Tag: AAP

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The spirit truly lies within

Does it make sense for us to wait for the Government to help us? These trailblazers solved other’s problems on their own.
by Humra Quraishi

The rains continue to wreak havoc in various parts of the country, bringing ruin to crops in some places and drought in others. Hunger and dearth of necessities have become the mainstay in several sections of society…but what are the options for survival?

More to the point, can the present Government do anything about it? How long do we wait before the Government steps in to help?

As always, the solution has to come from us, from within.

aHearteningly, there are hundreds of ‘doers’ present among us, people who have opted to move out of well-paying jobs and a cushy life to reach out to those in distress. In this context, I can think of none better than the husband-wife duo of Bunkar Roy and his spouse Aruna, who gave up their jobs (Aruna quit the IAS) to settle down in Tilonia, a nondescript village of Rajasthan. There, they started by digging up wells to help the villagers, and today, the village is one of the few locales in the country that can boast of being self-reliant in every sense of the term.

The duo has trained the village’s men and women to become engineers, doctors, technicians, craftsmen, teachers and healers.

More recently, I was browsing the details of Dr Dharamvir Gandhi, one of the AAP candidates who win in the recent elections from Punjab. To quote Professor Chaman Lal, who has known Dr Gandhi for years, “As a medical   doctor, he was so popular in the surrounding villages that when he was transferred, people from those villages went to the Punjab Secretariat in Chandigarh, and returned only after getting his transfer cancelled.”

Dr Gandhi (in pic on right) joined Rajindra Medical College Patiala for his post graduate studies and later became Assistant Professor in the Cardiology department. In year 2001, he set up his ownDr Dharamvir Gandhi clinic, where only nominal fees were charged from poor patients. He says he was inspired by Andhra Pradesh and some other States, where such Peoples’ Clinics were established by Leftist doctors to provide health services to peasants and workers.

Meanwhile, as the news of the passing away of former Chief Justice of J&K, Justice Mufti Bahauddin Faruqi came, I was reminded of several meetings I had with him. This was in 1990, when I was reporting from the Valley, and each time I met him, I was impressed by his honesty, his forthright stand on issues, his courage in speaking against injustice.

He said to me once, “The Government is treating each person as a suspect. Even India Today says the total number of militants must be about 600, though I say there are no more than 100. Yet, to locate them, a whole city’s population is being hounded. Searches are done in the most brutal manner, even before dawn the whole area is cordoned off and loudspeakers keep blaring, asking everyone to come out of their homes. The search goes on for the whole day, while families sit outside without food and water, and even women in labour are not allowed to move out!”

He said he was tired of expecting help and relief from the Government, after numerous attempts. And yet, he never shied away from revealing horrifying realities in the region, even if those truths were unpalatable to most others.

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

(Pictures courtesy heroinas.blogspot.com, www.schumachercollege.org.uk, www.sahilonline.org, kashmirvoice.org)

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Africans today, who else tomorrow?

Somnath Bharti’s antics against the Ugandan women spell doom – will this happen with communities in the country as well?
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

We’ve all heard of the dreaded midnight knocks on doors and raids happening in the Kashmir Valley and in the North East, but to have a similar thing happen in Delhi is unthinkable. Delhi’s Law Minister Somnath Bharti and his men barged into a home of a small group of Ugandan women, and not just abused them but accused them of running prostitution and drug rackets!

Call this intrusion by any term of your choice, barbarism or anarchy or dictatorship, but this act reeks of double standards and racism. Could Bharti and his men have barged into a fellow minister’s home or into a tycoon’s farmhouse or even in the hotel room of a European in this fashion? No, because he would have been thrashed and thrown out!

But his terrorising antics against these Ugandan women have a lot to do with our misconceptions against dark-skinned people and our prejudices against Africans. Bharti merely played on our biases, throwing serious accusations at these hapless women. His language, his thoughts, his tactics – all of these were utterly third class and unworthy of a law minister.

And if this kind of behaviour is not halted in time, it would spell disaster for all of us. For today, this is happening with Africans. Tomorrow, what stops this behaviour from turning inward, towards particular communities or castes or minorities? That’s how ghettos are made – and that’s how so many exist in the country already.

Why speak of ghettos alone? Something like this has already been in operation for so long, in our major cities. Well-to-do Muslims have voluntarily moved to the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Muslims are outright refused houses in upscale localities in Mumbai, and there exist Muslim localities where not a single Hindu family will be found. This has not just broadened the gap between two communities, but has also paved the way for misconceptions about the ‘other’ – and who can blame them? After all, how can children from both communities learn about each other if they are not allowed to mingle with each other, if they are forced to live miles apart?

Coming back to the recent developments in Delhi, I must confess to a definite feeling of dismay. Though I have been writing in support of the AAP all along, I do feel concerned for the future. With little hope in the Congress, one looked at AAP as some sort of a saviour political outfit. But this one incident and its aftermath has paved the way for a re-think.

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

(Picture courtesy in.news.yahoo.com)

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Starting the new year on a high

While the AAP has brought new energy into our politics, lit fests are striking the right note in civil society.
Humra Quraishiby Humra Quraishi

This new year has started on a note of hope. Yes, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) wave has a lot to do with that, at least here in the capital city. Everyone has a wish for the new year…mine is that AAP’s branches, offices, and the enthusiasm of its volunteers and workers spreads to other locales in the country and reaches the people across communities. I would dearly love to see the AAP dent the supposed strongholds of the BJP-RSS and the Congress and SP all over the country.

The other thing getting me considerably excited is the wave of new book releases. I particularly loved this line I recently heard: ‘Tomorrow is the first blank page of a 365-page book. Write a good one.’   

Books and literary festivals are back on the circuit. Even sleepy little towns are planning to host literary dos. And why not! If we can have a newspaper, Khabar Lahireya, published and compiled by a women’s group in the rural stretch of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, we can certainly have small towns hosting literary meets. Still, I was surprised to hear that two literary festivals could be coming up in Lucknow and Gwalior and Bhopal. The list is long: already about a dozen cities of this country are hosting these meets – Mumbai, New Delhi, Jaipur, Cochin, Bangalore, Agra, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Chennai, Goa, Kolkata and Kasauli.

And I hear that an Urdu Literature festival is starting in Patna. Rakhshanda Jalil is organising it in collaboration with the Government of Bihar on January 4 and 5, 2014. Called Jashn-e-Urdu, it will have panel discussions, book exhibition, film screenings, mushaira as well as ghazal singing and a play by Tom Alter.

Can other cities and towns and villages start hosting such meets? I have been telling my writer friends living in different parts of the country to get together and organise a literature fest. But most of them look worried and nervous – of course, organising such an event cannot be without its pitfalls and stress, but there is no need to get too ambitious or go overboard. These fests could be small, and manageable to host, expanding gradually over the years.

But why do I insist on more literature fests? Because nothing unites and educates like the pen does. We saw this during the days of the Raj, when rebel writers and poets unleashed their disgust against British brutalities through their writings. What can be better than uniting our present-day society than a literature festival that educates as well as entertains?

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

(Picture courtesy stevemccurry.com)

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“If there is a re-election, we will get more votes”

Yogendra Yadav, strategist and one of AAP’s key leaders, talks of getting more Muslim support if Delhi goes into reelection.
by Humra Quraishi

In 30 years of my journalism career, I have had the toughest chase on my hands only lately – I have been trying for the longest time to get an interview with the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Arvind Kejriwal, and also Yogendra Yadav, but the party’s functionaries have been working round the clock. Finally, I managed to get Yadav for an interview, and though the interview happened on the phone and well past midnight, he was his usual affable, forthright self.

I spoke to him after he and other members of the AAP had just finished their crucial meet ahead of Saturday morning’s meeting with the Lt Governor of New Delhi. It now transpires that the AAP has sent the Congress party, which is willing to support it, an 18-point conditional letter prior to deciding on forming a Government with them.

Excerpts from the interview:

Late night TV news informed us that the Congress had decided to offer your party support to form the Government here in New Delhi. Will AAP form the Government?

Even we came to know of this news (of Congress’s support to AAP) through the television! Anyway, you will soon come to know of our decision. As of now, all I can say is that we are not following those old political games, we are not into that type of politics. In fact, our strength lies in the fact that we are not following the usual rules of the game. AAP has already brought about a change.

Yogendra Yadav Comment on this latest spat between Anna Hazare and your AAP colleague, Gopal Rai. It’s said to be one of those distracting strategies by your political rivals.

It could have been an avoidable distraction. Gopalbhai and our other colleagues had gone from here to lend support to Anna’s fast, but after this incident, we advised them to return.

The general perception is that AAP is softer on the BJP than on the Congress…

Where does this perception come from? In fact, because of AAP’s presence, it’s the BJP which has suffered the most in the capital city. They are more angry with us because we have spoilt their game!

Will AAP take on Narendra Modi?

We will. We have been carrying out exposes vis-a-vis Narendra Modi, of his links with certain industrialists of Gujarat. Also, don’t overlook the fact that in these Delhi elections, Modi was not a factor, but let the general elections come…we will bring out more exposes.

If there is a re-election in Delhi, will AAP have an advantage?

AAP will have an advantage on two fronts – lots of people who did not vote for us in these elections would now vote for us and we will get more Muslim votes. Also, we will be able to reduce the Congress to the position that it is reduced to in UP and Bihar and then we, the AAP, will take on the BJP.

Do you think the Muslims of Delhi voted for AAP in a major way?

Earlier, the Muslims of Delhi had no choice but to vote for the Congress but this time, the AAP made inroads. It takes time to make a dent or an inroad in a traditional stronghold, but a lot of the young and educated Muslims voted for the AAP.

(Pictures courtesy www.aninews.in, www.prokerala.com)

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Pehle AAP?

What set the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) apart was their fresh approach to campaigning, which the Congress and BJP lacked.
by Humra Quraishi

From Gurgaon I have been travelling to New Delhi on almost all the days of this last week, and on my travels and at my destination, I have been watching and observing the election build up in the national capital. As expected, in the so-called ‘strongholds’ of the Congress and the BJP camps, the mood has been nothing but typical.

When I say ‘typical’, I speak from the experience of past elections, when one saw the same mood and campaigning tactics as those employed in recent times. There have been the same hackneyed slogans and shouting matches between opponents. The same mud-slinging. The same one-liners and cheap shots. Yes, there have been a couple of new inputs concerning Mr Modi, but there has been nothing novel or exciting about the two parties’ campaigning. Which is why the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) came as a breath of fresh air.

I was actually taken aback on seeing the enthusiasm amongst the AAP volunteers and workers, who did not look like they had been ‘bought over’ or ‘paid’ to do their jobs. They looked sincere in their efforts, making it quite obvious that they were out on the streets to campaign because they genuinely wanted to bring about a change in governance at the grassroots level. With brooms in their hands and topis on their heads, they were seen interacting with all people, establishing an instant connect.

Interestingly, while so many of the AAP volunteers walked the streets and campaigned, there was never any need for any police bandobast. I was rather touched on seeing these AAP men and women mingling with the crowds and getting a very positive response from the public. There was also a lot of cheering as the party’s topis were placed on each head. I also received one such topi!

There is no saying what the influence of AAP will be on the future course of politics, but if ever an indication was needed for those currently in power that the country is desperately looking for a change in leadership, the welcome AAP received in Delhi should sound a loud warning bell to all.

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

(Picture courtesy www.livemint.com)

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AAP Pawar pe chup kyun hain?

While Aam Aadmi Party’s ‘black paper’ on Maha irrigation irregularities tears into Sunil Tatkare, it says nothing on Ajit Pawar.
by The Editors | editor@themetrognome.in

Yesterday was clearly Ajit Pawar’s day. The decks were cleared for his return to the Deputy Chief Minister’s post he resigned from on September this year, owing to his name being mired in alleged irregularities in the irrigation sector, and on the other hand, the ‘black paper’ submitted by the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) vehemently tore into Water Resources Minister (WRD) Sunil Tatkare, but did not name Ajit Pawar.

The AAP presented its black paper to State Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan yesterday, following which, Chavan had a meeting with the party’s activists Anjali Damania and Praful Vora, among others. In the paper, AAP has called the white paper on irrigation brought out by the Tatkare-led WRD a “total farce” and demanded for Tatkare’s resignation, but does not name Ajit Pawar anywhere.

Like the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the AAP has also demanded for an SIT-level probe in the matter.

In black and white

In its black paper, AAP has countered almost all of the white paper’s claims, starting with the area under irrigation in the State. While the white paper claims that the area under irrigation increased by 5.17 per cent from 2001 to 2010, the black paper calls this as an attempt to mislead people.

Further, the black paper says that water was illegally diverted from irrigation projects to non-irrigation purposes, and that there were plans to approve 71 new water-intensive thermal power projects in the suicide-prone districts of Vidarbha.

The black paper blames the WRD for rampant corruption and violation, and calls for Tatkare’s resignation, an SIT probe in the irrigation scam and action against politicians, officials and contractors responsible for the mess, apart from demanding an immediate stop on projects that have committed violations. The paper also criticises Chavan, adding that the white paper presented by the WRD to the Government was merely a ‘status paper’ that toed the coalition politics line.

AAP will most likely bring out another black paper on irrigation soon.

(Picture courtesy forbesindia.com)

 

 

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