SACW | 8 Dec. 2003 | Pakistan/India /Censors/ Assam/ N East/ Karnataka/Hindutva

Harsh Kapoor aiindex at mnet.fr
Sun Dec 7 23:30:50 CST 2003


SOUTH ASIA CITIZENS WIRE   |  8 December,  2003
via:  www.sacw.net

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[1] Pakistan: Pure society, impure culture (Serwat Ali)
[2] Pakistan: Bullah beyond borders (Ather Naqvi)
[3] Indian Muslims: Identity and modernity (Asghar Ali Engineer)
[4] India: Why is Assam burning?  (Walter Fernandes)
[5] Nationalizing Space: Cosmetic Federalism and the Politics
of Development in Northeast India (Sanjib Baruah)
[6] India denies visa to UK watchdog [Move to 
scuttle investigation against fundamentalists]
[7] India: Karnataka: Congress government's 
'soft-hindutva' - more than 500 anti-communal 
activists arrested
[8] Announcement: "Rivers, Water Conflicts And The Question Of Sustainability:
Reflections on The Brahmaputra Basin" Films /Lectures/Conversations....

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

[1]

[Pakistan: Censorship]

The News on Sunday
7 December 2003

Pure society, impure culture

Are we settling in a period of strict censorship 
and a puritanical regime which views every 
cultural activity with suspicion either on the 
grounds of morality or religion?

By Serwat Ali

On Eid two cultural programmes held in Karachi 
and Faisalabad were disrupted either by the law 
enforcing authorities or some sections of the 
audience under one pretext or the other.

This alarming trend has been gathering momentum 
for some time. A few months back theatres were 
raided in Lahore and the performers arrested and 
kept in detention for some time on the charge of 
vulgarity and obscenity. Since then the raiding 
of plays during performance and imposition of an 
instant ban has become a regular feature in the 
various cities of the Punjab. One hears or reads 
in the press of raids being conducted in cities 
like Gujranwala or Sheikhupura and performances 
being banned mostly on the charge that the 
contents of the play or the dances included in it 
were obscene and vulgar.

A few weeks ago fashion shows in hotels were 
banned in the country on the orders coming from 
no less a person than the prime minister himself. 
And repeatedly some important person like the 
provincial minister of education in the Punjab is 
quoted in the media of having issued orders 
banning music and cultural programmes in schools 
and colleges in the province. A few weeks ago a 
ban was imposed on kite flying and the biggest 
emerging festival which was beginning to assume a 
form and shape to attract international tourists 
is being nipped in the bud.

In the North Western Frontier Province all 
cultural activity has already been banned. 
Ironically Peshawar had given refuge to hundred 
of musicians who had to migrate from Afghanistan 
during the Taliban rule. The entire musical 
heritage of Afghanistan moved out of its habitat 
and was protected, preserved and promoted by 
people living in the province. Now all the 
performing artists of the province are themselves 
looking for refuge.

Are we settling in a period of strict censorship 
and a puritanical regime which views every 
cultural activity with suspicion either on the 
grounds of morality or religion? To circumvent 
this shrinking space usually pragmatic 
justification for allowing such activities is 
advanced like the textile sector stressing on the 
need of holding fashion shows as an important 
platform to display the progress made by them. It 
is another name for marketing through 
advertisement. The advocates for kite flyers 
point out that basant has become an occasion big 
enough to attract tourists. Both for its novelty 
and scale it has sufficient attraction to draw 
foreign tourists without really having to pander 
to them, all this being in line with the policies 
made in the country for the promotion of tourism.

This is not the first time that such efforts have 
been made or directives issued by the official 
circles. As long as one can remember basant has 
been a contentious issue where the stated 
position of the government has always been at 
variance with the peoples desire to celebrate the 
coming of spring with kite flying. It was the 
people's festival to which the state or the 
government made no contribution. It was only in 
the last few years that the government stepped in 
to cash in on the immense popularity of the 
festival. Incidentally it was not the government 
that was moved by the participation of the people 
but the initiative taken by the corporate sector 
that made the government join in to share the 
spoils.

The directives issued to the schools and colleges 
regarding music and dance has been rehearsed too 
often. Very few of the schools in the public 
sector have the facilities to offer to their 
students like theatre and music. Only schools in 
the private sector allow the students the space 
to indulge in extra curricular activities. 
Ordinary schools do not have the wherewithal for 
imparting even the essentials of basic education.

But dance is everywhere on the media there being 
now no concept of music without dance in this 
current rage. The music videos have a greater 
input of dance than music. In films, dance 
numbers are an integral part; there being no 
popular film without dance. Realising the great 
appeal and draw of dance, plays in the various 
theatres too started to include dance numbers. It 
has been a roaring success as audiences throng to 
see dance -- the play has only become its 
appendage.

Pop music is now everywhere. The first pop music 
concert to be held on the state controlled 
television in the 1989 called Music 89 provoked 
an uproar. An ultimatum was issued to the 
television authorities, processions were taken 
out and the television station in Lahore was 
picketed by demonstrators. Allowing a pop music 
programme on state controlled television was one 
of the steps which the then Benazir Bhutto's 
government had taken to liberalise the society. 
It was seen as a step promoting licentiousness by 
the conservative sections of society for People's 
Party has been accused by them to be a party that 
has espoused unrestrained freedom. If we look at 
the pop music programme televised these days or 
released on the CDs, Music 89 in comparison was a 
very tame affair.

The cultural environment and the definitions are 
changing all the time but the poignant question 
is what kind of society do we want Pakistan to 
be? A closed puritanical society where all the 
forms of expression and manner of celebration is 
driven underground. Where no distinction is made 
between art, entertainment and vulgarity. Where 
culture is considered a commodity that can be 
imported to compensate for the absence of any 
activity at home.The few societies where these 
activities are banned and nothing is allowed in 
the name of culture can hardly serve as the role 
model for a country like ours.
[...].


_____


[2]

The News on Sunday
December 7, 2003

Bullah beyond borders

The overwhelming response given to the recent 
theatre performances by Ajoka in the Indian 
Punjab shows how the territorial divide has 
failed to separate tastes

By Ather Naqvi

The Ajoka team is happy. Simply happy -- because 
people in the Indian Punjab went down on their 
knees in a gesture of gratitude, mesmerised by 
the group's performance of 'Bullah'.

Staging 'Bullah'-- a play based on the life and 
teachings of Baba Bulleh Shah -- coincides with 
the silencing of guns at the Indo-Pak border. And 
performing 'Bullah' in the heart of Indian Punjab 
was an experience that seems to have far exceeded 
the expectations of both the sides -- the 
visiting artistes as well as the audience in the 
Indian Punjab.

The 27 member Ajoka team had not expected a 
standing ovation from an audience comprising 
mostly Sikhs. What caused the reception? Was it 
the quality of the performances? Was it the 
affinity the Indian Punjabis feel with the poetry 
of Bullah? Was it the message the play carried: 
love and peace? A combination of all these, the 
artistes say, is what has made this performance 
draw such an applause.

A very hearty reception by the organisors of the 
event in Amritsar and other cities like Julandhar 
and Ludhiana set the tone for the visit. The 
hectic schedule of eight performances in six 
cities within 15 days was not a strain on the 
artistes nerves, as many had anticipated before 
the start of the tour. Rather it proved to be too 
short an exercise to absorb the entire warmth 
associated with it.

It also happens to be a learning experience in 
many ways. Madeeha Gauhar, director of 'Bullah' 
returns home with a lot to share with Pakistanis. 
She believes that the first ever visit of a 
theatre team to the Indian Punjab has served to 
broaden their knowledge about what life in 
today's Punjab is like, especially in respect to 
women. "In Indian Punjab a woman's life is very 
different from ours. She rides motorbike and can 
stay at her workplace till late at night. All 
this reflects that theirs is a non-segregated 
society, unlike ours," she opines.

She hopes that this will help thaw the 
India-Pakistan relations after the post-nuclear 
confrontation since 1998. Her success in India 
has encouraged her to form an association of 
artistes from both sides of the divided Punjab. 
"The association has not yet been formally 
launched, but we are in contact with the Indian 
theatre artistes and are very soon going to form 
the long-awaited association of theatre artistes 
from both India and Pakistan."

She blames the government for not allowing Indian 
artistes to perform in Pakistan. "Rafi Peer 
theatre invited the Indian artistes to attend the 
last cultural show in Lahore but the government 
of Pakistan did not issue them visas. It is about 
time the government realises how important 
cultural exchanges are in paving the way for a 
political dialogue," she says. Madeeha expects 
the process to continue as the Indian Council for 
Cultural Relations (ICCR) has invited Ajoka to 
Delhi in January next year.

"Punjabi language is growing there," reflects 
Gauhar. "We feel ashamed of the fact that there 
is not a single daily Punjabi newspaper in 
Lahore. While there are so many in Indian Punjab. 
We prefer to speak in Urdu with our children even 
if we are of Punjabi origin. We have to correct 
ourselves." she says.

"We rode a wave of emotions to India. Fourteen 
out of 27 members of the Ajoka team have an 
association with Indian Punjab." says Sarfraz 
Ansari who played the lead role in 'Bullah'. He 
was honoured with the Prithvi Raj Kapoor Award. 
"I feel different after performing in India."

He admits he was apprehensive about performing in 
Indian Punjab. "I feared that we might fail to 
develop the kind of interaction with the audience 
there which is a must to get the message across," 
says Sarfraz.

"The people there have no airs about themselves. 
They do not feel shy of speaking Panjabi as we 
do. There are also more art lovers in India than 
in Pakistan. There is no language barrier either. 
We performed 'Kala Mendha Bhes', a Seraiki play 
in Delhi and Calcutta in 1998, and the audiences 
there appreciated the play as if it was being 
performed in their local language."

Sarfraz Ansari disagrees that Indians in general 
are prejudiced against Pakistan. "It is 
politically orchestrated. Why else would a singer 
like Hans Raj Hans bow down in appreciation?"

Sarfraz's interaction with the Indian audience 
dates back to 1998. That year Reeta Gangoli of 
National School of Dance invited him to perform 
in Delhi. "People there take me as a real Bullah. 
Some friends plan to attend my wedding on the 
24th of this month in Lahore. Let's hope they get 
visas."

"It was no problem staging the play there. The 
arrangements were excellent," says Malik Aslam, 
who is in charge of stage management and 
production, Ajoka. He played Ghulam Mohiuddin, 
Bullah's master. "We played to jam packed halls 
and those who could not make it watched the play 
live on the screen that was fixed outside the 
theatre in Julandhar. They understand Bullah as 
very few people do here in Pakistan. The kalam of 
Bullah, Waris Shah and others is included in 
their course at school. They have no problems 
following the kalam," he says.

Tipu Sultan who played Banda Bahadur in 'Bullah' 
is overwhelmed by the media coverage the group 
got in India. However, they had to face some 
objections raised by Akali Dal activists in 
Patiala. The activists demanded the character of 
Banda Bahadur, originally named Guru Gobind 
Singh, to be excluded from the play. "It was 
resolved amicably as some intellectuals 
intervened and convinced the activists that the 
character struggles against fundamentalism and 
extremism," says Tipu, who adds that 'Nava 
Zamana' a daily newspaper from Jalandhar is going 
to do an article on him.

"We often hear the rhetoric that improving 
relations are good for our economy and that we'll 
have to spend less on defence if we end 
hostilities and maintain friendly relations with 
India. But I only understood the value of this 
point of view after visiting charda Punjab 
(eastern Punjab). People are mentally prepared to 
add a new chapter to Indo-Pak history," believes 
Sohrab Khan, who played the narrator in the play. 
"I think it is about time we razed the Berlin 
Wall of prejudice and hatred," he says.

Rokhsana Khan, who played the role of a 
prostitute in the play, made it a point to visit 
Chora bazar, Ludhiana, which is her mother's 
birthplace. She hopes that crossing the border 
will not be a problem in future.


_____


[3]

The Daily Star, December 8, 2003

Indian Muslims: Identity and modernity

Asghar Ali Engineer

BOTH identity and modernity are important parts 
of socio-political discourse today and more so in 
case of Muslims. Muslims, needless to say, are 
considered much more concerned about religion and 
religious identity and supposed to be rejecting 
modernity. It is assumed that they prefer madrasa 
education to modern secular education and refuse 
to accept any change in their personal law. These 
are considered as indicators of rejection of 
modernity and pre-occupation with religious 
identity.

What is the truth? In fact social questions are 
quite complex and cannot be reduced to black and 
white ignoring grey areas in between. Another 
important thing is that we cannot subject the 
Indian Muslim community of more than 130 million 
to uniformity and homogeneity. Indian Muslims are 
immensely diverse not only in terms of sects, 
languages and cultures but also in terms of 
classes and socio-political attitudes. There is 
hardly any issue about which there is complete 
consensus in the entire community, not even 
issues like change in Muslim personal law. It is 
really dangerous to apply stereotypes on such 
immensely diverse community.

It would also be equally wrong to think, as we 
often do, that all non-Muslims in India have 
accepted modernity and all that goes with it and 
that only Muslims resist it. Modernity, in such 
discourses, is never defined properly and is used 
in rather highly generalised sense. Some scholars 
have sub-divided modernity into 'hard modernity' 
and 'soft modernity.'

What is meant by 'hard modernity?' It is science 
and technology and in this sense all Indians, 
including Muslims, have accepted modernity. No 
one rejects the benefits of modern science and 
technology any more. If there was any resistance 
to it, it was in the nineteenth century.

Soft modernity implies philosophical issues and 
critical examination of traditional beliefs. Here 
one can say there are significantly differing 
attitudes among Muslims. Soft modernity also 
includes secular education and acceptance of 
secularism. It is true there is comparatively 
more resistance to soft modernity among Muslims 
in general and Indian Muslims, in particular.

Secularism is an integral part of soft modernity 
and it is also important to note that secularism 
implies discourse of rights, whereas religious 
discourse is discourse of duties. All 
authoritarian societies adopt discourse of duties 
rather than that of rights. During emergency in 
our country from 1975-1977 concept of duties was 
added to our constitution. The Indian 
Constitution otherwise always talked of rights. 
Religious authorities also always talk of duties 
and never of rights. Religious authorities never 
concede rights to their followers. Their duty is 
only to obey the authority or traditional beliefs.

Secular discourse, on the other hand, is entirely 
discourse of rights. A modern thinker asserts, 
not only political rights but also the right to 
examine traditional beliefs critically. But this 
right can be availed of only when there is 
widespread high standard education. Muslims, for 
various reasons, chief among them being poverty, 
lack widespread high degree of secular education 
and hence there is general resistance to 
discourse of rights, including right to critical 
examination of traditional beliefs.

But it should also be admitted that education is 
one factor among many. Socio-political interests 
also play an important role. Thus, both among 
Muslims and Hindus we find some highly educated 
ones aggressively promoting traditional beliefs 
and vehemently opposing any attempt to critically 
examine them. The members of VHP and Bajrang Dal 
and even those of BJP advocate old beliefs and 
traditions and even imply violence against those 
asserting their secular rights.

Similarly, among Muslims organisations like SIMI 
adopt violence against those who promote rational 
thinking and Muslim Personal Law Board only 
promoting concept of duties among Muslims and 
rejecting their right to critically examine 
certain age-old traditions followed by Muslims. 
They often invoke the concept of divine 
immutability to oppose any change. The other 
reason is fear of aggressive communal campaign 
from a section of majority community.

Whatever the reasons, women have to pay a heavy 
price for rejection of soft modernity by men of 
the community. Women are entirely subject to the 
discourse of duty. The discourse of duty is, it 
can be said, doubly applicable to women in all 
the communities in India. Women are subject to 
this discourse both in the name of religion as 
well as in the name of age-old customs and 
traditions.

Women are much more unequal as they are denied 
benefits of soft modernity. Even among Hindus 
very few women are truly 'liberated' in this 
sense. Among Muslims, women are even more 
unequal. The aggression shown by Muslim 
leadership during the Shah Bano movement was a 
good example of this. Though such aggressive 
movement is no longer possible, the situation of 
women has not improved much. They suffer from 
many disabilities more due to customs and 
traditions than religion. Islam is far more just 
to them than the traditions. But in traditional 
societies, religion itself is subject to customs 
and tradition. Often it becomes important to 
liberate religion from traditions.

In modern Indian society, question of religious 
identity has become far more important. A 
religiously plural country like India throws up 
complex problems in a democratic set up. A 
secular democratic society throws up the question 
of rights for different religious communities and 
also promotes competition for political power and 
economic resources. The elite of the communities 
mobilise masses by using religious identities and 
hence religious identities becomes quite 
important.

Communal problems came into existence in modern 
society, as concept of rights because more 
important than that of duty. Every community 
asserts its religious identity to put pressure on 
the system to wrest greater share in power. Our 
experiences in post-independence period shows 
that minority community finds it difficult to 
match aggressive mobilisation by majority 
community. Though before independence too, 
Nehruvian theory of communalism emphasised that 
majority communalism could be more dangerous but 
in post-independence period majority communalism 
did prove to be much more aggressive than before 
independence.

Thus for a minority community, religious identity 
becomes even more important. It becomes a mental 
refuge. Communal solidarity is seen as effective 
compensation for external pressure. And this 
communal solidarity puts its own demands on 
individual liberties. Individuals have to fall in 
line under the weight of communal pressure and 
individual rights are compromised.

It is an irony of the situation that on one hand 
the majority communal discourse puts Muslims 
under pressure for uniform civil code and makes 
it part of political agenda and on the other 
hand, creates conditions making it increasingly 
difficult for the community to accept change and 
'soft modernity.' In fact, the Sangh Parivar 
itself rejects soft modernity and opposes secular 
discourse of rights and loves concept of duties. 
It attacks those who emphasise individualism and 
individual rights.

Here it should also be noted that it is wrong to 
depict one's religious community as more liberal 
and progressive and another community as more 
regressive and backward. It all depends on 
socio-political conditions, particularly in 
multi-religious societies. If Muslims are less 
under majority communal pressure and find the 
political atmosphere more congenial for their 
economic progress, they will be more prone in a 
democratic society like India to accept change 
and soft modernity.

It can be demonstrated from Kerala experience of 
the Muslim community. The Kerala Muslims, living 
under a comparative sense of security are ahead 
of other Indian Muslims in accepting modern 
secular education, family planning and social 
change. The rate of family planning among Kerala 
Muslims is higher than that of Hindu women in 
U.P. Also, the rate of literacy among them is far 
higher than their counterparts in other parts of 
India.

Also, more educated Muslims more easily opt for 
soft modernism than less educated and less secure 
Muslims. Some sects like the Bohras and Khojas 
accept change more easily than other sects. These 
sects are economically and educationally better 
off, though not all Bohras and Khojas. There is 
poverty and illiteracy among them too. Thus there 
are regional, sectarian and economic factors 
influencing Muslim behaviour. Religion is invoked 
by these sections to accept or reject change as 
legitimising factor.

Thus it will be seen that a sense of physical 
security and economic status can be far more 
influential than is generally recognised. 
However, communal discourse tries to blame it 
only on religion and that itself is a communal 
approach to the complex problem of change and 
progress. The rationalists too err in this matter 
and tend to blame religion rather than these 
material factors for lack of acceptability of 
change.

Asghar Ali Engineer is the executive director of 
Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, 
Mumbai, India

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[4]

The Hindu
Dec 08, 2003

Why is Assam burning?

By Walter Fernandes

The Centre has treated insurgency in the 
Northeast as a law and order issue or given it a 
communal colour by focussing on the Bangladeshi 
immigrants and ignoring those from the Hindi 
heartland.
URL: www.thehindu.com/2003/12/08/stories/2003120801731000.htm

_____


[5]

URL: 
www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2003.00334.x/abs/;jsessionid=gU77LBBNc5H8

Sanjib Baruah, "Nationalizing Space: Cosmetic Federalism and the Politics
of Development in Northeast India"

Development and Change (Institute of Social Studies, The  Hague, The
Netherlands)
Volume 34 Issue 5  - November 2003

Abstract: Until recently Arunachal Pradesh on India's Northeast frontier
was relatively insulated from the processes associated with development.
State institutions were barely present during the colonial era. In 1962,
however, India and China fought a border war in this area: this war, along
with signs of unrest among indigenous peoples in the neighbourhood,
exposed India's vulnerabilities in the region. Since then, nationalizing
this frontier space by extending the institutions of the state all the way
into the international border region has become the thrust of Indian
policy. The region's governmental infrastructure was fundamentally
redesigned to put in place what can only be described as a cosmetic
federal regional order with a number of small states dependent on the
central government's largess and subject to monitoring by India's Home
Ministry. The new regional order has put Arunachal firmly on a
developmentalist track, which has enabled India to meet its national
security goals, but at a significant cost to the region.

o o o

[The full text of the above article by Sanjib 
Baruah is available to all interested via sacw. 
Should you require a copy drop a note to 
<aindex at mnet.fr> ]


_____

[6]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/344082.cms
The Times of India,

India denies visa to UK watchdog
RASHMEE Z AHMED

TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 06, 2003 11:59:19 PM ]

LONDON: Britainís government-funded charities 
watchdog was prevented from travelling
to India to find out if the UK-registered Hindu 
Swaymsewak Sangh and its off-shoot,
the hugely-successful fund-raiser Sewa 
International, was using the saffron pound to
fund communal hate.

The embarrassing disclosure, made to STOI by the 
Charity Commission, comes within
hours of the BJPís much-heralded three-state election win and a new mood of
international optimism that India may finally 
have moved on from a divisive era of
Hindu nationalism.

Sewa International is the UK's largest Indian charity.

"What is the Indian government trying to hide (by 
refusing visas)", asked a leading
human rights campaigner visiting London, Father 
Cedric Prakash. The priest, who has
been working for communal harmony in Gujarat and is on a high-profile visit to
London, said the visa refusal was a signal.

Indian High Commission officials declined to 
comment, saying "We donít comment on
visa issues".

But a Charity Commission spokesman told STOI on 
Saturday that the failed Indian visa
applications were not the end of the story. "We 
are attempting to obtain information
about HSS's (and Sewa's) activities from other sources", he said.

Commission officials had formerly made clear to 
this paper that the activities of
the HSS and Sewa were hard to investigate without travelling to India.

Sewa International officials, including its 
president Shantilal Mistry, have always
denied the charges, claiming they are the target 
of a vicious propaganda campaign.
Mistry has repeatedly asked "How any one can 
allege something without having any
proof that the amount was used for sectarian violence".

On Saturday, observers said it seemed unlikely 
Britainís charities watchdog would
ever be allowed to collect the requisite "proof".

The HSS, and more particularly Sewa International, have been accused of raising
hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity work, 
which they then allegedly use to
spread a divisive Hindutva agenda. Sewa 
International raised more than two million
pounds during the Gujarat earthquake appeal.

Earlier this year, attention was focussed on its 
allegedly more unsavoury aspects
with the resignation of its patron, Gujarati peer 
Adam Patel who is a close friend
of the British foreign secretary.

The Charity Commission, the UK government-backed regulator that keeps an eye on
186,000 registered charities, launched a formal investigation into charges of
sectarian misuse, misdirection of funds and false 
pretences in fund-raising against
the HSS and Sewa.

At a public meeting organised by the UK's oldest 
Indian Muslim organisation on the
11th anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition, 
Father Cedric said the situation in
Gujarat had gone from bad to worse.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the Council of Indian 
Muslims Munaf Zeena called for the
reconstruction of the Babri Masjid, adding that, "BJP leaders should not delude
themselves into believeing that ethnic cleansing 
of Muslims in Gujarat and election
victory in three states is the victory of their fascist ideology".

o o o

Charity Commission (UK)
http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/

_____



[7]

Date: 7 Dec 2003 18:39:40 -0000
From: "bababudangiri souharda vedike" <souhardagiri2002 at rediffmail.com>

Subject: Congress government's 'soft-hindutva' - 
more than 500 anti-communal activists arrested

Bababudangiri shrine, a place of worship 
according to sufi traditions, has been the object 
of attack by the Sangh Parivar in an attempt to 
communalise the political climate of Karnataka.

Last year, the Bababudangiri Souharda Vedike was 
formed as a platform to uphold communal harmony 
in Karnataka, to save the Bababudangir shrine 
from hindutva attack and to build up a movement 
of 'aggressive secularism' in Karnataka.

Each year, in December, the Sangh Parivar 
organises Datta Jayanthi celebrations which 
unleashes communal frenzy in the town of 
Chikmagalur - a step in their plans to 'liberate' 
the Sufi shrine. Last year, Pravin Togadia and 
again this year Ananth Kumar, the president of 
Karnataka BJP, declared that Bababudangiri is the 
"ayodhya of the south' - a clear statement of 
their communal intentions.

This year the Bababudangiri Souharda Vedike had 
demanded that the Karnataka government should ban 
the Shobhayatra and the public meetings in 
Chikmagalur and Bababudangiri organised by the 
Sangh Parivar on 7th & 8th December. The state 
government did not agree to the demand and gave 
permission to the Sangh Parivar to conduct its 
programme 'in a peaceful manner'. In fact, the 
Law Minister, Mr. Chandre Gowda had clearly 
stated that the government cannot ban any public 
meeting until and unless it becomes a law and 
order problem.

The Bababudangiri Souharda Vedike had announded 
that on the same days (7th & 8th), it will hold 
parallel programmes in Chikmagalur to protest
against the Sangh Parivar's plans regarding 
Bababudangiri. While the government gave 
permission to the Sangh Parivar, it refused to 
give permission to the Vedike programme.

Yesterday (6th December) the government started 
making preventive arrests of key activists of the 
Bababudangiri Souharda Vedike.
Today (7th December) around 500 activists reached 
Chikmagalur, evading strict police vigil. Many 
hundreds, including Girish Karnad, were stopped 
on their way to the town.

After the activists reached the venue of the 
protest meeting, all those who had gathered there 
were declared to be under arrest by the police.
As soon as the meeting started, the police came 
and picked up all the 500 activists and arrested 
them. All the activists are now lodged in a jail 
near Chikmagalur.

This attitude of the government has exposed the 
'soft-hindutva' attitude of the Congress 
government in Karnataka. It is not surprising 
that the Law Minister, Mr. Chandre Gowda, himself 
participated in last year's Datta Jayanthi 
celebrations organised by Sangh Parivar. If the 
communal frenzy unleashed by the hindutva 
activists doesn't create 'law and order' problem, 
how can a gathering which wants to uphold 
communal harmony and protect the secular 
characted of the society become a 'law and order' 
problem for the state ? Is this anything but 
bowing down to the whims and wishes of the 
saffron brigade ?

We request all of you to strongly condemn the 
pro-communal attitude of the Congress government 
in Karnataka by preventing the protest gathering 
and arresting secular & progressive activists.


The Times of India
DECEMBER 7, 2003

Rally to protest communal activities
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 06, 2003 03:18:28 AM ]
MANGALORE: With a view to generate public opinion 
against communal activities and to pressure the 
government to curb such activities in the state, 
⤗Sahamata⤁ â¤" the Bababudangiri Ulisi DK 
District Samavesha Samithi â¤" took out a rally 
in the city on Friday.

The rally was led by Tontada Siddalinga seer of 
Viraktha Math, Gadag, Nidumamidi Chennamalla 
Veerabhadra seer, CPM leader G.N. Nagraj, 
thinkers Rajendra Chenni and G. Rajshekar. Later, 
the rally congregated at the Nehru Maidan where 
the speakers urged the government to rein in 
fundamental forces who were trying to create 
another Ayodhya at Bababudangiri.

Nagraj, condemning the Sangh Parivar, said they 
were trying to divide the communities vertically 
by separating them as Muslims and Hindus. He said 
that at Bababudangiri, Hindus had not been 
restricted at any time to offer prayers. The 
Sangh Parivar has created this new controversy to 
divide people on the basis of religion, he added. 
The Nidumamidi Chennamalla Veerabhadra seer said 
human values should triumph and all the rest be 
set aside.

People should remember that they are humans first 
and religion should come later. The rally was 
also addressed by B. Sadananda Poonja, honorary 
president of Sahamata. Later, M.B. Sadashiva, 
president of Sahamata, presented a set of 
resolutions urging the government to curb 
anti-communal forces.

The resolutions are: not to allow the conduct of 
Datta Jayanthi or a procession and not to allow 
leaders to make inflammatory speeches; to give 
adequate security to the dargah and other 
structures; to create an environment for devotees 
to offer prayers at the dargah; to ban the entry 
of Pravin Togadia, Pramod Mutalik and others into 
the state; to contain Bajrang Dal activists and 
to control elements who endanger communal harmony 
by posing as spokespersons of a particular 
community.


_____

[8]

The Centre for Northeast India, South and Southeast Asia Studies
[CENISEAS] of the Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and
Development

invites you to

RIVERS, WATER CONFLICTS AND THE QUESTION OF SUSTAINABILITY:
REFLECTIONS ON THE BRAHMAPUTRA BASIN

Films, Lectures and
Conversations


with

Jahnu Barua
Sanjib Baruah
Subir Bhaumik
Dulal C. Goswami
Sanjoy Hazarika
Lawrence MacDonnell
Chandan Mahanta
Ravindra Nath
Mahfuza Rahman


on

Tuesday December 9th and Wednesday December 10th 2003

at the

Bhaskar Natya Mandir
Uzan Bazar, Guwahati [India]


Programme

Tuesday December 9th 2003: 5 p.m. A River's Story: the Quest for the
Brahmaputra (India 2002) Screening of a film by Jahnu Barua

The Brahmaputra, one of the greatest rivers on earth and among its least
known, rises in the fastnesses of western Tibet at the start of a majestic
journey through three countries -- Tibet, India and Bangladesh --
gathering power and momentum as it sweeps toward the Bay of Bengal.
Millions depend upon the Brahmaputra -- the river is creator and destroyer
as well as a major trade, transport and migration route.  In a rare voyage
of discovery, the film takes viewers to locales and communities along the
river that have been isolated for centuries. Along its 2,900-kilometer
course, the river's power and energy are on display.  The Brahmaputra is
the only male river in Hindu mythology. Its legends and geography have
merged to create a fabric of stories and living traditions. The film
treats the river as its main character, as creator, sustainer and a
natural life force that is a friend to the people and the ecosystems,
which flourish on either bank.

A Mimesha Productions film
Direction and editing: Jahnu Barua
Production and Script:  Sanjoy Hazarika

7 p.m. Meet the Filmmakers (A conversation with Jahnu Barua and Sanjoy
Hazarika)

Wednesday December 10th

9: 30 a.m. Film Screening: Monsoon Sorrow (India 2003, 27 minutes).

Monsoon Sorrow is a documentary on floods in Assam.  The fury of the
Brahmaputra and its tributaries are especially intense in Assam's Dhemaji
and Lakhimpur districts. Filmed in Dhemaji, Monsoon Sorrow focuses on the
causes of floods - both natural and man-made. The documentary records
scenes of land erosion, life in relief camps for peoples displaced by
floods and the perceptions of peoples who live with floods.  It features
interviews with environmentalists, grassroots level activists and experts.
Made by a voluntary organization, Monsoon Sorrow stimulates fresh thinking
on the causes of Assam's floods and on policy responses to floods.

Producer: Society for Promotion of Appropriate Development Efforts,
Guwahati

10 a.m. Film Screening: Water Wars  (United Kingdom, 1991, 3 x 50
minutes).

Water Wars consists of three documentaries that investigate the role of
water in power politics. The first film Good as Gold focuses on the United
States where water is a highly marketable commodity - something few people
have and a lot of people want. In the San Louis Valley of Colorado,
geologists identify a vast underground lake whose contents, if pumped
across the Rockies to thirsty Denver, represent a fortune for the brokers
and rights merchants. In the second film To the Last Drop the focus shifts
to the Middle East where water inevitably raises the stakes within every
regional dispute or settlement. The final film The Giver of Life
highlights the Islamic heartland of the CIS where the implications of the
Aral Sea's demise are viewed as a catastrophe on a Chernobyl scale.

Producer: Michael Waldman

12 - 1 p.m. Lunch break

1:00 - 3:00 p.m. Water conflicts in the Brahmaputra Basin: Today and
Tomorrow
                            A panel discussion

Speakers:
                  Jahnu Barua, "Brahmaputra: A Friend in Silence"
                  Dulal C. Goswami  "Water Conflicts: Local, National and
International"
                  Subir Bhaumik, "Brahmaputra: The Threat at Source"
                  Sanjoy Hazarika, "From Tibet to the Bay of Bengal:
Travels by the Tsangpo
                                               Brahmaputra"
                  Chandan Mahanta, "Brahmaputra River: A Few Environmental
Issues"
                  Mahfuza Rahman, "A Grassroots Perspective"
                  Ravindra Nath "River-linking and its Contradictions"

Moderator: Sanjib Baruah

3:00 to 3:30 p.m. Tea break

3:30 - 5 p.m. Lawrence MacDonnell

"Interstate and International Water Sharing: The American Experience with
Compacts and Treaties"

Lecture in the Distinguished Speakers Series of CENISEAS

Featured Speakers

Jahnu Barua is an internationally acclaimed film director. He is a
graduate of the Film and Television Institute of India at Pune.  His films
include Aparoopa, Halodhiya Choraye Baodhan Khai, Banani, Firingoti,
Xagoroloi Bohu Door, Kuxal, Pokhi and Konikar Ramdhenu.  Indeed,
Xagoroloi, Pokhi and Konikar are a trilogy exploring the challenging and
joyous aspects of child-adult relationships.  Barua's films have won
numerous national and international awards, including the World Peace
prize at Chicago and Best Direction at the International Film Festival of
Independent Film Makers at Brussels.

Sanjib Baruah is the author of India Against Itself: Assam and the
Politics of Nationality (University of Pennsylvania Press and Oxford
University Press) and many articles in academic journals on the politics,
economy and culture of Northeast India. Until recently he was Professor of
Political Studies at Bard College, Annandale on Hudson, New York. He is
currently Senior Fellow at the Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change
and Development where he heads the new Centre for Northeast India, South
and Southeast Asia Studies.

Subir Bhaumik is BBC's Eastern India Correspondent. He belongs to Tripura
and prior to joining the British Broadcasting Corporation he has worked
with a number of news organizations. He has extensively reported on Burma,
Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh, besides covering the Northeast Indian
states. He was Queen Elizabeth House Fellow at the Oxford University in
1989-90 where he completed his first book Insurgent Crossfire: Northeast
India.  His second book - The Crisis of India's Northeast -- is being
published by Penguin Books.  He has contributed extensively to academic
journals and his articles have appeared in a number of books on refugees,
ethnic and religious movements, defence, and on Burma, Bangladesh, Bhutan
and the North-eastern states.

Dulal C. Goswami is Professor of the Department of Environmental Science,
Gauhati University. He holds a doctorate from the Department of Geography
and Environmental Engineering of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore,
Maryland, USA, where he wrote a doctoral thesis on the Brahmaputra River.
He has written extensively on the Brahmaputra and has been involved in
several National-level committees on natural resources, the environment
and the river systems of Northeast India. He has been Honorary Director of
the Assam Remote Sensing Centre.

Sanjoy Hazarika, is the author of Bhopal: Lessons of a Tragedy; Strangers
of the Mist: Tales of War and Peace from India's North East and Rites of
Passage. He reported for The New York Times between 1981-1996.  He is
currently associated with the Centre for North East Studies and Policy
Research, the Centre for Policy Research and is Consulting Editor for The
Statesman, where he edits and publishes the North East Page every
Saturday. His work on migration and self-governance is highly regarded and
currently he is conducting a major field research study documenting
livelihoods by the Brahmaputra.  He also has completed the first
officially approved journey by road across Myanmar in decades by an
international journalist and filmmaker and is finishing a documentary on
that journey.  He has made other documentaries and has produced and
conceived A River's Story.

Lawrence MacDonnell is an attorney specializing in natural resources and
water law. He practices law in Boulder, Colorado. He holds a doctorate in
law from the University of Denver College of Law and a doctorate in
Mineral Economics from the Colorado School of Mines, USA. He is the author
of From Reclamation to Sustainability: Water, Agriculture, and the
Environment in the American West (1999) and co-author of Searching Out the
Headwaters: Change and Rediscovery in Western Water (1993), Natural
Resources Policy and Law: Trends and Directions (1993), Controlling Water
Use: The Unfinished Business of Water Quality Protection (1991), Instream
Flow Protection in the West (1989), Tradition, Innovation and Conflict:
Perspectives on Colorado Water Law (1987) and The Oil Import Premium
Revisited (1985). In addition he has published numerous articles in public
policy and legal journals.

Chandan Mahanta is Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and
Engineering in the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati.   He holds a
doctorate in Environmental Sciences from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New
Delhi. He has done extensive research on the management and sustainable
development of water and land resources. His publications include articles
on the aquatic ecosystems of Northeast India and on the human induced
changes in the Brahmaputra river basin viewed through changes in the
sediment transport and nutrient flux in the Brahmaputra. He is involved
with a number of governmental and non-governmental organisations,
especially in the area of environmental conservation.  He is a technical
committee member of the State Pollution Control Board of Assam.

Ravindra Nath is Director of the Rural Volunteers Centre in Akajan village
in the flood-prone Dhemaji district of Assam. He studied electrical
engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi specializing in
non-conventional energy and Community Development Management at the Indian
Social Institute, Bangalore. He has lived and worked with river basin
rural peoples in a number of river valleys in India including the Damodar
Valley in Purulia, West Bengal; Suwarnarekha Valley in Singhbhum, Bihar;
Dhundh Valley in Jaipur; Upper and Lower Subonsiri, Dihang and Siang
Valleys in Arunachal Pradesh, and in river valleys in the Dhemaji and
North Lakhimpur districts of Assam.

Mahfuza Rahman is Executive Director of the Rashtriya Gramin Vikas Nidhi
in Guwahati.  She holds a doctorate in Geography from Gauhati University.
She has done extensive research on a number of problems of Guwahati city,
including municipal waste management, drug abuse and alcoholism. She has
been principal investigator of a project on science and technology
intervention on wetlands and its impact on the rural economy and a
co-investigator on a project on development strategies for rural
development in the Kathiatoli block of the Kapili basin.

The Centre for North East India, South and Southeast Asia Studies
[CENISEAS] seeks to promote an understanding of Northeast India in the
context of its transnational neighbourhood, i.e. South Asian countries
such as Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal as well as Southeast Asian countries
such as Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia. The Centre's work
focuses on regional policy challenges that are inherently transnational in
scope, e.g. water resources and floods, the cross-border movement of
people, the flow of small arms and the spread of disease; the regional
impact of India's `Look East' policy, especially of India's growing
economic ties with Southeast Asia; and the cultural links between
Northeast India and Southeast Asia.  For more information contact: Sanjib
Baruah Senior Fellow and Head, CENISEAS Telephone: 266-5903, 266-8321;
Email: ceniseas at yahoo.com


The Indian Council of Social Science Research and the Government of Assam
sponsor the Omeo Kumar Das Institute of Social Change and Development

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

Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on 
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