A Strange Democracy Where Voices Hardly Count? CONTENTS • a Refreshing Change from the Litany of Divisions and Hatred / Dissent Is a Fundamental Part of Democracy
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A JOURNAL OF THE PRESS INSTITUTE OF INDIA ISSN 0042-5303 January-March 2020 Volume 12 Issue 1 Rs 60 A strange democracy where voices hardly count? CONTENTS • A refreshing change from the litany of divisions and hatred / Dissent is a fundamental part of democracy. Voicing dissent Sarita Brara is not a crime. Unless we are veering away from democratic • A freedom fighter’s call for norms. And if we are, that is yet another reason why citizens brotherhood is so relevant today / should be rising in protest. Sakuntala Narasimhan says she Bharat Dogra has not joined any protest march or meeting, she is only a • Are ‘socially-relevant’ ads all that bystander and observer, but she has questions that tens of they set out to be? / thousands of other Indian citizens are pondering over, seeking Manjira Majumdar answers • A digital initiative to reach out to sexual harassment victims / s I write (December 20) two persons have been killed in Mangalore Rina Mukherji during protests against the Citizens Amendment law. Bengaluru • Social theatre has the power to Ahas had Section 144 imposed (prohibiting congregation of more change mindsets / Madhura Dutta than four persons) though hundreds of citizens gathered to voice their pro- • Is media transforming the future tests despite the prohibitory orders; several were arrested by the police. of education? / Kanchan K.Malik Elsewhere around India, too, people have gathered in large numbers to • Women power speaks as IWPC voice their anger over a law that discriminates on the basis of religion which turns 25 / Usha Rai the Constitution expressly forbids. The law provides for asylum to outsid- • An editor of considerable intellect / ers from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan except for Muslims. Mrinal Chatterjee These are some of the questions I have: • A nuclear scientist who shone as an investigative science journalist / • Why is the Act specifically leaving out Muslims, when they are a large Dinesh C. Sharma minority, have been part of our country’s history for centuries, and have contributed significantly to its ethos in multiple ways? We have • A film sounds grim echoes of had Muslims occupying Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi as president, and where we might be heading / Ranjita Biswas Muslim vice-presidents; the community has seen its members serve as distinguished ministers, freedom fighters (I have seen Maulana Abul • Chasing a dream while battling Kalam Azad in my childhood) judges, artists (M.F. Hussain, Raza severe odds / Shoma A. Chatterji and others), musicians (several ustads who were honoured as distin- • The absent spectator / guished role models — from Ustad Amir Khan to Bade Ghulam Ali V. Ramnarayan Khan, Tarana Samrat Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan , to name just a few); • When India notched up her first defence personnel, academics, you name it, you find Muslim names as Test victory / Partab Ramchand high achievers and leaders. Can we meddle with the promises made under our Constitution that forbids discrimination on the basis of • Remembering Manobina Roy / Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi / religion? Dr Shriram Lagoo / Bhaskar Menon / Tara Sinha / R.G. Nadkarni Vidya (Continued on page 3) Bal / Nabaneeta Dev Sen / Gita Siddharth Kak / Ram Ray January-March 2020 VIDURA 1 FROM THE EDITOR Where is the India we know – a country of tolerance, acceptance? ictory for the Aam Admi When millions of poor Indians will threaten the cultural and lin- Party was about a big are worrying about their next meal, guistic identities of the state. Vthumbs-up for the good there are thousands protesting Many people are asking, when work the party had done the past against the Citizenship Amendment the economy is in such a bad shape five years in Delhi. The results Bill (CAB). CAB amends the Citizen- where was the need to rush in such were a reflection of how day-to- ship Act of 1955 to give eligibility for a legislation without taking every- day issues that concern the com- Indian citizenship to illegal migrants body into confidence? It was clear mon person matter far more than who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, there would be protests but the gov- politics. People want food, clothing, Jains, Parsis and Christians from ernment hadn’t bargained for such shelter, education, health, water, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Paki- a scale with women constituting a electricity, transport... Often, I won- stan, and who entered India on or major chunk – from Shaheen Bagh der if only political parties focused before 31 December 2014. The bill in Delhi to Besant Nagar in Chen- on such issues after they came to does not mention Muslims. Mus- nai. What made matters worse were power and worked with dedication lims fear that the bill could be used, scenes from many places in India and commitment, how much India along with the National Register of of protestors being rounded up, would have progressed! We might Citizens (NRC), to render many of beaten and arrested. No sympathy have even become a developed them stateless because many may for those resorting to violence, but nation by now. Arvind Kejriwal has not be able to produce birth or iden- what about innocent people want- shown the way. Sadly, the Delhi tity proof requirements. ing to voice their views? elections set a new low in politics Opposition parties say the law is study commissioned by the – they were ugly, venomous and discriminatory as it singles out Mus- Thakur Family Foundation divisive – reflecting the wider mal- lims who account for about 15 per A titled, Getting Away with Mur- aise in society. cent of population. The government der, documents at least 40 killings India My Valentine is being says Pakistan, Afghanistan and Ban- of journalists, 21 directly linked to organised by a small group of peo- gladesh are Muslim-majority coun- their work. It also documents 198 ple (mainly actors) in Mumbai on tries, so Muslims cannot be treated serious instances of attacks on jour- February 16. The message is: Make as persecuted minorities. The fact is nalists during 2014-19, of which at India your Valentine. The organis- that the bill does not protect all reli- least 36 were in 2019. The study ers wish to celebrate “the India we gious minorities, it does not apply to finds that the nexus between politi- know and love – the India of toler- all of India’s neighbours. The Ahme- cal power and the law-enforcing ance, the India of acceptance, the dias and the Shias face discrimina- administration is often very strong India that strove to be a better place tion in Pakistan. Rohingya Muslims and underscores the impunity that for even her most oppressed chil- and Hindus find it difficult in Burma, accompanies these cases. The free- dren, the India that was a dream… as do Hindu and Christian Tamils dom of the media is compromised We celebrate the India of Tagore in Sri Lanka. Many people feel that by state regulation, selective lar- and Gandhi, of Nehru and Maul- CAB slots Muslims as second-class gesse and coercion, covert corporate ana Azad, of Patel and Khan Abdul citizens of India by providing pref- control and a highly competitive Ghaffar Khan, the India of Ash- erential treatment to other groups, and politically polarised market faqullah, Birmil, Savitribai Phule, and that it violates the Constitution’s environment, the study found. All Fatima… the India of Bhagat Singh Article 14, the fundamental right to very worrying, indeed. and Ambedkar.” It is remarkable equality for all. Those protesting in that some of these names feature Assam are convinced that illegal Sashi Nair in the articles you will read in this Bengali Hindu migrants from Ban- [email protected] issue. gladesh, if regularised under CAB, 2 VIDURA January-March 2020 Illustration: Arun Ramkumar Illustration: (Continued from page 1) • Take away the contributions in Uttar Pradesh. • Remove their contributions to of Muslim musicians to Indian • When Hindu dharma preaches our national heritage, and what classical music and there will Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the do we have? The Taj Mahal, one be very little left. Some of the whole world is my family), why of the Wonders of the World devout Muslim ustads even are we targeting one commu- and an internationally famous composed lyrics in praise nity and promoting divisive- tourist destination, goes. The of Hindu deities. Examples ness? As Gandhiji’s country, Red Fort from which our prime abound. Ustad Bade Ghulam should we not be world leaders ministers ritually address the Ali Khan revelled in singing and role models in promoting nation annually, goes, because Hari Om Tat Sat. Legendary communal amity? Can we cite it was built by a Muslim ruler. musician (and guru of Ravi Swami Vivekananda’s famous As do countless other heritage Shankar) even named his speech at the World Congress artifacts, from the Salarjung daughter Annapurna Devi, of Religions in Chicago, if we at Museum and Char Minar in and Bharat Ratna Ustad Bismil- the same time approve of reli- Hyderabad, to Jumma Masjid lah Khan swears by his Kashi gious discrimination? Viswanathji. Do we delete in Delhi and Fatehpur Sikri… • Parsis migrated to India from their names from Indian his- the list goes on. Are we going to their native Persia. Are they tory and archives? I know of demolish and obliterate chunks not ‘immigrants’ too? Most of at least one musician (Muslim) of our nation? How would Indi- our business moguls were /are who migrated to Pakistan but ans feel if the US demolished Parsis. Among all the nations, begged to be allowed to return and forbade Hindu temples on our country has extended its land? to his beloved Rampur darbar January-March 2020 VIDURA 3 shelter and succor to people to be, repeat, have to be, heeded.