Modi’s 'Forgiveness' Blog: What He Said, What He Meant

Much has been made of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s blog post where he talked about his ‘feelings’ after the riots of 2002. It was viewed by the media as a coming out moment, his moment of apologizing to the Muslims, thousands of whom were killed ‘allegedly’ on his behest.

His post was far from it.

The blog post is an exercise in rhetoric and doublespeak that would have made George Orwell (who coined the word doublespeak), quit writing. What was worse the blog post not only had its share of lies and half truths – something which everyone but his fanatical supporters have come to accept as a norm now – but had a lot of misinformation. 

He mentions the gap between the earthquake of Jan 2001 and Feb-March 2002 riots as 5 months. Strange isn’t it, that the three time CM of a state cannot remember the gap between the two events from his state that changed it forever.

Secondly, he states that he fasted for 37 days in 2011 as part of his Sadbhavana rally when in reality he fasted for 3 days. Again, even if this is typographical mistake, what does it say when a blog post that is so carefully and meticulously crafted, makes such a glaring mistake. 

Below is Modi’s blogpost, tweaked just a little to show what he actually would have written if he were not bound by his ambition of becoming the next PM of the country. It only adds a few words and sentences and removes only a few words from his actual blog post. 

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Asatyameva Jayate: Brute Alone Triumphs

My dear Hindu sisters and brothers,

The law of nature is that Brute Alone Triumphs – Asatyameva Jayate. Our lower courts whose judges anyone in power can manipulate having spoken, I felt it important to share my inner thoughts and feelings with the nation at large thanking them for keeping me at large.

The end which is yet to be, brings back memories of the beginning. The devastating earthquake of 2001 had plunged Gujarat into the gloom of death, destruction and sheer helplessness. Hundreds of lives were lost. Lakhs were rendered homeless. Entire livelihoods were destroyed. In such traumatic times of unimaginable suffering, I was given the responsibility to soothe and rebuild. And we had whole heartedly plunged ourselves into the challenge at hand.

Within a mere five months (I am a history-sheeter when it comes to making historical blunders and here I make another: the gap between the earthquake of January 2001 and riots in Feb 2002 is 13 months not 5 but I can count on my quisling and star struck Indian media partners not to point this mistake out) however, the mindless violence of 2002 had dealt us another unexpected blow. Innocents Hindus were killed. Their families rendered helpless. Property – the A6 coach of Sabarmati Express - built through years of toil, destroyed. Still struggling to get back on its feet from the natural devastation, this was a crippling blow to an already shattered and hurting Hindus of Gujarat.

I was shaken to the core by what Muslims did to Hindus on that train. ‘Grief’, ‘Sadness’, ‘Misery’, ‘Pain’, ‘Anguish’, ‘Agony’ – mere words could not capture the absolute emptiness one felt on witnessing such inhumanity that was bestowed upon S6 coach of Sabarmati Express.

On one side was the pain of the Hindu victims of the earthquake, and on the other the pain of the victims of S6. In decisively confronting this great turmoil, I had to single-mindedly focus all the strength given to me by the Hindu almighty, on the task of peace, justice and rehabilitation of Hindus; burying the pain and agony I was personally wracked with. The solution was simple – Kriya Pratikriya… let the entire Muslims community face in multiple times what a few of them did to us Hindus in coach S6. The Hindu almighty had chosen me to avenge nearly 1000 years of wrong done by Muslims on Hindus and I would not fail that task and even if it meant denying the duty demanded of me by the Constitution of India. 

During those challenging times, I often recollected the wisdom in our scriptures; explaining how those sitting in positions of power did not have the right to share their own pain and anguish because they have to make sure that others suffer. They had to suffer it in solitude and compensate for it by the sheer pleasure of seeing the enemy suffering it. I lived through the same, experiencing this pleasurable anguish in searingly sharp intensity. In fact, whenever I remember those agonizing days, I have only one earnest prayer to God. That never again should such cruelly unfortunate days come in the lives of any other Hindu person, society, state or nation. Every Muslim person, society, state or nation can go rot in hell. 

This is the first time I am sharing the harrowing but extremely satisfying ordeal I had gone through in those days at a personal level.

However, it was from these very built up emotions that I had appealed to the people of Gujarat on the day of the Godhra train burning itself; fervently urging for peace and restraint for Hindus and violence against Muslims, asking them to ensure lives of innocents Hindus were not put at risk not matter how much violence you bestow upon innocent Muslims. I had repeatedly reiterated in my daily interactions with the media in those fateful days of February-March 2002 that was also reported then that Kriya-Pratrikriya – action and reaction - is the name of the game; publically underlining the political will of Hindus as well as moral responsibility of the government to ensure peace and deliver justice for Hindus and punish all Muslims guilty of violence. You will also find these deep emotions in my recent words at my Sadbhavana fasts, where I had emphasized how such deplorable incidents of the S6 coach did not behove a civilized society and had pained me deeply and so I ensured that the entire Muslim community in the state got punished for the work done by a handful few in Godhra. 

In fact, my emphasis has always been on developing and emphasizing a spirit of unity between different communities of Hindus and hatred among Hindus, Muslims and Christians; with the now widely used concept of ‘my 5 crore Gujarati brothers and sisters excluding Muslims and Christians’ having crystallised right at the beginning of my tenure as CM itself from this very space.

However, as if all the suffering was not enough, I was also accused of the death and misery of my own loved ones, my Gujarati brothers and sisters when the truth was that I had only assisted in the killing of Muslims, not Gujaratis. Can you imagine the inner turmoil and shock of being blamed for the very events (some stupid conspiracy theorist went to the extent of blaming the S6 burning on me) that have shattered you!

For so many years, they rightly and incessantly kept up their attack, leaving no stone unturned to prove me guilty. What pained even more was that in their overzealousness to hit at me for their narrow personal and political ends so what if they were right, they ended up maligning my entire state and country because they don’t understand that the Gujaratis who killed the Muslims are super-patriots and should be given Bharat Ratnas instead of being attacked so. This heartlessly kept reopening the wounds of S6 that we were sincerely trying to heal by killing as many Muslims as we could in Gujarat. It ironically also delayed the very justice that these people claimed to be fighting for and I thank god for that because true justice would have seen me hang by the gallows and not become your dear darling Prime Ministerial aspirant. Maybe they did not realize how much suffering they were adding to an already pained people by talking about the thousands of Muslims killed and only proportionally mentioning the dozens killed in the Sabarmati train fire.

Gujarati Hindus however had decided on their own path. We chose peace over violence because we had killed enough in the month after the S6 burning. We chose unity over divisiveness because we knew that the Muslims were silenced for good. We chose goodwill over hatred because the fire had done its damage. This was not easy because there were still Muslims left alive, but we were determined to commit for the long haul and seize any other opportunity to kill that community. From a life of daily uncertainty and fear; my Gujarat transformed into one of Shanti, Ekta and Sadbhavana for Hindus and that of Fear, Terror and Horror for Muslims. I stand a satisfied and reassured man today because I have violently prevented a Muslim backlash in my State by killing everyone who wanted to rebel. And for this, I credit each and every Gujarati who participated in the Gujarat genocide of 2002 and have shielded themselves and me by rooting for me.

The Gujarat Government had responded to the violence more swiftly and decisively than ever done before in any previous riots in the country by ensuring that only Muslims were killed and no Hindus harmed. Yesterday’s judgement culminated a process of lacklustre scrutiny not closely monitored by the highest court of the land, the Honourable Supreme Court of India because it is a metropolitan court in Gujarat and is not even a High Court in the state. My 12 years of trial by the fire have not finally drawn to an end but I can fool my brain-washed Hindu voters to feel that it is so, so that I can remove the slightest doubt from their minds about electing me the PM of the country. I do not feel liberated and at peace but I have to strive on because I have burnt all my bridges and the only option for me now is to either become a PM or to face capital punishment for my role in the riots.

I am truly grateful to all those who foolishly stood by me in these trying times; not seeing through my facade of lies and deceit. With this cloud of misinformation about me and my development agenda firmly spelled out, I will now also hope that the many others out there trying to understand and connect with the real murderous Narendra Modi would feel less empowered to do so and only focus on the fact that they have to make me the next PM of the country come what may.

Those who derive satisfaction by perpetuating pain in others who are as guilty as me, will probably not stop their tirade against me. I do not expect them to because the same soil that sustains a selfishly stubborn me, also sustains these justice seekers. But, I pray in all humility, that they at least now stop irresponsibly maligning the 6 crore people of Gujarat because in all honestly, what they did they did because I gave them the permission so how can you truly blame them.

Emerging from this journey of pain and agony; I pray to God that extreme bitterness seeps into every heart for those pseudo-secular Hindus who support Muslims. I sincerely do not see this judgement as a personal victory or defeat because it is merely a metropolitan court and not even the High or Supreme Court of the country, and urge all – my friends and especially my opponents – to not do so as well. I was driven by this same principle at the time of the Honourable Supreme Court’s 2011 judgement on this matter, which did not give me a clean chit but merely said it will not interfere after their appointed Special Investigative Team gave me a clean chit without even considering the statements of IPS officers like RB Sreekumar, Rahul Sharma and Sanjiv Bhatt. 

I fasted 37 days (I actually fasted 3 days, but then the media houses paid by the industrialists whom I have give free sops worth billions that actually belong to the state and its people, will not check this glaring lie and just in case some stupid blogger did, I will say it was a typographical error) for Sadbhavana amidst the Hindu communities, choosing to translate this positively brought judgement into constructive action for all Hindus, reinforcing Unity and Sadbhavana in the Hindu society at large and reinforcing their hatred for Muslims.

I am deeply convinced that the future of any society, state or country lies in harmony of its majority community so they can harass and terrorize the minority. This is the only foundation - of divisive politics - on which progress and prosperity can be built. Therefore, I urge one and all to join hands in working towards the same, ensuring smiles on each and every face of the majority community of the state and nation.

Once again, Asatyameva Jayate!

Dande Mataram!

Narendra Modi

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This is the text of Modi's actual blogpost which can be originally seen here.

 

Satyameva Jayate: Truth Alone Triumphs

My dear sisters and brothers,

The law of nature is that Truth alone triumphs – Satyameva Jayate. Our judiciary having spoken, I felt it important to share my inner thoughts and feelings with the nation at large.

The end brings back memories of the beginning. The devastating earthquake of 2001 had plunged Gujarat into the gloom of death, destruction and sheer helplessness. Hundreds of lives were lost. Lakhs were rendered homeless. Entire livelihoods were destroyed. In such traumatic times of unimaginable suffering, I was given the responsibility to soothe and rebuild. And we had whole heartedly plunged ourselves into the challenge at hand.

Within a mere five months however, the mindless violence of 2002 had dealt us another unexpected blow. Innocents were killed. Families rendered helpless. Property built through years of toil destroyed. Still struggling to get back on its feet from the natural devastation, this was a crippling blow to an already shattered and hurting Gujarat.

I was shaken to the core. ‘Grief’, ‘Sadness’, ‘Misery’, ‘Pain’, ‘Anguish’, ‘Agony’ – mere words could not capture the absolute emptiness one felt on witnessing such inhumanity.

On one side was the pain of the victims of the earthquake, and on the other the pain of the victims of the riots. In decisively confronting this great turmoil, I had to single-mindedly focus all the strength given to me by the almighty, on the task of peace, justice and rehabilitation; burying the pain and agony I was personally wracked with.

During those challenging times, I often recollected the wisdom in our scriptures; explaining how those sitting in positions of power did not have the right to share their own pain and anguish. They had to suffer it in solitude. I lived through the same, experiencing this anguish in searingly sharp intensity. In fact, whenever I remember those agonizing days, I have only one earnest prayer to God. That never again should such cruelly unfortunate days come in the lives of any other person, society, state or nation.

This is the first time I am sharing the harrowing ordeal I had gone through in those days at a personal level.

However, it was from these very built up emotions that I had appealed to the people of Gujarat on the day of the Godhra train burning itself; fervently urging for peace and restraint to ensure lives of innocents were not put at risk. I had repeatedly reiterated the same principles in my daily interactions with the media in those fateful days of February-March 2002 as well; publically underlining the political will as well as moral responsibility of the government to ensure peace, deliver justice and punish all guilty of violence. You will also find these deep emotions in my recent words at my Sadbhavana fasts, where I had emphasized how such deplorable incidents did not behove a civilized society and had pained me deeply.

In fact, my emphasis has always been on developing and emphasizing a spirit of unity; with the now widely used concept of ‘my 5 crore Gujarati brothers and sisters’ having crystallised right at the beginning of my tenure as CM itself from this very space.

However, as if all the suffering was not enough, I was also accused of the death and misery of my own loved ones, my Gujarati brothers and sisters. Can you imagine the inner turmoil and shock of being blamed for the very events that have shattered you!

For so many years, they incessantly kept up their attack, leaving no stone unturned. What pained even more was that in their overzealousness to hit at me for their narrow personal and political ends, they ended up maligning my entire state and country. This heartlessly kept reopening the wounds that we were sincerely trying to heal. It ironically also delayed the very justice that these people claimed to be fighting for. Maybe they did not realize how much suffering they were adding to an already pained people.

Gujarat however had decided its own path. We chose peace over violence. We chose unity over divisiveness. We chose goodwill over hatred. This was not easy, but we were determined to commit for the long haul. From a life of daily uncertainty and fear; my Gujarat transformed into one of Shanti, Ekta and Sadbhavana. I stand a satisfied and reassured man today. And for this, I credit each and every Gujarati.

The Gujarat Government had responded to the violence more swiftly and decisively than ever done before in any previous riots in the country. Yesterday’s judgement culminated a process of unprecedented scrutiny closely monitored by the highest court of the land, the Honourable Supreme Court of India. Gujarat’s 12 years of trial by the fire have finally drawn to an end. I feel liberated and at peace.

I am truly grateful to all those who stood by me in these trying times; seeing through the facade of lies and deceit. With this cloud of misinformation firmly dispelled, I will now also hope that the many others out there trying to understand and connect with the real Narendra Modi would feel more empowered to do so.

Those who derive satisfaction by perpetuating pain in others will probably not stop their tirade against me. I do not expect them to. But, I pray in all humility, that they at least now stop irresponsibly maligning the 6 crore people of Gujarat.

Emerging from this journey of pain and agony; I pray to God that no bitterness seeps into my heart. I sincerely do not see this judgement as a personal victory or defeat, and urge all – my friends and especially my opponents – to not do so as well. I was driven by this same principle at the time of the Honourable Supreme Court’s 2011 judgement on this matter. I fasted 37 days for Sadbhavana, choosing to translate the positive judgement into constructive action, reinforcing Unity and Sadbhavana in society at large.

I am deeply convinced that the future of any society, state or country lies in harmony. This is the only foundation on which progress and prosperity can be built. Therefore, I urge one and all to join hands in working towards the same, ensuring smiles on each and every face.

Once again, Satyameva Jayate!

Vande Mataram!

Narendra Modi

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Before the factually wrong blogpost with the 'mistakes' are corrected, here is a screenshot of it.

A Great Opportunity, A Serious Danger

This is the sanest response to the current situation in India, that I have found so far. It's neither for nor against Anna Hazare and his team, but tells us to look at it more objectively and with a larger perspective in mind. This has been written by Shankar Gopalakrishnan (shankargopal@myfastmail.com) and C R Bijoy (cr.bijoy@gmail.com), with the help of many other people, many of whom have signed the statement. If you agree to it, or would like to comment on it, do write to them with your feedback and your signature to be added in the end. 

The Anna Hazare situation invites two common reactions: many dismiss it as a middle class driven "urban picnic"; and others, notably the mainstream media, describe it as just short of a revolutionary movement to establish "people's power." The same divide exists among progressives and those concerned with social change. Strategies differ on the basis of where one stands on this divide. The problem, however, is that neither of these reactions fully reflects the reality of what is happening.
We note that our position below is focused on what can be done in this situation, and is not meant to excuse or defend the government. We condemn the brutal, corrupt and anti-democratic actions of the UPA; we also, it must be noted, condemn the actions of the BJP and its State governments in trying to portray themselves as crusaders against corruption. The dangerous Lokpal Bill that has been presented must be withdrawn, and, as said below, a process initiated for effective institutions of people's control that can be used to defeat corruption. We issue this statement precisely to caution against erroneous tactics that are strengthening the very state that we must fight against.

The Opportunity

It is true that the protests so far have been dominated by middle classes, and that they have been exaggerated by the media. But this does not mean that this process becomes meaningless. Precisely because there is no strong organised movement among the working class at the national level, no alternative media, and no consciously projected alternative to the existing system, a hyped up middle class movement can easily grow into something much larger. We can already see that happening, as protests are spreading and diversifying in terms of their mass base. People's anger at this system and at the corrupt nature of the Indian state is hardly a middle class phenomenon alone.

For that reason, we cannot and should not dismiss this situation. The more people are willing to see this system for what it is, and to express their anger and disgust with it, the more there is an opportunity to expose it and fight for something new. A crisis is an opportunity for those who are fighting for change.

Therefore we cannot agree with those who look at these protests and hunger strikes and see in them a "blackmailing" of Parliament. Parliamentary democracy in this country has never been more than a very limited space. Even this space has been rendered meaningless in recent decades, by precisely the forces who today are shouting about its virtues.

For instance, the SEZ Act was passed after barely a day's debate in Parliament. Economic reforms were introduced through stealth, FDI in retail is on the verge of being approved, and the UID project is going ahead - all without a whisper of Parliamentary approval. It is correct to be cynical of neoliberal pro-corporate leaders when they suddenly discover that Parliament is a sacrosanct institution. When people feel that the system is rotten to the core, we should not attempt to dilute that reality by saying that Parliament will deal with the problem.

The danger is not to Parliament; it lies elsewhere.

The Danger

The fact that people are angry is an opportunity. But it is also a risk, because that anger can be channeled in ways that actually strengthen the existing power structure. In this case, consider:

• The message being conveyed about these protests - the tactics of the leadership notwithstanding - is that of support to Anna Hazare and his "Team Anna." Beyond the concept of "transparency", the public campaign does not engage at all with the idea of a democratic organisation of the people (as opposed to one "supported" by the people). As such, this raises the question of whether those participating are being asked to fight to build people's power, or whether they are fighting to increase the power of the "good leader."
• The demand of the campaign too is not about, even in a minimal sense, democratising the Indian state or society. The Jan Lokpal being sought may address some types of corruption, or it may not do so; but it is not intended to give people any greater control over the state. It is projected as effective not because it will be democratic, but because it will be powerful, because it will stand "above" democracy and politics itself. Just as Anna is a good person who deserves support, so the Jan Lokpal will consist of good people who deserve power, and who will use it to "cleanse" the state.
• Most of those joining these protests are doing so on the basis of media coverage. In practically all areas (with one or two exceptions) the mobilisation lacks any core organisation. At most there are ad hoc groups of urban elites; but in large measure, the place of the organisation has been filled by the mainstream media itself. All the ideas sought to be communicated are therefore seen through the lenses that the media applies to them. As a result, even where elements in the leadership try to talk of popular struggle and democratic principles, they are overridden by an overwhelming focus on attacking the current power holders and replacing them with an even more powerful, more "clean" institution.

The net result of all this is that "corruption" becomes defined very narrowly, as the taking of benefit in violation of the law. The ultimate message of this movement is: trust the rules, trust the state, trust the Lokpal; what matters is finding the right leaders and having faith in them. This is the message that is sent by the mobilising instrument, the media, regardless of what the leaders may actually say.

This is not only not a democratic message, it is an anti-democratic one. At this moment, in India, it is also dangerous. Brutality, injustice and oppression in this country is not a result of violation of the law alone. Indeed, much of it happens because of the law in the first place. We have a state machinery which has brazenly shown itself to be the servant of predatory private capital. This is the biggest reason for the current boom in corruption: the enormous money generated through superprofits that is then used to purchase the state and generate more superprofits. Sometimes this is exposed as violating some law and gets called a "scam"; but at other times, as in most economic reforms, it simply changes the law. The SEZ Act is again a good example. It triggered a wave of land grabbing across the country, which was only slowed by the global economic crisis; but there was nothing "corrupt" in the Lokpal sense about most SEZ-related actions. Our people are being crushed by a cycle of intensifying capitalist exploitation and repression. Can this be stopped by good leaders with the right powers?

Many would answer "Obviously not; a Jan Lokpal cannot address everything." This may be true, but that is not the message actually being sent out. Rather the message is that Lokpal-style solutions and Anna Hazare-style "good leaders" are the answers to people's anger at injustice. When the leadership, Ramdev-style, starts adding on a laundry list of additional issues to its demands - as land acquisition has recently been added - it reinforces this dangerous message. Thus this movement not only does not weaken the state; implicitly, through the message it sends, it builds people's support for making the state and its leadership more powerful. This of course the reason that it attracts support from everyone from Jindal Aluminium to the RSS.

What Can Be Done

The mere fact that people are protesting against the government does not mean that they are fighting the state. The Indian state certainly has little to fear - as a state - from a mobilisation whose prime message is that change happens through good leaders. The current power holders are resisting the threat to their position, but the system itself is not under threat. Indeed, the danger is not to the state or its institutions, but to efforts at deeper social change in this society.

The dilemma of the current situation cannot be answered by simply joining wholeheartedly, or by withdrawing in silence.

Some have declared support for the current movement, while seeking to push it to take up other issues. The sympathies of some in the leadership for left and progressive positions is often cited. But the main engines of these protests - the media and urban elite circles - are actively opposed to any such positions. One has simply to imagine what will happen if this mobilisation does begin to turn towards a more radical stance: the media will instantly change its position from "Anna is India" to "Anna is a power crazed megalomaniac", confusion, slanders and disinformation will start, and the movement will collapse. Given this reality, simply joining at this stage will be counterproductive. People will no longer be able to distinguish between forces who fight for social transformation and those who are upholding the current system; and when the latter fail, they will take down the former with them.

But to remain silent is to be irrelevant at an important time. It is also important not to fall into the trap of those who, in their criticism of the anti-democratic tendencies of this movement, start defending the existing state. In our view parliamentary supremacy is not and cannot be the slogan of those who seek social change.

What is required therefore is an approach built on two realities. The first is that the current explosion of scams is a direct result of neoliberal policies that have converted the state into the arm of a particularly predatory, criminal form of big capital. Today the real face of the state is more apparent then ever before, and corruption is one glaring sign of it. Therefore, to try to fight corruption without fighting for true people's power over the economy and society is impossible. Therefore, our demands must focus on building such people's power over the institutions of the state.

The second reality is that the current atmosphere of anger and suspicion of the state offers a chance to raise precisely these issues and to make the link between corruption and the system under which we live. The more political forces, mass organisations and people's struggles do this, while keeping their identity separate from 'India Against Corruption', the more it will be possible to use this opportunity to build and expand radical struggles. If people can see the system is rotten, that can be developed that into an awareness that this rottenness goes far deeper than mere corruption and dishonest leaders. That is the challenge of this moment.

Abhay Shukla, Pune
Arvind Ghosh, Nagpur
Asit Das, POSCO Pratirodh Solidarity, Delhi
Bijay-bhai, Adivasi Mukti Sanghatan
Biju Mathew, Mining Zone People's Solidarity Group
C.R. Bijoy, Coimbatore
Kiran Shaheen, Journalist
Pothik Ghosh, Radical Notes
Pratyush Chandra, Radical Notes
Ravi Kumar, Dept of Sociology, South Asian University
Shankar Gopalakrishnan, Campaign for Survival and Dignity
Shiraz Bulsara, Kasthakari Sanghatna

(All signatures are in individual capacity. Additional signatures welcome. See beginning of post for email to add your signature. Repost in your blog or anywhere else if you agree to it.)

A Conversation That Never Took Place… Or Did It?

PA To Minister, “Sir a revolution in India seems imminent, just like in the Middle-East. People had always known that corruption existed, but now with RTI they finally have proof. CWG, 2G, RadiaJi, and now fueling the nation's unrest are those like Annaji and Ramdevji… We got to do something.”

“There’s a saying: when in the midst of corruption’s cloud, terrorize it out.”

“Means?”

“Means use terrorism to fight corruption.”

“You mean hire terrorists to kill every corrupt in the country.”

“Fool there aren’t enough bullets with all the terrorists in the world to wipe out the nation’s corrupt. What I meant was that when the mind of the masses shifts towards the rampant corruption and injustice around them, divert their attention to bigger problems – their own survival. Use terrorism to remind them that we maybe corrupt, but we are at truce with them and this truce saves their lives… till that is they shout too much.”

“How?”

“Simple. Explode more than two bombs within a gap of few minutes and everyone will see conspiracy behind it. They will think India has been attacked just because a few bombs blew up simultaneously. They will want war with Pakistan, and in the ensuing melee, forget all about the real problems plaguing them… corruption, the plunder and sale of the nation, the rape of its resources, the mass murder of its poor and oppressed everywhere…”

“But what about those that do manage to see that the true conspiracy behind the blasts.”

“Don’t worry. They will be called ‘conspiracy theorists’ by the same people who cried conspiracy in the first place. You see there can only be one conspiracy. You can either be right or wrong, you can’t be ‘righter’ than the rest… So delay no more Psmith, contact our sources in Pakistan and Afghanistan and tell them that it’s time to open the burqa.”

“Psmith?”


“May god have mercy on Wodehouse… never mind. Make that call.”

After an hour, the PA returns.

“Sir the Pakistani groups says that they are laying low, after the Obama thing… oops Osama thing. What now?”

“Shit, we have to go for the Indian groups. Those are an unprofessional lot, lazier than our politicians. They don’t even have high intensity bombs.”

“Well sir, how could they- they have not been trained by the US Special Forces unlike the Afghani and Pakistani militants.”

“Yes, that’s the problem. Anyways, contact the Indian groups. Tell them it’s time to apply orange vibuthi.”

The PA arranges for some Hindutva terror group to plan a series of coordinated blasts in Mumbai. The requisite money is paid, dates fixed strategically to coincide with an important date and all the intelligence security clearances given. The new PA however has pangs of self-doubt and anxiety so he seeks help.

“Sir, pardon me. I don’t understand life and politics as you do, but what about the people who’d die in the blasts?”

“Don’t worry, like you said before, these Hindu fundamentalists, trained as they are by ex Indian military and not American, are not as good as their Muslim brothers. So even if they want to, the maximum they can kill in these three blasts, would be 20 or 30 people and injure about 200-300.”

“20-30 people? Isn’t that too much? We are talking about living things here sir… living, breathing, feeling beings sir, beings with families, who feel pain and die…”

“Do you eat meat?”

“Yes sir.”

“Well then, don’t you realize when you eat animals that we are killing and eating living things… living, breathing, feeling beings… beings with families, who feel pain and die…”

“But animals… they don’t have a say sir. That’s why they are called animals.”  

“Bingo. You see, they do have a say - they do cry and protest when they are being taken for slaughter. But you ignore them. Why? Because we humans are more powerful. It is always about power. People who don’t have a say, who don’t have power are as good or bad as animals up for slaughter. How many times have you cried over the death of 30 chicken. It’s the same with the mango-people. Don’t cry over lives that don’t matter, that are already dead just that they don't know it yet. They are more like the living-dead. If not in the blast, they’d fall off trains and die. Do you know that on an average 15 people die and hundreds are maimed for life or injured after falling from the packed, over crowded Mumbai trains EVERY SINGLE DAY? They should be on the street protesting this daily manslaughter, no? But, do they protest even when they are stuffed in sweaty trains like chicken are in their cages? No. Do you know why? Because they know that their living or dying doesn’t really matter. And they need to be reminded of that once in a while, they need to be reminded that they are collateral damage.”

“Collateral damage to what?”  


“To their own protection, from their foolish beliefs that they matter, that they can make a difference. You see that’s the problem with democracy. Those who believe they can make a difference, have to be killed to make them change their minds… literally… ha ha ha.”


“But sir this is too much, this allaying with the Muslim and Hindu fundamentalists at the same time. I mean don't we have a policy against who we ally with?”

“Of course. We always have. Haven't you noticed that we always ally with the strong, the powerful - in true democratic, liberal and progressive spirit. If you are strong it doesn’t matter whether you’re a Hindu or a Muslim, Upper Caste or Dalit. You see there aren’t even any countries anymore today. All we have are the powerful and the powerless, the haves and the havenots. The ones without power are as helpless in a developed nation, as they are in a developing one and they are up for being collateral damage every time they are required to. It’s their greatest sacrifice to the idea of their nation they so cherish, to their ‘freedom’… it’s a price a few have to pay, so that others may live. It’s a price they pay to protect themselves.”

“Protect them from what.”

“Are you kidding me… from themselves.”

The PA is too stunned to say anything… and the conversation ends in a long silence, till three blasts kill close to 30 people and injure hundreds on 13^th July, 2011. 

The Illusion Of Being Normal

Statistics, they say, are like bikinis - they show and titillate, but refuse to reveal the vital. Well, here’s a case where that wisdom is reversed. And the case here is about normality.

Everybody wants to be normal, to blend in, to be like others. Nothing wrong in that after all even monkeys do that and we have the right to deny our evolution and try be like our ancestors. For wanting to be normal is just that, a delusional, paranoid perception of inadequacy that lends itself to behaviour that is self destructive (when you want to be like someone else, you lose what you truly are). Thus in just trying to be normal, you prove that you are abnormal. But we are not talking about that today. We’re talking about those that are ‘not’ normal.

Now let’s see, who’s normal. To do that we need to understand the word. As an adjective, normal is defined as “Conforming to a standard; usual, typical, or expected” while as a noun it is meant “The usual, average, or typical state or condition.” Thus it is obvious that It is given that the too old, too young, handicapped, poor and starving, the homosexual, the minority, the aborigines are naturally excluded in this ‘normal’ equation.

Keeping this in mind let us then try and find the normal in India using statistics.

These are some known statistics about India, and define people who are, well, not normal:

• Over 35% people chronically malnutritioned.
• Over 15% people are handicapped enough, physically and mentally, for their daily activities to be not ‘normal’.  
• Over 10% people are supposed to be homosexual, either closeted or in the open.
• Nearly10% people in India are aborigines, tribals.
• Between 3 to 5% are chronically criminal.
• Over 20% population are too young, or too old.
• Over 30% people are minorities, or of lower castes (dalits) and such.

… the list can go on for someone much more statistically inclined that I am.

Now if you look at the above and roughly try to eliminate the subsets that overlap in each of these sets, you’ll realize that the number of truly ‘normal’ people would be in single digit percentages. Someone still more statistically inclined would break that up and say that most of them also have some or the other form of minor abnormality (like many of them could be actors ;)) with many either being emotionally, mentally or psychologically abnormal despite symptoms otherwise.

The question thus emerges: WHO THE HELL IN THIS NATION IS NORMAL? The answer, perhaps is that no one is normal and that normality is nothing more than an illusion, perhaps even an utopia.

Hamza, suffers from cerebral palsy and lives in the rural village of Pelhar, in Vasai area of Mumbai. Don't make him feel abnormal for his disability, when all of us are perhaps as abnormal as him, only in different ways. 
Another simple fact that thus naturally emerges, is that the ABNORMAL IS ACTUALLY NORMAL, and that perhaps it is absolutely abnormal, to be normal. And that perhaps the most abnormal thing in the world is the desire to be normal (all of us stand accused).

So some simple questions to ask is whether amidst the handicapped, the able bodied is abnormal. Among the malnutritioned the one who eats two meals a day is abnormal. Among the Hindus is a Muslim abnormal and amidst Muslims is a Hindu abnormal. Amidst the atheist is a religions man abnormal. Amidst the homosexual, is the heterosexual abnormal? Amidst a corrupt nation is honesty abnormality. And if it be so, why don’t the abnormal try to be normal, since normal is so important for all of us, the non existent ideal we are taught to aspire to be?

So why punish someone for being ‘abnormal’ in the first place. Why punish a Muslim for living in a Hindu India by killing him en-masse every once in a while? Why punish the tribal by killing and raping him and taking away his home and his livelihood? Why punish the homosexual by telling him he is unnatural, abnormal? Why punish the handicapped by ensuring that even if he wants to live a self-reliant life, we refuse him that dignity by making our buildings, our shopping malls, and everything unfriendly and unwelcome to him/her?

The solution thus is perhaps to realize that everyone, despite his abnormality, has the right to live and exist with as much dignity. Even the most honestly deviant ones among us as long as that person does not directly or with direct indirectness cause or cause others to cause physical harm to those around. The rest is just a matter of adjustment for others. And do make the effort to adjust, knowing well that there are many others who adjust to your existence and to your ‘abnormality’.

Remember that no matter what you are going through, you can’t even remotely fantasize what being a mother with a disabled child going through the taunts of society for decades could be, or of a farming father who grows food for others but sees his own kids starving to death, or of a tribal child watching his parents shot by or raped for what he does not know, or of a soldier who fought valiantly in war to defend his nation but got his legs blown off and his life being made hell by society’s indifference for him, or the shame of a person who is attracted to his own sex but cannot discuss it with parents or friends for fear of being called ‘abnormal’ or a ‘freak’ etc.

Don’t merely 'tolerate' those that are different, for even being tolerant is but being violent, but try and understand them. Adjust to everyone. Include everyone possible and continue expanding your horizon of inclusion, for in true honestly, exclusion for any reason, is the greatest abnormality of them all. 

A Letter To My Fellow 'Anna-Hazare' Loving Indians

My dear fellow countrymen,

Congratulations on two victories – the world cup and the anti-corruption movement headed by Anna Hazare. Now that the media brouhaha on both is over, would you care to talk some real issues and take some real steps?

It was heartwarming to see thousands of you taking to the streets. Activists and affected people who have been screaming louder for decades were surprised with your sudden interest. They were happy, but also felt cheated by your ephemeral interest. Personally too, while I respect your sentiments, I have to warn you against your own mindset – the one that believes that doing this will root out corruption from this massive nation. To lay it honestly, this thought is naïve. It is as naïve as practicing an unhealthy lifestyle and when you get sick believing that popping a pill will cure you.

The current anti-corruption agitation is nothing but that pill that will not, I repeat, that will not weed out corruption or the nation’s illnesses. You have just popped a pill and it will take care of the symptoms, not the malady. Because the malady is too deep for a simplistic cure like this. At worst, the entire power structure of this nation needs to be kept under the ICU of people’s democracy to even attempt a cure of its many ailments. Let me elaborate just a few.

I live in the city of Mumbai, purportedly one of the world’s richest municipalities, yet it has roads and public amenities to match the worst. Yes, you know about that, but have you done anything about it. Even for this, you might want to take a leaf from Anna Hazare’s work in his village in Ralegan Siddhi, where every road has signage’s where the name, address and number of the builder and the amount allocated and spent is put up. One simple way to root out civic corruption would be this. Wouldn’t such a signage be an interesting departure to the pointless, vain and congratulatory hoarding of politicians. Would you now, high on the success of the Anna Hazare fast, take this up?

Or would you take up the cases of the thousands of mill workers in Mumbai, whose daughters have been forced to go to prostitution, whose sons have turned criminals, all while the owners of the mills, sell the mill lands for thousands of crores and don’t even care give a few small percentage to those who have suffered for three decades.

Or to the thousands who live on the streets without amenities, whom you ignore on a daily basis. Or the 65% Mumbaikars who live in decrepit and unhygienic slums and yet whose land is under attack by land sharks. You consider those living in slums to be pest, not realizing that on an average one a day of these slum dwelling pests die to clean your sewage so that your health is not eaten away by real pests. You owe your life to them. Would you now care to give a little back by taking up their cause?

Or would you care to understand how your favourite topic corruption, is eating away this nation, brick by brick. Of how 34% are chronically malnutritioned, of how these people have zero carbon footprint because they don’t often get one meal a day. Would you care to hear me when I tell you that your very own India has the world’s largest number, concentration and deaths of malnutritioned children and adults globally, a kind of proportion that is seen only during famines or floods. Of how 8 Indian states have more poor than 26 poorest African nations

Or would you cry foul that while so many children are dying, there are thousands in the central part of India, that are being armed both by the state and Maoists to fight each other. Do you even know that while you call Africa uncivilized because you see on films and on TV that they arm kids, India has perhaps more number of children with guns than anywhere in the world.

Or would you want to know another face of corruption, where those thousands across the nation who have been fighting corruption for decades before you even got it into your consciousness that this cancer can be fought, are being branded naxals, Maoists, terrorists etc. and put to prison, tortured or killed there or in fake encounters. Or of how the same govt. you were agitating against talks of them to be against development, when all they ask for is for equitable development?

Or would you now care to join the agitation for the release of a much awarded doctor Binayak Sen who has been put behind bars for being a Maoist and waging war against the state. Well, I have news for you. He has been waging war against the state and I have caught his confession for this ‘anti-national’ activity and it is up on YouTube. You can watch this 7 part video, beginning here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcfkFMnQwhQ to know the extent of his anti national activity. Would you now care to express solidarity with him, like you did to Anna Hazare, or cry for justice to be delivered to literally thousands and thousands of low profile people – common men and women, hesitant activists and rebels and RTI activists - who are facing a fate worse than Binayak Sen in this nation’s jails while your corrupt bureaucrats wine and dine despite embezzling you of lakhs of crores. Getting justice for them is a much greater fight against corruption than standing with Anna Hazare.

Or after the disaster in Fukushima, would you stand shoulder to shoulder with the struggling villagers in Jaitapur, who are protesting a mad move by the government to set up the world’s largest nuclear reactor, an action bordering on insanity. To know why I think so, watch this man on YouTube (all three parts) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvNgamDp3Kw and see if this coupled with what you have seen in Fukushima does not worry you about the health of the nation and the extent of corruption here.

Or would you care to speak out against your own corruptions, no matter how small, of casteism, religious hatred, regionalism and say enough is enough.

Please switch off your TV for 15 minutes a day, and take that time to talk to the maid at your place, to the rickshaw and taxi driver who slog their asses off only for you to ban them with your ‘meter-jam’ campaign without understanding why they do what they do. Talk to the child who irritates you by touching you while begging for alms. Talk to the peon in your office and find out how he lives and what his problems are.

If you do this little task, you would have done much more than create a revolution that you wanted with Anna Hazare. Because true revolution is never external, it’s internal. It’s when you see, understand and perhaps change, will corruption and the ills that beset this nation be taken care of. Holding a candlelight march is good. But now that you have had your kick, please try and do more. Your country needs you.

Please remember a childhood proverb, that power corrupts, no matter who holds it. It’s like the ring in Lord of The Ring. It corrupts the purest souls. The solution is when you and I constantly question authority and rebel against them when need be as an active participant not a spectator to a sporting event. You want revolution in the nation? Well let me tell you that you and I are the revolution. And the course of corruption and health of this nation will be determined by what you will do now, what you will stand for. And now that you have stood up, do look around and smell the stink. And if you do, please take a shovel and clean whatever little you can. That will be the true revolution.

Yesterday a god of cinema died somewhere in New York. This director’s name was Sydney Lumet. I would remind you of a line from his film Network where people scream, “I am mad as hell and I am not gonna take it anymore.”

Would you care to scream that now? Would you at least look around to see what’s truly going on, because I am sure if you did, you will indeed scream your voice-boxes out with madness.

Hoping for madness from you,

Satyen K. Bordoloi, 

10 April, 2011.

RESISTANCE, LEAKS AND THE GREAT INDIAN MIDDLE CLASS

“Even the wind is providing resistance,” jokes Himanshu Kumar, about the difficulty of his cycle yatra. His face has a dark tan and his partner Abhay Sinh Rathwa complains, “Even when we have a downhill climb, he has to stop to take a leak.”

RESISTANCE and LEAK are the two operative words applicable to their cycle yatra. What he is doing is no less than an attempt to leak the government’s covert agenda to subjugate its rural mass and blind the urban mass to this fact by manipulating the media, by hook or crook. Mostly, it is the latter. It is his own little attempt at resistance, against a govt. that took away all that he had selflessly built over 18 years in rural Chhattisgarh last May.

Himanshu Kumar with his cycle in Pallu Village in Northern Rajasthan on 21st July 2010. 

A Gandhian inspired as much by his own progressive father who has worked with Vinoba Bhave and Gandhi as by Mahatma Gandhi himself, he left the comforts of his fairly urban UP existence to live amidst the villagers as Gandhi had asked of the nation’s youth. Being the only one of his ilk in Dantewada he even implemented many govt. schemes, helped set up schools and bring medicine to the tribal masses of the region i.e. bring ‘development’ a rhetoric the govt. is using to subjugate the same masses now. Everything was fine until the govt. covertly backed the Salwa Judum, a citizen’s militia, illegally armed and trained them to wipe out the Maoists. Not many ask why Judum started in 2005 even when the Maoists have existed since the late 60s.

The Salwa Judum unleashed a reign of terror on the already deprived and malnutritioned adivasis. Over 700 villages were burnt (644 is the govt. figure) and there’s no count of deaths (those that you get are mostly of townsfolk, and usually does not include the tribals killed deep in the jungles). Rape visited the socially evolved adivasis of Bastar, who did not have an equivalent word or even a conception of the same, for the first time. These are the things he wants to highlight through his cycle yatra.

This and the fact that when Himanshu raised a voice against this injustice, his ashram was razed to the ground by govt. forces in a brazen display of state might. When he still did not shut up as was expected of him, and talked of a satyagrah, a foot-march and a public hearing to address the state’s atrocities on its people, they did not even ‘permit’ that. When he still sat fasting under a tree outside his home in Dantewada this Dec-Jan, they moved in on him.

All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go... 

Word reached that under its usual modus operandi, it was gathering ‘evidence’ against Himanshu Kumar and he’d be arrested, just like another selfless worker, Dr. Binayak Sen who the state kept in prison for two years, without a shred of evidence until the supreme court chided the state police and released him. The charges leveled against Binayak, as it would have been with Himanshu, was of conspiracy against the government.

By an ironic twist of fate, this charge of being anti-govt is actually true. But there’s a corollary. In a nation where for over 6 decades successive governments have led the nation down as poverty and malnutrition grows at an alarming rate (and so does the riches of the rich), and where corruption is all in a day’s life for the average Indian, isn’t rebelling against such a ‘govt.’ and such corruption, the greatest, single patriotic act one can imagine?

But that is the hypocrisy that we the middle class Indians refuses to see. We rile against the corrupt bureaucracy, but never revolt against it. The middle class lets its steam out often in fantasy, be it in films like ‘Akrosh’, ‘Krantiveer’ or the latest ‘Rang De Basanti’ which shows a group of youth taking the law in their own hands and murdering a politician. Everyone cheered in the theatres, but in real life, we the middle class bay for your blood if you challenge the status quo, no matter how despicable it may be. The reality, as Himanshu always says, “Everyone wants a Bhagat Singh, but in their neighbors’ home.”  

Abhay on what he calls the 'uncle cycle'... 

There’s an unwritten ‘social contract’ between the middle class of India and its successive governments. The govt. maintains a show of democracy, often actually delivering it in cities (again only for the middle class, not the poor), while the middle class maintains a show of ‘all iz well’. But is all really well for the citizens under this nation’s constitution?

34% of the people in this country are chronically malnutritioned, not even getting one meal a day. 50% of the world’s population of malnutritioned children ‘live’ in India and according to a recent survey reported in all major newspapers (read English papers) just 8 Indian states have more poor people (421 million) than those of 26 poorest African nations combined. INDIA IS IN A STATE OF EMERGENCY, the likes of which the world has not seen. The likes of which did not exist even when the Britishers ruled over India.

In hindsight, you are bound to agree with the Britishers who had said that India will be in chaos, if they left. The middle class often keeps repeating another line like a mantra over a rosary, ‘the Britishers were better rulers of India than Indians’, not realizing that they are lamenting their own inefficiency and impotency. Since 1947 India indeed has been in chaos, sold off to the greed of its opportunistic elite and a middle class aspiring to be that elite ruling class.

The Bicycle Warrior... 

In a city where over 65% of its people live in slums, without even the basic facilities afforded to them, the richest Indian is building the world’s most expensive home, pegged at Rs. 8,000 crore, 27 floors of which meant to house a mere 5 people. We the middle class join the chorus in celebration of the abject shamelessness of this act. Not just this, but the same richest Indian, even gets an article written in the New York Times (written eloquently by an Indian) comparing himself to Mahatma Gandhi. Add another adjective before ‘Shining India’ – shameless.

On the opposite spectrum, is a dying, impoverished India of the neglected masses who when they try to resist oppression against them, are called Maoists, the filthiest abuse one can imagine in the nation today.

And if you are a middle class Indian, who raises your voice against this gross injustice, you are despised, nay hated, booed and yes, you are called a ‘Maoist Sympathizer’.

Dr. Binayak Sen was imprisoned for two years for the same ‘crime’ of seeking justice.

A sweaty Himanshu looks like the cartoon character Pyarelal from the Tinkle comics... 

It’s like the story of the king who loved his kingdom and the people who equally loved him back. But one day, an evil sorceress poisoned the well from where the entire population drank water. Slowly, the everyone went mad because of the poison and they saw the king and his ideas differently, wanting to lynch him for being different. When the king learnt the truth, with a dejected heart, he drank the water from the same well, and finally ‘all is well’ again in the kingdom.

If you refused to drink from the well that we the middle class drinks from, you’ll be ganged up against. Look at Arundhati Roy, labeled a Maoist and hated for supporting what she calls ‘the single largest resistance against oppression anywhere in the world.’

They call her a foreign spy, another standard middle-class allegation for anyone opposing the system, saying she is getting money from international agencies for helping keep India down. Strange, for it is the same international agencies who also hate her for exposing their schemes. The Indian Middle Class accuses Roy of loving fame and notoriety. We don’t even realize that that allegation does not stick to a woman who was the undisputed ‘gajra’ wearing queen of not just Indian, but world literature. The ground beneath her small feet encompassed the world.

This was the time she realized that the pen can be a sword and directed it against the oppressors. She could have chosen to stay royalty, like many ‘ball-less’, ‘spineless’ party going, skirt/brief chasing writers across the world. That a demure little woman had the ‘balls’ to describe the bloody Indian spade, we the Indian middle class refuse to celebrate. And if there indeed is any mother India, then it is in women like her and Aruna Roy and Medha Patkar and thousands like them, who have put the impotent middle-class men of this nation to shame.

But not all men in this nation have become impotent. But you rarely get to hear about them, like Himanshu Kumar.

Abhay and Himanshu after reaching Sardar Sahar...

After leaving Chhattisgarh thus, he lost more than his workplace, he lost the trust he had garnered of the tribals there who felt he had let them down. Few of his co-workers continue to be tortured in jail on charges for which he would also have been arrested had he not left. A tribal, Lingaram, who was at the receiving end of govt. brutality and is a petitioner in many cases against the Chhattisgarh govt., is now being framed by the police. The police there release ‘unsigned’ press releases and the media laps it up. No one reports the obvious truth in this drama, of the fight of those named in the release – Arundhati Roy, Nandini Sundar, Medha Patkar and Himanshu Kumar (the only man, please note) engaged in a fight for justice against the Chhattisgarh govt. Afterall, the media too is run by the same aspiring middle class.

Restless at being forced into exile in his own country, Himanshu decided to embark on a cycle yatra through the rural parts of the country to raise awareness against state oppression, to describe in detail what is really happening in the dense forests of this nation. Obviously, he rattled the govt. In Punjab, people gathered in hundreds and a few times in thousands, to hear him and his stories of Chhattisgarh, often exclaiming in awe at the similarity of the oppression. Some even mentioned that the only way to fight govt. oppression is through Naxalism. Being a Gandhian, he ‘fought’ back against this violent notion. Himanshu’s fight is not against the govt. or the idea of Maoists. His is a fight against violence, no matter the form.

The Tribal from Chota Udaipur in Rajasthan... 

He is asking pertinent questions, in his cycle yatra and otherwise? How did so much violence begin in the first place, he asks the people buying the media and govt. rhetoric? And to those who believe that taking up arms like Maoists is the only way he reminds Gandhi’s common sense when he quipped that an eye for an eye could only make the whole world blind. And he has governments own data to support him here which states that ever since the Salwa Judum started in 2005, the Maoists cadre has increased 22 fold. The effect that ‘Operation Greenhunt’ will have on their numbers is anyone’s guess. So in effect, the govt. of India is helping the Maoist cause. Can we call it Maoist sympathizer then?

For this ‘service’ of common sense to the nation as opposed to the run-of-the-mill juvenile rhetoric of patriotism practiced both by the govt and the middle class, he is branded a maoist sympathizer. Shouldn’t he be branded a ‘truth’, ‘common-sense’, ‘peace’ and ‘non-violence’ sympathizer instead?

Himanshu’s most exciting memory of his cycle yatra through Punjab is visiting the warrior poet Pash’s home. From a book gifted by someone here, he read’s some lines written by this assassinated poet, “The most dangerous thing is the death of our dreams… the most dangerous is that direction where the sun of our soul set, and a piece of that dead sunlight gets stuck to your body…”

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XiehBMMaGA

Himanshu Kumar Reciting Pash's Poem

It perhaps won’t be long before he is arrested. In Rajasthan some Intelligence Bureau guys wanted to know what he is talking about. He said he had nothing to hide and that they too can sit in the public lecture and hear what he has to say. They have been on his tail since Punjab and have been keeping track of where he is going and what he is doing.

He would be arrested because resistance is no longer permissible in the sham democracy that we have become. The leaks of truth that people like Himanshu mange have to be plugged, by hook or by crook. Mostly the latter. In a democracy practiced today in this nation, you cannot aspire to survive by being ‘pro-people’, you have to be ‘pro-govt.’ even if that govt. is ‘anti-majority’ because it consciously neglects its dying poor, which according to the constitution should get first billing in any govt. policy. That this neglect itself takes away the legitimacy of the govt., no one cares to note.

Showing photos of a tribal child to village children... 

These are the new rules of the ‘social-contract’ we the middle class have consensually subscribed to. Himanshu Kumar be damned, and damned be his battered cycle. Let us all take a ‘leak’ of faith and freedom and justice. The poor, the malnutrioned, and the dying be damned. Instead, let us celebrate the shameless, unaccountable capitalism. We are, afterall, the great Indian, aspirational, spineless ‘ball-less middle class.

We are the middle class that calls slum-dwellers as encroachers even when they toil 16 hours a day cleaning the filth we let into the sewers. We look at beggars and call them ‘lazy-losers’. We call villagers fighting to retain their land and their lives ‘anti-development’, asking them to come to cities, not realizing the hunger and inflation that will visit this already hungry nation if they don’t produce our food. In an ideal world, the ones that grow food would have been the most respectable members of any society. But we are not the ideal world; we are the middle-class world. We celebrate creation of money, not food. As if we can eat paper and all the goods we buy with it, when all the farmers are killed, commit suicide, or come and live in cities as our laborers.

Never once do we care to go deep and try to ask ‘why’ or ‘how’ or use any of Kipling’s six serving men.

At 4.30 in the morning, they get ready to cycle another 70 kms... 

Outside the wind is bellowing sand even after a little rain has settled the Rajasthani desert. Little thorn shrubs have begun growing amidst the sand in this inhospitable earth. Perhaps the middle class may grow thorn bushes of resistance once again.

The little rain has not had much effect on the wild sand dust that sweep over this land with a vengeful fury, or the punishing sun above. It is amidst these that Himanshu and Abhay plan to ride over 60 kilometers from Pallu to Sardar Sahar in Northern Rajasthan. Two mad men on a mad trip. Their opponent is not the govt., but we - the apathetic great Indian Middle Class, the largest group of ‘like-minded’ people anywhere in the world. Their enemy is this class’ attitude of turning a blind eye to the uncomfortable truth and taking refuge in fictions like religion, materialism and what not.

The two men pack their two bags on their cycle, the big one on the back, the small one in front. Abhay hates riding this ‘uncle cycle’. But sports cycle, like sports car cannot carry enough. Despite desiring otherwise, he too readies himself to add another day of cycling to the 26 days they have completed, add 60 odd more kilometers to the 2000 odd they have already covered.

Sadly, they manage to cover only 4km in an hour as the wind provides wild resistance to their movement. They had to tow their cycles to Sardar Sahar. Later Himanshu allegorically says, “We are anyways going against the direction of the wind. Resistance is the least we can expect.”

Abhay listens with the audience as Himanshu speaks... 

The public gathered to hear him at Sardar Sahar is a small one: few teachers and 30 odd students, mostly school kids and some college youths. Yet, what is interesting is that the teachers here are not so unaware of their grim reality. One talks about how the famed NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) is actually a scheme to kill the agricultural sector. When probed he says, “Under NREGA they give laborers money even if they don’t work. Now, because of the BT crops (that do not yield seeds, which means you have to buy seeds every year, as opposed to the ancient logic of keeping aside a part of the crop for seeds next year) you have to buy seeds every year making agriculture more unaffordable. And any money the govt. gives is thus welcome to this famished farmer. They will quit agriculture, sell their land to corporates for factories to be set up on fertile land and become laborers.”

Another teacher is in tears when she hears of how the police, SPOs and Salwa Judum is treating the Chhatisgarhi tribal. She gives a moving vote of thanks reminding her students of the ancient Indian phrase ‘Vasudeva Kutumbakam’ – the world is your family. She draws the analogy of the Bhopal Gas Victims who have not yet received justice. Maybe the truth about Chhatisgarh will take as many years as that to reach us, she reminds the students. Even if a part of the body is pained, it affects the rest of the body, she says. Bingo! Her impromptu speech is part rhetoric, part insightful.

When the kids are hesitant to ask questions, a teacher says, “He has raised his voice against his own government, and you are hesitant to ask questions.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YedFWKcieog

Himanshu Kumar Speaks on the 26th day of his Cycle Tour

Earlier the lady teacher had told Himanshu, “We get irritated even after a small journey in a car in this smelting heat. But you are doing it on a cycle. Only the strong can do it.” Himanshu quips quickly, “The strong or the desperate. I am desperate after the government destroyed everything that I had built.” The teacher is quick to respond, “Only the desperate is strong.” Another Maoist sympathizer for you, Mr. Chidambaram?

There perhaps is hope still for the Indian Middle Class.

News comes that an RTI and wildlife activist, Amit Jaithwa, has been shot dead in Gujarat brazenly outside a court. Himanshu talks of the govt. resistance against him. It won’t be tough for the govt. to silence him as well. “My cycle might be run over by a truck and the govt. will call it an accident. Like the ‘accidents’ it causes to millions of hungry in this nation,” he says. Life is indeed cheap in a country run under reckless capitalism.

One among the audience, a local activist, informs Himanshu later of another local activist, Dharampal Kataria, who had raised his voice against the local police’s complicity with the higher classes here who had raped and murdered a lower caste woman. They had instead implicated this activist for the same, and he is languishing in jail. Everyone knows the truth, no one says anything.

Even as Sardar Sahar sleeps, the two set out, this time without their big bags in their carriers which will be brought to them by a local... 

Himanshu recalls how he was told in Punjab that the PM of the country, Manmohan Singh, had been named a Naxalite when he was still a professor in Punjab by the police some 30 odd years back. He cared, they told him, back then. What happened to him? Maybe the capitalist salesman from the Sidney Lumet film ‘Network’ visited and converted this ‘gentle sardar’. There are no countries anymore, only corporations, the capitalist had screamed sense into a compassionate messiah in the film. How true!

Peacocks scream out freely in this one lakh strong community in Sardar Sahar. They roam freely here, unlike many humans in this country.

There is a man being illegally imprisoned every minute in every nook and corner of this country. There is so much injustice in this nation that trying to grasp it all can drive the middle class soul into Sadat Hasan Manto’s asylum from his story ‘Toba Tek Singh’ i.e. they will be finally rendered sane.

But in an insane world, sanity is the new insanity. But the likes of Himanshu, refuse to drink from the insane well. And for that, we, the middle class, shall lynch him.