Article 19: January 2020

Not just RED

Culture January 26, 2020

The Chennai book fair concluded on the 21^st of January. Reports say that around 15 lakh people visited the fair which had more things to offer than just books. It had a number of food stalls, small cloth shops on the platform, toys and playing equipment for children and what not, there was also a perfume stall somewhere there. I have no case against the fair itself which was kind of a picnic to families but the fact that Chennai does not have a literature festival of its own is just awful (The Hindu Lit for Life did not happen this year). But the primary thing that worried me in the fair was two-fold: ubiquity of Joseph Stalin & Mao and absence of rational Right-wing opinions, especially in Tamil.

This one-sided dominance of intellectual space by the Left-wing intellectuals is the story of India, especially in the Tamil land. This essay essentially seeks to assert the need to have differing opinions to enrich the political marketplace.

Mass Murderers or Symbols of Peace?

There were books like Stalin: Symbol of Bravery, Hitler’s other Side among others and posters idolizing Comrade Mao and Comrade Stalin. Comrade Stalin even posed with white doves and Chairman Mao Zedong’s “golden era” appeared to be the content of many books. Many stalls looked like we were in a dystopian novel where one single narrative is held up as history.

I don’t think anybody needs convincing that Hitler was a genocidal maniac whose fascist ideas are still recipes of disaster, so we skip straight to Comrade Stalin. Joseph Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union from the late 1920s till 1953. His policies killed more than 5 million citizens of the Union in the name of Communism and equality. Chairman Mao’s estimates exceeds both Hitler and Stalin. During 1958-62, his forward leap policy killed up to 45 million people! It is that either people don’t know these facts or that they turn blind to adverse opinions and facts by exposing themselves only to ideas they already adhere to and letting confirmation bias cloud their rationality.

Why Socialism and Communism are popular?

By taking at face value, the idea of socialism is easy to convince and it works in two ways- positive and negative. The positive way to convince is by using compassionate words like equality, helping the poor, Rights and such to put themselves in a moral high ground from where they can look down on others. The negative way is to spew hatred. It is easy to hate someone who has something more than you. It is easy to convince people to hate something claiming that it is unfair even when it is not.

Socialism also poses to be a movement against oppression- class on class, community on community, etc. It catches the imagination, especially of the youth, as a romantic struggle against oppression of the haves on the have-nots. But is that all true? If that’s true, why hasn’t socialism created equal societies wherever it has been tried? Why has it killed more people in mass and pushed so many others into starvation? Why are all Socialist countries corrupt? Critiquing the idea of Socialism and Communism is not the motive of the essay and it is best left to deal with another day.

The Great PR problem

The word Capitalism is a misnomer. It was termed by Left-wing intellectuals with their cynical interpretation of the existing economic system. It puts Capital at the center of the entire system. As much as capital is important, Liberalisation does not just mean Capital. Free Market ensures freedom for anyone to create wealth. It advocates against government intervention in anything and everything from condoms to aviation. Liberal (Classical) ideas stand against intrusion of government into private lives of individuals and advocates against high taxes.

Jerry Rao in his book the Indian Conservative reflects the Thirukkural and its advocacy for free markets and low taxes. Tamil history is one of great trade and business, domestic and international. To perceive Free Markets as an evil deed in such a country is not fair. India post LPG (Liberalisation, Privatisation, Globalisation) is a clear example what Market oriented reforms can do to a country. World Bank estimates around 270 million have been lifted out of poverty in the past ten years. Tamil Nadu’s GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product) grew from $4.4 billion in 1990 to $238 billion currently- around 50% growth in just 20 years. If reluctant Liberalisation can bring in that much growth, imagine what market-oriented reforms can do to the poverty levels of Tamil Nadu.

The only thing it lacks is the ability to convince people who don’t want to see plain hard facts. Media, movies and books have made the word Capitalism synonymous with oppression and unfair treatment but fails to see that anyone who is willing to put in the effort can create wealth provided fair market practices. A small vadai shop at the end of the street by a Paati is also product of what they call Capitalism. If another Paati opens a vadai shop in the same street with lower prices, the end gainer is the customer who can now eat a vadai at lower prices. This may induce the first entrepreneur Paati to diversify her shop or to bring in new technology, say a LPG stove instead of old stone kerosene stove thereby increasing efficiency and decreasing the factor cost. Now she will be able to sell at even lower prices. This is Free Markets at its lowest simple level- Freedom, Competition and innovation.

The World Order

Free Market Globalisation has brought the world closer, inter-dependent and collaborative. This opens up an avenue for growth in peace as countries stays relevant to each other. Stalin and Mao’s ideas may seem attractive but only until you like and advocate it. Once you start disagreeing with their terms, then comes out their true colours. Agree to Disagree is the best principle for a maturing democracy but when there is no room for dissent, it makes no sense. By crushing dissent, Stalin and Mao held control during their time and their followers would perpetually neglect other schools of thought. It is always better to remember that America is the citadel of Free Speech and Liberty, not Russia or China.

The only Right-Wing in India is the cultural Right- no different in Tamil Nadu. The book fair had many stalls with posters of spiritual leaders and pontiffs. The religious conservatives like their Left-wing counterparts are living in the past. It is important to recognize rational Right wing views as an intellectual space and more books should be written in Tamil advocating Free Market Capitalism. More debate around basic fundamentals should be encouraged thereby promoting different colours of the spectrum rather than just painting the country Red or Saffron or Green or Black or whatever.

To end on a lighter note, I think Stalin and Mao misunderstood the Tamil proverb “தனி ஒரு மனிதனுக்கு உணவில்லை எனில் இந்த ஜகத்தினை அழித்திடுவோம்” which means even if one individual is allowed to starve for food, we will destroy this entire world because the Communists killed so many individuals just because they ate one more Idly.

By Admin

This is one for the Culture series where we talk contemporary Tamil Nadu and its culture.

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Excerpts : As it is

Books January 20, 2020

Arjuna’s flag is known as kapi-dhvaja, as it has the image of a monkey (kapi) on it. Monkeys have long represented the human mind, as like the mind they are restless, dominating and territorial, clinging to the source of comfort, their mother, until they grow up. Another word for kapi is va-nara, meaning less than human. It is derived from vana-nara, meaning forest (vana) people (nara).

But the monkey atop Arjuna’s flag is no ordinary one. It is Hanuman, the mightiest of monkeys, whose story is told in the epic, Ramayana. He is always visualized at the feet of Ram, who appears human (nara) but is actually God (Nara-yana, the refuge of nara). Nara and Narayana also refer to a pair of inseparable Vedic sages, avatars of Vishnu. The inseparable Arjuna and Krishna are considered Nara and Narayana reborn.

Va-nara, nara and Narayana represent three aspects of our existence: animal, human and divine. Scientists now speak of how the human part of the brain is a recent development and sits on top of the older animal brain. The animal brain is rooted in fear, and focusses on survival, while the human brain is rooted in imagination, and so seeks to understand itself by understanding nature.

Between survival and understanding comes judging—the state when everything and everyone around is evaluated based on imagined benchmarks, in order to position oneself. The animal wants to identify the other as predator or prey, rival or mate. The judge wants to classify the world as good or bad, innocent or guilty, right or wrong, oppressor or oppressed, based on his or her own framework. The observer wants to figure out what exactly is going on.

The journey from animal to judge to observer is the journey of va-nara to nara to Narayana. It involves the uncrumpling of aham, the frightened mind, and the eventual discovery of atma, secure mind. This is what it means to be a Brahmana.

This is from the book My Gita by Devdutt Pattanaik

Excerpts is a series where we post thoughtful passages from different books that provide for a quick and easy reading

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Mute Spectator : Swadeshi

Mute Spectator January 19, 2020

As the dust around the Rafale fighter aircraft settled down after a furious whirlwind, it's time for some swadeshi action. The longing for self-reliance of our armed forces has been long overdue and needs attention. The term 'Swadeshi' finds its roots in the Independence movement popularised by Lal, Bal, Pal and Ghosh which literally means 'of one's own country'. As the term as a wider avenue I'm constraining the subject in respect of the armed forces alone. The spirit of swadeshi needs a renaissance to contemplate a modern nation and its armed forces. The slogan might have failed in the post-independence years due to licence permit raj resulting in import substitution to meet the critical needs of that time. But in respect to current developments the time is due to unleash the energy it contains in itself - 'of one's own country'.

During partition, Independent India received 70 per cent of British Indian Army, 80 percent of its Royal Indian Air Force and 60 percent of its Royal Indian Navy. In the first budget of Independent India, Ministry of Defence was allocated with 92.74 crores to facilitate our immediate requirements. Most of our assets were of foreign origin and hence our late PM Nehru laid his faith on public enterprises for self- reliance. A number of institutions, laboratories, enterprises were raised to realise this goal. In the process 52 DRDO laboratories, 41 Ordnance factories were set up. Today, India is the second largest importer of Arms after Saudi Arabia importing 9.5% of the global share which should have been completely the other way around. So, Indigenisation has always been our "Achilles heel".

There have been many success stories in our struggle for indigenisation. Some have been in the pipeline for decades and many have been shelved due to cost and time overrun. Quality standards is another cause of concern and even completed projects did have less or no procurement in the forces. Our biggest failure is that we couldn't come up with a quality assault rifle and we are still struggling to make a working engine of 90kN. Even our romanticized transfer of technology (ToT) too hasn't done wonders in stimulating our localization. Apart from genuine cases, the government too hasn't shown keen interest in procuring indigenous products. Geopolitics has played a vital role in import substitution in our act to balance global powers.

Integrated Guided Missile Development Program (IGMDP) under Dr. APJ. Abdul Kalam is one silver lining in our efforts of indigenisation though Nag Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) is still fighting for its right place in the services. LCA Tejas had its first test flight in 2001 and got its Final operational clearance (FOC) only in 2018. The rate of production of LCA Tejas is a tortoise walk and was only 8 P/A till 2017 and now improved to 16 P/A. Wheeled Armoured Platform (WhAP) 8×8 has long been in the doldrums of our system. The construction of INS Vikrant Aircraft Carrier is two years past its original scheduled deadline. In Spite of all this blurred dream of swadeshi, my optimism is at all-time high.

Recent developments in the Indian defence sector is the reason for this all-time high optimism. These are the first landing and takeoff of the Naval Light Combat Aircraft (NLCA) in the deck of INS Vikramaditya, the setting of a high level committee under former DRDO chief Dr. V.K. Saraswat for the planning of a 110kN Low Bypass TurboFan Engine (LBTF), planning and progression of Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), the positive announcement of Tejas Medium Weight Fighter (MWF), unofficial rendering of Twin Engine Deck Based Fighter Aircraft (TEDBF) and the Omni Role Combat Aircraft (ORCA). The successful test of Manik engine which is to be used for Ghatak Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicle (UCAV) and further outsourcing of it under Government Owned Corporate Operated (GOCO) model, the large upsurge in Artillery such as homemade Dhanush howitzer, Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS), Sharang gun and much more. The under construction Project 15B- Visakhapatnam class destroyers, Project 17A - Nilgiri class frigates, Project VC11184 Ocean Surveillance Ship, Aridhaman class (S3, S4, S4*) nuclear ballistic missile submarines were all completely designed by Indian hands. Development of Hypersonic Technology Demonstration Vehicle (HSTDV), Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR) propulsion system, Brahmos NG, Brahmos- A, Astra Mk2, Akash Mk2 are something that will change our stature in world order. With the centre clearing Arjun Mk-1A for production, the already inducted combat Advanced Light Helicopter Mk IV (ALH) Rudra about to see an increase in numbers, soon to be inducted Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) and Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) are all moving in the right spirit of 'Swadeshi'. Many critical and advanced sub systems, data links, communication networks and so on are under development within the country itself.

The present government is finally showing some intent in this Idea of 'Swadeshi'. Important Initiatives such as Defence Procurement Policy (DPP) 2016 with Strategic Partnership model as its core and the defence corridors in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh will largely improve our localisation content. Other initiatives like the Innovation for Defence Excellence (iDex) and Make II are bringing in startups into the arena to do domain specific innovation.

To learn from the UNSC P5 countries, India needs to put in a lot of stuff to improve indigenisation. P5 countries such as USA, UK, Russia, China and France are net exporters and are not net importers. They use this to their advantage and to the disadvantage of others. If India had a highly advanced technological company like Huawei, there is no need for this hue and cry that we are seeing now. Their technical superiority gives them power to flex their muscles in the world order. The US voicing their concerns and threatening to sanction us under Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) for purchasing S-400 Triumf is a clear cut case of muscle flexing. India is behaving just like its average middle class citizen with high aspirations but limited economic prowess.

The amount we spend on our R&D is pathetic which is less than 0.7% of our GDP, whereas the US spends 2.8%, China spends 3.2%, UK spends 1.7%, France spends 2.2% and Russia spends 1.1% of its GDP. We need to narrow down this gap and spend much on R&D to innovate. At the heart of this lies patent filing which can make us a global player.

Just as the popular notion that we missed the global bus on communications and high end technology, it remains the same for defence indigenisation. It's time we fix the system to become truly independent of foreign muscle flexing. Hope, things turn out well for the nation in its path to self-reliance in the age of globalisation. As Mahatma Gandhi described, 'Swadeshi is the soul of swaraj'.

Jai Hind.

By Sathish

Mute Spectator is the primary series of the blog where we express our views on current affairs.

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Mute Spectator : Bargaining Federalism

Mute Spectator January 16, 2020

Nitish Kumar, the Chief Minister of Bihar, is the latest addition to the group of CMs who have shown apprehensions to the NRC exercise and in extension the CAA. It is interesting that even members of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) camp and others who voted in favour of the bill are trying to hold back now- seems like they’re dancing to the tune of the present. Is it actually possible for the states to stop the center from conducting the NRC? Is it moral for the parties to backtrack their previous commitment in the parliament?

Legal woes

The answer to the first question is straightforward. No! States cannot stop the central government from conducting the NRC exercise however illogical and un-practical it might be.

Let’s delve into what the constitution has to say about this. On items regarding citizenship, the parliament can amend the constitution with a simple majority, i.e, like it passes an ordinary bill. It does not need the consent of the states nor even a special majority of the total membership of the houses. The NRC process derives its legitimacy from the 2003 amendment to the Citizenship act 1955. Therefore along with the latest amendment to the Citizenship act, the processes specified need not be consented with the states.

Now to the actual problem, article 365 of the Indian constitution explains that if the states fail to comply with the directions of the union government, the president can dissolve the state ministry and take powers in his own hands which essentially transfers power to the central government. History has many such episodes of the center abusing article 365 left and right. It will be interesting to see if things really get that far because the Prime Minister passionately condemned and blamed the previous governments for abusing article 365 and 356 on the parliament floor last year.

Question of Morality

Politics is the act of balancing morality and pragmatic approach. An idealist has no place in electoral politics because negotiations and compromises are at the core of good politicking. Being practical is not always immoral but to be practical at times of intense emotional fervor requires wisdom. One is bound to seem, at least by one side as immoral when emotions blur out rational fault lines in the quake of the political landscape.

Backtracking the earlier commitments can be seen as immoral or as practical necessity. The parties which reversed their opinion on the NRC exercise seem to have taken cue from the spontaneous leaderless protests that has erupted throughout India. The legitimacy or need of those protests is an entirely different question but the fact that there is some visible cloud of ambiguity and fear among the public warrants the government to clear the air.

Here, backtracking is the balance between morality and practical approach because heeding to the public and changing opinions accordingly is the essence of people’s democracy. The state governments which have openly spoken against the NRC therefore have legitimized the wave of dissent which requires the central government to take things more seriously and look for ways to compromise or to at least reach out to the dissenters for a productive dialogue. Now, the states which backtracked seem like they have taken the moral choice of going against the central government which they once held as supreme. Is backstabbing moral? The changing subjective moralism is one to brood over, after all what is morality but a hued prism of changing realities.

Power Game

Veteran journalist Shekhar Gupta opines that the backtracking states are experiencing buyer’s remorse. The parties which voted in favour of the bill are regretting that they couldn’t foresee the magnitude of dissent it warranted. Be it opportunism or well-meaning strategy, the backtracking parties have found their power in the otherwise one sided coalition.

Out of the 336 Lok Sabha seats won by the NDA coalition last year, 303 seats were from BJP itself. This makes the other members of the coalition irrelevant in the national stage. But the federal structure looks much different. BJP does not rule in as much states as it did back in 2018, even in states of NDA coalition, the parties have asserted their stand against the exercise. So there are only six states which would go on with the NRC namely Haryana, Himachal-Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar-Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka with the three northern states having minimal to zero Muslim population. The remaining state governments except the North East (they have their own reasons for NRC) have declared or hinting that they would not conduct the NRC exercise.

All this is plain rhetoric when it comes to constitutional methods of accepting what the center says, but this type of rhetoric is very essential in a quasi-federal state. If the state governments wield power strong enough to bargain their essential and local needs in the same manner, it would provide legitimacy to the federal principles that we say we follow. Asserting strong positions provide confidence and capacity to the states with which they can check the overflowing power of the BJP.

Federal in Spirit

State governments should be vigil of their position in the political landscape to bargain and decentralize as much power required for the federal system to thrive and enhance the lives of the citizens other than a central hand engineering the country like it is some kind of fixed machinery.

Political scientist KC Wheare opined that India is a “Unitary state with subsidiary federal features rather than a federal state with subsidiary unitary features”. This outlook can be changed if states take the initiative in negotiating better sharing of powers among the governments. This can only be done when states can hold back against the pressure of a giant center with a humongous majority thereby asserting themselves as a capable contender of political power dynamics which may in turn provide the necessary mileage for the marathon towards a federal society not just in mere words but also in spirit.

By Benolin

Mute Spectator is the primary series of the blog where we express our opinions on current affairs.

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Excerpts : Kargil Heights

Books January 13, 2020

As June closed, the Indian Army came closer and closer to their goal - to clear out the Pakistani army, peak by peak.

Lieutenant Manoj Kumar Pandey of 1/11 Gorkha Rifles put up a tough fight against stiff resistance from Pakistan’s 8 NLI (Northern Light Infantry) in Khalubar. Amidst bullets flying over his head and grenades bursting around him, he destroyed four bunkers, thus inspiring his boys, before an MMG (Medium Machine Gun) bullet hit his head. Not surprisingly, Lieutenant Pandey's platoon successfully recaptured the Khalubar ridgeline on 3 July 1999.

Some goals are so worthy, it's glorious even to fail.

- Lieutenant Pandey in his war diary.

19 June 1999

Dear Pawan,

(Do read this letter to as many as possible)

I received both yours letters but could not reply to the first one. Both of them reached me in the midst of the hot battle. It is really difficult to fight the enemy at this altitude. He is well inside bunkers and defences and we are in the open. He has planned his move very well and has occupied most of the heights. Initially things were very bad for us and we suffered many casualties but now the situation is under control and more planned and deliberate attacks are going on. In last one and a half months I've seen probably the worst in 'OP Vijay'; maximum casualties in the shortest time. I have myself brushed shoulders with death four times; but might be because of some good work I am still alive. Every day we are receiving letters from all over the country saying the same sentence 'Just do it'. It's good to see that at times of need and crisis our country gets united. I really don't know what will happen the next moment but till now I can assure you and all countrymen that certainly we would push back intruders; at whatever cost we have to pay maybe our lives.

This operation has certainly given some exposure which cannot be quantified; like leading men in the face of death; their fear, their loyalty, the stress and strain both physical and mental which human beings can take; but yaar 'Indian Army' specially an Infantry jawan is the ultimate. He would do anything provided he is led properly. As I have always told you, what infantry gives cannot be told, but today I'm so proud of my decision to join the 'Infantry' that I can't explain.

Here weather is cold but snow has started melting down. If sun comes then days are generally ok. Nights are cold with temperature -5 to -15 degrees.

It all would get over but time factor cannot be told, and frankly, no one can tell with certainty about his (enemy) going back. Just one request that guide my brother at this crucial moment of his life. (About his future)

Convey my regards to all your friends for being so considerate to us. De remain in touch, it gives us a lot of moral support. If I come back we would have a lot of things to talk about, but certainly this is going to be an everlasting experience for me.

Yours,

Manoj.

This excerpt is from the book Letters From Kargil: TheKargil war through our soldiers' eyes by Diksha Dwivedi

Excerpts is a series where we post thoughtful passages from different books that provide for a short and easy reading.

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Rebuttal : Neeya Naana- Wedding Customs

Culture January 10, 2020

I religiously follow Neeya Naana every week. It is one of the very few watchable shows in Tamil television. It seems that the current season is the twenty third edition of the show! Anyway, debate is always refreshing and interesting to watch. The topic of this particular discussion was about the changes in wedding customs across Tamilnadu or rather infusion of north Indian customs into Tamil weddings.

One thing is clearly evident from the debate- people like to have fun on their day of gathering. These Sangeeths, Mehindi and Haldi (which was grossly mispronounced) ceremonies are getting increasingly popular among the city folk because they provide for a loud glamorously entertaining time in their otherwise dull lives. They primarily want to exhibit their “uniqueness” and their “coolness” with extravagant and unnecessary ceremonies and most importantly, the need for good photos for social media pervades all- these photographers are daylight robbers but that’s a different day’s whine. Even if all this is unnecessary, we’ll have to cut some slack because in today’s world, both genders have to work their asses off to earn a living. They work long hours, different shifts and have to put up with so much shit every day, so it is justified whatever shit they want to do on their important day. It is really beautiful to see a happy couple doing things they like from whichever culture it might be.

Throughout history, change has always been resisted and reactionary elements have always had their ways in society. My concern is not with well-meaning conservatives who would want to see their culture preserved without any outside influence for the next generation but with fear mongering in the name of culture. There are two strands of arguments which irked me a lot, one was that Tamizhars are being fooled nonsense and the other was that all these changes are a large scale economic conspiracy to kill Tamilnadu. The painful thing is that these two nonsensical ideas finds appreciation and applause (the conspiracy theorist even got the best speaker prize) among the crowd.

Before dealing with the two stupid arguments, firstly I would like to deal with the premise of the argument, the Tamizh culture, which everyone kept talking about. What is that? Where is that special culture? As we are dealing with weddings, I can only see cultures of different castes- say a Chettiar wedding or a Parayar wedding and these have entirely different customs and ceremonies. For example a Thevar wedding is not going to be as elaborate as say a Brahmin wedding which has so many ceremonies. People propagating the idea of a unified Tamil culture are in their own delusional dreamland. They see history through their biased vision and cherry pick one linear story line as the story of whole of the state- are you finding parallels elsewhere?

The Tamizhars are being fooled they say, by whom I ask. The argument which received an applause was lazy and shallow- other states are not following Tamil culture but only we Tamizhars are made to follow other purohita customs. This whataboutery circus happens when there is no justifiable argument for the motion but as we are here, we will try to answer the lazy question properly. Society is a marketplace of cultures that too in a globalized world where Halloween and even thanksgiving are celebrated in Indian cities, people are inherently exposed to all kinds of new things. The onset of globalization has made borders porous and therefore fusion of cultures can never be curtailed. We have heard many news where someone from China or France comes down to Tamilnadu to marry someone from here, so the basic argument is in a way dishonest and tea kada type where few uncles join together to comment on varied things from Pakistan to the neighbour’s blouse without any evidence or knowledge whatsoever. Even if no one likes Tamil wedding practices, so what? The said culture is not going to disintegrate just because no one else is following it and moreover this argument is itself dishonest because all new inclusions mostly do not meddle with wedding practices per se, it only complements the event thereby satisfying the bride and the groom. To borrow one of the guests’ statement- “man is the progeny of want”- that is the nature of human beings and it is unfair to expect everyone to become a puritan or a sanyasi.

The best counter argument was made by a man with a thick south Tamilnadu accent who clearly pointed out- I’m paraphrasing it: even you don’t know what Tamil culture is. You kept evolving and stopped at a point and are now claiming that it is the purest form of Tamil culture! We have included a few more things but you are accusing us of following north Indian culture!

The other talking point of the debate was about economic conspiracies forged by western capitalists and illuminatis and Rothschilds of the west trying to cripple specifically Tamilnadu- no, they didn’t go that far but audience for this kind of bullshit is on the rise with jokes like Paarisaalan and co. making rounds on YouTube.

The second argument branched into two ways, one dealing with the service provider and another with the service itself. Traditional arts, the service, they say is dying- we must try to understand why there is reduction in demand. So if there is no demand, definitely the art, whatever it might be, is going to die thus to pin the blame on weddings is not fair. Take Bharatanatyam for example, there is a niche audience for the art and it does not look like it is going to die anytime soon- traditional arts have to find their own market in order to survive and forcing the noble acts of conserving a dying art should not be thrust on wedding ceremonies which already have so much to take care of.

The second branch is more interesting. The complaint is that people from other states are earning in Tamil weddings. Host Gopi blatantly asks a participant if he is really fine with paying some other person rather than a Tamilian. This is as ethno nationalistic and far-right one can be and to blatantly talk like this and get an applaud is just beyond me. Let’s break it up- what Gopi is saying is one must check the ethnicity and race before doing business. If this is not racist, I don’t know what is. But we will and should definitely give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that he did not mean what he actually said because as a person in a media company(STAR) which was initially found in Hong Kong, he would not have meant it.

Let’s leave the hypocrisy out of it and talk basic economics, protectionism and self-reliant policies proved to be a big failure in India’s history. Free movement of goods, on the other hand yields results- see South East Asia. Even a trivial product as say a pencil must need raw materials from different places to become a pencil. Imagine a Telugu speaking or a Hindi speaking person living in Tamilnadu hearing this, where will they earn their living then? How will we get better services if we chase out good service providers just because they are not Tamizhars?

The most irrational person of the whole debate was the guest speaker named Jagadeesa Pandian (I’m definitely misspelling it). The arrogance in that man is extremely scary. He rants for five minutes straight about how bad north Indian culture is. The ego of othering the north Indian culture and people is just silly. He spoke like a textbook fundamentalist branding the whole of Tamizhars as farmers- I mean how can the whole community be farmers? What about the sea traders? The priests? He showed off his Thaali with the Tamil letter அ. I’m wondering where he found common wedding ceremonies in Tamil history where people exchanged thaalis with the letter அ. This is why I call these fundamental puritans delusional.

All these denotes the hangover from the non-Brahmin revolution of the early 20^th Century. The demonization of north Indians, delusional warped history and a group of people to cheer are basic recipes for fundamentalism. It is sad to see liberal revolutionaries getting rigid and mirroring the exact system they took pains to destroy or reform.

I do not accept the argument that fusion of cultures will deteriorate the culture. It only enhances it and makes the life of the society even more tolerant and inclusive towards other views on life.

Everything said, only one argument actually convinced me against these Sangeeths and shit- what is that thing the groom has to wear! Sherwani sharvani I don’t know, it looks shit and funny.

Episode link : click here

By Admin

Rebuttal is a series because we are bored

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Excerpts : Bharat Mata

Books January 08, 2020

Often, as I wandered from meeting to meeting, I spoke to my audience of this India of ours, of Hindustan and of Bharata, the old Sanskrit name derived from the mythical founder of the race. I seldom did so in the cities, for there the audiences were more sophisticated and wanted stronger fare. But to the peasant, with his limited outlook, I spoke of this great country for whose freedom we were struggling, of how each part differed from the other and yet was India, of common problems of the peasants from north to south and east to west, of the Swaraj that could only be for all and every part and not for some. I told them of my journeying from the Khyber Pass in the far north-west to Kanya Kumari or Cape Comorin in the distant south, and how everywhere the peasants put me identical questions, for their troubles were the same—poverty, debt, vested interests, landlords, moneylenders, heavy rents and taxes, police harassment, and all these wrapped up in the structure that the foreign government had imposed upon us—and relief must also come for all. I tried to make them think of India as a whole, and even to some little extent of this wide world of which we were a part.

I brought in the struggle in China, in Spain, in Abyssinia, in Central Europe, in Egypt and the countries of Western Asia. I told them of the wonderful changes in the Soviet Union and of the great progress made in America. The task was not easy; yet it was not so difficult as I had imagined, for our ancient epics and myths and legends, which they knew so well, had made them familiar with the conception of their country, and some there were always who had travelled far and wide to the great places of pilgrimage situated at the four corners of India. Or there were old soldiers who had served in foreign parts in World War I or other expeditions. Even my references to foreign countries were brought home to them by the consequences of the great depression of the 'thirties.

Sometimes as I reached a gathering, a great roar of welcome would greet me: ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’—'Victory to Mother India.' I would ask them unexpectedly what they meant by that cry, who was this Bharat Mata, Mother India, whose victory they wanted? My question would amuse them and surprise them, and then, not knowing exactly what to answer, they would look at each other and at me. I persisted in my questioning. At last a vigorous Jat, wedded to the soil from immemorial generations, would say that it was the dharli, the good earth of India, that they meant. What earth? Their particular village patch, or all the patches in the district or province, or in the whole of India? And so question and answer went on, till they would ask me impatiently to tell them all about it. I would endeavour to do so and explain that India was all this that they had thought, but it was much more. The mountains and the rivers of India, and the forests and the broad fields, which gave us food, were all dear to us, but what counted ultimately were the people of India, people like them and me, who were spread out all over this vast land. Bharat Mata, Mother India, was essentially these millions of people, and victory to her meant victory to these people. You are parts of this Bharat Mata, I told them, you are in a manner yourselves Bharat Mata, and as this idea slowly soaked into their brains, their eyes would light up as if they had made a great discovery.

This excerpt is from the book The Discoveryof India by Jawaharlal Nehru.

Excerpts is a series where we post thoughtful passages from different books which provide for a quick and easy reading.

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Mute Spectator : Lost Opportunity

Mute Spectator January 06, 2020

Last year, Global Hunger Index was released by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

We were ranked at 102nd among 119 competitors & are placed lower than Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.

So what’s wrong with us?

People are the bedrock of a progressive & aspirational nation.

Thousands & thousands were parading on the roads singing patriotical songs, shouting nationalistic slogans, waving flags, hugging each other, highly energized with a fervour in their heart occupied by so much love for their nation. Although divided by caste & communities people tried to be united. Every soul (except some) stayed dedicated for a free nation.

This was the scene all over India on Aug 08, 1942 (clarion call for QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT).

Why does this matter now?

Yes, because our great leaders streamlined us. Nation stood first. Self-governance stood first. Respect & national pride stood first. It wasn't that easy to bring together people of various ethnicity, linguistics, culture, tradition & value system. The attempt to create an egalitarian society wasn't corroded nor vitiated by artificial feeling to bring about this change. This urge was created through TRUTH, LOVE, HONESTY & BRAVERY as a modus operandi.

People weren't well off then. The nation suffered from severe poverty, worse economic condition, famine, malnutrition, infant mortality, diseases of all kinds all around, casteism, communalism, separatism & thousands of death on a daily basis. They lived a second class citizen in their Motherland.

But still what made the freedom movement a happening one?

ASPIRATIONS & HOPE.

The dream of every individual to live in freedom, to live with self-respect hoping that life will be much better with dignity & nationhood under the garb of self-governance. They believed in their next generation leaders. They believed in a Democratic, Secular, liberal nation of equality & equity. They believed that we can stand tall in the emerging world order.

But, what happened in this 72 years??

Every moral that the nation stood upon were put into a deep well. People were no longer of importance for their own people who ruled. Governance became money centric, corruption eroded the entire system. Selfish goons became local leaders. Caste & Communities became vote banks. Elections became all about populism. Bureaucracy became f**ked up. State parties & National parties followed dynastic politics. Nepotism was deep rooted.

Lust, envy and the lure of wealth (in the hands of politicians) was what everything was about. Kitchen cooked Communal riots, seasonal bombings, ghettoisation, ethnic genocide, regionalism and religionalism wreaked havoc in the society. Arrogance and hatred mainstreamed. Perpetual ideological fixation took over the regime. The freedom of the people slowly and firmly evolved into the freedom of the nasty politicians. Centralisation struck the basic thesis of the nation and free market capitalism was looked upon as an egregious evil thoughts. Much to the delight, Scams after scams evolved, public money was pocketed, tax evasion was a normalcy, loot and plunder was the government policy, etc.,...

What it could have been??

On the eve of Independence, Mahatma Gandhi chose to remain in Calcutta healing hearts and bringing harmony and peace between the Hindu and Muslim communities of Bengal. One of several meetings Gandhiji had on 15 August at his temporary home in Beliaghata (kolkata) was with the ministers of the newly installed government of West Bengal. When the ministers sought his blessing, Gandhiji told them,

TODAY, YOU HAVE WORN ON YOUR HEADS A CROWN OF THORNS. THE SEAT OF POWER IS A NASTY THING. YOU HAVE TO REMAIN EVER WAKEFUL ON THAT SEAT. YOU HAVE TO BE MORE TRUTHFUL, MORE NON - VIOLENT, MORE HUMBLE AND MORE FORBEARING. YOU HAD BEEN PUT TO TEST DURING BRITISH REGIME. BUT IN A WAY IT WAS NO TEST AT ALL. BUT NOW THERE WILL BE NO END TO YOUR BEING TESTED. DO NOT FALL A PREY TO THE LURE OF WEALTH. MAY GOD HELP YOU! YOU ARE THERE TO SERVE THE VILLAGES AND THE POOR.

If the mood of the people was well kept and maintained through all these years still with the vehemence of collective growth in the larger interest of the nation which is one way of governing people solidly could have been a dramatic change in the way we would have progressed.

To think that we still couldn't feed every individual of this nation 3 square meal a day is obnoxious and a disgrace. I Quote here my favourite line from Shashi Tharoor where he exclaims, "the uniqueness among large democracies is that they are very well aware that neither man nor women, nor country nor state, will live well or long unless some attention is given to the baking of bread, the boiling of rice, the rolling of chapathi. Democracy and human rights are fundamental to who we are; but human rights begin with breakfast".

By facts, we are big producers of rice, wheat, Dairy products, sugarcane and much more. To make profits out of public rice and other commodities by some scum and to lobby for heavy prices in other markets is still prevalent in our public distribution system. Most of our children under the age of 5 are undernourished. If any nation wants to grow on 10% year on year (which we talk about a lot), then the biggest investment they have to do is in their children HEALTH & EDUCATION. After all KNOWLEDGE & HEALTH IS DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL TO ECONOMIC GROWTH. Making our people our own laughing stock is the biggest dishonesty that we have done. If those in the clutches of power stood there MORAL GROUND and had been righteous then we would have definitely punched above our weight.

It is that LOST OPPORTUNITY that we could have taken our people along in the process of making this nation GREAT. On a comparative, China which is an authoritarian communist state, during the 1980’s under Premier Deng Xiaoping streamlined his people towards a common goal, pulled up deep rooted corruption which turned them into an economic powerhouse today. But, Corruption is still omnipresent in our land. FREEDOM & DEMOCRACY was the best thing that could have happened to INDIA & taking them for granted is the dumbest thing that we have done.

3 SQUARE MEAL A DAY IS NOT A DISTANT DREAM.

JAI HIND.

By Sathish T K

Mute Spectator is the primary series of the blog where we express our opinions on current affairs.

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Pages

Article 19

Not just RED

Excerpts : As it is

Mute Spectator : Swadeshi

Mute Spectator : Bargaining Federalism

Excerpts : Kargil Heights

Rebuttal : Neeya Naana- Wedding Customs

Excerpts : Bharat Mata

Mute Spectator : Lost Opportunity

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