Daman and Diu administration ordered women to tie rakhis to their male colleagues on Raksha-bandhan
NB: The RSS-run government is engaged in a relentless ideological crusade. Now they are using state power to tell people how they must celebrate festivals. They behave as if they are the proprietors of Hindu religion and culture - those who beg to differ are in danger of being labelled 'anti-national'. Such campaigns are combined with regular doses of violence and intimidation on fabricated issues such as 'love jehad', beef-eating, 'Bharat Mata', cow-protection, etc. Some years ago they insisted that AK Ramanujan's scholarly essay The Three Hundred Ramayanas was removed from the DU syllabus - to make the point that the RSS alone can certify what the Ramayana was and how it should be studied.
In brief, the RSS claims to own Hinduism, by which they mean they own India. This behaviour is a mark of totalitarian politics, which aims at the complete domination and enslavement of social conscience and individual intellect. Ironically, this was precisely the mode of functioning of the Stalinist system, that they claim to oppose. (It is noteworthy that Ms Uma Bharti cited Karl Marx to justify demonetisation). It is also the mark of the jehadis who claim to know what 'true' Islam is. Totalitarian politics is dynamic - it engages in a constant assault to demoralise individuals; disintegrate all social groups (especially their main target, Hindu society) and standardise the very language and thought-process of society. Its aim is nothing less than the destruction of society; the complete absorption of social life into itself. This is what Alexandre Koyre meant when he described totalitarian regimes as being secret societies established in broad daylight
The RSS seeks to establish a civil religion in India - of which they will be the proprietors - as a step towards a utopia they call Hindu Rashtra. In the process they will destroy freedom of thought and debate, abolish the difference between legal and illegal violence (Ex Gujarat and encounter-accused DIG Vanzara has just been given a 'clean chit'!); and abrogate the Constitution in all but name. Experiments like ordering women to tie raakhis on office colleagues are but small steps in the Great Game. We will resist. DS
Daman and Diu officers save their blushes after rakhis-must order withdrawn
The Daman and Diu administration on Wednesday withdrew a circular that asked women staff to tie rakhis on male colleagues after the order triggered a backlash from employees and was ripped apart on social media. The union territory’s administration was forced to retreat within 24 hours of issuing the circular that made it compulsory for its staff to celebrate Rakshabandhan at workplace.
In brief, the RSS claims to own Hinduism, by which they mean they own India. This behaviour is a mark of totalitarian politics, which aims at the complete domination and enslavement of social conscience and individual intellect. Ironically, this was precisely the mode of functioning of the Stalinist system, that they claim to oppose. (It is noteworthy that Ms Uma Bharti cited Karl Marx to justify demonetisation). It is also the mark of the jehadis who claim to know what 'true' Islam is. Totalitarian politics is dynamic - it engages in a constant assault to demoralise individuals; disintegrate all social groups (especially their main target, Hindu society) and standardise the very language and thought-process of society. Its aim is nothing less than the destruction of society; the complete absorption of social life into itself. This is what Alexandre Koyre meant when he described totalitarian regimes as being secret societies established in broad daylight
The RSS seeks to establish a civil religion in India - of which they will be the proprietors - as a step towards a utopia they call Hindu Rashtra. In the process they will destroy freedom of thought and debate, abolish the difference between legal and illegal violence (Ex Gujarat and encounter-accused DIG Vanzara has just been given a 'clean chit'!); and abrogate the Constitution in all but name. Experiments like ordering women to tie raakhis on office colleagues are but small steps in the Great Game. We will resist. DS
Daman and Diu officers save their blushes after rakhis-must order withdrawn
The Daman and Diu administration on Wednesday withdrew a circular that asked women staff to tie rakhis on male colleagues after the order triggered a backlash from employees and was ripped apart on social media. The union territory’s administration was forced to retreat within 24 hours of issuing the circular that made it compulsory for its staff to celebrate Rakshabandhan at workplace.
“It has been decided
to celebrate the festival of Rakshabandhan on August 7. In this connection, all
offices/ departments shall remain open and celebrate the festival collectively
at a suitable time wherein all the lady staff shall tie rakhis to their
colleagues,” the order, issued on August 1 by Gurpreet Singh, deputy secretary
(personnel), had said. To ensure that no one
skipped office, an attendance report was to be sent to the government the next
evening. The two notifications
– one mandating the celebration of Rakshabandhan (left) and the other
withdrawing the mandate (right) – were issued by the Daman and Diu
administration a day apart. The circular was
withdrawn through a one-line order issued late in the evening by the UT’s
department of personnel and administrative reforms.
“The circular is
ridiculous. There are sensitivities involved. How can the government dictate
who I should tie rakhi to? We should maintain the professionalism of a
workplace” an official told Hindustan Times earlier in the day. She refused to
be identified. The notice was issued
on Daman and Diu administrator and former Gujarat home minister Praful Kodabhai
Patel’s direction, sources said.
Rakshabandhan, a
celebration of the bond between brothers and sisters, is one of several Hindu
festivities and rituals that are no longer confined of private, family affairs
but have become tools to push political ideologies.
In 2014, the year BJP
stormed to power at the Centre, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan
Bhagwat said the festival had “national significance” and should be celebrated
widely “to protect Hindu culture and live by the values enshrined in it”. The
RSS is the ideological parent of the ruling BJP. Last year, women
ministers in the Modi government went to the border areas to celebrate the
festival with soldiers. A year before, all cabinet ministers were asked to go to
their constituencies for the festival.
see also
The law of killing - a brief history of Indian fascism
The emperor's masks: 'apolitical' RSS calls the shots in Modi sarkar
The Supreme Court, Gandhi and the RSS
The emperor's masks: 'apolitical' RSS calls the shots in Modi sarkar
The Supreme Court, Gandhi and the RSS
