Netaji vs the Queen's English

Mulayam Singh Yadav (Source: PTI)

HUNDREDS are spending sleepless nights in makeshift refugee homes after communal clashes broke out in Muzaffarnagar. 

The usual problems of poverty, electricity and water remain. The government has returned to gunda raj. 

And yet, 'the need of the hour' for Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is to promote Hindi. 

And that too not Hindi in Uttar Pradesh's schools or on television, but the use of a colonial bhasha in Parliament, which according to him is a threat to national integrity. 

These are the same politicians who wouldn't think of putting their children in a Hindimedium school. The same ones whose kids would have a hard time completing two sentences without slipping an angrezi word in. 

And yet, their concern is the use of English in Parliament - that too on the shocking grounds that it will interfere with the country's development. 

Yadav might have a point, although he would be reluctant to admit it this way. His anti-English tirades usually forget to mention the tiny little detail that his son, Uttar Pradesh's chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, got his college degree in Australia - where Hindi-medium universities are a bit hard to find.

But all the 'development' that was supposed to come with Akhilesh's regime has amounted to nothing. 

Maybe that's what triggered Mulayam's move to automatically magnify the importance of the Hindi language through an anti-English law in Parliament? With a population of 1.2 billion, India has over a hundred regional languages. 

Of these, there are 22 officially recognised languages. How are our politicians - who already have enough trouble being understood and getting things done - expected to hear each other out in the name of development if they can't speak a language that is common?

© 2013 Nasreen Ghani

Published in Daily Mail and Mail Today:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2511383/WHIPLASH-Netaji-vs-Queens-English.html

The Indian hypocrisy festival

A girl protesting against the December 16 gang rape in Delhi. 
(Source: Google)

WHEN an article entitled "The Assam Rape Festival" turned up on an American news portal, it sparked outrage among sons of the soil who believed it was a direct assault on Mother India. 

They quickly turned on the author, who had offered up scarce evidence of this 'festival' being a real event, with obviously preposterous claims and a picture of Naga Sadhus at the Kumbh Mela alongside it. 

Turns out, the piece was an attempt at 'satire,' which most missed.

But the article is not the point. What is much more notable is the contrast in the reaction to actual incidents of violence against women, versus the response to a piece written by an anonymous writer attempting to be humourous. 

As soon as the piece got attention in India, the Assam Director General of Police Jayanto Narayan Choudhury had already ordered a probe into the publication and distribution of the article - and they did it suo moto, without anyone complaining.

Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, meanwhile, came out with a statement that the piece was "demonic" and showed disrespect to the "humble and unsuspecting" people of Assam. 

If only the state could react as quickly when women are actually raped maybe India might not have as much of a reputation of being a place where sexual violence is so prevalent.

Most men turn a blind eye when a girl is molested on the street. And if the girl gathers the courage to report the matter to her family or the police, society ends up turning against her - often resorting to the "she asked for it, in those short clothes" explanation. 

I wonder what happens to Mother India's honour when a girl is raped every 20 minutes in the country. A total of 24,206 rape cases were registered in 2011 alone. 

How come it was a satirical article - not this - that registered outrage among the sons of the soil?

© 2013 Nasreen Ghani

Published in Daily Mail and Mail Today:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2501050/WHIPLASH-The-Indian-hypocrisy-festival.html

An electoral race to the bottom

PM Manmohan Singh and Gujarat CM Narendra Modi. ©PTI

AS the political discourse touches a new low in the race for power, the masks have finally come off. 

All the claimants to the 'Dilli ka takht' (throne of India) have been busy selling dreams to the people while sparing no efforts to vilify their opponents. 

Shahzada, Phenku, Vishwasghat, Pappu have been echoing at rallies and on TV screens, and recently even Lord Krishna was labelled a 'caste icon'.

The real issues of jobs, poverty, a border dispute, growth, infrastructure and food have been drowned out by this foolish, meaningless rhetoric. 

What should have been a debate of real issues has been brought down to a personal battle of one-upmanship. 

With ever-rising inflation, the only plan of action the national parties could come up with is to fight it out like 10-year-olds.

One can clearly see how the BJP and Congress are embroiled in a tussle over Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's legacy.

In a country where people die of hunger everyday and a chunk of the children still suffer from malnutrition, our politicians have money to splurge on a statue that would cost more than 2,500 crore. 

When the parties should have actually been opposing this colossal waste of money, the foundation stone of which was laid by Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, they were busy fighting over the past. 

The evergreen mantra of mixing religion and regionalism with politics is being invoked again.

The Ram temple issue has been brought to the fore and, why not, when the voters fall for it every time. 

While there is no dearth of leaders per se, there is clearly no leadership that can pull the country out of this mess of corruption and sluggish growth. 

For the political class, the business of votes will pay dividends when they are in power. But for the rest of us, it seems, there is little hope for meaningful change from this decadent system.

© 2013 Nasreen Ghani

Published in Daily Mail and Mail Today:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2487405/WHIPLASH-An-electoral-race-bottom.html