Modi Revives Midnight Knock Yet Speaks of 'Samvidhaan Hatya Divas'; Desecrating the Himalayas in the Name of ‘Spiritual Tourism’

Indians being sent to Russia-Ukraine frontline despite Modi's request to Putin for speedy return, Maharashtra bringing new draconian law, Bharuch recruitment video highlights India's jobless crisis

Jul 12, 2024

Snapshot of the day

July 12, 2024

Siddharth Varadarajan

Nazir Ahmad Ronga, ad hoc president of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association, was picked up by police from his home at 1:10 am yesterday, a day after the body notified elections to vacant posts. Ronga’s family says the police took him without a warrant and said he was being locked up under the draconian Public Safety Act. The government arrested the association’s president last month, has barred it from holding elections for vacant posts and badgered it into removing a paragraph from its constitution mentioning the “Kashmir dispute”. The body has scrapped its July 10 notification calling for elections.

Even though this sounds and looks like the kind of midnight knock India saw during Indira Gandhi’s Emergency – and there are many similar examples from Kashmir and the rest of the country which represent gross violations of rights guaranteed by the Constitution – the Narendra Modi government today formally decreed June 25 as ‘Samvidhan Hatya Divas’. This is the day in 1975 when Mrs Gandhi formally imposed her Emergency and “will serve as a reminder of what happens when the Constitution of India was trampled over’, Modi tweeted:

“It is also a day to pay homage to each and every person who suffered due to the excesses of the Emergency, a Congress unleashed dark phase of Indian history.”

No doubt, a future government will have its pick of dates when it seeks to commemorate Modi’s informal emergency. Despite the election verdict, his undeclared slaying of the Constitution is all around us.

Consider this exhibit from today: The Maharashtra government has tabled the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill, 2024, which proposes a jail term even if a person is “not… a member of an unlawful organisation”, but “contributes/ receives/ solicits any contribution or aid” or “harbours” its member, as well as for those who “promote or assist in promoting a meeting” of such groups.

The trigger for this absurd law is apparently the “menace of Naxalism”, which is apparently “increasing in urban areas… through Naxal frontal organisations”. The Bill grants the state the authority to declare an organisation as “unlawful” — a decision which can be reviewed by an advisory board set up by the state government. Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha have already enacted Public Security Acts for the effective prevention of unlawful activities.

The Brihanmumbai Union of Journalists cautions that the scope of “unlawful” activity under the Bill is vague, making it susceptible to misuse and therefore a threat to free speech. “Arguably, the provisions could be invoked against journalists reporting on natural disasters, a health epidemic or even the collapse of a bridge,” they say. The opposition has termed it a “draconian” measure. “This is nothing but to muzzle protests… The government wanted to present and pass this Bill today itself. We opposed it and requested the Speaker not to push it through. We will oppose the Bill vehemently,” said former Chief Minister and Congress MLA Prithviraj Chavan.

Here’s another exhibit: "The more we hear you, the more we are convinced that it is political vendetta, let me be very honest. That is why we are inclined to protect the freedom of speech and expression," the Supreme Court said today in response to a plea from Solicitor General Tushar Mehta arguing in favour of banning a news channel in Karnataka. The channel wanted to broadcast some allegations regarding the Prajwal Revanna sex scandal, reports PTI.

"The idea was to completely blank out [its] voice, this court is duty-bound to allow [the channel]. This is sheer political vendetta and nothing else. Therefore this court will be failing in its duty if we do not protect [the channel]."

Incidentally, undeclared emergencies come in all shapes and forms. In Uttarakhand, the government mandates all adult men and women who wish to live together to first register with the authorities. And now, it is proposing that that if the individuals in a live-in relationship are between the ages of 18 and 21 then their parents should also be informed.

[Fun fact: The Hindi words ‘Samvidhan Hatya Divas’ are used even in the English version of the official gazette notification. Ab aap samachar mein Hindi suniye (‘here’s Hindi in the news’) people used to joke in the face of All India Radio’s Sanskritification excesses in the 1950s. Now, after this and the new criminal laws, it is ab aap qanoon mein Hindi seekhiye — learn Hindi in law.]

Speaking of commemorative days, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha has reminded Modi of his broken promises and says it will celebrate August 9 – Quit India Day – as ‘Corporates Quit India Day’.

The Modi-Putin hug continues to generate ripple effects. Reporters were told by the Ministry of External Affairs that the Russian President had agreed to Modi’s request that Indian workers in harm’s way on the Ukraine-Russian battlefield will be sent home quickly. But today comes the news that one of those duped Indians, Gagandeep Singh, has just been told the Russian army is shipping him off to the frontline. Kamaldeep Singh Brar reports for the Indian Express:

Gagandeep Singh said his commander denied getting any orders from the government for their release. “After PM Modi went back, now the whole unit is going to the frontline, and I have also been told to join the unit. I request the Indian government to talk to Russia and arrange our visit back to India,” he said from a camp where he is recovering from a knee injury.

Earlier this week, the India Cable reported on how the US summoned the Indian charge d’affaires to complain about the Modi visit and had also remonstrated with the Indian foreign secretary. Today, The Hindu says the Indian side is trying to downplay the significance of those demarches, quoting MEA officials as saying that Indian diplomats are in “constant touch with the State Department and the White House”. “While the US-India relationship is deeper than it’s ever been, it is not yet deep enough if we take it for granted”, says US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti. “No war is distant anymore, and we must not just stand for peace. We must take concrete actions to make sure those who don’t play by peaceful rules that their war machines cannot continue unabated. That’s something the US needs to know and that India needs to know together”.

Meanwhile, PTI tells us US Vice President Kamala Harris spoke to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. What about and why we don’t know. Neither Harris’s office nor Gandhi’s office were quoted and it may well be that PTI was sold a pup. And in Vienna, Modi began his address to Austria’s Indian community by saying this was his first visit to “Australia”. The crowd, otherwise fiercely supportive of Modi, was forced to shout, ‘Austria’, ‘Austria’.

Despite the Supreme Court granting interim bail to Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for the second time in money laundering charges supposedly linked to the now-scrapped excise policy filed against him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader will not be released from custody. This is because he was also separately arrested by the national agency Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the Prevention of Corruption Act in connection with the same excise policy case. The CBI stepped in on June 25 when the government realised the Supreme Court was likely to give Kejriwal bail soon. Has no one heard of double jeopardy?

During the bail hearing in the ED case, the Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta referred Kejriwal’s petition questioning his arrest by the ED to a larger bench regarding certain questions of law relating to the need and necessity of arrest and said that Kejriwal deserved interim bail. The bail order observed that the right to life and liberty is sacrosanct and Kejriwal has “suffered incarceration for 90 days”. While noting that a need for interrogation cannot be the sole ground for arrest under Section 19 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Justice Khanna said the larger Bench ought to examine and lay down specific parameters for arrest under the PMLA. The court, in this regard, noted that arrest, currently under the PMLA, was initiated on the “subjective opinion” of the investigating officer unlike the grant of statutory bail under Section 45 of the Act which involved discretion of a court of law.

The bench asked the Delhi CM to take a call on whether he should now step down from office in light of the allegations arraigned against him, as the court cannot direct an elected leader to step down from the office of a “functional” and underscored that Kejriwal occupies an office of influence as well as constitutional importance.

The Supreme Court has condemned the practice of higher courts casually staying bail orders granted by trial courts, particularly when the accused is neither a terrorist nor considered a threat to society. “What is this happening? A person is granted bail, you (Enforcement Directorate) approached the high court and merely on your asking, the order granting bail remains stayed for one year. This is shocking,” observed a bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and AG Masih. The apex court said that such stays should not be granted merely at the behest of investigating agencies, especially when detailed reasons for granting bail have been provided by the trial courts. “How can a bail be stayed as a matter of course? Just on the asking of the agency? This is about liberty after all... Where is the question of staying a bail order unless the accused is a terrorist or is a threat to society?” the bench asked ED’s counsel. When the latter said his agency had no control over the High Court, the bench responded: “We are not blaming just you [Enforcement Directorate]. We are blaming us also…This is shocking…Unless he is a terrorist, where is the reason to stay [his bail]?”

Meanwhile, India’s crackdown on Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licences is having a real, tangible impact on people on the ground who have very limited options in the absence of services that NGOs provide. Kunal Purohit finds that job losses, financial distress, school dropouts and crucial amenities like hospitals are shutting down because of the Modi government’s witch-hunt against NGOs.

Protesting what it says is high-handed behaviour by judges, the Allahabad High Court Bar Association has gone on strike. Its president Anil Tiwary tells Omar Rashid that judges ought to “realise they are humans and public servants”, accusing them of suffering from “bhagwan syndrome” and using threatening or demeaning language toward advocates. It also passed a resolution yesterday that lawyers must refrain from referring to judges as ‘milord’ or ‘your lordship’.

India has the highest suicide rate in the world, with 12.4 suicides per 100,000 people, according to recent national data. This alarming statistic underscores a growing mental health crisis in the country, exacerbated by various socio-economic factors. The report highlights significant regional variations and identifies vulnerable groups, including farmers, students, and daily wage earners, who are disproportionately affected. Adding to the achievements under the leadership of Vishwaguru.

Speaking of which, hours after videos of a chaotic recruitment drive went viral showing a stampede-like situation in Gujarat, Bharuch, the BJP-led government said that the incident didn’t indicate that it was related “to increase in the condition of employment as the recruitment was for experienced candidates.” The video shows how candidates had to wait in queues while holding files in hand and trying to climb flights of stairs to reach the venue.

Spare yourself from cringe videos over the weekend, as the Ambani wedding drama inches closer to its final stage. Instead, read this extraordinary piece from journalist and author Azad Essa looking back at the “dizzying Ambani-Israel tech-military-agriculture ecosystem where Reliance has helped India-Israel foment closer ties”, with Reliance paying handsome dividends.

India abstains on UNGA resolution against Russian offensive in Ukraine

India has abstained on a resolution approved by the United Nation General Assembly, which called for Russia to “urgently withdraw its military and other unauthorised personnel from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and immediately return the plant to the full control of the sovereign and competent authorities of Ukraine”. The resolution, introduced by Ukraine, was approved by 99 votes in favour with 60 abstentions and nine votes against the resolution, including Russia and North Korea. India’s abstention is consistent with its voting history on all resolutions on Ukraine at the UN. It has refrained from publicly condemning Russia’s invasion, but has generally called for cessation of hostilities and a diplomatic solution to the Ukraine war.

Don’t delay J&K elections, warns Kashmir parties

Fearing that the BJP-led Union government may delay the scheduled Assembly election in Jammu & Kashmir due to an uptick in militancy, J&K National Conference (JKNC) vice-president Omar Abdullah and J&K Peoples Conference (JKPC) president Sajad Lone underlined the urgency to hold the much-awaited election in the Union Territory (UT). “If you have to bow down in front of these powers, who are attacking you, then don’t do the election. If you have to prove the supremacy of militancy in comparison to the supremacy of your Army and police, then don’t do the election,” said Abdullah, who attended special prayers at the graveyard of his grandmother Akbar Jehan on her death anniversary.

Gujarat using – but not sharing – satellite imagery to reject forest rights claims of villagers

Forest rights claims made by villagers in northern Gujarat are being rejected on the grounds that their possession of land could not be verified via satellite imagery. This imagery is being generated by the GEER Foundation, an autonomous body of the state’s forest department, even though the law does not need its verdict to adjudicate claims. A district-level official denied that GEER’s findings were the sole basis for the rejections, but an RTI response indicates otherwise. GEER has also been criticised for not sharing with claimants the satellite imagery it is using to reject their claims. Read Sukriti Vats’s report for more, including on gaps in the accuracy of satellite and GPS technology in verifying these claims, and on locals’ allegations that forest officials have harassed them.

The Long Cable

Chardhaam to Char-Daam: Desecrating the Himalayas in the Name of ‘Spiritual Tourism’

Priyadarshini Patel

There is a dust storm in blistering heat, vehicles jam the road while a queue of rafts jam the Ganga. Her crowded banks are a cheap version of Mumbai's Chowpatty. Plastic litter is everywhere, as are malodourous garbage dumps. Then there is prostitution and Ankita rape horrors, boards boasting of the highest bungee jump, and hordes of raucous tourists with beer cans and selfies. There are parking lots cum alcohol centres blaring DJ music in the revered ‘Muni ki reti’; and not far are deluxe spas, luxury hotels, and International ashrams with asana practitioners. This sweltering dust-bowl is none other than yoga city Rishikesh, and this is what ‘spiritual’ tourism looks like.

The chardhaam yatra was once a pilgrimage; then it was ‘spiritual’ tourism; now it is simply a stampede. This May a staggering 1.4 million tourists visited in the first twenty days. The Uttarakhand government has capped the tourists per day at 18,000 in Kedarnath, Gangotri – 11,000, Badrinath – 20,000 and Yamunotri – 9000, increased by approximately fifty percent compared to 2022. This means that the actual darshan for every individual is no more than five seconds before being shoved off by a policeman. And to facilitate the frenzy, the deities will now work overtime. Their afternoon eating and resting periods have been slashed; online pujas continue through the night, and at the crack of dawn begins a new day of relentless darshan. This irreverence is a mirror reflecting the depths to which our spirituality has plummeted. Are our deities living images or stone? Do the praan pratishtha mantras invoke the divine presence into them or not? Are laser shows on Kedarnath temple wall devotion? We were certainly lectured to that effect during the elaborate installation of Ram Lalla in Ayodhya. And the chardhaam deities are ancient. While this frenzy of tourism goes on there is an entire section of the lower class, the villager, the authentic devotee, barricaded in an open field, begging to be let through, and denied because he does not live in a world of computer access and is ignorant of online registration. Nor is there a walking path for those who yet believe that a pilgrimage is to be made on foot, because the Chardhaam Pariyojana (CDP) sacrificed it for a wider road to facilitate speeding vehicles.

Amidst the unprecedented heat, the landslides, the forest fires, the water crisis, and the onslaught of tourist related construction in the Himalaya, especially in the prohibited floodplain zone, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is still pushing for a wider 12m width road. What makes it entirely incomprehensible is that this width is specifically required for 10,000 passenger car units (PCUs) per day, whereas the government has been compelled to cap tourist inflow to well below this due to the choking of these narrow valleys. Even if one takes the conservative average of five people in one vehicle, and ignores buses, the vehicles are well below 5000 PCUs per day. Even with these limits once again there are long traffic jams 30 kms below Kedarnath, starting from Gaurikund and extending up to 10 kms, in the same stretch where lives were lost in the 2013 floods. This is because the terrain and limited carrying capacity that these close-ended valleys impose are being outrageously flouted. Extensive slope failures and landslides were triggered in building this unnecessarily wide road. Recently, an additional 1400 crore of taxpayer’s money has been sanctioned to the CDP for management of destabilised slopes. Experts monitoring the Silkyara tunnel that trapped 40 labourers alive admit that the 12m width of the tunnel was a major factor. We are funding our own destruction. And it is a vicious cycle.

‘Spiritual’ tourism is a dangerous oxymoron. ‘Spiritual’ tourists dump an estimated 10,000 kilograms of garbage every day in each of the dhaams; ‘spiritual’ tourists defecate along the road and the Ganga banks; ‘spiritual’ tourists throw whisky bottles and styrofoam plates out of moving cars; and they also deem it their right to blare loud music and undress for selfies with the mountains and shrines as backdrop. And it is ‘spiritual’ tourists who blare pressure horns and race, raising a whirlwind of dust, amidst the pine, the silver oak and the stunned animals of the mountains. What is spiritual in this desecration and selling out of the Himalaya?

The approach was different before five trillion dollars blinded the eye. Mountain villagers never walked with shoes on the bugyals, or raised their voice while in those abodes of the gods. People were hesitant to stop overnight in the dhaams as one would defecate and pollute those sacred spots. Even bright apparel was considered disrespectful. And Rishikesh itself was once a haven of peace for wandering monks like Swami Vivekananda who delighted in the transparent waters of the Ganga where fish ate from one’s hands, and elephants came to drink.

And since this fiasco is being perpetrated as sanatan dharma, let us clarify. Sanatan dharma looks at a thing and thinks “How can I raise this?” Modern man in ‘New India’ looks at something and thinks, “How can I consume this?” Modern India is willing to tunnel the immortal Ganga, turn a chardhaam into a chaar daam, and make the Himalayas bite the dust. We are trading an eternal wisdom until all we know is the price of a thing, and nothing of its value.

Priyadarshini Patel is head member of Ganga Ahvaan, a citizen forum working towards the conservation of the Ganga and the Himalayas.

Reportedly

The government is planning an overhaul of more than 200 state-run companies to make them more profitable, Nikunj Ohri and Manoj Kumar of Reuters are told by two government sources. This will include monetising their assets, including underutilised land, and reinvesting the money into the firms; setting five-year performance targets instead of short-term ones; and introducing succession planning into majority-owned companies. The plans mark a shift from the government’s privatisation policy, which some say will be harder for its minority avatar to fulfil, and may be announced in the budget.

Deep dive

With a focus on the Hindu American Foundation’s Title VI litigation against a 2021 UPenn-sponsored conference titled ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva’ – whose organisers and participants received threats from far-right Hindu nationalists – this article by Dheepa Sundaram addresses how the “increasing litigiousness of [the] US Hindu right, particularly with respect to educational spaces, has resulted in a significant threat to academic freedom and open inquiry and discussion of matters related to Hindutva and Hinduism”.

Prime number: 5,600,000

The National Green Tribunal has taken suo motu cognisance of the disappearance of around 5.6 million large farmland trees from the country, as per a study published in May. The green court says the report indicates violations of the 1986 Environment Protection Act and the 1980 Forest Conservation Act. It will hear the case next on July 31.

Opeds you don’t want to miss

There are quite a few similarities between what godmen and fascists do stay popular – Anand Teltumbde presents ten such parallels in this piece, which also raises important points about the nexus between politicians and babas as well as on the Hathras crowd crush.
Remember that politically contrived ‘research paper’ from the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council in the midst of the Lok Sabha election that helped Narendra Modi raise a false alarm about Hindus becoming a minority in India? Srinivas Goli and Shubhra Kriti have a detailed study on fertility in India, concluding that “the differences … between communities in India are no longer a matter of concern. All socio-religious groups show a significant decline in the average number of children per woman, and fertility levels are converging. No community can be said to show substantial population growth.”
Bharat Bhushan writes about why doubts persist about whether assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held this year
In a time of religious polarisation, writes Zakia Soman, the latest Supreme Court verdict on alimony for Muslim women is a step forward.
Ishita Mishra writes of her experience reporting on the crowd crush – of the tragedy she witnessed, of expectations that journalists must remain stoic, and of rays of hope that turn up even in such despairing situations.
Read an excerpt from Suchitra Vijayan and Francesca Recchia’s ‘How Long Can the Moon Be Caged?: Voices of Indian Political Prisoners’ on how Indian jail authorities prevent political prisoners from communicating with their loved ones.
The Indian economy may appear to be cruising along the growth highway at a reasonable speed but Rathin Roy says it is time to look under the hood. If the government were to do so, it would find declining private consumption expenditure, a falling share of wages in national income, stark regional disparities and unemployment. Unless these are addressed, India is “on the commonplace road to prosperity failure”.

Listen up

Economists Arun Kumar and Pinaki Chakraborty speak to Prashanth Perumal on political influence in central aid to states, the finance commission’s role in determining aid, the relationship between this aid and states’ economic performance, and whether GST has affected competition between states for central funds.

Watch out

On The Wire Wrap with Sravasti Dasgupta, watch Siddharth Varadarajan on how the wheels of India’s event/photo op leadership are coming off and to Sushant Singh on the dangers of mismanaging Manipur, Kashmir and Ladakh.

Over and out

“We eat grasshoppers, we eat frogs, we eat snails and I want to show the world that.” In India’s northeast, mukbang—a viral Korean binge eating trend—has become a way to push back against racist culinary stereotypes. Tara Agarwala on how YouTubers in India’s northeast are challenging stereotypes by binge-eating on camera.

“Only a few filmmakers have recorded the Ambedkarite movement. Apart from biopics about Babasaheb, there are documentaries such as Stalin K’s India Untouched (2007) and Anand Patwardhan’s Jai Bhim Comrade (2011). But these films were made only recently. The credit for documenting the movement goes to French filmmaker Arnaud Mandagarn. In 1985, Mandagarn made Untouchable, possibly the first documentary on Ambedkar and Dalit issues.” Somnath Waghmare on French documentary filmmaker, Arnaud Mandagarn, who made a film on Dalit Movement in the 1980s way before the Indian filmmakers recorded the Dalit Movement.

Indian singer and actor Diljit Singh is now making waves in the United States. The acclaimed musician is packing arenas across the country and recently made a standout appearance on The Tonight Show. Sucharita Tyagi helps connect dots.

For decades, Palestinians have endured the harsh realities of violent occupation and systemic oppression. The Indian freedom movement aligned itself with the Palestinian struggle for a homeland, viewing it as a parallel fight against colonialism. This solidarity was powerfully articulated by leaders like Gandhi and Nehru. When the United Nations held the vote to establish Israel, India stood among the 13 nations that opposed the decision, while 33 voted in favour. Yet today, India has emerged as Israel’s largest and most dependable arms purchaser. What catalysed this profound shift? Nidhi Singh Rathore delves into the historical relationship between India and Palestine, elucidating how it has eroded under the Modi government.

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.

The India Cable