Essence of Pāḷi Tipiṭaka

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Majjhima Nikaya 1-Mulapariyaya Sutta - The Root Of All Things- Ajahn Brahmavamso

https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/…/bjps-artful-il…/

[The fringe reinforces the mainstream, and the mainstream nurtures the
fringe. They are two sides of the same coin. One should have no
illusions on this score.]

https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/…/bjps-artful-il…/

BJP’s artful illusion: Actually the fringe reinforces the mainstream, and the mainstream nurtures the fringe

January 6, 2018, 2:00 AM IST

Pavan K Varma in TOI Edit Page | Edit Page, India | TOI

A word that has gained increasing currency in recent times is ‘fringe’.
Every excess, outlandish statement, aberration, deviation, derogation
from the law, or arbitrary act of violence, is ascribed to the ‘fringe’.
This fringe is distinguished from the ‘mainstream’. The aim is to
portray the fringe as the extreme, and, by contrast, the mainstream as
its opposite.

But it is now becoming increasingly clear that the
categorical divide between the two is artificial and expedient. Indeed
the two are not different entities. A fringe has an organic connection
to the mainstream because, after all, without the mainstream there
cannot be a fringe. And if it is from the mainstream that the fringe
derives its strength, then the difference between the two becomes only a
matter of convenience.

Let us test this thesis against some
recent examples. In December 2014, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, a minister in
the central government, made the atrocious remark about ‘ramzadon and
haraamzadon’. Obviously, she represented the fringe, because Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s lofty slogan on assuming power was ‘sabka
saath, sabka vikas’. His approach was the mainstream, and the Sadhvi’s
comment was the loony fringe. But when only a perfunctory apology was
sought from her by the PM, and she was not even asked to resign, one is
entitled to ask who was the fringe, and who the mainstream?

Illustration: Uday Deb

The raging controversy about the film Padmavati offers another good
example. The Rajput Karni Seva, described as a fringe group, demanded a
ban on the film because it ‘distorted history’. Consequently, it openly
resorted to violence, the issuance of threats, including beheadings of
the film crew, and payments of vast amounts to those who would kill the
director, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, and cut off the nose of Deepika
Padukone. But, it was soon apparent that the Karni Sena fringe had
substantial support from the mainstream.

Suraj Pal Amu, who held
the responsible post of BJP’s chief media coordinator in Haryana, openly
doubled the bounty – to Rs 10 crore – for eliminating Deepika and
Bhansali. Rajasthan chief minister weighed in to say that no community’s
sentiments should be hurt. And, in an unprecedented move, even before
the designated authority, the Central Board of Film Certification, could
pronounce its verdict, five BJP ruled states, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat,
UP, Rajasthan and Bihar banned the film!

Sangeet Som, a two-time
BJP MLA, made the outrageous comment in October 2017 that the iconic Taj
Mahal is a blot on India’s history. Obviously the assumption would be
that his is an insane voice from the fringe. But his comments were
subsequently endorsed by Vinay Katiyar, who has been the national
general secretary of BJP and three times member of the Lok Sabha.

What is worse, GVL Rao, the national spokesperson of BJP, while
disagreeing perfunctorily with Som, proclaimed the mainstream view in a
generalised indictment of epic proportions: “The period of Islamic rule –
around 800 years – was a period of extreme exploitation, insane
barbarism, and unprecedented intolerance.” Ergo, the fringe and the
mainstream were identical.

The umbilical cord between the fringe
and the mainstream is both transparent and verifiable. If the Vishwa
Hindu Parishad, one of the larger affiliates of the Sangh Parivar, makes
a clarion call for India to become an exclusive ‘Hindu rashtra’, it is
the fringe.. But if a Union minister, Anant Kumar Hegde, said last month
that BJP is here to change the Constitution to rid it of the word
‘secular’, is he fringe or mainstream?

Sakshi Maharaj, who had
once said that Nathuram Godse’s martyrdom should be commemorated, is
definitely the fringe. In September 2017 he announced that couples who
indulge in ‘vulgar behaviour’, (read being physically affectionate in
public), instigate rape.

But his statement had the support of
Manohar Lal Khattar, no less than the chief minister of Haryana, who
said in 2014: “If a girl is dressed decently, a boy will not look at her
in the wrong way.” When queried about whether girls should have freedom
of choice, he reportedly retorted: “If they want freedom, why don’t
they roam around naked?”

Dina Nath Batra, and his unverified
assertions that ancient India – for all its creditworthy achievements –
had achieved everything that science has discovered today, is definitely
the fringe. But, no less a person than PM Modi, echoed what Batra said
when in October 2014 in Mumbai, he claimed that the manner of the birth
of Karna in the Mahabharata, and Ganeshji’s adorable form with an
elephant head, showed the existence of advanced genetic science and
plastic surgery in ancient India. Is Batra the fringe, or is he the
mainstream?

In April 2017, Pehlu Khan was carrying cattle for his
dairy farm in Nuh, for which he had a valid licence. He was lynched in
full public view, by a mob of cattle vigilantes. In spite of substantial
evidence to nail the culprits, they were all let off. Was the Rajasthan
government the fringe or the mainstream?

The truth is there are
no such distinctions. The fringe reinforces the mainstream, and the
mainstream nurtures the fringe. They are two sides of the same coin. One
should have no illusions on this score.
SC/STs are rising up in
many parts of India. Millennia old shackles are being broken and the
oppressed classes of India are marching in unison in streets of India.
It all started with the attack on SC/STs who were celebrating the
historic victory of a SC/ST army on their oppressors. “the gruesome
attack on unarmed people signifies the fear and unwillingness of
dominant just 1% intolerant, cunning, crooked, violent, militant, number
one terrorists of the world shooting, lynching cannibal chitpavan
brahmin lunatic, mentally retarded RSS (Rakshasa Swayam Sevaks) of BJP
(Brashtachar Jiyadha Psychopaths) leader Murderer of democratic
institutions (Modi) for the sake of stealth, shadowy, discriminatory
hindutva cult even to imagine the reduction of the power of hindutva and
some disturbance in the social order under the hindutva mechanics.
Instead of accepting the fact that chitpavan brahimincal order has
infact enslaved each other under the ambit of caste, they opted to
denounce those who assembled in Koregoan as anti-national. Had Babasaheb
Ambedkar been alive today, he would have been another of those
anti-nationals while the RSS-BJP state would not have a second thought
to send him to prison.”

Out of shear fear of survival of the
chitpavan brahmins, are now facing a backlash for making negative
comments against SC/ST icons BR Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram and Mayawati who
have now organised all societies (Sarvajan Samaj) after Modi gobbled the
Master Key by tampering the fraud EVMs to win elections.

Sarva
Samaj i.e., all societies are up in their arms to see that the Central
and all state governments selected by these fraud EVMs are dissolved and
go for fresh polls with Ballot Papers as followed by 80 democracies of
the world as challenged by Ms Mayawati who became eligible to be the
Prime Minister afer her best governance of Uttar Pradesh as Chief
Minister.

Also more stories from around the world.

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