THE POLITICS OF HOPE: PEOPLE’S RESILIENCE AND RESISTANCE IN CATASTROPHIC TIMES India: People’s Resilience and Resistance

Jayati GHOSH (Jawaharlal Nehru University, India) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vs1IO5_bKSY
Anuradha CHENOY (Jawaharlal Nehru University, India) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u_idNvmwx4 
Palagummi SAINATH (People’s Archive of Rural India, India)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKk1N1NKUqw 

Centre for Cultural Research and Development, Lingnan University, Global University for Sustainability

Decade without Census data: Governing blind in Amrit Kaal  https://www.deccanherald.com/specials/decade-without-census-data-governing-blind-in-amrit-kaal-1226721.html  M G Devasahayam, Jun 11 2023

In the absence of data, the government makes tall claims about its achievements based on the inputs into its programmes, rather than on the basis of outcomes. Those who question it are dubbed ‘anti-nationals’. Now, there’s even the threat of the government setting up its own ‘fact-checking units’ and to punish those publishing ‘fake news’, when the fact of the matter is that the government itself does not have reliable data on any aspect.

A story was reported on June 2 with the headline, ‘Bengal couple accused of being ‘Bangladeshi infiltrators’ freed from Bengaluru jail after 10 months.’

The couple were Palash and Shukla Adhikari, who were accused of being foreigners. They spent an extra month in jail after getting bail because they could not produce local sureties.https://thewire.in/south-asia/akhand-bharat-south-asia-politics 

Another story, somewhat related, was reported the same day with the headline, ‘Political leaders in Nepal object to ‘Akhand Bharat’ mural in new Parliament’. The story explained that ‘Akhand Bharat’ was a concept espoused by Hindutva nationalists envisaging that neighbouring countries like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka would become a part of India. Lumbini – the birthplace of the Buddha – is in Nepal but features on the map in the new parliament.

Both of these are again in a way related to something else.

I am writing a book whose title is The Case for Akhand Bharat, which is an attempt to figure out two things.

First, if Indians, especially Hindus of the Bharatiya Janata Party type, really want to unite South Asia, why are they not trying it except in paintings and murals?

Second, what would it take to actually bring about an ‘Akhand Bharat’?

The answer to the first question is easy. The BJP and Hindus who back it do not want a united South Asia. What they want is an empire with subjects. A party ruling India with no Muslim minister or MP or MLA is not going to be attractive to the woman in Chittagong or enthuse the child in Peshawar. What the BJP wants is land, it does not want the people. Look at Kashmir to understand.

It is a reality that the thinking of the Indian elite, as presented to the world in the new parliament, is juvenile and unreal. But it is also a fact that needs to be acknowledged and engaged with.

‘Akhand Bharat’ will not come about through crayons and murals.

by Aakar Patel

06/06/2023

इंजन की दलाली करने वाला कैसे बना रेल मिनिस्टर। Ashwini Vaishnaw का काला चिट्ठा जान दंग रह जाएंगे आप।
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA7vmMo6ah8

Existential terror https://www.telegraphindia.com/amp/opinion/existential-terror-the-bjps-fear-of-the-agency-of-articulate-women/cid/1942132

A government that has broken every rule in the book to arrest and jail political opponents and civil society activists has morphed into a born-again believer in due process. Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh’s right to the presumption of innocence is the hill it is planning to die on. Why does this monstrously savvy party find itself in this indefensible position?...

Nobody believes a word of the narrative that the BJP is trying to peddle, from the allegation that the protesting women were looking for an easy route into Olympic competition, to the claim that this protest was staged to steal Modi’s thunder as he peacocked his way through the new Parliament building with an honour guard of hairy mendicants in sketchy orange uniforms....

Over the nine years of Modi’s prime ministership, the arms of government have remade themselves to pander to his narcissism. For the home ministry and the Delhi Police, the wrestlers’ march was a form of lèse-majesté that demanded punitive action. The government made the elementary error of not factoring in the footage that its strong-arm tactics would generate. That top-down picture of Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat on their backs, struggling against dozens of uniforms, was very likely the moment the government lost this battle in the public’s mind....The sangh rallied around Singh because in its deepest being, it is a patriarchal, misogynistic organisation hardwired to discipline recalcitrant women. Just as the sangh parivar uses the idea of a ‘love jihad’ to police the partner choices of Hindu women, it used the Delhi Police to teach successful, articulate, disobedient women a lesson: rebellion doesn’t pay; learn to be pliable clients.

History of the Akhand Bharat idea, and in the imagination of the RSS https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-culture/history-of-the-akhand-bharat-idea-and-in-the-imagination-of-the-rss-8643236/  Deeptiman Tiwary , Shyamlal Yadav  June 3, 2023 Asked what he meant by his tweet, Joshi told The Indian Express on Thursday: “The concept of Akhand Bharat comes from ancient Indian culture. The new Parliament building depicts various facets of Indian culture, representing every region and all its facets.”

Tweet by Pralad Joshi  https://twitter.com/JoshiPralhad/status/1662685877209006081

Asked what he meant by his tweet, Joshi told The Indian Express on Thursday: “The concept of Akhand Bharat comes from ancient Indian culture. The new Parliament building depicts various facets of Indian culture, representing every region and all its facets.”

The artwork occupies one of the 16 niches in the Constitutional Foyer of the new Parliament building. Murals in the other niches are dedicated to Indian sages, ancient texts, and the Ramayana; one of them is dedicated to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru.

The official description of the mural says: “Between 265 and 238 BC, Ashoka spread the message of Buddhism and got it inscribed at many places”.

The Sangh Parivar has long imagined an Indian nation that existed from the time of the Ramayana, covering the landmass stretching from today’s Afghanistan to Myanmar and Tibet to Sri Lanka. A map titled “Punyabhoomi Bharat” published by the RSS-run Suruchi Prakashan, labels Afghanistan as “Upganathan”, Kabul as “Kubha Nagar”, Peshawar as “Purushpur”, Multan as “Moolsthan”, Tibet as “Trivishtap,” Sri Lanka as “Singhaldweep”, and Myanmar as “Brahmadesh”.

In 2015, RSS leader Ram Madhav, when asked about a map that showed Pakistan and Bangladesh as part of India, told Al Jazeera: “The RSS still believes that one day these parts, which have for historical reasons separated only 60 years ago, will again, through popular goodwill, come together and Akhand Bharat will be created.”

In Good Faith: Why India’s society and politics need both the strength and gentleness of Hanuman https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/why-india-society-politics-need-strength-gentleness-of-hanuman-8639004/
What a conversation outside a temple reveals about the layered connections between faith, identity and political polarisation

This is not a call to look for some golden truth in the middle of two polar extremes. This notion of a “middle” would mean we are still locked in the one-dimensional trap. Nor does it mean that we ignore the importance of electoral politics — even though elections tend to be a binary contest. The challenge lies in cultivating mental spaces which are somewhat free of preconceptions. Then we may have an opportunity to understand what is driving the need to feel strong and even foster spaces where non-aggressive forms of strength and capability can thrive. Only then can compassion and acceptance of the otherness of “others” become a strength rather than being feared as a weakness.

Like the rest of life, mythic images keep changing and being imbued with different meanings. Thus, a contest over which depiction of Hanuman is more “correct” may become just a distraction. What we need is a reaffirmation of the loving and fraternal aspects of devotion. Meeting that young man at the temple showed me these values may be closer to the surface than seems apparent and finding them depends on the tone in which a conversation is initiated.

Vanishing non-AC coaches | Railways organised loot gets bigger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBMhVmPNIjo May 30, 2023
Railway has been systematically reducing sleeper coaches for some time. Now they have officially announced that except for local slow trains there will be only AC coaches. In a country where the opinion makers and opinion builders demand more super fast trains with more facilities the plight of common man goes un noticed. They refuse to believe that there are millions whose life gets affected by a hike of 10 or 20 rupees for essential services.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/toi-editorials/pumped-down/

P Chidambaram https://twitter.com/PChidambaram_IN/status/1663386078051713024?cxt=HHwWgIDSqea0xJUuAAAA The editorial noted that Petrol prices were deregulated over the UPA and NDA governments between 2010 and 2014. However, the 'decontrol' reform has stopped since September 2014

Crude prices were below USD 60 between 2014 and 2021, peaked when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but has since fallen to USD 75. Yet the Government has not passed on the benefit of lower crude prices to the people consuming petrol and diesel

It is obvious that the government is 'profiteering' through higher taxes and cesses at the cost of the people. One of the reasons why inflation is high is because of artificially-kept high prices of petrol and diesel