[sacw] SACW | 22 March 03
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex@mnet.fr
Sat, 22 Mar 2003 02:28:34 +0100
South Asia Citizens Wire | 22 March, 2003
#1. Machinehead (Praful Bidwai)
#2. As the drums of war roll... (Angana Chatterji)
#3. Delhi University Community Against The War On Iraq plans actions
#4. Protest meeting by the 'People Against War' -- a loose
umbrella of over 20 Mumbai-based organisations and citizens (27 March)
#5. PUCL statement: Attack on the human rights of Iraqi people
#6. PVCHR on the US war
#7.... politicisation of sports is typical of the immaturity of the
leadership we suffer in South Asia ( Irfan Husain)
#8. Caught in the crossfire (Kuldip Nayar )
#9. Freedom of Religion (T N Madan)
#10. Fighting Barista Brahminism? - The VHP and the rise and rise of
'Shudra Hindutva' (Sagarika Ghose)
#11. Redrawing the colour line in Britain (Randeep Ramesh)
#12. Disaster and Mental Health - Revisiting Bhopal (Amit Ranjan
Basu, R Srinivasa Murthy)
#13. Magsaysay awardee jailed for protesting communalism
#14. Sara Joseph to return award as a mark of protest against the
repression of tribals at Muthanga
#15. Hindutva At Work:
- VHP to take on Digvijay over Acharya arrest (Rasheed Kidwai)
- Parishad takes trishul diksha to UP (Amit Sharma)
-----------------------------------
#1.
The Hindustan Times, March 22, 2003
Machinehead
Praful Bidwai
If George W. Bush wanted to kick the United Nations in the teeth and
flagrantly offend the will of the international community while
endangering its security, he couldn't have done so more viciously
than by launching a manifestly unjust war on Iraq.
Not only is this a war without a rationale (casus belli), it violates
the explicit intention of the Security Council, which was set to
reject the US-UK-Spain-sponsored 'second resolution' - and not
because of hostile vetoes alone.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/printedition/220303/detIDE01.shtml
_____
#2.
Op-ed, The Daily Times, Lahore, March 21, 2003.
As the drums of war roll...
Angana Chatterji
How shall we make President Bush understand? Millions have marched,
people and governments have pleaded their dissent. They have failed
to produce conscience and reason in the Bush presidency, or a
commitment to international coalition building and bilateral
relations. Should the world impose sanctions on America?
America's war with Iraq is about deception, control, and the
violation of local and international will. This war is not about
freedom. It is about a superpower asserting itself in a unilateral
world. Iraq, a repository of oil reserves, the second largest after
Saudi Arabia, must be disciplined and punished. At the announcement
of war, the Dow rallied over 282 points. The Bush administration
prepares to bestow 900 million dollars to domestic firms in post war
contracts for rebuilding Iraq. Who benefits from this war economy?
The impenetrable Bush coalition is ready. Foreign missions have been
evacuated, armies mobilised, and body bags ordered. The call for war
has been given. Ships roll in rough seas ready to parachute bombs
which to wipe out evil must murder the innocent. President Bush,
defining this as a war of "liberation", says that the United Nations
has not lived up to its responsibilities. Are his actions responsible?
Information available betrays this administration's logic for war.
The United States claimed to have destroyed 80 per cent of Iraq's
military capacity in 1991. Since then, the United States and the
United Kingdom have administered air strikes and deluged Iraq with
explosives. So, what is this war about? Is it to protect the Kurds or
Jews in Iraq, perhaps, given Saddam Hussein's animosity toward
minorities and alliance with Palestine? But Kurds were betrayed in
the last war and Iraqi Jews have chosen to remain in Iraq, in a
society where frayed remnants of secularism endure. Osama Bin Laden?
There is no evidence that links Saddam Hussein to Al Qaeda. Truth
refuses alliance with this war. In the minds of many Americans this
war is retribution for September 11. A vengeful war that desecrates
the memory of those who died on that fatal day. Is it about nuclear
weapons? Iraq has none. The United States possesses 10,729 nuclear
warheads and is the only country to have used atomic weapons in a
war. There is no evidence to imply that Saddam Hussein will use
chemical and biological weapons against America, weapons Iraq
developed in the 1980s, ironically, with the knowledge and support of
the United States. Regional security? Does America care if Iraq
violates its "lesser" neighbours? The United States did not castigate
Iraq when Saddam Hussein gassed 5,000 in the Kurdish town of Halabja.
Let us remember as well that the United States used 19 million
gallons of Agent Orange in Vietnam. How does a nation with blood on
its hands attempt to hijack the moral high ground?
Iraq, the land of ancient civilisation, heritage to all, drawn from
the memories of Mesopotamia. A culture which connects us from
prehistory to history. The triumphs and tribulations of Assyrians,
Chaldeans, Akkadians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Hittites, Israelites,
Lydians, Phoenicians, Persians have birthed its imagination. A
multitude of religions, tribes and ethnicities has produced a
profusion of art, music, religion, mythology, architecture,
literature, and history. A land desecrated by corrupt regimes and
untold horrors. Long forgotten is the Baath Party's commitment to a
socialist revolution, to equity and freedom. And now, a crusade led
by America that only promises torment and adds to Iraq's grief. This
war will reinforce Islamic fundamentalists, marginalise progressive
Muslims and strengthen the religious right. This war will escalate a
thousand-fold the terrorist threat that terrifies people the world
over. How shall we make President Bush understand? Millions have
marched, people and governments have pleaded their dissent. They have
failed to produce conscience and reason in the Bush presidency, or a
commitment to international coalition building and bilateral
relations. Should the world impose sanctions on America?
The Iraqi people want to be free of torture and fear, of the despot
Saddam Hussein. At what cost? By whose will? They have not asked the
United States to intervene. What of the retaliation, as Iraq signals
the war, firing at three Kurdish villages north of Kirkuk? Eight
hundred thousand Iraqi civilians died from the environmental and
infrastructural impact of America's first war with Iraq. Since 1991,
there has been a 600 per cent increase in cancers. Infant mortality
rates have increased by 260 per cent. It is over 12 years since the
United Nations introduced Resolution 661, imposing ruinous sanctions
against Iraq. Sanctions that have killed 1,684,850 since 1991,
704,162 of them children under five. Has all this made peace? A
full-fledged war will induce 500,000 casualties in Iraq, leave 50 per
cent of the population without access to water, displace two million
people, and create 600,000 refugees. Insolent actions of Empire. They
portend dangerous consequences. Attending to the post war crisis will
force UN agencies to redirect emergency funds from war torn Africa or
refugees returning to Afghanistan. Will our world be safer?
Iraq possesses 110 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, of grave
concern for regional and international security. In the first Gulf
War, 700 oil wells burned for nine months, discharging toxic clouds
that blinded the sun. Sixty million gallons of crude oil were
unleashed into the environment, wounding the desert with 246 craters
of congealed oil, damaging the coast for 1,500 miles. Eight hundred
tons of depleted uranium were used in Iraq during the Gulf War, 300
tons of it scattered across Kuwait and southern Iraq. The beautiful
marshes, the rivers, the skies, the seas rage in mourning. The desert
is filled with trepidation. Where is our compassion?
Justice is not lucrative in the world order to which we acquiesce. Do
we want to feed the hungry and shelter the displaced? Because we can.
The world spends 800+ billion dollars each year in military outlays.
In 2002, the United States alone spent 518.9 billion in military and
related expenditure. Ninety-seven ships, attack helicopters, smart
bombs, a 1000 fighter jets, and 250,000 soldiers march into Iraq.
Each day at war will cost American taxpayers 517 million dollars. In
contrast, the United Nations estimates that an annual allocation of
80 billion dollars would make available fundamental necessities and
mitigate poverty for the underprivileged across the globe. Where is
the will for ethical change?
The drums roll for combat. I think about women and men in Iraq, about
children afraid in the shadows, about dreams in which they struggle
to rest. What a mess we have made of this world. In San Francisco,
opposition to this war is prodigious, as I write, in dissent and with
all the failings of hope. When will we be heard?
Angana Chatterji is a professor of Social and Cultural Anthropology
at the California Institute of Integral Studies
_____
#3.
In a meeting of Delhi University teachers, students and karmacharis,
it was decided to launch the
UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY AGAINST THE WAR ON IRAQ.
This has been conceived as a collective effort of the University community
of the various campuses of Delhi.
The first activity has been planned for Tuesday 25 March 2003
from 11.30 AM till 2 PM in the form of a rally
at the Vivekananda statue in Delhi University Campus.
Students, teachers and karmacharis are requested
to participate in the programme in large numbers.
Please bring as many posters, placards and banners
as possible with the anti-war message.
Contact Persons:
Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty
Prof. Sumit Sarkar
Prof. Achin Vanaik
Prof. Javed Malik
Prof. Vijay Singh
Prof. Alok Rai
Dr. Nandita Narain
Dr. Kumar Sanjay Singh
Sunil Madiwal, Democratic Students Union (DSU)
Pradeep, Progressive Students Union (PSU)
Uma Gupta, AISA
Satyendra Misra, SFI
Amar Singh Amar ( Non-teaching Staff)
21 March 2003
Kindly circulate this message to as many as possible
For details and further queries write to:
<mailto:delhi_academia@hotmail.com>delhi_academia@hotmail.com
_____
#4.
Dear All,
There is a protest meeting convened by the 'People Against War' -- a loose
umbrella of over 20 Mumbai-based organisations and citizens -- against the
American invasion on Thursday March 27 at 5.30 pm at the K C College Hall,
Churchgate. Please participate and message others who don't know about it.
The speakers at the convention are:
1. Gulzar, poet and film script writer.
2. Kapil Sibal, senior lawyer and Rajya Sabha MP
3. Javid Akhtar, lyricist and film personality and
4. N Ram, editor of 'Frontline'.
There is also a move to have a protest march to the US consulate, which will
be announced at the K C College meeting.
Gurbir Singh
_____
#5.
Press Statement:
March 20, 2003
Dr. Y. P. Chhibbar, General Secretary, PUCL has issued the following statement:
Attack on the human rights of Iraqi people
"The Bush-Blair attack on Iraq came around 5 am (Iraq Time) on March
20, 2003. They have taken upon themselves to "free" the Iraqi people
from their President. The charge is that Iraq has "weapons of mass
destruction" and is endangering the masses of the world. Both of them
together have put into action their (green?) weapons of (safety?)
destruction!
"The PUCL condemns this military action as an attack on the human
rights of the Iraqi people. A people are branded here to be incapable
of selecting their own government! The PUCL hopes that this
'Operation Iraqi Freedom' will be stopped and Bush-Blair duo will
return to the United Nations."
Y. P. Chhibbar, Ph.D
General Secretary
People's Union for Civil Liberties [India]
_____
#6.
Date: 21 Mar 2003 08:14:45 -0000
Subject: US war & people of world
Dear Friends,
Greetings from PVCHR,Varanasi,India.
On the Night of the 16th of March , at 7pm the Dalit Community of the
Urban Slum of Bhagawanala held a "Candle Light Vigil" protesting
against the American attack on Iraq and as moral support to the
people of Iraq. The General Manager of CRY & founder member of VOP
,Mr.Shubashis Chakravarty , Spokesperson of NAFRE ,Mr.Sanjeev Kaura
and the Activists of PVCHR were also present.
Against the recent commencement of the War , a total of approximately
3000 men and women are gathering at the Court compound of Varanasi
on the 22nd of March , from where there will take out a procession
to the Railway Station .From the Station they will proceed to
Allababad to participate in a massive rally organised by VOP on the
23rd of March to commemorate the Death Anniversary of the Indian
Revolutionary BAGHAT SINGH ,We protest against the bully nature of
THE Government of USA .Her violation of Iraq's sovereignity ,
american disobeying the United Nation and her support to despotic
regimes in the world while claiming to fight for democracy in
Iraq.The American Government is going against the wishes of people in
all the capitals of the world including Washington.It the US who is
equipped with dangerous weapons. It is USA that should disarm its
dangerous weapons and restore world peace and back to humanity and
human sensibilities.
If you invent a bomb, you commit a sin against humanity , If you make
a Toy , you bring a smile for a child.
Dr. Lenin
(Ashoka Fellow,Convenor-PVCHR)
PEOPLES VIGILANCE COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS(PVCHR)
SA4/2 DAULATPUR,VARANASI(UP)-221002,INDIA.
_____
#7.
DAWN
08 March 2003
It's only a game
By Irfan Husain
... politicisation of sports is typical of the immaturity of the
leadership we suffer in South Asia.
http://www.dawn.com/weekly/mazdak/mazdak.htm
_____
#8.
The Hindu, Mar 22, 2003
Caught in the crossfire
By Kuldip Nayar
The entire region has fallen prey to the forces of chaos... Religion
is being used to divert people's attention from economic problems.
THIS IS the second time the Conference of South Asians for Human
Rights (SAHR) cannot be held in India. Once again, New Delhi has
refused visa to Asma Jehangir and A. Rehman, both well-known human
rights activists in the region. The Government's insistence on the
stoppage of cross-border terrorism before having normal relations
with Islamabad is understandable. Terrorism, indeed, has made
Pakistan unpopular in India. But a bar on the entry of even liberal
Pakistanis will prove counterproductive. They appreciate India's
exasperation and are critical of the military regimes in their own
country. Their effort is to help develop a South Asia identity so as
to submerge territorial and religious entities the different
countries in the region articulate. Sovereignties and borders can
stay but economically and socially they will be one unit.
A leading Pakistani journalist has sent me a message saying that he
is proud to be a South Asian, a Pakistani and a Muslim. The order in
which he has placed his identities is important. Some day, this will
happen despite the establishments at New Delhi, Islamabad, Colombo
and Kathmandu. Apparently, this approach does not fit into the
programme of the BJP-led Government. Left to the party, it will
continue to pursue a policy of hostility towards its neighbours to
prove its superiority. The anti-Pakistan feeling, whipped up
constantly, tends to become anti-Muslim sentiment in north India. And
this is what the BJP wants. The party experimented with it in Gujarat
and got two-thirds of the Assembly seats in the State election. And
it seems to be bent upon pursuing the same line till the Lok Sabha
polls in October next year. It believes that it can consolidate the
Hindu vote in its favour by being anti-Pakistan.
Pakistan, on the other hand, continues to train, arm and send
terrorists to India so as to keep the Islamic fundamentalists happy.
Their anger over America's war against Iraq is sought to be balanced
by Islamabad's insidious activities across the border. The Pakistan
junta has a limited vision: to serve its own purpose by placating
America and keeping the critics down.
Human rights activists have unnecessarily got caught in the
crossfire. They are concerned over the violation of human rights in
both countries or, for that matter, the region. But they cannot raise
a joint voice because they cannot meet even at a conference. Their
faith is in people-to-people contact. But the Governments of both
India and Pakistan, especially that of India, do not allow, even a
semblance of contact lest the conciliatory feelings it evokes should
water down the jingoism the Governments on both sides create. But
Islamabad and New Delhi are oblivious to the mess they have made in
every segment of activity in the region.
A report on Human Development in South Asia, 2002, shows a particular
concern over poverty, which is deepening. "Currently, over 500
million South Asians live in absolute poverty, which is 40 per cent
of the world's poor, and over 300 million are chronically
malnourished. This is despite the fact that the largest South Asian
countries have got food stocks that are way above their requirements.
The majority of the 70 per cent South Asians who live in rural areas
are women. They are responsible for producing food, yet they have the
least access to the means of production, and receive the lowest
wages, if at all."
The report gives several messages. The first message is that high
levels of human development cannot be achieved if development
priorities do not focus on the occupation of the majority of the
people, farm and non-farm employment, and where they live - rural
areas. Second, policies for food security have focussed on the
warfare approach and not on the empowerment of people. Access to and
availability of food must go hand in hand with the ability of people
to purchase food.
Third, as South Asian agriculture is facing cultivable land
constraints as well as negative consequences of over dependence on
chemical inputs, future agricultural productivity increases must come
from the advancement of agricultural research, technology and
extension services. Fourth, small farms should be the centre of
revival of agriculture and rural development. The incentive system
that is being provided to corporate farming in South Asia should not
be at the expense of the vast majority of the rural folk. And, fifth,
South Asian agricultural marketing and trading systems have not been
effective and efficient due to both internal constraints as well as
inequitable external trading environment.
Whatever the message of the report, one thing is clear. Only a slight
cut in the military budget can give the Government ample funds for
schools, roads, health centres and the like. Some employment can be
generated. But this can be possible only if the propaganda on both
sides goes down and both the countries realise that the problem
between them does not relate to defence or politics, but to
economics. The Governments are not sensitive enough to realise how
the people, already on the periphery, are being whipped about by the
winds of change. On the other hand, the benefits of economic growth
have to be equally distributed through progressive public policy
initiatives to achieve maximum welfare gains for all the people,
irrespective of class, caste or gender.
The entire region has fallen prey to the forces of chaos. The worst
is the rising influence of fundamentalism. Religion is being used to
divert people's attention from economic problems. India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Nepal are doing this with a vengeance. It is strange
that there is never any rioting over unemployment or hunger. Hundreds
of people are killed in the name of religion - mosque, `mandir,'
church or `gurdwara'.
After freedom, the RSS suddenly became active to raise the demand for
a Hindu raj. But people followed Mahatma Gandhi, who even at the
height of post-partition riots, said: "Hindus and Muslims are my two
eyes." In fact, his values, which were consecrated by his
assassination at the hands of a Hindu fanatic, gave us respite for
nearly 40 years from the Hindutva zealots. They could not get even a
two-digit figure in Parliament. Indira Gandhi's Emergency gave them
relevance because they were among the few to defy it.
The Sangh Parivar does not hide its ambition to establish a Hindu raj
in India. Its anti-Muslim propaganda in Gujarat was open and blatant.
But, apparently, New Delhi is embarrassed over the manner in which
the international community reacted initially to the BJP's victory.
The Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani, was quick in saying that it
was not a victory for Hindutva. Mere words will carry no conviction
because as many as 17 diplomats from different countries were
themselves present to see the low level to which the Parivar took the
electioneering. In any case, why should the BJP feel ashamed when it
is bound to duplicate the same formula in other States? One point it
should, however, keep in mind: riding the wave of hate in a
particular State is one thing, but converting the entire country to
Hindu chauvinism is another.
A Government benefiting from polarisation in the country cannot rest
till it has divided every segment of society. The BJP has done in its
five-year rule what the British could not in their 150-year rule.
_____
#9.
The Economic and Political Weekly
March 15, 2003
Perspectives
Freedom of Religion
The time is now opportune to argue forcefully that the best guardian
of freedom of religion, and the most effective guarantor that unfair
conversions, particularly on a collective basis, shall not take
place, will be not the state but civil society, or, better still, the
two in association. This is at the moment only an idea: it will need
serious effort to work it out, particularly if communal dissensions
are acute as they are now. Also to be kept in mind is the issue of
the role of the secular state in other contexts. Secularism,
understood as the attitude of mutual toleration among the religious
communities comprising the nation, and of neutrality or
non-discrimination on the part of the state in its dealings with the
citizens, irrespective of their religious identity, apparently
protects freedom of religion. Two problems must be addressed,
however. First, is the secular state neutral through engagement, that
is by being respectful towards all religions, or through
disengagement, that is by erecting a wall, as it were, between itself
and the religious life of the citizens? Secondly, what is involved in
a community's conception of the profession and practice of its
religion?
T N Madan
http://www.epw.org.in/showArticles.php?root=2003&leaf=03&filename=5609&filetype=html
_____
#10.
The Indian Express
Wednesday, March 05, 2003
Fighting Barista Brahminism?
The VHP and the rise and rise of 'Shudra Hindutva'
Sagarika Ghose
When members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad assembled in New Delhi last
week they complained that they were treated with scorn. They said
English-speaking secularists made fun of them. They said they were
ridiculed by the 'Macaulayist' media.
The VHP-Bajrang Dal has, over the last decade, added a new enemy to
their list of evil influences on Hindu rashtra. Not just the Muslim
and the Christian, but also the 'English speaking' 'western educated'
class, exemplified in the persona of the 'secularist'. The secularist
is not recognised merely by his stance on the Babri masjid or the
Shah Bano case or on terrorism. Instead, a secularist is anyone who
listens to western music, eats in Italian restaurants or does not
sport a tilak and dhoti. A secularist is an upper caste individual
employed in a corporate job or the private sector. As Pravin Togadia
never tires of saying,''Our enemies are the Three Ms: Muslims,
Macaulayists and Marxists.'' Togadia hates secularists but loves the
fact that they exist because without them he would lose his "son of
the soil" appeal. "Please argue with me," he pleads.
Yet Togadia's critique conceals the increasing class and caste anger
of the VHP. The VHP's new definition of 'Brahminism' is anyone who is
urban, educated and drinks cappuccino at Barista. As a VHP worker
said, "Today we may riot against Muslims, tomorrow we will fight
against Brahmin dogs if the need arises."
When the VHP was first formed in the sixties as a loose organisation
to feed into the programmes of the RSS and strengthen Hindu feelings
among the diaspora, among its founders were Brahmins like K.M. Munshi
and Ramaprasad Mookerjee. Subsequently during the Ramjanmabhoomi
movement, caste differences were suppressed in the overall mission of
creating a Hindu monolith. But over the last decade, the VHP has
become transformed from an organisation of traders, petty
industrialists and provincial bureaucrats to a grouping whose cadres
are made up predominantly of Other Backward Castes (OBCs). As Manjari
Katju writes in the recently published Vishwa Hindu Parishad and
Indian Politics, "with change in social composition, the VHP's
language of mobilisation changed from mild socio-religious criticism
to a vitriolic attack on the entire social and political ideology of
the state".
As part of the deliberate campaign of 'social engineering' and
bringing lower castes back to the Hindu fold, the VHP-BD is as much a
party of Shudras as it is of Brahmins, for whom strident oratory is
in fact a deliberate drama enacted to gain votes and social
recognition.
Take a spot poll. Earlier generations of the VHP leadership may have
been Kayastha like Giriraj Kishore or Bania like Ashok Singhal. But
new generations are all OBCs or Shudras. Pravin Togadia? Patel,
sometimes classed as 'Backwards'. Narendra Modi? OBC. Uma Bharti?
OBC. Vinay Katiyar of the Bajrang Dal? OBC. Acharya Dharmendra? OBC.
Sadhvi Rithambhara? OBC. Kalyan Singh? OBC. The VHP is thus, today, a
movement that has been described by a Dalit historian as a movement
of 'Shudra Hindutva'. VHP Hindutva was once obsessed with the aim of
bridging caste divides in the creation of the Hindu vote. But now it
increasingly sees itself as anti upper-caste, anti-English and
anti-metropolitan. In the VHP's terms, even BJP members like Jaswant
Singh or Arun Jaitley or Arun Shourie or even Vajpayee himself are
all the 'secularist' enemy.
Today certain VHP workers claim a self-image akin to the
revolutionaries of the French revolution, who guillotined the elite
on the street. "Why do you accuse us of being violent? Didn't the
French kill their rajas and ranis?" Some VHP members say that their
hero is Parashuram, slayer of upper castes. They speak of the need to
fight the "new Brahmins", who must be "fought because of their
monopoly on English-language education, employment and access to
international careers". While the RSS may be made of genteel Brahmin
patriarchs, the Shudra Hindutva of the VHP is a violent protest
movement against all elitism, a social revolution aimed to snatch
power from the speakers of angrezi and the wearers of bell bottoms.
"Shudra Hindutva" is not only fiercely competitive with Muslims but
also enraged at being left out of the new economy.
In the anti-Muslim riots in north India in the eighties, Kurmis, Jats
and other OBCs formed the main fighting force. The VHP cadres in
Gujarat are predominantly OBC. It was the OBCs in the Gujarat Bajrang
Dal, not Brahmins or Banias, who were the frontrunners of the attacks
against Muslims. OBCs are seen to be more anti-Muslim than Brahmins
precisely because their professions place them in direct competition.
A Muslim artisan's or a Muslim tailor's main competitor is not the
Hindu Brahmin or the Hindu Kshtriya but the Hindu OBC.
Many OBC fortunes have been made by membership in the VHP or Bajrang
Dal. The BJP's trishul distribution campaigns in Rajasthan are taking
place among OBCs, apart from Dalits and Adivasis, with the promise to
hand them Kshtriya status and an avenue for upward mobility.
Membership in the VHP thus provides a higher caste status in the
Hindu hierarchy. Also, OBC youth who fail their school-leaving
examinations or suffer academically because of the lack of English,
can often find employment in the VHP. There are many instances of
ABVP activists or Reddy businessmen not only becoming affluent
through membership of the VHP but also acquiring liquor contracts,
real estate and licences to set up private colleges.
The Congress has failed to understand OBC aspirations. The OBC
parties led by Laloo Prasad Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav are in
mutual competition with the VHP, but one only has to cast one's eye
at the chic Diggy Raja to the Scindia scion, to trendies like Aiyar,
Soni, Alva and Nath, to realise that the leadership of the Congress
is still suvarna and paternalistic. The restless new cadres powering
their way into the VHP and the BJP cannot be won over by pointing
them towards Kabir's pluralism or the excellent bhajans of Mirabai.
What they are looking for is a counter-identity that provides social
status, seats in Parliament but, most importantly, the jobs and
privileges of the English-speaking class. They may not ever get these
jobs, but the VHP provides, at least, a place in the social sun.
Togadia who grew up in an Ahmedabad chawl may never get to play
tennis at the Delhi Gymkhana but being in the VHP has guaranteed him
a place in a television studio.
_____
#11.
The Guardian
Friday March 21, 2003
Comment
Redrawing the colour line
Britain embraces the cool exotica of India while deriding one of the
subcontinent's great religions - Islam
Randeep Ramesh
A casual cultural tourist in Britain today would get the impression
that an indelible mark has been left by the nation's Asian community.
In music, both the naff strains of Gareth Gates's Spirit in the Sky
and the hip thud of Dr Dre have borrowed from bhangra. On television,
the Kumars at No 42 refreshed a wilted genre, the late-night
chatshow. Advertising spotted the trend early and multinationals like
Peugeot and Virgin both used Bollywood to suggest a dreamy, cool
exotica.
But a closer look reveals not what has, but what has not, penetrated
the mainstream. In fact there is a subtle, perhaps more unconscious
than deliberate, sifting of cultural identities. In terms of history,
the most significant addition that Asian migration has brought to
society, Islam, is absent from the picture that British society
paints of itself. This is troubling given the bombing of Iraq and the
feelings of a religious community under siege from immigration
officials and police.
It is ironic perhaps that some of the most compelling examples of
Britain's postwar ease with its new multi-cultural self were
subcontinental Muslims - Salman Rushdie, fellow author Hanif Kureishi
and cricketer Nasser Hussain. Maybe they represented what
empire-builders like Lord Macaulay yearned to create: "A class of
persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in
opinions, in morals and in intellect."
Today, more visible are those non-white Britons whose religions,
customs and ceremonies are lent a nutty flavour by the British media.
After all, it is much easier to quip and accept yoga courses, obscure
sexual practices and strangely hypnotic dances than Muslim demands
for separate schools or requests for the teaching of Arabic in
comprehensives.
The ability to assimilate and be feted for retaining traditional
values has seen Hindus, Buddhists and Sikhs increasingly accepted by
most Britons as "one of us". This may be partly to do with class. A
quick glance at the list of wealthy Asians highlights upwardly mobile
British Hindu and Sikh entrepreneurs. While Indians get better grades
than most other ethnic minorities and the white majority, they suffer
high rates of unemployment. But British Pakistani and Bangladeshis
have it much worse.The rising tide of interest in Bollywood and
Pashmina shawls has not lifted their boats.
The war on terror has ended up casting Muslims both as barbarians at
the gates and as the enemy within. As a group they have been
castigated by liberals and conservatives alike. Charles Moore, editor
of the Daily Telegraph, had written before September 11 of Islam's
"hooded hordes", and after the terrorist attack said there was "a
sense that too many British Muslims are hostile to the society in
which they live and place their deepest loyalties elsewhere".
Elsewhere Peter Hain, one of Labour's big thinkers, wondered why
British Muslims were so "isolationist". Neither is an appealing
invitation for Muslims to join British society. Worse still, the
thinking suggests that Muslims' plight is of their own making.
No surprise that if voices at the centre of British life could utter
such thoughts, then overt racists at the edge of it would use louder,
harsher language. What has happened is that Pakistanis and
Bangladeshis appear inessential to the modern south Asia, all baubles
and Bollywood, imagined by the British public. A Hindu or a Sikh has
had to deal with racism, for sure, but for the past two years it has
been less intense than that being focused on Muslims. This may be
because Hinduism is not seen as threat to the west or as a force that
could clash with European civilisation.
But like Islam, Hinduism has its fundamentalists. A number are
members of the Indian government - one minister from the religious
revivalist wing announced last month that discos in five-star
state-owned hotels would be shut down to halt the influx of western
culture. The Hindu right spends heavily on religious schools, where
hate and distrust are subjects on the curriculum, mimicking hardline
Islamist groups in the Muslim world. Perhaps Hinduism is not
perceived as structurally "illiberal" - a charge often levelled at
Muslims. Strange then to remember that Hindu priests sat atop a caste
system which chained millions to a life of grinding poverty and
despair in the subcontinent for centuries.
The British state has long understood and exploited these
differences. Raj Britannica in the early 20th century divided and
ruled India with separate electorates for different communities.
Today the modern-day state is keen to exploit talented Indian
computer technicians and keen to stop Pakistanis and Bangladeshis
from joining British spouses.
The changing vocabulary of the race debate means greater emphasis on
religion, custom and language. The colour line, as African-American
thinker WEB Du Bois foretold, was the most important thing about the
20th century. In the new millennium, ethnicity is smudging the
boundary between black, brown and white. There is nothing wrong with
a plurality of immigrant experience in Britain - but it is unjust to
elevate one above another.
_____
#12.
The Economic and Political Weekly
March 15, 2003
Special Article
Disaster and Mental Health
Revisiting Bhopal
This study reviews the mental health research done in Bhopal in the
wake of the gas disaster. Based on interviews with the victims
themselves, as well as with professionals, it highlights the fact
that despite the continuing suffering of the victims, no systematic
effort has been made to tackle the mental health problems that were
generated as an impact of the gas leak.
Amit Ranjan Basu, R Srinivasa Murthy
http://www.epw.org.in/showArticles.php?root=2003&leaf=03&filename=5616&filetype=html
_____
#13.
Newindpress.com, March 21, 2003, Friday
Magsaysay awardee jailed for protesting communalism
IANS
LUCKNOW: A Magsaysay award winning social activist has been jailed
for protesting what he calls the "communal stance" of the Uttar
Pradesh government over the Ayodhya issue.
The family of Sandeep Pandey spent the days agonising over his arrest
this week, even as most of India was busy celebrating Holi.
His apparent crime was to stage a silent fast against the Mayawati
government's stance on Ayodhya where Hindu hardliners are pressing
for a temple at the site of the Babri mosque that was demolished in
1992.
Ironically, Pandey, who has been waging a relentless war against
corruption and communalism in the state, was arrested on an
"apprehension of breach of communal peace and harmony".
Three of his four colleagues participating in the indefinite fast in
Ayodhya were also sent to jail.
"I fail to understand what crime Sandeep has committed to warrant
arrest," says Arundhati, his wife. Her efforts to get Sandeep and
fellow activists bailed out have failed so far.
"They do not find anything communal in the statement of people like
(ruling Uttar Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party chief) Vinay Katiyar,"
she said.
"And here is this Magsaysay award winner who gets booked under
non-bailable provisions of the law simply for protesting against
political misuse of the Ayodhya issue."
A senior police official said, "His bail application is under consideration."
Arundhati points out that her husband was not even staging a fast at
a public platform but in the private quarters of a social activist in
Ayodhya.
Not very long ago Pandey was the target of officials and political
leaders alike in Hardoi district where he was working for the uplift
of the poor and downtrodden.
He had annoyed them by questioning them on the pilferage of funds
earmarked for developmental tasks in a small rural pocket of Hardoi
district, barely 100 km from the state capital.
A doctorate in engineering from the Berkley University and a former
professor at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Pandey had
earlier shot to the headlines for declining the Ramon Magsaysay award
money.
He did that after anti-American activists in Manila questioned Pandey
for accepting the award money that had come from an American source
even though he was vehemently critical of the US and its
"imperialist" designs on the world.
The citation for the Ramon Magsaysay award for him described him as a
"rising foe of nuclear arms in India and a vocal proponent of peace
in the subcontinent".
It said he was an "empowering example of commitment to the
transformation of India's poor".
_____
#14.
The Hindu
Saturday, Mar 22, 2003
Sara Joseph to return award
By Our Staff Reporter
THRISSUR MARCH.21. The eminent Malayalam writer and women's activist,
Sara Joseph, has decided to return the Sahithya Akademi award given
to her in 2001 as a mark of protest against the repression of tribals
at Muthanga and also against the attack being unleashed by the
Government on those who oppose the official stand on the issue.
In a statement issued here today, Prof. Sara Joseph said what had
happened at Muthanga was a horrifying State repression against the
helpless tribals. Those in the cultural field must pool up all their
resources to oppose it.
``I am also registering my protest against the cultureless statements
of some of the Ministers and other spokesmen of the Government
denigrating the writers and cultural activists who had opposed the
tyranny that was unleashed by the police against the tribals at
Muthanga. It is highly objectionable that the Minister for Cultural
Affairs and ruling party leaders describing the renowned writers like
M. T. Vasudevan Nair as `hypocrite' for having taken the laudable
initiative of fighting for the cause of justice," she said.
Recalling that the media persons had even risked their lives to
inform the world the details about the repressions that had taken
place at Muthanga, Prof. Sara Joseph said the Government was
unleashing cruel tortures against them and were trying to trap them
in false cases using the police.
"I am also registering my strong protest against such attempts of the
State to stifle the media and thereby depriving the people of their
right to know the facts. The Government's move to repress any
resistance of the people against the injustice by portraying it as
extremism should also be condemned.
_____
#15. [HINDUTVA AT WORK]
The Telegraph, March 22, 2003
VHP to take on Digvijay over Acharya arrest
RASHEED KIDWAI
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1030322/asp/nation/story_1792357.asp
o o o
The Indian Express, March 22, 2003
http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=20612
Parishad takes trishul diksha to UP
Amit Sharma
Lucknow, March 21: After Rajasthan, the VHP is now set to hold its
controversial ''trishul diksha'' programmes in Uttar Pradesh from
tomorrow.
VHP international general secretary Pravin Togadia is arriving in the
state tomorrow on a four-day visit during which he will hold the
''trishul diksha'' programmes in seven districts of the state,
including Hardoi, Lucknow, Bahraich, Gonda, Gorakhpur, Padrauna and
Allahabad. The programmes will precede the ''Satyagraha'' to be held
in New Delhi from March 27 to April 4.
--
BOX:
FIR plea filed in HC
New Delhi: A petition was on Friday filed in the Delhi High Court
seeking registration of fir against vhp leader Pravin Togadia for
allegedly delivering inflammatory speeches targeting Muslims at the
Dharam Sansad rally held in the Capital last month. A bench
comprising Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice S.K. Agarwal, posted
hearing for March 25. (PTI)
---
The VHP plans to initiate at least 15,000 youths from the state into
the Hindutva campaign by making them ''trishul dharis. 'These trishul
dharis will be the ones who will take active part in the construction
of the temple as and when it begins. Their commitment to Hindutva is
greater than their commitment to any individual or organisation,''
said a VHP functionary.
However, District Magistrate of Lucknow Navneet Sehgal said that the
administration was still undecided about giving a go-ahead to the
programmes.
It is also learnt that intelligence agencies have warned the state
government about a communal flare-up if Togadia is allowed to hold
his ''trishul distribution programmes. It may be recalled that the
VHP leader was recently arrested and later arrested in Anantapur in
Andhra Pradesh for allegedly making provocative speeches.
A State Home Department official said efforts would be made to
prevent Togadia from holding his programme in Gorakhpur in view of
the fact that the town witnessed communal violence during Holi
celebrations on Wednesday.
Togadia would distribute the trishul dikshas to 5,000 VHP workers in
Lucknow and Hardoi tomorrow while on Sunday he would hold the
programmes in Bahraich and Gonda, Bajrang Dal state convener Ved
Prakash Sachchan said.
On March 24, the VHP leader will be in Gorakhpur and Padrauna while
he will be in Allahabad the next day.
VHP organising secretary Ambrish said that the programmes were purely
religious and had no political or communal intent.
''How can the government stop a religious programme? And if it does,
the government will slowly start banning kirtans and namaaz too. Can
we allow this to happen? Out of courtesy, we had informed the
District Magistrate about the programmes but there is nothing like
seeking permission. The programmes will be held as per schedule,''
Ambrish added.
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SACW is an informal, independent & non-profit citizens wire service run by
South Asia Citizens Web (www.mnet.fr/aiindex).
DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not
necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.
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