[sacw] SACW | 28 July 02

Harsh Kapoor aiindex@mnet.fr
Sun, 28 Jul 2002 02:19:45 +0100


South Asia Citizens Wire | 28 July 2002

>From South Asia Citizens Web:
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

__________________________

#1. Religious Riots Loom Over Indian Politics (Celia W. Dugger)
#2. India's leader-in-waiting fans Hindu nationalism (Robert Marquand)
#3. India: 'For Freedom' - Public Meeting by Insaaniyat (29th July, Bomba=
y)
#4. Press Release: NRIs demonstrate against Hindu Right demagogue=20
Sadhvi Ritambra at the Ganesh Temple in Flushing, New York
#5. Book Announcement: Beyond Nationalist Frames - Relocating=20
Postmodernity, Hindutva, History (Sumit Sarkar)

__________________________

#1.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/27/international/asia/27INDI.html
The New York Times
July 27, 2002

Religious Riots Loom Over Indian Politics
By CELIA W. DUGGER

HMEDABAD, India - Here in the adopted hometown of Mohandas K. Gandhi,=20
the great apostle of nonviolence, Hindu mobs committed acts of=20
unspeakable savagery against Muslims this spring.

Mothers were skewered on swords as their children watched. Young=20
women were stripped and raped in broad daylight, then doused with=20
kerosene and set on fire. A pregnant woman's belly was slit open, her=20
fetus raised skyward on the tip of a sword and then tossed onto one=20
of the fires that blazed across the city.

The violence raged for days and persisted for more than two months,=20
claiming almost 1,000 lives. It was driven by hatred and sparked by a=20
terrible crime: a Muslim mob stoned a train car loaded with activists=20
from the World Hindu Council on Feb. 27, then set it on fire, killing=20
59 people, mostly women and children.

The carnage that followed here in the western state of Gujarat has=20
become a festering political sore because of widespread allegations=20
that the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Hindu nationalist party that=20
leads India and Gujarat, and the World Hindu Council were complicit=20
in the attacks on Muslims. The party and the council - both part of=20
the same Hindu nationalist family - deny the charges.

But official statistics provided in June by the Police Department,=20
now under new administration, show that the state of Gujarat - the=20
only major one in India governed solely by the Bharatiya Janata Party=20
- failed to take even elementary steps to halt the horrific momentum=20
of violence.

The day after the train attack, for example, police officers here in=20
Ahmedabad did not arrest a single person from among the tens of=20
thousands who rampaged through Muslim enclaves, raping and looting as=20
well as burning alive 124 Muslims.

Police officials and survivors said in interviews that workers and=20
officials of the party and the council were complicit in the attacks=20
and, in some cases, instigated the mobs.

"This was not a riot," one senior police official said angrily. "It=20
was a state-sponsored pogrom."

Party officials who lead the national government, while publicly=20
condemning the attacks, resisted opposition calls for a forceful=20
assertion of the central government's authority to halt the violence=20
as it dragged on for more than two months.

Fathoming what happened here in the first major outbreak of=20
Hindu-Muslim violence in almost a decade is critical for India. The=20
specter of such violence has shadowed the country since its birth.

India, a secular democracy, and Pakistan, an Islamic nation, were=20
hacked apart when they won independence from Britain in 1947. The=20
furies of religious hatred were unleashed, and about a million people=20
died.

The use of religion for political gain is an enduring theme in both=20
India and Pakistan and a wellspring of violence that vexes the=20
subcontinent even today.

Senior national leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, including=20
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, have maintained that India's=20
tolerant Hindu ethos has helped guarantee religious freedom for=20
India's billion-strong population, which includes 820 million Hindus=20
and 130 million Muslims.

Until the violence in Gujarat, the party, which has led the national=20
government since 1998, had proudly pointed to the absence of=20
Hindu-Muslim violence during its years in power as evidence of its=20
secular credentials.

But many influential Indians are once again questioning whether the=20
party can be trusted to ensure that Hindus and Muslims live together=20
in peace and to resist the temptation of exploiting religious=20
divisions to reap Hindu votes.

Gujarat, a state of 51 million people, has over the past decade=20
become the country's laboratory for Hindu nationalism. That ideology=20
has long depicted Muslim and Christian Indians as converts to foreign=20
religions who must accept the primacy of Hindu culture. Gandhi's=20
assassin was an extreme adherent of this view - and for decades, the=20
Hindu nationalist movement was a political pariah as a result.

In the recent carnage in Gujarat, most of those killed were Muslims.=20
Among the survivors, 100,000 became refugees in their own country.=20
More than 20,000 homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed,=20
along with 360 Muslim places of worship.

The events have inspired an anguished outpouring from many Indian=20
intellectuals.

"Gujarat disowned Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi long ago," Ashis Nandy,=20
one of India's leading social thinkers wrote in Seminar, a monthly=20
magazine that addresses domestic and international problems in India.=20
"The state's political soul has been won over by his killers."

In an interview in June, the state's chief minister, Narendra Modi,=20
offered no consolation to the state's Muslims and expressed=20
satisfaction with his government's performance. His only regret, he=20
said, was that he did not handle the news media better.

"We have 18,600 villages," he said in his office, where a photograph=20
of Gandhi hung on the wall. "Ninety-eight percent of Gujarat was=20
peaceful. Is it not a credit for the administration, the government?"

Mr. Modi was a longtime party organizer and pracharak, or preacher,=20
from the source of the Hindu nationalist movement, the Association of=20
National Volunteers. He was handpicked less than a year ago by the=20
Bharatiya Janata Party's high command to turn around its fading=20
fortunes in the state.

[Mr. Modi dissolved the state assembly on July 19 to bring on=20
elections. In the usual practice, he resigned and was named caretaker=20
chief minister while he led the party's political campaign.]

At the national level, too, hard-liners in the party appear to be on=20
the upswing. Lal Krishna Advani, India's home minister, who=20
represents Gujarat in Parliament, was elevated recently to be India's=20
deputy prime minister and is expected to succeed the aging Mr.=20
Vajpayee as the coalition's standard-bearer.

In the late 1980's, Mr. Advani led a movement to build a Hindu temple=20
in Ayodhya, on the site of a 16th-century mosque said to be the=20
birthplace of the Hindu deity Ram. That movement was critical to the=20
party's rise to power and culminated in the mosque's demolition by=20
Hindu zealots in 1992, igniting the last major spasm of Hindu-Muslim=20
violence, which left more than 1,100 people dead, most of them=20
Muslims.
Mr. Advani said he regretted the mosque's destruction, just as he has=20
decried the violence in Gujarat. Still, he stood by Mr. Modi, and at=20
a recent news conference, said that Mr. Modi's government had=20
generally performed well.

Others disagree. The National Human Rights Commission, headed by a=20
retired chief justice of the Supreme Court, concluded that the=20
state's efforts were "a comprehensive failure."

The commission released a confidential report on June 12 that named=20
officials from the Bharatiya Janata Party who have been accused by=20
survivors and witnesses of instigating the violence. It noted that=20
many politically connected people were yet to be arrested.

"These are grave matters indeed," the commission wrote, "that must=20
not be allowed to be forgiven or forgotten."

An Attack and a Vengeful Mob

The train that pulled into Godhra station at 7:43 a.m. on Feb. 27 was=20
packed with more than 1,500 volunteers of the World Hindu Council,=20
who were returning from Ayodhya, where they had agitated once again=20
for construction of a temple on the site of the demolished mosque.

Roused by religious fervor, hundreds of devotees poured out of the=20
train at Godhra station, which is in the middle of a densely packed=20
Muslim slum. A Muslim vendor was ordered to say "Hail Ram" and=20
refused. The Hindu activists yanked his beard and beat him, said a=20
state police investigator.

As the train pulled out, an angry Muslim crowd pelted it with stones.=20
No one seems certain why, but the mob's fury focused on coach S6.=20
Stones crashed through the windows. A flaming rag soared inside,=20
landing on a synthetic leather seat that caught fire. Police=20
investigators say that as many as 16 gallons of gasoline were poured=20
onto the floor. Fifty-nine people were killed.

Fury over the atrocity came fast. Within hours, a Muslim driver was=20
pulled from his rickshaw and killed with a cricket bat. Hindu mobs=20
burned down shops in the city and threw stones at a mosque.

The World Hindu Council called a general strike for the following=20
day, Feb. 28, to protest the killings. Senior police officials say=20
the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's endorsement of the strike made=20
violence virtually inevitable.

Mashiha Qureshi, an 11-year-old Muslim girl, and her family fled to=20
the safety of Juhapura, the city's largest Muslim ghetto. The=20
family's house and five businesses were gutted by fire. She is now=20
afraid to live among Hindus.

"Somebody might catch me, kill me, throw me under a train," she said.=20
"There are good people. There are bad people. Some save you, some=20
kill you. But how do you know which is which?"

The chief minister, Mr. Modi, said he gave clear instructions that=20
the police were to deal with any violence firmly.

But in a country where authorities routinely round up suspects to=20
head off Hindu-Muslim violence, the Ahmedabad police did not make a=20
single preventive arrest the day of the train attack, city police=20
officials said.

P. C. Pande, who was city police commissioner at the time, and C. K.=20
Chakravarthi, who heads the state police, refused repeated requests=20
for interviews.

Other senior police officials - sickened by what happened, but=20
unwilling to be quoted by name - contradicted Mr. Modi. One official=20
said the chief minister directed that the police "should not come=20
down harshly on the Hindus tomorrow."

As a result, they said, no clear orders were given.

Two large massacres took place on Feb. 28 in Ahmedabad, a gritty city=20
of 3.5 million people, as the police stood by or, according to some=20
witnesses, aided the mobs.

Thirty-nine people were killed at the Gulbarg Society, a walled=20
compound that was home to Muslim families in the midst of a largely=20
Hindu neighborhood.

The mob started gathering in the morning. By early afternoon, more=20
than 10,000 Hindu men assembled, many armed with stones, iron rods,=20
tridents, swords and homemade bombs, screaming: "Beat them! Burn=20
them! Cut them!"

Muslim women and children in the neighborhood had gathered in the=20
home of Ehsan Jafri, a Muslim and a former member of Parliament from=20
the Congress Party. They believed he could protect them.

Through the day, witnesses said, Mr. Jafri made increasingly frantic=20
calls to the city police commissioner and other powerful people,=20
among them Amarsinh Chaudhary, who was the state Congress Party=20
president and a former chief minister of Gujarat.

Mr. Chaudhary said he, in turn, called the heads of the city and=20
state police forces. The third and last time Mr. Jafri called, he=20
wept, begging: "Kindly help me. They will kill me. My society is=20
burning."

The police arrived in numbers only large enough to take on the mob at=20
about 4 or 5 p.m. - too late to save the women and children, who=20
burned to death with Mr. Jafri, survivors said.

The next day, the smell of roasted flesh still hung heavy in the=20
ruins of the residential complex. K. G. Erda, a senior police=20
inspector, was standing outside, watching as people carried on with=20
their looting.

He said the few officers who had been there the day before had stayed=20
in the traffic intersections, only firing at the mob when it stoned=20
the police. He and other officers had called for reinforcements, he=20
said, but none came. In fact, he said, 10 policemen, including two=20
high-ranking officers, were called away.

"What can two or three policemen do when confronted by 20,000=20
people?" Mr. Erda asked.

The second massacre of Muslims unfolded in a poor area called Naroda=20
Patia, where 11-year-old Mashiha and her family lived.

Many survivors accuse leaders of Hindu nationalist groups, among them=20
Bipin Panchal, known to many as Bipin Bhai, of leading the mob.

A man in the World Hindu Council's front office confirmed that Mr.=20
Panchal was a council worker. Days after the atrocity, Mr. Panchal=20
said his shop had been damaged by fire and looted. The Muslims had=20
attacked, he claimed, and he had only defended himself.

"They live here in India and pray for Pakistan," he said=20
contemptuously. "They only deserve one treatment. They should pack=20
their bags and board the train to Pakistan. There should be no=20
Muslims here."

He denied even belonging to the World Hindu Council.
Mr. Panchal has since been charged with being a leader of the mob and=20
is said to have absconded. However, an official at the Naroda police=20
station said the police knew where he was but had been instructed not=20
to arrest him.

On the day these two massacres took place, Feb. 28, no one was=20
arrested for participating in the violence. The next day, 55 people=20
were killed, but only 93 arrests were made.

State officials would later point to the large number of Hindus=20
arrested to prove the police were vigilant. Here in the city the=20
police have arrested more than 3,500 people - but those arrests came=20
belatedly, after the carnage had already gotten out of control.

Asked about the failure to make arrests early on, Mr. Modi, the chief=20
minister, asserted that the police had fired into the mobs to halt=20
the violence.

Yet in the three days after the train attack - when Muslims were=20
overwhelmingly the victims of violence - the police killed more=20
Muslims than Hindus, 22 to 14, in what was ostensibly an effort to=20
stop attacks on Muslims.

An alliance of nonprofit groups, Citizen's Initiative, surveyed=20
almost 2,800 Muslim families. But Mr. Modi dismissed the charges."Not=20
a single complaint has been registered like this," he insisted.=20
Instead of rooting out those who may have been complicit, Mr. Modi=20
used his authority to penalize officers who enforced the law, senior=20
police officials say. They cite what they describe as punitive=20
transfers of four police superintendents in March.

Mr. Modi called the transfers a "purely administrative decision." But=20
several officials confirmed that Mr. Chakravarthi, who heads the=20
state police, wrote a letter protesting the transfers and commending=20
the men for their handling of the violence.

The transferred police officials told dramatic stories of confronting mobs.

One officer, Himanshu Bhatt, recalled arriving at a Muslim village=20
surrounded by a Hindu mob of 15,000 that was brandishing swords and=20
scythes. Already, 14 Muslims had been killed. Mr. Bhatt immediately=20
gave the order to fire. A deputy headman from a neighboring Hindu=20
village was killed, and the mob ran away.

Mr. Bhatt said he took great pride that all the Muslim inhabitants=20
were home cooking dinner by the next evening.

Rahul Sharma, another officer, described rescuing 400 children, ages=20
6 to 14, at an Islamic school that was surrounded by a mob of 8,000=20
armed with swords, pipes and soda bottle bombs.

"We fired tear gas, but the wind was against us and it blew back on=20
us," he said. "So we fired three rounds of musket fire. Four or five=20
were injured. The entire crowd vanished."

"I don't think any other job would have allowed me to save so many=20
lives," he said. "That is a bank balance for a lifetime."

As the violence in Gujarat continued into April, the political and=20
civic outcry across the country rose, as did pressure on the central=20
government. Mr. Modi's role became an issue, with even some of the=20
Bharatiya Janata Party's own allies calling for his dismissal. After=20
a bruising debate in Parliament, the central government finally=20
dispatched a senior retired police officer, K. P. S. Gill, to advise=20
Mr. Modi.

Mr. Gill arrived on May 3 and within days, the city's three top=20
police officials were replaced. K. R. Kaushik, the new police=20
commissioner, said he immediately issued orders for the police to=20
arrest anyone gathering in a mob. By the evening of the next day, May=20
11, he said, the violence was under control.

Unapologetic, Separate, Hopeful

Today, there is no more apt symbol of the divide between Hindus and=20
Muslims in Ahmedabad than the road separating Juhapura, the Muslim=20
ghetto where so many sought refuge during the carnage, from=20
neighboring Hindu areas.

The Hindu houses back up to barbed wire fences and high brick walls=20
topped with jagged shards of glass. The windows in virtually every=20
house on both sides were shattered in the rock throwing that=20
accompanied the violence.

It is as though the Muslims of Juhapura and the Hindus in adjacent=20
neighborhoods live in separate nations. They refer to the road that=20
divides them as a border. It has the appearance of a war zone that=20
has come under heavy shelling.

But as desolate as the road looks today, it ends on a green field,=20
called Unity Ground, where Hindus and Muslims used to play cricket=20
together.

Days after her husband, the former Muslim parliamentarian, was burned=20
alive by a mob, Zakia Jafri, 65, still clung to the idea of an India=20
where Hindus and Muslims lived in peace. For years, she and her=20
husband resisted their children's entreaties to leave their=20
majority-Hindu neighborhood. Mrs. Jafri, haggard and grief-stricken,=20
vowed to go home to their burned-out apartment and start over.

"That is my husband's memory and dream," she said. "I will not abandon it."

But the lack of remorse among many Hindus has slowed the healing=20
among Muslims. Mrs. Jafri said recently that none of her Hindu=20
neighbors ever came to her to express sorrow that they could not save=20
her husband. She asked, "How can I go back to such a place?"

_____

#2.

The Christian Science Monitor
July 26, 2002 edition

India's leader-in-waiting fans Hindu nationalism
Colin Powell begins his tour of Asia this weekend with a stop in=20
India and Pakistan.
By Robert Marquand | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0726/p01s04-wosc.html

_____

#3.

Dear Friend

Insaaniyat has organised a public meeting on the issue of freedom of=20
expression, the details of which I'm sending you below.

Not many of us are really surprised at these recent attacks=20
on citizens' democratic right to express themselves against violence=20
and hate. People who use hate propaganda as a means to acquiring=20
power will always feel threatened by dissent. However, as concerned=20
citizens if we do not respond to such muzzling today, if we do not=20
get together in different forums and speak out against these=20
attempts, we stand to lose our democratic space and the fundamental=20
right to express our opinion freely. Rath yatras and hate propaganda=20
is freely allowed, but the voice of sanity and peace is openly=20
stifled.

In the announcement below, a few instances of such assaults on=20
free expression have been listed. However, this muzzling is being=20
attempted far more extensively using different tactics. All these=20
issues can be discussed at the meeting.

We have to be together to speak out in defence of our rights and for peace.

We hope you will be there on Monday.

'For Freedom' - Insaaniyat Public Meeting

Monday 29th July, 5 p.m., YWCA hall, Colaba

Speakers include: Javed Akhtar, Anand Patwardhan, Teesta Setalvad,=20
and Nikhil Wagle

Insaaniyat, a forum for communal harmony and democracy, has=20
organised "For Freedom", a public meeting to defend the freedom of=20
expression on Monday, July 29, at 5p.m. at the YWCA Hall, Colaba.

The meeting will be addressed by 'Mahanagar' editor Nikhil Wagle,=20
filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, 'Commmunalism Combat' editor Teesta=20
Setalvad and scriptwriter Javed Akhtar. After that there will be a=20
public discussion on the issue.

The meeting has been called in the wake of increasing attacks on the=20
rights of citizens to speak out and organise public opinion against=20
obscurantist and fascist forces that threaten the secular and=20
democratic polity of the country. Several voices of conscience have=20
spoken up against the horrifying genocide in Gujarat. However, there=20
is an attempt to muzzle such dissent under the guise of maintaining=20
law and order!

n On July 13-14,2002, the Mumbai police prevented the display of=20
posters condemning the violence in Gujarat put up by the Satyashodak=20
Vidyarthi Sanghatana at a national convention on peace, secularism=20
and democracy.

n On July 20,2002, the Mumbai police seized copies and cassettes of=20
two documentary films made on the violence in Gujarat which were to=20
be screened at DAV College, Bhandup.

n For the last two months, filmmaker Anand Patwardhan's award-winning=20
documentary 'War and Peace', has not been certified for public=20
viewing by the Censor Board, which is demanding that vital portions=20
of the film be cut.

n In Goa, distribution of copies of 'Communalism Combat' was stopped=20
as it featured detailed reports on the genocide in Gujarat.

Insaaniyat denounces these attempts to curtail our freedom of=20
expression and resolves to defend it at all costs.

_____

#4.

For immediate release

For more information, contact
Chandana Mathur (212 877 0048)
Satish Kolluri (201 521 0230)

NRIs demonstrate against Hindu Right demagogue Sadhvi Ritambra at the Ganes=
h
Temple in Flushing, New York
Temple space should not be used to promote and fund the politics of communa=
l
hatred in India, the group says

New York, July 26, 2002

Non-resident Indians demonstrated today at the Ganesh Temple in Flushing, N=
ew
York, to protest the meeting and reception being held there for the Sangh
Parivar demagogue Sadhvi Ritambra. The 60 or 70 Indian and Indian-American
demonstrators came from different religious and socio-economic backgrounds;
there were children and old people, and even one wheelchair-bound protestor=
.
A few noted American scholars of India such as Owen Lynch and Johanna
Lessinger also came to join the protest against the Sadhvi, drawn there by
their emotional attachment to India and their concern at the rise of the
intolerant ideology of Hindutva. The demonstration had been called by four
organizations -- INSAF (International South Asia Forum), the SAMAR media
collective, FOIL (Forum of Indian Leftists) and Non-resident Indians for a
Secular and Harmonious India -- and was endorsed by IMAN (Indian Muslim Ale=
rt
Network). The protestors stood at the entrance of the temple auditorium,
holding up pictures of the tortured, charred corpses of Muslim women and
infants killed by Hindutva mobs in Gujarat this year, and carrying placards
that said "2,000 dead and counting: end minority persecution in India",
"Sadhvi Ritambara has blood on her hands", "Real Hindus don=92t support
genocide".

Many of the protestors outside the temple were Hindus and Muslims of Gujara=
ti
origin. Vipul Desai had cut short his annual vacation in the Hamptons to
stand outside the Flushing temple with a placard, distributing leaflets to
those who were coming in to listen to Sadhvi Ritambara. "I had to be at thi=
s
protest", he said with visible emotion, "the carnage happened in my
hometown". Saeed Patel was one of the protestors who tried to talk to the
incoming Sangh Parivar supporters about the right of Muslims to live with
dignity in a secular India. "I'm Gujarati too", he said poignantly to a
Hindutvavadi from Gujarat who had come for the Sadhvi Ritambara event.

Greeted by a hail of slogans as soon as she stepped out of the car, Sadhvi
Ritambara scurried hurriedly into the auditorium with the event organizers.
Protestor Satish Kolluri suddenly recognized a familiar figure going into t=
he
auditorium behind her, and shouted out, "Pandit Jasraj, what are you doing
here? How can you sing for the Sadhvi?". The aging Hindustani classical
singer turned around and walked back to face Kolluri and the other
protestors. "Let me explain", he said. Kolluri was outraged as only a since=
re
lifelong admirer can be: Hindustani classical music is, after all, a living
embodiment of the syncretic Hindu-Muslim basis of Indian culture, a standin=
g
refutation of the so-called Hindu-Aryan purity that the Sangh Parivar wishe=
s
to foist on India. Unable to face Kolluri's genuine sense of betrayal, the
old man walked wordlessly back into the auditorium.

The event organizers were clearly unhappy to see the protestors, and argued
repeatedly -- and unsuccessfully -- with the police, asking that the
protestors be removed from the entrance to the temple auditorium. One or tw=
o
of the organizers actually lunged forward to physically confront the
protestors, but were prevented by the police from doing so. Yet another eve=
nt
organizer told protestor Aditi Desai that he wanted to discuss the Gujarat
violence in a calm, reasonable manner, and told her that the anti-Muslim
pogrom was the natural outcome of the burning of the train compartment at
Godhra. Desai responded that the killings at Godhra were the work of apalli=
ng
criminals who should have been apprehended and punished to the fullest exte=
nt
of the law, but that she was deeply opposed to the retaliatory killing by
Hindu mobs of thousands of Muslim men, women and children who had nothing t=
o
do with the Godhra incident. The man remained unconvinced, clearly preferri=
ng
the massacre of thousands of innocents to the punishment of the guilty by t=
he
Indian criminal justice system. This underscores, once again, that even the
seemingly moderate votaries of Hindutva have nothing but contempt for the
rule of law and democratic institutions.

The text of the leaflet that the protestors were handing out read as follow=
s:

IS THIS THE HINDUISM THAT YOU WANT TO TEACH YOUR CHILDREN?

* Nearly 2,000 Muslims have been killed in Gujarat by Hindu (Sangh Parivar=
)
extremists in recent months.
* Over 100,000 Muslim men, women and children have been rendered homeless,
and the BJP (Hindu right-wing) state government is now forcibly shutting do=
wn
the relief camps where they have been sheltering since March.
* Sexual violence against Muslim women and children has been especially vi=
le
in Gujarat: hundreds of women were gangraped and tortured and then killed;
there is even a documented case of a three year old girl who was raped and
killed by a Hindu mob in front of her mother's eyes.
* The Gujarat carnage is only the most recent episode in the brutal histor=
y
of the Sangh Parivar. For more than a decade, Indian Muslims and Christians
have been targets for Hindu right-wing violence.

Today the Ganesh temple in Flushing is hosting a reception for Sadhvi
Ritambra, the main demagogue of the Hindu Right. She was present and involv=
ed
in the destruction of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in India by Sangh Parivar
activists on December 6, 1992, in defiance of the order of the Indian Supre=
me
Court. More than 3,000 lives, mostly Muslim, were lost in the communal riot=
s
that followed. In her speeches and chants, Sadhvi Ritambara has actively
incited Hindus to kill Muslims.

Why is the Ganesh temple, a community institution which should be a place f=
or
peace and prayer, hosting such an event?

It has been advertised that this meeting with the Sadhvi is intended to rai=
se
money for ostensibly charitable purposes in India. However, we have recentl=
y
learnt from media reports -- in the New York Times and the Wall Street
Journal in the U.S., and Outlook magazine in India -- that donations for
charity and development purposes unsuspectingly made by Indian-Americans ar=
e
often siphoned off by American Sangh Parivar supporters to support Hindu ha=
te
groups in India.

We are Indian-Americans of diverse religious backgrounds, Hindus and others=
,
and WE STRONGLY OBJECT TO THE TEMPLE SPACE BEING USED TO PROMOTE AND FUND T=
HE
POLITICS OF HATE IN INDIA.=20

* International South Asia Forum (INSAF)
* SAMAR media collective
* Forum of Indian Leftists (FOIL)
* Nonresident Indians for a Secular and Harmonious India

[For more information, call 212-877-0048 or 201-521-0230]

_____

#5.

Just Published by Permanent Black

SUMIT SARKAR

BEYOND NATIONALIST FRAMES

RELOCATING POSTMODERNITY, HINDUTVA, HISTORY
Hardback / ISBN 81-7824-026-2 / Rs 550 / 275pp / South Asia Rights=20
(Foreign Rights licensed to Indiana University Press)

The political context in which the historian of India finds himself=20
today, says Sumit Sarkar, is dominated by the advance of the Hindu=20
Right and globalised forms of capitalism. Simultaneously, the=20
historian's intellectual context is now dominated by the=20
marginalisation of all varieties of Marxism and an academic shift to=20
cultural studies and postmodern critiques. In this scenario, how may=20
a thinking historian who retains an unfashionable commitment to=20
socialist-feminist values, alongside a democratic political vision=20
formulated within Indian conditions of skewed social development,=20
practice the craft of history?

This excellent set of essays collectively constitutes Sumit Sarkar's=20
answer to this central question. The theme which runs through and=20
unites these essays is Sarkar's consistent critique of the limits of=20
'nationalist frames'. He shows that despite their divergent forms=20
-chauvinistic or benign, political-statist or culturalist -=20
nationalist frameworks have limited modern South Asian history.=20
Sarkar argues forcefully for moving beyond such frames towards a=20
flexibly-Marxian social history and politics imbued with democratic,=20
socialist-feminist, and internationalist values.

SUMIT SARKAR is Professor of History at Delhi
University.

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