[sacw] [ACT] sacw dispatch (7 Feb 00)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch
7 February 2000
[National Hinduism is out to subvert India!]
Please share the below information with others!
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#1. Debating differences in India
#2. Torn saris, broken lives
#3. After Gujarat, UP also allows officials to join RSS
#4. Indian Communists statement re RSS
#5. Lucknow is all the way Hindu, pushes Sangh Parivar
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#1.

The Hindu
8 February 2000
Op-Ed.

DEBATING DIFFERENCES
By Harsh Sethi

WHY IS it that we are so predictable? The current brouhaha over Ms.
Deepa Mehta's Water seems to follow a tired and well-trod script. The
script, though formally cleared by the Information and Broadcasting
Ministry, is being objected to, and on the streets of Varanasi, for
ostensibly calumnising Hindu tradition and culture and besmirching the
fair name of what many regard as the most ancient and holiest of Indian
cities. One wonders whether members of the protesting hordes have ever
read the delightfully wicked ``Bana Rahe Benaras'' by Vishwanath
Mukherjee, a founder-member of the Thalua Club, a fascinating cultural
forum floated by some of the most creative and idiosyncratic citizens of
Varanasi. And that too in the 1930s, when the Hindu Mahasabha was quite
powerful.

Even though no one quite comes out with details of the ``objectionable''
dialogues - reportedly they centre around the status of widows in the
city (that younger widows provide fair game while older ones are
dispensable); the degree of ritual flexibility permissible to Brahmins,
of course male (the context being the ``relationship'' between a young
Brahmin widow and a lower caste/untouchable Gandhian nationalist); and
the characterisation of the holy city as more than a site for cleaning
oneself of all one's sins but as one providing an opportunity to witness
half-burnt bodies floating in the river.

The above are but details. And though the revised script now stands
suitably sanitised after deletion of the offending sentences/words,
there is no guarantee that the genie, now out of the bottle, will
subside. For more than specific instances and conjunctures, what governs
the protest is a perception that Water represents another milestone in
the continuing contempt/mocking of anything Hindu.

=46or a moment revert to the outcry over Mr. M. F. Husain's representation
of Saraswati and Sita. The objection then was not just to the
iconography, or that the painter was a Muslim, but over the fact that he
could dare to so paint revered Hindu figures. ``Would he ever even think
of taking such liberties with the Prophet or any of his family or even
any figure held in theological reverence in Islam?'' The refrain now is
no different. ``Would anyone try and depict the holy cities of other
religions in the manner Deepa Mehta has done with Varanasi?''

In all this, one is never quite sure what is being objected to. The
actual representation, the mindset behind the representation, or an
anger against what is described as double standards - the last a
take-off from the debates on pseudo secularism. Or even worse, is the
real ire not about Ms. Mehta, or Water, or Varanasi, but Hindu
cowardice. After all, one strain of argumentation in the public
discourse over Kargil and Kandahar has been about our pusillanimity as a
people, that unlike the more ``martial'' races/cultures, we let people
walk all over us. Incidentally, similar sentiments were echoed by Mr.
Sunil Gavaskar when editorialising about the Indian team's debacle in
the Australian tri-series. ``We are too keen to be seen as good guys.''
It is a moot point that such arguments end up valorising precisely what
otherwise is the focus of attack - non-Hindu culture and personality.

There is little doubt that co-terminous with the growth of the BJP as a
political force, we have witnessed a steady and dangerous tide of
intolerance, more so when the issue in question can be given a
religio-cultural twist. The controversy over Mr. Husain; Ms. Mehta's
earlier film, Fire, with its graphic representation of a lesbian
relationship between the two major protagonists, incidentally named, at
least originally, Sita and Radha; or the slapping of criminal charges
against the editor and publisher of The India Magazine for reproducing
on its cover a miniature of Radha and Krishna making love - all these
incidents, and many others, have resulted in a fierce battle over not
just ``limits to representation'' but who enjoys the right (not just the
power) to play cultural and moral censor.

It is not that at any stage of our history as a people, culture and
civilisation, there has ever been a unanimity over cultural
representation. Romila Thapar's masterly study of the Shakuntala
narrative (Kali, 1999) explores how the epic text mutated from its
Puranic version to that in the Mahabharata, in Kalidasa's ``Abhigyan
Shakuntalam'', and finally in its translation by Max Mueller. So why
this fight over ``true'' representation? Have we not survived, if not
taken pride, in the dozens of versions of the Ramayana, some in which
Ravana not Rama is the hero?

Equally, have we ever accorded legitimacy to a dispensation where only
designated persons/institutions were permitted to define what is true?
Is it that we are fighting an imaginary battle between ``natives'' and
``foreigners'' - the latter category including not just other
races/cultures but equally NRIs or secularists - as people intrinsically
incapable of approaching the ``real'' meaning of India? Just how often
have we heard the argument that all such representations are deliberate
distortions to feed an external market be it an Arundhati Roy or a Deepa
Mehta.

Tragically, the situation is a little more complex than one of Hindu
nationalists/saffronites seeking to acquire and exercise hegemony over
cultural representation. Take, for instance, the latest case. Ms. Mehta
now admits, albeit sheepishly, that there was some deviation from the
approved English script in the Hindi version, and that some
words/sentences could possibly be interpreted as giving offence - though
of course there was no such intention. And though the revised script is
clearly a reflection of political coercion, necessary since her primary
objective is to make the film, the episode raises doubts about the
authenticity of the confrontation.

This, however, is likely to be interpreted by all those who sought to
rally to her cause as a retreat, if not betrayal, thereby irretrievably
damaging the case against the sangh parivar. There will be talk of how
Husain made up with Bal Thackeray and the Shiv Sena. In short, how
cultural practitioners are at best shifty allies in the struggle to
construct a liberal India. Such ``principled'' posturing, however, does
not enjoy much credibility. Why on earth should one expect an artist to
endanger his/her creation or vocation? And, is there much merit in
seeking martyrs to advance one's favoured causes?

At times like these one remembers the furious wrangling over Salman
Rushdie's ``Satanic Verses''. Members of our intelligentsia and
political establishment who asked for the book to be proscribed took
great pride in simultaneously announcing that they had not only not read
the book, but that they had no intention of doing so.

The sangh parivar was at that stage all for freedom of expression. And
just to reiterate the point that this narrow- mindedness is not the
exclusive prerogative of this or that communal camp, it may be
worthwhile to recollect the Bengali furore over Kushwant Singh's
characterisation of Tagore as an over-rated poet.

Are we then doomed to live through such quasi-farcical contestations,
more so since every high profile event seems to give rise to a group
claiming hurt? It almost appears that this mode of street protest is
shaping our emerging public culture. What about the constitutional
guarantees about freedom of speech and expression, Article 19(1)(a)? And
is the state not duty-bound to provide protection to an enterprise, more
so after it has duly vetted and cleared it through the designated
instrumentalities and process?

It is this arena, I believe, that we need to focus on. Interpretations
of religious, social, cultural, even political events and personalities
will always be contested. This is as it should be. Arguments about
ostensible hurt should not be permitted to become impediments in the way
of evolving procedures and conventions to resolve differences. It is
here that we, both as a state and a society, seem to be failing.

________

#2.
Indian Express
8 February 2000
Editorial

TORN SARIS, BROKEN LIVES

The only positive fallout of the dangerous and misguided project
undertaken by the VHP and its ilk to set Water on fire is that public
attention, fickle though it may be, has been drawn at last to the state
of the nation's widows. It has thus far been exceedingly easy to ignore
these crumpled lives swathed in crumpled saris, lives which are measured
in terms of a handful of rice and a couple of rupees. In the old days
they used to burn widows, in these supposedly more humane and socially
conscious times they are slowly starved to death. These women, living in
the ashrams of Varanasi, Vrindavan, and Mathura, are oppressed several
times over. Deserted by their families, they quickly fall prey to the
grossest forms of exploitation, ranging from their dues being swindled
to their bodies being sold.

This newspaper reported on the manner in which widows in Vrindavan are
being deprived of even the pittance that they are entitled to by way of
government pension. One woman revealed that they had to bribe the
patwari and even the postman to get their own money from the bank.
Cheques are routinely lost or end up being issued in the names of
landlords/moneylenders. What is it that drives these women from their
homes in West Bengal and Assam and Tripura to seek such an animal state
of existence so many miles away? Perhaps it is a blind belief in the
humanity of their ``gurus'' and the presumption that in Vrindavan no one
will starve for God will feed them. But it is the social construction of
widowhood in India that is the most decisive factor in the disempowermen
t of these women.

Even after years of reform and constitutional redress, the view that a
woman's life is rendered meaningless once her husband -- her pativrata
-- dies or deserts her, is still the dominant one. It is a perspective
that is so deeply internalised by these women that for many of them
their lives of acute deprivation are seen as the inevitable outcome of
their state of widowhood. To eke out a miserable existence becomes their
fate and they are rendered incapable of changing their circumstances and
asserting their rights.

It is time then for the State to wake up to this tragic phenomenon. The
West Bengal government has evidently been shamed into undertaking an
extensive survey on the history and status of the widows of Vrindavan,
since many of them have come here from various districts in that state.
This survey is to be followed by a programme to rehabilitate them on a
permanent basis. But most government projects founder on the rocks of
indifference once the public outcry dies and attention shifts to some
other crisis. The widows of Varanasi, Vrindavan and Mathura deserve a
lasting, genuine and widespread concern. This programme to improve their
circumstances must not just be West Bengal's burden, but that of the
entire nation. Surely a nation of one billion can find the necessary
will and resources to help a few thousand women? For far too long have
these unfortunates inhabited the shadowlands of the forgotten.

Copyright =A9 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
________

#3.

The Asian Age
8 February 2000

Gupta allows UP officials to join RSS
RSS not political body: CM
By Amita Verma

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Ram Prakash Gupta has given the
green signal to government servants in UP to join the RSS and
participate in its programmes.
The UP government's decision is likely to kick up another political row,
even before the one started by the Gujarat government has died down.
"The Gujarat government has lifted the ban on government servants
joining the RSS but in UP there is no such ban. Government servants and
officials are free to join the RSS and participate in its programmes
without any fear. I am not going to take action against any official who
attends Sangh programmes," the chief minister told reporters on Monday.
Mr Gupta, himself a hardcore RSS activist, defended the RSS saying it
was not a political organisation and neither did it have any political
leaning. "It is a cultural and social organisation and government
servants can join it at will," he said. When asked whether his decision
would not violate the service manual of government servants, which
clearly stated that civil servants should not join any organisation that
had political leanings, the chief minister stated, "The service manual
has ample scope for interpretation."
When the chief minister's attention was drawn to the fact that some UP
bureaucrats had already taken the membership of certain political
parties and his decision to allow the others to join the RSS would
completely politicise the state bureaucracy, Mr Gupta laughed and said,
"Nothing of the sort is going to happen."
Mr Gupta said he was not aware of any government order issued earlier by
the UP government, banning government servants from joining the RSS.
"Even if it was issued it must have been done by other political parties
for their private consumption," the chief minister said.
He justified his stand by saying that Prime Minister Atal Behari
Vajpayee had already defended the decision taken by the Gujarat
government. "The Prime Minister is in favour of government servants
being allowed to join the RSS. Those who are opposing the decision are
the ones who question RSS status as a cultural and social organisation."
he explained.
Mr Gupta's decision is now expected to lead to another major political
controversy in the state, which is still with the ideological unrest
over Deepa Mehta's controversial film Water. The chief minister who has
embarrassed the centre twice before by making uncalled for statements on
Ayodhya and Ram temple construction, could add to the troubles of Prime
Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Political analysts fear that the UP chief minister's decision to follow
in the footsteps of the Gujarat government, has the backing of the RSS
which has not been too happy with the Vajpayee government's liberal
face. Mr Vajpayee .............. of the Gujarat government's decision
has never been too keen on the saffronisation of the bureaucracy most of
the bureaucrats in the PM office do not cater to the Sangh ideology.
The chief minister, on the other hand, is surrounded by a RSS coterie
with all four of his OSDs (officers on special duty) in the CM
secretariat being hardcore RSS activists. Incidentally, on the Water
issue, too, Mr Ram Prakash Gupta has followed the RSS line rather than
accept the centre's policy which had cleared the film's script.
The RSS, meanwhile, is rather desperate to check ideological
philandering in the BJP and wants to revive 'Hindutva' on a large scale.
Mr Ram Prakash Gupta, who has kept his RSS connections, is apparently
using his authority to promote the cause of the Sangh without bothering
about the impact that his words and deeds could have on the central
government, in general, and Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in particular.
The chief minister's decision to allow bureaucrats to join the RSS has,
expectedly, evoked a strong reaction from Opposition parties. Bahujan
Samaj Party leader, Ms Mayawati warned that its party would launch an
agitation against the government's decision to permit civil servants to
join the RSS. "This is clear attempt to politicise the bureaucracy
because it is the RSS which holds the remote control of the BJP. As soon
as the Bahujan Samaj Party comes to power, we will announce a ban on
government servants joining the RSS," she said at a press conference.
________

#4.

=46ebruary 5, 2000

THE POLIT BUREAU OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MARXIST) HAS ISSUED THE
=46OLLOWING STATEMENT:

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) deplores the Prime Minister's justification
of the Gujarat government's decision to lift the ban on government
employees participating in the activities of the RSS. While talking to
newspersons after inaugurating the World Book Fair today, Mr. Vajpayee has
taken the plea that the RSS is a "social outfit" and not a political
organisation. After giving indirect approval earlier by stating that the
central ban on employees' participation in RSS activities remains, the BJP
has sought to make it even more explicit.

It needs no reiteration that the RSS is a political organisation with a
clear-cut political-ideological perspective working in the guise of a
"social outfit." The RSS, which aims to establish Hindu raj based on the
philosophy of Hindutva, guides and controls its political arm the BJP. The
notification issued by the BJP government in Gujarat is nothing but a
measure aimed at infiltrating and communalising the administration in the
state.

This once again demonstrates the fact that, while all along asserting that
the BJP adheres to the NDA agenda, it has not given up its own hidden
agenda. On the contrary it is making all efforts to implement its agenda.
The Prime Minister's openly coming out in defence of a rabidly communal
outfit like the RSS should serve as a warning to the allies of the BJP who
were earlier taking a stand against communalism.

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) while strongly condemning the stand adopted
by Mr. Vajpayee appeals to all the secular and democratic forces to voice
their protest and thwart the nefarious designs of the BJP to disrupt
national unity.
________

#5.

Rediff on the Net
7 February 2000

LUCKNOW IS ALL THE WAY HINDU, PUSHES SANGH PARIVAR

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

Having exhausted the Lord Ram card, the saffron brigade has now turned
towards the Hindu god's brother, Lakshman.

Lucknow's association with the legendary figure has come in handy for
the Sangh Parivar, whose leaders are currently engaged in a one-point
campaign to emphasise that the state capital has much more than the
legacy of Wajid Ali Shah and the other nawabs of Avadh.

"In the hype that was built over the years about Lucknow as the City of
nawabs or as the City of gardens, its origin simply got lost," says
Urban Development and Housing Minister Lalji Tandon, the main source of
inspiration behind the Lakshman mela [festival] here.

"The mela is aimed at reflecting the real picture of Lucknow. So far,
what has been projected is only a fraction of the city's heritage," he
adds.

"After all," he continues, "Lucknow does not mean simply nawabs and
their culture. It has much more. People seem to completely ignore the
fact that Lucknow was founded by none other than Lakshman, who named it
Lakshmanpuri."

Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta dutifully echoed these sentiments at
the inaugural ceremony of the mela on February 1.

City Mayor Dr S C Rai went further: "So far there has been only one mega
cultural event in the city - the Lucknow mahotsava in which the emphasis
was only on highlighting the nawabi culture of this historic city. As if
to say that Lucknow began and ended with just that! The Lucknow
Municipal Corporation, therefore, decided to organise this event."

A pamphlet circulated to the visitors goes into the "forgotten past" of
the city and credits the LMC with identifying the true origin of the
place.

Rai and Tandon have also succeeded in ensuring that the grand finale of
the 12-day festival is graced by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee ,
who happens to be the local member of Parliament.

That Tandon and Rai are averse to the theme behind the Lucknow mahotsava
was visible in the manner they scuttled the prime minister's visits to
that festival in the past two years. Many believe that the manner in
which Vajpayee's programmes in the state capital clashed with the
inauguration of the festival, both in 1998 and in 1998, could not have
been sheer coincidence.

What is godsend to the saffron brigade is the high court ban on holding
public events in the Begum Hazrat Mahal Park, where the Lucknow
mahotsava was traditionally held.. Named after the wife of Lucknow's
last nawab, Wajid Ali Shah, the park had been the venue for such
festivals as well as political rallies until the high court stepped in.

The saffron clan was in any case never enthusiastic about the projection
of the park anyhow, since it was named after a nawab's wife (despite the
fact that she shot to fame for leading a recluse army against the
British). So they have promptly found an alternative site for their
Lakshman mela.

Interestingly, the authorities have roped in the Archaeological Survey
of India to act as a partner in organising the event.

"The idea to involve the ASI was aimed at taking the people of this city
to its true origin, to let them have a glimpse of their rich historical
past," Tandon told rediff.com.

He lamented, "Today's generation seems to associate Lucknow only with
the Nawabi or British monuments, without having the least idea of the
archaeological remnants dating back to over 2,000 years that had been
excavated from the old site of Lakshmanpuri."

The ASI, for its part, has put up a photo exhibition with pictures of
the city's past, obviously to drill into everyone that Lucknow is
associated with the Hindu Lakshman and not the Muslim nawabs.

As if that is not enough, the festival, that loudly boasts of providing
an opportunity for open discourses on all religious "faiths", limits
itself only to discourses by different Hindu congregations. The evening
too is laced with only Hindu bhajans.

Yet, the organisers proclaim Lucknow as "that great city that was built
by Lakshman as the ultimate centre of pilgrimage for all religious
faiths!"

__________________________________________
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