Monday, 16 October 2023

HINDUS IN HINDU RASTRA - Eighth-class citizens and Victims of State-Sanctioned Apartheid by Anand Ranganathan (Book Review by R. Chandra Prakash)

After 75 years of independence the Hindus are getting divided on caste and sub-caste lines seeking greater share in politics and economy. Consequently, despite being a big majority religion Hinduism is at a cross roads in the country’s politics. At the same time, the Post 1975 International Oil-Crisis has changed the international political dynamics. The Islamic block has emerged as a powerful political and economic player. And this has had its own adverse influence on the Indian political scenario. The Muslims in India have politically consolidated into a powerful vote bank and have acquired a phenomenal political clout. The time lapse plus the new world order have overshadowed the pain and sacrifices of partition of the country on religious lines. 
The Indian National Congress party [INC], which ruled the country for the first 60 plus years after independence, has been accused of being inimical to Hinduism and favoring the Muslims as a minority. So much so, it is accused of being an instrument of Islamisation! And no surprise that INC has been losing its Hindu vote share, and as also the power at the Centre.

Therefore, for the first time when Bharatiya Janatha Party [BJP] was voted to power at the centre and several states with a thumping majority of its own in 2014, it was assumed that people have preferred this party because it will protect Hinduism. And its return at the centre in 2019 with a bigger majority only redoubled such expectations. 

State-sponsored Apartheid
Anand Ranganatha’s book Hindus in Hindu Rastra – Eighth-Class Citizens and Victims of State-Sanctioned Apartheid tries to explain how Hindus were short-changed by Mahatma Gandhi. After independence how the INC practiced minority appeasement at the blatant cost of the Hindus, who constitute a majority in the country. Author does not spare even the BJP government whose policies he finds no different from that of INC, even though it is considered to be or accused of being a Hindu party. Ranganathan is of the opinion that the policies are not appeasement of minority, but it is an issue of Apartheid. A State-sponsored, State-sanctioned discrimination against a particular community, that is the Hindus. 

Fake Secularism
Ranganathan is very clear that Secularism is total separation of religion and State. And he is of the opinion that there are half a dozen Articles and Amendments and directive principles in our constitution that make it plural, not secular nation. It was during the Emergency that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who inserted the word Secular in our preamble, whereas it was absent from Ambedkar’s Constitution! 

It is ironical that all legal efforts are made to declare Bharat as a secular state, and at the same time the governments of 10 states control more than 110,000 Hindu temples. Tamil Nadu government controls 36,425 temples and 56 mutts, and its Temple Trust owns 478,000 acres of temple land!  The situation is no different in communist ruled Kerala state. It has five Devaswom Boards – Travancore, Guruvayur, Cochin, Malabar and Koodalmanikyam- with 3,058 temples under their control!  And the states pride in appointing non-Hindus to the Boards of the temples. And most of the times governments do not respect Hindu religious norms in appointing the priests and in the performance of various temple-centric worship rituals. Rather, they take pride under the socialist/liberal/secular garb to intentionally appoint people from non-Hindu religions. 

Interestingly, none of these governments will dare follow similar ‘liberal’ practices when it comes to Islamic and Christian religious places. What sort of distorted secularism is this? Ranganathan questions when the BJP has been in power at the centre since 2014, why is that it has not taken any step to either remove such a ‘secular policy’ or even try to liberate the Hindu temples from the wrongful control of the state, which constitutionally claims to be secular?

Ranganathan very elaborately examines the provisions of The Waqf Act, The RTE Act, The Places of Worship Act, and several other legislations which have adversely affected the religious interests of the majority Hindu population of Bharat. 

A Case of Kashmiri Hindus
Kashmir was originally inhabited by the Hindus, as is evident from the existence of Sharada Peeth and several other religious institutions of great importance to the Hindus. However, over a period this land got inhabited by the followers of Islam. They claimed to be far different in their cultural ethos from the other Muslims, a soft Islamic hilly culture. But soon after independence Kashmir became a political and a communal hotbed.  The cause was the insertion of provision of Article 370 and 35A providing Special Status to this state. Consequently, a simmering anti-Hindu communal apartheid turned in 1989-90 into a savage butchering of Kashmiri Hindus in thousands, and many more thousands fled. Shockingly, there was no murmur from the secularists, socialists, or even the liberals. 

In keeping with its promise BJP removed the infamous Articles 370 and 35A and took very tough steps to stem the religious and political terrorism. And the newly formed Union Territory of Kashmir recorded highest ever tourist footfall of 16 million in the past year! Author quotes Sushil Pandit, a Kashmiri Hindu, and himself a victim of ethnic cleansing, who says – ‘Tourism in Kashmir funds Jihad. The Hindus are funding their own demise.’ The author narrates several heinous crimes against the Hindus in Kashmir and states ‘Kashmir Hindus are Jews, but unfortunately, India is not Israel. They call Kashmir the Switzerland of the East. Wrong. It is the Srebrenica of the East. And it will remain so till such time every Kashmiri Hindu is returned home.’ The Truth cannot be hidden any more.

An Open Sky Awaits Hinduism
Author is of the opinion that judiciary almost exclusively is trying to reform Hinduism. Despite the fact that Nupur Sharma had simply quoted what was from the revered Islamic scriptures, Supreme court found it unnecessary to club multiple FIRs against her. He further feels that the court could have left it at that and dismissed the case, but they did not. Author extensively quotes from the judgment and leaves it to the reader to decide ‘whether their remarks against a helpless, victimised, shunned, discarded, hunted young Hindu woman were not bolstered by decades of institutional vilification, ridicule and discrimination against Hindus.’ Then there are cases like Shabarimala, where the court vetoed the discrimination, even though similar discrimination is found even in other religion. 

Ranganathan feels that ‘A progressive, secular State that, correctly, removes discriminatory practices from the Hindu religion but cowers behind a lam-post like a wet cat when it comes to removing discriminatory practices from other religions, is not a progressive, secular State – it is a scared State.’ There are plenty of cases leading to state sanctioned discriminatory religious practices. But he laments ‘what is to be done when the judiciary singles out the Hindus? What is the course then? And describing how the image of the Blind Lady with a Scale has been sullied he concludes – ‘There is none.’ 

He is afraid that selectivism against only Hindu festivals and religious practices will soon result in a scenario where the Hindus begin to dislike their own traditions. From there, the road to self-loathing is but a few yards away, and we know where that road leads to- forsaking Hinduism itself and accepting another religion. “The camel has sneaked into the tent. An open sky awaits.” 

Author and the Book
Anand Ranganathan is well-known figure on primetime television debates. So are his frank and forthright views which are supported by a cannonade of facts. He is very well read and a descent debater. Even though, he is a Professor of Molecular Medicine, his knowledge of Literature, Religion, Sociology and Political is astounding. In nutshell Ranganathan is a rare scientist-academician and a nationalist to the core.

The book under review is of only 135 pages. But contains a lot of explosive narratives in eight chapters. A foreword by Sai Deepak; opinions of Meenakshi Jain the Historian and Vishnu Jain, the Lawyer and a Hindu Right Activist; and three pages Afterword by Dr. Vikram Sampath, a Historian, and a Fellow of Royal Historical Society make this book a credible starting point to understand the predicament of Hindus in Hindu Rashtra today. 

A very thought-provoking book. A must read.

Sunday, 1 October 2023

REVOLUTIONARIES - The Other Story of How India Won its Freedom by Sanjeev Sanyal (Book Review)

Our history books have made us to believe that it is the Gandhi’s path of Non-violence, Satyagraha and struggle of Indian National Congress [INC] party that got us the freedom. That our fight for freedom dates back beyond the birth of INC and the arrival of Gandhi as a Mahatma from South Africa is not stated in such a history. 
Nor does it narrate the heroic deeds of hundreds of martyrs who sacrificed their life at very young age fighting for country’s independence or suffered inhuman Kalapani punishments in the Cellular jail of Andaman. Many of these freedom heroes though came mainly from undivided Bengal and Punjab, several others came from different parts of pre-independent India.  

Correcting History
Sanjeev Sanyal in his book Revolutionaries – The Other Story of How India Won its Freedom, is unequivocal in saying that “The Independence movement was made up of a large number of disparate world views and the sequence of events was impacted by their divergence and convergence at different point of time. This was true even within camps. In turn, these were driven by a variety of factors, ranging from ideology to the social dynamics of the followers of each group. As with any large movement, the freedom movement is not a story of linear progression but peppered with mistakes, U-turns, the vagaries of fortune and leaders working at cross- purposes.”

He provides concrete evidences in his book of several heroic people working as individuals or as a network, whose courageous anti-colonial actions, operating from India as also from the foreign soil, with own resources as also from resources mobilized from far and wide, and the violent events which so unnerved the colonial masters  that they had to drastically change their strategies and  policies substantially, if not fully, and eventually forced them to leave the country.

Crucial Role of 1857
It is very surprising why we continue to call events of 1857 as a ‘Mutiny’, even when it was fully known that the British were appalled by the its happenings and things were never the same thereafter? Further, that the 1877 Great Famine, an act of climate which ‘ballooned by rapacious policies of the British spawned the Revolutionary movement on a pan India basis’ was never discussed! More interestingly, not much is said about the ‘true reasons’ for passing of The Indian Councils Act of 1909 under Morley-Minto Reforms providing greater representation of Indians, even if with separate electorates for Hindus and Muslims. 

Or the true reasons as to why British shifted the Capital from Calcutta to New Delhi! And that ‘true reason’ was that the fifty years between 1857 and 1907 were the period which spawned heroic rebels, many of whom went on to create troublesome political environment for the British, particularly in Bengal. Because these freedom fighters had resorted to activities which the British labeled as ‘anti-national’ and ‘criminal’ under the suitably modified laws, that they were labeled as ‘Rebels’, and ‘Revolutionaries’ by our leftist historians. Obviously, these Heroes did not make it to the definition of ‘Gandhian Non-Violent freedom history’.

Untold Stories
The critical roles played by Arya Samaj, Brahmo Samaj, Anushilana Samithi, Abhinav Bharat, Hardayal’s Nalanda Club in Berkley, Yuganatara Ashram of California in instilling the sense of patriotism, sacrifice for the cause of nation’s freedom, supporting underground activities and building network are seldom part of our much-flaunted freedom history. 

The first-generation Revolutionaries (1887-1911) lead by Arabindo Ghosh, Savarkar, Madan Lal Dhigra, Bhikaji Cama, VVVS Iyer, Hardayal and Shyam ji are mostly absent from our history books. Similarly, the second-generation Revolutionaries lead by Rashbehari Bose who went on to establish Indian Independence League in Japan, Jitendra Mohan Chaterjee and Basanta Kumar Biswas and their daredevil revolutionary network are hardly heard of.

Rashbehari Bose
It was as per Rashbehari Bose’s plan that his accomplice Basanta Kumar Biswas threw a bomb at Lord Hardinge and his wife on December 1912 when his grand Viceregal procession was entering Delhi. This entourage which was to mark the shift of capital from Calcutta to Delhi and was meticulously planned to establish the British superior authority and power over the subordinate Indian citizens. This Chandini Chowk bomb attack not only sent a shock wave across the colonial administration but also laid the foundation for many such attacks to come. Rashbehari Bose’s daring escapades within the country under the nose of colonial masters, contributions to the formation of Indian National Army and support to Netaji Bose are very diligently detailed by Sanjeev Sanyal.  

Alluri Seetha Rama Raju and Rampa Rebellion
Also simply called Rama Raju, was born in a village near Vishakhpatanam in 1897 in a middle-class family. Drifting away from formal education being intellectually curious read extensively in Telugu, Sanskrit and English. Around 1915 he became a Sanyasi and during his piligriage to Nashik and Varanashi got acquainted with Gadar and Jugantar revolutionaries. Having been disappointed with the Gandhian non-cooperative movement he organised tribesmen to carryout attack on colonial administration. Several troupes, including British Officers were killed. 

Well-built and full beared, armed with traditional weapons and a revolver struck through his belt, Rama Raju was as charismatic figure as Chandrashekar Azad. He was trapped and killed in May 1924, only 27 years of age.  Rama Raju’s leadership in Rampa Rebellion had generated romantic folk legend which inspired a lot of popular culture. Sanjeev Sanyal feels that this hero lacs adequate research and recognition.
 
Gaddarites and the Hindustan Republican Army [HRA] 
The Gaddarite phase of revolutionary movement shaped the events post Jallianwalla Bagh massacre of 1919 to the formation of first HRA and later on Indian National Army.

HRA was formed online with Irish Republican Army by a group of revolutionaries lead by Sachindra Natah Sanyal and Pratul Ganguli. It was these revolutionaries who first enunciated the goal of Poorna Swaraj. Whereas, Indian National Congress and Gandhi were prepared for a ‘Dominion Status’ and their concept of Swaraj meant only ‘self-government’ with the Empire if possible, and outside if necessary!

International Revolutionary Efforts
Revolutionaries were internationally well-knit web of people connected in multiple ways with each other. Shyamji in Europe, Jwala Singh, the Potato King, in North America, Pandurang Sadashiv Khankoje in Japan and later on in the North America. Khanjoje in association with Amba Prasad even managed to organise an army of 5,000 in Shirap, Persia. Khankoje went on to meet Lenin. Later on shifted to Mexico and became a successful agricultural scientist. 

Mahendra Pratap formed a Provisional Government of India in Kabul in 1915 with himself as President and Barkathulla as Prime Minister. 

Conspiracies, Bombs and Bullets 
Revolutionaries carried out several bomb attacks and killed many British Officers. Nasik Conspiracy Case of 1909-10, Lahore Conspiracy Case of 1915, Dalhousie Square Bomb Case of 1930, Alipore Arms Conspiracy Case of 1930-36, are some of such cases etched on the walls of Cellular Jail in Andaman.  

Then there were Chittagong Armory Raid of 1930 where a British Sergeant Major was killed, General Lowman killed by Benoy Basu, J. J. Simpson was shot dead by Benoy Basu, Badal Gupta and Dinesh Gupta, J. J. Gerlick, Alipore Judge shot dead because he had ordered death sentence on Dinesh Gupta and in 1932 Bina Das attempted to kill Governor Stanley Jackson. These and many other similar rebellious actions had shaken the roots of British colonial rule. 

That they were in continuation with the 1857 rebellion cannot be ignored. Only a thorough historical research of the documents available in the libraries can establish the extent of contributions of these actions in making the British to leave the country.

End of an Era
Sanyal explains that by 1933 all prominent revolutionaries were either killed or imprisoned. Unfortunately, the movement degenerated from organized armed resistance to anarchic acts of violence that were not sanctioned either by founding principles or by the public support. As often happens, common criminals made claims of being revolutionaries to justify armed robbery. 

A few genuine among them having suffered years of torture in prison and then partition, suffered from ‘post-traumatic stress disorder’ and several found it difficult to hold regular jobs and drifted into life of extreme poverty. Bina Das who shot Bengal Governor Stanley Jackson in 1932 went on to become a recluse after her husband’s death and having served one term as a member of Bengal Assembly after independence. Her emaciated body was found abandoned by roadside. 

Narayan Savarkar, brother of Veer Savarkar, was killed by the injuries inflicted by mob of anti-Brahmin revolt post Godse killing Gandhi. Veer Savarkar escaped this attack but died in Mumbai due to poor health and without recognition. 

Valuable Book
Sanyal’s book has only eight chapters plus an Epilogue of 291 pages. Its detailed Notes and Index makeup to a total of 331 pages. This is a valuable book in many a sense. It truly tells “The Other Story” of how India won its Freedom, which either have seldom been told. Stories told in this book are genuinely epoch-making ones. It records the sacrifices made by young men, apart from those known cases like Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekar Azad. 

This book should trigger greater research into the contributions of 1857 rebellion and the continued revolutionary movements thereafter in making the British hurriedly leave Bharat in 1947. Hitherto the Bombay Naval Revolt’s role in this is yet to be properly assessed.