Ram Tere Naam Par!

Ram Tere Naam Par!

The answer to an opinion should be another opinion!                       – Shashi Tharoor in Parliament

Hai Ram Ke Vajud Pe Hindostan Ko Naaz, 

Ahl-e-Nazar Samajhte Hain Is Ko Imam-e-Hind.

- Allama Iqbal

(India is proud of the personality of Lord Ram,

Knowledgeable believe him to be the guiding priest of India.)

Violence instigating blind followers.

These two opening quote and a couplet I think is enough to authenticate my point. The rising intolerance in the name of Lord Ram has not only maligned the image of India in the world but also of Lord Ram who is loved and adored by all irrespective of caste and religion.Today the situation is so worse that anybody who differ in opinion from ruling Bhartiya Janata Party/Rashtriya Swamsewak Sangh and Narendra Modi’s view is termed as traitor who is eligible to die a violent death in the hands of violent blond followers.

 

The hate and frustration has increased so much that people are not afraid of police system and law if they are inclined to a particular ideology and are always ready to take law in their hand. The extent of mob violence has increased so much that not even police officers are spared from it and the places like Courts which are responsible for protecting the law are also used by mobs to attack people. Even if we forget about the organized mob attack on fake child lifters in Jharkhand,Tripura, Gujarat and Maharashtra how can we justify attack Muslims in the name of cow, on Dalits for keeping mustache or a surname unsuitable to upper caste, on Shashi Tharoor’s office for an opinion shared by him, on Twitter attack on Sushma Swaraj for allowing passport to an interfaith couple, on Swami Agnivesh when he was addressing people in Jharkhand, on Swara Bhaskar for portrayal of a masturbating woman in a Hindi movie, etc. 

The list is endless if we started counting from the day Narendra Modi took oath as Prime Minister of India. The reason such incidents are rising is in the silence of Mr Modi on such issues and also in support of BJP/RSS/ABVP of such incidences. You can recall the march by BJP minister and supporters for Kathua and Unnao rape accused. Statements of people like Nitin Gadkari, Griraj Singh Chauhan and Mahesh Giri who all are ministers in the government give rise to such incidents. Who can forget the felicitation of lynch accused by Minister Jayant Sinha. Also the environment of hate created by government ministers and supporters against Muslims, Christians, Dalits and against the people who are different from their expectations has given rise to such incidents. 

Lord Ram wouldn’t have allowed such incidents on this pious land nor would he allow misuse of his name by uncontrollable goons. If not government we should make this our priority to regulate social media messages which are precursors to this mob violence by not forwarding unverified news. Together we can and we will make a difference.  

RIP: Rita Bhaduri

RIP : Rita Bhaduri

Neither Rita Bhaduri is an household name nor I am a big fan of her but I still have some memories attached to her which I want to share after her death today in a Mumbai hospital. She was a character artist or a supporting actor in 70's , 80's and 90's and I am sure you also didn't know about any path breaking role of her which have impressed the audience. Yet she was an important personality of TV and film industry and her presence on screen used to feel by the audience. 

She reminded me of a weird unique show of 90's which aired on Zee TV. The show's name was 'Grihalakshmi Ka Jinn' where she played the protagonist 'Girahalakshmi' whom God send a Jihn to solve her day to day problems, the Jihn was played by 'Raj Zutshi'. It was a comedy serial and had a unique story line which if I think today can be compared to 'Nobita and Doraemon' relation. In this show too Raj Zutshi (Jihn) was like her brother. All other her roles were mostly of mother, grandmother, nani, bua , etc and I only had glimpses of her roles in my mind as that in Anil Kapoor's 'Ghar Ho To Aisa', Govinda's 'Hero No.1', Shah Rukh Khan's 'Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa' Priety Zinta's 'Kya Kehna' etc. 

In television industry she was mostly associated with women oriented 'Saas-Bahu' kind of serials where she played mother,dadi, nani or other such kind of roles which I don't see much and I don't have memories of them but yes I know she was active recently also. Anyways she was a face one recognizes and her loss will be felt among people who are regular in watching her serials. She died today(17th July 2018) of kidney ailments in Mumbai. May her soul Rest In Peace.

 

Recently Kavi Kumar Azad who used to play an important character Dr Hansraj Hathi in famous  comedy serial of SAB TV 'Taarak Mehta ka Ultaa Chashma' has passed away due to heart attack. His jovial nature was evident from his appearance on screen. He has the smiling,tension free appearance on show which brings smile to our faces. I know he will soon be replaced by some other actor on the show but his absence will be missed immensely.   

Is Lynching India is 'New India' ?

Is Lynching India is 'New India' ?

A new trend of mob lynching has emerged in many Indian states mostly ruled by Bhartiya Janata Party shaping Narendra Modi’s ‘New India’. The idea of India is idea of togetherness, inclusiveness and acceptance but the new India works contrary. In this segregation, hate and intolerance hold the importance. Till now mobs were killing people in the name of cow in various places like in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Rajasthan, some trends of hate crimes also noticed when Muslims, Dalits, Tribals,North East Indians were attacked by group of people. Now the poor and down trodden are attacked by labeling them child lifters.

The dangerous trend is that the online mobs (trolls) have come out in open by instigating people through fake WhatsApp messages to kill innocent people. Even government appointed officer Sukanta Chakraborty was also killed by a mob in the state of Tripura when he was appointed to visit villages and tell people about the fake news. Recently five people were also killed by a mob in Maharashtra on Sunday after rumors spread on social media that they were child traffickers. More than a dozen people have been killed across India since May in violence fueled mainly by messages on the WhatsApp service. 

What startled you is that the messages spreading on WhatsApp are almost similar about child trafficking but translated into the local languages of the area where they are circulated. This shows preplanning of such incidents. Sadly all governments are unable to do anything about these incidents. The anger and hate generated through fake social media groups and messages is coming out in the  way of police action as it is difficult to find out the source of the message. People forward fake messages without checking their authenticity and believe that they are true. No one wants that anger filled ‘New India’. How you can call companies in such environment to ‘Make in India’? Is ‘Skill India’ imparting knowledge to gather mobs to kill people? All government schemes will fail if violence will extend to such levels. 

The Supreme Court (SC) said in its judgment that mob lynching is a crime no matter what the motive is and added that it is a law and order issue that is the responsibility of state governments. Notably all states which reported such incidents are ruled by BJP and Mr Modi as usual is silent on such an important issue. I request PM Narendra Modi to select issue of ‘Mob Violence’ in this month’s ‘Mann Ki Baat’. He should speak against these crimes in a strong manner to be understood by people. ‘Mob violence’ is nothing but troll culture (which didn’t even spare External Affair Minister Sushma Swaraj ) on streets. PM should start un-following unruly trolls to give a strong message to the nation.

We all should stand and say in one voice that we don’t want such hate filled ‘ New India.