chespeak

Secret Life of a Prince in Indian Garrisons

2011-09-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

BURMA's last monarch, King Thibaw and his consort, Queen Supayalat, spent 31 years as prisoners in a hill-top bungalow at Ratnagiri, in Maharashtra, after his country fell to British troops in 1885. The last of the Konbaung dynasty, Thibaw and the royal family lived in utter penury. The Brits who plundered his palaces and coffers, divested him of the gems and rubies and gold, gave him a pittance for his subsistence. Amitav Ghosh, in his modern classic, The Glass Palace, describes how the Queen enforced strict economy at the household, and the princesses huddled around a single oil lamp to do homework.
But the king was, in a way, lucky. His sad life had become an international scandal. The British lost face, though they kept the money. But they successfully maintained that Thibaw was the only state prisoner they had, as the queen had helpfully murdered all members of the royal family in a ruthless operation to finish off rivals.
But this was falsehood. They had at least one more prisoner from Burma’s royal family, Prince Moung Lat, who remained a state prisoner for 54 years in Indian garrisons. The administration, however, never accepted he was in their custody. Yet, evidence of his life in Indian garrisons remains. In Cannanore, an old cantonment town in north Kerala, a brief entry in the burial register at the 19th century English Church says: Egbert Alexander Granville James, died and buried on 19th August 1887, son of Prince Moung Lat, Burmese state prisoner.

Prince Moung Lat escaped the mass murders at royal family because at the accession of Thibaw to throne, following death of King Mindon in October 1878, he was in British custody. The Prince had been leading a guerrilla war against the British and at the time of mass murders, he was already serving out his indefinite term in India.

The Prince and King Thibaw were cousins and both had an equal claim to throne. Moung Lat was born in 1852, son of Hliene Mein, king of Burma, who had succeeded King Tharawaddy. When he was one year old, his father was assassinated by Mindon, his younger brother, who usurped the throne in 1853. King Mindon had a long reign. He is considered the wisest among Burma’s rulers though he was known to be mentally unstable because of debilities due to generations of inbreeding in royal family. Prince Moung Lat was expected to succeed Mindon, as the Burmese dynasties did not follow strict primogeniture in succession and the fact that Mindon had a low opinion of his son Thibaw. ”If Thibaw ever came to the throne,“ he once remarked, “then Burma will pass into the hands of foreigners.”

There are two versions about the childhood of the Prince. According to one, King Mindon allowed the child to live in the palace. Some speculated that he was to be murdered in due course while others said Mindon, in guilt, would appoint him his heir.

Another version is that after the assassination of her husband, the king, his mother Me Eepu Kempoo of Hanthawadi, smuggled the child out of the palace, and secretly brought him up at Pangoon-Yah, a remote part of the country. But at some point, the young prince had returned to the palace. When his mother died in 1860, the Prince was eight years old and was living in the royal palace at Mandalay with a private tutor.

Those were tumultuous days: there were troubles everywhere. Lower Burma was virtually under British rule. A group of princes rebelled in 1866, and the Brits were rumoured to be behind it. They wanted to topple Mindon and install someone more inclined to their interests. As the rebellion failed, many princes fled Mandalay. Colonel Edward Sladen, British political agent in the court, helped Moung Lat to go into hiding in Shan hills in the guise of a Buddhist monk. While a fugitive, the Prince realized the British were behind the 1866 rebellion, and they wanted to capture what remained of the Burma kingdom. Convinced of the need to drive them out, he gathered an army and launched guerrilla warfare, based in the jungles of Toungoo, then under British control.

He was barely 20, and inexperienced in jungle warfare. However, he was known as a terror and was high on the Wanted List. Then Cupid struck: The Prince fell in love with a girl he met during his wanderings in the forests. In the book, The Lord of Celestial Elephant, a biography of the Prince, his grand-daughter Elaine Halton refers to his secret love for this Burmese village girl. He wanted to marry her, but only after the war. Her parents wanted to get her married soon and the Prince, with regrets, wished her well. He even waylaid a cart going through the jungle path with a load of furniture. He took two of the best pieces and sent them to her as wedding gift.

This phase of his life as a fugitive and fighter came to an end when he was arrested in 1873. He was transported to Aden, a British possession, but he refused to live there and even threatened to commit suicide. ”No decent bird would tolerate to live in Aden,” he told his captors.

Soon he was transferred to Cannanore. He arrived in a steamer via Mangalore. The Prince was only 23 when he arrived in the town in 1875. Captain R W Sheffield was in charge of his custody in the cantonment. It was light custody in a remote town, far away from home: he had to report his presence every evening before retirement. He was assigned a house with a garden, and his gates were guarded by 25th and 9th Madras Native Infantry. He spent his time gardening; his garden was famous for its variety of flowers and vegetables.

Then struck Cupid again: Across the road lived an Australian widow and her two daughters. Henrietta was the widow of Thomas William Godfrey, a merchant who involved in trade between Australia and India. He had died at sea over a decade before, while the elder daughter Eveline was four years of age. The couple had four children and two of them-- a boy and a girl--had died in infancy, while they were living at Black Town in Madras. Thomas Godfrey was 11 years senior to Henrietta. They were married on 16 October 1850, at Madras. His father Colonel Samuel Godfrey was in British Army, a person notorious for his violent temper. He was reputed to have had carved off the head of his Indian butler at a dinner party for failing to deliver a dish he was looking forward to.

The Prince fell in love with Eveline, then sixteen. He made several attempts to talk to her at the beach where they went occasionally for exercises. But the girl said she could talk to him only if her mother permitted.

Mrs Godfrey led a very retired life, and she entertained few visitors. She had been in Cannanore for a long time, bringing up her children after the death of her husband, supporting herself with private tuition. She was unusual in this, as English women in that era did not normally have independent careers. She had many children under her care, and with a government grant, she opened a Montessori School in the town, considered the first Church of England school in western India.

The Prince expressed his wish to marry her daughter, and the lady had no serious objections but she raised two points: She could not allow the marriage without permission of the Government as he was a state prisoner; and secondly, there was a problem of religion--he was Buddhist and they were Protestant Christians. The Prince agreed to get permission from the authorities and also to convert to Protestant Christian Faith.

What made the English lady accept a declared enemy of the state, who was described as a “savage given to very violent temper,” as her son-in-law? Evidently, they got on very well from their first meeting. When Captain Sheffield described him as a savage she laughed and said, “He does not look one!” Captain Sheffield also told her about his activities as rebel leader in Burma, asserting that had the British not captured him at the time there would have been a serious outbreak, as almost the entire lower Burma was in his hands.

King Mindon in Mandalay was informed about the intentions of his nephew the Prince, and having received his consent, the Government instructed Bishop Frederick Gell in Madras to take steps for his formal acceptance into the Anglican Church. Rev John Smithwhite, chaplain at St John’s Church, Cannanore, was asked to give the Prince instructions in the Bible, so that he could be ready to receive the sacrament. The formal ceremony took place in the church on 31st March 1878 with Rev. Smithwhite performing the Holy Communion in the presence of witnesses, R W Sheffield and Patrick Fennel, both officers in the army. The Prince took a new name, John William Moung Lat, a name selected by Eveline.

The wedding took place on 29th April 1878, at the same church, a glittering function for the small town. There was full military regalia, the entire town was in attendance and it was declared a holiday for the cantonment. The Prince wanted to wear the traditional Burmese royal dress, but was not allowed and had to do with the western style suit.

The couple spent ten years in Cannanore and they had three children there: Eunice Augusta, Rupert Alexander George, and Egbert Alexander Granville. Egbert, born on 13th August 1887, died six days later.
The Prince had attacks of asthma and on medical advice, he was moved to Bangalore, a town with a more agreeable climate. They spent the next 18 years there. They had five more children and the family grew. In 1906, he was sent to Madras. His health continued to deteriorate and he was, once again, shifted to Bellary. His life was difficult, with a large family to support and a meager income. While in Madras, he petitioned the Government for an increase in his allowance. The request was promptly turned down. Furious about the ill-treatment of the Prince by the Government, whose forces took away his country and plundered its coffers, Eveline wrote about their plight directly to Queen Alexandra, the Empress of India. The queen sent her money from her own personal resources for the children’s education.

The Prince’s financial troubles had been mounting ever since moving to Bangalore and on one occasion he was forced to approach a civil court for some respite from creditors. An item in the New Zealand newspaper, Nelson Evening Mail, in 1892, in its section “Interesting Gleanings”, says: Not all the petty princes in India are rolling in wealth, for a certain Prince Moung Lat recently applied to the civil judge at Bangalore for permission to pay into court five rupees per mensem towards a judgment debt of 280 rupees. The prince explained that his government allowance was not sufficient to enable him to maintain his wife and family, much less to meet his liabilities. This plea had no effect, for he was advised to reduce his expenditure and pay his debt in full.

The cruel irony did not stop there: In 1927, when the Prince was 75 and had spent over half a century as a prisoner, came Colonel Lloyd Jr., son of the officer who had captured him in 1873, to visit. When the visit was announced, it was expected to be an occasion for a late apology on the part of the Government, but what the young officer told him was that the Government never paid his father the bounty for the arrest of the rebel he was due! Was he asking the Prince to pay for his own arrest? No one knows.

Towards the end of 1927, the Government decided to release the Prince; by then he had spent 54 years as prisoner. He arrived in Rangoon on 28th January 1928 with his family, to a country he had left as a 21-year-old, and settled down to a new life at Lynne, in Insein, until his death eight years later, on 20th January 1936. He was buried at Kemendine Cemetery in Insein.

The family once again, had to return to India: as refugees when the World War broke out. They lived in Madras where Eveline Moung Lat, life partner of the Prince, died on 8th January 1945. She was buried at St Thomas Mount Cemetery, Madras.

(My thanks to Dr. John Cantwell Roberts, social anthropologist in New York, for his comments and research support.)

A version of this article is published in Tehelka weekly, issue dated September 17, 2011.

Loner’s Battle Against Slavery: Thomas Hervey Baber and Slavery in Malabar

2010-12-28T02:38:00.000-08:00

Looking back at a single person’s historic battle against the practice of slavery in Malabar on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the release of slaves found in an English plantation in 1811.

IN the Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad describes a moment when the mist lifts unexpectedly, revealing a view of the mysterious surrounds: A momentary revelation of the interior of a Dark Continent, converted into an area of darkness by the marauding forces of Imperialism.

In Malabar, an area which had come under European powers much before Africa surrendered itself to the builders of Empire, such a momentary flash of lightning that revealed the miserable plight of the natives after the arrival of these civilizing forces came exactly 200 years ago, when a young and energetic East India Company officer conducted a search on the premises of a European planter to discover a large number of kidnapped people, forced into slavery. The incident of search on the premises of a European, discovery and the eventual release of slaves despite heavy odds, was one among a series of developments that finally led to the formal ban on slavery in British India three decades later, in 1843.

Slavery was widely practised in Malabar even before the British East India Company took power there in 1792; it was mainly in the form of agrestic bondage, with slave castes attached to the agricultural lands for generations being bought and sold along with the lands. The Indian Law Commissioners in their report on slavery in 1841 noted that castes like Cherumas [slave castes in Malabar] were treated as “absolute property; they are part of the livestock on an estate.” Traditional Hindu and Mohammedan laws had both accepted it, and the EIC’s own fledgling legal system refused to meddle with it, accepting the practice as normal and legitimate. But in the case of Europeans and especially British citizens, the laws were definitely in a grey zone: Most of them owned slaves and used them in their domestic employ, but trading in slaves and forcing people into slavery were treated as criminal offence. The order passed in 1793, by Jonathan Duncan, then Commissioner for the Bombay province, did not prohibit sale of slaves within the province, but disallowed “the practice of shipping kidnapped and other natives as slaves.” The early English approach to slavery is explained in an observation made by Sir William James, chief justice in Calcutta, in 1785. He said, ”It is needless to expatiate on the law (if it be law) of private slavery; but I make no scruple to declare my own opinion, that absolute unconditional slavery, by which one human creature becomes the property of another, like a horse or an ox, is happily unknown to the laws of England, and that no human law could give it a just sanction; yet, though I hate the word, the continuance of it, properly explained, can produce little mischief.”

Though the slaves in Malabar were generally attached to agricultural lands and were employed as agrestic labour, buying and selling of slaves and massive shipping of them for sale outside the province were quite common. Arab ships operating from Muscat and other islands in the Persian Gulf, and many adventurous sailors of European origin operating in the twilight zones of law and anarchy, carried out this lucrative business and various ports in the subcontinent were known to be hubs of such illegal activities. In the Malabar coast, the French-controlled Mahe was known to be a major base for such operations.

Post -1792, Malabar was going through a period of disturbances mainly because of the challenges posed by rebels like Pazhassi Rajah, which continued for more than a decade.The rebels were often in control of the routes that connected the spice-producing Wayanad hill region with coastal towns, making it difficult for the East India Company to procure hill produces like pepper, cinnamon and other spices for export to Europe. In spite of an EIC monopoly on spices trade, a huge network of shady traders and dealers had sprung up, a black market for contraband wares developed, and many EIC officials were making exorbitant amounts in such deals working in cahoots with local traders who operated these networks.

It was then an idea was mooted with the presidency’s rulers in Bombay (Malabar was under Bombay presidency till1800) by a private trader in Mahe called Murdoch Brown (1750-1828) who suggested development of a plantation to cultivate spices in an area closer to the coastal town of Thalassery. In 1797, Duncan, by then governor of Bombay, agreed to the proposal and a 2000-acre plantation was decided to be set up at Anjarakkandy, with Murdoch Brown appointed as overseer of the project. Later, the company transferred ownership of the estate to Brown on a 99-year lease agreement executed in 1802. This gave him the unique distinction of being the first English landholder in India and its first planter.

Brown was a very industrious and colourful character, who was born in Edinburgh in Scotland. He travelled to Lisbon as a young man and from there reached Calicut in 1775 as a consul for Empress Maria Theresa of Austria; served various European powers, then in constant conflict in the Indian Ocean region, and eventually became one of the most influential persons on the western coast of India. Duncan, with whom he had cultivated a close relationship, described him in 1792 as the most considerable of any British subject on that side of India.

But unlike Duncan, others in EIC service had different, and not that flattering, opinions on Brown. When Brown was appointed by Duncan as Malabar interpreter to the Commissioners, Walter Ewer, another senior officer, wrote directly to Henry Dundas, company chairman in London, in 1796: “He is said to be & really appears to be, a Scotsman... [though] he has lived in Mahe as a Dane, & an Austrian, & finished his career of countries, by defending the place in arms, as a Frenchman, in which situation he was taken; let him chuse (sic) his country; being found in arms, he is certainly a prisoner of war; it’s said he was concerned in the war before last, with some merchants of Bombay, in supplying the enemy [Tipu Sultan] with provisions & stores....”

But neither criticisms nor adversities affected the fortunes of Murdoch Brown: He is said to have lost 11 ships, East Indiamen, of 1000 tons or more in the war with France; and later in 1803, in an attack on his plantation by the Coteote [Kuttiadi] rebels, all his buildings and nearly all the productive vines and coffee plants were destroyed. In those days, the plantation was a constant target of rebel attack and Francis Buchanan, who visited Malabar in January 1801, writes in his Travels:” The plantation has of late been much molested by the Nairs, and the eastern part of it has fallen into their hands; so that for the protection of what remains, it has been necessary to station a European Officer, with a company of Sepoys, at Mr Brown’s house. The Nairs are so bold, that at night they frequently fire into Mr Brown’s dwelling: and the last officer stationed there was lately shot dead, as he was walking in front of the house.”

Brown was a highly innovative planter, experimenting with a variety of plants brought from various parts of the world and introducing commercial plantation of many items like pepper, coffee, cinnamon, cotton, etc, in those early days which involved many years of trial-and-error experiments. In a letter published in Asiatic Journal in 1844, his son F C Brown, who inherited the plantation, recalls that “coffee, originally termed Malabar coffee, was produced from seeds which my father obtained from Arabia, nearly half a century ago, years before Java coffee was extensively known in Europe as an article of import.”

Murdoch Brown used local labourers for his extensive and ambitious agricultural operations, his plantation having a large number of coolies, mainly Thiyyas and Mappilas, besides many slaves, mostly Cherumas, Pulayas and other slave castes. Brown had claimed that he was doing everything to help their uplift, “educating them and Christianizing them by native catechists and German missionaries,” giving them a weekly day off and setting up a school for their children, etc; but in spite of all his philanthropic pretensions, he was rumoured to have kept a large number of natives abducted from the southern parts of Malabar and Travancore as slaves in his estate.

Having come to know about slave-running ”by the merest accident”, as he put it later, North Malabar’s English magistrate, Thomas Hervey Baber (1777-1843), decided to investigate and ordered a team of officials to search Murdoch Brown’s premises at Anjarakkandy towards the end of 1811. He found 71 persons, many of them children, stolen from the southern parts like Travancore, in Murdoch Brown’s possession and altogether 123 persons were restored to liberty and were allowed to return to their country. But there was considerable resistance to such a firm action, not only from Brown who challenged it in court, but even from EIC’s own establishment, as Baber describes in his 1832 note to the Commissioners for Indian affairs. It was ”after a considerable opposition on the part of the provincial court of circuit, [that] I succeeded in putting an end to this nefarious traffic,” he points out.

There was nothing surprising in this response: Murdoch Brown, as overseer of the company’s plantation, had been receiving the active support and connivance of EIC’s European as well as local officers in procuring workmen, and also purchasing as many slaves as necessary for his use in the plantation. The tehsildars and their peons (armed persons with badges of office) were frequently used for such purposes and the evidence recorded after the search proved that even local police officers, called daroghas, were used for kidnapping and forwarding freeborn children as slaves to the north to work in Brown’s estates. Brown had been involved in this activity for over 12 years, from 1798 to 1811, under the authority of the Bombay Government as he had impressed upon them the need for official support as the “price of labour was more than what he was authorised to give.”

Magistrate Baber’s action, exposing the underbelly of the civilizing mission of Imperialism, in a remote part of the British Indian empire, turned out to be a huge embarrassment for the EIC establishment and a severe indictment of its own duplicity and double standards as it proved beyond doubt that the Company’s own officers were directly involved in the act of slave-running. Though there was an underlying tension between the Bombay and Madras establishments of the Company administration (Malabar was shifted from the control of Bombay presidency to Madras in 1800) that added a twist to the internal debates over slavery triggered by this incident, the Company’s governing council in India or the Board of Control back home could not ignore it altogether. First, Baber, though a lower ranking official then, his contributions had already been widely noticed with appreciation within the Company administration, as he was primarily responsible for the defeat and slaying of its principal enemy since the demise of Tipu, Pazhassi Rajah of Kottayam, in a remote and dense tropical forest in Wayanad in 1805, an action which earned him encomiums from the Governor in Council; and secondly, the most despicable practice of slavery in the western hemisphere had become quite an embarrassment for the British rulers in the succeeding decades forcing them to take firm and stringent steps to prevent such occurrences in its Indian possessions, especially at a time when more and more people were turning to plantation business in various parts of India that required huge numbers of cheap labour. Baber’s detailed replies to the questionnaire circulated by the Law Commissioners for their report on slavery in India had been extensively reported and quoted not only in Indian and British journals, and mentioned even in Parliament; but also across the Atlantic, in various journals and pamphlets brought out by anti- slavery campaigners and associations in the United States.

By the time of the 1811 search on Anjarakkandy estate, T H Baber had been for 14 years in the EIC service, having joined it early in 1797 as a 20-year -old writer in Bombay, after completing his course at the Haileybury College of the East India Company in London. The second son of a solicitor, the family had lived initially at Yorkshire, then at Lincolnshire and London. Like most of the early recruits to EIC service, he too had influential contacts within the Company administration, including his uncle Edward Baber who had been secretary to the Governor-General, Warren Hastings, in Calcutta. Thomas Baber was sent to Malabar, a newly acquired territory that has been experiencing high level of rebel activity and his immediate task was to chase rebels and restore peace in the region. His moment of glory came when he was able to trace the most powerful rebel, the Pazhassi Rajah, who was, for almost a decade, carrying on a guerrilla warfare against the Company rule with deadly effect, in his forest hideout and shoot him dead, a task in which even Arthur Wellesley, the future Duke of Wellington, had failed.

Thus the searches in the plantation brought two interesting personalities, who represented two distinct streams in the history of colonialism, face to face: One was described as a person among the last of the “rascally adventurous”, who always “looked after his pocket, whether as a Scot, Dane, Austrian, Frenchman or North Briton”, the flags of nationality Murdoch Brown had waved in his long career as a fortune-seeker. The other was a true representative of the new bourgeois, who had visions of civilizing the pagan lands, whose services were remembered by a native at the end of his 40 years of career, as “sterling and meritorious”, whose talents “entitled him to the highest estimation amongst the natives” and the “impartial manner of conducting his duties earned the unremitted (sic) satisfaction of the ryots and interest to the government.” But in spite of all these, Baber found himself pitted against an unresponsive and even hostile administration and he had complaints about the judicial system which put up “considerable opposition” against the release of kidnapped slave kids.

The hue and cry following the discovery of kidnapped people, forced into slavery, at an English citizen’s estate continued for decades. References to this incident were made in Parliament, and there were several articles in various journals and other publications. It was widely noted that the plantation itself was started by the Company; its official establishment was pressed into service to procure slaves and even to transport kidnapped people; and attention also focused on the miserable plight of the peasantry and slaves ever since the Company took the reins of power in Malabar. Baber contended that the practice of separating the slaves from their lands and selling them for revenue arrears of their masters, even splitting their families, was an “innovation” brought in by the British administration; he argued that the practice of kidnapping children for slavery had its origin directly in the ”impolitic action“ of permitting Brown to procure slaves; and Assen Ally, the agent of Brown, who had arranged most of these children, acknowledged at trial that during the time he was in Alleppey, in Travancore, in 1810, no less than 400 of them had been transported to Malabar.

The liberation of the slaves had other reverberations too, especially in those regions from where they were abducted. In 1812, Colonel J Munro, British resident in Travancore, wrote to Baber expressing gratitude of the rulers there for their release. He said, “I have every reason to believe that many of the unfortunate persons purchased by Assen Ally were procured in the most fraudulent and cruel manner, about the time when he was carrying on his proceedings at Alleppey. I received numerous complaints of the disappearance of children; but all my enquiries at the time could not develop the causes of them... I cannot deny myself the gratification upon this occasion of returning thanks to you in the name of many families in Travancore for your zealous and indefatigable exertions in restoring so many children to their parents and homes, and in checking a practise of a most cruel nature.”

During the trial, Murdoch Brown took the defence that it was a widespread practice in Malabar and there was no family among the Mohammedans and Christians in Malabar towns where they did not have slaves brought from other places. Later on, he blamed his agent, Assen Ally, for providing him with kidnapped children without his knowledge, though a few children, who were born high caste, had given evidence that they had been forced to eat with the low-caste boys by Valia Achan (Brown) with a view to polluting them so that they could be [legally] kept as slaves. With reference to the evidence produced before the court, Baber noted that these slaves had been ”kidnapped in Travancore, and sold to British subjects, and even the free-born children of various castes of Hindoos, subjects of the Cochin and Travancore rajahs, reduced to slavery in the Honourable Company’s dominions, who had been procured by the most fraudulent and violent means, and deprived of their caste by cutting off their lock of hair (the distinguishing mark of their caste), by making them eat prohibited food, and by otherwise disguising and polluting them.” The Advocate General in Madras, Ansthruther, who had examined the case more than once, refers to “Mr Baber’s perseverance in restoring the kidnapped children, in spite of very extraordinary opposition” and to the “extraordinary support Mr Brown appears to have received in these dealings in stolen children.” Ansthruther further remarks in his observations following a reference of the case to him in 1813: “The conduct of Mr Baber, in the whole investigation as to the slaves, appeared to me at the time to be highly praiseworthy... I see every mark of a strong feeling of compassion for the children who had been stolen from their parents, and a determination to restore them to liberty, zealously pursued in spite of very extraordinary opposition, without any symptom of that personal rancour which is strongly charged against Mr Baber.”(quoted in report on Slavery in India, Asiatic Journal, December, 1828.)

However, no one was surprised in the outcome of the case: In spite of the hard evidence Baber had marshaled, none of the accused --only the agents of Brown, who were persons in his employ, were brought to trial-- were found guilty and the case was dismissed on some technical grounds in Mohammedan Law, then practised in criminal courts in Malabar, as Baber himself points out in his deposition before the Select Committee of House of Lords on East India affairs in April 1830. He never concealed his bitterness about the provincial court of circuit-- to which he himself had been elevated later as a judge --taking a view that helped continue and legitimize a practice he thought reprehensible and nefarious; and he openly spoke about the considerable opposition he faced from the court in putting an end to this practice in Malabar. Even the report of the Law Commission on slavery, while praising the substantial work done by Baber for the “suppression of the trafficking in slaves” from the south to Malabar, refers to the fact that the court had an opinion quite different from that of Baber in the matter.

For Baber, this incident of discovery and release of slaves in an Englishman’s estate was not just a matter of a legal case; he considered it as an issue of principle and policies pursued by the British administration in India, and he had to take on a reactionary establishment; in the process earning himself powerful enemies that put his life and career at stake in the ensuing years. In his 1832 note, he says that “unfortunately the measure was not supported by those in whom the legislature had reposed the controlling authority, over the acts of the executive administration, but on the contrary, I had to contend even against their systematic opposition in those individual acts of violence and cruelty; the conspiracy that was formed against my life, through the machinations of the principal slave-owner,. ..but all this had no effect in deterring me from persevering in that righteous cause I had engaged in, and it was not until I found myself deserted by the Government itself, by an avowal of their apprehension of repeating the expression of their approbation of my conduct, lest it should aggravate this distempered feeling, as the struggle between the ardent zeal of an individual and the selfish views of a party, was called.”

One of the principal disputes Baber had with the Company administration was over the way the slaves were treated as commercial property; auctioning them off to recover revenue arrears of their masters, often dividing families in the process, separating parents from children and husbands from wives. As a judicial officer in the Company’s provinces, he took cognizance of such complaints and demanded explanation from the Revenue authorities which evoked considerable friction and enmity as the latter thought no action was improper in the pursuit of revenue collection as demands of taxation were exorbitant and hence called for every ruthless act on their part to realise it. In fact, James Vaughan, collector of Malabar, makes this view explicit in his comments when the issue of prevention of sale of slaves for revenue arrears came up for discussion in 1819. He argues for the continuance of this practice, saying ”that the partial measure of declaring them not liable to be sold for arrears of revenue, will be a drop in the ocean; though, why Government should give up the right every proprietor enjoys, is a question worthy of consideration.”

These larger questions of policy seem to have been underneath many of the disputes Baber had with his superiors, especially after the untimely death of Governor Sir Thomas Munro (1761-1827), with whom he had maintained a very cordial relationship and who generally approved of his views, until his suspension from service in January 1828, on an alleged charge of assault in Mangalore where he served at that time, and afterwards. It was S R Lushington, Governor of Madras who took over after Munro, that ordered the suspension, an action which Baber fought successfully in London, and was eventually reinstated as principal collector and political agent at Dharwar in the Bombay presidency a few years later. It is interesting to note how this battle went on uninterrupted, even years after. In 1833, on his return to service, Baber hits back at his detractors, keeping in mind a dig taken at him by Lushingtons’s brother in some official records, some time back, as follows: “...and here it will not be out of place to notice Mr C M Lushington’s most wanton attack on me, in his report dated the first of July 1819, (for no other reason that I can see, than that like his brother the late governor of Madras, he would prosecute every man who had not his political prepossessions--for I never saw the man in my life), wherein, after vindicating this custom of “selling human beings like so many cattle”, and “this system of perpetual labour,” (as he himself writes), he insolently observes, “it is however possible that the advocate of freedom may think with Cicero and the third judge in Malabar [a reference to Baber], “Mihil liber esse non videtur qui non aliquando nihil agit”[Only a free man can be idle], and this further calumny (instead of returning the letter as every authority that did not countenance these attacks upon character would have done) the Board of Revenue actually incorporate in their own proceedings without a single comment upon the impropriety of such personal allusions in official documents.”

These tussles, however, were not confined to official files and internecine sniping within the administration; but as Baber himself notes, his unconventional views and bold actions had earned him many enemies who were conspiring to finish him off. One of the incidents, widely discussed in official documents, refers to an attempt to provoke him into a duel, a practice that had been prevalent in colonial outposts in the early 19th century. Baber had complained to the authorities that Lt. F C Brown, then a young man with the 80th Foot Regiment of Her Majesty’s Army, came to his residence at Thalassery in October 1812 and demanded an explanation on the rumours that were allegedly spread by Baber against his father, Murdoch Brown. Baber denied he was involved in any false campaigns against Brown, but Brown Junior was not satisfied and he and his friends, all EIC servants, challenged him to a duel.

Baber refused to oblige, asserting he was not answerable to them on matters concerning his official responsibilities. Brown Jr, who accused him of being a professed enemy and persecutor of his father, proceeded to put up posters in the town accusing Baber as “a liar and a coward.”

That led to another round of troubles, and after an investigation, the Government resolved to remove from Thalassery the persons involved in the affairs, namely Lt. Brown, and his friends Douglas, Gahagan and Harrison. The Government also allowed Baber to proceed with criminal action against them, which resulted in jail term for all the accused. The sentences were as follows: “Brown Jr to be imprisoned for two months and two weeks, and pay a fine of 100 pagodas; Douglas, to be imprisoned five months and two weeks, and pay a fine of 1000 pagodas; Gahagan, to be imprisoned three months and two weeks and pay a fine of 100 pagodas, and all of them bound to keep the peace for three years.”

An interesting aside to this story is that F C Brown (1792-1868) later became one of the sharpest critics of colonial administration in India, and during his 1848 deposition before the House of Lords Select Committee on cotton production in India, he accuses the colonial rule of causing the complete destruction of Indian agriculture, anticipating and powerfully articulating some key arguments later developed by Indian nationalists like Dadabhai Naoroji and Ramesh Chander Dutt. His long experience and intimate links with the natives as a planter and an agriculturist in Thalassery had made him acutely aware of the tremendous negative impact of colonial policies in India. In fact, after his return to England in 1838, he emerged as a pioneer in reform movements focused on India, associated with launching the first of such organisations, the British India Society, in London a few months later, in July 1839.

For Baber, despite his huge efforts and some minor victories against his personal detractors, it was proving to be an uphill task: As most of the first-generation EIC officials were leaving the scene and new administrators taking their place, the colonial policies were changing and attitudes getting harder. He found himself abandoned by the Government, in his pursuit of a humane policy towards the native slaves, when the Government in an official minute (Dated 22 January 1823) made it clear that it thought “the simple intimation that Government approves of the conduct of Mr Baber, might even increase these evils.” A frank and forthright declaration of its abdication of the rule of law!

Then he goes on to declare: “Since that time, I have confined myself to occasional notice of the condition of Malabar slaves, as often as my public attention has been drawn to the subject, but with little or no benefit to the unfortunate slaves, who continue the same reprobated people as ever, as their half-famished persons, their sieves of huts, and the diminution of their numbers, while every other class of people is increasing, abundantly testify.” In a recent study on slavery in colonial India, historian Tanika Sarkar makes an objective assessment of Baber’s disenchantment with colonial policies: Baber, a British officer, wrote in indignation that it was colonial rule that really put into practice the evil custom of selling slaves off the land they habitually tilled and of separating slave families by sale. Even though the Indian slave-owners did possess the right theoretically, they seldom exercised it….Baber strongly criticized the stock anti-abolitionist argument that forced labour ought to be retained because the higher castes would otherwise be totally helpless, being as they were traditionally divorced from the cultivation process. According to him, such rigid caste prescriptions were being steadily eroded, and the upper castes were increasingly drawing closer to production, a process that would have been encouraged by the emancipation of captive labour. Colonial policy then, not only continued the old hierarchy but actively froze it and choked the potential for change. A similar process was observed in the case of slaves: “I have observed amongst the slaves in the vicinity of large towns a growing spirit of industry and independence which, but for the countenance their masters have received from us [the British]…would have ripened into an assertion of their liberty long ago.” (Tanika Sarkar, Chains of Servitude: Bondage and Slavery in India, eds. Utsa Patnaik& Manjari Dingwaney.)

Thomas Baber signed off his historic note referring to himself as Late First Judge, Western Division, Madras territories, an office which he had held for a long time, bringing him into close contact with the lives of common people. A few years later, Baber tendered his resignation, and having been relieved on first of March 1839, he returned to live among the natives in Thalassery where he had started off his career four decades earlier. After the death of his wife Helen Somerville Fearon in 1840, the lonely crusader was practically alone-- as his only surviving son Henry Fearon Baber had shifted his base to far-away Kurseong in Darjeeling--and he died in Kannur in 1843. Now, two centuries later, his words remain a powerful testimony of the injustice done to a section of Indian people oppressed by a cruel caste system, and a harsh critique of the insensitive colonial policy towards these people, who, unfortunately have to struggle even today for their true emancipation in a liberal and democratic Republic of India.

(I am thankful to Dr John E C Roberts, New York, and Nicholas Balmer, London, for their comments on an earlier draft and support in the research work for this article.)

A version of this article has been published at www.infochangeindia.org, January 2011.

Media’s Selective Amnesia: The case of N M Siddique in Kerala

2010-09-11T04:02:00.000-07:00

IT WAS on July 22 that my friend and one-time colleague N M Siddique was picked up by the police as he was going home in the evening. He was produced before the magistrate the next day, a Friday, around 8 pm and was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.

Ever since he was incarcerated at the Ernakulam sub-jail, all his applications for bail being rejected till last week when the Kerala High Court ordered his release on bail on a series of stiff conditions. It was on September 2, Justice V Ramkumar of the High Court ordered bail for him, but curiously the order said he could be released only on September 13 as the investigations were still on.

Siddique, now a freelance media-person and a columnist for Thejas daily, was serving as the Ernakulam district president of the National Confederation of Human Rights Organizations (NCHRO), a national level human rights network headed by Justice Hosbet Suresh of Mumbai. He was charged under Sections 153 A, and 124 A of Indian Penal Code for his alleged activities creating communal tension and also for anti-national activities. The case is still pending and since the matter could be considered sub judice, I do not want go into the merits of the police charges. Let us hear it as and when the court is pleased to take it up.

But I cannot but shudder at the complete silence in the mainstream media in the matter of the arrest of a well known media-person, writer and a lawyer whose main mistake appears to have been filing a complaint with National Human Rights Commission over a series of raids and searches in various parts of Ernakulam district after the unfortunate incident of hand-chopping of a college teacher in Moovattupuzha. His complaint had alleged that these raids were often conducted in violation of the norms set by the higher courts for such actions and there were instances of police highhandedness and harassment in many cases. He had given a few specific cases as example for investigation by the NHRC.

Following this the NHRC did take some steps and had sent a notice to the Director General of Kerala police seeking their response. The matter is pending before the NHRC and in the meanwhile another search was conducted by the police at NCHRO office in Ernakulam north, which also became a matter of another complaint to NHRC by Mr Siddique as this operation was also violative of the norms and without any formal notice to him or any other office-bearer of the organization.

This is the background to the arrest which took place around 8 pm on July 22 and he was not even allowed to talk to his wife or any other friends or relatives as to what was happening to him. The news of arrest became known when somebody saw him in the police lock-up the next day and informed his friends and relatives. The police took him to the magistrate’s residence late evening and got his remand around 8 pm.

The police have charged him under serious sections of the IPC, for anti-national activities and creating communal tension, and the police report on the seizures at his office refer to a few copies of Thejas fortnightly, copies of his columns on human rights issues in Thejas daily and other publications, and a few CDs on Maradu and Gujarat carnage, etc, released by MRDF, an Ernakulam-based media research foundation.

What is surprising about the arrest and the more than six weeks of incarceration of a well known intellectual, writer and campaigner in Kerala, is the complete silence on the part of almost all the major regional media groups and their willingness not to question any of the police claims made in this case. This is really surprising even for a pliant and complicit media like Kerala’s regional press, because every time in the past when writers and intellectuals were put under arrest or subjected to state harassment, there have been voices raised in protest. Such protests were heard when P M Antony was subjected to harassment over his play on Christ, when a Surya T V reporter was arrested on a complaint from a Congress MLA, when an editor of a known yellow journal was arrested and his office searched, to cite a few examples...

But in the case of Siddique, no newspaper or T V channel made any effort to raise the normal questions that an independent media should have asked. What it points to seem to be a smug relationship between the media and the police in covering up the blatant incidents of rights violations when it comes to the members of the minority community. There are instances galore that prove this sad conclusion, and hence this conspiracy of silence in the case of Siddique is more than eloquent.

(A version of this note has been published at www.countermedia.in earlier this week.)

And that is justice for Bhopal...!

2010-06-08T04:04:00.000-07:00

Huge outcry in India over the paltry justice delivered for the victims of Bhopal's Union Carbide gas leak in 1984.

Not satisfied with the verdict? Why not increase the fine by say another five rupees...?

Trade, Religion and Politics: A Story from the Early Days of Colonialism

2010-05-15T04:27:00.000-07:00

BUSINESS AND corporate rivalries in the Indian sub-continent are generally traced to the period when the British,French, Dutch, Danish and other East India companies started their operations in the Indies, with the launch of the British East India Company, known as the first multinational corporation in the world, in London in the year 1600. Ever since the Indian Ocean region, extending from the Near East to the Far East, has been a theatre of power struggles and business rivalries involving various European countries.

But historical records indicate that the global power struggles in the region date back much earlier, and even before Vasco da Gama launched forth with his fleet of ships that ultimately led him to the discovery of a new trade route to Malabar in 1498, rivals were planning to upstage and sabotage the Portuguese efforts. One of the very interesting, and less known incident connected with da Gama's visit to Calicut, was the mysterious missing of two engineers who came with him, who appear to have given the slip as they came ashore.

William Dalrymple, in his celebrated book, The White Mughals, makes a note of this incident: "Perhaps partly because of the Inquisition, a surprisingly large number of of Portuguese made the decision to emigrate from Portuguese territory and seek their fortunes at different Indian courts, usually as gunners and cavalrymen. Again this was a process whose origins dated from the very beginning of the Portuguese presence in India: In 1498, on his famous first journey to India, Vasco da Gama found that there were already some Italian mercenaries in the employ of the various rajahs on the Malabar coast; and before he turned his prow homewards two of his own crew had left him to join the Italians in the service of a Malabar rajah for higher wages." (The White Mughals, page 14.) Contemporary Portuguese chronicler Barros has said that by 1565, there were at least two thousand Portuguese fighting in the armies of different Indian princes.

Surprisingly, none of the major historians of Portuguese-Malabar relations like K V Krishna Iyer, who wrote The History of Zamorins of Calicut, makes a reference to the decampment of the two Gama crew during his first visit to Calicut in 1498. It is possible that the incident took place during a subsequent visit Gama made as he had returned to Malabar a few times in the next few years. In fact a book written in 1694, by an Anglican Church official on the history of Malabar Church, refers to this incident and enlightens us on the secret trade wars that went on from the moment Gama set foot on the eastern spice coast.

This book,titled The History of the Church of Malabar, is a unique contemporary record of the Portuguese efforts to tame the Malabar church and bring it to the Roman Catholic fold, dealing with the history from the "time of its being first discover’d by the Portuguezes in the Year 1501" to the incidents that led to the "Synod of Diamper,Celebrated in the year of our Lord 1599."

The book, written by MICHEAL GEDDES, chancellor of the cathedral church of Sarum, is printed for Sam.Smith, and Benj.Walford, London, at the Prince’s Arms in St. Paul’s Church-yard, 1694.

The author who translates much of the records o the Synod of Diamper from Protuguese to English also provides "some remarks upon the faith and doctrine of the chieftains of St. Thomas in the Indies, agreeing with the Church of Engand, in opposition to that of Rome."

This 500-page book,which remained hidden in the storehouses of the Church of England for long, recently became available to researchers on Malabar history through the Google Books, which has photocopied a rare copy and made it available worldwide, to the delight of scholars.

Geddes traces the arrival of the Portuguese to the Malabar coast late in 15th century and goes on to describe the various incidents in the next one hundred years, when Portuguese power expanded in the entire region and their religious orthodoxy and methods of inquisition became a matter of great anxiety and violent confrontation with the local church and its laity, which they knew existed in Malabar even before they arrived here.

This ancient Malabar church was part the church in Eastern Roman Empire, and they claimed it was established by St Thomas, who they believed came to Cranganore in the early days of Christianity, and they adhered to the Patriarch of Babylon based in Antioch, who had the power to appoint their bishops. The tensions started as soon as the Portuguese discovered that the Malabar Chrisitians were in no mood to follow them and the Roman Church, which they were determined to propagate and impose upon the faithful in the east.

It appears that search for the lost church in the east was one of the primary concerns of the Portuguese as they landed at Kappad, near Kozhikode, on a summer day in 1498. As the ships had anchored off the coast, two moors were approached by a Portuguese sailor (most likely a convict who was serving in the ship) who came on shore and one of the first questions the moor, a person from Tunis who knew Castilian and Genoese and who was evidently in Malabar doing a brisk business in spices, asked was what brought them there. Then the Portuguese replied they came in search of spices and Christians...

The moor then ensured them that they had landed at a place they would find riches in plenty; as for the church, on their way to the court of Zamorin, they stop at a temple which they thought to be a holy place of worship dedicated to Virgin Mary. The Portuguese chronicler who accompanied Gama reports:

"The kutwal said it was a church of great holiness. These the general believed to be the case, fancying it to be a church of the Christians; which he the more readily beleived as he saw seven little bells hung over the principal door." (K V Krishna Iyer, The Zamorins of Calicut, Calicut University, Page 69.)

But there were people in the entourage who had their misgivings. The chronicler says: John de Sala, however. being very doubtful that this was not a Christian church, owing to the monstrous images on the walls, said, as he fell on his knees, "if this be the devil, I worship God," on which the general looked at him with a smile.

But the Portuguese very soon came across the Malabar Church as they built up contacts with various rajahs in Malabar, among them the Cochin king, in whose territories there was a large number of ancient churches with their special practices and ceremonies, which the Romans described as hedonistic. Micheal Geddes, in his book, describes the eventful half century from the mid-1500s to the end of the century, during which the Portuguese had a violent and tumultuous relationship with their religious brethren in Malabar, finally bringing much of the Malabar church under the Papal control, at the Synod of Diamper in 1599.

But the book is very important from another angle, as this is perhaps the earliest account of the Portuguese-Malabar relations and confrontations in the religious sphere, narrated from an outsider's point of view as so far what we have seen are the accounts left behind by the Portuguese as well as the Malabar church chroniclers.

Geddes is writing about the Portuguese aggression on Malabar church as a sympathetic chronicler, because his own Anglican Church was firmly opposed to the Roman dominance. He tells us that the first news of this ancient, but remote church was brought to Europe by Padro Alavares Cabral, who arrived in Cranganore in 1501. Cabral had set sail from Lisbon on March 9, 1500, and on his way to Malabar, a storm had driven his ships to the south American coast where he discovered Brazil. However, he got back to Cape of Good Hope and eventally landed in Malabar in September that year.

Cabral's efforts to establish profitable trade realtions with the Zamorin were a failure but he was successful in making contacts with the local chieftains of Malabar church in Cranganore where he arrived the next year. He persuaded two of them, who were brothers, to travel with him to Portugal. Writes Geddes: The eldest, whose name was Mathias, died at Lisbon; and the other, whose name was Joseph, went first to Rome, and from thence to Venice, where upon his information, a tract was published in Latin of the state of the Church of Malabar, and is printed at the end of Fasciculus Temporum. (Geddes, Histoy of Malabar Church, page 2.)

This was the first contact the Malabar church had with Europe and the next year Gama was in Cochin, in search of better contacts with the local rulers in the southern parts of Malabar, where the Cochin king was in perpetual conflict with Zamorins. The local Christian chieftains met Gama and told him that since "he was a subject of a Christian king, they beg’d the favour of him to take them under his Master’s protection, that so they might be defended against the oppressions and injuries which were done them daily by infidel Princes, and for a lasting testimony of their having put themselves under the king of Portugal, they sent his majesty a rod tipp’d at both ends with silver, with three little bells at the head of it, which had been the scepter of their chieftain kings."

Those were the early days of Portuguese contacts, and Gama, not in a position to do anything more, offered them all support and went his way. Soon, the Portuguese set up Goa as their headquarters and slowly built their pepper empire on the western coast; along with their rising power came the Inquisition and its powerful hold on the local church which became quite firm by the middle of the 16th century.

Still, trade and trade rivalries took precedence over religion in those early days, and Geddes gives very interesting insights into the various intrigues played by rival partners in the game. He reveals that planting a fifth column in the fleet of the Portuguese General was one of the strategies employed by their rivals based in the influential and wealthy European city of Venice, whose traders had been involved in a roaring trade in spices from the east with the help of Arabs.

In fact the first moor the Portuguese sailor met at Kappad in May 1498 had asked him the question, "Why do the king of Castile or the king of France and the seignory of Venice not send men here?"

And he replied that the King of Portugal did not permit them to do so. (Sanjay Subramaniam, The Career and Legend of Vaso da Gama, 2001, page 129.)

The King of Portugal, who had sent Gama to the east to find a route to Malabar to wrest control of the spice trade, had great powers over the waves because of his strong naval forces, but the wily Venetian traders were not fools either. Geddes reveals how they managed to plant their own men in Gama's fleet and get them to the east, to sabotage the Portuguese trade chances helping the Malabar princes to rebuff the Firangi guns:

"In the year 1505, two Christians, who were famous for their great skill in crafting great guns, and whom, for that reason, Don Vasco da Dama had taken along with him to Indies, ran over to Samorim, and were the first that introduc’d the use of artillery among the Malabars: For the Venetians foreseeing that their great Indian trade would be utterly ruin’d by the new passage that was discover’d to the Indies by the Cape of Good Hope, if the Portugueze shou’d once get any footing in those parts, are said to have sent those two Engineers, who were their natural born subjects, into the Portugueze service, on purpose to go over to the Indians, to teach them the use of great guns, and other fire-arms, that they might be the better able to oppose the Portuguezes." (Geddes, History of the Church of Malabar, 1694, page 3.)

The Venetians did their best to help their trading partners in the Indies to defend themselves against Portuguese aggression, but unfortunately that had little effect on the history of the sub-continent. But it is interesting to note that in the two centuries since then, most of the Indian princes did make excellent use of the skills these renegade engineers taught them, as we see in the naval skirmishes between the Kunhalis of Malabar and the Portuguse, the confrontation of the Travancore rajah Marthanda Varma with the Dutch, and the heroic fight of Tipu Sultan against the English in the Anglo-Mysore wars, though ultimately it was the western skills and superior firepower that carried the day.

Looming Violence, Political Threats and a Dispirited Media: On the Media Scene in Kerala

2010-04-19T23:43:00.001-07:00

THERE ARE strident calls upon the media to make amends for its omissions and commissions, its pervasive intrusions into the privacy of individuals and the havoc it has wrought in the lives of many unfortunate victims. As a media person, I have always been extremely worried about these tendencies on the part of the media and have expressed my views that the media should introspect, and try be a responsible player in our democratic polity.

But the media, at the same time, cannot remain a toothless entity. It has necessarily to be aggressive, it has to gate-crash into domains that are closed to public review, and bring an objective view of things and developments to the public.

This is a tricky situation. How to strike a fine balance between the concerns of the public's right to information and the individual's right to privacy? Who is a private individual and who is a public person? How to define them and how to strike this nuanced position while reporting on them and their activities? And what constitutes private activity and public activity and where does the line of private activity of a public person and public activity of a private person merges or demarcates?

For almost a quarter century I have agonized over these questions and recently when I saw these clamours for public apology from our media to an American academic for some reports against him, I was thinking about these things again.

Here let me say that I am taking up the case of Dr Richard Franke only as a case study and I do not in anyway wish to express an opinion on his personal or academic activity. I presume that he is a well-meaning academic genuinely interested in Kerala and its people and all the past calumny against him, enumerated in the recent book by Dr Thomas Isaac and Mr N P Chandrasekharan and known to us Malayalis through various news media in the past few years, are simply baseless and the figment of the imagination of a politically motivated media.

Now a few questions arise. I will take up only two right now. First, how far the demands for an apology are legitimate; and two, whether there is any substance to the charge that the reports in media against Dr Franke proved to be an infringement on academic freedom?

This plethora of media campaign against Dr Franke was launched by Patom magazine of Mr Sudheesh, which was later taken up by many other Malayalam newspapers and other publications. The motivated nature of these campaigns was self evident, and most readers remained un-persuaded by most of these charges levelled against Dr Franke, Dr Isaac and a few others. It was a political shadow-boxing within the CPM, to which most of those involved in this battle actually belonged.

That means, the entire episode was part of our contemporary political life in the past few years. All the players were public persons and most of them were in the game for gains of a political nature and are endowed with political power in various ways.

Still, they make a camouflage attack on the media as if there was an infringement on media ethics. Indeed there was twisting of media ethics because the media often failed to check the authority of news items fed to them, but that in no way could be a case for seeking an apology from the media or the launch of an Inquisition from politicians. If anyone had been injured in such a scenario, it was the media itself because they suffered in their credibility, but here again there is no way a media organization can cross check such items fed to them because the Communist parties work behind iron curtains. They will not respond to media inquiries, but they still expect the media to play by rules. That is a very funny idea about democratic ways of functioning, indeed. A similar example could be when someone say, "head I win, tail you lose...!"

The second aspect that needs probing is whether there is any infringement on academic freedom. Dr Franke appears to be a US academic with some long- term connections with Kerala and has done some serious works here. He has been generally enthusiastic about Kerala and its development models though many may have differences with his points of view.

The charge is that his explanations were not given its due and that the campaign had been continued without any hitch even after such an explanation was offered. But why did Dr Franke become an object of attack? Was it because he was from US or was it because he was inadvertently (or perhaps even deliberately) involved in the CPM inner struggles?

The fact of the matter is that Dr Fanke became a target not because he was an academic or he was from US, but because he was seen to be taking a big role behind the curtains; being close to leaders in one faction in CPM and was also seen to be working with them on certain areas of serious concern to Kerala society and politics. When you are in politics, you are bound to receive attacks. Here, you see nothing academic, but everything is political. And in a political society, if anyone wants to exempt themselves from public criticism, why not take a leave and go back to your ivory towers, gentlemen? Why blame media in an injured tone when you confront your own battered pubic image?

When I launched this series of thoughts on the need for critical engagement on the part of media, I was aware of the severe accusations launched by this book.

But now that even a normally sober Sajan joins the brigade of critics, I must respond. I know Sajan himself had some part to play in it because he was among those experts who had read the text before it was published. Hence when I go ahead with my comments I hope Sajan would not get hurt, like the good comrade Ramakumar who finds me weak and unconvincing

I must say I do share a large part of the criticisms raised against the media in the book by Dr Isaac and Chandrasekharan, though I am not convinced about the premises on which they do so.

First, what kind of a book is this? Is it simply a partisan propaganda work by a group of individuals who belong to a political party, or is it a sincere attempt to study the inner workings of the media and its limitations in our society?

It started out as a serious critique and then sadly ends up as a partisan propaganda work which falls flat in convincing the reader of the objectivity of the arguments and the sincerity of their purpose. They highlight issues that are convenient to them and ignore issues which are not suitable to their purpose.

I will take up just one or two examples from the book to argue my points. First, it says that after the days of 'liberation struggle' when media played a critical part in attacking the Communists, it was in 2000s that the media took up such a concerted role. The People's Plan and Lavalin reporting are two major points they use to drive home this argument.

What they conveniently refuse to discuss is the political origins of this media strategy. They are quick to deride the media while they are unwilling to discuss what were the reasons which prompted the CPM to set up a number of investigation commissions in the State and local level in these days? What were the findings of these commissions and what did it tell the party about its inner workings ?

Now the defence will come that these are internal matters of the party. But here they are attacking the media for reporting things based on internal information, and even in the cases where such official commissions were set up why can't the party reveal all that they came by?

That would put a question mark on the sincerity of purpose and the manufactured consent that the media is the villain of the piece. But the media has been mainly a tool in the hands of the two powerful groups in the CPM and both groups had made much use of it. But unfortunately such a complex scenario of cynical use and misuse of media in the internal power struggles and the naked fights for control of the party never gets any mention here.

In the study on People's Plan, they say it was the media which had destroyed such a major effort at decentralization of power. Then they go ahead with the Sudheesh-Patom sob story and says the media parroted all that ultimately killing the programme.

This is less than a half truth. They do not even look at the various steps in the evolution of the People's Plan and where it actually went awry. If they had, they would have seen that it was the inherent weaknesses in the plan implementation and its meagre results compared to the Himalayan hopes it had generated, that was the real problems for its failure.

This dichotomy of what is actually achievable and the insurmountable hopes it could generate, leading to inevitable disillusionment which the writers do accept as a fact, had been pointed out right from the beginning by experienced and sober critics as you can see from the critical articles in the anthology, People's Plan: An Experiment in Decentralised Planning, edited by me and published by Calicut Press Club in 2000 based on a workshop organized by none other than the media people who are now facing the music for its failure! One hoped at least almost one decade on, Dr Isaac and others would show a little more willingness for soul-searching on why it failed instead of the easy of option of media-bashing.

But the gem comes in a comment where they assert, it was a sense of guilty consciousness on the part of media people, most of whom were former SFI cadres, that led the media to this pseudo-left critique of the programme! What a cheek to rubbish people who had been in SFI, who had suffered much and at least some of whom had faced lathis, knives and even bullets, who had taken up work in the media instead of the much coveted full-time political work and tried to do their job of reportong of the goings on in the corridors of power!

I do not know whether this wonderful insight comes from Chomsky original or is a contribution from our neo-Chomskys to the critique of media in 21st century. I must admit, as a former SFI cadre, it left me gasping for breath as I too happen to be a critic of left politics now...!

I was struck by a phrase from Damodar on the contemporary media practice of media criticism familiar to us. He described it as third degree methods of criticism.

Most people would laugh it off as an exaggeration but those who are familiar with the way media-persons are forced to work these days in Kerala would know this aptly describes the reality that confronts us today. There is an atmosphere of latent violence in the every day life of a media-person and he/she has to face crude violence or abuses and threats almost on a day to day basis. Often they erupt into an act of physical violence on the person who represents the media in the field and in most cases he/she works fully aware of the threats to his/her safety. This is no exaggeration: ask any media person- whether male or female- and they would tell you how unsafe the profession has become in the most literate Kerala society. Very few of these incidents, which take the form of direct physical attacks, are reported in the media and most others like threats and abuses are hushed up or silently borne for fear of provoking further attacks or threats. This is a contemporary reality.

Some of these are so ugly and some really comic: When I watched the video of the threat to Vidhu Vincent, a female reporter, from a group of Church believers, I was horrified because the ugliness of mob violence on a feeble female was so evident in all its details. She later left the profession.

When I heard about a friend in Indian Express who was bashed up at a bus stop in Thalassery, I asked him what happened. It was a rally of a big political party there and the buses were all stranded in the roads and he said something to the person next to him about the way they were persecuting the public. Men from the jatha overheard and he was pulled out of the bus and bashed up. He refused to complain because he was afraid next day he would face a fresh bout of violence.

My worst days as a journalist were when I worked with a television channel and I remember with horror the continuous harassment, abuses and threats I faced. They were friendly fire, as they say coming from guys who had an ownership role in it! Some of the people who were abusive were men of some senior positions and one of them today happens to be a member of Parliament.

But the saddest part is not physical violence or continuous threats. It is the loss of means of livelihood which could completely paralyze a person. Most camera-persons are forced to buy their own equipment in small organizations and when they are attacked, the loss is huge. Once when I worked as president of the Kozhikode unit of KUWJ, there was an attack and around a dozen people were injured but when I went to the hospital to see them, the major complaint was not about the injuries or pain, but about the loss of equipment like cameras and lenses and there was no way they could get that back in shape.

Now what I suggest is that an atmosphere of fascist tendencies is fast growing in Kerala and politicians and local mafias are the main culprits. It is a fearsome thing that such attacks are now getting an official stamp as even senior politicians do not care when media people are attacked.

Media, Religious Minorities and Terrorism: A Case Study of Kerala

2010-04-10T06:01:00.000-07:00

This the text of a paper I presented at the two-day national seminar on Globalization, Religious Fundamentalism and Terrorism: A South Indian Perspective, organized by the Political science department of Kerala University at Thiruvananthapuram on April 8, 2010:

I PROPOSE to examine the role of media in generating stereotypes in the same ideological mould of global campaign against terrorism, launched along with the new policies of globalization and liberalization in Indian society starting from the 1990s, in the regional media as well as in every other sector of society, which has become a matter of serious concern even in comparatively progressive regions like Kerala.1

Kerala has been, for long, known as a place of communal amity and religious tolerance, with its social fabric consisting of a seamless mingling of various communities, the tradition dating back to pre-colonial times. In fact this region has been a model for social and communal coexistence with almost all religions finding a place in its shores without causing much friction, and finding ways and means to contribute to the social and communal well-being.

But this has not been a natural state of affairs, a social atmosphere that came on its own; but actually it was the result of conscious and deliberate policies pursued by various communities, and ruling classes down the years. In a sense, Kerala’s history of coexistence and cooperation between various communal groups can be described as a result of conscious efforts, a negotiated social space2 for each community which had the numbers and resources to demand a say in the system. There are several historical reasons for the emergence of such a negotiated space, which had often been disturbed owing to a number of external factors, like the sudden influx of colonial powers. The response to colonial challenge from the time of Portuguese to the English is a very interesting study in itself, as it was mainly a few communities which actually engaged themselves in resistance at various times, for reasons of their own. At the outset, we must also recognize that this negotiated space was not a free for all, not all sections of the society had a place in it. First and foremost, it was an elite social club with the upper caste Hindu rulers being the central and unifying force, with elite segments in other communities like Muslims and Christians accepting their legitimate social and economic role in it. The first and primary condition for such a social contract was that none questioned the prevailing social system, based on caste discrimination.

Then came the colonial experience, which, to a certain extent, emerged as a challenge to this existing, ossified and rigid social hierarchy, which Marx described as the Asiatic mode in his writings on India.3 Look at the earlier instances of resistance to the colonial aggression and a pattern emerges: Protection of ancient faith and protection of trade and economic interests were two primary reasons for the resistance offered to colonial aggressors. I will take up here, only two cases in our history: The first is the resistance offered to the Portuguese by the ancient churches in Kerala, who opposed the efforts by the Portuguese Roman Catholic arch-bishop in Goa to bring the ancient churches in Malabar Serra under the Roman Catholic Church. The Koonan Kurisu pledge in the 16th century by the members of local churches was an example of the expression of independence against foreign aggression. But it failed as at the Synod of Diamper (1599), the Roman Catholics declared their dominance over the local churches.4

The second example is the revolt of the Kunhalis of Malabar against the Portuguese. Here again, we see the operation of both trade interests and religious sentiments getting mixed up in resistance to foreign aggression.5 The Kunhalis and their supporters did evoke religious sentiments in their fight against Portuguese as we can see from contemporary texts like Tuhfathul Mujahedeen by Sheikh Zainudheen Maqdum of Ponnani, which calls for a war against infidels.6

The resistance of the local Syrian churches to the Portuguese domination in ecclesiastical matters and the resistance of the Malabar Mappilas under the Kunhalis to the Portuguese trade domination were taking place at almost the same time in the north and central parts of Kerala coastline. What is interesting is the strategy effectively adopted by Portuguese to win both the battles: They took religion into the political realm and effectively waged a war against their opponents driving alliances with local rulers. Once the local rulers got alienated from their own people, their slow disintegration and demise was only a matter of time. Hence my point is that this mutual alliance of various social segments was inter-dependent and once this mutuality got disrupted, it resulted in serious social tensions and disturbances.

In Kozhikode the Portuguese had succeeded in forging an alliance with the Zamorin, against the interests of a powerful segment in his own court, which soon led to the downfall of the Kunhalis against the combined forces of Portuguese and the Zamorin, and the eventual loss of power and influence of Zamorins themselves. In Cochin, they had forced the hands of the Cochin rajah to order the local churches to accept the dominance of Roman Catholic arch-bishop of Goa, who took the initiative of calling the Synod of Diamper in 1599 which effectively sealed this dominance, but we also see that once this local trust was broken the local rajah also faced severe isolation and loss of power and prestige.

Looking back at the subsequent history of these regions, we see the decline of the prominence of the royal families who were reduced to the level of mere vassals of foreign powers who rose to become the principal powers in this region. In Kozhikode, ever since the sea power held by the Kunhalis was cut down by the Zamorin and Portuguese, the local ruler lost his power progressively and finally he had to commit suicide in mid-18th century, unable to withstand external threats.

The point I am trying to drive home is that the ruling establishments in this coastal region, which had the first contacts with global forces and influences at every turn in history, derived their legitimacy, sustenance and strength from the internal cohesion of various social and economic interests that subsisted in this region. It was a complex system, with various groups holding special interests and privileges and in this scheme of things various communities like Christians, Muslims and Hindu upper castes had their own positions, privileges as well as responsibilities. The Hindu upper castes were the rulers and their legitimacy was ensured and sustained by the others who controlled various powerful interests such as trade and commerce, developing a web of mutual connections, responsibilities and liabilities. Once this intricate social web was disturbed as in the wake of Portuguese invasion, what we see is a natural disintegration of this social contract.

It was a social contract based on mutual interests and it was arrived at after mutual negotiations over centuries. It helped reinforce the conservative social system and guarded against any revolutionary change in its conservative social set up.

Take for example the caste system: The ruling establishment and the elite society gained its vast powers on the basis of caste oppression of a massive section of people, the lower castes. Kerala, with its long association with Christian and Islamic ideas--who had never accepted caste as legitimate--should have been exposed to a great social movement against caste, but instead it remained the most ardent bulwark of caste oppression till the mid 20th century while most other parts of India had seen much stronger anti-caste reform movements taking shape much earlier. We see that this negotiated social space and the inclusion of various community interests in this scheme of things helped this region remain itself as a exclusive conservative base, immune to change.

This has been the major and dominant pattern for at least five centuries, as we can see from the days of colonial invasion from late 15th century. This pattern has been in operation in the long period of English rule in Malabar with their power and influence extending to the southern princely states of Travancore and Cochin, through their resident agents and standing armies. Those who were left out, were forced to rebel as we see in the case of the chieftains of Wynad in Pazahassi revolts of late 18th and early 19th century7 or the Mappila revolts in South Malabar in 20th century,8 who faced severe discrimination and oppression. The land owing and revenue gathering system devised by the British give a clear picture of how it helped develop a network of dependents effectively co-opted into the colonial system.

After Independence, this has remained the cornerstone of the political system that developed here. Cronyism and formation of cartels has been at the heart of it, and in spite of the Constitutional safeguards for the protection of weaker sections, a substantial chunk of public expenditure has been cornered by the same forces who had control over society even in colonial times. A quick look at Kerala’s public employment pattern9 and the fact that almost 60 per cent of the total state revenues are expended for the salary and pensions of this segment10 speak of the horrible story of a society that consistently denied the rightful due to those massive sections without any regard for a redistribution of public resources in a more equitable manner.

Kerala's opposing political fronts which alternated in power almost continuously ever since the seventies, did actually exacerbate this situation as, for all practical purposes, these political fronts served as refuges for these interest groups. Veteran communist leader E M S Nambodiripad used to castigate the United Democratic Front (UDF) as a conglomeration of caste and community interests, which indeed it has been, but the reality is that even the Left Democratic Front also served a similar social role going by the experiences of those sections who were kept out of the power structure. From an analysis of the representation in power structures, political establishments and leadership positions in ruling parties we may conclude that those who still largely remain outside are Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims who are now facing the shrillest criticism of being harbourers of terror networks and anti-national activities from a media controlled by the same social groups and interests who are dominant in all power structures in our society.11

It is in this context we need to understand the recent media campaign against terrorism, which largely painted Muslims and Dalits as villains in its dramatics personae. The media reports linking these communities with incidents of terrorism were often without any substance, mostly planted by interested parties and such stories were published without any verification for authentic y or veracity and mostly without any direct quotes or evidence. Even when proved baseless later on, there were not many efforts to make amends for such violations of ethical media practices.

One of the serious criticisms that emerge from an analysis of the recent media trends in Kerala, is that the mainstream media is willfully manipulating news and developments with a view to malign these communities and there appears to be consensus among them that normal and universally accepted ethical media practices like cross-checking of facts, attributing claims, assertions and allegations to clearly identified and verifiable sources, enabling a a platform for the victims to make their own claims and defenses, follow-up coverage with clear and specific norms for authenticity, etc,12 are not at all followed by any of these newspapers in matters vis a vis these marginalized and vulnerable communities. There are innumerable case studies on such lopsided and unethical media practices in recent days which included the frenzy over Love Jihad (a long time Sangh Parivar bogey against Muslim youths), the completely one-sided coverage in the Beemappalli firing incident, and the reports about rise of Dalit terror networks following the murder of a person in Varkala under mysterious circumstances and the censoring of the news of mass arrest and persecution of Dalit youngsters who were organized under a new Dalit youth movement called Dalit Human Rights Movement (DHRM). The pattern of reporting that emerged was so evidently unprofessional and unethical and the continuation of such practices without any hitch or introspection only strengthens the view that this has been part of a conscious and deliberate policy decision, arrived at the highest levels of newspaper industry.

Now the question is, why such a media fixation about the Dalit and Muslim terror bogey and a complete reversal of its own sacred norms and professional checks and balances?

The answer lies in the assertive new political movements and ideas for social justice and equitable representation that is coming up from the lower segments of our society. There are clearly new movements and a wider alliance among the subaltern classes for a better chunk of the cake and that explains much of the ongoing frenzied responses from the society and its own mirror image and conscience-keepers, the mainstream media. What goes on is a process of delegitimization, a willful misrepresentation of social reality to preserve the social, economic and political privileges these segments have so far enjoyed. But right now, it appears they have overplayed their hands and are facing a serous credibility-deficit crisis, which might prove to undermine the very legitimacy of these mainstream institutions which have remained the unchallenged opinion-makers for a long time in our contemporary history.

When we consider why the media has abandoned its traditional watchdog role and 'impartial' umpire image, we also need to inquire into the changes in media ownership, financing and control patterns. Though the news media's editorial control is still theoretically, and in a legal sense, remain with Indian nationals, in reality it is an integral part of a global business network and its main concerns are no longer national interests or national consensus; it answers to the global forces of finance and capital who have come to dominate the Indian media and other business activities. A very interesting indication is the astronomical figures some of the chief executives and media celebrities in India are drawing these days, though as businesses they are often in the red, still their pay and perks are ensued and underwritten by an intricate web of media networks and corporate arrangements that go much beyond our national boundaries. this dichotomy appears to be the root cause of the alienation of Indian mainstream media from the common people, and its declaration of war on a substantial sections of our people, dubbed conveniently as anti-national.

notes

1 I would try to examine this issue mainly from my own experiences working in various Malayalam and English media organizations in and outside Kerala from 1983.

2 I am thankful to my friend Bobby Kunhu for suggesting this terminology to explain the present communal relationships in Kerala society.

3 See articles like Future Results of British Rule in India, in Karl Marx, The First War of Indian Independence, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1974.

4 For an interesting early description of the Portuguese, Syrian Church tussles in Malabar, see Michael Geddes, The History of Malabar Church, London, 1694, now available in Google Books.

5 For details, see Krishna Iyer KV, The Zamorins of Calicut, Calicut University, 1999.

6 An English translation of the text has been recently published by Other Books, Calicut.

7 See Pazhassi Samarangal, Dr K K N Kurup, State Institute of Languages, Thiruvananthapuram.

8 There are various studies on the Mappila revolts; see for an authentic version, Dr K N Panikkar, Against Lord and State, (Mal.) DC Books, Kottayam.

9 There are no official figures available for the community wise break-up of government jobs, but a broad picture may be available in the studies conducted by Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP) in its Kerala studies. The break-up is as follows in the order of community, percentage of population and percentage of government jobs approximately (in brackets): Nair: 12.5 (21); other forward Hindu 1.3 (3.1); other backward Hindu: 8.2 (5.8); Christian: 18.3 (20.6); Ezhavas:22.6 (22.7); Muslim:24.7 (11.4); SC: 9 (7.6); ST: 1.2 (0.8). It reveals that the Muslims, SCs, STs and other backward Hindus are represented below their population figures in government service, the biggest losers being the Muslims. The biggest gainers are Nairs followed by Christians.

10 According to final figures for 2007-08, salaries and pension accounts for 59.78% of total revenue receipts of Kerala. It will be interesting to examine people from which communities and regions are pocketing a larger share of the public cake.

11 For a serious criticism and analysis of the media practices in Kerala in recent days with regard to these social segments, see the press release issued by a group of concerned citizens including poet K Satchidanandan, human rights activist John Dayal and others in Delhi, 29 December 2009:

Some of us concerned citizens had issued a statement on 18th December, 2009, appalled by the mainstream media reportage of the anticipatory bail hearing of Soofiya Madani in the Kerala High Court in connection with her alleged involvement in a conspiracy that led to the burning of a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation bus at Kalamassery, Kochi in September 2005. Many of these reports bordered on pronouncing her guilt with complete disregard for Judicial processes and the Rule of the Law. This kind of reportage can be understood only in the backdrop of a disturbing new trend in the Kerala media and civil society vis-a-vis representation of issues and concerns affecting religious and caste minorities. This press conference has been convened to present some of our concerns regarding this and to appeal to the media and civil society actors to be more sensitive and balanced in their coverage of various events.
Apart from vitiating the communal harmony of the state, this trend also encroaches upon the fundamental rights of people to fair trial, freedom of speech and expression, freedom of association, freedom to practice and preach a religion and right to equality regardless of caste and religion; along with other fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India. In this context, we would like to enumerate a few of these media campaigns and the obvious religious and caste bias present in them.

Love jihad: It was 2 cases of inter-religious love affairs that the media took up and blew out of proportion to create the bogey of “Love Jihad.” In both these cases, what was involved was love and attraction between Hindu women and Muslim men, which led to marriage and the conversion of the Hindu women into Islam. Following this the mainstream media in Kerala went on a rampage, claiming that thousands of women were being lured into converting to Islam by Muslim boys who were doing this as part of “Love Jihad.” This led to Justice K T Sankaran's remarks on "Love Jihad" and directions to the police to conduct investigations on it.
This campaign not only vilifies women as being incapable of decision-making, but also portrays young men of the Muslim community as members of “Love Jihad,” without any proper investigation or proof for doing the same. This regressive campaign was not stopped even after the Kerala Police clarified that such a phenomenon does not exist. It has come to a temporary end only after another judge of the Kerala High Court put a stop to all investigations on the issue, saying that saying that one could not target any particular community and that "inter-religious marriages are common in our society and cannot be seen as a crime." .

Dalit Terrorism: Following the murder of a middle-aged man in Varkala, the media in Kerala came out with a new term called “Dalit Terrorism.” Regardless of the identities of the Victim and the offender, media reportage on this case very often appeared to have been written in the police station. The press bought into the police story that it was activists of one dalit organization who had committed the murder. They joined hands with the police in reproducing unsubstantiated reports of the existence of a "Dalit terror network". This legitimized the large scale persecution of the organization's activists by the police and also led to violent attacks on them by members of the local Shiv Sena. The media in Kerala is party to these atrocities as it had stood with the police in accusing the organization and its activists, failing to control the excesses of the police and reinforcing the existing prejudices against a historically marginalised community.

Beemapally: On May 17, 2009 6 Muslim men from a fishing community were killed and 47 others injured (27 of them had bullet injuries) in a police firing in Beemapally. Later studies by Human Rights organizations brought out “the extremely unjust and criminalized violence" committed by the police in Beemapally (NCHRO, Kerala Chapter). The government also suspended some police officers as a token measure. However, when the incident happened, most of the Malayalam media observed silence on this issue. A few others reported the police version of the firing, branding it as "communal tension". They promoted the assumption that it was the provocation by a communally charged mob that had made the police resort to firing, and it was wise to keep silence. There was no analysis or even proper investigation of the whole incident. In this way, one of the worst incidents of state violence in Kerala against Muslim fish workers virtually went unnoticed in the mainstream media.

All this shows the impunity with which the Malayalam media is treating issues related to caste and religious minorities. It easily communalizes every issue related to the Muslim community and works to spread hate and suspicion about them. Similarly, it also misrepresents caste issues and works to reiterate existing prejudices. Here, we would like to reiterate that we do not hold a brief for any individual or organization and would like to see the Law take its own course and we would urge proper investigation, trial and conviction of any person mentioned above, provided that the procedure established by law and Constitutional guarantees are upheld and they are not singled out by virtue of their religious or caste identities. We call upon the media to fulfil its role and check excesses committed by the State, its agencies or other formations that is likely to infringe upon the quality of our democratic polity and uphold values of plurality enshrined in the Constitution of India.

12 For a sample of how serious newspapers deal with such issues, see the New York Times guidebook for their staff, Ethical Journalism: A Handbook of Values and Practices for the News and Editorial operations, updated September 2004, available at nytimes.com.

Caste, Half-Caste& Outcaste, in India and Outside

2010-03-27T08:02:00.000-07:00

CASTE SEEMS to be coming back to our lives with a vengeance. And sadly not only in India, but in other parts of the world too where there is an Indian connection. We made effort to remove it with the help of sour secular Constitution. But see what some of our learned judges in the Supreme Court had to say in a recent judgment:

“The murders were the outcome of social issues like a marriage with a person of so-called a lower caste. However, a time has come when we have to consider these social issues as relevant, while considering the death sentence in the circumstances s these. The caste is a concept which grips a person before his birth and does not leave him even after his death. The vicious grip of caste, community, religion, though totally unjustified, is a stark reality. The psyche of the offender in the background of a social issue like an inter-caste marriage, though wholly unjustified would have to be considered in the peculiar circumstances of the case.”

In other words if a Brahmin murders a lower caste person because he married his sister, then the seriousness of the crime gets reduced because of the higher caste status of the criminal! Well, going by this, we can very well expect a day when our learned judges offering some special privileges for those involved in Dalit lynching in our wonderful land. After all, the Dalit, by his very existence, is a sinister presence that evokes a sense of nausea and anger among the higher castes, don’t they?

After reading from this Supreme Court judgment, I got a mail from my friend John who was traveling in the Caribbean islands where there is a huge Indian presence. He wrote from Guyana:

“Today I discovered about how caste perceptions are pushed to this society by the Indian Indians. Two very well-off guys here told me how they do not like the Indian diplomats here as they looked down upon people of Indian origin -- telling they were low caste coolies "shipped" from India. This kind of Brahminism and caste attitude of Indians is there deep inside, and they even impose it on those communities (like Guyanese) who have outgrown or escaped from caste.”

Then elsewhere in global discussion group I was talking abut the problems of Anglo-Indians, a group often described as half-castes by the English. I never knew it was a widely held practice all over the English-speaking world until Ainslie Pyne, my artist friend in Adelaide, Australia, wrote to me:

“Interestingly the term 'half-caste' was quite common in Australia and New Zealand for those who were the product of a Maori/white - Australian Aborigine/white liaison.

In the case of my mother's ancestry - I still used the term 1/8th caste to denote that Mum was part Tasmanian aborigine and 7/8th English ancestry and I think the term half-caste Maori is still common in NZ; but maybe they have bans on labelling NZ’ers based on the percentage of mixed blood they have.

I doubt it is any more debasing to say someone is 'half caste' or whatever percentage it happens to be, than saying someone is of 'mixed' blood.

As a matter of interest - what is the acceptable term in India for someone of mixed Indian/European ancestry?”

That meant I had to explain to her what caste, half-caste and outcaste meant to us India, especially to those who were at the receiving end of these social practices. Here is my note to Ainslie:

I think the Europeans took the expressions caste, half-caste and out-caste from their Indian connections and experience. Caste as a social organization actually came to exist in India and it got deeper and stronger as an institution here, that for the past 3000 years it defined the essence of Indian society and culture. It remains so even today, though caste oppression is now officially extra-legal and discrimination based on caste could get you a jail term, at least in theory.

Caste means a society which is divided on the basis of one's birth: If you are born to a Brahmin you are at the a top of the social hierarchy and if you are born at lower order, you are in the lower or middle order and there are out-castes who are outside the caste system and hence they are outside the social stream.

According to ancient Indian custom, there were four castes: Brahmin (priest), Ksahtirya (soldiers and rulers), Vasiya (traders), and Sudra (peasants, artisans.) and those outside were outcastes or Avarnas. There was a stiff social stratification and often untouchability was practised even among these sections. Hence if a Brahmin is polluted by a Sudra, he would have to pay a heavy penalty, and at times it even meant death to the Sudra, the polluter.

But the severest pains were reserved for the out-castes, Avarnas, those who were seen to be outside the caste system which was called Varnashrama or Chaturvarnya, as there were four main castes. (Chathur is a word which denotes four and Varna means colour.) Hence you can see casteism is something like racism, but more sinister as it goes very deep and is extremely complex and divides the entire society vertically and horizontally.

It has been a painful thing to India and most social scientists do agree that it has done immense damage to the social fabric. Still, it remains intact and strong because it gives a comparative advantage to each segment in the system (except the lowest underdogs), because they have people lower down whom they can boss around and despise. I think this system was devised by people who had a great insight into human mind, his venality and meanness.

Islam has been a religion which originally had no such social divisions, but once they came to India they adopted it in their lives. So had the Europeans and Christians, who seemed to have developed similar caste prejudices as they lived in India. But I never knew they carried it even to their homes as you tell me such expressions do exist even in Australia and NZ.

Funny.

Some Ethical and Cultural Questions with Regard to Mayawati Cartoon Controversy

2010-03-24T07:05:00.000-07:00

I WAS seriously in trouble last week as I decided to publish a cartoon of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ms Mayawati, in a provocative posture, following the pubic outrage over her acceptance of a currency garland which is said to be valued anything between Rs 5 crore to Rs 20 crore. It was a disgusting scene, the chief minister of a state accepting such a garland from people who evidently had strings to pull. It was corruption through and through and a cynical expression of contempt for all norms of public decency by one who holds power under our Constitution.

That perhaps explains why our cartoonist Sudheernath decided to draw a very provocative cartoon with Mayawati in her toilet, asking for a bunch of 1000-rupee-notes for use as toilet paper.

I was in two minds as to what to do with the cartoon, whether to allow it to go or ask for a milder one. Finally I decided it to go in the paper, dated Wednesday, March 17.

Next day, there were severe protests from many friends, including Dr M S Jayaprakash, a long-time friend and a leader of the Bahujan Samajwadi Party, Kerala unit. The points raised were that the cartoon was per se obscene, and secondly it put a dalit leader in a poor light and thirdly, by using the image of a lady sitting in a toilet, the cartoon was demeaning to women. In addition to the protest letters, there was also an attack on the Thiruvananthapuram office of the newspaper on Friday, March 19.

I was anticipating objections to the cartoon, but I never expected the kind of fierce protest that was witnessed after its publication. I think this incident, hence, needs to be reexamined, to draw its lessons.

First, was it obscene? I am not sure where lies the dividing line between obscene and not obscene in a piece of art, whether it is a cartoon, a painting or a poem. This is an age old question and I feel there is no final answer. But of course for an editor, there is always this question to answer, what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in a particular newspaper. It is tough to arrive at a proper decision, keeping in mind the social attitudes, the readership's tastes and views, and the need for intellectual honesty, professional standards and ethics, artistic freedom and freedom of expression.

The second aspect was the allegation that the cartoon made a pointed attack against a dalit political leader. Why Mayawati was singled for such a demeaning treatment, was one line of criticism.

This, I realize now, is not a very easy question to answer. The evident and ready answer to this argument is that it was not because she was a dalit that she was attacked, but because she was a chief minister and she was corrupt.

This is absolutely true. A chief minister is holding a public office and hence under public scrutiny. The media cannot but criticize them in public interest. We cannot tone down the criticism only because one belongs to a weaker community.

But when I was deciding upon the cartoon one question I failed to ask myself was whether I would have allowed such a cartoon if it was, say Indira Gandhi or Sonia Gandhi on the seat of the toilet? And whether the cartoonist would have drawn such an image of them?

Well, here comes the cultural question; the question of middle class rationalizations of one’s preferences. I am sure no editor would dare to publish a cartoon of Indira or Sonia on the toilet seat because that would mean a massive public outrage on the part of their middle class readership and they know it beforehand. There the self censorship would work.

When I failed this test in Mayawati’s case, it is a reminder that I was insensitive to this cultural aspect. I was perhaps being dishonest intellectually as I failed to ask the right and most critical questions.

Yeah, Food Prices are Going North...!

2010-02-23T07:23:00.000-08:00

Indian Parliament Adjourned amidst protests over the rising price of food stuff:News.

Well, let us have a five-star lunch today...!

A Guide to the Calicut City: Letters to a Visiting Friend

2010-02-23T05:20:00.000-08:00

Dr Bina Thomas, a historian and archeologist, was visiting the city of Calicut, for the first time. As her host in the city, I kept worrying what could be of interest to her and what not; and hence I ended up writing a series of mails to her trying to introduce this city and its surrounds to her. Now that her visit has been successfully concluded, I suppose I could release these mails to my readers who might wish to visit our city:

Hi, I am glad finally you have taken the plunge and decided to visit Calicut. I am hopeful your visit could result in some good and perceptive notes on the city and its life for your travel series.

I do believe that this city has quite a lot to offer a visitor, though often visitors may fail to see even a fraction of it. I have lived here for many decades and even today I know there are many things which I have not explored.

Its history and its long and complex relationship with the external world-- Arab, Greek, Roman and modern colonial powers, is well known. But what is so fantastic about this city is that even at this moment it is in a constant flux and keeps on changing and its changing facets are visible to people who take a stroll around the city and its living quarters.

Go to the beach any evening and you see this for a fact. It is a mix of all kinds of people, colourful and complex: Young women in jeans to those in total veil are around and all of them seem to live in their own special world though without causing friction or irritation to the others. I have never seen another city which has taken this new-found fixation for full veil without much bother as I see here these days. It seems just another season for fashion shifts.

This contrast between perceptions of bigotry and religious fundamentalism ad the reality gets much more pronounced as one goes to a textile shop, where new fashions are eagerly examined, or a hotel where spicy hot biriyani is served and witness how voraciously people take to the pleasures of life from behind the veil. It is a celebration of life I see here.

As a woman traveller you might get a much better and closer view to their life behind the front door. Try to visit a Muslim family house and take a look at their Ara, or the inner room where their Puyyaplahs-- even a man married for decades to the family is still a puyyaplah here!-- are feted.

From Varakkal beach in the north to the South Beach road at the southern end, where the road turns east leading to the old city of Arab influence-- Kuttichria, Idiyangara, Kundungal and Kallai-- one comes across quite a lot of historical facets. Of course not in a chronological order, not in a clean vertical or horizontal perspective; but with plenty of criss-crosses and inter-junctions. But this confusion of street names, histories and connotations and historical connections illustrate the symbiotic relationship of these various groups of people who came and got entangled in its long history.

Varakkal is part of the ancient past, the place of Varakkal Nambi, vassal of Zamorin, and a sacred place for Hindus who pay obeisance to their ancestors. As one reaches Vellayil beach, Customs Road and Lions Park, one enters the nerve centre of civil life in colonial times as most of the civilian habitations in the British period were located here. You still see remnants of it, at the Kerala Soaps & Oils premises near Gandhi Road, which used to be a famous factory of sandalwood soap that was exported even to London, for the Crown's use, and the brand then was known as the Imperial Soap. Watch those old buildings and you see the influence of colonial patterns, as in the old Corporation building and the Beach Hospital nearby.

Towards the South beach, it is a wonderful mix of all kinds of racial and cultural heritages and traditions ranging from Arab, Jain, Gujarati, Marathi, etc. You see the pandikasalas or trading houses in plenty, on the Beach Road as well as the Big Bazar nearby, and the Gujarati Street and the Silk Street with living quarters of most of these ethnic groups tucked inside. There are mosques (the oldest dating back to 14th century, called Miskal Mosque), temples and a Jain temple besides a Gujarati school in this small area, and I am told there used to be a China town also somewhere there in the past.

This particular street reminds me of how history has been such a wonderful and unceasing process, with many people coming and going, getting closely interlinked and generating new energies and of course animosities in the process.

I do feel this particular street and its past is something that strongly revolts against the concept of uni-dimensional and exclusivist painting of history that is being attempted in our times. The very atmosphere, the very smell of these places do transport you to something quite different, something more cosmopolitan. I think Romila Thapar's book, Somanatha: Many Strands of a History, captures such an image of a place up north, but somebody should write about this street and its environs down south which is much more evocative in its assertive cosmopolitanism.

Well, I have other parts of this city to describe but I think before one embarks on a walk down there, the best thing one can do is to go to Google Maps and examine this part of the city to see how history has been made in such a small stretch of land.

Those who visit the city today will surely feel the Mananchira Square is the centre of the city. It indeed is, but only a decade ago the landscape in this region was completely different.

N M Namboodiri, the historian of Zamorin's city, has described the city and its main points as per the Calicut Granthavaries, the records of the local rulers, and it appears the main palace-- burnt down in 18th century as the last Zamorin committed suicide setting fire to the palace-- was somewhere on the eastern side of Palayam (where the bus stand is), the main market even today. Palayam is something like Chandni Chowk to the Red Fort in Mughal Delhi.

As a Hindu ruler, Zamorin had traditional architectural or Vastu patterns to follow. His immediate surroundings were set apart for his closest people, according to their ranks and castes. Thus, to the south east of Palayam, we have the Tali temple, the Zamorin's main deity of Shiva, and then next to it the Tamil Brahmin settlement. (The Namboodiri Brahmins stuck to their illams and settlements and never uprooted themselves for the convenience of even the king. Thus the tantris of Tali and Valayanad temples lived in their illams many miles away, somewhere in Nediyirippu, in the present day Malappuram district.)

The main vassals and chieftains also lived here, in Tali, Chalappuram and Panniyankara areas. These are Eradies and Nairs, mainly.

On the northern side of this area is a goshala, which used to give milk to the palace and today, if you take a trek to the interiors of Palayam you will see narrow lanes with old houses still keeping cows and buffaloes.

On the north-western side, we have the major centres of power and administration: the Mananchira tank, the Muslim mosque for military men, Kottapparamba (camp for armed forces), and city’s own the raj path that leads to Palayam. On the right side of the junction, just opposite the old palace, you have the Moideen Palli, the mosque (remember Zamorin's offer to Muslim chief Shah Bandar Koya that he would occupy the right-hand position at Mamankam), and on the left side, the Mariyamman Kovil (which almost shares a wall with another mosque) and then a number of other temples besides the famous Tali Shiva temple.

What is unique about this few kilometre-radius of land, is the seamless array of various sites that speak of the history through many centuries: The temples speak of the king and his vassals, the mosques of Arabs and their flourishing trade, the churches (the German style CSI Church is the most prominent in the heart of the city) of its dalliance with the west and the military mosque about the arrival of the Mysore powers to Kozhikode, which ultimately led to the suicide of Zamorin and at the far corner of SM Street the Parsi place of worship, and then a bit to the west on the beach, the Jain temple...

Why I Decided Buzz is Not for Me...

2010-02-13T04:26:00.000-08:00

I JUST now turned off Google Buzz. I think this is the third day I had this service and this is the first time I decide that I would better opt out of an Internet service that fast.

They said Buzz brings together the social networking facilities of Face book and Twitter to my Gmail account, and that way it is great hit. Yes, Buzz has all those facilities and you can add any number of words and images and can follow anyone and can be followed by anyone.

And that is what I find very much irritating. Face book and Twitter are like public places, say a public transport bus in a busy city in which anyone can get in and one cannot complain about it. But if you are in a private car and then finds someone happily placed beside your seat, then I think there is cause for concern. I thought my Gmail account was a private affair, and normally I do not allow anyone to know who are there in my contacts and address book.

That is why sometime ago when they offered the Google Chat within the inbox, I decided that I do not want that option at all. Initially it looked like a good option because one can start a chat just by a click and then the poor person sitting on the other end, who might be busy typing out an important mail, gets hooked and cannot escape without causing ill feelings. I was in such a tight spot quite often and then I took the decision to quit.

That is the trouble with Buzz also. When I write an email I want to focus my attention on it because most of the time I write serious mails. If it is just a word or two, like a hello, then I go for a text message and do not shoot off an email.

I decided to switch off Buzz also because of my recent experiences with chat and discussion groups. When they are a closed and select circle, they serve some useful purpose and when they are open-ended and anyone can walk in, you can depend that most of them are party spoilers and sheer bores. Buzz is no exception.

So for the time being, thanks buddies. I quit.

Jyoti Basu Moves On

2010-01-19T06:19:00.000-08:00

Lal salam, Comrade Basu...!

Vimsey Passes: Memories of a Legend Among Kozhikode's Media Veterans

2010-01-09T21:28:00.000-08:00

VETERAN JOURNALSIT Vimsey, V M Balachandran, died this morning at his home in Kozhikode.

I was there at his house to pay my homage to Vimsey in the morning and there were many veterans of journalism in this city, like T Venugopal and P A Sreedharan Nair, both had served Mathrubhumi a long time with Vimsey, and many others like N P Rajendran and Vijyakrishnan who are still working there.

I have known Vimsey from late seventies when I used to be a student activist in this city. Mathrubhumi was the pinnacle of journalistic excellence in those days and the paper was still a place where you will come across people in khadi dress. People like T Venugopal and C Uthama Kurup and the late lamented V M Korath and R M Manakkalath belonged to this khadi group, while Vimsey was one person who came in his immaculate bush shirt and pants, with sharp eyes burning behind his thick glasses.

He was news editor and he was lord of all things at the main desk. I remember one day going to meet him in 1980 or 81, with a very interesting representation. T A Ushakumari, a fiery student activist from Azhiyur near Vatakara, who was then a PhD scholar at the history department of Calicut University, had been elected to the university syndicate as an SFI nominee and Mathrubhumi had published a photograph of hers.

I must say Usha was not a traffic-stopper as a girl but this particular photograph they had printed made even hardened cynics like me feel bitter. It appeared they had taken special efforts to make her look ugly and she was really much upset finding herself thus tarnished in the paper.

My errand was to request him to publish a fresh news photograph and he appeared in two minds. He spent a long time studying the picture they had published and he knew they could have applied a little more sense in selecting the photograph. But it would look silly to publish another picture simply because their photographers or library were not intelligent and sensitive enough in judging a picture.

He just cut some jokes about the way the ancient printing presses worked those days (when people had to ask which was the monkey and which one the minister if a photo of a minister visiting a zoo was published) and then moved on to other things. It was clear he would not budge.

Vimsey as an editor was sharp and quick, two qualities you need to survive in this dog-eat- dog-world. He had an abundance of both and perhaps that is why he survived for so long in Mathrubhumi. Still, he had to leave and then he worked at Calicut Times, an eveninger, where he worked with equal enthusiasm. The paper was not a big hit but he could build a young crop of good reporters and writers who are still active in the profession in various papers.

He was an excellent sports writer. He played with words and he made words bring the game back to you so vibrant: whether it be a direct shot into the goalpost or a scissor cut or the gallery's response to the players they loved...I loved reading him and when I read the insipid prose in our mainstream papers today, I do long for the days when Vimsey, K Koya and P A Muhammed Koya(Mushtaq), Abu and others were writing sports, just as I look back nostalgically at the days when Rajan Bala and Harsha Bogle were making magic with their words in the Indian English press.

Ethical Journalism in Theory and Practice: A Case of The Hindu Frontline

2010-01-01T22:24:00.000-08:00

FRONTLINE, THE fortnightly from The Hindu group, was launched in 1984 and this week it has released its 25th anniversary issue, a wonderful collector’s item by any standards.

The Hindu has always stood for the best and most noble in journalistic practice and its adherence to professional ethics is well known. It has remained a beacon for media-persons in this country and I have always loved to read it which I have done from the mid seventies of 20th century.

Still, in spite of its best traditions and standards, those who have read it closely, especially from the lower segments of Indian people, had a sense that The Hindu was a newspaper for the elite and its progressive credentials are nothing but a veneer for what lurks behind: an upper caste and elitist mindset which has scant regard or empathy for the real concerns of the poor, the subaltern and minorities.

It became evident quite often, whether it at its shameless support to the Emergency in 70s or its refusal to cover the people’s resistance in West Bengal’s Nandigram, in recent months.

Unfortunately, I had to get involved in a case where The Hindu Frontline played a less than honourable role in presenting the Muslim concerns in the Love Jihad controversy in Kerala: It was a blatant misrepresentation of the minority viewpoint articulated by Thejas that enraged us, and finally we had to file a complaint with the Press Council of India, which is still to go for hearing and final resolution.

Here I release two letters we had sent, the first to Mr. N. Ram, editor-in-chief of the Hindu group, dated December 1, 2009 and the second to the Chairman, Press Council, dated December 28, 2009.

Letter to Mr. N Ram, dated December 1, 2009:

Sir,

This has reference to an article in The Hindu Frontline, dated November 20, 2009 titled Divisive Debate, written by Mr. R Krishnakumar, your Thiruvananthapuram correspondent.

The article makes a reference to an editorial purported to be published by “the NDF organ Thejas” quoting the same from “an article in the pro-BJP Janmabhumi”.

Your report continues as follows:

Quote:

The Thejas editorial was quoted as saying: “If young men embrace Islam, it is for terrorist activities; if young women do it, it is for love jihad. This propaganda is part of a well-planned strategy. Here, the police, certain sections of the media, even the courts are becoming tools in the hands of certain vested interests, for implementing their secret agendas. It is part of an evil design indeed that when Islam embraces (sic), it becomes the singular cause for restlessness for some sections and they try to put an end to it. Muslims are mere victims of Hindu fascists. Even then, we are portrayed as aggressors. Our aim is only to defend [ourselves] against aggression of Hindu fascists. The religious conversions undertaken by us are similar to those carried out by other religious sections. But Hindu fascists are hunting down and attacking those who come to Islam…..”

Unquote.

As editor and publisher of Thejas daily, published from four centres in Kerala, kindly allow me to infirm you that the editorial you have generously credited us with writing seem to be real news for us. In the course of the two months of October and November 2009, when the ‘Love Jihad’ issue came to dominate Malayalam media, we had published two editorials on the topic of religious conversions, love and other related issues. The first one, dated October 2, 2009, was titled ‘When Love and Jihad Come to the Courts, and the second, dated October 28, 2009, was entitled, Love Marriages and Religious Conversions.

I have attached copies of the two editorials for your reference and possible perusal. You may note that neither of the editorials do make any such references that your report has credited us with.

As a responsible editor and a well known public person, I hope you will agree that attributing completely false statements to others is highly unprofessional and unethical in any news media. Still such unfortunate incidents do take place (for example, the Janmabhumi’s false attribution to us in the article). But as a major Indian newspaper with high ethical standards, people do expect higher yardsticks from The Hindu and its publications. It was a most surprising experience to see The Frontline quoting Thejas from the columns of Janmabhumi, while the editorials of Thejas are very much in public domain and can be accessed for anyone in print or electronically. Still, neither your desk nor your reporter bothered to cross-check whether what you have attributed to us did actually belong to us.

Thanking you(Signed, Prof P Koya, editor& publisher, Thejas Daily.)

Letter to Chairman, Press Council of India, dated December 28, 2009:

Sir,

Recently various news media organizations operating in Kerala had given wide coverage to a secret letter written by the Director (NI) of the Union Home Ministry to the Chief Secretary, Kerala, alleging that the Thejas newspaper had been indulging in communal propaganda.

We consider this a completely false allegation and we do refute it with vehemence. However, since we were not asked by the authorities to explain any of the news items /editorials/ articles we had published in the paper during the four years of its existence, we were unable to prove our innocence and protect our fair name in the matter. As a newspaper committed to support the cause of the minorities, dalits and other oppressed sections of Indian society, we have been often subjected to such heinous allegations without any factual basis from time to time.

We have generally ignored such allegations and insinuations coming from interested parties. However, we consider that a recently published article in a highly reputed national journal, The Frontline published by The Hindu group of publications, Chennai, was an extreme case of irresponsible journalism with a motive to tarnish the fair name and pubic image of Thejas daily.

The article, printed in The Hindu Frontline, dated November 20, 2009 titled Divisive Debate, was written by Mr. R Krishnakumar, its Thiruvananthapuram correspondent.
The article on the recent controversy over ‘Love Jihad’ makes a reference to an editorial purported to be published by “the NDF organ Thejas” quoting the same from “an article in the pro-BJP Janmabhumi”. The said editorial, which makes inflammatory comments against “the Hindu fascists” was quoted extensively in the Frontline.

But the fact is that Thejas had never written or published any such editorial. It was completely cooked up by Janmabhumi, a newspaper published by those belonging to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, from Kerala.

As soon as The Frontline article was brought to our attention, I had written a letter to Mr. N Ram, Editor-in chief of The Hindu group of publications, inviting his attention to the false charges raised against us in his publication and requesting for correction of the same as soon as possible.

We regret to say that the letter written and dispatched on December 1, 2009, has elicited no reply or any action from the side of the editor of The Hindu group till today. Hence we are compelled to file this complaint with the Press Council seeking a direction to the Hindu Frontline to correct the mistake and ensure our fair name and public image.

(Both the letters were signed by Prof P Koya, editor and publisher, Thejas daily.)

A New Year Tableau

2009-12-31T18:54:00.000-08:00

Wishing a happy new year to all readers...!

Summit Concludes; and Warming...?

2009-12-20T07:10:00.000-08:00

Global climate summit concludes in Copenhagen with no definite agreement: news.

Did anyone ask the planet how she feels now...?

In Defence of Thejas Daily: A Reply to Critiques

2009-12-19T23:49:00.000-08:00

WHAT IS the responsible media's job in a democracy?

For the past quarter century when I was active in this profession, I was under the impression that we are the watchdog and we need to a keep barking and if possible do some biting too.

But going by the Central Home Ministry's letter (sent by the Ministry's National Integration wing's director Y K Baweja, to Kerala chief secretary, asking effective steps to curb Thejas daily and fortnightly, I think the government is now thinking of providing some new roles to the media in this country.

The letter is an excellent piece of media criticism. It needs a thorough critical analysis, but right now I will quote here only the four major points they have raised in the letter:

First, they say Thejas in its editorials and articles speak up against the Government of India's policy line on Israel and the United States.

Second, they say the paper in its articles and editorials dubs the Government's actions to control extremism in the country as State terrorism.

Third, the paper opposes the Government of India's actions and policies in Kashmir to control extremism and tries to debunk all the initiatives there.

Fourth, the paper tries to look at issues and developments from a communal point of view.

While I was writing these points for a discussion forum, I had not a copy of the letter with me. I was quoting from the media reports that appeared in various publications and channels like the New Indian Express, Deshabhimani, India Vision and Amrita TV. Since then, I have been able to get a copy though a friend and it urges the State chief secretary to take effective steps to curb the operations of Thejas so that it does not vitiate the communal atmosphere in the state of Kerala.

The letter warns the government of Kerala about Thejas daily as well as fortnightly. I have been closely associated with Thejas daily (run by Intermedia Publishing Ltd, while the fortnightly has a different ownership pattern), an from its inception on January 26, 2006, I was its executive editor. It was one of my primary responsibilities to keep the newspaper under a firm professional control and I think I had done the job fairly well. There were mistakes and criticisms, but I must say that it was a fairly well edited and professionally run newspaper. Then how did the government of India find it a threat to communal peace in Kerala is a mystery to me.

I was watching the public reaction to this and was happy that most people thought this was a serious encroachment on media freedom and there was nothing its pages that warranted such a criticism or perceived punitive action. That is good, but I do not know how the Government proposes to go ahead in the coming days as it appears there is some concerted and serious moves on the part of the officials to put difficulties before Thejas daily.

I saw that in some public fora, there were criticisms raised against me personally and some even raised questions about my credibility to speak about media freedom vis a vis the contemplated actions towards Thejas, in response to the first part of this post I quoted above.

Below, I am just quoting a post I made where I try to explain my position vis vis Thejas and its role in Kerala society and media:

I am returning here not to defend myself or my paper against public criticism because I have said earlier in this forum itself that as a media-person, I do consider myself a public person and I am willing to be subjected to pubic scrutiny. Not only my public life, but even my private life.

So let the question of my personal credibility, raised here, remain there unanswered.

But I think it is absolutely necessary for us to ask some important questions in the charged atmosphere that is Indian journalism today. It is about the charge that certain newspapers and certain media-persons are communal, they need to be hauled over the coals for violating our public morality; they need to answer for and provide proof for their loyalty to the nation and its ideals. And some others are whiter than white, they are secular without a spot; they only deserve the nation's undivided attention and adulation.

This, at best, looks like a nursery story of black and white world; a world of certainties and no gray areas. That Punjabi bureaucrat in charge of National Integration in Home Ministry (!!), who has passed a judgment on the (lack of) secular credentials of Thejas, a Malyalam newspaper from deep south which he has not even seen most probably, must be living in such a world of fantasy. God save him and his nation.

Now what is the reality?

Let me give my take on this: When I returned to the regional media after a long spell in the national press, what I could see was a terribly fragmented media scene with substantial sections of the people just left out of its ambit. You cannot imagine the kind of gap and communication vacuum that existed here. You can say such a situation is the national reality, and why bother about it?

Well, I think the difference at least in Kerala was that those people who were feeling left out and dejected and frustrated were still in a position to build upon their limited resources. Unlike Gujarat or other places in the north, where the 'Final Solution' is almost achieved in the case of Muslims, (“they will not dare to make a noise any more...”), Kerala offers a peculiar situation where members of the community, though frustrated and angry, do have the resources and powers to fight back and build a life of their own.

In this context, we must remember in the 90s there was the rise of a militant tendency among the youth (Madani was one example, SIMI & NDF were some others) and this did cause serious introspection and concern among many, especially among the Muslim community. I was a reporter with Indian Express in Malabar and I did have deep and intimate contacts and communication with various players and had a deep idea of these concerns and the search for new options and solutions.

Those days I was arguing for a new alliance among the restive Islamic youth and the left wing, as you can see in my many articles of this period, including the Indian Express edit page piece, The Radical and the Faithful, published some time in late 90s. But we know such a turn never took place, and the left, to my mind, was taking political advantage of the helplessness and frustration of these people.

Now we are at a crossroads: Things are taking a bad turn and we hear reports of youngsters even from remote Kerala getting shot on Kashmir border; they are being taken into custody even from Afghan or Bangladesh borders. So what? One might ask. The police and border cops will take care of them. As far as Kerala's own security is concerned, who said we do have any problem here? Of course, even if there are a few malcontents, the forces are capable of handling them.

But I do feel we cannot and should not opt for such a solution. The only way is to go through a democratic process, a dialogue process and a process of engagement and empowerment.

So in the past four years when we were running this newspaper, we had to take up strong and uncompromising positions; tough stances. We were asking why the six men from Muslim community were shot dead point blank at Beemapalli, we questioned the claim of the police that the boy from Pakistan who came here to meet his relatives was a terrorist (which he was not), we said there is a different tale to tell for Shahansha (in Love jihad case)... no other paper cared to tell this story as we did.

Now can anyone in their sense describe these as communal propaganda? I don't think so. Of course Thejas, in its editorial today(December 19, 2009), has thrown the challenge: All its editions during the past four years are available in public domain (also available online free of charge), and just locate one sentence in all these that can be dubbed a deliberate, malicious and hateful attack on another community, (must be easy as some honourable people have discovered that we are full of venom spewing it every day), and confront us in the public sphere with the proof.

A post-script:

On Monday, I heard on India Vision an interesting comment made by media critic S Jayasankar: "On the centenary year of Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai's banishment, Tejas' N P Chekkutty also can hope for a place in history through another deportation!"

Role of Subaltern Classes in Future Indian Politics: A Critique of the Left positions

2009-12-09T05:40:00.000-08:00

RECENTLY Dr K N Ganesh, of the department of history at Calicut University, published a long article in Sasthragathi, on the society and politics of Kerala and its future development perspectives.

The article and its timing is interesting in many ways, as Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad (KSSP) which runs Sasthragathi is one organization that influences the ruling left front’s policies to a large extent and Dr. Ganesh himself happens to be one of the foremost Marxist thinkers in the younger generation.

Some comments I made in a discussion forum and my response to some critics:

1. I would like to comment briefly on Dr Ganesh's article though he does not seem to be a member of this forum. I hope someone here would invite his attention to the views expressed here:

I do agree with his basic argument that what goes on in the name of development debate in Kerala is a political debate. I also agree that in development debates, what take upper hand is middle class vested interests which have all but buried the real class interests of the toiling segments.

But I disagree with his assertion that the newly emerging movements of various social segments (like minorities, Dalits, backwards, women, etc) are essentially reactionary and they are camp-followers of imperialism. He is refusing to look at the specific class and historical origins of these movements in Indian society in the past two-three decades and fail to address the objective conditions in which they came up and what historical role they have played. Without taking this into considerations, his assertions are baseless and made only to serve a specific partisan/political purpose.

It is very interesting to note that in recent articles, other left theorists like Prabhat Patnaik also raise similar allegations against Maoists operating in India, that they are serving the imperialist agenda. Ganesh also appears to be keen on attacking the emerging new movements of the oppressed sections with almost similar arguments. . Both are interestingly failing to address the issue why these movements sprang up and whether it had any reason in the failure of the established left in taking up slogans which were important to these people? Or perhaps whether the official left and its governments were in anyway responsible for actions that gave them the impression that their class interests did clash and hence they found to their utter dismay that the official left is at the other side of the barricade in recent times?

Why does he fail to ask the question, why the middle class interests came to dominate our left parties and their government policies? Why can't he look at the issue of development vs. political debate in the light of what has been happening in the left parties, especially the CPM, during the past two decades? Is it not time for us to put these questions of inner party disputes in the 80s and 90s in their proper historical perspective now and see why the left took such a right-wing turn, though Dr Ganesh deftly avoids entering such dangerous ideological waters?

2. I do not want to respond to all the points raised by John and I do not want to say anything on the prescriptions offered by Dr Ganesh. But without a proper stock-taking of the past, we are not going to build any future, I am sure. So before John proceeds to discuss his own prescriptions for the future, let me make some points here which might possibly influence him as he draws up his own action plan.

The question he raised about the class/caste basis of the so-called past politics based on class struggle is very relevant. In fact I do feel Kerala's left politics started in late 30s as a class-based movement but at some point it was obviously taken over by other interests and ended up in a middle class-controlled, upper-caste dominated movement which ultimately resulted in its present impasse. (Which Ganesh also seems to recognize implicitly.)

The development of the present subaltern class, identity-based movements (mainly of Muslims, Adivasis, Dalits, women, etc) are a natural extension/corollary arising out of the failure of the traditional left in carrying forward its original political agenda. I would also argue that these new movements do fill a vacuum left behind by the Left parties in our society. Here we must say that the new social movements of the marginalized groups are actually taking over the slogans practically abandoned by Left parties in the economic, political, social and cultural spheres for emancipation and equality. They are taking the Left's unfinished agenda forward.

To continue my point that the Left actually started out as the force that cemented the unity of the oppressed social/class elements in our society, I will revert back to the 30s when it was all started.

In the 30s Malabar, especially Kozhikode, was the major point of class struggle. The organization of the left movement actually started mainly among workers in this region and in the second stage it spread to the peasants in north Malabar which resulted in a series of violent struggles, in 30s and 40s.

On the political side, we see a coming together of these forces mainly opposed to the upper-class &caste dominated Congress leadership. In fact in 1937-38 we have the most beautiful alliance of all such forces with EMS as KPCC secretary, Muhammed Abdurahman as president, and people like P Krishna Pillai, A K Gopalan, K A Keraleeyan and E Kannan, a Dalit leader, as top leaders of the masses. Note that the left leadership even then was predominantly upper caste, just like the Gandhi Sangham in Congress which they opposed and displaced in 1937-38. Unlike the Gandhi Sangham which was exclusively upper caste, the left was firmly in alliance with the socially oppressed segments (mainly Dalits and Muslims in the 30s) which gave them their real strength and energy.

But in the post-Independence period, especially after the left formed governments, we see only the predominance of the elitist segments in the left while those who were their original allies in the 30s, slowly receded and drifted away.

Now these people who were left to the devil as the Communists took power are returning to the limelight and taking up the slogans their friends had abandoned. Why such a development should irritate people like Dr Ganesh is something which needs probing. When I read his diatribe against the dangers of identity politics, I see very well that in fact what irritated him was the rise of newly assertive subaltern politics in our midst.

3. Reply to Mr. RVG Menon,president,KSSP:

When I was reading your note, I was struck by the image of the new political and social movements, which are generally called identity political formations, being dismissed as of no serious consequence to the social/political transformation.

You seem to charge the new movements as being simply groups that would want to bargain some economic and political benefits for themselves (and their caste/community sub-sects) from the existing system, while giving no thought for the larger social and political change. That boils down to the charge that they are there to bargain and collect the benefits and not the change society through revolutionary means. So at best, they are only peripheral players and nothing more.

Reading Dr Ganesh, I felt he too accepted this limited role for the new movements though, as a historian, one should expect a more encompassing and larger picture from him. Or, as a senior KSSP person, is he simply projecting the 'politically correct' views the KSSP may hold and remain only a spokesperson for their views?

I ask this question because I have read the narrative of Kerala history Dr Ganesh made some time ago, in his book the Yesteryears of Kerala. The book is very important because it tries to study Kerala history and social evolution from a historical perspective and try to delineate the actual, deeper forces at work throughout our history.

That is why I thought it odd a person who has such an historical vision and deeper analytical skills do comes out with such a mechanical and automated response to Kerala's present problems and makes sweeping generalizations about its present process of churning, and provide a view for the future, which could have been done even by a computer at work on the data.

I am sorry for the harsh comments, but I just can't understand why you and Ganesh miss the point, why the crisis of confidence in the present dominant views that has given rise to the debate, after all. It is simply a fact that the present model is a failure, and is felt to be a failure at the larger social context, and you see there is a clamour for change, which actually is now overtaking all of us. The setbacks at electoral political level for the leftist ruling parties were an indication of the deeper setback they do face at various levels, including ideological, political and cultural spheres.

This failure or unwillingness to address the real issues, to face the reality of the utter debacle of what was once close to one's heart, one's world view, is the real problem that Ganesh and others from the left parties face today. It is this incapacity to accept this reality e that keeps them harp on the shortcomings of the new challengers to their dominance which is only laughable.

4. From a reply to JS, a friend:
Let me point out that I make a distinction between identity politics past and identity politics new (which I prefer to call New Politics because much more than identity what decides their ideology and nature must be class intermingled with caste/community).

Clearly there is a distinction between them as one can always see the line between the Kerala Congress groups, Muslim Leagues and NSS-SNDP formations, etc. They are more or less what RVG describes them; pressure groups who are content with bargaining for something for themselves and their offspring.

But the new movements which we, for clarity call groups of New Politics, are different and they do have deeper roots and wellspring. Their origins need not be local, but more national and even supranational. They acquire their strength and ideology from our recent historical experiences and developments, both national and global. In Kerala's context there might be regional issues also.

Just look at what these factors are: I would say the Mandal movement and the rise of backward castes is one; the Babri Masjid destruction and the churning in the Muslim community is another; the global war on terror and the rise of a global and national alliance against imperialism is a third, the onslaught of new economic policies and their impact tribals, dalits, farmers and others is a fourth; the rising forces of radical and Maoist politics might be another. There are so many new forces coming up and coming together in a new crucible of political experiments, that make it difficult for the present ruling classes to carry on as usual for long. For mere survival, they will have to accommodate changes.

The crisis in the left is an indication of what are the real forces at work today and the deep impact all these factors now have on our ruling elite. It appears that these huge churning are shaking up our crumbling traditional left edifice already and surely, as Lenin said, they would prove to be the weakest link in this imperialist-capitalist chain that rule India today.

Now you may ask: So what? Trinamool terror may replace the CPM terror; UDF corruption may replace LDF corruption, etc. But I am not sure this phase will continue for long. Every revolution sets off a series of big changes. There are other forces everywhere and it is only a matter of time before they come together and make the push into a shove.

5. A friend criticizes the new movements that originate from the Muslim community in parts of India as merely fundamentalist outfits. Here is the relevant text and my reply to it:

Where in socially regressive, reactionary and politically progressive. Anti-Imperialist on the one hand and pro-fundamentalist on the other hand. Such a politics do no add up. Because without democratic content of emancipation at the social and political level, there can not be a genuine subaltern politics.

I hate to fight with you but I am appalled by the exhibition of a set of preconceived notions about some groups and communities that is seen in this post, something that reminds me of Samuel Huntington.

As you can see I was making an effort to look into the future and speculate the strategy and alliances of various forces in future India, as the present dominant forces are showing unmistakable signs of fatigue and are likely to be crumbling down.

Your criticism is that some of these forces are clearly regressive in social outlook, and most have disparate and often mutually exclusive visions and agendas. Hence like water and oil, they don't mix.

But political alliances are complex mechanisms and I have never seen any alliance in the history of India where all partners were agreed on all issues. They came together on a minimum agenda and worked together; some times they failed, as in the case of the Janata experiment in 1977, and some were fairly successful as the United Front in the nineties and a few were successful to a large extent as the NDA and UPA in recent times.

So what does it tell us? It tells me that despite differences and cultural problems, people and political formations can come together and hang together. What helps them stick together is the commonality of interests despite differences. Also, it tells us that as years pass by and our politics gains in depth and experience, there is a growing willingness on the part of all parties (at least mainstream parties who were experimenting with alliance model) to stick together and work together.

In the case of subaltern mass movements that grow up from grassroots, what is going to be decisive is the common interests and the joint struggles they conduct. We have had many such experiences already. For example, I have not heard of any person who kept away from the Nandigram struggle simply because some of those who were at the receiving end of state repression and those who fought the police were Muslims with long beards and a possible patriarchal outlook when they go back home!

(My comments were originally made at fourthestatecritique.googlegroups.com.)

Liberhan Report and Future of BJP & the Indian Right-wing

2009-11-27T19:16:00.000-08:00

Kerala concerned about leak in Mullapperiyar dam; Parliament is rocked over the leak of Liberhan report: news.

Yes comrade, leak is a common problem, for you and me...!

WHILE DISCUSSING the Liberhan committee report on Ayodhya, and its implications for the future of Indian politics, I made the following points in response to some questions raised by a few friends:

a). My points are as follows:

1. The coming together for a second time of the malicious forces in the Hindutva right-wing is an idea they would surely pursue but they would see it does not work any longer.

2. The report and its debate in Parliament and outside in the public sphere would prove to be a severe indictment of the politics of communalism unlike the 90s when the right-wing carried the day almost wholly.

3. I am reserving my comments on the future of RSS and its right-wing agenda as one setback or a series of setbacks are unlikely to diminish their fortunes. Even the murder of the Mahatma did not do it.

4. But the future of Indian politics is going to be more assertively influenced by the forces from below, the sections who are genetically opposed to the right-wing, elitist politics of the right, that gives rise to the Hindutva phenomenon.

5. With the rising levels of social awareness, better communications and more aggressive questioning and nailing of the untruths and half-truths that helped the rise of the Hindutva agenda in the 80s and 90s, the battle for minds would be better fought and won by progressive forces. It is a more vigilant society and polity they have to encounter and their ancient Chanakya tactics might not wash any longer.

6. The global situation is also changing. Criminals in one country used to travel to another to escape the law. But things are changing and those who are able to stop the arms of law in their country with strong-arm tactics might find themselves running into trouble elsewhere. It is a matter of time alone for the gentlemen named as culprits in the report finding their nemesis.

b.) On a question on the possibility of new communications strategies from the right-wing:

I am sorry that I have to be very brief on how the changed circumstances in society and communications could defeat the criminal intent of all sections who would want to come to power through devious means.

If you look at the conclusions of Justice Liberhan, I think one of the major points to note is his conclusion that even then the Indian public had not endorsed the movement for a temple in the same place of the mosque. It was a constructed image and only a few people, like the writer of the letter Bina forwarded, were hoodwinked by it.

Now we have to ask why the Indian public actually rejected their claims?

I remember the widespread rumours they spread that hundreds had been killed in Ayodhya but it took little time for the people to realise what was the truth. In fact post 90s despite the crescendo of the Sangh Parivar campaign, what you see is that their political effectiveness was coming down though they were able to win power with the help of allies. But their campaign was showing a decline.

Why? I feel because truth ultimately prevails. Cynicism cannot hold itself for
long and other systems that depended on falsification of truth, iron curtains, media manipulations, etc, were also crumbing post 80s as we see in Eastern Europe and Soviet Union in the same period. So if you want to build a political movement, as the BJP might want to once again rebuild itself, they will have to think of new strategies based on truth and competition on an equal footing.Then, of course,they will no longer be the BJP we know but a right wing party which is welcome in any democracy.

Thejas Daily: A Note on the Beginnings of an Experiment

2009-11-18T07:14:00.000-08:00

Journalism is an unappeasable passion that can be assimilated and humanised only through stark confrontation with reality. No one who does not have this in his blood can comprehend its magnetic hold, which is fuelled by the unpredictability of life. No one who has not had this experience can begin to grasp the extraordinary excitement stirred by the news, the sheer elation created by the first fruits of an endeavour, and the moral devastation wreaked by failure.

--Gabriel Garcia Marquez

THEJAS DAILY was launched on January 26, 2006 as a unique experiment in mass media, with an uncompromising pro-people position in its editorial line and a vast mass base in financial sources and support base.

The newspaper stands for protection of the rights of the most dispossessed and marginalized segments in Indian society, namely the Muslims, Dalits and other backward sections. It upholds their democratic rights, their economic and social rights and above all their human rights. It is steadfast in its commitment to these ideals and its editorial policy is evolved through a process of democratic consultation based on a firm commitment to the principles of equality, dignity and social justice.

Launched by Intermedia Publishing Ltd, a company with grass-root level support, the newspaper has its editorial offices and press at Media City, on the national highway at Nallalam, in the outskirts of Kozhikode city. A multi-edition newspaper, it also comes out from major cities like Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kannur. The fifth edition will be launched from Kottayam shortly. The newspaper has a widely read internet edition, www.thejasonline.com and an electronic edition, www.thejasepaper.com, which is a paid service for our vast network of readers in other parts of India and abroad.

The origins of the newspaper:

Though Thejas daily was launched on the Indian Republic Day in 2006, the idea behind such a newspaper was there for a long time. In fact, Thejas as a new title was launched over a decade ago, from 1996, first as a monthly and now it comes out as a fortnightly.

The need for a strong, uncompromising daily newspaper has always been felt especially since the mainstream media, both in English and regional languages including Malayalam, has been unashamedly pro-establishment and spread all kinds of untruths, half truths and rumours that often painted the oppressed segments of Indian society like Muslims, Dalits,tribal people and others in a poor light. The widespread oppression of these people, the social, political and economic marginalization and ostracism practiced against them, the communal violence against them were never properly covered by the mainstream media and the versions of the forces of the state and perpetrators of violence and oppression received undue importance.

Another aspect of this media war against the oppressed people was the deliberate demonization of these communities which painted them as the breeding ground of terrorism and social evils in India. It was such a widespread and deadly strategy that whenever an incident of explosion took place anywhere in India, the needle of suspicion automatically pointed to the Muslim youths and a large number of them were jailed, terrorized, tortured and even murdered in the past many years. The situation of Dalits also is no better. In many cases, such incidents were later proved to be completely false and media stories deliberately planted and willingly purveyed by interested parties.

This media apathy and a sense of alienation and cynicism caused by such a totally one-sided media atmosphere had to be countered for a variety of reasons. First, it was slowly giving rise to a social psychology of frustration and a willingness to take extreme steps that would only mean further alienation and cause harm, thus ultimately playing into the hands of the oppressors who were plotting for such an outcome.

The strategies for counter moves in media:

Thus it was almost self-evident the need for evolving counter strategies in the media which had put the Muslims and other oppressed people in such a hopeless straight jacket.

To counter the massive propaganda, we needed our own strong media organizations, but the question was how to go about it.

The planning and execution of the project to develop Thejas as a daily newspaper run on professional lines with a self-sustaining financial model, was, in a way, a theoretical and practical experiment to answer this serious question faced by Indian Muslims and all oppressed people. It was an experiment to find a pragmatic way out in the capital-intensive, big-money controlled media scene.

There were a few fundamental points on which such a revolutionary media model could work:

First, the newspaper must rely upon a strong band of independent and committed media practitioners who would remain as its backbone, both intellectually and professionally;

Second, the newspaper must be able to provide an intellectually stimulating atmosphere and also be able to give professional satisfaction to its journalists and readers;

Third, it has to develop a new kind of media ethics and professional practice in order to counter the dominant ideology that pervades the entire global media scene, especially as the paper will have to rely mainly on the imperialist versions of news coverage with its embedded biases;

Fourth, any viable media organisation that seeks to replace/challenge the dominant media players will have to master the cutting edge elements in technology to keep it ahead of the competition and to keep itself agile in a highly flexible market;

Fifth, it has to remain financially viable and must be able to rely upon its own resources, for which prudent financial control and extreme care for keeping the costs to the minimum is a must.

How we implemented our strategy:

We worked on these principles in a deliberate, conscious and restrained manner because, in Kerala, where dozens of media experiments have taken place, we have seen dismal failures of many efforts that were launched with big promises. Looking at the media experience, one cannot but conclude that media industry is a big mine-field where not many escape unhurt.

It was necessary to avoid the pitfalls and the only way to go about was through making a realistic assessment of the market possibilities and our own capability to rise to these expectations. The best option for developing a realistic and pragmatic business model was to go to the people, and when a preliminary survey was conducted, it was found that we could sell a much larger number of copies that we were initially hoping for, at the outset itself. The point driven home was that we were actually underestimating our real strength and this came as a major morale booster. Instead of a small newspaper that would remain as a niche player, we were now planning for a major newspaper that would have a statewide presence and a global readership. It was also realised that many of those who were the potential subscribers were to be first-time newspaper buyers. Hence for many, it was the one and only newspaper at home and it was absolutely necessary to make it a complete newspaper, answering all the needs of a normal newspaper reader in Kerala.

That meant larger number of bureaus all over the state and outside, bigger staff at the desk to handle all departments of news from local to international; besides other avenues of news like business, sports and entertainment and a large number of features and special pages like those dedicated to school children, that all major newspapers offered to the readers.

We had to do it within limited means, both financial and professional, and one of the major strategies used was to go for a bunch of young professionals, fresh from the colleges, capable to take over all these tasks. They needed to be trained in all aspects of newspaper operations including news gathering, editing, translating, proof reading, page making, etc, besides internalising thee special, empowering nature of this project. In fact they were to be all-rounders who could match those with years of experience in the profession and committed, socially conscious and responsible media practitioners.

It was not easy to find experienced professionals because the subaltern social classes to which Thejas belong, do not have many such professionals among them. We had to train them from the scratch and that helped us develop a committed and cohesive team with only a few senior people mainly to provide guidance to their daily activities.

That was an immense risk to take because anything could go wrong in a daily newspaper business but the best way to learn swimming is to jump into the cold water, come what may. We did just that and the result is a newspaper that has been reaching Malayali public everywhere, every morning without a hitch ever since January 26, 2006.

Laughing Gas

2009-11-02T22:07:00.000-08:00

former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda made billions during his days in power: news.

Crorepati rule...!

How Nature Speaks to Us: A Little Kitten's Encounters With Life and Death

2009-10-29T07:39:00.000-07:00

THEY SAY cats have nine lives. Maybe. The other day, as I watched a little kitten’s encounters with life and death, I realized there is something in this old saying.

It was a new-born, just a few weeks old, still suckling on its mother who had given birth to five little ones this time. The mother is called Surumi, may be because she has beautiful eyes and she has been a favoured one with kids at home.

I think Surumi invited herself to our house the same way her ancient ancestor had walked into the abode of a tribal family in Mesopotamia, who had settled down to a life of agriculture some 12,000 years ago. Ever since, cats had been domesticated and women and children had a special relationship with them.

So Surumi was part of our household ever since she was a tiny kitten, and when she gave birth for the first time a few months ago, she had a poodle of five. They were living in the small work area near the kitchen and a few weeks later the little ones started playing around in the yard. But soon she lost all the kids for some reason or the other, and one of them got run over by my office car one day as I watched helplessly.

The driver had parked the car in the courtyard and nobody noticed the little kitten which found a nice place to play beneath the vehicle, and as I was coming out of the house, I saw the driver move the car a bit forward and then, a terrible cry erupted and in a moment I saw the blood-splattered body like a soiled piece of cotton behind the wheel.

I was shaken as I witnessed death taking place just in front of me. It was Surumi's last surviving offspring in her first delivery.

So this time, as she got pregnant again, I was keen she had better luck as a mother. She gave birth to five again, and one of them simply disappeared a few days later. Probably the stray dogs on the prowl might have made an excellent meal of her. These days the street-dogs have developed a taste for blood as they feed on slaughterhouse waste, dumped everywhere.

She was living happily with her remaining little ones and, everyday as I watered plants in the afternoon, I watched with amusement their play in the garden, often running and fighting and then training themselves in climbing up a tree or trying to catch a fly or a lizard. Surumi was not only a good mother, but a vigilant guide and a watchful teacher.

Day before yesterday, as I was sleeping I heard a soft mewing after midnight in my bedroom and I realized one of the kitten had got trapped in the room. But it was afraid of me so much that as I tried to coax it out, it withdrew deeper into the recesses of the room. Early in the morning, she got wind of her mother and ran out of the room, like an arrow released from the bow.

I remember it was the one with a long black line on the back of her white fluffy body. It was a weakling, often preferring to keep herself close to mother, while her brothers and sisters played around.

My wife was away and I had to get some breakfast ready before the children went to college and so I hurried to the kitchen. As I was working, I heard the same soft and weak mewing again, this time more terrified and pathetic. I looked around, but there was none to be seen. The mother and kids were there, but this time one of them was missing: the black-spotted one again.

It was surprising. The terrified mewing was heard continuously, but she was not to be seen. I searched all around and as I looked into the well in our little compound, I saw her precariously perched on the small round ring just above water.

So she had managed to fall herself into the well. It was unbelievable. The well has a protective iron ring around it with small holes and above it my wife had kept a wire-mesh net to stop leaves falling into the water. It was simply beyond me how she had got over all these obstacles to fall into the well.

But I had a rescue mission on hand. There was no way to climb down the rings and try to rescue her for two reasons. First, I could not go down easily because it is beyond my physical powers and secondly even if I went down how could I get hold of her? She was so terrified and surely she would struggle and might even jump, and that would mean both of us ending up in the water.

It was a tough to decide what to do. Then my friend Devadas, a historian who incidentally has written about Poochakkanam, the cat tax that Arakkal royal family in north Kerala had imposed on the beaches to protect the cats, rang up. He suggested sending a bucket down and trying to coax her to jump into it. I had requested Sujith, another friend, to come and help me in the rescue mission and we both got the bucket ready and tried our luck.

The bucket went very close to her and of course she knew it was a rescue mission. She touched it with her paw and as it moved a bit, she withdrew again in fear. It happened a few times.

Then I thought we should keep the bucket there and allow her to take her on own time. Let her decide whether she must choose life or death. And summon the courage to act. So we tied the rope on the iron grill and waited...

A few minutes later, she decided to take a chance and jumped into the bucket. She landed safely at the bottom of the bucket and then she lay there like a piece of cloth, wet and shivering...

Now as I write this, I can see her playing in the garden, happy and without a trace of the terrified look I had seen then. But what keeps me wondering is how she got my message. How did she guess the bucket that came to her was the proverbial ship in the deluge, that hand of God coming to lift her to safety and deliverance? Is there a universal language that helps all beings to be in communication with each other? I keep wondering about the mystery of mother nature as I see her there.

Why Do Most of Our Television Commentators Look and Sound Simply Silly?

2009-10-12T23:29:00.000-07:00

MY FRIEND Damodar Prasad is a highly intelligent and well-read person. He is a no nonsense person and his comments are always sharp and incisive. Recently, he made some comments in a discussion group on our commentators on television news programmes, and as usual he was quite forthright and aggressive. Here is an example:

Why can't these commentator chaps take some sabbatical leave or even think of applying for VRS. I think the journalist association should keep some funds reserved for these commentators to offer them a VRS golden hand-shake.

And on the political commentators on CPM affairs, he has some more:

In heights of CPM factionalism, let the evening come, all these guys wait outside our TV studios like the contract labourers waiting for the contractor to pick them up. Do these chaps have any refreshing views to share? I really doubt.

Unfortunately, I happen to be one of the people who have been commenting on left politics, especially CPM affairs, in Malayalam television channels in the past few years. In fact, during the height of factionalism in the party, I had to visit two or three channel studios on many evenings, and when the Kairali TV interview with Fariz Aboobacker became a major issue of controversy in the party, I had to visit news studios every evening for over a week continuously, speaking to various channels and radio stations on the topic, may be because I was one of the pioneers there when Kairali TV was launched in August 2000.

Still, I do not have any wish to defend the tribe of people called commentators, because I also share some of the criticisms expressed by Damodar about the quality of television debates. But I do feel we need to take a look at the issue from the commentators’ point also, as what Damodar gave was, essentially, a viewer’s point.

My points are as follows:

First, the commentator has no choice on his/her being a commentator. As far as I know no self-respecting commentator has ever made a request to the channel authorities seeking a place as commentator. They are invited by the channels to give comments. If poor quality people are invited, quality of comment also suffers. (I recently heard of a Malayalam professor who did actually seek such a thing and his intention was to debunk a close friend who was likely to get a Parliament seat nomination .But this is an exception that proves my argument.)

Secondly, if the commentators are poor in quality or ill-equipped to argue the case, I feel the people who invite them are equally culpable. Either they should know the quality and capability of the person invited or they should stop such programmes that need a supply of commentators in plenty.

Thirdly, it is also a fact that if one look for good people who can speak intelligently and cogently in Malayalam on serious issues, there is a real shortage among us. That makes the commentators’ position rather difficult because often he/she has to address the same issue in two or three channels. This is one reason why we see the same crop of commentators appearing again and again in various channels on the same issues, repeating the same points ad nauseam. It is really sad that most of our Malayalam channels do have a fetish for CPM stories and if one takes a survey, one can see a large number of debates take place on left or CPM politics. I do remember having to talk about the same topic on as many as four channels only recently. Repetition makes one really boring.

Fourthly, there is also a technical aspect that is part of the inherent shortcomings of television communication. The commentator has to answer to specific questions and he has maximum one minute or so (if he is lucky and the anchor patient enough) to make a coherent reply and in two or three sentences, it is next to impossible to develop any real argument even if you are adept at this game. The fact is, you can reply to a question and if the question itself is rubbish or biased (which they often are), then the reply can't be any better. I have encountered this problem often and it is highly irritating to the commentator himself, though he only would face the criticism.

Finally, our comments on TV are amateur and needs to be professionalised. Check CNN or BBC or any other major international channels, they do have their own in-house experts on topics from politics to international affairs to environment. (Even our own national channel, NDTV, has a crop of in-house experts.) They are paid for their services and are committed professionals with a stake in the professional standards. Here, as far as I know, no expert gets any payment for his services and the comment can only be off the cuff. In journalism there is an adage that facts are sacred, comments free. I think the channels have misunderstood its meaning and feel one need not pay anything for comments. But even small newspapers do pay as much as Rs. 500 to 1000 for a 500-word comment piece these days. If you can't spend money on quality, how do you expect quality stuff, whether it is report or comment?

From Jawaharlal to Rahul: On a Second Reading of Nehru’s Autobiography

2009-10-08T06:57:00.000-07:00

Rahul Gandhi's visit to Kerala campuses trigger a wave of enthusiasm among the youngsters: news

AS ONE crosses fifty, a realisation slowly takes hold that one is no longer part of the present. Maybe not quite passé but still there is something that forces one to think about the past as well as the future. A person at 50, is a person like the Greek god Janus, he looks both to the past as well as to the future, with mixed feelings for both. At 50, a considerable part of one’s life is already behind, and of course there is another considerable part waiting in the future also.

I am at such a juncture, having left behind five decades behind and now I realise one of the things I always think about these days is the future; not my own-- there is nothing much to think about there-- but about our society’s, our country’s.

In the seventies when we were young people and active in politics, we were angry and impatient. We wanted change and nothing short of a revolutionary change, and hence we took up the red flag, the symbol of a revolutionary future.

Now more than thirty years on, I know that these dreams were nothing but pipedreams. We said the freedom from colonialism, from the white bosses to brown bosses that took place at Red Fort, was nothing but a sham. It was not real freedom.

But we grew up in such a country and slowly, but surely, we saw it coming to grips with the massive problems that beset the new nation. Not that we are a completely successful democracy, but what makes me happy now is the fact that we are surely not a failed nation, either.

That is why I was keenly watching the new generation of our leaders at the national scene, trying to come to grips with the Indian reality. Most of them make me sick and tired, but somehow Rahul Gandhi is one person on whom I pin much of my hopes right now.

I was keenly watching his performance at the national scene, and his visit to Krala’s campuses yesterday gave me the feeling that this young man has something quite similar to the spark shown by his great grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru, as he entered Indian politics as a young aristocrat almost a century ago, in the 1920s.

What I liked about him is his simple, straightforward style, his disarming frankness and palpable sincerity. All these qualities were evident in his numerous interactions with youngsters in all parts of the state in a one-day tour.

I was reading Jawaharlal Nehru’s Autobiography again last week and I could not but notice the same frankness, sincerity and straightforward nature of the person who wrote those lines, and his personality that comes through this thick volume that he finished as he spent so many solitary years in jail in the early forties.

Laughing Gas

2009-10-01T23:54:00.000-07:00

India celebrates Gandhi Jayanthi on October 2.

Cheers, and thanks for the holiday, dear Mahatma...!

Globalisation, New Jobs and Women’s Empowerment: Myth of Reality?

2009-09-24T04:59:00.000-07:00

Eloquent Silences: A Discussion Part Three

John Samuel: There is indeed a whole range of issues related to gender, women's political participation, space and voice in Kerala. But I also think there is increasing awareness and discussion on these issues in Kerala, in relation to many other states. There are a number of paradoxes, contradictions and tension - operating in Kerala society (and that is also the case with almost all other societies.)

The paradox of ‘empowerment’ and ‘space’ is one among them. In spite of having one of the biggest percentage of highly ‘qualified’ or ‘educated’ women in Kerala, there is relatively less space in the leadership roles, articulate voices and empowered roles within the public and private spaces. The fact that such issues are discussed is also the beginning of a change process. Such a process of transformation requires more affirmative action and more active political participation of women in all arena- in academics, politics, media, and social action, etc.

It is important for enlightened and educated women and men to work together to expand the quantity and quality of those spaces. It is important to participate and shape the discussions elsewhere. When we begin to believe in change, change begins to unfold within us and beyond us.

So the first thing women and men will have to fight is an entrenched sense of cynicism.

R V G Menon: In a male-dominated society only those women who conform to the established norms of hierarchy will be allowed to come to the top. This is true of male dominated groups also. This is enforced not necessarily by the males in the society / group. The females who have come to the top through this conformist route, will zealously ensure this, because their own self-justification depends upon this. The nonconformists are a threat to them, more than even to the males. This leaves the males free to assume a liberal and patronizing attitude.

This predicament can be broken only if the nonconformists settle for a long fight, foregoing the rewards of conformism (like moving up in the hierarchy). But eventually their voice will be heard and their viewpoint will be taken seriously. Settling into silence is self defeating.

N P Chekkutty: Anandi's long note calls for a serious response. I have lots of agreements and a few disagreements.

Now let me take this point, women in the freedom struggle. Freedom struggle being what it was, one cannot expect more women to take part in it unless they were inspired by their family, spouses, etc. It was an anti imperialistic struggle and it came mainly from the upper middle classes, the new Indian elite. Masses came to it only at a later stage and even then women who did participate from lower social segments had little chance to emerge as leaders.

But that is not the case today, when social action, politics, etc, are part of a career. We see that a substantial number of women who are now holding public offices, say in Parliament, Assembly, corporation councils/mayors, etc, are daughters/spouses/ close relatives of powerful male politicians, even in the progressive movement. The case is almost similar in parties like CPI and CPM. Ditto is the case with Congress, etc.

I was thinking about many women activists I knew in my student days, mainly from 1972 to 1982-83, and when I wrote down their names I realised most have disappeared. Who emerged at the top, instead, are women who had powerful support in male politicians. Another group that I see emerging at the top consist of newcomers or what we may call lateral entry: They join public life at a later stage when they have completed education, raised kids, had good jobs, etc. Almost all of them are women with strong support among influential males and are from middle/upper middle class only. Those who had to fight up from below never made it.

Kavitha Balakrishnan: I think today some section of women in 20s and 30s are strategically overlooking so called 'intellectual gender debates' (it doesn’t mean that they are not so 'powerful' to do that, they have their share of struggles that they don’t want to project simply on a gender level. They know that it is now too hotchpotch to do it).

And they are living their life on altogether different contenders; more focused on acquiring skills that can professionally and financially equip them to practically evade restrictions on them generally imposed by family and society. Some of them may perhaps look ordinary and conformists, but they are working largely out of their ordinary frames in life....

I don’t think that Kerala alone has feudalist hangover; in metropolitan cities too one finds the very same, equally contagious and dangerous hangover of feudal mindset. Yeah, academic/ activist circles in major cities may give a slightly assertive picture of women who bother to articulate with a politics of 'self'. But a huge number of other women in same such cities have more access and choice to gain financial independence that eventually equip them to live on their terms in spite of their silently internalised ( more practical, one may say) contentions of feminism or gender debates. These women whom generally we find outside the 'cultural / activist' circles are not altogether apolitical, though one may not find them strictly articulating self in male dominated intelligentsia...

Yeah, majority of women apparently don’t bother gender debates... but it doesn’t mean that they are complacent at all.

There are many ways to live with mind....intellectual articulation is just one among them.
And there is of course a vacuum - of new ways of articulation of mind, emotions and state of affairs not yet conveyed properly and inclusively yet widely experimented across the digital technological world where hiding and revealing have umpteen options....

Now that earlier 'cultural contenders' [that was constituted basically by men with essential 'male' hangovers and women masquerading with either 'male' (whom we called feminists) or 'female' (whom we called home-loving gal) gestures and options in public domains] need to device themselves newly. They should incorporate the multiplied options and disintegrated selves of women.

No space is an ideal space. We live in multitudes of spaces, rather. Let all spaces come in...if they bother....

It is about frames of mind as 'beings in a post-cultural-ideological-unevenly globalised scenario' where ghettoism of all kinds dominates but strategies of more effective kinds are generated to meet with ghettoisms.

V Santhakumar: When I was young (in the mid-eighties) and was an activist, I had good relationships with a number of young girls who were socially concerned, and eager to break the then existing restrictions on girls/women. Most of them were from middle class or lower middle class backgrounds. However, they could not sustain that activism/concern, mainly because a conventional marriage is seen as the most important thing for a girl; and to be married, they have to conform to certain social norms which were highly restrictive.

The conventional marriage is an important issue. I am not arguing against marriage...But seeing conventional marriage as the main source of social (and economic) security for girls - a norm widespread among many sections of Kerala society - creates an environment very much against the interests of women....

N P Chekkutty: The marginalisation of women and the economic stagnation in Kerala are quite interlinked. If you look back, you will see it was in the middle of seventies that Kerala’s economy reached a standstill and even registered a negative growth. From then on, the economic trends were such that women were more and more sidelined and their marginalisation and dependence on men-folk became very pronounced.

In my childhood I used to see many women, including our neighbour who was a Nair woman who fought her husband every evening as he came home dead drunk, going to work in paddy fields but by late seventies such possibilities became next to nil even in our remote village.

The social impact was very high. I know many women who had no means to live, and took to illicit brewing. I still remember one of them for whom I used to carry plenty of jaggery from the shop.

Then the only way out was the little money from the men who went to Gulf or who did some odd jobs here itself. The other option was small jobs on offer -very few- from cooperatives and traditional/cottage industries, etc, where political pulls were very strong. Women were pushed to the rear and their limited independence vanished. I can see this in my mother's and elder sister's life: My mother - who worked in the little land we had -was always strong and independent, my sister dependent on her husband. The slide in their fortunes was not to be missed.

That explains the phenomenon of missing women activists in our political sphere and the rising trend of purdahs, etc, in social sphere. They are two sides of the same coin.

But post- 90's, there is a positive trend emerging. Thanks to globalisation, new job chances are rising even in our villages. I see many girls now going to small units, to fashion hair stylists as assistants, to garment makers, to pickle units, to bank pigmy collection centres, to internet cafes, to DTP centres, and so many other things. They are now able to eke out a living and I am sure their new-found freedom in this post- 80 generation, is an indication of their economic independence.

I think like Dalits who find the economic opportunities offered by globalisation quite liberating, women also are beneficiaries of these new changes brought about by economic changes. Hence they would need to devise their own tactics to safeguard their interests when our established left parties, solely controlled by men, take a different line.

Ramakumar: I think it is a huge twist of facts to say that the revival of Kerala's economy after the late-1980s was due to globalisation. My quick points are below.

First, there was a major revival of Kerala's economy after 1987, in which agriculture and industry grew rapidly. Of course, services also grew rapidly, which indeed accelerated after 1991. This was largely remittance-driven, because globalisation involved devaluation of the Indian currency. That meant that the rupee value of remittances into Kerala increased sharply (almost doubled). For your argument to stand, it has to be said that globalisation is totally coterminous with devaluation. Then, it is not the usually tom-tommed benefits of globalisation that we are talking about.

Secondly, the same globalisation has led to a major slowdown in the State's economy after the late-1990s, leading to a huge rise in unemployment rates across men and women. Where would you account that?

Thirdly, it is totally wrong to argue that post-globalisation, there was a rise in female employment in Kerala. Post-globalisation, agriculture and traditional industries sectors, which account for a major share of female employment, have been in a crisis. In contrast, because of gender stereotyping of jobs, women are not able to get an adequate share of the new service sector or modern industry jobs. A slender expansion of female employment has taken place in trade, export oriented garment industries, ICT and tourism, but it has not compensated for the loss of employment elsewhere and is far less that what men have gained. Between 1999-00 and 2004-05, female unemployment rate in rural Kerala rose from 19.7 per cent to 20.1 per cent. In urban Kerala, this rise was from 26.4 per cent to 33.4 per cent! Where is the benefit?

Fourthly, it is a pity that you have fallen into the argument that globalisation benefits Dalits. The argument here (made by Gail Omvedt, Chandrabhan Prasad and others) is that globalisation is a process by which choices of agents in the economy expand, thereby expanding modernity and thereby helping to break down historical barriers of caste discrimination. Here, globalisation is considered as synonymous with capitalism, which, it is argued, Marx and other writers had seen as progressive. The proponents of the positive view conflate the notions of classical capitalism (that Marx talked about in a positive sense) and “imperialism” of the present era. The outcome is that they do not see any role for the state in either promoting development or in fighting imperialism. The state is seen only as an instrument of oppression. The state is not seen as a bulwark in the national development project. The state is also not seen as essential for resisting imperialism.

Look at the data. The pace of poverty reduction has fallen after 1991 in India. That means that some people who could have been lifted out of poverty were not lifted out. Who were these people? Brahmins? Clearly, it were the Dalits and Adivasis of India (and Kerala).

Anandi Krishnan: But post- 90's, there is a positive trend emerging. Thanks to globalisation, new job chances are rising even in our villages…They are now able to eke out a living and their new-found freedom is an indication of their economic independence.

Correct, in a sense. But a girl working in such petty jobs are secondary educated, graduates or PGs and the income she gets is below Rs. 2000 with which she cannot eke out a living, but her ‘middle-class’ needs can be met. (Since most of the jobs she takes up are receptionist or sales type her appearance is counted, which needs lots of money.) She is a reserve army (In a silks store, a sales girl told me that if the customer refused to take a product, the wage of the sales girl in the respective counter will be cut. She is employed, still she is economically dependent. On my travel, I used to talk to these girls and many of them are doing some other small work too. Today's situation insists a woman and also a man to do two or three types of odd jobs to make both ends meet.
The other class of women, mentioned above, is completely thrown out of their job (for which globalisation has played a role.) The agrarian crisis all over the country has created havoc in the lives of peasant women, which reflects in the migration studies. (Sainath explained his experience of staying with the migrants of Mehboob Nagar.) Most of these women are in the unorganised sector, where the wage structure and working conditions are pathetic.(Now that they all come under the welfare schemes, still I have doubts whether what they want is welfare schemes or wage raise?) With NREGA and other reforms, why selling of wives? Where is the Central Governments' policy and promises to increase jobs? How did they fail, and why state governments are keeping mum?
So sad the word ‘labour,’ ‘labourer’, and ‘proletariat’ are also outdated but they all exist very much in this same society, and nobody is bothered. Even the university studies are concentrated on textual analysis and halla-bulla about violence and sexuality. These are the manifestations of the disease.

N P Chekkutty: I think I will be brief with regard to two specific issues I have to address here:

1. Ram says my contention that the pick up in Kerala economy in the past few decades was not because of new economic policies, but owing devaluation of rupee and other circumstances. He also reminds me that the poverty reduction rates have come down in the post-90 days and the losers were not Brahmins but people like Dalits.

This is a point which is hotly contested in every sphere and I am aware my position is quite apart from that of Ram and others like him. I feel it is better to agree do disagree.

2. Anandi points to the fact that economic development while helped some among the poor, has hit many others, like those in agricultural sector.

Yes, the results of these policies have benefited/affected differently people among different segments. Some have benefited, some seems to have become worse off. But my main point was that the women seem to have slowly emerged out of the extremely difficult situation they faced in the seventies and eighties and there is an indication of a new independence among them through access to jobs and income. It is for the state and society to find out who are the losers and help them out. But the fact remains that though minimal and not satisfactory, there is a tendency which is positive and I am happy about it.

(Concluded.)

G S Bhargava Passes Leaving Memories of a Great Editor and Human Being

2009-09-22T08:16:00.000-07:00

I HAVE to write this in a hurry, but I cannot hold it for another day because G S Bhargava was one person who helped me come up in the profession of journalism, fighting against so many odds.

The day I stepped into the old biscuit company premises of Indian Express, at Domal Guda just off the Tank Bund in Hyderabad, some time in early 1985, the person who caught my fancy was the tall, elegant gentleman who had a pipe in his mouth and kept on talking in Telugu mixed with English or English mixed with Telugu.

He was easy, affable and always accessible, unlike the other biggies in the office who kept you nervous trainee journalists at a distance. As I went in and reported, he smiled and told me Malayali journos were often trouble and hoped I too would keep up the tradition.

I don't know who he meant, but before I reached there people like Mony Mathews, now with Business Line in Thiruvananthapuram, had been making headlines in the Express desk there, and others like R Shankar and Talita Mathews were also at the desk; Shankar a fine gentleman menon from Guruvayur who spoke softly and Talita, a bulky young lady with short cropped hair and a sharp tongue, among others.

It was fun to be there, learning the tricks of the trade, often accepting the choicest abuses from the desk chief and news editor with a smile...

Bhargava was the presiding deity; he liked all and of course he liked the girls more. His family was away in Delhi and some times they flew down to Hyderabad and he brought his kids to the office once or twice and made our dreary life very happy.

First, he thought I was a real stupid guy. I was diffident and could not speak English much, and naturally when I addressed him my mouth went dry and my words often played hide and seek. Once he told me, you came from Kerala and I will see to it that you will go home in no time. Talita took up my defence and kept me under her wings...

But soon his wonderful humanity was visible even to me. He was such a large-hearted, generous person and his political views were left of centre, basically socialist. He had close association with the Indian socialists and was involved in many of their political movements.

Like all good socialists, he was critical of the communists and he knew I used to be a Marxist student activist. But unlike true socialists, he was very friendly even to commies and was always willing to talk to you, engage you in a debate even if you had been the most junior chap in the staff. Once, after he had retired and shifted to Delhi, he came to Hyderabad he came to the Express office and took me out and we had a long talk on some topic on which he had been writing in Mainstream or some other publication at that time. I had my different views and expressed them in a letter, and he was ready listen to me. In fact, it appears that he had a special liking for me as we came to know each other much closer, because on one of his final days in Express, after he had decided to shift to Delhi leaving Express, he came to the desk with a couple of books and handed them over to me. It was a parting gift from a great man to a boy who had come from far away with none to claim as a godfather in the profession.

I bow my head in memory of a great person, a doyen among Indian journalists, who has just passed leaving the profession that much poorer. His last book was a history of Indian journalism, published by National Book Trust. One of my regrets would remain my inability to visit him at his Green Parks residence in Delhi during those days I spent there. Parsa Venkateswar Rao Jjr, now a senior editor with DNA, who worked with us in Hyderabad, had promised to take there as he was indisposed, but unfortunately we could never make it.

Patriarchy, Imbibed Norms and Values: Need for Introspection

2009-09-18T06:41:00.000-07:00

Eloquent Silences: A Discussion Part Two

N P Chekkutty: Well, what I was trying to say is this: About the convoluted expressions of empowerment in our society, especially among women. I do not claim that men are different. But what makes me worried and why I try to provoke my female friends to think and react, is another trend that I see: Women slowly emerging as the most dependable foot-soldiers of the most retrograde and negative social and political forces.

The classic example of this trend was at the site of Babri destruction. Those who were there to report it (I was not there) could not ignore the ugly sense of jubilation shown especially by females of the Sangh, Sadhwi Ritambhara and Uma Bharati, etc, while people like Vajpayee and even Advani had expressed some shock, at least in public.

I was also referring to the same tendency that was witnessed in places like Maradu (Uma Unni was the quintessential expression o f woman power of the Sangh) and in Nadapuram, where the most virulent and unrepentant group proved to be women.(See the case of Vineeta Kottayi, a widow who was persecuted for over a decade by KSKTU people led by a couple Balan and Narayani. Even the local CPM had to take a stand against them finally.)

That I think calls for some rethinking on the assumption of social scientists that women as a group are normally less prone to violence, are more accommodative in a secular set up, etc.

John Samuel: This is precisely where we have different perspectives. There is nothing like a homogeneous category of ‘women’ or ‘men’- beyond their physical/biological differences. Multiple identities are as much operational among women as much as among men- class, cast, religion, locality, sexual orientation, etc, etc.

Both women and men can be perpetrators of patriarchy. In fact, many such values may be perpetuated by women- partly because of the internalized sense of ‘norms’ constructed and made almost pathological over a period of time.

Just because a woman is part of a reactionary, or fundamentalist or established power structure does not necessarily make such structures and processes less patriarchal. Almost all women leaders in South Asia are the torchbearers of a set of conservative values -- and not expressions of feminist politics-- by any stretch of imagination.

N P Chekkutty: I do not find much of a difference between what I said, and the positions of John. Even when most women internalize patriarchal views and propagate them, it still remains patriarchy. Even if many men internalize a feminist point of view, it does not erase patriarchy.

That again takes us back to square one.

It is not a question of not knowing what is wrong; but not willing to overcome it, not willing to struggle to free ourselves of these internalized norms, not willing to fight for our own freedom.

Here, this struggle can only be an individual struggle, a fight against one's own hidden demons, not a collective one, though ideologies could help us at best to some extent.But sadly, ideology is nothing but a sham, a mirror image. The self-proclaimed progressive turns out to be the rabid obscurantist; the hated communalist, a sensible human being...

That is why I feel all of us need to keep talking. Whether in this group or outside, we need to talk and engage. Unless we do so and try to understand each other, there is no way out, no way ahead.

I will end this note with a small anecdote, something I experienced a few weeks ago:

It was vacation and two children came to spend a few days with us.
As we were sitting at the dining table, the younger one, a very smart guy aged four, asked me innocently: Uncle, are you a Hindu?

I was shocked, but also amused. I said, No, I am Muslim...

I saw he did not like it at all. His face showed it.

Sometime later he declared he did not like Madhavikkutty.
I asked, Why?
Because she became a Muslim...

You know who is Madhavikkutty?
No, he did not know...

Neither did the Nazi kids know who were the hated Jews.

I am deeply troubled and sad not only about the kid but about me too. It was my fault, or our collective fault; our collective silence, our internalized norms at work here. But I see the child is a victim of a criminal indoctrination. And who did it?

I only hope we will see reason and try to tell our kid better stories, give them better ideas that they would not end up cannon-fodder in a fratricidal war not too far away.

V Santhakumar: How do we internalize casteist, fundamentalist, obscurantist and patriarchal values and how to get over them are interesting questions. The fact that YSR (who may have been brought up in a Hindu landlord family) became (an eclectic) Christian and that it did not prevent millions of ordinary Andhrites from adoring him is interesting. However when the same people want his son to be the CM, we see an element of backwardness; this may be showing that all these apparent identity struggles are the reflection of something underlying....

Neelan says that the decline of the left led to the revival of reactionary forces.Yes it is true that the leftist forces did play a role in bringing up secular, non-casteist, non-obscurantist (but not necessarily non-patriarchal) values in Kerala society. We see a revivalism today. My take is that this is due to the (lack of) credibility of signals sent by leftist forces. Some parts have become outdated to even common sense... The messages of modernity combined with this outdated ones cannot communicate credibly to the youngsters who are likely to be idealist...

Let us take a typical boy/girl: that type is likely to think that we should be more environment friendly, the attack of Bush on Iraq is a crime, less likely to think that people should be marrying only within caste, less likely to think that killing others for politics/religion is good, likely to consider poverty something horrible, etc. My point is that the ground for idealism still exists. They may be even open to greater equality between boys and girls. But they are less likely to be influenced by Communist party's slogans or actions today. Saying one thing and doing something else regarding education, advocating that globalization is bad when everybody is trying to get a job outside or in a company exporting knowledge to outside world....

There is a possibility for building on this idealism to nurture anti-casteist, anti-obscurantist, non-fundamentalist, and less-patriarchal values. Unfortunately this cannot be done by the leftist forces today. Sad part is that no one else is trying to build on this idealism, a value system suitable to a modern world...

R V G Menon: Chekkutty, I suspect the two young guests you had are being brought up in an environment where they don't come into contact with anyone outside their own caste or creed, and are constantly being fed with stories about how ‘bad’ the ‘others’ are. Quite often parents are the very source of such indoctrination. Unfortunately, this is quite common in our society. It is quite possible that this was so, even earlier. But we had many public spaces, like the public schools, where this sort of indoctrination could be countered in a natural way. Unfortunately these spaces are also shrinking now.

Some time back I had recounted the results of a study, which showed how children are systematically being routed to denominational schools, where most of the children and all the teachers belong to only that particular denomination (either Christian, Hindu or Muslim).

I can imagine no other antidote than strengthening the common schools system to counter this peril. Let children of all castes, creeds and classes sit side by side and intermingle, and get to know each other. There is no other way. Even in the case of unaided schools, let it be mandatory that the schools should reflect the population profile of the region where it is located.

N P Chekkutty: Yes RVG, I agree with you. We need to strengthen public schools and the experiences with my own children tell me the same thing. There is something in the very atmosphere of a government school/college that makes the children shed much of the inherited notions about their class/caste importance, their social and economic status and other rubbish and help them reach out to others. That makes them better human beings. Though I do not consider myself a very fortunate person, I do think I am lucky in this sense that I find both my children sensible enough to understand the complexity of our pluralist society and I am sure they picked it up mainly from the government educational institutions where they went.

But the parental role in shaping kids is much more important. The kids I spoke about are an example of what happens. They live with their mother and grandmother as their father is away in the Gulf. The women, for a variety of practical reasons, keep to themselves and that restricts the scope for kids to see the world as it is. Most often, the kids are sent to 'prestigious' educational institutions, meaning caste/ community based schools which charge a fat fee and do not allow the kids even to talk in their mother tongue.

This situation in Kerala puts a lot of responsibility on the mother, she is often the sole person interacting with the kids as in most families where the husband is away, coming home only once in two or three years.

Anandi Krishnan: I agree with Chekkutty that women took a communal role in many riots including Maradu. Yes. The educated Kerala has Nair woman, Muslim woman, Ezhava woman, Dalit woman, etc. (like our matrimonial ads which say, Ezava sundari, Dheevara sundari, Pulaya sundari, Nair sundari, Maraar sundari, etc. )Women are not a homogenous category. Caste-wise, religion wise and class wise there is a divide.

Political space is no more a public space for women in Kerala. It was, once upon a time. That does not mean that she is free from any sort of exploitation. As many have pointed out, there is a communal divide and going back to tradition which is becoming more and more visible in Kerala. Yes, in the so called ‘educated Kerala’. How far our education has worked as a liberating force in the society? It was a liberating force during 20th century - no doubt, all the communal organizations of late 19th and early 20th century have raised the issue of education, especially women’s education. From Yogakshema Sabha to Sadhujana Paripalana Samiti, every community organization called for change. Above all, colonialism and imperialism along with casteism were fought tooth and nail with the help of education. .

How Kerala lives and Kerala thinks clearly reveal the social mobility in Kerala society created by education. It has only helped them to become glorified educated housewives is quite pathetic. And that is the paradox of Kerala’s development model. Can we say that our education today is carrying out this role of liberating people from the shackles of social anarchy?

I agree that Sarojini Naidu and many other women were involved in the national movement. These were individual women. A close study of these women in freedom struggle reveals that those whose brother/husband/father were in the movement only could get involved in it. Akkamma Cherian, A.V. Kuttimaalu Amma, Gracy Aron, Verkot Narayani Amma, Dhakshayani, Parvathi Ayyappan, Arya Pallam, Swarnakumari Menon, and many others.

But that is not an issue. Individual women are not a factor. How many women could become a part of the Salt Satygraha? Why Gandhiji was against taking women to Dhandi? Women from all over India had requested and fought with Gandhiji, sent dissent notes to him that he has avoided women. From Gujarat, Punjab, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and also from Kerala, women raised their voices against Gandhiji’s attitude. (Recent critiques of Gandhiji in the books Gender and Nation: Breaking Out of Invisibility, Women in the National Movement, etc, are revealing.) During 1942 when Kuttimaalu Amma was selected by Gandhiji for Individual Satyagraha, (Vykthi Satyagraham) how her needs were ignored has been written about in her diary. Akkamma Cherian’s role in fighting the government in Travancore was tremendous, but still nowhere in history the students are taught any of the details. Kerala society has never digested women who articulated /articulate against the existing societal views. It is true that the patriarchy in Kerala psyche has to be studied.

There is no point in blaming the left alone. As the great Valluvar has said when we point our finger to others, the other three fingers are pointing towards us. All of us are responsible for such a plight.

(To be continued.)

Eloquent Silences: Why Do Women Keep Silent in Public Sphere?

2009-09-18T06:34:00.000-07:00

A Discussion: Part One

RECENTLY I was involved in a pretty long discussion at fourth-estate critique, a Google group, which went on for many days, and I realize some very interesting points emerged out of.

Here I post an edited version of it for the benefit of my readers, with thanks to the participants for permission to use their comments here:

N P Chekkuty: In the self-introductions here, I found two comments which gave me reasons to think:

1.Often feels that [this forum] is highly andocentric. (Anandi)
2. As feminists have pointed out, politicized spaces require personal time to spare, machismo, ego, gawkiness, and willingness to get involved into online standoffs – attributes historically associated more with masculinity rather than femininity (C S Chandrika.)

I was somewhat confused and intrigued why do they feel it that way. Is there something in this forum and its topics and ways of discussion that make women feel aloof, uninterested? C S Chandrika gives a hint, describing it as a politicized space, historically associated with masculine.

I do feel we may have to look elsewhere for the reason why open spaces are predominantly male spaces, or perhaps why do open spaces are given a wide berth by women in our society. I feel it has much more to do with the social life in Kerala and the deep feudal mindset we still do nourish even among the progressives.

I found some interesting observations in Amartya Sen's book, Argumentative Indian, where he tackles the question, whether females were excluded from our argumentative/political tradition.

He seems to think, No. He points out that the Indian National Congress had its first president (Sarojini Naidu, 1925) 50 years before UK's ruling party had a woman as their chief (Margaret Thatcher, 1975.)

Then he goes back in history: In Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, there is a great debate with Yagnavalkya in which his stoutest opponent is Gargi. Another major interlocutor is Maithreyi, whose point about the individual wealth and personal achievement proved to be a starting point for his own research on growth and welfare, he says.

So if women could be fiercely argumentative in the past, why not today?

Kavitha Balakrishnan: As far as I understand, one should take into consideration that this forum is so far limited to 'a class of people' and 'a class of topics', like international relations, economics, current affairs etc. A forum mainly of economists, diplomats and journalists, etc.

Yet anybody can break in when feel like, when finds a topic of one's area of expertise, when get time, etc. But no guarantee that they will be treated and taken further with due importance that they imagine they will get in 'cultural circles'.

But why should it necessarily be? This is not a 'representative' forum of diverse communities or identities. This is a very limited forum but made out of resourceful, informative and scholarly people in some ways or the other, yet with lots of limitations to initiate an inclusive attitude to many things that are yet out of one's academic rigors and logics. So I think this is not simply a gender problem; even more serious than that: the limits of our reasoning and intellectual articulations....

N P Chekkutty: In a personal note, a friend says:

As a marunadan Malayali from Trissur, with a deep sense of nostalgia and pride for my land and its people, this paradox has been extremely intriguing. Kerala is no Bihar. Women are educated, financially independent; but disempowered, lack freedom and choices.

But let me ask: Is it true?

Peripherally, it appears women in Kerala are much better compared to other states, statistics also say the same. Hence naturally, they should have been more empowered, more active politically and socially, though what we witness in Kerala today is a reverse trend, the women returning the safety of marakkudas or all-covering purdahs in public.

Every day as I travel in the city buses in Kozhikode, I see with a sense of helplessness the larger and larger number of Muslim women who have now started covering their entire face, leaving just a hole for the eyes, something which I had never seen in the past. I was at my village for the Onam and I found women with similar dress in buses and markets while in the past they were merrily moving about in their colourful kachithuni and long blouses.

Then in trains that travel through Potta, I see the same phenomenon. Larger and larger number of women, frenzied in their ways and unconcerned about their surroundings. Pay a visit to the Mata's ashram or Sri Sri's classes, the same is the scene. Women abound, they make the public space in all those places mainly.

I do feel strongly that this de-politicization of women and their estrangement from social and political action has deeply wounded our society. In Maradu and Nadapuram, I had seen the dangerous portents of it, as one cannot help the conclusion that one of the primary forces behind the rabid communalization of and sectarianism in the society there happen to be women. (In the first instance, it is a Hindutva variety, while in the second it is predominantly secular and Marxist.)

It is for women to tell us why do they go more and more to such depths, cut and run from our common lives? It does them no good, it does the society no good.

Neelan Neelakantan: The whole Kerala of society is going back adorning themselves with signs which were once considered reactionary and rejected. Poonool is back! Chandanam is replaced by Raktha Chandanam, which one finds very violent a sign. Youngsters with jeans and Raktha Chandanam on the forehead make a strange sight these days. Purdah is common. When the real left politics and ideology gets weakened, all the reactionary ritualistic signs will re-appear. They will be renamed as new "cultural identities’ and justified ...

John Samuel: I wonder whether the kind of trend you have mentioned is specific to one gender- women.

In fact, the "patriarchal" power is perpetuated by the men - who control religious establishment, consumer stores and institutions of spirituality and religion. It seems there is nothing new in the fact that women seem to be more in to "bhakti" mode or more manifestly religious or spiritual. This also may have to do with ‘family' behavioral pattern (again perpetuated by a patriarchy). And there is nothing new about the trend- about relatively more spiritual/religious inclination among women. This aspect requires more serious research in relation to the constructed roles of gender in different societies and its relation to "cultural", "spiritual" "creative", "reproductive" and "fertility" etc.

There is indeed a revival of religion- in its conservative as well as consumerist avatars. And this new revival of religion - in institutional, political and market varieties- is a larger trend. So how can one link this only with "gender"- or say that "why women are like that?" Of course, we tend to see what we look for.

The new revival of religion- and "spiritual" customer-care oriented new market approach has a lot to do with new sense of alienation and insecurity - in the midst of economic growth, increasing disintegration of community/family spaces, saturation of "secular" dreams, and increasing sense of social, economic and political insecurity, as well as political reactions to perceived sense of marginalization, exclusion etc. So it is nothing peculiar to Kerala. This is happening all over Africa, Latin America, parts of Asia, Europe and the USA.

The new revivalism is also partly a reactionary response to and partly a byproduct of aggressive economic globalization. These days there are many "drive in Churches"- very customer-care oriented, well-marketed, no-strings attached- of course one is expected to pay for a well-organized/managed "Sunday" service. There is no-community or real communion. They are the new service providers in a new market place- because there is new demand for a particularly packaged "psycho-comfort," "feel-good" product- available, accessible and affordable.

We need serious discussions and explorations about the "gender spaces" in Kerala. We need to explore the apparent dichotomies and tensions of such gender-power relationship in the ‘public’, ‘private’ and ‘intimate’ spaces.

There are serious contradictions in Kerala between the perceived ‘empowerment’ of women- taking the social development and gender-development indicators and real ‘disempowerment’- particularly in the private spaces of family and ‘intimate’ spaces of bedrooms, though seemingly ‘empowered’ in the public sphere.

(To be continued.)

Laughing Gas

2009-09-11T07:06:00.001-07:00

Arrested underworld characters taken to the state with police, media in tow: news

Every goon has his day...!

YSR Succession: One Must Earn Power and Not Land it as Family Legacy

2009-09-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

THE DEATH of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy is sad indeed, but sadder seems to be the sudden pitch for making his son, Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, the new chief minister.

The Hindu report, by my old colleague, S Nagesh Kumar -- who was with Indian Express in the mid eighties when I was in Hyderabad-- today refers to this move by a section of the legislators who claim that there are around a hundred MLAs who are fans of the younger Reddy. Another report in the inside pages tell us that these gentlemen are now threatening a split in the party if the claims of the son is not accepted by the Congress high command, even before the body of the senior leader, who was one of the most successful Congress politicians in Andhra Pradesh for many decades, has been cremated!

I do not think this is the time to think about the legitimacy of the claims of Jagan Mohan Reddy, a 36-year- old Parliament Member, who runs a new media company with newspapers and television channel in Telugu, which came into being during the tenure of YSR who came to power in 2004.

But the trend is unmistakable and disturbing. It goes against the legacy of democracy and democratic principles in succession. But the Congress itself is to blame, as this party has, over many decades, converted itself into a family concern, a private property of the Nehru-Gandhi family.

The benefit of that legacy is now being claimed by other regional satraps, and our own K Karunakaran was one of the early practitioners of this Doctrine of Family Legacy when he was powerful enough to make his son an MP and then KPCC president and minister and all that. Let us also remember that it was Defence Minister A K Antony, then KPCC president and now a member of the Congress high command’s core committee, who helped Karunakaran to get away with it as he himself nominated Muralidharan to the Congress list of candidates for the Lok Sabha as the leader had gone for a leak…!

Now the story has come full circle. Those less fortunate guys who had to give way to the Leader’s son way back in eighties are now in control of the KPCC and Muralidharan is out in the cold, trying to get back into the party. He wants a simple membership and nothing more but the party leaders here do not want him at all despite all the pressures his frail father could exert with the high command.

I do feel there is lesson in it for Jagan Mohan Reddy and all other highly ambitious Congress siblings (and of course to non-Congress siblings too): You earn power and not get it as a family legacy which you cannot keep.

Jaswant Sigh and the Need for Examining the History of India’s Partition

2009-08-20T05:04:00.000-07:00

JASWANT SINGH has paid a price for being an objective observer of the history of Indian sub-continent in its most crucial period. The division of the country has always been a matter of serious and grave disputes, but what has been most critical as far as historical inquiry is concerned is that all facts relating to the division were never made available to the public or even the scholars.

What we had, instead, was one version of history written by the winners in this game played out on the country in the run up to division. In this Nehru, Patel and the entire Indian elite, upper caste Congress leadership came out in flying colours and people like Muhammedali Jinnah and B R Ambedkar were the demons. This official history held good for almost five decades and our children learnt this history in their schools and colleges and we, the first generation Indian after Independence, also imbibed such a history in our younger days.

I was a particularly keen student of history from my school days and I had spent a lot of time for reading history. In fact, I remember reading such huge tomes like the History of the Freedom Movement by Tara Chand (a multi volume project launched by Government of India), and the History of India prepared by a few Soviet scholars, during the days of Emergency and curiously withdrawn from the market in 1978 or 79 when Indira Gandhi returned to power) and many others. What these volumes had in common was that they carried the official line of the freedom movement, the official version of what led to the partition of the country.

But it was definite that such a totally one-sided history would not stand scrutiny of the times, especially as historical inquiry is a continuous process and every generation would seek fresh answers to the questions that keep up popping up, like persistent ghosts from a long buried past.

And in the case of India’s division and what were the circumstances that led to it and who were the people responsible for it, there has always been so many yawning gaps in the narration, which were papered over by our official historians. It suited our ruling classes very well, as both the Congress and the right wing Hindutva forces shared in the benefits of such a demonisation project, painting the Muslims and the Muslim League as responsible and Muhammaedali Jinnah as the wily villain of the peace.

But politics has never been such a neat black-and-white business. There has to be elements of grey in it and there are forces which benefited out of such tragic events in history. The Muslims never benefited anything out of it and in fact hey became second class citizens in their own country. They were reduced to be a non entity in Indian politics despite the fact that they are the second largest Muslim community in the world.

And the Congress and Nehru family benefited with a decades-long grip on power in India. All other streams in our national movement, whether it be the socialist, dalit, minority or communist, remained in the periphery and what we have come to see is the sharing of power alternatively between the congress an the Hindutva rightwing in India’s independent history.

Not that there were no voices which feebly complained about this elaborate hoax that is called India’s contemporary history, and read carefully even Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s autobiography is a cry in the wilderness. If one reads accounts of the activities of people like K M Munshi, the man who launched the Somanatha temple movement, who was a major force in the Nehru-Patel administration in the partition days one cannot but wonder how effective were these schemes of these wily gentlemen who decided the destiny of this nation at its most critical hour.

Now a person like Jaswant Singh, who spent a lifetime in the BJP, has dared to question this sham of history and I am sure it would prove to be a great contribution to understanding modern India and its history in demystified context.

From SARS to Swine Flu: Who is Laughing All the Way to Their Banks?

2009-08-07T04:36:00.000-07:00

The Epidemics Act is promulgated to fight swine flu situation in Maharashtra: news.

Even pigs should know how to respect the laws of the land...!

I WAS a dutiful parent, providing all the mandatory vaccinations to both my children as they were born: In the eighties when my children were born, these were primarily oral polio vaccines and the DPT injections against some scourges which used to take so many lives away and resulted in wastage of limbs.

Every parent I knew used to take all these precautions for the safety of their children, regardless of their background, their religion, etc. And the childbirth was mostly in hospitals and this helped the newborns to get the best possible medical attention and timely vaccinations which helped the eradication of these ailments.

But recent surveys seem to indicate that there is as resurgence of some of these ailments in some parts of Kerala, especially in Malabar. These reports were available for some time and it appears there is a regression in our vigilance against such childhood ailments which could cripple our kids for a life time. It is a dangerous tendency and needs to be curbed.

But why the slippage in our vigilance against such ailment? Some doctors say the media is primarily responsible as they highlight some stray incidents of extremely rare occurrence of side-effects of such vaccination, as a recent Malayala Manorama news report exemplified. They say these reports cause fear in the minds of people and cause them to keep away from vaccinations.

This diagnosis looks silly. As they say such side-effects take place extremely rarely and so reports of such side-effects also need to be extremely rare. And nobody in their right mind could claim that a rare report of a rare incident in one or two news media could have such a major impact on society.

Then what is the real problem?

To my mind, the problem is with our medical care system which has become completely commercialized and profit-oriented. They are looking for as money to make and even vaccinations have now become a good chance to mint money.

This had started in 80s itself when they started administering vaccinations for a large number of new ailments like Hepatitis B, for which I had to shell out a big amount of money. The vaccine was being promoted by a multinational pharmaceutical company and the pediatricians then recommended it strongly. Most parents accepted it, though the amount was often beyond their means. It is well known that a part of this money went directly to the doctors concerned.

Then a few years down the road, the vaccine became locally available and the prices came down drastically and now it seems there is no pressure on the parents to go for it. So what it means is that the medical profession was being a willing tool in the hands of the pharmaceutical industry and the losers were people who were forced to pay through their noses, but the ultimate result was the loss of trust between the medical professionals and their clients.

Of course there were other factors like religious fanatics, naturopaths and many others who kept up a campaign against vaccination for a variety of reasons. But I do feel that what proved to be the real tragedy was the loss of faith in the medical profession.

Now we see reports about a variety of epidemics from time to time from SARS to bird flu to swine flu, and naturally people are concerned. In Pune, where the first swine flu death took place the other day, it is more like panic.

But in spite of the seriousness of the situation, I do wonder whether some of these concerns are over-done, are we not being hoodwinked by a rapacious industry in cahoots with a profession which has lost its ethical moorings, looking for new ways to make a kill selling us cures for a flu which, as some reports say, is as harmful as a common cold in most cases?

Panakkad Muhammedali Shihab Thangal: Politician, Religious Leader and Human Being

2009-08-02T07:12:00.000-07:00

I HAVE had a pretty long association with Panakkad Muhammedali Shihab Thangal, the president of the Indian Union Muslim League Kerala unit, who passed away yesterday. Today I was watching his final journey on the television channels even as I had to comment on his contributions to a few channels. I also had to comment in a cyber discussion forum, which provided me with an opportunity to see how ill-informed are sections of our mainstream society about the politics, culture and religious practices of the most dominant minority community among us.

It was in 1989 when I returned to Kozhikode as a reporter for Indian Express that I started seeing him and listening to him. Those were very tempestuous days in the League politics as there were sharp differences within the party and community about its approach to the Congress, its weak-kneed response to the rising Hindutva threat, and its compromises even with Congress which failed to uphold the secular principles of our Constitution.

He was not a tough leader or a person who aggressively pushed his line; instead he was a man of soft manners and affability. People used to complain that his mild manners had been misused by some of his close confidantes. But I do not believe that is true. In fact, on some occasions he did show his toughness, his decisiveness, though even that was expressed without raising his voice, without any externals show of strength.

I remember visiting him with Prasannarajan, senior writer with Indian Express in Delhi some time in mid-nineties during a Lok Sabha election. He was pleased with the visit, and treated us with tea and snacks in his room even as dozens of people came to visit him the morning; some of them seeking political recommendations, some for blessings, some with complaints to sort out…

There were a few new vehicles like jeeps and cars waiting in the courtyard of Kodappanakkal house, as the owners believed his blessings would keep them safe from accidents. After our meeting, we saw him walk up to them and then he got in the vehicle and took the driver’s seat and managed to ignite them ceremonially.

The last time I met him was only last year when Amrita TV was shooting a special programme on him with actor Siddique as the anchor. It was called Samagamam, part of popular series of celebrities’ meeting with old friends and relatives, and I was invited there as a journalist who had known him for a long time. In my few minutes with him at the set, what I recalled was his decisive actions to uphold peace and communal amity in Kerala in December 1992, when Babri Masjid was demolished and the Muslim community was seething with rage.

There are many more memories to write about, but I think they should remain for another occasion.

I reproduce a few paragraphs from my comments to some questions form friends at fourth-estate critique, in a discussion on Shihab Thangal:

Is he the head of a sect. or something like that? Is this more like the `Supreme Leader' of Iran type? Or is this more like RSS head?

These questions in a way point to the deep chasm in our society. Even the best informed, highly educated, mobile sections in pars of Kerala do seem to know precious little about another section who live in the same place, who have contributed immensely to our lives but still seem to live as far away as the South Pole, with no contacts, no understanding in between.

It has always troubled me, why do we allow ourselves to be completely ignorant about such vital parts of our own self?

Now what is Panakkad Syed Muhammedali Shihab Thangal?

Is he the head of a sect?

By a sect, if you go by the contemporary reality in Muslim Kerala, you mean some groups which are opaque, somewhat secretive groups like say Noorisha Tareequat, which has been in the news for some time with their association with characters like Thammanam Shaji. Sects are groups which revolve around some individuals and they are at the fringe of the society with their own rituals and practices. Shihab Thangal is far form it; he is the leader (both spiritual and political ) of a substantial section of our population which constitutes something around 24 per cent of Malayalees.

It would also be wrong to think Shihab Thangal someone like the supreme leader in (predominantly Shia) Iran either. Because he is first and foremost a Sunni religious leader who came to his position by way of his lineage and his deep roots and contacts among the people, the Sunni masses in Malabar. The IUML has always been a party which made clever use of the religious sentiments of the people and hence they were often putting the Sunni religious leaders at the helm of the party, (like P S M O Pookoya Thangal, Shihab Thangal, Bafaqui Thangal, etc) though it was basically controlled by the traders and other vested interests in the community.

Now is it a party of communal and exclusivist politics and ideology like the RSS?

I do not accept this view because I have always found the League willing (even eager) to accept the secular practices in a democratic politics and they never even dreamt of establishing a religious state in this country. They did in the past and Pakistan is the result of such a calamitous ideology. Ever since Partition, the League has been part of the Indian democratic system and they were a pressure group in our politics for the benefits of the Muslims, may be the richer segments among them primarily.

Is there any implied understanding within the community that such leaders should not hold parliamentary positions? Is this implied understanding that makes ML to readily take him as the leader?

I think the question whether there is a clear demarcation of the role of the leader and the people who wield power in IUML need a little more serious probe. As far as I can see, there is nothing that stops a leader from holding public offices, though it is not generally practiced. The reason seems to be in the social practices of Malabar Muslims as the thangals in this area had a temporal as well as spiritual role in the community for the past three decades or so. You will see they were directly involved in anti-imperialist politics, some of them had to face official actions and punishment like the famous deportation of Fazal Pookoya Thangal by Collector Conoly, and the call for jehad against the British by another thangal.

But the thangals are known to have taken public offices and there is nothing that prevents them from holding such offices and many have done so too. If you take a look at the list of MLAs from Malabar, you will see such names listed there.

In the case of Shihab Thangal, during the election to 14th Lok Sabha I had written an article in Madhyamam which called upon him to directly stand for election from Manjeri or Ponnani and come to Delhi so that he could see the real and sad situation of Muslims in other parts of the country.

I had no occasion to talk to him on it later on but after the polls, I met E Ahamed, now IUML national president (technically a position higher to the one Shihab Thangal held as state unit chief), at his home and he told me the party would be happy if Thangal accepted such a position, only that it was his decision not to go for such positions.

The IUML for all practical purposes is an umbrella organization of various Muslim groups, sects and interest groups like Sunnis (two dominant factions), Mujahids, (again two factions), Jama-athis, thareeqathwallahs, Shias, Ahmadiyyas, and so many others. The differences are ironed out through mutual consultations and normal democratic practices and I had witnessed the sharp rift in 1989 -94 when Sulaiman Sait and others left the party. I think being the senior-most leader and a dominant spiritual presence in the most powerful group that explains his special position in the party. It is far from the way RSS or Shiv Sena had set up their organizations.

Reporting Rape: A debate on Some Ethical and Legal Aspects

2009-07-23T04:35:00.000-07:00

IN THE recent issue Tehelka weekly, my friend and the magazine’s editor-at-large, Ajit Sahi, has written an investigative story on the rape of a few tribal women by Salva Judum people in the deep forests of Chattisgarh. The story reveals a shocking incident, but what was, to me, more shocking was the revelation of the way our official agencies like National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), reacted to it. It appears the NHRC dismissed the allegations that these women were raped, provoking Tehelka to come out with the story, and to prove its point, reveal the names of the victims in their testimony published by them.

This has raised a controversy because revelation of rape victims’ names is against the ethical practices in the profession as also the present laws in the country. Naturally, the issue raised a storm and a debate in which I also had to take a part.

I reproduce the salient points in the debate, courtesy fourth-estate-critique, an internet forum:

N P Chekkutty: So just when did the NHRC convert itself into a trial court? Just when did it become the job of the NHRC to summarily dismiss, without proper investigation, the charges of rape directly brought forward by the alleged victims of that crime?

This question is raised by Ajit Sahi, in his recent investigation into the Salva Judum rapes in Chattisgarh.

I find this detailed report, with taped testimony from the rape victims, quite disturbing. It is disturbing not only because of the serious nature of the crimes committed against them; but it is all the more disturbing because of the way the NHRC (and of course State commissions too) which are supposed to uphold human rights, seem to take a completely different role in this case.

We do have many human rights people here and I would like to ask this question: What to do if the defender itself turns the predator? This seems to be present the case especially since there are reports that our human rights commissions are proving to be asylum for fortune-seekers who demand their pound of flesh for services rendered.

Why not take a hard look at what they are doing?

Bobby kunhu: This is a response to the Tehelka article. Since Mr. Sahi is a part of this forum, I thought that it is pertinent to bring these issues to his attention as well. The transgress mentioned in the below letter is serious and I am guilty of overlooking it as well.

Dear Friends,

Revealing identities of rape victims is against the law, as per Section 228A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) treats publication of the name of the raped woman or any matter, which may make known the identity of a raped woman as a cognizable offence punishable with imprisonment of up to two years and fine.

It's also against media ethics as laid down by the Press Council of India. According to the Norms of Journalistic Conduct of the PCI (updated in 2005), “While reporting crime involving rape, abduction or kidnap of women/females or sexual assault on children, or raising doubts and questions touching the chastity, personal character and privacy of women, the names, photographs of the victims or other particulars leading to their identity shall not be published.”

Even the NBA's Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards (which came into force in October 2008) mentions the need to conceal the identity of victims of sexual violence.

Ajit Sahi: Dear Mr. Kunhu, Many thanks for responding to the piece written by me. I hope you have at least read the piece.

Tehelka is in receipt of such letters from concerned citizens as you have posted here. We will be carrying the 'sample letter' here as well as our rejoinder in our next issue. Let me just share with you here that Tehelka has received support from a wide number of people, including the (female) lawyer for the raped women who is seeking the prosecution of these raped victims in a local court in Chhattisgarh.

Another very prominent social activist, also a woman, who works with these tribal women in Chhattisgarh, has come out openly in support of the story.

I would be grateful if you could actually read the story and revert with your feedback. I am sure that Mr. Chekkutty's valuable commentary on my piece yesterday carries weight with you. Since Mr. Chekkutty has enumerated the facts of the story, I am stopping myself from repeating them here.

NPC: Dear Bobby, I am not going to dispute the points raised by you about the rape reports. The media should strictly follow the guidelines, no doubt.

Though I do not question the credentials of those who are now rising to the defense of the rape victims against media assault, I would like to put forward certain questions before you as you are a well known and erudite human rights lawyer and activist. I raise these issues not to dispute you, but to seek guidance as I, as a journalist who value ethical practices in my profession, am much confused as to how to proceed in complex situations as this one.

Now, what is this report about?

It is not a simple report on rape on a few women. It is much more than that and let me quote Ajit Sahi from his own report:

What happens when rape becomes a brutal tool of class oppression in a wider social, political and economic war that men wage against one another, the raped women merely the pawns on their chessboard, the act of rape itself a side story, a cold-blooded strategy to terrorize an entire population into submission?

I think this is the crux of the problem. It is a political act and what makes it more serious is the refusal of NHRC to take cognizance of the testimony offered by them. So in the interests of justice, is it not necessary on the part of the media to help them come out and testify before the public and that is what they have done here. In such a situation, how do the media become unethical? I think similar situations would arise while reporting crimes of a nature like genocides and mass murder and rapes. There, the letter of the law cannot be taken at face value because what is most important is to uphold the interests of justice.

Bobby: Dear Mr. Sahi & Chekkutty Saab, There is absolutely no question of taking offence and my post was not in anyway belittling the efforts of Ajit Sahi or Tehelka.

I have of course read the piece and I try and keep abreast of what is happening in Chattisgarh and off and on am involved with some of the activities - given the piquant and novel way the State is waging war against the people there. In fact we are on the same page in terms of the reading of the rapes (the paragraph that NPC quotes here) - this is also true of many situations of violence and I am on the same page on the responsibility of NHRC as well - with minor reservations - given that I have objections to the way the body is structured and functions - the statute makes it inherently flawed and why we can see these lapses in the functioning of the body.

Having said so much, I need to point out why revealing the identity of a rape victim becomes a serious lapse and the reason for that is rooted in the nature of crime that rape is. The woman becomes the site of violence - in Mr. Sahi's words - a side story - in social conflict situations because of the way a woman's body is "owned" by the society at large. It is in this context that criminal jurisprudence related to rape world over protects the victim and one of the most important protections offered therein is the protection of identity - given the importance and stigma attached to female sexual behaviour - I suppose this is not difficult to comprehend. In that sense revealing the identity of the victim (however noble the intentions might be) becomes a travesty against decades of struggles by women’s movements world over that got this protection in place, amongst other protections.

NPC: In that sense revealing the identity of the victim (however noble the intentions might be) becomes a travesty against decades of struggles by women’s movements world over that got this protection in place.

Dear Bobby,

Here I have full agreement with you.

But still, I think it is necessary to take forward this discussion because I do feel there may be occasions where it becomes imperative to give out the details and identity in the interests of larger justice, when such revelation of identity becomes a political act, an act of protest, an act of sacrifice to uphold larger issues rather than nursing a mere injury to one's dignity and safety.

As all of us seem to agree, rape is often an act of aggression carried out to force the surrender of a victim, to dehumanize them, to declare the victory of the assaulter/aggressor not only on the person but also the society/community to which she belongs. Here she represents the hapless society/community rather than being an individual. Hence her trauma is the trauma of an entire community. And the justice becomes not a personal need, but a social imperative for healing.

There are very interesting studies on this aspect of a woman being seen the symbol of society/community's honour in such situations of tension. This is a highly parochial view of womanhood but still a historical and contemporary reality. Hence, in such situations the struggle for justice for a victim of rape becomes a struggle for restoration of honour of a society/community at large, facing aggression.

Now let me try to explain my point with another example:

No serious media/news-person gives graphic pictures of frontal nudity. But when a group of women in North East came out in nudity in protest against the Armed Forces committing rape on their girls in Manipur, what could a media-person do? To look at the other way and say that it was ethically wrong on his/her part to picture nudity in public space? Or capture this terrible image and tell the whole world, look this is how things are in this place?

I know some newspapers in Kerala habitually add dress to a beautiful tennis player's legs because the original picture is repugnant to their sense of modesty. But I know they are people with a very curious sense of modesty and they are, to my mind, steeped in a decadent, patriarchal social mode. If they had to use that famous picture from Viet Nam war, where a girl is caught running away from bombs in nude, perhaps they would put it on photoshop first and dress her up properly even as the bombs explode!

But I write this not to defend Tehelka or their decision to publicize the names of these women. However, I find the campaign that you have mentioned here quite interesting and a bit disturbing. They have nothing to say about the objective situation in Chattisgarh where these women seem to have been forced to come out in the open, where a social reality seems to have developed that personal dignity/shame, etc, are to be subsumed before the necessity to fight for justice, at whatever cost. Perhaps, that is why even the lawyers and social activists in the field (who may be aware of the legal position vis a vis revealing identity of rape victims) do seem to support the expose against NHRC and the looming presence called the State in its most terrifying aspects.

Bobby: Dear Chekkutty Saab,Let me clarify, that mail was sent to me by someone who has been involved in efforts to expose the state role in Salwa Judum and many people who have endorsed the letter are people who are involved in the protests against the state action in Chattisgarh and shares your angst about the role of NHRC - I also know this person to be a very committed activist. Of course others might also piggy back to score a brownie point against Tehelka.

So this is not without reference to the situation in Chattisgarh. This operates at multiple realms and these realms to my mind are not mutually exclusive. On the contrary, I think it is possible to build a campaign/write about an issue, etc, in an inclusive fashion. I don’t think this protest on revealing names is about "women seem to have been forced to come out in the open, where a social reality seem to have developed that personal dignity/shame, etc,". I think it is possible to carry on the fight for justice in C'garh without revealing the names of the victims - there are multiple ways of doing it. (Neither do I think it is a question of modesty). The nudity against AFSPA was a deliberate act of protest - while these women were raped - it was against their will - and I do not think it is too much to expect news magazines like Tehelka to be aware of these discourses that have been happening in the public realm for quite sometime.

NPC: I think my areas of differences with Bobby in this issue seem to be narrowing. I was arguing from the outset that legal dictates cannot be the final arbiter in journalistic decision-making. If editors are going to take the words of lawyers as final, I do think the best of reporting of modern times including the Watergate and Pentagon Papers would have never been there. So the decision on whether to report-- and whether to name names-- or not rests with the editor.

In the present case, I would go by what Bobby says, that the situation in Chattisgarh does not warrant such a breach of legal norms by Tehelka. I am so far away and I can't have any other view. But Tehelka can always differ on it, I suppose. But I was more concerned about the principles behind it, as a person who has to agonize often whether to publish or not. I would always go by my own conscience or inner voice as Gandhi would describe it, in such situations whether there is a campaign for or against.

Bobby: I really do not think we have serious differences on this issue. I do not think that law should be an arbiter on any form of expression, journalistic or otherwise; nor do I believe law to be static - why the importance of judge-made laws in common law jurisprudence. In fact interpretations of laws are often arbitrated by social morality - very often also dictated by media - in that sense, I really do not see the need to disclose the identity of the victim - unless there is some empowering advantage that comes to the victim by such disclosure (which does not look likely in this story.)

Sashikumar Kurup: Just a question, not to be interpreted as disagreement or evidence of any expertise. Sometimes the disclosure of name and photos of the lady, has a marked effect on the readers. It brings home a point vehemently. The authorities fear such disclosures. It also lends veracity of credibility to the news, else the government could easily disdain it as a made up story. They cannot do that when real people with names of addresses are involved. Of course the disclosure can be
made after obtaining the consent of the victim in a case that has social ramifications and is not an isolated act of depravity. It is also possible that such publicity can embolden the lady to pursue legal and social action with more confidence in the support of many,and ensure her safety and security better than what anonymity would have ensured. The perpetrators may find it easier to threaten an
anonymous person than somebody whose case has been an issue in the active public domain.

NPC: Dear Dr Sashikumar,

I am glad that you have raised this point.

As you can see my point has been that the legal position that the names of rape victims should not be disclosed cannot be taken as a sacrosanct rule that applies to all times and all circumstances. There could emerge, in real life, situations where the disclosure becomes a need, may be even a responsibility, in the interests of
justice.

Such a situation can arise when rape is undertaken as a social act, a political act of aggression, and the victim is not just a victim,but a site of social and political invasion. Then the fight for justice becomes a social and political battle with wider ramifications and in such situations the victim might decide to come out into the open to fight not for the self but for the entire society. Such a decision
naturally entails braving adversities, like public humiliation, shame or insecurity or whatever.

That is why I raised some objections to the ongoing campaign against Tehelka as the petitioners do not seem to look at the larger social context in which these rapes were committed. They take a purely legalistic and mechanical view of the situation and thus, inherently,act as camp followers of those forces who are committing this act of aggression. This is what I could see but I am willing to be corrected if they are able to provide firmer evidence why they do think these
women have other, normal and routine means to get justice; that their choice of this extreme act was not warranted under the objective conditions prevailing there. It would be wrong to think the Tehelkaor a person like Ajit Sahi, who has been in this profession long enough to know the ethical positions in this case,decided to
disclose the names without deliberations; I do feel the decision was quite conscious and informed by a sense of social responsibility. If,in the event that Tehelka acted on its own and without knowledge or permission from the women concerned, I think the petitioners should take it up and sue the paper and its editor and reporter in a court of law.

Jayasankar Peethambharan: As a lay person, I think that the media can/should 'break' laws for the greater good. In a way, similar to their right to not divulge
sources.

My personal view is that this case fits that exception. I am sure that there will be many who don't agree with this. I read something yesterday by a doctor friend on 'informed consent' and its complications and am stuck by the parallel. In the end I think the primary factor is the 'informed consent' of the woman to divulging her identity. And that word itself is a swathe of grey than black and white.

Karkidakam and the Memories of a Lonely Past

2009-07-19T00:24:00.000-07:00

IT HAS been raining all day and night for more than a week now. It is a wonderful experience to listen to the song of the rain, the incessant pelting of rain in the grass, in the paddy, in the rocks and everywhere coupled with the croaking of frogs, the muted noises of birds…

People say the northern parts of Kerala received one of the heaviest rains in recent years in the past few days and as I travel on the city roads and elsewhere in the villages, I see most of the roads inundated, the vast stretches of empty lands on the sides of the new bypass full of water, the Connolly Canal overflowing into the roads and the whole city looking like a vast expanse of water with hundreds of high-rise buildings jutting up like a ship’s mast and the small huts and lonely houses often partially submerged in rising waters, their occupants seeking asylum elsewhere.

The monsoon is a season of nostalgic memories, colourful experiences and immense pain and miseries. It is a season of desolation for those who are trapped in the islands surrounded by rising and flowing water; of heroic acts by those who reach out to them to rescue them to safety; of apathy of the government which often wake up to the miseries quite late and the bold initiatives of local people who always come to the aid of neighbours trapped in their lonely houses surrounded by their flowing household articles and struggling domestic animals…

People talk about the charms of the rains and I have seen many friends from other parts of the world coming to Kerala during monsoon to enjoy the lush rain in all its glory. I did realize that there is something charming in this misery when I was away from my home, living in a small room in Hyderabad where you have little rain and again in Delhi where at times the roads are flooded and then you find not even a rain cloud for months together. Then you start thinking about Kerala, where it comes regularly every June, raining off and on till August when Karkdiakam will give way to the sunny Chingam, the month of Onam, the festival of spring.

Now these are the early days of Karkidakam; the time of penury and hard life for the poor folks; the time for rejuvenation and ayurvedic treatment for those with wherewithal; and the paucity of food in rural households and the special dishes that mothers prepares using leaves of yams and tubers in the yard and the seed of jackfruit, as there is nothing else to eat at home. That used to be the past and I know that must be the reality for many Malayali families even today.

So Is It the End of the Road for Comrade V S Achuthanandan?

2009-07-16T23:33:00.000-07:00

SO FINALLY, has comrade V S Achuthanandan been shown his place? Can we say the four-day efforts of the special politburo followed by an urgent session of the central committee of the CPM, which announced his expulsion from the PB, and then a three-day session of the party state committee, found an effective antidote to the inimitable comrade’s antics; a way to defang this valiant fighter?

On last Sunday, when the CPM central leadership announced this decision from the PB, I had to spend many hours in the various news channel studios discussing the pros and cons of the disciplinary action against Achuthanandan. In fact I was at Asianet News at about 12.30 noon and then I had to attend sessions at other channels like India Vision and Manorama News and again around 8.30 pm I returned to Asianet from where I finally emerged at 10.30 at night. During this ten hour period, Comrade Achuthanandan had been expelled from the PB, he had left Delhi and landed at Thiruvananthapuram Airport, making just one comment in the meanwhile: I do accept this decision of the party and there is no change in my position on SNC lavalin case. There was nothing more, nothing less.

And from the next day started the three-day session of the state party meetings, which concluded yesterday. CPM general secretary Prakash Karat has been present in the state meetings and he is scheduled to address the lower level party workers meetings in all three regions starting from Kochi today. All these elaborate arrangements are being made to convince the party rank and file that the action against the veteran leader, the only surviving Kerala leader from the 32-member group who walked out the CPI’s national council session in 1964, thus launching the CPM in a historic split in the Indian Communist movement.

We have very little information on what transpired at all these secret meetings in Delhi and the state capital, but news media says that there were severe differences of opinion in the top leadership including PB and CC, and also there were a few voices of dissent even in the state unit which generally supports the official leadership in Kerala.

I am not going to speculate on what would be the end result of all these expulsions and disciplinary actions in the Communist Party (Marxist.) But I had to react to it while discussing it in the news channels. One of the points I raised was that the situation in the party and the issues thrown up were not going to be solved through disciplinary action against one individual; they needed a thorough examination and soul-searching in the public space. The effort to stifle any dissent, through an expulsion form PB, was bound to be counter-productive and I felt since this was a most anti-democratic and one-sided step on the party of the leadership, it was a black day in the history of the left movement in this country.

People like comrade M M Lawrence, a veteran now humbled through factional activity in the party, opposed and even ridiculed me but I still feel that the issues raised by VS in the past and the differences which resulted in his expulsion from PB, would not go away. They are substantive issues of public accountability on the part of public individuals and the only way the party could tackle it is through the normal, democratic ways like fighting in a court of law. The party now says they would fight it; but I am doubtful how far the party would be able to convince the masses that they have nothing to hide in this most unhappy affair.

Why the Budget has Come as a Surprise to the Corporate Sharks?

2009-07-08T00:11:00.000-07:00

IT WAS amusing to watch the free fall of sensex on the budget day even as Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was going ahead reading out his pro-poor, pro-welfare proposals. It was amusing the corporate sharks were so disappointed with the budget, as they were expecting the earth and heavens this time.

I think there was another reason too for the disappointment with the Government and the sensex reaction on the budget day. From the day the Manmohan Singh Government was known to have won the poll, there was a concerted effort on the part of the corporate media and its in-house intellectuals and opinion-makers to present the victory as the vindication of the neo-liberal, pro globalization policies of the Government.

In fact, there was an effort to run down the pro-poor policies that the Government had undertaken as of no consequence. In fact some of these policies, mainly the National Rural Employment Generation programme, were written off as a concession to the left parties who were supporting the Government. Since the Government had received sufficient numbers this time, they had no reason to seek left support and so it was time to go for a an all out, no holds barred free run for the capital, it was argued. They had even set an agenda for the Government and I remember some of the national channels spent a lot of prime time promoting this special agenda of their choice.

But the budget proposals give out the clear message that the Congress has a leadership which is more sensible and more down to earth than some of our corporate media chaps could ever imagine. In fact, the Government has proved two things:

First, that the Congress would actually claim the goodwill that the past pro-poor actions has generated and would continue to keep on this line because it is a sure vote winner at least for the time being.

Secondly, it would not allow the left to arrogate the pro-poor image that they had enjoyed so long and claim credit for all the pro-poor actions that the past government had undertaken. It is evident that Pranab Mukherjee has gone further in this budget even without the much hyped prodding from the left this time.

And the consequence of this is very serious: The left on the one hand, is losing the constituency they had among the poor with their actions like land grab and violence on the poor in places like Singur, Nandigram and Lalgarh, while, on the other, the Congress generally has been able to steer clear of such violent confrontations. They are emerging better managers of political and economic crises while the comrades seem to have lost themselves with no clear policy framework.

A New Season for Epidemics

2009-06-25T00:22:00.000-07:00

CPM special politburo meeting to discuss the rising threat of factionalism in its Kerala unit: news

Statutory Warning: As monsoon hits, it is a new season of epidemics in Kerala...!

Lalgarh: Why Do People Fight the Armed Forces of the State?

2009-06-22T20:08:00.000-07:00

As the confrontation between the people in Lalgarh and the police forces in West Bengal is raging, there took place a discussion on how and why this mindless violence. My friend Ajit Sahi, a senior journalist who travels to the most inaccessible parts of India to report on human rights violations, sent a note which is very important because it highlights the issue from his own experiences and observation.

I reproduce this note for the benefit of my readers:

Hi Chekkutty Sir,

I have been reading your exchange and I feel constrained to jump in here. I cannot claim that enough wisdom, knowledge or perspective rests in me to opine on the issue at hand, but I do have limited experience of reporting for Tehelka on the Naxals in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

While so much attention has been focused on the siege of Lalgarh, and there is much joy in India's urban English-speaking militarist middle class at the supposedly succeeding police and paramilitary action there, just why doesn't anyone dare to talk about the utter failure of the State against the Naxals in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand?

Where is all the machoism and the bravura in the media and the middle classes at the hopelessly one-sided war that wages on in these states? Since January this year, I have driven hours upon hours through the two states, through the most heavily Naxal-dominated areas -- the south Bastar districts of Dantewada and Bijapur in Chhattisgarh and Latehar in Jharkhand.

And the State? The Police? Non-existent. Zilch. I was in Latehar on April 22, the day the Naxals called a statewide bandh to protest the killing of five innocent villagers by CRPF. I was on the road for TEN hours and I saw not a SINGLE policeman, forget about a patrol. Just hours later, some 200 Naxals swooped down on a rural railway station and held an entire train hostage for four hours! And the State? Not a single policeman dared to enter the station.

Every time I travel in these two states, I am warned by police officers that I am doing so at my risk and that I shouldn't expect any help from them should I run into trouble. On January 26 this year, during the "Black Day" called by the Naxals, I traveled on a road in south Chhattisgarh that had never before been seized by Naxals. This time, it was. Except for one brave police officers who oversaw clearing of boulders placed by Naxals on the roads, all other police officers sat holed inside their stations.

Then, of course, is the issue of the Naxals themselves. The question that no one is asking is: just why is Mr Chidambaram and everyone else so exercised about Maoists seizing power in Lalgarh? Anyone who works in the field knows that the police and the State cannot enter many parts of the country. Until very recently, half of Bihar was like that. Large chunks of Uttar Pradesh are like that. I would like to see the police enter areas in Mumbai that are totally ruled by the underworld.

So why isn't the Indian media, the middle class, Mr. Chidambaram, the Prime Minister interested in reoccupying the badlands of UP and Bihar?

The answer is simple. In Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and also West Bengal lie hidden some of the best deposits of natural resources. The Indian middle class doesn't give a damn how many millions of people are uprooted from their villages in order to secure their natural resources. The corporate media that represents the narrow interests of the Indian industry is totally in favour of claiming such resources, even if it means employing the most brutal and repressive violence.

You need to travel to such regions, Dr. Aravindan, to see who is the victim and who is the perpetrator. The state is overwhelmingly the brute perpetrator there. Every part of the system -- the executive, the judiciary, the politicians -- are badly compromised. The indigenous people are the victims, but we brand them all as Naxals.

So just how long do you think India will be able to sustain this oppression of the people who, instead of being seen as citizens of India deserving of social justice, are brutalized and condemned as violent criminals?

Let me remind you of what is happening in the US. Right from Barack Obama to even top military generals and CIA chiefs have admitted that the brutal US campaign in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan have not made America safer. Instead, they now openly say, the American militarism has increased the threat from terrorism.

I am reminded of a cartoon I saw years ago. As his angry mother glares at him, a boy of perhaps six years in age explains his confusion as to why his younger brother, sitting besides him on the floor, was crying himself hoarse. "I just don't know why he is crying as I eat my apple," the kid told his mother, pointing at his younger sibling. "He was also crying when I was eating his apple."

We, Mr. Chekkutty, have for far too long been eating every one's apples. But, well, I think now the disadvantaged are no more as helpless as they once were.

I don't support the Naxals either. But there is no way that I can support the state, when, through people like Mr. Chidambaram, all it does is push the agenda of the rapacious capitalists who kill, maim, torture and enslave just so to trespass and illegally annex land that has for centuries belonged to the people who have lived on it.

If India's middle class doesn't wake up to this truth, the battle can only get grimmer and more violent.

Ajit Sahi
Editor-at-Large
Tehelka

Do We Need a CIA to Destabilize the Communist Party in Kerala?

2009-06-14T00:21:00.000-07:00

Comrade Jayarajan says the CIA is out to destabilize Kerala's Communist Party.

Well, who can accept encroachments into one's own turf...!

Comrade E P Jayarajan has come out with the revelation that there are fifth column within the CPM; what is more, he warns us, the CIA is back at its favourite game, that is destabilizing the communist movement in Kerala.

That inaugurates a new stage in the purges which started as soon as the Kannur PB took over the reins of the party in Kerala. Hundreds of people have already been thrown out and sure, we will see many more of it if Jayarajan and others have their way.

But what I fail to understand and is why should the CIA waste its time in Kerala? What is there in our communist movement for them to destabilize? This is the most ridiculous thing I have heard in a long time. Maybe it shows how bereft of ideas are our CPM leaders today who find themselves exposed beyond help.

Comrades, Leave the Governor Alone and Face the Corruption Case in Court

2009-06-08T23:44:00.000-07:00

The decision of Kerala Governor R S Gavai to give green signal to the CBI for the prosecution of CPM state secretary and politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan in the SNC Lavalin corruption case has now raised a debate on the issue of the constitutional validity of the action of the governor. The CPM and some legal experts like Justice V R Krishna Iyer say that this is a clear violation of the principles of federalism enshrined in the Indian Constitution and hence violate the constitutional scheme of things.

I think the Constitution is not a dead and static body of legal cliche’s that can be used to defend any malpractices on the part of public persons. It has to be interpreted with the best interests of a society that seeks decent and responsible governance.

Here we will have to ask a few questions:

How did the cabinet recommendation reach the Governor that no permission be given for prosecution in the case? It was under external pressure. There is sufficient evidence that a party to the criminal conspiracy had been involved in it and hence the cabinet decision was not a normal, democratic and constitutional action. The Governor had to take a decision in the issue and prima facie he had every reason to believe that the cabinet recommendation and the AG's report on which it was purportedly based, were not proper because they were not taken without "fear or favour."

Was the Governor acting according to his own whims and fancies? It would be a wrong to think the Governor had any axe to grind here, because right from the beginning the case was not a politically motivated one: It was the constitutional bodies like the CAG that unearthed it and it was later the Kerala High Court which demanded the reluctant CBI to look Into the political aspects of the case.

My point is that the CPM's present position, attacking the Governor for overstepping his duties in our federal system, is specious. To my mind, the Governor had to take into view all players in our constitutional system, namely the judiciary and the people's verdict. The judiciary had been monitoring the case and hence it is bound to go back to the same judiciary for final adjudication. No amount of political pressure can be allowed to subvert the judicial process and rule of law. If that were the case, the Governor would have been accused of abdicating his role as the custodian of the Constitution.

Now about the people's verdict: There was no referendum on the issue of the trial in the recent elections, but the present verdict has in many ways expressed the people's resentment over the way the State is being governed. It also gave a clean chit to the Centre which runs the CBI and other agencies now being castigated as politically motivated agencies. Hence, no charge of political vendetta can stick and if any, the verdict can only be interpreted the other way round, as a verdict in favour of a trial .

And finally, do the Governors behave as they used to in the past, as viceroys of the Centre nowadays? There is no such case in recent past and remember no one dares to play with Art. 356 today, unlike the Indira and Rajiv days. Frankly, I feel this is no occasion to castigate the Governor as an agent of the centre. The CPM argument that Governor did play havoc with Constitution and federalism simply does not wash because he took the totality of the situation into view and decided in the best interests of the people whose money is involved here. In no way it can be construed as a subversion of our lofty constitutional principles. No amount of federalism can be a justification or an alibi for excusing the plunder of national resources by interested parties.

Azhikode Discovers a Bird (or Dog) that Dirties its Own Nest…(or Party)

2009-06-06T05:04:00.000-07:00

Prof Sukumar Azhikode says no bird dirties its own nest: news

But some birds do dirty other's nests or name...!

A few years ago when Prof M N Vijayan was leading the charge against ‘revisionists’ in CPM with Patam magazine as his weapon of mass destruction, I had written an article in Madhyamam weekly castigating the professor, calling him a revolutionary post retirement.

I recently included this article in my collection of essays published earlier this year, but in the past five years since the publication of this piece, my own views on the CPM and its inner-party struggle have undergone a sea-change. Those days, I felt Prof Vijayan and his gang of storm-troopers were playing a game of partisan politics in the party, and I felt the young leaders were the victims in this manhunt. Hence I strongly supported them and described Vijayan a person who had done immense damage to the future of the party.

But in the past five years, the situation has changed tremendously and now it is the young leadership who seem to be taking the party to ransom. They have made the inner-party debates a matter of convenience, they have converted the party into a place for summary trials and instant justice throwing out hundreds of cadres for no reasons whatsoever, and other similar actions which convince me that Prof Vijayan, after all, was prophetic. This is what he had foreseen and this is what he wanted to stop. He was right.

He died speaking about it, his last words being a reminder of why we should keep on raising our voice, why should we keep our memories fresh. He was defending the harsh words used by his magazine, though personally he had never used any such words. He was a soft-spoken man who, however, never compromised on his principles.

Now when I watch Sukumar Azhikode, his foul-mouthed utterances against a veteran politician like V S Achuthanandan in full flow, I was reminded of M N Vijayan and his graceful way of criticism. Azhikode is a painful reminder that we have lost the civilized way of public criticism, that our intellectuals now resemble hired thugs. His recent interview with Mathrubhumi weekly was a shabby act, where he likens the chief minister to someone who dirties his own place of rest.

Well, he has now dragged in Henry David Thoreau to clean up. He says he was quoting Thoreau, who was speaking about the bird which never dirtied its nest, but was misquoted by the magazine and misunderstood by the chief minister and the public. Well, what it tells me is one thing: That Azhikode is a man who has his foot in the mouth.

Selecting a Career for Your Child? For God's Sake, Leave It To Them...

2009-06-01T00:11:00.000-07:00

I JUST returned home after a visit to Ernakulam, where my son Praful had to write the entrance examination for law conducted by the national law universities' common admission board.

There was a big crowd there, as hundreds of children from various parts of Kerala had come to write the exam. There seems to be a huge spurt in demand for law courses offered by national law schools, as three years ago when Amrita, my daughter, took it, the candidates were comparatively fewer.

But the candidates appeared to be of two types: Those who came there simply because somebody told them it was a course that could help win jobs with hefty money; and those who had some background in law or were seriously interested in pursuing law as a career. But what was surprising was that in most cases, these decisions were taken not by the children, but by their parents.

I do not say parents don't have a say in selecting a career for their kids. They do, but that is an advisory role; not a decision-making role. I am disturbed many parents are now trying to take over their children's lives, imposing their pet wishes on the youngsters. This could prove to be disastrous.

I do not claim I don't interfere with my children's lives. I do. In the case of my son, I was trying to tell him if he is interested in a management career, as he seemed to be, then he must first pursue a course like economics or law that could prove helpful in tackling challenges in a management career.

It was not easy. What advice to offer calls for serious effort, I realize. The other day, I was advising a friend to read a book on economics, Economics: Making sense of Modern Economies, edited by Simon Cox. I was reading the book as I was planning to lecture to my 17-year-old son, as he had to decide on what course to pursue.

As kids go, I must admit this one is a genuine representative of his generation, carefree to the core giving paroxysms of anxiety to his mother. So I thought it would be prudent and economic to advise him to pursue economics, and I was trying to convince him this discipline, in itself, was as sexy as say IT or other hot pursuits of our times. Or if he was eager on MBA, he could pursue that as well.

Now I know that we need a lot of convincing not only our youngsters but their parents too on the matter of pursuing the right career. Like me, two of my brothers too have boys who now seek a degree course and I find, it is a mad pursuit for the best and most juicy. No one wants the second place and hence a mad rush. The kids are now being fed ambitions beyond their endurance and one of my friends told me he had spent Rs. 25,000 just to purchase various application forms alone!

I thought he was kidding or trying to make me feel petty and look stingy as, as a matter of fact, I had spent only Rs. 3000 for such application forms for various entrance tests. But later I realized he was telling me the truth, as there are dozens of such tests now going on and they charge hefty amounts just for the prospectus and application forms. Sure, they must be making a hefty amount of money this way.

You may say these are gullible, uneducated people. Not at all. They are middle class people with excellent education, professional track record, and access to all the information available in the world. Still, they seem to be critically confused when it comes to the career choice for their children. I really do not know why this is so: is it a question of one's unending ambitions or is it a matter of our outlook, or is it a question of a problem of plenty?

One thing is sure: we need career guidance not only for our children but for their parents too so that the kids would be saved much headaches in their lives.

Now India Gets a New Ministry that is Likely to Deliver

2009-05-22T22:58:00.000-07:00

Dear doctor, give berths to my son, daughter, nephew and our servants too...!

POLITICS, AS the good doctor Manmohan Singh says, is the art of the possible. There is always the game of the pragmatist in it, howsoever much you might wish ideals had an upper hand.

Last time when Dr Manmohan Singh was asked to lead the United Progressive Alliance Government as Prime Minister, I think he realized it from day one. You think of the mandate you were given by the people, how to keep the promise given to them, and how to govern a country almost on the brink.

And your allies, I use the term for want of a better term to describe the partners in a political alliance, have other ideas: They are thinking about the berths they should get, the portfolios they should target for and the sons, daughters and nephews and nieces to be accommodated in ministerial berths.

Last time it was so, and this time too the same was the fate of the government at the centre. Muthuvel Karunanidhi, Shibu Soren and others were demanding all kinds of berths and accommodations last time; they threatened and cajoled, threw many tantrums and played many games, and got away with what they wanted and of course in the course of five years of rule made a mess of many departments that the stink is felt even in Delhi gullies.

Thankfully, people found a solution themselves in the case of Soren who was trounced in the polls. However, Karunanidhi did his best to see the tradition is kept alive: He was eager his son, daughter, nephew and the two chaps known for corruption be accommodated in the ministry. He has walked out and even boycotted the swearing-in ceremony on Friday.

Sure, this will be sorted out because without those government berths and ministerial posts, what is DMK or for that matter, any other political party? They are there for power and they will get it. But I am happy with the team of ministers now sworn in with Dr Manmohan Singh and I feel India could hope for a better, comparatively corruption-free government in the next five years. My only regret is that people Laloo are missing in this ministry, and the left has been reduced to a non-entity in these times when their voice should have been much more pronounced in our Parliament.

When the Chicken Came Home to Roost: Electoral Defeat for LDF and its Implications

2009-05-20T07:04:00.000-07:00

NOW THAT the LDF in Kerala and the left forces all over India, except in Tripura, had to face one of the severest electoral setbacks in recent history, parties and concerned citizens and political pundits are busy discussing what went wrong. There are mutual recriminations and blame games, which unfortunately do not throw much light on why such a defeat and whether it was inevitable.

The politburo of the CPM, the other day, came out with a statement which said its election-eve move for a third front was not accepted by the people, indeed it was seen as a non-starter. But a serious and more nuanced self-critical assessment would have to be made and it should come only after the meetings of the central committee and the various state units of CPM including that of West Bengal and Kerala.

But the situation in Kerala was more or less evident to any independent and impartial observers and if you check my earlier posts here, you would see that I had explained the strategy of CPM in Kerala was proving to be a big failure, and that their moves to cut into Muslim votes were actually working against their interests, helping only to consolidate minority votes in the state.

Now the question is, whether these electoral moves launched by the official group in Kerala CPM, in spite of reservations within the party and the left front, were such an innocuous effort or was it part of a long-term agenda?

I think so. They were not done in good faith. There was a hidden agenda behind them and it simply failed, or was defeated by party ranks themselves. That seems to be the truth.

Here are my main points:

1. Why did Madani and Raman Pillai got the special attention from official left as they did this time? Was it an aberration or the manifestation of a process of transition in left politics or was it part of a strategy that would mean a major change in left politics as we have seen in the past?

2. It would appear that the calls for widening the mass base of the left forces, in Kerala, were made with a clear agenda. It would mean the sidelining of the traditional left parties, which some people have been describing as bereft of mass base any longer, and bring in new forces in their stead. Hence what we have seen in Kerala is a deliberate attempt to demolish the 30- year old LDF and build a new dispensation.

3. Who are the new forces to take their place in the new front envisaged by the official left? Think back to the 2006 Assembly poll and you will know who they are:
They are mainly the disgruntled elements at odds with the UDF like K Muralidharan and his DIC (now NCP), fortune-seekers like Madani and Raman Pillai, and the retrograde and compromised people like Kanthapruam. If possible they would have been happy to bring in godmen and women like Amritananda Mayi as we saw left ministers making a beeline there.

4. Why they are special and useful? First, they are career politicians who would not nitpick on policy. A decent agreement on sharing of spoils would keep them happy. Karunakaran was the best example of this line in politics. He was successful for three decades this way.

5. The CPM has undergone deep internal transition by way of its cadres and class basis. It is no longer a working class party. The new middle class leadership want to implement their new line of politics that would benefit their class, and they find better models in the right-wing, like Karunakaran, and this time made an effort to practice it here. With disastrous results, as we can all see. Now I hope the Governor would allow the law to take its own course and CBI would go ahead with the SNC Lavalin case and show the left leaders how democracy works (at least outside Kannur.)

The Good Doctor Wins Again

2009-05-18T06:57:00.000-07:00

Dr Manmohan Singh wins a second term, will take over as prime minister this week: news

Why Our Media is a Laughing Stock (and Rightly So?)

2009-05-12T19:54:00.000-07:00

Here is a post I made recently on the current state of affairs in Malayalam media scene:

I WAS watching with a bit of discomfort the kind of media criticism going around, which is basically accusatory and counter-productive. Criticism is welcome, but criticism that is insincere and that comes in the form of sweeping generalisations like syndicate, conspiracy, etc, are done with an eye to curry favour with some corners in the ruling establishment. I have no patience with such conspiracy-mongers, whether they are politicians or cultural figures, and I know that anyone familiar with how media functions would know such a vast conspiracy network is simply impossible in the competitive media; neither in Kerala nor elsewhere.

Then why such repeated accusations and how they are accepted, at least by a section of our people, as true?

I think one of the reasons could be the lack of a self-critical approach on the part of the media itself, its arbitrary nature and its lack of professionalism. Media persons generally do not listen much to outside criticism, and they are not keen to own up mistakes and offer corrections. For a variety of reasons. They have not much time to listen and reply, they are not public figures to vigilantly keep a clean image, and often they do not understand the need for keeping such a continuous and difficult debate going with the world at large. And may be they have a self-image that is moulded in the 19th century idiom, as even today we speak of people like Swadeshabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai as our icon instead of asking whether we do need to look elsewhere for better models.

Changing ideas and habits is difficult. Exactly ten years ago, as I was president of the Kozhikode Press Club, we were having a heated debate on why do we need to build a modern professional media training centre in the press club. The question raised was, since we are a class of employees in an industry, it is for the managements to train and make use of the staff. Why an employees' union should bother about it? I still remember a colleague in Mathrubhumi who asked me why did I work for the managements.

I had to explain that the world is changing and technology is changing. We are becoming obsolete and if we do not equip ourselves we would be thrown out. Now ask anyone in the media circles around and they will tell you mass retrenchment has become part of our industry, and hundreds of people have lost jobs. If you are interested, read the general secretary's report in this issue of Pathrapravarthakan, KUWJ journal, which gives details about the ongoing cases and the grimness of the situation.

So you cannot isolate the gloomy media atmosphere and put all blame on a coterie who are syndicated or conspiratorial. The cynical mood in the media scene, the negative attitude of media persons, the poverty of intellect, are part of a gloomy society, it reflects the gloominess all around us.

But we do need to try to change this and bring some optimism to this profession. One of the reasons why I give much importance to stories like KGK's (who writes about the better days in journalism) is to drive away this mood of self-flagellation and cynicism. Such stories could help us recover our self-esteem and restore our past and legacy to us.

In my own paper, I tried to train our youngsters in media ethics and offered them a series of classes. They were all young people and it helped quite a lot. In fact I used the Media Ethics Guidebook of New York Times (available at their site, a very wonderful guide indeed) to tell them how to go about in professional life, how to behave and how to respond to criticism and all that...

But you know three years down the road, I see that almost 70-80 per cent of my original staff have left me. Poor pay and hard work do not help retain the staff, howsoever committed they might be. Now we will have to rebuild all that from the scratch, reminding me of the boatman's frantic efforts to keep it afloat even as water rushed inside through the hole below.

Well, not a very happy scenario. But what could we do but to keep our faith?

My Dalit Servant and a Case of Thermodynamics

2009-05-09T19:38:00.000-07:00

SOME TIME ago, Sajan, a friend, was busy setting up his biogas plant in his kitchen. I was one of those who keenly monitored the progress of the effort, and in fact I was disappointed when Bindu came up with a note of dissent, reporting that the plant simply did not give sufficient gas to do the cooking. That was bad. Hence Sajan started hunting around for kitchen waste to refuel his plant.

I was interested in the affair not (only) because all of us are very keen on what goes (wrong) in the other guy's kitchen (and possibly bedroom too.) I had a private motive because I was also having troubles in my kitchen. My problem, then, was a Parishad-type chulha which I had set up that simply did not work.

I talked to many people what was the problem with this chulha, which instead of pumping out smoke through the chimney, was spreading it inside the kitchen making the claim a 'smokeless chulha' somewhat of a misnomer. My wife kept grumbling, and I kept my mouth shut (I was the person who suggested we must have a chulha too!).

Then our servant, a dalit lady who travels from a village to the city to work, said the problem was with the way it was designed: It did not have sufficient space for allowing the smoke to escape into the chimney pipe especially when we kept big pots above it. The problem, then was that of thermodynamics and I decided this was too much of a task for me. I left it at that accepting failure.

But the indifatigable lady was not like me. One day she showed me how to do it. Push it a bit lower and allow more space, and it worked beautifully. Now we cook in it quite often.

I wrote about it because this week I read Sunita Narain, in her Down to Earth column, write about a woman she met in Udaipur, Rajasthan, 25 years ago. She too had such an improved chulha which, however, did not work. What she did was to break it a bit and make it useful, or using our own improved terminlogy, re-engineering it.

I think these incidents are very important and they give us lessons about how to go about improving our people's lives. We need to listen to people who have grassroots level experience, or in other words our technocrats and knowledge-creators need to be a bit more down to earth. Otherwise their wonderful inventions would remain just that: inventions with no practical application.

(For those interested in the Sunita Narain column, see www.downtoearth.org.in)

Rahul and India’s Tryst with Destiny

2009-05-07T00:08:00.000-07:00

Rahul Gandhi praises the left parties and expect they would support a Congress-led government at the Centre, raising hackles among his allies: news

At last, a Gandhi returns to the Nehruvian ideas...!

A FEW weeks ago, when a friend came to discuss politics, I said I would be happy if one day Rahul Gandhi took over the reins of this country.

He was aghast. He said in that case he would surely migrate to Pakistan or some other country. Like Rahul, he too belonged to a family that was a part of nationalist tradition; his great grandfather, like Jawaharlal Nehru to Rahul, was a freedom fighter who spent many years in jail and suffered immense hardships.

I was surely joking, or I thought I was joking, but ever since I was thinking about this issue: How would I or my friend who found the suggestion quite revolting, would accept the day when Rahul actually takes over the reins of this country? Or in other words, is there anything inherently wrong with or revolting about a scion of a great family taking over the reins of a nation, begetting the charge as a family trust?

Well, if you go by copybook democracy, you would surely find it revolting. Democracy means the rule of the people and the people would decide who should rule them, right? That means, there is no question of a family inheritance.

I have no quarrel with it, if the Indian people, myself included, in their own wisdom, decide to anoint a person of their own choice as their leader. But do you think this is possible, at least in the foreseeable future? How do our leaders emerge and what forces are propelling them in public life?

I have been in the Communist Party for some time and from what I have seen there, I am sure if you want to rise up in the party or emerge as a people’s representative, you need clout, real clout, with the leader or the group of leaders who call the shots. Or you should be the son/daughter/wife of such leaders or at least close relatives. Look at our MPs or ministers and you should know what I mean. In CPI, another party which shouts the loudest about propriety in public life, the situation is worse: In Kerala 50 per cent of their ministers are sons of former leaders and even in the party, the sons and daughters rule the roost.

I don’t blame communists for taking care of their kids first. If the parents do not take care, then who would look after the children? And I tell you, I have seen the celebrity sons of other leaders, like K Muralidharan and M K Muneer, sons of former chiefs ministers K Karunakaran and C H Muhammed Koya, enter politics and rise up in the echelons of their respective parties. Both of them first started out in Kozhikode, where I was a reporter, and no one today asks how did they enter politics. They are now part and parcel of our political life. Both had held positions of power and no one asked how could they attain such positions of power so early in their career.

So I do not think there is anything inherently wrong or unethical in Rahul entering politics and taking over the reins of his party or this country. Only if he is good enough to run a country like India.

And how does Rahul look in his role as a career politician?

I had watched him speak in Lok Sabha in the confidence motion a few months ago, where he spoke about his encounter with a village woman called Kalavathi, and his press conference the other day, and I do feel he is sincere, and is a lot more intelligent than he looks. He made remarks which were not very apt in the present circumstances, like his praise for communists when fierce anti-communists like Mamata Banerjee are his party’s allies in Bengal right now. But in the long run, I think, he would prove right.

More than a quarter century ago, when Sanjay Gandhi entered politics, I had heard Khushwant Singh sing praise for the man, who proved to be a mere bully. Then Rajiv Gandhi came to politics reluctantly, and he was no success either. But sure, politics was not his first choice.

Now why do I feel Rahul would be different? Somehow, his face reminds me of a great tradition in India and he conjures up the images of his great grandfather, the man who spoke about India’s tryst with destiny. Maybe Rahul too is part of that destiny.

Down Memory Lane: A K Sankara Menon and his Struggles

2009-04-30T23:56:00.000-07:00

ONE OF the things which I wanted to do, and failed, was to meet A K Sankara Menon, freedom fighter.

He died last year on April 28 and I was there at his home in Koyilandy, to pay my respects. Instead of the man I wanted to meet, I had to contend with meeting his family and have a look at the old house where he spent his life. It was an ordinary house with very little facilities, quite unlike the abodes of our political leaders with or without a legacy in freedom movement.

Sankara Menon did have a great legacy as he was one of the last of our freedom fighters who did actually face torture and arrest under the British. As a young student of Koyilandy Government High School, he was arrested by the British authorities along with his elder brother for singing Vandematharam, an anathema to the colonial rulers.

Later he was part of the liberation movements in Goa and Jammu & Kashmir, where he had faced tremendous police brutality. In fact, in Goa, where the Portuguese were still holding on to their colonial property in spite of India’s liberation from colonial rule in 1947, freedom fighters form various parts of India converged and it was Sankara Menon who led the team from Kerala.

He was part of a stream in our national movement which traced their ancestry to Vir Savarkar and his line of religious nationalism. Naturally, Sankara Menon became part of Jan Sangh and later the Bharatiya Janata Party, in his political career but he kept his austere ways and commitment to principles till his end.

At a memorial meeting in Kozhikode the other day, organized by Sankara Menon Trust led by his son and journalist K S Sarat Lal, I heard O Rajagopal and P S Sreedharan Pillai, his long-time colleagues, recount their memories about the man and his struggles. One thing they talked about was the way he kept himself away from the centres of power, in spite of the fact that his party had been holding power at the Centre for a number of times but he was one person conspicuously absent at the corridors of power.

That explains why I failed to meet him in his life time. His son was a senior journalist in Delhi when BJP was ruling this country, but he was not a presence even in his son’s place at the capital.

Polls Enter Second Leg This Week

2009-04-20T19:47:00.000-07:00

India votes this week in the second leg of its elections to the 15th Lok Sabha: news

An exciting game of politics...!

What the Ballots Hold: crystal gazing on electoral outcome in Kerala

2009-04-18T05:23:00.000-07:00

THERE IS an eerie uncertainty after the polls. Now more than 48 hours since the voting in Kerala in the first phase of the general election to the 15th Lok Sabha, people are trying to second guess who might have gained and who lost in the polling. The speculations will continue till the day the votes are counted.

Let me add my own bit to the prevailing confusion:

There is every reason to feel that there has been a swift, subterranean move among voters that has caused very dearly to the left parties, mainly the CPM in this election. In the past few weeks I had talked to hundreds of people who used to vote for CPM for many years, but I see there is a mood swing. Most of them were bitter with their own party, for various reasons.

I am not talking about the rebels in the CPM or the dissidents who have surfaced in places like Vatakara, Palakkad and Kozhikode. I speak about the ordinary party workers mainly from the poorer sections who were once the backbone of the Communist party. Now there is a feeling that the party has abandoned them, and it has been converted into a middle class organization. The candidate selection this time has strengthened this perception of alienation.

Unlike the 2004 and 2006 elections when the minorities like Christians and Muslims were either divided or shifted towards the left, giving the LDF a thumping win, this time there is a swing to the other side. The CPM leadership, in its post-poll analysis, has accepted that the Christians have returned to the UDF fold this time, but feel the Muslims are still with the left. This is a wrong perception because what I have seen in the northern Muslim belt is a fast deterioration of relations between the Muslim masses and CPM for a variety of reasons.

The CPM Strategy Backfiring in Kerala Election: Notes from the campaign scene

2009-04-08T23:33:00.000-07:00

AT THE initial stage of the present election process to the 15th Lok Sabha, on March 24, I had posted the following note in a discussion forum raising some of my doubts. I feel, three weeks into the campaign, it is time now to rethink the same issue once again:

A few days ago Dr. Santhakumar, an economist, had said he was witnessing some positive trends in Kerala's politics in this election. He appeared to have given much stress to the rise of new communal forces and their entry to left front, while parties like CPI, Janata Dal, and RSP were taking a beating.

I am unable to see a positive trend in this development, but I do see the current developments as the beginning of the end of the Left and Democratic Front in Kerala. It is more than 30 years old and it cannot withstand the shifting sands of politics in Kerla today. Hence a realignment of forces is natural and even to be welcomed.

My questions are as follows:

1. When Abdunnaser Madani and his PDP come to the centre stage in left politics, what would be the impact on traditional Hindu voters in the CPM? They are not a force to be ignored because in 1987 we know it was this segment which proved decisive in the left victory. It is also a fact that this lower middle class people, mainly Ezhavas and Nairs, etc, are a strong base for CPM in most places.

2. Now that Raman Pillai's Jana Paksham has joined forces with CPM, what impact they will have on the traditional left supporters? Have they ever openly rejected their past, the violent Hindutva politics that they practiced?

3. What impact the CPM dissidents will have in this election? I personally feel that in Vatakara, Kozhikode and Palakkad, where they have strong candidates, they will win decisive number of votes.

4. Is it time for the left forces to abandon their traditional secular and leftist image and don a right-wing, communal conglomerate image, something which they always accused of UDF in the past? Is the secular politics so discredited in our society that even the left can safely abandon its strong points of the past?

These points were made three weeks ago. Now the situation seems to be a bit more clear. And what do we see now?

I feel the CPM strategy of unscrupulous alliance with communal forces of both the Hindu and Islamic variety has backfired. Two days ago, I saw Prakash Karat, CPM general secretary, making it clear that there is no alliance with Madani and what he was given to understand by the State CPM secretary was that the PDP would carry out their campaign separately. It seems either the CPM has changed its strategy of open combined campaign which Pinarayi inaugurated in Ponnani or that the CPM general secretary is distancing himself from what his state counterpart did here.

The second aspect is that there is a very clear consolidation of Muslim votes in the north, especially since the CPM has been trying to cut into the Muslim vote base in Malappuram and Ponnnani. Right now it appears the IUML will win not only Ponnani, but could re-capture Malappuram (earlier Mnajeri) which the CPM had won in 2004.

The third point is is, the rebel CPM is proving to a force to reckon with. Their campaign in Vatakara, Kozhikode and Palakkad, etc, is very effective and they threaten to seriously cut into the vote base of CPM. I hear reports and personal comments from a number of comrades who are reluctant to vote for the party this time and watching the campaign scene, it is evident the CPM cadres are not yet active in the field.

It's Manifesto Time Now

2009-04-03T23:38:00.000-07:00

Congress manifesto promises rice at Rs. 3 a kg; BJP at Rs. 2 a kg: news

Who said promises need to be kept...?

How to Break Muslim Political Power: Why Madani is Key to CPM Strategy in Kerala?

2009-03-30T23:40:00.000-07:00

PDP's Abdunnasser Madani and CPM's Pinarayi Vijayan are kindred souls in Kerala politics.

WHAT IS the rationale for CPM’s alliance with Abdunnaser Madani’s PDP in Kerala despite stiff resistance from sections within the left front and even from within the party? Is the PDP such an influential force in Kerla politics to help CPM win this election, while in fact, it appears the PDP factor has alienated substantial sections of left followers and voters away from it?

Recently I came across a defense of this policy made by a CPM intellectual in a discussion forum. I reproduce the argument here:

Let there be no mistake; the CPM's effort in Ponnani is to try and break a traditional stranglehold that one party has had in the region. This stranglehold, along with another stranglehold in central Kerala, has been holding up the growth of progressive forces across Kerala for many years. It is not an issue of winning one seat. It is a part of a strategy that is likely to alter fundamentally the balance of
political forces in Kerala. And that is a good thing.

So the point is very clear: the effort is to break the stranglehold of one party to pave the way for the growth of progressive forces in Kerala. Read it as the decimation of Muslim League in Malappuram for the CPM to take control over the entire state of Kerala, and enjoy a free ride for decades as they had done in West Bengal.

As a political party, no one can blame the CPM for nursing such hopes of hegemony. But how would it help minorities, say Muslims in Kerala? I suspect it can prove to be the proverbial last straw and if the Muslims lose even the little political clout they have today, they would face grave consequences soon.

Here I reproduce some comments I made in the discussion with regard to Madani and his politics and the long-term impact of such moves on Kerala Muslims:

1. I think for the Muslims in India, and even Kerala, they would expected to be constantly apologetic and would need to accept a position of playing second fiddle to certified anti-imperialists like the Communist party.

Rigth now, thank God, Madani has been accepted as a genuine anti-imperialist while people/orgnizations like PFI need to wait for further clearance.

I heard the continuous false propaganda against PFI as a terrorist group by people like P Jayarajan, CPM MLA and present ideologue, on TV the other day. I was there but I chose not to react because I think such calculated calumni painting a community and new elements in it as terrorist is part of a game-plan to which Madani has now fallen a willing tool.

But how long they can keep a proud and historic community like Muslims at this game of blackmailing?

2. ...I was trying to point to a much more serious and even sinister trend that I see in Kerala today. That is painting those who you do not like, or those who may oppose you, as nothing but terrorists and enemy of the nation. The Jayarajan quote I mentioned was part of it, to paint NDF/PFI as the one and only enemy, as the epitome of terror in Muslim community, allowing the real culprits do their dirty work undisturbed.

The CPM MLA referred to Kashmir incidents and death of four people. Who recruited them and who sent them there? The police are investigating and indications point to a certain place and I do not want to say anything more about it.

But we at Thejas daily) had made an investigation as a newspaper and the series was published in our newspaper. Two things emerged in the story. First, some secretive spiritual groups like thareequaths seem to have links to sinister and even criminal elements as proved in the case of Vennakode thareequath, where Thammanam Shaji was a regular visitor. They have a national network too. The police are well aware of it.

The second aspect was the role of some people who keep a close link to police and seem to play a role in inciting such extreme religious sentiments. Some of them are known police agents. They play a role that is dictated by interested parties and groups with links in police. We had exposed a few people with such links and detailed the extreme religiosity they showed on certain occasions.

You know even before this series was fully out, the police became very restive and they threatened to arrest the reporter. It was a very curious phenomenon, and I have not seen it happen even in the time of Emergency. They were asking for sources but anyone who reads it would see the police knew about all this. The same period, they took into custody another of our reporter foisting a terror tag, in Tirurangadi, but the game backfired as the 'terrorist' proved to be a poor brahmin from Jharkhand who came to the place and knew our reporter.

I see that this is part of a wider plan, a plan that has been successfully implemented in the north of India where Muslims have been effectively destroyed as a community. Recently my friend and human rigths lawyer Bobby Kunhu was writing about the success of Modi project in Gujarat.I know it would not be restricted to Gujarat alone, it could come here and indeed it is now appearing in many ways. But why should progressive political parties and sensible people like you and me be a party to such sinister games?

3. I am returning to this link only because I find even people like Satchi daa seem to think the new political line being adopted by the Kerala CPM could be of some benefit to Muslims, dalits and other backward sections in our society.

I have very serious reservations about it. In fact I do feel Madani in his recent press conference was acting according to a script prepared elsewhere and the key to this script seems to be the weakening of these sections who are now slowly emerging as an alternative force, perhaps a third force that is likely to emerge in the near future.

Who are the principal components of the third force, which would try to replace the Congress-led groups and the CPM-led parties? To my mind, the Muslims along with Dalits will have to lead such a force in Kerala, and parties and groups that belong to backwards, and other minorities, including Christians, would also have to join in. Madani would have been a real force, a leading power, in such a situation, but unfortunately his present role is that of a hatchet, a willing tool in the hands of CPM to strike at his own community.

As for the CPM leading the subalterns to liberation, let us look at Bengal and see what has been the experience in the past 30 years of CPM rule there. I would only like to invite attention to the latest editorial in EPW (March 21, 2009) which gives a balanced and objective assessment of how little CPM did to these sections by way of empowerment, both economically and politically.

Now people speak of a new CPM. What is it? Has there been any change in the party programme which we are not aware of? The party has been saying they are committed to a left and democratic alternative and left parties would be the core of such an alliance. And who are the NEW left forces they are forging in Kerala now? By what yardstick could they say that Madani or Raman Pillai are the real and legitimate left and democratic forces to replace old left like CPI, RSP and Janata Dal?

Elections as Spectacles and Cover-Up of Past Deeds

2009-03-27T06:29:00.000-07:00

Madani and Raman Pillai are hot subjects in Kerala elections this time: news.

WHAT MATTERS in elections today is success. Hence, there is no use expecting an informed public debate on issues, policies, governance and other matters which in a democracy should get some attention in times when the people are asked to elect their representatives.

But our electoral system has effectively nudged out all such informed public exchanges and instead what we have here is spectacles meant to entertain and get the electors forget to ask uncomfortable questions.

This time in Kerala, the leaders have successfully ensured that any public debate does not take place. We are now talking only about Abdunnasser Madani and his past antics and how a person like K Raman Pillai, once a firebrand Hindutva leader, has turned secular all of a sudden.

Both gentlemen are now in the company of Comrade Pinarayi Vijayan and his Communist Party of India (Marxist), once a party that I belonged to. I have no problem with Madani or Raman Pillai being part of the Left Front, but my problem is when instead of real and substantive issues like the looming economic crisis and the return of millions of people home after losing their jobs in the Gulf, we are not even spending a moment to think about such things.

I was reading all the newspapers and listening to most television debates, and I am convinced the media also has not much time or inclination to raise such issues. Yesterday, India Vision asked me whether this election time would be spent wholly on such non-issues and I expressed my hope that perhaps in the next few weeks things might change, people might force more serious issues into the public debate.

And one of the issues likely to come back to public attention, I am sure, would be that of corruption in public life. We need such a discussion because this is the first time even the topmost leader of our Communist Party is facing corruption charges and his name listed in the accused list in the SNC Lavalin case. Once this returns to our debates, no amount of flogging Madani or Raman Pillai brand of secularism would help them, because we need them to answer for their omissions and commissions in the past.

Muhammad Abdurahman: A debate on His Legacy and Contemporary Relevance

2009-03-22T23:08:00.000-07:00

MY BIOGRAPHY of Muhammad Abdurahman (Muhammad Abdurahman, National Book Trust, New Delhi, 2005), written on the occasion of the 60th death anniversary of the freedom fighter, has been in public domain for more than three years now.

It did not raise any storm, and I never expected any, but I was a bit sad no one really took note of the book, writing on which I had spent quite a lot of time in Delhi, where I began it after my friend Rubin DCruz of NBT asked me to do it, and then in Kerala where I researched much of it.

Recently, at the discussion forum, fourth-estate critique, the book received a critical attention. In a discussion on electoral politics and appeasement of religious fundamentalism in Kerala, it was M G Radhakrishnan, special correspondent for India Today , who first mentioned my work, which helped generate a debate based on the book.

Here is what M G Radhakrishnan said:

It runs counter to the great tradition and history of the proud secular stream of the community symbolized by Muhammed Abdurahman Saheb et al (Chekkutty can revisit his own brilliant book on the legend) which has fought the fundamentalists and communalists among them for long.

To this I responded, thanking him for referring to my work on Muhammad Abdurahman. I reproduce below an edited version of the text of parts of the debate:

N P Chekkutty: I am extremely thankful to my senior colleague M G Radhakrishnan for inviting me to my own work on Muhammad Abdurahman. I am not speaking with even an iota of irony, because I am sincerely thankful to him for referring to this work mainly because though this book had been available for almost three years in English, there has not been any serious critical reference to it in any forum.

Hence my gratitude to MGR for referring to this work. It happens to be the only English biography of Muhammad Abdurahman, a freedom fighter who has been generally forgotten in recent years though some Congressmen do conduct some programmes in Kozhikode and Kodungallur.

But the point to remember is: What is Abdurahman's legacy? Is it right to paint him as a 'Non-Talibanist' Muslim leader who fought all kinds of 'regressive' tendencies in the community, a la our beloved Hamid Karzai of Kabul or Abbas of West Bank?

It would be simplistic to isolate Muhammad Abdurahman from his times and transplant him into our own and making him a windbag which could serve our own purposes. Let me say that Abdurahman was a fighter and he was a fighter deeply religious and he never abandoned his faith for political purposes. His commitment to his own community one can see at the moment when he went to the house of KPCC president K P Kesava Menon who had shut himself inside his office at a time when rebellion broke out in Eranad. Abdurahman decided to go to Ernad alone, in the company of E Moidu Maulavi.

But he did fight the regressive forces in his community, and he did it valiantly. But who are the representatives of the Attakkoya Thangals of his time in our own days? I thought the legacy fell on the shoulders of those who are the comrades in arms of our own CPM gentlemen like Pinarayi Vijayan.

If anyone needs a refresher course in history of Malabar 1935-40 these days, I think they are Comrade Pinarayi and his team of Jayarajan triumvirate, who seem to have no clue about history.

M G Radhakrishnan: I have also wondered why the book hasn’t received its due attention. But I have read only the Malayalam version and not the English. I think it easily merits to be one of the best bios in Malayalam. Particularly liked the warmth and details of the narrative through which the Sahib comes through as humane and as heroic as ever. So palpable are the passion for secularism and the concern about sectarianism not just of the protagonist but the author too. And I really want my friend to introspect on his present positions on these issues. Hence I feel a far greater urge to join issue with you than any one else on this forum too. Take it as a desperate attempt to retrieve a distancing compatriot. You really don’t belong to where you are now.

I haven’t de-contextualized Saheb in any way. On the contrary I have tried only to re-contextualize him. I think he is what he is because his relevance goes much beyond his time. Why should you pin down him to his time alone? For me he is not a windbag but a whistle-blower for our troubled times.

Surprised you don’t see him as a non-talibanized Muslim! I have not equated him with the other names you have mentioned.

I also don’t agree with the way you have condemned Pinarayi and others. With all its warts, the Organized Left still remains more than anybody else, the rightful legatees of Saheb. My difference with them is when they digress from this legacy -which often they do- though that doesn’t make them on par with the NDF or such others which represent everything contrary to what Saheb stood, fought and died for. Sure the Left needs a lesson in history but strange to see that you think they need it more than the fundamentalists about any of whom you don’t have a single word to utter for long. (Haven’t you seen in this forum too Saheb being portrayed as not the "real" Muslim but an "imagined" one as was done to him years ago? )

N P Chekkutty: Good and kind words do make people feel happy and make them less combative, I suppose.

Hence my difficulty in crossing words with my senior colleague MGR. Though I have not had the privilege of working with him, I had the benefit of being very close to his father who was the person who took the initiative to translate a work on Nilakkal I did in Mainstream Weekly way back in 1984 giving me the first major break in serious media studies. I will always be indebted to PG for the kind of support and encouragement he gave me, like many others, in those times when I was a simple non-entity from a remote village with no claims to intellectual pedigree.

Having said this, I would request MGR to introspect about his own positions of late. It has appeared to me that he is not really tuned to the changing perceptions among Muslims, dalits and other backwards in our society in the post-90 period. I had the fortune or misfortune of being not only a witness, but a part and participant of these events and changes. That surely would have had an influence on my world view and perceptions.

Now the questions to ask is: Why did we change the way we changed? What forces did play in these events and why is our once homogeneous left partisans are now divided into such disparate, mutually antagonistic positions? I do really hope MGR would think about it, just as all of us need to go for a period of introspection now.

Here a person like Muhammad Abdurahman can be a great guide.

I think we need to take a few very interesting aspects in his career here. One thing is that in his own time, he was dubbed an extremist by the entrenched forces in his community and his detractors in Gandhi Sangham. The left then did not buy this argument because people like P Krishna Pillai and EMS who worked with him were also dubbed extremist those days. So labels do not tell us much, neither then nor today.

The second aspect: Can religious faith and left convictions see eye to eye? People like Pinarayi dub the new forces in Muslim community like Popular Front of India as a mix of LTTE and Taliban (here I quote from his 1998 speeches) and he seems to to keep the same views now. But he has no problems having alliances with Madani or Kanthapuram.

If you look at history, you will see Abdurahman was part of a new emerging middle class in his community, mainly coming from Kodungallur those days. He had to fight the pro-British elite segments among Muslims and later the Muslim League, a party launched by Talassery traders with a lumpen cadre base.

If historical parallels are to be drawn, I would think the new social forces in Islam now represented by groups like PFI do inherit much of the progressive and forward-looking legacy of Abdurahman.

But here we may have to agree to disagree, perhaps.

Dr B Ekbal: Muhammad Abdurahman was one of the greatest secular politicians of Kerala. Apart from Chekkutty's excellent biography both in English and Malayalm, N P Mohammed has written a biographical novel about him and his son has written a biography of Abdurahamn for children as well in a literary style. Along with these books the biography of KA Kodugallor by C P Rajashekran also throws light on the life and time of Muhammad Abdurahman. There are also a few lesser known biographies of him.

nfortunately, none of the present organisations carry or imbibe the secular values expressed by Muhammad Abdurahman. Nobody can claim his legacy.

John Samuel: Thanks Chekkutty and MGR for this serious dialogue. The tone and content of it is much appreciated. In fact such serious dialogues (as distinct from scoring a point or throwing a stone)- with mutual respect- are really helpful to explore the various historical perspectives to understand and appreciate the emerging realities in Kerala and elsewhere.

I too enjoyed reading the excellent biography ( published by NBT) of Abdurahman sahib by Chekkutty. In fact I have learned a lot by reading the book and also through discussions and observations during my recent trip to Calicut.

So my sense is that the political and social landscape is shifting- and this will have impact on the present day "Left" politics in Kerala. I also think that newspapers like Thejas cannot be equated with Organizer or such entrenched fascist propaganda. From whatever I read, Thejas is liberal in its outlook and it has relatively better editorial quality than many other newspapers. I have not seen it spreading hatred or violence or lies. I am willing to be corrected if any furnishes such evidence. We need to evaluate a newspaper or book based on its content and real performance- rather than sweeping conclusions based on prejudices or perceptions.

It is too early to make a conclusive statement about the new modes of social mobilizations, communicative expressions and media experiments among the Muslim community in Kerala. There is indeed a shift from the old politics- and there are many social, economic and political reasons for that.

In fact, I am more optimist than pessimist in the evolving scenario in Kerala- many of the present formations and formulations will be challenged. But that is a part of any process of substantive change in politics and society.

The political landscape of Kerala ( and elsewhere) is beginning to change. I also think the present phase of binary political formation (LDF and UDF) may not be able to survive in the long run.

The shift in sociological and economic conditions of various communities in the last fifteen years would also influence the political perspective and choices of Kerala. My sense is that the present NDF/PFI, PDP, BSP etc will become a part of the political mainstream and the new power arrangements in Kerala in the years to come.

We have had several discussions in this space about the various streams of reformations, renaissance and reactions that happen within various communities in Kerala. So it is important to see these changes and shifts beyond the usual binaries and black/white formulations.They are much more complex shifts than what we see on the surface of it.

K Satchidanandan: At times I wonder: can a party, an organisation or a nation be secular at all? I am aware of the Secular Collective, Sahmat, Anhad, the Kerala Secular Forum... with some of which I have had associations at various levels; still ultimately perhaps only individuals are capable of being secular as it has deep kinship with individual life-practices. I know this sounds an individualistic position, but an organisation can claim to be secular only when all its members practise secularism in their everyday: is this happening in any organisation today, left or right? What about their alliances? Let me immediately add: I do not posit the secular against the religious or the sacred as I do not equate the secular with the atheist or the rationalist: I would posit it rather against the communal, the bigoted, the insular, the hierarchical and the mono-logic. I am posing this not as an ultimate position, but a genuine doubt.

S Sanjeev: Since we are into biography and minority positions let us look at a significant discussion regarding the ‘impossibility’ of 'Muslim autobiography' in India. While comparing the unfinished autobiographical fragment of Maulana Mohammed Ali with two other autobiographical projects of the time – Gandhi’s and Nehru’s - M T Ansari notes, “Maybe even now, for Muslims in India writing an autobiography remains a fraught exercise” in the sense that “autos or the self is somewhere, the bios or life is elsewhere and the grapheme is nowhere, in that it does not work as an intersection point for the other two”. (See his brilliant doctoral dissertation, CIEFL, Hyderabad, 2002).

We could list major examples closer home such as Vakkom Moulavi or Basheer.

Speaking of Vakkom Moulavi it would be worthwhile noting that while the editor of Swadeshabimani has been etched in the Malayali consciousness as the epitome of courage, its founder publisher never figures in those hagiographies. Let me quote Joseph Mundassery referring to Ramakrishna Pillai in his autobiography Kozhinja Ilakal: “that Dheera deshabhimany was honored as a Janasevakan, his statue was erected and the stuff [confiscated by the Travencore Government] was returned. Its owner was a karanavar of Vakkom Abdul khader.” (Current books, 2004, p301, translation&emphasis mine).

N P Chekkutty: Sanjeev's note on Vakkam Maulavi reminds me about the vanished heroes of our struggle:

It is very interesting to think about how some of our freedom fighters simply disappeared from public memory through a conscious amnesia on the part of our mainstream society.

Muhammad Abdurahman has never been a big name in our textbooks, though he has been one of the very few freedom fighters who inspired our poets. Not only our Satchi daa, but a number of great poets like P Kunhiraman Nair, Edassery, G Kumara Pillai and Vailoppilly had written about him in glowing terms. Perhaps poets are greater visionaries and truth-tellers than historians.

But where did you see a mention about a person like M P Narayana Menon, who spent 24 years in jail, in our school textbooks? And anyone heard about E Kannan, a dalit freedom fighter and political activist who was a member of the Kuttikrishna Menon Committee on land reforms in 1937along with EMS and Abdurahman?

No. They are all gone. What else we could say about it but our conscious collective amnesia?

M G Radhrsishnan: Chekkutty says NDF is the true claimant of Saheb’s legacy! What I have learnt (from Chekkutty’s book too) is that Saheb’s life was devoted to further the cause of secularism and also to fight the conservatism within the Muslim religion. Can you cite any example to prove NDF is doing any of these to claim Saheb’s legacy ? Except Muslim League, at least in a minor way, does any of the religious group among Muslims ever talk about the rising fundamentalism or the need for social reformation inside the community ? Or do you think fundamentalism does not exist at all or there is no need for reformation?

N P Chekkutty: I need to add a few brief points here by way of clarifications:

1. When we try to understand the life and legacy of a person like Muhammad Abdurahman, whose public life spanned from 1920 to 1945, we must confront the fact that there is a big chasm that divides that period from that of us. The concepts like secularism, human rights, etc, of which we speak now, were not fully developed in those days.

2. If you try to understand the life of the Saheb, you will see religion has always been the primary fountain of his political life. In the Indian nationalist politics in the post-first world war period, people of the minorities could not hope to find any other catalyst to drive them into action other than religion.

3. This need not be a hindrance for eventual development of secular, modern politics and social thinking in such communities. They can't remain backward or fundamentalist for ever. New ideas would always seep in and that would have a natural churning effect in such communities.

4. Watching the Muslim community in Malabar, I feel such a deep and highly transformative churning process is now on. For example I have a colleague who had to leave his home recently because he refused to accept dowry from his willing father in law. While his parents demanded money and a car, he refused to take it risking the anger of his father. Poor boy had to walk out of the home with his young wife because his organisation, in this case PFI, had asked the young members not to accept dowry at any cost.

(Courtesy:fourthestatecritique.google.com)

Doing Brisk Business in Election Time

2009-03-18T22:39:00.000-07:00

The KPCC list for candidates in Kerala handed over to the AICC; leaders prepare to return home: news.

Sales over, time to close shop...!

The Curious Case of Good Samaritans and Dead Lamb: A parable from Kerala

2009-03-14T03:01:00.000-07:00

CPM jumps in as the BJD-BJP alliance breaks in Orissa: news.
Political Samaritans taking home a lamb...!

KERALA'S EDUCATION department is now conducting a very interesting inquiry about a compact disc, that was distributed as part of training progammes in some parts of the State.

The CD contained a play, shot on camera, that was supposed to help the students and teachers in the class room exercises. But at some places, along with this innocuous one, another by the same playwright, was downloaded into the CD and distributed raising a hue and cry.

This play, surely, is enormously interesting if you look at its content. It shows a bishop and his driver travelling on a village road and accidentally hitting a little lamb. The driver asks the bishop what to do with the dead lamb and receives the instruction to put it in the dick of the car so that once in their palace they could make a good dish of it.

The lamb is owned by a poor village boy and he loved it so much. The boy comes to know about the death of his friend and comes to the bishop's house in search of it and the ensuing scenes are somewhat funny.

The church in Kerala is up in arms and Malayala Manorama, which broke the story, also relishes in it because they find in it a very good weapon to beat the education department run by M A Baby and the Left Front Government in the State. The education department is jittery and Baby denies there was any move to defame the church. It was quite accidental that such a play with which the department has nothing to do got itself into the CD, he explains. In fact they have suspended an official for negligence in his duty.

Watching the play, I thought it was not a bad thing, albeit accidental. The play raises some very disturbing questions about the morals of our religious leadership, whether it be Christian, Muslim or Hindu. There was a time when we heard stories about Jesus Christ and the good Samaritan, about the Buddha carrying a limping lamb to its abode and so many others.

And what kind of stories we do hear today? We hear stories about religious persecution, hatred, and violence, sexual assaults in religious institutions, fleecing of people in the name of donations and fees and what all these give is an impression of all round corruption and moral degradation. In fact if you read the newspapers, you would think our religious leaders are nothing better a mafia.

That should make us think, not only about our religions and their current plight, but about our moral principles too.

CPM Dissidents Refuse to Capitulate: A Cultural Revolution in Our Own Times

2009-03-09T00:15:00.000-07:00

THE CENTRAL committee of the CPM, which came out with its assessment of the left prospects in the 15th Lok Sabha elections due in a few weeks, admits that this time it would be a very tough fight.

The statement, made public by general secretary Prakash Karat in his press conference yesterday, was based on the two-day discussions and the reports presented by state units, including West Bengal’s party chief Biman Bose and Kerala’s state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, among others.

But Prakash Karat said the internal divisions in his party or personal tussles among its leaders would not be a worry; he saw larger political developments like the possible Congress-Trinamool alliance in West Bengal as the reason why the left could face difficulties this time.

There is no doubt that the left is facing acute political challenges in all its strongholds this time. It is also a fact that the left, mainly the CPM, is facing serious ideological and organizational challenges also, though Karat seems to play them down.

In Kerala, what could prove to be the most serious threat is the recent divisions in the party and the mass erosion from its ranks with substantial numbers of supporters and cadres leaving the party. Yesterday, as Karat was addressing the Delhi press meet, news came that M R Murali, the CPM dissident in Shroanur, could be a candidate in Palakkad. It could mean the defeat of the CPM candidate there as we have witnessed in Shoranur municipality a few weeks ago.

And what about Vatakara, another sure seat for the CPM in north Kerala?

Last Sunday I was in Vatakara, a constituency that has always been with the CPM or left. This time too, it is most likely to remain with CPM. I was there for a seminar organized by the Indian Union Muslim League, and the mood I saw there was of confidence, because for the first time they were sensing blood. Not that they would win, but they will put up a tough fight.

I met T P Chandrasekharan, who is now the leader of the rebel CPM in Onchiyam. He was also there, and we had a long talk. (A very personal chat because he was my close friend and comrade from 77 to 83 in SFI). It gave me the impression that this division in the party was too deep and it has many undercurrents. The most important thing is that the CPM leadership, both local and state, is now totally out of touch with the cadre down below.

I asked what they would do in the next polls? He said we would not help CPM win, but would not go with UDF either.

It could mean they would decide to put up their own candidate, to show their strength or perhaps lack of it among the people.
It seems if they stood alone and put up a candidate, they will garner anything between 50,000 and 75,000 votes. Still CPM can win provided the new voters would stay with them.

But that would mean the base of CPM being challenged so thoroughly and openly. Will they be in a position to withstand this people's revolt, this revolt of those people who spilled blood for them, the people who gave their life for the party?

For the first time, we are witnessing something similar to Cultural Revolution in China in our midst. The people are now trying to put up barricades in the road to the headquarters, they are besieging the headquarters which has turned hostile on them.

Will Jai Ho Save Congress?

2009-03-04T19:20:00.000-08:00

Congress Party gets the rights to use Jai Ho, the Oscar-award winning music score of A R Rehman,for its election campaign use: news

Jai ho, jai ho jay jaya he...!

Gorby the Traitor and Battles in a Communist Wonderland

2009-02-28T20:19:00.000-08:00

Achuthanandan calls Gorbachev a traitor, cautions against local Gorbys lurking around: news

I LIKE Gorby. He was the last general secretary of the Communist Party of Soviet Union (CPSU), and today neither the party nor the country exists on the face of mother earth.

In a way, Mikhail Gorbachev was a very unfortunate man. He was catapulted to the helm of a relic of party and a country that was terminally ill, and still he made heroic efforts to keep it going and even revitalise it. I have heard Jesus made Lazarus, the dead man, rise but inGorby's case he had no such miraculous powers and as a Communist with no belief in God, perhaps he had no illusions he could bring back the dead to life once again.

But the historic days in late eighties and early nineties are still fresh in my memory because along with Soviet Union, what was crashing down had been our own childhood hopes and illusions. We thought socialism was almost round the corner, that a world where no exploitation, class distinctions would become possible.

And what a socialism they had built up? When Gorby came to power after the death of a number of derelict old men who succeeded Brezhnev, he appears to have been nursing hopes that through his steps like glasnost and perestroika, he could still save the day. That was not to be, and looking back it was good the collapse came then as otherwise, the world would have been subjected to much more deadly and catastrophic experiences with a slow and even violent departure of a system that was dead in in its body and soul. With the collapse of all those countries, we had fewer tyrants left in the world.

So I was saying Gorby's fate was not his own making. It was kind of destiny that he was placed in the general secretary's post at the time of death and collapse. Perhaps we need to write the history of these times with a sense of detachment, with a balanced and historical perspective that time and distance will only provide us.

Yesterday, when I saw our own last of the Communist race in Kerala, comrade V S Achuthanandan, speak about Gorby the traitor I was thinking about this period and its lasting impressions. For us, who were young then, those experiences gave us a new world view, the need to think out of box, to face the uncertainties with no illusions and I think our generation was much less romantic about the empty slogans, frankly.

But those of Achuthanandan's generation seem to still live in the world of magical realism, which was not to be. He spoke yesterday about Gorby the traitor who drained even a country like Soviet Union, which I think is an unfortunate accusation against a man put in a hopeless situation in history.

But Achuthanandan was actually shadow-boxing. He was hitting out at his own comrades, party's state and perhaps national secretaries, who had put him in a difficult spot the other day. I feel sorry for him because it is possible his words could prove to be prophetic. ComradesPrakash Karat and Pinarayi Vijayan could be holding positions in a different communist party in times which remind us of that of Gorbry in 1991.

Budgets as Literary Pieces: Creative Imagination in an Accountant's Profession

2009-02-20T19:58:00.000-08:00

Kerala Finance Minister Dr Thomas Isaac invokes Thakazhi's novel, Kayar, in his new budget speech: news

They call it Mararikkulam rope trick...!

I AM not sure how effective are the budgets presented by Dr Thomas Isaac, our present finance minister, in promoting the economy of Kerala. And for that matter, any budget presented by any finance minister. For me, it appears the economy goes on its own way, the people find their own ways to survive, whether there is a budget or not. Frankly, the less meddling from the government, the better for the people and economy.

But in Dr Issac's case, at least he could lay claim to be a very effective literary agent. In his last budget he put his hands on Vaikom Muhammed Basheer's Pathummayude Aadu, to conclude his speech where he said like Pathumma with scarce resources managing her household, it was his duty to provide whatever little he had for all people who clamoured for his attention.

This time, he started his speech with a reference to the novel, Kayar of Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, which gives us a wonderful picture of the class divisions emerging in Kuttanadu, and how the place changed over a period of time. Kayar has not only history, but it has an economy too, Dr Isaac discovers this time and he effectively uses the images in the novel to describe a crisis hit economy and society trying to come to grips and asserts the need for search for a new approach to move ahead, to make the difficulties into an opportunity for change.

That was a masterful interpretation of a piece of a literature to describe the present day Kerala society. Now who says the budgets are simply a sheet of accounting and calculations with some receipts and a lot of expenditures? I think we should read the budget speeches for their literary merit, as documents of creative imagination, even if we might not find anything worthwhile in them from an accountant's point of view.

A Talk with Sultan Ebrahim Rasool: ANC leader from South Africa

2009-02-17T22:42:00.000-08:00

SULTAN EBRAHIM Rasool is a middle-aged, mild mannered person from South Africa. An influential leader of the African National Congress (ANC), the ruling party in South Africa, he is also an advisor to the president of the Republic of South Africa.

Ebrahim Rasool was in Kozhikode this week, as the chief guest at the public rally at the national political conference of the Popular Front of India on Sunday. On his return to the airport on Monday evening, he spent some time with us at Thejas, chatting with the senior editorial staff on various things related to South Africa and indeed the world.

Enjoying cashew nuts and fresh coconut water that we offered him, he breezily talked about the experiences of national reconciliation in South Africa, where they had a tough time burying the ghosts from the apartheid past. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission did a very important work, giving amnesty to those who confessed their crimes, heinous crimes committed with impunity in the apartheid days.

He said it was a great healing experience, a process of seeking and giving pardon that helped the new nation to come to grips with other more pressing problems that it faced. And in a post-apartheid phase, they did have a tremendous lot of such work to do as it was a country totally and completely divided and segregated into separate and mutually exclusive and even antagonistic areas that were the prerogative of whites, blacks, coloured people, etc, living in water-tight compartments.

"It is not like the caste system in India, where in each village you have people belonging to different castes though there is segregation," he said pointing out that in South Africa things were quite different. In apartheid, each community had been living in separate areas which had no contact with other. They were different nations, which needed to be integrated into a common South African nation. It is a process which would take a long time and it is now slowly moving ahead, he said.

He said in apartheid, even the churches and places of worship were segregated. For blacks and whites belonging to the same faith, there were different churches, except in the case of Muslims. Muslim community defied this racist segregation and remained together opening its mosques to all people, whether they be white, black or people of any other race.

And it was not an easy task. He remembered his experiences in the seventies when he was very young: The Government decided to occupy the areas where they were living, mostly Muslim families. Most of his family shifted out as also others and the bulldozers came o raze down the structures. But then the community gave a call that if the government touched upon their mosques, which are wakf and hence sacred, then the members of the community would march in defend them and seek martyrdom allowing themselves to be buried alive along with their mosques.

“You know the government could not touch even one mosque and now you can see vast areas where houses are destroyed but the mosques still remain there,” he said.

He also said that is why in spite of their small numerical strength, as the Muslims are just three percent of the population, they are a highly respected community in south Africa.

He spoke about the problems his part of the world is facing, especially about the land question and the crisis in Zimbabwe. He said if Zimbabwe fails to reconcile its internal difficulties, it would pose serious difficulties to all its neighbours, especially South Africa. If a civil war erupts, then South African borders would be full of refugees and it would be a humanitarian crisis which would prove to be really Herculean. Already the Zimbabwean economy is in doldrums with its agriculture in a shambles, with nothing by way of industries to support people and inflation rates sky-rocketing.

Hence the South African efforts to bring a rapprochement between the two major power groups led by Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsavangiri in Zimbabwe and he said these efforts did pay off, and they are hopeful the peace would hold.

Laughing Gas

2009-02-17T03:22:00.000-08:00

Defence gets a massive hike in budget allocations in the Indian interim budget: news

War on hunger? No, we have other ideas...!