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Monday, August 22, 2011

[ZESTCaste] BSP state president expelled

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/bsp-state-president-expelled/177650-60-116.html

Kerala
BSP state president expelled
indianexpress Express News Service , The New Indian Express
Posted on Aug 22, 2011 at 12:19pm IST

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The months since the 2011 Assembly elections have
proved tumultuous for small-time Kerala units of big North Indian
parties, thanks to shoddy electoral performance and consequent
infighting.

In the latest instance, Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has
kicked out its Kerala unit president and resolved to announce a fresh
set of office-bearers. BSP national general secretary and Kerala
coordinator Dr Suresh Mane issued a statement elevating the party's
Kerala vice-president Prahladan as the state president.

BSP's electoral performance in the Assembly elections in 2011 had been
poor compared to the previous occasion. Although no surprises were
expected from the BSP which contested in 122 seats, it cornered only
1.04 lakh votes, a mere 0.60 percent of the total vote share.

At a June 4 review meeting, party state president Saji Cheraman
resigned, but was allowed to continue as an ordinary party member.

"But instead of getting involved in reorganising and strengthening the
party, despite several warnings, he was getting engaged in acts of
groupism, indiscipline and several anti-party activities. Therefore,
under the instruction of central leadership and in the interests of
the party in the state, Saji K Cheraman and one U P Anil Kumar, party
worker from Thiruvananthapuram, have been expelled from the party,''
Mane said in his letter, according to a statement issued by BSP Kerala
vice-president J Sudhakaran.

When contacted, Saji Cheraman said he had received no official
intimation regarding his expulsion. He also denied that he was engaged
in any anti-party activity.

Following the elections in May, the Kerala unit of Ram Vilas Paswan's
Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) also had thrown out members of a splinter
group.

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[ZESTCaste] Rout was removed from ministry for casteist remark: minister

http://ibnlive.in.com/generalnewsfeed/news/rout-was-removed-from-ministry-for-casteist-remark-minister/795377.html

Rout was removed from ministry for casteist remark: minister
PTI | 08:08 PM,Aug 20,2011

Bhubaneswar, Aug 20 (PTI) About three months after his resignation
from Naveen Patnaik cabinet, Orissa Govenment today said Damodar Rout
had to quit the ministry for the casteist remark allegedly made by him
about dalits."Rout had lost confidence of the chief minister after he
made some remark against dalits. The National Commission for Scheduled
Caste had taken cognisance of Rout's remarks.The Centre had given some
suggestions to the chief minister on Rout case," Revenue Minister S N
Patro told the state assembly."He (Rout) should have resigned on his
own after securing bail from Orissa High Court. But did not do
so.Therefore, he was asked to quit by the chief minister on May 8,"
Patro said.Patro made the statement when Rout in his reply to a
question by a Congress member as to why he had resigned said among
others "the chief minister asked me to resign perhsps to take more
efficient person in the ministry." Rout had allegedly made some remark
about dalits at a public meeting in his home district of Jagastinghpur
last year. He was chargesheeted and currently on bail. PTI AAM SKN PR
PR 08201932 NNNN

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[ZESTCaste] Caste Aside

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Caste-Aside/834770/

Caste Aside
Shubhra Gupta Posted online: Sun Aug 21 2011, 00:12 hrs
New Delhi : Bollywood has never had space or power for Dalits — or
anyone who does not belong to its Hindu happy family

He's not a Musalmaan or a Christian, is he? That was the deeply
reductive way my then-to-be spouse, neither of the above, was welcomed
into my large Hindu "kunba". To my grandmother's mind, it was, then,
something she could live with. It didn't strike her as ironic that her
granddaughter had been sent off proudly to a convent school where the
Irish nuns were big on Catechism. Or that the small UP town we lived
in had a large Muslim population, which meant shared classrooms and
chatter and tiffin boxes.

But it did not even occur to her to ask if the prospective threat of a
groom not from her "samaaj" could be Dalit. If you called her
prejudiced, she would have laughed in your face. She was just a
product of her times. Some people just did not exist, or if they did,
it was well below her sightline.

Hindi cinema's sightlines have had much in common with my
long-departed grandma, who, till the end of her days, lived in a world
blithely her own. The predominantly middle-class sprawling Hindu
(north Indian) joint family has long been Bollywood's universe du
jour: everyone else — people of different caste, creed, and colour —
has been accorded Dalit status. Stay right there, in your designated
corner, till we need you. Then come, finish up quickly, and go. Back
to that corner.

At the opening job interview, the Dalit hero of Aarakshan is asked his
name. Deepak, he says. Deepak what? Deepak Kumar. Aha, a man with no
significant surname. The interviewers instantly assume that "gotcha"
look as they continue to grill their candidate who's got where he has
through merit and hard work, not through graft or, that extremely
pernicious Indian word, "pull". You know the moment he opens his mouth
that first instance, he's done for. And that sets the tone for his
character's fate: he gets to romance, yes, and spout a couple of
incendiary dialogues, yes, but soon after, director Prakash Jha pushes
him to the edges of the film, where he cools his heels till the
climactic moments.

How different is Deepak's present-day trajectory (even though he gets
his girl, and a job, presumably, at the end of the film) from that of
Kasturi in the 1936 film Achhoot Kanya? The stunning Devika Rani plays
the "untouchable girl" with whom the Brahmin hero, played by Ashok
Kumar, falls in love: their pastoral romance is spiked by venomous
comments from the villagers about the lower castes; and a tragedy is
prevented solely by fate, not human agency, at the very end.

Loud affirmative action, and speech, is usually confined to a
character who's not central to the story. One of my favourite
flagrantly "lower caste" characters in Bollywood has to be Pannalal
Chohar, a cop who is unafraid of his future, because his present is
what he makes of it. Sanjay Dutt was terrific in this little role in
Eklavya, but it was a small part that made up the parcel of Vidhu
Vinod Chopra's film. This edifice, says Chohar, pointing to the castle
where the nobles live, has been made on the dead bodies of my
ancestors. That speech, which Dutt delivers with bravura flourish,
requires confrontation, but, in good Bollywood style, is used just as
a provocative nudge, before being shoved aside.

Lagaan's magical team has a spin bowler who has a big part in the
match win, but he's called, yes, Kachra: literally, garbage. The
lowered eyes of Nutan's lower caste leading lady in Sujata are almost
apologetic that the "savarna" Sunil Dutt has fallen in love with her.
In one of those forgettable '80s movies, in which Tina Munim calls
Rajesh Khanna home for tea on mummy's invitation, she refuses to share
the table with Shriram Lagoo, who plays a dark-skinned lower caste
retainer.

And it is not a question only of caste: other religions, and faiths,
too get short shrift. Hindu heroes are allowed to fall for Muslim
women (not the other way round) but not without hectoring speeches.
For the longest time, Muslim heroes and heroines were cloistered in
Muslim socials, where they could play their "nawabi" games: the Hum
Aapke Hain Kaun type family doesn't need any pollutants, thank you.
Not only are there no other religions to be seen in most Bollywood's
monster blockbusters, other than in the almost insultingly peripheral
ways, the poor and the not-so-privileged have to be shown their place.
Sidekicks, usually from a less-affluent background, can share the
screen with us, but they are always them. South Indians have to be
dark. Or nerds. Or both. Other Indians, if they are not of
fair-and-lovely-mainly-Punjabi-descent-or-persuasion, may as well just
stay home.

And don't even get me started on free-spirited women, who are
practically invisible in Bollydom. What, you've got an opinion? Get
thee behind that pallu.

shubhra.gupta @expressindia.com

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[ZESTCaste] How can an anti-corruption movement be called casteist?

http://www.mid-day.com/opinion/2011/aug/210811-opinion-How-can-an-anti-corruption-movement-be-called-casteist.htm

How can an anti-corruption movement be called casteist?
By: Samrat Date: 2011-08-21 Place: Mumbai

Dalit intellectuals, according to a news report, are among the critics
of Anna Hazare and the movement he is leading. They find his movement
"casteist" and "against representative democracy". It is difficult to
understand how a movement for a less corrupt government might be
construed as casteist, but then, to Dalit thinkers, everything is
about caste, just as, to a Freudian, everything is about sex. You show
a Freudian a pen and he will think it's a penis.

Everyone's crying for help: A supporter of Anna Hazare at a public
hunger strike at Ramlila grounds in New Delhi on Friday. Pic/Subhash
Barolia

Corruption undoubtedly affects all castes. It also affects the poorer
and weaker sections of society more directly. A privileged person can
afford a bribe. The poor often have to suffer because they can't pay
up.

Considering that Dalits and tribals are as groups, worse off than high
castes, it would be sensible on the part of Dalits and tribals to
support any movement against corruption.

The Dalit thinkers who have opposed Anna and the Jan Lokpal Bill do,
however, have a point. Chandrabhan Prasad's warning that "vesting so
much power in the Lokpal, a non-elected person, could lead to a
dangerous situation", is valid. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said
as much. He is currently in the public's doghouse, but on this, he is
right.

In this country, every inspector of every kind becomes an
extortionist. From the building inspector to the customs inspector to
the police inspector to even the CBI inspector, all misuse their
powers to collect bribes.

Those agitating for the Jan Lokpal Bill say as much. In fact, they
believe judges and ministers up to the Prime Minister are prone to
corruption.

I have a couple of questions for them. From which society will they
get the staff for their Lokpal Police? Will their staff comprise
entirely of incorruptible Gandhians for all time to come? If their
organisation is going to be peopled, in the end, by the same folks who
today fill our police forces and bureaucracy, then it is unlikely that
it will be radically different. The words of caution are therefore not
entirely out of place.

Samrat is the Editor of Daily Post and author of The Urban Jungle. The
views expressed in this column are the individual's and don't
necessarily represent those of the paper

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[ZESTCaste] Hazare's campaign a threat to Constitution: Punia

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/hazares-campaign-a-threat-to-constitution-punia/177255-3.html

Hazare's campaign a threat to Constitution: Punia
Press Trust Of India
Posted on Aug 20, 2011 at 11:10pm IST

Lucknow: Chairman of SC/ST Commission PL Punia on Saturday alleged
that the Constitution was facing "threat" due to the campaign launched
by social activist Anna Hazare. "Constitution is facing threat due to
the campaign launched by Hazare," said Punia.

"What would happen when some people start fast unto death demanding
withdrawal of facilities being given to Dalit, minorities and
backwards," Punia said.

Punia was addressing a SC/ST convention organised by the Congress in
Lucknow. He also alleged that Uttar Pradesh has turned into a "volcano
of corruption" and several ministers have been removed due to
involvement in corruption and crime.

He said that due to the corruption Dalits were not getting benefit of
central schemes.