Sadhvi MP upset over food meetings at Dalit homes
The first-time Dalit BJP MP from Bahraich (Uttar Pradesh), Sadhvi Savitri Bai Phule (38), has become a headache for her party. She has become highly critical of the party’s stand on “the so-called Dalit agenda”. To pursue its Dalit outreach programme under the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan, the BJP has asked its ministers and MPs to eat food at Dalit homes. Criticising this, Phule says, “Five-star food and services are offered to these BJP ministers in the houses of Dalits. Such food baithaks are an insult to the Dalit community,” says the Sadhvi.
“The food is procured from outside and served by others. The venue is a Dalit house. If you really want to honour the Dalits, reach their homes unannounced and share their meals, even if it is roti and namak,” she has remarked, referring to UP Minister Suresh Rana, who had procured food cooked at a nearby medical centre during his visit to the house of a Dalit, Rajnish Kumar, in Lohgarh, Aligarh district, on 30 April.
“If politicians eat at a Dalit’s house in a bid to annihilate the caste system,” says Sadhvi, “it adds to the Dalit self-esteem. But if netas eat food in Dalit homes as a formality and only to appear on social media, then it is an insult to the community,” she told The Sunday Guardian. “There is a contest to share meals with Dalits and hold chaupals in their bastis. But no one is ready to speak about Dalits’ rights which are under attack as never before.”
BJP will re-strategise its Dalit agenda for 2019
The BJP leadership has decided to make major changes in its strategy for big states ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. It is thinking of implementing the “Bihar Dalit Model” in all its party ruled states to win Dalit hearts. In Bihar, the recent exit of two Dalit leaders, former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and former Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary, has jolted the ruling NDA. Both have accused Nitish Kumar of being “anti-Dalit”. Manjhi has embraced Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal.
As per its Mission 2019, the Nitish Kumar-led JDU-BJP coalition government has started doling out financial incentives to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs), Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The aim is to woo them and stop them from drifting towards the Opposition parties, especially RJD. The state government has decided to give financial aid to SC/ST students who qualify for the civil services preliminary exams—Rs 50,000 for those clearing the examination conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) and Rs 1 lakh for those organised by the Union Public Service Commission. Around 1,500 SC/ST candidates have passed the BPSC preliminary exams and 200 the UPSC preliminaries. The government has also decided to give 15 kg grain per month to inmates of hostels meant for SCs, STs, EBCs, OBCs and minorities, besides a pecuniary assistance of Rs 1,000 each as “hostel grant”. There are 111 government hostels for SC and ST students, 33 for EBCs and OBCs and 33 for the minority communities.
“Nitish is shedding crocodile tears for Dalits,” Manji told The Sunday Guardian, commenting that despite prohibition, the liquor mafia was having a free run.
No-admission quota upsets armed services personnel
The children of armed forces personnel, who are recipients of the Yudh Seva Medal series of awards for distinguished services in war or operational areas will no longer be eligible “for preference in admissions to educational institutes”. This has upset the armed services personnel.
A note issued by the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare says: “Approval of the competent authority is conveyed for the removal of the Yudh Seva Medal series of awards, i.e. Sarvottam Yudh Seva Medal (SYSM), Uttam Yudh Seva Medal (UYSM) and Yudh Seva Medal (YSM) from Category-V of the priority list for reservation/preference to the wards of armed forces by universities/autonomous institutions for admission in medical, professional and non-professional courses.”
Armed forces personnel are wondering when they sacrifice their lives for the country, why is the government denying their children admission to universities and professional courses through special quota.
Failed love affair or spy mission?
There is a curious case of a Pakistani citizen, Mohammad Asif (32), who was caught by the Border Security Force on the India-Pakistan border in Punjab’s Firozpur district. He has told his interrogators that he crossed the border on a “suicide mission”, hoping of getting killed by the BSF. “I wanted to die as I could not marry the girl of my choice,” he has claimed.
But the BSF and intelligence agencies are not sure of Asif’s claim. “He may be a spy,” a senior Intelligence Bureau officer told The Sunday Guardian. “For long, especially in Rajasthan’s airbases, many Pakistani men are caught loitering around in suspicious circumstances. Many of them pretended to be deaf and dumb. Some break down during interrogation and start singing like a parrot. They are sent to India after tough training to withstand all kinds of torture. So, at this stage, we are not sure of Asif’s story of a failed love affair,” he said.
Asif told his interrogators that his plan was simple: “Cross the border and get shot by BSF personnel.” But, he says, things did not work out as planned. He was caught by BSF men near the Mabboke outpost area on 28 May evening and later handed over to the police. Asif says that he belongs to Jalloke village in Pakistan’s Kasur district.
“I was in love with the sister-in-law of my elder brother, Atik-ur-Rehman. The girl also loved me and we were keen to get married, but our families became a stumbling block.”
According to him, the girl was married to someone else and he got into depression. “After some time, I came to know that she had divorced her husband. I asked my family to allow me to marry her, but they refused to agree.”
Asif claims that he has studied up to senior secondary and belongs to a rich family that owns 25 acres of land.
Back from France after refusing to remove turban
In March 1991, Ranjit Singh, a Sikh, left Ambala for France in search for better prospects. Last week, he returned to live with his younger son in Pathankot after losing his “subsistence allowance” for refusing to forego his identity as a turbaned Sikh. When contacted, the 82-year-old Singh told The Sunday Guardian that “the turban is part of my body. It is my identity and I cannot part with it at any cost.”
After landing in France, Singh was issued the ID in 1991 with the turban. When the time came for its renewal in 2001, the authorities asked him to get himself photographed without the turban. He refused.
The French government stopped his social security allowance after some years. He challenged the order in the Administrative Tribunal. He also raised the matter with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which dismissed his petition.
He then moved the United Nations against the French law banning the wearing of turban for ID photographs. The UN Human Rights Committee in June 2012 concluded that “France had violated the religious freedom of Ranjit Singh.”
But the French government refused to extend social security allowance to him.
“This caused me a lot of hardship. Despite being a senior citizen, I lost my medical insurance cover. I was forced to pay all my medical bills at a private hospital,” said Singh.
He refused to become a burden on his elder son living in France.
“I then decided to return to India to live with my younger son.” Singh is now planning to approach the Punjab government for old-age pension and other allowances.
Man Mohan can be contacted at rovingeditor@gmail.com