The Jallikattu Protest - My Views

The opening of “Vaadivasal” (jallikattu arena) is the closing ceremony of the greatest peaceful agitation of independent India. It is a classic case study for people’s movement in a democracy.

A quick chronology:
2006: The Madras high court (Madurai branch) banned Jallikattu and Rekla race.
Appeal against the judgement is made in the high court bench by pro-jallikattu organizations.
2007: Ban removed – regulations made.
AWBI appealed in Supreme Court against this judgement.
The state government made an ordinance and got it signed by the governor. Jallikattu held.
2009 – Supreme Court squashed the ordinance. Ban remains.
2011 – Bulls added in the performing animals list.
7 – May – 2014: Supreme Court banned Jallikattu based on PCA act.
8-Jan-2017 – Marina walkathon supporting Jallikattu.
16-Jan-2017 – Protestors were arrested in Alanganallur
17-Jan-2017 – State wide peaceful protest started without anyone leading it. Marina became the heart of the action.
19-Jan-2017 – CM meets PM. No decisions announced.
20-Jan-2017 – CM announces that ordinance is drafted and sent central government for approval.
22-Jan-2017 – The ordinance was not passed in the state assembly. There was no proper explanation to the public regarding the ordinance and how it is designed to prevent further stays (a press meet would have solved this issue). Govt. tried to conduct Jallikattu but failed.
23-Jan-2017 – Law passed in state assembly. Details were given to the protestors by a retired judge. Success and conclusion of the protest.

The Spark:
Before the protests, Jallikattu issue was confined to few districts only. Majority of the population have seen Jallikattu only in movies. No major awareness about the sport and its ban in other areas of the state. The issue was sparked by a music video released by Hiphop Thamizha team and subsequent videos about preserving native cattle by Kathikeya Sivasenapathy and others related to this.

The protest:
The protest started with the walkathon in Marina. Not many including the state police and administration expected this magnitude of the protest. The government actually supported this movement. They gave permission to whoever asked for it. The protest spread across the state and it was contagious and pulled lakhs of people to protest areas. It was covered non- stop live by regional news.
Chennai Police termed it as unique protest – there was no hindrance to traffic where more than a lakh people gathered. Volunteers made sure the protest is peaceful and orderly. Those who participated in the protest will cherish their memory forever and have a story to tell their grandchildren – such was the enormousness.

All that starts well…:
The emotions were running very high in Marina. It can turn ugly if someone can throw an inflammatory speech. In fact one popular figure gave a speech in Marina pointing out further issues for which similar protests should be done. Actually that is wrong. This was started for Jallikattu and the focus should not be disturbed. If the agendas keep growing, it will create difficulties for the authorities to fill them up con currently. So things need to be dealt one by one – this is important because we live in a country where everything is done through a process and it requires some time. In spite of this, the state government heeded to the protesters requests at maximum speed. There is indeed a counter argument that if the government can do this in 5 days, why should they wait for all these years – but that is a discussion for another day.
So when things are done, it is up to the government to explain what is done to the people. All are not lawyers and understanding so many legal terms is difficult to common man. This is where the things went wrong. The government was expecting the protesters to celebrate their victory and end the show. However, the protesters just did not understand what was happening and continued to stay there.

End with Pride:
One serious point to note is that when the police gave away the photocopies of the ordinance as proof, protesters did not accept it. It is impossible for the government to go back from that point; hence it would have been a different scene if people would have accepted it and went away in celebration mood.
There was violence unleashed on the last day of the protest. There were video evidences available against police as well as the “other side” (claimed to be anti-nationals elements by police). It is difficult to forget what had happened, but instead of living the gory day’s memory – it is important to focus on the rehabilitation of those who were affected.

When all is said and done, it is definitely the greatest peaceful people’s movement in Modern India. This will go down in History as an example of people’s power. TN people lived the Lincoln’s statement “Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth”

WHY VOTE FOR NTK IN THIS ELECTION

HOW THE DRAVIDIAN PARTIES WON TAMIL'S HEART    

Congress under Kamaraj (the real king maker), ruled TN from 1947 to 1967. They started free education, mid-day meals, built schools, dams, power stations, roads, railways and what not. Kamaraj himself is a towering presonality - twice choosing the prime ministers for the country.  How can such a powerful regime turn to dust for ever?

C N Annadurai , the 7th Chief minister of Tamil Nadu, sworn into that prestigious post in 1967 carrying the social justice dream of Tamils. Yes, it is the cry for social justice, equality and fight against casteism that catapulted them to the power. The social justice movement was fuelled by Hindi being declared as national language. The dravidian parties were on full throttle from there on.

1967 - THE REVOLUTION:

There are points raised in this(2016) election campaign that our previous generation have wrongly voted to the dravidian parties and put us in this sorry state. That is not correct. The 1967 election was more revolutionary that any other election. The voters of 1967 were more involved in politics / politically knowledgable and brought about an unbelievable change in TN.

However, the internal conflicts, thirst of power, money lead to the birth of the greatest political master brain of India - Mr.Karunanithi. He survived the stardom of MGR and Jayalalitha, usage of draconian laws against his party during emergency, travelled through rough patches while his democratically elected (majority) government was dismissed by the central government twice (1977 and 1991). This sheer survival attitude saw the lowest point of dravidian politics that started for social justice and equality ended up finding everything in one family.

2016 - (1967 PART 2)

Now, this 2016 election if part 2 of 1967 election. There is a cry for good governance. People realize that freebies are actually not part of good governance (ilavasangal yellam saadanaigal illai). This time, election manifesto of all political parties carry more agendas about education, medicine, farming than freebies - this itself shows that people are expecting some change from stagnant politics. In 1967 dravidian parties rose against the congress and this time Naam thamizhar katchi is rising against the dravidian parties.

Why vote for NTK:

NTK is fresh; there are no blames on them. They are staging their fight not only by  charging other parties, but placing a strong agenda in people's court. The ideas of conservation of natural resources, free education and medical care are prime points.
 They are focussing in holistic development by creating multiple capitals and spreading the development across the state. 

Their self-containment / self-sufficiency economic policies are adding boost to their campaigns. Seeman, the NTK chief co coordinator is loud and clear with his thoughts. His speeches are not only thundering but sharp and specific to the point.

NTK is unforgiving against the anti-people activities like GAIL, Methane, Neutrino, Jallikattu ban, and fishermen - SL navy issues. All these could have been solved by previous government if they had the will to do it. But they didn’t because the boss is not native to the state. Karnataka won't give us Kaveri water but neither have they given it to Pepsi.  Didn’t we give thamirabarani to Pepsi?

It’s high time, we wake up. The dravidian parties forgot why they came to power at first place. Let a Tamil leader rule Tamil Nadu.

To conclude, NTK is rising. By closely following this election, one can say that they are not going to stop.  Soon, they will be the most dominating force in Tamil Nadu. 

One in a billion - the middle class Indian

I'm a middle class Indian and hence it is bit easy to describe "who a middle class Indian is?". If you can see yourself in this writing then you are a middle class Indian too.

Opinion junk:
I'm educated and work for a well paying(my boss says so) company. I read news through all mediums and hold a comment / criticism on everything. I assume this is knowledge. I post my opinions in FB which gives a satisfaction that I have reflected my thoughts very strongly and the concerned department will look into it. But as usual no one cares including me. I have opinion about everything, things that I have used, that I have never used, that my friends used, even things that no one uses (like mars and Jupiter). Whatever I read / understand, I will cross check in internet and believe them they are correct.

Why should I have political views:
I never knew the ideologies (many parties don't have any ideologies) of the party I vote for. I beleive the next government will complete the incomplete bridge in my area that can ease the traffic. I cast my vote to someone whom I never knew before. During the next 5 years I make no attempt to meet him and blame him for everything wrong and cast the vote for someone else. I never spoke even to the ward Councillor. The concept of keeping away from political science is itself a part of political science.

A middle class is a middle class is a middle class:
I think I earned more money that my father generation. I think I promoted myself from middle class to upper class. But wait, that's an illusion. The society has something called "upper middle class" or may be "RAC - upper class" to give me some satisfaction. What my previous middle class generation bought for INR 100 is costing INR 1000 now. If I can afford it then, I belong to middle class. I will remain a middle class no matter how much I earn. The so called society will keep increasing the slab so that I never cross the class (though, I accept there are some rags to riches stories in all generations).

Slave I remain:
I earn 1 lakh per month (imaginary number for easy calculation), then I give up 30% of it, INR 30000/month as income tax. The government will use it (use it for? - that's the topic for another day). I'm shell shocked. I'm suggested to buy a individual house / flat so that, the bank can take INR 45000 - INR 50000 /month from me for next 20 years and save me 30000/per month. I'm grateful for this system. I own a flat and a 20 years of feared and dissatisfied life. I'm really grateful.

The scope is always there:
I don't say that there is no scope for participating in the society. Not only in our times, even in the past. I can see (thanks to the internet) few groups of local residents joining hands to clean public assets. There are professionals giving up their cushy jobs to take back agriculture in the correct way. I mean, similar options were available in all walks of life. But it is up to us, to take it up or otherwise.

I'm tuned to accept that buying a house, grooming my son, travelling the world is a life well lived. Intelligence is planing my wealth to do all these three action items. But that's wrong - life is all about true satisfaction. 

To the chairman and Managing director

To the chairman and Managing director

I wanted to share two interesting experiences I had with public banks.

1.        The first experience was in the year 2008. My father was a senior manager with a prominent public bank. Upon his demise in 2007, the bank closed all the loans pending and settles the monitory benefits. That was swift and timely. The events that happened after this was tiring. I had to collect the house document from the bank for which the loan has been closed. I went to the branch where he worked during his final official days – Nungambakkam – inspection centre. They asked me to come on Saturday and I went on every Saturday for next 2 months. After 8 visits, I lost my patience and asked them, where the document is. They said – they are still searching it. I was informed that it should be with the Nandanam branch. I went to the Nandanam branch and met an officer and narrated by whole story. He took my name and number and politely asked me to come on a Saturday. This time I was very confident that the job is done. Next Saturday, I was not able to find that guy and no one knows my story there. I directly went to the general manager stationed in that branch. He asked me to call after 2 hours. I called him after 2 hours and he said that the document is surely not in Nandanam branch and his scope is closed with that.

I started to search on my own. I wrote to many branches where my father worked after he bought that house. No one replied. I went back to Nungambakkam inspection centre and asked for information. They started ignoring as they said they will call me once they find it out. I was totally frustrated – I was being treated as guy who is asking for loan without any securities.

Time marched; it was 6 months after I started the “document search”. Many officers will listen to me, take my number and then forget it. It was like a weekly for loop. But one day, I happened to meet one of my father’s friends. He was really helpful. One last time, I narrated the whole story and he directly asked me to write “to the chairman and managing director of XXXXXX bank”. I did it immediately – a three page long message with my entire plight that happened in those 6 months. It’s magic – 3 days later, I was asked to go to Neyveli branch and collect the document.

2.        The second experience happened in 2014. My wife cleared the IBPS exam and interview in 2013 and she was asked to join in Dec 2013 in a reputed bank. As she was pregnant, we gave a request letter for further extension. The extension was granted till July 2014. We were blessed with a boy baby and after a joyous three months, intimation came for joining. We felt it’s too early to join and thought of requesting another month of extension. Though we sent many written request, no confirmed orders came. So, my wife used to call the HR manager of Mysore circle (the circle where she was posted initially) – he used say the same answer “You will get it this Saturday” (why bankers are obsessed with Saturdays?) and that Saturday never came. The date of joining is just a week away. My wife called him and asked him for an affirmative answer, he immediately asked her to join on July 7^th batch else, her joining will be a question as the next batch is not yet finalized (and some blah blah blah).

My wife started with the one week training that held in Bangalore. The first day itself, she submitted a letter requesting to post her in either Bangalore or Mysore as she delivered a baby just three months back (on medical grounds). They took the letter and did what they do best – forget it. The same request was given to the Union leaders too (at the end of this experience I understood that these union leaders have no scope in HR department of the bank). At the end of her training she was asked to join “Arakere” – I can’t find this in google map initially J. It’s a village 25 kilometres from Mysore. Imagine the plight of a new mother travelling 50 Kms every day in bus. I along with my father in law went to the village and did a trial travel from Mysore to Arakere and felt it is impossible task. Since I require high speed internet, we can’t shift to that village and stay there.

On date of joining, my wife called up Arakere branch manager and said that she will be reporting late as we need to meet the HR manager in person in Mysore. We went to Mysore to meet the HR and had the worst of all experience with him. The union guy is just like radio transmitting what the HR manager just said. I was fed up and convinced my family to quit the job as my wife’s and son’s wellbeing is my priority. The family members were in dilemma but they agreed that there is no other choice to quit if she has to work in that village. But I had one last idea – write a letter “to chairman and managing director of XXXXXX bank”. I wrote a three page long letter describing all that happened. It’s magic – 3 days later, a joining letter was received in my wife’s name to report in Mysore city branch.

Plutocracy - Kaasu Panam Dhuttu

Necessity is the mother of all inventions. But what necessitated the invention of money. To understand this, let us travel back in time.

Medieval England:
The first bankers are money changers. Their job is to keep safe other people's gold in their vaults and give receipts. These receipts were the first money. People were OK with this as it is easy to carry cash instead of gold everywhere. Money changers identified that only a small fraction of depositors ever came in and demanded their gold at any one time. The money changers capitalized this scenario and gave away loans far more than the gold they had with them. This is what now called Fractional Reserve Banking - The practice of lending out money than the assets in hand. This way, the money changers accumulated more money / gold out of nothing.

Money Changers:
Queen Elizabeth tried to take control of economy of Great Britain; money changers were so influential that they put UK into a series of expensive war for next 50 years. At the end, the UK government were force to contact these money changers to bail them out. In exchange the money changers were allowed to create a bank. The first modern private bank "Bank of England" was created in 1694. The name of the bank is so deceptive that one thinks it is government owned bank, but it is not. Adding mystery, it is not mandatory to reveal the real investors. The business of this bank is to loan British politicians as much as currency (just by printing papers). The British govt. is supposed to repay the loan through direct taxation of citizens. The loan and interest are 100% secured in this way. Repeat of incidents in 1791 in USA. It was initially called, the "First Bank of United States".

Rothschild:
One such money changer is Mayer Amschel Rothschild. He had five sons: Amschel "Anselm" Mayer Rothschild (base: Frankfurt), Salomon Mayer Rothschild (base: Austria), Nathan Mayer Rothschild (base: London), Calmann "Carl" Mayer (base: Naples, Jacob "James" Mayer (base: Paris). They had Rothschild houses in their respective bases and started giving loans to governments. by mid-1800, Rothschilds were the richest family in the world. If any big mansions in Europe don’t belong to the kings, it belongs to Rothschild. JP Morgan, Rockefeller, Cechil Rhodes were all "Fronts" of Rothschild family.

War is always expensive for both sides. Rothschild keeps backing both sides with loan and makes money. They did it when Austria waged a war against France in early 1800s. Earlier to March 1815, Napoleon of France was waging his final battle in Waterloo. If he wins, shares in London stock market will fall. Nathan Rothschild learnt Napoleon's defeat even before the government in London. He notoriously started selling shares to create an environment that Napoleon has won the war. Everyone sold their share and all were bought by Rothschild himself. The next day, when the news break - Nathan Rothschild proved why he was a successful businessman.

In mid-1800, they owned half the wealth of the world. They own the lion's share in Federal reserve of USA. Rothschild are into all major business, what ever we name, they will be there. But their name will not surface anywhere. Rothschild name never came in the richest of the richest list anytime - they own the media. They are the only trillionaire in the world. The secrets of Rothschild family are more as we dig in more.


If money is God, Rosthchilds are the prophet.

Secularism Stabbed - My thoughts about "Raam Ke Naam"

Disclaimer:

"Raam ke Naam" - The documentary of Anand Patwardhan (made in 1990 and released in 1997) about the attempt to demolish Babri Masjid on 30th October 1990 by 'militants' - rightly called by the documentary maker. The documentary was very impressive and this is not a review but my thoughts about it. I'm an atheist and endorse no religion.

 The documentary starts with L K Advani's rath yatra across tha nation calling Hindus to build Ram temple in the same spot. Advani's oratory skills are well captured and he is prolific in his speeches to attract people for his work. The first person to get interviewed was an oil business man wearing a red cloth over his forehead and talks about Hindu's right over Ramjanma Bhoomi. I felt wrong with a fact that was mentioned: "Babri masjid was built 1528 and 50 years later Tulsidas wrote Ramayana". Why was Valmiki's or Kambar's version of Ramayana was not mentioned here. Kambar lived circa 1180, some 340+ years back Babri masjid was built.

Chilling Facts:

British were disturbed the unity of Hindus and Muslims in India. So, they promoted a rumor that Babur destroyed a hindu temple and built the babur masjid. But with mutual compromise Hindus prayed in a Ram temple inside the compound of the masjid. Peace until 1949 when some people placed an Idol of Ram inside the masjid. The case went to district magistrate K.K.Nayar who refused to remove the idol stating security reasons. I feel this is the second biggest mistake next to the demolition itself. Temple remained opened but masjid sealed. Nayar later joined Jan sang. Mahant Shastri one of those who kept the idol inside the masjid says that Lord Ram appeared inside the mosque in his dreams and hence he did it. Does his conscience would prick him today? Haji Abdul Gafar, the imam of Babri masjid was promised by K.K.Nayar that within few fridays, things will be resolved. That friday never came.

Sarcastic views:

A law student who is a staunch supporter of VHP is interviewed. He is asked which century Ram was born. He says "I'm in first year of Law and the syllabus doesn't cover this"!! A man appearing to be saint says 1000s of years if not 100,000s of years. There were few more interviews of common man who doesn't like the demolition and construction. Common man is more worried about his social status and price rise. All the riots in the history are orchestrated by those who will be benefitted and innocents were just victims.

Rage of fire:

BJP went from 2 seats in 1984 election to 86 in 1989 by promoting hardline hindutva idealogy. This led its leaders to believe that Hindutva was the key for their success. Bricks and money were collected from international branches of VHP. Where ever Advani's rath went, lives fell, but rath never stopped. The chronology is first RSS, then VHP and then Bajrang Dal - considered to be youth wing of VHP. Bajrang dal was created more specifically for Ram Janma Bhoomi. They are all on fire to finish the task. The video also present speech by Baradhan in Patna during the same time, the veteran communist leader who fires against the chariot tour. He insists India has serious problem to deal with than building the temple. But this did not stop Advani.

The Attempt:

All roads to Ayodhya blocked. The karsevaks were stopped crossing the bridge that lead them to the site. Karsevaks with rage shouts "Bagavan ki roop hamare andhar hai". The environment is full of provocative slogans. Police lathi charges and disperse the crowd ony to gather in another spot trying to enter the compound. The vice president of VHP, S C Dixit was a former DGP and he uses his influence and speaks to the crowd using the police mega phone. He doesn't pacify them instead does the opposite. The police began to withdraw and karsevaks move ahead towards the compound. Few manages to stand tall on the domes, all of a sudden police hit back with gun shots. 4 killed, the attempt aborted. I appreciate the effort by Mulyam singh in preventing such attempts in his tenure. But Kalyan sing din't do this in 1992 which stabbed the secularism in India.

Kamal Hassan said in his movie VasoolRaja MBBS (Eng Translation):

Trust those who doesn't believe in God,

Trust those who believe in God but never trust those who say that He is God ("Bagavan ki roop hamare andhar hai"). He was right.

Bleeding theory of Ruchika

Aarushi's murder was one of the high profile murder cases (under violence against women's agenda of the news channels). One can recollect Jessica Lal murder in 1999 was also a focus of main stream media at that time. The common line between these two is that the case was almost closed without convicting the known murderer and then the media created a justified pressure to re-open or appeal against the acquittal of the accused. In the second innings of all these cases the murderer was put behind the bars. I can think of – the case of Prathibha (2005 - Bangalore BPO girl murdered by the cabby) which was under intense media pressure but the first judgement itself came against the murderer. He is serving prison till death (rare judgement next only to death penalty). Delhi rape case last year was another example of intense media coverage extreme outcry of public. So far so good. The middle class Indian convinces himself that even if the violence against women is unavoidable in few cases, the culprit is not spared from law.

We have to rewind our memory a little more – Ruchika Girhotra (1990). Ruchika who lost her mother at her young age was a budding tennis player in Haryana. SPS Rathore an IPS officer – what to say about him? Molested Ruchika (Rathore’s daughter is Ruchika’s batch mate in the same school) and had to face some initial actions with an FIR filed against him. But, he gathered some strength from his sources and started his demon-like acts against the Girhotra’s family. He then harassed the family by placing plain cloth police men in front of Ruchika’s house. He arrested the teen age brother of Ruchika, Ashu and tortured him to sign blank papers and filed cases of stolen cars on him. Her brother was paraded half naked in front of his house with hands cuffed. There were Rathore organised mobs in front of Ruchika’s home to shout slogans against them. Rathore influenced the school authorities to expel Ruchika which they did and killed the heart of the teen ager. She consumed poison and found peace. Her father lost peace with his daughter dead and his son in jail (this was two years after the complaint filed against Rathore).  (Facts collected from various internet sites)

Time marched – 19 years. Rathore was promoted to ADGP and later became the DGP. He filed cases against Aradhana (Ruchika’s friend and the only witness of the molestation), lawyers who appeared for Ruchika, Ruchika’s father and brother. All-out attack. The main difference between the cases of 2000s and 1990s is the media coverage. Hardly someone in the 90s would have known about Ruchika’s case, it in fact came to lime light in late 2000s when Rathore was bailed out ten minutes after he was sentenced and created a public uproar in media. Imagine if there was media coverage during Ruchika’s days as we have today – Rathore would have had nightmares in his prison cell.

Lately Rathore served 6 months in jail for what he did 19 years back and now out in bail. He has appealed against his conviction. However, very recently Ruchika’s family stopped their fight against him. Understandable. At 9 PM every day I feel - new channels are entertaining the viewer instead of informing them. Paid news, politically biased – such things are there but still I think wide media presence is giving the wrong doers a sense of fear that they can’t evade forever.