[sacw] sacw dispatch (4 June 00)

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Web - Dispatch
4 June 2000

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#1. On Pakistan's Religious Schools
#2. India: RSS camp for mothers and wives
#3. India: "Hindu" encounters with Sikhs, neo-Buddhists & Christians
#4. Sri Lanka withdraws controversial film

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#1.

The News
Sunday April 30, 2000

A SIMPLISTIC APPROACH TO THE MADARISSA PROBLEM

Dr Manzur Ejaz

Pakistan's interior minister, Lt-general Moinuddin Haider, has been
arguing in Washington that by introducing modern curriculum in Pakistani
madarissas, the tide of fundamentalism can be checked and the extremist
forces can be brought under control.

Many years back similar arguments were made by his predecessors, Mr
Aitzaz Ahsan. Such a desired move might be beneficial for the betterment
of youngsters taking refuge in religious monasteries in these periods of
economic uncertainties and unemployment. Nevertheless, the argument
stands on faulty assumption as far as the induction of moderation through
modernistic curriculum is concerned. It has been observed that the
religious organisations that took over the mainstream established
educational institution have been the pioneers in using modern technology
to further their religious causes all around the world.

As a matter of fact, the domination of educational institutions by the
Pakistani religious political parties started much earlier than the
emergence of these religious madarissas of today. Religious groups
started dominating the educational institutions on a much broader scale
in politically polarised society in the post-Ayub Khan era. Although
left/liberal elites cannot be absolved of their share of responsibility
in undermining the well-established modern institutions of education in
Pakistan. But, ultimately, religious groups wrote its final obituary and
buried the system.

=46or example, a particular religious group has been acting as a sole
superpower in most educational institutions of Punjab University for the
last thirty years. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that a majority
of the students in the natural sciences have been more inclined to side
with religious student organisations in comparison to the tiny
left/liberal student section. It will be naive and illogical to infer
that the teaching of contemporary sciences can enkindle modernistic
thinking in religious monasteries. Furthermore, if modern technology is
the embodiment of modern sciences, the religious groups have been very
keen to embrace it. In fact, contrary to common perception in the elite,
the religious groups have been the first ones to acquire and use the
latest available technologies to promotes their causes. For example, a
battery-run loudspeaker was introduced in our village mosque as early as
the 1950s when there was no electricity or any semblance of modern
amenities of life in that area. The land used to be tilled by oxen-pulled
ploughs and adobe lamps were used for light but a well-equipped
loudspeaker used to broadcast the sermons of our village imam every
morning, evening and in between the day.

A similar phenomenon has been observed on a much broader scale in the
Iranian revolution and other religious movements across the world. To
spread Ayatollah Khomeini's revolutionary message against Reza Shah
Pahalvi's repressive regime, the most modern audio technology was used.
The messages of Khomeini were transmitted through audio cassettes
throughout Iran. Reza Shah's well knitted intelligence networks were made
irrelevant through undetectable spread of audio cassettes distributed in
Iranian cities and villages. Therefore, it can be justifiably argued that
it was the religious elite in many Muslim societies which pioneered the
use of modernistic techniques to achieve its political ends.

The emergence of TV evangelists in the United States is another example
that shows how religious fundamentalists have stayed ahead in using the
cutting edge technology to reach out and broaden their political base.
Pat Robertson and other evangelists have seized the opportunity and built
huge religious empires owing to their TV shows. Consequently, the
religious right has started wielding a disproportional impact on the
political discourse in the US. Incidentally, the liberals and other
political elites are nowhere even close in employing the modern
technology with as much effectiveness as the religious lobbies do.

Religious formations in Pakistan have always outmaneuvered their
opponents in using the print media and other modern means of
communication. Besides party literature numerous religious/conservative
magazines and newspapers have been dominating the scene. In contrast, the
political groups of the left could only produce poor quality party
circulars which were no match to a much more sophisticated material
distributed by the religious parties. Therefore, it will be simplistic to
believe that the religious movement is backward in using the modern
technology or attracting the people who have advanced knowledge of
scientific fields. The proliferation of madarissas where a particular
curriculum is taught, is not due to lack of modern expertise among the
ranks of religious activists but more because of socio-political priorities.

=46urthermore, the Afghan war has been overly blamed for the proliferation
of madarissas. This trend was in place much before the West started
underwriting a holy war against the 'red pagans'. No doubt the Afghan war
helped the religious groups to obtain finances and military training but
the breakdown of socio-economic institutions has played a pivotal role in
this regard. Most importantly, the state's willingness to realign the
constitution according to religious dictates provided a conducive
environment for the madarissa culture to flourish. Initiatives undertaken
by the ruling elites to further their geopolitical goals also provided an
impetus to many religious and sectarian movements.

Therefore, introduction of a few courses on computers and other
scientific subjects in madarissas will not go very far in neutralising
the role of religious forces in Pakistani society. Economic revival and
realignment of socio-political priorities of the state are preconditions
for any meaningful change in this regard. Availability of gainful
employment and strengthening of credible socio-political institutions can
change the orientation of the youth taking refuge in madarissas. Most
importantly, however, the ruling elite has to reconfigure its
geopolitical designs to bring a meaningful change in society.

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#2.

India Abroad
June 04, 2000, 16:00 Hrs (IST)

RSS CAMP FOR MOTHERS AND WIVES

by V Radhika

Pune: They get up at the crack of dawn to recite prayers, practice yoga,
rounded off with some martial arts, and then sit down to discuss Hindu
ideology and the role of women in it.

Not quite the average urban Indian woman caught up in the swirl of
fashion, beauty contests and other sure signs of "westernization," you
could say.

=46or, at the officers' training camps organized in many parts of India by
the Rashtriya Sewika Samiti, the women's wing of the Hindu right-wing
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), young girls and women are taught how
to be "good mothers, wives and citizens."

One such camp was held in Pune with 42 participants.

Unlike its high-profile counterpart, the Samiti has kept a remarkably
low profile. Its members came to the fore during the Ayodhya temple
agitation only to step back from the limelight to devote themselves to
making ideal citizens of their children.

However, the changing social context seems to have forced the Samiti to
accommodate, albeit grudgingly, the changing demands and needs of women
in its ideological framework. Thus, for instance, the hitherto unstated
but well-understood notion of woman as housekeeper has given way to
accepting that women too can have a career.

"These days women feel that if they have pursued education, they should
work. We are not against it, but then they should not neglect home,"
says Pramilatai Medhe, the Samiti's secretary, and admits merit in the
argument that men should also share in household tasks. But then, Medhe
hastens to add, "it should not become an issue of right. One has to
behave in such a manner that the man himself contributes to household
work."

Nuclear family, an anathema till recently, has become acceptable under
some circumstances. Similarly, from believing that marriage is a sacred
and inviolable institution, the Samiti accepts that divorce is an
option, of course only in exceptional cases. "Even 'Manusmriti' (an
ancient Hindu legal text) talks about the circumstances when a couple
can separate. However, divorce should only be an exception," says Medhe.

But poised as it is in a society of rapidly changing mores and trying to
balance tradition and modernity, the dilemma facing the Samiti at
present is how to increase its members. Requesting anonymity, a senior
Samiti member from Pune says, "These days girls are only concerned about
their career, they are either not interested in social issues or do not
have the time. Largely it is the former. And what is really serious is
the insistence of young girls that they do not want to be with their
in-laws after marriage."

That is part of the reason why in the recent past the Samiti has been
trying to tap professionals. In January this year, a two-day camp
organised for professionals and participants included engineers, doctors
and chartered accountants. The idea, says Bhagyashree Sathe, a
'pracharika' or full-time Samiti worker, was to make them realize that
they could make a difference to society, for instance, by working with
the professional community to bring about attitudinal changes.

However, one area where the Samiti has not altered its position is its
role in politics. Unlike the RSS, which is known to play an important
role in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Samiti remains aloof. "It
is not that we are unaware of what is going on, but then we see our role
only in the social sphere. Some Samiti members may be interested in
politics, but we insist that if they win an election they should
relinquish any Samiti office-bearer's post. Also if one of our members
is interested in politics and needs guidance we give it," says
Abhyankar.

Samiti members also feel that should a legislative quota for women in
Parliament become a reality, women should be trained for politics. Their
sole qualification should not be being 'betis' (daughters) and 'bahus'
(wives) of male politicians.

India Abroad News Service

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#3.

The Telegraph
4 June 2000
Op-Ed.

ALL COSY IN A JOINT FAMILY=20
=20
BY MUKUL KESAVAN
=20
=20
The last fortnight's newspapers supply us with several examples of how
the sponsors of Hindutva deal with religious difference while
simultaneously protecting their basic position that the definitive
Indian is a Hindu. There have been reports in newspapers about "Hindu"
encounters with Sikhs, neo-Buddhists and Christians.
The one that got the most newspaper space was a Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh front organization, the Sikh San-gathan, manned by pro-sangh
parivar Sikhs. There was controversy about the Sikh Sangathan because
the RSS chief, K.S. Sudarshan, argued that Sikhism was distinct from
Hinduism but not separate from it. This provoked some Sikhs to demand
that the Akali Dal distance itself from the Bharatiya Janata Party, or
at least distance itself from Sudarshan's position. The Akali Dal,
currently in alliance with the BJP, tried to stay clear of the
controversy.

Sudarshan's position was consistent with the RSS's long time stance of
seeing "Indic" religions - Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism - as Hindu
emanations still joined to the parent faith. Thus the Sikh community was
the sword arm of an otherwise vanquished Hinduism during the dark times
of Muslim rule. Sudarshan reportedly cited the Dasham Granth attributed
to Gobind Singh to support his position. Hostile Sikhs questioned the
authenticity of the attribution; Sikh historians argued that scriptural
arguments apart, the Sikh community had, in the course of the 20th
century, steadily evolved away from Hinduism especially after the
control of gurdwaras was legally wrested from Hindu mahants in 1925.

Sudarshan's position seemed part of a larger sangh parivar plan to coopt
the Sikhs. The RSS, a newspaper report claimed recently, would ask
Hindus in Punjab to return Punjabi, not Hindi, as their mother tongue
during the current census. This is interesting because the RSS actively
mobilized Punjabi Hindus in the Sixties to do the opposite (claim their
mother tongue was Hindi) in an attempt to create a Hindu, Hindi-speaking
state out of the Punjab, namely Haryana. This change of stance would
affect Haryana's chances in the disputed Fazilka and Abohar districts
but the RSS had obviously decided that integrating Sikhs into a larger
Hindutva coalition was worth a few disgrun-tled Haryanvis.

Also, while the sangh parivar was naturally opposed to Sikh militancy
and separatism during the bad old days, it was the Congress that was in
power and took the decisions to violently suppress Sikh terrorism. So
the Congress was the villain of the piece for most Sikhs while the sangh
parivar, having kept its nose creditably clean during the murderous Sikh
pogroms of 1984, had political credibility and some room to manoeuvre.

The front organization established by the parivar to woo neo-Buddhist
Dalits represents an even more intriguing move. The RSS knows that it
has an upper caste profile; it knows that the upper caste Hindu whom it
has traditionally represented is the enemy of the Dalit movement and it
also knows that B.R. Ambedkar tried to lead Dalits into self-esteem by
leading them out of Hinduism. That a Hindu organization should be trying
to bring neo-Buddhists into its fold and devoting its energies to the
cause of coopting Ambedkar, the sworn enemy of Hindu hegemony, seems odd
and doomed to failure. Why should Dalits be persuaded by this move?

Whether it works or not, there is a logic in the RSS move. We need to
remember that Ambedkar led Dalits into Buddhism after much looking
around. He considered Islam and rejected it because it would provoke too
much hostility and also Ambedkar wasn't particularly enthusiastic about
that faith. If Dalits became Muslims, it would certainly spite upper
caste Hindus but it would also destroy Dalit identity because becoming a
Muslim in India, given Partition, was such a charged business that
Dalits would stop being Dalits and simply become Muslims. Christianity
was not a plausible option because rightly or wrongly Christianity was
associated with colonialism and India had just become independent.
Buddhism seemed a suitable faith because it had been sidelined by mains
tream Hinduism in much the same way as Dalits had been marginalized by
Hindus.

Nearly 50 years after the event, the RSS is ready to enfold Ambedkar and
Buddhism. This poses no psychological difficulty because the ordinary
Hindu thinks of the Buddha in a vaguely proprietory way: as one of the
10 avatars of Vishnu the Buddha is comfortably part of his eclectic
pantheon. The RSS is equally comfortable with the idea of Sikhism and
Buddhism as junior members of the Hindu joint family, cadet branches of
a broadly Hindu lineage.

Christians and Muslims are a different matter because they're the fruit
of alien trees. Their citizenship is conditional on good behaviour which
basically means a willing subordination of their cultural preferences to
a "national" culture and history defined by Hindutva. The only way the
sangh parivar can deal with Muslims and Christians is either as hostile
aliens or converts of Hindu stock awaiting purification. On June 3,
newspapers carried a story about Christian families reconverting to
Hinduism in Orissa, in the area where Graham Staines was murdered. The
chief guest at the reconversion was the shankaracharya of Puri who
declared that all conversions after independence were illegal and that
all such converts would be reclaimed to Hinduism with "love".

Since Buddhism is quasi-Hindu in the parivar's view, no guarantees of
good behaviour are needed. If the cost of buying into an important
political constituency (the Dalits) means taking on board a minor
prophet like Ambedkar, that's all right: after all Hinduism recruited
the Buddha himself; why strain at the gnat having swallowed the camel?

The approach towards the Sikhs is more emollient still. They're
keshdhari Hindus, the sword arm of the community. There is a certain
pathos to this. The parivar wants Hindus to coalesce into a virile,
disciplined, armed nation. Basically its metaphor for a fighting Hindu
is a Sikh. The Sikhs have everything that parivar Hindus aspire to: a
martial past spent fighting Muslims, a martial race certificate from the
Brits when they ruled us, a strong sense of community discipline, a
centralized religious organization under the gurdwara's act, confidence,
swagger and an absence of timorousness.

The sangh parivar is so unmanned by the spectre of Hindu subordination
in the past that when it calls Sikhs keshdhari Hindus what it is really
trying to say is that Hindus are tonsured Sikhs, pupal sardars. The RSS
drills because it believes mass P.T., uniforms and discipline will
restore to the community its lost manhood. Hindus in this view are the
Khalsa in embryo.

These encounters with Sikhism, Buddhism and Christianity illustrate a
politics founded on a sense of historical inadequacy and a corresponding
need to assert a Hindu primacy in the present. But a nation is not a
proving ground for the virility of dominant communities. Germans, Serbs,
Sinhalas have all discovered this to their cost.

A democratic republic has a limited task: the creation of the necessary
conditions for free citizenship. A notion of Indianness founded on a
sense of aboriginal injury is an odd prescription for citizenship. But
more than that, a Hindu identity that finds reassurance in appropriating
the religious identities of others, does Hindus no favours. To want
Muslims and Christians to see Hindu reflections when they look into
their mirrors and then to see a Sikh when you look into your own is fine
if you're in a fairground, but it isn't a stable foundation for a view
of the world. =20

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#4.

BBC News Online: World: South Asia
Saturday, 3 June, 2000, 11:52 GMT 12:52 UK

SRI LANKA WITHDRAWS CONTROVERSIAL FILM

A private television station in Sri Lanka says it cancelled a screening
of an Indian Tamil-language film on the grounds that it could spread
religious hatred.

The Swarnawahini television channel said it withdrew the film "Bombay"
by the director, Maniratnam, following a request from the cultural
ministry.

The film was due to be shown on Friday night with Sinhala sub-titles.

It tells the story of a romance between a Hindu man and a Muslim woman
against a background of sectarian riots in Bombay in 1993.

Muslim groups in Sri Lanka made complaints against the film to the
government.

=46rom the newsroom of the BBC World Service

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