Month: October 2016

When Bollywood bluebloods like Karan Johar must prove their patriotism and grovel before the ruling regime for protection, you know you’re in trouble. Like the writer Perumal Murugan before him, you know which side is winning: The thugs with muscle

Mumbai, India – Oct. 19, 2016: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena workers at Metro Cinema in Mumbai, India, October 19, 2016.(HT)

Perhaps we should have been more worried about the images on our TV screens in February when the nationalism debate was only warming up. On that February day when tricolour-brandishing lawyers and one BJP MLA proceeded, within the premises of a Delhi court, to chase and beat up journalists and student leader Kanhaiya Kumar, we should have known that things would only get worse.

The irony of “nationalists” acting with impunity, without any fear of consequence or rule of law now oppresses India like a thick fog. The jingoistic justification of BJP MLA OP Sharma who asked in February, “If someone abuses your mother, then will you not hit him?” is now reason enough.

Read | Sedition to beef festival: 5 times JNU campus was on the boil

Consider recent events.

Early this month, one of the 18 accused of murdering Mohammad Ikhlaq in Dadri, died in jail. Ravin Sisodia, died apparently of complications caused by chikungunya; his family says he was attacked in jail. Regardless of which side you believe, there’s no escaping the fact that before cremation, the body of the murder accused was kept in a coffin wrapped around with the tricolour — a validation of gau rakshak as martyr.

Read | Bisada witnesses the misuse of Indian flag and communal politics

Our Flag Code and law forbid the use of the flag in funerals “except in state funerals or armed forces or other para-military forces”. No case has been filed. Instead, Sisodia’s family has been promised a job and financial compensation from the state government as well as BJP politicians to the extent of Rs 25 lakh.

Then, on Tuesday, film-maker Karan Johar, whose film Ae Dil He Muskhil is scheduled for release on October 28, released a short video. The movie features Pakistani actor Fawad Khan in a cameo, reason enough for Raj Thackeray’s MNS to threaten vandalising movie halls where it is released (the Thackerays are generally true to their word; Bal Thackeray’s goons dug up the pitch at Wankhede to prevent the taint of Pakistani cricket players on our soil).

Read | Mob vs Karan Johar: It’s a pity when citizens are forced to profess patriotism

Johar’s video proclaimed (i) he is a nationalist (ii) he will henceforth not work with talent from the “neighbouring country” (iii) he loves the Indian Army and (iv) holding up his film will directly affect 300 Indians who worked on it. Later in the week, he met Union home minister Rajnath Singh who has announced safe passage for the film.

When Bollywood bluebloods like Johar must prove their patriotism and grovel before the ruling regime for protection, you know you’re in trouble. Like the writer Perumal Murugan before him, you know which side is winning: The thugs with muscle.

It’s not enough any longer to merely say yes to the all-consuming question: Are you a patriot (pre-2014, it was an assumption). Now, definitive proof is required. The University Grants Commission wants 30 million students to take a unity pledge on October 31, the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. It will dedicate oath-takers to “make my own contribution to ensure internal security of my country”.

Read | Society must sensitise itself to the differently-abled

What does this “contribution” include? The legitimising, even sanctioning of nationalistic vigilantism reached such a level that a movie-going couple in a Goa cinema chose to attack a wheelchair-bound man who obviously could not stand during the mandatory singing of the national anthem. Irrespective of whether they knew of his disability, they were certainly blinded by their sense of righteousness. Who gave them the right to take the law in their hands? Has any attempt been made to track them down and book them for assault?

The pledges, the flags, the chanting of Bharat Mata ki Jai by themselves would not be harmful, except that they are now seen as validation of criminal behaviour that has, so far, gone unpunished.

Read | Hindu republic: India is being recreated into a majoritarian state

This is subversion of the most basic meaning of nationalism. When you take the law into your hands — no matter what the provocation — you are showing disrespect to the constitutional values we stand for. You are sliding down the slippery road to anarchy.

Every patriotic citizen has reason to worry.

namita.bhandare@gmail.com

@namitabhandare

The views expressed are personal

Politicians in India have rarely been forthcoming about their health, taking refuge in the argument that they are entitled to their privacy. Do we as citizens have the right to know?

People hold a portrait of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa as they pray for her well-being as they stand in front of a hospital where she was being treated in Chennai.(AFP File Photo)

In hindsight, we know that at the time of Independence, Pakistan’s Quaid-e-Azam MA Jinnah had advanced tuberculosis and died just over a year later on September 11, 1948. Jinnah’s illness was a closely guarded secret, known only to a small inner circle.

Today we ask: What if we had known back then? What would have been the course of history? Would India have been partitioned?

Read | The health of Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa is a matter of public concern

Nearly 70 years later, we remain just as clueless and in the dark about the true state of the health of our politicians.

In Tamil Nadu, speculation about the health of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, in hospital since September 22 for “fever and dehydration”, has gone from “she is running office from her hospital bed” to “ventilator support”. As a team of doctors from AIIMS rushes off to Chennai, Apollo Hospital says she is “responding well”. Tamil Nadu governor C Vidyasagar Rao also says “she is recovering well”, and her “personal friend for long”, former editor of The Hindu, Malini Parthasarthy tweeted that she is “certainly recovering & out of danger as seen by a close associate who visited her at hospital”.

Read | AIIMS doctor in Chennai to treat Jayalalithaa

These statements tell us nothing and do nothing to quell the wild conjecture. As devotees enact strange rituals including the piercing of their children’s cheeks, fake photographs and blood reports have gone viral. This past week, Chennai police booked a case against a woman for “spreading rumours” about Puratchi Thalaivi Amma’s health.

The Madras High Court has asked the government to provide clarity and, coincidentally, Apollo Hospital issued its most detailed statement soon after saying she was being treated with antibiotics and was on respiratory support.

Every decent Indian wishes Jayalalithaa a speedy recovery. But the lack of transparency and the resulting rumours about her health — including the legitimate question of who’s in charge of the party and the state — is worrying.

Read | CM Jayalalithaa in hospital, her adviser is in Tamil Nadu hot seat

From former prime minister AB Vajpayee to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, politicians in India have rarely been forthcoming about their health, taking refuge in the argument that they are entitled to their privacy.

We still don’t know what ails Sonia Gandhi who this week made her first public appearance two months after she collapsed and injured her shoulder during a rally in Varanasi — though speculation about her health goes back further. In 2015 when Vajpayee received the Bharat Ratna from President Pranab Mukherjee at home, every newspaper and website carried the same photograph that strategically shielded his face. Why?

Read | How is Jayalalithaa? Rumour abuzz on Twitter despite denials, health reports

Are people in public life entitled to privacy? Hillary Clinton’s collapse during a 9/11 service led to worldwide speculation about her health. This wasn’t gossip but a legitimate question about the physical capabilities of someone running for office. Hillary had only herself to blame for not being more candid about a bout of pneumonia, leading to a needless debate about possible character flaws including a tendency to be secretive.

In India, media have happily colluded with politicians to protect “personal” details, including dalliances and romances. Do we as citizens have some god-given right to know if a minister has a mistress or two? I would say no, unless there is a conflict of interest or abuse of power. Are tickets being given, for instance, in lieu of sexual favours? Is a girlfriend’s relative getting an undue business advantage? We cannot even begin to answer these questions without first knowing the facts.

Read | Harming children for Jayalalithaa’s health is not acceptable

Where health is concerned, there can be no secrecy. There is an unstated, sacred pact between elector and elected. When I vote for a candidate, I assume that person is of sound health, physically and mentally. I don’t need blood, stool and urine reports. But if that person should fall ill and end up in hospital for close to two weeks, then, yes, I have the right to know. I have the right to know not just because it’s my taxpayer money but because in a democracy, people voted to office are accountable.

When someone in elected office refuses full disclosure on health, it is disrespectful to voters and to the idea of democracy itself.

The author tweets at @namitabhandare. The views expressed are personal.