Japan’s Emperor Akihito is abdicating his throne, the first one to do so in two centuries, in a major culture shift
The Japanese monarchy is the oldest continuing hereditary royal line in the world. Some legends date it back to 600 BC and as the sun rose over Japan today, the 126th Emperor of the Chrysanthemum throne, Naruhito took over from his father Akihito. The 85-year-old emperor decided to abdicate from his throne because after surgery for prostate cancer and a heart bypass, he felt he could not continue in his ceremonial role and made a rare heartfelt address to his nation in 2016 on this issue. The public sympathised with him as did the Japanese government, which passed a law, allowing him to abdicate. Naruhito will be just the third emperor of Japan after the end of World War II, where the Americans sensibly allowed the imperial family to continue so as to display a sense of continuity to the defeated Japanese. Although stripped of their “divinity” — some always said that following the Allied victory, it was American General Douglas MacArthur who was God in Japan — Emperor Hirohito continued in power. It was the stability that the royal family symbolised in Japan that played a role in that nation’s tremendous economic turnaround from the ashes of war. And while the imperial family in Japan is like most other monarchies in democratic nations, a notional one, it is deeply important and holds cultural significance. The Japanese people and media are respectful of their monarch and their families quite unlike in Great Britain.
But there are challenges ahead for the Japanese monarchy as well, not only the fact that people are living longer — Emperor Akihito is eight years younger than Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain, the world’s longest serving and oldest monarch by quite some distance — but it does not allow a female succession. The royals have a male hereditary line, meaning that Naruhito’s daughter Princess Aiko cannot inherit the throne. It will eventually be her cousin Hisahito who will be eligible for the next generation through his father Fumihito. Japan might be a deeply patriarchal society but even there many realise that this is something that needs to change in the modern era. Holding on to traditions is one thing and may be vital for countries to be moored culturally. But those should also adapt gradually to the changed gender dynamics of the time. Considering that Akihito himself redefined the role, renouncing divinities, breaking norms and interacting with the common people, Japan’s lawmakers must consider the possibilities of an empress, going forward.
Writer: Pioneer
Courtesy: The Pioneer
The PM’s boast of having 40 TMC MLAs in BJP’s kitty amounts to an endorsement of horse-trading
Frankly, outrageous statements made by political leaders during the ongoing Lok Sabha election are such a flood that temperance is more an exception than the rule. And though the Election Commission (EC) has its hands full signing off ban orders for speeches, the fact is every party is a wilful defaulter, realising that 72 hours of non-appearance would not be able to dim the inflammatory appeal of their momentary virulence. However, nobody expected Prime Minister Narendra Modi to swing so far out in a campaign speech for his party that he not only crossed the decency limits of the office he holds but was irresponsible, unexpected and unethical. Addressing a rally in Serampore, he challenged Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mamata Banerjee, saying 40 of her MLAs would switch over to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the election results were out. Does this mean he is talking of post-election defections and is endorsing the process of horse-trading as a holder of a Constitutional post? Does this mean that he is hinting at destabilising an elected State Government, hoping that the BJP can pick up a few seats in Bengal while holding on to power at the Centre? Is the threat of breaking the TMC actually a part of psych warfare intended to rattle Didi and push the undecided voter towards his desired outcome? Or is it that the saccharine admission of Didi’s gifts of kurtas and sweets needed to be countered by a bolder political statement? Whatever may be the intention, Modi has ended up challenging public propriety to such an extent that all transgressions by his party speakers, the vitriolic Yogi Adityanath included, seem to have paled in comparison. This is rather unusual for Modi, who has always separated himself from the motormouths in the fringe. Of course, they, too, have been legitimised and mainstreamed to create a polarised discourse for this election. But such desperation isn’t his style. Indeed, if he wants to appear larger than life, the only claimant to a leadership vacuum, then he has to adhere to public morality. He doesn’t need to resort to demagoguery.
Why is Modi so keen on Bengal? Of course, there is the issue of harnessing some extra seats from the eastern States as insurance should there be a BJP slip in the heartland. Bengal has the third largest number of seats in the Lok Sabha at 42, just behind Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, and with the Opposition all but decimated, the BJP is hoping to emerge the alternative. But most importantly Modi becomes vituperative about Mamata because she is the key adversary in this election, both as the architect of the Opposition front or mahagathbandhan, as his polar opposite and as a fearless challenger of his persona. Apart from the Hindutva-secularism discourse, Mamata is the only Opposition leader to have taken on Modi head-to-head, be it on the citizenship Bill, the National Register of Citizens (NRC) or the politicisation and manipulation of the administrative machinery for electoral advantages. And she counters his facts with figures. On NRC, she played up how a revision of rolls ended up affecting “22 lakh Hindu Bengalis,” a constituency of which he claims to be a crusader. And while she has risen in national stature, he hasn’t been able to prop up a CM-face from his State unit.
Of course, defections are not new in Bengal. The BJP itself coopted Mamata’s confidant Mukul Roy when he fell out of grace over alleged scams. Roy at one time hived off Left and Congress MLAs to the TMC camp. In fact, ever since the Left regime, there never has been a healthy two-party system in Bengal. Mamata may have defeated the Left after years of chipping it away but once in governance, she didn’t let go of the inherited monolithic aura. Now, the BJP is trying to come up as the TMC’s main challenger and staking claim to that space. There’s nothing wrong with political ambition but for that, it would be more appropriate for Modi’s BJP to wait it out and take on Didi in the Assembly elections of 2021 fair and square rather than settling for half-measures. Bengal has always loved the David versus Goliath story but it would not surely love a flawed David.
Writer & Courtesy: The Pioneer
While people are divided about the developmental works carried out by the Prime Minister in Varanasi, they are sure he has no challenger in this constituency. The only question is about the margin of victory
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has represented Varanasi for the past five years. Has the constituency changed for the better? Has it become cleaner? Has it transformed into another Kyoto as promised by him? Are the weavers better off? Is the air less polluted? Is the Ganga cleaner? Is the infrastructure better? The jury will be out on May 23, when results to the general elections will be declared. Modi filed his nomination on April 26 from Varanasi, seeking a second term. He has stuck to the seat of our civilisational consciousness yet again and the frenzy of supporters was on full play during the mega road show on April 25.
A visit to Varanasi will reveal that Modi has done a lot but it is “work-in-progress” still, as Professor AK Srivastava of the Banaras Hindu University claimed. I found that Varanasi stands divided between those who support Modi’s ambitious developmental push and those who oppose it. In 2014, he had promised a metro, a monorail, six-lane highways, flyovers, satellite towns, 24-hour electricity and water, a clean Ganga, luxury cruises on the holy river, solid waste management plans and other developmental works.
Modi’s supporters point out that he has not only focussed on improving roads but has also improved the overall infrastructure in and around the city. The Multi-Modal Terminal and the Trade Facilitation Centre & Crafts Museum and heritage lights installed across Varanasi are some examples. On paper, Modi has brought about projects worth Rs 30,000 crore in five years.
The first thing that grabbed our attention after landing at the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport was the four-lane road to the city with three flyovers. One of the cab drivers, Kamalesh, pointed out that it now takes 45 minutes to reach the city as compared to three hours earlier. A clear view of the Ganga, wider roads, flyovers and bridges welcome you on entering Varanasi. But there were no signs of posters.
According to Anand Chaube, a staunch Modi supporter, improvements include gas pipeline, the Ring Road, bridges over the Ganga and the Varuna. But Modi’s critics pointed out that roads had been dug up for laying underground cables. The city was dotted with filth, bumpy roads, potholes and crumbling bridges as a result. Congress candidate Ajay Rai noted that sanitation had improved but poor drainage system was still a problem. Rai was critical of a dedicated Viswanath corridor to the temple. The project involves a 50 feet wide pathway after demolishing around 250 structures, some built in the 17th century. The Rs 600 crore project will create 45,000 square metres of prime space.
During a recent visit, this writer found that some of the residents from whom the houses were bought were not happy. Some religious leaders, too, opposed the project, saying the project was trampling “Kashi’s soul.” Mufti Maulana Abdul Batin Nomani was concerned about the security of the masjid adjacent to the temple. RSS leader Ramesh and VHP leader Divakar claimed that pilgrims were now able to move about freely. Incidentally, a visit to the temple proved that the pilgrims welcomed this corridor.
The boatmen, who row the guests around the 90 ghats, are Modi bhakts. Showing the installation of lights on the riverfront, our boatman, Mahesh Saini, was proud of the improvements. “Modiji ne bahut kaam kiya” he said. There is a visible difference in Assi, Dashashwamedh and other ghats. The Alaknanda, the 60-seater luxury vessel floated by Nordic Cruise Line, offers breathtaking rides on the Ganga.
But Samajwadi Party candidate Shalini Yadav noted that not far away from the Assi ghat, most of Varanasi’s waste spills into the Ganga. More than three-fourth of the total sewage generated in the city is dumped in the Ganga through Assi and other drains. Varanasi is also faced with a severe pollution problem. Vishwambhar Nath Mishra, the mahant of Sankatmochan temple, was the most vocal voice on the lack of a sewage system and Ganga cleaning. Modi had announced a Rs 21, 000 crore plan to clean up the river with Rs 600 crore allotted for Varanasi.
Haji Habibullah, a Muslim weaver, pointed out that the famous Banarasi silk industry is almost on the verge of a collapse because of mass production of garments and Chinese competition. There are about six lakh weavers in the city, most of them Muslims, and many have abandoned their profession because it was no longer profitable. Modi’s Mudra loan schemes have helped them but the number of beneficiaries is falling. Besides, they face the difficulty of filling forms for GST as most weavers are illiterate.
Modi has no challenger in Varanasi. So the BJP and RSS workers are complacent. Ajay Rai and Shalini Yadav are weak candidates. Had Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi contested, there would have been some excitement. The only debate now is the margin of victory. Modi had won with over 580,000 votes in 2014. He told his supporters after filing the nomination: “Mother Ganga will take care of me.”
(The writer is a senior political commentator and syndicated columnist)
Writer: Kalyani Shankar
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Notwithstanding its strategic and geographical significance, this region has not received the attention it deserves. Ladakhis have genuine demands. And the Government must act, now
The trans-Himalayan region of Ladakh with Zanskar ranges in the south and Karakoram ranges in the north, bordering both Pakistan and China, is strategically important and vital for India’s national security. At the time of Partition, it formed a part of the princely State of Jammu & Kashmir, which acceded to India in October 1947 after the State was attacked by Pakistan-supported tribal raiders. Large parts of the region, including the strategic Gilgit, which during the Maharaja’s rule formed the Frontier district and Frontier ilaqas, remain under illegal occupation of Pakistan. Islamabad has divorced these areas from Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir and refers to them as Gilgit-Baltistan (former Northern Areas), which are administered directly by the federal Government over there. A portion of the area, including the Aksai Chin, has been illegally ceded by Pakistan to China. The famous China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), Beijing’s most important strategic initiative in this region, also runs through areas under illegal occupation of Pakistan. It is a land-locked area comprising the trans-Himalayan ranges, mainly the ranges of Zanskar, Ladakh, Pangong and Karakoram.
Siachen Glacier, the world’s highest battlefield with Saltoro Ridge as the vital ground, is a part of this region. This further enhances the strategic importance of the area; the occupation of Siachen has provided the Indian Army a strategic advantage. The Saltoro Ridge, an extension of the Karakoram Range, which dominates the glaciated region, is in complete command of the Army. Despite many desperate attempts, the Pakistan Army has not been able to secure even a toe-hold on the Ridge. Its occupation enables the Indian Army dominate the ambitious CPEC, whose strategic and military exploitation by China and Pakistan is a cause of concern for the nation. It also prevents the possibility of a pincer move by combined forces of Pakistan and China to cut off the Nubra Valley and subsequent capture of Ladakh. The strategic significance of Kargil area is well-known.
Ladakh is are a very proud race, who take pride in being nationalists. They consider themselves to be the guardians of India’s northern frontiers. They have been resisting Kashmiri hegemony from the time the administration of the State was transferred from the Maharaja to Sheikh Abdullah in 1949. In the first reorganisation of the State, Ladakh was made a district of the Kashmir Division, ignoring its ethnic, linguistic and cultural differences. Ladakhis felt that they had been made an appendage of Kashmir, which gradually proved true. Sheikh Abdullah’s first Cabinet did not have any representative from Ladakh. The Sheikh abhorred the Opposition and, hence, the National Conference was the sole political party comprising mainly of Kashmiri Muslims. Ladakh had only two seats in the State Assembly. Thus, “majority rule” virtually became “Kashmiri Rule.” Land reforms initiated by the Sheikh did not exclude the Gompas and drew strong opposition from Buddhist monks, who enjoyed a considerable clout. It was at the intervention of Prime Minister Nehru that the Gompas were exempted from the provisions of the Land Reforms Act.
The situation became grave when Urdu was made a compulsory language for the Ladakhis. The grant-in-aid given by Dogra rulers to three primary schools run by Shias, Buddhists and Sunnis was unilaterally withdrawn. No allocation was made for Ladakh in the annual Budget. In fact, separate allocation for the region began only in 1961. Biased and discriminatory policies of Kashmiri leaders pushed the Ladakhis to the wall and they started demanding separation from Kashmir to ensure development of their backward areas and preserve their religion and cultural identity.
One of the main reasons of the under development of the area was the flawed policy of the Nehru Government, which continued to treat the border regions as frontier areas. The Government of the day failed to recognise the difference between the two. While frontier regions were supposed to be dynamic, temporary and a buffer zone subject to give and take; border regions, defined by a boundary line, are fixed, sacrosanct and static. While the latter looks inwards, the former looked outwards. Since India had no expansionist designs, it should have concentrated on developing its border regions rather than keeping them under-developed under the false pretext of denying readymade road axis to a potential aggressor. Thus, neither the Union Government nor the State Government paid much heed to the development of infrastructure in this remote trans-Himalayan region, leading to anger and alienation among the people.
Growing alienation initially led to the demand of a Central administrator followed by the call for internal autonomy, regional autonomy and direct Central administration, as was done for a year after 1962 and finally veered around the demand for a separate divisional status for the region. The onset of secessionist activities in the Kashmir Valley once again rang alarm bells for the Ladakhis and a demand for a Union Territory gained popularity since the late 1980s under the banner of the Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA). An agreement was reached in October 1989 for the formation of an Autonomous Hill Council on the pattern of the Darjeeling Hill Council. The Kashmir-centric State Government was not in favour of the same. After much dilly-dallying, the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Act was enacted by the Union Government in May 1995, granting an Autonomous Hill Council each for Leh and Kargil.
Despite the formation of the Hill Councils, empowerment remained a bone of contention between the Ladakhis and subsequent Kashmir-centric State Governments. Suspicious of the intent of Kashmiri leaders, LBA once again raised the demand of a separate Union Territory. Coupled with this is the growing resentment in Zanskar against the step-motherly treatment to Kargil district administration and gerrymandering of the Assembly constituency of Zanskar.
It goes to the credit of the Modi Government that the long-pending demand of empowering the autonomous hill councils was conceded when the Governor’s administration approved the Ladakh Hill Development Council (Amendment) Bill, 2018, making the councils much stronger administratively as well as financially. It was followed by the establishment of a cluster university to give impetus to better education. Finally, in February this year, the Government also conceded the demand for a separate division for Ladakh, making it a separate administrative region like the Kashmir and Jammu regions.
As has been said earlier, the region is very important for national security due to its strategic location. Therefore, it is essential that the people inhabiting the border areas are kept happy and satisfied by the Government so that they play their role well as the guardians of the nation’s borders. Ladakhis have a few genuine demands which need attention and cannot be ignored as disgruntlement among locals can endanger national security as well. Population in the border areas forms an important centre of gravity, which always remains in an adversary’s radar, who would always prefer dissension and trouble in these areas. Such dissension can be exploited by the adversary to threaten vulnerable lines of communication in case of conflict. The people of Kargil contributed and supported immensely in evicting the Pakistan Army, leading to the Kargil victory as acknowledged by the Indian Army.
Apart from holistic development of the entire region with particular preference to border areas, there’s a need to improve connectivity through building a direct rail link, road network, including the much-delayed Darcha-Padum-Neemo-Leh road and an airfield at Kargil. A strategic road linking Jammu region with Leh via Kishtwar is also needed. Widening and macadamisation of Kargil-Zanskar road and the opening of the Panikhar-Pahalgam road should also be completed on priority. The Zozila tunnel is a strategic necessity.
The establishment of professional colleges and higher education institutions, including a separate cluster university for Kargil, should be a priority. Inclusion of Bhoti language in the Eighth Schedule is a long pending demand. Both Kargil and Leh should be developed as centres of excellence for religious research and education. The discrimination in recruitment of Ladakhis in the civil secretariat and Government offices also needs to be looked into. The attempt to disturb the demographic balance in Leh needs to be aborted. Instead, emphasis must be laid on developing communal harmony. The Kashmir-centric leadership in the past has depended on the formula of divide and rule by pitting Kargil against Leh. The hardship faced by the people of the region, especially during harsh winter months, needs to be understood and addressed. The tendency of successive Kashmir-centric Governments to treat the people as second class citizens needs to end.
Ladakh was opened to tourists in 1974. Initially, tourism was limited to mountaineering and trekking. Gradually, with the Valley being disturbed, Ladakh has grown into a major tourist attraction centre. While modernisation of tourism industry, including the development of tourist infrastructure, is required for the improvement of the local economy, the aspect of environmental degradation also needs to be kept in mind. The region has tremendous hydro-electric potential which needs to be exploited.
(The writer is a Jammu-based political commentator, columnist and strategic analyst. The views expressed here are personal)
Writer: Anil Gupta
Courtesy: The Pioneer
With Pakistan being the sole loyalist of Belt and Road in the sub-continent, President Xi Jinping engages in hyperbole
Before we go red with rage at China promising to be “iron friends” with Pakistan despite talks of building a separate bubble for India through more Wuhans, we must realise that China will always look out for itself. That it will always have a forked tongue. That we have a huge trade deficit and Chinese technology has a hold over our economy. So it comes as no surprise that when Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan met Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday for bilateral talks, the latter said Beijing considers Islamabad a priority in its diplomacy. Jinping even classified Pakistan as his “all-weather strategic cooperative partner,” one he was looking to deepen ties with. This came in the backdrop of a meeting of his pet Belt and Road Initiative, something that is stuttering across South and Southeast Asia because of the inherent debt traps built into the programme, in effect converting smaller states into China’s economic colonies. Pakistan is the only nation which has reported progress on that front with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and though it has issues with servicing the debt, these are minor creases, isolated as it is by the world for exporting terror. China, too, has no option but to stick to Pakistan, as it is diplomatically “friendless” for turning a blind eye to the terrorism the latter breeds, particularly after the Pulwama attacks and India winning the world’s support on it. Besides, it can no longer be sure of North Korea. So they can’t come unstuck so soon. All Jinping could do about sensitivities and anxieties in India was to ask both sub-continental neighbours to meet each other halfway without committing to any move on designating Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. In its strategic quest, the Jinping era believes in direct, one-to-one dealings with each country and will not deal on a comparative scale and prize one over the other.
Back channellists, of course, continue to argue that privately, China did try to work out consultations with the US-led initiative on the language designating Azhar to a version more acceptable to itself. China was seemingly more willing this time around to work out a compromise within the UN 1267 sanctions committee. This despite its quid pro quo with Pakistan which means that it doesn’t look at Azhar to insure itself from IS spreading to its Muslim-majority provinces and attacks on the CPEC. However, when the US chose to pressure it with a new UN Security Council resolution on Azhar, it felt cornered. Besides, China’s own human rights record is under threat, given its severe crackdown on minorities in Uighur and Xinjiang provinces and confining them to detention centres. China has, of course, denied the accounts, saying it was running educational training centres as part of a fight against Islamic extremism. It is counting on Pakistan as the buffer against IS.
Getting Chinese support to designate Azhar as a global terrorist at the UN, in any format, would be no mean achievement and particularly be a salve for an outraged India, which has been at the worst receiving end of the Jaish attacks. But how then can India and the US succeed on this count? Of course, there’s the Financial Action Task Force, which monitors terror funding and which put Pakistan on the grey list with China’s knowledge. This means there is an incisive scrutiny of its financial system. Pakistan has been given a list of 27 actions to be completed by October 2019, if it wants to avoid the blacklist. But it hasn’t even shown any intention of doing so and is risking a ban on grants from the World Bank and IMF. By October, China will become the next president of the FATF as a result of a deal with India and the US, where China placed Pakistan in the grey list in return for endorsement by both US and India. Can these two countries now extract a return privilege? Perhaps that explains Jinping’s grand statements to please Pakistan momentarily. But China must realise that if it refrains from acting on Pakistan’s terror factory, India’s leadership would have a tough time justifying Wuhan to its people.
Writer & Courtesy: The Pioneer
Priyanka was inducted into the party to revitalise the moribund organisation. But she frittered away her advantages with juvenile antics about challenging the Prime Minister in Varanasi
In the rough and tumble of the country’s longest election season, politicians often make statements for mileage. Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s exaggerated claims of benefits accruing to industrialist Anil Ambani from the Rafale deal, his inability to stick to one figure for the corporate loans allegedly written off by the Narendra Modi Government and his immature attempt to attribute his opinions about the Prime Minister to the Supreme Court (which was not amused) can be taken as par for the course.
Gandhi is fighting for survival against a very astute politician. Sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was inducted into the Congress and given charge of half of the critical State of Uttar Pradesh to revitalise the moribund organisation and bring voters back to the grand old party. Projected by an adoring media as a charismatic trump card and serious game-changer, she frittered away her advantages with juvenile antics about challenging the Prime Minister in Varanasi and then disappeared like the proverbial horns of a donkey.
Vadra’s sense of entitlement can be gauged from the fact that till the time of writing, she has felt no need to explain her conduct, either to the media that she used to create a false buzz around herself or to the party, whose workers looked up to her with so much expectation. Her contribution to the Congress’ tally will match this attitude.
Diehard Congress fans see her flight from Varanasi as extremely damaging. Far from energising the party, she has inadvertently exposed deep fissures within. Thus, confidants of Rahul Gandhi explained the decision on one ground; the faction aligned with her explained it on another. This is a grave political error. During his long apprenticeship under Sonia Gandhi, Rahul never once presumed to overtake or overshadow his mother and kept his nascent camp under tight control. Similarly, Sonia Gandhi has been careful never to take the limelight away from Rahul after he became party president. By unilaterally proposing herself for Varanasi on multiple occasions, Priyanka breached this red line. Her retreat could be imposition of party discipline.
Anyway, Priyanka could regard Smriti Irani with scorn in 2014, but in 2019, Irani forced Rahul to seek a safety net in Kerala. So, did Priyanka really believe (even if she dared to contest and give details of her and husband Robert Vadra’s assets in a sworn affidavit, along with five years of income tax returns) that she was strong enough to face Modi? Informed sources say she is also shy of revealing her educational qualifications.
One wonders why Priyanka did not focus on helping the party to win Amethi. If the famously secretive family has privately conceded Amethi to Irani and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), how did she imagine that tossing a half-baked dare at the Prime Minister was going to yield electoral dividends? Now the reverse has happened, to the dismay of the loyal glitterati.
The crux of the matter is that Varanasi is not merely a constituency. It is the beating heart of Hindu civilisation and Narendra Modi chose it consciously for this reason in 2014. His obeisance to Pt Madan Mohan Malaviya, who built the university to cater to every aspect of knowledge from traditional to modern, was part of a subtle quest to align the BJP with the soul of India. By seeking refuge in a constituency dominated by the Indian Union Muslim League, Rahul Gandhi unintentionally made the Congress-BJP contest a civilisational battle. The temple-hopping sacred thread-wearing (jeneu-dhari) Kashyap gotra (clan) Brahmin persona evaporated in an instant. This truth will not escape the Indian voter.
Modi alluded to the civilisational aspect when he said that the Congress president had sought safety in a minority-dominated seat. This Nehruvian legacy — of making the Muslim community a core vote bank and winning elections by adding some caste votes — is now under serious challenge. This is what the BJP sought when it espoused the Ram Janmabhumi movement and spoke of “justice for all, appeasement of none.”
Perhaps the vision needed more time or a new leader with an aspirational message linking the past with the future. This also sums up Modi’s developmental work in Varanasi — grand roads, new institutions, cleaning the Ganga and the ghats and recovering hidden temples on the path from Kashi Vishwanath temple to the river. Modi alone has had the courage to venture into the spiritual heartland without the benefit of family, caste or regional roots. Kashi welcomes such wanderers. The Gandhi family lacks roots on this civilisational firmament. Priyanka blundered to think she could meet Modi on this terrain. When apprised of the reality, she should have retreated gracefully. Instead, she fed the frenzy. Later, the Congress announced the candidature of Ajay Rai the very day Modi filed his nomination and left the poor scapegoat to field the questions.
The media and intellectuals, who lionised Priyanka and invented the mystique of her political acumen, must feel disenchanted. Some of the eulogies accompanying her entry into the Congress on January 23 are telling. One headline gushed, “Priyanka Gandhi is already a social media star despite not having Twitter or FB account”. Her entry was described as a “bombshell.” A prominent intellectual tried to evoke a supernatural link between Swami Vivekananda and the lady, for sharing the same birthday and posed the question: “Will Priyanka be the X-factor that tilts the scales in favour of the Congress this crucial election year?” Well, the answer is blowing in the wind.
A highly respected columnist made a hugely embarrassing prognosis, “The message is loud and clear. East Uttar Pradesh means Varanasi and Varanasi equals Narendra Modi. Giving Priyanka charge of Eastern Uttar Pradesh is tantamount to taking on the opponent on his turf.… Given her charisma, ability to think on her feet and come up with instant ripostes, and her resemblance to Indira Gandhi, the battle could become a Modi versus Priyanka fight in 2019, without her being declared as the prime ministerial candidate of the Congress or of the Opposition.” It has taken just three months to shatter that illusion. This brings us to the real mystery of 2019. Was Sonia Gandhi trying to avert sibling rivalry from spilling into the open when she decided to contest from Rae Bareli? Can a post-election split in the Congress be avoided or is it inevitable?
(The writer is Senior Fellow, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library; the views expressed are personal)
Writer: Sandhya Jain
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Economic pressure must be exerted to stop the slaughter of seals in Canada, which is supported by the powers that be. As I write, what the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) describes as “the largest slaughter of marine mammals on the planet”, continues in Canada. It occurs in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and off the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador, and usually in spring, the breeding season for seals when pups are born and are nursed by their mothers.
The scale of the carnage can well be imagined from the fact that, as pointed out by the HSUS, “More than one million seals have been slaughtered in the past five years alone.” The actual number is likely to be higher as many of the seals, wounded after being shot from moving boats, are left to die slowly and painfully. This happens principally because the main seal-skin processing firm in Canada deducts $2 for every bullet hole found. Hence, seal-killers are reluctant to shoot more than once, leaving the wounded in agony.
The main victims are Harp seals though hooded seals are also targeted. The HSUS further points out that 97 per cent of the Harp seals are pups below three months of age. This is because their fur is softer and more in demand. As can be imagined, the mass murder is primarily for fur, which is used for coats and other fashion garments. Seal oil and body parts are also sold in Asia, the latter as aphrodisiac.
The mass slaughter is perpetrated in the cruellest manner possible. Besides guns, the weapons used are wooden clubs, hakapiks (large clubs looking like ice axes), and harpoons. In an article in the Observer dated April 18, 2017, Michael Sainato quotes Rebecca Aldworth, executive director of Humane Society International/Canada, as saying, “For 18 years, I’ve observed the Atlantic Canadian seal slaughter at close range and witnessed a level of suffering most adult people can’t bear to watch on video. Almost all of the seals killed are pups just a few weeks old, and they are treated brutally,” She adds, “Baby seals are routinely shot and wounded and left crawling through their own blood over the ice, crying out in agony. Many conscious, wounded baby seals are impaled on metal hooks and dragged onto the bloody decks of the boats where they are clubbed to death. Wounded seal pups also escape into water where they die slowly and painfully.”
It is not that the Canadian Government is unaware of the stomach-turning savagery involved in the mass killing. Organisations like the HSUS, Humane Society International, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, In Defense of Animals and many others devoted to animal protection, rights and care have been for years strongly protesting against the utterly savage exercise. Public opinion the world over is increasingly assertive against it. Jane Dalton wrote in The Independent of Britain dated March 27, 2019, that in 2009, the demand for seal fur plummeted after the European Union banned imports, following uproar over clubbing. According to Jani Actman in an article published in the National Geographic on April 5, 2017, campaigns against the killings have led to more than 35 countries, including Russia and the European Union, to ban seal imports while allowing imports of products from Canadian Inuit, the country’s original population, who have their separate hunt, different from the massacres for commerce.
All this and the protests have hurt the seal products industry. In his piece, Actman cites Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans as stating that sales had declined from $34 million in 2006 to only $1.6 million in 2016 (his articles, published in 2017, speaks of “last year”). Canada’s Government, however, continues to support the annual massacre, as does Norway’s, which provides significant financial support to a company which buys up close to 80 per cent of the seal skins produced, tans and re-exports them. Both Governments challenged the European Union’s ban but the WTO upheld it in 2013 on the ground that it was in keeping with canons of public morality.
Notwithstanding the uproar, the Canadian Government not only sanctions the massacre every year but subsidies it. The HSUS cites reports from the Canadian Institute for Business and the Environment, as stating that more than $20 million in subsidies were provided to the sealing industry between 1995 and 2001. These were for a variety of purposes, including the funding of salaries for seal processing plant workers, market research and development trips and capital acquisitions for processing plants. In 2004, the Canadian Government provided more than $400,000 to companies for the development of seal products. Not only that, as Jani Actman points out in his piece published in the National Geographic on April 5, 2017, that “Documents released under freedom of access laws in Canada revealed that the Canadian Government was spending five times the amount of money — $2.5 million — to monitor seal hunts than the income generated by the hunts themselves — $500,000.”
Two arguments are generally advanced to defend the massacres. The first is that the seals consume so much cod that there is a decline in their numbers, which is inimical to Canada’s fishing industry. This is patently untrue. Cods account only for a very small part of seals’ diet. Harp seals, the HSUS points out, consume only three per cent of cod fished commercially. Not just that, Harp seals eat up many predators of cod like squids. If stocks of the cod have fallen, the cause is overfishing.
The other argument is that the slaughter represents a “cultural tradition” and generates economic activity. Both hold little water. As to the first, a cultural activity that involves massacres, it hardly deserves to be nursed. As to the second, as the HSUS points out, an average fisherman on Canada’s east coast, who hunts seals as an off-season activity, derives only one-twentieth of his income from it. The rest comes from commercial fishing. Even in Newfoundland, where most sealers live, income from the hunt accounts for less than one per cent of the province’s economy and less than two per cent of the landed value of the fishery.
The harsh fact is that the annual slaughter continues because those in power in Canada support it. It can only end if sufficient external pressure is applied. Animal lovers the world over must urge their Governments to join the process and hold all economic and cultural ties with Canada in abeyance till the horrible slaughter ends.
(The writer is Consultant Editor, The Pioneer, and an author)
Writer: Hiranmay Karlekar
Courtesy: The Pioneer
The fresh new flavours that Chef Massimiliano Sperli has curated for Sorrento transport Saimi Sattar to balmy Italy. I was excited, almost giddy-headed, for this was the closest that I got to my Masterchef moment for even though I am an avid follower of the Australian version. I have never met Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris even though they have visited India several times, for one reason or another. No, I had not created a dish which could put a Cordon Bleu chef to shame, rather I along with a group of 10 others was guessing the ingredients of a dish. Blindfolded. I was at Sorrento at Shangri-La’s Eros Hotel where Chef Massimiliano Sperli was cooking for us.
The servers placed the dish in a spoon and helpfully guided our hands towards it since a beautiful turquoise silk scarf was tied over my eyes. I put the portion in my mouth and the flavours started to reveal themselves and starting making a mental note — tomato, egg, flour, cheese, Italian seasoning (oregano, parsley, basil and rosemary) and then — I was flummoxed.
The blindfold was removed, white paper sheets placed before us and I dutifully noted all of these down. But I can see the others are still at it and their lists are much longer. Reminiscent of an exam day, our sheets are collected and after a few moments the Chef Neeraj Tyagi comes back to tell us that the Ravioli Caprese that we were served had pasta dough, egg, farina flour, semolina and was stuffed with lemon zest, ricotta cheese, salt, pepper and tomato sauce. So, yes, I did have some of them right. But while all I could say was cheese, my companion zeroed down on the variety and that too correctly. A round of applause immediately went around for her for guessing it. But surprisingly, she wasn’t the one to name the maximum ingredients. That honour went to another one.
With the novelty factor over, we settled down for an authentic Italian meal and Chef Massimiliano did not disappoint. For antipasti, I decided to opt for the vegetarian option as a fresh green salad felt just right given the spiralling mercury. I had Gli orti sopra il golfo di Sorrento which translates as the gardens above the gulf of Sorrento. It consisted grilled and roasted vegetables tossed with cold pressed extra virgin olive oil and lemon, baby gem, rocket, sorrel, Taggiasche black olive, orange segments, almonds flakes, homemade dried tomato foam which was flavoured with a fennel reduction. While the vegetables were crunchy, it was the fennel reduction which added an element freshness and elevated the salad to make it just the thing for a summer day.
For the pasta, I chose I gioielli sotto il terreno or the jewels under the field which was homemade tortellini filled with potato, ricotta cheese and rosemary. It also had sautéd beetroot, steamed baby carrot, summer black truffle and celeriac sauce.
Coming to the dessert section and my penchant for tilting towards the sweet things in life, I shared two and loved them both. The Se non c’e la vuoi!!! or If there is not, you want!!! which was passion fruit Pannacotta served with white chocolate and cardamom sauce, Cantucci cookies crumble and cold press extra virgin olive oil ice cream. The flavour was citrusy and the cookie crumble gave it a bit of a crunch which presented a great contrast to the the smooth pannacotta.
However, it was the Una dolce serenata d’amore or a sweet serenade of love which had “Semifreddo” (semi-frozen) Gianduia chocolate, orange and pistachio ganache heart, coconut praline, star anise tuiles and pure mango emulsion that certainly took my heart and blew away my gastronomical senses. It was the slightly toasted pistachios which not only added a bite to the chocolate but also gave it the heavenly nutty flavour that made it so flavoursome. A more than perfect end to a really memorable meal.
Writer: Saimi Sattar
Courtesy: The Pioneer
Maruti withdrew from diesel car sales following Volkswagen’s emissions scandal. A few years ago, automotive writers were talking of the emergence of ‘clean diesel.’ With technologies such as high-pressure injection, diesel engines had after all moved from being seen as the dirty, smoke-belching fuel that we remembered two decades ago to being a clean, and heaven forbid, an environmentally-friendly option. As technologies made diesel engines more efficient, in many cases offering half as much fuel economy, some considered them a carbon-friendly alternative to petrol. Given similar engine sizes and cars, diesel models burnt much less carbon thanks to their efficiency. At the same time, these machines were not the old plodding engines of the past. Modern turbochargers and stored energy systems made diesel engines powerful as well and, thus, fun to drive. In countries like India, where diesel’s reputation as the fuel that transporters used and its subsidisation for what were believed to be lower-income buyers, made it even more popular, despite similar diesel-powered cars costing a lakh of rupees more on average than petrol. The extra efficiency coupled with the lower cost of fuel meant that an average user driving a thousand kilometres a month would make his or her money back in three years and earn a pretty profit after the lifetime of the car. As a result almost half the cars sold in 2012 in India were diesels.
But all of that was a lie. Volkswagen, the largest car-making conglomerate in the world, was caught cheating in emission tests when the cars being probed went into a ‘test’ mode giving better results. Far too good it emerged. Not only were diesel cars burning more fuel, they were emitting a dangerous cocktail of greenhouse gases such as nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. As a result of this, and Delhi’s deadly winter air, the Supreme Court first banned the sale of all high-capacity diesel cars and followed that up with a directive that diesel cars can only be registered in Delhi for 10 years. This had an immediate impact on diesel car sales in the biggest car-buying region of India. In 2018, these models accounted for under a quarter of sales and that number continued to fall, so much so that even luxury manufacturers, 90 percent of whose sales used to be diesel, started to launch a rash of petrol models even on large SUVs. The new Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) emissions norms moved up rapidly from BS-IV as a result of the emission crisis, and would additionally make small diesels much more expensive as well. Maruti’s announcement that it will stop selling all diesel models by April 1, 2020, is a direct consequence of these events. While a quarter of Maruti’s sales are still diesel, the company sees the future as being reminiscent of the past where it becomes the choice of fuel for trucks and trains. That said, this is a bold step by the country’s largest carmaker, and while shareholders might be angry, it shows that Maruti, like Porsche, has seen the future. And the future has no diesel.
Writer & Courtesy: The Pioneer
It’s time to identify the right sources as attacks on faith shrines are increasing in South Asia, with the Sri Lanka episode being the largest in the history of South Asia. The terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka are a reminder of how militant groups are now sparking up new hotspots where they had no influence before. And they are doing them on a visually soul less scale, like attacking faith shrines, to attract global shock and awe besides working up least expected touch points in the Philippines, Indonesia, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. That also explains why the Islamic State (IS) chose the relatively calmer Sri Lanka to imprint its signature despite having an operative base in neighbouring Maldives. Besides, most of South and Southeast Asia are multi-cultural and eclectic societies, which may not host the idea of a monolithic socio-religious identity but where divisions can be fomented by playing on latent communal fears and insecurities. The mosque attacks in Christchurch or the church blasts in Sri Lanka are the manifestations of a global trend of an increasing pattern of hitting at faith shrines in South Asia, a sort of theatre for the new-age crusades, according to the University of Maryland’s Global Terrorism Database. The study shows that the region alone accounts for about 24 per cent of all terror strikes on places of worship worldwide between 2000 and 2017. Of the total 1,909 terror attacks on religious institutions globally, 458 incidents have been recorded in the South Asian region, which comprises Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. After Pakistan and Afghanistan, India is reportedly the third-most affected country in the region with 63 terror attacks on religious shrines.
Clearly the IS, which is increasingly under fire in its old strongholds and almost floundering in both Iraq and Syria, has some funding and the digital infrastructural network to rebuild its relevance. So it is spreading to virgin areas, setting off new counter-polarities easily and keeping its need for a global jihad alive. As usual, operatives are using online propaganda to radicalise disaffected youth in Europe, recruiting from waning organisations like the Taliban in Afghanistan and Boko Haram in Nigeria and looking for places that have a security vacuum. Sri Lanka fits the bill perfectly on this count because post the decimation of the Tamil militants, the island nation has by and large been peaceful, developed itself as a booming tourist economy and risen on the world map of top beach hotspots. The casualties would be high in such a porous set-up. The surprise element was such that till two days after the blasts happened, nobody had talked about simmering tensions between Sinhala Buddhists and Muslims, which were inherent but never explosive enough. You could say they were contained flash points that militant organisations are now linking to stage a new global conflict. If we look at Southeast Asia, then Thailand and the Philippines have had long-standing conflicts along territorial and religious lines. In Indonesia, the Aceh province and Papua island have been in conflict with Jakarta while Bali continues to hold off fundamentalism. Myanmar is riven by issues of ethnicity, territory and religion as the purging of Rohingya Muslims, which sparked an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and further deepened divisions, has shown. Sadly, these attacks have also set up polarised contexts that have further fuelled hate speech and increasingly led to an assertion of identity through new faith shrines. As hate speeches encourage the intolerance of otherness, becoming the new normal, and the attendant fake news factory rapidly unleashes a communication war, the terrorists get a swell of divided sentiments to play upon. As for the States, they are left with little option but to crack down, somewhat at the cost of existing religious freedoms. But curbing terror is just one facet, there is a new face of terror emerging in 2019, one that is not confined to the Middle East but to the former Soviet republics. In 2017, at least 8,500 fighters from former Soviet republics had flocked to Syria and Iraq to join the IS and are now being deployed, given their ease with some European languages, to newer areas. In short, the only way to kill rapidly mutating terror is to be prepared for the unexpected. Till governments form an alliance to think two steps ahead, terror will continue to be the worst scourge of human history.
Writer & Courtesy: The Pioneer
The Congress and the CPI(M) seem to alternate power in the State to keep a third entity out. Every election in Kerala, whether it is to the Lok Sabha or the State Legislature, brings to mind the famous play Ezhu Rathrikal (Seven Nights), directed by Kaladi Gopi in 1963. Ezhu Raathrikal must have been the first play in Malayalam that was based on the lives of the marginalised and oppressed sections of society. The play is set in a street-side bus shelter that is home to a group of beggars, roadside vendors and anti-social elements. The central character of the play is Pazhanam Varkey, a professional beggar. “Pazhanam” is the Malayalam word for “poison.” One, therefore, need not elaborate about his character.
Varkey’s style of begging is unique and that’s the reason behind the success of the character. Even 50 years after its first show, the play and Varkey remain engraved in the minds of theatre buffs in the State. Varkey wears a scapular that has two pendants. One is a crucifix and the other is that of Lord Krishna. When Varkey goes to Christian houses, he wears the scapular in such a way that the crucifix is visible to the people. Whenever he goes to the house of Hindus, he displays the locket with Lord Krishna.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) is the new Varkey of Kerala because of the twin roles played by it in and outside the State. While in Kerala, the CPI (M) considers the Congress to be its main enemy, outside the State, it mingles freely with the latter. The CPI(M) is, perhaps, the best defender of the Congress, especially the Nehru-Gandhi clan, when reports of scams featuring the family members surface in the public domain.
But why is that both parties pretend as if they are at loggerheads and that, too, for the consumption of the public? Since the formation of Kerala in 1956, by merging the old princely States of Travancore, Kochi and parts of the Madras province, the political centrestage has been monopolised by two fronts led by the Congress and the communists. Supporting characters differ, depending on the political wind blowing across the State. But the two fronts, known in modern parlance by the names of the United Democratic Front (UDF), led by the Congress and the Left Democratic Front (LDF), led by the CPI(M), are the central characters.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or its previous avatar, the Jan Sangh, were never a force to reckon with in this State that has a split religious demography. The State consists of nearly 51 per cent Hindus, 26 per cent Muslims and 23 per cent Christians. Without active support from the minority communities, no front can win any election in Kerala.
Interestingly, the CPI(M)’s vote bank is the powerful Ezhava community, the society which gave birth to Sree Narayana Guru, the most revolutionary social reformer of the 20th Century. It was his teachings and uncompromising stance that led to the eradication of social evils like untouchability and marginalisation of the oppressed classes in the State. He could inspire the people to agitate for the right to walk along the roads leading to the temples which ultimately culminated in the Temple Entry Proclamation of 1936. At one stage, the communists had hijacked the agitation launched by the Guru and, thus, they could mobilise the Ezhava community under the communist flag.
Over the years, however, the CPI(M) has lost its proletarian image and become a party promoting crony capitalists. It also ensures that the State does not progress an inch, economically or socially. The much-hyped Kerala model of development has ended in a disaster. The last six months have seen more than 40 farmers committing suicide because of the debt trap they have fallen into following crop failure. And the Marxist Government has done nothing to revive the fortunes of either the farmers or the marginal entrepreneurs. Three small entrepreneurs based in Kollam, too, committed suicide because they could not withstand the harassment of their party bosses.
Though there is a change of guard in Thiruvananthapuram every five years, what generally happens is that the CPI(M) and Congress-led fronts alternate between themselves. The two parties do not provide space for a third alternative because they know it well that their relevance will be lost the moment a third party finds space here. Hence, all elections in the State have followed a match-fixing arrangement between the Congress and the Marxists. Though the two may act as if they are arch rivals, both have an unseen umbilical chord between them. Prime Minister Narendra Modi exposed the same while he addressed a public rally at the State capital recently. He said, “It is kusti in Kerala and dosti in New Delhi. The CPI(M) and the Congress are the two faces of the same coin.”
Whenever there is a remote possibility of the BJP winning a seat in the State, the CPI(M) transfers its share of votes en masse to the Congress. This has been happening with active connivance of the local media. P Narayanan, octogenarian journalist, reminiscences how Mathrubhumi, a leading Malayalam daily, violated all media ethics during the Assembly election held in 1960. “There was a big speculation that TN Bharathan, the Jana Sangh candidate from Guruvayur, would romp home because of the excellent work he had done to save the Manathala Temple from miscreants. But on the day of polling, Mathrubhumi came out with a banner headline proclaiming that Jan Sangh supporters would vote for the Congress. This upset the party workers. This has been the style of Kerala media since then,” said Narayanan.
What makes the 2019 Lok Sabha election in Kerala unique is a series of reports about the BJP-led NDA opening its account in this State. The Sabarimala agitation and the CPI(M)’s actions, targetting Hindu places of worship and insulting the acharyas, have hurt Hindus and has resulted in the polarisation of the community. So it is advantage BJP in two or three constituencies of the State. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will definitely win from Wayanad because the LDF has fielded a “decoy” candidate against him as part of a game of match-fixing between the CPI(M) and the Congress. The Marxists want the Congress to win the 2019 Lok Sabha election and that’s about it. Card-holding members of the CPI(M) had the audacity to ask this writer to vote for Benny Behanan, the Congress candidate from Chalakudy. The comrades want to ensure that the Congress’ candidate is elected with a big majority though the CPI(M) has fielded cine actor, Innocent Vareed Thekkethala, in the constituency.
TP Senkumar, former Chief of Kerala police, articulated the Hindu angst: “It is time the majority community, too, gets the same rights and freedom that is enjoyed by the minorities. Sabarimala is the beginning. The next in line is Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in the State’s capital.” Kerala is the only State that issues monthly pension to widows belonging to minority communities. Social benefits should be all inclusive.
More than 4,000 people, who took part in the Sabarimala agitation, are still in jail under various charges that are non-bailable offences. KP Sasikala, the frail looking leader of the Hindu United Forum, has 475 criminal cases slapped against her, including that of murder, attempt to murder, stone-pelting and other such criminal offences. These things have happened even as those, who chopped off the right hand of Prof Joseph, are out. This Friday saw the Marxists publicly silencing the chanting of God’s name at a temple in the capital city because the Chief Minister does not like it. Varkey would beg in Kerala displaying one-half of the scapular featuring the crucifix. He can show the other half with Lord Krishna’s pendant while in New Delhi and the rest of India.
Kerala goes to the polls today to elect 20 members to the Lok Sabha.
(The writer is Special Correspondent, The Pioneer)
Writer: Kumar Chellappan
Courtesy: The Pioneer
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