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posted by vivek @ 5/13/2006 03:16:00 PM 1 comments

Shamful Politics in Tamil Nadu

In October 2002, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and her All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)-led government passed the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion Act 2002. The state assembly passed the bill despite the protests of minority groups in a move which brought the AIADMK closer to the Hindu Right Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

According to Section 3 of the Ordinance: "No person shall convert or attempt to convert, either directly or otherwise, any person from one religion to another by the use of force or by allurement or by any fraudulent means.'' Contravention can attract a jail term up to three years and a fine of Rs. 50,000. If the convert is "a minor, a woman or a person belonging to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe,'' the jail term can be for five years and the fine Rs.1 lakh. (Frontline)

Conversion has a long and complicated history in India, particularly among Dalits. B.R. Ambedkar called for Dalits to cast aside the Hindu religion which would not have them as equal members, and instead another egalitarian religion, such as Buddhism. Since then, many Dalit groups have converted to Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, and many others have threatened to do so if their rights were not respected. Conversion has thus become a tool of empowerment for oppressed groups, and a threat to caste Hindus.

Although the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, maintained that the Bill was only intended to prevent forcible conversions, her arguments in the course of the three-hour debate were against conversion itself. "Conversions create resentment among several sections and also inflame religious passions, leading to communal clashes." (The Hindu)

The bill was clearly intended as a popular measure which backfired in the 2004 Parliamentary elections, where the AIADMK-BJP ticket didn't win a single seat in the state. Jayalalithaa went into damage control mode, repealing a number of measures including the anti-conversion act. (The Hindu)

Now, fast forward to the Tamil Nadu state elections in 2006. The main premise of the anti-conversion act, remember, was against conversion by force, allurement, or fraudulent means.

Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa has promised that if her party is voted back to power, it will provide half-a-sovereign gold free of cost to the daughters of farmers covered by the Farmers' Protection scheme, and to girls in the BPL families at the time of their marriage. This sop was due to the soaring gold price, she said. (The Hindu)

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary and Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Friday said that her party, if elected to power in the May 8 Assembly election, would distribute computers free to each and every successful candidate of the Standard XII examination. (The Hindu)

Jayalalithaa isn't the only one promising freebies. These two moves are in response to her opponent M. Karunanidhi's promise that if his Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party is elected, he'll hand out free color televisions.

The contradiction between Jayalalithaa's anti-conversion act and her election freebie promises would be reason enough to call Tamil Nadu politics a sham. The fact that no one even blinks twice proves that these two ideologically adrift parties have made a total mockery out of politics in Tamil Nadu.

posted by vivek @ 5/07/2006 02:24:00 AM 2 comments

Leave them kids alone!

Today's feel-good story was about "child prodigy" Buddhia Singh, the four-and-a-half year-old who ran 65 KILOMETRES IN 7.02 HOURS!

Flanked by cadets of the Central Reserve Police Force , the five-year-old Buddhia completed the distance from Puri Jagannath Temple to Bhubaneswar braving the hot and humid conditions. (link)

The run was, unfortunately, not a total success since the boy COLLAPSED with five km left out of his target of 70 km. Something to improve on for next time - Assuming there is a next time:

Orissa's state-run child welfare committee is probing allegations the coach is exploiting the child for personal gain.

Das has in turn won a court injunction against Orissa's child development minister, Pramila Mallick.

Budhia said he is happy to run and run. "During my (daily) ten-hour practise, I don't feel the pain; I enjoy it," he said. (link)

*shudder*

posted by vivek @ 5/03/2006 11:12:00 AM 0 comments

Communal embers re-kindled in Gujarat

Four people died on Monday, May 1 in Vadodara, Gujarat, following the Municipal Corporation's demolition of a dargah which local residents say is over 200 years old. Apparently the demolition was necessary because the dargah was obstructing a road which the Corporation had picked out for expansion.

Objecting to the demolition, the residents threw stones at the municipal staff and police. The police lathicharged a mob and fired teargas shells to disperse it. When their efforts failed, police opened fire resulting in the death of two persons and injuries to 14 persons. At least eight others, including police and municipal staff, were injured in stone throwing.

The incident threatened to take a communal turn with two incidents of stabbing reported, including one from a neighbouring locality. (link)

Apparently other structures (including those of other religious faiths) had been demolished as well:

Mayor Sunil Solanki said the demolition of unauthorised structures had been going on for a fortnight to widen roads. He said nearly 1,500 illegal structures had been removed. More than a dozen religious places of different communities had been removed. At many places the members of different communities volunteered to remove the obstructions.

But there doesn't seem to be any effort in the media to find out more about these structures, where they were, which faiths they belonged to, and if in fact they actually existed.

Since the demolition there have been various outbreaks of violence despite curfews and added police. The police, in fact, were nowhere to be found in once instance of violence on Tuesday, when a mob burned a man to death in his car.

The local residents said they saw a mob grouping in the area and sought police assistance but no help was forthcoming. They complained that the police control room refused to send reinforcements, saying that there were not enough men available to patrol all the affected areas. (link)

The People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has come out strongly against the demolition.

It was a well known fact that the provocative utterances of the city Mayor, Sunil Solanki, had already vitiated the atmosphere and created apprehensions among the minority community of the city. For instance the Mayor had taken exception to the reported stand of the Police Commissioner that if they (the Police) are informed at the last moment, the Police would not cooperate. In response, the Mayor had allegedly threatened to launch the demolition of the dargah (mazhar) with the help of an “army” of [Vishwa Hindu Parishad] and [Bharatiya Janata Party] workers. (link)

At this point there's very little transparency as to the sequence of events which led to the demolition of the dargah. PUCL and community members insist that the Municipal Corporation didn't provide adequate warning, while the Corporation says that it took all necessary steps.

Why was it necessary to fire on the crowd? After their role in the 2002 riots, the Gujarat police don't have much credibility, and if they're accused of brutality, I'm ready to believe it.

I'm also keen on seeing a list of the other demolished buildings.

Will update as new information emerges over the next few days.

Latest:

According to NDTV, eyewitnesses reported seeing mobs attacking Muslim colonies on Ajwa road in Vadodara.

"We kept calling the police but the phones were either switched off or busy. We finally called police control and they said go to Pakistan. We would request the government to take action against the people in the control room," said Yusuf Sheikh, an eyewitness.

Muslim residents said the police refused to help on account of shortage of forces.

State authorities have so far maintained silence on the incidents of violence in Vadodara.(link)

posted by vivek @ 5/03/2006 08:44:00 AM 1 comments