Udayor Blog

Vishu Wishes

2009-04-13T06:37:00.000-07:00

The Konna trees are in bloom all over Kerala, one of the most wonderful scenes of nature. They shed almost all their leaves and the tree becomes a celebration of golden yellow flowers. It is said Vishu was the real New Year day for Kerala, when the agrarian state started sowing, planting other edible plants and vegetables. The day had astrological significance to the sun worshipping people. Agrarian cycle was planned in tune with the solar transitions, the festivals had immense meaning. What was native wisdom of the people, now almost lost. It was the true knowledge of the agrarian people and their life style. Before modern education came with its glitter.

For a state enviously rich in biodiversity Vishu is a symbol. To see an abundance of crops, with the Konna flowers as the pivotal item, first thing in the morning is the crux of ‘Kani’ also called ‘Vishu Kani’. Also included are gold, coins, new clothes and a mirror all that in the halo of the oil wick lamp. Together they give a mystical visual feast. Young children are taken with their eyes closed straight from bed to see this splendor of colors in the early morning. Olden day Malayalis were a people who celebrated nature’s bounty, a culture that continues to linger on. Konna tree, botanical name Cassia Fistula, is also a sacred tree of important temples like Sucheendram. Below the full bloom tree can be seen a bed of flowers, also with every passing breeze it rains flowers, a golden yellow shower. Vishu heralded an year of agricultural plenty, where modern Kerala cannot claim much with all her high talk of development.

In Thiruvananthapuram one can get the package of Kani items, from Konnapoo to several crops, vegetables, fruits, I don’t know if this is there at other places, all over the city. Days before the Vishu day people locate Konna trees and the flowers are plucked on the previous day then kept for sale on the road sides. Women, children and old men can be seen selling the nature’s variety on the roads. Stocks of Konna flowers in front of the ancient palace at Kizhakkekotta give a visual delight on the day before Vishu. In rural Kollam, where this writer grew up, before the Vishu days one had to locate Konna trees and keep a vigilant eye that others don’t take it before hand. For children that was a time to look forward as elders gifted money as ‘Vishu Kaineettam’, those lucky shall end up with big money as many people give money and this together shall be huge sums to the little ones whose monthly budget required few coins to buy toffees, pea-nuts and an occasional ‘ice mithai’, a sweetened ice stick. With all the money with them they panic, and no wonder they look forward to the next Vishu.

The golden hue is central to the Vishu Kani, the bronze ‘nilavilakku’, the unique metal mirror of Kerala called Aranmula Kannadi, the gold embroidered cloth called ‘Kasavu mundu’, the gold colored vegetables, yellow areca nut and the Konna poo. All in the golden light of the wick lamp and the splendor created is beyond words. Meda Vishu, a time when the Sun enters the Medam rasi, was reportedly the New Year day in Malabar till recently, before Thiruvonam in the month of Chingam became more popular as the Malayali New Year day all over Kerala. These were also occasions when the ubiquitous Tharavadus of Kerala also gave away gifts and donations to the villagers, from agricultural workers to trades men. Interestingly, pointing to the trans-regional spread of Indian ethos, these are also the days when they celebrate various festivals across India, Bihu in Assam, Baisakhi in Punjab, Ugadi in Andhra Pradesh, as reported. Going to the pan-national level one wonders if the English word ‘Wish’ has its roots in Vishu of Kerala. For a people in tune with nature once, worshipping forests and nature, as in the case of sacred groves called ‘Kavu’, whose life revolved around the clear rivers and streams of the land, with temples that harmoniously blended with the green environ, it was a marvelous culture. The deep insight about man – nature symbiosis was central to Kerala and its apex culture. What is now being reinvented. So Vishu Wishes.

The Defiled Embress - Madhavikutty Says Bye to Kerala

2007-01-12T07:29:00.000-08:00

She had left Trivandrum first, then now is leaving for Pune. Where
her son is living, never to return to Kerala as reports tell. I am
sorry, even apologetic, since I had written one of the most
devastating articles against her in Janmabhoomi. What she reacted to
with pain. What later tormented me personally.

Perhaps the Nayar blood in me did it, we are known to have beheaded
our women who went astray, and this woman going behind a Muslim
gentleman was far too hurting. More so as she made it a virtue, made it
a show and also said that her life as a Nayar was hell. Paraded the
Muslim dress and head gear which even Muslims in Kerala rarely wear.
Islam has great wisdom and virtue in it but this was a different parade.
A bad model in any case for others. How the reactions came.

But from another angle Madhavikutty was another of the victims,
as I later realised, this became a reason for me to start my Nayar
struggles, as this site, is also true. Yet another reason. Her famous
quote was this' I am liberated, (as a Muslim)it was oppresssion for me as
a Nayar women.' But later she was to repent. Her family, as I found out,
had severe problems. Clogged up beliefs are persecuting the Nayars
and this was a case of her rejecting the whole bagagge. But then spirituality
and religion are two different things, what Madhavikutti did not realise.

The last straw perhaps was her attempt to transfer the sacred grove
of Nalappat Tharavadu to the Sahitya Academy. What also failed. It
was a generaration of the fake values. This lady was perhapsthe last Nayar
empress from the breed, her sexual exploits were envied by many. But
somewhere she errred. Was far too naive. I loved her writings as an
youngster, but now I am sorry, despite all her faults. Wish she comes back,
takes up community work, among the Nayar women, as a daring Nayar woman.

PS: There was a group of youth in Thiruvananthapuram, as those people
themselves told this writer, who used to fool Madhavikutty, when she
stayed here. The modus operanti was simple, one of these boys will go in
to her house and start crying, saying that 'his grandfather is dead' or
the next time that 'he has no money to pay fees'. The others waited
outside and this went on for years. Every time the naive lady will go
inside and give the money, what had become their main income, to see
films. The tearful words of compassion after the money was paid was the
only occupational hazard, as one of them, now grown up, told.

(Anyone who reads this, who knows her, please pass it on to her at
Pune)

P R J Pradeep

Decolonise Kerala Temples – A Call for Action

2007-01-12T07:05:00.000-08:00

Temples are the only institutions that retain the old practice of untouchability. It is socially sanctioned and not many are willing to question the statusquo. A man born in the Brahmin caste alone is permitted inside the sanctum sanctorum. What by default means all others, including Brahmin women are lesser human beings, sub-human. This is at the root of many social ills in society like oppressive caste prejudices against the low castes. Breeding of inferiority complex in others and the born priests and their lobbies are working over time to retain and spread this fossilized untouchability. Fear of the unknown is the tool, theatrics and dress rehearsals the gimmick. For a healthy Hindu society for the future this cannot continue and the caste Brahmin priests' monopoly has to cease in all Kerala temples. Alternatives built up and this unhealthy tradition discontinued immediately. It may even be necessary for the priests themselves who are in dire straights, majority of them poverty ridden and trapped in rituals and stagnation. They may be helped to enter better vocations in life.

Priesthood trying to subjugate people is seen repeating in history and many of the great men and prophets have tried to fight this menace. In Kerala it is time this is taken up in all earnest. The recent incidents in Kerala where the `holier than thou'
Tantris were caught indulging in evil practices failed to open the eyes of the people. Most of them unfortunately have made the temples places for all kinds of extortion and it is their greed rather than anything divine that happens in most places. Also the greed of those who ally with them for the money, power and some privileges. What the present Devaswom Boards are typical examples. Where the rot in the name of god has reached the limits. The clever priests and their bosses make use of the others for their own motives and share a part of the loot. Spirituality is their last priority. Where a cleansing is badly needed.

In Kerala the native temples were almost all originally from the Tantric stream, not the Vedic Brahmin stream and were owned by the various native communities. Often the temples were in the ownership of and protection of the Nayars, warriors and nobility of Kerala in the pre-caste period in history. Nayars were a Tantric people and the high status of women etc in the old matriarchial Nayar community point to this. Later
these were taken over by the Vedic Brahmins and a new model of Tantra, what the 'Tantris' now follow, enforced. What many consider fake Tantra. The British period saw the temples taken over from the original communities and the rituals altered, sadly the priests allied with the British as history shows. Where the situation remains till date, despite freedom from British rule. The Tantric stream
did not have subjugation of women, low castes or fake brahmacharya and vegetarianism. All of which are from the Vedic model and alien to majority Kerala Hindu society. What is now paraded as authentic Hinduism.

And with the fast spread of caste Brahmin controlled Hindutwa in the recent past, and the fan following for the Brahminised god-men and god-women, the Vedic Brahmin model is trying for an alarming come back and this, despite its few good sides, is going to be damaging to the larger Hindu society. More and more temples where non-Brahmins were priests are swallowed by the Brahmins and the rituals being altered. They use a clever arrangement by linking astrologers, doing 'Devaprasnams' and assorted crafts. What creates mayhem in Hindu society as concepts of fake brahmacharya, vegetarianism etc are being freely used. What leads to nerotic behaviour in the people as denial of natural urges in ordinary people are damaging. In this in Kerala, unfortunately the Nayar community is the most affected, but ironically they are also the facilitators. Perhaps because they are the most hypnotized by the propaganda of priesthood. They get used, but are not aware of this. The divided Hindu society disintegrates.

The inhuman and prejudiced attitudes towards the Dalits and low castes have no place in the modern era, it is also highly damaging to the larger Hindu society
which is on the run in Kerala. But the fossilized priestly practices are trying to bring this back with a vengeance. The islands were the old Tantric models
survived, many old temples, are also giving in to the Vedic Brahmin models. Many Dalit owned and tribal owned places of worship are being captured by the
forces of new Hindutwa, where new Brahmin priests and rituals are enforced. Hence there is no other way except discontinuing the custom of caste Brahmin male priests, if that is not voluntarily happening, daring initiatives like ousting the Brahmin
priests from all the temples may be necessary. It will also help them themselves. Everyone who respects the beliefs and has the spiritual competence should be permitted inside sanctums. New priesthood and rituals cultivated with the guidance of those with the vision. While various communities who share common subcultures and values, what became caste later, may retain these, there should not be any hierarchy and prejudices between man and man. What is man made, neither is there a need for middlemen between man and god. What the priests claim to be.

Cleansing Hinduism – A Critical Look at the Vedic Baggage

2007-01-12T06:58:00.000-08:00

Part I

P R J Pradeep

The word ‘Vedic’ arouses mystique in the minds, of at
least the Hindus. It is a loaded word and swearing by
the ‘Vedas’ is an obsession with many. Particularly
with the priestly castes who also chant the Sanskrit
words of the Vedas in various rituals. Since the
language is not known to the majority they take it as
magical, codes to reach god by short cuts. The caste
Brahmins have a tradition of making the lines by
heart, not very keen about the meanings, and it is
often seen that they chant the words meant to
propitiate Indra, chief god of the Vedic pastoral
people, at every temple and ritual. That is,
irrespective of whatever the deity there, whatever the
purpose there. The practice of learning Vedas by heart
no doubt helped in their preservation through
centuries is true, but there are also other problems
involved. There are many who believe that everything
started from the Vedas, that the Vedas have the answer
to all the problems of the world. On closer scrutiny
it is usual to find such people as absolutely ignorant
of what is there in the Vedas. Or they turn out to be
having vested interests. Perhaps the denial of the
Vedas to a majority had this as another reason,
keeping the mystique alive.

Interestingly it is not the ‘Vedas’ per se that people
commonly refer to, it is the later interpretations.
The real text of the ‘Vedas’ narrate the hopes, fears
and apprehensions of an ancient pastoral people.
Asking Indra to give them more cattle, avenge the
enemies and protect them is what is commonly seen in
the Vedas. But the later interpretations, like the
‘Sutras’, ‘Brahmanas’, ‘Smruthis’ etc. goes far in
explaining the Vedas. Obviously these reflect on the
prevailing social needs of those who interpreted
these, their genuine and vested interests. What
through time was passed over by the new generations,
making it loaded words. Not only that, these
interpretations later came to become social customs
and values. What is today paraded as ‘Bharateeya
Sanskriti’ is immensely influenced by these value
systems rooted in the Vedas. Since the aura created
through time gives it the necessary protection not
many are willing to question these. And of late there
is a new breed of psedo-scientists who try to hood
wink the naïve by giving fancy explanations to
everything ‘Vedic’. It also has a hidden agenda as
they aim at restoring the priestly hegemony in Hindu
society, what is on the wane. The unfortunate part is
that the new Hinditwa revival in post-colonial India
has inadvertently given them the necessary space.

As the Hindu society in India is facing severe
challenges, with its inner crisis, caste divisions and
priestly hold there is a felt need to reform the Hindu
society from within. The challenges thrown by the
commercial and pan-national faiths that eat in to the
Hindu core is reason enough to look for alternatives.
Why it becomes important that the ‘Vedic’ debate is
demystified. For, there lies the root cause of many
social ills, especially in the later interpretations,
including that of Sankara himself. Whom Swami
Vivekananda himself called ‘narrow minded’ for his
justifying caste and monopoly of knowledge by specific
castes. Sankara, who is believed to be the main
architect of what is called modern Hinduism, had
talked about ‘Advaitha’, about this world as being an
illusion, ‘Maya’ but the same Sankara had also
insisted about caste divisions. It is a paradox but it
stood the ground for several centuries, thanks to the
logic and the social systems that were put in place to
safe guard these. Sankara, born in a Brahmin family in
South India, Kerala to be precise, traveled all the
way to the Himalayas and effectively challenged the
new universal religions of the day like Budhism and
Jainism.

It was a clever ploy of interpreting the ancient texts
explaining the Vedas, like the ‘Sutras’, ‘Smruthis’
etc. together with what are called the ‘Vedangas’ or
the limbs of the body of the ‘Vedas’. ‘Manu- Smruthi’,
perhaps an earlier version, was able to enforce many
of these skewed interpretations on Hindu society.
These had their positive attributes is true, like
structuring the society with codes of conduct for
people, daily regimen and seasonal discipline. But
eventually these became tools of oppression and the
caste, by birth, privileges became perilous to
society. Perhaps how the Hindu society later bowed
down before colonial forces, new alien faiths. But the
decadent faith and its hold on people continued to
hold sway. It had by now become the only means of
survival for the priestly castes. The degradation of
women, half of the Hindu population, is the most
damaging result of this. Second is the degradation of
the majority called ‘Sudras’ who according to the
‘Vedic Scholars’ are not even human, not ‘manushya’.
Only the twice born, Brahmin, Kashatriya and Vaisya,
are ‘manushya’. Calls to kill those ‘Sudras’who hear
the ‘Vedas’, by pouring molten lead in to their ears
(Gauthama dharma Sutra), and similar calls against
women became lethal. ‘Pumasavana’, one agenda of the
‘shodasa samskara’, is a ritual to beget male progeny
(after Atharava 6.11). Women became pollutants (after
Taittiriya Samhita and Gautama Dharma Sutra), it was
mothers polluting children, for women give birth to
man and women. Simple postulates in the Vedas and
their interpretations eventually started becoming
menacing, these came to be social customs. What
continues to this day.

(To be continued)

Looking Back at Onam

2006-09-21T00:04:00.000-07:00

Apart from the voyeuristic pleasures of seeing people celebrate Onam on television screens, what is now understood as the right way of doing it, the only place where I saw a semblance of authenticity was a dalit colony in the city. A place where the so-called low caste 'Pulaya' community stays in Thiruvananthapuram. Here the people were all in jubilation, young and old. The shocking observation to this writer was that the 'Ona pookkalam' is part of faith and ritual, not a secular show of fancy interest. As the older generation told, it is nothing but the 'Siva Lingam' that is set up with clay at the centre. The flowers depict the goddess and once the Pookkalam is ready it is the abode of the god and goddess. That for ten days starting Atham. Where worship is regularly done. Till the day of Thiruvonam. Many of you may know it, I did not, and frankly the last day of discontinuing the Pookkalam was a mystical scene, the boy who did it after several days of penace reaching a state of possession. The whole community dancing in ecstacy.

There are historic accounts that tell about Thiruvonam, some scholars have done original research on this. One of them, Dr. Padmanabhan based in Kanyakumari, tells that Onam was a festival across the southern peninsula. That from Tiruppati to cape and for the wider Tamil country it was a national festival. That few centuries back when Tirupati was originally a Siva temple. Perhaps the contending Vaishnava and Saiva streams were competing at the time for space. Today Tirupati is all out Vaishnava and the Hinduism of the day is an assimilation of the two streams. But the recorded festivities of Onam across the Tamil country had elephant fights and feasts as some documents narrate. In huge arenas made of stone boulders elephants were made to fight and people watched the show like in bull fights. There are engravings of the show in ancient Madurai. Perhaps it was an ancient Saivaite festival later taken over by Vaishnavism, for Onathan is Vishnu, according to Dr. Padmanabhan.

When did the celebrations of Onam in its present form begin is best left to history, hoary past cannot be deciphered beyond a point. Now the Pulayas who were seen celebrating are also known to be related to the Nayars of Kerala. Folk history talks about their having been people judged as lower in status after refusing to accept 'Pula' or ritual pollution, when those who accepted these became Nayars. This was obviosuly at the instance of the priestly religion that came to be powerful and one does not know who benefitted and at whose cost. For physical affluence and social position alone are not the ultimate variables in life, spirituality is as important. How Jesus Christ calls the poor and under privilaged as children of god. However the Onam celebrations of the dalits were certainly better than that of the television viewers. At least there was individual participation, joy and exhilaration.

What was remarkable was that the upper castes nearby, from Nayars down, did not come out of their homes to see the gaiety, leave alone join the celebration. They were all rivetted to the TV screens inside, those who peeped out from inside the walls were afraid that the shall be polluted if they joined the show. For the people here had also arranged several exotic sports items like climbing an arecanut tree pole smeared with oil and eggs white. Those trying to climb kept on falling down as the amused crowd jeered. There were also other events like 'Tumpi thullal' and other items, with a lot of cheering accompanying. It was literally a people's celebration. Is it that these are the real Saivite people who refused to accept the priestly Vaishnavism. Who knows. Obviously it is a more vibrant faith that they have, than the one where paying the greedy priests and bowing before idols alone is called religion. Dependency on priesthood stealing any trace of self respect, also self confidence in matters of faith, they becoming blind believers. Hard options before the Hindu faithful.

It is said that they compulsorily eat non-vegetarian food on Onam day in Malabar, when it is a no no in Travancore. Obviously the land Sree Padmanabha was far more Vaishnavite than Saivite than Malabar and continued to be with the Tamil country till the British left. Historians have recorded how the goddess of the Cheras, fore-runners of the true Nayars, was 'Kottavai'. And do you know what was her favourit dish, our modern beef Biriyani. Yes, the preparation was a mix of meat of oxen with boiled rice, see books of Ilankulam Kunjan Pillai on the ancient Kerala. Why even the Vedic people were meat eaters and the Rg Veda has far too many references to this. Thus Onam as a celebration of the defeat of a noble king Mahabali is also a metamorphosed festival. As history shows the goddess Kottavai later gets amalgamated in to the modern Hindu pantheon. The Onam Pookkalam, where we now have the small 'Thrikkakkara Appan' at the centre may be the left over from a past. A past where every one could do pooja, what eventually became a privilage of the caste Brahmins. Time the other Hindus asserted their rights, dumped the concocted fictions that go as sastram.

Policing the Police

2006-09-18T08:04:00.000-07:00

Once passing through Kuriathy, a suburb of Thiruvananthapuram, I was surprised to see all the people standing in a junction fleeing with out any reason. That was couple of years back and I was new to the city. It was a frantic scene where people jumped walls, climbed on to the top of vehicles parked and ran skelter shelter. Amused I watched in anticipation of some calamity, then saw a police jeep. That was it, respectable people driven to dehumanising terror. As I later found out it was forbidden for people to loiter around in this stretch of the city where, as they claimed, crime rates are on the higher side. But what if the people stand their ground, instead of running away, I asked. Some of them atleast may be wanted in some cases and the rest will not take a chance to be taken in to custody. Once in there can be inhuman treatment awaiting. They knew from experience.

Some social thinkers have opined that the criminal and the police are both from the same stock, they both have the same mindset and have an object-mirror image relationship. Possible as they are both in close contact and move about in the same social terrain. For a post-colonial society like India the western colour of Khakhi is in itself alien and arouses the fear of the slave to the master. Perhaps some deep rooted fears in the collective unconscious. It is not just in Kerala that this happens, across India this is the case. But in some places liek Tamilnadu the name is changed, they call the police 'Kaval' in Tamil. That is a big change as the name atleast does not threaten. Though the colonial hang over of Indian police remains western countries have changed a lot, the image of a friendly policeman escorting a child across the road is a live image of British police that appears off and on.

In Thiruvananthapuram it is forbidden to walk on the streets after it is dark, what has killed all night life in the city. An young painter friend who just got out of his studio in Palayam for a cup of tea at 11 pm in the night was picked up by the patrolling police. Taken to the station they misbehaved with him and put him behind the bars. The trauma he underwent was so intense he was on the verge of becoming a murderer, collected all the details of the policemen who misbehaved and started planning for their murder. Eventually good sense prevailed and he left Kerala for a long time, just to cool off. The power that the police force is given is certainly necessary for maintaining a civil society. But when it exceeds the limits, hardened officers and men in the force becoming menacing, the tolerance limits are reached. It is a tragedy that the political activists who face the tragedy later become champions of the same forces and enjoy the fear they generate, the same police jeeps escorting them with loud shrieks.

The drama of state craft in a post-colonial society has its magnetism. Thus a Minister once sworn in behaves differently and starts hallucinating. Democracy is a haloed word but the imperial governance mechanisms left over by the British now in practice in India, particularly in Kerala, is different. At best it is a blind repetition of the rituals, at its worst it is a swinging pendulam of oligarchies, interest groups pulling that side and this. Those who have the most colective strength wins in this game. The high talk of justice and participatory administration is theory. So it is not just the police who areto be blamed, it starts with the arrogant ministers down, who live in a make believe. It is after all a slave society just liberated, unable to decipher why institutions of governmnet are there, why statutes are there. They just follow in ceremony, sadly it is the least suitable people who come to rule, to whom it is just power and privilages. Administration is no where in focus.

Swashraya SFI - Shape of Things to Come

2006-07-21T05:51:00.000-07:00

With the new twists and turns in the commerce driven education sector in Kerala the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), called SFI, got nasty. It was perhaps a spontaneous reaction towards what is seen as gross injustice. Though the anger has been officially disowned by the organisation, senior most leaders expressing their views against it, the fact remains. Without legitimate venues of redressal things may go out of hand. That is a message no one can miss.

The labyrinths of legality cannot hide the truth. That the education sector in Kerala has been monopolised by the affluent minority communities, especially the Christian segment, that in the name of their being a minority. It is every one's knowledge that they are not minorities in Kerala, going by the international standards that a group can be called minority only when they are less than 10 percent of the population, neither are they weak. The Christian community in Kerala happen to be economically and politically very powerful.

It is only because of the disorganisation in the Hindu community that the Christian segment is able to have their way. With the Christian segment controlling the mass media in Kerala all eforts to organise the Hindu community ends up in failure. It is a double bind and it is in this situation that the CPI(M) lead LDF governmnet has come forward with a new piece of legislation. What was seemingly aimed at bringing in a semblance of justice. But the Christian priests have come out crying wolf. How they are interested in commercial education, instead of spirituality is a question no one asks. Things are well understood.

To ordinary people it is like the Malayalam saying 'Asarichiye Kadichathum Pora, Ari Thinnathum Pora, Pinnem Pattikka Murumuruppu'. For the Christian educational institutions, lions share of Kerala education sector, have all along been getting money from the public exchequer, public money, for running their institutions. They sell the jobs, getting the salaries in advance, what the governmnet later pays in installments. They post their kith and kin and make money. Also brainwash the Hindu students making them slaves. It went on and on, now they want more.

The implications of the present trend are visible to all, with majority of those able to access higher education and professional education belonging to the minority communities soon there shall be a Kerala where the upper echelons of society will only have minority community members. What is already visible, though now in limits. The have nots and the proleteriate shall all be the Hindus. The weaker sections of the minority communities themselves shall find this a tragedy as they too shall be out from the scene. Economic might is becoming right and it is no wonder that physical might comes as answer.

What predicts disaster for what is now a peaceful society in Kerala. The travails of economically poor but smart students have been studied by many agencies and the children of the stinking rich dictate terms in the educational institutions. To them education is no need, they are rich and secure anyway. The others from poor families fail to remain with dignity and the peer group pressure on children to behave like the richer ones cause turmoil in many families. These are young people who come to harbour hatred and sooner than later it is to explode. Time everyone took note of the fuming vulcano.

Sabarimala – Cleansing a System

2006-06-30T19:51:00.000-07:00

Managers of the abodes of the god, the Devaswom Board in Kerala, are caught in controversies and as the latest reports tell the judges, people of the British heritage of judiciary, are being asked to give the final word. Tantris are coming for Press Meets. What was to be the domain of the Hindu faithful, ascetics and tantriks has been drawn in to the market place, legalities. Perhaps the first to be indicted for this predicament is the tantri, who now lords over the rituals, making a camouflage of tantrums. Next are the politicians who move in here as administrators with an aye on the enormous amounts of money. Sabarimala, the abode of the hill god in the rain forests, is indeed caught up in a double bind. The forest hills that once belonged to the native communities and freely used by the ascetics and the temple, called Poonkavanam, were taken over, reserved, during the British and the hill temple is now required to pay money for the land in so called free India.

The latest ‘Deva Prasnam’, throwing out a plethora of ‘revelations’ and the later cinematic disclosure by the Kannada actress Jayamala that she had a real life scene enacted there have become head line news. Self claimed guardians of Hindutwa have come out with cries of blood. That Jayamala be punished as the woman touched the idol. What is a male Brahmin bastion. This can only be touched, by tradition, only by those born Nampoothiris, Kerala Brahmins. The Tantri is also a Kerala Brahmin who has the final word in such matters. Leave alone non-Brahmins, other Brahmins are also not permitted to be here. What applies to most of the Kerala temples where the ‘thread’ is essential to enter the sanctum sanctorum, whoever the man, so long as the ‘thread’ is there they have the green card. The definition of a ‘Brahmin’ according to sastras is different but these self seekers have their monopolies.

Sabarimala word means the ‘hill of Sabari’, who as legends tell was a low caste woman. There is also a temple for Sabari, apart from Ayyappan, here. But it is forbidden for woman to enter here, only girls and post-menopause women are permitted. The hard climb through the forests perhaps made this necessary once upon a time. Not only that, the Sabarimala pilgrims are supposed to be strictly adhering to the principle of celibacy and even a touch from a women is frowned upon by the pious. Womanhood is condemned as sin. Thus in most nuclear families it becomes a period of oppression for the woman when the Ayyappa season begins. The kind of trauma a woman undergoes due to this primitive and distorted belief is not yet being debated. It is a silent scream.

Sabarimala also has major tantrums kept alive by the tantris and the Devaswom Board. What is aimed at bringing more and more people to the hill shrine. It is in effect a distortion of the basic tenets of Hinduism, Sanatana Dharma, that happens here. The flow of money keeps the lid on. By all possibilities this is am abode of some pre-historic tapasa, called Sidhas in the South. Later brought under the caste Brahmin poojaris, priests, and their making it a means of minting money. For not many tantris in Kerala are known to be initiated to the true tantric ways. What is the domain of the unassuming Sidhas, ascetics and their paramparas. It was perhaps the Vedic Brahmins penetrating the native tantric idiom and later shutting out the others. How the caste oppression also began.

But the priesthood has cleverly entrenched itself here and made a battery of rituals that make the people dazzled. Since these are areas tabooed for the common man not many raise questions. Where the tantri and his clout is held in great mystic. That almost every decision in Sabarimala is based on ulterior motives, most of these facilitating institutionalized corruption, is known to people. But the faith in the rain forest god and goddess makes them remain silent. That these forests of the southern western ghats were once sought after locations for the ascetics is known. There are also many Samadhis of great souls within the forests. Sabarimala is not the only hill god temple in the western ghats. But perhaps the most famous. These are the guardian gods of the rich nature here and the hills, repositories of water, are important from that angle.

What Sabarimala needs is a cleansing, both of the tantris and the Devaswom Board, the Sidha tradition alone has the right to decide what is best for Sabarimala. The administration and the priests can only be assisting them. The unnatural denial of womanhood in the Sabarimala cult ought to be addressed with maturity and wisdom. Spirituality in the south is not based on denials, Sidha tradition is affirmative. Imposed celibacy is not an ideal here. Idol worship in the resent form is itself not in tune with these traditions. In Sabarimala while health and hygiene are important some of the blind traditions that are rigorously enforced needs to change. The hill shrine has to be over seen by the saints, who have the capacity and insight to do that, not every politician or the caste Brahmins. A bit of cleansing is required in Sabarimala is certain. By cleansing Sabarimala the four southern states, who keep Ayyappa dear, shall stand cleansed as well.

Hindu Unity and the Achuthanandan Government

2006-06-20T03:57:00.000-07:00

The ground swell of enthusiasm for a Hindu unity in Kerala, what was a reaction to the decades of power misuse by the minority communities in Kerala, stands paralysed. The heroic efforts by the leadership of the SNDP Yogam, lead by the dynamic Vellappilly Natesan, and the Kerala Kaumudi group, played major roles in that. Which was whole heartedly supported by all Hindu communities in the state, though the NSS played a bit of spoil sport, resulting in a historic process in Kerala. Giving great hopes to the people. But with no viable mechanisms to tap the new enthusiasmm, formation of a political front failed and the BJP front in internal crisis, the elections saw the fruits of this wave of Hindu unity going to the Communist lead Left Democratic Front. Who saw record win in the last elections. Though wearing the old mask of secularism it is everyone's knowledge that they too go by community loyalties in every decision. If the Muslim League or Kerala Congress does it without hiding, the comrades do it with a bit of camouflage is the only difference.

But once the LDF ministry took over there was a clever effort to sabotage the process. Leadership of the second senior partner CPI, Veliyam Bhargavan himself, attributing the win to the new support they gathered from the minorities. Many other decisions of the new ministry were aimed at damaging the Hindu unity principle. Perhaps a Hindu unity move will see the Communists disappear in Kerala, they may be using the government mechanism to save themselves, their political careers. And the trends are for a relapse to the old pattern, where the various Hindu communities are to align once again with the shrewd minority groups. What is to spell tragedy for Kerala in the days to come. There is celebration in the Ezhava community with V S Achuthanandan in the Chief Minister's chair, many others from the community in ministerial births. As if the game is won. Forget that the Hindu community including the Ezhava sector is cornered in Kerala, also that the territories captured by the minorities remains where it was. Personally it was a clever game plan of V S Achuthanandan that worked, he presented himself as the caste hero. Where the clever minority community newspapers and politicians gave the necessary leverages. While acknowledging the good traits of VS, like his championing the cause of the forests, there are also visible lacunas.

For a comparison V S Achuthanandan is not loved by the Hindus in Kerala the way Vellappilly Natesan is and this comrade did not mince words in dumping Vellappilly himself in the early days. The approaches of both, though from the same community, differ. But seeing the new upswing of community consolidation V S Achuthanandan could use it to his advantage is true. Not only that, the first interviews he gave made no mistake, that he is the saviour of the so called 'avarnas', low castes of Kerala. That hiding the fact that there is hardly any difference between the Nairs and Ezhavas in the state right now, both are as bad or as good. And the dalits and tribals cannot be equated with them. The old rhetoric whipped up by the British missionaries to neutralise the warring communities of Kerala, also divide the Hindus, driving the warring people to turmoil who stopped their attempts to subdue this land, is back again. Punishing the supposed sins committed a century back, what if Kerala is now under minority feudalism. That is no issue. V S Achuthanandan could do it with great perfection and get his pound of meat. The divide within the Hindu community is once again deepening, wrong myths being used to widen it. he present indications are that VS, possibly supported by some of the most paranoic intellectuals in the community, may end up fathering a new era of turmoil for the Hindus, divided they are to sink again further.

It makes little difference who runs the state now, that is, who is in the chair. The post-colonial governance mechanism is rotten and the options for the incumbents are not much. Dated British ceremonies and procedures is what governance means and only a strong Hindu consolidation shall be able to change this. But the career politicians are looking at the rewards is no doubt, like a comfortable life, some pittances thrown to their wards and accomplices. The fundamental questions affecting Kerala shall remain out of focus. It is known that the politicians have their own ways of riding the waves of popular movements for their own advantage. What happened here again. Most of them are not intelligenet enough to see through the smoke screen, the larger frame of Kerala society, where the state is heading for. They also lack the vision to take in the options before the government, illequipped and inadequately exposed as they are. Thus the cosmetic approaches are to be used again, adhoc interventions made in all sectors. All of this to be sabotaged by one group or other as the seemingly biased approaches bring negative responses. With a better leadership in the LDF scene would have been different, what the Party perhaps knew beforehand, how both VS Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan were asked to stay away from elections.

But VS Achuthanandan used a lobby to capture the chair, obviously there were many waiting who wanted that to happen, what became visible when the Party Secretariat later pointed to the remote control of media syndicates in the game plan. If V S Achuthanandan won, it can easily be portrayed as a win for the Ezhava community, what is presently happening. And the Chief Minister is flaunting that card with a degree of arrogance. Especially so with the CPI leader Veliyam Bhargavan who has thrown all sense of fair play and is now as chauvinistic, or more, as the old minority groups. Causing irrepairable damage to Hindu unity moves and other communities in Kerala. Obviously, left to itself, Kerala's Hindu unity move is heading for collapse. Who enjoys the scene can be easily guessed, also who must be silently plotting from behind to create the scene. VS Achuthanandan is not known to be an astute strategist, is a simple rural leader, easily swayed. And the LDF is as much vulnerable as the UDF to minority vote banks and strategems. It is time the mature leadership of the Hindu community comes forward to restore sanity. That the great dream of a Hindu consolidation is not lost for ever. If that happens it will be a tragedy for Kerala, for whether Nair, Ezhava or Pulaya it is the native idiom of this land. If that is lost, what is now almost lost, it will lead to doom. VS or no VS Hindu unity in Kerala cannot be compromised.

Kamala Suraiya and her Kavu – New Symbols of Kerala

2006-06-03T22:06:00.000-07:00

A plot of land with a Kavu, Sacred Grove, belonging to the Nalappat tharavadu in Punnayoorkulam is in the news. Presumably belonging to one individual, Kamala Suraiya alias Madhvaikutty of the family, what is not normally possible in Nair tharavadus where this remains common property of the family. Kamala, now a Muslim, donated this to the state Sahitya Academy. The plethora of beliefs associated with the Kavu must have forced Kamala cleverly pass it on to the government body. And she, now converted and a Muslim, seemingly lied and maintained that it is only a plot of land. She had earlier demolished the ancestral house and sold the land in the area. The 'Sahitya Academy' as the name itself suggests is another decadent outfit, as the part English and part Malayalam name suggests, set up by the state. Many other properties handed over to them remains uncared for but that did not prevent them from taking over the new ‘plot of land’ measuring 17 cents.

Kamala despite her change of faith is insisting that a tree there be protected. This is not to find fault with her on why she acts in certain ways, there must have been reasons. Those who know the inner family history of Kamala Suraiya, also several Nair families in similar circumstances, must know the turmoil of the oppressive faith that the Nairs are carrying. More so the oppressed women which need changes. So there is no point in finding fault with her, she has taken what she found to be the best alternative. Whether breaking the fake morality of an earlier era as a writer or changing faith she did what many others may not dare to do. One gets hurt only because she took flight, she could well have remained a Nair and fought the problems. Now about the Sacred Grove in question it does not seem to be a miniature forest anyway. Her own father, as she writes, having destroyed it long back, leaving couple of trees and idols. If the faithful attribute all her travails to that they cannot be faulted. But the family continues to worship there, so also some of the local people. Now what business has the Sahitya Academy in all this is a curious issue. What are they going to do with this is another question.

Sacred Groves, patches of rain forests preserved in human habitations, form part of the native culture in Kerala. It is beyond what is called religion, the stand taken by the Academy Chairman is a graceful aceptance of that. It is rooted in nature worship and also as prakriti as woman, ‘Kavu’ word also means woman. Though several Hindu communities maintain Sacred Groves this way of worship is predominantly found in Nair tharavadus. This practice is found in many other states in India and also in some other countries. It is a hoary history that these concepts have and the Groves are attributed to various deities. Main among them is the serpent principle, with mystical meanings of divine energy only known to Sidhas. These are popularly called Naga Raja and Naga Yakshi. The Yakshan Yakshi concepts as deities perhaps predates modern Hinduism and this is widely reported from the Jain period. Later Yakshis depicted as evil forces. Jainism was prevalent in Kerala, so also Budhism, where the Groves were places of worship and meditation. Perhaps it was during the caste Brahmin phase that the rigourous practices of idol worship got enforced. Status of ascetics on one hand and women on the other goes down here. Soon, more than faith it became a source of fear, without which it would have been a beautiful faith.

This was how many Nair tharavadus in the immediate past have given up these. The safest means of abandoning these came to be facilitated by some Nampoothiri families themselves, who also maintain Sacred Groves, like Pampummekattu Mana. The concept here is to take out the deities and take them to these Manas and transform the land to other purposes. Building concrete temples became rampant. Large number of Nair families have done this, which costs an amount of money as priestly fee and rituals. There are various views about the Sacred Groves but these patches of rain forests were and are at the head end of paddy fields and were ecologically significant cannot be denied. It remains a traesure house of pristine local biodiversity as well. The Nairs, the old Dravidian nobility, came to protect this is possible. Some say that these are places where spiritually enlightened ancestors and Sidhas, sanyasis, must have been laid to rest. But of late these became sources of fear is certain. Where in most Nair families only the caste Brahmin priest is permitted to enter. Even though these are owned by the Nairs.

That the clever stratagems of priestly slavery played a role is possible, what is visible in many other areas of Hindu life. But the fact that these are pristine forests, wherever these are well protected, point to a great wisdom about the processes of nature. In this sense these need to be protected is beyond debate. Now, regarding the beliefs associated with the Sacred Groves there have been efforts by many saints, like Sree Narayana Gurudevan, who removed the feared idols perhaps because they reinforced a wrong model of spirituality and deep rooted fear. Idol worship as the end in Hinduism is a deviation in the near past where the priestly dictum became supreme. Hinduism is primarily a belief aimed at self-realization. Kundalini sakti, serpent power, is goddess worship here. The saintly orders, like Sidha paramparas, are as important as the idol worship, meant for beginners. But when it is riveted on to idol worship alone the community suffers. Where the reformers were instrumental in changing this. While many others could accept such saintly teachings the Nairs remained glued to the old model.

That the Sacred Groves present a model of nature worship, communion with nature, is very important. Which worships the sacred life giving nature. What is lost in this era of all round eco-degradation. In that sense the Sacred Grove in mention, that of Kamala Suraiya, may not mean much. For the trees were cut down long back as she writes, by her ‘progressive’ father. With only few idols and couple of trees remaining. This is not a Kavu in the conventional sense. But if the family members are worshipping there still it assumes significance. What the same family members ought to have done was to purchase it from the daughter of the family who converted and left. In normal Nair families this remains common property but here it became private is curious. But this did not seem to have happened how the local Hindu youth, fearing that the converted Muslim lady will damage it, took over it and it became a conflict in the area. Kamala Suraiya, with out telling that it is a controversial Kavu, donating it to the Academy. With her womanly intelligence she wanted to win the game. But Nalappattu is not just a family but an old feudal household, local ruling house. Why others too have a stake in it.

That Kamala, a good writer, was brought up outside Kerala and failed to imbibe the nuances of local belief and culture is her tragedy. It is a kind of arrogance that reflects in her writings and postures, not humility as to the limitations of the human intelligence. Even her conversion to Islam did not seem to have saved her. By lofty Hindu values she is a victim of ‘ajnana’, darkness, and may need many births to redeem herself as the Hindu belief goes. Unfortunately for her she could not access the great traditions of Kerala and India and had to face the travails. Perhaps a simple meeting with a great soul would have changed her but she was not humble to receive that benevolence. Caught up as she is in the consumerist values of the day. Where even an ordinary woman may be better off than her. Now looking at the problem as a common issue facing a huge population in Kerala, for she represents a community owning large number of groves, what are the options. One is to go for the path of the native saintly orders, where the fear psychosis will vanish. That of the native Sidhas, who seldom abhor woman or sex, neither family life. They don’t wear uniforms and are happy in being invisible to others.

Regarding the future course of action, there are two major options available. One is for the family members of Nalappattu tharavadu to purchase and maintain it, if necessary with their own modifications. The other is for the Academy to maintain it as a better Sacred Grove, they can purchase some more land and make it a live museum of Kerala culture. Allowing a sprouting of trees rather than the idols. What has to be accepted is that these are beliefs that cannot be bracketed within the definitions of modern religions and form the root culture of Kerala. Islam itself has similar root beliefs at many places, though with different approaches. Regarding the responses from ‘wage writers’, and ‘wage speakers’ in Kerala, what they try to do is to get some money and name in this name and they can be looked at with due sympathy. The over populated periodical sector also needs some hot stories to sell. Their illeducated views can be ignored as noise pollution. But for the people to whom this is no newspaper story, who have been protecting this nature endowed land, these are their guardian gods and the matter is thus very important to them.

There are thousands of Kavus spread over Kerala which support the natural balance and micro-climate of the regions where they are located. People with alien minds, trapped in alien beliefs may not understand the inner meanings of the local beliefs and they can be ignored. Without government subsidies few communities are struggling to maintain the natural balance of the Kerala ecosystem, the Kavu at Nalappattu is one. These are relics from an old era where there were no forest departments and environmentalists. Each ‘thara’, unit of administration, was looked after by a Tharavadu. Kavu was the abode of their guardian deity. Later with the priestly and British colonization these little rulers, who once had their own armies and Kalaris, were neutralized. The multiple layers of colonization are difficult to decipher here and the revolt by Kamala is at another level a weak woman’s struggle for liberation. It is a dilemma of a huge population and what is needed is preserving the network of Sacred Groves all over Kerala but without so much of fear. God cannot be taken as a terrorist, let the miniature forests remain as places of greenery and peace, where Mother Nature is left alone.

NSS and SNDP Need to Join the Government Programmes

2006-06-02T21:59:00.000-07:00

Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) also called voluntary organizations are increasingly becoming a part of implementing government programmes. The rural uplift schemes of the central government like the Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) that replaced the old IRDP during the tenure of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government has a major role for NGOs in its implementation. What was also adopted, though with lacunas, by the government of Kerala. The People’s Plan model had made a serious attempt to incorporate the people at the grass roots in to the development process. The local Panchayats and NGOs came to have a major role. But due to inexperienced people handling the scheme there were major failures but the idea behind it was commendable. At the state and central government levels the Social Welfare sector also has a major role for NGOs, apart from development.

Now with a new Left Front government in power and the question of re-launching the People’ Plan process in the cards there are new possibilities emerging. It is time to correct the mistakes committed so far, also correct the deliberate attempts by the vested interests to siphon off state resources as monopolies. In this the most glaring instance was the role of voluntary organizations, NGOs. Due to historic and other reasons the legitimate NGOs in Kerala are almost all run by the Christian church. Thus it became a paradox of those with international sources of funds getting the meager state resources as well. The others left out or becoming beneficiaries of the Church. That when these are state funds that are pooled in to the society, but through the church outfits. Creating a kind of subtle slavery. The welfare and development inputs of the state bypassed the others was the result. How there is a sprouting of old age homes, orphanages etc under the Christian segment where there is none in the Hindu community.

Thus the NGO sector in Kerala, who take state funds, are almost all Christian and of late a few Muslim organizations also have started getting in to this. But the majority Hindu community, whether Nayar, Ezhava, Pulaya or others, could not evolve systems that can pool in state funds and remained in their own community work. Since it requires an amount of exposure to the various state run schemes also the modalities of accessing these the tradition bound communities failed in addressing the problem. How the very same communities with external sources of incomes came to tap the state resources as well. Leading to a skewed society of the minority haves and majority have nots. There is a network of well run Christian NGOs across Kerala and priests frequent the state departments to access these funds. The ministers are also normally from the minorities who ensure the smooth flow of funds to their own communities. This when the others starve of capital.

Now there are institutions that cater to the needs of the other Hindu communities which remain in obsolete approaches and traditions. There is also a stigma attached to these organizations when there is none about the Christian church sponsored organizations. If a white paper is issued about the quantum of money siphoned out by these organizations over time, also the community wise profile of the NGOs receiving state funds shocking details shall be known. What has remained hidden from public notice so far. The native communities with the least exposure to the modalities of the government schemes remain ignorant about these and the ramifications. Large amounts of government funds are also getting wasted or reaching the wrong hands due to this anomaly. The tradition bound NGOs from the Hindu community, untouchables in government schemes, are the biggest losers in this.

So to correct the deviance through years it is only proper that these communities and their community organizations be brought under the implementation schemes of the government. Thus the leading organizations like the Nair Service Society (NSS), Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) Pulaya Mahasabha, Yogakshema Sabha, similar organizations of other communities need to be brought under the armpit of the delivery mechanisms of government. Since it is due to the rampant corruption and incompetence of government departments, that lead to the failure of translating the macro-level programmes on the ground, the NGOs came to have a role cannot be denied. Here, if only one community takes the benefits it is not justice. What has been happening so far where the church sponsored organizations are having the kill for so long. Since the others did not know the implications it remained hidden from public view, these monopolies cleverly kept it hidden.

What can be done is to advice these bodies to restructure themselves with proper value addition and management inputs and then based on set criteria allow them roles in implementation of programmes. Each community organization in a locality can be incorporated and based on their inner strengths entrusted with implementation of programmes for the locality cutting across all sections of people. A consensus evolved based on merits of administering the schemes. Specific criteria for accessing various schemes based on the capacities can be set up and the organizations graded according to these. Already the SNDP is running micro-credit programmes successfully and there is no reason why they cannot do well in implementing state programmes. The progress so far is reportedly very promising. These organizational units have major strengths and the chances of funds getting wasted are very less.

Same is the case with others, some of whom may need short term training programmes to enable them implement these. It will help simultaneously meet the problem of unemployment in these communities and also inject capital in to the capital starved sectors. The stigma attached to community organizations need to go, there is no reason why the Christian organizations, say the YMCAs, are not having any stigma but the NSS or SNDP has it. It is a wrong approach and needs immediate correction. The large network of the NSS, to take an instance, is 6000 units strong, spread over the state and most of them having buildings and infrastructure but presently idling. The various community leaders ought to take it up as a serious issue and demand that this be implemented by the new state government.

It is a tragedy that the amount allotted for SC/ST welfare keeps getting lapse as the government mechanisms fail to use it. Reportedly up to Rs. 200 crores in this head from the central government was lost during the tenure of the previous ministry. In Rural Development, as the union Minister of Rural Development himself told a Press Conference in Thiruvananthapuram, as much as Rs. 125 crores lapsed. This due to irresponsible behaviour of the previous government who did not use it, a big sin as the needy millions are ignorant of what happened. Thus it is only proper that the state government gets out from the old stigma of community organizations, except Christian and now Muslim organizations, and incorporate them in to the implementation schemes. The modalities of this can be worked out in consultation with the concerned organizations, who may need to make appropriate changes from within.

Wishing the New Government in Kerala a Great Time

2006-06-01T01:26:00.000-07:00

After all the small irritants cleared, the new team under a people's chief minister, as Shri V S Achuthanandan has come to be known, is about to begin its work. Time those who love the state and its people stood by them. With all the potential that is available, also within the limitations of the electoral democracy in a post-colonial polity, a sense of hope is discernible. Appointment of a new chief in the state Planning Board, the apparatus announced to over see the working of the government are all pointers to a responsible government. Also a responsible Party, for the people have entrusted tremendous faith in the coalition lead by the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Perhaps the entire country is watching Kerala.

Now the main issues that the state is facing needs immediate and long term strategies, to correct the drift that has set in. The state for the last several decades has been held at ransom by vested interest groups. What in common parlance is called 'vote bank politics'. Each minister trying to bleed the state as much as possible to feed selfish interests and own community interests. What had come to its peak in the outgoing A K Antony and Oommen Chandy governments. This trend has to be stopped and the state has to look at common goals. Cancerous growth of vociferous community groups destroy the larger body is a common sense observation.

Kerala has unique problems and need unique sloutions. Thus a state economy caught up in the flood of international remittances is a unique problem of Kerala. Where there are no custom built solutions in the constitutional safe guards. Neither there are options within the federal statutes. These need daring solutions if the ailing state economy is to be saved. For as it is the international remittances to the state exceeds the central budgetary allocations. How the state plan process goes haywire. The social implications of this, like those with external sources getting fat at the other's cost, or the central sectors becoming capital starved, are to be tackled.

The core issues facing Kerala have been neglected, deliberately, by the various governments and shallow issues made central. This has to change. The wide spread poverty that exists in various sectors of the society when a very small group has come to monopolise resources has been reported by many studies. The latest being the KSSP study that gave shocking data about Kerala, the communist state. What it means is that the state has wider rich - poor divide than elsewhere. How to tackle this is a challenge, if this is not done the results shall be devastating to the state. This is a boiling vulcano. The disease has become chronic.

Perhaps there has to be daring initiatives like taxing the extra rich with international sources, to pool in resources to the deprived, asking the public sector banks to cough out money to the capital starved sectors, what they have refused to do earlier, among the many solutions possible. Obviously these shall be resisted and only a resolute determination shall work. Especially so since these groups have media muscle power. The unemployment scene in Kerala needs concrete steps to tackle and this has to be taken as a part of the devlopmental model. For this shall stand corrected if the capital starved sectors are given capital and skills. The ailing and idling public sector has to be resurrected if possible with private participation.

The state presents its biggest threat in the degradation of the natural resources, encroaching forests and legitimising that was a major objective of vote bank politics
so far and in this there was a continuity from British times. The governmnet has to take stern action in this sector and weed out the enemies of the state. For the water balance of the plains is dependent on the forests on the hills. Whoever destroys it are common enemies of the people. This is an area where the new Chief Minister has raised a lot of hope. What has to be proved in action. The mad rush to make palatial mansions as houses needs to be stopped, it has eaten up the river sands, rocks and wetlands. Perhaps taxing big houses is an option.

The near dead agricultuer sector needs fire fighting approaches and here again the state has taken the wrong road so far. The rubber crop, mostly under the Syrian Christian community, had been promoted with heavy subsidies and the paddy crop of the common people left to die. This has created an economic and environmental catastrophe as paddy cultivation is linked to the water balance of Kerala. Loss of paddy fields thus affect the wetlands and water availability in the state ecosystem. It also affects the food availability of the state. How Kerala has rampant malnutrition levels. But this did not merit any priority so far.

The frontier areas like IT sector, where Kerala has great advantages as a major global IT highway pass through this small state, needs professional approach. With some of the best IT professionals across the world belonging to Kerala their service can be made use of to tackle multiple needs of the state. What has to be taken care of in this is the chemistry of Kerala population, where the skilled are capital starved and this has to be addressed through tailor made solutions. Injecting a judicious mix of international capital in to these sectors. That a more equitable social order results in the future.

Education remained a monopoly of the Christian church in post-colonial Kerala, what has been terribly damaging to the state. For it is here that the young minds are molded. If Kerala lacks in self confidence and courage the most important reason is here. The urge to commercially exploit this sacred duty of bringing up our young ones needs to be corrected. The education department has to take cocrete measures to revamp the public sector institutes in education. Perhaps a series of institutions selected for value addition, like the old Model Schools, shall be advisable. The students have to be weaned away to healthy alternatives.

The delivery systems of government and the other institutions have been polluted over a period of time and these needs to be depolluted. These have become places to accomodate the near and dear of the powerful and the rich. The state goverment officers and staff in Kerala are among the most unproductive as a comparative picture shows and this is directly linked to the unionising trends. No answerability is there now and every wrong doer is shielded by the powerful unions. This is an area where the Party, more than the government, has to intervene from within.

Kerala facing some of the most menacing problems in India and sliding down the scale, as reports tell Kerala is worse of than all neighbouring states now, needs courageous and pro-active solutions and strong will to implement these. Hue and cry created by teh vociferous groups should be ignored and the people should see results in another three years, that is the gestation period for five year governments. And with the global processes of monopolisation eating in to every country Kerala can do some wonders in state planning. What the others can emulate. For the world is looking for solutions and the Communist parties in India have great advantages. India is indeed a big country, if the people stand together it shall be a great country.

Reservations - How to Bomb India’s IT Leadership, India Itself

2006-05-28T17:13:00.000-07:00

The giant leaps that India made in the field of Information Technology (IT) has come to be envied by all other nations. It is a matter of pride for every Indian that the so called poor nation is making records in this crucial sector. India now has one of the best man-power stock in the field and the Indian presence is universally felt. Many of the so-called developed nations in the west also do not have the edge that India has in IT. How they are required to learn from India, take help from India. It is also a pointer to where modern India is heading for. New technologies decide the future history is well known. How the gun powder made the small island called Britain to subdue India long back.

Now how to stop India on its march is what the vulpine groups are brooding over. In this it is known in history that the western colonization of India did two important things, one, monopolized trade in natural resources like spices, two, destroyed the great traditions of India in manufacture. They started deciding the prices of Indian products is what trade monopoly meant. What continues to this day, hidden in the hyped rhetoric of globalisation. The notorious cases of the British killing the native skills in, say cloth making, are instances of the urge to weaken India, what was a cannibalistic trait. They promoted Birmingham cotton instead and soon India was dependent on the British to cloth herself. Every native technology was stolen and then throttled as history of Indian science tells. How India, then richest in the world, became the poorest soon.

If the British in India, with their vulpine instincts, could do that as a straight strategy they also made the Indians fight among themselves. They plotted to put one king against the other, one caste against the other and became the benevolent protectors. What was later called the ‘divide and rule’ policy. The missionary spread stories of upper caste oppression was a clever tool. Later the reservation policy gave it concrete shape. The leading communities were branded enemies of the people, neutralized. Putting one people against the other. Once again they are doing the same, the new reservation policy is a calculated attempt to make the Hindus fight among themselves. Today’s India has an Italian woman with redoubtable past at the helm is not a coincidence. After half a century when the confidential papers are declassified things may get known. How Sonia Maino became a Gandhi, came to lead India at the turn of the millennium.

The biggest threat that the marauding global capital sees in India is the emergence of a truly native idiom in India. What can trigger a global resistance movement. The Hindu nationalists urge that reflected in the raise of Bharateeya Janatha Party, though they had no visionary leaders, had the potential to transform in to a mammoth force. What a post-colonial was waiting for. The process needed correction and it would have come about, but before that it was tackled. The BJP itself was penetrated and their policies exposed. That, due to inner contradictions and through myopic and selfish politicians who were bought over. Why the whirl wind tours of Sonia Gandhi in the last elections, with the west centered Christian church in toe, and unleashed under the banner of the Congress party, became crucial. The BJP was thrown off and the budding urge of a native idiom almost annihilated. India in circa 2006 is at the crossroads.

Now when the same government takes a crucial decision, to give increased reservations in academic institutions of excellence, there are two important objectives. One, these centers of excellence like IITs and IIMs shall be diluted. It was the IIT culture, which focused on merit alone, that gave India its pioneering edge in IT is known. IITs and IIMs and professional centers of excellence escaped the epidemic of reservations and petty politics due to some great leaders. This small island of health in the decadent Indian polity is being targeted. These shall go to dogs in another five years. The other objective is more political, it gives multiple outputs. One by pleasing the larger so called backward communities in large numbers they can buy a vote bank, and two the Hindu consolidation process shall be destroyed for ever. If it was a love for the poor it could have been he economically poor who got the benefit of this generosity. No way.

Already caste wars are on and the same white brains are on work, what if the decisions are seemingly taken by people like Arjun Singh whose ancestors were Rajputs. Or that the Prime Minister who gives the shield for the coterie running India now is a great Sikh. It is a period in Indian history where the Prime Minister’s office is reduced to a dispatch section. The Sikhs whose sight even raises the images of valour and patriotism in India have a wrong role model in this graceful but weak Sikh. But then deeper processes are not visible to the career politicians, they are not intelligent enough to do that. They are simple people who love some luxuries like palatial mansions, some money and power. Are willing accomplices in the game, whatever happens to India is not their concern. Wars of the modern era are fought in the minds, reservation is more potent than nuclear bombs, but these explode slowly, silently, and shall kill India. It is time for every true Indian to stand up and say no, or perish.

Is it a Palace Coup in the new Ministry

2006-05-20T04:58:00.000-07:00

Latest reports coming from the capital talk about very unhealthy trends. Not that it was different this far, there is a discernible lack of collective responsibility. Where symptoms of oligarchic tendencies, various lobbies trying to pull the ship to their own destinations, have caused enough damage. What the Communist Party of India (Marxist) decided, about who should contest and who not, had to be compromised in full public glare. What is unheard of in the history of the Party. What now happens, like Ministries being captured as some media reports tell, is dumping all sense of collective responsibility and decision making. It is indeed a sorry state of affairs and sends a wrong message. Pulls and pushes in democratic polity are usual but for a cadre based Party this is unforgivable.

Kerala is sitting on a precipice, there are serious problems ailing the society. It is a state blown apart by hurricanes of suicides, where the economy has been torn apart after the flooding of international remittances, where the core agriculture base is almost dead, traditional sectors that people survived are ruined. And the people are looking for solutions not dramas. In such a state when the people give a mandate to a new front, pinning their hopes on the leadership, this kind of irresponsible behaviour is painful. This is no time to settle scores. But the heroes in this game are beating the comic shows on popular television channels. It seems taken straight out of stories on banana republics where tin-pot dictators reign.

Everyone knows that the so called Ministers in democratic governments in India, Kerala being no exception, are not know-alls. Infact journalists who cover the government departments hear hilarious stories of ill-informed Ministers with bloated egos being fooled by secretaries. That is an area not many write about. Just out of sympathy for the poor souls, not to disturb the system. But when the same people try to show off being capable of running every ministry, from IT to Health and Water Resources, as if these are like running 'petti kadas' it is a tragedy. For every one to go after silly media created feelings, like that of being stripped is plain naivette. They are becoming sitting ducks for shrewd media. They are stooping to be low rate politicians from what they are expected to be, statesmen.

The CPI(M) and its coalition partners are now with a mandate to run a state. The early indications are not giving a feeling of good governance, news briefings talked about 'no more stree peedanam' and such other stuff. What was expected was constructive programmes for the state. This is no soap opera where the hero and the villains clash, take revenge. Obviously the initial press briefings did not have the home work expected, no support from the Party. Now for a people who gave a big verdict this cannot be looked at with fun. CPI(M) has some of the best experts in each field and the people expect that their services be made use of. That they deliver quality governance. This is no tug of war between politicians, some of whom, as it seems, perhaps get advises from street corner experts.

As a matter affecting the state and its people it has to be said that the goings on need immediate correction. This is no street play to test who acts best and who less. It is to affect the destiny of a people. Post-colonial electoral democracy may have weaknesses and may need total changes, but that is not immediately possible. What is now there ought to be creatively used. The Party can have expert panels to advise each minister, whether there is constitutional provision or not these can be innovated. Let the Ministers show humility and own up their abilities in running a ministry. Let them not parade themselves as super heroes, they are subject illiterate in most cases. Stop fighting over how many ministries each one has. Will some of these ministers even understand what is happening in their ministries is a question, modern day governance is no joke. Fancy ministerial houses and police escorts looks nice. But good governance is a different matter. How many qualify for that.

Already wrong messages have been send, making the new ministry a laughing stock of sorts. The allocation of ministries do not seem to address the long overdue allegations. Thus the minority hold on the education ministry, which has created a lot of bad blood, continues to be under a minority community minister. Even if it is a person with impeccable integrity the message is clear. The big sharks in the education sector have succeeded again. Now there is no point in keeping caste and community hidden. Every decision in the state is taken based on that, but there is a startegy of hiding it, not talking about it as if it is obscene. No more of that, let the truth be said. Whatever the price.

A comrade with hidden caste agenda is far worse than a community leader who talks out. Let that reality be accepted, enough damage has been done. There are many wolves going around in sheep skin. Many leaders have been smoked out to a graceful retreat. The street smart ones make the kill, and the better ones leave without any fuss. In the labyrinths of power there are stories after stories of people victimised only because they belong to a community or another. Hence there is no point in wearing masks. Let the facts be known, gruesome tales come out. Because some of them are very good in acting plays doesn't mean that the truth is not known. Kerala now needs a futuristic and professional team, if possible young and dynamic, to steer herself clear from the muddle created by a mafia rule. People of courage and calibre not swayed by funny media stories. Concrete action plans in each sector and mile stones in implementing them. The Party has to be pro-active. And no more dramas please.

Is it an Avarna Chief Minister in Kerala or a Communist

2006-05-16T21:41:00.000-07:00

( A response note posted afterwards. Especially to those who wrote in to delete this blog after it appeared. It was written to pre-empt a trend in the new governmnet that would have been damaging later. It was felt desirable to speak out than keep in mind, which can become more damaging. This site and network, as can be seen from archives, ran a major campaign to see sanity return in Kerala. It was not meant to damage but to keep the sense of fairplay in balance. What is inevitable for future governance. However we regret if it has hurt anyone, it was the view of the nairsorg team and can in no way be generalised. Ed. Posted June 01, 2006)

Half a century is no time in history. For Kerala and India trying to find her feet after the period of British colonization there is a bit of confusion. There are hang overs and left overs from the British times. Myths that the clever British popularized with ulterior moties survive just as their institutions. ‘Savarna peedanam’ was a major psychological weapon that they invented to effectively neutralize the leading communities. In Kerala it was mainly the martial nobility Nayars, the Brahmins and others are insignificant numbers. Ornate stories were woven and widely spread making the ‘savarnas’ responsible for all the ills of the society, as if the creator Brahma himself was below them. For the leading communities gave them sleepless nights in their attempts to enslave a country. But despite that they could not succeed in making India, Kerala, an America where the native Amerindians were butchered and reduced to museum pieces. There were social divisions in India is true what was there in every country. When caste distinctions were there in India there was extensive slave trade in Europe. But using 'savarna peedanam' huge populations were converted by the colonisers to their faith, Christianity, and made alies. Many others were cultivated with various soaps and the local people made to fight each other. In Kerala the focus invariably was their arch enemies the warring Nayars. But the British also had a sense of nobility and the barriers were never breached. But things got worse after the British left, the clever local groups began using it to their own advantage, how reservations in that name started, prolonged for ever. The new plotters want the old leading communities enslaved, made beggars. The inner fights that ensued saw India remain divided, another British ploy working to this day.

With the new government in Kerala taking charge, where a Hindu consolidation did help them, there is a new tilt. Those who wanted to celebrate the victory stand disillusioned. For, the Chief Minister claims to be an ‘avarna’ and the message passed on is that it was an ‘avarna’ upraising. The Ezhava community leadership had jumped in at the last moment offering support to the Left Democratic Front and are now the god fathers of the win. The official Nayar leadership in deep sleep there is an anomolous situation emerging. That the majority people of Kerala, majority of the Hindu population, the conscientious from other communities, realized the folly of ‘pinnakka – noonapaksham’ alignments and the undue advantages taken by the minorities from the divided majority community is forgotten. How the Left Democratic Front government came to power. The new Chief Minister, brought to the chair with some amount of muscle tactics, is presenting himself as an ‘avarna’ Chief Minister. Even the communist party media parroting this theme. It is transparent to all that this is a clever ploy of those trying to make use of the ‘savarna – avarna’ duality promoted by the British. Being used again for selfish motives of some groups. All the good work done by the Chief Minister designate himself and all the goodwill the Hindu consolidation attempt gained are being wasted. Perhaps it is an evil design remote controlled by some one. The wider issues of the state are side lined.

Going back everyone knows that the truly disadvantaged did not gain anything from the savarna – avarna, pinnakka – noonapaksham rhetoric. When some of them gained considerably by creating this lobby. For the Communists now trapped in strong caste wars they forget the early days of Communism when it was the so called ‘savarnas’ who were in the fore-front, those who went by lofty humanistic values. Many of them who gave all their wealth to the party died starving was the poignant climax to a dream. But the way things are drifting now is visible with the ‘avarna’ Chief Minister being paraded after the elections. The trend was visible from some time before though. The graceful leaders are being smoked out cleverly in the Communist parties is being watched by the people. In this the Communist Party of India (CPI) has come to have some petty minded leaders who penalize others just because they are born ‘savarna’. The very same people who helped them climb up the ladder being dumped. It is a kind of negative apartheid that they are now promoting. But then yes, half a century is no big time. The focus ought to be there, also on how the post-colonial systems can be done away with or corrected.

In the game of musical chairs once again people of Kerala have voted out a government and installed a new one. What has been repeating every five years after independence. It is a hope that will last for a couple of years after which general frustration sets in. A state leading in suicides has lost hopes. Colonial systems pollute the most trustworthy people. The sense of relief as the outgoing government had become far too obsessed with sectarian minority interests, the process of governance becoming a tool for appropriating what is considered common resource of the state is eclipsed. It is primarily the sense of injustice that gave the new government an overwhelming mandate. Where the Communist Party of India (Marxist), as the leading political force that drives the new coalition, has a big responsibility. Especially the leadership that goes by broader humanistic values who need to take bold decisions and not get swayed by the new street mafias. Message of a strong administration has to be send out, no knee jerk responses. They cannot be bowing down to the new media muscle some of them use. The Party, within the limitations of electoral democracy, what in theory caters to the majority views, is required to fulfill many dreams. Individuals are not important but they can do it only through individuals. Why selecting those with dignity, competence and who convey a sense of fair play are important.

Nobody expects the new Communist government to form communes or bring proletariat revolution in Kerala. The sensible people of Kerala know the limitations of a state within the federal democratic set up. And most of them, barring few, are career politicians who run the show under various political formations, having common features and there is not much difference of quality, Communist or non-Communist. With the post-colonial state apparatus and its baggage of colonial ceremonies and institutions the central thrust for politicians now is the lure of power, money and fame. What best can be made out of it is the only question. From appointing a few people as personal assistants to capturing the juicy posts and contracts remains the objective. Those who aim at the chair are not necessarily the best people out there. But both the Communist parties now have mostly this breed. How best to make use of the leverage to suit their interests, also that of what they consider their own people, is the motto. In a state where the undercurrents of caste and religion play decisive roles, but seldom talked about in public, the best actors get the prize. No wonder the new Chief Minister, chosen with political pressure rather than consensus, is the epitome of crude theatrics. Despite his known stands against public offences as opposition man the way he promotes himself as the ‘avarna’ Chief Minister only shows the deep lying mindset. Thus the new government sends out disturbing signals of partisanship together with new hopes. But then eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.

It is an unfortunate trend and the party newspaper itself parroting the language. That it was a myth cultivated by the colonial British to neutralize the opposing communities is forgotten. That there are more ‘savarna’ peons now who seldom sit with the ‘avarna’ chairmen at dining tables, are untouchables, is cleverly hidden. The social hierarchies and distancing exists universally in every period and this happens even between relatives. But the ‘savarna’ stick is freely used. That the ‘avarna’ Chief Minister designate enjoys the best of comforts and that his wards are in choice posts in state government, inserted through the back doors, does not seem to bother him. It is a clever device used to gain upper hand. The 'savarna peedanam' myth repeated through years, by the clever media and institutions like education, has made it something which cannot be denied. The blinded victims themselves accepting it without question now. Thus the neo-rich who enjoy all the fruits of power and who treat the underdog with contempt wear a façade of being the champions of the poor and out castes.

The rhetoric of ‘savarna’ and ‘avarna’ becomes a tool to play politics and for the smarter ones to have the choice meat. It is interesting that the pre-election campaigns saw the common Hindu card being played covertly and overtly but the post-election scene sees the ‘savarna’ and ‘avarna’ duality. Though expected, taking cues from history, it appearing so suddenly is alarming. What is to create further rift among the Hindu communities in the state, already hunted down. Though there are responsible leaders who dissuade the practice among all communities a minority uses this with gusto. The so called proponents of the ‘avarna’ myth who made a kill using that name, but not very kind to the real ‘avarnas’, if they really exist, are once again at the doors waiting for the big meal. Don’t ask them what historical contribution they made to defend this land and its people, don’t also ask them how many chavers among them spilt blood in protecting this land. What were they doing when the country was being subjugated by external forces. But now that they have freedom they want to have the cake and undo those who paid the big price.

The term ‘savarna’ comes handy and the shocked people who sacrificed everything at every historical crisis are shamed in to the exploiter label. Driven to self destruction. They forget that their fate would not have been different from that of the American Indians if the ‘savarnas’ did not take to the sword. Cultivated by the colonial British these myths and the people who benefited from that are once again taking out the ugly weapon. Hearing all the jargon if some one thinks that these saviors of the ‘avarnas’ are living in hutments and are weaklings they cannot be faulted. The real poor and marginalized get used just as the others. Thus the ‘avarna’ Chief Minister in his palatial mansion with all his wards enjoying the undue pleasures of power is paraded as the victim of ‘savarna’ persecution. It is a clever psychological device to cut to size a community. Trap them in guilt and hoodwink the under privileged sections that they can enjoy unlimited pleasures. What has been used in Kerala with great success in the post-colonial era. The secret wish is to reduce them to underdog status and rule over, a kind of perverted jealousy. But elephants even if thinned do not become cattle or vice versa.

Despite all claims it is not an equitable society that the proponents of the ‘avarna’ theory are aiming at, the dalit Christians are standing testimonies. Palaces of those who converted them and got the price from abroad can be seen lining the roads in Kottayam Thiruvalla area when the dalits are back in their shanties. A classic case of those who knew where this psychological device can be used for own individual and community benefits. Yes, they are no more able to sell the big lie of ‘pinnakka – noonapaksha peedanam’ though there are a few who still parrot the phrase. But the damage is done and the Hindu community as a whole is sinking in the crisis they unleashed by demoralizing the leading communities. Forget that the ‘avarna’ leaders are going around in their fancy cars and living in all splendour. Mainly fooling the dalits and tribals whom the ‘pinnakka – noopakshams’ cleverly used, many of them thrown out from their homes and their property captured. It is a trump card which rich ‘noonapakshams’ are no more able to use, stark reality is exposed. But the rich ‘pinnakkas’ are trying to use it still, hoping that they can extract some more juice. It was a weapon that worked to great results as they know and a graceful people watched the silent war.

The imposed logic is simple, if some one is poor it is because of the ‘savarnas’, if the tribals are in the forests it is the ‘savarnas’ who send them there. There is no god, fate or natural processes but the ‘savarnas’ are the deciding authority. Suffice to say that it is a grace that those continuing to play the ‘avarna’ card and taking undue advantage at the cost of others are not telling more, attributing the charge of other happenings in the world also to 'savarnas'. With a secret wish to be in that role. The clever tool of ‘savarna’ persecution invented by the colonial British to cultivate pro-British populations in India, is now being used by many lobbies. Reservations for those without any merit dilute all sectors of life, affecting each and every one. A kind of persecution complex is injected to new generations of various communities, making them sub-human. The Christian propaganda machinery has stopped doing it as they are far too rich now and feel ashamed to tell the old story of ‘savarna’ janmies. Those who killed and died for freedom have been painted black by the colonisers is understandable, even those who openly allied with them. But for the people who were protected, to use the same argument is the height of treachery. A graceful and noble people may not react immediately, but they know the deceit and the vulpine urges.

Most of them are also unable to differentiate who the enemies are and who the friends. The noise created by the media is such, naive people are hypnotised and driven like sheep. But they are watching the attacks silently, amused , knowing fully well that electoral politics in a post-colonial society has its own game plans. The majority saner population is also watching the games and waiting, seeing the big lies being cleverly used to great advantage by some. Enjoying the theatrical performances of dull witted and self-seeker politicians. For the Communist Party it is a tragedy as its list of founders in Kerala includes many ‘savarnas’ who donated all their property and life itself to the communist party with great hopes of a equitable order, few of them died starving. Lumpen elements capturinmg the Party. It was they who helped the ‘avarna’ comrades climb up the ladder. What is unique to Kerala, what did not happen even just across the borders, in Tamilnadu where the ‘savarnas’ there still gives tea to ‘avarnas’ in a coconut shell at many places. So it is to be watched whether it is an ‘avarna’ Chief Minister as they claim, more than a communist Chief Minister, in the chair. Where the masses elect their leaders based on various immediate reasons there is potential, to damage a mauled up state further. The other option is for the Communist government to work for a better state, undo the damages done, gain everyone's confidence.

The Hindu Media Rejoices as Sreelanka Bleeds Again

2006-04-27T02:34:00.000-07:00

With reports from Sreelanka pouring in, of the Sinhalese lead government's military attacking the civilian Tamils, one of the leading newspapers in the South is expressing its glee. The editorial says that the patience of the recently elected Prime Minister of Sreelanka is thinning out, that more may come. There were apprehensions that the hard liner Prime-Minister-elect will soon launch a extermination campaign. The crude violence that the Tamil rebels in Sreelanka have are famous for may not be justifiable. But then the Budhists in Sreelanka are not followers of Ahimsa either, it is another kind of Budhism there. With only the narrow Palk straits separating the home land of the Tamil culture in India and the Tamil population in Sreelanka the ethnic conflict in the island is of great significance to India. Big brother India is covertly or overtly involved in the conflict from the very beginning. Till now a major part of the Tamil population in the island has been wiped out. The Tamil people are claiming sovereignty and running their own territory though.

The public opinion in India, particularly Tamilnadu and south India in general, play a role in deciding India's foreign policy with regard to Sreelanka. Where the stand of widely read newspapers play a key role. The genocide in Sreelanka has to stop is what every right thinking man will want. But the case here is different. The newspaper under mention, claiming to be the flagship of Hinduism and misusing the generic name is thus doing the opposite of what it ought to have done, going by its name. When the Hindu population in Bangaladesh was affected whole of India under Indira Gandhi stood as one and the new country was carved out. But when it comes to the Hindus in Sreelanka India has a different approach. It is the role played by these newspapers that did the harm. The same newspaper had vociferously attacked the Hindu nationalist idiom in India and branded it as totally obnoxious. With the Hindu generic name on its mast head every Hindu ought to have protested, they have a right to. The question that comes up is how much Hindu are the people who run a newspaper by the name Hindu. As understood Brahmin is a holy term in Hinduism and is the epitome of divine qualities. But one wonders whether the Iyengar Brahmins, traders by profession, who run the paper deserve that title. That going by their editorial policies, which are often not very Hindu.

The Tamil issue in Sreelanka has a history with links to this deeper question. The ante-Brahmin politics of the Dravidian movement in Tamilnadu, few decades back, had questioned the claims of the caste Brahmins there. Thanthai Periyar who spear headed the movement initially had many of his arsenal borrowed from missionary spread stories, but the movement had made a point. What was to start a movement of social reform in Tamilnadu, against caste oppression and liberation from caste Brahmin imposed oppression. There were several saints who wanted the caste-Brahmin hold on Hinduism corrected. But the Dravidian movement lacked a clear vision, lacked the spiritual anchorage and direction, it soon drifted apart. That this newspaper belongs to the same group, then under attack, is no coincidence. There is no denying the fact that their policies regarding Sreelankan Tamils reflect on this past. Tamilnadu has a past history of spirituality far too ancient than the model of Brahminical Hinduism, with its casteist separation, monopolisation of knowledge and priestly arrogance, that is being paraded.

The Tamil people of Sreelanka, the island close to the home land of the Tamil culture in peninsular India, are the native people there. With a few people brought there by the British later as plantation labour. But after the island gained independence from Britian in 1948 the majority Sinhalese have managed to hunt them down. A major part of the Tamil population has perished in bloody battles so far. What started with the discriminatory state policies that the Sinhalese government brought in, like denial of citizenship rights to hill Tamils, enactment of the Sinhala only language policy, asking Tamil students to have more marks than Sinhalese students for admissions and a battery of legislations made the Tamils restive. The shrewd Sreelankan governmnment also made India take back a large population of Sreelankan Tamils who were settled in the southern states. Sreelanka also allegedly tried to get in to the US - China axis and it was then that the symathies for Sreelankan Tamils went up in India. But later the policy saw strange changes and the Indian army sent to Sreelanka was seen killing the Tamils there. The diplomatic efforts to seek a solution by India nose dived when the government of India, under young and naive Rajiv Gandhi, reportedly held a leader of the Tamils incommunicado on Indian soil. What to lead to a chain of tragedies, well known by now. One cannot justify the approaches of the radical Tamil groups, but one cannot also forget that it was the last choice they had.

As of now the economic blockades in the north and east, where the Tamils live, population transplantations in the area and general break downs have created havoc in these regions. The rebel Tamil movement here is, as reported by the international media, now recruiting young children as commandos. Perhaps because the adults have been reduced in fighting. The present onsluaght by the Sreelankan army and airforce on civilian areas of Tamils have reportedly killed many ordinary people. The small rebel force cannot face a state force is anybody's guess. India ought to have initiated a dialogue process with the two warring groups. For the island is far too close to the Indian shores and the people of the island share a common past with India, atleast south India. It is a tragedy that the Indian foreign policy with regard to Sreelanka after Indira Gandhi, who was tragically assassinated, has always been confused and unsteady. Where the crafty newspapers have played their role. Of late it is perhaps also the political scene in India, particularly Tamilnadu, where a pro-Tamil party has compromised for a few electoral seats, that triggered the fresh violence. India atleast at this late hour ought to take a pro-active role in Sreelanka, see that justice prevails. Perhaps the Indian sub-continent needs a pan-Indian collective on the lines of the European union. What alone will solve the problems of cornered groups like the Sreelankan Tamils and Bangaladeshi Hindus.

Sayippine Kandappol ... Hindu Aikyam and Kerala Elections

2006-03-30T06:08:00.000-08:00

All the commotion in Kerala about the so called 'Visala Hindu Aikyam'is over. The elections, which will decide as to who runs the state anduses its resources for another five years, are announced. And there issilence. The leaders who made roaring statements are not to be seen.The 'Nair Mahasammelanam' had trumpeted that 'we are to decide whowill run the state' but those who said this are in hiding. The samecircus with the same faces are out in the streets. It is like theMalayalam saying 'Sayippine Kandappol Kavathu Marannu'. Once again thesame story will repeat. A state held to ransom by the so called minority communities, who by virtue of their being weak have constitutional rights, shall be dictating terms for another fiveyears. Whatever the front, for both the fronts in Kerala are running on minority money.

The first instalment of money is paid, to write hoardings on compoundwalls of houses, the going rates in Thiruvananthapuram are Rs. 10000/for the paint and writing. Many of then make a killing. Huge amountsof money shall flow in from various sources, mainly the minoritycoffers, who really have their minting machines. The candidatures wereon sale, those with money to spend are the sought after ones. If theycan also spend for others, party funds, all the more sweeter. And soonthey will start siphoning the money back, from public funds that cometo their power after they are elected. What is called in sweet words,'corruption'. Democratic polity is the name but it is caste andcommunity that drives the game. It is a silent consensus of deceit.the majority has lost hopes in the post-colonial polity.Now what are the options before the marginalised and suffering Hindu community.

There are various allegations and counter allegations aboutthe Hindu forces. That some are trapped in black mailing, that there are unknown strings pulling from various places. The mainstream political pary with Hindu leanings are far too weak to be seen alive. Inner feuds always keep them at a safe distance from power. There is no viable alternative. Now what can the Hindus do, the native idiom, the native culture, cannot allow itself to be driven to the walls. Made inconsequential. That would damage the state as well. If it is not damaged already. One look at the natural survival systems of Kerala show the results, the dying rivers, balding encroached forests, decaying lakes. Armies of the Hindu unemployed and poor, with only islands of the minority rich remaining.The state has become a hell-hole of suicide prone Hindus, they call it God's Own. The grave issues facing the state are cleverly side lined by theChristian controlled media, they play lullabies and the pious Hindusgo to sleep. Then are remote controlled in to debates that they want them to sheepishly follow. It is a kind of hypnosis, now decades old.The most affected eventually kill themselves, atlast seeing no lightat the end of the tunnel.

To talk about reality is communal, Hindus organising is communal, for the moneyed and well cemented Christiansand Muslims to join in battle is secularism. That is what the Malayali is made to believe.
It is a long story, where the 'coolie padas' of Hindus themselves, as politicians, media men and beurocrats make thejob easier. They know that it pays, have cultivated a double face, areenjoying the rewards.The option before the Hindus in Kerala are these. To vote only the Hindus, or not to vote at all. No votes for minority candidates. That after selecting who is a competent and true Hindu. Going beyond party affiliations, seeing the chances of winning. Where there are noneto vote for just make the votes ineffective. If one is with apolitical party, no harm, go with the dramas, street plays, go forpolling, but never vote a non-Hindu. Make this a campaign, pass onthis message by whisper campaigns. If possible by hoardings and billboards, the slogan has to be ' Hindus Vote Only Hindus. True,Competent Hindus. Or Do Not Vote At All'. Without such pro-active steps they will continue to be enslaved. This world is for the daringsouls, not for those who keep complaining and weeping.

Please circulate to all Kerala Hindus...

Union Budget and Bush Fire

2006-02-28T23:57:00.000-08:00

For the London School of Economics it was a moment of pride. P Chidambaram, Finance Minister of India was patted on the back by Dr. Man Mohan Singh, the Prime Minister, both from the London School. Union budget for India was being presented in the Indian Parliament. Chidambaram talked at length about an India glittering. The real Indians were curious, many confused whether there was another India. Under the watchful eyes of the Italian daughter in law of the Nehru family, who cleverly uses the Gandhi surname, the London School boys were doing well. No doubt they deserved a medal from there, Dr. Singh is famous for his obsession with the London School days, as exposed in a leaked biodata he wrote for Madame while applying for the post of Prime Minister.

That the day the budget was presented there was another news story, of large number of tribals killed by the Naxalites. It is the other India that the London School boys do not know about. That was not in the syllabus there. What is included is ways and means to manage the colony. Started for the western imperial motives, economics itself a tool for imperialism, it is difficult to tell the old London School alumni how the world is a different place. Trapped in the statistics of development and indices Chidambaram is a happy man as his paper records of the country show a glorious India. The media personnel, paid by the major business tycoons, faithfully serve their masters. Here Chidambaram showed some generosity. His Khadi mask hides many things, the globe trotter hero has never seen the plight of the Indian villages. Or he cannot care less, the new brown sahib Macaulay talked about long back.

Now where is India heading for, how far is India self sufficient, how much vulnerable Indian sovereignty is, how far we have drifted from the Gandhian ideals. Is it becoming a satellite of the western imperial interests, who can be swayed by the masters of neo-colonisation. These are debates that the London School boys do not understand, how can fish be aware of water. In a country flush with loans no one knows how much money is taken as debts by the various government agencies, departments, NGOs and undertakings. How much India owes the western agencies, what reminds one about the East India company long back. Now when the US President George Bush is visiting India these are becoming important isues for the people. Bush, like the villains of comic strips, has made his demands before reaching India. The naughty looks and loveable gaits of this gentleman hides sharp teeth behind. What has seen Iraq bleeding, perhaps soon will see Iran follow that.

It was only few days back that the French President Jacques Chirac visited India. A mature country and a mature leader. But with Bush the cacaophony generated shows up another face. That the American continent once belonged to the native races, who were wiped out and the present people claimed all rights, is part of history. That this, like Andamans in India, was a place where the criminals from Britian and Europe were once sent on exile is forgotten now. Great Britian is itself bowing before the old deviants. The policies of the United States show up this trait, no wonder Bush is their hero. How Bush before his arrival has made demands from India. Not for a moment thinking that this is an ancient civilization, where he has to walk the soils with humility. That for the sages of India, who transcend time and space, this man is not more than a mosquito.

Enslaved people running a great land, who do not know what India is, are thus giving a red carpet welcome to this man. That he is coming to Hyderabad as a top destination, now ruled by a converted Christian Chief Minister, is a message. There are others, like his statement that India is a friend and Pakistan an ally. He loves the friend no doubt but when it comes to a serious conflict he is bound by the ally is the inner meaning. It is another attempt to put the Hindu India against the Muslim Pakistan, naive Hindus and Muslims get fooled easily. What has been a strategy of the Christian west through out history. That the leftists who give support to the Sonia dyansty become laughing stock in all these matters is a matter of concern. They have no concrete agenda to pursue, had their revolutionary hero in Calcutta given a dressing down by the American envoy here. That the London School boys are going to give in, whether it is the nuclear issue, selling American products to the semi-starved Indians, or the other demands of Bush can be easily forseen.

Chidambaram's budget and George Bush coming to India point to a dangerous trend. The conditions within India have been made favourable and the aggressive inroads from outside are crashing in. What all happens beneath is not known. What if the American companies like Monsanto have driven thousands of Andhra Pradesh farmers to suicides, through their seeds and products, what if there are allegations that the skewed trade regimes are killing off traditional sectors in India, the glitter of India shining gets the full marks from the westerniseed media. That the real India which Gandhiji wanted to empower remains under the carpet is nobody's concern. How in Hyderabad thousands of poor in the city streets were herded off to jails and adjoining villages. That George Bush is not seeing the uglyness of India. A poverty caused by the western imperialism, now in the garb of WTO, India's debt servicing. But all said and done India knows that all Americans are not like Bush, the large population of Americans in India, in its ashrams, present another face of America, where there is hope.

Mr. Karunakaran, Are You Listening

2006-02-23T05:23:00.000-08:00

Old men become like children is the old adage, where the others will have to guide them. The case of octogenarian K. Karunakaran is similar and the present attempt is to tell him what to do. Not that the present post-colonial system of governance will help, it has to go in the long run, but in the meantime. Now that the Democratic Indira Congress, Kerala, is not admitted in the left coalition these are difficult days for K. Karunakaran. That he had revolted against the Italian daughter in law now running the Congress show, also talked out against the capture of the Congres party in Kerala by the Syrian Christian groups, are great things. No question on that, but at some point the old secularist in him resurfaced. He was on the verge of breaking the fake secularism in Kerala, what has been haunting him for some time now, but just short of the finale he compromised. That K. Karunakaran was hunted down by the Syrian Christian lobby in the Congress, that in full public glare, was forgotten by Karunakaran who tried to put up a secular mask. What makes him a comic character.

That both the fronts in Kerala are holding on to fake values, vulnerable to the money and vote bank politics of the so called minority communities is known to all. Thus we have in the ultra secular Left Democratic Front two church sponsored outfits, Kerala Congress Joseph and P C George. That when they talk about ‘communalism’ from roof tops, tell that the Hindu outfit Bharateeya Janata Party is an untouchable. True they have no money as the Christian secularists have, no watertight vote banks. Can be attacked with abandon. For the new age communists who love to be spending some quality time in air conditioned comforts, then coming out to talk about the poor, the trade off is visible. Power and money keeps them moving and to achieve that they will do any thing. The minorities have both, money and vote banks. And there is more deep down there are seething caste rivalries in the ‘secular’ left front, what actually saw Karunakaran out. Aging communists are viciously casteist is known to all insiders.

What can Karunakaran and his son K. Muraleedharan do now. Let us for now forgive Karunakaran for his concern for Muraleedharan, even a washer man tries to make his son a better washer man. But what exactly can they do to save themselves and also the ignominy that the followers are facing. Dump the leftists, dump the Congress and go for a third front. Talk about a Hindu consolidation, not necessarily what the existing Hindutwa groups are telling, a bit more vigorous one. The Hindu groups, there are many, will do what is to be done, only if he respects them. Barring exceptions they are men of substance, not swayed by power politics, with minor courtesies they can be accommodated. Obviously once there is a chance of winning elections the rolling stones who move to the ‘happening side’ every time will come over. If Karunakaran can have an understanding with the SNDP and the NSS, other Hindu organizations, many of the political parties now in confusion will rally with him. The ‘thalla’ Kerala Congress having left it, the ‘pilla’ Kerala Congress too may come forward, dumping their masks. Soon the reds may have to come behind thegroup. So will many others now in the middle path.

Yes, Karunakaran will have to do some internal changes for that, like introducing new talented faces in leadership. Add new concrete agendas, aimed at a Hindu resurgence to his party manifesto. An alternative developmental strategy can easily be formulated. Now, his ‘complan boy’ son may not be acceptable to many as the Chief, though he can be one of the bosses. Where the most sensitive part of the game is. Can Karunakaran dare to do that, yes, an old father often have weaknesses, but realistic fathers should weigh the sons abilities. And the other road is going back to the old days, a home coming. Greasing the same backside of those whose family used to ride elephants and had no riding marks. The old statement ‘as uncles ride elephants nephews don’t get the marks on their backs’ about the white lady now running Delhi is not forgotten. Certainly not by the sweet and shrewd lady. Only time will tell whether the old war horse will see his exit from Kerala politics in humiliation or stage a come back. Then leave with grace and dignity.

And further, even if Karunakaran and son decides to go after the minority front the cadres who went with him may not. In most places the old Congres men are now part and parcel of the Communist block. They have also become enemies of the Congress, what is far too visible in places like Thiruvananthapuram where there was a major election. Now it will be difficult for the local people to switch sides and they are more likely to remain with the Communist block. Even otherwise the UDF having been reduced to a Kottayam Makappuram outfit in the last elections and with the BJP not yet a concrete alternative the Hindu community in large numbers, including the Hindutwa cadres, have drifted to the lesser evil called Communism. What is to remain till there are viable alternatives, political processes. Thus Karunakaran’s home coming will see the end of his political career. The father son duo will soon drift to political wilderness. For which there are several examples in history. There are risks whatever the decision they take and a futuristic vision demands that they choose the broader Hindu plank. Though veiled now that is the driving force, for the people, which Karunakaran stands for.

And last, the DIC(K) name itself shows that the people behind are illiterate, as its short form means a slang in English, penis, but when allotted a name they did not even know that. Despite all such weaknesses lot of people, frustrated with the two minority driven fonts, had moved in to the party. They have also been successful in roping in the fossil National Democratic Party, of the Nair community, holding a merger Meet in Kottayam. That means, even if for name sake, they are also affected by the disgrace. The SNDP leaders have also come forward in support of Karunakaran more than once, they too shall be unhappy about what happens to Karunakaran. All that means that the road ahead is not of escape but fighting on. And there is a ground swell of Hindu consolidation happening in Kerala. Given a concrete alternative the new front will win is certain. Hope Karunakaran and his small band of followers will realize where the wind is blowing.

Thiruvananthapuram, Politics, Crimes and Courts

2006-02-15T20:16:00.000-08:00

Hindus fighting among themselves have always been a reason for others taking advantages. The recent judgment of the Fast Court Judge Y Thajudeen Koya in Thiruvananthapuram awarding imprisonment and fine on 23 activists of the RSS – BJP cadres has the same story behind it. The present case was about the violence unleashed in the student agitations in the city under the student wing ABVP, where several shops, transport buses and vehicles were damaged. One man was also killed. Initially the ABVP students had protested about the undue favours shown to minority institutions in the plus 2 school allotments. By the P J Joseph lead education department under Chief Minister E K Nayanar. Capture of the education sector by the minorities had crossed all limits. But the police unleashed ruthless violence on the ABVP students, including girl students. Gory details of Hindu girls being beaten up by police were flashed by the media, blood oozing from their faces. As a reaction the students became violent where mainly minority shops on the MG Road were targeted, also public transport, were targeted, at the end a murder. That the shops attacked belonged to the minority communities, now taking over the Hindu owned properties like wild fire, was censored by the media.

It is also alleged that there were anti-social elements who penetrated the student march and did most of the violence, for few Hindu owned shops and property including that of the BJP leaders got damaged. One man, a Hindu conductor with KSRTC, reportedly who was formerly a CPIM follower who had broken away from them, was unfortunately murdered. It is still unknown why, who plotted for it. Soon, as is the normal ritual in Thiruvananthapuram, a list of the persons to be booked was handed over to the police. It is a silent understanding between the police and the political leaders, their bosses, to serve mutual interests and many of the parties, including the RSS – BJP have a panel of people who get booked wherever some violence happens and is registered as a case. The police too know that these are often the dummies but they proceed and the accused parrot what they are told. With the under hand deals and political pressure some times these cases are dropped by the government or kept pending for ever. It is a political trump card in the elections and the ruling parties bargain with this weapon. The victims most of the time are the Hindutwa brigades who fail to come to power in Kerala.

This shadow war also sees unsuspecting people in the cadres themselves getting charge sheeted, when they fall out with the powerful, in the parties. Since it is a world of violence and under world linkages not many dare to talk about it, leave alone challenge it. The labyrinths of Hindutwa politics in Thiruvananthapuram have perfected this modus operanti for some time now. Where no one believes no one, cannibalistic rivalries trap people who retaliate in the same language. With poverty now rampant the Hindu youth are easily drawn it to the web. There is a network of police officers with links to the under world and politics and the leaders use their leverages to save and punish people. How this time the list included names of senior people like J Sisupalan, the ailing 70 year old Hindu Aikya Vedi leader. Whose only fault was speaking at the meeting in front of the secretariat. Also many others who got caught and are now destined to suffer. It is these people, stigmatized by society, who eventually drift to the under world, where there is a large number of ex-Hindutwa youth now in to criminal ways, for a living. It is now a big population and majority of them are from the old tharavadus of the warrior community, Nayars. Passion in youth drive them on issues, later with wrong leadership they become criminals.

This time it was a genuine political issue that was behind the problem, what was cleverly made a criminal case. Indeed the take over of the education sector in Kerala by the powerful and vocal minorities has become alarming. The allotment of plus 2 schools to majority minorities by the Christian community party Kerala Congress (Joseph), was wrong and it was a legitimate protest. But the Communist lead government of E K Nayanar, which allowed the game plan to go through, did not see the threat of this new reform. Hindus as communists and Hindus as Hindutwa parivar were on clash, where the minorities made the kill. What continues, now there is a war even within the RSS –BJP itself, how this turn around came about. And soon after the violence unleashed, by design or default, this issue was dead. Instead what was there was a criminal case, where a large number of people from ordinary families got caught. Now they are convicted. Interestingly this case was allegedly used by the ruling minority lead Oommen Chandy government and its leaders for electoral gains. When in the last Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha elections this was used by the Congress lead UDF to bargain with the RSS – BJP. The deal, as alleged, was this, if they voted the Congress candidate the case will be dropped. Running a court case is also a costly affair. The Hindutwa groups now have thousands of court cases booked all over Kerala which cost them millions. It is the soft under belly that only insiders come to know.

It is clearly political, where the government wants to win cases they win, where they want to lose they lose, British invented judiciary is quite flexible. The public prosecutors and judges are after all under the ruling party. Even laws can be changed as Kerala saw in the case of tribal lands. Where a central statute meant to restore alienated lands to the hapless tribals was cleverly altered and enforced. For, here the ruling Christian community was involved. In the battery of cases involving forests and encroachment the Kerala government routinely losses, the public prosecutor gets diarrhea on the day of hearing, or the judge gets a transfer. It is not by accident that K M Mani, of another Kerala Congress, again of the Christians, loves to have the Law Ministry under him. The naïve Hindus, Communist, Congress or even the Kerala Congress, do not know what is happening. Lilliputian Hindu leaders in these parties, with bloated egos and selfish motives, become tools in the operation. The smarter ones make them fools, trap them, bargain with them using law books. Immediate gains, some money, power and fame makes them bow down, do the bidding of the clever minority politicians. For the apathic and confused Hindus of Kerala here is another episode in the mega-serial called politics. When the life of these young ones stand ruined, families shattered, with incompetent people in Hindu leadership, what was a political issue has become another criminal case.

Justice Narendran and Kerala - Commissions and Omissions

2006-01-28T23:45:00.000-08:00

Controversy regarding the Justice Narendran Commission Report is once again filling the media in Kerala. At the core of this debate is employment opportunities in the limited posts in the state government. This Commission was appointed based on the demand for proportionate opportunities for various communities in the state. This seemingly genuine need however hides the larger frame of reference, state of Kerala economy as a whole. Also the history of various communities in the state vis a vis the government service. How allegations are being made by some vocal and moneyed minority organizations, who also use the language of threat. Politicians who love their power and privileges do not want to lose that and are willing to do some compromises.

Forget for now that India is the only country where there are provisions for reservations based on one’s birth. What was initiated by the colonial British to favour the minority Christian community as history tells. A policy accepted by the Indian republic to see that the disadvantaged sections of society, like the low castes, gets adequate representation in government jobs. Originally meant to have been in force for few decades this later got extended in time, also the number of communities in the bracket went up. It was an anomaly of the democratic electoral system and its vote banks, where quality governance suffered. In states like Kerala huge populations of the so called minority communities, who do not deserve to be called minorities by any definition, started taking advantage of the scene with abandon. Ill educated dalits and tribals remained where they were.

The main group now in the forefront for this demand is the Muslim community, majority of whom are now extremely rich, thanks to their links to West Asia and their traditional skills in trade and commerce. Those without such skills went for employment in government and it is this terrain that they are now eating in to. Thus a maid servant in a Malappuram Muslim household from the former upper castes like Nayars will be treated as privileged and the Muslim given government support. The Muslim rich man’s children, who do not need any state patronage, getting advantage and the poor driven to ruin. With their vote banks, media clout and money they are now making aggressive demands. Achieved quite a bit already. The silent lot are put to suffering. Have no media clout or vote banks to counter the threat. They have no money to print colour posters and organize mass rallies.

That the Muslims and Christians were traders from olden times, skilled in that, is forgotten. There is no commission as yet to see what percentages of traders and are from these communities, no demands to give reservations there. There are also no commissions to see how many from the Muslim and Christian communities are abroad, how much money they have been sending home, how much of the state’s common resources they have captured. There is no proportionate sharing there. There are no commissions to see how much community representation is there, apart from trade, say in fishing in the seas or similar other vocations. If a demand is made to have reservations in deep sea fishing or in granting of visas abroad there was justice. It is only about the few government jobs, what was traditionally the only skill that communities like the Nayars had. Commissions and omissions help the clever ones.

They knew agriculture but the huge international receipts and the resultant rise in cost of life destroyed agriculture in Kerala. They also lost their lands. Those in traditional sectors like coir are also out on the roads job hunting for at least one meal a day. The few jobs in government are their only solace. It is here that the attack is targeted. The already high rates of suicides in these communities will go up manifold. Wait for more juicy ‘pen vanibham’ stories as well. There will be more and more decay in families and they shall be totally enslaved in another generation. More silenced. This will also affect the other Hindus who have no support from abroad and the real low castes are not going to make a big gain anyway. Taking tribals for instance there are no suitable candidates for many posts. So who is to gain can be easily predicted. With large number of professional and non-professional educational institutions in the minority sector the big kill is to come as days go by.

There are few other areas which needs to be analyzed here. One, the sabotage of a statewide Economic Survey, of various communities, initiated together with the Narendran Commission, by the same government few years back. This was cleverly blocked, presumably by the minority communities, what could have brought out the real scene in Kerala. How much destitute the vociferous minority communities are. How a parallel minority economy is flourishing in Kerala, how a new minority feudalism has come to rule Kerala. Which has took over almost every sector of public life. So it is a calculated move, divisions in the Hindu society were used to gain advantage. The majority Ezhava community, now dissociated from the lobby after their having been judged by the commission as having got more than their due, helped make this lop sided issue vicious. Some freak Muslim groups have taken over from them. But will the rich among them support the poor, no way, it is a game to fool the naïve.

The greed for government jobs in a country suffering from chronic unemployment is understandable. What is due to wrong economic policies and western colonization, what is to aggravate in the days of globalisation. Where even the few jobs are to be cut down, only the capital rich will have investments and jobs shall go for their own people. Yes, the minorities are to gain there also. From within also there are problems, like the high salaries offered to the government employees, what they achieved with their collective bargaining. It was another device like vote banks of the minorities where the unorganized groups had no champions. How the lure of a government job became wide spread. It was not competence for a job but the salaries that mattered and the quality of governance came down.

As everyone knows corruption, nepotism and inefficiency are the hallmarks of government employees now. Who get paid by the common man. Thanks to the past commissions Indian beurocracy is the most lethargic and inefficient, Kerala is perhaps the most rotten. Reservations also helped in this as these bring the most unsuitable people to various posts. To many it is a means of making money. What is to further aggravate with the new quotas. Thus it is a systemic collapse that has resulted and the new run for the meat will see further erosion. Where the common man, often the poor Hindus who throng the government agencies, shall be the sufferers. Interestingly the various political parties and organizations like the Nair Service Society (NSS) have given the green signal to the new demands. NSS leaders tell that the Narendran Commission is illegal, also that the new package announced based on that is welcome. Power, money and other baits keep individuals in control. Where the common man suffers. Post-colonial India calls for fundamental changes.

Nayars and a Tragedy called NSS

2006-01-03T20:30:00.000-08:00

Another attempt by the coterie at Chanagnacherry to pull down the Nayar community, Hindu community in general. This time it is a call to promote the Brahmin priests in temples. The return, it seems is to teach Vellappilly Natesan of the Ezhava community a lesson. For he has hunted down K C Venugopal, the Devaswom Minister. Forget that it was the same coterie that began the game, targeting the Devaswom Board President K. Raman Nair. Supposed to be their own man, perhaps he did not please their bloated egos, or did not share the booty. What eventually spilled over and the old man and his man Friday chose to hit back. Obviously there are hidden issues involved as sharing the loot is what brings all the conflicts, Devaswom Board, NSS or SNDP. That the post-colonial state apparatus is corrupt to the core is known to all, that includes the Devaswom Board, a den of corruption. What repeats in similar bodies like NSS and SNDP. But angels guarding the truth came out with crusades against corruption.

The steady process of a Hindu consolidation is suddenly on threat. To be on the fair side there was no need for Vellappilly Natesan, now with a fan following among the Nayars, also other Hindus, to have gone behind Oommen Chandy with his ‘bomb’ against the ‘Nayar Minister’ Venugopal. What came handy for the old sponsors of Changanacherry, the Syrian Christian community. Oommen Chandy and the ever thankful KPCC President, Ramesh Chennithala, brought in with a lot of noise, played behind the scenes can be inferred. How the Mannam Jayanthi in Changanacherry had a horde of UDF ministers. The strategy was well planned, there was also a ‘Nair Pratinidhi Sammelanam’, though what kind of ‘Pratinidhis’ now go to Changanacherry is well known. Statements from the Brahmin community came immediately, that only Brahmins, now destitute after serving the gods for many generations, should do poojas. In a state whose Hindu population is famous as the most disturbed, suicide prone, driven to destitution. Understandable, with out Santhi job they will starve to death, even if the salaries for the Santhis suffice only to keep them in semi-starved conditions, karmam.

Now the demand by the NSS supremos is primarily to cut Vellappilly to size, an image they resent with the dynamic man filling newspaper space all over, what they fail to match even to a small degree. And as if to add insult to injury the Ezhava community leadership is also hobnobbing with the powerful minorities, bargaining from within and attacking from without. When Vellappilly strikes from outside Vakkom Purushothaman fixes the deal from inside. Clever game plan where the NSS was found wanting. The old SNDP leadership has used this tool earlier also, aligning with the lower castes and minorities, making quite a territory in the name of ‘Pinnakka Noonapaksham’, abusing the ‘Savarna Fascists’. Not that they were fond of the pathetic condition of the real ‘Pinnakka’ groups like Dalits and Tribals. Who remain where they were. Who made the kill was the ‘minorities’ and a bit by the Ezhava community. It was also to counter this that the Nayars aligned with the Syrian Christians. Both parties realized the folly of fighting each other and a general consensus in favour of Hindu Aikyam emerged.

It is this initiative that the present stand off is going to damage. Where both the parties are at fault, the NSS more so. For the organization claiming to represent the Nayars and located in the Christian belt has its own world view. They go by what Malayala Manorama editorials tell and are in that sedation from their inception. Where the small crack in the present Devaswom stalemate came handy for the lobby. In any case a ‘Visala Hindu Aikyam’ was not going to be in their interest. The Hindu empire was beginning to strike back. The last Panchayat elections saw the minority lead UDF reduced to Kottayam and Malappuram. How the frantic efforts to compromise began. The Congress, once lead by the freedom fighters, a majority Nayars, has since been captured by the moneyed Syrian Christians. High command now in Italy it was easy. How the attempt to white wash the sins began and the NSS was given some privileges. Like handing over some land in Thiruvananthapuram. Where the MG College and Women’s College are located, so far on lease. Similar land assigned to Syrian Christians during the same period, like the YMCA, was handed over long back, as the Nayars slept. There are many other plots in the capital, like Mar Ivanios College land in this list. But such things are only known to insiders.

With the generosity, where Oommen Chandy gave his land to the MG College, the UDF and NSS were friends again. What was celebrated at the Mannam Jayanthi day, almost the entire cabinet paraded before the cameras. The NSS super heroes elaborating about the percentages of Commission, Narendran Commission here, to the TV cameras with great scholarship. The General Secretary, an old lawyer at the Magistrate Court in Changanacherry who used to frequent the head quarters, as Kidangoor Gopalakrishna Pillai used to narrate, is his best in such matters. What if he had no cases as a lawyer he knows the nuances of how the ‘laws’ work. Is also fond of fighting Court Cases, NSS has a plethora of cases in various Courts. The British who made all the ‘laws’ for the natives were a smart lot, it is very easy to put people in to the spider’s web of laws and procedures. So for some time now it will be a debate on the percentages of the Commission. Forget the capture of Kerala by the minorities. Forget also the larger Hindu Aikyam. Obviously this will have enough ammunition to keep the parties fighting. One caste against other, one community against the other and the loot of the state will remain out of focus.

As a senior community member said, the NSS leadership, like the pied piper in the old story, is taking the whole Nayar community to sea. Which they are not even aware of. As other communities like Ezhavas are busy planning and implementing various developmental programmes like loan facilities to poor there is nothing of the kind in the NSS. The old guard do not understand such matters and will not want to hear what others tell. Their incompetence make them insecure. The main role of the NSS Karayogams is collecting ‘Kodi Panam’ the money collected at death rituals of members. Also assisting in marriages, what is no more there in many places like Thiruvananthapuram where the Residents Assciations have taken over this role. How many Karayogams, match box buildings inaugurated by the NSS General Secretary who enjoys elephant processions and talapoli for such events. The dilapidated Karayogam buildings and unkempt educational institutions of the NSS give an idea of what is happening. As more and more of the community perish, as the jobless and unmarried swell there is celebration at Changanacherry.

And at the core of the problem is nothing but their skewed religiosity. It was a hundred years back that Chattambi Swamikal gave a call to the Nayars, to get out from the slavery to caste Brahmins. From blind beliefs and customs. Now, when Narayana Panikker and his ‘sinkidy’ asks that Kerala go back a hundred years either they are having serious mental problems or are playing the fool. For the Nayar community, with all the challenges, is not stagnant to that degree that they will stand by such absurd positions. For them they know that they will have to progress in spite of a dead engine like the NSS. And historically looked at the thousand dollar question is where were the Nayars when the NSS was formed and where they stand now. Comparing with how the SNDP helped the Ezhava community the picture becomes clear. Indeed NSS has done a lot of damage, much more than their help, to the community. What repeats in the present case. Without changing the whole NSS structure, from its constitution down, there is no hope from there. But the NSS duo have spread rumours that they have done black magic, with a Brahmin priest, to destroy all those who oppose them. How no one from the pious Nayars dares to approach them.

Communist Congress and the AKG Centre

2005-12-14T20:00:00.000-08:00

Udayor Team

The just concluded International Congress on Kerala Studies at the AKG Centre, what was claimed to be a curtain raiser for tomorrow’s Kerala, was part of a road show. But beyond the urge for capturing the mundane rewards of parliamentary democracy there were deeper plots in this...

The show had behind it Thomas Issac, who considers himself the post-EMS
think tank of the CPI(M) and M A Baby who adorns the robe of a patron saint of fine arts, very unusual for a revolutionary. These are both different communists as the cadres of the working class party know...

There are big lies being floated in the name of the party, after the last jamboree in 1994 with the same name it was claimed that the People’s Plan exercise was an invention of the comrades in Kerala. What later nose dived. The common people exposing the big lie at the elections...

Earlier the infighting at CDS and the large amounts of international aid that came in for the KRP saw Thomas Issac losing out in CDS. How he reappeared in the CPM with a larger than life image. With the new magic device in hand, was soon in the key post at the Planning Board...

The first assignment given to those officers who took charge of the Rural Development Department under the new Congress lead UDF government was to dispose off the truck loads of ‘kaipustakam’. This taken at night to unknown locations to be buried...

Read on ...

It is another kind of idol worship, the imposing building of AKG Centre in the state capital is a symbol. Of a passion called communism that ordinary people nurtured, of the coming of a new heaven on earth. What if the dream is long dead people still go after it, ritual of elections and power keep it going. Forget that there is no such hopes anymore, no hair splitting debates on dialectical materialism. No romancing of the Prague Spring. In a world order eaten up by the old imperialists, coming now as WTO and TNCs, the communists have learned the game. But they repeat the old mantras, they too know that they are hollow now. The real Kerala where minority feudalism and an ocean of poverty exists, where hurricanes of suicides shatter lives they have their hypnotic band. Hungry coir workers stand dazed.

The just concluded International Congress on Kerala Studies at the AKG Centre, what was claimed to be a curtain raiser for tomorrow’s Kerala, was part of their road show. But beyond the urge for capturing the mundane rewards of parliamentary democracy there were deeper plots in this. As usual. But of late people have grown to understand things a bit. How it did not make the landmark event it was projected to be. Despite the best cooperation from the minority controlled media. For the Communist Party of India (Marxist) the aggressive child of undivided Communist Party of India, it is also seeing the pulls and pushes of the modern times. Though it is all cleverly hidden the rat races and monopoly instincts are driving the party. After all there is big money in it.

The latest show had behind it Thomas Issac, who considers himself the post-EMS
think tank of the CPI(M) and M A Baby who adorns the robe of a patron saint of fine arts, very unusual for a revolutionary. These are both different communists as the cadres of the working class party know. The CPM leaders in the state who rose up from the ranks know that they are no comparison, they bow out. The void left by the communist head priest EMS Nampoothirippad is still vacant and some of the contenders have been summarily disposed off. Where the Issac – Baby combine has volunteered and as everyone knows they have the blessings of the powerful Christian community in Kerala. What if the Christian community was, still is, staunchly anti-communist, perhaps, as they see, the fight can also be from within. How the main revolution in Kerala they are now aiming at is stopping the Hindu community organize, war against (Hindu) communalism.

There are big lies being floated in the name of the party, after the last jamboree in 1994 with the same name it was claimed that the People’s Plan exercise was an invention of the comrades in Kerala. Though the hyped plan nose dived the same claim is again being floated. Career politicians have a way of forgetting things, or pretending to do that. For the back door deals of the People’s Plan and the money transactions that went in to it were exposed in the media. It is surprising how the thick skinned ring leaders are parroting it again. The final statements from the organizers this time also gave the indication that old rhetoric and rituals will once again come to the fore. The grave issues facing the state pushed further under the carpet. Where lies and tantrums are liberally used.

The Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) technique which went in to the People’s Plan was known to Rural Development professionals for a long time. That before the CPM Parivar organizations and people are said to have invented it. It was an unethical academic practice because the theoretical base of the approach was formulated by the international RD guru Robert Chambers. Introduced in Kerala through a Dutch assisted pilot programme by the Centre for Development Studies (CDS), another CPM Parivar outfit. The Kerala Research Project (KRP) of CDS had attempted this at few places, important being Kalliassery Panchayat. Though the People’s Plan exercise was a natural outgrowth of this project, Thomas Issac, one time fellow traveler of the Project disowned it’s past. Paraded it as his own brain child, with a smoke screen of Parishat given part of the credit, also veteran EMS, all for free.

The infighting at CDS and the large amounts of international aid that came in for the KRP saw Thomas Issac losing out in CDS. How he reappeared in the CPM with a larger than life image. With the new magic device in hand. Aged EMS, a cult hero for the communists, who was given the credit for the People’s Plan, did not deny that. That apart from the Sastra Sahitya Parishat. Though the jargon was unmistakably from modern management no one questioned about the veracity of the claim. It was a clever plot, which succeeded beyond the wild dreams of the plotters. Communism as an ideology is itself borrowed in Kerala and another replacing it was easy done. But ‘foreign funds’ was some thing nasty as the comrades were tutored over time, not foreign ideas, how the proponents of the People’s Plan vehemently denied the Dutch – CDS – KRP links. But later this did come out in the news.

That the huge army of people drawn from various departments and academic institutions, apart from party cubs, made the People’s Plan a festival of sorts is true. Many naïve experts gave their life to it. Ignorant about the strings behind, how books after books were churned out for use at the local body levels. What were given the popular name of ‘kaipustakam’. Since none of them, from Thomas Issac down, had any exposure to ground level development these turned out to be a massive waste of public money. If a social audit of this is made, including the hours spend by the academics and scientists, it will be Herculean. What eventually happened was tragic, that when the CPM lost the elections, where the big lie was rejected by the common people.

The first assignment given to those officers who took charge of the Rural Development Department under the new Congress lead UDF government was to dispose off the truck loads of ‘kaipustakam’. This taken at night to unknown locations to be buried. A power hungry individual had misguided a large population. Among them academics and technocrats of the highest caliber. For the people at the local body level, illeducated and unexposed, the modern jargon from the academics was Greek. But they kept coming in hordes to the capital, also elsewhere, to attend the marathon seminars. After all they got decent travel and stay allowances. Why not go and sleep when the hollow theories were being emptied out. Lofty concepts like watershed management were trivialized by the instant experts, sourced from imported text books, how the panchayat members came to believe that free poultry is what ‘watershed’ meant. How People’s Plan came to be called ‘decentralising corruption’.

The series of exposures in the local media after the People’s Plan circus did not deter the heroes repent. They stood their ground, after all they knew it was a drama from the very beginning. Neither were they shaken when documentary evidence was published about the Dutch connection. Now to come back on the stage in 2005 with the same formula and jargon once again is indeed a courage beyond compare. What unfortunately reveals the mindset of the plotters. It was after the last ‘International Congress’ that Thomas Issac got the key slot in the State Planning Board. An ordinary academic suddenly changing colours, obviously with the blessings of the powerful Christian community and media. A post where the decisions about how the state resources are to be used is made. Where crucial policy decisions of the government are made. What was mission accomplished.

Worse, the powerful Syrian Christian community in the state saw to it that the post went to another man from the species CP John, another revolutionary under the wings of a break away communist party of old comrade M V Raghavan, when the Congress lead government came to power. Like P J Joseph from the community giving way to another minority party in the education port-folio. To ensure continuity, milk the state for own community good. Other naïve leaders watched, happy with state cars and police escorts. This time around there is another kill in the International Congress. The political polarization triggered by the majority communities of Nayars and Ezhavas had brought to public notice the burning issues of Kerala. How the so called minorities, though they are not minorities by any definition in Kerala, captured Kerala economy and polity. This has been white washed, debates almost killed.

There were targeted efforts to side track the real issues at the Congress. Like Chief Minister Oommen Chandy coming out with a statement that it was the communists who ruined the state agriculture sector, by opposing tractors. The script writers possibly expected a media debate to follow, a juicy ‘vivadam’ in Manorama, religiousy followed by the sheepish others. Parallel economy of the minority that saw every native vocation pale out did not come up for debates. The alarming sale of agricultural land to the moneyed and internationally linked minority communities, also their promoting mono-culture plantations did not come up either. When one of the speakers pointed to the problem of minority politicians monopolizing the various ministries this was turned around to mean another thing. The Congress did not have any session for history this time. For history is to be hurting to the duo who organize the meet. The Syrian Christian history of abetting colonization is now known. No parade of the ‘Sayippu’ either.

The pro-poor CPM and its Congress did not also look at the criminal loot of tribal lands by the powerful minority Christian community. Neither the encroachment of the forests, severely damaging the state’s natural survival systems. What has been happening now for half a century. The delegates and the leaders who stole the lime light were far too frightened to look at the tragedies. They were given the hospitality by the clever groups who had their agendas. Thus the International Congress of the CPM ensured that the debates remains where it was. No disturbing questions are raised. With assembly elections round the corner it has also ensured that the theoretical lead for the revolutionaries in Kerala will be provided by the same people, who effectively bargained for their seats in government. With the CPM poised to win the next elections it is strategic planning that went in to this jamboree. New age communism is here to stay, names of beloved people like AKG give them the shield.

For the CPM this is a crucial juncture in Kerala, they are by all means certain to win a land slide victory few months from now. It is to be a huge responsibility that they are to take on. The people who take shelter under the communist band wagon are still among the best in Kerala. As every one knows it also has some of the least corrupt leaders. But that in itself will not mean much if the good intentions are not translated in to visible results. There is no hope for Kerala within the obsolete rhetoric of the earlier days. Kerala economy and society are different. Planning for the state has to begin afresh taking the ground reality in to account. That shedding the inhibitions of olden days, for, Kerala scene is different from the national scene. V S Achuthanandan, braving the hills and valleys tracing forest encroachments should now dare to say that it is the Christian lobby that does it most. Instead of making cowardly statements that it is a ‘mafia’ behind. Objective assessment of Kerala society and plans addressing the issues alone will save the state. Efforts from within to divert the direction, like this Congress, will see more damage, more suicides. Courageous decisions will see Kerala lead India tomorrow.

Rot goes Deeper: Hindutwa Politics in Kerala

2005-12-12T22:03:00.000-08:00

Special Correspondent

When Pannyan Raveendran of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) won the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha elections it was a defeat for the Congress lead United Democratic Front (UDF). But for the third contender Bharateeya Janata Party (BJP) it was not just a defeat but total ruin. For the so called value based party, claimed to be a child of the Sangh Parivar lead by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), had to face allegations of selling votes. Unheard of in Indian democracy, here was another Kerala Model. As the election results show the pro-BJP votes went to the UDF and LDF. Captive votes going to the UDF with the official permission of the BJP leaders known to be RSS representatives in the party. Thus the BJP, as a single party taking on the multi-party coalitions of the LDF and UDF and making a dent this far, crash-landed. The followers of the Hindutwa groups who campaigned whole heartedly have been humiliated and many of the leaders were shell shocked at the outcome. Soft spoken and graceful senior leader O Rajagopal himself came out in public, telling that things are indeed rotten.

The last Parliamentary elections in 2004 saw a record performance for the BJP when O. Rajagopal, former union minister and highly respected leader polled more than 2 lakh votes completing just below the UDF candidate. It was an impressive show on many counts, primarily because the party had consolidated substantial share of the Hindu votes.

For the minority controlled politics in Kerala this was something surprising. Rajagopal was almost poised to win but later there were rumours that some of the rival groups owing allegiance to the RSS had indeed diverted votes then also. What exceeded all limits this time, part of the votes going to the LDF as well. This has been happening all along, the RSS has its rationale for this. The Communists, of the LDF , are the main enemies of the RSS in Kerala and they are fighting pitched battles in the northern districts. Thus to have a Communist lead government is not to their liking. How they contrive and transfer the votes to defeat the Communist candidates. They know they don’t stand a chance to win. Since this is an underhand deal the names of candidates to whom captive Hindu votes are to be transferred come at the last moment.

This comes as a generosity the receiving parties show some courtesy and main among these are withdrawal of police and court cases against the cadres. For the RSS – BJP combine in Kerala have thousands of cases filed against them across the state. It is a clever ploy of the ruling parties, controlled by the minorities whatever the front, where they trap the Hindutwa workers in criminal cases, some times false cases. This later used as a bait for compromise, the trauma of being implicated in court cases force the cadres to accept such deals time and again. Huge amounts are required to keep the court battles going, how many lawyers eventually became leaders of the BJP. There is also a steady flow of these stigmatized workers to the underworld. The main case this time was against the student wing of the group, ABVP, which had attacked shops on the MG Road in the capital, now mostly belonging to the minority communities. The trade off from this election victory for the UDF – BJP tie-up, apart from other benevolence perhaps, was a promised withdrawal of the cases by the Christian – Muslim lead Oommen Chandy government.

Now the previous elections in Thiruvananthapuram saw many assembly constituencies giving the majority mandate to the BJP though they lost in the parliamentary election. These were to be seats where the BJP was to win in the assembly elections few months away. Give them a presence in the Kerala assembly where there is no one to talk about the marginalized Hindu community. A dream shattered in the present drama. Worse the Kerala electorate had rejected the UDF as a minority monopoly in the last local body elections, where they were reduced to Malappuram and Kottayam, areas of the Muslim and Christian community respectively. It was ridiculous to have asked the Hindu community to vote them this time. Some of the RSS cadres posted to the BJP are notorious for their hobnobbing with the infamous minority community leaders and they have an octopus hold on the party as the RSS claims to be the mother of the BJP. To make things worse RSS supremo K S Sudarsan had visited Kottayam to hold an in-camera talk with the Syrian Christian clergy just before the elections. Widely reported, either it was a trap that the naïve RSS leadership fell in to or a dangerous message.

Objectively looked at there are very few among the BJP followers who come from the Khakhi school of the RSS Shakhas. But the RSS make demands on the party and many leaders find it repulsive, how there are many groups in the party owing allegiance to various lobbies. What is also visible at the national level. With the general decay in the post-colonial Indian polity the BJP is also prone to all the games and rites of corruption and this give enough space for under hand deals. Though the RSS claims to give full freedom for the Parivar organizations they in reality put pressure on the day to day working of the BJP. And as a result,with no hope of coming to power, demoralized as much, the BJP in Kerala has a leadership which is happy with their designations. Those who want to make strategic moves find it impossible as their hands are tied. To top it all the RSS has no competent leadership in Kerala who can take on the moneyed and powerful minorities. They perform well in some other sectors, the workers epitomes of sacrifice.

With the inner contradictions the BJP leaders feel belittled, helpless. Since the RSS has a statewide network of cadres and an aggressive front these BJP leaders seldom take on them. In the recent episode the BJP leader O Rajagopal, after the exposure, had told TV channels that he was facing threats. This is a normal practice with the RSS and many fearing disgrace refuse to openly admit that. Though the RSS has done yeoman service in Kerala, often remaining the lone protector of the Hindu community in many crisis situations, they have also been a failure as the aggressive minorities have eaten in to the core of Hindu life in Kerala. How Kerala Hindus lead the world in suicides. That despite the RSS work for over five decades in Kerala. It reflects on the reducing presence of the RSS in the Kerala villages where once the Shakhas were a constant presence. The RSS in Kerala also failed to cultivate visionary leaders and are only able to parrot the upper Indian debates, where the ground reality is totally different. How many of the promising people are parting company with the RSS. A big chunk of the votes polled by the LDF from Hindutwa sympathizers is actually based on individual choice. They don’t see the Hindutwa groups as a hope any more.

Which means that the majority Hindus are invariably drifting to the LDF, what the RSS was trying to prevent surreptitiously. Field level information in Thiruvananthapuram show that the old BJP followers have mostly voted the LDF this time. Areas once considered strongholds of the BJP showed a majority for the LDF candidate. Obviously the last minute messages to vote the UDF did not go well with the pro-BJP electorate. In Thiruvananthapuram, the seat of government, they are exposed to the misdeeds of the minority parties. To ask the very same people to vote them was a blunder on the part of the leadership. Where the allegations of money being paid comes to the fore. Having been in the deal for several elections now those in the game had perfected the operation is certain. What was known to those in the inner circuits, but now with the revelation of the senior leader O Rajagopal it is known to all. The message is simple though sad, the RSS – BJP combine in Kerala no more give hopes to the ordinary Hindus in the state. In a state where minority colonization is in place they will have to look for alternatives or perish. For the RSS and BJP it will be an arduous task to heal the wounds and the indications are that they are heading for confrontation and a bigger crisis.

For Kerala ruled by the LDF and UDF, these alternating every five years, it is a tragedy as the fronts are both catering to minority demands. The minority vote banks and money transformed Kerala politics with no hope of change. The Communists are majority Hindus, though not subscribing to the Vedic Hinduism of RSS, but have very powerful and tactful minority members in key positions. Thus the old communism, that talked about equity and land distribution, is now at the beck and call of the minority feudal oligarchy. Senior communists like V S Achuthanandan while at times attacking the minority also refuse to admit Hindu led parties to LDF, stopping a Hindu consolidation there also. For Congress the party originally had stalwart leaders who were in the front in the freedom movement. Later the Syrian Christians, who were then allies of the British, captured the party. The parting of octogenarian K Karunakaran was the last nail on the coffin as it is. Though they tried to promote Ramesh Chennithala, a Nayar, as KPCC President just before the elections in a fire fighting operation, this did not work as expected. But the new vigour saved the party from total annihilation. Kerala has its economy taken captive by the minority communities and the politicians irrespective of community are trying for personal benefits. Now with the new equations the Hindus on the run are further demoralized, that by the champions of Hindu nationalism. As some one remarked, like the suicide prone Hindus in Kerala, organized Hindutwa is also showing suicidal tendencies.

hindutwa%20analysis.doc

(From Udayor, newsletter from www.nairs.org December 2005)

Pen Malayalam and its Rituals

2005-12-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

Manu Pillai Thampuran

( An interesting Contribution, compilation perhaps, received on Email from Manu Pillai Thampuran. Original sources, if any, not known.)

Travellers of yore nicknamed Kerala Penn Malayalam, "the Malayala land of women." It was an unusual place. Here, mostly within the large and powerful Nair caste (and some smaller ones), women ruled. Not on royal thrones with giant armies but as heads of giant households--positions often more powerful. Here, women were educated, respected, moved about without fear or censure, participated occupationally wherever they wished, and were the major force leading Kerala to become India's first near-100% literate state.

The Nairs defied the rest of India, where patriarchal patterns have remained entrenched since Manu and other post-Vedic lawgivers reassigned women to the status of sudras, low caste.
After marriage, a bride does not move into her husband's home, as is the common practice among Hindus. The opposite occurs. He comes and lives with her and her family. In fact, only on very special occasions would she ever visit his family's house.

The senior female member is the uncontested head of this tarwad, a sprawling matriarchic residential complex with several buildings, its own temple, granary, water-well, orchards, gardens and large land holdings. The senior male member, called karanavan (the senior lady's brother), looked after the basic affairs of the house and implemented decisions made in consultation with the senior lady. "Because of the financial advantage they enjoyed, women were able to keep the men under their thumbs," Mr. Narasimhan, a Trivandrum lawyer, explained .

"And because the husband came to his wife's house, he dared not ill-treat her or misbehave, else he would be sent out. In his own tarawad, a husband lived with his sisters and aunts. Similarly, if he tried to rebel or show dissension there, he would be thrown out by the karanavan and not entitled to his share of the property. So, he was forced to keep a low profile for a peaceful existence."
But the idea that these warrior-class men were reduced to spineless housewhimps is totally false. They just weren't allowed to be tough warriors inside the house.

Daughters of a family would get equal shares of wealth and property, and equal shares for their children, but sons would only get a small share and nothing for their children.
A great part of the strength of the system evolved because royalty practiced and condoned it. The royal family of Travancore has, in fact, had eight girl adoptions since 1,300ce for the sole reason of keeping the lineage going on the woman's side. The Travancore queens were very famous for spearheading major social and intellectual freedoms for women. In 1811, the daughter of a musician, Swathi Thirunal, was adopted and became queen at age 20. Overnight, she made sweeping changes, abolished all forms of slavery, banned the existing heartless overtaxation of the poor and totally overhauled the justice system to protect those too poor to "buy" justice.

In 1817, by royal proclamation, she made education open to all classes. The rest of India looked on in amazement. In 1868, Queen Gowri Lakshmi Bayi began vaccination campaigns, first vaccinating herself and the royal family to prove to orthodox opponents that the animal vaccine was neither sinful nor deadly. In 1925, Queen Regent Setu Lakshmi abolished animal sacrifice at Hindu rites and outlawed the local Devadasi temple dancer custom that had degenerated into little more than temple-sanctioned prostitution.
These Queens deserved and earned all their accolades. They were true nobility. "Our women of yesteryears were highly knowledgeable, well-versed in Sanskrit and could correspond intellectually with scholars," Princess Parvati Bayi said. "Our grandmothers even spoke fluent English.The women of matriarchal Kerala were voracious readers, adept at music and arts and never wasted their time. Even those that stayed home had the zeal to acquire knowledge.They also were trained in the Martial Arts of Kerala and often fought enemies during attacks on the family mansions during wars "

The Brahmins constantly due to jealousy no doubt tried to rank the Nairs as Sudras . They even exploited the support the Nairs gave them by forcing Nairs the Aryans to marry Dravidians to result in dark skinned progeny .Thus they could on the basis of colour make the society classify the Nairs as Sudras. They succeeded in Nair-Dravidian marriages but failed to lower the Nairs. This is a major reason why most Nairs of Kerala inspite of Aryan lineage are dark .

The Nairs who were warriors went out of business since the 1600s due to the guns and modern arms of the British . Nair militia was also disbanded by various rulers, leaving them jobless. Lower castes introduced in their place how various others also came to be called Nairs. Then even the Nairs got subdivided . The Menons and Pillais became the highest as Governers, Millitary officers , Ministers and so on. Following them came the Nairs, Panickers and Kurups as the managers of palaces or estate managers of Pillais and Menons. Following them came the Kaimals and Variars who were the Landlords . Then there were the Thambis and Varmas who were above the Pillais and Menons and were the Kings. The Poduvals became the assistants of Brahmins and Nairs in Temple matters.

The Brahmins who did not divide property allowed only their elder son to marry a Brahmin lady . The rest married Nair ladies and lived in their exquisite mansions . Their children were Nairs in spite of Brahmin fathers.

The way of travel of the Nairs was extremely sophisticated. A Nair man would travel on a Horse unlike the Brahmins who were traditionally allowed only to walk with a servant (who would be a lower Nair) holding an umbrella. On the other hand Nair women used to travel in ornate Palanquins held up by four lower Nairs . Surrounding them would be two rings of lower Nair women . Then three rings of lower Nair men armed with swords. The men would chant “hoy ! hoy! “ throughout the journey to warn the lower castes on the roads to move away as they pass. This way of traveling was usually done by Menons and Pillais. The others had lesser servants or less beautiful palanquins. Brahmin women were allowed to travel only with their female servants on foot on the rare occasions when they were allowed out of the house. The Brahmin ladies were always jealous of the splendor of Nair ladies who always wore heavy jewelry and good clothes and were free to leave the house and didn’t accept supremacy of the men.

Also they learnt singing and Bharatanatyam which was disallowed for Brahmin women. However they were not court dancers ever .Also Nair women never had to pay homage or respect the Brahmin ladies . Whenever a procession of Nairs or Brahmins passed the lower castes on the roads specially women were to remove the clothing covering their torso because it was only the privilege of upper castes to cover their breasts. If any lower caste women did cover herself her breasts would be cut off. Also if they didn’t keep a distance of 92 feet from the upper castes on the road they would lose their heads. Some say it is this disgusting and cruel practice of the Nairs and Brahmins that has resulted in most of them becoming ruined now.

The Brahmin Ladies attached the title ‘DEVI’ after their names. The Nairs didn’t have any such titles. But people used to call them ‘amma’ with respect . Thus Nairs began to attach ‘amma’ after their names. The ‘amma’ title was very much like the British title of ‘Lady’ given to noble ladies. Male members were addressed as ‘Thampuran’ often ‘Thambra’ in common use, by the commoners.

Some Customs and Ceremonies of the Nairs

The Nairs were the swordsmen, the military caste of the west coast of India. They constitute the majority of the Kerala Population. The ever so many rituals performed by this community reveal their matrilineality and their unique social setup.

Birth Ceremonies:

A Nair woman has to observe certain ceremonies during pregnancy. Puli-Kuti, literally meaning drinking tamarind juice, is one among them. It is performed on a particular day in the ninth month. Not only the day, even the hour is fixed by the local astrologer. The pregnant woman, after having bathed and properly attired, is seated facing eastwards in the principal courtyard (natu-muttam) of the Tharavaad (ancestral family house). The Ammayi or maternal uncle’s wife and the brother of the pregnant woman officiate this function.

As soon as a child is born, the mother and the baby have to undergo some rite of purification. The baby is placed on the naked floor, and its father or uncle sprinkles a few drops of cold water on it. Pollution is observed for fifteen days after delivery, by all the members of the Tharavad, during which period they are prohibited from entering temples and holy places or perfoming any ceremonies.

The Naamakarnam is performed on the twenty-seventh day after the child’s birth, when the Kaaranavan (senior most elder) of the Family gives to the child a spoonful or two of milk mixed with sugar and then names the child by calling it in the ear by the name three times. The Annaprasaanam is choroonu takes place on an auspicious day in the sixth month, when the uncle or the father of the child first feeds it with rice. It is only after this ceremony that the child can be fed with rice. The ear boring takes place at the end of the first year after the child’s birth,and the vidyaarambham in the third in fifth year.

Marriage Ceremonies:

Marriage among the Nairs used to mean either the formal ceremony of tying a Thaali round the neck of a girl, accompanied by festive celebrations, known as the Thaalikettu or Kettukalyaanam, or the ceremony of actual alliance as husband and wife known as the Sambandham or Pudavakoda. Now marriage is only the ceremony of alliance as husband and wife.

The bridegroom who ties the Thaali can only be selected from certain well recognised families in the village called Machchampikkars. Those were the members of the earliest Nair families appointed for this purpose by Royal writs. This ritual has not been found in these days.

A day was fixed for arranging the preliminaries of the wedding. When all the relatives and men of the village were invited as also the astrologer (Kaniyaan), who forthwith fixed the most auspicious day for the celebration of the ceremony and noting it down in what was called a chaarthu or cadjan-writ, handed it over to the uncle or Kaaranavar of the family who then dismissed him with presents. The chaarthu stated that a boy should be selected as bridegroom whose natal star agreed with the girl’s and also decided what star would be agreeable and fixes a muhurtham for the ceremony as well as for fixing the main pillar of the marriage pandal. A few days before the commencement of the building of the pandal, invitations were sent round to all the relatives, friends and villagers.

The main pillar of the pandal is generally made out of the jack or Mukampala tree which is cut for the purpose that same day and raised at the south west corner of the pandal,which itself has to be built on the eastern side of the house. A Kathir Mandapam, a raised floor with a grounded roof beautifully decorated with pictures, mirrors and glass globes,was erected inside the pandal, and it was here that the actual wedding took place.

The first item in the celebration was what is called the Ayani oonu, a sumptous banquet given by the bride’s people to the selected bridegroom or manavaalan as he was called. On the morning of the first day of the marriage the girl was taken to the bathing tank in regular procession headed by one of the machampi women (sisters-in-law) well dressed and decked with costly ornaments and holding a plate containing the girl’s wearing apparel to be used after bath, a mirror and other toilet articles in her left hand and a metal hand-lamp called Changalavatta in her right. After bath the girl was taken back to the house and seated in a separate room, and then the assembled guests were served with a rich feast. Then came the rite called kaappukettu or tying prathisarabandham (a piece of string ) round the wrist of the girl. This is done by Maaran, the Brahmani or sometimes the brother of the girl, accompanied by a song called Subhadra Veli (the account of the famous marriage of subhadra by Arjuna) by the Brahmanis, a class of Ambalavaasis, who were accomodated inside the house and placing a garland around his neck formally invited him to start for the marriage pandal.

A procession was then formed at an auspicious hour from the bridegroom’s house, the bridegroom mounted on an elephant or walking on foot and holding in his hand a sword covered with a palmyra leaf or sword case. He was received at the gate of the pandal by a few female members with the Ashtamangalyam (Note: Explain) in their hands and was then conducted to a seat of honour in the centre of the pandal where his feet are washed by the brother or maternal uncle of the girl. The girl was then brought by her brother, covered up like a ghosha woman holding in her hand an arrow and a looking glass and seated either next to him on the left side both facing the east. At the auspicious hour fixed by the astrologer who was in ready attendance, the bridegroom received Thaali (wedding jewel) and placed it round the neck of the bride, whereupon the groom’s sister tied it round the neck of the girl. Then the bridegroom’s own men, a machchampi, took the girl into the Manavara, a decorated apartment in the inner part of the house, where both the bridegroom and the bride were required to remain under a sort of pollution for three days.

Then followed a sumptous meal in which the women were served first. Earlier marriage was celebrated for four days with various sports and amusements for the delectation of the visitors. On the fourth day a ritual called mannu-neer-korikondu varika (bringing of water from a neighbouring tank or well) was conducted with songs, music, and much pomp. On this night the females closely related to the girl make presents of sweetmeats. That same night the Maran removes the kaappu or string tied on the first day from the hands of the bridegroom and bride and performed certain purificatory rites, after which the couple go to the neighbouring tank to bathe. This part of the ceremony is also attended with some pomp. The water brought during the evening will now be utilised to purify the bride and bridegroom. Then the bridegroom was dismissed with presents of rings,ear-rings etc. money and clothes by the father and uncle of the bride. This concludes the marriage ceremony.

Death Ceremonies:

When a person is about to expire all members of the Tharavad, one by one pour a few drops of water into his or her mouth, holding in the hand a piece of gold or a gold ring. If the Tharavad is rich enough to afford it, a small gold coin is placed in the mouth, and the lips are closed. As soon as death has taken place, the corpse is removed from the cot or bed, and carried to the Vatakkini (a room in the northern end of the house) where it is placed on long plantain leaves spread out on the floor. The corpse is covered from top to toe with a washed cloth and placed on the floor with the head towards the south. Two lamps are kept burning, one near the head and the other near the feet of the dead body and here the neighbours come to take a farewell look at it.

Then comes the Pattum Kachayum Iduka or the placing of new clothes over the body by all the relatives outside the Tharavad. The body is then removed to the cremation ground in the south eastern corner of the Tharavad garden, where the funeral pyre is prepared of the wood of a mango tree cut for the ocassion. The corpse is generally carried by the Machampikkars on a bier made of bamboo. The body is placed on the pyre with the head towards the south. The junior members go around the pyre three times, throw paddy and rice over the dead body, prostrate at the feet of the corpse and then set fire to the pyre, the senior Anantharavan (nephew), who is next in age to the deceased, leading them. When the body is burnt the funeral party bathe, and then follows the breaking of the pot. This consists off the chief mourner carrying on his head an earthen pot filled with water with a small hole at the bottom, thrice around the pyre and then breaking the pot near the head of the corpse. When the water thus trickles down from the pot, the junior members direct the particles to the corpse, probably to purify it.

The Sanchayanam or the collection of the cremated remains takes place generally on the seventh day. The bones are collected in the new pot and deposited at the foot of a fig or jack tree, and at the next convenient opportunity removed there from and thrown into the waters of a sacred river. The ground itself, where the body has been cremated, is dug up and sown with grains or planted with a coconut tree. After the Sanchayanam funeral cakes are offered to the names of the departed, in which the Maran officiates as priest.

Pollution is observed for fifteen days by the members of the Tharavad On the 16th day, a grand feast is given to all the relatives and friends of the Tharavad.