If BJP Wins Delhi, It'll Mean Dislike for What Shaheen Bagh Stands For, is Visceral
The contrasting voting patterns and preferences of the electorate in national and local elections, is one among a handful of political phenomena common across India.
In his column in The Times of India, Swapan Das Gupta establishes this premise ahead of the 11 February D-Day for Delhi, when the counting will be complete. Much will be said about the war between the national-level juggernaut that is the BJP, that nevertheless suffers from a disconnect at the local level, and the AAP that lacks its rival's charisma. But a BJP victory, according to the columnist, can mean only one thing;
The absence of a local face can be overlooked by the electorate if the anti-incumbency mood is fierce, but this does not appear to be the case in Delhi. Kejriwal may not be everyone’s cup of tea but he is not hated. Nor, seriously speaking, is he identified with either the crazy Left of JNU or others the BJP loves to demonise. He is just a clever politician. If, despite this, the BJP wins in Delhi, it will mean only one thing: the popular dislike of all that Shaheen Bagh represents is visceral.
Ahmedabad Gives Up on Gandhi?
Ram Chandra Guha weaves travelogue and thought trails in his column in The Hindustan Times, about the changing face, or rather, the closing of minds, of the people of Ahmedabad. Where once the Gandhian on the street was a picture of courage and conviction, he is today timid and growing speedily irrelevant. Hindu-Muslim unity, which the Mahatma left behind as a lasting legacy, is today eschewed by the people of his city.
Since 2002, Ahmedabad has become a laboratory for Hindutva in other respects as well. It is here that the cult of the Supreme Leader was first forged; with a single man said to represent the state of Gujarat and the culture of Gujarat, as he is now said to represent the Union of India and Indian nationhood itself. It was also in Ahmedabad (and Gujarat more generally) that Narendra Modi and Amit Shah first sought to systematically tame and control the press, the universities, and civil society organisations, in preparation for what they would seek to do at an all-India level after May 2014.
Course Correcting Perspectives Vis-a-Vis a President's Impeachment
As US President Donald Trump trumps impeachment proceedings against him, voices of sanity rise up from unexpected places, to bring the narrative on track. Case in point, Monica Lewinsky, whose name continues to be dropped as collateral every time Trump's impeachment is spoken about. Upala Sen speaks on how the much maligned White House intern is today an 'evangelist for the cyber-bullied' in a sharp column in The Telegraph.
The charges against Clinton had been — lying under oath and obstruction of justice. They emanated from a sexual harassment lawsuit filed against him by Paula Jones and from Clinton’s testimony denying that he had engaged in a sexual relationship with Lewinsky, who was at the time a White House intern. In 2020, the all-growed up former intern tweeted: “A gentle reminder for ways other than using my name re 1998. Let’s not frame it by the woman + youngest, least powerful person involved (sic).” She proffered other, more accurate labels instead: The Starr Investigation, The 1998 Impeachment, The Scandal of 1998, The Clinton Impeachment and so on.
Can Right Make it, When Might Has the Upper Hand?
TJS George, in his column in The New Indian Express, lists out instances of pettiness and physical and verbal vengeance displayed by different BJP leaders. What he finds more disturbing, is the sidelining of sane voices within the party.
This explains incidents that a civilised country would feel ashamed about. A BJP MLA named Nand Kishor Gurjar asked a government officer to close all Muslim hotels in Loni, a town in Ghaziabad district of UP. The officer said he was not in a position to do so. Gurjar called the man to his office and beat him up. The officer had no recourse but to take the “punishment” lying down. South Indians take pride in their belief that they are more tolerant than UP-Biharwallahs. Yet, a Bangalore MP, Tejasvi Surya, had no problem betraying an unusual kind of social intolerance. His condemnation of “namby-pamby secularism” was fine. But it was quite a different thing when he went on to mock the working class as “puncturewallahs” and “illiterates”.
Delhi's Limited Pro-Women Initiatives
Lalita Panicker looks beyond the optics, towards innovative, practical solutions to make Delhi safer and more employable for women, in her column in The Hindustan Times. In her refreshingly factual, well-informed take, she perceives women's safety and employment as inseparable, and critiques the government's initiatives on that basis.
There are other problems, which need to be ironed out too. One is the problem of height. Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), for example, stipulates a height of 5’3” for drivers, both for men and women. This means many women do not qualify. Last year, the Delhi government launched 104 buses with adjustable seats, making it safe for anyone under the stipulated height to drive. Along with this, there have to gender sensitisation efforts for the DTC staff to prevent harassment of women drivers. The next step should be to push for women conductors as well. There is a similar scheme which has been initiated at Delhi airport to have women taxi drivers to cater to women. Men are required to be accompanied by a woman to use the taxi. These are small initiatives and limited in their reach.
Regardless of the Political Spice, Biryani is Biryani
Sandip Roy's Times of India column is replete with chucklesome instances of the Biryani being used as a polarising political weapon in situations that are usually more serious than food fights. Regardless of the socio-political status of this historic recipe, it continues to be an unavoidable item on the 'must-try' menu, if you happen to be a foodie worth your masala and salt. No?
If there was ever a contender for a national dish, much to Yogi Adityanath’s chagrin, it would probably be the biryani, not the more sanskari khichdi which would pass NRC certification in a flash. A recent survey by SEMrush, an online visibility and marketing analytics company, found that chicken biryani, followed by butter chicken was the most searched Indian food item globally in 2019. Biryani might have originated in Iran, but by now it’s Indian food’s bona fide brand ambassador, “donning different local garbs to tickle regional palates” according to food historian Pushpesh Pant.
A Case for a Mature Form of Nationalism
That it takes more than just sound and fury to be a Gandhi or even a Godse, is the fulcrum of Ravi Shankar's piece in The New Indian Express. He calls for a better direction to Indian patriotism than muscular nationalism, including a single-minded devotion to a goal and an understanding of the power of self-denial – things Gandhi had truly comprehended.
He could convert an obstinate sulk into a lofty principle: after the Chauri Chaura incident, he suspended the civil disobedience movement. He went on fast as ‘penance’ for the policemen’s deaths. When communal riots raged through Bengal, he went on fast again, equating his suffering with that of the casualties of the carnage. He was an Indian Christ taking on himself the sins of his people. Each action of his, from the Salt Satyagraha to the Noakhali March, acquired greater significance since they were associated with him and him alone.
Shaheen Bagh and the Case for a Secular Republic
Mukul Kesavan, in his column in The Telegraph, draws surprising parallels between the Shaheen Bagh protests, and the India Against Corruption protests of 2011, that catapulted Arvind Kejriwal to power. He believes the seeds of a progressive political atmosphere lie in the combination of AAP's ability to survive the BJP, and the zeal of the Shaheen Bagh protesters.
For the most part, the AAP’s balancing act on Shaheen Bagh has been sympathetically viewed by people opposed to the BJP as a tactical necessity in the context of contemporary politics. Since there is a significant overlap between Delhi voters who vote for the BJP in general elections but switch to the AAP for the assembly elections, it makes political sense to confine the AAP campaign to its success in delivering material benefits like better schools, subsidized water and electricity and public healthcare, to its electorate. But it does raise a larger question: where does the anti-CAA campaign symbolized by Shaheen Bagh fit into the frame of electoral politics which determines political power and confers political legitimacy in a parliamentary democracy?
Ageism Thrives in a Young, 'Progressive' India
Legendary playback singer S P Balasubramanyam bemoans in an interview that he is denied work in the film industry because he is considered 'too old' to sing for the hero. 'My voice is still young. What has my age to do with it', he asks. Dr Debanjan Bannerjee writes in The New Indian Express, of ageism, a phenomenon of discrimination against the elderly, that is rampant in India.
This statement manifests features of ageism, still deeply rooted in the dynamics of our so called “progressive” society. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Ageism as the stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination towards people on the basis of age. Described in 1969 by Gerontologist Robert Neil Butler, it gradually separated itself as an independent construct from racism and sexism. In this article, emphasis will be laid on the ageism directed at the greying population. There are 600 million people who are 60 and older in the world and the number is expected to double by 2025. While medical science has advanced and is majorly contributing towards extending lifespan, it is sad that not much has been done to study the societal attitude about old age and the process of aging in general.
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