In the era of humiliation why is it important to keep arguing for secularism?

I guess by now many serious secularists are loosing family members, friends, and even acquaintances because of heated debates. Debates which can only consolidate differences without resolutions. I have been warned regularly in a variety of platforms for participating in 'useless' discussions and debates. Warning came in facebook groups, whatsapp groups and in blogs. Moreover, there are well wishers within the family, friends and colleagues who with their serious concerns want people like me to stay away from conversations both online and offline. However, there are reasons for which I refuse to give up and I would urge everyone to do so. DO NOT reduce the size of your communal minded friends from your online of offline lists.

Removing them might give you a moment of peace as you will get more time to do some 'serious' and 'real' work rather than getting involved in the endless successions of arguments and counter arguments. However, there are several reasons for not doing so.

a. Even in a communally inclined thread you need to keep commenting the secularist version of the 'truth' and argument - remember your attempt will lodge a counter to the dominant paradigm and might make some to rethink or at least remember the alternative.

b. since, the word 'secularism' is dead for frustrated Asis Nandy and slogan for saddened Romila Thapar or Rajeev Bhargava, it is your responsibility to uphold the true spirit of secularism through your words and practices.

c. since, 'secularism' is no longer dead or just a slogan, rather it has become a abusive and derogatory term being used against you, you need to stand by the word, create and rejuvenate the sentiment within you and then uphold the spirit in the social media.

d. there are problems of definition of the term secular, accept that, but whether it separates state and religion or it goes for sarba dharma samabhaba approach, remember it is the only refuge from the increasingly polarised and mistrusted society. Secularism is a practice, our action can reinforce that.

e. do not disrespect your communal minded friends, most of them are communal for a reason or for a purpose. Try to identify that and attempt to resolve. Secularists should take up the role of healer and less of an attacker. The world surrounding us is suffering from a deep seated disease.


f. remember, the more you remove people from your friend list the more they are alienated from an exposure to alternatives. You are in a sense suffering from the same alienation. There is no point in creating fighting tribes of seculars and religious or communal and then consolidating your support base to fight with each other.

Finally, when we engage in a debate, there is no point in winning the debate, try to present arguments firmly, because ultimately debates will enhance the knowledge base.


Image courtesy: https://www.socialpost.news/analysis/secularism-the-disappointing-reality-of-india/

Rapes as Instruments - India's chances of survival

Women's bodies happened to be one of the major terrains of conflict for a long time now. Wartime sexual violence on women has been instrumental to install humiliation on enemy, initiate psychological warfare hence women continued to be seen as objects or properties to be massacred. Scholars like Bourke have already stated Rape as a weapon of war. The continuation of the sense of property most prominently described by none other than Gayatri Chakrabarti Spivak (1999) "Group rape perpetrated by the conquerors" is a "metonymic celebration of territorial acquisition." There is no shame is accepting the fact that such associations are widely practiced by people like us in their everyday life. Believe it or not when a movie shows how a sex outside marriage puts an end to a marriage or when you consider sex outside of you committed relationship to be the only measure of being unfaithful  you consider sexual rights as property rights.

Apart from the brutal events recorded in some of major agencies including Amnesty international, the association of rape with a mental transcript of conqueror needs a special attention. This is fairly common in human history. For example the infamous conquer of Maori tribe over Moriori in Chatham island in 1835 have allowed common Maoris to rape, indiscriminately kill and cook and eat the Moriori poeople in accordance with their customs. The association of rape even among the tribes happens to be linked to some sort of acquisition of sexual rights over women as properties that belonged to others.

Needless to mention such incidents can only escalate when the extent of violence and warfare increases. BBC has devoted a full length study in exploring How did rape become a weapon of war?

However, such full-fledged wartime rape and violence has broadly been undermined until 1990s when there were some laws started to appear to prosecute the perpetrators (Haddad, 2010, click here). What happens to the everyday rapes? Especially to those of organised rapes that all of a sudden India is witnessing. Let us introspect another example of the community called Fayu in New Guinea. According to their own account their number reduced from about 2000 to 400 because they have killed each other. If you ask why is that so? The simple reply is because of the lack of political and social mechanisms, which we take for granted. Such mechanisms are needed to achieve peaceful resolution to serious disputes.

Human peaceful co-existence in a context of private property, ownership of means of productions, scarce resource owes a lot to what we call law and order.

Where do we put the India's rape culture and disturbing associations of rapes by self proclaimed godmen like Asaram who is finally convicted, or rapes allegedly inside Temple and in Madrasa in this broad spectrum of violence against women, wartime rape or its everydayness?

First of all India is increasingly showing the tendencies like that of Fayu community. Yes, our constitutional instruments are slowly decaying so does the vibrant public sphere which is now divided into numerous fragments. For example while there is a rape inside a temple in Kathua a significant portion of the public sphere tried to link it with other rape cases committed by others completely undermining the fact that Kathua case was significantly different in terms of organised move in the name of Hindutva to support the perpetrators.

Secondly, an extension to the fragmented publics, there seems to be an initiation of genocide through rape. Yes, ethnic cleansing through rape. Such intentions become apparent when there are people including ministers supporting the protests march demanding a release of the accused.  

With such disturbing events surfacing everyday, we can only hope that Indians are not the Maoris nor are they Fayus yet, otherwise with 6th largest economy, 131st position in Human Development Index, 100th global hunger index and 138th position in Press Freedom Index India doesn't stand a chance to survive as a country where people can live without getting killed and raped.

SEE ALSO: Crimes against children what NCRB says: in this link http://sumanparole.blogspot.in/2018/05/crimes-against-children-in-india.html

Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty (1999). A Critique of Postcolonial Reason: Towards a History of the Vanishing Present. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 300.

Image courtesy: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2739_-_Firenze_-_Baccio_Bandinelli_-_Rilievo_del_monumento_a_Giovanni_delle_Bande_Nere_-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall%27Orto,_27-Oct-2007.jpg#/media/File:2734_-_Firenze_-_Baccio_Bandinelli_-_Rilievo_del_monumento_a_Giovanni_delle_Bande_Nere_-_Foto_Giovanni_Dall%27Orto,_27-Oct-2007.jpg 

Panchayat, Civil Society, and Uncomfortable Questions

Panchayat as of now:

What makes West Bengal's panchayat election 2018 unique? I am sure there will be a long list of issues ranging from prepoll nomination related violence to court intervention. However, violence in Panchayat election is not new in West Bengal (click here for an old post). People here are election enthusiast and Panchayat has increasingly become the most important power center for the mobilisation of power and authority. Moreover, with more fund getting injected Panchayat is definitely the space where one can earn significant amount of  corrupt"cut money". Meanwhile, there is no denying of the fact that Panchayats in West Bengal is doing superbly well in terms of visible development initiatives. Of course, less visible ones like women and child health etc. are ignored despite of the fact that there is a 50% reservation of the women. There are subtle mechanisms of power subversion in an otherwise masculine space of Panchayat that requires comprehensive research work. World Bank seems to be happy with the performance of the Panchayats in West Bengal. There is quite a rise in the MGNREGS implementation in West Bengal (from 34.7 to 46.91 days on average click here).

While West Bengal is gaining momentum in terms of visible development programmes especially the development of infrastructure issues, it is also important to understand that such a good performance is largely based on a well trained human resource coming from DFID sponsored Strengthening Rural Decentralisaiton (SRD) scheme and of late World Bank sponsored Institutional Strengthening of Gram Panchayat (ISGP). Hence, the performance largely is linked to the strong bureaucracy. The elected members are still playing submissive roles and there is hardly any strong and organised vibrant Gram Sabha exists in practice. The space for deliberative democratic practice in Gram Sabha was always sidelined even during the Left period. Hence, Panchayat is increasingly becoming a space for the bureaucratic exercise and if I am not totally wrong will continue embrace this form of development governance.

The reasons for discomfort:

Percentage of uncontested seats in West Bengal since 1978 (source click here)

Before exploring the reasons for the discomfort with the diminishing role of the people's participation in decision making through Panchayat let me show you figure above. It shows the percentage of uncontested seats over the years in Panchayat election in West Bengal. You can see the steep rise. Yes, this year is a record. 

While, it is difficult to conclude that absence of people's active participation is the reason for such absence of democratic functioning, it nevertheless, did play a role. While the Panchayat offices are becoming more bureaucracy dependent, there might be swift delivery of public services, but it will alienate the public sphere that surrounds the institution of local governance. 

Hence, the occupancy of Panchayat happens to the sole motive of the political parties to 'continue or capture' the centre of power. Interestingly, there is a accumulation of power to the office instead of decentering of power through the processes of deliberative democracy and direct democracy. 

The passivity of the civil:

While, at local level there is an increasing absence of vibrant public sphere as a approving/disapproving authority of the Panchayat activities, there is a predictable silence from the crystallized form of public sphere, i.e. the civil society. There is a predictable answer to this silence. While, people's disinterestedness in Panchayat is one reason that might be playing a crucial role in the villages, city based, especially the educated civil society might have failed to comprehend the depth of Panchayat poll violence, as TMC happens to be one of the major role players to combat Hindutva packed BJP forces. 

While civil society is already 'hegemonised' with the dominant narrative of protecting the bigger enemy of Hindutva they sheldom fight it in their everyday practices. Apart from the rhetorical remembrance of Babri Masjid domolition, untill now there was no concrete plan to combat neither Hindutva nor Islamisation. 

One question might keep a thinking soul awaken a) aren't we undermining the dreadful potential of Panchayat violence and lack of democratic functioning because we perceive hindutva to be a bigger enemy? 

Image courtesy: http://www.catchnews.com/politics-news/fresh-dates-for-bengal-panchayat-polls-nomination-window-to-reopen-109008.html

Farmland, shopping mall and a walk: A futuristic romance

There are avenues of escape even in the midst of concrete jungle. Its not that hard to imagine a mesmerised surrounding engulfing you slowly in a place where you tend to sit for a while, for some time, for eternity. Shopping malls are never thought of such a place where you can romanticise your imagination. These are the places where you are supposed to come, buy, consume the space that surrounds you, eat or get dressed and look beautiful. Once you have finished the cycle you can take a selfie.




That has become part of our late capital, postmodern everydayness. Suddenly the world seems to be unbearably hot for Kaleidoscope so as to compel him to do every meeting with friends at one of those spaces. Being in a shopping mall definitely makes you conscious about how you look, how you walk, how you dress, how you eat and how you talk to others. However, there is one that carries the legacy of its past nearby. Yes, City Centre II, of Kolkata happens to stay at a place close to an existing farmland. You can stand on one of those foot bridges that connects two massive constructions to have a glimpse of it.




Kaleidoscope, happens to be one of those consumers who happened to go to the place for quite some time now. His earlier thought was that the farmland will disappear soon to give rise to high rises. He also thought how ugly the place will become if the other side of the major arterial road consists of highrises. Wouldn't it be a jungle of concretes only? Kaleidoscope asked himself several times. However, as he walked towards Chinar Park there is another wonder. Between high rises plazas there stood a small tract of village life near No-Para. A couple of buildings, a bamboo garden and a peaceful graveyard. Kaleidoscope thought again, how long one can hold on against the land grab. Meanwhile, the greenery continued to add hints of past country feeling in the midst of cacophony, highrises, reflecting glasses.




However, even after all these years, they continue to live on. The bamboo garden, the farm land continue to invite Kaleidoscope to an imagined past, perhaps to an imagined future. What would happen if suddenly, City Centre II, nearby Spencers supermarket and the like disappears from there? Ambuja group or the Goenka group would certainly loose nothing. Afterall, they have effectively rented the space to the latecapital consumers at an "affordable" high cost. They wouldn't mind abandoning a pile of concrete structure and glass panels! Would they?


What would have happened next? Trees would definitely outgrow the fashionable gardens, the farmland will continue to be cultivated. Soon, the greenery will show its signs of invasion to the concretes. Kaleidoscope, nevertheless thinks concrete buildings awaits such moments. There seems to be a pause in that eternal lovemaking  -  the pause is anthropocentric - the source of most the pauses in this planet.  

Letting go 19- the river that keeps a part of you

Then there comes a point when life takes its own course to make thing fall apart. So as to make you stay with the river, smell the river and yet fail to talk to her, touch her, hug her to relive. On your way back as the highway runs along your pathway, you feel the rush of love flowing through veins. Like the stream consciousness suddenly makes you overwhelmed with the feeling of falling in love for the first time or the feeling of suddenly loosing the most precious part of your life, the river pulls you... holds you back.

You know for sure that there remains a part of you somewhere with the river, lost in the pair of eyes or the scent of smell or the depth of the riverbed where you could never reach or you could never come back from.

With the setting sun, you give away your part of the self thay you cared for the most - a tribute to your love. The river smiles and whispers 'I will keep that part of the self!'

Let there be sleepy blue nights engulf you.