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Tag: Jallikattu

  • How Hindus can counter the judicial tyranny

    How Hindus can counter the judicial tyranny

    The judicial intervention in social life of Hindus is increasing by leaps and bounds and there seems to be no respite. To understand how to fight back, Hindus need to look at the functioning of Indian power system.

    How does the spectrum of politics look like: citizens < law < judicial whims < politics. This is how things stand as of today. Politics is above everything. Politics reaches the masses, judiciary/justice never reaches the masses, it is highly theoretical. Therefore seasoned politicians use this space to break the law as a means to offer resistance to the whims of the judiciary on behalf of the public. If the public feels that it is justified (like the khadi movement, or non-co-operation movement) then the politician stands to gain some brownie points from it. Politics is how the lowest common denominator, i.e. the common man, gets his justice delivered to him.

    The recent verdict on Dahi Handi was an absolutely stupid order from the SC and it needs to be challenged by someone. The judiciary cannot just encroach over civilian aspects and preach their ‘separation of powers’ lecture to others. SC needs to be put in its place and shown that the same ‘separation of powers’ principle applies to them too.

    Another example of judicial flip-flops- there was some divorced man, who as per law stopped paying maintenance to his daughter and wife as the daughter had turned 18 and by virtue of being an adult she is counted as non-dependent. But the HC made him pay the money and said that “you cannot hide behind the law”. Really? What do you mean HIDE behind the law? The reason a law exists is based on the premise that it will be consistently applied in all cases and removes uncertainty from the justice department. The law said that he doesn’t need to pay it so he stopped paying it. Instead, when it is convenient to the court, they use the law, but when common man uses the law, he is chided for being someone who ‘hides behind the law’. How is he HIDING behind it if he is only following what it says? So what happened was that the judge, based on his personal whims and fancies said that in India children don’t become independent at 18 unlike USA so the father has a moral responsibility to fund her education until PG plus he must pay private tuition fees too plus for her wedding. Really Mr Black Coat? Now are we giving judgement based on moral whims? What is the use of a written and codified law then? We might better have Khap panchayats then, which at least deliver justice on time rather than take 2 decades for simple cases.

    So next time any husband is asked to pay alimony by any court, the husband’s lawyer must argue, “morally speaking, I don’t feel like paying it” or when someone is sentenced to death, the convict must say “Dear judge, morally speaking, I feel that you have no right to take my life, so I choose to walk out of this trial”. Next time a traffic cop stops me for not wearing seat belt, I will say “morally speaking, I don’t feel like obeying the rules today”. If everyone starts interpreting the rules as they want, the very phrase ‘rules’ will become a paradox. Or does the SC think that it is the only body which has this privilege to act on its whims and fancies?

    The SC should stop putting its stinking nose in matters where it is not qualified to do so. There is a reason they have such low respectability in Indian society. If they keep up with their stupid judicial activism, no common man will ever look at the judicial system as a temple of justice, just a pack of bureaucratic wolves waiting to devour his money based on what they feel is their inalienable god-given right.

    SC is dysfunctional because it takes 4 months holiday in a year. These people don’t work, but just sit there to suck commissions from court cases like a goon who does hafta vasooli from everyone who comes at his doorstep. Instead of fast tracking the justice delivery mechanism for the sake of the commoners and laying out guidelines to lower courts, the SC keeps itself busy in pompous debates about one or the other constitutional interpretation or some other high brow intellectual masturbation. The SC judge cries like a baby when cases are pending. Thankfully the government introduced a new parallel form of judiciary in the form of appellate courts. This will take the monopoly away from the inefficient judiciary and end their gala fest at the expense of the taxpayer. There must be decentralization within the judiciary too. The people (or a representative of the people) or a technocratic body must have a say in appointment of judges. They should not be allowed to appoint their own successors as if its their family business, in contempt of the common people’s opinion. Their salaries are paid by the taxpayer after all. Let Modi starve the judiciary and bring it to its knees. These people as a group think too highly of themselves but deliver no value to the society. Only nuisance value to rob money from false dowry cases and false rape cases while genuine family property feuds go on for decades after the claimants are long dead. What a shame!

    The SC speaks about good faith, let them first show some good faith by giving up the feudal system of collegium and embrace a more meritocratic system. The SC doesn’t have the market cornered on victimhood. We have our own concerns which they must address before we release payments to them. They can’t keep asking for appointment of more judges, more payments, more buildings while stonewalling reforms and transparency.

    We have all heard the phrase ’eminent lawyer’, ever wondered what does it mean? How is an eminent lawyer different from a non-eminent lawyer, does he know a few secret sections of the penal code which others don’t? Obviously not. So what’s so special about him? It only means that he is a chamcha of the judge and therefore the client has a higher probability of winning the case if he pays hefty fees to that eminent lawyer who has a revenue-sharing arrangement with the judge so there is a higher probability of judgement in your favor if you hire the right one. This is what the judiciary has turned into. There’s no justice there, just money eating business. That is why the rich always go scott free and the poor gets no justice.

    The real money in judicial business lies in NOT solving the cases promptly, hence “taareek pe taareek”. If they start solving things fast then how will they earn more money under the table? They have a vested interest in keeping the system inefficient so that they could charge people in exchange for efficiency. So, they will say, “I can schedule your next hearing after 6 months but if you pay me X amount, I MAY schedule it next week. It’s all up to you, if you want prompt hearing then pay up”.

    There are two distinct things govt has now done, one is appellate courts outside the purview of the current collegium and other is allowing private law firms. There must also be a new law introduced to make it mandatory to video record all court proceedings (after all, we call them free and fair and open courts for a reason). Government must keep copies and also be legally bound to provide any copy to anyone who files an RTI. This will instill fear among lawyers and judges because if they are found slacking off, their video clip might appear in prime time news.

    At the same time, if someone feels that the judge assigned to his case is being biased (eg : Feminazi judge) then he can take that clipping to the appellate court or a disciplinary panel or even consumer forum. Basically create an overlap of authority instead of giving the reigns of the entire judicial system to a single monolithic, self-serving body. They have grown fat by eating tax payer’s money, let them get a taste of how it feels to actually be productive in exchange for claiming a salary. Every judge must be under fear that his judgement will be scrutinized by another panel if someone complains about them. Also there must be transparent appointments, and mandatory to disclose the productivity graph of not only those judges who got appointed but also those who got rejected so that there is no favoritism and a deserving judge does not get lost out just because he wasn’t a bootlicker.

    Basically, take the judges out of the comfort zone which they have created to cushion themselves. The three tier system is open to too much nepotism and needs extra intervention. Make them feel the same insecurity which a common man feels when he goes to court and then they will start taking the common man more seriously instead of playing with his future and stealing his money.

    Social media broke the monopoly of conventional electronic media. Blogging and online degrees broke the monopoly of so-called premier educational institutes. Open source software broke the monopoly of enterprise software giants, similarly, something disruptive needs to happen to break the monopoly of the judiciary. The judiciary shouldn’t be completely wiped out but it should have a private sector competition so that both keep a check on each other. For example, people can get together and form co-operative institutions for arbitration in case of disputes. So if you and I have a property dispute, instead of taking you to a court and wasting our money bidding for lawyers, we can go to the arbitration center and settle the matter, no black coats involved. This arbitration center can be a private institution whose services we mutually agree to avail. This is already happening to some extent through Competition Authority of India, but one can also think of private institutions.

    The crux of the matter is, the more of our problems we solve within ourselves, the less opportunity the law has to interfere. If a husband and wife or their family can sort their issues, no dowry law can intervene (anyway a large number of dowry cases gets settled outside courtrooms by exchanging some money). The more you allow the courts to micro-manage your life, the more they will suck your blood. We must have a strong consensus among ourselves as citizens, not to avail the services of an institution which is innately corrupt. Let the black coats rot in their own corner. Let us set up our own private arbitration courts (like insurance agencies), and resolve our own issues. Use the court premises only to do unavoidable paperwork deeds like house registration etc. Every time a common man has been there, he gets looted, even for simple things like domicile certificate, or attestation of some papers. They delay your work deliberately and ask money to do it ‘faster’, which in itself is a paradox. First you yourself create artificial scarcity of resource (time) and then jack up the prices in exchange for merely doing your job on time.

    When people like Kanhiya Kumar were shouting “Afzal hum sharminda hai, tere kaatil zinda hai” was the court sleeping then? How come they did not take suo motto cognizance of the contempt of the judiciary? How come no suo motto cognizance during Shia processions where blood is spilled? Now the courts have ruined the careers of so many Govindas who pursue Dahi Handi as a full time profession. They practice all year long and earn only once during the year. This is their only source of livelihood. Is the SC judge going to feed all these jobless people from his own kitchen now? On the other side the courts forced Maharashtra government to open dance bars using the same argument, asking the government “so many bar girls will be jobless, will you feed them? You can’t deny employment to people for arbitrary moral reasons”. Well, hypocrisy thy name is Indian judiciary!

    Same with Jallikattu, as it helps breed better generation of cows/bulls through natural mate selection. But our over smart judiciary banned that too. They call themselves guardians of the constitution, and the constitution mentions India as a democratic nation, so where is the democracy when judiciary makes adhoc rules without elected people’s representation? Is this not fascism by the unelected?

  • Shabrimala to Shani temple- tale of anti-Hindu feminists

    Editorial illustration for Shabrimala to Shani temple- tale of anti-Hindu feminists
    Editorial illustration for “Shabrimala to Shani temple- tale of anti-Hindu feminists”.

    Feminism is a good concept in theory but in practice it is just another Marxist tool to destroy cultures around the world. Since the Mohammedans will not listen to banning females from praying alongside men, or clad them in burqa, or giving divorce by saying triple talaq — nor will the Christians declare a female as the next Pope — the next best target for beloved feminists are Hindus. Since they are a fragmented lot and do not organize nationwide protests, they form an easy target.

    For all its ills that modern feminism poses, the recent outrage is one more addition to the attempts where they are using state and mob power to push reforms down the throat of commoners. Whether forceful entry into a specific temple can be disguised as a Hindu reform is another important point to ponder. These outrages are nothing but part of a global agenda to destroy native customs and cultures under the guise of modernity and liberalism. The Jallikattu ban also falls under this category and is well analysed by us here. Let’s go into the details of why this recent outrage by a few women has been over the top and unjustified.

    1. The most pertinent point is that a temple is not public property where people can party or drink alcohol (except in the Bhairav temple!). A random stranger cannot barge into your house because it is private property. People are allowed to form organizations and restrict their membership as well as determine the use of their premises. Similarly a temple, like any such organization or society, is formed by its local devotees who have the sole right to decide entry criteria.
    2. Hinduism is not a religion driven by canon like Islam or Christianity and does not prescribe do’s and don’ts to everyone. All regions have their local customs which need to be respected and if needed reformed by the locals — and cannot be imposed by the champagne-sipping elites in Delhi circles. Women not only enter temples but engage in various religious activities in Hinduism, and so specific traditions guided by local mythology (like in the case of Sabarimala or Shani temple) should not be over-emphasized or blown out of proportion. In this particular case, women are allowed to enter the temple but cannot touch the main deity stone because Lord Shani is a celibate Brahmachari. Logic follows that if you are a believer you would follow and respect this tradition — otherwise why would you want to enter a specific temple where you are not invited, since you can always choose another one? The vandalism by these activists only proves that this was an organised protest to gain political mileage.
    3. Given points 1 and 2 above, it is no longer difficult to understand why entry restrictions by these temples are not similar to discrimination against Dalits in pre-independence India — a point frequently raised by self-proclaimed reformists who like to equate these issues. While Dalits were systematically discriminated against in many of their village temples, it is not the case with women. Just as some temples or rituals are open to men, there are many other temples and rituals which only allow women — like Attukal temple or Navratri Puja, where only girls are worshipped. So there is no reason for Indians to blindly ape the fake equality notions from the west and kill their traditions.

    Given the flexibility provided by Hinduism, these women who are opposing this particular temple tradition could have proved their case much more easily by building their own temple and worshipping Lord Shani. It would have been the most natural and Dharmic way to take this debate forward, but instead they created a ruckus to generate cheap publicity. Since reform was not part of the agenda, they have achieved what they wanted — another controversy.

    The fact of the matter is that most of these self-proclaimed liberals and feminists engaged in such protests are the most illiberal kind and treat everyone else who does not toe their line as primates. They are just trying to fulfil a “brown men’s agenda” like the famous “white men’s agenda” of the past. Unfortunately, most Hindus do not understand the designs of the international cabal that is working to deconstruct each and every Hindu tradition and alienate them from their roots under the garb of modernity, feminism, or other famous cultural memes. Since most western social disciplines draw heavily from Judeo-Christian theology, like their cousin monotheistic cults, they want to force everyone to follow the same norms around the world. All these issues — from Jallikattu to the Shani temple — should be seen under this light and recognized as an assault on freedom of religion. Whether Hindus will be able to thwart these attempts against cultural genocide is something that will depend on how they perform in this war of memes.

  • From fall of Olympics to Jallikattu ban

    Editorial illustration for From fall of Olympics to Jallikattu ban
    Editorial illustration for “From fall of Olympics to Jallikattu ban”.

    The Abrahamic war on Paganism has been perfected over the centuries and the recent ban on Jallikattu is a direct consequence of this old and perfected missionary tactic. One of the essential stages during the spread of Abrahamic religions over the world has been the destruction of paganism from Europe to Latin America to Africa. And the best way to kill paganism is to strike at its root by disconnecting the natives from their roots — turning sons against father, society and native religion. The cookbook of turning people against their forefathers has been refined over the centuries by these imperialistic religions. But how do you disconnect people from their roots?

    The best way to achieve this objective is to chop down on native social traditions ranging from festivals, feasts, sacrifice and every social activity which defines the local society. Sometimes this objective was achieved in an overt fashion as exemplified by Mohammed destroying the idols of Arabic pagan Gods on his return to Mecca. With this single masterstroke, Mohammed completely disconnected the Mecca residents from their traditional culture which revolved around their pagan deities. Without common identity, customs and rituals to bind them, the old pagan society crumbled under Islamic barbarity in Arabia. If the sword was not powerful enough to censor ritualism, other machinations were deployed to achieve this objective.

    But Islam only picked up these techniques later, much after Christianity had used them for several hundred years and was already a prominent religion. So it is important to look at the methods used by early Christians to destroy pagan societies and see whether the Jallikattu ban follows the old Church template. The only difference being that now western governments use secular institutions like NGOs and think-tanks to denounce native practices and de-link people from their traditions. Such societies then become easy fodder for proselytization attempts by the Church.

    The suppression of Olympic games by the Church

    The ancient Olympic games were the most important part of Greek identity but in 380 AD, when Emperor Theodosius I announced Christianity to be the official state religion of the Roman Empire, the Olympic games became the first victim of zealous Christian clergy. In 391 AD and 392 AD, Theodosius I further issued edicts to outlaw the pagan practices of sacrifice, libations, garlands, and divination throughout his territory. This would prove to be the final nail for the Olympics — celebrated in honour of Greek God Zeus — and other sports in their outwardly pagan forms. Finally in 426 AD, Emperor Theodosius II finished the work started by his grandfather and burned down the Temple of Zeus and other Olympia buildings including the great stadium of Olympia.

    The burning down of the Temple of Zeus was the last step in establishing the supremacy of the monotheistic Christian God. But as mentioned above, the work to discredit pagan beliefs began much earlier as the Church actively used state power to ban different pagan practices. In 392 AD, Theodosius prohibited circus games on Sunday so that people would not be distracted from Sunday mass. The gradual decline of Gladiatorial fights under Constantine I, Constantine II, and complete closure under Honorius in 404 AD also happened under the influence of the Christian council as Roman kings restricted their soldiers from participating in these events and decreased the frequency of these events.

    All these actions paved the way for removal of the statue of Zeus from Olympia. This statue was one of the primary attractions of the city and the Olympic games were discontinued soon after these events. No surprise that Olympia became a Christian town by the 5th century with its buildings falling into ruin or taken over by the Church.

    The accommodations for the athletes and guests were at this point no longer used for their original purpose. Blocks from the gymnasium gate and perhaps from the palaestra too, and statue bases from the nymphaion were reused in the church.

    — Sofie Remijsen, The End of Greek Athletics in Late Antiquity

    The template thus used by the Church was very simple — look down upon all native traditions and either ridicule them to stop them covertly, or use the power of the state and mob and suppress them overtly. A gripping account of the destruction of ancient pagan culture and along with it the scientific temper was the subject of the movie “Agora” released in 2009:

    [Embedded: Agora (2009) — trailer or clip on destruction of pagan culture]
    [Embedded: Agora (2009) — trailer or clip on destruction of pagan culture] — contextual restoration.

    But it was not all easy for the Church as the pagans did fight back for some time. There was a brief period between Constantine II and Valentinian where Julian the Apostate did his best to revive paganism by reviving games and festivals — but the poor fellow failed because the Church had become deeply entrenched in the Roman power structure and society by then. Paganism lost hold on Greek minds as they became victims of rational philosophy, escapist mystery cults and the reforming zeal of Christians who stamped out the pagan sacrifices, idolatry and rituals.

    The suppression of sports and rituals in India

    The targeting of Akali Nihangs and decline of Sikh martial traditions under the British Raj also followed the same template. Gatka, which was predominantly a battle art, was turned into performance art as the British hanged and imprisoned the Ustads and hunted down the Nihangs out of Punjab. This was done with such clinical precision that not only Sikhs forgot and gave up their traditional practices but also became one of the most loyal servants of the British.

    The British made other similar attempts and banned Ayudh Puja as well as most other martial arts traditions like Silambam and Kalaripayat. Although these decisions had the objective to protect British colonialism in India, one should not miss the cultural aspect — the British had a deep desire to “civilise” the local Satan worshippers.

    The recent fashion to rid Hinduism of its original pagan form while absorbing Hindu spirituality in the name of secularising Yoga, Advaita etc. should also be seen under this light. Once these philosophies are de-linked from their Hindu roots by banning the outward pagan rituals, the task of luring people into monotheistic creeds or hedonistic consumerism becomes much simpler.

    The forces behind these bans

    The current attempts to ban Jallikattu should be seen as a continuation of past attempts to suppress local traditions in pagan societies. The only thing that has changed is the players in the game. Instead of overt participation of the Church, now we have NGOs and other pressure groups who want to subvert local traditions. No surprise that in almost all cases, the customs and rituals under the scanner have an association with Hinduism — the last citadel of global paganism.

    Most Hindu traditions are local in nature and closely related with local social life. This makes them easy targets as it is difficult to rally support from other Hindus in case of suppression by the state. Given the past success of proselytization attempts post destruction and vilification of native pagan traditions, one should expect that these attempts will only increase in the future in India — sometimes under the garb of animal protection and other times to promote equality, gender or otherwise. The recent judgements against temple elephants, Dahi Handi during Mumbai Gokulashtami celebrations, or the Sabarimala and Shani Shingnapur worship traditions are the disjointed pieces of this puzzle that one needs to put together to understand the big picture.

    In this whole drama, the most worrying aspect is the fact that most of these decisions have come from the Supreme Court which has no mandate to interfere selectively and pass judgements against some local traditions while closing their eyes on other more reprehensible social practices. This probably gives a sense of infiltration of the deep state or current liberal memes in Indian judiciary. Also, the hurry shown by the SC to entertain such PILs, when many other important cases are pending, only leads to further distrust in the institution.

    To counter this propaganda — and given the hold of Marxist thought in popular parlance in India — there is an active need on the part of Hindus to thwart any such attempts against local traditions. Given the presence of social media, it is much easier to identify and target the hypocrisy of individuals who want to ban Jallikattu while enjoying a piece of steak for dinner. But it is not enough, as Hindus usually try to brush off the strength of the enemy by citing that they have survived this onslaught for more than 2000 years. A cursory look at the epitaphs of various pagan societies from around the world should be enough to ring an alarm bell that they are not special and many other civilizations have been destroyed using similar techniques. So every attempt to ban and ridicule local rituals and traditions, no matter how small, should be thwarted at every level of society.

    References:

    Christianity and the Roman Games — Richard F. Devoe

    The End of Greek Athletics in Late Antiquity — Sofie Remijsen

    The Fall of the Ancient Olympics: The Theodosian Code