E D I T O R I A L   P A G E

EDITORIALS

Nepal in turmoil again
THE sacking of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and assumption of executive powers by King Gyanendra in Nepal is a throwback to 1959, when his father, King Mahendra, dismissed Parliament and assumed despotic powers. By thus overthrowing the country’s first elected government, the palace had introduced “guided democracy” which ran the country for nearly three decades before real democracy could return to the Himalayan kingdom.

OPINION

The dark heart of terrorism
Evolution, phases and kinetics
Darshan Singh Maini
THE theme of terrorism as ideology goes back to those medieval days when the Christian-Muslim crusades were considered the ultimate glory in the cause of one’s faith. The Christian history, folklore and earlier poetry are full of the tales of gallantry in which the romance of religious sacrifices and the romance of love combined to create the beau ideal of the noble visionary knight. The search for “the Holy Grail” thus became a grand metaphor for one’s salvation.

MIDDLE

Malwa versus Majha
Punam Khaira Sidhu
IT was after the “Anand Karaj” at my wedding, when the Baratis and the Kudiwallahs break bread together and bonhomie prevails, that I heard my father say: “We Majhails did not marry our daughters to Malwais”. Not having lived in Punjab for the better part of my growing years, I did not then understand the connotations underlying that remark. Having been married to a Malwai for the last 12 years I now do, and what can I say except, “Vive la difference”.

REALPOLITIK

Image building at govt cost
P. Raman
THIS year’s DAVP advertisement on the Gandhi Jayanti day was known for its unsavoury controversy over an inadvertent joke on the nation and its Father. Instead of a “thankful” (kritagnya) nation paying its homage to Mahatma Gandhi, its Gujarati version made it a “thankless” (kritaghnya) nation. By inserting a ‘h’ to this Sanskrit word, this pure translation bloomer has turned out to be so disastrously appropriate in Narendra Modi’s Gujarat.

TRENDS & POINTERS

Suffers heart attack, spared gallows
A convicted Iranian murderer cheated death twice when he was spared from a public hanging because he had a heart attack after the noose was placed around his neck, newspapers said on Sunday.

• Women beat alcoholism out of men
• Where Muslim girls recite ‘shlokas’

Gujarat temple attack mystery deepens
WHO were the two young terrorists that attacked the Swaminarayan temple in Gandhinagar and slaughtered 32 people, including three well-trained commandos? Were they Pakistanis, as the authorities claim? Or were they Indians? Maybe locals taking revenge for the brutal killing of at least 1,000 Muslims earlier in Gujarat? Where did they come from? From within Gujarat? Or outside? By train? If yes, which train?

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

EDITORIALS

Nepal in turmoil again

THE sacking of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and assumption of executive powers by King Gyanendra in Nepal is a throwback to 1959, when his father, King Mahendra, dismissed Parliament and assumed despotic powers. By thus overthrowing the country’s first elected government, the palace had introduced “guided democracy” which ran the country for nearly three decades before real democracy could return to the Himalayan kingdom. History seems to be repeating itself. The new monarch has promised to bring back multi-party democracy soon enough. But similar promises made by every dictator in Asia normally extend to years, if not decades. Such stifling of democracy is an unfortunate development which bodes ill for Nepal. The upper hand may be gained by the rebel Maoists because unsettled conditions in Kathmandu suit their plans. They are going to play to the hilt on the apprehensions about a dictatorial raj. One silver lining is that the few years of democratic rule that the kingdom has enjoyed have made people conscious of their rights. Ironically, the democratic Prime Ministers that Nepal has had have been so inept that there is a large section of the populace which endorses the intervention by the King, whatever opinion constitutional experts might hold about his action. Even otherwise, the King is worshipped as God-incarnate by many traditional Nepalis. As such, a confrontation is bound to develop.

India’s position in this regard has been unenviable. It was apparently not consulted by the King before making the announcement, although there are some in Nepal who blame Delhi for everything that happens in that county. On the other hand, there are reasons to believe that the Chinese ambassador was taken into confidence. Sustaining the fledgling democracy in its neighbourhood would have suited India but it cannot afford to annoy the King also. That is why it has chosen the wording of its reaction very carefully. The uncertainty in Nepal will make the job of keeping a strict vigil on the border all the more difficult. It is common knowledge that terrorists have been using the porous border to their advantage. The ISI is also hyperactive in Kathmandu. Another fear is that to deflect attention away from the internal problems, some self-serving leaders may again use India as a whipping boy. A large number of businessmen of Indian origin are settled in Nepal, who may be adversely affected by the latest developments. Only diplomatic tact of exceptional order on the part of Delhi can redeem the situation.

Showdown on Cauvery

THE manner in which the Chief Ministers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are conducting themselves over the Cauvery issue is most unfortunate. The war of words between the two will not be in the interest of either their states or the people. What will they gain by this Tu-Tu-Mein-Mein kind of attitude? It will only vitiate the already fluid situation and make matters worse. On the face of it, Karnataka Chief Minister S. M. Krishna seems to be on a sticky wicket. His padayatra on Monday, obviously to gain public sympathy, has not been taken kindly by the Opposition parties who have been endorsing hitherto every step taken by Mr Krishna on the Cauvery issue. The Opposition leaders see the padayatra as a tactical move by Mr Krishna to gain political mileage and thus refused to join the same. The issue in question is how long Mr Krishna can afford to flout both the Supreme Court fiat and the Cauvery River Authority’s directive on the release of 9,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. There is apparently no rationale behind Mr Krishna’s appeal to the Prime Minister for an emergency meeting of the CRA to discuss the issue. What is the fun of having an emergency meeting when Karnataka is in no mood to follow the advice of Prime Minister Vajpayee, who is also the Chairman of the CRA? The Supreme Court has ruled that Karnataka should abide by the CRA’s directive and release water to Tamil Nadu forthwith. However, Karnataka is adamant. Surprisingly, even in response to the Tamil Nadu government’s contempt petition in the Supreme Court , Karnataka refuses to budge. Though the Supreme Court is expected to hear the petition on October 24, Tamil Nadu is filing yet another petition demanding the dismissal of the Krishna government and subsequent enforcement of the CRA directive.

Making the confusion worse confounded is the response of Karnataka’s farmers. Those from Mandya district (through which the Cauvery river passes) are on a war-path. The other day, they set the engine of the Swarnajayanthi Express afire and pelted stones. Consequently, train services between Mysore and Bangalore have been suspended for an indefinite period. Tamil Nadu’s filmstars too have added to the crisis. There were angry protests against Rajnikant after his remarks. He has now hinted at keeping himself away from the film personalities’ protest march in the Neyveli township on Saturday, to demand suspension of power supply from Tamil Nadu to Karnataka. He has also said that he would meet the Prime Minister. Bharathiraja, film director and coordinator of the committee spearheading the struggle, claimed that “the entire Tamil community will be there to support us”. Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu Cable TV Operators’ Association on Sunday stopped telecasting Kannada channels — Udaya TV, Udaya News and Ushe TV — in the state. It is difficult to guess what turn this crisis will take, if not handled with tact by the Chief Ministers of the two states. In no case should the violence that rocked both states in 1991on the Cauvery tangle be allowed to recur. Both Mr Krishna and Ms Jayalalithaa should rise above petty politics and try to resolve the problem amicably. Moreover, the people of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu should remain calm and not add to the tension. they have age-old ties. They are known for their foresight, initiative and enterprise. Kannadigas and Tamilians are not only good neighbours, but also share many things in common — lifestyle, food habits, music and culture. Efforts should be made in the direction of cementing this inter-personal relationship rather than promote fissiparous tendencies and linguistic fanaticism. Water is a sensitive issue. But it is precisely because for this reason that wiser counsel should prevail over the political leadership of both states. If the people at the helm behave in a mature way, people in general will also act accordingly.

Why custodial deaths?

EVEN a single death in police or judicial custody is condemnable. But what should one do when as many as 666 persons are reported to have lost their lives in this manner in the past six months, or four such deaths occur every day? The blood-curdling figures, which include a state-wise break-up, have been released by the National Human Rights Commission. The more backward and bigger the state, the more depressing record it shows. That is the pattern. Thus, UP tops the list with 100 custodial deaths followed by Bihar with 75. The figure was 40 for Punjab and 25 for Haryana. The overall picture is disgusting. This sends wrong signals about the state of affairs in a country respected for its successful democratic experiment. Contrary to the general belief outside the country because of the hostile propaganda by anti-India forces, the figures make one believe that the police and other security agencies are conscious of human rights in the areas in the grip of militancy and insurgency. That may be owing to different factors at play. But generally there is little regard for the loss of lives in a questionable manner where people take everything lying down. Or, one can say, when there is no violent reaction. This is strange, to say the least. Why should people suffer for having a non-violent mental make-up? There is something definitely wrong somewhere.

The horrifying scenario demands a serious debate. Why do custodial deaths occur? The basic reasons that come to one’s mind immediately are the appalling conditions in police and judicial lock-ups, the outmoded and inhuman methods employed during interrogation, the extreme insensitivity of the police forces to human suffering, and the inadequate training of security personnel for familiarising them with the latest scientific techniques to extract information from a suspect. This clearly shows that the system as such is primarily responsible for the deaths of people in police or judicial custody before they are able to defend themselves through the normal process of law. Security personnel invariably refuse to bother about the basic human rights of a suspect because they function as part of a system which itself is inhuman to a large extent. They draw strength from the Police Act which was enacted, hold your breath, in 1861! Thus, it is futile to expect humane functioning from the law-enforcing agencies. The antiquated Act should have been replaced a long time ago by a law enacted in view of the realities in independent India and by learning from the experiences of other democracies. We have been talking of police reforms for some time but nothing concrete has been done so far. After much hue and cry the government set up a committee, headed by Justice V. S. Malimath, for the purpose, but it has to submit its report by March 31, 2003. The implementation of its report, in part or full, may take quite a long time as the government does not seem to be in a hurry. This is despite the fact that police reforms is a matter of urgency not only from the standpoint of human rights but also for ensuring good governance.

OPINION

The dark heart of terrorism
Evolution, phases and kinetics
Darshan Singh Maini

THE theme of terrorism as ideology goes back to those medieval days when the Christian-Muslim crusades were considered the ultimate glory in the cause of one’s faith. The Christian history, folklore and earlier poetry are full of the tales of gallantry in which the romance of religious sacrifices and the romance of love combined to create the beau ideal of the noble visionary knight. The search for “the Holy Grail” thus became a grand metaphor for one’s salvation. Many a Galahed and many a Launcelot, thus, became a part of Christian consciousness, and till the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment, this sentiment remained enshrined in emblems and icons, in songs and stories. Ideology and faith remained there to apotheocise the past, but after the 16th century forces of secularism, social justice and reason acquired formidable energies so that killing for the sake of one’s religion or community could no longer be taken as a tender of redemption or moksha among the enlightened sections of society.

This may roughly be regarded as the first phase of religious fundamentalism which inevitably subsumed terrorism, making it an instrument of one’s affirmation on the one hand, and of proselytisation, on the other. This phase produced the jehadi type of personality, and that species, acquiring new genes en route has become an abiding terrifying reality. And it’s still with us in its ugliest aspects.

From the nexus between theology and ideology we may pass on to the second phase which in the hands of Marx and Lenin developed a secular humanist character. The use of force to destroy old hierarchies and hoist revolutions to establish a “brave new world” made terrorism qua terrorism look an ideological rogue. Not till the advent of Stalinism did the Russian Revolution of 1917 degenerate into an instrument for the suppression of freedom, dissent and political opposition, George Orwell’s grim novel, “1984”, is a penetrating reconstruction of such a mind. It was then that communism lost its vision and direction, and was ultimately destroyed, more by its own inner rot than by “the Cold War” warriors of America and its allies. It wasn’t as much the repudiation of Marxism as such as the defeat of Stalinism. For, in the end, all tyrannies carry the seeds of decay and destruction, within themselves.

The third “turn of the screw” finally saw religious terrorism (which we have seen in Kashmir in its most pernicious form) assume a kind of “finality”, a pseudo-prophetic aspect when the Muslim jehadis with Osama bin Laden as their new pontiff promising a paradise to the faithful bared its fangs in America (the September 11 suicidal attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon) and in India (the strike of December 13 on the Indian Parliament). That was a moment of pure terror, blind and blinding. And it changed the course of American and world history. The wheel of ideological terrorism married to a faith or religion came full circle. The Christian and Muslim crusading spirit of the medieval times after centuries returned in a more vicious and reckless form.

This eruption of dark residues which returned us to the crusading theology of those days was an act of regression, a Freudian “return” to the entombed past. In one huge leap, as it were, this dark spirit crossed the hump of history to assert its subterranean presence. With the USA facing this kind of terrorism for the first time in its history, the moment of the assault became then the moment of decision. The American President and his advisers are still too confused to correct their line of vision. And that is why some of their actions in Afghanistan have been openly questioned by some scribes in the US media itself. But these aberrations and failures notwithstanding terrorism as an instrument of power to overturn the established orders can no longer hide under alibis or proxies, or specious arguments.

The American war on terrorism, for instance, is at once right and phoney. The Taliban regime raised ironically by the American policy-makers themselves became its own nemesis. However, they have learnt no lesson from the Afghanistan war, and now the Bush administration is itching for another war — this time against their old hobgoblin, Sadam Hussein. For such are the requirements of the American war industry and Establishment!

Let us be clear about one thing: the question of “the right of self-determination” which ethnic, linguistic, demographic and religious minorities have used as a patent weapon. Up to a point, it’s fair enough, and in certain situations of historical validity, such claims have their due legitimacy. It’s when a movement turns into a blind terrorist state of mind that it loses its raison d’etre.

Since such satanic movements have devastated whole sections of societies, it’s not sufficiently realised that the use of force as a weapon against entrenched tyrannies has always been recognised in history as something inevitable and just. Otherwise there would have been no political and socio-economic changes in societies. But life force hates stasis, ennui and inaction and, therefore, would have its way sooner than later. Yes, force remains “the midwife” of revolutions, but it too has to remain within certain visionary parameters. And, in any case, no right is more fundamental than the right of truth.

MIDDLE

Malwa versus Majha
Punam Khaira Sidhu

IT was after the “Anand Karaj” at my wedding, when the Baratis and the Kudiwallahs break bread together and bonhomie prevails, that I heard my father say: “We Majhails did not marry our daughters to Malwais”. Not having lived in Punjab for the better part of my growing years, I did not then understand the connotations underlying that remark. Having been married to a Malwai for the last 12 years I now do, and what can I say except, “Vive la difference”.

The river Sutlej runs through Punjab. Historians refer to the region west of the river as the Trans-Sutlej, and that east of the river as the Cis-Sutlej. This division corresponds roughly to the Majha-Malwa divisions. Majha is the ‘Bari Doab’ area that lies between the Beas and the Ravi. The people living in Majha are referred to as the Majhails. The Malwais are the people who live in the area that lies between the Sutlej and the Jamuna. Majha is essentially the area encompassing Lahore, present day districts of Amritsar. Gurdaspur and Pathankot. Malwa lies spread over Ferozepur, Faridkot, Patiala and Ludhiana. The traditional divide manifests itself in linguistic, culinary, cultural, psychological and sociological differences.

The linguistic differences were what struck me first in my Malwai marital home. ‘Taqi’ is window in the Malwai Punjabi and Khirki in Majhail. “Mure” is in front of in Malwai, “agge” in Majhail, “sumbharna” is cleaning up in Malwai as against “safari” in Majhailese. “Bhalna” is “to search” in Malwai as against “labhna” in Majha. Linguistic differences apart, you know a Malwai when he asks for ‘Dudh-patti’ while a Majhaili asks for “cha” at teatime.

But the major difference is psychological. Malwais are shrewd strategists, practical and farsighted: their heads rule their hearts. The Majhail acts before he thinks. His heart rules and he is impulsive rather than practical, an idealist who can be passionate about his causes. Both Malwa and Majha have thrown up leaders who have left their mark on Punjab and a keen rivalry has marked their interactions. The royal families of Patiala, Nabha, Faridkot and Jind from Malwa while Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, Maha Singh Sukerchakiya and his son Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and his generals Hari Singh Nalwa, Desa Singh Majithia, Attar Singh Sandhawalia, and finally Sir Sunder Singh Majhithia from Majha fashioned the fabric of present-day Punjab, pre-partition.

Post-partition, think Majha and the images that loom large are Master Tara Singh, Pratap Singh Kairon, a political Science graduate from the University of Michigan, and Gurnam Singh, Gopichand Bhargav and Comrade Ram Krishan. Maharaja Yadavindra Singh, Gyan Singh Rarewala, Parkash Singh Badal, Harcharan Singh Brar and Giani Zail Singh are only some of the many Malwai statesmen. There are many whom the constraints of space do not permit me to name. But the luminaries I name best illustrate the Malwai versus the Majhail psyche comparison.

And finally encapsulating the traditional Malwa versus Majha rivalry, there’s a humorous tale about a Malwai Brigadier and a Majhail Honorary Captain. They met long after they had served together. The Malwai proudly informed the Majhail that he had three sons one of whom was a Major General, another an Air Vice-Marshal while the third was a Commodore in the Navy on the verge of promotion. The Malwai version has the Majhail reluctantly informing that he had three sons too. One recently out on bail, another doing time for alleged drug peddling, while a third was facing charges for 107/151 Cr PC for apprehension of breach of peace.

The Majhail version ends a little differently with the Majhail informing the Malwai that he too had three sons, one a Major General, the other an Air Vice-Marshal while the third was a Commodore in the Navy on the verge of promotion. “But I hope you know that I never married”!! .............. Long live the Majhails and the Malwais and long may they connive and compete.

REALPOLITIK

Image building at govt cost
P. Raman

THIS year’s DAVP advertisement on the Gandhi Jayanti day was known for its unsavoury controversy over an inadvertent joke on the nation and its Father. Instead of a “thankful” (kritagnya) nation paying its homage to Mahatma Gandhi, its Gujarati version made it a “thankless” (kritaghnya) nation. By inserting a ‘h’ to this Sanskrit word, this pure translation bloomer has turned out to be so disastrously appropriate in Narendra Modi’s Gujarat.

This is not the only notable aspect of this year’s government advertisements to newspapers on the eve of the Mahatma’s 133rd birth anniversary. They reflected India’s growing political diversity and differing perceptions on delicate issues. Governments headed by each political party has hailed Gandhiji because he remains part of the Indian psyche and to ignore this dominant sentiment will amount to indiscretion. Even those who have been his bitter critics during his life time and those like Mayawati who had described him as “saitan ki awlad” (son of the devil) have recognised his status as the Father of the Nation.

The Centre’s DAVP and the public relations departments of state governments and civic bodies issue display ads on national days purportedly to inculcate patriotism and national awareness among the people. Gandhi Jayanti ads this time had two unrevealed objectives. The first relates to the “use” of the Mahatma to further the party politics and, second, the total misuse of the advertisements for political glorification and individual image building.

October 2 has come this year at the peak of communal hatred in Gandhiji’s home state. In the normal course his words could have been used to soothen the hurt feelings. However, the Centre’s Gandhi Jayanti ads conspicuously avoided any reference to this messiah’s peace message. Instead it merely quotes him on patriotism, something which suits the ruling party at the moment. Under a Gandhi portrait, it says: “India is to me the dearest country in the world, not because it is my country but because I have discovered the greatest goodness in it....”

In sharp contrast, the state governments led by the opposition parties highlighted Gandhiji’s message of peace, secularism, equality and social harmony. Apparently, they try to use the occasion to expose the BJP government’s policy of religious hatred. The Uttaranchal government under the Congress, has a Gandhiji portrait in the background of a silhouetted temple, mosque, church and gurdwara. It says in big letters: “Bible, Guru Granth Saheb, Quran and Ramayana, he had equal respect for all.”

The Delhi Government, also under the Congress, takes a similar line to highlight “secularism, ahimsa, self-reliance, selflessness and satyagraha and appeals to the people not to forget “what he lived and died for”. However, other Delhi ads were more subject specific and quoted Gandhiji on prohibition, khadi, fighting leprosy, etc even while keeping the secular air. The Congress government in Rajasthan concentrated more on its own schemes for equality and peace.

One can well understand the unenviable position of those like Nitish Kumar and Mayawati. Both owe their present position to the BJP, and are not in a position to be bracketed with “secularists”, a sarcastic term in the parivar lexicon. Thus on Gandhi Jayanti, the Railways only “fulfils its commitments” on electrification and the ticketing system, etc without any reference to Gandhiji’s ideals. Another railway ad, however, raises Gandhiji to the globalised era by making him speak about the importance of the consumer. Mayawati simply made it “Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana day”. Thus every political group tried to use Gandhiji to suit its own realpolitik.

The other aspect — self-glorification through government ads — is a deeper malaise encompassing all political parties and every minister at the Centre and in states. We have developed the funny system of the governments releasing display ads on slightest provocations. The Indian Labour Conference was held this week and out came the DAVP’s display ad with the inevitable PM portrait and those of the Labour Minister and his MOS. Next day, Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh prints his pictures along with his MOS in a quarter page ad funded by the DAVP to announce that the minister “chairs a conference of the ministers of the state governments dealing with agricultural marketing”.

The PM was not to attend the meet but his photograph is mandatory. (Some Congress governments counter it by putting a Sonia pix). Then it was Pramod Mahajan’s turn the next day, i.e., Sept 28. This display ad, with the PM and the MOS, was to announce the launching of a research and training centre of the NCST at a five-star hotel in Bangalore. Soon came another ad by Shanta Kumar about the conference of state rural development secretaries. Apart from the PM’s three ministers had their pixs on the half-page ad.

None of these conferences is open to the public nor the functions have immediate relevance to them. Instead of ministers’ portraits, the public interest is limited to their decisions and implementation. The opposition Chief Ministers are ahead in using the government funds for self-aggrandisement. Can’t we have a pulse polio campaign without the portrait of the PM and ministers?

The whole system is a hangover of the pre-reform cult which suits everyone. The government can use the ad lever and patronage to control the Press by way of selective release. The newspapers get assured government funds every year in the name of helping the small and medium dailies. Finally, the ministers will get their free visibility through the display ads. If the government leaves everything to the market, why should it continue the old system? There is need for a review of the system to make the government allocations for mass communication more efficient and cost effective.

The free picture display of the ministers has been a manifestation of the rise of excessively personalised politics in India. In the early days, election posters and handbills had the party flags and symbols on them. Voters put the ballots in boxes of their choice with symbols (bullocks for the Congress) came. This was followed by the system of stamping on the allotted colours (the Congress, incidentally had yellow box). Then boxes with symbols (bullocks for the Congress) came. This was followed by the system of stamping on the symbol. Thus importance was always to the party and its symbol and flag. The present kind of personalisation of political posters had their origin in the magical image of Indira Gandhi from 1971.

At the peak of her glory, a picture of “Indiraji” was enough to bring a lot more votes to the Congress candidates. Her portrait became standard prescription for party posters and government publications. No other pictures were allowed in Congress posters. When S. Bangarappa sent “vote-Sanjay” posters with his own pix for distribution, an angry AICC called them back on the premise that it amounted to personal publicity for the former. As against this, now you have the “thank-you” posters by the minions belonging to every non-left party.

Mandal, mahila and youth members issue posters with their pix plus those of the party president/PM and the prabhari (in-charge) of the state thanking them for nominating them into the body. They enjoy such naked sycophancy in exchange of their patronage and lobbying. Often individual aspirants for tickets and positions in both the Congress and the BJP put out ads and posters greeting the state “in-charges” on the latter’s birthday. Such patron-client relationship negates the sound system of choosing the deserving functionaries on merit.

TRENDS & POINTERS

Suffers heart attack, spared gallows 

A convicted Iranian murderer cheated death twice when he was spared from a public hanging because he had a heart attack after the noose was placed around his neck, newspapers said on Sunday.

Mohammad Hadi, a 55-year-old drug dealer convicted of killing one of his customers last year, had the narrow escape from death on Thursday just before his execution in the main square of the central city of Khomeini Shahr.

But Hadi’s reprieve is only temporary. He has been transferred to a hospital for treatment and once recovered his execution will be carried out as planned. Iran, in line with its strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law, executes murderers unless they are pardoned by their victims’ next of kin. Reuters

Women beat alcoholism out of men

Women in several villages of West Begal’s Burdwan district are increasingly becoming physical in their effort to stop their men from hitting the bottle. And in their unique enterprise, brooms, slippers and sticks are coming in handy.

Hooked to cheap moonshine, most men in Burdwan’s tribal-dominated villages like Belepara, Aslepora, Handipara and Khanpukur have for years been wasting themselves and their meagre earnings.

Their mothers, wives, sisters and daughters, feeling enough is enough, have now taken matters into their own hands.

Organised together by the women’s wing of the state’s ruling Marxist party, these women are not only stopping their men from drinking but also raiding illegal liquor dens and razing them to the ground. IANS

Where Muslim girls recite ‘shlokas’

Defying social taboo, Muslim girls of Sanatan Dharma Kanya High School in Dehra Dun recite “shlokas” from Hindu scriptures for the morning assembly.

“They give us peace of mind,” said Razia Ansari, a student. More than 130 of the 400 students in the school are Muslims, a remarkable achievement for a school run by a Hindu body.

“Because we don’t have any religious discrimination at heart, a lot of Muslim kids also come here to study. Even when we give scholarships, we only consider a person’s economic situation and we have found that most of our scholarships are awarded to the Muslim children,” said Rakesh

Oberoi, President of the School Managing Committee. ANI

Gujarat temple attack mystery deepens

WHO were the two young terrorists that attacked the Swaminarayan temple in Gandhinagar and slaughtered 32 people, including three well-trained commandos? Were they Pakistanis, as the authorities claim? Or were they Indians? Maybe locals taking revenge for the brutal killing of at least 1,000 Muslims earlier in Gujarat? Where did they come from? From within Gujarat? Or outside? By train? If yes, which train?

Did they have a local accomplice? If yes, how many? What kind of logistic help would they have required for an operation of this kind? Did they visit this city earlier to plan their killer attack?

There are questions and questions, but so many days after the September 24 attack, the investigators have few answers.

All that a senior official involved in the probe could say was: “We have not been told by the Home Ministry or the Intelligence Bureau that they were so and so from Pakistan.” But Indian ministers have already dubbed the killers Pakistanis — although Islamabad has denied the accusation and said they were linked to terror groups Lakshar-e-Taiba or Jaish-e-Mohammad.

But if they were Pakistanis, is there any independent proof of this, apart from the bland assertion that one was a resident of Lahore (Mohammed Amjad) and another from Attock (Hafez Yasser)? The investigation has been handed over to the Anti-Terrorist Squad of the Gujarat police. But with the main clues - the two attackers - dead and gone, the detectives are struggling to make any headway. IANS

SPIRITUAL NUGGETS

I stood speechless with shame when my name thou didst ask. Indeed, what had I done for thee to keep me in remembrance? But the memory that I could give water to thee to allay thy thirst will cling to my heart and enfold it in sweetness. The morning hour is late, the bird sings in weary notes, neem leaves rustle overhead and I sit and think and think.

Let all the strains of joy mingle in my last song — the joy that makes the earth flow over in the riotous excess of the grass, the joy that sets the twin brothers, life and death, dancing over the wide world, the joy that sweeps in with the tempest, shaking and waking all life with laughter, the joy that sits still with its tears on the open red lotus of pain, and the joy that throws everything it has upon the dust, and knows not a word.

***

 — Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali