SACW #2 | 10 Aug. 2003 [India special]

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire  #2  |  10 August,  2003

[1.] India: Joining issue with the Gujarat Chief Minister's missive, 
an open letter in response to the President APJ Abdul Kalam (Najid 
Hussain)
[2.] India: Press Release by Citizens for Justice and Peace
[3.] Between the dotted lines: The two-nation theory (Kuldip Nayar)
[4.] Turning The Same Vicious Circle (Ashok Rajwade)
[5.] Sanitising VHP a la Income Tax Tribunal - Nothing Charitable 
About It! (Subhash Gatade)
[6.] India: Civil Liberty On Independence Day (Digant Oza)
[7.] India:  i.) Note from Vinay Lal on his recent book ; ii.) Book 
Extract: Domain name Hindutva;
iii.) Book Blurb: 'The History of History - Politics and Scholarship 
in Modern India Vinay Lal'
[8.] Hindutva's Entry into a 'Hindu Province'  - Early Years of RSS 
in Orissa  (Pralay Kanungo)

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

[1.]

Outlook [India]
August 9, 2003

DEAR PRESIDENT
'Only Shows His Culpability'
Joining issue with the Gujarat Chief Minister's missive, an open 
letter in response to the President APJ Abdul Kalam.
NAJID HUSSAIN
http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20030809&fname=najid&sid=1


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[2.]

http://www.sabrang.com/

Citizens for Justice and Peace

August 8, 2003

Press Release 

The Citizens for Justice and Peace through its secretary Teesta 
Setalvad and Zahira Shaikh have filed a special leave petition (DD 
16231) in the Supreme Court today praying for a retrial of the BEST 
Bakery carnage trial outside Gujarat. The respondents in the SLP are 
the State of Gujarat, the accused in the trial court, Madhu and 
Chandrakant Srivastava, the Vadodara police and the union government. 
The detailed prayers in the petition are:

1)      Central Bureau of Investigation or any independent agency be 
directed to carry out fresh investigation into the entire Best Bakery 
case, under the constant monitoring of this Hon'ble Court;

2)      Witnesses in the Best Bakery case be provided protection;

3)      Prosecutions be launched for acting and abetting arson, 
looting and killings and for other related offences in the Best 
Bakery incident against the then Commissioner of Police, Vadodara and 
the officers of Panigate Police Station, Vadodara who were attached 
to the same during 1st and 2nd March, 2002

4)      Central Bureau of Investigation be directed to investigate 
the role of Madhu Srivastava and Chandrakant Srivatsava in respect of 
the facts set out in the Petition.  

In this 150 page SLP the Petitioners have set some of the following 
grounds for quashing of the trial court order. Some excerpts:  

1.      The impugned judgement is based on evidence which was given 
under threat, intimidation and fear. The said order is therefore bad 
in law and liable to be set aside.  

2.      Fair trial is a fundamental feature of our criminal justice 
system and the

Constitutional scheme. This is so not just from the point of view of 
the accused but also from the point of society in general and from 
the victims in particular. It has been held to be an essential 
ingredient of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. From the 
perspective of the victim it is absolutely essential that the 
criminal be found guilty and be punished. If this process of 
detecting the criminal or finding him guilty receives a setback due 
to faulty investigation, insufficient care and protection of the 
witnesses, inadequate representation in the court or inability of the 
court to ensure that to the best of his abilities the truth is 
discovered, it would lead to a miscarriage of justice and need a 
fresh trial with the defects of the earlier trial ironed out. 

3.The present case is one where at all levels there has been a 
miscarriage of justice. The Investigation was defective, the 
witnesses were not protected, the public prosecutor glossed over his 
job of effective representation of the victims and the Learned Judge 
mechanically applied his mind to the facts of the case.  

4.The trial of the accused was conducted in an hostile atmosphere. 
Prosecution did not take sufficient precaution to brief the witnesses 
or ensure that witnesses were not under any pressure. To the best of 
the knowledge of the Petitioners none of the witnesses were briefed 
by the Public Prosecutor in advance and none of the witnesses who 
turned hostile were confronted with their earlier statements.

5.The main eye witness to the incident, who had consistently 
identified the culprits has come out in the open and stated that she 
was threatened into turning hostile. Other witnesses have also 
explained the circumstances under which they turned hostile. They are 
willing to testify before the competent court and subject themselves 
to cross examination. 

6.It is undisputed that Best Bakery and surrounding areas were 
attacked by a mob on 1st and 2nd March, 2002. It is also undisputed 
that 14 persons were killed during this attack. Eye witnesses to this 
incident have admittedly survived this incident and are now willing 
to come forward and narrate the true state of events as they took 
place and identify the criminals. The circumstances under which they 
turned hostile have been sufficiently explained by the witnesses.

7.The State has abdicated its responsibility in protecting the 
witnesses against threats and intimidation. This has been done in 
order to protect the perpetrators.

8. The Public Prosecutor failed to carry out his duties in as much as 
after the witnesses turned hostile he did not confront them with 
their earlier statements and did not adequately cross examine them. 
He did not even put a suggestion to the witnesses that they were 
turning hostile due to pressure or intimidation. If the witnesses 
were sufficiently confronted with their earlier statements or 
sufficiently cross examined there was a significant possibility of 
truth coming out.

9.The Petitioners submit that by and large in the eyes of the victims 
of the Best bakery carnage, it is not possible for them to get 
justice anywhere within the State of Gujarat. This is also an 
apprehension shared by thousands of other victims. Therefore the 
petitioner No.2 in her individual capacity has with some others 
approached this Honorable Court for investigation of 14 carnages in 
Gujarat to be handed over to CBI. This is still pending despite 
repeated applications for expedited hearing. They strongly feel that 
either covertly or overtly police supported the rioters during the 
carnage. They also strongly believe that the police have thereafter 
deliberately scuttled investigation into the carnage by various 
methods such as faulty registration of FIRs, refusal on many 
occasions to apprehend the rioters, etc. It is also a strong belief 
that the prosecutors are going out of their way to help the accused 
and ensure that the rioters go scot  free. No serious prosecution has 
taken place as yet concerning the Gujarat carnage. A large number of 
cases have been closed apparently on account of lack of evidence. A 
number of fact finding reports have recorded that witnesses have been 
made to turn hostile under threats and intimidation. The victims also 
perceive that  witnesses have turned hostile because of the 
complicity and inaction of the State Government. In these 
circumstances it is not possible for witnesses, at least in the Best 
Bakery case to fearlessly appear before any court in Gujarat and 
depose. For a fair and transparent trial to take place and for 
meeting the ends of justice it is essential that the trial in the 
Best bakery case to be shifted outside Gujarat.

10.The trial has led to a grave miscarriage of justice. The actual 
perpetrators of arson, loot and murder have gone scot free.Victims 
have been denied the fruits of a fair trial. Nearly 2000 persons died 
during the carnage in Gujarat. Not one person has as yet been 
convicted. It is essential that in order for the victims to have 
faith in justice delivery system that a fair and impartial retrial in 
the present case be ordered.

11. The Petitioners are not aware whether the State has filed any 
appeal in the present case or not despite its declarations after the 
NHRC filed it's SLP before the Supreme Court. In any event the 
Petitioners are suspicious of the bonafides of the State in 
diligently pursuing the appeal even assuming that they have filed 
one. 

The SLP petition also contains a general prayer:

There  has been a grave miscarriage of justice in the Best Bakery 
case. This is not a solitary instance but epitomises the plight of 
other trials too in Gujarat. After the Partiton violence, the Gujarat 
carnage shook the conscience of the nation and the world. It rattled 
every Indian who stands committed to the Indian Constitution and the 
Rule of Law. Godhra was a shocking incident and the guilty need to be 
punished. But the abdication of State Responsibility in anticipating 
Godhra and in dealing with the post-Godhra carnage must not be 
forgotten. The levels of State Complicity in the Violence were 
chillingly visible in the pre-planned nature of the attacks and the 
bestiality of the killings.

Faith needs to be redeemed. Faith in the Indian system, faith in the 
Indian experiment, faith in fair play,  justice and the Rule of Law. 
ŠFrom disillusionment and despair there can only arise hope. The 
developments in the Best Bakery case in the past month signify that 
hope. Zahira Shaikh has shown her ultimate hope in the Indian system. 
The other petitioners are backing her resolve. It is now for the 
system, the honourable Apex Court to respond to this fervent appeal 
for justice. 

Mr. Mihir Desai, advocate Mumbai part of the group India Centre for 
Human Rights and Law has drafted the petition. A panel of senior 
Supreme Court lawyers will appear for the CJP in this petition.

______


[3.]

Gulf News
August 09, 2003

Kuldip Nayar: Between the dotted lines: The two-nation theory

India's partition is 56 years old. Still the controversy over the 
two-nation theory has not ended. Certain groups in Pakistan continue 
to harp on it. Fazlur Rahman, head of Pakistan's Muttahida 
Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), which embraces six religious parties, has said 
after his successful tour of India that he believed in the two-nation 
theory. Which two nations is he talking about?

It is true that the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, 
propagated at one time that Muslims and Hindus in the subcontinent 
were two separate nations. He was then advocating a state where the 
Muslims would be in a majority unmindful of the fact that in any 
scheme of things more Muslims would be left in India.

That was why Maulana Abul Kalam Azad differed with Jinnah and opposed 
the division. However, once the Congress and the British accepted the 
division of India, Jinnah himself redefined nationhood. He did not 
base it on religion.

In his speech as the Governor-General-designate, Jinnah said: "You 
will find that in the course of time, Hindus would cease to be Hindus 
and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, 
because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the 
political sense as citizens of the state."

What he envisaged was that people living in Pakistan, both Muslims 
and Hindus, would become one nation in the same way as Hindus and 
Muslims living in India would be. Religion would be a private affair, 
not part of the state.

Partition formula

There was no transfer of population in the partition formula. Hindus 
and Muslims were supposed to live in India and Pakistan as they did 
at the time of partition. It is, however, another matter that 
communal elements on both sides drove out the minorities, in Pakistan 
nearly all of them.

About a million people were killed and 20 million uprooted from their 
country in the name of religion, Hinduism in India and Islam in 
Pakistan. Women and children were the worst sufferers. It was one 
nation when it came to barbarism.

Some quarters in Pakistan continue to sustain the old notion of 
two-nation theory. In this they find the justification to sustain 
fundamentalism. They want to keep the bogey of religion alive. This 
gives them a point to play with the emotions of the masses. This can 
delude people who want their leaders to improve their economic 
conditions.

It is the same convoluted thinking on religion which has made the 
Pakistan establishment to begin the country's history from the day 
the Muslims arrived in India in the eighth century. There is no 
explanation of what the Mohenjodaro, the Harappan and the Taxila 
civilisations represent.

This reflected a bias against the Hindus. Students are confused. This 
was contrary to what Jinnah said: "We are starting in the days when 
there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and 
another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another."

With that kind of history and the propaganda of fundamentalists the 
obsession in certain circles that India represents Hindus and 
Pakistan Muslims has not gone. Take the conclave of MPs from the two 
countries at Islamabad. The entire exercise depended on the BJP's 
participation. Had it said no, there would have been no conclave.

The reason was obvious. Only the presence of the BJP underlined the 
two-nation theory. The Pakistan establishment is thoroughly exposed 
when it demands the division of Jammu and Kashmir on the basis of 
religion. It does not bother that such a proposal might reopen the 
wounds of partition and the massacres in its wake.

The three Muslim MPs in the parliamentary delegation I led to 
Pakistan in the middle of June gave a warning both at Lahore and 
Karachi that Pakistan was more "interested" in the 800,000 Muslims 
living in Kashmir than in the 150 million Muslims in the rest of 
India. I found that the argument had shaken people in Pakistan. The 
point was not lost even on religious outfits.

Though fundamentalism is still a strong force in Pakistan, yet in the 
same Pakistan, I heard during the tour the term "secular Muslim". 
Even if a preponderant majority did not affix secular to their name, 
they believed in a liberal, open society based on Jinnah's ideology: 
"You may belong to any religion, caste or creed that has nothing to 
do with the business of the state."

Unfortunately, the concept of the two-nation theory, the division 
between Hindus and Muslims, is creeping into India's polity. There is 
a deliberate plan to saffronise the society. Indian Deputy Prime 
Minister L.K. Advani feels no hesitation in saying that the BJP has 
been making Hindutva a poll issue and would do the same in the next 
election.

The party's obsession with communal politics is evident from the 
manner in which it has reacted to the decision by the National Human 
Rights Commission (NHRC) to approach the Supreme Court for the 
retrial of the Best Bakery case in which 14 Muslims were burnt alive. 
In this case, the trial court in Gujarat has exonerated the accused, 
the Hindus, for lack of evidence.

The BJP has dubbed the NHRC's action "anti-Hindu". The fact is that 
the commission has taken note of witnesses being too afraid to tell 
the truth. They have gone on record on this point. Gujarat state's 
Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is involved in what happened in the 
state last year, has gone a step further.

He wants the President of India to find out how many people were 
killed in the country during communal riots since independence and 
how many punished. Such a study would be welcome. But how does it 
lessen the crime committed in Gujarat? And how does it square with 
the remark that the NHRC is "anti-Hindu"? It reflects only the BJP's 
communal bias.

Firm stance

The worst part is the scant respect which the BJP tends to pay to the 
institutions. The party's statements on the Babri Masjid are not only 
contradictory but ominous. It says that the temple will be built on 
the site where the Babri Masjid stood before demolition. At the same 
time, it says that the dispute would be solved either through 
negotiations between the Hindus and Muslims or by the court verdict.

How can one trust the BJP? Today the BJP has accused the NHRC of 
being "anti-Hindu" because of its decision to approach the Supreme 
Court on Gujarat. Tomorrow the BJP will dub the court "anti-Hindu" if 
it decides that the mosque was not built by demolishing a Hindu 
temple.

Already there are newspaper reports that the excavations carried out 
by the Archaeological Survey of India at the site under court orders 
have not yielded any evidence that the mosque was built after 
destroying a temple.

India's ethos is pluralism. Hindus and Muslims constitute one nation. 
The BJP is dividing the society. It is definitely playing into the 
hands of those in Pakistan who have an agenda other than that of 
Jinnah's. They want to pit Hindus and Muslims against one another all 
the time. This is their ethos. The BJP is no different from them.

______


[4.]

August 5, 2003

TURNING THE SAME VICIOUS CIRCLE
In the wake of Ghatkopar blasts, Shiv Sena gave a call for bandh and 
BJP quickly supported it. It is difficult to understand what public 
good this bandh has brought about. Normally, in the absence of any 
call for bandh, Mumbaikar reacts to such tragedies by resuming  work 
in the normal manner the next day. And that is the most fitting reply 
to the extremists' design of terrorising the citizens. It is no 
secret that during calls for bandh-especially those given by Shiv 
Sena, business establishments down their shutters and working people 
avoid reporting to work more out of fear of hooliganism than  support 
to the political sentiments. Budding politician Uddhav Thackeray 
might have earned his stripes because of 'near total' bandh, but to a 
common man earning his daily bread, it is a forced holiday with no 
wages.

Because of their mutual antagonism,one may get an impression that 
extremists of Hindu and Muslim variety are fighting with each other, 
but they are essentially turning the same vicious circle of fear and 
violence in the same direction!  The circle installed during the 
colonial days is very much active.

And it is essential to defeat the designs of religious hooligans in 
our country as much as those of exremists. And not paying any heed to 
these can be one way of defeating it, if it is supplimented by 
efforts to improve relations between India and Pakistan. The cross 
border terrorism can be fought only through cross-border friendship 
between two countries.

Ashok Rajwade.
[...]
B-302, Amisha, Laxman Mhatre Road, Navagaon, Dahisar West, Mumbai 400068.


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[5.]

http://www.kashmirtimes.com/features5.htm

Sanitising VHP a la Income Tax Tribunal
Nothing Charitable About It!
By Subhash Gatade

The Sangh Parivar and its various front organisations never had it
so good as far as getting character certificates for good conduct
from the top functionaries of the government or from
commissions/ bodies which have been constituted by acts of
parliament. Close on the heels of the National Commission on
Minorities's legitimisation of the acts of dagger distribution
portrayed as 'Trishul Deekshas' engaged in by the VHP as
'religious ceremonies' has come the news that the Income Tax
deptt. has gone overboard in saying that it is basically a 'charitable
organisation'.and not a 'communal society' as one of its own earlier
orders claimed.

Recently the Income Tax appelate tribunal, delhi bench provided
relief of Rs. 55.37 lakhs to the VHP for the assessment year 1993-
94. A bench comprising of its senior members dismissed the
department's own appeal and accepted the submission put on
behalf of the VHP that it was a charitable organisation. In this
submission the VHP had appealed to the tribunal that it could not
be held responsible for the unlawful activities if any carried out by
some of its members and any others in the demolition of Babri
mosque in Ayodhya in Dec.1992.(The Hindu 20 th July 2003)
Taking a very legalistic view the bench also pointed out that the
participation of the office bearers of the VHP and the others was a
matter subjudice before the court and nothing needed be said at
this stage.

To cut the long story short, it all started when the VHP did not file
its return for 1993-94 as the centre had banned VHP declaring it
as an unlawful organisation. After the return was filed the
Assessment Officer (AO) denied exemptions to it which are meant
for charitable organisations.The AO held that as members of the
VHP were involved in the Babri Mosque demolition, it is not an
exclusive charitable and religious organisation but a communal
society.The VHP went in appeal to the tribunal which had no
qualms in reversing the AO's order.

Well, it is also not for the first time that the income tax department
people have gone out of way in not only allowing the VHP to
maintain a veil of secrecy over its fund raising efforts. It need be
recalled that way back in 1990 the then assistant commissioner of
Income Tax Mr Vishwa Bandhu Gupta had issued a summons to
four top leaders of the VHP that they fill their income tax returns
and also submit details of earlier years. But the aftermath of this
order was unprecedented. Within 24 hours of issuing this notice
not only the said orders were withdrawn but Mr. Gupta was
immediately transferred and later suspended as well.

The question naturally arises on what basis the income tax
department had a somersault and started singing paens to the
VHP for its 'charitable work.' when one of its own senior officer had
bracked it as a 'communal society'. Is it just a matter of
interpretation of income tax rules and a realisation of the 'earlier
folly' or some extraneous pressure from the powers that be which
compelled the IT sleuths to change its tune ?

Coming to the episode of Babri Mosque demolition it need not be
recounted that for every peace and justice loving person in India
the demolition on 6 th December 1992 and the consequent
communal riots in the country which claimed thousands of lives is
one of the darkest chapters in the history of independent India. It is
also a fact that the movement to 'liberate the Babri Mosque' as it
was called was initiated and led by one of the front organisations
of the Sangh Parivar namely Vishwa Hindu Parishad alongwith
numerous other front organisations of the Hindutva Brigade. One
still remebers how the VHP started with the Ram Janaki Yatras in
early eighties and started raising tempers around the 'gross
injustice meted out to the Hindus' as far as 'RamJanam Bhoomi'
was concerned..It is also history that the Hidutva Brigade put its
might behind the movement to counter the Mandal onslaught in
late eighties. At present the whole matter of the demolition of the
mosque is subjudice and many of the leading lights of the VHP,
Bajrang Dal, BJP are facing charges for hatching criminal
conspiracy to demolish the mosque. The Liberhans commission is
also investigating different aspects of the whole episode and is
shortly expected to give its opinion.

Of course, the participation of the VHP in the RamJanamBhoomi
movement which left a trail of blood all over the country and led to
rising communal tempers is not the only 'dark spot' on the
otherwise 'bright career' of the VHP. The nineties as well as the
new millenium's first few years have been witness to its unfolding
agenda wherein one was witness to what Sumit Sarkar and others
call the 'Mass Communalism' of the VHP. The growing attacks on
Christians in different parts of the country leading to the burning to
death of Graham Steins and his sons by extremists belonging to
the Hindutva fraternity, the hate speeches delivered by the
Singhals, Togadias and the Dharmendras or the Dagger
Distribution Ceremonies organised in different parts of the country,
and the leadership provided by the VHP and its sister organisation
Bajrang Dal in the pogrom organised in Gujarat in the aftermath of
the tragic Godhra incident etc. -- all these incidents/ campaigns
have been directly and indirectly linked to the VHP and its parivar.

So much so that the Chief of the Gujarat VHP the octogenarian
litterateur Mr Keshav Shastri even gave details of the way the
VHP prepared a list of the Muslim shops and establishements on
28 th morning itself. He was candid as well as brazen enough to
tell the rediff correspondent Ms Sheela Bhatt that 'his boys were
involved' in the pogrom. (interview on rediff.com)

It is a fact that apart from the BJP the VHP has been a key player
in the expansion of the base of the Hindutva Brigade since its
formation in 1964. It has been very innovative in expanding its
influence among the middle and the lower classes. cursory glance
at the late eighties and nineties can tell us the way it helped
spread the appeal of Hindutva far and wide. It not only organised
the Sadhus and the Sants, the most parasitic as well as the most
revered strata of Indian society under the Dharam Sansads and
the Ram JanamBhoomi Nyas and several other outfits and
claimed for itself the 'sole representative status' of the Hindus.

It was only last November that many a secular and democratic
Indians working/ settled abroad brought out a report 'Stop Funding
of Hate' (http://www.stopfundinghate.com), which focussed on the
overseas funding network of the Sangh Parivar. This report, which
was full of facts, prompted many leading companies to stop
contributing to the IDRF, a front organisation of the Hindutva
brigade, which collects funds from individuals and companies for
'development work' inside India.

The campaign organised around this report succeded in bringing
out two simple facts about the overseas operation of the Sangh
Parivar: 1) That the Sangh Parivar uses the guise of 'development'
and ''relief' work to raise funds for its operations from overseas
(despite trying to portray itself as an entirely domestic operation);
and 2) That these funds are deployed to advance its intolerant
Hindutva ideology and propagate hatred against religious
minorities.The success of the campaign 'Stop funding Hate'
compelled the Sangh Parivar even to come out with a rebuttal
about the charges levelled against it.

But it is a fact that this report did not cut much ice and was largely
ignored in the mainstream media. It could be wishful thinking to
say that the Tribunal people are ignorant of the acts of commission
and omission engaged in by the VHP and other members of the
Sangh Parivar. It would be the height of innocence to say that the
senior members of the tribunal found the activities of the VHP so
'benign' that they declared it a 'charitable organisation.' .

Perhaps they could have taken a clue from the likes of the 'Lauh
Purush' Advani's habit of giving clean chits to the members of the
Hindutva Brigade from time to time after any such gory episode,
despite the fact that his views were always found to be out of tune
with the views/opinions expressed in the rest of the sane world.

______


[6.]

[ in Gujarati for Sunday Magazine of Loksatta-Jansatta and Sambhaav Dailies.]

CIVIL LIBERTY ON INDEPENDENCE DAY

By: Digant Oza

Politics, in contemporary India, is omni-present and omni-potent. It 
not only effects common - Men's life but also the process of 
socio-economic evaluation of the society as a whole. Even for the 
media politics and statements of politicians, perhaps only thing, 
makes NEWS. Who cares for the socio-economic development?

In land of Mahatma or Gandhi's Gujarat (Cliche) what politics has 
pushed society in to is totally against what Mohandas Karamchand 
Gandhi stood for all along his life.

Gujaratis were symbol of TRUTH and spirit of protest, there were 
congress members of parliament who were bold enough to speak against 
even giants like Sardar Patel. But now the culture of sycophancy that 
has prevailed over the years in our body-politic is sometimes 
manifesting itself in ridiculous forms. From AHINSA, Gujarat is now 
the land of mass violence and killings and on top of it all, the 
state has political boss who make efforts to justify what had 
happened instead of feeling the guilt of it.

Recently, FICCI had organised a meeting of captains of Gujarat Trade 
and Industry in Ahmedabad, where celebrities like Karsandas Patel 
(Nirma) and Arvind Lalbhai (Kastoorbhai Group) prefered not to speak, 
rather than express their agreement with the speech of 'NAMO'. In 
response to Dr. Amit Mitra's invitation for reaction Chirayu Amin, 
Rakesh Agarwal and others commented on delay by administration and 
the attitude of lack of co-operation. After earthquake there were 300 
interested parties to establish Industries in the border district 
to-day only 45 of them remained, someone remarked. Commenting on the 
celebration of Navrati to attract vibrant investment a Kutchi speaker 
said crescendo of Raas is called 'Hitch' that unless administration 
is going to work at the speed of 'Hitch' Gujarat might looses the 
initials achievement. In other words politics has lost the 
credibility.

On every 26th of the month of June a ritual is observed to protest 
against emergency.

What does it really mean to have human - chains, demonstrations and 
speeches against emergency, how many of the protestors and political 
products of Navnirman agitation or J.P. movement for SAMPOORNA KRANTI 
remember that?

(2)

It was movement against Autocracy and for basic human rights as well 
as civil liberties, about which Narendra Modi wishes to read national 
track records through the head of state. However, the politicians 
like 'NAMO' should remember that history does not mean the chapter, 
it is devided into many chapters and one needs to read all of them to 
understand it.

Where does the civil liberties stand to-day? To get the answer one 
needs to remember 44th amendment in the Indian Constitution. Who 
remembers the amendment today while doing the ritual of protesting 
emergency?

Last time this writer heard it publicly was at Gujarat Vidyapeeth 
(University established by Mahatma Gandhi) on 29-30 August, 2001. 
Peace Research Centre of Vidyapeeth had organised a two days seminar 
on "Rule of Law and Peace". Justice A.P. Ravani, former Chief Justice 
of Rajasthan High Court read a paper on "The Practice and application 
of Rule of Law - a critique.

Justice Ravani, in his paper said it is a paradox of democratic 
Constitution of the country that it provides for preventive detention 
and that too in the Chapter of fundamental rights. When right to life 
and liberty (Article 21) and right to equality (Article 14) were 
suspended during the days of Emergency, there were only few 
preventive detention laws and that too enacted by the Central 
Government. Today in almost all the States of the country, moreso 
Gujarat, there are preventive detention laws enacted by the 
respective State Governments. Preventive detention laws can he 
enacted by the Central Government "for reasons connected with 
defence, foreign affairs or the security of India" while the State 
Government can enact preventive detention laws "for reasons connected 
with security of a State, maintenance of public order or the 
maintenance of supplies and services of essential to the community". 
Preventive detention is an anathema to democracy. But in the superior 
wisdom of the Supreme Court, way back in the year 1950 Gopalan's 
case) it was considered that though it is a blot on democracy it was 
required to be provided for as an inevitable evil to be invoked as an 
extraordinary measure. It was hoped that it will be sparingly used 
and it will not become a normal feature of our legal system.

This was the reason why during the days of Emergency the suspension 
of right to life and personal liberty (Article 21) and right to 
equality (Article 14) were resented most by the people. That was the 
reason why that the subsequent Government - Janata

(3)

Government - amended the Constitution by 44th Constitution Amendment 
in the year 1978 and provided additional safeguards in the matter of 
preventive detention by amending Article 22 of the Constitution. The 
President gave his assent to 44th Amendment of the Constitution on 
30th April 1979. By this amendment following procedural safeguards 
for preventive detention were provided.

(1) The period during which a person may be kept under custody 
without confirmationby Advisory Board was reduced to two months from 
three months.

(2) Instead of retired High Court Judges or persons qualified to be 
appointed as High Court Judges, the Advisory Board should consist of 
three High Court Judges appointed on the recommendations of the Chief 
Justice of High Court of whom the Chairman shall be a sitting Judge 
while the other two shall be either sitting or retired High Court 
Judges. This Amendment to the Constitution was to come in force on 
the date that may be notified by the Government. Till today, the 
executive arm of the Government has not notified the date. The 44th 
Amendment to the Constitution whichprovided for additional safeguards 
in respect of individual liberty of citizens have become a dead 
letter. The Executive Arm of the Government has virtually repealed 
the constitutional amendment.

It was on the promise made to the people that the preventive 
detention laws shall be abolished the subsequent Government had 
assumed power. May be it realised that the promise was too generous 
and impratical to be fulfilled. Probably for this reason the 
Parliament adopted a middle course providing for additional 
safeguards in respect of preventive detention. Therefore the 
aforesaid amendment. Despite this position, the executive arm of the 
Government has till today not brought the amendment into force. Even 
the Supreme Court did not think it proper to issue mandamus to the 
Government directing it to bring the amendment into force. The 
Supreme Court thought that the Parliament had trusted the Executive 
and therefore it would not be proper for it to issue mandamus. 
Strange logic. When the Executive betrayed the Parliament, was the 
Supreme Court relieved of its obligation to protect the citizen from 
the encroachment of their fundamental right of liberty?

If the days of Emergency were dark, today we are in darker days, says 
Justice Ravani. Today, the safeguard of confirmation of detention 
order by Advisory Board, has become a matter of administrative 
formality. The Advisory Boards have been reduced to the position of a 
wing of Home Department of respective Governments. Liberty of

(4)

the citizens is at the mercy of Police Officers and powerful 
politicians. Many a times during election days preventive detention 
laws are freely used to put the inconvenient people behind the bars 
for a period of three to four months and sometimes even the total 
period of detention order. During the days of Emergency, there were 
only few central enactments providing for preventive detention. Today 
in almost all the States of the country there are preventive 
detention laws. The preventive detention has become a normal feature 
of our legal system. At least, during the days of Emergency 
preventive detention was considered to be an abnormality. That is why 
the people's resentment and upheaval was witnessed. Today the 
situation is so worse that this is considered to be a normal feature 
of the working of the system even by the literate middle class and 
media. Remedy of writ petition before High Courts challenging the 
orders of detention have become practically meaningless. Because 
these petitions are heard and decided after six to eight months of 
detention and many a times detenus run out their detention period and 
petitions remain pending before High Courts, without there being 
final decision. The courts, seem to have become indifferent about the 
deprivation of liberty of the citizens without trial. The very life 
purpose for the existence of the courts, particularly that of High 
Courts and Supreme Court seem to have been lost, commented former 
Chief Justice of Rajasthan High Court.

Is there anybody who can question the writer of a Gujarati book 
called "Sangharshma Gujarat" (Narender Modi) as to how he could 
subscribe to the detention acts like TADA & POTO? Was the upheavel 
against emergency was to get the conducive atmosphere for more & more 
detention.

The development of states like Gujarat depends on water & power. 
There is a total political will to decide the policy on distribution 
and pricing of water and power. There is total lack of willingness to 
have peoples participation in the development of the state. This 
could never have been what Gandhiji's desire.

One cannot but wonder whether our Members of Parliament and our 
national leaders are at all aware that this country, like many other 
developing and even some developed countries, may be facing a brewing 
crisis of socio-economic uncertainty in a fast-changing global 
situation verging on volatility, if not outright disorder. One also 
has to wonder if they feel at all accountable aboutthe valuable time 
of Parliament and assemblies and of the nation being wasted on 
trivialities and work-stoppages.


_____


[7.]


August 6, 2003

Dear Friends,
... my latest book, THE HISTORY OF HISTORY:
POLITICS AND SCHOLARSHIP IN MODERN INDIA, has just been published
by Oxford (India).  Indian Express excerpted it in today's edition of 
the paper;
you can find the excerpt at

http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=29019

The excerpt chosen comes from the last chapter of the book, which looks at how
Hindutva ideologues have used the internet to generate new (and 
generally absurd)
Hindu histories.

My main reason for writing to you is that the reaction to the 
excerpts illustrates all the
difficulties in having nuanced positions about history.
14 comments have already been posted on the site
in the few hours since the excerpts were published, ALL
unfavorable to me; they all accuse me of being a Hindu-basher, a communist,
a lover of Aurangzeb, etcetera. One commentator says that I am the 
kind of Hindu
who would sell his mother and wife (presumably to a Muslim).
Of course those who read the book realize that I have a critique of the
left as well . . .

The comments can be found at this URL:

http://www.indianexpress.com/messages.php?content_id=29019#8822

[...]
Vinay  [Lal]

  o o o

Indian Express
August 06, 2003

Analysis

BOOK EXTRACT

Domain name Hindutva

Aryavarta reaches Silicon Valley. The saffronised history spawned on 
innumerable websites by amateur NRI historians may well be the most 
tangible, if not most agreeable product of India's globalisation.

It is perhaps apposite that the North American proponents of 
Hindutva, as well as revisionist Hindu historians, should have found 
the Internet an agreeable avenue for the propagation of their 
world-view.

More than any other organised religion, Hinduism is a decentred and 
deregulated faith, and in this it appears akin to cyberspace. In the 
language of the cybernetic postmodernists, one could say that 
Hinduism is rhizomatic, with multiple points of origin, intersection, 
and dispersal. Hinduism and the Internet, one might conclude, were 
happily made for each other; even the millions of web sites evoke the 
''330 million gods and goddesses'' of Hinduism.

Although the subjects on which the most substantial contributions to 
Hindutva web sites are made vary considerably, the web masters and 
their associates are united in their resolve to offer radically 
altered accounts of even the most common verities of India history.

Thus, while it is generally agreed that the Mughal Emperor Akbar 
(reigned 1556-1605) was, especially for his times, a just ruler, that 
his policies of tolerance were conducive to the expansion of his 
empire and the good of his subjects, and that he is said to have 
introduced elements of Hinduism, into his own practices of worship 
and even the culture of the court, in Hindutva web sites he appears 
as a ''tyrannical monarch''; not unexpectedly, then, Aurangzeb 
(reigned 1658-1707), who has always been disliked by Hindu historians 
as a sworn enemy of the Hindus and breaker of idols, is viewed as 
entirely beyond the pale.

The Taj Mahal, which no serious historian doubts was built at the 
orders of Shah Jahan (reigned 1628-58), is transformed into a Hindu 
monument by the name of Tejomahalay, as though its history as one of 
the finest examples of Mughal architecture was wholly 
inconsequential, a malicious invention of Muslim-loving Hindus.

Lest these revisionisms be considered merely arbitrary and anomalous, 
the systematic patterning behind these re-writings is also evidenced 
by the attempt to argue, for example, that the Aryans, far from 
having migrated to India, originated there.

These sites weave their own intricate web of links, conspiracies, and 
nodal points: at one moment one is in one web site, and at another 
moment in another. Even Krishna, who by his leela or divine magical 
play could be among several gopis (lovers) simultaneously, might have 
found his match in the world wide web; he might have gazed with awe 
at rhizomatic Hindutvaness at its propagandistic best.

Among the most remarkable and most comprehensive of the sites are 
those created by the VHP and students who have constituted themselves 
into the Global Hindu Electronic Network (GHEN). Links take the 
surfer to such sites as hindunet, the Hindu Vivek Kendra, and the 
various articles culled from the archives of Hinduism Today, a glossy 
magazine published by a white sadhu who is constructing a lavish 
temple amidst the rich tropical green of Hawaii's Kaui island.

GHEN is sponsored by the Hindu Students Council, and the astuteness 
of its creators, no less than their zeal and ardour, can be gauged by 
the fact that it had developed into the most comprehensive site on 
Hindutva philosophy and aggressive Hindu nationalism at least eight 
years ago, when such work in cyberspace was in its infancy.

GHEN was the recipient in 1996 of an award from IWAY, then one of the 
leading Internet magazines, for the ''Best Web Page Award'' in the 
religious category, and one of GHEN's members described himself as 
pleased that the world was finally ''taking cognisance of the most 
important movement in this century: the Hindutva movement''.

If GHEN shares something ominous in common with Hindutva web sites, 
it is the deliberate attempt to obfuscate the distinction between 
Hinduism and Hindutva. Swami Vivekananda, to take one instance, 
becomes in their histories an exponent of Hindutva ideology, not an 
advocate of a mere Hinduism ...

Judging from GHEN's ''Swami Vivekananda Study Center'', which 
presents the RSS as the fulfilment of Vivekananda's ideas, the Swami 
was a militant Hindutvavadi who desired ''the conquest of the whole 
world by the Hindu race''. If Argentina is nothing other than 
''Arjuna town'', where Arjuna - one of the five Pandava heroes who in 
the Mahabharata are condemned to spend 13 years in exile - went for 
the year that he was enjoined to remain incognito; if Denmark, rich 
in dairy products, is none other than ''Dhenu Marg'', the abode of 
cows (which the cowherd Krishna would have recognised as his own 
home); if the ''Red Indians'' are the signposts for the advance of an 
Indian civilisation in remote antiquity; and if Vivekananda's own 
name, ''Vive! Canada'', is a ringing testimony to his reach over the 
world, even demonstrable proof of intrepid Indian explorers having 
used the scientific advances of the ancient Hindus to reach Canada 
centuries before the European Age of Exploration commenced, then 
surely it is not too far-fetched to imagine that Vivekananda desired 
the worldwide supremacy of the Hindu race .

Sometimes the expression of Hindu identity is manifested by waging a 
virulent attack on Islam, as in the web site, located in the United 
States, that takes its name from the Sanskrit phrase Satyameva Jayate 
(Truth Alone Triumphs), which is the national motto of sovereign 
India. Though viewers are invited to send e-mail to a person carrying 
a Muslim name, ''Zulfikar'', the web site is almost certainly 
operated by a Hindu.

The site is linked to the home page of a ''Vedic astrologer'' and the 
remarks about Islam and its Prophet are so slanderous that it is 
nearly inconceivable that any Muslim, howsoever much an unbeliever, 
would have dared to be so foolishly offensive...

I have given a mere inkling of the Hindu histories that dominate on 
the Internet, and in conclusion it merits reiteration that the very 
proclivity to argue in the language of the historian shows how far 
the proponents of Hindutva have abandoned the language of Hinduism 
for the epistemological imperatives of modernity and the nation-state.

Nothing resonates as strongly as their desire to strip Hinduism of 
myth, of its ahistoricist sensibilities, and to impose on the 
understanding of Hinduism and the Indian past alike the structures of 
a purportedly scientific history.

Typically, as in the article on ''The Destruction of the Hindu 
Temples by Muslims, Part IV', found on the ''Satyameva Jayate'' web 
site, no page numbers are ever furnished, nor are titles of works 
enumerated; nonetheless, a tone of authority is sought and injected 
by the note placed at the end: ''Works of Arun Shourie, Harsh Narain, 
Jay Dubashi, and Sita Ram Goel have been used in this article.''

The mention of ''references'' imparts a scholarly note to the piece, 
and the invitation to employ the verifiability hypothesis suggests 
the detachment of the scientist, the objectivity of the social 
scientist who has no ambition but the discernment of truth, and the 
scrupulousness of the investigator.

I hasten to add that this is keeping well within the norm of Hindutva 
history: the unattributed article, ''The Real Akbar, The (not) so 
Great'', is likewise based on a number of sources, though their 
worthiness as specimens of authoritative scholarship can be construed 
from the great affection that Hindutva historians have developed for 
Will Durant.

''The world famous historian, Will Durant has written in his Story of 
Civilisation,'' writes Rajiv Varma in his Internet article on Muslim 
atrocities, ''the Mohammedan conquest of India was probably the 
bloodiest story in history.'' The West be damned, but when the 
occasion demands, the authority of even its mediocre historians is 
construed as incontestable.

From their concerted endeavours to impart a precise historical 
specificity to the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, as evidenced by the 
laborious efforts at reconstructing the chronology of the events 
depicted in the epics and turning the principal characters into live 
historical figures who were the Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and Christ of 
Hinduism, to the onslaught on the generally accepted theory of an 
Aryan migration to India - an onslaught first headed, it is no 
accident, by an Indian aerospace engineer, N S Rajaram, who is 
described as valiantly having temporarily set aside his career in the 
interest of exposing, the largest ''hoax'' in human history - the 
Hindutvavadis have signified their attachment to historical 
discourses.

Historical discourses are preeminently the discourses of the nation, 
and the interest, which has something in common with the historical 
archive, making it intrinsically hospitable to the modernist 
sensibility of the historian, is poised to become the ground on which 
the advocates of Hindutva will stage their revisionist histories. 
Whether cyberspace is ''Republican'' is a matter on which we can 
defer judgment, but it is poised, alarmingly, to become a Hindutva 
domain, considering that there are scarcely any web sites which offer 
competing narratives.

Dharmakshetre, Kurukshetre (on the field of dharma, righteousness; on 
the field of the Kurus), says the Bhagavad Gita in its opening line, 
but today this might well be: dharmakshetre, cyberkshetre.

If the computer scientist-historian types who inhabit Silicon Valley, 
and their diasporic brethren, have it their way, Hinduism will become 
that very ''world historical religion'' they have craved to see, and 
Hindutva history will be the most tangible product of the wave of 
globalisation over which they preside from their diasporic 
vantagepoint.

The History of History
(Politics and scholarship in Modern India)
By Vinay Lal
Oxford University Press; Pages 294
Price Rs: 650

URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=29019


o o o


THE HISTORY OF HISTORY - Politics and Scholarship in Modern India

LAL, VINAY
Price: INR 675 hardcover
ISBN: 0-19-566465-5
Publication date: 2003
OUP India  376 pages

Customers outside India: please send orders to customerservice.in at oup.com.


Description
*
'This book does what historians hate doing. It tries to bring history 
itself within the fold of history, refusing to gulp the discipline's 
tacit claim that it is outside history and has been vaccinated 
against all criticisms from outside the profession. Lal reveals 
history to be another disabling profession, waiting to be freed from 
its defensive certitudes and, then, goes on to force it to do the 
unthinkable--to self-reflect.' --Ashis Nandy

There has long been a view that historical thinking was never prized 
much in India. This study of the politics of history-writing explores 
the ascendancy of history, offering a nuanced account of how 
historical thinking, and the discipline of history, began to assume 
importance in colonial and independent India. Along with discussions 
of the role of historians in the dispute over the now-destroyed Babri 
Masjid and the so-called 'saffronization' of history textbooks, the 
book also engages with Subaltern Studies, and provides insights into 
iconic debates over Shivaji, Aurangzeb, beef-eating, and the 
relationship between history and masculinity. The final chapter 
considers 'Cyberdiasporic' Hinduism and offers a critique of 'new 
Hindu histories' on the Internet. This is not a comprehensive account 
of history-writing in India over the last two centuries rather, it is 
an exploration of the manner in which historical thinking has 
inserted itself into the public domain, the consequences of history's 
new-found prominence, the relationship between history and the 
nation-state, and the particular manner in which history is tethered 
to a modernist politics of knowledge. This scholarly but extremely 
readable study will appeal to students and scholars of post-colonial 
and cultural studies, historians, and specialists in Indian studies 
as well as informed general readers interested in the increasingly 
important question of the role of history in the public domain.

Readership: Scholars and students of Indian history and sociology, as 
well as informed general readers interested in the evolution of the 
discipline of history in the subcontinent.


Contents/contributors
*
Preface
*	Introduction. History in the Ascendant Mode
*	Chapter 1. The History of Ahistoricity: The Indian Tradition, 
Colonialism, and the Advent of Historical Thinking
*	Chapter 2. Claims of the Past, Shape of the Future: The 
Politics of History in Independent India
*	Chapter 3. History as Holocaust: Ayodhya and the Historians
*	Chapter 4. The Subalterns in the Academy: The Hegemony of History
*	Chapter 5. Aryavarda and Silicon Valley: Indian History on 
the Net in the Age of Cyber Hinduism
*	Bibliography
*	Index.

______


The Economic and Political Weekly
August 2, 2003
Special Article

Hindutva's Entry into a 'Hindu Province'
Early Years of RSS in Orissa

Orissa retains some unique features of Hinduism manifested in 
particular in the Jagannath cult. Structures of pre-colonial 
legitimacy were reinvented by colonialism, acquiesced to by the 
nationalist and the post-colonial leadership/discourses and 
appropriated by an identity-seeking Hindu upper caste-middle class. 
Together these offered a congenial climate for the development of 
Hindutva. This paper broadly outlines the cultural, social and 
political climate of Orissa at the time of the entry of the Rashtriya 
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and examines how this organisation, 
intelligently and strategically, interacted with and adapted itself 
to the peculiar conditions in this 'Hindu province' during the early 
years of its existence in the state.

Pralay Kanungo


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