Tag: Uttar Pradesh

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In memory of Muzaffarnagar

A peaceful town in its earlier years is currently the battleground for communal hatred. What caused this change and why?
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

I was born in Uttar Pradesh and I spent my childhood and my carefree teenage years in that State. I travelled to several remote villages and locales there because my father was particular about his family – my amma and his children – tagging along in our open jeep or in our Baby Hindustan car.

We had travelled through Western UP’s Muzaffarnagar and the adjoining belt on several occasions. I can still recall the sights: sprawling sugarcane fields, dozens of workers on the fields, several zamindars and farmers walking about. There was never a bit of tension among communities and never any question raised about caste or creed, and certainly no communal hatred. We’d spent hours initially roaming about, even travelled late at night and it seemed so perfect. Not once did we hear any mention of so-and-so being a Yadav or a Jat or a Musalmaan or a Brahmin.

All of those idyllic images from my childhood were rudely shattered from the early 90s onwards, with worsening communal tensions over the years. The hatred spread all over, furious and uncontrolled. In 2007 or 2008, at a SAARC writers meet in Agra, I’d asked the New Delhi-based historian Rifaqat Ali details about the ground situation in and around that belt. His observations were particularly relevant because he hails from rural Aligarh.

He said, “The fact is this: only a Jat or a Yadav can have the confidence to write his name atop his vehicle. For a Musalmaan it will spell death or doom. He dare not flaunt his name, Muzaffarnagar picks up gunsespecially in an unknown area.” On another occasion, an academic who belongs to Western Uttar Pradesh told me that though his wife wears a burqa or a hijab, he finds the practice unsafe when they travel homewards. “It is prudent not to ‘look’ like a Musalmaan, for your vehicle could be stopped and damaged, and you could be attacked…anything could happen.”

If you ask about the cops and what they do to save or salvage the mounting tensions, the answers you receive reveal a complexity beyond the expected corruption in the ranks. Apparently, at the constable level, they are recruited as per their caste and creed, so when a situation arises, they act or attack based on whether their community is involved. A Yadav minister or Chief Minister would be more than tempted to enroll as many Yadavs in the force as possible. A Jat minister would do likewise, and this pattern continues across several castes. It would be interesting to know the exact percentage of cops vis-a-vis the community ruling at that moment.

And this communal hatred has spread to the nearby villages and qasbas and towns of Western Uttar Pradesh. Right-wing goons have turned the area into a cesspool. Till date, the BJP MLA from that particular area, Sangeet Som, has not been arrested and thrown into prison, despite uploading the fake video that started the recent mess and which will affect generations of people forever. Nor have other politicians involved in the issue.

Ironical, isn’t it, that the same belt of Western Uttar Pradesh, which had seen the start of the ouster of the British from our land with the Mutiny of 1857 is today embroiled in anarchy? But what happens next? Obviously, a thick-skinned politician or an absolute fool might appear on TV and say, “All is coming back to normal! Only 37 are dead and another 100 are injured, and several others have fled. But the situation is under control!”

What about the four BJP men accused on inciting violence and who have gone underground? What was the police doing? Where were the inputs from IB? What about the role of the Akhilesh Yadav Government? Even if the father-son duo of Mulayam and Akhilesh cry themselves hoarse with the “It’s a Right-wing conspiracy!” refrain, the question they are still not answering is: Why didn’t their police force act?

Humra Quraishi is a senior journalist based in Gurgaon. She is the author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

(Pictures courtesy www.thehindu.com, www.hindustantimes.com)

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Enough said

Rahul for PM?

Humra Quraishi wonders why Rahul Gandhi does not grasp the several opportunities thrown his way at the best of times.

New Delhi is no longer just the rape capital of the country, but it is also the battleground for those desperate to grab much more than the proverbial pound of flesh. New Delhi is where one experiences the rush for unlimited power that comes with the two magic words – Prime Minister.

Of course, Mamata didi proved another again that she has no chance at this post, or indeed advance in Delhi’s political circles. Once again, she played her cards in her usual hysterical fashion, and brought down any aspirations she may have had of making inroads in Delhi. The latest killing in her State’s capital, of student leader Sudipto Gupte, can be seen as the very start of her political downfall. The rule of absolute power does not hold for long, and with this latest incident, Mamata hopefully has seen the light.

And then there’s Narendra Modi, who currently seems to be more interested in giving speeches to a select few in Delhi, than doing something for the semi-parched parts of his State. It seems his hosts double-checked the invite list for his speech venues, which included the movers and shakers in business and several rightwingers, but which curiously did not have a single name from the capital’s ‘outspoken’ lot.

For surely, if any of this group was present, there would have been uncomfortable questions on why his men had Ishrat Jehan and several others killed in fake encounters, why women were raped and killed in his State, and why a great majority of Muslims of Ahmedabad are forced to live in one big cluster in Juhapura, an underdeveloped ghetto.

And therein lies the question: why are we, as a collective lot, being swayed and fooled by our politicians? Why are we wilfully blind to the bigger picture?

If you are unable to go beyond politicians’ babble, I would suggest you watch the film Hotel Rwanda, to see what happens if two communities/tribes are pitted against each other. Civil war breaks out, with all possible crimes committed against all sections of society, cutting across all power structures, ultimately affected all citizens.

Unfortunately, those who have the mettle to take on these politicians are steadfastly refusing to bite the bait. Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, who possesses all those attributes to take on Modi, refused even to be Vice President, much before the nomination stage! Also, it’s a complete no-no on the Yadav front – Akhilesh  Yadav seems incapable of running his own State, Uttar Pradesh, where even children are raped and jailed, so making any moves in Delhi’s direction would be furthest from his mind at the moment.

Do you see what this means? It so turns out that the only man who can probably take on   Modi at the moment is Rahul Gandhi. He isn’t much of a speech giver, nor does he cash in on any strong points – his own or his party’s – but he is earnest.

To quote N Ram, from the foreword this veteran journalist has written to the last book on  Rahul Gandhi, Decoding Rahul Gandhi, by Aarthi Ramachandran, “We learn that Rahul  Gandhi is an obsessive organisation man, who believes in applying business management strategies and methods, including the ‘Toyota Way’, to grassroots political organisation. He espouses meritocratic notions of seeking and nurturing talent and opening up opportunity for career advancement in Congress politics.

“While he has not been above playing the dynastic card, he has been candid about how he got to where he is today, declaring himself to be ‘a symptom of this problem’, which he wished to change. He does not seem to be good at building coalitions or dealing with existing or potential allies. He favours going it alone, but unlike, say BSP leader Mayawati, he has no core social constituency. In the heat of campaigning, he has made his share of political gaffes and over-the-top allegations against opponents. He has been an indifferent Parliamentarian, whose sporadic interventions on issues, including corruption, have impressed no one, except the political faithful. His secular credentials are not in question; in fact, he holds no known religious faith and has gone so far as to declare the national flag to be his religion.”

To me, Rahul’s earnestness is his strong point. But he seems to be surrounded by a bunch of advisors that is coming in the way of his connectivity with the people. It isn’t enough to spend an evening or eat a meal at a poor man’s dwelling, there has to be an ongoing, sincere connect daily, which does not seem contrived.

Dear Rahul, why can’t people visit your office and tell you their grievances?

Why can’t you see the right-wing nuts in your own party and have them thrown out?

Why can’t you focus only on communalism and corruption issues, and tackle them first?

Why can’t you use the whistle-blower cops of Gujarat – who had taken on Modi – to your advantage?

When will stop looking like you’re still waiting in the wings, and take centrestage?

Humra Quraishi is a senior political journalist based in Gurgaon. She is author of Kashmir: The Untold Story and co-author of Simply Khushwant.

 (Pictures courtesy adilmohdblog.com, travelindia-guide.com, mid-day.com)

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Rural journalism goes Web 2.0

The Khabar Lahariya newspaper, born in the Hindi hinterland and run entirely by women, launched its website in Mumbai yesterday.
by Nidhi Qazi

What happens when a group of 40 women journalists come to the city for the launch of online edition of their newspaper Khabar Lahariya? A platform full of experiences, energy and enthusiasm opens up for discussion.

Wednesday witnessed women empowerment when the all-women’s team of the publication travelled from the districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar to Mumbai. From impact journalism to personal histories and journeys, they all had something to say.

Take the case of Meera, Editor of the paper, and who hails from Banda district, UP. She narrated how she is now at ease with the big machine that is the computer. In her own words, “I never thought I could operate this machine. In fact, I always used to think that something would go wrong if I touch it. But that fear is gone. We use computers to search for information, making pages and what not.”

For the uninitiated, Khabar Lahariya is a weekly newspaper produced by women from the marginalised sections of society. It is the brainchild of Nirantar, an organisation that works towards empowering women through education.

Launched in 2002 in Chitrakoot district of UP, the newspaper has expanded to Bihar and today runs six editions. The editions are from five districts of UP – Chitrakoot, Banda, Lucknow and Benares and Sitamarhi district in Bihar. The newspaper is published in regional languages such as Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Bundeli, Bajjika and Hindustani. With a readership of 80,000, the paper has its presence in 600 villages and sells for Rs 2.

With its print edition well in place, what made the newspaper launch online despite the fact that villages don’t have easy Internet accessibility? “The idea behind the online edition is to not just spread the newspaper, but the phenomenon that Khabar Lahariya is,” said Meera. “Apart from visibility, the online edition will also provide information on various rural developments and news which the mainstream media doesn’t report much,” she adds.

Khabar Lahariya uses social media marketing as a major tool. From Facebook to Twitter, they use it all. And all this is managed by the women themselves. The reporters are given an ICT workshop which includes training in the use of the Internet.

The newspaper depends mainly on funding from such sources as the Dorabji Tata Trust and UN Democracy and Equity Fund, though a sustainable model is what they aim for in the long run. Their margin for advertising revenue is low and they also get funded through the various awards they win.

As for the recruitment of staff, the team gives out ads. “The prospective reporters are selected after a formal interview process. We then train them for a week in writing, editing, video-making, photography and page-making,” says Kavita, who joined the paper in 2002.

Short stories

For Shanti, one of the paper’s oldest reporters and who has been associated with the publication since its inception, “It’s a privilege to have travelled so far when all others from my community (she belongs to the Kol tribe of UP) haven’t even dreamed about it.” She also takes pride in the impact the paper’s stories have made. “Our efforts for three months resulted in the suspension of a police officer who refused to entertain us ‘women’ in the case of violence against a woman,” informs Shanti. It is this attitude of ‘How can women be journalists?’ that bothers people around, she adds.

Susheela, a Benares-based reporter, talks about personal issues. “My mother-in-law didn’t approve when I decided to work in 2012. She boycotted us and eventually I, my husband, three kids and husband’s grandmother had to leave our family house. But mother-in-law imposed a condition that if I give her Rs.3,000 every month, she would accept us back in the house. I refused.” For Susheela, her husband has been a big support.

For many, reporting gives a chance to explore and experience all that is around them. From MNREGA payment issues, pension hassles to civic problems, women’s issues and success stories, these women report it all.

Khabar Lahariya is now live on www.khabarlahariya.org.

(Pictures courtesy Nidhi Qazi)

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