‘Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Na Ki Jo’.. Baba Balnath And His Monstrosities.(Updated)

Kaveeta kaul

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Regardless of the fate of the film, what struck a chord with most viewers was the plaint of this lyric in ‘Umrao jaan’..”Agle janam mohe bitiya na ki jo” ( May I never be born a daughter again). This was what came to mind immediately on reading of the incident mentioned hereto.

It took me a while before I could gather myself to write this post. I read this on the NDTV website..the sordid account of the Ghaziabad Ashram.

It may not have been the first instance, but what stops us from attempting to make it the last? No Indian citizen worth his salt can sit back and silently witness Swamis, like this one continue to degrade, dehumanise, derrogate human life and dignity to the appalling depths he has dared to..and worst of all, in the name of ‘protection to orphan girls’.

The administration is as usual blissfully unaware, unconcerned and blind to the nefarious activities on at the ashram, which believe it or not receives a grant from them as well..Horrors never end ..do they! As long as palms are greased, criminals will slide off smoothly.

“The horrors which we have seen, and the still greater horrors we shall presently see, are not signs that rebels, insubordinate, untamable people are increasing in number throughout the world, but rather that there is a constant increase in the number of obedient, docile people.“..should be altered to indifferent, apathetic people.

One can write endlessly on conditions that lead to “Ashrams” of the kind sprouting up in every corner of India. But that would be adopting a long term assessent to the problem which can get as unmanagable as the menace of ever growing population, with no easy solution at hand. What we need now is to emphasise the upsurge of public opinion on matters which so far have been beyond the purview of a citizens life either due to lack of information or initiative.

One shudders to think what this generation of little girls, present in the ashram, brutalised at will, muted and animalised, will grow up to be.. what do they look forward to and what have they been born into? One can almost envisage the smug beast in his lair, congratulating himself day after day, year after year, at the bounty afforded to him, greedily devouring his prey of helpless little girls, at his mercy, with nowhere to go and nobody to turn to…It disgusts me, appalls me and makes me tremble with rage on writing these words.

For each morsel of bread doled out to these poor souls, a pound of flesh was as if extorted literally.

In a country where female infanticide, daughters sold to the highest bidder and dowry deaths are a reality, incidents of the kind should hardly elicit interest or surprise. A shrug of the shoulder, a cursory tsk..tsk..and we are on to Page 3.Indifference, apathy, discompassion at such a time will not only perpetuate the conditions but more alarmingly send the signals to the wrong doers presently and for future that they can carry on with their business since the Indians are too busy carrying on with their empty, meaningless, lives.

“Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all — the apathy of human beings.”

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing, since indifference boils down to inhumanity.

We bloggers certainly dont fit the above description now, do we? We care..simply because we are supposed to. We are humane and therefore not prone to get appeased easily.

The Ministry, quotes the article, has been apprised. Their response which one would have expected/hoped to be action with alacrity, is in fact a stoic, blinkered, stance of apathetic inaction. They are pre-occupied perhaps with banning bar girls from following their trade,( as if dance bars brutalise women any more than swamis in ashrams) or further stringently censuring adoption laws..neither will they ensure protection of the weak, infirm, women and children in India, nor create conditions of healthy redressal.

The “Swami” meanwhile, is basking in his fiefdom in ‘pious’ arrogance of his power and ability to hoodwink mere mortals..Shamefacedness brings with it a confidence which denies submission, unless we as a people prove to him once and for all that Evil begets Retribution..

Update: This is heartening news..the Chief justice of India has stepped in and the Swami has been charged with rape. Ndtv further states that “The Chief Justice of India has asked the National Human Rights Commission, the National Commission for Women and the district magistrate to submit reports on the case.”

The National Commission for Women and Uttar Pradesh government have decided to move the children – all girls – out of the Swami’s ashram to shelters in Uttar Pradesh.

One can only hope ‘shelters’ prove so in the right denotation of the term.

Update: In a rather shocking article NDTV has described their meeting with Minister for Women and Child development Renuka Choudhary and her bizarre, lackadaisical manner in dealing with the sordid affair..unruffled and in no hurry to grant redressal, according to them she delayed matters for over a month..with a rather inane, caustic and irritatingly sarcastic quip like ‘This is not hindi films that we are going to rush off” or some such ridiculous answer. Well, it certainly isnt a Hindi film, because sometimes they do commit the error of portraying politicians in a kindly light..Is it any wonder that ashrams of the kind multiply and incidents of this ugliness take place, when the Minister cares two hoots for the state of children, and it had to take a directive from the chief justice to RESCUE the girls!!

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In an effort to create a single forum where we as a united front can come together, voice our disgust, and prove that the powers who be are answerable to those who need to ‘know’, we have created a Wiki page.

Please pen a few lines or even your signature at the wiki page, underlining solidarity to the cause. Every comment or signature will not fail to create a ripple. We fear that once the media glare is taken off the issue, the Swami, utilising his contacts may get away, on the one hand, and the girls presently in the hands of U.P. Govt, further exposed to a similar fate.

Our efforts, with the wiki is aimed at mobilising public opinion which we insist it reach the concerned miscreants, perhaps tacitly warning the authorities that ‘we are watching’.. Please join us..Thanks

Cross linked at Blogstreet

Cross linked at IndianPad

Kaveetaa kaul

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