SECULARISM, DEMOCRACY, HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

INSAF Bulletin 248 December 2022
Founding Editor: Daya Varma (1929-2015)
Editors: Vinod Mubayi (New York) and Raza Mir (New Jersey).
Editorial Board: Ram Puniyani and Irfan Engineer (Mumbai); Pervez Hoodbhoy (Islamabad); Dolores Chew (Montreal); Vamsi Vakulabharanam (Amherst); Ajay Bhardwaj (Vancouver).
Circulation/website: Feroz Mehdi (On behalf of Alternatives, Montreal).

EDITORIAL: DOES COP STAND FOR “CONFESSION OF POWERLESSNESS?”

Vinod Mubayi

Another COP (COP27, Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to give its full title) held in Egypt, has come and gone leaving, well, nothing much behind. The facts behind the warming of the Earth by greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide and methane due to combustion of fossil fuels have been known for many decades. An average global warming of 1.1 degree Celsius over pre-industrial age temperatures has been observed and this rise is already causing severe disruptions in weather in many places.

PULLED APART: HOW DECADES OF SOUTH ASIAN UNITY UNRAVELLED IN LEICESTER

Sukant Chandan

Though the city of Leicester has had a recent history of ethnic animosity, the ferocity with which it descended into a maelstrom of communal violence in September caught the police, the press and local community leaders off guard. It started with a brief clash between cricket fans after a match on 28 August, though many could write that off as a common enough occurrence. But a sense of unease remained for the next few weeks, with The Guardian reporting seven communal disturbances in east Leicester.

WHAT LULA’S WIN MEANS FOR THE OPPOSITION TO MODI

Jishnu Dasgupta

A bit more than two years into the first term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prakash Karat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) raised quite a storm in the teacup. He argued that the Bharatiya Janata Party, under Modi, while “rightwing authoritarian”, was not “fascist”. The reason, said Karat, was that the conditions of Indian capitalism were not ripe for fascism.

DID ISRAELI DIRECTOR NADAV LAPID REALLY ABUSE INDIA’S HOSPITALITY WITH HIS ‘KASHMIR FILES’ CRITIQUE?

Suraj Gogoi

Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid’s criticism of the Vivek Agnihotri’s The Kashmir Files as “a propaganda, vulgar movie” at the closing ceremony of the International Film Festival of India in Goa on Monday drew several sharp reactions – including a bristling response from his compatriot Naor Gilon, the Israeli ambassador to India.

A STADIUM MURAL CELEBRATED MIGRANT WORKERS. WHEN THE WORLD CUP BEGAN, IT WAS GONE

Tariq Panja

The giant mural with thousands of faces was certainly an arresting feature for visitors of Qatar’s showpiece stadium in the months leading to the World Cup.

PAKISTAN ON THE BOIL AS FORMER PM IMRAN KHAN TAKES ON THE ‘DEEP STATE’

John Cherian

Pakistan, already reeling from unprecedented floods, is now beset with another serious political crisis triggered by the Election Commission’s decision to bar former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who heads the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), from contesting the next election.

THE RUBBLE: WHAT WAS LOST IN THE BABRI MASJID DEMOLITION, THIRTY YEARS AGO, AND WHAT REMAINS

Seema Chishti

IN 1992, I worked as a correspondent for Eyewitness, a monthly video newsmagazine owned by Hindustan Times TV. The senior journalist Karan Thapar was the show’s executive producer. Our team had been covering Uttar Pradesh regularly, and I had visited the Babri Masjid in July.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CLASS?

Vivek Chibber

[This essay was first published in April 2008, based on a paper published by the writer in the December 2006 issue of the journal Critical Asian Studies.]

EDITORIAL: COM KUMAR SHIRALKAR PASSES AWAY

Vinod Mubayi

From time to time, the Insaf Bulletin’s editorial column pauses its review and analysis of current events to focus on the lives of recently departed progressive South Asian comrades whose work greatly enriched their academic, social, or cultural community in many ways. In March 2022, we paused to remember our comrades Sudheer Bedekar and Aijaz Ahmad who passed away then.

MODI LED BJP GOVT HAS MADE INDIA THE HUNGER HOTSPOT OF THE WORLD

The Global Hunger Index 2022, released on October 13, shows that India’s rank in the world has slipped further – from 101 last year to 107 this year – in terms of this important indicator of conditions of hunger and malnutrition.

RISING HUNGER, GROWING POVERTY

Prabhat Patnaik

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) for 2022 recently came out, showing India occupying the 107th position among the 121 countries for which the index is prepared (countries where hunger is not a noteworthy problem are left out of the index). India’s score on the hunger index is 29.1 which is worse than the score of 28.2 it had in 2014. (The lower the figure the less is hunger).

AVTAR SINGH JOUHL (1937 – 2022): BELOVED COMRADE – OBITUARY

Paul Mackney

On Tuesday morning, 10 October, a large and loud gathering of UCU strike pickets, outside South and City College Birmingham, stopped their singing, chanting, blowing of whistles and vuvuzelas to observe a minute’s silence.

‘HUMANS BEFORE HINDUS OR MUSLIMS,’ SAY MEN WHO SAVED LIVES DURING DURGA IDOL IMMERSION IN BENGAL

Astha Savyasachi

While in Gujarat, cops were seen thrashing Muslim men over an alleged attack on a Garba event, in Bengal, three Muslim men risked their lives to save around 30 people from drowning in flash floods.

EAGLES AND SHARKS: FINANCIAL IMPERIALISM IN PAKISTAN AND SRI LANKA

Hashim bin Rashid

Sri Lanka and Pakistan today face the largest economic crisis in their histories. Domestic currencies appear on the verge of collapse, import bans have been announced, and inflation is at an all-time high as indicated by spikes in fuel and food prices.

THE UNMISSABLE MAINSTREAMING OF THE HINDU RIGHT’S HATE FOR MUSLIMS

Dhirendra K Jha

Just about a fortnight before Bharatiya Janata Party MP Parvesh Verma’s call for a “total boycott” of “these people,” a sinister anti-Muslim message emerged from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Nagpur headquarters.

NEOLIBERAL DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES: HEGEMONY AND THE MIDDLE CLASS IN PAKISTAN

Umair Javed

Book Review: The Struggle for Hegemony in Pakistan: Fear, Desire and Revolutionary Horizons by Aasim Sajjad Akhtar, Pluto Press, 2022; pp 192.

BATTERED BY FLOODS AND TRAPPED IN DEBT, PAKISTANI FARMERS STRUGGLE TO SURVIVE

Christina Goldbaum and Zia ur-Rehman

NAWABSHAH, Pakistan — The young woman waded into the waist-deep floodwater that covered her farmland, scouring shriveled stalks of cotton for the few surviving white blooms. Every step she took in the warm water was precarious: Her feet sank into the soft earth. Snakes glided past her. Swarms of mosquitoes whirred in her ears.

EDITORIAL: COMMUNAL RUMBLINGS AMONG DIASPORIC SOUTH ASIANS REFLECTS THE GROWTH OF HINDUTVA WITHIN INDIA AS MINORITY MUSLIMS ARE INCREASINGLY TARGETED BY THE MODI REGIME

Vinod Mubayi

The reported communal riots in the town of Leicester in the UK are, at one level, an ugly manifestation of the Hindu-Muslim squabbles that have bedeviled the subcontinent for many years. What happened at Leicester and why and who was responsible will be established after the UK police enquiry is complete. Meanwhile the familiar, banal reasons were cited: tensions among rival fans after an India-Pakistan cricket match, and petty fights and ethnic slurs in public areas. These were followed by reports of attacks on a temple and a mosque.

PUCL CONDEMNS THE MASS RAIDS, THE ARRESTS OF PFI LEADERSHIP AND CADRE AND THE BAN ON THE PFI

V. Suresh, General Secretary PUCL

The PUCL is deeply concerned about the implications for democracy and the constitutional rights of freedom of speech and association in the light of the ongoing `Operation Octopus’ which is being carried out against the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliates, across the country as a joint operation of the CRPF, the home ministry, ATS, NIA, ED, RAW, State police, and other agencies.

THE MODI-ADANI TANGO: UNPRECEDENTED CONCENTRATION OF POWER AND WEALTH

Editorial in ‘Liberation’

On 16 September, the day before the 72nd birth anniversary of Narendra Modi, his closest capitalist friend Gautam Adani had briefly become the world’s second richest person according to Forbes’ Real Time Billionaires List before being pushed back to the third position.

REMEMBER BHAGAT SINGH FOR HIS IDEAS AND VISION

S Irfan Habib

Bhagat Singh was born on 28 September 1907. We know him as a martyr and a nationalist par excellence but, lately, we have also learnt of his intellectual capabilities as a young man. Some of my own efforts have helped to unravel his intellectual evolution through his writings, many of which have surfaced during the past few decades.

IN INDIA, DEBUNKING FAKE NEWS AND RUNNING INTO THE AUTHORITIES

Suhasini Raj

Alt News, an independent website, has emerged as a leading debunker of misinformation in the nation, but highlighting hate speech against minorities has put it on a collision course with the government.

UNPACKING THE FLOODS IN PAKISTAN: ON ROOT CAUSES, CHALLENGES AND GAPS IN STATE CAPACITY

Interview with Dawar Butt

On 25 August, Pakistan declared a state of emergency due to flooding, which has been described as among the worst in the country’s history.

HOW DEMOLITIONS ARE DEEPENING THE DESPAIR OF INDIA’S POOR

Aishwarya Ayushmaan and Anagha Jaipal

Two decades ago, when six-year-old Reena returned to her basti (informal settlement) in Manglapuri, Delhi after attending school, she couldn’t find her home. Frantically, she searched around for half an hour until she found her mother.

IN A FIRST STUDY OF PAKISTAN’S FLOODS, SCIENTISTS SEE CLIMATE CHANGE AT WORK

Raymond Zhong

Pakistan began receiving abnormally heavy rain in mid-June, and, by late August, drenching downpours were declared a national emergency. The southern part of the Indus River, which traverses the length of the country, became a vast lake.

TESTING TRANSNATIONAL LABOUR SOLIDARITY IN THE LABORATORY OF BANGLADESH

Nafisa Tanjeem

The contemporary global supply chains have taken the art of exploiting labour to serve the purpose of the elites of both the center and the periphery of the global capitalist system to a whole new level.

THE ‘NEW’ INDIA: A POLITICAL-ECONOMIC DIAGNOSIS

Pranab Bardhan

The preamble to the Constitution of India affirms the solemn resolve of its people to found a ‘socialist, secular, democratic republic’.footnote1 Today, on the 75th anniversary of the country’s Independence, it is plainly neither socialist nor secular—nor, one could well argue, democratic.

EDITORIAL: INDIA’S JUSTICE SYSTEM IN THE MODI ERA MAKES ONE WEEP AS IT TURNS INTO ANOTHER ARM OF THE GOVERNMENT

Vinod Mubayi

The last couple of months have witnessed several self-goals by India’s top judiciary at least as far as elementary or natural justice is concerned. First there was the denial, rubbishing would be a more accurate description, of the Zakia Jafri petition by a Supreme Court panel headed by Justice Khanwilkar. Mrs. Jafri’s husband, ex-Member of Parliament Ehsan Jafri, was brutally killed by a mob in Ahmedabad in the Gujarat pogrom of 2002 as police stood by doing nothing, despite frantic calls to the political establishment including then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

THE 3RD DR. ASGHAR ALI ENGINEER MEMORIAL LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD WAS CONFERRED ON PROF. ABDUS SATTAR DALVI: A BRIEF REPORT OF THE CEREMONY

Mithila Raut and Neha Dabhade

“Prof. Abdus Sattar Dalvi has contributed significantly in bringing the Urdu speaking and Marathi speaking communities closer by translating Marathi literary gems into Urdu. Especially by translating the works of Marathi saint poets, Prof. Dalvi has promoted better understanding and peaceful co-existence between different communities”, said Prof. Indra Munshi, former head of the department of Sociology at Mumbai University and a reputed scholar.

COMMENTS ON “THE PARTITION AT 75”: DISCUSSION ORGANIZED BY OPP, THE NETHERLANDS

[On Sunday, 28 August 2022, a major discussion on zoom was hosted by the Organization of Progressive Pakistanis (OPP), Netherlands, in which socially engaged scholars, two of Pakistani origin, Ishtiaq Ahmed and Pervez Hoodbhoy and two of Indian origin, Rajmohan Gandhi and Harsh Mander, spoke in a panel discussion on the 75 years of Partition and its long shadows which continue to haunt relations between the two states of India and Pakistan. We provide below the text of the opening remarks of Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi. – Eds.]

BANGLADESH: THE NEXT FRONTIER

Nafis H

With the climate crisis looming large on the horizon, Bangladesh must confront imperialist powers, old and new, to ensure its survival.

PAKISTAN HIT BY DEADLY FLOODS OF ‘EPIC PROPORTIONS’

Austin Ramzy

Devastating floods have surged across Pakistan, overflowing riverbanks and bridges, inundating houses and fields and killing more than 100 people this weekend, officials said late Saturday.

UNDER THE THUMB: A NEW LEGISLATION EXPANDS THE INDIAN GOVERNMENT’S SURVEILLANCE POWERS

Bindu Doddahatti and Ameya Bokil

By March 2021, the National Crime Records Bureau—the apex body maintaining crime- and criminal-related databases—had a record of eight million fingerprints in its National Automated Fingerprint Identification System.

THE IMPORTANCE OF ANAND TELTUMBDE’S THOUGHTS IN A REPUBLIC OF CASTE

MS Sriram

As an email circulates to support a campaign to name Professor Anand Teltumbde in the list of world’s top thinkers to be listed in Prospect magazine, it is time to take note of his important work: Republic of Caste (2018) and put it in perspective.

THE WOUNDS OF REMISSION: THE RELEASE OF BILKIS BANO’S TORMENTERS PUTS A QUESTION MARK ON THE PROVISION OF REMITTING THE CONVICTS

EPW Editorial

Eleven persons convicted for gang rape and murder who were sentenced to life imprisonment were prematurely released on 15 August 2022. The garlands and sweets offered to these convicted prisoners after their release by right-wing activists only bring back the memory of the crimes committed in the Gujarat riots of 2002.

INDIAN WORKERS DEFEND THEIR STEEL WITH THEIR LIVES

Vijay Prashad

Dear friends,

Greetings from the desk of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.

EDITORIAL: DESTROYING DEMOCRACY AND SOCIETY IN THE WORLD’S OLDEST AND LARGEST DEMOCRACIES; HOW COMPLICIT IS THE JUDICIARY?

Vinod Mubayi

It is a trope of democratic politics that toleration of dissenting opinions and the promotion of a broad vision of societal welfare are a hallmark of democracy. These goals are enshrined in democratic constitutions that function as the pillar of democratic governance.

BY UPHOLDING PMLA, SC PUTS ITS STAMP ON KAFKA’S LAW

Pratap Bhanu Mehta

We should be grateful that the Supreme Court of India has in Vijay Madanlal Choudhary and Ors versus Union of India, which challenged the constitutionality of certain provisions of the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act), laid bare the true character of the Indian state.

SRI LANKA’S DUAL CRISIS: ETHNIC CONFLICT & THE DEBT ECONOMY

Nalika Gajaweera

“Except for the home crowd cheering for our national team at an international cricket match, it was the first time I was seeing Sri Lankans united together for the same cause”, said a Sri Lankan friend as she recounted the first days of the 2022 protests calling for the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapakse.

INDIAN POLITICS HAS A CLEAR GENDER IMBALANCE. THAT’S WHY WE NEED THE WOMEN’S RESERVATION BILL

Fauzia Khan

Politics has long been a male bastion in which women have yet to gain an equal footing. Even when women leaders overcome significant obstacles to enter electoral politics, they are continuously discouraged by misogynistic attitudes and character assassination.

THE PAKISTAN AND IMF TALKS: WHAT LIES AHEAD?

Ankit Singh

The story so far: On July 14, the staff-level talks between Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded for the seventh and eighth review under Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

HINDU RASHTRA OST: THE HINDUTVA POP SINGERS FUELLING A POLITICS OF HATE

Samriddhi Sakunia

DURING RAM NAVAMI processions in April this year, communal violence broke out in several states across India. In almost all cases, there was a similar pattern. Hindu mobs entered Muslim neighbourhoods, wielding swords and sticks, shouting communal slogans and playing loud music.

WILL GANATANTRA MANCHA BE THE ANTIDOTE TO THE BANGLADESHI POLITICAL IMPASSE?

Anupam Debashis Roy

In Bangladesh, the preparations for the next elections have already started. Although the election is more than a year away, slated to be held in December 2023, the parties seem to already be preparing for it in their own ways.

DRIVEN BY COMPULSIONS AND A RECIPE FOR DISASTER: THE AGNIPATH SCHEME

Ghazala Wahab

Far from being driven by a vision for the reform of the armed forces, the Agnipath scheme is an outcome of compulsions born out of severe financial and strategic shortcomings.

EMINENT CANADIANS DEEPLY CONCERNED ABOUT DIMINISHING DEMOCRACY IN INDIA

21 July 2022

Over 50 eminent Canadians, deeply concerned about diminishing democracy in India, signed letters to the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India, N.V. Ramana, requesting the immediate release of Teesta Setalvad, well-known Indian human rights defender and journalist, and R.B. Sreekumar, a police officer of great integrity.

EDITORIAL: BULLDOZER BRUTALITY IS ANOTHER STEP INTO A NAZI-STYLE FASCIST ABYSS; WHERE ARE THE COURTS AND JUDICIARY?

Vinod Mubayi

We have seen this movie before. What has been happening in various towns of UP and MP over the last two months is a re-run of Nazi Germany of the 1930s. There is a pattern here in the intimidation and violence wreaked mainly on religious minorities and also low caste Dalits that is hard to ignore.

STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF TEESTA SETALVAD, RB SREEKUMAR & OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS IN INDIA

We the undersigned, concerned citizens of the world, and representing various human rights organizations, condemn the arrest of veteran human rights leader, Teesta Setalvad and other Human Rights Defenders. These are Prisoners of Conscience in India, and all such prisoners must be freed.

CONDEMNED BY INNUENDO: SOME QUESTIONS ON THE SC ORDER THAT LED TO TEESTA SETALVAD’S ARREST

Madan B. Lokur

Did the Supreme Court intend or suggest that Teesta Setalvad should be arrested? Whatever your answer, the implications are horrendous. The reference is, of course, to the recent judgment in the appeal filed by Zakia Ahsan Jafri.

FACEBOOK POST IN HINDI ON TEESTA SETALVAD ARREST BY AMIT RAI ON JUNE 26

Teesta Setalvad has been arrested by the Gujarat ATS (Anti-Terrorist Squad). She will be brought to court by the ATS after twenty-four hours. The court will remand Teesta to police custody for ten days. Her lawyers will be frantically filing applications in various courts. They will also make desperate attempts to move the Supreme Court.

MOHAMMED ZUBAIR’S ARREST IS AN INVERSION OF JUSTICE

Pratap Bhanu Mehta

The arrest of journalist Mohammed Zubair in Delhi is pettiness, vengeance and repression let loose on a society once aspiring to be free. It is also a distillation of the way in which the Narendra Modi government draws energy from a thorough contempt for liberty, decency, constitutional values, and the opinion of the international community.

SC JUDGMENT ON ZAKIA JAFRI’S PLEA SEEKS TO INVERT THE BINARY OF VICTIM AND DEFENDER

Syeda Hameed

I am an eyewitness to the direct accounts of immense loss of life and horrific atrocities committed 20 years ago in Gujarat. Survivors Speak: How the Gujarat Carnage Affected Muslim Women is the title of the report which appeared two months after the carnage, written by six women, including me.

FROM ALPA SHAH’S BOOK, NIGHTMARCH: AMONG INDIA’S REVOLUTIONARY GUERRILLAS: SOME QUESTIONS FOR THE WORLD REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT

Alpa Shah: Le livre de la jungle insurgée. Plongée dans la guérilla Naxalite en Inde. Préface de Naïké Desquesnes, éditrice, Editions de La dernière lettre, 2022

UDAIPUR MURDER: THE EXECUTIONER’S STRATEGY

Pratap Bhanu Mehta

The savage execution of Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur will deepen the darkest forebodings about India’s future. It is important to name this gruesome act for what it is, without aestheticising it. It was an execution and not a murder. Murders are horrible. But this act was far more sinister. It enacted the logic of execution.

WHY IS IMRAN KHAN DANGEROUS FOR PAKISTAN’S DEMOCRACY?

Benazir Jatoi

Imran Khan lost the parliamentary Vote of No Confidence (VNC) on 10th April, after almost four years as prime minister. The constitutional right of the opposition to bring this vote is not new to our political system, having been introduced against most sitting prime ministers in the past. Yet this is the only time it has been successful by 174 votes out of 342.

FIGHTING FOR FAIR: LANDMARK VICTORIES SHOW THE GROWING STRENGTH OF THE MOVEMENT FOR CASTE EQUITY IN THE UNITED STATES

Thenmozhi Soundararajan

I remember my first Zoom call with Prem Pariyar in the summer of 2020. Ruvani Fonseka, one of his professors at California State University, East Bay, had reached out on his behalf to Equality Labs, the Dalit civil-rights organisation that I run, to suggest we work together. Pariyar told his story while his children giggled and played behind him.

EDITORIAL: DEMONS FROM THE MOGHUL PAST AND BULLDOZERS FROM ITS PRESENT KEEP COUNTRY ON A BOIL: WHY DOES THE GODI (LAPDOG) MEDIA IGNORE THE GHOSTS OF THE BUDDHIST ERA?

Vinod Mubayi and Waheed Mukaddam

The weaponization of the masjid-mandir controversies now erupting all over north India appear to be Hindutva’s strategy to keep the country on a continuous boil until the next round of elections –state or national. The Gyanvapi mosque imbroglio has been quickly followed by the Krishnajanambhoomi-Shahi Idgah rift in Mathura as if following the script of the slogan “Ayodhya toh sirf jhanki hai/Kashi Mathura baaki hai” [Ayodhya is only a trailer; Kashi and Mathura still remain]. that was popularized by the foot soldiers and vandals of Hindutva who demolished the Babri mosque in Ayodhya in 1992.

INDIA: DELHI MUNDKA FACTORY FIRE STATEMENT BY WORKING PEOPLES’ COALITION

On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City burned, killing 146 workers, all of them young women. It is remembered as one of the most infamous incidents in American industrial history, as the deaths were largely preventable–most of the victims died as a result of neglected safety features and locked doors within the factory building.

A GRIM STATE OF THE NATION REPORT

Namit Arora

India is on a sinister path, much darker than most worried citizens foresaw in 2014. Things have gone downhill rather fast. So what do I see as the near-term outlook (5-7 years) for India? I offer my provisional thoughts. I hope I’m wrong.

TRIBUTE TO NEHRU VIA SAHIR

Ishtiaq Ahmed

27 may marked the 58th death anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru (died 1964). As the first elected prime minister of India Nehru proved to be the visionary who consolidated the secular, pluralist ethos of the Freedom Struggle, which is now under threat from Hindu majoritarian nationalism.

INDIA: ANNUAL GOVERNANCE REVIEW REPORT ‘PROMISES AND REALITY, 2021-22 (YEAR THREE OF THE NDA II)

(Courtesy SACW)

“Promises & Reality 2021-22: Citizens’ Report on the Year Three of the NDA II Government,” is a collective work by eminent members and organisations of the Indian civil society.

COMMUNAL VIOLENCE IN KODERMA (JHARKHAND)

Irfan Engineer

The Ram Navmi procession passed of peacefully through the road on which Mosque is situated with minor some minor hiccups on 10th April, 2022, however, Muslim shops were attacked on next day morning. The Muslim community remained peaceful and did not do anything, afraid that doing so was in the interest of peace.

LONG READ: DEADLY FORCE: THE BLOODY RECORD OF THE DELHI POLICE

Prabhjit Singh

TWO YEARS AFTER the Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kapil Mishra gave a threatening speech about protesters in northeastern Delhi, precipitating three days of communal violence, Yati Narsinghanand delivered yet another incendiary speech in the national capital. At a Hindu Mahapanchayat attended by around three hundred people, on 3 April 2022, Narsinghanand, the head of the Dasna Devi temple in Ghaziabad, claimed, “Once a Muslim becomes the prime minister of India, in twenty years, fifty percent of you will change your religion. Forty percent of Hindus will be murdered.”

A TREE IS FOREVER [FICTION]

Original story in Marathi by Dr. Sukanya Agashe

The red hot ball of the sun started descending the faraway hills and the bus climbed on the concrete road- with a big bang and a jerk. The drowsy passengers who were fed up with the dust woke up with a start. They opened their eyes in disgust –‘oh, we are nearing our village’- with this thought the cramped bodies were stretched and relaxed. The faces were wiped with handkerchiefs. The luggage items were checked – tin trunks, bags, loth bags, cloth bundles…..

The Editors of INSAF extend their greetings to our readers for May Day 2022!

EDITORIAL: UNDER BJP RULE, THE STATE ITSELF HAS BECOME A LYNCH MOB, OPENING THE DOOR TO SOMETHING FAR WORSE

Vinod Mubayi

A new phenomenon is now manifesting itself in jurisdictions under BJP rule. Hitherto, over the last 7 or 8 years since Modi became PM, one had witnessed the rise of private lynch mobs consisting of Hindutva goondas terrorizing minorities (mostly Muslims but, on occasion, Christians and Dalits too), beating them up and sometimes killing them on one flimsy pretext or another. The police would either look the other way or, if the perpetrators happened to be politically connected to the BJP or one of its sister organizations of the Sangh Parivar, they would arrest one or more of the victims, usually a hapless Muslim on some fraudulent charges. Literally hundreds if not thousands of such incidents have occurred in the last 8 years. The top BJP leadership notably Modi either stays silent or utters some meaningless platitudes when pressed by the media.

SRI LANKA AMID RIVALRY FOR SOUTH ASIAN DOMINANCE

Sivanandam Sivasegaram

Prelude

This article was prompted by a political commentary by RK Radhakrishnan in Frontline, 22.4.2022 reproduced in the INSAF Bulletin, April 2022. The article showed obsession with Chinese influence in Sri Lanka despite what its title (Imploding Island: Sri Lanka on Brink of Ruin) persuaded me to expect. I mainly seek to locate Sri Lanka’s post-independence foreign relations in historical context. [Editor’s Note: We are grateful to Sivanandam Sivasegaram for taking the time to produce this thoughtful piece, an original for the INSAF Bulletin].

KASHMIR: LOSS, MEMORY AND A SHARED HISTORY

Suvir Kaul

‘Is there something in the shared, yet dissimilar, histories of Kashmiris that might yet contain the hope of a more viable future, with all its challenges and difficulties?’

HINDUS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS CONDEMNS ANT-MUSLIM VIOLENCE IN INDIA

Dear Friend, Here at Hindus for Human Rights, our primary goal has always been to mobilize Hindus around the shared vision of a progressive, inclusive Hinduism that rejects hate and division, and emphasizes the dignity and human rights of all.

OPEN LETTER TO THE PRIME MINISTER – CALL FOR END TO POLITICS OF HATE

Dear Prime Minister, We are witnessing a frenzy of hate filled destruction in the country where at the sacrificial altar are not just Muslims and members of the other minority communities but the Constitution itself.

IMRAN KHAN – ANTI-IMPERIALIST HERO OR AUTHORITARIAN POPULIST?

Tooba Syed

Despite his best attempts and amid unproven allegations of foreign interference, Imran Khan was removed from power by a vote of no confidence in the National Assembly of Pakistan on 11 April.

A MATTER OF FAITH: HOW A SUPREME COURT JUDGMENT IS ENABLING ATTACKS ON CHRISTIANS

J Robin Christopher and Manavi Atri

Amid protests on 23 December 2021, the Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill got a nod from the state’s legislative assembly.

SUDHEER BEDEKAR OBITUARY –SOME COMMENTS

The April 2022 Insaf Bulletin carried obituaries of Sudheer Bedekar who passed away in late March of this year. We carry below some comments on one of the obituaries by a close comrade of Sudheer-Editors

EDITORIAL: THE 80-20 COMMUNAL POLARIZATION FORMULA KEEPS PAYING OFF FOR BJP IN UP

Vinod Mubayi

In the run up to the recently concluded elections in UP, several commentators had opined about the possibility of the Samajwadi Party (SP) coalition defeating the BJP. The combination of extreme joblessness, price rise and the problems caused to farmers by stray cattle (awara pashu) due to the strict ban on cow slaughter would, it was felt, lead to a lack of support for the ruling party in the state. In addition, the farmers movement had dented the BJP’s support among the Jats in western UP, an area that had been the site of widespread communal violence earlier and had given rich returns to the BJP in previous elections. However, while the SP did increase its tally of seats in the UP Assembly, more than doubling its previous strength, the BJP, overall, won with a comfortable, albeit reduced, majority.

LAL SALAAM (RED SALUTE) TO DEPARTED FRIENDS AND COMRADES- SOME PERSONAL REMINISCES OF AIJAZ AHMAD AND SUDHEER BEDEKAR

Vinod Mubayi

It is difficult to write in a public space about close friends who have passed on. Particularly when they happen to be well-known public intellectual figures with whom one shared over many years moments of joy, laughter, debate, and, simply, companionship.

TEXAS DOCTOR DEMANDS “RETRIBUTION” AFTER KASHMIR FILES FILM

Pieter Friedrich

“Retribution,” declared Rajiv Pandit, a doctor based in Dallas, TX, in response to a call to “pay… back 100 fold, in their own coin,” those allegedly responsible for the 1990 Kashmir Pandit Exodus portrayed in the recent film, “Kashmir Files.”

HINDU SYMBOLISM SURROUNDING ADITYANATH’S SWEARING-IN SIGNALS A NEW RASHTRA

Sunil Kashyap

Ajay Singh Bisht, is popularly known as Yogi Adityanath, took oath as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh today, at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. In the run-up to the ceremony, office bearers of the BJP, on written instructions from the party, organised pujas at temples across the state. The incumbent chief minister reportedly invited over fifty priests and seers personally, including prominent members of the Ram Janmabhoomi trust, which is overseeing the construction of the temple in Ayodhya, as well as priests from Varanasi, Mathura and Vrindavan.

GRADED INVISIBILITY: THE PLIGHT OF SOUTHASIAN WOMEN MIGRANT WORKERS IN THE ARAB GULF

Namrata Raju

In Wayétu Moore’s fictional novel, She Would Be King (2018), the author reimagines the birth of Liberia as a homeland for free slaves through a sophisticated marriage of history and magical realism. The book describes a woman named Charlotte, a slave on a Virginia plantation, who died without realising her predicament, and experienced what it was like to be completely invisibilised by society.

IMPLODING ISLAND: SRI LANKA ON BRINK OF RUIN

R.K. Radhakrishnan

Rank mismanagement is driving Sri Lanka to ruin. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s irrational policies coupled with serious economic problems have impoverished the nation, which is also reaping the fruits of playing India against China for a decade.

DEFECTION OF KEY ALLY GIVES OPPOSITION THE VOTES TO OUST IMRAN KHAN

Salman Masood and Christina Goldbaum

Days away from a no-confidence vote in Parliament, Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan is facing mounting pressure after a key ally in his political coalition joined the opposition on Wednesday, giving his opponents the votes required to remove him from office.

IN THE FACE OF ORCHESTRATED HATRED, SILENCE IS NOT AN OPTION – AN APPEAL TO INDIA’S CONSTITUTIONAL INSTITUTIONS

Published in South Asia Citizens Wire SACW 03-27-2022

In the wake of alarming developments in India, senior journalists and media persons from all over India, have issued this Collective Appeal to all Constitutional Institutions in India. We request you to give it the widest possible coverage on media and social media platforms.

FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES REMEMBER PIERRE BEAUDET (1950-2022)

Judy Rebick

“Pierre was a great leader, an extraordinary thinker and had a big heart. The world will miss Pierre greatly.”

EDITORIAL 1: REJECT BOTH PUTIN AND NATO

Vinod Mubayi

It may appear quixotic to denounce both Putin’s outrageous invasion of Ukraine as well as the past three decades of NATO creep that has apparently precipitated this disaster. But a moment of sober reflection should reveal that if a necessary but only one-sided condemnation of, say, the Russian action is made, without considering what NATO and the US have done over the last few decades, the crisis is likely to repeat in some new form sooner or later.

EDITORIAL 2: THE HIJAB BAN: MORE STIRRING OF THE COMMUNAL CAULDRON

Vinod Mubayi

Karnataka, where the hijab ban controversy has erupted, is a state ruled by the BJP. Pre-university colleges in the coastal areas of Karnataka, where Hindutva groups are gaining prominence, stopped young Muslim girls wearing hijab from entering the classroom. The girls and their parents protested and the Hindutva right-wing constantly on the lookout for such conflicts urged its supporters among the youth to wear saffron colored shawls and other “Hindu” symbols in response; the controversy soon reached the Karnataka High Court which imposed an interim ban on any outward religious dress inside the classroom while it considers the issue.

REVIEW: WHERE IS INDIA HEADED? AND WHERE LIES THE INSPIRATION FOR CHANGE?

Atul Sood

Book: Where is India Headed? An Historical Critique, Dr Vinod Mubayi, Media Society and Sahithya Pravarthaka, 2021.

UNFAIR SHARE: INDIA IS IN DEEP DENIAL ABOUT INEQUALITY

Reetika Khera

In 2019, I spotted an infographic on Twitter that ranked a handful of countries by the number of weeks of paid maternity leave they mandated. It sought to make a case for paid maternity leave in the United States—where, according to the infographic, there was none. India occupied second spot, with 26 weeks, just behind the United Kingdom.

THE CONGRESS MUST TRANSFORM TO REBUILD THE OPPOSITION

Supriy Ranjan and Pankaj Kumar

That the fate and future of the Indian National Congress seem bleak is beyond doubt. Successive electoral defeats, coupled with the exits of multiple notable leaders, has put the Congress in an existential crisis.

RETHINKING SRI LANKA’S ECONOMIC CRISIS

Over the past several months, stories about Sri Lanka’s deepening economic crisis were prominent in regional and global media. Yet much of the coverage converges on the symptoms of the crisis, from the country’s large foreign-debt burden, depletion of foreign exchange reserves to challenges in meeting its energy needs.

DEAD LINES: HOW JOURNALISM IN KASHMIR HAS BEEN DRIVEN TO THE EDGE

Shahid Tantray

The front door of the Kashmir Press Club, which was locked and sealed on 17 January. During its short four-year tenure, the club was a rare island of calm for journalists to work in—particularly those writing for foreign publications.

EDITORIAL: MODI’S SILENCE ON GENOCIDE THREATS SPEAKS AS LOUDLY AS HIS VOLUBLE DISTORTIONS OF HISTORY

Vinod Mubayi

The open threats of genocide of Muslims made by assorted Hindutva “priests” at the so-called Dharam Sansad in Haridwar in December 2021 have attracted international attention and condemnation. Yet, Prime Minister Modi has not uttered a word in response to public statements made at the gathering that urged Hindu youth to acquire weapons to kill millions of Muslims. Home Minister Amit Shah who heads the police all over the country has not said anything either. Their silence on this issue is quite in character for these functionaries who currently lead (or mislead) India. After all, they remained silent many times in the last several years when minority Muslims and, in some cases, Dalits were lynched by mobs of ruffians and goondas owing allegiance to Hindutva. Modi remains the Indian politician who likened the brutal killing of over a thousand Muslims in 2002 by violent Hindutva mobs in his home state of Gujarat, where he was then chief minister, to a puppy caught under the wheels of a car and who has never uttered a word of regret for the mass killing of innocent women, children and men.

“WHERE IS INDIA HEADED?” A BOOK BY VINOD MUBAYI

Dolores Chew

A book event with author Vinod Mubayi was held on 18th December 2021. Log on to hear: http://cdn.iiit.ac.in/cdn/swayam.iiit.ac.in/videozaar/uploads/join-all-3parts-video_1641202850.mp4

HOW THE TAXI WORKERS WON

Molly Crabapple, The Nation

On September 19, a group of cab drivers organized by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance rolled up to the corner of Broadway and Murray Street in downtown Manhattan, parked next to City Hall, and declared they would not leave until the city fixed the crushing debt that had driven many of their fellow drivers to suicide. They held a press conference, hung an SOS banner from the nearby Beaux-Arts subway entrance, set up some folding chairs, and sat down to wait.

POOR COUNTRY WITH AFFLUENT ELITE, INDIA IS GOING NOWHERE

Jayati Ghosh, The Wire, Jan. 22, 2022

The Paris-based World Inequality Lab has become a major source of data on global inequality, based on careful aggregation of national data from a multitude of sources, of both income and wealth inequality, at national, regional and global levels. Their latest World Inequality Report 2022 is an eye-opener, even for those who know that economic inequality has increased massively in recent years. It shows that globally, inequality is now as great as it was at the pinnacle of Western imperialism in the early 20th century. The process began nearly four decades ago, but worsened during the pandemic, which sharply exposed and amplified existing inequalities.

SCANDALISING THE SUPPLY CHAIN: LOOKING BACK AT 40 YEARS OF BANGLADESH’S GARMENT INDUSTRY

Dina M Siddiqi

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the women and men labouring in Bangladesh’s garment factories – at least those still in operation – faced a stark choice: starve to death by sheltering in place or risk dying from the virus by returning to the shop floor. This compulsion to work that comes at the risk of exposure to death was not exceptional by any means.

LONG READ: PRIEST OF VIOLENCE: ADITYANATH’S REIGN OF TERROR

Dhirendra K Jha

PARVEZ PARVAZ, a journalist and social activist, was passing by the Gorakhpur railway station when he noticed a big gathering near the statue of Maharana Pratap. It was the evening of 27 January 2007, and dusk had just fallen. The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Gorakhpur MP, Adityanath, dressed in saffron robes, was delivering an incendiary speech to rousing cheers. Parvaz was aware of tensions pervading the city because of a clash during a recent Muharram procession, in which a Hindu boy was injured and later died. “Seeing the charged atmosphere, I safely ensconced myself within the crowd,” he told me. The crowd was made up primarily of members of the Hindu Yuva Vahini, a youth militia Adityanath had founded five years earlier. Inconspicuous within the large gathering, Parvaz began to record the speech with a handheld camera he always carried with him.

INSAF Bulletin wishes all its readers a safe, healthy and happy New Year 2022!

EDITORIAL: CENTRE-LEFT MUST UNITE TO DEFEAT THE CULT OF PERSONALITY DESTROYING INDIA

Vinod Mubayi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent “performance” in Varanasi where he changed costumes four times in the course of a day in several locations in the city while performing Hindu religious rituals, from immersing himself in the Ganges River to praying in the refurbished Vishwanath temple, on national TV channels shows the outrageousness of the cult of personality engulfing the country. Billboards at bus stops and train stations and all manner of government issued documents including Covid vaccination cards, are bedecked with the image of the Supreme Leader accompanied, on occasion, by his faithful attendant Amit Shah. The assiduous promotion of this personality cult, much of it with hundreds if not thousands of crores of public money, has, in addition to its easily mocked cartoonish aspects, a more frightening and dangerous side.

HINDUTVA LEADERS AT HARIDWAR EVENT CALL FOR MUSLIM GENOCIDE

The Wire

Between December 17 and 19, a large collection of major religious leaders, right-wing activists, hardline fundamentalist militants and Hindutva organisations came together at Haridwar for an event called the ‘Dharma Sansad’ or ‘Religious Parliament’. Over the course of three days, this event witnessed an extraordinary outpouring of hate speech, mobilisations to violence and anti-Muslim sentiment.

MEMORANDUM

Ram Puniyani

From December 17 to 19, the ‘Dharma Sansad’ or ‘Religious Parliament’ was organized in Haridwar wherein several religious leaders and those associated with Hindutva extremist organisations gave an open call for Hindus to arm themselves and eliminate Muslims from the country. Sadhvi Annapurna, general secretary of Hindu Mahasabha gave a direct call for the mass murder of Muslims. She said, we need 100 soldiers who can kill 20 lakh of them (Muslims). She added ‘Matr shakti ke sher se panje hain. Phaad kar rakh denge’.

INDIAN FARMERS PREVAIL: A CONVERSATION WITH KAVITHA KURUGANTI, A FARMERS’ RIGHTS ACTIVIST

Pallav Das

“Repeal the evil laws,” demands the placard in the picture above. A determined yearlong opposition by a popular farmers’ movement to three agricultural laws ultimately did force their repeal in the Indian parliament earlier this month. I recently spoke with Kavitha Kuruganti of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Farmers’ Joint Action Committee), a longtime activist working on farmers’ rights and sustainable farm livelihoods.

DEAR PM MODI, AURANGZEB RULE WAS ALSO THE RULE OF HINDU HIGH CASTES!

Shamsul Islam

Narendra Modi, a senior swayamsevak (member) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, long back in 2013 when he occupied the office of chief minister of Gujarat, declared himself to be a ‘Hindu nationalist’.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING MR JINNAH

Ayesha Jalal

IN one of the more unforgettable contemporary recollections of Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Beverely Nichols in Verdict on India described the lanky and stylishly dressed barrister as the “most important man in Asia”. Looking every bit like a gentleman of Spain, of the old diplomatic school, the monocle-wearing leader of the All-India Muslim League held a pivotal place in India’s future.

LONG READ: PAPER PRIESTS: THE BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF THE HINDU

Aathira Konikkara and Nileema MS

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“SUNDAY WAS A DARK DAY for India,” The Hindu’s editorial read on 7 December 1992. “The Hindu shares the nation’s sense of deep anguish at this painful moment.”

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