Our Political Culture Does Not Encourage Us to Accept Mistakes
Karan Thapar thinks it is important to recognise Salman Khurshid’s recent admission that the Congress had Muslims’ blood on their hands, referring to the 1984 Sikh killings. Now will the other parties such as the BJP or even the AIADMK, BJD, RJD, PDP, TMC, CPM raise their hand and accept their lapses? He thinks not, he writes in Hindustan Times. But Thapar hopes they follow Khurshid’s suit, so that people’s respect for them increases and they are assured that their leaders have learnt from their mistakes.
When I interviewed Mr Modi in 2007, he claimed and I wrongly accepted, that the court’s comment was only obiter dicta. We were both wrong. Since then I’ve discovered the court’s criticism was part of one of its formal verdicts. In the judgement on the Zahira Habibulla H Sheikh vs State of Gujarat case, delivered on April 12, 2004 by Justices Doraiswamy Raju and Arijit Pasayat, the court wrote: “The modern day ‘Neros’ were looking elsewhere when Best Bakery and innocent children and helpless women were burning, and were probably deliberating how the perpetrators of the crime can be saved or protected.”
The Italian Precedent
Mukul Kesavan analyses two op-eds in support of the government's ‘Adopt a Heritage’ scheme – by Barkha Dutt in The Washington Post and Shekhar Gupta in The Print. Dutt and Gupta have argued that the state of heritage sites is so terrible that it can only be good to enlist private capital for their restoration and marketing.
Breaking down their arguments, Kesavan, in The Telegraph, accepts the point that ASI is very short on “money and imagination”, but at the same time points to the problematic fine print in the recent contract by the state to handover the Red Fort to Dalmia Bharat, a cement company, which could cause irreversible damage to one of the choicest gems of India’s history and culture.
Both writers seem to see critical reaction to the scheme as a desi liberal tic, a form of politically motivated outrage. It isn’t; the criticism is part of a necessary debate about how India’s past ought to be conserved and it doesn’t have to be political. It’s worth remembering that Tod’s’ agreement with the Italian ministry of culture and the Rome municipality was, according to the Financial Times, investigated by “Three separate institutions — the nation’s court auditor, the Rome magistracy and the antitrust authority.” And this is as it should be: the Colosseum defines Italy in the way in which the Taj or the Sun Temple or the Red Fort define aspects of India. Given that the Indian State, unlike its Italian counterpart, actually plans to hand these sites over to corporations for contracted lengths of time, public scrutiny and criticism should be at least as intense... unless, of course, we think of private capital as a libation, as a kind of ganga jal.
The BJP-PDP Alliance in Jammu and Kashmir May Not End, But it Should
Barkha Dutt confesses she was wrong to be hopeful about the potential of the BJP-PDP alliance in Jammu & Kashmir. Writing for Hindustan Times, Dutt says that she had hoped that “the welding of muscular nationalism and soft separatism have a salutary effect on each other to create a moderate whole,” but has been repeatedly proven wrong with both sides of the alliance being on different pages on all key issues (the Kathua rape and murder of a child, talks with Pakistan, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, cases against stone pelters, dialogue with separatists, and so on).
Instead of nurturing a middle ground, this “bizarre coalition” has only emboldened the divide between the Hindu-dominated Jammu and the Muslim-dominated Kashmir valley, Dutt observes.
This need by both parties to play to entirely separate constituencies is one of the reasons that as soon as the media gaze was averted from the Kathua rape and murder, the BJP actually doubled down on the issue. The national outrage had compelled the party to remove two state ministers who had attended a rally of the self-proclaimed Hindu Ekta Manch in defence of the men accused of the rape. But, perhaps facing a backlash from its more hardline base in the Jammu region (that appears to have bought the manufactured, false and aggressively peddled narrative that all Hindus are being vilified), the BJP quietly elevated the Kathua MLA, Rajiv Jasrotia, who had attended the same rally, to the position of minister. The government’s new deputy chief minister then spoke of Kathua being a “small incident”. Neither development seemed coincidental. The BJP had quietly shifted into electoral gear.
Out of My Mind: A Milestone
Meghnad Desai contextualises and pens his thoughts, in The Indian Express, on a recent news you might have missed: In April 2018, Sajid Javid, the British-born son of immigrant parents of Pakistani origins, became the Home Secretary of the UK. Desai narrates how a racist campaign, first initiated in the Theresa May government, led to the appointment of the first non-White person as a Minister in the British Cabinet, thanks to a vigilant fourth estate and an active Parliament. Indian parliamentarians should try it sometimes, Desai suggests.
The Guardian story was dynamite. Questions were asked of Home Secretary Amber Rudd in the House of Commons about the truth of the story. Was there a target list of undesirables to be expelled in the files of Home Office? Was there a hostile culture towards the Afro-Caribbean residents of UK? She tried to fob off the criticism, said there was no such campaign or that she did not know. Further news leaks from her office published by The Guardian sunk her and finally on April 29 she resigned. A crusading newspaper and an active vigilant Parliament can bring about radical change. Indian parliamentarians should try it some time. It is better than rushing to the Well of the Lok Sabha. Thus out of an anti-immigration campaign which smacked of old-style racism comes the milestone appointment of the first non-White Home Secretary.
Across the Aisle: State Election, Nation-Wide Effect
P Chidambaram in The Indian Express breaks down why the stakes are the highest for the BJP in the upcoming Karnataka elections as compared to the JD(S) and the Congress. He starts by explaining why Modi won’t have the same charm as he does in Gujarat and then goes onto explain, with detailed statistics in tow, how CM Siddaramaiah has ensured some excellent governance with unemployment on the decline, a low fiscal deficit and a high Gross Domestic State Produce and social sector expenditure.
Karnataka is a great opportunity for the voters who are concerned about the slide in the governance of the country. Among them are the Dalits, the minorities, women, and the liberal and secular, but proud, Hindus. Among them are those who were worst affected by demonetisation and those who continue to be affected by a flawed GST. Among them are the first-time voters of 2014 who were lured by the promise of jobs and were thoroughly disillusioned when told to ‘go and fry pakoras’. Will they push back against a growing political culture of ignorance, intolerance, bigotry and violence, and the willingness of the BJP’s leadership to ‘normalise’ such behaviour? Intuitively, I think those voters constitute the majority, but that will be known only on May 15, 2018.
Three Things Karl Marx Got Mostly Right
Ramachandra Guha shares with us his treasure trove of knowledge in his piece on three ideas of Karl Marx that have endured time and remain relevant even today, in Hindustan Times.
Guha explains each concept in his characteristically simplistic style: how social conflict is a major motive in human history, that technology plays a major role in shaping social life, and Marx’ perspectives on the atrocities committed by the East India Company in India – as a moralist and then contradictorily, as a historian.
The moralist in Marx was appalled at the amoral behaviour of the British in India. Yet the historian in Marx saw some positive (if inadvertent) consequences of alien rule. As he wrote: ‘England, it is true, in causing a social revolution in Hindustan, was actuated only by the vilest interests, and was stupid in her manner of enforcing them. But that is not the question. The question is, can mankind fulfil its destiny without a fundamental revolution in the social state of Asia? If not, whatever may have been the crimes of England she was the unconscious tool of history in bringing about that revolution’.
Fifth Column: Between Myth and History
Tavleen Singh, by her admission, tries to stay away from writing about Kashmir, but a recent Twitter war with “Kashmiri pundits and Hindutva types” resulted in a floodgate of violent abuse against her after she blamed Jagmohan for the infamous exodus of the Pundits from the valley. She also realised that the dominant narrative on the social media platform was based not of facts but myth and rumour such as the ISI was responsible for the exodus! So, she has broken her self-imposed vow and has taken to her column in The Indian Express to set the record straight about one of “India’s most shameful chapters”.
There is no question that Pakistan and the ISI are now fully involved in spreading jihadist violence in the valley, but they did not create the problem. It was created by mistakes made by Indian prime ministers. Mistakes continue to be made today. Narendra Modi could have started with a clean slate and written a new policy in which the emphasis should be on developing Ladakh and Jammu. These two regions continue to pay for the follies of the valley.
How Trump Is Winning
Ross Douthat, writing for The New York Times acknowledges that March and April have been one of the good phases for Donald Trump in the White House, since he became President (“allowing for the low bar”). His political ratings have improved, unemployment has gone down and Trump is claiming credit for the landmark summit which ended with North Korea and South Korea deciding to end their infamous war. All, this, despite still being embroiled in major controversies and being under investigation in multiple cases. However, Douthat has an idea on what might be a salient and significant reason for Trump seemingly “winning”.
But if the economy and foreign policy have boosted the president’s fortunes, the most important boost may be coming from inside his own party, in the form of the totally nonexistent agenda that congressional Republicans have put forward since the tax bill passed.That nonexistence is, of course, an indictment of the GOP, but politically it’s vastly preferable to the deeply unpopular legislation that the Republicans might otherwise be pursuing, if they were to reattempt Obamacare repeal or pursue some other item from the zombie-Reaganite playbook.
Inside Track: No Longer Friendly
Here with your dose on the latest happenings within the hallowed halls of the Indian Parliament is Coomi Kapoor in The Indian Express. Look out for details on a miffed US giving India a slap on the wrist, Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu claiming that the Telugu Desam Party helped oust the British (it did not even exist then!) and BJP sidelining Yeddyurappa’s son so that they have clean hands when they accuse the Congress of dynastic politics in the upcoming Karnataka elections.
The CAATS (Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions) Act signed by US President Donald Trump this year has worried the Indian government, since it threatens sanctions against those nations which deal with countries considered enemies of the US, namely Russia, Iran and North Korea. The Act will impact India, which has extensive defence and energy dealings with Russia. Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale met his American counterparts in February to ask that an exception be made for India. Ironically, the Bill in the US Congress was introduced by California Congressman Ed Royce, who is hailed as a ‘friend of India’ and one of the founders of the Indo-US Caucus. It appears Royce’s fondness for India vanished after the Indian government questioned the foreign funding of an NGO, Compassion International, which provided nutrition and education for the poor in Tamil Nadu. Despite petitions from Royce and other Americans and an article in The New York Times, the Indian government refused to take the NGO off its black list. And, it eventually shut shop in India.
Bonus: Karl Marx 2.00
A precious read to add to your weekend reading session is Nobel Prize laureate and intellectual par excellence Amartya Sen’s piece on what we can learn from Karl Marx on the occasion of his 200th birth anniversary. Writing for The Indian Express, Sen touches upon some of the underrated and under-explored ideas in Marx’s corpus of work and how they may give significant insights into the workings of our increasingly divided society. “Paying attention to Marx maybe more important than paying him respect,” Sen ends characteristically.
How should we think about Karl Marx on his 200th birthday? His big influence on the politics of the world is universally acknowledged, though people would differ on how good or bad that influence has been. But going beyond that, there can be little doubt that the intellectual world has been transformed by the reflective departures Marx generated, from class analysis as an essential part of social understanding, to the explication of the profound contrast between needs and hard work as conflicting foundations of people’s moral entitlements. Some of the influences have been so pervasive, with such strong impact on the concepts and connection we look for in our day-to-day analysis, that we may not be fully aware where the influences came from. In reading some classic works of Marx, we are often placed in the uncomfortable position of the theatre-goer who loved Hamlet as a play, but wondered why it was so full of quotations.
Also Read:
A 3rd Generation AMU Alumna Mourns Attack on Jinnah & Secularism
Delhi’s Unauthorised Colonies: A Tale of Neglect, Since 1931
Congress’ ‘Deal’ With PFI Allows BJP To Polarise Karnataka Polls
Karl Marx @ 200: No Dear Capitalism, He’s Not Irrelevant Yet
Opposition Unity Not Easy to Achieve, But Cong Likely to Lead It
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