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Visit your nearest Nature’s Basket or Spencer’s store
 CONTENTS
27 NOVEMBER 2023

5 6 8 10 12 16 18

LOCOMOTIF OPEN DIARY BYLINE IN MEMORIAM NOTEBOOK INSIDER OPEN ESSAY

Resistance as theory By Swapan Dasgupta Bibi’s hubris and PRS ‘Biki’ Oberoi The tribal boost Rishi Sunak at bay
and theatre the Shaikh’s diet By Suhel Seth By Siddharth Singh By James Astill
By S Prasannarajan By MJ Akbar

22 ON A KNIFE-EDGE
22
A keen contest is unfolding in Madhya
Pradesh with Congress seeking to replicate
its Karnataka winning model and BJP
counting on popular welfare schemes
‘BJP IS WINNING THE WAR
OF NARRATIVES’
Union Minister and BJP’s Madhya Pradesh
in-charge Bhupender Yadav says the party’s
promises are credible and based on its
record in office
By Rajeev Deshpande

32 GRAIN OF TRUTH
Paddy farmers could decide the outcome
of the battle between Congress and BJP in
Chhattisgarh’s second phase
‘INDIVIDUAL MLAs MAY
BE IN TROUBLE BUT THE
GOVERNMENT HAS DONE
VERY WELL’
Deputy Chief Minister TS Singh Deo talks
about Congress’ chances of retaining power
32 in Chhattisgarh
By Siddharth Singh
40 42

40 PLAN B
It’s wait-and-watch for India as
Sheikh Hasina fights to retain power
in Bangladesh’s general election
By Rahul Pandita

42 BREATHE UNEASY
Air pollution and its effects on the health of
Indians are becoming worse with every year
but there is no solution in sight
By Madhavankutty Pillai

46 THE INCOMPARABLES
An unstoppable India is all set for the final
flourish in Ahmedabad
By Aditya Iyer
46 50

50 54 57 58 60 64 66

THE KING THE PRISON DIARIST ALWAYS THE CRIME CANON ‘EACH FILM IS MY LIFE’ INDIAN ACCENTS STARGAZER
WHO SAID SORRY Sudha Bharadwaj, OUTSIDER Of crimes and conceits Director Prelude to By Kaveree Bamzai
Patrick Olivelle’s an activist on bail, The idea of alienation By Shylashri Shankar Vidhu Vinod Chopra a divine wedding
portrait of Ashoka talks about her book in Jhumpa Lahiri’s on his new film about By Bibek Debroy
brings out his on life in jail new collection of a young man
universalism By Lhendup G Bhutia short stories overcoming odds
By Upinder Singh By Nandini Nair By Kaveree Bamzai
Cover by Saurabh Singh
Disclaimer ‘Open Avenues’ are advertiser-driven marketing initiatives and Open assumes no responsibility for content and the consequences of using products or services advertised in the magazine

27 NOVEMBER 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 3


EDITOR S Prasannarajan
MANAGING EDITOR PR Ramesh
CONSULTING EDITOR-AT-LARGE
Rajeev Deshpande
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EDITOR-AT-LARGE Siddharth Singh
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(Mumbai Bureau Chief),
Rahul Pandita, Amita Shah,
V Shoba (Bengaluru),
Nandini Nair, Sudeep Paul
ART DIRECTOR Jyoti K Singh
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(Mumbai), Moinak Mitra, Aditya Iyer
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Antara Raghavan
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Volume 15 Issue 47
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4 27 NOVEMBER 2023
OPEN MAIL
editor@openmedianetwork.in
& LETTER OF THE WEEK
Our planet is literally drowning in garbage (‘Rags
to Riches’, November 20, 2023). The amount of
global waste has reached alarming numbers and,
unfortunately, very little of it is recycled or reused.
So, we are experiencing innumerable environmental
shocks globally as our landfills and oceans get filled
with trash. Thankfully, there are a few innovative
minds in this world who have found unique ways to
rethink garbage so that it becomes a valuable asset.
As the article suggests, these include measures such
as the effective recycling of cigarette butts, which
eventually become material for a variety of products
ranging from soft toys to cushions. Another ingenious
venture is the conversion of plastic waste to goggles. to prosecute the culprits
Think chips and wafer packets being turned into who use these deepfakes,
sunglasses. There are also business owners in the and to further protect the
fashion industry who recycle waste. It has been privacy of individuals
demonstrated by other such entrepreneurs that even who have been targeted.
pharma waste can be successfully converted into Possibly, auto-screening
lifestyle products. While the government in its own arrangements can be made
way does its bit to put waste management practices in for such impersonations
place, the efforts of private entrepreneurs in this space and misinterpretations.
must not go unnoticed since they showcase optimal Also, steps can be taken
waste transformation to wealth. to identify the culprits by
CK Subramaniam tracking their IP addresses.
It is also crucial that any
means should be used to
DEEPFAKE DANGER In the case of Mandanna, increase social awareness
In the absence of any this experience has shaken of this new misuse of
watertight solution to her to the point that she technology. After all, it’s a
protect the dignity and has expressed her fears threat looming for all, and
autonomy of celebrities for the safety of someone anyone can fall victim to
from deepfakes, an alarm as vulnerable as a college these deepfakes without
was raised after the actress student who might fall warning. Before this
Rashmika Mandanna victim to such technology. emerging crisis can grow
became the focus of a This is a grave state bigger, all possible measures
deepfake video that went of affairs. should be taken to nip this
viral recently (‘Damned KR Srinivasan threat in the bud.
by Deepfakes’, November Chanchal Nandy
20, 2023). This is only one LOOMING THREAT
such unfortunate incident. Technology sometimes THE GREAT KOHLI
Moreover, with technology appears to be a curse There’s no doubt that
growing faster, high- instead of a blessing, Virat Kohli is a classy
profile film celebrities and especially with the rise of batsman and with 50 ODI
politicians are taped on deepfakes. (‘Damned by centuries now (‘Karmic
videos, and these videos Deepfakes’, November 20, Kohli’, November 6, 2023),
can be manipulated by 2023). Anybody who has the only player to have
misusing technology. dubious intentions can use reached that mark in the
More specifically, cloning this to malign others. We One-Day format. Since
software is used to clone should definitely have some Kohli is just 35, the world
celebrity voices. Such clear-cut guidelines on will expect to see more of
high-profile figures are easy how these deepfakes can be him in the near future.
targets for these deepfakes. checked. These include how Ashok Nihalani
 LOCOMOTIF
By S PRASANNARAJAN
RESISTANCE AS THEORY AND THEATRE
N
OT JUST WHAT Philip Larkin wrote:
Sexual intercourse began
In nineteen sixty-three
(which was rather late for me)-
Between the end of the Chatterley ban
And the Beatles’ first LP.
There was more to the counter-cultural Sixties, and the sexual
liberation Larkin celebrates was only another theme of the
times, when nothing was meant to be what it was, for everything
was a made-to-order conceit. To resist was to be alive in a world of
unjust wars, as in Vietnam; to breach the barricades was to make
struggle the only romance that mattered. Resistance was all that
it took to belong.
It took a while for the poetics of resistance
to return to the streets and the pages. The
death of George Floyd, an African American,
under the knees of a white policeman
triggered the awakening—or awokening?—
that shook America, and scalded the conscience
beyond. It changed the conversation, put
history on trial, and turned identity into the
only argument that makes a difference. The
erupted streets—Black Lives Matter—were
matched by an enforced theology of guilt
and retribution. An unofficial politburo
of pieties came to claim copyright over
thought. “Woke” and “cancel culture” would
become the catchphrases of another age of resistance.
Has the Twenties’ street-narrative power of resistance peaked
with Israel’s rejoinder to Hamas’ savagery of October 7? As Israel
continues with its retaliation, and as more and more images of
the dead and the orphaned fill the media coverage of the war,
Palestine has become an invocation of injustice in the streets of
the West, which resonate with the slogan “From the river to the
sea, Palestine will be free.”
The slogan itself is a piece of mutual exclusion: An ideal
homeland of Palestinians stretching from the Jordan river to the
Mediterranean Sea means Israel is not a territorial entity but a lie
sustained by the Iron Dome. For Eretz Israel, too, home has the
same rhyming boundaries, which makes the Palestinian claim
the usurpation of the Biblical promise. What the late Israeli
novelist Amos Oz called a real-estate dispute that history has
failed to resolve is, as it turns out, an imagery divided by anger
and patriotism as well.
27 NOVEMBER 2023
When the slogan multiplies on the streets, as in London on
Armistice Day, it takes its toll. Nothing new, for the history of
protest is also a long story of colliding perceptions. Some saw
in the choice of the day, which for Britain is still steeped in the
memory of war and loss, a subversion of symbolism. And for
some, the river-to-the-sea slogan was not a spontaneous flow
of solidarity but a simulated show of hate verging on anti-
Semitism. Among them was the now-cancelled home secretary,
a national conservative on the far side of the argument who said
all the right things in the wrong language.
Resistance, as theory and theatre, makes demonology a
useful variation of ideology. In another time the demon that
required a public exorcism was capitalism.
Its extraterritorial transgressions, its
conformism, its corruption of the cultural
space, its pretence to having won the
argument against socialism—they all
came together to mobilise the mind in a
freedom struggle of ideas. There were so
many barricades to be breached, and in the
Fahrenheit of resistance, it was pure thrill to
raise the fist from the left side of the rhetoric.
In the Twenties, post-Floyd, Palestine,
as ‘stolen homeland’ and suffering
sponsored by big powers, has returned
to update the mythology of resistance. It
has already spawned a parallel alliance of
moral certainties, and its power is not to be underestimated. The
cancelled British politician should have known that even her
fellow Conservative prime minister can’t defy the code of conduct
set by the moral alliance. Conform or be damned (in the court
of moral judgments)—and this absolutism of the post-Floyd
resistance makes it so distant from the Sixties, culturally. Then
political protest had a literary attitude; it was all about breaking
free, not about building a one-dimensional belief system.
Today the trauma of Palestine has been appropriated by those
who have built, in the mental space between the river and the
sea, brand new moral barriers. Cross them at the risk of putting
your humanity on a show trial. The enforced exclusivity of
the Twenties’ resistance movement denies the enemy, mostly
defined by race, the right to exist—or even explain. On the long
road from the counter-cultural to cultural conformity, resistance
has ceased to be the romance of the idealist. It is the preserve of
the doctrinaire.
www.openthemagazine.com 5
 OPEN DIARY
E ARLIER THIS WEEK, I got
more than a little agitated over
the fact that the British Establish-
ment, such as it is, didn’t think it
worth the effort to ensure that the
sanctity of Armistice Day (November
11) wasn’t sullied by those who have
managed to make anti-Semitism
respectable once again. According to
media reports, some 300,000 people
marched through the streets of Lon-
don on November 11 to demonstrate
their support for an independent
Palestine extending from the River
Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea. For
those who have brushed up on their
geography, the “river to the sea” chant
implies that the country we know as
Israel will become history. There is
a wilful silence over the question of
the fate of the Jews at present living in
Israel, but the glimpse of an answer
can perhaps be found in the manner
Hamas dealt with Jewish civilians
when it broke through the border
posts on October 7.
The weekly pro-Palestine
marches through London since
October 14 may tell us less about
the state of play in West Asia than it
does about the Londonistan that has
gradually taken shape over the past
decade. According to opinion polls,
the British public is almost evenly
divided in its sympathy for Israel
and Palestine, with the pro-Palestine
tilt being more pronounced among
young Britons and sympathy for
Israel being more marked among
those above the age of 35. It would
have been more interesting if there
had been a parallel racial profiling
of views, but those who have seen
TV and social media images of the
demonstrations may have arrived at
their own conclusions.
That the opinions of the silent,
6 27 NOVEMBER 2023
Swapan Dasgupta
non-demonstrative majority are
being factored in by the decision-
makers is reassuring. According to
a rightwing podcast from Israel that
I heard a fortnight ago, the Biden
administration in the US has no love
lost for the present dispensation
in Israel. The Democrats have
been miffed with Israel since the
Obama presidency and the parallel
rise of the Woke Left in the urban
heartlands of the Blue states. But a
reason why the administration
has steadfastly supported Israel
is due to the resounding public
support for the Jewish state.
Maybe the Jewish lobby is far more
entrenched in the US than in the
UK. But I also think that there is a
greater awareness of radical Islam in
the US than in Europe.
A reason why I have brought up
the issue of how the Hamas-Israel
war is being played out in different
parts of the world has to do with a
Bengali podcast that I heard after
Diwali. A senior Bengali journalist
was lamenting that West Bengal isn’t
what it was like in the good old days.
I don’t know whether Bengal
has witnessed anything resembling
the good old days since the Left
assumed charge after the General
Election of 1967, in short, some
56 years ago. But according to one
version of the history, the glorious
days of Bengal coincided with the
time angry youth came out into
the streets to protest against the
American bombing of Vietnam in
the mid-1960s. He didn’t mention
that a group of angry imbeciles also
came out into the streets to proclaim,
“China’s Chairman is our chairman”
and murder class enemies—in
most cases, traffic policemen and
venerable vice chancellors. Also
not mentioned was the fact that
a big chunk of these radical Bongs
now live in the US, and seem quite
happy about it.
According to the podcast, Bengal
has squandered its rich inheritance
by passively overlooking the
decimation of the citizens of Gaza
by the Israel Defense Forces. Not
only has there been no monster
demonstrations through College
Street, no burning of buses, no
stone throwing at the American
consulate and no relay fasts
below the statue of Lenin or Marx,
but the intellectual support for
Palestine has been quite muted.
This is attributed to the fact
that the Palestine issue has got
entangled with the vagaries of
communal politics in India. In
short, what is unsaid is that since
the advent of Narendra Modi
in 2014, the Indian mind, and
the Bengali mind, has become
infected with a combination of
capitalist aspirations and Hindu
assertiveness.
I used to think that Bengali Hindus
have defied this trend, but obviously
something interesting is happening
at the subterranean level to warrant
the fulminations of the flag-bearers of
Bengali exceptionalism. Maybe
the indifference to the emerging
folklore on Palestine has also some-
thing to do with becoming exasperated
with lost causes. Q
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Bibi’s Hubris and the Shaikh’s Diet

The other war Netanyahu can’t win and the uses of 1297 pre-dawn press-ups

T
HERE ARE MANY ways of emulating Netanyahu had shifted from his personal home to an
Winston Churchill, but surely winning a war American billionaire’s villa which is equipped with a
while losing your own people must be the least nuclear shelter. While 360,000 Israeli civilian
preferred option for a politician. Churchill reservists, men and women, have joined the forces, his
had won the epic war against the existential threat from two sons continue to live abroad. There is much
Hitler by May 8, 1945; less than eight weeks later, on July more in this vein; and enough to sketch out a future
5, he was wiped out in a British general election. Labour political upheaval.
under the non-flamboyant Clement Attlee took 47.7 per
cent of the popular vote against Churchill’s 36.2 per cent. THE NEXT CRICKET CASH COW
Churchill’s sense of humour survived the ruins; he noted The structure has novelty, so that’s a start: a Continental
that the people had awarded him the Order of the Boot. Pentangular. Do ICC and BCCI want yet another cricket
Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will at tamasha? You bet they do. As long as there is pan masala
some point declare victory in his war against Hamas, but there will be cricket. The official rationale can’t be cash,
he cannot postpone democracy in his country. Israel is a so of course we are formally taking cricket forward on the
robust and proudly democratic state. Every opinion poll twin principles of revival and fresh fields.
indicates that Netanyahu has already lost the confidence We may have to reposition geography, but that is what
of his people. He has entered the slippery zone of those empire builders have been doing through history. The
who lose it all because they want it all. five quasi-continental teams would be: Indo-Asia; Af-
London’s Spectator, a leading supporter of Israel’s war Pak-Gulf; South-East Africa; Brit-Europe; and Australia-
against Hamas, explained why Netanyahu’s ratings have Windies, nicknamed Indasia, APG, Seafrica, Briteau and
gone south in a critique from Anshel Pfeffer, Jerusalem Auswies. The obvious Big Five provide the nucleus, but
correspondent of the Economist for 27 years, published never the full complement. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka
on November 8. An Israeli will be prominent in Indasia,
leader has failed his primary to give an obvious example.
responsibility if he cannot The selectors, chosen by ICC,
ensure the people’s security. will be non-partisan, just like
The chiefs of the Israel umpires. Welcome to the
Defense Forces (IDF) and growth of cricket in Scotland,
intelligence services have Ireland, Netherlands, Kenya,
accepted blame, and will Zimbabwe etc; and a full-scale
resign when the fighting resurrection in the West Indies.
pauses; Netanyahu has The idea is novel, but
blamed everyone but himself. not wholly original. Check
In a poll taken during end- out memory. The One Day
October, some 50 per cent International World Cup began
of respondents said they in 1975 as the Prudential Cup,
trusted generals more than played for a fortnight from
the prime minister, and three June 7 in England between
quarters of respondents the hosts, Australia, India,
wanted Netanyahu to resign. Pakistan, New Zealand, the
His Likud party has lost West Indies, and two associate
40 per cent of its vote. Till nations of cricketdom, Sri
the moment of writing, Lanka and East Africa. South

8 27 NOVEMBER 2023

Africa was excluded because of
Apartheid, but what was East Africa all
about? It consisted of Kenya, Uganda,
Tanzania and Zambia. A certain
Frasat Ali top-scored with 45 in their
first match against New Zealand. Other
team members were Harilal Shah,
Jawahir Shah, Hamish McLeod,
Mehmood Quraishy, John Nagenda,
Parbhu Nana, Ramesh Sethi,
Shiraz Sumar, Samuel Walusimbi,
Zulfiqar Ali, Praful Mehta, Don Pringle
and Yunus Badat. How multi-ethnic
harmonious can you get? Why not
name the trophy the Harmony Cup?
The idea is free for the esteemed Rajeev Shukla to pick
up and run.
THE NASIKH DIET
When the Nasikh Diet becomes the miracle health fad of
the next decade, remember you read it here first.
Shaikh Nasikh was a friend of the iconic Ghalib and,
although purists might flinch at the comparison, a fellow-
poet. His verse was not particularly memorable. What
made him famous in 19th-century Delhi was his exercise
regime: 1297 pre-dawn press-ups for three hours every day,
and if you want to know how difficult that is, try doing
129. Mixing religion with politics is now common; Nasikh
mixed push-ups with religion. He did 1297 because that
was the numerical value of the letters in Ya Ghafur, one of
the names of God in Islam. Push-ups were prayer.
Huge and healthy, tall and broad, he would wear just a
shirt spun of fine cloth or chintz even in the bitter cold of a
Delhi winter and just a loincloth during the other months.
Punctuality was an obsession. Friends and callers rose
from the cane chairs in his spotlessly clean courtyard at
the call of the zuhr namaaz at midday. The time had come
for his only meal of the day.
It weighed in at five kilograms of food: qurma, kebabs,
chicken or partridge, vegetables and lentils. He ate
one dish at a time, for mixing spoilt the taste. Delay
was not permitted. Once, the cooks took too long over
special dishes. He saw a servant ferrying the staff meal,
summoned him, ate all the food, and told his servants to
eat what was being prepared for him. On a few days he
indulged in a different although equally gargantuan meal:
when mangoes or bhutta (corn cob) were in season.
This entrancing vignette from a forgotten past comes
from the most enchanting book of my reading year,
A Thousand Yearnings: A Book of Urdu Poetry and Prose
edited and collected by the eminent Urdu scholar
Ralph Russell. The title echoes the famous Ghalib couplet:
Hazaaron khwaishen aisi ke har khwaish pe dum nikley, Bahut
nikley mere armaan, lekin phir bhi kam nikley (A thousand
27 NOVEMBER 2023
Illustrations by SAURABH SINGH
yearnings are such that with each I
might die, Many a wish left my lips,
but not enough). The closing lines of
this ghazal should be quoted equally
often: Kahan maikhaney ka darwaza
Ghalib aur kahan waaez, Par itna
jaantey hain, kal woh jaata tha ke hum
nikley (Where is the door of the tavern,
Ghalib, and where the priest? But this
I know, yesterday he was at the tavern
door when I left).
The principal theme is the poetry
of two greats, Mir and Ghalib, but
this work is more than adulation.
It is the history of a culture that has
disappeared into the sepia of our past, an art of living that
bowed to the sacred without surrender of independence, a
celebration of dignity that recognised the homage due to
power without succumbing to demeaning
sycophancy. One story says it all. The
singer Haidari Khan left the Nawab
of Awadh Ghaziuddin Haidar in
tears with his art, and then thrice
asked for a boon as reward: that
he never be summoned to sing at
court again. The artist knew the
consequences of ‘insolence’ and
added: “What is it to you? If you
have me put to death there will
never be another Haidari Khan.
Whereas if you die there’ll
at once be another king.”
Haidari Khan escaped
while the astonished,
speechless king sat there
bewildered.
Ghalib was more
nuanced; he placed
himself above mere
kings. He recited
his couplet to
the last Mughal
king Bahadur
Shah Zafar: Yeh
misaail e tasavvuf,
ye tera bayaan Ghalib, Tujhe hum vali samajhte jo na baada-
khvaar hota! (What exquisite manner in which you handle
mysticism, Ghalib; What a saint you might have been if you
did not drink!) Zafar replied that even if Ghalib were always
sober sainthood might be beyond reach. The poet replied:
“Your Majesty counts me one even now, and only speaks
like this lest my sainthood should go to my head.” Amen.
The last word must belong to Ghalib: “Poetry is the
creation of meaning, not the matching of rhymes”.
www.openthemagazine.com 9
 IN MEMORIAM

India’s Innkeeper
The country’s finest hotelier reinvented desire
By SUHEL SETH

I
FIRST MET PRS ‘Biki’ Oberoi in 2000—23 years ago, being the wild bachelor, and savouring life as it should be.
at the Amar Vilas in Agra. He was on the board of the We referred odd things to each other. I remember telling him
World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and I was about Huntsman & Sons, the tailor at Savile Row to which
their strategic adviser. I was asked by Jean-Claude his response was “Did you tell them which side your jewels
Baumgarten, then secretary of the WTTC, to meet Biki rest?” Now, if you didn’t go to Huntsman, you would never
and I was ushered into his suite where his partner, know. He referred me to The Carlyle in New York—in those
Reena Barooah, and he were sipping some fine Bloody days, you couldn’t book a room at The Carlyle unless someone
Marys. I had never met the man before, but of course who stayed there referred you. It was at The Carlyle that I
heard legendary tales of his attention to detail, and so on. rediscovered the world of Dirty Martinis and Woody Allen.
It was almost as if we were destined to meet. That was the Biki was also over-anal about everything. I still remember
beginning of a lifelong friendship replete with anecdotes the night of 26/11 when he left The Oberoi Nariman Point to go
and life lessons that are unimaginable. We travelled quite to Taj Lands End to receive the ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ award
often to hotel openings and to weddings; we sat for hours at from EY. And as the Mumbai terror attack unfolded that night,
his farmhouse in Kapashera; we gorged on simple Punjabi so did the trauma surrounding Biki. Many months later, when
fare such as bhindi and dal (he was essentially a simple The Oberoi reopened, few knew how many times it was ripped
Punjabi at heart) at his home; we exchanged notes on how apart and redone. But then, this was the mettle of the man who
things needed to be done, going to the extent of measuring made The Oberoi Group what it is.
the height of the vase that was placed on tables so as not to In many ways, Jamsetji Tata was the luxury pioneer in the
interrupt the cross-gaze of the diners; I remember writing hotel industry. At the same time, Biki Oberoi converted a
a piece entitled ‘Will someone please kill my Butler’ for family enterprise into a valuable chain, thus doing so much
Condé Nast Traveller: weeks after it was published, I started more for Brand India.
getting calls from some folks working at The Oberoi saying I still remember attending an industry award function
that Biki had got the article circulated for all his staff to where he was being honoured and when asked to speak
read. I can’t even begin to count the number of ideas we about himself, he began by saying he was, and shall remain,
exchanged and if there was anything he saw merit in, it was a humble innkeeper.
implemented with a nice letter to me expressing his thanks. What is little known is the pain he went through to establish
Biki was not the easiest person to be with. Reena handled the concept of Indian luxury. The Vilas’ (unlike the real palaces
him with affection and aplomb. She was a companion, of the Taj) were created from scratch—they were the epitome of
nurse and raconteur all rolled luxury then, and people hadn’t
into one, which is why Biki savoured this kind of luxury in
became half the man when HIS FEEL FOR THE India. Many mistakenly thought
Reena died two years ago. The EXTRAORDINARY WAS SPECIAL. that it would be unaffordable—it
level of fastidiousness in Biki is was, but only for the average
something that books should be HIS LOVE FOR TECHNOLOGY Indian. The foreigner loved it.
written about. We often chatted GREW OVER THE YEARS AND And was willing to pay top-dollar
about how the hotel industry HIS ABILITY TO PREDICT GUEST only because Biki didn’t create
was becoming a cookie-cutter—
EVOLUTION WAS BANG-ON. hotels. He created (and curated)
people with no idea of luxury experiences. When the first
were now the mandarins at many HE PRIDED HIMSELF ON BEING luxury-tented accommodation
such chains. Biki’s past is what SOMEONE WHOSE LIFE came up in Raj Vilas, people
made him into the man he was. WAS DEVOTED TO THE CHAIN baulked but then got used to
He started working only when the unrivalled desert-luxury
HE HAD INHERITED BUT
he was about 50 years old. And experience. With a great eye comes
prior to that, he was a man of TURNED INTO THE EPITOME a great sense of execution and Biki,
the world. Travelling the globe, OF ELEGANCE to the very end, was disdainful

10 27 NOVEMBER 2023

PRS ‘BIKI’ OBEROI (1929-2023)
of hosting weddings and the proverbial band, baaja, baraat. He
was the ultimate believer in the adage that a hotel first belongs to
those who live there and is not merely a banqueting space. This
helped pitch the brand even higher. When India was barely able
to spell truffles, Biki introduced truffle menus. He was always
ahead of the game and his dictum was that in order to please the
guest, we must invent desire.
His quirks were many, and his micro-management legendary.
In many ways, he was that giant banyan tree in whose shade very
little grew. But then people respected him for that. To the very
end, he worked long hours—answering every call and replying
to every letter himself. For many, the Oberoi School was not just
a training ground for those who would ultimately work at The
Oberoi Group, it was an alumni of excellence bound by their
common love and passion for fine innkeeping.
He will always be remembered as India’s finest hotelier.
His feel for the extraordinary was special. His love for
technology grew over the years and his ability to predict guest
27 NOVEMBER 2023
FORTUNE INDIA
evolution was bang-on. I can’t for the life of me remember
another hotelier who stood like a colossus as Biki did. Sure,
there were people like Ajit Kerkar, but none to match the
grace and style of Biki Oberoi.
He prided himself on being someone whose life was
devoted to the chain he had inherited from his legendary
father MS Oberoi, but one which he turned into the epitome
of elegance.
For the many who worked for him, the memories of this
exacting boss will live with them forever as will with us
who were lucky to have him as a friend. His empathy was
remarkable as was his short fuse. But then geniuses have their
own sets of flaws from which they can only impart the good
and the memorable. Biki was one such genius.
I will miss his late-night calls, his wise
counsel, and above all, his friendship.
Suhel Seth writes on social, political and business trends
www.openthemagazine.com 11
 OPENINGS
NOTEBOOK

The Tribal Boost

T
HERE WAS A LARGE dose of symbolism in Prime levels. However, PVTGs require a different kind of emphasis.
Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Jharkhand on Novem- If one looks at the list of these groups across different states,
ber 15. Modi visited Ulihatu village in Khunti district, two features are striking. In many states, these groups are
where he met the family members of tribal icon located in remote districts that until recently lacked virtually
Birsa Munda—who died under incarceration by the British any connectivity. In addition, these districts are distant from
Raj—and later, paid his respect to the Independence hero in state capitals and given their own priorities, these groups
Ranchi. But the visit was also the occasion to launch the Pradhan were left behind in the country’s developmental journey. The
Mantri Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTG) Develop- second feature worth noting is that, unlike other groups that
ment Mission, the `24,000 crore programme that was announced have received help from governments such as farmers, migrant
in the 2023-24 Budget for the indigenous people of India. workers and localised labourers, PVTGs are de-linked from
In his speech on the occasion, Modi said, “They [PVTGs] did digital public goods. The physical and digital distance makes
not get pucca houses, nor did they get schools for their children. reaching them doubly difficult. Hence, there is no other way
But we are reaching out to them now. Earlier governments but to do welfare work in the old-fashioned, village-to-village,
used to add them to data but we are adding to their lives.” door-to-door, fashion. This could not have come a day sooner.
The Budget announcement stated, “This [Mission] will satu- Some of the problems associated with this distancing can
rate PVTG families and habitations with basic facilities such as be seen in another recent effort of the Modi government. In
safe housing, clean drinking water and sanitation, improved February this year, the Centre launched the Vibrant Village
access to education, health and nutrition, road and telecom Programme (VVP) geared towards providing basic infrastruc-
connectivity, and sustainable livelihood opportunities.” At ture in villages in 46 blocks of 19 districts of Arunachal Pradesh,
that time, the money devoted to the Mission was `15,000 crore Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and the Union terri-
over three years. When Modi made his announcements on No- tory of Ladakh. The programme has a strategic intent as these
vember 15, the programme was pegged at `24,000 crore. With districts abut the northern border with China. These villages
this, the outreach to Adivasis now ranks among the major wel- and communities were lagging in development, especially,
fare measures in the Centre’s portfolio of such programmes. infrastructure. Interestingly, a majority of these villages and
In many ways, the Mission blocks are populated with indig-
is a logical corollary to the new enous communities. In April, Union
welfare of the BJP government. Home Minister Amit Shah visited
Over the past nine years, all groups The absence of development Kibithoo, a village near the border
of citizens in need of support have with China in Anjaw district of
been reached out one by one. and letting such vulnerable Arunachal Pradesh. Shah described
Farmers have their own PM-Kisan tribal groups ‘fend for Kibithoo as India’s “first village”. But
and a slew of other programmes.
Similarly, the poor have been given
themselves’ is a recipe for in terms of basic facilities, Kibithoo
until recently had virtually noth-
a clutch of schemes such as free and trouble. The PM PVTG ing to show. These challenges of
subsidised grain distribution that Development Mission can physical distance were never really
has continued from the time of the
Covid-19 pandemic, and various
play an important role. All addressed in a meaningful manner.
The danger in such situations is that
healthcare measures such as Ayush- the ‘basic facilities’ are physical distance is often exploited.
man Bharat. Women have their important in ensuring that That, in turn, creates disaffection. It
own schemes. There are multiple
welfare measures that target Adi-
misadventures don’t take is incumbent on any government to
ensure that such problems do not ac-
vasis, both at the Central and state place among these people quire a politically malevolent form.

12 27 NOVEMBER 2023

PIB
Chilphi Ghati is a well-frequented resort at the edge of
Kabirdham district in Chhattisgarh. The place boasts pictur-
esque and scenic hills and is a favourite among tourists in this
part of the country. Just across the border, in Madhya Pradesh,
lie the vast forested areas of Balaghat district. Both Balaghat and
Kabirdham are home to the Baiga indigenous people who fall
under the PVTGs listed by the Centre. These are remote areas
where development has barely begun to percolate. Literacy,
connectivity, healthcare and most other developmental indica-
tors are all low when compared to national measures. Kabird-
ham and Balaghat also happen to be districts affected by Left
Wing Extremism (LWE).
Unlike other indigenous groups like the Gonds, there are
literally no reports of the Baiga being associated with Mao-
ist groups. But the absence of development and letting such
vulnerable tribal groups “fend for themselves” is a recipe for
trouble. It is here that missions like the PM PVTG Develop-
ment Mission can play an important ameliorative role. All the
“basic facilities” listed under the Mission such as safe housing,
clean drinking water and sanitation, improved access to educa-
tion, health and nutrition, road and telecom connectivity, and
sustainable livelihood opportunities are important in ensuring
that misadventures don’t take place among these people who
live in remote and vulnerable districts of India.
This is just one example of a vulnerable group located in a
remote area. There are many other groups that may not be in
imperilled regions but their needs are no less important. With
27 NOVEMBER 2023
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
pays tribute to Birsa Munda at
Ulihatu village in Jharkhand,
November 15, 2023
PVTGs spread across the length and breadth of India, a special
programme focused on this particular segment of Adivasis is
essential from a developmental perspective.
At one time, say in the 1950s and 1960s, India lacked the
necessary resources to undertake the development of PVTGs
and areas where such communities lived. But over time, this ac-
quired a form of generalised disinterest. Governments came and
went, but such communities were left to fend for themselves.
The situation persisted even after India acquired sufficient
financial and economic resources to address these challenges.
In those decades, the usual process of writing reports and then
filing them on such vulnerable groups was all that constituted
‘development’. Not only was this unfortunate as the most under-
privileged section of citizens was deprived of development but it
was also counterproductive in a political sense.
The PVTG Development Mission may turn out to be a
model programme whereby such groups are provided the
necessary help to move forward in life in the form of education,
healthcare and livelihood. The challenge is to ensure constant
attention and devotion to resources over a period of time. These
problems of deprivation are unlikely to disappear in a couple of
years. Apart from direct help to such groups, it is also important
that the districts where these groups live be developed in terms
of infrastructure and other facilities. Both approaches are neces-
sary to ensure success in this crucial developmental venture.
By SIDDHARTH SINGH
www.openthemagazine.com 13
 OPENINGS
PORTRAIT SUBRATA ROY (1948-2023)
THE MAVERICK
His rise was as meteoric as his fall
S UBRATA ROY’S SET UP didn’t just comprise a fund that promised
more than any other around, he also presented a larger-than-life fig-
ure of himself and his company, calling the latter a family (Sahara India
Pariwar) and himself Saharasri, the firm’s chief managing worker. And
his customers, upon which the business empire was built, didn’t consist
of the wealthy, but millions of the country’s illiterate and poor.
Roy, who had disappeared from public view in the last few years as his
troubles mounted, died recently from a cardiac arrest.
What made Roy, who built a multibillion-dollar enterprise whose
interests ranged from finance and housing, to aviation, media and
hospitality, so fascinating was that he started with nothing. Born in
Gorakhpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh, his father was a minor official at a
sugarcane mill. He had tried various small enterprises in his youth, most of
which had failed. At one point, it is said, he even sold salted snacks. Then,
in 1978, borrowing his father’s Lambretta scooter, a capital of `2,000, and
hiring a peon and a clerk, Roy who was about 30 years old, began to seek out
depositors for a fund. This was the beginning of Sahara. Its funds—which
have been described as ponzi schemes, where investors got their returns so
long as new investors kept coming in—were alluring because they tapped
Photos GETTY IMAGES
14
into the underclass of the poor and illiterate who
were still out of the banking network.
By the 1990s, and stretching right up to
the early part of the 2010s when his troubles
began, Roy had built one of the country’s
biggest business conglomerates. His group
employed more than a million individuals,
second to only the Indian Railways, it was
said, in providing the most jobs in the country.
Apart from his many businesses, he sponsored
the Indian cricket team, bought an IPL team
(Pune Warriors India), owned a stake in a
Formula One racing team (Force India), and
also owned New York’s landmark Plaza Hotel
and London’s iconic Grosvenor House. He
hobnobbed with the elite. And he threw what
is still considered the most expensive Indian
wedding party for his two sons in 2004.
At the centre of this mystique stood the figure of
Roy. He lived in a city within a city, a vast estate in
Lucknow that he called Sahara Shahar, and which,
among other things, had an artificial lake and its
own petrol station. He devised a new greeting for
the group (the Sahara Pranam, where workers
put their right hands to their chests), and he once
organised a rally where an estimated 1.1 million
Sahara employees sang the national anthem.
The company’s troubles began from 2009
onwards, when one of its arms, Sahara Prime City,
applied for an initial public offering. Some of the
disclosures made SEBI (Securities and Exchange
Board of India) suspicious, and inquiries soon
snowballed into a massive investigation. Far from
retreating, Roy went on the offensive. He took out
advertisements in major newspapers criticising
regulators. In 2012, when he was asked to provide
the identities of the group’s customers, he sent a
convoy of 127 trucks with over 30,000 cartons of
chaotically ordered documents. Eventually, Roy
was jailed a few times, and then granted parole later.
Sahara’s finances however continue to remain
a mystery. After the Supreme Court directed Sahara
to refund its depositors (about `25,163 crore), SEBI
had set up a cell to handle these claims. However,
according to SEBI’s annual report, it has received less
than 20,000 applications, with over 17,000 of them
being refunded about just `138 crore. What explains
the rest of the money? One theory is that Sahara’s
customers may have been partly fictitious—a front
for politicians’ cash or for undeclared income.
With Roy’s death, it is a mystery that will likely
never be resolved.
By LHENDUP G BHUTIA
27 NOVEMBER 2023
 ANGLE
THE CAPTIVE MARKET
On foreign big tech companies
and the question of monopolies
By MADHAVANKUTTY PILLAI
C
APITALISM HAS PROVED
to be, by far, the best system for the
material development of humanity and it
is predicated on the simple principle that
free markets and competition unleash the
entrepreneurial abilities of individuals
leading to cheaper and better goods and
services. It creates new employment, and
the employees become new consumers
of these goods and services, and the circle
keeps increasing. But what happens when
companies become virtual monopolies
even if it is through their own efficiency?
And they become so huge in scale that
both the idea of competition and a free
market don’t apply anymore? It is to meet
such eventualities that anti-trust laws
exist, and it might finally be catching up
with the big technology companies like
Facebook and Google that have become
multinational behemoths and are recog-
nised as near monopolies in certain areas.
An interesting case is being heard
in the US against Google that is putting
this principle to test. It was filed by Epic
Games who argues that the Google Play
Store, present in all Android phones to
download apps, charges up to 30 per cent
for in-app purchases. When Epic tried to
bypass this and get users to directly pay,
Google barred them. One of Google’s
counterarguments is that it does have
competition like Apple, which has
its own near monopoly by way of the
iPhone and App Store ecosystem. An
interesting fact that came to light during
the hearings was that Google pays Apple
enormous sums. As The Guardian report-
ed on what Google CEO Sundar Pichai
testified in court: “Pichai also confirmed
27 NOVEMBER 2023
that Google pays Apple a 36% revenue
share to remain Safari’s default search
engine, between $18bn and $20bn every
year...” The big tech companies were thus
also partners of sorts where it didn’t hurt
them. Earlier, Pichai had to also go before
the US Congress where its monopoly
over Search was a topic of questioning.
It is quite possible that these compa-
nies might still be able to hold on to their
monopolies but the scrutiny is getting
tougher. While no one really thinks that
the success they achieved is not deserved,
the question is the power they wield.
Google’s YouTube and Meta’s Insta-
gram are the lifeblood of online content
creation. The manner in which they
are wielded has a decisive impact on every-
thing from politics to fashion to music,
and it is not even limited to one country.
With their access to the enormous user
data generated, they will also become
leaders in the artificial intelligence revolu-
tion. It would be impossible for any new
entrepreneur to be a serious competitor
and rise to the top like the founders of
these big tech companies once did.
We only have to look at our phones
and laptops in India to see how almost
everything about our lives online is being
managed by firms with headquarters
thousands of kilometres away in other
continents. Can an Indian pragmatically
decide he doesn’t want be in the walled
gardens of Android and Apple? At some
point, there is not going to be any alterna-
tive but to make these companies smaller,
and it will happen because nations will
never want to give up first right of power
over citizens.
IDEAS
ADAPTATION
Remaking a much-loved
original composition, where
you want to honour the original
while also bringing your own
creativity to it, can be an artistic
tightrope walk at the best of
times. It becomes something
else when the original creator
was someone as revered as the
Bengali poet Kazi Nazrul Islam
and the song as iconic as ‘Karar
Oi Louho Kopat’, even if you are
AR Rahman. Nazrul wrote the
original as a protest song against
the British in 1922, and it was first
recorded as a song in 1949. The
new version of this song, created
by Rahman for the film Pippa has
come in for wide criticism both
in West Bengal and Bangladesh.
Many have been offended by
the improvisations, and found
it romantic and light-hearted
unlike the original. This includes
the descendants of the poet, who
said they had given consent for
the usage of the song, not the
changing of its tune.
WORD’S WORTH
‘I think what’s
sacrilegious is to make a
bad movie, whether it’s
a remake or an original’
JONATHAN DEMME
AMERICAN FILMMAKER
www.openthemagazine.com 15
INSIDER
EXTREMISTS STAY BANNED

T
he Centre’s decision
to extend the ban
on Meitei extremist
groups like the
People’s Liberation Army
of Manipur (PLA-MP) and
others for another five years as
required under the Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act, or
UAPA, is a routine measure
but carried added significance
in the current unsettled
situation in Manipur. Along
with PLA, outfits like the
People’s Revolutionary Party
of Kangleipak and Kangleipak
Communist Party (both
have armed wings called
the Red Army), which, like
many extremist groups in
the Northeast, have ultra-
Left leanings, continue to
be banned. The decision to
extend the ban at a time when Meiteis
and tribal Kukis have been at each other’s
throats is intended to signal that the state
administration and the Centre will not
play favourites and all groups wedded to
violence will face the might of the state.
BJP leader and Manipur Chief Minister
N Biren Singh is a Meitei as are a majority
of Manipuris and he has been advised by
the Centre to remain strictly neutral in
addressing the situation. The violence
did begin with a Kuki protest march
in Imphal that targeted Meitei houses
but the retaliation was also savage.
Complicating the situation are groups
like Meira Paibis or the Manipur Mothers
who have prevented the paramilitary
and Army from acting against
miscreants. Then Kuki groups have
made inflammatory claims while the
statements of some church authorities
have not helped matters either.
Just as Manipur begins to slip
off the headlines, an incident
occurs or a video surfaces
that scrapes wounds afresh.
The action against the Meitei
groups reflects the pressure
the Centre is building against
extremists who have defied
the law for decades. The South
Asia Terrorism Portal lists more
than 15 proscribed and active
groups in Manipur itself. The
challenge of dealing with
some of these groups has
become tougher with fresh
violence in Myanmar that
has resulted in more refugees
entering India. Providing
humanitarian assistance
to the displaced persons
while keeping a record
of the entrants has engaged
the Centre’s attention as the disturbances
are an opportunity for mischief-makers.
Some of those crossing the border
are troublemakers and associated
with the drug trade. Elections in
Mizoram are a complicating factor as
Chief Minister Zoramthanga has refused
to implement the Centre’s direction
to collect biometrics of Myanmarese
entering India.

Congress Vs Congress
The ‘joke’ between Congress leaders Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh about
who would be responsible for losing candidates in the Madhya Pradesh election
exposes deeper faultlines. Congress leaders sought to dismiss the public exchange
between the two at the party’s manifesto release event as light-hearted banter but
the rift is evident every now and then. Recently, a journalist who was inducted
into the party with Singh’s blessings was reported to be writing scathingly about a
Congress candidate’s prospects. The candidate complained and the matter reached
Nath who asked senior functionaries in Bhopal to take action. The journalist in
question received a phone call and was warned that his activities have attracted
the party’s attention. The media owner of a publication was also told he must accept
responsibility for ‘negative’ reports as the buck stops with him. The state functionary
made no bones that he had been authorised to take ‘unpleasant’ decisions if the
reports targeting the candidate did not stop.

16 27 NOVEMBER 2023

OUT BUT
NOT DOWN
H er outspoken ways have
cost former British Home
Secretary Suella Braverman her
job. There is speculation whether
there is some deliberation about
the way she made public her
disagreements on key law and
order issues, such as her criticism
of the way the British police
responded to the pro-Palestine/
Hamas demonstrations. She was
previously in the news when her
WPƓNVGTGFEQOOGPVUQP+PFKCP
immigrants created serious
hurdles in the deliberations over
an FTA, even as the pact seems
to be all but lost in the domestic
political distractions of the UK.
Her posture was certainly seen
as a challenge to Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak’s authority and
he seems strengthened by her
departure. However, Braverman
has indicated that she is likely
to continue offering her views
in a comment that amounts
to “watch this space”. While
Braverman appears to have
proved her critics right that she
is not a team player—certainly
not at a time when the Tories are
struggling to take on Labour—the
MP has struck a chord with a
large section of British voters
shocked by the aggressive
demonstrations and the calls
for Sharia in the UK. The new
ministers in the UK cabinet,
meanwhile, may mean better
PGYUHQT+PFKC7-TGNCVKQPU
Former Prime Minister
David Cameron as foreign
UGETGVCT[KPURKTGUEQPƓFGPEG
given his experience and the
rapport he enjoyed with Prime
Minister Narendra Modi when
JGYCUKPQHƓEG
27 NOVEMBER 2023
Illustrations by SAURABH SINGH
POLLUTED POLITICS
T here is more than what meets the eye when it comes to the discussion on
Delhi’s polluted air and the responsibility of state and Central agencies.
While the pollution caused by the burning of farm residue is not the only
reason for Delhi’s noxious air and is a winter occurrence, farm fires are indeed
a major reason why air quality deteriorates. There are farm fires in Haryana
and Punjab but the latter has been particularly negligent in dealing with the
issue. This is because both the previous Congress government and the cur-
rent AAP administration took the path of least resistance in dealing with the
problem. In fact, farm unions—the very same that opposed the farm laws—
have had a free hand in exhorting farmers to burn residue. The rare team of
state officials that dares to inspect farms has often been held hostage and, in
one instance, made to set fire to the stubble. There is no evidence to suggest
the Punjab government carried out any advocacy in the last several months
to try and convince farmers to
consider alternatives to burning
stubble. It is quite clear that AAP
will continue to present the farm
stubble-burning problem as a
political tussle with BJP while
some Delhi ministers come up
with ideas like seeding clouds
to cause rains which would
control pollution.
Abe’s Vision Lives On
I n an interesting development, Japan honoured former Indian Navy chief
Admiral Karambir Singh with the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver
Star, in recognition of his role in promoting the Indian and Japanese shared goal
of working for a free Indo-Pacific. Japan’s ambassador to India, Hiroshi Suzuki,
recalled he had served the late Shinzo Abe for seven-and-a-half years as private
secretary for diplomacy. Abe had a strong belief that India and Japan should take
a leading role in preserving peace and freedom in the Indo-Pacific because the
two nations share fundamental values, freedom, democracy, and rule of law.
In 2016, he officially launched his
vision of ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’
in Nairobi. During his tenure as
Navy chief, Admiral Singh’s com-
mitment to India-Japan ties saw the
interoperability between the Japan
Maritime Self-Defense Force and
the Indian Navy being dramatically
enhanced. This greatly improved
the capabilities of the Self-Defense
Forces. After Abe’s death, Singh has
been a torchbearer for realising the
vision of a Free and Open Indo-
Pacific, said Suzuki.
www.openthemagazine.com 17
 OPEN ESSAY

By JAMES ASTILL in London

RISHI AT BAY
The British prime minister is saddled with an unpopular government,
a mutinous party and few obvious political skills

I
N A DIWALI ADDRESS to the British Indian diaspora in London this week, S Jaishankar skirted around the latest British
political chaos with a delicate smile. It had been good of Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, to receive him at such a busy time
in Westminster, he said, to knowing hoots from the assembled crowd in Westminster Hall, a stone’s throw from Britain’s
Gothic parliament building. It had also been nice of his new British counterpart to meet him, Jaishankar added, even before
David Cameron, the former prime minister and incoming foreign secretary, had made it to his new Whitehall department.
India’s external affairs minister then spoke admiringly of the contemporary British-Indian relationship, which he de-
scribed as forward-looking and business-like. Still, the point had been made. It will be a long time before Indian officialdom
ceases to derive a special small pleasure from Britain embarrassing itself. Not even a surfeit of British political chaos since
the calamitous Brexit vote of 2016—including the fall and rise of Cameron, the clownish Boris Johnson, half-crazed
Liz Truss and five Conservative prime ministers in all—could diminish the schadenfreude.
By comparison, this week’s upheaval in London, in the form of a major reshuffle of Sunak’s cabinet precipitated in part by street
violence allegedly incited by one of its senior members, was relatively small potatoes. Sunak sacked his home secretary,
Suella Braverman, a fire-breathing rightwinger who had openly defied him. He also shuffled several other big portfolios, including
health, defence and the No 2 job at the Treasury, thereby creating the vacancy at the Foreign Office filled—in by far the reshuffle’s
most surprising detail—by Cameron. A handful of junior ministers, including George Freeman, a science minister, and
Jeremy Quin, the paymaster general, resigned from the government to try to shore up their constituency support. Westminster
watchers were titillated by all this. It would be surprising if most British voters gave it a second thought. In the flux, churn and oc-
casional bloodletting that has become synonymous with post-Brexit Conservative government, such tumult is par-for-the-course.
Still, this latest rendition could be significant for Sunak. The gawky and cerebral Conservative prime minister (and son-in-law
of NR Narayana Murthy) entered 10 Downing Street a year ago with a mandate to restore order after the brief calamity of Liz Truss
and poly-scandals of Johnson. Merely by being blandly normal, he has to some degree succeeded. Almost anyone, to be fair, could
seem like a competent leader compared to his immediate predecessors. Truss, a strangely robotic politician, breezed in, crashed the
pound with a deficit-ballooning budget, and was out in a month.
Johnson’s clown-show antics in No 10, lest anyone forget them, are currently being memorialised in a parliamentary inquiry
into the government’s handling of Covid-19. Highlights have included revelations that, at the height of public fear about the
disease, Johnson told officials he would rather “let the bodies pile high” than order a lockdown. The then prime minister also
mooted having himself injected with Covid-19 on television in order to allay those public fears. (Johnson was later hospitalised
with and almost died of Covid-19, after contracting the virus naturally.) Even if Sunak has restored a degree of sanity to the

18 27 NOVEMBER 2023
British Foreign Secretary
David Cameron with
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
at 10 Downing Street,
November 13, 2023

CAMERON LED THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST BREXIT, EVEN THOUGH HIS DECISION TO HOLD
THE REFERENDUM WAS ULTIMATELY TO BLAME FOR IT. WAS THIS THE START OF A
SIGNIFICANT CENTRIST PIVOT BY SUNAK? PROBABLY NOT. MODERATE VOTERS ARE
DESERTING HIS PARTY IN DROVES, SO IT IS NOT HARD TO SEE WHY HE MIGHT WANT TO
REASSURE THEM. THE INTRIGUING APPOINTMENT OF CAMERON WAS DECRIED
BY THE RIGHT AS IDEOLOGICALLY UNSOUND

government, however, he appears to have done nothing to
restore his party’s dire fortunes.
When he took the helm, the Conservatives trailed the op-
position Labour party in the polls by a 20-point margin. They
still do. And a series of crushing defeats in by-elections, often
sparked by embarrassing Tory misbehaviour, has confirmed
the impression that, after 13 years of Tory rule, British voters
have had enough. Last month saw by-elections in the erstwhile
Conservative safe seats of Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth.
The first was occasioned after the former Tory MP, a Johnson
super-fan and erotic novelist called Nadine Dorries, announced
her resignation with a furious attack on Sunak, accusing the
prime minister of having “squandered the goodwill of the
nation”. In the resulting by-election, Labour set a new all-time
record by overturning a 24,000-vote Conservative majority.
The poll in Tamworth was called after its former Tory
representative, Chris Pincher, was suspended from parliament
for groping two men in a drunken rampage at the Carlton Club.
The fact that Johnson had promoted Pincher despite having
been informed of his debauchery (then lied about having been
informed about it, natch) was one of the last scandals of his
premiership. (“Pincher by name, pincher by nature,” Johnson
was alleged to have quipped, before he signed off on Pincher’s
appointment as the government’s deputy chief whip.) Labour
won in Tamworth, too, after turning over another 20,000-vote
Tory majority, in what was the second-biggest single-seat swing
since 1945. It was the fourth consecutive by-election swing
from the Tories to Labour of more than 20 percentage points.
Such results suggest Sunak and his party are on course for a
wipe-out in the general election due by January 2025. Despite
Labour’s strong and consistent lead in the polls, many Tories
had previously trusted that the various advantages their party
enjoys in Britain’s electoral system would shield them from
defeat. Where Labour’s support is unhelpfully concentrated

27 NOVEMBER 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 19

 OPEN ESSAY

among the immigrants and affluent graduates of London and
a few other cities, the Tory vote is spread efficiently and widely
across the English suburbs and shires. Similarly, Labour is espe-
cially popular with younger Britons—but most of them don’t
vote, unlike the Tories’ aged loyalists. The scale of the Tories
recent losses makes such advantages seem almost immaterial,
original thought, charisma or a clear sense of where he would
like to take the country. The idea of him as a force for change
would be hard to accept even if he were not the prime minister
of a party that has been in power for 13 years.

lead, he is heading for electoral defeat. T

HE BIG IDEAS Sunak signalled to illustrate his change-
however. Unless Sunak can close Labour’s enormous polling
makingness were, duly, mere commitments to roll back
some of his Tory predecessors’ pet schemes: including an
His recent measures should be viewed as an increasingly
expensive high-speed rail project launched by Cameron and de-
desperate effort to avoid that eventuality. First, at the party’s
carbonisation targets instituted under Johnson. Nothing could
annual conference last month, Sunak attempted to re-launch
have been better designed to needle his party’s increasingly
himself to the somnambulant oldsters and teenage national-
obvious divisions, another symptom of Tory decline.
ists who dominate the Conservative membership as a change
Sunak’s row with Braverman provided a particularly stark
leader. “I will lead in a different way, because that is the only
illustration of the feuding. The former home secretary is anoth-
way to create the sort of change in our politics and in our coun-
er of the peculiar politicians that have prospered, then flamed
try that we all desperately want to see.” Unfortunately, this was
out, under post-Brexit Toryism. In her case, it is hard to think of
not a plausible message. Sunak is a clever and ambitious tech-
a more contradictory figure. A Francophone, who studied Euro-
nocrat. He has a commendable interest in improving Britain’s
pean law at the Sorbonne, the 43-year-old is a fiercely ideologi-
wretched public finances. But he is not obviously possessed of
cal Eurosceptic and Brexiteer. A daughter
Photos GETTY IMAGES of immigrants—whose ethnic-Indian
parents came to Britain via Kenya and
Suella Braverman at her Mauritius—Braverman (née Fernandes)
home in Hertfordshire
soon after she was sacked has spewed more hostility towards immi-
as home secretary, grants than perhaps any recent frontline
November 15, 2023 minister. She was first forced to resign
after a previous stint as home minister
under Truss, after Braverman was found
to have sent an official document from
her personal email account, a serious of-
fence. Sunak then swiftly reappointed her
in an effort to placate her admirers on the
Tory right. She repaid him with no end of
trouble. Over the past year she has caused
rows with and against the media, immi-
grant groups, the police, multicultural-
ism, homeless people, and “Guardian-
reading, tofu-eating wokerati”.
With relish, she set about repelling the
thousands of asylum-seekers, typically
bedraggled Albanians and Afghans, arriv-
ing across the English Channel by dinghy.
She described them as an “invasion” and
SUNAK HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO SACK BRAVERMAN. said it would be her “dream” to see them
SHE WAS SERIOUSLY UNDERMINING HIS AUTHORITY, deported to Rwanda. The central African
AND NOT ONLY BY DEFYING HIM. SHE ALSO APPEARED country had agreed, for a fat fee, to accept
several hundred of these asylum-seekers a
TO BE PERMANENTLY CAMPAIGNING TO BE THE year—a scheme that the Tory government
RIGHTWING’S PREFERRED CANDIDATE TO SUCCEED HIM. hoped would deter many thousands more
THE BROADER CABINET RESHUFFLE THAT HER SACKING from crossing the Channel. Yet it was
SPARKED SEEMED TO MANY LIKE AN OVERDUE EFFORT hard to find much evidence of Braverman
achieving anything, despite her tirades.
BY SUNAK TO SPIKE THE RIGHT’S GUNS The Rwanda scheme was snarled up
in the courts. The boats kept coming. But

20 27 NOVEMBER 2023

Pro-Palestine protesters near the US embassy in London, November 11, 2023
the Tory right—which increasingly values performance over
substance—kept applauding her, so she kept upping the ante.
In recent weeks, Braverman described the tented hovels of Lon-
don’s homeless as “a lifestyle choice”. She accused pro-Palestin-
ian protesters of taking part in “hate marches”. With another
protest planned in central London on November 11—Britain’s
annual Day of Remembrance for its war dead—she penned a
newspaper column accusing the police of being biased towards
leftie pro-Palestinians. The prime minister’s office demanded
changes to the piece; Braverman ignored it and published the
piece. No thanks to her alleged incitement, the protest was
then duly marred by a battle between far-right hooligans, who
showed up to disrupt it, and the police.
Sunak had no choice but to sack her. She was seriously
undermining his authority, and not only by defying him.
She also appeared to be permanently campaigning to be the
rightwing’s preferred candidate to succeed him. The broader
cabinet reshuffle, elegantly referred to by Jaishankar, that her
sacking sparked seemed to many like an overdue effort by
Sunak to spike the right’s guns. Indeed, there was some
evidence for this. Victoria Atkins, the new health secretary, is
a centrist and former opponent of Brexit. Cameron, to whom
Sunak also awarded a seat in the House of Lords, given that he
no longer holds a parliamentary seat, led the campaign against
Brexit (even though his decision to hold the referendum was
ultimately to blame for it). Was this the start of a significant
centrist pivot by Sunak?
Probably not. Moderate voters are deserting his party in
droves, so it is not hard to see why he might want to reassure
27 NOVEMBER 2023
BRAVERMAN ACCUSED
PRO-PALESTINIAN
PROTESTERS OF
TAKING PART IN ‘HATE
MARCHES’. WITH
ANOTHER PROTEST
PLANNED IN LONDON
ON NOVEMBER 11—
BRITAIN’S DAY OF
REMEMBRANCE FOR
ITS WAR DEAD—SHE
PENNED A COLUMN
ACCUSING THE POLICE
OF BIAS TOWARDS
LEFTIE PRO-
PALESTINIANS
them. But Sunak will find that hard, in part because of his
own strong association with Brexit, which most centrists and
a growing majority of all voters regret. And also because his
party’s raucous factions will not allow it. A chorus of Tory dis-
sent now greets the prime minister’s every move.
Sunak’s intriguing appointment of Cameron was decried by
the right as ideologically unsound. Though the former prime
minister holds standard Thatcherite views on economics and
was unwittingly responsible for Brexit, the right cannot forget
his former efforts to curry favour with China and pro-EU cam-
paigning. Meanwhile, Braverman responded to her sacking
with a torrent of abuse. She accused Sunak of “betrayal”, “wish-
ful thinking”, and ducking the tough measures she claimed
to have demanded to prevent immigration. Making matters
worse for Sunak, on November 16 Britain’s highest court con-
clusively ruled against the Rwanda scheme, bringing yet more
Tory attention to his failure on this issue.
A shrewd politician, sensing the near impossibility of
controlling immigration, which successive governments have
failed to do, would have looked for a less unforgiving issue to
harp on. But Sunak dug in. He vowed to change the law in order
to get around legal objections to the Rwanda scheme. Perhaps
he will be vindicated. Certainly, if Sunak can “stop the boats”
that brought around 46,000 asylum-seekers to Britain last year,
it would be a coup. But if he fails, which seems likelier, it will
simply seem that he was not, after all, a shrewd politician. Q
James Astill is a senior editor at The Economist.
He is a contributor to Open
www.openthemagazine.com 21
 COVER STORY

ON A
It’s a keen contest
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Photograph by SANJEEV GUPTA

DQG%-3
22 27 NOVEMBER 2023
 Madhya Pradesh
Chief Minister
Shivraj Singh Chouhan
on the campaign trail
in Murwara,
November 3, 2023

KNIFE-EDGE
in Madhya Pradesh where RAJEEV DESHPANDE
WU\LQJWRUHSOLFDWHLWV.DUQDWDNDZLQQLQJPRGHO
FRXQWLQJRQSRSXODUZHOIDUHVFKHPHV
27 NOVEMBER 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 23
A
COVER STORY

S DUSK DESCENDS ON NARYOLI ON THE ROAD FROM

Bina to Sagar, a knot of men sitting and chatting on a bench are
quite upfront about their voting choice. They are voting for the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and are happy with the services and
benefits they have received. The availability of seeds and fertilis-
ers from the nearby ‘society’ (cooperative) has been satisfactory.
Schoolchildren are receiving scholarships and uniforms. Farmers
receive regular payments from the Centre and the state govern-
ment, totalling `12,000 annually, and women in their households are happy with the newly
launched Ladli Behna Yojna that delivers `1,250 on the seventh of every month to their ac-
counts. Since their decision on the Assembly election is settled, the discussion turns to the
2024 Lok Sabha polls which are not too far off. “Will Modi get the support of voters?” The
question is met with guffaws. Of course, he will. “It is all about Modi! The work he has done
is evident to everyone,” sums up the response.
The farmers at Naryoli clearly have their reasons to back the saffron party but the mood
can vary, as at a pit stop on the road from Bhopal to Berasia where several young men, most
of them mechanics at a motorcycle sales outlet, are vocal in their criticism of the sitting BJP
MLA who they say has had no time to meet anyone. The MLA is accused of acting through a
coterie and there are complaints that grievances relating to local issues fall on deaf ears. Here,
the sentiment is one of ‘badlav’ (change) and the people are determined to see the back of
the incumbent. They acknowledge the benefits reaching some of them but their discontent
boils over. The only dissenter is the owner of the motorcycle agency who asserts that BJP
will be back in office. “You will see. On voting day, things will be different,” he says. Business
has been good and sales have been steadily rising with a greater interest in electric scooters
despite problems with some aspects of their functioning. An urban segment of Bhopal is
part of the Berasia constituency and it is possible that a more pro-BJP flavour there may
offset the negative vibe in more rural parts. But it is hard to say, as countering disillusioned
voters such as those at the motorcycle retailer will take some doing.
The contest for Madhya Pradesh, where BJP is seeking a fifth term in office, is hard-fought
and could very well run close. There are pockets of anti-incumbency, such as at Berasia, and
inflation is seen as a stress point, particularly for daily wagers engaged in farm labour and
other physical activities. A long stint in office means expectations keep rising even as an
element of sameness creeps into the administration. As it seeks to retain its fort, BJP needs
the appeal of the Modi factor and the lure of its poll promises—apart from a report card that
passes muster—to ensure things fall in place on voting day. The party says its poll pledges
are credible by pointing to its record of implementing welfare measures. To this end, BJP’s

24 27 NOVEMBER 2023
 Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
on a roadshow
in Indore,
November 14

Photograph by SANJEEV GUPTA

THE CONTEST FOR MADHYA PRADESH IS HARD-FOUGHT

AND COULD VERY WELL RUN CLOSE. THERE ARE POCKETS
OF ANTI-INCUMBENCY AND INFLATION IS SEEN AS A STRESS
POINT. A LONG STINT IN OFFICE MEANS EXPECTATIONS KEEP
RISING. AS IT SEEKS TO RETAIN ITS FORT, BJP NEEDS THE
APPEAL OF THE MODI FACTOR AND THE LURE OF ITS POLL
PROMISES TO ENSURE THINGS FALL IN PLACE ON VOTING DAY
27 NOVEMBER 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 25
 COVER STORY
political machine is working overtime with popular leaders like
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath campaigning in select constit-
uencies while Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar have been roped in
to speak to professionals, women’s groups, entrepreneurs, and
industrialists in Bhopal and Indore. The BJP manifesto, released
days before polling, sought to hit the right notes, promising mus-
tard oil, sugar and pulses at concessional rates, in addition to free
rations (Modi announced they would continue for another five
years) under the Public Distribution Scheme (PDS). The measure
is intended to ease the pain of price rise on sections like daily wa-
gers who are vocal in expressing their unhappiness with the `200-
250 they get for a day’s work and which many of them feel should
be around `300-350. Since daily wages are basically a function of
the market, additions to the PDS basket are interventions that
can cool discontent as long as information on the poll pledges is
ANI
Madhya Pradesh Congress President Kamal Nath
at a party event in Bhopal, October 16, 2023
26
effectively disseminated. Looking to capitalise on the popular
response to the Ladli Behna scheme, BJP has said these beneficia-
ries will get priority in housing schemes such as the CM Jan Awas
Yojana that will supplement the Centre’s PM Awas Yojana. Chief
Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has addressed a staggering
9-10 meets a day on his helicopter, recognised that the Ladli Behna
scheme suffers from some exclusions. “Your brother will correct
any mistakes or oversight. I will find the money for the scheme,”
he tells campaign rallies.
The road from Berasia turns towards Sironj and Kurwai before
it reaches Bina and along the way more support for BJP is evident
despite some dissenters here and there. The region is seen to have
favoured BJP in the past and its continued loyalty to the party
indicates that disillusionment with the state government, evi-
dent in patches and among some sections, is not pervasive. Any
weakening on its home turf would spell trouble for BJP as it looks
to beat back a Congress energised by its victory in Karnataka
27 NOVEMBER 2023
earlier this year. Congress has sought to repeat the Karnataka
winning formula, accusing the state government of ‘commis-
sions’ and unrolling a populist manifesto that promises schemes
for women that include Nari Samman Nidhi that will provide
`1,500 per month to women. LPG cylinders will be priced at `500
(BJP promises a cylinder at `450). Congress has also promised sup-
port for women at the time of their wedding with an assistance
of `1.01 lakh. Loans up to `25 lakh for startups, housing for rural
homeless women, and free transportation on city bus services—
as in Karnataka—are on the manifesto too. Congress’ offers are
definitely tempting, but some voters are looking at the benefits
they already receive. A man buying vegetables near Sironj shows
his mobile phone messages with deposits of the Ladli Behna
monthly payments for his wife and mother. Why these bank
accounts should be linked to his phone begs an answer, but it is
clear the cash is seen to be a useful addition to the family income
which BJP says will be increased to `3,000 a month.
basic services are hard to come by. An elderly man repeatedly
points out how deliveries become a cause for concern as pregnant
women have to be rushed to the main road, sometimes carried
along the way. In many parts of Madhya Pradesh, the state’s on-
call ambulance service gets favourable mention, but not here.
“The mood is for badlav,” says a middle-aged man who has largely
listened to the chorus around him. It will be different, he points
out, a little farther ahead at Rehli, a constituency held by an influ-
ential state minister called Gopal Bhargava. This patch of land is
bare and dry and eking out a living can be demanding. A bunch of
daily wagers at a chowk ahead of Damoh are also in a rebellious
frame of mind, saying they will support sitting Congress MLA
Ajay Tandon. Their grouse with BJP candidate Jayant Malaiya,
an old party hand, is that he is supposed to have influenced the
location of a hospital away from the main road to Katni which
would have been more viable in terms of ancillary businesses.
Much more than a Lok Sabha election, contests at the Assembly

U AS THE STATE CONGRESS LEADERS

NLIKE THE BJP OFFICE in Bhopal which has
a busy air and looks organised, the Congress
state headquarters has an empty feel about it. DID IN KARNATAKA, THE PARTY HAS
There are barely a few people to be seen as one crosses a DECIDED TO GIVE RAHUL GANDHI’S
dimly lit entrance and the rooms on the first floor are un- ALLEGATIONS AGAINST INDUSTRIAL
occupied. A room down a corridor is, however, the scene
of some activity, with Congress state media in-charge GROUPS A MISS, CORRECTLY
KK Mishra fielding queries from journalists. Mishra CONCLUDING THAT THEY HAVE NO
is confident Congress is on the comeback trail and TRACTION WITH THE VOTER AND WILL
emphasises that it no longer needs the services of
“turncoats” like Jyotiraditya Scindia who left the party BE A WASTE OF TIME AND ENERGY
with his band of MLAs in March 2020, bringing down
the Kamal Nath government. Mishra lists several reasons why level are often about seemingly small issues that can impact a
BJP has lost support, including price rise, corruption, misgover- crucial voter segment, tilting the scales in battles settled with
nance, rising crime, and rural distress caused by what he says is narrow margins. Farther along the Damoh-Katni road, a keen
the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government’s inability to provide triangular contest is unfolding in Patheria which has the lone
relief from price rise. The Congress functionary, who is articu- Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA, Rambai Thakur (the other had
late and confident, has few doubts that Kamal Nath will be the defected to BJP). The result, say local farmers, will be settled nar-
party’s chief ministerial choice. He reiterates Congress’ charge rowly. Thakur is a weighty contestant but has been hampered by
that while BJP speaks of the empowerment of the Other Back- the arrest of more than a dozen of her relatives for the murder of a
ward Classes (OBCs), it has chosen to whittle down Chouhan’s Congress leader. It might just be that the division of votes would
stature by not naming him as the chief ministerial candidate. He give BJP the edge.
is more circumspect about the utility of allegations of the Adani One of the group at the halt in Patheria is a farmer with rela-
and Ambani groups having benefitted through cronyism—a tively large holdings but who, he confesses, has become a “de-
claim regularly aired by Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi at their faulter”. This is a situation that surfaces at regular intervals in
campaign meetings—in the state elections. “We will keep our any election survey of rural areas and goes back to the short-lived
powder dry for 2024. These issues will be more relevant then,” Congress government’s promise to implement a loan waiver.
he says. As the state Congress leaders did in Karnataka, the party The announcement led to many farmers stopping payments
has decided to give Rahul Gandhi’s allegations against industrial on mortgages in anticipation of relief. As things happened, the
groups a go-by, correctly concluding that they have no traction Kamal Nath government was ousted in 15 months and the
with the voter and will be a waste of time and energy. waiver did not find favour with BJP that was back in office. Since
There is a fair crowd at what is a small, nondescript teastall on these farmers had stopped paying their instalments, the coopera-
the road that connects Sagar to Damoh and goes on to Katni, and tive societies suspended services, such as credit and disbursal of
this is not a gathering of happy souls. There are angry complaints seeds and fertilisers. The ‘defaulters’ were now asked to pay their
of a lack of connectivity from villages that lie off the road where dues with accrued interest which they are reluctant to cough up.

27 NOVEMBER 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 27

COVER STORY

Some of the defaulters blame Congress, saying

the party should have implemented the waiver
without delay. Others are angry with BJP, saying
they should be allowed to pay in instalments. Women at the grameen bank
at Bahoriband in Katni district,
There is, overall, unhappiness about the fact November 10, 2023
that their dues will need to be discharged. As
is quite evident, the state government does not
see merit in offering them waivers when oth-
ers, who have paid off their loans, do not receive
such consideration. The story is an object les-
son in the havoc loan waivers cause to the credit
system, disincentivising regular repayments of
mortgages and encouraging truancy. Ironically,
it is the better-off farmers with holdings that
attract a handsome land value who seem to be
struggling with the defaulter tag.

T
HE ELECTION HAS seen an intense
discussion on Chouhan and whether
his leadership is a liability for BJP. The
party’s decision to field Union ministers and
sitting MPs was seen as intended to dilute
the focus on Chouhan and this seems to have
been the intent. Some of the sheen has indeed
THE SMALL WINDOW AT THE GRAMEEN
worn off, and the chief minister has sought to BANK IS ALL BUT OBSCURED BY A CROWD
restore it by pitching welfare schemes aimed OF MOSTLY WOMEN. MOST ARE LOOKING
at key voting blocks. He has countered Con-
gress’ promise to hold a caste census, saying the
TO WITHDRAW MONEY THAT HAS
party’s actions have failed to match poll-time COME INTO THEIR ACCOUNTS BY WAY
promises. He points out that Congress ignored OF THE LADLI BEHNA PAYMENTS A
the claims of OBC leaders in its fold, recalling COUPLE OF DAYS AGO. MOST ARE HAPPY
WITH THE MONEY THEY HAVE RECEIVED
how Subhash Yadav lost to Digvijaya Singh.
Conversations in the countryside can throw
up mixed perceptions with some feeling that AND SEEM INCLINED TO VOTE BJP
it is time for a change of face. Yet, Chouhan is
far from being discredited as Singh was when
his two terms in office ended in 2003. Chouhan has a pro-poor level, the matter does not seem to have kicked up any noticeable
image and his informal and earthy approach makes him a leader dust with many, including OBCs Congress seeks to woo through
people can associate with. He is seen to have implemented wel- the promise, lukewarm or even disinterested. Some do say that
fare schemes and backed projects like the significant improve- a caste count should be done, pointing out that their particular
ment in the road network. Even the smaller state and village community would do well in such an exercise. But there are oth-
roads that snake through Madhya Pradesh’s interiors are in good ers who feel the exercise will be divisive and result in few benefits.
condition and often set in concrete. The school and primary Rahul Gandhi’s speeches reflect the expectation that the caste
health network are working well on the whole, with school- appeal will work but if the party does win it will be more because
children attesting to the availability of textbooks and regular of the wages of incumbency against BJP. There is a strong devel-
presence of teachers. If BJP does cross the finishing line ahead of opment and welfare narrative at work and, though less evident,
Congress, Chouhan could rightfully claim credit for the party’s messaging on Hindutva agendas like the upcoming Ram Mandir
success on the back of his record. in Ayodhya. Even voters not keen on supporting BJP are appre-
Before that happens, BJP leaders are trying to blunt any appeal ciative of the grand temple that will be open to the public early
the promise of a caste census may have. Union Home Minister next year. “The temple must be built. Our lord was living in a bro-
Amit Shah has not ruled out adding a caste count to the national ken hut with just a diya (light) for so many years,” said one of the
Census but clarified that there is a need to carefully evaluate the group on the Sagar-Damoh road, so unhappy about a host of other
issue before reaching a definite conclusion. At the grassroots matters. When it came to their likely choice for the Lok Sabha

28 27 NOVEMBER 2023
 BJP Is Winning
the War of Narratives
Union Minister and BJP’s Madhya Pradesh in-charge Bhupender Yadav
says the party’s promises are credible and based on its record in office

I
T IS NOT QUITE 9AM AND BJP’S SPACIOUS the intensive campaigning by Prime Minister Modi, say-
office in Bhopal is largely deserted when a car ing BJP’s promises have a ring of credibility and are based
draws up without attracting much attention and on a solid record in office. “The BJP government has made
Bhupender Yadav steps out. This has been his rou- good its promises and that is why Congress’ pledges will
tine for some weeks now and he gets busy almost not wash with the people,” he says. Yadav also points to the
immediately, with a meeting with state functionaries and intensive campaign that has senior leaders coming to Mad-
a video conference that takes stock of the campaign and hya Pradesh while the party has also planned outreach with
major headlines of the day. An hour later, he has a little specific segments of voters in cities and towns for smaller
more time and enters a cabin which has room for a small group discussions where ministers have addressed ques-
sofa and some chairs. Dispensing with
generalities, he gets down to his analysis
of how the election is shaping up. “Narra-
Bhupender Yadav
tives are obviously important to any elec-
tion and Congress felt it could build one
after the Karnataka election. They went
whole hog with populism,” he says. BJP,
aware that it has been in office for a long
time, anticipated the strategy and shored
up its flanks. The focus on welfare schemes
was strengthened and the party banked
on the fact that is has tangibly delivered.
“We countered the Congress strategy and
ensured we stayed ahead in the war of nar-
ratives. Congress tried to raise allegations
of commissions and corruption but these
have not made any headway,” he says.
The run-up to the election had seen ad-
verse reports on differences in the party
and the BJP leadership’s decision to field
a host of Union ministers and MPs helped AP

settle such controversies. The senior lead-

ers, aware they were on test, have been campaigning hard.
Asked about this, Yadav says, “All leaders, whether min-
isters or MPs, have pitched in. Everyone is working hard.
They are keen to win their own seats and are effective in
their areas of influence as well.” Rather than seeing it as a
sign of weakness, the minister says BJP’s planning had en-
sured a team effort and optimum utilisation of resources.
Asked about Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s projection, Yadav
says the chief minister was leading by example and cam-
paigning hard and he stresses the team effort. He points to
tions in a one-on-one format.
The hall outside Yadav’s office is beginning to fill up and
journalists have also begun to trickle in. The day’s transport
requirements, as well as for the next few days, are being re-
viewed by a functionary. Soon it will be time for more as-
sessments and feedback from surveys and party officials
deputed to specific constituencies. Going by the hum in the
party office, BJP’s poll machine is ticking over smoothly.
by Rajeev Deshpande

27 NOVEMBER 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 29

COVER STORY
Small farmers and
farm labourers
off the Damoh-
Katni road who are
unhappy about
the lack of interior
roads and plan to
vote Congress
CHOUHAN HAS A PRO-POOR IMAGE AND HIS INFORMAL
APPROACH MAKES HIM A LEADER PEOPLE CAN ASSOCIATE
WITH. HE IS SEEN TO HAVE IMPLEMENTED WELFARE SCHEMES
AND BACKED PROJECTS LIKE THE SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENT
IN THE ROAD NETWORK. THE SCHOOL AND PRIMARY
HEALTH NETWORK ARE WORKING WELL
polls, many nodded their appreciation for the “Modi sarkar”.
The shift towards ‘national’ issues becomes more evident in
such a debate.
A turnoff from the Katni road at Raipura leads to more remote
areas where police patrols are questioning outsiders ahead of poll-
ing. It is November 9 and Dhanteras (marking the start of Diwali
celebrations and worship of Goddess Lakshmi) and the kasba of Ba-
horiband, also an Assembly seat, is a teeming and colourful bazaar.
People are out in festive finery and women decked in bright reds,
yellows and blues. A variety of local wares are for sale, including
colourful earthenware brought to the market by Adivasi women.
The small window at the grameen bank is all but obscured by a
crowd of women. There are many more sitting on the steps lead-
ingtothebank.Mostarelookingtowithdrawmoneythathascome
into their accounts by way of the Ladli Behna payments a couple of
days ago. Most are happy with the money they have received and
seeminclinedtovoteBJP.AnITIandacollegethathavecomeupare
seen as welcome additions too. Some distance before Bahoriband,
Kurmi farmers attested to the popularity of the scheme, laughing
that their wives would not listen to them if asked to vote for some
other party. The extent of the scheme’s appeal will be tested on poll-
ing day but BJP might have been worse off without it. A contractor
standing with some workers he employs is confident that BJP will
win in Bahoriband, a claim others do not contest. The mood holds
30
A local resident
near Berasia in
Bhopal district
who says he is
happy with the
BJP government’s
schemes
farther down this rural road at Sihora when it meets the highway
that connects Katni to Jabalpur.
Surai is a largish village on the Jabalpur-Bhopal highway and
falls in the Bargi Assembly constituency. A group of women
move with fluid symmetry picking matter (green peas) in a field
with their supervisor Ravi Singh keeping watch. The women
are busy, paid ` 4 for every kilogram of the plants they pluck, and
are keen not to lose out on wages and time. Yet, they volunteer
that most of them have received direct cash transfers from the
state government and feel satisfied with what it is doing for them.
Ravi Singh, a Lodh, works for a ‘seth’ and says margins are always
tight in farming. Some of the women, he avers, will pick as much
as 100kg in a day and get ` 400 for their hard work. Mattar gets a
better price if it reaches the mandi before 2PM and the price drops
thereafter. He agrees farmers will benefit if private companies
can reach them directly in addition to traders and middlemen.
An assured contract at set prices would be better for everyone
and loosen the grip of traders. The village, he says, is prosperous
and has large dwellings and the mood is supportive of BJP. This
can fluctuate though as it does at a village called Kerpani near
Narsinghpur but switches yet again a little later.
Calling the election may not be easy, as the contestants slug
it out in what is as much a clash of narratives as a verdict on the
report card of the incumbent.
27 NOVEMBER 2023
 FIRE BOLTT
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COVER STORY

GRAIN OF
SIDDHARTH SINGH tracks paddy farme
of the battle between Congress and BJP
32 27 NOVEMBER 2023
 Chhattisgarh
Chief Minister
Bhupesh Baghel
campaigns
in Raipur,
October 3, 2023

TRUTH
rs who could decide the outcome
in Chhattisgarh’s second phase
27 NOVEMBER 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 33
I
COVER STORY

T IS MID-AFTERNOON AND THE CROWD HAS

started to gather for Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel’s
address at a roadside pavilion near Sendari in Bilaspur
district. While Baghel is expected to come a bit later
in the day, a steady dose of songs, speeches and the
usual ‘stage management’ are for everyone to see. At
the edge of the field where the pandal has been erected,
Dwarka Prasad Bharadwaj from Sendari is chatting
with his co-villagers about local politics. Bharadwaj has just sold
off his rice crop in the local mandi. He grows the short-duration
Haruna variety of rice.
Bharadwaj is like millions of other farmers in Chhattisgarh’s
central rice belt. From Mungeli at the western end to the edge of
Janjgir-Champa in the east, it is this class of farmers who grows
rice, has small or marginal landholdings, and is routinely in debt
that lies at the heart of Chhattisgarh’s politics. These farmers will
make or mar any party’s chances in 52-odd seats of the 70 that go
to polls on Friday, November 17.
At first, Bharadwaj shies away from making his political choice
known: one has to infer it indirectly. He owns 3.5 acres and has
a debt of `50,000. The choice of Haruna is revealing. Like other
smallholders, Bharadwaj needs cash quickly and does not have
Former Chief Minister
‘holding power’ to store rice (he lacks the space) and wait for a bet- Raman Singh at a
polling booth,
ter price when demand is high. He gets around 25 quintals from November 7, 2023

his land and is now within the limit of what the Chhattisgarh
government purchases from farmers. He steadily opens up and
says the last loan waiver, in 2019, helped him. But five years down
the line, he has accumulated more debt and wants relief from
the government. He says he will vote for a government that will
waive off his loan. Congress has promised another loan waiver
if it returns to power in the mineral-rich state.
It is this constituency that both the ruling Congress and the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are trying to woo. BJP has promised
to purchase rice at `3,100 per quintal in case it forms the govern-
ment and make the payment at one shot unlike the present sys-
tem where farmers are paid in installments. Within days of the
announcement, Congress promised to pay `3,200 a quintal. It
currently buys rice at `2,173 a quintal and when an input subsidy
of `600 a quintal is factored in, the effective purchasing price goes
up to nearly `2,800 (see interview).
These are attractive terms for most farmers like Bharadwaj
that Open spoke with. So, is this a political trend as in 2018 when
a large number of farmers waited to sell their crop after Congress
had made a similarly attractive pitch to them?
There is a catch, however, in making such an assessment.
While the rice purchase season has begun (mandis opened for
buying on November 1 and the season continues till January 31
next year), arrivals in markets are patchy. For one, rainfall was
delayed this year and the crop is yet to mature in the central dis-
tricts. For another, smaller farmers don’t have the holding power
to wait until the results are declared on December 3.
But some signals are clear.
At Ranai village in Koriya district in the northern part of the
state, farmer Shiv Charan Sahu is busy winnowing his rice crop

34 27 NOVEMBER 2023
manually with his wife. Sahu’s village falls in the Baikunthpur
constituency from where Bhaiyalal Rajwade of BJP is contesting.
Sahu is a marginal farmer who owns 2.75 acres and has a debt of
`27,000. He, too, was a beneficiary of the last loan waiver. He plans
to hold his crop for sale until December. He has enough storage
capacity even if he is desperate to sell the rice. The combination
of a loan waiver and a higher price per quintal promised by Con-
gress is politically enticing for him, although he does not openly
declare his voting intention. But he bitterly remembers the time
BJP was in power when farmers like him were denied the bonus
promised to them by the Raman Singh government.
Does that mean BJP’s chances of regaining power in Chhat-
tisgarh are dim? Well, it is not quite that simple.
In a number of constituencies, incumbent Congress is fac-
27 NOVEMBER 2023
ing a backlash due to the poor performance of its MLAs. It is one
thing for farmers to feel bitter at being deprived of their prom-
ised bonus by the last government but quite another for MLAs
of the ruling party to be ineffective. Baikunthpur is an example.
Here, the BJP candidate, Bhaiyalal Rajwade—who was the local
MLA from 2013 to 2018—is pitted against Ambica Singh Deo
of Congress. The general refrain is that while Rajwade is acces-
sible, Singh Deo is not. Even after his defeat in the last election,
Rajwade—who was labour minister in the third Raman Singh
government—continued to work in the constituency. A number
of people attest to his helping hand for the poor in Baikunthpur,
especially when it comes to healthcare.
Then there are other political decisions weighing heav-
ily against the ruling party. At one time, Koriya—where
www.openthemagazine.com 35
 COVER STORY

IN A NUMBER OF
CONSTITUENCIES,
CONGRESS IS FACING
A BACKLASH DUE
TO THE POOR
PERFORMANCE OF
ITS MLAS. IT IS ONE
THING FOR FARMERS
TO FEEL BITTER AT
BEING DEPRIVED OF
THEIR PROMISED
BONUS BY THE LAST
GOVERNMENT BUT
QUITE ANOTHER Farmers and labourers at a
FOR MLAS OF THE market yard in Saragaon,

RULING PARTY TO BE
Bilaspur where government
purchase of rice began
INEFFECTIVE
on November 1, 2023

Baikunthpur is located—was a big district. But in September 2022,
it was bifurcated and a new district, Manendragarh-Chirmiri-
Bharatpur, was carved out, a decision that has not gone down well
withmanypeople.ItisadecisionthatmaycometohauntCongress
in at least two constituencies—Baikunthpur and Manendragarh.
Chirmiri, a coal-mining town in the hills of the erstwhile Ko-
riya district, is now a shell of its former self. It is part of the Manen-
dragarh constituency. In Chirmiri, a mix of grievances has put
Congress on the defensive. After the new district was formed, the
locals wanted some district offices to be located in the town. But
as the district headquarters, all key offices are in Manendragarh.
This comes against the backdrop of South Eastern Coalfields Lim-
ited (SECL) closing six of the eight coal mines operated by the
PSU over the past 15 years. The move has not only led to rampant
Chirmiri and Khadgawan. Of the three, Khadgawan is a farming
area where Congress has an advantage but the choice of candidate
seems to have antagonised the people of Chirmiri. If that were
not enough, there are spoiler candidates, such as the one from
the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP), championing identity
politics among Adivasis in Chhattisgarh, which are likely to eat
into the Congress vote disproportionately when compared to BJP.
These are just two examples of how candidate selection and
political-administrative decisions are creating headwinds for the
ruling party. The story is being repeated across the 14 constitu-
encies of the Surguja division in the northern part of the state.
In 2018, BJP did not win a single seat in the region; this time, it
is giving a tough fight to Congress in almost all of the 14 seats.

unemployment in a town that was once booming but also to a
large number of people migrating to other parts of the country
in search of work. The population of Chirmiri has shrunk from
1.5 lakh at its peak about a decade ago to less than one lakh now.
On top of it, Congress picked its candidate, Ramesh Singh
Vakil, from Manendragarh. The party denied the ticket to sitting
MLA Vinay Jayaswal—who was a local from the town—and dis-
patched him to Raipur for party work. This has not gone down
well with the people of Chirmiri either. Chandan Gupta, a local
BJP activist, says no one has won from the constituency when the
ticket has been given to someone hailing from Manendragarh.
The calculation was explained to Open by a senior Congress
leader in the area who said the decision was based on picking a
candidate who could ensure a lead for the party in two of the three
regions of the constituency. The three regions are Manendragarh,
T
HE REFRAIN AMONG many observers that Open spoke
to in Bilaspur, Ambikapur, Bemetara and Raipur is that
the ruling party’s situation would have been worse had
it not been for the Baghel government’s incentives for farmers.
Farmers, clearly, have been at the heart of Congress’ strategy.
At the same time, this excessive reliance has not escaped the
notice of certain sections of the party. A close adviser of a senior
party leader told Open: “From higher prices for rice to buying cow
dung to input subsidies, our focus has mostly been on farmers.”
This raises an interesting question: Can ‘top-down’ measures,
such as attractive procurement prices for crops, input subsidies
and a heady dose of symbols used to champion regionalism, fix
ground-level political problems like poor performance of MLAs?
The headache for Congress is its MLAs who have become un-

36 27 NOVEMBER 2023

Women waiting
to vote in Kondagaon,
November 7, 2023
popular over time as they are absent from their constituencies or
are thought to be ineffective by the people they represent.
One answer is obvious. The results will tell on December 3. But
until then, some conjectures are possible. In the rice bowl belt,
these measures have worked to a great extent but what about
constituencies that have agriculture as their mainstay but are
not necessarily dominated by rice cultivation? Do other factors
intervene to make the political battle more interesting?
One example is the Bemetara-Saja-Kawardha belt of the old
Durg district not far from state capital Raipur. Bemetara district,
which has two Assembly constituencies—Bemetara and Saja—
is a case in point. Here, a large number of farmers from Punjab
and Haryana have settled over the last 15 years. These farmers
began growing a variety of cash crops like sugarcane, vegetables,
and even fruits like bananas. Over time, local farmers copied the
practices of the newcomers and now rice is one among many
crops grown here. The combination of settlers from outside the
state and a modicum of prosperity, when compared to other
rice-belt constituencies, has ensured that the usual incentives
have little purchase.
In Bemetara there is an added political layer. In April this
year, a youngster, Bhuneshwar Sahu, lost his life in communal
violence. The Sahu community is spread across the state but is
numerically strong in Bemetara and Saja constituencies. The in-
cident took place at Biranpur village of Saja. Until then, Congress’
Ravindra Choubey, the sitting MLA, was considered a shoo-in
this time as well, for he maintains a strong connect with the lo-
cal community. But things are changing and he has a challenger
from BJP in the form of Ishwar Sahu, father of Bhuneshwar Sahu.
27 NOVEMBER 2023
Sahu Sr is not a well-connected and seasoned
politician like Choubey but he has a measure
of sympathy on his side.
Minus the April flare-up, Saja was just an-
othernondescripttownthatservedasamarket
foragriculturalinputsandcrops.Insuchplaces
religion does not have a visible presence but
something has changed in Saja since April.
At the block Congress committee office,
Santosh Verma, the local Congress boss, is
at pains to deny that BJP is a force to contend
with. “They have a single issue,” he says, re-
ferring to the incident in April, “And they
are trying hard to cash that.” In his office he
points towards Jethuram Sahu, the sarpanch
of Biranpur who is sitting quietly among a
gaggle of party workers. “Ask him,” Verma
says while pointing to Sahu and adds, “He will
tell you there is no sympathy factor at work
here.” Sahu nods affirmatively. It is another
matter that in April Sahu was quoted as say-
ing, “We want to live peacefully… but these
AP inter-religion marriages are wrong. Muslim
men are taking Hindu girls away.” It seems
in a span of seven months Sahu has become
secular and Congress has woken up to the political risk if it does
not win over people from Biranpur and its adjoining areas.
In contrast, the local BJP convenor Nathmal Sahu raises a
very different set of issues. “Rice and bonus may be issues in 89
constituencies but not here. We are working hard to spread the
message of the Mahtari Vandan Yojana and raise awareness about
our promise to our sisters,” he says, referring to BJP’s promise
of giving women `1,000 a month if it is voted to power. This
has touched a raw nerve in Congress with none less than Chief
Minister Baghel questioning the promise.
It is an open question as to who will prevail in Saja, Choubey
or Sahu. It is notable that this belt (Bemetara-Saja-Kawardha) is
the only one where there is ‘communal appeal’ in the state. In
Kawardha, which voted on November 7, Congress’ Mohammad
Akbar is pitted against BJP’s Vijay Sharma. Akbar, who had won
by a huge margin from the same constituency in 2018, is expected
to sail through this time too, but the competition, according to
local observers, is far stronger than the one-sided show last time.
What is interesting is how the dynamics of the electoral fight
in Chhattisgarh are changing. Until a month or so ago, Congress
was expected to comfortably extend its stay in Nava Raipur by
another five years. After all, Baghel, a canny politician, had used
the last five years to woo farmers. He had also crafted a set of local
symbols—from the presiding deity of the state, Chhattisgarh
Mahtari, to the local anthem extolling the Arpa and Pairi rivers—
and the same set of farmers who are being courted are the bearers
of this Chhatisgarhia-vaad. But suddenly, a challenge is visible.
December will tell whether the Mahtari will deliver a bounty of
seats for the party or will look away, favouring someone else.
www.openthemagazine.com 37
 COVER STORY
INTERVIEW TS SINGH DEO Deputy Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh
Individual MLAs May Be in
Trouble but the Government
Has Done Very Well
The deputy chief minister talks to SIDDHARTH SINGH about Congress’
chances of retaining power in Chhattisgarh as well as the fiscal impact of
farm loan waivers and the state’s return to the Old Pension Scheme
If Congress returns to power, what issues and challenges
would you like to address first?
First of all, one has to ensure one is constantly in touch with
the people. Next, to continue the policies which are enhancing
the purchasing power of households. And after that would be
infrastructure.
In this round of polls, what have been the more
challenging moments in trying to convince people
to vote for your party?
For me, in particular, my not being present in the constituency, as
I have been as an MLA. Once you are in government, a lot of time
gets taken up by official work. There was the Covid-19 pandemic—
people will not like to understand and would like you to be pres-
ent—so I feel my biggest personal negative was that I was not in
the constituency as I would have liked to be. For the party, I think it
has performed pretty well. We have had this round of surveys—we
have these professional groups working as independent informa-
tion providers—and I have also had a round of surveys done for my
part, and I can count about 15 surveys that were done. I had sur-
veyed 45 constituencies. Of the 45 seats I had surveyed except my
own, almost every seat—all 45—showed a considerable degree of
satisfaction with the government. Where they would have put up
questions regarding particular MLAs—the MLA being a bit down
or considerably down—the same survey shows the government
as doing pretty well. So, the overall view that gets across is that the
government’s performance has been good.
Your government has been at the forefront of helping farm-
ers in the state by giving them attractive rates for rice and
waiving off loans. How sustainable are these measures?
Are you concerned about their fiscal impact?
Chhattisgarh happens to be one of those states which have one
of the best track records on fiscal management and the economy
38
within the state seems to have picked up. If you see it in terms of
what is being sold and bought, you have created a purchasing ca-
pacity and in its turn it is showing that sales have gone up. When
youdoafarmwaiver,whatdoyouachieve?Aminimumof `20,000
per acre stays with the farmer, otherwise it goes to the bank. What
the bank does with it and where it puts that money is another
story. But straightaway you increase the purchasing capacity of
the farmer for that year when the crop has also been affected. You
can’t do farm waivers every year; that will not be sustainable. So, we
are not doing it every year. This year happens to be an election year.
This also happens to be a year when rainfall has been scattered and
inconsistent, and the paddy crop in Bastar as well as Sarguja area
and some in the middle area of Chhattisgarh has been affected and
the farmers would have been impacted negatively.
When we started with the bonus (for farmers), the Union gov-
ernment issued written letters through its food department that
for any state providing bonus for its paddy, its rice would not be
picked up beyond the PDS quantity through the Food Corporation
of India (FCI). So they, sort of, twisted our arms to not be able to
implement what we had announced as a bonus above the mini-
mum support price (MSP). We had said that we would give at least
`2,500 per quintal, which would have been, in a reducing manner,
supported by the state government. So when they came up with
this arm-twisting we went into input subsidies. The prime minis-
ter and the Union government are themselves providing `6,000
per farmer; we made it `9,000 per acre. And we achieved not only
that minimum of `2,500 but we also took it up to ` 2,650 last year
and this year, pre-election, it is `2,783. `2,173 as MSP, `9,000 for 15
quintals—which works out to, say,`600 per quintal—so just short
of `2,800 per quintal.
What we wanted was to empower these households. How are
we achieving that? For a farmer in Uttar Pradesh—from where the
prime minister is an MP—paddy there is sold at between `1,200
and `1,400 per quintal. We are able to provide twice that value for
27 NOVEMBER 2023

the same product to our farmers in Chhattisgarh. So that is the sort
of model we have adopted. In any of the schemes we have taken up,
at the back of our mind is not a freebie to get votes but empower-
ing the family economically. All this has worked without a glitch:
we are not in debt beyond acceptable limits. We are within FRBM
limits and the limit of 25 per cent of GSDP. We may not even have
crossed 20 per cent. So, we have the capacity to borrow, within the
norms. Chhattisgarh has done well.
Chhattisgarh is also among a handful of states that have
gone back to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). Do you see
challenges on that front? There are long-term
consequences of that shift.
OPS was being demanded by people in the (government) service.
When the National Pension System (NPS) was introduced every-
one seemed to be okay with it. But what they realised was that there
is a lot of difference between NPS and OPS. Talent drain was also an
27 NOVEMBER 2023
issue. The economics of it all was also there and
today, within the comparatively shorter time-
frame, we will not be burdened for the next 20 to
25 years, maybe 30 years. Our projection, which
we had worked out through our departmental
heads and experts, indicated 2070-72 as the time
when the government might start coming un-
der stress. Till then we are saving up to `1,400
crore annually by not contributing that amount.
And if we contribute that amount and we have
a fund of our own against which we can borrow
and use for the state, then we have that option. So
it is a misplaced concept of certain economists.
We would like to hear all of them and take a call
as public representatives in the interest of the
people, with a mind to the consequences. This
is not being done with a closed mind.
Last time, your party won a majority
of the 29 seats reserved for Adivasis.
Do you think you will be able to repeat
that performance?
Chhattisgarh by itself has been a pro-Congress
state. The results in this geographical area over
the last 15 elections show that 10 have gone in
favour of Congress. Of the five that have gone in
favour of the opposition or BJP, three have been
consecutive when Raman Singh was chief min-
ister. That apart, the tribals seem to have gone
along with Congress in Chhattisgarh. There was
a good bonding between the Congress ideology
and the tribal interest. They have traditionally
beensupportersofCongressbecauseofCongress
supporting their interests. Congress has never
talked about stopping reservation for tribals—
time and again the National Pension System
(RSS) or BJP has flirted with that idea, tested the
idea, burnt their fingers, gone back on it. But they have tested doing
away with the reservation. Congress has never done that.
In these five years (2019-23), we have tried to address one of the
deep-seated needs/demands of the tribal community—of having
Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Rules. You had the
Act but you did not have the Rules. We have gone a considerable
distance but an important but considerable step is yet to be taken
whereby the right of land comes into the equation. Then, whether
there is consent or consultation (by the local community in ques-
tion). That is the step we would like to take once we see that the
empowerment of the gram sabhas is in place and they are function-
ing with reasonable responsibility.
That apart there are some sections of the tribal community who
were earlier a social organisation but are now participating in the
elections, such as the Hamar Raj Party of Arvind Netam and others
who have thrown their hat in the ring. The consequences of that
are yet to be seen.
www.openthemagazine.com 39
 DIPLOMACY
Bangladesh Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka,
October 28, 2023
PLAN B
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WRUHWDLQSRZHULQ%DQJODGHVK·VJHQHUDOHOHFWLRQ
By RAHUL PANDITA
L
AST MONTH, BANGLADESH PRIME MINISTER
Sheikh Hasina responded to the US ambassador’s call
to hold a dialogue with the opposition in her country.
“Is Biden holding dialogue with Mr Trump?” she asked,
further saying that she would hold a dialogue (with the
opposition) if Biden did the same with Trump. From her perspec-
tive, this subtle belligerence is understandable. She has been under
tremendous pressure from the Democratic administration in the
US (and from European countries) to amend the political process
and ensure free and fair elections in Bangladesh due in January.
Theserepeatedreprimandshavecomeinthewakeofmassarrestsof
political workers, mainly from the main opposition party, the Ban-
gladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). It also stems from the widespread
belief that she came to power in her last two terms with massive
electoral rigging (Hasina will be fighting for her fourth consecutive
term in January and is already the longest-serving woman head of
any government).
India is watching these developments with caution. In August,
during the G20 summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried to
soften things between Hasina and Biden, but it has been tough
40
AP
given that the US wants to push its agenda of rectifying democratic
erosion and for it Bangladesh is what an expert calls a “test case”.
For India, Hasina has been the best bet since her first term in 2009.
“We’d not like to see a situation where the progress is halted
or rolled back,” says Pankaj Saran, former Indian high commis-
sioner to Bangladesh. “Or we go back to earlier times when the
energies of both countries were exhausted in fighting terrorism
and radical extremism. Nor can we go back to the situation where
Bangladesh was being used by hostile states to mount activities
that affected Indian security.”
But what has made things tough for Hasina? The US interven-
tion has bolstered BNP and its allies who are now out on the streets
to force Hasina to resign before the elections so that polls are held
under a neutral authority. Ironically, it was BNP under Khaleda Zia
that had subverted this tradition (of putting in place a caretaker
government) in 2004 by raising the retirement age of the Supreme
Court chief justice loyal to BNP so that he could lead the caretaker
government. Zia, who has a long history of hostility with Hasina, is
in jail now and her condition is not well. Her son, Tarique Rahman,
who is in exile in London, is building a cohort of opposition forces
27 NOVEMBER 2023
and is behind the mobilisation of people on the streets of Dhaka Democracy. In May, Hasina was in Washington DC for a World
and elsewhere that he carries out by the effective use of internet Bank event but was extended no welcome by the US government.
tools. The party workers have enforced a massive transport block- For India, Hasina, since 2009, has been able to address the most
ade, putting immense pressure on Hasina’s Awami League. BNP contentious issues. India’s concerns have been the question of
has a string of advocacy groups in the West and in the Gulf. Experts Hindu minorities and illegal immigration that complicated mat-
believe there is a lot of anti-incumbency against Hasina and there is ters in West Bengal and the Northeast. Before the country’s libera-
a strong possibility of BNP returning to power if elections are held tion, Pakistan, of which it was a part till 1971, provided sanctuary
fairly. They believe the younger generation of the armed forces is to rebel Naga and Mizo insurgents. In the 1980s, under military
also conscious of its image and is wary that the army’s reputation rule (and even later), providing shelter to insurgent groups active
should not be stained by the perception of Hasina using it for her in India continued. Under Hasina, though, this came to an end.
‘dirty work’. Activists have chronicled around 2,700 cases of extra- She also acted strongly against the Jamaat, an ally of BNP, hanging
judicial killings under Hasina. In 2021, the US imposed a ban on many of its leaders for ‘war crimes’. The party was also banned
several serving and retired officers of the elite paramilitary force, under her by the Supreme Court, with its registration cancelled.
the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), which is believed to be Hasina’s But now, as her own situation turns precarious, what are the
tool to win elections and commit some of these killings. options for India?
The other major factor against Hasina is that, in the post-pan- “India has put all its bets on Hasina,” says Paliwal. “But this is a
demic situation, Bangladesh’s economic success story also seems to person who has trapped herself that in turn means she has trapped
be coming apart. “This story was a miracle standing on one leg,” says you (India),” he says. There are two scenarios. One: Hasina buckles
Avinash Paliwal, a reader at London’s SOAS. He is referring to the under US pressure and appoints a caretaker administration (that
readymade garment industry in Bangladesh that is the biggest earn- India, sources in the foreign ministry say, has advised her not to
er of foreign currency (along with foreign remittances). “But now succumb to). In that case, there is a big probability that she will lose,
it has come to a point where people are not getting wages and this paving the way for BNP. Two: she continues to be in power, breaks
is causing unrest,” he adds. Paliwal points at the country’s inability the back of BNP, and puts more political detractors in jail. But her
to diversify and says it is because of systemic corruption. A major- problems, say experts, won’t go away. She has been trying to build
ity of parliamentarians in Bangladesh are a coalition of parties that involves many
associated with the industry that has made conservatives, including elements within
many call the country a sort of oligarchy. The US intervention has the Jamaat. There is no clarity on what con-
Today, Bangladesh’s forex reserves have bolstered BNP and its cessions she might be willing to offer these
fallen to a lowly $21 billion from $42 bil- elements in exchange for their support.
lion only a year ago, indicating corruption allies who are now out on As Hasina presses on, there are clear
(or date-fudging). At a recent event with the the streets to force Hasina indications that she will find the going
Economic Reporters’ Forum (ERF), Abdur to resign before the more and more difficult. The opposition
Rouf Talukder, governor of Bangladesh’s is getting stronger and as M Humayun
central bank, acknowledged that Bangla- elections so that polls are Kabir, former Bangladesh ambassador
desh’s economy had hit “rock bottom” held under a neutral to the US, pointed out recently, other
and that they were navigating “a very authority. Ironically, it was small parties are getting stronger as well
strenuous period”. and under such circumstances police and
Bangladesh watchers believe the BNP under Khaleda Zia that other forces may find it difficult to keep
chinks in the success story were over- had subverted this tradition supporting her. Hasina’s nervousness in
looked by Western powers because this regard was evident when she visited
Hasina chose to give shelter to a big mass of Chittagong recently and asked all service-
Rohingya refugees that created good PR for her. Wealth was created, men to surrender their firearms.
they say, but its distribution remained a miasma. This was prob- For India, though, the biggest elephant in the room remains
ably because Hasina could not tolerate people like Nobel Laureate China. That is something, experts believe, Hasina can never deliver
Muhammad Yunus, credited with uplifting the lives of millions by toIndia.“ThekindofinfluenceChinaexertsoverHasinapersonally,
providing microfinance loans through the Grameen Bank that he that is not going down anytime,” says Paliwal. At India’s insistence,
had founded in the early 1980s. He is currently undergoing trial on Hasina buried the development, under the Chinese, of a deep-sea
charges of embezzlement, a move seen as political vendetta by the port on Sonadia island along its southeastern coast. But with in-
US and European countries. “If inflation is not controlled and the creased US pressure, many fear Hasina may gravitate more towards
economy is in a dire situation, it won’t be surprising to see public China,somethingthatwillkeepIndiaworried.AndBNP,whetherit
movements gaining momentum in favour of the opposition,” said comes to power or not, remains a friend of both China and Pakistan.
Dhaka-based political scientist Shahab Enam Khan. As the crisis continues in Bangladesh, India has no option but
Hasina’s allegedly authoritarian acts have led the Biden ad- to adopt a wait-and-watch policy. But it must be ready to diversify,
ministration to ignore her and not invite her to the Summit for given that things can go either way in January. Q

27 NOVEMBER 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 41

HEALTH

BREATHE
UNEASY
Air pollution and its effects on the health
of Indians are becoming worse with
every year but there is no solution in sight
By MADHAVANKUTTY PILLAI

Old Delhi, November 7, 2023

42 27 NOVEMBER 2023
 N
OVEMBER IS THE MONTH WHEN EVERYONE IN DELHI—
FROM the Supreme Court to the Central and state governments and all
residents—agree that never again would they allow themselves to live
with such polluted air. Banning firecrackers, subsidising farmers in
neighbouring states to not burn crop residues, allowing only vehicles
with either odd or even number plates to ply on a given day, machines to
suck pollutants from the air, and just about everything that an imaginative desperate system
can come up with is tried. It is being tried now. It was tried last November too. And you can
make a lot of money by betting that next November, nothing will change. Come Diwali, the
Air Quality Index (AQI) will go to such dizzying levels that the first world will be shocked
and those who live here will once again be gasping.
On Diwali day, the AQI was 218. This was said to be the best in the last eight years. Last
year, for instance, it was 312 and a report by the news agency PTI, while giving this salutary
news, however also had this paragraph: “Delhi’s air quality improved sharply just ahead of
Diwali this year. The improvement can be attributed to intermittent rainfall on Friday and
wind speeds favourable for the dispersion of pollutants.” The improvement therefore was
probably with some help from nature. Even at 218, the category under which this air comes
is “poor”. It doesn’t make the lungs of Delhiites feel much better. In fact, about a week earlier,
the average AQI had been as high as 468. Within days after Diwali, now that rain gods had
stopped smiling, the AQI dipped to “very poor”, over the 300 mark.
A number of factors come together to create this crisis at this time. The main culprit
is said to be the burning of agricultural stubble in neighbouring states like Punjab. It is a

Photograph by ASHISH SHARMA

27 NOVEMBER 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 43

 HEALTH
difficult cat to bell because farmers are an indigent class. They do
so because it is cheap way to discard the stubble. Some also be-
lieve it benefits to the soil. Most just don’t have the resources to
go for alternatives. Meanwhile, farmers are also a politically sensi-
tive subject. To do anything that adds to the distress of farmers, a
real risk of losing votes, in favour of air pollution which costs no
votes, is an easy choice for the political class. But to focus only on
addressing stubble as the silver bullet solution is also just getting
sidetracked to a symptom.
A paper published early this year in the journal Sustainability
did a review from 1990 to 2022 of Delhi’s air pollution and attrib-
uted the key sources to “vehicle exhaust, road dust, construction
dust, cooking and heating, open waste burning, and industries.”
But they also crucially added that it was a year-long problem,
and not just in the winter. The paper said: “Long-term solutions
should be the focus to address this issue, as outlined in the clean
air action plans for the city. These solutions include increasing
infrastructure for public transportation, walking, and cycling;
promoting the use of clean fuels such as LPG and electricity for
cooking and heating; enforcing emission standards for industries;
improving waste management and reducing open waste burning;
and increasing the city’s green cover.” Even though air pollution is
always present, it is only in winter that the panic begins because
that is when it reaches its peak and cannot be ignored. This phe-
nomenon of only reacting to what can be seen and felt is also the
reason why there is no sustained effort to address it. Because once
Stubble being set on fire
at Jodhan village near
Ludhiana, November 8, 2023
the AQI becomes even a little more respectable, the issue slips out
of social consciousness.
It is also counterproductive to be focused on Delhi because it
takes away from air pollution being a national issue. There is no
part of India that provides good air as per the best standards set by
institutions like the World Health Organization. Take Mumbai,
for example. For long, it was considered to be immune to pollution
because of the sea nearby and the coastal winds taking away the
pollutants. Recently, something seems to have shifted with Mum-
bai maintaining high scores for bad air quality. During winters,
AQIs going above 200 is a consistent feature now. In February, in the
44
list of cities with the most pollution by the Swiss air tracking index
IQAir, Mumbai even beat Delhi. At present in the same index, Delhi
ranks second in the top 10 globally, with Mumbai in fifth place.
W HILE MUMBAI HAS a large number of vehicles, which,
like Delhi, contribute substantially to pollution, what is
novel is a construction boom following the Covid lockdowns.
Not just new projects, there are a record number of old buildings
that are now being redeveloped. In addition, there is the Metro
rail project where lines and stations are being constructed almost
everywhere. Towards the end of October, alarmed at the pollution
levels, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) came
out with an extensive list of guidelines to control it. Construction
sites were asked to maintain water sprinklers to not let dust into
the air, so also sensor-based air pollution monitors and to take im-
mediate action if readings were in excess. Squads were formed and
deployed to enforce air pollution mitigation measures and more. It
said that there were over 6,000 construction projects ongoing and
they would be made to strictly enforce norms to manage dust. The
BMC seemed to mean business when it began to send notices to
stop work for those who weren’t complying. Emission checks on
vehicles were intensified. But it is too early to know whether these
measures will have any impact and, chances are, enforcement will
become lax once the air becomes somewhat better.
Almost every city in India is a health hazard when it comes to its
THE MAIN CULPRIT IS SAID
TO BE THE BURNING OF
AGRICULTURAL STUBBLE IN
NEIGHBOURING STATES LIKE
PUNJAB. IT IS A DIFFICULT CAT
TO BELL BECAUSE FARMERS
ARE AN INDIGENT CLASS.
THEY DO SO BECAUSE IT IS A
CHEAP WAY TO DISCARD THE
STUBBLE. SOME ALSO BELIEVE
IT BENEFITS THE SOIL
REUTERS
air. In the IQAir list where Delhi is second currently, Kolkata was
ranked fifth. In March this year, when the Centre for Science and
Environment looked at PM2.5 (the smallest and most dangerous
pollutant) in five major Indian cities other than Delhi and while
comparing the winter air with that of the previous three years,
they found that Bengaluru and Chennai were worsening the fast-
est, noting “their current winter air was 15 per cent more polluted
than the average of their previous three winters.” They also found
some interesting patterns. Delhi, unlike other big cities, had two
major peaks in November and January when air quality nosedived
to crisis levels. “November is the worst air quality month for
27 NOVEMBER 2023

FOR LONG, MUMBAI WAS CONSIDERED TO BE IMMUNE TO
POLLUTION BECAUSE OF THE SEA NEARBY AND THE COASTAL
WINDS TAKING AWAY THE POLLUTANTS. RECENTLY, SOMETHING
SEEMS TO HAVE SHIFTED WITH MUMBAI
MAINTAINING HIGH SCORES FOR BAD AIR QUALITY
Hyderabad and Bengaluru, while for Mumbai and Chennai, it has
been January. Kolkata’s worst month is December. Kolkata was
the most polluted megacity (excluding Delhi) for the months of
November, December and January. In February, Mumbai over-
took Kolkata. Winter is a problematic season for all megacities,
but the intensity of the problem varies: The days with bad air
quality occur in clusters during the winter season in megaci-
ties. The clustering of bad air days was longer in Delhi, Kolkata,
Mumbai and Hyderabad, but of shorter duration in Bengaluru and
Chennai,” the study said.
All this has real consequences, even if most of the year we take
the air for granted. The University of Chicago’s Energy Policy In-
stitute comes out with an Air Quality Life Index annually and it
estimates how much of your years have been cut short because
of what you breathe. This year’s index says that Indians would
live 5.8 years more if the air here was good as per World Health
Organization’s standards. Someone in Delhi can live 11.9 years
more. They also had this to say: “From 1998 to 2021, average annual
particulate pollution increased by 67.7 percent, further reducing
average life expectancy by 2.3 years.” Not only are we living less,
but we will live even less if things continue as they are. And it is
27 NOVEMBER 2023
Nariman Point in Mumbai,
November 13, 2023
GETTY IMAGES
almost inevitable that as India furiously industrialises on its way to
becoming a developed nation, there will be more of everything—
factories, cars, refineries, etc. It is only once we get established as a
wealthy society, as happened in the West, that the air begins to get
better. Meanwhile, all countermeasures are like bandages that can
address some symptoms but don’t fix the underlying issue. And
the underlying issue is even in one sense good. Fast development
means people get out of poverty and deprivation sooner. That
is a trade-off that air pollution demands. For instance, consider
the point of view of the farmer who is being asked not to burn
his stubble. He is wondering why he has to pay more for well-off
people in far-off cities to live better, while he himself manages to
survive on the borderline of poverty.
In 2019, India came out with a National Clean Air Programme
which had ambitious targets to reduce pollutants in more than
100 cities. It has spent thousands of crores so far, but gains have
been marginal. However, there has been substantial improvement
in mapping the quality of the air by setting up monitoring stations.
We have much more knowledge about what is happening and
that is at least a beginning in what promises to be a very long grind
in getting Indian air back to breathability. Q
www.openthemagazine.com 45
 SPORT

THE INCOMPAR
AN UNSTOPPABLE INDIA IS ALL SET FOR THE FINAL FLOU
By ADITYA IYER

46 27 NOVEMBER 2023
GETTY IMAGES
 Mohammed Shami and teammates after
the fall of a New Zealand wicket in Mumbai,
November 15, 2023

ABLES
RISH IN AHMEDABAD

I
N THE CONTEXT of the match, the first semifinal
of this World Cup played between hosts India and the
ever-threatening New Zealand in Mumbai, the aggres-
sive flick played by Virat Kohli off the very quick Lockie
Ferguson between fine leg and deep square leg was an
important one. This was the 42nd over of the first innings
and the two runs took India from a team score of 295/1
to 297/1—that much closer to the daunting 300-run mark. The
context of individual achievement was a little greater than the
team’s, for those two runs took Kohli to a century; yet another
ODI century, his third of World Cup 2023 alone.
But it was the context of the history of cricket itself that con-
cerned the roaring fans at the Wankhede the most because as a
charging Kohli completed his second run and reached the three-
figure mark, he had reached the very pinnacle of greatness in this
27 NOVEMBER 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 47
 SPORT

sport with his 50th ODI hundred—one more than the previous
best tally accumulated by his and every Indian’s hero from a
certain era, Sachin Tendulkar.
Kohli leapt into the salty air and punched it, before crumbling
to his knees and folding his gloved hands in gratitude. But what
happened next made it a celebration that wouldn’t be forgotten
in a long, long time. Stood in front of Garware Pavilion, Kohli
stripped free of his helmet and pointed at Tendulkar, who ap-
plauded the moment like every other fan in the stadium before
the great on the field gave the great in the stands three bows. The
crowd erupted and lost their collective voices altogether when
Kohli found his wife Anushka Sharma in an adjacent stand and
blew his jumping, beaming missus a kiss.
Given the stage of the tournament, the first knock-out, the ven-
ue, Tendulkar’s home, and Kohli’s adopted one, this was the stuff of
hallucinations or fantasies. Kohli would say so himself. Speaking to
the official broadcaster at the end of the game, he said: “You know, it
feels like a dream, honestly. It’s completely surreal. It feels too good
to be true.” Those words, in that very sequence, could not just apply
but also be the most apt way to describe India’s astounding run at
this World Cup, where on November 15 in Mumbai they stormed
intothefinalatAhmedabadaftergoingunbeatenfor10consecutive
matches at the tournament. This, too, does indeed feel like a dream, Mohammed Shami
after picking up
completely surreal and too good to be true. Tom Latham’s wicket
But it is true and one ought not to question this reality, for this
Indian team is every bit as good as the statistics and numbers
suggest, perhaps even in line to dethrone the Australian side of
2007 as the greatest and most complete 50-over team to have ever
played in any of the 13 ODI World Cups so far; all that remains to
complete the coronation is that trophy. Which Rohit Sharma’s
invincible men will be assured of receiving if they continue to
approach the sport and the tournament as they have done right
from their first game against Australia over a month-and-a-half
ago all the way until November 15, when they faced their first
serious challenge against Kane Williamson’s New Zealand.
Although India’s margin of victory in the Mumbai semifi-
nal, 70 runs, suggests that it was a one-sided affair like all their
nine group fixtures against every other team at this World Cup,
it was anything but. Kohli’s seminal hundred was bolstered by
AP

a century scored by Shreyas Iyer as well, his second consecutive

three-figure mark in four days as he had also struck one against
the Netherlands during India’s final group match in Bengaluru
on the Diwali weekend. All that, heaped over the most explosive
start given by India’s openers Sharma (he smashed a bang-bang 47
that was studded with four sixes and as many boundaries as well)
and Shubman Gill (unbeaten on 80, he would have hit a hundred
as well had he not retired hurt due to severe cramps) took the side
to an awesome total of 397/4.
But things began to get gnarly during New Zealand’s chase un-
der lights, especially while captain Williamson and the muscular
Daryl Mitchell began to knuckle down and show some real fight.
At one point during their 181-run partnership for the third wick-
et, Mitchell clobbered Ravindra Jadeja for a six so huge that when
it travelled 107 metres and thudded off the concrete somewhere
FIRING IN ALL DEPARTMENTS IS RIGHT,
PERHAPS BEEN BETTER PLACED TO
near the midwicket roof, all of Wankhede fell uneasily quiet.
Not only was it the biggest six off the 622 hit during the World
Cup, the only man to have scored a hundred against India in
this tournament in Mitchell was threatening to score another,
and simultaneously exorcise India’s old demons of losing at the
semifinal stage, which they dutifully had during the last two
50-over World Cups—most recently to the Kiwis themselves
in Manchester four years ago. While Mitchell managed to pull
off the former, a second hundred against India in this tourna-
ment—for which he received a begrudging standing ovation

48 27 NOVEMBER 2023
 that and takes the man facing him into a pretty dark place men-
tally, and most succumb to the pressure sooner rather than later.
Just a ball after Mitchell notched his hundred in the 33rd over,
Williamson was the first of many Shami victims, caught at deep
square leg for 69. In came new man Tom Latham and out he went
Virat Kohli after just two balls later, trapped leg before for nought by a rampaging
his fiftieth century Shami. The curtains had begun to fall on New Zealand, but not
Shami’s act as he went on to end Mitchell’s resistance after having
notched a personal score of 134 and the final wicket of Ferguson
to finish with a match-haul of seven wickets (he had already re-
moved New Zealand’s dangerous opening pair of Devon Conway
and Rachin Ravindra earlier in the innings).
Seven wickets—the first time an Indian bowler had ever taken
as many in an ODI, making Shami’s figures of 7/57 the deadliest
bowling figures by an Indian in the format. Not bad for a man who
didn’t make the cut for India’s playing eleven at the beginning
of the tournament and ended up missing the first four matches,
and only really got a chance to show what he possesses once all-
rounder Hardik Pandya injured his ankle against Bangladesh in
Pune and was ruled out of the rest of the World Cup.
Since then, he has taken five wickets against New Zealand
in Dharamsala, four against England in Lucknow, five against
Sri Lanka in Mumbai, two crucial ones against South Africa in
Kolkata, and now seven more against the Kiwis in Mumbai, tak-
ing his World Cup tally to 23 wickets—the most in this edition.
But that’s not the only statistic Shami tops; he now has the most
five-wicket hauls at a single World Cup with three, the most
five-wicket hauls across all World Cups with four (there was
one against Afghanistan in 2019), and the most overall wickets
at World Cups by an Indian with 54.
Shreyas Iyer “It’s been quite phenomenal really, the amount of wickets he’s
after scoring gotten in such a small amount of games in this tournament,” said
a century an awestruck Williamson at the press conference after the defeat.
“So, I mean, that Indian team in all departments are firing without
a doubt and I’m sure they’ll be looking forward to their next op-
Photos GETTY IMAGES

portunity in a few days’ time.”

FOR NEVER BEFORE HAS AN INDIAN TEAM
WIN THE BIGGEST TROPHY IN THE SPORT
from the shellshocked spectators—he failed to enforce the lat-
ter, for the best and most in-form fast bowler in the world today
decided that enough was truly enough.
Mohammed Shami is perhaps a wizard moonlighting as a
cricketer, for he can cast a spell on batters and create the most
exhilarating magic at will. Within his folded right palm, Shami
holds a ball with a seam position blessed by the gods. With an un-
canny ability to find the right length for each batter, the 33-year-
old veteran fast bowler releases said ball with the most upright
seam and allows the pitch to do the rest. It either zigs this way or
Firing in all departments is right, for never perhaps before
has an Indian team been better placed to win the biggest tro-
phy in the sport; not even the teams that actually won in 1983
(underdogs) and 2011 (a great team but not the greatest). The
start that Sharma and Gill provide sets the tempo, then come
the tournament’s batting heavyweights Kohli and Iyer at three
and four, respectively, followed by the team’s anchor at number
five in wicketkeeper KL Rahul (probably the best behind the
stumps, too, in this edition), who can either go big or steady the
ship, according to the situation.
Then there are the bowlers Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Moham-
med Siraj, Jadeja, and Kuldeep Yadav with 85 wickets between
them at this World Cup. This overall muscle, coupled with India’s
unbeaten run, made a reporter ask Williamson if it is going to be
difficult to stop Sharma’s men in the final in Ahmedabad on No-
vember 19. Without missing a beat, he replied: “Yeah. They’re the
best team in the world and they’re all playing their best cricket,
so that’s going to be tough. Very tough.” Q

27 NOVEMBER 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 49

 BOOKS
SALON

EMPEROR ASHOKA
ON AN ELEPHANT,
1ST CENTURY BCE, SANCHI

50
 THE KING WHO
SAID SORRY
Patrick Olivelle’s riveting portrait of Ashoka
brings out the universalism of the virtuous ruler
By Upinder Singh
I
N 1837, JAMES PRINSEP CRACKED
the Mauryan Brahmi script and
George Turnour soon connected the
Devanampiya Piyadasi of the inscrip-
tions with Ashoka of the Sri Lankan
chronicles. This sensational discovery
opened a vast and unique corpus of inscriptions
to the world. Ashoka (reigned c. 268- 232 BCE)
was never a forgotten king—he strode like a
colossus across the Asian Buddhist world. But
this was a different Ashoka, a king who person-
ally designed a universal morality and made
its propagation the cornerstone of his political
philosophy and policy.
Vincent Smith’s Asoka: The Buddhist Emperor
of India (1901) was the first full-length study, but
there were many thereafter.
Romila Thapar’s Asoka and the Decline
of the Mauryas (1961), still going strong,
locates Ashoka in the history of his
dynasty and offers a comprehensive
account of Mauryan polity, economy,
society and decline. Charles Allen’s
Ashoka (2012) is actually about how
19th century antiquarians and
archaeologists re-discovered the em-
peror through his inscriptions.
Nayanjot Lahiri’s Ashoka in Ancient India (2015)
situates the ruler in his archaeological landscape,
and explains how his inscriptional messages
would have been received in different ways in dif-
ferent places. Countless other books and articles
have been written on Ashoka, from a variety of
perspectives. His celebrity status (there is even
a Bollywood film on him) means that many
preconceived ideas have to be set aside.
Patrick Olivelle describes his Ashoka: Portrait
of a Philosopher King (HarperCollins; Indian Lives
ALAMY
series; 400 pages; `799) as “a search not a story”.
His Ashoka is “a unique and complex personal-
ity,” the only king in history who dared to say,
“I’m sorry.” Olivelle is a Sanskritist of Sri Lankan
origin who has produced authoritative editions
and translations of a vast array of Sanskrit texts.
His writings on themes such as dharma, asceti-
cism, renunciation, kingship and law have had
immense impact across disciplines. Due to the
formidable range of his translation work, he
reflects on words with care, sees resonances across
texts, and identifies significant silences. He offers a
critical and yet empathetic reading of Ashoka’s in-
scriptions, conveying several perceptive insights
into the life and ideas of the ancient emperor.
The translations of the inscriptions at the end of
the book allow general readers to experience the
flavour of Ashoka’s words.
An important respect in which
Olivelle’s book differs from others
is that he does not use Buddhist
legends or Kautilya’s Arthashastra
as primary sources for his narrative.
There are good reasons for this. The
legends reflect the end product of a
long process through which Ashoka
was canonised and presented as the
greatest Buddhist king the world had
ever seen. So the dramatic stories in texts such as
the Ashokavadana—for instance, that he built a
hell on earth where he enjoyed watching prison-
ers being tortured, or that he had 500 women of
his harem burnt alive when they cut the branches
and flowers of an Ashoka tree—are not included,
even as allegory. Neither are the stories in the
Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa about Ashoka’s
famous children Mahinda and Sanghamitta,
who are said to have sailed to Sri Lanka, taking
Buddhism along with them. A great deal of
ancient Indian history has, in fact, been written by
www.openthemagazine.com 51
 BOOKS
carefully sifting through, comparing and
interpreting legends and Olivelle is too
sophisticated a scholar to dismiss them as
patently false. But he points out that they
reflect later imaginings that served the
needs of people who constructed them.
He cannot be faulted on this.
It is well known that the Arthashastra
does not describe the Mauryan (or any
other) state. It is a sophisticated theo-
retical treatise which contains a brilliant
delineation of a potential state. Olivelle
has himself contributed towards estab-
lishing that although some of the ideas in
the Arthashastra may have been circulat-
ing in the Mauryan period, the text itself
was composed in stages at the cusp of the
millennium. It is also well established
that the legend connecting Kautilya
with Chanakya and the Arthashastra
DUE TO THE FORMIDABLE RANGE OF
PATRICK OLIVELLE’S TRANSLATION WORK, HE
REFLECTS ON WORDS WITH CARE, SEES
RESONANCES ACROSS TEXTS, AND IDENTIFIES
took shape many centuries later, in the
4th/5th century CE. So the Arthashastra
does not describe the administrative
system inherited by Ashoka from
Chandragupta Maurya.
This leaves us with one unimpeach-
able contemporary source of information
for Ashoka that is unavailable for any
other ancient Indian king—his own
words, inscribed on rocks and pillars
across the subcontinent. These are mostly
in the Prakrit language and Brahmi script,
but in the northwest, Ashoka chose to
use the Kharoshthi script, Greek and
Aramaic. Even if Brahmi pre-dates
Ashoka (as suggested by graffiti on pot-
sherds from Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka
and sites such as Kodumanal in
Tamil Nadu), Ashoka produced the first
corpus of royal inscriptions in India. In
this and many other respects, he was an
innovator. Historians usually consider
Ashoka as his personal name and
52
Devanampiya and Piyadasi as epithets.
Olivelle suggests that he had two
names—Piyadasi and Ashoka. Some
of the edicts use the first person, some
the third, but there is no doubt that they
represent the king’s own ideas. Olivelle
calculates that these “speaking stones”
contain some 4, 614 words. He describes
Ashoka’s compositions as his “writings,”
recognising editorial interventions, as
well as the fact that they also existed in
multiple oral and performative forms.
T HE MAURYAS inhabited a fast-
changing Eurasian geopolitical
world and Ashoka embraced this world
with confidence and enthusiasm.
Olivelle speculates that he probably
grew up in a cosmopolitan and multi-
SIGNIFICANT SILENCES
cultural atmosphere and this may have
had a long-term impact on his thinking.
Ashoka mentions his Hellenistic con-
temporaries by name and claims to have
engaged in various welfare measures
and dhamma propagation in their
domains. There are tantalising allusions,
but unfortunately no definite refer-
ences, to Ashoka in western sources.
Olivelle’s Ashoka is a strategic thinker
whose ideas evolved over time, who
took delight in the creative ambiguity of
words and used writing “as an instru-
ment of good governance and mass
education.” The author points to the
inscriptions’ high literary qualities, their
skilful use of word play and alliteration,
their madhurya (sweetness, charm). Most
importantly, he tracks the evolution in
Ashoka’s ideas over his long reign. While
there is a consistent importance given to
effort and striving, there were changes
in language, ideas and approach—shifts
from commanding to inspiring, from giv-
ing specific examples of dhammic conduct
to abstract articulations of virtue, from
self-reflection to arrogance.
Ashoka’s relationship with religion
was complicated. Olivelle refers to the
inscriptions’ deafening silence about
core Buddhist doctrines as well as the
presence of elements of the Buddhist
duty-oriented social ethic, including
non-violence. ‘Conversion’ is a misno-
mer, but there is no missing the ardour in
the emperor’s expression of faith in the
Buddha, dhamma and sangha, his concern
for the sangha’s unity, and his interfer-
ence in its affairs. Olivelle suggests that
Buddhism was probably already well-
established and widespread by Ashoka’s
time. However, archaeological evidence
from sites such as Sanchi, Taxila, and
Bodh Gaya suggests a significant increase
in the popularity of the Buddhist faith
in the Mauryan period. The fact that the
great emperor had his edicts inscribed
near Buddhist sacred places or monastic
complexes must have enormously raised
the prestige and profile of the sangha and
greatly annoyed their rivals.
Olivelle alerts us to Ashoka’s pivot
from being an ardent Buddhist to a
propagator of a universalistic dhamma
(he dates this to around 265 BCE, in the
thirteenth year after his consecration).
Dhamma forms the central topic of the
major rock edicts and pillar edicts; it is
mentioned over and over again, on its
own and in compound words. Ashoka
was a man with a mission who saw
himself as an exemplar and prophet of
dhamma. Not content with inscribed
pronouncements that few of his subjects
would have been able to read, he used
state bureaucracy to propagate dhamma,
27 NOVEMBER 2023

ASHOKA PILLAR
AT VAISHALI,
BIHAR
Photos ALAMY
and created a new cadre of dhamma
officers. He himself went on dhamma
tours to propagate it. If dhamma must
be translated, it can be understood as
an umbrella term for goodness, which
included specific virtues such as nonvio-
lence; compassion; truthfulness; thrifti-
ness; purity; giving gifts to shamans
(renunciants) and Brahmins; obedience
to parents and elders; regard to friends,
companions and relatives; and proper
regard to slaves and servants. Olivelle
discusses the treatment of dhamma in
chronological order and identifies subtle
shifts in the specific virtues mentioned.
A SHOKA CONSIDERED himself an
enlightened, benevolent patriarch
ruling over a political and moral empire.
His concern and constituency extended
beyond humans to animals to all living
beings. Much has been made of his
espousal of religious ‘tolerance.’ What he
was talking about was something much
more positive and meaningful—respect-
ful and creative dialogue between the
religious communities that he referred
to as pasanda, an important word which
Olivelle discusses in detail. There must
have been tensions and conflicts among
these groups, and it is remarkable that a
powerful plea for religious concord came
from a man who had strong personal
religious convictions.
Olivelle draws attention to the things
that are not included in Ashoka’s descrip-
tions of dhamma. These include crimes
27 NOVEMBER 2023
INSCRIPTIONS OF ASHOKA,
IN A CAVE AT MASKI, RAICHUR
such as drinking and sexual misconduct
(though it can be argued that these are
implied in some of the abstract virtues
that Ashoka emphasised). Apart from
frequent references to Brahmins,
Ashoka does not mention varna, which
is often misunderstood as the corner-
stone of ancient Indian society across
the centuries. But he was acutely aware
of high and low in society, and empha-
sised that the path of dhamma was open
to all. In spite of this and the references
to women in the inscriptions, Olivelle
suggests that in his dhamma discourses,
Ashoka especially had an audience of
well-to-do, male householders in mind.
Ashoka’s dhamma has been variously
seen as upasaka dharma (the dharma of
the Buddhist laity), raja-dhamma (the
dharma of kings), universal religion, and
as Ashoka’s own creative invention. It
has been seen as a legitimation strategy
used to weld together a vast and varie-
gated empire. Olivelle’s understanding
has elements of all these interpretations,
but is more nuanced. He tries to theorise
dhamma and bring it into a larger, global
discourse on politics. According to him,
Ashoka wanted to provide a lingua franca
and a common identity to the people over
whom he ruled. His dhamma was a form
of ecumenism, a civil religion that created
a “dharma community”.
Ashoka looms large in Indian (and
Asian) history. Although he was ‘can-
celled’ by Brahmanical tradition,
Olivelle argues convincingly that he
played an important role in redefining
the concept of dharma, inject-
ing it with moral content. His
suggestion that the Dhar-
mashastra idea of samanya
dharma (the dharma appli-
cable to all) could be part of an
Ashokan legacy is attractive,
though perhaps it can be seen
as part of a combined Bud-
dhist/Jain/Ashokan legacy.
Ashoka would have been
delighted that over 2,000
years later, he is remembered
and admired for his eschew-
ing of war, his commitment
to the welfare of people
and animals, his ability to think and
act beyond the boundaries of his own
empire, his commitment to morality,
and his untiring efforts to propagate
ethical living. The selection of Ashoka’s
Sarnath lions as an emblem to represent
the aspirations of independent India
reflects Jawaharlal Nehru’s fascination
for what Ashoka and the Mauryas stood
for. Ashoka’s emphasis on nonviolence,
guarding one’s speech, and promoting
inter-religious dialogue and concord
are especially relevant to our times. But
there is also a less attractive aspect of
Ashoka’s persona—his self-righteous-
ness and arrogance. A single-minded
state-sponsored ideological programme
based on preaching and policing (even
if, as in this case, apparently based on
benign and noble sentiments) is a form
of authoritarianism, even tyranny.
Patrick Olivelle states that this book
is for general readers, not scholars, but
it brims with many valuable insights
for both. The pièce de resistance is
the beautiful dedication: “To Chapada,
and to his fellow scribes, engravers
and stonemasons, whose toil and
sweat made it possible for Ashoka’s
messages to be read by us twenty-two
centuries later.” It reminds us of those
we forget when we remember Ashoka,
the philosopher king. „
Upinder Singh is a
professor of history at
Ashoka University, Sonipat
www.openthemagazine.com 53
 BOOKS

The Prison Diarist

Sudha Bharadwaj, an activist on bail, talks about her book on the life in a jail
By Lhendup G Bhutia

I
APOORVA GUPTAY
T WAS AT the Byculla
Women’s Jail in Mumbai, not
long after she was being endear-
ingly referred to as “Vakeel
Aunty” for her willingness to
write applications for bail and other
requests for fellow inmates, when a sex
worker recounted an amusing anecdote
to Sudha Bharadwaj.
Bharadwaj turns her face to her right
today, her head slightly bent, as she
gathers this memory. She is dressed in
a plain salwar kameez, her hair combed
into a single plait. On a small stool
beside her is a framed photograph of her
daughter and her. Above on the wall, is a
much larger and striking picture of her
mentor, the trade union leader Shankar
Guha Niyogi who was assassinated in
1991. As this memory comes to her, and
the way the sex worker told it, a wide
smile grows on her face.
“So, this girl was completely illiter-
ate,” Bharadwaj says. “And whenever
she had to save the number of a client on
her phone, she would save it as an emoji
based on the client’s profession or appear-
ance.” When the sex worker was arrested, Sudha Bharadwaj
the policeman who had caught her had
also snatched her phone, and now at
the police station, he began to ring the
contacts on her phone. “And guess what
happened,” she recounts, “All over the
police station, one after the other, phones
started ringing. Many of the girl’s clients
were policemen at that same station.
The policeman began to say, ‘We have to
transfer her case from here.’”
Bharadwaj’s laugh bellows across the
hall of her small apartment in Borivali,
Mumbai. Outside the window, night
is falling rapidly, and the light from
multiple apartment windows outline
the shapes of the nearby high-rise

54 27 NOVEMBER 2023
buildings. Raising her hands, their fin-
gers entwined with each other, she says,
“Just shows you the nexus that’s there
between the police and the crime, and
just how normal this crime is.”
Bharadwaj, who was born into a
family of academics in the US, appeared
headed for a similar career path when she
was studying in IIT Kanpur, but instead,
she moved to Chhattisgarh, where she
worked as a trade union activist and
later a human rights lawyer as well.
After spending several decades there,
she relocated to Delhi in 2017 to take up
what she calls her “first formal job” (that
of a visiting professor at the National Law
University), so she could provide for her
daughter who would soon be entering
college, when she found herself accused
of inciting the caste-based violence that
took place in Maharashtra’s Bhima
Koregaon in 2018. She was picked up,
along with several other scholars, activists
and lawyers, for their alleged roles in the
clash and for having links with Maoists,
and jailed under the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act [UAPA]. Bharadwaj was
first incarcerated in Pune’s Yerawada Jail,
and then transferred to Byculla Women’s
Jail, before finally being released on bail
more than three years after her arrest.
Her recent book From Phansi Yard:
My Year with the Women of Yerawada
(Juggernaut; 264 pages; `799) chronicles
her time at the Pune jail. Bharadwaj had
gotten accustomed to the rhythm of her
new life—she even recalls thinking once,
as she watched the inmates and their chil-
dren go about their days, how a jail could
at times resemble an ashram—when she
was suddenly moved without explana-
tion to the jail’s dreaded death row sec-
tion. Here at ‘Phansi Yard’, with only three
other inmates in adjoining cells— which
included Shoma Sen, an activist and
assistant professor at Nagpur University
who had, like Bharadwaj, been accused of
instigating the Bhima Koregaon violence,
and two cantankerous sisters serving a
death sentence for their involvement in a
scandalous case around child trafficking
and organ ‘harvesting’—Bharadwaj was
kept in isolation. For the first time since
her imprisonment, she felt overwhelmed.
27 NOVEMBER 2023
“The way I was taken there, without any helped me understand where I was, and
explanation, and the way the bars just didn’t leave any scope for self-pity.”
shut with a clang, and the powerlessness I Bharadwaj writes about the inmates
felt. That I found very difficult,” she says. with great compassion and empathy.
Bharadwaj was lodged in a tiny cell, There are accounts of the children in
but it came with a view. Through the bars these jails (children of women inmates
in the front and the window at the back, are allowed to stay with them till the age
she could see the lawn where prisoners of six, after which they are handed over to
and children milled around and the facto- families outside or to an institution), old
ries where inmates worked at chores like and infirm female prisoners, some even
rolling incense sticks battling diseases like
and manufacturing cancer or dealing
small automobile with mental illnesses.
parts. In this isola- There are accounts of
tion, the 62-year-old women who seem to
activist wrote notes have gotten involved
about the prison in cases because their
and its people. “I like husbands took the
putting myself in lead in committing
other people’s shoes,” the crime, some who
Bharadwaj says. “I “ I like putting myself
appear to have gotten
never wrote it think- in other people’s shoes. framed, and quite
ing I would publish I never wrote anything a few who
it. It was really just a thinking I would publish Bharadwaj calls
way to understand it. It was really just “judicial hostages”,
the complex [stories] or women who were
of how these women
a way to understand the
arrested for their ab-
got here and how complex stories of how sconding husband’s
the criminal justice these women got here and crimes. (Their names
system treats them.” how the criminal justice are unfortunately tied
From Phansi Yard to the crime, because,
is one of the most
system treats them ” unknown to them,
tender and illuminat- SUDHA BHARADWAJ author some of the proceeds
ing accounts of prison of the crime were
life for women in India. A majority of the used to purchase items in their names.)
book consists of portraits of individuals Many inmates, of course, did commit
she encountered. But there are also obser- crimes, some of them heinous, and
vations on jail life, from the way the class Bharadwaj admits that it was at times dif-
and caste system operate within bars for ficult to reconcile the crime with the per-
instance, to the authorities’ fears of lesbian son who sat in front of her. “But I decided I
relationships, to the quality of legal aid, to would treat these women not as criminals
overcrowding, to reports about the food. but as human beings, and not approach
Each portrait or note usually consists them judgementally,” she says.
of just a single page or two, or even less. No
one is named because Bharadwaj wanted
to protect their privacy. There are also no
dates or chronology, because jail life, she
says, is like a grindstone, just turning and
W HILE MOST PRISONERS ap-
pear to hail from underprivileged
backgrounds, Yerawada Jail also gets
turning, with an unchanging routine. individuals from well-to-do families.
“Observing women, listening to them, Bharadwaj writes about the wife of a
writing about them, and about life in a business tycoon accused of a scam, or
women’s jail, helped me,” she writes in those from affluent backgrounds, and
the book. “This became my work. It gave how after a while, they adjust their lives
me a sense of purpose. It calmed me. It to prison time, and she wonders if this
www.openthemagazine.com 55
 BOOKS
might be because they are women. She
writes about the creativity of prison-
ers, of individuals who could rustle up
bags from torn clothes, expertly thread
another’s eyebrows and draw beautiful
rangoli patterns, and how these individu-
als would be much sought after not just
by inmates, but also the constables. She
describes how inmates have learnt to use
whatever ingredients they can access to
improvise and churn out various delica-
cies, from cakes to bhelpuri and even dahi
wada, which is illegal since fermented
food is forbidden in jails.
While fights constantly break out,
Bharadwaj says, she found jail also a
place where there is a lot of friendship
and care. “I think that is the only way one
can survive in a jail,” she says. “At every
stage, I saw, people guiding or helping
one another. When someone fell sick, it’s
the barrack mates who step in. When a
mother beats her child in frustration, it’s
the women who break it up and comfort
the mother and child.”
When Bharadwaj was first jailed, she
soon learnt never to ask another inmate
about their case. Most inmates do not
like to talk about their cases because they
fear, she explains, that the information
could be used against them. Bharadwaj
was also moved away from the rest of the
prison population and forbidden from
interactions. So how did she gather her
material? “There were plenty of oppor-
tunities,” she says. “At the queues outside
the Mulakat Room (where inmates meet
family members and lawyers), in the
police vans on the way to court, or in the
court’s lockups.” Or even at common
spaces such as the dispensary or the
common tap where everyone filled their
bottles and buckets.
Although Bharadwaj was in a far
more privileged position compared to
her fellow inmates, with relatives and
friends and lawyers supporting her, she
too felt overwhelmed at times. She was
anxious in particular about her daugh-
ter. She would receive letters from her
daughter, and would write to her, often
sending pressed leaves from the prison
in lieu of greeting cards, but it would
take a month or more for the letters to
56
be censored and from them to reach
their destination. Sen, her fellow inmate
at Phansi Yard, became a particular
source of comfort. They would care for
each other, share their newspapers and
Sudoku puzzles, and during Bharad-
waj’s second birthday in Yerawada Jail,
Sen even drew her a card. “I don’t know
what I would have done without her,”
Bharadwaj says today.
Bharadwaj eventually stopped writing
these notes, once she was transferred to
Byculla Women’s Jail, where she found to
her surprise that she was going to be kept
among other prisoners and not in an iso-
lated cell. Here, she became many of the
inmates’ unofficial lawyer, and it would
be unethical, she says, to use the informa-
“I saw people guiding or
helping one another. When
someone fell sick, it’s the
barrack mates who step in.
When a mother beats her
child in frustration,
it’s the women who break
it up and comfort the
mother and child”
SUDHA BHARADWAJ
tion they gave her to write about them.
Most of the applications she wrote
however, were turned down. But there
were a few successes, like getting an
inmate a copy of her chargesheet or
reuniting a prisoner with her child. To
these inmates, many of whom rarely
even heard from their legal-aid lawyer,
just having someone go through their
case and file an application meant a lot.
Bharadwaj was also in Byculla
Women’s Jail when Rhea Chakraborty
was imprisoned there. A television set in
the barracks would always be tuned to
saas-bahu and reality shows. The remote
was controlled by the older undertrials
who served the roles of warders and she
would have to struggle to get even a few
minutes of news shown. But during
Chakraborty’s, and later Aryan Khan’s
case, the TV was always tuned to the
news channels, which were covering
these cases ad nauseam. Unlike the way
public opinion turned against the two
celebrities, inside the jail, Bharadwaj
says, the inmates were more sympa-
thetic. When Chakraborty was brought
to the prison, Bharadwaj recalls how
prisoners would just gawk at her. “But
she was a sweet girl,” she says. “When
she got bail, she used whatever money
she had left in her PPC account [Prison-
er’s Personal Cash account, which is used
by prisoners to purchase items at the
canteen], to give the prisoners a treat.”
The inmates had grown so fond of her
over time that when Chakraborty was
being released, all the inmates came to
wish her goodbye. “One inmate even re-
quested if she could dance once for them,
and Rhea started dancing,” Bharadwaj
says, “and everyone joined in.”
Since her bail, Bharadwaj has contin-
ued her efforts to help inmates who reach
out to her. She has also begun to work
with a senior advocate, and occasionally
appears in court. “That’s how I am surviv-
ing,” she says. Bharadwaj is also, with
the help of a few labour unions, working
on labour disputes. Thrice a week, she
catches a train to sit at a chamber in
Mumbai’s Fort area, where the High
Court is located, and sometimes to the
office of a labour union in Dadar. She has
begun to adjust to her new life in Mumbai
(her bail mandates that she remain
within the city, and not discuss her case
with the media), but she misses
Chhattisgarh. “To me that is my home,”
she says.
Since her bail, Bharadwaj has also had
to relocate homes several times. She’s
currently living in a friend’s empty house
in a distant western suburb with her
daughter. Raising her hands towards the
sky, she says, “Otherwise, I would never be
able to afford the rents in Mumbai.”
Sometimes as she goes about her day,
her phone will suddenly ring, and a famil-
iar voice will ask if Bharadwaj remembers
the caller. It will be an undertrial who has
just secured bail. “I feel a lightness that
I can’t explain,” she writes in the book.
“And I know these feelings are going to be
with me as long as I live.” Q
27 NOVEMBER 2023
 BOOKS

Always the Outsider ROMAN STORIES

Jhumpa Lahiri

The idea of alienation permeates Translated from Italian by

the author with Todd Portnowitz
Jhumpa Lahiri’s new collection of short stories Hamish Hamilton
191 Pages | 399
By Nandini Nair

T
HE LAST LINE of Jhumpa Lahiri’s
new collection of short stories
Roman Stories reads; “This city
is shit…but so damn beautiful.” This
sentence approximately captures the
sentiment of the collection, which deals
with ideas of comfort and discomfort,
belonging and foreignness. A city (in this
case Rome) can make one feel both at
home and ill at ease, it can be both
cruel and kind, both welcoming
and unforgiving.
Roman Stories can be seen in
continuation with Lahiri’s 2021 novel
Whereabouts, and her autobiographical
meditation In Other Words (2015),
GETTY IMAGES
Jhumpa Lahiri
on choosing to write in Italian and
not English. By adopting Italian over
English, Lahiri, as a writer, takes the
most extreme step to show that home
is never a permanent address. Roman
Stories shares the same disquiet of the
protagonist of Whereabouts who asserts,
“I’ve never stayed still. I’ve always been
moving, that’s all I’ve ever been doing.
Always either to get somewhere or to
come back.”
This alienation haunts many of the
nameless characters of Roman Stories
as they are also always in flux. ‘Well-Lit
House’ brings this out vividly as in the
first-person voice of a husband, it tells
of a family who move into a well-lit
house for the first time and realise how
it can change one’s life. We recognise
the cultural identity of the family only
from the description of their dress, and
we learn of their past when the husband
says they’ve fled from a war-torn region
and have lived in a camp, and a trailer.
In this house the wife who wears a dress
to her feet and her head draped in a veil,
the five children, and her husband feel
at ease for the first time, it is a “place
without incident,” where the sunlight
pours in. But the lightness slowly turns
sinister. Residents of the apartment
block begin to talk among themselves
and start passing slurs. The comments
turn into an embargo as they prevent
the family of seven from entering and
yell, ‘Pack your bags’. Unable to cope
with the tension, the wife and children
fly back to their home country. “At least
there, despite its dangers, we’d never
be forced to suffer such disrespect.” A
content family of seven who found
refuge in a sunny apartment, within
less than 20 pages, become homeless
and impoverished because they are seen
as ‘outsiders’, as ‘different’. In ‘Well-Lit
House,’ with the lightest touch, Lahiri
unspools the threads of xenophobia and
Islamophobia, how easily they arise and
on what flimsy grounds they stand, and
the personal toll they take.
‘The Boundary’, ‘The Delivery’, and
‘Notes’ similarly tell of people who have
moved cities or countries searching for
refuge. Sometimes they find it, and at
times even when they do, a stray hurtful
comment like, “Go wash those dirty
legs” (in ‘The Delivery’) or “You’re dirty”
(in ‘The Notes’) can send the recipient
hurtling into despair. All these stories
illustrate how random acts of cruelty
can cause a hundred cuts of disrespect
and humiliation. Just as a warm and
welcoming smile can make someone
feel at home. ‘Notes’ is another gem
of a story about a widow seamstress
whose husband worked in a kitchen.
She and her husband are punctilious
about hygiene and keep their personal
and professional spaces impeccable.
She takes up a short-term job at an
elementary school to mind the children.
The job is easy enough. But she starts to
find hurtful notes in her raincoat jacket.
The third note, “You’re dirty”, makes
her feel truly awful as she thinks of her
immaculate home.
While Lahiri’s previous collection
of short stories Interpreter of Maladies
(1999) also dealt with ideas of home
and away, Roman Stories does the same,
but through abstraction. Interpreter of
Maladies was thick with description of
place and person. Roman Stories is devoid
of names and identities. By freeing her
writing of the concrete world, Lahiri
does something new and bold, she tells
us of universal rather than factual truths.
By never using words like ‘refugee’, even
while writing of them, she reminds us
that we are all migrants. Q

27 NOVEMBER 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 57

 CRIME CANON Shylashri Shankar
Of Crimes and Conceits
Masters heighten the suspense by playing with the genre
MURDER IN THE FAMILY
by Cara Hunter
(HarperCollins;
400 pages; `550)
This is a mash-up of true
crime and a reality show
conveyed to us in script
form. Film director
Guy Howard wants to solve
the murder of his stepfather,
Luke Ryder, that occurred
when Guy was ten years
old. Guy and his two older sisters were at their palatial London
home with Luke, their mother having gone to a party close
by. All of them swear they saw nothing. Twenty years on, a
Netflix reality show Infamous decides to solve the case with six
experts (a play on six suspects). But as we read on, questions
arise about the reliability of the witnesses and the unbiased
nature of the experts questioning them. Twist after twist takes
us to a truly Agatha Christie-style shocker of a solution.
The conceit of the book is in its narra-
tive technique—written like a tele-drama
with voice overs giving summaries, and
putting forth the evidence in the form of
interviews, maps and tables—that makes
the reader an active participant. The script
form forces the reader to work harder to
imagine the setting and the interiority of
the character. Those who enjoy true
crime and solving cold cases and fans of
Janice Hallett’s narrative style will like this one. Shorn of at-
mospheric details and setting, Murder in the Family reads like a
play or a set of transcripts in a murder case. A taut page-turner
with a smooth writing style, Hunter draws us skilfully into
mulling over the question of who killed Luke. It is not surpris-
ing that this book is a TikTok sensation.
PAST LYING by Val McDermid
(Sphere; 464 pages; `1,909)
Set during the lockdown, which already feels like it was in
some other historical era, Past Lying is a measured take on
the life, rivalries and friendships in the crime-fiction writerly
world. A librarian discovers something peculiar in the archive
of a newly dead crime-fiction writer, Jake Stein, cancelled in
the last year of his life for sexual abuse of an ex-girlfriend. It
is an unfinished manuscript that details a murder [luring
58
the victim to a deserted spot and strangling her] from the
murderer’s [a thinly disguised Jake Stein] point of view so
that he could frame his professional rival and chess partner,
Ross McEwan who had taken up with Jake’s ex-wife. Enter
Detective Karen Pirie, the head of cold cases, who is living in
a bubble with her trusty deputy Daisy, in
Pirie’s rich boyfriend’s flat. The victim,
Pirie realises, bears an eerie resemblance
to a young woman who disappeared the
previous year. Is the manuscript in fact,
fact? That’s what Pirie and her team must
answer while negotiating the dire conse-
quences of flouting Covid protocol.
McDermid does a great job of building
the suspense and linking it to the emotion-
al trauma wreaked by Covid and other matters on Pirie’s team.
Add to this, the tension of a sub-plot with Pirie needing to
protect a Syrian refugee on the run from assassins and Pirie’s
personal problems, we have a well-defined emotional heart to
the story that makes for a very satisfying read.
Past Lying is also a wry meditation on the state of the
writing world, the genre community and its wokeness.
McDermid’s book explores how crime-fiction novels are
constructed, but she does this in the context of the story rather
than using an omniscient narrator and pulling the reader out
of the story.
The ‘manuscript within the book’ doesn’t overwhelm the
story and acts as a gripping secondary character. Seasoned
crime-fiction readers will guess the motive much before the
end, but that, in no way, detracts from enjoying the book.
WEST HEART KILL by Dann McDorman
(Raven; 288 pages; `1,768)
Dann McDorman’s West Heart Kill is a masterclass for a crime-
fiction writer—one a writer of the genre will read and appreci-
ate for its conceit in creating a conversation with the reader on
the idiosyncrasy and attributes of the genre.
Set in the 1970s, the story is straightforward enough—
Adam McAnnis, a Vietnam veteran turned gumshoe detective
calls up a rich schoolfriend and gets himself invited to a hunt-
ing club [with membership by birth only] in upstate
New York. We soon find out that he has been hired by one of
the guests to investigate a possible plot against that guest. Be-
fore long, a female guest is found dead in the lake, an apparent
suicide, and then the club president is shot accidentally. As the
detective unravels the various loves and hates of the member-
27 NOVEMBER 2023

Illustration by SAURABH SINGH
families, we realise all is not well with the club, and there are
other interests at play.
MSNBC news producer McDorman however, doesn’t
allow us to ever immerse ourselves in the story and wait for
the next revelation and twist. No, we readers are expected to
be vigilant as to the author’s motives, and if we aren’t, Dann
gently prods us in that direction by stopping the action and
giving us the author’s words to the reader.
“You begin these new pages with an advantage, or a
burden. You know it’s the final day of the story. How? Perhaps
you flipped through the book—not to skip forward to see
how it ends, you’re not a sociopath, after all—but, rather,
out of curiosity…”
Or, at a moment when the detective has noticed some-
thing, the author tells us, the readers: “You realise that
McAnnis has returned his thoughts to the clubhouse library.
Something is nagging at him…”
So, if you are reading the book to be-
come immersed in the story, think again.
That’s not the experience the author
intends for the reader. West Heart Kill asks
the meta question: What is the purpose of
a crime-fiction novel? Is it to put the reader
in the shoes of the protagonist—a cop, a
killer, an innocent bystander, a victim? We
27 NOVEMBER 2023
WEST HEART KILL
ASKS THE META
QUESTION: WHAT
IS THE PURPOSE OF
A CRIME-FICTION
NOVEL? IS IT TO PUT
THE READER IN
THE SHOES OF THE
PROTAGONIST—
A COP, A KILLER,
AN INNOCENT
BYSTANDER,
A VICTIM?
often hear from editors and readers that they need to connect
with the protagonist emotionally, and that a good storyteller
will use character, whimsy and setting to draw us in and keep
us there.
McDorman deliberately upends those expectations. He
takes you into the story, then hauls you out with an aside
about what the genre expects at that point of the novel—for
example, the description of the character or the setting—
“the author delaying his return to the plot by describing the
West Heart grounds and still-sparkling sunlight…” Or we get
the tale of the mysterious disappearance of Agatha Christie,
an examination of plot and method, of unreliable narrators
and references to Aristotle and De Quincey, and the stalwart
of ‘locked room’ mysteries, John Dickson Carr. These asides
force a part of us to remain an observer, and understand the
mechanics and our expectations of the novel we are reading.
West Heart Kill is an ode to the stalwarts of the genre and to
the mechanics of writing one. The end is written like a play.
For writers and readers of crime fiction who have read widely
and deeply in the field, much of the information revealed
in these asides is not new; for beginners, though, this is a
goldfield. The titbits, clever as they are, remain that, and don’t
resonate with the mystery at the heart of the book. However,
in this age of metafiction, West Heart Kill will appeal to those
willing to try new ways of reading crime fiction. „
www.openthemagazine.com 59
 CINEMA

Each Film
Is My Life
9LGK 9L G &K
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· ÀO
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JUHDWRGGV7KHGLUHFWRUDQGSURGXFHU
speaks to KAVEREE BAMZAI

GETTY IMAGES

VIDHU VINOD CHOPRA

60 27 NOVEMBER 2023
 HE HERO OF his brilliant
T new film 12th Fail doesn’t
give up on his dream de-
spite the challenges. Just
like the man who directed
and produced it.
“In real life, people are not so good,”
said a young OTT executive to Vidhu
Vinod Chopra after watching his inspi-
rational new movie. He loved it, but he
felt it was unrealistic. To which Chopra
replied, “I am a good person, I exist.”
Indeed. In the 45 years since he di-
rected his first short documentary,
An Encounter with Faces, Chopra has built
an informal school of filmmaking,
marked both by memorable movies and
remarkable collaborators. Not all have
stayed with him, but he has generously
chosen to let them go, widening and
deepening his associations. As director
of the stylish Parinda (1989) and 1942: A
Love Story (1994); producer of the folksy
Munna Bhai MBBS (2003) and Lage Raho
Munna Bhai (2006) and the upbeat 3 Idiots
(2009), and mentor to filmmakers such
as Sudhir Mishra, Sanjay Leela Bhansali
and Rajkumar Hirani, Chopra is indeed
a good person.
It is a quality that shines through
12th Fail, inspired by the story of Manoj
Kumar Sharma, an IPS officer from
Bundelkhand, who made it through the
gruelling UPSC examination despite
having failed his Class 12 exam. But it is
not merely his story. It is
the story of countless oth-
ers like Manoj, who come
from nondescript towns STREAMING PLATFORM, OR TO ANY ADVERTISER.
and villages, with fire in
their bellies and dreams in
EVERYTHING IT WILL NOT MATTER. IF I WAS INTERESTED
IN MAKING MOVIES FOR MONEY, I WOULD HAVE
their hearts. “Unki punji hai
unka jazba (Their inheri-
tance is their passion),”
says a character in the
film. “It is also my story,” says Chopra,
with almost every dialogue echoing
his own philosophy. “It was Atal Bihari
Vajpayee’s poem, ‘Geet Naya Gaata Hoon’,
which was one of the inspirations for
the movie,” says Chopra, reciting it in
one breath.
The movie has the same anthemic
27 NOVEMBER 2023
quality to it, with each line written and
rewritten to polished perfection over
three years and 268 drafts. “These are
things I believe in,” he says, referring
to the idea of #restart, of not allowing
failure to stop him. “I did not sell
12th Fail to any streaming platform,
or to any advertiser,” he says. “I came
to Mumbai with nothing, if I lose
everything it will not matter. If I was in- German filmmaker.
terested in making movies for money,
I would have been doing Munna Bhai
9,10,11,” he adds, referring to the many
sequels that have been suggested for the
successful movie.
Chopra says he is deeply influenced
by the movies of the 1950s and 1960s,
where you took something home with
you. “There was so much hope in the
air, everything one did was for the na-
tion. Unfortunately, we stopped think-
ing about the country and thought only
about ourselves. We started making
dishonest films, that were aimed only
at opening weekend numbers,” he says.
“You know, I had a green card while I
was making Broken Horses in the US. I
gave it up. I made this film for my coun-
try and for its people,” he says.
Chopra prefers to wear his honours
lightly, only declaring occasionally
how arrogant he is. He also likes to cov-
er his innate emotional honesty with
an aura of prickliness. At heart, though,
he remains a child “of the mountains,
“I DID NOT SELL 12TH FAIL TO ANY
I CAME TO MUMBAI WITH NOTHING, IF I LOSE
BEEN DOING MUNNA BHAI 9, 10, 11”
Vidhu Vinod Chopra filmmaker
lakes and waterfalls of Kashmir,” the
simplicity of which has informed all his
work directly and indirectly. It is that
purity that prompts the 71-year-old to
continue making cinema that excites
him and the audience, making him
stand in the centre of Mukherjee Nagar
in Delhi, IAS Coaching Central,
shooting on location amidst thousands
of people. It is the boy who waited to
watch the latest show at Srinagar’s
Broadway Cinema run by his friend
Vijay Dhar. And the young man who
went to Pune’s Film and Television
Institute of India (he graduated in 1976),
wanting to be a filmmaker and
mistaking Sigmund Freud for a
“He is constantly in search of some-
thing in his craft,” says Sudhir Mishra,
who first interviewed him in 1980 for
Doordarshan’s Yuva Vani hosted by the
late Vinod Dua. “He enjoys the medium
and is impatient with those who don’t.
“He is not boring at all,” he says, adding
he has a remarkable ability to deal with
powerful people in a most down-to-
earth way. So, whether it is walking
into Farooq Abdullah’s office when he
was chief minister and demanding a
rain machine for a sequence, or insist-
ing on the prize money for a National
Award from LK Advani when he was
Minister for Information and Broad-
casting, he is not intimidated.
Looking back, Chopra admits that
he should have described himself as
co-creator, rather than producer, of
his movies, from Parineeta (2005) with
Pradeep Sarkar, to the Munna Bhai
twinset, and 3 Idiots, PK (2014) and
Sanju (2018) with Rajkumar Hirani.
His involvement in all the films was in-
depth and somewhat
under-appreciated.
Whether it was
26 auditions for
Vidya Balan, before
he finalised her
for the lead role of
Lalita in Parineeta,
or sitting Kareena
Kapoor Khan down
on the first day of her shoot in 3 Idiots
and telling her this was no place for her
“commercial” acting, he has always
been a hands-on producer. And all these
associations were without contracts. “I
don’t believe in forcing anyone to stay,
professional or personally,” he says.
Sudhir Mahadevan, who has
www.openthemagazine.com 61
 CINEMA
analysed his work since his first film,
underlines this when he writes that
the “totality of his work far exceeds the
directorial role”. As a director/producer,
he notes three distinct phases in his
career, the thriller/suspense phase that
ended with the iconic mafia movie,
Parinda, the historical epic that ended
with Eklavya: The Royal Guard (2007),
and the family film, which began with
him as co-writer and producer, with
Munna Bhai. He also situates him firmly
in the tradition of FTII-trained direc-
tors and colleagues such as Saeed Mirza
and Kundan Shah whose careers were
bracketed by the realist art cinema of
the 1950s to the 1970s, and
on the other hand by the
dramatic 1990s.
Anil Kapoor, a long- MONEY, OR THE NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS I HAVE. IT
time collaborator, who COMES FROM MY WORK. FROM A CERTAIN POINT OF
worked with him in
Parinda and 1942: A Love
Story rightly calls Chopra,
“the last of the Mohicans,” “the last of
the purists”. He says, “It is not easy to stay
relevant for 45 years, but he has done it. To
make a critically acclaimed film that is
also commercially successful in today’s
age without a major star is not a small
thing. He is always in service of the story
and makes the film with the cast
it needs.”
If he has launched stars, he has also
62
VIKRANT MASSEY (CENTRE) IN 12TH FAIL
rescued many fallen idols. If 1942: A Love says Chopra is a throwback to the greats
Story’s score restored RD Burman to the
status he deserved, Sanjay Dutt’s casting
in Munna Bhai resurrected the troubled
actor’s career. But that is not what
drives him. “For me my sleep, my cup of
evening tea, my conversations. These
are important to me. I want to enjoy ev-
erything I do and not do anything I don’t
want,” he adds. “My self-respect doesn’t
come from money, or the number of fol-
lowers I have (for the record, he is not on he says. Mishra has always been close
social media). It comes from my work.
From a certain point of view, I must be a
very stupid man.”
There are many stories about his
“MY SELF-RESPECT DOESN’T COME FROM
VIEW, I MUST BE A VERY STUPID MAN”
Vidhu Vinod Chopra filmmaker
exacting nature on set—for instance,
the lengths to which he went to secure
the colour or consistency of blood
in Eklavya. His 12th Fail actor
Vikrant Massey can testify to his dedi-
cation to the craft. “He squeezes the last of Srinagar’s Wazir Bagh, DAV School,
ounce of emotion and dedication out of
you, and you’re happy to do it,” he says.
Mishra, who assisted him in
Sazaye Maut (1981) and Khamosh (1985),
of the ’50s who paid attention to the
technicians and gave them the respect
they deserved. Whether it was
Renu Saluja, who edited all his work;
or Binod Pradhan who shot frequently
with him, he has always been particu-
lar about the craft of filmmaking. “The
industry likes to call such people dif-
ficult, but they demand excellence from
others as much as from themselves,”
to Chopra, especially until the death of
Saluja, who was Chopra’s first wife and
later Mishra’s partner. “It was a compli-
cated relationship but always
deeply cordial,”
says Mishra.
Humanity,
secularism, integ-
rity, honesty seem
crucial to Chopra.
“Each film is my life.
It comes from within
me. Denge wahi jo paayenge is zindagi se
hum (You will give to life what it has
given to you),” he says, quoting a song
from Pyaasa (1957).
You can take the Punjabi boy out
and SP College, but you cannot take the
stories and songs of those times out of
the little boy. “And I’m not growing up,”
he says. „
27 NOVEMBER 2023
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 INDIAN ACCENTS Bibek Debroy
Prelude to a Divine Wedding
Shiva and Mahadevi tie the knot to take on the demon Bhandasura
S I MENTIONED IN
A the earlier column, I
don’t think Lalitaa’s
story is that well known,
even among those who
know the Puranas.
Suffering at the hands of
Bhandasura, the devas
prayed to Mahadevi and
she assured them that
she would herself defeat
Bhandasura. All the
rishis and devas arrived there to see Mahadevi. Brahma
was there. Vishnu arrived astride Garuda. Shiva arrived
astride Nandi. Narada and the other devarshis arrived. There
were gandharvas and apsaras. Commanded by Brahma,
Vishvakarma created a divine city there. With mansions,
ramparts and gates, the city was beautiful. There were
excellent stations for elephants, horses and chariots. There
were glittering royal roads. There were vassals, advisers,
soldiers, and male and female servants. There were
beautiful houses. There was a divine and royal residence
in the centre, decorated with gates and turrets. There were
many chambers. The place was decorated with assembly
halls. There was an auspicious throne in the assembly hall
studded with navaratnas.
Brahma wondered, “Even if a person happens to be
foolish, as a result of the city’s powers, if he presides over it,
he will become lord of all the worlds. However, a woman
alone, without a man, does not deserve to rule over a
kingdom. The Shruti texts say that a great man must be
consecrated with auspicious benedictions, provided that
he has the auspicious signs. This beautiful lady is radiant.
Her form is like that of a divinity of shringara. Other than
Shankara, no one in the three worlds deserves to be her
groom. He has matted hair and wears a garland of skulls.
His eyes are malformed and he holds a skull. He is speckled
with ashes smearing his limbs. Bones from cremation
grounds are his ornaments. His signs are inauspicious.
Will this auspicious lady choose him?” While Brahma was
thinking this, Maheshvara appeared in front of him. His
body was divine. He wore garlands and his garments were
divine. He was smeared in divine unguents and pastes.
He was ornamented with a diadem, necklace, bracelets
and earrings. In a form that charmed the universe, he
manifested himself. Brahma, the grandfather of the worlds,
64
embraced that youth, who possessed a delightful body, and
gave him the name of Kameshvara. “This is an appropriate
groom for supreme Shakti.” Having decided this, along
with him, he went to her. Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshvara
praised Shakti. On seeing her, the youth, Nilalohita, was
overcome by desire and forgot all his rites. All her limbs
were filled with desire, too, and she thought he was worthy
of her. They looked at each other, full of love and desire.
Brahma spoke to Mahadevi, the leader of the worlds.
“Along with Isha, your beloved, these devas, rishis,
gandharvas and large numbers of apsaras wish to see you
in the great field of battle. O Devi! Who is worthy of you?
Who is your beloved? Who is that blessed man? To protect
the worlds, serve the supreme purusha. Become the queen
of the city and be seated on the excellent throne. You will be
consecrated by the unblemished and immensely fortunate
devarshis. Be marked with all the signs of the kingdom,
adorned in every kind of ornament. We wish to see you
seated on the seat, along with your beloved.”
On hearing these words, there was a gentle smile on Devi’s
lotus face. She addressed Brahma, Vishnu and the other
gods in these words. “O devas! I am always independent. I
always roam around according to my own wishes. A person
whose conduct is similar to mine will be my beloved.”
The grandfather and all the devas agreed to this. Brahma
addressed Mahadevi in words that were in conformity with
dharma and artha. “Between a man and a woman, there are
four kinds of marriage—kalakrita, krayakrita, pitridatta and
svayamyuta. A kalakrita bride is a courtesan. A krayakrita
bride is a dasi. A yukta bride is one who has been married
according to gandharva rites. Bharya is a bride who has been
bestowed by her father. Yukta is one who follows the same
dharma as the groom. Bharya follows her father’s commands.
The supreme Brahman has no duality and is devoid of
notions of existence and non-existence. It is in the nature of
consciousness and bliss and prakriti originated from it. You
are that Brahman and you are also that prakriti. You are the
one who is without a beginning. You assume the form of
cause and effect in everything. Yogis, Sanaka and others, seek
you out. You are praised as the five forms of the Brahman—
that which is existent, that which is non-existent, that
which is in the form of karma, that which is manifest and
that which is not manifest. Compassion is in your atman. In
the beginning, you are the one who creates. You are the one
who instantly protects. With a desire to show favours to the
worlds, serve some purusha.” Brahma and all the other gods
27 NOVEMBER 2023
requested Devi in this way. She picked up a garland in her the guardians of the directions, the Maruts, the sadhyas,
hand and hurled it up into the sky. The garland she threw gandharvas and the lords of pramathas gave them their
up was radiant in the firmament. It fell down and hung own respective weapons, chariots, horses, elephants that
around Kameshvara’s neck. With Brahma and Vishnu at the were immensely strong and swift, camels free of ailments
forefront, all the devas were delighted. Fanned by a gentle and horses that did not suffer from hunger and thirst.
wind, the clouds showered down flowers. They gave them weapons as firm as the vajra and other
(In general, there are eight kinds of marriage—brahma, equipment. In this way, Shiva and Shivaa were instated
daiva, arsha, prajapatya, gandharva, asura, rakshasa and in that kingdom. Brahma constructed a vimana named
paishacha. The taxonomy given here is different, though Kusumakara. It was always full of garlands that did not
svayamyuta corresponds to gandharva and pitridatta decay and weapons could not penetrate it. Full of great
corresponds to brahma. Kalakrita is prosperity, as it wished, it could
Illustration by SAURABH SINGH
when a bride is bought for a fixed travel on earth, in the firmament
period of time. Krayakrita is when and in heaven. As soon as one
the bride is bought as a servant. inhaled its fragrances, confusion,
Yukta means someone who has been disease, hunger and afflictions
united. Bharya means wife and has were instantly destroyed. It was
the connotation of someone who is auspicious and brought delight
supported and cherished.) to the mind. The divine couple
Brahma spoke to Bhagavan was seated in that vimana, which
Janardana. “O Hari! The marriage was full of charming whisks,
between Shiva and Shivaa must fans, umbrellas and staffs. There
be carried out in the proper way. were the sounds of many kinds
This muhurta, when the devas have of musical instruments—veenas,
arrived, will be auspicious for the flutes, drums and trumpets. Served
entire universe. You and Mahadevi by a large number of gods, she
originated together and her form emerged from the king’s palace.
is similar to your own. Therefore, Wishing to sport, she advanced
you should bestow the fortunate along the road, illuminating
one on Kameshvara Shiva.” everything with her own energy.
Trivikrama, the lord of the devas, Thousands of apsaras stationed
heard his words. Following the themselves on the terraces of all
‘THE MARRIAGE BETWEEN
norms, he happily bestowed her on the mansions. Women residents of
Shankara. Devarshis, ancestors, all
SHIVA AND SHIVAA MUST BE the city showered down parched
the devas, yogis and the primordial CARRIED OUT IN THE PROPER grain and akshata from their hands.
Keshava performed the auspicious WAY. THIS MUHURTA, WHEN Auspicious songs were sung. There
rites for the marriage between THE DEVAS HAVE ARRIVED, were the sounds of veenas, flutes
Shiva and Shivaa. Brahma and all WILL BE AUSPICIOUS FOR THE and musical instruments. As she
the other gods gave them gifts. ENTIRE UNIVERSE. gradually travelled along the roads,
Brahma gave her a bow made out YOU AND MAHADEVI these satisfied her. She got down
of sugarcane. It was imperishable, from the vimana and accepting the
ORIGINATED TOGETHER’
with an essence that was as firm as worship performed by the apsaras,
the vajra. Hari gave her weapons entered the large assembly hall.
made out of flowers. They would Along with Shambhu, she was
not fade and decay. Varuna, lord of aquatic creatures, gave seated on the throne. Since she was omniscient, she knew
her a noose made out of serpents. Vishvakarma, lord of the whatever the great people assembled there wished for.
worlds, gave both of them goads. Agni gave a crown and Through a glance of her eyes, she satisfied those desires.
the sun and the moon gave earrings. The ocean gave her On witnessing Devi’s conduct, Brahma, the grandfather
ornaments studded with navaratnas. The lord of liquor of the worlds, gave her the names of Kamakshi and
gave her a vessel stocked with an inexhaustible supply of Kameshvari. Following her command, a wonderful cloud
liquor. Kubera gave her a garland made out of chintamani showered down extremely expensive objects and other
jewels. Lakshmi’s husband gave an umbrella, indicative divine ornaments. She was a great queen on earth. Along
of the empire. Ganga and Yamuna gave the two of them with Ambikaa, Kameshvara ruled as the king of the three
two whisks that were as brilliant as the moon. Content, worlds for ten thousand years and the period passed like
the eight Vasus, the Rudras, the Adityas, the two Ashvins, an instant.

27 NOVEMBER 2023 www.openthemagazine.com 65

 STARGAZER
ER
KAVEREE BAMZAI
AI
JOE THOMAS
KARACKATTU
À Sadanah’s Sam
Prime Video’s Pippa, based on the
book The Burning Chaffees by Brigadier
Balram Singh Mehta, is an account of
the little-known Battle of Garibpur on
November 20-21, 1971. A battalion of
Pakistani tanks was destroyed in this
battle. It was technically not during the
war so the heroes were never formally
recognised, with the war starting
only on December 3. Mehta was then
a captain who had to take over his
battalion within minutes of the battle
when his commanding officer was
killed by enemy fire. He promised his
men he would write about the battle
despite what he calls the “babus” of
the Defence Ministry denying them
honours because of a technicality.
Mehta comes from a family dedicated
to the armed forces, and is played by
Ishaan Khatter in the movie. Pippa was
supposed to release in December last
year but was pushed to a streaming
release because of a variety of reasons,
says its director Raja Krishna Menon.
One of them may well have been
the release of Sam Bahadur by one
of Pippa’s producers, RSVP Movies.
There are only so many Bangladesh
war movies the box office can sustain
around the same time. While Sam
Bahadur’s Sam Manekshaw is being
played by Vicky Kaushal, in Pippa,
he is played by actor Kamal Sadanah.
The ’90s hero who made his debut
with Kajol in the 1992 movie Bekhudi,
Sadanah is the son of Brij Sadanah, a
film producer who shot his wife and
daughter before shooting himself in
his Bandra bungalow in Mumbai. This
infamous event took place in 1990.
In 2013, Sadanah made a short film
66
KAMAL SADANAH
on the horrific incident, A Moment of
Pause. After a long hiatus, he reunited
with Kajol in Revathy’s Salaam Venky
in 2022. Both Sadanah and Pippa are
getting great reviews from audiences,
says Menon, who believes many more
people saw his film than they would
have in theatres, given that it was a solo
movie release on Diwali.
À The China Connection
China’s cultural connection with
southern India has always fascinated
Joe Thomas Karackattu, an associate
professor at the Indian Institute of
Technology (IIT) Madras and Fox
Fellow (2008-09; Yale University), who
makes non-fiction films to present
his research findings. Karackattu’s
current film, Those 4 Years, looks
at Tamil Nadu’s mid-19th century
connections with the Chinese. The
film captures the history of plants,
people and places in Tamil Nadu
with distinct Chinese connections.
It highlights the transformation of
the Nilgiris district with its iconic
institutions such as the Lawrence
School (previously Lawrence Asylum)
that once used Chinese convict
workers as labour in its construction,
and the establishment of cinchona
plantations there in the middle of
the 19th century. This allowed the
export of the cinchona bark that was
historically important in the fight
against malaria. Even the status of
the Nilgiris today as a geographic
indication for tea has a fascinating
connection with the Chinese, which
the film brings out. Research for the
film spans three sites (Hong Kong,
Malaysia and southern Tamil Nadu)
REVATHY
for access to material (physical
travel to archives, respondents and
interviewees). “It was challenging to
locate descendants of those convict
workers (brought to India as part of
the British transportation policy)
whose sentences were commuted
and were permitted to reside in the
Nilgiris,” says Karackattu. His first
film, also a work of non-fiction, titled
Guli’s Children in 2016 (Kozhikode
or Calicut is known as Guli in
Mandarin), focused on the history of
Kerala’s historical connections with
China. Covering 20,000 kilometres
of fieldwork across India and China,
the film locates physical artefacts and,
most importantly, traces of human
genealogy that survive between Kerala
and China to this day. Karackattu
studied Economics at St Stephen’s
College (Delhi) and Chinese Studies
from Jawaharlal Nehru University
(Delhi) and has no formal training
in filmmaking.
À Scene and Heard
Revathy has been Salman Khan’s
romantic co-star in Love (1991), his
director in Phir Milenge (2004), and
now she plays his boss, as spymistress,
in Tiger 3. “It’s not more than two
minutes,” says Revathy of her role,
being her usual modest self, but like
the late Girish Karnad, immediately
lends some much-needed gravitas to
the star’s exploits. Much like Marvel
movies which cast English actors to
lend them class, the YRF Spy Universe
movies are choosing unlikely grey
eminences such as Revathy and
Dimple Kapadia in Pathaan to
elevate them.
27 NOVEMBER 2023
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