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12 OPINION
Priyanka resets caste game
THE TRIBUNE established in 1881
Could prove Cong trump card to reclaim party’s Brahmin sway of yore
Kartarpur for all
Don’t leave out the non-Sikhs
T
HE reverence for Guru Nanak Dev and his teachings tran- RADHIKA RAMASESHAN
scends faiths. This basic fact seems to have escaped the SENIOR JOURNALIST
authorities in Pakistan. Even as work is proceeding on the
I
planned passage to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur from Dera N appointing Priyanka Gandhi
Baba Nanak in India, the Pakistani side has disingenuously pro- Vadra as Congress general secre-
posed that the entry to the passage be restricted only to Sikhs. tary to mind east Uttar Pradesh,
Prime Minister Imran Khan had showcased the grant of access to quite apart from the charisma
the gurdwara in the town where Guru Nanak Dev spent the last she exudes, the association she kin-
years of his life as a significant step forward in Indo-Pak ties, as well dles and the cachet she brings, Rahul
as a symbol of commitment of his country towards non-Islamic Gandhi ostensibly had a hard-headed
minorities. The promises seem to be falling short of obligations. consideration that was determined
Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh has been consistent solely by the need to put up a robust
fight in UP in the Lok Sabha election.
in asking that the pilgrims be allowed to visit the gurdwara in Pakistan
The swathe of land that the Con-
without passports. He is also right in demanding that the passage
through the corridor not be restricted to Sikhs alone, but be one that is
gress denoted as east UP does not cor-
respond strictly with the region’s
open to all, just as all gurdwaras are. The move by Pakistan to limit recognised geographical boundary. It
access only to the Sikhs would deny a vast number of non-Sikhs the is more expansive and embraces
chance to pay obeisance at the historical gurdwara. Having taken the slices of the Rohilkhand and Bun-
first step, it would be churlish on the part of the Pakistani authorities delkhand regions that would fall
to propose anything less than access to pilgrims of all denominations. within west-central UP or exist inde-
The Chief Minister is rightly being cautious about Pakistan’s divi- pendently as well as the districts lying
sive designs. Coordination between the state and the Centre on this on the lower Doab, on the Yamuna-
issue must be accorded top priority, given the emotional importance of Ganga confluence. The territory
this corridor. The one chance to bridge the chasm created by Partition, assigned to Priyanka is where the
due to which the historical gurdwara went to Pakistan, should not be Congress put up an impressive show
frittered away. Infrastructural hurdles need to be surmounted, while against odds and expectations in the
2009 Lok Sabha elections, winning 21
vigilance must be maintained to ensure that sections of the Pakistani
seats encompassing the terrain from
establishment do not play from the old divisive book, even as their
Maharajganj and Kushi Nagar (for-
Prime Minister publicly seeks a new beginning. merly Padrauna) in the east to Dhau-
rahra and Kheri in west-central,
adjoining Pilibhit and Rampur.
The throwback to 2009 — a mile-
Kochhar family booked stone of sorts in the Congress’ politi-
cal journey in UP where it failed to
make a mark since it was voted out in
The one that couldn’t fly away 1989 — is not meant to suggest that
T
Rahul and Priyanka will not cast their
HIS March, Chanda Kochhar, the star and brand ambassador of nets wide and look to maximise the
ICICI Bank, would have completed a decade at the helm, after party's tally. The rationale to build on
replacing her mentor and private sector banking cult figure KV the residual strengths of the Congress
Kamath. Chanda would have been copiously serenaded for her persever- in this area is natural. The 2009 win-
ance and fortitude if it hadn’t been for a persistent whistleblower. The ners, including Kunwar Jitin Prasa-
course that such a complaint took was familiar. For two years, the letter da, Sanjay Sinh and PL Punia,
may have meandered among regulatory agencies till the matter burst remain with the Congress. Jagdambi-
into life in 2016, forcing the ICICI to issue a blanket denial about a con- ka Pal and Beni Prasad Verma quit
flict of interest between Videocon group promoter Venugopal Dhoot and later: Pal to join the BJP and Verma to
Chanda’s husband and brother-in law when she was heading the bank. return to the Samajwadi Party. Punia,
The fire was lit, but Chanda’s enabling ecosystem fought back and
that raises troubling questions that must be answered. The bank gave
The elfin charm of emojis
her a clean chit while rubbishing the allegation of quid pro quo as
“malicious and unfounded rumours”. The bank then purportedly
reviewed its internal processes for credit approval and found them
robust. Worryingly, the poster boys of private banking — Kamath,
Sandeep Bakhshi and Zarin Daruwala — were on the ICICI board Mina Surjit Singh
when the loans were sanctioned and they found nothing amiss. This
A
tale of cronyism, nepotism, corruption and protecting each other’s couple of days ago, a friend sent
back needs an answer too, even as the CBI unravels the Padma me a video of an insensitive,
Bhushan awardee’s fall from the pedestal. distasteful and sexist act by a
It is worrisome that a leading light of private sector banking may stand-up comedian, which surprised
have indulged in the same shenanigans that we were told was the pre- me. Preceding his grotesque act on the
serve of the public sector, with its sordid politicians and indolent offi- antics of women recklessly possessed
cials. It would have become another partly-explained Choksi-Mallya by intermittent bouts of a self(ie)obses-
sion, was his ostensibly amusing take
saga if the CBI had not detained Chanda’s brother-in-law when he was
on emojis and emoticons in cell phone
about to board an overseas flight. The alleged acquiescence of the high-
texting and multimedia.
profile bankers who were supposed to be gold standards of integrity, suc- This was what really caught my
cessive auditors scanning the balance sheets and government represen- attention. He believed that the
tatives on the board must also be asked hard questions. At a time when extensive use of these icons almost
insurance is spreading its wings in the hinterland of the country and pri- all-over was regressive, something
vate banks are proliferating, a thorough probe is required to sustain pub- akin to cavemen's drawings or
lic trust in private financial institutions. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs (a
language system of alphabets, and
pictorial symbols) and, therefore, a
❝ ❞
thought for the day
Prayer does not change God, but it changes him who Teachers deserve pay
prays. — Soren Kierkegaard Apropos the editorial ‘Give priority to
teachers’ pay’ (Jan 25), teachers are
called the nation builders. It is said
they should be held in the highest
on this day...100 years ago honour; they are the allies of legisla-
tors; they have agency in the preven-
tion of crimes; they aid in regulating
the atmosphere and many more
ornate epithets are used to describe
and eulogise them. But when it comes
lahore, sunday, january 26, 1919
to paying them handsomely, all
encomiums heaped upon them van-
Education of Girls. ish. How can the teachers perform
IN his speech at a Mission Girls’ school in Calcutta, His Excellency the Governor their task of teaching efficiently and
of Bengal laid down the proposition that nothing would make so much progress passionately with empty stomachs?
in health of families and the sanitation of homes as education among women, The Punjab Government is playing
and added:- “A curriculum including such subjects as hygiene, nursing, havoc with the lives of contractual
needlework, cookery and domestic work would be of far greater value to Indian teachers who have been protesting for
girls than a curriculum designed with a single eye upon the Matriculation the regularisation of their services
examination. Yet the Matriculation certificate has acquired so fictitious a value in along with grant of full pay. But the
the eyes of people that it is difficult to persuade them to adopt what is obviously government has no qualms in raising
a more rational course.” We are not among those who regard the Matriculation the salaries of ministers and MLAs,
certificate as being of fictitious value. Nor do we agree with those who are anxious ignoring if the state is starved of funds
to confine the curriculum only to subjects which would be of value in everyday or not. However, in the case of govern-
life, as that life is at present. ment employees, many pleas are put
forward to deny them their rightful
The L.G. at Rohtak. due. Hence the government must talk
YESTERDAY we published a speech by His Honour the Lieutenant- to the protesting staff to redress their
Governor at Rohtak. Rohtak, he said, has covered itself with glory in the genuine grievances so as to prevent
gravest crisis of the world’s history and has made for itself a place among the consequences detrimental to the chil-
first three districts of British India, and it is in the fitness of things that Sir dren's teaching and learning process.
Michael O’Dwyer should have held a Durbar there to express his Neglect may breed great misfortune.
appreciation of the heroism of Rohtak people. “Their real spirit is shown by It must be remembered that for want
such self-sacrifice as that of the four Jat brothers of Chhara in Jhajjar tehsil, of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of
Rissi Singh, Sohan Singh, Appe Ram and Lakhi Ram, who at the outbreak of a shoe the horse was lost, and for want
the war enlisted on condition that they should serve only for the term the war
lasts, be sent overseas with the first unit and should get no promotion.” Letters to the Editor, typed in double space, should not exceed the 200-word limit. These should be cogently written and can be sent by e-mail to: Letters@tribunemail.com
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CHARISMATIC: The Congress hopes that Priyanka’s pizzazz and resemblance
to Indira Gandhi will deliver the goods on the ground.
Elections in UP are increasingly less about radiating star
quality and evoking historical remembrances and more
about getting the right caste math and amplifying issues.
Prasada and Annu Tandon are nurs-
ing their erstwhile constituencies,
Barabanki, Dhaurahra and Unnao.
The Congress’ performance was
facilitated by the induction of Punia, a
Dalit-Jatav and former associate of
Mayawati, who knows UP through
and through, having been a state cadre
bureaucrat, and Rajaram Pal, from the
backward caste of shepherds, who was
also in the BSP. Together, they catal-
ysed the movement of Dalits and
OBCs towards the Congress.
Elections in UP are increasingly
less about radiating star quality and
evoking historical remembrances
and more about getting the right
caste math and credibly amplifying
issues. Doubtless, PM Narendra
Modi’s persuasive oratory impacted
voters, but people were sold more on
the promises compressed in the
achhe din slogan than the rhetoric.
As the Congress hopes that Priyan-
ka’s pizzazz and resemblance to Indi-
ra Gandhi will deliver the goods on the
ground, a reality check is called for.
Generations of voters have been raised
since the passing away of Indira and
Rajiv Gandhi and their choices are
threat to human intelligence.
However, this view is contrary to my
admiration for the ingenuity and intel-
lectual competence of their 25-year-old
Japanese creator Shigetaka Kurita,
who could well envision the emotive
potential of his dancing little icons. So,
are they really a bane or boon in the
midst of a generation stuck in linguis-
tic limbo? Within the increasingly
shrinking hyphenated spaces of a dig-
italised world and an ever-expanding
vision of instant gratification, do they
serve a significant function or are they
a deterrent to our ability to think and
communicate? Are they curbing our
self-expression or offering graphic
support to our inarticulate emotions
and thoughts?
The more I focused on their relevance
letters to the editor
of a horse the rider was lost, being
overtaken and slain by an enemy, all
for want of a little car.
TARSEM S BUMRAH, BATALA
Live and let live
People should have the right to chose
what they want to do as long as it
does hurt anybody (‘Moral policing
shadow over dance bars’, Jan 25).
Dance bars employ a huge number of
staff and prohibiting them is like
pushing the deprived further into
deprivation. The SC has acted wisely
by putting certain constraints on tim-
ings, locality and obscenity. Live and
let live should be the motto, keeping
aside moral and societal alibis.
SHIVANI BANSAL, RAMPURA PHUL
Escaping duty?
Refer to “After CJI, Justice Sekri
says won't hear CBI chief case” (Jan
25), isn’t it running away from duty?
Judges are expected to be bold and
fearless, besides being honest, while
dispensing justice. Criticism would
always be there. That is no reason for
the judges to run away. Those who
are not bold enough to face criticism
should better quit and make place
for new judges. Tomorrow, following
this trend, a police officer may want
to recuse himself from a particular
CHANDIGARH | SATURDAY | 26 JANUARY 2019
markedly shaped by religion, caste,
jingoism dressed up as "nationalism",
and economics and rarely by senti-
ments, although the Ayodhya issue,
featuring in the BJP’s discourse, is an
admixture of politics and emotion.
The Congress is up against road-
blocks aplenty: serial losses in UP’s
parliamentary and local elections, the
SP-BSP-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD)
alliance that is shored up by roping in
caste and community-based outfits
such as the Peace Party, NISHAD Par-
ty and Janwadi Party, formidable elec-
tion-management by the BJP and, to
an extent, the SP and BSP and most
important, the solid caste/community
votes that they command. The Con-
gress is earnestly making a play to
reclaim the upper-caste votes that
were in thrall to the dominance and
patronage bestowed by its illustrious
Brahmin families that have long since
gone into oblivion. Rahul’s display of
the janeu (sacred thread), signifying
his Brahmin antecedent, and the
stress on Priyanka as a Brahmin are a
piece of the Congress’ tactic to try and
cement the community’s votes.
Unless the Congress constructs a vote
to our present-day discourse, the more
was I convinced that these scaled-down
characters, with multiple colour-choic-
es as well, have a throbbing life of their
own! They actually have the potential
to offer multiple strands of interpreta-
tion to a text. They function like hash
tags or determinants of how words
should/could be understood.
These tiny symbols, which have an
elfin charm, much in the manner of
Milton's dancing fairies and elves in
Paradise Lost, have the power to not
only transport us virtually but also to
offer immense armchair solace in
moments of distress and despondency.
When the spirit willed, but the
body denied, when we are disin-
clined towards engaging in any
mental calisthenics, they are an eas-
duty, fearing charges of bias. Let us
not set wrong precedents.
WG CDR CL SEHGAL (RETD), JALANDHAR
EVM issue vexed
The CEC’s assertion (‘No going back
to ballot paper’, Jan 25) carries weight
and authority, but this cannot be the
last word on the vexed issue. May be,
it is a little premature to rule out the
ballot paper, given that almost the
entire opposition is rooting for it. After
all, the possibility of the machine get-
ting manipulated and tampered with
cannot be ruled out. The Election
Commission is like Caesar’s wife who
not only must be fair but also seen to
be fair. Anything is possible in today’s
technology-driven world. If Russia
could be blamed for interfering in the
US presidential elections, our EVMs
could be child’s play and a soft target
for sinister elements.
MK BAJAJ, ZIRAKPUR
Loan waiver no solution
Be it farm loan waivers, high MSPs,
direct income transfer policy, all are
elements of immediate relief (‘Direct
benefit transfer no cure-all for farm
crisis’). A long-term systemic solu-
tion is required to combat this agrar-
ian distress. One-time support won't
help. A transformational plan, in the
THE TRIBUNE
plinth by getting Brahmins or Mus-
lims or Dalits (that made up a rainbow
coalition in its heyday), the add-ons
will not come. Amassing a critical
mass will be impossible.
The BJP quickly anticipated the pos-
sibility of Brahmins going to the Con-
gress. It tried to arrest their migration
by bringing in a 10 per cent reservation
for the ‘economically weaker’ sec-
tions, a longstanding demand. Its
problem was that the Yogi Adityanath
dispensation has been accused of over-
ly pandering to the interests of the
Rajputs because they are his staple
voters. The reservation move is a gam-
ble alright, but the ground reports
from UP suggest that it has mollified
the upper castes, more so the youths
who complained of having to ‘forfeit’
their seats in colleges and universities
to the backward castes and Dalits. To
be sure, there are issues such as lack of
jobs, the hit that small business has
taken by GST and demonetisation and
agricultural distress that the Congress
can take up to build a counter-narra-
tive against the BJP.
Priyanka has rarely, if ever, moved
out of Rae Bareli and Amethi, Sonia
and Rahul’s constituencies. She is
seriously debuting in UP this time.
Therefore, the element of novelty and
freshness she brings to a political
landscape peopled with tried-and-
tested but not necessarily trusted per-
sonas cannot be under-estimated.
Unfortunately for her, the Congress is
bereft of the organisational appara-
tuses that can tap these qualities and
transmute them into support. The
party’s best bet lies in Priyanka chal-
lenging the BJP in the urban pockets
that are not traditionally inclined
towards the SP and BSP. However, as
the 2014 results establish, even in
UP’s cities, the Congress came a
cropper, often yielding the second
place to the SP or BSP, barring Ghazi-
abad, Kanpur and Lucknow.
Rahul indicated that Priyanka was
in for a long haul in UP, until the next
Assembly election. The Congress
prefaces every state poll with a chorus
to declare Priyanka as its chief-minis-
terial candidate. Will the cry become a
self-fulfilling prophecy in 2022?
ily accessible medium for effective
conveyance of our transient moods,
reactions, perceptions and opinions;
when we are unable to perform a
spontaneous jig or roll on the floor
in childlike delight, the diminutive
lady in red or the ROTFL give us
vicarious gratification by catapult-
ing us swiftly into a happier space.
The ancient Egyptians had thus
given us an organic system of com-
munication which has evolved over
time into the form of emoji(s),
which facilitate quicker interac-
tions, given the accelerated pace of
our contemporary times.
So, for me, emojis are here to stay!
Like sunflowers which turn towards
one another on cloudy days, we turn
to them for some sunshine.
form of increasing agricultural pro-
ductivity, an accessible functional
institutional credit system, a respon-
sive market and ensuring stable
incomes for farmers, are required.
Neglecting the farm sector is like
neglecting the heart of the country!
DIVYA SINGLA, PATIALA
Haryana pensioners
Pensioners of Haryana are indebted
to the government for revising the
pensions of pre-2016 pensioners,
whose pensions are very low as com-
pared to those who retired after Janu-
ary 1, 2016. However, the apathy and
callousness of some departments is
so grave that they have not bothered
to process the cases of even those
pensioners who had submitted their
applications for the said purpose 12
months ago. The authorities con-
cerned should be directed to imple-
ment the instructions within a time-
frame. The cases of the pensioners
who retired more than two decades
ago and are now past 80 years should
be segregated so that they can reap
the benefits in their lifetime. In some
cases, the non-availability of their
service books in the department is
being made the reason for delaying
the cases. They should not be made to
suffer for the negligence of the staff.
RAMESH CHANDER, PANCHKULA
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THE TRIBUNE
CHANDIGARH | SATURDAY | 26 JANUARY 2019 OPED 13
obituary
Krishna Sobti (1925 – 2019)

Fiercely independent, she blazed a bold trail

T
HE guardian angel of the
world of literature has flown
away. With the passing away
of Krishna Sobti, Indian writ-
ing has lost a voice which had the
freshness of the dawn of a new nation-
alism and the confidence and power
APOORVANAND of the experience of generations. In
the past two or three years, she shut-
PROFESSOR, DELHI UNIVERSITY tled between hospitals and home, but
the ordeal could not take away cheer-
fulness from her.
In an interview to Reshmi Sehgal, she
Krishna Sobti was a had said, “I don’t like being called a
path-breaker in many ‘woman writer’. I would rather be called
a writer who is also a woman. For me,
ways. It was not only her men and women are very close to each
other. Apart from the obvious qualities
exploration of the theme of they share, both sexes do not have a dif-
sexuality which made her ferent soul. Earlier, women were confined
to their homes, but today they receive the
a pioneer, but also her same education and step out to earn a liv-
approach to the language ing. Love, sex and death remain the most
intense experiences for both sexes.”
that helped Hindi break Sobti was a path-breaker in many
ways. It was not only her exploration of
free of its moral cage. the theme of sexuality which made her
That a woman was doing a pioneer, but also her approach to the
language that helped Hindi break free
it made the act even of the moral cage it was imprisoned in
despite the contribution of greats such
more audacious. as Nirala and Ugra. That a woman was
ICON: Sobti brought the vigour and
vivacity of Punjabi to Hindi.
doing it made the act even more auda-
cious, but she did it as if it was the most
natural thing to do.
In the community of writers, she took
her place with ease and élan. She daz-
zled in the company of Nirmal Verma,
Bhisham Sahni, Rajendra Yadav, Mohan
Rakesh, Namvar Singh, all giants in
their own right. She was a fiercely inde-
pendent writer who never suppressed
her opinion of her contemporaries. Her
impressions of her fellow writers, in the
volumes of Hum Hashmat, are
immensely readable. She adopts the
persona of Hashmat to talk about them.
She writes with understanding and
friendliness, even if you cannot miss the
mischievous smile playing on her lips
while she is penning them.
Sobti was always full of joy and light.
She was style personified. I saw her at
birthday parties, always with large bou-
quets; the flowers told you that she had
spent time choosing them. During a
seminar, she got upset with the gross
colour of the tablecloth and the care-
lessness with which it was laid out. She
could not stand laxity and vulgarity.
Care, patience, rigour and joy in her
work as a writer gave solidity to her
words, and also loftiness. She loved to
spend time with her words, for what is a
writer if not the creator of new sensibil-
ities and how does she do it if not with
words? Her editors, including Chetan
Kranti, would tell you how annoying it
could be at times to work with her, but at
the end of the day the pain dimmed
before the reward of the final product.
She told Sehgal about this process, “I
always make three drafts for all my
books. The third time over, I like to read
the story out aloud. If anything has to be
changed, I will change it then.”
Om Thanvi is right when he says that
in her life were packed many lives. She
brought the vigour and vivacity of Pun-
jabi to Hindi and dispelled its shyness.
It shocked Hindi readers as they were
used to the restrained language that the
greats used. The openness that Sobti
brought helped writers such as
Manohar Shyam Joshi, who also exper-
imented with the language.
Sobti was a proud writer, but she was
also a proud Indian. She always remem-
bered the struggle and pain which
brought freedom to her generation. She
was always very protective about it and
refused to be taken in by imposters mas-
querading as nationalists. That is why
even as a nonagenarian, and wheelchair-
bound, she made it a point to attend and
lead the protest by writers and artists in
2015 and 2016 when they stood up
against intolerance and attacks on Mus-
lims. She returned her Sahitya Akademi
award along with fellow writers.
Sobti perceived the loud demand for
showing loyalty to the nation as crude
and crass. She was pained and angry
as it was wrecking the unity of India.
She had experienced the formation of
this unity in the agonising hours of
Partition: “There was a strange kind
of oneness among us. Those were dif-
ferent days, a different season in our
country. We were so proud of our polit-
ical leaders. India was poised to
become a great democracy.”
She was also one of those who made
Delhi what it is today, a cosmopolitan
city. At home in Hindi, she also strode
the world of languages effortlessly.
Whenever and wherever she witnessed
narrowness and sectarianism, her blood
boiled and she could not restrain herself
from criticising it.
It was her sophistication which led her
to oppose majoritarianism, for in her
eyes it was vulgar and lacked culture.
Her ambitious nationalism brooked no
boundaries. She is gone, but her demand
that her fellow writers and compatriots
defend their humaneness at all costs
should not let us rest.

Mirroring Pakistan’s obsession with religion

O
N my first posting to Pak-
istan in 1995, I was struck
by their obsession with
religion and India. All
public and private activities were
required to be informed by Islam.
Their national discourse was
consumed by India. Running India
SHARAT SABHARWAL down was trendy. Every misfortune
FORMER DIPLOMAT of the country was placed at
India’s doorstep.
Sadly, more than 70 years after
The only explanation of our rejecting the ideology underlying
Pakistan’s creation, we have come to
Pakistan phobia is that the mirror its obsessions. Pakistan
communal virus underlying admittedly thrusts itself periodically
on our horizon with acts of terror. But
its creation never left us and it has now come to mean much more
to us. It is to be the refuge for those
repeatedly rears its ugly among us we do not like. It is said to
head, its product fitting interfere in our elections, rejoices or
is miffed at our election results and
neatly into our politics in is even seen as the inspiration
behind our opposition’s criticism of
the name of religion. If we the government. Our TV anchors
put an end to our obsession spend considerable lung power in
trying to convince us of Pakistan’s
with religion in public affairs, perfidious behaviour (as if we need
convincing!) and in shouting down
the spectre of Pakistan that equally offensive Pakistani panel-
seems to haunt us day in lists. Our political parties vie with
each other to be seen as more muscu-
and day out will disappear lar towards Pakistan. It is one thing
automatically. for our political leaders to address
the justified public anger at Pak-
istan-inspired violence with the
assurance that such acts will not go
unpunished and take discreet deter-
rent action, as required, as a self-
assured country. It is quite another
thing to stoke public anxieties by
presenting the threat as bigger than
what it is and describe tactical deter-
rent actions against it as strategic
shifts to make political capital.
Pakistan’s obsession with India
results partly from its insecurity vis-
a-vis a much bigger neighbour, but
largely from the defining of its iden-
tity as the other of India, its domi-
nance by religious extremism and
FIXATION: Pakistan thrusts itself periodically on our horizon with acts of terror, but it has now come to mean much more to us.
the institutional interest of its secu-
rity establishment in maintaining an
adversarial posture towards us. But
what drives our obsession as the big-
ger country with a well-established
identity spanning millennia?
Self-destructive stance
Pakistan lags behind us in all walks
of life; its economy is one-eighth of
ours. The gap continues to grow
and will not be bridged unless Pak-
istan changes its self-destructive
stance towards us. It is incapable of
posing an existential threat to us by
itself and is at the most a terror irri-
tant that needs to be managed and
contained. The only explanation of
our Pakistan phobia is that the
communal virus underlying its cre-
ation never left us and repeatedly
rears its ugly head, its product fit-
ting neatly into our politics in the
name of religion.
Our laws forbid appeals for vote
and promotion of hatred between dif-
ferent classes of citizens, inter alia,
on the ground of religion. However,
religion is continuously employed to
influence voters’ choices and is
omnipresent in our politics explicitly
(party names linking them to a par-
ticular religion), by allusion (leaders’
ostentatious visits to places of wor-
ship before the elections, construc-
tion of a place of worship of a partic-
ular community, pitting historical
figures of different religious commu-
nities against each other) or by insin-
uation (‘love jihad’, cow vigilantism,
relative growth of population of vari-
ous religious communities and seek-
ing reform of abominable religious
practices of others, while justifying
one’s own). Serious mischief is
caused when self-appointed defend-
ers of interests of various religious
communities, including those
among politicians, generate a sense
of insecurity on the ground of a
threat to their religion. Seemingly at
odds, they need each other to thrive
and justify their hate politics.
Polarising society
Such insecurity, often based on utterly
false or highly exaggerated grounds,
breeds intolerance and has become a
prime instrument to polarise society
for political gains. How do we reconcile
our laws with these practices? An
answer may well lie buried in the fine
print of our laws. However, simple log-
ic, the interpretative tool of a common
citizen, offers no answer. A genuinely
secular election seems a lost cause,
with few political parties capable of
resisting the communal agenda.
History of bigotry
Our neighbouring country can
become an existential threat to us only
if the religious bigotry underlying its
creation carries the day. Pakistan came
into existence to set apart the Muslims
of the subcontinent from other reli-
gious communities. It decided early on
to be guided by the teachings and
requirements of Islam, but failed to
build a consensus on the branch or
school of Islam that would govern it.
Therefore, the policy of division and
hatred next claimed the Ahmadiyyas
as its victim by excommunicating
them from the Islamic fold. It then
accentuated the traditional Shia-Sun-
ni schism and finally the rift between
the Deobandis and Barelvis within the
Sunni fold. Pakistan’s experience
holds a stark lesson for us: intolerance
and fanaticism, once let loose, do not
confine themselves to ‘us’ vs ‘them’,
but invariably tear apart the most
cohesive looking ‘us’ groups, leaving
violence and misery for one and all in
their trail. We surely do not wish to go
down that route.
If we put an end to our obsession with
religion in public affairs, the spectre of
Pakistan that seems to haunt us day in
and day out will disappear automatically.
Views are personal

quick crossword su do ku calendar forecast

ACROSS JANUARY 26, 2019 SATURDAY SUNSET: SATURDAY 17:52 HRS
1 Spectre (5)
8 Adverse aspect (8) 9 3 6 ■ Vikrami Samvat 2075
SUNRISE: SUNDAY 07:17 HRS

9 Harden (5) ■ Shaka Samvat 1940

10 Protesting angrily (2,2,4)
11 A lofted golf club (5) 8 3 4 ■ Magh Shaka

■ Magh Parvishte
6
13
Sunny Partly Cloudy Cloudy
CITY MAX
Rainy
MIN
Foggy

12 Japanese monetary unit (3)

■ Hijari 1440 Chandigarh 19 06
1 2 4
16 A beverage (6)
17 Too (6) New Delhi 21 07
■ Krishan Paksh Tithi 6, up to 4.20 pm
PUNJAB
18 To haul (3) ■ Suka Yoga up to 11.51 pm
23 Proverb (5) Amritsar 17 02
24 Characteristic attribute (8)
25 Despondency (5)
7 5 ■ Hast Nakshatra 3.04 pm

■ Moon enters Libra sign 2.39 am

Bathinda
Jalandhar
17
19
02
03
26 Clear soup (8) ■ Republic Day. Ludhiana 19 05
27 A plastic (5)
8 1 4 3 YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION
HARYANA
Bhiwani 18 06
DOWN Hisar 18 03
2 Unwanted follower (6-2)
3 Make light of (5,3) 2 7 5 7 8 2 6 1 4 9 3 Sirsa
HIMACHAL PRADESH
17 03
4 Cause to tip over (6) 3 6 1 8 9 4 5 2 7
5 Senseless (5)
Dharamsala 14 02
2 9 4 3 5 7 1 8 6
6 Texture (5)
7 Untidy (5)
6 9 8 9 4 6 5 2 8 7 3 1
Manali
Shimla
05
10
--02
--01
12 So far (3) JAMMU & KASHMIR
8 1 5 9 7 3 2 6 4
13 Seeing that (3)
14 Capital of India (3,5)
6 1 7 7 2 3 1 4 6 8 5 9
Jammu
Leh
19
--01
05
--10
YESTERDAY’S SOLUTION 15 The US flag (3,5) Srinagar 08 --02
6 8 7 4 3 2 9 1 5
Across: 1 Philosophy, 6 Spot, 10 Ample, 11 Dirty work, 12 In secret, 13 Holst, 15 Utility, 17 Consult,
19 Baghdad, 21 Species, 22 Regal, 24 Go-getter, 27 Advantage, 28 Aisle, 29 Kill, 30 Best seller.
19 Punctually (2,4)
20 Room (5) 9 1 5 4 5 2 6 1 9 3 7 8
UTTARAKHAND
Dehradun 21 05
Down: 1 Peak, 2 Impending, 3 Obese, 4 Orderly, 5 Heretic, 7 Prowl, 8 Take to task, 9 By chance, 21 Obliged (5) Mussoorie 09 --01
14 Lumberjack, 16 Indolent, 18 Universal, 20 Degrade, 21 Suggest, 23 Gavel, 25 Trace, 26 Peer. 1 3 9 7 8 5 6 4 2
22 Argentine president, d.1974 (5) HARD TEMPERATURE IN OC

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