Shame,
Not In Doha But In India
By Vidya Bhushan
Rawat
23 December, 2006
Countercurrents.org
As
the year 2006 is coming to an end, there is time for introspection and
many issues, which need our attention. The media said that it represented
people and campaigned for them to get justice particularly to the like
of 'Jessica Lal'. Some others say that they fought for Priyadarshini
Mattu and so on. Of course, the same media did not have time to report
on Kharilanji. And it report only to report how violent Dalits have
turned and why our police remain mute to them. This, they suggest, that,
in this country, barring the caste Hindus, all other are using the 'liberty',
freedom and 'democracy' as a ransom. ' Poor' caste Hindus are the most
tortured soul who every one can cry that's why the website of our secular
newspapers and secular channels have so much filth and rubbish dump
together for every other than the caste Hindus. They vent their frustration
through these channels and their websites.
Soren-Sidhu-Jessica-Sanjay
While Sibu Soren deservingly
gets no sympathy in the middle classes and the judge send him to jail
immediately, Sanjay Dutt, Navjot Siddhu gets not only bail but also
very warm good wishes of their upper caste well wishers. TV channels
regularly show how Sanju Baba is going to the temple and the TADA judge
has been extending his bails. The red tika over the forehead of Sanjay
Dutt gets longer and longer day-by-day. None of them reports that Jharkhand's
adivasis feel betrayed after Soren's trial.
I am not here to fight for
Sibu Soren who, like many others, might have got corrupted and became
victim of his own politics, yet the issue here is larger. The judgments
and the analysis of the issues should be based on crime committed and
not on who committed the crime. Unfortunately, in India, it is not important
to have committed the crime but who committed the crime. Vaidkiki Hinsa
Hinsa na Bhavati, as said in the holy texts that violence perpetrated
by Brahmins is not violence. One does not know what does that exactly
mean. Sibu's Brahmin secretary was allegedly blackmailing him but after
the verdict every one of the Jha family became an expert on 'politics'
'cleanliness' and 'honesty' to demand that every politicians like Lalu,
Paswan, and Mayawati (often this is the selective upper caste categorization)
be hanged. If Jha were alive, I am sure his family would have demanded
same punishment for him to be party with a notorious political leader?
No, that is not the case.
Recently, on a trip to eastern
Uttar-Pradesh, I had an interaction with my coach mates in the train
who happened to be from an influential upper caste family of UP-Bihar
suggesting that Priyadarshini Mattu was of bad character. I asked them
how did they find that she was of a bad character and who was Santosh
Singh to punish her? The matter is clear, caste loyalties matter in
this country. We become honest if the judgment comes according to our
caste/religion or regional interest otherwise abuses the courts if we
disagree.
Attitudinal Difference
Yet, amidst all this, I still
remember Gladly Stains and now surely Sabrina Lal, younger sister of
Jessica Lal, who valiantly fought for her sister. Both the women have
shown extremely mature tendencies without any prejudices. Both clearly
said that they do not want death penalty for the ghastly crime, which
committed against their nearest and dearest ones. Unlike the other cases
here we saw the brave women taking things courageously and talking sensibly.
We have seen the cases of Jha's family and other cases of the soldiers
who sacrificed their life to save the attack on Parliament. The family
women returned the medal in their honour given by the government under
the political pressure of another loudmouth from Punajb, Manindrajeet
Singh Bitta, who himself was a victim of terror attack during his Congress
days. Bitta' these days organizes rallies for Bharat mata and want every
terrorist to be hanged to save Bharat mata. They tried to influence
the simple process of the court by suggesting that all the accused be
immediately hanged. Why should not an accused have a right to the legal
aid to defend him/her. The issue is easily communalized as all the accuse
that the Hindutva want to hanged are 'dissenters', they are simply not
upper caste Hindus. Let them demand death sentence for all those upper
caste Hindus who are waiting in Tihar Jails for charges of rapes, murders
and everything, which are equally criminal if not less. Let them also
demand death penalty for all those who various commission have charged
as responsible for murders, mayhem and pogroms of Dalits, Muslims, Sikhs,
Christians since 1947 in various cities and villages. Violence against
any Indian community or individual is a crime and must not go unpunished.
But what is the reaction? Modi is our pride. Uma Bharati and Rithambhara
our best spokesperson. Mr Lal Krishna Advani still cherishes the dream
to be the prime minister without facing any criminal charges for demolition
of the mosque. Murli Monohar Joshi still wants to fulfill his agenda
to brahmanise India's school textbooks. Therefore, when Gladly Stains
and Sabrina Lal talks against death penalty despite their enormous personal
loss, it makes a lot of sense. It reflects our upbringing and our sense
of commitment for the society.
The Temple entry
Stunts
It is this sensibility that
the upper caste Hindus needs to learn. Their do not touchism, as Vivekananda
said, would destroy them in ultimate term. I know news channel proudly
displayed the report of Dalits entry in a Rajasthan temple. These entries
were also made many years back by some other 'reformers' also. Ambedkar
fought for the rights of Dalits to enter into Kalaram temple in Pune.
The result of Ambedkar's struggle for temple entry is well known to
us. Ambedkar himself rejected the temple entry plan and instead went
on to redefine Dalit culture and values.
But, there is another aspect
of the temple entry issue. Despite our disagreement, one would like
to ask, does a person who wishes to enter into it, and has a right to
enter the temple or not. It is shocking that thousands of upper castes
in Orissa sat on a protest against the alleged entry of Dalits in the
temple, which according to them had defiled the temple. Orissa, off
late, has been in news for not only Kalinganagar, but also for, 'technoseavy'
chief minister Naveen Patnaik, should feel shame of it. More shocking
were the Dalits who were still adamant to go to the temple despite such
humiliation. Why should not they understand that finally they are not
Hindus and never Hindus and when Dr Ambedkar redefined a new way of
life for them, it was after much consideration and facing all such troubles,
which they are doing. But when the Dalits were adamant to enter the
temple, the state government of Navin Patnaik comes out with a formula
to allow the Dalits to have the darshan through newly created windows.
Is this a justice system, which prevails in our society where one kind
of people do not want others to even access the 'god'. That is the Hindu
way of life, who continues to live in utter denial mode as if such things
do not happen. But finally, good sense prevailed to the Dalit groups
in Orissa and they have decided to embrace the path shown by Dr Ambedkar.
Our formula is simple. If you do not want me in your temple, I would
discover my own. Why should I go and bang my head where the outcome
is humiliating? Temple entry movements will never help the Dalits. It
is an attempt to trap then in the crooked brahmanical structure. It
is time for the Hindus to reform themselves or perish. They have no
right to call themselves as civilized people.
Physically challenged
as dissenters
Respect for dissent is not
part of our system. And it not just dissents with the opinion who we
hate. Dissenters in India are all those who look different too in their
outlook and physique. Looking different is itself a disability in India.
Hence, a physically challenged person is also a dissenter and if the
person is a woman then the case is gone. The acceptability is nearly
impossible. The colour is another dissenter. Obviously, in our circle
of friends we would not allow colour women to enter and enjoy. And if
that happen to be of African origin then the Indians bias and superiority
complex comes very handy. So colour and physical disability are visible
hence they are targeted at the very outset. Next come the caste disability.
As long as your caste is not known fine but when it is known we sense
a threat and disbelief. In the villages, which are India's heart, every
one knows every ones caste and hence the segregation is open and complete.
In the cities, caste based elite club are flourishing so you are being
told greatness of the caste. Who will demolish caste to demolish the
Hinduism?
Amidst all this, there is
another category of people who have no fault of them and yet face trauma
when things get out in open about them. It pains why an entirely private
issue becomes subject of public scrutiny in such a merciless way. Yes,
the issue of Santhi Soundarajan, the woman athlete who won us silver
at Doha Asiad, has been deprived of her silver-medal for failing the
'gender' test. One may not know what exactly is gender test but surely
a poor village girl Santhi has not manipulated like the nasty IPS officer
of Orissa (ex IG Panda) to behave unusually as a woman. She has been
born a girl child in a very poor family. How many of poor girls have
this access to health and medication and luxury to go to a doctor to
get checked related to their sexual issues and body development. We
all know and as report suggests that she hails from a very poor background
who had been working very hard to achieve her goal. Her parents are
still wageworkers. Definitely Santhi is either a Dalit or comes from
the most backward community in Tamilnadu. I would definitely appreciate
the gesture of Chief Minister M.Karunanidhi who went ahead and distributed
a cheque of Rs 15 lakh to Santhi despite all the noises being made.
Insensitivity towards
Santhi
Now the question of Santhi's
disqualification and the debates in India raises many issues. Whatever,
the International Olympic Association or any other responsible body
feel about this, there are certain facts very clear. Santhi is not a
male. That she qualified other gender tests in another event in Korea.
It was also argued that the railways rejected her for job. We must ask
on what grounds? Does any one with a third gender has a right to get
a job under sports quota or not? Does railways say that she was a male?
Was she involved in a doping? So whatever was imposed on her was not
a fault of her. What about Martina Navralitova who had been the greatest
ever women tennis player but every body knows her sexual preferences?
Should she be debarred from being termed as 'Women's Champion' or 'Women's
player'? Will the sports authorities allow people like 'Iqbal', though
a film character, to be in the cricket team if they come on their own
merit, but definitely are not 'complete' man in conventional terms,
because hearing impairment?
But here the issues are much
bigger than a mere expose. They make you completely outcaste and downgrade
you in front of your own eyes. One does not know whether Santhi has
been reading newspapers or watching TV or not. If she was not doing
any of these things, then I can feel happy for her. Such atrocious news
items and question about gender of the person reflect gross insensitivity
of those who boss our sports institutions and other who report them.
Reporters went on overboard terming ' another shame' for India in Doha',
'Man' or 'woman'etc. One is amazed with such atrocious headlines in
newspapers and TV channels. I can only say that having watched almost
every channel, it was NDTV, which reported very sensitively on this
issue. The other day, one must thank Arnab Goswami of Times Now for
initiating a very thought provoking discussion on the issue.
What the issue of Santhi
has brought into focus is two things. One the issue of people who claims
to be transsexual or the third gender, even though with the pressure
of traditional families, many of them live in disgust, contempt and
totally isolated, though, I would definitely not like to comment about
Santhi's sexuality. Her case is very clear. It is not even her personal
choice but very possibly a natural deformity in her case, which might
be corrected as doctors suggests. But such a deformity does not make
her criminal. Unfortunately the issue has been raised by the high-pitched
Indian media, which wanted to highlight the 'efficiency' of Indian officials
at the Asiad. In trying to do so they have done immense damage to the
personal life of Santhi for no fault of her. This news could have been
reported in a much better way keeping with the sensitivity of the issue
related to sex particularly when it belong to a woman.
So before I complete this,
my disgust and dissatisfaction is not just with the media but also with
the Dalit- Bahujan Groups. Why they kept quiet on this issue. Why are
human rights and freethinkers silent? These are worrying signs. Should
we speak of violation of human rights when it politically correct and
keep conspicuously silent when it does not help us. Or it means that
ultimately all those who cry against brahmanical hegemony are interested
in their own hegemony but not to change the system. Their faith and
belief system remain the same, deeply prejudiced against women and all
others who look differ and think differ from them.
So when we come close to
Year 2006, these things really pains when looking different or thinking
different not only ensure as how can we come to the reality that the
world is wide, diverse and still we all are the same as the slogan beautifully
coined by International Humanist and Ethical Union (All different: All
Equal).
I hope that India will grow
simultaneously with diversity and dissent in the coming years. How can
a nation and a society grow with such scandalous officials and reporters
who criminalise the sexual deformity of a person and whose fight for
people's right confine to the cases of certain high profile cases of
page three parties, and who continue to ignore the bigger issues of
dissent and disgust in India and whose ignorant reporters can simply
call these dissenters as terrorists or Naxalites, both clearly meant
for Muslims and Dalits respectively in the unofficial code of the officials
too. We need an India where each one is respected and given equal opportunities
go grow, where we sensitise to those also who are not vote banks where
we can reach to those also who need food first and lecture later, we
need an India which eliminate hunger first, which develop a philosophy
of brotherhood for all and not for a selective few. That India, we wait
for, the struggle for better life continues and so is the hope of millions
who remain hungry and homeless despite 60 years of independence. .
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