SACW | Sept. 20, 2006

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire | September 20, 2006 | Dispatch No. 2291

[1]  Bangladesh: Time running out for reforms (Kamal Hossain)
[2]  In Nepal, time to check the dangerous drift (Siddharth Varadarajan)
[3]  Nepal: Hindu[tva] fears over secular Nepal (Charles Haviland)
[4]  South Asia: The many faces of faith (Khushwant Singh)
[5]  India: '93 Bombay Blasts - The Judgement 
Takes Effect, But The Cause? (Outlook)
[6]  India: New Book Lambasts Hindu Right (Francis C. Assisi)
[7]  India's Historical Monuments: In a state of ruins (Nayanjot Lahiri)

___


[1] 


The Daily Star
September 20, 2006

TIME RUNNING OUT FOR REFORMS
by Dr. Kamal Hossain

The proposals for electoral and Caretaker 
Government reforms were publicly presented at a 
press conference by the 14-parties on July 15, 
2005 and formally placed in Parliament by the 
Leader of the Opposition in February 2006. Even 
though so much time has elapsed there has been no 
positive response.

The government's public declarations assuring the 
holding of free and fair elections cannot have 
any credibility if it does not respond positively 
to the proposals for reform, since these 
proposals have as their aim the goal of ensuring 
a free and fair election.

Independent and impartial Election Commission
Clearly, the first requirement for holding a free 
and fair election is to have an impartial and 
independent Election Commission. An election is a 
contest between a number of parties according to 
a set of rules (the law relating to elections and 
the related rules). In any contest, say a 
football or cricket match, the neutrality of the 
referee is essential since a partisan referee 
will miserably fail to ensure that the match is 
played fairly. This is why the chief election 
commissioner and election commissioners must be 
persons who are credible and enjoy the confidence 
of all contestants.

The present Election Commission has become highly 
controversial. The appointment of the chief 
election commissioner and the election 
commissioners without any consultation was 
controversial. They have become even more 
controversial by their actions. The seven months 
long controversy over preparation of the voter 
list, the conduct of the chief election 
commissioner, who initially failed to work with 
the two other commissioners, as required by the 
Constitution, have all contributed to the loss of 
public confidence. We note that ministers and 
leaders of the government party have also 
expressed their lack of confidence in the CEC and 
the EC. The situation was aggravated by the 
failure of the CEC to respect the judgment of the 
High Court. Then two new commissioners were 
appointed without any consultation. Even before 
joining they lost credibility by criticizing the 
High Court Judgment (which was later affirmed by 
the Appellate Division). One of the two was a 
former secretary of the Election Commission about 
whom even the previous chief election 
commissioner had complained that he did not 
function as an official of an independent 
Election Commission but took orders from the 
Prime Minister's Office.

The former secretary (now a member) swore an 
affidavit in the High Court Division in the voter 
list case in which he stated that the action of 
appointing the registration officers and 
enumerators was taken by the Secretariat of the 
Election Commission, functioning as "a Division 
in the Prime Minister's Office."

Secretariat of the Election Commission

An independent commission cannot function as such 
if its Secretariat is under the control of the 
Prime Minister's Office. A rule has already been 
issued in a writ petition by the High Court 
Division to show cause as to why the functioning 
of the Election Commission Secretariat as a 
Division of the Prime Minister's Office should 
not be held to be unconstitutional. Immediate and 
urgent steps should be taken to change this 
position by removing the Secretariat of the 
Election Commission from the administrative 
control of the Prime Minister's Office.

Financial independence

To function independently, the Election 
Commission must be financially independent with 
its own budgetary grants and not be dependent on 
the Finance Ministry's discretion, that is, on 
the discretion of the Executive. The lack of 
independence of the present Election Commission 
was demonstrated by the finance minister's 
initial refusal to provide funds for fresh work 
on the voter list after the earlier work on the 
voter list was found to be done in violation of 
the of the Constitution.

Level playing field

There are other proposals for electoral reform 
aimed to ensure that the Election Commission can 
effectively monitor violations of the rules 
regarding election expenses (limit of Tk 5 lakh) 
and to ensure a level playing field. Candidates 
must be effectively prevented from using black 
money and muscle which are clearly prohibited by 
law. The Election Commission has now been given 
power to obtain declarations of assets and 
financial statements from the candidates, but it 
needs to be equipped effectively to scrutinize 
them, and to disqualify the candidates who make 
false declarations. A special unit of the 
Election Commission needs urgently to be 
established for this purpose with persons trained 
to scrutinize the declaration of assets and 
financial statements.

Since the Election Commission must ensure a level 
playing field it must design and effectively 
implement rules to regulate election-related 
expenses even in the period immediately prior to 
elections. It is evident from the wall-postering 
and other activities that election work incurring 
huge expenses involving black money is already 
underway. To ensure a level playing field in 
relation to media, a binding code of conduct must 
operate in relation to the print and electronic 
media.

The South African Media Commission's experience 
could be usefully drawn upon for this purpose. At 
present, gross disparity is evident from the fact 
that there are seven TV channels, which have been 
granted licenses and are operating. On the other 
hand, Ekushey Television remains inoperative; 
even after it had successfully filed a writ 
petition and obtained a licence sixteen months 
ago, it has continued to be denied a frequency 
allocation, without which it cannot function. The 
other TV channels, launched by persons who seem 
to enjoy special relations with those in power, 
have thus been placed in a position of undue 
advantage, while Ekushey continues to be a victim 
of gross discrimination.

Adjudicatory power of Election Commission

The Election Commission should be given resources 
and staff so that they can monitor violations in 
the field and report to an adjudicatory body 
which should be able to immediately adjudicate on 
matters without delay. This should be so in the 
case of violations in the course of elections so 
that serious cases can be penalized instantly by 
disqualification of the candidate concerned 
and/or cancellation of the election. After the 
results are given, it must be ensured that all 
election cases are disposed of within a time 
limit, of say six months.

The Caretaker Government

Essentially it has to be ensured that the head of 
the Caretaker Government is a non-partisan person 
who, as such, enjoys confidence of all contesting 
participants. Article 58 of the Constitution 
expressly calls for "non-partisan" Caretaker 
Government to be established for the purpose of 
assisting in holding a free and fair election. It 
should also be ensured that the responsibility 
for the defence portfolio entrusted to the 
president should, like all other portfolios, be 
administered on the advice of the chief adviser. 
Also the defence services should not be used for 
carrying out police functions as this undermines 
their professional status.

National consensus on reforms

There is a national consensus on such reforms as 
citizens too demand a meaningful change in 
institutions that uphold democracy. An effective, 
truly representative Parliament, through a free 
and fair election, is the first step to enable 
participation of citizens in affairs of the state.

Dr. Kamal Hossain is eminent jurist and politician.

_____


[2] 


The Hindu
September 20, 2006

IN NEPAL, TIME TO CHECK THE DANGEROUS DRIFT

by Siddharth Varadarajan

The road map for the formation of an interim 
government with Maoist participation is more or 
less in place. But powerful forces are 
intervening to derail the process.

Photo: AFP

Students with Maoist affiliations, in Kathmandu 
on Monday, shout slogans demanding a date for 
Constituent Assembly elections in Nepal. - Photo: 
AFP

AFTER MOVING forward quickly and purposefully 
towards the establishment of peace and democracy 
these past few months, Nepal's political parties 
have begun to stumble in the final crucial laps 
with a needless controversy over the disposition 
of Maoist arms.

At stake is the formation of an interim 
government consisting of the ruling Seven Party 
Alliance (SPA) and the Communist Party of Nepal 
(Maoist), which will have the mandate of 
conducting elections to a Constituent Assembly. 
The interim government will also have to 
administer the country till the formation of a 
new government elected on the basis of the 
Constitution which emerges from the Assembly's 
deliberations.

While it is the Constituent Assembly that will 
largely determine the political contours of the 
future Nepal, the credibility and structure of 
the interim government is equally important if 
the entire process is to be seen through to 
completion. As such, the full and unreserved 
participation of the Maoists and all other 
parties is essential. Indeed, the historic 
eight-point agreement, signed by Prime Minister 
Girija Prasad Koirala and CPN (M) leader 
Prachanda on June 16 explicitly commits the SPA 
and the Maoists to the establishment of an 
interim government on the basis of an interim 
constitution. Although that agreement explicitly 
provides for the United Nations to "help in the 
management of arms and armed personnel of both 
the sides and to monitor it in order to conduct 
elections for the Constituent Assembly in a free 
and fair manner," nowhere does it say that the 
surrender of arms by the Maoists is a 
precondition for the interim arrangement to go 
forward.

There is a good reason for this. By foregrounding 
the necessity of a political settlement between 
the SPA and the Maoists - through the instruments 
of an interim government and Constituent Assembly 
- the June agreement makes it easier for the 
eventual settlement of the arms question. As a 
senior SPA leader told me during a visit to Delhi 
in July, insisting on the surrender of arms 
before a political settlement was like putting 
the cart before the horse. "Let us say they give 
up their weapons and then we fail to reach a 
political solution. It will not be difficult for 
them to pick up the gun again." As for ensuring a 
level playing field during the elections - a 
legitimate demand of the SPA, whose cadres might 
otherwise be intimidated by Maoist weapons - this 
would be taken care of by the U.N. monitoring of 
both Nepal Army soldiers and Maoist combatants.

As the prospects for durable political change 
strengthen, however, the old order and its 
backers have begun reasserting themselves. For 
example, hardly a day goes by without James F. 
Moriarty, the U.S. Ambassador to Nepal, warning 
the parties not to accept Maoist participation in 
government without disarmament first. So brazen 
has been his intervention in Nepal's internal 
affairs that a number of MPs have called for his 
expulsion from the country. Also involved in this 
anti-Maoist scare campaign are Army officers who 
have not yet reconciled themselves to the loss of 
the "Royal" prefix from the name of the Nepal 
Army.

After the eight-point agreement was signed, the 
first hitch arose when the Koirala Government - 
presumably under pressure from the U.S. - wrote 
to the U.N. in early July asking for help in the 
management and decommissioning of Maoist arms. 
This "misunderstanding" was eventually resolved 
with Mr. Koirala and Mr. Prachanda writing 
identical letters to Secretary-General Kofi Annan 
on August 9 inviting the U.N. to "deploy 
qualified civilian personnel to monitor and 
verify the confinement of CPN-M combatants and 
their weapons within designated cantonment areas" 
as well as "[m]onitor the Nepal Army to ensure 
that it remains in its barracks and its weapons 
are not used for or against any side."

The letters also requested the U.N. to continue 
its human rights monitoring through the Office of 
the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal 
currently headed by Ian Martin, assist the 
monitoring of the `Code of Conduct' during the 
Ceasefire, and "provide election observation for 
the election of the Constituent Assembly in 
consultation with the parties." Nowhere do the 
letters speak of decommissioning.

At a press conference in Kathmandu earlier this 
week, Mr. Martin acknowledged there was some 
confusion over the sequencing of what he called 
"arms management" issues and political issues. By 
this he meant the precise moment when the U.N. 
will step in to monitor the Nepal Army and Maoist 
combatants, in particular whether the monitoring 
would kick in before or after the formation of 
the interim government. While this sequencing is 
a matter for the SPA and Maoist leadership to 
sort out, the laying down of weapons by the 
Maoists is a diversionary question that will only 
undermine the prospects of the peaceful political 
transition both sides say they are committed to.

When Prime Minister Koirala and Mr. Prachanda get 
together later this month for their summit 
meeting, they must put an end to the dangerous 
drift that has set in on the formation of an 
interim government. The Interim Constitution 
Drafting Committee (ICDC) has done a commendable 
job in preparing a draft covenant to oversee the 
transitional period, including the formation of 
an interim government and the holding of 
elections to a Constituent Assembly. No doubt 
ambiguities abound, not least about how the issue 
of the monarchy is to be resolved, but none of 
these is intractable. With statesmanship and 
patience, which both the SPA and the Maoists have 
already displayed in abundance, the last 
remaining hurdles can be overcome.

India's role

To the extent to which Washington has muddied the 
waters with its strident anti-Maoist campaign, 
however, India needs to counsel the SPA to stick 
to the path spelt out in the eight-point 
agreement of June 2006.

The inexplicable re-arrest in Chennai on Monday 
of Nepali Maoist leader C.P. Gajurel suggests the 
Manmohan Singh Government has still not realised 
the fragile nature of the transition Nepal is 
going through.

The Indian legal system can be chaotic and 
unpredictable but surely the Government of India 
knows how to negotiate its way through it.

In 2000, New Delhi pushed through the release of 
Masood Azhar. Unlike Azhar, who went on to found 
the Jaish-e-Mohammed, Mr. Gajurel is a political 
leader who has never been charged with a violent 
offence and who means India and its people no 
harm.

Ensuring his swift release - as well as his 
speedy, safe and honourable return to Kathmandu - 
would not only be the right thing to do but it 
would also send an important message: that India 
supports the formation of an interim government 
with the participation of all of Nepal's 
political parties, including the Maoists, and 
believes such a government offers Nepal its best 
chance for peaceful democratic change.


_____


[3]

BBC News
18 September 2006

HINDU[TVA] FEARS OVER SECULAR NEPAL
By Charles Haviland
BBC News, Kathmandu

At the moment protesters wanting to keep Nepal 
officially Hindu only number a few dozen

Enlarge Image
Young and old, some dressed in saffron, some 
wielding tridents, Hindu nationalists march in 
the streets of Kathmandu, letting out a cry of 
indignation.

"Bring back the Hindu kingdom," they shout.

It is a pattern being regularly repeated, mainly 
in the capital and the plains bordering India, by 
Hindus incensed by parliament's recent 
declaration that Nepal should be secular.

But at the moment, Nepal remains the world's only officially Hindu country.

'Holy war'

At the rally Hindu priests extol the goddess 
Sita, born in Nepal according to legend, and vow 
to continue protests.


Arun Subedi, chairman of Shiv Sena Nepal
If Nepal is not a Hindu kingdom then there is no Nepal
Arun Subedi,
Shiv Sena Nepal

Arun Subedi, chairman of the Hindu nationalist 
group Shiv Sena Nepal - with the same name as a 
hardline Mumbai (Bombay)-based organisation but 
unconnected to it - says secularism may worsen 
Hindus' relations with minority religions.

"Nepal is a Hindu country," he says. "It is the 
playground of God and a very holy country.

"If Nepal is not a Hindu kingdom then there is no 
Nepal. We are entering into a holy war," he says, 
describing a Hindu scripture as his arms and 
ammunition.

According to official statistics, more than 80% 
of Nepalis are Hindu. Many have traditionally 
regarded their kings as incarnations of the Hindu 
God, Vishnu.

But minorities in this multi-ethnic country and 
most political parties have long demanded the 
move to secularism.

Since it was unified by King Prithvi Narayan Shah 
in 1768, Nepal has been ruled by a Hindu dynasty. 
Its kings have bound themselves into a litany of 
Hindu rituals and receive special reverence from 
many Hindus in neighbouring India, which is 
secular.

But in April this year massive demonstrations 
forced Prithvi's autocratic descendant, King 
Gyanendra, to abandon his direct rule. 
Unsurprisingly, the restored parliament declared 
the country secular.

Hindus in Kathmandu offer prayers
Hindus form 80% of the Nepalese population

One of Nepal's greatest monuments, the 
Swayambhunath temple overlooking Kathmandu, 
epitomises the country's traditions of religious 
tolerance and mixing, especially between Hinduism 
and Buddhism.

Swayambhunath is a Buddhist shrine - a great dome 
or stupa - from which the all-seeing eyes of the 
Buddha gaze from its gold-painted face. But 
adjoining the stupa and its prayer wheels, people 
swarm around buying offerings for the Hindu 
goddess, Harati, whose temple lies in the same 
compound.

Some worshippers move from one shrine to the other.

Changes welcomed

People advocating the Hindu state point to such 
places, saying the faiths get on very well as 
things are. Some commentators say the country's 
status has prevented the development of the kind 
of angry Hindu politics seen in India.

But others say precisely the opposite.

Bhikkhu Ananda, a Buddhist monk and lecturer in 
Buddhist studies, says the Hindu state grossly 
underplays the number of Buddhists in Nepal. He 
puts it at 50% rather than the official 11%.


It is still unclear whether militant Hindu 
sentiments will harden and bigger crowds will 
flock to their rallies

"In this Hindu country, we are not given our due 
place," he says, asserting that the state 
broadcaster gives his faith 10 minutes a week 
compared with three-and-a-half hours for Hinduism.

Other religious minorities, including the tiny 
Christian one, also welcome the change.

Pastor KB Rokaya heads a church which meets in a 
private flat because churches are not allowed to 
register with the authorities. He hopes that will 
now change and says that more than secularism, 
what is needed is full religious freedom.

"I think the minority religious people will now 
feel they are equal citizens, not second-class 
citizens," he says. "It will also mean we can 
practise our own religion and faith more openly 
without fear."

The most vocal advocates of secularism, however, are not grounded in religion.

For its size, Nepal is one of the most ethnically 
diverse countries in the world. Some were 
Hinduised relatively recently and some are 
discovering their pre-Hindu roots.

Krishna Bhattachan works for an umbrella 
organisation of 59 indigenous ethnic groups, most 
of which have never enjoyed much power in Nepal.

He says the Hindu state has held back democracy 
and development and wants secularism to be 
followed by removal of the monarchy and 
recognition for minority cultures and languages.

'Ignited'

Ranged against this view are many ordinary Hindus 
who say they feel hurt, pointing out that many 
countries have Islam or Christianity as a state 
religion and saying they cherish Nepal's unique 
status.

Louder are the angry Hindus, who speak with 
veiled threats towards religious minorities.

Nepal church
Minorities are eager for more freedom of religion

"In secularism it will be very difficult for 
them," a youth attending a rally tells the BBC. 
"The churches will be destroyed, the mosques will 
be destroyed.

"The people who are very much [of a] religious 
mind, they will spontaneously blow up these 
churches and mosques. The fight between the 
religious communities... is not going to stop. It 
has been ignited."

Currently the protesters wanting to keep Nepal 
officially Hindu are only gathering a few dozen 
to their rallies. But there have been some 
scuffles, at least once with the influential 
Maoist rebels now inching closer to government.

It is still unclear whether militant Hindu 
sentiments will harden and bigger crowds will 
flock to their rallies.


_____


[4]

http://www.hindustantimes.com/
September 2, 2006

THE MANY FACES OF FAITH

by Khushwant Singh

If there was a public opinion poll conducted in the subcontinent
(comprising Pakistan, India and Bangladesh) on who is the most
deserving person for a Nobel Peace Prize, I have no doubt that Asma
Jehangir of Lahore would emerge as the outright winner. And for good
reasons. She is a Muslim living in a mullah-military-male-dominated
country in a stifling atmosphere of suspicion and where hatred of
India thrives; where Draconian laws are used to stamp out heresy and
punish blasphemy with death. She has been speaking out against all
these for many years; attempts have been even made to silence her.

Pakistan, India and Bangladesh face similar problems; the upsurge of
religious fanaticism (kattarpan) which often turns to violence
against people of other faiths. Pakistan and Bangladesh are Islamic
states on either side of India, ostensibly secular and largely Hindu.
If the Pakistanis had their way, they would put the likes of Asma
Jehangir in a burqa. But she refuses to wear one, leads
demonstrations against repressive measures. Takes up cases of men and
women persecuted by the government. She is often condemned for being
an Indian agent.

Bangladesh is going the Pakistan way. Take a look at Hiranmay
Karlekar's Bangladesh: The Next Afghanistan (Sage). You will
understand how serious religious bigotry has become. It has not
thrown up a leader to fight it; woman like Taslima Nasreen who has a
fatwa of death had to flee to Europe and is currently seeking asylum
in India. I hope our government will extend her a visa.

Both Pakistan and Bangladesh find it convenient to let extremist
elements turn to India for their ill-conceived jehads (holy wars) and
get the martyrdom they seek. In its turn Hindu bigots preach hate
against Muslim bigotry; both thrive on mutual hatred.

Our secular roots nurtured by Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Badruddin
Tyabji, Netaji Subhas Bose, Maulana Azad and others are being
destroyed by Hindu fundoos. They also preach hatred against Pakistan
and Bangladesh. However, we do have a free press and quite a few
willing to fight them. Efforts have borne fruit. The forces of
religious fundamentalism are in retreat.

Religions were a powerful force when they were established. Gradually
they became forces of backwardness and divisiveness because of
preaching superiority over other religions. We are witnessing this
phenomenon in all the three countries.

In many ways Asma Jehangir's life has been like that of Aung San Su
Kyi of Burma who has been under home arrest for many years. She was
awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace some years ago. Asma has been
roughed up by the police, put under house-arrest and jailed. She had
to send her children abroad for safety but continues to raise her
voice against oppression and injustice. Can you think of anyone more
deserving than her?


_____


[5]


Outlook Magazine
September 25, 2006

'93 BOMBAY BLASTS
The Judgement Takes Effect, But The Cause?
Of course, Mumbai should welcome the verdict for 
the guilty in the blasts. But must it overlook 
the mob and police violence leading to it?

In all the euphoria of "getting the guilty" in 
each of the staggered verdicts in the '93 Bombay 
blasts case, the city's overlooked one thing: 
that the judgement, however just and overdue, 
addresses only one side of the violence attending 
the Babri Masjid demolition and leading to the 
blasts.
Even as the CBI, Mumbai police and governments 
pat themselves on the back, and citizens demand 
death penalty for all the Memons-four of the 
family have been convicted,

Forgotten Crimes

three acquitted-there has been no conviction in 
any of the thousands of cases registered during 
and after the post-Babri riots from December 7, 
1992, to January 21, 1993.

Ironically, some riot victims are fighting cases 
fabricated against them by the police while 
perpetrators of the violence, whether men in 
uniform or in saffron, are walking free. Why, 
Sena chief Bal Thackeray, the 'mastermind of the 
riots', hasn't even been touched. "Mumbai is 
recalling the suffering of blast victims and 
feeling happy over the judgement. But it's not 
sparing a single thought for victims of mob or 
police violence. Both demand equal attention. In 
fact, close to 1,000 people were killed in riots 
and 1,00,000 displaced," rues Justice (retd) 
Hosbet Suresh who, along with Justice (retd) S.M. 
Daud, conducted a Citizens' Inquiry into the 
'92-93 violence. Their report was vindicated 
years later by the Justice B.N. Srikrishna 
Commission report, which too gathers dust.

While top investigators cracked the blasts case 
and filed a 10,000-page chargesheet in eight 
months, riot cases filed in police stations 
across the city were hastily closed or not 
brought to trial. firs are still being 
filed-13-and-a-half years later! While the blasts 
trial happened in a designated court, the few 
riot cases that went to court are being tried at 
a snail's pace. The Shiv Sena-BJP dispensation 
was forced to accept the Srikrishna Commission 
report, but did little, for obvious political 
reasons. The Congress-ncp government that assumed 
power in 1999 and again in 2004 on the explicit 
promise of implementing the report has done 
nothing except set up the Special Task Force 
(STF) in 2000.

The STF was to re-examine cases closed unlawfully 
and file fresh ones as suggested by the 
commission. Of the 1,370 Summary 'A' cases-marked 
as true but undetected-it took up only a 100, 
re-investigated 15 and filed about eight fresh 
cases. Now, the STF office is a ghost office; its 
chief K.P. Raghuvanshi is now head of the 
much-in-demand Anti-Terrorist Squad. For those 
who wonder why parallels must be drawn between 
the blasts case and the riots cases, this is what 
Justice Srikrishna said in his report: "One 
common link (between the riots and the bomb 
blasts) appears to be that the former appear to 
have been a causative factor for the latter. The 
serial bomb blasts were a reaction to the 
totality of events at Ayodhya and Bombay in 
December 1992 and January 1993. The resentment 
against the government and police among a large 
body of Muslim youth was exploited by 
Pakistan-aided anti-national elements. They were 
brainwashed into taking revenge and a conspiracy 
was hatched and implemented at the instance of 
Dawood Ibrahim."

One constable, accused of indulging in riots with 
a naked sword, was dismissed from service in 
2003; another compulsorily retired. But there's 
still the R.D. Tyagi case. The Srikrishna report 
found the then joint commissioner of police 
"guilty of excessive and unnecessary firing" 
leading to the death of nine Muslims in the 
Suleiman Bakery incident. Not only did Tyagi go 
on to become Mumbai's police commissioner, he was 
discharged in the case in April 2003. The state 
has not yet filed an appeal. In the Wadala Hari 
Masjid case, SI Nikhil Kapse was found "guilty of 
unjustified firing, inhuman and brutal behaviour" 
that killed seven Muslims, but was exonerated in 
a departmental inquiry.The STF hasn't pursued it. 
None of the 32 police officers listed in the 
report have been convicted. For many, the cases 
pending in the apex court are the sole hope.

_____


[6]


Indo Link
September 19, 2006 

NEW BOOK LAMBASTS HINDU RIGHT

by Francis C. Assisi

A forthcoming book by a distinguished Professor 
at the University of Chicago claims that the 
"Hindu Right" has created a pervasive 
"anti-Muslim feeling in India that is deeply 
alarming," and goes on to implicate it in Muslim 
"genocide" and complicity in the "murders of 
thousands."

Martha Nussbaum reveals that she has been 
verbally attacked in the U.S. for her stance and 
expects to be attacked again as a result of this 
latest book.

While author Nussbaum asserts that the principal 
aim of her book is to show that in India "the 
perpetrators of violence are not MuslimsŠ, but 
Hindus who sought their ideology in Fascist 
Europe,'" she also acknowledges that part of the 
story she explores in her book will involve 
"unraveling the complicated connections between 
the Hindu right in India and the expatriate 
community in the United States, which surely need 
careful scrutiny and further inquiry."

Harvard- educated Nussbaum, who happens to be a 
close associate of Amartya Sen, is a 
Distinguished Professor of Law and Ethics, with 
appointments in the Philosophy Department, Law 
School and Divinity School at Chicago.

Portions of Nussbaum's book were made available 
at a recent Yale seminar as 'The Clash Within: 
Violence, Democracy, And India's Future' and on 
the internet as 'India: A Democracy's Near 
Collapse into Religious Terror.' It is reportedly 
under contract to Harvard University Press as 
'Democracy in the Balance: Violence, Hope, and 
India's Future.'

The book's focus is on "the Gujarat riots of 
2002, when approximately 2000 Muslim civilians 
were massacred by angry Hindu mobs with the 
collaboration of police and government," says the 
author, who then goes on to trace the background 
of this violence in the ideology of the Hindu 
right. While acknowledging that the events of 
Gujarat were not inevitable, Nussbaum says that 
they were assisted "by the silence of the world." 
Hence, she hopes the book will break that silence 
and prevent a recurrence of genocidal violence.

What has been happening in India, says Nussbaum, 
"is that the ideals of respectful pluralism and 
the rule of law have been undermined by religious 
ideology and bigotry. The author views those 
events as "a terrible instance of genocidal 
violenceŠaided and abetted by the highest levels 
of government and law enforcement." There is, 
claims Nussbaum, copious evidence that the 
violent retaliation in Gujarat was planned by 
Hindu extremist organizations before the 
precipitating event.

She adds that the fact that it has yet to make it 
onto the radar screen of most Americans is 
evidence of the way in which terrorism and the 
war on Iraq have distracted Americans from events 
and issues of fundamental significance. "If we 
really want to understand the impact of religious 
nationalism on democratic values, India currently 
provides a deeply troubling example."

What prompted the author to embark on this study 
of the Hindu right or Hindutva? "I write this 
book not only to present a case study in the 
threat to democracy from religious tension, not 
only to engage Americans in an informed dialogue 
about India, but also to defuse the inaccurate 
and unhelpful assumption that Islam is a global 
monolith bent on violence," says Nussbaum in the 
introduction.

Nussbaum explains further: "My determination to 
write about Gujarat was increased when I 
encountered another kind of reaction. If I said 
to friends that I was writing on "religious 
tensions in India," a surprising number of highly 
intelligent people, some of them leading 
academics, said to me things like, "What's 
happening? Are the Muslims stirring up trouble 
again?" And of course that is precisely what the 
Hindu right wants people to think: Muslims are 
troublemakers wherever they are, and if there is 
trouble it is very likely to have been caused by 
them. The Hindu right seeks to exploit for its 
own purposes thoughts that come all too easily to 
many Americans in the aftermath of 9/11. Leading 
members of the Hindu right whom I have 
interviewed for this book assume that as an 
American I am a potential sympathizer, since they 
assume that I already believe that Muslims are 
troublemakers. When people I admire repeatedly 
fell into this inaccurate and crude way of 
perceiving the Indian situation, I began to feel 
that it was urgent that the real story be told, 
so that our relations to this important nation 
would not be guided by stereotypes and misleading 
anti-Muslim propaganda."

INDIAN-AMERICANS AND HINDU RIGHT

Nussbaum goes on to claim: "the Hindu right has a 
powerful and wealthy U.S. arm, which both funds 
suspicious activities in India, possibly 
activities associated with Gujarat's genocidal 
violence, and foments discord here and in 
Britain."

Also, according to Nussbaum, the group is engaged 
in a hate campaign against certain U.S.Scholars. 
She adds: "Colleagues here in the United States 
have been threatened with physical violence, even 
death, or had eggs thrown at them, when they tell 
a version of long-ago history that does not suit 
the agenda of the Hindu rightŠ Representatives of 
the Hindu right have made serious, though 
unsuccessful, attempts to have American 
universities remove troublesome scholars from 
assignments involving the teaching of ancient 
Hindu traditions.

Nussbaum is, of course, referring to the campaign 
by Rajiv Malhotra in Sulekha.com to expose 
certain American academics such as Wendy Doniger, 
Paul Courtright, Jeffrey Kripal and others who 
tend to exclusively use far-fetched psychosexual 
interpretations to demonise Hinduism. One problem 
with this kind of scholarship is that these 
scholars believe they alone have the truth, and 
damned be anyone who disagrees with their 
methodological approach.

As one critic observes: "Certainly there is value 
in an approach that seeks to unmask the sexual 
metaphors in Hindu mythology. But Western 
scholars apply only this methodology and fail to 
articulate other "truths" present in the 
mythological literature or other approaches to 
understanding the Hindu world. It becomes a cycle 
where grad students are exposed only to this 
approach and thus further only this 
methodological approach."

Finally, the book, which contains a lot of 
interview material with politicians and leaders 
of the Hindu right, discusses at length the 
ideology of masculinity used by the Hindu right.

As Nussbaum points out in chapter six: "the hate 
literature circulated in Gujarat portrays Muslim 
women as hypersexual, enjoying the penises of 
many men. That is not unusual; Muslim women have 
often been portrayed in this denigrating way. But 
it also introduces a new element: the desire that 
is imputed to them to be penetrated by an 
uncircumcised penis. Thus the Hindu male creates 
a pornographic fantasy with himself as its 
specific subject. In one way, these images show 
anxiety about virility, assuaging it by imagining 
the successful conquest of Muslim women."

Obviously, Nussbaum has chosen to paint India and 
Hindus with too broad a brush. Since she has 
American readership in mind, and is ostensibly 
writing for an audience that has limited exposure 
to India and to what it means to be a "Hindu," 
she could have done more to separate Hinduism 
from the Hindu Right, which is a small but vocal 
minority. Reading Nussbaum's book, one gets the 
impression that most Hindus in India are 
fanatical.

POSITIVE IMAGES

Though Gujarat provides a vivid example of the 
bad things that can occur when a leading 
political party bases its appeal on a religious 
nationalism wedded to ideas of ethnic homogeneity 
and purity, Nussbaum notes that Gujarat also 
reveals something else: the resilience of 
pluralistic democracy, the ability of 
well-informed voters to turn against religious 
nationalism and to rally behind the values of 
pluralism and equality.

Nussbaum has some good things to say about the 
Indian media and academia. "A particularly 
striking feature of Indian media is their 
openness to the ideas of intellectuals: any 
academic who wants to get involved in a national 
debate can do so, as is certainly not the case in 
the United States." She acknowledges too that 
Indian universities remained strong bastions of 
academic freedom even during the ascendancy of 
the BJP. "The national press is, it seems to me, 
more free in some crucial respects than our 
national media in the U. S., in the sense that 
the leading newspapers are more diversely and 
independently owned, less vulnerable to economic 
pressures that lead to a degeneration of 
journalistic quality. The level of debate and 
reporting in the major newspapers and at least 
some of the television networks is impressively 
high."

EXPECTS TO BE ATTACKED

In her introduction to the book Nusbaum informs: 
"Although I myself have been verbally attacked at 
times, and although my Dean had one phone call 
saying that I had no right to teach, the odd 
thing about the nature of these attacks in 
America is that a person like me who writes about 
a genocide today, saying that the Hindu right is 
complicit in the murders of thousands, is less 
likely to be targeted than someone who writes 
about mythology or ancient history in ways that 
contravene the new orthodoxy."

She concludes her introduction thus: "I expect to 
be attacked for writing this book, but I also 
view these attacks as less significant for me 
than they would be for lifelong India scholars. 
Leaving aside the issue of physical violence, the 
worst that could happen to me would be to be 
denied a visa - something not at all likely under 
the present government, and something that did 
not happen to established scholars (only to the 
young) even under the previous regime. That 
denial would cost me a good deal in terms of 
fellowship and friendship, but it would not 
cripple my work. I am also a political person and 
I expect trouble. My friends in religious studies 
sought a peaceful scholarly life focused on 
spirituality; they are surprised, wounded, and 
utterly unprepared, when politics reaches into 
their lives. So it seems appropriate that I 
should step in and shoulder a part of the burden 
that so many now bear who are more deeply at 
risk."

indiaspora at gmail.com

_____


[7] 

Hindustan Times
September 13, 2006

IN A STATE OF RUINS

Nayanjot Lahiri

September 12, 2006

"It is no easy matter to tell the truth, pure and 
simple," said David Hackett Fischer in his 
endlessly amusing Historians' Fallacies, for 
"truths are never pure, and rarely simple."

Consider the reply that was given on August 3 by 
Minister of Culture Ambika Soni to a Parliament 
question about the destruction of monuments. The 
question was asked by Rasheed Masood, who wanted 
information about their disappearance, the role 
of land mafias in abetting their destruction, and 
about the corrective steps that had been taken to 
protect the surviving heritage.

Insofar as precise details go, there is candour 
and honesty in Soni's reply. Apparently, 35 
'centrally protected monuments' in different 
parts of India, from Arunachal Pradesh to 
Karnataka, are no longer traceable. The 
'disappeared' monuments are wide-ranging - 
medieval guns and British graveyards, rock 
carvings and temples, kos minars and tombs, 
inscriptions and siege batteries. The chief 
culprits are identified by her as "rapid 
urbanisation, construction of multi-storeyed 
residential and commercial buildings and 
implementation of development projects".

This may indeed be the best information that was 
made available to the minister. But it is neither 
the simple, straightforward truth, nor is it good 
enough to answer the question. For one, the query 
concerned historical monuments, not only 
centrally protected ones. The number of 
historical structures and sites that have 
disappeared is far, far larger than the 35 
structures listed in the reply. Several hundred 
unprotected sites and monuments have and continue 
to be destroyed at an unstoppable pace. Anyone 
with a personal familiarity of the Indian 
archaeological landscape is aware of this, and 
while it is true that these have frequently 
disappeared because of the reasons that Soni has 
stated, simultaneously, there are other factors 
too.

Encroachments and destruction have been initiated 
in many cases by religious lobbies. The high 
profits of the antiquities trade, protected by 
mafias of various kinds, have resulted in 
destruction as well. An impressive array of 
outstanding early terracottas from 
Chandraketugarh in Bengal are today with private 
collectors in the West. Enamul Haque's 
beautifully illustrated Chandraketugarh: A 
Treasure House of Bengal Terracottas showcases 
the wealth that has been smuggled out of this 
centrally protected site. These terracottas could 
only have been dug out in such large quantities 
because of unmindful guardians and policy-makers. 
Destruction in this case has happened because 
only a miniscule portion of the ancient city 
ruins were protected by legislation.

In several instances, monuments and sites have 
disappeared because  threats to them have been 
ignored by their institutional guardian, the 
Archaeological Survey of India. More than 20 
years ago, a former director general of the 
National Museum, RC Sharma, pointed this out in 
print in relation to Govindnagar in Mathura. 
Apparently, when Sharma became curator of the 
Mathura museum, the large imposing mound at 
Govindnagar was more or less intact. "Repeated 
efforts were made to persuade the authorities of 
the Archaeological Survey of India to declare the 
entire land as protected area and to start 
excavations at the earliest." Nobody in the ASI 
appears to have showed any concern.

Instead, the local housing society  "got its 
project of house building approved and the 
devastation picked up at a terrific speed. Three 
hundred labourers were engaged for levelling the 
spot rapidly". The files of the ASI must 
certainly contain the details of such 
destruction. They are also mentioned in many 
prominent publications. If proper statistics were 
provided to the minister, Soni's statement in 
Parliament would have been even more sensational 
than it was.

Even in the case of 'protected' monuments, there 
are at least three unmentioned factors that have 
contributed to their 'disappearance'. First, if 
developers and land mafias have successfully 
destroyed monuments, correspondingly this means 
that the ASI is powerless to act as their 
institutional guardian. This requires explanation.

If we look at the act under which 'protected' 
monuments are governed, there is a comprehensive 
legal framework in place. One of the sections of 
the 1958 Act states that in the protected area no 
person can "carry on any mining, quarrying, 
excavating, blasting or any operation of a like 
nature". Again, the rules of 1959 under this Act 
deal with all kinds of issues such as "access to 
protected monuments", "construction and other 
operations in protected areas", "excavations in 
protected areas", and even "copying and filming 
of protected monuments". Where does this lead us? 
Simply, to the conclusion that laws and rules, of 
the kind that are mentioned in the Parliament 
reply, are unlikely to prevent disappearance of 
monuments in the absence of adequate vigil on the 
part of those who superintend monuments.

Second, even where the ASI has been vigilant, its 
officers have been unable to prevent unlawful 
encroachments. The state of officially protected 
temples in Bhubaneswar shows that hundreds of 
FIRs filed against violations have not been acted 
upon by the police. They are, in fact, unlikely 
to be acted upon if political heavyweights 
continue to be among the prime movers and shakers 
in heritage desecration. The protected status of 
the 13th century Rameshwar temple did not prevent 
an influential local minister from hosting his 
daughter's reception there. Nor was anyone 
prosecuted even though this case was reported in 
India Today in 2000.

Finally, some 19th century monuments listed by 
the minister have been deliberately destroyed or 
dismantled because of government policy. In 1949, 
the British government made an announcement of 
policy to the effect that it could not provide 
full-scale financial commitment for the 
maintenance of its cemeteries in parts of its 
former empire. Consequently, when local Christian 
organisations failed to provide support, these 
were to "revert to nature in a dignified and 
decent manner", a polite way of saying that they 
were to be abandoned. Again, after Independence, 
a few British memorials were considered as being 
degrading to the nation and were deliberately 
removed. The statue of John Nicholson, which Soni 
specifically mentions, was one of them. It used 
to stand near Kashmiri Gate but was removed and 
taken to Ireland with the consent of the Indian 
government. It now stands in front of Nicholson's 
old school in Dugannon in Northern Ireland.

It is bad enough that India's monuments continue 
to disappear. What adds insult to the shameful 
spectacle of a defenceless disappearing past is 
that the State itself does not seem to have 
reliable information about either the scale or 
the character of the missing monuments. Surely, 
there is an urgent need to compile a national 
register of sites and antiquities, one that can 
form the basis of a report on the 'state of 
India's archaeological heritage'. This register 
ought to encompass the heritage that is lying in 
the public and private spheres abroad.

For a nation that is so proud of its past, it is 
time that its citizens insisted on a 
comprehensive report of this kind. Assessments of 
disappearing forest cover and other kinds of 
environmental degradation are regularly made and 
help articulate legislation and policy. If this 
exercise is extended to monuments and sites, it 
would help generate pressure on those who are 
paid to preserve our past.

The writer teaches archaeology at the Department of History, Delhi University

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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
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