On India's present scenario

Count me out of the optimist category.

If a jawan is shot, I do not care, because I may be shot tomorrow by the same army. And I will be called a terrorist. They'll say I had links to I don't know which organization.

If the police fails, I laugh. Because they are built to fail. They choose to fail.

When a jawan is shot, the country cries. When the army rapes an entire village, we still hail them as legends of the country. India is destined to succumb to its failures. All hail us!

We are a country where people die of hunger, and elected representatives burn up crores of public money, spending time throwing chairs at each other. All hail them! Yet we choose to shut up.

When a man who overlooked the killings of thousands of people in the worst riot of the country, is projected as the PM candidate, on the basis of some development in his state (forgetting the amount of debt the state has, highest FYI), we are becoming the epitome of democracy. All hail us!

A chief minister of the most populated state spends a big chunk of public money building her own statues, and thousands starve to death. No law stops her. Awesome constitution, ours.

When our major military partner is Israel, a country butchering and capturing Palestinians at will, we are still the world's largest democracy. All hail us!

You choose to be optimistic about our country. I choose not to.

And you lot will call me a traitor. Because you cannot bear the truth. Because you lot are still in the bubble of ecstasy.

Mine has burst, and realities seem far clearer to me.

You choose to stand up when someone like Arvind Kejriwal asks you to. And then you get back into you dens when India plays Pakistan in a cricket match, and everything is forgotten.

- By Tariq Hashmat Tauheed, B.Tech.

Dilemmas in envisioning India as a strong "nation"

I love India as my nation (please don't confuse it with the word "state"). Ours is a nation of bewildering diversities in ethnicity  religions, languages, philosophies, cultures, regions, social hierarchies, economic conditions etc. In fact, every personality is unique in itself.

In spite of all this, there had been & still are, some people who want to "assimilate" these differences through a melting-pot approach and create a "bhartiya/deshaj/deshbhakt" India which is honestly speaking impossible to define without entrapping yourself into the fascistic tendencies of the likes of Mussolini & Hitler. Even for these two, it was easy to carve out an Italian & a German nationalism respectively as these nations are almost linguistically & culturally homogeneous & even if those elements that were heterogeneous elements were suppressed, hidden, assimilated & even cleansed from their national scenario.

But the question that I would like to put in front of you all is that is it possible to create a homogeneous Indian nation? If you believe that it is possible to create a homogeneous nation then the question in my mind is that who will define & decide the "Indian-ness" required to being a loyal citizen of India? Will it be RSS who should be conferred with the task of measuring the loyalty of Indian citizens or should it be the Congress Party who should be accepted as the final authority of judging someone's secular credentials?

If you share the same opinion like me that all the concepts & efforts of "assimilation" are doomed to fail then the biggest question that we face is to firstly define what is meant by us when we use the term "Indian nationalism" as the western concepts of Nationalism are impossible to apply & replicate in India as our nation is not homogeneous at all & in addition to this is the fact that we are still a faith-based society, this question requires immensely deep understanding of the various aspects of  India & utmost patience & care in dealing with the different aspirations, ideologies & visions of Indian people.

The second problem that I see is that of building a national level consensus of making all parties agree to the definition that will be formulated which is indeed a monumental task.

The third problem that I see is to form the working methodology of implementing the agreed common minimum programme for inclusive development.

The fourth problem I feel is to discover/create & bring all those people together who would co-ordinate & form a responsible Legislature, Judiciary, Bureaucracy & Civil Society.

The fifth problem according to me is to make a consensus as to whether for all things mentioned above to become feasible will  some minute reforms be enough or will radical reforms be required or even not less than a complete revolution is required to take place for bringing the new system.

In addition to all these problems that I mentioned here, there are many more questions that need to be found answers of. All these questions are coming up because the Indian state has been unable to deliver on the promise of an inclusive, just & progressive nation.

Yet, I am not at all a pessimist and strongly believe that a near Utopian nation is possible if we will be successful in consolidating, uniting & synchronizing all the energies that are working to create a better nation. As this nation is a shared contemporary reality of all the Indians & our honour is undoubtedly related to it, these questions hold paramount importance in present times. It is my deeply rooted belief that together we can & we will make the difference. With hope & faith I submit this to all the readers for comments, suggestions & ruthless scrutiny.

Paying for her Honesty : IAS Durga Shakti's Suspension as SDM of Greater Noida

Background: IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, who was in the news last week for clamping down on illegal sand mafia in Greater Noida, was suspended from her duties as Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Gautam Budh Nagar on July 28, 2013.

At a time when the Indian nation as well as the society is going spirally downwards in integrity, honesty & justice, there still appear people who rise to challenge the corruptly rotten system armed with their self-confidence & zeal which helps them to stand firm & refuse to budge down in front of the seemingly omnipresent & omnipotent corrupt system. These "rebels" or "impractical" folks, as their own loved ones label them, face monumental hurdles, reckless mental tortures, continuous threat to life & everything that a person would prefer to avoid. Although these brave hearts have to face all sided assaults with great patience but still we can clearly witness that these are the people who are satisfied with what they do & in whatever situation they are because the intoxication of truth & justice is far greater than that of power & money.   

This present  case of IAS officer Durga Shakti points to certain conclusions which I would like to brief out (I have omitted some points which may be included in future analysis, inshallah).

1. Samajwadi Party's UP Government has proven yet again that it is not a government of Yadavs or Muslims or any other group(s) but rather it is a petty pawn in the hands of Criminals, Mafias & corporate.

2. Any officer doing his work honestly will either be suspended (like Durga Shakti), transferred (as like Ashok Khemka) or may even be killed (Like IPS Narendra Kumar Alig).

3. Illegal Mining corresponds to massive resource loot for which there is still not a national level consciousness.

4. Political leadership has ultimate level of interference in the working of the bureaucrats.

5. Even if she is reinstalled, she will most probably be transferred to such a place where she will not prove to be a further "nuisance" for the system.

6. Media is yet again busy with its TRP obsessed sensational cries disguised as journalism.

7. Congress, BJP & BSP leaders are attacking the SP government as if they all are saints.  

Open Wounds and a Manufactured Stalemate in Syria

In more than three years of conflict, around 100,000 people have been killed in Syria, according to UN estimates. Since August 2012, an average of 170 Syrians are killed everyday. As cynical statistics and incredulous figures become a daily reality, the truth is lost amid confusion and the competing narratives of Superpower games.

Bashar al-Assad is without any doubt a dictator and a tyrant with a proven family history of using extreme and cruel violence against any form of dissent. Those opposed to him in the region, primarily the big brother of Gulf monarchies Saudi Arabia, and to a lesser extent Qatar, are not much different. Its international opponents, led by the Unites States, have a proven efficiency in manipulating revolutions and dictating democracies. Its backers Russia and China habitually use 'sovereignty' as an excuse to protect their interests in the region via model of a scaringly efficient and ruthless state-capitalism. In the backdrop looms large the bitterness of Saudi Arabia at an increasingly powerful Iran, Assad's closest and most pro-active ally.

As Syria descends further into chaos and anarchy, this is a good time to sit down and look at some hard facts, informed by the geopolitics of past history and present turmoil in the Middle East region.

In January of 2011, Syria saw the beginning of peaceful protest calling for democratic reforms. These protests turned into a civil uprising against the government of Bashar al-Assad. By May of 2011, news began pouring in of the Assad regime using military force against the peaceful protestors. In July, a group of defectors from the Syrian military formed the Free Syrian Army to support the uprising against the Syrian government, with the stated aim of overthrowing the Assad regime.

During this period, the West was preoccupied with an increasingly messy situation in Libya, and for months the atrocities of Assad were tactically ignored while the once-peaceful uprising in Syria turned to other options.

What has followed may cynically be called an elaborate farce, but it is a glaring testament to the failure of world institutions meant to maintain peace. It proves once again that platforms like the UN are little more than instruments of power games among the world's elite.

There have been countless meetings, “Friends of Syria” conferences, councils and coalitions in an endless diplomatic exercise that has yielded precisely no results on the ground. The Syrian National Council, which was formed with much fanfare to lead the revolutionaries, has been reduced to a platform for tussles among allies promoting their personal interests. Its first president Moaz al-Khatib, a popular and simple man who was Imam of the famous Umayyad mosque, resigned within five months. He alleged interferences by foreign powers and their indifference to Syrian sufferings as the reason for his inability to continue.

With international pressure building and the Americans openly speaking of arming the opposition, it seems that President Assad's departure is truly a matter of time. Even his backers China and Russia have spoken of exploring options 'beyond Assad'. President Obama may even employ his effective strategy of non-visible warfare (using covert forces and unmanned drones) to finally tilt the balance. But only at the right time.

As of now, the West is playing for time with pointless meetings and discussions which are little more than photo-ops. At the same time, backroom negotiations are in progress among the various “allies” of both sides to this conflict, figuring out ways to share the spoils of this war and the stake of each in the configuration of a post-Assad Syria. A sure pointer to this is the way in which both US and Russia are pushing for the 'Geneva Conference' with both Assad and the rebels at the same table. It gives credence to the opinion that slowly but surely we are seeing an aligning of powerful interests.

Syria has unwittingly become the laboratory case for evolving new paradigms of conflict-resolution (read interest-management) in a new, multipolar world.

Meanwhile, fanatics and extremists have been armed to fight against and for the Assad regime, while sectarian tensions are being built up and ruthlessly manipulated in the run up to the formation of a new Syrian state, where the tried and tested formula of divide-and-rule will again be used by the new colonial forces to promote their interests.

A few days back, UN Secretary General called for both sides to respect the holy month of Ramadan and call a humanitarian ceasefire. If indeed a deal has been struck, the offer will be accepted. If not, the carefully manufactured stalemate will continue as long as an agreement is reached, and in the meantime Syrians will pay for it with their blood day after day after day....

Justice Hanged : A take on Afzal Guru's execution

On 9th February 2013, at about 8 o’ clock in the morning in Delhi’s Tihar jail complex, India’s Criminal Justice system was hanged and buried.

Afzal Guru’s case is the typical example of how mighty concepts like ‘justice’ and the ‘rule of the law’ do not apply in cases where powerful interests find them inconvenient. While being tried for conspiracy against the state – one of the most serious crimes in any country – Afzal Guru had no real legal representation, the State had no witnesses that could directly implicate him in the crime and all evidence against him was purely circumstantial and based on flimsy grounds. The limit of irregularities was such that there were two different versions presented by the State even regarding his arrest, but none of these were questioned in court.

On these grounds, no court in a civilised nation could have held him guilty, let alone sentence him to death. Even the Supreme Court, while confirming his death sentence, remarked that there wasn’t enough evidence to convict him, but “collective conscience” demands that he be hanged.

It was truly disheartening to see the guardian of our constitution give to demands of the mob and ignore the law. What was even more sickening was the fact that his death was met with jubilation and followed by celebration in large parts of the country.

Don’t get us wrong. We are not inciting anyone against the State, we do not want to be anti-India. But what are we supposed to understand from all this? That anyone can be hanged to cover up for the State’s incompetence? That the law is going to be guided by cheap politics? That anyone from us could be made the next Afzal Guru?

The only one who terrorizes us today is the State, not some fictitious “Terrorist” outfit. We can be arrested anytime, detained for any period of time, and convicted of any crime at the whim and mercy of the State. To many who are thus oppressed by the state, be it a suspected “Jihadi” or an alleged “Naxalite”, the real National Security Threat is the State.

We know this is an emotional outburst, but we are feeling emotional. We are hurt and angry and distressed and afraid for we are oppressed by the very forces which are made to protect us.

We remain citizens of this country, we shall continue to call on the institutions made to protect us, we shall continue to struggle with all the just means and tools, but in times like this se are forced to ask: Is it worth it?

- By Fawaz Shaheen (B.A.LLB)

Of Elections without Ideas— Neo-Liberalism and the Culture of Apathy

             Students’ Politics is conceived as an art of channelizing the energy of the youth and preparing them for the task of nation-building. It also seeks to sensitise them on the pertinent socio-political issues of the times. However, over the past few decades students’ politics has become synonymous with flagrant exercise of money and muscle power, nepotism and debauchery. In short, an ethical vacuum has resulted in the derailing of students’ politics from its purpose.

           Many fail to perceive the root of the problem - a lack ideas and a clear-eyed vision among the youth of this country. A case in point is the recently concluded Students’ Union elections of the Aligarh Muslim University Students’ Union.  As of now whatever ideas you would seek among the AMUSU elections candidates the following were the ones you would get (tick the box):-

a) Please vote, support and dua                                          

b)  Tempo high hai

c)   Jeetega bhai jeetega.

          Over the past few years, this terrible drought of ideas have turned a coveted Institution like the AMU Students’ Union into a licence for running riot into the day to day activities of the campus. A pool of students’ leaders have come onto the centre stage who are oblivious of the contemporary challenges being faced by the largest minority community of this country (ironically whose interests they claim to    represent). This has led to an incessant shrinkage of AMU’s role in the task of nation-building and turned it into a thing of the yester years.  In their desperation in showing themselves to be concerned about the common students whose corollary is being antagonistic to the University administration, they have repetitively maligned the Vice- Chancellor of the University ( at times in language that crossed the levels of decency) pressed for illegal demands, and stretched out of the jurisdiction of the Students’ Union. The consequence of all the above acts has been vitiating of the peaceful atmosphere of the campus, and a pretext for the University administration to state that Students’ Union Elections leads to problems of law and order and thereby suspension of the Students ‘Union and denial of the democratic rights of the students.

         However, it would be unfair to presume that the above mentioned problems are exclusively those of the Aligarh Muslim University. A cursory look into the students’ politics of the entire country would reveal that most of the campuses (even those which are known for its academic excellence) today suffer from a leadership vacuum. The neo-liberal policies that have been ushered in this country over the past two decades have resulted in the constant need of a workforce that would feed onto the market. Thus, the Universities have turned into degree vending factories manufacturing ready-made graduates. In such a scenario it is obvious that the political status quo would be antagonistic to the idea of campus democracy and students’ mobilisation as they have repeatedly proved to be threats to the ruling class in the past. Thus, what goes on is a farce in most of the campuses in the name of students’ politics. The thinking youth is tactfully kept out of the entire political process through the middle class squeamishness “politics is bad”. What is currently going on at the Aligarh Muslim University is actually a microcosm of the situation in the entire country.

         The panacea to the above problems lays in active participation of the students in the political process. They have to rise above this culture of apathy in order to secure a better future for themselves. Coming back to AMU, it is essential that we reclaim our politics from the clutches of lobbyism that has eroded the essence of our Students’ Union. There is a need for more political sensitisation among the common students. The onus lies on each and every student who is a stake holder of the prestige of this great seat of learning. The task is difficult, but not an impossible one. With our joint and sustained efforts we can surely salvage our fading glory.

The Wasteland - A poem

In this world of insanity
With streets choked with garbage
And mottled faces begging for roughage
Disease-ridden alleys
And absurd message rallies
With violence bubbling in the veins
Blood leaking in the sewers
Distorted truths and despotic harbingers
Where messiahs are murdered
And their deaths celebrated
And their sermons berated
Intelligence cowers in corners isolated
Ignorance of everything celebrated
Goodness mocked and beauty scalded
Left to rot in some metallic harness
Never to feel a loving caress

Lost in this hated lovable country
Oh my India what have you become?

- By Kashif Ilyas B.A. English (3rd year)