Modi in tactical mode

BRP Bhaskar
Gulf Today

Parliament, which could not transact much business at its sessions earlier this year due to the acute hostility between the government and the opposition, began its winter session last week with both sides coming together to hail the Constitution and pay homage to its chief architect, BR Ambedkar.

The occasion was a two-in-one celebration: the 66th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution, and the 125th birth anniversary of Dr Ambedkar, who rose from the ranks of the so-called untouchables to be revered by the nation as the Father of the Constitution.

The debate revealed that the Bharatiya Janata Party, which heads the National Democratic Alliance government, is trapped in the inherent contradiction between the core constitutional values, which it is sworn to uphold as the ruling party, and the Hindu Rashtra (nation) concept of its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

In an attempt to dispel doubts about his party’s commitment to the constitutional ideals, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that the nation would only be run according to the Constitution. India was a diverse nation, and the sanctity of the Constitution which bound together all the citizens had to be maintained, he said.

He alluded to the bitter controversies in which the ruling front and the opposition parties are involved and made a pointed reference to the way the great leaders of an earlier era had worked together to frame the Constitution.

Waving an olive branch to the opposition, which has stalled his reform programmes in Parliament, Modi offered to address its concerns. “The government is ready to debate all issues,” he said.

Modi made no reference to the bitter national debate on the issue of growing intolerance, which assumed ugly proportions when Hindutva hordes began hounding celebrated film star Amir Khan who had spoken of the growing sense of fear, insecurity and despondency in the country and disclosed that his wife, film-maker Kiran Rao, a Hindu, had wondered whether the family should think of re-locating elsewhere.

He said they should focus on how the Constitution could help the Dalits, the marginalised and the poor. This appeared to be an image makeover attempt, prompted by Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi’s refrain that he was anti-Dalit and anti-poor.

Modi, who habitually adopts a highly partisan tone, tried to sound statesmanlike, but there was no condemnation of the scattered acts of violence by Hindutva elements across the country and the public statements by governors, central and state ministers and MPs which run counter to the ideals of the Constitution.

Two quick steps that followed conveyed the impression that the government may be willing to turn a new leaf. One was the decision to accept the opposition demand for a debate in Parliament on the issue of growing intolerance. The other was Modi’s invitation to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for talks to sort out the differences on the Goods and Services Tax Bill, a reform measure which the opposition has held up in the upper house of Parliament in which the NDA is in a minority.

However, it soon became evident that Modi’s new stance is tactical and does not signify any change in the government’s basic approach.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who spoke immediately after him, reiterated the BJP’s traditional positions on several issues.

He said secularism was a much misused word and claimed its misuse was creating problems in ensuring social harmony. Secularism should mean not neutrality towards religions but neutrality towards sects, he added.

This was a throwback to the position articulated by the RSS all along, which equates Hinduism with India and treats other faiths as sects.

Both Modi and Rajnath Singh, in their speeches, recalled that Ambedkar, who, as a Dalit, had suffered much humiliation in his lifetime had harboured no grudge against the country. They both conveniently ignored the fact that shortly before his death he had left the caste-ridden Hindu fold and embraced Buddhism.

The BJP’s new-found love for Ambedkar is suspect. Ambedkar’s legacy was almost forgotten by all but the Dalits, who look upon him as their liberator, until the VP Singh government (1989-1990), organised nationwide celebrations to mark his birth centenary and bestowed on him the nation’s highest honour, Bharat Ratna, posthumously. A few years later, Arun Shourie, who was a minister in the first BJP-led government, wrote a whole book to denigrate him.

In the book, titled “Worshipping False God: Ambedkar and the Facts that have been Erased”, Shourie portrayed him as a self-centred, unpatriotic, power-hungry, anti-national and a stooge of the British. He even sought to belittle Ambedkar’s contribution as the chairman of the committee that drafted the Constitution. -- Gulf Today, Sharjah, December 1, 2015.

Assault on Professor Joseph: an ode to Indian democracy

AVINASH PANDEY

Rarely do individual tragedies reflect all that is wrong in a society. Even rare are occasions where their implications go beyond the lives of the individual, his family, or the neighborhood. But, when they do, they assume a significance that has bearings on the history of the community and the society.

The recent attack on a college professor in Kerala comes under the category. The attack is no doubt tragic. The fact that it happened in front of his family is worse. The brutality of chopping the palm off the teacher has scarred the psyche of the family, scars that will probably never be erased. The significance of the event, however, does not lie in the personal tragedy inflicted upon the family by a gang of criminals. It goes much beyond the family, the town where they live, and the state of Kerala.

The attack, rather, is a marker of the times to come in India. Times when freedoms guaranteed by the constitution will cease to be guarantees and convert into empty words devoid of any meaning, buried deep down the pages of a book no one uses anymore.

Or these dark undemocratic times have already descended and the attack is just a grim reminder of that?

The details of the case point to nothing if not this. The attack did not emanate from any personal enmity. The intent was not only to hurt, or to kill, but also to terrorize everyone. That is why the assailants decided to attack him in full public view. The most bizarre thing about the attack, however, is the motive and not any of the above. The assailants allegedly belonged to the Popular Front of India, a fundamentalist Islamic political organization. They were incensed at a paper allegedly having a blasphemous conversation between God and Muhammad, set by the professor for the examinations of the private missionary run college.

Just that nothing in the conversation pointed to the Muhammad being referred to as the Prophet Muhammad. Yet, there was a boycott of the papers and protest rallies were promptly organized. Realizing the electoral ramifications of the controversy, the state government sprung into action and directed the college administration to suspend him. It goes without saying that the government did it without any proper inquiry. Yet the real question is a little more startling, that in what capacity a secular and socialist (literally as Kerala is ruled by an alliance led by the Communist Party of India Marxist) state directed a private institution to suspend a professor in absence of any enquiry, internal or by the state agencies.

The travesty of the justice and abuse of state institutions did not stop at that. The suspension of the professor was followed by a police case against him for 'hurting religious sentiments' and death threats issued by fundamentalist Islamic groups. Further, the police issued 'wanted' posters against the professor who had gone into hiding precisely because of the reluctance of the police to provide him with security in the face of death threats. But maybe we are just cribbing too much. Maybe it is the discretion of the police whether to provide security to a person or not, especially if the person is accused irrespective of the facts of the case.

Just when we might think that things could not go worse than this, they went. As if failing to provide security to professor and bringing the culprits to books was not enough, the police did go all the way wrong, post attack as well. The first thing the police did, as per media reports was convincing the Church leaders about their earnest pursuit of the attackers. The Hindu, one of the most respected news papers of India quoted T. Vikram, the Superintendent of Police, Ernakulam Rural, saying: "We have talked to church leaders to convince them that an all-out effort is being made to nab the culprits."

A person like me with limited understanding of democracy may wonder how the Church leaders enter the scene and why exactly a senior ranking police officer was trying to convince 'them' about the 'all-out efforts' the police was making to nab the culprits. This was a criminal assault after all and the police are required to do their job. To gather the evidence and produce the suspects for trial is in essence what policing is. Further, they should investigate the attack in all details, including the role of instigators and not only the perpetrators. They should have done all this, further, without even thinking of the identity of the victims and that of the perpetrators.

Is not the political identity of being a 'citizen' the crucial and decisive one in a democracy? Does not the Indian constitution guarantees the same while criminalizing any kind of discrimination based on any of the exclusive innate identities attached to a person, like those of caste, religion or ethnicity? And does not the very act of convincing church leaders in this case prove that the trail must have been going cold more often than not in cases where neither the victim nor the case has high profile.

The question what the police will do after nabbing the suspects and getting them convicted comes up here. Will the police apologize to the leaders of Muslim community in case all the accused happen to be Muslims, as is most likely? This sounds absurd but then this very absurdity is the hallmark of the Indian criminal justice system. Where a criminal is not just a criminal, but has an identity to invoke and dodge the law.

The legal course-of-action should be very clear. Anyone, and just about anyone, violating the law of the land should be dealt with firmly. Further, citizenship should be the only identity recognized by the law, accepting none other barring those of deprived sections constitutionally mandated for positive discrimination.

The case, therefore, should have been treated as an outright case of criminal and murderous assault and investigated like that only. Further, the investigation should have tried investigating the roles of instigators as well and to bring the whole ring of such exclusivist and fundamentalist religious fanatics to books as they pose a grave threat to the very ethos of the country.

All this discussion makes it very clear that the police had no business of convincing the religious leaders. But they did it. So, the question arises whether they are, in fact, responsible or at least answerable to religious leaders? De facto if not de jure. And if they are, leaders of which religion are they answerable to? Or, are they answerable to leaders of all religion? They are, or at least seem to be. In that case what will be the line of action in cases of communal/ religious riots?
There was nothing new in the Kerala police's action. Police forces across the country have done the same. Right from being biased in favour of one particular religion, they have presided over the genocidal attacks of one religion on another. The way Delhi police acted in 1984 when murderous Hindu crowds butchered Sikhs, in the name of taking revenge for the killing of Indira Gandhi, the then prime minister, by her Sikh bodyguards. The government in charge of Delhi police was led by Indian National Congress, the party the slain prime minister belonged to.

Disgusting it may sound, but that was still better than what Gujarat police did in 2002 pogrom of Muslims by murderous Hindu crowds belonging to the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh(RSS) and its affiliates. This time they did not assist the pogrom just by looking away. Rather, they actually supported it by stopping the Muslims from trying to escape the attacks. They did this by firing, actually firing, at Muslim victims running for their lives. Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), the political arm of the RSS, was in the government.

The Orissa police did this in 2008. Christians were the target this time though the perpetrators remained the same. The riots took place apparently for revenging the killing of a Hindu sadhu belonging to the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, another RSS affiliate, allegedly by the Maoists. The police looked the other way again. Rather as per several victims, the police were quite friendly with them. The province was being ruled by an alliance of BJP and Biju Janata Dal, a regional political party.

These cases are just the tip of the iceberg. The gross ones. In all of these cases, the riots were led by the ruling party itself, which controls the police. Apparently, the police cannot go against their political bosses. For every riot this huge, there are hundreds if not thousands of small localized attacks on minorities.

Most of these attacks are supported, if not organized, by the local government and the police. And that is done for a simple reason, for democracy. This may sound weird to untrained ears but then this is it. These riots are organized to mobilize communal passions. The communal passion in turn animates communities herding together. And that translates into votes for the leadership of 'democratic' parties.

The governments, therefore, need the religious leaders, especially of the highly sectarian nature as mobilizing communal passion will be very difficult without them. And the numbers would follow the age-old dictum, the more the merrier, as there would be as many fault lines to play with as there are religions/sects/denominations. What else can explain the best political scientists of the country explain every election in the biggest democracy of the world, right from the village council to the parliamentary ones, in terms of caste, sect and religious and ethnic breakups of the constituencies. Forget that these were precisely the identities that should play no role in any democratic process, leave aside elections.

But then, India is a democracy more than half of whose parliamentarians have serious criminal charges against them. Where a chief minister of a rich state organizes and presides over a pogrom of Muslims to win an election and retains his chair. It is a democracy where the same chief minister mocks the commission appointed by the Supreme Court of the country for looking into the pogrom. It is a democracy where half of the top leadership of the main opposition party would have been behind the bars for inciting communal frenzy and destabilizing peace.

The systemic and systematic cultivation of mechanisms to find loopholes in the legal system and exploit them to escape punishment for one's crimes makes the flawed democracy India has evolved into. The failure of the system has resulted in the police evolving as the extra arm of the ruling parties which is often used to terrorize the opposition. The injustices committed by the police lead to the alienation of whole communities from the system, leading to their taking recourse to extremism. Can one forget incidents like the Mumbai police lining up more than a thousand Muslim youth immediately after the blasts that rocked the city? Or the fact that there had been no action or even an inquiry against officers of the Uttar Pradesh state police who killed the alleged masterminds of the bomb blasts in Varanasi almost a year before the Delhi police killed a completely different set of people for being the masterminds of the same blast?

This is what leads to a situation where extremist groups belonging to all religions play victims and emerge as the saviours of their communities. The clash of these fundamentalist groups with the state placating the needed one on that hour becomes the inevitable consequence of such an unjust system. A system where murderers of Muslims and Christians take oath in the name of the Indian constitution and run governments, and where no action is taken against Muslim legislators even when they assault and incite their supporters to kill Taslima Nasreen.

Evidently, cracking down on the religious fanatics does not make sense in a democracy of the Indian kind. Neither does secularism. Rather, it does. Not in the Nehuruvian sense though which defined secularism as 'equal state protection to all religions'. It makes sense in its current form, equal state protection and immunity to the highly organized and institutionalized, rogue fundamentalist fanatics of all religions. The fanatics then, of course, can protect the followers of their religion.

Avinash Pandey alias Samar is a research scholar based in New Delhi. Currently Samar is in Hong Kong on an assignment with the Asian Human Rights Commission.

Communalism, Minority Identity and Secularism in the 2009 elections

CYNTHIA STEPHEN
Countercurrents.org

“Majorities are of two sorts: (1) communal majority and (2) political majority. A political majority is changeable in its class composition. A political majority grows. A communal majority is born. The admission to a political majority is open. The door to a communal majority is closed. The politics of political majority are free to all to make and unmake. The politics of communal majority are made by its own members born in it.” – Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.

These prophetic words are very relevant in today’s India. “The world’s largest democracy” prides itself on the fact that its voters are showing more and more maturity in the results the elections throw up. People-groups which have not hitherto played a major role in electoral alliances are beginning to gain importance and “rainbow coalitions” are the rule rather than the exception. A political majority is sought to be built to fight elections and gain power. But what is happening in the context of the communal majority?

For instance, the results of the recently Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir show up a glaring fault-line, one that Ambedkar refers to in the quotation. Never before had voters in J&K ever returned 10 BJP representatives to the assembly, all from Jammu. The divide between the Kashmir valley and Jammu was thrown into sharp relief. But the emotive issue which ended in such polarization, just before the election, was of the agitation on the issue of the allotment of land for amenities for pilgrims going to Amarnath. While the issue was communalized, the dividends were political. Gujarat is another clear case in point, as is a recent controversy: Varun Gandhi and his rabble-rousing speech which has been exploited both by the media and the BJP to maximum dramatic effect.

The birthing of India took place on the hopeful though tearful dawn of the 15th of August 1947, when British Imperialism conceived and delivered offspring which were almost like conjoined twins: torn apart into two on the basis of religious identity but held together by a shared trauma of birth, history, geography and blood-ties. It was an ominous portent. The two newly-born countries had a ruling class whose class-caste identities were clear and unambiguously elitist, but in India at least, their secular credentials were not under doubt. On 26th January 1950, and the founding dream of India: as a sovereign republican democracy – became a reality, not chiefly by the efforts of the Congressmen who had led the anti-colonial movement for India’s political freedom, but by the tireless efforts of one man, whose numerous contributions to his country was crowned by the singular effort to produce the Constitution of India: Dr. B R Ambedkar, head of the drafting committee of the Constituent Assembly. But as he presented to the nation the most important work of his life, he stated: “On the 26th January 1950, we are going to enter into a life of contradictions. In politics we will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. In politics we will be recognising the principle of one man one vote and one vote one value. In our social and economic life, we shall by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value. How long shall we continue to live this life of contradictions? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril. We must remove this contradiction at the earliest possible moment else those who suffer from inequality will blow up the structure of democracy which this Constituent Assembly has so laboriously built up.”

But now, in the India of the third millennium, equality continues to be denied, and contradictions abound. Communalism has taken the centre-stage, leaving its bloody footprints on the sands of the sixty-odd years of time that India has existed.

The Constitutional values of Equality and non-discrimination are the bedrock on which rests the edifice of rights and freedoms of Indian citizens. The Constitution recognizes, even celebrates, the diversity and plurality of the country and its citizens, and guarantees equality before the law to every citizen. But the very idea that our country is universally secular, democratic and plural in experience is problematic. It may be so for the privileged. But women, Dalits, children, Christians and Muslims, especially those belonging to the lower economic and social strata, and rural, forest, hill and desert-dwelling populations experience a different, harsher reality - of unrelenting exclusion, violence and deprivation.

But the spirit of Equality was violated by one of the earliest executive actions performed by the first President of India, Shri Rajendra Prasad. He signed the rank discriminatory Presidential Order 1950 in August that year, in which an apocryphal third paragraph was introduced, which effectively denied the benefits of reservations to members of the Scheduled castes who were Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians (and Muslims). This was modified in 1956 to include Sikhs in reservations and in 1990 to include Buddhists. And despite many assurances, recommendations and protests, the fact is that Christians and Muslims of Dalit origin continue to be denied the very amenities that are theirs by right. Thus the principle of nondiscrimination on the basis of religion which was embedded in the DNA of the Indian state, has been bypassed by this order, even though the order is against the spirit as well as the legal position of the Constitution, and there the matter continues to stand.

Thus, clearly, while the de jure position is that every citizen in the country is equal before law, the reality – the de facto position – is that the religious and other minorities in fact face systemic discrimination. The rule of the dominants, namely those who follow a Brahminical and casteist mode of life, prevails. Ironically, though this category is in a numerical minority, at best about 15% of the country’s population overall, they comprise an overwhelming majority in the government, the academic, the political sphere, the judiciary and the private sector. The very poor implementation of reservations at all levels in jobs and employment, barring the lowest or class D category – is testimony to the discriminatory nature of our society and policy. Thus even if the law provides proactive measures for development of those who are backward or poor, the ‘iron frame’ of privilege will work to exclude those who are eligible for the benefits and try to appropriate them for itself. And if about 40% of our population is below the poverty line, that is, too poor to afford survival-level food consumption – then we need to ask how representative, fair and democratic our political and social structure actually are.

The silver lining to this cloud is the consolidation of the lower castes, both in the political and educational spheres. This has brought fresh thinking and new talent to the fore, even if the persons concerned are inexperienced and less exposed to the nature of the establishment, and for that reason are better able to bring about much-needed changes in it. The impetus given by the Mandal Commission report to this process - and the backlash in the form of the “Kamandal” – the consolidation and mobilization of the saffron forces to counter this – has yet to be fully understood. The Mandal Commission evolved an index based on 11 indicators, subdivided into three categories – social, educational and economic – for the definition of the OBCs, and caste was not the sole criterion. Three of the indicators concerned caste, while the others referred to other impediments to the progress of the people group including early marriage – a barrier to education – and other criteria such as percentage of the caste who owned at least kuccha housing.

Christophe Jaffrelot, in his “India’s Silent Revolution: The rise of the low castes in North Indian politics” points out that the entire purpose of the exercise of the Commission was to give the OBCs access to power, not jobs. He quotes from the report – “ It is not at all our contention that by offering a few thousands jobs to OBC candidates we shall be able to make 52% of the Indian population as forward”. The report goes on to say that “an essential part of the battle against social backwardness is to be fought in the minds of the backward people. In India government service has always been looked upon as a symbol of prestige and power. By increasing the representation of OBCs in government services, we give them an immediate feeling of participation in the governance of this country. When a backward class candidate becomes a Collector or a Superintendent of Police, the material benefits accruing from his position are limited to the members of his family.. [B]ut the psychological spin off of this phenomenon is tremendous; the entire community of that backward class feels socially elevated. Even when no tangible benefits flow to the community at large the feeling that it now has its ‘own man’ in the ‘corridors of power’ acts as a morale booster.” The report further says “reservation will certainly erode the hold of the higher castes on the services.”

How is this relevant to the discourse on communalism? It has a very important bearing on the discourse, because before Mandal, conversion to “other” religions was an important, and often the only option for upward social mobility of disadvantaged groups. Thus India saw large-scale conversions at various times in the past to Islam, at a time in its history where Muslims were the ruling class, for example in Gujarat, Central India and in Bengal. Similarly the latter part of British rule in India, after the East India Company lost its hold on the affairs of the colonial project, and the Crown took over, saw a surge in the numbers of people from the untouchable and lower castes who became Christians because of a similar process – from being excluded from access to the corridors of power, they saw the virtues of becoming co-religionists of the ruling class so as to feel a sense of belonging and identity with the powers-that-be. Thus the conversion process, at least in the past, had a lot to do with the contemporary political processes.

In the present day, the rise in saffron assertion has closely paralleled the growth of the political aspirations of the lower castes following the Mandal Commission. The Sangh Parivar also kicked in around the same time with a thrust into the communities of the subalterns with their Vanvasi Kalyan, Ekal Vidyalayas, and the Bajrang Dal. Thus the threat perception of the ruling classes – that the processes unleashed by the Mandal Commission would succeed in subverting their hold on power – caused them to, on the one hand, reach out to the subaltern classes to build a constituency among them, and on the other, drive a wedge between the so-called “Hindus” and the Minorities by demonising them by harping “differences” between the minorities and the “Hindus”. The organizations using the name of Ram such as the Ram Sena are usually composed of the more dominant caste, thereby underscoring the inherent caste-class divide and power relations implied in the relationships (Hanuman – Bajrang Bali – the devotee of Lord Shri Ram).

As the wheels of Advani’s Rath rolled over the Indian landscape in the 1990s and subsequently, the power surge - Orissa, Chhatisgarh, MP, Bihar, Delhi - suggests a seemingly broad-based support for the RSS- sponsored communal agenda. But straws in the wind suggest that we have not yet seen the real face of Fascism. Bangar Laxman, Uma Bharathi and Kalyan Singh were all elevated to positions of power and later discarded, after their communities appeared to buy into the Parivar’s agenda. All of them were Dalits or BCs. Narendra Modi, though no one thinks of his caste, is also said to belong to a BC community – the Teli caste. He too has been used to do some major dirty work for the Parivar. Soon the time will come when he too will be dispensed with. Even Advani – with his Sindhi origin and his householder status – too does not fit into the Fascist scheme of the RSS. Soon, he too will bite the dust and a quintessential RSS man – single, Brahmin or upper-caste will either be projected for leadership. Alternatively, the BJP itself will be eclipsed and become a footnote in Indian politics, while an upper-caste preferably Brahmin “Brahmachari” from the RSS will wrest control of the political space presently occupied by the BJP. Hardline Brahminism, Patriarchy, and Fascism will combine to try and occupy democratic spaces and take over the governance. The situation of the Dalits, religious minorities and women will see a rapid decline.

With this end in mind, the ruling class have set into motion a series of processes aimed at exploiting the existing fault-lines in Indian society and channeling the desire of the subaltern classes to be close to the seat of power by enabling formations such as the Dharm Raksha Sena, the Bajrang Dal, etc. They also appropriate local linguistic sensibilities by infiltrating or taking them over – such as happened in Karnataka with the Kannada Rakshana Vedike. It is ironical that one section of Kannada “Abhimanis” bought into the saffron agenda because even a cursory glance will reveal the non-Brahmin provenance of the linguistic and cultural heritage of the Kannada people – Basava, Akkammahadevi, Kanakadasa and other luminaries who have enriched the literature and philosophy of this ancient land and language can hardly be termed Brahminical.

But the sad irony is that the true inheritors of the legacy of social struggle, progressive and subaltern assertion appear to have lost the capacity to counter the communal agenda. Instead they have become pawns in the hands of those who propagate the Fascistic saffron communal agenda. Most in India are aware that the Sangh Parivar, and chiefly the RSS, its intellectual fountainhead – is actually a vehicle for Fascism. In the south, the vibrant non-Brahmin movement in Tamil Nadu has kept the Parivar at bay in Tamil Nadu. The Left and the relatively larger percentage of Islamic-Christian populations has to some extent retarded their progress in Kerala. But while Karnataka appears to have been won over, the first real support for the Parivar in the South was actually in Andhra Pradesh, because the first ally of the BJP was the TDP which enabled the NDA to rule in Delhi for a whole term for the very first time. But Karnataka’s social realities are very different from AP, where the minorities rallied together to send the TDP packing in the state elections, to punish it for its dalliance with the BJP. Even in Karnataka, the pockets of support for the BJP are not widespread, but only in parts of the state – the coastal and North-western areas. The South and most of the North-eastern part of Karnataka do not seem to be much enamoured of the Parivar. But the secular political forces have failed to see the writing on the wall and come together to counter its agenda. This has caused the BJP to come to power in the state on a negative vote. Will our politically savvy voters now save the day for our state, even though the leaders seem to betray them time after time?

All is not lost - thinkers and scholars, writers and grassroots political activists, and newer political formulations are waking up to the realities. People in Karnataka were shocked to see the ugly face of the Parivar in their own backyard or rather in their own drawing rooms, as TV channels gave blanket coverage to footage of the public beating of women in a restaurant in Mangalore, and some footage emerged of unprecedented attacks on churches in the town too. In the same region, for the past two years there were communal incidents involving the sale of beef – mainly against Muslims. As one astute grassroots political activist in Bangalore pointed out, the violence against minorities is carefully orchestrated. They target Muslim for their Beef-eating and selling, Christians for conversions, and Dalits are targeted for casteist atrocities if they become assertive. It is not as if Dalits or Christians don’t eat or trade in beef; or that Muslims or Christians are not asserting. And conversions happen both among Dalits and Muslims, but they are not targeted on this issue. They target these three groups on three different issues so that they cannot come together to oppose the Parivar’s agenda. In fact, on some issues there are bound to be differences between the three subaltern groups. And the Parivar is fishing in these waters to gain political mileage.

The RSS has shown ingenuity in enlisting youths from subaltern groups and co-opting them into their agenda, at a time when secular and even progressive democratic forces have ceded their spaces. Where are the active students’ movements of the 70s and 80s? Have the educational institutions and universities actively discouraged the activity of these groups? Or did changed social expectations de-politicise our youth so that they can no longer distinguish between fascism and democracy? How can we educate young people about the dangers of fascism? Even the strong trade union movements of the 80s have been weakened by internal contradictions, by attrition in policies and by sheer economic compulsions. Thus the existing political awareness in society has been

To go back to the quotation cited at the beginning of this paper, has our inaction succeeded in making what was surely only a communal majority into a political majority? Is it too late already? A peep into the future suggest that there may still be time. There is still space for sections of society who have so far been marginalized from these processes to come to the fore, such as women, youth and the professional class, at least those from the newly upwardly mobile classes. Their involvement and fresh thinking, their identification of issues and location of solutions will bring in a new vibrance to our maturing democratic system.

Cynthia Stephen is an independent researcher based in Bangalore. She can be contacted at cynstepin@yahoo.com

Making a mockery of the Constitution

GLADSON DUNGDUNG
Countercurrents.org

The hate speech by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Varun Feroze Gandhi (picture on left) has triggered a political controversy. Obviously it was not an unexpected remark from the BJP family members. What disturbs the nation most is that an heir of the Nehru-Gandhi family, who claims he is a Gandhian, attacked secularism, slammed Mahatma Gandhi’s non-violence and made a mockery of the Indian Constitution by abusing, provoking and attacking a particular community while addressing an election rally at Pilibhit in Utter Pradesh on March 5.

Varun Gandhi is a great-grandson of Jawaharlal Nehru, who was a champion of secularism and secular politics. Thanks to Nehru, right from the beginning India committed itself to secularism and the Constitution was drafted on secular lines.

Theoretically, secularism is all about the equal respect for all religions, cultures and languages, and non-interference of religion in state affairs and vice versa. The Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, had a very clear idea of secularism. Once he said, "I am a Sanatani Hindu. I will give my life for my religion. But it is my personal matter. About India whose fashioning I am struggling for, that will be totally secular. Neither my religion will dictate the state nor will the state dictate my religion".

According to the Constitution of India, no one shall be discriminated against on the basis of caste, class, creed, gender and region. Similarly, all citizens of India, irrespective of their religion, caste or gender, have the right to vote and Articles 14 to 32 guarantee every citizen the same rights without any discrimination.

Communal forces have repeatedly made a mockery of the Constitution. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the BJP, also known as the Sangh Parivar, not only reject secularism but provoke violence against the minorities. The Sangh Parivar proclaims the theory of one people, one nation, one religion, one language and one culture. It means there is no place for other religions, cultures and languages in India, which is completely against the secular fabric of the Constitution.

The BJP has been campaigning against the minorities for decades with the sole intention of capturing political power. L K Advani, when he was President of BJP, spearheaded the hate campaign against the Babri mosque, leading to its demolition in his presence. Consequently, the BJP came into the power and he became the Home Minister in the NDA government.

The youth brigades of the BJP understand it and have started enjoying communal politics. Unfortunately they are being caught with their immature political speeches. The question is why the young Gandhi wants to make his political debut with a huge controversy? Is he really against his great-grandfather’s secular ethos? Or has he learnt the BJP’s manipulated secularism? What does he want to achieve with it at the end of the day? One must recall that how Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was made a hero after his hate campaign against Muslims in Gujarat and how Atal Bihari Bajpayee, the then Prime Minister, backed him.

How can one forget that after the Kandhamal violence, BJP had threatened to withdraw its support to the Naveen Patnaik government if action is taken against activists of the RSS and the Bajrang Dal? Karnataka Chief Minister B. S. Yeddyurappa became the Sangh’s hero when he supported the inhuman activities of Bajrang Dal and Ram Sena in Karnataka. Arjun Munda, former Chief Minister of Jharkhand, gets regular promotions in the BJP for his anti-Christian campaign. The list goes on. Varun Gandhi made hate speeches only to become a hero in the BJP and emerge as candidature for prime ministership of the next generation in the BJP.

The BJP accommodated Varun Gandhi to counter the Congress’s youth icon Rahul Gandhi. When Varun Gandhi joined the BJP he was always beating the media headlines. After the general election 2004, he was completely forgotten by the party and he also failed to become the poster boy of the party. On the other side, the status of Rahul Gandhi is growing day by day. When he visits to Dalit villages, stays in Dalits’ houses and even carries a basket of mud in the NREGA scheme, he makes media headlines. Finally, he is the poster boy of the Congress and the prime ministerial candidate of the next generation. This disturbs Varun Gandhi the most and his party has left nothing for him except a Lok Sabha seat. Therefore the young Gandhi initiated a hate campaign, which the BJP was not aware of. He knows that giving hate speeches and polarizing the community in the name of religion makes one a hero in the BJP.

Varun Gandhi is not alone in provoking the people on communal lines. The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, L.K. Advani, declared a few weeks ago that he will not say “Jai Shree Ram” unless the Ram temple is constructed at Ayodhya. Is it not communal provocation? Narendra Modi campaigned against Chief Election Commissioner J.M. Lyngdoh in 2002, soon after Lyngdoh denied the BJP a chance to exploit the situation in Gujarat for electoral gains. While addressing a Swaabhiman rally at Bodeli near Vadodara, he said, ‘‘Someone asked me, has Lyngdoh come from Italy? Is he a relation of Sonia Gandhi?’’’ He added, “I replied that they sometimes met in church, so there must be ties between them”. The BJP had declined to take action against Modi. The party does the same with Varun Gandhi, except that it asked him to apologize and he refused. It is clearly a hypocritical act of the BJP.

The BJP always ask for vote in the name of religion. Why does the Election Commission not derecognize the party and seize its symbol? Varun Gandhi has not beenarrested yet though a non-bailable criminal case has been registered against him. Why do constitutional bodies remain mute spectators when communal forces carry out communal campaigns? Since Independence several major communal riots have taken pace in India, including the anti-Sikh riot, Bhagalpur riots, Babri Mosque riot, Gujarat riots and the Kandhamal riot. The sad part is that the country is unable to make a law to protect its secular ethos. From all sides there are efforts to make a mockery of the Constitution has been made mockery from all corners. How long will we tolerate this kind of foolish politics?

Gladson Dungdung is a Human Rights activist and writer based at Ranchi, Jharkhand. He can be contacted at gladsonhrights@gmail.com

Muslims for Secular Democracy

Below is a communication from Javed Anand, circulated by the Rights Support Centre, drawing attention to the website of Muslims for Secular Democracy:


Please visit our website, www.mfsd.org for hundreds of reports by CNN, New York Times, Yahoo.com and a host of Indian publications on the March by thousands of Muslims in Mumbai and 10 other cities in India to denounce terror in the name of Islam.

In the coming days we will also uplink pictures of the rally and more reports on the same. Please help us spread this message as widely as you can. This is your and our contribution in the battle against this global scourge.

When we came up with this idea less than a week ago, we told ourselves we should mobilise at least a hundred Muslims in Mumbai. It is really a very happy sign that everyone who heard of it also wanted to participate and by Sunday scores of organisations participated in 11 different cities cutting across sectarian divides.

Best Wishes

Javed Anand

Dangerous liaisons

By Pavan Nair
Countercurrents.org

The arrest of a serving army officer in connection with a terrorist
attack targeting the muslim community is a matter of deep concern. Every officer takes an oath to defend the country and its constitution. The officer's code states that the country must come first, always and every time. Therefore, Hindu officers hatching a conspiracy to blow up Muslims plays into the hands of those forces which want to see the country divided down the middle on religious and communal lines. This is the kind of stuff that any inimical intelligence agency would dream of achieving.

The bombing incident is a one off case in the armed forces even as it is emerging that other serving officers are involved. Investigations will take place and the law will take its course. There is however a dangerous trend which is affecting the officer cadre. This is the hugely negative influence that the hindutva agenda has achieved in the garb of patriotism and nationalism. The extent of penetration is obvious by the kind of mails being circulated amongst several groups in which serving as well as retired officers are participants. Being a retired officer, I am at the receiving end of several such groups. I am waiting for a mail which has condemned the involvement of serving and retired officers in the Malegaon attack or one which has even considered its implications. Muslims and Christians are routinely derided by officers who see them as acting against Hindu interests even though there are thousands of soldiers and many hundreds of officers who belong to these communities in service. The 'All terrorists are muslims' syndrome is firmly in place. Never mind the ULFA, LTTE, Naxals or Khalistanis and now Abhinav Bharat, the outfit responsible for the Malegaon blasts.

Till recently, the secular credentials of the Indian army were never
been in doubt; therefore it was surprising to see the reaction of
several senior officers when the muslim headcount controversy came out in the open a few years ago. A retired general even petitioned the Supreme Court to prevent data being provided to the Sachar Committee which was looking into the conditions of Muslims. Interestingly, the navy and air force had no problems in providing the figures. The army has only 3% of muslims in the rank and file though the muslim population is over 15%. The army reflects the views of society, so the anti-muslim bias which exists across most sections was expressed by saying that the army is secular and not based on caste or religion so there was no need to consider any increase of a particular community.

The BJP jumped into the fray stating that this was going to
communalise the army. The fact is that the fighting arms of the army except for some new raisings are based on caste and have a fixed class composition. For example, jat sikhs are recruited in the Sikh Regiment whereas lower caste mazhabi and ramdasia sikhs are recruited in the Sikh Light Infantry. Almost every community has an infantry regiment named after it; be it the Jats, Sikhs, Dogras, Gurkhas, Rajputs, Marathas, Biharis, Assamese, Maharis, Punjabis, Madrasis and even the Nagas. The only pure muslim regiment is the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry. There are very few fixed vacancies for muslims in other regiments.

Muslims always formed a large part of the British IndianArmy in pure and mixed regiments but most units went across to Pakistan though a large proportion of the population stayed on in India. The imbalance which crept in should have been corrected much earlier since every community has the right to participate in the defence of the country and also enjoy the privileges which accrue thereof. The government of the day bowed down and the issue was swept under the carpet.

There is now a fairly aggressive ex-servicemen movement which is not averse to organizing processions and hunger strikes to highlight demands relating to pay and pensions. This community is being politicized which may not be a bad thing by itself but such a group being influenced by extreme right wing propaganda in the name of nationalism can be dangerous and could lead to further incidents like the Malegaon blast.

The meaning of the word 'secular' which has always been the strength of the armed forces is now taken to mean appeasing minority communities specially Muslims. As a policy, the BJP has wooed several retired officers. A general is the Chief Minister of a state. Several generals have been given tickets to stand for elections. This is perfectly laudable but indicates a trend. Maybe the Congress should also consider a greater representation for retired officers. The presence and participation of several officers in the agitation in Jammu with regard to the Amarnath Shrine controversy is an indicator of the political leanings of the officer cadre. Incidentally, the governor Lt Gen SK Sinha, a BJP appointee, managed to single- handedly achieve what militancy could not for two decades: total alienation of the population of the Valley. The Congress must be cursing itself for allowing him an extension. The army needs to look inwards and correct aberrations before it is too late. The consequences for the republic are frightening. It could cease to exist.

National Convention on Countering Fascist Forces: Defending the Idea of India

The following is a report circulated by Shabnam Hashmi on the National Convention on ‘Countering Fascist Forces: Defending the idea of India’ held in New Delhi on October 25 and 26, 2008

The two-day national convention was attended by over 750 activists' and intellectuals from 18 states (Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Delhi, Harayana, Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Gujarat, Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, J & K, Punjab, Maharashtra and Chattisgarh).

POLITICAL RESOLUTION PASSED AT THE CONVENTION

The urgency to intervene in defence of democracy, secularism and justice has never been more pressing than in the conditions prevailing in the country today.
The rise of communal fascism has emerged as a threat not only to its immediate victims but to the very long-term survival of India as a unified nation of diverse religious, linguistic and ethnic groups. The mysterious and condemnable acts of terrorism that have shaken different parts of the country have engendered a climate of fear, insecurity and fuelled the politics of communal division.

In recent months, vicious attacks have been mounted across India against religious minorities by Hindutva fascist organizations and communalism has even become the dominant tenor of public discourse. In Maharashtra the regional chauvinist forces of Bal and Raj Thackeray, both offsprings of the Hindutva politics of hate, has targeted north Indians in a bid to drive them out of the state.

The BJP, RSS and their allies in the Sangh Parivar have mounted a vicious campaign against the Christian community across India. Orissa and over 10 states have seen violent attacks on the Christian community, their institutions, religious places, property and businesses on the basis of fabricated stories and hate campaigns.
Throughout the country Muslim youth are being targeted, without any or little evidence, as responsible for the various bomb blasts taking place in the country. There is a concerted attempt by the Indian police, intelligence agencies and certain political parties to portray all members of the Muslim community as 'terrorists and extremists' - to be arbitrarily arrested, tortured and killed in fake encounters. Sections of the media instead of investigating the truth are blindly parroting these sensational and unsubstantiated claims.

Even more disturbingly the accused are being systematically denied their basic right to legal defence by some bar associations themselves which have threatened, expelled and even violently attacked lawyers brave enough to take up these cases. The Indian judiciary has failed to take suo moto cognizance of such attacks as being contempt of court.

All this while hard evidence available against Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other Sangh outfits of their direct involvement in terror attacks is not only being ignored but actively pushed under the carpet by the Indian state. The Hindutva terrorist groups like the Bajrang Dal are openly claiming responsibility for this communal violence against Christians and are yet being allowed to go scot-free.
There is a growing feeling among religious minority communities that the Indian state and judiciary is biased against them and unwilling to provide impartial justice even in cases such as the demolition of the Babri Masjid. No action has been taken on the recommendations of the Srikrishna Commission report following the anti-Muslim pogrom in Mumbai of 1993. On the other hand some members of the judiciary are now willing to be puppets of communal forces, a dangerous trend set by the Nanavati Commission, which has exonerated the Narendra Modi government of responsibility for the Gujarat Genocide of 2002.

Instead of confronting these fascist forces the Indian state is cracking down hard on 'soft targets' like human rights and social activists. The fundamental rights of life, liberty, freedom of speech, religion and dissent guaranteed to all citizens by the Indian Constitution are being shred to pieces right in front of our eyes.
Entire swathes of the Indian North-East and Kashmir are covered by the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) that authorises even the lowest soldier to shoot and kill civilians on mere suspicion of their being 'militants'. In Chhattisgarh, large numbers of citizens continue to be detained using the highly restrictive Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act (CSPSA). Those defending the rights of the poor, Dalit, Adivasis and other marginalised people are being falsely branded as 'extremists' and 'anti-nationals'. The state sponsored, unconstitutional 'Salwa Judum' campaign, which has unleashed horrific violence on innocent tribal populations over the past four years in the name of countering Maoism, is being justified by none other than the National Human Rights Commission itself.
All this is happening even as the forces of imperialism led by the United States, under the pretext of the so-called Global War on Terror, are busy re-colonising entire nations from Iraq to Afghanistan and are now targeting Pakistan in the immediate neighbourhood of India. The global media is contributing to this politics of hatred by demonizing Muslims worldwide and frightening ordinary citizens into giving up their basic democratic rights everywhere.

Within the country, the pattern of elitist development has turned a vast majority of the population into second-class citizens, reinforcing with misguided policies the apartheid of the ancient and racist caste system. The ghost of the East India Company, buried long ago, is being resurrected in myriad forms and those who run the Indian state are willfully abetting the return of a neo-colonial order.
It is a state of affairs that calls upon all those who value Indian independence, democratic rights and social justice to come forward, take responsibility and resist the onslaught by fascist and imperialist forces on the foundations of our national values and existence. We also urge all anti-communal activists and secular political parties to forge alliance to defeat fascism and communalism. We, the delegates and participants of the National Convention on Countering Fascism: Defending the Idea of India in New Delhi held on 25-26 October 2008 resolve as follows to:

1) Call for the resignation of Shivraj Patil, Home Minister of India for his abject failure to prevent bomb attacks in major Indian cities; take action against Hindutva terrorists despite evidence provided to him by civil society groups; stop the Sangh Parivar's attacks on Christian populations in Orissa, Karnataka and other parts of India; and for using fake police encounters and false evidence against Muslim youth to save his political career;

2) Call for the dismissal of M.K.Narayanan, National Security Adviser for incompetence and all the intelligence lapses leading to rise in to both terrorist and communal violence;

3) Demand prosecution of all members of the Bharatiya Janata Party and ABVP who have links with Hindutva terrorist organisations, such as the ones implicated in the Malegaon bomb blasts.

4) Condemn the UPA government for falling prey to the Hindutva agenda while paying lip service to secularism.

5) Demand the setting up of a time-bound judicial inquiry into the Jamia Nagar 'encounter' headed by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court;

6) Review major cases of 'terrorist' attacks and immediately release those against whom there is no evidence of any kind; implementation of NHRC instruction regarding independent investigation into all deaths in police custody and in police encounters over the last 5 years;

7) Call for a ban on RSS, the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad for terrorist, anti-national activities and seizure of their national and international assets; a White Paper on the terrorist activities of these organizations;

8) Demand the presentation of a White Paper on the scope of India's "war on terrorism" and the level of its cooperation and collaboration with the US-led war on terror;

9) Enact the Communal Violence Bill after thorough revision in consultation with citizen's bodies, human rights groups and anti-communal organisations across India;

10) Provide immediate relief and compensation to the victims of communal terrorism in Orissa and other states including reconstruction of destroyed private property and restoration of livelihood. Set up a permanent statutory body to deal with such issues in future.

11) Demand the formation of a strong statutory body like election commission (or extend the scope of the EC) to monitor pre-election conduct of political parties and their leaders which generally leads up to polarization of vote banks. Such a body should have a right to disqualify party and/or its functionaries or elected representatives in the legislature in the wake of a breach of conduct;

12) The immediate release of Human Rights Defenders, such as Dr Binayak Sen, who have been arrested for exposing police atrocities and state violence against innocent citizens.

13) Demand a White Paper on misuse of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act in Kashmir and the Indian North-East and the immediate withdrawal; search for a political rather than military solution to the Kashmir problem;

14) A national commission of inquiry into the misuse of special security laws by the police to arrest members of the minority community in false cases of terrorism

PROMINENT SPEAKERS AT THE CONVENTION

Abhay Shukla, Achin Vanaik , Amit Sengupta, Anil Choudhary, Apoorvanand, Colin Gonsalves, Digant Oza, Dr. Sandeep Pandey, Dr. Sayeda Hamid, Harsh Dobhal, Iftikhar Gilani, Jaya Mehta, John Dayal, Justice A.M. Ahmadi, Kamala Bhasin, Kavita Srivastava, Kshitij Urs, Kuldip Nayar, Manisha Sethi, Neeraj Jain, Poornima Joshi, Prashant Bhushan, Prof KN Panikkar , Prof Mushir ul Hasan, Prof Upendra Buxi, Prof. Rooprekha Verma, Satya Sivaraman, Shabnam Hashmi, Subhash Gatade, Suresh Khairnar, Swami Agnivesh, Tanika Sarkar, Vineet Tiwari, Yusuf Shaikh, Zafar Agha.

Partial List of those who participated

Aanchal Verma,Abdul Salam,Abhay Shukla,Abhimanue Upadhyaya,Achin Vanaik ,Ajay Kumar,Ajay Kumar Soni,AK Malakar,Ambarish Rai,Amit Sengupta,Amitabh Pandey,Amjad Khan,Amrita Nandy-Joshi,Anil Choudhary,Anil Kumar Aind,Anwar Hussain,Apoorvanand,Arindam Jit Singh,Arti,Arun Kumar Maji,Asad Zaidi,Ashim Boral,Asma saleem,Avinash Kumar,Azad Mohd,Azam Khan,Bhawan lal Tutan,Bibhu Prasad Mohanty,Biju Mohan,Brajesh Awasti,Brija Nand,C Sathyamala,Chandra Nigam,Chinnappa,Chitranjan Singh,Colin Gonsalves,D Manjit,Deendayal Vyas,Deepak Bhatt,Dhirendra Panda,Dhruv Narain,Dhruv Sangari,Digant Oza,Dinesh Parmar,DK Roy,Dolly Thakore,DP Singh,DR Alex George,Dr Srivella Prasad,Dr Umakant,Dr. Sandeep Pandey,Dr. Sayeda Hamid,Dushyantbhai Unjhakar,Ein Lall,Elsamma simon,Faisal Khan,Farha Naqvi,Gauhar Raza,Gobind,GS Gahlot,Harsh Dobhal,Harsha Hedge,Hitendra Chauhan,Iftikhar Gilani,Ilmuddin,Ishwar Singh Dost,Jaison Thomas,Javed Anis,Jaya Mehta,Jerome,John Chattanatt,John Dayal,Jugal Kishore Shastri,Jully Hembrom,Justice A.M. Ahmadi,Kalpana Mehta,Kamala Bhasin,Kausar Wizarat,Kaushal Kumar Singh,Kavita Srivastava,Khursheed Anwar,Kshitij Urs,Kuldip Nayar,Lalta Prasad,Leslie Rodericks,Leslie Rodricks,Lysa John,Madhu Chandra,Mahindr Pal Singh,Manisha Sethi,Manisha Trivedi,Mansi Sharma,Mehtab alam,Michelle Chawla,Mohan Kumawat,Mohd Arif,Mohd tasleem Shaikh,Mukesh Kumar,Mukul Manglik,Naim Khan,Nandipati Vinod Kumar,Naval Hans,ND Jayaprakash,Neeraj Jain,Neeraj Jain,Nidhi Makhija,Noor Mohammad,Noorjahan Diwan,Om Mittal,Onngam Haokif,Pankhudi Misra,Parveen Mansuri,Parvinder Singh,Pearl Drego,Piyush Pant,Poornima Joshi,Poorva Bhardwaj,Prasad,Prasant Kumar Bhuyan,Prashant Bhushan,Prof KN Panikkar ,Prof Mushir ul Hasan,Prof Upendra Buxi,Prof. Rooprekha Verma,Qamar Azad hashmi,R Bhaskaran,Raj Kumar Hooda,Rajendra motiyani,Rajesh Jakhar,Rangrez Shahnawaz Sabir Hussain,Rasheeda,Rebecca Kumi,Resham Singh,Rev Dr CK Simon,Rizwan Qaisar,Rumal ,Runu Chakraborty,S Alphonse Selvaraj,Sachin Pandya,Sadre Alam,Safia Akhtar,Sagari Chhabra,Saifuddin Khan,Saiyed Gulzar Fatma,Samiullah,Sandeep Sinha,Sanjay Kumar,Sanjay Sharma,Sarika Srivastava,Satya Sivaraman,Seema Duhan,Shabnam Hashmi,Shah Alam,Shakeel Ahmad Khan,Shiamala Baby,Shri Prakash,Shuchi jBajaj,Siddeq Khan,Sister Gracy D" Souza,SK Pande,Subhash Gatade,Subrata das,Sumshot Kitular,Suresh Khairnar,Suresh Nautiyal,Swami Agnivesh,Syed Shahid Mahdi,Tanika Sarkar,Tanvir Kazi,Tarakeshwari Negi,Than Singh Josh,Udyan Roy,Victor Raj,Vineet Tiwari,Waqar Qazi,Willy,Yogender Yadav,Yoginder Sikand,Yusuf Shaikh,Yusuf Shaikh,Zafar A haq,Zafar Agha,Zahoor Siddiqi,Zayaul Haque,Zoya Hasan, Zulaikha Jabeen and 600 others

Organizers
The Convention was organized by Academy of Public Understanding of Science, All India Christian Council, All India Dalit Mahila Adhikar Manch, All India Quami Mahaz, All India Secular Forum, Alternatives, Aman Biradari, Aman Samudaya, ANHAD, Antarik Visthapit Hak Rakshak Samiti, Anweshi, Arya Samaj, ASHA Pariwar, Ashraya Adhikar Abhiyan, Asmita Collective, Awaz e- Niswana, Bandhua Mukti Morcha, Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, Bihar Social Institute, BUILD, Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms, Centre for Youth Development and Activities, Chattisgarh Jan Vigyan Vikas Sangthan, Centre for Information, Training, Research and Action, Commission for Religious Harmony, Committee for Protection of Democratic Rights , Countercurrents.org, Centre for Studies in Society and Secularism, Danish Publishers, Darpana Academy, Disha Social Organization , Ekta, Foundation for Educational Innovations in Asia, Global Gandhi Forum, GRAVIS, Holy Cross Convent, Human Rights Law Network, Indian Social Institute, Indian Social Action Forum ,INSAF Bulletin, Institute for Minority Women, Institute for Social Democracy, Jadugoda, Janadhikar Samuh, Jananeethi, Janvikas, JUDAV, Lok Sangharsh Morcha, Lokshakti Abhiyan, Mahatma Gandhi Foundation, MASUM, Media Action Group, Medico Friend Circle, Minorities Council, Muslim Women's Forum, National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights, National Economic Forum for Muslims, Nazareth Mahila Samiti, NCHRO, Nishan, North East Support Centre & Helpline, Orissa Development Action Forum, Orissa Seek, Save & Development Society, Oxfam India, Popular Education & Action Centre ,People's Movement against Nuclear Energy, People's Research Society, People's Watch, PRASHANT, Religious Harmony Commission (CBCI), Roshan Vikas, Saheli, Sahrwaru, Sajhi Duniya, Sama, Samarpan, Sanchetana, Sandarbh, Sangat, Sarva Dharam Sansad, Shambhavi, South Asia Citizens Web, South Asians for Human Rights , SUTRA, Tamilnadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam, Udayan, Urja Ghar, Vikas Adhyan Kendra, Yuv Shakti.

Whither India: Qualitative change In polity

by Ram Puniyani
23 October, 2008
Countercurrents.org

Last six months have been most disturbing on the Indian political scene. As far as the values of integration are concerned they are being attacked very severely by terrorist-communal forces. First, we saw the series of bomb blasts, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Malegaon. It was projected by the authorities that all these acts are due to Jehadi Muslim groups that police have succeeded in cracking the network. One outcome of this was the Batla house encounter in which police, bravely killed the terrorists. It put out a version that now the terror ring has been busted and kingpins have been arrested. It is another matter that later the relevant-uncomfortable questions were raised and satisfactory answers to these were not forthcoming. On the top of this the claim that Malegaon blasts were done by SIMI proved to be false as the investigation showed the possibility of ABVP/Bajrang Dal being involved in same.

During the same time two Bajrang dal Activists got killed while making bomb in Kanpur, two activists of Hindu Jagran Samiti were involved in placing the bombs in Thane due to which seven people got injured. During this time again in Tenkasi, Tamil Nadu, the bombs went off near RSS office and as usual the cry of wolf was made, but the wolf here had different shades than what RSS wanted to propagate, as most of those planting the bombs turned out to be Hindus, with affiliation, which are not difficult to guess.

During the same time the anti Christian violence was orchestrated and launched in Orissa to begin with, later on spilling to Karnataka. The pretext first was that Christians have beaten Swami Laxmananand (December 2007) and later that Christians have killed the swami. Interestingly a Maoist group claimed to have killed him but the RSS combine stated that they don’t believe in the claim of Maoists, meaning there by that they have the right to decide who the culprit is!

The third tragedy related to the Hindu Muslim violence in Burhanpur, Dhulia and few other places on the slightest pretext of tearing a banner or some such. What is disturbing is the way things are shaping in the country. The anti Muslim hate propaganda, which has been sustained on various myths have gradually been taking he shape of deep rooted perceptions. Earlier lot of planning and bigger pretext was needed to unleash the violence, now even a small pretext suffices to initiate the mayhem. Some of the properties are well marked in advance for destroying. The loss of lives of minorities is many times more than their presence in population.

The stereotyping of Muslim community through reporting of acts of terror has boosted the negative perception of the community in a serious way. At the same time the there is a realization that there are two set of laws, that they will not get justice and that their feeling of insecurity in the society is going up by leaps and bounds. One does not know whether this disturbs the ruling coalition or not. For Muslim minorities to keep faith in the Governemnt in such circumstances is not difficult, it is impossible.

Christian minority was not the target till quite late. As the hate propaganda based on make believe forcible conversions, allurement, insult of our gods, foreign money keep percolating in the society, and a silent sanction for attacking them started building up. Now even a slightest pretext is sufficient to undertake the despicable violence against the community.

This is a clear case as to how already a social mind set has been created, through word of mouth propaganda and media where by the minorities have been demonized and now the violence against them has become the order of the day. Even the global phenomenon of terrorism and local phenomenon has added on to the same and in this case Islamic terrorism, and ‘all terrorists are Muslims’ has been made the fodder of social thinking. As such, starting from Golwalkar, RSS’s formulation that Muslims and Christians are threats to Hindu nation, to the present day, there is a consistent worsening of the level of demonization of minorities.

These entire social phenomenons are raising a deeper question related to our democracy. Democracy not only ensures that are citizens are treated equally it also stands for giving affirmative action for weaker sections of society. As such the litmus test of democracy is the welfare and security of minorities. Here we see that as to how the marginal stream which came up during freedom movement and kept aloof from it, the Hindutva vehicle, RSS, has been successfully working, using the democratic space to abolish, precisely the democratic values which gave it a space to stand. While totally defamed after Gandhi murder by one of its followers, its acceptability began with Jayapraksh Narayan letting it run the movement, which led to emergency and later formation of Janata Party. RSS began by spreading hate against Muslims and Christians, formulated by its founders and penned by its ideologue, M.S. Golwalkar. Golwalkar instructed that Muslims, Christians and Communists are the threat to Hindu nation. The RSS shakhhas kept spreading this ceaselessly and it became a part of social common sense over a period of time.

RSS also planted its swayamsevaks in different walks of social and political life, education, media, police, bureaucracy etc. Once its political child, Jana Sangh became part of Janata party, it ensured that large number of swaymsevaks become part of media establishment. And later during NDA regime, this game of theirs’ had a field day. Capping these efforts through Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, social engineering got intensified in Adivasi areas. With US administration coining the word ‘Islamic terrorism’ and that propaganda that Madrassas are the dens of training terrorists; RSS completed its indoctrination module.

The deadly poison it spread against minorities first spread hate and created divides in the communities, leading to ‘hate other’, which in turn forms the base of communal violence. Communal violence in Indian context gets assistance from the communalized state apparatus, sections of police in particular leading to polarization of communities and rise to political power of the communal party. The conveyer belt begins from demonizing other and leads to the RSS’s political child becoming politically strong. That’s how a political party which managed two seats in parliament in1984 elections has become formidable electoral force today, knocking the democratic values and imposing the religion based nationalism.

Though not in power in center, its machinations are polarizing the society all over, creating divisions in the society, rampaging the rule of law and paving the way for creeping fascism. What is happening today is reminder of how things happened in Germany, with Hitler leading the carnage. Beginning with hate Jews and then Christian minorities, then Communists and trade unionists paved the way for the stifling atmosphere of fascism, authoritarian state with social base. Today we seem to be helplessly watching a similar situation. While RSS combine is behaving like a rampaging bull, Bajrang Dal planting bombs, its workers carrying arms openly, distributing trishuls en masse, the state ruled by so called secular combine, UPA alliance seems to be a helpless observer, as the whole machinery itself seems to be affected by the communal virus.

Where do we go from here? Opposition to this fascist politics, fighting it tooth and nail cannot be postponed by a single minute. The time has come that all those believing in democracy and welfare of all need to come together and put and end to the politics of hate. Popular front at social and political level is the need of the day. The power seeker political formations may not look beyond their personal gains but the social movements need to put the pressure in the right direction for these political people to hang together before we are hanged separately. It is not just a question of opposition to one political formation. The question is can we let the RSS version of Hindusim destroy the Kabir and Gandhi version of Hinduism and religion? The question is can we let the innocent minorities be the scapegoats for the fascist politics to keep on going? Should we let the democratic space be usurped by those wanting to bring in a nation state in the name of religion?

Whether India will nurture the values of freedom movement and strive for human rights of all depends on us, as in no time in the past the very concept of democracy has been stifled as much as we are witnessing today.

Alienation of Indian Muslims

Mushirul Hasan
Vice-Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi
08 October, 2008
Countercurrents.org

The extent to which the Indian society is getting polarized along religious lines is very disturbing. If this is the state of affairs almost seven decades after Independence, what might happen a few decades later? This is not the time to attribute responsibility to different parties or communities. This is a moment for self-reflection and for finding out what gives rise to this mindless violence.

The other very disquieting fact is how the electronic media and sections of the Hindi print media have taken upon themselves the responsibility of being the custodian of the nation’s interest. The arrogance and intolerance in their coverage reflects a very ominous trend in the history of journalism. I have experienced this recently. The Jamia encounter in New Delhi was not a big affair, it could have been easily sorted out, but it was turned into a campaign against a university. Students of the Jamia Millia Islamia University were arrested without charge, they were denied access to lawyers and even their parents could not meet them. On top of it the university was blamed and its reputation was attacked. A student of the London School of Economics (LSE) was nabbed very recently by the police — does it mean that the LSE has become a hotbed of terrorism? This is senseless.

The university’s doors are open to non-Muslims; it’s teachers are drawn from all communities. Compare our record with that of other so-called secular universities where Muslims have limited access — Benaras Hindu University, Allahabad University and even Delhi University — then what are we questioning?

I think we have to fight back. We have tolerated this nonsense for far too long. We demonstrate to the people that the media are not trustworthy and that they only sensationalize events. Jamia Millia is a secular institution funded by the Central Government. The question of legal aid is not being looked at from the perspective of a teacher’s responsibility to her students. As the head of the institution, I feel I have an obligation towards my students and I am not using the taxpayer’s money for it. The real issue is of principle. If this had happened to a non-Muslim student, I would have done the same. I am also upholding the rule of law. Why have we forgotten the principle that says that an accused is innocent until proven guilty?

In the ultimate analysis, our society, which has gone through the Khalistan movement and experienced terrorism in the Northeast, must look at these incidents in a more cool-headed manner. You can’t fight it by reacting in a hysterical manner. Our police is becoming more and more politicized and communalized. We haven’t oriented them into becoming the custodians of the secular values enshrined in our constitution. Over the past 10 years, there has been a systematic pattern — Deoband University, an institution with a glorious record, has been targeted. So has Nadvat-ul-Ulema in Lucknow. Attacking the Aligarh University is not new, despite it being a modern institution with its doors open to students of all communities. Is there a pattern in this madness? We need to reflect on these issues. The alienation is very deep and it has to stop. Instead of supporting us, which would also mean supporting an institution committed to secular values, there are attempts to undermine our secular foundations.

We are dealing with a younger generation of Muslims. I believe in liberal, eclectic and pluralist values, but I suspect this vision will not be shared by those who feel insecure and excluded, socially and culturally. Why have the guilty in Gujarat not been punished? Why? Why? Why? Why is the VHP and Bajrang Dal not banned for killing innocent Christians and desecrating their churches?

I regard myself, as do millions of others, as part of the edifice that is called India. The idea of India is my idea. There is no India without me and I will not let that change. We have already taken certain steps to counter subversive ideas that might fracture our secular society. I appeal to civil society and the media to let us live in peace and get on with our simple and innocent job i.e. pursuit of knowledge. There is a limit to what one can tolerate. Nobody dare question our commitment to education, and our loyalty to the Indian Constitution.