Mr. Prime Minister please don't mess it up this time

When the BJP won a decisive majority on its own in the general elections of 2014, I was a little surprised. I wasn't surprised that NDA won the elections, it was quite clear that the government of that time had no chance to come back to power, but many didn't expect a clear majority for BJP as a single party. They won 282 seats on their own (with ~31% vote share) and NDA in total won 339 seats with ~39% vote share. Actually, it was good to see that a single party won the majority so the excuse of coalition dharma to justify any decision or lack of decision must disappear now. Many governments from 1989 suffered decision paralysis because of this coalition politics. There was one person largely responsible for BJP's impressive success, it was Mr. Narendra Modi. His presence made all the difference as other parties did not have anyone to counter the challenge posed by him, he rode on a wave of his popularity with enormous resources at his disposal to execute a very well-planned campaign to secure an absolute majority for his party. It must be noted that this has happened for the first time since 1984. In the 1984-85 general elections Congress won the election with an absolute majority under the leadership of the Late Mr. Rajiv Gandhi. It was a landslide victory, they won 414 seats with ~49% of the vote share, it was the biggest victory margin for any party to date. I don't think that record is easy to break in the near future. Mr. Rajiv Gandhi had the majority which no one enjoyed ever in the Indian parliament, many expected that he would bring much-needed changes in the style and functioning of Indian politics. But sadly, it didn't happen, a golden opportunity was missed. Mr. Rajiv Gandhi started on a very positive note and made very impressive speeches about bringing changes at the beginning of his tenure but somehow lost his way somewhere in between and ended his tenure with corruption charges (Bofors scandal), the Shah Bano case disaster, and Ram mandir issue. Rather than Rajiv changing Indian politics, Indian politics changed him. This was really sad, I really feel bad whenever I look back to this part of Indian history, it is not that his government didn't do any good work but the expectations that people had were not fulfilled. The defeat of the Congress party in the 1989 general elections started a new era of coalition politics, which resulted in many weak and unstable governments. So, after 30 years now we have another prime minister and party with an absolute majority in parliament. Like Rajiv, Modi also started his tenure on a very positive note, his speeches include all the right things, and people have a lot of expectations from him and his government. I hope he is serious about changing the ways politics and political parties work in India. I believe he wants to create a bipartisan style of political decision-making, bring more transparency to political funding, and reduce corruption.

Mr. Modi has a very unique opportunity in his hands, the same opportunity that Mr. Rajiv Gandhi had and missed 30 years ago. Indians have waited almost three decades to get a government with decisive mandate. Hopefully, he remembers whatever promises he made during his election campaign. One thing that I am looking forward this government to implementing is a uniform civil code (not a Hindu civil code which RSS wants). India calls itself a secular country but there is a very complicated system of personal laws. Each religion has its own set of personal laws, especially in cases of marriage, divorce, and adoption. BJP has been talking about a uniform civil code for a long, and I think it is time now for them to implement it. I am sure the youth of the country across the party lines will support this. Mr. Modi has the majority on his side at least in one house of parliament and it is just a matter of time his party gets the majority in the other house as well. He should initiate this process to show his commitment to his party's promises. This one change can initiate a big social change. This is also a unique opportunity to change the long tradition of politicization of different institutions and government bodies. If the NDA or BJP keeps repeating the same mistakes that the UPA or Congress did in the past then what is the use of changing the government? If the current government behaves in the same way as previous governments then it is just a change of name not a change of governance style. Initial signs don't look that promising but may be they need some time to adjust and will get their acts together soon after initial hiccups.

I don't expect these changes to happen overnight or even during the first year of this government, but they have enough time to prove themselves. This opportunity came after 30 long years and if it is missed this time then I don't know how many more years Indian people have to wait to see this happen again. Delhi assembly elections showed that voters don't have the patience to wait, they want results and I hope Mr. Modi doesn't mess up this unique opportunity that history has offered to him. They are not going to get 60 years like Congress. Congress has already done its work to establish a strong democratic foundation for India, let's see not how the BJP builds on it. India's secular fabric has always been weak and I hope the BJP remains careful about not destroying it, after all, progress without equality and equity is not progress at all. 

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Links:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_civil_code_of_India
2. Uniform civil code: will it work in India?

Some impressions from my recent visit to Uttar Pradesh

Last week, I visited Bhadohi and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh (UP). I try to visit my ancestral place, Bhadohi, regularly as there are still many people who I know personally and it is always a pleasure to interact with them personally. There are many sweet childhood memories associated with this place and my visits bring back those sweet memories. The last time I visited this place was in 2010, so it was four long years after which I visited again. This time I was also curious to know what people think about the current government of India as this is the first government after 1984 that has won an absolute majority in parliament and UP is one of the major reasons why this things happened (BJP+ won 73 seats out of 80 in this state).  I did not expect to see any drastic changes as it is just five months since this new government came into power but was mainly interested in the mood and expectations of people.

The City of Varanasi was as clean (or dirty) as it was during my previous visits. The airport of Varanasi is in very good shape but the roads of the city are in horrible condition. There is garbage lying around in many places and cattle (especially cows and buffalos) roam on the road freely creating a nuisance to traffic. When I asked people around me why they were not participating in the "Swachha Bharat Abhiyan" (clean India movement) started by our PM Mr. Modi who also happens to be the MP of their city they just laughed at me and called me too naive to expect such movements will work. I literally tried to remind people about this movement whenever I saw anyone throwing litter on the street but every single time I was welcomed with a cynical smile or why don’t you mind your own business look.  My son was shocked to see his cousin tossing chip wrappers on the street while traveling on a cycle rickshaw, when he asked her why she did that she innocently replied, “Everyone does that, it’s not a big deal.” But after a couple of days when I saw him spitting right in the middle of the street and asked why he did that he gave me the same answer, people pick up bad habits very easily. I have to remind my son that it doesn't make wrong things right just because the majority of people do it, wrong is still wrong and don’t try to mend your ways just because you are a minority. It was really sad to see the lack of interest of people in the Clean India drive; they were not at all passionate about such a good initiative that too in the constituency of a man who started this movement just a few weeks back. Some roads of this city were wide enough for two-way traffic and in reasonably good condition compared to many others, when I asked people about who did this work? They all replied that it was because of the district magistrate Mr. Pranjal Yadav. There were also a few roads which were newly paved and smooth when I asked about them people told me that they were repaired recently as our new PM Mr. Modi was supposed to travel on them. I really wish that Mr. Modi chose a different road every time he travels in Varanasi so that every road gets a nice makeover because of his travel.  

In my village things were even worse, there was no electricity, and out of two days I stayed there we received power only for 8 hours that too in-between 10 PM to 6 AM. I wonder how young kids will study in such poor infrastructure, people have cars and good houses but no electricity. One good thing I saw this time was that every home in my village has a toilet now, I was very happy to see it. At least some good work has been done by the current government. The situation of roads and electricity was really pathetic but people seem to have learned to live with these conditions. Another incident that shocked me was when I saw a huge traffic jam during one of my road travel in Bhadohi (my village is a part of this town). The entire side of a major highway (Grand Trunk Road or GT road) was blocked by police and people were forced to use only one side of the road creating huge chaos and a very long line of trucks as this road is the main transport road for this part of the state. I have seen many traffic jams in my life but this was utter chaos. I thought what if someone falls seriously ill and needs to go to the hospital urgently how they can navigate in such a mess as there is no one to control this chaos. But I guess I was the only one who was having this stupid question in my mind, everyone else around me was fine with this mess. When I asked people what happened? Why do police block the entire side of the road? I was told that there is a Bharat Milaap ceremony (a function celebrating the meeting of Ram and Bharat) that is going to take place on the road and that’s why it is closed. I really couldn’t believe my ears that they could block a major highway in the middle of the day for such a stupid reason but it was true. I wondered why they were doing this show on a main highway. Why can’t they do it on some school grounds or open fields where everyone can watch it comfortably and which won't result in such huge traffic jams and inconvenience to so many people? Why all these people stuck and suffering for no fault of theirs are silently watching this stupidity? When I raised some of these questions to people around me they all agreed with me but they said "Kya kare, ye aisa hi chalega, abhi kuchh bologe to Pakistani kehake marne lagenge" (what to do, this will go on like this only, if you object to these things they will attack you and call you a Pakistani). It took more than 12 hrs to clear that jam and then someone told me that there would be "Bharat milaap" functions performed by different villages on different days and that's the moment I remembered the slogan "mera bharat mahan." These people really deserve a round of applause for tolerating such plain stupidity with so much grace and patience. I salute their patience but also feel sad about their compulsion to tolerate such nonsense regularly.

I hope things change for good in this amazing place. I love the people of this state, they are really good, kindhearted, and very welcoming. They definitely deserve better infrastructure and opportunities than what they are getting now. They need more job opportunities as the youth of this state are forced to move out of the village and even out of state in search of better job opportunities. There is a lot of work that needs to be done and it can be only done with honest intentions and strong political will which seems to be lacking in all parties which ruled this state so far. People here have huge expectations from this new government and its head (Mr. Narendra Modi). Many people from this state seem to be in love with Mr. Modi as they don’t want to hear any word against him, I hope he fulfills their expectations and brings that change in these people’s lives. Mr. Modi has the power and all the resources that are required to bring that change. He cannot offer any excuse for failure to do this, it will be a huge betrayal if he doesn't do that. These people are used to these types of betrayals but I hope Mr. Modi changes that trend and fulfills his promises of development and job creation. 

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Mr. Modi your time starts now

BJP under the leadership of Mr. Narendra Modi has registered an impressive performance in the 2014 general elections of India. They not only emerged as the single largest party by outperforming their arch-rival Congress in almost every state, but also they secured a majority on their own which never happened in so many elections in India. No doubt this is a stunning performance and an incredible victory by any standards. There was a huge vacuum created by a very weak performance by the Congress-led UPA-2 government, BJP projected itself as a very viable alternative to solve all the problems India is facing in every sector and the results show that people believed in them. By % vote share BJP got ~30% votes all across India, which means there are still ~70% of voters who chose some other party than BJP. So there are many voters (~50%) who didn't accept either BJP or Congress (second largest single party in this parliament with ~ 19% vote share) as their choice, however, the truth is that BJP has won the majority in parliament on their own and they have a mandate in their hands to implement their manifesto.  Numbers are in BJP's favor so it will be interesting to see how they perform. After a long time, for the first time since Rajiv Gandhi won a majority for Congress in 1984, a single party secured a majority on its own in the Indian parliament. This is a unique opportunity for them, let's see how they make use of this.

During the election campaign, the BJP and its leaders made many tall promises along with equally tall claims (the so-called Gujarat model of development). They promised a uniform civil code, squashing of Article 370, and construction of a Temple in Ayodhya for so many years, and in their every election manifesto (including this one) these things were mentioned. It will be interesting to see what they do with these promises. They also promised to bring back black money from foreign banks to India and use it for people's welfare. The numbers floating in media about the amount of black money stashed in offshore accounts are ridiculously high, the range is enormous, now it will be the responsibility of the newly elected government to keep its promise and bring back that money or at least they should clarify how much truth is there in all these news articles about black money. Issues like price hikes (in every sector), the struggling economy, sluggish job market, rampant corruption in all sectors of public life, and opaque and non-accountable governance have been there for so many years, they have made so many promises to tackle these issues and I think people now expect them to deliver the results. One famous line of Prime Minister-elect Mr. Narendra Modi during the election campaign was, "You gave Congress 60 years, give BJP just 60 months." People liked his idea of seeing their fortunes change dramatically in 60 months, and they gladly gave him and his party the next 60 months to govern India, Mr. Modi promised to change India's future (hopefully in a good way) and bring development (hopefully for everyone not only for a certain section of society). Now all these people who gave them a chance with a lot of hope wait for their expectations to get fulfilled. People should be patient and wait at least for few years before forming any positive or negative opinion about this new government. There are many things that they can do immediately in many sectors which can boost people's confidence, it will be interesting to see if they are willing to take those steps. People are expecting a change in the governance not just a change in the government's face and I hope that happens.

There is one more thing that I noticed after this election, some people or groups of people are acting this if something catastrophic political disaster happened in India and its democracy is in acute danger. They think that the BJP's victory is like doomsday for the Indian parliamentary system. Maybe they have a very good rationale behind all these fears but honestly, I am a little surprised by their extreme pessimism and negative attitude towards this democratically elected government. After all, they won this election by a huge majority. One can differ with their ideology, and raise questions about the way they fought the election, the amount of money they spent during elections, and various other related issues but to question the legitimacy of their victory too much. They are trying to paint a very negative picture of India under BJP (or NDA) rule. Rather than doing all this if they are really worried about something really bad happening, they should go back to work, they should work hard to strengthen their respective organizations and spread public awareness so that even if the current government wants to do anything wrong they won't dare to do it. Crying foul and offering lame excuses for their own bad performance is not going to help them in any way. There is no doubt that India needs major electoral reforms and political parties, and their funding should come under RTI but these things are not going to happen overnight, we need to put on a long and persistent fight to make it happen. Let's see how this government performs to tackle these problems, let's see what steps they take, and how they govern. People should judge the performance of this government based on results, not based on perceptions or hypothetical scenarios. We should continue asking questions and raising important issues, let it be about 2002 (or any other) riots or fake encounters, inflation, pollution, corruption, or anything else. No government or prime minister should be immune to questioning. But it is too early to paint a doomsday picture, first, give this government a chance and see how it performs. I agree that many BJP supporters have become extremely aggressive about their attack on people criticizing their leader or party (this was clear during the election campaign). All such hyperactive supporters from all parties first need to learn how to control their emotions, if not, then at least learn how to talk in civilized language. Mr. Modi and his team don't have much time before people start asking them about the results that they promised and start evaluating their performance. Their time starts now, and it is better for our country if they utilize this unique opportunity very wisely.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

How Mr. Modi is going to stop rise of another Modi?

The general elections of 2014 are going on in full swing, their results will be declared very soon (May 2014). Based on several opinion polls BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) is expected to emerge as the single largest party in this election. All credit for this performance is supposed to be given to the spectacular leadership of Mr. Narendra Modi, who also happens to be its prime ministerial candidate. Mr. Modi's name came into national news for the first time because of the infamous 2002 Godhra riots. These riots happened in Gujarat during his first year as chief minister and he faced a lot of criticism for the way he and his administration handled that incident which resulted in the killing of more than 1000 people in his state. He won three consecutive assembly elections in Gujarat since then, but his role in those riots is still debated and some survivors are still pursuing cases against him. These riots gave him a certain image that he hardly tried to change, he never even apologized to riot victims. He emerged as a conservative, right-wing politician, and a self-proclaimed Hindu nationalist leader. A very aggressive and well-planned media campaign, support of the organizational network of BJP, and lots and lots of money helped him to build this image. Now please don't ask about the source of all this money that these big national and regional parties use in India as political parties don't need to declare the source of all their donations. These organized efforts and extensive propaganda have a created certain image of him in people's minds. This campaign tried to maintain his image as a conservative Hindu leader but added another dimension of developmental messiah based on some recent economic developments in Gujarat. Based on the very much debated Gujarat model he is projected as a leader who can solve all the problems that India is currently facing. The dismal performance of the UPA-2 government headed by Dr. Manmohan Singh, the anti-incumbency factor along with the number of scams and corruption charges on some ministers helped Mr. Modi to become the front-runner for the next PM's post. 

No one can deny the role the 2002 Godhra riots played in helping Mr. Modi to emerge on the national scene of Indian politics, at least I heard about him for the first time after those riots. I also heard a lot of praise for him from many people for the way he handled those riots, most of the praise was from Hindu conservatives. They were happy that he gave time to Hindus to vent their anger about the killing of Godhra train burning incident victims by delaying any strict action against rioters. We all know that this cannot be proven in any court, but this was my personal experience while interacting with these people and I am writing it based on that, not based on something that I read. These riots helped him a lot to win the 2002 Gujarat assembly elections. Now the question that comes to my mind is how Mr. Modi is going to stop the emergence of another Modi, who might want to use a similar strategy to achieve political gains? And I am not talking here about something that never happened in Indian politics, there are some examples from the recent past where people from the same party (or same family) tried to use a similar formula used by their seniors to achieve their own political goals. Maybe these people thought why design any new strategy when they have something that has already been tested and proven to work. This happened with the firebrand leader of Maharashtra Mr. Bal Thackeray, he couldn't stop his nephew from becoming another firebrand leader and launching his own political party using a similar strategy that Balasaheb used to launch his own political career. Mr. Modi also used tactics similar to what his political guru and mentor Mr. L.K. Advani used in the past. Mr. Advani was a leading political figure in the Ram Mandir movement. That movement polarized India at that time and created a lot of disturbance and violence but it also helped BJP to gain power in center for the first time in 1996. The Ram Mandir movement polarized the country and so did the Godhra riots, both incidents helped a political leader to become a national figure. Recently even a young leader like Mr. Akhilesh Yadav (CM of UP) is also using similar political tricks that his father used to stay in power.

When aspiring leaders see that a particular formula worked very well for someone to achieve their political ambitions in a short time then at least some of them cannot avoid the temptation to reuse that same formula for their own political benefit and that's where lies the biggest danger. This creates a real possibility of the emergence of many such leaders who are ready to travel the same path to reach the same goals. Maybe Mr. Modi is a good administrator, maybe leaders like him or Mr. Thackeray are really good in decision making, maybe they know how to control their cadre but the question is, do we want to encourage others to use similar methods to become another Thackeray or Modi? If not, then how are we going to stop this from happening? Just hoping that nothing like this will happen in the future is not going to help. Why don't we question these leaders and make them come clean before they occupy any public office? Minority or majority appeasement both are wrong, there should not be any appeasement politics at all. We need to object whenever it happens no matter which party is playing such politics.

No one likes to remember these unfortunate incidents and argue about them again and again. This is not a very pleasant experience at least for me and memories of these incidents are also very painful for the victims, survivors, and their relatives. But if perpetrators of these types of crimes are not punished and worst if there is no hope that they will ever get punished then how come someone can forget these incidents? Because of this passive attitude of many people, these types of crimes repeatedly happen and every time people who complain or protest are targeted. They are advised to forget and move on or they are reminded that this is not the first time it happened so it's not a big deal that it happened again. Have we become so insensitive? Have we totally lost faith in humanity? Do we value human life only based on religion, race, caste, and political affiliation? Has politics become more important than human life to us? What is the reason that these types of incidents keep on happening and no big politician accused in these riots has ever been convicted? Do all these victims lie or there is a serious flaw in our investigating agencies and law system that allows the culprits to escape easily?

No one can undermine the need for economic prosperity for any nation, it is required for any country to remain competitive but it should not come at the cost of injustice to riot victims. Economic progress without humanity is no progress at all. This post is not about Mr. Modi, Mr. Thackeray, or Mr Yadav, I am using them just as examples because they are from the recent past. This is about our passive mindset which makes us keep quiet and ignore such crimes. We behave as if the death of 100s of people is not a big deal at all, it's politics and development that only matter. Maybe it is not a big deal for some people but for me, it's a big deal, and the fight for justice needs to continue until justice is done to Kashmiri Pandits, 1984 victims, 2002 victims, or any other riot victims. This is not about some individual or party or some election but about people who suffer in these incidents. If we can't protect them then at least we can fight for their justice and apologize to them so that their pain becomes bearable. No one can understand their pain but at least we can try to reduce it to as much as possible. Let the best candidate or party win this election but let's not try to trivialize serious incidents like riots which affect the lives of many people. Please remember what George Santayana said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Links:

1. The remaking of Narendra Modi- Shiv Visvanathan
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Gujarat_violence

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_anti-Sikh_riots

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Muzaffarnagar_riots
5. BJP declares war on India

Mr. Modi's marriage and the issue of women empowerment

Recently, there was an interview of Jashodaben published in The Indian Express. Now, who is this lady, and why I am even talking about her interview? This is the lady who claims to be the wife of Mr. Narendra Modi. I don't think I need to give any introduction to Mr. Modi. I am sure anyone following the Indian elections knows who is Mr. Modi. This lady still claims to be his wife. She is the wife of a potential future PM (prime minister) of India. According to her, she got married at the age of 17 (still a minor age, according to the law as 18 is the consent age for marriage for females in India), and Mr. Modi was 18 (again a minor as 21 is the consent age for boys). So, technically it can be considered as a child marriage. But in those days most marriages were like this and it was a norm to marry a child before attaining legal marriage age. I am glad that this is not the case in most parts of India today, but this is not an issue here, even though child marriage is a very serious issue I won't be discussing that in this post. It seems, Mr. Modi left his wife after 1-2 years of marriage and didn't even recognize her existence until recently when he had to mention it on his nomination form to avoid disqualification. 

During political discussions with some of my friends, I argued that abandoning a wife like this is an injustice to her (sort of mental abuse) and illegal. As a public figure, Mr. Modi must offer some explanation for this behavior, and if he thinks he did something wrong he should accept his mistake, apologize to the woman who suffered because of him, and resolve this issue amicably so that they both can move on. A person does not become small or weak for apologizing for their mistakes, rather they display the strength of their character. I also know that this is his personal issue, but when you are a public figure and a leader of a major political party, then very few things remain personal. Mr. Modi's actions inspire many people and his followers can misinterpret them, that's why any public figure like him needs to be careful about their behavior.

In some discussions, I was tutored, taunted, and even accused of trying to defame Modi, by dragging his name into some unnecessary controversy, for being unfair to him, and for raising irrelevant issues. But such personal insults on such forums don't really matter to me. Some even called that woman as happiest woman on earth just because she is the wife of their great leader! I am used to these things, as I get these types of comments from most people who support traditional conservative systems. I get such responses whenever I raise some uncomfortable questions related to religion, God, politics, racism, casteism, or issues related to women. People who try to justify these discriminatory things by calling them tradition and culture, accuse me of insulting traditions or blowing trivial issues out of proportion. In this case, Jashodaben is not even blaming her husband for any injustice or wrongdoing, so what is my problem? That lady survived, no one abused her physically, her parents and brothers helped her, and they are still taking care of her. She blames her destiny for whatever happened, she even feels bad that her husband sometimes has to lie about her and wishes all good for him, so all seems to look good.  

So what is the real problem? Why this case is bothering me? Why the rest of India or other political parties are not raising this issue? I have seen a couple of cases like this around me, where a husband abandoned his wife for trivial reasons: like to pursue larger goals in their life (like social service, religious studies), studying abroad, or some other trivial reasons. They didn't even bother to tell their wives why are they leaving. Normally, all these cases are of arranged marriages where there was no consent taken from a boy or a girl before the marriage, parents arrange everything in these cases and marriage is performed. There is a basic flaw in this system as the consent of a boy and a girl doesn't matter much (especially in the old days), but that's not the point. In her interview, Jashodaben says, "When he told me he would be moving around the country as he wished, I told him I would like to join him. However, on many occasions when I went to my in-laws’ place, he would not be present and he stopped coming there. He used to spend a lot of time in RSS shakhas. So I too stopped going there after a point and I went back to my father’s house". She also says, "We have never been in touch and we parted on good terms as there were never any fights between us. I will not make up things that are not true. In three years, we may have been together for all of three months. There has been no communication from his end to this day."

I have also seen that in most of these cases, women blame their own destiny, misfortune, or family situation for whatever happened. They rarely blame their husband or parents for the problems in their relationship. In most cases, they also wait for their husbands until the end of their lives, they live and dress like married women (in India, widows, especially in rural parts don't wear makeup or colored clothes), except the husband is missing from their lives. Normally, there is no fight or argument between the two of them before separation, the husband in most cases just leaves the home without any explanation, that's why the wife thinks that her husband will return one day and accept her. Such wives live in this false hope, normally their husbands never return and such women live lonely lives without any partner for no fault of theirs. In some cases even if she or her family knows the whereabouts of the husband, their efforts to convince that man to come back are futile. In most of these cases, these women don't remarry, because legally they are not divorced and their husband is still alive (not a widow yet), so, they are not considered marriageable. Literally, they are treated like abandoned property, and society remains a mute spectator. People sympathize and feel sorry, but nothing else happens; the problem remains as it is. Many of these women live secluded emotionally traumatized lives. The situation is a little better if their family supports them or they are educated, at least they don't have to beg for a living or get abused or sexually exploited. I feel they deserve better than just survival and as a society, we need to be sensitive to their situation. A similar thing rarely happens in the case of a male in Indian society, this is gender discrimination and we need to put an end to this misery, people like Mr. Modi can help to initiate this change by setting an example by correcting their mistakes. It will require some courage but aren't public leaders supposed to have such courage to bring social reforms? I also know that this cannot be an election issue in India, this is not a big deal to many. Anyone who raises this issue will be called anti-BJP, anti-Modi, or pro-Congress. But for me, this is not a political issue, but a social issue and a very important one. I hope this case highlights the plight of these women, and people realize the sufferings they go through because of unfair traditions and customs. I hope people are interested in minimizing these types of incidents in the future. Women need to become independent, society needs to empower them so that they don't depend on anyone for their survival, and Mr. Modi can use his own case to highlight this issue. I hope he shows this courage and doesn't miss this unique opportunity.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Links:

1. ‘I like to read about him (Modi)… I know he will become PM’
2. 10 facts to know about Narendra Modi

Communal riots happen all the time, what's so special about Godhra?

Communal riots happen all the time in India, so, what is so special about Godhra riots? Why does it get mentioned so many times in the media? Why does it get special treatment? Why can't people get over it, after all, it almost happened a decade ago (in 2002)? Hindus also die in these riots so what a big deal, why make such a big issue out of it? Nowadays one can hear a lot of questions and statements like this, especially because Mr. Narendra Modi is a prime ministerial candidate of the BJP for the upcoming national elections in India, and the Godhra riots are one of the major issues he is going to face during his fight for the top post. I remember hearing similar types of questions many times before, 1984 when the massacre in Delhi happened after the unfortunate assassination of Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi said these infamous lines, "When a big tree falls, earth shakes." These words seem to somehow try to justify the riots that happened after Mrs. Gandhi's assassination. Similar statements were made after the Babri demolition and the riots that followed it, after the Mumbai bomb blasts. The list is too long to mention. Almost after every riot, there is a lot of anger, emotional drama, and blame game. Justifications are offered, motives questioned, some parties get political mileage and others wait for the next riot to get their chance to score some points for their side. This is a tragic and vicious cycle going on for several years in Indian politics. Neither political parties are interested in breaking this cycle nor do people seem to be interested in understanding that they are being used like cards and are the ultimate sufferers. Literally, people are used just like cards which are used to kill each other, which can be sacrificed if necessary to save some important cards, anything can be done to these cards to win the game. The strange thing is not only players who play this game but even cards seem to be loving this cruel game. It seems the cards are not aware of their pathetic situation.

So what is wrong with all these questions? Why do I feel they are insensitive and somehow try to legitimize or justify these riots? First of all these statements seem to assume that if something is happening regularly then we should get used to it even if it's wrong, cruel, or inhuman. Just because it's a routine event, it doesn't deserve acceptance. Another assumption some people make is two wrongs can make one right. If Muslims along with some Hindus get killed in riots or vice versa then it's okay because both sides suffered the loss. Such a strange logic is offered to justify the tragic purposeful loss of a human life. Have we become so casual and insensitive about the plight of victims of mass violence? Every riot, every murder, and every death in this manure is wrong. They all are tragic and unfortunate doesn't matter which caste, race, or religion those people belong. Political parties and religious leaders both take advantage of this rift between people of different faiths. Many of them don't seem to be interested in narrowing this gap but they want to widen it more. They want to make it so wide that there should not be any scope for reconciliation. They want to do it by using either Mandir issues, Masjid issues, fatwas, or moral policing. Communal riots are part of this game. It is for investigating agencies to decide whether Mr. Modi was involved in the Godhra riots in any way or not. He should not be treated like a criminal without any strong evidence against him but at the same time, he is answerable to questions related to these riots because he was the head of that state when this thing happened. His silence on this issue or his refusal to apologize not only displays his compulsion to play for his vote bank but also displays the perception that even though whatever happened was sad, it was not completely wrong. Riots are projected as an act of revenge, but the question is how many times do we need to ignore such revengeful acts and move on. How many times more?

Whatever happened in 1984 was wrong, whatever happened with Kashmiri Pandits was wrong, and the Godhra riot was wrong. Any riot is wrong, period. It doesn't matter which religion or party the victims belong to, every incident should be investigated, and every culprit should be punished. If this doesn't happen these things will get institutionalized like corruption and will keep on happening regularly. That is why the Godhra riots are serious, so are the Muzaffarnagar riots, so are the 1984 riots, the Malegaon blasts, Mumbai blasts everything is serious. How can we even compare or say one is worse than others? Based on the number of deaths? Based on the reason why they happened? Based on which party was ruling during that time? What criteria do people use to categorize them? Why do they even try to do such categorization? Every such incident is a slap on our country and its secular constitution, a slap on our inclusive culture but no one seems to mind it.

How can people even justify punishing the entire community for some stupid acts of a few people from that community? Terrorists do this, rioters do this and surprisingly even after performing such gruesome and cowardly acts, they find sympathizers and supporters in their community. When is this madness going to stop? If I question Godhra these people ask why am I not questioning Mumbai blasts or anti-Sikh riots? If I raise a question about Kashmiri Pundits I am asked why I am not talking about the plight of Muslims killed in Kashmir? Whenever someone questions about some "X" incident he/she is asked why they are not questioning about some"Y" incident. In the end, neither the victims of the X incident get justice nor the victims of the Y incident. Riots keep on happening, leaders win or lose the election because of them, people keep on getting killed in riots, and no one knows when all this will end? I am sick and tired of all this. I don't know whom I should blame here? Politicians who make inflammatory speeches? Religion and religious leaders who spread fanaticism? People who follow these leaders blindly? Poor investigations and the inability of our legal system to punish culprits? No one? Gandhi had said once, "An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind." Are we going to do something to stop these riots or wait to turn the whole world blind? We have to start somewhere so what can't we start with this particular incident. If we ignore this one then there will be some other reason to ignore the next one also. If we want to put an end to all this we all must act, by we I mean everyone involved in this including our judiciary, politicians, people, everyone.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Links:

1. http://www.tehelka.com/when-a-big-tree-falls-the-earth-shakes/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Muzaffarnagar_riots
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Gujarat_violence
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_anti-Sikh_riots

We must try to understand real pain and agony of riot victims

I recently read a blog post "We are more than our name" by Zahir Janmohamad. It's really disturbing and painful to read any riot survivor's account, this one is more painful for me as I know about this incident as it happened when I was still living in India. These riots happened in February 2002 when I was supposed to travel by train from Varanasi (UP) to Pune (Maharashtra). I read the news about the train bogie fire at Godhra station in Gujarat which killed 58 people, and communal riots followed after this. Due to the possibility of communal tension in other parts of the country, my relatives were worried about my travel as it was during the days following this incident. More than ten years have passed since this incident happened. Many people died during riots in Gujarat. This is not the only riot that happened in Gujarat or in India, there were many communal violence incidents before and after that. For example, the 1984 anti-Sikh riots after the assassination of Indira Gandhi, or Mumbai riots of 1992-93, or the issue of Kashmiri Pandits who were forced to leave their homes because of communal tension in Kashmir valley and live like refugees in their own country, or recent 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots. Many people lost their lives and survivors are still waiting for justice to be delivered in most of these cases.

This post is not about the Godhra riot or any other riot. Depending on which community or religion they belong people are more sensitive to particular riots compared to others. Their reactions are extreme if their community is at the receiving end in any of the riots. I can understand the anger and frustration when people from their own community suffer but can not understand when the same people justify other riots where people from some other community suffer at the hands of people of their own community. Somehow they feel the pain and agony of riot victims belonging to their own religion but are totally immune to the pain of victims of other religions. Every communal riot or violent incident (including wars and terrorist attacks) leaves behind victims and their relatives who suffered during that conflict and continue to suffer even after that for a variety of reasons. Most people who are not directly affected by this incident read about it in the news, watch it on TV, feel sad for some time but move on with their lives, which is very natural. Even some people who get affected by these incidents also try to overcome that stress and trauma and move on, but there are many for whom the memory of those painful days becomes a major problem in their life. It's very difficult for them to forget these events. Their physical wounds heal with time but their psychological wounds don't. These traumatic incidents leave a very deep impact on their mind and affect them psychologically. Zahir's post is one such post that displays such an impact. It shows the pain of the person who is still suffering from the trauma he faced during those days, his life is not yet normal as those painful memories are so deeply rooted in his psyche that he cannot remove them.

In India, some political party or leader gets accused for either instigating these riots or for not taking timely action to prevent it. Some political leaders owe their political careers to some of these riots. These infamous and tragic incidents made them famous and helped them to win elections and become very powerful leaders in their party and state. Many of these political leaders from various parties do get charged for some offenses related to these riots, some inquiry panel tries to investigate these riots, but I have not yet seen any powerful political leader getting punished for their involvement in these riots. Most of them get clean chit because of lack of evidence, it doesn't matter which party they belong to. I am not in a position to say for sure whether any of those accused politicians were really involved in those incidents or not as fortunately, I have not witnessed any riot myself personally but there seems to be the presence of a reasonable amount of evidence that hints towards indirect or direct involvement of many of these leaders. Many of these leaders are very powerful and popular so it is very difficult even for investigating agencies to gather any evidence against them, they always get the benefit of the doubt but that doesn't mean they are not guilty. Some of them may get punished eventually after a couple of decades once their fame and power wane, but this is useless as justice delayed is justice denied. 

It's easy to say "move on" but in reality, it's not that easy, especially for victims who faced such a horrible incident in their life, and that too when they feel that justice is not delivered to them. It must be really difficult for them to digest the fact that people who they think are responsible for these riots are free, getting rewarded, and not even regret what they did. It is easy for people like me who are not directly affected by these riots to look at them objectively, analyze them, talk about them, and even debate about them, but how many of us really understand the real pain and agony of these victims. How many of us who justify some of these riots as acts of revenge are willing to put ourselves or our loved ones in that situation? Just try to imagine the trauma of these victims before trying to justify any of these heinous acts. Our desire for revenge dominates over our ability to feel pain and compassion for our fellow humans and if it is related to our religion or country then we passionately justify these killings. Once we decide to justify any heinous act then the question of right or wrong doesn't matter much.

Most of the world will move on or even forget about these riots, but posts like Zakir's will remind us about that ugly past, about the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of our legal system. It might make some of us uncomfortable but we can not blame people like him for digging into the unpleasant past unnecessarily because for them the pain and trauma are real. We need to allow people like him to express themselves. We should hear victim's stories if they are willing to share them, maybe this will help to relieve their pain to some extent. We all should try to understand the pain and agony felt by riot victims like him. I believe communal riots are avoidable incidents. We need to spread awareness about them and have strict laws and an efficient law and order system to catch and punish the culprits, no matter who they are. As long as we allow people responsible for these riots to walk free, and reap political benefits from these riots these things will keep on happening, the names of leaders will change but whenever possible they will keep on using communal violence as a tool to get political mileage. We need to diffuse this weapon, we need to make it totally ineffective so that they stop using it, and as long as we don't do that we will be forced to read such articles and wonder if we are living in a civilized world or some jungle.  

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic. 

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Links:

1. We are more than our name: A Gujarati Muslim ponders life under Narendra Modi- Zahir Janmohamad
2. 2002 Gujarat violence
3. 1984 anti-Sikh riots
4. Mumbai riots of 1992-1993
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kashmiri_Pandit
6. 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots

Why the heck Modi needs US visa?

Recent news about 65 MPs (members of parliament) who wrote a letter to US President Mr. Barack Obama requesting him not to grant a US visa to Gujarat chief minister (CM) Mr. Narendra Modi caught my attention. I was interested in the logic behind these people's requests and why they think is US visa is so important for Modi or for any person of his stature. The copy of the letter which is circulating in media with signatures on it looks very genuine. So, if we believe the contents of this letter then their major emphasis is on the 2002 Godhra riots, and because the MPs believe that Modi was responsible for those riots the US government should not allow him to enter their own country. 

The letter paints a picture of Gujarat as a most horrible place in India where minorities are butchered and raped daily. These people don't even realize that they are talking about one of the state in their own country. They consider Modi an anti-social and dangerous person, based on his human rights record they want the US to prevent his entry, but they are fine with his presence in their own country (that too as CM). If they believe and have solid proof about Modi's crimes then why is he free even in India? If his crimes are so serious and there is enough evidence about it, then he should be in jail. Why a person who these 65 lawmakers think is so dangerous and antisocial is roaming free in their own country? If they want the US to ban his entry, then why don't they criminally prosecute him in India? Do they think that in India criminals can stay, they can even rule, it's all fine, but they should not enter the US? Many questions like these should be asked to these 65 people and they should provide satisfactory answers to them or resign from their posts.

Having political or ideological differences is one thing, those differences can be debated, and discussed in civilized manure but to plead for another country to act on your behalf is a pathetic display of immaturity. I didn't expect this from these people. Another question is, why the hell does Modi need a US visa? He is the chief minister of one of the states of India, he is a democratically elected leader and holding that office for more than a decade. He can talk with anyone anywhere in the world without physically visiting that place, recent developments in communication technology have given every one of us that power and capability. So even if he wants to talk with the Indian community in the US he doesn't need to visit the US physically, he can do it right from his office in Gujarat. So, why the hell he need that visa? If US companies want to invest in Gujarat they will automatically invite him and arrange a visa for him. I am sure then there will be no question about human rights violations and other things when business and money are involved.

No government in this world has an absolutely clean record of human rights. Every country is involved somewhere directly or indirectly where human rights violations, either in their own country or on foreign soil. No one can claim high moral ground at least on this aspect alone. These people should fight against Modi politically based on valid and rational points, challenge him, and question him but please don't play a dirty game like this. I have only one request to all these people, please stop this circus and talk about more serious issues. I am sure India has many of them, whether Modi or anyone else gets any visa or not is not a big deal. We have much bigger issues to address and I expect these intelligent MPs to think about that rather than thinking about how they get some cheap media publicity.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Links:
1. 64 MPs urged Obama to keep visa ban for Modi
2. BJP wants US visa for Modi
2. Massive controversy breaks out over MPs' letter to Obama on Modi visa
3. Controversy breaks out over MPs letter on Modi visa

Lal Krishna Advani, always number two

The resignation of the senior leader of the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) Mr. Lal Krishna Advani (LKA) and its subsequent rejection and withdrawal was in the news for the last few days. It seems Mr. Advani is not happy with the direction his party is going and the way decisions are taken nowadays (without consulting him). LKA never hid his aspiration for the PM (prime minister of India) position. He always wanted to become PM but somehow destiny denied him that chance. He worked really hard to make BJP a strong political force (from just 2 seats in Loksabha in 1984 to 161 seats in 1996, and then subsequently to power in 1999). He was a central figure in the Ram Mandir movement which actually helped the BJP to attain the status of a major opposition party. He created a vote bank for them and also helped them to win the 1999 general election. But despite all his efforts and aggressive politics LKA always remained number two in BJP with Atal Bihari Vajpayee being a more acceptable face to other coalition partners of NDA (national democratic alliance).

Mr. Narendra Modi is an emerging and very popular face in national politics. He already proved his power of governance and decision-making as Gujarat's chief minister and is now aspiring for a bigger role in national politics (prime minister's post). Everyone related to Indian politics knows how much LKA wanted to become PM. He lost his chance to ABV in 1999, because LKA was considered too radical or too extremist to be a leader of a coalition front that consisted of some so-called secular parties such as TDP and JD(U) (his pro-Hindu ideology and close association with the Ram mandir movement). One can say that today NM is what LKA was a few decades back. But with a proven track record of success he achieved as Gujarat CM, gives NM a better creditability and chance to secure the top position compared to LKA. However, like LKA even NM has the tag of too radical Hindu extremist leader (more because of the Godhra incident in 2002) and there is no doubt this label will be a roadblock in his journey to achieve a wider acceptance among other partners of NDA. So, I think LKA is not happy with the fact that what he couldn't achieve some years back someone else with a similar background and credentials can achieve so easily that too in his own party. Actually, all three ABV, LKA, and NM come with RSS backgrounds, they all believe in the same ideology but for their party workers, some are more acceptable compared to others.

I think by this time Mr. Advani must have realized that there was no point in fighting on the issue of Modi as the future leader of BJP. LKA did whatever he could to achieve success to his party, but he feels that he didn't get his due but that's how it is. In life sometimes you have to compromise. I think LKA realized this and that's why withdrew his resignation. BJP is definitely stronger with LKA with them than without him. Whether Modi can win this election or not is another big issue to discuss but right now there is a lot of buzz in the media about his name and he is very popular. It will be interesting to see how other partners of NDA react to the selection of his name. It's good that LKA realized that there was no point in stretching this drama any longer, better to be late than never. I think he made the right decision, let's see what happens next.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic. 

(Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing)