[sacw] [India:Communalists Avance / Response]

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web Dispatch #3.
10 January 2000
[India: On Continued Advance of the Hindu Communalism & Responses ]
_____________________
#1. An Op-ed. on Gujarat's lifting ban on RSS
#2. A secular activist from Bombay on Gujarat's lifting ban
#3. Shock troops of Fascism stage marchpast in Ahmedabad

#4. RSS Machismo provokes huge public condemnation
#5. Hindu Muslim Ayodhya & defence of plural India
_____________________
#1.

http://www.thestatesman.org/editorial.html#editorial3
The Statesman - Editorial Page
Monday 10 January 2000=20

KHAKI SHORTS
Gujarat lifts ban on RSS

WHAT Gujarat does today, India does tomorrow - so says the BJP. Gujarat is
the BJP's model state and with its vast cadre network and clear majority in
government it is the testing ground for the entire RSS family - of which
the BJP is an important part. The communal riots of the 80s first started
in Gujarat with a pogrom against Muslims beginning as early as 1985 and
spreading to the rest of the country; L K Advani started his rath yatra
from Somnath; the political polarisation along communal lines won its first
electoral dividends in this state; the violence against Christians was
initially tested out in the tribal areas of Dangs before moving east; the
religion-based census was tried here last year before it was revoked
because of strong opposition. The latest attempt to saffronise the state is
the lifting of the ban on government employees joining the RSS. According
to civil service rules, government servants are not allowed to be members
of any political parties, or have anything to do with 16 banned
organisations like the Ananda Marg, Hindu Mahasabha, VHP, RSS and the
Jamaat-e-Islami. The Keshubhai Patel government has lifted the ban on the
RSS saying that the latter is committed to patriotism and discipline and he
cannot find "anything unlawful about its activities". The first steps on
the BJP's real agenda have been taken. There is no denying that many
bureaucrats already harbour RSS sympathies, with the lifting of the ban
they will be able to wear their khaki shorts over their trousers. The BJP
have been trying to legitimise the RSS for sometime - distancing Nathuram
Godse, the murderer of the Mahatma, from the organisation; showing off the
RSS as a social and cultural organisation working towards Gandhian
nationalism, but all it requires is a single reading of their mouthpiece,
The Organiser, to see their communal fangs. The RSS is a completely
exclusivist body which projects a Hindu theocratic state with all
minorities relegated to second-class citizens. Its concept of Indian
nationalism enshrines Hindutva, very different from the secular character
enshrined in the constitution. By lifting the ban on the RSS, the BJP, in
Gujarat first, has embarked on the long-term goal of gaining acceptability
for the Parivar. Once the RSS is rehabilitated then VHP, Bajrang Dal and
Hindu Jagaran Manch can follow. By experimenting in Gujarat where it needs
no allies, the BJP is testing the reaction of other constituents of the
alliance. The TDP, DMK and Trinamul Congress have been very critical of the
RSS in the past, but have been impressed by the cultivated liberal face of
the BJP headed by Vajpayee. The NDA partners should seriously consider the
developments in Gujarat and take remedial action. Tomorrow may be too late.
________
#2.
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 09:58:27 +0530 (IST)
=46rom: "R.R.Punyani" Bombay, India

GUJRAT LIFTS BAN ON GOVT. SERVANTS JOINING RSS

by Dr. Ram Puniyani
(Secretary- EKTA (Committee for Communal Amity)
B-64, I.I.T. Qtrs, Powai,Mumbai 400076
Phone-5783522,5775045)

This recent order of Gujarat govt. of lifting the ban on joining the RSS
by the Govt. servants needs to be oppossed. Apparently RSS is not a
political body but it has a deeper politics and it operates through
different mechanisms to achieve it polical goal of Hindu Rashtra.On that
count it is the polar opposite of Jamat-e- Islami which is active for
bringing in a Islamic state. These organisations by no means can be called
purely cultural or charity organisatins. Their other activities are in tune
with their long term agendas of religion based nationalisms ,which are
anti-thetical to the concepts of democracy and secularism as enshrined in
our constitution. As we have seen RSS is actively 'Guiding' its progeny
,the BJP in all the crucial mattters of the politics. It is through the RSS
shakhas that the core activists of the organisations like BJP, VHP,
Bajarang Dal and many other political and quasi politcal organisations are
trained. We have also seen that RSS has been the major organisation which
has played dominant role in communalisation of the society. It is also the
organisatin which has been named as the one behind many a communal riots,
by most of the inquiry commission reports investigating the communal
violence which has shaken our society down to the core. It is also
responsible for alienation of minorities and is deeply opposed to the equal
rights of Women and Dalits (its concepts of Integral Humanism etc.). It is
out the destroy the democratic polity from the roots and with bigger access
to power through its offshoots will bring in a state akin fascist or
fundamentalist state.

Lets us be under no illusion of its cultural and social welfarist mask, it
is totally a political organisation wanting to abolish the democratic
rights of the weaker sections of society to unleash the rule of the elite
by the elite for the elite. It is precisely for this that the JanaSangh
component of Janata Party was asked to severe its links with RSS which
obviouly it refused leading to the collapse of Janta experiment in late
70s. We urge upon all the citizens nurturing democratic and Secular values
to opppose this move.
___________

#3.
Times of India
Monday 10 January 2000
RSS VOLUNTEERS STAGE MARCHPAST IN AHMEDABAD
The Times of India News Service
AHMEDABAD: More than 30,000 RSS volunteers dressed in their traditional
gear took out a march past in two groups in Naroda and Kathwada suburbs on
the second day of the three-day RSS Sankalap Shibir. Thousands of people
gathered on both sides of the road to have a glimpse of the parade.
It took over 40 minutes for the two groups to cover the eight
kilometre-long route from Naroda to Kathwada. The suburbs and roads were
decorated with saffron flags to welcome the RSS workers, who have been
preparing for the camp for the past six months.
RSS chief Prof Rajendra Singh, along with other leaders, welcomed the
volunteers at Naroda cross-roads. Sangh general secretary H V Sheshadri
greeted the marchers at a Harijan locality. Small groups of children also
accorded traditional welcome to the marchers as they passed through
different points. The RSS band played patriotic songs and the national
anthem.
The last RSS marchpast was organised in the city in 1985. The marchpast
was supervised by other RSS top leaders like Ranga Hariji, Shrikant Joshi,
Suresh Raoji, Manekraoji Patil and the state RSS chief Pravin Maniyar.
Many people paid obeisance to life-size oil paintings of RSS founders
Hedgewar and Golwalkar which were installed on a jeep.
Before the march, RSS workers attended a session of baudhik where they
were apprised about the threats to Hindutva in the past few years.
The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel exhibition set up at Keshavnagar was visited
by a large number of people from the city and surrounding areas. They
evinced keen interest in the exhibits and photographs.
A large tableau of the first RSS shakha founded by Dr Hedgewar at Mohite
wada in Nagpur was put on exhibition. Photographs of RSS leaders and
literature depicting history of the sangh and other organisations like the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the BJP were on display.
On the concluding day of the shibir, the RSS chief will address a big
rally at Keshavnagar, which will also be attended by other leaders. Union
Home minister L K Advani is also likely to visit Keshavnagar.___________
#4.
Outlook
17 January 2000
Cover Story
MISPLACED MACHISMO:
THE RSS=92 INSENSITIVE RHETORIC ABOUT HINDU COWARDICE EVOKES ALL-ROUND
CONDEMNATION
By Rajesh Joshi

The hijacking has highlighted the cowardice in Hindu society=8A. Even in the
aircraft, eight or 10 young men could have stood together and tried to
capture the hijackers by creating a frenzy. But they failed to rise,
despite the murder of a co-passenger, because of the fear of death."
-RSS chief Prof Rajendra Singh in the RSS organ Panchajanya

The RSS chief's statement, meant to exonerate the government and shift the
blame to the victims and their relatives for the poor handling of the
hijacking crisis, has failed to receive the expected dividends. It is in
fact threatening to boomerang on him and his organisation. Having blamed
the entire Hindu community for "cowardice", the RSS is now hard put to
justify its stance. Anticipating a strong reaction over such a
generalisation, the organisation has found a convenient refuge behind the
uttering of its one-time adversary Mahatma Gandhi who had called Hindus
cowards.

In Panchajanya, Singh minced no words in criticising the relatives for
exerting pressure on the government to release the three militants. He
described their protests as "unworthy of a civil and self-respecting
society". On the other hand, his mild and oblique criticism of the
government did not go beyond a word of caution, that it "should not take
any decision under pressure", implying that the government was forced by
the relatives to release the militants. The RSS feels it's the sole
custodian of Hindu ideology. But the majority community does not seem to go
along with this thinking. Opinion seems to be divided in the RSS over
the manner in which the crisis was handled. Hardliners aligned with home
minister L.K. Advani feel that by mishandling it, the government (read the
PMO) let everyone down. Since stories about a tussle between the PMO and
the home ministry-later denied by both-over the handling of the crisis
began to circulate, the RSS, as the mother organisation, took upon itself
the task of giving the government a clean chit.

Such support for Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee was part of the agreement
reached last year after the Sangh parivar organisations were engaged in a
pitched battle with him. The Sangh realised that criticising Vajpayee in
public would not get it anywhere as he was the only vote-catcher in the
BJP. The RSS has shown that, for now, it will not go back on that promise.
But exonerating the government without finding another scapegoat would have
made it a laughing stock. And so it heaped blame on the relatives.

'Where was RSS when we faced death?'
Hijack victims paint the RSS leaders as emotionless men who remained
criminally indifferent during the crisis The RSS may call them "Hindu
cowards" but for the 155 hostages on board the hijacked IC 814 the
utterance has come as the ranting of a group which was unable to provide
any solution when they were held captive for nearly a week in Kandahar.
They are upset that an organisation which prides itself as the caretaker
of the Hindus was mum throughout the episode and then chose the days after
their release to ridicule their physical inability to overpower the
hijackers. "Where were its karsevaks when we had death staring in our
faces?" asks Satish Sahani, 38, a hardware businessman in Delhi. "Let them
fight at least one real battle before lecturing others on bravery. Shouting
slogans against Pakistan and egging on soldiers in Kargil from the comfort
of their homes are just not enough."

It's the BJP-led government, backed by the RSS, which gets the maximum
flak. Most hostages feel the Hindu nationalist party showed itself as inept
in handling the crisis. "The RSS which cried itself hoarse supporting the
nuclear tests should have also advised the government on how best to tackle
the hijackers," says Ramesh Kumar, another victim. What hurts him the
most is the RSS painting of their relatives as undignified for putting
pressure on the government to end the crisis quickly. "To call them lacking
in self-dignity is adding insult to injury," says Kumar. "If they hadn't
protested, the government would have delayed reacting to the situation
even further."

The hostages see RSS chief Prof Rajendra Singh and Prime Minister Vajpayee
as "emotionless men who remained criminally unconcerned" during the
incident. "What do these men who never married know about the terror we
went through?" enquires Daman Kumar Soni. "Our wives and children could've
been orphaned any minute." From the reactions, it seems the RSS blundered
in making the "Hindu cowards" statement-unwittingly blurting out its
own deep-seated misconceptions.

Soma Wadhwa
The reaction to the RSS chief's remarks were however sharp and critical.
Newspapers lampooned the "convoluted thinking" of the RSS leadership. "Not
known for its empathy at the best of times, the RSS, in this case, has
parted company with common sense," commented The Statesman.

Realisation within the RSS came a little late in the day that the fallout
of Singh's sweeping statement could be negative. In order to cushion that,
the RSS think-tank took recourse to Mahatma Gandhi's 1924 comment about
Hindu cowardice. The organisation's ideologue Devendra Swaroop justifies
the stance. "After the communal riots of 1924 Mahatma Gandhi said that
every Muslim is a bully and every Hindu a coward," he says, adding that
panic set in when one Dr Sanjeev said on television that releasing a few
individuals and maintaining territorial integrity are two different issues
and the government should not hesitate to release the militants to secure
the safe return of the hostages. "Jab ek rota hai to doosra rota hai. Phir
char-paanch rote hein aur krandan hota hai (When one person starts crying,
another joins him, then four or five people start crying and then it turns
into mass wailing)," says Swaroop, pointing out that Singh was not merely
criticising the relatives but had also condemned the release of the
"terrorists".

The RSS is annoyed with the relatives for not "standing with the government
in the hour of crisis". Believing that it is the sole organisation
committed to the Hindu cause, the RSS leadership thinks it is its
legitimate right to give directions to Hindu society and even chastise it
when the need be. Swaroop says the relatives should have realised the
hijacking was a continuation of the Kargil war. "Didn't those who gave up
their lives in Kargil have relatives?" he asks. "There should have been
some commitment. What would have happened? Maximum 10 people would have
died."

RSS watchers view this as its typical line of thinking: blaming the victim
for his woes. Prof Purushottam Aggarwal of the jnu refers to the
controversial autobiography of RSS activist Krishna Gopal Rastogi who
admitted to killing a Muslim woman to "save her honour" from rioters.
"Hindu society is much more brave and sensitive despite the RSS," says
Aggarwal. "Eventually, virtues like bravery lies with the individual, not
the whole community."
Another RSS watcher D.R. Goyal, whose book Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh
gives an interesting insight into the history and functioning of the RSS,
says the organisation has no right to term the entire Hindu community
cowards since its swayamsevaks themselves showed no bravery when they gave
undertakings to the government during the Emergency to secure their release
from jails. He alludes to the account of Baba Adhav, a socialist leader
detained in Yerawada jail, Maharashtra, during that time. In an article
published in Secular Democracy, Adhav wrote that the RSS leadership was
desperate to meet Indira Gandhi and had approached then Maharashtra chief
minister S.B. Chavan to arrange a meeting. "That signing an undertaking was
part of this effort is known to all the prisoners in Yerawada jail.
The =8A proforma of the written undertaking signed by these "freedom fighter=
s
brings into sharp relief their cowardice," notes Adhav. Goyal in his book
published the letters written to Indira Gandhi by the then RSS chief
Balasaheb Deoras. In one of them, Deoras sought to dissociate the Sangh
from JP's movement. Wrote Deoras: "The name of the Sangh has been linked
with the Bihar and the Gujarat movements again and again and without any
cause (sic). In reference to the clarification of the fact, the Sangh has
no connection with these movements =8A"

The debate ignited by the current RSS chief's statement highlights the huge
gap between the beliefs of the RSS and Hindu society at large. Apparently,
the organisation's leadership has not realised this yet. Second-rung RSS
leaders like Madan Dass acknowledge this fact. Now, the question before the
RSS is how to bridge this gap without diluting its ideological core. The
solution, according to its senior leaders, lies in infusing bravery and
militancy into Hindu society. Others see in all this a typical Freudian
slip.

=A9 Copyright Outlook 1999
___________
#5.

http://www.indian-express.com/ie/daily/19991211/ied11044.html
Indian Express
Saturday, December 11, 1999

A Muslim in Ayodhya
by Mushirul Hasan

We flaunt our cities as symbols of composite living. But what if some of
us decide to designate them as Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian? For one,
we will require a visa and a passport to gain access to them. And if you
happen to have a taste of medieval Indian architecture, you may have to
travel to Pakistan and Afghanistan, for all traces of the incongruous
mosques, churches, gurdwaras, synagogues and sufi shrines would have been
removed from our cities. So, book your rail passage to see the magnificent
synagogue in Kochi before it is moved to Israel. Travel to Goa at the
earliest before the churches are transported to Nazareth or Bethlehem.

What next? Lala Har Dayal, the high priest of the Ghadr Party, had an easy
way out. Long before M.A. Jinnah burst on the scene with his two-nation
theory, the Lala stated in 1925 that the future of the Hindu race, of
Hindustan and of Punjab rested on Hindu sangathan, Hindu Raj, shuddhi of
Muslims, and conquest and shuddhi of Afghanistan and the frontiers. The
Hindurace, he claimed, has but one history and its institutions are
homogeneous. "But the Mussalmans and Christians are far removed from the
confines of Hinduism, for their religions are alien and they love Persian,
Arab and European institutions. Thus, just as one removes foreign matter
from the eye, shuddhi must be made of these two religions."

Yes, I sound alarmist. It is just that one is troubled by the argument and
implications of an article that appeared in these columns on December 3
(Saeed Naqvi's `The aesthetics of faith'). The issue is not whether a
mosque in Nazareth or the Vatican City will be out of place or not. That is
for the people of those countries to decide. What I dispute emphatically is
the view that the three "disputed" mosques are aesthetically incongruous in
Ayodhya, Mathura and Varanasi, and, therefore, "revolting for any Hindu."
Are we, then, to infer that those who razed the 16th century mosque at
Ayodhya were moved by aesthetic considerations? No Sir, theirs was not just
an"irrational act" but a brutal assault on the democratic and secular
foundations of our society. No Sir, it was not a case of anybody losing his
or her "balance in the heat of politics." The vandalism at Ayodhya, which
led to the tragic communal polarisation of our polity and society, was the
result of a calculated and well-orchestrated plan.

Nobody I know sings paeans of praise for the iconoclast Mahmud of Ghazna or
defends the intolerant policies of the medieval rulers. But the notion of
"hurt" or inju-stice to any community is a typically modern co-nstruction.
Examining the way communalism has shaped the writing of Indian history, the
hi-storian Romila Thapar observed that a major contradiction in our
understanding of the entire Indian past is that this understanding derives
largely from the interpretations made in the last two hundred years. Yet
some of us seem to carry forth the cultural and ideological baggage that we
inherited from the colonial readings of our past. The mosque at Ayodhya was
not the site of Hindu-Muslim dispute until 1833 and the violent
confrontation in 1855. Thereafter, the masjid-mandir dispute remained
dormant until 1934 when a riot near Ayodhya, triggered by cow-slaughter,
inflamed passions in the area. Again, there was no movement to demand
occupation of Rama's birthplace between 1950 and 1984, except for legal
actions that are destined to remain endlessly unfruitful.

The other noteworthy point is that when Ayodhya first became an important
pilgrimage centre in the 18th century, it was as much due to the activities
of the Ra-manandi sadhus as to the patronage of the Awadh nawabs. The Diwan
of Nawab Sa-fdarjang, built and repaired several temples, while Safdarjang
himself gave land for building a temple on what is known as Hanumangarhi.
Quite a few documents indicate that Muslim officials of the nawabi court
gave away gifts for rituals performed by Hindu priests.

I challenge the notion of any of our urban centres having an exclusively
Hindu or Muslim character. Shahjahanbad 'the home of the Mughal emperors
until 1858' was the capital of the patrimonial-bure-au cratic empire, a
type of state that characte-rised the Asian empires from about 1400 to
1750. Despite its mosques and ma-darsas dotted on the landscape, the
capital offered space to diverse and multiple cultural and religious
traditions to prosper. "Its towers are the resting place of the sun=8AIts
avenues are so full of pleasure that its lanes are like the roads of
paradise," so wrote Chandar Bhan Brahman of Shahjahanbad.

Banaras, occupying that auspicious niche of land where the Ganga and Varana
rivers meet, has been a model composite city. Beyond the indicators of
economic interdependence, we also have evidence to suggest that Muslim
weavers actively participated in the public ceremonials expre-ssing a
shared civic Banarsi culture, including the marriage of the Laut'
(Bhairav), Bharat Milap, and the day-to-day observances related to
particular figures and shrines. An inspiring legitimisation of the more
mundaneexpressions of peaceful co-existence came daily in the sounds of
Muslim shehnai players joining in the arti of Hindu temples, including the
arti of the Vishwanath temple at Banaras.

Nobody can deny the centrality of Banaras and Ayodhya for Hinduism. At the
same time, it is worth remembering that many Muslims living there regard
them as Islamic centres as well. The older mosques and shrines in Banaras
are all seen as testimony to the legitimacy of the Muslim presence and the
Muslim contribution to the city's culture. As Nita Kumar's fascinating
study indicates, both Hindus and Muslims visit the shrines of several
saints and martyrs. What she also points out is that whereas Banaras is the
locus of both classical and folk, of both high and low, Hinduism, it is the
seat not of classical or orthodox Islam, but only of popular Islam. It is
this vibrancy of popular Is-lam and its intermixing with local cultures and
practices that have made many of our cities pluralist and composite.

To the faithful, a place of worship is not essential for his spiritual
journey. The desecration of the Golden Temple or the Babri masjid fortified
rather than weakened the faith of the devout and not-so devout Sikhs and
Muslims. What is critically important for the survival of our
multi-religious society is the respect we extend to places of worship, past
and present, and the value we attach to them as markers of the evolution of
our society. They must not be desecrated or destroyed in the name of
aesthetics.
Copyright =A9 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.

__________________________________________
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.