Karnataka crisis: Parties stunned by Governor's 'googly'

October 13, 2010

BHAR

The fast-paced developments in Karnataka are taking even the shrewdest of political pundits by surprise and the latest twist in the drama has only added to the intrigue and mystery. In an unprecedented move the Karnataka governor has in a gesture of "kindness" given chief minister BS Yeddyurappa another chance to prove his majority in the Assembly. After initial hesitation, the BJP government has agreed to take the floor test on Thursday to placate an aggrieved HR Bharadwaj.

The latest turn in the ongoing crisis reminds one of the unpredictable spin and bounce on the fourth and fifth day pitches in India. The picture-perfect parallel one can draw in the present situation is the ongoing series against Australia, where fall of a couple of wickets in the post-tea session on the fourth day suddenly springs the draw-bound Test into life. Similarly, the act of the governor has set the stage for a grand final day of the political Test in Karnakata, with all four parties (read batsmen, bowlers, fielders and also substitutes) getting interested in the game. The only deviation one can think of is the role of the governor, who in this instance has been getting more importance than a Billy Bowden or an Assad Rauf.

The highlight of the present drama is the ever-changing fortunes of each group and as in a cricket match the pendulum of luck continues to oscillate from one end to the other. The Congress, which was upbeat, following the governor's reported recommendation for the president's rule in Karnataka on Monday night is now a picture of utter dejection and frustration. The BJP, whose celebration of 106-0 confidence vote victory was cut short by the governor's missive to the centre, is beginning to see an opportunity in adversity. HD Kumaraswamy, who had been effusive in his praise of the governor, has turned a staunch critic overnight. The refusal to impose "follow-on" (read giving opposition another chance to bat on) has irked him and the jargons used against Yeddyurappa are now conveniently directed at the Rajbhavan.

Any ordinary observer of Karnataka politics knew very well that the governor would take the centre-stage once the real drama begins to unfold. Bharadwaj had been dropping hints throughout that he is the real king-maker and accordingly kept cards close to his chest. The missive to the speaker to maintain the numerical composition of the Assembly had sparked mixed reactions, but the way he has reacted after the dramatic trust-vote has only prodded him to hog the limelight even more vigorously. You may be surprised to know that the number of calls the governor's office received in the past 10 days was more than the volume of calls during his entire 18-month stay in Bangalore.

The governor, who has been accused of being pro-Congress, now has exposed himself to the wrath of almost all the parties, including JDS, BJP and the rebels. The decision by the Karnataka High Court not to deliver the verdict on the disqualification proceedings until 18th of October has forced Congress to change their stance vis a vis Bharadwaj. RV Deshpande has gone to the extent of saying that the governor has taken an "unconstitutional" stand and there might have been some people in the Centre who might have prompted the present move.

Given the present numerical composition, the government would scrape through with 105 members expected to support it as against the joint strength of the JDS and Congress, which is 101. Whether this will happen without the ugly and obscene scenes being played all over again remains to be seen. But, what looks certain for now is that the mercurial governor will continue to hit the headlines, even after Thursday's vote as the state looks destined to undergo another spell of political uncertainty.

The governor's move has once again given credence to the theory of Congress leaders working at cross interests. According to one report, some "important leaders" from Karnataka holding important posts in the Union cabinet have 'influenced' Bharadwaj's decision. There are also rumours that people who do not want to see Siddaramaiah as chief minister are behind this 'plot'. According to another theory, the move is to deny any sympathy wave for the BJP in the event of state going for another mid-term election. The leaders in Delhi know it too well that Kumaraswamy's "betrayal" two and a half years ago had handed BJP the power on a platter.

It is quite evident that the BJP does not trust Rajbhavan, but the fresh challenge has come as a blessing in disguise for them. They will be more than willing to show to the world that they can win the trust vote without resorting to strong arm tactics and the help by Shankar Bidari and his colleagues. The BJP might also look for some redemption for speaker, who has set a storm by his alleged arbitrary moves.

However, for ordinary people like you and me, the experience of the past couple of weeks is nothing less than traumatic. Our legislators have set an ignominious new precedent through their collective misbehavior during the free-for-all Assembly session on Monday. The shameless display of hooliganism and rowdy behavior by MLAs cutting across party lines has forced the ordinary voters to bow their heads in shame. Will our MLAs be ready to spend time in their offices in Vidhana Saudha after pocketing the insane slush money and treating themselves to freebies at seven-star comforts in Chennai, Goa, Bangalore, Kochi and Pune?

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Covid-19 pandemic and furthering of sectarian agenda in education

Ram Puniyani

July 20,2020

As Covid 19 has created havoc all rounds, the rulers of certain countries are using it to further intensify their set agendas. The democratic freedoms are being curtailed in certain forms, the reaction to which has come in America in the form of a campaign, which is opposing “stifling” cultural climate that is imposing “ideological conformity” and weakening “norms of open debate and toleration of differences”. In India similar intimidations have been intensified. In addition the occasion has been used by the sectarian forces first to link the spread of Corona to Muslim community and now in the name of reducing the burden of curriculum certain chapters on core concepts related to Indian nationalism are being deleted from the text books.

It has been reported that chapters on federalism, citizenship, nationalism, secularism, Human Rights, Legal Aid and Local Self Government and the like are being dropped. Education has been an important area for communal forces and they constantly keep saying that leftists have dominated the curriculum content, it suffers from the impact of Macaulay, Marx and Mohammad and so needs to be Indianized. The first such attempt was done when BJP came to power in 1998 as NDA and had Murli Manohar Joshi as the MHRD minister. He brought the changes which were termed as ‘saffronization of education’. Their focus is more on social science. Some of the highlights of this were introduction of subjects like Astrology and Paurohitya, and chapters defending caste system, nationalism of the type of Hitler was praised.

With defeat of NDA in 2004, the UPA did try to rectify some of these distortions. Again after 2014 the RSS affiliates working in the area of education have been active, interacting with MHRD officials to impress upon them the need to change the curriculum matching with their Hindu nationalist agenda. Its ‘Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas’ has been asking for removal of English, Urdu words in the texts. It has asked for removal of thoughts of Rabindranath Tagore on Nationalism, extracts of autobiography of M F Husain, references to benevolence of Muslim rulers, references to BJP being Hindu party, apology of Dr. Manmohan Singh for anti Sikh pogrom of 1984, the reference to killings of Gujarat carnage in 2002 among others. This they call as Bhartiykaran of syllabus.

As RSS is a multithreaded hydra one of its pracharak Dinanath Batra has set up ‘Shiksha Bachao Abhiyan Samiti’ which has been pressurizing various publishers to drop the books which are not conforming to their ideology. One recalls their pressuring withdrawal of Wendy Doniger’s ‘The Hindus’, as it does present the ancient India through the concerns of dalits and women. Mr. Batra has already come out with a set of nine books for school curriculum, giving the RSS view of the past and RSS understanding of social sciences. These have already been translated into Gujarati and thousands of the sets of these books are being used in Gujarat Schools.

The present step of deleting parts of curriculum which gives the basics of Indian Nationalism, secularism and human rights is a further step in the same direction. These are the topics which have made the Hindu nationalists uncomfortable during last few years. They have been defaming secularism. They removed it from the preamble of Indian constitution, when they put out an ad on the eve of Republic day in 2015. From last few decades since the Ram Temple movement was brought up, simultaneously the secular ethos of India’s freedom movement and secular values of Indian constitution have been constantly criticized. Many an RSS ideologues and BJP leaders have been asking for change of Indian Constitution for this very reason.

Secularism is part of the concept of Indian nationalism. In the name of religious nationalism, sectarian divisive nationalism they have been attacking various student leaders in particular. When we study Nationalism, the very genesis of Indian nationalism tells us the plurality of our freedom movement with its anti colonial roots. The struggle was for Indian nationalism and so the Muslims and Hindu communalists kept aloof from this great struggle against colonial masters, it was this struggle which built the Indian nation with all its diversity.

Similarly as we have equal rights as citizens the chapters on citizenship are being dropped. Federalism has been the core part of India’s administrative and political structure. As the dictatorial tendencies are becoming stronger, federalism is bound to suffer and that explains the dropping of this subject. Democracy is decentralization of power. Power reaching the lowermost part of the system, the villages and average citizens. This got reflected in Local self Government. The power is distributed among villages, cities, state and center. By removing chapters on federalism and local self government, the indications of the ideology of ruling party are on display.

While we are not dealing with all the portents of the planned omissions, one more aspect that related to dropping of chapter on Human rights needs our attention. The concept of Human rights and dignity are interlinked. This concept of Human rights also has international ramifications. India is signatory to many an UN covenants related to Human rights. The indications are clear that now rights will be for the few elite and ‘duties’ for the large deprived sections will be put on the forefront.

In a way this incidental ‘Corona gifted opportunity’ to the ruling Government is being fully used to enhance the agenda of ruling party in the arena of Educational Curriculum. The part of curriculum with which the ruling party is uncomfortable is being removed. This act of omission does supplement their other acts of commission in changing the shape of educational curriculum, which are reflected in RSS affiliates’ suggestions to MHRD regarding Bhartiyakaran of contents of syllabus. As per this the things like regarding the great epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata as History, the things like India having all the stem cell technology, plastic surgery, aviation science etc. will have a place in the changes planned by communal forces!

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India’s Composite Culture and Muslim Stalwarts

Ram Puniyani

August 9,2020

Contrary to present impression that Muslims are separatists due to whom the partition of India took place, the truth is that Muslims contributed to freedom movement and upheld India’s composite culture in equal measure. The partition process, mainly due to British policy of ‘divide and rule’ well assisted by Hindu and Muslim communalists is being hidden from the popular vision in India and Muslims in general are held responsible for the same. Not only that the communal historiography introduced by British to pursue their policies has become the bedrock of communal politics and worsening of the perceptions about Muslims is in progress in India.

Yet another example of this has been a series of tweets by the bureaucrat, who is close to retirement, K. Nageshwar Rao. Contrary to the service rules he has made statements, through his tweets which are appreciative of RSS-BJP and demonise the stalwarts Muslim leaders who not only contributed to the freedom movement but also later gave valuable service in laying the foundation of Independent India. As per Rao, his tweets he accuses Maulana Azad and the other Muslim Education ministers of “deracination of Hindus”. After naming “Maulana Abul Kalam Azad — 11 years (1947-58)”; “Humayun Kabir, M C Chagla & Fakruddin Ali Ahmed — 4 years (1963-67)”; and, “Nurul Hassan — 5 years (1972-77)”, he posts: “Remaining 10 years other Leftists like VKRV Rao.”

He points out that their policies were meant to “1. Deny Hindus their knowledge, 2. Vilify Hinduism as collection of superstitions, 3. Abrahamise Education, 4. Abrahamise Media & Entertainment, 5. Shame Hindus about their identity! and 6. Bereft of the glue of Hinduism Hindu society dies.”

Then he goes on to praise RSS-BJP for bringing the glory back to Hindus. These statements of his on one hand promote the Hate and on the other tantamount to political statement, which civil servants should not by making. CPM politburo member Brinda Karat has written a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah to take suitable action against the erring bureaucrat.

Rao begins with Maulana Abul kalam Azad. Surely Azad was one of the major leaders of freedom movement, who was also the youngest President of INC, in 1923 and later between 1940 to 1945. He opposed the partition process tooth and nail till the very last. As the Congress President in 1923 he wrote a remarkable Para, symbolizing the urge for Hindu Muslim unity, “If an angel descends from heaven and offers me Swaraj in 24 hours on condition that I give up Hindu Muslim Unity, I will refuse. Swaraj we will get sooner or later; its delay will be a loss for India, but loss of Hindu Muslim unity will be a loss for human kind”. His biographer Syeda Hamid points out “He spoke without an iota of doubt about how debacle of Indian Muslims has been the result of the colossal mistakes committed by Muslim League’s misguided leadership. He exhorted Muslims to make common cause with their Hindu, Sikh, Christian fellow countrymen.” He was the one who promoted the translation of Hindu scriptures Ramayan and Mahabharat in to Persian.

Surely Mr. Rao, neither has read Azad or read about him nor knows his contributions to making of Modern India. While today, the ideological formation to which Mr. Rao seems to be pledging his commitment is critical of all that happened during Nehru era, it was during this period when as education minister Azad was shepherding the formations of IITs, Academies of Science, Lalit kala Academies. It was during this period that the efforts to promote Indian composite culture were undertaken through various steps.

The other stalwarts who are under the hammer have been outstanding scholars and giants in their own field of education. Humayun Kabir, Nurul Hasan, Dr.Zakir Husssain gave matchless ideas and practical contributions in different fields of education. One can say that contrary to the accusations, India could match up to the Computer era, software and associate things, due to creation of large manpower in these areas mainly due to these foundations which were laid down particularly in the field of education during this period.

The charge that these ‘Muslim’ education ministers white washed the bloody Islamic rule is a blind repetition of the offshoot of communal historiography introduced by British. While Kings were ruling for power and wealth, their courts had Hindus and Muslim both officers. The jaundiced vision sees this as a bloody Islamic rule but as a matter of fact the syncretic culture and traditions developed precisely this period. It was during this period that Bhakti Traidtion with Kabir, Tukaram, Namdeo, Tulsidas flourished. It was during this period that humane values of Sufi saints reached far and wide. It was during this period that poets like Rahim and Raskhan produced their classic literature n praise of Hindu Gods.

We also need to remind ourselves that large number of Muslims participated in the freedom Movement. Two scholars Shamsul Islam and Nasir Ahmad have come out with books on the myriad such freedom fighters, to recall just a few names. Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, Zakir Hussain, Syed Mohammad Sharfuddin Kadri, Bakht Khan, Muzzafar Ahmad, Mohammad Abdir Rahman,, Abbas Ali, Asaf Ali, Yusuf Mehrali, Maulana Mazahrul Hague.

These are just a few of the names. The movement, led by Gandhi, definitely laid the foundations where composite Indian culture and respect for all religions, others’ religion was paramount and this is what created Indian fraternity, one of the values which finds its place in the preamble of Indian Constitution.

This blaming of Education ministers who were Muslims is an add-on to the process of Islamophobia in India. So for there have been many actions of Muslim kings which are selectively presented as being bloody, now the post Independent History, where glorious contributions have been made by Muslim leaders are being used to further deepen the divisive process. We need to pay respects to builders of modern India, irrespective of their religion.

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