“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” — Emma Lazarus
India hosts more than two lakh refugees and is at the centre of refugee movements in the South Asian region. It has been a home to refugees from numerous neighbouring countries.
Since India’s independence and partition, it has had an influx of migrants from its neighbours, and this incident is not pertinent to the partition of India. The issue of the economic burden India has to bear and the significant demographic changes brought about by this inflow were frequently raised. In addition to economic and demographic problems, the refugee crisis also endangers India’s security. The legal demands of migrants, internally displaced people, and refugees have all been controlled by existing laws, although this has not yet been formally acknowledged. Although the matter has been partially addressed by current law and court involvement, there are still significant obstacles to resolving the bigger issue. Existing domestic laws regulating foreign nationals’ entry, stay and exit in normal circumstances are inadequate to deal with refugees. In the absence of domestic law for refugees and asylum seekers, there should be a domestic protocol on their status, assigning specific responsibilities to specific agencies. This will ensure prompt response and enhance accountability.
India follows the principle of dualism when it comes to Refugees; that is, international law is not directly applicable domestically and must be implemented through law by Parliament. But in the light of current international situations, we need to review the current scenario from a legal and humanitarian perspective. It is high time that a proper legal framework is set up for the same! Refugees and illegal immigration are also two distinct concepts. However, both groups are treated equally under Indian law because of the Foreigners Act of 1946.
An individual seeking international protection from persecution is called an asylum seeker, and a country may grant refugee status to an asylum seeker. But sadly, there is no clear definition in India regarding this! Moreover, India is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol – vital legal documents about refugee protection in International Law. As a result, the government’s policies and solutions to address these problems lack clarity and policy value. This leads to India’s refugee policy being guided primarily by ad hocism! This enables the government in office to pick and choose ‘what kind’ of refugees it wants to admit for political or geopolitical reasons. This is sad; ultimately, the refugees end up suffering.
However, India has signed numerous Human Rights Instruments that articulate a commitment to the protection of Refugees. India is a party to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) 1948 and has joined the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) -1966 and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)- 1966 since 1979. India is also a signatory to -the convention on eliminating all forms of Radical Discrimination (CRED in 1965), which ensures equal human rights to all human beings without discrimination.
Moreover, Article 51(c) of the Indian constitution directs the state to respect and uphold International Law. Keeping all this in mind, we can say that a Refugee law has been awaited for a long time. With the recent enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA), India further fails to address the real issue of refugees and exclusively addresses the issues of illegal immigrants, which are not the same as refugees. Furthermore, the CAA act goes against the basic principles of our democracy, like equality and religious non-discrimination enshrined in the constitution!
With traditional knowledge and values, progressive nations and economic behemoths like India might function as impetuses for international aid and asylum management.
By passing national refugee legislation, India may better calibrate its treatment of asylum claims in light of the global humanitarian and economic crises.
“Most democracies are dynastic; some are more dynastic than others.”
A quick glimpse of the newspapers of the past month would be enough to conclude that the island country Sri Lanka is facing one of the worst economic crises ever witnessed. And while this crisis is a result of various complex factors, it is the Rajapaksa family who is being blamed for wreaking havoc. For the past 20 years, the Rajapaksa family has had a dominant presence in Sri Lankan politics. Hence they certainly cannot escape the blame for running a dynastic setup. It is a classic case study to analyze the relation between political dynasties and democracy. But it isn’t the only country to witness this oxymoron; in fact, it is rare that democracies and dynasties don’t share this peculiar relationship.
Thousands of years ago, Indian king Dhritarashtra, blinded by the affection for his son, named Duryodhana his heir instead of Yudhishthira. And now here we are – a democratic 21st century nation with modern and meritocratic ethos. Or are we? A dozen dynastic families right from Kashmir, Punjab, Bihar, and Maharashtra to Telangana get elected “democratically” and control all the levers of power. And this takes place in the world’s largest democratic country! Dynastic succession in a democratic nation is a strange irony. Democracy entitles its citizens to choose their leaders based on their capability and achievements. Hence the very survival of the dynasty seems unlikely. So, how does a dynastic succession last in a democratic country? Why do the people seem so accepting of it? Isn’t such a set-up detrimental to the nation?
According to an article published by Washington University, political dynasties offer a “brand name advantage”. Be it the Gandhis or the Kennedys, the successors of the family do usually enjoy the power of the name they carry. In the same paper, it was noted that essential indicators like past experience or fundraising for campaigns don’t act as a major differentiating factor between candidates, thus emphasizing the fact that caliber is sometimes side-lined due to the “brand name” advantage. Moreover, in an imperfect ecosystem where a common man faces the inability to perform complex analysis of various important factors for selecting a leader – like job creation, economy, party agenda, etc. – citizens will retract to finding a familiar and reliable face instead. This natural instinct only gives further rise to political dynasties.
Another reason for the existence of political dynasties is the experience, mentorship and exposure of the past generation in a political climate. When a politician succeeds, they want their successors to not only reap the benefits of their work, but also continue their legacy. This “inherited incumbency advantage” acts as a primary factor for successors to continue in this profession. And the perks provided by the State to an elected official do play the role of the perfect cherry on the cake. Statistics from a recent research paper back this fact. According to the paper, the chances of an individual choosing the same occupation as his father is about 5 times. In politics, the odds turned out to be a humongous 110 times. But, democracy is not binary-it is a continuum. Hence, it becomes important to analyze the gradient of the existence of political dynasties all over the world. One also wonders whether a more developed society will be more vigilant towards their extant. Starting with India, although the expectation would have been that political dynasties are on the verge of extinction given that this was one of the primary reasons that the ruling party came into power, such is not the case. Research suggests that the seats occupied by dynasts were 9% more in the Lok Sabha in 2019 compared to 2014. Such examples are seen all over the world as well. The Bush family in America, Trudeaus of Canada, Bismarck’s of Germany, Archer family of Australia, and the Park dynasty of South Korea are very few examples of political families existing in democratic nations. Dynasties are more prevalent in developing countries, election systems that are “candidate-centered” and where the process of choosing candidates within parties is delegated to local players. But, while their influence might alter over the spectrum, it is still omnipresent. This proves that the dynast-democracy relation is a prominent and ubiquitous one, although its influence varies across countries.
Now, let’s revert to our case study of Sri Lanka. If political dynasties are indeed ubiquitous, then what went wrong in Sri Lanka? Such dynasties come with their own huge list of cons especially in a democratic set-up since they stand against the moral principles of democracy. But no nation has seen its wrath the way Sri Lanka has. Emergency has been declared in the nation with the inflation reaching 50%, the health system being on the verge of complete breakdown and the country being declared bankrupt. It all started in 2009 when Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected as President and was hailed as a hero by the majority Sinhalese for ending the nearly 30-year civil war. With time, more members of the Rajapaksa clan began to hold major political offices, with Mahinda assuming the role of the patriarch of this dynasty. While the Rajapaksas were accused of grave human rights violations, prejudice against minorities, and assaults on media, the Sinhala majority turned a blind eye to the injustices for several years. It is a classic case – when democracy within political parties is in danger and identity politics takes over other important agendas, it gives birth to a class of politicians both entitled and incompetent. And when actions of political dynasties go unchecked by the voters and are not contested adequately by a strong opposition, the incentive to work for the actual well-being and development no longer exists. This results in a catastrophe.
Political dynasties will exist in the future as well. Although they oppose what democracy stands for, it is in human nature to promote such a compromise. However, people cannot afford to blindly have faith in a family just because of a name. The opposition also shall raise awareness when dynasties reach a point of comfort. It is indeed a tightrope to walk on, but a vigilant population is the only way to prevent this rope from snapping.
The Indian Constitution is the first thing that springs to mind when we hear words like “JUSTICE,” “LIBERTY,” “EQUALITY,” and “FRATERNITY.” These are words from the Indian Constitution’s preamble, which signified the birth of an independent India. This Sovereign document, drafted by the Drafting Committee led by B.R. Ambedkar, is the world’s largest and longest Constitution, with 395 articles and 12 schedules, long enough to make us fall asleep yet powerful enough to manage a country the size of India. However, the length and language are irrelevant because it was intended to cater to a small subset of privileged individuals. Consequently, they ensured the language was tough enough, and the text was long enough to bore the public.
The thought behind making the Constituent Assembly was to reflect people’s desire. The phrase “We the People” indicates that it was written by, for, and about the people. But “The People” who represented our will, did they consider everyone’s will? It appears that the definition of people for them was our “beloved” politicians. But, I suppose, they’re utilising that power to represent the people’s will. But I think that’s the beauty of Indian society. I mean, we would have probably posted some good Instagram stories showing that we care, but in reality, I think that’s all we have done, which is a significant amount of work to improvise our Constitution.
The first draft of our Constitution came out about 70 years ago, and things have been going well for India. After such a violent history and all of India’s misfortunes, I believe these 70-year-old concepts would be sufficient to operate the system for another 70 years. Evolution has been a massive part of the human race, and I think it has influenced all of the changes and advancements we’ve made, but I don’t believe the laws of nature apply to our Constitution. How flaw “less” could it possibly be?
Our Constitution was written to protect the people’s interests, but does it do so? Take, for example, the concept of “Religion.” Every religion, like every other, has its own set of beliefs. The semantic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, are rooted in the faith in a single God who created all things and beings. On the other hand, we have Indic cultures, and customs practised for thousands of years and are considered ancestral wisdom. There is no single God, no single holy book, and no claims to truth in Indian faiths. As a result, the term “Religion” to embrace fundamentally distinct ideas confounded and perplexed the framers of the Constitution and their descendants. Our founding fathers did such an excellent job that we could sum up a person’s beliefs in a single word. It may mean different things to different people. Still, these people were so confident of their ability to express people’s will that they could never fathom someone having a different viewpoint, but that has always been the beauty of Indian leadership.
What surprises me is that our founding fathers were more concerned with our fundamental rights than our essential responsibilities. Maybe it’s just me, but I believe they perform a very similar and equally vital function in any society. But, in any case, they were concerned about everyone’s well-being. But, because they kept “my interests” in mind, I think I shouldn’t be questioning them now. One of the significant flaws in our legal system is that it is supposed to provide justice to all (social, economic, and political), one of our Constitution’s primary goals. It is one of the slowest systems, but I believe it has been fed in our minds that our court system is slow but provides justice. I try to think of it, but it reminds me of the Ayodhya Babri case or criminal instances such as Jessica Lal, Priyadarshini Mattoo, Nitish Katara, etc.
But I don’t think all of this matters because at least we could satisfy the needs of some “privileged” class. That’s the beauty of our Constitution.
On the morning of 1st February 2021, an aerobic dance instructor was recording herself live in front of the Parliament building at the Burmese Capital Naypyidaw, being completely oblivious to several black sedans and vehicles zooming past behind her towards the barricades. The footage is accidental coverage of historic significance – for this shows the beginnings of the coup by the military junta of Myanmar that illegally wrenched control from the NLD (National League of Democracy) party that held an uncontested majority in the Parliament. 2020 saw many shifts in political power in several countries, and Myanmar was not immune to that. Myanmar held its second general election in November 2020, where the NLD party under Aung San Suu Kyi claimed a landslide victory. The military funded opposition party launched several attacks at the results, including voter fraud and rigged counting. Now, the military junta has declared the elections fraudulent, imprisoned several civilian leaders, including Suu Kyi, and declared a year-long emergency. Before attempting to understand the nature and reasons for this coup, it is necessary to assess the long and strenuous history of Myanmar under military rule and its slow transition to democracy.
The history of military dictatorship:
The British colonial rule created economic ruination, global isolation, and ethnic conflicts during its time in Myanmar, just like it did in several other now independent countries in the world. When Myanmar attained freedom in 1948, it chose to implement a parliamentary democracy, but this did not last very long. The country came under military rule in 1962, when General U Ne Win led a coup against the civilian government. Under the military dictatorship, economic conditions worsened, and discrimination was rampant. The junta adopted even harsher isolationist policies than the British, which effectively cut off Burma from the global economy. The seeds of ethnic conflict and civil war sown by the British came to fruition, as minorities were stripped of basic human rights, including the right to citizenship. The socialist policy adopted by the government opened up avenues for corruption, black market economies, child trading, while poverty ravaged the country. U Ne Win ruled without opposition until 1988 when massive student-led protests broke out across the country. Of course, in true dictatorial style, these protests were squashed down brutally, but U Ne Win was forced to give up direct control of his government.
While this in no way marked the end of military rule in Myanmar, it started the relentless rebellion and fight for democracy that went on for a solid two decades. In 2008, the military junta drafted a new constitution, one that is followed even today and allows for the military to declare an emergency the way it did last week. The constitution was the first step of Myanmar towards a partial democracy because it allowed for democratic elections, but the document still heavily tips the scales of power in the junta’s favor. For instance, twenty-five percent of the seats of the parliament cannot be contested and are reserved for the junta, and any policy reform requires a majority over seventy-five percent – which gives the military the power to veto absolutely anything. There are 160 seats reserved for the military, and a party backed by the military would have to win only 166 (which is the USDP) for the military to take control of the government. As opposed to that, the NLD or any other civilian party would have to secure 322 seats to win control, which is exactly double the number mandated for military rule.
For many of the reasons cited above, Suu Kyi and her party decided to boycott the elections in 2008. However, in 2010 many of the political prisoners were released, and 2011 marked the fragile but steady shift from military rule to partial democracy. In 2015, the NLD won with an overwhelming majority and formed the first (pseudo) democratic government of Myanmar. However, the military is still a large part of the Burmese government. The junta controls all internal defense departments and foreign military policy decisions. Because of their veto power, the civilian government is in constant strife with the military over policy reform. In truth, while the 2015 election is a watershed moment in Myanmar’s history, little reform followed under Suu Kyi. The problem would have either been reluctance on behalf of the government for introducing reform or the more likely reason of constantly being deadlocked in parliament by the military vote. But through all of this, the one person who stands out the most in Myanmar’s political history is Aung San Suu Kyi – and it is just as important to understand the trajectory of her career.
Aung San Suu Kyi:
Suu Kyi was an independence leader’s daughter and rose to prominence in the 1988 protests, where she led the rebellion against U Ne Win. She was forced under house arrest for 15 years and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while under house arrest in 1991. She modeled the resistance movement after Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela’s civil disobedience drives and is extremely popular in Myanmar. In 2015, she became the leader of the government, although she was not allowed to become president because her sons had foreign citizenship, a rule included in the constitution to specifically target Suu Kyi. However, she is considered the de facto leader of the country.
Her stellar reputation was questioned in 2017 when the brutal crackdown on the Rohingya Muslims was ongoing in the Rakhine province of Myanmar, Suu Kyi not only denied that the military was committing mass genocide but also made no move to correct the situation in any way. In general, there was little reform under the Suu Kyi government to reduce discrimination against minorities. Some argue that while her denial of the genocidal tendencies of the military is unethical, she simply needed to concede with the military to reach a truce. Myanmar has over 135 recognized ethnicities and Suu Kyi’s attempt at being a pragmatic ruler ultimately made her a problematic one.
Despite this, she continues to have immense popularity with the majority (mostly the larger Buddhist communities).
The coup and geopolitical implications:
In the 2020 election, Suu Kyi’s party won 396 seats in Parliament while the military only won 33. Some international scholars claimed that the election wasn’t altogether fair because of the disenfranchisement of some minorities, especially the Rohingyas, but, by all means, it was a complete sweep for the NLD. The military could not bear to watch Suu Kyi’s increasing popularity from the sidelines, and thus the coup ensued. Protests have broken out all over the country and are the strongest in the capital. The military is being brutal in squashing the protests using extraordinary violence against protesters of all ages and professions. Yet, there seems to be no evidence of the protests dying out. Several world powers have spoken out regarding the coup. Joe Biden threatened to reinstate further sanctions against the military (along with previous sanctions already in place during the Rohingya genocide) but the Chinese government stated its favor of the military government. India and New Zealand also issued statements denouncing the coup. The United Nations has given strong warnings to stop violence against civilian protesters and the UNHRC is set to convene soon to discuss the situation in Myanmar.
Historically, the military always bore close ties with the Chinese government, and only in 2012 did Myanmar seek relations with other countries. Barack Obama made his first official visit in 2012, and he appointed an ambassador to Burma for the first time in many years. Myanmar received a lot of aid from several countries and is the subject of many grants from the World Bank. The transition to democracy opened up several portals of international trade in the country, considering it houses many valuable natural resources. One of the primary motivations for the US to lift sanctions against Myanmar in 2012 was to prevent Myanmar’s excessive reliance on China. Moving forward, it is difficult to predict what exactly will happen.
It is abundantly clear now that Suu Kyi’s tactic of siding with the military during the Rohingya genocide did not work, as the military is rabid in its need to exert influence and control. It is possible for the military to take control for an extended period of time unless there is external pressure or force put to use. Myanmar’s struggle for freedom and democracy has been long and hard, and all we can do is hope that all this conflict eventually has a peaceful resolution.
It is the illegal act of defrauding the State by exploiting loopholes or the public by pressurising or threatening them. Over the course of decades, since India became independent, we have witnessed scams worth thousands of crores.
Most of us have watched Scam 1992, which has somehow sparked an interest in us so as to know how these scams took place. In the more recent times, the stories of PNB scam by Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi, and the Vijay Mallya scam have gained popularity. However, despite the collective hatred towards these particular individuals, all of us in one way or the other contribute to corruption. Even the smallest habit of not asking a shopkeeper for a printed bill leads to corruption and tax evasion.
In our country, corruption is present in various forms and is carried out by different methods. The commonest one being bribery. All of us at some point in our lives have given a bribe to either a police officer, or a government employee to speed up our work.
Quid-pro-quo, favouritism, embezzlement, extortion, graft and influence-peddling are other forms of corruption prevalent in our society.
It is important to note that corruption majorly happens in two ways:
Corporate Corruption: Business entities and International corporates usually resort to bribery while indulging in this corruption to enhance the names of their firms and get work done quickly, thereby bringing profitable contracts.
Civil corruption: Due to poor wages or insufficient salaries, non-adherence to rules, lack of professional ethics,inefficiency and delays, bribery has become a common practice in government offices.
The recent era shows an increasing drift due to the nexus between politicians, bureaucrats and criminals shaping the public confidence into utter destruction. Poor governance, fake recruitments and incompetent infrastructure leave adverse effects on common public while the corrupt officials use these loopholes to bring down the national economy. Here are some laws which aim to curb the deterrent legal framework related to corruption in India.
The Right to Information Act (RTI) gives us the right to know about all the information about the government’s expenditure and tax payments (except in the matters concerning national security). The Public Information Officers (PIO) are responsible for providing the applicants with the relevant information they need on payment of a nominal fee to the PIO. If the PIO fails in doing so, he could face a penalty of up to Rs.25, 000 on complaints.
Under the IPC, 1860 and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, public servants can be penalized under various sections for the acts of corruption. The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 and The Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 prohibit Benami Transactions and penalise the offenders for money laundering respectively. India is an unratified signatory to the Convention of the UN against Corruption since 2005.
The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) (cases within the government departments), the state Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) (cases within states) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) (cases of the central government and the UTs) are the three main bodies responsible for the investigation and prosecution in the cases of corruption. Money laundering cases are handled by the Directorate of Enforcement and the Financial Intelligence Unit.
Special Judges are appointed by the central or state government for the fair trial of cases under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988
Needless to say, only stringent laws can ensure timely and unbiased legal action against the offenders irrespective of political influences.
To sum it up, corruption has penetrated society like a poison and is an evil which should be quickly eliminated. With consistent social efforts and all the stakeholders working in tandem, we can surely get rid of it.
This Anti-Corruption day, 5th Pillar NGO, in collaboration with NGO Anokha, wishes to raise awareness regarding the laws against corruption through Pillars of Democracy. We aim to assess the roles of all the pillars of democracy i.e. Legislature, Executive, Judiciary and Media, in the biggest scams of Indian history.
Rules:
Each team will consist of exactly 4 members. The teams will be allotted a court case on corruption of India. Every single member must choose one of the 4 pillars (Legislature, Executive, Judiciary, Media) and has to speak for 90 seconds about the role that the pillar they have been allotted has played during the entirety of the case. The team which presents the roles of all the pillars of democracy in the best possible way wins.
Thousands of young adults crowded the streets of Bangkok on 18th November attempting to reach the parliament. Most of them even bought their trusty rubber ducks along to use the river behind the parliament as their transport to set an example of what a good citizen should do. On the flip side, the Thai Supreme Court has given orders to a pro-democratic opposition party to dissolve. Thailand is the world’s last military dictatorship. A military dictatorship is the rule of a military officer who comes into power through a coup. Unlike most military coups which are historically known for the amount of violence they involve in, military coups in Thailand are quite the opposite. When the Thai military seized power on May 22, 2014, not a single drop of blood was shed. Military tanks and battalions of soldiers were patrolling the streets while taking over TV and radio stations to announce the coup. A speech by the new head of state ended the coup in Thailand.
So why was there no opposition to the military coup and the non-democratic form of government in Thailand? Why did the people not protest against the military rulers? It is because of the way Thai people are brought up. The monarchy in Thailand is sacrosanct and regarded by many as the bedrock of national identity. They are asked to respect their King. The people have been gossiping about the monarchy in private for years while teaching their children to praise it lavishly in public. Infact, most of the military coups in Thailand have full support of the monarchy. A royalist was quoted saying, “I see a coup as not a bad thing,” two weeks ago after publicly calling for a military intervention to quell anti government rallies in Bangkok and to protect the monarchy. Even the 2014 coup was supported by King Bhumibol and the military rulers were offered an audience with the royal family in front of the cameras. Most of the coups in the modern day including the ones in Morocco are directed towards the King and not the Prime Minister or the President. Thailand has a dictatorship like no other – a military dictatorship under royal command.
The main demands of the rubber ducky protesters in Thailand include Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and his government to step down, the constitution to be amended to be more democratic, and the monarchy reformed to make it more accountable. Their demands regarding the monarchy are the ones that are raising eyebrows among the older population in Thailand. The protesters believe that King Maha Vajiralongkorn holds more power than is appropriate under a constitutional monarchy and have made it the central point of their protests. As a result the police and military, which is controlled completely by the royals, have resorted to use of force to stop these protests. Two people were fatally injured in the recent protests. According to some reports, the police force used water cannons loaded with a teargas-like liquid to force the protesters back when they tried to cut through the razor wire barricades.
What next?
With most of the high profile activists detained by the military outside of Bangkok, and crackdown on public gatherings, the movement’s ability to continue to hold mass rallies will be difficult. Some students are ignoring the government’s “emergency” measures and continuing with their demonstrations. Small “flashmob” style protests that are easy to organise and can quickly disperse have been mobilised in smaller cities, driven by social media.
Obviously no intervention by international agencies is possible in a country which is being ruled without any human rights violations or doing anything bad or questionable to their citizens. The government, composed mostly of conservative, military and royalist figures should carefully respond to these protests now that the whole world is watching them. An over-harsh reaction risks angering a public already frustrated over other issues.
Greeting ladies and gentlemen. In today’s episode of Content, Censoring, and Controversies (CCC), we bring to you a book that has seemed to stir conversation around interfaith marriages, 27 years after its release—A Suitable Boy. More than the book, to be honest, it was the mini web series (of the same name) that found itself in the middle of a political broil, roping in the director Mira Nair and certain other executives from Netflix who had produced the show (in India).
The UK mini web-series (which was first broadcasted on BBC) found itself at the receiving ende of demands for an apology by Hindu nationalists of the BJP as they complained about a scene in the series where a young Hindu girl kisses a young Muslim boy in the premises of a Hindu temple.
While several leaders from the party pointed out the explicit act of kissing (which for some reason is regarded as a very gora thing to do in one of the most highly populated countries in the world) in a ground as sacred as the temple, others commented that it encouraged the entire concept, so to say, of “Love Jihad”—an Islamophobic propaganda-pushing strategy put forward by several right-wingers—wherein young and innocent Hindu girls are lured into marriage by the charm and handsomeness of Muslim men, and are then forcefully converted into Islam. An article by The Print even went on to describe “Love Jihad” as follows:
‘Love jihad’ is slowly and steadily turning into the carrot that is leading the donkey towards the formation of a state where politics and religion merge, and the Hindu Rashtra will finally become a reality.
The series starring actors like Tanya Maiktala, Ishan Khatter, Tabu, and Rasika Duggal in pivotal roles was accused of tainting the image and sanctity of the temple. The claim, however, was rubbished when officials pointed out that no part of the kissing scene was actually shot in the premise of a temple. Nevertheless, the scene did seem to provoke anti-Hindu sentiments, according to some officials of the BJP. Narottam Mishra, a member of the B.J.P, and Home Minister in Madhya Pradesh state, had shown displeasure at the kissing scene between the protagonists and had further commented that a case had been filed accordingly.
“To me there is nothing suitable in that. In our temple, if you are filming a kissing scene, Rama music is on in the background, I do not consider it good,” Mr. Mishra said at a news conference on Monday, referring to Hindu devotional music. “For that there are other places.”
However, for what remains something really ironic, the Hindus—at least until before the 13th century—regarded topics related to love, sex, etc. as something really essential and spoke about it in a very liberating manner, and students were extensively taught about it as well. The free conversation about the art behind such “unsuitable” acts can be seen on the walls of famous temples like the Khajuraho Temples in Madhya Pradesh, Sun Temple in Orissa, and Markandeshwar Temple in Maharashtra, among many others, which sculpts all sorts of sexual depictions between all kinds of genders. While there are many theories out there which explain how and why many ancient temples are carved with statues depicting sexual positions that most of India would still feel a little too conserved to strike a conversation about, one theory particularly suggests that the art of lovemaking, in general, was considered a good omen, when performed in the sacred halls of a temple.
The entire debate seems to be ticked on at a time, when the government in four BJP led-states seem to have proposed laws and actions against those who encourage unlawful religious conversion just to stay and get married. The displeasure towards such communions was showcased in a previous episode of our production that covered how a Tanishq store in Gujarat was brought down after the company advertised its product on the theme of blissful interfaith relations.
While most experts suggest that there are very grim chances of Netflix landing in any legal trouble—though if held guilty (chanceless) executives could land in jail for a period of 3 years—the entire debate has at least shone some light on how the freedom to choose a partner might be at risk, and how the dynamics of conversations about various topics have changed in all these years.
Oh, and by the way, for those who haven’t seen A Suitable Boy yet, Netflix will be available for free between the 5th and 6th of December.
Abraham Lincoln had once said, “The ballot is more powerful than the bullet.” And the ballot’s power in the USA was witnessed and celebrated by people all around the globe. In India, we were so busy rejoicing at the victory of Biden that our country’s political happenings were under the radar. The happenings being the elections of Bihar, a state where the bullet precisely has an upper hand to the ballot.
Bihar held elections for the seventeenth Legislative Assembly, from 28th October, 2020 to 7th November, 2020. The current assembly’s tenure is scheduled to end on 29th November 2020. In the previous election, the alliance ‘Mahagathbandhan’, consisting of RJD, JD(U), and INC won against its main opponent, National Democratic Alliance led by BJP. But, in 2017, Nitish Kumar left the MGB and joined the NDA.
There were 60 contesting parties, 3 of them being major – Rashtriya Janata Dal represented by Tejashwi Yadav, Bharatiya Janata Party represented by Sushil Kumar Modi, and Janata Dal (United) represented by Nitish Kumar.
Before delving into the timeline of the elections, let’s look into the issues which made Bihar Elections a nail-biting topic for the past couple of days.
The major issue was the growing anger due to the decline in jobs and the economy during the pandemic. Bihar has been an economically backward state for a long time and often people from the state migrate to other states in search of jobs. Owing to the pandemic, many migrant workers had to return to Bihar, which caused them to lose their jobs. Many of these workers blamed the existing government for this loss in jobs, which led to public disapproval towards the incumbent CM, Nitish Kumar. Furthermore, the death of former union cabinet minister, Ram Vilas Paswan, was expected to affect the polling too. Also, as Chirag Paswan, son of Ram Vilas Paswan, supports the BJP but not JD(U), he takes jibes at Nitish Kumar quite often. And even the BJP has refrained from saying anything bad about him, which has led to a certain impression of the CM among the people.
The entirety of the elections lasted for 3 phases and a total of 243 seats. The first phase was held on 28th October 2020 and was for 71 seats. A total of 1,066 candidates, including 952 male and 114 female, were contested in the first phase of elections from different constituencies. The maximum number of candidates contesting from one constituency in the first phase was at Gaya city, with 27 candidates, and the minimum at Katoria with 5 candidates in Banka District. In the constituencies voting in the first phase of elections, approximately 2.15 crore registered voters were eligible to exercise their vote, out of which around 1.12 crore were male, 1.01 crore were female and 599 were of a third gender. The recorded voter turnout was 55.68%. Participation in the first phase was appreciable but the elections did not have a smooth start. On 27 October, the first day of elections, three improvised explosive devices were recovered and diffused in Imamganj district. Furthermore, on 28 October, 2 more IEDs were recovered from Dhibra.
This was followed by the second phase, held on 3rd November 2020, for 94 seats. The elections were contested by 1463 candidates, out of which 1315 candidates were male, 147 were female and 1 was from the transgender community. Even the second phase saw good voter participation as the turnout was 55.7%.
In the third and final phase of the elections, which was held for 78 seats, on 7th November, 1094 male candidates and 110 female candidates contested. The participation was the highest as the Voting turnout was recorded to be 59.94%.
Now, while the ballot showed its power, how could the bullet have taken a backseat. Just hours before the counting began, the husband of BJP Mahila Morcha’s city president was shot dead in Ara. Also, a civil court judge, Pritam Narayan Singh was shot and seriously injured, by the same lot of criminals. Fortunately, the two accused were arrested within hours by the Bihar Police.
The counting ended with the result being Nitish Kumar continuing his designation as the CM while Sushil Kumar Modi replaced Tejashwi Yadav as deputy CM.
Magda is a young woman in Poland. Her unborn had a life threatening congenital defect which meant the baby could live no longer than 4 months when it came out of the womb. Unlucky for Magda, she didn’t have the right to opt for an abortion and was forced to go through the trauma of losing her child 4 months after birth. If she were in a country with liberal abortion laws, all this gratuitous mental trauma to her and her family could’ve been avoided.
Pro-life bolsters the belief of opposing abortion and euthanasia. On the flipside Pro-choice means freedom being given to the pregnant women to decide if they want an abortion. Unfortunately, the naive lawmakers in Poland think Polish people are too imprudent when it comes to these decisions. The law makers in Poland proposed a law to make such decisions on behalf of the Polish people. The consequence of this was over thousands of people assembling in places all over Poland to protest this reckless step taken by the government in what came to be one of the largest protests in the history of Poland. A majority of the Polish population opposes the government’s ruling which has deemed the existing abortion law which legalises the abortion of damaged foetuses, invalid. The law in question apparently “is not compatible” with the constitution.
The reason is absolutely ludicrous and can increase the mortality rate in newborn children. Fetal birth defects are not only very expensive to treat but also require constant medical supervision which not everyone can afford. This will put financial stress and mental pressure on the financially deprived classes. Even though there are healthcare benefits warranted by the National Health Fund for the citizens of Poland, these benefits can only be availed if an individual is covered by a health insurance policy. 17% of the total Polish population of 37.95 Million people, live below the poverty line earning less than $1.90 per day. A medical insurance policy in Poland can cost anywhere between $8 to $12 a month. In a country where nearly 6 Million people live with wages below $12 a month, it is surprising to see such exorbitant costs for primary healthcare services[5].
Carrying a damaged fetus to term can come with a lot of complications which may end badly both for the mother and the child. 2.8 Million pregnant women and newborns die every year, equivalent to 1 every 11 seconds. Complications due to congenital defects is the second biggest cause of deaths in infants.
Poland is one of the countries with the strictest laws on abortion. A total of 1,100 abortion procedures were performed in the country last year. Of these 1,100, 1,074 terminations were due to congenital disorders. If the latest court ruling becomes a law, it will not only put a lot of lives in jeopardy but also rapidly increase the infant mortality rate. Forcing women to give birth to ill and deformed babies and exposing both the baby and the mother to severe psychological trauma is nothing short of barbarism.
Why is the ruling party pushing on abortion laws now?
The Conservative Law and Justice party which is in power in Poland, couldn’t muster enough votes in the parliament to pass this particular law in the previous years. Now that they have stripped the judiciary of the powers to question the laws made by the legislature, there is nothing stopping the ruling party from passing this law. The ruling party, which came into power in 2015 presents itself as the defender of traditional, Catholic values, and denigrates its opponents as anti-Polish and anti-Christian. Polish women and women rights activists are depicted as dangerous agents of liberal, Western propaganda.
This is not the only instance of the party supporting unreasonable “Pro-Christian” values in the modern times. In a move that raised eyebrows around the world, the Law and Justice party portrayed migrants as a threat to Christian civilization. It later agreed to take in only the Christian migrants. After the immigrant issue, the Law and Justice party focussed on painting people of different sexual orientations as a threat to Polish life and values. Furthermore, when the EU nations complained about these perverse decisions and illegitimate views, the Law and Justice party seized the complaints as evidence of “foreign” ideas threatening to undermine Polish sovereignty.
Abortion Laws in other countries
Under the communist rule, Poland and other Soviet bloc states had the most liberal abortion laws. In fact, the the natives of Sweden travelled to Poland for abortion procedures. But now, the situation is pretty much the opposite with the abortion laws being among the most restrictive in the world. The proceeding for this law putting a hold on voluntary abortions take place in the context of repeated government attacks on women’s rights and efforts to roll back reproductive rights. These changes to the abortion law were proposed months after several policy changes were made to undermine the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law in Poland.
Let me take the pleasure today of introducing you to the concept of Bigotry of the Week. It’s an easy process- you check your Twitter handle, find the trending topic ( it takes around 1200 tweets from 800 people to trend a tweet), register your dismay on the topic on all your social media platforms and boom! You’re done. You may kindly wait for the next Bigotry of the Week which will come….did you hear the banging at the door?
While the notion of interfaith marriages seems noble and the idea of an ad extolling it horrifies many, we have anklets turning into broken ankles and necklaces turning into strangled necks as a result in most such cases.
The Tanishq ad should ordinarily warm the cockles of the heart because who doesn’t want to live in a world exempted from radical faiths and where religious supremacy doesn’t tarnish the happiness of marital bliss. So yes, essentially, a liberal heart would always argue that there is nothing wrong with the ad. It has every right to exercise its creative freedom and employ any marketing strategy that it wishes to. It portrayed nothing fraudulent but a voluntary union between an inter-faith nuptial and the in-laws.
But according to the scrutiny of social media, the advertisement was a method of creative or soft terrorism. The withdrawal of this ad was the only resort for Tanishq. But to be honest, the only real disappointment that this bigotry caused is that it has decelerated the ‘Ekatvam’ campaign which tied up with 1,000 craftsmen across 15 cultures of India to launch a collection for the brand.
So what is wrong with it?
Indian society has some extremely adamant levels of endogamy when it comes to inter-faith or inter-caste marriages. This narrative of acceptance of cultures does not fit into the mainstream chronicle of irreconcilable differences and perpetual suspicions of motives of someone from a different community, especially Muslims. Although it is a sign of national unity, the idea of “love jihad” has been well-argued for the involvement of criminal elements.
“Love jihad” is the theory of possible demographic warfare by the means of interfaith marriages between Muslim men and Hindu women. Let’s delve into the reasoning of this theory and debunk the role it plays in this case along with some facts.
Powerful Intersection of Patriarchy and Communalism
The marriage of Hindu women into another community is considered a calamity and so is the case of Muslim women. It also evokes the deep-seated anxiety of a steady taking over of Hindu women and toppling the majority community through love and marriage. By this warped perception of taking control of a community’s women, one can conclude that a woman has no real choice but to remain shackled by the chains of “community honour”. So, a Hindu woman marrying a Muslim man is a religious victory that asserts Muslim dominance and vice-versa. This inherent sexism generally goes unnoticed.
2. A woman is reduced to her vagina.
According to this Love Jihad conspiracy theory, a Hindu woman is stereotypically docile and a Muslim man dangerous which gives rise to need of “vigilantism” to “protect” Hindu women from converting to Islam and bear more and more babies so as to propagate Islam.
Surprisingly, countering the dominant perception of the high Muslim fertility and perceived non-acceptance of a small family norm in Muslim families, the Census of 2011 took on to several parameters and recorded the difference in Total Fertility Rate (TFR) of Muslim women as 2.3 and 2.1 for Hindu women.
So, the epithet of “love jihad” is a bit loosely conceptualized. A woman’s acceptance in inter-religion marriages happens only when she carries the family’s heir? What is she? A set of ovaries or a vagina?
3. Conversion to Islam and Inheritance of Property
According to the SC ruling, the marriage of a Muslim man with an idolater or fire worshipper is irregular where the wife is entitled to get dower (Mehr) but is not entitled to inherit the property of the husband, though, the child born out of such marriages is entitled to inherit the property of the father. So, women usually find themselves in a dilemma and are forced to convert to Islam for financial security, at least in the lower middle classes and poor sects. The law is flawed and unjust on the part of women.
So What happens in real life?
The sad reality of such unions is that it is successful only in the middle class or the well-off upper-middle-class. You will come across a Rahul being murdered for having an affair with a Muslim girl daily, whereas the marriage of Sunil Dutt and Nargis will never bother you.
Mewat, in Haryana, was specifically known for the mingled Hindu-Muslim cultures where Muslims followed Hindu rituals, were gau-rakshaks and had Hindu names. An investigation report by a 4-member team headed by former Justice Pawan Kumar recently asserted that Mewat is gradually turning into a graveyard for Hindus and Dalits. The report confirmed the abduction and rape of Hindu women, the brutal killing of Hindus and thrashing of Dalit residents with impunity and forced religious conversions. Many activists have even called it- “mini-Pakistan”. Not to forget, this is the place where the radicalized Tablighi Jamaat originated.
This is what happens in real life.
What now?
Manipulation of truth and facts to propagate a false narrative as the more popular truth is a trademark of the Indian politics of our times. India’s “cancel culture” (same as putting boycott Chinese phones messages through Chinese phones) led to an ad with a beautiful message being withdrawn but the polarisation and the burden of secularism being levied on Hindu majority is a question that remains unanswered. The bigotry needs some serious debate.
Fifth Pillar - VIT 