As with all my visits, I grudgingly get ready and get going. The parking is a painful affair. And while I prefer to park at the end of road and walk back, my mother goes “could have parked closer”. I say to myself “Something’s never change”

I ask her if she wants to buy a garland as I can park my slippers with the flowerwala. She starts examining the freshness of the roses – she bargains and decides to just go with the jasmines she already had in hand. While I try to tip the good man for his patience and for his hopeful security to my shoes – she pokes me whyyy. Some things never change. 

While I always favour a place of worship that takes least amount of effort to reach. She is an expert at finding a new temple that will take the whole day. But I was lucky today, it was a closeby Murugan temple which was in the long-time-no-see list 

Once inside I lose her attention and I follow her as she makes me way to the sannidanam. She looks at the long queue and looks at the paid dharshan queue and looks back at me. Whether it was 500 or even 1000 there was no bargaining here. It was for our devotion. While I make strong points for equality in dharshan as usual – she makes points about us being blessed to afford and it was our duty and moral right to use it. And  this ticket is nothing but repayment for his deeds. Some things never change. 

The priest is whipping out Vibuthi in distance as we make way through the line. As we get closer she gets into her Pooja bag emptying its contents- as I empty the content of my shirt pocket where I have neatly rupee note in all denominations. She pulls away the 50 swiftly for the Iyer while he enthusiastically attends to the patron before me who offered 100 bucks. While am done with praying – she meditates for a minute while I look around hoping no one asks us to leave the space. And cut to the Hundi on the way out – I again empty my pocket. This time she picks up the 500 rupee note justifying this goes directly to gods pocket. Somethings never change. 

I realised something – you cannot expect rationality in a religion, otherwise there wouldn’t be a religion in the first place. Let’s agree to disagree with the mothers!

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Even news outlets who make scathing attacks on the government(or I should say made) are conveniently mute on affairs of the court. When an affidavit was filed accusing Ex CJI Rangan Gogoi of sexual harassment, it was only the digital publications like wire and quint that ran it. It was delegated to middle pages and short snippets on most outlets.

Even when four senior judges of the supreme court held a press conference saying then CJI Deepak Misra was arbitrarily assigning sensitive cases to junior judges(stopping short of accusing him of fixing judgements) – there was noise which again got fizzed down. These were voices raised for probe into the suspicious death of Justice Loya hearing Sohrabuddin Sheikh case against Amit Shah among other things. The case was again given to a junior judge in SC and was dismissed – and as always our memory faded away. Even the recent handling of the transfer of Madras Chief Justice by the collegium had no transparency to it. 

Any institution is not above criticism. It’s ironic that when the court has enough time to debate playing national anthem in theatres, but it chooses to delay the matter of CAA. While the streets are filled with protestors, the court chose to wait after December vacation to yesterday and now another 4 weeks. I remember the directors for CBI, NIA and IB being called the next day for a “he said-she said” harassment case, and that case was closed even faster. The SC is not open to criticism of its judgements even by a ex-colleague – slapping Justice Katju with contempt notice.

Let’s not act like no judge has been corrupt or impeached – we have seen rogue judges right from Sikkim Chief Justice resigning over land grabbing to a Calcutta high court judge passing orders against his own arrest and shooting letters against CJI to the government. Or forget the insenstivity judges show towards petitioners – saying “If you are facing threats, there is no safer place than jail” to a journalist appealing for bail in Odisha. While the court is overtly progressive mindset on social causes it maintains a cautious tone on cases involving government policies. 

SC is not a holy grail. When political leaders chosen by the will of people can be criticized. No court is above it.

While it’s true that the Indian judiciary is overworked, understaffed; their salary hiked just 4 times since independence. It’s also true that is fair in most instances and nobler among the three pillars of government. Though opening the court to RTI is a welcome act, but much needs to be done and soon. The court needs more judges like Justice Khanna who delivered the dissenting opinion during emergency or Judge Radhabinod Pal who is still idolized in Japan for his opinion on Tokyo trails!

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Pliable media

Elections are no more won just by the rallies or your local poll workers calling on you; it’s won on the 9 o clock primetime and social apps that reach the large growing base of Indian middle class. The corporate media has been very benevolent to Modi, not asking him any serious questions or countering his narrative. In the very few interviews given to friendly channels he gets away with scripted answers and questions on his favorite foods. Add this with his fondness of not addressing press conferences and one way communication through Man ki bhaat, he never has to be answerable.

Unlimited war chest

Lot has been spoken about the three M’ in elections – money, media and muscle. With increased booth monitoring awareness and EVMs the issue of muscle power and booth capturing has been managed. But electoral funding has a step back from transparency, with the introduction of electoral bonds the BJP has found itself with a 989 Cr war chest while Congress comes a distant second with 143Cr. Ofcouse we know they spend a lot more on the ground, but most TV newspaper and google ads that you see come out of this. So does running your own Namo tv. Not to mention the enormous spending of around 5000 Cr of public money on advertising government schemes. Yes those billboards you see in fuel stations and highways cost money.

Age old hidutva

When Vikas fails for the BJP there’s always a falling pad of Hindutva to appeal to its core base. He went a step ahead from placing Yogi Adityanath to nominating a terror accused Pragya Thakur as a candidate. He didn’t win the elections solely on this plank but for the grassroot workers and the RSS sevaks this makes all the difference on ground. Even when Pragya Thakur called Godse a patriot, he went to do a lip service but stopped short of sacking her.

Docile Institutions

Far from crying about political vendetta and interference by CBI while in opposition. Modi government took the role of caged parrot to whole new level. Countless raids on opposition leaders, reopening old cases like the Bofors only to close it again; it doesn’t matter if there evidence behind a FIR, the mere act of filing an FIR and the publicity behind made it look the leaders are culpable. He even made it away with a midnight dismissal of CBI director.

Clueless Opposition

The opposition has always been on the backfoot, atleast since the Balakot attack. BJP took the narrative to new heights that only BJP’s army would win a war. Suddenly people forgot the last three Indo-Pak wars. Add to this the opposition always had some leader putting foot into his mouth questioning the army. The fact that fiasco of Demonetisation, lacks of jobs, the high fuel prices, crony capitalism in Rafael deal, farm distress or the flawed implementation of GST – any one issue could have brought down the government. The fact that the opposition was not able to build over it, made all the difference.

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And you would think that the government will stand for the small traders and the cracker makers who vote for them. But apparently its idea is to offer green crackers which are yet to be tested. While curbing pollution is yes a priority it’s disturbing that people and courts too always go for the easy targets, the ones without much lobby. Yes crackers cause pollution (just like global warming is real Trump). But is stopping a one day affair without any safeguard or a leeway to the industry and the workers with a hand and mouth existence the way to go? If at all you need to, phase it out; make sure the workers have alternate means. And not surprisingly policemen have come out saying that the two hour window will be tough to enforce. Seriously how many calls can the cops respond to in two hours?

But not all judgements come out without controversy, and nothing seems more controversial than the Sabarimala verdict as of now. What’s interesting on the verdict is that most women around me seem to be against it. Even the most thoughtful ones, like the sole dissenting woman judge. Their reason why interfere with something that you hold sacred or on the other hand dislike and it is not the only temple around. Well religion is not something that comes under the aegis of rationality and equality. People don’t hate Lord Ram for abandoning Sita but rather most see him as a perfect husband. So will the court try to change the epics and traditions to take away the thought of misogyny? Also worth noting is the fact that the Left government standing by its ideology saying we would enforce whatvever the court tells us, but the BJP and Congress seem confused on what side to take, especially after so vehemently supporting woman’s rights and being against triple talaq. But their regional units seem more to the point with their protest against the Left.

Nonetheless it is the prerogative of the government to be the torch-bearer of reforms. No one good can come from an indecisive government or an over arching judiciary or a mute citizen.

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At the outset – am not a great admirer of Hindutva, RSS or its step brothers. Infact I would probably not vote in favour of BJP ever. But I have admired Vajpaayee, his orator-ship and his trying effort to reign in Hindutva. And when Narendra Modi came to power, I was not quick to judge of him, he spoke in length about the Gujarat model, development and clean governance. With the majority at this back, he has the right to show us what he can do. With over 3 years passed – I thought its ideal to look back and form an opinion. The BJP came to power on the pretext of development with job creation and corruption free governance at its core. People were fed with the pile of accusations against the UPA. Four years on we have witnessed phenomenal changes, vital changes taking the country to new heights. Gurgaon has been changed to gurugram, government has taken strict steps for cow protection when the farmers who own these livestock are struggling with incomes, are committing suicides cause of debt, agitating in MP, fasting in the roads of Delhi. The Prime Minister who works as a proprietorship enterprise, rolled out Demonetization, and with the traders yet to breathe from it, the hasty implementation of GST followed.

Am rather discomfortable speaking about demonetization because the narrative has been spun that everyone who questions this is a black money holder. But trying to figure out what went into the Prime Ministers mind while taking this decision, its just bad economics. The costs outweigh the benefits. Whether it’s the cost of printing the notes and the work hours spent on remonitization by bankers(when they could have made the commerce running), its obviously no way close to the assumingly black money that the IT dept may trace. Assumingly cause the ill staffed IT dept finds tough to handle showcause notices and tax queries in its normal workhours and provided the statute of limitations don’t run out. We do wonder how RBI accepted the decision; perhaps Urjit Patel thought more of his job than the autonomy of RBI unlike Rajan. Even then what transpired in the Finance Ministry, well the FM seems to not know that the new notes can’t be loaded into the ATM machines in a day, so he deserves the benefit of doubt for not knowing the effect of demonetization.

What followed was chest thumping, rhetoric and debates on being national and anti national and endless TV interviews of ministers calling it the move of the century. The government kept changing its milestones often from abolishing unaccounted income off the system to say that this was a step towards digital economy. And lets not even delve into the impact of farmers during kharif, the wages of blue collar workers and the people with hand to mouth existence who just lost all money in hand. Yet astonishingly people felt that this was a worthy hardship( I remember my maid saying Modi would deposit her account with a lakh after this exercise) – until things were right back to where they were. But this time with easy to carry lighter 2000 rupees notes for hoarders. Alas the economy is still recovering from it.

Then came GST, which I support cause the tax system in the country is cumbersome and it is easy to board a client or find funding than stay tax compliant at times. Well so did the Congress which suggested it, which the BJP opposed as what a responsible opposition does. Well it did oppose Aadhar, Direct benefit transfer, etc am sensing a trend here, lets move to GST. Simplified tax is great, eliminating multiple taxation is great, interstate movement of goods is great. But the implementation could never have been shoddier with the artificial deadline that the government set with crashing networks, changing slabs and nil exposure among tax consultants.

The government seems to have understood this somehow, though they don’t accept it publicly. Which is why vikaas was left in nivaas in the recent Gujarat and polls. But the Prime Minister did raise some sensational claims about an ex PM, ex Chief of army, ex diplomat plotting an attempt with Pakistanis to bring Ahmed Patel to power in Gujarat. But much like his earlier claims of an attempt to his life, he left us with no evidence to base. Who needs evidence for accusations when the PM speaks. But its ironic that a man with 56” chest and a million and half strong army and paramilitary fears for his life when all others trust him with it. More ironic that such threats only figure in election speeches with no investigation to follow.

Modi of all things I believe is a great puppet master and propagandist. The way he sold the Gujarat model, which is nothing more than a Tamil Nadu or Maharashtra with lower social development, lower healthcare spending and a higher illiteracy rate. Good roads and dedicated SEZs may attract investment but doesnot change the affordability of common man. But he did sell it and for a premium 334 seats too. However the authoritarian in him is unmindful of fact that council of ministers hold power in the central government. India is far big than Gujarat for two people to run things. With PM the face of everything whether its announcing a demonetization to inaugurating a flyover in Gujarat, the ministers are sitting ducks with active twitter handles. One wonder at times if they are all relevant, with the Home Minister having no idea on Naga accord or the External affairs ministry policy on Pakistan relations when Modi made his surprise trip. Diplomacy cannot be changed at the whim at fancy of elected leaders, it should be best left to the bureaucracy with boots on the ground to decide the course.

And beyond all this – worrying is the BJP turning on its Hindutva mode to full again – the unlikely choice of Yogi Adityanath for UP CM, whose credentials for the position are known only to them. And the brazen attacks by cow vigilantes and forming anti romeo squads in a state with a worrying law and order situation. What is more worrying is the PM tactful silence when it comes to these lynchings when he has time to congratulate birthdays and wish beauty pageant winners. And the meddling of BJP governors in state affairs has become the norm of the day, that it does not create the hue and cry of yesteryear.

All this discussions, not much of this makes it to mainstream media, as if there is an unofficial gag to speak against the government. In an era where information controls things, who controls the release of information. When The Wire broke out the Jay Shah case with his revenues jumping 16000 times after Modi sarkar came, not many followed suit. It was omitted or pushed to the inner pages. The reason- news channels said were unverifiable and didn’t want to jump to conclusions – that didn’t stop them in the 2G case. Those people who had been fried and convicted by news media are now acquitted. Is news media losing its autonomy or afraid of being in government bad debt? Worrying is that even during the height of emergency The Indian Express published a blank editorial to criticize censorship. Perhaps the promoters of news channels today don’t want a early morning IT raid in the premises.

The Prime Minister too is shy when it comes to face to face interviews – for someone who nicknamed Maun Mohan Singh, he did not even come near him on meeting the press. He prefers to choose the questions and answers with his “Man ki bhaat”.

The common man of this nation aren’t bothered about the changing names of planning commission, the global summit or the foreign trips…they are bothered about the changes on the ground. Today is testing times for who we are as a nation. We see new thoughts thrust on us on what s meant by secularism, what is anti national. We live in a beautiful yet diversified country, pluralism is a part of our culture, our identity. We learn Tagore and Kabir in the north but won’t tolerate imposition of Hindi in the South. The government has misconceived their mandate as a victory for communal or religious politics rather than as a call for change.

The post An opinion appeared first on Quarter Mile Journey.

At times we feel that news is pessimistic. There are a lot of success stories and social entrepreneurs and activists worth mentioning. But the only time TV anchors smile most is when reading cine and sports news with a pinch of gossip. I don’t say it’s not to be mentioned but is it important to take center stage. It has become a vicious cycle where sports and cinema produce news and in turn get popularity from channels.

Journalists have to undo this trend and – put sensibility before sensation; put facts before TRP ratings and put ethics before entertainment. It was journalism that changed track of Vietnam war, journalism that brought out sex abuse of catholic priests, journalism that showed the racial discrimination penetrated into mortgage lending…

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And is reservation really helping on ground level? Lets take an example, in an instance there were two students in a reputed private school, they ended up gaining scores 198 and 170. The one who scored 170 would end up in reserved seat because of the fact that he is from a scheduled caste while the one with 198 cant make it because they are already hundreds to compete with when in open quota. With the same coaching, the same boarding, the same atmosphere – if one could end up in free seat, where is the sense of equality. I suppose that education and learning is not linking to genes, if so would such an act be rational.  And how could a student who is able to handle the economics of a private institution and board in it be classified under scheduled class. Reservation was based on social status of caste because caste had a relevance to their livelihood in the early 90s. With the first generation having tasted the benefits of reservation, the second generation which is uplifted again makes use of the system. Solution would be to base it on socio economic conditions than solely on caste; in such a way that students from rural sides with schooling in public schools are given preferences over other backward class students from private schools.

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