Bharat Ratna as Modi's Key Election Strategy; Imran Khan Supporters Confound Pakistan's Establishment
Why Dengue should not be taken lightly, London mugging fears surpass Delhi for Indian elite, Govt on YouTube censorship spree, Reflections of an ordinary Indian Muslim on 'neutrality' of institutions
A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by MK Venu, Seema Chishti, Siddharth Varadarajan, Sushant Singh, Sidharth Bhatia, Pratik Kanjilal and Tanweer Alam | Contributing writer: Kalrav Joshi, with additional inputs by Anirudh SK
Snapshot of the day
February 9, 2024
Siddharth Varadarajan
Despite the ‘establishment’ in Pakistan placing seemingly insurmountable obstacles in the way of Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, independents affiliated to the jailed former Prime Minister have emerged as the single largest bloc as votes for the National Assembly are being counted. At the time of going to press, PTI independents had 90 seats, while Nawaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League had 60 and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s Pakistan Peoples Party had 48. If current trends continue, an alliance of sorts between PML and PPP seems likely to head the next government. Meanwhile, the PPP is sweeping the Sindh assembly, PTI’s proxies are taking Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while the PML and Khan’s supporters are neck-and-neck in Punjab.
Three more Bharat Ratnas were announced personally by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today. The ‘proclamation’, firman style by Modi – who does not feel the need to wait for the official announcement – further blurs the distinction between Government and Dear Leader.
The award to Chaudhary Charan Singh, former PM and grandfather of the Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Jayant Chaudhary, signals another ally added to the BJP-led NDA. Chaudhary has owned up to his defection. Another former PM, Narasimha Rao, a favourite because he is not a Nehru-Gandhi, has also been given the Bharat Ratna, as has MS Swaminathan, the late eminent agriculture scientist, whose committee on farmer welfare strikes a chord in farmers even today.
Last month’s honour accorded to Karpoori Thakur seems to have signalled only the beginning of what is proving to be a slew of Ratnas being awarded to all manner of people to make larger symbolic points in the run up to the 2024 election. Never mind that Narasimha Rao was lied to by the BJP government in UP when the mosque was demolished at Ayodhya in 1992 (see Long Cable below) and the Swaminathan Committee’s recommendations on minimum support prices for fam produce have never been fulfilled.
India’s elections are remarkably expensive, with the 2019 general election, which secured a second term for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, witnessing a nearly doubled expenditure compared to the 2014 election. In fact, the actual expenses – declared and undeclared – incurred in the 2019 Indian general election are believed to have surpassed those of the US presidential election in 2016.
To harness the necessary funding, the Modi government introduced a completely opaque instrument of political financing – electoral bonds – in 2017-18. In the latest spirit of transparency in the ‘Mother of Democracy’, we know from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s financial returns that the party has bagged over 46 percent of the electoral bonds issued in the financial year 2022-23. According to the annual contribution report shared with the Election Commission, electoral bonds worth Rs 2,800 crore were sold during the fiscal, and the BJP received Rs 1,294 crore out of this in the form of donation. The Congress, which is the country’s principal Opposition party, received electoral bonds worth Rs 171 crore during the fiscal, which is a meagre 6.11 percent. Around 23 regional parties got Rs 975 crore in FY 2023. The political parties are expected to redeem electoral bonds within a specific time frame, and these bonds stand out for their anonymity as they do not include any donor information.
South Indian chief ministers have been protesting what they say is the discriminatory attitude of the Union government towards their states and the ongoing ‘attack on federalism’. BJP leaders – including the newly inducted Milind Deora – have hit back, though with mixed results. As Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi frequently attacked the Union government for cheating his state of its fair share. As PM, however, he says those criticising his government want India to break up.
The sudden demolition of a madrasa in Haldwani, Uttarakhand and the use of force by the local police led to the eruption of violence on Thursday night which has so far claimed the lives of five people.
The Supreme Court has reserved judgment in a case concerning the introduction of sub-categories within Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes for the purposes of reservation. Sub-categorising SCs and STs will “further the guarantee of social justice and further enable the state to penetrate into the lower segments within the backward classes”, the Union government has argued.
Three days after Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu declared that India had agreed to “withdraw” its military personnel, India, for the first time, has acknowledged that military personnel currently operating aviation platforms in the Maldives will be substituted with “competent Indian technical personnel”, albeit without explicitly using that term. After last week’s meeting of the core group, the Maldivian Foreign Ministry stated that India had agreed to “replace” the military personnel in one of the three aircraft by March 10 and would complete “replacing” the personnel in the other two by May 10.
A senior figure from Myanmar’s Opposition has revealed that India’s major connectivity initiative, aimed at strengthening road and maritime links with Southeast Asia, is ‘almost dead’. According to the source, speaking to The Hindu, the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project (KMTTP) has been severely impacted following the recent capture of the Paletwa township by the rebel Arakan Army (AA) near the Mizoram border in January. The senior Opposition figure has said, “There is no way that any connectivity project can take place in Rakhine State right now as the AA has established control in almost all the major towns and supply routes. As a result, the Kaladan project too has almost died as Paletwa is essential for this project and Paletwa is no longer in control of the military junta”. Furthermore, the senior leader has also stated that AA actually is aiming to capture Taunggup, which is located further down on the Rakhine coast. “The AA is apparently aiming to capture Sittwe and Kyakphyu, both of which have ties to India and China respectively. If AA captures both these areas then AA will be in a position to talk to India and China without going through Naypyidaw”.
After Canada’s public inquiry into foreign interference in elections formally began to examine India’s role, New Delhi rebuffed the allegations and contended that it was Ottawa that interfered in the internal affairs of the South Asian nation. Indian officials have repeatedly pointed to statements made by Prime Minister Trudeau during the farmers protest in India as compelling evidence of Canadian interference. Moreover, India has expressed frustration with Canada’s perceived lack of action in curbing the activities of pro-Khalistani groups within its borders.
In 2023, Asia witnessed a total of 55 internet shutdowns enforced by eight governments, with Iran and India accounting for the majority of these shutdowns, as per an analysis conducted by Surfshark, a virtual private network provider. According to the published report on Thursday, India enforced 11 internet restrictions in 2023, with eight specifically linked to anti-government protests. “This includes the ongoing mobile data service suspension in specific districts of Manipur,” the analysis notes. “Other Asian countries and territories grappling with restricted internet access included Pakistan (four cases)...Yemen (three), Turkey (two) and Iraq (one),” as per Surfshark’s analysis. The report further stated that with India, Iran, Pakistan and Bangladesh holding general elections in 2024, they “are at risk of more restrictions as elections draw near”, given their track record of imposing internet shutdowns in the past.
Meanwhile, as India heads to elections, YouTube is becoming a key battleground, with political parties spending millions on livestreams and ads. Rest of World looks at what’s happening on YouTube beyond influencer collabs and news+disinformation ecosystem.
India and Russia have signed a protocol amending the 2008 intergovernmental agreement. This protocol focuses on enhancing cooperation in constructing additional nuclear reactors at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project site and establishing Russia-designed nuclear power plants at new locations in India.
A massive avalanche struck the Sonamarg area on the Srinagar-Leh Highway on Thursday, PTI reported, citing officials. No loss of life has been reported so far. The avalanche, which was caught on camera, struck around the workshop for Zojila tunnel construction in Sonamarg.
Ranjnikanth as Moideen bhai is described by movie watchers as the backbone of this socially relevant drama directed by his daughter Aishwarya. Rajinikanth's film is “one of the most anticipated films of this year.” Lal Salaam.
Why Dengue should not be taken lightly
A groundbreaking study conducted in India, published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Medicine, challenges conventional wisdom on dengue infections, revealing that primary (first-time) infections can indeed lead to severe disease. Collaborating Indian and US medical researchers analysed data from 619 children with dengue across Bangalore, New Delhi and Vellore, documenting similar rates of severe illness in patients with primary and secondary infections. “Our new results suggest that primary infections can be equally dangerous”, said Guruprasad Medigeshi, a scientist and member of the study team at the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute (THSTI), Faridabad (Haryana) told The Telegraph. This contradicts long-held beliefs, supported by evidence from other regions since the 1960s, suggesting that severe dengue primarily occurs during secondary infections by different dengue strains. These findings shed new light on dengue’s complex nature and underscore the need for continued research and vigilance in combating the disease.
Government ‘indiscriminately abandons’ censorship checks
Raqib Naik, founder of the archival platform Hindutva Watch, says he is not aware of the grounds on which his website and its X (formerly Twitter) account were blocked in India. Legal news site Article 14 speaks to experts on the Modi government’s internet censorship modus operandi, who say that it “indiscriminately abandons” procedural checks and violates its own rules in doing so. Opaque review processes and the onerousness of litigation don’t help either. Meanwhile, another YouTube channel, Media Swaraj, was blocked for awhile before being restored.
London mugging fears surpass Delhi for Indian elite
As negotiators in London and New Delhi continue discussions over a bilateral trade deal, The Financial Times reports that India’s business leaders (and elites) have voiced a contrasting worry: the fear of being mugged in Mayfair. The shadow foreign secretary of the United Kingdom, David Lammy, who is in New Delhi for trade talks, had his ear bent over the risks of Rolex watch thefts in the British capital. London experienced a surge in street crime, particularly in the category of “theft from a person”, which encompasses stealing items such as watches, handbags, and mobile phones. Metropolitan Police data reveals a 27 percent increase in such incidents last year compared to 2022, with 72,756 cases reported in the capital in the year leading up to December 2023, up from 57,468 incidents in the preceding 12 months.
Devin Narang, an entrepreneur and a member of the executive committee of the federation of Indian chambers of commerce and industry, has said that rich Indians considered it safer to walk around New Delhi than London. “Indians do carry expensive things, but the police not responding is a matter of concern,” he said. “London is a walking city. You don’t want to look over your shoulder all the time. You don’t want to go to a city where you’re likely to be mugged in the streets. It doesn’t make you feel comfortable. You can walk anywhere in Delhi and you won’t be mugged”. London may have become relatively unsafe for India’s elites but was Delhi ever safe for a common person?
The Long Cable
Mosque, Temple and the ‘Neutrality’ of Indian Institutions : Reflections of an Ordinary Muslim
Abdullah Nasir
Growing up in a Muslim family in Lucknow, I often heard accounts of the demolition of Babri mosque on December 6, 1992, which Hindutva leaders claimed as the birthplace of Lord Rama. Over the years, they had asserted that the Mughal king, Babar, had built a mosque after destroying a Rama temple. Even as a child, I could sense a deep discomfort and anxiety amongst my Muslim friends and family members on the mosque question. The demolition of the mosque had a profound impact on their social, political and cultural outlook. I inherited that anxiety as I grew up mostly surrounded by my Muslim family. The accounts and narratives of my family members made me feel a range of emotions. I vividly remember asking my father about the December 1992 incident and what he felt when the mob demolished the mosque. My childhood self was petrified and frustrated with the imagination of a group of Hindutva leaders leading a mob in broad daylight to demolishing the disputed structure, signifying a vulgar display of majoritarianism. In hindsight, I would read my question as an enquiry about the failure of the ideals on which this state was built by its makers – democracy, secularism and the rule of law.
My father’s response to my questions was based on developments at the time. He told me that in 1992, the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government had submitted an affidavit to the Supreme Court pledging to safeguard the disputed structure – the Babri mosque. Like many ordinary Indians, he believed that the government would honour its commitment made before the highest court in the country. As a child, my father’s response satisfied my curiosity and generated an impression that a ‘neutral’, ‘impartial’ and ‘apolitical’ judiciary was tricked by a cunning and majoritarian government. Muslims, like my father, had no complaints with the judicial process but with how the promises made before the judiciary were broken by a ‘rogue’ government. If the ‘neutral’ judiciary had its day, it would have checked the Hindutva forces from creating mayhem. I grew up internalising this narrative of the judiciary as a saviour in the face of majoritarianism.
Of late, I have been thinking about the conversations I had with my father back then. I often wonder how I would respond if future generations posed a similar question in relation to the developments of the last few years. I have probably come to the realisation that when the conversation with the past fails to satisfy us, perhaps it’s best for our sanity to have a conversation with the future. That is where the revolutionary potential lies — or at least the hope for it. The developments over the last ten years have reshaped my imagination in the light of the rise of aggressive Hindutva politics during BJP’s rule in India since 2014, especially given the Supreme Court’s judgment in November 2019 granting the land on which Babri mosque stood before December 1992 to the Hindu claimants, and more recently, the construction of a Rama temple on that land and the vulgar display of religious supremacy surrounding the Pran Pratishtha.
In present-day India, as I reflect on my father’s answers, the vision of the judiciary as a ‘saviour’ and a check to majoritarian oppression no longer holds merit. It is evident that the Supreme Court’s unanimous judgment allocating the land to those who had demolished the Babri Mosque ended up legitimising the destruction of the mosque. This judgment has emboldened Hindutva supremacist groups, fostering demands for the conversion of other mosques in India into temples, thereby leading to incidents reminiscent of the Babri demolition. The Babri judgement serves as a microcosm of institutional neglect of Muslims, including by the judiciary which has created the grounds for the continuous reproduction and strengthening of majoritarian politics.
Perhaps, we now will have a different answer to offer to our future generation. This articulation will differ from facile explanations of the current situation which look at the present times as an aberration to the state’s democratic history. Rather, we will perhaps better understand the postcolonial Indian state as a ‘majoritarian’ state. In Minorities and the Making of Postcolonial States in International Law, Mohammad Shahabuddin has argued that the foundation of post-colonial nation states rests on the idea of a uniform national identity that assimilates all ethno-cultural distinctions. Despite the envisioned outcome of assimilation and homogenization eradicating minority issues in the long term, the actual process tends to diminish meaningful ethno-cultural diversity. Instead, it reduces this diversity to a mere token representation, imposing the identity of the majority on the entire nation. In the name of nation-building and homogenization, the culture, belief system and cultural codes of the majority become synonymous with the ‘national’ identity. Contrary to the belief that the minority problem gets resolved in a liberal and developmental state, the postcolonial national state has effectively served as a tool to perpetuate the dominance of the majority group over the minority across political and cultural spheres, leaving the minority vulnerable to the majority’s influence on crucial political, social and economic matters. This phenomenon is not exclusive to India; similar patterns can be observed in other post-colonial states as well.
In India, the deliberations within the Constituent Assembly clearly demonstrate the ‘majoritarian’ nation making at play while addressing the concerns associated with minority communities. Dr. BR Ambedkar, chairperson of the drafting committee of the Constitution, advocated reservations to minorities, specifically in the cabinet in proportion to their population. This proposal was presented by Ambedkar in his memorandum titled ‘States and Minorities’ and submitted it to the Constituent Assembly in 1946. However, the assembly rejected this suggestion in the name of national unity. In post-partition India, the idea of minority representation was considered counterproductive, linked to the division of the country. Despite demands for robust and meaningful safeguards for minorities, nationalist elites rejected them, emphasizing the goal of building ‘One Nation’. Thus, the Advisory Committee abandoned reservations for religious minorities, leaving their protection to the majority’s goodwill.
When Hindu nationalists in the Constituent Assembly sought a constitutional ban on cow slaughter, linking it to Hindu religious sentiments, Muslim members highlighted the inconsistency within the prevailing liberal secular rhetoric in the assembly, which was unwilling to accommodate the concerns of religious minorities. In the end, the assembly included a directive principle prohibiting cow slaughter in the Constitution, blending religious sentiments with cultural and economic considerations.
The prevalence of majoritarian views in the constituent assembly on the issue of minority rights tells us that post-colonial India was ‘conceived’ as a majoritarian state. It should not surprise us that the judiciary too became an arena where these pro-majoritarian values got reinforced. In fact, judicial pronouncements signal an end to political discourse because the judiciary has the ability to speak the final word. By taking matters to the judiciary, we limit the scope and chances of political resolution.
At a time when India is witnessing brute Hindutva majoritarianism, the rhetoric of the ‘neutrality’ of institutions stands exposed. It is for everyone to see how putative ‘democratic’ and ‘neutral’ institutions have given way to power. The fact is that the terms of ‘neutrality’ were fixed at the time of the making of the constitution. In other words, our institutions are ‘neutral’, but what constitutes ‘neutrality’, ‘fairness’ and ‘non-arbitrariness’ was circumscribed by majoritarianism. The present times are no aberration. The exclusion of minorities was well-entrenched in the formation of the state.
The author is Assistant Professor, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow. He thanks Haris Jamil and Priya Anuragini for their comments.
Reportedly
Events in Bombay, first, a BJP MLA shooting a Dalit leader in a police station dead, no less. Then a Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray) group’s former corporator, and 40-year-old son of former MLA Vinod Ghosalkar, Abhishek Ghosalkar being shot dead, and live on facebook has put immense pressure on the Eknath Shinde-Fadnavis government and calls especially for BJP’s Fadnavis’ resignation are growing. The phrase ‘jungle raj’, a pet term deployed to refer to non-upper caste governments with the BJP not in office, like in Bihar, before Nitish defected, is unlikely to be deployed in India’s financial centre as it witnesses shootings, killings - all in the open. Much easier to file FIRs against journalists, like against Nikhil Waghle for speaking up on LK Advani and revealing the “chronology” from his rath yatra in 1990 to the Masjid demolition in 1992 to 2024.
Deep dive
A year and a half ago, Hindus and Muslims clashed in the streets of one of Britain’s most diverse cities, Leicester. Many thought Hindutva politics had finally crossed the borders of South Asia and was at play in the UK now. What lay behind the violence? Little can be said definitely, but The Guardian unveils a map of several factors (and actors) who might be at work. “The notion that the RSS were openly organising in Leicester does seem fanciful. But what is interesting – and has not been widely reported – is that Leicester houses the UK headquarters of a group that is widely understood to be the overseas arm of the RSS, the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS).” Scholars say, “the HSS is organised in the exact same way as the RSS in India,” using the same titles and ranks.
Prime number: More than half a million
More than 5.70 lakh children are malnourished in the state of Gujarat. Out of which nearly 4.38 lakh children are underweight, while 1.31 lakh fell in the ‘severely underweight’ category, as per recent data shared by the government. Meanwhile, the number of malnourished children in 2018 was 1.18, but by 2024, it had increased exponentially in five-fold rise. A lot for development in the model state. Modi hai toh Mumkin hain!
Opeds you don’t want to miss
“While Hindutva is here to stay as a political force, it cannot ignore the politics of social justice”. In this context, how will it fare in Tamil Nadu, where it faces challenges from Dravidian politics? In a solid piece, Karthick Ram Manoharan argues that Dravidian politics offers a bulwark against the exclusionary politics of Hindutva.
“The state claims that we are against it, but the truth is that it is the state that is against us.” In a powerful piece for Al Jazeera, Mahrang Baloch writes about a new movement in Balochistan against enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.
Shashi Tharoor on how the Union government has failed the four constituencies – farmers, women, the poor and especially, the young – it recently claimed to look after.
“The new criminal justice laws mark an important moment in how independent India will function. It may herald a descent towards greater authoritarian tendencies and a nullifying of the judicial role by reducing personal liberty to a plaything”, writes Abhinav Sekhri.
Listen up
Sanjay Ruparelia interviews Olle Tornquist, professor emeritus of political science and development research at the University of Oslo, on the transformations won by social democracy and power of participatory socialism in democratisation. “It's about domesticating a capitalist wolf into a working dog”. Listen here.
Watch out
On Film Companion with Anupama Chopra, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Saif Ali Khan chat about their careers, partnership and a new project that might bring them together again.
Over and out
Brown History has a post on the bitter-sweet aspects of being in exile. While in Beirut, where he went a lot, editing his magazine, ‘Lotus’ which came out of there, Urdu great, Faiz Ahmad Faiz was introduced to Edward Said through their mutual friend, Eqbal Ahmad. They “bonded together over the fact that all three of them were in exile from their homelands.” In one of his essays, here is how Edward Said recounts their time together…
Using dhrupad as his base, Raja Rammohun Roy forged a new musical style that he hoped would be spiritual and inspirational for his followers – Brahmo Sangeet. “How did he stumble on dhrupad? Why did he think it necessary to use it in his movement? These questions intrigued me as a connoisseur of dhrupad,” says scholar and economist Susmita Dasgupta of Raja Rammohan Roy. As she discovered, the answers to the questions lie in the fascinating interlinkages between the political, social and cultural developments of the time, often called the renaissance era in Bengal. Malini Nair writes on how Roy used music in his social movement.
Chess is one of few competitive sports where men and women often compete against each other. But it’s far from an egalitarian utopia. And when Divya Deshmukh, an 18-year-old Indian chess player, started speaking out about the hateful comments she has been facing online or in tournaments since she was 14, it reignited a conversation about gender imbalance in the game. “It makes me sad that people don't pay the same kind of attention to my chess skills”, she told the BBC.
That’s it for today. We’ll be back with you on Monday, on a device near you. If The India Cable was forwarded to you by a friend (perhaps a common friend!) book your own copy by SUBSCRIBING HERE.
It is frivolous to complain that Indians are targeted in the Mayfair area of London. We have friends and family there, and spend at least six months a year in London. Loads of people have their phones and handbags snatched while out walking on the streets. Do yourselves a favour, keep your phone in your bag, do not walk and talk. Be aware. Do not stand in the middle of pavement waffling away, you will likely lose your phone or bag to a man on a fast moving bicycle.
And yes the police do not have time to search for phones, bags etc.