SACW | 9-10 April 2004
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Fri Apr 9 19:03:16 CDT 2004
South Asia Citizens Wire | 9-10 April, 2004
via: www.sacw.net
[1] Bangladesh: Miah commission report on education (Nurul Kabir)
[2] Pakistan's Faustian bargains (William Milam)
[3] Independent Election Monitoring in Jammu and Kashmir
[4] Religion under Globalisation (P. Radhakrishnan)
[5] India: Vajpayee: Not An Informer? (I.K.Shukla)
[6] India: Defeat BJP Forum Street Action (New Delhi, April 10, 2004)
[7] India: Citizens To Light Candles For The 1725
Bhikha Behram Well (Bombay, April 13)
--------------
[1]
New Age [ Bangladesh]
April 8, 2004
MIAH COMMISSION REPORT ON EDUCATION
by Nurul Kabir
Plants are fashioned by cultivation, man by education.
- Jean Jacques Rousseau
The citizens committed to democratic ideals
must have noted, of course with some disquiet and
disgust, a recent public announcement of
Jamaat-e-Islami leader Ali Ahsan Muhammad Mujahid
to the effect that his party has 'foiled' a
'conspiracy' of secularising the country's
education system.
"There was a conspiracy to secularise the
country's education system. But we have foiled
that conspiracy," Mujahid, who is also the social
welfare minister of Khaleda Zia's BNP-led
cabinet, told a Jamaat rally at the Paltan ground
of the capital city on March 30.
Mujahid's statement came a day before the
National Education Commission, headed by Prof
Maniruzzaman Miah, submitted its report to the
Prime Minister on March 31. So, one has the scope
to take a look at the recommendations of the Miah
Commission to examine whether there was any
'conspiracy' to secularise the existing communal,
from the point of view of religion, education
system of the country, and how, and to what
extent, the conspiracy was 'foiled' by the
fundamentalist Jamaat - the partner of the
so-called centrist Bangladesh Nationalist Party
(BNP) in power.
A careful look at the contents of the 342-page
document reveals that Mujahid is right, at least
so far as further strengthening the non-secular
curricula in the education sector in general, and
the primary and secondary education in
particular, is concerned. It could not, however,
be ascertained whether there was any 'conspiracy'
to secularise the non-secular education system.
The Miah Commission rightly points out that
the country has three distinct categories of
education system with conflicting curricula, such
as general education, English medium kindergarten
education and madrassah education, and that the
'existence of various education systems/curricula
is an impediment towards the formation of a
unified nation'.
But the Commission did not even dare to
propose the dismantling of the three conflicting
education systems, which have been producing for
long three categories of citizens with
distinctively different mindsets that might
eventually create a situation of civil war in the
country in the days to come. It, however, appears
that the Miah Commission thought of introducing
certain changes in the education curricula to
minimise the differences. But it eventually
dropped the idea, attributing the failure to the
social and constitutional realities.
The Commission 'identifies' certain 'problems'
in making reforms in the education curricula.
"With Islam being the religion of the State, it
is highly sensitive, and consequently
time-consuming, to bring in the [required]
reforms in madrassah education," said the
Commission. "It is neither possible [under the
present circumstances] to exclude certain courses
from the syllabi of the madrassah curricula, nor
is it possible to include those courses in the
syllabi of the general education or the English
medium one."
Miah can neither propose the non-secular
curricula for the madrassahs that are controlled
mainly by the fundamentalist political quarters,
nor can he impose fundamentalist syllabi on the
students of the English medium schools run by
comparatively liberal sections of the society.
What, then, did the Miah Commission do with the
general primary and secondary education?
The Commission found it 'unnecessary to bring
any changes in, or amendments to, the objectives
of the primary education set and approved by the
government of BNP in 2000'.
But the problem with all the 22 objectives set
in 2002, which the Miah Commission keeps
unchanged, is that they are highly contradictory
to each other from the point of view of
democratic principles. The first objective aims
at 'indoctrination of students in the loyalty to
and belief in the Almighty Allah, so that the
belief inspires the students in their thought and
work, and helps shape their spiritual, moral,
social and human values'.
Indoctrination of any 'belief system' is
irrational, in the first place. Because 'belief'
obstructs the believers from questioning the
establishment - be it political or ideological.
The establishments across the world naturally
encourage belief system of some kind, as it
serves the rulers very well. The belief system in
the present case will simply help the religious
fundamentalist forces like Jamaat and its friends
to enlarge their political constituencies
further. The Jamaat's secretary general has
stymied the attempt, if there was any at all, to
secularise the education system.
The twelfth objective, on the other hand,
talks about just the opposite to what has been
said in the first one: helping the children to
develop a sense of mathematicsŠand acquire the
ability to think reasonablyŠ' Reasoning and blind
belief just cannot go together.
The Jamaat's ideological triumph is also
evident in another recommendation as regards
re-structuring the managing committees of the
primary schools. The Miah Commission has
recommended enlargement of the size of the
managing committees from the present 11-member to
13-member bodies by including in the committees
'two religious leaders'. The recommendation, if
implemented, will definitely help the
fundamentalists to increase their sphere of
'intellectual' influence in the education sector
- not to mention strengthening their physical
control over primary education.
The Miah Commission's failure to uphold
democratic principles was further evident when it
came to the recommendation of courses,
examination on the courses and distribution of
marks vis-a-vis the papers recommended at
different levels of primary, lower secondary and
secondary education.
The Commission's proposed curricula for the
primary level (Class-I to Class-V) includes
compulsory religious teachings, while the
students of class III, IV and V have to sit for
examinations (viva voce) on, along with Bangla,
English, Mathematics and Bangladesh Studies, the
religious teachings. The students of Class IV and
V have to study, along with other courses,
physical education, music and fine arts, but they
will not have to take these subjects as seriously
as religious teachings, as they will not be
required to sit for any examinations on the
subjects in question.
Again, while recommending courses for the
junior secondary (Class-VI to Class-VIII) and
secondary (Class XI-X) levels, the Commission has
proposed a 100-mark course on religious
teachings, 200-mark course on
'history-geography-sociology', 50-mark course on
physical education, while there are no marks at
all for courses on fine arts and music.
At the secondary level, the Commission has
again proposed 100 marks for religious teachings,
and only 50 for history and 50 for geography,
with no marks for fine arts and music. Courses
like the (1) history of science and philosophy,
(2) ethics, and (3) health-food-nutrition have
been kept 'optional' for the students.
Clearly, the accent is on religious teachings
- an unfailing ideological instrument of
producing and reproducing unthinking citizens
that help peacefully perpetuate undemocratic
governance.
Of the systems, not individuals
Prof Maniruzzaman Miah, presumably a secular
person at the private level, must have been
disappointed at having to make a set of
undemocratic recommendations, which, if
implemented, will definitely have negative
impacts on democratic growth. But it could not
have been different either, especially when the
members of the country's ruling elite, with a few
exceptions, are not yet 'emancipated' enough to
intellectually accept the classical democratic
ideals to rule the country. Dr. Kudrat-e-Khuda,
the head of the country's first education
commission, was the victim of the same
circumstances.
The Khuda Commission in its interim report,
submitted in May 1973, recommended 'separation of
religion from education'. The report had argued,
"Instead of creating blind allegiance to the
external aspects and formal rituals of religion,
the curricula and textbooks should inculcate in
the students a refined and well integrated system
of secular ethics to produce a new generation of
citizens for secular Bangladesh."
Understandably, the syllabi recommended by the
interim report did not contain any course of
religious education in the classes up to VIII.
Religious education was recommended as an
elective course for classes IX and X.
Meanwhile, the Khuda Commission circulated
among the members of the most educated section of
the society - vice-chancellors and professors of
the universities and degree colleges, principals
and professors of the medical colleges,
principals of the higher secondary colleges,
headmasters of the high schools, members of the
associations of school and college teachers, and
superintendents of madrassahs, educationists,
essayists, poets, novelists, playwrights,
newspaper editors, top-level civil servants and
members of parliaments - identical questionnaires
for eliciting their opinions on the nature of
education necessary for Bangladesh. As many as
2,869 persons responded, and 74.69 per cent of
the respondents said that 'religious education
should be an integral part of general education',
while only 5.44 per cent said that 'there should
be no special arrangement for religious teaching
in general educational institutions'.
The Khuda Commission had to give up its
secular approach. It eventually recommended
religious instruction as an alternative to
ethical studies in classes VI to VIII and as an
elective subject in classes IX to XI only in the
humanities stream'.
The political situation has worsened, and
along with that the secular quality of education
has been degraded, and vice versa, over the last
few decades.
The education commission, headed by another
secular man at the personal level, Prof Shamsul
Haque, which was formed by the government of
Sheikh Hasina in 1997, was also compelled to
regard the reactionary 'madrassah education as an
integral part of the national education system'.
In the given political reality, any education
commission set up by the government/s of the
ruling elite is destined to fail to produce a
comprehensive set of democratic recommendations
to democratise the education system. The Miah
Commission cannot be an exception.
Time to take lessons
Education, especially primary and secondary
education, shapes the political and cultural
future of a nation. A society aspiring to be
democratic in its political and cultural psyche,
therefore, needs to formulate its education
curriculum in a way that helps shape the psyche
of the thousands of individual children in a
democratic mould. Secularism is inherent in the
concept of democracy, because democracy as an
original idea had emerged in the West through
political struggles against feudalism backed by
religious ideologies. That which is not secular
is not democratic.
The construction, and/or perpetuation, of a
secular democratic society calls for formulation
and implementation of secular democratic
curricula that generate among the children, or
the future citizens for that matter, a sense of
demystification of the universe, which
automatically encourages the students to
constantly question and review all structures,
processes, institutions and situations of the
society from the point of view of democratic
ideals. Understandably, this is a gigantic task,
which is primarily a matter of conscious, and
open, political action. There is no scope for
achieving such a great objective secretly, beyond
the knowledge of any quarter.
The educational policies of different regimes
have rather deliberately generated in the society
a growing sense of mystification about the
universe that virtually degrades the thinking
human beings to non-thinking animal entities. The
regimes, civil or military, have done it openly,
before the eyes of all, secular or non-secular.
The rulers have done it, especially through
education curricula, with a clear objective of
perpetuating their political hegemony.
It is not accidental that various regimes have
decreased per capita allocation in the
conventional secular education sector, while
increasing per capita allocation in the madrassah
sector that produces hundreds of unthinking
citizens with little tolerance for the dissenting
views based on reason. There are as many as
18,268 registered (government recognised)
non-government 'ebtedia' madrassahs (equivalent
to primary schools) in the country enjoying
certain kinds of grants from the state, as
against some 20,000 registered non-government
primary schools.
The leaders of the mainstream political
parties publicly encourage madrassah education,
while boasting of providing increasing financial
support from the public coffer to these
institutions that preach among poor young boys a
world outlook which is mediaeval and produce
every year hundreds of youths with a deep sense
of intolerance for opposing ideologies, political
or religious.
Do Khaleda Zia, Sheikh Hasina, or H M Ershad,
or even Ali Ahsan Mujahid of Jamaat-e-Islami for
that matter, even think of sending their
children/grand-children to a madrassah? No!
Still, they keep the reactionary system going,
because they need a large number of unthinking,
unquestioning people to perpetuate their
questionable political hegemony over the society.
Most of the youths produced by the madrassahs are
taught not to question the established ideas -
they are simply taught to 'believe'. They
perpetually provide constituencies to the
political parties having almost no integrated
democratic agenda for the people's welfare. So,
the anti-secular madrassah system remains, and
religious teachings get priority over social
sciences and fine arts in the curricula of
general education.
The change of the undemocratic education
system, therefore, calls for the change of the
political system, in the first place. And it is
time for the Kudrat-e-Khudas, Shamshul Haques and
Maniruzzaman Miahs to have the courage of their
convictions and align themselves with the
anti-establishment forces of democracy.
The writer is Deputy Editor, New Age
_____
[2]
The Daily Times [ Pakistan]
April 9, 2004
Op-Ed.
Pakistan's Faustian bargains
by William Milam
From the Objectives Resolution through Ziaul
Haq's hudood laws to Pervez Musharraf's back-down
on the blasphemy law and madrassah reform, the
unforeseen consequences of these Faustian
bargains have resulted in the slow but steady
erosion of state power and its accretion by
non-state actors
It has always seemed to me that Shakespeare found
words or plots to describe and explain almost
every variety of human behaviour. That is why he
is so great, and so timeless. I don't claim an
inexhaustible knowledge of Shakespeare. But I
have racked my brain, and reviewed his plays, and
I still can't find anything that helps me
understand the scandal of A.Q Khan or mitigates
my dismay at the recent revelations about him.
Nor is there, anywhere in Shakespeare or
elsewhere in literature, anything that explains
to my satisfaction the benign reaction of the
leaders of Pakistan to Mr Khan's astounding
confession that he has been the main cog in a
longstanding illegal enterprise to spread nuclear
weapon capability to Iran, North Korea, and Libya.
Mr Khan is nuclear scientist turned nuclear
entrepreneur, national icon turned national
embarrassment. To some, he is a hero who provided
Pakistan with the ability always to defend itself
against India. Some of these defenders broaden
that to claim that he is the hero who developed
the "Islamic bomb." To his critics, he is a rogue
who squandered that heritage, and Pakistan's good
name, by peddling his knowledge and Pakistan's
assets to other rogues to enrich himself.
Those who celebrate Mr Khan's achievements seem
to believe he was motivated by a sincere (but
perhaps tunnel-visioned) patriotism. (Making lots
of money, I guess, was just a convenient
externality.) Those who think him a rogue seem
certain that greed was his driver. There are even
those very few who wonder whether, if the
resources the Pakistani state expended to develop
nuclear weapons had been instead devoted to
education, Pakistan would not be now a stronger
and more coherent nation.
I have not been able to find in Shakespeare a
character to throw light on what drove Mr Khan.
The tragic figures, such as Hamlet and Lear, are
fated to fail on a large scale, usually because
of some character flaw, but motivated by grand
and generally true ideals. The villains, such as
Iago, are pure evil and motivated by puerile
personal self-aggrandizement. Perhaps Shakespeare
was too much a product of his time to be able to
understand and articulate the psychic cleavages
of the late 20th and early 21st century - the
contest between sets of false and illusory
ideals, which typically concern attaining
political success and personal wealth, and the
standards of conduct and behaviour set out by
society for its greater good, which conflict with
those false ideals and place strict limits and
rules on how success and wealth may be obtained.
I turn to Arthur Miller, the American playwright,
for insight into this purely modern puzzle.
Miller's plays concern the Faustian bargains some
modern men try to make with society's codes, when
driven by false ideals that society itself
creates to anti-social behaviour in pursuit of
success and wealth. Most men choose to steer by
society's standards of conduct. A few men commit
themselves wholly to false ideals, and by
eschewing society's standards of conduct, destroy
themselves. This, in Miller's plays, is the
quintessential tragedy of modern times. Miller
captured this most powerfully in his two
best-known plays, All My Sons and Death of A
Salesman.
I think All My Sons is most relevant to the
riddle of AQ Khan. The central character, Joe, is
a great success; he has position, prosperity, a
nice home, a loving family. But in achieving all
this, he has sold his soul to false and illusory
ideals that have convinced him that success
justifies any action, and preserving it any
behaviour, no matter how ruthless and reckless.
When his success is threatened, he acts to
preserve it in a way that leads to the death of
many innocents. Though he didn't intend it (the
law of unforeseen consequences), his immoral and
dishonest act brings him and his family crashing
down; one son commits suicide out of shame, the
other turns his father in out of shame.
Ultimately, Joe also commits suicide to avoid
prison.
I think the key is not that Joe held false
ideals, but that he held them with such passion
that they overrode common humanity and the moral
codes that should direct our lives. Joe is tragic
because, at the end, he accepted his guilt. In
the final scene of the play, he says that the men
whose deaths he had caused were, "all my sons." I
have seen no indication that AQ Khan understands
or accepts - his five-minute TV apology
notwithstanding - that he has transgressed a
moral code or that he has undermined the state he
sought to serve. One thing seems clear: Mr Khan
chose to act as he did. He may have been
encouraged, but there was no compulsion. If those
elements that support him most fiercely now ever
came to power, his successors would have no such
choice.
But what are we to think of the Faustian bargain
of Pakistan's leaders with Mr Khan and his
backers? Do they understand the damage he has
done the state they lead? On this, I suspect that
no work of fiction can give us any clues. We have
to turn to history - not famous cover-ups,
because they are all unique in their
circumstances and in their historical
implications - and look at the Faustian bargains
that Pakistani leaders have made for short-term
political gains or with those they feared. From
the Objectives Resolution through Ziaul Haq's
hudood laws to Pervez Musharraf's back-down on
the blasphemy law and madrassah reform, the
unforeseen consequences of these Faustian
bargains have resulted in the slow but steady
erosion of state power and its accretion by
non-state actors, as well as the steady
encroachment of anti-modern principles into
governance and the law. Will further encroachment
be the result of turning a blind eye to Mr Khan's
transgressions?
William Milam is a former US ambassador to
Pakistan and Bangladesh. Currently at the Woodrow
Wilson Center in Washington DC, he is writing a
book comparing Pakistan and Bangladesh. He wrote
this article for Daily Times
______
[3]
Independent Election Monitoring in Jammu and Kashmir
Invitation
Loksabha elections have been scheduled and hectic
activities like candidature fixing, campaigns,
etc are on in J&K also. While the election
commission and the administration are busy
preparing for the security aspects of elections,
the political parties are busy wooing voters,
elaborating the virtues of their candidates and
their past work.
In the midst of all this, the stark reality of
flawed elections of the past scares the Kashmiri
people. They are haunted by the violence,
coercion and rigging they have witnessed in
Assembly elections and in Parliament elections in
the past 54 years. The fact that polling ratios
of all elections held in J&K has been taken in
far too many senses, add to their worries.
While voting in elections and thus taking part in
the "democratic" process of a nation like India
holds priority, it is as much a democratic right
of citizens to abstain from elections and
register their protest against what they believe
as a system, which does not provide them security
to their lives and property.
It was in this context that the Jammu and Kashmir
Coalition of Civil Society and the Civil Society
Initiatives (Delhi) held Election Observation
Programme in J&K during the last Assembly
Elections (2002). The report, titled 'Independent
Election Observers Report' attracted much
attention, appreciation and criticism. The
collective process, however also became an
opportunity to expose many leading personalities
from India to the day-to-day realities of
conflict in J&K.
It is with the same objectives that we approach
you with an invitation to join us for another
round of election observation, this time for the
Lok Sabha Elections (2004) to be held in J&K, in
4 phases for the 6 parliamentary seats. As
earlier, the different teams of the Coalition
consisting of people from Jammu and Kashmir as
well as outsiders, will be monitoring elections
in different constituencies, on different days
and will collectively bring out a report on the
election process.
While the main agenda of the team will be to look
at the aspects of 'free and fair elections', we
strongly feel that the process will also allow us
to assess and analyse the present phase of 'peace
negotiations' (between BJP lead NDA Government
and a faction of the All Parties Hurriyat
Conference) and 'the healing touch' (as claimed
by the PDP led Government in the state).
It is not a funded project and hence all friends
who are willing to join in any one phase or more,
as part of the team, will have to bear their
respective travel costs to J&K. But we will be
happy to support the local accommodation and
local transport from our side. Kindly understand
our financial restraints and do join us in this
process.
We look forward to receiving your confirmation.
Kindly find enclosed the election schedule in
detail.
Election Schedule:
Team I
20-Apr-2004 (Tuesday)
Baramulla,
Jammu
Team II
26-Apr-2004 (Monday)
Srinagar
Team III
5-May-2004 (Wednesday)
Anantnag
Team IV
10-May-2004 (Monday
Ladkah, (No team will be able to go)
Udhampur
Thanking you in anticipation.
In Solidarity,
Parvez Imroz
President, J&K CCS
G N Saibaba
General Secretary, AIPRF
Gautam Navlakha
Editorial Consultant, EPW
______
[4]
The Economic and Political Weekly [India]
March 27 , 2004
RELIGION UNDER GLOBALISATION
The major religions of the world are being used
as purveyors of the globalisation agenda and this
is often accompanied by an unprecedented flow of
funds into the third world. This has led to the
transmogrification of traditional religions and
belief systems; the beginning of the
disintegration of the traditional social fabrics
and shared norms by newfangled religions and
changing work ethics, and the forcing of an ever
increasing number of individuals to fall back
upon the easily accessible pretentious religious
banalities.
by P. Radhakrishnan
URL:
www.epw.org.in/showArticles.php?root=2004&leaf=03&filename=7012&filetype=pdf
o o o
[SACW readers who wish to receive a copy of the
article (a PDF file) as an attachment can send a
request to : <aiindex at mnet.fr> ]
______
[5]
VAJPAYEE: NOT AN INFORMER?
by I.K.Shukla
Despite several denials of Atal Behari Vajpaye,
the charge that he was an informer of the Brits
in 1942 does not disappear from the national
memory. It resurfaces again and again.
It can only mean that his explanations have
always been widely regarded as evasive and
unconvincing. It can only mean that the nation
feels insecure and anguished with him at the
helm, as it does with the Rakshasi Sangh Sarkar
(Demonic Combine's Government) which has been
regarded by millions of Indians historically as
Rashtradrohi Siyar Sangh (Traitorous Jackals’
Herd).
Frontline, in 1998, and The Hindu on 19 Sep.1999,
laid bare the case (with the help of court
records) involving Vajpayee in Bateshwar, Agra,
on Aug. 27, 1942, and how he got away scot free.
We need not go into it at all.
Technically, and far more casuistically, Vajpayee
may have convinced himself that he has cleared
himself of the insinuation, but no one else.
Technicalities and expedient tampering have let
murderers get away with murder. Juridical remit
may not always include justice.
Informer, according to the dictionary, is "one
who discloses information"; "one who informs on
others, often for compensation".
The questions that nag are: As a member of RSS
why did he join the procession which was going to
hoist the tricolor on the Forest House in
Bateshwar, Agra, if not to be of service to the
Brits, as pledged both by Savarkar's Hindu
Mahasabha and Golwalkar's RSS ?
Later, he disassociated himself from the marchers’ plan quite emphatically
Then, why did he and his brother stay below,
while others "went up"? Just to watch, to whose
benefit and with what purpose?
He volunteered information to the police on two
of the processionists - Mahuan and Kakua
(Leeladhar Bajpai). It was gratuitous. It was
despicable. He was not at all under duress.
Of course other villagers too may have named
them. But the articulate, educated Vajpayee
brothers, Atal and Prem , did so out of a sense
of loyalty to the Raj that RSS and Sabha had
sworn themselves to in several written statements
and documents. These all are on record.
It was for this collaboration, perceived or real
(according to your lights), that he was out of
jail in three weeks, wires pulled in his behalf
high and low by his father. Others, named by him,
were jailed for five years. Wires pulled must
have convincingly persuaded the Brits that the
role of the Vajpayee brothers was collaborative,
as informers and loyal servants of the Raj, not
as freedom fighters of the 1942 Quit India
movement.
Sabha and RSS had denounced the 1942 struggle,
asked their members to stay away from it, and
promised the Brits all support against the
freedom fighters aka as miscreants and insurgents
in the officialese of the times.
Therefore, Vajpayee can be given absolution, if
any, on the ground that he was only following the
orders of gauleiters and caudillos of
Rashtradrohi Swayamsewak Sangh (Traitorous
Volunteers Squad). And, that he was only a very
small part of the major national betrayal that
RSS and Hindu Mahasabha ordained and orchestrated
in 1942, besmirched themselves with, and thus
proved themselves to be the inveterate and
implacable enemies of India, its people, its
freedom.
Rewriting history, erasure of history, seeking a
niche in history, falsifying history, - thus
became essential imperatives in the saffronazi
culture, criminal and corrupt from incipience,
that sought and fostered subservience to, and
begged slavery of, the foreign masters.
So, Vajpayee as a "loyal soldier" in knickers,
of the RSS, must be viewed not as an individual
that stands charged with spying for the Brits
against India, but only as a follower of the cult
that assassinated Gandhi who had launched the
Quit India movement in 1942, that has fielded the
assassin Dara Singh as its candidate for the
Legislative Assembly in Orissa, and that
masterminded the slaughter of 500 people in just
3 days following the demolition of the Babri
Mosque in 1992 (Vishwa Hindu Parishad by Manjari
Katju, 2003, p.99).
No wonder, therefore, that with their perverse
and distorted vision, Vajpayee and his cohort
call India Burning as India Shining, India
Sinking as India Rising, India Choking as India
Chortling.
Vajpyee had set himself a task that Aug. 27 in
1942 and he executed it as best he could. For
want of a better word it would be labeled
informing spying. He was amply rewarded for the
collaboration by the enemy.
Sangh, his soul, had long determined to be the
India’s Enemy Within, India's Fifth Column. This
role it has played remarkably consistently since
the 1920s. It has all done voluntarily. It
volunteered to spy for the Brits. It volunteered
to soak India in blood and shred it to bits. It
volunteered to tear India apart with fascist
terror. It volunteered to spread mass starvation
and thousands of suicides. It volunteered to
anoint corruption and kleptomania, as its dharma.
Why? Because it Felt Good with the monstrous
desecration, massive devastation, widespread
pauperization, and monumental disgrace that it
perpetrated on the Indian citizenry in general
and the minorities in particular.
Vajpayee is in good company, though. Kurt
Waldheim, a Nazi, rose to be the Secy.-General of
the United Nations and President of Austria, and
was the darling of the western "democracies".
Vajpayee, the saffronazi, rose to be the PM of
India, India's sunset.
Let me conclude with a couplet from Makhan Lal
Chaturvedi, the nationalist Hindi poet
(1889-1968) culled from a poem, A Flower's Wish:
Mujhe tod lena vanmalee us path par dena tum phenk
Matribhumi hit sheesh chadhane jis path javen veer anek.
An English rendering of the sentiment may be: O
gardener, pluck me and throw me on to the path
taken by heroic martyrs in the cause of the
motherland.
An inanimate piece of nature could wish so. Not
Vajpayee on Aug.27, 1942. Because there is an
ocean of difference between a poet and a
poetaster, or between being a poet and playing a
poet.
9 Apr. 2004
______
[6]
DEFEAT BJP FORUM
Dear Friend,
We request you to join us in our first street
action on 10 April, Saturday, 10.30 AM. The
Defeat BJP Forum will hold a rally of teachers,
writers, activists to distribute our leaflet in
Hindi and Urdu among the people in the walled
city. The English version is posted below.
Needless to say, larger the gathering, the more
reassuring it will be for the common terrorized
people. Please come with your friends and
colleagues (we can make only so many phone-calls).
The rally assembles in front of the old Zakir
Hussain College near Ajmeri gate. We will walk
through the walled city to end at Turkman gate.
No speeches, no banners except ours.
At the next phase of our programme, we are
planning a big press conference in Lucknow on 13
April. The time and the venue will be announced
shortly.
Nirmalangshu
Join Hands To Save the Nation
Defeat the BJP Now
This is the most crucial election since
Independence. At stake is the survival of India's
republican constitution and the plural,
democratic conception of society which it defends.
The RSS, which is accountable to no-one, is
exerting a extra-constitutional authority. The
democratic process is being used to threaten the
future of democracy itself. Brazen assaults on
the minorities and other vulnerable sections are
occuring daily as the BJP, the political arm of
the RSS, strengthens its hold over the state. The
lawless conduct of the sangh parivar goes
unpunished even when they maim and kill. BJP
leaders, including the Prime Minister, reproach
the victims for not accommodating their
tormentors.
This dangerous alignment of the state and the
sangh parivar was brutally illustrated in Gujrat
where thousands of minorities, including women
and children, were killed and lakhs were made
homeless with the direct support of the state. In
the two years since the carnage, social and
economic boycott of the muslims continues to be
the rule. Gujrat is a grim reminder of the state
of things to come in an even wider scale if the
RSS-BJP axis is allowed to come back to power
again.
The BJP-dominated NDA government has been the
instrument for the consolidation of the
communal-fascist agenda of the RSS.
Breaking with the constitutional tradition of
neutrality of gubernatorial positions, almost all
governors of states are RSS members.
In the sphere of education and culture, the
government is propagating the destructive
ideology of the RSS by enforcing changes in the
school curriculum, iniating reactionary
programmes in colleges and universities, and
installing RSS members and supporters in academic
and cultural institutions of national importance.
The government has sought to directly attack
vulnerable sections of the society - the
minorities, dalits, tribals, landless peasants -
with laws such as POTA and by unleashing a police
raj.
A BJP victory will enable the RSS to further
consolidate its position and control over the
nation. The RSS has implemented its programme via
the NDA government because of the electoral gains
made by the BJP in the last two general elections.
The economic policies of the BJP-dominated
government have led to extensive unemployment and
impoverishment of vast masses of people.
Removal of trade barriers have resulted directly
in landlessness and increase in rural poverty:
thousands of farmers have committed suicide all
over the country, milk, sugar-cane and cotton
sectors have been badly hit. Aggressive
de-industrailisation has led to closure and
dislocation of factories.
'Jobless growth' has led to unprecedented
unemployment in each sector of the economy
affecting specially the younger generation of the
population.
Indiscriminate disinvestment including in
strategic sectors like defence and energy and
withdrawal of the state from education, health,
and social security have endangered the life
conditions of the people. For the first time in
many decades, there is a serious threat to food
security.
How does BJP win the elections?
Although the national average of BJP's vote share
is barely 24%, BJP wins a larger number of seats
due to the division of the secular vote.
In crucial state like UP, the BJP has won by very
small margins even in four-cornered contests. In
Bijnor, Faizabad, Bahraich, Basti, Banasgaon,
Gorakhpur, Padrauna, Jaunpur, Ghazipur,
Robertsganj, Fatehpur, Bilhapur, Hapur and many
other constituencies BJP had won with less than
3% difference in vote share.
BJP would have been routed in most constituencies
if just the votes of the second and the third
parties were united.
The way to defeat BJP is to unite the secular
vote. We appeal to all secular parties and
candidates not to divide their votes. If parties
and candidate fail to do it, then people must.
Choose the candidate in your constituency who can
defeat the BJP and mobilise the vote.
Issued by Nirmalangshu Mukherji and Madhu Prasad,
38/2 Probyn Road, Delhi 110007, Delhi, on behalf
of
DEFEAT BJP FORUM
_____
[7]
Sent: 08 April 2004 03:44
Subject: [INSAANIYATBOMBAY] 13TH APRIL, 2004 AT Azad Maidan
PRESS RELEASE
CITIZENS TO LIGHT CANDLES FOR THE 1725 BHIKHA BEHRAM WELL ON TUE.
13TH APRIL, 2004 AT Azad Maidan, Opp. BMC Headquarters, Off.
Mahapalika Marg, near C.S.T. ( V.T.). The timing shall be from 7.00
to 8.00 p.m.
Citizens had not yet recovered from the shock of ransacking of the
Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute at Pune, when they heard about
the desecration of the Bhika Behram Well, an A graded heritage
structure, situated near the Churchgate Station, opposite the South-
East curve of the Oval Maidan in South Mumbai.
Built in 1725 by a Parsi philanthropist, the sweet water of the well
has been freely available to the general public. On the night of
11/12 March, 2004 miscreants smashed twelve beautiful stained glass
panels, encased on the canopy of the well. Some bearing Zoroastrian
icons were destroyed while others with floral patterns may have been
stolen. Why was a sacred monument of the peace-loving Parsi
community targeted; and what security and protection can other
communities expect in similar circumstances? Is there need for
better governance and vigilance by the law and order authorities to
prevent such incidents in future?
NGOs like the `Public Concern for Governance Trust (PCGT)' and
numerous well-wishers from all communities have shown their concern
and have come out in full support of the `.......Trust' that looks after
the well. Representations have been made to the President, Prime
Minister, Governor of Maharashtra, Chief Minister and the Police
Commissioner amongst others. To protest against this vandalism a
silent peaceful Candle Light Vigil is being held at Hutatma Chowk
(Flora Fountain) on Tuesday, April 13, 2004 at 7 p.m. This is a call
for a show of solidarity of all citizens.
Mumbai is a melting pot of various communities of diverse cultures
and traditions. This spirit must be nurtured and protected from any
element that stirs discord. The Candle Light Vigil is an opportunity
for Mumbaites to rally round when the very spirit that keeps us
together is disturbed, as has been in the case of the desecration of
the Bhika Behram Well. We hope that the authorities responsible for
the governance of this city shall urgently do all that is required to
restore lost confidence by bringing to book those involved in this
wanton destruction and/or theft.
(In para 3, please fill in the name of the Trust that looks after the
well)
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
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/
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bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/
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