1. I
wonder if and when our
political elites will begin
practising what they preach .
On April 14 last we
celebrated the 125th birth
anniversary of one of our
finest social reformers and
statesmen B.R. Ambedkar. Top
government functionaries and
leaders from almost all political
parties paid rich tributes to him on
the occasion. Earlier , the
government posthumously
conferred on him India’s highest
civilian award Bharat Ratna. It has
also founded numerous memorials
and statues in his honour . But do
most of our politicians really care
for the ideals of social justice and
democracy he stood for ?
Dr Ambedkar was against
feudalism, caste hierarchy and
untouchability within Hinduism . He
was so opposed to these ills that he
converted to Buddhism in 1956. His
concept of social justice had the
objective of removing inequalities
and affording equal opportunities to
all citizens in social, economic and
political affairs. Most of the
important leaders, including some
of those
who have invoked his philosophy
from time to time and tasted
political power, and their intellectual
accomplices hardly practise the
master’s ideals. They have done
little to dismantle the evil of
casteism across the country. In
their day-to-day life they behave in
a fashion even
some kings and princes might not
have possibly dreamt of in their
times.
Democracy is for the multifaceted
development of all . This remains a
far cry in India. Poverty , illiteracy
and terrorism are still staring in the
face of our Republic . The ordinary
mortal in India-- Mahatma Gandhi’s
last man-- remains where he was –
without any guarantee of food,
water, electricity and even life
security. . The benefit of economic
progress has not reached the
socially and economically
disadvantaged sections of the
society.
According to authentic studies,
even after sixty-six years of
Independence , India ranks 126th in
human development in the world.
The much- talked of growth rate is a
joke for a vast section of our
population. Life is so hard for 95 per
cent of our citizens in the
unorganized sectors. Over 73 per
cent of our people are living on Rs.
20 per day. Women and minorities,
including the conscientious
individuals, in the country are not as
safe as they ought to be in a real
democracy.
The most glaring failures of our
leadership have been in our crucial
sectors of education, health and the
judiciary. Over 40 per cent Indians
are illiterate. Health care is for the
rich. Influential politicians,
bureaucrats and their allies get five-
star treatment even in government
hospitals. The poor, ordinary
patients cannot get even a bed in
most of these hospitals . Over a
million cases are pending in our
various courts.
The supreme reason for this
grim scenario is that our politics
is increasingly being of gamesters
and paratroopers . In the
post- Independence landscape
certain communal , casteist and
regional forces have increasingly
manipulated our system with
their myopic agendas for the
promotion of the short-term
When shall we practise
Ambedkar’s ideals ?
Principal architect of Indian Constitution Dr B R Ambedkar fought feudalism,
caste hierarchy and untouchability within Hinduism. He was for equal
opportunities to all citizens in social, economic and political affairs. But most
of our important leaders hardly practise his ideals, laments Jagdish N Singh
May 2015 Power Politics 31
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Principal architect of India’s
Constitution Dr B.R. Ambedkar
2. Generally , we elect only those who
are essentially feudalistic in their
taste and temperament; look at any
political party and its elected
representatives. Then there are
those who still vote and even
physically fight with one another for
considerations such as caste,
language, region and religion.
Besides , we have those who still
retain the archaic m o n a r c h i c a
l mindset and see only in the b i o l
o g i c a l descendants of certain
leaders in different political parties
the future leadership of the country
.
All this has to change. Needless to
say, sometimes, citizens do vote the
corrupt regimes out of power. This
would not suffice . Politics is not just
about kicking out the rogues. It is
essentially about meaningfully
electing the genuine to high offices.
The citizens have to make our rulers
and political parties behave the way
our Constitution prescribes them to.
They must remain vigilant as
Ambedkar wanted them to be. We
need renaissance . We need to elect
leaders committed to humanity .
interests of specific elements .
More and more of such
undesirable elements today have
grabbed legislative seats . They
alone can afford elections that have
become enormously expensive.
Volumes have been written to show
that those whom we call our
representatives today care a fig for
the masses . They are interested
just in power and for that they use
any means , fair or foul. And once in
power they have just one pursuit-
wealth and comfort for themselves
and their cronies alone.
It is high time the enlightened,
secular masses asserted against
such petty, hypocritical politico-
intellectual elites . They have to get
up and elect a conscientious and
strategically enlightened, India-
focused political command at the
Centre and in the states today. The
spirit of architect of our
Constitution Ambedkar must
prevail over them to accomplish his
mission of justice .
Dr Ambedkar had warned long
time back : "The working of the
Constitution does not depend
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Pope Francis is simple to the
core and calls a spade a spade .
He has now referred to the 20th
century mass killings of
Armenians as the first genocide of
the 20th century. During a mass
in Saint Peter's Basilica to
commemorate the 100th
anniversary of those killings, the
Pope said, "In the past century
our human family has lived
through three massive and
unprecedented tragedies. The
first genocide of the 20th
century', struck your own
Armenian people."
Branding the tragedy as a
“senseless slaughter,” he said, "It
is necessary, and indeed a duty,
to honor their memory, for
whenever memory fades, it
means that evil allows wounds to
fester. Concealing or denying evil
is like allowing a wound to keep
bleeding without bandaging it."
The Pope also recalled other
mass killings of the 20th century,
such as those in Cambodia,
Rwanda, Burundi and Bosnia.
One hopes Turkey will take the
Vatican statement in the right
spirit . Over 1.5 million
Armenians were estimated to
have perished under the Ottoman
Empire during World War I. One
hopes the Erdogan regime in
Ankara will accept this historical
fact and move forward. Ankara
has so far insisted that the event
was not a genocide branding the
deaths of the Christian Armenians
in the previous century merely as
part of the partisan fighting.
wholly upon the nature of the
Constitution. The Constitution can
provide only the organs of state
such as the Legislature, the
Executive and the Judiciary. The
factors on which the working of
those organs of the state depends
are the people and the political
parties they will set up as their
instruments to carry out their
wishes and their politics."
The citizens of India must adhere
to this prescription in practice.
During the proceedings of the
Constituent Assembly, Dr Ambedkar
hoped that public opinion in the
country would ensure purity in
public life. We have failed him so
far. In reality corruption has
flourished in the country. Unlike the
Abdedkar generations in our history
, new ones join politics for wealth .
The Preamble of our Constitution
demands that we perform our
public duties without any prejudices
of caste, creed, religion, region or
language. But we have cared little in
this regard . Most of us have been
passive towards our political
obligations as citizens of India .
Denying evils is crime
Pope Francis : “The Armenian
genocide a senseless slaughter”
3. Will the new Iran-West bonhomie
lead to any dilution in the Khomenis’
36-year dark rights record ? Will it be
good for over 75 million Iranians
tomorrow ? Knowledgeable sources
reply in the negative. They say the
barbaric crimes against women, the
youth, journalists, dancers, musicians,
Christians, Baha’is and others have
continued all these years . The
incarceration of three American
citizens, Pastor Saeed Abedini, Marine
Amir Hekmati and Washington Post
journalist Jason Rezaian is staring us in
our face. In 2013 some analysts
hoped Iran’s current ‘moderate’
President Hassan Rouhani would
bring some positive changes. But his
presidency has seen a dramatic
increase in executions . Over the last
18 months, more than 1,193 have
been killed, as compared to 827 in the
18 months before his term.
The sources say an opportunity for
change in Iran did come in June of
2009. In the aftermath of a contested
presidential election, the Iranian
people tried to tell their story to the
world in the Green Revolution or
Twitter Revolution. But the brutal
governmental crackdowns outpaced
any support.
Today the government pours
millions of dollars into military efforts
in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere.
Those within the regime’s radius have
made fortunes exploiting shortages in
food and pharmaceutical supplies.
But the people of Iran continue to
scramble in a sinking economy.
Islam for equality to women
Who says Islam is for the
oppression of women. Like all other
religions, this too is for the
advancement of the entire humanity.
Surah An- nuur verse 26 reads, ‘good
women are for good men .” This clearly
means men have to be deserving and
good to have good women as their life
partners. This means any denial of
respect to women or maltreatment to
them is purely un-Islamic. Director of
the Bristol-based Arab Women Media
Watch Centre Iqbal Tamimi tells me in
a conversation , “If anyone is curious
about how Islam sees women, he/she
should find out how the Prophet
Mohammad treated his wife.
Khadeejah, the first wife of the
prophet was 15 years older than
himself when she proposed to him.
She came from a noble family and was
divorced and she was his employer as
well. Women and young girls now in
many so called ‘Islamic’ countries are
forced married without their consent
which is against the Islamic faith and
annuls marriage. A widow, a divorced
woman or an older woman is not
treated with the due care and respect
or celebrated like marrying a virgin.
Many men do not like to marry a
woman who is doing better than
themselves when it comes to work or
education. The vast majority do not
want to marry a woman who is
established financially or academically,
let alone working for the wife as an
employee. This tells a great deal about
how Islam has been twisted to suit
men without much care about God’s
advice or his
Prophet’s example
in treating women
as an equal
partner. The
misinterpretations
of Islam by
fundamentalist
Sheiks, most of
whom are not
educated enough
about their own
faith, is all about control and insuring
men’s physical pleasures.”
Tamimi laments, “ In Saudi Arabia,
even if the woman is 70 years old, she
needs a male guardian if she wants to
do anything outside her home.
Imagine an educated widowed doctor
needing the permission of her young
son if she wants to travel abroad for a
medical conference. If a woman needs
medical surgery she has to have her
husband’s consent. All these things
happen because some religious
authorities are against updating
old fatwas that are not suitable for
this time and age. They have closed
the doors for Ijtihad, an element of
huge importance to updating the
knowledge of Islam. Ijtihad is an
Islamic legal term that means
‘independent reasoning’."
Pertinently, Tamimi says that in her
present mission “any articles, reports
or interviews that highlight ethical
media and women's performance in
the journalism sector, or cultural
issues that affect women's
performance in this sector are a
priority.”
Tamimi is thankful to the
English socio-political atmosphere for
what she is being able to do today. She
says, "My current work is an extension
of my efforts that I started while
working in the Middle East where
freedom of expression is still facing
lots of obstacles and women
journalists are not enjoying equal
opportunities as their male colleagues.
Continuing the mission in the United
Kingdom where freedom of
expression is guaranteed makes it
easier to highlight women journalists'
concerns."
Iqbal Tamimi :
Fundamentalist
Sheiks are not
educated
What about rights in Iran ?
Freedom in peril
May 2015 Power Politics 33
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