Maduli Thaosen

Last week around 50,000 people were facing the threat of eviction and demolition of their homes amid the harsh cold in the state of Uttarakhand’s Haldwani. This was because of a high court order released in the favour of a PIL filed by an individual, who claimed that the residents were occupying land owned by the railways.

Editor’s Note: This post is a part of the #GBVinMedia Campaign, which interrogates mainstream media’s reportage of gender-based violence from an intersectional feminist perspective. Many of these insights are based on the #GBVinMedia toolkit, released by FII as a guide for journalists and media professionals to report gender-based violence sensitively and ethically. If you wish to get in touch regarding this campaign, please email asmita@feminisminindia.com.

Bhakti as a concept means devotion and surrender. Originating from South India in the 7th century, the Bhakti movement propagated the idea that God dwells in each individual and one could attain God through faith and devotion. Earlier historians perceived the Bhakti movement as a literary or at best an ideological phenomena which had religion at the basis of its inspiration.