What would Ashish Nandy say after f Buddhadev Bhattacharya`s comment on Mamta`s Honesty?
What would Ashish Nandy say after former chief minister of West Bengal, Buddhadev Bhattacharya`s comment on Mamata`s honesty? It seems that Buddha`s comment of Mamata is being used as an escape route for the hegemony which is entrapped by the controversial statement. We demand OBC headcount in accordance with parliamentary consensus to help Nandy to prove his statement demography wise. Because Bengali ruling class contradicts Nandy`s statement on empowerment of OBC, ST and SC communities, we also demand to set up a commission like Sachhar commission to investigate the development and empowerment community wise in Bengal as Sacchar commission did expose the condition of Muslims in the country specifically in Bengal.
Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time, Chapter: Nine Hundred Fifty Eight
Palash Biswas
Mobile: 919903717833
Skype ID: palash.biswas4
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
What would Ashish Nandy say after former chief minister of West Bengal, Buddhadev Bhattacharya`s comment on Mamata`s honesty? It seems that Buddha`s comment of Mamata is being used as an escape route for the hegemony which is entrapped by the controversial statement.Ashis Nandy blames STs, SCs, OBCs for corruption in Jaipur lit festival.Asserting that he has worked for Dalits, OBCs and adivasis for 45 years of his life, Nandy had earlier said that he was ready to go to jail if tried under the Atrocities Act and convicted.At the literary festival on January 26, Ashis Nandy had said: "Most corrupt people come from the Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes."
“It is a fact that most of the corrupt come from OBCs and Scheduled Castes and now increasingly the Scheduled Tribes,” he said participating in a session at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival.
Going further, he said, “I will give an example. One of the states with the least amount of corruption is state of West Bengal when the CPI(M) was there. And I must draw attention to the fact that in the last 100 years, nobody from OBC, SC and ST has come anywhere near to power. It is an absolutely clean state.”
Bengali as well as national intelligentsia is rock solid united to defend Nandy`s Jaipur festival comment on corruption and they engage themselves to write up articles to highlight academic complexity of the world famous sociologist. Even social media is also defending unilateral freedom of speech enjoyed most violently by Ashish Nandy. The same
intelligentsia chose to remain silent on AFSPA and violation of human right , civil rights and the declaration of war against aborigin indigenous communities countrywide. Ahsish is defended in every possible way but nobody seems to be interested in the issues addressed by Nandy! At the same time, Bengali intellectuals do claim that OBC, ST and Sc communities are empowered far better in Bengal than rest of the country.
Progressive Bengal always boasted that Bengal remains above caste system. we have been writing and speaking against hegemony rule without any hearing.
Thanks to Ashish Nandy, the existence of monopolistic hegemony in Bengal has been proved. It has created an unprecedented crisis for the ruling class who believed to dilute revolt in selective co option.
Personality like Ram Chandra Guha writes an article in Bengali rejecting Hindutva and the rise of Narendra Modi as well as Rahul Gandhi. He delcares that the future of India is vested into secularism, not in either Modi or Rahul. The logic is very simple, denying the reality of hindutva politics, he is also denying the existence of caste hegemony which contradicts Nandy`s statement.
Anand bazar published this article in its edit page.
Earlier the most circulated Bengali Daily also published an article written by Kancha Illaiya which criticises Nandy for branding OBC, SC and ST communities, the victims responsible for corruption.
Ei Samay, another prominent Bengali daily published a letter to editor written by some Dasgupta. Dasgupta blamed media for misinterpretation of Nandy`s statement.He also criticised the extreme comment but noted that it is his style to highlight social issues creating sensation.
Mind you , media in Bengal almost blacked out Nandy episode earlier and just waited for dying out the issue as usual.
Dasgupta claimed that Paribartan seems to be beginning of empowerment of low caste communities. At the same time, he cited decentralisation of power in Panchayat on grass root level.
What about higher places and posts in every sphere of life, Bengali intelligentsia remains silent.
Anandbazar continued the high class defensive deviation as it published academy winner novelist Debesh Roy`s article today.Debesh Roy beside his excellent writing is also better known as the writer of BARISHALER Jogendra Nath, the tragedy of Jogendra Nath Mandal who was instrumental to elect Dr BR Ambedkar to the constitution assembly from Bengal after he was defeated in Maharashtra.
Understandably he is the best person to defend Nandy. The situation is ripe for an outburst of Bahujan Samaj movement Explosion in Bengal suspended from the date of partition which was enacted by the Bengali hegemony to eject out the SC population as refugees out of Bengal.The change of strategy seems to be an urgency on the part of the hegemony to defuse the debate. Mind you, all Bengali channels do engage themselves in round the clock debates but no channel did care to debate on Nandy`s statement.
Why?
It seems that Buddha`s comment of Mamata is being used as an escaope route for the hegemony which is entrapped by the controversial statement.
We demand OBC headcount in accordance with parliamentary consensus to help Nandy to prove his statement demogrphy wise. Because Bengali ruling class contradicts Nandy`s statement on empowerment of OBC, ST and SC communities, we also demand to set up a commission like Sachhar commission to investigate the development and empowerment community wise in Bengal as Sacchar commission did expose the condition of Muslims in the country specifically in Bengal.
In some relief to sociologist Ashis Nandy, the Supreme Court issued a stay on his arrest over alleged anti-dalit remarks. The court criticized him for his statements but protected him for arrest by any state government.
When Nandy's counsel said he had no intention of hurting the backward class, the court asked why then was he making such statements when he did not intend it.
Former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has questioned his successor Mamata Banerjee's honesty, prompting an angry response today from Trinamool Congress which decided to slap a legal notice on the CPI(M) veteran.
"I don't agree with the perception that she is honest," Bhattacharjee told a Bengali news channel last night when asked whether he agreed with the popular perception that Banerjee was honest.
Asked to elaborate, he asked the news channel to make its own investigation. The ruling Trinamool Congress also demanded an apology from the former chief minister.
The party's all India General Secretary Mukul Ray told PTI, " We have decided to serve a legal notice on Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee."
Trinamool leader and Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim said, "Her(Mamata) honesty is beyond question all over India and people of West Bengal largely rely on her honesty and gave her the responsibility to serve the people.
"Such a statement is totally uncalled for at a time when the state is undergoing a spate of development projects under Mamata Banerjee's leadership," he said. "What he has said is unfair. The people of the state and his constituency (Jadavpore) have rejected Bhattacharjee. We demand that he express regret and apologise for the statement which involves a person (Mamata Banerjee) who has made selfless sacrifice for the service of the people throughout her life," Hakim told reporters at the party headquarters here.
He said, "The communists are used to making such statements amounting to personal slander only to regret later. "It is Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee who once resigned from the Jyoti Basu cabinet as minister dubbing the government as one of thieves, but rejoined it later. This is the culture of the communists," the Trinamool leader said.
Referring to Bhattacharjee giving the present regime zero in performance, he said "One who himself is zero, how can he give zero to others?"
The Supreme Court told Ashis Nandy to be careful in future and not make such statements, the meaning of which he did not intend to convey.Nandy's statement at the Jaipur literature festival was not in good taste and that it had hurt many people across the country, the court added.
An advocate claiming to be member of Dalit community sought to oppose Nandy's petition seeking protection from arrest but the Supreme Court said his objection could only be considered once he files an application.
The court has sent notices to the governments of Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Bihar.
Nandy had earlier moved a petition seeking protection from arrest for an alleged anti-Dalit remark he made at the Jaipur Literary Festival (JLF).
Nandy had requested the apex court to quash all the FIRs registered against him.
"We are moving the Supreme Court for quashing of the FIR as well as laying down the guidelines in terms of something which constitutes an offence against SC/ST Act and something which is said in 'freedom of speech'," Nandy's lawyer Gaurav Kanth told the media yesterday.
"My main plea is because there is no intent when he had spoken these statements and as far as the SC/ST Act is concerned, there is no question of any harm or anything which has been caused to any particular member of SC/ST caste or community. So, we are moving in terms of the fact that nothing really constitutes any criminal or penal action," he said.
To a poser on why the police had not yet questioned Nandy in connection with this case, Kanth said that Nandy was all ready for cooperation in this regard.
Nandy was immediately challenged by one of the panelists Ashutosh, a TV journalist.
“This is the most bizarre statement I have heard. The Brahmins and the upper cast can do away with all the corruption but when a low caste person emulates the same thing it becomes so wrong. Such a statement is not right,” he said.
Nandy’s comments triggered a storm with BSP chief Mayawati and LJP leader Ram Vilas demanding registration of case under SC/ST Act against Nandy. Mayawati wanted him to be jailed immediately. Congress, BJP, JD(U), CPI as also the SC Commission Chairman P L Punia also condemned the remarks.
While seeking to clarify, Nandy made a flip flop saying he would apologise if he had been misunderstood.
However, when questioned further, he said “I don’t apologise at all because I hold it very close to my heart. I was, in fact, supporting the cause of those who are marginalised and those who are in minority and those who are oppressed. I have spent all my life supporting their causes and will continue doing it.”
He said he actually meant that if people from OBC, SC and ST indulge in corruption, it is “corruption indeed” while those from upper caste can go scotfree.
“This is not what I meant or what I wanted to say. This was what I actually said: I endorsed the statement of Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal that corruption in India is an equaliser in our society. I do believe that zero corruption society in India, as I gave the example of Singapore, will be a despotic society,” Nandy said in his clarification statement.
He maintained that he has spoken in favour of the down-trodden in the session on Republic of Ideas at the Jaipur Literature Festival.
“I said in the talk that people like me want to be corrupt, we can possibly send son to Harvard. It will look like we are supporting talent. It won’t look corruption. But when Dalits, tribals and OBC are corrupt, it looks very corrupt indeed. However this second corruption equlalises,” he said, adding “It gives them access to entitlements. And as long as this equation persists, I have hope for the republic (of India).”
He said he was sorry “if some have misunderstood (his comments). I am sorry if anyone is genuinely hurt because of misunderstanding.”
However, he didn’t apologise for his statement, saying he has supported the communities all his life. “I dont apologise at all because I was actually supporting the cause of minorities and oppressed people. I have supported them all my life.”
As should be clear from my statement, there was neither any intention nor any attempt to hurt any community, he said.
Reacting sharply to the comments, Mayawati told reporters in Delhi that Rajasthan government should immediately send the author to jail for the comments by registering case under the SC/ST Act and other stringent sections of law.
Terming the remarks as “farthest from truth, condemnable, unfortunate and reflective of a casteist mindset”, she demanded immediate apology from him with warning that “otherwise, people could even be compelled to come out on the roads in protest against these remarks.”
Chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Caste P L Punia (NCSC) came down heavily on Nandy and said “he (Nandy) is a sociologist and intellectual but there cannot be any statement with bigger intellectual dishonesty than this.”
Demanding that people with such mindset should be sent to jail, Punia said “it is wrong to say that such corrupt people are born in these castes only. People making such statements should be sent to jail.”
Congress leader Rashid Alvi said it is wrong to portray any particular caste or community as corrupt.
“I condemn this statement. I do not know who has said this but it is not possible to say that a particular caste or a particular community is corrupt community. Nobody can approve it,” he said.
Lok Janshakti Party chief Ramvilas Paswan threatened an agitation if action is not taken against Nandy.
“A case should be registered against Nandy under the SC/ST Atrocities Act. This reflects the anti-dalit mindset of these people. If action is not taken against him, then our party will resort to agitation (andolan) in Jaipur,” he said.
JD(U) spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari demanded an apology from Nandy for his statement.
“We condemn it. Ashis Nandy is considered to be an intellectual. He should apologise. We strongly condemn it,” he said.
“The fault of SC/ST/OBC is that they are following the same path which was shown to them and that was the path of corruption which even the upper caste earlier followed,” the JD(U) leader said.
The last word on Ashis Nandy’s ‘lazy’ predilections
by FP Editors Feb 6, 2013
Finally, some sense in the debate over sociologist Ashis Nandy, who set the dovecotes aflutter last month by claiming at the Jaipur Literary Festival (JLF) that “most of the corrupt come from the OBCs and the scheduled castes and now, increasingly, scheduled tribes, and as long as this is the case, the Indian republic will survive.” (Read the full text here).
As the media played it, the issue was about Nandy’s right to free speech, and even his negative remarks on the OBCs and SC/STs were sought to be seen in the larger context of his supposed sympathy for the downtrodden.
But the reality is there are two separate issues here, as Ravinder Kaur, who teaches at IIT, Delhi, points out in The Indian Express.
Nandy has multiple cases against him for his statement. PTI
The issue of free speech is separate from the validity of Nandy’s “lazy” assumption that it is somehow progressive to talk about corruption in terms of group identities. At JLF, Nandy’s views found echoes in Tarun “Tehelka” Tejpal’s views on corruption.
Nandy’s underlying assumptions are these: that the “lower castes” are empowering themselves by using corruption as a means to get around a discriminatory system; and that they are more visibly corrupt because they are not sophisticated enough to hide their crimes as well as their upper caste compatriots.
This writer has pointed out the flaws in the second argument by showing that corruption, or the ability to hide it, has little to do with caste. When it comes to corruption, there is no backward or forward caste.
Ravinder Kaur takes the argument further and suggests that the debate may really be about class rather than caste. She also takes Nandy and Tejpal to task for condescension towards the less fortunate.
She writes: “This debate, I suggest, is not about caste. It is about class, elitist class. Lower-caste corruption does not have ‘class’ on its side, Nandy seems to be saying. Lower-caste corruption is justified ‘class war’, Tejpal seems to be saying. There is a condescending attitude towards the lower castes in these posturing…… Why do Nandy and Tejpal need to bend over backwards to appear pro-lower caste or defend the corruption of those newly coming into power and pelf? Why do we need to tie corruption to primordial categories of caste, just as we tie violence to religion — Hindu or Muslim?”
As urbanisation, development and progress take root in India, the old caste-religion-ethnic identities are metamorphosing and changing all the time.
The Left missed out on its understanding of caste when it emphasised class in the early years of freedom, says Kaur. Now we are in danger of missing out the impact of class.
Quite. Corruption is corruption. There is no need to justify it on the basis of caste or class.
http://www.firstpost.com/india/the-last-word-on-ashis-nandys-lazy-predilections-615664.html
Caste and corruption: Ashis Nandy has the right to be wrong
by Venky Vembu Feb 1, 2013
If ever we needed a reminder that our blessed republic is decidedly on the slippery slope towards becoming prickly in the extreme and excessively intolerant of alternative – and uncomfortable – points of view, we’ve received that in spades in recent days. Kamal Hassan’s slick spy thriller Vishwaroopam has been held hostage by a ragtag bunch of Muslim busybodies who have made a political career out of feeding minority victimhood – even though, as review after review has validated, there is nothing even remotely offensive about the film’s storyline. And pathetically weak-kneed State governments, who ought to have stepped up to defend the Constitutional right to freedom of expression (including artistic expression), have surrendered too readily to the politics of minority blackmail – and prevented screenings of the film in many southern States.
But perhaps the cruellest ironies came on Republic Day, at the Jaipur Literature Festival, where sociologist and clinical psychologist Ashis Nandy found himself facing likely arrest for his throwaway remark during a panel discussion in which he suggested that the ranks of the corrupt in India were made up entirely of those from the Other Backward Classes, the Scheduled Castes and the Schedule Tribes.
Ashis Nandy is wrong – but he has a right to be. PTI
Nandy’s remarks provoked outrage in real time at the Festival, where one of the other panellists on the discussion and a section of the audience spiritedly pushed back against Nandy’s pop-sociological observations. More seriously, however, Dalit leaders – including the monumentally corrupt Mayawati and Ram Vilas Paswan – have demanded Nandy’s arrest, and an FIR has been filed against him for alleged violation of the Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
A rattled Nandy subsequently clarified that he had been “misquoted”, and that what he really meant to say was that the corruption of “Dalits, tribals (sic.) and the OBCs” was far more visible than those of the power elite, who tended to get away drawing much attention to equally egregious instances of corruption.
“I… said that if people like me or (fellow panellist) Richard Sorabjee want to be corrupt, I shall possibly send his son to Harvard giving him a fellowship and he can send my daughter to Oxford. No one will think it to be corruption. Indeed, it will look like supporting talent. But when Dalits, tribals and the OBCs are corrupt, it looks very corrupt indeed.”
But even Nandy’s clarification was full of pop-sociological mumbo-jumbo that actually offers an alibi for corruption – so long as it was perpetrated by the socially and economically underprivileged.
“This second corruption,” Nandy said in his clarification, alluding to corruption by the OBCs, SCs and STs, is something of an economic “equaliser.” “It gives them access to their entitlements.” And, he added, “as long as this equation persists, I have hope for the Republic.”
As an exploration in pseudo-intellectual nonsense, Nandy’s initial comments – and even his clarification, which amounts to an unvarnished defence of corruption as a force for good – are hard to top at several levels.
Yet, Nandy has a right to be wrong, and hounding him and slapping charges against him for alleged violation of the Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act amounts to rank misuse of the Act. India, of course, has a patchy record of defending free-speech absolutism, and increasingly even journalists have bizarrely taken to demanding limits on free speech provisions (as this report shows). Yet, it’s worth reiterating every time that the only appropriate response to an idea – even if it’s as horribly skewed as Nandy’s original proposition and his equally bizarre clarification – is to challenge it intellectually and disprove it.
Yet, it’s easy to see how Nandy landed himself in this colossal mess. Much of his early academic writing was given over to making sense of India through the prism of two of its abiding passions: cricket and Bollywood. And in the straitjacketed world of academia, Nandy has always been something of an eccentric. For these reasons, his work was initially seen to be lacking in the gravitas that the left-liberal academic community cloaked itself in, and therefore he was denied full membership into their elite world – until overseas recognition gave him the badge of honour. Nandy burnished those credentials even further with his excessively shrill denunciation of the Indian right-wing movement, and in particular of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the context of the 2002 riots.
Well, so long as you are only abusing the right-wing in India, you can get away with pretty much anything. It’s true of course that the Gujarat government too filed a case against him on the grounds that he was inciting hatred among communities, but nothing ever came of it. If anything, it only served to endear him even further to the liberal academic community.
But with his most recent pronouncements, targeting Dalits, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes for his pop-sociological ruminations on corruption, Nandy has squandered all that hard-earned political and academic goodwill.
Perhaps Nandy should stick to Modi-bashing. It’s a comfortable cocoon for an academician. And a good career move, too.
http://www.firstpost.com/india/caste-and-corruption-ashis-nandy-has-the-right-to-be-wrong-603236.html
Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time, Chapter: Nine Hundred Fifty Eight
Palash Biswas
Mobile: 919903717833
Skype ID: palash.biswas4
Email: palashbiswaskl@gmail.com
What would Ashish Nandy say after former chief minister of West Bengal, Buddhadev Bhattacharya`s comment on Mamata`s honesty? It seems that Buddha`s comment of Mamata is being used as an escape route for the hegemony which is entrapped by the controversial statement.Ashis Nandy blames STs, SCs, OBCs for corruption in Jaipur lit festival.Asserting that he has worked for Dalits, OBCs and adivasis for 45 years of his life, Nandy had earlier said that he was ready to go to jail if tried under the Atrocities Act and convicted.At the literary festival on January 26, Ashis Nandy had said: "Most corrupt people come from the Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes."
“It is a fact that most of the corrupt come from OBCs and Scheduled Castes and now increasingly the Scheduled Tribes,” he said participating in a session at the ongoing Jaipur Literature Festival.
Going further, he said, “I will give an example. One of the states with the least amount of corruption is state of West Bengal when the CPI(M) was there. And I must draw attention to the fact that in the last 100 years, nobody from OBC, SC and ST has come anywhere near to power. It is an absolutely clean state.”
Bengali as well as national intelligentsia is rock solid united to defend Nandy`s Jaipur festival comment on corruption and they engage themselves to write up articles to highlight academic complexity of the world famous sociologist. Even social media is also defending unilateral freedom of speech enjoyed most violently by Ashish Nandy. The same
intelligentsia chose to remain silent on AFSPA and violation of human right , civil rights and the declaration of war against aborigin indigenous communities countrywide. Ahsish is defended in every possible way but nobody seems to be interested in the issues addressed by Nandy! At the same time, Bengali intellectuals do claim that OBC, ST and Sc communities are empowered far better in Bengal than rest of the country.
Progressive Bengal always boasted that Bengal remains above caste system. we have been writing and speaking against hegemony rule without any hearing.
Thanks to Ashish Nandy, the existence of monopolistic hegemony in Bengal has been proved. It has created an unprecedented crisis for the ruling class who believed to dilute revolt in selective co option.
Personality like Ram Chandra Guha writes an article in Bengali rejecting Hindutva and the rise of Narendra Modi as well as Rahul Gandhi. He delcares that the future of India is vested into secularism, not in either Modi or Rahul. The logic is very simple, denying the reality of hindutva politics, he is also denying the existence of caste hegemony which contradicts Nandy`s statement.
Anand bazar published this article in its edit page.
Earlier the most circulated Bengali Daily also published an article written by Kancha Illaiya which criticises Nandy for branding OBC, SC and ST communities, the victims responsible for corruption.
Ei Samay, another prominent Bengali daily published a letter to editor written by some Dasgupta. Dasgupta blamed media for misinterpretation of Nandy`s statement.He also criticised the extreme comment but noted that it is his style to highlight social issues creating sensation.
Mind you , media in Bengal almost blacked out Nandy episode earlier and just waited for dying out the issue as usual.
Dasgupta claimed that Paribartan seems to be beginning of empowerment of low caste communities. At the same time, he cited decentralisation of power in Panchayat on grass root level.
What about higher places and posts in every sphere of life, Bengali intelligentsia remains silent.
Anandbazar continued the high class defensive deviation as it published academy winner novelist Debesh Roy`s article today.Debesh Roy beside his excellent writing is also better known as the writer of BARISHALER Jogendra Nath, the tragedy of Jogendra Nath Mandal who was instrumental to elect Dr BR Ambedkar to the constitution assembly from Bengal after he was defeated in Maharashtra.
Understandably he is the best person to defend Nandy. The situation is ripe for an outburst of Bahujan Samaj movement Explosion in Bengal suspended from the date of partition which was enacted by the Bengali hegemony to eject out the SC population as refugees out of Bengal.The change of strategy seems to be an urgency on the part of the hegemony to defuse the debate. Mind you, all Bengali channels do engage themselves in round the clock debates but no channel did care to debate on Nandy`s statement.
Why?
It seems that Buddha`s comment of Mamata is being used as an escaope route for the hegemony which is entrapped by the controversial statement.
We demand OBC headcount in accordance with parliamentary consensus to help Nandy to prove his statement demogrphy wise. Because Bengali ruling class contradicts Nandy`s statement on empowerment of OBC, ST and SC communities, we also demand to set up a commission like Sachhar commission to investigate the development and empowerment community wise in Bengal as Sacchar commission did expose the condition of Muslims in the country specifically in Bengal.
In some relief to sociologist Ashis Nandy, the Supreme Court issued a stay on his arrest over alleged anti-dalit remarks. The court criticized him for his statements but protected him for arrest by any state government.
When Nandy's counsel said he had no intention of hurting the backward class, the court asked why then was he making such statements when he did not intend it.
Former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has questioned his successor Mamata Banerjee's honesty, prompting an angry response today from Trinamool Congress which decided to slap a legal notice on the CPI(M) veteran.
"I don't agree with the perception that she is honest," Bhattacharjee told a Bengali news channel last night when asked whether he agreed with the popular perception that Banerjee was honest.
Asked to elaborate, he asked the news channel to make its own investigation. The ruling Trinamool Congress also demanded an apology from the former chief minister.
The party's all India General Secretary Mukul Ray told PTI, " We have decided to serve a legal notice on Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee."
Trinamool leader and Municipal Affairs minister Firhad Hakim said, "Her(Mamata) honesty is beyond question all over India and people of West Bengal largely rely on her honesty and gave her the responsibility to serve the people.
"Such a statement is totally uncalled for at a time when the state is undergoing a spate of development projects under Mamata Banerjee's leadership," he said. "What he has said is unfair. The people of the state and his constituency (Jadavpore) have rejected Bhattacharjee. We demand that he express regret and apologise for the statement which involves a person (Mamata Banerjee) who has made selfless sacrifice for the service of the people throughout her life," Hakim told reporters at the party headquarters here.
He said, "The communists are used to making such statements amounting to personal slander only to regret later. "It is Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee who once resigned from the Jyoti Basu cabinet as minister dubbing the government as one of thieves, but rejoined it later. This is the culture of the communists," the Trinamool leader said.
Referring to Bhattacharjee giving the present regime zero in performance, he said "One who himself is zero, how can he give zero to others?"
The Supreme Court told Ashis Nandy to be careful in future and not make such statements, the meaning of which he did not intend to convey.Nandy's statement at the Jaipur literature festival was not in good taste and that it had hurt many people across the country, the court added.
An advocate claiming to be member of Dalit community sought to oppose Nandy's petition seeking protection from arrest but the Supreme Court said his objection could only be considered once he files an application.
The court has sent notices to the governments of Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Bihar.
Nandy had earlier moved a petition seeking protection from arrest for an alleged anti-Dalit remark he made at the Jaipur Literary Festival (JLF).
Nandy had requested the apex court to quash all the FIRs registered against him.
"We are moving the Supreme Court for quashing of the FIR as well as laying down the guidelines in terms of something which constitutes an offence against SC/ST Act and something which is said in 'freedom of speech'," Nandy's lawyer Gaurav Kanth told the media yesterday.
"My main plea is because there is no intent when he had spoken these statements and as far as the SC/ST Act is concerned, there is no question of any harm or anything which has been caused to any particular member of SC/ST caste or community. So, we are moving in terms of the fact that nothing really constitutes any criminal or penal action," he said.
To a poser on why the police had not yet questioned Nandy in connection with this case, Kanth said that Nandy was all ready for cooperation in this regard.
Nandy was immediately challenged by one of the panelists Ashutosh, a TV journalist.
“This is the most bizarre statement I have heard. The Brahmins and the upper cast can do away with all the corruption but when a low caste person emulates the same thing it becomes so wrong. Such a statement is not right,” he said.
Nandy’s comments triggered a storm with BSP chief Mayawati and LJP leader Ram Vilas demanding registration of case under SC/ST Act against Nandy. Mayawati wanted him to be jailed immediately. Congress, BJP, JD(U), CPI as also the SC Commission Chairman P L Punia also condemned the remarks.
While seeking to clarify, Nandy made a flip flop saying he would apologise if he had been misunderstood.
However, when questioned further, he said “I don’t apologise at all because I hold it very close to my heart. I was, in fact, supporting the cause of those who are marginalised and those who are in minority and those who are oppressed. I have spent all my life supporting their causes and will continue doing it.”
He said he actually meant that if people from OBC, SC and ST indulge in corruption, it is “corruption indeed” while those from upper caste can go scotfree.
“This is not what I meant or what I wanted to say. This was what I actually said: I endorsed the statement of Tehelka editor Tarun Tejpal that corruption in India is an equaliser in our society. I do believe that zero corruption society in India, as I gave the example of Singapore, will be a despotic society,” Nandy said in his clarification statement.
He maintained that he has spoken in favour of the down-trodden in the session on Republic of Ideas at the Jaipur Literature Festival.
“I said in the talk that people like me want to be corrupt, we can possibly send son to Harvard. It will look like we are supporting talent. It won’t look corruption. But when Dalits, tribals and OBC are corrupt, it looks very corrupt indeed. However this second corruption equlalises,” he said, adding “It gives them access to entitlements. And as long as this equation persists, I have hope for the republic (of India).”
He said he was sorry “if some have misunderstood (his comments). I am sorry if anyone is genuinely hurt because of misunderstanding.”
However, he didn’t apologise for his statement, saying he has supported the communities all his life. “I dont apologise at all because I was actually supporting the cause of minorities and oppressed people. I have supported them all my life.”
As should be clear from my statement, there was neither any intention nor any attempt to hurt any community, he said.
Reacting sharply to the comments, Mayawati told reporters in Delhi that Rajasthan government should immediately send the author to jail for the comments by registering case under the SC/ST Act and other stringent sections of law.
Terming the remarks as “farthest from truth, condemnable, unfortunate and reflective of a casteist mindset”, she demanded immediate apology from him with warning that “otherwise, people could even be compelled to come out on the roads in protest against these remarks.”
Chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Caste P L Punia (NCSC) came down heavily on Nandy and said “he (Nandy) is a sociologist and intellectual but there cannot be any statement with bigger intellectual dishonesty than this.”
Demanding that people with such mindset should be sent to jail, Punia said “it is wrong to say that such corrupt people are born in these castes only. People making such statements should be sent to jail.”
Congress leader Rashid Alvi said it is wrong to portray any particular caste or community as corrupt.
“I condemn this statement. I do not know who has said this but it is not possible to say that a particular caste or a particular community is corrupt community. Nobody can approve it,” he said.
Lok Janshakti Party chief Ramvilas Paswan threatened an agitation if action is not taken against Nandy.
“A case should be registered against Nandy under the SC/ST Atrocities Act. This reflects the anti-dalit mindset of these people. If action is not taken against him, then our party will resort to agitation (andolan) in Jaipur,” he said.
JD(U) spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari demanded an apology from Nandy for his statement.
“We condemn it. Ashis Nandy is considered to be an intellectual. He should apologise. We strongly condemn it,” he said.
“The fault of SC/ST/OBC is that they are following the same path which was shown to them and that was the path of corruption which even the upper caste earlier followed,” the JD(U) leader said.
The last word on Ashis Nandy’s ‘lazy’ predilections
by FP Editors Feb 6, 2013
Finally, some sense in the debate over sociologist Ashis Nandy, who set the dovecotes aflutter last month by claiming at the Jaipur Literary Festival (JLF) that “most of the corrupt come from the OBCs and the scheduled castes and now, increasingly, scheduled tribes, and as long as this is the case, the Indian republic will survive.” (Read the full text here).
As the media played it, the issue was about Nandy’s right to free speech, and even his negative remarks on the OBCs and SC/STs were sought to be seen in the larger context of his supposed sympathy for the downtrodden.
But the reality is there are two separate issues here, as Ravinder Kaur, who teaches at IIT, Delhi, points out in The Indian Express.
Nandy has multiple cases against him for his statement. PTI
The issue of free speech is separate from the validity of Nandy’s “lazy” assumption that it is somehow progressive to talk about corruption in terms of group identities. At JLF, Nandy’s views found echoes in Tarun “Tehelka” Tejpal’s views on corruption.
Nandy’s underlying assumptions are these: that the “lower castes” are empowering themselves by using corruption as a means to get around a discriminatory system; and that they are more visibly corrupt because they are not sophisticated enough to hide their crimes as well as their upper caste compatriots.
This writer has pointed out the flaws in the second argument by showing that corruption, or the ability to hide it, has little to do with caste. When it comes to corruption, there is no backward or forward caste.
Ravinder Kaur takes the argument further and suggests that the debate may really be about class rather than caste. She also takes Nandy and Tejpal to task for condescension towards the less fortunate.
She writes: “This debate, I suggest, is not about caste. It is about class, elitist class. Lower-caste corruption does not have ‘class’ on its side, Nandy seems to be saying. Lower-caste corruption is justified ‘class war’, Tejpal seems to be saying. There is a condescending attitude towards the lower castes in these posturing…… Why do Nandy and Tejpal need to bend over backwards to appear pro-lower caste or defend the corruption of those newly coming into power and pelf? Why do we need to tie corruption to primordial categories of caste, just as we tie violence to religion — Hindu or Muslim?”
As urbanisation, development and progress take root in India, the old caste-religion-ethnic identities are metamorphosing and changing all the time.
The Left missed out on its understanding of caste when it emphasised class in the early years of freedom, says Kaur. Now we are in danger of missing out the impact of class.
Quite. Corruption is corruption. There is no need to justify it on the basis of caste or class.
http://www.firstpost.com/india/the-last-word-on-ashis-nandys-lazy-predilections-615664.html
Caste and corruption: Ashis Nandy has the right to be wrong
by Venky Vembu Feb 1, 2013
If ever we needed a reminder that our blessed republic is decidedly on the slippery slope towards becoming prickly in the extreme and excessively intolerant of alternative – and uncomfortable – points of view, we’ve received that in spades in recent days. Kamal Hassan’s slick spy thriller Vishwaroopam has been held hostage by a ragtag bunch of Muslim busybodies who have made a political career out of feeding minority victimhood – even though, as review after review has validated, there is nothing even remotely offensive about the film’s storyline. And pathetically weak-kneed State governments, who ought to have stepped up to defend the Constitutional right to freedom of expression (including artistic expression), have surrendered too readily to the politics of minority blackmail – and prevented screenings of the film in many southern States.
But perhaps the cruellest ironies came on Republic Day, at the Jaipur Literature Festival, where sociologist and clinical psychologist Ashis Nandy found himself facing likely arrest for his throwaway remark during a panel discussion in which he suggested that the ranks of the corrupt in India were made up entirely of those from the Other Backward Classes, the Scheduled Castes and the Schedule Tribes.
Ashis Nandy is wrong – but he has a right to be. PTI
Nandy’s remarks provoked outrage in real time at the Festival, where one of the other panellists on the discussion and a section of the audience spiritedly pushed back against Nandy’s pop-sociological observations. More seriously, however, Dalit leaders – including the monumentally corrupt Mayawati and Ram Vilas Paswan – have demanded Nandy’s arrest, and an FIR has been filed against him for alleged violation of the Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
A rattled Nandy subsequently clarified that he had been “misquoted”, and that what he really meant to say was that the corruption of “Dalits, tribals (sic.) and the OBCs” was far more visible than those of the power elite, who tended to get away drawing much attention to equally egregious instances of corruption.
“I… said that if people like me or (fellow panellist) Richard Sorabjee want to be corrupt, I shall possibly send his son to Harvard giving him a fellowship and he can send my daughter to Oxford. No one will think it to be corruption. Indeed, it will look like supporting talent. But when Dalits, tribals and the OBCs are corrupt, it looks very corrupt indeed.”
But even Nandy’s clarification was full of pop-sociological mumbo-jumbo that actually offers an alibi for corruption – so long as it was perpetrated by the socially and economically underprivileged.
“This second corruption,” Nandy said in his clarification, alluding to corruption by the OBCs, SCs and STs, is something of an economic “equaliser.” “It gives them access to their entitlements.” And, he added, “as long as this equation persists, I have hope for the Republic.”
As an exploration in pseudo-intellectual nonsense, Nandy’s initial comments – and even his clarification, which amounts to an unvarnished defence of corruption as a force for good – are hard to top at several levels.
Yet, Nandy has a right to be wrong, and hounding him and slapping charges against him for alleged violation of the Schedule Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act amounts to rank misuse of the Act. India, of course, has a patchy record of defending free-speech absolutism, and increasingly even journalists have bizarrely taken to demanding limits on free speech provisions (as this report shows). Yet, it’s worth reiterating every time that the only appropriate response to an idea – even if it’s as horribly skewed as Nandy’s original proposition and his equally bizarre clarification – is to challenge it intellectually and disprove it.
Yet, it’s easy to see how Nandy landed himself in this colossal mess. Much of his early academic writing was given over to making sense of India through the prism of two of its abiding passions: cricket and Bollywood. And in the straitjacketed world of academia, Nandy has always been something of an eccentric. For these reasons, his work was initially seen to be lacking in the gravitas that the left-liberal academic community cloaked itself in, and therefore he was denied full membership into their elite world – until overseas recognition gave him the badge of honour. Nandy burnished those credentials even further with his excessively shrill denunciation of the Indian right-wing movement, and in particular of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the context of the 2002 riots.
Well, so long as you are only abusing the right-wing in India, you can get away with pretty much anything. It’s true of course that the Gujarat government too filed a case against him on the grounds that he was inciting hatred among communities, but nothing ever came of it. If anything, it only served to endear him even further to the liberal academic community.
But with his most recent pronouncements, targeting Dalits, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes for his pop-sociological ruminations on corruption, Nandy has squandered all that hard-earned political and academic goodwill.
Perhaps Nandy should stick to Modi-bashing. It’s a comfortable cocoon for an academician. And a good career move, too.
http://www.firstpost.com/india/caste-and-corruption-ashis-nandy-has-the-right-to-be-wrong-603236.html
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