Sajjad Iqbal-a departed intellectual

Last week I read the sad news of the death of Sajjad Iqbal. I had never met Sajjad and my thoughts immediately turned to his father, Iqbal Khandey, whom I happened to know very well. The grief and suffering of Iqbal can only be unfathomable. The void left behind by the loss of his son is the one that can never ever be filled. All one can do in this hour of grievous loss is to wish Iqbal peace and power to endure unendurable. As I mentioned I had never met Sajjad but courtesy a facebook friend (Dilnaz Boga) I read an article written by him “Long drive to freedom” and published in Kashmir Dispatch. The article started with a poem by Agha Shahid Ali

“We shall meet again in Srinagar,

by the gates of the Villa of Peace,

our hands blossoming into fists

till the soldiers return the keys and disappear.

Again we’ll enter our last world,

the first that vanished

in our absence from the broken city.

We’ll tear our shirts for tourniquets,

and bind the open thorns,

warm the ivy into roses.

Quick, by the pomegranate – the bird will say –

Humankind can bear everything.”

And once I went through the article, a convulsing realization dawned on me that it is not only Iqbal who lost his son; Kashmir has lost an intellectual with a sharp and analytic mind. The manner and depth with which he had articulated the reality of Kashmir could only come from a person of high caliber. The travesty is that he was only twenty seven years old. But after reading his article I also realized that freedom struggle in Kashmir has come long way; and that struggle has become way of life and state through its apparatus of repression has only stiffened the resolve of the suppressed population. And the clichéd silver lining is that there is a whole young generation of people who are able to understand and more importantly articulate Kashmir in a rational form. The rationality of the youth from Kashmir set them apart from the irrationality of Indian establishment and mainstream Indian media who at its best spreads ignorance and in their worst form don’t even hold back from demonizing the entire population of Kashmir. Sajjad Iqbal represented the young generation of intellectuals in Kashmir; even though he is not there anymore but his writings will always be there to inspire youngsters in the valley. His writings and his work will always be source of pride for aggrieved parents.

Who rules Kashmir?

There was a small news item in one of the local newspapers (Greater Kashmir) in Kashmir reporting that some Major General, General Officer Commanding of some infantry division told newsmen that army will not allow stone pelting in Kashmir. “I am very hopeful that this year we will be able to curtail it” is the ad-verbatim statement of the commanding officer of some infantry division. I thought state of Jammu & Kashmir had a civilian, legislative and allegedly elected government in place headed by a civilian chief minister.  Could one attribute Syed Ali Shah Geelani’s statement to his vile imagination when he stated (a news item in the same newspaper) that union home ministry and army is ruling the state? Hasn’t it been a consistent feature over the years that army and its spokespersons issue pronouncements on the matters that clearly fall within the ambit of civilian authority? In a perverse sense one even starts perceiving that such a statement at this juncture might even represent a yearning on the part of certain sections within the armed forces for repeat of trouble in Kashmir. That would provide them, in connivance with civilian bureaucrats, another ruse to douse any discussion either on the reduction of number of troops deployed in the valley or on dilution of draconian laws in force to deal with insurgents, which according to Indian nationalists include all the inhabitants of the valley.

Corruption

The way people have started talking about corruption gives an impression that the menace just erupted and therefore needs to be nipped in the bud. And in came Anna Hazare and his show complete with tents and full media glare; joined in by everybody and anybody eager to hog lime-light no matter how fleeting moment be. Even if for a brief moment one gets delusional to accept that corruption didn’t exist before; even that would not justify the demand for the creation of a totally bizarre organization through bizarre insistence of bizarre duo of Hazare and so-called Baba Ramdev. So-called Baba has been making hay through naivety of his country for many years and his franchise has become bloated to the level of a complete corporation through sale of all types of superfluous and misleading health products. But here Baba is not an issue nor is Hazare, howsoever genuine he might be. The issue is corruption, and its real consequences. Corruption exists and existed without any discrimination. It never discriminates on the basis of religion, caste or color and even political affiliation. I deliberately excluded gender because men are prone to be more corrupt then women. It exists in all forms of vocations and it permeates every strata of society. And it would be an understatement to say that its effects are devastating; but not in the way Anna Hazare, Ramdev and their ignorant urban acolytes perceive. To understand the ruinous effect of that corruption one needs to come out of parochial and pseudo-nationalist tendencies and take cognizance of large multidimensional reality of the country like India, which exists beyond Jantar Mantar. Naxal movement (a generic name for multiple troubles) is a manifest of a corrupt society in denial; people in north-east are lesser citizens because of moral bankruptcy, which not less than any corruption. Does dealing of popular grievances in Kashmir through draconian force and repressive laws not constitute moral corruption? Why unjust incarceration of Dr. Binayak Sen never touched Anna Hazare and his followers? Does forced exile of Maqbool Fida Hussain not constitute corruption? And what about those filthy rich people who try every mean under the sky to evade paying taxes?     

Banishment of corruption

Anna Hazare fasted for 90 hours and it banished corruption from India. After all it wasn’t complicated at all and one reaches the end of the wits to understand why it was being such an issue to start with. Now Anna’s selfless act has not only driven corruption away; in the process it has shown way for the future. Indians can now sleep in peace with an invaluable and timeless treasure of knowledge that they can resort to corruption any time and all they need to do is to find a forgotten Gandhian and invoke his consciousness into fasting for a few days. That should at least bring a reprieve to the politicians who always end up being façade of corruption, notwithstanding the fact of the phenomenon being a national pastime. Everybody else, be it corporate thugs or tax evading businessmen; unscrupulous beauraucrats or roughish men in uniform; they are never accused of anything. Brutalization of entire tribal population for plundering of natural resources never wrought any conscience or killing of civilian protestors throughout last summer in Kashmir didn’t provoke any heart and on the contrary all one could hear were shrieks of ultra-nationalism.   

Inertia-induction and causes

 

I never had anticipated that I would not write for four months at a stretch but that exactly happened. I went to India in February for two weeks. It was my first such trip in six years and I had all the anticipation and excitement build up much before even I started preparing for the travel itself. Then what I saw, I observed and I felt in India I could never ever have anticipated and nobody could ever have prepared me for it and much less even warned me. Those observations continue to reverberate in my head and within my hollowed soul and hence my reluctance to hit the key-board. I don't think I can bring myself to write about that trip without irrevocably alienating my cherished friends, relations and acquaintances, hence, I defer the venture to a later date. Nevertheless, at the very least I can add that howling over wikileaks disclosures about Indian affairs in India, or Sarah Palin being feted at an exclusive conclave in India do not surprise me anymore. But I refrain to lay any boisterous claim to any attained wisdom; bafflement comes close to explaining the inexplicable.   

Decadence and IPL

"How do cheergirls promote the cause of cricket? Why are players auctioned like "gladiators" in IPL system of cricket? These were some of the questions that members of the Parliamentary standing committee on finance posed to top BCCI officials, including its president Shashank Manohar, secretary N Srinivasan and IPL commissioner Chirayu Amin during a hearing on financial transactions related to the conduct of IPL." Straight and simple answer without mincing words would be decadence. -Rajiv Kumar

Sinister gimmicks

They are back with one more gimmick; self-appointed custodians of nationalism want to hoist Indian national flag in Srinagar on January 26. Every time they are in political wilderness, the thugs of saffron brigade tend to go berserk; it was back in 1992, Murli Manohar Joshi, the then president of BJP enacted a similar farce that his party is planning to repeat shamelessly. Back then, he hoisted a flag in Srinagar, with entire population of the town shut through the imposed curfew. Nevertheless, he did not completely escape; call it a divine retribution, a pole from the hoisted flag fell on his head. It would seem that the hit on his head might, ultimately, have done him some good. His disapproval of current BJP president for uttering abusive words against Congress leadership and his more mature approach on the issue of the recent gridlock in Parliament is a testimony to that. His rapprochement to Prime Minister was shot down by his hawkish colleagues of saffron outfit; they relish more in creating mayhems, disruptions, divisions and spreading communalism than anything constructive. May be it is time somebody tell them with some candor that it might do no good to anybody, certainly not to the country whose integrity they profess to protect. Countries do not attain greatness by foolish parades and ugly flag hoisting; it is the collective welfare of the society; it is the inclusive improvement of lives; it is the better infrastructure; it is the better and humane education; it is the social and egalitarian justice that make countries tower over the others. Did BJP ever made any policy pronouncements on any of these issues? Do they realize that the entire population of the valley is alienated and their foolish acts aggravate that alienation? As they believe the entire population of the valley is not in favor of secession, why don’t they reach out at least to those who they believe are in favor of Indian rule? And when they utter sympathy for sufferings, why does their vision allows them to see only the suffering of security forces? Demoralization of security forces matter to them, but what about those ordinary individuals, who are no lesser citizens, are frisked any number of times everyday? Even considering the perceptible difference in valley between 1992 and now, the intended flag hoisting attains even higher status of irresponsibility and destructiveness. In 1992, the valley was in the heightened throes of militancy; and at present it is grinding back to limping normalcy after a long summer of non-militant strife. Any sensitive leadership would grab the opportunity to build bridges with separatists through parleys and other confidence building measures and refrain from any act that would weaken moderates and strengthen hardliners within the valley. But given their virtuosity for insensitivity and recklessness, it perhaps is asking too much from the people who entire their life never believed in anything constructive and who rather revel in sinister-ness. Their hawkish activities peak every time they remotely sense chances of a solution to the intricate issue of Kashmir. They were leaving nothing unturned to sabotage back channel diplomatic overtures by the government during the time of Parvez Musharaf and similarly, it was hardly a coincidence last month when the entire clownish leadership of the BJP descended on Jammu. It is too hard for their communalistic instincts to fathom any concessions, contemplated for the population in valley, consequent to the recommendations of interlocutors. -Rajiv Kumar                      

Indian emergency and ignorance

It would seem that Indians have a penchant for hanging on to the past; they find it very hard to let past events take anointed places in the history and let the country move on to face the present day challenges. It is in the same vein that the issue of internal emergency is being raked up déjà vu. According to the news reports Congress party is blaming Sanjay Gandhi for it and clowns of the nationalist BJP, spearheaded by foot-in-mouth Lal Advani, are defending him. Up to a point they have every reason to do that; his widow and his son are both members of parliament and belong to the party. And it would certainly not be a travesty to state that his (Sanjay Gandhi’s) doings and his philosophy (if there was any) was in more consonant with bankrupt and ideologically humbug-saffron groups than any progressive and liberal party. One of his confidantes, who carried out his orders in the name of beautification of Delhi, was none other than Jag Mohan. Jag Mohan became a prominent figure in BJP after his dismissal as a governor of Jammu and Kashmir State. The Augean sized mess created by Jag Mohan during his tenure in the state still remains to be cleaned. But let us stay with that emergency of 1975 and the conditions that led to its promulgation. Congress party with Indira Gandhi as its leader had an unprecedented mandate in the parliament and was ruling almost all the states barring Tamil Nadu and Jammu & Kashmir. In the latter Sheikh Abdullah of National Conference had just taken over the reign of the government under Beg-Parthasarthy agreement and was supported by Congress legislature party. The combination of factors; cost of Bangladesh war and destabilization of the world oil prices coupled with many internal factors resulted in an overall disenchantment among masses. Complacency and arrogance on the part of the central and state leadership of the Congress party, in part due to assured incumbency and owing to fragmented opposition, contributed to an overall deterioration. And this was the time when Sanjay Gandhi had just come of age and had started dabbling in his brand of politics. The suave and intellectual group of Indira Gandhi’s advisors that included P. N. Haksar and others equally accomplished and eminent individuals were replaced by a brash coterie handpicked by Sanjay Gandhi. Again in every state, leadership unabashedly acquiesced to the crown-prince, and those who did not comply were summarily banished. The actual emergency was declared on June 25, 1975 and the entire machinery fell in line. There were good things also. All of a sudden trains started running on time and ‘babus’ stopped asking for bribes. But then those very bureaucrats went into an over zeal sometimes at the behest of Sanjay Gandhi and his mafia and most of the time overpowered by their lust of power, which exceeded their agenda. Jag Mohan was one of the coteries who came from a petty bureaucratic level to become a bastion of power in Delhi, a fiefdom bestowed upon by Sanjay Gandhi. Indira Gandhi after declaration of emergency issued a five-point program for the country and Sanjay Gandhi not to be out done issued an intellectually bankrupt ten-point pogrom (the word is intentionally used). Quotas were fixed; adult males were dragged from buses and trains for compulsory sterilizations; promotions were withheld and salary increments deferred until officials complied. Having arrested the opposition leaders and dissidents Indira Gandhi went on to bend constitution through a spate of amendments. Portents of emergency were already on the horizon before the actual proclamation. Some of it was due to thwarting of her socio-economic program by the reactionary judiciary; both her nationalization of banks and abolition of privy purses to the erstwhile rulers of princely states were struck down by the Supreme Court. In the current era of privatization and immoral market economy, it might be a trifle hard to understand that those definitely were progressive measures and those did make a difference in the society. Nevertheless, nothing justified the emergency and excesses committed in its name. It was a total subversion and due to that very fact it became unwieldy. According to Katherine Frank in her biography of Indira Gandhi, she realized the ultimate value of democracy or circumstances forced her and she, despite vehement opposition by Sanjay Gandhi, declared an election which she lost badly. Not many people know that RSS, the militant saffron organization of which BJP is a political front, tacitly supported emergency. To dabble into past in simplistic terms does nothing more than patronization and spreading of ignorance. The manner in which commercial media channels churn out ignorance makes one wonder, that perhaps a dose of emergency like treatment might do them some good or at least to the masses who suffer them.

-Rajiv Kumar

Absconding left

One of the things that has almost gone unnoticed is the conspicuous silence that has befallen mainstream politicians on the issue of bizzare and completely unjust conviction of Dr. Binayak Sen. Prominent individuals and different organizations have singularly condemned his sham trial and conviction based on evidences bordering on ridicule. The issue was raised by Amnesty International, so did Dr. Amartya Sen. The stance of thuggish saffron parties, though despicable, can, nevertheless, be understood. The case itself was brought and conducted by the Chhattisgarh government run by ideologically driven BJP. Congress party, for reason best known to it, is now on a definite lurch towards self-destruction. Where does that leave hypocrite pretenders of the left, who never missed an opportunity to project themselves doyens of the downtrodden? It is not only Dr. Sen and his concocted conviction where politicians from left have forfeited their moral right of carrying on those false pretensions but also on every other issue their rectitude completely deserted them. Because of virtual absconding, their irrelevance is total and consequently oblivion cannot be far away. Their absence from the national scene would hardly be mourned, were it not for the vacuum being filled by abominable fundamentalists of saffron brigade. Instead of realizing their sinister designs in recent continuous holding of parliament as hostage, leftist for petty gains have become pawns in the vicious game plans of the right. Those rightist elements being operational at several levels have permeated every strata of society and government. A sudden surge in the use of a section of penal code dealing with sedition cannot be accidental. Dr. Sen was charged and convicted for this alleged offence; a college teacher in Kashmir was charged for same offence because he allegedly set a question paper with a paragraph about situation in Kashmir. So were famously Arundhati Roy and Syed Ali Shah Geelani. It is sometimes puzzling to understand the authority that decides between seditious and non-seditious. Is that authority political or those security forces, whose behavior, in dealing with ordinary people, most of the times borders almost on sedition, adjudicate whom to condemn. A democratic system hinges on the premise of accountability and primacy of political authority; until and unless that principle is adhered to letter and spirit, it does not take long before edifice of polity starts crumbling.   
-Rajiv Kumar

Jaundiced rule of law

Dr. Binayak Sen, a pediatrician working for the poor has been sentenced to prison for life. I have not been too aware of the case but whatever is being reported or written, the conviction was based on flimsy and completely non-scientific evidences. Whatever, his belief, whatever his allegiances and his leanings, the manner in which Dr. Sen was denied bail until very late defies logic and rule of law. Despite intervention by prestigious organizations and reputed individuals within and outside India, courts including the highest in the country steadfastly repeatedly even refused him a bail, until a vacation bench of the Supreme Court relented that too because of his deteriorating health. Against all expectations of reason, on Christmas Eve, a district court sentenced him life behind bars for his alleged involvement with Naxals. The relentlessness with which the state apparatus applied itself in keeping Dr. Sen incarcerated and securing his conviction is in broad contrast to the way even cases against murderers are handled in India. Many years ago, a scion of an influential family mowed down a number of homeless persons sleeping on a footpath. He enjoyed the privilege of bail bestowed upon him by obliging courts until conviction. And in not too distant past even a murder convict was allowed a furlough. And classically, the owners of a cinema in Delhi, a scene of carnage due to negligent safety measures made mockery of judicial system until their sham sentencing. Instances of courts, even with clear evidences, acquitting murderers are not difficult to recapitulate. Nothing can match politicians. Notwithstanding, the severity of charges, the cases just disappear, otherwise in most probability most of the governments in India would be run from prison cells. The involvement of most politicians in ‘hawala’ if proved could have given them lifer. Why was then Dr. Sen pursued by a colonial zeal? Could it be that his work and of people like him threatens hidden vested interests? Media never highlighted his case until now, shouldn’t surprise any one as their agenda being different from what they profess. With Dr. Sen’s case in view, the filing of charges against Arundhati Roy can’t be innocuous any more. When a state stops being just and practices visibly jaundiced rule of law, the portents can be nothing but ominous.
-Rajiv Kumar