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ofthisandthat.org. All rights
reserved.
ofthisandthat.org. All rights
reserved.
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INAUGURATION, January 20, 2009
Drunk in its stale air
For two hundred years.
Fettered in mind and body,
The soul, the safe escape
To let me breathe the cries
Of my heart singing
Tears of mel-an-choly.
Drunk in its stale air
For two hundred years.
Fettered in mind and body,
The soul, the safe escape
To let me breathe the cries
Of my heart singing
Tears of mel-an-choly.
The tears flow free today
Washing the stains of blood
And sweat in brotherhood.
Raise the curtain then an'
Let the world look in
On this promised land --
We breathe free today.... almost.
--- Arshad M. Khan
We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.
--- Native American proverb
--- Native American proverb
March 20, 2020
Mr. President: If India's Modi was seeking notoriety amongst American scientists, he
could not have done
better than the report in Science not too long ago (January 24, 2020). The principal
organ of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), it carries
considerate prestige, and, being a sort of umbrella journal, is also widely read.
It turns out Modi's goons attacked scientists and students at Jawaharlal Nehru
University (JNU). Masked men armed with iron rods and wooden staffs, more than 70
of them, set upon a group of teachers and students holding a meeting on campus.
Cracked heads and broken bones later, they next charged into student hostels
terrorizing residents. A Muslim student at JNU put it succinctly: I "... don't express any
opinions," meaning political views. He preferred to remain anonymous.
JNU is liberal, prestigious, and diametrically opposed to Modi's nationalist agenda.
Just a few days before the attack, his Home Minister, the fiery Amit Shah, had called
JNU a nest of "anti-national gang members [who] should be taught a lesson." The
Delhi police are under the direct authority of the Home Minister, and their inaction
when JNU sought help confirmed for many the attack was the work of Hindu
nationalists in sympathy with the government.
The Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is the ideological font of Mr. Modi's
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Modi himself is a former RSS member. As a
political organization, it has been banned three times: after the assassination of the
venerated Mahatma Gandhi by a member, who claimed to have left the group; during
the emergency declared by Indira Gandhi (1975-77); and after the destruction of the
Babri Mosque by Hindu mobs instigated by the BJP.
With shakhas (subgroups) across the country and cadres trained in martial arts, the
whole has a significant whiff of the original 1930s brown shirts in Germany. The fact
is, trained groups terrorizing opponents or frightening them into silence are around --
indeed if free speech is the essence of democracy, it is alarming to see it being muted.
For months before the attack, JNU had been on strike against a fee hike and the new
Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The latter is widely opposed for discriminating
against Muslims, and is seen as weakening the core of Indian secularism. As such,
critics also charge it violates the constitution, and Mr. Modi's naive response that
"people are being misled" has failed to allay fears. Very simply, the CAA allows
persecuted refugees from neighboring countries to apply for citizenship unless they
happen to be Muslim.
Worse for Muslims, the CAA is to be followed by a National Population Register and a
National Register of Citizens, requiring people to produce documents to prove their
citizenship. Marginalized Muslims, too poor to have registered births or acquired
passports, are again at a disadvantage and risk being declared stateless.
Indian academe and scientists are speaking out, and over 2000 have signed an open
letter opposing the bill. Prominent signatories include Sandeep Trivedi who heads
the prestigious Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and Rajesh Gopakumar, the
director of the International Center for Theoretical Sciences.
One political bright spot is the Legislative Assembly in the Indian state of Telengana.
A resolution introduced by Chief Minster K. Chandrasekhar Rao against the CAA,
NPR and NRC has been adopted (The Hindu Business Line, March 16, 2020). It
urges the central government to amend the CAA "in order to remove all references to
any religion, or to any foreign country."
It turns out Modi's goons attacked scientists and students at Jawaharlal Nehru
University (JNU). Masked men armed with iron rods and wooden staffs, more than 70
of them, set upon a group of teachers and students holding a meeting on campus.
Cracked heads and broken bones later, they next charged into student hostels
terrorizing residents. A Muslim student at JNU put it succinctly: I "... don't express any
opinions," meaning political views. He preferred to remain anonymous.
JNU is liberal, prestigious, and diametrically opposed to Modi's nationalist agenda.
Just a few days before the attack, his Home Minister, the fiery Amit Shah, had called
JNU a nest of "anti-national gang members [who] should be taught a lesson." The
Delhi police are under the direct authority of the Home Minister, and their inaction
when JNU sought help confirmed for many the attack was the work of Hindu
nationalists in sympathy with the government.
The Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is the ideological font of Mr. Modi's
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Modi himself is a former RSS member. As a
political organization, it has been banned three times: after the assassination of the
venerated Mahatma Gandhi by a member, who claimed to have left the group; during
the emergency declared by Indira Gandhi (1975-77); and after the destruction of the
Babri Mosque by Hindu mobs instigated by the BJP.
With shakhas (subgroups) across the country and cadres trained in martial arts, the
whole has a significant whiff of the original 1930s brown shirts in Germany. The fact
is, trained groups terrorizing opponents or frightening them into silence are around --
indeed if free speech is the essence of democracy, it is alarming to see it being muted.
For months before the attack, JNU had been on strike against a fee hike and the new
Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The latter is widely opposed for discriminating
against Muslims, and is seen as weakening the core of Indian secularism. As such,
critics also charge it violates the constitution, and Mr. Modi's naive response that
"people are being misled" has failed to allay fears. Very simply, the CAA allows
persecuted refugees from neighboring countries to apply for citizenship unless they
happen to be Muslim.
Worse for Muslims, the CAA is to be followed by a National Population Register and a
National Register of Citizens, requiring people to produce documents to prove their
citizenship. Marginalized Muslims, too poor to have registered births or acquired
passports, are again at a disadvantage and risk being declared stateless.
Indian academe and scientists are speaking out, and over 2000 have signed an open
letter opposing the bill. Prominent signatories include Sandeep Trivedi who heads
the prestigious Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and Rajesh Gopakumar, the
director of the International Center for Theoretical Sciences.
One political bright spot is the Legislative Assembly in the Indian state of Telengana.
A resolution introduced by Chief Minster K. Chandrasekhar Rao against the CAA,
NPR and NRC has been adopted (The Hindu Business Line, March 16, 2020). It
urges the central government to amend the CAA "in order to remove all references to
any religion, or to any foreign country."
The sit-in protest by women in Shaheen Bagh, Delhi, now approaching 100 days will
continue as they remain unimpressed by verbal assurances. Calling it a fight for the
poor, the protesters are asking people to boycott the NPR and its required
documentary verification of citizenship (National Herald, March 14, 2020).
The same is true about 1400 miles further south in the Deccan, where protesters in
Bengaluru's Bilal Bagh vow that even the coronavirus is not going to stop them. Their
sit-in has now passed 40 days (Deccan Herald, March 16, 2020).
There have been repercussions in neighboring countries, and violence against
Muslims in Delhi has galvanized protests in Muslim-majority Bangladesh forcing Modi
to cancel a scheduled visit there (New Age Bangladesh, Feb 28, 2020). Mr. Modi's
official excuse, the coronavirus, appears lame, particularly when it has already arrived
in India.
The protests of the past months look set to continue.
All of which might help to explain a conundrum. Pakistan and India are culturally
similar, were in fact the same country for centuries before the 1947 division, and India
has the higher per capita GDP, so why is it that Pakistan beats India hands down in
happiness, increasing its lead yearly. In the 2020 edition of the World Happiness
Report released March 20, Pakistan is ranked 66 up from 75 last year while India is
down from 125 to plumbing the depths at 144 out of 153 (Figure 2.1), just nine above
war-torn Afghanistan (and its hapless residents) in last place.
This year the Happiness Report also ranks cities for happiness (Figure 3.1). Again
the Pakistani major cities of Karachi (ranked 117) and Lahore (122) are ranked much
happier than India's capital Delhi (180) scoring close to Kabul, Afghanistan (186)
which is dead last.
What is the cause of India's misery? Decidedly, the rancor caused by Modi's brand of
fervent Hindu nationalism divides Hindus from religious minorities and even Hindus
from Hindus. Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, the founding leaders, for
example, would never have tolerated the Hindu nationalist agenda; Nehru of course
was a Fabian socialist.
Mr. President: If India's Modi was seeking notoriety amongst American scientists, he
could not have done
better than the report in Science not too long ago (January 24, 2020). The principal
organ of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), it carries
considerate prestige, and, being a sort of umbrella journal, is also widely read.
It turns out Modi's goons attacked scientists and students at Jawaharlal Nehru
University (JNU). Masked men armed with iron rods and wooden staffs, more than 70
of them, set upon a group of teachers and students holding a meeting on campus.
Cracked heads and broken bones later, they next charged into student hostels
terrorizing residents. A Muslim student at JNU put it succinctly: I "... don't express any
opinions," meaning political views. He preferred to remain anonymous.
JNU is liberal, prestigious, and diametrically opposed to Modi's nationalist agenda.
Just a few days before the attack, his Home Minister, the fiery Amit Shah, had called
JNU a nest of "anti-national gang members [who] should be taught a lesson." The
Delhi police are under the direct authority of the Home Minister, and their inaction
when JNU sought help confirmed for many the attack was the work of Hindu
nationalists in sympathy with the government.
The Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is the ideological font of Mr. Modi's
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Modi himself is a former RSS member. As a
political organization, it has been banned three times: after the assassination of the
venerated Mahatma Gandhi by a member, who claimed to have left the group; during
the emergency declared by Indira Gandhi (1975-77); and after the destruction of the
Babri Mosque by Hindu mobs instigated by the BJP.
With shakhas (subgroups) across the country and cadres trained in martial arts, the
whole has a significant whiff of the original 1930s brown shirts in Germany. The fact
is, trained groups terrorizing opponents or frightening them into silence are around --
indeed if free speech is the essence of democracy, it is alarming to see it being muted.
For months before the attack, JNU had been on strike against a fee hike and the new
Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The latter is widely opposed for discriminating
against Muslims, and is seen as weakening the core of Indian secularism. As such,
critics also charge it violates the constitution, and Mr. Modi's naive response that
"people are being misled" has failed to allay fears. Very simply, the CAA allows
persecuted refugees from neighboring countries to apply for citizenship unless they
happen to be Muslim.
Worse for Muslims, the CAA is to be followed by a National Population Register and a
National Register of Citizens, requiring people to produce documents to prove their
citizenship. Marginalized Muslims, too poor to have registered births or acquired
passports, are again at a disadvantage and risk being declared stateless.
Indian academe and scientists are speaking out, and over 2000 have signed an open
letter opposing the bill. Prominent signatories include Sandeep Trivedi who heads
the prestigious Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and Rajesh Gopakumar, the
director of the International Center for Theoretical Sciences.
One political bright spot is the Legislative Assembly in the Indian state of Telengana.
A resolution introduced by Chief Minster K. Chandrasekhar Rao against the CAA,
NPR and NRC has been adopted (The Hindu Business Line, March 16, 2020). It
urges the central government to amend the CAA "in order to remove all references to
any religion, or to any foreign country."
It turns out Modi's goons attacked scientists and students at Jawaharlal Nehru
University (JNU). Masked men armed with iron rods and wooden staffs, more than 70
of them, set upon a group of teachers and students holding a meeting on campus.
Cracked heads and broken bones later, they next charged into student hostels
terrorizing residents. A Muslim student at JNU put it succinctly: I "... don't express any
opinions," meaning political views. He preferred to remain anonymous.
JNU is liberal, prestigious, and diametrically opposed to Modi's nationalist agenda.
Just a few days before the attack, his Home Minister, the fiery Amit Shah, had called
JNU a nest of "anti-national gang members [who] should be taught a lesson." The
Delhi police are under the direct authority of the Home Minister, and their inaction
when JNU sought help confirmed for many the attack was the work of Hindu
nationalists in sympathy with the government.
The Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is the ideological font of Mr. Modi's
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Modi himself is a former RSS member. As a
political organization, it has been banned three times: after the assassination of the
venerated Mahatma Gandhi by a member, who claimed to have left the group; during
the emergency declared by Indira Gandhi (1975-77); and after the destruction of the
Babri Mosque by Hindu mobs instigated by the BJP.
With shakhas (subgroups) across the country and cadres trained in martial arts, the
whole has a significant whiff of the original 1930s brown shirts in Germany. The fact
is, trained groups terrorizing opponents or frightening them into silence are around --
indeed if free speech is the essence of democracy, it is alarming to see it being muted.
For months before the attack, JNU had been on strike against a fee hike and the new
Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). The latter is widely opposed for discriminating
against Muslims, and is seen as weakening the core of Indian secularism. As such,
critics also charge it violates the constitution, and Mr. Modi's naive response that
"people are being misled" has failed to allay fears. Very simply, the CAA allows
persecuted refugees from neighboring countries to apply for citizenship unless they
happen to be Muslim.
Worse for Muslims, the CAA is to be followed by a National Population Register and a
National Register of Citizens, requiring people to produce documents to prove their
citizenship. Marginalized Muslims, too poor to have registered births or acquired
passports, are again at a disadvantage and risk being declared stateless.
Indian academe and scientists are speaking out, and over 2000 have signed an open
letter opposing the bill. Prominent signatories include Sandeep Trivedi who heads
the prestigious Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, and Rajesh Gopakumar, the
director of the International Center for Theoretical Sciences.
One political bright spot is the Legislative Assembly in the Indian state of Telengana.
A resolution introduced by Chief Minster K. Chandrasekhar Rao against the CAA,
NPR and NRC has been adopted (The Hindu Business Line, March 16, 2020). It
urges the central government to amend the CAA "in order to remove all references to
any religion, or to any foreign country."
The sit-in protest by women in Shaheen Bagh, Delhi, now approaching 100 days will
continue as they remain unimpressed by verbal assurances. Calling it a fight for the
poor, the protesters are asking people to boycott the NPR and its required
documentary verification of citizenship (National Herald, March 14, 2020).
The same is true about 1400 miles further south in the Deccan, where protesters in
Bengaluru's Bilal Bagh vow that even the coronavirus is not going to stop them. Their
sit-in has now passed 40 days (Deccan Herald, March 16, 2020).
There have been repercussions in neighboring countries, and violence against
Muslims in Delhi has galvanized protests in Muslim-majority Bangladesh forcing Modi
to cancel a scheduled visit there (New Age Bangladesh, Feb 28, 2020). Mr. Modi's
official excuse, the coronavirus, appears lame, particularly when it has already arrived
in India.
The protests of the past months look set to continue.
All of which might help to explain a conundrum. Pakistan and India are culturally
similar, were in fact the same country for centuries before the 1947 division, and India
has the higher per capita GDP, so why is it that Pakistan beats India hands down in
happiness, increasing its lead yearly. In the 2020 edition of the World Happiness
Report released March 20, Pakistan is ranked 66 up from 75 last year while India is
down from 125 to plumbing the depths at 144 out of 153 (Figure 2.1), just nine above
war-torn Afghanistan (and its hapless residents) in last place.
This year the Happiness Report also ranks cities for happiness (Figure 3.1). Again
the Pakistani major cities of Karachi (ranked 117) and Lahore (122) are ranked much
happier than India's capital Delhi (180) scoring close to Kabul, Afghanistan (186)
which is dead last.
What is the cause of India's misery? Decidedly, the rancor caused by Modi's brand of
fervent Hindu nationalism divides Hindus from religious minorities and even Hindus
from Hindus. Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, the founding leaders, for
example, would never have tolerated the Hindu nationalist agenda; Nehru of course
was a Fabian socialist.