Vistasp Hodiwala

The collusion of the U.S. intellectual establishment on the Palestine issue is hardly a new phenomenon, with roots stretching back decades. This is a story I stumbled upon from 1984 and it had me shaking my head in disgust all through. It was a huge scandal in its time for a while, but I am pretty certain that the passage of time has dulled its edges and rendered it almost invisible. After doing my preliminary digging and going through whatever available sources I could find on the internet, I decided to write it up in my own words for the benefit of the present day audiences. The only two people who come out shining from this grotesque episode are @normfinkelstein and 𝐍𝐨𝐚𝐦 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐬𝐤𝐲. 𝐏𝐒: After having written the piece, I sent it off to Professor Finkelstein to vet it, and correct errors if any. He wrote back amending the fourteenth paragraph giving out more details of what transpired. Read for yourself. --- 𝐀 𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟒, 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐍𝐎 𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐎𝐑𝐖𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐍. It was April 1, 1984. A fitting day for a rotten joke that was about to be unleashed upon the world. On this day 𝐻𝑎𝑟𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑅𝑜𝑤 released 𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝑰𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍, a rather exciting, revelatory and ‘groundbreaking’ book with a fortress of footnotes by Chicago-born American journalist 𝐉𝐨𝐚𝐧 𝐏𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 which offered scholarly proof that present-day Palestinians were not indigenous to Palestine. The book was founded upon years of research by Ms. Peters who claimed to have trawled through heaps of papers in the Ottoman archives to arrive at that definitive conclusion. Her work asserted that Arab immigrants had steadily made it to Palestine through the late 1800s, lured by job prospects where Jewish settlers had begun to transform the landscape with their sense of enterprise already. So the sentiment that Palestinians lived there ‘𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙’ is a myth, she inferred. Having reached this cosy conclusion she implicitly made light of the idea of ‘Nakba’, the strongest argument that Palestinians have possibly had of being made refugees on a land they knew as theirs through generations. Her ‘benevolent’ solution was for world powers to prevail upon neighbouring Arab states to absorb Palestinian refugees, leaving the holy land for those who have always felt a Biblical pull towards it. This narrative deftly tied in with the fanciful theory that early Zionist leaders had long propounded to escape their wafer-thin sense of guilt: 𝐴 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑑. Essentially, this meant that a canard that was long debunked by a slew of scholars and historians ranging from 𝐍𝐨𝐚𝐦 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐬𝐤𝐲 and 𝐘𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐚 𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡 to 𝐑𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐝 𝐊𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐢 and 𝐀𝐛𝐝𝐮𝐥 𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐟 𝐓𝐢𝐛𝐚𝐰𝐢, rose phoenix-like, to demand the burden of proof from the Palestinians yet again. 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐚 𝐌𝐞𝐢𝐫, Israel’s fourth Prime Minister from 1969 to 1974 wanted the world to believe that there was “𝑛𝑜 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑃𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒”. As if on cue, a decade later, the ingenious Ms. Peters, neither a professional historian, nor a scholar, or even a proper academic decides to go all out and put her definitive stamp of ‘evidence’ on a specious theory that has readymade takers throughout the American intellectual community. By delegitimising the moral weight that the Nakba provoked, it turned the mass tragedy of Palestinian exodus on its head in one stroke, and in doing so, attempted to purge them of all compassion; the only privilege Palestinians thought they couldn’t be denied. The book became wildly popular days into its release, garnering rave commentary from every respectable publication including @NYTimes and @washingtonpost. A knockout triumph of sorts with every highbrow reviewer falling over each other to endorse its thesis. 𝐏𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐩 𝐌. 𝐇𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐫, a well-regarded Professor of Demography and Pioneer in Urban studies at the University of Chicago, recognised its undisputed merit. Amongst many other heavy hitters who spoke in favour of this classic, there was 𝐒𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 who had enthusiastically blurbed the book cover, historian and author 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐚 𝐓𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐚𝐧 who called the book ‘𝑎 ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑖𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓’, and historian 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐨𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 who expounded that ‘𝑖𝑡 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 ℎ𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 𝐸𝑎𝑠𝑡’. There was only one problem though. The book was the biggest hoax on either side of the Atlantic; a Zionist sleight of hand, eagerly embraced by those who wanted to be deceived. A lie that everyone badly wanted to believe. In the constant barrage of favourable endorsements, not one scholar of note deemed it a fit case for investigation. No one, save a graduate student at Princeton, who hadn’t yet made a name for himself and would later be known for the meticulousness that was to become his steadfast signature in the years to come. His name was 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐥𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧. When Norman began reading the book, he quickly sensed that something was off. This made him go back and check out all the references and he realised that the data didn’t fit the conclusions. He wrote a brief paper based on his preliminary work, just 20 to 25 pages, to apprise people in the field of his conclusions. Of the 30 people he sent this initial paper to, only one responded. The person who wrote back was 𝐍𝐨𝐚𝐦 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐬𝐤𝐲. The good professor thought it was worth pursuing and in the same breath warned Norman that they would come for him, all guns cocked and loaded. They could take away his opportunities, destroy his career, and put his life to ruin. But Mr. Finkelstein (at this juncture, it just feels right to address this giant of a man with the respect he richly deserves) not only persevered, this work became the bedrock of his close friendship with Chomsky. An unflinching Finkelstein started submitting his article for publication to a whole lot of academic journals, but except for a nondescript leftwing journal that came out of Illinois, every other publication delighted in ignoring it summarily. (𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉 𝒃𝒚 𝑴𝒓. 𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒊𝒏) But worse was to follow. Finkelstein’s professors cold-shouldered him. ONE OF HIS THESIS ADVISORS GAVE HIM AN ULTIMATUM: TO CHOOSE BETWEEN BEING A "MUCKRAKER" VERSUS A "SCHOLAR" (PROFESSOR MANFRED HALPERN). WHEN FINKELSTEIN WOULDN'T BUDGE, HE DROPPED OFF FINKELSTEIN'S THESIS COMMITTEE. Brilliant as he was, HE WAS AWARDED a PhD anyway, but HE COULDN'T EXTRACT a single letter of recommendation FROM HIS THESIS ADVISORS OR FORMER PROFESSORS, which for a student of his calibre should have been customary. WITHOUT SUCH A LETTER, HIS ACADEMIC CAREER WAS STILLBORN. But this is Finkelstein, and Finkelstein doesn’t yield to mortal pressures. No matter how terrible the hostility he must encounter. The following summer the man found himself closeted in the New York Public Library scrupulously and patiently poring over every single reference the book cited and eventually came to the realisation that the book was, and there is no other way to put it, a colossal fraud upon its readers. A calculated deceit that should never have been allowed to exist. Long story short, even after the dirty secret was blown to high heaven and everyone who was someone in New York found out about it, the Omertà still prevailed. The editors of major newspapers refused to publish his letters, even when other approving reviews of the book kept gushing in. The cover was finally blown when Michael Joseph Ltd, a British publisher, decided to bring out the book’s UK edition the following year. When Chomsky got wind of its impending publication, he promptly shared Finkelstein’s exhaustive work with a bunch of prominent scholars and journalists overseas. The spirit of political inquiry was far from dead in the land of the Queen and every newspaper and magazine worth its fresh scandals and recycled outrage excoriated the book without exception. This included the 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝐿𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑆𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑛 𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑂𝑓 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑠, and 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑂𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑟. (@TLS, @LRB, @ObserverUK) The turnaround continued when reviews of the book appeared in Israel. Not only did they uniformly trash the book, they expressed concern on how it would reflect back on Israel if the book found a bigger audience. In the meantime out of sheer embarrassment, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑁𝑒𝑤 𝑌𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑅𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤 𝑜𝑓 𝐵𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑠 (@nybooks) commissioned a piece by the renowned Israeli historian 𝐘𝐞𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐡𝐮𝐚 𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐡. After Mr. Porath turned in his review they chickened out of publishing it for close to a year. The piece ultimately did come out and provoked some exchanges a few months down the line with a couple of historians who had praised the book earlier, and that was that. 𝐒𝐨 𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰? The simple answer is I just came across this shocking story in a completely different context and was floored with the level of collusion that’s been happening for decades in what’s supposed to be a free and fair democracy; especially when it comes to Israel and Palestine. 𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝑰𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍 has been thoroughly discredited within the wider community of historians and scholars. But that does not make it any less dangerous. With every new generation, fewer people know their history. The percentage of people who stay acquainted with such monstrous frauds within the knowledgeable academic community too keeps dropping perceptibly. If we don’t remind ourselves of such intellectual outrages from time to time, we will have more 𝐽𝑜𝑎𝑛 𝑃𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠’ and 𝐴𝑙𝑎𝑛 𝐷𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑧𝑒𝑠 (@AlanDersh) to contend with—spinning illusions, resorting to subterfuge, and creating false narratives under the guise of scholarship. Thus making a mockery of both history and our collective humanity. 𝐀𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐞: This piece was sparked by my initial reading of Noam Chomsky’s account of this egregious episode, which I stumbled upon fortuitously on his blog. That discovery forced me down a deeper rabbit hole; through Wikipedia, The @newrepublic, The @NewYorker, and many other articles and personalities leaving me in no doubt about what actually happened. @AbbyMartin @yanisvaroufakis @mikopeled @vijnad @FerozeSidhwa @mohammedelkurd @bellahadid @GiGiHadid @rogerwaters @SusanSarandon @DUALIPA @democracynow @intifada @MMFlint @mehdirhasan @LastWeekTonight @jeremycorbyn @zarahsultana @johnmcdonnellMP @BernieSanders @PiersMorgan @JLMelenchon @AOC @MathildePanot @GregorGysi @RashidaTlaib @CoriBush @haaretzcom @Avi_Shlaim @AmiraHassH @pappe54 @DrGaborMate @MaxBlumenthal @aaronjmate @AsaWinstanley @ShashiTharoor @DalrympleWill @saliltripathi @SamDalrymple123

I said this earlier: LEARN TO BE KIND. These young citizens are about to pay a price that would be ridiculously heavy for showing the temerity to stand up to the official goons currently in charge of this country. Roll up your petty suspicions, crumple them up tightly, and throw them in the nearest waste paper basket of the mind. There is no elaborate scheme at work here. Neither is anybody funding them, nor is this some grand charade being perpetrated by the establishment to manufacture an obedient opposition. If you still believe and perpetrate this nonsense, the problem is with you. There is a co-ordinated viciousness at work here that isn't merely alarming, but asks for a whole new level of empathy from anybody who has ever had to visit a police station or a sessions court for the most minor of infringements. I urge everyone who is reading this, even those of you who in the initial days harboured genuine apprehensions, to now see this for what it is and close ranks behind these vulnerable young men. This moment that we witness today, the one where a significant section of the country is throwing its hat in the ring demanding change, hasn't happened on its own. It wouldn't at all be disingenuous to say that whatever impetus this movement has had, and the progress that has brought it so far, has come from the events following the month of May when three young men combined forces with an audacious young woman to rattle the establishment to the core. This does not mean I am taking anything away from Rahul Gandhi. But every such movement requires a critical awakening that has the heft to bring rank outsiders and sitting-on-their-haunches-neutrals into the fold of a common cause, that moment of collective realisation when anything seems possible. If there's even a shred of honesty left in us, we would be graciously acknowledging this with the generosity of spirit this situation deserves. Young lives could soon be destroyed in front of your probing eyes while you contemplate the what-ifs. They will not benefit at all from the luxury of your pontification. There is a time to be watchful and doubtful and there's a time to discover our capacity to display unambiguous solidarity for those who have been courageously walking the talk on behalf of all of us. And that time is not of your choosing, always. If you are still waiting for some miraculous revelation to show you the way, I have nothing more to say my friends. @Cockroachisback @SauravDassss @abhijeet_dipke @AshutoshRanka @nehafolksinger @MurzbanFShroff @SloganMurugan @Sun_e_strokes @Aakar__Patel @RahulGandhi @ArvindKejriwal @sanjayuvacha @JhaSanjay @urvish2020 @mukulkesavan @saliltripathi @sardesairajdeep @newslaundry @Ashok_Kashmir @pbhushan1 @_YogendraYadav @MnshaP @SupriyaShrinate @saliltripathi @SalmanRushdie @naseerudinshah

𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔, 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒐𝒓𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝑫𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒈𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒕 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏' 𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂-𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏' 𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒐𝒏'𝒕 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒛𝒆 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒅𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝑨𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒓𝒐𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒊𝒅𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏' 𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝑰𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏'𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒂-𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏' @AshutoshRanka @abhijeet_dipke @Saurav @_amitbehere @SloganMurugan @MurzbanFShroff @Sun_e_strokes @farabruiser

𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝟗𝟒-𝐘𝐄𝐀𝐑-𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐆𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐔𝐏, 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐖𝐄? Margaret Owen (@ElectionMargie) is a feisty 94-year-old human rights lawyer from Great Britain who was recently arrested for carrying a sign that read: “𝑰 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆, 𝑰 𝒔𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝑷𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒆 𝑨𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏”. As a person of Jewish origin, Owen has shouldered the heavy burden of Holocaust memories for as long as she has been around. The Nazis murdered members of her family in 1941, just outside Vilnius, Lithuania. That included two of her great-aunts, along with other loved ones. She was a mere 13 when the Second World War ended. A little over a decade later, as a 24-year-old journalist, she visited Israel and was overcome with shock with her first-hand observations of how the Palestinians were being treated. Her idea was to stay on for 9 months, crisscrossing the country on her Lambretta, but so disgusted was Owen by what she witnessed, that she cut her trip short within 3 months and wrote about her experiences for the press as a freelance reporter. She has been advocating for the rights of Palestinians ever since. This particular protest that she came out for is therefore entirely consistent with her lifelong stand against the systemic injustice that the Zionists have uniquely perpetrated in the region, while posing as victims. Ever since July 2025, when the United Kingdom came up with a perverse law against Palestine Action, Owen has dared the cops to arrest her multiple times. She even had a placard bearing that slogan attached to a window of her residence. And yet, until last Sunday, the police resisted moving against her, knowing the outrage such an act would cause. Perhaps the ludicrousness of detaining a Jewish human rights barrister as a terrorist, even if only for a few hours, is not entirely lost on them. This is how terribly the so-called great upholders of democratic institutions, the liberal bastions of the West, have fallen on account of their never-ending servility to the murderous Zionist enterprise. Watch the brilliant @owenjonesjourno speak to this conscientious world citizen who, even at the age she is at, refuses to fade away in the face of a genocide when so many mealy-mouthed leaders still keep brazening their way out with evasions, artful justifications and shameless sophistry. As the third anniversary of October 7 draws near, it is the Margaret Owens and Gideon Levys who we must find solace in, even if it is painfully cold comfort for the Palestinians who must have realised by now just how helpless the millions of good people of the world who speak up on their behalf must feel in preventing their daily massacres. #MargaretOwen #StopTheGenocide #FreePalestine @normfinkelstein @yanisvaroufakis @gideonle @DalrympleWill @DrMadsGilbert @FerozeSidhwa @mikopeled @FranceskAlbs @TuckerCarlson @CornelWest @piersmorgan @Byoussef @SloganMurugan @MurzbanFShroff @nauzerbTOI @Sun_e_strokes @ArvindKejriwal @RahulGandhi

𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐈 𝐀𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐖: 𝐀 𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐘. Long years ago, I had made a pact with myself when it came to opining on (the word is 𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑒𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔) literary fiction: I will only write about the books that I have loved reading. If it isn’t something I have particularly enjoyed, I should take the high road and stay quiet about it. For my sole purpose in writing these pieces is not to “review” (which I, as someone who has never attempted writing anything beyond ad copy and a few sporadic poems find somewhat fraudulent), but to circumvent the guilt of letting a terrific piece of work go undiscovered by those who are likely to appreciate it as much as I have. However, debutant author 𝐏𝐢𝐚 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐡-𝐑𝐨𝐲’s I AM THE ARROW has conferred an altogether new responsibility upon me. How do I write this piece without making it seem like a panegyric that makes people altogether mistrustful, if not recoil from it entirely. It gets even more complicated with the fact that she is a friend who I have known for over two decades. It’s the one time I wish I wasn’t acquainted with her at all, so that readers would take my word a lot more objectively. Subjective comparisons with authors notwithstanding, let me commence by saying this is the finest debutant novel I have read in ages. I say this without finding the need to add the qualifier about this being the “finest debutant novel from an Indian or South Asian” writer. If you find this praise dubious or conceivably too flighty, read no further. Perhaps you will come around to cherishing it later, when enough ink would have been expended upon it already. The novel is centred around the cross-generational saga of four strong-willed women tied by fate and circumstance, with secrets buried in every corner of their battered hearts. If they have grown to trust each other without quite falling into the familiar rhythm of relationships, it is because their heartfelt connections intersect with equal parts coarseness and tenderness. 𝐵𝑎𝑛𝑖, 𝑀𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑢, 𝐼𝑟𝑎 and the matriarch 𝑁𝑖𝑦𝑜𝑡𝑖 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑗𝑒𝑒 who holds up this ‘family’ edifice with secrets, silences and a rather tentative empathy, share a bond that hurts, nurtures, provokes, but also for most parts, withstands the messy business of life. There is also, a half and half character of sorts, without whom these four resolute women would have nothing to hold on to. The novel draws much of its emotional resonance in the way it navigates the undefined borders and spaces within these interactions. Beyond this, it would be unwise to give away even the tiniest bit of the plot, for it isn’t just in the telling of it where this story lives and breathes, but also in the way it unfolds structurally, page by page. Riveting in its progression as much as in its expression: a poetic marathon which disguises itself as a book in prose. At 350-odd pages, its length doesn’t make too many demands on your time, and yet I liberally devoted nine days to it. Savouring it like a scrumptious dessert in tiny tidbits, wishing it would never end. You may, of course, find another pleasurable way to take in this bittersweet triumph of a tale. For those who are interested, two lovely interviews with the author that recently appeared in @scroll_in and @thecoldmagazine scroll.in/article/1094769/th… and thecoldmagazine.co.uk/and-i-… Tagging: @MurzbanFShroff @kan_writersside @saliltripathi @mukulkesavan @Aakar__Patel @utterflea @thewire_in @scroll_in @thecaravanindia @IndianExpress @the_hindu @samzsays @ranjona @SumanaSiliguri @karunanundy @maheshperi @MahuaMoitra @derekobrienmp @TheQuint @sardesairajdeep @svaradarajan @bombaywallah @DalrympleWill @nytimes @ZohranKMamdani @SloganMurugan

𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐎. 𝟔𝟐𝟔𝟕𝟏𝟎, 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐘𝐄𝐓. 𝑼𝒎𝒂𝒓 𝑲𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒅 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔. As the minute hand slides past midnight, I imagine Umar in his cell, trying to catch a few precious winks in a half-induced state of watchfulness, wondering if something could be slithering past his body before a warden’s rude interruption wakes him up six hours from now. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒐. An Indian jail, after all, is not the finest embodiment of either hygiene or pest control, and every prisoner must make peace with a few creepy-crawlies night after night. Their pesky, insistent ferocity is what makes conditions in our prisons a long lasting love affair with infections and sicknesses. I try to imagine what it is like for him, constantly reading and writing, helping fellow prisoners draft their appeals, doing the menial work that keeps the institution of incarceration running. And I wonder how he keeps up. How much of a shock would a prolonged period in captivity where injustices flourish far beyond our puny middle-class imaginations, be for someone like Umar, to whom questioning societal inequities was second nature? 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒆𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔. Again, I can’t help but wonder if six years would have been enough for him to get used to the Delhi heat inside a stuffy prison. I remember, too, that he had a couple of brief respites when he was let off on bail to attend a marriage or be present for a family occasion. Wouldn’t a return to prison be an even bigger test of human endurance? How does he adjust? 𝑴𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒆 𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕’𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒍𝒊𝒆 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈: 𝑰, 𝑼𝒎𝒂𝒓 𝑲𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒅, 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝑫𝒓. 𝑼𝒎𝒂𝒓 𝑲𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒅, 𝒂𝒎 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝑫𝒂𝒇𝒂 𝑻𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑺𝒂𝒖 𝑫𝒐—𝑺𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 302, 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂’𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍-𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒏 𝒋𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒑𝒓𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆. 𝑩𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝑰 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆? Perhaps he does. But I also realise that Umar is not me, with all my petty, bourgeoisie insecurities, yearnings for a decent bank balance, inclination for yearly vacations, and my worries about crossing the line that can put an end to it all in an instant. And most importantly, I would have been all of that and yet lived to tell the tale for one simple reason: I am neither a Muslim nor a Dalit, and certainly not a grassroots activist who can be in the crosshairs of an administration that loves to make examples of individuals who want to stand for the right human values. All I am capable of is to write on their behalf on this medium, and that’s that. The anniversaries of their incarcerations, the birthdays they spend in prison year after year, the record of their bail rejections: a faithful documentation of these depressing markers is the sum total of my support for the likes of Umar. And I am not sure I could have done better. We remember you Umar, more out of our guilt than solidarity. Because you took one for all of us. You knew how vicious they were and yet felt compelled to go on. 𝑺𝒊𝒙 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚! 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒏? We are not sure, my friend. (Can I call you my friend, Umar? What right have I earned to call you that?) But I know this for sure, that come out you will. And just as the country to this day reveres our freedom fighters, they will recognise you as one. Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Azad, Bhagat Singh… they all ended up in jail from time to time, not knowing if they would ever see an independent nation capable of handling her own destiny. You are no different, Umar. They would have embraced you as one of their own. And if you can feel their resilient spirit in that lonely cell of yours, you should know that these tyrants will fall too. Sooner than we can imagine. Today is not the day to reiterate how innocent you are of the crimes they accuse you of. This day marks the sixth year of shame and infamy; not just for each and every one who fabricated that long pile of accusations against you, but also for those pompous men and women in black robes who believed them wilfully. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒆𝒕, 𝑼𝒎𝒂𝒓. 𝑺𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒑 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅, 𝒓𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒕𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖. #UmarKhalid6YearsofInjustice #UmarKhalid @banojyotsna @MurzbanFShroff @SloganMurugan @farabruiser @urvish2020 @AlankarSawai @saliltripathi @Aakar__Patel @pbhushan1 @ranjona @ArvindKejriwal @MnshaP @msisodia @SauravDassss @Abhijit_Dipke @AshutoshRanka @RahulGandhi @abhisar_sharma @ravish_journo @ppbajpai @newslaundry @_YogendraYadav @nandinisundar @Ram_Guha @thecaravanindia @scroll_in @thewire_in @svaradarajan @FerozeSidhwa @dhruv_rathee @suchetadalal #FreeAllPoliticalPrisonersNow

Here's a powerful 15-minute prologue by one of the world's finest journalists, @AbbyMartin to the investigative documentary feature 𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐡'𝐬 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲, created by her with co-director Mike Prysner. Abby has been one of the greatest discoveries for so many of us over the past 3 years. In a fair world, the sort of brilliant work she has put in for years on Gaza and the West Bank, civil liberties, the US Foreign Policy, and so many other subjects of note, should have won her at least 5 Pulitzers by now. But then those aren't the sort of awards that a fiercely independent, anti-establishment journalist is ever bestowed with. Nevertheless, her formidable reputation needs no such crutches. Here's the link to the introductory video from @DoubleDownNews. facebook.com/reel/1862913091… The film is available to watch at whatever price you are willing to pay for, right here: earthsgreatestenemy.com/ Seems like perfect weekend viewing. Voices for Gaza / Voices in favour of Palestine: @gideonle @RothLindberg @pappe54 @normfinkelstein @YoBenCohen @BernieSanders @TuckerCarlson @amanpour @FranceskAlbs @CornelWest @ChrisLynnHedges @Byoussef @owenjonesjourno @yanisvaroufakis @DrMadsGilbert @FerozeSidhwa @DalrympleWill @MaxBlumenthal @mikopeled @georgegalloway @Haaretz @susanabulhawa @mehdirhasan @piersmorgan @guardian @nytimes @wapo @MurzbanFShroff @SloganMurugan @vibione @nauzerbTOI @ajay43 @jawharsircar @mukulkesavan @arieb_azhar @ShaykhSulaiman #FreePalestine #GazaGenocide

𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐊 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐘𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐓’𝐒 𝐇𝐔𝐌𝐀𝐍. Here's what Itai, a former Israeli combat soldier, is heard saying while he is being interviewed on the British TV documentary, 𝐁𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐑𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬: 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥'𝐬 𝐖𝐚𝐫, directed by 𝐵𝑒𝑛 𝑍𝑎𝑛𝑑 (@BenjaminZand) for ITV. "𝑰 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆 𝑰 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒂 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑 𝑰 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆." My only thought on hearing this was: 𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑎 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑟𝑢𝑡𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑝 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑣𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒. For, just before he acknowledges his abject sense of mortification this is what he goes on to say: 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑒 𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒, 𝐼 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑛. Well, what does that tell us about how many such houses were burnt to the ground? How many such homes did HE alone shatter; reduce to ashes, leaving behind the embers of broken lives. Ask yourself, how many? How long must it take for a human being to realise that lines as thick as these, lines that we are not supposed to cross, are beyond all earthly forgiveness, beyond divine redemption and beyond all absolution? But this is the least of what you get to learn in this heart-crushing documentary. The saga of dehumanisation that Israel has inflicted upon Gaza is nearly impossible to document and utterly unbearable to come to terms with. It erases even the barest minimum expectation of compassion that individuals inhabiting the same planet must extend to one another. The harrowing cost of this dehumanisation was exacted from the people of Gaza at every turn, literally so. There were imaginary territorial boundaries for Palestinians that existed only in the heads of IDF Company Commanders, which they were not supposed to breach. People were shot squarely in the head not because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. But because ANY place and ANY time would be the wrong place and the wrong time. Netzarim Corridor, the buffer zone that separated North and South Gaza, where teenagers were occasionally seen walking, was a happy hunting ground for soldiers of the IDF. Sometimes, a Platoon Commander would stand up to his immediate superior and prevent his soldiers from slaughtering innocent civilians, only to later get an earful for having missed the opportunity to butcher when they had the chance. Here's a direct quote from another exasperated soldier who was humane enough to break ranks: 𝐼𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑓𝑎𝑠𝑡, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠. 𝐼𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑠𝑙𝑜𝑤, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝐼𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑙𝑎𝑔𝑠 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑, 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑎 𝑡𝑤𝑜-𝑡𝑜-𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. Hospitals, mosques, homes, schools, streets, nothing has been spared. It would take years to merely clear Gaza of the rubble that has accumulated after the merry dance of devastation that has gone on for nearly three years now. And the worst mistake we could make is to think that all this is in the past now. Well over a thousand more Palestinians have perished AFTER the last declared ceasefire. The starvation and the battle for survival cannot get any more crippling. The world can quibble all it can about the exact use of terminology; genocide, ethnic cleansing, who cares anymore? But of this we can be sure: there would be no punishment on God's earth which could atone for the vile deeds accomplished gleefully by these butchers in Gaza. The only real truth is that we are living through a time when we have helplessly watched a population of millions being massacred and displaced in cold blood; their homes destroyed, their livelihoods plundered, their very last vestige of existence obliterated. A handful of soldiers are now confronting the nightmares that have been brought on by the horrors they have themselves helped perpetrate. But for Palestinians who have lost their all and are still trying to survive, the shame of these soldiers or their pathetic nightmares must mean absolutely nothing. Link to the documentary: youtube.com/watch?v=OZ2hZE6P… @ITV @voiceofrabbis @MurzbanFShroff @SloganMurugan @vibione @Sun_e_strokes @nauzerbTOI @ajay43 @jawharsircar @mukulkesavan @arieb_azhar @ShaykhSulaiman @piersmorgan @guardian @nytimes @wapo @yanisvaroufakis @DrMadsGilbert @FerozeSidhwa @DalrympleWill @MaxBlumenthal @mikopeled @georgegalloway @jvplive @Haaretz @susanabulhawa @AbbyMartin @gideonle @RothLindberg @pappe54 @normfinkelstein @YoBenCohen @BernieSanders @TuckerCarlson @FranceskAlbs @CornelWest @amanpour @ChrisLynnHedges @Byoussef @owenjonesjourno #GazaGenocide‌ #IDFcrimes #BreakingRanks

𝐒𝐡𝐮𝐝𝐝𝐡𝐚𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐩𝐭𝐚 who is not on this medium, wrote this post on facebook. Read this as a fact-check, which is ostensibly what the spokesperson of the BJP Mr. @SudhanshuTrived's who appeared on @anjanaomkashyap's show on @aajtak asked for. *********** "After Amit Shah, Ram Madhav and Baba Ramdev, the latest Sanghi to place his foot squarely in his mouth on ‘Vande Mataram’ is BJP spokesperson, Dr. Sudhanshu Trivedi. In a live TV debate (see link below) on Aaj Tak (presided over by the one-and-only Ms. Anjana Om Kashyap) Dr. Trivedi, all fire and brimstone, attempted a potted history of ‘who sang Vande Mataram where and in which congress session’. He called upon the lakhs of people watching the programme to ‘fact check’ him if they so desired. Let’s just say that I am one of those ‘lakhs of people’, and that I gladly accepted his challenge. Dr. Trivedi started his account with the 1896 Congress session presided over by Rahmatullah Ahmed Sayani in Calcutta and then jumped straight on to the 1924 Congress session. He said that this session, presided over by Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar, featured a performance of the complete Vande Mataram by Ravindranath Tagore. This is where it gets interesting. The only congress session featuring a rendition of the Vande Mataram was the Calcutta Congress of 1896 presided over by R.A. Sayani, which Dr. Trivedi started his account with. No session, in any year, including 1924, ever witnessed a performance by Ravindranath Tagore again. Dr. Trivedi makes it a point to mention Sayani and Mohammad Ali Jauhar by name, to make the indirect rhetorical point that two Muslim congress presidents did not have an objection to the performance of the complete text of the song. Especially when a Tagore sang it. Except that (and now we come to the one in a lakh ‘fact-checker’s pedantic insistence on the actual ‘facts’) Tagore did not sing in the 1924 Congress session in Belgaum, Vishnu Digambar Paluskar did. And except that the 1924 Congress session was not presided over by Mohammad Ali Jauhar but by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. And this is the only session of the Congress presided over by Gandhi. Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar sang Vande Mataram at every annual session of the Indian National Congress from 1915 until 1931, totaling about 17 consecutive years, including the 1924 session at Belgaum. Mohammad Ali Jauhar did preside over an annual Congress session but that was not in 1924 in Belgaum. It was in the year preceding it, in 1923, in Kakinada. This is of some significance insofar as Paluskar’s performance of Vande Mataram is concerned, because Jauhar, as president, objected to Paluskar’s singing of the complete text (including the idolatrous stanzas) of Vande Mataram. Paluskar paid no heed to the objections and continued singing. At this Jauhar walked out of the dias. So, contrary to Dr. Trivedi, this is what actually happened: a) Tagore did not sing ‘Vande Mataram’ in 1924, Paluskar did. b) Mohammad Ali Jauhar did not preside the 1924 Congress session. Gandhi did. c) It is not true that no one objected to the performance of the full text of the song till either 1924, or until 1937. d) Mohammad Ali Jauhar was actually the person who objected, as a believing Muslim, when he was the Congress president, in 1923, a full fourteen years before 1937, to the performance of the complete text of the song (including the idolatrous portions). There’s something to be said about Vande Mataram, it certainly brings out the liars and the fantasists and the morons who populate the leadership of the BJP in all their glory. There must be some sort of hidden hallucinogenic effect in the words, music and memory of this song that prompts the very artificial intelligence of Hindutva to hallucinate with such power and so vividly. I’m almost beginning to enjoy the bluster, the bravura, and the seemingly unstoppable nature, of this series of performances." youtube.com/watch?v=IdEtWtU5… @MurzbanFShroff @saliltripathi @SloganMurugan @_amitbehere @vibione @farabruiser @nramind @urvish2020 @nishthajaan @ajay43 @Aakar__Patel @ranjona @sardesairajdeep @ravish_journo @abhisar_sharma @ppbajpai @AbhinandanSekhr @newslaundry @DaMoMusings @suchetadalal @darab_farooqui @sabeer @sanjayuvacha @prempanicker @bismil_prasad @zoo_bear @vijayprashad @utterflea @pbhushan1 @KapilSibal @_YogendraYadav @thecaravanindia @scroll_in #VandeMataramControversy