Sudipto Das's Blog, page 2

Karwaan Banta Gaya ��� The Initiative That Grew by Itself

 

With the immediate enforcement of the nationwide lockdown in March 2020, we had been pondering how we could help so many stranded people. Images of migrant workers trekking hundreds of kilometres, abandoning the cities they no longer felt like home any more, carrying with them whatever they had in life, carrying even little babies in their arms ��� babies that might not even survive the ordeal ��� drove us crazy. There had to be a solution. Then we saw even more pathetic scenes of thousands of people thronging central kitchens set up by the governments or NGOs, waiting hours for meals. The exodus and the crowded feeding centres both defeated the very purpose of the lockdown. It was a matter of great concern what the outcome of this could be ��� the virus which had been predominantly an urban phenomenon till then could soon ravage the hinterlands of India. That was when we started thinking backwards, like reverse engineering and finding out what the root cause of all these could be.
After some introspection and brainstorming, a few interesting things emerged. The exodus was not caused because a huge number of people had been suddenly rendered homeless. It was not caused because of any fear ��� like what happens in the case of communal riots or pogroms. It was also not caused due to any natural calamity which suddenly rendered a place totally unliveable. It was caused only because, suddenly, with no cash in hand, millions of daily wage earners staying away from home were feeling alienated, lonesome, and helpless too, with no one to share their pains of hunger, and the uncertainties about the immediate future. Under such circumstances, it's but natural to yearn for their kin back home who could at least cry with them, die with them, if need be.
So now there were two problems ��� one of hunger, and the other of the chance of rapid spreading of the virus through the mass movements. It���s very obvious that the first was the root cause of the exodus the second its immediate fatal outcome. The foremost thing that came to our mind then was the immediate need for feeding the hungry people and hence the central kitchens and arrangements for massive food distribution appeared logical. Even, for the sake of argument, if we assumed that the million people would be picked up from their homes during the lockdown, taken to the central kitchens, fed, and then again dropped back home, all the time maintaining social distancing, and all the desirable standards of hygiene, still, it was not just feasible to prepare so much food on a daily basis.
But in all these, we had been missing a very simple fact that these stranded millions actually didn���t need cooked food. Most of them already had cooking arrangements wherever they had been staying and could very well do good if only the local neighbourhood grocers they had been going to all these days gave them their daily provisions on debt. We can���t blame the local grocers, who are more often than not, people of meagre means, as their concerns for unrecoverable bad debts, given the situation, are indeed true. The ideal solution would have been the government transferring some money to the bank accounts of the affected people so that they could go about buying the necessary items and sustaining their lives. But that won���t happen overnight and would involve a lot of hiccups too, even if we assumed that everyone had a bank account, which is not the case anyway. So, what could be done next? That was when it just flashed into our minds that we could apply the age-old tried and tested method of Divide and Conquer, something that we had anyway got used to over the past few centuries of British and then Indian rules.
We thought of conquering the macro problem of million people at the city level by dividing it into the hyper micro problems of only a few hundred in each neighbourhood. Looking around in our own neighbourhood we figured out that we could very well pull in some money from our neighbours and pay the local grocery stores for the daily provisions of the people stranded around us. As the amount needed was not much, we managed to raise the fund in a few hours, talk to the affected people about their basic requirements, negotiate a good rate with the local grocer and come up with a unit packet containing the basic provisions for a family of 4-5 people including kids to sustain for two days.
The unit packet, we settled for, contained two kilograms of rice, half a kilogram each of dal, potato and onion, half a litre of cooking oil, a packet of biscuit, some green chilies and one soap. After some negotiation, the grocer was ready to give it at 250 bucks.
Then we paid the shop through one of the digital payment apps, and requested one person from each family to collect the packet directly from the shop. This served several purposes.
Firstly, it ensured that no one had to travel beyond a few hundred metres, thus not violating the norms of the lockdown or social distancing.
Secondly, it ensured that we didn't have to bother much about the logistics at all, thus making the entire process very simple. Our delivery channel, practically, was the existing retail supply chain, which was very much functional all over the country, even during the lockdown, and was delivering the stock regularly even to the smallest of the kirana shops, thus keeping the last mile connectivity intact everywhere, irrespective of everything. Any other delivery channel would be much less efficient and ineffective, both from the point of view of coverage and speed, compared to the supply chain of these shops.
Thirdly, it ensured that there were no middlemen and that the packets reached directly the ones they were meant for.
Finally, it ensured that there wouldn���t be any wastage, as we had given a limited quantity which would exhaust in two days.
That was how we started with twenty families around Sarjapur Road in Bangalore. As the words spread around that we had been able to deliver raw materials to more than a hundred people without much ado, and more importantly, without anyone violating any social distancing norm, our friends gave us contacts of more stranded people, from their neighbourhood. All we had to do was just talk to the local grocer, negotiate the cost of the unit packet and get it collected by one member per family.In less than a day, we reached out to close to 150 people, across Bangalore. We felt this was indeed a viable model which could be replicated very easily in any neighbourhood. Our learnings from the entire exercise could be well leveraged by anyone interested in replicating the model. If every neighbourhood had at least one person taking this initiative, the entire problem could be solved in just a day.
The beauty of this simple model is as follows:Very minimal movement, no breaking the lockdown, no logistics, no hassles, and very minimal planning. Any other form of delivery system would involve much more movement, crowding, and engagement of people, either on the side of the volunteers or that of the beneficiaries, thus endangering the safety and security of both. In our model, only one person from each group or family needed to go out to the nearest grocery store and collect the provisions for two days, whenever it was convenient.Immediate delivery of essential food items to people who needed them the most. There was no long and indefinite wait, crowding at the roads or at the central distribution centres.Minimal scope of leakage or hoarding as we gave provisions to each family or group of 4-5 people only for two days.Limited chance of fraudulence, as one of us always identified and authenticated each of the beneficiaries, either in person, if they were in the same neighbourhood, or through a few phone calls and some basic fact-checking. We tried to ensure, to a great extent, that we were indeed reaching out to the right people who really were in dire need. In the course of a few days, we put in place a few simple checks and balances, like insisting on two pictures (sent through WhatsApp) each of the packets collected, one at the shop, with the shopkeeper, as the proof that the packet had been really collected from the shop, and the other with the rest of the family or group, as the proof that the person who collected the packet had really taken it home. Any lapse in this was dealt with very strictly, with immediate disqualification not only of the violating family or the group but of the entire cluster it belonged to, thus holding every family or group as a guarantee against each other.The model was simple enough to be scaled and/or replicated by anyone in her locality.Finally, the entire model maintained the safety and dignity of the beneficiaries, by not compelling them to queue up for receiving the daily provisions or wait indefinitely in its anticipation.Thus, applying the rudimentary concepts of networked, distributed, hyper-local supply chain management, taking some cue from the ideas of Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Professor Yunus��� microfinance model, and finally, ensuring the basic principles of social distancing, we were able to reach out to around 8500 people across seven states, taking care of more than 4.5 lakh meals in a span of 45 days.


We had started with reaching out only to the stranded migrant workers, but soon we were helping daily wagers like cab drivers, skilled factory workers, plumbers, electricians, and employees in the wellness, hospitality, and entertainment industries, who were not all daily wagers but had lost their wages immediately with the lockdown, petty musicians and singers who thrive on performing in trains, temples and other places, tribal rag pickers, residents of shelter-homes for orphans and senior citizens, poor villagers who live on running little errands and odd jobs, and many others.



Beginning on 30th March 2020, Day Zero, with a small amount pulled in between neighbours and friends, the initiative grew day by day. The last payment was done on the 60th day, 29th May.
This year, in 2021, when the problem has taken a totally different turn, we���ve taken up delivering medicines and O2 concentrators, too, at doorsteps, across India, through our unique, well-tested model ��� no logistics, no warehousing, no crowding, no hoarding, no violation of any Covid guidelines.In the case of O2 concentrators, which cost upwards of INR 75K each, we get the equipment shipped directly to the health centres, preferably small non-government rural establishments known to any one of us, so that we could check to a great extent any misuse, fraudulence or malpractice.
For international paymenthttps://lnkd.in/gqYtGeb
For domestic UPI payment205712010000093@UBIN0820571.ifsc.npci
For Bank TransferAccount name: KalpataruAccount no: 205712010000093IFSC- UBIN0820571SWIFT Code: UBININBBCHG



Media Coverage
https://www.thehindu.com/society/an-apartment-in-bengaluru-is-distributing-groceries-to-daily-wage-earners/article31237291.ece
https://www.telegraphindia.com/amp/calcutta/coronavirus-lockdown-ration-without-queues-for-needy-in-east-midnapore/cid/1771539
https://www.deccanherald.com/amp/metrolife/metrolife-cityscape/networked-kitchens-add-to-relief-efforts-825319.html
https://thisweekindia.news/article/an-initiative-by-residents-of-bangalore/23874

Karwaan Banta Gaya – The Initiative That Grew by Itself

 

With the immediate enforcement of the nationwide lockdown in March 2020, we had been pondering how we could help so many stranded people. Images of migrant workers trekking hundreds of kilometres, abandoning the cities they no longer felt like home any more, carrying with them whatever they had in life, carrying even little babies in their arms – babies that might not even survive the ordeal – drove us crazy. There had to be a solution. Then we saw even more pathetic scenes of thousands of people thronging central kitchens set up by the governments or NGOs, waiting hours for meals. The exodus and the crowded feeding centres both defeated the very purpose of the lockdown. It was a matter of great concern what the outcome of this could be – the virus which had been predominantly an urban phenomenon till then could soon ravage the hinterlands of India. That was when we started thinking backwards, like reverse engineering and finding out what the root cause of all these could be.
After some introspection and brainstorming, a few interesting things emerged. The exodus was not caused because a huge number of people had been suddenly rendered homeless. It was not caused because of any fear – like what happens in the case of communal riots or pogroms. It was also not caused due to any natural calamity which suddenly rendered a place totally unliveable. It was caused only because, suddenly, with no cash in hand, millions of daily wage earners staying away from home were feeling alienated, lonesome, and helpless too, with no one to share their pains of hunger, and the uncertainties about the immediate future. Under such circumstances, it's but natural to yearn for their kin back home who could at least cry with them, die with them, if need be.
So now there were two problems – one of hunger, and the other of the chance of rapid spreading of the virus through the mass movements. It’s very obvious that the first was the root cause of the exodus the second its immediate fatal outcome. The foremost thing that came to our mind then was the immediate need for feeding the hungry people and hence the central kitchens and arrangements for massive food distribution appeared logical. Even, for the sake of argument, if we assumed that the million people would be picked up from their homes during the lockdown, taken to the central kitchens, fed, and then again dropped back home, all the time maintaining social distancing, and all the desirable standards of hygiene, still, it was not just feasible to prepare so much food on a daily basis.
But in all these, we had been missing a very simple fact that these stranded millions actually didn’t need cooked food. Most of them already had cooking arrangements wherever they had been staying and could very well do good if only the local neighbourhood grocers they had been going to all these days gave them their daily provisions on debt. We can’t blame the local grocers, who are more often than not, people of meagre means, as their concerns for unrecoverable bad debts, given the situation, are indeed true. The ideal solution would have been the government transferring some money to the bank accounts of the affected people so that they could go about buying the necessary items and sustaining their lives. But that won’t happen overnight and would involve a lot of hiccups too, even if we assumed that everyone had a bank account, which is not the case anyway. So, what could be done next? That was when it just flashed into our minds that we could apply the age-old tried and tested method of Divide and Conquer, something that we had anyway got used to over the past few centuries of British and then Indian rules.
We thought of conquering the macro problem of million people at the city level by dividing it into the hyper micro problems of only a few hundred in each neighbourhood. Looking around in our own neighbourhood we figured out that we could very well pull in some money from our neighbours and pay the local grocery stores for the daily provisions of the people stranded around us. As the amount needed was not much, we managed to raise the fund in a few hours, talk to the affected people about their basic requirements, negotiate a good rate with the local grocer and come up with a unit packet containing the basic provisions for a family of 4-5 people including kids to sustain for two days.
The unit packet, we settled for, contained two kilograms of rice, half a kilogram each of dal, potato and onion, half a litre of cooking oil, a packet of biscuit, some green chilies and one soap. After some negotiation, the grocer was ready to give it at 250 bucks.
Then we paid the shop through one of the digital payment apps, and requested one person from each family to collect the packet directly from the shop. This served several purposes.
Firstly, it ensured that no one had to travel beyond a few hundred metres, thus not violating the norms of the lockdown or social distancing.
Secondly, it ensured that we didn't have to bother much about the logistics at all, thus making the entire process very simple. Our delivery channel, practically, was the existing retail supply chain, which was very much functional all over the country, even during the lockdown, and was delivering the stock regularly even to the smallest of the kirana shops, thus keeping the last mile connectivity intact everywhere, irrespective of everything. Any other delivery channel would be much less efficient and ineffective, both from the point of view of coverage and speed, compared to the supply chain of these shops.
Thirdly, it ensured that there were no middlemen and that the packets reached directly the ones they were meant for.
Finally, it ensured that there wouldn’t be any wastage, as we had given a limited quantity which would exhaust in two days.
That was how we started with twenty families around Sarjapur Road in Bangalore. As the words spread around that we had been able to deliver raw materials to more than a hundred people without much ado, and more importantly, without anyone violating any social distancing norm, our friends gave us contacts of more stranded people, from their neighbourhood. All we had to do was just talk to the local grocer, negotiate the cost of the unit packet and get it collected by one member per family.In less than a day, we reached out to close to 150 people, across Bangalore. We felt this was indeed a viable model which could be replicated very easily in any neighbourhood. Our learnings from the entire exercise could be well leveraged by anyone interested in replicating the model. If every neighbourhood had at least one person taking this initiative, the entire problem could be solved in just a day.
The beauty of this simple model is as follows:Very minimal movement, no breaking the lockdown, no logistics, no hassles, and very minimal planning. Any other form of delivery system would involve much more movement, crowding, and engagement of people, either on the side of the volunteers or that of the beneficiaries, thus endangering the safety and security of both. In our model, only one person from each group or family needed to go out to the nearest grocery store and collect the provisions for two days, whenever it was convenient.Immediate delivery of essential food items to people who needed them the most. There was no long and indefinite wait, crowding at the roads or at the central distribution centres.Minimal scope of leakage or hoarding as we gave provisions to each family or group of 4-5 people only for two days.Limited chance of fraudulence, as one of us always identified and authenticated each of the beneficiaries, either in person, if they were in the same neighbourhood, or through a few phone calls and some basic fact-checking. We tried to ensure, to a great extent, that we were indeed reaching out to the right people who really were in dire need. In the course of a few days, we put in place a few simple checks and balances, like insisting on two pictures (sent through WhatsApp) each of the packets collected, one at the shop, with the shopkeeper, as the proof that the packet had been really collected from the shop, and the other with the rest of the family or group, as the proof that the person who collected the packet had really taken it home. Any lapse in this was dealt with very strictly, with immediate disqualification not only of the violating family or the group but of the entire cluster it belonged to, thus holding every family or group as a guarantee against each other.The model was simple enough to be scaled and/or replicated by anyone in her locality.Finally, the entire model maintained the safety and dignity of the beneficiaries, by not compelling them to queue up for receiving the daily provisions or wait indefinitely in its anticipation.Thus, applying the rudimentary concepts of networked, distributed, hyper-local supply chain management, taking some cue from the ideas of Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Professor Yunus’ microfinance model, and finally, ensuring the basic principles of social distancing, we were able to reach out to around 8500 people across seven states, taking care of more than 4.5 lakh meals in a span of 45 days.


We had started with reaching out only to the stranded migrant workers, but soon we were helping daily wagers like cab drivers, skilled factory workers, plumbers, electricians, and employees in the wellness, hospitality, and entertainment industries, who were not all daily wagers but had lost their wages immediately with the lockdown, petty musicians and singers who thrive on performing in trains, temples and other places, tribal rag pickers, residents of shelter-homes for orphans and senior citizens, poor villagers who live on running little errands and odd jobs, and many others.



Beginning on 30th March 2020, Day Zero, with a small amount pulled in between neighbours and friends, the initiative grew day by day. The last payment was done on the 60th day, 29th May.
This year, in 2021, when the problem has taken a totally different turn, we’ve taken up delivering medicines and O2 concentrators, too, at doorsteps, across India, through our unique, well-tested model – no logistics, no warehousing, no crowding, no hoarding, no violation of any Covid guidelines.In the case of O2 concentrators, which cost upwards of INR 75K each, we get the equipment shipped directly to the health centres, preferably small non-government rural establishments known to any one of us, so that we could check to a great extent any misuse, fraudulence or malpractice.
For international paymenthttps://lnkd.in/gqYtGeb
For domestic UPI payment205712010000093@UBIN0820571.ifsc.npci
For Bank TransferAccount name: KalpataruAccount no: 205712010000093IFSC- UBIN0820571SWIFT Code: UBININBBCHG



Media Coverage
https://www.thehindu.com/society/an-apartment-in-bengaluru-is-distributing-groceries-to-daily-wage-earners/article31237291.ece
https://www.telegraphindia.com/amp/calcutta/coronavirus-lockdown-ration-without-queues-for-needy-in-east-midnapore/cid/1771539
https://www.deccanherald.com/amp/metrolife/metrolife-cityscape/networked-kitchens-add-to-relief-efforts-825319.html
https://thisweekindia.news/article/an-initiative-by-residents-of-bangalore/23874

Abhyuday

 

Swami Vivekananda said that education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man. As a nation is built with her people, the more educated they are, the more perfect the nation. Conversely, lack of education is perhaps the starkest national imperfection.

According to data put out by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), the national dropout rate at the primary level was 4.34 percent in 2014-15, and it was even higher at the secondary level, at 17.86 percent. As per a paper commissioned by UNESCO for the 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report, the dropout at the secondary level could be a whopping 36 million, close to Canada’s population. More than half of those have actually dropped out because they had to start working and earn a living. Child labour’s compulsion remains one of the main reasons for dropout when a child grows big enough for heavy work. 

The compulsion is perhaps more for the migrant labourers’ children. The indication comes from the UNESCO paper. The 2011 Census data points out that the proportion of dropout in urban boys aged between 15 and 19 years among construction workers – the majority of them are migrant labourers – is 16% more than the national average in the same age group. Age-specific Attendance Ratio (AAR) has been found to be lower in the outmigration prone districts as compared to others. That the AAR for rural boys in West Bengal and Orissa aged between 15 and 19 years is among the lowest in India is perhaps not surprising when it’s recalled that the rural population from both states comprise a good chunk of the migrant workforce across India.

Despite the well-intended initiatives like RTE, many non-working kids of the migrant workers cannot go to regular schools because they are always moving. Even the government schools are not flexible enough to accommodate them. And for the older kids, who more often than not land up being child labourers, regular day schools are out of the question. It’s quite evident that all enforcement against child labour hasn’t eradicated the problem. So, it’s better to accept the reality and work out something that could tackle the issue in a different way.

That’s where the concept of free and informal Evening Schools, or rather coaching centres, seems apt. A regular school needs to follow a particular curriculum and operate under certain norms, which might not suit migrant kids. Moreover, it will be out of reach to the child labourers, who spend the whole day working and running errands. Tailor-made evening classes would solve all the problems. The parents would be encouraged to send their kids to the evening classes as that would neither hamper their day-work if they are working nor require the ordeal of seeking admission in the local schools through RTE or otherwise.

Kalpataru has started the Abhyuday Evening Schools under its Sanjh Ki Kiran initiative precisely for this reason. The idea is to utilise the existing setup and resources as much as possible and fill in some gaps to create a self-sustaining system that is beneficial to the kids who need it the most. In many places, we seek permission from the concerned authorities to use the government primary schools for the evening classes. We employ local teachers, predominantly young women, often students themselves, studious and hardworking, for whom a steady monthly income would go a long way in making them self-reliant and confident. This is directly linked to Kalpataru’s mission to work towards women’s wellness and empowerment.

The evening classes could evolve into many different things in the future. They could become places for vocational training for women, awareness camps, or simply women health centres.

Vivekananda interpreted abhyuday as uday, the awakening, of the abhi, the fearlessness. It symbolises the enkindling of the fire within, arousing the inner strength, and conquering the darkness of despair and hopelessness with the light of education.

Paraphrasing what Kofi Annan, a former Secretary-General of the United Nations, had once said, it could be asserted that education is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty and a building block of development. It is a platform for democratization, and a vehicle for the promotion of cultural and national identity.

Abhyuday is a humble effort at empowering the challenged with the strength and ammunition of education.

Sanjh Ki Kiran

In Indian philosophy, Kalpataru is a Wishing Tree, a tree that can fulfil all our wishes. Kalpataru Trust is a not-for-profit organization working at the national level towards creating a greener world, where the women would have better health, the children better education and the people, affected by the sudden wrath of nature, some basic aids to survive the turmoil. The members of Kalpataru strive to fulfil some of the basic needs, if not all the wishes, of the people around us. Our means are limited, but our dreams are boundless. 

We strongly feel that if everyone were adequately educated, we would have a self-reliant and capable world, atma nirbhar and sakshama. With this resolve, Kalpatru launched an initiative, Sanjh Ki Kiran, across India. Under the aegis of this initiative, the first evening school, Abhyuday, was inaugurated at Suneheri village, Kurukshetra, Haryana, on 29 November 2020.

The Abhyuday evening schools across the country would be like Sanjh ki Kiran, which would keep the darkness of incompetence away, even after the sun has gone down. Swami Vivekananda would say that education is that which brings out the best within us. It’s like the nurturing that makes a tiny seedling grow into a big Ashwatha tree, even the mighty Kalptaru. Without the gardener’s nurturing, even a Kalpataru might not grow to its fullest potential – the wrath of nature could consume it. We want to create the gardens and the gardeners to help today’s kids blossom like an Ashwatha, like a Kalpataru of the future. 

To make India atma nirbhar and sakshama, every kid of today should have a proper education. The evening schools would cater to the children of the migrant labourers and others who are economically challenged and who cannot afford to send their kids to coaching classes or good schools. Thus, these kids are deprived of the essential ammunition to fight poverty in the long run and the keys to better lives. The evening schools are meant to fill in the gaps in the education for these kids, thus nurturing them to become atma nirbhar citizens of India. 

Kalpataru

 

In Indian philosophy, Kalpataru is a Wishing Tree, a bountiful source that can fulfil humanity’s wishes. At Kalpataru, we strive to meet some of the basic needs, if not all wishes, of people around us. Our means are limited. But our dreams are boundless. We have an undying conviction that if we all sacrificed a bit of our energy, resource and time, we would collectively amass enough to make some difference to society, spread some happiness, dispel some gloom. We envision a greener world, where the women would have better health, the children better education, and the people, affected by the sudden wrath of nature, some basic aids to survive the turmoil.
Our Vision: To create a self-sustaining greener world, where the women are empowered and children educated
Our Motto: तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथा, We Rejoice with What Has Been Sacrificed

Protests Against Exclusion Are Themselves Becoming Exclusionist

Isn’t it true that the protests against CAA are turning into what they are against – exclusion? The rhetoric seems to be, “If you’re with me, you’re good, else you’re a fascist, neo-patriot, Nazi sympathizer, Muslim hater, Islam phobic.”
Most writers had once threatened to withdraw from the Bangalore Lit Fest if Vikram Sampath, who was not vocal enough in his support for their “Award Wapsi” movement, was involved in any capacity. He soon resigned from the organizing committee of the fest and everyone was fine.Do you see the contradiction – the side that’s protesting against exclusion is also excluding anyone who doesn’t align with their views. So how different are they from what they are protesting against?
There’s a huge number of people (yes, it’s true – in a country with 1.5 billion people a few hundred thousand protesters is not significant), like me, who are not driven by any specific agenda, neither do they believe in the Hindutva rhetoric the current government talks about, but still support the Citizen Amendment Act. It’s very important for the people who are protesting against the act to understand the views of the other side. Dismissing all of them could be very detrimental to very cause of all the protests, and will yield very limited results, other than some moral victory in limited intellectual and liberal forum worldwide.
Unless the side protesting listens to all other voices, they’re doing the same mistake the government is also doing – being exclusionist. If they think everyone with a different view is a fascist and exclude all of them from their crusade, they’re also creating another Frankenstein the present government is creating too, by alienating all that don’t agree to them.
There’s a huge resentment on the other side too and that must also be considered, without calling them names. There’s indeed a growing concern that the persecuted Hindus have often been ignored in the name of equality, as though, showing sympathy to them would tantamount to being communal. What saddens them is an apparent lack of sympathy to the Hindus of the Indian subcontinent, who are among the most persecuted religious minorities in the world after the Jews (2.5 million of them were killed by the Pakistan Army alone in East Pakistan between 1947 and 1971). The plight of the Hindus from East Pakistan have been totally forgotten. Same is the case with the Kashmiri Pandits – everyone condemns the Indian state and the Army for the plight for the Kashmiris but very rarely have we seen any condemnation of what actually caused the problem – the total eviction of the minority Pandits from the valley. Not only that, people are out citing facts to “prove” that the Hindus were never persecuted in Pakistan – isn’t it ridiculous? Whom are we ignoring? What are we trying to prove? What will become of such movements when you exclude one big community who needs the most sympathy?
People who are supporting the CAA have their personal reasons for doing so, from their lived experience. Aren’t they absolutely entitled to that?
Just because one Amit shah or Modi speak in a language not acceptable even to them that are supporting the CAA, the side not supporting the act can’t ignore the emotive context totally, in their angst against the government. But sadly, that’s what is happening.
It’s not that anyone’s support for CAA means she is indifferent of the follies of the current government, like lynching, mob attacks, the allowed devolution of language around Muslims by a certain section of the BJP, the exalting of Hindutva in irrational and often ridiculous ways, the repeated and prolonged internet shutdowns whenever there is dissent, suppressing counter voices critical to the government, among many others. But again, the Abrogation of the Article 370 and the Babri verdict ought to have difference of opinions and multiple but pertinent voices, all of which can’t be bucketed simplistically into communal and secular.
What’s happening is that, the protests seem to be turning anti Modi-Shah, and also alienating a large section of Indian population who have reasons to support the law, or at least the intent behind it, but not necessarily support the government in everything they do.
There are also several dichotomies and contradictions in various things. For example, I personally support the cause of Assam and the NE, and I believe they do have a very valid point – that their demographics is under threat from the Bengali influx. But in the same line of thought, it could be also argued that the demographics of Bengal is changing too, because of the influx of a certain community from Bangladesh, who are of course not persecuted but are being allured by the present ruling government (and also the previous) in Bengal, just to increase their vote bank. There are many districts in Bengal where the Indian Bengalis are in minority, like many in Assam where Assamese are. And the problem wouldn’t have happened if things at the ground level hadn’t been altered. Calcutta has a huge proportion of non-Bengalis but there’s no problem because the ethos of Calcutta is still very much Bengali. But the concern of a considerable section of Hindus in many bordering districts of Bengal is that the natural and traditional ethos is now being altered, forcefully by the last two governments, over the last 40 plus years. So why shouldn’t that be a valid concern? Is ethos just linguistic? Doesn’t ethos also include religion and culture?
Again, mob lynching is horrific. But equally horrific are the political lynching and murders, say in Bengal – statistically the number of political murders are more than lynching – but where’s there an outcry for that? Is political murder less heinous? I don’t see any condemnation of that. There are many such things which seem very contradictory not only to me, but a large, actually very very large section of people, and alienating all of them or relegating them to bigots or fascists would be quite dangerous. Most of them are not illiterate party cadres that could be allured by a Babri or a shallow Hindutva narrative. When many of them do support the BJP, despite all the follies, it means something else which, unless understood by the other side of the “fence” would never solve the problem they are seeking to solve, through the protests.
Everyone has the right to take his or her side without one being superior or inferior to the other. It’s good that people are voicing their views. But not everyone who’s not on one side is an enemy of the state or for that matter not everyone on one side is saving the state. Any opinion has two or more sides, with all reasons, and unless both/all sides maintain the humility of not demeaning the other, there’s not much that will come out of any initiative from the either. The government will fail and the protests too.
What we are seeing now is just calling names from both sides. This reminds me of a Bengali poem by Annada Shankar Ray, which roughly translates to – The Mukherjee is the king, the Mukherjees are the people. The Mukherjee is the government the Mukherjee is the opposition. The Mukherjee is the protest and the Mukherjee is the cop.
Finally, there’s also a concern about many of the protesters, as very well pointed out in a well-researched article(thankfully written by a Muslim, not a Hindu). The writer pointed out rightly, to tackle the RSS and their politics, the opponents have to get onto the ground and create similar levels of engagements the former have with the people. The real problem is that the opponent, who claim themselves are progressive and the savior of the country, is too elitist and totally disconnected from the masses.

Defending the Indefensible - by Kanishka Lahiri

The last two weeks have seen massive and for the most part, peaceful protests in response to the Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019, and the repeatedly stated objective of the government to build a “National Register for Citizens” along the lines of the one recently executed with ineptitude and horrific disregard for human rights in Assam.

The protests have been unique in India’s independent history in that many of them have been led by students, civil society, and a variety of community organizations, without (in many cases) any active involvement from opposition parties. They have brought tens of thousands of ordinary people cutting across a variety of social fault lines onto the streets in a rare demonstration of solidarity to reaffirm basic constitutional ideals. Noted author Amit Chaudhuri has called these protests “such as haven’t been seen since the freedom struggle”.

I have been among those who have participated in these protests, and have witnessed them with incredulity and a gradually deepening sense of reassurance that our citizenry, including those who are comfortably insulated from these issues by virtue of their positions of social privilege, actually cares about the future and the ideals of the country. How Bangalore, where the educated classes and it’s youth, characteristically shy of stepping out of their comfort zones of shopping malls and gated communities, has stepped out on to the streets in huge numbers to be counted among those who said, “I cannot be silent any more”.

After two weeks of these protests, on Dec 22, during an election rally for the upcoming elections to the Delhi State Assembly, the Prime Minister appeared to back down on the immediacy of the NRC, and claimed that it “has not even been discussed since 2014”. This is completely at odds with statements made by his own Home Minister, Mr Amit Shah, who as recently as on Dec 10, on the floor of the Lok Sabha said “Maan kar chaliye NRC ane wala hai” (just take it for granted that the NRC is coming). There are numerous other examples where he has connected the CAA with the NRC in rally after election rally, all of which have been well documented by several media houses, including an excellent collection by The Wire.

While this contradiction is making headlines, what is getting less coverage is the Prime Minister comment in the same speech where he disavowed the existence of Detention Camps, and even tried to make a joke out it, suggesting with a smirk that they are the figment of the imagination of “Urban Naxals”. The truth is the construction and maintenance of detention camps have been documented at length by contemporary reportage, and even happens to be documented on the Lok Sabha’s own website. Unfortunately, in the timid news environment we live in, it seems like he will get away with it. The next day, there was only one prominent English daily that came close to calling him a liar.

How do we explain the PM’s statement? One possibility is that we accept that there have been no formal discussions on the topic. In that case, Mr Shah has prematurely let the cat out of the bag as to the real intention behind the combination of the CAA and NRC, for which we must thank him. While the political value of such statements with respect to the BJPs vote bank is obvious, it is very hard to see how the Home Minister might have acted without tacit or explicit approval from the PM. If that reality is murky and disturbing, the alternative, which is that the PM lied in a planned speech with a potential audience of a billion people with no accountability, is horrifying.

What these brazen denials do is further deepen the trust deficit between the government and an increasingly large section of the people. The leadership likely doesn’t care, because a multi-year project to label anyone who chooses to reject their politics and policies as a public enemy (the “urban naxals” alluded to earlier) has met with resounding success as evidenced by widespread hate on social media and the comments sections of popular national dailies that target the government’s critics.

While the leadership may not care, a lot of people do. In the interests of accountability, a healthy democracy must always maintain a trust deficit between citizens and government. Too little trust is problematic, since various systems (e.g. the criminal justice system) rely on some level of trust. Without it we are condemned to incidents like the extra-judicial “encounter” killings of suspected rapists in Hyderabad, egged on and applauded by a worryingly large section of society. To an extent, we all need to trust government to “do the right thing”. But there is a line that separates that trust from becoming belief. “Followers” of Modi (as opposed to his “supporters” --- and it is important to make that distinction) who have “belief” in him put a host of constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and rights that even they take for granted today, at serious risk. “Blind belief in authority”, Albert Einstein said while reflecting on times eerily similar to the present day, “is the greatest enemy of truth”.

The Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019 can be looked at in isolation, as the current leadership, taken by surprise at the severity of the push back from civil society, would have us do today. However, the more pragmatic approach right now demands that we analyze it in the context of a potential nation-wide NRC, without being beguiled by the Prime Ministers dubious and confusing reassurances.

Shekhar Gupta, a well-known journalist on his program “Cut the Clutter” described the CAA as a missile, and the NRC as a warhead that could create untold destruction. Without the CAA, the NRC is doomed to face a backlash from the Hindu vote bank no matter how the failed Assam process is tweaked. In the reality that is India, any process that is aimed at excluding potential illegal migrants will necessarily exclude large swathes of our genuine population. Tightening the norms for proving citizenship risks mass exclusion, as we have seen pitifully play out in Assam, where 2 million people are today at the risk of statelessness, and much to the horror of the BJP, 60% of them turned out to be Hindu. Those excluded face either detention camps or years of chasing the tail of our judicial system trying to prove existential legitimacy, instead of pursuing incidental goals like life, liberty, and happiness. Either way, those excluded have been condemned by the state to face severe restrictions on personal liberty, irrespective of whether they are migrants or not. Heart rending stories have been surfacing from Assam, where families have been separated: mother from child, husband from wife, on the suspicion that they are illegal immigrants. In an answer to a question in parliament, it was disclosed that 28 people have died in detention camps that current house about a 1000 people. This is a matter of public record, irrespective of what the PM may say. While this has backfired on the BJP in Assam, it is clear this would be an unmitigated disaster both socially and electorally, if it is simply scaled up to a national level.

In order to avoid this political apocalypse, one option is to loosen the norms that define citizenship; however, this risks almost everyone getting included and we will end up living as one happy nation, migrants and all. But that serves no practical or political end. (Or maybe it does, like demonetization, where “followers”, not “supporters” will say, “oh well, at least he tried”, and will overlook the Tughlaqian expenditure and monumental waste in human resources to execute the project).

Bottomline, the CAA is a critical to preventing the NRC warhead from blowing up at the front door of the BJPs newly constructed national headquarters.

For minorities from neighbouring Islamic countries, the act does two things. First, it removes the illegal tag from their status in India. Existing rules (pre-Dec 2019) required that, irrespective of religion, you could apply for citizenship after continuous legal residence of 11 years. Second, for these minorities, the domicile requirement has been reduced to 5 years. With the loss of the illegal tag, that means any non-Muslim migrant who has lived in India for 5 years or more, automatically qualifies for citizenship irrespective of whether they were “illegal” in the first place. The same benefit does not apply to Muslim migrants even if they entered India for a variety of reasons, one of which could in fact include religious persecution. Several commentators and the so called "CAA awareness" drive of the government argues that the path to citizenship has not been taken away for them and that they can still apply using the “old rules”, happily ignoring the fact that most of them they can’t, since the onus of proving legal residence (for 11 years in their case) remains on them, while for non-Muslims, the state has taken on that burden and given them a free pass.

Now with the CAA as the law of the land (pending notification, and a potential Supreme Court ruling on its constitutionality), how should we anticipate the NRC playing out? In theory, migrant non-Muslims should have little cause for fear. However, this is not obvious, since the CAA is silent on how the migrant is, if at all, expected to prove that she is from one of the listed Islamic countries. In fact, for that matter, the CAA is silent on how the migrant, if at all, is expected to prove she is Hindu (or any one of the other exempt religions). The idea that a bureaucrat will have the power to decide for an individual whether her claim of a certain religious identity is bona fide seems like a dangerous proposition, one that is almost crying out for misuse of official power. Setting that question of identity aside, how would a migrant prove her country of origin, when she has spent years living in India, and has likely done her best to erase any evidence of having come from another country? Certain sections may have documentation, such as a school leaving certificate, or a college degree, but the vast majority will not.

Keeping the above compulsions in mind, in order to gain a politically favorable NRC result and avoid the Assam debacle on a national scale, it seems fair to hypothesize that the process will not require much formal documentation at all. After all, the correction of a historical injustice to a section of society cannot be achieved by making the same section run pillar to post of the famed Indian bureaucracy. In such a scenario, the only differentiating factor would come down to religious identity, not a combination of religious identity and country of origin. The rules will apply equally to non-migrants who will need to prove themselves to the state. In the absence of appropriate documentation, if they don’t want to be faced with the threat of detention camps, they will declare themselves as foreigners from one of those three countries, and if they are accepted by the powers that be as non-Muslim, and can show proof of domicile for 5 years (which is easier to do), they will walk through the pearly gates of the NRC. While the idea that genuine Indians may have to declare themselves as foreigners in order to remain Indian is ridiculous enough, it needs to be understood that based on the current level of information, no such escape route, contrived as it might be, is available for the average Indian Muslim.

To counter the current protests, in recent days the government has launched a campaign to underline the fact that “genuine Indian Muslims have nothing to worry about”. However, the statements are short on detail, and do not explain why under the current CAA and envisaged NRC exercise, the possibility of mass disenfranchisement and delegitimization of Indian Muslims is not real.

One side of this debate places faith in the government and argues that we should “wait and watch”. No government should be given that latitude, irrespective of what ideology they belong to. Silence is complicity. If you don’t want your children to ask where you were when this country took a giant stride towards a Hindu Rashtra, and till such time questions such as these remain unanswered, all those who value the principles on which this country was founded must demand that the Citizenship Amendment Act be repealed. Next, we must demand a clear public statement from the Prime Minister that the NRC will not be implemented while his government is in office.

And finally, truth matters. If either of them have any respect for the trust that the public placed in them, Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Shah must own responsibility for misleading the country on the NRC and detention camps, and must resign immediately.

I support the Citizen Amendment Act ��� And I Don���t Hate Muslims, Nor Am I a Fascist

I have always maintained that the Hindus of Bangladesh can���t be compared with anyone else. They have all the right to be Indian citizens but were denied that basic right earlier ��� they were not allowed to enter India as a fallout of the ill-conceived Nehru-Liyaquat Pact, which is again a totally forgotten episode now ��� and that resulted in them being the second largest victim of religious persecution after the Jews (2.5 million of them were killed by the Pakistan Army between 1947 and 1971). If I���m the citizen then they too are, and I (a second generation of someone who just managed to enter India at the nick of time) too could have been one of them who couldn���t enter India, or rather not allowed to enter India. The partition made it mandatory for India to accept all willing non-Muslim people from both East and West Pakistan ��� everyone from West Pakistan was allowed to enter and only a part from East Bengal was. So the Hindus of Bangladesh can���t be mixed with anyone else.

Something which seems default to me is not easy to explain others. And there lies the chasm between the two sides ��� one who doesn���t oppose the CAA and the one who does. The Jews have been rehabilitated worldwide. But the second most persecuted religious community in the world is still not being rehabilitated and we are still debating. That���s really painful. And isn���t it just amazing that despite such level of persecution not a single of them have yet become militant or even taken to any form of violence, both in Bangladesh and also in India.

You may not be convinced about rehabilitation for past wrongs at the cost of others who are very much in the present. It could be also argued whether the Hindus not taking to militancy is amazing. You could think of various reasons. Divisions within Hindu society, lack of leadership, lack of support from rich diaspora from across the world, nonintervention of India, who knows.

But still, there���s a persecuted community who were ready to adjust to anything that came along and struggle to do whatever best they managed to get. And today, many successful Bengalis worldwide are among those persecuted people. It���s indeed something to study for the whole world. But they never came to the radar of anyone. No one is asking to do any wrong to others. I���m just saying, keep them aside and create rules for others. Don���t mix them with other persecuted people at all. Isn���t it ironical that we are ready to understand why someone can become militant but we say ���don���t know��� when there���s an example of such a huge persecuted community who stayed away from militancy? The Parsis and Tibetans too never became militants and they too were not less persecuted. It���s indeed worth studying why certain people ��� Sri Lankan Tamils, Maoists, Kashmiris ��� took to militancy but many others didn���t.

It could be argued that we could keep on theorizing about this stuff. But the pain and suffering that people and kids are going through right now, today, is something we are all complicit in. Just as our parents were complicit in Nehru's mistakes. In our times if there is something I can do to raise my voice against injustice that moves me, I will. But it should be also agreed I can't do it for everyone. So the argument of what about the community X in such and such place doesn't hold for me. We are not super humans that we have to stand up for every injustice. If we raise our voice for any cause, we believe in, I think we are being good citizens, irrespective of what side of the debate we are on, as long as it is sincere and not agenda driven.

But, I stand for something doesn���t mean that someone else can���t stand for something else. And ���my standing��� is the only high ���standing��� is also not acceptable. Today���s problem comes exactly from this attitude. I love Gandhi like a God and always hated Nathuram Godse but when I read what he told to the court in his trial I was firstly so shaken that I couldn���t sleep for [a] few days. Not that my love for Gandhi came down, rather it increased, but I learned a very big thing ��� that the other perspective is also equally strong as mine, and that the ethics and moralities are only relative. At the end, Nathuram Godse took arms, very much like a Kashmiri terrorist, and the adamancy and arrogance about the absoluteness of my ideology never allows to pardon a militant, come what may. Hence, at the end I can���t take Nathuram���s side though he also stood for what he felt was right. All our standings are like that. If I stand for Gandhi I must demonize Nathuram, and if I stand for Nathuram I must demonize Gandhi. But in reality, both sides become demon ��� the Gandhians might feel appalled at the thought that Nathuram could be right, and vice versa.

The moment you demonize one side too much, there���s a retaliation and in most cases it���s very severe. There are very solid grounds, supported by facts and figures, that Hindus have been wronged in many ways. But that���s normal ��� anyone could be wronged. So there���s perhaps no exception about the wrongs done towards the Hindus. But for a very long time the side that stood for the Hindus were demonized so much that one day they retaliated. If the demonization didn���t happen, perhaps the retaliation also wouldn���t have happened. Terrorism is also one form of fascism. In fact, fascism is terrorism. So if you think why the BJP has such enormous support base in what one side refers to as its own form of ���terrorism���, it���s perhaps because of the same reason why Kashmiris have also come to support terrorism ��� the feeling that they haven���t been heard enough, that they have been demonized in many ways. So basically the problem is always in demonizing the other side. Whenever I call someone fascist or communal I���m demonizing him, not understanding why he���s behaving like that. For the sake of argument, it could be said that there���s no difference between a Kashmiri terrorist and may be Amit Shah or Modi or another Nathuram. One has more power so he���s doing more harm. So unless this looking down on others, taking a moral high ground that ���my stand is higher than yours���, this will never end. As I told, BJP will lose, Congress will come, they will also do some other form of harm and then again BJP will come and it will go on and on like a vicious circle ��� unless we learn to listen otters, stop demonizing others.

So, I say again ��� I support the CAA and I don���t hate Muslims and I���m not a demon either. I don���t devour humans.

I support the Citizen Amendment Act – And I Don’t Hate Muslims, Nor Am I a Fascist

I have always maintained that the Hindus of Bangladesh can’t be compared with anyone else. They have all the right to be Indian citizens but were denied that basic right earlier – they were not allowed to enter India as a fallout of the ill-conceived Nehru-Liyaquat Pact, which is again a totally forgotten episode now – and that resulted in them being the second largest victim of religious persecution after the Jews (2.5 million of them were killed by the Pakistan Army between 1947 and 1971). If I’m the citizen then they too are, and I (a second generation of someone who just managed to enter India at the nick of time) too could have been one of them who couldn’t enter India, or rather not allowed to enter India. The partition made it mandatory for India to accept all willing non-Muslim people from both East and West Pakistan – everyone from West Pakistan was allowed to enter and only a part from East Bengal was. So the Hindus of Bangladesh can’t be mixed with anyone else.
Something which seems default to me is not easy to explain others. And there lies the chasm between the two sides – one who doesn’t oppose the CAA and the one who does. The Jews have been rehabilitated worldwide. But the second most persecuted religious community in the world is still not being rehabilitated and we are still debating. That’s really painful. And isn’t it just amazing that despite such level of persecution not a single of them have yet become militant or even taken to any form of violence, both in Bangladesh and also in India.
You may not be convinced about rehabilitation for past wrongs at the cost of others who are very much in the present. It could be also argued whether the Hindus not taking to militancy is amazing. You could think of various reasons. Divisions within Hindu society, lack of leadership, lack of support from rich diaspora from across the world, nonintervention of India, who knows. But still, there’s a persecuted community who were ready to adjust to anything that came along and struggle to do whatever best they managed to get. And today, many successful Bengalis worldwide are among those persecuted people. It’s indeed something to study for the whole world. But they never came to the radar of anyone. No one is asking to do any wrong to others. I’m just saying, keep them aside and create rules for others. Don’t mix them with other persecuted people at all. Isn’t it ironical that we are ready to understand why someone can become militant but we say “don’t know” when there’s an example of such a huge persecuted community who stayed away from militancy? The Parsis and Tibetans too never became militants and they too were not less persecuted. It’s indeed worth studying why certain people – Sri Lankan Tamils, Maoists, Kashmiris – took to militancy but many others didn’t.
It could be argued that we could keep on theorizing about this stuff. But the pain and suffering that people and kids are going through right now, today, is something we are all complicit in. Just as our parents were complicit in Nehru's mistakes. In our times if there is something I can do to raise my voice against injustice that moves me, I will. But it should be also agreed I can't do it for everyone. So the argument of what about the community X in such and such place doesn't hold for me. We are not super humans that we have to stand up for every injustice. If we raise our voice for any cause, we believe in, I think we are being good citizens, irrespective of what side of the debate we are on, as long as it is sincere and not agenda driven.
But, I stand for something doesn’t mean that someone else can’t stand for something else. And “my standing” is the only high “standing” is also not acceptable. Today’s problem comes exactly from this attitude. I love Gandhi like a God and always hated Nathuram Godse but when I read what he told to the court in his trial I was firstly so shaken that I couldn’t sleep for [a] few days. Not that my love for Gandhi came down, rather it increased, but I learned a very big thing – that the other perspective is also equally strong as mine, and that the ethics and moralities are only relative. At the end, Nathuram Godse took arms, very much like a Kashmiri terrorist, and the adamancy and arrogance about the absoluteness of my ideology never allows to pardon a militant, come what may. Hence, at the end I can’t take Nathuram’s side though he also stood for what he felt was right. All our standings are like that. If I stand for Gandhi I must demonize Nathuram, and if I stand for Nathuram I must demonize Gandhi. But in reality, both sides become demon – the Gandhians might feel appalled at the thought that Nathuram could be right, and vice versa.
The moment you demonize one side too much, there’s a retaliation and in most cases it’s very severe. There are very solid grounds, supported by facts and figures, that Hindus have been wronged in many ways. But that’s normal – anyone could be wronged. So there’s perhaps no exception about the wrongs done towards the Hindus. But for a very long time the side that stood for the Hindus were demonized so much that one day they retaliated. If the demonization didn’t happen, perhaps the retaliation also wouldn’t have happened. Terrorism is also one form of fascism. In fact, fascism is terrorism. So if you think why the BJP has such enormous support base in what one side refers to as its own form of “terrorism”, it’s perhaps because of the same reason why Kashmiris have also come to support terrorism – the feeling that they haven’t been heard enough, that they have been demonized in many ways. So basically the problem is always in demonizing the other side. Whenever I call someone fascist or communal I’m demonizing him, not understanding why he’s behaving like that. For the sake of argument, it could be said that there’s no difference between a Kashmiri terrorist and may be Amit Shah or Modi or another Nathuram. One has more power so he’s doing more harm. So unless this looking down on others, taking a moral high ground that “my stand is higher than yours”, this will never end. As I told, BJP will lose, Congress will come, they will also do some other form of harm and then again BJP will come and it will go on and on like a vicious circle – unless we learn to listen otters, stop demonizing others.
So, I say again – I support the CAA and I don’t hate Muslims and I’m not a demon either. I don’t devour humans.

The Citizen Amendment Act - The Different Voices

Any One: Hey there. What is this Citizenship Bill mess? Objectively, why use religion as a criteria and not use religious persecution as the sole criteria? Using the latter would have achieved the same goal without appearing to be discriminatory. [I accept that the] Hindus fled Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh facing religious persecution [and that something should be done for them. But] I am a bit puzzled by the structure of the citizenship bill as it appears to be reinforcing the narrative that BJP is fundamentally anti Muslim. May be I am missing something. Shia Muslims, who were kicked out of POK, should also be considered as a wronged minority.
Other One: Well, not you but everyone is missing the main point. Very few people know the following:
There were more than 11 million Hindus in East Bengal during partition, more than double [the number of] Sikhs and Hindus in West Punjab [in what became part of Pakistan]. Almost 100% [non-Muslims] from Pakistan-Punjab moved to India and a very similar number of Muslims from India moved to Pakistan. But in Bengal, the numbers were totally different. Only seven lakh Muslims from India moved to Bangladesh. But the 11 million [the number of Hindus in east Bengal] is a huge number that can’t shift in a day. Even by 1950 only a small part had trickled into India. And then Nehru, in his zeal to be a secularist, did a deal with Pakistan to take back Bengali Hindus into East Pakistan with the assurance that they would be safe. So practically, millions of Hindus who had entered India were kicked out of India, and the person who protested most, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, died mysteriously in Kashmir very soon. So all the Hindus who kept on trickling into India ever since and were marked illegal are actually the ones who were kicked out of India by Nehru [in the 1950s], and their descendants. So technically, they can’t be called illegal, as India had the moral obligation to give them refuge after 1947, which they never did. So this bill is predominantly to finally give those Bengali Muslims, and of course now their descendants too, from Bangladesh a legal status which India should have given in [the aftermath of] 1947. Somehow BJP is shying away from saying the truth and that’s another problem.
The bill is not also for all the Hindus who are being persecuted elsewhere, like [the] Sri Lankan Tamils. Whoever [among them] has moved to India has been anyway given refuge and those numbers are minuscule compared to the millions Bengali Hindus. The Shias from POK, The Kalasha people from the Hindukush, the Hazaras, the Baloch, the Ahmadis, all are [no doubt] persecuted in Pakistan but that’s a totally different story than the Bengali Hindus, because they [unlike the others] were evicted out of India when they had entered first, and [now] they can’t be compared to any other persecuted people anywhere else.
As for the marginalized non-minorities of Pakistan and POK, India would be more than happy to give them asylum but they must come legally. India already has given a lot of asylum to a lot of such people. The entire Tibetans have been given asylum and they are not considered illegal. Why can’t others also take the same route?
Any One: I see, but BJP is not communicating this fact clearly – that the bill is trying to rectify a historical error / injustice by the Indian Government. This is coming across as [if] I am going to provide citizenship to only Hindu refugees, which comes across as narrow minded and perhaps against the spirit of secularism.
Other One: Well it’s not that they didn’t tell all these, but these were lost in [the] narrative.
Any One: OK, why not provide citizenship to all refugees who were persecuted based on religion – that would have been a very clean approach.
Other One: I can [say] that [a significant part of the] Muslims from Bangladesh, who entered [lately] were actually lured by Mamata and the previous CPM [governments in West Bengal] to change the demographics of Bengal. Why should they all be given citizenship? Is there any reason for that? [As for the other persecuted Muslims in the neighboring countries], they can take asylum – see the Tibetans. Was there any problem for that? The Sri Lankan Tamils. So what’s the problem in that route?
Any One: Yes, Muslims who crossed from Bangladesh for economic reasons [should] not be eligible.
Other One: So, you are also saying the same thing but in a different way. That’s what [the amendment] is also saying. [By the way, I don’t think that] the Ahmadis, Shias and the others infiltrate into India. They seek asylum and India have been [also] giving [them the same]. The Baloch leader – now he is in Switzerland – [has been offered Indian citizenship]. Many Shias from POK, who came to India, are staying peacefully.
Any One: I am saying that refugees who came to India fearing religious persecution should be granted citizenship [and] illegal immigrants who came for economic reasons will not have any rights. That solves the infiltration problem, but does not single out Muslims as not eligible. Why put religion as a criterion when it could be used to create a divisive narrative?
Other One: That’s effectively saying [persecuted] Muslims from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, isn’t it? I would like to see a single Shia or Ahmadi or Hazara anywhere in India who has entered illegally [or has been sent back]. They don’t, like the Tibetans. They always take asylum.
Any One: It still does not justify the framing [of] the bill as granting citizenship based on one’s religion – to me when I read the summary, the bill does not state partition or the historical wrongs – rather it comes across as an explicit attempt to exclude Muslims. Why is a minority Muslim-sect refugee not welcomed into India if he or she has been living illegally? To me the bill conveniently excludes this fact.
Other One: Yes, they should be given asylum like the Tibetans... And many have already got, even Lankan Tamils. But I fail to understand why are Indian Muslims feeling it’s a threat to them?
Any One: Well, this to Indian Muslims can appear as the government discriminating against them. It also creates an element of fear – tomorrow someone can question a Muslim whether he or she is an Indian or not. Having lived in USA as a minority I can empathize why Muslims may feel scared. My personal experience with an Indian Muslim (a very dear childhood family friend) and an Indian Christian (a highly educated colleague) has been quite stark. There is a strong mistrust of the government, there is a feeling of fundamental insecurity. Imagine an Indian Muslim, liberal and educated saying, “It is safer for me and my family in Trump’s America than India.” He eventually emigrated to US, even though his wife was very hesitant.
Other One: Anyway I’m always fond of arguments and spending time in making my point with facts and figures and also listening to others. That’s important. Well, that mistrust is there on both sides. Majority Hindus never trusted Congress and there are reasons for that. Many Hindus, who were not allowed to enter India after partition from the East Pakistan due to the ill-conceived Nehru-Liyaquat Pact, and whose families partially had moved to India [earlier], finally relocated to the US because they didn’t trust the Congress. This is a major problem I agree – people can’t trust the government. And for that, government and people both have to be open hear each other and not take a moral high ground that “I’m secular” and “you’re communal”. That’s what is happening for a long time.
Any One: Agree, I think we need a civil debate. However, I am deeply disappointed by BJP [that] they are squandering a historic mandate and implementing policies that is not really helping the country. To me, issues like pollution in major cities is so critical to solve, [and] issues like CAB are becoming a major distraction.
Other One: Ya, I agree... they could have done much better.
Any One: Not saying that CAB should be ignored but the timing and the messaging was so poorly planned.
Other One: This was, I think, mainly to fulfil their election commitment – all these were there in their manifesto and they are implementing everything in a year. [But I] agree [that] the narrative was wrong. [It] created a totally different type of problem in [the] NE.
Any One: I did not know about the whole conflict between the Bengali Hindus and the Assamese. Deep down, I think a lot of Assamese and Oriya people feel that Bengalis look down upon them.
Other One: Not Hindus, but both the Bengali Hindus and Muslims. It has been there for very long and their demographics were changed very badly by the Bengalis even before the partition. Because the Hindus were denied entry into India legally, huge chunks [of them] went and entered into Assam [after the partition], assuming less backlash, [further altering the demographics of the NE].
Any One: Examining the letter of the law is one thing, but we must also pay attention to its intent. The rhetoric [often] sounds like Nazism to me. How do you view it?
Other One: Yes, it is, and the rhetoric is also not positive. I don’t like it. But it’s the Frankenstein created by the same people who are now opposing him. Why do you think people like me support BJP? And there are many – we are not insensitive, communal or fascist from any angle. We strongly feel we need someone who would at least give some attention to the plight of the Hindus too. I know it’s like playing with fire but something has to be done. The only Muslim majority state in India [Kashmir] has persecuted all the minorities. Pakistan and Bangladesh have also done similar things but there’s not even any acknowledgement from anyone that the Hindus are indeed persecuted [at the hands of the Muslims]. People want to always forget the past whenever it’s a wrong done to the Hindus – so why not forget Palestine? It’s even older than Kashmir or Bangladesh. People like me don’t seek revenge – we just want some acknowledgement, at least, and [some] respectable solution to the plight [of the persecuted Hindus] without being dragged into politics and comparison, and some sympathy from others who shed so much tears for Palestine and the Sunni Muslim – I repeat Sunni because no one bothers for the Shias, no one has ever raised any voice for anyone in the POK or Iran.
How many people came to support Taslima Nasrin? Show me a single article from Arundhati Roy, Barkha Dutt or Girish Karnad supporting her openly. You may say that it’s their right to choose where to raise voice, but that also makes people like us suspicious of their intention or agenda. When I speak about persecution I always talk about the Shias. But the absolute silence from the same liberal side about POK again makes me suspicious. And if I am suspicious think about someone who’s relatively less read? When Javed Akhtar says that he can’t come to the Bangalore Lit Fest because Vikram Sampath [the founder of the fest] didn’t support Award Wapsi, I really doubt the seriousness of the entire movement they are launching.
Any One: I definitely support Taslima Nasrin, and I think she has widespread support from the left leaning Bengali middle classes. Not sure about Ram Guha etc., maybe it's because she writes in Bengali. I don't know anything about writers in other languages, and came to learn about Perumal Murugan and his work only a few years ago.
Other One: Taslima is not restricted to Bengal and no one has to read Bengali to know her. Come on. She’s known to everyone and all her books are available in English also. You can’t deny that people like Arundhati Roy and Girsh Karnad would never ever condemn Muslims. She even went ahead and condemned the US for the 9-11 attacks. And this is something that makes the entire movement led by them and their sympathizers very suspicious even to me. On top of that, I now see people citing numbers to say that the percentage of Hindus in Pakistan has increased from 1.6 to 1.8% or something like that and [that] the myth about they being persecuted is fake propaganda. What would you say to that?
Any One: I think when you have to get your political message across to a wide section, you have to take extreme stances, else no one will notice. Of course people will quietly support the good things that the BJP has done, like Swachh Bharat, or the insolvency code (never understood why they don't take more credit for that). I think Amit Shah is doing the same thing – taking the extreme stance for political gain. In the end, all these writers you referred to are political, and no one denies that. The thing is, I am unable to extract any humanity based message from Amit Shah, which I am able to get from you. From him I only get hate. His tone and rhetoric are so aggressive, even you are able to see why people label him fascist.
Other One: People try to justify why the Muslims are becoming terrorist and they don’t condemn their persecution of minorities... why? Can you please explain? There’s a huge one sided propaganda and narrative that has created today’s problem. So again, we come to the beginning – that people should listen to the other side also. I dislike Shah for what he says. Modi is decisive and could have done lot more and I still hope he delivers on the economy too rather than the jumla. But at least, one big side sees them as their savior from the onslaught of the “other side” in everything.