Who killed Stan Swamy?
If American linguist Avram Noam Chomsky were to be born in India and lived and spoken vociferously, as he is wont to, on all things political, he would have been hanged to death many times over for his ‘terrorist acts’. The world would have surely been deprived of a great intellectual of modern times if philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist Chomsky were to live in India during these trying periods.
The death of Stanislaus Lourduswamy on July 5 this year is a wakeup call to all those who believe in democratic institutions and who far India has regressed from rights of an individual in a supposedly democratic nation like India.
The only ‘terrorist’ act of Father Stan Swamy, who was arrested on October 9, 2020 as an under trial in the Bhima-Koregaon case seems to be his activism in support of rights of the tribal people. He had questioned the non-implementation of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, which stipulates setting up of a Tribes Advisory Council with members solely of the Adivasi community for their protection, well-being and development in the state. He also fought for the release of around 3,000 men and women who have been labelled as Maoists and imprisoned.
It should be a joke to state that an ailing, ageing and half-deaf Swamy trembling from Parkinson’s, posed a grave threat to the security of India. Swamy was the oldest person to be accused of terrorism in India.
The National Investigating Agency arrested Swamy, even though he had cooperated with the investigation and there were no reasonable apprehensions that he would flee or tamper with evidence; that his Parkinson’s was so advanced he could not sign his vakalatnama. The NIA accused Swamy of links to front organisations of the banned CPI (Maoist), designated “terrorist†under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA)
In May this year, Swamy complained to the Bombay High Court of worsening Parkinson’s tremors, hearing loss, intense lumbar and abdominal pain. The jail responded that he had “a stable pumping heart and good circulation of blood.†Two days later, Swamy pleaded for medical bail. The High Court ignored this, offering a choice only between treatment at a state or private hospital. Swamy claimed he was not given his custodial medical reports and had to rely on older ones. The NIA claimed that the medical documents he filed were not conclusive proof of his “alleged Parkinson disease†and were old. Swamy developed COVID19 symptoms in prison but was tested only after being shifted to a private hospital. By then, it was too late.
Long Live the Democratic Republic of India!
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Modi rejigs cabinet to bring the shine back
India’s Health Minister should still be reeling from the shock of his sacking on July 9, when Prime Minister rejigged his cabinet to cleanse the dirt that is sticking out from the aftermath of a Second Wave of COVID-19.
There had been much criticism, even from inside the ruling party and allies, on the shortcomings and pitfalls from the ‘unexpected’ second wave of COVID-19. Mr Vardhan has been widely criticised for his handling of the pandemic. In early March, he declared the country was "in the endgame" of the pandemic - less than a month before the second wave ripped through India, overwhelming hospitals and even crematoriums.
The country’s vaccination programme has also been criticised. Just over 5% of Indians have been fully vaccinated and 22% have received at least one dose. The pace of vaccination has picked up in recent weeks, but it's not enough to meet the target of fully vaccinating all eligible Indians by the end of this year.
The results of elections to state assemblies were not too sweet (The NDA had been sure of a win in West Bengal and also hoped to bag at least a handful of seats in Kerala, down south).
On July 9, Mr. Modi took an as yet believable step of sacking 12 ministers, particularly those at the head of ministries, which had brought criticism to the government in the last year and more.
The whole aim of the move was to give a high sheen to ‘Brand Modi,’ that had lost much of it as a result of poor and delayed performance in dealing with the pandemic and the half-hearted vaccine role out.
In the newly minted cabinet, Mr. Modi has tried to represent every state of India, in some cases sub-regions in states, as well as different castes, particularly OBCs, Dalits and tribals, in his ministry. For the first time, there are 11 women ministers in the government.
In 2014, when Modi with ‘56-inch chest’ came to power, the Atal-Advani era in BJP came to a close. In 2019, the phase dominated by “Gen X leaders†also came to an end with only a handful of the old guard left in the government.
The rising fuel prices, 230 million reportedly under the poverty line, millions of jobs reportedly lost in the organized sector alone since the pandemic began, and a third COVID wave threatening to a possibility, the Prime Minister needed to act fast.
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Adieu Dilip Kumar
On July 7, Indian cinema lost a legendary actor with the passing away of ‘tragedy king' Dilip Kumar. The actor represented the composite culture of the Indian subcontinent, often unimaginable now in the din of jingoism on either side of the India-Pakistan border. He was 98.
Born Mohammed Yusuf Khan in 1922 in Peshawar, now in Pakistan, he was known by the screen name of Dilip Kumar once he joined Bollywood in the 1940s. Having acted in over 65 films, Dilip Kumar was known for his iconic roles in movies like 'Devdas '(1955), 'Naya Daur' (1957), 'Mughal-e-Azam' (1960), 'Ganga Jamuna' (1961), 'Kranti' (1981), and 'Karma' (1986). He was last seen in 'Qila' in 1998.
He also holds the record for winning the maximum number of Filmfare awards. He was the inaugural recipient of the award and won the best actor Filmfare Award eight times. In his five-decade-long career, he contributed to Hindi cinema in different ways, including the introduction of the method acting technique.
Although born in another generation, for this columnist, the epic historical drama film 'Mughal-e-Azam' brought to life annals of Mughal era that one either studied and read about. Dilip Kumar will be remembered by movie lovers for decades.
