- Furthermore, Obama never tried to be an ning the open display of faith in public spaces. The identity politician, and he oriented himself firmly Quebec provincial government recently passed

within the United States’ self-professed integra- a law that restricts the use of religious headwear blinch / reuters mark

46 THE CARAVAN model minority · reportage

while receiving a government service. it make another attempt to secede, in non-accommodation. But they remain It’s currently being challenged in court. turn making it easier for Quebec to pass ever optimistic, believing that Jagmeet Quebec poses a problem for Jagmeet the kinds of discriminatory measures can persuade racially conservative electorally. “You don’t become the against religious clothing that Jagmeet Canadians to change. To help his cause, governing party without winning lots opposes (the ultimate backstop against Jagmeet has released a video in French of seats in Quebec,” Bird told me. “It’s religiously discriminatory bills in where he explains how to properly don a forgone conclusion.” Doing so will Quebec is Canada’s supreme court). His a turban—complete with a demonstra- be difficult for Jagmeet, whose public statements on self-determination have tion. And his supporters cite his calm display of religious identity is openly in raised eyebrows within Canada, includ- and tolerant handling of the Islamo- conflict with the spirit of the province’s ing from the editorial board of the phobic heckler as evidence that he can highly popular new law. A number of country’s most prominent newspaper. handle racism with political grace. the NDP’s own Quebec legislators have More fundamentally, Quebec pres- “It’s the type of radical empathy that declared that they are not comfortable ents a challenge for Jagmeet’s inclusive only he is capable of,” Dhaliwal said. with their new leader’s appearance. political project. The province has seen Given Jagmeet’s party and his ap- “Jagmeet Singh’s politics will not sell a recent upsurge in right-wing activism, pearance, winning will be an uphill as easily in Quebec,” Subramanian said. particularly in response to the influx of fight. But his very presence in politics “He’s a brown guy with a turban who is refugees. It is no stranger to majoritar- has younger progressives excited. not Christian.” ian extremism either. Last year, a white “If Jagmeet were to run in the next The province also poses a problem college student shot up a mosque in the election and lose, I don’t think you can for Jagmeet philosophically. His stance provincial capital, killing six. call the movement a failure,” Girn said. on self-determination makes it far eas- NDP activists are aware of the But if he won? ier for Quebec to leave Canada should shooting and the province’s history of “It would be incredible.” s

FEBRUARY 2018 47 A ROYAL REPOSE JADHAVGADH’S GOT A HEART OF GOLD, LIKE THE MARUTI SUZUKI DZIRE

The moment you step inside the Maruti and corner of the country, itís a relief to filled activities including an audio tour Suzuki Dzire, its cocooning cabin calms see structures like Fort Jadhavgadh. Se- of the fort, an external sight-seeing you down. The very next moment as you cluded from Pune but so well-connected tour of the vicinity, and even guided begin to move, it livens you up. The car to its Maratha roots, the 300-year-old trekking. Our choice of wheels, the is a mix of both worlds, and probably fort is one of the best quick getaways Dzire is luxurious enough to pamper a the best one there is. With weeks and from the city. Through the urban locales royal. Itís good-looking, boasts a long months spent with one, weíve come to of Mumbai (where weíre based) and list of features, and has the charm to believe that it has a heart of gold. Which Pune, we drive to Jadhavwadi (where look ageless all its life ó much like the weíre told is not too dissimilar to Fort the fort is) in a little over three and a fortress. Jadhavgarh, where the unique hospital- half hours. Named after the Maratha general ity takes the front seat and makes you Once here, you wouldnít have to look Pilaji Jadhavrao, Fort Jadhavgadh was feel at home (or palace, in this case). any further to find peace, delectable built in 1710. It represents what was the Royal hospitality is, as weíre told, sec- food, and of course the treatment once actual place of residence, and not just ond to none. And what can be a better confined to royals only. Spread over 25 an orgy of carvings and designs. It was way to find that out in a car as regal as acres, the property offers a wide variety more purposeful, and different from the the Dzire. of rooms (from royal tents, the taste- usual palaces that weíve seen across Even with skyscrapers and modern fully decorated Maharani suite to the the country. Having said that, it has its buildings trying to and cover every nook grandeur-laden Maharaja suite), fun- roots intact, be it the woodwork, the tall ëDurwaazaí, rock stairways, or, of from Maratha empire. It helps visitors like the Dzire whose wisely selected course, the delectable food. reconnect with the past and eventually features list ensures that the Dzireís Served in both Chhajja coffee shop look in awe at the intrinsically detailed customers arenít let down, irrespective and Payatha restaurant, the Maharash- and well-designed everyday items. of the variant they choose. This adds to trian cuisine is quite the fitting meal, But nothing comes close to relishing the feel-good factor of the Dzire. The once youíre back after touring the fort a siesta in one of the ëkholisí, though. fact that youíve made the right choice or taking the scenic trek atop the hill- And as clichÈd as it may sound, thereís strengthens it even further. And forgive ocks. Chhajja also extends outwards, something for everyone. The Royal Tents me for traversing this path, but isnít life and you can even enjoy your food with and Neem Forest Cottages let you enjoy all about feeling good. a soothing wind topping and a great the view of fortress and the unmistake- It all starts with the welcome cer- view by the side. There are other ways able hospitality, but without going too emony and goes on till the very last to rejuvenate as well, including a full- far from nature. The Deluxe, Premier minute you spend at Jadhavgadh. The fledged spa, a large swimming pool and Museum Rooms take it further up ambience, the location, and even the close to the Maharaja suite, and even the ante, with options like hill-view climate, all work together to make one zip-lining across a pond. Thereís also and open-air rain-showers to indulge feel good. That requires a heart of gold, the Aai (which is Marathi for mother) in. And right on top are the grandeur- like the one Jadhavgadh proudly boasts. Museum which offers a look into the laden Maharaja and Maharani suites, And like I mentioned earlier, the Dzire meticulous collection of memorabilia which epitomise it all. That is so much has one, too. reportage mohsin raza / reuters mohsin raza BEARING THE CROSS

Pakistan’s Christians struggle to keep the faith / RELIGION

SARAH ELEAZAR

50 THE CARAVAN reportage the rides at lahore’s famous Gulshan-e-Iqbal rections from the government not to protest or opposite page: Park open for business at around 5 pm. Hundreds hold public shows of grief or memorials for those A Christian woman of people mill around the sprawling 66-acre park deceased. “We were told that we would lose any shows a journalist all day, and the most enthusiastic of them—the guarantee of security from the state if we did,” one a charred Bible outside her torched children—wait for ride operators to take up their of the bishops told me. house in the positions in small cabins, from where they run a town of Gojra in giant Ferris wheel, merry-go-rounds and fancy for decades, the Christian minority of Pakistan Pakistan’s Punjab swirling teacups. The park is open to people from has lived a marginalised existence. According to province. Her home all backgrounds, but on Easter Sunday of 2016, a the theologian Duncan B Forrester’s book For- had been attacked particularly large number of the park’s estimated rester on Christian Ethics and Practical Theol- during the 2009 30,000 visitors were Christians. ogy, most Christians in Pakistan were formerly mob violence in the area, in which eight At around 6.25 pm, most of the visitors were members of disadvantaged Hindu castes, and were Christians were packed into the fairground area near Gate 5, converted by missionaries of the Catholic Church killed. where dozens of children had queued in front of and the Church Mission Society. Today, many of two popular rides. Just then, between the two them live in Christian-only villages and slums rides and Gate 5, a suicide bomber detonated ten around Pakistan’s big cities, and hold jobs such kilograms of explosives packed inside his vest. The as those of tenant farmers, sanitary workers and blast killed at least 72 people, and although the factory workers. attackers had announced that they were targeting Over the last few years, the community has the Christians celebrating Easter, most of the vic- faced extreme violence at the hands of Islamic tims were Muslim. militants. A year before the attack on Gulshan-e- The attack was claimed by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, Iqbal Park, two blasts in Lahore churches killed a splinter group of the militant organisation at least 17 people. Before that, in September 2013, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar had twin suicide bombers killed 127 people and injured also claimed the twin suicide bombings at church- more than 250 others when they attacked a church es in Lahore’s Youhanabad area the year before, in Peshawar. which had killed over 20 people and sparked a But sporadic violence is only one among a violent protest in the locality that left two Muslim multitude of problems faced by the country’s men dead. But there was no protest this time. Christians. They live in a religiously hostile envi- Instead, on the day of the blast, protests were ronment, where intolerance is not harboured by being held in a different city for very different extremists alone. reasons. As ambulances raced, sirens scream- The hostility has official licence in various ing, through Lahore’s streets, trying to get the regressive laws and policies. Article 19 of the hundreds of injured to hospitals, around 20,000 country’s constitution restricts freedom of speech agitators gathered in Islamabad and created a trail “in the interest of glory of Islam,” among other of destruction as they marched on the parliament things. According to Article 20, freedom and prac- with the express intent of burning it down. The tice of religion is “subject to law, public order and demonstration marked the end of the mourning morality”—a provision that has been selectively period for Mumtaz Qadri, who had been hanged used to oppress minorities. The country has laws for murdering Salman Taseer, a governor of Paki- against blasphemy, which have been used to pros- stan’s state of Punjab who had criticised the coun- ecute hundreds of Christians. The laws are heavily try’s blasphemy laws. They pitched camps and weighed against minorities, and deem desecration presented their list of demands, including the ex- of the Quran or any irreverence towards Muham- ecution of Asia Bibi—a Christian woman accused mad punishable by death. As documented in the of blasphemy, whom Taseer was killed for defend- book Non-Muslims in Muslim Majority Societies, ing. The protesters torched a metro bus, ransacked by the academics Kajsa Ahlstrand and Goran Gun- a metro bus station, destroyed private vehicles nar, while the law does not require candidates parked on roads, breached the high-security Red for the posts of prime minister and chief justice Zone and surrounded the parliament before the of Pakistan to be Muslims, the oaths for the posts army was called in. do—they require them to “swear solemnly that I Reeling from the attack on the park in Lahore, am a Muslim and believe in the Unity and Oneness the Christian leadership’s only condemnations and of Almighty Allah.” The absence of protections for consolations came mostly through either the gov- Christians has allowed the widespread expression ernment-approved channel of the Pakistan Ulema of communal hatred—across the country, mob vio- Council or through Facebook videos. I spoke to lence and lynchings over allegations of blasphemy several of Lahore’s church leaders, who explained are commonplace. that they did not want to present themselves as Despite the extent of this persecution, or per- potential targets anymore. They had strict di- haps because of it, Pakistan’s Christian commu-

FEBRUARY 2018 51 bearing the cross · reportage

ers was arguably Shahbaz Bhatti, who was also the Despite the extent of this leading figure in the minority-rights movement. persecution, or perhaps because In June last year, I met Shahbaz’s family at their of it, Pakistan’s Christian home in Khushpur. Sitting around a coffee table laden with tea and cookies, Shahbaz’s cousins community has mounted a Nadeem Akhtar Gill and Akmal Bhatti, with their spirited struggle for its rights. uncle Akbar Bhatti, recounted the early days of the movement. Shahbaz founded an organisation called the Christian Liberation Front, or CLF, in nity has mounted a spirited struggle for its rights. the mid 1980s. From the early 1980s to the late 2000s, leaders Nadeem recalled how their cousin, as a teen- such as the late Bishop John Joseph and the slain ager in the late 1970s, would lock horns with his politician Shahbaz Bhatti have led the fight for so- father, the headmaster of the village school and cial justice, even losing their lives in that pursuit. a devout Catholic, over the question of political But more recently, amid increasing poverty and activism. His father wanted him to shun activism, oppression, the movement seems to be losing its study hard and become a white-collar professional bearings. While the community’s religious leader- like his brothers. “The tension between them ship remains reluctant to engage politically, its reached a point where his father forbade him to political leadership seems to have been subsumed even go out to play with us,” Nadeem told me. “He by the two biggest political parties, both of whom wanted Shahbaz sahib to study and become a bada have an Islamist orientation. As the state deprives aadmi”—a big man. “He had no patience for the non-Muslims of even the most basic rights, the idealistic plans of an angry teenager.” possibilities of resistance appear dim. Shahbaz’s father stopped giving him pocket money in an attempt to chastise him for not giv- several important voices of christian resistance ing up his dangerous ideas. But his older brothers in Pakistan came from Khushpur, a small village would quietly slip him spending money to sustain in the vicinity of Faisalabad district. A potholed the Christian Liberation Front, or CLF, an organi- mud track snakes for over a mile through tiny sation Shahbaz founded in the mid 1980s. villages and sprawling fields before ending at a Nadeem recalled that Baba Jalal, a wizened, muddy hillock that marks the entrance to the well-read shopkeeper, would inform Shahbaz, who village. Alongside donkey carts, mud troughs for had not yet travelled outside of Khushpur, about animals to drink from and houses thatched with the rampant prejudice against religious minorities mud and straw stand red-brick structures with in the country. However, because of his strict fa- towering spires and crosses. ther, there was not much Shahbaz could do while These impressive structures are emblematic of he was in the village. It was when he went to col- the reputation of the village. Referred to as both lege in Faisalabad that he finally announced that the Vatican and the Rome of Pakistan, Khushpur he would enter politics. is home to about 8,000 Catholics. The village falls In those days, the young activists believed that a under the Diocese of Faisalabad, and boasts of struggle for equal citizen rights for minorities was having produced two bishops, about 40 priests and not only necessary but could bring about genu- hundreds of nuns and theologians. It comes as no ine change in the social and political attitudes of surprise, then, that there is active participation in the Muslim majority towards the Christians of matters of the Church, and a strong emphasis on Pakistan. One of the reasons for this belief, the Catholic values, among the people of Khushpur. elderly Akbar chimed in, was Khushpur’s prox- Yet, more so than the Catholic presence, Khushpur imity to Faisalabad, a city he described as one of is most known for once being the nerve centre of the most prejudiced places in Punjab. “The fact the minority-rights movement in Pakistan. that we couldn’t use the same kitchen utensils as Khushpur has a long history of assistance from Muslims because we were considered impure, and international missionary organisations. This, that Christian students from our village would be along with the efforts of some local politicians, denied admission to institutes of higher education has ensured that it is more prosperous than its greatly angered Shahbaz shaheed,” Akmal said. neighbouring villages. Unlike them, it boasts of a In the 1980s, General Zia-ul-Haq intensified telephone network, a football field, public schools, the Islamisation of Pakistan, declaring that Islam gas supply, and two tube-wells that pump fresh was the chief unifying factor in the divided coun- water. Most of these amenities were obtained in try. Whatever burgeoning hope the young CLF the early 2000s, through political connections and activists had for uplifting the status of religious using funds available to Christian lawmakers from minorities quickly turned into despair, as the state the village. The most prominent of these lawmak- pursued a regressive Salafist Islamic agenda that,

52 THE CARAVAN bearing the cross · reportage according to Nadeem and Akmal, set worship belonging to minorities, as BBC, described the threats he had been back any gains of minorities’ struggles well as a 5-percent quota for minorities receiving from extremists, and then by a century. in public posts. predicted his own death. “I believe in Shahbaz emerged as a prominent In 2010, Shahbaz began receiving Jesus Christ who has given his own life politician after the turn of the mil- death threats for attempting to amend for us,” he said. Referring to the Chris- lenium. In 2002, he joined the Paki- the blasphemy laws. He was one of tian community, he added, “I will die to stan Peoples Party and expanded the the most prominent actors in the Asia defend their rights.” Christian Liberation Front to fight for Bibi case. Asia Bibi, who continues to equal rights for members of all minor- languish in prison, was convicted and while shahbaz was starting out as an ity communities. That same year, he sentenced to death by a district court in activist in his teens, another impor- founded the All Pakistan Minorities November 2010. tant Christian figure from Khushpur Alliance, or APMA. Several PPP leaders, including Sal- was becoming a voice for the minori- bk bangash / ap photo bk bangash above: Pakistani Christian women mourn man Taseer and Sherry Rehman, spoke ties of Pakistan. Bishop John Joseph a victim of a church bombing in Lahore in out in support of Asia Bibi and joined was ordained bishop of the diocese March 2016. Shahbaz in raising the demand for of Faisalabad in 1984—the first indig- amendments to the blasphemy law. enous bishop of Indian and Pakistani In 2008, the Pakistan Peoples Party Taseer, the then governor of Punjab, Punjab. He was an “awami bishop”—a government offered Shahbaz the post was assassinated by one of his body- people’s bishop—Nadeem said, with of minister for minority affairs. He be- guards in Islamabad on 4 January 2011. a hint of pride. To these young activ- came the first Christian parliamentar- On 2 March the same year, two Taliban ists from Khushpur, Joseph was an ian to become a federal minister—his gunmen opened fire at Shahbaz’s car enigma. While it is a common practice predecessors had only held ceremonial as he was leaving his Islamabad home. for villagers to gain an education and state-level posts. Shahbaz used his His niece rushed out of the house only leave the village to pursue careers in clout within the Benazir Bhutto admin- to find Shahbaz dead, his body covered the city or use their connections with istration to push for several reforms, in blood. the church to get settled abroad, Joseph including a ban on the government’s Four months before his murder, chose political activism to serve his seizure and sale of land in places of Shahbaz, in an interview with the people.

FEBRUARY 2018 53 bearing the cross · reportage right: Protestors Christians and their Muslim neighbours. How- hold a candlelit ever, it was the issue of the blasphemy laws that vigil after the 2011 would thrust the bishop to the frontlines of a assassination of struggle culminating in a horrendous tragedy. Shahbaz Bhatti, On 6 May 1998, the bishop travelled to the city Pakistan’s minister of minorities. of Sahiwal to deliver a sermon. Towards the end of the prayer meeting, people gathered around opposite page: him to inquire about the fate of Ayub Masih, who Bishop John Joseph had been sentenced to death for committing blas- was the face of phemy by the Sahiwal district court a week earlier. several minorities’- Joseph told them that he had managed to file an rights movement in Pakistan in the appeal in the Lahore High Court but did not think 1980s. the lawyer could get Masih off. According to the eyewitness account of Patras Masih, the bishop’s driver, Joseph announced to the congregation that if there was no bloodshed, if there was no sacrifice, the black law would never be repealed. A few hours later, Joseph asked Masih to drive him to the courthouse where Ayub had been sentenced to death. Joseph got out of the car, and, standing in front of the court building, shot himself in the head. On 7 May 1998, a sea of mourners gathered in the compound of St Thomas High School in Khushpur. News of the bishop’s suicide had trav-

mohsin raza / reuters mohsin raza elled and, overnight, thousands of Christians from all over the country had made their way to the vil- In her book The Christians of Pakistan: The lage. The school compound was the only space big Passion of John Joseph, the anthropologist Linda enough to accommodate that many people. It was Walbridge explores in great detail the bishop’s the tenth day of Muharram, a day of mourning for life and his activism in the face of opposition from Shias—but that day, the Christians of Khushpur, Christian religious institutions in Pakistan, which too, carried out a traditional mourning procession, had stressed an apolitical engagement with their some even flagellating themselves as they went. parishes since Partition. Elderly residents of Khushpur tut-tutted recall- According to the book, the bishop had been the ing the spectacle, emphasising that mourning by face of several movements in the 1980s under the flagellation finds no place in their religion, but Zia-ul-Haq government, and in the 1990s under conceded that they, too, had been part of the pro- successive Pakistan Muslim League and Pakistan cession—their sorrow was too great. Peoples Party governments. In 1992, when the Young volunteers, most of them CLF members, government proposed that every citizen’s iden- tried to maintain order amid the thousands of tity card indicate their religion, the proposal was mourners, and security personnel pushed through rejected outright by all religious minorities, with the crowd to make way for the coffin being carried the Shia community opposing it most vociferously. to the bishop’s house, from where the funeral pro- Joseph decided to go on a week-long hunger strike cession would head towards the graveyard. Pastor in the centre of Faisalabad, during which he was Sadiq from Multan, who was then a deacon at a constantly surrounded by Christians from various Pentecostal church, had arrived in Khushpur with denominations, singing psalms. The protest sent prominent members of his church and a Christian the government a clear message that minorities member of the provincial assembly from south would not stay passive in the face of discrimina- Punjab. “There was an argument at his funeral,” tory laws, and the proposal was eventually with- Sadiq told me. “The residents of Khushpur wanted drawn. This move earned Joseph praise from all to bury his body there because it was his native religious minorities, and the slogan “Bishop John village. Some people from Faisalabad, however, zindabad” was shouted in protests organised by demanded that he be buried in the city, amid loud Shias. protest from the church and diocese.” Walbridge also described the bishop’s work The young pastor and a companion climbed among residents of kachchi abadis, or shanty- onto the rim of a well in the midst of the school towns, where he fought for their right to hous- compound to photograph the funeral procession. ing and worked towards building trust between Sadiq recalled that as the crowd parted to make

54 THE CARAVAN bearing the cross · reportage way for the CLF volunteers carrying ing them. They entered Faisalabad city the bishop’s body, the young men sud- through a nondescript road and trans- Joseph announced to denly changed their course. They ran, ported the bishop’s body to the Cathe- the congregation that if coffin still on their shoulders, towards dral of St Peter. there was no bloodshed, a van in a small alley next to the school, The arrangements for Joseph’s funer- loaded the coffin into it and drove off at al had been decided on in advance. Tel- if there was no sacrifice, top speed towards Faisalabad. evision footage from the cathedral that the black law would Akram Gill, another cousin of Shah- day shows a large number of nuns and baz’s, told me that the Pakistan Muslim priests preparing for the funeral amid never be repealed. A few League government had instructed its loud wailing from the people who had hours later, he asked Christian leader Peter John Sahotara come to pay their last respects. Howev- to ensure that the funeral be a quiet er, the number of mourners had grown Masih to drive him to the affair. It wanted Joseph to be buried too large for the priests and volunteers courthouse where Ayub in Khushpur rather than in Faisal- to handle, and the crowd spilled onto abad—since the former was a small streets surrounding the church. had been sentenced to Emotions were death. Joseph got out running high by of the car, and, standing this time, and a Christian youth in front of the court allegedly tore building, shot himself in down a sign car- rying a Quranic the head. verse—he was later charged with blasphemy. their chests and shouted, “Bishop, tere A mob of Mus- khoon se inquilab aayega” (your sacri- lims barged into fice will bring a revolution) and “ye C- Christiantown, a ian, B-ian band karo” (end the Sections Catholic-majority 295 C, 295 B—of the law pertaining to ghetto of Faisal- blasphemy). Bishop Samuel Azariah, abad, and burned who was leading hundreds of members down houses and of his congregation in the protest, told shops. Mean- me that a young man threw a stone at while, the mourn- a glass window of a building on Mall ers waited till the Road. “Then it spiralled out of control.” bishop was buried The police arrested over a hundred pro- and then took out testers for vandalism, but the crowds a huge procession spilled onto other roads—Jail Road and in protest against Main Boulevard—and by the time the the blasphemy sun had set nearly 500 protesters had laws. Over the been rounded up and jailed. next week, the Reports of similar protests and ar- protests would rests came from Karachi, Faisalabad,

ap photo spill into every Multan and several smaller cities, and city in the coun- the church leaders decided that they village, they believed it would get less try and culminate in a violent backlash needed to call another meeting. “We media attention. The government had from the state. realised that we needed to change also sent police to the village to ensure Church leaders of every denomina- our strategy and that calls for repeal- the funeral went without a hitch. “But tion in the country called on their ing the law would only be met with a we were not going to let that happen,” followers to join in the protests. They backlash and severe threat from the Akram said. “The spark that John Jo- added that the demonstrations should Muslim hardliners and the state,” Aza- seph had lit would have to blow up and be well organised and peaceful, warn- riah said. “We decided that from now we made sure it did.” ing that the memory of John Joseph on, we would only ask for the law to be The CLF activists had kept planks should not be sullied by violence. But in amended.” of wood in the van so they could cre- Lahore, as over a thousand protesters ate a makeshift bridge over the nearest landed on the famous Mall Road, it be- since the death of joseph, the Chris- canal, and avoid a main bridge which came clear that it would not be easy to tian religious leadership has mostly the police were sure to use while chas- control the action. The marchers beat shied away from political matters. Even

FEBRUARY 2018 55 bearing the cross · reportage opposite page: before Joseph, the community’s powerful religious opened schools and hospitals, and agricultural- Pakistani police institutions had been reluctant to engage politi- ists among them had introduced the latest farm- beat a protestor cally, which blunted the minority-rights movement. ing techniques. Many of them continued to live in taking part in a These institutions were set up during colonial these villages for several years after Partition, but procession carried times by international missionary bodies, and security concerns kept growing and the general out after the death of John Joseph. were once flush with funds and resources. After condition of the villages worsened—the cultivat- Partition, the foreign benefactors began moving able land was shrinking, farming was becoming out, and locals assumed positions as clergy. Today, unfeasible and Muslims from other places were these institutions seem to be in a state of decay. The increasingly buying property these villages. This village of Montgomerywala, also on the outskirts of meant that the foreigners would have to leave, Faisalabad, is an embodiment of this problem. and with them the donations and money from Compared to the tiny villages dotting Faisal- abroad. abad’s vicinity, Montgomerywala has had a history Some institutions have survived while others relatively free of conflict. Apart from a handful of have been lost. Montgomerywala is home to a few squabbles over land and several scandals involving large educational institutes that cater to hundreds Christians marrying Muslims, the Christian vil- of students, including some who travel from other lagers here do not recall having strained relations villages to attend. These include the Government with their Muslim neighbours, and insist that they CMS High School and Primary School, as well as have always felt safe here. the Sacred Heart schools for girls and boys. Despite a ban on loudspeakers, the churches Pastor Sarfaraz Masih of Assemblies of God here continue to use them to make announce- church listed a number of prominent Christian ments and broadcast Sunday sermons. The sound lawmakers and government officers who have of azan does not reach here. studied at these institutes—the serving human- An Anglican church towers over the village like rights and minorities affairs minister, Tahir Khalil a medieval castle, and the number of smaller, but Sandhu, and the former national assembly mem- prominent, churches here exceeds eight. Near the ber Peter John Sahotra among them. However, entrance to the village stand two rickety shops, Sarfaraz lamented, none of these big names ever both bearing Quranic verses on the shutters. returned to provide any leadership or vision to the These belong to the only two Muslim families that people of Montgomerywala. Today, the villagers reside in the village, which had a population of a are poorer than they have ever been, he said. little over 25,000 as recorded in the 1997 census, In the 1970s, under Zulfiqar Bhutto the govern- the most recent source of such data. Spread over ment nationalised many schools to make them 4,125 acres, this is the largest Christian-only vil- accessible to the poor. It mostly targeted Urdu- lage in the country, a young priest dressed in white medium church-run schools that already catered robes told me. But, he added, like its crops, which to lower-income households, and most Chris- are suffering from increasing ground salinity, the tians complain that, as a result, the standard of village is slowly withering away. education at these schools declined. The church Many of Pakistan’s Christian-majority villages— retained control of the higher-end schools—the Martinpur, Stuntzabad, Youngsonabad, Bate- English-medium convents and grammar schools— manabad, Khushpur—took on the names of a local and these remained inaccessible to the poor. missionary patriarch who had helped settle them. Many of the rulers of Pakistan have been Montgomerywala was named after an archdeacon groomed in these church-run schools. Those who of the Church Mission Society who was based in studied at the famed St Anthony’s High School in Gojra city, the young priest told me. Lahore include the former prime minister Nawaz Duncan Forrester wrote that the converts Sharif and his brother, the current chief minister had moved into these villages in large numbers of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, and the assassinated towards the end of the nineteenth century to be- governor Salman Taseer. The late prime minister come tenant farmers, or even labourers, but with Benazir Bhutto attended the Murree Convent, and favourable terms of employment. The CMS priests her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who is the current had followed the model they had adopted in the co-chairperson of the Pakistan Peoples Party, at- urban centres—creating strong establishments to tended Karachi Grammar School and St Patrick provide healthcare and education—and stressed High School. the need for high-quality education for the new In July, I met Chaudhry Nihal Dar, the lamberd- settlers. ar, or headman, of Montgomerywala, a position After Partition, the foreign clergy focussed on passed on to him from his father, grandfather and preparing locals to take up their responsibilities, great-grandfather. For many families, cultivating which included church and village administra- the land is no longer an option, he told me. The tion affairs. These foreign missionaries had declining quality of soil and higher costs of ferti-

56 THE CARAVAN bearing the cross · reportage

and to find suitable buyers for their erywala, villagers continue to pour in In the absence of an land. “It is unfortunate that the church money towards the church building, independent political of Pakistan couldn’t play a charitable even as their neighbours approach leadership, the fate of role here the way foreign CMS mission- starvation. aries would,” he said. That there is a lack of community- Pakistan’s religious The CMS Church used to take care building is clear. The people vote for minorities has been in of widows and provide scholarships to whoever the priest tells them to vote bright students who wanted to study for, no questions asked, Sarfaraz said. the hands of its two further in Faisalabad. Now being tend- “The result is before you—a once-meta- biggest political parties: ed to by Pakistani clergy, the church phoric citadel of Christians in Pakistan, seems to have acquired new priorities. slowly crumbling away and being taken Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Instead of community work, the church over by Muslims, while the founding Muslim League (Nawaz) has been spending on the construction church asks for additional funds to of a new building for the past six years. raise its already eight-foot boundary and the former cricketer “We have spent upwards of 250 million wall.” Imran Khan’s Pakistan rupees on the building in the last six Tehreek-i-Insaf. years,” a priest from the church told at around 11.30 am on 28 July last year, me. “The funds came from residents of a dozen or so young men were gathered Montgomerywala now settled abroad, at a small general store at the entrance liser and water are some of the reasons and the local parish.” of Youhanabad, Lahore, right next to for this. Even if they lease out the land Although his Assemblies of God the office of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s to someone, it fetches 20,000 Pakistani church attracts a sizeable congrega- union council chairman. There was a rupees per acre over six months. Since tion in a solid construction spread kind of feral excitement in the air as there has been no development here in over a quarter of an acre, “their loyal- they urged the elderly shopkeeper to the last few decades, there are no jobs ties still lie with the CMS church,” turn up the volume of a small ancient for young people, he explained. “Most Sarfaraz complained. This is a pattern television at the shop. One man turned girls from our village go into nurs- observable across the colonies settled to another standing next to him and ing,” Dar said. “Many of them get into by the missionaries, he added. Even if asked if his brother had picked up good nursing colleges in the Punjab, they prefer a different denomination’s mithai from a sweets shop a few blocks but those who go to Sindh usually end prayer services, parish members have away. “He’s there right now,” was the up marrying Muslims, abandoning an unswerving allegiance towards the response. “We are waiting for the the village and tainting their families’ founding church. They present to it verdict.” honour.” their tithes, ask its priests to preside As news of the then prime minister The poorer families of the village over local courts and give it generous Nawaz Sharif’s conviction for corrup- look up to the lamberdar for sustenance offerings. As a result, in Montgom- tion and subsequent disqualification from the prime minister post under Article 62(f) of the Constitution of Pakistan flashed across the screen, a unanimous roar rose among those who were watching. The crowd grew big- ger by the minute, gathering vendors who left their fruit carts unattended, shoeshine boys clutching their tools and polish bags and women who had been walking down the street holding each others’ hands. “Today is a happy day for the Christians of Youhanabad,” the elderly Muslim shopkeeper said in a quiet tone. “Of course, I am ecstatic because Imran Khan was right ... the corrupt ganjas”—“baldies,” as the Sha- rif brothers are sometimes referred to—“are out!” The reaction to the news was telling, since Youhanabad is the constituency of the Punjab chief minister, Shahbaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslim League

ap photo (Nawaz), or PML(N), which won the

FEBRUARY 2018 57 bearing the cross · reportage opposite page: provincial election with a landslide majority from images of mangled body parts and burned bones The casket of a this area only four years ago. But since 2015, when across the country. What followed was perhaps victim of the 2015 two churches of the area were attacked, Imran the largest witch-hunt the city has experienced in church bombing in Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf seems to be gain- the last four years. Lahore being carried ing an upper hand. Law enforcement agencies were given permis- to an ambulance. In the absence of an independent political lead- sion to force entry into homes at any time of the ership, the fate of Pakistan’s religious minorities day and pick up everyone they could identify from has been in the hands of its two biggest political the photographs and videos shot by media per- parties: Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League sons. “They went beyond that,” an elderly Muslim (Nawaz) and the former cricketer Imran Khan’s shopkeeper from the area told me. “I mean, you Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, or PTI. Amid political can’t memorise facial features of hundreds of peo- one-upmanship, Christians continue to face vio- ple, so the police went around picking up anyone lence and state repression, while their issues and they thought would be involved in the lynching. concerns go unaddressed. Youhanabad—one of the They didn’t bother the Muslim residents though.” most densely populated neighbourhoods of Lahore He recalled that in the weeks following the at- and the largest Christian settlement in Pakistan— tacks, most families in the area, even those unaf- is one such site of political wrangling. fected by the blasts, left their homes. Most of the residents of Youhanabad trace their Within days, the police, egged on by pressure lineage from saipis, or peasants, who worked on from political parties and the provincial govern- lands owned by Hindus and Sikhs. After Parti- ment, picked up over a hundred young men from tion, Muslim migrants were allotted those lands, Youhanabad and put them behind bars. The Ex- and did not allow the saipis to continue working press Tribune newspaper reported that the police on the lands. The displaced peasants moved to had detained 17 relatives and neighbours of nine the cities where they became part of the urban suspects identified in the footage and pictures poor and squatted in the peripheries. The neigh- available in the media. They were released with bourhood was built and planned by the Catholic the help of political figures from the neighbour- Church in 1961 for these internally displaced hood. peasants. The church not only bought the 40 Ishtiaq Gill and his brother Tariq Javed were hectares on which the colony was to be built, but among those political figures. Javed was the first also planned for it to have wide roads and all pos- Christian chairman of a union council in the area, sible amenities. Today, however, Youhanabad is a post equivalent to a mayor, and had won a pro- poverty-stricken and people lack access to basic vincial election years earlier. Ishtiaq also became facilities. the chairman of a union council, after running as On 15 March 2015, two bombs ripped through an independent candidate in the local government two of the largest churches in the neighbour- election held the following year. Both of them have hood—Christ Church and St John’s Roman Catho- connections with the ruling PML(N). lic Church—while Sunday services were under- “The way police went about picking up boys and way, killing over 17 people and leaving over 100 relatives of suspects was reflective of how Chris- injured. What made headlines, however, was the tians are treated in our society,” Ishtiaq told me in aftermath of the twin suicide bombings, in which June. “These are a people who had just lost family two Muslim men, taken into custody within hours members or were taking care of relatives injured of the blast by the Elite Force—a unit specialis- in the blasts. Dozens of wailing mothers and fa- ing in counterterrorism operations—were pulled thers would visit our office begging us to help out of a security vehicle and brutally lynched by them get their sons released.” a mob, which then proceeded towards the metro It was important for the brothers to use their bus station right in front of the entrance to You- clout in the PML(N) to get these men released, hanabad and vandalised it. Since then, any con- because many people in the area suspected that demnations of the bomb attack—from members of Javed was hand-in-glove with the police. any community—are usually preceded or followed The two brothers have cordial relations with the by a display of horror at how the people of You- chief minister, who had appointed Javed’s wife, hanabad reacted to them. Shazia Tariq, as a member of the provincial as- The government and the media, too, focussed sembly of the region on a reserved seat for women. on the violent reaction to the blasts. The day after “We would visit the police station and present the bombings, the interior minister described the assurances to get these boys released,” Ishtiaq vandalism of the metro bus station as “the worst said. “We got dozens of them released till Joseph kind of terrorism.” Photojournalists and television Francis, who runs a legal-aid NGO, filed a petition crews sent to capture images of the attack fo- in court demanding to know what had become of cussed instead on the lynchings, beaming horrific the men detained by the police.” Ironically, his

58 THE CARAVAN bearing the cross · reportage petition itself hampered the release of the lynching. The PML(N)’s politicians PML(N) will not dare contest an elec- the other men. According to Ishtiaq, had created an atmosphere of hatred tion from Youhanabad in the general once the court admitted the petition against people of Youhanabad, many of election,” he said. “They have no sup- for hearing, the police were bound to whom complained of being beaten up port here.” According to Khokar, the present a challan for the physical re- in the Muslim-majority town of Nishtar PTI have better knowledge of the pulse mand of the remaining men they had and its surrounding neighbourhoods. of the people, refrain from stoking detained—thus making their detentions The communal sentiment around the communal tensions and focus on good formal. “After that, we couldn’t help arrests following the lynching reached governance. them anymore.” a fever pitch when the deputy district Javed agreed that organising On the day of the blasts, the me- public prosecutor offered to help the around “communal issues” could not dia had arrived a few hours after the arrested suspects secure bail if they get a politician—even one from You- lynching. When television reporters converted to Islam. Irfan Masih, one of hanabad—anywhere. “We need to get interviewed Javed, he took a hard line the suspects, had reportedly retorted out of our hidey holes and join main- km chaudary / ap photo km chaudary and said, “Not only will we ensure that that he was ready to be hanged if the stream politics,” he told me. “The days those behind the lynching are hanged, prosecutor converted to Christianity. of organising around minorities’ is- but we will help the police identify the Despite this dynamic playing out in sues are over.” culprits as well.” the local elections, neither of the par- As the leaders increasingly shy away This statement lost Javed the local ties’ leaders openly admit to mobilis- from minorities’ issues, there is a grow- government election by a margin of 180 ing people around communal issues. ing demand for electoral reforms. After votes. The supporters of the PTI can- Though he campaigned around the its founding, Pakistan had a system didate, Asif Sohail Khokar, played and government’s response to the lynching, of separate electorates for minorities. replayed the interview at his corner Khokar told me that his job is not to Under the system, religious minorities meetings, and managed to convince the meddle with an issue that is sub-judice, could only vote in elections for reserved people that anyone who supported the but rather to serve the people through seats, and were barred from voting in PML(N) could not be trusted. Khokar solving problems such as the lack of elections for unreserved seats. This built his campaign around the PML(N) safe drinking water and the need for a system continued up to 1956, after government’s response to the blasts and new graveyard. “I am confident that the which it was overturned. It was re-

FEBRUARY 2018 59 bearing the cross · reportage right: Pakistani Muslim “I mean, you can’t memorise demonstrators facial features of hundreds shout slogans during a protest in of people, so the police went Lahore over alleged blasphemous around picking up anyone they remarks by a thought would be involved in Christian man in March 2013. the lynching. They didn’t bother the Muslim residents though.”

sumed under Zia-ul-Haq in 1985. Zahid Nazir, who runs a forum that tries to bring minority-rights’ activists together on certain issues, said the prob- lem with separate electorates was that because Christians could not vote for unreserved seats, the legislatures would effectively ignore minorities’ problems. After much campaigning by Christian leaders and civil-society organisations, the system was, once again, revoked by Musharraf. The Musharraf government then introduced a joint-electorate system. This system allows all communities to vote in the general assembly elec- tions, and once the elections are over, each party, depending upon the number of seats it has won, gets its share of seats reserved for leaders from mi- nority communities. As Nazir S Bhatti, the presi- dent of the Pakistan Christian Congress, stated in a memorandum, the big political parties then pick the leaders who would represent the minority communities according to the parties’ own whims

and fancies. The memorandum also alleged that arif ali / afp getty images these seats are being bought by leaders through “bribes in millions of rupees,” and that the system big political parties have pretty much no chance to gives minority communities no say in who repre- win elections. “Religious Minorities in Elections— sents their interests. Equal in Law, Not in Practice,” a report by the The memorandum demands the right for reli- Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, or HRCP, gious minorities to vote for their representatives covering minorities’ voting patterns in 2013, gave in reserved seats, but also to participate in gen- an example. In 2008, Mahesh Kumar Malani, a eral elections—a new system that is being called Hindu candidate of the Pakistan Peoples Party “dual electorates.” Khokar of Youhanabad said Parliamentarians, contested the election from a the PTI, too, is on board with the demand for national assembly seat in 2008 and polled 28,411 dual electorates. votes but lost. In 2013, he was not awarded a party But some leaders who have already won favour ticket so he ran as an independent candidate and with big political parties are opposing the initia- received only 85 votes. tive. Tariq Javed argued that dual electorates de- Minorities clearly feel underrepresented in this feated the purpose of opting for joint electorates. system. According to a pre-poll survey conducted That religious minorities would have to campaign by the HRCP in Youhanabad, a majority of the for votes across the province placed an unneces- area’s residents did not believe that Muslim can- sary burden on them, he said. “We cannot be a didates could adequately represent their interests. part of the political mainstream without joining Moreover, according to the report, the people large political parties,” Javed told me. “People “think that the Christian candidates nominated by who argue otherwise do not want to be a part of the political parties for the reserved seats are not the mainstream, they do not even recognise them- true representatives of the community.” selves as Pakistanis.” This was particularly true in the aftermath of Under the joint-electorate system, however, mi- the Youhanabad attacks. As cars bringing Tahir nority candidates who do not have the support of Khalil Sandhu, the provincial minister for human

60 THE CARAVAN bearing the cross · reportage

Fazal has worked in diverse profes- sions, including working short stints in the Pakistani film industry. He became famous through his religious organisa- tion Eternal Life Ministries of Pakistan, or ELM, which promises physical heal- ing through divine intervention, and for a television channel named after his son, Isaac TV. ELM has come a long way from its humble beginnings. The entrance to the street where Fazal’s church and channel studios are located is blocked by security barriers, with men dressed in black and wearing SSG Commando badges standing guard. Towards one end of the building is a large table where people stand in three queues to hand over envelopes and cash to church cashiers as tithes and offerings. Every Wednesday, thousands of people gather in an open compound adjacent to the church building for Fazal’s prayer and worship service, where Michael makes regular appearances. In turn, Fazal often accompanies Michael when he travels abroad to ap- prise the global community of the state of minorities at large in Pakistan. The two, many residents of Bahar Colony claim, frequently gloss over the plight of Christians in their country. “Pa- kistani Christian asylum seekers in Thailand have told us—and my own rights and minority affairs, and Kam- National Assembly several times un- brother-in-law, who was deported from ran Michael, the federal minister for der the separate electorate system and Thailand, confirmed that Michael and human rights, arrived in front of the was also affiliated with the PML(N). Fazal gave statements in various meet- Catholic church, several people in the “Well, Sahotra was a puppet of the anti- ings with the UNHCR and Thai gov- street threw shoes at their cars, and Christian Pakistan Muslim League and ernment that most of the asylum seek- some even stones. an opportunist, who resettled in the UK ers do not have legitimate grounds to “How dare they show their faces in when Musharraf came to power,” an seek asylum,” Zahid Nazir, who runs an our neighbourhood,” thundered an elderly shopkeeper who has a store close activists’ forum and is a neighbour of elderly man who had lost a son in the to Dilkushah Gardens told me. Michael in Dilkushah Gardens, told me. attacks. “These sellouts are the enemies The problem with Kamran Michael The last decade has been brutal for of Christians in Pakistan!” is that he never bothered to organise Christians in Pakistan, said the elderly Michael hails from Bahar Colony in along communal lines or address spe- shopkeeper while listing some major Kot Lakhpat, ten kilometres south of cific problems that minorities face, the incidents of violence off the top of his Youhanabad and perhaps the second shopkeeper said. In the local govern- head. The so-called representatives of most populous Christian neighbourhood ment elections held last year, despite Christians in Pakistan were nowhere in Pakistan. He lives there in a small a close competition from independent to be seen in the aftermath of those gated neighbourhood called Dilkushah candidates in the area, the PML(N)’s incidents, he continued. Because those Gardens. His close affiliation with the candidate, Chaudhry Yousaf Javed, leaders cannot promise security for PML(N) since 2001 has helped him get won and became the chairman of a un- Christians in Pakistan, he added, a appointed as a member of national and ion council. Michael went door-to-door large wave of migration to asylum provincial assemblies and the Senate. to campaign for Javed and took vote camps abroad had occurred in the last And his politics, some of his neighbours pledges from the stage of Anwar Fazal, decade or so. “If I had the money or argue, closely mirror those of Peter a popular evangelist, with a dedicated the means to get out of here, I’d gladly John Sahotra, who was elected to the parish of thousands of people. leave too.” s

FEBRUARY 2018 61 BRAVINGFINDING BLISS ON INDIA’S THE ONLY TIDEDRIVE-IN BEACH IN MUZHAPPILANGAD The tranquility of an early morning is The car we chose isn’t any different. anything was wrong in the first place. second to none. In my opinion, you get At first, the rather large dimensions It even accepted our bulging suitcases, a heartwarming view of humanity in the of the Ford Endeavour might hold you adapted to our versatile music needs wee hours, one that’s rare to see once back, but as you get a move on in it, it’s enroute, cooled us down when the the harsh reality of the sun kicks every- anything but intimidating. It’s cheer- sun insisted on making it hotter than one into a forceful start and people are ful and simple to manoeuvre, and very 35-degrees Celsius, and never misspoke rushed into their day-to-days. The peo- easy on the eyes. To get the aesthet- during any of it. Heck, there wasn’t ple look alert and purposeful, they’re ics right on an SUV this size, mind, is a even a punctured tyre to speak of. Truly filled with optimism for the day ahead, task that not too many have succeeded astonishing bit of machinery, the En- and it’s beautiful to see the softer side at, and yet, the Endeavour makes it all deavour. of things. Smiles are abundant, friendly accommodating and easy to live with. As for Kerala itself, well, it’s as waves aren’t uncommon, and curios- The one here is the 2.2-litre diesel extraordinary as the Endeavour. The ity is seen as a welcome addition to with a six-speed automatic gearbox, people are warm and friendly, the food the heartfelt gratefulness that there’s and allow me to immediately com- is absolutely great no matter where another day to be witnessed and expe- ment that I haven’t ever been this at you decide to eat from, especially if rienced. It’s all rather delightful. ease with a combination over a long you gravitate towards seafood, and the A neat way to encapsulate this, we distance. There’s magic in the way sights and sounds make it a traveller’s felt, was to drive down in one of our fa- the two communicate with each other paradise. vourite cars — the Ford Endeavour — to a over long distances, and we certainly That said, Muzhappilangad was the rather unique bit of Earth in India - Mu- had quite a bit to go from our starting biggest attraction there. It seemed zhappilangad beach in Kerala. The ex- point in Bombay. A simple map will tell removed, yet attached to the core traordinary thing about Muzhappilangad you that, one-way, the distance is in values of Kerala. It broke down the is that it’s the longest drive-in beach the ballpark of around 1500 km, and exhaustion of a journey as long as the in India, and is a phenomenal thing to if you’re committed to spending that one we embarked on with every crash behold. Every single aspect described much time in a car, there’s nothing out of its wave on the beach, and seemed in the lines before this holds true here. there that ticks the boxes like the En- equal parts inviting and intriguing. From the moment you drive in, there’s a deavour. Could there be a more tranquil site to feeling that the beach is accepting of a Our route was scattered with high- unwind? It would seem foolish to sug- need to uplift and re-energise. To that ways, villages, and cities, all of which gest otherwise once you’ve visited the effect, it’s not uncommon to find people had demolished and satin-smooth roads beach, that’s for sure. I’m also certain filtering in to learn how to drive, or in equal quantities. Not once did it feel that the Endeavour pulled out one heck hone their skills as a cricketer, or work like the Endeavour wanted out. Even of an ace from its sleeve to get us there on their fitness, share a laugh, a meal, when it collided with a questionably- without any hassles. It was a given, but or even simply just catch a sunset or sized crater, the Endeavour simply there’s no harm in stating the obvious, sunrise with someone. glided past as though it didn’t recognise is there? The Great Outdoors The picnicking subculture in eastern India PHOTO ESSAY / ENVIRONMENT

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ARKO DATTO TEXT BY TANVI MISHRA there is a photograph in arko datto’s series in decibels.” The festive spirit notwithstanding, the which a large, almost ten-foot-tall loudspeaker series makes subtle observations on socio-cultural dominates the frame, dwarfing a man behind it and aspects of public picnics, such as the environmental shielding him from view. The peculiar aspect of this waste left in their wake or their inherently gendered image is its setting, a suburban area with a river in nature. Datto explained that men and women often the background: an unlikely place to stumble upon a picnicked in segregated groups, and he had observed bulky piece of equipment. Despite its incompatibility a latent sense of aggression, which sometimes cul- with the landscape, the loudspeaker’s wires blend in minated in fights breaking out between inebriated with its surroundings and other objects in the frame, men. “Drunk on whisky and rum, men of all ages including a discarded plastic bag, plate and twigs. brawl, dance their hearts out or pass out, as wives, The presence of improbable man-made objects in girlfriends and children watch,” he said. an unassuming, suburban landscape occurs repeat- Once the picnickers pick their perfect spot, the edly in Pik-Nik, Arko Datto’s series of images, which space takes on a theatrical atmosphere, transforming examines picnicking as a cultural practice in regions into an elaborate set of sorts, with all the props in across eastern India, including Odisha, Jharkhand place—music, food and drink. The pastoral land- and West Bengal. Datto, a photographer based out of scape soon begins to bear markers of the gatherings, Kolkata, began work on this series in 2013, alongside from seemingly innocuous remnants such as clothes an accompanying video piece and a book which will hanging on trees, while their owners presumably be released later this year. Datto worked simultane- take dips in the river, to more serious repercussions ously on a project on various islands in the Sunder- such as thundering noise from loudspeakers. The bans that are disappearing steadily because of rising most discomfiting sight, perhaps, is the abundance sea levels and another project that maps the path of of plastic and garbage that begins to merge with the the Ganga across India and Bangladesh, and explores surroundings. Datto’s image of the aftermath of a the relationship of residents with the river. His proj- picnic, with plastic plates positioned neatly between ects have many overlapping concerns, such as envi- cacti, feels like the props of a play have stayed on ronmental degradation and climate change, so much after the actors have left. “As the sun sets, the buses so that he describes one of his images—of policemen pull out, leaving stray dogs and cows to feast on car- standing on the ruins of a nearly submerged colonial casses, peels and leftovers amidst broken bottles and fort on the banks of the Ganga—as “that feeling when styrofoam plates,” he said. your different projects on climate change, the river Datto’s way of seeing focusses on the curious and and picnics all come together in a heady fruition.” the absurd, a tendency exaggerated by his chosen Datto decided to work on Pik-Nik after a boat ride colour palette, as desaturated scenes of festivities with his family on the Rupnarayan river in 2010. impose a bleak filter suggestive of an impending After returning, he heard that an overcrowded boat apocalypse. His style of image-making can be decep- with picnickers had capsized close to the site he tive at first: straight centre-weighted composition, had just visited. This “tryst with death,” he said, a lack of jarring angles and no hyper-saturation of piqued his interest in this phenomenon. Having colour. The images are easily dismissible as banal observed picnickers over the winter months between activities recorded from a distance. However, Datto December and February, Datto said that the sites often makes subtle allusions to gender dynamics, offer a space for merriment and intimacy; the latter, such as the unrestrained body language of mud- according to him, is “a possibility generally absent in caked men sprawled on the ground or the judgment people’s homes.” He also emphasised the enthusiasm in a man’s gaze as he stares at two people locked in with which the picnickers organise their outings, an intimate embrace. with families frequently hiring buses and cooks, and The surroundings in which Datto’s subjects gather transporting vats of chicken to their chosen spots. are often less than idyllic—next to burning shrubs “Yet the most curious detail is, by and far, the ex- along the dry banks of the Subarnekha river, or near travagant loudspeakers that come with nearly every Kulpi, by the Ganga, beside brick kilns with smoke picnic group,” he said. “Transported in their own billowing out of them. The settings of the images hand-drawn carts or mini-vans, separate generators are also telling of class, a characteristic that Datto are also brought along to pump up the electricity in acknowledged. “The very well-off or affluent people the great outdoors. Songs from recent Bengali and prefer to go to secluded or gated park type places for Hindi blockbusters blare high above permissible their picnics,” he said. “I look at everything else.”

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BOOKS

Out of Focus

What Raghubir Singh did not see / ARTS

RATIK ASOKAN

the scene takes place in rajasthan, sometime in the 1970s. A photographer passing through the desert comes upon a well. From a distance it appears romantic, the centre of rural life. But up close he finds the well nearly dry, which is a problem for the local peasants, who have no other source of water. They have other problems too, such as finding food. A drought seems to have ruined their annual crop. And their livestock, too expensive to feed, has been sent away. “I have eaten only a bit of gruel today,” a peasant tells the

photographer. succession raghubir singh

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Raghubir Singh recalls this episode realism—the sort you might associate in the introduction to his fourth photo- with the journalist P Sainath—because book Rajasthan, India’s Enchanted Land adding to it would be reductive and (1981). He offers the following by way of futile. His reasoning, one presumes conclusion: (he does not articulate it), is that such writing reduces people to their abjec- In Rajasthan, there are thousands of tion. Singh prefers that we celebrate villages like Galawas, and hundreds their “vitality.” Peasants, he argues, of others which are worse off. My “stand out” because of the “rich fabric aim in writing about the villages is of their culture” (and also because of not simply to show its wretchedness. their fabrics). This sounds nice enough I find it futile to add to the volumes until you reverse the equation. Would written on the poor in India. But they not stand out if they did not sing it is important to point out that in and dance? And would Singh have lost spite of their poverty, the peasants of interest if their clothes were plainer? Rajasthan have spun out a wealth of His early photographs suggest as folk culture. Their exuberance, their much. Consider the peasants in Curi- vitality, their ability to laugh, to sing ous Villagers Outside a Circus, Pushkar and dance, interwoven into the rich (1976), who have their backs turned to fabric of their culture, makes them us as they peep into a circus tent. This stand out … Even the clothes they image has a social valence. Singh has wear, those bright and vivid fabrics, registered their exclusion. More subtly, are a symbol of their colorful spirits. he conveys the imbalance of gender: the women crouch on their haunches, This passage veers away from one predictably beside the children, while kind of local colour, only to embrace the men and boys stand. But the overall another. The argument can be tracked structure emphasises something else. in two movements. Singh first distances The picture frame is neatly divided

himself from a strand of concerned along the middle: the top half is covered succession raghubir singh

previous spread: Subhas Chandra Bose Statue, Calcutta, West Bengal, 1986 top: Employees, Morvi Palace, Gujarat, 1982 right: Slum Dweller, Dharavi,

Bombay, Maharashtra, 1990 succession raghubir singh

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by the tent’s burlap enclosure, which is in turn patterned with illustrations of animals; the bottom features the peas- ants distributed before a painted fence. The arrangement stresses certain vi- sual resonances: first, that the peasants’ clothing matches the tent design; sec- ond, that some of their body language, particularly the crouching, is mimicked by the animals above. It could be ar- gued that this is a visual trope, and a successful one at that. But what sort of success does it represent? Whose vision of “folk culture” is being reified? Can we imagine a white artist taking this picture at a Native American reserva- tion? Would that not seem condescend- ing? Then again, the peasants’ saris and kurtis (maybe even their white dhotis) are no doubt symbols of their “colorful spirits.”

the question of colour, spiritual or otherwise, takes us far into “Modern- ism on the Ganges,” a grand and care- fully curated retrospective of Singh’s photos that closed last month at New York’s Met Breuer (The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new location). This is first of all an art-historical matter. Singh, who began working in Jaipur in the mid-1960s, is today considered a pioneer of colour photography. This type of distinction, rare enough for an Indian artist, is doubly impressive when put in context. Singh had no men- tors and almost no local audience (at least until the 1990s). He did not teach at universities until very late in his life. In short, his Western contemporaries had every advantage over him. With tenacity worthy of his Rajput ancestors, he advanced his career from the mid-1970s on. First he made con- tacts in the art world as and when they passed through India. (It helped that he came from money.) Then he moved Peasants, Singh argues, “stand out” because abroad, living with his French wife Anne de Henning in Paris, and later, of the “rich fabric of their culture” (and also rather nomadically, between New York, because of their fabrics). This sounds nice London and Delhi, usually with fellow artists. enough until you reverse the equation. Would His early projects were dictated by they not stand out if they did not sing and the taste of Western magazine editors; few in India would or could publish dance? And would Singh have lost interest if him. But within a decade, he won the their clothes were plainer? freedom to work on his own terms. Suc-

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cess followed quickly. By the 1980s, he certainly in no doubt about his stature. was displaying at respected galleries, Photographers, including his friend even museums, and was admired by the Ram Rahman and protégés Ketaki Seth world photo-community, particularly and Sooni Taraporevala, paid homage New York’s street photography circle. at recent symposiums. The Reliance He shot manically through these years, Foundation was kind enough to fund with an eye toward making photo books, the show, which ran smoothly until 13 of which he published before his sud- the New York-based artist Jaishri Abi- den death, at the age of 56, in 1999. A chandani alleged, on the radio station fourteenth was released posthumously. WNYC, that Singh sexually abused her Singh died soon after a major exhi- in the 1990s. The South Asian Women’s bition of his, titled “River of Color,” Creative Collective, which she is a part opened at the Art Institute of Chicago. of, staged a silent protest-performance His star has waned somewhat since, outside the museum in early December. and the present show, the first on this “I have a very simple goal,” Abichan- scale in two decades, is angled as a sort dani told the Huffington Post, “which of corrective. It has been largely suc- is that when you Google Raghubir, this cessful in this regard; “Modernism” was will come up.” (The MET supported rapturously reviewed in the US press. Abichandani’s right to protest.) There is also a sense that Singh is being canonised in India. The Indian what does it mean to be a pioneer of above: Ganapati Immersion, novelists and art critics who wrote the colour photography? Most saliently, it Chowpatty, Bombay, catalogue essays for the exhibition are means to go against the grain. “When Maharashtra, 1989

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dogma from day one. He instinctually life,” and that this turn away from nar- Singh’s images suggest shot his first photos in colour, and never rative is innately praiseworthy. that he struggled to switched, finding black and white too It is telling that neither theory ad- engage emotionally with austere. The choice brought him much dresses the social valence of Singh’s ridicule early on, especially from Amer- project. That would entail dealing with his subjects, who were ican colleagues. But over time they class, both the representation of class, ordinary Indians from a came to appreciate what he was doing. and the class-privilege innate in the Today, colour is precisely what Singh is turn away from representation. wide spectrum of class most lauded for, though the praise can Singh’s images suggest that he and caste backgrounds. often seem incidental to his craft. struggled to engage emotionally with Singh shot almost exclusively in In- his subjects (of course there are ex- dia. Latching onto this, several critics ceptions), who were ordinary Indians have argued—and new critics continue from a wide spectrum of class and to argue—that his subject matter merits caste backgrounds. This is perfectly a special format. Their essential claim understandable. As a semi-royal Rajput is that colour suits India because… well, pursuing an elite art form, it would because India is colourful. For obvious have been disingenuous for him to act reasons, this tends to be the foreign like one of the gang (at the time, there line. Thus the conceptual artist John were heavy import duties on cameras Baldessari, whom Fineman quotes in and film, and access to equipment was a the catalogue, has praised Singh for rare privilege). The strange thing is that tackling India’s “visual bombardment Singh never addressed this fundamen- and overload … the punctuation of color tal issue. Instead, with striking non- made vivid by its being surrounded by chalance, he depicted tableaus ranging drabness.” Indians are not averse to from day-to-day street life to popular the idea either, though their reason- religious processions to extreme pov- ing is usually more roundabout. “One erty, always finding something of visual singular quality of his photographs,” interest, usually something to do with the art historian Partha Mitter argues colour, incidental to the human drama in his catalogue essay, “is the balance at hand. As a result, his images have a of intensity and saturation in the range sort of split personality. Their captions of colors that adds essential drama and read like social tags—A Tribesman, texture to the bustling humanity in his Gujarat-Madhya Pradesh Border; Slum images.” (Meaning that the “bustling Dweller; Dharavi; Holi Revellers, Jodh- Singh began taking pictures in the mid- humanity” must be brought to life with pur—while the pictures are anything 1960s,” the curator Mia Fineman writes colour? Or just that colour compliments, but individual or group portraits. in the catalogue, “black-and-white film as Mitter claims later, “the sheer pictur- Consider Employees, Morvi Palace was firmly established as the preferred esque quality” of India?) Gujarat (1982). Set, it seems, in the large idiom of art photography.” That judg- The novelist Amit Chaudhuri takes living room of the palace, it depicts two ment was upheld in several budding tra- the opposite stance in his catalogue es- servants, squatting on their haunches ditions. Consider “New Documents,” a say. Colour, he argues, allowed Singh and scrubbing the floor. The picture is legendary 1967 exhibition at New York’s to a turn away from subject matter and framed with an eye to pattern and his- Museum of Modern Art. The show representation more broadly. His real torical irony. The gaudy and shiny mod- brought together the work of three pio- subject was joy. Chaudhuri sees this as ern cabinets contrast against elegantly neering American photographers: Gary a characteristically Indian response. patterned tiles, just as one servant’s Winnogrand, who shot dynamic photos “Tragedy, calamity, conflict, loss—these sari is garishly modern and the other is of street life; Lee Friedlander, whose constitute a story or theme,” he writes, somberly traditional. As in the Pushkar work was more austerely self-reflexive; whereas “Joy and its smaller secular scene, Singh also deploys his favourite and Diane Arbus, who explored a form cousin, happiness, are not, accord- human-object trope. Four circles have of gothic portraiture. All three shot in ing to Western aesthetic parameters, been etched on to the glass doors of the monochrome, as did most serious pho- subjects.” As an aesthetic argument, cabinets in the middle of the room, a tojournalists. The medium held twin this does not hold water; much writ- series which neatly continues onto one attractions: it was more direct and in- ing about childhood, a major theme servant’s sari. contestable; yet the two-tone limitation in western literature, is about joy. But It can be said that this is a non- allowed for expression. the flawed logic is of interest in that it didactic “slice of life” that revels in Singh’s great achievement, or so reflects another prevailing idea: that the play of colour. Neither observation the story goes, is that he resisted this Singh captured un-didactic “slices of negates the simple and overwhelming

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above: Victoria Terminus, Bombay, Maharashtra, 1991

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fact that these women’s perspectives intellectuals could ignore the challenge have been disregarded. Again, a simple of developing empathy for people out- comparison with the United States is side their class and caste. instructive. Can we imagine a white Such cultural myths deform the ar- artist taking such a photograph of black tistic imagination. You cannot describe maids—and being lauded for it? a society when you only see a tiny part Pilgrims on Trichy Hill (1996), thank- of it. RK Narayan—who later wrote an fully not included in the show, lays out admiring introduction to Singh’s photo the matter more starkly. The pleasing, book Tamil Nadu (1996)—is a good ex- blurred background of this image de- ample. In a telling passage, Naipaul dis- picts rolling hills that speak to tourist cusses reading Narayan’s comic novel fantasies. But blocking the view, lit by Mr. Sampath before and during his visit a harsh flash, is a family of barefoot to India. The book is about a journal- pilgrims. This picture is less a portrait ist, who, failing to bring about change than an impasse. Singh has made little through his newspaper, rejects political effort to tease out the pilgrims’ state engagement for a sort of enlightened of mind, or even put them at ease. pseudo-Hindu passiveness. Their features have been recorded, not The story, charming when read in observed. Police mug shots are more England, felt terribly escapist in local tender. conditions. In India, Naipaul saw that There are several similar images on the journalist’s inner retreat was not, display at the museum, and countless or not only, silly, but a reflection of Na- others in Singh’s photo books (those are rayan’s own temperament and belief. usually more formally sophisticated). “But India will go on,” Narayan once Together, they comprise a sort of told Naipaul, a phrase the latter returns mythopoetic version of India: a country to again and again in his book. of patterns and landscapes and colours Narayan’s logic was that India eter- and tropes, but very little human per- nally renews itself after defeats and sonality, or rather, with many humans destruction; in this cosmic scheme, the whose personalities have been muted. individual has a minor role to play and This muting is what critics variously is, in fact, absolved of all responsibility. interpret as a turn away from represen- Singh, who belonged to a younger gen- tation, or celebration of India’s colour. eration, did not entirely reject change. The matter is really more simple. Singh And in his later work, especially his came of age at a difficult moment in books Calcutta: The Home and The Indian history. By the 1960s, the hopes Street (1988) and Bombay: Gateway of sparked by Independence had given India (1994), he even acutely registers way to a sense of crisis, or rather a feel- transformations: such as the rise of ing that the country—with colonial Dalit political organising and globalisa- levels of inequity, mired by corruption, tion. However, he never managed to and still largely casteist in its outlook— develop a genuine interest in individu- was drifting from crisis to crisis. VS als outside his social class. Up until his Naipaul captured this period in India: A death, he imagined his countrymen as a Wounded Civilization (1976). backdrop for cultural ideas.

succession raghubir singh In the book’s third section, which Sometimes they were equated with broadly focusses on culture, Naipaul colour, as when he claimed, in an intro- diagnoses a peculiar neurosis among duction to his photobook River of Color the country’s middle-class artists and (1998), that “The fundamental condi- intellectuals; they had grown obsessed tion of India is the cycle of rebirth, with half-baked notions of Indian cul- in which color is not just an essential ture and antiquity. Naipaul correctly element but also a deep inner source, felt that this was a coping mechanism. reaching into the subcontinent’s long As a cultural abstraction, India was and rich past.” At other times, his marvellous and comforting, whereas thinking took on an animistic dimen- the country’s social reality was over- sion. For example, in a 1989 essay, he whelming and wretched. By fixating on wrote that his overarching ambition the country’s past, then, the artists and was to chart “the geographical culture

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of India: an environment in which Agrarian land reform brought an end opposite page: Morning on people, animals, religion, tradition, to their lavish lifestyle. Singh’s joint Panchganga Ghat, Benares, myth, manners, history and climate family broke up, lost much of its wealth, Uttar Pradesh, 1985 are inseparable from one another and and he followed his brother to work as a below: A Marwari Wedding from the vast land of rivers, mountains, tea-plantation manager in West Bengal. Reception in South Calcutta’s plains and plateaus.” When his job applications were reject- Singhi Park, Calcutta, The governing logic of his oeuvre ed, he switched to photography. Shoot- West Bengal, ca.1972 should be understood in this context. ing in Calcutta, he immersed himself Singh charted India region by region. in the city’s bhadralok intellectual life. His champions argue that he created a Satyajit Ray, who wrote the introduc- “personal” vision of his country. But the tion to Rajasthan, and designed his diorama-like titles—Kashmir: Garden of early book covers, would be a lifelong the Himalayas, Kerala: The Spice Coast friend. of India—are the surest giveaway. Returning to Jaipur, Singh hustled If he were simply an orientalist, as a freelancer. By the late 1960s, he Singh would be of little interest. The had regular commissions from Life, thing is that he was, or at any rate The New York Times Magazine, and became, an artist of remarkable skill. National Geographic (the last, his friend There are countless images that you Ram Rahman has said, gave him an can commend for the manipulation of unlimited supply of Kodachrome slide perspective, latitudinal tension, gestur- film, then unavailable in India). These al choreography or melodies of colour. assignments—neatly framed shots of But Singh’s overall vision remained festivals, “tribals,” political rallies, and retrograde. He continued to shoot of- so forth—were simple enough. In his fensive portraits and postcard tableaus own work, he faced the harder chal- and play silly games with colour, even lenge of finding a personal voice. as his technical abilities improved. Initially, like most postcolonial art- That lopsided development is finally ists, Singh worked after Western mod- damning. els, such as Cartier-Bresson (whom he met in Jaipur) and Eugene Atget. That raghubir singh was born in 1942 into said, the influence of National Geo- a semi-aristocratic family in Jaipur. His graphic remained overriding. Singh’s father, a Thakur, inherited land around early books on Calcutta (1974), the the city; his mother was a devout Hindu Ganga (1975), the Kumbh Mela (1980) housewife. They lived in a large haveli, and, one could argue, Rajasthan (1981), poring over their ancestry, enjoying are largely filled with expository shots feasts and festivals. It was a cloistered on familiar themes: decaying mansions childhood, to say the least. “We began in Calcutta, the Indian peasantry, reli- cycling to school when I was in my ear- gious processions, and political rallies. ly teens,” Singh wrote, “There, for the His sense of visual harmony, and talent first time, I came into contact with the for making unlikely contrasts work, are outside worlds, and made friends with evident in some of the images, such as schoolmates of other communities.” A Marwari Wedding Reception in South The family kept alive a rich sense of Calcutta’s Singhi Park (ca. 1972), with the past. Singh’s father, for example, its screaming pink sofas that nicely sit claimed to own a knife that once be- against a green lawn (there is a rare longed to Akbar. His mother, more touch of satire here too). But by and ludicrously, traced their ancestors back large, the work is unremarkable. to Rama. “The martial trappings,” he Two important things occurred dur- wrote, “the ceremonies, and the stories ing this period, or rather, two events my father and mother told me provided were set in motion, though it took a us with a treasure around which we while for their effects to be felt. First, built our childhood games. In our fan- Singh was commissioned by the great tasies we believed ourselves to be part American art historian Stuart Carey of a fairy-tale world of fearless war- Welch to shoot images of paintings in riors on galloping horses and battling Jaipur’s royal archives. This was a pro-

elephants.” found experience, unsurprisingly, for succession raghubir singh

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a man with his feeling for the past. He fell in love with Rajput court painting. Indian art in general became a life-long passion; Singh later turned to it to explain his own theories about the pictorial de- piction of social life. If this discovery led him inwards and backward (not in the pejora- tive sense), the next would take him outwards and forward. In 1969, Singh met William Gedney, a Brooklyn-based photographer who was then in Benares on a Fulbright fellowship. The two became fast friends. Around this time, Singh began travelling abroad for work, and soon, through Gedney, he broke into New York’s modernist street-photography circle, then at the very forefront of the medium’s stylistic innovations. Critics unanimously agree that these events changed Singh’s work, though their reasoning tends to be quite shallow. Rahman has made the case most eloquently. In a lecture delivered at the Delhi Photo Festival in 2013, Rahman contrasted Singh’s images from the 1970s with those from the late 1980s and 1990s, noting the startling change in the style of composition. The earlier photos are expository and neatly laid out, conceived above all to convey information and depict a scene. But Singh’s encounter with American modernism changed all this. Photographers such as Friedlander had taken up a more self-conscious, almost existentially formal attitude towards image- making: layering images, ruthlessly cutting the frame, sometimes

FEBRUARY 2018 87 out of focus · books doing away with the idea of “subject” a new way of looking. His essential atti- entirely. tude towards his subject is no different “When men cannot Rahman convincingly shows how than what it was in Rajasthan. observe,” Naipaul wrote, Singh came to adopt these attitudes. To his credit, Singh admitted as “they don’t have ideas; Consider Crawford Market, Bombay, much, or admitted something like it. Maharashtra (1993), published in Bom- Though he fervently praised modernist they have obsessions.” bay. Shot—for once—from within the photography, he also distanced himself This statement could thick of things, the picture shows a from the tradition. “However gifted band of porters, alternately blurred and the Indian photographer might be,” he be a caption to Singh’s in focus, who are drinking tea. From writes in River of Color: career. His failure to the bottom-left corner a large arm in- trudes, carrying a brass pot and pour- However personal and intimate meaningfully adapt ing tea into a white cup, and from the his or her photographs, he or she modernism essentially upper-right border two legs descend to will find it a quixotic quest to bond rest on a mango crate. (The anonymous oneself to the Eurocentric Western boils down to fear. limbs are an homage to Friedlander, canon of photography, in which the who often deployed a similar trope.) contemporary concepts of morality From experiments with focus and and guilt push aside the idea of beau- multilayered composition to frag- ty. Beauty, nature, humanism and mented form and cut frame, there is so spirituality are the four cornerstones much happening in this photograph. of the continuous culture of India. Nevertheless, the image leaves you cold. You cannot shake off the impres- “Morality” and “guilt,” for Singh, sion that Singh’s shot is somehow might roughly translate to social en- unadventurous, fit for the BBC Travel gagement and self-awareness. As for section. This is not a criticism of exotic “beauty,” “nature” and the rest—this subject matter (though critics such as is simply escapist nonsense. American Max Kozloff describe the scene as ex- modernists offered a rounded picture of otic—in praise). It is an issue of human social life and human possibility. Their presence, or rather, the lack of it, on work explored desire, shame, frater- the part of the subjects and on the part nity, guilt and loneliness, as well as joy of the photographer. and delight. Singh shied away from this Rahman considers Singh’s interac- challenge, embracing the rosy abstrac- tion with American modernism in tion of India’s “continuous culture,” purely formal terms. But form and like the intellectuals Naipaul described. have been tricky and painful for Singh. sensibility are inseparable. The great Photographs, in his conception, should Then again, it could have led to some- modernist American photographers not depict reality or express a complex thing new and beautiful. produced an extraordinarily personal inner state. They should simply comfort body of work. Winnogrand, for exam- us and convey joy. singh coined the phrase “Modernism ple, savagely roamed New York’s streets “When men cannot observe,” Nai- on the Ganges” to describe his mature and his photographs are practically paul wrote, “they don’t have ideas; work, much of which was on display at giddy with the excitement of social they have obsessions.” This statement the Breuer. By the mid 1980s, he was observation. Gedney, who cut his teeth could be a caption to Singh’s career. His no longer reliant on foreign magazines, shooting the rural poor in Eastern Ken- failure to meaningfully adapt modern- and worked independently. The images tucky, made images of heroic sensual- ism essentially boils down to fear. To then are his best work; their limitations ity. Arbus shot double-edged portraits develop an individual voice, you have cannot be excused. of people on the margins of society: to go through some introspection. This Among these images, his signature giants, cross dressers, nudists and so in turn necessarily involves a social shot is a version of the tableau, which forth. And then there is Friedlander, reckoning. Just as you have to figure often features a small to medium-sized Singh’s “master modernist of our time,” out the colours you like and dislike, you group of individuals, arranged in strik- whose self-reflexive photographs are have to figure out who you are trained ing formal patterns, in a representative suffused with a sense of alienation. to see and who you are trained to look milieu. Morning on Panchganga Ghat, Singh’s work is disappointingly im- past. As someone at the crosshairs of Benares, Uttar Pradesh (1985) is a good personal by comparison. His image of privilege (wealth; caste; class) and mar- example. the Crawford market tea stall is like a ginalisation (he was a photographer in People ascend and descend steps at a stencil of modernism. The composition a country that had no time for photog- ghat. The figures are carefully spread is refined, but it does not correspond to raphy) the re-evaluation would likely out, almost like the hands of clock,

88 THE CARAVAN out of focus · books succession raghubir singh

across the image. A smiling woman ground with a silhouette of a father in conversation, caught in sunlight holding his child in the background; on the right; an older man, on the far there is an internal logic and emotional left, heading for a bath; children, fac- immediacy here that is absent from ing away from us in the near ground; a Singh’s scene. (Bear in mind that Webb turbaned man seated at the top of the was an outsider in Mexico, where he steps. It is true that a young boy, neatly shot the photo.) posing, stands in the middle, his shad- Granted, there is no religious frenzy ow crisp against the white wall. But in Morning; Singh is not peddling ex- he is hardly the photograph’s subject. otic visions of Benares. But neither is Looking down, too far to appear pen- he offering a vision of his own. Webb’s sive, he has been chosen for the maroon human stories call to one another, sug- dhoti he is wearing—which matches gesting a larger conception of society or the colour of the shrine beside him—as fate, a conception that, above all, chal- much as anything else. lenges us to think. Singh’s characters Morning bears some resemblance to merely occupy the same scene. the work of the American photographer There is likewise no question of Alex Webb, who also made multi-scene people pausing and reflecting, or, more group portraits. But Webb’s images generally, of the frame as a space for are thrilling precisely because of their reflection. A pensive image has to feel polyphonic drama and interplay. Nuevo subliminally animated by thought; above: Crawford Market, Laredo, Tamaulipas (1996), for example, there needs to be a sense of mystery. Bombay, Maharashtra, 1993 juxtaposes young lovers in the fore- The photographer has to convince us

FEBRUARY 2018 89 out of focus · books

above: Pavement Mirror Shop, Howrah, West Bengal, 1991

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that people are thinking and, more jumble of change and stasis has been importantly, make us want to know calmly accepted. what they are thinking. Only then will Social change is a more complex mat- the subjects’ inner lives, withheld from ter and Singh does his best to register us by the mute image, be a source of it from afar. In this regard, Ganapati aching drama. Webb’s characters are Immersion, Chowpatty, Bombay, Ma- unforgettable, even if we know noth- harashtra (1989) can be chalked up as a ing about them. Singh’s are flat, passive success. The image, which Singh seems rather than pensive; he was himself to have been shot while knee-deep in uninterested in them. water, shows a mass of people in the sea, Most of the provincial and rural im- some with their clothes coloured pink, ages on display suffer the same weak- standing around a large Ganesh statue. nesses: Singh has little interest in peo- Though you can make out a few people ple, and his style is not interesting. further back in the scene, the water in Something different happens in the the foreground blurs most of the indi- metropolis. Here he responds to the viduals, imbuing them with a collective built environment, reading larger so- identity. It is a poignant, if convenient, cial and historical shifts in objects and scene; the shabby pink shirts plangently monuments. The result is a form of rhyming with Ganesh’s skin. modernist critical analysis. Singh re- This sort of studied blurring will mains emotionally absent, but his mind not work up close. But Singh’s diorama is set to work. His key (but by no means logic called for portraits. Consider Slum only) insight, as Chaudhuri persuasively Dweller, Dharavi (1984). Shot from a explains, is that globalisation separates slum lane, the camera peers up into the a city from its own past. A case in point opening of a loft, out of which a man, his is Victoria Terminus, Bombay, Maha- face smeared in grime, looks out uncom- rashtra (1991), which shows the great fortably. Beside him, the legs of a wom- building in Bombay through a blue fly- an extend down a wooden staircase. Her net held up by a passing vendor. pink sari is visible up to her waist, above On occasion, Singh used the chaos which she is covered by the slum’s walls. of modernisation as a sort of formal Beneath the man, an electric-blue metal challenge. Consider Subhas Chandra sheet, largely eroded by rust, makes for Bose Statue, Calcutta, West Bengal a sharp contrast with the pink. To the (1986). The statue, located in the far far left—Singh has a genius for latitudi- background, is framed by the pane- nal arrangement—two garments, yellow less square window of an olive-green and violet, hang to dry. He is plainly tak- open door crookedly hanging in the en by the vivid colours, and would like foreground, which in turn is cut off by us to join in on the fun. Singh’s aesthetic an anonymous human hand. A bright instinct is shocking in the context. The white government bus in the middle “slum dweller” has been reduced to an distance enters (or exits) the frame animal caught in headlights. from the left. Finally, right at the Pavement Mirror Shop (1991) is the frame’s centre are two legs, belonging best photo on view. An intricate grid to a man, strangely bent over so that his of reflections, it includes three or four

succession raghubir singh torso is covered by the door. street scenes in miniature, and a band For all the differing textures, layers of people in the background, seen of focus, and forms, the image feels through a gap in the hanging mirrors. harmoniously composed. The statue The scene is as “non-narrative” as any far away and the window up close; the Singh captured. The difference is that, white bus on the left and green door on for once, he put himself on the page. In the right; the jutting hand and dangling the blurred surface of a mirror, hung legs: every locus of interest has a coun- near the frame’s upper border, you see terpoint. Nor is the sense of calm artifi- his eyes pressed against his camera. He cial. Though the statue’s contemporary is looking at himself, and the people irrelevance is clearly framed, there is around him, aware that the two are no melodrama over ruin or repugnance somehow related. Too bad he stopped towards commerce. The ambiguous looking. s

FEBRUARY 2018 91 THE BOOKSHELF

fiRe anD fuRy The elephanT insiDe The TRump in The Room WhiTe house Women DRaW Michael Wolff TheiR WoRlD Spring Collective

The journalist Michael Wolff had unprecedented access to the White House This book brings together the work of 16 feminist comic after Donald Trump artists from India and Germany and their views on identity, became the president of the power, family, sex, their bodies and various issues that are United States of America, and was witness to many private taboo in public discourse. The comic form allows these conversations and meetings between White House staff artists to deploy humour and images—such as Nina Pagalies’ as well as members of Trump’s family. In this book, Wolff piece on ten temples dedicated to the vagina—to explore reveals shocking stories about chaos and mismanagement in subversive topics. the Oval Office, particularly the conflict between Trump’s chief strategist Steve Bannon and senior advisor Jared Kushner, and tensions among other members of Trump’s family. hachette, 336 pages, S699 zubaan, 224 pages, S850

neW Delhi inTeRRogaTing love songs my ChanDal life Michael Creighton an auTobiogRaphy of a DaliT by Manoranjan Byapari Translated by Sipra Mukherjee

“People come from A refugee from East Paki- everywhere to this city;/ All stan who grew up in a gov- are welcomed with a stare in ernment resettlement colony New Delhi,” writes Michael in Dandakaranya, Chattis- Creighton in the title poem garh, Manoranjan Byapari of his first book, New Delhi ran away and ended up in Long Songs. Creighton is an American poet who has taught Kolkata, became involved in the violence of the Naxalite middle school in Delhi for over a decade. His poems are movement and later led a life of low-wage work and petty marked by compassion and empathy for ordinary people— crime. He eventually landed in prison, where he learned to peons, shopkeepers and labourers—in this metropolis of read and write, and slowly transformed his life. Byapari is a migrants, who seek small pleasures in a difficult city. Namashudra, part of one of the largest Dalit communities in Bengal. Class, caste, politics and violence are as intertwined in his narrative as they are in Bengali society. speaking tiger, 136 pages, S299 sage samya, 550 pages, S384

92 THE CARAVAN THE BOOKSHELF

TheRe’s a The islamiC CaRnival ToDay ConneCTion Indra Bahadur Rai souTh asia Translated by anD The gulf Manjushree Thapa Edited by Christophe Jaffrelot and Laurence Louër

The Darjeeling-based novel- This collection of essays by ist and critic Indra Bahadur leading scholars of Islam Rai is an acclaimed writer in South Asia and West in the Nepali language. In Asia explores how the this novel, he provides a panoramic view of the political and regions are unified by transnational political Islam. This social transformations which took place in North Bengal book particularly emphasises the ideological, spiritual and and neighbouring Nepal after the end of British rule. Set in educational connections between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, Darjeeling in the 1950s, it foreshadows the ways in which through the funding of militant groups and religious identity constructed political demands for independence and institutions, as well as universities, foundations and even autonomy in the region in the decades to come. cable TV channels.

speaking tree, 248 pages, S350 penguin random house, 320 pages, S699

Thin DiviDing line DanDelions inDia, mauRiTius Yasunari Kawabata anD global illiCiT Translated by Michael finanCial floWs Emmerich by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta with Shinzani Jain

Over the past two dec- ades, roughly 40 percent of Japan’s first Nobel Prize foreign investment to India winner in Literature, has been directed through Yasunari Kawabata, Mauritius, a nation off the committed suicide in southeastern coast of Africa, 1972, leaving behind an where a majority of the unfinished novel, which is inhabitants are descendants finally available in English translation. Dandelions is a book of Indian indentured labourers. Today, Mauritius is notori- about a young woman whose vision becomes so impaired ous as a tax haven. This work of investigative journalism that objects or people that she sees a moment before vanish shows how the business elite in India have used the country’s into thin air—similar to a real medical condition called historic links with Mauritius to reroute investments in India “somagnosia.” Kawabata’s work explores the loss and trauma through legal and illegal means—on both sides of “the thin of seeing countless loved ones die in the Second World War dividing line” between legal tax avoidance and illegal tax and the survivors’ guilt of the generation that remained. evasion—to avoid paying corporate taxes in India. penguin random house, 304 pages, S599 new directions, 128 pages, S994

FEBRUARY 2018 93 SHOWCASE Arts courtesy sahej rahal and khoj international artists’ association rahal and khoj international artists’ courtesy sahej

Turn of the Tide is an exploration of the various temperaments of our Turn times, with a new generation of artists making sense of what constitutes the “now.” In conversation with each other, they continue to expand the of the Tide boundaries of contemporary art. Featuring 20 artists across mediums and ideas, the exhibition includes works by Abir Karmakar, Prabhakar 12 TO 24 FEBRUARY Pachpute, Pallavi Paul and Sahil Naik. KHOJ INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS’ ASSOCIATION, DELHI For more information, write to [email protected]

94 THE CARAVAN SHOWCASE Festival all images courtesy urur olcott kuppam vizha courtesy urur olcott kuppam all images

The Urur Olcott Kuppam Vizha is a joint initiative of the fisherfolk of Urur Olcott Urur Olcott Kuppam and Chennai residents. It attempts to liberate the arts from their respec- tive ghettoes, and unify them by organising performances of different art forms on Kuppam Vizha various stages, inviting people to a culture of inclusion and equality. The Vizha is as much a platform for performing as it is one for listening and learning about one 10 TO 11 FEBRUARY another’s culture and lives. URUR OLCOTT KUPPAM, CHENNAI For more information, write to [email protected] Arts India Art Fair

9 TO 12 FEBRUARY NSIC EXHIBITION GROUNDS, DELHI

The 2018 edition of the India Art Fair will offer unrivalled access to South Asia’s thriving cultural scene, including its galleries and artists, private foundations and art charities, artists’ collectives, national institutions, cultural events and festivals. This year sees a particularly strong representa- tion of leading Indian galleries, enabling a deeper engagement with artists from local art scenes, alongside artists from South Asia.

For more information, write to

courtesy sudharshan shetty art project by knma [email protected]

FEBRUARY 2018 95 showcase Arts An Unquiet Mind

1 FEBRUARY TO 8 MARCH TARQ, MUMBAI

An Unquiet Mind is Youdhisthir Maha- rajan’s first solo exhibition. Influenced by Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, the exhibition explores the idea of futility through the repetitive process of carving out and erasing words and alphabets from their original texts. These sculptural pieces, with their unique visual language, are intuitively decipherable and bafflingly elusive in equal parts.

For more information, write to

all images courtesy youdhisthir maharaja and tarq courtesy youdhisthir maharaja all images [email protected] Music 9 TO 11 FEBRUARY Udaipur World FATEHSAGAR PAAL & GANDHI GROUND, UDAIPUR Music Festival The third edition of this festival seeks to celebrate different cultures and traditions through music, giving listeners a taste of jazz, rock, classical and pop. The event will present a lineup of musicians from across the world, including Txarango from Spain, Flavia Coelho from Brazil and The Ransom Collective from the Philippines. The Himalayan folk musician Bipul Chettri and the Indian musical trio Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy are also set to perform at the festival.

For more information, write to [email protected] all images courtesy seher all images

96 THE CARAVAN showcase Architecture The exhibition When is When is Space? Space? will reflect on con- temporary architecture and 21 JANUARY TO 31 MARCH For more information, write to space-making practices in JAWAHAR KALA KENDRA, JAIPUR [email protected] India, with particular en- gagement with the ideas of the astronomer-king Sawai Jai Singh and the architect Charles Correa. It aims to ask the question: When is Space?, and hopes to put together a series of explora- tions in making space. The exhibition brings together a wide gamut of participants, including architects, art- ists, designers, researchers, urbanists, philosophers, architecture colleges and

courtesy m/s prabhakar b bhagwat courtesy m/s prabhakar museums. Film Photography courtesy naeem mohaiemen

30 JANUARY TO 3 MARCH For more information, write to I Wish to EXPERIMENTER, KOLKATA [email protected] Let you This exhibition is a poetic examination of spaces they occupy—whether transitory, longing, memory, identity, dislocation and aspirational, imaginary or reclaimed. I Wish Fall out of loss. The works on view at the exhibition to Let you Fall out of my Hands looks at the use film and photography to explore the ambiguous and amorphous physical and my Hands complexity of human relationships and the mental space of a transient moment.

FEBRUARY 2018 97 Editor’s Pick wikimedia commons

on 11 february 1916, while on her way to deliver deported to Russia in December 1919 for allegedly a lecture on atheism in New York City, a 46-year- urging people against drafting in the World War. old woman named Emma Goldman was arrested Her trial in 1916 sparked national discussions on on charges of obscenity for lecturing on and birth control and attracted the support of many dispensing information related to birth control. writers, artists and public intellectuals. After She was accused of violating the Comstock Act of serving a two-week-sentence at a prison work- 1873, which made it a federal offence for anyone, house, she wrote a letter to the press in which she including doctors, to distribute information about said, “While I am not particularly anxious to go contraception. to jail, I should yet to be glad to do so, if thereby Born to a Jewish family in Russia in 1869, Gold- I can add my might to the importance of birth man emigrated to the United States in 1885 and control and the wiping of our antiquated law upon worked in New York as a nurse and midwife for 25 the statue.” years. She soon realised that birth control would Over 3,000 people gathered for a meeting at be crucial in the struggle for women to achieve the Carnegie Hall in May 1916 to celebrate Emma economic and social equality, and she became an Goldman’s release and glean more information advocate for women’s reproductive rights. about birth control. Later that year, Margaret Goldman—who was also known as “Red Sanger, an activist and women’s-rights campaigner, Emma”—was arrested multiple times for her opened the first birth-control clinic in Brooklyn, political activism and anarchism; she was even New York, although it was shut down shortly after.

98 THE CARAVAN WITH ROBOTICS, THE FUTURE IS OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS You hear robotics, what do you imagine, science fi ction? How about opportunity? With the brainpower of the IoT platform, Hitachi’s robots can access real-time data, communicate with one another and work alongside us to improve quality of life. You hear robotics, now imagine what we can accomplish together. social-innovation.hitachi