Letter to Aam Admi Party

The recent abusive-sexist attack on Ms. Atishi, the Aam Admi Party (AAP) Lok Sabha candidate for the parliamentary election 2019 is most deplorable. I condemn the same in strongest words first as a woman and then as a person in public life. I truly hope the Delhi police will book the perpetrators and soon. This is the least the Delhi police could do. This episode also shows the extent to which women are vulnerable to abusive and sexist mindset prevalent in the country.  

This incident also takes me back to the year 2014. It takes me back to the period just a few months before the general elections five years ago when AAP had caught the imagination of the country, specially the youth.  It was then that I was very disturbed by the statements of one of the senior and high profile members of AAP, Mr. Kumar Vishwas. As his statements in some of his public programs circulating on social media were sexist, and terribly anti women, I raised the same before Ms. Atishi who was at that time appointed by AAP as a member of the committee under Vishakha guidelines (the POSH Law).

I highlight some concerns from my correspondence with Ms. Atishi on the subject here as it is an issue of public importance and concerns dignity and well being of women. The YouTube clippings as part of my correspondence with Ms. Atishi at that time are thankfully not available now for viewing but these contained derogatory and sexist remarks against women among other things by Mr. Kumar Vishwas.  

On Tue, Jan 14, 2014, I wrote to Ms. Atishi the following:

“...I am pleased to know that you are one of the members on the committee appointed by AAP under Vishakha guidelines...I know all of you must be busy but I wish to take up a bit of your time on one issue that is of concern to me.

I wish to know whether Mr. Kumar Vishwas has been finalized by AAP as the candidate to contest election against Rahul Gandhi...I would like it if you could see some of the things he has said...I thought it would be good to bring the same to your notice. In order to save your time, I have marked the tracks you could see directly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_LXzFU14e0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOkHHVy7jp4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmG-bBXJNgE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmFCAZzmq3c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOkHHVy7jp4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZInPzdp-I-M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOkHHVy7jp4  "

Initially, I was pleased to receive a prompt reply from Ms. Atishi on 14^th January itself informing me that she had not only seen the videos but was also aware of the concerns in the matter. She also conveyed to me that she would discuss the matter with me soon.  

Unfortunately, I received no call or meaningful response in the matter I had raised from any member of the committee or from AAP. The response was, Mr. Kumar Vishwas was not only  selected as AAP’s candidate to contest the 2014 parliamentary election but starkly, he was selected by the party for the high profile battle at Amethi against Rahul Gandhi and Ms. Smriti Irani. It was clear that the country’s focus after Mr. Arvind Kejriwal and Mr. Narendra Modi’s contest at Varanasi was going to be Amethi at the time of 2014 general elections. This came as a setback to me – more so in the backdrop of no response on the anti-women-sexist remarks by Mr. Vishwas I had raised before AAP member who was also the committee member of AAP under Vishakha guidelines. 

Naturally the discontent within AAP over  Kumar Vishwas’s stature in the party with his very poor gender sensitive record was to grow and important members within AAP began questioning the same.

One of them who raised strong questions on Mr. Vishwa’s views on women, gay community, etc at that time was AAP member Ms. Mallika Sarabhai who needs no introduction. However it is necessary to highlight that Ms. Sarabhai has fought for women’s rights and has raised issues concerning minority and marginalized communities, particularly in Gujarat. She has been one of the early teachers for a whole generation of Gujaraties on matters of women’s equality and justice. She has taken fearless stand on sensitive issues in a state that has ruthlessly marched towards polarization over development, caste and communal issues. My early lessons on feminist work and campaign came from two individuals in Gujarat- Ms. Trupti Shah and Ms. Mallika Sarabhai. Ms. Mallika Sarabhai’s dance performance titled “Sita’s daughters’, has left a lasting impression on many from my generation. Ms. Sarabhai contesting 2009 general election against Mr. Lal Krishna Advani while Mr. Modi was the Chief Minister of the Gujarat was no ordinary fete. It was Ms. Sarabhai who as member of AAP, raised the following questions on Mr. Kumar Vishawa’s views on women: 

“Vishwas’s views in the video were disturbing. He comes across as sexist and anti-gay, and has an anti-minority point of view, and at the same time praises Narendra Modi.”

See:  https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x73a3kk


And: https://kractivist.org/mallika-sarabhai-blasts-aap-a-week-after-joining-it/



Unfortunately, Ms. Sarabhai’s concerns too were not entertained by AAP, and Mr. Vishwas became AAP’s high profile candidate in the 2014 general elections at Amethi.


Being an activist at heart and not in the habit of giving up issues easily, I once again wrote to Ms. Atishi many months later after the 2014 general election verdict was out in which AAP had not fared as well as expected. (Kumar Vishwas himself was at fourth position at Amethi in spite of a high decibel campaign over several months in the run up to the election). 

In my letter I expressed that as a well wisher, I would request AAP that while evaluating its 2014 election performance, AAP examines a few things. One being, evaluate how much of not responding to important issues raised by the sympathizers of AAP has resulted into the disconnect that may be building between AAP and the people.

Today when Ms. Atishi has been so shamelessly attacked, my heart truly goes out to her and all the women in public life who have been subjected to sexist and abusive remarks. At the same time, I also hope that AAP will draw lessons from this offensive incident against Ms. Atishi in dealing with anti-women and sexist mindset of any of its party members quickly and sternly in future.

10-May-2019

RO RO Ferry

The people of the country may recall the inauguration of the RORO ferry by the PM Mr.Modi at Ghogha, Gujarat just before the State election last year. The RORO ferry service connecting my home town Bhavnagar to Surat was launched with a lot of fanfare by the PM himself, calling it the first of its kind. Ever since, I have been wanting to visit the place and I finally did so today.

RORO Ferry Terminal at Ghogha. Photo Nandini Oza

To tell the truth, I was not at all surprised to find that the RORO service has been suspended for the time being as it is not able to sail through the currents of the gulf during the monsoon months. The ferry may start after the 15th of September I was told. The terminal had a deserted look. It also had a run down look with some of the billboards broken in less than a year of the inauguration.

Rather run down look of the new terminal. Photo Nandini Oza

But what was disturbing was that the town of Ghogha where the much touted ferry terminal is located had  an absolutely underdeveloped look with dusty lanes full of potholes. Garbage dumps were all around and women having to fetch water from open ponds near by. The women complained of severe water problem. Even the lane adjusent to the Mamlatdar office was terribly filthy and run down.

Women of Ghogha struggling for water near the terminal

Garbage dumps opposite the ferry terminal.

Besides, to reach this "world-class" terminal one has to manoeuvre through herds of cows all along the highway cutting one's speed to half.

Herds of cows all along the highway to the RoRo terminal.

It will be great if a journalist does a series on the number of projects inargurated by Mr. Modi first as the Chief Minister of Gujarat and then as the PM in the State. A cost benefit analysis and the status of the projects inaugurated by Mr. Modi would be good to know. But then would the journalist be able to retain her job?

End.

Rural, still far from being Digital

When the tall tress of our village situated in the Western Ghats got entangled into the over head electric wires, we were without electricity for over twenty hours. Highly understaffed, the MSEB personnel told us that they were switching off the mains till we trim the trees. Young and able men of our village climbed the many rain soaked slippery tress in the blink of an eye.

 

 Cutting Tree to Free the Electric Wires. Photo: Nandini Oza

They cut the entangled branches using axes and koytas with utmost precision of each stroke that landed at the exact place the previous strike had made a cut in the tree or a branch. The cutting of the branches had to be done skillfully so that these did not fall on the wires. The whole operation lasted for three hours while it rained and gusty winds blew. 

Three wire-men arrived with just a ladder and climbed the cement pole to accomplish the rather tricky operation of joining the wire in midst of a downpour. The youngest of them, a young man was on the top of the cement pole for over an hour and he said he does this low -paid difficult job in the hope he will be made permanent some day. The cement poles are particularly dangerous as these are brittle unlike the metal ones he said.

Wire-man sitting on the electric pole. Photo: Nandini Oza

All of us ended the operation by eating leaf – cup full of fresh honey from the two honeycombs that had fallen with the tress-  at the cost of the honey bees sadly. 

Fresh Honey from a Honeycomb. Photo: Nandini Oza

Fresh Honey in a Leaf-Cup. Photo: Nandini Oza

My job in this was to coordinate the operation. My reward, enjoying the rains, and discovering the many mysteries of the Western Ghats.  

End

Gujarat Model- Water Woes and Farmer Woes

Two news items in today’s Saurashtra Samachar (2-April-18) drew my attention and I wish to share the same for wider readership. This is mainly to highlight the Gujarat model of development and its impact on common people and farmers. Excerpts from the Gujarati newspaper translated here:

 1. The caption under the photo of a the long queue of girls and women with their water pots, reads:

 “This is not a picture to frighten but to open our eyes... the women of the Tava Village in the Kavat Taluka of Chhotaudaipur [Gujarat], are having to run hither and thither for water. There are only two bore wells for a population of 1500 villagers. However as the ground water table has gone down drastically, the bore wells are operational only for 15-20 minutes. Along with women, little girls have to run here and there from one bore well to another for water...only ten to twelve pots of water are available. Most return back disheartened. There are twenty seven hand pumps in the village and an over head tank of 30 thousand liters and yet the water tank has not been filled even once...”

[ this news is particularly significant as the Chotaudaipur area of Gujarat is predominately a adivasi/tribal area and close to the Sardar Sarovar Dam site, one of the largest dams in the country inaugurated by the Prime Minister in 2017 with great fanfare with a promise of water for everyone across the state of Gujarat right up to the far away Kutch and Saurashtra. But people close to the dam are deprived of water for even domestic use!]

    2. The second news : "Heavy lathis on farmers...Friction between ten thousand farmers and the police..:

 “ ... Police fired 50 tear gas shells when farmers protested the taking over of lands acquired twenty two years ago by Gujarat Power Corporation Limited (GPCL). Officers of the GPCL and the police came to the villages Badi-Padva to take over lands acquired twenty two years ago in the Ghogha Taluka of Bhavnagar district [Gujarat]. Over ten thousand farmers including women of twelve villages assembled to protest the taking over of the lands...To control them, the police lathi charged and fired fifty tear gas shells. Police have detained fifty farmers including five women and five students... seven hundred police belonging to Bhavnagar, Botad and Amreli had reached Badi Padva to take over lands acquired twenty two years ago. Before this, the collector had announced the closure of internet services in the area. The villagers had assembled in lager numbers to oppose the police who had come to take over the lands. Two thermal plants are being started by GPCL for which   2059 hectares of lands from twelve villages were acquired between the years 1984 to 1997. However the possessions of the lands were not taken. As per the 2014 law, if the lands are not taken over within five years of acquisition then the farmers have to be returned the lands...The leader of Khedut Sangharsh Samiti (Farmer Struggle Organisation), Kanaksingh Gohil said that:

'if lands acquired from farmers are not taken over within five years, the farmers receive the lands back as per the new law of 2014...We are going to file review petitions in the High Court and the Supreme Court soon. Under such circumstances to snatch away lands from the farmers at gun point is inhuman and unjust...'"

In the meantime readers must have already seen photos of women struggling for drinking water in Morbi, Gujarat in the Indian express today. For those who may have missed:

http://indianexpress.com/photos/india-news/gujarat-morbi-water-crisis-narmada-river-5119373/

 End