SACW | Jan. 3-4, 2007
Harsh Kapoor
aiindex at mnet.fr
Wed Jan 3 19:06:20 CST 2007
South Asia Citizens Wire | January 3-4, 2007 | Dispatch No. 2343 - Year 8
[1] Pakistan: Dangerous phase of sectarianism (Edit, Daily Times)
[2] India: Communal Riots 2006 (Asghar Ali Engineer)
[3] India : Inside Gujarat's Relief Colonies -
Surviving State Hostility and Denial (Harsh
Mander)
[4] India: organizations of survivors of the
1984 Union Carbide disaster condemn Tata's offer
to clear the path for Dow-Union Carbide's
investments (Harsh Mander ()
[5] India: Press Release Narmada Bachao Andolan
[6] India: How the Congress fudged the language question (Mukul Kesavan)
[7] India: Constitutional Provisions Religion, Quota and Law (Pran Chopra)
____
[1]
The Daily Times
January 04, 2007
EDITORIAL: DANGEROUS PHASE OF SECTARIANISM
According to our security agencies, three
incidents of terrorism in Karachi in 2006 - the
blast at the US Consulate, the Nishtar Park
massacre and the murder of Allama Hasan Turabi -
were all carried out by the sectarian militia
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and were planned in South
Waziristan under the tutelage of Al Qaeda. The
new combination is Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Wana and Al
Qaeda. One can also say that Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is
the blanket term now used for all manner of jihad
in which all the Deobandi-Ahle Hadith militants
have made common cause.
We also know that all three incidents were staged
through the device of suicide-bombings. This is
clearly the Arab signature in the violence
spreading in Pakistan. The same signature was
appended to the attempts made on the lives of
President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister
Shaukat Aziz earlier. Therefore one of the
lessons that those who object to the hanging of
Saddam Hussein on the day of Hajj should remember
is that sectarianism is blind to such
considerations: the Nishtar Park massacre in
which scores of Barelvi leaders died took place
on Eid Miladun Nabi!
All three incidents have been traced to Wana by
the investigators: one ostensibly committed for
Al Qaeda and two for the local sectarians. The
bombing jacket of the boy who killed Allama
Turabi was made in Darra Adam Khel at the behest
of Al Qaeda, now spearheaded by Abdullah Mehsud
who was released by the Americans from Guantanamo
Bay in 2003. He returned to Pakistan and took his
first revenge for the death of his mentor Mufti
Jamil at the Banuri Mosque by abducting two
Chinese engineers in the Tribal Areas, one of
whom was killed during the rescue operation.
The Lashkar-e-Jhangvi has finally moved to centre
stage. Past news of its demise after the capture
of Akram Lahori were, it seems, highly
exaggerated. In fact now the entire conglomerate
of jihadi militias has accepted a common
sectarian banner, and this has come in the wake
of Al Qaeda's own transformation from an
intellectually fashioned anti-American
organisation into an intra-Islamic exterminator
of the Shia. This has been done through the
mental somersault of equating the Shia - the
government in Iraq plus, strangely, Iran - as
allies of the United States!
To understand what is going on we have to go back
to the late 1980s when Al Qaeda was formed in
Peshawar in the midst of a gathering sectarian
storm in Pakistan. Because this wave was
orchestrated by Saudi Arabia, Al Qaeda tried to
keep away from it. But later, starting with the
return of Osama Bin Laden and other Al Qaeda
elements to Jalalabad from Sudan after 1996, Al
Qaeda had to accept a kind of coexistence with
the sectarian militias which were taking training
in its camps. That is why whenever Pakistan
demanded the return of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi
killers from the 'friendly' Taliban government, a
deaf ear was turned to it, and the Lashkar
terrorists continued to live in Al Qaeda camps
outside Kabul.
There were times when Al Qaeda was actually
helped by Iran, especially during the tenure of
Abu Musab Zarqawi as head of a training camp in
Herat from where he infiltrated into Kurdistan
through Iranian territory. After 2003, however,
there was a cleavage of opinion inside Al Qaeda.
Mr Zarqawi spearheaded the new trend of viewing
the Shia of Iraq - and Iran itself - as the
beneficiaries of the American invasion. At first
Mr Al Zawahiri resisted this trend and Al Qaeda
officially advised him in Iraq to stay away from
Shia-killing, but later the prospect of a grand
Sunni Arab consensus against Iran became
irresistible and Mr Zarqawi was hailed as a
martyr when he finally died in Iraq.
Now Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is supposed to have planned
a fresh targeting of the Shia community in the
cities where they are found in large numbers:
Lahore, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, Khanewal,
Layya, Bhakkar, Jhang, Sargodha, Rahimyar Khan,
Karachi, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Kohat,
Parachinar, Hangu, Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Mirpur
Khas and Quetta. This is certainly a new
challenge for the government in charge of facing
up to sectarian violence in the country. Both the
mainstream parties - the PPPP and the PMLN -
faced it when they were in government but failed
because of the exclusive handling of jihad by the
intelligence agencies. Today all parties must
stand united to reject what is coming.
Above all, it is the MMA which has to look deep
into its conscience and separate the biggest
curse of religion, sectarianism, from the
Taliban-style governance it supports. The
alliance has lost many of its leaders to this
curse without taking any effective action against
some of its own members. It must not exploit the
new situation by pinning the blame on the current
government alone. If the opposition takes some
sneaking pleasure in the rise of sectarianism in
Pakistan as an instrumentality of removal of
government, it will live to regret it. Pakistan
is a large Muslim state with Shias that outnumber
the Shias of Iraq. Its population has never been
sectarian but is now gradually succumbing to the
fear of violence.
All politicians must come together to save the
next generation of Pakistanis from the new
orientation spreading in the Muslim world.
Already, in some of the cities - like Gilgit,
Parachinar, Bannu, etc - a kind of sectarian war
among the people seems to have started. It must
not spread further. So far the venting of anger
has been targeted and not general. But the very
foundation of a state founded by a Shia leader -
the Quaid - is now at risk. Once they throw down
roots these budding ethnic and sectarian
conflicts never go away. And the states that
allow them to become embedded are then faced by
their own annihilation. We must learn this lesson
before such a fate befalls us. *
_____
[2]
COMMUNAL RIOTS 2006
by Asghar Ali Engineer
(Secular Perspective Jan. 1-31, 2007)
This is as usual our annual survey of communal
riots and events during 2006. This was
comparatively an year with few riots. In fact
post-Gujarat India has witnessed fewer riots.
Gujarat was indeed another watershed like the one
after post-Babri riots. It has been witnessed
that after some major riot, subsequent years
witness smaller and fewer riots. Mumbai riots
after demolition of Babri Masjid by Sangh Parivar
fanatics were also very intense and widespread in
1992-93 in which more than one thousand persons
perished. After Mumbai riots there was no major
riot with the exception of Coimbatore riots (in
which 40 persons were killed) until Gujarat
happened.
Gujarat was really earthshaking both in its
intensity and in its brutality and direct
involvement of state machinery. In fact nothing
like Gujarat had happened in post-independence
period. Gujarat happened in 2002 and since
Gujarat no major riot like it has happened. Such
major riots perhaps make even communal forces
make so nervous by exposure of media that it
takes quite sometime for them to gather courage
for next major communal riot. Also, after riots
like the ones in Gujarat, 2002, it becomes
difficult for communal forces to get people’s
support for another one for quite some time. It
is also important to note that the next major
riot does not usually occur at the same place.
For example, after Mumbai riot of 1992-93 next
major riot took place in Gujarat, not in Mumbai.
Similarly earlier during eighties many major
riots took place but subsequent riot never
occurred at the same place.
So after Gujarat there has been no major riot so
far. During 2006 several small riots took place
in different places. The first riot occurred at
Baroda on 17th January. Two groups of Hindus and
Muslims clashed on some petty matter in which two
persons were injured. The police and Rapid Action
Force came into action and prevented further
trouble. Three persons were arrested.
On 3rd February there were clashes between those
going for Friday prayers in Kamalmaula Masjid and
Bhojshala temple for worship in Dhar, Madhya
Pradesh. The Hindu Jagran Manch, a Sangh Parivar
unit has been claiming that Kamalmaula Masjid is
a Hindu temple and Dhar has become communally
highly sensitive place and clashes occur here
frequently. More than 300 Muslims were prevented
from entering the sque to pray and police had to
resort to lathicharge and fire teargas shells and
impose curfew. Muslims had to pray in a temporary
structure outside. Later on curfew was relaxed
and Hindus were allowed to perform puja.
Very surprisingly clashes between Muslims and
Buddhists occurred in Leh in J&K on 10th
February. The mob set ablaze a house at Horay
Gonpa in protest against the alleged desecration
of Qur’an. 31 persons were arrested in clashes
between Muslims and Buddhists. The Qur’an was
allegedly kept inside the mosque in Bodh Kharboo
in Kargil. Curfew had to be imposed which
continued for few days and Army had to stage flag
march. Leh, in a sense, is communally sensitive
as earlier too clashes had occurred between
Muslims and Buddhists.
There were clashes in Muzaffarnagar, U.P. between
communities on 17th February during
demonstrations against cartoons of the Prophet of
Islam. Six persons were injured. The sentiments
were inflamed as U.P.’s minister of Haj Haji
Muhammad Yaqoob announced reward of 51 crores of
rupees for anyone who brings the head of the
cartoonist. PAC was posted to control the
situation. In Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh also
clashes occurred between Muslims and Hindus in
which one shop was set on fire and 5 persons were
injured on same day i.e. on 11th February in Char
Minar and other areas. Hyderabad witnessed
similar disturbances again on 24th February when
a religious place was desecrated in Karwan
locality. The faces of lions installed outside
the religious place were found broken.
Immediately large number of people collected and
began stoning the houses of other community.
Police had to resort to lathicharge to disperse
the mob.
On 3rd March Lucknow which is not so communally
sensitive witnessed communal clashes between
Hindus and Muslims in which 4 persons were killed
while Muslims were staging demonstrations against
Prophet’s cartoons after Friday prayers in
Aminabad, Qaiserganj, Latoosh Road when Muslims
forced shopkeepers to down their shutters.
However, according to Muslim source disturbances
started when Khatiks (Hindu slaughterers) stoned
Muslims protesting against Prophet’s cartoons.
Then firing started from both sides in which 4
persons were killed. Majority of those injured
were Muslims. In retaliation Muslims stoned many
vehicles and damaged them and set fore to
effigies of Bush.
Goa also witnessed communal violence on 4th March
when Muslims took out protest march against
demolition of a structure used for prayer by the
minority community. To save the minority
community, police claimed, they were evacuated.
The Congress blamed the Hindu fundamentalists for
disturbances. The Hindus stoned the Protest
march. Then the mob ransacked several
establishments and torched vehicles. Police fired
in the air when someone attacked inspector Gaad
and snatched his revolver. Two persons were
injured in the firing. About 100 persons were
arrested.
Bangalore saw communal violence on 10th March
when dispute started between members of two
communities in a Muslim majority area of city on
the question of barking of dog. The argument
between youths of two communities and 9 persons
were injured when stoning started and one person
was seriously injured in stabbing. The police
brought the situation under control.
On March 26 Baroda witnessed communal violence
once again in Fatehpura area. More than 100
persons gathered and stoned in which 6 persons
were injured. The dispute between the two
communities arose on small matter and soon
engulfed the area in violence. Of the injured
four were seriously injured and had to be
hospitalised.
Aligarh flared up on the eve of Navratri on April
6 and four persons were killed. The two
communities indulged in stoning and firing. It
was alleged that Muslims removed the decorative
lighting of a temple and violence flared up. Then
the clash occurred with Muslims in Sabzi Mandi
and Daiwali Gali. In fact, some alleged that when
a piyao (structure for drinking water) was sought
to be used as temple and was decorated with
lights on the occasion of Navratri, the dispute
started and took violent form. Besides 4 persons
who died, 13 were injured of which 6 were in
critical condition. Curfew had to be imposed in
the area of five police stations.
On April 11, on the occasion of Prophet’s birth
day Khandwa was engulfed in communal violence and
in Pali in Rajasthan was also affected on this
occasion. Twelve persons were injured in stoning
in Khandwa. In both the places indefinite curfew
was imposed. The police sources in Khandwa said
that dispute started when some Muslims removed a
Raavi Pandal in Jalebi chowk. In Pali, 10 persons
were injured when a procession of Mahavir Jayanti
was stoned. Some Muslims objected to procession
being taken from Pinjara Mohalla and trouble
started.
Thana experienced communal disturbances on 24th
April. It is reported that one Muslim was
unloading wood from a truck when two Hindu youth
objected. However, matter was apparently settled
but at night around 10 p.m. some Hindu youth came
with swords and attacked Muslim houses. But
Bajrang Dal group leader Prakash Ramkumar Yadav
claimed that clashes started when he and his
father were attacked and injured. But Mahmood
Dalvi said he received a phone call from the area
and when he reached there Ramprakash Yadav, along
with 150 others were attacking Muslim houses.
They were saying that we will make this area
Gujarat. It was also alleged that when Muslim
houses were being attacked the local MLA Eknath
Sinde and policemen were silent spectators.
Muslims alleged that police was arresting us
instead of mischief mongers and attackers.
Muslims felt terrorised by Bajrang Dal activists
and lack of police support.
On April 25 one person was killed in Bhivandi, a
Shiv Sainik, on the question of playing cricket.
Four others were injured. It all started with a
cricket ball hitting a Hindu woman and Muslim
boys refusing to stop playing cricket. They
forcibly stopped and slapped the boys. The boys
threatened to return and settle score. They, some
30 in all returned with sticks, chains and stumps
and attacked Mohan. Mohan later succumbed to his
injuries. Police arrested six boys and was
looking for 20 others.
Baroda, communally highly inflammable place since
early eighties, once again was in flames on May
1st when a three hundred year old dargah of
Chishti Rashiduddin was demolished by Vadodara
Municipal Corporation which sparked riots in
which 4 persons were killed and more than 12 were
injured in police firing. Two of the dead had
bullet injuries while other two were stabbed. It
was demolished as an ‘illegal structure’. How can
a three hundred year old dargah be declared as
illegal?
Initially there was argument between residents of
the locality but matter worsened when police
intervened leading to riots which soon spread in
different parts of the city. The police failed to
disperse the mob by lathicharge and resorted to
firing. Later on one Muslim was burnt alive along
with his car and when people phoned control room
police allegedly said ‘Go to Pakistan’. According
to one estimate in all 6 persons died.
On intervention by Kamaluddin Bawa, it was agreed
by Muslims that a portion of Mazar could be
sliced of for road widening but when Muslims
discovered that VMC plans to demolish entire
Mazar they protested. The corporators most of
whom were from BJP also maintained that when they
could demolish temples why can’t VMC demolish
dargah. But they forgot that temples were
unauthorised and of recent origin whereas dargah
was three hundred years old and could not be
called ‘illegal’. Anyway it resulted in serious
communal violence resulting in death of six
persons. On 18th May dead bodies of two children
were found in decomposed state in the dicky of a
car belonging to a VHP leader. How heinous crimes
these communal fanatics can commit!
Aligarh witnessed another bout of communal
violence on 29th May when a BJP leader was
murdered and in retaliation two persons were
killed. The police further extended the curfew
which was already force since last eruption of
violence and clamped it in two more areas. Thus
curfew was clamped in all five police station
areas. Ahmedabad also experienced communal
violence after a scooter rider knocked down
person of another community near a place of
worship. The police resorted to lathi charge and
in all 30 persons were injured both in
lathicharge and stoning between persons of two
communities.
Next communal violence erupted in Karoli,
Rajastan on 16th June when at a tea stall a
mentally unstable person put cow dung on Qur’an
and wrote objectionable things on it and showed
it to people. This caused provocation to Muslims
who set fire to two Hindu shops besides damaging
some stalls. They then marched to collector’s
office and submitted a memorandum demanding
action against the offender. Some Hindus set fire
to an autorickshaw. There were some incidents of
stabbing also.
On 18th June there was incidence of communal
violence in Goda village in Pratapgarh district
of U.P. Two girls were burnt alive after the
murder of a Hindu youth by some unknown persons.
As the news of Hindu youth’s murder spread
hundreds of people poured in Gonda village with
weapons and attacked establishment of a Muslim
community in Gonda, Baldu and Subedar villages.
Over 100 houses were set ablaze in which two
girls were charred to death. These three villages
border on Pratapgarh and Raebareli districts.
Immediate police reinforcements were rushed and
situation was controlled. Some 100 persons were
arrested.
On fourth September Raesen town in M.P. saw
eruption of communal violence. Some persons
allegedly threw pieces of beef at Jain temple.
Hearing this news Hindus began to gather in large
numbers and began stoning shops belonging to
Muslims and damaging them. The police tried to
disperse mob by firing teargas shells and when
crowd did not disperse it fired three rounds in
the air. Police reinforcements and rapid Action
Force was brought to keep situation under control.
Ganpati festival is another occasion for eruption
of communal violence. This year on 7th September
Rabori area of Thane, near Mumbai and Usmanabad
in Marathwada saw eruption of communal violence.
In Rabori Muslims and those in the Ganpati
procession clashed and began stoning but the
police was quite alert and immediately brought
the situation under control within 15 minutes.
However, it was more serious in Usmanabad where
those in the Ganpati procession began throwing
gulal (red powder) at Muslims in an inebriated
state. They threw stones at the mosque and
several Muslim shops. They also began to set fire
to shops and vehicles and broke open some shops.
It went on till late at night. It began from
Khwajanagar of Shams chowk and continued right up
to Samtanagar, near the place where Ganpati is
submerged in water. Police arrested 64 persons
from both the communities.
Nanded is another communally sensitive town in
Marathwada region of Maharashtra. It witnessed
communal violence on 29th September when student
organisation Chava took out procession against
reservation on religious grounds and passed
through a Muslim locality and began stoning a
mosque and damaged stalls selling iftar (breaking
fast) eatables as it was month of Ramadan. These
students having support of Shalinitai, a Maratha
leader, were carrying lathis and other sharp
weapons. They were shouting slogans against
Muslims and attacked Abidin mosque near Bank of
Hyderabad and damaged stalls selling fruits for
Iftar. The vehicle belonging to Chava was full of
stones. They were also carrying and waving
swords. The police remained silent spectator and
did not take any action against students. This
procession was taken out when article 144 was in
force. But police Dy.S.P. Abdurrazzaq claimed it
lathicharged the processionists and arrested 30
of the Chava Organisation.
Mangalore in South Karnataka is highly sensitive
area and BJP has its stronghold here. Since the
BJP became part of ruling coalition in Karnataka,
the communal situation has deteriorated there.
The police is playing partisan role and Sangh
Parivar members have become quite bold. Mangalore
area has history of communal violence. In 1998
Surathkal riots 8 persons were killed and Muslim
properties were widely damaged. This time around
2 persons were killed in Mangalore area between
October 4 and 7 but also in between hundreds of
minor skirmishes took place between Hindus and
Muslims.
The communal polarisation has been created by BJP
since 1992 when Babri Masjid was demolished and
JP has reaped benefits in elections by winning 11
seats in Assembly elections of 2004 from the
region. According to T.A. Jhonson of Indian
Express “several flashpoints for communal
violence have emerged from the issue of
transportation of cows in violation of a state
law to eve teasing to inter-religious
relationships.” Also, the minorities complain of
administration’s bias since the BJP became
partner in coalition. Ironically the Mangalore
district is under the charge of a BJP minister.
The rightwing Hindu youth feel that they can get
away with anything. Those in 15-25 year age group
are cause of frequent violence against Muslims
and over-react on issues like cow transportation
as they feel no action will be taken against them.
However, Hamid Khan, member of the Muslim Central
Committee said that police acted swiftly after
outbreak of violence on October 4 and imposed
curfew effectively, otherwise situation would
have got out of control. The BJP minister
Nagaraj Shetty also gave assurance that action
will be taken against the guilty “without
politics”. The Janata Dal (Secular) which allied
with BJP blamed Bajrang Dal and SIMI for
violence.
On the occasion of Diwali on 22nd October
communal violence erupted in three districts of
U.P. Muzaffarnagar, Blandshahar and
Ambedkarnagar. In Khalapar region of
Muzaffarnagar a firecracker was ignited and
dispute started with this between some Hindus and
Muslims and violence erupted in which one person
was killed and more than three were injured.
There was firing from rooftops, which continued
for half an hour resulting death of one person.
Mulayamsingh declared compensation of Rs.5 lakhs
for family of Pankaj killed in the clashes.
Another person, a student of 11th class was
murdered in Ambedkarnagar and communal
disturbances started in which several people were
injured including some police officers. Here many
shops and houses were also damaged.
From what has been narrated above it can be seen
that several small riots take place on small
matters like playing cricket or lighting a
cracker or someone being knocked down by a
scooterist and so on. Why does it assume communal
colour? The obvious reason is that communal
forces indulge in communal propaganda and poison
the minds of people and this continues throughout
the year without any respite. This helps create
communal mindset and even personal disputes
between Hindus and Muslims then acquire communal
colour and becomes cause of communal violence.
Communal propaganda going on unceasingly becomes
greatest obstacle in smooth relationship between
two major communities of India. Unfortunately the
governments even in the Congress ruled states
does not contemplate any action against such
propaganda though there are laws prohibiting such
propaganda creating ill will between communities.
Not only this there is pronounced bias in text
books taught in government as well as private
schools from primary to secondary levels. These
text-books also help create polarisation in our
country. Education has thus become part of the
problem instead of part of the solution.
One more thing which we observe from description
of riots above that these incidents sparking
communal violence do not assume major proportions
only because political parties do not perceive
any political benefit in spreading communal
violence and police curbs violence by taking
effective action. However, if politicians
perceive any direct benefit they immediately
exploit the incidents to create major communal
flare up. Thus it is mainly politicians who are
responsible for major communal flare up. The
violence will be contained if politicians do not
want and it will assume major proportions, if
they desire communal violence for electoral
politics like in Mumbai in 1992 and Gujarat in
2002.
It is only proper awareness among people and
active role of civil society actors which can
help contain major mishaps. We need aware and
vibrant civil society to contain outbreak of
major communal violence. When civil society gets
polarised on communal lines as in Gujarat, it
becomes very difficult for civil society to
intervene.
_____
[3]
Economic and Political Weekly
December 16, 2006
INSIDE GUJARAT'S RELIEF COLONIES
SURVIVING STATE HOSTILITY AND DENIAL
by Harsh Mander
Many of those who survived but were displaced by
the widespread communal violence in Gujarat in
2002 have been forced to remake their lives in
"relief colonies" that are without most basic
public services. Surveys of these colonies and
their inhabitants, five years after the violence,
reveal not merely the miserable conditions in
most of them, but also the denial of all support
by the state that thus perpetuates the insidious
ghettoisation of a community.
FULL TEXT AT:
http://www.epw.org.in/showArticles.php?root=2006&leaf=12&filename=10892&filetype=pdf
_____
[4]
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha
Bhopal Group for Information and Action
Bhopal ki Aawaaz
January 3, 2007
PRESS STATEMENT
Addressing a press conference today leaders of
four organizations of survivors of the December
1984 Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal strongly
condemned Chairman Tata Group Ratan Tata's offer
to clear the path for Dow-Union Carbide's
investments in India by leading an effort to pay
for and clean up Union Carbide's toxic waste in
Bhopal.
Displaying a poster of Ratan Tata with a garland
of shoes around his neck they called the
industrialist an anti-national element who was
causing damage to the people and environment by
facilitating the expansion of American
multinational Dow Chemical in this country. The
leaders appealed to Bhopal survivors to boycott
Tata's salt as a mark of protest, and have
launched a national boycott campaign.
The leaders emphasized that Dow Chemical took
over the environmental liabilities of Bhopal when
it became the 100 % owner of Union Carbide in
2001. They said that according to the "polluter
pays principle" which is valid both in USA and
India Dow/Union Carbide must pay for the clean up
in Bhopal.
According to the leaders, the Tata family had
helped the East India Company in smuggling opium
to China, had functioned as the commissariat for
the invasion of Ethiopia by the British army and
had named its textile factory in Nagpur "Empress
Mills" in honour of Queen Victoria. The Bhopal
leaders see Ratan Tata following the footsteps of
his ancestors in the Tata family and serving
imperialist interests in his role as the
Co-Chairman of the US India CEO Forum.
The survivors' leaders stated that the head of
the Tata family, JRD Tata had condemned the
arrest of Warren Anderson, Chairman of Union
Carbide in 1984 and demanded that Ratan Tata
apologize to the people of Bhopal for this
treachery by the Tata family.
Pointing out the links between Tata and Union
Carbide, the leaders stated that Keshub Mahindra
who is accused as Chairman of the Indian
subsidiary of Union Carbide was also the Director
of several Tata companies in 1984. David Good,
former Director of the South Asian Bureau in the
State Department of the US government and the
official who denied Anderson's extradition to
India is now Head of the Tata Corporate office in
USA.
The leaders described the environmental
destruction wrought by Tatas in different parts
of the country. They pointed out that the
Comptroller and Auditor General of India had
singled out Tata's Chromite mines in Sukhinda,
Orissa for causing widespread pollution and
health damage. Similarly the Supreme Court
appointed Monitoring Committee on Hazardous
Wastes has passed strong comments against waste
disposal by Rallis - a Tata company in Patancheru
near Hyderabad.
In Mithapur Gujarat, Tata's factories have
contaminated ground water and destroyed
agriculture in villages such as Arambada,
Bheemrana, Lalapur, Surajkaradi and Padli. In
Jamshedpur, where Tata's run a steel plant,
thousands of tonnes of boiler ash containing
lethal heavy metals are dumped in the middle of
the city at Jugsalai. Tata's collieries at West
Bokaro in Jharkhand are responsible for the
irreparable damage caused to the Bokaro river.
In the Gulf of Kutch, Tata Chemicals is currently
facing two cases in the Supreme Court of India
for open drainage and pipe line through a reserve
forest and a sanctuary. The leaders asked Ratan
Tata to first clean his own backyard before
attempting to clean up Bhopal.
Rashida Bi, Champa Devi Shukla
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Stationery Karmachari Sangh
93031 32959
Syed M Irfan,
Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Purush Sangharsh Morcha
93290 26319
Shahid Noor
Bhopal ki Aawaaz
98261 82226
Rachna Dhingra, Satinath Sarangi,
Bhopal Group for Information and Action
98261 67369
Contact : House No. 60, Near Cold Storage, Union Carbide Road, Chhola, Bhopal
Please visit
<http://www.bhopal.net/>www.bhopal.net for more
information on the campaign for justice in Bhopal
______
[5]
Please note that the is pasted further below.
NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN
62-Gandhi Marg, Badwani, Madhya Pradesh-451551
Phone: 07290-222464, E-mail: nba.medha at gmail.com/abarada at rediffmail.com
3rd January 2007
Jantar Mantar dharna site
New Delhi
Press Release
ï NBA dharna in Delhi continues
ï NBA delegation meets Smt. Veena Chhotray,
Chairperson, Resettlement and Rehabilitation
(R&R) Sub-group, Narmada Control Authority
ï Fraudulent affidavits submitted to
Supreme Court by M.P. and Maharashtra stands
exposed
ï ìVisthapan Parishadî held at the Dharna site today
The Narmada Bachao Andolan dharna in New Delhi
today entered the 2nd day with hundreds of
representatives of the affected adivasis and
farmers in the Narmada Valley, who arrived here,
resolving that they will not return till their
demands, are met. The dharna, which began
yesterday at the gate of Shastri Bhavan,
continues at Jantar Mantar, after the agitating
affected people were forcibly lifted and put into
vans and brought to Jantar Mantar late last
night. This police action is reprehensible not
just because of the use of force on peaceful
agitators, but also since it took place while the
NBA delegation was in Shastri Bhavan, holding
discussions with Smt. Veena Chhoutray,
Chairperson R&R Sub-group.
NBA has, in its talks yesterday with the Dr.
Meira Kumar, Union Minister for Social Justice
and Empowerment and Smt. Veena Chhoutray,
expressed deep anguish at the fact that
construction up to 122m had been completed even
after the Shunglu Committee Report had clearly
found that R&R was not yet completed. Also,
despite the directions of Prime Minister that R&R
work must be accelerated, during the period when
there would be stoppage of work at 119m, and
completed before work on construction of the dam
was resumed. NBA then pressed for the undertaking
of R&R work on war footing without any further
increase in dam height. Towards realizing R&R of
affected people, NBA placed a list of demands
that is enclosed with the press release. The
sacrificing of the rights of the affected
populations at the altar of Sardar Sarovar is the
violation of the rehabilitation framework laid
down by the Narmada Water Disputes Tribunal Award
and the several judgments of the Supreme Court.
IT MAY BE RECALLED THAT IN THE ONGOING CASE IN
THE SUPREME COURT, THE GOVERNMENTS OF MADHYA
PRADESH AND MAHARASHTRA HAD FILED AFFIDAVITS
STATING THAT THE R&R OF ALL PAFS UP TO 122M HAD
BEEN COMPLETED. OWING TO THE NBAíS AGITATION IN
MARCH/APRIL 2006 IN NEW DELHI, THE PRIME MINISTER
DIRECTED THE FORMATION OF THE SHUNGLU COMMITTEE
TO VERIFY THE R&R CLAIMS IN MADHYA PRADESH. THE
FINDINGS OF THE SHUNGLU COMMITTEE, NOT ONLY
VALIDATE THE CLAIMS MADE BY NBA, BUT EXPOSE THE
LIES IN THE AFFIDAVITS OF THE GOVERNMENTS. THE
REPORT ALSO BRINGS OUT THAT 25,000 FAMILIES
(19000 DECLARED PAFS, OTHERS ëCLAIMANTSí)
CONTINUE TO RESIDE IN THE SUBMERGENCE AREA OF M.P
ALONE WHO WOULD HAVE TO BE RESETTLED AND
REHABILITATED, LISTS OF MAJOR SONS WERE YET TO BE
COMPLETED, LAND YET TO BE PURCHASED BY THOSE WHO
HAVE ACCEPTED SPECIAL REHABILITATION PACKAGE
(SRP), TENS OF R&R SITES WERE YET TO BE EITHER
ESTABLISHED OR DEVELOPED WITH AMENITIES AND THE
GOVERNMENT OF MADHYA PRADESH DOES NOT HAVE
CULTIVABLE LAND FOR REHABILITATION. THE REPORT OF
YASHADA, PUNE, THE OFFICIAL MONITORING AND
EVALUATION AGENCY APPOINTED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF
MAHARASHTRA, HAS FOUND THAT 874 PROJECT AFFECTED
FAMILIES ARE YET TO BE REHABILITATED. WHAT THIS
GOES TO PROVE IS THAT THE AFFIDAVITS THAT HAVE
BEEN PLACED BEFORE THE SUPREME COURT BY THE
GOVERNMENTS OF MAHARASHTRA AND MADHYA PRADESH ARE
FRAUDULENT.
One of NBAís demands is that there should be an
investigation into the massive corruption in the
disbursement of cash compensation in the name of
Special Rehabilitation Package (SRP) in M.P. The
figures presented by M.P., of the PAFs
rehabilitated in Madhya Pradesh or of those who
are shown to have supposedly purchased land, are
fabricated. There is massive corruption of crores
or rupees by the officials (almost all land
acquisition officers and resettlement officers)
and the middlemen (especially few local
advocates), which has led to false registries and
land purchases that have not actually occurred.
In the past month or so, several government
officials have been found guilty of corruption
practices in relation to SRP. An investigation by
a Central Agency would reveal the obscene levels
of corruption pervading this entire process.
Today, ìVisthapan Parishadî (a public meeting of
the displaced) was called to discuss the various
issues related to displacement. Speakers,
relating to experiences across India, strongly
stated that displacement, without ërehabilitation
with replacement of livelihoodí, just mere
uprooting of communities, has become the most
serious national issue. On the one hand, the
traditional displacement caused by dams,
highways, mines, industries, etc. still displace
lakhs, on a yearly basis. Now the new ìland
reformî movement of the government, namely SEZ,
will further displacement like never before. Only
humane considerations and a humanist value
framework, which is enshrined in our
constitution, can enable anyone and the State to
take cognizance of the pain and anguish, the
intensifying peopleís struggles, the issues of
justice raised, rights to life and livelihood,
asserted. The speakers included Ravindra Sahu
speaking on Orissa, Shantaji (Sanjha Manch),
Sandeep speaking on Singur, Rakesh Rafique,
Lalbabu, Vimalbhai (Uttarkhand), Bijulal, Denzil,
Kamala Yadav and Himanshu Upadhyay.
The dharna at Jantar Mantar will continue and
that is the resolve of the people from the
Narmada Valley. The NWDTA and Supreme Court
judgments have to be implemented and the R&R of
people must precede any further dam construction.
Like Bhaijikaka, an adivasi from Gujarat affected
by the dam, always says, ìhamara hak aage hain,
Sardar Sarovar peeche hainî (The rights of the
affected comes first, projects can wait).
Ashish Mandloi,Kamala Yadav,Yogini Khanolkar,Noorji Padvi,Medha Patkar
NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN
62-Gandhi Marg, Badwani, Madhya Pradesh-451551
Phone: 07290-222464, E-mail: nba.medha at gmail.com/abarada at rediffmail.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Press Release
2nd January 2007
ï NBA dharna outside Shastri Bhavan (Delhi)
ï NBA delegation meets Dr. Meira Kumar,
Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment
ï Increasing the height of the Sardar
Sarovar Dam from 119m up to 121.92m is complete
ï Directions of the Prime Minister that
further construction be undertaken after
completion of balance R&R, thrown to the dustbin
Today (2/1/07), the NBA began dharna outside the
Shastri Bhavan, which houses the Ministry of
Social Justice and Empowerment and met with the
Dr. Meira Kumar, Union Minister for Social
Justice and Empowerment. The NBA delegation was
accompanied by Swamy Agnivesh and Shri Praful
Bidwai. In a long meeting with the Minister, the
NBA delegation updated the Minister on the
developments with regard to the dam and
rehabilitation of project affected persons. The
Minister promised to look into issues raised by
NBA and get in touch later. The Minister,
however, stated that since she has visited the
Valley as part of the Three Member Ministerial
Committee constituted by the Prime Minister last
year, she was aware of the problems in the
resettlement process. NBA resolved that the
dharna would continue until the demands were met.
NBA informed the Minister that the Sardar Sarovar
dam was raised from 119 mts to 122 mts, the
height that was approved in March 2006, but was,
after a long struggle, investigations and
continuing legal action, stayed. While the
submergence caused by the 119 mts dam itself
drowned and devastated adivasi families in the
mountainous communities of Jhabua and Badwani
(Madhya Pradesh), and Nandurbar (Maharashtra),
there are altogether about 35,000 families, i.e.
1.5 lakh and more people living, even today, in
the affected area of 122 mts.
It is the 21 year long struggle and its
continuation that has resulted in about 11,000
families getting land based rehabilitation,
notwithstanding the numerous problems still being
faced by them. Despite this, more than two lakh
people continue to reside in the submergence area
of full dam height which is 138.68 mts, with the
gates planned to be erected above the wall of 122
mts. Rehabilitation of all these as per law and
court judgments is not in sight since the state
governments have raised a cry of ìNo cultivable
land availableî. In lieu of land, Madhya Pradesh
government is trying to pay cash through corrupt
officials-middlemen-politicians nexus illegally.
This nexus has grabbed crores of rupees from the
public money in the exchequer, permitted by NO
MONITORING by the Centre.
Prime Minsterís promise to the apex court never
kept intact, instead, the process of promises and
violation, fraudulent and false affidavits has
been on. The weak report by the Shunglu Committee
(Oversight Group) brought out the fact that
thousands of families are far from rehabilitated.
The Committee, however, expects all this to
change by the end of this financial year i.e.
March 2007! The Prime Minister had assured the
Court in July that the dam construction would not
be taken beyond 119m without a review in October,
and importantly, until R&R was completed.
The Narmada Control Authority (NCA) and its R&R
Sub-group, both held meetings and directed the
State government to complete works at R&R sites
to ensure that the affected get land as per
eligibility, that all grievances are redressed
and thousands of families shifted to the R&R
sites, upgradation of the 49 average/poor R&R
sites, etc. These are yet to be done. Yet again,
even the Shunglu Committee has failed to ensure
that R&R sites are established for the adivasi
villages in Jhabua, where as of today, there are
no R&R sites. Thousands of families thus do not
have any place to shift.
In Maharashtra, the situation remains unchanged
for those hundreds of affected families facing
submergence year after year but awaiting to be
ìdeclaredî as affected persons and those who are
declared but not yet rehabilitated. The problems
of those affected families who still remain in
their original villages in Gujarat, falls on deaf
ears. The thousands of complaints received by the
Grievances Redressal Authorities of these two
states, points to the problems faced by even
those who have shifted to the R&R sites.
Despite all this, the dam was taken up to 122m!
This is murderous. This is an utter violation of
legal and human rights guaranteed by the law of
the land and against the ethos of our
constitution. Are the Courts watching?
And on the top of it all, these sacrifices of
huge displacement and burial of thousands of
years old culture and cultural habitation went in
vain. The speculated benefits from the very dam
in terms of generating electricity, distribution
of drinking water and irrigating of drought prone
area still remain a distinct utopian dream.
ï Drinking water could have been supplied
to all the 8200+ villages even at dam height 110m
itself, but has not materialised. Only about
1/4th of these received some water and of these,
10% have received water with some regularity.
ï Irrigation potential at 110m was claimed
to be an area of 5.5 lakh hectares but only
58,000 hectares was covered. Instead of taking
action to cover up the rest of the target area
first, what is happening right now is raising of
the height of the dam from 110m to 122m by
putting up the same target potential. Needless to
add that the work on the canal network is lagging
behind.
ï Power to be generated at 122m is only
about 50% of what the official statements claim.
The main power-house will stop producing power
once irrigation potential in Gujarat and from
Indira Sagar in Madhya Pradesh are realized
within few years.
The people will have to challenge this state of
affairs and this State! The dharna at Delhi will
continue till all demands are met.
Ashish Mandloi Kamala Yadav Noorji Padvi Medha Patkar
______
[6]
The Telegraph
January 04, 2007
A NECESSARY ALIENATION
- How the Congress fudged the language question
by Mukul Kesavan
One way of understanding the enduring importance
of English in India is by viewing it in the wider
context of post-colonial nations. The world is
full of relatively new countries (like ours)
governed by English- and French- and
Spanish-speaking elites. In these countries, as
in India, the colonial state's language became
the language of law, power, science, modernity
and aspiration. The native inheritors of colonial
states who possessed these languages enjoyed
being a powerful elect and feeling cosmopolitan.
That their cosmopolitanism was derivative, not
home-grown, bothered a few amongst them but, as a
ruling class, being anglophone or francophone was
a matter of self-congratulation not concern.
But to explain the role of English in independent
India solely in these terms is to misunderstand
the republic and underestimate the significance
of English. The history of English in republican
India has to be read alongside the history of
Indian nationalism. Unlike every other
post-colonial nation, Indian nationalists spent a
lot of time side-stepping the temptations of a
single identity. Religion and language and a
homeland defined by one or the other or both were
the precedents available from Europe's
nationalist histories and non-European
nationalisms derived from these, like Ataturk's
Turkey. India's diversity led the Congress to
invent a pluralist patriotism that was made up,
in equal parts, of anti-colonialism and sleight
of hand.
The sleight of hand consisted of finding ways to
continuously defer the question of national
identity because in a country as various as India
any definition of India's nature was likely to
cause trouble. Anti-colonialism, deeply felt and
wholly justifiable though it was, was itself a
way of deferring the conflicts internal to Indian
society (based on caste, class, faith and
language) because it asked the Raj's subjects to
sink their differences to present a united front
against colonial rule.
But the history of nationalism was so bound up
with the idea of self-determination that the
pressure to define the Indian self in question
was constant, and the Congress wasn't immune to
it. The novelty and originality of the Congress's
pluralist take on Indian nationalism are more
apparent now than they were then, because like
most political movements, the Congress didn't
take time off to theorize the content of its
nationalism: it improvised it on the run, in
response to its enemy, its constituencies, its
strengths and vulnerabilities. And like the
Bolsheviks who constantly invoked Marx, that
prophet of the industrial proletariat, even as
they brewed revolution in a peasant economy, the
Congress invented a pluralist practice even as it
struggled with the rhetoric and vocabulary of
Europe's hegemonic nationalisms.
You can see this in the iconic status that
patriots like Garibaldi and Mazzini had for
Indian nationalists, the influence of Young
Italy, the way in which enthusiastic nationalists
were described as Young Turks. But most
strikingly, you can see the influence of this
homogenizing nationalism in the insistent idea
that respectable nations came wrapped in a single
'national' language.
The idea that a nation not disciplined by one
language was a disordered Babel was so powerful
that even the Congress, normally so keen to duck
questions of culture, was forced to confront it.
This was partly because the question of language
had become confounded in India with the idea of
religious community. Till the summer of 1947, the
Congress's official position was that the
national language of independent India would be
Hindustani written in two scripts, Farsi and
Devanagari. Gandhi, along with many other
Congressmen, would have preferred Hindi written
in Devanagari, but the potential of the
Hindi-Urdu controversy to create communal trouble
led them to accept this compromise position.
The odd thing about the Congress sponsorship of
Hindustani as India's national language was that
this pluralist compromise was squarely aimed at a
republic dominated by north Indian quarrels.
Because Hindi and Urdu together formed the
largest language group in the country, the
Congress, otherwise so scrupulous about cultural
majoritarianism, had decided that Hindustani
would be India's national language.
The closest the Indian republic came to Hindu
chauvinism in the matter of culture was when, in
response to Partition, the Congress did an
about-face on the language question and decided,
as early as late 1947, that the national language
would be Hindi written in the Nagari script. The
implication was that now that the majority of
India's Muslims had constituted themselves in a
separate Muslim state, Hindustani was an
unnecessary form of political correctness.
The Indian state, while recognizing all India's
major languages as national languages, made Hindi
pre-eminent as the pan-Indian language of the
nation. But this lurch towards the idea that
nations were ordered by a unifying national
language was reined in by the creation of
linguistic provinces, the de facto acquiescence
in the rejection of Hindi as an official language
by non-Hindi states and, most crucially, in the
indefinite retention of English as India's
official link language alongside Hindi. Just as
the national movement was willing to use the
menace of the colonial state to postpone the
settling of scores within Indian society by
holding out independence as a panacea to
everything, the moment it won that independence,
the young republic began using aspects of that
state's foreignness to umpire the quarrels
produced by India's diversity.
The Congress, as was its habit, fudged the
language question. It succumbed to the Hindi
lobby by nominating Hindi as the national
language, and then defanged the resentment that
the hegemony of Hindi might have caused by
refusing to follow through on the logic of a
pan-Indian 'national' language. Paradoxically,
English, the language of colonial exploitation,
became the republic's guarantee against
linguistic strife. As happened so often with the
pluralist nationalism improvised by the Congress,
this stratagem didn't 'solve' the question of
language - it postponed it. The retention of
English as the language of pan-Indian government
bought the republic time. It blunted the sharp
edge of linguistic assertion and it allowed this
pluralist state in its infancy to shirk the
responsibility of forcing some definitively
Indian language down unwilling Indian throats. By
helping the young republic duck the dangers of
defining an authentically national self, English
enabled the development of a benign pluralism.
______
[7]
Deccan Herald
January 3, 2007
CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS
RELIGION, QUOTA AND LAW
by Pran Chopra
Encouraging Muslims to get education and apply
for jobs in large numbers can increase their
presence.
An interesting change has been taking place
lately in the views of Muslims regarding the
question whether a quota in government jobs
should be "reserved" for those Muslims, who face
the same traditional deprivations as are faced by
Scheduled Castes or Backward Classes, for whom
there have been reservations for decades.
The changes represent a departure by many Muslims
from the position taken by them earlier, that
there are no discriminations among Muslims on the
basis of class or caste and therefore they do not
want such reservations, or want them only as
Muslims, not as persons belonging to a particular
caste or class.
The changes became more noticeable after some
loosely worded comments were made in public by a
few Union ministers, who were perhaps misled by
some words in the Constitution which had been
clarified in a 1966 judgment by the Supreme
Court, in Venkatraman v/s the State of Madras.
The Muslim public mind might have misread the
position when a Cabinet minister said that the
Constitution, as it stood, allowed job
reservations for Muslims, or misread more when
the Sachar Committee report added that the
condition of many Muslims was no better than that
of the Scheduled Castes, or still more when the
Prime Minister spelt out his priorities for
improving the lot of the Muslims. Of course the
Constitution was there for all to see. But it is
doubtful whether it was seen by everyone in the
context of the Supreme Court judgment in the
Venkatraman case.
Clause 16(1) of the Fundamental Rights says:
"There shall be equality of opportunity for all
citizens in matters relating to employment or
appointment to any office under the State". But
clause 16(4) adds "Nothing in this article shall
prevent the State from making any provision for
the reservation of appointments or posts in
favour of any backward class of citizens which,
in the opinion of the State, is not adequately
represented in the services under the State".
Since the Sachar report has said that the
condition of Muslim employment is worse than that
of Scheduled Castes who, as can be argued, have
been given reservations to improve their
"representation" in "the services of the State",
a hurried reading of clause 16(4) can lead the
unwary to conclude that the Constitution, as it
is, can provide for "reservations" for Muslims
too.
But such a reading would miss the difference
between the Muslims as a "community" on the one
hand and on the other hand the Scheduled Castes
as a "backward class", which is the crux of the
judgment in the Venkatraman case. As explained by
Seervai, widely recognised as the most
authoritative commentator on court decisions,
"clause 16(4) only permits reservation for
Backward Classes and not for any person, who does
not belong to it".
As though to underline the difference between
"reservation of posts on communal lines" and
reservation for Backward Classes, Seervai says
"distribution of offices among communities
according to fixed quotas or ratios infringes
clause 16(1)".
Such wording in the Constitution might suggest
that the difference between clauses 16(1) and
16(4) is only in sociological terms and not in
legal or judicial terms. But that is not so. The
difference sums up the difference between the
basic logic, which underlies the decision by the
Constituent Assembly to provide reservations for
Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, and none
for religious communities.
These facts lent force on two counts to the
demand for reservations. It supported the
backward classes' argument that having been
suppressed for centuries they had lost their
capacity to compete with others on an equal
footing, and to recover it they needed a position
of advantage for some time. Second, the force of
this argument (plus the force of their votes)
inclined the higher caste Hindus to agree.
There is no such history of suppression of
Muslims by Hindus (rather the reverse), which
would justify job reservation. On the other hand
current history shows that Muslim presence on the
campus and in the job market was depressed by
nothing so much as by the departure of the better
educated and more resourceful Muslim elite for
Pakistan in and after 1947. That also explains
the low ratio of those who fully qualify for the
job among those who apply.
Present times have also added a note of warning
in the form of what has been happening to
inter-caste relations within the Hindu society as
a result of the clash between the demand for
reservations by the lower castes and resentment
against it by the higher. Echoes of this warning
are to be heard in the advice of one of the most
thoughtful Muslims in this debate over the
advantages and dangers of reservations. Writing
in the latest issue of Muslim India, a leading
Muslim academic, Prof Imtiaz Ahmad, says "Given
its highly contentious nature, en bloc
reservation for Muslims as a community, on which
the elite Muslims have been insisting for so
long, is likely to generate conflict not only
between Muslims and others but also within the
Muslim community".
What needs to be ensured is that Muslims figure
much more on the campus and in the job market
than they do. Unfortunately even the Minorities
Commission has ignored the means of doing it.
Distribution among communities as per fixed quota infringes the Constitution.
_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/
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