DEATH vs DIGNITY

Whenever “Sati” is discussed, the first thought that comes to mind is of an obsolete custom in which women chose to or were expected to jump into the funeral pyres of their husbands.

Mata Sati is a reincarnation of Goddess Shakti and also known as Dakshayeni, the youngest daughter of Daksha the son of Brahma. She fell in love with Lord Shiva and married him against her father's will. She immolated herself at a Yagna hosted by Daksha when Daksha insulted Shiva unjustly. One can find a temple dedicated to this story near Haridwar called Daksheshwar Mahadev.

Vedas do not mention "Sati Pratha" nor do the Dharmasutras or Upanishads talk about it which obviously means that it wasn't prescribed by Vedic texts. The earliest mention of Sati is in Mahabharat. Madri the second wife of Pandu committed Sati. But in her case the act stemmed from a strong sense of guilt for being responsible for her husband’s death than the tradition.

The practice of Sati was mostly associated with the Brahmins and Kshatriyas which eventually trickled down as is the case with most social evils. It was reported mostly from Rajputana, Awadh, Madhya Pradesh and Bengal for a variety of social reasons.

Still, Sati was an uncommon practice followed by a handful of royal families. But it became a regular practice after the Islamic invasions began. The brute force of these invasions was mostly borne by North-Western India and it had impact on social customs in these places. In a bid to save their women from dishonor & servitude, families started forcing widows to commit Sati.

“Sati Pratha” was highly romanticized amongst the Rajputs who till date remain amongst the biggest worshippers of such 'chaste' women and also built a lot of commemorative temples or marked stones at their cremation sites which were frequented by people wanting “Darshan”. Down South, Sati was a rarity which was observed by very few families.

It took strong effort from social reformers to wipe out Sati especially since people had begun to revere it. 

“Jauhar” was a culturally similar practice to Sati and emerged around the same time that the islamic invasion of India began. It was mostly limited to the Rajputana kingdoms though there have been a few isolated incidents down South and elsewhere.

Jauhar is derived from two Sanskrit words, Jiv meaning "life" and Har meaning "defeat". The difference between Sati and Jauhar (Saka) is while the former is practiced by widows only; the latter was committed by both men and women during war time.

The process involved the self-immolation of the royal women and young children to avoid being captured by the invaders in the face of imminent defeat. One of the reasons that it started was because Hindu kingdoms could not deal with the barbarity of the Islamic hordes and on occasions when a few Rajput kings had surrendered, their entire families had been slaughtered and women enslaved for sexual barbarity. Hence they decided to follow Jauhar to prevent capture and dishonour to the clan.

The earliest recorded instance of Jauhar happened in the era of Alexander and the people were most likely Agnikula Kshatriyas who having lost to the Macedonians committed Jauhar rather than face servitude.

Ideally Jauhar would take place in the night amidst Vedic chants; women dressed in their bridal finery would jump into huge pyres made for them along with their young children to commit suicide. The next morning, the men would follow this sacrifice by carrying out “Saka” in which they would wear saffron clothes after taking a bath and smear the ashes of their wives and children on their forehead and put a Tulsi leaf in their mouth and head out to war. The men would fight till death avoiding capture, to annihilate or get annihilated.

There are numerous instances of Jauhar on record starting from the times of Alauddin Khilji  Tughlaq. the Jauhar of Rani Padmini of Chittor is very famous & has inspired a lot of folklore in Rajasthan. It was after her brave act that suicide became something of a “virtue”. There have been 3 instances of Jauhar at Chittor & various across Rajasthan but it wasn’t restricted to the Rajputana only. There have been a few incidents towards the South also to avoid capture and enslavement. One can still find the vermilion smeared hand imprints of the women who committed Jauhar at Chittor Fort.

The bravado of these women who would readily jump into a pyre along with their young children gives me goosebumps. While some may call it a "glorified suicide", for me it remains as the final act of defiance against dishonourable invaders. Fact that these women chose a dignified death is thought provoking and it always left the enemy camp impressed, be it the Macedonians or the Muslims.

Loss in battle was often followed by the plundering of forts and massacre of the civilians. Akbar  the "Great" massacred 30000 innocent residents of Chittor after defeating them. Temples were destroyed and idolaters were beheaded or forced to convert to the “true faith”. The Hindus were made to pay the mandatory “zaziya” tax for being infidels. The people who got captured faced a different hell, quite similar to the methods that the modern ISIS follows in treating Yezidis and other prisoners.

The captured women were raped/enslaved or sent off to be sold in the Middle Eastern slave markets as all of them were treated as property irrespective of whether they were married or single. Muslims had the sanctions for all of these acts in the Quran which allows Slavery, sexual abuse, mutilation of POW’s (4.3, 4.24, 23.6, 23.50, 70.30). The captured men were usually castrated before being sold and sometimes used as guards for Harem's.

Point to be noted is that intellectuals might claim that ISIS isn’t Islamic but the truth remains that they follow the same methods which their ancestors i.e the Mughals etc used centuries back. The beheading of infidels and the enslavement of their women which are distributed amongst their men as spoils of war is not at all different from what happened in our country.

The most recent example of such barbarity against Hindus was at the time of partition where trains from what wasn’t yet Pakistan started arriving with the mutilated bodies of Hindus and Sikhs trying to cross the border back into India. Women were usually dragged off of these trains to be raped and tortured by the Muslim attackers. In many cases when attacked, fathers/husbands or brothers would kill the women of their families to protect their dignity. The women who were caught were sold to brothels, some were forced to convert and get married to their rapists. Only the lucky ones would die a quick death.

Unfortunately our history texts don’t do justice to the tortures that were meted out to the Hindus to keep up the secular facade of our society. While we continue to suffer from Islamic influences in our social system, like the “Ghunghat (veil) system” in the North.

The Irony is such that a lot of us don’t know about these historical incidents and continue to blame the Hindus but the truth remains that our Vedic social structure started unravelling with the advent of Islam in India. Most of us choose to ignore the suffering & sacrifices of our ancestors & coincidentally, history is repeating itself with the advent of ISIS today.

Yagyaseni likes to tweet about social issues. she is a dog lover and she can be followed on twitter by clicking here. 

Kill Theory and Bihar.

In a 2009 Hollywood Movie 'Kill Theory',a psychopath creates a situation for few close friends that they end up killing each other to  prove the theory of survival of the fittest. The same drama was being played long before this film was produced in a place thousands of miles away from Hollywood. That Place was Bihar.

Last week, there was a report by Cobrapost related to Ranvir Sena which gave insight into how politicians supported it. The timing of this expose is suspicious as this was planted to break the social harmony by scratching the old wounds and help anti BJP alliance. But it also reminded of the future, if Lalu Yadav wins this time, a major class war is waiting to happen in Bihar. 

And this time, Laloo shall be even more brutal to break the opposition against him. These attacks will not even be reported in our media as this is what many psychopaths sitting on that high table want. Class war amongst Hindus makes secularati feel better as they believe divided Hindus are good for India as it helps avoid Hindu majoritarian state of their imagination. Christian missionaries use this to grab opportunity of conversion. Church-Maoist links are well documented.

A state in India which was always out of favour of the kings sitting on the throne of Delhi because of its defiant nature and it had to pay for it by remaining backward thanks to criminal negligence of Leaders of India. A state with an agrarian economy where half of the Bihar is affected by Flood and half of the Bihar is affected by drought. Any agrarian society creates two classes of people. Either you are a landowner or a farm laborer. A farmer never gets good price for his crop as major share is earned by hoarders and middlemen. But as far as landlords are concerned, they have to face the grudge of laborers because of their paltry wages. No government support or other job opportunities ensures that farmers never use modern and economical farming techniques to keep their cost of production low. This system works since centuries with allegations of exploitation which were always blamed on landlords even when British would charge heavy taxes on landlords to fill their coffers.

In Early eighties, Maoist movement began to spring up in pockets around India. They are a very strong force in few states which requires a whole army of Paramilitary forces to fight them with modern weapons, helicopters etc and still they are prospering by killing policemen, collecting levy from every person with a little money in pocket and holding kangaroo courts for punishing police informants.

Somewhere in the world, A gang of psychopaths sitting in their comfortable sofa decided to push maoist agenda in India. Indian intelligentsia drunk on marxist literature chose to be their foot soldiers. Poor adivasis and Dalits were recruited to fight the gun battles. 

Now we return to Bihar, how it affected the whole populace of this state, the ruler of Bihar forgot his Raj Dharma and decided to use maoist movement for his own political agenda. More the Maoists would harass the landlords, more he would raise the pitch of social justice. Turning two classes of the society against each other was helping Laloo Yadav rule Bihar with impunity. The landlords were being killed or their crops stolen by force or they would find a red flag in their farmland one day and that would mean that their land was gone. An average apartment in Mumbai may cost enough for 10 landlords to sell all of their land and even after that, they won't be able to buy that urban property. Land prices are worth nothing and average holding of a so called landlord is not more than an area of a football field which is always at risk of getting drowned under the flood water.

As maoist harassment got serious day by day, many farmers who were at the receiving end, they had no place to go for justice. Police won't file an FIR, Political leadership would do open sloganeering of killing the upper caste farmers and opposition was running for its own life. People would do night duty at house roof with country made guns to protect their villages from maoist attacks and random deaths continued. Figuring out the caste in a public place was a serious risk and you could die because of it. This gave birth to a very interesting social change. A whole generation of Biharis can be found with their official names with no surname which can hint to their caste. Kumar is the most common surname.

It would often happen that there would be murder of someone in the night and next day hundreds of policemen would come to the village looking for the culprits. They won't find the men so the wooden butts of their guns would be used to hit the women in places no one can describe. One old woman was thrashed so brutally that she died but before dying she sent her broken bangles to her son. The resentment boiled up to the extent, people who were at receiving end of maoists decided to die fighting in place of being lined up and shot by a firing squad. Youth was anyway jobless so people started gathering guns and self defense became the key word.

But as it was shown in the movie Kill Theory, the real culprit were not on the front of the battle, they were sitting in their cosy homes in Delhi or somewhere else sipping coffee which a common villager of Bihar would have never tasted.. Maoist foot soldiers would attack at night, mingle in the crowd by day and no police investigation would happen. As it has always happened, when state fails to deliver justice to the people, they take law in their own hands and these hands are not trained to reach the culprit, they kill randomly.

In this process, several private militias were formed in which Ranveer Sena got the maximum press coverage. After mass murder of landowners, retaliation happened and it was so brutal even the supporters of retaliation squirmed with pain. There was no proof of association of those Dalits killed in the retaliatory attack and even when FIRs were filed, random names were given in absence of any evidence. The reason these prosecutions failed to punish anybody from both sides. 
 
Lalu Yadav had no intention to stop these attacks as it suited his politics very well. He was in touch with both sides and making fight each other so that many upper caste landowners would abandon their land for peanuts and migrate to Delhi, Kolkata, Assam and where not. Lalu's henchmen would grab that land. Under the garb of Maoism, Lalu was making his foothold stronger. He knew peace in the society would force him to deliver prosperity and jobs which would go against his politics.

Lalu Yadav was not the only psychopath who was running this puppet show in which one puppet was killing another puppet. But he was sharing the table and he forced the people who were living peacefully for centuries to become enemies.Many of us find fault of Ranvir Sena for the massacres, Many of us support Ranvir Sena and justify its brutal acts because of the simple reason that they did not start this class war. Many of us would also blame those People who joined maoist forces and decided to kill people at night at orders of maoist leadership.  The interview of Brahmeshwar Mukhiya gives an interesting insight of that period. Now the question is- Are they the real culprit?

Or they were similar to the characters of Kill Theory who were best friends and one day they had to kill each other for the sake of their own survival. Should we punish the psychopath Puppeteer or those people who were recruited to fight for maoist ideas and their role was nothing more than cannon fodder or those Militias who would get access to people's sympathy and young blood to commit those barbarous crimes. And this time, It is in the hand of Biharis if they want to be the puppets killing each other or they want to be responsible citizens contributing to our Nation's development. 

Think over it!!

To read about the general law and order situation of Bihar you can read this post http://aimless-walker.blogspot.com/2013/03/bihar-untold-story.html

You can follow me on twitter by clicking here.

भारतीय बगुला भगत.

किसी महान और साधारण व्यक्ति में एक अंतर होता है, वह अंतर ये है कि साधारण मनुष्य की बात क्षणिक होती है, वहीं महान मनुष्य की कही हुई बात अमर हो जाती है. ऐसे हीं महान मनुष्य की श्रेणी में रहिमन ऊँचे पायदान पर बैठे हैं. उन्होनें नें एक दोहा लिखा है.

"रहिमन इस संसार में भांती भांती के लोग"

एक बार की घटना है, मैं दिल्ली में वसंतविहार में आईसीआईसीआई बैंक के शाखा में किसी काम से गया. अब अकसर ऐसा होता है कि कुछ समझदार महापुरुष कलम मांगते मिल जाते हैं. ऐसे हीं एक महानुभाव नें मुझ से कलम उधार मांग लिया. भाई साहेब कलम ले कर भूल गये कि ये किसी और का है, और दर्जन के हिसाब से बैंक के कागज भरने लगे. लगभग बीस मिनट की प्रतिक्षा के बाद मैंने अपनी कलम मांगने की हिम्मत जुटायी. महानुभाव ने तपाक से मुझे सलाह दिया 'अपना कलम क्युं नहीं लेके आते'. फिर मैंने याद दिलाया कि जो कलम उनके हाथ में है वो मेरी हीं है. फिर कहीं कलम वापस मिला.

ऐसे लोग होते हैं 'बगुला भगत', ये लोग आपको भ्रष्टाचार पर घंटो ज्ञान दे सकते हैं, और खास बात ये कि यह भाषण खत्म होने के अगले दो मिनट के अंदर किसी लाल बत्ती तोड़ने के लिये रोके जाने पर ट्राफिक हवलदार के जेब में बीस रुपये डालते दिख जायेंगे.

बिजली बिल जमा करने जायेंगे और लंबी लाईन देखते हीं चपरासी से जुगाड़ भिड़ायेंगे ताकि लाईन में लगना ना पड़े. दूध में पानी मिलायेंगे, बिजली के मीटर को उलटा घुमवायेंगे, अवैध निर्माण करवायेंगे, आवासीय इलाके में व्यापार चलायेंगे, टैक्स चोरी करेंगे, एक करोड़ का फ्लैट खरीदेंगे और चालीस लाख का बतायेंगे, अस्सी साल की अम्मा के नाम से पैसे को सफेद करेंगे, ट्रेन टिकट ना मिलने पर दलाल को ढूंढते पाये जायेंगे, नाकारा बेटे के नौकरी के लिये लाखों देने की बात करते मिलेंगे, फिर किसी लड़की के बाप से उस पैसे को सूध समेत दहेज मांगते मिलेंगे.

ऐसे बगुला भगत 'भ्रष्ट नेता' विषय पर पगुराई करते मिल जायेंगे, इनके घर के सामने का कूड़ा न उठे तो ये प्रधानमंत्री को गाली देंगे, उसके अगले पल किसी सफेद दिवार पर पान थूंकने में बिल्कुल नहीं चूकेंगे.

भारत देश के अंदर ऐसे बगुला भगत बहुतायत में मौजूद हैं, ऐसे हीं लोग आपको आम आदमी पार्टी की तारीफों के पुल बांधते मिलेंगे ये बात अलग है कि यही महापुरुष सरकारी जमीन केजरी टोपी पहन कर हथिआयेंगे.

अब आपसे कभी कोई बगुला भगत टकड़ा जाये और झेलने की सीमा लांघ चुके हों, ऐसे में मजे लेने के लिये दर्पण दिखाइये और फिर आनंद लीजिये. फिर देखिये इनकी तिलमिलाहट.

कुछ साल हो गयें, ऐसे हीं लोग अन्णा टोपी पहन कर ईमानदारी का साटीफिटिक बांट रहे थे, हर नेता चोर, हर पुलिसवाला बेईमान, हर सरकारी अधिकारी बिकाऊ, और ईमानदारी का ठेका लिया था फर्जी बिल भाड़ने वाले एक्टिविस्टों नें. ये वही लोग थे जिनको छपास की बिमारी होती है, अखबार के किसी कोने में इनका नाम छपता रहे, ये लोग अखबार की कटिंग काटते रहेंगे और बकैती करते रहेंगे. अब अन्ना हजारे को देख लीजिये, पूरा गांव शरद पवार का मतदाता है, खुद ट्रक चालक से रिटायर हुये, परन्तु आसमान के नीचे उपस्थित हर बात पर इनके पास रेडीमेड उत्तर है. इनके बहाने गांव में ताश खेलता हुआ रालेगन सिद्धी का हर पुरुष नीति आयोग की अध्यक्षता कर सकता है. 

रामचंद्र जी कह गये सिया से, एक दिन ऐसा कलियुग आयेगा ।

इकोनॉमिस्ट धोयेगा पैड़ सोनिया के, अण्णा एकोनॉमी पढायेगा ।।

ऐसे हीं कोई समाज सेवी दिल्ली जैसे शहरी इलाके में बैठ के किसान संगठन चलाता मिलेगा तो कोई गरीब बच्चों की तस्वीरें दिखा के चंदा बटोरता मिलेगा.

चंदा है तो धंधा है ये।   

गंदा है पर धंधा है ये ।।

अब अगर सही में इमानदार सरकार आ जाये फिर तो इनकी खैर नहीं, कहां बीस रुपये में रेड लाईट बपौती और कहां हजार का हरा पत्ता रशीद के साथ कट जाये. तो असलियत यही है कि ऐसे लोग सही में अच्छी सरकार की कामना नहीं करते. इनका अपना दर्शन है 'कार्य हो ना हो, कार्य का फिक्र जरूर हो, फिक्र हो न हो, जिक्र जरूर हो'.

आशा करते हैं कि तमाम बगुला भगतों की फौज भारत में उपस्थित होने के पश्चात भी हम आगे बढ पायेंगे, इसके लिये जरुरी है कि आपको जहां कोई बगुला भगत मिले, उसकी चोंच पर एक दर्पण बांध दें ताकि जब जब वो धाराप्रवाह गाली दे किसी को, अपना थोबड़ा उसे ये याद दिलाता रहे कि वह एक "बगुला भगत" है.

जाति! हाय री जाति

आज बाबा भीमराव अंबेदकर जी की जयंती है, इस पर बचपन की एक घटना लिख रहा हूं.

समाज में बहुत लोग हैं जो जाति के उंच नीच से उपर नहीं उठ पाये हैं, कुछ अज्ञान के कारण और कुछ नकली दंभ के कारण.

किशोरावस्था का वाक्या है, मेरे एक लंगोटिया यार की दादी का देहांत हो गया और श्राद्ध उनके पैत्रिक गांव में होना तय हुआ. मित्र ऐसा कि कहीं जाने कह दे तो मना करना भी पाप. सो हम पहुंच गये उसके गांव.

मित्र सोनार जाति का है और पिछड़ा वर्ग में गिना जाता है, ये बात अलग है कि परिवार में सभी पढे लिखे लोग हैं.

अब वहां गावं मे तीन-चार दिन रहने का मौका मिला और श्राद्ध का माहौल था तो काफी लोगों का आना जाना लगा हुआ था. एक कोठली में मिठाई, दही इत्यादी रखा गया था और उस कोठली की चाभी मुझे मिल गयी थी, कारण कई हो सकते हैं.

दूसरे दिन पूजा पाठ के लिये पंडित आये और "यहां पाच रुपया रखिये, यहां दस रुपये रखिये", के साथ कुछ पैसे लेकर अपना काम किया और चले गये. उनको देखकर "गरीब ब्राह्मण" का क्लिचे एक दम सही बैठता था.

उसके बाद आया भोज का समय. भोज में कइ पिछड़ी जातियों के लोग साथ बैठ गये और खाने लगे. और जैसे होता है, मिठाई हमेशा अंत में बांटते हैं, मेरे साथ बचपन में अक्सर ऐसा होता था कि मिठाई बंटने से पहले खाके उठ जाते और मिठाई से वंचित रह जाते.

तो वापस मिठाई बांटने का कार्यक्रम, और क्युंकि निगरानी हम कर रहे थे, तो मिठाई बांटने वाले मुझे ढूंढते थे, फिर पता चला कि मिठाई सबको नहीं मिलेगी. गांव का एक जानकार, पांत में बैठे आदमी का मूंह देख के बताता जाता और वहां मिठाई परोसी जाती. जाति का ऐसा खेल अद्भुत था. अन्य अन्य पिछड़ी जातियों के लोग आपस में छूआ छूत कर रहे थे.

एक जाति है हलखोर, ये लोग कभी मुसलमान बन गये, ऐसे गरीब कि इनको भोज के दिन न्योता नहीं होता, ये दूसरे दिन बसिया पूरी खाने आते हैं. अब आप कहेंगे कि क्युं बने मुसलमान, कहने की हिम्मत है क्या??

अंबेदकर जहां भी होंगे, रो परे होंगे.

चाभी मेरे पास थी, लेकिन पूरे प्रवास में मिठाई खाने का मन न हुआ.

"जाति! हाय री जाति !' कर्ण का हृदय क्षोभ से डोला,

कुपित सूर्य की ओर देख वह वीर क्रोध से बोला

'जाति-जाति रटते, जिनकी पूँजी केवल पाषंड,

मैं क्या जानूँ जाति ? जाति हैं ये मेरे भुजदंड।

'ऊपर सिर पर कनक-छत्र, भीतर काले-के-काले,

शरमाते हैं नहीं जगत् में जाति पूछनेवाले।

सूत्रपुत्र हूँ मैं, लेकिन थे पिता पार्थ के कौन?

साहस हो तो कहो, ग्लानि से रह जाओ मत मौन।

'मस्तक ऊँचा किये, जाति का नाम लिये चलते हो,

पर, अधर्ममय शोषण के बल से सुख में पलते हो।

अधम जातियों से थर-थर काँपते तुम्हारे प्राण,

छल से माँग लिया करते हो अंगूठे का दान।"

रामधारी सिंह दिनकर को पढिये और सुधरिये.

बाबा भीमराव अंबेदकर की जयंती पर एक सही कदम उठाइये.

Are you a Gay!

This era certainly belongs to the set of people who are always ‘politically correct’. Today, everybody is compelled to clarify his/her stand on host of global topics, just to remain relevant in the society. For eg: If you do not know what LGBT stands for, you are considered to be extremely ignorant.

The compelling need to take up stance on these relevant issues has brought out the politician in each one of us. In a private conversation we might be more candid about certain issues. But, taking stance on certain issues just to be accepted by your peers is what we see more important. Such situations are mainly applicable to politicians who remain as mirror of the society and talk only what the majority wants to hear.

As we see how politicians portray themselves to be very different from what they really are. This feeling of being seen and judged according to our views, makes us feel important as if our views will be quoted and used where as in reality, however outrageous our views may be, we are nothing more than dust particles in the huge system and our views won't be examined and we won’t have to face such repercussions that we get affected. We live in an illusion of being under the gaze but it is not at all true. And what is the benefit of having double views just for the sake of peer pressure. One set of view for public image and another for private conversations is what makes us hypocrite.

The moment you support an idea that is new or not acceptable to the majority, you may face attacks, personal and ideological. Your sanity may be questioned too. Now the question is, the people who criticize you, aren't they the bigger bigots? I present you my humble opinion why I feel so.

definition in Oxford dictionary

If you use simple words like 'perversion' for gays, you will be called homophobic, where as classical definition of perversion is simply something that diverts from regular practice. It is offensive only when the liberal considers it offensive. Being gay is definitely not the norm of the society as it doesn't go along with the law of nature where union of opposite sex is to reproduce. This is why Gay sex cannot be seen as a natural phenomenon. That is another thing that they should not be attacked or harmed physically or mentally and that much of individual freedom of choice should remain in society.

Let’s take an example. Someone calls you 'gay' and you immediately accuse him of being homophobic. But isn't it true that you are getting offended if someone calls you gay and by your own reaction you define 'gay' as inferior or offensive. So now who is homophobic you or the person who used it.

Every word, be it Negro, black, gay, lesbian, chinki, bihari, mallu, chamaar, madrassi etc., These words literally don't have anything offensive in it. But it is our prejudice that makes them politically incorrect. If someone calls me a chamaar, I get offended and call him/her a casteist etc, I am actually ignoring that chamaar is merely a word that signifies cobbler; it is we who have made this occupation inferior. Otherwise What is wrong in being a chamaar, isn't chamaar more important than a brahmin when we need shoes to protect our feet? Then who are we to decide that this is an inferior job, why does chamaar become a gaali and calling a brahmin or a rajput doesn't? It is our prejudice that makes it defined that way.

Subramanian Swamy tweeted that CRTs are queer. Immediate response of all the politically correct people was that they don't agree with him and called him homophobic, now tell me who made 'queer' derogatory, Swamy only  or the people who actually got offended are also sharing the deed? Why did they get offended for being called gay? Is being gay inferior? If so then the people who shouted against Swamy are bigger homophobic. If people stop getting offended and don’t mind if someone calls one gay, then will it be seen in same way?

Someone said, 'a Negro killed a British soldier' and outrage was not for the death of a human being but for use of racial term for the culprit being racially abused. Origin of the word ‘negro’ is Spanish which means black, so what is wrong if someone talks about color of skin, if one gets offended because someone called you black, then, it is you who has a prejudiced mind and you take it as an offence. Otherwise, black is beautiful. Living in Africa, I have heard many slangs for 'white', living in Delhi, have heard many more for Biharis but if we start getting offended, then it simply shows our inferiority complex. In place of fighting against use of certain words, we should fight against this prejudiced mind set wherein we judge people and decide who are superior and who are inferior, slangs will remain in the society but the offence hidden in it will disappear.

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NOTE: Written to fight with Insomnia. Proof reading done by .Baba Shivananda Maharaj ji

Bihar : An Untold Story.

Baikunth Shukla killed Phanindra Nath Ghosh in 1934 to avenge the hanging of Bhagat Singh, the person who became government witness in the Bhagat Singh case which led to his hanging. 

After 60 years, Muzaffarpur was under curfew for another Chhotan Shukla, a criminal don from Bhumihar community who was killed by Bihar police in an encounter. People in the funeral procession of Shukla clashed with Gopalganj District Magistrate G Krishnaiyah in Muzaffarpur and the mob lynched the administrator. Such was the law and order situation of Bihar in Lalu era.

After Indira Gandhi, Lalu Yadav was another politician to use murder as a political weapon. Many political adversaries were being killed. Opposition had surrendered in front of Lalu. He was using caste division as his political tool. 

Laloo would use slogans like ' Bhu-ra Baa-l' saaf karo'. It was for Bhumihar-Rajput-Brahmin-laala(kayasth).

This had encouraged the pro Lalu criminal elements to such extent that they would loot, kill and kidnap at will and no FIRs were lodged. It was the Jungle-Raj of Bihar. Kidnapping took form of a cottage industry. At that time when all the leaders abandoned anti Lalu electorate in fear, Only criminals like Anand Mohan  could dare to form Bihar peoples Party. He and his wife were the first to oppose Lalu openly. People supported him as they knew only poison could counter poison.

The jungle-Raj of Lalu and his open support to criminal acts against upper castes led to few social changes. Every Upper caste parent started to send their children out of Bihar. There were two reasons. First the children could get better education as the universities of Bihar had become arena of gang wars. whenever Gangs would need more members, They would come to university hostels. Second, To protect them from being kidnapped for ransom. This created a whole generation of Bihari youth who have lived major part of their lives outside Bihar.

Maoist violence was at its peak and Maoists used to kill upper caste peasants with impunity. Such was the Rajdharma that our CM would openly say, 'they are not our voters so we don't bother for them'. These attacks led to another development, the dominant upper castes made private militias. Ranvir sena had reach to more that 18,000 guns and every member got a salary and if someone died, their family would get a pension for whole life. Caste became an identity that could kill any time.

Caste based massacres had become a norm in Bihar. Lalu came in power by following the socialist leaders JP and Lohia but after becoming CM he became authoritarian. The reason was his confidence on his M-Y formula. Muslims had become a vote bank which was in his pocket. 

When the Rath of Advani reached Bihar, Lalu arrested Advani and stopped his campaign. This one incident made Lalu a savior of Muslims.  Being a Yadav himself, he could easily mobilize these two sections of society and even if they were weak economically, votes were with Lalu. Backwardness of these two communities was a  boon for Lalu.

Lalu divided Janata dal and made Rashtriya janata dal with symbol of lantern and brought Bihar into lantern era. Majority of the electrical power houses collapsed due to bad maintenance and industries closed down.  The real anarchy could be seen. People were suffering and farmers who had 100 of acres of land were going to Punjab, assam, calcutta, bombay, Delhi and many other places in search of job. Bihar became a labor contractor.

Gradually several leaders came forward to challenge Lalu. BJP had bania votes and as congress grew weaker, the upper caste votes also shifted towards BJP. JDU with several OBC leaders attracted non yadav OBC votes. T.N Sheshan played an important role by controlling booth capturing and many other electoral malpractices by bringing Punjab police on election duty which had no roots in Bihar and could remain above the caste consciousness.

After almost 15 years of Jungle Raj, Nobody had big expectations with BJP-JDU combine. Biharis wanted only one thing and that was  to control the criminals. Nitish govt controlled kidnappings and many criminals were sent to jail. Biharis could make Bihar developed by themselves. Government had one job to do and that was to give protection. For those who have never been to Bihar, Movies like Onkara, Pan Singh Tomar are good fiction stories but it can be lived in many villages of Bihar.

Industries collapsed in Lalu raj as industrialists could not do business in Bihar. Suta patti, Asia's biggest cotton market based in Muzaffarpur which had a big community of Marwaris, they all shifted to Gujarat. If someone says that Bihar exports poor,  he must acknowledge that Bihar exports industrialists too,

King Mahendra, richest MP in present parliament is from Bihar but his whole business setup is in Maharastra.

Biharis have always been a strong agricultural labor force and this is the reason Mauritius has bhojpuri as its second language. British exported this labor force to many parts of  the world. 

The sorrow of Bihar Kosi River is an uncontrolled rage which has left no option to the farmers of Bihar but to witness the destruction of their homes and to sit on a high ground and wait for some helicopter which comes to throw food packets. Almost every year, floods destroy unimaginable hectares of standing crops and force the village folk to migrate to other states. This can be controlled by constructing dam which is only possible on the Nepal side and by linking the rivers.

Nitish era brought some respite to people but as power comes, Leaders start to get authoritative and this is happening with Nitish. Earlier he used to appease Muslims to confuse them so that they didn't vote to lalu en masse. This is the reason he ensured the absence of Narendra Modi in electoral campaigns in 2009 and it was a clean sweep for NDA. Now he is trying to make OBC-Muslim combo so that he can dump the upper castes and still remain in power. 

In 2009 General elections, Gujarat, BJP fortress and having presence of Narendra Modi, gave 15 seats to BJP and congress could manage 11 seats. In Bihar, BJP+ got 32, lalu 4 and congress 2 seats. If BJP managers keep this in mind, They will understand how important is this flood prone area where 3 lakh hectares of land was under 6-10 feet flood water in 2008 . 

If Modi wants to lead the electoral campaign, he should understand that he will never be seen as a secular leader. His USP is Hindutva and he can bring BJP to power by making Hindutva supported with development as an election issue. By promising the People of Ram temple in ayodhya and overall development, BJP can win with absolute majority. 

Don't forget that BJP had 2 seats and Advani brought it to 80 seats by the rath yatra of Ayodhya. Modi should lift the baton left by Advani and bring BJP to absolute power. In UP, Bihar or any other state, you can take vote in the name of Mandal or kamandal but let me tell you. The development is invisible when the state is under 10 feet of flood water. 

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No to Sharia!

Written by my Atheist Friend Amith. He is in Germany for his studies and has crush on Arundhati Roy. :) 

 As an atheist, I was exhilarated to learn of a conference of ex-Muslim writers taking place in Frankfurt, three hours away from where I stay. It was on March 8th to celebrate the International Women’s Day. The panel consisted of celebrated women writers who have spoken in spades against the grave injustices perpetrated by Islamofacist regimes and on a bandwidth of other issues in West and South Asian regions. I would have an opportunity to meet Taslima Nasrin and Maryam Namazie. A friend even offered to sponsor the train journey if I can make a report of the event. The offer was too tempting to let go. I decided to travel to Frankfurt.

The event took place in a student building in Goethe-Universität. I have not seen such a university building. It was adorned with political graffiti, with not an inch spared, filled with expletives against capitalism, Nazism, sexism etc. Though I have to remark that Germany is left-leaning – a place where the American left would be considered almost to the right -, this was no ordinary place. It seemed like a left bastion. Leftists on steroids. I went up to the first floor. I was preparing for my bags to be checked. Isn't such a conference capable of attracting some threats? But nothing. They were pretty cool about it. They allowed me in handing a pamphlet about the conference headlined with a quote from Taslima Nasrin.“Es gibt viele moderate Moslems, doch der Islam selber ist nicht moderat”. There are many moderate Muslims, but Islam itself is not moderate.

There are many moderate Muslims, but Islam itself is not moderate -Taslima Nasrin

The conference was kick-started by videos of feminist movements by FEMEN known for their bold topless protests, who attempt to arrest attention by using sexuality for political purposes. It blended with the theme of the event filled with bold writers known for holding no punches back. The video that stood out the most to me was the women in Stockholm protesting hijab imposed by the Iranian government.

Some of the writers could not make it. The Egyptian feminist and writer, Nawal El Saadawi sent a video message. She talked of her participation is Egyptian revolution. She castigated varied kinds of oppression, ranging from capitalist class oppression to the Islamist oppression. The list of writers who could not make it sadly also included Taslima Nasrin. I was very disappointed. She was apparently entangled with a legal case filed against her back in her home country. I did not get the exact reasons since many of the announcements were made in German. “Life’s too short to learn German”.

Houzan Mahmoud with Maryam Namazie

There were many writers on the dais whom I was not completely familiar with. One such writer took me aback was an Iraqi Kurdish writer, Houzan Mahmoud. I later figured out that her articles have been regularly published in The Guardian. She had essentially expanded the theme of conference from Sharia Law to all kinds of injustices. She insisted that we need not only strongly oppose Islamofascist regimes who indulge in public hangings and stoning every Friday. But also oppose neo-liberal capitalist forces, the 1% who have usurped power and resources. I was a bit surprised at the mention of Occupy movement.  But who better understands the tyranny of capitalism than the people who have lived under it. Who were invaded to be liberated but ended up bringing Islamist governments to regime, with 1,033,000 people killed until as on August 2007, tearing apart the region into warring Islamic militia resulting in the worst sectarian violence, drastically rising crimes against women, resulting in a total break down of law. Women in post-Saddam Iraq have been traded $200 for a virgin and $100 for non-virgins to neighboring countries. She talked about how her country was ravaged with dictatorships and wars, where one has had no sense of normalcy. 

She asked for the entire political structure to be dismantled, support progressive socialist movements. Any right wing conservative party would lead to human rights violations. She remarked how free market policies and privatization in Iraq has adversely affected women. She said the struggle needs to be for universal rights, a struggle for justice. This was followed by a German translation of her speech. The hall was ensued with loud applause.

Maryam Namzie giving a table thumping speech

Then came the moment I was waiting for. Maryam Namazie stood up and headed towards the lectern. She had picture illustrations to accompany her speech. She said smiling to the largely German audience that they can look at the pictures to get some idea if they did not understand what she spoke.  Maryam Namazie started talking about modern forms of resistance movements. From the Arab Spring to Harlem shake. Harlem shake is the latest internet meme that has hit YouTube where people do crazy dance moves to a song. This was used by hundreds of protesters who danced outside the headquarters of the Muslim brotherhood in Cairo.

Harlem Shake at headquarters of Muslim brotherhood. Source: Mashable

She said, “Even if you are not looking, it is becoming impossible not to see the immense modern resistance taking place day in and day out even in the darkest corners of the globe”. She called this the new period of development after many decades of Islamic terrorism, US-led militarism,  unbridled free-market reign and the retreat of all things universal. She referred to the Occupy protests across the globe, that much of the protests today are to do with occupying public spaces, citizens taking back control, from Egypt to Wall Street. Its demands are deeply rooted in the criticism of the current economic crisis, capitalism, inequality, mass unemployment, poverty as well as dictatorship and Islamism.

The Arab spring of winter does a disservice to the female revolution. It denies its existence by only focusing on Islamism and oppressive forces

She remarked that the hallmark of this era is the high visibility of women in resistance movements. She likened this to a female revolution that challenged and attempts to bring to an end the racist cultural relativism and multiculturalism. She said the Arab spring in winter -which focused on Islamism and oppressive forces- is doing a great disservice to this female revolution by denying its very existence. It was followed by a loud applause. But she was quick to point out that Islam still to this day unlike others would sentence apostates to death in all countries under Islamic rule. It is not that Christianity is any better but today we are living in the era of Islamic Inquisition. Hence, criticism of Islam is key.

“By disregarding this resistance, the much needed solidarity and support for this has been hindered. The foot soldiers of this revolution are workers, the unemployed, the youth, the women, the poor. Islamists did not spearhead the revolution, nor were they instrumental in them. They were no where to be seen. The demands of the revolution were not Islamist demands. People were chanting for education, bread and healthcare while the Islamists were saying no Bikinis!”. The Islamist demands of Sharia and veil were not people’s demands. The gain for the Islamists is a gain for the establishment.

The foot soldiers of this revolution are workers, the unemployed, the youth, the women, the poor. Islamists did not spear head the revolution, nor were they instrumental in them

She insisted speaking to the largely European audience that criticism of Islam, Sharia or the veil does not amount to racism. She used the example of the Saudi government that arrested 23-year-old journalist, Hamza Kashgari. He had tweeted that women in Saudi Arabia cannot go to hell since they are already living in one. He was arrested for apostasy and blasphemy with a pending death sentence. But when other countries accuse Saudi government of spotty human rights record, Saudi government accuses them of racism. She also castigated many postmodernist left groups for allying with Islamist groups and coining the term Islamophobia used to scaremonger people into silence. She further goes on to say that this does not mean that racism does not exist against Muslims and makes the important point that far right does use Sharia and Islamism to promote its racist far right agenda.

Sharia law is a code of death and despair

She later on goes to describe the inhumanities of Sharia law particularly against women. Iran has nearly 130 offences that are punishable by death. She called Sharia law “a code of death and despair”. She agreed that all religions are anti-women and needs to come with a health warning, “Religion kills”. 

It was followed by a loud applause. But she was quick to point out that Islam still to this day unlike others would sentence apostates to death in all countries under Islamic rule. It is not that Christianity is any better but today we are living in the era of Islamic Inquisition. Hence, criticism of Islam is key.

All religions need to come with a health warning, “RELIGION KILLS”

She brought the interesting point that Islamic laws is an exercise to control people, every single aspect of women’s lives. Though there are positive differences in Sharia Law in different countries, it is not because of progressive interpretations but because of progressive social movements aimed at secularization of rights. She said the right to religion is a personal right. Religion as a part of state, education system, judicial system is the end of any form of  equality, choice, rights, freedom. It is no longer personal beliefs but a question of political power. She supports the french system of secularism, Laïcité, which requires a strict separation of religion and state. The belief that the more regressive and reactionary you are, the more authentic Muslim you are is Islamism’s narrative.  No where is resistance against Islamism greater than the countries under Islamic rule. She ended her table-thumping speech with roaring applause in the hall.

No where is resistance against Islamism greater than the countries under Islamic rule.

It is time for Q&A. I grabbed the microphone and with my shaking voice congratulated the panel for expanding the discussion to all kinds of injustices, social and economic injustices. I had to ask the question lingering in my mind. I told them that I was from India which has a Hindu majority and and a Muslim minority. There are injustices within the Muslim society against women, though one of the major concerns there is the majoritarian intolerance of the Hindu right. I told her how when I shared links critical of Islam, it was latched on quickly by the Hindu right who cherry-picked talking points, many a time distorted arguments and used them to attacks Muslims. 

Riot started after 59 Hindus were burnt by a Muslim mob

I also pointed to her how after the Gujarat pogrom of 2002 that resulted in brutal massacre of thousands of Muslims, criticisms of Islam have been used to justify these attacks. She had something very interesting to respond to it. She said this is not unique to India. Indeed, European right indulges in furthering their racist agenda the exact same way. Despite that, however ugly it is, we need to speak the truth. If the left does not speak up against the ugliness and injustices of Islamism, this space will be filled by the right with their racist agenda. One thing that was clear to me by the end of the conference was the difference between the criticism of the left and right against Islam. The criticism from the left comes against regressive laws and regimes trying to suppress people. It is a robust defense of the women, the men, the children against this repression. While the criticism of the right is targeted against these very people who are being repressed.

Then continued some conversations in German. Followed by Iranian food served at the cafe. I decided to take leave after this. While I was leaving, I happened to notice Maryam Namazie by herself at the table full of books on display. I quickly took out the camera and ran towards her. She recognized me. She even asked me for my email address so that she could add me to a mailing list. I asked her how she could speak with such candor, so fearlessly given the antecedents of Salman Rushie and Hirsi Ali. She said jovially, I get a few death threats now and then. But never mind! There are people who suffer manifold more. I have to speak up for them. I could barely smile for the photo. I had just experienced for the first time how it feels to be star-struck. I had to miss the party that followed because I had a train to board back home. I walked back to the train station straining my neck staring at the glittering skyscrapers of Frankfurt.

Written by Amith  and earlier posted on his blog... here