[sacw] SACW #1 | 19 Nov. 02

Harsh Kapoor aiindex@mnet.fr
Tue, 19 Nov 2002 04:42:36 +0100


South Asia Citizens Wire #1 | 19 November 2002

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

A very important report regarding the American Funding of Hindutva=20
circuits of RSS /VHP is to be released to media in India on 20th=20
November at 3.30 pm at the Constitution Club, New Delhi. The report=20
will be simultaneously available at several web sites internationally.
This is a very important investigative report which would interest=20
most of you. So look out for the report, More details follow in the=20
next 24 hours

>From the 20th Nov.on in case you want to use the report/ read it/=20
help them put it on more websites, help with press write -ups etc.=20
please write to :=20
<mailto:idrf_fx_report@y...>idrf_fx_report@y...

__________________________

#1. A call from a Pakistani (B.M. Kutty)
#2. India: Encounters Real and Fake: Ansal Plaza gets murkier (Praful Bidwa=
i)
#3. India: From Akshardham to Ansal Plaza (Bina Srinivasan)
Book Announcements
#4. 'Sri Lankan Ethnic Crisis: Towards a Resolution' by R. B. Herath
#5. 'Before the Night Falls- Forebodings of Fascism in India' by K.N.Panik=
kar
#6. Gujarat: The Making of a Tragedy (Ed.) Siddharth Varadarajan
#7. Gujarat 2002 --Untold and retold stories from Hindutva's Lab=20
(Ed.) John Dayal
#8. Book Review :On Communalism and Globalization=97Offensives of the Far R=
ight
by Aijaz Ahmad ( Reviewed by Yoginder Sikand)

__________________________

#1.

Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2002

Subject: ancient times

Dear friends,

This is a call from a Pakistani who became a Pakistani by no compulsion
at all but by choice. So, I cannot blame anyone for what I did. But I
have a short message to convey to my friends, wherever they may be, with
the request to reflect on that. Here is the message.

We in Pakistan are looking for a prime minister, with or without a
beard, with or without a veil.

Can you help us find one, one like the very liberal, humane Vajpayee
who, in spite of all the flak he has collected on his face and
all over his body, during his years of prime ministership on various
accounts, has refused to have a VHP beard and is being assailed now by
his own bearded and unbearded VHP/RSS/Bajrangdal/Shivsena comrades, just
because he finally marshalled the courage to back the ban imposed by the
Indian Election Commission on the Hindu fundamentalist organisations
taking out a so-called religious rally in communally blood-soaked
Gujrat, in their pursuit of election victory?

I have a suggestion. In Kerala, where I was born, brought up till I
passed my SSLC (matriculation)in 1946, and went to college in Madras,
before I came to Pakistan, more as a keen student of geography, which
was then changing in South Asia in a political sense, than as a refugee,
the history books had the following to say: Every three years or four
years,
a delegation of decent human beings, elected or selected I cant say,(
but they certainly were more democratic than the ones who today strut
about as democrats and peace lovers in Delhi and Islamabad),
representing the people of Malabar, the northern part of today's Kerala,
used to be sent to the adjoining eastern parts of South India, i.e.
present day Tamilnadu-Madras etc., in search of a just, fair and
impartial ruler for Malabar. (With apologies to Dr.K.N.Panikkar, who
knows these things more than me). That delegation used to interview
dozens of prospective candidates and eventually select the one that
conformed to
the approved standards and specifications in personal character,
honesty, social status, etc. And thus was introduced the rule of the
Perumals, who did not belong to Malabar. They were interviewed and
chosen and brought to Malabar in a procession of decorated elephants,
indicating the respect the people of Malabar were giving their s/elected
ruler for the next four years. And, not one of them betrayed the trust
reposed in them by the people of Malaar. They served the people most
honestly impartially and when their terms were over, the people of
Malabar paid them full honours and took them back in a similar
ceremonial procession all the way to their places of origin.

Very unlike the treatment which we in Pakistan have been meting out to
our elected leaders on the one hand and vice versa..i.e. they have been
meting out to us.=A0

Legend has it, or perhaps it is true, that the last of the Perumals,
Cheraman Perumal, went all the way to Makkah/Madina and became a Muslim,
at the hands of Hazrat Aboobakar, and while returning to Malabar with a
delegation led by one of the Prophet's companions, Malik-ibn-Dinar, died
on the way and is buried in Shehar Muqalla in Yemen. His tombstone, if
it still exists, has the name of Sultan Tajuddin alias Sheraman Ferumal
inscribed on it.=A0=A0
The delegation is said to have travelled to Malabar and, with the
authority it was carrying from the late Cheraman Perumal, it received a
a warm welcome in Malabar from Perumal's successors, the Zamorins
(Samudiris), and the delegation members were given the freedom to preach
their religion - Islam. The mosque which this delegation built on the
south-western Malabar coast of India is known to be the first ever built
in the subcontinent - a monument to peaceful interaction and
accommodation between the mosque and the mandir - long before Mohammad
bin Qasim's aggressive forays into Sindh.

At the fag end of my life, in which I spent most of it in political
struggle and several years in jail too, seeing what is happening in
Pakistan today, I feel like asking all the bearded and unbearded, the
veiled and the unveiled, who have somehow got into the parliament - the
sons, nephews, nieces, wives, cousins and grand-ones, who have come to
hold the fort for their defunct political ancestors - to see if they can
find a way to introduce the "Perumal" system in Pakistan, so that we can
spare Jamali, Fazlurrahman, Amin Fahim, Farooq Laghari and the many
others from having sleepless nights waiting for the miracle to happen,
and the people of Pakistan from an endless wait.

Please dont think I have based this cry from the wilderness on Malabar
because I was born there. In my fifty years in Pakistn as a
Pakistani, I had hardly ever thought that one day I will have to refer
back to where I was born and to its history, to tell my compatriots in
Pakistan to think and think and think. Where have we the Pakistanis
brought ourselves to?

All the best

B.M.Kutty

______

#2.

[ November 18, 2002]

Encounters Real and Fake
Ansal Plaza gets murkier

By Praful Bidwai

It is not usual for journalists, even those holding strong beliefs,=20
to become public-interest litigants. So it is only with considerable=20
deliberation that Kuldip Nayar and I decided last fortnight to=20
approach the National Human Rights Commission with a complaint=20
concerning what the police call their =B3encounter=B2, at Ansal Plaza,=20
New Delhi=B9s posh shopping mall on the Diwali weekend, in which two=20
=B3Pakistani terrorists=B2 were gunned down.

The last time I initiated a public-interest litigation was 21 years=20
ago, when I moved the Bombay High Court in the pavement-dwellers=B9=20
case. What impelled me this time was the extraordinary nature of the=20
circumstances of the Ansal Plaza =B3encounter=B2. Both Mr Nayar=8Bone of=20
our most respected journalists, with a distinguished record of=20
defending human rights=8B, and I, had been uneasy about the police=20
version of the events. Then, on November 6, The Asian Age published a=20
story quoting a Dr H. Krishna who claimed to be an eyewitness to the=20
event. He was emphatic that the =B3terrorists=B2 did not come to the=20
Plaza in a Maruti car as alleged; they were brought by the police;=20
they were unarmed, barely able to walk; the police killed them at=20
point-blank range.

Our complaint said that the salient facts, including Dr Krishna=B9s=20
account, are disturbing enough to warrant an impartial inquiry. The=20
NHRC chairman, Justice J.S. Verma, passed an order within minutes of=20
our meeting him. He issued notice to the Delhi police commissioner=20
and =B3anti-terrorism=B2 Special Cell to respond to the adverse=20
allegations, and directed them to provide =B3immediate and adequate=20
protection=B2 to Dr Krishna.

Since then, the =B3encounter=B2 controversy has become more heated=8Band=20
murky. Doubts have been cast on Dr Krishna=B9s integrity and character=20
by raking up old (apparently long-closed) cases filed by estranged=20
relations. But the central issue is not his character, but his role=20
as a witness, hinging on his presence at Ansal Plaza. The Special=20
Cell insists he was not present in the Plaza basement. It backs its=20
stand by citing =B3technical information=B2 from a cellular telephone=20
company. The police haven=B9t disclosed the material facts. Rather,=20
they have been leaking them selectively to =B3sympathetic=B2 publications=20
and reporters.

The issue has got politicised with BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley=20
accusing Nayar, me, and other =B3so-called human rights activists=B2 of=20
being =B3the overground face of the underground=B2. The VHP wants us=20
prosecuted as =B3terrorist accomplices=B2. Equally nasty statements have=20
come from other sangh parivar figures. The VHP has even demanded that=20
the NHRC be renamed National Terrorists=B9 Rights Commission. And now,=20
Prime Minister Vajpayee himself has rationalised human rights=20
violations by saying (Nov 11) that =B3tough decisions=B2 have to be taken=20
while fighting terrorism, sometimes =B3even infringing some of our=20
freedoms and abridging some of our human rights temporarily =8A so that=20
our future generations can live in peace and harmony.=B2

This is a remarkably frank admission of what the Indian state (like=20
some others) practises. Clearly, the parivar has made the =B3encounter=B2=20
a loyalty test: Patriotism requires that we support the police; those=20
who don=B9t are working hand-in-glove with terrorists. The posture=8Bthat=20
you are either with the VHP-BJP, or against the Indian nation=8Bis=20
rooted in unspeakable arrogance. It equates crass Hindutva with=20
genuine patriotism, based on India=B9s pluralist-secular Constitution.=20
But let=B9s leave aside the BJP-VHP=B9s defamatory statements. What=20
matters now is the numerous contradictions in the =B3encounter=B2=20
theory=8Beven if it is assumed that Dr Krishna is an unreliable=20
witness. Consider the following:

? Police Commissioner R.S. Gupta said the police didn=B9t have the=20
registration number of the terrorists=B9 car (The Times of India, Nov=20
6). Joint Commissioner Neeraj Kumar told The Indian Express (Nov 4)=20
they had no details on =B3the make or =8A number=8A [only] a rough=20
description of the two men=8A=B2 But hands-on Assistant Commissioner and=20
=B3encounter specialist=B2 Rajbir Singh said: =B3We had =8A the car number=
=B2=20
(TOI, Nov 4). The car was stolen in July, but the FIR for the theft=20
was lodged two days after the =B3encounter=B2.

? The police claimed the terrorists had two pistols, an AK-56 rifle=20
(in a bag) and only 60 rounds of ammunition. If they wanted to wreak=20
large-scale havoc in a prime shopping-mall, why didn=B9t they carry=20
RDX, grenades and more AK-56s? The two men were clever enough to=20
enter India, travel to Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Kashmir in=20
disguise, and concoct false identities, but so stupid as to leave=20
their diaries in their pockets!

? The police say the terrorists fired 24 bullets, but they haven=B9t=20
shown any spent cartridges. No policeman suffered even a scratch.=20
Worse, contrary to all professional and ethical norms, the police=20
handled the alleged terrorists=B9 weapons without gloves in the full=20
glare of TV cameras. As even a schoolchild knows, this is not done if=20
you want to preserve fingerprints.

? The police first claimed the =B3encounter=B2 lasted 15 to 20 minutes=20
and involved 30-35 Special Cell operatives, many of them armed with=20
AK-56 guns. Although these have small (30-round) magazines, they fire=20
at the very rapid rate of 600 bullets a minutes. But instead of the=20
huge number of holes such firing would leave in the basement walls,=20
there are only 13 such holes. Later, the police disclosed that they=20
fired a total of 52 rounds, and the =B3terrorists=B2 another 24. However,=20
they still cannot account for a=A0good=A041 of the 76!

? The police delayed ordering autopsy on the two bodies by over 72=20
hours. They claimed there was a month=B9s delay in the December 13 case=20
too. In fact, that autopsy was done on December 17. They said they=20
referred the present matter to the Home and Foreign ministries; the=20
clearance would take 20 days. Then, on November 9, they hastily=20
ordered an autopsy. The only publicly-disclosed sentence in the=20
autopsy report gives an extra-medical opinion=8Bthat fatal =B3shock=B2 and=
=20
=B3haemorrhage=B2 were caused by =B3firearms=B2, and =B3could have been=20
sustained in a police encounter=B2. Doctors cannot determine this.

? The police claim that 19 eyewitnesses =B3confirm=B2 their account. But=20
none of those paraded on TV on say they actually saw the terrorists=20
shooting.

? The police failed to summon independent ballistic experts. They=20
claim they were tracking the terrorists for three months. But they=20
didn=B9t know their whereabouts even a few days before the=20
shootout=8Bdespite cellphone tracking!

? Pictures show one dead man clutching his pistol. Ballistic experts=20
and physiologists say that under heavy fire, the victims=B9 first=20
reaction =B3is to release whatever they are holding=B2. It is hard to=20
believe the weapon wasn=B9t planted after the event.

The Delhi police have a lot of answering to do. They claim, on the=20
strength of cellphone records, that Dr Krishna only reached Ansal=20
Plaza two hours after the encounter. According to an IIT-Chennai=20
telecom expert, cellphone records can only give the approximate=20
location (with 1 to 1.5 kilometres) of a user. More precise=20
information (within, say, 100-150 metres) can only be obtained if=20
calls are tracked on the basis of advanced authorisation=8Bimpossible=20
in Dr Krishna=B9s case, short of an odious deal with the police. The=20
fact that the user=B9s record shows s/he accessed one cell (one of many=20
transceivers in a mobile network) does not prove s/he was nearest=20
that cell. If one cell is busy, the call is diverted to another.

The murky nature of these events has impressed itself firmly on the=20
public mind. Thinking people everywhere are asking: Was this=20
encounter calculated to spread fear and insecurity, and thus=20
=B3normalise=B2 the use of indiscriminate force? Why does the Home=20
Minister appear at the site of each terrorist event? Is he trying to=20
create the impression that he alone can defend citizens against=20
terrorism? Is there a deeper game? Why should a policeman, even Mr=20
Rajbir Singh=8Binvolved in six of seven =B3encounters=B2 in 2000=8Brisk an=
=20
=B3encounter=B2 without the assurance of apex-level political support?

These troublesome questions must not be ducked. Too many people are=20
being killed after being designated =B3terrorists=B2. In J&K, no fewer=20
than 1,296 have been shot dead this year. Andhra alone records 250=20
=B3encounters=B2 a year. In Uttar Pradesh, there were 150 custodial=20
deaths in 2000. In India, each year, over 2,000 habeas corpus=20
petitions are filed but largely ignored. This is unacceptable.=20
Terrorism must be fought=8Bone might even say, on war footing. But only=20
a lawless, barbaric, state fights it with summary, brutal and cruel=20
methods=8Bwhich are the terrorist=B9s own evil hallmark.

Even wars have to be fought lawfully. Rules of warfare are=20
incorporated in various Geneva Conventions and international=20
treaties. The state cannot summarily extinguish human life. The=20
police have no right whatever to do so. That is the function only of=20
a court of law. A state that kills terrorists on mere suspicion=20
itself practises terrorism. Many condone this on the assumption that=20
a few =B3excesses=B2 are permissible because the real enemy is Pakistan.=20
This view is dangerously wrong. Tomorrow=B9s =B3terrorist=B2=8Bthe Special=
=20
Cell=B9s target=8Bcould be you. Citizens are no more secure against state=20
brutality than against militant terrorism.=8Bend=8B

_____

#3.

Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2002 08:57:17 +0530

FROM AKSHARDHAM TO ANSAL PLAZA

Bina Srinivasan

Deepwali in Delhi. Wide roads filled with cars bumper to bumper.
School grounds converted into fairgrounds teeming with people. Women in
overdressed splendour: their glitter adding to those of artificial
lights strung out on houses. Children with their excited titter gorging
themselves on Pepsi and popcorn.

Shopping plazas opening up their arms to the goddess of wealth.=A0

So far so good. Then came a couple of =91terrorists=92, and hordes of
policemen in their wake. They stormed into one such shopping plaza.
The ill-fated Ansal Plaza. The rest is history.

I was at a Deepwali party. By a twist of fate my friend=92s house was a
stone=92s throw from Ansal Plaza. I decided to go to Ansal Plaza when
news of the shootout disrupted the party. Two intrepid friends joined
me. We trooped off.=A0=A0

Ansal Plaza: eerily deserted. Except for police jeeps and some
journalists who waited to see what more was to unfold into the night. A
journalist turned around as he heard me asking the police a few
questions and said, madam you are quite late. I agreed. Yes, I agreed,
by an hour and a half. Late enough. I had missed the fireworks.=A0

Let me take you down to the place he said. I shook my head. You don=92t
want to see where they were killed he asked disapprovingly. I stood my
ground. I had no desire to see pools of blood and bullet marks.

I had seen them in Gujarat. In people=92s homes, on dargah walls, in
Akshardham. On human bodies. Not too late either.

Clearly disappointed by my lack of interest he said, it was a set up.=A0

The whole thing? I asked in open-mouthed shock. He nodded triumphantly.
I wanted to know more. He clamped down sensing that he had said too
much. Surely there must have been something? Why should the police want
to splash Delhi=92s Deepawali with blood and gore?

I was told the bodies were taken to AIIMS. To my horror I found myself
headed towards AIIMS. There I was asked to meet the person in charge. I
walked down a huge corridor, through the emergency ward teeming with
groaning and screaming patients.

D=E9j=E0 vu. Akshardham, Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, intensive care unit.

I step into a cavernous room with a huge table. Behind it sits a
bespectacled man. He sizes me up. I want to know about the
=91terrorists=92 who were brought in from Ansal Plaza I say. Not a flicker
of expression passes that smooth face. I cannot tell you he says. But
why? No, it is against the rules, he smiles sweetly. What condition
were they brought in? No response.

I am doing a human interest story I say feeling a bit like a vulture on
the prowl. Feeling sick to the core of my being as my mind kept winging
back to the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital. Are any of their relatives here?
Have you performed the post-mortems? No response.=A0

I fight back some more images: an unshaven NSG commando with a gaping
hole in his throat, the shock of pain writ large on his face. Another
commando with his arm in a sling, his wife crouched on a white chair her
face stiff with fear. Yet another on the hospital bed his eyes glazed
with physical suffering. Not to speak of the Hindi film desh bhakti
songs that suddenly start playing in the background as we got news that
the Governor was to visit the Akshardham victims that morning.

On and on it went in AIIMS that night. We do not have orders madam says
the AIIMS official settling down into his chair ready for a night long
discussion if necessary. No go. He grins again. I cannot tell you
anything.

Good tempered man. Kafkaesque.=A0=A0=A0

By the time I gave up my nerves were trembling like an entire bushel of
fish gasping for water. I strode out of the hospital longing to shake
off the fetid air eddying around my shoulders. As I stepped into the
night all I wanted was to sink into a long sleep.=A0

Wake me up only when the nightmare is over.=A0

In the meantime life continues. I read the newspapers every morning on
the lawns of a gracious house. Tucked away amid all the excited
speculation over Ansal Plaza is a news report. Starvation looms large
in Rajasthan. Black newsprint jumping out like a string of insects.=A0

I see a face. It belongs to a time long past.

A woman is bent on the railway tracks. Picking out food. She feels my
gaze on her and looks back at me. My eyes leap away from her. That
look; her face. It is etched into my memory. A look of contempt and
defiance. Survival tactics.

It was the first time I understood about hunger. A moment seared into
my consciousness. Much before Gujarat, much before I understood
religion or democracy.

Today, I try to connect Ansal Plaza, Akshardham and starvation deaths.
All I can see are a set of assorted faces. Images strewn across the
landscape. Each one tells me a different story about survival.=A0

Gujarat. Homeland. Bruised land.

Akshardham, our first tryst with =91terrorism=92 in Gujarat. A temple:
swarming with politicians, policemen and media. Cameras trace every
bullet shot, every pool of blood in a drama that goes on for hours.
Under the full glare of the media the National Security Guard commandoes
complete their jobs, and politicians applaud themselves.

Ansal Plaza did not deserve such glory. Some shootouts are more equal
than others. Just as some people are more equal than others who deserve
to die anyway. Like those people in Rajasthan.

My head is buzzing with an exhausting list of questions. Why, asks a
hard-headed friend wanting to stop my hysterical blabbering, why are so
rattled by this? This is not the first police encounter to have
bloodied the shores of this land. True.

Indeed, I am late.=A0

Only now I react to any unnatural death. Only, we have seen too much
violence in Gujarat. Only, too many people have died. In horrible ways.
Death comes too easy in democratic India.

Wrong. Death never comes easy. At times it comes with a lethal price
tag: it corrodes the social psyche. A fact we know for the truth in
Gujarat. Witness the ongoing violence (Ahmedabad, Mahudha, Dasaj,
Jhalod, Nadiad) even a rabid dog can cause a riot says a newspaper
report. What can be more telling.

And sometimes death knocks at the door, blows a cold whisper and
departs. It leaves you so mangled that it opens up a Pandora=92s box.

Yet another image flits in. Try as I might I cannot rid myself of it.
An old woman lies on a cot in a camp in Ahmedabad. Her hair is cropped
short fitting her skull like a silver cap. She is incredibly frail,
bones jut out from all angles. Her face is covered with flies. One hand
twitches pathetically. I edge towards her my feet shuffling
reluctantly. I notice she cannot move.=A0

Her son arrives. She was injured in the violence as we were trying to
flee the mob, he says. She got left behind because she suffered a
paralytic attack after the injury. After we arrived at this camp we
tried to look for her. We found her ten days later. In a garbage bin.

Ten days in a garbage bin. Old woman. Paralyzed. Does the imagination
balk?

Tread carefully while in Gujarat. This is the land of festering wounds.

______

#4.

Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2002 07:15:00 -0800
Subject: An important book on Sri Lanka

Dear friends:

I have the pleasure to draw your attention to a recently published,=20
and very timely, book Sri Lankan Ethnic Crisis: Towards a Resolution,=20
authored by Mr. R. B. Herath.

R.B. Herath is a prominent member of the Sri Lankan people living in=20
the Vancouver area. He has also been a member of the Board of=20
Directors of SANSAD (South Asian Network for Secularism and=20
Democracy).

I personally had the honour to read the manuscript before the book=20
was published, and to write a Foreword for it.

Sri Lankan Ethnic Crisis is a thoroguh and dispassionate account of=20
Sri Lanka's history through different stages, tracing the root causes=20
of the civil war that has been going on for almost twenty years, and=20
has taken a toll of tens of thousands of lives. It is also a=20
systematic study of the political and constitutional shifts and=20
alliances over the period of five decades, whichhave so far failed to=20
find a proper solution to the Sinhalese-Tamil conflict.

It is a book that should be read by everyone interested in the=20
phenomenon of identity politics, and in matters of democratic=20
processes to ensure the civil, human and political rights of the=20
entire citizenry.

To know more about the author and the book, please:

Visit the author's website at <http://www.rbherath.com>http://www.rbherath.=
com

To purchase copies, or read excerpts online, please go to
<http://www.trafford.com/robots/02-0606.html>http://www.trafford.com/robots=
/02-0606.html

For interviews, or to request review copies, contact the author in Canada b=
y
phone 604-597-1920 or email=20
<mailto:heraths@f...>heraths@f...

Thank you for your attention.

Hari Sharma
--
Hari P. Sharma, Ph.D.
president, SANSAD (South Asian Network for Secularism and Democracy0
president, INSAF (International South Asia Forum)

______

#5.

Book Announcement - A collection of essays entitled, 'BEFORE THE=20
NIGHT FALLS- FOREBODINGS OF FASCISM IN INDIA' by historian=20
K.N.Panikkar has been published by Books for Change, Bangalore,=20
India. The book explores the unfolding of the Hindu communal fascist=20
agenda during the last ten years.The publisher is accessible at=20
<bfc@a...>

______

#6.

Available now in bookshops across India...

Gujarat: The Making of a Tragedy (Ed.) Siddharth
Varadarajan

Penguin, 2002, pp 472, Rs 295/-

The events at Godhra and the ensuing communal carnage
in Gujarat, like the Babri Masjid demolition and the
1984 massacres, constitute an ugly chapter of our
contemporary history. For the sheer brutality,
persistence and widespread nature of the violence,
especially against women and children, the complicity
of the State, the ghettoization of communities, and
the indifference of civil society, Gujarat has
surpassed anything we have experienced in recent
times. That this happened in one of India=EDs most =EBwell
off=ED and =EBprogressive=ED states, the home of the
Mahatma, is all the more alarming.

This book is intended to be a permanent public archive
of the tragedy that is Gujarat. Drawing upon
eyewitness reports from the English, Hindi and
regional media, citizens=ED and official fact-finding
commissions =F1 and articles by leading public figures
and intellectuals =F1 it provides a chilling account of
how and why the state was allowed to burn.

With an overview by the editor, the reader covers the
circumstances leading up to Godhra and the violence in
Ahmedabad, Baroda and rural Gujarat. Separate sections
deal with the role of the police, Sangh Parivar, media
and the tribals, the international implications of the
violence, the problems of relief and rehabilitation of
the victims, and, above all, their quest for justice.
The picture that emerges is deeply disturbing, for
Gujarat has exposed the ease with which the rights of
citizens, and especially minorities, can be violated
with official sanction. The lessons of the violence
ought to be heeded and acted upon by the public. For,
in the absence of this, can another Gujarat be
prevented from happening elsewhere?

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction: Chronicle of a Tragedy Foretold
Siddharth Varadarajan
The Violence: The Carnage at Godhra Jyoti Punwani * A
License to Kill: Patterns of Violence in Gujarat
Nandini Sundar * Narratives from the Killing Fields *
When Guardians Betray: The Role of the Police Teesta
Setalvad * An Open Letter to My Fellow Police Officers
Vibhuti Narain Rai * =EBNothing New?=ED: Women as Victims
Barkha Dutt, Women=EDs Panel, PUCL-Vadodara and Shanti
Abhiyan * Tribal Voice and Violence G.N. Devy * The
Violence in Gujarat and the Dalits Mohandas Namishray
* The Truth Hurts: Gujarat and the Role of the Media
Siddharth Varadarajan, Rajdeep Sardesai,
PUCL-Vadodara and Shanti Abhiyan, Anil Chamaria

The Aftermath: Little Relief, No Rehabilitation
People=EDs Union for Democratic Rights * Apart, Yet a
Part: Ghettoisation, Trauma=F3and Some Rays of Hope *
The Elusive Quest for Justice: Delhi 1984 to Gujarat
2002 Vrinda Grover * India=EDs Reaction to International
Concern A.G. Noorani=A0
Essays and Analyses: The Dialogue of Vali Gujarati and
Hanumanji Ranjana Argade * Genocide of the Idea of
Gujarat Shail Mayaram * The Pathology of Gujarat
Achyut Yagnik * Caste, Hindutva and the Making of Mob
Culture Ghanshyam Shah * The VHP Needs to Hear the
Condemnation of the Hindu Middle Ground Ramachandra
Guha * Where Will it End? Mahasweta Devi * Modi and
Kalinga? Thrice Impossible, Brother Gill Prakash N.
Shah * Just Another Day in Ahmedabad Gurpal Singh * I
Salute You Geetaben, From the Bottom of My Heart
Siddharth Varadarajan
Appendices: Prime Minister Vajpayee=EDs speech at Goa/A
Brief Chronology of Events/Akshardham and After

______

#7.

Gujarat 2002 --Untold and retold stories from Hindutva's Lab

1157 pages, hardbound, the effort of so many.

Every single major civil society investigation into Gujarat from 1998=20
to June 2002

articles by Seema Mustafa, John Chattanath, Ambrose Pinto, Shamsul=20
Islam, M P Raju and John Dayal for an in depth understanding of the=20
worst crsisis Indian democracy has faced in the half century of its=20
existence.

Select reading on Hindutva

Edited by John Dayal
Published by All India Christian Council and Justice and peace Commission
Distributed by Media house, New Delhi
Price Rs 395 or $ 39.95

Media house can be reached for copies at
<mailto:mediabooks@h...>mediabooks@h...
<http://www.mediahousedelhi.com>www.mediahousedelhi.com

_____

#8.

Book Review
Name of the Book: On Communalism and Globalization=97Offensives of the Far =
Right
Author: Aijaz Ahmad
Publisher: Three Essays Press, New Delhi [info@t...]
Year: 2002
Pages: 120
ISBN: 81-88394-04-1
Reviewed by: Yoginder Sikand

The rise of fascism in contemporary India in the garb of Hindutva or=20
Hindu nationalism has been extensively written about and hotly=20
debated. It has brought in its wake increasing strife and violence,=20
leaving thousands dead even as the country rapidly moves towards a=20
situation approaching civil war, as the macabre events in Gujarat so=20
tragically illustrate. Despite its shrill rhetoric of =91national=20
unity=92 there can be no doubt that the votaries of Hindutva are=20
determined to divide the country against itself, leaving in its wake=20
widespread death and destruction.

This slim volume by a noted Indian historian places the phenomenon of=20
Hindutva terror in a broader theoretical framework, seeking to=20
explore its complex economic, social and cultural roots. Ahmad sees=20
the rise of Hindutva as part of a larger phenomenon of the growth of=20
right-wing ethnic and religious movements in many parts of the world=20
following the collapse of the Soviet Union. It thus shares much in=20
common with similar movements elsewhere, such as white supremacist=20
and fundamentalist Christian groups in the West and Islamist=20
extremists in much of the Arab world. These movements, he suggests,=20
are all impelled by a fierce hostility towards progressive,=20
emancipatory politics.
The underlying assumptions of all forms of communalism, the=20
author suggests, are based on a completely distorted understanding of=20
what makes a community. Contrary to all historical and empirical=20
evidence, ideologues of communal groups see the communities they=20
claim to represent as monolithic wholes, devoid of caste, class,=20
regional, linguistic, sectarian and other divisions. These reified=20
communities are also seen as having no significant overlaps and=20
shared features with other communities, who are presented as=20
distinctly different and alien. Then, the relations between the=20
different communities are depicted as having been based on a long=20
historical record of undying hatred and conflict. This understanding=20
of the history of inter-communal relations is deliberately promoted=20
in order to serve very contemporary political purposes.
In the Indian context, Ahmad writes, Hindutva communalist=20
propaganda is shaped in order to suit the political agenda of a=20
particular constellation of caste and class groups. Ahmad sees=20
Hindutva as representing the interests of a small =91upper=92 caste,=20
principally Brahminic, elite, and as geared to preserving and=20
promoting their entrenched hegemony. The myth of a monolith =91Hindu=92=20
community and of a well-defined =91Hindu=92 tradition is employed to=20
construct an image of the Muslim, the Christian and the Communist as=20
the menacing =91other=92. In this way, the =91lower=92 castes/classes are=20
sought to be incorporated into the =91Hindu=92 fold and, to put in=20
simply, their wrath diverted from their actual =91upper=92 caste/class=20
oppressors on to imagined enemies. As the events of Gujarat show,=20
Dalits and tribals are routinely employed as foot-soldiers by the=20
Hindutva brigade to wipe out Muslims, while any attempt by the =91low=92=20
castes to defy Brahminical hegemony is firmly crushed, for in the=20
classical Hindu scheme of things the Dalits are seen as having been=20
born simply to serve the =91higher=92 castes. The link between=20
ultra-right wing communalism and violence, the author says, is not=20
incidental. The violence promoted by the advocates of Hindutva=20
against Muslims and Christians has a direct bearing on the rapid=20
spread of other forms of violence in the country against other=20
marginalized groups, such as Dalits, tribals and women.
Ahmad reflects on the complex web of economic factors that=20
underlie the rapid rise of Hindutva in India today, arguing that the=20
phenomenon cannot be seen apart from the growing crisis of capitalism=20
and global imperialism. Globalization, the latest stage of capitalism=20
and imperialism, seeks to impose a new consumerist culture over the=20
rest of the world. Despite its rhetoric of =91swadeshi=92, Hindutva,=20
Ahmad writes, is firmly in league with the ruling classes in the=20
West, opening up the Indian economy to the depredations of western=20
multi-national corporations. The neo-liberalism economic agenda that=20
is promoted by agents of globalization spells doom for millions of=20
marginalized people in India and other =91Third World=92 countries, but=20
is being actively welcomed by the advocates of Hindutva, since it=20
serves the interests of the Indian ruling classes.
Ahmad concludes the book with a plea for a new emancipatory=20
politics that can challenge the tyranny of communalism and Western=20
imperialism disguised as globalization at the same time. He=20
recognizes the need to recover and re-articulate visions of the just=20
society that are latent in the traditions of the =91low=92 castes and=20
peasants of India, who represent the vast majority of the Indian=20
population. He argues that the challenge of Hindutva must be combated=20
not only at the political plane, but also at the level of popular=20
culture, for it is at the level that the battle for the hearts and=20
minds of the Indian people must first be fought.

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