News of a Manipur-like incident of extreme violence against a teenager has surfaced in Uttar Pradesh (UP), a state where the majority population continues to struggle with extreme poverty and illiteracy.
A two-and-a-half minute video gone viral shows a naked woman being beaten with belts by several people. The girl from western UP’s Meerut district was reportedly gang raped multiple times, blackmailed and stripped naked. The brutal incident took place about three months ago but the video was circulated on social media only this week.
After a complaint by the victim’s mother, three people out of eight accused have been arrested and the hunt is on for the other criminals.
Meanwhile, note ‘Unclothed’ the latest composition from Hindi poet Bachcha Lal Unmesh from eastern UP who writes in a longer poem:
“ vastra vastra vastra vastra
vastra vastra vastra
praja nirvastra
vyast vyast vyast vyast
vyast vyast vyast
vikas hua pasth
hutt hutt hutt hutt
hutt hutt hutt
mazloomon par lath
(clothes clothes clothes clothes clothes clothes clothes… people unclothed… busy busy busy busy busy busy busy… development uneasy… move move move move move move… move oppressed to be bruised)”.
More Student Violence
In yet another incident of violence reported from the eastern UP city of Gorakhpur, students thrashed the vice chancellor and registrar of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya University. Several people were injured in the scuffle including policemen who came to calm the chaos.
According to media reports the chamber of the vice-chancellor was vandalised and about a dozen students have been rounded up so far. Students said that they were protesting against alleged irregularities in the university.
The university authorities had promised to address the problems pointed out by the students. However matters got out of control when the university officials refused to live up to their promise and did not want to meet the protestors any more.
Tata To Tomatoes
Witnessing the price of tomatoes skyrocket, Pratibha Shukla, UP’s Minister of State for Women Development and Child Nutrition suggested that people should not buy the vegetable if they can’t afford to.
“If tomatoes are expensive, eat lemons”, the minister said, taking people back in time to 18th Century France reeling under a famine. During the reign of her husband, King Louis XVI Marie Antoinette had said if people don’t have bread to eat, let them eat cake.
At a tree plantation drive, the UP minister added that expensive tomatoes should not be bought but grown at home. The minister feels that if people stop eating tomatoes, prices of the vegetable will come down.
Elections 2024 Preparations
Preparations for the Lok Sabha elections next year are afloat in UP. Nishad Party chief Dr Sanjay Nishad is looking at the Pasmanda, the community of backward Muslims as an attractive ally. Nishad has been trying hard to win the support of the large Pasmanda community.
In a book he authored, Sanjay Nishad wrote that members of the Nishad community, who traditionally weave fishing nets were called julahas or weavers after the conversion of their ancestors to Islam. He sees himself as the political godfather of all fishermen.
Nishad wants to convert the social energy of the people into political energy. His demand is to include the Nishad community in the Scheduled Caste category together with the other communities also engaged in the traditional profession of fishery like the Majhwar, Kewat and Mallah.
As a present ally of the ruling party, Nishad insists on a fair share of seats to contest the Lok Sabha elections. Nishad has already written to the ruling party, demanding reservation to the Nishad community under the SC category.
He wants reservations for the above communities in government jobs similar to reservations offered to the community of washermen and leather workers.
Nishad’s political career began with his association with the iconic Dalit leader and founder of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Kanshiram who passed away in 2006. Since then Nishad has moved on.
Today he is no longer a member of the BSP but an ally of the ruling party. In UP, voters from the Nishad community influence at least 37 Lok Sabha seats out of 80.
However with the return of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar back into the ruling party, the bargaining strength of Nishad is sure to dilute.
Mayawati’s Plans
As far as Dalit leader and BSP chief Mayawati is concerned, she has state elections on her mind. She held a party meeting last Tuesday to review preparations for elections to be held in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana.
The BSP will contest the assembly elections in the four states on its own. It is only after the state elections in October and November are over that Mayawati will reveal her strategy for the Lok Sabha elections. At the moment, the BSP supremo’s main concern is to prevent defections.
The BSP had won seats in all the above four states in past elections but later legislatures had walked away from her to join other parties, betraying the people’s mandate and harming the BSP movement.
Mayawati is not part of the newly formed alliance of 26 opposition parties that recently formed the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA). Although the BSP often seems to side with the ruling party, officially she is not a member of the ruling party alliance.
The INDIA Impact
The UP Chief Minister enjoyed a good chuckle at INDIA, the new alliance of 26 Opposition parties. He said that a change in name will not change the game. By using a different name, the divisive and anti-India vision of the opposition parties will not end, he added.
The UP chief minister felt that after a crow changes its name to a swan it is still unable to pick up the pearl. In a tweet in English, the Chief Minister said that changing your name will not change your game! It's INDIA Vs I.N.D.I.A.
The response from the CM is noteworthy. As he loves changing names. Ever since he came to power in 2017, names of at least a dozen districts have been changed.