SACW | Sept 5-6, 2008 / Asif Zardari / Orissa crucified / Bt cotton / World aid summit

[Harsh Kapoor]

South Asia Citizens Wire | September 5-6, 2008 | Dispatch No. 2562 -  
Year 11 running

[1] Pakistan: The politics of being Asif Zardari (Nafisa Shah)
[2]  Now, dividing the Sinhalese on religious lines (Sonali  
Samarasinghe)
[3] India: Despite the Gujarat and the Orissa Killings - No move to  
ban the VHP
(i) Orissa: Hindutva's Violent History (Angana Chatterji)
(ii) Orissa in a crucified state (Biswamoy Pati)
(iii) Then they came for Christians… (Ram Puniyani)
(iv) A Cauldron of Communal Violence (Economic and Political Weekly)
(v)  Visit to Orissa (Shabnam Hashmi)
[4] India: Bt cotton: why do so many smart people get it so wrong?  
(Ron Herring)
[5] World aid summit makes marginal progress to reform ineffective aid

______

[1] PAKISTAN:

THE POLITICS OF BEING ASIF ZARDARI

by Nafisa Shah (The News, September 06, 2008)

Since the announcement of Asif Ali Zardari as the candidate till this  
date, on the eve of the presidential election, the newspapers are  
full of verbal vitriol against the man who is going to be most likely  
voted as the next President of Pakistan.

The elite writers of this country and elsewhere love to have a go at  
him and this is almost pathological, if I can use a medical metaphor.  
Asif Zardari is the hangman, the fall guy, responsible for  
everything, including bad weather, bad times and bad everything. He  
is presented variously as the feudal lord, as the man who breaks  
promises, and now the two that I find quite below the belt are, the  
stories of his supposed mental illness and an informal reference to  
Zalmay Khalilzad, America's ambassador to the UN.

This heap of wordy onslaught is baffling, and it would make for an  
interesting sociolinguistic study. I for one would like to analyse  
the language, the content, and the substance of these articles. The  
language is curt, packed with personalised and emotive tones, often  
more colloquial, and replays a certain script which comprises the  
following elements: that Zardari was corrupt and everyone knows it --  
never mind that nothing was proven, that he did not keep his word,  
and does not want to restore judges, and because of this, he should  
not be president.

As far as the popular sentiment and aspiration of the people goes,  
none of this makes political sense.

First, no one can deny the fact that Asif Zardari knows his politics,  
and knows it well. His politics is logical, often cold-hearted but  
pragmatic to the core.

Politics and morality are not the same thing. Politics is not  
religion nor is it a moral code. It is the art and the science of  
reaching, keeping and sustaining power. It is a system of making, or  
breaking alliances, for the common cause. The only principle that is  
of primal value for the party he leads, the Pakistan People's Party,  
is democracy and that power has to flow from the people and the  
ultimate objective is to deliver the goods to them. This is the basis  
on which the party has fielded Zardari as a candidate, and the path  
to that end is strictly according to the law.

Zardari knows his politics, and he also knows how political tactics  
can make dictators melt away, and turn fortunes around, can bring  
together parties that formerly never saw eye to eye. In an art that  
works through symbols, gestures and cleverly crafted statements, he  
uses the symbols and gestures effectively, politically and with  
results. He befriended his political opponents, he apologised to the  
people of Balochistan, he got his party workers to visit the  
graveyard of Altaf Hussain's brother killed in an ethnic conflict,  
and then got the MQM leadership to visit former chief minister  
Abdullah Shah's brother who was also killed in the conflict thus  
healing broken relations. Then the MQM leadership came to Garhi Khuda  
Bux to offer fateha for Benazir Bhutto. All these exchanges forged  
political ties between hitherto unlikely partners.

In his many speeches too, his political language is to forge ties  
that string history with present politics. The last I heard him, he  
spoke of his links with Khan Abdul Wali Khan whom he met in jail,  
with Nauroz Khan, who was the Baloch leader who was hanged and his  
relations helped with the funeral preparations.

And of course not to forget, his eleven years in jail were not spent  
writing a nostalgic book, they were used crafting a new political  
agenda. In jail, Asif Ali Zardari befriended opponents, made new  
contacts and reached out to the political class that was the underdog  
of Pakistani establishment.

Prisons are liminal spaces, waiting rooms of history. Prisons have  
reversed fortunes, taken people from rags to riches and vice versa.  
The prison period perhaps was the place where Zardari trained in  
political strategy and planning. The ideas for reconciliation with  
Nawaz Sharif took root then, as did the method to appease the Baloch.

True, he is not a populist, he realises perhaps that he is not a  
Bhutto who would draw a vast ecstatic crowds. Now more than ever,  
with a family to look after, and a party to manage, he cannot even  
afford this, as populism in Pakistan is fraught with dangers. He has  
been a backseat manager of sorts, the prime strategist of the party.

Pakistan People's Party is built on tolerance, on how party workers,  
leaders, stalwarts can stand by the party in times of trouble.  
Imprisonment of Asif Ali Zardari for nearly eleven years earns him  
party credits few can compete with. This was not just simply about  
being in the prison but fighting many court cases, ranging from  
murder of Murtaza Bhutto, theft, bomb attack, all involving difficult  
and torturous court journeys, and not to forget the physical torture  
that the world witnessed.

Talking of principles, Zardari has proved loyal to the party and  
steadfast as well. Talking further of principles, here is a person  
who despite his eleven years in prison, has not pursued politics of  
revenge. And finally, here is a man who stood by his wife, and her  
politics, agreed to be her second in a society where it is not the  
done thing. So where is the feudal?

To the urban people, everyone hailing from the rural areas especially  
rural Sindh who has some land has to be a "feudal" a term often used  
to malign the rural landowning families. Zardari is not a feudal.  
Even the lifestyle of the Zardari family has not been "feudal."  
Certainly land was not the only source of income. If he was a feudal,  
would he let his sisters come into the field of rough politics? And  
now speak vehemently on distribution of land to the landless women,  
which a typical conservative landowner would never do. His father was  
modern and middle-class businessman who ran cinema business in the  
60s in Karachi. The family is versatile with deep political and  
social networks. Zardari is related to the Effendi family who laid  
the foundation of the Sind Madressah, an alma mater of political  
renaissance in Sindh. He is also related to Mirza Qulich Beg, the  
most prolific writer Sindh has ever produced. Mirza Qulich Beg has at  
least 500 writings, and translations to his credit, among them the  
classic Chachnameh. This is a class of families that is  
intellectually firmly rooted in history

In the final analysis, for me as a political worker from his party,  
and somebody touched by the magic of the Bhuttos, it is not Asif Ali  
Zardari that is important, but what he represents politically. He  
represents party unity and continuity, and has faithfully followed in  
the footprints of Benazir Bhutto.

If this is the man who has used helped us overcome the grief and  
tragedy of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto's assassination, and if he has  
used political means to get us rid of the most detested and dangerous  
man in Pakistan's recent history, and then brought together Mohajirs  
and Sindhis, Balochis and Punjabis, and work to heal the wounds of  
the Pushtoons, isn't he the most important symbol of the federation?

Surely history makes its own selections. Zardari has made the  
necessary historical strides, and yes, the manoeuvres too, suffered  
trials and tribulations, sometimes made some glaring mistakes that he  
has boldly acknowledged, has learnt his lessons from his many  
experiences, and is now the man who moderates politics, moderates  
east and west, and moderates political power. He is the man who  
matters. A presidency with him in there will help in bringing  
coherence and cohesion to the nation, to the system, and to the  
federation and most importantly, this would be a befitting tribute to  
a man who took the reigns of a broken-hearted party and turned its  
grief to strength on the fated Dec 27, 2007


_____

[2]  SRI LANKA:

The Sunday Leader
August 24, 2008

  NOW, DIVIDING THE SINHALESE ON RELIGIOUS LINES

The mob seeking entry to the AOG church premises and (inset) Gotabaya  
Rajapakse, Mahinda Samarasinghe, Rajiva Wijesingha and Robert Blake

By Sonali Samarasinghe

The attacks on churches and the breach of the fundamental freedom of  
religion as mobs continue to harass and threaten Christian worship  
has greatly concerned the diplomatic community.

Last week US Ambassador Robert Blake was to take the matter up both  
with the Minister for Disaster Management and Human Rights Mahinda  
Samarasinghe and Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat Rajiva  
Wijesinha.

Certainly the government was worried. Defence Secretary Gotabaya  
Rajapakse had told a UNP dissident government minister such attacks  
would cause ripples in the international community. Basil Rajapakse  
the more moderate of the Rajapakses had given a patient hearing to  
the victims and promised action.

But with the diplomatic community kept abreast of the details of all  
the attacks the anti Christian sentiment was to cause far more than a  
few ripples as predicted by Gotabaya.

Meeting

In fact even as the August 3 morning attack on the Kalutara church  
was in full force US Ambassador Robert Blake and visiting Assistant  
Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard  
Boucher were meeting with a prominent representative of the Christian  
community.

No sooner than word of the attack trickled through on crackling  
telephone wires to this representative, Boucher himself was  
immediately made aware of the details. It was one of the reasons  
Blake would later take up the matter so urgently with government  
officials as well.

In fact it was the negative impact such attacks would have with the  
international community reflected so forcefully by diplomats speaking  
about these matters to ministers and also to Wijesinha that prompted  
the Secretary to the Human Rights Ministry and Peace Secretariat  
Chief to send a lengthy fax to the Leader newspaper on Wednesday  
morning.

Certainly much more than the principle it was negative international  
opinion that was to inform the government's concern.

Be that as it may the Kalutara Assembly of God Church continues to  
remain the flash point as the matter was taken up in court last week.  
The circumstances surrounding the initial attack late July and  
subsequent developments have already been made known to the Attorney  
General C.R De Silva. As this newspaper reported last week senior  
lawyers for the church, Denzil Gunaratne PC and Asoka Weerasuriya had  
made representations to the AG on the matter.

Dim view

And it was even as the Attorney General himself was taking a dim view  
of the attacks having told officials around him it was unacceptable  
for churches to be attacked this way and it was a matter to be taken  
very seriously that Rajiva Wijesinha felt it necessary to write to  
this newspaper a lengthy missive on the article published last week,  
Sunday 17.

Certainly it is a sensitive subject and one hopes that government  
officials can keep the matter above the pettiness of racism and  
religious extremism and on a plane which will not only promote  
reconciliation but also a change in attitude.

  This newspaper has received a large amount of correspondence on  
this subject both for and against and it is not practical for this  
newspaper to publish all this correspondence. It is in this context  
that we are unable to publish Rajiva Wijesinha's entire lengthy reply  
on the subject since we had already spoken to and published the  
comments of all the relevant parties to the incidents at the time of  
writing last week.

However we give pause here to publish a paragraph from Wijesinha's  
letter as it refers to action supposedly taken. Referring to this  
columnist he says, "The issues she raises are important, and she is  
right to claim that what seems increasing frequency (sic) requires  
concerted government action, to ensure the rule of law. Unfortunately  
she seems not to be aware that such action has been taken."

'Acted promptly'

"With regard to the incident at Kalutara for instance, which was the  
basis of the article, the police had acted promptly to prevent a  
breach of the peace. At the last of the meetings held last week, it  
was agreed that no more protests would be held until a meeting  
scheduled for Monday August 18 at which senior police officials and  
secretaries to two ministries, as well as local officials including  
the disaster management coordinator met the concerned parties.  
Unfortunately this agreement was breached, but the police presented a  
comprehensive report as to what had occurred on Sunday, August 17  
which indicated that judicial action would be appropriate. The matter  
has now been placed before the courts, which have ordered the  
production before them of those alleged responsible."

A careful reading of last week's article would show that this  
newspaper did say that Basil Rajapakse had been asked to intervene in  
the matter, that meetings had been held, that the police had been  
involved and had in fact attempted to hold the mob back but was  
unable to do so.

Wijesinha would realise that even this newspaper would be unable to  
publish on August 17 details of a meeting that took place on August  
18. He states as per the para quoted above that a meeting was held  
and suggests that 'this agreement was breached.' Unfortunately he  
seems not to be aware that this so called meeting of concerned  
parties in fact lacked one concerned party of vital importance - the  
victim AOG church representatives themselves.

Mob attack

He is correct in noting that something did occur on Sunday, August 17  
(though fighting shy of elaborating what exactly took place) which  
indicated that judicial action would be appropriate. In fact despite  
the assurances given by both politicians, the government agent's  
office and the police even as readers and no doubt Rajiva Wijesinha  
was reading The Sunday Leader article, a mob entered the church.  
Police were unable to prevent them from breaking into the church  
premises on August 17 and stopping church activity. The Head Pastor  
of the Church Stanley Royston and his family remained indoors as his  
wife's car was stoned and its side mirrors smashed.

Mobs defaced the church building with cow dung and destroyed sections  
of a children's club behind the main church. They also damaged the  
church gate and pastor Royston's house gate. The police had not been  
able to quell the mob completely and had advised the Pastor to remain  
indoors while they tried to control the marauders.

Christian worshippers in the church and Pastor Royston and his family  
have been living in constant fear of their lives and their general  
security has been under threat. The AOG church representatives on  
being asked to be present at the GA's office on August 18 for a  
meeting declined the invitation on the basis that such a meeting  
would be useless given the upsetting events of Sunday, August 17.

Pastor Royston was to ask the Assistant Government Agent if he could  
assure his security if he were to attend the meeting but  
understandably given the enormity of this problem and the outside  
forces that drive the enmity, he was allegedly to have replied that  
he could not undertake such a responsibility.

Declined to sign

It is also correct that on August 21 the six monks allegedly  
responsible for the events of August 17 in the Kalutara Magistrate's  
Court were produced in court before the additional magistrate. The  
monks were enlarged on surety bail but they declined to sign. Court  
sources allege the monks were unwilling to sign.

Such a refusal would normally result in persons being remanded. If  
the monks were remanded it would cause anger and perhaps precipitate  
a national crisis. Sources in Kalutara also said had the monks been  
remanded following a refusal to sign it could have been used to whip  
up more anti Christian sentiment. But temple sources denied this  
vehemently.

However such an eventuality was averted as later the monks agreed to  
personal bail. Another crowd had attempted to make the incident a  
politically charged affair by surrounding the courts and chanting  
pirith alleged sources. As the monks arrived at the village temple  
later on Thursday evening at about 7.30-8 pm temple bells have peeled  
and fire crackers were set off as a celebration these sources claimed.

  Meanwhile the OIC of the Kalutara police who had taken up his post  
only last Thursday was to inform Pastor Royston of the AOG church  
that he too should present himself in court on August 26 when the  
case is called again. He was told to expect formal summons.

The AOG church it is learnt has retained the services of President's  
Counsel Denzil Gunaratne and senior lawyer Asoka Weerasuriya to  
appear on their behalf on Tuesday, August 26.

And there the matter rests uneasily for the moment.

Unwarranted criticism

A few insular but unwarranted criticisms seem to have been made by  
Wijesinha against this columnist and this newspaper. And lest  
Wijesinha thinks they were purposely left out we quote again;

"The same has occurred with regard to the incident at Malabe  
described in a previous article by your correspondent. Contrary to  
your correspondent's continuing suggestions that the authorities are  
biased against minorities in neither cases have the police recorded  
or produced evidence against the Christians involved."

We draw Wijesinha's attention to this columnist's assertions in the  
two articles one published on July 13, the other on August 17. We  
have said that it was in fact a government official Attorney General  
C.R.De Silva's intervention that the church was able to conduct its  
service on August 10 as the police had been vigilant and acted  
sternly despite a mob arriving in the church.

We have praised Mahinda Rajapakse's brother Basil as a moderate voice  
who had given the church a patient hearing and promised action. We  
have mentioned ministerial sources in government who were concerned  
but unfortunately they do not wish to be named. In our earlier  
article we have particularly mentioned the impartiality of the  
Talahena police as they defended the church pastor in the Talangama  
Calvary Church incident on July 6 where a mob led by some Buddhist  
monks stormed the church and destroyed its premises. We have also  
made particular mention of positive police action in both articles.

We have however listed out in a separate box in the August 17 article  
several concerns the Christians have on a trend that seems to be  
taking over this country based on a document prepared by certain  
Christian organisations.

It is perhaps prudent for persons such as Wijesinha not to reduce  
this issue to one of mere police partiality or a matter confined to a  
few individuals. This country has nurtured monsters before. If not,  
Wijesinha would not have to sit as Secretary General of the  
Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process. There would be peace  
in this land.

Attack on freedom

The attack on churches must be looked at in the larger sense just as  
much as an attack on freedom of any religion or practice must be  
viewed in the same light. We are concerned with the liberty of the  
individual, the rights of a human being as enshrined in international  
law and in the constitution of this country.

Already we are fractured on ethnic lines. Myopic politicians with  
self serving agendas are now fracturing the Sinhala people on  
religious lines. While this may not be politically correct it shall  
be said so that the folly of those extremists like Champika Ranawaka  
and his ilk are exposed. The Sinhala Christians have always  
identified with the majority. They have always, as much as the next  
Sri Lankan put their country first. Now it seems, that just as the  
politicians of this country alienated the Burghers and the Tamils  
they are ready to alienate the Sinhala Christians.

These are exclusionary measures with the long term goal of making  
this country a mono ethnic, mono religious state. If the government,  
if individuals, if the media, if organisations, if temples, mosques  
and peace secretariats do not recognise this trend as the father of  
the monster that is now stalking this nation preparing her for a  
bloody engagement, then truly Sri Lanka is a lost land.

No talk from Ven Siri Suguna

Ven. Dodampahala Siri Suguna Thero of Pulinathalaramaya Kalutara when  
contacted by The Sunday Leader said that he was not prepared to speak  
to The Sunday Leader as the paper has written against the Buddhist  
monks.

"I am very sorry I would not talk to your paper as your paper had  
written against Buddhist monks in the region without talking to us,"  
Ven. Siri Suguna Thero said.

(Nonetheless please see articles published on July 10 and August 17  
where all relevant parties referred to in the articles have been  
spoken to and or attempts made to speak to them)

Meanwhile Government Agent Kalutara, S. Hapuaratchi could not be  
contacted as he was out of Kalutara.

Monks enlarged on personal bail - Police

Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Kalutara North Police, Ajith Kumara Pitigala  
told The Sunday Leader that since there was religious intolerance in  
Kalutara the regional politicians, the Kalutara GA and high ranking  
police officers had discussed as to what action they could take to  
prevent such incidents in future.

"Considering the situation they had decided to take legal action and  
had gone before courts. The court had issued summons to six Buddhist  
monks who were accused of religious intolerance.

"On Thursday the court enlarged the six monks on surety bail which  
they refused to sign but later signed," OIC Pitigala said.

The case would be taken up once again on Tuesday, August 26 according  
to the OIC.

_____


[3]  INDIA: DESPITE THE GUJARAT AND THE ORISSA KILLINGS - THE STATE  
IS NOT MOVING TO BAN THE VHP

(i)

ORISSA: HINDUTVA'S VIOLENT HISTORY
by Angana Chatterji

 From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 5, Issue 35, Dated September 13, 2008


Hindutva's production of culture and nation is often marked by  
savagery. On 23 August 2008, Lakshmanananda Saraswati, Orissa's Hindu  
nationalist icon, was murdered with four disciples in Jalespeta in  
Kandhamal district. State authorities alleged the attackers to be  
Maoists (and a group has subsequently claimed the murder). But the  
Sangh Parviar held the Christian community responsible, even though  
there is no evidence or history to suggest the armed mobilisation of  
Christian groups in Orissa.

After the murder, the All India Christian Council stated: “The  
Christian community in India abhors violence, condemns all acts of  
terrorism, and opposes groups of people taking the law into their own  
hands”. Gouri Prasad Rath, General Secretary, VHP-Orissa, stated:  
“Christians have killed Swamiji. We will give a befitting reply. We  
would be forced to opt for violent protests if action is not taken  
against the killers”.

Following which, violence engulfed the district. Churches and  
Christian houses razed to the ground, frightened Christians hiding in  
the jungles or in relief camps. Officials record the death toll at  
13, local leaders at 20, while the Asian Centre for Human Rights  
noted 50. On 27 August, Christian organisations filed a Writ Petition  
in the Orissa High Court asking for a CBI inquiry.

The Sangh's history in postcolonial Orissa is long and violent.  
Virulent Hindutva campaigns against minority groups reverberated in  
Rourkela in 1964, Cuttack in 1968 and 1992, Bhadrak in 1986 and 1991,  
Soro in 1991. The Kandhamal riots were not unforeseen.

Since 2000, the Sangh has been strengthened by the Bharatiya Janata  
Party's coalition government with the Biju Janata Dal. In October  
2002, a Shiv Sena unit in Balasore district declared the formation of  
the first Hindu 'suicide squad'. In March 2006, Rath stated that the  
'VHP believes that the security measures initiated by the Government  
[for protection of Hindus] are not adequate and hence Hindu society  
has taken the responsibility for it'. (Pointing to the extra-legal  
nature of such “security measures”, in June 2008, Bal Thackeray said,  
“Hindu suicide squads should be readied to ensure existence of Hindu  
society and to protect the nation”.)

The VHP has 1,25,000 primary workers in Orissa. The RSS operates  
6,000 shakhas with a 1,50,000 plus cadre. The Bajrang Dal has 50,000  
activists working in 200 akharas. BJP workers number above 4,50,000.  
BJP Mohila Morcha, Durga Vahini (7,000 outfits in 117 sites), and  
Rashtriya Sevika Samiti (80 centres) are three major Sangh women's  
organisations. BJP Yuva Morcha, Youth Wing, Adivasi Morcha and Mohila  
Morcha have a prominent base. Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh manages 171  
trade unions with a cadre of 1,82,000. The 30,000-strong Bharatiya  
Kisan Sangh functions in 100 blocks. The Sangh also operates various  
trusts and branches of national and international institutions to aid  
fundraising, including Friends of Tribal Society, Samarpan Charitable  
Trust, Sookruti, Yasodha Sadan, and Odisha International Centre.  
Sectarian development and education are carried out by Ekal  
Vidyalayas, Vanavasi Kalyan Ashrams/Parishads (VKAs), Vivekananda  
Kendras, Shiksha Vikas Samitis and Sewa Bharatis -- cementing the  
brickwork for hate and civil polarisation.

This massive mobilisation has erupted in ugly incidents against both  
Christians and Muslims. In 1998, 5,000 Sangh activists allegedly  
attacked the Christian dominated Ramgiri - Udaygiri villages in  
Gajapati district, setting fire to 92 homes, a church, police  
station, and several government vehicles. Earlier, Sangh activists  
allegedly entered the local jail forcibly and burned two Christian  
prisoners to death. In 1999, Graham Staines, 58, an Australian  
missionary and his 10 and 6 year-old sons were torched in Manoharpur  
village in Keonjhar. A Catholic nun, Jacqueline Mary was gang raped  
by men in Mayurbhanj and Arul Das, a Catholic priest, was murdered in  
Jamabani, Mayurbhanj, followed by the destruction of churches in  
Kandhamal. In 2002, the VHP converted 5,000 people to Hinduism. In  
2003, the VKA organised a 15,000-member rally in Bhubaneswar,  
propagating that Adivasi (and Dalit) converts to Christianity be  
denied affirmative action. In 2004, seven women and a male pastor  
were forcibly tonsured in Kilipal, Jagatsinghpur district, and a  
social and economic boycott was imposed against them. A Catholic  
church was vandalised, figures of Mary and Jesus shattered, and the  
community targeted in Raikia. In 2005, Gilbert Raj, a Baptist pastor,  
was murdered and Dilip Dalai, a Pentecostal pastor, was stabbed to  
death at his residence in Begunia, Khordha district.

Change the cast, the story is still the same. 1998: A truck  
transporting cattle owned by a Muslim man was looted and burned, the  
driver's aide beaten to death in Keonjhar district. 1999: Shiekh  
Rehman, a male Muslim clothes merchant, was mutilated and burned to  
death in a public execution at the weekly market in Mayurbhanj, and  
social and economic boycotts placed against the Muslim community.  
2001: In Pitaipura village, Jagatsinghpur, Hindu communalists  
attempted to orchestrate a land-grab connected to a Muslim graveyard.  
On November 20, 2001, around 3,000 Hindu activists from nearby  
villages rioted. Muslim houses were torched, Muslim women were ill- 
treated, their property, including goats and other animals, stolen.  
2005: In Kendrapara, a male contractor was shot on Govari Embankment  
Road, supposedly by members of a Muslim gang. Sangh groups claimed  
the shooting was part of a gang war associated with Islamic extremism  
and called for a 12-hour bandh. Hindu right-wing organisations are  
alleged to have looted and set Muslim shops on fire.

It is Saraswati who pioneered the Hinduisation of Kandhamal since  
1969. Hindu activists targeted Adivasis, Dalits, Christians and  
Muslims through socio-economic boycotts and forced conversions to  
Hinduism (named 're'conversion, presupposing Adivasis and Dalits as  
'originally' Hindus).

Kandhamal first witnessed Hindutva violence in 1986. The VKAs,  
instated in 1987, worked to Hinduise Kondh and Kui Adivasis and  
polarise relations between them and Pana Dalit Christians. Kandhamal  
remains socio-economically vulnerable, a large percentage of its  
population living in poverty. Approximately 90 percent of Dalits are  
landless. A majority of Christians are landless or marginal  
landholders. Hindutva ideologues say Dalits have acquired economic  
benefits, augmented by Christianisation. This is not borne out in  
reality.

In October 2005, converting 200 Bonda Adivasi Christians to Hinduism  
in Malkangiri, Saraswati reportedly said: “How will we… make India a  
completely Hindu country? The feeling of Hindutva should come within  
the hearts and minds of all the people.” In April 2006, celebrating  
RSS architect Golwalkar's centenary, Saraswati presided over seven  
yagnas, culminating at Chakapad, attended by 30,000 Adivasis. In  
September 2007, supporting the VHP's statewide road-rail blockade  
against the supposed destruction of the mythic 'Ram Setu', Saraswati  
reportedly conducted a Ram Dhanu Rath Yatra to mobilise Adivasis.

In 2008, Hindutva discourse named Christians as 'conversion  
terrorists'. But the number of such conversions is highly inflated.  
The Hindu Right claims there are rampant and forced conversions in  
Phulbani-Kandhamal. But the Christian population in Kandhamal is  
1,17,950 while Hindus number 5,27,757. Orissa Christians numbered  
8,97,861 in the 2001 census -- only 2.4 percent of the state's  
population. Yet, Christian conversions are storied as debilitating to  
the majority status of Hindus while Muslims are seen as  
'infiltrating' from Bangladesh, dislocating the 'Oriya (and Indian)  
nation'.

The right to religious conversion is constitutionally authorised.  
Historically, conversions from Hinduism to Christianity or Islam have  
been a way to escape caste oppression and social stigma for Adivasis  
and Dalits. In February 2006, the VHP called for a law banning (non- 
Hindu) religious conversions. In June 2008, it urged that religious  
conversion be decreed a 'heinous crime' across India.

'Reconversion' strategies of the Sangh appear to be shifting in  
Orissa. The Sangh reportedly proposed to 'reconvert' 10,000  
Christians in 2007. But fewer public conversion ceremonies were held  
in 2007 than in 2004-2006. Converting politicised Adivasi and Dalit  
Christians to Hinduism is proving difficult. The Sangh has instead  
increased its emphasis on the Hinduisation of Adivasis through their  
participation in Hindu rituals, which, in effect, 'convert' Adivasis  
by assuming that they are Hindu. Such 'conversion' tactics are  
diffused and need not negotiate certain legalities, which public and  
stated conversion ceremonies must.

The draconian Orissa Freedom of Religion Act (OFRA), 1967, must be  
repealed. There are enough provisions under the Indian Penal Code to  
prevent and prohibit conversions under duress. But consenting  
converts to Christianity are repeatedly charged under OFRA, while  
Hindutva perpetrators of forcible conversions are not. The Sangh  
contends that 'reconversion' to Hinduism through its 'Ghar  
Vapasi' (homecoming) campaign is not conversion but return to  
Hinduism, the 'original' faith. This allows Hindutva activists to  
dispense with the procedures for conversion under OFRA.

The Orissa Prevention of Cow Slaughter Act, 1960 should also be  
repealed. It is utilised to target livelihood practices of  
economically disenfranchised groups, Adivasis, Dalits, Muslims, who  
engage in cattle trade and cow slaughter. Provisions prohibiting  
cruelty to animals exist under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals  
Act, 1960.

In fact, an urgent CBI investigation into the activities of the VHP,  
RSS and Bajrang Dal is crucial as per the provisions of the Unlawful  
Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. Groups such as the VHP and VKA are  
registered as cultural and charitable organisations but their work  
appears to be political in nature. They should be audited and  
recognised as political organisations, and their charitable status  
and privileges reviewed.

The state and central government's refusal to restrain Hindu militias  
evidences their linkage with Hindutva (BJP), soft Hindutva  
(Congress), and the capitulation of dominant civil society to Hindu  
majoritarianism. How would the nation have reacted if groups with any  
other affiliation than militant Hinduism executed riot after riot:  
Calcutta 1946, Kota 1953, Rourkela 1964, Ranchi 1967, Ahmedabad 1969,  
Bhiwandi 1970, Aligarh 1978, Jamshedpur 1979, Moradabad 1980, Meerut  
1982, Hyderabad 1983, Assam 1983, Delhi 1984, Bhagalpur 1989, Bhadrak  
1991, Ayodhya 1992, Mumbai 1992, Gujarat 2002, Marad 2003, Jammu 2008?

The BJD-BJP government has repeatedly failed to honour the  
constitutional mandate separating religion from state. In 2005-2006,  
Advocate Mihir Desai and I convened the Indian People's Tribunal on  
Communalism in Orissa, led by Retired Kerala Chief Justice, K. K.  
Usha. The Tribunal's findings detailed the formidable mobilisation by  
majoritarian communalist organisations, including in Kandhamal, and  
the Sangh's visible presence in twenty-five of thirty districts. The   
report did not invoke any response from the state or central government.

In January 2000, The Asian Age reported: “'One village, one shakha'  
is the new slogan of the RSS as it aims to saffronise the entire  
Gujarat state by 2005.” Then ensued the genocide of March 2002. In  
2003, Subash Chouhan, then Bajrang Dal state convener, stated:  
“Orissa is the second Hindu Rajya (to Gujarat).”

We all know what happened in Kandhamal in December 2007, and again now.

The communal situation in Orissa is dire. State and civil society  
resistance to Hindutva's ritual and catalytic abuse cannot wait.

Angana Chatterji is associate professor of anthropology at California  
Institute of Integral Studies and author of a forthcoming book:  
Violent Gods: Hindu Nationalism in India's Present, Narratives from  
Orissa.

o o o

(ii)

IN A CRUCIFIED STATE

Hindustan Times, September 02, 2008

by Biswamoy Pati

Orissa is in the news yet again. Except that unlike in December 2007,  
the news of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati's death is real.  
Nevertheless, very much like the last time, the VHP has gone berserk  
again. Political murders and killing of Christians (as 'imagined  
murderers') or vandalising churches is unacceptable to any democratic  
society. The violence inflicted has been meticulously planned and  
executed over two-three days when the Orissa government and its  
affiliated agencies seemed overwhelmed by what was going on.

When Mahatma Gandhi had visited coastal Orissa in 1921 he had said:  
"I was prepared to see skeletons in Orissa but not to the extent I  
did. I had seen terrible pictures but the reality was too  
terrible.' (Young India, April 1921). In fact, if he had visited  
western Orissa or the Kandhamal region today, he would have echoed  
this sentiment.

We are talking about a region that has a predominantly tribal and  
Dalit population, with 70-75 per cent of the people living below the  
poverty line. In fact, western Orissa is an amazing 'hinterland' of  
contradictions. Along with acute poverty, the region also harbours  
mega-projects associated with the mining of bauxite needed to produce  
aluminium. Unfortunately, successive governments in Orissa have been  
extremely careful about saving their 'marriage' with international  
capital, but have ignored the serious impact of these mega-projects  
on people's lives and the region's environment.

The current BJD-BJP government has suppressed popular initiatives  
that have questioned the displacement of people and highlighted  
hazards to the environment. At the same time, it is puzzling that the  
government is neither interested in nor is serious about maintaining  
law and order in this western hinterland. And going by Saraswati's  
murder and the subsequent killings, political scientists may well  
argue that what is being witnessed today indicates the breakdown of  
civil society. However, the deeper question is: has this tract ever  
seen civil society?

Whoever is responsible for the murder of Saraswati is definitely not  
interested either in tribals or Dalits. This heinous act would most  
certainly boost the VHP in a manner comparable to LK Advani's rath  
yatra. After all, Saraswati was a major Sangh parivar functionary who  
had been working among poor tribals since the late 1960s. He had been  
associated with the schools and ashrams, working with the idea of  
improving the lot of the poor tribals.

This needs to be located in a context where the government has  
virtually abdicated its responsibility of providing basic features of  
civil society like education and health. In the absence of any land  
reforms or serious governmental interventions to improve the  
condition of the poor, the schools and ashrams provide meagre  
alternatives, along with institutions run by Christian missionaries  
and NGOs.

Ironically, the activities of the VHP correspond to what they accuse  
the Christian missionaries of doing in western Orissa. Both work to  
attract and convert people to their respective faiths – something  
that is allowed under the Indian Constitution. Moreover, both have  
access to resources — internal and external — to be used towards the  
uplift of the poor. But then how does one explain the way in which  
the term 'conversion' appears to be synonymous with Christian  
missionaries? This might appear to be a profound question. But this  
is precisely where the Sangh parivar's hegemonic hold needs to be  
loosened.
This is sustained by poverty, lack of land struggles and reforms and  
the virtual non-existence of either civil society or the state in  
this area; further clothed by a finely-crafted 'reality' created by  
the VHP. One could cite two clear examples to illustrate this point:  
(a) that tribals are Hindus and Christian missionaries are the  
villains, who are spreading Christianity through inducements and  
converting the poor and ignorant tribals; and (b) that the VHP has  
the right to re-convert them to their original faith. It is indeed  
amazing that most of the reports on Kandhamal wrongly assume that  
tribals are Hindus. In fact, what the Sangh parivar has been  
attempting in Orissa — their post-Gujarat laboratory — is large-scale  
conversion of tribals to Hinduism.

This is skilfully combined with terrorising sections of Dalits – who  
had opted to convert to Christianity after suffering social  
discrimination – to reconvert to Hinduism. This 'common sense' makes  
the conversion of tribals appear as 're-conversion'. And this has  
been skilfully woven with terror directed against Dalit Christians  
over quite some time. More significantly, the majoritarian  
orientation of such conversion drives and their ancillaries – viz the  
ghee-burning shuddhi karan (re-conversion) rituals as seen through  
the electronic media — hides the real agenda.

This 'common sense' has enabled the VHP to make serious inroads in  
Orissa, even as the world debates the conflicts among Dalit (Panas)  
Christians and the adivasis (Kandhas) over diverse issues. The real  
problem in Kandhamal is related to the aggressive drives to convert  
tribals to Hinduism, including terror directed at Dalit Christians,  
who are the stumbling blocks in the path of the Sangh parivar and the  
VHP.

(Biswamoy Pati is the author of Identity, Hegemony, Resistance :  
Towards a Social History of Conversions in Orissa, 1800-2000)

o o o

(iii)

THEN THEY CAME FOR CHRISTIANS…

by Ram Puniyani

Orissa is witnessing unprecedented violence against the tiny  
Christian minority. On August 23, 2008, Swami Laxmananand along with  
his four followers was killed, probably by a group of Maoists.  
Immediately, anti-Christian violence began on big scale. The way it  
began it seemed as if preparations for it were well afoot. It was  
systematic and widespread. It sounded as if preparation was already  
there, just the pretext was being waited for. So far many innocent  
Christians have been killed, wounded and rendered homeless apart from  
many Churches having been torched. The RSS combine, VHP-Adivasi  
Kalyan Ashram-Bajarang Dal, allege that Swami was killed by  
Christians, or there is collusion between Maoists and Christians. It  
is unlikely that there is any such alliance between the two. Any way,  
what is important is that the crime of murder of Swami must be  
properly investigated and guilty must be punished as per the law of  
the land.

Just to recall anti Christian tirade was also launched in December  
2007, around Christmas time. That time also the pretext was that  
Christians have beaten up Swami and so this ‘revenge’. For RSS  
combine launching such bouts of violence by now is becoming a child’s  
play. Search for a pretext, launch your well oiled machinery for the  
communal agenda, communalize the society along religious lines and  
strengthen your political base seems to be its trajectory. The  
similar phenomenon was observed in Gujarat, after the burning of  
Sabarmati coach S 6 at Godhra. Modi announced that it has been done  
by local Muslims. There was no need to wait for the proper  
investigation, no need to follow the norm of railway board that every  
such event must be investigated, and tirade was launched with full  
vigor, and split in the society along religious lines was brought in  
ensuring BJP coming back to power. This victory of BJP was despite  
the decline of popularity of BJP. Anti incumbency was nullified and  
Modi returned to power to further his agenda. Power of polarizing the  
society by communal violence was at display at its worst.

This, by now is the standard technique, spread canards, myths, biases  
against minorities, look for pretext and go for the kill under the  
tolerating eyes of communalized state apparatus. If BJP is in power  
or is an ally in the seat of power, the job is easier. Anti Christian  
violence went on higher gear in the same year in which BJP came to  
power in the Center in 1996. The pretext was that Christian  
missionaries are converting the gullible Adivasis by force, fraud and  
allurement. This incitement was skillfully utilized by Adivasis  
Kalyan Ashram, VHP and Bajrang dal, and the violence started going up  
in intensity over the years. The most ghastly of this was seen in the  
burning alive of Pastor Graham Stains along with his two innocent  
sons, aged 11 and 7 years. This was immediately followed by the  
murder of Fr. Arul Das. Also Sheikh Rahman was killed on the charges  
of trading in cows for slaughter. Anti Christian atmosphere was built  
up and as this was more in the remote places where Adivasis do not  
have easy access to law, police etc, anyway there efficacy in helping  
minorities from the onslaught of RSS combine is also doubtful by now,  
the process has been going on and on. The violence kept on simmering  
and kept taking intense forms around the Christmas times. In a way a  
new Christmas ritual of burning churches and beating up Christians  
around Christmas time became a sort of annual event. It is immaterial  
that the number of Christians is miniscule in Indian society, it is  
immaterial that Christian missionaries are working in India from  
first century A.D. itself, it is immaterial that the despite the  
allegations from RSS combine, the population of Christians as per the  
census figures has been declining constantly. In the face of these  
facts the argument proffered was that since the converts to  
Christianity don’t want to loose their privileges that don’t declare  
their true religion and are crypto Christians. The simple point is  
that Adivasis, where the missionary work is maximum, don’t loose such  
privileges after conversion. Gobbles must be turning in his grave  
with his followers surpassing him many times over!

In it not a mere coincidence that maximum violence in Adivasi areas  
has been seen in the poorest regions. Dangs in Gujarat is the poorest  
district of Gujarat, and Orissa is amongst the poorest states of the  
country. The main reason for violence against Christians is to ensure  
that the welfare, educational services offered by them do not reach  
the Adivasis and that they remain poor and illiterate, that the  
status quo in these areas prevails so that the democratic space for  
these wretched of the society is blocked by the religiosity  
cultivated through Swamis. We saw two processes of co-option and one  
political process of intimidation in these regions. Through Swamis,  
Laxmananad (Orissa), Assemanand (Dangs) and followers of Asaram bapu  
in Jhabua area, they did the cooption work, Gharvapasi, conversion in  
to Hinduism. Through mega processes like Shabri Kumbh in Dangs, Hindu  
Sangams in other Adivasi areas, an intimidating atmosphere has been  
created to draw them to RSS fold. The other process is the political  
one. This is the building up of mechanism where by Dara Singh’s, and  
his clones are ready waiting for pretexts to pounce upon the social  
fabric of unity. The violence is made to look as spontaneous and is a  
part of a process of revenge. It is neither, it is well planned un- 
folding of RSS agenda. Even Wadhva Commission, pointed out that there  
was no conversion activity by Pastor Stains. The civic rights groups  
have pointed out that the violence has political foundations and has  
nothing to do with religion or conversion. A Peoples tribunal headed  
by retired Justice Usha also warned about the preparedness of the  
communal organizations for violence,

The case of Orissa was specifically investigated by India Peoples  
Tribunal, led by Justice K.K.Usha (retired) of Kerala High court in  
2006 (Communalism in Orissa). This tribunal forewarns about the shape  
of things to come. " The tribunal assessed the spread of communal  
organizations in Orissa, which has been accompanied by a series of  
small and large events and some riots…such violations are utilized to  
generate the threat and reality of greater violence, and build an  
infrastructure of fear and intimidation." It further notes that  
minorities are being grossly ill treated; there is gross inaction of  
the state Govt to take action. Outlining the mechanism of the  
communalization, it points out, "The report also describes in  
considerable detail how the cadre of majoritarian communal  
organizations is indoctrinated in hatred and violence against other  
communities it holds to be inherently inferior. If such  
communalization is undertaken in Orissa, it is indicative of the  
future of the nation… the signs are truly ominous for India's  
democratic future." (p 70)
In all the Adivasis areas, a dangerous situation, and occasionally an  
apparent calm prevail. While swami Laxmananand’s killers deserve the  
punishment, Swami’s followers are spreading hate in these areas and  
vitiating the atmosphere. One can also see the communalization of  
state apparatus and BJP protecting its marauding mobs either by  
pulling the strings from the seats of power or by spreading the  
canards against the weaker sections of society. Interestingly as  
pointed out above, the December 2007 violence was launched on the  
pretext that Christians have beaten up the Swami! We do need to look  
back and check the activities of those spreading hate in the name of  
religion. While the Christian sects are dime a dozen, all are not in  
the business of proselytization. Few of them must be indulging in  
wrong practices, but surely law of the land can take care of those  
not following it. Permitting violence by the state machinery  
tantamount to violation of the oath taken by those in power, and they  
should to be suspended form the seats of power. And if they are not  
able to protect the innocent citizens of their state, why should they  
continue to rule? The question is which political force is above  
suspicion and honest enough to abide by the laws of Indian  
constitution? The question also arises, is the state bureaucracy and  
police honest enough to protect the minorities? Time to introspect  
and set the things right at deeper level of governance and politics.

o o o

(iv)

Economic and Political Weekly
August 30, 2008

A CAULDRON OF COMMUNAL VIOLENCE
State inaction against communal elements has exacerbated an already  
polarised region in Orissa.

Communal violence is becoming a regular feature of Orissa society,  
differing from much of the rest of the country only in that it is the  
Christian minorities rather than Muslims who are at the receiving  
end. The violence against Christians and the community-run  
institutions in Kandhamal district following the murder of a Vishwa  
Hindu Parishad (VHP) activist Lakshmanananda Saraswati and four  
others comes less than a year after a string of attacks in  
Kandhamaldistrict by the Sangh parivar on Christians on Christmas eve  
of 2007. At that time the conflagration was a culmination of various  
factors: the issue of conversion and re-conversion, demands for  
scheduled tribe (ST) status by some groups, and, of course, the  
underlying poor socio-economic status of the people in the mostly  
tribal area in an already communally affected Orissa.

Investigations are still under way to identify the murderers of  
Lakshmanananda Saraswati. Despite rumours and “beliefs” that the  
attack was conducted by Maoists, no concrete proof has emerged. The  
subsequent rioting and burning of Christian missions, schools and  
households and deaths of around 10 people at the time of writing  
reveal that the Sangh parivar has few qualms in d irecting violence  
at the poor of other communities.

Kandhamal district has, over the years, emerged as a cauldron for  
rival communal groups who are engaged in proselytism and “re- 
conversion”. Lakshmanananda Saraswati was a VHP activist who was  
based in the region for close to four decades. A lynchpin of the  
Sangh parivar’s efforts to forge a presence in the tribal areas of  
Orissa, he was involved in activities such as “re-conversion” of non- 
Hindus back to the “Hindu fold”, apart from running institutions for  
Hindutva groups. Much like in December 2007. Saraswati’s murder  
produced a predictable reaction in the communally fragile region. In  
these sensitive tracts, action such as the targeting of religious  
symbols by communal organisations on both sides has time and again  
resulted in violent reprisals by the other side.

The communally charged atmosphere has turned all the more tense  
because of certain caste issues. As in some of the states in the  
south, many in the dalit community who have become Christians have  
not been able to claim scheduled caste (SC) status to achieve social  
mobility through employment in the government
apparatus because the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950  
prevents them from availing of reservations. Those among the dalit  
Christians in Orissa who speak the Kui language are instead demanding  
ST status, since tribal groups irrespective of their religion can  
utilise reservations. The antagonism between the Christian dalits and  
others has only increased because the kandh tribals who
have been accorded ST status feel threatened by the demand from the  
dailt groups for a similar position. These antagonisms have become  
exaggerated in a region mired in poverty, state inaction, poor  
governance and where social provisions and functions such as  
education and health are hegemonised by communal groups. This is not  
to mention the fallout of political rivalry between the Bharatiya  
Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress who have been openly allying with  
communal groups to build up electoral support.

It goes without saying that the state government has to reassert its  
presence, punish those responsible for communalising the situation  
and bring back normalcy to this violence-prone region. The presence  
of the BJP as a partner in the Navin Patnaik-led coalition has tied  
the government’s hands, if indeed it wanted to respond to the  
situation. That the government has been lax in punishing those  
engaged in communal violence even as the death of Lakshmanananda  
Saraswati has given the BJP an opportunity to further whip up  
communal sentiments is there for all to see.

The State has to reclaim the space where it has a major part to play  
in development and in the provision of social services. The  
government has been hitherto more concerned with promoting a model of  
development in which commercial interests are given free rein over  
the resources traditionally under the control of the tribals. The  
communal forces have used the vacuum left by the state to “win over”  
tribals in the name of their upliftment and have used this to  
establish themselves in the region to further their narrow and  
divisive agenda.

o o o

(v) http://www.anhadin.net/article50.html

VISIT TO ORISSA

by Shabnam Hashmi (5 September 2008)

I went to Orissa for two days as part of a delegation. We were not  
allowed to enter Kandhamal. We met a large number of victims in  
Bhubaneshwar, met the governor and the local civil society members as  
well as priests of various churches.

Visit to Kandhamal next week depends on the fact whether the Govt  
will permit us to go there or not. VHP’s Togadia has been allowed to  
go and add more fuel to the fire.

This account is based on the testimonies of:

8 priests and over 300 families who hid in thick forests without  
water and food, with small hungry children, with thousands of  
mosquitoes and other insects and who walked over 280 kilometers to  
reach Bhubaneshwar with just the set of clothes that they were  
wearing. It took them 5 days to reach the city.

It is not safe to give the names or addresses of those who testified  
before us as even now VHP and the other Sangh organisations are still  
attacking the villages , burning houses, shops and churches, catching  
people, tonsuring them, forcing them to sign that they have become  
Hindus.

It is an Indian tradition to talk with respect about those who have  
departed from this world. Pray that their soul may rest in peace.

Swami Laxmananda Saraswati was killed on August 23rd, 2008 at the VHP  
ashram in Jalespata, Kandhamal, Orissa. A large number of  
organisations across India condemned the attack and his killing.

While condemning every violent act and his killing there is a need to  
look at his work and message before making him a martyr.

The swami came to Kandhamal in 1969. He travelled from village to  
village initially contacting the business community, organising  
poojas and bhajans, which very soon turned into inflammatory messages  
against the local Christian community. Initially in 1970es the  
attacks came on smaller villages. The first organised attack came in  
1987. People from 6-7 villages were collected together to attack a  
village which had a large Christian population. Under his leadership  
16 churches were burnt down in 1986-87. There were 56 cases  
registered for this but Swami was not arrested. Not even under the  
‘secular’ governments. The sheer fact that none of the political  
parties touched him, due to their deep concern for the ‘Hindu’ vote,  
he got emboldened and his campaigns became more aggressive and vicious.

While Christians were attacked using the bogey of conversion, the VHP  
and the swami spearheaded the campaign to forcibly convert local  
animistic Tribals and Christian Tribals into Hindus, calling it ghar  
wapsi or reconversion as if the tribals were ever in the Hindu fold.

On January 22, 1999 Graham Stains and his two young sons were burnt  
to death by a Sangh sponsored mob in Keonjhar district of Orissa.  
Same year in September another Christian priest was killed in the  
village Jamudhi , also in Keonjhar district.

After Graham Stains was murdered by the Sangh goons instead of  
condemning the murder the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee  
asked for a national debate on conversion and within a week of that  
VHP printed and distributed over 5 million pamphlets full of vicious  
propaganda against the Christian minority. Similarly when the whole  
drama of the Shabri Kumbh was going on in the dang district of  
Gujarat where also Christians have been under attack since 1998, the  
VHP distributed vicious Cds against Christians. The distribution of  
the CDs was challenged by us in the Supreme Court through a PIL.  
Under the garb of doing educational and development work the sangh  
has opened Vanvasi Kalyan Ashrams and Ekal Vidyalaya throughout the  
tribal belts in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Orissa. The  
VHP alone has over one lakh workers in Orissa. There are  
approximately 6000 RSS shakhas.

On December 24, 2007 violence broke out over Christmas celebrations  
in Kandhamal district. Attackers from VHP/ RSS came with axes, rods  
etc. hundreds of houses, Christian institutions, businesses, and  
properties were attacked and raised to the ground in the violence  
that continued for over a month. For years the administration has  
ignored the hate campaigns and the violence against the Christians.  
The VHP has not only been in the fore front of these violent attacks  
but has sowed the seeds of hatred by distributing highly provocative  
material against the Christian community.

Swami Laxmananda Saraswati was killed on August 23rd, 2008 allegedly  
by Maoists. VHP declared a bandh on August 25, 2008. His body was  
taken in a procession travelling close to 150 kilometers accompanied  
by a VHP mob and the police and administration. It stopped in front  
of many churches, raising highly abusive and provocative slogans,  
attacking the churches, Christian institutions breaking glasses,  
furniture, attacking people, while the police looked on including the  
highest officers of the state and the district.

After the December 2007 violence many organisations had come together  
and worked for relief and fought legal battles for the victims. Such  
organisations and individuals were especially targeted. Janvikas  
office was attacked thrice. All five organisations fighting for Dalit  
human rights were attacked: Janvikas, Gramiya Progoti, Pobara,  
Pollishree, Ajka. Tribal leaders heading the Dalit Adivasi Vikas  
Initiative, Phulbani Action Group and Forum for Peace and Justice  
were attacked. All shops were attacked. The initial number of  
attackers was 200-300 which swelled to 500-600. The mob comprised of  
mainly he business community led by hard core VHP leaders. AS the mob  
moved from one village to the second the number increased as local  
Sangh members kept adding to the mob. Some tribals also joined the  
attackers. Dasrath Pradhan died on the spot and Trinath Digal, who  
had taken out his goats for grazing was chased and his head was  
smashed with a stone. He died. Vikram Naik was attacked. He died  
after 3 days. Parikrit Naik was attacked on 25th. He managed to run  
and hide in the forest. After two days in the forest he decided to  
escape to safety. He was caught again and attacked, hacked into two  
and burnt.

People were taken out from their homes and huddled together and  
forced to sign the papers that they are becoming Hindus or face the  
consequences.

In Mondosore village around 10am on August 24th people from nearby  
villages gathered with knives, swords, weapons and collected near a  
temple about 1km away from the village. They were shouting  
provocative and abusive slogans against the Christians and inciting  
people to attack them. The mob blocked all the routes for going out  
from the village by felling huge logs and tree trunks on the roads. A  
huge mob gathered by now near the Shiv temple. The priest and nuns  
from the church ran to the jungle but they came back at 7pm once it  
was dark. Some people advised them to leave so they went to padri  
village. But the mobs came to know about their hiding places and they  
had to leave again, this time splitting in two groups and changing  
their hiding places but with no luck. No place was safe. The people  
who gave them shelter, including local tribals, their lives were  
threatened. The priest was escorted by a local man with a knife to  
the forest after crossing a stream. During the night about 60 women  
and children came to the same forest to hide and the nuns from the  
church also found their way to the forest hiding place. There was a  
hut nearby where everyone crowded in but there was no place even to  
sit. Around midnight the church bell started ringing. This was a  
signal that things were not right. The whole group moved to another  
area near the village but still under cover. They could see the  
village shops on fire, they could hear small bombs, shouting &  
screaming. More people came towards the forest to escape the attack.  
Through them came the news of shops belonging to Christians being  
burnt and one person was killed by the attackers.

Around 6am the priest, 4 nuns and two orphan children decided to move  
to another place. They started walking, climbing mountains. Till 3 pm  
they walked for10kilometers and not reaching anywhere. Then they  
decided to rather die than get lost in the forest. When they came out  
they were near village Koroda. The people stared at them and they  
thought the end was near when a person on a motorcycle came and  
stopped near them. He was well built and there was a thin person at  
the back. The motorcyclist was a Hindu while the pillion rider a  
Christian. He took turns to transport them to a safer place in turns  
from where they managed to reach Bhubaneshwar.

Another priest from the Phulbani headquarters expecting trouble after  
the swami’s killing transferred all the records to his Hindu friends’  
houses. When the procession with the dead body arrived he hid in a  
nearby house while the others were asked to leave and hide behind the  
church. Sunday morning mob of 4000 people accompanied the procession.  
It was 7.30am. DIG, Collector, Police accompanied the procession. The  
mob broke the wall, smashed everything in the church and the  
residence. They started throwing stones. It was after some stones hit  
the police that they started a mild lathi charge. Local youth  
searched for the priest, nuns and other workers. Around 9am another  
lot came and started banging he door. Some of the boys who wee hiding  
came out and they were immediately beaten. The priest hid in a broken  
toilet. The mob came to the house where they were told he was hiding  
but never checked the toilet so he was saved. After one hour he came  
out on the road and asked for shelter in a house. Three houses  
refused, forth gave him shelter. The mob almost immediately reached  
there. The owners hid him in the kitchen but their house was attacked  
and broken down. Mob left only after 9pm. After they left the priest  
rushed to his house. His land phone was ringing and his assistant was  
on the line. He was hiding in the forest. Using a ladder the priest  
jumped behind the church and with the help of the light from the  
mobile phone found his was into the forest. Tuesday morning they  
started moving to another place in the forest when they by chance  
came across a hut belonging to a Hindu woman whom the priest had  
helped earlier. She and her daughter took them in, prepared food for  
them and fed them.

27th morning at 4 am they again went back to the church and contacted  
every taxi service but no one agreed to take them. Then the news came  
that another father is severely beaten and is being rushed to  
Bhubaneshwar in an ambulance. The same ambulance brought them to the  
city along with the patient.

We were able to talk to a few of the hundreds of women, children and  
men who ran from various villages and hid in the forests for days  
without food. They were from 15 different villages but the stories  
were the same. Their houses were attacks by mobs ranging from 300-500  
people-all from the surrounding gram panchayats and villages. They  
came with axes and knives, with diesel, blocked all exit roots so  
that no one could escape in any vehicle. Burnt down houses, attacked  
churches, burnt tyres on the roads, beat up people. A young woman  
said that they have been told very clearly that they will be allowed  
into the village if and only if they become Hindus. She reached  
Bhubaneshwar on 31st along with others from the village, walking over  
200 kilometres. Many of the victims narrated that the violence broke  
out with the arrival of the swami’s body in each village. In all  
instances police was present with the procession.

This account is based only on the testimonies for those who managed  
to escape and reach Bhubaneshwar. The situation is very serious in  
Orissa and only a full fact finding team can come out with full  
details after it is allowed to enter those areas.

A Brief Profile of Violence Unleashed s far (Prepared by Prakash  
Louis AS ON 31ST AUGUST 2008)
NAME OF BLOCKS	NO OF VILLAGES	NO OF HOUSEHOLDS AFFECTED
UDYAGIRI	36	640
RAIKIA	55	1391
TIKABALI	25	558
DARINGBADI	3	39
PHIRINGIA	25	428
CHOKAPADA	10	90
PHOLBANI	4	129
BALLIGUDA	18	555
TUMUDIBANDH		NOT AVAIILABLE
KOTHAGARH		NOT AVAILABLE
K NUAGAM	18	274
TOTAL	194	4104
NO OF PLACES OF WORSHIP DAMAGED	50
NO OF SHOPS DESTROYED IN RAIKIA 	10
CONVENTS DESTROYED	4
NO OF BOYS/ GIRLS HOSTEL DESTROYED	5
OTHER INSTITUTIONS DAMAGED	6
NO OF PRIESTS ATTACKED	6
NO OF DECEASED PEOPLE IN UDYAGIRI	26



______


[4]


The Hindu
August 28, 2009

BT COTTON: WHY DO SO MANY SMART PEOPLE GET IT SO WRONG?

by Ron Herring

Neither duped nor innumerate, cotton farmers face extreme challenges  
— from climate change to globally rigged markets — but they do know  
what works in their fields.

A Pakistani colleague recently sent me an article about Bt cotton. I  
knew that transgenic cotton had illegally infiltrated Pakistan, in  
exactly the same way that Bt seeds in India spread farmer-to-farmer  
under the radar screen of Delhi. But this article was about official  
approval, not the ubiquitous stealth transgenics that have become a  
global phenomenon. Najma Sadeque, in Financial Post, May 12, 2008,  
entitled the piece: “After a disastrous trac k record in 40  
countries, Bt cotton is ‘welcomed’ in Pakistan.”

There is a great puzzle here. If disastrous in 40 countries, why does  
the technology spread so rapidly across nations and farms?  
Recombinant DNA technologies represent perhaps the most rapid  
adoption of any agricultural technology in history. Are farmers  
irrational, ignorant, duped? The subaltern famously cannot speak, but  
can she not count either?

In explaining the spread of Bt cotton across India, one prominent NGO  
opponent explained to me that “farmers in Europe are ten times more  
sophisticated than our farmers.” Perhaps, but farmers in eight  
European Union (EU) countries grow transgenic crops; when Nicolas  
Sarkozy banned one transgenic maize variety in January 2008, French  
maize farmers and the Government of Spain appealed the decision.  
Globally, 23 countries have officially-approved transgenic crops  
growing in fields; despite the North-South rhetoric on “GMOs,” the  
top 5 countries in acreage after the United States are Argentina,  
Brazil, Canada, India, and China.

That only 23 countries — only some of which grow cotton — claim to  
allow transgenic crops immediately casts doubt on the claim of a  
“disastrous track record in 40 countries.” The number could be right  
— there is underground planting of transgenics in countries like  
Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan — but the guesstimate itself reinforces  
the puzzle: why would farmers risk prosecution for adopting a  
technology that destroys their livelihoods and kills their livestock?

Whatever the counting skills of journalists, the Ur case of Bt-cotton  
disaster is India. Yet the number of genetic events, firms, and  
farmers in India increases sharply year by year. Monsanto gets all  
the press, but there are Bt cotton hybrids bred in “cottage industry”  
sites beginning in Gujarat in 2001 — where the Navbharat 151 stealth  
transgenic had been growing for 3 years previously, unknown to Delhi  
or Monsanto. These stealth hybrids had robust names like Maharakshak  
and Agni, Luxmi and Kavach. There are generic illegal hybrids that  
escape approved channels: Kurnool Bt, for example. There are hybrids  
from the Chinese public sector via Nath Seeds; indigenous Bt hybrids  
employ technology licensed from Mahyco-Monsanto or invented locally  
(JK Agri Genetics Ltd of Hyderabad). And yet much of the world  
believes that Bt cotton has failed in India.

Sadeque’s article is illustrative of one coherent and compelling  
narrative. We find, for example, that in 2002, farmers in Madhya  
Pradesh planted Bt seeds and “ended up with 100 per cent failure.”  
The seeds were too expensive, the narrative goes: “How could farmers  
fail to see the figures that showed it really didn’t make sense to  
grow Bt cotton? They were deceived by false claims.” The authority is  
indigenous: “Deccan Development Society (DDS), an Indian grassroots  
NGO … found [that] those who grew non-BT cotton made six times more  
profits than the BT cotton farmers!” One marvels that Indian farmers  
— nee peasants — have survived so long with that level of incompetence.

Agro-economic failure is supplemented by horror stories of  
externalities, from bizarre skin irritations to dead livestock.  
Sadeque notes that after grazing on Bt cotton leaves: “In just four  
villages in Andhra Pradesh, 1800 sheep died horrible, agonising  
deaths within 2-3 days from severe toxicity.” The same website  
stressed an even more incredible strand: “Monsanto — Genetically  
modified BT Cotton ‘terminator’ seeds being introduced in Pakistan.”  
The long-discredited terminator hoax in India joined a bio-cultural  
abomination — suicide seeds — to the tragic deaths of Indian farmers  
in one seamless narrative that evidently will not die.

What these elements of the narrative have in common is absence of any  
basis in biology or farm economics. Indian farmers say they adopt Bt  
cotton because it makes them money. It reduces pesticide costs, thus  
debt, and crop damage, and produces higher net revenues. Academic and  
institutional studies from India confirm these results, congruent  
with international findings. Why do disaster stories persist in  
India, and find confident adherents abroad?

Some reports of Bt failure may be honest, but mistaken. Since the  
efficacy of Bt technology was demonstrated by the “bollworm rampage”  
that devastated non-Bt cotton hybrids in Gujarat in 2001, rural India  
has been awash in spurious seeds. Early shortages of Bt seeds caused  
by regulatory restrictions and farmer demand led predictably to  
fraud. “Duplicates” were seeds that claimed to be Bt but were not. In  
Warangal district, one duplicate called itself Mahaco to trick  
farmers into thinking it was Mahyco. To extrapolate from these  
examples would be like concluding that “Rolex watches have failed”  
after talking to some careless tourists in Manhattan.

Adding official to underground hybrids yields perhaps two hundred  
cotton cultivars with Bt technology in India. There is no evidence  
whatsoever that isogenic cottons without the Bt gene succeed where Bt  
isolines failed. Periodic failures of particular cultivars have many  
causes; where cotton is especially risky — thin red soils without  
assured irrigation, example — all varieties will periodically fail,  
often disastrously. Much Indian cotton is grown under such  
conditions, contrary to official recommendations. The lure of “white  
gold” overcomes many hesitations. Finally, claims of crop failure may  
lead to cash compensation, and thus become part of the survival  
repertory of desperate farmers.

Colleagues often challenge these conclusions: how could so many smart  
people get it so wrong? Where there is smoke, isn’t there sure to be  
fire?

Though political praxis typically generates misinformation and hype,  
opposition stories about “GMOs” do seem egregious. By way of  
explanation, one first observes that social relations in advocacy  
networks in India tend to be asymmetric and hierarchical,  
meaningfully characterised as neta-chamcha — or leader-sycophant  
(with harsher connotations). Leaders do not want to hear empirical  
caveats about the master narrative. GM Watch learns of GMO  
catastrophes in India from Deccan Development Society; the source is  
credible for being local and a member of coalitions that GM Watch  
supports, such as Via Campesina. International networks facilitate  
flows of reciprocal but asymmetric knowledge claims; the  
incorporation of “Monsanto’s terminator gene” in Bt cotton moved  
centre-periphery, invented on a Canadian website; “failure of Bt  
cotton” moved from periphery to centre, authenticated by its  
indigenous authority. I’ve been told I cannot speak credibly on this  
matter as I am not Indian. Critical evaluation of the narrative  
itself is limited by the distance of middle-class activists from  
agriculture and agriculturalists. How else could the terminator- 
suicide-seed narrative survive so long after its obvious  
disconfirmation in cotton fields?

Class matters as well; radical freedom of leaders from the dull  
compulsion of economic facts eliminates any penalty for getting it  
wrong. Farmers operate under precisely the obverse conditions:  
getting seed choice wrong can be disastrous, hence their experimental  
and empirical approach. Empirically unconstrained cotton narratives  
emerge from a mode of production in which authenticity rents at the  
top, ironically, are high; though cornered by relatively few leaders  
with specialised cultural capital, there is discernible trickle-down.

Disaster narratives oppose supine peasants with monopolistic MNCs  
armed with patents — that there are no patents on plants in India is  
an inconvenient detail, unknown to global partners. Cultural urban  
bias resists crediting farmers with the skill and agency necessary to  
circumvent officials and firms, despite strong evidence to the  
contrary. The production and diffusion of illegal transgenic cotton  
hybrids in rural Gujarat was widely criticised by NGOs — especially  
Gene Campaign — as evidence of Delhi’s regulatory failure. But surely  
the profusion of Bt cotton hybrids was simultaneously compelling  
evidence of the material interests of farmers in the technology, and  
their agency in acquiring it.
Extreme claims

Finally, being heard in the global cacophony may necessitate extreme  
claims. Volker Heins’ Nongovernmental Organizations in International  
Society (Palgrave Macmillan 2008) is meaningfully sub-titled  
Struggles for Recognition. Nuanced claims about variable results  
across different Bt hybrids in different areas will not gain  
recognition; “complete failure” and dead sheep will get attention.  
Extreme claims themselves are rendered less falsifiable by the  
celebration of local knowledge that dovetails with scepticism about  
Enlightenment values — and science in particular.

There is then no puzzle of farmers adopting disastrous technologies:  
the disasters exist entirely in the imaginary of advocacy networks  
that have interests in disasters. The acceptance of molecular  
breeding technologies is rooted in precisely the agency and  
rationality of Indian farmers denied in global narratives of GMO  
opponents. Neither duped nor innumerate, cotton farmers face extreme  
challenges — from climate change to globally rigged markets — but  
they do know what works in their fields.

(Ron Herring is Professor of Government, Cornell University. Readers  
interested in his conclusions and references to literature may want  
to consult his article “Opposition to Transgenic Technologies:  
Ideology, Interests, and Collective Action Frames,” Nature Reviews  
Genetics London. Nature Publishing Group Vol 9 June 2008.)

_____


[5]


**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**


4 September 2008

WORLD AID SUMMIT MAKES MARGINAL PROGRESS TO REFORM INEFFECTIVE AID

Ministers met today in Accra to agree an agenda to make aid work  
better for the poor, but back-room deals and obstructions within the  
negotiations have soured the deal.


Expectations were high, but despite calls for deadlines and concrete  
plans from civil society and developing countries, the result has  
been a weak agreement characterised more by words than action.  Even  
last minute efforts by developing country Ministers and their allies,  
only ensured some marginal improvements. This aid forum has been  
organised by the OECD, a rich country donor club.

“In a year when more than one hundred million people have been pushed  
into poverty by rising food prices,” says Rose Mensah-Kutin from  
NETRIGHT, Ghana, “It is scandalous that donor governments have  
refused to remove damaging restrictions that increase the costs of  
food aid.”

Negotiations between governments were meant to address bottlenecks  
but the resulting Accra Agenda for Action demonstrates that aid is  
too often driven by donor interests and skewed power relationships.

“Donors have failed to agree to reduce harmful policy conditions that  
undermine democratic processes and constrain country choices,” said  
Tony Tujan from Reality of Aid, “Despite efforts by recipient  
countries, donors continue to impose their own structures, bypassing  
domestic processes. Donors are failing to meet their side of the  
bargain.”

Donors took a step in the right direction by starting a process to  
make their aid more transparent, accountable and inclusive of civil  
society and parliaments. But progress in most other areas offer slim  
pickings for developing countries.

ActionAid spokesperson, Wole Ololoye said “It is disgraceful that  
powerful countries have denied the poor the chance to benefit from  
better aid.  Future aid negotiations cannot be run by a rich country  
club. They must be moved to a forum where northern and southern  
countries can negotiate on equal terms”

The open platform of Civil Society Voices for Better Aid is calling  
on world leaders to urgently respond to citizens’ demands to harness  
aid as a tool in the fight against poverty and inequality.


ENDS

Contacts:
Nastasya Tay, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation +233  
(0) 240 376127
Tony Tujan, Reality of Aid:  +233 (0) 247 478663
Lucy Hayes, European Network on Debt and Development: +233 (0) 240  
230271 (Accra), +32-478556877 (Brussels)


Editors notes:
Civil Society Voices for Better Aid an open platform including CSOs  
who are attending the HLF and Parallel Forum – allowing civil society  
to speak with a unified voice.

Donors and developing countries agreed the Paris Declaration on aid  
effectiveness in Paris in 2005.  The Accra High Level Forum on Aid  
Effectiveness, 2nd – 4th September is the first major review of the  
progress made in implementing those commitments. (see www.accrahlf.net)

Thursday 4th September is the final day of three day Forum, when  
Ministers arrive to agree the final Accra Agenda for Action, which  
will be the political agreement from the Forum.  Government officials  
have been trying to make progress with last minute negotiations over  
the first two days of the conference (2nd and 3rd September).

Since January 2007, CSOs networks have worked in an International  
CSOs Steering Group (ISG) to coordinate CSOs’ analysis, proposals and  
plans for the Third High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness.  The ISG  
maintains a website, www.betteraid.org, as a portal for CSO  
initiatives on aid effectiveness, including a Policy Paper signed  
onto by more than 350 CSOs on aid and development effectiveness  
reform.  The ISG have been meeting with the Working Party on Aid  
Effectiveness, based at the OECD DAC, setting out CSO concerns and  
proposals for the Accra HLF.   Over 600 civil society organisations  
agreed a statement coming out of the Civil Society parallel  
conference in the lead-up to the HLF.  This statement lays out civil  
society key demands for reforming aid and is available at the website  
above.


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