Star power on atrocities

Chhattisgarh Home Minister Nanki Ram Kanwar is a deep believer in the role of astrology and religion in public life and, indeed, as an explanation for atrocities against women. When journalists sought his reaction to news of the rape of tribal girls, all minors, in the state’s Kanker district for two years, Kanwar blamed it on the stars. In fact, he went further, and said the astral alignments worked against the paramedic student who was gang-raped in Delhi in December. No doubt he would have recommended a yagya to appease the gods. After all, that is exactly what he did when he was the state’s agriculture minister and suspected that the state would receive deficient rainfall. It paid off, since the state received sufficient rainfall, resulting in a bumper crop.