The Polis Project Monthly
The Polis Project Monthly
a round up of original research, reporting and analysis from the past month; a teaser of what is to come; and a quick word from our political editor
Hello hello! Following an election result that lifted all our spirits, the 18th Lok Sabha got off to a sobering start, underscoring the centrality of Hindutva in Indian politics today. In his maiden speech as the Leader of Opposition in the lower house, the first one we’ve seen in over ten years, Rahul Gandhi spared no effort to present himself as the ideal Hindu.
Between the election results and his speech, Hindu mobs in Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat killed five Muslims across three different lynching incidents, over allegations of theft, for transporting cattle, and cricket. In Madhya Pradesh, the state authorities illegally demolished 11 Muslim homes over allegations of cattle meat found in their refrigerators. Mob violence against Muslim-owned businesses and a madrasa were reported from Himachal Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha. But beyond alluding to the triumph of love over hate, Gandhi offered no actual words for the hate crimes. Despite the evident public concern for issues that finally brought the Congress the bare minimum ten percent seats needed for him to be LoP, Gandhi did not speak of reservations and the caste census.
Instead, he spoke at length about the abhaya mudra—the open-palm gesture that Gandhi associated first and foremost with the Hindu deity Shiva. He used it to assert his credentials as the better, peace-loving Hindu, who believed in the principle of “daro mat, darao mat”—do not fear, do not scare—while being too fearful to speak for those most scared. He also used it to assert his secular credentials, by claiming that the abhaya mudra could be seen across faiths—an attempt that would be laughable, if not for the troubling implication of an apparent inability to speak of other religions without it being a reference to Hinduism. In fact, effectively Gandhi’s only reference to Muslims in his whole speech was to say that when they offered dua, the abhaya mudra was visible in their palms.
It is worth contrasting Gandhi’s religious posturing with other maiden speeches in the 18th Lok Sabha. Akhilesh Yadav emphasised that the election mandate was a victory of the social-justice movement, that a caste census was essential to take it forward, and that the BJP was toying with the constitutional guarantees of reservations in the country. Chandrashekhar Azad criticised the BJP’s slogan of “sabka saath, sabka vikas” by highlighting atrocities against Dalits, Adivasis and Muslims in the past ten years. He, too, asserted the need for a caste census, and demanded that reservations be extended to the private sector, noting that it constitutes 98 percent of jobs in a country struggling with unemployment. A Raja noted that the BJP sought to perpetuate a caste system that has historically denied access to education and property, and how the caste census was necessary to ensure an egalitarian society with equality of opportunities. Mallikarjun Kharge listed out atrocities against Dalits in the past two years before emphasising the need for a caste census.
Manoj Kumar Jha also identified the need for a caste census, and raised concerns of the solicitor general opposing it in Bihar. He questioned why Umar Khalid, Meeran Haider and Khalid Saifi were in prison for criticising the government, and why caste inequality is masked as economic inequality. He ended his speech noting with alarm that lynchings are continuing in India, and with poems about the plight of being Muslim in today’s India. “Remember this always, that you are a Muslim, and you will not die, you will be killed,” Jha recited the verse in the house. Asaduddin Owaisi spoke of the incidents of lynching and demolition against Muslims after the elections, and emphasised the fact that in a country with nearly 15 percent Muslims, their representation in parliament constituted just four percent.
Owaisi made another pertinent observation: that the only vote bank in the country is the Hindu upper-caste, and no other community votes as a block to the same extent. Indeed, the CSDS-Lokniti post-poll survey showed that among the various caste and religious groups, the Hindu upper-caste were the only ones where a clear majority, of 53 percent, voted for the BJP—and the only one that reflected no change from 2019. Over the past ten years, Gandhi has seemingly been unable to accept this fact, repeatedly seeking to win over the Hindu upper-caste, and repeatedly losing this battle on the BJP’s playground. Even in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP suffered its biggest setback this election, CSDS-Lokniti found that the NDA still won 79 percent of the Hindu upper-caste vote.
While the Dalits, Adivasis, backward castes and minorities did not hand the INDIA bloc a victory, it was able to empower them with a strength in numbers that could be heard, quite literally, throughout Modi’s speech. For two hours, while the prime minister resorted to using Hindutva rhetoric, making assertions of muscular politics and mocking Gandhi and the Congress—the opposition maintained unrelenting chants demanding a statement on Manipur. Perhaps the most powerful speech in the new Lok Sabha occurred around midnight on 1 July, to a near empty house, when Bimol Akoijam, the Congress MP from the Inner Manipur constituency, delivered a furious and passionate cry for acknowledgment from the government. “60,000 people homeless is not a joke,” Akoijam said. “Over 200 people have died. There has been a civil war-like situation where people, armed to the teeth, are roaming around and fighting each other, defending their villages and the Indian state is a mute spectator to this tragedy for one year.”
The first few days of parliament suggest that the 18th Lok Sabha might offer, after ten years, a spirited opposition that will prove difficult to browbeat into silence. To Gandhi’s credit, he also emphasised on Manipur, on unemployment, on farmers, on the Modi regime’s stranglehold on democratic institutions, on the BJP’s use of fear and violence over the last ten years, and on parliamentary procedure. He also snuck in some fun personal jabs at Modi’s intelligence, which perhaps struck a nerve and prompted the prime minister’s repeated “balak buddhi” taunts in return. But as Rahul Gandhi persists with his endeavour to be the supreme Hindu in parliament, that spirited opposition will be needed to continue their battle to save the Constitution.
Coming to business, this month at Polis, we are looking forward to continue our Demolitions and Disappearance projects, and excited to publish more stories from our BK-16 Prison Diaries series. For the long form, we have a hugely important story lined up, but it’s an ongoing investigation, so more on that later. That’s all for now, do see below for our newsletter subscriptions and June recap!
Arshu John
Political Editor
Image Credit: Bhumika Saraswati
Disappearances
In the Disappearances project, Aabha Muralidharan will document the state practice of disappearances. Our report last month on the alarming rise of civilian killings in Bastar was followed by a piece looking at the indiscriminate destruction of its forests with repeated aerial bombing. This month, we will look at the disappearance of bodies caused by the heatwaves in India, apart from looking at other state-enforced disappearances of land, bodies and mind.
Sign up for Aabha’s monthly newsletter for updates and discussions from her research!
Demolitions
In the Demolitions project, our research will delve into important issues surrounding demolitions in India, including housing rights, impact on communities, legal frameworks, displacement and development, and the broader socio-political contexts that lead to it. The research will aim to provide a comprehensive understanding of demolitions as a tool to disempower marginalised populations and, more recently, as a form of punitive action against the Muslim community. Through this research, we hope to amplify the voices of affected communities and advocate meaningful interventions.
Sign up for a monthly Demolitions newsletter:
The authorities at Taloja Central Jail refused to accept new spectacles for Gautam Navlakha, after his were stolen inside prison, and despite being informed that he can barely see without them. PHOTOS BY RITESH UTTAMCHANDANI FOR THE POLIS PROJECT.
June Recap
In June, our monthly long form focused on the cruel treatment of political prisoners in India’s prisoners. In a comprehensive investigation, Bhavya Dore and Sukhada Tatke found that even UAPA prisoners under the full glare and scrutiny of the media were subjected to a cavalcade of cruelties, large and small. Dore and Tatke interviewed several UAPA prisoners, lawyers and prison officials to highlight the ordeals suffered in Indian jails. The report also includes a compelling series of photos by our photo editor, Ritesh Uttamchandani, on the various objects arbitrarily denied to political prisoners.
Illustration: Arun Ferreira
Last month, we were also very grateful to be able to published the BK-16 Prison Diaries series. To mark six years of the arbitrary arrests and imprisonment of political dissidents in the Bhima Koregaon case, The Polis Project is publishing a series of writings by the BK-16, and their families, friends and partners. By describing various aspects of the past six years, the series offers a glimpse into the BK-16’s lives inside prison, as well as the struggles of their loved ones outside. We have so far published pieces by Minal Gadling, Rupali Jadhav, Jenny Rowena, Anand Teltumbde, Shoma Sen, Vernon Gonsalves, and Arun Ferreira. Each piece in the series is also complemented by Ferreira’s striking and evocative artwork.