Playing politics over riots

Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh (Source: Google)

Our country is not new to communal riots. Whether it is 1947, 1984, 2002 or 2013, the same thing keeps happening. People are tortured, raped, and murdered.

Children are orphaned and rendered homeless. Refugees lose all their belongings and property and have to start from scratch, in terrible conditions.

Humans are supposed to learn from their mistakes, yet the same thing happens over and over again.

And, equally inevitable, are the opportunistic politicians who turn up in the aftermath.

Former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh played the role to perfection on his 58th birthday, lashing out at SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav for his callous decision to party while the victims of the Muzaffarnagar riots were dying in the camps.

Although Singh did not accuse Mulayam of inciting the riots, the implication was obvious.

We don't say it enough, but it is a fact: most riots are incited by party leaders for political gains.

And the ones that turn up later are simply there to earn brownie points, and maybe polarise the survivors to their own benefit.

Muck is thrown around until it has covered everyone, so that you can't distinguish the polariser from the polarisee.

If it was the Britishers who sowed the seeds of communalism in India, it is our politicians who watered them for their personal gain.

In the mad rush to take advantage of the situation, the lives of the ordinary - the ones who are killed, injured, put out on the streets and generally traumatised - are ignored.

And we ordinary Indians seem to fall for it every time.

And remember, this has nothing to do with religion, no matter what those at the forefront might be saying.

What could be better proof of this than the fact that, as a girl who might find herself in the middle of a riot-hit area, I'm liable to be tortured, raped and even murdered without anyone so much as asking me what god I believe in?

© 2014 Nasreen Ghani

Published in Daily Mail and Mail Today:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2549023/WHIPLASH-Playing-politics-riots.html

The right time for Didi drama

Mamata Banerjee (Source: Google)

We have all seen West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee unleash her vicious temper time and again.

But now appears to be the right time for her to lash out over the increasing number of rape cases happening in the state she governs.

She might want to start by putting a ban on kangaroo courts, which appear to have taken upon themselves to authorise every possible incident of rape in West Bengal.

One of them this week 'sanctioned' the gang-rape of an 18-year-old tribal woman after she was found to be in love with a man from another community.

Her family was first asked to pay an amount of Rs 50,000, and when they said they couldn't the village headman asked the men present to "enjoy the woman". Thirteen men took turns to rape her.

This is not the first time it has happened either.

Instead of moving ahead we are moving towards the medieval era. Unfortunately, expecting Mamata to proceed swiftly against the horrendous act and ensure speedy justice is like wishing for rain in a drought-hit terrain.

In a few days, all 13 accused will be out on bail. The girl will be threatened to take her complaint back, the matter will soon die and no one will care.

The story is the same anywhere and everywhere in India, and even having a woman chief minister known to be feisty doesn't change things.

Even death doesn't ensure you justice. The December 16 gang-rape victim died, but her parents are still fighting for the culprits to get punished. The juvenile will be out soon, as he got just three years in a corrective home. He will be free to rape and murder any girl he wishes to.

This is precisely what the court and the law have been unanimously preparing every girl for.

Why do you think people don't want girls to be born anymore?

© 2014 Nasreen Ghani

Published in Daily Mail and Mail Today:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2546397/WHIPLASH-The-right-time-Didi-drama.html

'Taliban' aadmis at large on Delhi's streets

WITH the increasing incidences of crime in the Capital, the only solution which the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) could come up with was turning its members into vigilantes, unleashing them on the streets of Delhi.

In a recent incident, Delhi Law Minister Somnath Bharti, accompanied by television crews and AAP volunteers, landed in Khirki Extension alleging that he received 'information' about a sex-drug cartel running from the area. 

He demanded raids be conducted in the houses and all those involved be arrested immediately. 

When the Delhi Police refused, saying they must adhere to due procedure, the politician had a public spat with the police officer. 

An inquiry was also ordered against alleged police inaction. 

In India, as in any civilised country, there are procedures for raiding houses or arresting people. But with Arvind Kejriwal as the Chief Minister, AAP supporters believe they have the power to barge into people's homes and demand arrest, and violate rights of other people. 

In another incident, AAP supporters stopped a car with African women in the night and accused them of prostitution, and demanded they be arrested. 

It is a rule of law that a woman can't be arrested after sunset without prior approval. My question, therefore, to AAP folks: Is this how you protect women in the city? Maybe AAP members have forgotten that reckless vigilantism is dangerous.

AAP volunteers have been feeling that they are morally superior, and they are adopting a 'my way' policy. And everything they do is 'right' to them. 

The AAP's behaviour reminds one of the Taliban, where the so-called supporters and protectors of the people can accuse anyone according to their will. 

The time may not be far off when AAP activists would want to punish people their way. Kejriwal should remember that with great power comes great responsibility - and if this power is not balanced, it may prove fatal for both the party and the people.

© 2014 Nasreen Ghani

Published in Daily Mail and Mail Today:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2542851/WHIPLASH-Taliban-aadmis-large-Delhis-streets.html

The same old message won't stop smokers

(Source: YouTube)

CIGARETTE smoking is injurious to health and may lead to various life-threatening ailments. But do you know what's actually killing and life-threatening at the moment? The anti-smoking advertisements that the audience is forced to watch every time you turn on the television or step into a movie hall.

Every movie - Hollywood or Bollywood - starts with a short film where a very ill Mukesh, "a chain smoker," is dying of oral cancer while the voice in the background talks of how the deadly, black tar gets accumulated in your lungs which "will make you sick… very sick". 

Every time one looks at one of these ads she feels sick, so sick that someday someone might puke on the person sitting next to her.

The situation is no different at home. Whether it is a serial or a feature film, half of the screen is taken up by anti-smoking warnings. This is even more absurd, especially since each film is also preceded by an anti-smoking message with the same information. 

And if, by chance, you are watching a horror flick, then beware! You never know when the next warning might pop up on the screen and give you a heart attack. 

Somehow, the Information & Broadcasting Ministry and the Health Ministry are under the impression that these messages deter youngsters from smoking. 

The day is not far off when warnings will cover the entire screen whenever there is a love-making scene or one featuring alcohol. 

And what about eating junk food? Using abusive language? Fighting random goons? Wielding weapons? Shouldn't we have warnings for these too?

If warnings had stopped people from smoking, those gory visuals on cigarette packs would have done the job.

Instead, all the government is doing with these disclaimers is encouraging people to pirate movies so they don't have to be lectured at while being entertained.

© 2014 Nasreen Ghani

Published in Daily Mail and Mail Today:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2535464/WHIPLASH-The-old-message-wont-stop-smokers.html