The religious fundamentalists seem to have held civil society to ransom, and most of the so-called intellectuals remain silent about it. The grandson of a fundamentalist—who claims he is opposed to dynastic rule—entered “public” life by getting a novel published nearly two decades ago. It has been a textbook for ten years at Mumbai University, and he crows about it as a great achievement! The Bajrangis threaten to teach a lesson to Arundhati Roy for expressing her views on the Kashmir issue. A section of society seems to think that the whole world should say only what they want to hear.

The new generation of the saffron gang seems to have totally forgotten what happened during the infamous days of the Emergency declared by Indira Gandhi. At that time, they were at the receiving end of intolerance and were supported by liberal thinkers. I also remember those times when all opponents of that type of oppression stood together in underground movements against the dictatorial policies of the ruling party. The wheel has now turned full circle, and the so-called supporters of democratic values have now become intolerant of all dissent. It would be interesting for the leaders of the saffron gang to remember those days when they were imprisoned by Indira Gandhi for opposing her—that was her way of dealing with dissent. I can also recall that many in this gang submitted apologies to get out of prison. But once the Emergency was lifted and Indira Gandhi was soundly defeated at the hustings, they started infiltrating the body politic as well as the government service. Today, they have a huge body of civil servants at their beck and call, ready to do their bidding. This systematic infiltration has paid dividends today by creating a massive vote bank of communalised middle-class citizens ready to carry out their agenda at any cost.

In Karnataka, public life is sinking to unimaginable depths. On the one hand, the activities of moral police and the enforcers of the communal agenda are going unchecked. Communal elements on either side are attacking innocent couples of opposite sexes for interacting with each other, extending to the point of assaulting young men just for waving or greeting acquaintances belonging to another community. The police are mute spectators, and often active participants in such acts. It is deplorable that the guardians of law and order support such anti-social elements rather than taking action against them. The communalisation of the public domain has increased so much that women and children have also started taking part in such activities. This is likely due to the mindset of the political masters ruling the state. I use the term “master” deliberately: in our country, once a party comes to “power,” they consider themselves the lords and masters of all they survey. The government led by Yeddiyurappa seems to be the worst of the lot so far, though we have always said that about successive governments!

In the meantime, the activities of the Bharatiya Janata Party to cling to power at all costs have caused corruption to sink to new lows (or rather, rise to new heights!), while reliance on superstition has broken all records. The Vidhana Soudha, the seat of power of the state government, has been the scene of various activities related to black magic and protection from it. If someone could throw items connected with such rituals into a heavily guarded place without the police finding out, one has to wonder how a terrorist couldn’t gain access to throw a bomb! It is obvious that the police are either incompetent or turning a blind eye to the antics of their political masters—past, present, or future! While millions of rupees were offered as bribes to Members of the Legislative Assembly to switch parties, an equal amount was probably spent on mumbo-jumbo to attain or hold on to power. All this was for a government—the first Bharatiya Janata Party-led one in the South—to win a vote of confidence on the one hand, while an equal number of interested parties tried to pull it down and take power on the other.

While Yeddiyurappa and company managed to win through a display of skulduggery by disqualifying some members, those who wanted to pull the government down protested against the “injustice” and disregard for norms. While the former “celebrated” victory by touring temples across South India to thank the gods, the latter sulked and visited their shamans to perform more rituals to bring the government down! Citizens have to pay for the activities of both parties, directly or indirectly. Those in power have been blatantly misusing public money, and the others will do the same if they manage to gain power!

In the meantime, a student body has taken upon itself the task of deciding what teachers must do and say, even in public. Their target is an unfortunate lecturer, Pattabhiram Somayaji, whose middle name seems to be “Trouble.” He has constantly been the whipping boy of the saffronites because they are unable to do anything about others in his organisation, the Komu Sauharda Vedike—an organisation aimed at bringing about good relationships between various religious groups. Most of the time they have swung into action is when minorities have been harassed. In any case, it is the prerogative of each organisation to choose the tasks it wants to take on. They have also supported human rights issues raised when innocent people were harassed after being labeled as Naxalites. Naturally, this raised the hackles of reactionary elements and their supporters, including an alleged student organisation that made Somayaji its target. Disliking his stand on these issues, they have been agitating, submitting memoranda against him, and asking the University College of Mangalore administration to remove him from his post as a lecturer in English. Despite a vicious campaign lasting two years, they have not succeeded. Their latest efforts are through the local Member of Parliament, who wrote to the management of the college where he works, asking for his removal from service for criticizing the ruling party for passing legislation banning cattle slaughter. Although this bill claims to be brought in the interest of saving milch animals, it is actually directed against minorities whose primary source of dietary protein is cheaply available beef. The bill has the effect of thrusting the dietary habits of one community onto others. Eventually, the bill passed in the Legislative Assembly was not sent for approval to the Centre by the State Governor.

Meanwhile, we hear from our members in Andhra Pradesh that the superstition of Bhanamathi, or black magic, is rearing its head again. A number of killings have already taken place in several areas, with the targets being those allegedly practicing this form of black magic to harm others. What prevents these people from using their magical powers to protect themselves when attacked remains unknown, yet attackers always claim their targets have powers to inflict harm on others! The Rationalist groups of Andhra Pradesh organized a protest march in Suryapet, near Hyderabad. The executive director of the International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), Babu Gogineni, is one of the leaders of this effort, and he is also trying to bring about legislation to make such practices a criminal offense. We hope his efforts succeed, unlike in Maharashtra, where such a bill was passed by the Assembly a decade ago but has yet to become law as it remains stalled in the upper house.

We hope that we succeed in our campaign to get the Parliament of India to enact a law making activities like black magic, or threatening people through it, a criminal offense across the entire country.