Triple Talaq: Patriarchy not just a 'women's issue', marriage no holy cow

From academic jargon, the word 'patriarchy' has come a long way in the Indian public sphere. But it has a long way to go yet

Contrary to the impression one gets from the popular social media usage these days patriarchy is not simply a system of male-dominance over women. According to bell hooks, “Patriarchy has no gender”. Elsewhere she says, “Patriarchy is political-social system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak.”

Patriarchy is not just ‘women’s issues’

It is an entangled problem of power. It is a problem for all those that are deemed weak.

It is regrettable that many women’s right activists who critique patriarchy and root for gender justice among Muslims ignore the social and cultural impact of economic exclusion and exploitation of Muslims. While intersectionality of identities is important it is also equally, if not more, important to see the interlinkages of political and economic conditions. Advocates of women’s rights who also have a commitment to secularism face a dilemma – as do Muslim women who do not wish to align with Hindutva elements – lest they forfeit the security and right to dignity of the entire community.

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Ishrat Jahan case: CBI unable to prosecute ex-cops for lack of permissions

Upon being asked by the judge how long the government would take to respond, special public prosecutor R.C. Kodekar said the agency wouldn't know as it would be decided by "higher-level officers"

During a hearing at a special court on Saturday in the Ishrat Jahan encounter case, the CBI told special judge J.K. Pandya that the time limit to sanction the prosecution of accused retired police officers in the case is not its hands.

The police officers accused in the case include D.G. Vanzara and N.K. Amin.

As the Indian Express reported, the CBI also repeated its stand on how it has sought permission from the government to move against the retire officers only after the special court ordered it.

“Our stand has been very clear since the beginning (of the trial) that there is no need to seek permission (from the Gujarat government) for the prosecution (of former police officers). We moved (a plea) before the state (government) only after this court ordered us to do so,” special public prosecutor R.C. Kodekar, appearing for the CBI, told judge Pandya.

According to the Indian Express, Kodekar, upon being asked by the judge how long the government would take to respond, he said the agency wouldn’t know as it would be decided by “higher-level officers”. Read More

 

Why Rajinikanth's plan to form a political party is still far from reality

Supporters claim the actor has been saving his energies for the 2021 state assembly elections, but many others see Rajinikanth as being a non-starter as a politician

Released last week, the trailer of Petta – Rajinikanth ’s next film in the offing – offers the quintessential Rajini fan a sense of deja vu. This was the Rajinikanth that many grew up slavering over. Forty-three years ago, in 1975, Rajinikanth threw open iron gates in a small scene in Apoorva Raagangal – which had Kamal Haasan as the hero – to walk into the Tamil socio-cultural space. Petta, in the trailer of which he opens a similar iron gate with the same swagger, is a reminder of how the phenomenon called Rajinikanth has grown over four decades to cast a lasting influence on Tamil cinema.

It was also a reminder of how Rajinikanth was a natural actor, though still a reluctant politician.

On December 31, 2017, Rajinikanth announced his intention to form a political party. That put to an end over two-decade-long ‘will-he, won’t-he’ suspense.

In 1996, Rajinikanth made his political aspirations apparent when he threw his weight behind the DMK-TMC (Tamil Maanila Congress – a breakaway group of Congress led by G.K. Moopanar) alliance and gave what later came to be famously known as the ‘Rajini voice’ against J. Jayalalithaa. Riding fresh on the phenomenal success of his 1995 film Baasha – where he reluctantly turns a don to avenge the murder of his friend and to save innocent people from ‘villainous’ dons – Rajinikanth raised hopes among his fans of doing a real-life Baasha.

Since then, for over two decades, Rajinikanth has evaded that existential question, often telling his fans and media how he hadn’t yet got the ‘signal from God’ to take the plunge. Read More