Sunday, December 14, 2008

Several dilemmas haunt the "Give Telangana" party

A grand anti-Congress alliance is taking shape in Andhra Pradesh, with both Communist Party of India and Communist Party (Marxist) joining hands with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the combine has now invited Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) to join them to dethrone the Congress. The communists have been spearheading the Telangana struggle even in British times and have a major base there. TDP has proved its prowess in Telangana by winning one-third of the seats during the by-elections, conducted due to mass-resignations of TRS legislators. The TDP-Left combine is surely going to influence the Telangana voters. Film star Chiranjeevi-led Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) has announced its willingness to have a pre-poll alliance with any opposition party.Now TRS – the prime mover behind the demand for a separate Telangana state – is faced with a choice of siding with either PRP or the TDP-Left combine. A PRP-TRS electoral marriage may fetch the latter the maximum number of seats to contest from. But its double-front fight against a strong TDP-Left combine on one hand, and the ruling Congress on the other, may result in TRS losing heavily. If it joins TDP-Left combine, it may get less number of seats than PRP is willing to give it. In that case TRS may win the maximum number of seats it contests from. The latest twist in the tale is that TRS faces a new threat: if it combines with TDP, it can win more seats but lose local leadership, which will pose a threat to the party’s grassroots-level hold. But if it teams up with PRP, it can continue to hold the local leadership but can not expect to win as many seats as it expects to win if it teams up with the TDP-Left combine. The TDP, anxious to come back to power, finally decided to announce its support for a separate Telangana state. Ironic, as TDP itself had fought most vigorously against bifurcation of the state ever since TRS started agitating for it.
http://www.thesundayindian.com/21122008/storyd.asp?sid=6276&pageno=1

Nageswara Rao Thamanam

Monday, November 24, 2008

Cain and Abel revisited?

Nageswara Rao Thamanam
The Old Testament tells how Cain killed his brother Abel and God’s wrath felled him. Is Andhra Pradesh’s Christian CM, YSR, about to do the same to his brethren and invite the wrath of voters, the God of all politicos?

YSR’s heart overfloweth for the rights of the minorities, you bet. He is not just continuing with the benefits of Haj subsidy for the Muslims, he has thought up a new scheme for the Christians, modelled around the Haj facility, and has promised to do the same for Sikhs and Parsis as well. But will this ensure that Andhra people will agree to live under his dispensation happily ever after? No chance, for he has ended up splitting the Christians themselves because of a nuance that is typical of Andhra Christians.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy is going to give all 'white-card' holding Christians Rs 20,000 as a subsidy for visiting the sanctums in the Holy Land. On the face of it, it is a ‘progressive move’, extending communal facilities and increasing benefits to Christians. But clearly, this is a case of trying to woo voters from that denomination. The state government is setting up a separate wing for Christians in the state’s minority welfare department, along with the constitution of Christian Minority Finance Corporation.
The Haj House in Hyderabad that hosts pilgrimage to Mecca will now play host to the Christians after the departure of last batch to the Haj on November 16. The state government has allocated a budget of Rs two crore for the financial year 2008-09 and the seven-day package is being organised by Andhra Pradesh State Minorities Finance Corporation.
Mohd Ali Shabbir, minister for Minorities Welfare, said the funds allocated to the ministry would be dispersed to all minority groups according to their population and Rs 1.27 billion has already been allocated by the government for minorities' welfare in the 2008-09 budget. The Congress government claims that the budget was increased by five times during the last four years. Archbishop Marampudi Joji, Secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Bishops' Council (APBC), welcomed the move and said the state government’s decision would help Christian minorities. To be eligible, a Christian pilgrim applicant needs to be a bonafide Christian, certified either through school or college records, Mandal Revenue Officer or Baptism certificate. And, white ration card holders – those whose annual income is below Rs 40,000, and aged persons will be preferred. But here is the twist.
Dalits constitute over 80 percent of Christians in the state, but they never register themselves as Christians. On record they choose to remain as Dalits, to avail of the government benefits eligible for Hindu scheduled caste communities. If they declare themselves as Christians, they would be taken out of the SC list and grouped with Backward Castes. Those who convert on record form a minor chunk of the total Christian community and they will no longer be considered as Scheduled Castes. This ascribed identity to these groups has been debated for decades. "Being in the Hindu fold, the Dalit families are deprived of entry into the Hindu temples, and now the state government prevents us from using the welfare scheme to go to the birth place of Christ," said a Dalit Christian leader. Although YSR wants to win the hearts of the Christian community, his move has raised many questions on the genuineness of his commitment.
With the majority of Christians being excluded from the new scheme, it is unlikely their hearts would melt when he next coming pleading for votes. Contrarily, it will definitely provide ammunition for the demogogic Hindutva brigade in the state. The problem with this policy is that it did not recognise the fact that if Dalit Christians are excluded from the reservations for Christian community, it will only fuel their anger against the segregation. YSR government's exclusion of Dalit Christians’ to Holy Lands would permanently damage the sympathy YSR has among the Christian community: he himself comes from a Christian community, whose majority he is now alienating. The scheme will fuel the old fire of caste within the Christians and would split the community's loyalties. With the general and Assembly elections approaching, this gesture by the ruling Congress government is seen as another ploy to turn every possible group into their prospective supporters. As a matter of fact, Andhra Pradesh is the only state in South India that is under Congress rule and from where Congress has 30 Lok Sabha members. Coming back to power in AP will ensure its strength in the next LS. With its sentimental opposition to separate statehood to Telangana, and being the only major political party to oppose it, the Congress is looking for alternatives to raid the vote bank. But it remains to be seen if YSR will succeed in winning the hearts of minorities. Precisely at a time when attacks on Christians by the Hindutva forces in Orissa and Karnataka are rising, the populist initiative by the AP government will make the Christian community more vulnerable to the Hindutva forces. On the face of it, the CM is doing a great service to his own Christians brethren but in effect it will perhaps repeat the story of Cain killing Abel!

http://www.thesundayindian.com/30112008/storyd.asp?sid=6088&pageno=1

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Will Chandrababu Naidu's volte-face save his face?

Nageswara Rao Thamanam
The lust for power has led the TDP to abandon its old plank of opposing the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh and lend its full-throated support to the proponents of a separate Telangana. This is quite a volte-face by the party that has been countering bifurcation calls almost ever since the separatists grouped themselves under the Telengana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) flag. Though what the move will do for the TDP in the coming elections is uncertain as of yet, it is bound to help it put a brake on desertions. Yet, there are still several glitches to be attended to. First, a separate Telangana is not the only issue obsessing the electorate. Secondly, the party’s stand does not appear to have had any appreciable impact on the non-Telangana crowd. The TRS electoral gains in the last general elections had nothing concrete to suggest that the votes the TRS got were endorsements for a separate Telangana. Any doubts about this end when you consider closely the disaster that befell TRS when it resigned both its Lok Sabha and Assembly seats and sought re-election. The move cost it several seats, even as it benefited the TDP which at that stage was still opposed to a separate Telangana. And even the Congress, which is blamed for reneging on its promise of granting statehood, gained at TRS' expense. But the real point here is that none of this has affected the electoral prospects of the parties in the non-Telangana region. It is difficult at this stage to say how much Babu’s somersault will benefit him in the polls. For the ruling Congress, all this is proving to be a continuing headache, because nothing can suit it better than a divided opposition. And this prospect may already be lost. The reigning paradox here is that the call for a separate Telangana has in unknown ways served to keep the opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh united. But if YSR triumphs against a united opposition, his stature will grow manifold, and the pro- and anti- Telangana blocks could well melt into nothing. As it is there is strong likelihood of the statehood issue assuming secondary status in the elections; and many say the wiser option would be to identify newer, more ingenious poll planks. Going by the general drift of things this time, there’s clearly a Telangana fatigue in the air.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Understanding the Khairlanji Verdict

S. ANAND

The Khairlanji Verdict, in which six persons were awarded the death penalty for the massacre of dalits, is anything but historic. In treating the massacre as a purely criminal act, it actually masks caste realities.
On September 24, 2008, judge S.S. Das of the ad hoc sessions court in Bhandara district, Maharashtra, pronounced the death sentence for six persons and life term for two in the case related to the massacre of four dalit-Buddhists of the Bhotmange family in Khairlanji village on September 29, 2006. This was hailed as a “historic verdict”. For the first time in post-independence India, we were told, “capital punishment was given to killers of dalits”. In an editorial comment headlined “A Strong Message”, the Times of India (September 26, 2008) wrote, “The Khairlanji verdict sends out a clear message that perpetrators of caste violence won’t be allowed to get away.” The reports filed by Meena Menon for The Hindu echoed this view. Menon quoted Milind Fulzele of the Khairlanji Action Committee as saying: “This was the first time the court conducted a speedy trial and awarded the death penalty” (September 25, 2008).
However, on September 15, 2008, judge Das had made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that “Khairlanji was a case of murder spurred by revenge for an earlier case of assault involving the police patil of a nearby village.” He did not see any ground for invoking the provisions of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, (known as the PoA Act) — a legislation regarded as radical though it is rarely invoked in letter and spirit. Das also did not invoke Sections 354 (assault or criminal force with intent to outrage the modesty of a woman) or Sections 375 (that deals with rape) of the Indian Penal Code, though it had been amply demonstrated by several independent fact-finding reports in October–November 2006 that the mother and daughter, Surekha and Priyanka, had not just been raped repeatedly but tortured in ghastly ways (stripped and paraded naked, with reportedly even bullock cart pokers being thrust into their vaginas, and Priyanka being raped even after her death). Destroying evidence
Before the CBI took over the investigations in November 2006, the initial two post-mortem reports had also incredulously ruled out rape and ensured that what little evidence was there was destroyed. After the judge’s September 15 ruling, the sole survivor and key witness, Bhaiyalal Bhotmange and most activists who had worked on the case and led agitations demanding a CBI inquiry and justice, expressed shock and disappointment. They feared that the criminals would be let off with some light punishment. Dalit leaders expressed concern over the ruling out of caste hatred, for, this would embolden caste-Hindu aggressors. Economist and Pune university vice-chancellor Narendra Jadhav demanded stringent punishment for the eight who had been convicted. Meira Kumar, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, too, expressed concern, saying if such episodes were treated as mere criminal acts, devoid of any casteist motivation, the Prevention of Atrocities Act would lose its relevance. Kumar even wrote to Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Home Minister Shivraj Patil demanding a judicial review and action against the State police personnel for any dereliction of duty. Clearly, between the day of the verdict (September 15) and the day of the announcement of quantum of punishment (September 24), there was social and political pressure mounting for something radical and dramatic. In this sense, the death sentence seems to have been overdetermined, almost in compensation for not invoking the PoA Act or rape laws.
A Strange and Bitter Crop by Anand Tehumbde, published by Navayana, to be released on October 10.
How do we then understand the verdict? Having weakened all the grounds for stringent punishment, when people were expecting acquittal, the judge slammed death penalty. However, since the judge has ruled out rape, conspiracy and caste hatred, there is a good chance that the High Court will not ratify the death sentence. The little “gain” that seems to have been made would be forfeited in no time.
In many ways the Khairlanji case came to symbolise the everyday injustices dalits suffer — most of which go unnoticed and unreported. The National Crime Records Bureau says every day two dalits are killed, three dalit women are raped and a dalit is assaulted every 18 minutes. And this is the count of only cases that enter the records. According to the 2005 annual report of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the conviction rate under the PoA Act is a mere 15.71 percent while the conviction rate for cases registered under IPC was over 40 percent in the same year. In Maharashtra, with a backlog of 6,535 cases under PoA Act as of 2004, the rate of disposal of cases filed under the Act between 2000 and 2004 has ranged between 0.24 and 0.84 percent. Given such pervasive apathy and hopelessness, the death penalty in the Khairlanji case, even when the judgment jettisons caste as a ground for the crime, deludes people into thinking that there is some justice, at last.
However, in treating it as just another criminal act and by offering death for death, the judgment decontextualises one of the most horrific caste crimes in post-independence India, and gives us the vicarious pleasure of avenging the brutal killing of the Bhotmanges. By making many feel that those convicted “deserve to be hanged”, the verdict manages to successfully mask caste realities. It reduces both the crime and the punishment to abstract “human rage” stripped of all social and political underpinnings. Besides, capital punishment for a handful of the Khairlanji killers cannot be a symbolic compensation for the backlog of cases and the spate of acquittals under the PoA Act. The fact that even as the Khairlanji verdict was being delivered, three dalit women must have been be raped and two dalits murdered somewhere in India should bring some sobriety. Far from acting as a deterrent to caste crimes, such a generalised judgment under provisions of the Indian Penal Code even offers the ground to argue that the PoA Act can itself be repealed — a longstanding demand of OBCs-led parties like the Shiv Sena and the Samajwadi Party. Vicarious revenge
How do we relate this judgment to the campaign to abolish death penalty, a campaign in which many dalits have actively taken part since dalits and other social minorities are the worst victims of this extreme punishment? If some dalits seem to be celebrating, it is because neither the social order nor the State gives them any avenue to avenge the everyday murders. The judgment, then, seems to offer vicarious, temporary revenge. The authority of the State first makes the dalits powerless, and then dons in the garb of their saviour. Reflecting on the issue in 1998, Ravikumar, then president of PUCL’s Tamil Nadu unit, contrasted the kind of symbolic death brought about by the State through death penalty with the routine murder of dalits in India. “There is indeed a kind of death which has no value — the death of a dalit. Such a death is unnoticed and passed over by society. The State does not acknowledge guilt and such deaths do not cause any disturbance in the social order. One doesn’t even need to justify the killing of a dalit as he or she is not considered a part of society. The killing of a dalit is viewed as normal. Even a dead dog makes an impact on the atmosphere because it stinks, but the death of a dalit does not make any.”
The author is the publisher of Navayana

Published in THE HINDU,
Sunday, Oct 05, 2008