Cynstepin's Blog

cynstepin — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 06:08:23 +0000

judging some recent judgements “It is a landmark judgement which proves to us once again the emancipatory potential of the Constitution. ‘Speaking of litigation’ was a response to this euphoria – drawing attention to the fact that there is a dreary side to the constitution – one that is unyielding to the demands of certain population groups even as it appears to be contemporaneous and responding to the evolving sensibilities of certain other social groups”…so said my good friend Anant Maringanti, responding to his post “Speaking of litigation” on Kafila’s blog. Anant was sharing a recent AP HC judgement which added an additional thirty rupees to the daily wage for agricultural labourers, ending a long-drawn-out litigation started by a collective of Coolies in the State. This was picked up and commented upon in another e-group, Jivika, and caused some response there as well. And Ashley Tellis, a social activist wrote a critical piece on the Naz Foundation judgement which ran totally counter to the euphoria with which the judgement was greeted. (http://www.hinduonnet.com/mag/2009/07/12/stories/2009071250120400.htm) He says and I quote: ” I have only one (point). Why was this entire case, based as it is on Constitutional provisions, not built on analogous reasoning with various other minorities like Dalits, adivasis and religious minorities, through the histories of progressive legislation with these groups, rather than on international cases to make theoretical arguments about equal treatment and reasonableness? Why was it not seeking to build bridges, like the proposed Equal Opportunity Commission, to show the common cause of minorities, to build a stronger collective politics?” And earlier, he points out ‘One section of the judgement has as its title the targeting of homosexuals “as a class” but there’s the other sense of class at work. This is a middle-class judgement for middle class gay boys who run NGOs and fancy alternative law outfits, all funded and ready to party. Hence, all the talk about privacy and individuality, not community and the publicness of lives.’ Somehow, both Anant’s and Ashley’s pieces seemed to touch a responsive chord in me. And even as I was coming to terms with the internal reverberations these pieces caused – musing on the way in which on the one hand, courts view the issues of those who cling with thier fingernails to their lives, depending on chance, the rains, random acts of kindness, and their own sheer instinct for survival to go from one day to the next. Contrast these with the NAZ Foundation judgement, and those who celebrated it. This judgement took five years to come – pun intended. Whereas there are umpteen cases relating to issues relating to the rights of forest dwellers, slum dwellers, or agricultural or industrial workers to relatively minor incremental benefits, but these take decades and may yet go against their interests. Which is why Anat found cause to celebrate judgement giving Rs 30 more to the take-home wages of an agricultural labourer. And what sticks in my craw is the fact that the judgement quotes Ambedkar on the issue of Constitutional morality, vs public morality, and privileges the former over the latter. But more on this later.

Womenspeak

cynstepin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:46:00 +0000

The Mayawati – Rita Bahuguna fracas can of course be read, and rightly so, as a typical case of a casteist and classist response of frustration with the fact that power is in the hands of the subaltern(s) in UP. There can be nothing but condemnation for the words used by a woman who is in public office and has a political lineage to boot, on the elected reprsenteative and leader of the state of which she is a citizen. It is of course unfortunate that the woman’s house was burnt down by some miscreants after her remarks, but that can be said to be collateral damage. Rita has been roundly condemned by all concerned and the Hindu, in an editorial, has called for Sonia to sack her as UPCC chief.

But added to the fact that Brahminical Patriarchy is showing its colours, there is also the fact that the media is playing it up as a “fight for Dalit Votes (between Cong and BSP)”, as if Mayawati won and became the CM of UP for the fourth time on the Dalit vote alone!

But we need to look at another aspect.

While women are slowly – too slowly, alas – coming into their own in the public sphere in India especially in governance, where we have several women in Cabinet positions, as President (Pratibha PAtil), Chief of the main constituent of the ruling coalition (Sonia GAndhi), some women Chief ministers Shela Dixit and MAyawati – and ex- chief ministers – Vijayaraje Scindia – younger women coming into parliaments and assemblies – Kanimozhi, Priay Dutt, Selja – , and important roles in opposition – Mamata Bannerjee - as in West Bengal, which has had no opposition worth the name for decades…

On the other hand, we see that women in public office, despite their being relatively so few of them, do not get along too well, amybe because solidarity among women is still looked upon with disfavour by our patriarchal society which actually poineered the concept of “divide and rule”. Thus, it is no wonder that the Women’s reservation bill has had such a stormy history, and its future does not appear to be too rosy. Only some have understood the rather nuanced position taken by Sharad Yadav, who asserts strongly the need for reservation/representation for women on the basis of thier caste-class origin, but of course he is damned by the Brahminical media for “blocking the women’s reservation bill”.

But over and above this, the level to which the dicourse among the women themselves has sunk has to be noted and condemned. Not many know that a couple of days ago, the Rajasthan Assembly was thunderstruck by the former CM, Vijaya Raje Scindia’s remarks in reply to criticism by a minister in the present government – she walked up to his seat, and asked how he would feel if she went around claiming that his wife was given to drinking and carousing in the streets every night! The assembly was shocked into silence at her words.

And in Andhra Pradesh, just befor the elections, there have been some very unedifying TV talk shows in which some of the leaders of the women’s wings of political parties – notably the Praja Rajyam and some other prominent women political leaders engaging a free-for-all slanging matches on air, which served to further bring to public disrepute their capacities as leaders and spokespersons for thier parties or thier constituents.

The point to note is that while communal rioters have routinely targeted the bodies of the “other” women for violence and rape, the new trend appears to be get women “leaders” who are already insecure and unsure of their roles in power and governance to attack other women in public office, and even more so if the woman in question is single, darkskinned, and/or belongs to a marginalised group.

It is interesting to note how this major incident has not made it into the blogoshere which has had so much to say about Mayawati’s statutes, her diamonds, her cakes, her clothes …! And Indian feminists and slacktivists have not jumped into the fray with statements, placards, or candle-light protests! Just goes to show how ‘class’ and “caste” will show itself up even in its silences. Let us break the silence, but let us keep our dignity, and that of others as well.

Hello world!

cynstepin — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:28:43 +0000

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