The Norm of the Patriarch

March 4, 2012

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During middle of February 2012, BJP ruled Karnatka’s two ministers, Laxman Savadi and C C Patil were watching the porn clip on the mobile belonging to another minister Krishna Palemar. All three had to resign the job and BJP huddled in to a Chintan baithak (Meeting for Introspection) to do the damage control. Whether these BJP ministers are also RSS trained swayamsevaks, like most top functionaries of BJP are, is not known. But surely these porn watching ministers do come under the broad umbrella of RSS combine, popularly known as Sangh Parviar.

There are many other incidents about those in the ambit of RSS combine, in incidents which involve gender related issues. By now the aggression of Pramod Mutalik’s Sri Ram Sene attacking and humiliating the girls in a pub is too well known. Mutalik is a RSS trained person. He joined RSS in 1975 and became convener Bajrang Dal for South India in 2004. He also helped BJP’s election campaigns. Later he joined Shiv Sena before forming his own Sri Ram Sene. The attacks on those celebrating Valentine day, by Shiv Sena, Sri Ram Sene and other groups who are fellow travelers of RSS politics is a sort of annual ritual.

Many of these elements have been attacking Muslim boys who were found conversing with Hindu girls. In Gujarat, Babu Bajrangi, who was very active in Gujarat anti-Muslim pogrom, who was caught in the Tehelka sting operation boasting about playing the ‘One day match’, killing the Muslims, was also the leader of a squad which was intimidating the couples in the parks. The most systematic attempt to combine gender issues, patriarchal norms with anti Muslim tirade manifested in the form of the propaganda about ‘Love Jihad’, a hoax deliberately floated to browbeat Muslim youth has been seen in many a places particularly in Kerala. As per this propaganda Muslim youth are being given money and training to lure way Hindu girls with the aim of increasing Muslim population.

The pathological dislike for the girls trying to get autonomy in choosing their life partners is being opposed in many a ways. The couples meeting the in the public places are advised to abhor love marriage and to go for the partners selected by their parents. As a counter to Valentine day celebration, Asaram Bapu suggested the celebration of Matri Pitru day (Parents Day) on that day (14th February, the Valentine Day) and the BJP ruled Chhattisgarh Government has implemented this wish of Asaram Bapu and Matri Pitru day was observed in Chattisgarh this year. To cap it all the norms, morality and values followed by RSS combine were most in display in response to the statement of the Hyderabad police Chief Dinesh Reddy’s statement. Mr. Reddy (Dec 2011) linked the rape cases with the dress of women. Not the first time any police person or many others have said a similar thing. The difference this time was that when Mr. Reddy was being criticized for his crass statement, he received support from the un-expected or rather expected quarter of one women’s organization. This women’s organization happens to be Rashtra Sevika Samiti, an organization subordinate to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). While most of the incitements which have been observed are a manifestation of perverted sense of morality, a medieval mind set, the Rashtra Sevika Samiti’s support to Mr. Reddy in linking up women’s dress with rape, in turn holding them responsible for the crimes done against them, is very revealing.

The likes of Babu Bajrangi, Promod Mutalik may be dismissed as fringe elements, despite their association with RSS or its affiliates, and the porn clip watching BJP ministers may not be an exception in doing such a thing. But in the case of Rashtra Sevika Samiti’s action the attitude of RSS ideology toward women becomes more than explicit. RSS is an exclusively male organization. In 1936 Laxmibai Kelkar, a woman related to RSS members’ family, approached the then Sarsanghchalsk and asked permission to join the RSS. She was declined the membership on the ground that RSS is only for men. She was advised to start Rashtra Sevika Samiti instead. The nomenclature of the two organizations is very interesting. The dominating male organization has the word Swayam (self), while in the name of women’s organization the word Swayam (self) is missing, showing their subordinate position.

This deep adherence to patriarchy dictated by RSS keeps coming to surface time and over again. In the decade of 1980s the then BJP’s Vice President Vijaya Raje Schindia had supported the women committing Sati (self immolation by woman after husbands’ death), in response to the Roopaknwar Sati case. She asserted that Sati is a great glorious Hindu tradition. She also said that to commit sati, is the right of Hindu women. Somehow she herself never exercised this right herself!

Another major leader of BJP, Mridula Sinha, belonging to BJP Mahila Morcha (BJP Women’s Wing) had in an interview given to the Savvy Magazine in 1994 defended the wife beating and dowry. She said that women should not work outside unless there is a dire financial crisis’ in the family. The major ideologues of Sangh combine have talked gloriously about Manu Smiriti, the tome which ordains the caste system and subordinate position of women. The open preaching of patriarchal values is a core agenda of most of the communal organizations, irrespective of to whichever religion they belong to. RSS combine exemplifies it to the hilt, starting from its nomenclature to the ideology and practices undertaken by this multi headed hydra. In these matters the attitude of other fundamentalist organizations, deriving their legitimacy from Islam or Christianity may not be much different and they may hold hands together on such issues, the way they stood together on the issue of same sex relationships.

Our society during the period of 1950-1970s saw the strengthening of the process of caste and gender transformation. The period from 1980s has been a sort of reversal of the healthy elements of the process of social change. This reversal of the process of social transformation is an accompaniment of the rise of politics in the name of religion, the politics of RSS in India. While porn watching BJP ministers may not be the only ones’ in doing what they did, there is a need to look at the attitude to gender which is on display due to the politics of RSS, the Hindutva.

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News Network
January 11,2020

New Delhi, Jan 11: Islamic preacher Zakir Naik has revealed that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government offered to drop false money-laundering charges against him and provide with a "safe passage to India" in return for his support to the government's move to revoke Article 370 of the Constitution.

In a statement issued by Naik's PR team on Saturday, the Islamic preacher said that he was approached by a representative of the Indian government in September, who offered him the said deal on Kashmir, which he refused.

"Three and a half months before, the Indian officials approached me for a private meeting with a representative of the Indian government. When he came to Putrajaya (a Malaysian city), in the fourth week of September 2019, to meet me, he said that he is coming after personally meeting and under the direct instructions of the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and the Home Minister of India Amit Shah," Naik said in a video statement released by his Mumbai-based PR team.

Naik, who has been living in Malaysia for the last three years, is facing charges of inciting communal disharmony and committing unlawful activities in India.

"(The representative) said that he wanted to remove the misconceptions and miscommunications between myself (Naik) and the Indian government, and wants to provide me a safe passage to India," he added. "He (the representative) said that he would like to use my connections to better the relationship between India and the other Muslim countries."

"The meeting lasted for several hours. He told me that he wanted me to support the BJP government when they revoked Article 370 in Kashmir. And I flatly refused," he added.

Naik said that after he refused the offer, he was further asked to not make public statements against the BJP or Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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News Network
March 4,2020

Mar 4: Twenty-one Italian tourists and three Indian tour operators have been sent to an ITBP quarantine facility in Delhi on Tuesday for suspected coronavirus exposure, official sources said.

Health Ministry sources said these foreigners, 13 women and eight men, were in the same group of which an Italian and his wife have tested positive in Rajasthan capital Jaipur.

“His (Italian in Jaipur) condition is stable,” a source said.

Three Indians, who were accompanying this Italian group as tour operators, have also been sent to the ITBP facility in Chhawla area of south-west Delhi, they said.

All these people, staying at a five-star hotel in south Delhi, have been put in “preventive isolation” at the ITBP camp and their samples will be taken on Wednesday, sources said.

The centre already has 112 people, 76 Indians and 36 foreigners, since February 27 after they were evacuated by an IAF plane from Wuhan in China, the epicentre of the coronavirus.

The first samples of these 112 people had tested negative when reports came in last week.

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News Network
April 23,2020

Apr 23: Mukesh Ambani is again Asia's richest person after a deal with Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook Inc. sent his conglomerate's stock surging.

Ambani's fortune rose about $4.7 billion to $49.2 billion on Wednesday, after Reliance Industries Ltd. gained 10%. The jump put Ambani about $3.2 billion ahead of China's Jack Ma, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The ranking updates after the close of each trading day in the U.S.

Facebook Inc. will invest $5.7 billion in the U.S. social-networking giant's biggest deal since the 2014 purchase of WhatsApp as it seeks a broader foothold in its biggest global market. The U.S. company will buy about 10% of Jio Platforms, which brings together digital apps and a wireless platform under one umbrella, the Mumbai-based company said in a statement Wednesday.

Before Wednesday, Ambani -- who owns the world's largest oil refinery -- had declined by $14 billion on the index in 2020, the biggest dollar fall of anyone in Asia. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Ma, whose foundation this week donated 100 million masks to the World Health Organization to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, had lost almost $1 billion through Tuesday.

"At the core of our partnership is the commitment that Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, and I share for the all-around digital transformation of India," Ambani said in a web video posted on Jio's Facebook page, adding that Facebook's brands have become household names in India. "WhatsApp in particular, has entered our people's daily vocabulary in all the 23 official languages of India."

The partnership with Jio would allow Zuckerberg to step up his expansion in a country that is rapidly embracing online payment and e-commerce as more people get smartphones. Jio Infocomm quickly moved into a position of dominance by offering free plans and undercutting wireless market rivals.

With its half-billion internet users, the South Asian country is a key market for the world's largest technology companies, including Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google. In India, Facebook has about 250 million users, while WhatsApp has more than 400 million.

That should help Jio bolster its reach, according to James Crabtree, author of 'The Billionaire Raj,' a book on the country's wealthiest people. But the transaction also shows the extent of Ambani's own influence, he said.

"This deal clearly shows that if you want to play big in Indian tech, you need to play nice with Mukesh Ambani."

Ambani's fortune rose about $4.7 billion to $49.2 billion on Wednesday, after Reliance Industries Ltd. gained 10%. The jump put Ambani about $3.2 billion ahead of China's Jack Ma, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The ranking updates after the close of each trading day in the U.S.

Facebook Inc. will invest $5.7 billion in the U.S. social-networking giant's biggest deal since the 2014 purchase of WhatsApp as it seeks a broader foothold in its biggest global market. The U.S. company will buy about 10% of Jio Platforms, which brings together digital apps and a wireless platform under one umbrella, the Mumbai-based company said in a statement Wednesday.

Before Wednesday, Ambani -- who owns the world's largest oil refinery -- had declined by $14 billion on the index in 2020, the biggest dollar fall of anyone in Asia. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Ma, whose foundation this week donated 100 million masks to the World Health Organization to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, had lost almost $1 billion through Tuesday.

"At the core of our partnership is the commitment that Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, and I share for the all-around digital transformation of India," Ambani said in a web video posted on Jio's Facebook page, adding that Facebook's brands have become household names in India. "WhatsApp in particular, has entered our people's daily vocabulary in all the 23 official languages of India."

The partnership with Jio would allow Zuckerberg to step up his expansion in a country that is rapidly embracing online payment and e-commerce as more people get smartphones. Jio Infocomm quickly moved into a position of dominance by offering free plans and undercutting wireless market rivals.

With its half-billion internet users, the South Asian country is a key market for the world's largest technology companies, including Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google. In India, Facebook has about 250 million users, while WhatsApp has more than 400 million.

That should help Jio bolster its reach, according to James Crabtree, author of 'The Billionaire Raj,' a book on the country's wealthiest people. But the transaction also shows the extent of Ambani's own influence, he said.

"This deal clearly shows that if you want to play big in Indian tech, you need to play nice with Mukesh Ambani."

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