Month: October 2024

Spain: Rescuers Search For Survivors, Bodies Following Deadliest Floods Since 1973

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who has called three days of national mourning, headed to the region on Thursday.

Some 1,000 Spanish troops, alongside police and firefighters, have begun searching through debris in the Valencia region after massive floods killed at least 95 people and left many others missing in Spain’s southeast.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who has called three days of national mourning, headed to the region on Thursday (October 30).

On Thursday, he urged residents of the regions hit hardest by the floods in a generation to stay home.

“Please, stay at home … follow the calls of the emergency services … right now the most important thing is to save as many lives as possible,” Sanchez told residents of the provinces of Valencia and Castellon.

The disaster was the deadliest of its kind in the country since 1973, with up to a year’s rain falling in the region in a matter of hours.

Scientists have warned that such extreme weather events are becoming more intense, longer and more frequent because of human-induced climate change.

Power outages, no drinking water

On Thursday morning, tens of thousands of homes still lacked electricity and drinking water, while hundreds of cars and trucks swept along by the water masses littered the streets.

Authorities said Paiporta, in the Valencia suburbs, suffered the most deaths, with about 40 people falling victim to the floods.

Six of those who died there were in a home for the elderly, Spanish broadcaster RTVE said.

Officials in the Valencia region, where at least 92 were killed, said survivors were being sheltered in temporary accommodation such as fire stations. They said, however, that the death toll in the region will rise as more bodies are found.

Two women died in the Castilla-La Mancha region southeast of Madrid also died, while a British national was killed in Andalusia.

Condolences from PM, king

Sanchez expressed his condolences in a televised address on Wednesday, saying “All of Spain weeps with all of you … We won’t abandon you.”

He said the disaster could not be considered over and that “we will deploy all the necessary resources for as long as necessary so that we can recover from this tragedy.”

King Felipe VI said he was “devastated” by the disaster and offered “heartfelt condolences” to families of the victims.

Valencia regional government chief Carlos Mazon has rejected criticism that the population was warned too late about the coming floods, saying alerts were issued as early as Sunday.

The regional government had been criticised for not sending out flood warnings to people’s mobile phones until 8:00 pm on Tuesday, when flooding in some areas had already begun.

This article was originally published on DW.

‘New Disease Among Children’: Dhankhar’s Lame(nt) Excuses

The tendency to demonise those who leave India for education diverts attention from the troubling state of Indian higher education under the BJP.

Last week, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar lamented a “new disease among children – that of going abroad”. Dhankhar believed this constituted a massive brain drain and “forex drain” for India, apart from the loss of a “bright future” students would have enjoyed had they chosen to stay behind in India itself.

This is not the first criticism of foreign education by the BJP-led Union government. In 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi infamously claimed that “hard work is more powerful than Harvard”. The jibe was targeted at Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen for his criticism of demonetisation. However, the sentimentality of decrying experts and foreign universities was clear.

The tendency to demonise those who leave India for education – not necessarily to abandon the country – diverts attention from the troubling state of Indian higher education under the BJP.

In a snapshot, the BJP’s tenure in government has seen a spiralling increase in graduate unemployment, with the government’s own survey pointing out that one in two Indian graduates are unemployable right out of college. Student suicides have been growing at an alarming rate of 4% annually, surpassing overall suicide trends and even population growth rates.

In repeated global education rankings of educational institutions, Indian universities fail to make a mark. The government slashed funding for the University Grants Commission by 61% in the last budget.

Apart from this litany of failures, two issues loom large: the curbing of academic freedom and the growing commercialisation of education.

In the past ten years and counting, academic freedom and the independence of academia have been under severe threat. The first major attack and onslaught was on the purported bastion of anti-India activity, the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

In 2020, as the country stood firmly against the communal and Islamophobic reality of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, JNU was attacked by right-wing goons. This direct onslaught on a centrally funded institution known for its academic excellence was conducted under the gross negligence and, some would argue, tacit support, of police forces.

Centrally funded and controlled universities like JNU have had influences of right-wing control creep in, with questionable and biased appointments to influential positions. For instance, the appointment of M. Jagadesh Kumar as JNU’s vice chancellor in 2016 began a series of controversial and concerning changes. He had once suggested installing an army tank in campus “so that students can be reminded of the sacrifices and valour of the soldiers”.

JNU is only an example of the systematic and continuous onslaught on public universities under the BJP. Every other week, there are reports of universities being starved of funds or of attempts to destabilise the environment through the BJP’s extended network of organisations like the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad.

Private universities haven’t been left far behind either. My alma mater, Ashoka University, in 2021 became the target of the government, with indirect attempts to stifle the freedom and independence of faculty.

Also read: Never in Independent India Has the Teacher’s Role Been More Difficult – Or Necessary

During my time there as an undergraduate, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, who continues to be an influential and often critical voice against the BJP, was forcibly made to resign. He admitted that the university’s founders felt he was becoming a “political liability” to the university. There were also reports of the government’s pressure on the university with threats of jeopardising its expansion plans.

Recently, the reputed Tata Institute of Social Sciences, which relies heavily on government funding as well, had planned to terminate several members of its faculty – this was later rescinded.

The argument of Indian students looking abroad for education isn’t a result of the threatening state of academic freedom in India alone. It is also a symptom of the desperation of the millions of students who fail to secure a place in Indian universities.

The centralised method of entrance examinations institutes a rat race for few seats in universities. From law to engineering to medicine, access to most affordable public education or government-funded seats in private universities is subject to performance in various competitive examinations.

Under this government, these exams have been severely compromised by several allegations of paper leaks and mass cheating. The ‘leakage sarkar’ has made these scarce seats even more inaccessible for the average Indian.

Further, private universities with criminally high admission and tuition fees have only grown under this government. The growth in private universities has far outstripped that in public ones. The All India Survey on Higher Education reported that while 58 state universities came up between 2016-2021, there were an astonishing 132 new private state universities created.

Further, the survey also reportedly indicated that the overall enrolment in private universities surged between 2014 and 2022 by 108.7%, contributing 39.6% to the increase in aggregate enrolment.

With unreliable and impossible-to-crack examinations and expensive private education, students have been forced to seek out foreign education in unfamiliar and unexpected territory.

For instance, consider Indian students pursuing medicine in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The costs are significantly lesser here than in Indian private education. Education opportunities in these countries are less than ideal, with mediocre quality and limited opportunities for future employment. Students are forced to acclimatise themselves to unfamiliar territory to be able to secure a degree.

The romanticisation and demonisation of those who choose to study abroad takes away from the reality of what students abroad face. Several surveys and personal anecdotes attest to the mental health burden of stress, depression and anxiety faced by students studying abroad.

It would certainly serve the vice president and the Indian administration to focus on fixing the broken Indian higher education system and recognise its series of ailments. Rather than chiding students, it is time to focus on their valid concerns, and actually work to make their future brighter.

Amaan Asim is the national chairperson for the research department of the National Students’ Union of India and is a student at Oxford University.

Modi Accuses Unnamed ‘Forces Inside and Outside India’ of Trying to Destabilise Country

Modi said one nation, one election and a “secular civil code” would be brought following Sardar Patel’s spirit of unity, while the Congress accused the BJP of ‘misappropriating’ his legacy.

New Delhi: Speaking on the occasion of ‘National Unity Day’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday (October 31) said that some “forces” outside and within India were attempting to destabilise it and spread a negative image of the country.

He again made a pitch for ‘one nation, one election’ and a “secular civil code”, which he said would be brought following Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s spirit of unity.

“With India’s growing strength and the growing sense of unity within India, some forces, some disorderly ideas, some mentalities … such forces are very disturbed. [Present] within India and outside it, such people are trying to spread instability and anarchy in India. They are engaged in harming India’s economic interests …

“Such forces want that … a negative image of India emerges to the world. These people are trying to target even India’s military,” Modi said, adding that they were engaged in “trying to create divisions in India in the name of caste” and “never want India to become developed”.

In a veiled attack on the opposition, he said “urban Naxals” were attempting to target India’s unity.

Holding that “a new model of urban Naxals emerged” as Naxalism was being eliminated from the jungle, Modi said: “We have to identify and battle those people who dream of breaking the nation, who believe in an ideology of destroying the nation, whose faces are masked.”

“… Today, if someone says ‘if we are one, we are safe’, these people … try to give it the wrong meaning,” Modi continued to say.

Modi added that there were people who were sceptical about India’s unification but that Patel made it possible.

His address came after he paid floral tributes to Patel, India’s first home minister, at the Statue of Unity.

Meanwhile, the Congress has accused the BJP of making “continuous efforts” to misappropriate Patel’s legacy.

“Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel is an immortal part of the nation’s history. He was also a stalwart Congressman. Continuous efforts are being made to (mis)appropriate his legacy by those whose ideological gurus opposed the Quit India Movement in which the Sardar was jailed for almost three years and who criticised the constitution, a key committee of which was chaired by the Sardar later,” wrote Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on X.

“This only exposes the insecurities and hypocrisy of the (mis)appropriaters.”

In his address, Modi said that in the spirit of unity, the government was working on implementing ‘one nation, one election’ and a “secular civil code”.

“In line with our efforts on unity, we are now working on ‘one nation, one election’, which will strengthen India’s democracy, bring out an optimum outcome of India’s resources and which will bring a new speed in achieving the nation’s dream of ‘Viksit Bharat’ and a new prosperity.

“Today India is also moving toward ‘one nation, one civil code’ – that is, a secular civil code – and I had said this at the Red Fort: at the heart of this too is Sardar [Patel]’s inspiration of unity …”

Last month, the Union cabinet approved the report by the high-level committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind on the ‘one nation one election’ proposal that recommended simultaneous polls in the country to the Lok Sabha, state assemblies as well as local bodies (including panchayats and municipalities).

However, no timeline has been provided on its rollout yet.

Congress president and Rajya Sabha MP Mallikarjun Kharge said to reporters that Modi was attempting to “fool people” as any attempt to bring in simultaneous polls would require taking all political parties into confidence.

“What PM Modi has said, he will not do it, because when it comes in the parliament, he has to take everybody into confidence, then only this will happen. This is impossible, ‘one nation, one election’ is impossible, because several states have several problems. Regional problems are there. When we cannot give 2 crore jobs … Whatever he was supposed to do he is not doing, but these things he is saying to fool the people,” he said.

 

‘Allegations Against Amit Shah Concerning, Will Consult Canadian Government’: US

The statement comes a day after Canadian deputy foreign affairs minister David Morrison told a Canadian parliamentary committee that he confirmed Shah’s involvement to a US newspaper.

New Delhi: The United States State Department on Wednesday (October 30) said that the allegations against Union home minister Amit Shah are “concerning” and the US would continue to consult the Canadian government on the issue.

The statement comes a day after Canadian deputy foreign affairs minister David Morrison told a Canadian parliamentary committee that he confirmed Shah’s involvement in a plot to kill Canadian nationals to the Washington Post.

“The allegations made by the government of Canada are concerning, and we will continue to consult with the Canadian government about those allegations,” US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters.

Canada’s national security and intelligence advisor Nathalie Drouin and Morrison on Tuesday confirmed that they spoke to the Post on “background” as part of a media strategy to counter “disinformation” from the Indian government.

Also read: Canadian Deputy FM Says He ‘Confirmed’ Amit Shah’s ‘Involvement’ in Plot to Attack Khalistanis

The Washington Post had on October 14 cited unnamed Canadian officials as saying they had told the Indian government that “conversations and texts among Indian diplomats” ordered out of the country that day “include references” to Shah and a senior official in the Research and Analysis Wing “who have authorised … intelligence-gathering missions and attacks on Sikh separatists” in Canada.

In response to a question, Drouin said that she did not volunteer this information. “The journalist called me and asked me if it was that person. I confirmed it was that person.” 

Morrison, adding to this, said, “So, this is a journalist who’s written extensively on this topic… journalist that has various sources. He asked me if that was one of the people and I confirmed that it was”.

The Canadian NSIA while speaking at the hearing also detailed the various options presented to the Indian government before the two countries expelled each other’s diplomats.

A World Where Consent Can Be Manufactured for Genocide Is Unsafe for All Marginalised People

Despite a live-streamed genocide, international support for Israel from its key allies does not seem to be waning.

In an interview earlier this week, Sam Rose, the senior deputy director of UNRWA affairs in Gaza, spoke with Politico about his increasing despair in relation to the genocide in Gaza, where despite a full year of widely shared atrocities, the world has not yet felt compelled to collectively act to stop it. In Rose’s words, “Everyone’s attention is on it, but it doesn’t make a difference”. This is the crux of what bewilders many around the world who have watched the genocide in Gaza unfold with horror and disbelief for over a year now. We live in a world where we scroll past genocide on our phones. We view it, we bear witness to it, but this does not necessarily translate into effective political action to stop it. Instead, genocide has become almost normalised in the public discourse.

We are all conditioned to believe that mass atrocities can only happen in the shadows, when such atrocities are kept hidden from the public. In the past, the full scale of genocide has often only become known to people beyond the perpetrators and the victims after the fact. During the Holocaust, for example, while newspaper reports hinting at the scale and brutality of Hitler’s actions first appeared in the British and American media around 1942, these were couched in a language of uncertainty and were often buried on the inside pages. Nothing that had appeared in the media prepared audiences for the sheer horror that was to be revealed in 1945 when the first reports emerged from the liberated concentration camps. Similar patterns of post conflict revelations of atrocities have characterised many other genocides including the Rwandan genocide, the Bosnian genocide and the Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka. 

Traditional theories of propaganda and the mass media therefore tend to focus on the fact that public opinion is shaped and manipulated by information being filtered out or kept from the public. In state controlled media systems, censorship over what is broadcast often functions quite directly. In systems dominated by privately owned media, the manner in which public opinion is shaped is more subtle. Chomsky and Herman’s propaganda model for example analyses the American mass media and posits that news is only broadcast once it passes through several filters including the ownership structure of news organisations, advertisers, a reliance on information provided by the government or experts funded by the same corporate interests and the dominant ideology of the land. This is still very evident in the American network television and newspaper coverage of the Palestinian genocide. A review of major American newspaper coverage of Gaza found that Israeli deaths were mentioned 16 times more than the deaths of Palestinians. Further, words like “slaughter”, “massacre” and “horrific” were reserved almost entirely for Israeli deaths. 

The claim that social media, and the decentralised character of the internet in general, overcomes these filters to create a more democratic information system isn’t necessarily accurate (given how social media algorithms are owned and controlled). However, compared to traditional mass media, social media does provide greater opportunity for information and news that would otherwise be suppressed to reach its target audience.

For over a year, Palestinian journalists, at great risk to their lives, have broken through media filters and broadcast what is happening in Gaza using social media. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) estimates that 126 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israel during this period. As early as December 2023, South Africa had collected enough evidence from social media posts to approach the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for interim measures to stop Israel from committing genocide, a majority of which were granted. 

Also read: Palestine Diary: Meeting People Whose Only Hope Is Our Anger

But despite this live streamed genocide, international support for Israel from its key allies has not waned to a degree significant enough to stop the genocide (though few more European states have recognised Palestinian statehood). And critically, despite huge public demonstrations and anti-genocide sentiment in the West, genocide has not evolved into the main electoral issue in these countries. In the UK, Keir Starmer, who claimed on television that Israel had the legal right to stop water supplies to Gaza, won by a landslide, and in the US, Kamala Harris, who has repeatedly pledged to continue supporting Israel is also reported to be likely to win, albeit narrowly. 

Two important factors have combined to make this possible. First, as it is now impossible to completely restrict the flow of information, mass media around the world has increasingly turned to directly indoctrinating their viewers on broader ideological lines, even at the cost of fragmenting their audiences. In India, many major news channels have in the last decade stepped away from portraying an image of journalistic neutrality to energetically broadcast Islamophobia. From interfaith marriage to “demographic threats” to women’s safety, every issue is covered in a manner that demonises Muslims. Once this indoctrination sinks into the audience, it shapes how they receive unfiltered information from all other sources. So for several Indian right wing influencers, the sight of Palestinian slaughter in Gaza is treated as something to celebrate not condemn. 

In the West, the far right media, the neo-conservatives and the liberal media all tap into similar forms of racism and Islamophobia in different ways. In this framework, Western lives are often simply assumed to be of vastly greater value than brown lives elsewhere. Since 2001, in the context of the US led “war on terror”, any actions taken by the West to ostensibly keep themselves safe have generally been portrayed as valid and necessary, no matter what human cost is suffered elsewhere in the world. For example, former US President Barack Obama, in his two terms, ordered more than 500 extraterritorial drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. This part of his legacy is barely analysed or seriously condemned in the American mainstream media.

But Islamophobic and racist indoctrination by the media does not, by itself, explain the willingness of electorates to turn their eyes away from genocide. A second factor plays a critical role, especially on social media – the use of entertainment to depoliticise public spaces. 

A growing number of young adults in the West now get their news primarily from social media. However, studies have shown that entertainment oriented use still accounts for a large proportion of everyday internet use. This means that often people are receiving their news and entertainment from the same sources at the same time. As the online public sphere is still primarily entertainment dominated, we often see political messages being forced into entertainment formats to compete for attention. For example, political organisations and activists might use memes, viral jokes or celebrity endorsements. This has led to a blurring of the lines between political engagement and entertainment. Hence, while people on social media are more exposed to political news, they tend to engage with it in the manner in which they engage with entertainment. We frequently see behaviour created in the context of entertainment fandoms, such as banding together to unquestioningly defend a celebrity, spilling into the political space, shutting down critical debate on political policy. Further, as the primary expectation from social media is entertainment, political content on social media is often perceived lightly, and does not necessarily increase long term political engagement or organising. And when information about genocide is repeatedly viewed interspersed with entertainment, it also risks becoming normalised by its proximity to everyday news. 

A fair amount of entertainment related content on social media today also reinforces values like consumerism, and an individualised, arguably self-centred, view of the world. Political engagement from social media for many therefore also tends to be contained within the same ideological boundaries. Hence, people who are not subject to the racist indoctrination of mass media, and who may condemn genocide or be affected deeply by the horrors they witness, can still believe it is necessary and right to put their own comfort or interests before the moral imperative to stop genocide. This is particularly evident in the unwillingness of a vocal section of the liberal Western electorate to make genocide an electoral issue.

Genocide is a rare crime. The prohibition of genocide under international law is not an ordinary rule. It is an overriding fundamental principle, applicable at all times and without exception. It is one of the few crimes which states are legally required to act to prevent everywhere, and not just within their territory. The fact that a crime this serious can be normalised in the public discourse should terrify us all. A world where consent can be manufactured for genocide is a world that is fundamentally unsafe for the marginalised everywhere. 

Social media posts about Palestinians who have been killed in this genocide often focus on their lives, their everyday achievements and their dreams before the genocide, all of which have been cut short. A phrase that has stayed with me from one such eulogy is “he was an entire planet”. It was a perfect description of the inherent value of every one of us, of every human life. A world where hundreds of thousands of such planets are wiped out in front of our indifferent eyes is simply unacceptable. We owe it to the Palestinian people, to the marginalised around the world and to ourselves to challenge this.

Sarayu Pani is a lawyer by training and posts on X @sarayupani.

Missing Link is her new column on the social aspects of the events that move India.

Has Rahul Gandhi Rebuffed RSS’s Efforts to Meet Him?

Gandhi believes in uniting Indians of all faiths. What dialogue then could there be between him and the RSS?

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders are upset that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi does not meet them. But has the RSS chief ever expressed his desire to meet Gandhi? Has he asked for an appointment with him? If not the chief, has some other RSS member done so? There is no proof that any such message was sent to Gandhi, nor that he ignored it or refused to meet with them. Since the RSS has never mentioned being rebuffed by Gandhi despite their initiative, we can assume that the question of whether Gandhi met with them would only arise if a request from the Sangh had actually been made.

In the last two years, we have seen different kinds of people meeting the Congress MP. During the Bharat Jodo Yatra, many of his critics and opponents met him. So did many intellectuals, businessmen, social workers and political activists. We did not hear of any incident where someone who wanted to meet Gandhi was not allowed to do so.

Did any RSS official go to meet him during this yatra? Gandhi had said that anyone who believes in uniting India could join the yatra. Why did the RSS officials not walk two steps with him? Was this not an open invitation? Could it be because the RSS does not believe in the idea of uniting everyone in India or the world?

If the RSS has not taken any initiative and yet regrets that Gandhi had not met them, then it probably wants to ask: Why did Rahul Gandhi not express his desire to meet them? Why did he not go to its office in Jhandewalan or Hedgewar Bhawan in Nagpur?

The RSS may have begun to believe that it has gained such importance in today’s India that everyone must mark their presence in its court. We see people from all walks of life seeking its blessing. People from theatre and cultural institutions say that they need the RSS’s endorsement or advocacy of the Sanskar Bharati for government grants and assistance. RSS blessings are also necessary for a position in Delhi University or any educational or research institute.

My students have told me that anyone seeking a teaching position, let alone the position of directors or vice chancellors, must mandatorily get the patronage of some influential person of the RSS. Academic qualifications or administrative experience are now irrelevant or secondary, it seems. I too have seen many people who had no ties with RSS before 2014, but now visit its various affiliate organisations and officials. Industrialists also make a point to meet with RSS members.

Is the RSS harbouring a misplaced belief that its permission is necessary to be able to practice politics in India?

Beyond these questions, we must also remember that the RSS’s ambition is to be accepted as an umbrella organisation for all communities in India. That is why it has branded itself as a cultural organisation. Culture is defined as a way of life; all spheres of human activity can be domains of the RSS. But in reality, it is a political organisation whose ambition is to capture India. As soon as it comes out as a political body, it will have to face competition. But it wants to portray itself as being above competition. That is why it insists that it is non-political.

RSS wants to be recognised by all, even from those it attacks. It simultaneously wants everyone to seek recognition from it to prove their legitimacy. Therefore, if someone is not talking to the RSS, there must be something wrong with them. How can RSS ever be at fault?

The Sangh parivar would remember that there was another person who was steadfast in his refusal to meet the RSS chief – former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. After Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, M.S. Golwalkar along with some other RSS members had been jailed. Once he was let out, Golwalkar desperately tried to humour Nehru and Sardar Vallabhai Patel. He was also trying to get the ban on RSS revoked. But Nehru did not respond to Golwalkar’s repeated requests to meet him except on two occasions – once in 1947 and then in 1949.

The 1947 meeting, which took place at Golwalkar’s request, was quite tense. Golwalkar tried to persuade Nehru that India needs an organisation like the RSS so that it could increase its influence in the world. Nehru rebuked Golwalkar and said that such a force should never be satanic. While Golwalkar argued that the Sangh had no role in the communal violence preceding Gandhi’s murder, Nehru did not entertain such lies.

When writing to his officials about this meeting, Nehru did not even mention Golwalkar by name and later saw no need to reply to Golwalkar’s letters. During the Emergency, Indira Gandhi acted similarly; the RSS chief wrote to her praising her and urging her to lift the ban on the organisation so it could contribute positively to her work. Indira did not respond, though she later formed a strategic relationship with the RSS. Nehru, however, did not consider the RSS worthy of engagement, viewing it as a narrow, hateful, and uncivilised organisation.

In Dhirendra Jha’s biography of Golwalkar, he recounts Gandhi’s meeting with the RSS idealogue on 12 September 1947. During their conversation, Gandhi confronted Golwalkar about the RSS’s involvement in communal violence, which Golwalkar denied. Gandhi then urged Golwalkar to publicly condemn the attacks on Muslims. Golwalkar declined but asked Gandhi to do it on their behalf based on what Golkwalkar had told him. Gandhi, unconvinced by Golwalkar’s evasive replies, refused. He compared the RSS’s discipline to that of Hitler’s Nazis, reinforcing his view of the organisation as a communal, totalitarian body.

Leaving aside the uncompromising attitude of Nehru and Gandhi, there were leaders in India who wanted to believe in the Sangh’s claim of innocence or its promise to change itself. Patel was one of them. To get the ban lifted, RSS went as far as accepting Patel’s conditions. But its actions proved that it had never accepted Patel’s idea of India as a secular nation.

Much later in 1974, Jayaprakash Narayan too gave up his initial harsh stand towards RSS and joined hands with it to topple Indira Gandhi. His condition was that RSS should give up its communalism and welcome Muslims into its fold. The then RSS chief Madhukar Dattatraya Deoras gave him a commitment, but in 1977 RSS reneged on this promise.

If we look at the interactions of the RSS with Indian leaders, we find that it has betrayed every person who gave it a chance to redeem itself. Imagine Patel or Nehru as vindictive and undemocratic leaders. Would it then be possible for Golwalkar to come out of jail and RSS to survive as an organisation?

RSS may want to forget, but history has recorded innumerable examples of its breach of trust and deceitful conduct.

When the RSS claims that it meets every political party, what does it really mean? Is it not true that it works only for the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)? Is it not true that there is no difference between the RSS and the BJP? Can the RSS work for any other party? Are politicians like Narendra Modi, Lal Krishna Advani or Atal Bihari Vajpayee BJP leaders or RSS swayamsevaks? Can we ever forget Vajpayee’s boast that he was first a swayamsevak? RSS’s claim that it does not differentiate between parties is of little value.

Rahul Gandhi is the leader of the Congress party. The RSS wants to establish its dominance by destroying the Congress party and its secular legacy. No matter how weak the Congress is in this matter, it believes in keeping Indians of every faith together on an equal footing. Meanwhile, the RSS only talks about the unity of Hindus, that too by generating a fear of imaginary enemies in them.

Even if Gandhi meets the leaders of the Sangh, he will probably tell them what Gandhi, Patel, and Jaiprakash had asked RSS to do: leave the path of hatred, violence and separatism and walk on the path of humanity. Is the RSS ready to listen to this advice? If not, then what dialogue could there be between him and the RSS?

Why There is an Urgent Need to Promote Sustainable Irrigation Practices

Agriculture being the largest consuming sector of water resources, it is imperative to promote sustainable irrigation practices such as micro-irrigation.

India’s achievement of self-sufficiency in food production has primarily been driven by the significant expansion in irrigation accompanied by high yielding varieties and input use. The extent of irrigated crop area as a percentage to gross cropped area rose from about 17% in 1950-51 to about 55% in 2022-23 as per the latest land use statistics data released by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture in September 2024.

Nevertheless, nearly half of the existing cultivated area in the country is still under the mercy of erratic monsoons, which frequently result in potential yield and income uncertainties for farmers. In this regard, a research article published in August 23  RBI bulletin indicated that improving irrigation infrastructure could mitigate the adverse impact of deficit monsoons on crop output.

Limited scope for further expansion in area under cultivation

Considering the fact that the scope for further notable expansion in area under cultivation is limited and the crucial role of irrigation in increasing yields, it is imperative to expand irrigation for any further increase in food production in the country.  In this regard, it is important to note that India has only 4% of the world’s water resources and is home for over 17% of the world’s population. Hence, there is an urgent need to devise measures to promote sustainable irrigation practices for efficient and judicious use of irrigation water from both groundwater and surface irrigation sources.

An overview of trends in various sources of irrigation since 1950-51 suggests that the significant increase in irrigated area is primarily on account of rapid growth in tube wells. The area under tube wells increased from about 0.1 million hectares in 1960-61 to 39.1 million hectares in 2022-23. Consequently, the share of area irrigated by tube wells increased from 0.55% in 1960-61 to 49.34% in 2022-23. Apart from tube wells, area under other wells also increased significantly from about 6 million hectares in 150-51 to about 10.6 million hectares in 2022-23.

As a result, the total area irrigated from groundwater sources increased to about 63% in 2022-23 from around 30% in 1950s, while that irrigated by surface water sources like tanks and canals decreased to about 25% from about 57% in respective periods.

Over-exploited ground water resources

Agriculture sector is the largest consumer of groundwater resources, accounting for 87% of the total annual groundwater extraction, which amounts to 209.74 billion cubic meters (BCM) as per the data from Central Ground Water Board (CGWB). Continuous cultivation of water intensive crops like rice and sugar cane supported by free electricity and assured procurement at support prices has led to over-exploitation of groundwater in major producing states.

As a result, the extraction of groundwater surpassed its recharge substantially to the extent of about 165% in Punjab and 134% in Haryana, according to the National Compilation on Dynamic Ground Water Resources of India 2023 by the CGWB, Ministry of Jal Shakti. Further, the report also indicated that about 11.23% of total 6,553 assessment units in the country are categorised as ‘over-exploited’.

On the other hand, the area irrigated from surface water sources has witnessed mixed trends. The area irrigated through canals remained stagnant over a period, while that by tanks has declined over the period.

Total area under canal irrigation increased rather slowly from about 8.3 million hectares in 1950-51 to about 17 million hectares by the early 1990s and remained stagnant with downward fluctuations till 2018-19. Thereafter, canal irrigated area started rising to cross 19 million hectares in 2021-22. Nevertheless, the extent of area irrigated by canals declined from 39.78% in 1950-51 to 22.85% in 2022-23.

However, irrigated area under tanks, though increased from 3.6 million hectares in 1950-51 to 4.7 million hectares in 1964-65, has declined steadily in the subsequent period to reach about 1.5 million hectares in 2009-10. There was an improvement in the 2020s but, only marginally to 2.2 million hectares in 2022-23. The significant fall in area under tanks could be attributed to various reasons including increased unpredictability and deficit in rainfall, lack of maintenance, siltation, encroachment, etc.

Thus, the significant expansion in the area under irrigation during the past six decades or so has been largely from ground water resources. The progress in area under surface water sources was limited due to various reasons including increased unpredictability of monsoons and human intervention or lack of it.

In view of the rapidly depleting ground water resources and growing need for further expansion in irrigated area, there is an urgent need for requisite policy measures for ensuring adequate recharge of groundwater resources, revival and expansion of surface water resources like tanks and canals, promotion of watershed practices, etc., for sustainable use of water resources for irrigation.

Need to promote sustainable irrigation practices

Agriculture being the largest consuming sector of water resources, it is imperative to promote conservation of water with efficient and sustainable irrigation practices such as micro-irrigation. Micro-irrigation practice such as drip irrigation directly applies irrigation water directly to crop root zones thereby reducing losses through runoff, percolation and evaporation occur in tradition irrigation method.

Micro-irrigation has a potential to increase water use efficiency to an extent of about 75-95% compared to the traditional method of irrigation. To promote micro-irrigation and water use efficiency Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare implements Per Drop More Crop (PDMC) Scheme that subsequently became part of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY). The scheme provides financial assistance to an extent of about 55% of installation cost for small & marginal farmers and about 45% for other farmers.

So far the PDMC scheme has covered an area of about 89.69 lakh hectare from 2015-16 to 2023-24. In this regard, the extension of PMKSY for 2021-22 to 2025-26 with an outlay of about Rs. 93,068 crore is a step in the right direction. Such efforts need to be strengthened further and implemented effectively.

In addition, it is vital to promote crop diversification at least for shorter intervals of one to three years from water intensive crops like rice and sugarcane to pulses and oilseeds with less water requirement in their cultivation. Despite a significant increase in minimum support prices for pulses and oilseeds during past five years, there is a limited response from farmers to shift from rice to pulses and oilseeds cultivation.

In order to promote such diversification, it is essential to ensure that farmers receive remunerative prices with requisite procurement process in the short-term, while addressing supply chain in efficiencies with the necessary marketing infrastructure and logistics in the long-term. Further, implementation of crop rotation or diversification needs to be staggered across different states so that the domestic supply of staple crops like rice will be adequate.

Coordinated efforts from both Centre and states are essential for the success of such diversification. Subsidies and incentives need to be reoriented accordingly to promote production of other crops like pulses and oilseeds.

A. Amarender Reddy is joint director, policy support research, ICAR-National Institute of Biotic Stress Management (ICAR-NIBSM), Raipur. 

Tulsi Lingareddy is a a senior economist, sustainable finance and agriculture. Views personal

Civil Society’s Long Struggle for the Recognition of Assamese as a ‘Classical Language’

The real credit for Assamese being recognised as a classical language goes not to politicians, but to activists who researched and campaigned for years to give the language its due recognition.

Terming it as a “historic achievement”, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on October 13 that Assamese has been recognised as a “classical language.”

Sarma said that in a week-long celebration from November 3-9, the people of Assam will express their gratitude to the Prime minister of India for the recognition given to the Assamese language. The celebratory programmes will also include honouring the stalwarts who contributed to the upliftment of the language.

In its meeting held on October 18, the Assam cabinet passed a resolution thanking the Prime Minister for the same. It is the Union cabinet which gives the final approval needed to categorise a language as a classical language. Assamese got this recognition alongside Pali, Prakrit, Marathi and Bengali.

However, collecting evidence, historical records, making a case in favour of the language and ensuring that it fulfils the criteria listed by the ministry of culture before it is declared as a classical language, is a painstaking task.

This task has been primarily accomplished by a non-governmental institution, the Assam Sahitya Sabha (ASS). The ASS is the apex literary body of Assam.

While the Sarma-led BJP government in Assam is leaving no stones unturned to celebrate the occasion and take credit for the achievement, some of its recent decisions related to the Assamese language have also resulted in criticism.

The critics have questioned the government’s goodwill towards promoting the Assamese language citing the fact that government-run Assamese medium schools are being closed by the same administration.

A report from earlier this year says 161 Assamese medium schools are being closed due to poor enrolment of students. These schools are being merged with other schools.

The flak drawn by the state government is better explained by Lurinjyoti Gogoi, the president of Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and a leader of the Assamese nationalistic political stream.

“The government is busy harvesting political mileage, while the truth is that it had little or no idea how to accomplish the task of according Assamese the classical language status. It was the ASS and especially Kuladhar Saikia, the brain behind the entire exercise, who made it possible,” Gogoi told The Wire.

“We have examples of other classical languages that have suffered, such as Sanskrit. My question to the government is how can you secure the language by closing thousands of Assamese medium primary, middle and senior secondary schools?” said Gogoi.

Gogoi cited examples to allege that the state government’s efforts for protecting and promoting the language are not sufficient.

“The first instance is the closure of the schools and the second is the chief minister’s statement wherein he once said that it is difficult to become doctors and engineers studying at Assamese medium schools. The third instance that raises questions on the government’s goodwill is that it introduced English as the medium of instruction for science and mathematics from class three, which was withdrawn after wide scale protests. The government model schools at block levels are affiliated to CBSE, and will be in English medium,” said Gogoi.

“Do these actions reflect love and respect for the language? Moreover, the Vandya international school, a prominent international school in Assam that is run by the Chief Minister’s wife, has only English as the medium of instruction as far as we know,” added Gogoi.

Role of the Assam Sahitya Sabha

Saikia, the former president of the Assam Sahitya Sabha, is also an ex-DGP of Assam. A Fulbright Scholar and a prominent Assamese writer, Saikia has previously been honoured with the Sahitya Academy award.

In 2021, when he was the president of the ASS, an expert committee was constituted to study the origin of the Assamese language.

“Our main emphasis was on bringing in people from various disciplines such as archaeology, music, art, literature, linguistics to determine the roots of the Assamese language. For me, studying such a crucial matter has to be multi-disciplinary,” Saikia told The Wire.

“From the archaeological evidence we knew that a rock inscription written in Assamese at Nagajari Khanikar village in Golghat district dates back to the 4th century. In addition, the folk songs, music, copper plate inscriptions, literature, manuscripts etc. enabled us to connect the dots about the development of Assamese to the ancient times,” Saikia added.

On March 19, 2021, the ASS submitted a report titled “Memorandum for Granting Classical Status to Assamese Language” to the Union ministry of culture. In 2023, the Sahitya Academy apprised ASS that the report was placed before the “Linguistic Expert Committee” and will be studied by its members for consideration of the proposal.

By this time, Saikia’s tenure as president of the ASS was over, but he was asked to pursue the matter by the present office bearers of the ASS. On July 9 this year, Saikia wrote a letter to the Prime Minister seeking his intervention before Assamese was declared as a classical language on October 3.

“It gives me immense pleasure that such a milestone has been achieved by the Assamese language,” said Saikia.

Started in 2004 during UPA I, the process of granting classical language status requires that the language in contention of the title meets strict conditions laid by the ministry of culture.

However, the task of examining whether a particular language fulfils the criteria lies with Sahitya Academy. The conditions include the language required to have a history of at least 1500-2000 years and the existence of a body of ancient literature and texts that should be considered as valuable heritage by multiple generations.

Documenting history

According to Manjil Hazarika, an archaeologist and a faculty member of the Cotton University, who was also involved in the process of studying the history of Assamese initiated by ASS, the rock inscription of the Nagajari Khanikar village that Saikia mentioned is the oldest known inscription from Assam.

The inscription dating back to 4th-5th century CE is a land grant. Another such crucial inscription is at the Nilachal Hills of Guwahati, besides the famed Kamakhya Temple, which dates back to the 5th century CE.

These inscriptions not only serve as evidence of the existence of the Assamese language in ancient times, they are also sources of valuable information about the history and social structure of those times.

“The inscriptions contain history of the dynasties during whose reign they were written. For example, the Nagajari Khanikar inscription that speaks about the land grant system, may subtly hint towards early state formation as well as development of the economic system. This is a significant knowledge base apart from the literature and texts,” said Hazarika.

Hazarika added that copper plate inscriptions have also been found in Assam. Metal and stone sculptures belonging to different periods of history also contain texts, at times mentioning the names of those who patronised such sculptures.

From the inscriptions of the Brahmaputra Valley, one can understand the evolution of the script from Gupta Brahmi (eastern variety) to Kamarupi script and ultimately to the Assamese script that is in use today.

An early 13th century rock inscription near Guwahati, called the ‘Kanai Boroxi Buwa’ (fishing of Krishna) bears testimonies of the defeat of Bakhtiyar Khilji in Assam.

Apart from inscriptions found in Assam, indirect evidence of the language’s existence in the ancient times include the Allahabad pillar inscription dating back to the 4th century, during the reign of Samudragupta of the Gupta dynasty which refers the Kamarupa and Doboka kingdoms of ancient Assam.

“The 7th century clay seal of Kumar Bhaskarvarman, the last ruler of the Varman dynasty, recovered at the Nalanda archaeological site is also evidence of a flourishing history of Assam from the early part of the Common Era,” added Hazarika.

Hindrances in recognition of Assamese as the language of Assam

However, the Assamese language had its share of struggles, both in the colonial period and post-independence.

“Assamese people are overwhelmed at the declaration of the classical language status as they had witnessed historical hiccups over more than a century on the development and continuity of their language which bear their identity,” said former ASS president Saikia.

The historical hiccups that Saikia mentioned can be traced back to 1836, when Bengali was made the official language of the region based on Jenkin’s report, which said that Assamese is a sub-language of Bengali. Before that, since the time of the 1826 Yandabo treaty till 1836, the British used Persian as their official language.

“The time was void of any leadership who could even raise the demand that Assamese should be the official language,” said Arabinda Rajkhowa, a language expert and a faculty member of Assamese department, North Lakhimpur College (autonomous).

Bengali was the medium of instruction in schools, offices and courts as the colonial rulers believed that Bengali as the official language would ease in running the administration in Assam.

Gradually, the demand of making Assamese the official language in Assam grew. Anandaram Dhekial Phukan submitted the demand in the Mill’s report, said Rajkhowa.

Along with a section of Assamese scholars such as Hemchandra Baruah and Gunabhiram Baruah, the missionaries had a profound contribution in Assamese becoming the official language of Assam .

“To establish that Assamese is a unique language, Nathan Brown compiled a grammar book and Miles Bronson compiled a dictionary in Assamese. They were also involved in evoking submission of memorandums to the British government to demand Assamese be made the official language,” said Rajkhowa.

In 1871, memorandums were also submitted separately by committees based in Nagaon and Guwahati to the British government in favour of declaring Assamese the official language and George Campbell was given the task to analyse the matter.

After Campbell’s report, the colonial rulers decided to make Assamese the language in offices and courts (1872) and schools (1873) of Assam. Even after independence, two spates of movements rocked Assam – one in 1960 (language Movement) and the other in 1972 (medium movement).

In both the movements, the conflict was with Bengali, the seed of which was sowed during the colonial regime.

Impact of the CAA

In recent times, Assam has seen widespread protests against the implementation of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). Experts say that the CAA will pose a cultural and linguistic threat to Assam.

“With CAA in place, Assam will have to take the extra burden of mainly Bangla speaking foreigners who have migrated to the state over a period of 43 years. This is a natural threat to our language. We cannot forget the historical fissures and neither can we be sure that complexities similar during those times will not arise again in near future,” said AJP president Gogoi.

“The brouhaha over implementing Biplab Sharma committee recommendations regarding Clause 6 of Assam Accord also raises apprehension about the intention of the government and especially the Chief Minister. He has categorically said that Barak valley with a large Bengali speaking population along with 6th schedule areas will be kept out of the implementation process, which does not comply with Biplab Sharma committee recommendations. On the contrary, the committee recommended to include Barak valley as well the 6th schedule areas,” Gogoi added.

Recently, the state cabinet has decided to implement the recommendations of justice Biplab Sharma committee formed by central government in 2019. The high-level committee was formed for implementing the Clause 6 of the Assam Accord signed in 1985 which marked the end to Assam Movement. The clause 6 of the accord aims to provide Constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards to the Assamese people.

The key recommendations of the Biplab Sharma committee included the definition of Assamese people and reservation for the same in parliament, assembly and the local bodies as well. A constitutional amendment is necessary for this purpose and Chief Minister Sarma has cited this as a “difficulty” and said that 40 out of the 67 recommendations will be implemented by April next year.

The Sharma committee also recommended that the Assamese language be kept as the official language throughout the state as per the 1960 Assam Official Language Act with provisions for using local languages in the Barak Valley and the Hill districts and Bodoland Territorial Autonomous district. Hill districts (Dima Hasao and Karbi Anglong) and the Bodoland Territorial area come under 6th Schedule.

How The Politics of Cultural Revivalism Fosters Hegemony of a Particular Class and Religion

While cultural revivalism may mobilise the masses and serve political and economic interests, it ultimately perpetuates intolerance and inequality.

For the past 1,000 years, Hindus and Muslims have lived together in the geographical area that we call India. Yet, there are signs of a growing disconnect between the two communities. For instance, if we ask a Muslim child why Diwali is celebrated, he would not only narrate mythological stories of Ram’s courage and victory but also might be seen burning firecrackers on Diwali.

On the other hand, if I inform a Hindu child that it is Moharram today, he might wish me “Happy Moharram,” unaware of its significance.

While this demonstrates the sheer ignorance and lack of communication that has been deepening within the country, on a macro level, it shows that the disconnect is symptomatic of larger efforts to create a cultural hegemony under the guise of nationalism, fueled by fear and revivalist politics.

It is not to say that the two religious communities have always existed peacefully, but the extent of revivalist tendencies, fear-based politics, and state’s involvement is a cause for concern. They are used to create a social order that fosters the marginalisation and hegemony of a particular class and religion.

Two simultaneous processes of extreme nationalism and reviving cultural hegemony are the primary causes of the growing divide between communities in India. This extreme nationalism conflicts with the concept of secularism, as it is nothing but a nostalgic return to claims of a Hindu “golden age,” untainted by the intrusions of Muslims and Christians.

The concern here is not just about Hindu-Muslim unity but about the fear that stems from unpredictable mob behaviour within both communities.

Fear has increasingly become a unifying factor, fostering community solidarity and, on a larger scale, nationalism. The expansion of the idea of a Hindu Rashtra stems from the fear of being outnumbered by a minority community.

The fantasy of national purity and wholeness leads the majority community to construct a predatory identity. This predatory identity mobilises around anxiety about their incompleteness, and concerns about the growing birth rates of the minority community. It seeks to assert dominance and preserve its power by viewing minorities as threats.

The insecurity is not only cultural; states are also subjected to it. Globalisation and other factors have left nations feeling insecure regarding their sovereignty. These global uncertainties lead states to use nationalism as a tool to unite citizens. States constantly try to stay relevant in an international system of anarchy and unpredictability.

The rise of nationalism and community solidarity is often fueled by fear. Rather than overtly coercing citizens into nationalistic unity, a consensual dominance is established by certain social classes that wish to extend their leadership. Consequently, dominant cultural practices become naturally adopted as a “way of life,” blurring the distinction between actions and thoughts.

The state, once purely administrative, now takes on the role of shaping socio-cultural practices in daily life. Right-wing expansionist states have historically used cultural and religious revivalism to both fuel fear and foster isolation, while simultaneously reviving “long-lost” cultural practices and unity.

In this process, states may endorse hegemonic cultural practices, such as languages, festivals, food habits, and even clothing styles, to restore cultural dominance. Through an implicit social contract, the state uses these cultural practices to both legitimise itself and govern its citizens.

India’s secular framework prevents the direct imposition of specific cultural or religious norms, but non-state actors often work behind the scenes to establish cultural hegemony. Hindu nationalism is prompted by these anxieties.

“India’s pride, culture, and innate faith is now on course to be where it was long back when it showed the way to the world,” Union home minister Amit Shah’s words indicate a state-backed cultural revivalism. This instigates political fear among Muslims, a minority religion.

Religious and social organisations must adapt to remain relevant. While Hinduism has not seen significant progressive movements since the Arya Samaj and Brahmo Samaj in the 19th century, the RSS has highlighted the need for a Hindu Rashtra.

The right-wing focus on recreating a “lost” Hindu cultural space often involves extreme measures to promote dominant cultural and religious practices while showing reluctance and ignorance towards others. This societal fear leads to the “othering” of other religions and cultures. While reform movements exist in response to present social scenarios, revivalism revolves around an imaginary future.

What further intensifies insecurities is the economic side of promoting social and cultural practices. Cultural revivalism also has an economic angle to it. Progressive social movements do not generate capital, but religion surely does. Religion enables the wealthy and creates a false consciousness among the poor by justifying their conditions.

Large-scale religious festivals like the Kumbh Mela and Diwali are now commercialised events, with massive economic stakes involved. This intersects with the wider narrative of nationalism and creating a national identity, usually aligned with the dominant religion. The commodification of religious practices serves both economic and political interests, as it reinforces the dominant narrative of cultural superiority while generating capital for the wealthy.

This poses a further question: who are these cultural events and festivities for? The monopoly over social events demonstrates how economic resources enforce social relations in society.

This phenomenon is not solely religious. Even within the dominant religion, marginalised classes are subjected to the hegemonic nature of culture. Marginalised communities within the dominant socio-religious group, such as Dalits, are often incentivised to join the larger Hindu sect. The larger group is encouraged to move beyond historical prejudices, promising inclusion for marginalised groups.

However, the promised emancipation of Dalits through assimilation is often built on shaky ground. Assimilation within the Hindu social order does not guarantee better conditions for the marginalised; rather, it serves as a means of uniting against a common enemy.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, in a recent speech, urged Hindus to unite and leave the past behind, suggesting that historical subjugation would no longer haunt the lower castes if they assimilate. However, the incentive must go beyond that.

The grey area lies in whether joining a united Hindu identity would truly alleviate the plight of the most downtrodden and segregated communities. If a Hindu Rashtra were to be established, would the same incentive apply, and which cultural norms would dictate the new social order? If the promise of emancipation is merely a fairy tale, the hierarchical dynamics would remain unchanged in an imagined Hindu Rashtra. A “subordinate” class would still exist under the banner of Hinduism.

The illusion of cultural revivalism serves only to mobilise the masses, fostering fear and intolerance among the various cultures that exist in India today. Fear of a common enemy is not permanent. Once the illusion of a united Hindu nation evaporates, justification takes over.

The predatory class goes to extensive lengths to create theories and proofs of this “natural” social imbalance and inequality. The historically underprivileged classes accept their natural position in society. This internalised marginalisation enables the dominant classes and cultures to take over the public space.

While cultural revivalism may mobilise the masses and serve political and economic interests, it ultimately perpetuates intolerance and inequality. In a multicultural nation like India, where pluralism is deeply ingrained, cultural conflicts are inevitable. Social injustices, arising from cultural dominance, are harder to address through universal notions of justice. Can social justice truly exist if one culture consistently dominates others?

The answer lies in a context-sensitive approach that minimises conflict and confrontation. State-backed cultural revivalism not only marginalises minority communities but also reinforces existing hierarchies within the dominant religion.

Pluralism naturally fosters friendly coexistence where mutual respect and acknowledgment of boundaries exist. However, this balance is fragile, often giving way to a friend-enemy dynamic. Fostering true pluralism and social justice requires moving beyond hegemonic practices to ensure that all communities can coexist with mutual respect and equality.

Anurakti Vajpeyi is a student of international relations at the South Asian University.

When the Mighty Fall From Grace

The Bard has observed that ‘some rise by sin and some by virtue fall,’ which reminds one of the dizzying rise to fame of our Supreme Leader who, for an interminable decade, has controlled every aspect of our lives.

In Christian belief, mankind’s fall from grace first happened when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, precipitating a descent from divine favour to a state of sin and loss of power. In the world we know, the story of humankind has been one about heroes vanquishing villains and the villains periodically turning the tables, in recent times much more frequently.

This disquisition, however, is specifically about famous people who have fallen from grace either because of the skullduggery of associates or their own bungling or due to their own lack of integrity that is found out. The last-named flaw is the most egregious and the most fatal. And the thing about the heroes among the well-known is that they can fall from favour in the blink of an eye. The ignominy can also strike long after they have gone. “The evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones.” That’s the story we tell!

There was a time when the dark secrets of historical figures were hidden from the world. But historical revisionism, which essentially questions received wisdom and the orthodox views on history, has yanked the halo off some of the consecrated icons and shown them up to be humans with feet of clay. Many world-acclaimed heroes have been damaged by the probing lens of the revisionist historian.

No modern hero has suffered a greater fall from grace than John F. Kennedy. He was once the darling of an adoring world. When he fell to an assassin’s bullet in November 1963, the entire world, cutting across ideological barriers, mourned, such was his youthful magnetism and appeal. One vividly remembers a holiday and national mourning being declared and Nehru, our prime minister addressing the nation and expressing the anguish the world felt. The universal adulation was because Kennedy was everyone’s idea of the quintessential hero. His presidency was likened to Camelot, the milieu of idyllic happiness.

As it turned out, the Kennedy cult was a meretricious hoax, squalid to the extreme. Kennedy’s marriage was an unmitigated disaster. His private life was a cauldron of marital infidelity, debauchery and incurable ailments. In the words of the consummate wordsmith, Clive James, “JFK had the sexual energy of a male fiddler crab on a spring night.” He led a most promiscuous life, even suborning his staffers as procurers. Most shocking was the revelation that his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Profiles in Courage was ghost-written but appropriated to soup up his image when he entered politics.

Then take the case of World War II’s man of the hour, Winston Churchill, who “mobilised the English language and sent it into battle”. Revisionist digging has brought to light the fact that Churchill’s most renowned broadcasts during the war were not delivered by him. Instead, an actor, Norman Shelley was hired to impersonate him, the subterfuge necessitated because Churchill was much too drunk to deliver the speeches himself.

But that’s not all. Over time, his racism, his antipathy to India’s independence and his cruelty have shown him up to be a brutal elitist creature at heart. This is what the renowned actor, Richard Burton had to say about Winston Churchill after his experience of playing the role of the British hero: “I hate Churchill and his kind virulently…What man of sanity would say against the Japanese; ‘We shall wipe them out…men, women and children’. Such cravings for revenge leave me with a horrified awe for such single-minded and merciless ferocity.”

One can trust the Bard to diagnose in a nutshell the essence of fame: “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em.” The Sangh Parivar has added another dimension to this truth by manipulating history, resuscitating their chosen dead and thrusting fame on them.

Dangerous characters from the past are being lionised as national heroes by the BJP and Sangh Parivar. In 2003, the portrait of Veer Savarkar – Hindutva ideologue, Muslim-baiter and alleged co-conspirator in the Mahatma’s assassination – was unveiled in Parliament, a recognition bestowed only on national heroes. In recent times though, Savarkar’s many infirmities have been laid bare before the unforgiving public gaze. His grovelling mercy petitions have exposed him for the quisling he was, and Rajnath Singh’s promotion of the fiction that it was at the Mahatma’s prodding that he wrote those cringing, ingratiating petitions, has no takers. Also dredged up is Savarkar’s subterfuge of arranging for the publication of books eulogising himself – the ultimate in chicanery.

In a tit-for-tat response to the defiling of Savarkar, the BJP’s IT head, who specialises in hitting below the belt, put out on social media a collage of pictures of Nehru in the company of various women with the intent of portraying him as a debauch. Among the photographs is one of Nehru hugging his sister Vijayalakshmi Pandit, a dead giveaway that truly reflected the sordid mind of the muckraker but in today’s fractious environment, his obnoxious smear has takers.

Mercifully for them, these deeply flawed heroes got exposed for the humbugs they were only posthumously and hence, escaped public ignominy in their lifetime. But what of those flawed champions of the world who have literally been ‘caught in the act’ at the height of their stardom?

As a once fanatical cricket enthusiast, we were heart-broken when our two sporting heroes – the supremely gifted and charismatic Mohammad Azharuddin and Hanse Cronje – at the height of their careers, came crashing down in 2000, implicated in a match-fixing racket that abruptly turned them from sporting icons to international pariahs. We closely followed every scrap of news on the scandal, including the King Commission proceedings, grieving all along with my fallen heroes and praying for some form of redemption, which never came. We were shattered when Cronje died in an air crash in 2002.

Yes, the fall from grace of a hero can seriously impact the devotees. But not all well-known people evoke such an empathetic, non-judgemental response when they ‘bite the dust’ as it were. To give a recent example, the moralising, self-righteous Chief Justice of India has earned eternal infamy for his prayer rendezvous with the PM and his proclaimed interactive session with the Almighty that influenced arguably the most iniquitous verdict in our history of jurisprudence. In his watch, the Supreme Court has, for the most part, become a covert, iniquitous adjunct of the political executive. In his last days in office, he is being stoned and no tears are shed.

Even nations can fall from grace. Ours certainly has! The land of the Mahatma, who deeply influenced the thinking of Martin Luther King and Mandela with his message of non-violence and truth, is today a dubious, untrustworthy entity where there is neither democracy nor equality or justice. And we are now international pariahs, bracketed with rogue states like Russia and North Korea, for breaching the sovereignty of nations and being complicit in murder-for-hire, extortion and intimidation. The Canadian authorities have named our home minister as the kingpin in this revolting underworld enterprise.

The Bard – yes, him again of the timeless wisdom – has observed that “some rise by sin and some by virtue fall.” Which reminds one of the dizzying rise to fame of our Supreme Leader who, for an interminable decade, has controlled every aspect of our lives by weaponising the state apparatus, the judiciary and his mob of adoring bhakts. And he has, inter alia, used that power to ensure that the myriad skeletons in his cupboard remain hidden from sight.

When will the world get to know the complete story behind the Haren Pandya murder, the Sohrabuddin encounter, Snoopgate, Judge Loya’s mysterious death, the prime minister’s dodgy academic credentials, the China blackmail that Subramanian Swamy keeps harping on, the Pulwama tragedy, the Pegasus, Rafale and electoral bond scandals et al.? His reputation hangs by the proverbial thread.

It’s sad that investigative journalism is dead but be sure that at some point in the future, the excavators of history will prise open the truth behind the Modi myth. And when that happens, it will be a mighty fall indeed.

Mathew John is a former civil servant. Annie Mathew teaches history.