Politics – CJSelvamani

Antisemitism has become visibly normal

cjselvamani — Tue, 28 May 2024 09:12:30 +0000

It has been almost two years since I posted a blog. Life is keeping me busy. Married, moved to a new country, a new job.

The situation is changing. Especially in politics. Many are calling for a ceasefire from October 7th, the day HAMAS slaughtered hundreds of Israelites. But a few voices called out to release Israeli hostages taken by HAMAS.

The same day protests carried outside many Israeli embassies, including London. Israelis were the victims but many condemned Israel for their civilian deaths. The left-wing, LGBTQ+ and almost every Muslim are united against Israel and conducted rallies in most Western countries.

How come an LGBTQ+ person holding a placard shows relentless support to HAMAS which executes a Palestinian who identifies as LGBTQ+? This is like someone says 2+2 is 5 not 4. It doesn’t seem to make sense at all.

I am not a political activist. Just an ordinary person who works 37 hours per week, and lives with a wife in a bed semi-detached private rented house. I attend the local church service every week. I don’t want to be involved in politics and I like to read books mostly history and Christian theology books.

Why Jew-hatred is so immense in Western city streets, universities and media? In the last seven months every Saturday, Pro-Palestinian rallies in London’s high streets. London is one of my favourite go-to places on weekends. Not any more.

I am not a Jew. I am terrified when I see and hear antisemitic slogans in the UK streets. Imagine being a jew. Antisemitism has become visibly normal, not to be condemned anymore in the Western world.

India’s Anti-Conversion Law is Anti-Constitutional?

cjselvamani — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 06:07:26 +0000

Federal India does not have an anti-conversion law, but India’s twelve states have implemented it and in practice. Indian Constitution’s article 25 expresses, “all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practice, and propagate religion.” Almost half of the Indian population is entitled not to confess their faith to other faith groups. Does this anti-conversion law conflict with Indian Constitution?

Yesterday (10th March 2022), India’s 5 state elections result was released. Without any surprise, BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) wins 4 out of 5. Most importantly, wins in Uttar Pradesh(UP), a state which holds the most number of parliamentary seats. It concretes Modi’s next term as the prime minister of India. Also firms Ajay Singh Bisht, aka Yogi Adityanath’s pitch as the future of the BJP or future prime ministerial candidate of BJP.

Though UP is not a front-runner state on social welfare development as Niti Aayog index 2021 lists UP at the bottom, the election results show otherwise. Yogi wins comprehensively. Why the people of UP do not consider the state’s administrative skills as a voting consideration? Moreover, the second COVID-19 wave wrecked the state, many lost lives and crematoriums ran out of their capacity. Many dead bodies flew over the Ganges, and its shores became a massive burial ground.

The anti-conversion law is active in UP. Who does it benefit? Clearly, the upper caste Hindus and the BJP party are the ones. But how did the people react to it? Presumably positive. In 2002, J. Jayalalithaa, the former chief minister of Tamilnadu brought anti-conversion law. But it did not go well in the next election. Her party did not win a single seat in the 2004 union poll. The result made her repeal the law of anti-conversion. So the recent state-level election in UP has shown that people accept BJP’s agenda ‘Anti-conversion Law’.

Muslims, Christians, Dalits and Tribals are the main victims of this bill. They are the targets this anti-conversion law affects mostly. Their loyalty has been questioned? Many converts to Islam and Christianity are from the Dalits and Adivasis. And Muslims and Christians have their faith rooted in the Middle East unlike Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism emerged from the Indian sub-continent.

OpenDoors watchlist ranks India ten in the world among persecuted Christians. It is not an assumption but on facts. The Christian population is only less than three per cent of the Indian population of 1.4 billion. Hindus occupy more than 80%. However, projecting minority Christians as a threat to majority Hindus is a conspiracy rather than a reality. But people are facing a dilemma to discern what is real and what is not real? UP election is an example of how people are confused and believe Hindus are in danger under minorities, especially under Muslims.

Not only is anti-conversion law against the Indian Constitution, but it is also against Muslims, Christians, Untouchables and Adivasis. The anti-conversion bill is the anti-minority.

Religious Freedom of Indian Christians on 2022

cjselvamani — Fri, 21 Jan 2022 15:46:49 +0000

I have been watching the Open Doors Watchlist for the last 4 years from 2019, India positions itself in the unchanged 10th.[1] Other countries in the top 15 are not surprising to me. All of them are either politically displaced or Radical Islamic countries. But India is still the world’s largest democratic country in size. Why is a democratic country placed in the top ten regions in the world for Christians to live in danger?

An unofficial report shows India has a Christian population has around less than 5%. Why of suddenly did Christians become a threat and target to the majority Hindu right-wing regime? or it is just a political game to corner Christians so that gain ruling power? What is a real threat from minority religion Christianity from the Indian subcontinent?

After all, it is all worrying factors for Indian Christians to live in fear. What did we do wrong against the constitution? We follow it so far, find no reason to rebel against it. And the constitution gives every citizen to follow and practise any faith they want. It is not discrimination against constitutional laws. However, there is a pattern in which Christian communities are attacked mostly. They are Dalit and Tribal Christians who possess low socio-economic background.

The rise of right-wing Hindutva party BJP through Modi as the Prime Minister did boost hatred toward minorities Muslims, Christians, Dalits and Adivasis. There are many countless incidents happening every day, which are mostly omitted by many major national media and brought to attention by many small internet media.

Jesus did warn his disciples, not a peaceful life being a Christian but he did the opposite by giving a warning that there will be persecutions as His followers (John 15:19–20). Does this mean Christians have to accept reality and make no complaints? But the Indian Constitution affirms free speech and freedom to practice any belief system its citizens prefer. When Christian stand at the receiving end of persecution just accept it by following Scriptures or fighting by the privilege given by the Constitution? I don’t think here we cannot confuse it with Scriptures vs Constitution. But the Constitution gives us human dignity and respect, and a way to oppose the denied privilege to practise a religion. It could be any faith, in this case, Christianity. Facing the violence with non-violence, a Biblical path, a path of Jesus laid before us and helping the vulnerable to stand and fight and fight with them.

[1] Open Doors USA, 2019 World Watch List, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvgFJRCl2kc.

Can Stardom Serve and Save People?

cjselvamani — Sat, 12 Dec 2020 07:09:42 +0000

Two south Indian movie stars Kamal Hasan and Rajini Kanth are ready to be the next CM of Tamilnadu. Kamal has already started the political party and Rajini is saying he is going to start a political party soon for the past two decades. Both of them are well-known actors and have a huge fan base. Even now, they are at their pinnacles in the movie industry, no questions on that.

Rajini’s age is over 70 years and Kamal’s is almost 70 years. Though their stardom in the cine field unquestionable their entry into politics on a grandpa age makes you think “Why now?” What is seen on the big screen is not real, but politics is surely not fiction.

One more important point to notice is that the two tycoons of Tamil politics M. Karunanidhi and J. Jayalalitha are no more. When they were present, these two movie stars kept their close equal allegiance with them as artists. They never spoke seriously about entering politics and presented a picture that politics is a mess and it was not their cup of tea.

Both Kamal and Rajini in a position to receive life-time achievement movie awards and they seem to deserve it based on their long hall consistent movie productions. And they received it many times. But when it comes to politics they are freshers. Their past experience cannot be appended to a new career. For example, a doctor can become an engineer, but his/her experience as a doctor cannot be counted to experience as an engineer.

I cannot remember a single movie of Rajini and Kamal portraying a social-justice cause on their movie. Their movies are purely an entertainment genre, focused on mainly making blockbusters and make their pockets heavier as possible. Rich actors who are never been out on the streets other than movie shooting spots, always an assistant protects their skin from the sunburn using an umbrella, enjoyed air-conditioned caravans, and now entering into politics in their retirement age. Their skins going to get more wrinkles, their bones are going to wearier, they are going to lose their eye-sight, taste buds and their immune system will be downhill. Why don’t spend their remaining life in caravans and holiday resorts? The retirement age in India is 60, Rajini and Kamal are in their 70s. Or will it be a repeating story of south Indian actors Sivaji Ganesan and Chiranjeevi?

Why Don’t You Speak Hindi?

cjselvamani — Sun, 13 Sep 2020 12:21:36 +0000

Hindi Speaking North-Indian (HSNI): Namaskar!

Tamil Speaking South-Indian (TSSI): Vanakkam!

HSNI: Do you speak Hindi?

TSSI: No

HSNI: Why you are not speaking in Hindi?

TSSI: Because…I don’t know Hindi

HSNI: Mm-hmm…Hindi is our national language

TSSI: No, it is not

HSNI: Yes, it is

TSSI: Mm-hmm…Tamil is our national language

HSNI: No, it is not

TSSI: Why not?

HSNI: (Googling)…

TSSI: What you searching for?

HSNI: I am not searching for anything, (After 2 minutes) Mumbling…

TSSI: Got any findings?

HSNI: I can’t find anywhere it says Hindi is India’s national language

TSSI: Yes, that is true.

– This is a very common conversation when a Hindi speaking Indian meets a non-Hindi speaking Indian. Surprisingly, none of the non-Hindi speaking people ask the Hindi speaking person, “Why you are not speaking Bengali or Kannada or Malayalam or Punjabi or Telegu or Tamil and so on?”

Both National Parties of India Congress and BJP are in favor of Hindi to introduce it as the national language. One of the common arguments is that majority of Indians speak Hindi, so it is an easy verdict to assign Hindi as the National Language of India. Five decades back, former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and Member of Parliament CN Annadurai said, “It is claimed that Hindi should be the common language because it is spoken by the majority. Why should we then claim the tiger as our national animal instead of the rat which is so much more numerous? Or the peacock as our national bird when the crow is ubiquitous?” Forcing Hindi on south Indians would prove to be disadvantageous to them and advantageous to native Hindi speakers. On the other hand, he said, by retaining English, the advantages and disadvantages would be evenly spread among Hindi and non-Hindi speakers.

Reality

According to the 2001 Census, 52 crores* out of 121 crore people identified Hindi as their language. About 32 crore people declared Hindi as their mother tongue. This means that Hindi is the language of less than 44 percent Indians and the mother tongue of only a little over 25 percent of people in India. But there has been a greater push for making Hindi a pan-India language.

Currently, Hindi is one of India’s 22 official languages. There is no national language so far, only official languages. Central Government follows English and Hindi as official languages. State Governments follow English along with their regional language, for instance, Tamilnadu’s official languages are English and Tamil.

Dear Hindi speaking friends,
As a South Indian, I think Hindi is a beautiful language so as my Tamil and any other Indian language. Even a language is spoken only by a few thousand, it is a language to be respected equally. Let’s work on an agenda that benefits the whole country, and is, please do not impose Hindi on any non-Hindi speaking states. Especially, please do not ask “Why you are not speaking in Hindi?”, more importantly, Hindi is not a national language. The truth is India has no national language(s) but only official languages. The solution of having English as a bride language is working so far.
Jai Hind!
Yours faithfully, Non-Hindi Speaking South Indian.

*1 crore = 10 million

10 Things You Should Know About Kamala Devi Harris

cjselvamani — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 19:35:00 +0000

The US Vice-Presidential nominee of the Democratic Party for the year 2020 election.
Regarding the ethnic origin, she is half Jamaican and half East-Indian was born on October 20, 1964, in Oakland, California. Her father Donald Harris was from Jamaica and her mother Shyamala Gopalan was from Chennai, India.
She is the first African-American, the first Indian-American, the first Asian-American, and the third female vice presidential running mate on a major party ticket after Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin.
Harris is currently serving as the United States Senator from California. Prior to that served as 32^nd Attorney General of California (January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2017).
She married attorney Douglas Emhoff, who was at one time partner-in-charge at Venable LLP’s Los Angeles office.
Harris is a member of Third Baptist Church of San Francisco, a congregation of the American Baptist Churches USA.
Her sister, Maya Harris, was an MSNBC political analyst; her brother-in-law, Tony West, is the general counsel of Uber and a former United States Department of Justice senior official. Her niece, Meena Harris, is the founder of the Phenomenal Women Action Campaign.
Harris’s mother understood that her adopted homeland would see her daughters as black girls, and Harris was brought up as a determined, confident, proud black woman.
Indian and Indian-American publications proudly use her Indian first name, which means “lotus flower,” along with her middle name, Devi, the Sanskrit word for “goddess,” which Harris generally doesn’t use.
She loves cheeseburger, which is a hamburger topped with cheese consisting of one or more cooked patties of beef.

Became refugees within their own countries

cjselvamani — Fri, 15 May 2020 05:09:04 +0000

“Global Pandemic”- everyone talks about it all over the world. Many countries following strict lockdown rules and some aren’t. Uncertainty crawls all over the earth, no one able to escape from it. Whether it can be University students are thinking about the future, parents about their jobs, frontline health workers about their health, Covid-19 positive patients about their cure and country leaders about their economy, and so on. So far, no one has a proper solution. Yes, we are hearing from leaders almost every day. Many countries flattened their coronavirus curve and many other nations are struggling to cope to contain the situation since it is going out of their hands. Still, no one cracked a code to put an end to this dilemma.

In India, things are no so different since it is the same. What I mean is rich people have their Instagram to keep them busy. Posting their day-to-day lives now and then. There are some genuine cases who are raising their voices against injustice. But their peers’ personal life posts get more attention from media. On the other hand, we are seeing peoples such as migrant workers how they are being treated so far.

Migrant workers – most of them work in booming construction sites in megacities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad. They live in tents nearby set up by the construction moguls. When lockdown announced by the prime minister they were abandoned since the work was put on halt. Their landowners stopped providing basic amenities in many cases. No transports made them strapped in a place where they can’t literally practice the social distancing (1.5 meters). Their situation became worse than before. They were abandoned by their landlords and sadly by their ruling state and the central government. I can’t even imagine their situation since I am writing it from a cozy little apartment.

Why the federal government does not give care to support millions of migrant workers? Are they not citizens? They are the backbones of all skyscrapers though they get very-little as their wage. Though some started their journey on foot. Many reached their home walking hundreds of miles and some died on the way amidst the scorching heat and starvation. Became refugees within their own countries. Let down by their landlords and the ruling governments. Their life became no value. Their dignities were stripped off. But they walked, walked, walked, walked and walked. Some gone under sanitizer-spray bath like cockroaches, some hit by a train and died, many lathi-charged by merciless policemen, and many quarantined in spaceless-cramped-camps. Still, they walked and walked until they reached their home. Hope flourishes in a hopeless situation, nothing able to take their hope away. No, wait a minute they were desperate and do not know what to do. So, it is better to apply their situation as hopeless, helpless, betrayed, agony, and frustrated. They became refugees in their own countries, an exodus.

Why Three South Indian States Rejected Modi?

cjselvamani — Thu, 30 May 2019 19:30:51 +0000

When you see an Indian map which filled with the statistics of verdict 2019, the saffron colour(denotes BJP the ruling party) dominates all over India. In contrast, it is a different story over the south of India. Yes, three South Indian states rejected Modi? Moreover, the saffron is missing on the three Southern States of India, which are Kerala, Andra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Now my worry is, does it going to cost them deep in the upcoming five years of Narendra Modi’s reign who retained his position as a Prime Minister of India.

On the one hand, India is the fastest growing largest economy in the world. On the other hand, it’s human index rank dropped notably. Though it is the sixth largest economy in the world, it is not aligned with the top economic powerhouses’ other qualities such as tolerance, freedom of speech.

In 2014 election, Narendra Modi and his party promised the country that they will bring millions of job to the youngsters. Young Indias attracted towards it. His election manifesto was all about making the country more prosperous. Did they accomplish it?

In reality, what did happen amidst the demonetisation? For a few months, people have to stand in a queue to withdraw cash from ATM machines. Many of them have to open a bank account to exchange their old currencies which soon to lose their value. County was in chaos, especially the Indian middle-class families. A country like India still remains with 80% farmers community. For them, it was difficult with the shortage of currency. Their daily livelihood depends on the cash transaction. In history, no major economies did it before. But somehow, Uttar Pradesh at that time not lacking currency shortage since its Assembly election supposed to happen in a month.

Bringing the NEET exam as an entrance exam to study medicine. It is something not to do anything with the syllabus of twelfth grade. Students with financial support can excel in this exam through attending coaching classes. Someone from a middles class and below can’t afford to attend these training classes though they had a brilliant score in their pre-degree course.

Prime Minister Mr.Narendra Modi never addressed a single press conference during his five-year term. All he did was delivering speeches. It is one way. Never attended a proper “Journalist to Prime Minister” conversation. Indians will soon have to check video archives of his predecessors’ interviews, how interviews look like. Children who are growing in this period will never know. We are not able to witness this beauty of democracy.

The ruling party followed the fascism, and they were intolerant on taking criticisms. Especially, journalists who exposed the dangerous polarisation of Hindutva agendas have to face serious consequences and some lost their lives. For instance, Bangalorean Gauri Lankesh shot dead in her house by a Hindu terrorist. Sadly, convicts’ Twitter profile was followed by the Prime Minister.

These an increasing constant abuse against Dalits and minorities( Muslims and Christians ). Slogans such as “Go to Pakistan or Bangladesh” against Islam followers and mob lynching for eating Beef became a common incident in the Hindi heartlands (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan). No open condemnation from the Prime Minister.

India is a democratic country, more importantly, a secular nation by its constituency definition. Every Indian has the right to practise any religion he/she desires. But it became non-practical if you are not a Hindu by religion?

Most importantly, People from Tamil Nadu and Kerala knew the backlogs of Hinduism since they had reformers like Periyar and Narayana Guru respectively. They can’t be fed into the lies of BJP’s Hindu polarisation idea.

People from Kerala and Tamil Nadu understood the dangerous racist steps followed by the BJP. Their only determination was to keep them out of the rule. So, the regional political parties came forward and formed a coalition with the National Congress Party. This tactic worked, however, this did not happen among states like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi and Telangana.

How worrying it is for Indian Christians over Modi’s 2019 reign?

cjselvamani — Fri, 24 May 2019 04:59:38 +0000

I believe, most Indians listening to or watching India’s parliament election result today (23/05/2019) after a month-long poll conducted all over the country. Especially, minorities such as Muslims, Dalits, Indian Christians and Tribals are the most curious parties. According to ‘OpendoorsUSA Watch List 2019‘, India listed among top fifty countries to watch out which will face enormous religious intolerance. In the one hand, India is the largest democratic country in the world, on the other hand, Opendoors’ report says that India is doing one place better than Iran and a place worse than Syria when it comes to persecutions against Christians.

The rise of intolerance against Muslims, mob lynching for eating or carrying cow meat, bringing demonetisation in a night and increasing discriminations against Dalits became day-to-day news for non-deserving Indian citizens. The fear among minorities engulfing now more after a convincing victory by the ruling party BJP. What now, especially for the minorities which include Indian Christians.

As a Christian myself, it is a daunting one and a voice says in my head “Expect the unexpected.” But I think I can expect or have an idea about the approach of BJP towards the non-Hindus and Dalits in the upcoming days, which I believe it is already started. Otherwise, it was their story on their last five years’ reign.

Though the trending hashtag of “NaMo again” is not a pleasant one (NaMo = Narendra Modi), I think it is ok to unhappy but it is not the end of the world. In the Bible, things did not go well at the beginning for Joseph, Job and Daniel. A unique quality among them was they all understood the Sovereignty of God and believed in it. God is control over everything in this world that includes their life events. Even, Narendra Modi is not apart from God’s Sovereignty.

To be sure, there are always good purposes in trials for those who belong to him. Yes, suffering produces in his saints endurance, godly character, and hope (Rom. 5:3). God causes all things to work together for good for those who love him (Rom. 8:28). I heartily affirm these precious, anchoring truths. But if I’m honest, the things God might use to bring about this promised good can sometimes frighten me. Will he give me another dark year to sanctify me? Part of my current situation feels frighteningly familiar. Could he take someone from me I love fiercely? I have to admit I’ve been deeply afraid of what he might allow.
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/when-gods-sovereignty-scares-you/

Nothing better than His hope that he planted in our hearts and His sovereign grace. Even Modi needs it more than us. Without Him, he cannot be in the power since God is the one elected him as the Prime Minister of the largest democratic country in the world. When I see the 2019 verdict, South Indian states (Andra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu) apart from Karnataka and Telangana rejected completely on the BJP reign. It certainly consolidates me. So, God cares about us. All we have to do is, continue to seek His righteousness and His fellowship, and grow in His Word. Amen