Until the farmers’ movement succeeds in making their voice heard in Parliament, the political parties will keep manipulating them
While the farmer leaders are busy campaigning against the three farm laws, building a pan-India farmers’ movement, something in Delhi has changed. The Opposition parties like the Trinamool, the Congress, the AAP and others have been vehemently opposing the laws; nevertheless, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food, chaired by TMC leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay with members from other political parties, has recommended the implementation of “the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020, in letter and spirit, and without let or hindrances so that the farmers and other stakeholders of the farming sector in this country receive the benefits intended under the said Act”. This news comes as a shocker as the TMC and the BJP are locked in a battle for Bengal, yet the TMC-led committee echoes Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s corporatisation agenda.
The BJP has also exposed through the months that the Congress and other parties, including the NCP, have also recommended corporatisation one way or another in the past. The corporatisation of the agrarian sector has been the aim, it seems, of all the Governments. The Modi Government has just expedited it due to its large numbers in Parliament. The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act is the most dangerous step for rural India, without which Big Ag firms such as Cargill, Walmart and Bayer can never take control of India’s food system. Hence, the Modi Government didn’t want to make any amendments to it during the 11 rounds of talks with the farmer leaders.
Now, the Congress and the TMC have both tried to distance themselves from the report and have called it a “disinformation campaign”, blaming the bureaucracy of the “department”. Further, different members have stated that they weren’t present in the meeting. Derek O’Brien even alleged that the chairman was not present when the report was passed. If these allegations are true, Indian democracy will see its abyss. Imagine if one committee could be subverted in this manner, what about the rest of them? There will be a crisis of faith in the Government or perhaps the beginning of a oligarchical mafia State. But if it was actually passed with consensus, India’s farmers and democracy will have to be ready for a new challenge — a corporate hydra controlling the Indian Government.
As for the politicians, birds of a feather flock together. Politicians and parties strive for their own interest and that of their donors, not of the farmers. And in the realpolitik, post-Kissinger world, there are only a handful who harbour good intentions for farmers, the rest — whether in the US or Brazil — serve corporate interests.
The Indian farmers also need introspection. Why in over 70 years of Independence, with over 70 per cent population engaged in agriculture, are there almost no national farmer leaders or any party started and run by growers? At best, the farmers have had temporal coalitions on issues, which retreat to the fields once the crisis is over. As a result, national and regional parties do only lip service to agriculture and growers, and the farmers have little choice but to vote for them. Most voters, urban or rural, are allured by caste, emotions and hate but fail to be stirred by hunger or economic prosperity.
The Modi Government, along with the corporate media, has done its bit to dissuade the farmers from creating a political front. Rakesh Tikait, along with other farmer leaders, has been extra cautious in distancing the movement from any political party. But how long can it remain apolitical? After all, man by nature is a political animal, as Aristotle rightly observed.
In my recent travels covering farmer rallies, a youth in Haryana’s Chautala village asked Rakesh Tikait: “Where do we go from here? Why don’t we create a new political front? Without farmers in Parliament, how will we get farmer-friendly policies?” Tikait deflected the question, stressing on the apolitical nature of the movement. But it was an important question. Why can’t the farmers organise?
The US corporations seized control of rural America because the farmers failed to stand united and to pressure the elected representatives. Only a handful of them got to enter the Senate or the Congress. Since the early history of the US, power brokers have divided farmers by class and race. By seeding hate and racial tensions, the US farmers were polarised. The result was devastation not just for the victims of the violence, but the bankruptcy of the survivors, too.
Plato in the Republic warned us that any revolution without a better alternative quickly descends into greater chaos. The Arab Spring of Egypt serves as a recent example. So wisdom demands that the Indian farmers’ revolution does also present a new form of green politics. The farmers have already laid the foundation for this paradigm shift. Their movement is attracting a new wave of Government workers who are directly affected by the privatisation, besides climate activists like Disha Ravi and Greta Thunberg. Now we need the movement to seed a new green political revolution by embracing politics for the rights of land, water and earth and not shying away from it.
(The author writes on agriculture and environment, and is the Director — Green India. The views expressed are personal.)
Uddhav must act before it’s too late to rid his Govt of the taint his Home Minister has brought him
The Chief Minister (CM) is the head of the Government in a State, just as the Prime Minister is the head of the Centre. The Council of Ministers is headed by the CM who can reshuffle their portfolios or ask a Minister to resign. However, it seems that in Maharashtra, it is not CM Uddhav Thackeray but NCP boss Sharad Pawar who wields the real authority. Pawar, literally calling the shots, is outrightly defending his party colleague and Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, against whom serious charges of graft have been levelled by former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh. Pawar not only ruled out Deshmukh’s resignation from the Cabinet but also claimed that he has evidence to prove that Deshmukh is ‘Mr Clean’. Pawar, being a seasoned politician, is treading cautiously and doing whatever he can to save the image of his party and its position in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Government. He first asserted that it was the CM’s prerogative to take an appropriate decision on the issue but, the very next day, proclaimed that there was no need for Deshmukh to go. Pawar has sent out a message — though it is for the CM to take a decision on the matter, but since he has kept mum, it is the responsibility of the NCP chief to drive the Government and his party out of the mess.
Pawar knows that at a time when politics has been relegated to power-sharing among allies and the tussle among them is even more than that with the Opposition, taking a moral high ground by asking the Home Minister to resign hardly makes any sense. Such a step will only weaken the NCP’s position in the tripartite Government and give an opportunity to its allies to have an edge over the party in governance. Besides, telling the Home Minister to resign would be assumed as accepting that he is at fault. On the other hand, Thackeray is apparently caught in a Catch-22, a situation where he cannot sack Deshmukh against Pawar’s will nor can issue a clean chit to his Home Minister because any such clearance would be deciphered as compromising with corruption, which might be counterproductive to the image of the CM and the Shiv Sena — the party whose founder late Bal Thackeray was known for his impeccable integrity. Meanwhile, Singh has approached the Supreme Court seeking a CBI probe against Deshmukh into the corruption allegations. We can only hope that the judiciary does what the executive has failed to do.
The Delhi Government’s decision to overhaul its excise policy is a win-win for all the stakeholders
In a move that sent spirits in the Capital soaring, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Government has decided to bring about major changes in its antiquated excise policy. These include lowering the minimum age for consumption of liquor to 21 years (from 25 years), exiting the retail alcohol business, overhauling a labyrinthine tax system to boost Delhi’s revenue, cracking down on the liquor mafia and improving user experience. These reforms were a long time coming because, with Delhi being a major tourist destination, it needs to make access to alcohol a pleasant experience — and not a harrowing one — for people. And given that the legal drinking age in a majority of the States in India is 21, why should the national Capital be regressive in its thinking? It is just bizarre that a young adult who enters college and is eligible to choose a Government and drive at 18 and start working and get married by the age of 21, is legally not permitted to drink until s/he turns 25 in Delhi. This really doesn’t make any sense, given that the drinking age in the neighbouring State of Uttar Pradesh (UP) is 21 and the youngsters just cross over to Noida where they can party to their heart’s content as they are eligible to consume alcohol there. So basically, the Delhi Government was losing out on the revenue without being able to prevent the youngsters from drinking.
Now the onus is on the AAP Government to ensure that underage drinking does not become a menace and there is a major and stringent crackdown on driving under influence. The younger generation must be taught to drink responsibly. The AAP Government has made it clear that those under the age of 21 will not be allowed inside restaurants serving liquor if they are alone or in an underage group. Though the international concept of ‘Age Gating’ will be introduced in India for the first time to prevent underage drinking, with the SOPs being made along with the industry, only time will tell whether the Government is able to deliver on this promise. For those who argue that it will encourage youngsters to imbibe liquor at a younger age than earlier, the only thing one can say is teach your children well. And it is better that they drink on their own turf if they so choose, than crossing over to another State, leaving them open to myriad dangers. The other good news, pertaining to the Government’s decision to get out of the liquor-selling business, is that the quality of booze shops will be way better, as will the ambience and service. This is because liquor shops around the country and even in Delhi, which is a major tourist destination, are currently in a state of mess and the staff is rude and apathetic. Any one trying to buy a bottle is made to feel like a criminal for indulging in the habit. The experience is worse for women as most of the shops are in seedy locations that are highly unsafe for women buyers. The new policy is a win-win for all, including the Government which will also be able to mop up additional revenue.
Modi is the chief guest even as Dhaka and New Delhi have shown how neighbours can cohabit and thrive despite the ups and downs
Indisputably, Bangladesh has turned out to be the sheet anchor of India’s “Neighbourhood First” policy, launchpad for “Act East” and Indo-Pacific strategy. Barring some issues over the CAA and NRC, both the countries enjoy most stable and trusted relations in South Asia. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has, in payback mode, delivered on security — counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism since 2009 — besides connectivity, trade and other bilateral issues. Insurgency in the North-East, down 80 per cent, is in its residual stage courtesy the cleansing of sanctuaries in Bangladesh. The land and maritime boundaries have been settled, including the enclaves. The only problem remaining is sharing the Teesta waters which might be settled with a BJP Government in West Bengal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the chief guest in Dhaka on Friday for the historic triple commemoration: 50 years of the Liberation War of 1971, 50 years of India-Bangladesh bonding and the centenary of the founder of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rehman. The joint Indo-Mukti Bahini victory in 14 days with the surrender of 90,000 POWs, including 195 Pakistani soldiers implicated in war crimes, is a rare politico-military feat. It was the first war India was prepared to fight with deft political and diplomatic manoeuvres. Strategic thinker and author Jaswant Singh would describe Bangladesh as geography’s revenge over history and lament that Pakistan’s military surrender in East Pakistan could not resolve the Kashmir dispute. Now Pakistan-Bangladesh relations are at their lowest following diplomatic excesses, including Islamabad’s spying and trial in Dhaka of the Jamaat-e-Islami members aligned with the Opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) who were not only involved in war crimes but also opposed to independence and secession from Pakistan. A gentle apology from Prime Minister Imran Khan any time now would make a grand gesture of reconciliation.
New Delhi and Dhaka have shown how neighbours can cohabit and thrive despite the ups and downs. The upward trajectory commenced with Sheikh Hasina’s return to power in 2009. The focus has been on connectivity in power grid, digital, road, railway, inland waterways and port facilities. The use of Chittagong Port, which Dhaka had earlier blocked, is now open connecting Agartala, 80 km away in Tripura, over the Maitri Setu bridge across Feni river making it the gateway to the North-East. A new railway service from Dhaka to New Jalpaiguri will augment the existing connectivity network. The aim is to restore and extend the pre-Partition rail-road-river systems.
Bangladesh’s economy is booming. The World Bank in its latest report has noted that environment-friendly projects will enhance GDP — in Bangladesh by 17 per cent and in India by eight per cent. Both the countries have defused friction points except the sharing of Teesta waters, vital for irrigation in north-east Bangladesh during the dry season. A Chinese-funded project is assisting in the management of Teesta. India and Bangladesh share waters of 54 rivers, operating under the Joint River Commission network. But it is the people-to-people connect that is at the heart of bilateral relations. Sheikh Hasina calls India a “true friend”. More than 1.6 million visas are issued to Bangladeshis annually, the highest to any country. Both the countries have evolved effective “differences-resolving” mechanism by high-level visits and conversations. The CAA and NRC are prickly issues that were smoothened out. The Rohingya issue has become complex after the junta’s coup. India has donated two million doses of COVID-19 vaccine in addition to five million doses to be supplied commercially.
Commemoration of the Liberation War annually in New Delhi, Dhaka and Kolkata has been institutionalised. As an Indian soldier who helped the Mukti Jodhas in their Liberation War, I was a privileged invitee to Dhaka to celebrate freedom and recall the march to victory with Bangladeshi colleagues, which is a bonding in blood.
The father of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rehman, celebrates his centenary as Banga Bandhu with Modi and Hasina jointly inaugurating the Mujib-Bapu digital exhibition and Mujib being conferred the Gandhi award. President Mohamad Abdul Hameed will release the Sheikh’s memoirs to relive his political struggle cut short by his assassination in 1975 which led to an era of military rule. It was in this period that the seeds of anti-Indianism were sown. As late as in 2013-14, on a visit to Dhaka, I discovered that the Bangladesh Army was treating India as Red Land and China the high benefactor.
In his book, Zulfi Bhutto of Pakistan, Stanley Wolpert says: “If only Bhutto had abided by election results, there would have been no Bangladesh and any reason for India to intervene. India and the Federal Republic of Germany facilitated the return of 195 PoWs charged with war crimes by persuading Mujib to be lenient. In 1973, German Chancellor Willy Brandt, through protracted negotiations with emissaries of Zulfiqar Bhutto and Mujibur Rahman, succeeded in convincing Mujib that he should forego the trials. Sheikh Mujib displayed extraordinary courage and wisdom towards reconciliation with Pakistan. But that, alas, was shortlived.”
(The writer, a retired Major General, was Commander, IPKF South, Sri Lanka, and founder member of the Defence Planning Staff, currently the Integrated Defence Staff. The views expressed are personal.)
The proclivity of the politicos to shoot from the hip does more harm than good for their party's image
People in positions of responsibility and power need to be more careful than commoners about their choice of words. The statements made by politicos, in particular, are deciphered based on what these contain between the lines and then subjected to logical interpretations and multiple conclusions. Regrettably, several of our leaders don’t think twice before disgorging in public space comments they ought to be ashamed of, bringing embarrassment to the party and slowly losing their credibility. Inexplicably, after assuming charge recently as the Uttarakhand Chief Minister, Tirath Singh Rawat has fallen into this category. Even before the embers of the controversy over his “ripped jeans” remark could die down, he has kicked up another row by saying that people having smaller families got lesser Government ration during the COVID-19 lockdown than those who “reproduced 20”. He also insinuated that “families with 20 children” were having a good time on dole. The idiosyncrasy continued as Rawat pointed out that “America had enslaved India for 200 years”. Well, there can’t be an explanation for that other than Rawat skipping history classes in school.
With the latest round of gaffes, he has joined the legion of leaders known for their embarrassing statements and remarks that often spawn memes. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi would arguably be at the top of the ladder with comments like “Aloo ki factory” (potato factory), his inability to differentiate between “bhrashtachar” (corruption) and “balatkaar” (rape) and several others. Rawat’s BJP colleague and Tripura counterpart Biplab Kumar Deb has apparently a similar IQ. His statements like “the roots of internet go back to the Mahabharata era”, “will chop the nails of critics” of his Government, former Miss World Diana Hayden “does not represent Indian beauty” and his bizarre statement that “the BJP has plans to form the Governments in Sri Lanka and Nepal” have already brought much ignominy to the saffron party. Also, seasoned politicians like Digvijay Singh, Shivpal Yadav and many others often make out-of-context, bizarre statements that leave their party leaders red-faced. We don’t know whether or when his party leadership will take Rawat to task and keep a check on what he says. But it must be done before he aimlessly shoots another one from the hip. After all, the party’s image suffers in the eyes of people by such acts. For the public, of course, it’s just free entertainment.
As the nation stares at another surge, Haridwar is taking it easy despite drawing mammoth crowds
As India on Monday marked the first anniversary of the “Janata curfew”, the first time that the nation realised the true gravity of the pandemic, it’s a good time to introspect where we stand 365 days and thousands of deaths later. Actually, it seems that after the initial spurt and the subsequent tranquilising trough and now facing another menacing crest, nothing has really changed. As we stare at the second COVID wave looming, the last 24 hours saw 46,951 fresh Coronavirus cases being reported — the biggest single-day jump since November 7 — which takes the country’s tally to 1,16,46,081 total infections. Of these, over 1.11 crore people have recovered and 1,59,967 deaths have been recorded. In the past week, India has registered the sharpest surge in fresh infections in nearly four months after the spread of the virus had seemed to slow down. Most of the fresh cases have been reported from Maharashtra, Punjab, Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Restrictions have returned at several places across the country as the Government and experts point out that the violation of protocols is leading to the resurgence of cases. Globally, over 12.3 crore people have so far contracted the virus; 27 lakh people have fallen prey to it.
In the midst of all this mayhem, the city of Haridwar is nonchalantly hosting the ongoing Kumbh mela, prompting the Centre to issue an advisory to the Tirath Singh Rawat Government in Uttarakhand to shore up anti-COVID arrangements. A Health Ministry team had recently raised the alarm that 10-20 pilgrims and almost an equal number of locals are testing positive every day for the virus and that such a high rate of infections had the potential to rapidly turn into an “upsurge” in the number of cases. The ceremonies linked to Kumbh, which takes place at Haridwar, Nashik, Prayagraj and Ujjain every 12 years by rotation (though it is this time taking place after 11 years owing to suitable planetary alignments), would last most of next month with several days in April corresponding to the “Shahi snaans” (royal bath) expected to see upwards of five million converge on a single day. This development assumes significance because Rawat had recently announced that a negative COVID report won’t be made mandatory for visiting Haridwar and assured the devotees that all “unnecessary” restrictions imposed to contain the spread of COVID will be removed for the event, asserting that “faith is stronger than fear”. Interestingly, on Tuesday afternoon, the 56-year-old Chief Minister tweeted that he has tested positive for Coronavirus. We, as a nation, must understand that the virus neither follows a calendar, nor respects geographical boundaries, nor does it care for the “COVID fatigue” that we all have fallen prey to during our solitary confinement and isolation at home. The only way to fight Coronavirus is to have stringent mask discipline, avoid stepping out in public space and wash hands frequently and not get taken in by the false sense of security that “the pandemic is over because vaccines are here”.
Mamata Banerjee's claim that she is Bengal's daughter while the BJP is an ‘outsider' is steeped in disinformation
In replying to Mamata Didi’s allegation that the BJP is an “outsider” organisation, while she herself is the “daughter of Bengal”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at a speech in Kolkata’s Brigade Ground on March 7, remarked that the Trinamool had been spawned by the Congress. The Indian National Congress was founded in 1885 by a retired bureaucrat, Allan Octavian Hume, an Englishman. The Communist parties of India were all spawns of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Their ideology was authored entirely by the ideologue Karl Marx. Vladimir Lenin brought the Bolshevik Party to power with the Revolution of 1917. A premier street in Calcutta celebrated Lenin’s coming to power by being named “Lenin Sarani”, opposite Metro cinema, near the Dharamtolla Street. Incidentally, the old Harrington Street, where the US Consulate is situated, was renamed by Chief Minister Jyoti Basu as “Ho Chi Minh Sarani”.
I once took a client visiting from Germany around the city. He found every CPM graffiti to be a sketch of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and wondered: “Why Stalin, now? Is there no Indian leader attractive enough to catch votes?” In World War II, Stalin wanted to arouse Russians to fight for their motherland, in complete contrast to Leon Trotsky’s earlier call for a “permanent Revolution” and Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, which called upon the workers of the world to unite.
Mamata Banerjee never once has termed these things from outside. She finds Hindutva and “Jai Shri Ram” as outsiders despite the fact that Raj Narain Bose, the grandfather of Yogi Aurobindo Bose, had coined the term “Hindutva” in 1863. Leading Bengalis, including Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, were members of the aggressively Hindu Anushilan Samiti. The Samiti had become particularly active after the first partition of Bengal in 1905, until 1911, when the partition was withdrawn by King George V.
The Hindu ideology is not anti-anyone else. The word “Hindu” has been the identity for the entire subcontinent. In 1930, my father’s professor at the University of Boston asked him what he was. The reply was: An Indian. The professor said, “You are probably a Hindu. My question is — are you a Hindu Christian, a Hindu Muslim or a Hindu Hindu?” In other words, for the world outside, Hindu and Hinduism are the markers of India’s identity.
Coming to the “Bengali versus outsider” debate, it bears iteration here that a prominent Bengali who was born 120 years ago seeded a nationalist party that dominates Indian politics today. This is none other than Syama Prasad Mookerjee, a towering intellectual, academician and political leader. The party he founded, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, was the only true opposition to the then hegemonic ruling Congress. Its later avatar became the BJP, which not only rules India and has become the world’s biggest political party, but has also decimated the once-mighty Congress.
One must not forget that Mookerjee salvaged West Bengal and led the Hindus of the erstwhile undivided Bengal to grab a slice of their homeland from the nefarious designs of MA Jinnah and his Muslim League by resisting the blatantly biased League’s provincial government of Bengal.
Bengal’s Hindus were the second largest ethnic minority after the Muslims in undivided Bengal (at nearly 42 per cent) but were subjected to two horrific rounds of genocide; the first in Calcutta in August 1946, following Jinnah’s clarion call for “direct action” (the Great Calcutta Killings), and then in Noakhali and Tippera districts of eastern Bengal in October that year. Nearly 10,000 Hindus were massacred and thousands of Hindu women were raped in this orgy orchestrated by Bengal Premier HS Suhrawardy himself. Mookerjee, the indisputable leader of Bengal’s Hindus, recognised the looming threat as early as in 1940 when he said in Sylhet (then in Assam): “The dangers in front of us are many; the latest addition in the shape of a movement for Pakistan should not be brushed aside lightly. Jinnah is out to destroy the very soul of India.”
The looming danger was the pernicious dream of a so-called “United Bengal”, promoted by Suhrawardy, Nazimuddin (ex-premier) and Fazlur Rahman (Bengal’s revenue minister), and supported by Sarat Chandra Bose of the Socialist Republic Party. This “United Bengal” movement, a smokescreen to grab all of Bengal for Pakistan, had Jinnah’s blessings. Had this League plan materialised, the Hindus of Bengal would have suffered a plight similar to that of Sindh’s Hindus who have been left without a country to call their own.
The incorporation of all of Bengal into Pakistan was foiled only by the concerted efforts of Hindus, led resolutely by Mookerjee, who formed the Bengal Partition League towards the end of 1946. Governing the support of all sections of the Bengali society, League sections of communists and socialists also had to support the partition of Bengal — the Muslim League didn’t spare Hindu communists.
The supreme irony is that Mamata might not have had even an identity, leave alone State, but for the heroic efforts of Mookerjee, whose party she now dubs an “outsider”.
(The writer is a well-known columnist and an author. The views expressed are personal.)
Kejriwal's mature stand in the face-off with the Centre will earn him people's goodwill
Displaying a streak of maturity that he is not exactly famous for, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has chosen to avoid another ugly spat with the Centre with his announcement that the Delhi Government would drop the reference to the Chief Minister from the ‘Mukhyamantri Ghar Ghar Ration Yojna’. The doorstep delivery of ration scheme was red-flagged by the Union Government just ahead of its proposed rollout, claiming that the subsidised food grain under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) cannot be used for any State-specific scheme in the name of the Chief Minister. Listing out the reasons for rolling out the scheme, Kejriwal said it was his personal ambition for the past 20-25 years that the hardships faced by people in accessing food grain under the Public Distribution System (PDS) could be addressed. It is true that people face various difficulties in getting ration from the authorised shops and, in many cases, extra money is charged by the mafia for handing out the rightful beneficiaries their quota of ration. In a country that bears the burden of a quarter of global hunger with millions of undernourished people, the Delhi Government’s move is commendable. The Centre might have been on sound ground technically, but it really did derail the AAP Government’s ration delivery scheme.
Though the fight between the Governments went down to the wire, Kejriwal proceeded not to take on the Centre on this issue as the people of Delhi would have been the ultimate sufferers. As is public knowledge, the PDS is the joint responsibility of the Centre and the States. The former, through the Food Corporation of India, procures, stores, transports and allocates in bulk the food grains to the States. The operational responsibility, including allocation within the State, identification of eligible families, issuance of ration cards and so on, rests with the State Government. The Delhi and the BJP-led Union Governments are often at loggerheads over one issue or the other and the citizens end up being the sufferers. “The Centre has objected to the word ‘Chief Minister’, so we have decided to provide the ration without any name in the scheme,” Kejriwal clarified. The Delhi Government will now send a fresh proposal to the Centre for its approval. Now, it is the Centre’s turn to show similar maturity and not impede the State Government’s public welfare work.
The Supreme Court’s order against ‘misogynistic attitude’ in the courtrooms was a long time coming
The Supreme Court has recently told the judges at all levels of the judiciary to exercise extreme caution and restraint while handling cases of the nature of sexual crimes against women and advised them to use temperate language and expressions rather than going for the stereotypical projections. In its 24-page judgment, the apex court Bench listed the dos and don’ts to be followed by the dispensers of justice in its praiseworthy attempt to get rid of the “patriarchal mindset” and “misogynistic attitude”, both explicit and latent, among the members of the judiciary. The Bench unequivocally held that the use of any sort of reasoning/language that tends to “trivialise” the survivor must be avoided “under all circumstances”. Welcome as much as the ruling is, it hasn’t come even one day too early; rather, it is surprising that it has taken this long despite the presence of a good number of women judges and prosecutors in all strata of the judicial system. In this context, it would be pertinent to mention that just a few weeks ago, the Supreme Court itself had asked the rape accused of a minor (at the time of the incident) whether he intended to marry her as a condition for granting him bail; even though Chief Justice of India SA Bobde had within days set the record straight by clarifying his position that his remarks had been misconstrued and that he had been misquoted. In July 2020, in a similar incident, the Madhya Pradesh High Court granted anticipatory bail to a rape accused. While granting him protection from arrest, the court directed the accused to ask the victim to tie him a rakhi so that “he can vow to protect her like a brother”.
Such incidents undermine the faith of a gender crime survivor in the judiciary and, in fact, trivialise their trauma while adversely affecting their dignity. Seen in this light, it’s a matter of great satisfaction that the top court has recommended gender sensitisation for judges as well as public prosecutors, though it’s too early in the day to place bets on how much success would such training modules see in wiping out the deep-rooted biases against women in society. The Supreme Court also spelled out a number of steps to remedy the problem of stereotyping of the survivors. Judging feminine conduct from a masculine point of view has always been difficult, even in the modern times, and it remains to be seen how far this well-meaning step by the country’s top court will go in alleviating the hardships faced by survivors of anti-women crimes. The instant judgment is a welcome step towards making the Indian criminal justice system more considerate towards the experience women have in the courtrooms at all levels across the country. We congratulate the apex court for breaking new ground in its attempts to make the experience of judicial system less harrowing and painful for members of the fair sex and wish the judiciary members the best in this latest attempt to ameliorate the conditions of the system.
It is a matter of double delight that the Quad and Australia-India business ties have assumed a mutually complementary character
The inaugural virtual summit of the Quad members should be seen as a watershed in the history of the formation, since its inception in 2007. The Quad’s evolution has been impeded for long by India’s and Australia’s hesitation in formalising the grouping, owing to their bilateral sensitivities towards China. But not anymore. In the wake of Australia’s trade tensions with China triggered by the former’s demand for an inquiry into the origins of the COVID-19 outbreak and, on the other hand, India’s military confrontation in Doklam and Ladakh with China, their strategic cooperation has grown manifold in recent months. Their newfound willingness to stand up to China’s irridentist claims, Hong Kong and Xinjiang crackdown and periodic diplomatic bellicosity and bluster in bilateral dealings has underpinned Quad’s fruition into a formal entity.
The Quad summit agenda was consciously kept quite wide, including the COVID-19 strategy, vaccine production, climate change, supply chain disruptions, critical and emerging technologies and maritime security. The rationale being to downplay any “anti-China” posturing that Beijing may find disturbing and disruptive for the Indo-Pacific.
The burgeoning quadrilateral vision was carefully articulated in the first-of-its-kind joint op-ed by US President Joe Biden and the three Prime Ministers — Narendra Modi, Yoshihide Suga and Scott Morrison. But for the watchers of international politics, the op-ed is a significant document for its “between-the-lines message”. For instance, the reference to “a group of democratic nations” in the second para is a veiled countervailing democratic pushback to China’s authoritarian international conduct under the garb of “peaceful rise”.
In particular, the op-ed’s broad emphasis on making a joint effort to tackle the pandemic is a clever strategy to win the hearts and minds of the Asean States, Pacific Island countries and the Indian Ocean littorals to offset the long-running Chinese economic and military influence. It is a welcome development for the States who have long been buried under the weight of China’s debt diplomacy and military dominance but were unable to articulate their displeasure for fear of a punitive backlash.
While strategic commentators remained sceptical of Biden’s resolve in reining in the Chinese economic and military muscle-flexing in the region, the historic summit has put at bay some of those scepticisms, at least for now. The Quad’s message has not been lost on part of other regional democracies, such as South Korea.
So, what does the Quad mean for Indo-Australian relations?
India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has expressed “great satisfaction” in how the Australia-India ties have deepened in the wake of the pandemic. Since June 2020, when the inaugural Modi-Morrison virtual summit transpired, the comprehensive strategic partnership has not only deepened but also become the fulcrum of the Quad’s new avatar for ensuring a safe, open and secure Indo-Pacific regional architecture. It is a double delight how the Quad and Australia-India bilateral business and trade ties have assumed a mutually complementary character.
Engagements on both the fronts will chart a parallel course and should not be seen in isolation. Peter Varghese, the author of India Economic Strategy report, had observed much before the COVID outbreak: “…the stronger that (Australia-India) broader relationship, the better the prospect of an economic strategy. India should not be seen only as a geopolitical partner.” Now, New Delhi also sees Australia not only as an economic partner but also as a geopolitical one.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade observes that India’s young population and diversified growth trajectory present significant opportunities in various sectors. Both sides have formalised over 20 MoUs last June, covering some of these areas. Their two-way trade has risen from $13.6 billion to $30.4 billion in 2018 but it is still below the full potential. By 2035, both sides aim to double the bilateral trade and Australia seeks to bring India in its top five trading partners (currently eighth).
Ambassador Anil Wadhwa’s Australia Economic Strategy report, launched a few months ago, could not have come at a more opportune time. The report has identified 12 key sectors inter alia, mining, services and startups, pharmaceuticals, healthcare and medical technologies, education and skills, agribusiness, power and renewable energy and tourism. The report very nicely complements the recommendations of Varghese’s India Strategy across 10 sectors. The Mutual Logistics Support Agreement and Island Support Agreement to use Andaman & Nicobar and Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the maritime domain, and India’s decision to include Australia into the Malabar naval exercise, assume greater significance in the context of the Quad’s emergence.
In sum, Australia and India are now well-positioned to play their long-due leadership roles in the Indo-Pacific and, broadly speaking, in international affairs. This great opportunity emerging at a historic high in bilateral relations should not be missed.
(The author is the CEO, Institute for Australia India Engagement, Brisbane. The views expressed are personal.)
The Assembly elections in Assam, the most populous North-East State, are pregnant with possibilities because of various issues, according to political pundits. However, given the prevailing socio-economic situation in the State and lack of a strong anti-incumbency factor coupled with clean and strong Central leadership by Prime Minister Narendra Modi even during the Covid-19 pandemic, it will not be a daunting task for the Sarbananda Sonowal-led BJP Government to retain power.
In the run-up to the Assembly elections, what matters most for the people of Assam is the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, concerns over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Register of Citizens (NRC), but most importantly the job scenario in the State.
Despite vociferous protests against the implementation of the CAA in Assam, the voters’ attention is not fixated on the CAA sentiments. The ruling BJP and its alliance partner, the most prominent regional party, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), are in favour of implementing the CAA in Assam. However, some prominent student bodies of the State, such as the All Assam Students Union (AASU), Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuba Chatra Parishad (AJYCP), and parties like the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and the Congress have clung to the emotional issue. For them, the CAA is unconstitutional. Many view the CAA as an immediate threat to the survival of the indigenous people of Assam and the violation of the historic Assam Accord signed between the leadership of AASU and the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress Government at the Centre in 1985.
The polls in Assam are a two-way contest. On one side, it is the BJP and its allies, including the AGP, the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) of the current Bodo Territorial Council (BTC), and the Rabha Joutha Mancha (RJM). On the other side, it is the Congress-led Mahajot with AIDUF and the Bodo People’s Front (BPF) of Hagrama Mahilary, the former BTAD chief. However, there are two newly formed regional parties in the fray, the Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP), born out of the AASU and the AJYCP, and Raijor Dol, from the Krisak Mukti Sangram Samiti of jailed activist Akhil Gogoi. And a few poll pundits consider the Assam elections as a triangular fight, with the coalition of the AJP and the Raijor Dol (RD) as third formidable force.
However, considering the AJP and the RD alliance as a political force to be reckoned with stretches the ground reality. It would be a Herculean task for the new entity to make a mark on the anti-CAA sentiments, prime its past. It is true that the AASU, the parent organisation of the AJP, has a mass following in the State as it has retained the status as one of the strongest students’ bodies in the State. It must be noted here that this is the same students’ body that in 1985 gave birth to the AGP, one of the most successful regional political party in Assam. And the AGP under the leadership of its veteran AASU president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta ruled the State for 10 years, once from 1985 to 1990 and then again from 1996 to 2001. However, during the Tarun Gogoi-led Congress Government’s three consecutive terms from 2001 till 2016, the AGP, once termed as the voice of the “sons of the soil”, was relegated to a mere regional force. And over the years, bitter rivalry, defection and non-injection of young blood into the party hierarchy has led to its massive loss of political space in the State.
This time, when the BJP-AGP alliance has released the list of 70 candidates for the first phase of the poll, the party has dropped Mahanta’s name from Barhampur, the constituency he represented for seven consecutive terms since 1991. Though there are rumours that he may join the Congress, reliable sources say that the two-time former Chief Minister may not contest this poll because of his poor health. Despite all these hiccups, the AGP may be able to retain some seats. But there is high probability that the AJP may make inroads into the AGP’s traditional base. Also, the voters may get confused and the AGO loyalties may shift to the two regional parties, born out of the AASU. The RD may spoil the vote banks of both the AGP and the BJP to an extent.
However, what has been remarkable in the last four Assembly elections in Assam is the gradual and quite big rise of the BJP. Considering this trend, the prevailing situation, and the tendency of the Assam electorate to vote the same parties or alliances to power, the writing on the wall is clear: incumbent Sonowal regime has high chance to retain power. There has been a record of repeating the existing Governments in the past in Assam. Late Congress veteran Gogoi, though entangled in myriad problems and corruption scandals, won three consecutive terms. Of course, during his one and a half decade of rule, both the BJP and the AGP had not much stake in the State politics. And other smaller parties such as the AIUDF of perfume baron Ajmal and BPF could hardly play the role of a kingmaker, except exploiting their respective traditional vote banks.
What could catapult Sonowal back to power is his cogent reassurance to the voters that his Government will successfully address the concerns of high unemployment, flood problem and all about the positive impact of both the NRC and the CAA. Modi’s persona and performance at the Centre will certainly influence voters’ choice. However, in a Assembly election, only the State leadership’s performance on the ground can help them win back the trust of the people. Assam being an ethnically sensitive State, with an ever-emerging problem of Bangladeshi migrants since the starting of the historic Assam Movement, political parties must take into account the confidence of the large indigenous Muslim population. Instead of treating the immigration issue on the lines of religion, it must be addressed on the basis of its legality. It is the duty of the BJP-led Government to allay the fears from the minds of the local Muslims. And if it is not addressed properly, and in time, parties such as the AIDUF, the Congress, and other left-leaning platforms could misguide voters of the State to cash in on the confusion.
Therefore, despite possibilities stacked in favour of the Sonowal Government, this Assembly election will still be a test for the BJP. If it romps home, the much-needed long march of the saffron party in this remote part of the country will continue. Certainly, this will reassert Prime Minister Modi’s leadership and popularity across the region. Further, the party and its allies would be able to continue its developmental projects and win the trust of the electorate of Assam.
(The writer belongs to Assam and has a deep understanding of the social-political situations there)
FREE Download
OPINION EXPRESS MAGAZINE
Offer of the Month