SACW | Feb 5-7, 2007

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire  | February 5-7, 2007 | Dispatch No. 2358 - Year 8

[1]  Bangladesh: Army-backed Arrests Worry Rights Groups (Farid Ahmed)
[2]  New Nepal Versus Old Order (J. Sri Raman)
[3]  India: Kashmir a blind spot for Indian human 
rights activists and the media? (Bharat Bhushan)
[4]  India - Gujarat : Lengthening Shadows of Swastika (Ram Puniyani)
[5]  Book Review : Ferreting Out the Bible of 
Hindu Fascism [Hindutwa] (I.K.Shukla)
[6]  Call for Entries :  Film South Asia 2007

____


[1]


Inter Press Service
5 February 2007

BANGLADESH: ARMY-BACKED ARRESTS WORRY RIGHTS GROUPS

by Farid Ahmed

DHAKA, Feb 5 (IPS) - The detention of over a 
dozen high-profile politicians by the 
military-backed interim government in Bangladesh, 
on Sunday, has raised a storm of protests by 
rights groups and the country's two main 
political parties.

Those taken into custody include former ministers 
and legislators from the Awami League party of 
former prime minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed and 
from the rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) 
of Begum Khaleda Zia, who stepped down as prime 
minister in October on completion of a five-year 
term in office.

Among influential ex-legislators picked up in the 
pre-dawn swoop was media tycoon Musaddek Ali 
Falu, political secretary to Khaleda Zia. Falu 
runs the TV channels NTV and RTV and is the owner 
of the 'Amar Desh' (Our Country), a Bengali 
language daily.

After more than two months of political turmoil 
and street violence by the supporters of the two 
parties, President Iajuddin Ahmed declared a 
state of emergency on Jan. 11 and, on the 
following day, an interim government headed by 
Fakhruddin Ahmed took over the administration.

The new dispensation, which replaced a caretaker 
government that was to have overseen general 
elections slated for Jan. 22, immediately 
launched a massive drive across the country 
netting corrupt politicians and businessmen and 
reclaiming government lands occupied by 
influential people.

"We haven't seen the police or army detain any 
top politician or a minister after the fall of 
the military dictator H.M. Ershad in 1990," 
Shahnaj Hossain, a teacher, told IPS in Dhaka.

Over the last three weeks, the security forces 
comprising the army, the paramilitary Bangladesh 
Rifles and the elite Rapid Action Battalion have 
joined police in detaining over 5,000 people.

''Sunday's raids were the biggest raids in three 
weeks when we've detained over a dozen of former 
ministers and lawmakers," a senior government 
official told IPS.

But the detentions have been controversial since 
the politicians were picked up from their homes 
without any warrant of arrest. An eminent lawyer 
Kamal Hossain said politicians should not be made 
the target for ''indiscriminate arrests''.

''There is no doubt that cleansing in politics is 
necessary and politicians, perceived to be 
corrupt, need to be taken care of," Nurul Kabir, 
editor of the 'New Age', a leading English 
language daily published from Dhaka, told IPS.

''What is missing in the detentions is a 
transparent process and specific charges 
formulated within the framework of law -- if 
corrupt politicians eventually go unpunished due 
to lack of adequate legal proof, the whole 
purpose of streamlining politics and economy 
would be defeated,'' Kabir said.

Others reported detained were Nazmul Huda, a 
former communications minister, Salauddin Qader 
Chowdhury, parliamentary affairs advisor to 
Khaleda Zia, Amanullah Aman, a former state 
minister for labour and manpower, Mir Nasir Uddin 
Ahmed, a former state minister for civil aviation 
and tourism, Iqbal Hasan Mahmood, a former state 
minister for power, Ruhul Kuddus Talukder Dulu, a 
former deputy minister for land, and former 
lawmakers Naser Rahman, Manjurul Ahsan Munshi and 
Abdul Wadud Bhuiyan of the BNP.

Naser is also the eldest son of former finance 
minister and senior BNP leader Saifur Rahman.

Among leaders of the Awami League detained were 
Mohammad Nasim, a former home minister, Mohiuddin 
Khan Alamgir, a former state minister for 
planning, Salman F Rahman, a leading businessman 
and also advisor to Sheikh Hasina, and Pankaj 
Devnath.

"Members of the joint forces stormed into our 
house at about 1:00am and asked my husband to go 
with them," Laila Akhter Bithi, wife of Nasim, 
told the local press. ''They failed to produce 
any warrant for arrest when we asked them why he 
was being taken away."

The teams also raided the homes of a number of 
middle-rung leaders of both the Awami League and 
the BNP but failed to arrest them. Most of them 
have been staying away from their homes since the 
joint forces began the drive, their families 
claimed.

The two political parties, bitter rivals for many 
years, demanded that the government produce the 
detained political leaders in court. ''Produce 
the political leaders, who were arrested by the 
joint forces across the country, in the court," 
the BNP secretary general Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan 
said in a statement on Sunday. "All concerned 
should make sure that nobody is deprived of the 
right to get justice."

''We have no objection if real criminals and 
corrupt persons, who have plundered public money, 
are arrested. But we call on the joint forces not 
to harass innocent leaders of the party only 
because of their political identity," acting 
general secretary of the Awami League Obaidul 
Kader said.

Noted writer and scientist Muhammad Zafar Iqbal 
said corrupt leaders of all political parties 
should be brought to book and not just of the 
Awami League or the BNP.

"Jamaat leaders are also corrupt, but none of 
them has been arrested,'' Iqbal said. The 
fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh shared 
power with the BNP in the last elected government.

A functionary of the Communist Party of 
Bangladesh, Ruhin Hossain, told IPS: "The actions 
of the security forces must be transparentà we've 
heard of the arrest of many people, but 
government is yet to come up with the details or 
whereabouts of those people."

"Many of the arrested people have not been 
produced in a court of law and their families 
even did not get any chance to meet them," he 
said.

The leading rights group Odhikar (Rights) 
expressed its concern over the widespread arrests 
and in its monthly report claimed that 32 people 
died in custody in January. The report also 
claimed that six people were killed in custody 
until the promulgation of emergency and at least 
24 people were killed from Jan. 12 to 31.

Citing Odhikar and other local groups, the New 
York-based Human Rights Watch has accused 
Bangladeshi security forces of carrying out 
unlawful executions, besides the arbitrary 
arrests.

Trouble began with the Awami League and its 
allies accusing the BNP and the Jamaat-e-Islami 
Bangladesh of appointing partisan or 
controversial people to top positions in the 
Election Commission and of stuffing the voter 
lists with 14 million fake names. To press their 
demands for changes in voter rolls and the 
reconstitution of the commission they launched a 
series of shutdowns and street demonstrations 
which quickly turned bloody.

On Sunday night the President appointed former 
bureaucrat A.T.M. Shamsul Huda as chief election 
commissioner, while the interim government 
pledged to reform the election commission before 
the rescheduling of general elections. (END/2007)


______


[2]

truthout.org
6 January 2007

NEW NEPAL VERSUS OLD ORDER

by J. Sri Raman

     No ruling class or elite parts with power 
peacefully. Nepal is offering the latest 
illustration of a lesson that students of history 
learn from the story of every revolution.

     Just over a fortnight ago, the sun of 
democracy seemed to have dawned at last on the 
snow-bound Himalayan state of Nepal. The days of 
bloody civil strife appeared to be over, with an 
interim parliament approving an interim 
constitution on January 15 and the "arms 
management" agreement assuring the people of a 
ceasefire between the Nepal Army and the Maoists. 
The nation had only to wait for the next date in 
the calendar of the peace process - sometime in 
June, when a constituent assembly is to be 
elected in order to frame a fresh constitution.

     The easy optimism has evaporated faster than 
snow in the mild Himalayan summer. The streets of 
Kathamandu, Nepal's capital, may have witnessed 
only peaceful demonstrations for quite some time, 
but significant violence has erupted far away, in 
the fertile southern lowlands bordering India . 
The unrest in the Terai, as this region is 
called, has already taken a toll of at least 13 
human lives.

     The interim government, which the Maoists are 
to join this month, faces here a revolt of 
Madhesis (or Mahadesis), mostly an ethnic 
minority of Indian origin. The Madhesi Janadhikar 
(People's Rights) Forum, spearheading the revolt, 
claims that the community has been denied its due 
place in the post-monarchy dispensation and 
demands a new demarcation of constituencies.

     The forum, whose members include former 
Maoist insurgents loath to lay down arms, has 
made its presence and protests felt. The 
violence, fueled by blockades and police firings, 
shows no sign of ending. And it may encourage 
other ethnic rebellions.

     Some saw the protests coming, but not quite 
on this scale. Reporting on them, Rita Manchand 
recalls: "While the Jan Andolan (People's 
Movement) I (1990), the first democratic uprising 
that resulted in a constitutional framework, was 
essentially Kathmandu-centric, this time round 
there was a countrywide mobilization and 
convergence on Kathmandu, and the 'janajatis' 
(communities from the countryside) came in huge 
numbers."

     Result: "The dominant wall graffiti in 
Kathmandu is all about ethnic assertion, and 
particularly the Madhesia community's right to 
self-determination.... The Chepang community 
(52,000) wants 'self-determination with autonomy' 
in 29 village administrative units spread over 
four districts. The Tamangs are claiming some of 
these districts." On January 31, the experiment 
in Kathmandu received an additional blow in 
eastern Nepal, as yet another group, the Limbu 
community, called for a three-day strike in its 
areas to press for an autonomous Limbu state.

     In the immediate afterglow of the interim 
constitution's issuance, the advance toward peace 
and democracy appeared to have won acquiescence, 
if not acceptance, by all the major adversaries. 
Dethroned King Gyanandra and his loyal courtiers 
and generals refrained from striking a discordant 
note. No sign of sympathy and solidarity emanated 
from his clan and political constituency in 
India. And US Ambassador to Nepal James Francis 
Moriarty was on his best diplomatic behavior, 
with his embassy actually welcoming the interim 
constitution.

     The appearances began to appear deceptive 
with the growth of ethnic disturbances. Moriarty, 
of course, has not publicly endorsed the ethnic 
protests. However, he has kept up his anti-Maoist 
offensive. Despite the interim constitution, he 
has announced, the "terrorist tag" put on the 
Maoists won't be removed. He has also made clear 
that, after the Maoists' inclusion in an interim 
government, the US aid to Nepal won't be extended 
to ministries under Maoist control.

     The different policies toward the same 
government will be a tribute to his distinctively 
innovative diplomacy. But we have to wait for 
more evidence of Moriarty's assistance to his 
anti-Maoist allies in their current campaign.

     It is not only the Maoists, however, who see 
evidence of the part played by the pro-monarchy 
political camp in the continuing Madhesi 
protests. The Maoists have always claimed to 
sympathize with the aspirations of the Madhesis 
and other ethnic minorities. The interim 
government of Prime Minister Girija Prasad 
Koirala and the Maoists have together "conceded" 
the Madhesi demands and promised a more federal 
Nepal under the new constitution. Koirala has 
announced a team of three ministers, two of whom 
are of Indian origin, to talk to the protestors.

     The government, the Maoists, as well as 
several observers see the continuance of the 
agitation, despite the concessions, as proof of 
Gyanendra's hand in the background. As the 
government launched a crackdown in the Terai 
plains, the first to be detained were two former 
ministers of the deposed king - Kamal Thapa, who 
made himself hateful as the Home Minister 
ordering a repression of the anti-monarchy 
movement and Badri Prasad Mandal now facing 
investigation in a corruption scandal.

     The political parties to have voiced the 
loudest support for the agitation are also those 
to oppose a total abolition of the monarchy. One 
of these is the Rashtriya Prajatantra Party 
(Nepal), which has vowed to "actively work to 
build a prosperous and modernized state by 
maintaining the image of a monarchical Hindu 
Kingdom."

     No one who knows the religious-communal far 
right in India (which has just engineered a 
seriers of Hindu-Muslim riots at home) can rule 
out its link with the agitation, considering its 
expressed concern over the fall of the "Hindu 
kingdom" under Gyanandra. Maoist chief Prachanda 
was quick to see the hand of "Hindu extremists" 
behind the Terai unrest.

     As violent erupted in January, he said: "A 
few days ago, some Hindu followers had a 
gathering at Gorakhpur in India (bordering 
Nepal). Some elements who were involved in 
terrorizing Madhes also participated in the 
gathering, which has already been publicized in 
the media. These incidents happened after that."

     New Delhi too, has issued an official 
statement welcoming the proclamation of the 
interim constitution. Many common citizens in 
Nepal are apt to wonder whether the far right 
across the border would have been to free to 
function in this manner, without India's 
government winking at its activities,

     Well-wishers of the pro-democracy movement, 
like India's Left, hope that the proven 
determination of the Nepalese people will help 
them overcome all hurdles. It will be folly, 
however, to underestimate the forces arrayed 
against them.

     A freelance journalist and a peace activist 
of India, J. Sri Raman is the author of 
Flashpoint (Common Courage Press, USA). He is a 
regular contributor to t r u t h o u t.


______


[3]


The Telegraph
February 07, 2007

HUGE BLIND SPOT, ONLY FOR J&K
by Bharat Bhushan

Srinagar, Feb. 6: Has Kashmir become a blind spot 
for Indian human rights activists and the media?

Kashmiri civil society activists certainly 
believe so. The serial killings in Noida, near 
Delhi, they point out, occupied the nation's 
attention for days on end. But Indian civil 
society and media did not get agitated in the 
same way with the exhumation of bodies of 
innocents killed by the security forces in 
Kashmir.

"The Indian civil society seems to have written 
off Kashmir and Kashmiris. In the 1990s, human 
rights activists used to come here. But now 
hardly anyone comes," laments Pervez Imroz, a 
lawyer and head of J&K Coalition of Civil Society.

Khurram Pervez, a human rights activist, who lost 
a leg while on election observation duty in the 
last Assembly election, also feels the same way. 
"Indian civil society activists are very clear 
about opposing communalism. They showed their 
power of lobbying with the media during and after 
the Gujarat riots. But when it comes to Kashmir, 
they don't mobilise public opinion in the same 
way. They talk of minority issues (Kashmiri 
Pundits) but ignore custodial deaths and 
disappearances," he points out.

Imroz believes that several factors have 
contributed to this. "It could well be that 
India's many problems engage their attention. But 
I think everyone in India is under the influence 
of ultra-nationalism. The Indian media indulges 
in self-censorship and does not do anything to 
harm the army's image. What is surprising, 
however, is that they find time to make strong 
statements about Iraq but completely ignore 
developments in their own backyard in Kashmir," 
he points out.

He says about 10,000 Kashmiris have disappeared, 
about 70,000 killed in the conflict and there are 
about 2.5 lakh torture victims. "A large number 
of youngsters have been rendered impotent because 
of torture. Even after the introduction of 
several confidence-building measures between 
India and Pakistan, the ground situation has not 
changed. The security forces operate with the 
same impunity as earlier," Imroz claims.

"Indian commentators wax eloquent about 
everything on TV but when it comes to Kashmir 
they all talk of 'valiant Indian soldiers'. Why 
is that on Kashmir everyone follows the state's 
line of curbing militancy with its full might? 
Why do we have to be Indian first before human 
rights violations in Kashmir are addressed?" asks 
Khurram.

Imroz argues that while the government is 
expected to support the army, it is the civil 
society which can hold it accountable. "In the 
present situation, there is no Indian civil 
society engagement here, Kashmiri civil society 
has not come up and the international community 
has disengaged itself," he points out.

Imroz says that respecting human rights also 
concerns Kashmir's future. "We see it as an 
investment in the future of Kashmir. We want to 
build institutions to protect democracy and 
dissent to ensure that our future is not worse 
than our present," he says.

He claims that attempts to build alliances with 
human rights organisation in the rest of India 
have been relatively less successful than with 
the European civil society organisations.

Khurram points out that in the 1990s no one had 
invited Indian human rights activists to come to 
Kashmir but yet they came on their own. "But we 
still appeal to the Indian civil society 
organisations to come here and see for themselves 
what is happening here. At least they should take 
note of the crimes against humanity taking place 
here," he argues.

However, Imroz seems sceptical when he says: "I 
feel about Indian civil society what Leo Tolstoy 
said about the man who sat on another's back, 
choking him and forcing him to carry him - yet he 
assures himself and others that he feels sorry 
for him and wants to lessen his burden by all 
means except getting off his back. I don't want 
to name such people in Indian civil society but 
they are there."

______


[4]


http://www.sacw.net/DC/CommunalismCollection/ArticlesArchive/puniyanifeb2007.html

www.sacw.net
4 February 2007

GUJARAT : LENGTHENING SHADOWS OF SWASTIKA

by Ram Puniyani

Perzania, a film based on a true story in the 
backdrop of Gujarat violence, sensitively 
portraying the plight of a Parsi family, whose 
son goes missing during the carnage, was released 
all over the country barring Gujarat. Earlier to 
this, another film, Fanaa starring Amir Khan, who 
personally sympathized openly with the plight of 
those displaced due to the Narmada dam project, 
could also not be screened in Gujarat. What is 
the social and political scenario as we are just 
a month away from the fifth anniversary of Godhra 
train accident and the Gujarat carnage?

Gujarat carnage was very different from the 
communal violence which took place in Independent 
India so far. Here one could most clearly see the 
well planned violence unleashed on the pretext of 
Godhra train accident, duly supported by the 
state Government under the patronizing eye of the 
central government. While every possible rule of 
the law was violated by the authorities, the 
hapless victims were left to rot in the refugee 
camps with atrocious living conditions, totally 
ignored by the state government. The mirror of 
Gujarat's dominant social thinking was to come to 
light soon with the winning of elections by 
Narendra Modi, who had played central role in the 
violence. What has been happening in the social 
milieu of Gujarat is beyond belief as far as the 
democratic norms and the communal amity is 
concerned.

One has witnessed that the process of deliverance 
of justice, remains unexecuted. Many a people 
under different types of pressure could not lodge 
their complaints, many a times it was made as a 
condition for their return to their homes. Many 
an FIRs were not filed, the victims of the riots 
are gripped by the losses of lives and property 
in mammoth proportions, while the perpetrators of 
crime are moving with great pride in having 
taught 'them' a lesson. Those arrested for Godhra 
train burning are rotting in jails with the POTA 
charges on them. Barring the cases like those of 
Zahira with different twists and turns, most 
other wronged ones are living the constant agony 
and pain of what they had to face. The role and 
attitude, impartiality, of sections of judiciary 
has also come under severe doubts

Added to that is the alienation, social boycott 
and the ghettotisaztion of Muslim minorities, 
which has been set very deeply in the aftermath 
of carnage. One can see the areas marked by 
religious denominations getting converted into 
geographic dividing lines. Once the hatred 
crosses the threshold limits it creates the wedge 
which becomes unbridgeable over a period of time. 
And that's what one sees in the social milieu of 
Gujarat. The pattern of life amongst large 
sections has changed, and the constant harping on 
identity, first that of religion and later that 
of caste has been the logical corollary of the 
hate ideology which is ruling the roost.
Over fifty thousand families are living in the 
poorly maintained rehabilitation colonies totally 
deprived of the basic facilities. The subtle 
intimidation of Muslim majority is supplemented 
by the attacks on Christian missionaries and also 
by the holding of events like Shabri Kumbh to 
co-opt the Adivasis into the Hindu fold, at the 
same time changing the terms of social reference, 
from the ones of development to the ones of 
identity issues is there for all to see. The 
social common sense in Gujarat in particular, has 
been taken to the insane heights where every 
issue becomes a ground for further intensifying 
the hatred against minorities.

The dominant social opinion may have some 
dissenting voices which may feel the present 
brusque anti-minoritism will spoil the business 
atmosphere in Gujarat but the large sections of 
middle class sees Modi as a protector of Hindus. 
Two set of laws already seem to be in operation, 
the ones for majority and the other for the 
minorities. Intolerance directed to 'external 
enemy' does not stop there. It does come back to 
majority as well and the sharpened religious 
identity leads to the caste and other narrow 
identities becoming stronger by the day, and 
that's what Gujarat is witnessing today. The very 
air is becoming heavy with the intolerance, which 
is the basic credo of Gujarat society today. It 
also does manifest itself in the people like Babu 
Bajrangi who are openly flaunting the laws and 
acting as moral police, intimidating; beating up 
young couples; with full patronage from the 
ruling party and associated affiliates, who 
emboldened by the power and ideology of 
sectarianism are out to abolish the democratic 
and liberal space, which is the hall mark of any 
open society. 

The image of a vibrant Gujarat is being 
strengthened through media, a section of which 
played a were compliant and supportive role to 
the agenda of Hindu Rashtra. The overt violence 
is not there but covert violence and deepening of 
sectarianism is the order of the day. What is 
Fascism? It is not a mere academic debate. When 
state, in connivance with dominant sections of 
society, is out to bury the norms of liberal and 
plural values, when the dominant section of 
society approve this intolerance for 'others' and 
than for 'our' dissenting people, the fascism is 
there. The fate of Fanaa and Perzania are the 
mere symptoms of the piercing trishuls of RSS 
ideology stalking the streets and bastis of 
Gujarat. It is a state where the social activists 
can be beaten up right in Gandhi's Sabarmati 
Ashram, a place where non violence and dissent 
had been propagated as the basic norm for 
creating a democratic society. While Modi has 
'successfully' deflected the criticism of his 
policies as an insult of Gujarat, the matters 
become difficult for those who will like to 
uphold the gains of our freedom movement, for 
those who will regard all people of India as 
equals, irrespective of their religion.

The processes going in Gujarat are a definite 
pointer towards "Hindu Rashtra in One state", an 
Indian variant of Fascism. While looking forward 
to the change in the turn of the tide in 
anticipation of the fifth anniversary of the 
genocide, one hopes the worst is over and the 
society at large will not only welcome Perzania 
with open eyes and mind but will also revive the 
humane spirit of the Indian nationalism.

______


[5]  BOOK REVIEW:

Ferreting Out the Bible of Hindu Fascism (Hindutwa)

I.K.Shukla
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Golwalkar's We or Our Nationhood Defined: A 
Critique by Shamsul Islam: Pharos Media and 
Publishing Pvt Ltd, New Delhi, 2006, pp 162, 
Rs.120.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why has this Bible of Hindutwa, first published 
in 1939, succeeded by four reprints until 1947, 
been withdrawn from RSS shelves and made 
unavailable to the general public? Why has its 
authorship been denied, fudged over, and brazenly 
lied about in a concerted manner, among others 
including the author, by Lalchand K. Advani, Atal 
B.Vajpeyi, and David Frawley, who outdid all with 
three big lies in just two sentences: 1. 
Golwalkar just translated it, 2. in 1938, and 3. 
"it was only part of the general literature of 
the times that he was examining."

How fanatically vicious Golwalkar was in laying 
down his version of Mein Kampf informs this major 
handbook of Hindu fascism wherein he strips 
himself for condemnation and revulsion as an evil 
ogre of Dark ages. The long and well-researched 
Introduction by Prof. Islam in itself has become 
an invaluable asset for serious researchers, 
scholarly academics, and committed activists. He 
deserves kudos for retrieving Golwalkar's 
poison-spewing book, always revered by RSS and 
its affiliates, and widely regarded as the Bible 
of Hindutwa fascists, among others, by two CIA 
agents close to them – Jean A. Curran (author of 
Militant Hinduism in Indian Politics: A Study of 
the RSS, 1951) and Craig Baxter (author of The 
Jana Sangh: A Biography of an Indian Political 
Party, 1969).

An aside for relieving the tedium is in order. 
How shallow was Golwalkar becomes clear from his 
mention of names of historical importance in the 
field of literature: Sharatchandra Chakrawarti, 
Babu Premchand (p. 42). I had never known of 
them. Golwalkar had casually heard these names 
and embellished them with his imagination. This 
imagination is at full play in his understanding, 
skewed and sickly, of history, human 
civilization, culture, and modern polity. No 
wonder only such a one could call Hindutwa 
"anadi" (without a beginning, beyond history, and 
pre-historical). His repeated use of the word 
"scientific" is comic and contemptible, and his 
exhilaration at Fatherland a slavish adoption of 
the German word Vaterland with all its 
concomitant evils fleshing it out. This unabashed 
and implacable devotee of three evil Ms - Manu, 
Mill (James, East India Company's employee, hack 
historian, who partitioned Indian History into 
three divisions:  Hindu, Muslim, British, 1817, 
-not Christian-) , and Mussolini, besides Hitler, 
regarded them all as great regenerators and 
benefactors of mankind!

The riddle is why the Hindutwa luminaries and 
lumpens who have always venerated this Bible of 
Hindu fascism are fighting shy of it at present. 
Not that they have abjured its ideology of racial 
hatred and violence against non-Hindus, of ethnic 
extremism and bloody purge, of India as the 
fatherland of Hindus only, once more adumbrated 
without any remission in Golwalkar's later book 
Bunch of Thoughts. The reason for this coyness 
and concealment is a mix of cowardice and 
criminality that have distinguished the bloody 
enterprise of the Hindutwa cult since its 
inception. It has vindicated its assassination of 
Gandhi on January 1948 by a recurrent series of 
mass slaughters since 1992 of Muslims, 
Christians, and others it decreed to be non-Hindu.

In Gandhi's murder the involvement of RSS became 
too evident, too undeniable for it to escape 
unscathed. Hence, a new political creature of 
Hindu communalism, Jan Sangh, was fabricated. 
Hence too the disavowal of Golwalkar's book We or 
Our Nationhood Defined, as an expedient. What, 
howeve,r the book had already achieved remarkably 
successfully through its wide diffusion was to 
remain inviolate, i.e., its racist precepts and 
its politically invidious indoctrination of the 
masses. The ban on RSS on 4 Feb.1948 was a 
temporary glitch, but it was also a safety valve, 
curiously, helping RSS more than hindering it. 
The legal hibernation thus secured, it went ahead 
with its perfidies and pogroms, neither 
handicapped, nor humbled. The title of this 
seminal booklet was well chosen, not in a 
symbolic but in quite a substantive sense. It 
defined the Hindutwa cult of crime and sedition, 
as it defiled the Indian nationhood at the same 
time. It thus upheld treason as virtue, pitched 
terrorism as duty, tyranny as statecraft, and 
theocracy as polity. The sinister screed had 
achieved its squalid ends well.

It would be apposite to quote the redoubtable RSS 
stalwart of yesteryears, Prof.Balraj Madhok on 
Vajpeyi and Advani, as extremely pertinent to the 
criminality that has characterized RSS all along. 
How did Advani climb the organizational ladder? :

"The position of Lal Krishan Advani was like a 
puppet. He was not capable for the post 
(presidentship of BJS) which was given to him 
after discarding many senior workers. I knew 
through my personal experience that he is a 
boneless wonder. He has neither personal 
integrity nor opinion. But he is lucky. The 
office which he had got due to the offerings 
(prasad) of Vajpayee and officials of Sangh, 
keeping aside its honour, he acted as a bonded 
labourer, for any work assigned to him." (p. 146, 
Zindagi Ka Safar- 3: Deendayal Upadhyay Ki Hatya 
Se Indira Gandhi Ki Hatya Tak, 2003, Delhi).

And on Vajpayee:

"Sometime back when I was the President  of Jana 
Sangh, Jagadish Prasad Mathur, in charge of the 
Central Office, who was staying with Atal Bihari 
at 30, Rajendra Prasad Road, had complained to me 
that Atal had turned that house into a den of 
immoral activities. There everyday new girls were 
coming
" (p.25, Ibid.)

Madhok points out unreservedly to the triad of 
Vajpayee, Nana Deshmukh and Balasaheb Deoras, 
responsible for the murder of Dendayal Upadhyaya 
in 1968 at Mughalsarai Railway junction, having 
been patronized by Golwalkar, popular as Guru in 
the RSS lore.

These qualifications and attributes, essential to 
Hindutwa, have propelled it onward. It earned its 
cherished laurels as a den of cutthroats, 
kleptomaniacs, womanizers, rapists, arsonists, 
terrorists and traitors by remaining constant to 
its cultist pledge of grime and gore. For 
unraveling its various layers of diabolical and 
anti-national crimes in such a painstakingly 
thorough manner, and highlighting the threat they 
pose to the unity and security of the nation, the 
author has put us all in his debt. 5Feb.07


______


[6]


CALL FOR ENTRIES

Film South Asia '07
4-7 October 2007
Kathmandu

Film South Asia, the festival of South Asian documentaries, calls for
entries for the sixth edition of its biennial festival being held in
Kathmandu from 4-7 October 2007. Documentaries made in and after
January 2005 are eligible for the competitive section.

Submission deadline for the entries: 30 June 2007.

Details and entry forms are available at www.filmsouthasia.org

For further information contact:

Upasana Shrestha
Co-Director
Film South Asia
P.O. Box 166
Patan Dhoka
Lalitpur
Nepal

www.filmsouthasia.org


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

Buzz for secularism, on the dangers of fundamentalism(s), on
matters of peace and democratisation in South
Asia. SACW is an independent & non-profit
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SACW archive is available at: bridget.jatol.com/pipermail/sacw_insaf.net/

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