Thought it is fitting to reproduce what a man by the name of Khushwant Singh wrote in his Editor's Page of 'The Illustrated Weekly of India' 50 years ago. It makes sense, and I believe is a must-read for all Indians in the present political situation. Looks like he just woke up from the dead and wrote the pièce yesterday. Don't miss the last
On Feb 15, 1970 Khushwant Singh wrote under the headline
'Why I am an Indian'.**_
I did not have any choice; I was born one. If the good Lord had consulted me on the subject I might have chosen a country more affluent, less crowded, less censorious in matters of food and drink, unconcerned with personal equations and free of religious bigotry.
Am I proud of being an India? I can't really answer this one. I can scarcely take credit for the achievements of my forefathers. And I have little reason to be proud of what we are doing today. On balance, I would say, 'No, I am not proud of being an Indian.'
'Why don't you get out and settle in some other country?' Once again, I have very little choice. All the countries I might like to live in have restricted quotas for emigrants; most of them are white and have prejudice against coloured people. In any case I feel more relaxed and at home in India. I dislike many things in my country--mostly the government. I know the government is never the same as the country, but it never stops trying to appear in that garb. This is where I belong, and this is where I intend to live and die. Of course, I like going abroad. Living is easier, wine and food are better, women are more forthcoming--it's more fun. However, I soon get tired of all those things and want to get back to my dung-heap and be among my loud-mouthed, sweaty, smelly countrymen. I am like my kinsmen in Africa and England and elsewhere. My head tells me it's better to live abroad, my belly tells me it is more fulfilling to be in 'phoren' but my heart tells me 'get back to Ind'. Each time I return home and drive through the stench of bare-bottomed defecators that line the road from Santa Crux airport to the city I ask myself:
"'Breathes there a man with soul so dead
who never to himself hath said
this is my own land, my native land?"
I can scarcely breathe, but I yell, 'Yeah, this is my native land. I don't like it, but I love it!'
Are you an Indian first and a Punjabi or Sikh second? Or is it the other round? I don't like the way those questions are framed. I am all three at the same time. If I was denied my Punjabiness or my community tradition, I would refuse to call myself Indian. I am Indian, Punjabi and Sikh. And even so I have a patriotic kinship one who says I am 'Indian, Hindu and Haryanvi' or 'I am Indian, Moplah Muslim and Malayali' or 'I am Indian, Christian and Assamese'. I want to retain my religious and linguistic identity without in any way making them exclusive.
I am convinced that in our guaranteed diversity is our strength as a nation. As soon as you try to obliterate regional languages in favour of one 'national' language or religion, in the name of some one Indian credo, you will destroy the unity of the country. Twice was our Indianness challenged: in 1962 by the Chinese; in 1965 by the Pakistanis. Then, despite our many differences of language, religion and faith, we rose as one to defend our country. In the ultimate analysis, it is the consciousness of the frontiers that makes a nation. We have proved that we are one nation.
What then this talk about Indianising people who are already Indian? And has anyone any right to arrogate to himself the right to decide who is and who is not a good Indian?
(Khushwant Singh's Editor's Page, Edited by Rahul Singh, IBH)
Friday 17 January 2020
Saturday 11 January 2020
Have you ever thought of a 15-month-old baby suddenly rendered helpless, motionless by a stroke of medically induced spasticity,
Help siblings Shakir Bhai and Ruqaiyah Bai
Have you ever thought of a 15-month-old baby suddenly rendered helpless, motionless by a stroke of medically induced spasticity, not even able to suckle her mother for the much-needed milk, How a father used a dropper like a pipette to put the milk in her mouth one drop at a time, How the family coped with this child as she grew up, her spinal cord paralyzed. The relentless effort by the father to get her back to "normal" making her sit, her back to the wall with two pillows on either side for support - at the age of four years! And as the years passed she improved but very slowly. She started walking only with someone at her side, which was to be a lifelong necessary precaution, as her balancing function was far from working optimally. She attended the Savera Special School (opp New Excelsior Cinema) for children with special needs for almost three decades. After her parents passed away her brother was her sole caretaker who quit his job as a copywriter to be able to take care of Ruqaiyah full time...
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Monday 6 January 2020
An Open Letter to The Chief Justice of India
DEAR Sir,
For the past seven decades, the Supreme Court of India has successfully acted as a ‘temple of justice’ for every citizen of this country. In this journey, it has assumed numerous roles, including the custodian of the Indian Constitution, guardian of human rights and defender of democracy. It has kept pace with the developments of society to retain its relevance and has never wavered in upholding constitutional values. But on December 18, 2019, the faith of these very people, especially the youth of this nation, suffered a huge setback when you declined to hear their voices.
As law students, it was extremely disturbing for us when we realized that “halting of riots” has been made a prerequisite by you for entertaining the pleas pertaining to the violent clamp down on the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act throughout the country. In the legendary history of this Hon’ble Court, this is the first time that the plight of the fundamental rights of the people is being heard on a “conditional” basis. We understand that the statements were made with the intention to stop the violence but they sounded too “culpable” in nature and seemed to insinuate that the students are the ones instigating violence and unrest. Irrespective of who started the violence, the students were not given even a single opportunity of being heard in these unfortunate circumstances thereby violating the basic principles of natural justice. On the same day, the Delhi High Court too refused to hear the students’ plea on an urgent basis, despite there being reports of numerous students being injured and illegally detained.
Following this, there were expectations that the apex court would restore the people’s faith by passing an appropriate order to bring peace to this situation. But to our dismay, My Lord did not even care to hear the matter and at the same time refused to even stay the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act. In this infelicitous situation, where the executive is dismantling the Constitution, the police is wreaking havoc, an autocratic system is on the rise and voices are being suppressed, it becomes critical for the judiciary to act expeditiously and save the rights of the people; but your approach did not seem to conform to this principle, sir. My Lord refused to form a panel for a judicial probe and directed the petitioners to approach the respective high courts, completely disregarding the fact that the Delhi High Court had already refused to listen to these pleas on an urgent basis.
At this moment citizens are dying in police firing, thousands are being arrested and detained unlawfully, journalists are being thrashed for covering anti-CAA protests, in the name of “action”, shoot-at-sight orders are being given by ministers, empty cartridges are being found at protest sites, but still the Supreme Court is refusing to recognize the grimness of the situation. Internationally there has been an uproar, with more than 400 students from 19 foreign universities, including Harvard and Yale condemning the violence and Dr Gregory Stanton, the founder of Genocide Watch, even calling it a “preparation of genocide in India”.
If these considerations are not sufficient for an urgent hearing, we don’t know what is!
My Lords have turned their faces away, failing to discharge their positive obligations and becoming oblivious to the suffering of thousands of students. When the doors of two courts have been shut against my face, shrugging off my rights, I have nowhere to go for seeking justice. My Lords have said that “Public Trust is the only legitimate source of power for a judicial system” but I am afraid that with the recent action of yours it is the judiciary itself who is pushing this power into an abyss from which there is no returning. My Lords have expressed sympathy but haven’t chosen to act.
It is our earnest request to My Lords to help preserve the right to dissent when the dissenters of this nation are facing dire consequences including arrest, disappearances and death. Sir, in these vulnerable circumstances the judiciary is the only light of hope of the citizens. Let that hope prevail.
We lay our trust in the judicial fraternity of our nation!
Regards,
Samriddhi Chatterjee, Sayan Chandra and Aman Garg.
[The authors are under-graduate students of law pursuing B.A LL.B (Hons.) & B.Sc. LL.B. (Hons.) at Gujarat National Law University (GNLU)]
For the past seven decades, the Supreme Court of India has successfully acted as a ‘temple of justice’ for every citizen of this country. In this journey, it has assumed numerous roles, including the custodian of the Indian Constitution, guardian of human rights and defender of democracy. It has kept pace with the developments of society to retain its relevance and has never wavered in upholding constitutional values. But on December 18, 2019, the faith of these very people, especially the youth of this nation, suffered a huge setback when you declined to hear their voices.
As law students, it was extremely disturbing for us when we realized that “halting of riots” has been made a prerequisite by you for entertaining the pleas pertaining to the violent clamp down on the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act throughout the country. In the legendary history of this Hon’ble Court, this is the first time that the plight of the fundamental rights of the people is being heard on a “conditional” basis. We understand that the statements were made with the intention to stop the violence but they sounded too “culpable” in nature and seemed to insinuate that the students are the ones instigating violence and unrest. Irrespective of who started the violence, the students were not given even a single opportunity of being heard in these unfortunate circumstances thereby violating the basic principles of natural justice. On the same day, the Delhi High Court too refused to hear the students’ plea on an urgent basis, despite there being reports of numerous students being injured and illegally detained.
Following this, there were expectations that the apex court would restore the people’s faith by passing an appropriate order to bring peace to this situation. But to our dismay, My Lord did not even care to hear the matter and at the same time refused to even stay the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act. In this infelicitous situation, where the executive is dismantling the Constitution, the police is wreaking havoc, an autocratic system is on the rise and voices are being suppressed, it becomes critical for the judiciary to act expeditiously and save the rights of the people; but your approach did not seem to conform to this principle, sir. My Lord refused to form a panel for a judicial probe and directed the petitioners to approach the respective high courts, completely disregarding the fact that the Delhi High Court had already refused to listen to these pleas on an urgent basis.
At this moment citizens are dying in police firing, thousands are being arrested and detained unlawfully, journalists are being thrashed for covering anti-CAA protests, in the name of “action”, shoot-at-sight orders are being given by ministers, empty cartridges are being found at protest sites, but still the Supreme Court is refusing to recognize the grimness of the situation. Internationally there has been an uproar, with more than 400 students from 19 foreign universities, including Harvard and Yale condemning the violence and Dr Gregory Stanton, the founder of Genocide Watch, even calling it a “preparation of genocide in India”.
If these considerations are not sufficient for an urgent hearing, we don’t know what is!
My Lords have turned their faces away, failing to discharge their positive obligations and becoming oblivious to the suffering of thousands of students. When the doors of two courts have been shut against my face, shrugging off my rights, I have nowhere to go for seeking justice. My Lords have said that “Public Trust is the only legitimate source of power for a judicial system” but I am afraid that with the recent action of yours it is the judiciary itself who is pushing this power into an abyss from which there is no returning. My Lords have expressed sympathy but haven’t chosen to act.
It is our earnest request to My Lords to help preserve the right to dissent when the dissenters of this nation are facing dire consequences including arrest, disappearances and death. Sir, in these vulnerable circumstances the judiciary is the only light of hope of the citizens. Let that hope prevail.
We lay our trust in the judicial fraternity of our nation!
Regards,
Samriddhi Chatterjee, Sayan Chandra and Aman Garg.
[The authors are under-graduate students of law pursuing B.A LL.B (Hons.) & B.Sc. LL.B. (Hons.) at Gujarat National Law University (GNLU)]
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