Opinion View from the LEFT
India’s Daughter reinforces the idea of the obedient and well-behaved Indian daughter.
BJP’S KASHMIR
Calling the PDP-BJP coalition in Jammu and Kashmir an “opportunistic alliance”, the CPM’s People’s Democracy says that the BJP becoming part of the government in the state for the first time has “disturbing implications”. The editorial argues, “The PDP-BJP government is not just a marriage of convenience but it is a downright opportunist alliance between two parties who hold diametrically opposite and contradictory political and ideological views… The two parties have justified the basis for the coalition as the ‘Agenda for Alliance’ which they have agreed upon… What is conveniently overlooked is the fact that the BJP will continue to undermine the unity of the state by fanning and consolidating Hindu communal sentiments in Jammu, thereby widening the gap between Jammu and the Valley…”
Claiming that the optimism about a new beginning in the state is “misplaced”, the editorial says the PDP “in its desperation to form the government has landed itself in an unenviable position… It will be the BJP ministers backed by the Centre who will call the shots; the army and the paramilitary forces will be directed by the Modi government and Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Mehbooba Mufti will find themselves prisoners of their own cynical politics. Such a situation does not auger well for Kashmir and its people. The alienation which is widespread will deepen among the people…”
CORPORATE GOVERNMENT
Claiming that the Narendra Modi government is “as brazen in the matter of foreign policy as it is on the internal, particularly the economic policies”, the CPI’s New Age says it has “almost drifted to [the] American side and is ready to do everything for it.” The editorial claims, “In the economic sphere it is succumbing to the pressures of international finance capital and its various agencies… the current budget session of Parliament too is being used to do whatever corporate capital has asked for…” It adds, “Such pro-capitalist brazenness was evident during the presentation of the railway and general budget[s]… Thus it is becoming more and more clear that it is a government of the corporates, by the corporates and for the corporate sector… The moot point is that the Left has to take [the] initiative to organise and move the people on these crucial economic issues and project alternative[s] to neoliberalism…”
WHOSE WOMEN’S DAY?
The CPI(ML)’s ML Update says, “many politicians would like us to observe International Women’s Day as a day to express gratitude to women for their ‘selfless service’, and praise women for their ‘achievements’… This ‘praise’ and ‘gratitude’, ironically, is like a paternalistic ‘good conduct’ prize to women for performing the roles prescribed by patriarchy. While in fact, IWD commemorates women’s rejection of those patriarchal roles and the struggle to overthrow patriarchal structures!” The editorial says PM Modi’s message on the day reflected this “patriarchal approach”. It claims that “Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Women’s Day message also reinforced patriarchal stereotypes,” it claims.
The documentary India’s Daughter “also reinforces the idea of the obedient and well-behaved Indian daughter, who seeks her parents’ permission to go out with a male friend. It claims to show the ‘mindset of the rapist’, but it locates the abhorrent anti-women ideas only in the rapist and his lawyers. It fails to show how the custodians of the system, including police officers and politicians and godmen, display the same mindsets,” the editorial states.
Compiled by Ruhi Tewari
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