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Beliefs of Islam and Christianity

swamividyaranya
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Beliefs of Islam and Christianity

All religions are by no means the same. Religions differ in many ways- ways of worship, beliefs, attitudes towards non-followers of their religion, belief in God, atheism, agnosticism, rituals, etc etc.

Hindus believe that they can offer their prayers to God in any form they like. They look upon God with form or without form; He is infinite, omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. They believe that if they like, they can worship Him in the form of Mother Earth, Water, Air, Fire, Sun, Moon, Stars, Oceans, Rivers, Mountains, Intelligence, Memory, Learning, Valour, in fact, anything that inspires them to make their life noble, sweet and sublime. Hindus define this to be the substance of “religion”. Anything contrary to this is not religion at all.

Hindus believe that every other religion also should be teaching the same thing. They believe that all religions teaches good, noble and helpful conduct towards all irrespective of caste, creed or colour. That all religions teach respect of others’ ways of worship and prayers. But some religions do not have these beliefs.

Both Islam and Christianity have the following Common Beliefs:

i) God is jealous. Worship of God in the form of an Idol or any other Symbol like Sun, Moon, Stars, Earth, Ocean, Rivers, etc. is equivalent to worshiping somebody other than the One God. This arouses jealousy of the One God who inflicts severe punishment for this type of worship. Hindus who worship God in many forms including Nature, are the worst offenders according to Christianity and Mohammedanism. Hindus are called Heathens, Pagans, Condemned ones, infidels, idolaters, Kafirs, etc., deserving severe punishment, torture and extermination wherever possible.

ii) Christians and Muslims have both entered into Covenants with God, by which each religious community has received an Exclusive, Irrevocable Power of Attorney from God that its way of worship alone is right, that after death they alone will go to Heaven, others will go to Hell. Of course, the way of worship by Christians is different from that of Muslims. However, both communities claim Exclusive Rights. Believers of Islam become Non-Believers for Christianity and vice-versa. (But of course this Heaven for believers is actually a MIRAGE)

iii) This Heaven for Believers is eternal, and the Hell for Non-Believers is also eternal. Once in Heaven, their enjoyments are eternal; once in Hell, others’ sufferings are also eternal.

iv) There will come a Day of Judgement when all the dead ones will rise and stand before God to get the verdict of either Eternal Heaven or Eternal Hell.

In addition to their Common Beliefs, the Christians and Muslims have also their own special Beliefs. Some of those are outlined below:

Special Beliefs of Christianity

i) Birth by routine sex relationship between husband and wife is a sin. As such, we common people are all sinners. Jesus Christ was born to Virgin Mary, without routine sexual relationship; hence his birth is free from sin.

ii) Jesus Christ is SON of God. Jesus is the Only Son of God; God has no other Son, nor shall he have any other son or daughter. Hence, Christ is the only way of communication with God.

iii) Jesus rose to life a few days after his Death on the Cross. This Resurrection is a proof of His Divinity.

iv) Through crucification, Jesus has paid for the redemption of all sins of all his followers (Christians), at all places, for all time to come. Hence, Jesus is the right and sure way for human salvation.

v) Jesus has given all Authority to the Church. What Church commands is the LAW for the human race, both on Earth and in Heaven; no one should question it. Any deviation from the command of the Church is violation of God’s Law and hence punishable, as per by God’s Decree. Church is the only authority in respect of Spiritual and Secular matters of human beings. All other Rules of conduct are the violation of Divine God’s Command.

vi) Jesus is the Way, the only Way, to reach God.

vii) Those who Believe in Jesus as the only Way are assured of eternal paradise of pleasure after death; others are condemned persons on this Earth, who will go to eternal hell of fire after death. As such, the human race has been divided into two classes of “Holy Believers” and “Unholy Others”; Holy Christians, Unholy Non-Christians.

viii) It is the spiritual, religious duty of the Christian Church and of every individual Christian to convert others to Christianity. Through this conversion, they are doing good to every non-Christian in as much as they are taking him out of false religion and false ways of worship to the only true religion (Christianity); they are saving the condemned unholy person and bringing him into the holy group of Christians, under the protection of the Shepherd Christ and his Authorized Agency (Christian Church).

ix) Idol-worship or Symbol-worship including worship of Sun, Moon, Stars, etc. particularly of Non-Christian idols/Symbols, is un-acceptable to Jealous God; Such worship annoys Jealous God and he sends his severe punishment for such worship.

x) The Holy Bible is the Word of God, to be obeyed by all, without question.

Special Beliefs of Islam

i) There is no Power other than Allah. Prophet Mohammed is His Representative/Messenger on the Earth.

ii) Allah gave this Earth to Prophet Mohammed; the latter gave this Earth to Mohammedans. As such, the whole Earth legitimately belongs to Mohammedans. If others are to live on this Earth, they have to live as Mohammedans or as willing sub-ordinates (Dhimmis) to Mohammedans, paying Jizya Tax till they get converted to Mohammedanism.

iii) Allah revealed all His Laws of correct conduct through Prophet Mohammed; his is the correct conduct in all respects-sitting, standing, eating, drinking, dressing, sexing, fighting, taking, giving, etc. He has been the ideal representative of Allah, the best and last of Allah’s Prophets; there can be no Allah’s Prophet after him; anyone claiming to be a Prophet after Mohammed is a hoax; followers of such a hoax prophet deserve extreme punishment and even extermination from this Earth.

iv) The Laws of correct conduct spoken and practised by Prophet Mohammed form the Laws of SHARIAT. This Shariat is the Divine Law of life on this Earth. All other laws of conduct enunciated by any other person or group of persons on this Earth are invalid unless they are perfectly inline with Shariat. Any civil, moral, criminal or economic law, not in line with Shariat, is an unjust, immoral and tyrannical law which has to be removed from the surface of the Earth; to remove this type of injustice and tyranny from this Earth is the bounden religious duty of every Mohammedan. As such, no government other than Mohammedan government, functioning strictly under Shariat Law, is a legitimate government; other governments have to be abolished; there is no other option for a Mohammedan; he cannot live under the rule of any other law, wherever he may be living on this Earth.

v) To establish Mohammedanism and Shariat Law in every part of this Earth, Mohammedans have to follow, individually and collectively, the following three stages of struggle (Jihad):

a) Persuasion and quiet pressurization.

b) TERRORISM: This should create a sort of TERROR in the minds of non-Mohammedans, that sooner or later, they have got to become Mohammedans; the sooner they adopt this as their own religion, the better it is for them; otherwise, nothing is safe for them- their limbs, their life, wife, family, friends, property, land, etc. When such TERROR is created and established in the minds of non-Mohammedans, the latter shall have no psychological will to fight a pitched battle or military war against Mohammedans. Even if a pitched battle or military war is organised by non-Mohammedans, their defeat is assured because they have been terrorised to lose self-confidence; within their minds they feel frightening diffidence, to fight.

c) Pitched Battle/Military War: The psychologically weakened, emaciated and demoralized military force of non-Mohammedans cannot face the Mohammedan force which believes that it is fighting for the cause of Allah, for establishing His religion and His Law of Shariat on this Earth; Allah is Great (Allah-O-Akbar).

vi) This three-stage struggle (Jihad) to establish Mohammedan religion and Law of Shariat on this Earth is a religious obligation for every Mohammedan; to relax on this front is tantamount to dis-obedience of the Command of Allah; the obedient ones will have all the fruits of Jihad: global empire, wealth, and access to all enjoyments. Should a Mohammedan die in this God’s war against non-Mohammedans, he will be greeted by beautiful Hoories at the gates of Heaven; even beautiful handsome boys will be available to the Mohammedan for his enjoyment in the gardens of Heaven; he can sit there reclining against soft cushions, the Hoories will come to him with glasses of wine which does not create intoxication; the Hoories chasten chanting glances at the reclining Mohammedan and he enjoys infinite happiness in the company of handsome Hoories and beautiful boys; the Mohammedan does not grow weak or old at all in that Heaven; eternal enjoyment in that company is the fruit he has legitimately earned through living and dying in the cause of Allah, the cause of His religion of Mohammedanism on the Earth. (Of course this PARADISE is a MIRAGE in reality)

vii) On this Earth, Mohammedans form community and community laws of their own, as per the Law of Shariat; all other laws are unjust and tyrannical and hence invalid for them; they have the divine right to disobey all such laws. For them, political boundaries have no meaning; those boundaries are made by man, not by Allah. The all-powerful Allah has validated only one community – the Mohammedan community; one country-the Earth; one loyalty -loyalty to the Holy Prophet Mohammed; one valid Law-the Law of Shariat. A Mohammedan belongs to only one nationality- Mohammed’s nationality; his allegiance is to only one land-the Holy Mecca. Every piece of land under Mohammedan rule and under the Law of Shariat is a land of justice and peace for him; every other piece of land is a land of tyranny for him where he has to wage a war of Jihad and Sabotage for establishing Mohammedanism. If a Mohammedan is taking his food and hears a call from Mohammedans outside in a street-quarrel, he has to leave his food and rush outside to join his Mohammedan brothers.

viii) When all other rules and rulers are removed from the surface of the Earth and replaced by the Mohammedan ruler under the Law of Shariat, then there will be total peace and justice on this Earth. As such, the Mohammedans are working only for Peace; Mohammedanism is “Peace and Justice”. It is for this that they are fighting; the second name for Mohammedanism is PEACE. Mohammedans want to establish this PEACE on this earth. They cannot rest until this type of PEACE is established.

ix) About one hundred years back, in most literature and in spoken language, the religion propagated by Holy Prophet Mohammed was called Mohammedanism and his followers were called Mohammedans; the words Islam and Muslims were not common. To give greater legitimacy and acceptability to this system, the words “Islam” and” Muslims” were made to become more common in usage; it is not a religion given by Prophet Mohammed; this religion already existed with Allah and it prevailed in Allah’s Heaven; Prophet Mohammed only brought it down from Heaven to this Earth. Religion prevailing in the Heaven of Allah was and is ISLAM and its followers are MUSLIMS.

   The weakness of these Christian and Mohammedan Beliefs is very obvious, but who is to question? These Beliefs, without openness to reasoning, have led to cruelty and wars. Hindus also mistreated the so-called lower castes for a few centuries in India, again due to lack of free thinking. But Hindus have accepted the flaws of their behavior and followed modern civil laws, given reservation and many other concessions to those who belong to castes which were mistreated.

   In the last two centuries, with the advancement of free thinking in Europe and USA, the illogical doctrine of the Church has also lost its appeal and a lot of the orthodoxy has gone down. Hindus and Christians have both reformed to a large extent. Of course, there are still hundreds of misguided Missionaries in India and in other countries in the world who try very hard to convert others to ‘the only true path of Christianity’. But Islam has totally refused to accept any reforms and as in the words of the writer who wrote this book (who is anonymous, whose name is not known to anyone), “Islam of today resembles the Christianity of the Middle Ages”.

The minute analysis of these beliefs of Islam and Christianity is 100 % true. Most faithful believers will still believe honestly that unbelievers will go to Hell. In college, several years ago, when this writer talked to a Christian girl (who was a Catholic) she candidly spoke out all these beliefs and condemned this writer openly for being an atheist and felt that I deserved eternal punishment in Hell for not believing in God. It is not just one Christian girl. Most of the followers genuinely believe most of these myths. But most Muslims believe, genuinely though erroneously, that Islam is a religion of peace and Muhammad was the BEST AND PERFECT MAN, on earth.

   Christianity is a living example of a case where an innocent symbol was destroyed by a bad theology. But it does not mean there are no believing Christians now or in the past who did not overcome the faults of their theology. Many have loved their fellow believers without learning to hate their pagan neighbours. All this shows that man is greater than his creeds and ideologies and that humanity could survive its hate-ideologies. It has been able till now. But will it in future, especially when Muslims believe that this life is just a ‘test’ and the real life is afterlife? Many are quite willing to die (and destroy the earth) in the hope of Jannat (Paradise) which is actually a MIRAGE.

[Most part of the above article, i.e. ‘Beliefs of Islam and Christianity’ is taken from the book of the late G C Asnani (1922-2016) titled ‘Appeal to Hindu Sadhus’]

https://www.islaminindia.org/category/15-beliefs-of-islam-and-christianity

[The author Swami Vidyaranya is not the Swami Vidyaranya of the Hampi Peeth of Karnataka, but a different person. He has studied the theology, the past history, and the recent and current histories of Islam. He is on Twitter here https://twitter.com/SageVidyaranya]

A balanced verdict from the Supreme Court

Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan
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A balanced verdict from the Supreme Court

It is 11. 36 am on 31st Aug, 2020. Item No.1504. Court No. 3. Supreme Court of India. Justices Arun Misra, B R Gavai and Krishna Murari, are in attendance. Reports indicate that senior judge Arun Misra, slated to retire on 2nd Sept, 2020, has possibly authored his last of the impactful verdicts, among the many in his judicial career. And it was on the Digital Platform. This author was witness to it, as a concerned citizen and an officer of the court, until he along with others, not appearing in the case were ‘locked out of the room’. OMG, it has became an In Camera proceeding. Why?

It is now 12.47 pm, and it is Breaking News- the Supreme Court, while alluding to the ‘sage advice of the learned Attorney General on the sanctity of free speech, to both the court and Prashant Bushan’ has passed a brilliant order imbued with wisdom. This is what experience teaches you from the above.

Here is my take on the day, the pronouncement and the legacy that Justice Arun Misra may be leaving behind. And despite his suggestion that ‘Bar was the mother of Judiciary’, his disinclination to accept a Farewell from the Bar, was troublesome. But he may have endeared himself to the Bar with this beautifully balanced verdict.

Was it a case of the advocate, defiantly and disdainfully inviting it on himself, or it was a case of ‘irrational exuberance’ (as Justice V R Krishna Iyer called the willingness to exercise contempt jurisdiction) of the Learned Judges? It was too much to expect Prashant Bhushan, as he was egged on from the sidelines as well, (imagine the utter contempt of those who retweeted the tweets that Prashant Bhushan was held guilty of contempt for) to feel contrite or apologise. Senior Advocate Rajeev Dhawan, his lawyer, closed the arguments saying “Don’t make a martyr of my client by punishing and sentencing him”. Exactly. And the sagacious suggestion of the 88 year old Attorney General K K Venugopal, to let the contemner off with a rap on the knuckles was adhered to, but with a magical tweak.

Supreme Court took the glorious opportunity to reiterate its magnanimity by letting off Prashant Bhushan, with a Re.1/- fine, and has made mincemeat of his expectation to become a martyr. Sentencing him was surely necessary, as he was a serial offender. His conduct/counter, in the face of notice was also contumacious. On the other hand, a chivalrous view of his errant behaviour has endured to the legacy of the institution. The institution did need to sentence him, as it has, to send a message to the usual suspects that such attitude needed to cease.

Truly, as an officer of the court, one is delighted that a lovely legal balance has been struck, by imposing the nominal fine of Re.1/- with allied stern conditions that if he failed to pay the fine of Re.1/- on or before 15th Sept, 2020, he would invite on himself imprisonment for 3 months and disrobed for three years from practice. The message is loud and clear. The institution is big. Yet, it is large-hearted and magnanimous. But only to those who respect and regard the institution. Not to those who defy and seek to defame it.

If Prashant Bhushan fails to bow before the institution and pay Re.1/- as fine, then he would be revealing his utter contempt for the Rule of Law. If he is willing to be incarcerated for 3 months and be disbarred from practice for three years, it would not be a sacrifice. It would only reinforce the belief that he had little respect for the institution which has given him all that he is possessed of. The least he can give back is – Re.1/- and a reverential bow to the supremacy of law and the constitution, in defence of which he claims ‘ to have been practising over three decades’.

No matter what the liberal media has cacophonously complained of, the Supreme Court has lived up to its reputation, of being generous in the extreme. The Re.1/- fine is a classic rap on the knuckles, wrapped in iron chains. Skillfully, the law lords have granted fifteen days’ time to Bhushan and his comrades to sit, brainstorm, ruminate and come up with an informed response. Let me illustrate the ‘why’. The institution is far bigger than what these individuals seemingly tilt against.

Justice Markandey Katju, Supreme Court, who himself was hauled up for contempt of court, for his comments in a Facebook post, on a criminal case verdict, from the apex court, recalls an anecdote, which is revealing. “I remember once when I was sitting in my chamber at lunchtime in the Madras High Court, when two senior judges came to meet me, looking very upset. It appeared that a leaflet had been circulated against them calling them fools. On reading the leaflet, I started laughing. At this, they got even more upset, and said to me, “Chief, we have been defamed, and you are laughing.”I replied, “Look, you better learn how to ignore all this, or you will get blood pressure. So many things are said in a democracy and you must develop a thick skin, as these are occupational hazards.” At this, the judges tore up the leaflet and also started laughing. Katjusaab added for emphasis,“Why should Indian judges be so touchy? When the House of Lords delivered the judgment in the 1987 Spycatcher case, a prominent newspaper published as its headline “You Fools”with the photographs of Justices upside down. Fali Nariman, the eminent Indian lawyer, was in London at that time and he asked Lord Templeman who had delivered the majority judgment why the judges did not take action for contempt of court. Lord Templeman smiled, and said that judges in England do not take notice of such comments.In Balogh vs Crown Court, a case contested in England in 1975, the defendant told the judge “You are a humourless automaton. Why don’t you self destruct?” The judge smiled, but took no action.”

On the occasion of a CPM MLA M V Jayarajan being convicted for calling Judges Idiots-Sumbhan in malayalam (Jan,2015) – Justice Katju wrote in this media post. “In a recent judgment, a bench of the Indian Supreme Court convicted a Kerala ex-MLA for contempt of court for calling some judges fools, and sentenced him to four weeks imprisonment. In my opinion,  this judgment is incorrect, totally unacceptable in a democracy, and violates the freedom of speech guaranteed by Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India. In a democracy, the people are supreme and all authorities, whether President or Prime Minister of India, other ministers, judges, legislators, bureaucrats, police, army and so on are servants of the people. Since the people are the masters and judges their servants, the people have a right to criticize judges just as a master has the right to criticize his servant”.

As early in 1935 in R v.Dunbabin, Australian High Court, equivalent of their Supreme Court said, “ Any matter is a contempt which has a tendency to deflect the Court from a strict and unhesitating application of the letter of the law or, in questions of fact, from determining them exclusively by reference to the evidence. But such interferences may also arise from publications which tend to detract from the authority and influence of judicial determinations, publications calculated to impair the confidence of the people in the Court’s judgments because the matter published aims at lowering the authority of the Court as a whole or that of its Judges and excites misgivings as to the integrity, propriety and impartiality brought to the exercise of the judicial office. The jurisdiction is not given for the purpose of protecting the Judges, personally, from imputations to which they may be exposed as individuals. It is not given for the purpose of restricting honest criticism based on rational grounds of the manner in which the Court performs its functions. The law permits in respect of Courts, as of other institutions, the fullest discussions of their doings so long as that discussion is fairly conducted and is honestly directed to some definite public purpose. The jurisdiction exists in order that the authority of the law as administered in the Courts may be established and maintained. The necessity of maintaining the authority of this Court against such attacks is, perhaps, even greater than in the case of Courts under a unitary system of government. It is the constantly recurring task of this Court to decide upon the validity of the enactments of one or other of the seven Governments of Australia. Thus the Court occupies a position which makes any tendency to weaken its authority a matter of especial concern.” Yes, the Learned judges surely had the power to punish and sentence junior Bushan, but was it necessary or worth it?

The Canadian law  of contempt can be summarised succinctly in the words of Justice Morrison: “It was a wise judge who said, My duty as a Judge is to administer the law as I find it, but if I am at liberty to express any personal opinion upon the expediency of exercising the power of the Court to summarily punish contempts of court not committed in its presence, and not calculated to obstruct the course of justice, but by the publication of libellous matter unfairly criticising or impugning the action of the Court or imputing impure or corrupt motives to its members, I would venture to say that in such cases the exercise of this arbitrary power would be a questionable remedy, either for maintaining respect for the Court itself or vindicating the characters of its members.” (R v. Wilkinson-1877).

And, in more forceful language, Mr. Justice Black of the United State Supreme Court was expressing a truism not restricted to his own country when he pointed out that, “The assumption that respect for the judiciary can be won by shielding judges from published criticism wrongly appraises the character of American public opinion. For it is a prized American privilege to speak one’s mind, although not always with perfect good taste, on all public institutions. And an enforced silence, however limited, solely in the name of preserving the dignity of the bench, would probably engender resentment, suspicion and contempt, much more than it would enhance respect.” ( Times-Mirror Co v Superior Court-1942).

Lord Rusell of 1900 vintage in R v. Gray. “Any act done or writing published calculated to bring a court or a judge of the court into contempt, or to lower his authority, is a contempt of court. That is one class of contempt. Further, any act done or writing published calculated to obstruct or interfere with the due course of justice or the lawful process of the courts is a contempt of court. The former class belongs to the category which Lord Hardwicke LC characterised as ‘scandalising a court or a judge’. That description of that class of contempt is to be taken subject to one and an important qualification. Judges and courts are alike open to criticism, and if reasonable argument or expostulation is offered against any judicial act as contrary to law or the public good, no court could or would treat that as contempt of court.” One surely expected the top court to rise and rise and exhibit its grace and magnanimity, even if the contemner was unlikely to apologise, which it has done, but with a tricky rider, fitting the bill.

Justice Felix Frankfurter said, “‘Judges as persons, or courts as institutions, are entitled to no greater immunity from criticism than other persons or institutions. Just because the holders of judicial office are identified with the interests of justice they may forget their common human frailties and fallibilities. There have sometimes been martinets upon the bench as there have also been pompous wielders of authority who have used the paraphernalia of power in support of what they called their dignity. Therefore judges must be kept mindful of their limitations and of their ultimate public responsibility by a vigorous stream of criticism expressed with candor however blunt.”

That man for all seasons, Justice V R Krishna Iyer, called for an Appointments Commission, much like the one in the United Kingdom, for the very reason that the role of the Judges must be accountable including  for their irrational exuberance to indulge in the power of contempt. Read. “The judicature is a noble and never a nocent institution. If you goofily debunk and unjustly bring the judiciary into disrepute, you judges commit contempt and get punished. The court is a magnanimous institution, majestic and glorious, and it sustains the confidence of the nation.”

Lord Denning in his Family Story has recorded what Lord Shawcross said about one of his judgments: “Denning is an Ass.” The Times (of London) published this. In spite of it, Lord Denning declined to take contempt action since he took the view that he would disprove it not by contempt proceedings but by means of his performance. Of course, he was the best judge of the Commonwealth. This is an example for judges in India, too. “ The best answer to abuse of judges is not frequent or ferocious contempt-sentencing but fine performance. Of course, rare cases may deserve contempt impeachment. Bad judges deserve to be censured by a Performance Commission with access to every citizen. How many judges in our High Courts are good by the canon laid down by Douglas? He wrote: “…The law of contempt is not made for the protection of judges who may be sensitive to the winds of public opinion. Judges are supposed to be men of fortitude, able to thrive in a hardy climate”, Justice Krishna Iyer mused. Prashant Bhushan tweets’ were of the rare genre in its colour and tenor.

The Supreme Court has taken the glorious opportunity with both hands, or three pairs of hands,  to demonstrate that it was  and not ‘so sensitive to the winds of opinion’ as a tweet or two, but it did need to punish/sentence the tweeter, for he was a senior and serious serial offender, to “protect the institution”. The institution is too big to be impacted, over such trifling, irresponsible and contemptible tweets. The Justices have shrewdly yielded to this instinct, by imposing the Re.1.- fine  and adroitly turning the tables on Prashant Bhushan and his cheerleaders by placing the ball in his/their court. As Mahatma Gandhi may  have said Mr. Prashant Bhushan, ‘Heed the call of your conscience not prestige’, if you have one.

(Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan- Author is practising advocate in the Madras High Court)

स्तरहीन पत्रकारिता का दौर

डॉ नीलम महेंद्र
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स्तरहीन पत्रकारिता का दौर

आजकल जब टी वी ऑन करते ही देश का लगभग हर चैनल “सुशांत केस में नया खुलासा” या फिर “सबसे बडी कवरेज” नाम के कार्यक्रम दिन भर चलाता है तो किसी शायर के ये शब्द याद आ जाते हैं, “लहू को ही खाकर जिए जा रहे हैं, है खून या कि पानी, पिए जा रहे हैं।”

ऐसा लगता है कि एक फिल्मी कलाकार मरते मरते इन चैनलों को जैसे जीवन दान दे गया। क्योंकि कोई इस कवरेज से देश का नंबर एक चैनल बन जाता है तो कोई नम्बर एक बनने की दौड़ में थोड़ा और आगे बढ़ जाता है। लेकिन क्या खुद को चौथा स्तंभ कहने वाले मीडिया की जिम्मेदारी टी आर पी पर आकर खत्म हो जाती है? देश दुनिया में और भी बहुत कुछ हो रहा है क्या उसे देश के सामने लाना उनकी जिम्मेदारी नहीं है? खास तौर पर तब जब वर्तमान समय पूरी दुनिया के लिए बेहद चुनौतीपूर्ण है। एक ओर लगभग आठ महीनों से कोरोना नामक महामारी ने सम्पूर्ण विश्व में अपने पैर पसार रखे हैं तो दूसरी ओर वैज्ञानिकों के तमाम प्रयासों के बावजूद अभी तक इसके  इलाज की खोज अभी जारी है। परिणामस्वरूप इसका प्रभाव मानव जीवन के विभिन्न आयामों से लेकर तथाकथित विकसित कहे जाने वाले देशों पर भी पढ़ा है।

देशों की अर्थव्यवस्था के साथ साथ परिवारों की अर्थव्यवस्था भी चरमरा रही है। कितने ही लोगों को अपनी नौकरियों से हाथ धोना पड़ा है तो कितने ही व्यापारियों के काम धंधे चौपट हैं। ऐसे हालातों में कितने लोग अवसाद का शिकार हुए और कितनों ने परिस्थितियों के आगे घुटने टेक कर अपनी जीवन लीला ही समाप्त कर ली। इन कठिन परिस्थितियों में भारत केवल कोरोना से ही नहीं लड़ रहा बल्कि एक सुनियोजित षड़यंत्र के तहत उसके कुछ पड़ोसी देश उसे सीमा विवाद में उलझा रहे हैं। एलओसी पर पाकिस्तान की ओर से गोली बारी और उसके द्वारा प्रायोजित आतंकवादी घुसपैठ के अलावा अब एल ए सी पर चीन से भारतीय सेना का टकराव होने से चीन के साथ भी तनाव की स्थिति निर्मित हो गई है। इतना ही नहीं चीन की शह पर नेपाल भी भारत के साथ सीमा विवाद में उलझ रहा है।

इस बीच यह खबर भी आई कि चालू वित्त वर्ष की अप्रैल जून तिमाही में भारत की जी डी पी ग्रोथ रेट -23.9%  दर्ज की गई है।

लेकिन इन विषमताओं के बावजूद देश में इस आपदा को अवसर में बदलने की बहुत से कदम भी उठाए गए जैसे आत्मनिर्भर भारत की नींव और वोकल फ़ॉर लोकल का संकल्प। इतना ही नहीं संकल्पों से आगे बढ़कर देश के इंफ्रास्ट्रक्चर को मजबूत करने वाले कुछ महत्वपूर्ण प्रोजेक्ट पूर्ण हुए और देश को समर्पित भी किए गए। जैसे, भारत व बांग्लादेश के बीच व्यापारिक संबंधों को मजबूत करने के लिए कोलकाता से बांग्लादेश के लिए जलमार्ग शुरू किया गया। 10171 फ़ीट की ऊंचाई पर दुनिया की सबसे लंबी रोड टनल “अटल रोहतांग टनल” बनकर तैयार हो गई। इससे ना सिर्फ अब लद्दाख सालभर देश से जुड़ा रहेगा बल्कि मनाली से लेह की दूरी करीब 46 किलोमीटर कम हो गई है। चेन्नई और पोर्ट ब्लेयर को जोड़ने वाली सबमरीन ऑप्टिकल फाइबर केबल की सुविधा शुरू हो गई है जिससे अंडमान निकोबार द्वीपसमूह में मोबाइल और इंटरनेट कनेक्टिविटी की दिक्कत समाप्त हो जाएगी और यहाँ से बाहरी दुनिया से डिजिटल सम्पर्क करने में आसानी होगी। इसी प्रकार एशिया के सबसे बड़े सोलर पॉवर प्रोजेक्ट जो कि मध्यप्रदेश के रीवा में स्थित है उसका उद्घाटन भी हाल ही में किया गया। निसंदेह ये ना सिर्फ गर्व करने योग्य देश की उपलब्धियां हैं बल्कि जनमानस में सकारात्मकता फैलाने वाली खबरें हैं।

लेकिन शायद ही खुद को चौथा स्तंभ मानने वाली देश की मीडिया ने इन खबरों का प्रसारण किया हो अथवा किसी भी प्रकार से देश की इन उपलब्धियों से देश की जनता को रूबरू कराने का प्रयत्न किया हो। दस हज़ार फ़ीट की ऊंचाई पर दुनिया की सबसे लंबी टनल जो कि सामरिक दृष्टि से अत्यंत महत्वपूर्ण है, वो इन चैनलों के लिए चर्चा का विषय नहीं है। एशिया का सबसे बड़ा सौर ऊर्जा का सयंत्र इनके आकर्षक का केंद्र नहीं है। आज़ादी के 74 सालों बाद तक डिजिटल रूप से अबतक कटा हुआ हमारे देश का एक अंग अंडमान निकोबार अब देश ही नहीं बल्कि दुनिया के भी संपर्क में है, इनके लिए यह कोई विशेष बात नहीं है। क्योंकि इन खबरों से इनकी टी आर पी नहीं बढ़ती। लेकिन एक फिल्मी कलाकार की मृत्यु इनके लिए बहुत बड़ा मुद्दा बन जाता है। इतना बड़ा कि “सुबह की खबरों” से लेकर रात की “प्राइम टाइम” तक इसी मुद्दे को लगभाग हर चैनल पर जगह मिलती है। वो अब चल दिए हैं वो अब आ रहे हैं, यही दिखा कर सब पैसा कमा रहे हैं। यह टी आर पी का खेल भी अजब है कि रिया अब घर से निकल रही हैं से लेकर रिया अब घर वापस जा रही हैं की रिपोर्टिंग बकायदा “हम रिया की कार के पीछे हैं और आपको पल पल की खबर दे रहे हैं” तक चलती है। व्यावसायिकता की इस दौड़ में आज किसी की मौत को ही पैसा कमाने का जरिया बनाने से भी गुरेज नहीं किया जाता। और तो और इनकी “खोजी पत्रकारिता” जिस प्रकार से रोज “नए खुलासे” करती है उसके आगे सभी जांच एजेंसियां भी फेल हैं। शायद इसलिए प्रेस काउंसिल ऑफ इंडिया ने इस मामले में विभिन्न मीडिया संस्थानों द्वारा की गई कवरेज को देखते हुए मीडिया को जांच के दायरे में चल रहे मामले को कवर करते समय पत्रकारीय आचरण के मानकों का ध्यान रखने की हिदायत दी है। अब यह तो मीडिया के  समझने का विषय है कि वो मात्र एक मनोरंजन करने वाले साधन के रूप में अपनी पहचान बनाना चाहता है या फिर एक ज्ञानवर्धक शिक्षाप्रद एवं प्रमाणिक स्रोत के रूप में।

डॉ नीलम महेंद्र
लेखिका वरिष्ठ स्तंभकार हैं।

Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa: Great Sikh warrior

Sanat Bhardwaj
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Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa: Great Sikh warrior

Hari Singh Nalwa – a legendary name and a great Sikh warrior of late medieval history is one of the most unsung Sikh warriors today. His contribution into defending the North Western frontier and his successful military expedition into remotest region of modern days Afghanistan is unparalleled till this date.

Hari Singh Nalwa was the Commander In chief of Sikh Khalsa Fauj – the Army of Sikh Empire under the leadership of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He was born in the village of Gujranwala in the Majha region of Punjab in a Sanatani family of Late Shree Gurdial Singh Jee (father) and Late Srimati Dharm Kaur in the Year 1791. His mission to defend Hindu-Sikh Samaj and expand the Khalsa Empire went unchallenged until his last day when he finally departed for his heavenly abode on 1837.

Hari Singh Nalwa is one of the most ferociously brave and honoured Sikh Warrior of the mother India. To those who have researched and known the war history, he could be one of the bravest warriors ever the world had seen. During a lifetime of innumerable military expeditions, he remained invincible in his martial capacity despite limited state resource and hostile surroundings.

Unfortunately, the life and achievement of Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa Jee is not taught in the School and college curriculum which could have redefined the Sikh Valour and Self-esteem.

Hari Singh Nalwa will be remembered in the history for having established the Khalsa Raj in the region of Kasur, Sialkot, Attock, Multan, Kashmir, Peshawar and Jamrud.  He not only had successful Military expeditions in Peshawar but also ensured the Khalsa Raj expanded into territory as north as into the Khyber Pass.

The generations of today who have not heard and read of inhospitable terrain and treacherous tribal of North Western region should learn and realize that all the so called invincible tribes like Saddozai of Mankera, Pathan forces of Afghanistan, Durranis of Attock, Barakzai of Kabul and Peshwar, Yusafzai tribes of trans-Indus region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Afridi of Khyber were decimated and subjugated under the Commander ship of Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa Jee.

The great military expedition and untold victory of Commander is only comparable to the might of another general Bappa Rawal of Mewar Dynasty in this region. The untold bravery of these two Indian Kings Bappa Rawal and Sardar Hari Singh Jee never forms the part of Indian Academic Curriculum. We will soon bring another short E –book on another great warrior Bappa Rawal soon.

Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa Jee was anointed as Khalsa Governor for the Kashmir Peshwar and Hazara by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, where he minted Nanakshahi Rupee and Govindshahi Rupee Coins in the year 1837 and collected Revenue, which was later confiscated and stopped from circulation by the British East India Company.

Coin issued by Hari Singh minted in Peshawar dated 1837.

1807Battle of Kasur1821Battle of Mangal 
1808Battle of Sialkot1822Battle of Mankera 
1813Battle of Attock1823Battle of Nowshera (Naushehra)
1814 Battle of  Kashmir  Abortive1824Battle of Sirikot
1816Conquest Mahmudkot  Muzaffargarh1827Battle of Saidu
1818Battle of Multan 1834Occupation of  Peshawar 
1818Peshawar becomes tributary 1835Peshawar – Mohammad Khan flees 
1818Mitha Tiwana becomes his jagir 1836Victory on Jamrud (Khyber Pass)
1819Kashmir becomes part of Khalsa Empire1836Panjtaar defeated
1819Battle of Pakhli 1837Battle of Jamrud 

These are the list of 20 major battle that Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa Jee commandeered and decimated his rival. His era had successfully instilled sense of relief and peace among Hindu Sikh society of North especially in Afghanistan and Kashmir.

Among the earliest of his battles, the Sardar was only 17 years old and had displayed the bravery of his nerve in the ferociously fought battle of Kasur in 1807. The military expedition in the region of Multan to Peshwar from 1818 to 1834 is an untold ravelling story of bravery and unparalleled ferocity. Despite being outnumbered in a ratio of 1: 10 against the enemy, Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa Jee never lost a battle in his lifetime.

The commander was an able administrator who crushed the turbulent enemy with iron fist. His banned Cow Slaughter and imposed heavy penalty up to death to those who disobeyed Religious belief of Sanatan Samaj. The fear of Sardar Nalwa Jee was such that not a whisper against the State command arose from the local unruly tribes until then known for the turbulence and revolt in the valley of Peshawar and Kashmir 

Hari Singh Nalwa died fighting a battle with enemy at Jamrud in Afghanistan. He was cremated in the Jamrud Fort built in the Khyber Pass in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Babu Gajju Mall Kapur, a Hindu resident of Peshawar built a memorial of his bravery and sacrifice in the fort in the year 1892.

He was a visionary who built series of Sikh fort in that Trans Indus region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Nowshera, Kabul, Peshawar and Attock and in Kashmir. He built the fortified town of Haripur in 1822 which was the first city of contemporary era with having water distribution system. He built scores of majestic and utility driven constructions like forts, watch towers, gurdwaras, water tanks, temples, towns, sarais in across his administrative region.

A religious man, Nalwa built Gurdwara Panja Sahib in the town of Hassan Abdal, south-west of Haripur and north-west of Rawalpindi in Pakistan to commemorate Guru Nanak’s journey through that region. He had donated the gold required to cover the dome of the Akal Takht within the Harmandir Sahib complex in Amritsar

In 2014, Billionaires Australia considered Sardar Hari Singh Nalwa Jee as to be one of the greatest conquerors in the History of the world. It is misfortune for the passing generation of Sanatan Samaj that such inspiring stories were concealed from the young generation.

In the 20th century, the song Mere Desh Ki Dharti from the 1967 Bollywood film Upkaar eulogises him. Amar Chitra Katha later on published the biography of Hari Singh Nalwa in 1978.  On April 30, 2013 Government of India also released a commemorative postage stamp honouring Hari Singh.

Yet the greatest medieval warrior on the pious land of Bharat is still not remembered by the general masses who have much to learn from his life and much to emulate from him in terms of his personal conduct and character.

The ossification of free speech in India

Samved Iyer
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The ossification of free speech in India

Persons have a right or liberty to follow their own will in all things that the law has not prohibited and not be subject to the inconstant, uncertain, unknown, and arbitrary wills of others.

Spake thus John Locke, among the most momentous leaders of the Enlightenment, the father of liberalism.

It is not solely by virtue of our Constitution, but also in accordance with the most sagacious wisdom of our ancestors that we, the people of India, discern in one another an individual in one’s right, ever so unique. For it is nature’s very ordination that one respect the autonomy of the other. As do differ the genetic anatomy of two individuals, so do differ their streams of thought. A society best treads on the path of progress with free and forthright exchange of assorted opinions, for the benefit thereof is not merely intellectual but often pecuniary. The right to unfettered expression is an indispensable component of true freedom, for it is an impetus for the truth to emerge in the best of its resplendence.

Lamentable, therefore, are our state of affairs that society in itself must be so inimical to the notion of free speech. I write in particular of India with no right greater than the mere actuality as its citizen who cannot but have its best interests in consideration. By no means could I claim to be the nation’s conscience keeper — I could never. These are expositions in the capacity of an individual and I would truly goad readers into expressing an alternative view or even discord with what I have sought to convey by means of this forthright essay.

The narrative with regard to freedom of speech may have particularly been accentuated with the advent of social media, which has led to the democratization of the public discourse. The distinction between a republic and a democracy is that while the former entails the election of representatives who formulate policies on behalf of the people, the latter entails a direct entrustment of power to the people. The advent of social media has ensured the prevalence of popular thought. The contention of some to the effect that it has challenged the elitism of the media having been granted, it has also ostensibly ensured an angrier populace. We perhaps understate the prodigious psychological impact it could have on the masses.

People as a whole lack the dispassionate, objective temperament that befits an academician. Subjection thus to heavy and often uncivil condemnation online — veritable mob justice on cyberspace — is but a quotidian occurrence. It is a convenient medium to express variegated sentiments. To an extent, social media accords a person with a shade of anonymity, which could easily create illusions of invincibility. Wherefor he cannot express physical anger, therefor he can express cyberspatial anger. He does so in thorough measure. He experiences unprecedented satisfaction at having done so. To some, it has become so great a priority that it may be quite the achievement for them.

Yet, the most fundamental question as to the reasons behind his anger remains to be addressed. Perhaps, he knows he cannot express that opinion of his outside social media, for he shall in all probability be a victim of retributive violence. For it is the way of the mob to respond with intimidation in the absence of cogent arguments, and one needs no rocket scientist to observe the prevalence of the way of the mob in a preindustrial society like India. This is safely attributed to the State’s lack of monopoly over violence.

A society prior to industrialization is essentially feudal in character. The economic liberalization of 1991 notwithstanding, there remains a feudal disposition ingrained into the national consciousness. An examination of the Industrial Revolution in the west would evince the observations in the foregoing paragraph. An important consequence of industrialization was an increase in urbanization, but it also resulted in increased urban crime, owing to three factors, namely, poverty, unemployment and overcrowding in the cities. In the initial years of industrialization, there was no job security or social security for the factory worker. In the event that the worker lost his job, there would have been little chance for him to find an alternative source of income. Cities were unprepared for the influx of people who ventured to the urban areas in search of employment. The process of industrialization, therefore, resulted in major social upheaval, which could only be tackled by the State. In such circumstances, the State resorts to ruthless enforcement of law and order. It does not allow the existence of fringe groups or mafia groups, who may well create zones into which even law enforcement agencies may fear to venture. In technical terms, this strong action by the state is precisely what is termed, “monopoly over violence”. This has a proclivity to temper the masses and make them more respectful of law and order.

None of this ever materialized in India. It is extremely common to hear conscientious concerns raised about the lack of respect for law and order in India. The absence of industrialization is a major if not the sole reason for the same. High levels of societal violence are characteristic of a feudal society. The State’s lack of monopoly over violence in India is evinced by the presence of such maleficent groups as may establish zones where law enforcement agencies prove ineffective.

A feudal society can hardly be tolerant of free speech and expression, for the ruling elite is used to obsequious service and propitiation from the ruled, and to the ruled, bold assertions of one’s autonomy are nothing short of celestial. Insofar as India is concerned, the problem is compounded by the predominance of the factors of religion and caste. In a profoundly unfortunate contortion of the wisdom that Indian scriptures have by and large stood for, the Indian civilization metamorphosed into so collectivist a society as to subordinate individual autonomy in the garb of religious and casteist pride. The same collectivism subsists in substantial measure to date. And which region would be best depictive of feudalism that owes its provenience to such collectivism, but the platitudinous Indian village?

“What is a village but a sink of localism, a den of ignorance, narrowmindedness and communalism?” asked not an elitist city-dweller who thought of himself as superior to the benighted rural denizens, but an extremely erudite scholar, discriminated against right from birth on account of his caste, who discerned the nuances of Indian society like perhaps no other: Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar. Here is but one instance evincing the intentions of Indians to prove right Dr. Ambedkar’s scathing remarks from seven decades ago. Feudalism can hardly conform to the principles of free speech.

I for one concur with eminent analyst Abhijit Iyer-Mitra that the Brandenburg precedent is the gold-standard for evaluation of what can be permissible under free speech. So long as the utterance is not a specific threat against a specific person in a specified time frame, it must be permissible.

Every political party in India has been at some point in time been guilty of suppressing free speech. Yet, no party physically hounds a person with contrary views as does a regional party. Stand-up comedian Agrima Joshua happened to mock the conspiracy theories about a certain statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in Mumbai. Hilarious though it may sound, there indeed were people with the firm belief that the statue could deploy sophisticated offensive mechanisms against terrorists from Pakistan intending to enter the Indian mainland through the sea. None of her comments were directed against Maharaj per se, but the regional parties in Maharashtra took extreme offence. The Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS) went so far as to vandalize the studio where she had performed.

Not complicit in this particular incident, the history of the ruling Shiv Sena party is also replete with such hooliganism. Much the same holds true for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The media, hitherto dominant public intellectuals, stand-up comedians and student activists dare not speak against them when such parties are in power, but it is interesting to see them dole out imprecations, stage protests and even riots claiming to save India’s democratic ideals when the much more docile Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that currently commands the government at the national level, is in power. For they are aware that the BJP at best ignores or at worst detains such individuals (with extreme rarity of prolonged arrests), but that the regional parties shall vandalize their workplaces, beat them up and worse, their story shall not necessarily be given prominence in the media.

Numerous if not all regional parties have no ambitions that transcend political power at the state level. Such of them are perhaps aware that they shall never expand nationally and remain restricted to their respective states. It is, therefore, much more affordable to them to exploit regional, linguistic and caste sentiments. In the states in south India where Dravidian sentiments are often inflamed, it can be particularly perilous for individuals to challenge the pro-Dravidian regional parties. At the expense of sounding generalized, I contend that the very existence of some regional parties is inimical to the ideals of free speech.

The national parties must at bare minimum don a semblance of inclusiveness in order to grow. They cannot afford to appear exclusivist. The BJP did not transform into the planet’s largest political party by membership without the foundations of constant grooming by the pan-India sociocultural organization — the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). In the service shakhas of the RSS are members transcending caste, religious, linguistic and regional barriers, from across an assortment of professions — working as volunteers — ever at the forefront for social service, be it in times of natural disasters such as the 2001 Gujarat Earthquake or the extant Coronavirus pandemic. The RSS having been the mentor organization of the BJP, there is at the very core of the BJP a sense of liberality exceeding that of almost every other political party in India. Guilty though it has been of suppressing freedom of speech on numerous occasions — an abomination not to be justified — it is notably not nearly as brutal in terms of its response as others.

Yet another problem that does not attract the requisite amount of debate is the suppression of free speech by the judiciary. Prashant Bhushan’s recent case is evincive of the same. His criticism of four Chief Justices of India, one of them incumbent, could at best have been a ground for a defamation case pursued by the judges in their individual capacity. However, the Supreme Court of India chose to utilize its state powers and lodge a contempt case against him. It is difficult to view it as anything but judicial tyranny. On one hand, the Supreme Court is described with the honourable title, “Guardian of the Constitution” — the very Constitution that by means of Article 19(1)(a) guarantees to its citizens the right to freedom of speech and expression. On the other hand, it uses contempt law to suppress the same. Contempt of court is categorized as one of the reasonable restrictions in Article 19(2). However, criticism of judges cannot be construed as contempt. Only contravention of a court order can be categorized as such. Prashant Bhushan’s case can aptly be summed up by employing the phraseology of Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, “The law is law because it is consistent. Law shorn of consistency is tyranny.”

Not even the non-Left, which is considerably concerned with the Left’s absolute intolerance of speech critical of it, does not appear to be concerned with judicial tyranny. To its credit, it is helping raise awareness with regard to intolerance in other spheres, the academia being the most prominent of them all. Emergent among the non-Left in India are numerous volunteer institutions such as Sangam Talks, The Jaipur Dialogues, IndicAcademy et al that have an incentive to be committed to academic objectivity. That incentive is their very survival against the onslaught of the Left-dominated academia who squander no opportunity at putting forth a predisposed narrative of the nation.

The eminent panelists they invite for panel discussions — such as Sanjeev Sanyal, Dr. Vikram Sampath, Abhijit Iyer-Mitra, Dr. Anand Ranganathan, J Sai Deepak, Sanjay Dixit, Nilesh Nilkanth Oak, Dr. Manish Pandit, Sandeep Balakrishna, Anuj Dhar, Dr. David Frawley et al — are all proponents of freedom of speech and expression. Their slow but steadily rising acceptability among the masses is evincive of a hope that the academic and public narrative shall gradationally gravitate towards a centrist position, away from the extremes of either the Left or the non-Left. I do, however, hope that they also address judicial tyranny with equal regularity. Perhaps society as a whole shall itself be more accepting of Freedom of Speech, subject say to an Indian equivalent of the Brandenburg precedent. Political parties in the future however distant would be compelled to take cognizance of those realities and conform accordingly.

Bloomsbury: A saga of entitlement

ninadkulkarni
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Bloomsbury: A saga of entitlement

Summary of Bloomsbury saga   

Free speech is yet again in the news this week. Bloomsbury, a British publishing house which has published a significant amount of books in India was slated to release a book – Delhi riots 2020: An untold story, authored by Monica Arora, Sonali Chitalkar and Prerana Malhotra. But Bloomsbury cancelled the book launch and decided not to publish the book at all, flouting all the contractual agreements it had with the authors. It did so because it was under tremendous pressure from an influential section of the literary society, primarily from authors like William Dalrymple. It did so as some of the authors had a problem with the people attending the launch event. This caused a huge uproar on social media as the publication was publishing another book which put forth the perspective of the Shaheen Baug protests. Many prominent authors like Sanjeev Sanyal and Anand Ranganathan decided to boycott the publication completely as a sign of protest. The book was ultimately published by Garuda Prakashan and now is one of the best sellers. This whole saga pegs some questions. 

Why go as far as to ban the book?
Aren’t all the sides allowed to put forth their perspective?
Is free speech really free?

A note on the ban culture creeping in the world

Ban culture is not new. India particularly has been guilty of fostering a culture of banning ideas and works that don’t bode well with the incumbent political establishment. Starting from Rangila Rasool, India has banned close to 50 books till date. Although not new to India, the ban culture has been seeping into many societies in the world especially the west. There have been numerous cases of people being de-platformed or facing a violent backlash for expressing their ideas freely. The radicals take pleasure in doing so at the altar of Political Correctness. But where does this come from?

The Left which associates itself with ideas like weakness, progressivism, identity politics, etc. is following nothing but an updated version of marxism. The followers of this ideology have a political framework which is described by Yarom Hazonay in simple steps.

  1. They believe that the present liberal order is as bad as any other oppressive regime as it also tends towards two classes i.e. the oppressor and the oppressed.
  2. They believe that the current political regime is oppressive and it can only change by a revolutionary reconstitution of the society.
  3. Only then can society put an end to the oppression of one class over the other.  

Thus the left always sees one section of the society as oppressive and the other as oppressed without paying any heed to the facts. In order to reconstitute society and defenestrate the oppression, it becomes imperative to control the narrative and not let any other perspective surface which does not conform to their version of the truth.  

The liberal dilemma

What highlights this episode the most is the utter and complete silence of the liberal class. It is something to ponder upon that the same people who claim to champion the free speech cause are today accommodating voices that are anti-free speech in its all of its forms.

Yaron Hoznay in his essay gives a simple yet brilliant explanation as to why the liberal class who espouse the classical liberal values are unable to do anything against the onslaught on their core ideas. Liberals fight for certain basic values that differentiate a modern mature society from an authoritarian one as it respects liberty, equality, rights and consent. But liberal society does not necessarily end oppression completely but strives for giving an equal chance and opportunities to all the sections of the society, particularly the less fortunate ones. Yaron Hoznay puts it as a ‘dance of liberalism and marxism’

  1. Liberals declare that henceforth everybody is equal as the society is based on the values of consent and individual freedom
  2. Marxists, employing reason point to many instances of unfreedom and inequality in the society decrying for new rights
  3. Liberals embarrassed by this have to give in to some demands of the Marxists and the system is reset again with new rights.
  4. Return to 1. and repeat.

This dilemma is one that is being extremely difficult to traverse for most liberals. It makes them believe that they are the ones with all the right answers. They have a monopoly over truth. Any idea or concept other than theirs is dangerous as it has the potential to cause disharmony in the society and thus need to be crushed. This very attitude has led to the alienation of most common people from the liberal class. In India particularly, this has taken the form of the following – 

  1. Having a reductionist view of Indian history. Reduce everything to caste and nothing else.
  2. Deny any existence of any ancient knowledge that India had. Propound theories like Aryan Invasion Theory.
  3. Neglect India’s contribution to the world thought.
  4. Mono-narrative of freedom struggle. Completely ignore the revolutionary movement that went parallel to the Gandhian freedom movement.
  5. Name and shame any critique as Sanghi, Hindu nationalist, fascist, supremacist, etc.

The liberal desperation in India

India has thus far been in the shackles of the ideas that were professed by the same left-liberal ecosystem. The effort to systematically alter the past and make assertions about the corruption of India’s culture has led to the alienation of most Indians from the liberal values of this beleaguered class of people. The Bloomsbury saga is just one example of their desperation as this class of elites, sitting in their ivory towers face the brunt of a changing India. This entire saga and the backlash that resulted in shows how progressively the left-liberal ecosystem in India is only going to become irrelevant culturally and politically.

The house out of order

Ravi S Gupta
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The house out of order

Elections are imminent. Among various issues discussed, one major issue remains criminality in politics. Criminality exists, and that it flourishes so many decades after independence, is certainly a disgrace. According to Association for Democratic Reforms, 2019 report, in 2004, 24% of the Members of Parliament had criminal cases pending against them; in 2009 it went up to 30%; in 2009 to 34% and in 2019 as many as 43% of MPs had criminal cases pending against them. India is the only democratic country with a free press where we find a problem of this dimension.

As politics dominates the bureaucracy, and reins in business, civil society and the media, we need governance that is free of the “criminal” virus. Capability is not sufficient. The intent to do public service is also required. The British were capable, but we still did not want them. Today, it is not about any party, it is about the political system. Cleansing politics from “criminal” virus begins with purifying political parties itself, as they are the central institution of the India’s democracy.

Effect of Criminalisation of  Politics

  • Against the Principle of Free and Fair Election: Using money and muscle power in elections, limits the choices of voters to elect a suitable candidate and it is also against the ethos of free and fair election which is the bedrock of a democracy.
  • Affecting Good Governance: The major problem is that the law-breakers become law-makers this affects the efficiency of the democratic process in delivering good governance. These unhealthy tendencies in the democratic system reflect a poor image of the nature of India’s state institutions and the quality of its elected representatives.
  • Affecting Integrity of Public Servants: It also leads to increased circulation of black money during and after elections, which in turn increases corruption in society and affects the working of public servants.
  • Causes Social Disharmony: Many voters feel that our country’s criminal justice system has broken down actually prefer to vote for those candidates, criminal or otherwise, whom they feel can deliver “justice” to them. Many perceive the institutions of state to be outside their reach, even as clogged courts and prohibitive lawyers’ fees fail them in their search of the settlement of their problems- on issue largely relating to property, land and social structure. It introduces a culture of violence in society and sets a bad precedent for the youth to follow and reduces people’s faith in democracy as a system of governance.

Indeed, it is only the apex court that has been responsible for significant reforms in helping to cleanse the body politic. Apart from the important “disclosure” order of 2002/2003 whereby all candidates must submit an affidavit disclosing any and all cases registered against them, the Court has, in the last few years, passed other significant orders: These relate to the EVMs and by another significant order of July 10, 2013 (Lily Thomas v. union of India), where they consciously ended the unfair privilege accorded to MPs/MLAs, which had hitherto enabled them to retain their memberships, even upon an order of conviction- by simply filing an appeal within three months. It was the decision that sent Lalu Prasad Yadav to jail and debarred him from contesting an election for six years.

Exercising the power of complete justice under Article 142 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court (in Public Interest Foundation and Ors. v. Union of India case) made it mandatory for the political parties to upload on their websites detailed information regarding individuals (with pending criminal cases) who have been selected as candidates. Further, this information must be published in one local vernacular newspaper and one national newspaper and on the official social media platforms of the political party, including Facebook and Twitter. The court has set another guideline for the same, of 48 hours within the selection of the candidate or two weeks, before the first date for filing of nominations, whichever is earlier.

Over the years, the judiciary has been proactive in expanding fundamental rights of information to curb criminalisation in politics. Disclosure of criminal antecedent is one such effort by the judiciary.

The Way Forward

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the longest serving US president, says “Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.” This echoes Gandhi’s statement on the need to educate voters. This is a demand side solution, and the onus for this lies squarely with civil society. It cannot and will not be done by the Government, political parties, religious institutions, media or business houses. The Election Commission does do this, but here we are referring to a deeper education that enables voters to see the whole election and governance process in totality. Perhaps the digital media which is far more democratic and decentralized will play a role in the coming years. At the same time supply side solutions are also required. If the rules of the game give greater incentive to misuse of money and power in elections, with no penalties, rising public awareness will in the long run lead to greater strife between the people and the Government.

In the recent past several Commissions have been set up to examine the issue of electoral and political reforms. On the legal front, there is a long list of suggested remedies by the various Commissions. There is no dearth of well thought out advice on issues of election expenses, criminalization, voter registration, and conduct of elections. The will to implement them is not there as yet. Here again civil society can play a catalytic role by carefully studying these recommendations and highlighting them to build public opinion. This is however a long and slow process, unless some crisis can trigger off change. But even for that the ground needs to be prepared.

It is in the interest of purity of elections which form the bedrock of our participatory democracy. A Change must also come from the general public where they should boycott candidates with serious criminal antecedent. To this extent awareness in public about the potential benefits which could accrue from choosing candidates without criminal antecedents vis-à-vis harm which they incur when they choose candidates with criminal antecedents would go a long way in ensuring the sanctity of our elections.

Therefore, it is imperative that the change must be imbibed from within- both by political parties and the public.

Why is Gen Z facing tremendous mental health issues?

nidrachakraborty
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Why is Gen Z facing tremendous mental health issues?

We are what we surround ourselves with. We become the vibes and the energies. It is more often than not that we find ourselves stressed and in conflict with our minds. They say that negative energies that develop within our body manifests in stress when we are not in alignment with our true selves. In this article, I will pen down my thoughts on how the environment heavily impacts us both in positive and negative ways.

I would narrate an anecdote from my own life. My extended family heavily criticized me throughout my childhood until I turned 21 for every decision I made, for the way I looked, for the way I spoke, for the career choices I made, precisely for me being me. I took these things seriously and was an extremely under-confident person. To top it, I was heavily body shamed. All of this added to my insecurities, and I went into a shell. Although my parents have always been the most supportive and loving, I did not want to bother them with my self-destructive thoughts since we were already undergoing a financial crisis. These things piled up only to result in a confused graduate, who did not know what she wanted and could not decide her path forward.

Now when I look back, I berate myself for giving these external forces the power to rule me, the ability to destroy me, and rendering their attempt at curling my bright future dark, almost fruitful. As luck would have it, I luckily ended up in a place that almost became my second home. For the first time in my life, my talent was appreciated. That place brought out the best in me and made me love myself a little more. I finally felt alive and started gaining back my lost confidence. I started believing in the person I am and found my passion. I found my path, and most importantly, I found myself.

I am sure I am just one in a billion who let others’ negative opinions affect one own self to such an extent. We do not realize, but there are so many children out there who are repeatedly told that they cannot achieve their dreams because they are not enough. Many of them eventually grow up to be someone with whom they do not resonate. These experiences have given rise to a generation who are perpetually depressed and suffer through anxiety and panic attacks.

We are to blame for everything that is wrong in society because we are society. We let the elders speak anything they want under the pretext of them being older, and it would be termed disrespectful to revert on their faces. As a team, we should take a stance against anything inappropriate that is said to a child, be it comparing him to his counterparts or making him feel unworthy of his dreams. As a generation, we should start by simply calling it out on the face of such unruly people and asking them to resurrect their behaviour or cut off all the ties.

These steps might seem harsh, but it would be necessary to heal and rise above in the long run. Mental health illness is real. We need to act promptly and make these positive changes to protect our future generations from undergoing the trauma that we have experienced.

It is extremely important to let a kid explore his path. It is crucial to instil in him self- belief and purpose. Life is more than just a job or a career. It is about passion. It is about finding what sets the soul on fire. In our pursuit of simply scoring scores and pursuing the courses pre-set by the society, we fail to foster in children two important characteristics that are integrity and accountability. We need to re-structure our mindsets that makes it necessary to have found the appropriate career paths by early 20’s failing which we are treated as pariahs. It is okay to not be happy with the course you thought you would want to pursue for life. It is okay to take detours in life. It is okay to be confused as long as you are experimenting , exploring, and growing. We need to prioritize happiness over everything.

Also, with the advent of social media, kids in their early teens and adolescents are pushed towards setting unrealistic body standards for themselves and getting gripped by the paramount phoney stories of celebrities and influencers. They have started living in a bubble that is sure to bring oodles of despair in the coming years. The only way forward is to be responsible towards the society and limit the intake of sensationalised news which eventually hamper our own mental condition.

I am healing gradually. I hope everyone else is healing too. The universe works in favour of those who help themselves.  I am an ardent supporter of mental health initiatives because I believe if not fully but partially, I have been to that dark place and do not want anyone else to drown in the abyss of hopelessness. Let us start by taking care of ourselves and our loved ones.

Until next time.

By:
Nidra Chakraborty

MBA 2020-22 I SME IIT Jodhpur

अपराधियों की स्वीकार्यता वाला समाज नहीं चाहिए तो……

Meenakshi Dikshit
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अपराधियों की स्वीकार्यता वाला समाज नहीं चाहिए तो……

एक गैंगस्टर मारा गया। उसने न जाने कितने परिवारों को नष्ट किया था, न जाने कितने लोगों की संपत्ति पर कब्ज़ा किया था, न जाने कितनी हत्याएँ की थीं। उसके गाँव ने मुक्ति की साँस ली। एक दिन उसकी भागती हुयी पत्नी जो उसके हरअपराध की सहभागी थी, का एक चित्र सामने आ गया जिसमें उसका एक लड़का भी था। शायद उन्होंने पुलिस से डरकर हाथ ऊपर कर रखे थे। छद्म मानवतावादियों को मौका मिल गया और एक कुख्यात अपराधी की अपराध गाथा की जगह, पुलिस की क्रूरता और बीवी बच्चे ने क्या बिगाड़ा है, की बहस ने ले ली।

दिल्ली में एक समुदाय ने सुनियोजित रूप से पूरे शहर को आग लगा दी, भयंकर दंगे हुए। न जाने कितने निर्दोषों की जान गयी। करोड़ों की संपत्ति जल कर खाक हुयी। दिन रात एक करके एजेंसियां दंगों के मास्टर माईंड तक पहुँच सकीं। अचानक एक दिन फिर कुछ छद्म मानवतावादी, मास्टर माईंड के बीवी बच्चों का दुखड़ा लेकर प्रकट हो गए और उनके दर्द का बयां करने लगे।

बम धमाके और लोन वोल्फ़ अटैक की तैयारी करने में लगे एक आतंकवादी के चार बच्चे और गर्भवती पत्नी होने के कारण उसे प्रति नरमी बरतने की दुहाई दी जा रही है।  

एक अस्वाभाविक मृत्यु जिसमें, अभी आत्महत्या या हत्या के रहस्य की जांच देश की तीन प्रमुख केन्द्रीय एजेंसियां कर रही हैं, एक बड़ा टी.वी. चैनल उसकी प्रमुख अभियुक्त को बुलाकर, उसके साथ कॉफ़ी टेबल जैसा संवाद कर उसके प्रति सहानुभूति उत्पन्न करने का प्रयास कर रहा है।

धरने में हंगामा करने और अराजकता फ़ैलाने वाली महिला जब जेल गयी तो लोग उसकी गर्भावस्था के कारण उसे निर्दोष करार कर दिए जाने की वकालत करने लगे।

हिंसात्मक प्रदर्शन करते हुए करोड़ों रुपये की निजी और सार्वजानिक संपत्ति को जलाकर रख करने वालों से जब उसकी भरपाई की बात की गयी, तो बड़े बड़े लोग मैदान में आ गए, ऐसा तो कोई कानून नहीं है।

आतंकवादी तो हमेशा से ही गरीब हेड मास्टर के बच्चे, प्रोफेसर, सिविल सर्विस एसपाईरेंट या सुरक्षा बलों से प्रताड़ित दबे, कुचले शांतिप्रिय वगैरह वगैरह होते रहे हैं।

ये किस समाज में जी रहे हैं हम? ये कौन लोग हैं जो येन केन प्रकारेण अपराधियों, दंगाइयों, भ्रष्टाचारियों, अराजकता फ़ैलाने वालों और आतंकवादियों के समर्थन आकर खड़े हो जाते हैं? ये कौन सी शिक्षा है जिसमें मानव अधिकारों की वकालत  उनके लिए की जाती है जो हर दिन स्वयं मानव और मानवता का खून बहाते हैं।

बेतुके तर्क और कुतर्क दिए जाते हैं जैसे, किसी के बीवी बच्चों का क्या दोष? क्यों क्या बीवी बच्चे उस समय दृष्टि बाधित हो गए थे जब घर में हथियार इकट्ठे हो रहे थे और बम बन रहे थे? उन्होंने पुलिस को सूचना क्यों नहीं दी? छत से पत्थर और बम फेंकने की तस्वीरें देखिये भरपूर संख्या में बीवियां मौजूद हैं। उस समय उन्हें नहीं पता था कि पत्थर और बम किसी दूसरी माँ के बच्चे की जान ले रहे हैं अब अपने बच्चों के लिए डर लग रहा है? कुछ लोग इन बीवियों की वकालत में खड़े हैं.

अपराध को सहमति देना, बढ़ावा देना, सहभागी होना, अपराध या अपराधी को छुपाना, अपराध के सबूत मिटाना ये सभी कृत्य अपराध की श्रेणी में आते हैं और सभी के लिए दंड की व्यवस्था है,

फिर अपराधियों के लिए मानवाधिकार की बात करके उनके अपराध को हल्का करने का प्रयास करना अपराध क्यों नहीं है? या अपराधियों को महिमा मंडित करना ,उनका गुणगान करना अपराध क्यों नहीं है? अपराधियों के प्रति सहानुभूति का वातावरण बनाने का प्रयास करना अपराध क्यों नहीं है?

अपराधियों के परिवार वालों को मासूम बताते हुए उनको मीडिया में इतना स्थान क्यों दिया जाता है? क्यों पूरे पूरे कैम्पेन चलाकर अपराधियों के मानवाधिकार सुरक्षित करने का भरपूर प्रयास होता है?

क्या मानवाधिकार की बड़ी संस्थाओं और मीडिया में बैठे लोग इन अपराधियों के साथ बेहतर जुड़ाव अनुभव करते हैं? या सिर्फ पैसों का लालच इनसे ऐसा करवाता है? या अपराधियों के साथ खड़ा होना भी एक तरह का स्टेटस सिम्बल और अपने आपको कूल साबित करने का मानक है?

या हम अपराधियों की स्वीकार्यता वाले समाज की तरह बढ़ चुके हैं?

या ऐसा इसलिए, क्योंकि हमारे यहाँ नैतिक शिक्षा विषय तो है लेकिन उसकी कभी परीक्षा नहीं होती इसलिए हम कभी समझ ही नहीं पाते कि सही क्या है और गलत क्या है?

हम ये तो स्मरण रखते हैं कि, पाप से घृणा करो पापी से नहीं लेकिन ये विस्मृत कर देते हैं, पापी को दंड मिलना सुनिश्चित करो जिससे कोई अन्य वह पाप करने का साहस न कर सके।

समाज का तथाकथित उदारवादी वामपंथी और छद्म मानवतावादी वर्ग जितनी बेशर्मी से सभी प्रकार के अपराधों और अपराधियों के समर्थन में खड़ा होता है ये स्थिति अगली पीढ़ी के लिए घातक है।

अपराधियों की स्वीकार्यता वाला समाज नहीं चाहिए तो जन जन को यथा शक्ति सहभाग करना होगा.

Ignition, Ideation & Innovation in PM Narendra Modi’s 68th Mann Ki Baat

Rangam Trivedi
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Ignition, Ideation & Innovation in PM Narendra Modi’s 68th Mann Ki Baat

‘Mann Ki Baat’ by Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi truly resonates the ‘Jan Ki Baat’ as the it is the people’s voice, youth’s aspiration, farmer’s faith, the idea of India & New India’s way forward which is amplified to Nation as well as the world by ‘JanaNayak’ Shri Narendra Modi.

Today on 30th August 2020 in the 68th episode Hon’ble Prime Minister talked about ignition, ideation & innovation. India is a land of festivals & fairs, we in India say ‘Utsav priya khalu manava’, which means, all people love festivals because the celebrations enable people to forget their sorrow. These days we are celebrating Ganesh Utsav, Onam which relates to agriculture and is now being celebrated in many world countries, He expressed his happiness on how the people are understanding their responsibility towards the society by celebrating festivals with all the safety measures in an utmost disciplined manner. He further added that our festivals and environment goes hand in hand as well as gives out a message of eco-friendly living. In addition to it he also informed the citizens about an age old tradition of ‘Tharu’ tribal community in Bihar’s western Champaran on how they observe 60 hours lockdown ‘Barna’ in which neither move anywhere out of their houses not does let anyone enter the village to protect environment which gives the world an idea about the culture of India to conserve the environment through their daily living practices.

Hon’ble Prime Minister in his talk, mainly focused on igniting the youth, entrepreneurs & people of India to ideate and innovate in the way forward in making Atmanirbhat Bharat. While Global toy industry is of 7 lakh crores, India imports over 85% toys mainly from China followed by Sri Lanka and Malaysia which is around 646 million USD. In contrast, India exported toys valued at a merely Rs 1.2 billion last year. He stressed upon the importance of toys in a child’s life recalling the words of Guru Ravindranath Tagore that “best is the toy which is incomplete and child makes it complete”. Toys increases thinking ability of a child and enables them to imagine and innovate. India has a rich heritage and wide range of traditional toys which informs about glorious Indian traditional history which is essential for bright future of the country. He also informed on the developing toy clusters in different states like Karnataka’s Ramnagar & Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi and also about CV Raju has taken up an initiative to make Etikoppaka toys widely which has a speciality of having no pointed corners and being round so that is also includes safety of children. In addition to it he also talked about virtual games which accounts for 134.0 billion USD and urged to develop video games with Indian theme. He sighted on how toys & games made in India based on idea of India can enable us to take a stride towards achieving our goal of Atmanirabhar Bharat.

Prime Minister also covered the App Innovation challenge launched by Government of India in the previous month which received nearly 7000 entries (6940) from tech entrepreneurs and start-ups across the country. Around two dozen Winners of a challenge envisaged to showcase India as one of the leading app developing countries globally were announced in nine categories. Apps which won included Chingari, Your Quote and Koo in social category. Zoho Invoice, Books & Expense; Mall 91; and GimBooks – Easy Invoice Manager, respectively. Disprz; Kutuki Kids Learning app; and Hello English: Learn English in E-learning category. Logically and IsEqualTo in news category. CaptionPlus; Meme Chat; and FTC Talent in entertainment and Hitwicket Superstars – 3D cricket Strategy Game; ScarFall– The Royale Combat; and World Cricket Championship 2a” WCC2 in games category. Zoho Workplace & Cliq followed by SureMDM in office category and StepSetGo (SSG) followed by iMumz in health category. MapmyIndia Move – Maps, Navigation and Tracking; Ask Sarkar; myitreturn were in other category. He urged the people to encourage these made in India apps and also appealed more start-ups and young entrepreneurs to develop more such useful apps which can capture the global user base.

Modi ji concluded his 68th Mann Ki Baat by informing the Nation in brief about ‘Bharatiya Krishi Kosh’ which is being prepared, consisting information about local crops, food, their nutritious value as per particular region that will add make a way forward towards nutritious Nation and more value to local food & agriculture. He also shared his knowledge of how our brave dogs perform their duty in security forces for safeguarding the country of which he also informed about some stories describing valour of brave dogs who sacrificed their lives on duty. He urged the people to keep dogs of Indian breed as pet dogs as they suit the Indian condition more and are also economical. He also expressed his expectations from teachers prior to the teacher’s day on 5th September who have principle duty in making a strong knowledge based educational base for the future generation of India with ignition, ideation & innovation.

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