[sacw] [ACT] sacw dispatch (29 Jan 00) India: Heading for Serious Communal Trouble

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch - [India : Heading for Serious Communal
Trouble]
29 January 2000
________________
#1. Statement on Anniversary of Gandhi's Martyrdom
#2. India: RSS on the rampage
#3. Demolition of Babri masjid was "peaceful" claims RSS goon
#4. Communal Riots-Hit Azamgarh, UP
#5. UP town under curfew after clashes
________________

#1.

JOHN DAYAL National Convenor: United Christian
=46orum for Human Rights
National Spokesman: All India Christian Council
National Secretary for Public Affairs: All India Catholic Union

30th January 2000
STATEMENT ON ANNIVERSARY OF GANDHI'S MARTYRDOM

Secular Ethos under threat as Parivar bares fangs and reveals real agenda
There is irony, but little surprise, in the fact that the Sangh Parivar has
bared its fangs at a time when the nation was celebrating the Golden Jubilee
of the Constitution of India; in fact at the very moment that the Parliament
of India was gathered in special session to commemorate 50 years of one of
the more comprehensive statutes in the democratic world.

The President of India, Mr K R Narayanan, has replied to the Sangh Parivar
on behalf of the people of India. We thank him for his forthright words, for
his courageous rejection of the insidious plan of the Prime Minister Mr.
Atal Behari Vajpayee for a review of the Constitution. We fully endorse the
President's bold statement that it is not the Constitution but the political
leadership, which has failed. We believe the blame for the systemic failure,
and the contemporary national crisis, lies squarely with the political
leadership, especially that of the Sangh Parivar and of its ideological
children in many other parties, both within and outside the NDA, who have
failded the national and the people. For the people and especially for the
religious and linguistic minorities, the Constitution of a Independent,
republican, and federal India remains their sole and solitary guarantee of
their basic rights. The Constitution also remains the bulwark against the
continuing Parivar attacks on India's plural cultural heritage.

We can expect in coming weeks a concerted attack on the President, Mr
Narayanan. He has been target of a systematic campaign of hate and calumny
many times in the past, particularly when he spoke against fundamentalist
and fascist tendencies in the body politic. We recall the viciousness of the
tirade against him by vested interest when he challenged the judiciary to
come of age and give representation to our civilisation's weakest and mutest
elements. The backlash of the mighty and the powerful powerbrokers is a
matter of record.

Many of us have seen the shadow of the Parivar's black design on the
Constitution for many years.

It were the Hindutva elements within the then ruling clique who first sought
to communalise the Constitution in the first one year of its existence.
While the first amendments in other democratic Constitutions, including that
of the US, were to strengthen fundamental rights and basic freedoms,
including the freedom of the Press, the first changes in the Indian statues
were to deny freedoms sand privileges to the most marginalised segments of
society on the basis of their religion. The Presidential Order of 1950 took
away from Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists and Christian all benefits of the
pro-active provisions of the laws designed to uplift the Dalits. Dalit
privileges were sought to be confined only to Hindus, a blatant
communalisation of a secular Constitution. It took the Buddhists and the
Sikhs a full three decades to get back their basic right, to be at par with
their Hindu brothers and sisters. The Christian and Muslim Dalits are still
deprived of the protection of the law against untouchability, they are
denied the privileges given to the other Dalits. This travesty of justice
must end. Dalit Christians, and Dalit Muslims must be given all those
rights, privileges and protections that our Constitution gives to the other
Dalits.

In the years since then, the Hindutva parivar has waged an unceasing and
openly declared war against all those elements of the Statute that give to
India the flavour that it is uniquely its.

The minorities have inevitably been the targets. In the year and a half that
it has been in power this time, the parivar had vitiated the harmony of the
country and violated the spirit and often the letter of the Constitution by
its actions - whether it be in Uttar Pradesh or in Gujarat, in Delhi when it
was in power in the state, or in Madhya Pradesh. Other parties too just
share the blame. The infamous Freedom of Religion Bills in Orissa, Madhya
Pradesh and Arunachal, titled in a display of black humour, were the
handiwork of other elements and are today a precedent for the BJP. It is
time a civilized nation demanded their immediate withdrawal. Their
continuance is an injury to the minorities, and an insult to the tribals and
the majority community.

The Sangh Parivar's own acts have been far more insolent, its attacks on the
Constitution and the secular fabric more blatant. Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat
have become the laboratory of Hindutva, where the governments in power are
challenging the concepts of secularism and fairplay that form the backbone
of the Constitution and the bedrock of Indian democracy and unity. In Uttar
Pradesh, a heavily politicized and authoritarian police and administration
is being given extraordinary powers against the minority communities through
the so-called Places of worship legislation. Efforts continue to be made to
enforce a narrow sectarian agenda on the education system. The government of
Gujarat has transcended all limits of civil conduct, shedding the last
vestige of its pretense at a secular neutrality by openly encouraging civil
and police officers and employees to join the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
and other Sangh Parivar organisations. Meanwhile, it enforces a harsh regime
against the minorities, using official threats against educational and other
institutions and personnel. The Christmas season in Gujarat saw a curfew
like situation in the Dangs and harassment of the Christian community in
many places. The government however allowed the controversial Shilanayas at
Halmodi village in Surat and the holding of a Hindutva meeting in Ahwa on
Christmas day, breaking its own rules in doing so.

A year after Graham Stuart Staines, who worked with patients of leprosy in
the forest areas of Orissa, and his young sons Timothy and Philip were burnt
alive as they slept in their jeep in the village of Manouharpur in the night
of 22nd and 23rd January 1999, instead of catching their killers, the
central government has displayed increasing cynicism and unconcern. In the
wake of the triple murder, it launched a powerful propaganda at home and
abroad, trying to whitewash the butchery that the followers of the Sangh
Parivar had unleashed. It spent crores of rupees in spinning a web of
falsehoods using official government machinery to target the minorities,
especially Christians. There continues to be inaction in over 60 cases of
violence that we have recorded in 1999. The Justice Wadhwa Commission has
since given its report. Not just the Christian community, but the judicial
and legal community and civil society have expressed their shock that
despite concrete evidence on the political background and affiliation of
Dara Singh, the well-identified leader of the killer gang, Justice Wadhwa
failed to find any link between Dara and the Sangh Parivar whose election
campaigner the Uttar Pradesh thug was. Since then the full report of the
Special investigative team has also become available, and it leaves no one
in any doubt of the Sangh affiliations of the killers. The reports have
conclusively repudiated official insinuations, repeated often by Central
ministers, of forcible conversions in Orissa or anywhere else. But while it
fails to arrest Dara Singh, the official machinery is working overtime to
issue notices to Christian organisations in Orissa telling them to obey the
anti-conversion Act which violates the Freedom of religion enshrined in the
Constitution. Such notices have been received by Christian organisations and
Institutions in the tribal belt in recent weeks.

The Central government has reneged on its commitments. It is however rapidly
succeeding in its attempt at absolute Hindutvaisation of the national
educational and youth policy. It is also conniving with the Sangh Parivar in
the continuing effort to crush the freedoms, and more than that, the spirit,
of the Minority communities of the country. The government and its
leadership have not raised a finger to stop the Parivar's plot to demonise
the minorities and question their patriotism and their loyalty to their
motherland. If anything, the Central government has used the powers at its
command to harass the minorities. The latest is the attempt of the
Department of Posts and Telegraph to cancel postal facilities for scores of
Christian magazines and newspapers in many states.

I take this opportunity to remind members of the ruling NDA alliance, and
those of its members who also rule in the states, that the nation's
minorities expect them to prevent any erosion or sabotage of the
Constitution. They can play, if they have the political will and integrity,
a tremendous and powerful role as members of a federal polity to ensure the
welfare of the minorities and to stem further Hindutviasation of government
policy and public space. They, and Chief Ministers of States, are
historically placed to help undo the damage that has been done to the
secular fabric of the nation. They can, if they have the political courage
and commitment, ensure that the NDA government is not hijacked by
protagonists of the sectarian and communal agenda, which threatens the unity
and integrity of the country. History will not forgive them if at this
moment they fail the people and the nation.
_____________

#2.
Praful Bidwai Column
24 January 2000

Power Tussle in BJP - RSS on the rampage

By Praful Bidwai

If there is one message from the BJP's Chennai national executive, it is
that the tussle within the party between hardcore supporters of the
Vajpayee government and the organisational apparatchiks or loyalists is far
from over. The fact that it took more than two long weeks to finalise the
text of the 'Chennai Declaration', and that confusion still reigns over its
controversial formulation on the relationship between the party's agenda
and that of the National Democratic Alliance, means that the
governmentalists do not yet prevail over the organisationalists despite all
the former=EDs clout from the loaves and fishes of office.

The original 'Chennai Declaration' read: "Each and every activist - must
fully understand that the BJP has no agenda other than the common agenda of
the NDA". But in the face of a furore, it was amended: "The BJP expresses
confidence that every BJP worker understands that our agenda for governance
is the national agenda for good governance" clearly a retreat for the
governmentalists. The apparatchiks then further pressed their advantage by
asserting that "the BJP has not in any manner compromised on its basic
identity", and remains -committed to the ideals and ideology that brought
us into existence as a political party (first as the Bharatiya Jana Sangh
in 1951 ) However, the original formulation about the identical BJP-NDA
agenda mysteriously re-surfaced in the document released to the media on
January 13!

This indicates tension and an uneasy stalemate of sorts within the sangh
parivar. This is underscored by the RSS's strong criticism of the
government's 'capitulation' to the IC-814 hijackers (publicly echoed twice
by Mr L.K. Advani), sarasanghachalak Rajendra Singh's refusal to endorse
the NDA's performance (=ECI feel just what the common man feels about it=EE)
and his vituperative attack on 'Hindu cowardice', which repeats a well-worn
Muslim-communal stereotype. The RSS=EDs assertion after its January 7-9
Ahmedabad =ECsankalpa shibir=EE that the Ram temple is very much on the
parivar's agenda was to let Mr Vajpayee know who is the boss. This column
argues that the RSS is aggressively exploiting the BJP's internal stalemate
and that Mr Vajpayee will find it extremely difficult to counter it. If the
lifting of the ban on government employees joining the RSS in Gujarat is
anything to go by, the country may be heading for serious communal trouble.

The RSS stamp is starkly visible in the BJP's most important decisions in
the two states where it rules, viz. Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. The U.P.
government has just rammed through the Regulation of Public Religious
Buildings and Places Bill, which prohibits the construction of any
churches, mosques and temples without the government=EDs prior sanction, and
empowers district magistrates to demolish structures built without such
permission. The legislation, it was officially stated, is necessary to
check =ECISI activists=EE=F3a poor euphemism for targeting the minorities wh=
ich,
it can be safely predicted, will be selectively denied permission.

The Bill flagrantly violates the freedom of religion guaranteed by Article
25 of the Constitution. This is an inalienable, fundamental, right, which
cannot be abridged or reduced even by a unanimous resolution of Parliament,
being part of the Basic Structure of the Constitution. The whole rationale
of this right, including freedom of religious belief, worship and
propagation, is that every citizen must can enjoy and practise that freedom
through, among other things, building places of worship, praying there,
following certain rituals, etc. So long as the use of such buildings does
not violate the peace or municipal laws, no restriction can be placed on
their functioning. There is certainly no question of prior state
authorisation for their construction. The state cannot arrogate such a role
to itself.

What would such a law mean in practice? The state would condone any number
of illegal temples (as it regularly does), even permit new ones, but ban
mosques, madrassas and churches. This is majoritarianism, not democracy
with its universal rights and equal freedom for everyone, regardless of
religious affiliation. Besides being unconstitutional, this law would turn
our minorities into second-class citizens, who must live in constant fear
of being dubbed 'ISI agents' or surrender their rights to a whimsical
state. That is a despicably communal thing to do. But that's what the RSS
has inflicted upon the party.

Take the BJP's record in Gujarat, India's most communalised state. In
reality, it is the RSS that rules Gujarat. The state continues to witness
systematic anti-minority harassment and violence, which shows that the
end-1998 attack on Christians in Dangs was no aberration. Today's targets
are Muslims and non-tribal Christians in rural Bardoli and Dahod as well as
in big towns, besides Christian adivasis. The deplorable decision by the
government to permit the Hindu Jagran Manch to build a temple next to a
church at Halmodi in Surat exemplifies the state=EDs own communalisation. Th=
e
High Court placed some restrictions on the HJM's activities around
Christmas. According to an independent investigation team, these were
violated.

The BJP's agenda is not confined to terrorising the minorities. It extends
to infusing communal poison into education, culture and the media-witness
the wholesale appointment of pro-RSS vice-chancellors, harassment of
non-BJP journalists - and to co-opting the upper crusts of different social
layers, including the OBCs or 'Bakshi Panch' classes, into communal
institutions. Regrettably, there has been very little political resistance
to this. The Congress in Gujarat is in bad shape. And there is no other
opposition worth the name. Civil society groups are not strong enough to
provide effective resistance to the communalists. As my recent visit to
Gujarat showed, it is not easy for the minorities or non-BJP supporters to
live or work there with dignity.

The BJP in Gujarat has now surpassed itself by lifting a 14 year-old ban on
government employees joining the RSS - perhaps the most shocking act of its
kind anywhere. Now, all state employees, including the police, can get
communally indoctrinated with official complicity, and then discharge their
law and order and riot prevention duties---impartially, of course! The ban
was imposed on 14 fundamentalist organisations in the wake of serious
communal disturbances. Removing it selectively in respect of the RSS,
perhaps the most virulent of the 14 groups, sends out a horrifying signal.
The timing was calculated to coincide with the 'sankalpa shibir' attended
by nearly 30,000 swayamsewaks, including khaki shorts-clad chief minister
Keshubhai Patel.

The RSS has enthusiastically welcomed the lifting of the Gujarat ban and
called for extending the measure to all of India. It argues that the
prohibition is a 'colonial' legacy, like the banning of the Congress during
the British Raj. This is nonsense. The RSS does not even remotely resemble
the Congress during the Freedom Struggle. In Independent India, the RSS was
banned by none other than the Congressman it most admires, Vallabhbhai
Patel, after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, itself inspired by the
Hindu communal ideology. The ground cited by Patel remains valid even
today: the unique danger posed by the secret, cabal-like, group which aims
=ECto suborn=EE all secular agencies of the state in pursuit of its communal=
,
divisive, agenda.

This is precisely what the RSS is trying to do, especially in the police,
military, education, science and technology, and now social research, the
arts and culture. The RSS is profoundly undemocratic. It has never held an
election. All its appointments are top- down. It demands absolute, total,
loyalty from its members. It is an exclusive all-male organisation
dedicated to communally transforming the very nature of Indian society. The
RSS is accountable to no democratic institution or process. It dominates
the BJP, VHP, HJM, Bajrang Dal, each member of the sangh combine.

This domination is ideological and organisational, functional and
structural. The RSS dodges political accountability by saying it is only a
=ECcultural=EE organisation. But =ECcultural=EE organisations do not prescri=
be
political agendas, economic policies, =ECsocial engineering=EE approaches, a=
nd
names of swadeshi brands to be promoted. In reality, the RSS is a
hegemonistic group whose basic ideology and politics are incompatible with
our secular Constitution and with the foundations of our democracy. Its
membership clashes violently with the responsibilities of a civil servant
or policeman to act impartially in furtherance of Constitutional values.

It is doubtful if the RSS should be allowed to exist in its present,
unreformed, state, without complying with the conditions Patel imposed for
lifting the 1948 ban. But there can be no doubt whatsoever that government
employees should not be allowed to join it. Permitting them to embrace the
communal agenda is tantamount to liquidating the objectivity, impartiality
and legitimacy of the state. But Mr Vajpayee has brought matters to such a
pass that his government and party are in no position to restrain the
sangh. It would be a surprise if the RSS does not now assert itself on
issues like Kashmir and economic policy too. So much for Hindutva's
'liberal' face!
____________

#3.

The Telegraph
29 January 2000

GUPTA GOES WITH PEACE IN CREATION AND DEMOLITION=20
=20
=46rom Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, Jan. 28=20
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Ram Prakash Gupta today said his government
would allow the Ram temple to be built in Ayodhya if the construction
was carried out as ''peacefully'' as the demolition of the Babri masjid.

Addressing his first news conference in the capital after taking over
from Kalyan Singh, Gupta said there was ''nothing wrong'' if Sangh
parivar constituents such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal
wanted to construct a Ram temple on the mosque site as long as they did
not affect law and order.

Gupta asserted his government would not intervene if an attempt was made
to build the temple.''Why should we stop the VHP and Bajrang Dal from
building a Ram temple? The government's job is to maintain law and
order. If a law and order problem is created, then we may step in,'' he
said.

He argued that the Babri masjid demolition had not disrupted communal
harmony as it was carried out in a ''peaceful'' manner.

However, BJP spokesperson Venkaiah Naidu tonight denied that Gupta had
given the VHP and the Bajrang Dal clearance to construct the temple.

Gupta triggered a controversy last month by saying that constructing a
Ram temple at Ayodhya remained on the BJP's agenda although it was not a
part of the National Democratic Alliance manifesto. His statement came
in the midst of Parliament's winter session when the Opposition had
demanded the resignation of the three Union ministers chargesheeted over
the Babri demolition.

Incensed allies of the BJP had pilloried the party for raking up the
issue, forcing Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to clarify the
statement. Gupta later retracted his remark, claiming he was
''misquoted'' although he had made the statement at a televised news
conference in Ayodhya.

Gupta today insisted that the BJP had not jettisoned its three pet
themes - Ram temple, a common civil code and scrapping Article 370
granting special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

Gupta justified the Uttar Pradesh Religious Places Bill, under which
permission would have to be taken from the district magistrates for
constructing religious buildings, saying the legislation was aimed at
stemming the ''proliferation'' of ISI activities along the Indo-Nepal
border.

''The Airbus hijack should be a reminder of the extent to which the ISI
has infiltrated both sides of the border because the hijackers entered
our aircraft in Kathmandu. Therefore, it is necessary to have such a
legislation,'' he said.

Gupta said the law would not be used against minority-run institutions.
''The trustees of Jain temples met me and expressed their fears. I
assured them it will not be misused. If necessary, we can amend the
Act,'' he added.
___________

#4.

The Telegraph
29 January 2000

RIOT-HIT UP CRACKS WHIP ON POLICE=20
=20
=46ROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Lucknow, Jan. 28=20
The Uttar Pradesh government today removed the Azamgarh commissioner and
indicated that heads in the police force might roll as communal strife
intensified in the town.
The clashes are a fallout of yesterday's fracas at a degree college over
the singing of Vande mataram on Republic Day.

There has been no relaxation of curfew in four of the seven outposts in
Azamgarh. Thirty-eight people have been arrested, including eight held
today.

The Shibli Post Graduate Inter College and the Shibli Degree College are
two renowned minority institutions situated on the same campus.

Police sources said on Republic Day, some students of the majority
community at the degree college wanted to sing Vande mataram but others
objected, saying only the national anthem would be sung. The principal
"went by the view that while the national anthem should be sung, Vande
mataram need not be allowed".

Azamgarh deputy inspector-general of police A.L. Banerjee said: "There
was a sharp difference of opinion between those in favour of singing
Vande mataram and those against." Those against Vande mataram prevailed.

The next day, angry students reached the campus at 10.30 am and torched
two cycles and some furniture. They also set fire to a scooter belonging
to a sub-inspector, D.K. Srivastava.

The violence grew as the students poured out on the streets. The police
said the clashing groups pelted each other with brickbats and used
firearms. The police had to fire in the air to stop them. Fourteen
persons were seriously injured, of whom four suffered gunshot wounds.
Banerjee said the gunshot wounds were not due to police firing.

This morning, when the situation appeared to be returning to normal, 20
young men entered the home of a prominent doctor from the minority
community, dragged his car out of the garage and set it ablaze. The
district police later arrested eight students.

The clashes have taken on the usual political colour, with college
principal Iftikar Ahmed accusing the BJP government of "targeting
Muslims".

The local BJP has demanded action against the police for "daring to
arrest" the "brave" students. =20
____________

#5.

Khaleej Times
29 January 2000

UP town under curfew after clashes

LUCKNOW - The entire town of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh was on Thursday
put under curfew and additional paramilitary forces were deployed
following firing and communal clashes over the rendition of "Vande
Mataram" (a patriotic song) at a Republic Day function.

Principal Secretary (Home) V.K. Mittal said in the state capital here
that curfew was clamped from 2pm in the entire town after clashes,
firing, stone throwing and arson in which students from two communities
set afire motorcycles and damaged shops.

Two companies of the Rapid Action Force and four additional companies of
Provincial Armed Constabulary have been deployed in the troubled area to
maintain law and order, he said adding the situation was tense but under
control.

The trouble was sparked off on Wednesday when some students of the
Shibli National Degree College wanted to recite Vande Mataram after the
rendition of the national anthem during a Republic Day function, he
said.

With tension running high in the town following the incident, two
students of a community were beaten up in the college by fellow students
of another community on Thursday.

As the news spread in the DAV Degree College, a large number of students
came on the streets, protesting against the incident and indulged in
arson in at least four places, he said adding they set on fire an
automobile showroom where three students were injured when a security
guard opened fire.

Another group of students passing near Takia Garhi Mosque was fired upon
and one was injured while another group of students set on fire a
motorcycle belonging to a police inspector outside the Shibli College
outpost and snatched a revolver from another policemen, injuring him, Mr
Mittal said.

Meanwhile, the situation in adjoining Mubarakpur town where four persons
were killed and a dozen injured when two sections of a community clashed
on Wednesday, was reported to be tense but under control. The home
secretary said police and PAC jawans were patrolling the affected area
to maintain law and order. - PTI

__________________________________________
SOUTH ASIA CITIZENS WEB DISPATCH is an informal, independent &
non-profit citizens wire service run by South Asia Citizens Web
(http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex) since1996.