Partnership of Trump and Modi

Radhakanta Barik

Partnership of Trump and Modi proved a disastrous for global peace. Trump killed the General of Iran and Modi as junior partner gave wishes on New Year’s Day to all neighboring leaders except Pakistan. This is highly indicative as he is not willing to reduce tension with Pakistan. He keeps the Pakistan-bogie ready for timely use. As India through its non-alignment policy has showed the world standing for peace and prosperity. India’s position in international community was in a high up because India is a party to many international agreements on Human Rights. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) is an international human rights non-governmental organization comprised of 184 organizations from 112 countries, active in defending and promoting respect for civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights contained in the Universal Declaration of Human  Rights. Today Indian government is violating these rights of Indian citizens in the name of religion caste or ethnicity blatantly. Many NGOs working in the field of human rights violations in India are facing problems from the Modi government. One leading member belonging to NGO faced the case under the Sedition law. ...United Nations Human Rights Council is the highest body of the UNO where 14 members get elected to the highest body from the General Assembly. India is a party and turns into an active member of the body. But violations of human rights specifically rights to religious freedom by minorities have blackened the face of India. It has happened under Modi’s rule by bringing Kashmir under the military rule. 2018 - India has been elected to the United Nations' top human rights body for a period of three years beginning January 1, 2019, getting 188 votes. After bringing Kashmir under the military rule Sep 9, 2019 - Bachelet urged both India and Pakistan to ensure the human rights of Kashmir urging New Delhi to ease the strictures in place prior to the ... 42nd meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) in Geneva.

 Hindutva politics depend more on religious appeal to people and at sub terrain level they appeal to upper castes. After five years masses slowly going out of purview of Modi and Shah. They look for politics of demands such as health and education and procurement price of their products which Modi government is not ready to solve. The problems of industrial development has affected people as their children look for jobs in the private sector which is stagnating and their educated children have joined the army of unemployed.  Modi gave a speech in Karnataka where he spoke that people should fight over the issues of harassment of minorities in Pakistan not on CAA. As language of Pakistan appealed the voters in 2019 election and he wanted to reinvent issues related to Pakistan than local issues or issues affecting common people. Modi as a magician is slowly disappearing from the political scene. He is a politician hungry for power and pleasure which people look at his with distrust. There have been massive protests organized in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Chennai which shows to Modi government people are angry against his law on CAA which is an attack on Indian Constitution which has brought so many cultural and social and religious groups to think into a political community.

 We used to have an English Professor who used to define the poetry as half understood. This is applicable to the Hindutva forces who do not understand the poetry as Faiz's poem against fascism in Pakistan under Zia ul Hag in 1977 who hanged Bhutto a popular elected leader.  Their youth wing ABVP used it in fighting for Nirvaya case some years back. The same poem used by IIT students of Kanpur for fighting against CAA makes them angry and told that the poem is anti-Hindu. For them metaphors and similes have a direct meaning but without understanding poem in a context. Such anti-aesthetics people are ruling today. Faiz’s poem “Hum Dekhenge” became the center of controversy. The objections to these lines in the poem. Jab arze-khud ke kaabe se, sabbuutt uttwaye jaenge. By Kaaba which is in Saudi Arabia but the expanse of the earth and by buutt he did not mean idols but dictators who are like gods. As Javed Akhtar the leading Urdu poet says, “the fact that he (Faiz) used vocabulary and metaphors used by the religious fundamentalists whom he opposed to convey his message makes the poem all the more interesting” (HT5-1-20).

The way people celebrated in the cities and villages New Year's day one feels that Tagore is right our culture is an open one where one third Hindu, One third Christian and One third Muslim this becomes truth as cultural values turn into syncretic. On New Year’s Day all vehicles in Delhi Metro, trains buses and taxis and autoes are packed with people who go to celebrate with their dear ones. They want an occasion be it Christmas day or Id when people enjoy their get togetherness over food and moving around. Rajeev Chowk got more than one lakh people on New Year’s Day. Workers working in construction took leave for a day to celebrate the day. Hindutva went to celebrate on Christmas day as Good Governance day but this year they did not celebrate as they do not have works under good governance for people. The way people celebrate they reject the culture as defined by Hindutva.

 From 2014 Prime Minister Modi has spoken many times his Man Ki Bat where he used to speak India as many times as 220 times and Nation 94 times. Both India as an actor has not played any decisive role in international politics as Modi is a close friend of Trump of USA and his allies like the Prime Minister of Israel and President of Turkey all of them exhibit their authoritarian approach and anti-poor and minorities. Moreover, Trump is facing trial in the Senate over corruption charges and Israel Prime Minister has been investigated and found guilty on corruption charges who is anti-Palestinians and Turkey's President is showing his anti-Kurds in his approach and facing corruption charges. Modi would have faced charges on Rafael deal but saved by the court. His anti-minorities and anti-Pakistan approach has made him unpopular in South Asian politics. Next word he used nation which is in ICU as its economy is in a bad shape. People are experiencing a high rate of unemployment in the last forty five years. Growth rate has come down 4.5 but some leading economists including Arvind Subramaniam the former Economic Advisor argues that it is much less as the indicators in economy are not doing well.

His very often use of water 73 times make us to recite the poem "water water everywhere but not a drop to drink". Our rivers are highly polluted today including the Ganges who as the chairman of Ganges Authority of India.  After five and a half years he has attended the Committee for the first time last month. His seriousness can be understood from this. Most of our cities are thirsty without drinking water. One third of villages go without any drinking water facilities. Most of his villages and houses with toilet facilities under his pet project Total Sanitation are defunct as do not have water. Irrigation is not his pet project which has made Maharashtra under last five years of the BJP rule starved of water. All these words he used in his Man Ki Bat have turned into empty words.
Ram Mandir politics played a havoc in social political lives of Indian people for three decades. This happened in the 19th century rural politics of Odisha. Class politics happen in the context of social history of a village. Zamindar’s kacheri has male members and female members who try to work as his messengers to influence the independent farmers with occupancy rights. Women members are active in the process of influencing these farmer’s families. In rural society these families occupy a special place in society and politics. As they do not depend on will and wishes of the zamindars and they remain out of the boundary of his politics. Here temple construction becomes an issue to pressurize these families. Zamindar’s messenger has influenced the woman of these independent farmers by telling the stories of temple construction which can bring glory and pride. By mortgaging the land she can construct the temple. She gets influenced by the arguments of the woman mess anger that temple construction requires just one hundred fifty rupees. Her prosperity in wealth and family are there. She will have more property and more children. It is interesting to note here that she is being influenced by doing some puja in the main temple of the village for which she goes to zamindar’s palace. This is the beginning of end of her independence and independence of the peasant families. It is religion and temple politics have played a havoc in their everyday life. Politics of Ram Mandir has destroyed many people’s livelihoods in UP specifically. It has destroyed the only industrial town Kanpur by bringing the city under curfew and where labourers being Muslims could not attend their duty. The industries got closed which snatched the livelihoods of many laboring families like the woman belonging to an independent farmer’s family agreeing to construction of a temple according to the leading novelist Fakir Mohan Senapati. 

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Frontier
Jan 13, 2020