Reality of India Alliance Exposed | Straight Bat with Rajdeep Sardesai

Reality of India Alliance Exposed | Straight Bat with Rajdeep Sardesai

Hello and welcome to Straight Bat my weekly video blog where as the title suggests I comment with a straight bat. In the last few days, a few tragic incidents have left me anguished, anguished and yes angry enough to ask a question: what if my name was Rahim and not Rajdeep. Strange question you may think .. not so strange when I look at what is happening around us. So for the next few minutes, think you are listening to Rahim Sheikh and not Rajdeep Sardesai

1) what If my name was Rahim Sheikh and I was a 70 year old seated in a crowded train. My beard might set me apart and suddenly I might find myself surrounded by a group of angry young men.. angry enough to first fight with me over a seat and then incensed enough to assault me because they think I am carrying beef in my bag. Little do they know that all I am carrying in a plastic bag is some meat cooked by my wife. But since my name is Rahim, they won’t listen to me. They are convinced that somehow I must be taught a lesson . I have 2800 rupees in my pocket, they will take that too. I am defenseless, no one in the train will stop them from assaulting me. Instead they will take videos of me being assaulted and share them with friends. I plead with them to stop but since my name is Rahim Sheikh, no one will listen to me. And yet, I forgive them.. they know not what they are doing

2) my name is Rahim Sheikh. And I am a young migrant worker in a village in Haryana.. working as a daily wage laborer. Some days I get work, some days I don’t. I have come to Haryana from Bengal only in search of an income so that I can provide for my family, Suddenly, I find a mob surrounding me in the market place. Someone accuses me of having consumed beef, of having killed cattle. I thought I had the right to consume food of my choice but clearly I don’t because my name is Rahim Sheikh. No one stops the mob from beating me. No one.. not the women, not the men, not the police. I am taken to hospital and declared dead. Will those who beat me to death get away? I don’t know , they probably will get away because my name is Rahim Sheikh..

3) my name is Rahim Sheikh.. I live in Ahmednagar, a town near Pune. I am listening to a hate speech being given by a Maharashtra BJP MLA. The MLA is a VIP, his father is a VVIP: an MP who is also a former Maharashtra CM and a union minister in the modi govt till a few months ago. I hear him let off a string of abuse against Muslims, he says he will enter the masjid and break it. I don’t know what to say. I quietly move away from for gathering , I don’t want any trouble because my name is Rahim Sheikh. I am told that rhe police has filed a hate speech case against the neta but I doubt anything will happen. Nothing usually happens in these hate speech cases when you are a powerful politician. I mean did anything happen to the neta who virtually exhorted a crowd to say ‘goli maaro salo ko’. Hate speech has been normalised , the number of hate speech cases have increased exponentially but I can’t say a word because my name is Rahim Sheikh

4) but why blame the MLA.. some of the biggest leaders in my country call me a ghuspetiya or infiltrator,, someone else says I will snatch their buffaloes.. they say that I want to take away your mangalsutra .. that I have many children and my home is a baby producing factory.. I actually only have two kids, fertility rates for muslims are falling as they are for all Indians,, but how do I explain myself because my name is Rahim Sheikh.

5) oh.. there is this chief minister who keeps calling us Miya.. he thinks we are taking away jobs of Hindus in the vegetable market .. little does he know that I am a vegetable vendor who struggles to make ends meet , but I can’t say a word to anyone because my name is Rahim Sheikh.. oh, there is also another CM who says I have a Talibani mindset, that I am an aatankwadi, .. I want to challenge him but I dare not because my name is Rahim Sheikh..

6) to be honest I wanted to contest an election one day but I am told that I will lose.. no Hindu will vote for me any more.. why because my name is Rahim Sheikh and I belong to a community which doesn’t have a single Muslim representative in the treasury benches of parliament

7) my name is Rahim Sheikh.. I am worried today .. am told that tomorrow a big bulldozer is coming to bring down my house, I live in a town in MP and have been accused of pelting stones at a police station. I did not throw a stone but who will listen to me because my name is Rahim Sheikh. I saw that protestors in Kolkata were throwing bricks at the police.. I don’t know anyone’s home in Kolkata that’s been demolished even though the brick throwers wearing saffron kerchiefs are caught on camera. Here I didn’t even throw a stone but because someone in my neighbourhood did, we must all suffer collective punishment. Yes, those who did throw stones must be charged under law.. but what is the law that allows our homes to be demolished. Or is it that the constitution of the country will offer no protection because my name is Rahim Sheikh. I want to let you on a secret: I used to live in UP till a year ago.. there too I feared that the administration would one day demolish my home so I moved to MP, but the bulldozer it seems has followed me. Think about it: people in this country who loot and steal millions, who build houses in violation of all land laws will have a battery of lawyers to save them. No one will touch the, but I really have no one in my corner when Tomorrow they will come and demolish my house because my name is Rahim Sheikh

8) my son goes to school .. someone in his class told him to go to Pakistan.. why.. because his father’s name is Rahim sheikh. I have never been to Pakistan, have no intention of going there either. You see my grand parents had a choice in 1947 : to cross the border or stay put. They stayed put. My grandfather was a postman , a proud member of the Indian postal department, every Independence Day, he would hoist the trilcour in our home. But no one believes me because my name is Rahim Sheikh.

9) they tell me that Hindus are being targeted in neighbouring Bangladesh.. it’s terrible and unacceptable., but what of the abuse I face when someone calls me a Katua, a bhadwa, or aatankwadi. Don’t beleiebe me ? Well this was the language used by a ruling party MP against a fellow MP in parliament. If an MP can be abused, who am I a common citizen. I must sit and quietly bear it because my name is Rahim Sheikh

10) when my son falls in love with a hindu girl, they will call it love jehad. when I get Covid, they will call it corona jehad. When I want to buy a plot of land in an upscale colony, they will probably call it land jehad, in any case no one will let me in because maybe some colonies don’t want a neighbour whose name is Rahim Sheikh.

11) on prime time tv, every time there is a terror attack in Kashmir, I will be demonised and looked at with suspicion . Every night, they will keep questioning my patriotism, make me responsible for any and every criminal act of any member of my community , claim that I shout provocative slogans. But I must keep silent at all times and not respond. Why? Because my name is Rahim Sheikh,

I think I have said enough, I hope you get the drift. Friends, all I want is to live in a country where Rajdeep and Rahim are equal citizens with equal opportunities. Where my name won’t decide just how society treats me because I am a citizen who has only one holy book he believes in: the constitution Of india.
That was the straight bat