This Unquiet Land: Stories from India's Fault Lines
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82 ‘an internal security issue..’: Stephen Tankel, ‘Jihadist Violence: The Indian Threat’, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC: Wilson Center, 2014
88 Interview with J. K. Dutt: We the People, NDTV, air date 26 November 2009
89 Local support: ‘Mumbai police admit local support for Mumbai attack’, Economic Times, 12 February 2009; ‘Pak Plays 30 Questions with India’, Mumbai Mirror, 13 February 2009
89 Interview with Rahul Bhatt: ‘Knew nothing about Headley’s Pak links: Rahul Bhatt’, NDTV.com, published on 4 February 2010
97 ‘not allow elements that wanted to sabotage the peace process’: ‘India train blasts kill 66’, The Guardian, 19 February 2007
98 ‘In the daytime…’: Kartikeya, ‘Col Purohit badmouthed Sena: ATS chargesheet’, Times of India, 24 April 2009
98 ‘As a young revolutionary…’: Christophe Jaffrelot, ‘A running thread of deep saffron’, Indian Express, 29 January 2009
99 the very phrase ‘Hindu terror’: Mala Das (ed.), ‘Congress Hits Back at Rajnath Singh on “Hindu Terror” Remark’, NDTV.com, 1 August 2015
99 ‘training camps’: Mohammad Iqbal, ‘Shinde blasts BJP, RSS for “inciting Hindu terror”’, The Hindu, 21 January 2013; Sandeep Joshi, ‘Shinde apologises for ‘Hindu terror’ remark ahead of budget session’, The Hindu, 21 February 2013
104 biggest internal security threat: ‘Naxalism biggest threat to internal security: Manmohan’, The Hindu (PTI), 24 May 2010
105 he confessed to a ‘limited mandate’: Prannoy Roy and Barkha Dutt, ‘Time to change tactics against Naxals, Chidambaram tells NDTV’, NDTV, 18 May 2010
106 ‘history from below’: Sumit Sarkar, ‘Social and Political Movements 1885–1905’, Modern India 1886–1947, New Delhi: Macmillan, 1983
106 ‘revolted more often and far more violently’: K. Suresh Singh, Tribal Situation in India, Orient Book Distributors, 1986
107 guns and bullets would turn to water: Sumit Sarkar, Modern India 1886-1947, New Delhi: Macmillan, 1983
108 ‘Is this Salwa Judum Part 2?’: Pavan Dahat, ‘Salwa Judum-2 is born in Bastar’, The Hindu, 5 May 2015
109 Lot of politics in the insurgency: Barkha Dutt, ‘Stop the Squabbling’, Hindustan Times, 7 March 2011
FOUR
IN THE NAME OF GOD
113 Yeh jo sara rona: ‘Women MPs condemn Fernandes remarks’, The Hindu, 3 May 2002
115 3,000 people were killed: ‘Indira Gandhi’s death remembered’, BBC, 1 November 2009
115 like a ‘Jew must have in Nazi Germany’: Khushwant Singh, ‘Oh, That Other Hindu Riot Of Passage’, Outlook, 15 November 2004
116 fudged records: ‘Betwa Sharma, Lawyer to Contest Congress Leader Sajjan Kumar’s Acquittal in 1984 Riots Case’, India Ink, New York Times, 1 May 2013
116 I have no hesitation: Hasan Suroor, ‘Manmohan Singh’s apology for anti-Sikh riots a “Gandhian moment of moral clarity”, says 2005 cable’, The Hindu, 22 April 2011
117-118 ‘action’ against the burning of the train: Ashish Khetan, Probe reveals Gujarat riots were not spontaneous and sudden, IndiaToday.com, 15 April 2015; also see for police commissioner P.C. Pande’s remarks
123 It may be clarified here that: ‘Ehsaan Jafri killed for provoking mob, says Special Investigation Team report’, NDTV.com, 11 May 2012
124 Hang me if I am guilty: ‘Narendra Modi to Urdu newspaper: Hang me if I am guilty’, NDTV.com, 26 July 2012
130 ‘…but not your or my religion’: M. K. Gandhi, ‘Talk with a Christian Missionary’, Harijan, 22 September 1946, Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 92
132 Veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar: Kuldip Nayar, Beyond the Lines: An Autobiography, New Delhi: Roli Books, 2012
133 Supreme Court judgement in the Shah Bano case: ‘The Shah Bano Legacy’, The Hindu, 10 August 2003
135 Interview with Girish and Tahir: We the People: Twin Tragedies of Mumbai, NDTV air date 2 August 2015
137 described the Shahnawaz shooting as ‘cold blooded murder’: Meena Menon, ‘A father’s long struggle for justice’, The Hindu, 29 March 2012
138 A. R. Rahman response to fatwa: Ben Child, ‘AR Rahman responds to Muhammad: The Messenger of God fatwa’, The Guardian, 16 September 2015
137, 139, 140 Interview with Javed Akhtar, Uday Prakash and Hamid Dabholkar: We the People: No Country for Rationalists, NDTV air date 13 September 2015
FIVE
A CHRONICLE OF KASHMIR
150 ‘We were Kashmiris’: Jawaharlal Nehru, An Autobiography: Toward Freedom, London: John Lane, 1936
151 ‘Armed Revolt In Kashmir’: Akbar Khan, Raiders in Kashmir, Karachi: Pak Publishers, 1970
152 Sardar Patel and Nehru conversation: Claude Arpi, ‘The blunder of the Pandit’, Rediff.com, 16 June 2004
153 ‘For God’s sake we are not asking for Jihad…’: Reality Bites, Interview with Farooq Abdullah, NDTV air date July 2002
154 From a position: Victoria Schofield, Kashmir in Conflict: India, Pakistan and the Unending War, London: I.B. Tauris & Co Ltd, 2000
165 an estimated 1,500 women had no reason but the irrationality: ‘The other half: For many Kashmir “half-widows”, remarriage rule means little’, Indian Express, 2 March 2014
187 Interview with Mehbooba Mufti: Exclusive, NDTV.com uploaded 2 March 2015
168 unidentified bodies in various unmarked graves: ‘J&K Human Rights Commission’s SIT confirms 2,156 unidentified bodies in “mass graves”’, The Hindu, 22 August 2011
183 Sajjad Gani Lone called upon: Sajjad Gani Lone, ‘Beggars on the Prowl’, News International, 11 January 2002
187 Interview with Imtiaz Parrey: From ‘Haider’ to Hope: a True Kashmir Election Story, NDTV.com, uploaded 26 November 2014
190 less than 3,000 Pandits left in the entire valley: Azad Essa, ‘Kashmiri Pandits: Why we never fled Kashmir’, Aljazeera.com, 2 Aug 2011
190 ‘There was an acute sense…’: Dr S. N. Dhar, Eighty-three Days: The Story of a Frozen River, Infuse Inc, 2000
196 The sight of thirty-six bodies, all Sikh men: ‘Kashmir killings overshadow Clinton visit’, BBC, 21 March 2000
205 those numbers shot up to 38,696: Afsaana Rashid, ‘Violence Touches “each family living in Kashmir”’, Thewip.com, 29 August 2008
208 40 per cent of the children: Margoob MA, ‘The pattern of child psychiatric disorders in Kashmir’, JK Practitioner, 3, 4, 1996
SIX
OF POLITICAL DYNASTS, JUGGERNAUTS AND MAVERICKS
210 interview with her in Amethi: ‘Priyanka: My life, my politics’, NDTV, 24 April 2009
211 whether Rajiv would have been surprised to see her leading the party: ‘Indian of the Year’, NDTV, 30 December 2005
212 unexpectedly taken full control: Krista Mahr, ‘Priyanka Gandhi Takes Center Stage in Latest Congress-BJP Spat’, Time, 28 April 2014
213 the day I feel: ‘There’s always a push for me to join politics’, NDTV, 6 February 2012
213 Are you serious: ‘Robert Vadra Pushes Mic Away, Asks “Are You Serious?”’, NDTV.com, 2 November 2014
214 No one in my family: Barkha Dutt, ‘Rahul thinks I should run for Lok Sabha, decision not to is mine’, NDTV.com, 14 April 2014
222 The Congress ‘System’: Rajni Kothari, ‘The Congress “System” in India’, Asian Survey, Vol 4, No 12, December 1964
222 In his classic study: W. H. Morris Jones, Parliament in India, London: Longman, Green & Co, 1957
222 Writing after Nehru’s death in 1964: ‘The Meaning of Jawaharlal Nehru’, Economic Weekly, July 1964
227 You can insult Modi: ‘Indian media: Narendra Modi’s “caste politics”’, BBC.com, 7 May 2014
232 two seats in parliament in 1985 to eighty-five seats in 1989: RSS and the BJP: A Division of Labour, Signpost: issues that matter, New Delhi: Manohar Publishers and Distributors, 2001
233 supporting the decriminalizing of homosexuality: ‘I am for decriminalizing gay sex: Arun Jaitl
ey’, Political Roots, NDTV, 27 February 2014
228 Never make it as PM: ‘Modi will never be PM, but he can sell tea: Mani Shankar Aiyar’, Firstpost.com, 18 January 2014
229 incestuous organization of political power and social influence: C. Wright Mills, The Power Elite, New York: Oxford University Press, 1956
230 a pyramid of control: George Orwell, 1984, London: Secker & Warburg, 1949
230 three kinds of people in the world: Ibid
230 30 percent of India was already urbanized: Shirish Shanke et al, India’s Urban Awakening: Building Inclusive Cities, Sustaining Economic Growth, McKinsey Global Institute (McKinsey & Company), April 2010
237 Patriots: Life and Work of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Dr Ravindra Kumar (ed), Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 1991
238 ‘virulent disease’: ‘Hindutva Hotheads Defiling Hinduism: Professor Jagdish Bhagwati on Modinomics vs Hindutva’, NDTV, 15 January 2015
240 Interview with Nawaz Sharif: September 2013
243 America feeding Pakistan millions of dollars in military aid: ‘No cut in $700 million civilian aid to Pakistan: US’, NDTV (PTI), 15 December 2011
244 ‘dehati aurat’: ‘Nawaz called Manmohan a “dehati aurat”, says Pak scribe’, Firstpost.com, 29 September 2013 and ‘Major row over Nawaz Sharif purportedly calling Manmohan Singh “village woman”’, DNA, 29 September 2013
247 ‘Our forces will make the cost of…’: Mala Das, ‘Our Forces Will Make Cost of Your “Adventurism” Unaffordable: Defence Minister to Pakistan’, NDTV, 9 October 2014
247 relationship between Jindal and Sharif: Satish John, ‘Sajjan Jindal’s tea party: Sharif draws flak in Pakistan’, Economic Times, 3 June 2014
250 land boundary agreement: ‘Why Narendra Modi made a U turn on Land Boundary Agreement?’, New Delhi: DNA, 2 December 2014
252 ‘bazaaru’: Pragya Kaushika, ‘Modi’s final appeal: Don’t let bazaaru people mislead you with poll surveys’, New Delhi: Indian Express (PTI), 5 February 2015
253 he is so American in his outlook: Barkha Dutt, Obama’s India visit: Telling it like a good story’, Hindustan Times, 31 January 2015
254 ‘audience democracy’: Bernard Manin, The Principles of Representative Government: Themes in the Social Sciences, Cambridge University Press,1997
254 ‘the electorate responds to the terms that have been presented on the political stage’: Ibid
255 India will succeed: ‘India will succeed so long as it’s not splintered along the lines of religious faith’, The Hindu, 27 January 2015
256 ‘India’s Gilded Age’: Jayant Sinha and Ashutosh Varshney, It is time for India to rein in its robber barons, Financial Times, 6 January 2011
SEVEN
A SOCIETY IN FLUX
260 more than 2,000 children had died: Kausalya Santhanam, ‘Children of the tsunami’, The Hindu, 23 December 2012
263 In the summer of 1901, a ten-year-old boy: Paraphrased excerpt from: Dr B. R. Ambedkar, ‘Waiting for a Visa’ in Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches, Vol. 12 edited by Vasant Moon, Bombay: Education Department, Government of Maharashtra, 1993
265 ‘annihilation of caste’: Annihilation of Caste, Dr B. R. Ambedkar, undelivered speech, 1936
265 root and branch destruction: M. K. Gandhi, Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 57
266 ‘absolutely suicidal’: Dhananjay Keer, Dr. Ambedkar: Life and Mission, Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1971
268 have often called for the ‘ghar wapsi’: Madhuparna Das, ‘RSS leader Mohan Bhagwat justifies ‘ghar wapsi’, says will bring back our brothers who have lost their way’, Indian Express, 21 December 2014
269 ‘I am against conversion…’: M. K. Gandhi, Young India, 6 January 1927; Gandhi on Christianity, Robert Ellsberg (ed.), New York: Orbis Books, 1991
269 not die a Hindu: B. R. Ambedkar, speech at Yeola Conversion Conference, 13 October 1935
270 ‘The Goddess of English’: ‘Temple for “Goddess English” focuses on Dalits’, NDTV.com (PTI), 27 October 2010
271 Seven out of ten households in India remain rural: ‘7 in 10 homes rural, most live on less than Rs 200 a day, reveals new socio-economic census’, Indian Express, 4 July 2015
271 ‘how society should be organized…’: Constituent Assembly Debates, Vol. 8, 15 November 1948
274 In Uttar Pradesh, two Dalit brothers: Indrani Basu, ‘Dalit Brothers Who Cracked IIT Face Stone-Pelting Back In Their Village’, Huffington Post, 22 June 2015
275 the infamous 350-metre long ‘Uthapuram’: S. Vishwanathan, ‘The fall of a wall’, Frontline, 24 May–6 June, 2008
275 ‘a people apart, even among people apart’: Harold Isaacs, India’s Ex-Untouchables, New York: John Day Company, 1964
275-276 ‘practice of manual scavenging…’: “Cleaning Human Waste: “Manual Scavenging”, Caste, and Discrimination in India’, Human Rights Watch, 25 August 2014
276 India passed a law in 1993: The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act, 1993; and ‘Manual scavenging: Hardly an election issue’, Business Standard (IANS), 23 April 2014
280 ‘Big-budget Bollywood films…’: Rachel Dwyer, Picture Abhi Baaki Hai: Bollywood as a Guide to Modern India, New Delhi: Hachette, 2014
281 ‘alienation and resurgence’: Leela Fernandes, India’s New Middle Class: Democratic Politics in an Era of Economic Reform, University of Minnesota Press, 2006
282 ‘protest of the privileged’: Stuart Corbridge and John Harriss, Reinventing India: Liberalization, Hindu Nationalism and Popular Democracy, Cambridge: Polity Press, 2000
283 ‘class and consumption’: Leela Fernandes, Transnational Feminism in the United States: Knowledge, Ethics, and Power, New York University Press, 2013
284 ‘the worst performer on this count…’: Praful Bidwai, ‘How rising inequality threatens our democracy’, DNA, 6 February 2014
290 One-third of the world’s poorest 1.2 billion people: The Millennium Development Goals Report 2014, United Nations; and Nilanjana Bhowmik, ‘India is Home to More Poor People Than Anywhere Else on Earth, Time, 17 July 2014
290 3,000 children die every day: ‘India’s hunger “shame”: 3,000 children die every day, despite economic growth’, NBC News, 16 February 2012
EPILOGUE
297-298 Vishal Rana, Sangeet Som, Mahesh Sharma: ‘Dadri killing: Mob incited by local BJP leader’s son, claims report’, DNA, 3 October 2015; ‘Dadri killing: Cases filed against Mahesh Sharma, Sangeet Som over inflammatory remarks’, DNA, 6 October 2015
299 ‘The evocation of the nation as “mother”…’: Prabhu Bapu, Hindu Mahasabha in Colonial North India, 1915-1930: Constructing Nation and History, Routledge, 2013
299 ‘In India, no law can be made to ban cow-slaughter…’: M. K. Gandhi, Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 88, accessed online at www.gandhiheritageportal.com
299 cows were sacrificed: D. N. Jha, The Myth of the Holy Cow, Verso, 2002
299 ‘brahminic’ and exclusionary: Kancha Ilaiah, Buffalo Nationalism: A Critique of Spiritual Fascism, Popular Prakashan, 2004
301 when the prime minister finally did speak: Amarnath Tewary and Nistula Hebbar, ‘Modi breaks silence on Dadri lynching’, The Hindu, 9 October 2015
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I devour books but for the longest time I never considered writing one. For convincing me that my experiences as a journalist needed to be chronicled, for persuading me to record the biggest news events over the past two decades, and what those taught me about my country and myself as a person—I owe a huge thank you to David Davidar. This book would have never been conceived or written without his persistence and interest. He kept the faith even when my day job, as a journalist obsessed with the news, often filled all the hours of the day. Many thanks also to the team at Aleph—Simar Puneet, Aienla Ozukum and Pujitha Krishnan. As waves of panic would rise in me ever so often, they were always islands of calm—ready to help with everything from decoding Goo
gle.docs to hunting for the right research sources.
I owe thanks also to the India Initiative at Brown University’s Watson Institute and to Professor Ashutosh Varshney for inviting me to be an in-residence scholar as the first Vikram and Meera Gandhi Fellow. The distance it offered me from the frenetic pace of daily news was invaluable in being able to get started with the book.
This book—and all that I have reported and witnessed for twenty years—would not have been possible without New Delhi Television (NDTV) and the many opportunities for adventure and learning it provided me. Thanks especially to Radhika and Prannoy Roy for always being encouraging and affectionate and for supporting the nomad in me during travels to war zones in India and abroad, remote interiors, and flood- and quake-ravaged parts of the country. I am very grateful to them for being fantastic enablers and for always being there for me.