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Correspondent

23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Unequal Law

Few legal asymmetries in India expose the uneasy bargain between secularism, vote-bank politics, and gender justice as starkly as the continuing permissibility of polygamy for Muslim men. While Hindu, Christian, Sikh and Parsi men have been bound by monogamy for decades, Sunni Muslim personal law still allows up to four wives. For decades, India’s political class has treated Muslim polygamy as an awkward inheritance best left untouched. That uneasy settlement is now under strain following the...

Unequal Law

Few legal asymmetries in India expose the uneasy bargain between secularism, vote-bank politics, and gender justice as starkly as the continuing permissibility of polygamy for Muslim men. While Hindu, Christian, Sikh and Parsi men have been bound by monogamy for decades, Sunni Muslim personal law still allows up to four wives. For decades, India’s political class has treated Muslim polygamy as an awkward inheritance best left untouched. That uneasy settlement is now under strain following the recent landmark survey by the Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), based on 2,508 Sunni women across seven states. The survey has dragged the hidden costs of polygamy out of private misery and into the national ledger. Its findings are profoundly political. The BMMA documents sharp health deterioration among first wives: chronic sleep disorders, hypertension, migraines, thyroid dysfunction, menstrual problems and diabetes - all at rates significantly higher than among second wives. Mental health outcomes are grimmer still. Insomnia, anxiety, depression, helplessness and social withdrawal stalk the first wife with disturbing regularity. Since Independence, successive governments have treated Muslim personal law as a domain too electorally sensitive to reform. The bitter memory of the Shah Bano case in 1985 when Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress-led government overturned a Supreme Court judgment granting maintenance rights to a divorced Muslim woman under pressure from conservative clerics has cast a long shadow. It taught politicians that touching Muslim personal law carried the price of organised backlash, and possibly electoral loss. Apologists insist polygamy is rare, or that it is divinely regulated when in fact it embeds a hierarchy in law between men and women, and among women themselves. It legalises emotional, economic and sexual asymmetry under the authority of the state. It weakens women’s bargaining power inside marriage and normalises abandonment under the disguise of legality. The Supreme Court has described polygamy as an “injurious practice” even while acknowledging its legal status under Muslim personal law. Several Muslim-majority countries - from Tunisia to Turkey - have banned it altogether. India, for all its constitutional claims, remains on the more regressive side of this divide. Why the hesitation? The answer lies in the peculiar coalition that has guarded this privilege. Conservative religious bodies defend polygamy as theological necessity. So-called ‘secular intellectuals,’ wary of being seen as ‘majoritarian,’ treat criticism of regressive Muslim practices as cultural trespass. This is not secularism but a clear abdication of women’s rights which these secularists and feminists claim to champion in so shrill a manner. The irony that these upholders of secularist values fail to see is that Muslim women themselves have been among the most persistent voices for change. They ask for the same marital certainty that other Indian women take for granted. Banning polygamy may not instantaneously transform social behaviour. But it will declare, unambiguously, that the Indian state recognises only one equal partnership at a time. That is not a cultural imposition. It is the minimum architecture of modern gender justice.

A Man with a Golden Arm and an Even More Golden Heart

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

A Man with a Golden Arm and an Even More Golden Heart

It is rare when an idol becomes a close friend, but Karsan Devji Ghavri, known affectionately as Kadu Bhai, feels more like an elder brother. Even decades after his retirement, Karsan Ghavri remains widely admired, so much so that Prime Minister Narendra Modi twice offered him a political position, which he declined both times—first while coaching West Bengal’s cricket team and later to care for his ailing 90-year-old mother, Ba.

Hailing from a joint family from Rajkot, Gujarat, Karsan Ghavri started playing cricket at the age of 11 and went on to represent India in the All Schools tournament in Australia. The story is that a Mumbai batsman who heard of this fierce young pace bowler from Gujarat suggested the Mumbai team management import him to Mumbai so that he did not have to face the wrath of his pace, and that is how Karsan Ghavri played for Mumbai and went on to become a “Pakka Mumbaikar.”

His neighbours once ambushed him at a movie theatre with drums and garlands upon hearing of his selection for the Indian cricket team under Tiger Pataudi in 1975. His biggest concern then wasn’t his performance but how to accommodate all 35 relatives eager for tickets to his debut Test match. Kadu Bhai, known for his charm both on and off the field, remained unfazed even when his dalliance with a Pakistani beauty caused a stir. Despite being labelled as “lady killer,” he humbly credits legends like Tiger Pataudi and Salim Durrani as far more charming.

Karsan Ghari holds the record of being the first Indian pace bowler to take 100 wickets, a record that remains unbroken. He represented India for 8 years, playing 39 test matches and 19 one-day internationals. Ghavri was also a skilled spin bowler, often wiping out the opposition so effectively that Captain Bishan Singh Bedi warned him against bowl spinning, even in practice. Among his memorable performances, his dismissal of Greg Chappell and his explosive 86 against Australia are still celebrated after all these years.

Whether at the school, university, Ranji Trophy, or international level, Karsan Ghavri served Indian cricket with distinction. He represented West Zone, Mumbai, and his club with pride. Legend has it that Ghavri lost his spot on the Indian cricket team due to a disagreement with his captain at the time.

Beyond his achievements on the field, Karsan Ghavri has a knack for spotting talent, having discovered Shubman Gill at age 10 and identified Cheteshwar Pujara as a teenager. Many young cricketers who have represented India have played under his guidance, and he remains respected not only for his cricketing prowess but for his gentlemanly demeanour.

Karsan Ghavri ranks Dilip Kumar as 1 to 10 among actors and Sir Gary Sobers as 1 to 10 among cricketers, with everyone else starting from 11. A style icon, Ghavri’s clothes were impeccably tailored. He reflects that, despite earning very little throughout their careers, they wore the finest clothes and dined at the best places, but had no savings.

Earning just a few hundred rupees per day to play a Test for India, Ghavri appreciates how the Board has revolutionised Indian cricket, taking good care of both current and retired players. He recalls that it was a dream to play for India under any conditions—on underprepared pitches, without protective gear, and facing the world’s fastest bowlers. “It was an honour to wear the Indian cap and play for India,” says Ghavri, a proud nationalist.

After 60 years, Karsan Ghavri is bidding farewell to Mumbai, returning to Rajkot, and fulfilling his 90-year-old mother’s dreams. While Mumbai cricket’s loss will be Indian cricket’s gain, his focus includes looking after his mother, being a mentor of the Saurashtra cricket team, and running his upcoming Karsan Ghavri cricket academy in Morbi, Gujarat. With two successful daughters and a son, he remains a devoted family man, never speaking ill of anyone in the 20 years I’ve known him. His unwavering dedication to his family and cricket continues to define him.

He promises to return to Mumbai every month for four days to meet his many friends and fans and to enjoy a round of golf, a game he excels at.

Wishing him the best at his new home, new academy, and Saurashtra cricket.

Kadu bhai, Yaaro ka Yaar

Cheers to a Champion!!

(The writer is a spokesperson for Shiv Sena. Views personal.)

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