- On Gauri Lankesh and religion: It is ridiculous to brand her anti-Hindu as her killers are trying to do
Kavitha Lankesh, sister of murdered journalist Gauri Lankesh writes an article for The Times of India expressing her disgust over the fact that men, some of them young, have been justifying her sister’s cold-blooded murder.
Many people across the country were devastated by Gauri Lankesh’s murder. Many openly gloated at her brutal killing. Others, faceless and anonymous on social media, even celebrated her death. All in the name of ‘Hinduism’. A woman member of BJP Yuva Morcha even posted that a Parashuram, the (name of the) alleged killer of Gauri, should be born in every Indian house. The Sri Ram Sene, which is today claiming that it has nothing to do with the alleged killer, has reportedly sought funds to help his family.
Gauri did not have a child of her own, but she was a mother to many, including my own daughter Esha, who called her Avva (mother), and many others like Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid. Isn’t it thus a cruel irony that the operation to kill Gauri was named “Amma” even by her killers? How does one contemplate an ideology, or set of beliefs, which demonise human sensibilities, and set in force a chain of events, a plan, to kill one’s amma?
- A crisis in plain sight
Pratap Bhanu Mehta covers the ongoing stir between AAP and BJP in the national capital in a column for The Indian Express. He says that the political and constitutional crisis over the powers of the Delhi government is not just a small drama being enacted in Lutyens’ Delhi. It is an ominous sign for Indian democracy and its institutions.
It is also a story of how a sordid pettiness and politics of recrimination can so easily subvert institutions. The Delhi saga is institutionalising a new culture in Indian politics. Some AAP MLAs may have a lot to answer for. But on the surface, the patterns by which the CBI and Delhi Police seem to have been used against them is a reminder that these days you don’t have to declare an emergency. The chief minister is made to eat humble pie through that most controversial of mechanisms: Defamation suits. The institutions of law will follow political diktats.
One could take small comfort from the fact that Delhi’s peculiarities have something to do with the peculiar structure of Delhi. But on the other hand, if even Delhi cannot survive the poison of recrimination, institutional subversion, and sheer monumental pettiness by the highest powers that be, what will?
- AAP vs IAS: It is the Delhi lieutenant governor’s duty and obligation to end the impasse
K Sujhata Rao writes an article for Scroll.in saying that the stand-off between the political executive and the top rungs of the administration in Delhi is disturbing and quite unfortunate. It is unprecedented that a chief secretary was summoned in the dead of night and allegedly assaulted by MLAs of the ruling party in the home and presence of the chief minister.
In India, there are scores of incidents of unwarranted humiliations or insults being hurled by politicians on officers of the Indian Administrative Service but assaulting the head of administration is clearly unheard of and unacceptable. Rightly, therefore, the IAS officers have said enough is enough and are showing their hurt, which has been interpreted as their being “on strike”.
Solving this deadlock is clearly the onerous responsibility of the lieutenant governor, who is a professional civil servant and knows governance. It is his duty and obligation to point out to inexperienced politicians how to govern and conduct themselves. I think that is what veteran bureaucrats like LP Singh or BG Deshmukh would have done. On the other hand, with the growing perception among politicians that winning an election gives them the licence to misbehave with citizens, doctors or officers, there is a need to expose them to the constitutional debates on federalism and the Constitution itself.
- Hurray for self-love: Why us ladies are saying thank you to Swara Bhaskar and Ratna Pathak Shah
Amidst all the political chaos around us today, Radhika Vaz writes a refreshing column for The Times of India stating that in a country that expects its women to be virgins until they marry, she would have thought that masturbation would be encouraged.
Besides, how is a woman to show her husband what makes her happy if she hasn’t explored the terrain herself? Oh – I forgot – women aren’t supposed to enjoy sex. And thanks to the fact that we have been repressed within an inch of our lives we don’t.
Of course, the reason we have to hide all this is that men are afraid that if we do throw off the shawl of shame then perhaps we will discover we don’t need them. And god forbid women figure that out – we may stop having sex with men altogether! And then how are we to have babies, how are we to populate our armies, and how on earth will we have enough conservative jackasses to keep women down?
- Basmati is the pride of our subcontinent
Uma Ahuja, former professor of genetics and plant breeding, in a column for Hindustan Times comments on the response of apex bodies to the GI tagging of basmati, stating that certain states cannot be granted the GI tag owing to “lack of popular perception”.
“Lack of popular perception” cannot serve as a ground for such non-inclusive approach to the GI tagging of Basmati rice. Such a subjective approach has a detrimental effect on the interest of producers and growers in states like MP.
“Basmati” does not per se signify any indication of its geographical origin unlike Darjeeling tea or Kancheepuram silk. It is precisely for this reason that the use of “popular perception” or the lack thereof as a parameter to deny states such as MP and its farmers the GI tag for Basmati is beyond comprehension.