BJP and the Religious Minorities

Many Christians and Muslims are not quite confident about their well-being under Modi as the Prime Minister. Even if Modi himself or the top leadership team of the BJP are not communal or may not endorse communal politics, there is the fear that the foot soldiers of the Sangh Parivar would have a free hand in harming the religious minorities by doing un-constitutional and unlawful action. The fear is not without any reason. Even when Vajpayee was the Prime Minister there were instances when the Sangh Parivar tried to disturb communal harmony by doing certain unlawful activities. And if media report is to be trusted, Vajpayee is more secular than Modi. So when things were not quite secular all the time under Vajpayee, under Modi situation could be worse. 

During the time when Vajpayee was the Prime Minister, the then Human Resource Development Minister Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi had allowed Sangh Parivar to bring in non-secular ideology to the textbooks; he also filled key positions in academic enterprise with those who are committed to saffronisation of the academia. Again there are secular intellectual figures who have expressed their fear about such thing being repeated in case Modi comes to power. 

There is no doubt that Modi would be a better administrator than Manmohan Singh. Modi may also be quite market friendly. However, if members of Sangh Parivar are not reined in, the plus points of Modi will be overshadowed by the ill-effects of the work of the Sangh Parivar. After all what is left of India if the secular nature of the state is undermined. One of the best things that India could give as lesson to the world is its secular character. And no political party or political figure should bring harm to this beautiful political arrangement. If Modi is the man, so be it. But let him defend and demonstrate secularism.

The North East and India: Ethnicity and Religion Part 3

Are there differences between Tamilian and Keralites? There are! How about the differences between Gujaratis and Marathis? Well, there are differences here as well! 

People in the North East follow different religious beliefs. Christianity does not have the highest number of followers; it is Hinduism. Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland have more Christians than others in the state. Manipur too has a significant percentage, around 40%. But Assam and Tripura the two most populous states of the region are almost entirely made up of Hindus. Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim have a significant Buddhist presence, but even in these two states Hinduism is the main religion. 

Religion is a significant component of the people's lives. But equally significant, if not more, is the ethnicity they belong to. Many  people must be aware that the NE have many armed underground groups fighting for different things. These groups are not religion based groups; they all have something to do with the demand of an ethnic group. The particular ethnicity may follow a particular religion, but their demand would be for the ethnic group. For example, if one would look at the difference between LTTE and Al-Qaeda, we would see that LTTE is an ethnic based armed group (of the Tamils) whereas Al-Qaeda is more about a particular religious group. The armed groups in the NE are more like LTTE; they are an ethnic based armed group. To read the armed groups as Christians' or Hindus' is to miss the point. 

How important is their ethnicity to them? Just more or less as the Malayalis or Gujaratis would consider about themselves!

The North East and India: Food Matters! Part 2

People from the North East have diverse food habit. The differences within us is as different between that of North India and South India. But at the same time it's not so different that it as if there is no similarity at all. Those in the North usually eat roti/chapatti and dal, and those in the South eat rice and dal. Well, many in the North East eat rice and meat. Hindu, Muslims, Christians -- all eat meat in the North East! 

Meat and fish: The meat that are consumed consist of pork, chicken, beef, fish etc. I have never come a vegetarian from the North East, except for one or two who restrained themselves from meat due to medical reason.  Some of us from the NE are shocked to hear about some people in North India who have never eaten meat in their lifetime. Meat is so common with many of us that the concept of a vegetarian is just so alien to us. 

Vegetables and rice: We eat rice a lot. We do not eat chapatti/roti as part of our normal diet. Most people would feel their tummy unfilled even after having eaten ten pieces of roti. It is because our tummy is built for rice, and only rice can do the job well. Usually people eat brunch. The concept of breakfast, lunch and dinner don't quite work like that. The sun rises early in the NE. But the more important factor is the lifestyle of the people. In the village people eat their LUNCH/BRUNCH at 0730 hours. Now the government offices give lunch hour at 1300 hours. This is quite at odd with the lifestyle of the people. No one eats lunch at 1, except for those officers who might have been transferred to the NE from other part of India. So at 1, people would go for tea or light afternoon meal. At 1900-2000 hours, we go for dinner. So people eat early, sleep early and get up early. We eat vegetables as well. People grow cabbage, potato, brinjal, mustard leaf, etc. Even with a dish of meat, there has to be a vegetable dish too. 

Ferment Stuff:  Quite a lot of people love to eat fermented bamboo shoot. And that too with meat. Fermented bamboo has strong smell or rather aroma, depending on how one feels. And it tastes great. Another fermented item is soyabean. And the third fermented item is the fish. North East people find the smell of hing terrible; others may find the smell of fermented soyabean or fish terrible. Well, I guess since we need to live together, we better learn to accept or tolerate the food habit of other people! But not everybody from the NE eats such kind of fermented fish.

Momo: Not everyone from the NE eats momo. I first saw momo when I came to Delhi. It's quite common with those in Darjeeling-Sikkim area. 

NB: There are some people in North India specially who want ban cow slaughter or cow meat. I think NE people would give three choices: 1. India splits up 2. You give up roti-rice-dal altogether and we give up meat, or 3. You eat your food and we eat our food.

The North East & India: Inter-relationships! Part 1

The North Eastern people are usually a bunch of close knit communities. The interaction between boys and girls are quite common; and there is so much of trust between them. Being a close knit community, distant relatives are not discounted. Everybody who is related in one way or the other is sought out and relationship is built. Since many people have big families, through inter-marriages, it usually turns out that an individual has so many relatives. My son has 26 cousins!  Cases of rape or other crime are not quite common. Even today many houses in the villages do not have locks. And in a locality or a village, everybody knows everybody. Moreover, when students go to other cities, parents expect that they would look after one another, whether it's between boys or girls. And a students when one is sick or runs short of money, there is so much of interaction and inter-relationship and sharing. 

Very often this sort of relationship is alien to the mainland Indian culture. In Delhi most people would not talk to their neighbours who are 100 metres. People cannot trust others easily. Given that crimes involving rape or robbery are common, it's not difficult to comprehend why this is so. But since this is the culture in which many people grow up, when they see boys and girls from the NE interact closely, they interpret this differently. They think that girls are of loose moral character. This interpretation is far from reality. But this faulty interpretation results in NE girls being mistreated often. Girls complaint that very often local boys would ask their 'rate' in the street or try to get close to them. 

NB: The North East states of India are Sikkim, Assam, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura. The border Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Bangladesh. The local people of these states have mongoloid features quite unlike the mainland Indians. The series is being blogged as part of bridging the cultural gap between the NE and mainland India.