What exactly is Ramzan?

What exactly is Ramzan?

By Jawhar Sircar

(National Herald, 12 June,2018)

We are passing through a traumatic period when the very ‘idea of India’ is being challenged by forces that are ignorant of the contribution of different communities to the architecture of Indian existence. One of the reasons for this crisis could be that we were complacent or had taken for granted that the essential faith in multi-culturalitymust have sunk in after 65 years of existence as an independent nation. We had basically not taken pains to understand each other’s beliefs, religious practices and life-sustaining values — in short, each other’s essentially different ways of thinking. As a result, determined mischief-makers could play upon these ‘differences’ and deliberately spread misunderstanding and poison among the masses. To give an example, let us see how much non-Muslims know about major Islamic observances and festivals — except that secular India gave us ‘holidays’ on these days and those who had friends among them wished them. How many realise why Muslims go through a long month of fasting from before dawn to after sunset. We do appreciate that is really creditable — their energies call this devotion to be an evidence of their fanaticism — but few take the extra effort to learn why they do it. As this month of  Ramzan or Ramadan can fall in almost any season, the period of fast without touching water often becomes rather long. We all know that Muslims end this month of fasting when the first slice of the Eid moon is sighted as our holiday depends on it, but beyond this, most of us know little else about this very major festival of India's largest 'minority'.   

            So, let us try to understand more about this practice of fast that Prophet Muhammad instituted in the ninth month of the lunar calendar: to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to him. The forty days of fasting before Easter that the Christians call the 'Lent' may have inspired it though this mandate is nowhere as obligatory. Some Arabs practiced this mandatory fast even before Islam arrived, like the Mandeans of northern Iraq who were reported by Abu Zanad in the mid eighth century. As is known, Prophet Muhammad often turned around quite a few pre-Islamic festivals of the period of Jahillyah or 'ignorance' into observances that bore the stamp of ethics and new meaning. There is no doubt that the Prophet made it compulsory among Muslims. Jews observe fast on Yom Kippur and other religions like Hinduism also enjoin certain days for religious fasts. Hinduism prescribes a period of restricted diet like Navaratri, but most leave it to the individual to decide. The binding observance on such a large scale as Muslims do all over the world is really beyond comparison.

            The Arabs call it Ramadan which is from their root word for scorching heat or dryness. In other words, it was meant to take physical suffering head on deliberately — in order to strengthen one's resolve and inner conviction. This month most of the world's 160 crore Muslims practice strict Sawm and after a pre-dawn meal called Suhoor and their first prayer Fajr, they do not touch even a drop of water or any food until the sun sets. It is one of the five pillars of Islam and the real test is to keep working through the day at the same pace as the well fed do and not to permit any slow-down despite hours of dehydration. Islam exempts only the sick or those who are really old or travelling, as well as women who are pregnant from this rigorous fasting but it also counsels them to make up for their omission at the first available opportunity. How long is the fast? India like Arab countries could have it for 15 to 16 hours, while in New Zealand it could be for less that 10. But as we go up to Europe or North America, daylight hours extend to 20 hours, while the sun never sets near the North Pole. To obviate extreme rigour, Muslims may simply stick to the sunset hours of Mecca. Several mosques all over the world arrange for the entire Quran to be recited over thirty nights in prayers called Tarawih. What is less known to outsiders is that Muslims are also expected to exercise utmost restraint in every form of behaviour and abstain from sexual relations during their fast. All forms of good conduct are amply rewarded by the Almighty during this holy period and this injunction against aggression or spite is as important as fasting. In this context, it is tragic to see some fanatics waging a relentless and inhumanly destructive war on their co-religionists in the Middle East during this holy month.

Just as Yoga is not just contorting the body, Roza is not only a test of physical endurance: it is meant to infuse moral and religious virtues and bind the community more strongly. Everyone knows that many find the fast too rigorous, but the spirit of the family and community sustains them — even as many look constantly at their watches for the end of the day’s fast. But it gives them strength of will-power and discipline and proudly distinguishes Muslims from others. Among its virtues the most remarkable is that of compulsory charity, Zakaat, which is another pillar of Islam that mandates that the poor must be given a portion of one's earning as Sadaqah. During Ramzan, this is increased as religious merit also becomes more. Despite uncompromising Roza, common Muslims actually celebrate the month and lights and lanterns are strung in mosques and public places, a tradition that was started in Egypt. Indonesians and Malaysians light obor torches and twinkling pelita lamps during this period. In Java, people bathe in hot springs before starting to fast whereas in some parts of Indonesia a dragon-like creature is taken out on parade in honour of the winged steed of the Prophet, called Buraq al Nabi. Giant drums and firecrackers are used to wake up people before the sun appears.

            At the time of sunset, the fast is broken usually with dates and a sweet drink, followed by Maghrib, which is the fourth of the five namaz that pious Muslim observe every day. An essential feature of Islam are meals called Iftar that are taken after the whole day’s fast which is meant to bring the entire community together. It is a different matter altogether that those who did not observe the fast often joined the Muslims in this religious meal and the ritual has developed political overtones. This year Rashtrapati Bhavan has decided not to carry on this custom, which leads to different interpretations. In any case, Iftar has given rise to a whole genre of culinary excellence and food markets that are shut during the day bustle in the evenings with tantalising aromas and abundant choices. Arabs, for instance, move from juices, salads and appetisers to lamb and other spicy meat dishes, along with rice pulaos that they call pilaf. They conclude with a rich dessert of soft sweet aromatic luqaimat dumplings, baklava cakes of nuts and honey and a sweet pastry of noodles and cheese called kunafeh. The orthodox bemoan the fact that whatever health benefits one acquires through the long fasts disappear for those who overeat at Iftar, but humans are made thus. While the rich can afford their chef-styled Iftars and pre-dawn Sehri meals, peasants make do with rice-cakes and other equally simply fare.

               It is needless to say that most Muslims look forward to the end of the month with Eid ul Fitr that is popular as Bayrami in Turkey, Russia and in many European countries. It is also called the Sweet Festival by many and the "smaller" Eid, like the small Sallah of Nigeria, whose aggressive Boko Haram Muslim desperadoes had thundered into world news. The sighting of the thin slice of the new moon is fairly well known to non-Muslims as well, because a public holiday revolves around it. Once the fast ends, it is compulsory for Muslims to congregate in large public spaces, often called Idgahs, for this special community  prayer. It is then time to visit the elders of families and seek their blessings. Children enjoy it more as they receive not only new clothes but cash or gifts as Eidi — much like other innocent children do, during Christmas or Diwali. People move on to meet their relations and friends, but such is the power of the day that they greet and hug even complete strangers. It is custom for richer Muslims in many part of the world to place large quantities of foodstuff at the doorsteps of the needy, while some keep money and delicacies. Sumptuous community meals follow on open rugs and it is time for chocolate, nuts, cookies like Kahkaa, bakery goodies, sweets of every conceivable type. Afghanistan does it with sweet cakes and jalebis, while Indonesians celebrate with a sticky rice preparation cooked in bamboo called Lemang. The lachcha and sweet seyyunia and dozens of delicious condiments made of milk, nuts, dates and vermicelli. One reason for sweets is to restore energy that fasting may have sapped, because at the end of the day, all time-tested festivals have their own critical reasons.

            Eid sermons are an essential element of the entire religious observance and the entire community seeks to congregate in a spirit of fraternity and equality — from which others can learn so much. And, despite provocations, they invariably seek the mercy of the Almighty and pray for peace unto all mankind. It is essential for us to understand that Islam has local and national variations and the India or the sub-continental version of Islam is distinctly different. The extreme position of some ‘orthodox elements’ to ‘purify’ Islam in this sub-continent is not only impractical but also contrary to our way of life — that believes in give and take, accommodation and adjustment. The India we sincerely believe in is one that happily synergies the best that every community professes and offers — with common cultural elements interwoven from all religions — that are ‘Indian’ first and everything after that. It is time we understood each other better, because that is the only remedy against those who constantly attack India’s pluralityand are hell bent ondestroying it — by constantly spreading partial and misleading information. Our need is to save a India, while theirs is to sow hatred among communities — to divide and destroy the India of Ashoka, Akbar and Mahatma Gandhi. 

(Please Click Here to read the article on National Herald's website) 

Are Bengalis Turning Vegetarian?

Are Bengalis Turning Vegetarian?

By Jawhar Sircar

 (The Wire, 9 June,2018 and also in Ananda Bazar Patirka on 3 June 2018) 

A severe existentialist crisis is presently tormenting the fish-loving and (later) meat-gorging Bengalis — and many are seriously looking at the vegetarian option. A tragedy of epic proportions has visited everyone, rich and poor, Hindu or Muslim, just when the Registrar General of Census declared that Bengalis are the most non-vegetarian people in India. In all, 98.55% of them eat meat and fish, while at the other end, only 25% of Rajasthanis touch non-vegetarian food. There are, of course, three other states that are uncomfortably close to Bengal, i.e, Andhra Pradesh Odisha and Kerala, where non-vegetarians account for 97-98% of the population — but as toppers and psephologists say, even half a per cent means a lot.

Two months ago, Bengalis started rushing to the toilets to puke when they heard of a racket of how meat from carcasses of dogs, cats, cows, buffalos and pigs dumped at municipal garbage yards in and around Kolkata was being mixed with fresh meat and sold. No one is coming forth to tell the utterly devastated Bengali with any clarity how long some (God knows who) have been eating this horrid flesh and which are the spots that used this contaminated meat. Since every genuine Bengali is either a poet or a protester, and the gifted ones are both, this “dark night without end” has spawned some of the most crackly wit imaginable. One such rhyme, for instance, warns drivers to be careful because, if perchance, they run over cats or dogs, well, then they would have to eat their flesh. WhatsApp and other social media are now so stuffed with this genre of black humour that they have almost driven out systematic canards villainising minorities or extolling ultra-patriotism that were/are pumped in so professionally in the last few years.

Let us understand why non-vegetarianism is the only religion that matters in Bengal. The terribly intellectual Bengali Brahmans claim that, almost a thousand years ago, the Brahmavaivartya and the Brihad-dharma Puranas made special dispensations for the Bengalis to eat non-veg. It is an open secret that even at the holiest of Hindu pilgrimages in the Himalayas, strictly vegetarian of course, traders make astronomical profits by slyly selling boiled eggs to muffler-covered, monkey-capped Bengali pilgrims or tourists. They must have some tiny non-vegetarian food — every day.

A Mukherjee or Chatterjee or Banerjee (many with dubious ‘energy’) will explain that it is this ‘feesss” (fish) that has made them so sharp and that is why they led the Indian Renaissance. Frankly, the main reason for this obsession with fish is because it was, historically, the main source of protein in Bengal since its moist climate was not suited to growing dal, that supplies protein to most Indians. Besides, fishes were abundant in its numerous rivers, ponds, tanks and lakes. The same logic of availability deciding diet applies equally to Kashmiri Pandits and Saraswat Brahmans. We shall soon see how the obsession with fish was transferred by Bengalis to meat, in recent times, and therein lies the tragedy.

This scandal has hit the sale of meat and devastated lakhs of people whose life depends on this business. Faith in public food has been shattered and only the brave now dare to order chicken rolls at roadside stalls — by forcefully suppressing any vision of cats or dogs that may flash. Tragically, very few can even look at their beloved cooked mutton without sheer horror — for it could very well be of any other long-dead animal, big or small. The prices of fish have naturally risen and so have eggs, and, what is more worrisome is that vegetarianism is finally shattering Bengal’s holy non-vegetarian tradition.

The same Bengali who had frustrated Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s valiant attempts some five hundred years ago to coax him to abjure fish and meat is now being defeated by mere scamsters. But Chaitanya’s Vaishnava movement did bring Bengal closer to the Indian mainstream and also placed dal quite firmly into the Bengali diet as a substitute for fish protein. Even so, Bengalis decided equally stubbornly that they could love both Krishna and fish with equal ardour — the only Vaishnavas to do so. A crestfallen Chaitanya Dev decided to move to Puri for ever. But the present crisis is so serious that even if all the criminals are now caught, many Bengalis may still never be able to touch meat again, at least not outside their own homes.

Fish is, however, different from meat and let us see when exactly did the fish-obsessed Bengali turn to meat, so passionately. To begin with, enterprising Sanskrit pundits and commentators of medieval Bengal like Jimutvahana, Bhabadeb Bhatta and Sarbananda — whose interpretation of the sacred texts are law — prepared the ground. They were flexible enough to accommodate both fish and meat, lest the native stock of Bengal leave the flock. From their books and from other textual records, like the Puranas written in Bengal, as also from the popular medieval folk ballads called the Mangal Kavyas, we get a fair idea of the type of meat that the masses ate. These included ducks, goats (male, female), deer, pigeons, rabbits, turtles, small birds, iguanas and even porcupines. Yuck! Today, even the die-hard meat eater cannot touch the meat of iguanas and porcupines any more. But, this is what the common man could eat — if ever they could afford or even catch them — which was not too common. We are not clear whether all of these birds and animals were eaten by the upper social groups of Hindus as well.

At this point, it is more important to remember that three types of flesh were decisively taboo for the Hindus of Bengal. The cow was obviously the first of them and ‘beef’ became the deepest cultural trench that separated Hindus and Muslims in Bengal, as in the rest of India. Large numbers of indigenous folk who were on the fringes of Sanskritic civilisation, however, continued to eat beef when available, but they did so quietly, without fanfare. Interestingly, Bengali zamindars scored extra brownie points when they sacrificed buffaloes before their goddesses Durga and Kali — as the huge animal could then be left to their musclemen from the marginal castes, to feast on.

The other two banned meats were pork and chicken, as both were from unclean scavengers who ate dirty waste materials in villages. Muslims shared the horror of the pig but they consumed chicken. Here again, marginalised Hindu castes did partake of pork, if they could get it. Chicken was, however, branded as a prohibited ‘Muslim food’ for most Bengali Hindus — till quite recently. We may recall that Turkish Muslims captured the throne of Bengal full two years before they seized Delhi and thus the Bengali Hindus had the longest spell under Islamic rulers. The upper castes took extra precautions not to get “polluted” by the ruling Muslims and so food items like chicken, onions, garlic and some others were categorised as ‘Muslim food’. They were just not touched by caste Hindus — for centuries.

But then, we must also remember that two of out of every three Bengali speakers in the world, which includes those in Bangladesh and Assam, turned to Islam. Scholars like Sanjeet Chowdhury who have studied the subject insist that it is a fallacy so believe that “Muslims ate beef all the time”. Very few Bengalis – Hindus or Muslims–could afford meat and even if they could, it required a lot of people to consume a big lamb and many more if a cow or a buffalo was to be had. Thus, in pre-modern, pre-urban Bengal (and India?), mutton or beef could be consumed rarely, only on really big religious or social events. Besides, there were no refrigerators and individual families could hardly procure or preserve small amounts of meat. Retail sales came in mainly after urbanisation, as Chowdhury has pointed out.

But then, what were the ‘meat-safes’ doing in Bengali homes — that older generations still remember so fondly? These were small almirahs that had wire meshes or nets on all four sides for ventilation, that the middle class picked up from the Portuguese firingis and the Anglo-Indians. The latter may actually have stored cooked meat in them for a day or two, but most Bengali bhadraloks used this naturally air-cooled ‘meat-safes’ to preserve small amounts of cooked food or sweets or dahi, for short periods. These items were safe from rats and insects as their four legs stood in small pots of water. The important point to note is that the economics of meat coupled with the problem of perishability and the later break-up of the joint family, all led invariably to a preference for smaller animals or birds — if at all they could be caught or bought. This reminds one of ducks, as its meat and eggs were really popular in Bengal — before disappearing almost altogether from their home, along with ‘meat safes’, some time in the 1960s and ‘70s.

We are, of course, not discussing the ‘England-returned Bengali sahebs’ who were consuming chicken at least a hundred years before the traditional middle and other classes did. Rabindranath Tagore lampooned this class and its ‘airs’ with an oft-repeated poem, the verses of which run like this.

How long shall ye remain, O India,

Confine thy meal to dal, rice and water?

There’s so little to eat and drink here, so

Let’s enjoy our Whiskey-Soda n Murgi-Mutton,

Begone, you pigtailed priest, go,

Come, o my bearded friend, good Mian.

But why was this poor Mussalman Mian more in demand? The answer will also point out the period when the upper crust of Bengali Hindus broke their age-old taboo against Muslim meat-based dishes and onions, garlic, masala. The Portuguese had introduced chillis and potato in the 16th century while the British brought in tomato, beet, carrots, cauliflower, etc, in the late 18th and 19th centuries. Let us not forget that in the 1820s and 1830s, Derozio had taught his students from orthodox upper caste Hindu gentry in Hindu (later, Presidency) College to consider beef as a symbol of ‘liberation’. Many students from the topmost castes and class followed him and revelled in shattering religious orthodoxy and superstition — to the undisguised horror of the Bhadralok class, especially the Brahmans.

But the real meat revolution took place in Bengal three decades later when the zamindar class and the wealthier trading groups developed a fancy for the banned ‘Muslim foods’. This was sparked by the arrival of the Awadhi brigade that landed in Kolkata in 1858 — as the retinue of Nawab Wajed Ali Shah, the defeated ruler of Lucknow. The latter could hardly afford to retain his army of bawarchis and khansamas who had travelled with him and his courtiers and courtesans had to look elsewhere for selling tastes and pleasure. The rich and bored Bengali aristocracy was soon their main target. This class had prospered by collaborating with the British ever since the Battle of Plassey of 1757. Many more became more wealthy after Cornwallis’ Permanent Settlement of 1793, when these new zamindars ‘bought up’ the authority to collect land rents on behalf of the British. They made huge profits, by hook or by crook, and had money — but nowhere to spend. More relevant is the fact that they were quite tired of their bland ‘Brahmanical food’ that stopped them from tasting the exciting, colourful, aromatic and delicious dishes of the firangis and Mussalmans. After all, the Nawabs of Awadh had perfected the epicurean tastes brought in by the Mughals and this long journey covered so many recipes in its four centuries — from Samarkand, Bukhara, Kabul, Delhi, Agra, Lahore, Faizabad, and finally Lucknow.

How long could the Hindu upper classes remain immune to the heady scented waters, the ghungroos and dances performed under glittering chandeliers and the accompanying music and songs in the highest traditions of Hindustani classical gharanas? The zamindar class soon adopted the fine muslins and chikan dresses; the ittar perfumes, the sweet, scented paan, the jalsas and, of course, pigeon racing and kite flying contests. Bengali women and other traditional classes were uncomfortable with this transformation and took several decades to accept it, in parts. Slowly, however, hot and oily Mughlai flavours started influencing the simple rice and fish diet and the mutton from fat lambs and sheep replaced the insipid meat of small he-goats of Bengal. These dishes came cooked with lots of spices but had to be consumed outside the home. It took quite some time for even the wealthy to set up ‘Mughlai food kitchens’ in their own homes — that were kept at a safe distance from scornful Brahman cooks who despised the bawarchi and khansama.

Finally, in the 20th century, Bengali women took over these kitchens and adopted their own half-way dishes like koshaa mangsho. Within a couple of decades, even simple middle class families started enjoying spicy mutton on Sundays. It may surprise many to learn that in many weddings or feasts, the fare was kept strictly vegetarian till the middle of the 20th century or only fish was served. This is also the time, when English fish fries fought valiant battles with mutton chops and cutlets, and the heady aroma of ‘Mughlai paranthas’ wafted around the cafes and restaurants that had come up everywhere. Of course, all of these new ‘foreign’ dishes emerged with strong Bengali flavours, that, like their accents, could hardly be disguised.

But the prohibited bird was the last to enter the homes of the growing middle class quite recently — finally, in the 1970s-1980s or even later. It started with the fad for the omelette made from chicken eggs, that came with an irresistible aroma. The more traditional eggs of ducks and turtles were also prized, but they lost out eventually. It is not a coincidence that during this period, there was a sudden proliferation of more hygienic poultries in Bengal that ensured that ‘clean’ broiler meat was available at affordable rates. But getting the chicken home was still a problem as centuries of tradition and prejudice needed to be overcome.

It would, indeed, be a worthwhile exercise for social scientists to compile the numerous ingenious excuses that were cooked up by Bengali Hindus during these decades to bring this bird into his kitchen. There are so many stories how doctors prescribed chicken broth or meat for someone in the family for recovering his or her health. Presto! The younger generations refused to let this opportunity go and poultry chicken started ruling the Bengali table. In any case, the food scarcity of the late 1960s had plagued Bengal and had devastated all food traditions. American wheat imported under the ‘PL-480 scheme’ forced protesting Bengalis to reduce the hills of rice they devoured and consume chapatisinstead. Moreover, since Bengal never produced more than a fraction of the mustard it required to sustain its insistence on only mustard oil for cooking, this wall also breached during the years of food scarcity. Groundnut oil flooded the state and all sacred traditions about cereals and cooking mediums crumbled with ration shops determining the diet — for almost every strata. The new Bengali was now compelled to experiment beyond his non-negotiable rice and fish — though the older generations screamed and stubbornly resisted this sacrilege.

Non-traditional foods came in and by the eighties, the earlier-exotic ‘Chinese’ food found its proletarian counterpart through countless roadside ‘chowmein’ shops that gave office goers and students a quick, hot meal at reasonable rates. This is when ‘chilli chicken’ also played a big role in bringing the bird on to the plates of more traditional and poorer folk. Strange: but the earlier traditional snacks just wilted away — as salaries and bonuses went up. In these same decades, middle class homes and kitchens of nuclear families were invaded by pressure cookers, gas ovens and fridges, that came along with mixers-grinders and packets of powdered spices. The whole character of Bengali cooking and eating was changed, much beyond wildest predictions.

Coming straight to our present times, it was thus only a matter of time that chicken and mutton would jostle with fish to satisfy the carnivores of the state. During the 1970s, ‘roll-stands’ came up in large numbers on crowed pavements and at street crossings — because unemployed young men decided to desert the Naxalite revolution and eke a living from food stalls. The hunger for meat escalated as Bengali versions of ‘Mughlai food’ were sold in every nook and corner and people did not have to go all the way to old Muslim localities for these mutton-chicken dishes. No one, especially the passionate revolutionaries, ever bothered about the class of meat they ate, but the vast bulk of Bengali Hindus still view beef with dread or disgust, just as no God-fearing Muslim ever touches pork. Then, in the last 10-12 years, another practice invaded every locality — that of selling hot biriyani straight from handis placed on footpaths, that came with chunks of mutton or chicken.

The relevant point is that this led to an explosion in demand for chicken and mutton, but though people joked occasionally about whether the meat was from a ‘big animal or a small one’, no one imagined even in their widest dreams that dead animals would actually be mixed in. Bengal has become more adventurous with food and lifestyle tastes, especially as it is no more witnessing a battle between ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ — but a no-holds war between the ‘haves’ and ‘must haves’. Values and morals just do not bother this new ‘lumpen bourgeoise’ that has seized power in Bengal — as in much of Bharat. What is worrying people more is why this racket is not being exposed in its full dimensions and the guilty not exposed. A few names have come out but no one knows which shops or hotels accepted this foul meat — so that at least many could breathe a sigh of relief. Obviously, such a racket could never have flourished without the involvement of municipal officials and even elected representatives, in some way. Who are they? One could actually say, a la Arnab (Goswami), Bengal needs to know! Because this is not just a crime — it is a kick at the big bellies of the most carnivorous people of this country — who love eating, arguing and travelling more than anything else, even work. Many are suspecting a deep-rooted conspiracy by the vegetarians — who were always jealous. But surely, Lord Chaitanya must be very, very amused.

(Please Click Here to read the article on The Wire's Website)

(Please Click Here to read the article on ABP's Website)

Yet Another Subversion

Yet Another Subversion

     By Jawhar Sircar

 (Published in Lokmat Times, 31 May,2018)

          What amazes every liberal in India and abroad are Narendra Modi’s unending and brazen attempts to centralise all power and decision making in a federal, democratic setup. To achieve this, he has been systematically weakening or subverting every national institution that has flowered and flourished in Independent India. Their autonomous and professional functioning apparently stand in his path towards an unabashed one-man rule. After destabilising the judiciary and breaking the backbone of the executive, his eyes have now moved to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and his present endeavour is to upset their selection so that, he has the final say —through his chosen smokescreens. Despite the fact that Article 320 of the Constitution empowers only the UPSC to screen and select persons for filling up the posts in different services under the government, Modi has flown a hawk among law-abiding birds. He “suggests” to his own ministries that they consider his proposal to decide on going over the recommendations of  the UPSC by deciding who would go to which service and to which state.

       Let us try to understand how the present system works. For the last 70 years, the UPSC has established a time-tested system to conduct examinations in two stages — Preliminary and Final — to select several lakhs of applicants, by evaluating their capacity to face very tough questions. This is quite different from university examinations where the stress is on acquisition of academic depth. What the UPSC looks for is not skill at memorising text books but in facing pressure and responding to them with coolness. There are other psychological tests as well that are injected into the examination pattern and the interview to which the selected candidates are called , so as to give a fair assessment to the board as to who would be more suited for the rigours that lie ahead. India has a track record of honestly selecting its civil servants, but what happens to them after that is a different matter. It is a fact that many tend to become more bureaucratic than service-oriented and both corruption as well as ineptitude are fairly high. But no has accused the UPSC for wrong selection. It is the system into which these young people are thrown and the manner in which they are brutalised by the political class and their own unscrupulous seniors that is largely responsible.

         The UPSC goes through its rigorous process annually and short-lists a number candidates for all the All India Services and the Central cadres on a strict rank-cum-option basis. There are only 3 All India Services — the IAS, the IPS and the Indian Forest Service. Their officers are recruited centrally through the UPSC and are trained by the Central government which injects an all-Indian ethos. What is more important is that it is the UPSC that recommends to the Central government who is to go for which State — again through a very transparent system of balancing the candidate’s rank and choices. These three All India services are meant to serve both the Central and State governments to which they are allotted — for the rest of their lives. Hence, fairness in selection is a must as, every year, persons from the deep southern states are posted to far north or the northeast and vice versa. This ensures that even if, perchance, a state government becomes very parochial and even desires to secede from India (as has happened on half a dozen occasions already), the All India service officers would still work only for the Union of India. And, in addition to this, the UPSC ensures that the quotas reserved for candidates from the OBC, SC and ST categories are strictly followed in all service appointments.

               Other than these three All India Services, the UPSC’s common civil services examination also recommends candidates for 17 Central Services, like the Indian Foreign Service, the various Accounts Services, the Revenue Service, the Indian Railways and so on. What distinguishes these services is that while the All India service officers would serve both their State-cadres and the Central government, at different phases — subject to selection on merit — the Central Services work only under the Central government. As in the case of the IAS and IPS, the UPSC decides on who will go to which Service on the basis of the ‘options’ given by the candidates, along with their ranking and the vacancies available under the different categories in each Service. This is a very complex process and the UPSC has excelled in it, through trial and error. No one is saying that the system is totally flawless but it is certainly as good as anyone can expect. What matters most is that political jockeying hardly matters, as the UPSC is protected by the Constitution and no angry political boss can bully the Commission or its Members. No one is also saying that those who are selected for the coveted services, the  IAS or the Indian Foreign Service are proven ‘superior’ to others. The UPSC’s ranking only means that these candidates scored better results in the written examinations and in the interview.

            Over the last 70 years, the UPSC system has been accepted as fair and transparent, even if a handful of court cases are filed. Most are dismissed by the courts which have upheld the transparency of the UPSC. Prime Minister Modi’s new proposal is that all decision-making should not be left to the UPSC. He says that who will go to which  Service and to which State in the three All India Services would, in effect, be decided by him. How? His proposal is that, in addition to the rankings in the UPSC, it is the probationer’s performance at the Training Academy in the Foundation Course (F.C.) that would also count in deciding his Service allotment. All services have to attend this 3 month F.C. and this highly subjective system of ‘performance rating’ at the Foundation Course is meant to upset what the UPSC had screened and decided. In effect, the UPSC’s merit list would be torpedoed  by a report decided by PM’s own Department of Personnel & Training — through its own Training Academy. How this 3-month ‘Foundation Course’ can decide who is more fit for serving in Maharashtra or in Mizoram is just not clear. Besides, though it is  a common course for the 3 All India and 17 Central Services, the fact is that the numbers are too large to be trained in one campus as before, namely, the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie. A big section under this so-called common training in Hyderabad and another section does it in Gurgaon. So, how does this disjointed course decide the fate of thousands of trainees for their whole life?The Foundation Course is the only time when officers meet their colleagues form other services or state-cadres and establish life long relationships. This will be destroyed, as many will spend the entire period to ingratiate themselves with the trainers so that they do not lose out and in horse trading in the corridors of power to get the Service or State cadre of their choice.

(Please Click here to read article on Lokmat Time's website)

New dark cloud hangs over India’s babudom

New dark cloud hangs over India’s Babudom

By Jawhar SircarPublished in Deccan Chronicle,26.05.2018

By opting and qualifying for the civil service implies the voluntary acceptance of certain restrictions and a rather harsh discipline — the crux of which is to internalise pain without demur. What is less known is that the job also entails facing the raw heat of democracy’s raging furnace — elected representatives with a pre-set agenda. While appreciating the compulsions of political bosses to override the often-mindless worship of rules by babus, one cannot deny the fact that officials have learnt to live with reprimands, tantrums and worse. But even these did not prepare them for what they have gone through the Narendra Modi years — the last four — where the narrative of terror obliterates whatever good they may have thrown up. Uncertainty is a weapon that the PM revels in — by reshuffling the highest level and “repatriating” (throwing out) officers from the Centre back to the states than ever before in history. His latest torpedo lies in the PMO’s loaded suggestion to all concerned ministries to replace the system of allotting “cadres”, which would undermine the UPSC selections. The existing, time-tested system is that the UPSC goes through its rigorous process annually and shortlists candidates for all the all-India services and the Central services on rank-cum-option basis. There are only three all-India services — the IAS, the IPS and the Indian Forest Service. Their officers are recruited centrally and trained initially by the Central government, which ensures a “common pan-Indian spirit”, but are allocated to earmarked state governments for posting them within that state. Many work only in that state for their entire career, but several others “opt for Central deputation”.

This means that if they are selected on the basis of their performance so far — yes, many are rejected — they can work either in the Central ministries in New Delhi or in Central government offices located in different cities of India. But how are they allotted to the different states? This is a million-dollar question and here again, the system that has worked flawlessly since Independence is that the seniority of ranking in the UPSC examinations counts the most. About half of each state cadre is filled by successful “insiders” from that state, while the other half by “outsiders”, who gave a list of their “preferred states” (other than their “own”) in case they do not qualify on merit for their first choice. As we know, a certain fixed number of slots are reserved candidates from the OBC, SC and ST categories — in all services. Other than these three all-India services, the UPSC’s common examination also recommends who would be allotted to which of the 17 Central services. These include the Indian Foreign Service, the Indian Audit and Accounts Service, the Indian Revenue Service, the Indian Railway Traffic Service and so on. The main difference is that while all-India service officers can work both in their state cadres and at the Centre, the Central services work only under the Central government. Incidentally, candidates give their “options” for specific Central services to which they are recommended by the UPSC on the basis of ranking and the number of seats available — determined under the reservation policy. This means that the no candidate can be sent, against her or his will, to some service that was not among the options.

It is this judicious mix of option and UPSC ranking that has worked quite satisfactorily and the courts have accepted its fairness. This does not mean, of course, that the UPSC is infallible or that those who are chosen for the IAS or the Indian Foreign Service are “superior” in any respect — it only means that they did better in the examinations, which could happen for a whole variety of reasons. But it has generally been accepted as a “fair and transparent system” even though time has proven that many underserving people have come in. The commission cannot predict this as it does not indulge in astrology. Similarly, several highly meritorious students have not been able to “crack the exams”, but that happens everywhere. The short point is that a rather complicated matrix of determinants is tackled by the UPSC through its vast experience of seven decades in matching merit with other factors — with quite transparent procedures. What, then, is Prime Minister Modi upto? His proposal is that this established UPSC-rank based system of deciding who gets into the three all-India services in any of the four categories (General, OBC, SC and ST) and then deciding who goes to which state for life is to be replaced. He proposes that, in addition to the ranking in the UPSC, which is quite objective, will be added the probationer’s performance at the training academy. This would obviously be a subjective system of “performance rating” at the end of the first three months in service and its purpose is to distort the clear rankings in the UPSC merit list.

Where the other category of Central services are concerned, the system proposed by the PM is to decide who will be allotted to which ministry, on the basis of the report sent by the training academy at the end of the same common three-month stint called the “foundation course”. It must be remembered that the training academy is controlled directly by the PM’s own department of personnel and training — which explains his gameplan. It bears the typical Modi trademarks of the highest degree of centralisation of decision-making; the subverting of national institutions (the UPSC, in this case); hanging the Damocles’ sword on everyone’s head and the resultant sadistic glee — with which he carried out his Tughlaqi style of demonetisation. There are other issues at stake. The foundation course is the only time when officers of different services and state cadres meet their other colleagues, with identities clearly established, and lifelong bonds are created. It just cannot be spent in bending backwards to please the bosses to get a better grading or in jockeying for high stakes with the PM’s Office or the ruling party. One man simply cannot be allowed to destroy so many wonderful past traditions or the future of the whole system of governance.

(Please Click Here to read the article on Deccan Chronicle's Website)

Damage of this ‘darkest hour’ could well be irreparable

Damage of this ‘darkest hour’ could well be irreparable

By Jawhar Sircar

(Published in The Indian Express,18^th May,2018)

When a retired DG of Police feels that 49 retired IAS, IPS and Central Service officers have over-reacted to the Kathua rape case — of an innocent Muslim girl of just eight years — clarifications are inescapable. We refer to an Op-ed article in the Indian Express on May 12, 2108: A Case of Selective Outrage. Comparisons of the heinousness of crimes are messy and subjective, but if we look for defining moments in India’s media history in recent memory, one could break down to two, straightaway — Nirbhaya’s rape on December 16, 2012 and Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement.

The rape case is the one we refer to, because where the latter movement is concerned, all that emerged from a million flashbulbs and months of headline-hogging is that its leaders were catapulted to power. One landed into a Chief Minister’s seat and another was rewarded with a Lieutenant Governor’s post. Fine. Nirbhaya, however, remains a metaphor for beastial violence on a hapless woman — sick, in all respects — but the murdered victim was not selected for unimaginable horror because of her religion. We need not labour the other points like the cool, calculated manner in which a minor girl was gang-raped over a long period — and that too, in the hallowed premises of a place of worship. The new dimensions to this pre-planned hate crime have brought shame to India all the world over — even in countries where rapes are not uncommon — and has been showcased among billions of Muslims abroad as how their brethren here are tormented in Hindustan.

The retired DGP appears quite satisfied with the prime minister’s “distress” that was both cryptic by his own loquacious standards and issued mechanically, so dreadfully long after the tragedy. Our colleague must surely be very optimistic in voicing his satisfaction also with the “assurance” given by the PM, but however much he castigates us, we are twice shy. We have been bitten by earlier promises, which are now laughed off as ‘jumla’ by the PM’s able alter ego. Among these are the assurance of bringing black money from abroad — but in reality, the present regime has set an all-time record of letting notorious bank-swindlers escape abroad with impunity. After the horses — like Mehul Choksi — had safely bolted, we were presented with some swash-buckling legislative showpieces. We have also not forgotten the promise to double farmers’ income in five years — though in reality the farm sector is hurtling from crisis to crisis. The numerous jobs that he promised are nowhere in sight while the emperors of jobless economic growth never ever had it so good. Even the International Labour Organisation estimates that over 60 per cent of India’s workers are now very ‘vulnerable’. The promise to act against corruption sounds so hollow when we see the kingpins of the mining mafia of Karnataka standing next to the PM in full public view — even as their humongous scams are constantly vexing the Supreme Court so much.

The article ridicules our letter to the PM and the writer declares that “a few incidents of rapes” surely cannot threaten the country’s existence. His slant becomes visible when he refers to the Babri masjid as “a dilapidated structure” and imputes that we are oblivious to “damages to Hindu temples in J&K”. No, we are not. We are equally concerned at all assaults on the freedom of faith and demand action on proven perpetrators — but not through lynch mobs to whom communal governments appear to be ‘outsourcing justice’. We are certainly not “blind to the atrocities committed by Muslims” — whatever that means after 2014 — but certainly abhor this distasteful “communalising of crime”.

Our former DGP-friend cherrypicks a comment that 49 retired officers had used in the open letter to the Prime Minister — by which we stand firmly. We have described the present crisis as the “darkest hour…. in post-Independent India”. He mistakes our anguish and limits it to just “two incidents of rape” — whereas we are deeply distressed with the impermeable gloom and the wilful destruction of the plural structure guaranteed by our Constitution. He cites other contestants for this ‘darkest hour’ phase, like the Mahatma’s assassination, the 1962 war, the massacre in Nellie in 1983, the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi in 1984 and so on. Only colour measurement spectrometers can decide this, but we have no desire to compare any of these painful examples in terms of their relative ‘darkness’.

Our submission is based on the after-effects of such man-made crisis as the crises referred to did not leave behind, other than rancour and continuing injustice, any cancerous cells within our body polity — which the present dispensation is injecting. The dogs of religious war have now been let loose with the cold-blooded acquiescence of State power — as never before — and minorities are being handed ‘punishments for retrospective crimes’, i.e, for any excesses that some of their co-religionist rulers may (or may not) have committed on Hindus, many, many centuries ago. It is as ludicrous as attacking Kazakhstan today because the ancient Sakas came out of that region to conquer northern India 2,000 years ago and killed many of ‘our forefathers’. Or Odisha attacking Bihar for the massacres at the Battle of Kalinga. Avenging ‘historic wrongs’ is a very dangerous game that Hitler practised and frankly, in the absence of detailed DNA maps and genetic identification, it is impossible to establish who was actually what and when. This business of labelling ‘we’ and ‘they’ surely gets the targeted votes but it spreads poison — based of dangerous oversimplification.

The short point is that our group is gravely worried that the damage this ‘darkest hour’ is causing could well be irreparable and permanent — which no other previous crisis created. It is really doubtful whether any amount of chemotherapy on Indian society in future would ever be able to rid it of the cancerous cells that are deliberately being injected at present, on such a large-scale in such a well planned manner.

(Please Click Here to read the article on The Indian Express Website)

Using Ram and Hanuman, for Violence and Votes

Using Ram and Hanuman, for Violence and Votes

Jawhar Sircar
(1^st April,2018, The Wire)

(Expanded version of Bangla Article Published in Anand Bazar Patrika in March 2012)

In 1947, the two parts of Bengal could avoid the merciless massacres and incredible violence that the two halves of Punjab inflicted on each other not just because Gandhi was the world’s most effective single man peacekeeping force – remember the Noakhali riots of 1946 – but also because the Bengalis are not naturally intolerant or communally-charged all the time. However, when dark forces work overtime to create discord and manufacture riots, bloodshed does happen, even though better sense prevails within a very short time.

Let us recall how both Hindus and Muslims came together in 1905 – to resist Curzon’s ‘partition of Bengal’ and eventually compel imperial Britain to roll back the announcement. But in August 1946, the same province burst into flames because armed hoodlums were imported into Kolkata to wreak havoc, by the Muslim League. It was only through this well-planned bloodshed – that was dealt with by the British police in quite a Machiavellian manner – that the two parts of the otherwise peaceful Bengal could be amputated so that the grand political master-plan of Partition could succeed.

With such a historical precedent, it is interesting to note how gods from ‘the rest of India’ – a typically regional parlance – are being imported and pressed into service in Bengal, to heat up the sweltering month of Chaitra.

The very Bengali Shiva, whose Gajan songs and pantomime have provided so much colour and festivity to Bengal during this month, is now being challenged in his domain, first by Ram and then by Hanuman. Also under threat is the traditional Bengali worship of the benign Basanti Durga and the bountiful local Annapurna and even the powerful folk goddess, Shitala Ma, as their festivals are overshadowed by aggressive gods from the upper reaches of the Ganga.

Lumpen leaders take photographs of swords and guns for newspapers before they proudly distribute these arms to hoodlums who go on motorbikes with saffron flags, to spread terror. The Indian Penal and the Criminal Procedure Code take a break, as musclemen from the ruling party that swears by ‘secularism’ from every rooftop get into competition mode, lest they lose ground – without realising that there is nothing called “just a little” where crimes like rape or communalism are concerned.

Gods in India have considerable flexibility in adjusting to the cultural demands of different regions and this is exemplified in Bengal’s choice of how their Shiva – called Sheeb – must be.

From the 16th to the 18th centuries, Bengal produced a large corpus of ballads in the local language that were called Mangal Kavyas, in which the local Brahminical poets valorised the previously derided ‘low class’ indigenous deities like Manasa, Dhammathakur, Chondi and Shitala. This deification or belated recognition of the gods and goddesses of the subaltern classes was, in reality, the ‘Magna Carta’ or social pact of Bengali Hinduism – that had lost two-thirds of the people to a more egalitarian Islam. What is relevant here is that the mighty Shiva of the Puranas had to suffer humiliating defeats, one after the other, at the hands of the local ‘ugly, one-eyed’ snake goddess, Manasa. Even Brahmin poets had to capitulate and compose these ballads, in order to survive.

These Kavyas entertained (and must have pleased) the masses as they were performed all over the region for several evenings in series – as one of the primary forms of popular entertainment. It was only much later that Shiva regained his popularity in Bengal after he was domiciled as a poor peasant in a flimsy gamchha cloth, with his very-Bengali wife chasing him all around the village with a broom. The point is that the King of Kailash had to be de-classed and plebianised before he hit the box offices, only after which, he was permitted, occasionally, to regain his earlier magnificence.

Let us look at the requirement of domicile once again. It is only in Bengal that Durga has invariably to come with her four children and nowhere else is she greeted with so much delirious joy. It is only in Bengal that the ferocious warrior goddess becomes such a sweet daughter and dutifully visits her parents in Ashwin and the local people revel for ten long days. ‘Navratri’? What’s that? As far as this part of India is concerned, it is time to gorge, not keep fasts, and vegetarianism is looked down upon, with derision. Incidentally, Bengalis do not forget Durga’s life and death struggle against the buffalo demon, as the dutiful daughter drags the bleeding Mahisasura to her mother’s place – as her trademark or special Aadhaar card.

Ram did not even pass through the Bengal region in search of Sita and Hanuman’s name never appears in any visitors’ book in the state. But Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanti have suddenly been turned into good occasions to display spurious Hindu aggression and flare up inter-community passions. Just because a very small section of Muslims come out with their traditional tajias and some of them lash their bodies with whips and swords on Muharram – something they have been doing for nearly 800 years – a section of Hindu fanatics are demanding that they be allowed to come out with arms in processions.

But Muharram’s blood-stained rituals are done by less than 1% of the Muslims and should not be compared with Ram or Hanuman but with pain-inflicting religious rituals like Tai-Pusam of Tamil Nadu or the Charak-Gajan of Bengal. This is when Hindu bhaktas of Shiva (or the local Dhammathakur, whose worship he appropriated in Bengal) hold their gory rites of self-flagellation – that too, in more places than the Muharram ritual sword-play. Bhaktas insert hooks into the backs of willing devotees who are then swung around in circles far above the ground, with ropes tied to tall poles. Many jump from great heights into open blades and swords, while others stick long needles through their cheeks and tongues. They also roll over very thorny brambles and if Muharram is the alibi of Ram-Bhakats, they may like to try some such ritual. Inflicting pain on oneself may actually be more ‘Hindu’ than on others.

They can even take their up-country patrons to get vicarious pleasure from such bloody rites, before instigating others to slash with swords through a totally imported brand of aggression. Four have died in instigated riots on Ram Navami and more would have if the authorities had behaved like they do in some saffron-ruled states. Yet, an irresponsible junior Union minister spreads selective clips of the Asansol-Ranigunj disturbances in Bengal, hoping perhaps to keep communal flames flaring as much as possible.

Let us look closer at Hanuman, the second entrant, as Ram Navami is already over. We thought he was born on Chaitra Purnima but Tamils and Malayalis are confusing us by insisting that he was born in the month of Pous (December-January). Since birth certificates were not compulsory then, such things happen, but no one doubts that Hanuman symbolises strength and energy that he draws from both Pavan and Shiva.

We know that he wields his deadly gada (mace) with ease and that he can handle many other celestial weapons like toys. He is capable of assuming any form at will and can move mountains. He flies through the air very swiftly and actually gave Ram many free flights, even before ‘Pushpak’ was conceived. The beleaguered Indian Science Congress may soon have to scientifically study this. But when did he first appear? The first Indian civilisation in the Indus Valley had no Ram or Hanuman, nor did the Vedas mention them. Some over-enthusiastic scholars have strained to compare Indra’s favourite monkey, the Vriksha Kapi, with Hanuman but cultural DNA tests proved negative.

The kernel of the Ramayana first appeared in the ancient Buddhist Dasaratha Jataka, but it mentioned neither Sita’s abduction nor any Lanka. It exiled Ram, but he went north to the Himalayas. Let us accept the present version of the Ramayana, though there are strong views that Ravana’s Lanka was not today’s Sri Lanka but was somewhere in central India. It has been argued that the Ramayana’s events were later transferred to a more southernly location.

Albrecht Weber, Lassen and other scholars believe that Ram’s ‘long march to Lanka’ is an allegorical narrative of the Aryan penetration into South India and Sinhala country. The clash between the Shaivite Ravan and the Vishnu-worshipping Ram also comes out quite clearly. Pre-Aryan religions or Dravidian traditions neither record nor deify Ram. In fact, during the anti-Brahmin, anti-North agitations in the mid-twentieth century period, Periyar and his Dravidian followers burnt the Ramayana because they felt that Southerners had been treated most unfairly.

Edward Moor’s classic text, The Hindu Pantheon of 1810 says that there was indeed “a popular idea entertained in India that Ceylon (was) peopled by monkeys and demons, (so) the priests and poets who chronicled the exploits may have constructed their epic machinery for the Ramayana in conformity to the public prejudices or tastes”. H.C. Lal is, however, categorical that Vanara refers to the tribe of Oraon or Vraon while others feel it could be any Austric or Negrito tribe. The Aryan-Vanara social engineering and coalition worked very well and the best reward that the Vanara tribes could be given for helping defeat the superior Dravidian power of Lanka was to allocate a cabinet berth in Hinduism to the most loyal and Sanskritised Vanara, Hanuman.

For nearly 400 years, Valmiki and his scholars had to work hard to portray the glory and valour of Brahmanical religion that had suffered heavy losses in the popularity contests of Aryan India, thanks to the new craze for Buddhism and Jainism. The new Hinduism that the Ramayana preached had lesser complications, rituals and mantras and it introduced new stars with very human faces. Ram, incidentally, gave frequent bear-hugs to Hanuman, somewhat like our leader does nowadays, but to foreigners only. This love that Ram bestowed on ‘lowly monkeys’ sent the right signals down to the masses who were tired of Hinduism’s suffocating caste system and had moved towards egalitarian Buddhism. Devotion, sheer devotion to the Master was the latest Hindu reply and Hanuman was its cultic figure.

This upgraded version of Hinduism portrayed Ram not as a hot-headed Arya-putra like Bhim or Duryodhan, but as exceedingly mild and tranquil, for he was modelled on the Buddha. We are sure that this Maryada Purush Ram could never want schoolboys in Bengal to carry swords. Though two major elections are drawing near, political parties have no right to test their strength through Ram and Hanuman and cause so many deaths.

Returning to history, we see that within five-seven hundred years of the Ramayana’s final version, leaders like Sankaracharya ensured that the new Hinduism made people forget Buddhism. During this period, several other non-Aryan deities and even animals and birds were also accommodated. Even the leader of the opposition, the Buddha, found himself on the Dashavatar pedestal, seated quite close to Ram. In the medieval period, regional language Ramayanas and Krishna literature spread the Bhakti cult, with Ram-Bhakt Hanuman and Radha as role models of devotion. Ramananda, Nimbarka, Namdev, Suradas, Tuncatt Eluttacchan, Krittivas and, of course, Tulsidas, led the way with brotherhood and loyalty as their thrusts.

Incidentally, Bengal, Punjab and Kashmir that had little or no place for the Ram-Hanuman duo, actually accounted for the maximum conversions to Islam. But, while Ram could be a pacifist, a belligerent deity was also needed, especially by the chiefs of Rajputana, Vijaynagar or in Maratha county who challenged Muslim rulers, with ‘Har Har Mahadev’ and ‘Jai Bajrang Bali’. Hanuman was again in great demand and akhraas spread all over. We must really thank this god of the wrestlers for encouraging them to get so many rare gold and silver medals for India.

Other ‘genius’ qualities were then discovered in Hanuman: in music, grammar and pancha mukhi virtues. But one of the primary reasons for his success was that he emerged as a 24×7, any-hour distress relief agency. Even coastal fishermen and seagoing sailors invoked his aid to calm his father, Pavan, during tempests and the weak sought his protection in the face of terror, while the ailing prayed to him for succour.

As a hassle-free god, he appeared to be winning a few Muslim admirers as well. K.C. Aryan says that he was called a mo-atbar madadgar (reliable helper) by some Muslim believers. Begum Rabia of Avadh even built a temple in his name at Aliganj in Lucknow in the 19th century.The worship of this simian god of Hindustan has passed through quite a chequered career. Bengal can always welcome more gods who seek ‘domicile’ and more gods result in more public holidays, but this last bastion of secularism also loves peace and plural values. While there is no dearth of musclemen and other desperados in all political parties – nor of arms and bombs – and power is quite a heady drug, elections have to be fought on real issues, not on hollow but mesmerising oratory or through ready-to-use riots.

(Please Click Here to read the article on ‘TheWire’ Website)

(Please Click Here to read Bangla Article Published in Anand Bazar Patrika in March 2012)