Mandalisation Of Muslim Politics In India: A Shift From Religious Identity To Caste Identity

March 28, 2012 By R. Upadhyay

The outcome of the Bihar and Uttar Pradesh elections is indicative of a marked shift in Muslim politics in India from religious identity to caste identity and a movement for freedom from Ashraf hegemony- This needs a detailed examination of the Indian scene.

Interestingly, Mandalisation of Indian politics had also brought a marked shift from identity politics in Muslim society to caste politics. Contrary to the claim that Islam is egalitarian and its followers are a homogenized community, the lower caste groups in the community have started to raise their voice against the feudal character of Muslim politics. It was the beginning of the awakening of the Muslim proletariat against the hegemony of upper caste bourgeoisie in the community.

The Mandal Commission Report had also included a number of backward caste Muslims along with the Hindu backwards for reservation in government jobs and educational institutions. The report not only exposed the reality of the caste heterogeneity in the Muslim society but also worked as a catalyst for a movement against the socio-political hegemony of the Ashrafs (High-born Muslims) over the Ajlafs (low caste-born Muslims) and Arzals (Dalit-born or degraded Muslims) collectively known as Pasmandas.

Ever since the advent of Islam in Indian sub-continent, social division in Indian Muslim society was based in reality on the pre-Islamic castes of the converted Hindus. The individual divisions may have lost its sharpness, but the Muslims of foreign ancestry comprising of the descendents of the Islamic invaders like Syed, Turk, Mangole, Moghal and Pathans who claim to be Ashrafs maintained social aloofness with respect of the Pasmandas who are Indian converts from backward caste and untouchables of Hindu origin. The upper caste Hindu converts were also accommodated in the lower category of Ashraf.

Carrying forward their centuries-old socio-political divide even in post-Independence democratic India, the Ashrafs remained the representative body of the entire Muslim community though the Pasmandas constitute over 80% of Muslim population. Bracketing the Pasmandas in a vote-bank group of effective strength in the multi-party secular democratic polity, the Ashrafs used them as a market commodity and enjoyed substantial share in the political, academic, economic and administrative space in the country by bargaining initially with the Congress and latter with almost all the political parties with their vote banks.

Before the Mandalisation of Indian politics, caste division in Muslim society hardly had any political significance. But when the post-Mandal political bond between the Hindu backward castes and the Muslims that led to the emergence of backward caste leaders like Laloo Yadav and Nitish Kumar of Bihar and Mulayam Singh Yadav of Uttar Pradesh on the national political scene, there was a new awakening of the Pasmandas.

Meanwhile with a view to counter the Mandal effect, the Ashraf leaders held a Convention on Reservation in 1994 and launched a Muslim Reservation Movement for declaring the entire Muslim community as backward caste for reservation. Some media reports suggested that this convention had a tacit support of some mainstream parties.

As a reaction to the Convention on Reservation, Dr. Ejaz Ali belonging to a Dalit Muslim group of Bihar launched the All India Backward Muslim Morcha in 1994 with an objective to fight for the right of the marginalized castes in Muslim community. This new awakening among the backward caste Muslims got further momentum when Laloo Yadav denied Gulam Sarwar the father in law of Dr. Ejaz Ali, a second tenure as Speaker in Bihar Assembly in 1995.

On the other hand, the Ashrafs who projected themselves as the natural leaders and authoritative spokepersons of the entire Muslim community took the political awakening among the Pasmandas as a challenge to their political dominance on the community and argued that since there is no caste system in Muslim society, its caste-based division is un-Islamic. They demanded that the entire Muslim society should be categorized as backwards. They accused those in the community campaigning against clubbing of entire Muslim community as creating divisions in the homogenous Islamic society.

Most of the top politicians, religious leaders, landlords, bureaucrats, Academicians, journalists and religious leaders in Muslim society unfortunately belong to the Ashraf category and they are the obnes who decry the caste based division in Muslim society as a ‘conspiracy to destroy the Muslim unity’

In view of the look other way policy of the political leaders towards the cause of the marginalized Muslim castes and attitude of the Ashrafs, a number of backward caste organizations like All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaj , All India United Muslim Morcha and All India Muslim OBC Organisation in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have sprung up to counter- the so called solidarity platforms of the Ashrafs.

Strongly opposing the Ashrafs led Muslim Reservation Movement, the leaders of Pasmanda movement pleaded that if the entire Muslim community is accepted as backward, the Muslim elite group would usurp even token representation of the marginalized section in the community in government jobs. The slogan like ‘Dalit-pichda ek saman, Hindu ho ya Musalman!’ (All Dalits and backward castes are alike, whether they are Hindu or Muslim) made the Pasmanda movement more interesting.

In Bihar the backward caste group had already split into lower and upper OBCs (Other Backward Castes). After Mandal Commission Report, the 27% reservation for the OBCs was also divided into 17% and 10% to the lower and upper OBCs respectively. Laloo Yadav while implementing the Mandal recommendation in Bihar incorporated the backward caste Muslims in the upper OBCs group.

Laloo Yadav in supporting the demands of the Ashrafs for inclusion of the entire Muslim community in the list of backwards disappointed the Pasmandas. They felt that since Yadavas and Kurmis of upper OBCs group were more educated and affluent it would be difficult for the marginalized group of Muslim backwards to compete with them. Since then the Pasmandas have started distancing themselves from the Muslim-Yadav political alliance in Bihar which ultimately led to the fall of Laloo regime.

Taking the Muslim factor as key to the electoral success of Laloo Yadav, the centre also constituted a National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities under the chairmanship of former Chief Justice of India Justice Rangnath Mishra in 2004 which recommended 15% of jobs in government services and seats in educational institutions for minorities including 10% exclusively for Muslims. Again in 2005 another committee headed by Justice Rajinder Sachar, former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court was commissioned by the Prime Minister for a report on the social, educational and economic condition of the Muslims.

Nitish Kumar the Chief Minister of Bihar, who understood the new awakening of Pasmandas, concentrated on Mandal recommendation for the marginalized caste-group of the Muslims and convincingly mobilised their support in 2005 assembly election which led to his victory in Bihar.

After becoming Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar reversed the Laloo Yadav’s decision on inclusion of Muslim backwards from upper OBCs group to the lower OBCs group. He also accommodated their leaders of the latter suitably in the legislative and political posts. With this master stroke against Laloo Yadav, he not only divided the Muslim community in Bihar and got the massive support of Pasmandas in 2010 assembly election Both the Committees in their reports categorized the entire Muslim community in India as a backward group and recommended reservation for them in different fields including reservation in Government jobs. All the Ashraf controlled Islamic institutions and organization like Darul Uloom Deoband, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Jamiat Ulema-e –Hind and Imart-e-Sharia welcomed the two reports and started putting pressure on the UPA Government for their immediate implementation.

Pasmanda leaders however, maintained that if the entire Muslim community is clubbed together for reservation it would mean a competition between two un-equals and jeopardise the interest of the backward caste Muslims as they would be cornered by the upper caste Muslims who are socially and educationally affluent for centuries. Despite such consistent opposition of Pasmanda leaders against inclusion of Ashrafs for benefits of reservation for Muslims, political parties particularly the Congress, Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rastriya Janat Dal of Laloo Yadav supported the recommendation of the two committees in categorizing the entire Muslim community as backwards.

It is interesting to note that in the recent UP elections prominent Ashraf candidates like Mohd Umar, son-in-law of Syed Ahmed Bukhari, Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Delhi who contested on Samajwadi Party ticket, Luis Khurshid wife of Congress leader Salman Khurshid who contested on Congress ticket and Haji Yaqoob Qureshi, who contested on RLD ticket lost the election. The humiliating loss of upper caste Muslims in Uttar Pradesh election is an indication that the political bonding among the backward castes from both the Hindus and Muslims worked as a catalyst for a counter- hegemonic solidarity movement for liberation of the Ajlafs and Arzals from the Ashraf hegemony.

As said earlier, the outcome of the Bihar and Uttar Pradesh elections shows a paradigm change in Muslim politics. From a religion based politics, it is moving onto “caste based politics”. In a way it could be a good development as the Pasmandas may no longer allow themselves to be shackled by the higher caste Ashrafs in future.

Courtesy: SAAG (South Asia Analysis Group), Mar/28/12

[Courtesy: http://roundtableindia.co.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4896%3Amandalisation-of-muslim-politics-in-india-a-shift-from-religious-identity-to-caste-identity&catid=61%3Aopinion&Itemid=56

The Prophet, Represented

By: Ibn Warraq

Images of Mohammed in Islam are more common than fundamentalists claim.

A sixteenth-century Ottoman depiction of Mohammed welcoming Jacob

On the northeast corner of Madison Avenue and 25th Street stands the Manhattan Appellate Courthouse, a Corinthian-columned marble palace built in 1900 by architect James Brown Lord. Gracing the roof balustrade are nine statues of historical lawgivers, including Solon, Justinian, Confucius, and Moses. Originally, the design honored ten men, the tenth being Mohammed, in an eight-foot marble statue by Charles Albert Lopez. The New York Times described the statue as “of average height, but broad-shouldered, with thick, powerful hands. Under his turban, his brows are prominent and frowning. A long, heavy beard flows over his robe. In his left hand, he holds a book, symbolizing the new religion he founded”—a blunder by Lopez; no devout Muslim, let alone Mohammed himself, would touch the Koran with a hand reserved for dirty chores—“and in his right, a scimitar, connoting the Moslem conquest.”

In 1955, as a renovation to the courthouse was under way, the Mohammed statue came to the notice of the Egyptian, Indonesian, and Pakistani ambassadors to the United Nations. As Daniel Pipes recounted the episode in a 2008 Jerusalem Post article, they immediately demanded that the U.S. State Department use its influence to get the statue removed—despite its obvious intent to honor the Muslim lawgiver—on the grounds that Islam forbids artistic representation of the Prophet. The State Department complied. New York City’s public works commissioner, Frederick Zurmuhlen, filled in the vacant spot on the balustrade by shifting around the remaining nine statues.

Over half a century later, Muslim demands related to the visual representation of Mohammed have become familiar—and today, they are usually accompanied by threats of violence. In 2005, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 cartoons depicting Mohammed, sparking violent riots and threats and prompting most other Western papers to refuse to run the cartoons. Last year, Yale University Press published a book on that controversy but refused to print the cartoons themselves. More recently, in response to apparent threats against the creators of the TV show South Park, the cable network Comedy Central censored an episode that mocked Mohammed.

The most important response to these incidents, of course, is that democratic societies cannot tolerate violent threats against freedom of expression. But a second point should be made, too: though most Western observers assume that Islam does prohibit visual representations, especially those showing Mohammed, the history of the issue is more complicated than radical Islamists would have us believe.

Islam is not monolithic. To simplify matters considerably, we can speak of “Islam 1”—the Koran; “Islam 2”—the religion as it was subsequently expounded, interpreted, and developed; and “Islam 3”—the actual behavior of believing Muslims. To begin with Islam 1: though the Koran condemns idolatry, it does not explicitly forbid the representation of human figures. Some theologians, however, later interpreted its verses to prohibit sculpture in particular.

Moving on to Islam 2: numerous hadiths—sayings and deeds of the Prophet, first collected in the ninth century—were often interpreted to prohibit any depiction of living creatures. Yet an account of Mohammed’s life that is as revered as the hadiths—the eighth-century Sira of Ibn Ishaq—contradicts the prohibition, recounting how Mohammed preserved portraits of Jesus and Mary from destruction. In addition, the Tabaqat of Ibn Sa’d, who died around ad 845, tells us that on one occasion Mohammed found his young bride, Aisha, playing with her dolls. He asked her what they were, and on being told that they were King Solomon’s horsemen, made no adverse observations and let her continue playing with them. Despite these examples, certain schools of Islamic law, beginning in the late eighth century, accused artists showing human beings of trying to imitate God’s creative function. Others argued that what mattered was the artist’s intent and that Mohammed would object only to full-size human figures that could be mistaken for real persons. Hence, miniatures or small dolls were permissible.

As is often the case, Islam 3 has often ignored the prescriptions of Islam 1 and Islam 2. Islamic history is full of examples of paintings—particularly miniatures, one of the glories of Islamic art—of human beings, including the Prophet. There are illustrated Korans depicting Mohammed, some showing human beings with distinct lines drawn over their necks, symbolically defying them to come to life and thereby demonstrating the artist’s denial of his intent to compete with God. Some paintings clearly show Mohammed’s face; others draw his body but leave his face blank or veiled. The tradition of veiling Mohammed’s face may have nothing to do with any prohibition on representational art but rather refer to a belief that Mohammed needed to cover his face, since it radiated such light that it would blind a normal person.

Sculpture is rarer in the Islamic world, but even there, we see plenty of exceptions. Khumarawayh, the ninth-century Tulunid ruler of Egypt and Syria, commissioned statues of himself, his wives, and singing girls. In tenth-century Spain, Abd al-Rahman III erected a statue of his favorite wife, al-Zahra. Under the Egyptian dynasty of the Fatimids (909–1171), bronze ewers and perfume burners in the form of birds and animals were often made. The Seljuk princes of Asia Minor in the thirteenth century employed sculptors to carve human and animal stone figures that were used to decorate their capital, Konya, and can still be viewed in the museum of that city. In the fourteenth century, Mohammed V commissioned marble lions for the Alhambra palace in Spain; they, too, remain extant. Ismail Pasha of Egypt (1830–95) erected statues of Muslim dignitaries in public places.

One might also cite certain Ottoman gravestones from the eighteenth century onward, which vaguely suggest the human figure—especially the head, depicted without facial features and usually shown wearing some form of headgear, most often a turban. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, the zealous and bigoted Muslims who poured into the country destroyed many such beautiful gravestones.

Persia seems to have the longest tradition of representing human figures in the Islamic world. Illustrations of the stirring stories in the Shah-nama, composed by Firdawsi (940–1020) and considered a national epic, played an enormous part in popularizing the use of wall paintings and book illustrations in Persia. One of the earliest representations of Mohammed is in an Arabic version of Rashid al-Din’s universal history commissioned by Mahmud Ghazan Khan, a ruler of the Ilkhanate state, which included Persia. Usually dated to 1307, the book shows the Prophet replacing the Black Stone in the Ka’aba, in Mecca. The Timurid Dynasty, which subsequently ruled Persia, also produced illustrated works, such as the Miraj Name (1436). Here Mohammed is portrayed with clearly Chinese features, surely because Timur, the dynasty’s founder, was Mongol.

Later, in sixteenth-century Persia, wandering dervishes would go from town to town telling stories of the Holy Family—that is, Mohammed; his daughter Fatima; her husband, Ali; and their children, Hassan and Hussain—and illustrating them with curtains or canvases painted with representations of the five. Persia also offers evidence of murals and paintings of Ali and Mohammed during the Qajar Dynasty (1794–1925). In modern times, with the advent of printing, illustrated biographies of Mohammed were published in Iran, and posters of the Holy Family were widely sold. (For their poster art, the Persian artists drew on the Western Christian tradition, and many of the posters of Mohammed and Ali are essentially copies of scenes illustrating Old or New Testament stories by the Bible illustrator Harold Copping.)

Even today, across the Muslim world, we find portraits—including portraits of religious leaders—on banknotes, coins, and posters, as well as in magazines and journals. Strictly speaking, an interdiction on human representation should place television and even photography off-limits; in reality, of course, all Islamic societies are addicted to movies and soap operas.

In its unwillingness to pass judgment on other cultures, the West is far too eager to defer to the Muslim world’s shrillest spokesmen on matters of religious doctrine. Some fringe group threatens South Park, and Comedy Central parrots and accepts uncritically that group’s claim that Islam forbids the representation of Mohammed, period.

But even if pictures of Mohammed—or of human beings in general—were forbidden in Islam, we should still unabashedly defend our right to freedom of expression. In doing so, we would not simply give our adversaries pause for reflection; we would encourage liberals in the Islamic world, who watch with dismay each time we cave to radicals’ demands and reinforce their cruel and empty certainties.

Ibn Warraq is a visiting fellow at the Center for Law and Counterterrorism, a project of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He is the author of Virgins? What Virgins?

[This piece can also be accessed on : http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_1_mohammed.html  ]

How they would prefer to be governed?

“Our political theory today does not accept Aristotle’s criteria of the ideal constitution. But our actual governmental practices are still based on the premise that not everyone can govern……..alongside the abstract promise of popular sovereignty, people in most of the world are devising new ways in which they can choose how they should be governed. Many of the forms of political society I have described would not, I suspect, meet with Aristotle’s approval, because they would appear to him to allow popular leaders to take precedence over the law. But we might, I think, be able to persuade him that in this way the people are learning, and forcing their governors to learn, how they would prefer to be governed. That, the wise Greek might agree, is a good ethical justification for democracy.”

[An extract from Partha Chatterjee.2009.The Politics of the Governed: Reflections on Popular Politics in Most of the World. Permanent Black. Ranikhet.Pp.77-78].

Another Argument: The curious case of the Indian Secularism

“The argument here is not that concern for them is misplaced. The argument is that by focussing on the Muslim ‘Other’ alone, what these secular Indians do is reaffirm the central place of the Hindu in the national imagination. The problem with Indian secularism is not the Muslim, it is the central place of the Hindu in the national imagination. This problem can be rectified only when we start realising that India is more than Hindu and Muslim, but includes tons of other minorities as well, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, Adivasis, Dalits to name just a few. Displace this binary relationship, recognise the pluralism of the Indian reality, and we would have progressed multiple steps towards combating the problems confronting Indian secularism.

The question that remains unanswered in all of this however is why does the ‘secular’ establishment in India fail to grasp this seemingly obvious fact? Why does it persist in this obsessive focus on the Muslim and reaffirm the central place of the Hindu? The answer is once more hinted at by Subrahmaniam (in her piece in The Hindu on 3 March 2011 )in her observation that ‘The Congress and the secular media wanted the Gujarati Muslim forever to fight Mr. Modi but neither was there to protect him.’ In her formulation of the problem, Subrahmaniam falls into the regular trap of identifying the Congress as secular, and the BJP as communal.” Read more…

Jamat-e Islami Hind’s UMF to intervene in upcoming Panchyat Election in Jharkhand

By TCN Special Correspondent, 30 August 2010

Ranchi: While preparation for upcoming Panchayat election in Jharkhand becoming focus of all activities of all political parties, it seems the socio-political groups and peoples’ movement are also determined to intervene in the elections. These groups see it as an opportunity to strengthen the democratic process at local level and ensure the participation of “Aam Adami,” resulting in their socio-political empowerment. On Friday evening, representatives of different groups and movement met to discuss the strategy in Ranchi. Around 20 activists representing more than 10 groups, working amongst different marginalised communities and a range of issue, were present in the meeting.

“The announcement of panchayat election after a long period of more than three decades is welcome as it gives us a chance to ensure a participatory democracy at grass root level”, believes Dr. Hasan Raza, Convener of the United Milli Foum (UMF), Jharkhand on whose initiative the meeting was organised. “We should intervene in this with our utmost effort,” he adds. Balram Ji, a senior social activist a campaigner of Right to Food Act agrees with Dr. Raza. “There is no way to strengthen the common men and women other than to strengthen the Gram Sabhas and for that, we have to launch a movement and upcoming elections can be an entry point”. So, does Dayamani Barla, a Tribal leader of national stature and who heads Adiwaasi Moolwasi Astitva Raksha Manch (AMAM), a group leading anti-Displacement movement in Jharkhand.

Sashibhusan Pathak,a senior human rights activist while considering election a necessary process for the democracy raised, some questions regarding the political scenario of Jharkhand. “I have serious doubt that the election will help to ensure the real democratic process”, he fears. “What is more important, the complete overhaul of the existing system”, he added. However, Vinay Bhusan, a cultural activist did not agree with Pathak and stressed on intervention.

The groups agreed to join hands to intervene in the election and decided to meet on September 26th for day long workshop titled- Upcoming Panchayat Election: Challenges and Strategies organised by UMF in association with other groups. Meanwhile, the groups will build a strong network of activists at local level who play a lead role in their respective areas and identify candidates through peoples’ committee at panchayat level. The groups also agreed to ensure the representation of Muslim community according to their population along with other deprived groups.

United Milli Forum (UMF), is socio-political forum initiated in 2004, has been working in the field of socio-economic and political empowerment of marginalized communities in general and Muslims in particular, as a people’s organization in different parts of Jharkhand. Over the last six years, UMF has been involved in range of activities and has gained rich experience in creating awareness among the masses about their rights, training health workers, organizing people on socio-political and livelihood issues and networking with people’s organization.

[Source: http://twocircles.net/2010aug30/umf_intervene_upcoming_panchyat_election_jharkhand.html  ]

Mixed response to Jharkhand bandh

Press Trust Of India
Ranchi, August 29, 2010

The dawn-to-dusk Jharkhand bandh, called by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Sunday, evoked mixed response in the state. The shutdown was complete in Gumla, Simdega and Khunti with shops and markets downing shutters and fewer vehicles on roads, reports said. But in Ranchi the bandh evoked mixed response on a Sunday while life was almost normal in rest of the districts, reports said.

The VHP gave the shutdown call to protest against the notices served by the administration to some religious structures asking them to explain whether these had encroached upon public places.

The government had yesterday said the notices were served in accordance with the Supreme Court directive to all state governments and union territories to file an affidavit on structures that encroached upon public  places.

The government clarified that there was no immediate plans to demolish any structure as the process had to go through three stages – whether any construction deserved regularisation/relocation/removal.

[ Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/Mixed-response-to-Jharkhand-bandh/Article1-593512.aspx  ]

IRS Q2 2010: Positive fallout of Jharkhand print war – four out of top five dailies see growth

August 26, 10

Nitin Pandey

Jharkhand has been witnessing intensified competition following the entry of quite a few new players. The established players have pulled up their socks to counter this challenge and their efforts have paid off. According to the IRS Q2 2010 results, three of the top five dailies that have recorded positive growth are Hindi language publications.

Hindustan maintains its leadership position in this quarter with an Average Issue Readership (AIR) of 1,469,000 as against 1,353,000 in Q1, a growth of 8.57 per cent.

Growth story of Prabhat Khabar continues in Jharkhand, too, with an increase of 2.04 per cent in AIR at 1,001,000 in Q2.

Dainik Jagran, however, has seen a decline of 6.32 per cent in its AIR from 854,000 in Q2 to 800,000 in this quarter. Hindi daily Aj, which ranked fourth, has received an AIR of 85,000, as against 77,000 in Q1, a double digit growth of 10.39 per cent.

English dailies Hindustan Times and The Times of India have recorded robust growths of 41.82 per cent and 16.98 per cent, respectively. While Hindustan Times’s AIR in Q2 stood at 78,000, The Times of India has recorded an AIR of 62,000.

The Telegraph, on the other hand, has witnessed decline of 3.85 per cent in its AIR, which stands at 75,000 in this quarter.

The overall decline trend in magazines continued in the Jharkhand market as well. Four of the top five magazines have witnessed decline in AIR. Saras Salil, which leads among magazines in this market, is the only gainer with an AIR of 251,000. Pratiyogita Darpan, India Today (Hindi), Nandan and Meri Saheli have seen decline in AIR numbers. However, Champak (Hindi), Vanita (Hindi) and Sarita have clocked double digit growths of 14.55 per cent, 17.50 per cent and 28.13 per cent, respectively.

[Source: http://www.exchange4media.com/e4m/news/fullstory.asp?Section_id=5&News_id=39219&Tag=5631 ]

Parliament approves bill on Jharkhand panchayat polls

IANS 2010-08-25 19:40:00

Parliament Wednesday approved a bill on holding panchayat elections in Jharkhand, which is currently under president’s rule, with the Rajya Sabha adopting the measure.

The Lok Sabha had last week passed the Jharkhand Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2010 that amends the Jharkhand Panchayat Act to reserve 50 percent of seats for women.

Replying to the debate on the bill, Panchayati Raj Minister C.P. Joshi assured the house that the elections will be held in the state as soon as possible.

‘We want to hold elections in the state as soon as possible, there will be no deficiency from the part of government,’ Joshi assured.

The minister, however, said that the money prescribed by the 11th and 12th finance commissions for panchayats may not be given now.

‘I cannot commit on the funds recommended by the 11th and 12th finance commissions, but more than giving money, there is need for utilising the money already alloted,’ Joshi said, replying to the demands of member.

The minister also stressed on enhancing the staff at the panchayats to enhance decentralisation of power.

‘We need dedicated staff for panchayats, we need buildings,’ he said, adding: ‘We also need experts in information technology for the panchayats.’

Earlier participating in the debates, members highlighted that panchayat elections have not been held for more than 30 years in the areas that now make up Jharkhand.

‘Even after formation of a separate state of Jharkhand, no election has been held in the past 10 years,’ Congress MP Mabel Rebello, who represents the state in the Rajya Sabha, said.

Mani Shankar Aiyar (Nominated) said that panchayat elections and decentralisation of power may actually lead to reduction of Maoist activities in the state. Aiyar is a former union panchayati raj minister.

Elections in the areas that make up Jharkhand were last held in 1971 when they were a part of Bihar. After the creation of Jharkhand in 2000, the state election commission issued a schedule for panchayat polls in 2002 and issued a notification for it in August 2005. However, the exercise was called off the very next month following an interim order of the Jharkhand High Court.

Backward communities, which constitute 40 percent of the state’s population, opposed the reservations for tribals in areas where their population was under 50 percent. Succumbing to the demand, the state government de-reserved some seats and the trials moved the high court against the government.

The Supreme Court cleared the cases earlier this year and directed the state to hold the polls at the earliest.

The state was placed under president’s rule after the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha government led by Shibu Soren was reduced to a minority after coalition partner Bhartiya Janata Party withdrew its support.

[Source: http://sify.com/news/parliament-approves-bill-on-jharkhand-panchayat-polls-news-national-kiztEfccgcj.html ]

Tribals in Jharkhand celebrate Mansa festival

2010-08-18 18:50:00

Members of the tribal communities in Jharkhand have always treasured their tradition and culture with utmost care. Many of the tribes have various rituals, which may look strange to others but for them it’s something that defines their tribal life.

On the occasion of annual Mansa festival here on Tuesday, the celebration of tribal life and the joy of offering obeisance in awe-inspiring ways was visible once again.

Hundreds of tribals participated in a religious procession here in Panchparagana area on Tuesday. Some of the devotees had their bodies pierced with sharp objects and carried snakes on their heads. It is done to appease the snake goddess Mansa.

People from neighbouring areas congregated in Tamar hamlet, 70 kilometers from Ranchi, the State capital to watch the rituals associated with the festival.

Body piercing has been an important part of the ritual, followed by tribals for generations here.

The body piercing is done after a customary bath in a pool. The individuals smear normal vermilion, as an ‘anti-septic’ on bleeding parts of the body and avoid infection.

The tribals believe that giving harsh punishment to one’s body enables them to gain special affection of the goddess. She will protect them from snakebites throughout the year after being pleased with their dare-devil form of worship.

Many of the participants during the festival carry snakes on their heads, believing this will prevent them from snakebites.

“The Goddess Mansa is considered to be the snake goddess as per our customs. As we are residing in a village. Here the snake is considered to be our deity. So, all these rituals are being performed to appease the Goddess Mansa. This ritual of carrying a snake on our heads is known as ‘Japan’,” said Vinod, one of the devotees.

During their celebrations, the tribals chanted hymns and devotional prayers besides dancing to the beats of drums during the festival.

Even as many people on this occasion pierce their tongues, hands, nose, ear and other areas of the body in devotion, many others do not do that but express their devotion to the deity by observing day-long fast.

As per the local tradition, women observe fast and eat only at midnight after worshipping Goddess Mansa.

It all ends when the procession reaches Mansa Temple.

The Mansa Festival is observed in many parts of Jharkhand including Ranchi, East Singum. In West Bengal, festival is observed in places like Purlia, Bakura and Midnapur.

The ritual associated with the festival is a part of centuries old tribal customs. By Girija Shankar Ojha (ANI)

[Source: http://sify.com/news/tribals-in-jharkhand-celebrate-mansa-festival-news-national-kissOcdehdg.html ]

Photo-shy Muslim women should not vote: Supreme Court

Rakesh Bhatnagar / DNA

Friday, January 22, 2010 23:11 IST

If having photographs on election identity cards and electoral rolls defies religious tenets and betrays sentiments of a section of Muslim women, it is for them to decide whether to vote or not.

“If they are so religious, don’t vote,” a bench of chief justice KG Balakrishnan and justice Deepak Verma remarked on Friday. They were hearing an appeal by Tamil Nadu’s (TN’s) Ajmal Khan against the election commission’s (EC’s) mandate to carry photo identity cards for voting.

Khan also raised brows at EC publishing electoral rolls with photos of Muslim women.

“What these women would do if they were to contest elections,” the bench asked Khan’s counsel V Balaji, pointing out that during elections, posters carrying photographs of candidates are put up all over a constituency.

Balaji said it was against the tenets of Islam for a Muslim woman to get photographed without a veil (burqa).He argued that the Holy Quran laid down that Muslim women wear burqa and cover their faces.

The face of a Muslim woman can only be seen by her husband or close relatives, he said.

As such, he said, EC should not take photographs of Muslim women without veils or unveiled photographs should not be given to any other person.

“Such a law violates Article 25 of the Constitution that guarantees right to practice any religion of one’s choice,” the counsel said, seeking to unveil a constitutional issue hidden in the case.

Counsel for Tamil Nadu Election Commission Balaji Srinivasan said Ajmal Khan wanted to create confusion at the ground level.

He said the voter identity cards and electoral rolls he had objected to had been prepared in Puducherry, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and the rest of the country. Nowhere did Muslim women object to the EC order, Srinivasan said.

Moreover, Muslim women get photographed for passports, he said. In 2006, the Madras high court had dismissed Khan’s petition filed after EC started printing electoral rolls with photographs of voters for the Madurai Central assembly constituency.

[Source: http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_photo-shy-muslim-women-should-not-vote-sc_1338122  ]