#Kshatriya women protest

[townpostin]

Kshatriya Women Nationwide Protest Against Atrocities on Women and Children

Led by Chanda Singh, Kshatriya women demand strict action; Mamata Banerjee’s effigy burned in protest. Kshatriya women across India protested against rising violence on women and children, demanding swift and severe government action. JAMSHEDPUR – Kshatriya women from across India gathered in protest today, expressing their outrage over the increasing violence against women and children and the…

[blackknight-100]

another one, if you don't mind <333

I wish you'd write a fic about Lakshman Kumara and Duryodhan centric :)

No I don't mind hehe :))

Much to his father’s chagrin, Kumara is no warrior. Of course, it would be a cause for distress. He comes from the family of Arjuna – whose skill with the bow is superseded only by the Gods, of Yudhisthira – a lancer the likes of which was never seen before. Uncle Bheema and his father remain the best wrestlers and mace-wielders in all of Aryavart, bested only by each other though they forever deny it. Even Uncles Dushashana, Nakula and Sahadeva display unparalleled talent with their swords. Then there is Uncle Vasusena, whose prowess does not stop at one field. How many times had he heard the tale of a bowman wiping the floor with Jarasandha! Uncle Ashwatthama cannot be spoken of – he is war reborn.

To his utter horror, the bards sing paeans even of his cousin Abhimanyu! Vrishasena seems to be eager to keep the paternal competition alive, for he turns out to be almost as good a warrior as the hymns in his name – few though they are – make him out to be. In this constellation of shining stars, Lakshmana is but the dark space – as much a humiliation to his father as he is to his namesake.

Uncle Vasusena is the only one wholly unconcerned with his incompetence. Even Uncle Ashwatthama has opinions regarding this, and he rarely has opinions about anything. Though, he mostly says, “Your son is inclined towards peace. Why do you want to ruin this golden mentality?”

Then Father would say, “We are Kshatriyas, we are born to fight. I will not have my son sit at home wearing bangles like a hapless woman.”

At this point, Mother would inevitably lose her temper and start screaming, “You think women are weak? Women are hapless? I will show you hapless.”

Father would say, “Look Bhanu, your son is a coward, and there is no denying this truth.”

And mother would say, “Wash off the blood of your cousins’ wife from the halls where you disrobed her before you speak ill of my son.”

By this time, Uncle Ashwatthama would have whisked him away.

Uncle Vasusena seems to be forever angry with his father in this regard. It is the only matter on which they quarrel and it distresses Kumara to know that he is the cause of strife between two bosom friends. Sometimes, he wishes he were a girl, for then, his poetic interests would be appreciated, not scorned. It is unfair to Lakshmanaa, he knows, that the more competent one of the two would be married of to some strange family for politics.

Lakshmana cannot help it. Guru Drona tries hard to mask his frustration with the incompetent Prince. Guru Balarama tries his best, but there is only so much he can do. Uncle Vasusena squirrels him away whenever he visits from Anga, and teaches him little tips and tricks with the bow.

“It doesn’t matter how lousy your aim is, in the battlefield, there will always be someone who gets in the arrow’s way,” he would say.

All this time, his father rages.

When the Great War comes knocking at the door, Father demands Lakshmana fight. All his uncles and his mother protest, but Father is a statue carved in stone, immovable and unshakable. At some point, both Uncle Vasusena and Uncle Ashwatthama start shouting, and he has never seen these three friends fight, so he steps up and whispers, “When does it start?”

He wishes Father would be proud, but the Crown Prince only looks annoyed. Uncle Ashwatthama gapes at him, and Uncle Vasusena stops mid-sentence, jaw parted comically in shock.

Later they come to him and say, “Come, train with us.” Lakshmana realises they are only trying to keep him alive.

It works the first few days, though Lakshmana suspects the Pandavas, his uncles, too more busy trying to kill Great-Grandfather Bheeshma to pay him any mind. Abhimanyu waves cheerily at him from the other side everyday before they start, and Lakshmana secretly hopes they’ll come out of it together.

He aches with every life he takes, but when he kills Shikhandi’s son, Father looks proud, and Lakshmana cannot bring himself to regret it. They were the enemy anyway.

On the thirteenth day, after Great-Grandfather Bheeshma falls, they settle in the Chakravyuha. Ironically, it is Abhimanyu’s attack that fells him, and the only relief he has is that he bleeds from his neck – a wound that promises quick death. Abhimanyu looks horrified. In his last moments, he sees Vrishasena ditch his horse and come running up to him, and he thinks he hears Father howl, but everything is foggy and he sinks under. He is grateful, in this life, he has made his father proud – even if it were with his death.

(Later, when Duryodhana would order Abhimanyu to be killed, and rage in his tents alone; when Uncle Vasusena would sit quiet and drawn, Uncle Ashwatthama would ask Father, “If you loved him so, why couldn’t you tell him when he was there?” Uncle Vasusena would moan, and Father would have had no answer. But the dead are unconcerned with the knotted affairs of mortals, so it would not matter anyway.)

[kalyan-gullapalli]

Post # 129

The world's first Parliament of Religions...

On 11th September, 1893, the modern world's first Parliament of Religions was convened in Chicago, in order to create "a global dialogue of faiths." In that parliament, Hinduism was represented by a young monk we all know as Swami Vivekananda. When called to the podium, Swami Vivekananda mentally prayed to Goddess Saraswati to get rid of his nervousness, and then began his speech with the salutation, "Sisters and brothers of America!". To these words, he got a standing ovation which lasted for a full two minutes. When silence was restored, he greeted America, the youngest of the nations, on behalf of "the most ancient order of monks in the world, the Vedic order of sannyasins, a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance!"

Exactly 100 years later, in 1993, again in Chicago, a centenary parliament was convened, followed by one every five years or so - in 1999 in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2004 in Barcelona, Spain, in 2009 in Melbourne, Australia, in 2014 in Brussels, Belgium and in 2018, in Toronto, Canada.

But do you know where the first ever Parliament of Religions was held? In a place called Kalyan or Basavakalyan, in Bidar district of modern day Karnataka, in the 12th century. Therein lies a tale.

By the middle of the first millennium of Anno Domini, ie. by the 5th-6th centuries AD, Hinduism vied with Buddhism and Jainism to remain as the dominant religion in the country. However, by then, it had lost its fluidity. It has become rigid, with its uncompromising rules and water-tight hierarchies. It was relevant only to the Brahmin and Kshatriya castes - a small percentage of the population. The majority - lower castes, the casteless untouchables and women - probably found Hinduism stifling and not liberating. Buddhism and Jainism had fewer entry barriers, but their strict austerities were not easy to follow. In this context, The Bhakti movement took birth and provided a solution to the masses.

The Bhakti movement, which began around the 8th century AD and continued well into the 15-17th centuries, was a breath of fresh air into Hinduism. First of all, it was an inclusive movement. It was not restricted to the "classes"; the "masses" could participate. Second, it emphasized on an individual relationship with God, using the most basic of human assets - emotions, rather than on complicated rituals and rites, that needed specialized knowledge. It created saints out of cobblers, potters and untouchables - both men and women.

One such prominent social reformer, poet, philosopher and statesman was Basavanna, also called Basaveshwara, of the 12th century Karnataka.

Basava was born in 1105 AD in a Brahmin family in Northern Karnataka. He rose to become the Chief Minister in King Bijjala's Court. As chief minister of the kingdom, Basavanna used the state treasury to initiate social and religious reforms. One of the many initiatives he undertook was the setting up of the Anubhava Mantapa, widely regarded as the World's first Parliament of Religions, in Basavakalyan.

Mantapa = Assembly or Pavilion; Anubhava = Spiritual experience

The Anubhava Mantapa was a center where spritual experiences were shared by all and sundry. It was a public assembly which attracted men and women across various walks of life, from distant lands to openly discuss spiritual, economic and social issues of life.

It was an academy of mystics, saints and philosophers, called Sharanas. It was presided over by the mystic Allama Prabhu. Other giants like Akka Mahadevi, Channabasavanna and Basavanna himself were participants. The Anubhava Mantapa worked to build a vibrant casteless, creedless society. The Sharanas belonged to all strata of the society.

The main mode of exchange of ideas was through Vachana Sahitya. Vachana literally means - that which is said. In practice, however, they are prose texts - simple to understand, rhythmic poetry.

Great deal of importance was given to dignity of labor and equality of all segments of the society. One of Basavanna's most famous Vachanas is Kaayakave Kailasha - which actually means Work is Worship. Kaayaka = Work; Kailasha = Path to salvation.

This Parliament of Religions also had its own charter. Below is a summary of its founding principles.

The Anubhava Mantapa gave rise to a system of ethics and education, at once simple and exalted. It sought to inspire ideals of social and religious freedom. It even created in a sect of people called Lingayats, who are a significant part of the socio-cultural fabric of Karnataka even today.

Unfortunately, the spirit of the Anubhava Mantapa was crushed when an inter-caste marriage that Basava facilitated was annulled and the couple were punished for the same by the King. Basava's dream of the classless society was shaken as he resigned as Chief Minister in protest and died an year later.

The Anubhava Mantapa still exists in Basavakalyan.

Basava, the Anubhava Mantapa and the Sharana movement were displayed on the Karnataka tableau on 26th January, 2020, as a part of the Republic Day celebrations.

[kjrazia]

Incredible India!

When you think about India, a lot of things come up to your mind. Maybe the diversity or the beauty of the different dialects, the culture or even the beauty in the land and sea; on the other hand for some India may be the politics, the democracy or all the scams that we know of.

India is a country where the land is divided into 28 states and  9 union territories and who knows maybe by the time I finish this article the numbers may change. There are multiple languages and people are differentiated from the different class and caste they come from.

The caste system of Brahman, Kshatriya, Vyshiya and Shudra denoting the purity of blood and the upper middle and lower class shows the money this purity holds; you find this differentiation in every nook and corner of the country from Kashmir to Kanya Kumari and from Gujarat to Meghalaya stretching down the length and breadth of the country.

The best place to find this division of people on the money they have is the great Indian Railways. The unreserved general compartments rattles with chaos of people fighting to find a small space to fit in. the ladder climbs up to the sleeper class compartments with the white collars showing off the little extra money that can buy you a little cushion on the seats and a cleaner toilet that has water. What top this list is the AC compartments that looks like the house of a rich relative where even the children don’t cry loudly and people are poised.

It’s not about the money, but what privilege this money buys you.

In a country like India where 10% of the population has the 57% of the total wealth, the land that has one of the world’s richest man and one of the world’s poorest man. India is not just home to the world’s tallest statue but also to the world’s largest slum.

Inequality has spread over to education, health care and even water. The street of India has children begging to get one square meal a day, but is also the same place where you’d find the most expensive car.

The prime minister has the audacity to go to another country and shout out in all the languages he has mustered up to tell that everything is fine, but again is the same country where there is a downfall in almost everything.

Let’s point out what exactly is wrong in the country one by one

·      Economic growth falls to lowest in over 6 years; GDP expanded just 5%, manufacturing sector slumps alarmingly. - Economic Times (Aug 2019)

·         Rupee sinks to all-time low, breaches 74-mark against US dollar - Times of India (Oct 2018)

·         18 public sector banks hit by 2480 fraud cases worth Rs. 32,000 crore in first quarter 2019

·         PMC bank customers cannot withdraw more than 1000 from their accounts, says RBI - September 2019

·         33% of India’s skilled youth Jobless: official Survey. - NDTV (Aug 2019)

·         Global Hunger Index: India’s ranking slips to 103 among 119 countries - PTI (Oct 2018)

·         New Lok Sabha has 475 crorepati MPs: ADR

·         Almost 50% MPs in Lok Sabha have criminal records, a 44% increase from 2009 - India Today (May 2019)

There are students of JNU being beaten up in the dark because they protest for affordable education which is a basic right. Privatization of Air India and BPCL is bringing in the doubt of a move towards a capitalistic economy. Parties that swore would never get together, made alliances and formed the government overnight in Maharashtra. Article 370 was removed where the entire status of a state is removed without even letting the people know and the locking down the government and yes of course it’s the largest democracy in the world. According to NCRB 2019 there is a record of 39 crimes against women every hour as per 2016, and still this country gives more protection to cows than people. This is incredible India for me!

[antoine-roquentin]

Christianity could not provide social upward mobility, but it ensured that Satyam and his siblings received a proper education, despite taunts from caste Hindus. Because they were educated, Gidla’s relatives could get jobs in Christian schools and hospitals. But a brown-skinned Christian was still treated very differently from a white-skinned one, and brahmin converts to the imperial religion refused to marry untouchable Christians. Conversion didn’t erase the stigma of untouchability. As a teenager, Satyam was hostile to Nehru and Gandhi – he saw them as products of British rule and tied to it in too many ways – but sympathetic to the militant, secular nationalism of Subhas Chandra Bose. From here, Satyam moved the short distance to the Communist Party, inspired by the accounts that student CP members gave him of the Telangana peasants’ struggle. Until a few years before his death in 2012, Satyam was engaged in the peasant resistance in Andhra Pradesh. After the Communist Party split in 1967 he became involved in the Naxalite, Maoist wing of the party, backing an armed revolt. After its failure, and the killing of many Naxalite leaders, he cofounded the People’s War Group, which Gidla describes as the ‘most notorious, famous and successful Naxalite party, a thorn in the side of the Indian rulers’. He was eventually expelled from it after complaining about the party’s treatment of untouchables. ‘Talk of caste feeling within the party had always been taboo,’ Gidla writes, but young untouchables were beginning to see it as a political issue. They told Satyam that ‘when they joined, they were not given a gun. Instead, they were handed a broom and told to sweep the floors.’ For a long time, too long, he’d preferred to believe that caste prejudice was false consciousness and would disappear in time. It never had. Even in the People’s War Group, members of the barber caste shaved their comrades, washer-caste members washed the clothes and the untouchables ‘were made to sweep and mop the floors and clean the lavatories’. This was life in a revolutionary group committed to an armed struggle to liberate the poor. 

Satyam can’t have been too surprised by this. He had suffered many insults from upper-caste members of the party, some of whom would leave money in the lavatory in order to see if he pocketed it. Feeling that the question of caste had now reached a new stage (there had been massacres of untouchables and angry responses), he confronted his comrades on the Central Committee. Their response was ‘swift and ruthless. He was expelled on the spot for “conspiring to divide the party”.’ The news of his expulsion became public when Gidla’s mother wrote a letter to a newspaper explaining what lay behind it. That was when most people found out that the founder of the People’s War Group, whom they knew as a revolutionary and a poet, publishing under the pseudonym Siva Sagar, was also an untouchable. 

*

Gidla, born in appalling conditions in an untouchable ghetto in the city of Kazipet in Telangana, now works as a conductor on the New York subway (she lost her job as a software programmer in a bank after the 2008 financial crash). Her experiences in the United States pushed her to write this book, an attempt to explain to her new friends and colleagues the difference between caste and race. Race is visible. Caste is a hierarchy established more than 2500 years ago. ‘What comes by birth and can’t be cast off by dying – that is caste,’ Arundhati Roy describes it in an essay introducing B.R. Ambedkar’s 1930s classic, The Annihilation of Caste:

What we call the caste system today is known in Hinduism’s founding texts as varnashrama dharma or chaturvarna, the system of four varnas. The approximately four thousand endogamous castes and sub-castes (jatis) in Hindu society, each with its own specified hereditary occupation, are divided into four varnas – Brahmins (priests), Kshatriyas (soldiers), Vaishyas (traders) and Shudras (servants). Outside of these varnas are the avarna castes, the Ati-Shudras, subhumans, arranged in hierarchies of their own – the Untouchables, the Unseeables, the Unapproachables – whose presence, whose touch, whose very shadow is considered to be polluting by privileged-caste Hindus … Each region of India has lovingly perfected its own unique version of caste-based cruelty, based on an unwritten code that is much worse than the Jim Crow laws.

Unsurprisingly, Gidla’s tone in her portrait of everyday social and political life in India over the late 19th and 20th centuries is defiant, sometimes angry: Gandhi is portrayed as a hypocrite, Nehru as a conscienceless Kashmiri brahmin who was happy to send troops to crush the Telangana peasant uprising and remained unaffected by the resulting thousands of deaths. Unlike his many apologists, Gandhi never concealed his views on the caste system. He was opposed to treating untouchables badly, but defended the system itself: ‘I am one of those who do not consider caste to be a harmful institution,’ he wrote in the journal Young India in 1920. ‘In its origin, caste was a wholesome custom and promoted national wellbeing. In my opinion, the idea that inter-dining or intermarrying is necessary for national growth is a superstition borrowed from the West.’

Contrary to the radical slogans of the late 1940s, India’s wasn’t a ‘fake independence’. Self-rule was achieved at a high price and it meant something, but it incorporated many colonial practices. The new masters benefited, but for the untouchables, tribals and others conditions remained the same or got worse. According to recent estimates by India’s National Crime Records Bureau, every 16 minutes a crime is committed by caste Hindus against an untouchable – or Dalit, as they prefer to be called. The figures are horrific: every month 52 Dalits are killed and six kidnapped; every week almost thirty Dalit women are raped by caste Hindus. This will be a serious underestimate. Most victims of caste violence don’t report the crime for fear of reprisals, notably death by burning.

In 2012 the Indian and Western media extensively covered the gang rape and murder of a single woman in Delhi, largely because students and feminist groups had protested on the streets and made it an issue; that same year 1574 Dalit women were raped and 651 Dalits murdered. Add to this the regular mob punishment of Dalit and low-caste women: they are forcibly stripped then paraded through villages to humiliate them further. Politically a democracy, constitutionally secular, India has, since 1947, been a caste Hindu dictatorship. During the run-up to independence, B.R. Ambedkar pinpointed the futility of ‘rights’: ‘If the fundamental rights are opposed by the community, no law, no parliament, no judiciary can guarantee them in the real sense of the word … What is the use of fundamental rights to the Negro in America, to the Jews in Germany and to the Untouchables in India?’ He also advised the leader of the Muslim League, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, not to place any trust in the brahmin-dominated Congress and to fight hard for a Muslim state. Ambedkar considered demanding a separate status for untouchables, slicing them away from Hinduism. This would have given them separate electoral representation as was the case with Muslims and other minorities. Gandhi talked him out of this by flattery, and by arguing that since Ambedkar would be drafting the new Indian constitution he could write in all the safeguards he wanted. This did happen, but had little impact. ‘Implement the Constitution’ remains a Dalit demand to this day.

[werindialive]

Bisahulal Sahu released an apology for his Upper caste women comment

Madhya Pradesh minister Bisahulal Sahu on Sunday extended an apology for his comment regarding upper caste women and how they should work like the ones from the lower strata. The apology came after a warning from the chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Rajput along with other upper caste organizations protested against the comments. “The women from lower strata of society in the villages work in the fields and also do household chores. But the big people like Thakur and Thakar keep their women confined to homes and do not let them go out. They should pull them out from their houses because both men and women should work equally,” said Sahu on Thursday.

Sahu was called by Chauhan on Sunday after which he released an apology. “Whatever the sentiment, the message should not go wrong. Every word should be spoken carefully. I have warned all the ministers and MLAs (members of legislative assembly) that such statements should not be given under any circumstances.” He added anything that sends a wrong message to the people will not be forgiven whoever the person may be. He added respect for women is paramount.

There was also a video released by Sahu in which he can be seen resecting women. “My statement hurt their sentiments so I want to apologies. My intention was not to hurt anyone.”

There was a huge protest by Rajput groups Karni Sena and Kshatriya Mahasabha on Saturday against Sahu’s statement.

For more political news India in Hindi, subscribe to our newsletter.

[avani008]

So I watched Padmaavat....

(And I have thoughts. Who’s surprised?)

tl;dr: beautiful cinematography/costumes/people as to be expected from Bhansali, so much Islamophobia, so much bi/homophobia, and so much of a refusal to focus on the female characters, who are the only competent/likeable people in this whole thing.

(More of my subjective ranting behind the cut for spoilers)

Cleverer people than I have commented on the Islamophobia, misogyny, and bi/homophobia already, both on Tumblr and on the rest of the internet, so I won’t repeat their assessments except to add that I agree completely. It’s....pretty wince-worthy, especially given the irony of the protests surrounding this movie in the first place. I’m just going to add some of the thoughts that I had that I haven’t seen other people mention, because I don’t think I can improve on the thoughtful criticism already out there.

An addendum to the beautiful cinematography comment above: the movie starts with Ranveer bringing in the most ridiculous-looking CGI ostrich possible. There’s....absolutely no plot reason for this to be an ostrich, specially; it could have been any exotic creature or object. But yet, the random ostrich is there in all its glory, never to be mentioned again.

In hindsight, I should have taken this as a sign.

As I see it, the problem with Padmaavat is that there are the makings of what I would consider a really interesting movie (well, to me, at least) somewhere buried within it, only for these plot points to be ignored and dropped. For example, with regards to the Islamophobia! What many of the reviews don’t mention is that Khilji’s first wife, Mehrunissa, is an interesting and positive Muslim character! Who doesn’t get killed off! (And whose reaction to meeting Padmavati in the flesh is, IIRC, something along the lines of: “even angels would fall for your beauty, I can hardly blame my husband.”

Yes, the AU where they run off together and leave their terrible husbands just writes itself.)

Her relationship and reaction to Khilji’s rise is fascinating, as is the fact that in her last scene with Khilji, he....actually seems to have feelings for her, despite his terrible treatment of her throughout the film. Ranveer got 100% more interesting to me in this scene, where he was allowed to be an actual human being instead of a near-comedic caricature of the Evil Muslim, and Aditi Rao Hydari knocks it out of the park. 

So why not show Khilji’s part of the story through Mehrunissa’s perspective? And, if you must keep Khilji boorish bestial for whatever narrative reason, why not have all the other Muslim characters be civilized and complex as they would have been in real life, instead of these stupid narrative cut-outs of chicken-gnawing barbarians? In that case, it would be much easier to read Khilji’s portrayal as Mehrunissa’s biased perspective, rather than the disturbing political implications it holds.  Furthermore, instead of the film being a love triangle, the film could just as easily compare and contrast Padmavati--in a land far from her birthplace, surrounded by odd customs--and Mehrunissa--trapped in familiar surroundings turned upside down by her husband’s systemic slaughter of her family? If they must keep the jauhar, juxtaposing it with Mehrunissa’s survival and adding a plot arc for her where she decides to survive at all costs would do a lot of make it seem like Padmavati’s choice was a personal one for her, rather than The One Right Choice Every Woman Should Make.

(That said: guys, the jauhar scene is stomach-turning. There’s a pregnant woman and what looks like a preteen clearly featured, and despite the heroic music, all I felt was horror. Plus I couldn’t help but wonder what happened to all the non-kshatriya women in the fort? Or the male children? Or the farmers, who get a one-second mention of being brought inside to safety and then never mentioned again? Does anyone care about their well-being???)

Speaking of Padmavati--she surprised me, in being pretty great! Given Bajirao Mastani’s horribly shallow Mastani, I did not have high hopes, but Padmavati is actually smart! Allowed some measure of agency! Sure, once she marries, her “Singhal” (....in what way is that Sri Lanka, by the way? Deepika runs around in loose salwar kameez, hunts deer, and hangs out in a cave with Buddha statues all around, and....in no way resembles anything like actual South Indian culture whatsoever.) identity, personal hobbies, religion all get consumed by her husband’s Rajput identity, but I will take what I can get. Poor Padmavati is, in most scenes, the only voice of reason around--and when she’s not, her husband’s first wife gets to point out helpful things like: “Hey, maybe we shouldn’t waste time or resources celebrating Diwali when we’re under siege” and “You idiots, of course Khilji’s going to come back and attack us once more since you left him alive.”

The reason why no one listens to Padmavati, and the movie’s not 2 hours shorter, is because of her husband and the character i found myself hating the most, Rawal Ratan Singh. As presented in Padmaavat, this guy is unbearable: every five seconds he’s babbling about honor, and using that as an excuse to make really, really stupid decisions. How stupid? Going-to-meet-Khilji-in-his-camp-alone-and-unarmed-because-of-HONOR (before he promptly gets captured and Padmavati has to save him) stupid. Insisting-on-going-to-see/taunting-Khilji-during-his-escape (so that Mehrunissa and Padmavati have to risk their lives to save him, and Gora and Badal die covering his escape when he finally decides to leave) stupid. Getting accidentally shot by Padmavati at their first meeting (so she has to save him) stupid.

Are you guys noticing a pattern?

I have...no clue what Padmavati sees in him, or why they are supposed to be so in love. Their big love scenes consist of lots of....staring at each other, and that’s mostly it; their other discussions consist of Padmavati pointing out logical, well-reasoned arguments to just KILL KHILJI ALREADY, and Ratan Singh refusing because of (you guessed it) HONOR. Not only that, but his overall treatment of his first wife is....really terrible. Unlike in Bajirao Mastani, where the second marriage is kind of sorta accidental (?), and Bajirao at least expresses regret for hurting Kashi, here Ratan Singh has No Idea why his wife is pissed that he regifted her father’s priceless pearl necklace, No Idea why she’s upset and hurt that he brings home a Suprise! Second wife instead of the damn pearls, No Idea why he needs to spend any time with her any more instead of hanging out with Padmavati 24/7.....In conclusion, Ratan Singh is terrible, IMHO, and for a second there, it almost seems Bhansali wants you to feel the same frustration with his over-idealism--until we’re back to celebrating his HONOR and HOW HISTORY WILL REMEMBER HIM, and I shake my head in disbelief. 

(I’m serious about wanting Padmavati and Mehrunissa to find freedom and happiness. Maybe Ratan Singh’s poor first wife can escape the madness, too.)

In conclusion, it’s....amazing how much we lucked out with Baahubali as period drama, compared to Padmaavat--while I appreciate all the hard work the cast and crew put in, I honestly feel like the moments that the makers find interesting in the movie and I find interesting are fundamentally incompatible, unfortunately.

[itsfinancethings]

January 24, 2020 at 10:00PM

On Jan. 14, protesters gathered in the northern Indian city of Allahabad and lit candles at the base of a tree trunk, beside portraits of two fathers of the Indian nation.

One, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi—better known by his honorific, Mahatma (great soul)—is recognizable as the Indian independence activist and icon to peaceful protesters around the world.

The other, however, remains lesser known outside India. He is Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, the primary author of the Indian constitution, which came into effect 70 years ago on Sunday. Since December, his image has been held aloft by crowds of demonstrators, who say the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s attempts to reform citizenship laws undermine that constitution.

Ambedkar did more than draft the constitution: he was also a revered civil rights leader. Born a Dalit (a social classification formerly called “untouchable,” the lowest position in the Hindu caste system,) he suffered discrimination throughout his life. In 1936, he wrote the influential pamphlet Annihilation of Caste, a blistering argument against the ancient system of social stratification. And when, starting in 1947, he hammered out the Indian constitution’s integral principles of democracy, equality and freedom of religion, he also inserted sections prohibiting caste-based discrimination and legally outlawing the practice of untouchability.

But 70 years after the Indian constitution came into force, left-wing protesters aren’t the only group claiming to be the ideological heirs to Ambedkar. In recent weeks, his image has also appeared at Hindu nationalist counter-protests. Prime Minister Narendra Modi often invokes Ambedkar in speeches, claiming his government’s policies further the goals Ambedkar pursued throughout his life, including the annihilation of caste. “No government has, perhaps, given respect to Babasaheb [Ambedkar] the way our government has,” Prime Minister Modi said in 2018, referring to him by an honorific loosely translated as “respected father.” “Instead of dragging him into politics, we should all try to walk on the path he has shown us.”

The last 40 years, however, show how Ambedkar has been repeatedly dragged into the political arena — even while the casteless future he fought for during his life remains distant.

Here’s what to know about the fight over Ambedkar’s legacy.

Who was B.R. Ambedkar?

Ambedkar was born in 1891 into a family that had long been bound to the bottom of Indian society, considered impure by higher-caste Hindus. Although he and other Dalits were segregated at school, he managed to pass his exams, obtain a degree in economics and political science from Bombay University, and went on to get a Masters at Columbia University in New York before training as a lawyer in London. In 1936, after returning to India, he wrote Annihilation of Caste, his magnum opus.

Written during the struggle that eventually led to India’s independence in 1947, Annihilation of Caste was a searing critique of not just the age-old caste system (still observed today by many Hindus in India), but also the independence movement led by Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, both high-caste Hindus.

Ambedkar argued that even if India were to become independent, Dalits would still languish at the bottom of society unless caste was abandoned by all. “The question of whether the Congress is fighting for freedom has very little importance as compared to the question for whose freedom is the Congress fighting,” he said.

Before his death in 1956, Ambedkar converted from Hinduism to Buddhism, inspiring thousands of Dalits to do the same. “I had the misfortune of being born with the stigma of an Untouchable,” he said. “However, it is not my fault; but I will not die a Hindu, for this is in my power.”

What is caste?

The caste system in India is a form of social hierarchy deriving from the varna system laid out in Hinduism’s foundational texts. There are four varnas: Brahmins (priests), the highest; Kshatriyas (soldiers or administrators); Vaishyas (merchants); and Shudras (servants), the lowest. Outside the varna system are those considered lower still: Dalits, whose traditional tasks include shoveling human manure. Dalits—who make up more than 200 million of India’s 1.3 billion population—continue to face discrimination in India today. Some members of higher castes refuse to touch anything that has come into physical contact with them, hence the moniker “untouchables.”

The Mahars, the specific Dalit caste to which Ambedkar belonged, were expected to tie brooms around their waists to sweep away their footprints. Even in 1998, nearly 90% of people employed by the Indian government as “sweepers,” whose jobs include removing human waste from toilets, were Dalits. In Ambedkar’s day, just as in present-day India, murders of lower castes by higher castes were common.

“Untouchability is not a simple matter,” Ambedkar said in a speech in 1927. “It is the mother of all our poverty and lowliness and it has brought us to the abject state we are in today… The inequality inherent in the four-castes system must be rooted out.”

Why are both sides claiming Ambedkar’s legacy?

The battle over Ambedkar’s legacy between India’s Hindu nationalist right-wing and its secular left is relatively new, according to historians and anti-caste activists.

“The BJP’s discovery of Ambedkar is recent, and started after the election which brought Modi to power in 2014,” says Sumantra Bose, professor of international and comparative politics at the London School of Economics. “Following that victory, Modi and his chief strategist Amit Shah concentrated on wooing non-upper caste Hindus, who have traditionally not been BJP supporters in large numbers, in order to expand their support base.”

Dalits, says Bose, are a natural target for the BJP because they make up approximately one sixth of the Indian electorate. “It’s a clear case of trying to superficially flatter the memory of the biggest Dalit icon in order to build a pan-Hindu vote bank across caste divides.”

The BJP promised in its 2014 manifesto to eradicate the remaining vestiges of untouchability in Indian society and lift Dalits from poverty. But the BJP government has reduced funding for programs intended to do so, according to a study by Sukhadeo Thorat, former chairman of the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies. “They never raised the standard of these castes,” Thorat tells TIME. “This is the whole strategy used by the Prime Minister, that you appropriate an individual, forget about his views and ideology, and in the process kill that ideology.”

In some technicalities of the constitution, however, Hindu nationalists argue they are in closer alignment with Ambedkar’s beliefs than secular protesters. The BJP said in 2019 that Ambedkar opposed Article 370, the section of the constitution guaranteeing semi-autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir, which the BJP revoked in August. Historians, however, have disputed that claim.

The BJP also says Ambedkar was a proponent of a “uniform civil code” in India, one of the party’s key policy goals. Under India’s version of secularism, different religious communities are governed by different “personal laws” governing matters like divorce and inheritance. Ambedkar inserted a clause into the constitution calling for a uniform civil code. But in the febrile climate after independence, with religious violence on the rise, Nehru decided to compromise and allow for personal laws to reassure the Muslim minority community. So instead, Ambedkar diverted his attention to reforming the Hindu personal laws to be more progressive. His reforms legalized inter-caste marriages and gave women the right to initiate divorce. In making those reforms, Ambedkar’s main opponent was the Hindu nationalist right.

Today, the BJP says Ambedkar would have been their ally in their pursuit of a uniform civil code. But Dalit activists say this is another case of trying to appropriate of Ambedkar’s legacy. “If uniformity is what [the BJP] want, there’s no uniformity among Hindus,” says S. Anand, referring to continued caste hierarchy in India today. Anand, the co-founder of Navayana, a Delhi-based publishing house focused on anti-caste literature, adds: “Ambedkar never spoke of a uniform civil code as a priority.”

Sanchit Khanna/Hindustan Times via Getty Images—2019 Hindustan TimesA BJP supporter holds up an image of B.R Ambedkar during a rally for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 22, 2019 in New Delhi, India.

Another reason for the BJP’s adoption of Ambedkar’s legacy is that Hindu nationalism’s own political heirs have a dark history of idolizing European fascist leaders like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Given this history, Ambedkar is a useful alternative icon for the BJP, experts say. “Everybody wants a piece of Ambedkar,” says Anand. “Modi doesn’t go around saying that all those people who admired Hitler and Mussolini are his idols. He’s muted about it for diplomatic reasons and political reasons.”

What about Ambedkar’s role in the anti-government protests?

Part of the reason protesters are carrying Ambedkar’s image is to “challenge the appropriation of Ambedkar being attempted by the BJP,” Bose says. “Ambedkar was one of the framers of the Indian constitution, whose upholding of equal citizenship is at odds with the Modi-Shah agenda of a Hindu nationalist republic.”

But experts say Ambedkar’s life has been appropriated by the left-leaning Congress Party, too, despite his role in drafting the constitution for the post-independence Congress government. “He fought with Gandhi, yet he chose to work with Congress because he wanted to be generous to Indian society,” Anand says. “It was a great act of magnanimity that he decided to chair the drafting committee of the Indian constitution.”

Bose agrees. “Much of this Ambedkar-worship by the BJP government’s opponents is shallow, and uninformed about the complexity of Ambedkar’s personality and political life,” he says.

In the end, Ambedkar was unhappy with the final version of the constitution, and resigned in 1951 after clashing with Nehru, India’s first post-independence Prime Minister. “He was [unhappy with the constitution] simply because he thought these people would squander it,” says Anand.

The current controversy over the BJP’s alleged undermining of the Indian constitution, Anand says, vindicates that view. “Ambedkar says the constitution is as good as the people who are going to implement it,” says Anand. “It’s not foolproof.”

Is the battle over Ambedkar’s legacy a new one?

Relatively speaking, yes. The right to claim Ambedkar’s legacy might be hotly fought-over today, but before the 1970s, many of his writings had never been published, and he was a little-known figure in Indian political history.

It was thanks to Dalit activists — rather than supporters of the constitution, or Hindu nationalists — that Ambedkar was not consigned to the ash heap of history, says Anand, whose publishing house Navayana prints several works by and about Ambedkar. “It’s only in the late 70s, early 80s, that Ambedkar starts getting published,” Anand says. “They were in manuscripts which he didn’t have the money to publish. He was not available to the public, and nobody other than the Dalits were curious. They, the Dalits, carried his legacy on their heads and shoulders for years.”

Strictly speaking, Anand says, both everybody and nobody has the right to claim the legacy of Ambedkar. “Everybody, because every citizen of India is now equal because of Ambedkar and the constitution,” he says. “And nobody, simply because the real legacy of Ambedkar is something few people want to talk about.”

[bharatiyamedia-blog]

Casteism in Gujarat: Dalits throughout lots of of villages cannot get a haircut as a result of years of oppression

http://tinyurl.com/y6bzroor Getting a haircut is a routine affair for many males, nevertheless it’s not so for lakhs of Dalit males in lots of of villages in Gujarat. Since earlier than Independence, Dalit males have been denied a haircut by barbers in villages of Gujarat. Regardless that this truth is well-known to authorities and social activists, it has remained unchanged regardless of The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act 1989. This observe is so widespread that it’s not even being raised as a discriminatory observe by the Dalits themselves. It was solely in mid-2018 that some Dalit youths from Trent village in Mandal block of Ahmedabad district determined to complain to the block panchayat about this type of discrimination. However regardless of the authorities asking them, the barbers refused to chop the hair of the Dalit youth. In reality, they most well-liked to shut store as a substitute of chopping the hair of Dalit youth. Since then, 4 barber retailers of Trent village have been closed by the police and the Dalit males from the village proceed to get their hair lower in close by both Viramgam or Mandal, each close by cities. An enormous research accomplished by Navsarjan Belief of 1,589 villages of Gujarat about numerous discriminatory practices in opposition to Dalits in 2010 revealed that in 73 % of the villages surveyed, barbers didn’t lower the hair of Dalit males. Because of this 1,160 villages had this observe in place since earlier than Independence and no quantity of social reform has modified the state of affairs. If this share is extrapolated to all of the 18,676 villages of Gujarat, the determine involves 13,633 villages the place this observe continues to exist. That could be a large determine and a shameful statistic for Gujarat, the place Mahatma Gandhi took up a number of campaigns to finish social boycott and discrimination of Dalits and tribals. Dalit youths strategy police over the difficulty of barbers denying them haircuts in Gujarat’s Mandal block. Picture courtesy: Sonal Kellogg As an alternative of happening, the instances of atrocities have been growing in Gujarat. Within the final 15 years, instances of atrocities registered in Gujarat have elevated by 70 % and the conviction fee is dismal at under 5 %. In April and Might, there have been a number of conflicts the place Dalit grooms — who had determined to journey mares for his or her marriage processions — have been opposed by higher caste communities. In a number of villages, higher castes have boycotted the Dalit neighborhood or have additionally thrashed the grooms. Varied different aspirations of Dalit youth have additionally been opposed by higher caste communities, like using a motorbike, placing vibrant stickers on their bikes, and likewise sporting fashionable haircuts. Many such steps have angered dominant castes who’ve attacked Dalits on a number of situations in Gujarat in latest months. One of many males who was a part of the protest at Trent village in opposition to the barbers for his or her refusals to chop Dalit males’s hair, Ashok Parmar, 26, mentioned, “The barber retailers in our village are nonetheless closed. The barbers now are chopping the hair of OBCs and different common castes males both of their houses or in his personal home. We’re pressured to get a haircut in neighbhouring cities. We confronted large strain not simply from the opposite dominant castes within the village but additionally from our personal dad and mom and elders. They didn’t need any hassle.” “You must perceive that the majority Dalits in our village are very poor and are every day wagers. They’ll’t afford to take up a battle with the dominant castes of the village. We, 20-25 Dalit youths, all educated, determined to take up this battle, nevertheless it was not simple. Nevertheless, we determined to not file an official criticism as we face super strain each from different dominant communities and likewise from our personal neighborhood leaders and relations.” Kiritbhai Rathod, working in Navrasjan, an NGO working for Dalit rights which additionally carried out the research of discrimination in 1,589 Gujarat villages in 2010, mentioned, “The research is likely to be 9 years outdated however the state of affairs within the villages has remained the identical. So many types of discrimination proceed to be practised within the villages in Gujarat. Dalits usually are not ready to attract water from identical wells, aren’t served tea in identical vessels in tea stalls, not allowed to take a seat in chairs in Panchayats, refused entry to non secular locations or participation in neighborhood spiritual occasions, and many others. There are such a lot of types of discrimination which proceed to be in observe in Gujarat.” File picture of Kirit Rathod. Picture courtesy: Sonal Kellogg Concerning the barber retailers which had been shut down, Kiritbhai mentioned, “After the Dalit younger males of Trent village took up the difficulty, we tried to purpose with the panchayat of the village and likewise appealed to the Sarpanch however he remained adamant. He mentioned, ‘Do what you need however the barbers is not going to lower the hair of Dalit males.’ The state authorities says that caste-based discrimination doesn’t exist in Gujarat. Earlier, state governments undertook programmes to abolish discrimination at village stage, taluka stage and many others however now it isn’t occurring.” Kiritbhai additional mentioned, “Panchayats ought to organise occasions the place higher castes and Dalits are inspired to drink tea collectively, draw water from the identical wells and sit collectively to check. Such programmes had been undertaken earlier however now, the state authorities is in denial.” So far as steps to abolish discrimination are involved, Kiritbhai felt that the onus is on the dominant castes to take steps of their villages. The Dalits who’re being discriminated in opposition to usually are not the individuals who can finish discrimination, it ought to be accomplished by the Patels, Brahmins, Kshatriyas and different castes, mentioned Kiritbhai. Jignesh Mevani, a widely known Dalit chief from Gujarat who can also be MLA from Vadgam in Gujarat, spoke concerning the discrimination nonetheless present within the state. He mentioned, “Article 17 of the Indian Structure has abolished untouchability lengthy again and the observe of it’s an offence beneath Safety of Civil Rights Act. However regardless of this, untouchability is being practised in additional than 1,500 villages of Gujarat and there may be not a single case the place an offence has been registered. After I raised the difficulty within the Gujarat Meeting, the whole BJP saved silent. They didn’t give any assurance to place an finish to this casteist observe. This reveals not simply indifference and callousness on the a part of the BJP authorities nevertheless it additionally reveals how overtly they stand for therefore referred to as higher caste individuals.” It stays to be seen if the state of affairs modifications in these villages. It’s pertinent to do not forget that lots of of women and men have gone overseas to check or have immigrated to the USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand and several other different western international locations from many villages of Gujarat. 1000’s of Patels from Gujarati villages stay within the USA and different international locations. So, it’s honest to say that they’re conscious that caste-based discrimination is in opposition to human rights and is unquestionably one thing which our society ought to be ashamed of. But this observe continues in Gujarat and the state nonetheless claims to be a contemporary and progressive state in India. Your information to the most recent cricket World Cup tales, evaluation, stories, opinions, stay updates and scores on https://www.firstpost.com/firstcricket/series/icc-cricket-world-cup-2019.html. Comply with us on Twitter and Instagram or like our Facebook web page for updates all through the continued occasion in England and Wales. !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function() {n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)} ; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0'; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '259288058299626'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "http://connect.facebook.net/en_GB/all.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.9&appId=1117108234997285"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); window.fbAsyncInit = function () { FB.init({appId: '1117108234997285', version: 2.4, xfbml: true}); // *** here is my code *** if (typeof facebookInit == 'function') { facebookInit(); } }; (function () { var e = document.createElement('script'); e.src = document.location.protocol + '//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js'; e.async = true; document.getElementById('fb-root').appendChild(e); }()); function facebookInit() { console.log('Found FB: Loading comments.'); FB.XFBML.parse(); } Source link

[townpostin]

Candle March in Jamshedpur Demands Justice for Kolkata Doctor

Outrage grows over Kolkata Doctor’s rape and murder as Jharkhand’s Veerangana Foundation leads protest. Women in Jamshedpur, led by the Veerangana Foundation, took to the streets demanding justice for Kolkata Doctor. JAMSHEDPUR – The International Kshatriya Veerangana Foundation’s Jharkhand unit, led by state officer Saroj Singh and Kolhan Veerangana President Sushma Singh, organized a candle…

[optimisticprincepainter]

Many theatres and multiplexes in Uttar Pradesh, including the state capital, on Thursday refused to screen controversial film “Padmaavat”, citing “lack of security”. The 10.15 a.m. show at the Wave multiplex in Gomti Nagar here was cancelled as owners of the mall feared for the safety of the property and cinegoers. Not a single policeman was present at the Mall, contrary to the claims of the police department that adequate security would be given to the people and cinema halls to screen the Sanjay Leela Bhansali film, which is being bitterly opposed by Rajputs and the Karni Sena. However, the 11.30 a.m. show at Inox was on schedule.  As many as two dozen people have so far been rounded up for protests, effigy burning and demonstrations. On Wednesday a group of youngsters tried to barge into the Wave multiplex here but were foiled by the security. Protests were held in Etawah, Agra, Kanpur, Mathura and Allahabad. Some people stopped a train at Mathura outer to protest against the release of the film. ADG (Law and Order) Anand Kumar has said that no one would be allowed to disrupt the release of the film and pointed out that strict orders have been issued to all police chiefs in districts to rein in any lumpen elements who try to disrupt public peace. The Film Exhibitors Association (FEA) has said that it will first monitor the situation on Thursday and then take a call on screening film in Lucknow and theatres at other places. They informed that the 6.10 p.m., 6.45 p.m., 9.45 p.m. and 10.15 p.m. shows at SRS Mall and Wave Mall have been cancelled by the Mall authorities. FEA general secretary Ashish Agarwal said that at first two-two shows had been decided for the premiere but were since cancelled. In another development, members of the International Kshatriya Veerangana Foundation (an outfit of Rajput woman) has also joined the Karni Sena to protest against the screening of the film and announced that they will go on a symbolic fast against the “wrong portrayal of Rajput women” in the film that stars Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor. General Secretary of the foundation, Seema Shahi Singh said: “Maharani Padmini was known for her valour, purity and sacrifices and the film is showing just the reverse as seen in the trailer and we will never tolerate this.” Some single theatre owners, however, are screening the film. Rajesh Tandon, manager of the well-known Novelty cinema in the state capital, said the film is running in his theatre as there was enough police presence. IANS ; 25th. Jan,18

MANY CINEMA HALLS AND MULTIPLEXES IN UP REFUSED TO SCREEN CONTROVERSIAL FILM ‘PADMAAVAT’ CITING LACK OF SECURITY : Many theatres and multiplexes in Uttar Pradesh, including the state capital, on Thursday refused to screen controversial film “Padmaavat”, citing “lack of security”.

[megadarkbouquettidalwavethings]

Indian police detain dozens protesting against controversial movie

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) – Right-wing Hindu groups in India stepped up protests on Wednesday against the release of a controversial Bollywood film, as several states boosted police patrols a day after the Supreme Court refused to allow bans on the movie.

Groups critical of the film, set to be released on Thursday, have accused its director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, of distorting history by portraying a Muslim ruler as the ���lover” of the Hindu Queen Padmavati of the Rajput warrior clan.

The filmmakers deny the accusation.

Violence over the film, “Padmaavat”, reached the outskirts of India’s capital just as New Delhi began to receive southeast Asian leaders for a major summit on Thursday, to be followed the next day by a parade and celebrations of India’s Republic Day.

Security for the parade showcasing India’s military might, which is to be attended by ten leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, has been tightened more than in previous years.

Television broadcast images of gangs of young men, their faces concealed by swathes of cloth, throwing stones in the streets of Gurgaon, 30 km (19 miles) from New Delhi, while the hollowed-out shell of a bus smoldered nearby.

The protesters carried sticks and caused minor injuries to 14 people, said B.S. Sandhu, a senior police official, adding that police had detained 15 protesters.

“We will not tolerate any violence in the name of protests against a movie,” Sandhu added. “Sporadic rioting did take place but no one will be allowed to protest now.”

Indian films that touch upon the historical relationships of Hindus, India’s majority religion, and Muslim leaders are often controversial.

In the financial capital of Mumbai, police have boosted security at all theaters screening the film, and detained more than 100 members of protest groups, such as the conservative Sri Rajput Karni Sena, as a precaution, a senior police official said.

A police officer tries to detain a member of Rajput youth wing during a protest against the release of the upcoming Bollywood movie “Padmaavat” in Ahmedabad, India, January 23, 2018. REUTERS/Amit Dave

Police are also closely monitoring social media, he added.

Police had to open fire to disperse crowds on Tuesday night as protests against the film turned increasingly violent, with vandalism around multiplexes in the western state of Gujarat and dozens of motorcycles being set on fire.

Police have arrested 20 men involved, said Kalpesh Patel, a police officer in the state’s key industrial city of Ahmedabad.

The protests are expected to continue around the country.

“We have decided not to play the movie in any of our properties in Gujarat and Rajasthan,” Deepak Asher, director of Inox multiplexes, India’s second largest theater chain, told Reuters, referring to the two states hit by the worst protests.

“Our primary concern is the security of our employees and audiences. I think this is a decision that almost every theater owner in these two states has taken,” he added.

In the central state of Chhattisgarh, dozens of members of the Rajput community staged protests and burned an effigy of Bhansali on Tuesday, Rakesh Singh Bais of the community group Sarwa Kshatriya Mahasabha told Reuters.

Police in northwestern Rajasthan have enforced tight security for protests planned by the Karni Sena and other Rajput groups, its police chief, O. P. Galhotra, said.

“We have been talking to the leaders of the Karni Sena and they don’t want to end their protest,” Galhotra added. “We have decided to allow them to hold small protests, and have made adequate arrangements to maintain law and order.”

Anyone trying to depict history as fiction will have to pay a price for their mistake, said Rajvansh Singh, an official of the Karni Sena in the city of Chittorgarh in Rajasthan, who called himself the custodian of respect for Rajput women.

“We will not allow the movie to be released,” he said. “Queen Padmini is like our goddess, no one will be allowed to insult our goddess and our Hindu pride.”

Additional reporting by Shilpa Jamkhandikar and Rajendra Jadhav; Writing by Swati Bhat; Editing by Euan Rocha and Clarence Fernandez

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The post Indian police detain dozens protesting against controversial movie appeared first on Breaking News Top News & Latest News Headlines | Reuters.

[ferretbuzz]

Padmaavat row: Women in Chittorgarh threaten to commit ‘jauhar’ if the release of the Deepika Padukone film isn’t stopped

[ad_1] In a new twist to the ongoing controversy over release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s movie “Padmaavat”, female members of Kshatriya community in Chittorgarh on Saturday threatened to perform “jauhar” (self-immolation) if the screening of the film is not stopped by the government. In a Sarvasamaj meeting held in Chittaurgarh, the members decided to stage a phase-wise protest against the…

[wionews]

'Padmavati' row: Producers postpone film's release; protests intensify

Amid the raging protests over "Padmavati", the film's co-producers Viacom18 Motion Pictures said Sunday that have postponed the release date of the Sanjay Leela Bhansali-directed film.

Padmavati, starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor was up for release on December 1. The film has been co-produced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and Bhansali Productions.

A spokesperson of Viacom18 Motion Pictures said that it had taken the decision "voluntarily" and would soon announce the new release date for the film.

"Viacom18 Motion Pictures, the studio behind "Padmavati", has voluntarily deferred the release date of the film from December 1 2017," Viacom18 stated.

The spokesman said it had the highest regard for the law of the land and statutory bodies such as the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). (Also Read - Padmavati' makers putting pressure to clear film: Censor board chairman)

As a "responsible and law-abiding corporate citizen", it was committed to following the established procedure and convention, it said.

"...We are a responsible, law-abiding corporate citizen and have the highest respect and regard for the law of the land and all our institutions and statutory bodies including the Central Board of Film Certification," the statement said.

"We have faith that we will soon obtain the requisite clearances to release the film," the statement read.

"We will announce the revised release date of the film in due course. We stand firm in our commitment to tell endearing tales that resonate with our audiences the world over as we have in the past with our other projects such as "Toilet: Ek Prem Katha", "Queen", "Bhaag Milkha Bhaag" and many more," it added.

The makers reiterated that the film was a cinematic masterpiece capturing "Rajput valour, dignity and tradition in all its glory".

"The film is an eloquent portrayal of a tale that will fill every Indian with pride and showcase our country's story-telling prowess across the globe," it said.

The statement comes in the wake of the criticism by the Censor Board chief Prasoon Joshi who had yesterday criticised the filmmakers for putting pressure on the censor board to clear the film without completing the paperwork. 

He had also slammed the filmmakers for screening the film for the press and on national channels without the censor board "having seen or certified" the film.

The CBFC had sent the film back to the producer as the application for the certification was "incomplete".

Protests intensify

Protests against the film continued on Sunday.

Uttar Pradesh deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said his government would not allow the film to release in Uttar Pradesh "unless and until objectionable scenes are removed."

"The screening has been deferred by a few days, we will also wait for a few days and see," Lokendra Singh Kalvi, President of the Rajput Karni Sena, which is at the forefront of the protests said today on calls for a shutdown on December 1.

On  Saturday, the Rajput Karni Sena president had said that he had given a call for ''Bharat Bandh'' on December 1 and won't allow the release of Padmavati.  

Haryana BJP's chief media coordinator SP Amu said on Sunday he would reward those who beheaded Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Deepika Padukone with Rs 10 crores. He also threatened to break actor Ranveer Singh's legs if he didn't "take his words back."

"Want to congratulate Meerut youth for announcing Rs 5 crore bounty for beheading Deepika, Bhansali. We will reward the ones beheading them, with Rs 10 crore, and also take care of their family's needs," SP Amu said. 

"If you (Ranveer Singh) don't take your words back, we will break your legs and hand them to you."

Haryana BJP's chief media coordinator threatened to quit the BJP if needed and asked prime minister Narendra Modi to exercise his powers to strike down the film. Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Kshatriya Mahasabha brandished swords and protested against the film in Delhi.

Members of the Akhand Rashtrawadi Party staged a demonstration against Padmavati in Delhi and said they have filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Delhi High Court against the film. Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje on Saturday wrote to Information and Broadcasting minister Smriti Irani requesting her that the film "Padmavati" should not be released until some changes are made to it so that it "does not hurt the sentiments of any community".

In her letter, the Rajasthan chief minister has suggested that a committee should be formed to discuss the film and its plot and should suggest amendments. 

The Rajasthan government had earlier this month suggested that a committee should be set up to examine the facts related to the film. 

The Supreme Court has refused to stay the film and said that the Central Board of Film Certification or the censor board follows guidelines and considers all aspects before granting a certificate to any film.

"Padmavati" has been in the centre of a storm ever since filming began earlier this year.

The Rajput Karni Sena had vandalised the film sets in Jaipur and Kolhapur and also allegedly assaulted Sanjay Leeka Bhansali during shooting in Jaipur.

Various Rajput groups, the Rajasthan BJP and the Bajrang Dal have claimed that the director has "distorted" historical facts.

Their objection is to an alleged dream sequence between Ranveer Singh's Alauddin Khilji and Deepika Padukone's Rani Padmini, on which "Padmavati" is based.

Mahipal Singh Makrana of Rajput Karni Sena made a video in which he stated that Rajputs do not raise their hand on women but if need be, they will do to Deepika what Lakshman did to Shurpanakha.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali  Deepika Padukone's security has been increased by the Mumbai police after the threats.

The film fraternity has come out in support of Bhansali and the team, with many leading artistes calling it an attack on creative freedom. 

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[itsfinancethings]

On Jan. 14, protesters gathered in the northern Indian city of Allahabad and lit candles at the base of a tree trunk, beside portraits of two fathers of the Indian nation.

One, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi—better known by his honorific, Mahatma (great soul)—is recognizable as the Indian independence activist and icon to peaceful protesters around the world.

The other, however, remains lesser known outside India. He is Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, the primary author of the Indian constitution, which came into effect 70 years ago on Sunday. Since December, his image has been held aloft by crowds of demonstrators, who say the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s attempts to reform citizenship laws undermine that constitution.

Ambedkar did more than draft the constitution: he was also a revered civil rights leader. Born a Dalit (a social classification formerly called “untouchable,” the lowest position in the Hindu caste system,) he suffered discrimination throughout his life. In 1936, he wrote the influential pamphlet Annihilation of Caste, a blistering argument against the ancient system of social stratification. And when, starting in 1947, he hammered out the Indian constitution’s integral principles of democracy, equality and freedom of religion, he also inserted sections prohibiting caste-based discrimination and legally outlawing the practice of untouchability.

But 70 years after the Indian constitution came into force, left-wing protesters aren’t the only group claiming to be the ideological heirs to Ambedkar. In recent weeks, his image has also appeared at Hindu nationalist counter-protests. Prime Minister Narendra Modi often invokes Ambedkar in speeches, claiming his government’s policies further the goals Ambedkar pursued throughout his life, including the annihilation of caste. “No government has, perhaps, given respect to Babasaheb [Ambedkar] the way our government has,” Prime Minister Modi said in 2018, referring to him by an honorific loosely translated as “respected father.” “Instead of dragging him into politics, we should all try to walk on the path he has shown us.”

The last 40 years, however, show how Ambedkar has been repeatedly dragged into the political arena — even while the casteless future he fought for during his life remains distant.

Here’s what to know about the fight over Ambedkar’s legacy.

Who was B.R. Ambedkar?

Ambedkar was born in 1891 into a family that had long been bound to the bottom of Indian society, considered impure by higher-caste Hindus. Although he and other Dalits were segregated at school, he managed to pass his exams, obtain a degree in economics and political science from Bombay University, and went on to get a Masters at Columbia University in New York before training as a lawyer in London. In 1936, after returning to India, he wrote Annihilation of Caste, his magnum opus.

Written during the struggle that eventually led to India’s independence in 1947, Annihilation of Caste was a searing critique of not just the age-old caste system (still observed today by many Hindus in India), but also the independence movement led by Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, both high-caste Hindus.

Ambedkar argued that even if India were to become independent, Dalits would still languish at the bottom of society unless caste was abandoned by all. “The question of whether the Congress is fighting for freedom has very little importance as compared to the question for whose freedom is the Congress fighting,” he said.

Before his death in 1956, Ambedkar converted from Hinduism to Buddhism, inspiring thousands of Dalits to do the same. “I had the misfortune of being born with the stigma of an Untouchable,” he said. “However, it is not my fault; but I will not die a Hindu, for this is in my power.”

What is caste?

The caste system in India is a form of social hierarchy deriving from the varna system laid out in Hinduism’s foundational texts. There are four varnas: Brahmins (priests), the highest; Kshatriyas (soldiers or administrators); Vaishyas (merchants); and Shudras (servants), the lowest. Outside the varna system are those considered lower still: Dalits, whose traditional tasks include shoveling human manure. Dalits—who make up more than 200 million of India’s 1.3 billion population—continue to face discrimination in India today. Some members of higher castes refuse to touch anything that has come into physical contact with them, hence the moniker “untouchables.”

The Mahars, the specific Dalit caste to which Ambedkar belonged, were expected to tie brooms around their waists to sweep away their footprints. Even in 1998, nearly 90% of people employed by the Indian government as “sweepers,” whose jobs include removing human waste from toilets, were Dalits. In Ambedkar’s day, just as in present-day India, murders of lower castes by higher castes were common.

“Untouchability is not a simple matter,” Ambedkar said in a speech in 1927. “It is the mother of all our poverty and lowliness and it has brought us to the abject state we are in today… The inequality inherent in the four-castes system must be rooted out.”

Why are both sides claiming Ambedkar’s legacy?

The battle over Ambedkar’s legacy between India’s Hindu nationalist right-wing and its secular left is relatively new, according to historians and anti-caste activists.

“The BJP’s discovery of Ambedkar is recent, and started after the election which brought Modi to power in 2014,” says Sumantra Bose, professor of international and comparative politics at the London School of Economics. “Following that victory, Modi and his chief strategist Amit Shah concentrated on wooing non-upper caste Hindus, who have traditionally not been BJP supporters in large numbers, in order to expand their support base.”

Dalits, says Bose, are a natural target for the BJP because they make up approximately one sixth of the Indian electorate. “It’s a clear case of trying to superficially flatter the memory of the biggest Dalit icon in order to build a pan-Hindu vote bank across caste divides.”

The BJP promised in its 2014 manifesto to eradicate the remaining vestiges of untouchability in Indian society and lift Dalits from poverty. But the BJP government has reduced funding for programs intended to do so, according to a study by Sukhadeo Thorat, former chairman of the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies. “They never raised the standard of these castes,” Thorat tells TIME. “This is the whole strategy used by the Prime Minister, that you appropriate an individual, forget about his views and ideology, and in the process kill that ideology.”

In some technicalities of the constitution, however, Hindu nationalists argue they are in closer alignment with Ambedkar’s beliefs than secular protesters. The BJP said in 2019 that Ambedkar opposed Article 370, the section of the constitution guaranteeing semi-autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir, which the BJP revoked in August. Historians, however, have disputed that claim.

The BJP also says Ambedkar was a proponent of a “uniform civil code” in India, one of the party’s key policy goals. Under India’s version of secularism, different religious communities are governed by different “personal laws” governing matters like divorce and inheritance. Ambedkar inserted a clause into the constitution calling for a uniform civil code. But in the febrile climate after independence, with religious violence on the rise, Nehru decided to compromise and allow for personal laws to reassure the Muslim minority community. So instead, Ambedkar diverted his attention to reforming the Hindu personal laws to be more progressive. His reforms legalized inter-caste marriages and gave women the right to initiate divorce. In making those reforms, Ambedkar’s main opponent was the Hindu nationalist right.

Today, the BJP says Ambedkar would have been their ally in their pursuit of a uniform civil code. But Dalit activists say this is another case of trying to appropriate of Ambedkar’s legacy. “If uniformity is what [the BJP] want, there’s no uniformity among Hindus,” says S. Anand, referring to continued caste hierarchy in India today. Anand, the co-founder of Navayana, a Delhi-based publishing house focused on anti-caste literature, adds: “Ambedkar never spoke of a uniform civil code as a priority.”

Sanchit Khanna/Hindustan Times via Getty Images—2019 Hindustan TimesA BJP supporter holds up an image of B.R Ambedkar during a rally for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 22, 2019 in New Delhi, India.

Another reason for the BJP’s adoption of Ambedkar’s legacy is that Hindu nationalism’s own political heirs have a dark history of idolizing European fascist leaders like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Given this history, Ambedkar is a useful alternative icon for the BJP, experts say. “Everybody wants a piece of Ambedkar,” says Anand. “Modi doesn’t go around saying that all those people who admired Hitler and Mussolini are his idols. He’s muted about it for diplomatic reasons and political reasons.”

What about Ambedkar’s role in the anti-government protests?

Part of the reason protesters are carrying Ambedkar’s image is to “challenge the appropriation of Ambedkar being attempted by the BJP,” Bose says. “Ambedkar was one of the framers of the Indian constitution, whose upholding of equal citizenship is at odds with the Modi-Shah agenda of a Hindu nationalist republic.”

But experts say Ambedkar’s life has been appropriated by the left-leaning Congress Party, too, despite his role in drafting the constitution for the post-independence Congress government. “He fought with Gandhi, yet he chose to work with Congress because he wanted to be generous to Indian society,” Anand says. “It was a great act of magnanimity that he decided to chair the drafting committee of the Indian constitution.”

Bose agrees. “Much of this Ambedkar-worship by the BJP government’s opponents is shallow, and uninformed about the complexity of Ambedkar’s personality and political life,” he says.

In the end, Ambedkar was unhappy with the final version of the constitution, and resigned in 1951 after clashing with Nehru, India’s first post-independence Prime Minister. “He was [unhappy with the constitution] simply because he thought these people would squander it,” says Anand.

The current controversy over the BJP’s alleged undermining of the Indian constitution, Anand says, vindicates that view. “Ambedkar says the constitution is as good as the people who are going to implement it,” says Anand. “It’s not foolproof.”

Is the battle over Ambedkar’s legacy a new one?

Relatively speaking, yes. The right to claim Ambedkar’s legacy might be hotly fought-over today, but before the 1970s, many of his writings had never been published, and he was a little-known figure in Indian political history.

It was thanks to Dalit activists — rather than supporters of the constitution, or Hindu nationalists — that Ambedkar was not consigned to the ash heap of history, says Anand, whose publishing house Navayana prints several works by and about Ambedkar. “It’s only in the late 70s, early 80s, that Ambedkar starts getting published,” Anand says. “They were in manuscripts which he didn’t have the money to publish. He was not available to the public, and nobody other than the Dalits were curious. They, the Dalits, carried his legacy on their heads and shoulders for years.”

Strictly speaking, Anand says, both everybody and nobody has the right to claim the legacy of Ambedkar. “Everybody, because every citizen of India is now equal because of Ambedkar and the constitution,” he says. “And nobody, simply because the real legacy of Ambedkar is something few people want to talk about.”

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Hindu groups call for all-India protest ahead of controversial movie release

(Reuters) – Indian right wing Hindu groups intensified protests against the release of a controversial Bollywood film “Padmaavat” amid heightened police presence in various states on Wednesday, a day after the Supreme Court refused to allow some states to ban the film.

Protests against the film turned increasingly violent late on Tuesday with vandalism around a number of multiplexes in the Western state of Gujarat and dozens of motorcycles being set on fire around malls that house theaters.

Groups critical of the project have accused its director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, of distorting history by portraying a Muslim ruler as the “lover” of Queen Padmavati of the Hindu Rajput warrior clan. The filmmakers deny the accusation.

The police had to open fire to disperse crowds on Tuesday night and protests are expected to continue in various parts of the country ahead of the release of the film on Jan. 25.

In the central state of Chhattisgarh, dozens of members of Rajput community staged protests and burned an effigy of Bhansali on Tuesday evening, Rakesh Singh Bais of the community group Sarwa Kshatriya Mahasabha told Reuters.

Police stand guard outside a multiplex during a protest against the release of the upcoming Bollywood movie “Padmaavat” in Ahmedabad, India, January 23, 2018. REUTERS/Amit Dave

The members of the communities and from Hindu organizations will form a human chain on Wednesday and stage a motorcycle rally to give cinema hall owners final warnings, Bais said.

O. P. Galhotra, the director general of police for Rajasthan, said they have information that members of the Karni Sena and other Rajput groups were planning a protest in various parts of the state against the movie.

Demonstrators shout slogans outside a multiplex during a protest against the release of the upcoming Bollywood movie “Padmaavat” in Ahmedabad, India, January 23, 2018. REUTERS/Amit Dave

“We have been talking to the leaders of the Karni Sena and they don’t want to end their protest…we have decided to allow them to hold small protests, and have made adequate arrangements to maintain law and order,” Galhotra said.

Rajvansh Singh, the district secretary of the Karni Sena in the city of Chittorgarh in Rajasthan, said he is the custodian of the respect of Hindu Rajput women and anyone trying to depict history as fiction will have to pay a price for their mistake.

“We will not allow the movie to be released, the director thinks he can change the name and release his film this makes no sense. Queen Padmini is like our goddess, no one will be allowed to insult our goddess and our Hindu pride.”

Reporting by Jatindra Dash and Rupam Jain; Writing by Swati Bhat; Editing by Euan Rocha and Michael Perry

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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