SACW | 22 Nov. 2003

[Harsh Kapoor]

SOUTH ASIA CITIZENS WIRE   |  22 November,  2003

via South Asia Citizens Web:  www.sacw.net

_______

[1] Hindus and Muslims - III  (Ardeshir Cowasjee)
[2] Anti Mullah play from Pakistan  told to 
delete a few parts in while performing in secular 
India
[3] State Subversion: Gujarat's Victims Completely Isolated (Harsh Mander)
[4] Dutch scholar delves into roots of Gujarat's 
communalism (Janyala Sreenivas)
[5] Manufacturing History (Ram Puniyani)
[6] Vested interests misinterpreting history: IIT Prof
[7] Hindus urged to curb 'Muslim threat' by having big families (Maseeh Rahman)
[8]'Fear of the Outsider'
- Sangh blames violence on infiltrators
- After Assam, it's Mumbai: Biharis get the Sena punch
[9] Bajrang Dal burns effigy of Christ
[10] The BJP's `Plan B'?  (Praful Bidwai)

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

[1]


DAWN, 16 Nov 2003

Hindus and Muslims - III
By Ardeshir Cowasjee


Last week, in response to my second column on 
this subject, a further 53 e-mail messages came 
in over the ether. Again, three messages warrant 
reproduction. Firstly, from a Pakistani student 
away over the oceans:
"With reference to your article 'Hindus and 
Muslims' I can only say that I strongly believe - 
and this despite being a Pakistani - that we have 
the bigger share of the blame when it comes to 
this senseless hatred we have between us for more 
than 50 years. Who is to blame? The Pakistani 
generals, ...... who still suffer from the belief 
that India will give up Kashmir...... If they are 
so obsessed about Kashmir [they should] send 
their own children on jihad instead of sending 
them to the most expensive American colleges. For 
Musharraf : 'Why did you send your son to the US 
and not to Kargil?'
"As a student at an American university, I 
sometimes think how ridiculous this 
India-Pakistan hatred is. I eat with Indians, go 
out with them, and many of my friends are 
Indians. All this hatred played up by leaders on 
both sides is totally ignored here. Everyone 
wants peace and cooperation between the two 
countries. Frankly speaking, I agree with the 
views expressed by one of the people in your 
article - that Pakistan has allowed others to use 
it for their own purposes, i.e. the Saudis and 
Americans. For how long will we be proud of 
churning out jihadis?
"Both countries have a lot to gain from peace. On 
our side this can only happen if the army does 
not make the decisions and minds its own 
business. But is that asking for too much?"
Then, from another and a much older Pakistani 
living (and presumably working and earning) in 
greener pastures :
"I read both your columns advocating more 
tolerance. There is much bigotry and violence in 
India, far more (numerically if not otherwise) 
than in Pakistan, but liberal education has begun 
to make itself felt. Indian youth is certainly 
getting to be more tolerant than we in Pakistan 
can ever hope to be. I am abroad these days and 
the youth of India has impressed me favourably.
"Liberalism has long been a dirty word in 
Pakistan and the bearded brigades have seen to it 
that the education curricula faithfully reflect 
only their interpretation of faith, history and 
culture. The religious parties and their 
sidekicks have destroyed education in Pakistan. I 
have witnessed this for 32 years. I for one see 
no hope of any betterment."
Lastly, from an Indian-American :"I am a US 
citizen, a Hindu born in Bombay, who came to 
Chicago over 25 years ago and am writing to you 
because you have touched upon a subject needing 
attention in our subcontinent.
"My mother is the daughter of a civil engineer 
who was involved in the construction of Karachi 
port. He was a Brahmin. Her father, mother and 
she were saved by a Muslim colleague during the 
1947 riots, who had the guts to show courage and 
to take an oath on the Quran testifying that he 
had no Hindu sheltered with him. He not only 
saved them in Karachi but also helped them cross 
the border and accompanied them to India. When he 
departed to return to Karachi, he wept and said 
he hoped to meet them again. This never happened. 
My parents and my teachers have always informed 
me and my friends that we, members of the League 
and of Congress, fought for freedom together and 
that the whole subcontinent belongs to both 
Hindus and Muslims who have coexisted despite the 
vagaries of history.
"The subcontinent's fight against the British Raj 
brought both Hindus and Muslims together in a 
unique way. Sensible folks in coming generations 
may have to unite and find ways to bring them 
together again, so that the subcontinent can be a 
true dominant economic and political player in 
the world. I think that my teachers, my father 
and his friends were probably right, and your 
article brought all that they had told me back to 
the forefront. History has ample examples of 
courage from both of the communities when it 
comes to forgiveness and care for each other, and 
this can and will prevail, if history is taught 
correctly and attempts are made to learn and 
achieve peace through co-dependence and 
coexistence. History must teach the citizens of 
India and Pakistan that unity can make the 
subcontinent's economic future better."
This last message took me back to January 1948 - 
to the day of the tragic killing of Hindus of 
Karachi and the looting of their homes and 
properties. From early in the evening, many of 
our Hindu friends, together with their friends, 
and their meagre belongings, trickled into my 
father's house seeking refuge. By dusk the number 
had swelled to around 40. Our sole chowkidar, a 
Pathan armed with a lathi, assured us that as 
long as he was alive no harm would befall any 
Hindu in Variawa Chambers. (He had a lengthy and 
unpronounceable name - and used to tell us that 
he wished to be addressed merely as 'Khan'.) By 
nightfall the entire household was occupied in 
finding them all places to doss down and to 
procuring sufficient food to feed them.
During the late evening, the telephone rang and 
an unknown man said he wished to talk to my 
father. In an ominous tone, he informed my father 
that he and others were at the moment very close 
to our house, that they knew that we had given 
shelter to many Hindus, and that if he did not 
throw them all out on to the roads for him and 
his mates to deal with, the house would be set 
afire.
My father's immediate reaction was to phone the 
nearest police stations and summon help, but 
there was no help forthcoming as the entire 
police force was occupied with the rioting. He 
decided to arouse old Ghulam Mohammad, Jinnah's 
finance minister, whom he had known in Bombay 
when he (GM) was working for the Tatas and who 
lived in a nearby street. He rang, was told that 
the minister was asleep, and requested that he be 
awoken as the matter was urgent. The minister was 
awakened. Let me sleep, he pleaded. No, said my 
father. And he told him why. Ghulam Mohammad, 
shaken and fully awake, immediately said he would 
send over to my father's house his personal 
police guards. In a few minutes, three policemen 
armed with Lee Enfields arrived - and that was 
all it took in those far gone days for us all to 
feel completely safe, relaxed and fall asleep 
peacefully.
Early the next morning mayor of Karachi Jamshed 
Nusserwanjee called at our house. The previous 
evening six Sikhs had sought refuge at his home. 
As he had no family, when he left his home that 
morning, rather than leave them there alone, he 
had sent them off in his car to the Clifton beach 
to hide in the dunes until some other arrangement 
could be made for them.
To cut a long story short, eventually, our Hindus 
and Jamshed's Sikhs were all sent off to India on 
a Bombay Steam vessel (BS vessels were then known 
as 'Haji Kassim's ships').
Naturally, not all the e-mail messages were 
sympathetic or contributive, a few being most 
unfriendly, even abusive. There is much rancour 
in both Hindus and Muslims of the older 
generations. This cannot be eradicated. The youth 
have no problem - from both sides of the divide 
they want peace and they wish to live and thrive 
together in harmony. All we can do from our side 
is to ensure that our education system is 
cleansed of all bigotry, hatred, and tales of 
false enmities and atrocities, and that we cease 
to brainwash the few children who have the chance 
to be educated at our schools.
A couple of Hindus recommended that I remember 
how the Muslims of Iran had treated the 
Zoroastrians and how we had been forced to flee 
the country for friendlier lands. What is the 
point of this, after the passage of over 1,300 
years? And how am I supposed to react?
The Zoroastrians have been around for 3,792 years 
(at the last calculation) and we live in peace 
and amity wherever we are and with whomsoever 
surround us - even in Venezuela there are four 
thriving Zoroastrians and their happy families. 
(Two are 'in oil' - either they own oilfields or 
operate petrol pumps.) We believe in 'peace on 
earth and goodwill among men'. Any objections?


_____



[2]


The Times of India (Chandigarh Edition), November 21, 2003

From across the border with crossover theatre
VANDANA SHUKLA
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
"The play is openly antimullah, yet we have done 
it so many times in Pakistan without a hindrance. 
Here, in this secular democratic country, we were 
told to delete a few parts from the play at the 
eleventh hour. They said it might hurt some 
people," says an anxious Madeeha Gauhar, theatre 
activist from Ajoka Theare , Pakistan , who is 
alarmed by such developments in India .

"We would have cancelled the show, but then we 
saw about thousand people waiting for it. We 
didn't have the heart to not go ahead with it. 
So, we removed the character from the play they 
had objections with," adds Madeeha.

She says such developments "in India are more 
disappointing as it has been a secular country 
for 55 years. Pakistan never had pretensions of 
being secular. It is ironical that this should 
happen to Bullah and his sufi voice of love and 
tolerance that gave sanity in times of bigotry 
200 years back. Seeing growing intolerance in 
both countries, the relevance of Bulle Shah 
convices me".

Bullah, a musical theatre production from Ajoka 
with its 27-member cast is on an eight- city tour 
of Punjab . It was performed in Patiala a day 
before.

Madeeha narrates her first brush with intolerance 
in India , "To begin with some people had 
objections with a few words crossover like 
'zalim' used for a particular character. We toned 
it down. Then they asked us to change the name of 
the character Banda Singh Bahadur, we changed it 
to Joginder Singh Jogi to avoid controversy."

Then, she says, they were asked to delete the 
dialogue between Bulle Shah and Banda Bahadur. 
The play is set in the time when Mughal 
oppression was at its peak.

"The play offers a dialogue between two ways of 
reacting to oppression. One, as preached by Baba 
Bulle Shah, the sufi way, the other as professed 
by Banda Singh Bahadur, by confronting violence. 
In reality Bulle Shah and Banda Singh Bahadur 
never met. The play uses the poetic license of 
imagination to convey the message. Without 
passing judgment, we present both approaches," 
says Madeeha who adds, "I think artists have the 
license to use such liberty to articulate a 
message."

Hence, the reaction disappoints her. "I have been 
to India many times, but my cast of young people 
asks me, is this the secular India you talked 
of," she says with concern.

Even in Pakistan Madeeha's voice has been 
synonymous with a voice of struggle for secular, 
democratic and humane rights for the past 20 
years.

Barely out of university she dared to do her 
first theatre production, Badal Sarkar's Juloos 
way back in 1983 under martial law. Since then 
Ajoka has not looked back in its endeavour for 
social justice.

This despite the fact that Pakistan has no NSD to 
talk of nor do its universities have departments 
of theatre. To top it, there are censorships, 
bans and cancellations of theatre shows.

"Bullah was premiered for the World Punjabi 
Conference in Lahore and received an overwhelming 
response from Indian delegates who wanted the 
play to be staged in India ," says Madeeha

Madeeha in return is overwhelmed by the response 
of people from Tudike, a small village in Punjab 
, where 2,000 people sang kafis and bols of Bulle 
Shah along with the cast.

The play Bullah, written by Shahid Nadeem and 
directed by Madeeha Gauhar w[as] be staged at 
Tagore Theatre [Chandigarh]on [21 Feb 2003].



_____



[3]


The Times of India
NOVEMBER 22, 2003
Op-Ed.

State Subversion: Gujarat's Victims Completely Isolated
HARSH MANDER

In a recent television interview, deputy prime 
minister L K Advani dismissed the claim that 
there has been an extremely grave and deliberate 
subversion of justice in the aftermath of the 
Gujarat carnage in 2002.

He suggested that whatever failures occurred were 
the routine outcome of the general collapse of 
the criminal justice system in the country, and 
that there was nothing distinct in the experience 
of Gujarat.

The fact, however, is that after the riots, the 
state authorities in Gujarat have mounted a 
systematic assault on the rights and security of 
a segment of its citizens, on a scale and with an 
impunity that is unmatched in independent India, 
barring the dark months of the Emergency. Of the 
4,252 cases registered after the carnage, 2,107 
have already been closed on the grounds that 
there is not enough evidence even to submit a 
charge-sheet to the courts. In 36 cases, the 
courts have acquitted the accused. In no case 
have the accused been punished.

The haste with which almost half the cases have 
been summarily closed without even submitting 
these for the scrutiny of courts, within the 
short span of one-and-a-half years, is the direct 
result of the exercise of state authority. Across 
Gujarat, the police authorities themselves filed 
FIRs, claiming that violence was perpetrated by 
anonymous mobs, frequently instigated by the 
victims themselves. FIRs by the victims that 
named the mob leaders were debarred. 
Investigations were frequently entrusted to 
police officers who, according to the victims, 
had themselves abetted or participated in the 
violence, and were, therefore, deliberately 
shoddy and partisan.

The prosecution was placed in the hands of 
members or office-bearers of the sangh parivar. 
The mala fide intent of the state authorities is 
evidenced most in the openly discriminatory 
application of POTA exclusively against the 
minorities. After the carnage, of the 240 people 
held under POTA, 239 are Muslim and one is a 
Sikh. Not one person in Gujarat from the majority 
community has been charged under POTA. Muslims 
are also being widely arrested under serious 
sections of the IPC. In all these cases, the bail 
pleas of the Muslim accused have been strenuously 
opposed by the state authorities, whereas people 
who led the mobs are left free to intimidate 
witnesses and subvert investigations. This 
partisanship of the state began immediately after 
the carnage, because for the first time in free 
India, a government refused, as a matter of 
policy, to provide relief and rehabilitation to 
segments of its own people, internal refugees who 
survived what was virtually a pogrom.

In every major incident of sectarian 
blood-letting in the past, the state has always 
established and run relief camps. In the 
makeshift camps established by the crushed 
community, the government in Gujarat refused even 
to provide basic facilities, security or a 
survival stipend. In the run-up to the elections, 
even these austere private relief camps were 
forcefully closed, and their tens of thousands 
residents, still too terrified to return to their 
homes, were left to fend for themselves.

Contrast this with the situation in which for 
internal refugees escaping the terrorist violence 
in the Kashmir valley, relief camps have been 
appropriately established and run by the state 
authorities in Jammu, Delhi and elsewhere for 
well over a decade. The human tragedy of the 
affected Kashmir people is prodigious, but at 
least state authorities have extended them relief 
in a responsible fashion, according to inter- 
national standards, including payment to camp 
residents of a monthly stipend. There is 
absolutely no reason why these same standards 
should not have been applied to the internal 
refugees in Gujarat. This injustice has been 
enabled also by unconscionable delays at the 
highest levels of the justice system.

There are four major petitions pending before the 
highest court in the land filed by several 
respected writers, artists and activists of the 
country, seeking redressal of precisely the 
numbing range of injustices mentioned ear-lier. 
Unfortunately, even after a year and a half, 
there have not been substantive hearings on these 
petitions, except the NHRC referral on the Best 
Bakery, by the Supreme Court. Instead, state 
authorities have succeeded in inordinately 
delaying substantive hearings by the Supreme 
Court. As a direct result of the delays, many of 
the reliefs sought have become infructuous.

It is too late for the courts to order the state 
authorities to establish relief camps, and ensure 
minimum facilities; it is too late to prevent 
them from mercilessly disbanding the camps; it 
will soon be too late to impose 
non-discriminatory standards for compensation and 
its assessment. As people struggle to rebuild 
their homes and livelihoods without state 
support, it will soon be too late to ensure soft 
loans and other state succour and rehabilitation. 
In no instance in the history of independent 
India have the state authorities so openly 
treated a segment of its citizens in such a 
discri-minatory and partisan manner, in defiance 
of every acknowledged principle of justice, rule 
of law and judicial accountability.

We cannot permit this metamorphosis of the state 
from an institution for the justice and security 
of its people, into one that victimises as state 
policy a section of its population. Too muh is at 
stake: Justice, our safety, our pluralistic 
heritage, and indeed our very survival as a 
humane and democratic society.

_____

[4]

Ahmedabad Newsline
November 21, 2003

Dutch scholar delves into roots of Gujarat's communalism
Janyala Sreenivas
Ahmedabad, November 20: THE 2002 riots showed how 
deep the communal divide in Gujarat goes. Now for 
the first time, two well-researched and 
comprehensive books on Ahmedabad's mill workers 
and industrial working class trace the root 
causes of Gujarat's communalism and the VHP and 
BJP's ascent to power.

'The Making and Unmaking of an Industrial Working 
Class' by Jan Breman and 'Working in the Mill No 
More' by Breman and photographer Parthiv Shah, 
published by Oxford University Press, offer new 
insights into how the decline of textile mills 
gave rise to caste and religious conflict, 
particularly in Ahmedabad, and subsequently 
resulted in communal riots.

Jan Breman, an Emeritus Professor of Comparitive 
Sociology at the Amsterdam School of Social 
Research, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, 
spent more than a decade studying conditions of 
labour in urban and rural Gujarat.

The book traces the initial conflict between 
various classes of mill workers and how 
discrimination in recruiting mill workers first 
led to tensions between Dalits and Muslims and 
then between Hindus and Muslims. Breman also 
concludes that the middle-class campaign against 
the reservation policy favouring backward castes 
increasingly turned into a conflict between 
Hindus and Muslims in 1985. It is at this 
juncture that the BJP decided to mobilise 
subaltern castes. The resounding success of this 
mobilisation put the BJP at the helm in the 
municipal corporation in 1987 and later in the 
Gujarat Assembly. From here, Breman carefully 
explains how the BJP introduced the Ram 
Raj-Hindutva programme into the upper castes and 
then consolidated the support of the lower castes.

Based on interviews with retrenched mill workers 
and supported by narratives of real incidents, 
the book brings out how the large workforce of 
mills workers lost their jobs, the misery and 
impoverishment it caused leading to 
marginalisation of thousands of families from the 
mainstream.

Breman suggests that this phenomena ''led to 
strengthening of primordial loyalties, a factor 
that may have contributed to the

continued on page 3 vicious rioting that swept the city in 2002.''

The first part of the book dwelves 
comprehensively on the birth of the industrial 
work force in Ahmedabad's mills and its origins. 
The vicious rioting that swept the city in 2002.''

The first part of the book dwelves 
comprehensively on the birth of the industrial 
work force in Ahmedabad's mills and its origins. 
The rise of labour unions and the role of Mahatma 
Gandhi as a union leader and mediator are also 
discussed extensively. Also, the rise of Indulal 
Yagnik as a labour leader.

There are interesting facts that Breman brings to light.

The original mill workers were a very 
heterogenous group of city-dwellers which 
included Kolis, Muslims, Marathas, Bavchas, 
Vaghris and Marvadis. It was only in the later 
stages that upper class Hindus joined the 
workforce. The mills also brought to the fore the 
strict caste system prevailing at that time. 
Dalits and lower class workers and upper class 
workers worked on different floors.

The second part of the book on the unmaking of 
the mill workers is the most interesting. While 
the plight of retrenched mill workers has been 
documented by other writers in the last decade, 
Breman profiles ex-mill workers and their living 
conditions between 1998 and 2002.

Breman's second book 'Working in the Mill No 
More' narrates the early employment and lifestyle 
of mill workers. It has 200 breathtaking 
photographs of Parthiv Shah which take you back 
to the days when Ahmedabad was known as the 
Manchester of India. Shah, is a student of NID 
who chose 'textile mills' as the subject for an 
exercise in visual communication. For several 
months, he went around the mills taking some rare 
photos.

_____


[5]

Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2003 11:01:47 +0530 (IST)

Manufacturing History

Ram Puniyani


History has become an important tool in the hands of
politics and if one is to assess its influence one has
just to see the effect of the mystified notions on the
intercommunity relations, its role in demonizing the
minorities. By now these myths have become firmly
planted in social commonsense. The fertile ground of
mystified history gets its reppleshinment on the
regular basis from those who stand to benefit from the
popularization of such notions. In his recent speech
on the occasion of Guru Dakshina, Vijayadashmi (Oct.
2003) RSS supremo came up with latest thesis on
conversions to Islam. Mr. Sudarshan pointed out that
but ìthe people of Valmiki samaj were originally from
warrior class. Some historians maintain that the
Islamic invaders used to place two options before the
vanquished Hindu warriors; accept Islam or work as
scavengers cleaning their toilets. While many
so-called upper caste people opted for Islam, these
warriors demonstrated their uncompromising commitment
to their religion by opting for the mean jobs rather
than giving up their religion.î Earlier Ashok Singhal
of VHP had on similar lines pointed out that all those
communities who defied conversion to Islam by the
Muslim armies had to flee to the Jungles, and became
impoverished in the process and so became
untouchables.

Thus now the origin of untouchability are firmly
located with the invasion of Muslim rulers, somewhere
around 8th century. And again the internal problems
are externalized, coming clean as far as the caste and
untochability problems are concerned. This assertion
shows the confidence of those percolating such myths
that now they have sowed the seeds of this
understanding, mythical one, of history so deep that
any thing can be passed off as history. Untochability
and caste system are much much older than the arrival
of Muslim Kings, its mention being there in most of
the Puranas, centuries before even the Islam was born.
Untouchability became part of the caste system
somewhere in first Century A.D. And caste system
cannot be separated from the Brahminical Hinduism.

Conversions to Islam and Christianity have been a
source of great discomfort to the ideologues of Hindu
Right for political reasons. Conversions away from the
Brahminical Hinduism are as old as Jain and Buddha
religions. These were the earliest religions which
challenged the Brahminical system, the caste
hierarchy, much before the advent of Christianity and
Islam in this land. Christianity was the first amongst
these two latter religions to have come here. Its work
amongst the poor and adivasis did attract many to
embrace this religion, and its appeal continues even
till the day, despite the missionaries being beaten up
for their travails. As lot of battering is being given
to those working amongst Adivasis the result is that
working in the remote places is becoming difficult.
Despite its being there for centuries the number of
adherents to Christianity is 2.18% as per the census
of 2001. There was no particular increase in this slow
growth during the British rule contrary to the popular
notions that it is British who brought Christianity to
India.

Islam spread in India first due to the Arab traders,
due to their interaction with natives. Later it spread
here due the influence of Sufi saints and those who
converted to Islam were the low caste untouchables who
wanted to escape the tyranny of Brahmins and
Janindars, those who aspired for entry in the places
of worship which was barred to the low caste, those
who aspired for social equality. Swami Vivekanand sums
up the cause of conversion to Islam ìIt is wrong to
say that Islam spread on the point of sword. It was to
escape the tyranny of the Brahmin Landlord that the
Shudras embraced Islam.î Dr. Ambedkar did suffer all
these agonies before declaring that he wants to leave
the Hindu (Brahminic Theology) fold.

To attribute the spread of Islam to Kings defies the
whole logic of the goal and agenda of Kings. Religions
generally spread due to the humanistic teachings of
saints and not due to the tyranny of Kings. Most of
the kings did claim that they are ruling so as to
spread a particular religion but the only King who
made efforts to spread his religion was King Ashoka.
Communal interpretation of History has seen religion
as the sole and prime motive of the actions of the
Kings. Even here we see that the spread of Islam has
been more in areas where Shudras were more, away from
the direct tyrannical influence of Muslim Kings, e.g.
in Kerala and East Bengal. Kings, no doubt, might have
used the threat of conversion as a matter of
humiliation to the defeated kings. But that again is
small number. The alliances of Kings in medieval times
defy the religious divide propagated by communal view.
The percentage of Hindu officials and Kings in Mughal
administration went on rising form the times of Babur
to Aurangzeb. Many a Rajput Kings were n alliance with
the Mughal rulers. Akbar had two hindu kings amongst
his nine jewels, and Raja Mansingh was his important
general. Similarly the King who is regarded as the
most bigoted, Aurangzed, had the services of many a
hindu kings. The same applies to Hindu kings like
Shivaji and Rana Pratap, i.e. they having Muslim
confidants in their administration. The divide between
victor and vanquished is not along the religious lines
as asserted by Mr. Sudarshan. Most of the armies of
Hindu as well as Muslim kings were mixed armies.

With the coming of British the seeds of communal
politics were sown and now the elite of the
communities in order to pursue the game of numbers
began the acts of conversions. During the first decade
of twentieth century missionaries from all the
religions began to flock the villages in droves,
seeking to convert Dalits and tribal. Many a shudras
converted to Sikhism. Shuddhi movement started by
Swami Dayanand Saraswati aimed to reconvert those who
had ëleftí the fold of Hinduism. Contrary to the
popularly propagated notion that Hindus donít
proselytize, the techniques of conversion to Hinduism
were developed by Arya Samaj and these were called
Shuddhi. The proselytizing techniques have been
further developed by VHP, washing feet and giving holy
bath. To denote that those who have embraced other
religions have become impure and now they are being
brought back by a method of purification. Similarly
Tablighi missionaries were trained to convert people
to Islam These Tablighi activists preached the basics
of Islam and warned the villagers of the threat of
Arya Hindus. The Shuddhi and Tanzim (Tabliqui)
movements were the major political conversions.

The current tirade against the Christian missionaries
is motivated more by political than by the religious
reasons. The Christian missionary work amongst
Adivasis has been attracting the adivasis in a
sustained manner. With the ascendance of Hindutva the
attempt is being made to hinduise the adivasis. It
serves multiple purposes. To begin with the
empowerment of Adivasis which is a threat to the Hindu
elite is halted by attacks on Christian missionaries.
Secondly a new support base is created for the Sangh
parivar a la the Shuddhi movement of the early
twentieth century. Interestingly the ësafety clauseí
used here is that these adivasi have strayed away from
there religion, Hinduism, so the Gharvapasi is a
natural response to bring them back home, to their old
masters, the Hindu elite. The projection that Muslim
invaders humiliated Hindu Kings serves a very powerful
purpose of creating hatred for the Muslims of today as
a mechanism of revenge of the past Here the loyalty to
ëourí kings is also established and subtly probably a
acceptance of social hierarchies prevalent in Kingdoms
is also made to be accepted as ënormalí.
One can surmise that conversions are due to multiple
factors, internal dissatisfaction being the major one.
In addition the political onesí have joined in from
early twentieth century. Here the deceit of those
claiming Gharvapsi is not a conversion is remarkable,
as it is as much a conversion as any other to any
other religion.

Thus through his newly developed Toilet theory of
conversion Mr. Sudarhsn kills many a birds with the
single stone. The internal problem of Brahminical
values is passed on externally to the Muslim kings,


_____


[6]

The Times of India
NOVEMBER 21, 2003


Vested interests misinterpreting history: IIT Prof
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
LUCKNOW : Very few people know that Mughal 
emperor Babar had directed his son and successor 
Humayun in his will to avoid cow slaughter, 
damage of temples and any other acts which could 
hurt Hindu sentiments.

Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, who has been described 
as ⤗fanatic' in the history, had on one 
occasion razed a mosque at Golconda to dig out a 
treasure hidden in the premises. On another 
occasion, he had punished a priest of Kashi 
Vishwanath temple for molesting a lady, wife of a 
Hindu King.

Furthermore, there were Muslim spies in Shivaji's 
army, who warned him about the assassination bid 
in advance before his meeting with Afzal Khan. 
Parents of US President George W Bush and Osama 
Bin Laden have ⤗common' interest -- both have 
investments in oil wells in middle east. Swami 
Vivekanand once said: It is a myth that Islam was 
propagated in India through sword, there were 
large number of shudras, who adopted Islam to 
escape the atrocities of brahmins and zamindars. 
Besides India , Bangladesh has also adopted a 
poem written by Rabindra Nath Tagore as its 
national song.

These facts were presented by Ram Puniyani, a 
professor of biomedical engineering in Indian 
Institute of Technology, Mumbai, in a lecture on 
⤗Communal politics', organised by National 
Alliance for People's Movement, at Lucknow 
University , on Thursday. He said, "Kings in the 
past used religion and communalism to grab the 
riches of the land and to rule over the masses. 
Today history is being ⤗misinterpreted' 
deliberately by vested interests to instigate 
communalism and terrorism only for the sake of 
power."

"We are considering poems and texts written by 
poets in the royal courts as history," he said. 
The reality however was that facts have been 
distorted and exaggerated by the poets to please 
their masters, he added. "The will of emperor 
Babar could be seen in the national museum in New 
Delhi . After reading it, I am not able to 
believe that he demolished any Ram temple in 
Ayodhya," he said.

Prof Ram is a teacher of engineering, but after 
1992 Bombay riots he decided to launch a fight 
against communalism in the country.

Describing the US ⤗War on terror' as a farce, 
he said, "Americans have devastated Afghanistan 
and Iraq only to drill oil wells of Caspian Sea . 
Similarly, in India vested interests were 
instigating riots and communal passions of 
majority community. Only innocents get killed in 
riots, which creates ⤗reactionary' tendencies 
among victims, which are being cashed by 
anti-social elements for indulging in terrorist 
activities, he said, while pointing towards the 
Gujrat riots and subsequent reactions in the form 
of recent Mumbai blasts." Magsaysay award winner 
Sandeep Pandey and former LU vice-chancellor Prof 
Roop Rekha Verma also spoke on the occasion.


_____



[7]

The Guardian
November 20, 2003

Hindus urged to curb 'Muslim threat' by having big families

Maseeh Rahman in New Delhi

A radical Hindu political party in Uttar Pradesh, 
India's most populous state, which is a key ally 
of the country's ruling party, is encouraging 
Hindus to have more children because of fears of 
a Muslim population explosion.

The militant Shiv Sena party announced that it 
had identified 50 Hindu couples with five or more 
children in the parliamentary constituency of the 
Indian prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

"We will honour these couples at a special 
function next month by conferring the title 
'Awakened Hindu Family'," said the Shiv Sena's 
state chief, Vijay Tiwari. Couples with more than 
10 children would be given gifts of gold or 
silver.

The call runs counter to the Indian government's 
policy of controlling the country's burgeoning 
population by promoting family planning. The 
"awakening" that the Shiv Sena wants to bring 
about stems from the belief that India's Muslim 
population, already estimated to be about 140 
million, will overtake the Hindu, even though 
Hindus account for 85% of India's population, now 
more than a billion.

Demographic experts assert that high birth rates 
are related to illiteracy and poverty, and have 
nothing to do with religious beliefs.

Radical Hindu leaders claim the percentage of 
Muslims has been rising. Their propaganda finds a 
response among Hindus who resent the Muslims' 
separate civil law permitting men four wives - 
though most Muslims are too poor to practise 
polygamy, and educated Muslims reject the idea.

"Even Hindus who do not support parties like the 
Shiv Sena or the ruling Bharatiya Janata party 
[BJP] believe that most Muslims have four wives 
and lots of children," said Dipankar Gupta, a 
sociologist. The issue even figured in the 
Gujarat state assembly elections last year, with 
the BJP's chief minister, Narendra Modi, mocking 
Muslim families for their "25 children each".

Now the BJP's political ally, the Shiv Sena, 
hopes for mileage in the spectre of the "Muslim 
population bomb".

Mr Tiwari said: "When the Muslims become 30% of 
the population democracy and peace will disappear 
from India. To maintain the social balance, and 
to save the nation, we are now asking Hindu 
couples to have a minimum of four children each."

Mr Tiwari claimed there had been a positive 
response from Hindus in Uttar Pradesh. But 
analysts are doubtful.

"The Shiv Sena's appeal has always been its focus 
on pragmatic issues, such as jobs for its 
supporters," said Mr Gupta. "Such a madcap 
campaign could rebound on the party."

_____


[8]     FEAR OF THE 'OUTSIDER'

The Indian Express
November 22, 2003

Sangh blames violence on infiltrators
EXPRESS NEW SERVICE
NEW DELHI, NOVEMBER 21: The RSS said here today 
that Bangladeshi infiltrators were behind the 
violence against Hindi-speaking people in Assam, 
while the ULFA and some Bodo groups were playing 
into their hands, thus vitiating the atmosphere.

RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav said: ''Several 
instances have been brought to our notice where 
the infiltrators were the main perpetrators of 
the violence against Hindi-speaking people, while 
locals were trying to check them.'' The killings 
and arson ''smack of a sinister conspiracy by 
certain anti-national forces in the region''.

Madhav attributed the current stance of the ULFA 
and some Bodo groups to the fact that they ''have 
their bases in Bangladesh and get tacit moral and 
material support from ISI''.


Sena won't allow exam; 'outsiders' hold morcha


o o o o

The Indian Express
November 22, 2003

MUMBAI/NASHIK:The Shiv Sena on Friday threatened 
that it will not allow the RRB to conduct exams 
on November 23 in Maharashtra. ''Come what may, 
we will not allow the RRB exams on Sunday, and do 
whatever to achieve our objective,'' Bal 
Thackeray said in Saamna. Meanwhile, 
non-Maharashtrians at Nashik Road and Devlali 
organised a silent morcha on Friday to protest 
against a Shiv Sena-led drive against aspirants 
who hail from other states. (ENS & Agencies)


http://www.newindpress.com/Newsitems.asp?ID=IEP20031121133920&Title=States&Topic=0
After Assam, it's Mumbai: Biharis get the Sena punch
Saturday November 22 2003 00:00 IST

MUMBAI: Kalyan became the vortex of the Shiv 
Sena's new violent protest on Friday, as 
lathi-wielding, saffron-sporting men and women 
turned on their anger against outstation 
candidates aiming for jobs of railway gangmen, 
khalasis and helpers.
It was all perfectly planned and executed. The 
violence was even christened by local Sena men _ 
Bihari Ani Bhaiya Baher Kada Mohim (Out With The 
Biharis And Bhaiyas Movement).
As outstation candidates for a Railway 
Recruitment Board examination landed on board 
trains, slogan-shouting Sena members kicked, 
punched, pulled their hair and shouted expletives.
In full view of the media, Sena activists 
snatched identity cards, tore hall tickets and 
hauled several students into outbound trains. The 
women took the lead. As victims made a desperate 
run for it, women activists screamed, grabbed 
their hair and pulled them back.
"We will not let a single Bihari or a Uttar 
Pradeshi step out of any train. We have told our 
boys to beat up every Bihari or Bhaiya who dares 
step into this city to take the examination. This 
is our warning. We won't be responsible for the 
action of our activists," said Ravi Kapote, 
Kalyan city pramukh of the Shiv Sena, adding that 
about 250 of the 300-odd candidates at Kalyan 
station were attacked.
Even passengers waiting to board long distance 
trains were searched. Those unable to "answer 
satisfactorily" were beaten up and chased out of 
the station.
Senior Inspector of the Kalyan railway police 
Narayanrao Rajguru said no case was lodged 
against any Sena member, since there was no 
complainant. "It was not possible to take action, 
as there was a huge crowd in the station," he 
said.
A weary Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) had to 
postpone its examination indefinitely but 
hundreds of candidates are still huddled on 
railway platforms _ and incoming trains are still 
full of them. Confused, too scared to even 
disclose their identities and with no money for 
proper accommodation, they're preparing for a 
long battle.
But Kapote had another warning: The Sena will 
intensify its anti-North Indian agitation in 
Kalyan from midnight on Saturday. "Our activists 
have been divided into groups and have been given 
lathis. They'll keep watch at the centres. They 
know what to do if they spot a Bihari or a 
bhaiya," he said.


_____


[9]

New Kerala - 22 November 2003 

http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&id=1003

India News: Bajrang Dal burns effigy of Christ

Bhubaneswar, Nov 21
Tension has gripped an Orissa district after 
members of the Hindu radical group Bajrang Dal 
burnt an effigy of Christ to protest religious 
conversions.
Police officials said about a dozen activists of 
the group forced their way into a local church in 
Tileibani in the state Thursday, brought out 
thousands of religious books and burnt them.
District police chief L.D. Naik said they had also misbehaved with a woman.
Two cases have been registered against the 12 
suspects in connection with the incidents. All of 
them have been absconding since Thursday, the 
official said.
"Tension is mounting in Tileibani block as a 
result of which police patrolling has been 
intensified," Naik told IANS.
Adequate security arrangements have been made 
around the churches located in sensitive areas of 
the district, he said.
According to police officials, the Bajrang Dal 
activists gathered in Tileibani on Thursday 
afternoon to protest conversions of Hindus to 
Christianity, burn the effigy and to submit a 
memorandum to the district administration.
It had started last week when the activists had 
forced their way into a house in Ambulpali 
village in Deogarh district after some local 
residents had complained that three Hindu tribals 
in the village had converted to Christianity last 
year.
Dara Singh, a Hindu fanatic with links to the 
hardline group, has been sentenced to death for 
the brutal killing of Australian missionary 
Graham Staines and his two minor sons, who were 
torched while they were sleeping in their vehicle 
in the state's Keonjhar district in January 1999.
Twelve of Singh's accomplices were sentenced to 
life imprisonment for the crime that came amid a 
campaign against conversions.


_____


[10]


Frontline
Volume 20 - Issue 24, November 22 - December 05, 2003

The BJP's `Plan B'?

PRAFUL BIDWAI

Faced with the prospect of defeats and setbacks 
in the coming Assembly elections, the BJP is 
already looking to an artificial, contrived `new 
third front', minus the Left, to rescue it.

EVEN the harshest critics of the Bharatiya Janata 
Party must credit its leadership with a certain 
tactical shrewdness within the limits of its own 
politics of venality and manipulation. Thus, a 
mediocre leader with a shallow comprehension of 
global and national developments such as Atal 
Bihari Vajpayee can project himself as some kind 
of statesman. Similarly, self-styled Loh Purush 
Lal Krishna Advani - who has devoted a whole 
lifetime to opposing stridently the 
liberal-humanist and egalitarian content of the 
Nehruvian vision and socialist ideas - could 
lavish praise upon Nehru during his recent visit 
to the United States because he knew that that 
would go down well with his audience.

As for appropriating the plank of defending the 
freedom of expression in The Hindu 
breach-of-privilege case, the BJP remains 
unmatched in its craftiness. It has tried hard to 
erase its own profound commitment to 
authoritarian and illiberal ideas, to that 
special form of intolerance called Hindutva, as 
well as its many links, past and present, with 
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa with her 
increasingly Hindu-communal orientation. The 
party, which brought the Prevention of Terrorism 
Act (POTA) into existence in the teeth of 
concerted opposition, and which so viciously 
victimised Tehelka, now projects itself as a 
champion of freedom.

However, the BJP today faces a serious problem 
that has less to do with image than with reality 
- the likelihood of defeat or indifferent 
performance in at least three, if not all four, 
of the Hindi-speaking States where Assembly 
elections will be held on December 1. Most 
opinion polls forecast an emphatic win for the 
Congress(I) in Delhi and Rajasthan, and a 
probable victory in Chhattisgarh. According to 
some surveys, the situation in Madhya Pradesh is 
fluid but favourable to the Congress(I). Some 
other polls (for example, the one by the Centre 
for Media Studies) forecast an outcome that 
favours the BJP, but only by a narrow margin.

This situation in Madhya Pradesh could change 
significantly in the Congress(I)'s favour because 
the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), antagonised by the 
BJP's "hardball tactics" vis-a-vis Mayawati, has 
decided not to field candidates against the 
Congress(I) in as many as 70 constituencies. The 
BSP's vote, 6 to 10 per cent of the total, is 
concentrated amongst Dalits, and is highly 
transferable. It could make a big difference to 
the outcome of a close contest in Madhya Pradesh 
- in 1999, the Congress(I)'s and BJP's 
vote-shares differed by a mere 1.5 percentage 
points.

The BJP has very little confidence in its 
prospects even in Madhya Pradesh. Right until 
November 14, the last day for filing nominations, 
its chief ministerial candidate Uma Bharati was 
desperately searching for a second constituency 
from which to contest, besides Bada Malhera, 
where she is pitted against a strong candidate of 
the Communist Party of India. Bharati's fallback 
options were Datia and Chandala, both in the 
Bundelkhand region.

The BJP is on a much shakier ground in Rajasthan 
and Chhattisgarh. In Rajasthan, its chief 
ministerial aspirant Vasundhara Raje Scindia too 
wanted to contest from two seats, both within her 
existing Lok Sabha constituency. Going by 
numerous reports, her campaign is not doing well. 
She now faces the Congress(I)'s Rama Pilot, a 
strong opponent. In Chhattisgarh, the BJP has 
been unable to project a coherent image or focus 
on a single chief ministerial candidate (although 
it seems to favour the former princely Rajput 
ruler Dilip Singh Judev, a bigot devoted to 
"re-converting" Adivasis to Hinduism).

Judev is not contesting the Assembly elections. 
The top-most BJP leader in the fray is the tribal 
MLA and leader of the Opposition in the present 
Assembly, Nand Kumar Sai, who takes on Ajit Jogi 
in the Marwahi constituency. But so unsure was 
Sai of himself that he too wanted to contest from 
another constituency (Tapkara) as well. He was 
overruled on November 14 by the top BJP 
leadership, which was keen not to give the 
impression of weakness. It is only in Delhi that 
a BJP chief ministerial candidate's choice of 
constituency was unambiguous. But Madan Lal 
Khurana is unlikely to get very far against his 
formidable rival, Sheila Dixit.

The elections to the four States are of course 
more important for the Congress(I) than for the 
BJP. They will test whether the Congress(I) can 
hold on to these States that it now rules and 
then emerge as the principal and effective 
challenger to the BJP nationally. They will also 
test Sonia Gandhi's ability to mobilise the party 
and gather votes.

But the elections are by no means unimportant for 
the BJP. It must win in at least two of the four 
States if it wants to claim that it retains its 
dynamism and can combat the anti-incumbency 
disadvantage at the national level. On trial too 
will be Vajpayee's ability to garner votes 
through vigorous campaigning. He is the BJP's 
greatest, if not its sole major, asset.

The BJP is acutely aware of these stakes. 
Therefore, it is trying to forge a multi-pronged 
strategy, including cashing in on the 
anti-incumbency sentiment against the 
Congress(I), focussing on specific grievances 
related to power shortages (in Madhya Pradesh) or 
onion prices, but also ethno-religious 
mobilisation. It has drafted Gujarat Chief 
Minister Narendra Modi as a star campaigner in 
all the four States. He is scheduled to address 
40 election meetings. To an extent, Judev and 
Bharati have a similar function.

Extremist appeals based on religious identities 
have their perils, but the BJP is so obsessed 
with averting political defeat that it does not 
care about the larger social dangers from its 
electioneering. As party president M. Venkaiah 
Naidu puts it: "In politics, there are no 
runners-up, only winners."

THE BJP is fashioning a fallback strategy or 
`Plan B' in case it performs badly in the 
Assembly elections. At the core of this seems to 
be a non-Congress(I), non-BJP, non-Left third 
front, probably constituted by formations like 
the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the All 
India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), 
the Samajwadi Party (S.P.), and of course the 
recently reborn Janata Dal (United). The Janata 
Dal (U)'s reconstitution took place at the BJP's 
behest through a merger with George Fernandes' 
Samata Party. Its strength (18 MPs) is deceptive. 
In reality, a majority of the MPs are unlikely to 
get re-elected. The merger's real function is to 
prevent defection to the Congress(I) and the 
Rashtriya Janata Dal. The BJP wants to use the 
Janata Dal (U) as a catalyst for an artificial 
Third Front.

Such a contrived Front must not confused with the 
United Front of 1996-98, or what could have 
emerged as a third force - a generally radical 
alternative to the Congress(I) (then in long-term 
decline) and the reactionary BJP. That potential 
third force represented stirrings from below and 
the self-assertion of numerous underprivileged 
and disenfranchised social groups. The Left's 
presence in it was ideologically crucial and 
politically indispensable. It lent it a future 
vision and a programmatic perspective. The front 
the BJP is trying to create, by contrast, has no 
such vision. Its principal task is to keep the 
Congress(I) and the Left out of power and create 
structures that support the BJP directly or 
indirectly.

The BJP reckons that the main potential members 
of such an artificial new third front - including 
the S.P., the NCP and the AIADMK - could together 
win 50 to 70 seats. This number is enough to 
influence the formation of a Central government 
in case neither the Congress(I) nor the BJP wins 
close to 180 Lok Sabha seats. This government 
will probably be unstable, but it will have 
performed the valuable function (for the BJP) of 
keeping the Congress(I) out of power.

This is of course a gamble. But the BJP seems to 
have decided to risk it. It is certainly 
cultivating and "softening up" Mulayam Singh 
Yadav through S.P. general secretary Amar Singh. 
Not only has Mulayam Singh Yadav refused to split 
the BJP's Legislature Party in Uttar Pradesh 
(although it is coming apart at the seams), but 
he has agreed to invert the normal arrangement 
under which the ruling coalition's nominee 
becomes the Assembly Speaker while the Opposition 
names the Deputy Speaker.

The latest news is that S.P. MLA Waqar Ahmad is 
about to assume charge as Deputy Speaker, the 
Speaker being the BJP's Kesri Nath Tripathi (whom 
many parties, including the Congress(I), oppose). 
Conventionally, the Deputy Speaker's desk is 
placed next to the seat of the Leader of the 
Opposition - in this instance, the BJP's Lalji 
Tandon. This might symbolically signify a form of 
collusion between the S.P. and the BJP!

Mulayam Singh indicated his readiness to do 
business with the BJP soon after he became Chief 
Minister. On September 25, he declared at his 
party's national executive in Jamshedpur that he 
would have no objection to the BJP if it were to 
drop "divisive issues" like the Ram temple, 
Article 370 and Uniform Civil Code. The BJP 
itself says it is prepared to keep these out of 
its programme "for the time being". This is an 
important measure of the shift Mulayam Singh has 
executed even as he juggles to retain his Muslim 
and Yadav base.

Yet another sign of growing S.P.-BJP collusion is 
the creation of the Uttar Pradesh Development 
Council under the chairmanship of Amar Singh. 
This has a galaxy of industrialists led by Anil 
Ambani of Reliance, M.S. Banga of Hindustan 
Lever, Subroto Roy of Sahara, and Adi Godrej of 
Godrej Industries. Its first meeting announced a 
set of economic measures that will make any 
right-wing Banana Republic proud - including 
indiscriminate privatisation of sugar mills and 
other industries, and of what remains of public 
services. Amar Singh has now invited the BJP's 
Aruns (Arun Shourie and Arun Jaitley to join the 
Council in order to give it some more 
ultra-conservative free-market ballast.

The BJP has had a line of communication open with 
Pawar too, whose party is in an unsteady, 
tension-ridden coalition with the Congress(I) in 
Maharashtra. It is well known that the NCP did 
not campaign for the Congress(I) candidate in the 
Sholapur Lok Sabha seat recently vacated by Chief 
Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, and that it backed 
the BJP instead. That apart, half of the NCP's 
MPs, in the P.A. Sangma group, are allergic to 
the Congress(I) and comfortable with the 
BJP/National Democratic Alliance. Here lies the 
significance of Pawar's recent statements on 
Sonia Gandhi's "foreign origins". Pawar hinted 
(with plausible deniability) that the NCP would 
not back the Congress(I). In less than a 
fortnight, he denied having said this.

As for the AIADMK, the BJP has been in dialogue 
with Jayalalithaa while distancing itself from 
the DMK - at least until The Hindu episode. 
Jayalalithaa is beholden to the BJP in many ways. 
She is the only Indian politician outside the 
Sangh Parivar to have supported the Ayodhya 
agitation and the demolition of the Babri mosque. 
She also rationalised the Gujarat pogrom by 
repeating Narendra Modi's revolting 
"action-reaction" formula. She has banned 
religious conversions and routed State nutrition 
programmes through Hindu temple networks.

Jayalalithaa's vindictive action against The 
Hindu has caused a furore and forced the BJP to 
back the newspaper and implicitly criticise her. 
The critical mood may not last long - unless the 
issue is further aggravated by another 
provocation by Jayalalithaa.

Pawar's "foreign origins" slogan may have been 
fired prematurely. The issue has failed to draw 
public attention.

The situation is fluid. But it is likely that the 
BJP's options will narrow - especially if it 
loses badly in the four Assembly elections - to a 
point where an artificial new third front becomes 
its best bet. All secular people must guard 
against this. The next Lok Sabha election offers 
the best chance to defeat the BJP and isolate the 
politics of communalism and right-wing cynicism. 
This must not be squandered away.



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

Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on 
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