MLA Yatnal humiliates soldiers who laid down their lives
Just as the accused in Gauri Lankesh murder case are getting arrested one after another, BJP MLA Basanagouda Yatnal, addressing a public meeting, has said “if I was the home minister, I would issue orders to shoot the intellectuals en masse”. Yatnal’s statement can be interpreted in many ways. He has also defended the murder of Gauri Lankesh, along with criticizing the police for arresting the accused. He has also encouraged the antisocial elements to murder more rationalists and thinkers in the days to come. In the recent days, Yatnal has lost track of what he speaks and has continued the display of his ignorance and senility with his statements.
Let’s understand the term ‘intellectuals’. They are the same people who were behind the fight for freedom of this country, than the brainless ones like those in the RSS. People like Yatnal need to understand this clearly. A country gets its identity from the scientific and rational thoughts it encourages to thrive in its environs. Rationality has played a major role in the post-independence period in the progress of the country.
Most freedom fighters were also intellectuals, who had received their education in England. They planned the progress of India very well with the exposure they got. Brahma Samaj was established by an intellectual. Owing to intellectuals like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, India could end inhuman traditions such as Sati and child marriage. The movements he started, helped India become a progressive nation. Outfits like RSS has remained mute about the practice of casteism and untouchability within Hindu dharma.
Swami Vivekananda was an intellectual himself. There is a major difference between his stances in Hindu dharma and the stances of RSS. Vivekananda told those engaged in Gau Raksha to first rescue the human beings. He tore into the safe confines of Hindu dharma and criticized it like no one else did. If he was alive today, the goondas of Sangh Parivar would have assaulted him in the same way as they attacked Swami Agnivesh. Or, some elected representative like Yatnal would have issued orders to shoot him in public to death.
Bhagat Singh, who laid down his life opposing the British rule in India, was also an intellectual par excellence. While he was in jail, he wrote books that explained why he turned an atheist. He had opened himself up to many ideologies and was a voracious reader who read a lot even when he was in jail. He was very young when he was sent to gallows. He scared the ruling dispensation, the British, with his knowledge and determination.
At the same time, Veer Savarkar, the most revered idol of people like Yatnal, was busy writing mercy petitions to the British and sought their mercy to escape the prison. This country got its independence because of people like Bhagat Singh, Ambedkar, Subhash Chandra Bose and such intellectuals and not because of the Savarkar or Godse, Hedgewar or such believers of Manu. If India had followed them, the country would still be wallowing under the British rule.
Not only that, the Dalits, Shudras and other ‘lowly’ communities would still be serving the priestly class, and remaining subservient to them forever. Yatnal uses the platform of ‘Kargil Divas’ to criticize the intellectuals. Thus, he has insulted the sacrifice made by the soldiers for the country. Millions of soldiers have laid down their lives for the country, and not all of them have stood on the borders shooting down the Pakistani soldiers. Most of them died fighting the zamindari system in their villages, to rise beyond that and join the army. And every civilian who died in the fight to restore human rights and fundamental rights of citizens is a soldier indeed.
While soldiers defended borders of the nation, a civil rights worker defended the lives of people within the borders of the nation, to obtain Right to Information act, human rights act etc. Many people have been killed for their fights against the system.Persons like Pansare and Dabholkar who fought against superstitions, Kalburgi who raised his voice against the brahminical hegemony, Gauri Lankesh who raised her voice against Sangh Parivar violence – all of them are no less than any soldier who safeguarded the nation. They were killed because of their ideologies. People like Yatnal who would want rationalists dead, are the real enemies of the nation.
Yatnal and the likes are the ones who want to skew the noble interpretation of Hindu dharma, that was popularized all over the world by none other than Swami Vivekananda. Yatnals of the nation, are the real enemies of Hindu dharma and they are the reason as to why people have begun to turn their backs to Hindu dharma. The call given by Yatnal has been some sort of an encouragement to commit more crimes in the name of dharma. In this background, the police have to register a suo motu case against him for interfering with the investigation of Gauri Lankesh murder and for conveying a negative message to the society along with egging the miscreants to do more such crimes.
The state unit of BJP has to issue a clarification against Yatnal. If not, people will assume they are silently concurring with Yatnal’s words and its implications.
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Trouble ‘Miyas’ everywhere only then they will leave Assam: Himanta Biswa Sarma
Says “Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP are openly against them, we are saying it openly
New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that four to five lakh “Miya voters” would be removed from the electoral rolls in the state once the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists is carried out. He also made a series of controversial remarks openly targeting the Miya community, a term commonly used in Assam in a derogatory sense to refer to Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an official programme in Digboi in Tinsukia district, Sarma said it was his responsibility to create difficulties for the Miya community and claimed that both he and the BJP were “directly against Miyas”.
“Four to five lakh Miya votes will have to be deleted in Assam when the SIR happens,” Sarma said, adding that such voters “should ideally not be allowed to vote in Assam, but in Bangladesh”. He asserted that the government was ensuring that they would not be able to vote in the state.
The chief minister was responding to questions about notices issued to thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims during the claims and objections phase of the ongoing Special Revision (SR) of electoral rolls in Assam. While the Election Commission is conducting SIR exercises in 12 states and Union Territories, Assam is currently undergoing an SR, which is usually meant for routine updates.
Calling the current SR “preliminary”, Sarma said that a full-fledged SIR in Assam would lead to large-scale deletion of Miya voters. He said he was unconcerned about criticism from opposition parties over the issue.
“Let the Congress abuse me as much as they want. My job is to make the Miya people suffer,” Sarma said. He claimed that complaints filed against members of the community were done on his instructions and that he had encouraged BJP workers to keep filing complaints.
“I have told people wherever possible they should fill Form 7 so that they have to run around a little and are troubled,” he said, adding that such actions were meant to send a message that “the Assamese people are still living”.
In remarks that drew further outrage, Sarma urged people to trouble members of the Miya community in everyday life, claiming that “only if they face troubles will they leave Assam”. He also accused the media of sympathising with the community and warned journalists against such coverage.
“So you all should also trouble, and you should not do news that sympathise with them. There will be love jihad in your own house.” He said.
The comments triggered reactions from opposition leaders. Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi said the people of Assam had not elected Sarma to keep one community under constant pressure. Congress leader Aman Wadud accused the chief minister of rendering the Constitution meaningless in the state, saying his remarks showed a complete disregard for constitutional values.
According to the draft electoral rolls published on December 27, Assam currently has 2.51 crore voters. Election officials said 4.78 lakh names were marked as deceased, 5.23 lakh as having shifted, and 53,619 duplicate entries were removed during the revision process. Authorities also claimed that verification had been completed for over 61 lakh households.
On January 25, six opposition parties the Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(M-L) submitted a memorandum to the state’s chief electoral officer. They alleged widespread legal violations, political interference and selective targeting of genuine voters during the SR exercise, describing it as arbitrary, unlawful and unconstitutional.
