Killing Sadhus and Sanyasis in front of Parliament.
It happened on this day in 1966, under the watchful eyes of Indira.
On November 7, 1966, a large group of people approximately numbered at 100,000 assembled at an open space near the Parliamentary complex. Led by a group of
ash-smeared, trishul-brandishing Naga Sadhus, the group had a single demand — a countrywide ban on cow slaughter. The gathering was anything but a surprise. Hindu organisations had been planning this moment for the last two years. But the magnitude of it caught most, especially
the government, off guard. By noon the leaders were extolling the virtues of the ‘mother cow’, and soon moved towards the main gates of Parliament and at that moment, Indira Gandhi ordered her forces to start killing the Sadhus.
The demand for a ban on cow slaughter had come up
in the Parliament, in the Constituent Assembly & even during the nationalist movement in the past.
The religious and economic importance attached to the cow went back even further.
Perhaps the oldest proponent of the cow symbolism within the Congress was Bal Gangadhar Tilak.
He made the cow symbol an integral part of the Shivaji festival, which he had instituted and popularised, apart from the Shivaji festivals, Tilak used the cow symbol in other contexts as well, particularly in his political campaigns.
The Home Rule campaign was compared to the
cow protection movement: ‘India is a great cow’, he frequently told his audiences, ‘that cow has given you birth. You are maintaining yourself on that cow’s industry, on her fruitfulness’.
Gandhi too in 1924, inaugurated the Go Seva Sangh, asserting that cow protection was of
‘greater moment’ than Swaraj itself. As late as 1942, while giving a speech, Gandhi is believed to have noted that “If she (the cow) dies, we also die along with her — we, that is our civilisation.”
When an independent India was taking birth, the question of the cow came up
yet again among Congress politicians who were part of the Constituent Assembly. Several leaders from the Hindu-conservative wing of the Congress asked for a ban on cow slaughter to be part of the constitutional framework. Particularly vociferous in this regard were
Pandit Thakur Dass Bhargava, Seth Govind Das, Shibban Lal Saxena, Ram Sahai, and Raghu Vira.
However, Nehru remained firm that legislation against cow slaughter be left to the states. Even in 1955, when a private member’s bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha demanding a
centralised ban on cow slaughter, Nehru promised to step down if it was carried. The House rejected the bill by 96 to 12 votes.
However, the gathering of November 7, 1966 was in many ways a watershed moment in Indian politics.
“A good case for the 1960s as a turning point can
be made on the basis that it was the decade when the Hindu Right first made its mark in India as a political force,” writes historian Ian Copland in his article ‘History in Flux: Indira Gandhi and the ‘Great All-Party Campaign’ for the Protection of the Cow, 1966–8’. However,
as Copland goes on to explain, the cow protection movement of November 7 by the Hindu Right, also in many ways was a turning point in the political career of the Congress party and particularly in that of its leader and then PM Indira Gandhi.
Gandhi, Copland explains, addressed
the issue at two fronts. First, in an address in the Lok Sabha on January 5, 1967 she explained that she was deeply concerned about the problem of cow-killing and was setting up a high-level committee of animal husbandry experts and politicians to check on the feasibility of a
total ban on cow-slaughter. Further, she called on the states that had not enacted anti-cow-killing laws to bear in mind their obligations in that respect under the Constitution.
Secondly, she promised a high-level committee of inquiry that would consider the scope of the
existing constitutional provisions for cow slaughter and look at their possible amendment. However, Gandhi was careful to ensure that majority of the members of the committee consisted of trustworthy Congress politicians, secularists, as well as federal and state bureaucrats.
The measure came as a disappointment to most Hindu right-wing party members, some of whom were part of the committee as well. The two groups were often at odds over the issue with the cow sympathisers seeking a total ban and those from the Congress insisting that there were
other ways of protecting cows rather than prohibiting slaughter. Finally, the committee came out with its report in 1973 stating that a total ban on slaughter was unnecessary.
The Cold Blood Genocide of Sadhus & subsequent break within Congress jolted Indira, but she already
had managed to place Yes Men at all important institutions including Press and Universities.
They were instrumental in shaping her career and giving her the image of a steely, resolute leader who could take care of majoritarian interests just as well as those of the minorities.
ಚಿತ್ರ: ಬಿಳಿಗಿರಿಯ ಬನದಲ್ಲಿ
ಸಂಗೀತ: ರಾಜನ್ ನಾಗೇಂದ್ರ
ರಚನೆ: ಚಿ ಉದಯಶಂಕರ್
ಗಾಯನ: ಎಸ್. ಜಾನಕಿ, ಎಸ್. ಪಿ. ಬಿ.
ತಾರೆಯು ಬಾನಿಗೆ
ತಾವರೆ ನೀರಿಗೆ
ತಾರೆಯು ಬಾನಿಗೆ
ತಾವರೆ ನೀರಿಗೆ
ಹೂವೆಲ್ಲ ವನದೇವಿ ಮುಡಿಗೆ
ನೀ ನನ್ನ ಬಾಳಿಗೆ
ಆಹಾ ಮುತ್ತೆಲ್ಲ ಕಡಲಲ್ಲಿ
ಬಂಗಾರ ನೆಲದಲ್ಲಿ ಇರುವಂತೆ
ನೀ... ನನ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಕಣ್ಣಲ್ಲಿ ಮನದಲ್ಲಿ
Born on 7th November 1884 at Wardha, Maharashtra, was
inspired by Bala Gangadhar Tilak in joining freedom struggle.
In 1900s he went for United States for higher education and joined Washington University and in
1908, along with Pandit Kanshiram at Oregon he founded Indian Independence League.
Few years down the line, little
before World war 1, Khankoje met Taraknath Das, Lala Hardayal and this meeting lead them to start “Pacific Coast Hindustan Association” and eventually this association became Gadar_Party.
The WW1 saw him actively participating in IndoGerman Conspiracy propagating Gadar
#ForgottenHeroes #Deshbandu
At one time, his clothes were tailored and washed in Paris and he maintained a permanent laundry in Paris to ship his clothes to Calcutta. He sacrificed all this luxury when he became attached to the Freedom Movement.
For long, it was said that MKG
propagated the idea of Village Development and Cottage Industries...but the truth?
It was 1917 and in the Calcutta session, #DeshbandhuChittaranjanDas, put forward a plan for village reconstruction, which was to entail steps such as establishment of local self-government,
co-operative credit societies as well as re-starting the cottage industry.
Das was born on 5 November 1870 in Calcutta, completed his graduation from Presidency College in 1890. The same year, he went to England to qualify for the ICS, which was dominated by the British.
The Muzzies who purposefully left the train to Pakistan in 1947, plannned to seize Delhi.
Pyarelal Nayyar, was MKG's Personal Secretary for MANY decades & he wrote this when Nehru blamed RSS for Communal Violence during Independence.
"There was a shower of bullets on the (Irwin) Hospital from a building across the maidan where the office of Dawn, the Muslim League Organ, used to be and from a mosque close to it.
The bulk of the Police force of Delhi was Muslims. A number of them had deserted.
The loyalty of the rest was doubtful.
There were rumors of Coup d’tat on the part of the Muslims. Searches of Muslim homes by the police revealed dumps of arms, bombs and ammunition.
Sten Guns, Bren Guns, Mortars and wireless transmitter sets were seized and secret
Upavasa Satyagraha!
The first thing you get in mind after reading it is, Gandhi.
That's what the textbooks gave for us, but...
Ever heard about a freedom fighter who passed away in Lahore Jail after a
63 Day Hunger Strike ???
Today's the Jayanti of #JATINDRANATH_DAS who was
just 24 when he sacrificed his life.
Member of Anushilan Samithi, learnt the art of bomb making from Sachindranath Sanyal and became an accomplice of Bhagath Singh.
His first stint of Hunger Strike was at Mymansingh Jail where he went without food for 20 days until the Jail
Superintendent Apologised for harsh treatment of Political Prisoners.
For most of us it's highly impossible to stay without food for 24 hours, maximum another 6 hours, but here was a man who lived without food for nearly 1,500 Hours to ensure the Political Prisoners &
Ganesh Shankar was his birth name and he adopted the pen-name 'Vidyarthi' – the seeker of knowledge.
Ganesh Shankar was born on 26-Oct-1890 at Prayagraj & had his private education from his father and joined school when he was 12.
Poverty made him to leave studies after matriculation and join a job as clerk….meanwhile the fiery articles at Swarajya and Karmayogi attracted him.
After working with couple of newspapers and magazines, in 1913, Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi started #Pratap, his famous revolutionary weekly, which identified itself with the cause of the oppressed wherever they might be.
The Popularity & Circulation of Pratap increased day by day.