‘Mysterious’ but a ‘Possible Political assassination’ of Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee?

The then Vice President of India and a great scholar Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, immediately after the appalling custodial death of Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee who was very close to him, had penned down in his painful misty-eyed words about his charismatic and magnetic personality. He said, “He did never fear to express his Conscience throughout his public career. The blatant lies are uttered in silence. If the huge injustice takes place somewhere then to be reticent on it in the expectation that someone shall speak the truth someday, is a great sin committed on the part of a human being. Each one of us must put out the truth fearlessly in a democratic society”. The irony is that the one who dared to revolt for truth and his conviction to make whole J&K, a part of our great nation like other states, was made to sacrifice through his life by some dubious secularist fascists masquerading as a democratic darling. The consequence is the nation’s eyes are still lingering for truth to come out behind his ‘Mysterious’ but ‘Possible Political assassination’.

One may wonder as to why we have deliberately used the paraphrase ‘Mysterious but Possible Political assassination’ even though nothing is judicially established as of now? The reasons are too simple to be astonished. ‘Mysterious,’ because even after passing of 63 years of the occurrence of his death, it continues to remain an enigma as to the nature, identity and role of the catalysts behind his sudden demise in custody of a Government outside the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of India, and the even greater mystery is why the then Central Government in power didn’t constitute a commission of Inquiry or any such body to look into the nightmarish death of one of India’s greatest leaders. The Government’s complete unwillingness and lack of cooperation at that time to constitute an inquiry into the matter to find out the real cause of his death even after repeated requests from the mother of the deceased and numerous celebrated personalities, makes it even more mysterious and indicates a possible existence of criminal intent in the entire scenario.

For the explanation of the second part ‘Possible Political assassination’ there are numerous factual records to reach such a conclusion. In case of the occurrence of any mysterious death the first aspect which any investigating agency prefers to concentrate upon, is who may be the greatest beneficiary of such a death or who would have been more troubled, had the deceased been alive. The same principle applies to this case also and needless to say that the highest beneficiary of his death was none other than the then Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru and the then Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Sheikh Abdulla. It is a matter of record that Pt. Nehru and Shekh Abdulla had got extremely frustrated by the way Dr. Mookerjee was receiving enormous support from the people of the Country on the issue of entire J&K being an integral part of the nation like any other state. Dr. Mookerjee’s full-fledged support to ‘Jammu and Kashmir Praja Parishad Party’ formed and led by Pt. Premnath Dogra had instilled a sense of great anxiety and fear in Nehru’s mind. He had made Nehru extremely uncomfortable and had almost exposed him through his questions in Parliament dated 7^th of August 1952 and on several other occasions inside and outside of Parliament. Mr. Nehru in one of his letters to Dr. Mookerjee had gone to the extent of threatening him in a subtle hint. He had written “If the movement continues then ‘we’ shall decide as to what actions the Government can take in this regard.” The pronoun ‘We’ used by him was indicative of how he was in complete cahoots and alliance with Mr Sheikh Abdulla. 

It is not an embellishment to note that Mr. Nehru had started sensing his titanic competitor in Dr. Mookerjee’s vibrant, dynamic and nationalistic personality. Tathagata Roy in his book ‘The Life and Times of Dr. Syamaprasad Mookerjee’ reveals an astounding fact in this connection through the reference to his personal interview with Balraj Madhok dated 28^th of August 2008 in New Delhi.  As per Balraj Madhok, immediately after Dr. Mookerjee made his decision of visiting ‘J&K’ public, the noted freedom fighter Sucheta Kripalani came to meet him. She asked Dr. Mookerjee “You should not go to Jammu & Kashmir. Pt. Nehru will not let you come back.” To this he responded that he doesn’t have a personal animosity with Pt. Nehru. He added that he is fighting for a cause and why Pt. Nehru shall have a sense of personal hostility towards him? Sucheta Kriplani responded to these sincere and upright feelings of Dr. Mookerjee by saying that she knows Nehru better than him. She apprised him that Nehru considers him his prime competitor and he may try to eliminate him from the field by going to any possible extent.

Tathagata Roy had also interviewed Savita Banerjee, the eldest daughter of Dr. Mookerjee, on 24^th of April 2010 in her Goregaon Flat of Pune and what she revealed during the conversation was indeed appalling. She said that on her secret trip to Srinagar with her husband Nishith they somehow managed to meet the nurse who was taking care of Dr. Mookerjee in his last moments. The nurse apprised the couple after lot of emotional entreaties that when Dr. Mookerjee went into sleep, she was directed by the hospital doctor to inject a specific injection after he wakes up. When Dr. Mookerjee woke up the nurse injected him the said injection and he immediately screamed with all his might ‘It burns, I am burning’. The nurse ran towards the telephone to inform the doctor but till then Dr. Mookerjee lost consciousness and perhaps was made to sleep forever. Needless to say that all these aforesaid indications candidly beckon of a deep political conspiracy in Dr. Mookerjee’s death. Though, on the other hand some may argue that these facts are not substantiated by any positive evidence and thus this would not be fair and reasonable to point finger upon someone, we would like to humbly submit our counter to this prospective counter that “Absence of Evidence is Never Evidence of absence.”

The former Prime Minster of India, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee had openly said in 2004 that Dr. Mukherjee’s death was the result of Nehru’s conspiracy. Dr. Mookerjee was intentionally arrested in Jammu and Kashmir, so as to take him out from the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of India. He was confined in a straitened detention-centre near Nishat garden but it was at a considerable distance from the main town of Srinagar. The doctors could only come on a special invitation or request. The biggest room of this straitened detention centre was 10fit long and 11 fit wide in which Dr. Mookerjee was locked up with his other two colleagues Gurudatt Vaidh and Tekchand. Sheikh Abdullah had issued special directions that no special treatment shall be given to Dr. Mookerjee without his prior approval. On 24^th of May 1953, Jawaharlal Nehru and Kailashnath Katju arrived in Srinagar for holidaying and they didn’t have the slightest courtesy to meet Dr. Mookerjee and see in what conditions he was made to spend his days. Dr. Mookerjee’s health started seriously deteriorating in the morning of 22^nd June 1953. The Jail Supritendented was apprised of the situation and he came up with a Taxi (not ambulance) to get him admitted in a hospital. Even in that critical condition, he was made to cover the distance between his bed and the taxi on his feet. He was admitted in the ladies department of the Government hospital where only one nurse was there to look after him. Later on what happened is just an imperceptible history as this was the very place where a long-awaiting conspiracy was turned into action to achieve the desired outcome. Dr. Mookerjee was no more on 23^rd of June 1953. Pt. Nehru who was outside India when this incident had occurred showed absolutely no sign of regret or grief even for the sake of social nicety after he landed on Bombay airport.

This has been a general precedent that whenever a celebrated personality from any field dies under mysterious circumstances, an inquiry commission is constituted, but this didn’t happen in case of Dr. Mookerjee’s death. Three commissions had been set up to find out the truth relating to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s death. These commissions were – Shah Nawaz Commission (1956), G.D Khosla Commission (1970) and Manoj Mookerjee Commission (1999). Similarly, Kapoor Commission was constituted to look in to the Political assassination of Mahatma Gandhi; Thakkar Commission for Indira Gandhi and J.S Verma Commission and SC Jain Commission for Rajiv Gandhi’s killings. This is noteworthy that in all of these above cases (except Subhas Chandra Bose’s case) everyone knew about the respective killers yet the committees were constituted but no committee has been constituted hitherto to find out the truth behind Dr. Mookerjee’s death even though he died under completely mysterious circumstances within the border of a state upon which the Supreme Court of India had no jurisdiction. Is this not a great travesty of justice and a blatant discrimination in the first place? Does the citizenry have no right to know the reasons which led to the sudden demise of one of its beloved leaders? The mother of Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Jogmaya Devi, had written to Pt. Nehru to find out the real cause of his mysterious death. But Pt. Nehru dismissed her request by saying that he had gathered information from his personal source and did not find any mystery behind his death. He termed it a natural death. Nemo Judex In Causa Sua is an established principle of natural justice which means no one can be a judge in his own cause, but here Jawaharlal Nehru appears to be one.

Irrespective of political persuasion or political ideologies, justice should not alone be provided but also seem to be provided. And as the facts present themselves, the mysterious death of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee in prison, in Kashmir, requires a relook. People must know what went into the sudden death of Dr. Mookerjee in prison while some other political leaders were busy holidaying completely oblivious of his health conditions and unconcerned about the well-being of one of the greatest personalities this sub-continent has produced. All the files related to Dr. Mukherjee needs to be known by the larger public, whether with the Central Government or State Government It also needs to be seen whether there are any files in the first place or not. If not, why not. And if yes, they should be made known to the wider public.

It is perfectly understandable to have reservations regarding the functioning of our police system and justice delivery mechanism. So, yes, even a person with dubious background like Yakub Menon deserves justice in a nation proud of its bearings. And, in that scenario, a great intellectual and political leader like, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee surely deserves justice. It is quite possible that the culprits of his political killing might all be dead or too old and infirm but it needs to be known, who were they?

The entire intellectual, academic and media class of India has been silent on this for more than sixty years. It has never been widely debated or discussed. His name and contributions does not even appear in Indian history books. Even somebody like Jinnah, who created Pakistan, has been re-accommodated or at least discussed by academics, intellectuals and media persons whereas even the memory of Dr. Mukherjee has been wiped off the slate of Indian history. His death, like the death and killing of religious and ethnic minorities in Bangladesh, something which Dr. Mookerjee had intuitively sensed after the massacre of Hindus in Noakhali, goes largely unnoticed. It is high time that it is known. Let truth be known whatever it may be.

*(Dr. Mukherjee’s great-granddaughter, Dr. Gayatree Sharma, a journalist formerly working with the Times of India is ready with the petition for setting up of such an enquiry commission by the Government of India. She is going to take up the issue both with the Government of India and the President of India. When interviewed by the authors of this piece, she informed on how she will also rally all the existing members of the extended Mookerjee family on this issue.)  

*The factual narrative of this essay is drawn primarily from these two sources:

1. Tathagata Roy, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Prabhat Prakashan, 2012.

2. Prashanto Kumar Chatterji, Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Indian Politics, Foundation Books, 2010.

By: Rohit Kumar (4th Year B.A.LL.B Student, School of Law, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar)

   

       Pratyush Kumar http://www.nludelhi.ac.in/pep-fac-new-pro.aspx?Id=64

Mrs. Kejriwal, Could You Please Persuade Your Husband to Bring 'AAP' under 'RTI' ?

Respected Ma’am,

I have decided to write this ‘Open Letter’ to you with an honest expectation in my heart that you shall certainly entertain my request which I am going to submit henceforth before you because by doing so it will certainly create a silver lining in the history of Indian Politics and a credit to you personally apart from enhancing your husband’s reputation. You may wonder as to why I have decided to submit my request to you rather than submitting it directly to your husband, the Chief Minister of the Govt. of NCT of Delhi. But, there are strong reasons behind it. These are as follows:

1.      

    The First reason is: though I have personally not submitted any such request to the Chief Minster himself but in the past many public spirited people and organizations including Chief Minister’s former allies have made numerous identical requests to the Chief Minister of Delhi but he has unfortunately paid no heed to their requests.

2.     

The Second reason is: recently the Government of NCT of Delhi headed by your husband has been writing letters to the wives of celebrated Bollywood actors like Ajay Devgan, Shahrukh Khan, Arbaaz Khan and Govinda requesting them to encourage their husbands to not endorse tobacco products as these contain cancer causing agents. This, in my view is indeed a wonderful idea and great step. So, this idea also struck me (for which again the ‘AAP Govt’ is solely responsible) that I should also submit my petition to you on people’s behalf with a request to persuade your husband. Madam, interestingly my petition is also pertaining to Cancer itself, though not ‘Bodily Cancer’ for which ‘AAP Govt’ wrote to the famous actors’ wives rather ‘Social Cancer’ for the elimination of which your husband had made a primary resolve and had to reluctantly enter into Party-politics by his own admission. Yes, that is the social ‘Cancer of Corruption’.

Madam, I am completely unaware of your affection/disaffection towards Politics, more particularly of your husband’s politics and therefore I seek apology in advance if I am unknowingly dragging you into this arena. But, this is indeed vital, madam, and it is inevitable for me to bring this issue to your gracious consideration. I hope you remember, even though you might not be interested in politics, the circumstances which forced your husband to join Party-Politics. It was primarily Janlokpal Act and inclusion of Political Parties within the purview of RTI Act. Janlokpal, though comparatively weak has already been passed by his Government but he has completely backtracked on the issue of bringing his Party under the purview of RTI Act. He has completely forgotten his promise to the people of this country. Madam, you must be aware about how vehemently he criticized other political parties for not willing to come under the purview of RTI and now he too is exactly doing the same. Is he not murdering the trust of people? Is he not dismantling the faith of citizenry? You know, whenever I think about this, I remember the story which I had read in class 6 titled ‘Haar ki Jeet’ related to ‘Baba Bharati and Khadag Singh’. I do not understand Politics deeply enough but perhaps it is the ‘Character of Power’ and the ‘Drugs of Chair’ which has the potential to change a man and his vision so drastically.

Madam, I had also joined the ‘AAM Admi Party’ only 2 months after its formal launching but recently decided to untie my knot with it after writing an ‘Open Letter’ to the Chief Minister for many reasons but this being the primary one. I do not believe that he is the same Arvind Kejriwal who with the help of RTIs fought in the ghettos of Delhi for the rights of the marginalized and now his office stonewalls my RTI petitions.

Madam, you may or may not believe but I had made a resolve to myself that if ‘AAP’ won elections in Delhi, I would undertake a pilgrimage to ‘Ma Vaishno Devi’s temple. I successfully undertook the pilgrimage after AAP made a clean-sweep in Delhi election. After that I returned to Delhi, where I tried to meet the Delhi CM personally for offering him the ‘Prasad’ which I had brought and kept for him with an extreme devotedness but after failing in my attempt to meet him I handed over a bag of ‘Prasad’ to his Car driver with a slip inside it pouring my affection in words. Hope, you must have got the bag of ‘Prasad’ from the Car driver. I have stated all this to prove my dedication to him and the cause he had espoused. But, now I feel deceived. I am continuously derided by my friends and family for my decision to join ‘AAP’ and this becomes an embarrassing situation for me.

So, now I would like to revert to the prime purpose of my letter-petition to you. This is, with all due humility, a personal request to you, to persuade your husband, the Chief Minister of Delhi, to bring his ‘Aam Admi Party’ under the purview of RTI so that a new example in the democratic history of India is set up when a Chief Minister after being persuaded by his wife, brought his Party under the domain of ‘RTI Act’. This shall also strengthen Peoples’ belief in women’s power, which will be a positive sign for democracy.

I hope you shall certainly entertain my petition on people’s behalf and will act accordingly in this regard. Hope to hear the ‘Good News’ soon.

Yours Sincerely

ROHIT KUMAR (Former Member of ‘AAP’)

4^th Year B.A.LL.B Student,

School of Law, KIIT University,

Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

Email: rohitsingh3280@gmail.com

           

क्रांतिभिलाषी कामरेड कन्हैया, यह क्रांति नही, तुम्हारे मन की भ्रान्ति है.

क्रांतिभिलाषी कामरेड कन्हैया, 

क्या करें ‘क्रांतिभिलाषी’ लिखना पड़ेगा न ? मज़बूरी है. क्रांति की इतनी बड़ी अभिलाषा जो है तुममे. मानता हूँ तुम्हारा क्रांतिकारी भाषण सुनने में थोड़ी विलंब हो गयी. माफ़ करना, ‘भाषण’ नही तुम्हारा ‘क्रांतिकारी अनुभव’. परन्तु, तुम्ही उसे कहीं पर ‘अनुभव’ कहते हो, और कहीं पर ‘भाषण’. जेल से लौटने के तुरंत बाद जेएनयू में दिए गए अपने शुद्ध बनावटी भाषण को तुमने ‘अनुभव’ बताया और NDTV के रविश कुमार को दिए अपने साक्षात्कार में उसी ‘अनुभव’ को भाषण. हालांकि, चाहे वह जो भी हो, अनुभव या भाषण, था तो ‘बहुते क्रांतिकारी-बहुते क्रांतिकारी’. का बतायें कि कितना क्रांतिकारी ? हालाँकि, मेरी ऐसी भाषा के कारन स्वयं को दिल्ली चुनाव के पूर्व वाला अरविन्द केजरीवाल और मुझे अपुण्य प्रसून वाजपेयी समझने की भूल मत करना. ऐसी कोई बात नही है. एकदम नही. कोई बराबरी नही है तुममे और केजरीवाल में कामरेड. दूर-दूर तक नही. तुम शुरू से ही केजरीवाल से दो कदम आगे दिख रहे हो. इसका जीता-जागता प्रमाण है कि तुमने मिलने के लिए उन्हें घंटे भर का इंतज़ार तक करवा डाला. इतने कम समय में इतनी तरक्की ? वाह कामरेड ! वाह !! केजरीवाल महोदय ने ट्वीट कर तुम्हारे भाषण की प्रशंसा भी की थी. करनी भी चाहिए. किसी को भी अपने क्षेत्र के अपने से ज्यादा योग्य आदमी की अवश्य ही प्रशंसा करनी चाहिए.

तुम्हारी वह दिल्ली पुलिस के एक सिपाही के साथ बातचीत वाली और जेल में तुम्हे मिली ‘लाल और नीले’ कटोरे वाली कहानियाँ सुनकर तो मुझे पक्का यकीन ही हो गया कि बात बनाना तो तुम्हे बिलकुल भी नही आता है, ठीक उसी प्रकार जिस प्रकार से केजरीवाल महोदय को बिलकुल नही आता. ऐसी सत्य-आधारित कहानियां हम पहले से ही उनसे सुनते आ रहे हैं. कभी उन्हें कोई रिक्शावाला मिल जाता है, तो कभी कोई ऑटोवाला, और कभी तुम्हारी तरह कोई पुलिसवाला भी जो उन्हें चुपके से बताता है, कि कैसे वह आलाधिकारियों के दबाव की वज़ह से चाह कर भी ईमानदारी से काम नही कर पा रहा . प्रधानमंत्री कार्यालय तक में उनके गुप्तचर मौजूद हैं जो उन्हें समय-समय पर बताते रहते हैं कि कैसे प्रधानमंत्री दिन-रात उनके खिलाफ षड़यंत्र में जुटे रहते हैं, और यही प्रधानमंत्री कार्यालय का काम भी है. तो कामरेड, तुम्हारी कहानियां भी उन्ही की कहानियों की तरह बिलकुल सत्य घटनाओं पर आधारित प्रतीत होती हैं. तुमने यह भी कहा कि 'जब तक जेल में चना रहेगा तब-तक आना-जाना बना रहेगा'. तो एक बात इधर से भी कान खोल कर सुन लो कामरेड कि 'जब तक जेएनयू में देशद्रोह बना रहेगा, हमारा-तुम्हारा ठना रहेगा'. हाँ, एक बात और, वह तुम्हारी ‘लाल और नीले’ कटोरी वाली कहानी सुनकर मुझे भी एक बार तिहाड़ घूम कर आने का मन करने लगा है. देखना चाहता हूँ ‘लाल और नीली’ कटोरियाँ होती कैसी हैं, आज तक अपने जीवन में मैंने ऐसे रंग की कटोरियाँ नही देखी.

चलो, अब थोड़ी तुम्हारी ‘क्रांति’ पर आते हैं. तुमने कहा जेएनयू का विद्रोह ‘स्पोनटेनीयस’ था और यह भी कहा कि बदलाव ही सत्य है और इसी ‘स्पोनटेनीयस विद्रोह’ को तुम अपने भाषण में ‘क्रांति’ का नाम दे रहे थे और मुमकीन है कि ऐसे ही ‘स्पोनटेनीयस क्रांति’ के सहारे तुम बदलाव का सपना भी देख रहे होगे. मुझे हंसी आती है तुम्हारी ‘क्रांति’ के भ्रांतिपूर्ण समझ पर. ‘क्रांति’ और ‘स्पोनटेनीयस’? कहाँ से सीखे हो बंधू ? चलो, जिनके नाम पर स्थापित विश्वविद्यालय में पढ़ते हो और पता नही कब तक पढोगे, उनके ही विचार के बारे में बताता हूँ कि ‘क्रांति और बदलाव’ के बारे में उनकी क्या समझ थी. राष्ट्रकवि ‘दिनकर’ की अनुपम कृतियों में से एक, (जिनकी एक कृति ‘कुरुक्षेत्र’ की एक पंक्ति तुमने भी अपने भाषण के दौरान उधृत की थी, जिस पर मैं बाद में आऊंगा) ‘संस्कृति के चार अध्याय’ की प्रस्तावना’ लिखते हुए पंडित जवाहरलाल नेहरु ने 30 सितम्बर 1955 को, ‘क्रांति और बदलाव’ के सम्बन्ध में अपने विचार इस प्रकार रखे थे. उन्होंने कहा था –

“असल में, हमारा ध्यान उन्ही परिवर्तनों पर जाता है, जो हिंसक क्रांतियों या भूकंप के रूप में अचानक फट पड़ते हैं. फिर भी, प्रत्येक भूगर्भ-शास्त्री यह जानता है कि धरती की सतह में जो बड़े-बड़े परिवर्तन होते हैं, उनकी चाल बहुत धीमी होती है और भूकंप से होनेवाले परिवर्तन उनकी तुलना में अत्यंत तुच्छ समझे जाते हैं. इसी तरह, क्रांतियाँ भी धीरे-धीरे होने वाले परिवर्तन और सूक्ष्म-रूपांतरण की बहुत लम्बी प्रक्रिया का बाहरी प्रमाण मात्र होती हैं. इतिहास में कभी-कभी ऐसा भी समय आता है जब परिवर्तन की प्रक्रिया और उसकी तेजी कुछ अधिक प्रत्यक्ष हो जाती है. लेकिन, साधारणतः, बाहर से उसकी गति दिखाई नहीं देती. परिवर्तन का बाहर रूप, प्रायः, निस्पंद ही दीखता है.”

अब जरा स्वयं के ‘स्पोनटेनीयस क्रांति’ वाली समझ को ऊपर के विचारो से सम्बंधित कर देखना और सोचना, फिर पता चलेगा ‘क्रांति’ के बारे में तुम्हारी समझ की पहुँच कहाँ तक है. 
तुमने अपने भाषण में संविधान की बहुत बाते की. अच्छा लगा सुनकर, विशेषकर 'न्यायिक हत्या' वाली पोस्टर देखने के पश्चात, यह एक भ्रामक मगर सुखद अनुभव था. मेरा एक सुझाव है, राजनीती और नारेबाजी से समय मिले तो सबसे पहले ‘जवाहरलाल नेहरु विश्वविद्यालय अधिनियम 1966’ को एक बार जरुर पढना क्योंकि तब तुम्हे पता चलेगा कि जेएनयू की स्थापना के पीछे का मुख्य उद्देश्य ‘राष्ट्रीय एकता और अखंडता’ है, न कि भारत की बर्बादी और कश्मीर की आज़ादी.’ तुम जिस विश्वविद्यालय में पढ़ते हो, यदि उसके उद्देश्य पर ही खरा न उतर पाओ और उसकी ही रक्षा न कर सको, तो बाकी गरीबी और भ्रष्टाचार हटाने के उद्देश्य के बारे में तो सोचना भी उर्जा का अपव्यय है, सोचो ही मत, वही उत्तम होगा.

तुमने अपने भाषण में समानता-असमानता के ऊपर राष्ट्रकवि रामधारी सिंह ‘दिनकर’ द्वारा रचित उनकी अनुपम कृति ‘कुरुक्षेत्र’ की एक पंक्ति भी उधृत की, पर काश तुम भारत के एकता और अखंडता के बारे में भी उनके निम्नाकित विचार को पढ़ और समझ पाते, जिसे उन्होंने ‘हिमालय का सन्देश’ कविता में निम्न रूप से व्यक्त किया है :-

“भारत है संज्ञा विराग की, उज्ज्वल आत्मउदय की,
भारत है आभा मनुष्य की सबसे बड़ी विजय की,
भारत है भावना दाह जग-जीवन का हरने की,
भारत है कल्पना मनुष्य को राग्मुक्त करने की !
जहाँ कहीं एकता अखंडित जहाँ प्रेम का स्वर है,
देश-देश में खड़ा वहां भारत जीवित, भास्वर है ! “

तुमने मनु और मनुवाद को भी जी भर की गालियाँ दी. नारे लगा-लगा कर गालियाँ दी. परन्तु, जानते हो ‘मनु’ और ‘मनुपुत्र’ पर रामधारी सिंह ‘दिनकर’ के विचार ? चलो, वह भी बता देता हूँ कि उन्होंने ‘चाँद और कवी’ शीर्षक नामक अपनी कविता में इस विषय पर क्या कहा था –

“मनु नही, मनु-पुत्र है यह सामने, जिसकी,
कल्पना की जीभ में भी धार होती है !
बाण ही होते विचारों के नही केवल, 
स्वपन के भी हाथ में तलवार होती है !!

मशहूर कथाकार 'शैवाल' ने अपनी आत्मकथा में माउंटेन मैन ‘दशरथ मांझी’ के बारे में, लिखते हुए यह कहा है, जो दूसरी बार तुम्हारी ‘स्पोनटेनीयस क्रांति’ के कांसेप्ट को स्पष्ट करने में पूर्ण रूप से मदद कर सकेगा और तुम्हारा असली आइकॉन चुनने में भी, कि -

“ये पहाडी रास्ता क्रांति का रास्ता प्रतित होता है क्योंकि समूह का प्रेम ही क्रांति है. तुम सोचते हो बोल देने से होता है प्रेम, मैं सोचता हूँ जो उदित हो रहा है तुम्हारे अन्दर उसे चढ़ने दो आसमान पर, चुप रहो और बोलो अपनी चुप्पी में, लड़ो पर प्रेम करो सारी सृष्टि से, सारे समुदाय से, प्रेम नही बोलता. क्रांति महज इतना नही है कि उठालो शस्त्र या बोल दो नारा, प्रेम करना सीखो जैसे ये श्वेत पुष्प जीना सीखता है रक्त के समुदाय के साथ मेरे भीतर.”

My Pledge, In Response to Traitors' Pledge of Breaking India into Pieces

Jawaharlal Nehru University’ has been named after the first Prime Minister of Independent India. Therefore, in the light of ongoing controversy in JNU relating to ‘Anti-India’ and ‘Pro-Pakistan’ slogans shouted by few students by organizing the death anniversary of the executed terrorist Afzal Guru, it is imperative to discuss what views Pt. Nehru carried about India’s Unity, sovereignty and Integrity. Pt. Nehru, while writing the prologue to ‘Sanskriti Ke Char Adhyay’ a magnum opus of Nation Poet Ramdhari Singh Dinkar, on September 30, 1955, had opined that, “In the entire history of India, we witness the working of two mutually-opponents and competing powers. The one is which tries to yield coordination and rapprochement among humans by accepting the outer elements, and the other is that encourages separation. We are still fighting this battle in a different context. Today also there are many powerful establishments, which not only fight to bring political unity rather cultural as well. But, there are such powers too, which try to divide humans and fosters separation on different grounds.”

This is indeed extremely unfortunate that what Pt. Nehru had opined in 1955, we still stand there, rather the circumstances have drastically reached a dangerous notch. The way few students in JNU shouted ‘Anti-India’ and ‘Pro-Pak’ slogans,  openly and flagrantly inside the campus hiding behind the indefensible pretext of ‘Freedom of Speech and Expression’ and declared the executed terrorist Afzal Guru convicted in Parliament attack case as a ‘Martyr’ is not only bothersome rather it is an alarming bell for the Nation’s unity, Integrity and Sovereignty. There is no reason to tolerate such kind of ‘Anti-National’ activities inside the JNU campus in the name of a different ideology and dissent, nor should this kind of ideology be permitted to flourish anymore. No ideology can be licensed to strike at the root of India’s cultural unity and integrity, by permitting it to go against the Nation’s interest and chanting ‘Pro-Pak’ slogans. This Nation has provided such a golden and magnificent opportunity to flourish those ideologies on its own soils and has offered all good ambience and fertility to those seeds of thoughts. But, today the same ideology has become so venomous that their products are openly and brazenly chanting ‘Anti-India’ and ‘Pro-Pak’ jingles and pledging to break it into pieces and continue their battle till the downfall of the Indian State? What kind of ideology is this? In fact, this doesn’t fit within the definition of any ideology albeit this can only be categorized under ‘Stagnancy of thought’.

This sort of ‘Anti-national’ activities in a university which runs on the ‘hard-earned’ money of taxpayers are not only ignominious rather criminal and ‘Anti-Constitutional’ as well. I heard some of these participating students including Umar Khalid, on a television debate, claiming that they had organized the death ceremony of Afzal Guru, because they are ideologically opposed to the idea of Capital Punishment. Well, as per valid statistics of leading human rights NGO ‘Amnesty International’, one hundred and forty countries of the world have abolished death penalty as of now. Therefore, keeping such demand to abolish death penalty from the rule-book is not problematic per se. But, the point is that this demand of abolition of death penalty must be kept within the Constitutional and democratic framework and not by chanting ‘Anti-India’ and ‘Pro-Pak slogans’ and by organizing the death ceremony of an executed terrorist and by declaring him as a ‘Martyr’. However, in my opinion, the organizing of this ‘Anti-national’ event had no express or implied connection in any way with their demand of abolition of death penalty because what relation can exist there between demand of abolition of death penalty and shouting of  ‘Pakistan Zindabad’ and ‘India Go-back’? I mean, is there any meaningful logic behind this? Has Pakistan abolished death penalty that they were shouting ‘Pakistan Zindabad’? Have all those countries which have abolished death penalty, have done so because few students in any of its Countries’ central university have sweared to break the respective country into pieces and have shouted ‘Anti-National’ slogans? The answer is a resounding ‘No’. This depicts, that these ‘Anti-nationals’ camouflaged in a pseudo ideology, are interested in the destruction of India’s sovereignty, unity and integrity.  Their precarious motive is to destroy the Country and break it into pieces which they themselves are flagrantly accepting.

The renowned French Philosopher Voltaire had once said that, ‘God, save me from my friend and I can defend myself from my enemies.’ I understand, that this is quite a relevant statement in the ongoing context. These ‘Anti-India’ elements are the traitors of same kind camouflaging themselves as Indian citizens, from whom we need to be highly cautious and they are required to be dealt with high-handedness and without mercy. Doing so, is proper and essential from numerous perspectives because non-action may lead to the formation of thoughts on International level that if India is not able to fight ‘Anti-India forces’ within its own territory then how can it fight with its ‘enemy nations’ ? This thought, if produced, shall certainly enhance the confidence of its ‘enemy nations’ which for obvious reason, is inimical to India’s sovereignity and territorial integrity.

The right to freedom of speech and expression emanates from our Constitution and our Country is also run by the same Constitution but isn’t it an extreme paradox that some people vow to destroy the nation, hiding behind the nation’s Constitutional principles itself? What can be more treacherous than this? Shall all those not be categorised as the renegades of this nation who are biting the hands that feed them?

So, finally I come to ‘My Pledge’ in response to their pledge of breaking India into pieces and their continuing battle till the downfall of the Indian state. Since my childhood, I have seen my mother paying obeisance to the 'Mother Land’ immediately after leaving the bed but I had not understood the 'Sacred Secret' behind her doing so. But, now the 'Anti-India' slogans shouted by some 'Anti-India elements' of 'So called' reputed University J.N.U, hiding behind the pretext of 'Freedom of Speech and Expression' has offered me a 'Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious' and has immensely helped me understood the salience and significance of My "Mother Land". Therefore, In protest of the 'Anti-India’ slogans shouted by some 'Anti-India Elements' , I swear in the name of 'My Motherland' to emulate my Mother's routinely activity of paying obeisance to 'My Motherland' immediately after leaving the bed, daily. Let us come and take the 'Similar pledge'.

"Jai Hind-Jai Bharat!!”

                

The Passport and My Principle: The Story of Getting My Passport without Kickback.

Though, I did not take birth in a ‘Well to do’ family and thus received no affluence in inheritance but what I did receive during my upbringing, very few fortunate ‘New lives’ get the opportunity to be nurtured with. Yes, I am talking about the values and ideals of life without which in my opinion, it is humdrum and futile. I have been one of those fortunate beings to receive principles in my patrimony. I was brought up in an ambience where there was no culture of corruption in my family and my father has had always a stern stance against it. This tenet, however has been the reasons of a seamless turbulence in my life and applying for an Indian passport is one out of them, the story of which I am going to share with you all in this article.

Being deeply familiar with the corroded system and its functioning, I have had this strong conviction in mind that getting a passport without grafting the Police officials during physical verification process is not a child’s play. But, I too was determined not to knuckle under their prospective illegal demands. My numerous experience of dealing with the corrupt system, were wise enough to surmise the huge delay in getting a passport issued, if I were to receive it without kickbacking the Police officials. Therefore, I decided to apply for it, long before I genuinely required it.

Though, I basically hail from a small village under Bihta Police station in Patna District of Bihar, but the moment I applied for the Passport, I used to stay in the temple city of Odisha as I have been perusing my Law course from School of Law, KIIT University in Bhubaneswar. I applied online for the Passport in Bhubaneswar itself by paying the requisite fees of Rs.1500/- through transaction reference No.IGO5239900 dated 4th of December 2013, which consequently generated an application reference No. 13-1010817503. I was allotted a slot in ‘Passport Seva Kendra’ Bhubaneswar, dated 23rd of January 2014, upon my request. I reached the Passport office on time, produced all the required documents, went through all the prescribed procedures and then was finally issued an ‘Acknowledgement Letter’ bearing File Number BH1067450906514. This ‘Acknowledgement Letter’ contained an instruction that ‘Application Status- Granted’ but subject to ‘Police verification’. Now, the bottom line of my story comes into the picture. The fact of my double-dwelling, created a legal necessity for double Police verification, one by the concerned Police station of my temporary residential jurisdiction and one by the concerned Police station of my permanent residential jurisdiction. The Passport office, Bhubaneswar, transferred my passport application for Police verification to both the jurisdictions and consequently the story of my real struggle in getting a passport issued starts therewith.

Few days after the Passport office transferred my application to both the Police stations, one evening I received a phone call from Bihta Police station. However, I was in Bhubaneswar that time and my internal examinations were going on. The person who was on the other side of the phone directed me to physically appear in the Police Station by tomorrow’s morning as if I possessed some necromantic power to surreptitiously disappear from Bhubaneswar and appear in Bihta Police Station next moment. I politely conveyed to the informing official that it is not possible for me to reach Bihta from Bhubaneswar on such a short notice and pleaded him to extend the date of my physical presence but he refused to entertain my request claiming tomorrow is the last date for sending the report to the Passport office. He said if you don’t turn up by tomorrow an ‘Absent Report’ shall be sent to the Passport office. I was flabbergasted. I couldn’t understand how a state agency can be so slapdash in its duty which informed me just few hours before the report is to be sent. For the obvious reason, I couldn’t turn up and the Police submitted an ‘Absent Report’ to the passport office, Bhubaneswar.

Let me come to the other side of the story now. The Bhubaneswar Police, did neither come for physical verification at my temporary address nor informed me through any medium to appear in the respective Police station even after the expiry of more than one and half month. This is particularly observable because as per ‘Odisha Right to Public Services Act 2012’ the police verification in passport matters is to be completed within a maximum period of 30 days. Finally, I went to the concerned Police station in Bhubaneswar to trace the status of my application but in a bizarre response the officials told me that no such application had come to them for verification.

Thereafter, I wrote a letter to regional passport officer, Bhubaneswar, dated 18th of March 2014 requesting her to direct Bhubaneswar Police to complete the verification process in accordance with the prescribed rules and regulations and to direct Bihta Police, to initiate a re-verification process. Almost a month passed but I received no response from regional passport officer. As a matter of last resort, I filed an RTI application dated 24th of April 2014, seeking detailed ‘Action taken report’ upon my letter of complaint. This trenchant tool immediately set the stagnant system into the motion and I got a reply from CPIO dated 7th of May 2014 that an ‘Absent Report’ has been received from Patna police but no report has been received from Bhubaneswar police yet. The reply said that a reminder has been issued to Bhubaneswar Police and the passport to me will be issued on receipt of clear police report from DCP Bhubaneswar and SP Special branch Bhubaneswar. It meant that there was no necessity for re-verification by Bihta Police.

However, the problem did not stop there. Few days after I received the RTI response through which Passport officer claimed to issue a reminder to Bhubaneswar Police, I went to the concerned Police station in Bhubaneswar, though I had yet not received any correspondence from them. They said no such reminder has reached them. I returned despondently. Then, I started visiting the Police station intermittently to trace the status of my application but failed to get any clue. At this stage, I decided to file a second RTI and kept visiting Police Station simultaneously. After a month long incessant visit to Police Station, one day I finally got a good news, perhaps due to the effect of my RTI application. One lady in the Police Station who was in charge of dealing with the Passport issues told me that your passport application is with us for last 4 months. When I wished to know that why the same was not processed accordingly, she immediately quipped “There are so many applications being transferred by Passport office on a regular basis and it is not possible for us to deal with each of them in a definite time frame. Your application was there in a bundle of documents, so it took time for me too find it out.” Realizing that any counter comment by me may create a further adverse situation, I politely requested her to complete the process now at least and send it to the Passport office as soon as possible. Upon this request of mine she gave a knee-jerk reaction that “There are so many passport applications already pending before us and if you want your application to be processed expeditiously then you will have to pay Rs.1000/- to me.” When I responded that this is illegal she reacted “Then you wait for your application to be processed through the legal procedure”. She outrightly rejected my any further requests in this regard.”

Then, I decided to complain to the higher Police officials and contacted DCP over phone stating him the full story. He patiently lent me his ears and asked me to visit the Police Station tomorrow where he said my work will be done without bribe. I reached concerned Police station next day where the same lady was sitting in the Passport section. She started staring at me with her eerie eyes, though she reluctantly completed all the prescribed procedures in no time. I returned from the Police station with a sort of feeling as if I had conquered an invincible enemy. My Passport was subsequently issued on 2nd of September 2014, around more than 7 months after I applied for it.

During this entire period of fight with the evil system, what kept me inspired and motivated, were the synergy of principles which I had received in patrimony and an inspiring quote by Swami Vivekananda that, “Those who grumble at the little things that has fallen to their lot to do will grumble at everything. Always grumbling they will lead a miserable life but those who do their duty putting their shoulder to the wheel will see the light and higher and higher duties will fall to their share.” 

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Judgments on the Roads: A Trending Culture of ‘Frontier Justice’ in India

The concept of ‘Frontier Justice’ is as old as human civilization itself. The mob becoming judges is not a newly emerged phenomenon. It has a long and tragic past and almost predates recorded history. No part of the globe can claim itself to be entirely untouched with this brutal phenomenon of vigilante justice. Lynching had once become so rampant and pervasive in the United States that one of the most prolific American writers Mark Twain had sarcastically noted that “America had become the United States of Lyncherdom.” According to a report by ‘Equal Justice Initiative’ around 4000 blacks were lynched in the American South between the end of the civil war and World War II.  In Lynch-Law, the first scholarly investigation of lynching, written in 1905, author James E. Cutler stated that lynching is a criminal practice which is peculiar to the United States. However, after observing an alarming rise in the vigilante justice over a decade, I am of the opinion that this peculiarity is gradually shifting to India, though not for similar reasons as that of the United States.

On January 24 this year, when the Nation was gearing up to celebrate the auspicious day of adoption of its own Constitution, a maniacal mob was involved in lynching its Constitutional values and sanctity. This day, a young man accused of robbing and stabbing a truck driver was tied to an electric pole and beaten to death in the capital city of India. On January 20, a furious mob chopped off a hand of a bank robber in the capital city of Bihar, Patna. On January 6, another young man was beaten to death in the Indian capital city by a frenzied crowd who mistook him for an apple thief. On September 28, 2015 a religiously fanatic mob lynched a man to death on the grapevine of eating beef in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh which stormed the Nation. A month before this gruesome incident, on 2^nd of August 2015, three suspected cattle thieves were beaten to death in Dadri itself. In another jaw dropping case in March 2015, a crowd of about 8000 people barged into the Central Jail of  Dimapur, dragged out an accused suspected of committing rape and beaten him to death. In another ill-fated instance of jungle justice a psychotic crowd in Kaliabazar village of West Bengal, mercilessly beaten a man to death accused of raping and hanging a seven year old girl. In July 2015 a serial rapist killer was attacked in Court premises when he was produced before a Delhi’s Court. In May 2015, an angry mob lynched a man for allegedly beheading a 5 year old child. In October 2014, a lynch mob chopped off a male’s genitals who was caught trying to rape a teenage girl in Ganganagar town of Rajasthan. 

As per the statistics available on the official website of ‘National Crime Record Bureau’ the riotous mobs caused maximum injuries (41.7%) to the police personnel in the country in the year 2014. These instances of jungle justice are only the tip of the iceberg as most of these kind of mob actions which occur in the remote part of the country go unreported.

Such an unprecedented rise in vigilante justice indicates an alarming state of affairs for the democracy of the country. This mob justice is certainly against the quintessential spirit of rule of law, which if not stopped may put the nation’s democracy in danger. In order to bring these ugly episodes to a total halt, the reasons behind these incidents are required to be seriously looked into. One of the major reasons for a mob taking law in its hands flows from the peoples’ perpetuating belief about the State’s incompetency in delivering justice to the masses. The deep-naked corruption in the law enforcement agencies, unprecedented delay in disposal of cases by the Judiciary, undue advantage to the rich and dominant in the justice delivery system are among other reasons of peoples’ complete loss of trust in the system. This horrific situation is certainly a high time to introspect blatant failure of Criminal justice delivery system in the country. It is true that a nation can’t be run on emotionally driven mob’s idea of justice but it is equally true that a violent mob doesn’t understand the principle of Audi Alteram Partem as well. Therefore, the bigger responsibility lies on the State’s machinery to rebuild trust in its citizenry that everyone is equal before law and that each and every offender shall be brought to justice. It is in the interest of the State to maintain trust in its people if it doesn’t want the ‘State of Nature’ to prevail in society otherwise the Status Quo of jungle justice is hardly going to change.

Note: The picture used on this blog has been taken from Internet with due credit to its owner.