This question led to a college professor in suburban Mumbai being arrested last week. The answer is trivial.
For Maharashtrians who revere Chhatrapati Shivaji, it is no secret that the 17th century Maratha king’s birth date has been a subject of some dispute. The state officially marks Shivaji Jayanti with an annual public holiday on February 19, as per the Gregorian calendar. A large section of Maharashtrians, meanwhile, prefer to celebrate the occasion on the third day of Phalgun in the Hindu calendar, which fell on March 15 this year.
Members of the Shiv Sena have frequently brought up this dispute between the two calendars – insisting that Shivaji’s birth anniversary must be marked according to Hindu tithi – only to be ignored by other political parties in successive governments.
However, last week, a professor in Raigad district’s Khopoli town was assaulted and arrested for asking the same question on a Whatsapp group of his college colleagues.
On the night of March 15, when many Maharashtrians were commemorating Shivaji Jayanti as per the Hindu calendar, commerce professor Sunil Waghmare posted a comment on Whatsapp questioning the celebration of Shivaji’s birthday twice a year. The comment raised a storm among his colleagues on the group and on the next day, Waghmare was attacked by both teachers and students at the KMC College where he teaches.
The police, which first arrived on the scene to protect Waghmare, ended up arresting him and charging him under Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code, for allegedly outraging religious beliefs. While he is now out on bail, Waghmare has been suspended from his job.
An absurd controversy
How and why did the birth anniversary of Maharashtra’s most venerated warrior king become a matter of such contention? For most historians and writers in the state, it is an controversy that has been needlessly politicised in the past few years.
Shivaji was born in the early 1600s to Shahaji Bhonsale, a Maratha subedaar or army general, and available historical records are themselves divided about the exact date and year of his birth. When social reformer Lokmanya Tilak first popularised Shivaji Jayanti in the 1890s, Shivaji’s birth date was widely considered to be in the Hindu month of Chaitra, corresponding to April 6, 1627. Other historical records, however, indicated that Shivaji was born in Phalgun on a date corresponding to February 19, 1630.
“Broadly, it is known that Shivaji was born in the spring, but no one can really say for certain in which month or year,” said Sujata Anandan, a veteran political journalist and author. “Since he was not born as a royal, there was no reason to record his exact birth date.”
In 2000, the Congress-led state government of the time set up a committee of historians to determine Shivaji’s birth date. Based on its research and recommendations, the state accepted February 19 – the equivalent of Phalgun vadya tritiya or the third day of Phalgun – as the official Shivaji Jayanti holiday.
“But it is not necessary that the dates of the Hindu calendar fall on the same English [Gregorian] calendar dates every year, and a lot of the public does not accept the government date for Shivaji Jayanti,” said Pandurang Balkawade, a historian from Pune. “So even though schools and colleges are officially closed on February 19, many people celebrate the occasion based on the Hindu tithi.”
Two calendars, two views
Even as political groups dismiss the controversy over Shivaji’s birthday as a non-issue, they have strong opinions on the choice of one calendar over another to mark their celebrations.
The Sambhaji Brigade, a Maratha vigilante group affiliated to the Nationalist Congress Party, believes the Gregorian calendar is the only appropriate choice in a globalised world, so that Shivaji Jayanti can be observed by Indians across the world.
“Today we celebrate the birthdays of all important men by [Gregorian] date, not tithi,” said Vikas Pasalkar, the state president of the Sambhaji Brigade. “Even for [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi, who is the champion of Hindutva, we don’t mark the birthday by tithi, because this is the 21st century.”
While Pasalkar contends that most Maharashtrians celebrating Shivaji Jayanti by tithi would not even be able to name all the months of the Hindu calendar, Balkawade believes people have a right to be annoyed by the government’s imposition of the “English” calendar date.
“In his time, Shivaji had rejected the Islamic calendar of the Mughals, so why should people accept an outsider’s calendar today?” said Balkawade.
On either side of the debate, there is one common source of validation. Kalnirnay – publishers of the widely popular Hindu calendars and almanacs – lists both February 19 and the third of Phalgun as birth anniversaries of Shivaji.
A question asked hundreds of times
For professor Sunil Waghmare in Khopoli, this debate over calendars ended in a criminal case even before a discussion could properly begin.
The Shiv Sena, which is at the forefront of those promoting tithi-based celebrations, distanced itself from the violent reactions of Waghmare’s colleagues. “Chhatrapati Shivaji is such a huge figure that even celebrating his birthday every day would not be enough,” said Harshal Pradhan, a Shiv Sena spokesperson in Mumbai. “We are in a democracy and we do not support violence against anyone.”
Pasalkar, meanwhile, was baffled that Waghmare faced any violence at all. “I don’t know why this question about Shivaji’s birthday should become so controversial all of a sudden,” he said. “This question has already been asked hundreds of times.”
In the Hindi film song universe, the intoxicant is a relatively new addition to the festival of colours.
In the infectious Holi song Balam Pichkari (Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani, 2013), lyricist Amitabh Bhattacharya writes, “Itna mazaa kyon aa raha hai, tunay hawa mein bhang milaaya” (Why am I having so much fun, you have mixed cannabis in the air).
When bhang is floating in the air, the atmosphere turns into a frenzied spectacle of music and dance. In most Holi songs, the cannabis plant preparation is implied through lyrics or depicted through visuals of revellers downing tall glasses of thandai, a concoction of milk, dry fruits and bhang.
Bhang is a relatively recent addition to the depiction of Holi in Hindi films. Popular tunes celebrating the festival of colour between the 1940s and the ’60s were more religious in nature, focusing on the legend of the god Krishna, who coloured the face of Radha to match his blue skin tone.
Songs such as Phagun Ki Rut (Holi, 1940), Bheegoyi Mori Saree (Shaadi, 1941), Holi Ka Din Hai (Renuka, 1947), Khelo Rang Hamare Sang (Aan, 1952), Holi Khele Nandlala (Raahi, 1953), Holi Aayi Re Kanhai (Mother India, 1957), Arre Jaa Re Natkhat (Navrang, 1959), Tan Rang Lo (Kohinoor, 1960) and Holi Khelat Nandlal (Godaan, 1963) refer to the playful interactions between Krishna and Radha. None of these songs has any room for bhang.
Bhang is strongly associated with Shiva. In folk tales, he is often cited smoking the ganja form of the cannabis plant. So when did bhang swing into the Holi melody?
Mehmood flops about like a thirsty bird in need of a cool drink in Zara Si Aur Pila Do Bhang from the 1968 movie Kaajal, but it is in the ’70s that bhang appears to have become indispensable to Holi festivities.
The jaunty RD Burman tune Aaj Na Chhodenge (Kati Patang, 1970) features portly men grinding the cannabis leaves into the bhang paste. Swooning men wait with empty glasses for a thandai refill. Kamal (Rajesh Khanna) implores merrymakers to drop their guard, while Madhu (Asha Parekh), dressed austerely as a widow in white, pines for the same happiness as others.
In the 1974 film Aap Ki Kasam, Rajesh Khanna and Mumtaz dance to the trippy sounds of Jai Jai Shiv Shankar. The song, composed by RD Burman and written by Anand Bakshi, acknowledges Shiva’s contribution to the intoxicant thandai through the words “Ke pyala tere naam ka piya” (We toast our goblet to you). The pyala is spiked with bhang, since the actors consume the libation on Shivratri.
The tune also doubles up as a Holi special, presumably because of its association with Rajesh Khanna and bhang.
Jai Jai Shiv Shankar from Aap Ki Kasam (1974).
After Khanna, another superstar, Amitabh Bachchan, famously gulped down a glass of thandai and sang Rang Barse in Silsila (1981). Bachchan formalises the presence of bhang and its wonderful side-effects on anyone with an off-key pitch and two left feet. Although lyricist Javed Akhtar does not include bhang in the words, the visuals suffice.
Songs such as Hori Khele Raghuveera (Baghban, 2003) and Rang Dalo (Banaras, 2006) incorporate visuals of people grinding the plant into a paste. In Anu Malik’s composition Koi Bheege Hai (Mumbai Se Aaya Mera Dost, 2003), Abhishek Bachchan carries forward the legacy of his father’s enthralled spirits when he lip-synchs the lyrics written by Sameer, “Koi bheega tarang se, koi bheega hai bhang se” (Some are intoxicated by music, others by bhang). No truer words have been sung.
By LIKHAVEER
73 people have been arrested in the racket where US citizens were cheated out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
It took just two days for J Roy (name changed) to figure out that all was not quite above board at the call centre he had just joined, having had several years' experience in business process outsourcing units or BPOs.
"It just didn't seem right," he told when he was brought to court on Monday.
Roy is among 73 men and women who have been arrested in a widespread call-centre racket busted in Thane district near Mumbai in which callers, posing as American tax agents, coerced victims in the US into paying up online after telling them that they had defaulted on their taxes. The police suspect that the roots of the racket go back to Ahmedabad and have said it could be much wider than what they have uncovered so far.
On Monday, all the arrested accused were produced before a Thane magistrate. Thirteen have been remanded to further police custody and the rest have been sent to judicial custody.
Murky business
The call centre that Roy worked at was one among more than 10 that have been raided in Thane district over the last week, starting from October 4. He had spent a month there and was due to get his salary this week, but the police swooped in on his centre.
Looking back, Roy said with a smile, he knew that “the American Internal Revenue Service doesn’t call anyone”.
With a script ready for employees that ranged from mildly threatening to downright aggressive, the goings on at these purported call centres were far from right.
The call-centre employees, posing as US Internal Revenue Service agents, would use Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP – voice calls made using a web connection – and would tell their prospective victims that they had failed to pay their full taxes and would have to pay up or face further action. The convinced callers would make an online payment using a credit card.
Several thousand Americans – police are yet to estimate the number of victims – were conned into parting with small and large sums of money. The masterminds of the racket are still at large. The police said that about seven people had put their money into setting up these call centres and operating the racket. However, 73 mostly junior employees have been arrested so far. More than 630 are also under investigation.
The IRS regularly puts out advisories about fake calls such as the ones these centres were making. Despite this, in rented premises, the purported call centres managed to run a lucrative racket, that has fetched around Rs 500 crores in a year, according to reports.
From the script
Most of the callers were young men and women – in their 20s and 30s – who had responded to advertisements and flyers announcing openings at call centres or had heard of them through word-of-mouth. Knowledge of English was generally enough to get the job.
They were then primed with a script based on anticipated responses. Some of the conversations went like this:
Statement: Where are you calling me from?
Answer: I am calling you from the INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE HEADQUARTERS which is located in Washington DC.
Statement: Where was the miscalculation (error) found?
Answer: Well, Mr customer let me make you aware that we are calling you from the investigation departments and not from the audit department and hence we cannot help you to where did you do the mistakes (sic).
Employees were trained in how to sound menacing, and taught to ask questions like, "What is your intention now, would you like to resolve this case or are you looking for a dispute?”
Callers who asked why they had not been sent the paperwork by mail or heard about the problem earlier would be told that attempts had been made to reach them, but to no avail. They would also be told no further paperwork could be sent across as it was lying in the court house.
Those who sought to speak to their accountants would be told this meant the IRS could charge them up to $50,000 as a fine and inform their employers and the media.
An accent trainer, among those arrested last week, helped the callers work on their diction and delivery and develop what the trainer described as a “neutral sounding" accent – something that would presumably not peg them to a specific country.
The scripts also took into possible scenarios where people would not agree to pay up easily and gave instructions on how to tackle those. For instance:
Scenario 1
Answer: I have already paid the IRSCaller: What we are investigating about is the miscalculation seen in your tax filed which makes us assume your intention was to defraud to IRS and the income tax law (sic).
Scenario 2
Statement: I am not going to make any payment over the phone.Answer: …I am here to guide you so that you can go ahead and make the payment and resolve the matter outside the court house so we can go ahead and cancel the arrest warrant.”
Scenario 3
Statement: My accountant files my taxes.Answer: Well Mr Customer, let me make aware that federal government has not allow to hire any third party for your taxes (sic)… the law suit is filed against you. So you are the responsible person for it.”
Tell-tale signs
A relative said his nephew had worked in call centres before this and was trained to simply repeat what they had been taught without thinking too much. “That is how these things usually work,” he said.
For employees, however, there were several tell-tale signs. There were no formal identity badges, no work contract at the time of joining and most significantly, no salary slips. Employees were paid in cash, with salaries starting from Rs 10,000 monthly for about eight hours of work. This was alluring for school dropouts or young people from lower-middle-class families.
"We started to realise something was wrong, but everyone is tempted by money," said the relative of one of the accused. “When a young man has a steady income it is good for him and for the family.”
An employee who worked at one of the raided call centres on a night shift had not met his wife in a month before he was arrested last week. “He said to me, ‘I have to show them I am working hard,” his wife told Scroll.in. “His job was simply to supervise, he did not make calls.”
One of the accused claimed they realised something was wrong only about four or five days before the police raided the centres. Many had been working at the establishments for just a couple of months or a few weeks and were waiting for their salaries.
“Our children are also victims,” said a relative of one of the arrested accused. “They were only employees, doing as they were told.”
Big fish at large
The relative of another employee said: “The police needs to go after the masterminds, not the employees, who were the small fry.”
The police, however, believe that it is unlikely that the employees had no clue what was going on.
The police said that a team has just returned from Ahmedabad, the possible starting point of the operation.
“There are likely to be more [such fraudulent centres],” said Param Bir Singh, Thane commissioner of police.
The raids were conducted over the past week in Thane. Many of the centres were renting out premises in a single building. “It is an industry,” said a senior police official. “We have learnt so much in investigating this case.”
The three First Information Reports registered in the case so far include charges of cheating and cheating by impersonation under the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Information Technology Act, including those related to sending menacing messages.
Police conducted the raids based on tip-offs they received and also found that the call centres had been operating without the requisite permissions.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation in the US is expected to formally contact the Thane police in connection with the scam.
Police estimate that the racket was running for a year, but say that further details will only be gleaned once they nab the main accused in this case. The purported mastermind, believed to have fled the country, is a 23-year-old identified as Sagar Thakkar alias Shaggy, who has no previous criminal record, police said.
Some reports said that some “gang members” were operating from the US, but the police did not comment on this.
