SACW | 27 Oct. 2003

[Harsh Kapoor]

SOUTH ASIA CITIZENS WIRE   |  27 October,  2003

Announcements:
a)  The South Asia Citizens Web web site 
continues to be down, users are invited to use 
Google cache till further notice.  'South Asia 
Counter Information Project' a back-up, archive 
area and sister site of SACW can be accessed at: 
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/sacw/
b) All  SACW and associated list members in India 
wanting to consult web sites being blocked at 
groups.yahoo.com   may try to bypass the 'ban' 
via:
http://www.proxify.com
http://www.multiproxy.org/multiproxy.htm  [a more detailed list is given below]

+++++

[1] Pakistan: Scourge of sectarianism (M.B. Naqvi)
[2] India's `Lab' For Divisive Politics (Martin Regg Cohn)
[3] India:  . . . stage being set for WSF in Mumbai (Sonu Chhina)
[4] Gay rights NGOs unite against archaic laws (Dhiman Chattopadhyay)
[5] Update from Right to Food Campaign in India


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

[1]

Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 12:45:37 +0500

SCOURGE OF SECTARIANISM

By M.B. Naqvi

Assassination of Maulana Azam Tariq of 
Sipah-e-Sahaba and subsequent demos underscore 
the strength and extent of sectarianism. The 
phenomenon of sectarianism among the Muslims is 
routinely and superficially excoriated in 
political discourse without being aware of its 
strength or roots. The governments of the day 
after every incident tighten up security, express 
fierce determination to wipe sectarianism out and 
order immediate arrest of the killers of that 
most recent incident. Many others say it is the 
government's failure; its many intelligence 
agencies remain busy in dubious politics-related 
work. Nothing really happens or is done that can 
counter this menace.

The phenomenon's origins and the processes that 
nourish it need to be investigated. 
Philosophically, sectarianism is an aspect of 
religious intolerance. There is not much to 
distinguish between those who attack a Church and 
kill Christians, or Hindus for that matter, and 
those who kill Sunnis or Shias. They are all soul 
mates. Often the sectarian groups and anti-Hindu 
or anti-Ahmedi or anti-Christian groups are the 
same people. The bigotry against the 'other' is 
the mother of the evil.

But knowing that alone will not take us far. The 
politics and sociological facts that give birth 
to the aggravated intolerance of all 'others' --- 
'accept my faith and all my ideas or be outside 
the pale' --- need to be dispassionately studied. 
Unless the causes of the perception of growing 
distance from 'others' and the emergence of 
active hatred are clearly understood, ways and 
means of accommodation among all religious and 
sectarian groups cannot be found.

Many cannot understand why should a large Sunni 
majority feel threatened by, and be so angry 
with, a small Shia minority. They have lived 
together peaceably for generations without many 
incidents. That same can be said for Ahmedis or 
Hindus or Christians. The cognisable fact today 
is that Pakistani society is characterised by 
many hatreds inside it and several resulting 
polarisations. Sectarianism's potential being 
horrific, its prevalence and constant aggravation 
through escalating incidents of gruesome nature 
frightens all decent persons who are not sold on 
any communal identity. The latter is either 
simple human beings or plain undifferentiated (by 
sects) Muslims.

So where and how did the latter-day sectarianism 
arise? One is not concerned with the original 
Medieval schism of Shias and Sunnis. Muslims 
everywhere learnt to shake down into a peaceful 
coexistence long ago. During the Pakistan 
Movement there was no consciousness of Shias and 
Sunnis. Indeed the large Sunni masses warmly 
responded to the call of Quaid-i-Azam who was a 
Shia, if also non-observant kind, and forced the 
partition of India on the British and Congress 
leadership. There had long been Sunni and Shia 
Ulema who flourished on sectarian rhetoric. But 
the society at large tolerated the phenomenon 
more or less good humouredly, except some 
politics-related incidents in a place like 
Lucknow. The ferocity of sectarian feelings that 
is in evidence today is a new thing and is 
certainly politics-related.

Let us go back to Pakistan of 1947-48. Muslim 
League and its government brought with them a 
largely empty rhetoric --- except for an 
anti-Hindu and anti-India content that was not 
always clearly enunciated --- of Islam, a Muslim 
Nationalism conceived in communal or anti-Hindu 
terms, and a vague enthusiasm for pan Islamist 
causes. The emergence of Pakistan put the 
orthodox Ulema in a difficult situation, however.

Remember the Jamiat-e-Ulemai Hind was against 
both the League and partition; its Islam could 
live happily in a secular India on the basis of a 
secular Indian nationalism. Not many Shias 
favoured partition either; in 1946 polls Mr. 
Jinnah had to fight in his own constituency 
against Hussainbhai Lalji who was the President 
of All India Shia Federation. The point of it all 
is that League was not a religious party. Indeed 
it was quite secular, though it was concerned 
with only the interests of Muslim community, 
political and economic.

All the followers of Jamiat-e-Ulmai Hind in 
Pakistan areas and their allies like the Ahrars 
or minor variations on Jamiat's view of Islam --- 
such as the fledgeling Jamat-i-Islami --- had 
bitterly denounced Jinnah and his League. Maulana 
Ataullah Shah Bukhari, possibly taking a hint 
from a younger Maulana Abul Ala Maududi, suddenly 
raised the demand of an Islamic State based on 
making Quran and Sunnah as the defining principle 
of statehood probably in 1948. That had a lasting 
resonance, though no political authority or 
government ever could accept or reject it ever 
since. Credit for whatever intellectual work was 
done on a uniquely Islamic State must go to 
Maulana Maududi and to a European scholar Lepold 
Asad (originally Weisse). Demand for 
Nizam-I-Islam remains hard to swallow by secular 
politicians or the military who do rely on 
Islamic rhetoric down to this day. But no one has 
openly opposed it --- wherein anyone can see the 
origins of rampant hypocrisy in this country.

Islamicist Ulema's argument was devastatingly 
simple, if also historically wrong: Pakistan was 
created in the name of Islam. It therefore has to 
be an Islamic state based on Quran and Shariah. 
There is mighty little literature to show why an 
effort to do so will be dangerous or inadvisable, 
except for a few remarks of AK Brohi and the 
Punjab Riots Inquiry Commission's Report written 
by Justices Mohammad Munir and MR Kayani in 1954. 
Ulema's case is simple: 'come to us. We will tell 
you what to do. We know what Islam is. Learn it 
from us'. In any case, the first practical 
question is the definition of Islam. And 
sequentially who is to define or explain it?

Sunnah, the indispensable elaboration of Quran, 
is uncodified; few can agree on which tradition, 
or revayat is authentic and which is not. Indeed 
sectarianism is born just here. Each sect has a 
distinct body of Prophet's saying or revayat. 
Each authentic or orthodox definition of Islam 
is, ipso facto, sectarian. Fact is there is no 
common Islam among various sects; each has its 
own version. Each claims its sect's Islam is the 
true and eternal and is the only one and no 
compromise or ad hoc homogenisation is 
permissible. All other versions, even if they 
differ only slightly, are false and are works of 
Satan.

Now, as one said, so long as these matters were 
discussed in a purely theoretical context, the 
society, already quite plural, could accommodate 
them all. Sectarianism never became a serious 
menace before 1947 for two reasons: First it was 
a largely theoretical debate; most people's lives 
or livelihood were not affected, except for the 
bread and butter of individual Mullah. Secondly, 
no entitlement to power or wealth was attached to 
the debates among Ulema. So all could take these 
interminable debates in their stride. Not so in 
Pakistan. Ulema have tried their best to force 
the issue. Here the power of the state for one 
sect and perpetual subordination of others could 
be seen to be at stake. Think of the consequences.

All this confusion arose because of men like Sir 
Syed, Maulana Mohamed Ali, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, 
Sir Mohammad Iqbal. They were acutely conscious 
of belonging to the Muslim community. But they 
were relaxed about not being too orthodox or 
observant. They talked of what was a homogenised, 
non-sectarian Islam which can march with the 
times and cope with the situation created by 
Muslim's loss of power. In the Indian context 
they ended up by encouraging a separatist Muslim 
communalism that did not arise from any Islamic 
tenet but was linked to the chances of 
power-sharing.

That communalism was related to India's social 
and political conditions; it was misplaced in 
Pakistan where over 80 percent were Muslims. 
Ulema's Islam had to be ipso facto sectarian, it 
too will not do. There was a secular element 
also. But it was tiny one, being a small part of 
a small middle class at the time of partition. It 
was largely the Muslim part of Indian Left that 
immigrated into Pakistan. They heard and saw the 
Deobandi Ulema's argument and were instantly 
disspirited because it sounded so ostensible. 
They soon gave up the whole fight. It was partly 
because most of them came as refugees and had too 
little local support. Anyway, the Left did 
formally start work but without challenging the 
religious Right. In part the Muslim League and 
military governments --- the secular Right --- 
rendered them ineffective with American 
expertise. In part they lacked the courage to 
take on the US-supported Right, both secular and 
Ulema.

The secular Right, in its infatuation with 
American aid, poverty of thought and Kashmir 
dispute's vicissitudes, surrendered democracy 
quickly. At any rate, they were half-heartedly 
secular or democratic, dependent on an Islamic 
rhetoric and the communal concept of Muslim 
Nationalism. How could they behave like humanists 
believing in human equality and making human 
rights and welfare their criteria? Only such 
humanists can create a truly free and plural 
society devoted to material human welfare. It is 
in such a dispensation that sectarianism can be 
contained. The worst sin of secular Right is that 
it allowed the religious Right to keep the 
initiative in politics and themselves were always 
apologetic.

Ulema, after the military's ministrations in the 
1980s and 1990s, now scent power. They are on the 
march. But their aim of enforcing Shariat is a 
self-destruct formula for Pakistan. For, any 
Shariat they enforce will be a sectarian one, 
based probably on Deobandi concepts and 
traditions. Let alone Shias, even the Barelvi 
school of Sunnis or Ahle Hadis will not accept 
it. Other sects' rejection will be total. An 
unending vista of contention and conflict will 
open up. Indeed the current crop of sectarianism 
may only be a trailer, the main film will be far 
more terrifying. The scourge of sectarianism 
needs to be fought at the roots by creating 
simple democracy, unadorned with any objective, 
where all voters are equal and elect regional 
constituencies' representatives who will be happy 
to create, and live, in a polycentric society 
with the rule of democratically-conceived 
(secular) laws. All privileged sections of 
society will have to be divested of their power 
and privilege. Let all be treated equally --- in 
their own rule.


_____

[2]

Toronto Star
Oct. 26, 2003

INDIA'S `LAB' FOR DIVISIVE POLITICS
Gujarat state is the testing ground for 
fundamentalists' `Hindutva' strategy of 
demonizing Muslims to solidify power

MARTIN REGG COHN

AHMEDABAD, India-Clad in a traditional sari, 
Abeda Begum could be any Hindu woman hunched over 
her work, rolling incense sticks for 30 cents a 
day.

But to her Hindu neighbours across the street, 
she is a marked woman: a Muslim, living in a 
marked home, on the wrong side of the divide.

The address stencilled on her doorframe - IRC 212 
- announces a shelter donated by the local 
Islamic Relief Committee. It also signifies 
something more stark.

This was ground zero for the Hindu fundamentalist 
pogrom that left nearly 2,000 Muslim dead in the 
coastal state of Gujarat last year. In an 
explosion of mob violence that stunned the world, 
Begum lost her home - and some loved ones.

Now, many Indians fear the country's secular foundations are also being shaken.

In the aftermath of the riots, Gujarat's Hindu 
fundamentalist government handily won re-election 
on a platform of "Hindutva" - an ideology that 
stresses the Hindu-ness of India and the 
pre-eminence of its religious majority. 
Nationalist politicians whipped up communal 
passions on the campaign trail by demonizing the 
Muslim minority and effectively sanctifying the 
pogrom.

Today, not a single perpetrator has been 
successfully prosecuted by the state government.

That miscarriage of justice prompted a stinging 
rebuke of Gujarat by the federal supreme court, 
which last month ordered a retrial because of 
alleged witness-tampering.

Yet from her perch along the muddy, 
garbage-strewn alley where chickens and cows 
jostle for space with pedestrians, Begum saw it 
all: the slaughter that spared the animals but 
claimed so many humans.

Her Muslim neighbours fled for their lives. Their 
Hindu attackers charged down the path in hot 
pursuit. And the state police watched from the 
sidelines.

There is a dead end where the mob of thousands 
doused her Muslim neighbours with kerosene and 
burned 92 of them to death. Among them were the 
mother and sister of Begum's husband.

She looks after one of the orphaned survivors, 
12-year-old Samina Begum, daughter of her slain 
sister-in-law. They work together rolling the 
incense sticks with their blackened hands, their 
only source of rupees since Begum's husband was 
let go by Hindu employers in an economic boycott.

"I'm doing all this work because the Hindus won't 
keep Muslim workers any more and our houses were 
destroyed, so we have to start from scratch," 
Begum says plaintively, adjusting the folds of 
her purple sari.

"I've left everything to the Almighty."

The flowing saris worn by women like Begum often 
leave their midriffs partly exposed, which might 
seem immodest in an Islamic country. But here it 
is the local Hindu fashion, adopted by Muslims as 
their own in a state where people of both 
religions wear the same clothes, speak the same 
Gujarati dialect and watch the same movies.

Yet they remain worlds apart.

A busy boulevard at the end of the muddy path is 
the green line that jaywalkers never traverse.

Downtown, the Sabarmat River that is holy to 
Hindus is rarely crossed by Muslims.

And in the old city, an historic red-brick wall 
has been sealed off and reinforced by barbed wire 
to block human passage.

Fundamentalists proudly call Gujarat a testing 
ground for their hard-line ideology of Hindutva. 
And Ahmedabad is on the front lines of a battle 
that could remake the country's religious 
landscape, as politicians apply the lessons of 
Gujarat to next year's national elections.

"Now, politics in India will be based on 
Hindutva," boasted Praveen Togadia, international 
secretary-general of the fundamentalist Vishwa 
Hindu Parishad (VHP) or World Hindu Council.

Basking in the triumph of Gujarat's 
fundamentalists, he described the state as a 
"Hindutva lab" for India, which he vowed will one 
day be a Hindu Rashtra, or Hindu nation. When 
that happens, "all Hindutva opponents will get 
the death sentence."

The orgy of rioting that erupted in Gujarat last 
year was the culmination of decades of communal 
hatred in the Hindu heartland of northwestern 
India, a place that is perhaps burdened by too 
much history and too little tolerance.

News spread quickly in February, 2002, when a 
Muslim mob burned a train carrying Hindu 
activists returning from a trip to the temple 
town of Ayodhya, 1,000 kilometres away in Uttar 
Pradesh state.

The VHP had been campaigning to build a new Hindu 
temple on the ruins of the 16th-century Babri 
mosque - which its members had razed a decade 
earlier, claiming it stood on the birthplace of 
their god-king Lord Ram.

(This month, VHP supporters resumed their 
protests in Ayodhya, prompting police to deploy 
tear gas and riot sticks in arresting more than 
17,000 people. Uttar Pradesh authorities were 
determined to prevent a repetition of the 1992 
mosque demolition that sparked nationwide riots.)

Against that backdrop, Begum feared trouble last 
year when she got wind of the violence at Godhra 
railway station, 100 kilometres to the east. 
Hearing that 58 VHP activists had been burned to 
death, she braced for another cycle of 
retaliation.

What she hadn't counted on was the calculated 
retribution of the Gujarat government. While 
Hindu mobs attacked innocent civilians, state 
authorities egged them on or watched in silence.

In a report on the violence, We Have No Orders To 
Save You, the New York-based monitoring group 
Human Rights Watch concluded that senior state 
officials were complicit in the carnage, allowing 
the ringleaders to go free and covering their 
tracks.

In the eyes of Idrish Pathan, that verdict still 
stands today. He remembers every detail of the 
attacks, right down to the moment someone severed 
his forearm.

"The mob was blind," Pathan says softly. "Someone 
chopped my hand with a dagger."

He motions awkwardly to his stump, then 
discreetly hides his arm behind his T-shirt.

A motorized rickshaw driver, he was forced into 
retirement at age 22 because he could not steer 
his vehicle with just one hand.

Now, he volunteers for Action Aid, a local group 
trying to foster communal harmony in the 
neighbourhood.

But his own attempts at securing justice have proved futile.

"The police did nothing," he says dejectedly. 
"They were all with the Hindu mob."

When Pathan approached police to identify his 
assailant, he says, they shooed him away with a 
warning: "This is retaliation for Godhra."

Shomit Mazumdar lives on the other side of the divide.

Like Pathan, he nurses grievances about the 
injustices of communalism - though he rues the 
loss of land, not a limb. Mazumdar, 29, is still 
seething that he had to sell his family home in 
Ahmedabad's old city at a loss because of 
communal tensions.

"If I'd had that property, things would have been 
different," he says bitterly. "I would have had 
more for my lifestyle."

He rages not only about the spectre of Islamic 
violence but also the menace of Muslim men 
seducing Hindu women.

"Muslim boys, even married ones, try to have 
friendships with Hindu girls. I tell you, most 
Muslim guys are very good looking, and Hindu 
girls are very innocent - once they give you 
their heart, it's easily broken.

"I personally feel they're spoiling the lives of 
these Hindu girls. Our blood gets hot. We can't 
stand them."

It's a common refrain among fundamentalists. A 
VHP pamphlet urges Hindus to "ensure that our 
sisters/daughters do not fall into the love-trap 
of Muslim boys" and calls for an economic boycott 
of Muslims.

Mazumdar's hopes for redress lie in the VHP's 
vision of Hindutva that would transform secular 
India into a unified Hindu state.

Renouncing the past half-century of pluralism, he 
wants Gujarat and all of India to embrace the 
religion of the majority Hindus, who make up 80 
per cent of India's 1 billion people.

"With Hindutva, we're trying to maintain and 
protect ourselves," says Mazumdar, dressed in a 
crisp shirt, pressed pants and polished loafers 
as he sits in an air-conditioned office near the 
river.

"This is what we call Hindutva. It's a way to 
protect us against our only enemy, the Muslims."

He has no blood on his hands, has never wielded a 
sword against people like Pathan.

During the riots, he was safely behind police 
lines on the Hindu side of the bridge spanning 
the sacred Sabarmat River, where he now lives and 
works. But Mazumdar has no regrets about the 
bloodshed and hatred for which Hindutva is often 
faulted.

"It's time that the Hindus fight violence with 
violence," he says approvingly. "We're being 
taught how to protect ourselves.

"It was very necessary to respond to Godhra. Now 
is not the time to follow Gandhi's way."

Gujarat is Gandhi's home state, the place whence 
he preached pluralism and non-violence. His 
serene ashram, or religious retreat, sits on the 
outskirts of Ahmedabad, though it attracts few 
visitors today.

In deference to Gandhi's principles, alcohol is 
still banned in Gujarat. But the blood still 
flows and the hatred spills over. The Mahatma's 
teachings are largely ignored.

Today, the Congress party that was Gandhi's power 
base is in opposition both locally and 
nationally. In its place, Gujarat is governed by 
the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party 
(BJP) of Chief Minister Narenda Modi, whose 
wide-eyed denunciations of Muslims made him 
notorious - and also won him another term in 
power.

Modi not only failed to protect Muslims from mobs 
but famously offered them only half the financial 
compensation promised to Hindu victims.

Among Modi's most promising lieutenants is 
Mayaben Kodnani, a gynecologist and political 
firebrand who sits in the provincial assembly. 
She can rouse Hindu crowds on the streets but is 
poised and soft-spoken in her tastefully 
furnished home.

Flanked by sculptures of Sarasvati, the Hindu 
goddess of learning, Kodnani explains that Hindu 
tolerance has reached its limit.

"You see, the Hindus are never aggressive - they 
are peace-loving," she begins, fingering her gold 
necklace absent-mindedly.

"But from birth, when a Muslim child is still 
innocent, his brain is washed so that he believes 
he will go to heaven if he converts kaffirs 
(infidels) or else kills them."

Hence, the Hindu backlash.

"They were provoked by the Muslim people," 
Kodnani says. "I think the mentality of Hindus is 
becoming aggressive. How much longer can we 
tolerate this?"

Muslims are also disloyal to Mother India, she argues.

"During cricket matches, the Muslims here cheer for Pakistan."

In the face of such provocations, Kodnani says, 
Hindutva is the solution. If Muslim babies are 
inculcated from birth with talk of jihad, Hindus 
must rally to their own patriotic propaganda so 
their religion can claim its rightful place, she 
believes.

"Everyone who is living in Hindustan (India) must 
be a Hindu. Hindutva is a way to make them 
patriotic."

Local politicians like Kodnani, and the top 
leadership of the ruling BJP in New Delhi, draw 
their inspiration from their fellow travellers in 
the Sangh Pariwar - the "family" of hard-line 
Hindu movements.

`It's time that the Hindus fight violence with 
violence. We're being taught how to protect 
ourselves'

Shomit Mazumdar, Hindu businessman

The heart and soul of the family is the Rashtriya 
Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), or National Volunteer 
Corps. Boasting more than 36,000 social programs, 
it is arguably the most successful 
non-governmental organization in Indian civil 
society today.

Its vast network of charitable organizations 
makes it a formidable presence at the grassroots, 
whether offering aid after natural disasters or 
building medical clinics and schools. In the same 
way that Islamic fundamentalist groups like Hamas 
and the Muslim Brotherhood make inroads in the 
Middle East, the RSS reaps substantial political 
dividends from its charitable work.

"Hindutva is political Hinduism in the same way 
as Islamic fundamentalism is political Islam," 
says Ravi Nair, executive director of the South 
Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre.

The basic building block of the Hindutva corps is 
the shakha, a local "unit" that moulds boys into 
the loyal foot soldiers of a paramilitary 
movement. At dawn and dusk every day across 
India, thousands of boys gather under the saffron 
flag of the RSS and pledge allegiance to Hindutva.

Dressed in khaki shirts and shorts accented with 
saffron scarves, two dozen boys assemble outside 
a park in downtown Mumbai at sunset for their 
daily training. Each recruit salutes the flag 
sharply with a hand that chops the air and smacks 
the chest.

The boys dutifully sweep the grounds, then snap 
to attention at the sound of a whistle. For an 
hour, they drill and chant, sing and play games. 
It is not merely male bonding but a Hindutva 
indoctrination session.

"Hindutva gives me happiness," exclaims Nikhil 
Sabnis, 16, a volunteer who leads the drills. 
"These boys are from poor families. They lack the 
money to buy cricket bats and balls. Here, they 
learn about Indian history and culture."

And Hindu pride.

"You see the discipline?" exults Sanjay Patel, 
39, a VHP district vice-president. "The 
continuity is important, like a mantra. Every 
day, all over India, millions of people 
participate at the same time."

But the shakha is about more than fun and games. 
There are summer training camps across the 
country where children learn martial skills, 
recalling the RSS's fascist roots as a 
nationalist movement founded in the mid-1920s and 
modelled on the Nazi party.

The long-standing RSS slogan, "One nation, one 
people, one culture," is reminiscent of the Nazi 
chant, "One people, one Reich, one Fuehrer." 
Another popular slogan, "Awakening of Hindus is 
awakening of the nation," is the antithesis of 
Gandhian pluralism.

Muslims are not the only villains in their 
sights. The group's incendiary campaign against 
Christian missionaries culminated in the 1999 
murder of missionary Graham Staines and his two 
sons when a Hindu mob burned their car. Last 
month, an Indian court convicted 13 people for 
the murders.

But Hindutva's flirtation with fascism and 
fundamentalism is leavened by its dedication to 
good deeds.

On a tour of Mumbai's slum areas, Patel wears a 
traditional white kurta pyjama outfit as he 
points out computer labs and dressmaking lessons 
provided by the VHP. There is a mobile clinic to 
dispense medicines for the poor and new 
classrooms that foster future loyalty among 
underprivileged students.

A jovial man with a flowing beard, Patel is a 
professional engineer who is keen to show off the 
VHP's charity work. He resents the unflattering 
media coverage that focuses on his group's 
destruction of the Babri mosque in Ayodhya.

"Now," he frowns, "we are known only for one thing - Ayodhya."

A few moments later, however, he forgets himself 
and returns to his obsession with Ayodhya, posing 
beside a VHP van decorated with a colourful mural 
of the proposed new Ram temple painted beside a 
picture of the Hindu god-king.

A Hindi slogan alongside the image of Ram 
proclaims: "Take the name of the Lord to every 
house and the temple will be built in Ayodhya."

Patel explains proudly that this is a "cow-saving 
chariot," one of 500 specially outfitted vans 
that tour the countryside to discourage the 
slaughter of an animal considered sacred by 
Hindus.

This popular campaign is a perfect vehicle for 
the VHP's broader agenda, deftly blending 
religious reverence for cows with political 
ambitions for bricks and mortar.

By tending the grassroots, the VHP is building a 
groundswell of support and leaving its rivals in 
the dust, says Nair, the human-rights advocate.

"You're talking about moulding the formative 
minds of children," he says. "A militaristic view 
is inculcated in children and they very easily 
become foot soldiers, stormtroopers. It starts as 
morning drills, but later it becomes thuggery."

Nair credits the Hindutva activists for rolling 
up their sleeves to win the hearts and minds of 
India's devout rural masses.

The VHP's hard work stands in sharp contrast to 
the lethargy of secularists and leftists who lack 
the commitment of Gandhi's generation a 
half-century ago, he says.

"The Hindu fundamentalists are the only ones who 
go village to village and hold meetings."

For RSS national spokesman Ram Madhav, shakhas 
and the Ayodhya temple campaign hold the 
potential to touch and transform every Hindu.


"We appeal to his heart and soul, not just the 
political animal in him," he explains at RSS 
headquarters in New Delhi.

"These are the kinds of things that make a mark 
on you if, at age 6, you start singing patriotic 
songs," he says enthusiastically. "And yet we are 
portrayed as the killers of Gandhi!"

In fact, it was a Hindu fundamentalist and former 
RSS member, Nathuram Godse, who assassinated 
Gandhi in his New Delhi residence in 1948, five 
months after India won independence.

Godse faulted the Mahatma for being too soft on 
the Muslims - and betraying his Hindu heritage - 
when agreeing to partition of the subcontinent 
into India and Pakistan.

It is still possible to retrace Gandhi's final 
steps in the manicured garden where he was shot 
and died almost instantly. Many of those who make 
the pilgrimage to his stately colonial bungalow 
mourn not only the Mahatma's passing but also the 
fading of his influence.

"Let all of us, Hindus, Mussulmans (Muslims), 
Parsis, Sikhs, Christians live amicably as 
Indians, pledged to live and die for our 
motherland," reads a quotation from Gandhi 
affixed to a pillar in the central hall. His 
inspirational message is muted, however, by a 
sign at the rear exit directing visitors to "the 
path along which Gandhi walked to the prayer 
ground on his last day."

A line of cement footsteps in the shape of his sandals eerily marks the way.

On this day, a group of office workers - 
Christian and Hindu - has come together to pay 
homage to Gandhi.

They have few illusions that his legacy has much 
resonance in modern India. Their own friendships 
defy religious boundaries, yet they are not 
sanguine about their fellow Indians.

"Today's generation doesn't know what Gandhi 
stood for, they're not taught about Gandhi," says 
Krishna Joshi, 41, who works as a researcher.

A Hindu, she blames the communal violence in 
Gandhi's home state on political gamesmanship 
that has distorted her normally tolerant religion.

"Gandhi believed in protecting the minority," 
adds her Christian co-worker, Premi Britto. 
Today, she adds, "he would be disappointed, 
deeply pained and sorrowed."

At the Gandhi Museum near his burial place, a 
Muslim scholar toils in the desolate library, a 
lone figure beneath the ceiling fans. Asad 
Mohammed Khan, 29, worries that Hindutva 
threatens to replace the Mahatma's message of 
secularism.

"Ghandi said that unity is strength," Khan 
explains. "But now some people want to destroy 
that India.

"They want a battle between Hindus and Muslims 
and so you see it all over the media: Hindutva, 
Hindutva."

Poring over leather-bound volumes of the 
Mahatma's collected works in the "Gandhiana" 
section, the scholar has no doubt what his 
verdict would be.

"Gandhi was a great man," Khan says. "He would oppose Hindutva."

But Gandhi is long gone, and the Congress party 
he fostered as a vehicle of secularism is in 
retreat.

Today, the BJP and its ideological cousins are in 
the ascendant, recasting the education system, 
rewriting textbooks to glorify Hindu history, 
promoting Hindutva to reverse decades of supposed 
Gandhian appeasement of religious minorities.

In his private mansion in the exclusive Golf 
Links enclave of the national capital, VHP 
president Vishnu Hari Dalmiya, a wealthy 
industrialist, entertains top government 
ministers and plots strategy for a Hindu revival.

The secularism of India's founding fathers "is 
not working, it's not working," says Dalmiya, 75, 
sitting in his study surrounded by statues of 
Hindu gods.

"The minority classes are getting much more 
privileges than the Hindus - the Hindus are 
neglected."

More than half a century after partition, "the 
Muslims still have the upper hand," Dalmiya 
asserts, adding that they should have been 
expelled back then.

Distracted by a hangnail on his ring finger, he 
summons a servant with a pair of cuticle 
scissors, then returns to his theme: Foreign 
influences - by which he means Islamic, Christian 
and Western - are diluting India's Hindu heritage.

"Among the young, there is no doubt of a cultural 
invasion coming from the Western world," Dalmiya 
frets. "The young generation, you find most of 
them in jeans, and young people don't pay much 
attention to religious rituals - they celebrate 
Christmas, they celebrate Valentine's Day, they 
celebrate birthdays with cake and candles."

Only Hindutva can protect the majority from the 
120 million Muslims who amount to a "fifth 
column" and from the external threats separating 
women from their saris.

"They must practise their own culture, practise 
their own dress. I find the sari so graceful a 
dress. Women look so beautiful, I don't know why 
they go after jeans."

The VHP's doomsday scenarios are familiar to Syed 
Shahabuddin, a former diplomat who now heads the 
All India Muslim Consultative Committee.

His cramped offices are across town from 
Dalmiya's Golf Links enclave, in the heart of an 
Islamic slum where the sewers are overflowing and 
the garbage is piled high.

Shahabuddin believes the government he once 
served has been hijacked by Hindu 
fundamentalists. He says Hindutva has become a 
slave of history, obsessed with past grievances, 
from the Muslim conquest of 500 years ago to the 
partition of the subcontinent just over 50 years 
ago.

In the Hindutva view, "Muslims were responsible 
for partition, so Muslims are really Pakistani 
fifth columnists," Shahabuddin explains.

"They're trying to instil an ideology of hatred 
and fear in the Hindu mind. Hindutva is reaching 
fascist proportions."

As appalled as he was by the massacre in Gujarat, 
Shahabuddin fears Hindutva's hidden agenda is 
more insidious.

With Muslims making up an estimated 12 per cent 
of India's 1 billion people, they are too 
numerous to expel or exterminate; instead, the 
strategy is to hem them in with Hindutva.

"They're wise enough to realize that Muslims 
can't be liquidated or pushed out of India, so 
they're making life difficult for them," 
Shahabuddin says. "But Hindutva, if it tries to 
obliterate the religious identity of Muslims, the 
Muslims will not stand for it."

Among the targets of the Hindu mobs that ran riot 
in Ahmedabad last year was a dilapidated mosque 
in the centre of the old city.

The Hajrat Pir Noorsha Dargah mosque is next door 
to the police commissioner's office, though the 
security forces did nothing when it was overrun.

The structure sustained heavy damage and the holy 
books were blackened by fire. But the mufti, 
40-year-old Akbar Miyan Bapu, is back in his 
mosque, sheltering under its corrugated roof.

Bapu takes solace from the fact he survived the 
attack along with two attendants - who happen to 
be Hindus.

Indeed, Hindu devotees still come to the shrine, 
seeking cures and other miracles from the Sufi 
saints who are revered in this mystical strain of 
Islam.

Looking back on the fighting and suffering, the 
mufti ponders his fate. He seems a picture of 
serenity, his hands stained with saffron and his 
eyelids painted with kohl.

"Whatever has happened has happened," Bapu muses, 
rubbing his eyes after a midday nap.

"Though this is a religious site for Muslims, 90 
per cent of the worshippers are Hindus. They walk 
around the mosque four times."

The mosque's enduring attraction for people of 
all faiths is no great mystery. Bapu's Hindu 
attendant sits cross-legged on the dirt-encrusted 
mat, awaiting his explanation.

"Whosoever comes here, whether Hindu or Muslim, 
seeks favours by praying before God," the mufti 
says. "God is great."

____


[3]

The Indian Express
October 27, 2003

DISSENT IN DADAR HAS JUST GONE GLOBAL
Packaged as counter to WEF in Davos, stage being set for WSF in Mumbai
SONU CHHINA

LENINGRAD CHOWK, MUMBAI, OCT 26: Damayanti 
Bhattacharya is nonplussed. A couple of Koreans 
have landed, jumbo suitcases by their side, in 
the office next to Dadar. It's Ground Zero for 
the biggest international event Mumbai has ever 
seen-the fourth World Social Forum to be held in 
January. Park Kyeong Won (27) and Park Jung A 
(22) barely know English, and want to volunteer.

Damayanti looks at others in the room and doesn't 
know what to do with the newcomers. This is just 
the beginning. Mumbai will heave, and tuck in 
75,000 people from around the world for five days 
in January. They will gather to assert that the 
earth doesn't have to spin around WTO, holding 
banners which will read: Another World is 
Possible.

WSF factfile

* A counterpoint to the World Economic Forum n 
After three years in Brazil, it moves to Mumbai
*Who will attend: Mass organisations, people's 
movements from across the world who are against 
''capitalist globalisation'' and war
*What they will discuss: Sustainable economic 
development, full employment, non-discrimination 
and democracy
The hall has a motley crew of around 20 
volunteers handling the insane logistics. Most of 
them have trooped in exactly the same manner the 
Koreans have-enthusiastic, unnannounced and zero 
expectation of a salary.There is pony-tailed 
Warren Noronha (19) who is setting up free 
software at the office and the venue in Goregaon. 
Occasionally, he lectures on Linux at the Indian 
Institute of Technology (IIT).

Rs 65 lakh. That's the amount he is saving the 
organisers. There's Farida Jhabwala 
(25)-half-Mexican, half-Parsi. This science 
student was travelling when she heard about the 
social forum. Now, she chews on grassroots 
activities around the country and brings out 
weekly newsletters.

Rosa Basanti (27), named after the German 
revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg and the Punjabi folk 
icon Basanti, works with the media team that is 
coordinating thousands of journalists who will 
descend on the city. She's worked on a 
documentary on conflict-torn parts of Kashmir and 
Nagaland, with poetry from the region as the 
soundtrack, which will be screened at the forum.

''Iraq. I feel strongly about it. In the coming 
years, this movement is going to be big and I 
want to be a part-any way I can,'' she says on 
the phone, after a string of exhausting meetings. 
Her team has C P Thomas, the media manager of the 
smallest media event in the country that got the 
biggest press-Lakme India Fashion Week. The spin 
doctor turns up on Wednesday afternoons and cuts 
long-winding discussions with sharp media 
strategies.

Students organisation Aiesec has landed Katharina 
Lind (25) from Austria and Magda Zawodny (24) 
from Poland. They live six to a room in Andheri. 
''An 81-year-old man from the US called in to 
register,'' says Katharina. Well, he was just one 
of the 4,000 registrations she has handled so far.

Sitting on a bed laid for tired people to crash 
on, Magda gives you a peek into eastern Europe. 
''My country has swung between two 
extremes-communism and now, aggressive 
capitalism. There is so much unemployment, and 
young people are getting so competitive, 
egoistic. In this space (of the World Social 
Forum), I don't feel alone,'' she has to yell, to 
be heard over an explosion from an organisers' 
meeting. People have stormed out of the room. The 
joys of democracy. Magda goes back to the most 
nightmarish task of them all-arranging 
accommodation in space-starved Mumbai. The last 
we know, even marriage halls and schools are 
being booked.

Satyarupa Shekhar (23) is an out-of-towner, whose 
forgotten duffelbag is doing the rounds of Mumbai 
in the boot of a taxi. Homeless, Satyarupa 
shuttles between friends' houses. Satyarupa has 
taken a break after her first year of MA 
(Economics) and ''my mother hasn't spoken to me 
in three months''. The experience is helping her 
focus her future studies. ''Corporate governance 
or environmental economics,'' she says with near 
certainty, after washing her lunch plate in the 
sink.

In the office, they strongly believe that there 
is a doable option to capitalist globalisation. 
Hear 23-year-old Priyanka Josson, who's helping 
put together the parallel youth forum: ''In the 
coming years, the Left is going to become a 
stronger power.''

Trade unionist Gautam Mody frequently clocks 
15-hour days in the office. He's been at it since 
February but refuses to talk about his work, 
saying: ''The WSF is about people; not 
personalities.''

Meanwhile, a tentative task has been found for 
the Koreans. They will liaise with Korean 
participants, and do whatever English-to-Korean 
translation they can. They break into their first 
big smile for the camera.

(with inputs from Manju Mehta)


____


[4.]

The Times of India, October 27, 2003

GAY RIGHTS NGOS UNITE AGAINST ARCHAIC LAWS
DHIMAN CHATTOPADHYAY
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2003 10:45:59 PM ]
KOLKATA: A few months after they took out a 
historic rally in Kolkata, the first of its kind 
anywhere in India, several NGOs constituted for 
and by gays in West Bengal, have launched an 
united 'action programme', to create awareness 
among gays about health hazards and at the same 
time, take on the archaic laws like Section 377 
of the IPC which still regards homosexuality as a 
crime.

The newly formed forum called MANAS Bengal has 
its job cut out: to co-ordinate efforts of 
organisations working to promote health and 
well-being of males who have sex with males(MSM), 
while taking up their cause with the authorities.

Speaking to TNN, one of the senior-most social 
activists from the state fighting for gay rights, 
Pawan Dhall, said, "The need to unite to tackle 
the problem of harassment of gays, reached a 
crunchpoint when a few months ago, two of our 
outreach workers in Kolkata were assaulted by the 
local youth. While the agency itself faltered in 
taking legal action, the police too did not do 
anything despite a written complaint."

But as news of the recurring attacks spread by 
internet, several NGOs got together. A satellite 
meeting was held in New Delhi during an 
international sexual health conference and 
finally seven NGOs from the state including 
Saathii, Praajak, PLUS and Amitie got together to 
form MANAS (MSM Advocacy Network for Social 
Action).

"While the main area of MANAS will be to 
facilitate and frame guidelines for research and 
to work out a common policy on sensitising and 
creating awareness among agencies and 
homosexuals, it will also take up activities 
related to information and documentation of human 
rights violations," said a founder member of the 
newly formed association.

Not willing to be named, the member added, that 
one of the major issues that they would take up 
urgently was the immediate amendment to section 
377 of the IPC which still considered same sex 
intercourse as a criminal offence punishable with 
a life sentence.

"Unless such archaic laws are done away with, we 
cannot expect to change the mindset of the people 
at large. Most developed nations today no longer 
treat us as criminals. It⤁s not sympathy we are 
looking for, but understanding. People need to 
accept things as they are," he said.

____

[5]

[UPDATE FROM RIGHT TO FOOD CAMPAIGN IN INDIA]
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2003 06:23:56 +0530
[...]
In this update we take a quick trip across the 
country, starting with disturbing news of huger 
deaths in Jharkhand.  We have news on interesting 
experiments in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh to 
build a grassroots based monitoring and redressal 
system.  In the run up to elections in Rajasthan 
groups are trying to build support for issues 
concerning poor and marginalized people. 
Finally, we have news on efforts to reform the 
public distribution system in Maharasthra.  And 
now for today's headlines

1.  HUNGER DEATHS IN JHARKHAND
2.  BUILDING A GRASSROOTS BASED MONITORING SYSTEM
3.  MR SANKARAN'S VISIT TO WEST BENGAL
4.  ADVOCACY FOR A BETTER PDS - MAHARASTHRA
5.  PUTTING PEOPLE'S PRIORITIES IN POLITICAL 
AGENDA: EGA IN THE RUN UP TO ELECTIONS IN 
RAJASTHAN


1.  HUNGER DEATHS IN JHARKHAND

Amidst an excellent monsoon elsewhere in the 
country there are pockets of drought and 
starvation is looming silently , Palamu is facing 
a drought situation.  There are disturbing news 
of hunger related deaths from the region already. 
Following some media reports, two teams visited 
Lesligang area of Palamu and have documented the 
dire situation in the district.  The PUCL team 
met several families where hunger deaths were 
reported.  The team observed that the worst 
affected were women and children.  In Sitadih for 
example, Kawal Patia Bhuiyan had died immediately 
after giving birth to a child.  She had not had a 
full meal for several days, which too consisted 
of survival foods like Saag.  Similarly in 
Patrahi village Laxmi died after giving birth to 
a still born child at the sixth month of 
pregnancy.  The team observed that some very 
young children had also succumbed to hunger in 
the region.

The situation of the aged and the widows in 
particular is alarming.  They are fully dependent 
on the local economy, and are unable to migrate. 
With a crop failure, many of them are already 
facing starvation, which would have dire 
consequences if relief is not arranged 
immediately. 

The second enquiry team led by Prof. Ramesh 
Sharan visited several villages where hunger 
deaths have been reported.  The team observed 
that rice transplanting activities have been 
severely affected by the current drought.  This 
activity provided much needed income to the 
landless labourers and the failure has left them 
in dire straits.  The district administration has 
also documented the state of close to 1,800 
families as being in the state of virtual 
destitution. 

Not surprisingly, various food schemes are 
performing poorly in the region, and the 
directions of the Supreme Court have been 
violated blatantly.  Mid-day meals is a 
non-starter.  Very few families were found having 
Antyodaya Anna Yojana cards, and public 
distribution system is largely dysfunctional. 
There is dire need for urgently starting relief 
works in the region.  Civil society groups led by 
Gram Swaraj Abhiyan are taking steps to make the 
government account for its failure, and to take 
urgent measures to combat starvation in the 
region.


2.  BUILDING A GRASSROOTS BASED MONITORING SYSTEM

The Commissioners can have a powerful impact in 
redressing grievances.  We have now seen the 
impact in many cases in different parts of the 
country.  Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal have led 
the way in making use of the office of the 
commissioners.  Currently in both states efforts 
are on to build a monitoring and redressal system 
that reaches the grassroots. 

Anuradha Talwar, the advisor to the commissioners 
in West Bengal has mooted 'complaint camps' in 
different parts of the state to reach out to 
people with grievances.  Complaint camps were 
organised by local organisations where 
individuals with grievances were encouraged to 
submit written complaints.  The coordinating 
organisation ensured that these were well 
documented, and checked for the veracity of the 
claims.  The complaints thus collected were 
tabulated and were presented in one report to the 
district administration.  In a mammoth effort, 
over 8, 000 individual complaints have been 
gathered in the past few months in the state.

Believing that it is important to build pressure 
from below, and the advisor has ensured that she 
intervenes using the commissioners' office only 
when local efforts face a deadlock.  She has been 
helping the groups to organise themselves, and 
has been primarily been helping them with 
information that they cannot access from the 
state government easily. 

So far the complaints are being dealt with 
locally and at the district levels.  The advisor 
to the commissioners has not intervened to help 
redress the complaints.  She has primarily been 
helping in accessing information from the state 
government that local groups have not been able 
to access.  A platform is thus being built where 
individual grievances could be taken up 
collectively for redressal with the 
administration.  We will bring you specific cases 
in the next update.

In Madhya Pradesh a different model is being 
followed currently.  Instead of complaint camps, 
public hearings were used as a platform.  The 
administration to its credit has acted swiftly in 
most cases to redress the grievances that have 
been presented in public hearings.  For example, 
during a public hearing in Dindori, several 
officials were present during the public hearing 
at the behest of the advisor.  This enabled them 
to take up not just individual cases, but also 
larger issues.  For example the public hearing 
highlighted the fact that no relief works were 
being organised in the 'forest villages' in the 
district.  The administration started organising 
relief in forest villages immediately after. 
This benefited a large number of people even if 
they had not presented their complaint 
personally. 

A tradition is being established in the state 
where the groups are encouraged first to try 
using the local grievance redressal mechanisms. 
The commissioners are to be approached only when 
local mechanisms fail.  Groups are also 
encouraged to document complaints well to ensure 
proper redressal.  Mihir is considering 
organising workshops where groups could be 
trained on documentation, as well as doing 
systematic surveys. 

In a bid to expand the reach of the system, a 
meeting with the groups from all districts of the 
Gwalior-Chambal region is being planned on 28th 
October.  In this meeting the advisor hopes to 
compile a set of grievances that have not been 
redressed by local administration for a 
reasonable period of time.  The meeting will also 
serve as a platform for identifying larger issues 
to take up with the administration.  In case you 
are interested in participating in the meeting, 
please get in touch with Mihir at 
samparg at sify.com <mailto:samparg at sify.com>


3.  MR SANKARAN'S VISIT TO WEST BENGAL

Mr Sankaran who is one of the commissioners 
recently visited West Bengal on an official 
visit.  This was his first visit to a state since 
he joined as a commissioner a few months ago.  In 
his four-day visit he had a meeting with the 
officials of all concerned departments and also 
met the campaign groups in a separate meeting.

The administration reacted to various issues that 
were raised by the commissioner.  They agreed not 
to remove anyone from the 1997 BPL list till the 
court gives a direction on this regard.  A 
direction from the court is expected on this 
issue shortly.  Further, the administration 
committed to try and ensure that all available 
funds on relevant schemes are fully utilised. 
The government will also develop guidelines 
shortly for people to access all relevant 
documents pertaining to food and employment 
schemes at a nominal cost.  The administration 
said that they will not be able to afford fully 
implementing the mid-day meal scheme, but said 
that they are planning to increase the coverage 
of schools.   Mr Sankaran pointed out that as per 
their plans, even 10 % of the eligible children 
would not be covered.  Taking strong exception to 
this, he emphasised that the scheme has to be 
implemented and that the government can find the 
required resources. 

The full report of his discussion with the 
government is available on our website 
www.righttofood.com <http://www.righttofood.com>. 
The detailed report of Dr N C Saxena's visit to 
Bihar has also been added to the site.  You can 
access both records in the 'commissioners work' 
section.

4.  ADVOCACY FOR A BETTER PDS - MAHARASTHRA

Anna Ani Arogya Adhikar Abhiyan has been working 
in tandem with Ration Kruti Samiti for building a 
better PDS in Maharasthra.  They have been taking 
up the cause of rations for migrant workers 
actively in the state.  In Nov 2002, 21 members 
of Rationing Kriti Samiti, Shoshit Jan Andolan 
and NAPM went on a Hunger Strike demanding to 
de-link ration cards from residence proof and 
make it 'food card'. As a result of the protest, 
the government issued a G.R. on 8 Nov 2002, which 
clearly said that no proof of residence is 
required for granting ration cards. 
Implementation of this order started six months 
after the direction was given.  

Incredibly the victory of the groups was washed 
away with the US war on terror!  With the 
starting of Afgan war, Central Home Ministry 
directed the state to scrutinize cases carefully 
before granting ration cards (since rations cards 
are used by people to prove citizenship). 
Government of Maharashtra has now reverted to its 
previous stand that migrants and homeless cannot 
receive ration cards.  Ration Kruti Samiti and 
other organisations are now taking up the issue 
again, to ensure that the urban poor have access 
to subsidised rations.

The smaiti is also taking up a lot of grassroots 
work on the issue.  Recently in the dockyard area 
one of the workers found that the ration dealer 
was not providing kerosene to the workers in that 
area.  Together with the people, they took up a 
strong protest in the area.  A complaint was 
filed and after much pressure, the officials 
agreed to resolve it within three days.  The 
group is now trying to ensure that people are 
able to access their entitlement regularly.  They 
are also regularly in touch with the government. 
With the interest shown by the secretary - food 
and public distribution, the group collected over 
400 individual complaints.  The government is 
examining these currently.

5.  PUTTING PEOPLE'S PRIORITIES IN POLITICAL 
AGENDA: EGA IN THE RUN UP TO ELECTIONS IN 
RAJASTHAN

Akal Sangarash Samiti that has been spearheading 
the demand for right to work in Rajasthan. 
organised a ten day 'dharana' during mid-August 
to coincide with the Assembly session in the 
state.  The dharana was positioned as “ yeh 
dharna nahin- jan vidhan sabha hai”.(This is a 
peoples Assembly- not just a sit-in.).  An 
attempt was made to provide space and create a 
democratic platform, which would bring into 
popular focus the issues that should get the 
attention of the Assembly.  The Jan vidahn Sabha 
ended with demands for EGA, stopping the 
arbitrary eviction of tribals, making right to 
information Act more effective in Rajasthan, for 
the verification of electoral rolls and on 
several other democratic and human rights issues.

To read the full report of the dharana please go to:
<http://geocities.com/righttofood/data/janvidhansabha.pdf>

In the run-up to elections MKSS is organising a 
'truck yatra' that will cover ten districts of 
Southern and Western Rajasthan to garner popular 
support for people's basic issues.  A special 
attempt is being made to involve young people in 
schools and colleges.  The dharana and the yatra 
are trying to bring people's agenda into 
political focus in a culture of vote bank 
politics, where the priorities of the poor do are 
not political priorities.



_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/

Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on 
matters of peace and democratisation in South 
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit 
citizens wire service run since 1998 by South 
Asia Citizens Web (www.mnet.fr/aiindex). [Please 
note the SACW web site has gone down, you will 
have to for the time being search google cache 
for materials]
The complete SACW archive is available at: http://sacw.insaf.net
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archive for SACW. http://perso.wanadoo.fr/sacw/

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