SACW | 3 April 2004

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire   |  3 April,  2004
via:  www.sacw.net

[1] Bangladesh: Selectivity of "Freedom" Chokes 
People's Free Voice (Farida Majid)
[2] An Interview with the Indian Feminist Kamla Bhasin
[3] India: On Advani's Hinduism (Girish Mishra)
[4] Book Review: At the Confluence of Two Rivers 
- Muslims and Hindus in South India (Reviewed by 
Yogi Sikand)
[5] India: Use Your Illusions (Jean Drèze and Reetika Khera)
[6] India: Knock, knock, here's your Hindu fatwa
[7] Upcoming Events:
- Language, Culture and Urban Publics Workshop( New Delhi, April 2-3, 2004)
-  Amartya Sen to discuss 'The Content of Democracy' (New York, April 22, 2004)
[8] Latest Additions On The SACW Web Site:
- The Future of The Indian Past by Romila Thapar
- The New Line of Control by Omar Noman
- Sri Lanka: An Eyeful of Green by Bina Srinivasan


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

[1]


[Posted here from the Mailing list 'uttorshuri'
URL: groups.yahoo.com/group/uttorshuri/ ]

o o o

Selectivity of "Freedom" Chokes People's Free Voice
Farida Majid
2004, New York

A friend of mine, a British man working in EU-Bangladesh Govt.'s
joint program, Adorsho Gram, recently went to Modhupur on a tour. 
He was taken to the forest area, which was a joke, since the
hillsides are denuded of trees. On top of one of the scraggly
hills he noticed some unusual sheds that did not look like local
people's dwellings. He asked his guide about them, and the guide
told him, "They are the Al-Qaeda training camps. The local Madrassa
boys are sent there for extra-curricular activities." The casualness
of the answer reveals that today's Bangladesh must be the only
country after Taliban-run Afghanistan where Al-Qaeda training camps
can run freely and openly, and apparently, with the approval of the
authorities concerned.

After the gruesome attack on Dr. Humayun Azad, when the whole horrified
nation, and the Bangalees in the diaspora, knew exactly who would want to
choke the voice of this writer, the news reports flashed about "unknown
assailant". At press briefings the Home Minister hinted at possible
"personal enmity" as if Humayun Azad was a drug dealer or a Mafia
godfather, not a popular professor of Bangla at Dhaka University who also
happens to be a prolific scholar and a creative writer, and the author of
over 70 books. Plenty of protection by the government for the freedom of
"unknown assailants" attempting to shut up the freedom of speech of a
writer who dared writing a fictional account of their criminal campaigns of
terror in the name of religion.

Starting from Sheikh Mujib, there has not been a single Muslim Bangladeshi
politician who did not pander to or court religion in order to appeal to
the "religious sentiments" of the majority of the population. The Military
Dictatorship of Ziaur Rahman illegally doctored the 1972 Constitution,
scrapped the clauses that prohibited political parties based on religion,
and legitimized the Jamaati party without so much a thought that
Moududibadi ideology of the Jamaati Islami party does not represent the
tenets, principles and practices of the Muslim majority of Bangladesh.
Sheikh Hasina would court Golam Azam, and would go on several Haj and Umrah
to please the Jamaati leaders thinking she is pleasing the voters or as the
slogan goes: the "religious sentiment" of the majority. Not a single
politician in Bangladesh today has either the guts or the necessary
religious knowledge that neither Jamaat, nor the other Islamist parties
represent the "religious sentiment" of the Muslim majority of the country.

I had no idea of Humayun's new novel, Pak Shar Jamin Shaad Baad, not having
read it while it was being serialized in the literary section of the
Ittefaq last year. I saw Humayun at the Boi Mela in early February in
Dhaka, signing books at the stall of Agami Prokashoni. He was genuinely
happy to see me since he was not aware that I was in Dhaka. As soon as I
heard of the title of his novel, I said, "Forget Pakistan. That was more
than fifty years ago. Those days are over. Today's fundamentalists are more
vicious, violent and dangerous than ever before."

Humayun flashed a smile, the rows of his teeth glowing bright in the dim
lit stall of the Boi Mela. "Read all about it," he said, with a twinkle in
his eyes, handing me a copy, signed "Priyo Farida bondhu," "It is all
there!"

Yes, indeed, it is all there. Humayun has vividly described this venal
group, who call themselves Jihadists in his novel, and who combine Islam
with the vilest of profanities imaginable. He has also described their
affinity with the ruling parties in the administration that is perfectly
credible, if not proven. No doubt, even after the outpourings of people's
protest against the dastardly attack on Humayun, the Bangladshi politicians
will go on supporting the Islamist extremists by way of catering to the
"religious sentiment" of the people. Will they never know that protesting
against criminal activities in the name of religion is the most profound
"religious sentiment" any community can possibly express?

In one sense, Humayun's novel has done all good Muslims of Bangladesh a
favor. Unlike the politicians of Bangladesh, and unlike Taslima Nasrin, it
shows a difference between ordinary, law-abiding, believing and practicing
Muslims, and the growing foreign-ideology-based Islamist menace fattened by
the ignorant religious politics of the ruling party (whichever of the two
major parties it may be). It is not very likely that Humayun's assailants
would be arrested, arraigned, tried and given due punishment any time soon.
THEY have the freedom, the freedom of impunity. Al-Qaeda can freely recruit
students from local Madrssas as expressions of "religious sentiments."
Ahmadiya's publications can be seized by the Govt., and banned, because it
believes in respecting a small group's false claim of "religious
sentiments" on behalf of an entire population. Hindu women are raped, and
Muslim women are coerced into wearing a foreign-looking hijab in the name
of religion. But, when people's voice, express anger against injustice -
carrying their true religious sentiments - it is completely ignored.


_____


[2]


The Times of India
APRIL 1, 2004
Today's Interview
FAIR MOVEMENT

One of the pioneers of the feminist movement in 
India , Kamla Bhasin , 58, has founded many 
organisations including Jagori, WIPSA, SANGAT and 
SAHR. In an interview with Archana Jahagirdar , 
she outlines why the movement in India is not a 
spent force and that the new enemies of the 
movement are communalism and fascism:

Even after two decades of the feminist movement 
in India , the International Women's Day remains 
a calendar event. Is the day too remote for us?

I don't agree with that. Like May Day has become 
a global celebration, a global reminder of labour 
rights, so too has March 8 become for women. Now, 
even the prime minister does something on that 
day. Even in smaller towns, events are held to 
celebrate this day. Magazines which promote 
anti-feminist concepts too play up March 8. The 
common woman now knows about it. In fact, the day 
is better known than say the Human Rights Day. I 
would like all justice and equality-related days 
to be celebrated the way religious festivals are 
celebrated.

How much has the movement changed the lives of 
ordinary women? They are still enslaved by evils 
like dowry. If anything, their lives have become 
worse.

It's one step forward and two steps backwards for 
the common woman. There are contradictory forces 
at work. On the one hand, there is this 
progressive thinking which has led to 
decentralisation which is pro-women and on the 
other hand, there is this economic onslaught 
which is detrimental to women. Due to the current 
economic model that we are following, millions of 
women are losing their jobs, their livelihood is 
getting wiped out. If the women's movement wasn't 
there, even the status quo would not be 
maintained.

Recently, Jagori brought The Vagina Monologues to 
India . One criticism against the play was it 
preaches to the converted.

Yes, Eve Ensler is an American and therefore 
writes in English, so she does talk to the 
converted. But what the play does is that it 
initiates a dialogue. But Eve's is not a lone 
voice. People like Chandralekha have celebrated 
the woman's body in dance. We feel that there is 
negative globalisation and there is a positive 
globalisation of sisterhood. The play seemed to 
further the gender schism. The male voice was 
under-represented. Gentlemen, men who genuinely 
respect women, were there in the play. If there 
was a play about patriarchal violence, there 
can't be equal representation to both the 
genders. If I were to do a play about Brahmanical 
atrocities on Dalits, it would not celebrate 
Brahmins. The play wasn't against men but is 
against a system. We are talking about a system.

What is your concept of the ideal woman?

For me an ideal man or woman is the same. Both 
should have the best human qualities, the yin and 
the yang, the ardhanareeshwar. The men who are 
worshipped are androgynous like the Buddha, 
Christ. Mother Teresa was a combination of both. 
However, everybody who wants to succeed is taking 
on masculine traits. There is so much competition 
to survive today that feminine qualities are 
considered weak. There is a shift towards 
negative masculine traits.

Isn't it ironic that as more and more women are 
becoming successful in their careers, they start 
behaving more and more like men?

The whole economic paradigm is putting a premium 
on being power hungry. A recent survey done in a 
European country discovered that men on top have 
successful marriage and children, whereas women 
on top are unmarried. So women have to give up 
everything while men get everything. For a 
successful man, a good marriage is an asset but 
for a woman it's seen as a hindrance.

Like muscular Hindutva is a put-off for many, so 
too is muscular feminism. Many who believe in the 
cause get alienated by the strident tone that 
some feminists use.

For me, feminism cannot be muscular. But like 
there are different kinds of socialists, there 
are different types of feminists. We don't 
believe in polarities. We feel that all systems 
of domination are inter-connected. Capitalism in 
many ways supports patriarchy. They function 
along the same lines.

Is feminism just for women? After all, for any 
change to happen, shouldn't there be a 
collaboration between the two genders?

We seek collaboration with those men who seek to 
end patriarchy. The movement against Brahmanism 
was sustained by Dalits but the struggle was 
supported by many upper caste people as well. The 
collaboration can be with men who can put aside 
their short-term goals for long-term benefits. 
The liberation of women will also liberate the 
men. Right now, there is no notion of equal 
partnership.

Where do you see the movement going from here?

The movement goes where society takes it. For 
instance, earlier, we didn't talk about negative 
globalisation but now we do. Today, the declining 
child ratio is a big issue. Communalism and 
fascism are big issues. The movement should be 
like water and take the shape of whatever utensil 
it is poured into. There are no pre-fixed 
agendas. Our movement depends on what kind of 
patriarchal violence there is and we respond 
accordingly. The feminist movement has been truly 
democratic.

_____


[3]

SAHMAT
8, Vithalbhai Patel House, Rafi Marg,New Delhi-110001
Telephone- 3711276/ 3351424
E-mail: sahmat at vs vsnl.com, sahmat8 at yahoo.com

1. 4. .2004

SECULARISM ALERT-3

On Advani's Hinduism
by Girish Mishra

Nirod C. Chaudhuriís is a well-known name in 
India. His softness to Hinduism and remarks on 
Gandhi, Nehru and the Indian National Congress 
had endeared him to a handful of people in the 
Sangh Parivar, who sometimes read materials other 
than those brought out by the Nagpur outfit and 
its branches. My respected friend Desraj Goyal 
whose knowledge about the ideology and working of 
the Parivar cannot be faulted testifies to this. 
Thomas Nixon Carver, an agricultural economist in 
the United States in the olden days. became 
famous, as Prof. Galbraith says, not for his 
contributions to the field of his specialisation 
but for so-called Carver Law that states "The 
Rightists do not read at all while the Leftists 
read only leftist literature." Harishankar Parsai 
in one of his widely read pieces underlined that 
the mind of a typical Swaymsevak was like a bank 
locker where only the person having the key to it 
could put in whatever things he wished to and 
take out whatever he thought had become our

Lal Krishna Adavani is an exception. Being a 
former journalist, he has acquired the good (or 
bad?) habit of reading non-RSS literature, though 
selectively.

It seems having read some of the writings of 
Chaudhuri and getting the impression that "he is 
on our side," Advani met him at his residence in 
England. What happened there is very revealing. 
The internationally-known Indian journalist 
Pankaj Mishra wrote the following in The Guardian 
(13 July 2002): "Shortly before he died, at the 
age of 101, the Anglo-Bengali scholar and 
polemicist Nirad Chaudhuri received the leader of 
the Hindu nationalist BJP party, L. K. Advani, at 
his home in Oxford. The Hindu nationalists, who 
recently presided in Gujarat over Indiaís 
worst-ever anti-Muslim pogrom, had been pleased 
by some of Chaudhuriís offhand denunciations of 
the medieval Muslim invaders of India.

"They probably hoped that Indiaís most 
distinguished intellectual exile would do more 
for their fascistic cause, but they hadnít fully 
reckoned with Chaudhuri, who interrogated Advani 
about his knowledge of India. He was still full 
of scorn when I saw him weeks later. "These 
wretched BJP types," he told me, "they call 
themselves cultural nationalists, speak of 
ancient Hindu ethos, yet do not know Sanskrit, 
know nothing of their own history. Such barbaric 
people!""

Advani claims to be a Rambhakta and he has great 
fascination for riding a chariot. This betrays a 
lack of knowledge of the basic approach of Lord 
Rama. Tulasidasa's Ramacharita Manas or Ramayana 
depicts him barefooted and without any vehicle of 
his own. It was Ravana that had a chariot. In 
fact, Rama was leading the oppressed and 
exploited in battle against the most powerful 
oppressor and exploiter of his time. Rama did not 
have a well-equipped and well-trained army. He 
had gathered the lower sections of the society, 
who were without means. In fact, Ravana had all 
the advantages. Yet, he was defeated.

If one reads Tulasidasaís magnum opus, one finds 
it the best and most apt commentary on social, 
political and cultural life of the 16th century 
India. Barring some, a large number of his 
comments are still relevant. Reading Tulasidasa, 
one finds Advani totally ignorant of Hindu ethos 
and the facets of Lord Ramaís life and thus 
emulating Ravana. To substantiate, let us quote 
from Tulasidasa's magnum opus.

The battle with Ravana is about to begin and 
Ravana arrives on the battlefield with his 
massive army. In the words of Tulasidasa, "When 
Vibhisana beheld Ravana mounted on a chariot and 
Rama on foot, he became apprehensive; his extreme 
affection made him doubtful of mind, and falling 
at his feet, he cried tenderly: "My Lord, you 
have neither a chariot nor shoes to your feet, 
how can you conquer so powerful a warrior?" 
"Hearken, my friend," replied the Lord of grace, 
"a conqueror has a different kind of chariot. 
Manliness and courage are his wheels; unflinching 
truthfulness and morality his banners and 
standards; strength, discretion, self-control and 
benevolence his horses, with grace, mercy and 
equanimity for their harness: prayer to Mahadeva 
his unerring charioteer; continence his shield, 
contentment his sword, alms-giving his axe, 
knowledge his mighty spear, and perfect science 
his stout bow. His pure and constant soul stands 
for a quiver, his pious practices of devotion for 
a sheaf of arrows, and the revenue he pays to 
Brahmanas and his guru is his impenetrable coat 
of mail. There is no equipment for victory that 
can be compared to this, nor is there any enemy, 
my friend, who can conquer the man who rides upon 
this chariot of righteousness."

The great poet comments: "He who owns such a 
powerful chariot as this is a hero who can 
vanquish even that great and terrible enemy, the 
world; harken, friend, and fear not." (The 
Ramayana of Tulasidasa translated by F. S. 
Growse, published by Motilal Banarasidass, 1989, 
pp. 586-87).

Let Adavani ponder over these words of Tulasidasa 
and infer whether he is a follower of Lord Rama 
or Ravana.

These days one hears him talk quite often of 
Suraj or Sushasan (good governance), but these 
terms are used only to deceive the gullible. 
Tulasidasa has described it as follows: "Under 
Ramaís sway the three spheres were full of joy, 
all sorrow was at an end; no one had a grudge 
against another, every variance was extinguished 
under Ramaís auspices." Further, "In the whole of 
Ramaís realm there was no one who suffered from 
bodily pains, ill fortune or evil circumstance. 
Every man loved his neighbour and contented with 
the state of life to which he had been born, 
conformably to the teaching of Scripture and 
sound morality".There was no premature death and 
no sickness even, but everyone was comely and 
sound of body. No one was in poverty, in sorrow, 
or distress; no one ignorant or unlucky. All the 
men and women were unaffectedly good and pious, 
clever and intelligent. Everyone appreciated the 
merits of his neighbour and was himself learned 
and wise; everyone was grateful for kindnesses 
and guilelessly prudent.

"Listen, O king of birds, during Rama's reign 
there was not a creature in the world, animate or 
inanimate, that suffered from any of the ills 
that ordinarily result from time or past conduct 
or personal temperament and character." (Ibid., 
pp. 641-42).

The shortage of space does not allow us 
reproducing Tulasidasa's description of Suraj or 
Sushasan, but one can say with confidence that 
what happened in Gujarat under Modi dispensation 
or what the various wings of the Sangh Parivar 
have been saying and doing is not even remotely 
in accord with the conception of Ramraj as 
enunciated by Tulasidasa. The Hindus take him, 
not Advani, as the true interpreter of Hinduism. 
The destruction of Babari mosque and hurling 
abuses at women in general and Sonia Gandhi in 
particular cannot go well with true Hinduism that 
places even the queen of Ravana Mandodari among 
the five most virtuous women to be worshipped by 
a devout Hindu. Modis, Katiyars, Venkaiha Naidus 
and Advanis cannot be termed true Hindus if one 
goes by what Tulasidasa says.

Let us now come to Swami Karapatriji whose 
knowledge of Hinduism and Hindu scriptures was 
never called in question. Remember he had nothing 
to do with the Congress, not to speak of the 
Left. He had published a bulky book attacking 
Marxism. He had founded an all-India party Ram 
Rajya Parishad and, on many issues, he was an 
ally of the earlier incarnation of the BJP. He 
was for banning cow slaughter and preventing 
scheduled caste people from entering temples. He 
had worked with the RSS people and observed their 
deeds closely. On this basis,

he came to certain conclusions, which he placed 
before the people at large in November 1970 in 
the form of a book Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh 
and Hindu Dharama. Veerbhadra Mishra, the 
mahantha of Sankata Mochan, a place of worship of 
Lord Hanumana published it. Incidentally, Mishra 
was the person who bestowed the title of 
Rajarishi on V. P. Singh when he declared war on 
the Congress. A few years ago, Mishra was praised 
by Time magazine for his efforts to clean the 
Ganges. He was also a professor at the Institute 
of Technology at the BHU.

Mishra in his publisherís note appended to the 
book said: "His Holiness Swami Karapatriji has, 
after looking at from all angles and on the basis 
of the writings of Golwalkarji, come to the 
conclusion that rashtravad of the RSS has nothing 
to do with Hindu religion. In fact, it is a 
variety of western Nazism or Hitlerism." 

The Swami quoted extensively from the writings of 
M. S. Golwalkar to underline the fact that the 
RSS was completely ignorant of the rules of logic 
and of the tenets of Hindu religion. It was an 
organisation of people highly illiterate so far 
as Hindu religion was concerned. To give an 
example, according to the Swami, saffron was 
never the colour of the flag of Hinduism. He took 
Golwalkar and his followers to task for hurling 
derogatory remarks at the tricolour national flag.

Karapatriji objected to the definition of a Hindu 
given by Golwalkar and his ideological mentor V. 
D. Savarkar. He asserted that it was logical 
fallacious and one could look up standard 
treatises on Indian logic, i.e., Nyaya to see 
that it was hetudoshagrasta (logically 
fallacious). Subjecting RSS ideology to a 
rigorous scrutiny and examination, the venerable 
Swami concluded that the RSS and its various off 
springs were following Hitler and Mussolini
rather than the tenets of Hinduism. Their 
anti-Muslim plank was fashioned after Hitlerís 
hatred towards Jews.

It is surprising that no one dared challenge the 
Swami, not even M. S. Golwalkar because the 
Parivar was suffering from "barbaric ignorance" 
of Hindu scriptures. Had they confronted the 
Swami, he would have exposed them. 

Advani and his ideological Parivar talk of the 
foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi and the 
Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. In both cases their 
arguments suffer from hetudosha i.e. logical 
fallacy. One of these fallacies is that of 
"slippery slope argument". To illustrate, if you 
cannot allow a person of foreign origin to become 
prime minister, how can you allow her to become 
President, defence minister, home minister, an 
intelligence officer, a police official, and even 
a clerk or an orderly in the departments even 
remotely concerned with national security? 
Similarly, if you put a ban on her holding any of 
the responsible positions then you have to 
disqualify her descendants too. If one looks into 
history books one finds that Jats came from 
outside the country (refer to their standard 
history by the late Prof. Kalika Ranjan Qanungo 
of the Lucknow University). The same is the case 
of Maga Brahmins (otherwise known as
Sakyadwipis) without whose contributions Dr 
Joshiís astrology will vanish. One of the best 
known Maga Brahmins is Varahmihira. If Advani has 
any doubt, let him consult Pandit Vidya Niwas 
Mishra who has been nominated by his government 
has to the Rajya Sabha ostensibly for his 
erudition.

One of the greatest non-Muslim rulers of India, 
Asoka, had Greek blood in his veins. 
Unfortunately, Dr Joshi has forgotten to expunge 
his name from history. We can go on and on to 
demonstrate the utter ignorance of the 
self-declared champions of Hinduism. Advani is 
our home minister but law and order situation in 
Delhi, which is directly under him, is in 
tatters. Insecurity has increased, and 
kidnappings and murders have become daily 
occurrences. Even the Parliament House was 
attacked under his dispensation. A Swiss diplomat 
and an Australian tourist have been murdered and 
a host of foreigners have been molested in recent 
times. Girls are not safe and even those 
responsible for security cannot be trusted. 
Obviously, citizens are fear-stricken and in that 
case the rulers like Advani, as Tulasidas says, 
will go to hell. Let Advani challenge Tulasidasa 
and say he and his colleagues are not to go to 
hell but get into power again and he, not 
Tulasidasa, is the best interpreter of Hinduism. 
He should consult V.K. Malhotra, a retired 
lecturer in Hindi (but now self-elevated 
professor) on the credentials of Tulasidas before 
asking Dr Joshi to ban his works.

Advaniís trouble arises from his infatuation with 
power, which, according to the Gita, leads to 
"confusion of memory; from confusion of memory, 
loss of reason; and loss of reason one goes to 
complete ruin." These are the words of Lord 
Krishna (II/63) not of a Congressman or Communist.

According to the tenets of Hindu religion, Advani 
has entered the last stage or ashrama i.e. 
sannyasa. If he claims to be true Hindu, he 
should retire and spend the rest of his life in 
penance. Will he?



______


[4]


Book Review

Name of the Book: At the Confluence of Two Rivers 
- Muslims and Hindus in South India

Author: Jackie Assayag
Publisher: Manohar, New Delhi
Year: 2004
Pages: 313
Reviewed by: Yoginder Sikand

Compared with north India, relatively little has 
been written on the social history of Islam and 
Hindu-Muslim relations in the southern states of 
India. This is particularly unfortunate, given 
that Islam arrived in coastal south India 
considerably before it made its appearance in the 
north. The spread of Islam in most of south 
India, in contrast to much of the north, was not 
accompanied by Muslim political expansion, being, 
instead, mainly the result mainly of the peaceful 
missionary efforts of Sufis and traders. 
Furthermore, and again unlike the situation in 
much of the north, Hindu-Muslim relations in most 
parts of south India have been fairly 
tension-free, and continue to be so, although 
things are now changing with the rise in recent 
years of aggressive Hindu organizations in the 
region.

This book sets out to explore various aspects of 
Hindu-Muslim relations in the southern Indian 
state of Karnataka. In doing so it seriously 
challenges several key assumptions that underlie 
both commonsensical notions as well as scholarly 
writings on the vexed issue of the Hindu-Muslim 
encounter. Examining various shared religious 
traditions, cults and shrines in rural Karnataka 
with which many Hindus and Muslims are 
associated, Assayag questions the notion of 
'Islam' and 'Hinduism' as actually practiced 
religions as being two monolithic entities, 
neatly defined and clearly set apart, if not 
opposed to, each other. In turn, he challenges 
the understanding of 'Hindus' and 'Muslims' as 
two distinct communities that have little or 
nothing in common at the level of social practice 
and religious belief and ritual. In this way, 
Assayag questions the grossly simplistic and 
misleading notion of 'Hindus' and 'Muslims' as 
being inherently and necessarily the theological 
'other' of each other.

The shared religious traditions in which many 
Muslims and Hindus in present-day Karnataka 
jointly participate forms the main focus of this 
book. Assayag provides interesting 
anthropological details of the beliefs and 
practices associated with the traditions 
associated with the cults of various Sufis and 
local deities, showing how the common 
participation of both Hindus and Muslims in these 
cults helps to promote a shared tradition and 
culture. Thus, Hindus flock in large numbers to 
Sufi shrines; village Muslims often visit Hindu 
temples where some of them even ëexperienceí 
being ëpossessedí by a local goddess; Hindus 
enroll as disciples of a Muslim saint; Muslims 
and Hindus jointly participate in rituals on the 
day of Ashura in the month of Muharram; a Hindu 
chooses a Muslim as the custodian of a Hindu 
shrine and vice versa, and so on. This shared 
religious tradition owes in part to the nature of 
the process of the spread of Islam in the region. 
Islamisation, typically, took the form not of a 
sudden and drastic conversion, but, rather, of a 
long and gradual process of religio-cultural 
transformation that was limited in its impact, 
leaving many aspects of the convertsí pre-Islamic 
tradition somewhat unchanged. To add to this was 
the fact that Sufi saints used several local 
traditions and motifs in their missionary work so 
that much of the local tradition came to be 
understood as 'Islamic' by the converts. 
Furthermore, the belief in local 'Hindu' deities 
as well as Sufis as powerful beings, able to cure 
ailments or grant wishes, attracted Hindus as 
well as Muslims to their shrines, a phenomenon 
that is still observable in many parts of 
Karnataka.

Yet, while all this undoubtedly helped bring 
Hindus and Muslims into a shared cultural 
universe and into closer contact with each other, 
the bond of shared tradition has not entirely 
free of tension. In the case of several shard 
shrines and cults, the coexistence between Hindus 
and Muslims could, Assayag argues, be better 
described as 'competitive sharing', 'competitive 
syncretism' or even 'antagonistic tolerance'. 
This is reflected in myths and counter-myths 
about commonly revered figures through which each 
community seeks to stress its superiority over 
the other, in the process fashioning an identity 
for itself based on a re-written collective 
memory. Increasingly, this antagonistic aspect is 
becoming particularly pronounced, as for 
reflected, for instance, in the current dispute 
over the shrine of the Sufi Raja Bagh Sawar, whom 
many Hindus now claim to have been a Brahmin, 
Chang Dev, or the case of the shrine of Baba 
Budhan in Chikamagalur, which Hindutva militants 
now seek to convert into a full-fledged Hindu 
temple, denying its Islamic roots and 
associations altogether. Assayag discusses these 
new challenges to the shared Hindu-Muslim 
tradition in Karnataka the wider context of the 
process of urbanization, the rise of Hindutva 
militancy in the region in recent years and the 
consequent heightening of Muslim insecurities, 
the emergence of Islamic reformist movements and 
the role of the state in defining fixed religious 
identities and policing community borders.

As an anthropological study of Hindu-Muslim 
relations, focusing on the complex nature of 
shared or 'syncretistic' religious traditions, 
this book poses the important question of how 
local Muslims and Hindus identify themselves and 
relate to each other. In that sense, it rightly 
critiques the notion of Hindus and Muslims as 
monolithic communities inherently opposed to each 
other. Not everyone will agree with everything 
that Assayag has to say, however. Some readers 
might find his language at times dull and heavy. 
Most crucially, his understanding of Islam and 
local Islamic traditions can easily be faulted. 
Thus, he refers to emergence of the Mapilla 
Muslims of the Malabar coast as a result of mutëa 
or temporary marriages contracted by Arab Shafi'i 
Muslim traders (p.37). He does not provide any 
evidence of this, and it is unlikely that this is 
correct, since mutëa is not recognized by the 
Shafiëi school. He refers to the great Deccani 
Sufi Hazrat Bandanawaz Gesudaraz as ëBandanamazí, 
and claims that his tomb is 'worshipped' by many 
Muslims (p.39). This, of course, is completely 
incorrect, as the devotees of the Sufis do not 
worship their tombs at all. Here Assayag confuses 
reverence for worship.  He refers to the panjah, 
a hand-shaped metal object often displayed at 
village shrines during the month of Muharram, as 
generally having only three fingers, explaining 
this as 'in keeping with the Sunni creed which 
recognizes only the first three Caliphs' [p.77]. 
This is simply untrue. The panjahs almost 
inevitably have five fingers, representing the 
panjatan pak, the five members of the 'holy 
family' of the Prophet. Further, as anyone even 
remotely familiar with Islam and Islamic history 
would know, it is simply absurd to claim that the 
Sunnis recongise only the first three 'rightly 
guided' caliphs. In what can only be described as 
a meaningless statement Assayag writes, again 
without any substantiation, that [C]ontemporary 
Muslims always seek to establish their nobility 
(sharafat) by claiming that they have been named
  God [?], who caused them to be born in the 
Prophet's family or as descendants of saints who 
came from Arabia' [42]. At several points he 
makes sweeping statements, again without adducing 
any evidence, as when he talks about the 
'masochistic character to which the austere piety 
of the Shi'ites is so inclined' [p.76], or refers 
to the rulers of various Sultanates in the Deccan 
as ëwaging warí to convert Hindus to Islam 
[p.39], or speaks of 'Islamist militants' 
(instead of 'Islamic reformists') seeking to 
purge the local religious tradition of various 
superstitious practices and beliefs [p.81].

Yet, despite these obvious flaws, the book does 
serve a valuable purpose, providing us with 
fascinating glimpses into the little-known world 
of small village-level communities that are 
generally ignored in 'standard' works on 
Hindu-Muslim relations in India.


____


[5]

Hindustan Times, February 18, 2004

Use Your Illusions
by Jean Drèze and Reetika Khera

In a delightful book called How to Lie with 
Statistics, Darell Huff shows how clever 
manipulation of statistics provides ample 
opportunities for deceiving the innocent public. 
Judging from the recent blitz of pro-government 
propaganda in the print media, the BJP wizards 
have not only taken a leaf from Huff's book but 
lifted his art to a new plane. 

To illustrate, consider the recent full-page 
advertisement issued by the National Commission 
on Population.  The aim is to project a picture 
of rapid demographic transition during the last 
three years.  This claim is not borne out by the 
facts, but no matter - creative presentation can 
take care of that.  The birth rate, for instance, 
barely declined during the reference period - 
from 26 to 25 per thousand.  But this information 
is presented in the form of a graph where the 
scale of the vertical axis starts at 24, so that 
visually, the change from 26 to 25 looks like a 
decline of 50 per cent.  For further enhancement 
of this optical illusion, the birth rate level in 
each year is represented by the height of a 
three-dimensional object.  With the height 
declining by 50 per cent in the graph, the volume 
of the object shrinks by much more than half, 
giving an impression of massive reduction.  The 
next graph, showing the change in population 
growth rate, is even more misleading: the 
reduction is only from 17.3 to 16.9, but the 
vertical axis starts at 16.7, giving the 
impression of a sudden crash in the birth rate 
within three years. 

Was this an isolated instance of deception?  To 
scrutinize this hypothesis, we examined all the 
government advertisements published in four 
English-medium dailies during the last few weeks. 
When the advertisements are lined up without gap, 
a startling picture of systematic manipulation 
emerges. 

Deceptive infographics are among the favourite 
tricks.  The Khadi and Village Industries 
Commission (KVIC), for instance, boasts that its 
"performance graph is steep".  The accompanying 
graph, which shows "cumulative earnings", is 
indeed step.  But cumulative earnings are bound 
to go up, by definition, and the slope can be 
made arbitrarily steep by suitable stretching of 
the vertical axis or shrinking of the horizontal 
axis.  The claim that "the graph is steep" is 
therefore plain vacuous. The accompanying 
statement that KVIC is "India's biggest and 
fastest growing marketer of consumer products" is 
no less perplexing. 

This is not the only way in which vacuous 
achievements are glorified.  The Ministry of 
Communications, for instance, boasts that 37.5 
lakh internet connections were created during the 
last five years, compared with "only" 2.5 lakhs 
during the preceding fifty years.  It hardly 
matters that internet connections did not exist 
during the best of the latter period.  Perhaps it 
would have been more appropriate to ask, say, how 
many posts of primary teacher were created in 
each period.  As it turns out, the annual 
increase is virtually the same in both periods. 

Elsewhere, failures are turned into successes. 
For instance, an advertisement due to the Food 
Ministry congratulates "our farmers who have 
created surplus stocks of foodgrains, ensuring no 
death from hunger".  There is no reference here 
to the trail of hunger deaths that took place in 
recent years in the shadow of gigantic food 
stocks - one of the worst blots on the record of 
the present government.  Similarly, the 
decimation of handloom weaving all over India in 
recent years does not prevent the Prime Minister 
from "weaving a bright future for handloom 
weavers" in an advertisement prepared by the 
Ministry of Textiles.  Reading the fine print, 
one finds that the "bright future" of millions of 
impoverished weavers hinges on a measly scheme 
for "reimbursement of rebate on sale of handloom 
cloth". 

One ostensible aim of this barrage of propaganda 
is to manufacture an entirely new image of the 
Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee.  His 
photograph looms large in more than two thirds of 
the advertisements.  Over and over again, he is 
projected as a dynamic leader and praised for his 
"visionary leadership".  This is quite a 
reincarnation for someone with a propensity for 
"interminable silences, indecipherable ramblings 
and, not infrequently, falling asleep in 
meetings", as Time magazine put it.  And if you 
think that Time magazine is biased, read India 
Today, which is very loyal to the Prime Minister. 
In a glowing tribute to him, published a few 
weeks ago, Mr. Vajpayee was praised as an 
"inaction hero", champion of "Gandhian passive 
resistance".  Due credit was also given to his 
"political philosophy" of "duality": "He says one 
thing and it means two things." 

When factual evidence of achievements is 
stubbornly wanting, rhetoric steps in.  An 
advertisement by IFFCO, for instance, claims that 
the Prime Minister's "foresightful [sic] 
initiatives" have ushered a "golden era for 
agriculture".  This is quite a metaphor, 
considering that the agricultural sector has been 
in the doldrums for years.  In fact, the growth 
of per-capita agricultural production virtually 
came to a halt in the nineties, and turned 
negative during the last five years. 

Another way around the lack of evidence is to 
focus on "targets" rather than achievements.  For 
instance, the Planning Commission highlights "the 
reduction in infant mortality rate to 45 per 
1,000 live births".  Careful reading reveals that 
this is not an achievement, but a target for 
2007.  Considering that India's infant mortality 
rate today is still around 70, one is curious to 
learn what kind of revolutionary changes in 
public policy are expected to trigger this steep 
decline within three years.  But there is no 
mention of policy changes in the advertisement - 
only "targets".  Perhaps it is not surprising 
that the focus shifts from achievements to 
targets when it comes to social development 
issues, considering that India is hardly 
"shining" in this respect.  In fact, India's rank 
in the international scale of "human development" 
indices fell last year from 124th to 127th. 

In a different genre, some advertisements credit 
Mr. Vajpayee with achievements that are actually 
due to other governments or parties.  For 
instance, the Ministry of Environment and Forest 
associates him with "successful tiger 
conservation", evident in a substantial increase 
in the tiger population in "the last three 
decades".  What is not mentioned is that the key 
to this success, Project Tiger, was initiated by 
Mrs. Indira Gandhi and ran into trouble soon 
after her death.  During the last ten years, 
there has been no increase in India's tiger 
population.  In fact, according to P.K. Sen, 
former Director of Project Tiger, "the number of 
tigers in India has now crashed to below 3,000 
and is still falling rapidly".  Not content with 
this subterfuge, the Ministry goes on to claim 
that "by protecting our national animal we have 
managed our forests, our ecological wealth, our 
food and water security" - nothing less. 

By now the reader may be tempted to conclude that 
these advertisements are worthless and best 
ignored.  Far from it.  They tell us a great 
deal, not about the country's achievements but 
about the nature of the present government and 
political system.  For one thing, they lay bare 
the intimate nexus that has developed between the 
state, the ruling party and the business world. 
The BJP's brazen use of taxpayer money for party 
propaganda purposes is one symptom of this nexus. 
All the major ministries are contributing their 
zakat and pliantly beating Mr. Vajpayee's 
dhaulak.  The nexus with the business world is 
fairly transparent, too.  Most of the 
advertisements prepare the public for huge sops 
to the private sector, under the guise of 
"employment generation" and related goals. 
Corporate managers are also piggy-backing on this 
wave of propaganda by borrowing its slogans, 
symbols and idiom.  For those who had failed to 
see the writing on the wall, the recent 
propaganda campaign is quite an eye-opener.


_____


[6]

Indian Express
April 02, 2004

Knock, knock, here's your Hindu fatwa
Untrained, uninvited VHP men make house calls 
with 2-point Hindu Agenda: Vote for sake of Ram 
and Cow
Reshma Patil
Mumbai, April 1:	THEY call it the Hindu 
fatwa (diktat) for voters. Home delivery target: 
Five lakh families in Mumbai.

To a night call of Jai Sri Ram, a rag-tag army of 
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) footsoldiers is 
knocking door-to-door across the length of 
Mumbai, from Girgaum to Bhayander.

Their orders from the VHP headquarters are to 
convince citizens nationwide-in person-to vote 
only for candidates who obey a 13-point Hindu 
Agenda.

But to the activists-school dropouts, petty 
traders, Bajrang Dal men-only two points are 
worth memorising to thrust on those who 
uncertainly open doors to the summons of Ram.

''When Hindus shine, India shines,'' Mumbai 
Newsline heard the VHP's Konkan joint secretary 
Dada Desai and local Bajrang Dal leader Naresh 
Patil tell men under training before house calls. 
After the lesson inside a Shiv temple on Tuesday 
night at Khar (West), teams fanned out into the 
suburb.

''This is your Hindu fatwa,'' Bhim Dhadge, a 
burly Bajrang Dal activist wearing a saffron 
scarf, told a granny who peeked through the door 
at Sea View building, Khar. Taken aback, she 
called her husband.

''Vote for a candidate who's pro Ram Mandir, 
anti-cow slaughter,'' Dhadge said, just as 
memorised. ''Okay, okay, no problem,'' the couple 
replied softly and latched the door fast.

Dhadge and activists-a 16-year-old Standard VIII 
student, a stationery shop owner and a 
21-year-old commerce student-knocked next door. A 
girl answered. ''Jai Sri Ram! We want to give you 
the Hindu fatwa,'' they said. Wide-eyed, she 
slammed it shut.

Next, they woke up a 73-year-old heart patient 
home alone in pyjamas. ''Please,'' he pleaded, 
with folded hands. ''I'll read your pamphlet. Jai 
Sri Ram.''

Patil had ordered activists to reach 200 to 400 
homes a day for the next month. It was for the 
sake of Hindu progress, he said, and skipped 10 
points to harp only on: Ram Mandir, ''50,000 cows 
killed daily,'' and conversions in the name of 
service.

It was hardly helpful. ''Article 370? Is it in 
the Hindu Agenda?'' mumbled VHP activist Prashant 
Maity (20), a second-year science student, when 
this reporter asked him. Maity has never heard of 
the Uniform Civil Code either-which along with a 
ban on Article 370 for special status to Jammu 
and Kashmir is listed in the Hindu Agenda 
pamphlets he distributes.

Asked how he would explain the Uniform Civil Code 
to voters, Dhadge skimmed through the pamphlet, 
couldn't locate it and finally asked for help. 
''Is it about family planning?''


_____


[7]

Language, Culture and Urban Publics Workshop
April 2-3, 2004
Seminar Room, CSDS, 29 Rajpur Road, Delhi - 54.

Programme
DAY ONE [Friday, 02.04.2004]

9:30 am  11:15 am
Welcome and Introduction to Workshop

Panel1: VISUAL CULTURES AS URBAN PERFORMANCE

Billboards, Common Sense and Language Games in Chennai, by Uma Maheshwari
Kalpagam, G B Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad   

Likho Script Apna Apna: Aesthetics of Language and Body of the City, by Sadan
Jha, Sarai, Delhi

Mall Wonder, by Harini Narayan, Independent Researcher, Delhi

11:45 am to 1:30 pm
Panel 2: TALKING CRIME, SUBJECTIVITY, DISABILITY

Narratives of Passion Crimes, by Vasudha Nagraj, Anveshi, Hyderabad     

Language of Legal Subject, by Shrimoyee Nandini Ghosh, Majlis, Mumbai

Representing Disability, by Anuroopa, Alternative Law Forum, Bangalore

2:30 pm to 4:15 pm
Panel 3: KASHMIR: THE HISTORY AND THE CONTEMPORARY

On the History and Politics of Kashmiri Language, by Sanaullah Mir, Aligarh
Muslim University, Aligarh

A Language of One's Own? The Poetics and Politics of the Kashmiri Language, by
Ananya Jahanara Kabir, University of Leeds, UK

Militarising the Narrative in Kashmir, by Basharat Peer, Journalist, Kashmir

4:45 pm to 6:30 pm
Film
American Splendor (2003),
Directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini
Screening curated by Sarnath Banerjee


DAY TWO [Saturday, 03.04.2004]

9:30 am to 11:15 am
Panel 1: PRINT CULTURES IN HISTORY

Urban Print Cultures and Children's Periodicals in early 20th Century North
India, by Nandini Chandra, Delhi University

>From Palm Leaves to Printed Page: Standardisation of Oriya in late 19th and
early 20th century, by Pragati Mohapatra, Delhi University

Language in City, Court and Country: Co-optations of Women's Speech in
early Urdu Poetry, by Carla Petievich, Mont Clair University, New Jersey, USA

11:45 am to 1:15 pm
Panel 2: FILMSPEAK
        
Unheroic Hero: The Tramp and the City in the 
Movies of Charles Chaplin, by      
Simran Chadha, Delhi University

The Stranger Called Me: Sa'adat Hasan Manto's short story & Farida Mehta's
film Kali Salwar, by Shireen Mirza, CSCS, Bangalore

2:15 pm to 4:15 pm
Panel 3: URBAN ORAL CULTURES AND ADAPTATIONS

Private Diseases: the Depleting Stock of the Unspeakable in Delhi, by     
Shuddhabrata Sengupta, Sarai, Delhi

The Collective Narrative, by Conrado Tostado, Poet, Mexico

Presention of Graphic Novel, Corridor, by Sarnath Banerjee, Artist, Delhi

4:45 pm to 6:15 pm
Panel 4: NEW TECHNOLOGIES: CONTROL, CONFLICT AND INNOVATION

ATM : From Automatic Teller Machines to Automatic Telling Machines,
by Kristoffer Gansing, K3 School of Art and Media, Sweden and Linda Hilfling,
Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau, Copenhagen, Denmark

Styles of Engagement, Sites of Control: Call Centres as Performance Space in
Delhi, by Taha Mehmood and Iram Ghufran, MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia

6:30 pm
A Terrible Beauty Is Born
Solo Performance by Arjun Raina



o o o o o


Nobel Laureate

AMARTYA SEN

"The Content of Democracy"

Sen will discuss his recent work on
the relation between democracy,
human capabilities, and economic
development.

Thursday, April 22, 2004, 6 p.m.

Moderated by Bob Kerrey
President, New School University


Respondents:  Arjun Appadurai, Provost, New School University
Richard J. Bernstein, Dean, Graduate Faculty,
New School University
   

New School University
Tishman Auditorium
66 West 12th Street, NYC
(between 5th and 6th Avenues)

Free, reservations strongly suggested.
212-229-5488 or email boxoffice at newschool.edu

_____


[9]

CECK OUT THE LATEST ADDITIONS ON THE SACW WEB SITE

The Future of The Indian Past
by Romila Thapar
URL: www.sacw.net/India_History/r_thaparLecture21022004.html

The New Line of Control
by Omar Noman
URL: www.sacw.net /peace/OmarNoman2April2004.html

Sri Lanka: An Eyeful of Green
by Bina Srinivasan
URL: www.sacw.net /Nation/BSrinivasanApril2004.html


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

Buzz on the perils of fundamentalist politics, on 
matters of peace and democratisation in South 
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit 
citizens wire service run since 1998 by South 
Asia Citizens Web: www.sacw.net/
The complete SACW archive is available at: 
bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/

South Asia Counter Information Project a sister 
initiative, provides a partial back -up and 
archive for SACW:  snipurl.com/sacip
See also associated site: www.s-asians-against-nukes.org

DISCLAIMER: Opinions expressed in materials carried in the posts do not
necessarily reflect the views of SACW compilers.

--