SACW | 19-21 Feb 2006 | On Sri Lanka Cease fire agreement; Chirac's arms and atomic deals with India; India: Fascists Grand Pa Guru Golwarkar

Harsh Kapoor aiindex at mnet.fr
Tue Feb 21 07:19:58 CST 2006


South Asia Citizens Wire Dispatch | 19-21 February, 2006 | Dispatch No. 2220


Contents:

[1] Sri Lanka: Finding the Spirit of the Cease Fire Agreement
[2] Jacques Chirac in India, A great patriot, arms-merchant and
atom-merchant (ACDN)
[3] India: Sanitising The Supremo ! On The Birth Anniversary Of
Golmalkar Guruji (Subhash Gatade)
[4] India: Fringe, Cut (Barkha Dutt)
[5] Book Announcement: Contours of Hindu Rashtra:  Ram Puniyani

____________________________________


[1]

Sri Lanka: Finding the Spirit of the Cease Fire Agreement: Issues and
topics of importance

Preamble
On the 31 of January the Foundation for Coexistence invited over 50
participants for a conference to discuss the implementation of the
Ceasefire Agreement (CFA). The participants included members of civil
society from the North, East and the South of Sri Lanka. It also
consisted of members of the international community.

The consultation was very timely in the background of serious violations
of the CFA and where the country was threatened with the resumption of
war. Here, the mutual agreement of the two parties on the Geneva talks
and the role of the Norwegian facilitators in enabling this should be
appreciated. We appreciate that after the announcement of the talks that
there has been a significant reduction of violence.  The talks would
prove to be an opportunity for the two parties to resolve these
contextual issues concerning the implementation of the CFA within a
problem solving framework.

A working group was entrusted with the task of elaborating on the
recommendations of the conference. The participants included the following.

- Rev. Fr. A.I. Bernard
- Kumar Rupesinghe
- Javid Yusuf
- Austin Fernando
- Tyrol Ferdinands
- Nimalan Karthikayan
- Nimalka Fernando
- Vishaka Dharmadasa
- ß Niraj David
- Lakshman Gunasekara
- Norbert Ropers
- Jayadeva Uyangoda

The report is intended to provide some input into the talks to be held
in Geneva and suggests a series of recommendations to consolidate the
CFA and confidence building measures to enhance an environment where the
CFA can be properly implemented.

Following the past four years of the CFA and the recent escalation of
violence it has become obvious that a reiteration of the key value
parameters and revisiting certain clauses are necessary. The parties
should be reminded that the CFA was signed in 2002 to create conditions
conducive for negotiations between the Government and the LTTE in order
to find a political settlement through the following:


[1.] The suspension of violence and offensive military operations
(Article 1)
[2.] Controlling the actions of other actors capable of violence and
military action
[3.] Subjecting the behaviour of the parties to international monitoring
and scrutiny
[4.] Improving humanitarian conditions and relief, rehabilitation and
reconstruction efforts
[5.] Improving the human rights situation in the conflict affected areas

It was the unanimous view of the participants that the CFA was an
important milestone in the search for a negotiated solution but that
serious violations have been committed by both sides which should be
rectified. Herein, is an attempt to highlight some of these key areas in
a way which is equal, objective and not making presumptions on any of
the sides involved in the conflict or the agreement, this is not a paper
representing the views of either the government of Sri Lanka or the LTTE.

Since 2002 over 700 killings have occurred without even one arrest or
judicial inquiry. In this scenario both the GoSL and the LTTE should
strive to establish a platform for a peaceful Sri Lanka where all
communities can live without fear and in security.

However, we believe that to achieve the above ends, the ‘spirit of the
CFA’ has to be reemphasised. This is to recognise that the CFA is
integral to the process of creating a peaceful Sri Lanka, that mutual
respect is essential and that it is vital that nobody in this process
seeks to undermine one another’s position. It is also incumbent on the
two parties to realise and appreciate the responsibility that they hold
in implementing the CFA.

To act in the spirit of the CFA is to recognise that the CFA is a
stepping stone for a negotiated settlement, and should be bound by a
framework which explicitly recognises the values and the ultimate
objective of the CFA. It should not be seen as making political or
military gains over each other which can undermine the very basis of the
CFA.

It is also important to note that the CFA was not imposed from outside
but was voluntarily entered into by the two parties facilitated by the
Norwegian Government. In this sense the CFA has to be fully owned by the
two parties.

The role of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) has to be recognised
and appreciated as hard work done under difficult circumstances. The
SLMM is a monitoring mission with limited capacity.  We have to
recognise that it is the parties and not the SLMM that are responsible
for the enforcement of the CFA. The SLMM requires the cooperation of the
two parties who are responsible for the implementation the CFA.

  Issues and Recommendations

There is a need for finding creative ways of implementing the CFA. It
may involve that existing clauses need to be reviewed to ensure that the
spirit of the CFA is enhanced.  These issues include:

* We need to remind the parties of the overall objective of the preamble
of the CFA “to find a negotiated solution to the ongoing ethnic conflict
in Sri Lanka”

* Stressing the absolute importance of both sides to abide by clauses
1.2a and 2.1 of the CFA. Clause 1.2a is felt to be of particular
importance as it concerns the methods which are used to create a climate
of fear (abductions, assassinations, firing weapons)
o Especially within this it should be noted that all killings are a
violation of and erodes confidence in the CFA

* Emphasising the need to revisit clause 1.8 – that paramilitary groups
of all sides shall be disarmed and absorbed into the regular forces. It
is also noted that this is the responsibility of both parties.

* It is recognised that there are military implications with regard to
the High Security Zones but, as a method of increasing the confidence of
the people every effort should be made in high security zones to ensure
the right to residence and livelihood for the people in these areas.
This effort should be done by both sides in a spirit of reciprocity and
can be enhanced by broadening the relevant clauses of the CFA. (2.11 and
2.12)

* In relation to the SLMM the following recommendations are made

o Chairmanship of the SLMM:
ß We recommend rotating the chairmanship of the SLMM between a group of
countries – agreed by both sides
ß This would involve revising clause 3.3 – reporting to the Norwegian
government
o Increasing the number of monitors and the number of different
countries within the SLMM to improve impartiality and the perception of
bias as well as improving the efficiency and effectiveness of operations
o The capacity of the local monitoring committees should be enhanced,
recognised and provided with equally sufficient resources with greater
interaction with the SLMM to ensure their operational responsibilities
can be carried out.
o Local monitors should not be selected by one side without the
agreement of the other as this can lead to the polarisation of the SLMM,
instead both sides should nominate names and then agree together the
monitors.  This would ensure that members of the local monitoring
committee will not represent any single party

* The CFA must be officially translated into all of the languages of Sri
Lanka and a concerted educational campaign should be carried out with a
high priority to educate and inform the population of the intricacies of
the CFA.

* Police functions need to be improved and altered in a  number of ways,
namely:
o Improving the number of police personnel who can effectively and
empathetically communicate with the communities that they work within –
Tamil speaking policemen in Tamil speaking areas
o Changing the attitude of the police force from a ‘civil war police
force’ to a ‘ceasefire police force’
o Insisting that policing and law and order are up to an internationally
accepted standard
o Actively seek to improve police community relations
o Improve investigation and technical capacity
o Whilst we recognise the SLMM is responsible for the monitoring of the
CFA we urge police to adhere to the spirit of the CFA by cooperating
actively in the investigation process.

* There are issues concerning the Muslim community of the North and East
of Sri Lanka that have to be addressed as a confidence building measure.
This includes building confidence as well as ensuring the Muslim
community are given an active and adequate role in the process of
negotiating peace in Sri Lanka. Some of the issues that can be done to
build confidence include:
o Revisit the issues of land and IDPs and decisions reached during
previous talks
o Revisit decisions reached in the talks in Berlin and later in Hakone
o Take into consideration the agreement reached between the SLMC and the
LTTE.
o Mechanisms must be found for the grievances of the Muslim community
with regard to the loss of agricultural land and the appropriation of
this land, and take steps concurrently to ensure the grievances of the
Tamil and Sinhalese communities are also addressed
* We recommend that the regular meetings that occur between the LTTE and
the military be recommenced and sustained

* The need for recognition of the three communities living in the east
and the need for representation for each of them, the Sinhalese, Tamils
and Muslims

* The urgent need for the fast tracking of the implementation of the
Tamil as an official language.

* All efforts must be made to expedite relief, reconstruction and
rehabilitation activities in the North and East. Effective mechanisms
must be put in place and consultative processes strengthened with the
communities.
* International and local human rights monitors should be deployed
within the country to ensure the rights of the people are protected and
that both sides are acting within the spirit of the ceasefire
o The parties agreed to ask their international human rights adviser, to
develop three aspects of the proposed roadmap for adoption at the
seventh session of talks
o In the wake of the present violations which are taking place with
regard to human rights it is recommended to look at the recommendation
forwarded by the human rights advisor

Conclusion
The above list of recommendations may appear to have a large scope but
the overall aim is focused and that is to stress and encourage an
inclusive negotiating process on revisiting the CFA as well as
encouraging all of the players involved in the peace process of Sri
Lanka to work within the spirit of the CFA.



____


[2]

JACQUES CHIRAC IN INDIA,
A GREAT PATRIOT, ARMS-MERCHANT AND ATOM-MERCHANT

ACDN Communiqué, 20 February 2006

President Chirac is not content with threatening to nuke whoever might
attack France "vital interests" as defined by himself. He also looks
after France’s commercial interests. These luckily coincide with the
interests of the French nuclear and military-industrial lobbies.

Now he’s in India, preparing the ground there for the sale of nuclear
power plants by AREVA (whose president is already rubbing her hands) and
for sales of military material.

We wager that the final communiqué from these eminent negotiations will
be almost a carbon-copy of the one issued last year at the end of the
Indian PM’s visit to France (Sept. 12):

“The two parties agree to recognise that nuclear technology is a source
of reliable, ecologically viable and sustainable energy, and that we
must deepen international cooperation in order to promote the use of
nuclear energy for peaceful purposes."

So it’s a "source of reliable energy". As reliable as the 105 000 cubic
metres of Gironde water which on 27 Dec. 1999 flooded the plant at
Blaye; as reliable as the flooding a year ago, triggered by the tsunami,
of the Indian plant and military research reactor at Kalpakkam. As
"ecologically viable" as the 80 tonnes of plutonium salvaged and stocked
at the "retreatment" centre at La Hague (Normandy). As "sustainable" as
the 250 000 years of radioactive life of the aforesaid plutonium, which
could make 15 000 bombs like the Nagasaki one.

This "bilateral cooperation for peaceful purposes" is as peaceful as the
"Scorpène" and "Mirage" submarines which France is selling to India, or
the coming joint manoeuvres of the "Charles de Gaulle" off the Indian
coast, before she turns back to enter the Persian Gulf in April,
doubtless in time to support a US offensive against the equally
"peaceful" nuclear facilities in Iran.

Their "firm commitment to preventing the proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction" is all the more credible because France and India have
given the world exemplary cases of nations which renounced their own
nuclear weapons...

In the terms of the advisory opinion given by the International Court of
Justice on 8 July 1996, the leaders of the nuclear powers which keep
their nuclear weapons are acting outside of international law, and they
are criminals against humanity according to the definition of the
Nuremberg Tribunal. Such then are these two men engaged in talks, last
year in Paris, today in New Delhi. The fact that their military-nuclear
deals are meant to be lucrative is irrelevant: they are conspiring
against humanity.

The Clemenceau adventure turned comical. This one, which is being
prepared for us with the same lucidity, could become tragic. Never mind:
"Long live the Republic! Long live France!"

And let’s not forget, this is the "France of Human Rights". That gives
France’s Master the right to do whatever.

Action des Citoyens pour le Désarmement Nucléaire / Action of Citizens
for the total Dismantling of Nukes (ACDN)

____


[3]

www.sacw.net > Communalism Repository
21 February 2006
URL=>
http://www.sacw.net/DC/CommunalismCollection/ArticlesArchive/gatade21Feb06.html

Short URL => http://tinyurl.com/n6avq

SANITISING THE SUPREMO !
ON THE BIRTH ANNIVERSARY OF GOLWALKAR GURUJI
by Subhash Gatade

[In George Orwell’s prophetic novel 1984 the Rulers of Oceania, by their
language of newthink and process of doublethink, convinced the masses
that statements formerly considered irrational were rational. In other
words, virtual reality became actual reality. The Party’s slogans,
accepted by the ruled, were “War is Peace”, “Freedom is Slavery”, and
“Ignorance is Strength” . Our US Rulers seem to have us well along these
same paths, with new realities surfacing each year. ..
Luis Posada Carriles: When Injustice is Justice , Tom Crumpacker ,
Monday, 17 October 2005]

RSS, the biggest 'cultural' organisation on the face of the earth has
had five supremos 'Sarsanghchalaks' since its
	inception. Starting from founder member Hedgewar and leading upto KS
Sudarshan the present incumbent, the interregnum was filled by
Golwalkar, Deoras and Rajendra Singh. If one takes a synoptic view of
each of these periods then one can definitely discern the definitive
impact each of them has had on the organisation. Ofcourse none of them
proved as controversial as the second incumbent namely Madhav Sadashiv
Golwalkar whose birth centenary is being celebrated by his followers
this year.
Plans are afoot to have year long activities which would begin from
February 24 with a grand inaugural function in Nagpur. And the
concluding ceremony of the celebration has been planned in New Delhi on
February 18, 2007. A team of 122 members, belonging to different spheres
of social life, besides 53 prominent saints and spiritual leaders of the
country as patrons, has been constituted for the birth-centenary year
celebrations.
It has been decided to have 'social harmony' (samajik samrasta) as
central theme of the year long celebrations during which “Hindu rallies
will be organised at the block level all over the country. Meetings of
caste and religious leaders will also be held with the objective of
promoting social harmony. Seminars, symposia, lectures, etc. will also
be organised to propagate the ideas and vision of Shri
Guruji.”(Organiser 29, 2006) Reports coming in from MP tell us that a
film on the life and times of Golwalkar is also under preparation which
would be ready by the end of March. Recently a children's magazine
coming out of the same state which has a vast network also published a
special issue of the same which was released by vice president Shekhawat.
Coming to Golwalkar, his biographers tell us that Madhav Sadashiv
Golwalkar got the alias Guruji for his brief stint in the zoology
department of Banaras Hindu University in the early thirties as a
teacher. We are also told that he was a latecomer to the RSS, as he was
more keen to undertake a spiritual journey via the Ramakrishna
Mission.Despite his late entry to the organisation, he earned the
confidence of the founder-member Hedgewar in a very short time
supposedly because of his brilliance and sharpness of logic. It was
logical that when the supremo breathed his last, he left a note asking
his followers to make him the next Supremo.(1940) Golwalkar carried on
with this responsibilities for a span of 33 years till his death, a
period which saw lot of turmoil within the organisation and also
witnessed a consolidation and expansion of the same via a network of
organisations.
Insiders to the organisation as well as many external wathchers agree to
the fact that he could be considered the key figure who provided a
theoretical background to the project of Hindutva and laid down the
seeds of the vast organisational network. As of now the plethora of
anushangik ( affiliated) organisations which owe allegiance to the
ideology of Hindutva would run in hundreds, each catering to a section
of society. Scholars as well as activists, who may posit themselves
diametrically opposite vis-a-vis the weltanshauung of this Hindu
Supremacist organisation , also need to study in detail the way an
organisation which was on the margins of Indian society for a long time
could reach the centrestage of Indian politics. One still remembers how
RSS people were made a butt of jokes in popular culture in Maharashtra
especially --Marathi dramas in late sixties-early seventies - mainly
because of their remaining limited to Brahmins or their insistence on
mechanical style discipline. It is true that this era in RSS history it
is long passe.
0 0
Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar spanned a period in world history which could
be said to be unique in many ways. It was a period when Nazism-Fascism
was ready to swamp the whole of Western Europe, a period when national
liberation struggles in many of the third world countries were near
culmination and the great experiments of Socialist construction
undertaken in Soviet Russia coupled with the rising tide of communist
led militant movements were proving to be a defining characteristics of
the era.
Retrospectively one can say that it was such a juncture in world history
when the old world of feudalism, colonialism,  was crumbling down and a
new world was emerging. And it would not be incorrect to state that due
to his peculiar weltanshauung which yearned for building a Hindu Rashtra
based on the ‘glorious traditions of Hinduism’ and which looked towards
Muslims as bigger adversary vis-a-vis British colonialism and which
sought inspiration from the experiments in ‘social engineering’
undertaken by Nazism-Fascism, he completely failed to have a pulse on
the march of history. In fact due to his intrasigence he not only kept
himself personally aloof from the surging anti-colonial struggle but
also did not chalk out any positive programme for his organisation to
participate in it.
As already mentioned the first of his theoretical contributions for the
cause of Hindutva appeared in the form of a pamphlette called ‘We or Our
Nationhood Defined’ ( 1938). It was so straightforward in its
appreciation of the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Jews undertaken by Hitler and
such an unashamed proponent of the submergence of ‘foreign races’ in the
Hindu race that later day RSS leaders have tried to create an impression
that the said book was not written by Golwalkar but it was merely a
translation of a book ‘Rashtra Meemansa’ by Babarao Savarkar.
It is a different matter that in his Preface to We or Our Nationhood
Defined dated March 22, 1939, Golwalkar himself described Rashtra
Meemansa as ‘one of my chief sources of inspiration and help. The
American scholar Jean A. Curran who did a full length study on RSS in
early fifties, in his sympathetic book, Militant Hinduism in Indian
Politics: A Study of the RSS (1951) confirms that Golwalkar’s 77-page
book was written in 1938 when he was appointed RSS General Secretary by
Hedgewar and he calls it as RSS’s ‘Bible’.A. G. Noorani in his famous
book ' The RSS and the BJP: A Division of Labour, {Pgs. 18-39} Leftword
Books) also tells us that :Rajendra Singh and Bhaurao Deoras made an
authoritative statement on that book in Para 10 of their 1978
application: ‘With a view to give a scientific base to propagate the
idea India being (sic) historically from time immemorial a Hindu Nation,
late Shri M.S. Golwalkar had written a book entitled, “We or Our
Nationhood Defined”,’ In Para 7 they ‘placed on record’ his book Bunch
of Thoughts (1966) in order ‘to clarify and understand the true purpose,
the exact nature, the ambit and scope of the RSS work… and its activities.’
A quote from the 77 paged book would be opportune at this moment.
“The foreign races in Hindusthan must either adopt the Hindu culture and
language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion,
must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race
and culture, i.e., of the Hindu nation and must loose their separate
existence to merge in the Hindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly
subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no
privileges, far less any preferential treatment — not even citizen’s
rights. There is, at least, should be, no other course for them to
adopt. We are an old nation; let us deal, as old nations ought to and do
deal, with the foreign races, who have chosen to live in our country”.
( Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar’s, We or Our Nationhood Defined)
A third arena where Golwalkar proved much behind his times was his love
for Manusmriti’s edicts. When leaders of newly independent India were
struggling to have a constitution which was premised on the
inviolability of individual rights with special provisions of positive
discrimination for millions of Indians who had been denied any human
rights quoting religious scriptures, it was Golwalkar again who espoused
the same Manusmriti as independent India’s constitution.'Organiser' (
November 30, 1949, p.3) the organ of RSS complained :
But in our constitution there is no mention of the unique constitutional
developments in ancient Bharat. Manu's laws were written long before
Lycurgus of Sparta or Solon of Persia. To this day laws as enunciated in
the Manusmriti excite the admiration of the world and elicit spontaneous
obedience and conformity. But to our constitutional pundits that means
nothing.
When attempts were made under the stewardship of Ambedkar and Nehru in
late fourties to give limited rights to Hindu women in property and
inheritance through the passage of the Hindu Code Bill , Golwalkar and
his associates had no qualms in launching a movement opposing this
historic empowerment of hindu women which was to take place for the
first time in history. Their contention was simple : This step is
inimical to Hindu traditions and culture.
One can go on innumerating instances to communicate the ideological
limitations of the Golwalkarian project which acted as a hindrance to
the building of modern India. It is clear to any impartial observer
that, the way he tried to divide a wedge between the broad unity of the
Indian people on the basis of religion , the way he lauded experiments
in ethnic cleansing in Western Europe and the way he glorified
Manusmriti till the end of his lfe, demonstrate that his project was
essentially inimical to the cause of social harmony.
It is a different matter that despite espousing a sectarian agenda the
Golwalkarian project of remaking of Indian society continued to move
ahead albeit slowly. The 'success' of the Golwalkarian project in
winning over a chunk of our society to its side definitely demands a
separate treatment which is beyond the purview of this short note.
0 0
For the followers of Golwalkar the birth anniversary of one of their
Pratasmaraniya ( worth remembering in the morning) icons has also been
an occasion to revisit that period during which the second supremo held
sway. And surprisingly they are not finding themselves much comfortable
with it for various reasons. It is evident in the way in which on the
one hand they are lauding him for his 'contributions' but are also
simultaneously engaged in surreptiously sanitising him and presenting
him before the guillible public under a more acceptable, humane face.
Ofcourse not that they have second thoughts about the vision espoused by
him, rather they have continued to show their adherence to it by
organising the 'successful experiment' in Gujarat in 2002. The only
problem they have is the presentation of the vision. Looking at his
controversial pronouncements from time to time on various issues of
social-political concern and his transcending the 'calculated ambiguity'
on many a occasions which is a hallmark of the organisation which he
built, it is not surprising that he has always come under barrage of
attack from all those people/groups/organisations who differed with the
weltanshaaung of the RSS or who oppose/d the project of Hindutva on
various grounds.
The feverish and foolish attempts undertaken by the Swayamsevaks to show
that Golwalkar was not the author but basically the translator of the
controversial book , the way in which they are engaged in presenting
concocted proofs to show that they did participate in the independence
movement ( while their very own Golwalkar Guruji had  the audacity to
make a fun of the tremendous sacrifices made by the people in the anti
colonial struggle)or the way they have dedicated the year long
celebrations in his honour to the cause of  'social harmony' all goes to
show their keenness to present the Second Supremo in a Sanitised form.
It was Ben Johnston, who divides history into three categories :
Remembered history, recovered history and inverted history. Independent
analysts have produced tonnes of literature to prove how the loyal
soldiers of the Guruji were engaged in 'inverting history' during their
six year tenure at the centre. Ofcourse nobody could have had the
premonition then that a day would come when they would unashamedly
'invert their own history'. The way we are being presented with a
repackaged Golwalkar just goes to show that their 'mission rewriting
history' is really endless.


____


[4]


Hindustan Times
February 19, 2006

FRINGE, CUT

by Barkha Dutt


Liberals like to believe that there are at least two sides to every
story, if not seven shades of truth. But there are moments, rare though
they may be, when polite discourse and robust debate is  meaningless;
when you can't bear the argument because there is, in fact, none; when
you turn to the skies and secretly wish that the guy in control at the
keyboard of life would hit the delete button on the virus that threatens
to swallow up the sanity of the rest.

Like most of you, I had never heard of Haji Yaqoob Qureshi till a few
days ago. But I am convinced that the man who goes by the lofty title of
Minister for Haj and Minority Affairs in Uttar Pradesh must be removed
from government, banned from politics and put away in prison. Not
because the cartoon controversy is an illegitimate cause — the contours
of that debate blur and shift everyday — but because I can't think of a
single man who has given Indian Muslims a worse name.

Last week at an Asia Society  Conference in Hong Kong, I listened to
young politicians from Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan wrestle with
religious orthodoxy in their countries. The fisticuff battle between
Radical Islam and Reason  was the thread that wove their varied stories
together into a common plot. India was not even on their  radar, till I
intervened gently, and may I add proudly, to say that though there were
more Muslims in India than any other country in the world after
Indonesia, we had  somehow side-stepped the storm.

Let other countries grope their way to modernity through the minefields
of an increasingly politicised Islam. In India, democracy and the
confluence of cultures had mingled with globalisation to create a
sturdy, unshakeable, forward-looking structure. Even the separatist
movement in Kashmir had its roots in ethnic, not religious, identity and
every attempt to create a pan-Islamic empathy for it in the rest of the
country had failed miserably.

No wonder that the cowboy rancher from Texas had been wonderstruck.
President George Bush had asked the Prime Minister in Washington how it
was that not a single Indian Muslim had been linked to the al-Qaeda.

Sure, we have our share of clerics and self-appointed saviours who sign
fatwas like doctors' prescriptions from their clinics of public
morality. But I have always believed that this is the lunatic fringe,
which would have dwindled away on the margins, had we in the media not
walked into their trap each time. From Sania Mirza's skirts to Saddam
Hussein's sentence, these are mostly a handful of professional
protestors playing out a part in a script already written. Each time we
put them on camera, we create a self-perpetuating myth.

I was deeply discomforted by a BBC report on how Indian Muslims had
joined the global protests over the cartoons. Indians watching the
report would have recognised the bunch of boys, hurling  stones and
burning the Danish flag,  to be the street ruffians that they were. At
the time, it was easy to dismiss the report as a typically
oversimplified Orientalist view of India. But now? How can we possibly
take the higher moral ground with the global media?

An elected representative in the country's most populous state asks for
a foreign citizen's head, promising not just big bucks, but the
executioner's weight in gold. All this at a rabble-rousing public rally
cheered on by a gushing stream of supporters. Watching the tapes sent a
shiver down my spine — was this India's first confrontation with
institutionalised radical Islam?

It needn't be. The Haji has already been isolated within his own
community. The normally orthodox Muslim Personal Law Board has
questioned his authority and ordinary citizens have dismissed his
declarations as more deplorable than the cartoons he was campaigning
against.

But it's the political silence that has draped itself like a shroud of
respectability over the minister.

Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has not thought it necessary to
disown his remarks, nor has the otherwise voluble Amar Singh. These are
men who have often painted themselves as the messiahs of the Muslims in
Uttar Pradesh.

The Congress, which can normally work itself into an allergic frenzy if
the Samajwadi Party so much as sneezes, has, at best, made some
lukewarm noises. Is it the unwillingness to display political courage in
a state where the party needs crutches to walk? Even the Left, which
claims secularism as its cornerstone, hasn't publicly denounced the
state minister. Only the BJP's protests have been unequivocal and loud,
predictably polarising the issue even  more.

The cartoon controversy itself is  deeply complex. Anyone who has seen
the cartoons will vouch for the fact that they are neither funny nor
clever nor satirical enough to intellectually justify themselves. Most
sane people will concede the point that they seem deliberately designed
to offend. There is also the question of civilisational hypocrisy and
the refusal of the same newspaper to publish a spin-off on Christ. But
once you throw the cordon of censorship around Religion; once faith
becomes a holy cow that can only be worshipped, we slide down a slippery
slope.

The right to protest is as inalienable as the right to freedom and there
can be many views on whether the Danish newspaper was exercising its
right to expression or simply being prejudiced and pig-headed. But
surely, there can be no two views on whether a man who uses his public
office as a pulpit call for murder should be allowed to continue in
government.

There are those who believe that the onus is only on Moderate Muslims to
stand up and be counted. I disagree. We are all equal stakeholders in
the future and each one of us who remains silent carries a share of the
blame. There is no point in the government appointing committees to
study ‘minority welfare'. There is no point in any of us committing
ourselves to the secular cause, if we passively allow a lunatic to speak
on our behalf.

This isn't the face India wants to show the world. More importantly,
this isn't the face we want to see in the mirror every morning. Haji
Yaqoob Qureshi may find a soulmate across the ideological divide —
perhaps Praveen Togadia. Let us send them both on a long journey to
oblivion.

____


[5] BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT


*Contours of Hindu Rashtra:  Ram Puniyani*

Kalpaz Publications, Delhi 2006
p.341, Rs 690


This compilation of essays, articles have been written over a period of
time spanning around 5 years. They are a response to the threat of
communal fascism in India. Since the decade of 1980s there has been a
rise in the assertion and influence of communal issues on the political
and social scene. These pieces written at various points of time try to
understand these. To begin with political and social language laced in
the garb of Religion has come to the fore. Few articles are devoted to
the problem of secularization process and secularism. The latter is the
term used and abused very often. Attempt has been made to explore these
themes. Along with this the current social scenario has been dominated
by the rise of swamis and sants, what do they stand for, why they have
an increased projection during last few years is the subject matter of
some of the articles.

The book explores issues related to the agenda of Hindutva, genesis and
development of this politics and the sporadic communal issues like the
one related to Savarkar, beef eating, constitution review and nature of
RSS. Gujarat has shown the weakness of our political system and the
strength of communal forces in a clear cut ways. How did it take place,
who were behind it, who was doing what when the tragedy was going on is
brought out in some other articles. Any discussion of Communal problem
will remain incomplete in India unless we are able to see the deeper
goal of those behind communal politics. And that pertains to the theme
of some of the topics covered in the book, the issues related to gender
and caste. They have a unique centrality in the communal agenda. Also
religion based politics propagates a World view rooted in faith based
knowledge systems. The deeper relationship between reason and secularism
is also brought out in some articles. All in all this book attempts to
cover the theme in a multi-faceted manner.

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

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.





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