The Curious Case of Dynasties in Democracy

By – Diya Ramani

“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. 

References

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228256474_The_Dynasty_Advantage_Family_Ties_in_Congressional_Elections

Click to access sid_dynasties_draft_29jan2019.pdf

Dynastic politics: BJP feeds the monster while claiming to spear it

https://blog.finology.in/recent-updates/rise-and-fall-of-rajapaksa-family

https://scroll.in/article/829588/most-political-parties-in-india-are-dynastic-but-some-are-more-dynastic-than-others

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-61411532

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-61295238

Kejriwal – A Man Of Systems

By – Jayishnu Agarwal

The Punjab elections gave India its most successful political startup, making its supremo Arvind Kejriwal one of the most influential and powerful people in India, leaving behind its opponents, clearly becoming the only one to be at least on the same track on its march to the finish line of the 2024 elections.

Kejriwal, an ex-Italian and civil servant, is one of the most educated and learned IItians in the country. He has worked in every system that exists and aspires to change the lives of people in this country, from corporate jobs to NGOs to policymaking. Arvind had been a part of every system, but his constant drive was to change the system. From his days in Parivartan to joining India against corruption, he has blatantly rallied against every political party and ideology and has had a phenomenal role in bringing the importance of the right to information to the public light. 

Arvind’s movement against corruption brought the entire country together, from politicians to writers, actors, businessmen, and even high-profile civil servants, rallying behind him, eventually bringing the Sheila Dixit government in Delhi down. He formed his own party that represented the plight of the common people and called it the Aam Aadmi Party to fight the Delhi elections. He claimed that his party would follow a democratic process, not make individuals into cult figures, promising to be grounded and not include corrupt people in the party, the one thing against which he fought and found his name popular among people. He promised to use the Maruti Wagon, a symbol of the middle class refusing to even have security. Eventually, he even won the elections and formed a government in coalition with the Congress, vowing to pass the Jan Lokpal bill that would make government officials accountable for their work, failing which he even resigned on a record day. He was loved by people for his integrity and was again unanimously elected with a thumping majority in the coming Delhi elections.

He suffered a huge setback when his party members, namely Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav, left the party, which later only cemented his place in the party as the party supremo. He became very popular among young people. His image of a learned, secular, and welfare-oriented administrator screamed for a change in the system that the young had long awaited. He began well, with his policy affecting the lives of the poorest of the poor. He aspired to make new schools and change the existing ones, including the happiness subject, for which he was appreciated across party lines. He seemed a little different from the other politicians who cared for the people and not a career politician who had joined politics to just raise his ranks.

However, things started changing as Kejriwal’s aspirations grew. It began with the onset of the 2017 Punjab elections. Kejriwal started doing things that every ordinary politician did, cemented his position in the party, and removed the rule that limited the number of times a member could be elected president. Next, he started promising things that were neither feasible for the economy nor able to be delivered. With this, he was stuck in a web of lies from which he never came out. He openly lied about the number of jobs delivered, and the number of buses installed, and also lied about the water supply facilities for which he had sold the dream. Even his closest friends in politics left him and were on record accusing him of escalating a riot in Punjab to win an election. 

In an interview, he went so far as to question the integrity of the RTI act. His politics now seemed to be that of a football match where he was just passing the blame and moving forward, playing the victim card time and again to gain public sympathy. He went so deep into vote bank politics that his image of a secular leader now seemed like that of a tourist agent offering free religious travel to the people of his state. After gaining complete control of the police in the state of Punjab, he started using his powers to threaten his opponents in the state of Delhi, misusing the public services as a private entity to silence his critics. So much irony for a person who has made his way up to criticising every other politician that has existed in the country. His party members were found guilty of rioting while he was outright defending them. Both the big riots that happened in Delhi in the last few years had AAP leaders at the helm of affairs while the party was still defending them.

The major problem I have with him is that he seemed like a change, a strong force in the political system that would change it forever, but now he seems like every other politician that has ever existed in the country; the same old people that have rotted the public system; a person who could go to any lengths for his personal gains. His actions have not only damaged his reputation but have made sure that no politician is born of a revolt against the system because of the living testimonials that he has provided. He has also crushed the hopes of every little youngster that wanted to join politics because of the dream they were sold off, and the idea that you could change India still remains a distant dream. Nevertheless, it has cemented the one belief that stands the test of time: that in India, politics is not for the common man and that the name “Aam Aadmi Party” is the biggest irony that has ever been in the modern politics of India. 

The Old City Of Ahmedabad, Segregation And History

By – T S Venkat Narayanan

Ahmedabad or Amdavad is a city in the western state of Gujarat and the only city in India to be listed on world heritage sites. It is also called the Manchester of the East, but funnily Kanpur is also called the same however Ahmedabad lost a lot of its mills to competition from other places due to which many had to shut down rendering around 40-50,000 people jobless.

I went to Ahmedabad for a few days some time ago and I just can’t shut up about it. The old city of Amdavad lies on the eastern bank of Amdavad and is a walled city with around 12 gates which don’t serve much of a purpose other than being landmarks and a few looking absolutely magnificent.

The eastern side is congested and cramped with small roads, with shops everywhere. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that everything one could buy with money could be bought in this part of the city. Clothes, pipes, toys, bicycles, diamonds- Old Ahmedabad has it all. 

There is a certain legend about the most bustling that a few centuries ago a woman was leaving the city in a hurry. When stopped at the gate by a guard and asked why she was leaving, she said   “I’m leaving your king’s kingdom. I cannot stay here anymore.” The guard a little confused, asked her to promise to him that she’ll stay where she is as he has to go and ask the king about what had to be done. The lady promises.

And the guard never comes back. He kills himself. That lady was Goddess Lakshmi and she never left the city. 

It is said if you have anything to sell and set up a stall or a shop, it would be sold within a day. Even if the thing is completely useless or devoid of value.

Teen Darwaza and the market around it. It stretches for a kilometre

The old city has the railway station at the heart of it, and various religious places sprinkled generously around it. Hindu and Jain temples and mosques all co-exist peacefully within a few 100 metres of each other. 

Hatheesing Temple

Swaminarayan Mandir

Jama Masjid

The city is incredibly religious and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that probably every street has its own temple or mosque. 

This begs the question – why did this city experience such violent communal riots in 2002?

The answer isn’t so simple. And the riots in 2002 weren’t the only ones it had seen in its history. The old city has been seeing communal violence for the past 300 years. Yes, even before coming under British rule the city which boasts of having the Sabarmati Ashram has experienced communal riots and has seen almost 100 riots since independence and this city has had the most deaths in such violence across the entire nation.

This leads to people of the different communities having distrust towards one another and also led to segregation. Segregation led to people becoming self-sufficient in themselves and finding it difficult to mix with people from other communities which leads to the mistrust between them deepening. This also leads to development of stereotypes for all sorts of people. And this makes it easier for more such communal violence to take place.

The green represents the density of Muslim population in Ahmedabad

And even in the Hindu areas, people prefer to live with people who belong to the same profession or caste. Such neighbourhoods are called pols. These neighbourhoods have usually 2 entrances/exits and some secret exits to be used in case of emergency or violence.

Around 40% of Ahmedabad comes under the Disturbed Areas Act which is very controversial. According to this law, a person cannot sell their house to a person from some other community without the approval of the district collector to ensure ‘the property has been sold on their free will and at a fair market price’. 

Even though the intent behind the law sounds good, it has been misused by some miscreants.

And what makes things worse is when the Chief Minister of Gujarat says  “A Hindu selling property to a Muslim is not okay. Muslims selling property to Hindus are also not okay.” He added, “We have set this rule in areas where there have been riots to tell them (Muslims) that they must buy property in their own areas.” 

Fortunately, the city hasn’t been through such violence for 20 years. But with the polarised and communalised environment, one can just pray for the best. Khushwant Singh writes in his 2003 novel ‘the end of India’- “…Gujarat’s capital, Ahmedabad, was built by a Muslim ruler in the middle ages. I noticed that milestones on the main highway leading to the city had dropped Ahmed from its name and made it into Amdavad.”

It is our duty to prevent this increasing communalisation that happens for political wins. 

One way this is done is through re-writing history, exaggerating specific facts and situations to make the community they are trying to appease, look wronged.

While new ideas emerge with time leading to us viewing the history through a different perspective, however, this cannot be equated with the kind of re-writing fascist groups do nowadays. This shall lead to cultures losing their identity and uniqueness. People brought up in such an environment develop a closed mind and shall not be open to new experiences, people and things.

Such loss of cultural heritage will also lead to monotony which is something that is not synonymous with our country at all.

And at this moment, M.K Gandhi’s quote stands more relevant than ever.

‘No culture can live if it attempts to be exclusive.’

Reforms the Government can inculcate

-by Vishakh Garg

I hope my readers are aware of what a government is, how it is elected, what are the duties and functions of a government and why it is an integral part of the nation. Conventionally, a government consists of 2 or more politically very strong unifications called parties. The parties try to diplomatically win over the support of the citizens of the nation. The side earning the maximum votes forms the union government. The new government now allocates different portfolios to varied leaders and regulates policies.
According to me, the highlighted drawback to this present system of Indian politics is the fact that many strong, educated, and logical leaders from the opposition side are at a loss which not only affects their credibility but also results in the depreciation of the post and the duties they would have undertaken. Under the pretext of Anti-Defection Law, a legislator can be disqualified under the scenario of defamation against their party also if they voluntarily decide to opt-out from the party itself. One can also be charged under the circumstances of noncompliance with the methodology or intentions of a party. Therefore, many progressive and challenging politicians are devoid of having an opinion of their own.
The stature of the particular portfolio assigned minister is questioned if he/she is competent enough to be designated or not. As citizens, we are not aware of the ministers and the post they will hold post-victory. Hence, because you call it deceptiveness or corruption, a lot of angst and disappointment is unleashed intra-borders.
An alternative outlook to this problem that I cater to is that instead of giving the power of decision to the residing government, the ministers should contest for a particular position. The candidature of the fellow candidates is out in the open for the nation to see and judge. It provides a level playing field for both the applicants to win over their mettle. Going further ado with my theory, I certainly feel that the whole concept of battling two or more parties is rigorous and lacks integrity. To become a Member of the Parliament, a minister must join either party. It does not matter whether he/she gels with the ideas of that particular party.
Another flaw that we generally overlook is that when a party fills in the government, only a few political leaders, especially those from the winning side, cuts. The other leaders, especially the worthy ones from the opposite side, are left with a per-say on any public matter. To cite an example, Shashi Tharoor, a member of the Parliament from the opposition side, is a very knowledgeable and skilled leader. Apart from his knack for writing and passion for the English language, which is often both appreciated and trolled, he is a commendable diplomat and had formerly held that portfolio. If he is given an equal opportunity as the current external affairs minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, he would prove his worth and be an efficient diplomat.
If you see the current finance minister, Mrs Nirmala Sitharam, is from an economic background, with being appointed as Assistant Economists in the Agricultural Engineers Association in the UK. Although she is highly educated and experienced in the field, some fiscal policies pressed upon by her were ineffective and baseless, which also received a massive backlash from the citizens. It was during her reign the GDP of the country went down from 6 to 5. Once in the lower house of the Parliament, Lok Sabha, she claimed to come from a background where they do not prefer Onion and garlic in their food, hinting that the rising prices do not affect her much. Coming back to the point, had a contest been held between 2 specific politicians irrespective of whether they belong to a particular party or not, she might not have been elected provided that the public knew about the regulations she would bring about.
My next debate is that one does not need to be in opposition if he/she is competing against a body or a single candidate. The current governing system does not give the opportunity, or even if it provides, there is misconduct in communication between the proposition and opposition that hampers the administration overall. Looking at the system as a whole, the motive of the opposition by default becomes to suppress the governmental policies to a large extent. The scope of the government shifted from welfare to soothing their own party member’s egos. The winning side of the elections should always welcome the ideas of the losing side with open arms. Inculcating this method, both sides will work to their full potential with no one feeling dejected or suppressed.
I hope that soon a tide of fresh and youthful minds sweeps the Parliament off their feet to fill in with a revolution of ideas. Many such young leaders already have the support to come forward to give the nation a new trajectory of thought-process it deserves by the masses.
Apart from this, I firmly feel there is a dire need for integrity and honesty in the flag bearers of the nation. Most of them lack these qualities. It is the mundane task to look into the newspaper in the morning and read about a politician caught in a scandal.
Therefore, to conclude the article in a crisp manner, I feel that an individual cannot bring the best out of them when they move in packs. When a minister represents a party, there are an innumerate amount of considerations one has to look into before taking a step. A leader, whichever rank he/she holds, of any nation or party, should always put the need of others first before themselves.

The man in white

-by Devika

It was a regular day. Just as normal as the other days. I came out of my house to meet my friends. But there was a commotion outside and people gathered around. So even I went to see what the commotion was about. It was the man in white. By the man in white I mean, the municipal chairperson. He always wears white kadhi, so I gave him that name. He came to interact with the locals. He goes to a different locality once every week. This week he came to my locality. You might think – why are the people so hyped up? Well, he is a bit different from other politicians we see these days. He made many changes in our municipality. He made our municipality the best in the entire state. He is all ears when people tell him their problems, so they were eager to meet him.

A man approached him and asked something, then he abruptly said “I want you to grab me by the collar and ask me – why aren’t you doing any development to my locality?” I wondered – what is wrong with him? Why is he saying such unusual things? Then the man in white continued, “But you have lost the right to ask me such things because you have sold your vote to me.” I was curious to know what his reply would be. Unsurprisingly, the man agreed that he sold his vote and added that he even took money from the other party. It got me thinking – what did he mean by ‘that statement?’ It was him who bought the votes by distributing money during the election campaign! Why is he making such statements now?

After racking my brain, I understood what he tried to convey by saying so. We do lose our right to ask or question our representatives when we sell our vote instead of casting our vote to those who are best qualified to govern us. Candidates who purchase votes consequently overturn the scale of evaluation – their purchasing power masks their inadequacies. He criticized that man for selling his vote. He wanted us to cast our vote genuinely without selling it or taking freebies from any political party even if we are in dire need of it. He wanted us to realize that our vote is not for sale, but it is there for us to select the best-qualified person to represent us and our interests.

The Alleged ‘Love Jihad’ Ordinance

Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religious Ordinance 2020 was recently passed by the state government in November. Before we delve deep into the provisions of this law, let us just take a moment and ponder upon the name of the ordinance. Does it mention any particular religion? No. Therefore, I strictly denounce the term ‘Love Jihad Ordinance’ that is being used frequently by various media houses and news channels. ‘Love Jihad’ is a theory which talks about how Muslim men abduct non-Muslim women and convert their religion forcefully. Since the alleged Love Jihad law scrutinizes forceful conversion to Hinduism as equally as Islam, I shall refrain from using this particular euphemism moving forward.

The proposed law defines punishment and fine under three major violations. Any activity leading to conversion by “misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement or by any fraudulent means” is penalised. Offenders can face a jail term of up to 5 years with a minimum fine of 15,000 rupees. Moreover, if the victim is a minor or a woman belonging to Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe, the punishment extends to 3-10 years in jail with a minimum fine of 25,000 rupees.

The second provision is that if forceful conversion takes place at a mass level, then the guilty would be charged with a jail term of 3-10 years with a minimum fine of 50,000 rupees. 

Lastly, the law says that a marriage will be declared null and void if the sole intention of marriage is to change the girl’s religion.

It is surprising that people are calling this law anti-muslim and discriminatory against inter-religion marriages. Neither does it target a specific community, nor does it criticise inter-religion marriages in general. Forceful religious conversion is a lived reality for many young girls, especially the poor. A report submitted to the state government last year stated many instances of forceful conversion in eastern and central UP. 

The law also requires couples to file 2 months prior notice to the District Magistrate before the change of religion. The only contention that I find with this law is that the burden of proof as to whether or not the conversion was effected through misrepresentation, force, undue influence, coercion, allurement, or by any other fraudulent means lies on the person who caused the conversion. This to an extent may cause a little nuisance and is thus ridiculous. We are yet to find out how difficult or easy it is to prove that forceful conversion did not take place. A recent marriage between a Muslim man and a Hindu woman was interrupted by officials. However, there was no arrest. The couple was asked to just postpone their marriage to 2 months from now and they obliged. Therefore, as far as the implementation of the new law is concerned, I am willing to give the UP government the benefit of doubt. 

REFERENCES:

https://www.livelaw.in/top-stories/breaking-up-governor-promulgates-uttar-pradesh-prohibition-of-unlawful-conversion-of-religion-ordinance-2020-166517

The Bihar Elections

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. 

Bigotry of the Majority

“Mazhab nahi sikhata, aapas mei bair rakhna”

-Mohammad Iqbal

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. 

1. 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. 

References:

These nine incidents since 2017 of rapes, abductions and forced conversions of Hindus characterises Haryana’s Mewat as “Mini-Pakistan”

https://scroll.in/article/975812/tanishq-fracas-offers-clarity-on-hindutva-definition-of-love-jihad-any-inter-faith-marriage

https://www.republicworld.com/business-news/india-business/tanishq-ad-created-a-movement-many-buying-products-to-make-point-a.html

How the Tanishq Advertisement Controversy Shows That We Live in Post-Truth Times

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/Undertheinfluence/moral-of-the-tanishq-ad-row-all-that-glitters-is-just-a-distraction/

Placebo and Politics

I am Upasana, a psychologist turned journalist. Before I start with what I want to say, let me explain where I come from. Every individual in my family is a government servant. Through my school, I learned psychology, pursued it in college, and became a psychotherapist in a private hospital. But after working in this field for 5 years, I decided to be a journalist in TOI, where I got a chance to put my college education to maximum use. All of us hear about journalists, politicians, actors who have been accused of spreading fake news and propaganda. I am not defending them, but let me tell you how this works in politics since I have had more interactions with politicians. It’s called the Placebo Effect. For the people who don’t know what that is, A placebo is a fake or sham treatment designed explicitly without any active element. A placebo can be given in the form of a pill, injection, or even surgery. Placebo is usually given to convince patients to think they are getting the real treatment. For example, let’s take a sample of a case that shook the nation, Sushant Singh Rajput and the Mystery around his death.

Well, do you know that the word mystery is going to be the foundation for this effect! These words act like firewood on which we are actually going to light the bonfire of misinformation and bias. As the initial report suggests, he had severe mental health issues, on which we are not going to pass any comment as that could be true. But when the case gained diminishes, and we started to come to terms with the death and started celebrating the artist’s work, the seed for propaganda was sown. A lawsuit was filed in Bihar, saying that SSR was murdered and can’t commit suicide. Now the word ‘can’t’ comes into play. These are the small firewoods that we fail to see while arranging the firewoods and even after lighting it, but this little firewood can keep the fire last longer than it’s supposed to. After setting all these woods, we light the fire by finding the perfect story. And is there a better story than a murder mystery? The fire blew up so high to the public’s hearts. Seeing this colossal bonfire from a distance comes our beloved Journalists, for a story with the right spice and perfect to be sold for a hefty amount. Little did we know that this fire was not of justice but was of agenda, sympathy votes, and greed. Now all of you are convinced that something good will come out of this and the hashtags trend. Now, this is the onset of placebo where belief overthrows facts. Now that more of these facts are brought back to light by many organizations, they act like the wind that puts  out the fire. As the fire is put off, the ashes are visible. Now there would definitely be some woods that aren’t appropriately burnt, currently taking up the spotlight. Now that’s how the placebo vanishes and reality seeps in. Thank you TEDx for this wonderful opportunity, and thank you so much for listening to me. 

DE-DOLLARISATION (RUSSIA CHINA FINANCIAL ALLIANCE)

China has been in the news since the beginning of the 2020 pandemic- the outbreak of COVID-19. It has been a focal point of hatred across the globe, being allegedly accused of having infected the globe with the Novel Coronavirus, still unknown whether deliberately or accidentally. 

Giving it tough competition, Russia made it to the headlines as a ray of hope in this pandemic when President Putin announced that Russia had successfully devised the vaccine for COVID-19. Sadly, the vaccine turned out to be a flop and the ray turned out to be ephemeral.

But this wasn’t the only hot update in the happenings of these two countries; another big update was the De-dollarisation: the Russia-China Financial Alliance.

De-dollarisation, by definition, is the holding of assets and liabilities, by residents, denominated in a foreign currency and is a policy concern in an increasing number of developing economies.

Now, what is the main intention behind it ? The major  intention for countries to do so is to position themselves in order to be less affected by U.S. financial sanctions. The global policies for de-dollarization include sharply reducing US debt holdings, dropping the US dollar’s status as an anchor currency. It also includes increasing non-dollar bulk commodity trade, growing the reserve of non-dollar currencies and ramping up gold’s edge against the dollar.

China and Russia, after talking for years, have finally decided to abandon the US dollar for real. This action has been in talks  for both the countries since 2014, when they began expanding economic cooperation following Moscow’s estrangement from the West over its annexation of Crimea. Thus replacement of the dollar in trade settlements became a necessity to sidestep U.S. sanctions against Russia. A major  reason for its emphasis on de-dollarization is that U.S. sanctions are extra-territorial and they target all companies using the U.S. dollar or operating stateside subsidiaries. Thus, avoiding reliance on the dollar is therefore seen as a way for Russia to bypass sanctions.

In the first quarter of 2020, the share of the dollar in trade between the countries had fallen below 50 percent for the first time. Now, after putting the plan into action, according to a Moscow Daily, the  share of dollars has dropped to 46 percent, dropping from whopping 75 percent in 2018. The 54 percent of non-dollar trade is made up of Chinese yuan (17%), the euro (30 %) and the Russian ruble (7 %).

Russia and China have now drastically cut their use of the dollar in bilateral trade spanning over the past several years. In 2015, approximately 90 percent of bilateral transactions were conducted in dollars. After the outbreak of the US-China trade war and a concerted push by both Moscow and Beijing to move away from the dollar, however, the figure had dropped to 51 per cent by 2019.

In January, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explained that Moscow is continuing with “its policy aimed at gradual de-dollarisation” and is looking into making deals in local currencies, wherever possible. Lavrov called the rejection of the greenback “an objective response to the unpredictability of US economic policy and the outright abuse by Washington of the dollar’s status as a world reserve currency.” Movement away from the dollar can also be seen in Russia’s trade with other parts of the world, such as the European Union. Since 2016, trade between Moscow and the bloc has been mainly in Euros, with the current share sitting at 46 percent. 

Since the 21st century began, many doubters of de-dollarisation have been holding that global de-dollarisation is still in its infancy.  In their opinion, markets are mainly dependent on the US dollar. But the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have triggered a faster de-dollarisation progress. Taking into account other countries’ diplomatic decisions and the market’s expectations for the US dollar, one can judge that the US can never form a strategic containment circle against China. 
China is confident in this.