[sacw] SACW | 18 Sept. 02

Harsh Kapoor aiindex@mnet.fr
Wed, 18 Sep 2002 01:35:31 +0100


South Asia Citizens Wire | 18 September 2002

__________________________

#1. Reserve a copy of Anthology of International Feminist Literature=20
in Urdu (Kishwar Naheed)
#2. Kolkata Sex Workers Earn Respect and Protection From Fighting Disease
Giving AIDS the Red Light (Paroma Basu)
#3. Gujarat's Gendered Violence (Ruth Baldwin)
#4. Hindutva =8CCelebration=B9 of Rape (Charu Gupta)
#5. Heartwarming Communal Harmony (Satyapal Dang )
#6. Protest Demonstration Against Modi's Vicious Diatribe Against=20
Minorities (New Delhi, 19 Sept.)

__________________________

#1.

Sent: Thursday, September 12, 2002 2:59 PM
Subject: Re: Anthology of feminist Literature

Kishwar Naheed wrote:

For the last six months,I had been working on the anthology of Internationa=
l
Feminist Literature in Urdu.It is of 930 pages.Writings of 220 writers of
100 countries have been included. The price of bounded edition is Rs.350.As
you are an expert on address book please send the message to all the NGO
and other concerned persons.

Every one can get one's copy reserved on E-mail,academy@a... I
will look forward for your cooperation.
Love
Kishwar Naheed

_____

#2.

The Village Voice (New York)
September 18 - 24, 2002

Kolkata Sex Workers Earn Respect and Protection From Fighting Disease
Giving AIDS the Red Light
by Paroma Basu

KOLKATA, INDIA=8BIn recent years, public health officials, social=20
workers, and politicians swarmed Kolkata's red-light areas,=20
advocating safe sex, offering medical services, and distributing=20
condoms. These campaigns resulted in tremendously successful=20
initiatives like the Sonagachi AIDS Project, which went from being a=20
quasi-governmental program to one of the largest community-run=20
intervention projects in the world. Sex workers themselves now run=20
the show, and in Sonagachi (meaning "golden tree"), famous as the=20
oldest, largest, and most storied red-light district in the city,=20
only 9 percent of about 6000 sex workers are HIV positive. In=20
comparison, rates of infection among Mumbai (formerly Bombay)=20
prostitutes as of 1997 were as high as 70 percent. At the end of=20
2001, the total number of people living with AIDS in India was=20
3,970,000, according to UNAIDS.

But while high-risk communities are way savvier about sexually=20
transmitted diseases (STDs), the rest of society has hardly been as=20
enlightened. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC),=20
new Indian AIDS cases are rapidly seeping out of high-risk groups and=20
into the general population. As is the case in other societies,=20
clients who get infected in the brothels put their unsuspecting wives=20
at risk, and alternatively, wives or "floaters" earning secret cash=20
through sex may also bring the HIV home. Behavior in homosexual=20
communities here is only beginning to be discussed.

Noticing such trends and drawing inspiration from the Sonagachi AIDS=20
Project, a group of doctors, psychologists, and other concerned=20
citizens opened the City Counseling Center (CCC) in downtown Kolkata.=20
The nonprofit provides medical and psychological consultation, as=20
well as cheap antiretroviral drugs. It has also started one of the=20
country's first support networks, the Kolkata Network of HIV Positive=20
People, through which individuals can finally exchange their=20
experiences with HIV without encountering raised eyebrows.

"Intervention programs running in high-risk areas are only the tip of=20
the iceberg. Awareness has to spread to the rest of society," said=20
Dr. Debjani Banerjee, one of the CCC's chief coordinators.

The new center might never have come to life, however, if the city's=20
sex workers had not set such an incredible precedent. In 1995, the=20
Sonagachi women organized themselves into the first union of sex=20
workers in all of Asia, Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC), and=20
took control of the local government AIDS project. With a current=20
membership of almost 60,000 male and female sex workers from all over=20
the state of West Bengal, the union is fiercely picketing at many=20
sites for the decriminalization of prostitution and equal workers'=20
rights (including entitlement to negotiate issues such as work=20
conditions). Union representatives who might never have dreamed of=20
stepping outside the brothels, have flown as far as Geneva and=20
Australia to publicize their cause.

Union coordinator Putul Singh is now a sex worker by night and=20
activist by day. She calls AIDS her "friend," because, she says,=20
"before the project no one cared if we were healthy or not. After=20
stemming the flow of AIDS among our sisters, we want to spread the=20
message to ordinary people too."

The sex workers' success did not come easy, however, especially in=20
light of the harsh lives they had led for most of their lives.=20
Located on the western fringe of Kolkata, Sonagachi is a maze of=20
narrow lanes with ancient, rotting tenements rising up on either=20
side. Thousands of sex workers rent box-like rooms the size of an=20
office cubicle, usually paying exorbitant rent for a few feet of=20
space. If working for brothel owners, sex workers usually turn over=20
all their income to them. The owners use the money to pay off the=20
police, pimps, and local gangsters, explained "Geeta," a Sonagachi=20
sex worker who did not want her name used. At present, how much a sex=20
worker charges roughly depends on how much time she spends with a=20
customer, how old she is, and how good she looks.

"For most of their lives these people have been outside even the most=20
marginal fringes of society," said Ishika Basu (no relation), one of=20
the first social workers to approach the initially distrustful=20
prostitutes. "They've been constantly cheated and taken advantage=20
of," she added.

So going into Sonagachi to begin AIDS education, Dr. Smarajit Jana,=20
the governmental epidemiologist who spearheaded the project, knew it=20
would be an uphill road. After a preliminary survey to understand the=20
habits and lifestyles of Sonagachi sex workers, he explored enhancing=20
self-esteem as a start to changing deeply entrenched sexual=20
practices. Jana convinced 12 sex workers to come forward and train as=20
"peer educators." For about a $1 a day, and wearing green cotton=20
coats, these women informed their "sisters" about STDs, urged them to=20
get the clinic-provided blood tests every three months, and=20
distributed condoms.

Soon, hundreds of women were refusing unprotected sex, even if their=20
clients offered to pay more. While in 1992 a government survey showed=20
a mere 2.7 percent of 450 sex workers were using condoms, two years=20
later that figure had leaped to 69.3 percent, said Mrinal Kanti=20
Dutta, present director of the sex workers' union and the son of a=20
sex worker.

"When a customer comes, I take the money first and then let him in my=20
room," said Priya Begum, a 23-year-old Sonagachi sex worker who had=20
never heard of AIDS until a peer educator enlightened her last year.=20
"Then I ask whether he'll use a condom. If he says no, I keep the=20
money and show him out," she laughed. This is a tactic made more=20
feasible by the cooperation of pimps, who have in most cases, agreed=20
to back the women's demands for safe sex.

Today, 430 peer educators spread awareness throughout Bengal, and 36=20
brothel-based medical clinics regularly treat sex workers. Among=20
other things, DMSC has established a school for sex workers'=20
children, a money-lending co-op, and a cultural group that spreads=20
AIDS awareness through music, dance, and street theater.

Meanwhile, the City Counseling Center feels positive that more and=20
more people will visit to get treatment or just to talk. Since=20
January of this year, Banerjee and her colleagues have treated 205=20
patients, of whom 35 tested positive for HIV. Not surprisingly, only=20
a handful of infected patients are sex workers, says Counselor=20
Nabanita Ghosh. Rather they are mostly ordinary people like=20
housewives and college students from middle-class homes.

The center offers generic antiretroviral drugs like Stavudine,=20
Lamivudine, and Nevirapine, at the dirt cheap price of $10 a month (a=20
75 percent discount from the already discounted price of $40 a month=20
offered by Aurobindo Pharmaceuticals). But most HIV-positive patients=20
avoid pursuing treatment unless they absolutely have to, probably for=20
fear of social rejection. Center staff hope the Kolkata Network of=20
HIV Positive People will help to clear the stigma veiling AIDS, and=20
will provide easy access to sympathy, support, and guidance. Since=20
January, when the network had 40 members, the size of the network has=20
more than doubled to 85 members.

"Now instead of checking horoscopes, people should check each other's=20
blood before marriage," joked Nandita Banerjee, one of the center=20
counselors.

_____

#3.

The Nation (New York)
Posted September 16, 2002

Gujarat's Gendered Violence

by RUTH BALDWIN

"I have never known a riot which has used the sexual subjugation of=20
women so widely as an instrument of violence. There are reports=20
everywhere of [the] gang-rape of young girls and women, often in the=20
presence of members of their families, followed by their murder by=20
burning alive."
-Harsh Mander, "Cry, the Beloved Country: Reflections on the Gujarat Massac=
re."

Women's bodies were central battlegrounds in the worst bout of=20
Hindu-Muslim bloodletting to grip India in over ten years, in the=20
western Indian state of Gujarat beginning on February 27. After an=20
enraged Muslim mob allegedly set a train packed with Hindus on fire=20
in Godhra, killing fifty-eight, a wave of retaliatory violence was=20
unleashed on the minority Muslim population in the region, leaving up=20
to 2,000 dead and 100,000 homeless. Under the indulgent gaze of the=20
state government, and against a backdrop of ransacked houses and=20
desecrated temples, at least 250 women and girls were brutally=20
gang-raped and burned alive.

Shabnam Hashmi, founder of SAHMAT (a coalition of artists and=20
intellectuals who work to strengthen secularism within Indian=20
society), believes that although the pogrom was triggered by Godhra,=20
the attacks were premeditated: "These mobs were trained in rape. Why=20
else would the same pattern of brutality be repeated everywhere?=20
Groups of women were stripped naked and then made to run for miles,=20
before being gang-raped and burned alive. In some cases religious=20
symbols were carved onto their bodies." In the documentary Evil=20
Stalks the Land, produced by Hashmi's husband, Gauhar Raza, a young=20
boy stares, unblinking, into the camera. "About 100 to 150 children=20
my age were burned in a house," he recalls. "The tea stall in which=20
we were hiding was set on fire using gas cylinders. My grandmother's=20
limbs were chopped off and my aunt was brutally raped."

Among all the horrifying testimonies of sexual violence to emerge=20
from Gujarat, one story has come to symbolize the collective=20
suffering of the Muslim community. It is told and retold on news=20
stories, in NGO reports, in eyewitness accounts: "I was running [and]=20
I saw a pregnant woman's belly being cut open," states a young boy on=20
Indian television. "The fetus was pulled out and thrown up in the=20
air. As it came down it was collected on the tip of the sword."=20
"[Kausar Bano] was nine months'pregnant," recalls Saira Banu at the=20
Shah Alam camp for refugees. "They cut open her belly, took her fetus=20
with a sword and threw it into a blazing fire. Then they burned her=20
as well." "We were to hear this story many times," wrote the=20
Citizen's Initiative fact-finding team of women, who saw photographic=20
evidence of the burned body of a mother with a charred fetus lying on=20
her stomach. Their April 16 report, The Survivors Speak, reflects=20
upon the significance of this crime: "Kausar's story has come to=20
embody the numerous experiences of evil that were felt by the=20
Muslims.S=9D In all instances where extreme violence is experienced=20
collectively, meta-narratives are constructed. Each victim is part of=20
the narrative; their experience subsumed by the collective=20
experience. Kausar is that collective experience-a meta-narrative of=20
bestiality; a meta-narrative of helpless victimhood." The image of=20
Kausar and her unborn child has assumed a dual meaning, for both=20
Hindu aggressors and Muslim victims: The humiliation of the enemy=20
through violation of the female body, and the assault on the future=20
of the Muslim community through the destruction of the next=20
generation.

Why is gender violence such a consistent feature of the communal=20
riots that spasmodically grip India? In an impassioned May 11=20
editorial in The Hindu, India's national daily, Raka Roy, an=20
associate professor of sociology at the University of California,=20
Berkeley, offered one explanation. Roy asked: "Where does the=20
creation of the inferior other in India begin?" It begins, she=20
argues, with the divisive caste system, which has allowed the=20
principle of inequality to become embedded in Hindu culture. It=20
continues in the belief that "women are not only inferior, but also=20
woman's sexuality has to be patrolled so that it is legitimately=20
accessible to some men and inaccessible to others." If a woman's body=20
belongs not to herself but to her community, then the violation of=20
that body signifies an attack upon the honor (izzat) of the whole=20
community. Hindu nationalists raped and burned minority women to=20
destroy not only their bodies but also the integrity and identity of=20
Muslim society, the inferior Other. Roy also suggests that the=20
terrible legacy of the partition-with "protected and protectable=20
women on one side and unprotected and rapable women on the other=20
side"-still lingers in both the Hindu and Muslim subconscious.

It was the complicity of the state, however, that made it possible=20
for mass rape to occur in Gujarat. A Human Rights Watch report=20
concluded that the Sangh Parivar-the family of Hindu nationalist=20
organizations including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which heads=20
the Gujarat state government-was directly responsible [see Arundhati=20
Roy's essay in this issue of The Nation]. According to the report,=20
police told terrified groups of fleeing Muslims: "We have no orders=20
to save you."

The thousands of displaced now live in temporary refugee camps, run=20
almost exclusively by Muslim organizations. Harsh Mander writes: "It=20
is as though the monumental pain, loss, betrayal and injustice=20
suffered by the Muslim people is the concern only of other Muslim=20
people, and the rest of us have no share in the responsibility to=20
assuage, to heal and rebuild." The Citizen's Initiative report argues=20
that the state's colossal failure to implement "international Human=20
Rights norms and instructions and instruments as they relate to=20
violence per se, especially violence against women," may amount to a=20
crime under international law. The report recommends that a special=20
task force, comprising people from outside Gujarat, be set up=20
immediately to investigate the cases of sexual violence, and that=20
counseling and rehabilitation programs be established to help the=20
traumatized survivors. Although the government has proposed "Peace=20
Committees," it remains unclear what form these would take. All this=20
provides little consolation for the Muslim women and their families=20
who must decide where to go when the squalid camps close, which is=20
scheduled to occur before the Assembly elections following the=20
resignation of Narendra Modi, the BJP's Chief Minister of Gujarat.=20
Those who could afford to leave Gujarat have already done so. The=20
rest will return to their villages, to live as second-class citizens=20
in the ruins of their homes among the men who raped their sisters,=20
burned their children and killed their friends.

_____

#4.

Mainstream (New Delhi),
7 September 2002
=A0
Hindutva =8CCelebration=B9 of Rape
Charu Gupta

It has been often stated that women=B9s bodies and gendered tongues are=20
central to the Hindutva forces. Nowhere has this been more explicit,=20
more sharp and blatant than in the recent pogrom in Gujarat, where=20
sexual violence has been integral to the very nature of violence. The=20
fact-finding report by a women=B9s panel=8BThe Survivors Speak=8Bclearly=20
states how =8Cwomen have been the central characters in the Gujarat=20
carnage and their bodies the battleground=B9.1 The report further=20
states how false stories of rape of Hindu women in the Godhra carnage=20
were floated, and goes on to remark:
The murder and rape of Hindu women, emblazoned in banner headlines=20
across the vernacular press became the excuse, the emotional rallying=20
point, the justification for brutalising Muslim women and children in=20
ways not ever seen in earlier communal carnages.2
What has been as horrifying as the large number of rapes is the=20
celebration of these brutal acts. While implicit approval of rape of=20
minority women has often been seen, what has been relatively new is=20
that far from any feeling of guilt, shame or embarrasssment, there=20
has been unashamed elation, glorified narration, rationalisation,=20
theorisation and the stress on the absolute necessity of rape by the=20
Hindutva forces. The language of rape has never been commemorated=20
like this before, and its symbols, signs, body parts have led to a=20
gendered language, a metaphoric use of rape, where it has become a=20
symbol for the humiliation of the whole Muslim community, including=20
mullahs, miyas and the Muslim men. In the Gujarat genocide, rape of=20
Muslim women, in a collective, organised manner, has become an=20
explicitly political act, a ritual of unashamed victory.
The pamphlets circulated during and after the carnage speak volumes=20
on this, and here I wish to particularly highlight one such pamphlet=20
called =8CJehad=B9.3 Here, rape of Muslim women has become an instrument=20
and a consequence of Hindutva male power and masculine privilege,=20
where the virility of Narendra Modi, the Sangh pracharak, is=20
acknowledged and celebrated. He, who is made out to be a stern=20
brahmachari, has shown all his power in raping even mothers of=20
Muslims. There is a sexual encoding of the prestige of Narendra Modi:
Narendra Modi you have fucked the mother of miyas.

The self-image of a docile, almost =8Cfeminine=B9 Hindu male has been=20
turned completely upside down, and he is considered potently more=20
sexual, virile, masculine, voluptuous and =8Cpleasure giving=B9. Physical=20
prowress is seen as a remedy for surrender, loss and defeat. There=20
has been an unleashing of his sexuality, where passivity has given=20
way to virility:
The volcano which was inactive for years has erupted...
We have untied the penises which were tied till now
Without castor oil in the arse we have made them cry.
Rape has thus made =8Cmen=B9 out of boys. Masculine identity and sense of=20
self by the Hindu male is predicated here on exerting dominance and=20
control over the women of the enemy community.
The Muslim women have been raped because of their explicit religious=20
and sexual identity. They have transformed the =8Cvirgin=B9, pristine=20
women into whores and prostitutes. They have sexually =8Copened=B9 the=20
Muslim women as never before.
We have widened the tight vaginas of the =B3bibis=B2.
Gendered connotations and metaphors of rape have been continuously=20
evoked, where various weapons and instruments of violence used during=20
the riots are judged by their depth of =8Cpenetration=B9:
Now even the adivasis have realised what Hinduism is
They have shot thier arrow in the arse of mullahs.
The identity of India has often been expressed in terms of devotion=20
to Bharat Mata, the Hindu mother of the nation, at whose altar=20
biggest sacrifices can be made. However, the rape of the Muslim=20
mother=8Bthe mother of the enemy =8Cother=B9=8Bsignifies ultimate=20
humiliation, the eventual bondage of the Muslim community as a whole:
Wake up Hindus there are still miyas left alive around you
Learn from Panvad village where their mother was fucked.
Moreover, Muslim women emerge as commodified bodies, and their=20
=8Cinherent immorality=B9 is pointed out, where they actually =8Cenjoy=B9=20
rape. Thus their sexual desires are so =8Cobscene=B9 that for them=20
sex=8Beven when forced and barbaric=8Bis pleasurable. From an act of lust=20
in an individual context, the agony and pain of rape here has been=20
transformed into a spectacle, a performance in a collective context:
She was fucked standing while she kept shouting
She enjoyed the uncircumcised penis.
Rape of Muslim women signifies the rape and humiliation of the whole=20
community.4 It signifies basic and deep damage=8Bbodily,=20
psychologically, politically=8Bto another man=B9s =8Cproperty=B9. It is a=20
message to the enemy, a weapon for demoralisation and humiliation.

=A8
At the same time, the Hindu men are shown as not raping innocent=20
female individuals but are punishing the active abettors of crimes=20
against the Hindu nation, particularly against Hindu women. Muslim=20
men are portrayed as the most lecherous, licentious and violent=20
characters, and there has been a continuous flow of campaign in=20
Gujarat by the Hindu Right, ranging from allegations of rape,=20
aggression and abduction to luring, conversion and forced marriage by=20
the Muslim males. Thus states another pamphlet:
There is a separate bank run by the Muslims... If we take the total=20
of all the incidents that take place every day at various places,=20
then, in Gujarat alone, there are at least 10 thousand cases of=20
defrauding Hindu girls and as many cases of Hindu girls being raped,=20
every year... Hindus, wake up! If you want to save your=20
sisters-daughters and if you want to save Gujarat and the rest of=20
India from becoming another Kashmir then, from today onwards, keep a=20
watch on your girls that they do not keep any sort of relationship=20
with Muslims. The Hindu boys studying in the colleges could save the=20
Hindu girls from the hands of the Muslim =8Cgundas=B9 either by=20
themselves or with the help of Hindu organisations.5
While highlighting the =8Clack of character=B9 of Muslim men, such=20
campaign also underscores the vulnerability and moral blight of Hindu=20
women. The Hindu woman here is metamorphosed into a sacred symbol=20
violated, and hence a symbol of the victimisation of the Hindu=20
community. Rape of Muslims=8Bwomen physically and men metaphorically=8Bis=20
thus explained as a ritual of purification, in order to pacify the=20
divine wrath.
The genocide in Gujarat involves savage rape on a horrifying scale.=20
It is rape as torture, mutilation, femicide, and genocide. It is a=20
pogrom fought on and through women=B9s bodies. It is rape as a Hindutva=20
strategy. It has less to do with religious ritualism and more with a=20
ferociously authoritarian nationalism.
Before writing this article, I had deeply agonised within myself=20
whether to write it or not, since it is extremely disturbing to write=20
on rape of this magnitude and even talk of such pamphlets. At the=20
same time, as a part of the women=B9s movement, it is our deep=20
obligation to show why and how these things happen. It requires an=20
exposition of the facts, in all their horrifying and indelicate=20
detail. It is incumbent upon us to set forth with conspicuous clarity=20
the ideas and motives which move the Hindu Right, which treats Muslim=20
women and men as less than beasts. The extremely perverse thoughts=20
and distorted concepts which bring about these savageries are very=20
much alive, and we need to ensure that such pogroms never happen=20
again. n

Footnotes

1. Syeda Hameed, Ruth Manorama et al., How Has the Gujarat Massacre=20
Affected Minority Women? The Survivors Speak, Citizen=B9s Initiative,=20
Ahmedabad, April 16, 2002, p. 10.
2. Syeda Hameed, Ruth Manorama et al., How Has the Gujarat Massacre=20
Affected Minority Women? The Survivors Speak, Citizen=B9s Initiative,=20
Ahmedabad April 16, 2002, p. 11.
3. Pamphlet titled =8CJehad=B9, English translation available in=20
Communalism Combat, March-April 2002, Year 8, No. 77-78, p. 137. All=20
quotes are from this pamphlet, unless stated otherwise.
4. Kalpana Kannabiran, =8CRape and the Construction of Communal=20
Identity=B9, in Kumari Jayawardena and Malathi de Alwis (eds.),=20
Embodied Violence: Communalising Women=B9s Sexuality in South Asia,=20
Kali for Women, New Delhi, 1996, p. 33.
5. From a leaflet circulated in Kalol, Gujarat. English translation=20
available in Dr Kamal Mitra Chenoy et al., Gujarat Carnage 2002: A=20
Report to the Nation, p. 36.

______

#5.

Mainstream (New Delhi),
7 September 2002

Heartwarming Communal Harmony
Satyapal Dang

The following is an article (abridged for reasons of space) which I=20
wrote in 1989 immediately after I had visited Haryana from October 11=20
to 13, 1989 to participate in the anti-communal campaign organised in=20
view of the dangerous situation in the country resulting from the=20
VHP=B9s (that is, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad=B9s) campaign to construct a=20
Ram Mandir in Ayodhya after demolishing the Babri Majid there. The=20
Babri Masjid was demolished on December 6, 1992. Soon thereafter=20
riots broke out. More than 2000 people were killed. In January 2002,=20
the VHP said it intended to build a temple at the very site of the=20
Babri Masjid, despite an order of the Supreme Court preventing=20
construction. Nearly 15,000 Ram sevaks arrived in Ayodhya.
On February 27, 2002 a train at Godhra in Gujarat was attacked and=20
over 50 Hindus, including women and children, were burnt alive. This=20
barbarous act evoked universal anger and strong condemnation. In=20
Gujarat large scale attacks on Muslims began with the government and=20
the police looking on. Many were burnt alive. An estimated 2000=20
people were killed in communal riots.
Even though written in 1989, the article is very relevant to the=20
present situation in the country.

=A8
Along with Raghbir Singh, the Secretary of the Haryana State Council=20
of the CPI (and also the General Secretary of the Haryana Trade Union=20
Congress), I visited Jind, Nirwana, Asandh, Panipat and Sonepat.
We addressed the Bar Association meetings at Jind and Panipat, a=20
well-attended public meeting at Nirwana, two big hall meetings at=20
Panipat and Sonepat, and another hall meeting at Asandh.
Invariably, there was general support for our slogan against=20
demolition of any religious place for constructing a place of worship=20
of another religion.
There was general approval when we asserted that this would violate=20
the true teachings of every religion and also endanger the unity of=20
the country.
A sense of relief and happiness could be seen on the faces of many in=20
the audience when we said:
Let another grand and big Ram temple be constructed in Ayodhya but=20
without demolishing the Babri or any other Masjid.
While in Haryana, I came across some very interesting and instructive facts=
.
In Sonepat there is a Mazar called =B3Mama-Bhanja (uncle-nephew) Mazar=20
Sharif=B2. It seems long long ago an uncle and his nephew were murdered=20
by some bad elements. Both Muslims, they were equally popular in both=20
the communities.
Their dead bodies were consigned to one common grave on the top of=20
which was installed a Shiv Ling. This Mazar, next door to a Masjid,=20
is worshipped to this day both by Muslims and Hindus and has become a=20
symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity.
Raghbir Singh told me another revealing fact. Village Batbhal near=20
Faridabad is entirely a Muslim village. It has no Hindu family but=20
has a Hindu temple. Sometime back the government acquired lot of land=20
including the land below the temple for some development project.
On the ground that a Hindu temple was not needed in the village, the=20
government wanted to demolish it. The Muslims objected. They argued:
It must have been constructed by our great great Hindu grandfathers.=20
Moreover, sacred place of one religion is sacred for all religions.
The government would not agree. The Muslims of the village went upto=20
the Supreme Court and won. The Hindu temple is still there.
There are villages in Haryana like Lakhan Majra on New Delhi-Jind=20
road and Israna on Panipat-Rohtak road which have well-maintained=20
gurudwaras without there being even a single Sikh family in the=20
village except that of the granthi=8Bnotwithstanding the doings of the=20
terrorists in Punjab.

Masjid in Panipat

Ghaggri in Haryana, a typical dress of the women of the area, has=20
virtually disappeared. The most common now is the shalwar. Sari takes=20
only a second place and that too a bad second. And this when=20
terrorists in Punjab not unoften threaten to kill Sikh women if they=20
wear saris.
In Panipat, an old freedom fighter Budh Ram told us that there is a=20
Babri Masjid in the town. When Raghbir Singh sought to refute it, he=20
produced a school history book in Hindi. The page on Babar contained=20
the following:
During his regime, Babar got constructed palaces and Masjids. Of=20
these the Babri Masjid in Panipat and Jama Masjid in Sambhal are=20
still there.
Significantly, there was no mention in the book of the Babri Masjid at Ayod=
hya.
Budh Ram told us where the Babri Masjid in Panipat was and we went to=20
see it. There was no one to look after it. It was in a pretty bad and=20
even dilapidated condition. Within the Masjid land, many buffaloes=20
were grazing.
However, the Masjid must have looked very grand at one time. It has=20
many gumbads and one meenar. One young Sikh boy was sitting on one of=20
the gumbads and appeared to be doing some painting. Just above the=20
main entrance, on the gate were carved two lotuses=8Bon the two sides=20
of the entry. Something clearly Hindu even in a mosque.
Facts like the above have a lesson for those who are raising the=20
dangerous slogan: =B3Hindustan mein rahna hai to Hindu ban kar rahna=20
hoga=B2 (If you want to live in India, you have to live as a Hindu).=20
Living side by side peacefully, people of different religions are=20
bound to take many things from each other, enriching our composite=20
culture.
Such traffic of course cannot be one way. However, if one religion is=20
sought to be imposed on others and if the RSS will regard the Muslims=20
as Indians only if they begin burning their dead bodies instead of=20
burying them, surely that is the road to ruin and disaster for the=20
country. It must be opposed tooth and nail.
A well-meaning Delhi-based journalist has recently put forward a proposal:
Let Muslims agree to give up the Babri Masjid in return for an=20
assurance that no other mosque would be demolished.
In the same article, this journalist has noted the fact that the VHP=20
has a list of 3000 mosques which they would like to demolish.
Surely this journalist cannot be unaware of the fact that only=20
recently, one of the frequently shouted slogans in Delhi by the VHP=20
was: =B3Ram Krishna Vishwanath, teenon ek sath=B2=8Ba war cry for=20
demolishing three mosques simultaneously=8Bone in Ayodhya, one in=20
Mathura and one in Varanasi. And this notwithstan-ding the fact that=20
many years ago an agreement was reached as far as the Mathura dispute=20
is concerned.
Let it not be forgotten even for a moment that the slogan of a Ram=20
Mandir in place of Babri Masjid has nothing to do with any love for=20
Ram. In the short run, it is playing the Hindu card for votes. In the=20
long run, it is a part of a plan to turn India into a Hindu=20
theocratic state.
It is not an accident that the slogan for demolishing the Babri=20
Masjid on November 9, 1989 was raised alongwith the slogan of turning=20
India into a Hindu Rashtra from one and the same place, that is, the=20
Kumbh Mela at Prayag. The fight against both the slogans is one and=20
the same. Appeasement of commu-nalism of any hue only strengthens=20
communalism of all hues and must therefore be avoided.
This reminds me of another fact told by Comrade Raghbir Singh about=20
his village Dhansoti in tehsil Panipat.
The village has a population of about 3600. There are Hindus as well=20
as Muslims. Till today, the village has neither a temple nor a mosque=20
though people do believe in religon. This is the very village in the=20
entire area from which not a single Muslim migrated in 1947 and in=20
which people of both religions have always lived peacefully and like=20
brethren.
Raghbir Singh said:
Mosques and temples can be there if the people want but then it must=20
be ensured that they are not misused by vested interests to spread=20
communalism which is negative of true religion.

____

#6.

PROTEST DEMONSTRATION
AGAINST MODI'S VICIOUS DIATRIBE AGAINST MINORITIES

Friends,

You must surely be aware of the extremely insulting and condemnable=20
remarks about minorities made by Gujarat chief minister Narendra=20
Modi=97 that "Muslims are producing children in relief camps"; that=20
"ham panch hamare pachees is the family planning slogan of Muslims."=20
Modi=92s recurring and vicious hate speech is against humanity. Far=20
from condemning these remarks, the deputy prime minister and the BJP=20
president have shamelessly justified Modi.

As members of a democratic society, we are duty bound to fight in=20
defence of plural values and secular polity. It's time we expressed=20
clear and loud, our extreme anguish and distress over such frontal=20
attacks on democracy as made by Modi and his party.

Therefore, a protest demonstration is being organized on 19th=20
September 2002, Thursday. You are requested to assemble at Andhra=20
Bhawan, Ashoka Road at 2.30 pm.

It has been decided that banners of political parties and their=20
frontal/affiliated organizations should be avoided.

Nirmala Deshpande
Praful Bidwai
Shabnam Hashmi
Kamal Mitra Chenoy
Anil Kumar Choudhury
Zafar Agha
Wagesh Jha
Syed Naser Hussain
Shakil Ahmad Khan
Varghese K George

contact
6107491
9868031509
9811625833

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