SACW | 30 April 03 / India special

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire  |  30 April,  2003

[ Alert for Action: In Defence of the Indian Historian Romila Thapar
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/Alerts/IDRT300403.html ]

---------------

#1. India: Anatomy of Hate Masquerading as Dharma (Lalita Ramdas)
#2. India: A voice against `fascist' forces
#3. India: Bag of bones (Kannan Srinivasan)
#4. India: Medieval History and Hurt Psyche (Asghar Ali Engineer)
#5. 'Non-Indian' minorities (J Sri Raman)
#6. Announcement: Web site of Centre for Study of Society and Secularism
#7. India: Bhojshala on the boil (Rasheed Kidwai)
#8. India: Gujarat: Names of Real Culprits Missing - Carnage Victims 
Knock on Court Gates
#9. India: A Homage To Kaifi Azmi (Bombay , May 9)


--------------

#1.

South Asia Citizens Web
29 April 2003
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex/2002/LRamdas300403.html

INDIA: ANATOMY OF HATE MASQUERADING AS DHARMA

=46rom Lalita Ramdas in Alibag

On April 16 2003, Praveen Togadia [Gen Sec VHP] was billed to be the 
star speaker at a `VIRAAT DHARMA SABHA' to be held on the premises of 
an English language school in ROHA the adjacent block to Alibag. Our 
little district town was full of saffron banners carrying the 
announcement. We thought we might drive down to listen and educate 
ourselves.

In the event, Togadia was arrested for making inflammatory speeches 
and distribution of Trishuls in Rajasthan just a few days prior to 
his arrival in our district. However, inquiries revealed that the 
Roha `Dharma Sabha' was to be held nonetheless, and would be 
addressed by Swami Dharmendra. So we decided that two colleagues 
would attend the event and bring us the feed-back. What follows below 
is based on an eyewitness account.

=46irst - the setting: A huge stage set up in the grounds of the 
Raathee College in Roha. The back drop was a huge picture of the 
projected Ram Mandir at Ayodhya in the centre, flanked on one side by 
a larger-than-life size poster painting of the encounter between 
Shivaji and Afzal Khan - in all its gory detail of steel claws - 
daggers and blood - and on the other, an equally large poster of Lord 
Ram.  Smaller size colour posters of the Shivaji-Afzal encounter were 
distributed as `free-bees' to all those who attended - it is enough 
to send shivers down the spine - and fill the minds of our Muslim 
brothers and sisters with understandable fear and foreboding.

Group singing and recordings of bhajans and slokas in Marathi and 
Hindi - covering a repertoire of favourites of Shivaji, Satya Sai 
Baba, and others, dedicated to a number of deities which included 
Devi, Shankar, Ganpathi and Ram Lalla, kept the audience entertained. 
=46rom all accounts this was the only remotely `religious' touch in the 
entire evening! The volume of the sound system was turned up to the 
maximum, and drowned out all else for about 45 minutes or so as the 
crowd filled up and they waited for the Guest of Honor - Acharya 
Dharmendra - to arrive.

The audience seemed to comprise primarily young men (estimates vary 
from about 1500 to 2000) - with a sprinkling of saffron sari clad 
young women volunteers - who were showing people to their seats - 
making announcements etc. According to our source, `they appeared to 
be jobless young males between the ages of 15 - 25 who were probably 
`trucked' in from a number of outlying villages'.

The arrival of every special invitee was heralded by the playing of 
the traditional `dhol' and setting off of fireworks - which were at 
their loudest at the arrival of the Acharya Dharmendra - the Chief 
speaker for the evening who was substituting for Togadia. Most of the 
special guests on the dais were representatives of the regional VHP 
or RSS or Shiv Sena,

Basically the Acharya and his colleagues made a series of virulent 
speeches where the primary message, in sum and substance, was that 
the holy duty of Hindu Youth - [in fact of the Hindu clan as a whole] 
- was to kill and finish off the Muslims - the `offspring of the 
traitor Afzal Khan' who were scattered across the Konkan region, and 
elsewhere across the country - and work with one aim in mind - namely 
to establish a Hindu Rashtra.

It is educative to be walked through the main arguments - which were 
clever as they were comprehensive. The speakers who preceded the 
Acharya set the scene as it were by repetitive reaffirmation of some 
basic trends:

- Reasons why `our Hindu culture' was superior, was under attack and 
needed to be defended.
- How Manavtha - (Humanity) - could be established world wide only 
when a Hindu Rashtra was established in India.
- That it was the Muslims who bred like rabbits - and never accepted 
family planning. If this pattern continued, their population would 
soon overtake that of the Hindus - hence Hindus needed self defence.
- The Government at the Centre comprises a bunch of thieves ; it 
continues to appease Muslims and has no shame whatsoever.
- Up until now, Hindus had been moderate in their demands - claiming 
only three sites for temple building - Ayodhya, Mathura and Varanasi, 
while the actual numbers destroyed by the Muslims is over 30,000!!
- However our patience is now exhausted and we will soon be making 
demands for all 30,000 masjids to be destroyed and temples restored 
or rebuilt.
- All Jehadis are Muslims - and vice versa - and so they must be 
destroyed just in the same way that Shivaji did with Afzal Khan - 
[pointing to the visual behind him]

Acharya Dharmendra basically focused on the theme of Hindutva and its 
importance;

- If Muslims want to continue to live here, they can only do so 
provided they all become Hindus.
- However we should actually finish them off - "Hum Mussalmaano ko 
khatm karma Hai - maar daalenge",
- In this region of Shivaji, he extolled Shivaji's example and 
exhorted those present to follow his example and finish off all the 
descendants of Afzal Khan just as Shivaji did.
- He openly and viciously ran down and condemned Gandhi, Nehru, 
Indira and Sonia in foul language - claimed that it was Gandhi who 
was responsible for the break up of India and the partition and 
creation of Pakistan.
- Used foul and derogatory language while referring to Muslims - 
words like `Jehadi Kasais'.
- Claimed that ever since Independence, too many Muslims had been 
given positions of importance in public life - and it had brought not 
benefits whatever, but terrorist acts, Godhra, and other such actions 
around the country.
- Lambasted Gehlot for arresting Togadia - [in Rajasthan]- and 
accused him of wanting to please the `Gori Rang' {white} woman  - the 
`doll from across the seven seas'.
- Referring to the distribution of Trishuls as a perfectly legitimate 
and harmless activity - he asked how the weapon of Lord Shiva could 
be compared to the AK 47s which are carried by all the Jehadis and 
Terrorists.
- He said there was no other logic but that of becoming a Hindu 
Rashtra - just as there was an `Arab Rashtra', an `Afghan Rashtra', 
etc
- He claimed that our sarkar had no manhood left - was unable to take 
any strong action against Pakistan or Muslims - whereas they should 
all have become like Mahishasura and dealt with them accordingly.
- He also emphasized to the audience that India's poverty was due 
entirely to the fact that the Govt continued to spend the sum of Rs 
22,000/- on every Haj Pilgrim.
- Antulay - a former Chief Minister of Maharashtra was attacked for 
having encouraged the smuggling and landing of RDX along the Konkan 
Coast.
- He also pointed to the Shahbano case - about which people had very 
little idea or information, as an example of appeasement policy.
- Most dangerous of all - he kept repeating that they would repeat 
Gujarats across the country.

______


#2.

The Hindu
Wednesday, Apr 30, 2003

A VOICE AGAINST `FASCIST' FORCES

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI APRIL 29. Well-known social activist Shabnam Hashmi and 
celebrated classical singer Shubha Mudgal today announced a series of 
political training workshops, cultural programmes and exhibitions to 
mobilise public opinion "against the onslaught of fascist right-wing 
forces''.

Coming together under the banner of newly-formed Anhad, a 
non-structured organisation, Ms. Hashmi and Ms. Mudgal spoke at 
length about the planned activities of the organisation -- which was 
floated by them in March along with historian K.N. Panikkar and 
activist Harsh Mander -- to provide a supportive role to the 
political movement against the activities of communal groups.

``We felt that every person should be helped in fighting the hate 
propaganda unleashed by communal forces as otherwise it would become 
difficult to save democracy,'' said Ms Hashmi, adding that her work 
in riot-torn Gujarat during the past year had deeply moved her.

Ms Hashmi, who broke away from Sahmat -- which she had founded in 
memory of her brother, Safdar Hashmi -- said that while Sahmat was 
more of a cultural organisation of artistes, Anhad would seek to 
bring about political awakening while remaining a loosely structured 
organisation.

Stating that Anhad would have "friends'' instead of members, she said 
it would be filling the gaps left by other organisations by 
disseminating greater information to negate the role being played by 
fascist forces in splitting society down the line.

``The level of information about what was happening was inadequate,'' 
said Ms Hashmi, adding that Anhad would step in to take anti-communal 
literature to the masses to promote pluralism and secularism. Also, 
it would engage in social mobilisation through demonstrative actions 
like jathas and constructive work organised by youth and women's 
clubs.

To play an effective role, Ms. Hashmi said she held consultations 
with over 300 groups in Gujarat and Rajasthan and decided to organise 
five-day residential training workshops in 10 districts of Gujarat to 
begin with. Also, during the year, Anhad -- which stands for Act Now 
for Harmony and Democracy -- would move into Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh 
and Madhya Pradesh with its programmes.

``The States going to the polls have been chosen because we want to 
fight the fascist forces and do not want a repeat of Gujarat,'' 
asserted Ms. Hashmi, adding that she would not allow Praveen Togadia 
to go on the rampage.

Lauding the intervention by the Rajashan Government in stalling his 
trishul distribution programme, she said contrary to the assertions 
of Hindu organisations that this was a weapon of peace, a survey in 
Panchmahal district of Gujarat had revealed that the trishul had been 
used in as many as 53 per cent of the number of attacks on Muslims 
there.

On her part, Ms. Mudgal said her joining Anhad was like "stepping out 
of a concert platform into something else, though not necessarily 
political''. Claiming that she felt the need to be involved more with 
social work, Ms. Mudgal -- who was the first artiste to perform in 
Gujarat after the riots and visited several affected areas -- said 
she wanted to see things first-hand and desired to reach out to the 
people.

She mentioned that her aim would be to use music as the medium to 
carry across the message of peace and harmony. To this end she said a 
musical contest has been planned for the youth of Gujarat and Anhad 
would compile a selection of songs related to democratic and 
progressive struggles in an audio-cassette.

Noting that it was essential that deep-rooted hatred was removed, Ms. 
Mudgal said the lines "Ab to mazhab koi aisa chalaya jaaye, jisme 
insaan ko insaan banaya jaaye... '' (Now is the time for a religion 
in which humans are made humans) appear more relevant than ever 
before.


______


#3.

The Hindustan Times
Wednesday, April 30, 2003

BAG OF BONES
Kannan Srinivasan

  A paper read at the World Archaeological Congress in Croatia spoke 
of a 'discovery' made after Hindutva mobs tore down the Babri masjid. 
"This stone inscription of 20 lines in classical Sanskrit verses 
written in 12th century Nagari script was located by Dr (Mrs) Sudha 
Malayya on 6th December 1992 and identified=8A on Dec. 13 1992," it 
read.

But the very fact that this 'discovery' was made after the demolition 
meant its reliability could be questioned. So too could the claim 
that "the inscription was first authenticated as well as deciphered 
by Dr K.V. Ramesh (the then Joint Director General of the 
Archaeological Survey of India), the most leading (sic) epigraphist 
in India on 14th Dec, 1998". This 'authentication', after all, was 
carried out only after the BJP came to office.

The claim of a temple having been destroyed to build the Babri masjid 
in Ayodhya should have been supported by evidence. This was not done. 
An effective refutation of this claim was carried out in Prof. D. 
Mandal's Ayodhya: Archaeology After Demolition. This has just been 
republished with an afterword by Prof. Shereen Ratnagar. Her stand - 
that there are no pillar bases, let alone rows of pillar bases - and 
that land levelling and mosque vandalism cannot masquerade as modes 
of data recovery remains uncontested.

B.B. Lal did not announce the discovery of his so-called 'pillar 
bases' in his Indian Archaeology - A Review. Nor did he mention it in 
the Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology edited by A. Ghosh when he 
wrote the entry on 'Ayodhya' (Vol II, pp. 31-32) There is no talk of 
the so-called trench in which he is said to have discovered the 
so-called pillar bases. The Encyclopaedia was published in 1989, 
suggesting that this 'discovery' was an afterthought at a time when 
it became politically convenient.

Yet, so persistent has been the campaign that a resistivity survey 
has been conducted. The Lucknow Bench of the Uttar Pradesh High Court 
has resolved to settle the matter by ordering an excavation on the 
site of the Babri masjid at Ayodhya, with the excavation being 
filmed. Yet, the campaign of the Hindutva archaeologists is certain 
to continue. Video-filming of the excavation may create the necessary 
record of who was present and who was excavating. It will solve 
nothing, however, about the problem of stratigraphy - the analysis of 
the order and position of layers of archaeological remains. A lay 
viewer of the video film will be none the wiser whether it is a pit 
being dug or a wall being traced, whether something has been found on 
a floor or in a 'destruction' level.

The use of a resistivity survey has only produced confusion. It could 
indicate the presence of walls. But that these were necessarily the 
walls of a destroyed temple - and not the foundations of the mosque, 
or indeed some early structure - has not been revealed. New 
excavations will, in all probability, produce vestiges and finds that 
will not be self-evident. Expert testimony will again have to be 
called in to interpret the finds. And there may again be a clash of 
opinion.

The court is not clear what kind of archaeological remains will 
satisfy it that a temple exists under the mosque which was destroyed 
in order to construct the mosque. Would the court be satisfied with 
the retrieval of one or two sculptures or Vaishnava statues? Such 
items could have been planted under the site at an appropriate time. 
Suppose the foundations of certain walls are found, what would the 
court accept as temple - rather than house or shop - walls? What 
depth of foundation trenches will satisfy the court that these are, 
indeed, the walls of a major temple and not the foundations of 
Babur's mosque?

American and other biological anthropologists seek to identify Aryan 
peoples from skeletal remains. Their arguments are used by Hindutva 
historians who claim that the Indo-Aryans did not come to India from 
Central Asia, but originated here. They contrast them with Muslim 
invaders who, they say, were the first 'outsiders' to enter India. 
=46rom this they claim that the Indian Muslim is today still 
essentially un-Indian. There is a danger now that archaeology and 
anthropology may be put to the service of pogroms against the Muslim 
minority in India.

B.E. Hemphill, J.R. Lukacs and K.A.R. Kennedy ask: Who were the 
Harappans? They answer the question by noting similarities between 
their skulls and teeth and those of other populations, ancient and 
modern. Kennedy and others say the discontinuity in dental features 
between neolithic and chalcolithic Mehrgarh (cited as the earliest 
known farming settlement in South Asia in present day Pakistan) "fits 
well with recent glottochronological studies which place the entrance 
of Dravidian languages into South Asia around the 4th millennium BC".

Against this, Shereen Ratnagar ('Back to the Bones' in the journal 
Man and Environment) points out that they have taken language (which 
is not biologically inherited) to be synonymous with inherited 
physical characteristics. Genetic trees do not translate easily into 
linguistic family trees. For instance, the people of Ethiopia are 
genetically African but speak a non-African language. And languages 
can change without the people changing.

Ratnagar notes that Kennedy, in another 1995 paper, treats Vedic 
Aryans as an entity to be sought biologically. As he cannot find 
their bones, he questions the existence of Aryan migration, and toys 
with the idea of a South Asian origin of the Aryans. This fits in 
with the trend of the Hindutva historians who mean to show a 
continuous culture from several millennia before Christ to the 
present and demonstrate that the Indo-Aryans did not originate 
outside India. All these claims are really part of the grand agenda 
of arguing that the Muslim invasions of India represented the first 
entry of an alien culture and, by extension, that today's Indian 
Muslims remain 'foreign'. This is a dangerous argument to make in 
what is today a deeply divided country.

______


#4.

Secular Perspective
April 16-30, 2003

MEDIEVAL HISTORY AND HURT PSYCHE
by Asghar Ali Engineer

Two retired IAS officers who are known for their commitment to 
secularism and communal harmony recently wrote to me that will it not 
be in the interest of communal harmony and buying peace if the 
Muslims in India tendered apology for demolition of temples and 
rapaciousness, loot and plunder in India during medieval ages as it 
has caused deep hurt to the Hindu psyche. They feel that majority of 
Hindus feel hurt by demolition of their temples by the Muslim rulers 
during medieval ages and any such apology by Muslims today would work 
as healing touch. This will reduce communal tension and communalism 
will subside.

They also feel that secular interpretation of history does not help 
and what is needed is owning up the guilt. One of them also feels 
that as the justice and truth commission in South Africa healed the 
ruffled emotions and helped restore peace, the apology from Muslims 
would also help create goodwill among the Hindus.

Howsoever sincere these feelings may be and howsoever motivated by 
desire for peace, I doubt if it can prove efficacious. There are 
other questions of moral nature as well apart from legal ones. I 
would like to throw detailed light on these questions and also on 
methodology of understanding history. First, I would like to throw 
some light on the methodology of interpreting history.

As for understanding history it is not sufficient to take the events 
into account and even for every event several narratives are 
available and one has to chose one of these narratives. One often 
chooses the narrative in keeping with ones ideological bias. Every 
narrative is loaded one in as much as the reporter of the narrative 
himself has his biases or interests, if not biases.

The noted British historian E.H.Carr maintains that historians are 
like cooks and as cooks add their own recipe to the raw fish they 
cook and impart different tests to the same species of fish, the 
historians also add their ideological biases and create different 
narratives from the same event. And readers too bring to bear their 
own biases while choosing one of the narratives as true.

Also, one has to take holistic view of events and not selective view. 
Most of us often take selective view in as much as we tend to select 
those events, which are in keeping with our bias or interests and 
disregard those which go against our bias or interest. We cannot 
understand history with such bias. Not only history we cannot 
understand contemporary events with such bias.

There are major controversies about contemporary events, let alone 
about those events which have taken place hundreds of years ago. We 
cannot be sure about truth of many contemporary events as they are 
often surrounded by major controversies. And even commission of 
inquiries cannot establish truth of many events. How can we be then 
sure of controversial events of the past? Also, in understanding 
history and historical events, one cannot focus on event alone, 
motive is equally important, if not more. Our reading of history is 
often limited to description of events, often ignoring the motive 
behind them. Mere event without understanding likely motive behind it 
does not enable us to understand the event in proper perspective.

Even if a murder takes place before our eyes, we will not be able to 
understand the cause of murder without knowing the motive. Similarly, 
it is not enough to know that a temple was demolished unless we know 
why was it demolished? The motive makes all the difference. One 
cannot simply assume that the temple was demolished because idolatry 
is practiced there. It might have been demolished for other reasons 
say for plunder of wealth, for humiliating the ruler and give the 
message to his subjects that the ruler is impotent and cannot protect 
a temple. Also, it might have been demolished because it happened to 
be the temple of Isht Devta of the king or it might have been 
demolished to take revenge.

It is equally important to know the associated events and ignoring 
them can result in serious misunderstanding of the event. For example 
when certain Muslim rulers demolished temples, often Hindu soldiers 
also took part in it. If the motive was to stop idol worship, in all 
probability they would not have taken part in such a project. If it 
was with the motive of plunder of wealth they could participate.

Also, it is important to note that those rulers who had demolished 
temples had also given jagirs to some other temples. Aurangzeb who is 
projected in our history textbooks as temple demolisher, has given 
jagirs to may other temples, in some cases in the same city. He also 
built a temple in Chitrakoot in M.P. and gave a piece of land with 
revenue for its maintenance. If he demolished temples only because he 
hated idol worship how could he give jagirs to other temples, or even 
construct temple in other place? Thus his demolishing some temples 
was not for hatred of idol worship but some other motive. This makes 
great difference.

All this is not mentioned in our history textbooks. Muslim rulers 
like Aurangzeb are projected as demolishers of Hindu temples ignoring 
all other things. Thus we often take selective view of history and 
not holistic, as pointed out above. To do justice to history we must 
take into account not only of few selected events but of all related 
events.

It is also important to note that temples were demolished not only by 
Muslim rulers but also by Hindu and Buddhist rulers. King Harsh of 
Kashmir (of 11th century) had appointed an officer in charge of 
demolition of temples (devotpatan nayaka) who used to select temples 
with lot of wealth. He would remove the idol and drag it on the 
streets and ask people to line up and witness it. He would then melt 
the idol (of silver or gold) and deposit the silver or gold in state 
treasury.

There are other instances of Hindu invaders demolishing temples in 
the region of the invasion. All this is not mentioned in our history 
textbooks. Only where Muslim rulers demolished temple it is 
highlighted in our history.

Now we would take up the question of hurt psyche and tendering 
apology by Muslims. Even if we assume that Muslim rulers demolished 
temples with the sole motive of stopping idol worship (which is not 
the case) how can Muslims today be held responsible for what their 
co-religionists did hundreds of years ago? Another important question 
to be taken into account is can we treat any religious community as 
homogenous? Can all Muslims be put in the same bracket? Were there 
not Muslim rulers or nobles who patronised Hindu places of worship? 
There were many Muslims who were even devotees of Hindu gods like 
Lord Krishna.

There were many sufi saints who even believed that Hindu gods like 
Ram and Krishna might have been prophets of Allah since Allah has 
said in the Qur?an that He has sent His prophets to all the nations. 
=46or example Sufi Mazhar Jan-I-Janan of 18th century held such a view 
and even considered Hindu idol worship as different from idol worship 
of pre-Islamic Arabs and justified it.

Thus all Muslims cannot be bracketed together and entire community 
cannot be held responsible for what some members of that community 
did. It would be morally wrong. How can all Muslims of even medieval 
ages could be responsible for what some of them did? And Muslims of 
today can certainly not be held responsible for any such events at 
all even morally, let alone legally. They are not even progeny of 
those rulers who demolished those temples. Most of them are converted 
from low caste Hindus. These converts were looked down upon with 
contempt by the ruling classes of Muslims who considered themselves 
as superior (ashraf) to these ajlaf (of low origin)

Most of these converted Muslims were far more integrated with the 
local low caste Hidus and followed their traditions and customs. They 
were far closer to the sufis and their belief of sulh-I-kul (i.e. 
peace with all). In no way they could be held responsible for what 
some rulers did. And it is also important to note that all Muslim 
rulers did not demolish temples. Among them were many like Akbar or 
Adil Shah or Zainul Abidin who contributed richly to local religions, 
traditions, customs, arts, architecture and music. There are very few 
rulers who have been accused of temple demolition.

And it is also important to note that who has created this ?hurt 
psyche?? It is not found among all Hindus. It is politically 
generated hurt, especially by the Sangh Parivar propaganda. The Sangh 
Parivar propaganda intensified during the last part of decade of 
eighties when they carried out intense propaganda for Ramjanambhoomi 
temple obviously for political purpose. It has also been partially 
generated by the history textbooks taught in or schools. These 
textbooks were originally written by the British historians of 
colonial India to divide us so that they can rule. Before British 
period it will be difficult to find such ?hurt psyche?. It has been 
generated for political reasons.

The common Hindus, especially in rural areas do not have such 
feelings even today. It is urban elite who entertains such ideas. 
Thus it is mainly political propaganda of communal variety and school 
text books which are mainly responsible for such feelings. And the 
remedy does not lie in apology by Muslims of contemporary India but 
in fighting communal forces who misuse history and in reforming our 
educational system.



______


#5.

The Daily Times
April 29, 2003
HUM HINDUSTANI:

'Non-Indian' minorities
by J Sri Raman

It is the premise of the "parivar" politics that Hindus and others 
who can be assimilated into the Hindu fold are the primary citizens. 
The rest are relegated to the status of non-Indians
Demography and demonology are different subjects. But not for LK 
Advani, it seems. They are nearly synonymous for the politician 
occupying the country's second highest post.
At a public function in New Delhi on April 20, India's deputy prime 
minister declared that "religious demography" was of "paramount 
importance" for the "integrity of our borders" and "peace, harmony 
and public order within the country". Elaborating this point he said, 
"Politicians should not shy away from (the issue of) demographic 
changes in India such as in the North-East." The region is of 
particular significance for the "parivar" because of the large number 
of Christians and its proximity to Bangladesh.
He could not have been unaware that "official" status would be 
attributed to his statement. He was attending the launch of a book 
"Religious Demography in India" by A.P. Joshi, M.D. Srinivas and J.K. 
Bajaj. The book has been published by the state-funded Indian Council 
of Social Sciences Research along with the Centre for Policy Studies.
Advani and the other speakers on the occasion noted that the book 
made a distinction between "Indian" and "non-Indian" religions. It 
talked of "Indian Religionists" as a category that included Hindus, 
Sikhs, Buddhists and Jains. Muslims and Christians, obviously, were 
the "Non-Indian Religionists".
This is "Hindutva" at its most horrendous. It is the premise of the 
"parivar" politics that Hindus and others who can be assimilated into 
the Hindu fold are primary citizens. The rest are relegated to the 
status of non-Indians and should be given second-class citizenship. 
This hate-filled fascism treats all Indians who believe in a broader 
sense of national identity as enemies. But Advani and others deny 
that this diabolical discrimination is part of their politics. But 
the deputy prime minister has now upheld the same as the dictate of 
external security and internal order.
Advani's observations have elicited practically no political reaction 
and no editorial comment. The educated middle class, which has played 
no mean role in the promotion of communal fascism by its silent 
compliance, is again tacitly encouraging the "parivar".
It is strange, but true that no one, not even any one in the media, 
criticised the inanities of this "scholarship" on demography. No one 
has asked why Buddhist-majority nations, from Myanmar to Japan 
through Sri Lanka and Thailand, do not feel direly threatened by 
their religious demography. Or why non-Arab Islamic nations, 
including our neighbour, do not feel endangered.
There is nothing startlingly new, of course, about this bogey of 
religious demography raised by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the 
rest of the "parivar". They have always talked of the fear of being 
"swamped" by Muslim and other minority populations which are said to 
be growing unchecked. They conveniently ignore that the Muslims have 
remained a minority despite centuries of Muslim rule and that 
Christians form only about two per cent of the population despite 
British colonial rule.
The "parivar" has frequently resorted to population-centred 
propaganda. This is the argument they used to press for a uniform 
civil code (put on the "back burner" by the BJP once it joined the 
National Democratic Alliance). They allege that Muslim personal law 
allows the country's biggest minority to practise polygamy and this 
increases the community's population disproportionately. It was the 
demographic bogey, and not the banner of democracy that the 
communalists raised against the coercive family-planning drive under 
Indira Gandhi in the 1970s. It was the spectre of "swamping" that 
Narendra Modi and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad raised in Gujarat to 
promote a virulent anti-minority pogrom. The North-East is also a 
case in point. The region provides the "parivar" an opportunity to 
direct demography-centred communalism against Christian missionaries 
as well as impoverished refugees from Bangladesh. Both are dubbed as 
dangerous "infiltrators".
There is nothing new about this line of argument. However, this is 
the first time it has received official approval at such a high level 
since the "parivar" captured power at the centre. Even if Advani were 
not occupying his present office, it would be legitimate to raise 
alarm over the launch of a campaign of this kind. He was, after all, 
the inventor of the once election-winning Ayodhya issue and the one 
who coined the phrase "pseudo-secularism" to describe any one and 
every force opposed to majoritarian communalism. With India's general 
election due in 2004, "religious demography" may assist the "parivar" 
move a step closer to unshared power in New Delhi.
The writer is a journalist and peace activist based in Chennai, India


______


#6.

Dear Friends,

  We are happy to inform you that the Centre for Study of Society and 
Secularism has launched its web-site recently. The web-site address 
is <http://www.csss-isla.com/>www.csss-isla.com

  Now onwards you will find our publications like Secular Perspective, 
Islam and Modern Age, Indian Journal of Secularism etc. on the 
web-site. Also, you can look into the current activities of the 
centre.

  Please view and inform your acquaintances about our web-site.

  Thanking you,

  Yours sincerely,

  Asghar Ali Engineer

Centre for Study of Society and Secularism [Bombay]

______


#7.

The Telegraph
Wednesday, April 30, 2003
Bhojshala on the boil

RASHEED KIDWAI
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1030430/asp/nation/story_1924588.asp

______


#8.

Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2003 00:53:18 +0000


GUJARAT: NAMES OF REAL CULPRITS MISSING:
CARNAGE VICTIMS KNOCK ON COURT GATES

from Batuk Vora

Ahmedabad: Besides a massive protest demonstration by Muslim women 
demanding withdrawal of POTA cases and releasing more than 100 
innocent Muslim suspects taken into custody within last two months 
without any charge-sheet or court proceeding, Narendra Modi 
government is coming under increasing attack from even the so far 
silent observers and media on the issue of denying justice to 
thousands of communal carnage victims.

According to an independent investigation made by the Mumbai based 
organization ?Sabrang?, out of 961 registered criminal cases, 447 
have been consigned away as ?A? or ?B? final summary; in sector-1, 
out of 15 police stations, there are 496 cases register. Out of 
these, 200 cases are being consigned away as summary (registered 
complaints are wrong or accused are not available). In 293 cases, 
enquiry has been completed and in 3 cases enquiry is still going on; 
in the same way, in sector-2, out of 15 police stations, there are 
465 registered cases out of which 214 are being consigned away as ?A? 
or ?B? summary. In 36 cases enquiry is still not completed.

Most brazen police complicity had been exposed during the Gulberg 
society carnage where 39 Muslims including the former Congress MP 
Ahsan Jaffri were burnt alive last February 28, 2002. This  has 
become a sort of test case for the BJP administration.

Gulberg society victims have now knocked the doors of the court 
complaining that real culprits were not booked yet. 25 of the victims 
applied to the local sessions court here claiming that those names of 
accused written on the affidavits signed by the victims before police 
in the first instance last year do not appear on the file of 
charge-sheeted accused. Additional sessions judge B.N.Jani has been 
approached to ask the police to include those left out names of the 
real accused in the case file.

Gujarat Today, a local Gujarati daily, has brought out a report 
saying that chargesheet was filed in this case in November 2002, 
which excluded the names of key accused named in FIR, like Ramesh 
Pandey, Rajesh Dayaram Jinger, Bharat, Kali, Dilip, Gabbar, Kapil 
Munnabhai, Bharat Mansingh, Prabhudas Jain.

Eyewitnesses to the quartering, slaughter and burning alive of Jaffri 
have testified on oath to the fact that Police Commissioner 
P.C.Pandey visited the colony at 10-30 am when the colony was under 
the seize by a carefully orchestrated mob of thousands from 7.30 am 
onward on February 28. No protection force was later sent to this 
colony.

Justice was similarly not yet coming to the Best Bakery victims at 
Vadodara. A mob of 200-300 people looted the bakery on March 1st, 
2002. They set fire to the room. A family of five persons was burnt 
alive and three workers were hacked to death, 16 other people were 
attacked and four of them badly injured. Panigate police station made 
Zahira, an eyewitness to deposit her statement three times and made 
to sign it, but the statement was never read out to her nor was she 
allowed to read it. Police did not come after even one hour though 
repeatedly called. NHRC has strongly recommended a CBI enquiry intoi 
this case. Charge sheet has been filed but the trial has yet to begin.

=46IRs filed on a host of communal carnage incidents  in vast rural 
area have not been followed up, according to Communalism Combat 
magazine. THE END

_____


#9.

Mid Day
  April 29, 2003

KAIFI AZMI'S WORK ON STAGE
By: Shaheen Parkar

Kaifi Azmi
To mark the first death anniversary of Urdu poet-lyricist Kaifi Azmi 
on May 10, the family will perform a theatrical rendition of his 
works called Kaifi Saab - A Homage To Kaifi Azmi. It will be staged 
at the Prithvi Theatre, Juhu, on May 9 at 7 pm.
Says daughter Shabana Azmi, "The family decided to pay tribute to 
Abba through his writings. We have selected extracts from his works, 
poetry, columns which he wrote for Urdu Blitz and the film Heer 
Ranjha, for which he wrote the lyrical script."
The performers from the family include Shaukat Azmi, Shabana Azmi, 
Javed Akhtar and Tabu, besides Nadira Zaheer Babbar, Anoop Soni and 
Lubna Salim.
The event will be directed by Salim Arif (Kharaashein, Taj Mahal Ka 
Tender). "Kaifi saab's works are being recited by noted names. It 
will be like a play reading with video montage,'' he says.
The readings include Aurat by Shaukat Azmi, Bahroopni by Shabana 
Azmi, Ek Lamha by Tabu and Nayee Gulistan (a compilation of his Urdu 
Blitz columns) by Anoop Soni, while Lubna Salim will enact the verse 
from Heer Ranjha.
Interestingly, Javed Akhtar will recite from his own poem, Ek Ajeeb 
Aadmi Tha Woh, which he has written specially for Kaifi Azmi.
Shaukat Azmi

"There will be no props, costumes or anything. We want to keep the 
show as simple as possible," adds Shabana Azmi.
The event will also highlight the issues and concerns put forward by 
Azmi's writings like communalism and women's emancipation. The 
selected writings have been put together by playwright Javed Siddiqi 
(Tumhari Amrita, Raat).
As part of the event, the Indian People's Theatre Association's 
(IPTA) children's choir will also perform, with Kuldip Singh scoring 
the music.
Kaifi Saab is being staged as part of the IPTA festival at Prithvi 
Theatre from May 1 to May 11. Azmi was its founder member and was 
also its all-India president.
Book on Kaifi Azmi
Besides the staging of Kaifi Saab - A Homage To Kaifi Azmi, a 
compilation of his works called Kaifiyaat will also be released on 
May 9 at Prithvi Theatre.
The book, published by Educational Public House, New Delhi, will 
include Azmi's works Jhankar, Aakhir-e-Shab, Awara Sajde, Iblees Ki 
Majlis-e-Shora.
"These works have been selected by the family," says Shabana Azmi. "A 
slim collection of his translated works in Gujarati will also be 
released," she adds. There will also be an exhibition of his books at 
the venue on that day.

Kaifi's verse
Apne hathon ko padha karta hoon
Kabhi Quran, kabhi Gita ki tarah
Chand rekhaon mein seemaon mein
Zindagi qaid hai Sita ki tarah
Ram kab lautenge maloom nahin
Kaash Raavan hi koi aa jaata

(I read the lines on my palm
Like I would the Quran or the Gita
In the confines of a few lines
My life is imprisoned like Sita
When Ram will return I cannot say
If only some Ravan would come and stay)

Extracts from the poem Dayre (Circle) from the book Selected Poems of 
Kaifi Azmi with English translation by Pavan K Varma

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