Collective consciences of a sick society

Justice Basant is not the only person who believes that a girl who loves someone more than her parents is "deviant / abnormal" and that she can not be raped, she can only be a prostitute. He is only voicing the judgements of a sick society that almost always criticizes the woman whenever there is an assault on her.

The Supreme Court judges who decided on capital punishment for Afzal Guru wrote down in their order that "the collective conscience of the society will only be satisfied if capital punishment is awarded to [him].

Unfortunately, these collective consciences cannot be hanged to death by a law or by a court order.

Down with Corruption

After the world cup, it is Anna Hazare time. Everyone is speaking up against corruption, lighting candles, skipping lunch. Kashmir to Kerala, Gujarat to Kolkata (I doubt if it goes beyond that). Aamir Khan to Baba Ramdev to Barkha Dutt to Lalit Modi.

Sure there were one-off voices that refused to join this frenzy. In Open magazine, Manu Joseph wrote that Anna Hazare has always been someone who sought media attention.

I don't think it is bad to seek media attention. But I believe this is an easy "solidarity" and a comfortable "revolution" of the middle class. They will continue to remain corrupt, the caste-class nexus continue, the Lalus and Rajas will get tried for corruption, the Chidambaram kind or Kapil Sibal or Manmohan or Ambani kind of corruptions will never even be called corruption.

It was Facebook that offered some relief from this madness. Yes -- the same facebook that worked as the backbone for this new "jasmine" revolution.


Anoop Kumar linked to this story and said: "Read about the heady mix of caste and corruption. On how an honest dalit, a top official, is treated for trying to crack down on corrupt officials under him." (The news was from Kerala.)


Karthik Navayan wrote: "Where were you, Dear Anna Hazare, when Lakhs of Crores were misused (and still misusing) and diverting which are supposed to spent for development of Scheduled castes and Scheduled Tribes under Schedule caste sub plan and tribal sub plan? is this Not corruption??"

Rasshad Al-Hindi wrote: "....if only Irom Sharmila was Anna Hazare."

‎Kuffir Nalgundwar wrote: "it's not about anna hazare.. he's been roy-ized by several 'civil' society celebrities who consider themselves the 'right' people to rule. it's not about corruption either. it's about hindu society's inability to digest even formal democracy and its tendency to send the 'wrong' people into parliament." 


Ajith Kumar A S wrote: "a great chance for revolutionaries to enjoy fighting against corruption without being charged with UAPA! Anna Hazare is calling! hurry up"

Sanjeev Sreedharan wrote: "the idea of mother india that looms large over this reformation is undoubtedly more dreadful than any corruption that could befall the subcontinent." (see image)

‎Dilip Mandal wrote: "बिल्कुल जातिवार जनगणना विरोधी आंदोलन (मेरी जाति हिंदुस्तानी) और आरक्षण विरोधी आंदोलन वाला माहौल है। मुट्ठी भर लोगों का आंदोलन, क्विंटल भरकर मीडिया कवरेज, आरएसएस का समर्थन, हवन, गायत्री मंत्र, सिविल सोसायटी फिल्म स्टार आदि का समर्थन, राजनीति को गाली, सरकार के साथ अंदर से तालमेल।"

Anu wrote: "its like taking a dip in the polluted ganges to become pure, again. this anti-corruption angst comes complete with a mela feeling too. so pious i feel right now."

I will end with another comment from Anoop: "The problem is not that the Lokpal bill will unleash anything against the dalits. The problem is the hypocrisy of indian civil society in defining the term corruption and limiting it to politicians."

[Thanks to my facebook friends and to Rasshad Al-Hindi. Anoop Kumar is likely to come up with a more detailed write-up on this issue].

Behind the eyewash of UPA win

Everyone is celebrating the UPA victory. What more, this time there is no "left" to pull them back on the liberalism superhighway. No wonder share prices are rocketing again.

Here is some facts that did not make it to any of the major election analyses.

One, how Raj Thakre and MNS managed so many votes. 4% of Maharashtra's votes, and 21% of all votes polled in Mumbai. There were news pieces about how MaNaSe dented Shiv Sena and BJP's fortunes (See this colourful account on rediff), but even now, nobody wants to acknowledge or address the job insecurities of local people and their fear of outsiders. For us sitting in the air conditioned luxury, it is all just "regional jingoism". You bet, this fear is here to stay. (Earlier post: Why Raj Thakre is the winner.)

Two, why the left (read CPM) got washed away in West Bengal and Kerala.

CPM was hoping to make Kerala another West bengal, but people decided to make West bengal another Kerala. Indian Expresses and Business houses were all feeling sad that tata had to quit Singur on Mamta's anti-development politics, but people have given her the thumbs up. It is a clear mandate against the Nandigram/Singur politics of Buddha in Bengal.

It is not much different in Kerala either. Unlike the mainstream news media wants us to believe, these election results are not just about PDP or SNC Lavlin. The dalit community, majority of whom voted for LDF in the past, have deserted them. (It was the "saint" chief minister who called the Chengara strugglers "thieves"). When they voted for UDF candidates to ensure LDF defeat in most seats, the BSP did well in Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam.

In Andhra Pradesh, people dumped a Hyderabad-centered, software-blinded Chandrababu Naidu for a second time.

Sangh's Kandhamal experiments did not work so well in Orissa -- probably because they did not quite have a Modi there to make use of it.

At national level, Congress vote share went up by 2% in comparison with 2004 elections, and BSP was the only other major party whose share went up (though they could not do well compared to assembly elections happened after 2004 in many states). Delhi results suprised me in particular, where BJP candidates lost by about 2 lakhs each. I believe playing the hardline Hindutva card costed it dear.

It will be good to have some younger ministers, unlike last time. But will this UPA government listen to the people's pulses, or will they take it for granted that everyone has voted in favour of their current policies? Let time decide.

Election time..

Nice posters from The Comic Project.
They have their takes on Congress and Third front also.
(Thanks to Anivar for sharing the link).

Going with the poetry mood, here's another Haiku:

* * *

election time, me thinks
to vote
but who to vote?

* * *

And I find Mayavati a better bet compared to others. At least so that we can have a Dalit and a woman as prime minister. Her commitment to Dalit bahujan politics might appear questionable at times, but it is still a hundred times better than having Abdul Kalam as a "Muslim president".

NRI Minister goes mad, bans women traveling alone on Visiting Visa

വയലാര്‍ രവിക്ക്‌ വട്ടായി എന്ന് വേണം കരുതാന്‍.

Vayalar Ravi, our dear union minister for NRI affairs, says at a function in Sharjah yesterday that Indian Government will make sure visiting visa will not be issued to women who travel alone abroad.

I saw this statement in Asianet new channel yesterday.

P V Abdul Wahab MP was among the audience at that time, and he almost got into a fight with Hon'ble minister on this issue.

I don't know what drives Ravi to make such a statement, or whether this was decided at a higher level. Whatever it is, I think it is a huge leap backwards in time.

Why Raj Thakre is the winner

Nobody knew this nephew Thakre (ok English media writes Thackeray) till a few months back. Now any "small kid" does, and how! One should admit this guy has succeeded in grabbing the spotlight. Cutting across classes and cultures -- educated middle class to the Bihari labourers -- he has become an object of despise. In our "national media" and in our private parties alike, we dismiss it as "cheap tricks".

Because we really don't want to admit this war is real.

That this person has managed to gather good support among many "aam" Maharashtrians.

It is not rocket science. It is not Raj's intellectual property either. It is the basis on which Shiv Sena built itself. That is how SS got unprecedented kind of mass support in the seventies. Rooting for locals when it comes to jobs in Maharashtra, especially Mumbai. (The Hindutva came much later to Shiv Sena).

The jobless Maharashtrians is a real issue. As is lack of jobs in Bihar or UP. In other words, the imbalance in our very development model itself.

One may say "India is my nation" and be proud about it (Shiv Sainiks also do, and so do Maharashtra Navnirman Sainiks) but it remains a fact that Bombay is "the place to go" for most Indians. Then there is at most one Delhi, one Chennai, one Bangalore. And may be some smaller cities. A large part of India lives in darkness, without basic healthcare, without access to primary education, without anything.

No matter how much you try to romanticize the "village life" sitting in the air conditioned comfort of your city abodes, people are flowing from these villages to cities. And these cities are overcrowded, to say the least.

The living conditions in a slum in Mumbai are quite bad, but that does not put any breaks on the inflow. Which essentially means that the situation at home is worse.

And as long as we refuse to address that, as long as we do not wake up to the need for a more distributed and more localized development, as long as we are blinded by the "growth rates" and flying sensex (at least that has stopped for now), we are digging our own graves. The regional battles are here to stay.

* * * *

[a related link: Marathis in US justify Raj demands; but condone his means to achieve it, from NDTV dot com]

Costume Designers of Delhi Police

Wondered how it came about that the three arrested suspects came to be in possession of brand new Taliban rumaals, which they could readily pull out of their pockets to cover their faces, asked SADANAND MENON in Karutha Mashi.

Original Malayalam version appeared in Malayalam Vaarika of the Indian Express, Oct. 3, 2008. Translated version, The uses and misuses of photographs, on The Hoot.

Police later admitted that they had bought these rumaals in bulk to cover faces of accused. What is the point that they want to prove?

Shiver..

down the spine.

Many Nandigrams (and six Maoist women)

A few days back, a media friend of mine and five others visited the POSCO site in Orissa on the eve of a mass rally against the project. The next day, a local Oriya newspaper reported that six Maoist women -- some of them pretending to be media people -- came the previous night and camped at the rally site to give arms training to the tribals.

News about the rally came in the "Non-Events" section in local Times of India. In Delhi edition, Times carried a oneliner (Massive rally at proposed Posco site: Anti-Posco protesters held a massive rally at the proposed Posco site near Paradeep even as police detained around 300 of their supporters on Tuesday. The district administration had imposed prohibitory orders in Balitutha where an estimated 3,000 villagers gathered on Utkal Divas and pledged not to give away their land for the proposed Posco project. The police blocked entry of protestors at several places. ToI Delhi, April 2) and Indian Express chose to look away.

Native resistances to big projects and the displacements attached to such projects do not carry any news value any more (unless it happens in a state where a communist party rules). In the rush to globalize and to get things done at low cost (which most often means without paying for the resources), such struggles have become commonplace. And there are many Nandigram-like situations in many states in India. The POSCO project is just one of them.

(It is not new to Orissa either -- the people's resistance to a big mining project in Kashipur is over 15 years old and a brutal police crackdown on tribals there happened only about three years back.)

Some related links:

Democracy at gunpoint: a report, a case study, a map and other links

Armed procession against Posco: Indian Express, December 3, 2007

Posco officials taken hostage by villagers: Indian Express, May 12, 2007

Nandigram-like Situation in Orissa? The South Asian, December 2, 2007

[Post Script: One local guy told my friend, "You people are lucky that there are no metallic resources in your state. At least you will have some amount of democracy". Going by the list of mine-rich states, one sees he does have a point. But now, it is not only about the mines any more.]

Do we have a Tibet in India?

"Free Tibet" slogan is in. Boycott Beijing games, do not carry the Olympic torch..

So Girish Shahane asks in Times of India today: "Free Tibet. And What about Kashmir?"

I found many of the arguments made in the article interesting, and it is true that "the problem of Jammu and Kashmir is the elephant in the room which Indians debating Tibet are doing their darndest to ignore" and that In India, "there is no public or political pressure" to resolve such issues that plague us. Below are some more lines from the article for those who do not have time to read all of it.

"..those who support the idea of an independent Tibet are misguided, and Indians who do so are hypocritical to boot.."

".. The former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha argued we should intervene to secure Tibet's freedom: "We want good relations with China. I am not saying let's have war with China. But if we reach a point of conflict over Tibet, we should be prepared for that eventuality.."

"..Kashmir exacts a toll even when it is not in the headlines. There are hundreds of thousands of refugees displaced from their homes. There's the daily harassment of ordinary citizens fomenting resentment. And there's the expense of maintaining a massive security presence in the region.

The Siachen misadventure alone costs us some 1,500 crore rupees a year, and has led to the death of perhaps 2,000 Indian army men.."

".. Pakistan, which in the past has played a largely negative role, favouring insurrection over negotiation, has altered its stance, and offered a number of creative options for the state's future.

Our neighbour is looking beyond the binary of victory and defeat, and so should we.."

[This is not the first time parallels are being drawn between the two issues. There was a game of words between Pakistan and India about five years back but the context was different. It was at a time when Vajpayee said on his visit to China that Tibet was an integral part of China.]

"Was this film funded by ISI?"

That was what one TV journalist asked to P T Kunhi Mohammed, the director of Malayalam film `Paradesi' at a meet the press program organized in connection with a screening of the film.

Could be he was trying to act smart, or just being stupid. But it kind of explains the film's absence from Indian Panorama at Goa festival.

(Paradesi illustrates the fate of the partition's in-betweens who face continuous torture from both Paki and Indian states. Escorting the guys all the way to the border and leaving them in No Man's land and all.. We have seen many partition films -- recently 1947 Earth and Khamosh Pani -- but this post-partition film set in 2007 is not a repeat of those. I remember newspaper reports about one Pak citizen dying in our district a few years back after running between the countries for decades. As Mohanlal said at the screening, this could happen in any place in the world where there's conflict. . The film has a haunting effect, despite dragging at some places. And some good music.)

Don't abuse the E-word

A three month old kid loses father. By "mistake".

"Dibrugarh, May 6: ..The 6 Jammu and Kashmir Rifles shot dead 24-year-old Budheswar Moran “on suspicion” of being a hardcore Ulfa militant. It said the “encounter” occurred at Laopatty in Assam’s Tinsukia district.

Budheswar’s family and those who knew him, however, insisted he was a watchman at a tea estate.

The resident of Kordoiguri village, under Doomdooma police station, was married with two children, the younger barely three months old.." (The Telegraph, Monday May 7, 2007)

And today's paper says: "..“The killing of Budheswar Moran was an unfortunate incident and my heart goes out to the innocent family members of the victim. Let me assure you that all those found guilty will face strict and exemplary punishment,” the general-officer-commanding of the Dinjan-based 2 Mountain Division, Maj. Gen. N.C. Marwah, said at a hurriedly organised media conference at Tinsukia Circuit House.." (Killing was a mistake: army).

Why do we continue to abuse the E-word? Especially in the north-eastern states where army has the power to kill anyone on mere suspicion and get away with it?


[Earlier post: Conflicts]

* * *

Follow-up (added on May 13): Army apology cuts no ice - Tinsukia to Lower Assam, highways under siege (The Telegraph, May 11)
"Dibrugarh, May 10: The army’s apology for mistakenly killing Budheswar Moran may have prompted his family to finally accept and cremate the body today, but it did little to stem the tide of protests over the incident.


[Image: Moran's widow with younger child.]

A 5,000-strong crowd blocked National Highway 37 at Doomdooma even as Moran’s family, relatives and friends accepted his body, which had been lying in a Tinsukia morgue since Sunday.."

Govt kills husband, then wife, and admits it in court..!

You thought that was some joke? I did, even after reading this news in all leading newspapers (to make sure I did not read it wrong).. I still can't believe many who are ruling us are not only unjust and mindless but also shameless!

* * *

"In a shocking revelation, the Gujarat Government on Monday admitted before the Supreme Court that Kausar Bi, wife of fake encounter victim Sohrabuddin Sheikh, has been killed and her body burnt.

"She has been killed," Gujarat Government counsel K T S Tulsi and Hemantika Wahi told a Bench headed by Justice Tarun Chatterjee during the mentioning hours.."
(Cops killed Kausar Bi, admits Gujarat, The Indian Express)

* * *

"The Gujarat government on Monday told the Supreme Court that Kauser Bi, wife of fake encounter victim Sohrabuddin Sheikh, has been killed.."
(Gujarat confirms Kauser Bi's death to SC, The Times of India)

* * *

"The Gujarat Government on Monday admitted in the Supreme Court that Kausar Bi, wife of Sohrabuddin, was murdered a few days after he was killed in a fake encounter.."
(`Kausar Bi was killed, burnt', The Hindu)

Happy new years!

Happy Bihu
Happy Vishu
Happy Tamil New Year
Happy Baishakhi
Happy Boishakh ..

Happy New Year!

Please fill in if I have left out any. Ugadi and Gudi Padwa also happen around same time, but I guess that's a week or two earlier.

[image courtesy: webindia123.com]

More Missing People, Crying Mothers

This time, Samjhautha Express. Killing about 70 people on the spot. Another shot at making fear prevail over any attempts towards peace.

[From India eNews: Diaries from Samjhauta: "It was exactly one year to the day that I had boarded the Delhi-Attari Express that would take me onward to Lahore via the Samjhauta Express from Attari. One year hence I cannot but be overcome by emotions to hear the news of the tragedy that took place last Sunday..", writes Rudroneel Ghosh.]

The tragedy, security lapses, images of the suspects, and an image of a BSF man on a horseback alongside the train (that one on the front page of today's The Telegraph) are all over the newspapers and television. And Pakistan and India getting into a word of wars again.

You think it's just the scale of the horror of the incident that makes the media jump on it so happily? I think thats just a part of it.

Now, think Nithari. Another feast that the media has had in recent times, despite the news of the missing children coming out very late. What made it easy meat? Missing children? Skeletons? Crying moms? May be all of that, but looking closer, I see something common: An easy villain.

(Almost every news report related to Nithari had Moninder Singh's photo with it. And for "us" on this side, there is an "easy villain" in ISI every time any act of terror happens in this country. This time it wasn't so easy, as many of the people who died were Pakistanis. Still the media is playing that "Pak hand" card, though in a more subtle way.).

Here's another story that had both missing clildren and people continuously living in fear. And yes, it has crying Mothers too.

Families of missing people from Jammu and Kashmir were on a day-long hunger strike yesterday (Thursday, February 22) in New Delhi.

I heard this from a journalist friend in Delhi. I try googling but can't find anything on it in our leading "National" newspapers. The only news article I could find on this is from "Greater Kashmir", that calls it a "part of a campaign to mobilise public support against human rights violations in the strife-torn state."

"Sixty family members of the missing people, mostly women, arrived here [Delhi] on Monday from Srinagar in a bus to participate in the campaign", goes the news.

[The false encounter killings in Kashmir came to news again recently, with former Superintendent of Police Hansraj Parihar and his deputy in Ganderbal, Bhadur Ram, arrested for allegedly killing five south Kashmir villagers in fake encounters after dubbing them as Pakistani militants, for reward money. I had read that news at a couple of places but all I could find now with Google was a single Indian Express article: "There is a man who says his brother, a Special Police official, was picked up from home, tortured to death and to hide the truth..."

Then a Kashmiri Observer article about a protest strike in Kashmir. And a statement in Peoples Democracy. Is there a filter working inside Google India like, say, the one in China? I am not sure.]

Conflicts

"I am afraid of certain words like fear, crime and foolishness.

I'm fascinated by certain words like brave, cool and peace.

But sometimes to be peaceful you have to grasp what is within fear.

And to avoid foolishness you have to be criminal.

To keep a voice innate you will have to be fool before so many.

I'm undergoin tremendous change in my mental make up. Trying to be able to accommodate so many bitter terms and be unconditional. I dont know where the ways will lead me to. But to be static is no dream, no truth and no goal. So I take up the journey now, if you meet me agin with same health richness and sanity, lets smile."

["bitter world. better world." by Sree, Towards a Language of My own]

She was responding to a talk we listened to at a seminar on Peace we attended,
trying to answer her inner and outer conflicts in this context.

Someone said at the seminar: "Conflicts are not necessarily negative. Without conflicts, you are static. Dead." And he concluded his talk saying dialogues are the right way towards resolving conflicts, not negotiations.

I found that observation interesting. The dialogue he talks about is not just between the State and Militant outfits. The dialogue between people, finding common areas to work with..

As we had observed before in this diary, our identities are becoming more and more rigid, and we are talking less and less. "The other" is becoming our enemy.

Can we hope to get back to friendly dialogues? I'm not sure. We have done enough damage to such prospects already. As a nation, as people, as religions.. But I still believe that is the way to go if we are to move towards a more harmonic existence (I'm not talking about one without conflicts).

I will sign off with a link to an article by the above mentioned speaker: Another 9/11, Another Act of Terror [pdf file].

"In this essay, I intend to narrate a story of another September 11, a story from the margins. It is the story of an ‘attack on democracy’, carried out not by ‘terrorists’ on a ‘suicide mission’, or through a military coup, but by the state in what is called the world’s ‘largest democracy’, and through an instrument of state terror on a section of its own population.."

Nuclear power Now

It is disasters that have made the human kind conscious about the importance of striking a balance between development and the environment.

One of them was an accident at Three Mile Island (Pennsylvania, United States) in 1979, apparently "the worst accident in US commercial nuclear power generating history". [See: US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's "fact sheet" -- note that this came out in 2004; and "What's wrong with the NRC factsheet"]

Seven years later, Chernobyl (Ukraine, then part of USSR) saw "the worst accident ever in the history of nuclear power". More than 30 people died on the spot, and the "Nuclear fallout" (the residual radiation hazard) spread to Eastern and Western Europe, Scandinavia, the UK, Ireland and eastern North America.

After Chernobyl, the world has been going slow on Nuclear Power, that was once considered the final answer to all our energy worries. Many project proposals had to be shelved due to enormous opposition from the local people, scientsists and environmental activists. [There was one such proposal in Kerala about 15 years back].

Now we are turning to Nuclear Power once again. There has been opposion locally, but it is hardly making any news. The plan for the plant itself was kept away from media attention for quite some time, but the news is slowly coming in, thanks to Singur.

"West Bengal could be the site for eastern India's first nuclear power plant with a central committee recommending Haripur in coastal East Midnapore district as a possible location, an announcement which has already evoked protests by villagers there..", India e-News, Nov 20, 2006.

"The masses resist Haripur Nuclear power plant in Junput.." (Palash Biswas, on NDTV blogs).

Expectedly, the news is accompanied with anticipatory bails ["Scientist backing nuke plant project at Haripur", The Hindu].

The CPM seems to be confused. "Sitaram Yechury today said he was opposed to nuclear power stations as they were being eyed as potential customers by US firms that stand to benefit from the deal signed with the Bush administration.." (The Telegraph, Jan 8).

Even the country's safest reactors aren't so safe, according to its atomic regulations agency.

Can we afford another freaky accident? (We haven't recovered from that December Third yet..)

Between patriotism and sedition

Its funny. Going around killing politicians and ministers is patriotism (RDB style), but showing Lal Salaam is an offence.



I know-- Lal Salaam was no Oscar material. This film (that had Nandita Das in the one of the lead roles) was released way back in 2002 if I remember right, and hardly anyone noticed it. But if one can go to jail for showing a film that is cleared by cencors (and was released in cinemas), may be one should see it. (What about a re-release? RDB is supposed to have re-released this Republic day, don't know if it happened).

"Exhibiting this picture attracts the offence of "sedition" for which six Kui tribal cultural activists of Adva under Gajpati district of Orissa were sent to jail on 23rd Sept 2006.." [From a mail quoted in G P Ramachandran's blog, SEDITION-ORISSA STYLE].

Later in the mail it says,
"It is said by the police that the film is on the maoist activities, which is a banned organisation as declared under the Criminal Law Amendment Act-1908.."

Mm.. so no more "criminal activities" in movies.. no killing, no theft, no underworld..? It does not really seem so-- a certain RGV need not worry.

[I look up for the meaning of the word sedition, and find this: "1. incitement of discontent or rebellion against a government. 2. any action, esp. in speech or writing, promoting such discontent or rebellion.."]

Well, so is it just that we have no more rebels?

Not quite. The message seems to be clear -- if you want to rebel it is fine, do it the apolitical RDB way. I guess even a Yuva would pass, as long as the concerns of the film does not disturb the power brigade that still consists of the feudal lords. Definitely no Lal Salaam!

Water in / RDB out

Feeling some excitement with the Academy Awards after a long long time. Thanks to a "generation" that swears by RDB and a nation that disowned Water.

This time there was a short-list of nine films that came out a few days back. RDB didn't find a place in that list, whereas Water did. And now, the nominations are out, and Water, Canadian entry at the awards in the best foreign language film category, is among the top five contenders for the title.

I have not seen Water but my friends who have seen it (In India, at some festival) say it is a well-made film and the director has got even John Abraham to act. I hope they are right.

I also hope and pray that the film wins at the Oscars. Despite having no great respect for the way these awards by, for and of Hollywood are given away every year. (The two titles "Best Film" and "Best Foreign Langage film", and the restriction that a "foreign" country can send at most one entry are racist in itself. Even within Hollywood, it is often reserved for the feel-good, "American" variety, and a Pulp Fiction would not make it. An Exception to this was American Beauty that won in 1999.)

As a defeat of the forces that keep trying to shut the mouths up whenever someone tries to say something that does not please them. As a mark of shame on a nation where a film gets censored on its sets itself. And as a victory over a generation that "awakens" to illusions.


[Earlier post: Rang De Basanti Salaam!] [Image courtesy: Academy Awards page]

Bloody Brahmaputra

Hindi-speaking population. Killings. Assam. ULFA, no "suspected ULFA". Fear. Key terms right now.

"Dibrugarh, Jan. 5: Suspected Ulfa militants today carried out a string of attacks on Hindi-speaking people in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts, killing 13 people and injuring 15 others. The slaughter revived memories of a similar carnage engineered by the outfit in 2003.." (13 kiln labourers die in Ulfa attack, The Telegraph, Saturday Jan 6 2007)

"Dibrugarh/Guwahati, Jan. 6: The maelstrom of violence unleashed by the banned Ulfa since last evening continued to churn throughout the night, with the death toll rising to 48 and a total of 23 others injured in the twin Upper Assam districts of Tinsukia and Dibrugarh.." (Assam reels under carnage, Sunday Jan 7)

"Jan. 7: The rat-a-tat of automatic weapons pierced the Assam air again tonight, claiming nine lives as the outlawed Ulfa carried its hate campaign against Hindi-speaking people to a third district.

After targeting migrant brick kiln workers, vendors and daily-wage labourers in Dibrugarh and Tinsukia on Friday night, Ulfa militants singled out Hindi-speaking people at two places in neighbouring Sivasagar district.." (Stench of death & fire of anger; More die in twin strikes, Monday Jan 8)

"Jan. 8: After four days of targeting hapless Hindi-speaking people, Ulfa militants triggered two blasts in the vicinity of an army cantonment today, as if to show that they can strike anywhere, anytime.

The blasts near the Narengi cantonment occurred even as the army was preparing to go hard at Ulfa for the relentless communal purge that has left the Hindi-speaking community shell-shocked.

Seven persons were wounded in the twin explosions at Satgaon market, barely 100 metres from the entrance to the Narengi cantonment.." (Blasts near base mock army; Ulfa kills two more migrants in Golaghat, Tuesday Jan 9)

And then, today's Guwahati newslatter says:

"Jan. 9: Former defence minister George Fernandes today met three Ulfa leaders in a Guwahati jail and came out carrying the message that the banned militant group is not behind the attacks on Hindi-speaking people.." (Fernandes plays Ulfa ‘advocate’)

I don't know much to comment about these attacks. But there are reasons to believe this is not so simple an issue. And it is not surprising that the target is almost always the daily wages labourers.

* * *

It may be just coincidence that this one piece of news about a new book also came on Saturday.

"Guwahati, Jan. 5: When Rita Choudhury won her first literary honour — the Asam Sahitya Sabha award — in 1981, she was not present at the ceremony to receive it.

She was in Dibrugarh jail with thousands of other political prisoners at the height of the anti-foreigners’ movement.

Over 20 years after that historic mass movement, Choudhury is ready with a novel that promises to tell the insider’s story of the agitation.

To be unveiled tomorrow at the Guwahati Press Club, Ei Somoy Sei Somoy (Now and then) has already evoked great curiosity, particularly because of the subject it deals with.."

(A movement comes alive in ink- Writer and activist documents the anti-foreigners’ agitation in Assam, The Telegraph Guwahati newsletter, 6 Jan 2007. See archives)

I would like to read this book if I can get hold of a translation. It may help us understand the tension in this state better.



[Earlier post: Blasts, Nov 6 2006]