The Congress-led UPA government has finally decided to table the Liberhan Commission report on the Babri Masjid demolition and the Action Taken Report in Parliament today, according to newspaper reports.
The commission, probing the sequence of events leading to the 1992 demolition of Babri masjid in Ayodhya, has been one of the country’s longest running inquiry commissions. It has cost the government Rs 7 crore. But it remains to be seen whether the report will be acted upon, or will it remain just another voluminous, expensive document for posterity. Remember of the fate of the Sri Krishna Commission report on the 1992-93 Bombay riots (officially, it was Bombay then). Or the Nanawati Commission report on the Sikh Riots of 1984.
The report would, no doubt, throw up a lot of dust and grime. There is already a story of its “selective” leaks that has reportedly enraged the BJP.
But what will the report reveal? Or, let us put in this way. What more is the report going to reveal? And, how is it going to affect the political climate of a country, already plagued by corruption scandals, acute parochialism, bizarre post-poll tie-ups, and turbulent caste and communal equations. P.Chidambaram, Union Home Minister will, however, love to add to this list, his pet disgust, the Maoist movement.
The commission report is going to embarrass the polity as a whole. But will it endanger the fate of the leaders involved in the crime? An idealist trudging in a fool’s paradise will believe in such a fairy tale ending. Let us face the harsh realities of the Indian political and judicial system. Sure, it will make leaders and parties uncomfortable. But they are used to such discomfort, and will even use it as a weapon to garner sympathy.The report might embarrass the Congress as it was in power during the demolition with the late P.V. Narasimha Rao as its Prime Minister.
The BJP, already a beleaguered party fighting for survival at the national and state levels, will be in for some ruse shocks. An Indian Express report has already indicated what the commission report is going to be like.
The report, one might think, will erase Kalyan Singh, who was the BJP Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh when the crime took place, from the Indian polity. But will it? He quit the BJP and tried the caste card in Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party. Now that the party has kicked him out, he is sending loud messages to the BJP leadership to let him rejoin the party. Our political system is full of such Kalyan Singhs, who shamelessly marry, divorce and then remarry into the same party or alliances.
The civil society is embracing apathy in the context of the political process. And, why won’t they? Our leaders and parties are juggling statements according to situations, giving hollow promises. Already, the voter turnout is shrinking, thanks to this apathy. But the political parties continue to play with words. L. K. Advani, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, has said he was proud of his association with the Ayodhya movement but distressed by the demolition of the mosque. What does he mean by that? He has said no one expected that the mosque would be pulled down and that the leadership from the BJP, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or the Vishwa Hindu Parishad had tried to stop the demolition. Kudos to our leaders! They always come out with remarkable bytes.
Let us prepare ourselves for the rude reality. This commission, like many other commissions in the past, will create the usual storm in Parliament, will hog print space and prime time on television news channels, will become an issue, that too only for the approaching Jharkhand Assembly elections. The issue will eventually evaporate as our political parties will have nothing new to grind on the poll platform. Soon the report will be shelved for posterity and gather dust at government archives.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
'Sach'in ka saamna
Now the beleaguered Bal Thackeray latest target is Sachin Tendulkar. The cricket icon had said that he was proud of his Maharashtrian roots, but he was an Indian and that Mumbai was for Indians. Damage done. Why did you do this to the Marathi manoos, Mr Tendulkar? You have hurt their pride. Well, the Sena tiger seems to feel that way. And, he has sharpened his claws for a fresh parochial game in the political field.
Bal Thackeray, licking his wounds from the Assembly election debacle, is desperately currying favour with the Marathi manoos who crept into the rival Thackeray camp. And, he is willing to raise his parochial pitch to level scores. This time he chose to strike at the prodigious batsman for his patriotic statement that, according to the Shiv Sena chief, lacked regional flavour.
The media is thanking Thackeray senior for writing an explosive editorial on Sachin’s “Mumbai for Indians” comment. It was a dull Monday evening, where nothing really volatile was cooking that could hog primetime. And then, Saamna’s harsh editorial against Sachin’s remarks had enthusiastic (read loud) television anchors screaming in support of our hero and getting valuable sound bytes from erstwhile Marathi cricket players to rally for Sachin. Why sound bytes only from former Marathi cricket players? Why not from cricket players, irrespective of their region?
It is a fact that every sport has been sucked into regional chauvinism. In 2006, when Sourav Ganguly was dropped from the Indian cricket team, the West Bengal chief minister had called a press conference to highlight how the royal Bengal tiger was “ill-treated”. He had said he was “unnecessarily insulted and humiliated”. He had even taken up the matter with the then former BCCI chief, Sharad Pawar. All because the Bengali pride was at stake.
Just do a simple trial: Talk ill about Sourav to a Bengali, and get ready to be mauled by the community.
A P.T. Usha is Kerala’s pride, while Kapil Dev is a Haryana hurricane. Chess wizard Viswanathan Anand is the Chennai boy even if he spends most of his time in his European villa? Regionalism is so ingrained in our system that we are forced to dilute the Indian identity of the achievers.
The Thackeray rivals are now playing the “I said it first” game between themselves. Raj Thackeray last week had warned the State Bank of India against filling up its seats in Maharashtra with non-Maharashtrians. The bank conducted its entrance test yesterday, thankfully without any disturbances, unlike last year. There is, however, no mention in the media of any assurance from the State Bank of India.
There have been a series of incidents that has bruised the image of the Maratha manoos on the national stage. So when Sachin made this comment, it was like a balm on the battered Marathi image. But Bal Thackeray, in his quest to prove he is a better Maratha champion, had to attempt a googly at Sachin. So far, Sachin has made no comment on this parochial madness. As former cricketer Sanjay Manjarekar has said the Sena’s statement does not deserve to be commented upon. Hope Sachin keeps his dignified silence, which could be loud slap on the senior Thackeray’s Maratha face.
Bal Thackeray, licking his wounds from the Assembly election debacle, is desperately currying favour with the Marathi manoos who crept into the rival Thackeray camp. And, he is willing to raise his parochial pitch to level scores. This time he chose to strike at the prodigious batsman for his patriotic statement that, according to the Shiv Sena chief, lacked regional flavour.
The media is thanking Thackeray senior for writing an explosive editorial on Sachin’s “Mumbai for Indians” comment. It was a dull Monday evening, where nothing really volatile was cooking that could hog primetime. And then, Saamna’s harsh editorial against Sachin’s remarks had enthusiastic (read loud) television anchors screaming in support of our hero and getting valuable sound bytes from erstwhile Marathi cricket players to rally for Sachin. Why sound bytes only from former Marathi cricket players? Why not from cricket players, irrespective of their region?
It is a fact that every sport has been sucked into regional chauvinism. In 2006, when Sourav Ganguly was dropped from the Indian cricket team, the West Bengal chief minister had called a press conference to highlight how the royal Bengal tiger was “ill-treated”. He had said he was “unnecessarily insulted and humiliated”. He had even taken up the matter with the then former BCCI chief, Sharad Pawar. All because the Bengali pride was at stake.
Just do a simple trial: Talk ill about Sourav to a Bengali, and get ready to be mauled by the community.
A P.T. Usha is Kerala’s pride, while Kapil Dev is a Haryana hurricane. Chess wizard Viswanathan Anand is the Chennai boy even if he spends most of his time in his European villa? Regionalism is so ingrained in our system that we are forced to dilute the Indian identity of the achievers.
The Thackeray rivals are now playing the “I said it first” game between themselves. Raj Thackeray last week had warned the State Bank of India against filling up its seats in Maharashtra with non-Maharashtrians. The bank conducted its entrance test yesterday, thankfully without any disturbances, unlike last year. There is, however, no mention in the media of any assurance from the State Bank of India.
There have been a series of incidents that has bruised the image of the Maratha manoos on the national stage. So when Sachin made this comment, it was like a balm on the battered Marathi image. But Bal Thackeray, in his quest to prove he is a better Maratha champion, had to attempt a googly at Sachin. So far, Sachin has made no comment on this parochial madness. As former cricketer Sanjay Manjarekar has said the Sena’s statement does not deserve to be commented upon. Hope Sachin keeps his dignified silence, which could be loud slap on the senior Thackeray’s Maratha face.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Tongue ties
Thank You Raj Thackeray for the fresh blister on democracy and reopening old wounds.
There is a loud murmur in Tamil Nadu. M.K. Azhagiri, whose father M.K. Karunanidhi arm-twisted the government into making his Madurai veeran son the Union chemical and fertilizers minister, now wants to be allowed to communicate in Tamil in Parliament. However, this request comes in the wake of the fact that he is not particularly proficient in English and Hindi, used for conduct of business in Parliament. This is, by the way, a request, which the speaker, Meira Kumar, will try and sort out by this week.
But this is just a small, single column story in newspapers. The fine print is that the rival AIADMK boss, Jayalalitha, has been silently but steadily adding fuel through her generous bytes in support of this request. Now, this could transform the small, single column story to a headline-hogger. She has even cited the DMK’s oft-repeated statement: “Let Tamil live even if we were to fall,” indicating that the DMK must be ready to quit the UPA Cabinet if Tamil language was seen “falling” in Parliament. Why this sudden tongue tie?
Even the Shiv Sena has provided the linguistic aftershocks supporting the arch rival MNS’ tremor in Maharashtra Assembly on the issue of taking oath in Marathi. Affections are flying high for the Maratha champions now, with MNS even threatening to bash up anyone uttering a word against the original Maratha guardian, Balasaheb Thackeray, but now their rival.
Kudos to madam Jayalalitha for this masterstroke.
Stoking the language issue, that too in Tamil Nadu, which has immortalized the Dravidian movement and its Hindi agitation, is a master strategy. Her subtle sound bytes might be aimed at a bigger bite in the next Assembly poll share.
Hindi is a politically explosive device in Tamil Nadu. The DMK or the AIADMK have kept their tongue in check for a long time now after becoming major players in the national political arena.
To be fair to Azhagiri, language will be a constraint for him while conducting business in Parliament. He is not proficient in Hindi or English. Then the question arises, why Hindi? I know I am stirring the hornet’s nest by questioning our national language. But the north-south language barrier is stark. While Hindi is a cakewalk for north Indians, with just minor alterations in their tongue, it is cumbersome for those in the south. The languages are very different from Hindi, with no lexicon link. Those in the south of the Vindhyas have to learn an additional language which is in no way related to their own. So there is a certain deal of injustice in upholding Hindi as a national language. But what is the option in a multi-lingual set-up like ours. English. But that is a foreign language. Why should we let a foreign language that invaded our homes long back to stay on? The argument is, it is a new language that everybody has to learn across the nation. At least there is no inequality in asking one region to learn a completely alien language. Everyone will have to learn this. So we can all keep our regional pride intact, and uniformly twist our tongue for English.
Can we strike a deal, Raj Thackeray?
There is a loud murmur in Tamil Nadu. M.K. Azhagiri, whose father M.K. Karunanidhi arm-twisted the government into making his Madurai veeran son the Union chemical and fertilizers minister, now wants to be allowed to communicate in Tamil in Parliament. However, this request comes in the wake of the fact that he is not particularly proficient in English and Hindi, used for conduct of business in Parliament. This is, by the way, a request, which the speaker, Meira Kumar, will try and sort out by this week.
But this is just a small, single column story in newspapers. The fine print is that the rival AIADMK boss, Jayalalitha, has been silently but steadily adding fuel through her generous bytes in support of this request. Now, this could transform the small, single column story to a headline-hogger. She has even cited the DMK’s oft-repeated statement: “Let Tamil live even if we were to fall,” indicating that the DMK must be ready to quit the UPA Cabinet if Tamil language was seen “falling” in Parliament. Why this sudden tongue tie?
Even the Shiv Sena has provided the linguistic aftershocks supporting the arch rival MNS’ tremor in Maharashtra Assembly on the issue of taking oath in Marathi. Affections are flying high for the Maratha champions now, with MNS even threatening to bash up anyone uttering a word against the original Maratha guardian, Balasaheb Thackeray, but now their rival.
Kudos to madam Jayalalitha for this masterstroke.
Stoking the language issue, that too in Tamil Nadu, which has immortalized the Dravidian movement and its Hindi agitation, is a master strategy. Her subtle sound bytes might be aimed at a bigger bite in the next Assembly poll share.
Hindi is a politically explosive device in Tamil Nadu. The DMK or the AIADMK have kept their tongue in check for a long time now after becoming major players in the national political arena.
To be fair to Azhagiri, language will be a constraint for him while conducting business in Parliament. He is not proficient in Hindi or English. Then the question arises, why Hindi? I know I am stirring the hornet’s nest by questioning our national language. But the north-south language barrier is stark. While Hindi is a cakewalk for north Indians, with just minor alterations in their tongue, it is cumbersome for those in the south. The languages are very different from Hindi, with no lexicon link. Those in the south of the Vindhyas have to learn an additional language which is in no way related to their own. So there is a certain deal of injustice in upholding Hindi as a national language. But what is the option in a multi-lingual set-up like ours. English. But that is a foreign language. Why should we let a foreign language that invaded our homes long back to stay on? The argument is, it is a new language that everybody has to learn across the nation. At least there is no inequality in asking one region to learn a completely alien language. Everyone will have to learn this. So we can all keep our regional pride intact, and uniformly twist our tongue for English.
Can we strike a deal, Raj Thackeray?
Sunday, November 8, 2009
A plastic planet?
Municipal corporations across the country are trying to trim the use of plastic. Okay, that is the policy decision on paper. What about implementation? How are the governments planning to stem this swelling of plastic waste crowding our water resources and clogging drains and pipes. Small shop owners or big time malls, they all subtly and sometimes blatantly push plastic.
I recently bought a wall clock, and after paying the bill was just about to put the clock in my cloth bag that the shopowner produced a glossy and colourful plastic bag to hold the clock. When I refused, he insisted that I take it and “recycle” it. “Please do take it madam. It will be useful,” he said, pushing the plastic bag in my reluctant hand. The clock company’s name was artistically embossed on the bag. Saying a firm “no”, I put the clock in my bag, leaving the shopkeeper with a sheepish grin on his face.
Urban living springs a “shopping experience” in malls and supermarkets. And, most of these malls insist on packing goods in their plastic bags because of the free advertising they get once the customer flaunts the bags out on the streets. This, coupled with the round-the-year festival sales and exhibitions lead to more plastic-flaunting. Thanks to this culture, we have been continuously sheathing our precious planet with multiple layers of plastics.
But there are ways we can at least decelerate this dumping of plastic by carrying our bags. Again, these big stores make the use of plastic a convenient option.
The baggage counter in these malls are at the entrance, while the cash counters are all tucked deep inside, making the logistics of transferring the goods from the shopping cart to your own eco-friendly bag very tough. Only the very tough and eco-conscious shoppers will be able to resist the plastic largesse doled out by these malls. If the baggage counters are kept closer to the cash counters, it would add to the convenience of the eco-friendly shoppers.
Big Bazaar, a supermarket chain, sends across the most eco-unfriendly message. First, it has a baggage counter outside the store. Then it insists on weighing vegetables in its plastic pouches. After billing, the goods are all put in those unpleasant plastic bags and locked with a plastic seal, making it difficult to resort to any eco-friendly shopping experience. So I carry a huge cloth bag with a pair of scissors in it. I deposit the bag in the counter outside. After paying the bills, I cut open the locks tied around the plastic bags, transfer all the goods in my bag and request the security near the exit gate to hand them over to the counter. Passersby might have found me crazy going through this process. But at least I do not leave that place feeling guilty of choking the planet.
Is there a way to get out of this mindset of hogging more plastic bags? Can we resort to our good old paper bags. Earlier, when Kolkata was Calcutta, and probably everywhere else, shops packed food grains or groceries in newspaper covers, called tongas. And vegetable shoppers always carried cloth or jute bags. Can we please have the good old tongas back please?
I recently bought a wall clock, and after paying the bill was just about to put the clock in my cloth bag that the shopowner produced a glossy and colourful plastic bag to hold the clock. When I refused, he insisted that I take it and “recycle” it. “Please do take it madam. It will be useful,” he said, pushing the plastic bag in my reluctant hand. The clock company’s name was artistically embossed on the bag. Saying a firm “no”, I put the clock in my bag, leaving the shopkeeper with a sheepish grin on his face.
Urban living springs a “shopping experience” in malls and supermarkets. And, most of these malls insist on packing goods in their plastic bags because of the free advertising they get once the customer flaunts the bags out on the streets. This, coupled with the round-the-year festival sales and exhibitions lead to more plastic-flaunting. Thanks to this culture, we have been continuously sheathing our precious planet with multiple layers of plastics.
But there are ways we can at least decelerate this dumping of plastic by carrying our bags. Again, these big stores make the use of plastic a convenient option.
The baggage counter in these malls are at the entrance, while the cash counters are all tucked deep inside, making the logistics of transferring the goods from the shopping cart to your own eco-friendly bag very tough. Only the very tough and eco-conscious shoppers will be able to resist the plastic largesse doled out by these malls. If the baggage counters are kept closer to the cash counters, it would add to the convenience of the eco-friendly shoppers.
Big Bazaar, a supermarket chain, sends across the most eco-unfriendly message. First, it has a baggage counter outside the store. Then it insists on weighing vegetables in its plastic pouches. After billing, the goods are all put in those unpleasant plastic bags and locked with a plastic seal, making it difficult to resort to any eco-friendly shopping experience. So I carry a huge cloth bag with a pair of scissors in it. I deposit the bag in the counter outside. After paying the bills, I cut open the locks tied around the plastic bags, transfer all the goods in my bag and request the security near the exit gate to hand them over to the counter. Passersby might have found me crazy going through this process. But at least I do not leave that place feeling guilty of choking the planet.
Is there a way to get out of this mindset of hogging more plastic bags? Can we resort to our good old paper bags. Earlier, when Kolkata was Calcutta, and probably everywhere else, shops packed food grains or groceries in newspaper covers, called tongas. And vegetable shoppers always carried cloth or jute bags. Can we please have the good old tongas back please?
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