Sahir Ludhianvi’s Delay the War:
Stop this war monger today

Radhakanta Barik

After coming to Delhi in 1972 belonging to a generation of radical thinking in 1970s one came in contact with songs of Sahir Ludhianvi whose birthday is falling today. The day needs to remind us as a lyricist and poet he wrote a poem questioning the war or Junga. He openly told in the poem that 'Junga is a problem' between India and Pakistan. He argues that failure of dialogue and conversation leads to war. His poem says:

 "kabhi khud pe
kabhi halat pe rona aaya
baat nikli toh har ik bat pe rona aaya."

Ludhianvi’s another important poem ‘Delay the War’ has more value in the present scenario as only some days are left for the general election of 2019.

Delay the war, it is better
Your yard or mine,

If the lights stay on, it is better

The blood be your own or foreign
It is the blood of Adam, after all
The war, it may be in the west or east
It is the murder of world peace, after all.

We must understand the state of affairs in India today and protest against the war mongers in India. Otherwise we will cry without any impact on our people. Indian journalists are supposed not to disclose their sources as Article 19 of Indian Constitution says but Modi government has pleaded in the Supreme Court that the papers related to the Rafael deal have been stolen and got published in newspapers. They can be charged under the Official Secrecy Act. This is going to be heard in the Supreme Court on 14th March. These two months before the general election gets held as T S Eliot says in his famous poem Waste Land "April the cruelest month" are proving in the case of nation's life. With the war mongering Prime Minister is ready to start any form of attack on Pakistan. There are attacks on Kashmir youths by the Hindutva supporters led by a known criminal having 12 cases against him including a murder case clearly prove that under Art 19 an ordinary citizen has right to movement and do business  in the country has got unofficially withdrawn by the present government. There was another attack on an ordinary citizen who gave an interview that under Modi government unemployment has increased to a reporter who got physically thrashed by the Hindutva goons. That explains that right to express under Article 19 has been unofficially withdrawn by the Modi government.

Yesterday in honour of Rabi Ray, a leading socialist and former Speaker of the Loksabha in his second death anniversary, a meeting got organized. Professor Upendra Baxi 's paper  on Role of  Dissent in Democracy. One can summarise his lecture that every day constitutionalism in India is being butchered by the Hindutva forces. Dissent is losing its ground as being hammered by Modi. His government dared to state in the Supreme Court that the Rafael files had been stolen. There has been allegations against the Hindu Chairman N Ram and editor of Caravan. Rabi Ray was innovative in creating a political formula 'communalism, corruption, criminality' have been flowing in Triveni Sangam at Prayag under Modi-Yogi rule. All records show that after Modi came to power the number of communal riots have increased. There is a warning from American state regarding the rise of communal riots and war situation may grow before the coming general election of 2019.

As a teacher in public administration, we teach office record keeping as a part of public administration. Record keeping has got improved to bring accountability on officials who involved in noting on the files. It starts with the section officer cum undersecretary in central secretariat of Indian Government. As a file moves in a hierarchical manner the noting is taken as a value addition by the senior official. It goes to the Secretary of a Ministry. But in the case of Files related to Rafael dealings have to go through three ministries: from Defence to foreign affairs and return back to Defence and to the Ministry of Finance for getting financial allocation for the defence projects. These sorts of files are always in duplicate as one remains with the ministry of origin that is Defence Ministry. It cannot be stolen. As the Government of India through his Attorney General Shri Venugopal told  the Supreme Court that files related to Rafael Deal has been  stolen. This is an incorrect information coming from the such an important person. It is like that the CAG report regarding the Rafeal deal in the last hearing on the same case to the Supreme Court. The Attorney General feels nervous regarding his own statement in using the word ‘stolen’ has got replaced it ‘not stolen from the Defence Ministry’ in the Supreme Court on 8th of March, 2019. The Judges of the Supreme Court can see this between the lines. This is an attempt to harass the important and honest journalists and intellectuals who work in the name of national security and have tried to bring out the truth related to the Rafael deal. In a political democracy Modi government is hoodwinking the public.

For making a film on Modi, the Ministry of Railways allowed the film director for shooting his film to get a railway coach to be burned to show the happenings in Godra. This is happening for the first time that controversy around Godra railway station has not been discussed in the film by the film maker. There are many reports available which need to be placed here. Justice Banerjee appointed by the Ministry of Railways in holding an inquiry into the incident. It was held an inquiry into the matter and found that the train carrying karsevaks caught fire accidentally. There are many journalistic reports show that the same thing happened. All these reports are being kept in my book The Saffron Regime.....There is no element of conspiracy around the Godra incident. This was planned by Modi as the chief minister who created a conspiracy theory behind the Godra incident that Muslims of town were involved. This was being done by some favourite police officers led by Astana who got a posting in CBI as Joint Director of CBI and got suspended on the charges of corruption recently. Let truth be placed before the audience regarding the Godra incident as Indian public has the right to know. Film maker should not give only one version of Modi only. It is going to be shown before the general election to rouse communal consciousness among people for a polarization of voters. For them communalism is nationalism which is the worst version of nationalism.

The RSS brought the concept of nationalism as Tagore defined it as jingoism. Nationalism defined by Gandhi, Nehru and other leaders of the movement that it was there in working class, kisans and youths and students. Such a view led them for planning for each section resulted in development after the Independence. The RSS during the national movement spoke against a section of a society which resulted in the support for the British imperialism. Their great leader Savarkar wrote an apology letter to the Britishers. Modi is practicing such a narrow sectarianism as nationalism which vehicle is soldiers not farmers, students or workers. This has led them to go attack Pakistan without any provocation. And give a false statement regarding such attacks while important media agencies are talking that no serious casualties have happened . Amit Shah, the BJP president dared to give the number as 250.  This figure has not been supported by Prime Minister  Modi or generals then question arises: Can the Central government led by Modi file the case against him under the Sedition act which is the appropriate case under the act which I oppose.

Modi making fun of dyslexia is another characteristic of the text book fascist. This explains a story written by Kalindi Panigrahi in 1930s. His novel Matir Manisha has been adopted by Mrinal Sen, the important film maker for making a film. This story exposes the fascist approach of a Sanskrit Scholar who hates his son suffering from dyslexia. He is his third son and who is hated by the whole family. He with his two elder sons and daughter-in-laws except one gives the handicapped boy a good beating every day. While beating the boy he cites a Sanskrit sloks. The boy was very much fond of a dog in their house. They do not leave the dog even as the dog is a friend of the boy suffering from dyslexia. In the process both got washed away by flood where nobody within the Brahmin and intellectual family supported for both. In the process they were happy that the boy suffering from dyslexia died. This story brings out the poor qualities of the Prime Minister Modi who has learnt from the RSS school and Savarkar who have hatred for people suffering dyslexia. This explains the point that Modi is a text book fascist as political psychologist Ashish Nandy has written about him.

These weak and timid persons of RSS are being recognized as the nationalists one here refer to the famous poet  W.H. Auden’s   few lines are so reflective of our times:

“Time that is intolerant
Of the brave and innocent,
And indifferent in a week
To a beautiful physique”

As a citizen of a country I have right to know what happened to air force fighter planes entered into the territory of Pakistan with the intention of destroying the terrorist camps. But the government of India specifically Modi is silent over such a serious incident. All sorts of rumours are spreading regarding this incident which is more dangerous than the truth to be spoken by the government of India. Generals gave a press statement regarding the attacks on Pakistan but they have not said anything. It is clear that this attack has not affected any terrorist camp but it has affected some hills and trees surrounding this camp. If this is true then question arises the BJP is holding victory marches around UP and Delhi. It is interesting to note that a handful of motorcyclists are moving in the towns of UP holding the Vijjay Yatra creating more noise than fire. For the first time the national security has got politicized by Modi for the party agenda. Their party workers have turned shameless and the shameless people have nothing to lose in this world. We request the Prime Minister to give a statement regarding these attacks on soil of Pakistan.

 The attack on Pakistan is getting a description by the electronic media and portrayed as the ‘nationalism’. This is a Shakespearean tragedy where truth is getting hidden underneath of ashes. The electronic media has lost its ethical values. For some days these channels speaking the language of war and fighting against the enemy. In their binary model they have created friend vs enemy. But the state is an actor in international politics. Actor has to follow certain principles of the international law to uphold the agreement they have got into with others. The UNO plays an important role in mediating the conflicts. These channels have lost moral standing as they claim that Pakistan is not trust worthy as they gave an example of the releasing of Abhinandan who was under the arrest in Pakistan. The Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan assured the public and the parliament of Pakistan he would be released soon. This was not believed by the journalists and members who participated in the discussion as if Imran Khan is a lair. This is against the spirit of brotherhood and friendly relations with your neighbors. It seems that these channels are working on behalf of some body from Nagpur that Pakistan cannot be trusted. Once Abhinandan came back, they remained quiet. It seems that these channels and some leading journalists are working for a war with Pakistan. Are they serving some vested interests outside the media ethics. After the Pulwama incident which resulted in killing of 42 Jawans got perceived by Modi and his advisers as the Godra incident of 2002 which resulted in death of some Karsevaks. He started planning according to the old formula with Shah that this was the golden opportunity for these people. Dead bodies of the Karsevaks were carried to Ahmadabad for creating a large scale riot in the city and nearby towns of Gujarat. Modi as the chief minister gave a slogan that he had come to play one day match not five days match. He created an excitement in the minds and hearts of the RSS and its allies in Gujarat. This resulted in consolidation of his right wing power in the State for twenty years. In the last election to assembly of Gujarat he gave a slogan for not voting Pakistan. He as the Prime Minister of India gave such a slogan hurting the sentiments of a neighboring country for which he had no botheration. As their feelers from the various branches of the RSS gave the feedback the Pulwama incident was not enough. He went for attacking Pakistan by the Indian air force into soil of Pakistan with a hope that Pakistan headed by a famous Cricketer Imran Khan would play with him a match of 20-20 where at least audience will have a lot of thrilling experience. Imran Khan is not only batsman but also was a medium pacer who threw a googly at Modi. That the prisoner Abhinandan got released by him. This googly shocked him and the Nagpur think tank. Now he could not go for a war against Pakistan which was in his calculation was necessary to win the general election of 2019. This sort of arithmetic he is good as a Gujarati where in their blood the business prevails. This has made him confused as there was no statement for one hour after the announcement of Imran Khan of Pakistan that he would release Abhinandan the next day.

The Supreme Court on 8th created a story of mediation by Sri Sri Ravisankar who is supposed to listen to various parties involved in the dispute of land related to Babri Masjid and bring out a compromise. The present Supreme Court like other important institutions are helping the Hindutva forces indirectly. This is going to be another farce as Sri Sri got involved in the BJP politics in Karnataka when the for the first time the BJP formed the government in the province. He played a great manipulator in getting some support for the minority government of BJP. It is a land dispute which needs judicial intervention rather than mediation.

Prior to the general election the political sky looks cloudy and it may lead to noise but not light. Sometimes the thunderstorm creates more problems for people as some die of lightening without any rains.

Prof Radhakanta Barik, retired as Professor, Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi

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Frontier
Mar 9, 2019