SACW | 5 April 2004
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Sun Apr 4 18:14:01 CDT 2004
South Asia Citizens Wire | 5 April, 2004
via: www.sacw.net
[1] Sri Lanka: An Eyeful of Green (Bina Srinivasan)
[2] India: Nobel Gazing (Antara Dev Sen)
[3] Germany: European Camp being organised by the
Far right Hindutva organisations: Write letters
of Protest to the Germans
[4] Muslim Intelligentsia and Liberalism (Asghar Ali Engineer)
[5] Fact Sheet to counter the India Shining Campaign
[6] Book review: Will Secular India Survive ? Ed.
by Mushirul Hasan (review by Ritu Menon)
[7] Excerpts: Cry, My Beloved Country:
Reflections on the Gujarat Carnage by Harsh Mander
[8] Book review: The Puffin History of India for
Children by Roshen Dalal (review by Arti Jaiman)
--------------
[1]
SRI LANKA: AN EYEFUL OF GREEN
by Bina Srinivasan
[1 April 2004]
Undulating strips of green. Shades as varied as
each paddy stem, waving innocently in the wind.
Fields riddled with blood and gore. With the
agony of a people besieged.
Gravelkanda is a makeshift camp for the 127
families that fled from Monarawewa and Gajabapura
in Vavuniya district in the North Central
Province of Sri Lanka. They ran because their
life and property were threatened in December
1999 when the LTTE attacked the army. The people
escaped with the clothes they had on. So they
said when we met them in Gravelkanda. Women
clustered around us in a tight circle as soon as
they spotted us. Their voices erupted, bursting
across the opulent green of this beautiful land.
A story replayed before in countless different
avatars. I am reminded sharply of women of the
Narmada Valley in India, of the women whose
houses and lands were drowned by the Bargi dam in
Madhya Pradesh, Central India. The same
weather-beaten faces, the same loss etched into
the folds of their skin. With the same work
calloused hands they have wrought hard lives for
themselves and their families. In the face of
intense disaster they work, nurture stray dogs
and feed their children.
They resist.
An un-beautiful story. Dis-placement. Or
dis-ruption. Or dis-location. So many words.
Each incomplete, unable to give expression to the
experience.
In the voices of the Gravelkanda women, in their
words I seek the knowledge of loss. I seek the
full meaning of dis-placement in their hands
flung out in despair and anger.
As you would be. If you had been rudely jolted
into flight from all that made up your life: your
fields, your cattle, your wells. The colours and
sounds that moulded your landscape. Your home.
That is what they left behind. Colours and sounds
that created a life. A collective life that was
now scattered over the dense vegetation in
Gravelkanda, 100 kms from Anuradhapura in the
North Central Province. Countless kilometers
away from home.
Some were more fortunate than the others. For
some are more equal than others. Those who could
afford to moved to greener (!) pastures. The
others remained where they were, helplessly
immobile, waiting for government assistance, some
assurance that they would be given some land, a
piece of earth they could call their own.
Government assistance they did get. Dry rations
the value of Rs.1260 for a family of five. They
lived like that for four years. 104 families
pushed to the periphery of existence. Quite
literally.
It is quite simple really. All they had to do
was to get a letter from the Vavuniya district
authorities 'releasing' them from the lands they
had lived on for years as they were registered
there. So said a letter from the Rehabilitation
Ministry of the Eastern Province.
Easy? No.
The Vavuniya district authorities professed
helplessness. They could not 'release' the
people. So here they are trapped in a maze
definitely not of their making.
We are mere symbols on ballot paper, say the
women. The politicians of come to us for votes.
The women know well what is going on. If they
were to be registered as residents of
Anuradhapura, which is what would happen if they
were to be given land here, Vavuniya would have
no Sinhala presence. If Vavuniya were to be
overwhelmed by a Tamil presence there would be no
Sinhala member of parliament from the area.
Devious political calculation: it forms the core
of their continuing state of
dispossession.
Thus in Anuradhapura the 104 families are
non-existent. Government administrations have an
uncanny mastery over the art of consigning people
to oblivion. Ask the people of the Narmada
Valley and they will corroborate this story.
Left high and dry. This is the flesh and blood
of that phrase. This is the texture, the skin
that sheaths the words.
In Gravelkanda we met Seriavati. Grit and hope
tightly coiled in a dark, wiry body. A body
wounded by an artillery shell, a body that will
now wear the insignia of ethnic conflict forever.
Limping her way across a land thick with trees
and weeds growing seamlessly into each other she
came across two orphaned animals. A baby deer
and a sambar. Their lives as threatened as hers.
Animals are dispensable. After all, jungles have
to be cleared for army operations ostensibly to
aid visibility. The vision however remains
myopic.
But for Seriavati the animals would have died.
She rescued them, brought them back with her to
her non-existent house. She nurtured them like
children. Five years later they are fully grown
and the Forest Department wants them 'back'
because they are endangered species. Irony?
Its meaning is lost on the Forest Department.
Battered as she may be Seriavati creates her own
reasons to fasten onto life. Hers as well as
others. See the cats and dogs that surround her
house, flapping about in the heat, curling around
the dark, cool corners of her small house.
Seriavati claimed a piece of land across the
camp. She, her husband, son and grandchildren
worked to clear the vegetation, to make a little
plot of land that would free them from dependence
on the dry rations the government doles out.
One plot of land filled with defiance against the
grain of a fate that would have willed otherwise.
Small compensation for the void of dis-placement.
Today 40 odd families live across the road off
the camp. The others have chosen to remain in
the camp, afraid to leave, afraid of greater
loss. They cling to a tenuous hope that one day
they will be given land that is rightfully
theirs.
A black tar road. The dividing line between resistance and passivity.
We return to Anuradhapura. Our van speeds past
an army camp. A tall wrought iron sculpture
places itself resolutely in our line of vision.
(Armies of the world unite? You have nothing to
lose but your people?) An ensemble of deadly
weapons is frozen against the heartbreaking green
of the land. Growing sky high the sculpture
declares its proud intentions to every passer-by.
Seriavati. Proud and humble all at one go.
Mocking at the violence of the iron rifles
suspended between earth and sky.
Peace: taunted beyond endurance it gallops across
bloodied green fields to find succor in the
aspirations of women like Seriavati. Who count
each day as it goes by without the sound of
gunfire. Whose bodies shudder with relief that
the number of funerals have gone down since the
peace process began. Whose voices quiver with
desperate hope that their lands will be free of
the high-pitched terror of war.
It is here that we need to look for peace. In
the hearts of the people who have suffered war,
in the cries of children who hurt so much that
even the sound of crackers sets in enormous
panic, in the broken hearts of those who have
lost their relatives to the war, in the eyes of
mothers waiting for sons who have disappeared
without a trace.
It is there that peace lies in waiting, hoping to
unfurl itself and stamp its presence on each palm
frond. Hoping to find its way into stoves that
light up every evening in anticipation of a
family that will sit down to the last meal of the
day.
Peace is no abstraction, it is not a mere idea.
It is the difference between ignominy and
dignity, between justice and injustice. The
difference between life and death.
A simple truth. Why then does it evade solution?
_____
[2]
The Indian Express
March 31, 2004
NOBEL GAZING
Get real, before his medal was stolen, we already trashed Tagore
by Antara Dev Sen
It is a shame that we fail to preserve our
national heritage in every sphere. The loss of
Rabindranath Tagore's Nobel medallion and
personal artefacts is part of this gradual
descent into oblivion so evident in the life of
our nation. But as we seethe with helpless anger,
let's not lose perspective.
Contrary to horrified shrieks emanating from
concerned citizens, this is neither a 'national
crisis' nor a 'crime against the nation' or even
a 'national disaster'. It is certainly not, as
respected writer Mahasweta Devi has reportedly
claimed, "the worst crime against the nation
since the killing of Mahatma Gandhi". Let's get
our priorities right. We have lost a medallion, a
token of world appreciation for a philosopher
poet. And in an age of tokenism, it is apt that
we beat our breasts and wail incessantly once it
is gone. But we need to look beyond it, and
confront our real loss of Tagore - the silent,
steady erosion of his thoughts, his ideas, his
vision that once breathed new hope into our
nation.
Back in 1913, the Nobel Prize for literature was
awarded for the first time to a non-European. The
'Anglo-Indian poet, Rabindranath Tagore' accepted
it gracefully through a one-line telegram that
was read out instead of the awardee's customary
Banquet Speech: "I beg to convey to the Swedish
Academy my grateful appreciation of the breadth
of understanding which has brought the distant
near, and has made a stranger a brother." It was
not about poetry, or individual achievement. It
was a celebration of cross-cultural understanding
and the brotherhood of man.
Today, as we strive to shrink our understanding,
cramp ourselves into sinister, narrow
compartments of socio-political constructs and
make brothers into strangers, we hardly have the
right to share the glory of this superior
intellect. Forever defying artificial boundaries
between people and ideas, he stood for openness,
for free thought, for a world based on the
equality of human beings, refreshed by cultural
exchange, alive with intellectual curiosity, a
compassionate world that nurtures human
development in every possible way. Through his
poetry, songs, essays, fiction and plays, Tagore
emphasised the importance of humanism over all
other considerations, even patriotic nationalism.
Fervently against slotting people by religion,
race, caste, gender, language or nationality, the
poet-philosopher who believed in the 'Religion of
Man' would have died a million deaths if he saw
us perform today.
Through our growing sectarianism, the demolition
of the Babri Masjid, the sickening Gujarat
carnage, our abysmal literacy figures, continuing
dowry deaths, and most of all by our blinkered
minds, we seem determined to destroy his vision.
As we charge through the unwatered, underfed,
powerless, uneducated villages and towns of
Bharat Mata in our myth-inspired crowns and
chariots in search of Ram rajya, we race further
away from the Tagore of Ghare Baire (The Home and
the World). Its protagonist Nikhil, unmoved by
the sound and fury of the nationalistic fervour
that threatened to trample individual rights and
human justice in its patriotic rush, admits that
he could only worship the right and the just, not
his country, for "to worship my country as a god
is to bring a curse upon it." We ignore Tagore's
lectures on Nationalism, urging us to remove
social injustices in order for India's freedom to
be meaningful. And pointing out the absurdity of
our hoping to be treated justly, as equals, by
the more powerful nations when we ourselves are
unable to offer that treatment to our own people.
We disregard his pleading for the rights of
women, challenging the rules of a male-dominated
society in Streer Patra (The Wife's Letter). And
forget his play Muktadhara (The Free Stream),
where he warns against the dangers of
sectarianism, mindless education and sacrificing
humanity at the altar of political expediency,
and celebrates life and freedom as the real abode
of God.
Tagore had started Visva Bharati, the World
University, "To study th mind of man in its
realisation of different aspects of truth from
diverse points of view." It was a tribute to
diversity and pluralism. And it was built to
nurture intellectual curiosity, to share Tagore's
profound wonder at the marvel of creation, the
awe and joy of being part of the universe, to
recognise the preciousness of life. For one who
could hear the music of the cosmos, ossified
social custom and the amoral logic of expediency
were too limiting for the human spirit. Today's
separatism, sectarianism and deliberate
conservatism militate against everything Tagore
believed in. Our education system, far from
opening up our minds to the world, has even
failed to make us literate: India's total
literacy rate is 65 per cent (54 per cent among
women). Our women are not allowed the option that
Mrinal, of Streer Patra, snatched for herself -
of choosing her own destiny and feeling herself
blossom like a tree in spring. We turn a blind
eye to the environmental degradation that Tagore
tried to stop with his vriksharopan or
tree-planting ceremony. We reject Tagore's
beliefs, spurn his ideas, dash his hopes, ignore
his prayers.
We fail to protect our cultural heritage in every
sphere, by allowing monuments to disintegrate, by
encouraging our political structure and system of
justice to collapse, by rewriting history. And we
rise in indignant rage over the loss of a medal.
"The time has come when badges of honour make our
shame glaring in their incongruous context of
humiliation, and I for my part wish to stand,
shorn of all special distinctions, by the side of
those of my countrymen who, for their so-called
insignificance, are liable to suffer a
degradation not fit for human beings." This was
Tagore renouncing his knighthood after the
Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919. He may have
said the same after the Gujarat massacre in 2002.
"But to lose one's confidence in humankind is a
sin," he wrote as he expressed his greatest
despair at the bankruptcy of 'civilisation' in
Sabhyataar Shankat ('The Crisis in
Civilisation'). And hoped that "one day
undefeated man will overcome every hurdle to
march on in search of victory, to win back the
great dignity of humankind."
The badge of honour may have been lost, but we
can still try to keep Tagore's vision alive.
The writer is editor, 'The Little Magazine'
______
[3]
[All SACW subscribers are requested to express
concern by writing to the German govt officials
regarding the upcoming European Camp in Germany
being organised by the Far right Hindutva
organisations. You should also consider sending
copies to German embassy in your country. See
details below ]
o o o
4 April 2004
Subject: HSS SHIBIR [Camp] IN GERMANY
Dear Friends,
The following is the text of a letter sent by South Asia
Solidarity Group and Asian Women Unite! to German MPs and
Ministers expressing our concern about the HSS 'European
Shibir 2004' being organised in Germany from 9-12 April.
Please support the campaign against the spreading of hatred
by far right Hindutva organisations in the diaspora by
writing to the addresses given below.
South Asia Solidarity Group
299, Kentish Town Road, London NW5 2TJ
+44 207 267 0923, sasg at southasiasolidarity.org,
www.southasiasolidarity.org
Mr. Joschka Fischer
Foreign Minister
Dear Mr Joschka Fischer,
Re: Grave concerns about 'European Shibir 2004',
Bergneustadt 9 -12 April
As organisations representing South Asian communities in
Britain, we are writing to express our grave concern about a
camp organised by right-wing Hindu extremists for the purpose
of promoting religious violence which is to take place in
Haus-Veste-Nyestadt - Schullandheim, 51702 Bergneustadt from
9-12 April this year. The organisers, the HSS (Hindu
Swayamsevak Sangh) are the international wing of India's RSS
(Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh). The organiser in Germany is
Ashok Chadha, Mondorfer Str. 70, 53117 Bonn, tel. +49 228
663813, email chadhabonn at aol.com
The RSS planned and carried out the murder of Mahatma Gandhi
in 1948. More recently, it has been proved to have played a
central role in orchestrating and perpetrating terror attacks
on India's minority Muslim and Christian communities - this
includes the rape and murder of Christian nuns in Madhya
Pradesh in 1998, the demolition of the historic 500 year old
Babri mosque in 1992 and the attacks on Muslims in Gujarat in
2002 in which more than 2000 were murdered, the majority
women and children. This role has been highlighted in reports
by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other
international bodies.
The RSS/ HSS, who are self-avowed admirers of Hitler and
Nazism, use such Shibirs or camps abroad as well as in India
both to inculcate the participants with an ideology of
religious hatred and Hindu supremacism as well as to impart
physical training . The RSS/ HSS openly encourages young men
and women to commit violent acts in the defence of what they
consider Hindu religion and patriotism.
As you may be aware, the British wing of the HSS is already
under investigation by the Charity Commission after being
shown to have direct links with organisations perpetrating
religious violence in India, and to have supplied funds to
these organisations on a large scale. These links have been
clearly established first by a Channel 4 news report
broadcast on 12 December 2002 and more recently in an in-
depth investigation by Awaaz South Asia Watch, 'In Bad Faith?
British charities and Hindu extremism' (February 2004).
We are aware of Germany's stated commitment to prevent the
establishment in Germany of groups that preach intolerance
and violence against people of other religious, political
and social persuasions, and organisations which are opposed
to democratic values.
In the light of this we would request you in the strongest
possible terms to ensure that the HSS is not given a platform
in Germany and this event is not allowed to take place.
We look forward to hearing from you soon regarding this
matter.
yours sincerely
Sarbjit Johal
For South Asia Solidarity Group
Menaha Kandasamy
For Asian Women Unite!
Please use this as a model to write to the following people:
1. Der Landtag von Nordrhein-Westfalen
Fax: +49-221-884-2258 Email: email at landtag.nrw.de
2. Mr. Hagen Julius Jobi ( MP for NRW)
hagen.jobi at landtag.nrw.de
3. Ms. Marianne Huerten (MP for NRW):
marianne.huerten at landtag.nrw.de
4. Prof. Friedrich Wilke (from the area and in the local
Parliament): friedrich.wilke at landtag.nrw.de
5. Ms. Donata Reinecke : donata.reinecke at landtag.nrw.de
6. Mr. Weert Boerner: weert.boerner at diplo.de
7. Mr. Joschka Fischer, foreign minister FAX +49 1 888 1752390
8. NRW Home Minister Mr. Fritz Behrens: c/o info at oedp-nrw.de
______
[4]
MUSLIM INTELLIGENTSIA AND LIBERALISM
by Asghar Ali Engineer
(Secular Perspective April 1-15, 2004)
There is lot of debate in India about role of
Muslim intelligentsia in India. It is contented
that Muslim intelligentsia tends to be illiberal
with few honourable exceptions and that it is
illiberality of Muslim intelligentsia that has
produced reaction among the Hindus and as a
result we see illiberal Hindu intelligentsia
today.
Mr. Ramchandra Guha in the edit page article in
The Times of India (dated 23/03/04) "Nearly 40
years ago, Marathi writer Hamid Dalwai wrote a
fascinating series of essays on the lack of a
liberal movement among Indian Muslims. The
leaders of the community, he argued, were
incapable of critical introspection." Then he
goes on to quote him, "When they find faults, the
faults are invariably of other people. They do
not have the capacity to understand their own
mistakesŠ" Mr. Dalwai also maintained that "the
moment they became liberals they lost the
confidence of their backward and orthodox
community."
What Hamid Dalwai says is hardly a revelation. It
is a well-known truth and besides applies to many
other communities. It is true that many of Muslim
intellectuals have been reluctant to attempt
critical introspection. But it is hardly peculiar
to Muslims as such. If one seeks its social
explanation, one would understand its underlying
causes. The trouble with Mr. Dalwai and also with
Mr.Ramchandra Guha who quotes him approvingly, is
that they do not try to understand underlying
causes.
First it is also necessary to state that Muslims
produced eminent intellectuals in nineteenth and
twentieth century before partition like Sir Syed
Ahmed Khan, Maulavi Mumtaz Ali Khan, Maulavi
Chiragh Ali, Justice Ameer Ali and several others
who were highly critical of community traditions,
practices and religious orthodoxy. They not only
developed critical insights but had great courage
to criticise these practices openly. Their
Muslimness did not deter them from attempting
critical reflections and blaming the community
for what they saw as wrong.
And it was not only among scholars like them but
also great litterateur (writers, poets and
others) who were highly critical of orthodoxy and
orthodox practices. Of course in latter case they
used poetry and fiction to attack orthodox
practices. The progressive literary movement has
glorious history of its own. The problem with
likes of Hamid Dalwai is that they take very
static and superficial view of the problem. Mr.
Dalwai had very limited knowledge of Muslim
affairs. His entire knowledge about Islam and
Muslims was based on secondary sources. What he
read was mostly in Marathi and very little
authentic information on Islam and north Indian
Muslim movements was available then in Marathi.
Now of course more and more information is being
made available.
Mr. Guha unfortunately and uncritically buys Mr.
Dalwai's argument that lack of liberal
intelligentsia among Muslims will create strong
reaction among the Hindus and will produce
illiberal intelligentsia among them too. Thus Mr.
Guha quotes Hamid Dalwai, "Šunless a Muslim
liberal intellectual class emerges, Indian
Muslims will continue to cling to obscurantist
medievalism, communalism and will eventually
perish both socially and culturally. A worst
possibility is that of Hindu revivalism
destroying even Hindu liberalism, for the latter
can succeed only with the support of Muslim
liberals who would modernise Muslim and try to
impress upon these secular democratic ideals."
Then Mr. Guha says that Dalwai's "prediction has
come chillingly true". Hindu illiberalism has
emerged with vengeance. I do not think it is Mr.
Dalwai's prediction which has come true. The
causes of emergence of Hindu revivalism does not
lie in absence of Muslim liberalism but should be
sought in the RSS's unceasing efforts to bring
about this revivalism and BJP political leaders'
ambition to come to power climbing on the rath of
Hindu revivalism.
It is a strange argument that Hindu liberalism
will survive only on Muslim liberalism and will
collapse if Muslim liberalism does not
materialise. It seems to be quite an erratic view
of social movements. This is not to say that
Muslim liberalism should not be strong and that
Muslim intellectuals should not be self-critical.
But Hindu liberalism should not be expected to
walk on the crutches of Muslim liberalism.
There are very good reasons for weak liberal
movement among Muslims in India. Firstly, there
never was a strong capitalist class among Indian
Muslims. Muslim ruling class was basically feudal
class and that was either ruined due to
anti-zamindari act passed by the Congress
Government or many of the zamindars migrated to
Pakistan. Those left behind in India were mostly
from artisan classes and most of whom were poor,
backward and even illiterate.
A new middle class began to emerge again after
partition from amongst the low caste artisan
classes then referred to as ajlaf. The middle
class which migrated to Pakistan mostly came from
amongst upper classes known as ashraf who were
highly educated and cultured. The new middle
class which is emerging in India has seen much
insecurity due to frequent occurrence of communal
riots since early sixties of the last century,
besides rough and tumble of economic
uncertainties.
This new middle class has been much less
sophisticated for lack of traditional culture and
liberal values. The Hindu middle and upper
classes, on the other hand, suffered no such loss
due to migration. On the other hand, it drew all
the benefits of capitalist development since
independence and have had the best available
education. Also, the Hindu upper classes did not
have to suffer any sense of insecurity due to
communal riots. There is no reason why their
liberalism should be weakened and also such
weakening be blamed on lack of Muslim liberalism.
It seems to be strange logic by any account.
The reasons for weakening of Hindu liberalism and
emergence of revivalist movement should be sought
elsewhere, particularly in the politics of Sangh
Parivar. If at all the weak Muslim liberalism
kind of argument is to be applied it could be
applied (with little justification) to North
India. What about Gujarat where Muslim presence
has never been strong historically and Muslims
have never been competitors either in political
or cultural field there. The Hindu revivalist
movement has been strongest today in Gujarat.
Also, as pointed out earlier, one should not take
static view of social and cultural movements. The
Muslim scenario is also changing, particularly
post-Babri demolition period. A new awareness has
emerged among the Muslims in general and Muslim
intelligentsia, in particular. The trend for
education is growing and liberalism and
secularism is much more acceptable among Muslim
intelligentsia today. The Shah Bano-like
movements are a history now.
But I do not think the Sangh Parivar's revivalist
ideology is going to be much influenced by this
positive development among Muslims in general,
and Muslim intelligentsia, in particular. Again,
it was the Sangh politicians who challenged the
Nehruvian concept of secularism and dubbed it as
'pseudo-secularism. Even orthodox Muslim 'ulama
in India had never challenged the concept of
Nehruvian secularism, despite their illiberalism.
One can argue that the Muslims accepted Nehruvian
secularism as it guaranteed their security in
India. This argument is also not historically
correct. The members of Jami'at-ul-'Ulama
including Maulana Husain Ahmed Madani had
accepted concept of secular nationalism much
before partition and never deviated from that
line.
The RSS, Hindu Mahasabha and their related
organisations never accepted secular nationalism
whether before or after partition. They
consistently opposed it. Only thing is that
before partition and until late seventies after
partition, they did not succeed in widening their
social base. They succeeded in doing so only from
beginning of eighties when the Indian politics
took a new turn in the post-emergency period and
Mrs. Gandhi also appealed to the Hindu card.
Also, the Rajiv Gandhi period, Shah Bano
movement, corruption scandals like the Bofors,
Ram Temple controversy, all these were cleverly
exploited by the Sangh Parivar to win over Hindu
middle class intelligentsia, which was tired of
the Congress rule and was seeking political
change.
There is one more important reason for emergence
of the revivalist movement among Hindus. The BJP,
in order to widen its political base tried to win
over the backward class Hindus from all over
India and this class among Hindus was neglected
and was seeking for fulfilling its political
aspirations. The BJP gave it an ideology of
Hindutva through which it could seek its
political aspirations. This is one of the very
important causes of strengthening of revivalist
movement in contemporary India. Its cause should
not be sought in weak Muslim liberalism as
Ramchandra Guha does. Socially and politically it
would not be correct.
These backward caste Hindu leaders like Vinay
Katiyar, Uma Bharti, Pravin Togadia and others
are most vocal revivalists and supporters of
Sangh Parivar and have become high achievers in
political fields, holding high positions in the
Parivar hierarchy as well as in political field.
Thus one has to survey entire socio-political
panorama to understand the causes of Hindu
revivalism rather than simplistically blame it on
lack of Muslim liberalism.
(Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai)
____
[5]
VOTE WITH YOUR CONSCIENCE CAMPAIGN, Mumbai a
platform of different groups and individuals, have
brought out a one page Fact Sheet to counter the India
Shining Campaign. These are in English, Marathi and
Hindi. This document is a PDF File PDF available at the sacw web site
URL: www.sacw.net/DC/CommunalismCollection/india%20uday-hindi-marathi-en.pdf
___
[6]
The Indian Express
April 4, 2004
The Right and the Right
Through varied paths, the essayists reach one
conclusion: It's time to go back to the
Constitution if secularism has to survive, says
Ritu Menon
THE shadow of the BJP/RSS and VHP looms large
over this excellent collection of essays, a cri
de coeur for Indian secularism. Not just the
shadow, though: the dangerous substance, too, as
detailed by many of the contributions. The
consensus is that the rise of the BJP in Indian
politics, and the inability of the Congress and
the Left to contain it, have consolidated Hindu
majoritarianism, as expressed in the ideology of
Hindutva.
Explanations for the rise of the BJP, however,
vary. Radhika Desai argues, forcefully and
persuasively, that its ascending fortunes are
directly linked to the upward mobility of
prosperous middle castes in large parts of the
country. Their aspiration for political and
economic power finds its articulation in regional
parties which, in turn, rely heavily on caste
groupings for votes and political legitimacy.
Local interests take precedence over national
compulsions, and the fact of abiding coalition
politics strengthens their bargaining power.
Desai also maintains that middle castes have no
real stake in maintaining secularism, which is
why NDA partners have generally been complicit in
its rapid erosion.
Together with Desai, Neera Chandhoke, Amrita Basu
and Srirupa Roy emphasise the importance of
taking a long view of the BJP's political and
social presence. They point out that the
combination of the BJP-RSS-VHP effectively covers
the political, socio-cultural and religious
domains in India, and that their strategy of
consolidating the gains made in one for the
benefit of all, has paid off handsomely.
Basu & Roy, Aijaz Ahmed, Mushirul Hasan and
others analyse how this strategy works, in
practice, in three critical areas: rewriting
history in order to redefine Hindu and 'Indian'
(Mushirul Hasan); election politics (Aijaz
Ahmed); and the simultaneous communalising and
criminalising of the body politic in Gujarat
(Basu & Roy).
When Hindu 'pride' and prejudice are thus
legislated, written into the primer and
testament, can secularism survive? Mushir reminds
us that not everything can be laid at BJP's door:
discontent, he says, began to simmer ''because
Nehru's government'' (and others, one might add)
''did not do enough to strengthen the secular
edifice to withstand both minorityism and the
majoritarian assault on the fundamental premises
of the Constitution''.
Neera Chandhoke goes further, saying that because
secularism in India has been unhinged from
democracy with its guarantee of equality,
focusing instead on protecting community rights,
it has become ''free-floating'' and therefore
appropriable. The Hindu Right has appropriated it.
Her proposition that secularism in India be
reharnessed to democracy so that it is infused
with the moral imperative of equality, is echoed
by Pratap Bhanu Mehta, who strongly advocates
state intervention in the interests of individual
freedom. In his view, maintaining a ''principled
distance'' is not an option available to the
state.
Taking this to its logical conclusion, Zoya Hasan
argues that the state's failure,
post-Independence, to ensure the socio-economic
development of India's minorities is tantamount
to discrimination. In this context, benign
neglect by a secular state is a betrayal both of
secularism and of constitutional guarantees.
None of the contributors to this volume holds the
view that secularism, pseudo or otherwise, is
redundant in India. Indeed, Mushir makes the
important point, often forgotten, that ''talk of
the cultural gap between the idiom of secularism
and the vernacular culture of politics is a
present-day invention... secularism does not
conflict with an individual's being, religious or
otherwise''. True enough. But most Indians do
have communal biases, even though they do not, by
and large, condone communal violence. A communal
government or political party, however, is
another matter, and when people's prejudices are
legitimised by such parties or governments, they
may well begin to not only endorse, but
aggravate, such violence.
Being actively secular was an ideological
conviction and political choice made at
Independence, and it is this drift away from
active - should one say pro-active? - secularism
that is highlighted in this book. Passive
secularism, one might almost say, is no better
than soft Hindutva.
The depressing conclusion is that, in this
scenario, the survival of secular India is in
serious jeopardy. With no real political will on
the part of the opposition to counter the
communal politics of the BJP/RSS - read Aijaz
Ahmed for a chilling analysis of election
prospects - and the latter's confidence that
secularism can be safely jettisoned, what
recourse do we have? The call to safeguard and
effectively implement the Constitutional
guarantee of substantive equality and democratic
rights recurs in all the essays in this volume.
The question is: can a majoritarian state also be
secular? For all our sakes, the answer has to be
a resounding 'Yes'.
WILL SECULAR INDIA SURVIVE ?
Edited by Mushirul Hasan
Imprint One [India]
Price Rs 800
_____
[7]
DAWN
04 April 2004
EXCERPTS: Lamps lit in darkness
By Harsh Mander
The Gujarat massacre in 2002 cast a pall of gloom
over India. But it was not a totally unrelieved
tragedy. Harsh Mander recounts how good-hearted
and compassionate men and women from both sides
of the communal divide brought hope amidst
despair by extending a helping hand to those who
needed it.
If the savage massacre in Gujarat and its
unconscionable conspiracies of silence and
complicity marked a monumental collapse of
traditional 'civil society', it witnessed
simultaneously a countrywide upsurge of
spontaneous voluntary action, luminous acts of
compassion, conscience and faith. In this hour of
national darkness, many lamps were lit. With
quiet individual acts of caring and courage, it
is ordinary people, in several corners of the
country, who have defended the gravely threatened
humanism and democratic traditions of our land.
A shameful paralysis gripped the development
sector in Gujarat, as celebrated and revered
social activists chose to shut their eyes and
ears to the slaughter and continuing agony of
innocent people and the unprecedented complicity
of state authorities. They did not attempt to
confront mobs as they set aflame people and
properties, they set up no camps to shelter the
bereaved and destitute survivors. They remain
mute as all civilized norms of relief and
rehabilitation were openly and wantonly subverted
by the state.
Amidst the bleak despair of this ignoble
abdication, a few organizations bravely banded
together under the banner of Citizens' Initiative
in Ahmedabad. Many others grappled with the even
more daunting challenges of rural communalism.
Despite threats to the very survival of some of
the organizations, they refused to flinch from
their resolute collective stand against
injustice. They supported the camp organizers
with relief supplies, ran health camps and
temporary schools, organized legal assistance,
extended trauma counseling for the survivors of
rape, arson and the mass murders with the help of
dedicated professionals from the National
Institute of Mental Health and Neurological
Sciences (NIMHANS). When the state government
refused to even construct rainproof shelters in
the camps, and starved them of food supplies,
they sustained the lifeline of food grain and
built structures which provided some protection
from the rain. It is only because of them that
the camps are not fully disbanded, and the
survivors still have some succour and hope.
The concerted attempts by the state government
and the dangerously communalized local media to
hide the truth of the massacre from the rest of
the country was decisively subverted by
journalists in the national media, who withstood
intense pressures and they courageously reflected
a widely shared national outrage. There can also
be no better testimony to the robustness of the
secular and democratic instincts of large
sections of people than the series of independent
citizens' enquiries into the events of Gujarat,
more than 40 at last count. Spontaneously
organized by a range of concerned citizen and
human rights groups from the length and breadth
of the country, these intrepid reports fearlessly
and painstakingly document the facts of the
Gujarat massacre, so that the rest of us know.
The parched compassion of Gujarat has been
quenched by the stream of volunteers, mostly
young people, who continue to pour into Gujarat,
eager to contribute in whatever way they can, to
show that they care, and suffer with their fellow
citizens in Gujarat. For many, it is an act of
prayaschit or penance, for others it is a
pilgrimage of active caring. Many more have sent
donations, from wageworkers in Lucknow to rich
industrialists in Mumbai.
I recall a team of auto-rickshaw drivers who
arrived from Andhra Pradesh and lived in camps in
Ahmedabad for over three weeks, cheerfully
sacrificing their daily earnings back home. Of
all the volunteers, they were perhaps the most
loved. Women in the camps blessed them and
declared that they had adopted them as their
sons. They wept when they finally returned to
their homes. I recall an unlikely band of
youthful executives working with multinational
companies in Mumbai, who were so moved by the
carnage, that they would every week-end put away
their suits and travel to Ahmedabad to serve in
the camps. A leading woman industrialist and a
respected senior film actress quietly, away from
the glare of publicity, approached everyone she
knew to collect millions of rupees to help in the
task of rebuilding the lives of the survivors. A
village volunteer from the organization Mazdoor
Kisaan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) in Rajasthan
visited a camp and observed that the toilets were
intolerably dirty, blocked with nightsoil and not
cleaned for days. Unmindful of the nauseating
stench and caste taboos, without a word he set
about cleaning the toilets for several hours.
When he returned the next morning, women
surrounded the toilets, refusing to let him
enter. They had resolved to take up the duty
themselves.
I have been most touched by the Aman Pathiks or
peace volunteers, many of them painfully young
men and women who responded to our call in
Ahmedabad to work for healing and rebuilding.
Many of the volunteers had themselves suffered
gravely in the carnage. As they showed me
pictures of the ruins of their burnt and
plundered homes, or spoke in low voices sometimes
of the violence suffered by members of their own
families, I wondered how many of us in their
position would be able to summon the same inner
resources to forgive so quickly and cheerfully
help others in need.
If the agony of our land is to heal and the
rivers of poison dry, if love and tolerance are
to be restored to our public life, it will be
because of our ordinary people. It is ultimately
because of them that we are still able to hope
amidst the darkness of Gujarat.
Harsh Mander is a social activist, writer and
former civil servant who has worked in the Indian
states of Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh for two
decades.
This book is about the carnage that swept Gujarat
in February 2002. With candid honesty and
impartiality the author captures the details of
the tragedy that unfolded in this Indian state.
The author also highlights the acts of compassion
and humanism that brought hope to the ravaged and
dispossessed.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Excerpted with permission from: Cry, My Beloved
Country: Reflections on the Gujarat Carnage
By Harsh Mander
Rainbow Publishers, New Delhi.
Available with Indus Publications, 25 Fareed
Chambers, Abdullah Haroon Road, Karachi
Tel: 021-5660242, 4801429
ISBN 81-86962-66-2
142pp. Price not listed
_____
[8]
[Thanks to MD for Drawing attention]
o o o
The Hindu of 4 April 2004 carries, in its
Literary Review supplement, a review by Arti
Jaiman of Roshen Dalal's The Puffin History of
India for Children, Volume 2: 1947 to the
Present. Illus. by Arun Pottirayil, pp.440,
Rs.299. Despite its title, the book is meant for
older children, although adults too can benefit
by reading it.
Here is one paragraph from the review:
"Neither is Dalal's voluminous, 440-page book short on history.
Almost the entire first half of the book is devoted to the
painstaking process of bringing 11 provinces, 565 states and other
territories together to create two independent nations, India and
Pakistan. This section alone should be prescribed reading for all
those arm-chair right-wingers who are quick to suggest war and
ethnic cleansing as a quick-fix solution for all of India's problems."
The full review is available at the below URL:
www.hindu.com/lr/2004/04/04/stories/2004040400310500.htm
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
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