بیگم مودی کی پس پردہ اور پر سکون زندگی میں ہلچل

 ایک گجراتی  ٹی وی چینل پر گزشتہ ہفتے نشر ہونے والے ایک خصوصی انٹرویو میں جشودبن  نے کہا تھا کہ شادی کے بعد مودی پورے ملک میں آر ایس ایس کے کاموں میں مصروف ہو گئے اور انسے کہا کہ وہ گھر واپس چلی جائیں. انہوں نے کہا "جب میں وڈناگر میں انکے خاندان کے ساتھ رہنے کیلیے آئی تو انہوں نے مجھ سے کہا کہ تم اپنے سسرال  میں کیوں آئی ہو، جبکہ تم ابھی بہت کم عمر ہو، اسکے بجائے تمھیں اپنی تعلیم پر توجہ مرکوز کرنی چاہیے. انہیں چھوڑنے کا فیصلہ میرا اپنا تھا، اور ہمارے درمیان کوئی  تنازعہ نہیں تھا".  مودی اپنے خاندان سے دور ہوتے چلے گئے اور سیاست انپر غالب آتی گئی، انہوں نے بہت سے دیگر  سیاستدانوں کے بر عکس اپنے خاندان سے ایک فاصلہ رکھا، جیسا کہ انکے بیٹے اور بیٹیوں کو بھی شہرت اوراقتدار ورثے میں ملتا ہے

بھارت کے وزیراعظم نریندرا مودی کی اہلیہ جو انکی آبائی ریاست کے ایک دیہات میں رہائش پزیر ہیں، ہندوستانی حکومت انہیں اعلی سطح کی سیکورٹی فراہم کرنے کی تیاری کر رہی ہے، اس  اقدام سے انکی پرسکون زندگی کیلیے خطرہ بن سکتا ہے، وہ اس گاؤں میں اس وقت سے مقیم ہیں، جب پینتالیس برس پہلے انکے شوہر ان  سے علیحدہ  ہو گئے تھے- باسٹھ برس کی جشودبن ایک ریٹائرڈ پرائمری ٹیچر ہیں. جب مودی نے برسوں کی خاموشی کے بعد پچھلے ماہ الیکشن اندراجات میں اپنی شادی کا انکشاف کیا. وہ دو مرتبہ ہمالیہ کے پہاڑوں پر عبادت کیلیے جا چکی ہیں، اور حالیہ ہفتوں کے دوران میڈیا کے نمائندوں سے بچنے کیلیے انہوں نے گجرات کے گاؤں براہمن واڑہ میں واقع اپنے تنگ سے گھر کی کھڑکیاں ختم کر دی ہیں، جس میں وہ اپنے بھائی کے گھرانے کے ہمراہ رہائش پزیر ہیں- خفیہ سروس جو امریکی صدر کی حفاظت پر مامور ہے، اس طرز کی ایک ایلیٹ فورس اسپیشل پروٹیکشن گروپ اب انکی سیکورٹی کی ذمہ داری لے لی ہے، قانون کے تحت ایلیٹ فورس اسپیشل پروٹیکشن وزیراعظم اور انکے قریبی عزیزوں  کی  سیکورٹی کی ذمہ دار ہے- گجرات پولیس کے ذرائع کا کہنا ہے کہ  ایلیٹ  فورس  اسپیشل پروٹیکشن نے  جشودبن  کے سلسلے میں عمومی انکوائری کی تھی_ ریاستی پولیس اس معاملے کی قیادت  کرے گی.  اور ایس  پی جی کو اسپر انحصار کرنا پڑے گا-  جشودبن   کے خاندان والوں کا کہنا ہے کہ  انہیں سیکیورٹی فراہم کرنے کے کسی منصوبے کا انہیں کوئی علم نہیں ہے انکے بھائی اشوک مودی نے کہا کہ انہیں کسی قسم کی سیکیورٹی کی ضرورت نہیں، اشوک مودی اپنے گھر کے سامنے کے حصّے میں پرچون کی ایک دکان چلاتے ہیں. انھوں نے کہا " کیا وہ چاہیں گی کہ وہ اپنے شوہر کے پاس واپس چلی جایئں جیسا کہ ہمارے سماج کی ہر ایک عورت چاہتی ہے. لیکن ایسا نہیں ہو گا"_ واضح رہے کہ گجرات میں اکثر لوگوں کے نام مودی ہیں، جشودا کے دوسرے بھائی کملیش ہیں، وہ پیاز فروخت کرکے گزارا کرتے ہیں، وہ کہتے ہیں کہ انکے گاؤں کی آبادی ڈھائی ہزار افراد پر مشتمل ہے، جب مودی نے بالآخر اپنی شادی کو قبول کر لیا تھا تو یہاں کے لوگ بہت خوش ہوۓ تھے . اب جبکہ وہ وزیراعظم بن گئے  ہیں، تو یہاں ایک امید پیدا ہوئی ہے کہ اس گاؤں میں کچھ اچھا ہو گا. وزیراعظم مودی نے ابتک اپنی بیوی کے بارے میں کوئی بات نہیں کی تھی، لیکن انکے دوستوں اور عزیزوں کا کہنا ہے کہ انکی شادی اسوقت ہوئی تھی جب وہ کمسن نوجوان تھے، انکے والدین نے یہ رشتہ طے کیا تھا، جیسا کہ غریب گھرانوں میں ہوتا ہے- لیکن مودی نے اسکے بعد جلد ہی گھر چھوڑ دیا اور ہندو قوم پرست راشٹریہ سویم سیوک سنگھ کے رضاکار بنکر اپنی جدوجہد والی زندگی شروع کر دی. اس تنظیم کے اعلی سطح کے بہت سے رہنما قومی ترقی کے تنظیمی مقاصد پر توجہ مرکوز کرنے کے لیے مجرد زندگی گزار رہے تھے. ایک گجراتی  ٹی وی چینل پر گزشتہ ہفتے نشر ہونے والے ایک خصوصی انٹرویو میں جشودبن  نے کہا تھا کہ شادی کے بعد مودی پورے ملک میں آر ایس ایس کے کاموں میں مصروف ہو گئے اور انسے کہا کہ وہ گھر واپس چلی جائیں. انہوں نے کہا "جب میں وڈناگر میں انکے خاندان کے ساتھ رہنے کیلیے آئی تو انہوں نے مجھ سے کہا کہ تم اپنے سسرال  میں کیوں آئی ہو، جبکہ تم ابھی بہت کم عمر ہو، اسکے بجائے تمھیں اپنی تعلیم پر توجہ مرکوز کرنی چاہیے. انہیں چھوڑنے کا فیصلہ میرا اپنا تھا، اور ہمارے درمیان کوئی  تنازعہ نہیں تھا".  مودی اپنے خاندان سے دور ہوتے چلے گئے اور سیاست انپر غالب آتی گئی، انہوں نے بہت سے دیگر  سیاستدانوں کے بر عکس اپنے خاندان سے ایک فاصلہ رکھا، جیسا کہ انکے بیٹے اور بیٹیوں کو بھی شہرت اوراقتدار ورثے میں ملتا ہے

 

Thank You For Reading

India’s So-called Secularism

 By Sajjad Shaukat


On the one hand, India claims to be a secular state, while on the other it has broken all the records of violence, genocide and massacre perpetrated on various ethnic and religious groups entailing the community of its own lower castes. These atrocities and injustices have exposed India’s so-called secularism.

It is notable that historical background and religious beliefs which have formed the habits and national character of Hindus are quite different from the other ethnic and religious communities. Indians still have a strong belief in the superiority of their race. Indian Hindus are followers of Chanakya (Say some thing else and do some thing else). These facts have been verified by the misdeeds of Hindu fundamentalist parties like the BJP, RSS, VHP, Shiv Sina and Bajrang Dal which have missed no opportunity to communalise national politics of India even under the Congress rule. With the backing of Indian officials, these parties have intensified anti-Christian and anti-Muslim bloodshed in the last decade coupled with the dissemination of Hindutva (Hindu nationalism).

Besides previous genocide of Muslims and destruction of the Babri Mosque, more than 2500 Muslims were massacred in 2002 in the BJP-ruled Indian state of Gujarat. Regarding that massive genocide, both Human Rights Watch in 2002 and Amnesty International in 2003 the “Gujarat state administration” for involvement in “a massive cover-up of the state’s role in that massacre” and pointed out numerous police officials specifically ministers, high officials and leaders of the VHP, BJP and Bajrang Dal as participants. charged.

On September 13, 2008, the communal riots in Uttar Pradesh killed more than 200 Muslims. In one of the most tragic incidents in Assam, Hindu extremists burnt alive six members of a Muslim family. 

It is mentionable that after the BJP came to power in February 2006, unlike the previous similar tragic events, Christian persecution rose to new heights in the state of Karnataka. Attacks on Christian holidays became common in the state like other areas. On the Christmas Eve of 2007, Hindu extremists led a series of violent attacks on Christians and their property in the state of Orissa, killing six Christians and razing at least 800 houses and 100 churches.  

According to a report of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), “in one of the events, in March, 2008, more than 150 intolerant nationalist Hindus stormed two Easter Sunday services and beat at least 16 Christians including two pastors in Bangalore and in Shimoga district…before almost every assault, the mob of the Hindu extremist of RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal, armed with bamboo poles, sticks and rods, while beating drums shout slogans in Hindi he “who talks in favour of only Hindus will rule the nation.”  

Nevertheless, assaults on Christians and their property have continued by the Hindu mobs in Orissa, Assam, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Even the year of 2009 witnessed a number of incidents of religious intolerance. In this respect, at least 60 Christians have been assassinated in the recent past by Hindu fundamentalists in Orissa.

Under the mask of democracy and secularism, Indian subsequent regimes dominated by politicians from the Hindi heartland Hindutva have been using brutal force ruthlessly against any move to free Assam, Kashmir, Khalistan, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu and Tripura where wars of independence are alive in one or the other form. 

As regards the Indian-held Kashmir, since 1947, Indian forces have intermittently been employing all the possible techniques of military terrorism such as curfews, crackdowns, sieges, massacre, targeted killings etc. to maintain their alien rule. However, under the new puppet regime in the occupied Kashmir, Indian brutalities keep on going against the current phase of Kashmiri uprising which began on August 12, 2008. In the last two years, more than 3000 unmarked graves of the unidentified bodies were uncovered in villages of Indian-held Kashmir. Sources have suggested that these graves include bodies of extrajudicial executions committed by the Indian military and paramilitary forces. European Parliament strongly condemned India regarding human rights violations in the occupied Kashmir.

In Maharashtra, non-Hindu communities have lived in constant fear and awe since the advent of the fundamentalist party, Shiv Sena whose Chief Bal Thackeray has organised army of hoodlums to beat up any religious minority, openly directing the Hindu terrorists to loot and stone any of their shop or house. Silence of the subsequent governments on every challenge of Shiv Sena and lack of serious action against Thackeray’s vandalism have clearly defeated the secular echoes of India which is in fact a secular terroist state. More alarming point is that Bajrang Dal has also been imparting arms training to its members near Ayodhya.

It is worth-mentioning that ideology of Hindu nationalism prevails in every field at the cost of other minorities. It is even supported by Indian defence forces clandestinely. This fact could be judged from the recent past, when on April 6, 2008 in the house of Bajrang Dal fundamentalists in Nanded, a bomb went off. The investigations proved that the militants belonging to the Bajrang Dal were found in the bomb-making and attack on a mosque in Parbhani in 2003. Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra arrested a serving Lt. Col. Srikant Purohit along with other army officials, indicating that they were helping in training the Hindu terrorists, providing them with the military-grade explosive RDX, used in the Malegaon bombings and terrorist attacks in other Indian cities. ATS further disclosed that Lt. Col. Purohit confessed that in 2007, he was involved in bombing of Samjhota express, which brunt alive 69 Pakistanis. Leaders of the Indian extremist parties, Shiv Sena, BJP, VHP and RSS are now pressurising the Congress regime to release the culprits.

Before these revelations about Hindu terrorism, Indian government has been accusing the Islamic organizations in contact with Pakistani or Bangladeshi intelligence agencies in carrying out bomb blasts in Malegaon and other Indian places.

As regard Hindu terrorism, BBC indicated on November 21, 2008 that a new phrase has entered the sometimes cliche-riddled Indian press: “Hindu terrorism”, calling it the latest addition to the media lexicon.

Although apparently, India claims to be the largest democracy, acting upon the principles of liberalism and secularism, yet in practice, all political, economic and social fields of the country are divided on the caste lines. In this regard, Tim Sullivan of the Associated Press wrote, “There’s a lot of lip service to saying ‘I’m an Indian first, and ‘I’ do not believe in caste,” said D’Souza, a prominent campaigner for dalits, as India’s “untouchables” at the very bottom of the caste system are now known.” Sullivan further elaborated, “When it comes to sharing power, to interaction and to sharing social status, low-caste Indians are very much marginalized.”
In fact, the ideology of Hindutva is being encouraged by the government officials. Besides attacks on the other ethnic and religious communities including their establishments, appointment of extremist Hindus in top positions in various institutes and alteration of courses in accordance with the Hindu ideology have reflected the real intentions of the BJB and the Congress rulers.

It is now clear that instead of taking action, New Delhi has been using Hindu terrorists to create frenzy against the other religious communities.

In fact, there is a co-relationship of the Hindutva and Hindu fundamentalism which are the genesis of Hindu terrorism. Nonetheless, Hindu terrorism is on rise, which has enveloped whole of India.

No doubt, violence against the other communities and its own lower-minority groups has been used by Hindu fundamentalists as a normal practice since partition, but intensity of the anti-Muslim and anti-Christian bloodshed in the last decade coupled with the dissemination of Hindutva has displayed India’s so-called secularism.  

Sajjad Shaukat writes on international affairs and is author of the book: US vs Islamic Militants, Invisible Balance of Power: Dangerous Shift in International Relations. Email: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com

BJP's worsening disarray

By Praful Bidwai
The Bharatiya Janata Party, once known for cohesion and discipline, is now so faction-ridden that it often ends up damaging itself by pandering to particular leaders.

Take Bihar, one of only six states where the BJP is in power. Its coalition with the Janata Dal (United) under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is critical for its National Democratic Alliance. By improving Bihar's administration and economy, Kumar has become India's most respected Chief Minister.

Without the NDA, the BJP cannot remotely hope to win power outside Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and, possibly, Rajasthan. But the NDA has steadily shrunk as parties dissociate themselves from the rankly communal BJP. They don't want stigma-by-association via Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Milosevic Modi, who led the 2002 anti-Muslim pogrom. He's a persona non grata for many Indian states and parties, and in the United States and the European Union.

Therefore, some NDA parties insist that the BJP exclude Modi from election campaigns or public meetings. This was the understanding with Kumar. But at the BJP's June 12-13 national executive meeting in Patna, Modi was the lead speaker.

Modi launched a loud advertising campaign claiming that his government had generously helped Bihar during last year's floods. The advertisements crudely tried to exploit the issue politically. Livid, Kumar called them "vulgar" and cancelled a dinner for BJP leaders.

The BJP has recently lost two major allies: Mamata Banerjee, whose star is rising in West Bengal, and Naveen Patnaik, whose party won Orissa Assembly elections without allying with the BJP. Kumar is therefore the BJP's most valuable ally.

Why did the BJP antagonise Kumar? The answer is, the Bihar BJP's Thakur-Bhumihar faction hates Kumar. It feels that BJP Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi has let him overshadow and marginalise the party.

However, the balance of power tilts naturally towards the JD(U): its base is far broader than the BJP's, which is confined to a few upper castes. If the BJP's national leadership had real political sense, it would have restrained the recalcitrant faction.

Instead, it caved in and fielded Modi as its topmost leader in Patna. Modi spoke there like the unbalanced politician he is, criticising the recently enacted Right to Education--a worthy step if there was one--as intended to "pauperise the BJP's state governments".

Kumar is an astute strategist, who has consciously cultivated Mahadalits (the most backward Dalits), Extremely Backward Classes (among the OBCs), and socially, economically and educationally backward Muslims. If he decides to contest the coming Assembly elections alone, the BJP will face a rout in Bihar, possibly worse than what it suffered in Uttar Pradesh.

Kumar may not go this far unless he feels convinced that the JD(U) will win in a likely four-way contest against the BJP, the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (probably allied with Ram Vilas Paswan). This would depend on his assessment of political trends and social group/caste alignments and inclinations.

However, it has long been clear that Kumar is deeply averse to Hindutva and only a reluctant ally of the BJP. Further alienating Kumar will be a costly blunder. Letting loose a hardline Hindutva figure like Modi on Bihar will alienate many broadly secular Hindus, as well as Muslims, who form 16.5 percent of the population--without winning the BJP a sizeable chunk of even upper-caste votes.

BJP president Nitin Gadkari lacks mature political judgment. He is a greenhorn in national politics, who doesn't understand the political complexities of the Hindi heartland. He is easily manipulated by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, which appointed him. He has no independent base. He is proving the biggest flop the BJP ever pulled off.

Many BJP leaders studiedly ignore Gadkari. Barring Sushma Swaraj, all prominent leaders including LK Advani and Rajnath Singh boycotted a conference he convened in Mumbai in preparation for the national executive--although Singh was in Mumbai.

Gadkari lacks the resources or ability to contain Advani's overbearing influence. The Prime Minister-forever-in-waiting was stripped by the RSS of his last office as the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha. But he can't overcome his addiction to mess with the party's affairs.

Advani continues to make major organisational-political decisions. His decision to nominate maverick lawyer Ram Jethmalani from Rajasthan for the Rajya Sabha elections has antagonised many cadres. Jethmalani had quit the BJP calling it communal, and contested a Lok Sabha election against Atal Behari Vajpayee. BJP MLAs had to be kept locked up in a resort to ensure that they would vote for Jethmalani.

The BJP's leadership crisis is indeed grave. But that isn't its sole crisis. The party lacks programmes or policies that offer a credible alternative to the United Progressive Alliance. Even when criticising the UPA's patently misguided agendas--such as the nuclear liability Bill, public sector divestment, its militarist anti-Naxalite/Maoist strategy, or its handling of the Bhopal disaster--the BJP is too reactive to be convincing.

Unlike the Left, which opposes the very principle of capping liability for nuclear accidents, which potentially have catastrophic consequences, the BJP only wants the Rs 500 crore compensation ceiling doubled. But a Chernobyl-type accident will wreak damage running into lakhs of crores.

The BJP sounds hypocritical on the Union Carbide gas-leak disaster in Bhopal. It was in power in Madhya Pradesh for much of the time after the 1989 settlement but treated the victims with the utmost callousness. Bhopal rehabilitation minister Babulal Gaur has said that the BJP gave them no help when in power nationally. But he's also on record as saying there's no contamination of the plant site and water supply. But many surveys--Indian and international--have found chemical poisons, including carcinogens.

Senior BJP leader and lawyer Arun Jaitley has certified that Dow, which bought Carbide, is not liable for cleaning up the site. The BJP thus sides with corporate criminals. On containing Maoism and jehadi terrorism, it is squarely on the UPA's Right. Its policies are a prescription for more disasters.

Equally important, the BJP is gripped by an ideological identity crisis. It has failed to distance itself from the RSS and define itself as a "normal" party. It remains stuck in the antiquarian, anti-modernist and sectarian notion of Hindu Rashtra. It has no strategy for political mobilisation, which can shore up its sinking base.

As multiple crises undermine its credibility and appeal, the BJP's influence is shrinking. Can it resist further contraction and marginalisation? Does it have a long-term future?

The honest answer is, the BJP's fate does not lie in its own hands. It can become a force only if its opponents blunder and if it gets readymade issues like Shah Bano, or if it can recreate the moribund Ram Janambhoomi movement.

Alternatively, the BJP could gain only from some extraordinary but unforeseeable events like, say, an Indo-Pakistan war, to end which the Indian government accepts a bad compromise, or totally fails to act in the event of yet another Mumbai-type terrorist attack.

None of this seems likely. The most plausible scenario is that the BJP, wedded to a foul exclusionist ideology, will continue to be at one extreme of politics. Its committed upper-caste, upper-class elite support base will remain too small to form the core of a broad social coalition.--end--



The writer, a former newspaper editor, is a researcher and peace and human-rights activist based in Delhi