SACW | 27-28 Jan. 06 - Pakistan: Wali Khan; India: quacks and charlatans unimited; Militarised Machismo Parade; California Hindutva, Nepal demo

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire  | 27-28 January, 2006 | Dispatch No. 2211


[1] Pakistan: Wali Khan - A fighter for peoples rights (I.A. Rehman)
    Letter to Editor - Religion is a collective Matter ? (Anil Khan Luni)
[2] Pressure on India Mounts in Advance of Bush Visit (J. Sri Raman)
[3] India: The republic and the wayward rationalist (P. Sainath)
[4] India: Might of the Republic (Editorial, Kashmir Times)
[5] India: Government has failed to check spread of communalism
   + Communalists attack Christians in Bhopal (news Report)
[6] Hindutva goes to California school (Shalini Gera & Girish Agrawal)
[7] Announcements:
(i) Samadristi – A Fortnightly Magazine from Orissa
(ii) Vancouver Rally and Vigil in Solidarity with Nepali Democracy
Activists
(iii)Kalinga Nagar Chalo : 30th January 2006

____________________________________


[1]

Dawn
January 28, 2006

OBITUARY: A VALIANT FIGHTER FOR PEOPLE’S RIGHTS

By I.A. Rehman

WITH the passing away of Abdul Wali Khan, Pakistan has lost one of its
senior most politicians, if not the senior most, who played a
significant part in the struggles of his people for more than six decades.

Born in the year of the Soviet revolution, when the aspirations of the
colonized people all over the world began to soar to new heights, Wali
Khan had from early life a challenging task carved out for him. Although
the house of his father, Bacha Khan, was establishing new traditions
among the Utmanzais in several areas, including pursuit of excellence in
education and the arts and community welfare through social work, for
Wali Khan politics became the first and the last love. Apart from the
hazards of fighting for independence in a crown colony, his task was
made difficult by his inheritance. On the one hand he was inspired by
his father’s ideals of non-violence, humility and selfless service and
on the other hand he was exposed to his uncle’s long journey along the
path of nationalist, democratic politics and which ended in pragmatism.
While he drew upon both elements of his family’s legacy, time and
circumstance demanded a search for new approaches to the community’s
goals and he earned distinction by realizing this.

Wali Khan had many years of experience as a Khudai Khidmatgar when
Pakistan came into being and the Pukhtoon struggle for what they always
considered their rights entered a new and more difficult phase. Wali
Khan willingly accepted the sacrifices that this struggle demanded and
continued fighting to his last for the rights of his people in a
democratic, federal Pakistan. His struggle against One Unit and the
autocratic rule of Ayub Khan marked the most glorious phase of his long
political career. During the East Bengal crisis, he was in that
magnificent minority that stood up against the madness of the military
operation against their fellow Pakistani citizens. The contribution made
by the opposition under his leadership during the framing of the 1973
Constitution, particularly to the adoption of the parliamentary system
and some relief to the federating units, has never been fully recognized
but was considerable nonetheless.

But if perseverance in Bacha Khan’s tradition of public service demanded
great sacrifices Wali Khan’s brush with pragmatism presented him with
serious perils. History is yet to pronounce its verdict as to what might
have happened if Wali Khan had used his influence to save the
Bhutto-Bizenjo accord of 1972 or avoided putting his trust in Ziaul
Haq’s words in 1977 or whether the brief ANP-PPP accord of 1988-89 could
be given a longer life. However, even the harshest of Wali Khan’s
critics must bear in mind the Herculean nature of the mission of anyone
who is called upon to keep the banner of democracy flying in a society
afflicted with love for praetorian rule. Perhaps nobody will deny Wali
Khan’s substantial contribution to the country’s political culture, of
which his decision to quit active politics after losing the election in
1990 was only one of the many illustrations.

That he had to struggle all his life for causes the state of Pakistan
was created to defend was not Khan Abdul Wali Khan’s tragedy alone; the
victims of this tragedy to a larger extent were, and are, the people of
Pakistan. There will be time to put Wali Khan’s work in a proper
perspective and also to assess what might be referred to as his errors
of judgment and the present moment warrants only a salute to a
consistent and valiant campaigner for the rights of the people to
democracy and equity.


o o o

Dawn
January 22, 2006
Letters to the Editor

RELIGION IS A COLLECTIVE MATTER [?]

THIS is with reference to S. Qadri’s letter “Religion is a collective
matter” (Jan 20) where he referred to Irfan Hussain’s column “Gender
discrimination” (Dec 17) and quoted his statement: “And if a woman does
indeed transgress, surely that is a matter between her and her Maker,
and not one to be adjudicated by a family member or a mullah.” Mr Qadri
then gives some examples of transgression to prove the point that
secularism is a western concept and should not be adhered to.

He argues that if a young woman dresses provocatively in public, she is
bound to attract unnecessary attention or, worse still, excite the
passions of men who may be passing by. “This is likely to invite ogling,
uncalled-for remarks or even the risk of molestation. A young man who is
unable to control his passions may not be able to target her but could
trap a young child to satisfy his lust, as is happening increasingly in
these times.”

I am afraid that the above example makes no sense. How can Mr Qadri
possibly link the rape of a minor girl with a girl who is
“provocatively” dressed in public? There have been thousands of reported
rape cases of minor girls in rural areas of Pakistan and where one
cannot find women provocatively dressed while working in the fields or
walking down the street. How can Mr Qadri explain the uncalled remarks
by men on women who are wearing burqas? The reason for sexual harassment
of women is the absence of rule of law and of the existence of draconian
laws such as the Hudood Ordinance which favour rapists and which would
not have been promulgated had we been living in a progressive set-up.

If men are not able to control their passions then the solution lies not
in making women stay indoors but to punish such men by giving them
exemplary punishments. The reason why men in our country do not behave
appropriately in presence of women is because of their lack of
interaction with them. It is a common observation that men who have
studied in co-education institutions are less likely to ogle or pass
uncalled for remarks against women than men who have not studied in such
institutions.

The second example which Mr Qadri cites against secularism is that of
motorists not following the traffic rules and making their own rules
resulting in accidents and chaos. This example also does not carry any
weight since supporters of secularism do not advocate a complete absence
of laws but rather elimination of those that curb the freedom of an
individual even when no one else’s rights are violated.

One other example given by the correspondent is that of the use of
intoxicants, which cannot remain a matter between a man and his Maker.
He then gives examples of people committing crime under the influence of
alcohol. Perhaps he is unaware that there are laws which exist in
secular countries against excessive use of alcohol. A person is not
allowed to drive a car under the influence of alcohol. If a person
commits a crime under the influence of alcohol, he cannot take up the
defence than he was not in his senses. I do not think that any secular
person could possibly defend individual rights to consume excessive
amounts of alcohol because doing so could lead to a situation when the
rights of another person may be violated.

People need to realize that secularism does not mean that people should
stop following their religion but merely that the views of an individual
about his religion should not be imposed on another individual. A person
has an inherent right to do whatever he chooses as long as he does not
violate the right of another individual. The reason why religion should
not be the business of the state is that it results in exploitation of
religion for political purposes as witnessed in our country under
leaders such as Gen Zia.

ANIL KHAN LUNI
Lahore


____



[2]

truthout.org
24 January 2006

PRESSURE ON INDIA MOUNTS IN ADVANCE OF BUSH VISIT
by J. Sri Raman

     Preparations are on, in full swing, for US President George Bush's
visit to India - and protocol matters are the least of the concerns of
the mandarins here.

     The presidential mission, I noted in my previous article on the
subject (Waiting for Bush, January 6), was being used as a pressure
tactic. The pressures on India, for compliance with exacting conditions
for the great event to go through, are escalating.

     We have had a series of high-level US visitors here in recent
weeks, presumably to prepare the ground for what many in the
establishment here await as the mother of all state visits. In the
second week of January, John Kerry, the defeated opponent of Bush
anxious to distance himself from all those anti-war extremists, was
here. Senator Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana, and Representative Dan
Burton, Republican of Indiana, were here, too.

     The most noteworthy visitor, however, was none other than US Under
Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns. The President's
point man for pushing through the process of a US-India nuclear deal of
July 18, 2005 - and related matters like influencing or intimidating
India on Iran - made no secret of his brief.

     He let it be known during his visit in the third week of January
that the President might make it to India at last, in the first week of
March. To those loyalists tingling with excitement at the prospect,
however, he also made it loud and clear that they must hasten to meet
the two conditions for the outcome they hoped for.

     Much of the tough and tortuous negotiations between Burns and
India's foreign secretary Shyam Saran, assisted by their teams, focused
on a politically sensitive part of the nuclear deal: the separation of
India's civilian and military nuclear facilities in order to throw the
former open to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

     India's peace movement has opposed the deal as the beginning of a
process aimed at a US-India "strategic partnership." The country's
hawks, however, have opposed the deal as an attempt at capping India's
nuclear weapons program, with the separation of facilities designed in
particular to serve this objective. This argument has found strident
public expression in the statements of the far-right political leaders.
It has also found unofficial but an open-secret endorsement from India's
department of atomic energy (DAE).

     Pro-deal and pro-Bush opinion-makers, on the other hand, argue that
meeting the US conditions will actually promote the cause of nuclear
militarism in India. Illustrative is security analyst C. Raja Mohan's
sneering description of the growing number of the deal's opponents as
"fast-breeding reactionaries." Another like-minded analyst claims that,
because of "decades of political self deception, the country has neither
a successful civilian nuclear power program, nor a purposeful weapons
program."

     The talks did not settle the issue. Evident at the end of the
closed door confabulations was the impatience of Burns, as also the
embarrassment of Saran. No key-hole journalism was needed to discover
that the separation blueprint offered by India left Burns deeply
unsatisfied. Especially unacceptable to the US was the obvious
reluctance of India's establishment to throw its fast-breeder reactors
open to IAEA inspections and subject them to international safeguards.

     In December 2005, Burns had exuded bubbly optimism about completing
the preliminaries of the deal before the president boarded the plane to
New Delhi. Said he: "We came to the conclusion that in fact we should be
in a position to make a significant advance on this initiative before
the visit of President Bush to India."

     Burns's stress this time was on the "difficulties" and
"complexities" of the entire process. As he summed it up, "We will have
to see if we can be successful. I hope we can because it is very
important that this agreement be realized.... We would be working hard.
But there are difficulties ahead."

     In working for the deal, Burns did not omit to use the bargaining
chip of the Iran issue. Here, India faces a closer and tougher call. The
US official made it clear once again that New Delhi would be expected to
cast its vote and throw its weight with Washington and against Iran in
the next meeting of the IAEA board of governors slated for February 2.
At this meeting, the Western members of the board plan to make an Iraq
of Iran by referring the latter's allegedly objectionable nuclear
activities to the United Nations Security Council.

     On this count, too, the Under Secretary was not the optimistic self
he was just a month ago. Then he had described India as an ally of the
US on this issue who could be counted upon to make common cause with the
West against the nuclear ambitions of Iran, despite its traditional ties
with India. No expression of similar enthusiasm escaped from his lips
this time. He had acquired a better idea of the extent of political and
popular opposition within India to New Delhi's apparent readiness to
crucify Iran in order to curry favor with Bush.

     While New Delhi's mandarins are getting ready to roll out the red
carpet to the US President, several sections of the political spectrum
and the people are all set to protest the welcome to a "war criminal,"
as left-wing intellectual Tariq Ali has described George Bush.

_____


[3]

The Hindu
Jan 27, 2006 	
  	
THE REPUBLIC AND THE WAYWARD RATIONALIST

P. Sainath

The Baba Ramdev non-debate has done much all-round damage. Perhaps most
of all to media credibility.

THE NON-DEBATE on what has been labelled as the Baba Ramdev-Brinda Karat
`spat' tells us little about yoga, Ayurveda or the Left. It tells us a
lot about the media, though. And much more about the huge clout with
politics — and the press — of babas, godmen, tantriks, and other
assorted healers. A month into the `spat,' reports on it still find
their way into major dailies. This could have something to do with the
many costly advertisements for the Baba's Mumbai show that kicked off on
Republic Day.

"Baba Ramdev all set to parade glamour brigade," says a headline in a
daily that ran most of those ads. Ramdev's prowess at yoga was never in
question. Nor is his celebrity status. Yet a lot of the `debate' in the
media revolves round a defence of his skills. Perhaps because the real
issues are dicier and cut too close to the media bone.

It has not been two months since Narendra Maharaj's followers caused
chaos at airports. This happened when their leader was not allowed to
carry his staff on board an aircraft. His disciples ran riot. The
Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena dived without delay into a
defence of Hinduism. Many rupees of damage later, the event went off the
pages. The irony of the Maharaj then seeking the help of the National
Human Rights Commission was mostly lost on the media. And fear was only
one element in this response.

There is a long tradition of media bosses patronising godmen, tantriks,
mystics and the rest of that spectrum. Many consult godmen gurus on
every single action they contemplate. Often with disastrous results. But
then you just rationalise it or find another lodestar. A head of a major
publishing house here patronises not one but multiple godmen. A couple
have emerged as household names across the middle class India as a
result. Whole columns exist for their kind of discourse. And for them,
the line between advertising and editorial gets truly divine. God knows
no boundaries.

Quite a few papers and television channels killed a story that should
have entranced their audiences just after the tsunami. One of those
favoured gurus went to tend thousands of distressed souls in
Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu. As his cavalcade of countless cars neared the
spot, someone, possibly an evil rationalist, set off a wicked rumour. A
second tsunami was about to strike. As one writer put it, the godman
made a quick assessment of his own powers versus those of the cosmos.
Finding these a total mismatch, he turned his car around to hightail it
to safety. The result of the entire caravan doing the same in panic
caused the biggest traffic jam seen on that stretch of the highway. The
story did appear. But only a couple of papers from the `national press'
gave it any (very minor) space. Many powerful editors and newspaper
owners proudly count themselves amongst his flock.

And then there are the astrologers. An enduring entity in their own
right. At the Mumbai weekly I once worked for, we had an astrologer far
more into strong spirits than spirituality. His deep communion with the
former often left us without his column at deadline time. Many in the
weekly cheerfully wrote it for him, making the wildest, most improbable
predictions. Some of these came true — adding lustre and legend to his
name. Our satisfaction at this service rendered to our readers dimmed a
bit when our rival weekly disclosed its own ruse. "Our astrologer has
been dead four years," its editor told us. "We just re-run his old
columns. And we get letters of profuse thanks, with Rs. 100 notes
enclosed, from readers."

Meanwhile, our own astro, whose fame had spread overseas, landed a post
at an NRI temple in the United States. It didn't come off though. The
spirit was swilling within him and the flesh was weak. However, the
overseas link is another reason to cherish them. One which sits well
with an export-led growth strategy. Since Rajneesh in the 1980s, godmen
and tantriks have been our cutting-edge exports.

Television has thrown up a powerful new avenue for those in the larger
industry. The religious channels are most striking — but mainly for an
absence of God. It's more the godman who is projected. God clocks in a
poor second or even third (there are brands that take precedence over
Him). Commerce and spirituality of this sort always underwrite each other.

But while televangelism is new to India, godman clout is not.
Chandraswami peddled political influence on a massive scale. Yet he was
rarely subject to public scrutiny in the early days. Matters reached a
desperate stage before scrutiny began. Then too, a major daily called
him just a `yoga teacher.' It was a while before the media saw he was
into something more tangled than the asanas.

One enterprise, perhaps the most massive unit of the spiritual industry,
has seen a shootout killing five persons within its ashram. The police
acted firmly — to play it down. At the top of this order is a godman,
who counts ex-Presidents and Prime Ministers amongst his disciples. The
cabal running his trust boasts top-level IAS officers (retired but
active). It has former Directors-General of Police too. Rather ugly
charges have been brought in foreign courts against their leader. But
media scrutiny of it all is very weak.

Rural India has a dual mode on godmen and quacks. They are revered in
the village and hopes of miracle cures are pinned on their power. Should
those powers short-circuit, however, retribution is swift. Punishment
for failure can be very painful. Many failed tantriks have been lucky to
leave a village alive. Urban India, on the other hand, seems far more
tolerant. You can get away with almost anything.

Dramatic changes in lifestyle send evermore swimmers to the spiritual
seas. Outposts of wealth amid deserts of despair also seem to lead many
to seek salvation of the kind you can pay for. Or, at least, of the kind
you can feel really good about without making serious changes in your
lifestyle. Meetings featuring the Dalai Lama are often notable for the
number of swank vehicles crowding the venue. BMWs, Mercedes Benzes and
the like. (Gautama, on the other hand, left the palace and the wealthy
to be with the masses.)

In the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s, the power of the sants and
other godmen was crucial to the success of the nastiest political forces
to have ruled this republic. In more recent times, though, attempts to
pull out a religious shield for matters legal or political haven't
always worked. The call for a `nationwide' battle after the arrest of
the Kanchi Sankaracharya fell flat. The byelection that followed in that
constituency (Kancheepuram) saw his alleged persecutors score a huge
victory.

Celebrity-driven media

In the Ramdev episode, a celebrity-driven media opted for what they do
best. Cast it as a Baba versus Brinda Karat personality clash. That set
a framework from which reporting of the issue found hard to emerge. Add
to this, a willingness to merge professional, social, legal and
political issues with the realm of the religious. This meant there was
no question of scrutiny by a diligent media.

The issue of 113 poor workers thrown out of the pharmacy controlled by
Ramdev's Trust and facing false cases did get a mention or two. But
mostly it was swept aside. The workers are not of the class that makes
news. And how do their rights matter, anyway? Sections of the media even
claimed that the Union Health Ministry had not confirmed the presence of
animal and human DNA in those medicines sent for testing. Quite untrue.
Such DNA was found in the medicines and the Health Minister's statement
confirmed it.

The tack then shifted to saying it was just a case of `mislabelling.'
That too did not wash. As always there were exceptions. As when a couple
of channels interviewed old associates of Ramdev, who echoed the
workers' charges about the medicines and the trust. But for the most
part, the media's delight in having a stick to beat the Left with held
sway. Was this not proof of its anti-Indian culture stance? Its hatred
of indigenous medical systems, for instance?

Never mind that most yoga teachers do not push medication of any kind.
Or that most of them reject the idea of teaching that science via
television. Never mind too, that one part of the country where Ayurveda
(and other systems) flourishes is Kerala. There, countless leftists
engage with, preserve and promote these systems. Left-led rationalist
movements have demolished quacks and charlatans. Which in turn has
helped to protect the integrity of such indigenous systems. Hence the
higher standards they are held in by the public there.

The Ramdev non-debate has done much damage. Perhaps most of all to media
credibility. To that should-be-relentless craft we call reporting. If
they must do celebrity-godmen stories, the media might want to start
from within. A look at the links and practices of some of the leaders of
the industry might still be shallow. But it could prove endlessly
entertaining.


____


[4]


Kashmir Times
January 26, 2006

Editorial
	
MIGHT OF THE REPUBLIC
It's people's sense of belonging that makes a country powerful

Yet another Republic Day ritual with parades of armed forces and display
of tanks, guns and other symbols of our military might with little
participation of the teeming millions who alone could be the strength of
a nation. A sad reminder of the fact that with every passing year the
people are becoming alienated and disenchanted to rejoice on this
historic occasion. In quite contrast to the R-Day celebrations on the
initial years of the Republic when the people will enthusiastically
throng the venues of the Republic Day functions the celebrations have
now been reduced to totally an official affair with people mostly
staying away. No wonder the authorities have to issue directives to the
government officials to participate in the R-Day function. Tight
security and curfew-like situation may be one reason for the people
remaining indoors on this historic day. But primarily it demonstrates
lack of a sense of belonging and equitable participation that makes
people least enthusiastic about such rituals.
Like the proverbial darkness just beneath the lamp there are in our
country vast areas of backwardness and even visible degeneration just
beneath our proclaimed achievements and affluence. Many of our
achievements are based on the crude exploitation of the poor and the
tribals, who are often uprooted from their traditional home and hearth,
only to be left alone, with some cash in pocket, in a totally unfamiliar
cruelly competitive world. While the rich have become arrogantly richer,
the poor is often left poorer than before, cut off from nature's
resources that his ancestors enjoyed free, like grazing fields and
neighbouring forests, and forced to send their men folk to distant mines
and towns to earn a livelihood. Our growth has been so skewed that many
more today die of heat in summer and of cold in winter than when we were
poorer decades ago. Now, even in metros, like Mumbai and Chennai, people
get drowned to death during heavy rains and in the heart of India
farmers commit suicide when unable to repay their debts, and the poor
often live on mango seeds and sell their children to ensure their own
survival. Our educational system and infrastructure for medicare have
all but collapsed, leaving the poor at the mercy of fleecing doctors and
the so-called English-medium schools, who charge exorbitant fees.
The worst is the lot of the minorities. Those who, after their ancestors
had embraced some new religion, had lived in their ancestral homes and
villages for generations in peace and harmony, now feel insecure in
their old habitat. Often they are taunted and treated like spies and
foes in their ancestral villages. Communal riots have become commoner in
the last few decades, while Gujarat in 2002 has shaken their faith in
the sense of duty and justice not only of the police but of the
government itself. Even the minuscule community of Christians is now
being targeted for torture and boycott. Never before in the 20th century
were Christian priests killed or nuns raped. Even the liberals are no
longer safe. The moral police of some backward-looking outfits are ever
active in spoiling the Valentine Day and in preventing the screening of
movies, like the Fire and the Water. Law and order situation has
deteriorated and are fast worsening both in the towns and villages. The
former Man Singh-type bandits may be now fewer in number, but their
place has been taken over by thousands of small-time killers and
kidnappers, who either ignore the police or are in league with them or
their patrons in politics.
The state exists, primarily, to ensure security and justice to the
common man. But, with a corrupt police and over a crore litigations
clogging in the judicial process, from the district courts to the
Supreme Court, the people have lost faith in the state. They grudgingly
pay the taxes, but wonder, what for. Failing to get security and justice
from the state men now try to seek both in their own ways, at their own
levels. Formerly, corrupt was restricted mainly among the junior
officials, in the administration and the police. Now, in the last couple
of decades, scams involving crores have tarnished the images of many
senior bureaucrats and elected ministers. People have lost their faith
in and respect for the so-called high-ups. Now, they only fear them and
try to flatter and utilise them. Misuse of authority and opportunity,
never heard of decades ago, are now day to day affair, and none is
believed to be honest and above board. Casteism has been abolished on
paper, but now the electorate is being organised, as never before, on
caste and communal lines. Both the peripheral India and the abject poor
in the heart of India are so alienated that they have taken up arms in
defence of their honour, identity and interests. Now even among the
armed forces instances of gross indiscipline, selfishness and corruption
are coming to light. Human rights violations and custodial killings have
become quite common. Social morbidity is getting worse -- suicides and
foeticides have soared in number. The core of the nation and her
foundation appear hollow and moth-eaten. Then, what will uphold the
structure of our successes? Let us not forget that "Not gold but only
men can make a nation great and strong". But, where are those men?

____


[5]


The Hindu
Jan 27, 2006

GOVERNMENT HAS FAILED TO CHECK SPREAD OF COMMUNALISM
   Staff Reporter
Prominent social activists and scholars criticise Congress and its
allies
NEW DELHI: Expressing their
disquiet over "failure of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
Government at the Centre to check spread of communalism in society",
prominent social activists and scholars on Thursday lambasted the
Congress and its allies "for failing to fulfil its promises regarding
checking the spread of communalism in the country and instilling a sense
of security among minority communities".   Participating in the two-day
"National Consultation on Communalism", being organised by the voluntary
organisation Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (Anhad), delegates
reminded the UPA as well as the Left parties that is supporting the
Congress-led alliance at the Centre about the Government's common
minimum programme for governance and how it has failed to act on
promises made to strengthen the secular character of the nation.
Delegates from across the country
  representing different non-government organisations and institutions
are participating in the consultations. They include Ram Punyani, Arjun
Dev, T. Jayaraman, Roop Rekha Verma, Harsh Mander, Prabhash Joshi,
Rakesh Sharma, Kavita Srivastav and Vibhuti Narayan Rai. Delegates are
holding discussions on communalisation of various sections and organs of
society including women, minorities, Adivasis, Dalits, educational and
academic institutions, cultural institutions, media, voluntary sector
and women. The deliberations are focused around the State, police,
administration and judiciary; and political parties, political
organisations and trade unions.   Stating that the General Elections in
2004 saw the Congress-led alliance coming to power as people decisively
rejected the politics of hate pursued by the Sangh Parivar and the
Bharatiya Janata Party, Anhad's Shabnam Hashmi said the event has been
organised mainly to evaluate and assess the performance of the UPA
Government in combating communalism and communal forces in the country.
   "After the event we will prepare a document containing assessment and
recommendations for the Government as what needs to be done on the
issue. Copies of the report will be presented to Prime Minister

o o o

BBC News
28 January 2006, 14:38 GMT

'CHRISTIANS BEATEN UP' IN BHOPAL
Twenty-five Christians have been beaten up by attackers in the central
Indian city of Bhopal, police say.

A witness said he saw about 35 people armed with iron rods and sticks
fleering from the house where the Christians had been praying.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4657926.stm

____


[6]

Tehelka
Feb 04 , 2006

HINDUTVA GOES TO SCHOOL

Yes, and that too in California where Sangh Parivar fanatics are
hell-bent on replicating the saffronisation of the history project,
despite strong protests by historians and scholars

By Shalini Gera & Girish Agrawal

	
School textbooks are making news again. Indian history is again being
hotly debated. The actors are strikingly familiar: Hindutva groups
aggressively pushing their own version of ‘glorious India’, and
historians, linguists, scholars, dalits and community groups outraged by
this attempted revision of history. Only the scene has changed — from
the corridors of ncert in Delhi to the offices of the California State
Board of Education in the US.

California? Yes. Early last year, two groups, the Vedic Foundation and
Hindu Educational Foundation, took it upon themselves to submit
recommendations for revisions to the California textbooks and their
treatment of ancient Indian history. At first, it did not seem like a
bad idea — these textbooks were replete with stereotypes,
misrepresentations, exoticised allusions to monkey-kings and howlers
such as the one informing 12-year-olds that Hindi is written in the
Arabic script with 18 letters. It soon became apparent that the two
groups did not restrict themselves to deleting references to
monkey-kings and correcting factual errors, they also inserted several
inaccurate, ideological, and highly contentious changes. This is not
surprising. The two groups have close connections to the global Sangh
Parivar: the Hindu Education Foundation is a project of the Hindu
Swayamsevak Sangh, and the Vedic Foundation has a long history of
collaboration with the vhp of America.

When news leaked out, scholars of ancient Indian history, led by Michael
Witzel, Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard, including Romila Thapar,
India’s most respected historian, sent a letter to the state board
cautioning them against accepting the proposed edits without a scholarly
review. The letter was signed by a Who’s-Who of Indologists from around
the world. Another group of over 100 faculty, primarily of South Asian
origin, who teach and do research about South Asia at universities in
the US, requested that a panel of three Indologists be allowed to review
the changes proposed by the Vedic Foundation and the Hindu Education
Foundation.

The Curriculum Commission, an advisory body to the state board, came
under intense pressure from the Hindutva groups as their supporters
bombarded them with letters, phone calls and e-mails, and then, turned
up in large numbers at the review meeting. As a result, the commission
accepted many of the Hindutva changes, much to the horror of the
scholars asking for careful review. However, the board, alerted to the
political nature of the edits, has stalled giving these edits the final
stamp of approval. In an unprecedented move, during its meeting on
January 12, 2006, the board announced that it is investigating whether
the commission took factual accuracy into account when making its
recommendations. Thus raising the hopes of scholars and community groups
that the Hindutva edits may not get accepted.


Dalits arguing against the sanitisation of casteism are vilified as
anti-India terrorists. Others are harassed, abused, deluged with hate mail
The contentious changes pushed by the Hindutva groups serve three purposes:

• Sanitise Indian history of its gross inequities. Talk about caste only
in the past tense, remove anything suggesting that caste still
determines the status of people in Indian society, and say that men did
not have “more” rights than women, they just had “different” rights.

• Portray Hinduism as very similar to Judaism and Christianity — the
politically dominant religions in the US. Erase references to plurality
in Hinduism by tricks such as replacing “Hindu gods” with “the Hindu
God”, and deleting text that says Hinduism comprises “many beliefs, many
forms of worship, and many gods”.

• India as “Pitribhumi” only for Hindus. Delete references to a possible
non-indigenous origin of the Indo-Aryans and move the origins of
Hinduism back in time, making ‘foreigners’ of all non-Hindu Indians.

Why did the Curriculum Commission accept these ridiculous changes?
Largely because the US Sangh Parivar convinced it that to do otherwise
would hurt the feelings of Hindus all over the world, and would be akin
to the sins of slavery and colonialism. Scholars opposing these changes
are being attacked through vicious smear campaigns and labelled as
anti-Hindu and racist. Dalit groups arguing against the sanitisation of
casteism are being vilified as anti-Indian terrorists. Community members
working to educate the board are being harassed, deluged with hate mail,
threatened, and put on Hindutva hit-lists. Hindutva opponents are being
labelled as anti-India, anti-Hindu, “communist” — the last a pathetic
attempt to appeal to the supposedly communist-phobic mainstream America.

None of this is new, neither this attempt to saffronise textbooks, nor
the creation of a brand new past consistent with their political project
— not even the attacks on scholars and others opposing their agenda. But
seeing this as a re-run of an old reel does injustice to the complexity
of Indian-American politics. What gives this story its unique flavour is
the context of immigrant politics. Where Hindutva proudly espouses
majority fascism in India, in the US it hobbles along as a me-too junior
partner of an arrogant Judaeo-Christian State. Where Hindutva in India
menacingly brandishes its muscle to elicit fearful compliance from the
minorities, in the US it uses the subdued vocabulary of plurality,
multiculturalism and “hurt feelings” to plead for incorporation into the
mainstream. And it is in investigating these shades of difference
between desi and yankee versions of Hindutva that we learn most about
the insidious appeal of ‘Hindu Nationalism’ being repackaged as ‘Hindu
Minority Rights’.

Yankee Hindutva depends upon the subtext of everyday racism for its very
existence. Every person of colour in the US has had some brush with
marginalisation, alienation, some experience where power is wielded in
racial terms. Hindutva cynically manipulates the hurt and anger of
marginalisation into narrow, chauvinistic community pride. Where the
response to racism could act as the unifying glue between various
communities of colour to question power structures, the quest for
affirmation of a community’s pride neatly chops up the minority
landscape into distinct ethnicities, with each community jostling
against the other to occupy a place of prominence in the national
imagination.

The California textbook controversy is a classic example of this
pattern. The textbooks are terrible, but instead of engaging with the
inherent racism and exoticisation of the ‘other’ in the books, Hindutva
groups are converting history books into cheery propaganda tracts as
reassurance that Hindus are the same as white Christians and Jews and
fully deserving of the most-favoured minority group status. And the
changes come attractively wrapped in the language of rights and equality.

When challenged in public fora, Hindutva apologists insist that they are
not denying the ills of caste and patriarchy, just questioning any need
to talk about them. A Hindutva activist stoutly defended the changes:
“Hindus are only asking for parity, which is in accordance with the
guidelines of the California board. If the sins of Islam and
Christianity are whitewashed, so must the sins of Hinduism.” Suhag
Shukla, a lawyer for Hindu American Foundation, said: “In terms of men
and women, I think, first of all if you look at Christianity or Judaism
or Islam, nowhere in the textbooks is there any discussion on women’s
rights. Then to pull it in for Hinduism is a different treatment of
Hinduism.” And the reason for insisting upon capital G for Hindu gods?
Because that is the way it is written in the texts for other religions.
No matter that other religions are adamantly monotheistic to
polytheistic Hinduism.

“Equality” for Yankee Hindutva is a disembodied, decontextualised notion
— independent of any connection to concepts of freedom or justice. While
mouthing the language of equality, Hindutva does not even pretend to
challenge any underlying structural inequities — either in American
society where it only seeks to rub shoulders with the rich and powerful,
or in India with its deep-seated antagonism towards the lower castes.
‘Hindu Human Rights’ are never invoked when Indians get thrown off
airplanes for ‘looking suspicious’, or when immigrant taxi drivers are
harassed by the police. ‘Hindu Human Rights’ are apparently only
violated when beer bottles have pictures of Lord Ganesha or when caste
is talked about in classrooms.

Shalini Gera is with the Coalition Against Communalism, San Francisco
Bay Area. Girish Agrawal is an engineer involved in South Asian causes,
based in California



____


[7]  Announcements:

(i)

SAMADRISTI
Print Media For The People: Orissa launches   a fortnightly magazine

The first issue of 'Samadristi' [Equal Vision] has been launched on 22
January 2006 by Sri Rabi Ray the former Speaker of Lok Sabha at Regional
Science Centre, Bhubaneswar. Sampad Mohapatra of NDTV and Prafulla Das
of the Hindu also attended the function as guests of honor.


Contents:
1. Kalinga Nagar Kaha Pain (Kalinga Nagar: For whom)? By Sudarsan
Chotray and Sudhir Pattnaik
2. Hindu Jatiatabad ra Jaiba Rajaniti (From the writings of Angana
Chatterji, on the biopolitics of Hindu Nationalism in Orissa)
3. Kalahandi Ra Biparjaya re Vedanta (Vedanta in the disasters of
Kalahandi) By Sudhir Pattnaik
4. Dhanara Abhabi Bikri (Distress Sale od Paddy) By Suresh Tripathy
5. Sampratika Odishare police ra Bhumika (Role of Police in Contemporary
Orissa) By Ad Prashant Jena
6. Sampradaikata bad banam Orissa (Communalism vs Orissa) By
Swayamprabha Padhi
7. Jungal Adhikar Bill: Vrama O Satyata (Forest Bill 2005-facts and
Fictions)
By Puspanjali Satpathy
8. Reports from the Districts and many other stories
The magazine contains 52 pages.


Contact: samadristi at rediffmail.com; ind_media at rediffmail.com
A note on the magazine follows
____________________

Samadristi – A Fortnightly Magazine

There is no dearth of newspapers in Orissa to day, thanks to the hopes
generated by the successive ruling regimes that there will be a flow of
Indian and foreign MNCs to the state to explore its rich mineral
resources, which would feed newspapers with advertisements. The national
dailies started their state editions; the established Oriya dailies
started their local editions in several small cities and towns. People
say an atmosphere for unhealthy competition grew in the state, which
only helped the private purses of newspaper publishers. But the poverty
of reporting from the perspective of the poor and the victims of
injustice continued as usual. The sovereignty of the state, which has
been constantly under threat, did not receive any media attention. The
depletion of natural resources, which continued to happen at an alarming
rate, also did not receive adequate attention- all due to a host of
factors. We are not going to evaluate the newspapers here, though we
agree that there is a need to conduct such an evaluation for the benefit
of the readers. Not only the dailies, most of the news magazines in
Orissa today are also on the same path, where one does not find
commitment to truth and the ethics of journalism. Directly or
indirectly, the newspapers and magazines today have become dependent on
the state or the corporate sector without which their survival will be
at stake. But there are also examples of alternative journalism that get
manifested in the forms of Viklapa Vichar, Orissa and Odiya Samekhya,
Manisar Bartabaha Swabhiman and Anwesa. But the periodicity of all these
publications is not very encouraging. A series of discussions were held
long back which resulted in the decision of bringing out a fortnightly
publication in the name of Samadristi and subsequently a trust was
registered with the objective of bringing out this publication and also
to undertake a few media related activities. Independent media came up
as a non-profit business farm much later to provide support to the
trust. But, because of several unavoidable factors the publication was
delayed- one of the main reasons being mobilizing regular support for
sustaining the publication without any patronization from state,
corporate, political party and NGOs. Now since some support from well-
wishers and a section of readers have been assured, this has made our
task a little less difficult to launch the publication.


THE MISSION OF SAMADRISTI:
We don’t have ambition to declare that Samadristi will be a unique
publication and would achieve wonders. We are well aware of our
limitations. We know ours can’t be a successful commercial project.
Samadristi will have the following humble mission to fulfill:
1. Attempt in its own way to satisfy the unmet felt need of a large
section of readers in Orissa for analytical, investigative and
researched articles, analysis, features and views.
2. Produce and present writings from the perspective of the poor who are
a great majority in the state, from the perspective of protecting the
sovereignty of the state which seems to be in danger now and also from
the perspective of protecting natural resources which sustain life in
all forms on earth, which have been terribly threatened as there seems
to be a mad rush for appropriating them.
3. Cover news and views, which do not get a place in corporate media.
4. Prepare a class of reporters and writers who would work with
commitment and determination to highlight the plight of the common men
and work for getting justice for the victims of injustice (who
necessarily include the religious or the ethnic minorities) by making
use of their pen and brain.

PERIODICITY OF PUBLICATION
Samadristi is a fortnightly publication, which appears twice in every
month respectively on the 14th and 29th day of the month.


PLACE OF PUBLICATION
Bhubaneswar

EDITORIAL POLICY
a. The publication will not promote any specific political ideology and
will not work for any political party in any situation.
b. The publication will not work for promoting any corporate interest or
business interest through the writings featuring in the magazine.
c. The Publication will not engage itself in any campaign against
personal conduct of any particular individual and would not indulge
itself in any character assassination of any individual.
d. The publication will carry articles and features, which will be in
conformity with established traditions and ethics of journalism.
e. The publication will contain writings to reflect the dark areas
normally neglected by mainstream media and would work for reflecting the
mission of the publication written earlier.
f. Equal importance will be given to all who are willing to write
irrespective of caste, creed, religion and political views if their
write ups merit publication.
g. The magazine will take up writings which are sensitive, reflect the
agony and the anguish of the minorities, distress and disasters
experienced by the tribals, dalits, cultural and religious minorities.
h. The editorial department and the management of the magazine would
work as two separate autonomous units.
i. There will not be any interference on the editorial matters
concerning the magazine as long as it works for achieving the mission,
which has been reflected here in the earlier part.
j. The editorial policy of the magazine will be discussed and reviewed
by the Editorial Board every month.


FINANCE OF THE MAGAZINE
The Trust and the Management Team will work for mobilizing resources for
running the magazine. However, the following sources will be explored
for the purpose:
a. All individuals accepting the objective of the magazine from within the
country and outside.
b.   Individual and institutional subscriptions
c. Sales through the Network of agents
d. Direct bulk selling
e. Advertisement from selected sources as per the decision of the
management committee.


HUMAN RESOURCES
A dedicated staff of editors, reporters and technical personnel is
running the magazine.


COST OF THE MAGAZINE
The production cost of the fortnightly per month (2 issues) would
ultimately come to Rupees 90,000, which does not include compensation
for the Editor. We have estimated that we may get back Rupees 30,000 to
40,000 out of sales after paying commissions for sales agents. Since,
the magazine will not depend on advertisements from the corporate sector
it may not survive unless and otherwise it receives support from
like-minded individuals.   We would request:

Friends in India to contribute – a minimum of Rs 5000 (one time) and
subscription amount for 10 poor subscribers a year who can’t afford to
pay the amount.

We would also request friends abroad to contribute- a minimum amount
worth us dollar 500 (one time) and subscription for 20 poor subscribers
every year.

We may humbly inform you that these subscribers could one day become
persons with scientific and secular world views prepared to play a
larger role than what is ordinarily expected of them.


____

(ii)

RALLY AND VIGIL IN SOLIDARITY WITH NEPALI DEMOCRACY
ACTIVISTS

One Year after the Royal Coup in Nepal

- Global Action for Nepal on Feb 1 -

Programs on February 1, 2006 at the Vancouver Art
Gallery, Vancouver, BC:

Public Rally Starts at 4pm

Candle-light Vigil Starts at 5:30pm

Information: (604)879-9909, (604)506-9259;
www.pdfnepal.com

On February 1, 2005, King Gyanendra of Nepal assumed
absolute power and suspended all civil and human
rights. Restrictions on the movement of people within
Nepal and from the outside were imposed. Since then
the King has ignored all international appeals to
respect Nepali people’s aspirations for democracy and
human rights, and continues to unleash his military
brutality against the people. The Royal Nepali Army
(RNA) has also been instrumental in setting up
vigilante groups such as “Village Defense Committee”,
which have been burning down people’s homes, chopping
their limbs, forcing their captives to eat flesh of
their own, and at times brutally beating innocent
civilians to death.

During this one year:

     * More than 6,000 political and human rights
activists, journalists, lawyers, trade unionists,
women’s rights activists and students were arrested,
tortured and held in inhuman conditions,
     * More than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were
killed despite four months long unilateral ceasefire
declared by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist).

With overt and covert military, financial, political
and logistical support from countries like China,
India, Britain and the USA, the King has been carrying
out a ruthless counter-insurgency, which has only
escalated violence and violation of human rights.

Currently, the King is also trying to legitimize his
hold on political power by orchestrating municipal
elections in areas close to army barracks (in which
the King could not even buy enough of his supporters
as candidates, for the nominations were filed for less
than one-fourth of the total seats!). All the major
parliamentary political parties have been saying NO to
this illegitimate ploy by mounting resistance. After
formation of a broadest alliance including the
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) andthe seven
parliamentary political parties, hundreds of thousands
of people are taking to streets holding mass meetings,
rallies, sit-ins, and shut-downs throughout Nepal in
their bid to overthrow the monarchy forever.

Unable to contain the resolve and resistance of the
people, the King unleashed another reign of terror in
the early morning hours of January 19 when his army
fanned out to arrest 200 opposition leaders, student,
youth and human rights activists, journalists, and
senior civil society leaders. A curfew has been
imposed in several parts of the country, and a fresh
ban declared on public meetings, assemblies, and
rallies in Kathmandu. This latest desperate act of the
Royal Junta only shows that it has lost its political
battle and is trying to hang on to power at any cost.

On this first anniversary of the Royal coup, we under
the banner of Canadian Network for Democratic Nepal
(CNDN) utterly condemn the autocratic rule and express
our solidarity with the people's resistance movement
in Nepal and join our voices with those of all
democratic people in Nepal, friends of Nepal, and
people of Nepali origin around the globe, in demanding
an immediate handover of all political powers to the
people through an early, free and fair election of a
Constituent Assembly.

*********

Rallies for Nepal are being held by supporters of
Democracy worldwide, including in Washington DC, New
York, Frankfurt and in many European and Asian cities.


_____


(iii)

KALINGA NAGAR CHALO ON MARTYR DAY: 30TH JANUARY 2006

Dear All,

The Vistapit Virodhi Jan Manch (VVJM) has called for a huge  Rally and
Public meeting at Kalinga Nagar on 30th January to establish  peoples
control over the land and natural resources  available in   Kalinga
Nagar area,   The adivasis still continuing their agitation for last 16
days. The economic blacked of NH200 has socked the state as this is the
major route for minerals to Paradeep port. VVJM has denied not parting
an inch of land for industries. They conveyed their unwillingness to the
government by not responding the so-called negotiation with the
administration. The VVJM declared not to sit any kind of discussion
unless their demand is accepted by the govt. immediately.

The VVJM has demanded

1.      To ensure that not a single person be displaced form
establishment of industries or any other development projects.

2.      Provide at least 5 acres of cultivated land to families those
who have been displaced in earlier projects.

3.      The tribal community itself will plan and develop with the
natural resources available in tribal areas.

4.      Do not allow monopoly houses and MNCs in the soil of Orissa.

5.      Release all the people arrested and put in different jails by
the police during agitations. Lift all the cases on VVJM workers  by the
police.

6.      Pay Rs. 20 lakhs to families who lopse their dear ones and Rs.
10 lakhs to those who got injury by police firing.

7.      Arrest and trial the Collector and SP of Jajpur District for
murdering the tribals. Suspend the immediately.

8.      Immediate expoltion of CM Naveen Pattanaik, Finance Minister
Praful Ghadai, Industries Minister as well as the mines minister  and
book them with charge of murdering  12 adivasis.

The public meeting will be held at DUBURI HAT MAIDAN at 12noon.
At 10 AM  people pay tibute to the matyres at VEER BHUMI  near Duburi
and from there the Rally will go to Duburi  where public meeting will be
held.

THE VISTAPAN VIRODHI JAN MANCH INVITES YOUTO ATTEND THE RALLY AND PUBLIC
MEETING AND STRENGTHEN THESTRUGGLE FURTHER.

How to reach DUBURI- Duburi  is 100 kms from Bhubaneswar. Bhubaneswar
and Cuttack is well linked with train and air. From Bhubaneswar or
Cuttack take private taxi to Duburi.  Bus goes up to CHandihkol
fromCuttack and you have totake private taxi form Chandikhole.

Thanks
    Nikunj

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

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/
SACW archive is available at: bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/

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