SACW | 01 March 2004

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire  |  01 March,  2004
via:  www.sacw.net

[ANNOUNCEMENT:  SACW dispatches are now resuming 
after a prolonged break . Various technical 
glitches that had impeded the scheduled 
resumption (around 21 February ) are being slowly 
; People wishing to communicate with SACW are 
advised to use the following e-mail: 
sacw at sacw.net  ]

[1] Bangladesh: Fundamentalists attack on a 
leading writer (AJ Jaffor Ullah + reports)
[2] UK / India: In Bad Faith: British Charity and 
Hindu Extremism (a report by Awaaz South Asia 
Watch)
[3] Beyond Gujarat (Beena Sarwar)
[4] India: Gujarat -- Denial of Justice for Victims (Amnesty International)
[5] Future of Indian past  (Romila Thapar)

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


[1]

The Daily Star (Bangladesh)
March 01, 2004

Humayun Azad: The marked man

A H Jaffor Ullah

Only few days ago a nervous but determined 
writer, Prof. Humayun Azad, sent e-mail to the 
moderator of a forum for freethinkers by the name 
Mukto-Mona. Prof. Azad is a member of the forum. 
He wrote, "Dear Rahul, The Ittefaq published a 
novel by me named Pak Sar Jamin Sad Bad in the 
Eid Issue in December 03. It deals with the 
condition of Bangladesh for the last two years. 
Now the fundamentalists are bringing out regular 
processions against me, demanding exemplary 
punishment. Attached two files with this letter 
will help you understand." Dr. Azad enclosed to 
JPG files that contained news items including a 
photo of fundamentalists protesting against him 
outside the national mosque in downtown Dhaka.

Prof. Azad's premonition came true. The goons 
perhaps hired by the bunch that hates Prof. Azad 
struck outside Boi Mela (Book Exhibition Center). 
Hours after a bunch of assailants descended on 
Prof. Humayun Azad's body to silence his voice 
for ever, I received an e-mail from news forum 
"Future of Bangladesh." A kind member from Dhaka 
frantically wrote, "A little while back (Dhaka, 
February 27, 2004 at 9:30) eminent writer Humayun 
Azad was attacked in front of Bangla Academy by a 
group of unknown assailants with chopping knives 
and has been grievously injured. Channel I has 
just now showed a completely blood drenched Azad 
being brought by the police to Dhaka Medical 
College Hospital and given primary treatment. His 
face, hands, T-shirt, trouser everything was 
soaked in blood. His condition is serious."

An hour later, the same person from Dhaka who 
sent earlier an e-mail sent a grim message: 
"Humayun Azad has been shifted to CMH as his 
condition turned worse." My telephone started to 
ring immediately. My friends who write 
passionately on liberal issues pertaining to 
Bangladesh were very much perturbed hearing the 
sad news of an attempt on Prof. Azad's life.

Unless you are out of sync with news from 
Bangladesh, you perhaps are well acquainted with 
the fact that the tiny country of 140 million has 
become very intolerant as of late. Only years 
ago, another Bangalee writer, Poet Shamsur 
Rahman, was attacked by some goons in the privacy 
of his own house. The attackers could not do more 
harm then because of the immediate action by the 
poet's neighbors. The Mullahs in Bangladesh have 
also given threats to Taslima Nasrin. Mind you, 
these are not idle threats.

This time the goons have targeted Prof. Azad. It 
is worth mentioning here that Prof. Azad's recent 
writings included in his book "Pak Sar Zamin Saad 
Baad" have drawn attention from Jamaat leaders. 
Maulana Delwar Hossain Saidee, one of the most 
garrulous Jamaat MP, and his followers have asked 
the Khaleda Zia Administration to ban Prof. 
Azad's book. On February 28, 2004, the Daily Star 
reporting on attempted assassination of Prof. 
Azad wrote, "Addressing a demonstration at Baitul 
Mukarram National Mosque on December 12, leaders 
of an anti-Ahmadiyya outfit demanded arrest and 
trial of Prof Azad for the novel."

Freedom loving Bangalees from all walks of life 
should denounce this heinous attack on one of the 
luminaries of Bangladesh's literati, Prof. 
Humayun Azad. Intolerance against liberal writers 
is on the rise in Bangladesh, which is 
symptomatic of a wholesale Islamisation of 
Bangladesh. I am confident other freethinkers and 
secularists would pen protest notes against this 
barbaric attack on Professor Azad. The government 
should apprehend the perpetrators of this crime 
and bring an end to this kind of attack on 
intelligentsia and freethinkers.

Free speech is a hallmark of liberal democracy 
and Bangladesh society should go an extra mile to 
foster free speech everywhere in our ancestral 
land. Prof. Humayun Azad has many followers in 
expatriate communities who would express their 
anger through posting in myriad Internet forums. 
I urge the Bangladesh government to investigate 
the matter thoroughly and see what role avowed 
detractors of liberal writers have played in this 
barbaric attack.

Dr. A.H. Jaffor Ullah, a research scientist and 
columnist, writes from New Orleans, USA

o o o

[Background news report]

BBC News
Friday, 27 February, 2004, 17:23 GMT 

Leading Bangladesh author stabbed
Waliur Rahman
BBC correspondent in Dhaka

A leading and controversial author in Bangladesh 
has been stabbed and critically wounded on the 
University of Dhaka campus.

Police said three youths stabbed Dr Humayun Azad 
and exploded two bombs to make their escape on 
Friday night.

Dr Azad, a professor in the Bengali department, 
is being treated in Dhaka's Combined Military 
Hospital.

He recently wrote a book critical of some 
Pakistanis for their role before Bangladeshi 
independence in 1971.

Doctors said Dr Azad had lost a huge amount of 
blood due to deep injuries in his neck.

No one has said they carried out the attack and 
police could not say anything about a motive.

Dr Azad recently wrote Pak Sar Jamin Sad Bad (the 
first line of the Pakistani national anthem) 
which was critical about the role of Pakistanis 
and their Bangladeshi collaborators before the 
independence of Bangladesh in 1971.

Several Islamist party activists denounced the book when it was published.

o o o

[Related  reports]

The Daily Star
March 01, 2004
  	 
Protest rages, writers hold programme today
Protestors want govt's resignation on Azad attack

Staff Correspondent
The wave of protest continued to swell across the 
country yesterday against Friday's gory attack on 
writer Humayun Azad, with demonstrators voicing 
demand for the government and the home minister 
to step down accepting the responsibility.

At the strike-bound Dhaka University (DU), 
thousands of students, teachers and civil society 
members, wearing black badges, their faces and 
eyes covered with black cloth, took out protest 
processions and vented their outrage at rallies.

Political parties, cultural and human rights 
activists, civil society and professional bodies, 
eminent personalities and conscious citizens all 
closed ranks in condemning the atrocity through 
various programmes.

Writers, littérateurs and cultural activists, in 
conjunction with several left-leaning parties, 
have also called a countrywide protest programme 
today including a large rally in front of the 
Central Shaheed Minar at 3pm.

Addressing a rally organised by Dhaka University 
(DU) Bangla department on the varsity campus 
yesterday noon, former president AQM Badruddoza 
Chowdhury said there was no need for bringing a 
no-confidence motion in parliament. "The people 
themselves have brought no-confidence against 
you. If you have morality, then resign," he 
advised the BNP-led coalition government.

"The people of the country won't pardon you if 
anything happened to Humayun Azad. This 
government will be held responsible," warned the 
ex-president.

Condemning the attack, he said, "Dr Azad was 
attacked in the month of February. This 
government is cruel, undemocratic and barbaric. 
It came clear after the attack on Prof Azad."

Left-leaning 11-party alliance held a protest 
rally at Purana Paltan in the afternoon. Speaking 
at the meeting, alliance leaders including 
Mujahidul Islam Selim, Rashed Khan Menon and 
Khaliquzzaman blasted the government for trying 
to extract political benefit out of the atrocity 
by blaming the opposition for it, instead of 
taking adequate steps to bring the attackers to 
book.

At a protest rally on Bangabandhu Avenue 
following a procession yesterday afternoon, 
leaders of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD-Inu) said 
the attack was not a detached episode. They 
accused some specific members of the ruling 
coalition of being complicit in the crime.

The JSD will bring out a black-flag procession 
and hold a rally to protest the attack at 
Muktangon at 3pm today.

At the DU speakers at different rallies demanded 
immediate resignation of Home Minister Altaf 
Hossain for his failure to nab the culprits in 
the three days after the crime. They also 
demanded an hourly news bulletin on Azad's 
condition at the Combined Military Hospital.

The DU Teachers Association (DUTA) took out a 
silent procession that ended at the Central 
Shaheed Minar and held there a public meeting. 
The DUTA leaders and DU teachers, who have been 
refraining from taking classes since Saturday, 
also demanded immediate resignation of the home 
minister.

The DUTA will stage a token sit in today on the campus.

Among others, Awami League's student wing 
Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), Bangladesh 
Chhatra Union, Bangladesh Chhatra Moitry (BCM), 
JSD-backed BCL, Samajtantrik Chhatra Front, 
Progatishil Chhatra Jote (PCJ), DU Sangskritik 
Oikya, Jatiya Chhatra Samaj, Progressive 
Teachers' Forum, Humayun Azad Mancha, DU 
Officers' Association, BUET Teachers' Association 
and students of the Fine Arts Institute staged 
demonstrations.

The JSD-backed BCL has called strike at all 
educational institutions in the country on March 
3. It will bring out a black-flag procession 
today.

The BCM will also stage countrywide demonstration 
today and will bring out black-flag processions 
at all educational institutions on March 3.

The PCJ will bring out protest processions and 
hold rallies at all the educational institutions 
in every district today.

Political and other organisations who issued 
statements yesterday condemning the attack and 
demanding speedy punishment of the attackers 
include Bangladesh Society for the Enforcement of 
Human Rights, Muslim League of Bangladesh, 
Bangladesh Medical Association, Association of 
Development Agencies in Bangladesh, Federation of 
NGOs in Bangladesh, Bangladesh Ainjibi Sammanay 
Parishad, Bangladesh Sampradayik Samprity 
Parishad, Oikyabaddha Nagorik Andalan, South 
Asian People's Union against Fundamentalism and 
Communalism, Bangladesh Ganotantrik Ainjibi 
Samity, Teacher's Association of Jahangirnagar 
University, Centre for Women Journalists 
Bangladesh and Bangladesh Charushilpi Sangsad.

_____


[2]

In Bad Faith: British Charity and Hindu Extremism
Published by Awaaz South Asia Watch  Limited (London) 2004
ISBN 0 9547174 0 6

In the name of charity, British public is funding Hindutva extremism

A report [...] launched on the second anniversary 
of the horrific Gujarat carnage in 2002 presents 
alarming new evidence that under the cloak of 
humanitarian charity, massive donations from the 
British public were sent to Fascist-inspired 
Hindu extremist groups involved or directly 
implicated in serious, large-scale violence or 
hatred in India.

Prepared by Awaaz - South Asia Watch Ltd, a 
London-based secular network, the report In Bad 
Faith? British Charity and Hindu Extremism, says 
UK organisations have been raising funds in the 
name of charity for natural disasters like 
earthquakes, and giving them to extremist 
organisations that preach hatred against Muslims 
and Christians.

The report, which is available now, demonstrates 
that the UK-based Sewa International sent £2 
million for the devastating earthquake in the 
Indian state of Gujarat in 2001, to its Indian 
counterpart Sewa Bharati, a front for the 
secretive, violent Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh 
(RSS). Money from the UK was given to RSS front 
organisations that are involved or implicated in 
serious violence or hate politics in India. Much 
of the money was spent on schools that promote 
hatred and fanaticism.

"Gandhi's murderer was an RSS activist. Most 
British donors would be horrified if they knew 
the nature, history and ideas of the RSS. 
Individuals raised funds and donated in good 
faith to Sewa International's Gujarat earthquake 
appeals but would not have done so had they known 
that the organisation raising the money was 
closely linked to the Fascist-inspired and 
secretive Indian RSS", says Awaaz.

Sewa International is not registered as a British 
charity, but is the fundraising arm of the 
registered charity Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), 
the UK branch of the RSS. The report exposes the 
connections of the HSS, Sewa International and 
the Kalyan Ashram Trust (another registered 
charity) to violent and extremist groups in 
India. The RSS, its closely allied family of 
organisations and their followers have been 
involved in the persecution or killing of 
thousands of Muslims and Christians in India over 
the past fifteen years. They are known to have 
planned and executed anti-Muslim pogroms in the 
Indian state of Gujarat in 2002, in which 2,000 
people were killed and 200,000 displaced. An 
independent investigation headed by a former 
Chief Justice of India called the Gujarat 
violence a "genocide". Victims included British 
citizens. The RSS family considers religious 
minorities especially Muslims and Christians to 
be foreigners, aliens and polluters who have no 
right be treated as equal citizens of India.

"Sewa International has tried to dupe 
politicians, donors and the general public. Its 
main purpose is to fund, expand and glorify 
hate-driven RSS organisations, several of which 
have been at the forefront of large scale 
violence, pogroms or hate campaigns in India. Its 
claim to be a non-sectarian, non-political, 
non-religious humanitarian charity is a sham," 
said Awaaz spokesperson Suresh Grover.

In the thoroughly documented report, Awaaz 
clearly establishes the strong ties between 
British charities and extremist organisations in 
India. It has called for the Charity Commissioner 
to withdraw the charity status of three British 
charities: Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) UK, the 
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) UK, and the Kalyan 
Ashram Trust. The Leicester-based Hindu 
Swayamsevak Sangh and Sewa International are 
currently being investigated by the UK Charity 
Commission.


FOR MORE INFORMATION email contact at awaazsaw.org.

The full report is available at
www.awaazsaw.org/ibf/index.htm
www.awaazsaw.org/ibf/ibflores.pdf

_____

[3]

The News International (Pakistan)
February 29, 2004

Beyond Gujarat

Beena Sarwar

The worst of the violence that took place in 
Gujarat, India, two years ago may be over. But 
the horror lingers, and along with that, the 
implications of what various fact-finding groups 
in India have labelled as genocide - and what 
others insist on referring to as 'communal 
riots', which by definition would mean that what 
happened was nothing more than spontaneous, 
violent clashes between two communities, in this 
case, Hindus and Muslims.

It is these two perceptions that lie at the basis 
of the clash between the ideologies of the 
militant, religious right and the secular 
progressive forces pitted against them - and not 
just in India.

The violence against, and the continuing 
intimidation of the Muslims of Gujarat are 
disturbing enough - equally alarming are the 
"open subversion of justice and the failure of 
democratic movements, as the courageous activist 
Harsh Mander puts it, "to resist extremist 
forces". This is true not just for India, but 
also for Pakistan, and any number of countries 
particularly in the post-September 11 2001 world.

More than forty independent citizens' reports on 
Gujarat have gathered "overwhelming evidence of 
the enormity of the brutality, state complicity, 
long, advance preparations for the carnage and 
the deliberate abdication of responsibilities for 
relief and rehabilitation," Mander notes in the 
introduction to his book 'Cry, My Beloved 
Country'.

Even those who tried to help were targeted. 
Unlike previous times when victims of communal 
riots in India could find refuge with friends and 
neighbours from the majority
community, "this time, people were scared to say 
who saved them - and there were many - or to be 
identified as saviours," says Delhi-based 
scientist and poet Gauhar Raza, who has been 
working in Gujarat. "This time, they were killed."

Particularly alarming is how deeply the rot has 
set, how many Indians are willing to believe that 
the Muslims of Gujarat deserved what they got. As 
a student of an elite school in New Delhi wrote 
in an essay, says Mander, Muslims are "cruel 
people from Afghanistan who break Hindu temples 
to make them into Muslim temples". Such skewed 
perceptions have been formed over years of 
doctoring history in school textbooks, and a 
political discourse over the last two decades 
dominated not by issues of social justice, but on 
the politics of religion.

The political rhetoric spun by Washington after 
the 9-11 attacks upped the ante around the world, 
as it was echoed by governments grappling with 
'terrorist' issues of their own. If Moscow seized 
the moment to step up its actions against the 
Chechen rebels, Tel Aviv similarly escalated 
operations against the Palestinians, to the 
extent that even international volunteers 
assisting the Palestinians were now targeted 
(Rachel Corrie, Tom Hurndall and others); it was 
also a good moment to begin work on a 'security 
wall' that has been condemned the world over for 
its encroachment into Palestinian territory.

Closer to home, the anti-Pakistan rhetoric from 
New Delhi escalated, leading to an almost total 
snapping of ties between these two nuclear-armed 
nations, particularly following the December 2001 
attack on the Indian Parliament for which New 
Delhi was quick to blame Islamabad.

It is no coincidence that Gujarat went up in 
flames shortly afterwards. Barely had the ashes 
cooled in the Sabarmati Express coaches in which 
58 VHP activists, including women and children, 
were burned alive on February 27, 2002, than the 
BJP and Sangh Parivar (Hindu Right) pinned the 
blame on 'Muslims'. One gruesome massacre was 
used to perpetuate violence on a much larger 
scale against Muslims in Gujarat - some 2,000 
men, women and children were slaughtered, while 
over 2,00,000 were rendered homeless and 
destitute.

"Gujarat has changed our lives forever," says 
Gauhar Raza. "We have a sense of urgency, that 
these forces must be countered." What is 
disturbing is that not all progressive forces 
feel this sense of urgency, "they are still 
caught up in a kind of complacency that this was 
a passing phase."

It is not just in India, but here in next door 
Pakistan, and around the world, that progressive 
forces need to build on that sense of urgency and 
organise to counter those who use violence to 
settle issues, whether on the state, or the 
non-government level.



_____

[4]


AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE

AI Index:	ASA 20/003/2004 (Public)
News Service No:	045
26 February 2004

India: Gujarat -- Denial of Justice for Victims
On the second anniversary of the massacres in 
Gujarat (27 February), Amnesty International 
expresses its solidarity with all the victims of 
the Godhra and post-Godhra violence and with 
their families.

The organization reminds the international 
community that those crimes remain unpunished and 
appeals for sustained pressure on the Government 
of India to ensure that justice and reparation 
are eventually offered to the victims.

"Two years after the massacres took place, most 
of the victims are still demanding justice, but 
they are not being heard," Amnesty International 
said. "Despite the efforts of the human rights 
community and the scrutiny of the Supreme Court 
on some of the trials, the Government of Gujarat 
and elements of the criminal justice system in 
the state seem to be colluding in denying justice 
to the victims. This attitude reopens the 
victims' wounds every day."

The Gujarat police in many cases reportedly 
failed to record complaints or did it in a 
defective manner; diluted charges against the 
accused; omitted their names from complaints, 
failed to organize identification parades; record 
witnesses' statements and collect the 
corroborative evidence necessary to identify the 
perpetrators. "At the end of this doubtful 
exercise, half of the more than 4000 complaints 
filed in the aftermath of the violence had to be 
unsurprisingly closed by the courts due to lack 
of evidence presented by the police," the 
organization said.

The Best Bakery case, first of a few key cases to 
arrive at trial stage, is a blatant example of 
how elements of the criminal justice system are 
often backing each other in the state to ensure 
impunity for the perpetrators of the violence. It 
appears that the investigation was defective, the 
public prosecutor failed to adequately represent 
the victims, the witnesses were not protected 
from threats and the judge ended up mechanically 
acquitting the accused.

The entire trial was conducted in an atmosphere 
of hostility to the victims' family. The 
acquittal verdict was shockingly upheld by the 
High Court. On that occasion, the legitimate 
activities of human rights defenders who 
supported witnesses were termed "not permissible 
under the law". The basic principles of fair 
trial and of due process were turned upside-down 
in this case and the entire proceedings turned 
into a farcical exercise.

The hopes that the Supreme Court would reopen 
avenues of justice by ordering the transfer of 
the investigations on the Best Bakery and other 
key cases onto the Central Bureau of 
Investigations (CBI) were again shaken in early 
February when a doubt was cast on the 
impartiality of this agency. The former 
Commissioner of Police of Ahmedabad - identified 
by eye-witnesses and by fact-finding reports for 
having failed to protect the victims from their 
attackers during the massacres - has recently 
been appointed to the post of Deputy Director of 
the CBI itself.

"This appointment comes as a further humiliation 
for the victims and it needs to be urgently 
reviewed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, to 
ensure that the credibility of the agency is 
preserved," Amnesty International added.

Background
Following an attack on a train in Godhra, 
Gujarat, on 27 February 2002 in which 59 Hindus 
were killed, violence of unprecedented brutality, 
targeting the Muslim community, spread in the 
state and continued in the next three months, 
leaving more than 2,000 people killed. The state 
government and police took insufficient action to 
protect civilians and, in many cases, may have 
colluded with the attackers and actively 
participated in the violence.

In June 2003, 21 people accused of the murder of 
14 people burned to death in the Best Bakery in 
Baroda on 1 March 2002, were acquitted. Following 
the acquittal, key witnesses indicated that they 
lied in court because they had been threatened 
with death unless they did so. Following a public 
outcry, the National Human Rights Commission 
(NHRC) carried out an investigation and 
subsequently filed a petition in the Supreme 
Court. The petition asked the court to provide 
protection to witnesses, to ensure a retrial of 
the case in a court outside Gujarat state and to 
order the transfer of other ongoing key cases to 
courts outside Gujarat to ensure fair 
proceedings. During the proceedings, the Supreme 
Court severely criticized the state government of 
Gujarat for failing to provide justice to victims 
of the communal violence and pointed to possible 
collusion between the state government and the 
prosecution in subverting the cause of justice.
Following this criticism, the Gujarat Government 
sought a retrial of the Best Bakery case. In 
December, the Gujarat High Court dismissed the 
state government's appeal for a retrial on the 
basis that the prosecution did not produce 
sufficient evidence. While the judgement blamed 
police for failing to record complaints in the 
case, it also accused human rights defenders 
working to ensure justice of setting up a 
parallel investigative agency. On 21 February, 
the Government of Gujarat, under pressure from 
the Supreme Court itself, finally filed their 
appeal in the Supreme Court against the High 
Court judgement. The next expected date of 
hearing in the case is 27 February.


Public Document
****************************************
For more information please call Amnesty 
International's press office in London, UK, on 
+44 20 7413 5566
Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW. web: www.amnesty.org


_____


[5]

The Hindustan Times
Monday, March 1, 2004
  	 
Future of Indian past
Romila Thapar

  In recent times, there has been a substantial 
controversy over the interpretation of Indian 
history. There is a confrontation between 
historians who have been writing on various 
aspects of Indian history over the last half 
century and others who are supportive of a 
different history which validates the ideology of 
religious nationalism. The latter is being 
propagated and patronised by the current 
government at the Centre.

The controversy began over the attempt to 
discredit the existing history textbooks for 
schools, published by the NCERT. It was argued by 
the government that the books contained 
statements that had been objected to by various 
religious organisations. For example, reference 
to the eating of beef in ancient India or the 
origins of caste in Indian society was said to be 
inappropriate. It was then decided that all such 
passages would be deleted and no discussion on 
these passages would be allowed in schools. 
Historians as well as members of the public 
protested about this, but no attention was paid 
to the protest. In 2003, the existing textbooks 
were replaced by new ones approved of by the 
government. These procedures had not been 
processed through the committees that normally 
process educational procedures and changes, since 
these committees were not called to meet and 
discuss the changes.

An attempt was also made to introduce a uniform 
history syllabus at the level of undergraduate 
and graduate education. The suggested syllabus 
was so substandard that it has been unacceptable 
in the better departments of history. Attempts 
have also been made to virtually ban two major 
publications of documents from the National 
Archives, pertaining to the period just prior to 
1947. An atmosphere has been created where books 
on history, if disapproved by government, can be 
banned.

The question that needs to be asked is why there 
is a fear of independent history writing. One 
reason for this is that the interpretation of the 
past has to now conform to the concepts of 
religious nationalism and the identity that it 
creates, and which identity is being sought by 
sections of the middle-class supporting this 
ideology. The new middle-class emerging from 
diverse groups is searching for a bonding. This 
is also linked in part to the insecurity and 
competition emerging from globalisation. Added to 
this is what is perceived as a threat from 
underprivileged sections of society demanding 
their legitimate rights. The ideological support 
of the bonding comes from the ideology of 
Hindutva and focuses on origins and identities. 
Hindutva gives a definition to these that draws 
on history and requires changing history in order 
to legitimise religious nationalism.

Both Hindu and Muslim religious nationalisms 
emerged in the early 20th century and became a 
counterpart to anti-colonial nationalism. Where 
the latter was inclusive and tried to bring 
together the segments of Indian society, the 
former divided Indian society into a supposedly 
irreconcilable dichotomy - Hindu and Muslim, and 
the one excluded the other. Pre-modern Indian 
history written from the perspective of 
anti-colonial nationalism and from religious 
nationalism overlapped at some points, but in the 
major part it differed. For anti-colonial 
nationalism the confrontation was with the 
colonial power. For the religious nationalisms, 
the confrontation was with the other religious 
community and the colonial power received pledges 
of support from them. As far as historical 
interpretation was concerned both religious 
nationalisms - Hindu and Muslim - were rooted in 
the perspective of colonial interpretations of 
Indian history.

The two themes that are central to the current 
rewriting of history in India focus on origins 
and identity, since these were crucial to the 
definition of the Hindu according to the ideology 
of Hindutva. On the question of origins there is 
an attempt to link all Hindus to the Aryans of 
antiquity. It is argued that the Aryans were the 
earliest inhabitants of India. Therefore, there 
is an insistence on stating that the civilisation 
of the Harappan cities was authored by the Aryans.

What is still widely known as the Indus 
civilisation is now given the name Saraswati 
civilisation, and this evokes an Aryan 
connection. Furthermore, it is argued that the 
Aryans were indigenous to India. This provides a 
lineal descent of 5,000 years to Hindus in the 
subcontinent. Sanskrit is projected not only as 
unique but ancestral to all Indo-European 
languages; thus Aryan culture went out from 
India. Other historians have argued that such 
theories are unsupported by the evidence from 
archaeology and linguistics, nor by the history 
of caste or the history of Hinduism; neither can 
the agro-pastoralism of the Rigveda be equated 
with the sophisticated urbanism of the Indus 
cities.

The second theme relates to identity and here 
again the attempt is to give primacy to the Hindu 
identity. This focuses on the question of who is 
indigenous and who is foreign. The definition of 
the Hindu as the indigenous category goes back to 
the founding ideologue of Hindutva, V.D. 
Savarkar. He argued that the claim to being 
indigenous must be based on a person locating his 
pitribhumi (land of his ancestors) and his 
punyabhumi (land of his religion) within the 
boundary of British India. The latter 
disqualifies Muslims and Christians, who were 
therefore declared foreign. Communists were later 
added to the list!

A further disqualification was the assertion that 
they had no common culture with the Hindus. To 
emphasise this, race and language were added as 
qualifications, even if race was by now a 
spurious category. Having stated that the Muslims 
of India are all foreigners, the interpretation 
of the history of medieval India - the 2nd 
millennium AD - became the history of foreign 
rule, with Hindus being oppressed by the Muslims. 
The history of this period is seen in terms of 
Muslim conquest and Hindu resistance. To this is 
added the theory that Muslim rule led to the 
decline of Hinduism, overlooking the fact that 
the Hinduism that is practised today has evolved 
largely from this period.

This history is now projected as new and 
indigenous and it is maintained that unlike the 
earlier history it is entirely uninfluenced by 
western ideas. In fact, the theories of origins 
and identities that are now propounded are 
derived from 19th century European thinking and 
from colonial authors. The uniqueness of Sanskrit 
goes back to Schlegel at the start of the 19th 
century and to the debate on Indo-European 
languages among the Orientalists and in German 
Romantism. The theory of the Aryans being 
indigenous was first advanced by the Theosophists 
in the late 19th century and some socio-religious 
reformers.

After much debate, it was given up half a century 
later. The Aryan foundations of Indian history 
were expounded at the same time by Max Mueller, 
although he argued that they came from outside 
India. Aryan origins played a dominant and 
devastating role in European theories of the 
genesis of peoples and cultures. These ideas were 
incorporated into the wider ideology of Hindutva.

************************
(The writer is Emeritus Professor of History at 
Jawaharlal Nehru University. This is an edited 
extract of the D.T. Lakdawala Memorial Lecture, 
organised by the Institute of Social Sciences, 
delivered on February 21



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Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on 
matters of peace and democratisation in South 
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