(The Hindu
February 28, 2007)
Five years after Godhra and the pogrom
by Dionne Bunsha
There is no violence but the atmosphere of fear and prejudice still prevails. Gujarat is a society divided — where minorities are segregated and face social and economic boycotts. Muslims have been pushed into ghettos.
FOR SOME of us, camping is a relaxing outdoor getaway. For Mehdi Husain Vanjara, it is a way of life. He has been living in a tent in a relief camp on the outskirts of Modasa town in north Gujarat for five years. His entire family of eight is crammed into this tiny tent on a dusty plot of land.
"There's not even a light here. We burn diyas at night," says Mehdi from Kau-Amlai village. "My three daughters wash dishes and earn Rs.200 each a month. That's how we survive." When 62 homes in his village were burned during the communal carnage of 2002, Mehdi had to flee to Modasa, the nearest town, for shelter. Since then, he hasn't been able to return home. Local Muslim charities have built tiny 10x10 feet rooms for refugees here. Mehdi is still waiting for his allotment. For five years, he has been camping in the darkness.
There are still 81 relief camps with around 30,000 refugees across Gujarat. The campsites do not have basic amenities like water or electricity, even though its residents are paying municipal taxes. In Modasa, refugees pay Rs.30 a month for water from a local contractor. "There are no gutters, no place to wash clothes, so fights break out often. But at least we are safe," Mumtazben Sheikh, a widow, told me. Safety is the only thing this campsite has to offer. But for those who have survived the carnage of 2002, it is a top priority.
On February 27, 2002, 59 passengers died in a fire inside the Sabarmati Express when it halted at Godhra station. The reason for the fire is still disputed. While the Railway Ministry reports say it was an accident, the Gujarat police insist that it was a terrorist conspiracy to kill several kar sevaks on board the train who had been sent by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) to the site of the Ram temple in Ayodhya for a Maha Yagna. Within hours of the Godhra tragedy, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi declared it was a terrorist attack. The call went out: `Blood for Blood.' The next day, Muslims across the State were targeted in a pogrom that lasted more than two months, killed more than 1,000 people, and left more than 200,000 homeless.
Five years later, there is no violence but the atmosphere of fear and prejudice still prevails. After the attacks, the minorities have been `taught a lesson.' They must now live as `second class citizens' in Gujarat, the `Hindutva laboratory' to build the `Hindu Rashtra.' Gujarat is a society divided where minorities are segregated, face social and economic boycotts, and constantly fear for their safety. Muslims have been pushed into ghettos. Juhapura, Ahmedabad's biggest ghetto, has a population of over 300,000 people but no civic amenities. Only recently, it was made part of the city's municipal area. Many elite Muslims — judges, doctors, lawyers, businessmen — have been forced to move to Juhapura. No one in a `Hindu area' will sell a flat to a Muslim, even if he or she is willing to pay a premium. There is not a single bank in Juhapura, not a single State transport bus passes through here.
After the 2002 violence, many other mini-ghettos emerged in cities and even small towns like Modasa. Places where refugees have been settled are now growing into Muslim colonies. In Ahmedabad, some survivors of the worst massacres of 2002 live on the edge of the city's dumping ground. They are living on the margins amid the smoke from smouldering garbage, crows circling above, and fumes from the small workshops nearby. Ironically, this new ghetto is called `Citizen Nagar.' The aggressors are in power; the victims have been jailed. For instance, Babu Bajrangi is an accused in the Naroda Patiya case, the worst massacre in which there were inhuman atrocities against women and children. Today he is a self-styled missionary who forcibly brings back Patel girls who marry outside their community; he boasted to me that he has `rescued' more than 706 girls so far. Recently, Gujarat's theatre owners refused to screen the film Parzania because he had threatened violence if they did.
Babubhai is free but several witnesses face daily danger to their lives. They are threatened and told to turn hostile in court, to `compromise.' And they have nowhere to turn. If they dare to go to the police, they face the risk of being put behind bars. Several witnesses in the Naroda Patiya case who named top Hindutva leaders in their police testimonies were framed in a murder case and jailed for over six months. There are several others like them. Despite the intimidation and a daily struggle to survive, it is amazing how witnesses have shown the strength and courage to fight for justice.
The Best Bakery case, which received the most media attention, ironically ended up with a sad outcome. After several twists and turns, the local accused were jailed, but so was Zaheera Sheikh, the main eyewitness. She was punished for perjury. Zaheera turned hostile in the Vadodara district court. Later, she appealed to the Supreme Court saying that she lied in court because a BJP MLA had threatened her family into a compromise settlement. Yet, when she turned hostile again during the re-trial, she was jailed for perjury. So far no investigation has been ordered into the MLA's alleged role in Zaheera's second U-turn. The big fish always get away.
The Supreme Court criticised the government for "fiddling while Gujarat burned." Yet none of the big guns has been punished. Zakia Jafri, wife of the former MP, Ahsan Jafri, has filed a case against the Chief Minister and 62 others. But the police complaint lies in cold storage in the Gandhinagar police station, a stone's throw from Mr. Modi's residence.
It is a rocky road to justice in Gujarat. In district courts, the accused pass lewd comments while women testify about how they were raped. When refugees in Lunawada dug up the mass graves where the police buried their relatives, the cops filed a case against them. You really cannot rely on the Gujarat police, unless you are blessed by politicians in power. Of the 4,252 communal violence cases filed during the pogrom, the Gujarat police closed more than half of them as `true but undetected.' They said that there was not enough evidence to file a charge-sheet. In fact, the police suppressed or buried a lot of the proof. They refused to take down eyewitness complaints. The Supreme Court ordered the Gujarat police to review these cases again. Since they did not do this, human rights groups filed a legal notice. Last year, the police re-opened most of the 2000-plus cases that they had closed. But no one has been punished for closing the cases and scuttling the process of justice.
In Gujarat these events are supposed to be too `sensitive' to talk about; they should be forgotten and people should move on, is the refrain. The people who would most want to forget are the victims of the carnage, but they are not allowed to. There can be no peace and reconciliation without justice and the rule of law. People are still living through the nightmare. Raising such uncomfortable questions disturbs `Gujarati Asmita' (pride). It is an excuse to suppress important questions like human rights abuses or who will really benefit from the Narmada dam. The Gujarati middle class has been fed so much propaganda that it is intolerant to any alternative view. That is why the Narmada Bachao Andolan office is often ransacked and Medha Patkar is physically attacked if she steps into Gujarat. And cinema owners are too scared to screen a film like Parzania that may anger the Bajrang Dal because they have no confidence that the police will protect them. It is selective democracy.
What else can we expect from a political formation that draws ideological inspiration from M.S. Golwalkar who wrote in We, Our Nationhood Defined, 1939: "The foreign races in Hindusthan must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, i.e. of the Hindu nation, and must lose their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race, or [they] may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment — not even citizen's rights." Gujarat is today's laboratory for testing and realising not Mahatma Gandhi's vision of Hindu-Muslim amity and communal harmony but Golwalkar's 1939 vision. The Sangh Parivar organisations make no bones about this. Across the State, they have put up boards saying: `Welcome to the Hindu Rashtra.' It is understood that not all are welcome. Some are still camping in the darkness, waiting for the light.
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February 28, 2007
February 27, 2007
Rajasthan: Anatomy of another confrontation
(Frontline
Feb. 24 - Mar. 09, 2007)
THE STATES/RAJASTHAN
Anatomy of another confrontation
T.K. Rajalakshmi
in Udaipur
Police action on a gathering of Bhils following a court order on the Rishabdeo temple ends in violence and escalation of tensions.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY T.K. RAJALAKSHMI
At the Rishabdeo temple near Udaipur, a priest at the entrance to the sanctum sanctorum.
TUCKED between the low hills of the Aravalli range is Rishabdeo town, famous for its black-stone Jain temple. Legend has it that Dhula Bhil, a tribal man, installed the idol of Rishabdeo, the first Tirthankara, here. The town is also called Dhulev, and later it got a third name, Kesariyaji, after kesar, or saffron, began to be used as an oblation. The town, located 65 kilometres from Udaipur city and 190 km from Ahmedabad, not only is a centre of religious activity but also is well known for its green marble deposits.
Rishabhdeo and nearby towns such as Kalyanpur are mainly Jain townships and are surrounded by habitations of Bhil tribal people on and around the hills. There is a relationship of interdependence between the communities. A third social category thrives here: Brahmins who manage the offerings and prayers at the temple. There are around 100 persons directly dependent on earnings from the temple, which is one of the many promoted by the State government's Devasthan Department.
Bhils are at the bottom and Jains and Brahmins at the top of the income ladder. But the temple is all about pluralism. Bhils worship the idol as Kalaji Bavji, Brahmins consider it the eighth incarnation of Vishnu, and Jains believe it is Rishabhdeo.
However, on January 4, the peaceful coexistence and mutual dependence was torn asunder when the Supreme Court, upholding an order of the Rajasthan High Court, declared that the temple was a Jain temple. The order mandated that the Devasthan Department constitute a management committee within four months. As to whether it was a Digambar or Shwetambar Jain temple, the State government was asked to decide on the basis of facts.
The dispute over the management of the temple dates to the 1960s. Initially, the wrangle was whether it was a Digambara or a Shwetambara temple. As the economy around the temple flourished, the number of claimants to manage it increased, but devotees of Dhula Bhil were not among them. Following the court order, they were dragged into the controversy by vested interests that conveyed the impression that the temple had been handed over to the Jain community and that Bhils would not be allowed to worship there.
The next step was taken at the Veneshwar Mela on February 2, also known as the `Mahakumbh' of the tribal people as it is held at the confluence of three rivers in the tribal district of Dungarpur. Tribal people who flocked to the venue from as far as Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat got anonymous pamphlets informing them of a "Mahapadaav" or grand meeting on February 7 at Pagliaji, also a place of religious importance, to discuss the effects of the court order. Subsequently, a section of tribal elders called off the Mahapadaav and decided to discuss the issue in a small group. This decision was disseminated orally.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Rajasthan failed to read the resentment building up among the tribal people. Chief Minister Vasundra Raje Scindia and Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria, who represents Udaipur in the Assembly, remained oblivious to the developments in Rishabdeo. The party itself was busy tackling faction fights that surfaced in the State unit around the same time.
On February 7, thousands of tribal people gathered at Pagliaji, unaware that the meeting had been called off. Around noon the police, anticipating trouble, lathi-charged the assembly. The Bhils retaliated and the police burst tear-gas shells and also opened fire. The Bhils then turned their wrath on properties belonging to Jains and on the machines used at the marble mines. A tribal youth, Ram Lal, died in the police firing and many were injured. Only some of the injured were admitted to hospital; many of them preferred to stay away from hospitals fearing police reprisal.
Policemen also faced the brunt of tribal anger and many of them, including Superintendent of Police M.N. Dinesh, were injured. The siege of Rishabdeo town continued the next day as well. Dinesh, speaking to Frontline, justified the firing on the grounds that "none from the tribal community approached the police or the government with any representation after the firing". According to him, this meant most people felt that had the firing not taken place more people would have died and shops would have been set on fire.
Tribal aggression against Jains is an expression of the social and economic resentment that has built up over the years, say C.L. Sharma, a retired Professor of Sociology, and B.L. Singhvi, district secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). "It is a class war," says Sharma. Bhils here, as in most of Rajasthan, have very little to subsist on. They are entirely dependent on Jains, and the lack of any qualitative government intervention has ensured that the majority of Bhils live below subsistence level.
At Delana village, 15 km from Rishabdeo town, people visit the family of Ram Lal, who was killed in the police firing at Pagliagi on February 7.
Though the tribal people are supposed to have pattas for the land they own, the actual ownership is with others. Several politicians in the ruling party own mines in the area. The struggle over the temple, says Singhvi, is more about the continued marginalisation of the tribal people. "Their action against the police was an expression of suppressed anger as most of the time they have been at the receiving end of police action," he said.
In Delana village, where mourners gathered at Ram Lal's house, there is a sense of resignation. People are angry over the death of a tribal youth, but they are more upset with the government for neglecting them. "These Jains have become millionaires because of us. What do we have? Last year, when the floods came, the government announced Rs.6,000 for each family whose home was destroyed. Many of us are yet to get that amount," says Lacchi Ram, an ex-serviceman.
Others too poured out the same story of neglect. Nearly 80 per cent of the people in the village did not have Below-Poverty-Line (BPL) ration cards, they said and added that Jains owned the ration shops. The villages had neither tar roads nor electricity. Residents showed the wheat and the rice they received as BPL entitlements. "It is absolutely rotten," says Ram Lal Meena, a ward panch member.
The sarpanch of Delana village, Seema Meena, admitted reluctantly that even under the National Rural Employment Gurantee Act hardly anyone had been paid the prescribed wage of Rs.73 a day. The people felt that had the controversy and the firing not been over Kesariyaji, none would have bothered to come this far to meet Ram Lal's family. "In any agitation, only the Adivasi gets killed. We want the Devasthan Department to take over the management of the temple and use the revenues for the development of this region," said Govardhanlal, a former sarpanch.
The revenue earned by the temple was also perhaps the main issue behind the legal tangle and the current confrontation, in which tribal people have been used as cannon fodder. The temple complex lies on 378 hectares of land and houses a guest house as well. Its moveable property alone is said to be valued at about Rs.51 crores. It is estimated that on an average 2,000 devotees visit Rishabdeo every day.
The tribal people have an organic relationship with the temple. Their economic and social lives are closely linked to it even though their offerings are modest when compared with those of others. The temple's eight Brahmin priests share the bulk of the offerings.
Priests' claim
The priests insist that the management cannot be handed over to the Jain community. "Where will we go? The Maharanas of Mewar gave us the right to conduct prayers here. They also made valuable offerings to the god," says Bhogilal, a priest. "I won't let the mandir go either to the Devasthan or to the tribals," he says.
But there are several sections that want the issue resolved, for more than one reason. Raghuveer Meena, Congress legislator from Sarada in Udaipur, said that in the interests of everybody the matter had to be settled before the onset of Holi. "In April, lakhs of tribal people come here to worship and it may become a delicate situation," he said. Soon after the new government took over in 2003, Sarada witnessed clashes between tribal people and Muslims over a petty issue.
Raghuveer Meena is one of the few Congress legislators from the Mewar region, where the BJP won the majority of seats in 2003 and where a lot of "Hinduisation" of the tribal people has taken place because of the efforts of organisations such as the Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad. This has also led to much resentment against the Christian and Muslim minorities. Paresh Dwivedi, a sociologist, told Frontline that the aggression among tribal people was bound to take a new form, especially as most of the elected representatives were aligned with the ruling party and were reluctant to come out in the open with the real issues.
The Rishabdeo incident should not be seen as an isolated one. It is a sign of the restlessness that is building up in the area. Bhil youth, unlike their forefathers, are not prepared to take things lying down and the consolidation of their resentment can take any form. Religion is only a façade; the real reasons are apparently rooted in the political economy of the region.
Feb. 24 - Mar. 09, 2007)
THE STATES/RAJASTHAN
Anatomy of another confrontation
T.K. Rajalakshmi
in Udaipur
Police action on a gathering of Bhils following a court order on the Rishabdeo temple ends in violence and escalation of tensions.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY T.K. RAJALAKSHMI
At the Rishabdeo temple near Udaipur, a priest at the entrance to the sanctum sanctorum.
TUCKED between the low hills of the Aravalli range is Rishabdeo town, famous for its black-stone Jain temple. Legend has it that Dhula Bhil, a tribal man, installed the idol of Rishabdeo, the first Tirthankara, here. The town is also called Dhulev, and later it got a third name, Kesariyaji, after kesar, or saffron, began to be used as an oblation. The town, located 65 kilometres from Udaipur city and 190 km from Ahmedabad, not only is a centre of religious activity but also is well known for its green marble deposits.
Rishabhdeo and nearby towns such as Kalyanpur are mainly Jain townships and are surrounded by habitations of Bhil tribal people on and around the hills. There is a relationship of interdependence between the communities. A third social category thrives here: Brahmins who manage the offerings and prayers at the temple. There are around 100 persons directly dependent on earnings from the temple, which is one of the many promoted by the State government's Devasthan Department.
Bhils are at the bottom and Jains and Brahmins at the top of the income ladder. But the temple is all about pluralism. Bhils worship the idol as Kalaji Bavji, Brahmins consider it the eighth incarnation of Vishnu, and Jains believe it is Rishabhdeo.
However, on January 4, the peaceful coexistence and mutual dependence was torn asunder when the Supreme Court, upholding an order of the Rajasthan High Court, declared that the temple was a Jain temple. The order mandated that the Devasthan Department constitute a management committee within four months. As to whether it was a Digambar or Shwetambar Jain temple, the State government was asked to decide on the basis of facts.
The dispute over the management of the temple dates to the 1960s. Initially, the wrangle was whether it was a Digambara or a Shwetambara temple. As the economy around the temple flourished, the number of claimants to manage it increased, but devotees of Dhula Bhil were not among them. Following the court order, they were dragged into the controversy by vested interests that conveyed the impression that the temple had been handed over to the Jain community and that Bhils would not be allowed to worship there.
The next step was taken at the Veneshwar Mela on February 2, also known as the `Mahakumbh' of the tribal people as it is held at the confluence of three rivers in the tribal district of Dungarpur. Tribal people who flocked to the venue from as far as Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat got anonymous pamphlets informing them of a "Mahapadaav" or grand meeting on February 7 at Pagliaji, also a place of religious importance, to discuss the effects of the court order. Subsequently, a section of tribal elders called off the Mahapadaav and decided to discuss the issue in a small group. This decision was disseminated orally.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Rajasthan failed to read the resentment building up among the tribal people. Chief Minister Vasundra Raje Scindia and Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria, who represents Udaipur in the Assembly, remained oblivious to the developments in Rishabdeo. The party itself was busy tackling faction fights that surfaced in the State unit around the same time.
On February 7, thousands of tribal people gathered at Pagliaji, unaware that the meeting had been called off. Around noon the police, anticipating trouble, lathi-charged the assembly. The Bhils retaliated and the police burst tear-gas shells and also opened fire. The Bhils then turned their wrath on properties belonging to Jains and on the machines used at the marble mines. A tribal youth, Ram Lal, died in the police firing and many were injured. Only some of the injured were admitted to hospital; many of them preferred to stay away from hospitals fearing police reprisal.
Policemen also faced the brunt of tribal anger and many of them, including Superintendent of Police M.N. Dinesh, were injured. The siege of Rishabdeo town continued the next day as well. Dinesh, speaking to Frontline, justified the firing on the grounds that "none from the tribal community approached the police or the government with any representation after the firing". According to him, this meant most people felt that had the firing not taken place more people would have died and shops would have been set on fire.
Tribal aggression against Jains is an expression of the social and economic resentment that has built up over the years, say C.L. Sharma, a retired Professor of Sociology, and B.L. Singhvi, district secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). "It is a class war," says Sharma. Bhils here, as in most of Rajasthan, have very little to subsist on. They are entirely dependent on Jains, and the lack of any qualitative government intervention has ensured that the majority of Bhils live below subsistence level.
At Delana village, 15 km from Rishabdeo town, people visit the family of Ram Lal, who was killed in the police firing at Pagliagi on February 7.
Though the tribal people are supposed to have pattas for the land they own, the actual ownership is with others. Several politicians in the ruling party own mines in the area. The struggle over the temple, says Singhvi, is more about the continued marginalisation of the tribal people. "Their action against the police was an expression of suppressed anger as most of the time they have been at the receiving end of police action," he said.
In Delana village, where mourners gathered at Ram Lal's house, there is a sense of resignation. People are angry over the death of a tribal youth, but they are more upset with the government for neglecting them. "These Jains have become millionaires because of us. What do we have? Last year, when the floods came, the government announced Rs.6,000 for each family whose home was destroyed. Many of us are yet to get that amount," says Lacchi Ram, an ex-serviceman.
Others too poured out the same story of neglect. Nearly 80 per cent of the people in the village did not have Below-Poverty-Line (BPL) ration cards, they said and added that Jains owned the ration shops. The villages had neither tar roads nor electricity. Residents showed the wheat and the rice they received as BPL entitlements. "It is absolutely rotten," says Ram Lal Meena, a ward panch member.
The sarpanch of Delana village, Seema Meena, admitted reluctantly that even under the National Rural Employment Gurantee Act hardly anyone had been paid the prescribed wage of Rs.73 a day. The people felt that had the controversy and the firing not been over Kesariyaji, none would have bothered to come this far to meet Ram Lal's family. "In any agitation, only the Adivasi gets killed. We want the Devasthan Department to take over the management of the temple and use the revenues for the development of this region," said Govardhanlal, a former sarpanch.
The revenue earned by the temple was also perhaps the main issue behind the legal tangle and the current confrontation, in which tribal people have been used as cannon fodder. The temple complex lies on 378 hectares of land and houses a guest house as well. Its moveable property alone is said to be valued at about Rs.51 crores. It is estimated that on an average 2,000 devotees visit Rishabdeo every day.
The tribal people have an organic relationship with the temple. Their economic and social lives are closely linked to it even though their offerings are modest when compared with those of others. The temple's eight Brahmin priests share the bulk of the offerings.
Priests' claim
The priests insist that the management cannot be handed over to the Jain community. "Where will we go? The Maharanas of Mewar gave us the right to conduct prayers here. They also made valuable offerings to the god," says Bhogilal, a priest. "I won't let the mandir go either to the Devasthan or to the tribals," he says.
But there are several sections that want the issue resolved, for more than one reason. Raghuveer Meena, Congress legislator from Sarada in Udaipur, said that in the interests of everybody the matter had to be settled before the onset of Holi. "In April, lakhs of tribal people come here to worship and it may become a delicate situation," he said. Soon after the new government took over in 2003, Sarada witnessed clashes between tribal people and Muslims over a petty issue.
Raghuveer Meena is one of the few Congress legislators from the Mewar region, where the BJP won the majority of seats in 2003 and where a lot of "Hinduisation" of the tribal people has taken place because of the efforts of organisations such as the Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad. This has also led to much resentment against the Christian and Muslim minorities. Paresh Dwivedi, a sociologist, told Frontline that the aggression among tribal people was bound to take a new form, especially as most of the elected representatives were aligned with the ruling party and were reluctant to come out in the open with the real issues.
The Rishabdeo incident should not be seen as an isolated one. It is a sign of the restlessness that is building up in the area. Bhil youth, unlike their forefathers, are not prepared to take things lying down and the consolidation of their resentment can take any form. Religion is only a façade; the real reasons are apparently rooted in the political economy of the region.
Truth Trickles Out: The Gujarat Pogrom Five Years Later
(alt.muslim -February 26, 2007)
Truth Trickles Out: The Gujarat Pogrom Five Years Later
Some have accused assessments by anti-communalism activists of what transpired in Gujarat as being excessively sentimental. This indeed may be the case, but it is not without reason.
By Zahir Janmohamed, February 26, 2007
Still waiting to heal
I was uncertain if the ghazal concert by Jagjit Singh would still be held in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on that fateful day, February 27, 2002. I had reason to believe otherwise: just a few hours earlier, I received a call while working in a Hindu slum in Ahmedabad that communal violence had erupted. Apparently a train of Hindu pilgrims was attacked somewhere, I was told, and that I should immediately return home. An American Hindu colleague of mine and I both waited for the bus to take us across town to the Hindu host family with whom I was staying. But as my Hindu friend in the slum community received text messages about what was really ensuing, he ran out and said, "No Zahir, you specifically have to leave." I was eager to know why but he never budged. "Its for your safety," he kept imploring.
It was only on the rikshaw ride home that the picture emerged: our Hindu driver carefully skirted all the Muslim majority locales in Ahmedabad as off in the distance, we could see fires flaring up in only Muslim populated areas. As we drove through a mixed Hindu-Muslim neighborhood, we found ourselves stuck in a massive traffic jam, only later to learn that just a few hundred yards ahead of us a Hindu mob had stopped a car full of Muslims, removed them from their vehicle, and burned them alive.
It is difficult to say this without sounding profoundly naive and perhaps insensitive, but at the time, it seemed pretty normal. Perhaps that was a reflection of the company I kept. I had arrived just twelve days earlier to work on micro-finance issues and I was posted to work in a Hindu slum area. I never took much notice of this: my intention in working in Gujarat was to understand my ancestral homeland and to learn and to help people, regardless of their religious background.
When I returned home later that day, my boss Raju bhai assured me that the violence was nothing unusual. India blows off some steam from time to time, he told me, and that the violence would flare up for a day or two and then subside. Perhaps he had a point, I thought. Despite romanticized notions of Gujarat being tolerant, probably on account of it being the birthplace of the non-violent sage Mahatma Gandhi, communal violence between Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat has flared up intermittently since 1969. Between 1987 and 1991 alone, for example, 106 Hindu-Muslim skirmishes erupted. But neither he or I had any ability to know that what would transpire in the subsequent months would amount to a State sponsored pogrom against Gujarati Muslims in what many of have rightfully called one the darkest chapters in India's history.
We ended up going to the Jagjit Singh concert that night. After all, in the Hindu area where I lived and where the concert was held, I had no way of knowing that just a few miles away in the Muslim locales, some of the worst violence was ensuing, already on that first night. It is difficult and troubling to think about that concert, let alone to muster the courage to admit that I attended, while so much chaos erupted around me. Within the confines of the manicured lawns of the concert setting, Singh's lyrics, many taken from poems by Muslim poet Mirza Ghalib, hearkened an India ripe with Hindu-Muslim synergy, an India that I found disappearing in my subsequent six months working with the 85,000 displaced Gujarati Muslims in Ahmedabad alone.
I do not wish to recount the details of what happened in Gujarat, as that has been extensively documented, most exceptionally in Human Rights Watch's "We Have No Orders to Save You," and journalist Dionne Bunsha's Scarred: Experiments with Violence in Gujarat. Nor do I wish to recall the personal toil of witnessing violence on this scale--that is far too personal to elucidate in this space and at least for me, in the guise of non-fiction. But I wish do elucidate two points from that episode that have sinced shaped my activism.
The first is that the initial telling of a historical event is seldom the complete or even accurate version. When the violence reached an unbearable level, I thought that my presence, as a Gujarati Muslim, was endangering my dear Hindu friends. So I left for New Delhi where I soon found myself addressing a gathering of NGOs about my experiences. But I learned that speaking about Gujarat is partly about giving testimony and partly about withholding information. I remember telling that gathering that contrary to popular notions of Indian communal violence, the violence in Gujarat was most acute in mixed locales and that the only safe areas were Muslim ghettos. That fact rattled the notion that communal violence is minimized when Hindus and Muslims intermix. Gujarat proved just the antithesis - Muslims were most vulnerable when they lived in close proximity to their Hindu neighbors. I told that group, much to their dismay, that I understood why many Gujarati Muslims had built ten foot walls to protect their families and their homes. Thinking of communal harmony was privilege that many Gujarati Muslims could not afford to think of as they witnessed the mass scale rape of women and the pillaging of their homes.
This self-censorship was magnified when I returned to the US and I began showing photographic proof that the initial train attack was burnt from the inside and was likely the work of the Hindu pilgrim themselves. At one event in LA, I was nearly punched in the face by an angry audience member. Needless to say, I learned to finesse my message, especially when speaking to audiences who believed the mistaken notion that what transpired was a tit-for-tat riot.
Part of the problem in achieving an honest dialogue on this issue is that the Gujarat violence is viewed as a problem of the past and as an aberrant blotch on India's record that evaporated when the violence subsided. This could not be farther from the truth. Lingering problems exist within Gujarat, the least of which are the palpable tensions. And while antagonism against Muslims thankfully has not manifested itself in brutal violence since 2002, there is still widespread curtailment of the rights of Muslims, Christians, Dalits, and others in India. India's central government may now acknowledge what transpired in 2002, but there is still strong denial at the popular and governmental level within Gujarat.
For example, eighty-seven Muslim men have been held since 2002 for "starting the train fire" and "igniting the violence," despite India's Supreme Court own acknowledgment which found the Hindu nationalist BJP group complicit in the violence. Hemantika Wahi, the standing counsel for Gujarat, recently responded to possible news that these 87 may be set free and also to charges India's draconian anti-terror laws have been used to target Muslim by noting that "Not all Muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims." Most recently, a film called "Parzania" by Gujarati director Rahul Dholakia about the 2002 violence was prevented by theater owners in Gujarat from being screened, despite the fact that the filmed had already cleared India's rigorous (and often politically slanted) film censor bureau.
Film's like Dholakia's are promising, partly because they help usher in a more honest discussion of what transpired. After all, it was not long ago that those who called the violence pre-planned and orchestrated by the state were called absurd. But often the truth trickles out, and though its pace may be frustrating, it is still nonetheless cathartic for those who seeking a public reckoning of the pain they endured.
The second lesson Gujarat taught me is not to compare two historical tragedies. When I spoke at college campuses throughout 2003 and 2004, I often found it tempting, especially when addressing Muslim audiences, to compare the Gujarat violence to another barbaric act, that of the slaughter of Palestinians in Jenin, which also happened in early 2002. I had reason to make this comparison: Muslims throughout their world expressed justifiable outrage over Israel's incursions into Jenin but remained largely silent over the pogrom against Muslims in Gujarat. But I quickly learned to cease making such comparisons, partly because I refused to participate in an effort to pit and to measure the suffering of one people against another.
I have been called many things in the past five years, most of which are not suitable to publish on this site. But perhaps one of the most unfair criticisms leveled at me and other activists working against communalism in India is that somehow our assessment of what transpired in Gujarat is maudlin or excessively sentimental. This indeed may be the case, but it is not without reason. I will always remember 12 year-old Sadik, who I met in a relief camp just shortly after the violence ensued. He fled for relief after he witnessed his father burned alive and his mother raped and then immolated. He never did speak to me - or to anyone - during the six months that I saw him in the camp. But at night, after the aid workers would leave, I often found Sadik sitting alone in the corner, crying quietly.
I am not sure what has happened to him since but I suspect there are nights when he still cries and wonders why, five years later, his tears are still needed.
Zahir Janmohamed is an associate editor of alt.muslim and the co-founder of The Qunoot Foundation.
Truth Trickles Out: The Gujarat Pogrom Five Years Later
Some have accused assessments by anti-communalism activists of what transpired in Gujarat as being excessively sentimental. This indeed may be the case, but it is not without reason.
By Zahir Janmohamed, February 26, 2007
Still waiting to heal
I was uncertain if the ghazal concert by Jagjit Singh would still be held in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on that fateful day, February 27, 2002. I had reason to believe otherwise: just a few hours earlier, I received a call while working in a Hindu slum in Ahmedabad that communal violence had erupted. Apparently a train of Hindu pilgrims was attacked somewhere, I was told, and that I should immediately return home. An American Hindu colleague of mine and I both waited for the bus to take us across town to the Hindu host family with whom I was staying. But as my Hindu friend in the slum community received text messages about what was really ensuing, he ran out and said, "No Zahir, you specifically have to leave." I was eager to know why but he never budged. "Its for your safety," he kept imploring.
It was only on the rikshaw ride home that the picture emerged: our Hindu driver carefully skirted all the Muslim majority locales in Ahmedabad as off in the distance, we could see fires flaring up in only Muslim populated areas. As we drove through a mixed Hindu-Muslim neighborhood, we found ourselves stuck in a massive traffic jam, only later to learn that just a few hundred yards ahead of us a Hindu mob had stopped a car full of Muslims, removed them from their vehicle, and burned them alive.
It is difficult to say this without sounding profoundly naive and perhaps insensitive, but at the time, it seemed pretty normal. Perhaps that was a reflection of the company I kept. I had arrived just twelve days earlier to work on micro-finance issues and I was posted to work in a Hindu slum area. I never took much notice of this: my intention in working in Gujarat was to understand my ancestral homeland and to learn and to help people, regardless of their religious background.
When I returned home later that day, my boss Raju bhai assured me that the violence was nothing unusual. India blows off some steam from time to time, he told me, and that the violence would flare up for a day or two and then subside. Perhaps he had a point, I thought. Despite romanticized notions of Gujarat being tolerant, probably on account of it being the birthplace of the non-violent sage Mahatma Gandhi, communal violence between Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat has flared up intermittently since 1969. Between 1987 and 1991 alone, for example, 106 Hindu-Muslim skirmishes erupted. But neither he or I had any ability to know that what would transpire in the subsequent months would amount to a State sponsored pogrom against Gujarati Muslims in what many of have rightfully called one the darkest chapters in India's history.
We ended up going to the Jagjit Singh concert that night. After all, in the Hindu area where I lived and where the concert was held, I had no way of knowing that just a few miles away in the Muslim locales, some of the worst violence was ensuing, already on that first night. It is difficult and troubling to think about that concert, let alone to muster the courage to admit that I attended, while so much chaos erupted around me. Within the confines of the manicured lawns of the concert setting, Singh's lyrics, many taken from poems by Muslim poet Mirza Ghalib, hearkened an India ripe with Hindu-Muslim synergy, an India that I found disappearing in my subsequent six months working with the 85,000 displaced Gujarati Muslims in Ahmedabad alone.
I do not wish to recount the details of what happened in Gujarat, as that has been extensively documented, most exceptionally in Human Rights Watch's "We Have No Orders to Save You," and journalist Dionne Bunsha's Scarred: Experiments with Violence in Gujarat. Nor do I wish to recall the personal toil of witnessing violence on this scale--that is far too personal to elucidate in this space and at least for me, in the guise of non-fiction. But I wish do elucidate two points from that episode that have sinced shaped my activism.
The first is that the initial telling of a historical event is seldom the complete or even accurate version. When the violence reached an unbearable level, I thought that my presence, as a Gujarati Muslim, was endangering my dear Hindu friends. So I left for New Delhi where I soon found myself addressing a gathering of NGOs about my experiences. But I learned that speaking about Gujarat is partly about giving testimony and partly about withholding information. I remember telling that gathering that contrary to popular notions of Indian communal violence, the violence in Gujarat was most acute in mixed locales and that the only safe areas were Muslim ghettos. That fact rattled the notion that communal violence is minimized when Hindus and Muslims intermix. Gujarat proved just the antithesis - Muslims were most vulnerable when they lived in close proximity to their Hindu neighbors. I told that group, much to their dismay, that I understood why many Gujarati Muslims had built ten foot walls to protect their families and their homes. Thinking of communal harmony was privilege that many Gujarati Muslims could not afford to think of as they witnessed the mass scale rape of women and the pillaging of their homes.
This self-censorship was magnified when I returned to the US and I began showing photographic proof that the initial train attack was burnt from the inside and was likely the work of the Hindu pilgrim themselves. At one event in LA, I was nearly punched in the face by an angry audience member. Needless to say, I learned to finesse my message, especially when speaking to audiences who believed the mistaken notion that what transpired was a tit-for-tat riot.
Part of the problem in achieving an honest dialogue on this issue is that the Gujarat violence is viewed as a problem of the past and as an aberrant blotch on India's record that evaporated when the violence subsided. This could not be farther from the truth. Lingering problems exist within Gujarat, the least of which are the palpable tensions. And while antagonism against Muslims thankfully has not manifested itself in brutal violence since 2002, there is still widespread curtailment of the rights of Muslims, Christians, Dalits, and others in India. India's central government may now acknowledge what transpired in 2002, but there is still strong denial at the popular and governmental level within Gujarat.
For example, eighty-seven Muslim men have been held since 2002 for "starting the train fire" and "igniting the violence," despite India's Supreme Court own acknowledgment which found the Hindu nationalist BJP group complicit in the violence. Hemantika Wahi, the standing counsel for Gujarat, recently responded to possible news that these 87 may be set free and also to charges India's draconian anti-terror laws have been used to target Muslim by noting that "Not all Muslims are terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims." Most recently, a film called "Parzania" by Gujarati director Rahul Dholakia about the 2002 violence was prevented by theater owners in Gujarat from being screened, despite the fact that the filmed had already cleared India's rigorous (and often politically slanted) film censor bureau.
Film's like Dholakia's are promising, partly because they help usher in a more honest discussion of what transpired. After all, it was not long ago that those who called the violence pre-planned and orchestrated by the state were called absurd. But often the truth trickles out, and though its pace may be frustrating, it is still nonetheless cathartic for those who seeking a public reckoning of the pain they endured.
The second lesson Gujarat taught me is not to compare two historical tragedies. When I spoke at college campuses throughout 2003 and 2004, I often found it tempting, especially when addressing Muslim audiences, to compare the Gujarat violence to another barbaric act, that of the slaughter of Palestinians in Jenin, which also happened in early 2002. I had reason to make this comparison: Muslims throughout their world expressed justifiable outrage over Israel's incursions into Jenin but remained largely silent over the pogrom against Muslims in Gujarat. But I quickly learned to cease making such comparisons, partly because I refused to participate in an effort to pit and to measure the suffering of one people against another.
I have been called many things in the past five years, most of which are not suitable to publish on this site. But perhaps one of the most unfair criticisms leveled at me and other activists working against communalism in India is that somehow our assessment of what transpired in Gujarat is maudlin or excessively sentimental. This indeed may be the case, but it is not without reason. I will always remember 12 year-old Sadik, who I met in a relief camp just shortly after the violence ensued. He fled for relief after he witnessed his father burned alive and his mother raped and then immolated. He never did speak to me - or to anyone - during the six months that I saw him in the camp. But at night, after the aid workers would leave, I often found Sadik sitting alone in the corner, crying quietly.
I am not sure what has happened to him since but I suspect there are nights when he still cries and wonders why, five years later, his tears are still needed.
Zahir Janmohamed is an associate editor of alt.muslim and the co-founder of The Qunoot Foundation.
Remembering Gujarat 2002 - greater unity among secular forces
(Times of India)
'Need for unity'
[ 27 Feb, 2007 2217hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
AHMEDABAD: It was an audience mainly comprising rights activists and those affected by the riots of 2002. A good reason for Mallika Sarabhai, noted dancer and speaker at the 'Sach Ki Yadein, Yadon Ka Sach' event, to say, "All those present here already know about injustice meted out to riot victims. How do we reach out to those who are denying what happened in Gujarat?"
While Sarabhai suggested "greater unity among secular forces", most speakers on the inaugural day of the week-long event on Monday spoke about the state government's complicity in the crimes against humanity and their silence on acknowledging it. The event is an attempt to look back at the Gujarat carnage of 2002.
Activist Teesta Setalvad came down strongly on the failure of the state government to adequately compensate riot victims. Citing a recent survey done by her NGO Citizens for Peace and Justice, Setalvad said that over 70 per cent of households have received less than Rs 5,000 as compensation instead of the allotted Rs 50,000. "Only around 15 households have been given Rs 40,000," she said. She warned the audience of a possibility of suppression of the Nanavati-Shah Commission's report on the riots due to be ready bky the end of this year.
"It's an election year and I won't be surprised if the commission's report is suppressed. But if that happens, we all need to be ready to raise our voices in protest," she said.
'Need for unity'
[ 27 Feb, 2007 2217hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
AHMEDABAD: It was an audience mainly comprising rights activists and those affected by the riots of 2002. A good reason for Mallika Sarabhai, noted dancer and speaker at the 'Sach Ki Yadein, Yadon Ka Sach' event, to say, "All those present here already know about injustice meted out to riot victims. How do we reach out to those who are denying what happened in Gujarat?"
While Sarabhai suggested "greater unity among secular forces", most speakers on the inaugural day of the week-long event on Monday spoke about the state government's complicity in the crimes against humanity and their silence on acknowledging it. The event is an attempt to look back at the Gujarat carnage of 2002.
Activist Teesta Setalvad came down strongly on the failure of the state government to adequately compensate riot victims. Citing a recent survey done by her NGO Citizens for Peace and Justice, Setalvad said that over 70 per cent of households have received less than Rs 5,000 as compensation instead of the allotted Rs 50,000. "Only around 15 households have been given Rs 40,000," she said. She warned the audience of a possibility of suppression of the Nanavati-Shah Commission's report on the riots due to be ready bky the end of this year.
"It's an election year and I won't be surprised if the commission's report is suppressed. But if that happens, we all need to be ready to raise our voices in protest," she said.
No change in State’s attitude to minorities, riot-hit
Ahmedabad Newsline / Indian Express
February 27, 2007
‘No change in State’s attitude to minorities, riot-hit’
Panel discussion, exhibition on Day One of six-day event marking Gujarat riots; activists lash out at State Govt
Express News Services
Ahmedabad, February 26: More than 25 civil society organisations have joined hands to organise a six-day-long series of programmes to commemorate the Gujarat riots of 2002 _ Sach ki Yadein Yadon ki Sach _ which got under way here at Gujarat Vidyapith on Monday. The first programme of the series was a panel discussion by various social activists on “revisiting 150 years of 1857, 100 years of Satyagrah and 5 years of Gujarat Carnage.”
Speaking on the occasion, noted social activist Teesta Setalvad observed that there has been no perceptible change in the State Government’s attitude towards minorities in the last five years.
“There is a deliberate attempt to look at the burning of train at Godhra and the subsequent riots through different glasses,” Teesta observed adding, “While most of the riot accused are roaming freely, as many as 87 people from Godhra are incarcerated under POTA and are behind the bars for last five years.
Coming down heavily on the State Government, Teesta said that while Chief Minister Narendra Modi refuses to comment on the ban of releasing the movie Parzania, his indulgent silence on Babu Bajrangi’s imposition of the ban speaks volumes. “Who is running the state? Narendra Modi or Bajrangi and people like him?” she asked.
She also raised an alarm on political apathy towards the entire issue. “Why are the protests and remembrances so apolitical? Why is the opposition silent on the issues of justice and rehabilitation of riot victims?” she asked.
“There have been a lot of talks on the role of Gandhian institutions during the riots and post riots, but one may also look at the role of the premier educational institutions in Ahmedabad and Baroda,” Teesta observed, adding that in spite of being autonomous by nature, their silence only indicates that ‘fascism’ has been deeply entrenched in the Gujarat civil society.
A recent study by “Citizens for Justice and Peace,” reveals that till date as many as 8,700 riot-hit people are still living in camps without BPL cards or ration cards, Teesta said adding that going by that study, only about 15 families got a compensation of Rs 40,000 while a majority had to do with meager or no compensation. “There has been no justice for women who were victims of gender violence during the riots,” she further pointed out.
“The Nanavati Shah commission has enough evidence to ask extremely uncomfortable questions to the State Government,” Setalvad said adding that as the report of the commission is expected by the end of this year along with Assembly Election, the civil society needs to remain extremely vigilant and prepared to take to streets if such a need arises.
Speaking on the occasion, Sophia Khan, Director, Safar said that while the state government has been making tall claims regarding the state being peaceful and investor friendly, the current peace is an uneasy calm that is a result of silenced justice. “A lot of people ask me why we are observing this commemoration programme? Why are we reopening the wounds,” Sophia said adding that the wounds of the riot victims are far from healing. “It is only the civil society which is trying with their limited means to heal the wounds, while at the State’s level, the process hasn’t even started so far,” she added.
Others who spoke on the occasion included Mallika Sarabhai from Darpana, Zakia Jawhar from Action Aid, Ila Pathak from AWAG and so on.
Later, an exhibition of paintings in Mithila tradition on the context of Gujarat carnage of 2002 by Santosh Kumar Das was inaugurated at Amdavad ni Gufa as a part of the programme.
February 27, 2007
‘No change in State’s attitude to minorities, riot-hit’
Panel discussion, exhibition on Day One of six-day event marking Gujarat riots; activists lash out at State Govt
Express News Services
Ahmedabad, February 26: More than 25 civil society organisations have joined hands to organise a six-day-long series of programmes to commemorate the Gujarat riots of 2002 _ Sach ki Yadein Yadon ki Sach _ which got under way here at Gujarat Vidyapith on Monday. The first programme of the series was a panel discussion by various social activists on “revisiting 150 years of 1857, 100 years of Satyagrah and 5 years of Gujarat Carnage.”
Speaking on the occasion, noted social activist Teesta Setalvad observed that there has been no perceptible change in the State Government’s attitude towards minorities in the last five years.
“There is a deliberate attempt to look at the burning of train at Godhra and the subsequent riots through different glasses,” Teesta observed adding, “While most of the riot accused are roaming freely, as many as 87 people from Godhra are incarcerated under POTA and are behind the bars for last five years.
Coming down heavily on the State Government, Teesta said that while Chief Minister Narendra Modi refuses to comment on the ban of releasing the movie Parzania, his indulgent silence on Babu Bajrangi’s imposition of the ban speaks volumes. “Who is running the state? Narendra Modi or Bajrangi and people like him?” she asked.
She also raised an alarm on political apathy towards the entire issue. “Why are the protests and remembrances so apolitical? Why is the opposition silent on the issues of justice and rehabilitation of riot victims?” she asked.
“There have been a lot of talks on the role of Gandhian institutions during the riots and post riots, but one may also look at the role of the premier educational institutions in Ahmedabad and Baroda,” Teesta observed, adding that in spite of being autonomous by nature, their silence only indicates that ‘fascism’ has been deeply entrenched in the Gujarat civil society.
A recent study by “Citizens for Justice and Peace,” reveals that till date as many as 8,700 riot-hit people are still living in camps without BPL cards or ration cards, Teesta said adding that going by that study, only about 15 families got a compensation of Rs 40,000 while a majority had to do with meager or no compensation. “There has been no justice for women who were victims of gender violence during the riots,” she further pointed out.
“The Nanavati Shah commission has enough evidence to ask extremely uncomfortable questions to the State Government,” Setalvad said adding that as the report of the commission is expected by the end of this year along with Assembly Election, the civil society needs to remain extremely vigilant and prepared to take to streets if such a need arises.
Speaking on the occasion, Sophia Khan, Director, Safar said that while the state government has been making tall claims regarding the state being peaceful and investor friendly, the current peace is an uneasy calm that is a result of silenced justice. “A lot of people ask me why we are observing this commemoration programme? Why are we reopening the wounds,” Sophia said adding that the wounds of the riot victims are far from healing. “It is only the civil society which is trying with their limited means to heal the wounds, while at the State’s level, the process hasn’t even started so far,” she added.
Others who spoke on the occasion included Mallika Sarabhai from Darpana, Zakia Jawhar from Action Aid, Ila Pathak from AWAG and so on.
Later, an exhibition of paintings in Mithila tradition on the context of Gujarat carnage of 2002 by Santosh Kumar Das was inaugurated at Amdavad ni Gufa as a part of the programme.
February 26, 2007
Why is Parzania the perfect film for the fifth anniversary of the Gujarat riots?
(The Telegraph
February 27, 2007)
HUMAN INTEREST STORY
Why is Parzania the perfect film for the fifth anniversary of the Gujarat riots? asks Aveek Sen
Moving image
Tomorrow — February 28 — will mark the fifth anniversary of the Gujarat genocide. Godhra happened today, five years ago; the ‘reactions’ followed from the day after. We started by calling them the ‘riots’. But now, to express our outrage at the role of the police and the state government in what we suspect were the results of careful planning, we prefer to use ‘genocide’ or ‘pogrom’. For most of us, these words are hiccups in a history of comfortable forgetting and ignorance. The nicest thing about the unthinkable or the unspeakable is that it absolves one of the responsibility of having to think or speak about it.
From time to time, perfectly sweet and peace-loving Indians — who eat gota sheddho for Saraswati pujo, haleem during Ramadan, and Nahoum’s plum-cake on Christmas Day — when asked, at dinner-parties, whom they would like to shoot if given the chance, merrily declare “Narendra Modi!”, and then get on with dinner. There are also a few visual traces that linger. Time has turned these images into icons; they are no more the photographs of things that happened or people who exist. The charred remains of a train-compartment, a terrified man pleading to be saved from death (to someone who first took his photograph), and Zahira Sheikh’s beautiful, blank, inscrutable eyes. Somehow, these lead back to that ur-image: a low-flying aircraft tilted close to a very tall building. As a sequence of images, it has a familiarity and logic that make the need for inquiry or action quite redundant: with these things, too much political correctness is terribly unchic. Besides, don’t we all love Sufi music and give our children quaint Muslim names? And those of us who live abroad, haven’t we signed petitions, joined protest marches, and put links from Communalism Combat on our blogs?
Into this easy world was released, this Republic Day, Rahul Dholakia’s Parzania (rhyming with Narnia). And this film — based on a ‘true story’ and made by a Californian from Ahmedabad — is proving to be the perfect ‘Gujarat Anniversary’ film. Every review describes, without a shred of critical irony, the “collective weeping” this film induces in the multiplexes (apparently, South Delhi wept the most), while carrying inset features on the Return of Sarika. Headlines play on the ironies that link her return with the film’s subject — the Parsi boy, Azhar Mody, lost during the Gulbarg Society massacre in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002, whose return is still awaited by his devastated parents. Like Azhar, Sarika is “The Waif Who Vanished”, according to a leading news-magazine. Its main article on Parzania carries a large picture of the boy’s father, Dara, sobbing uncontrollably as he is held close by Naseeruddin Shah (in dark glasses), who plays him in the film; a famous news producer and anchor is looking grimly at them from behind.
This photograph is like an allegory of the Public Conscience: Human Interest Story in the arms of Cinema, as Television looks on, each eager to Tell it Like It Is. The article’s little box on Sarika begins, in the same breath as it tells the Modys’ story, with unabashed richness of feeling, “Long after Parzania gets over, you can’t forget Sarika in the role of Shernaz. You are haunted by her freckled, broken face, talking about her lost son…” Whom, or what, are you being urged to ‘remember’ here? And to what end? And who exactly are “you”? What is the nature and function of your memory?
This banquet of ready emotions and ‘good acting’ that Parzania offers its audiences acquires greater legitimacy by that most fortuitous of misfortunes to befall an Indian film — being banned by the Bajrang Dal and therefore patronized by the Congress. This immediately establishes its political coordinates, and sets the tone for the right kind of response, which can never henceforth be an ‘aesthetic’ one. If you then happen not to like the film, or are left cold by it, or find yourself resisting its designs on your feelings, then you must be a heartless monster. By this logic, if you thought Fire was a bad film, then you must be homophobic. Similarly, if you haven’t sobbed through Parzania, then you stand dubiously outside the spontaneous Consensus of Hearts. Your response to the film begins to get identified with your position on the ‘Gujarat issue’.
What does it mean when a society does not bother to acknowledge or confront the most unsavoury aspects of its past and present unless these are packaged as Reality TV or feel-bad-to-feel-good entertainment? Such a society’s most difficult ‘issues’ are made visible almost entirely by the popular media and cinema, determined, on the one hand, by the dictates of commerce and, on the other, by various kinds of censorship. What are the markets, the codes and clichés, rules and stereotypes, that produce the true stories and moving images of this society? How does its language of the ‘real’ shape the way it feels and remembers, and sustain its notions of the political and the apolitical, justice and injustice, what can be redressed and what must be accepted? What, say, would modern Europe have been like if the Nuremberg Trials hadn’t happened, and all that remained of the Third Reich were Sound of Music, Schindler’s List and the skinheads?
Dholakia’s “statement about the riot” comes “straight from the heart”. And that, according to him, is what makes it an “apolitical” film, which takes up the story of one family and brings out its “essential” as well as “universal” elements: “we wanted to make you feel as if you were part of it and how they were feeling”. If distancing oneself from the ‘political’ means taking refuge in such a simplified and presumptuous form of empathy, then something profoundly important has to be compromised in the process. This not only makes for deeply mediocre cinema (in spite of good acting), employing every visual, musical, narrative and sentimental cliché from B/C-grade Hollywood catastrophe films, but is also ethically dubious and politically dangerous.
Two devices help Dholakia achieve this. First, his odious American narrator — supposedly finishing a thesis on his wellness guru, the Mahatma, without ever having heard of the Parsis — through whose eyes and voice-over we are made to see the whole thing. Second, the film’s implicit ‘and-they-weren’t-even-Muslims’ theme, together with this American point of view, creates a rather lopsided effect of neutrality, as if neither is properly part of the central conflict of the riots and is only caught in it in spite of themselves, making the helplessness that much more unjust and tragic, the outrage and the empathy easier to draw out.
To be urged to look inwards, into our hearts, and seek there the ‘universal’ and ‘essential’ meanings of what happened, and continues to happen, in Gujarat, is to look deliberately away from the enormity as well as the particularity of what the victims of the genocide — dead, alive or still lost — suffered and continue to suffer. Denied justice for their dead, and cheated out of the promised compensation and rehabilitation, most of them remain abjectly dispossessed and internally displaced within a precariously divided society, while their killers, rapists and torturers, and those who helped these people pull the whole thing off, in the highest seats of power, go triumphantly unpunished in Modi’s Vibrant Gujarat.
India seems to have produced the perfect society, and State, for such an effortless containment of genocide and its long aftermath, of making a public crime of unprecedented proportions part of the texture of its everyday normality. And it is films like Parzania — allowing us to fit in a cathartic bout of weeping between checking out the Cottonworld sale and tucking in the Oh! Calcutta buffet-lunch — that make this incredible achievement a little easier to hold together.
February 27, 2007)
HUMAN INTEREST STORY
Why is Parzania the perfect film for the fifth anniversary of the Gujarat riots? asks Aveek Sen
Moving image
Tomorrow — February 28 — will mark the fifth anniversary of the Gujarat genocide. Godhra happened today, five years ago; the ‘reactions’ followed from the day after. We started by calling them the ‘riots’. But now, to express our outrage at the role of the police and the state government in what we suspect were the results of careful planning, we prefer to use ‘genocide’ or ‘pogrom’. For most of us, these words are hiccups in a history of comfortable forgetting and ignorance. The nicest thing about the unthinkable or the unspeakable is that it absolves one of the responsibility of having to think or speak about it.
From time to time, perfectly sweet and peace-loving Indians — who eat gota sheddho for Saraswati pujo, haleem during Ramadan, and Nahoum’s plum-cake on Christmas Day — when asked, at dinner-parties, whom they would like to shoot if given the chance, merrily declare “Narendra Modi!”, and then get on with dinner. There are also a few visual traces that linger. Time has turned these images into icons; they are no more the photographs of things that happened or people who exist. The charred remains of a train-compartment, a terrified man pleading to be saved from death (to someone who first took his photograph), and Zahira Sheikh’s beautiful, blank, inscrutable eyes. Somehow, these lead back to that ur-image: a low-flying aircraft tilted close to a very tall building. As a sequence of images, it has a familiarity and logic that make the need for inquiry or action quite redundant: with these things, too much political correctness is terribly unchic. Besides, don’t we all love Sufi music and give our children quaint Muslim names? And those of us who live abroad, haven’t we signed petitions, joined protest marches, and put links from Communalism Combat on our blogs?
Into this easy world was released, this Republic Day, Rahul Dholakia’s Parzania (rhyming with Narnia). And this film — based on a ‘true story’ and made by a Californian from Ahmedabad — is proving to be the perfect ‘Gujarat Anniversary’ film. Every review describes, without a shred of critical irony, the “collective weeping” this film induces in the multiplexes (apparently, South Delhi wept the most), while carrying inset features on the Return of Sarika. Headlines play on the ironies that link her return with the film’s subject — the Parsi boy, Azhar Mody, lost during the Gulbarg Society massacre in Ahmedabad on February 28, 2002, whose return is still awaited by his devastated parents. Like Azhar, Sarika is “The Waif Who Vanished”, according to a leading news-magazine. Its main article on Parzania carries a large picture of the boy’s father, Dara, sobbing uncontrollably as he is held close by Naseeruddin Shah (in dark glasses), who plays him in the film; a famous news producer and anchor is looking grimly at them from behind.
This photograph is like an allegory of the Public Conscience: Human Interest Story in the arms of Cinema, as Television looks on, each eager to Tell it Like It Is. The article’s little box on Sarika begins, in the same breath as it tells the Modys’ story, with unabashed richness of feeling, “Long after Parzania gets over, you can’t forget Sarika in the role of Shernaz. You are haunted by her freckled, broken face, talking about her lost son…” Whom, or what, are you being urged to ‘remember’ here? And to what end? And who exactly are “you”? What is the nature and function of your memory?
This banquet of ready emotions and ‘good acting’ that Parzania offers its audiences acquires greater legitimacy by that most fortuitous of misfortunes to befall an Indian film — being banned by the Bajrang Dal and therefore patronized by the Congress. This immediately establishes its political coordinates, and sets the tone for the right kind of response, which can never henceforth be an ‘aesthetic’ one. If you then happen not to like the film, or are left cold by it, or find yourself resisting its designs on your feelings, then you must be a heartless monster. By this logic, if you thought Fire was a bad film, then you must be homophobic. Similarly, if you haven’t sobbed through Parzania, then you stand dubiously outside the spontaneous Consensus of Hearts. Your response to the film begins to get identified with your position on the ‘Gujarat issue’.
What does it mean when a society does not bother to acknowledge or confront the most unsavoury aspects of its past and present unless these are packaged as Reality TV or feel-bad-to-feel-good entertainment? Such a society’s most difficult ‘issues’ are made visible almost entirely by the popular media and cinema, determined, on the one hand, by the dictates of commerce and, on the other, by various kinds of censorship. What are the markets, the codes and clichés, rules and stereotypes, that produce the true stories and moving images of this society? How does its language of the ‘real’ shape the way it feels and remembers, and sustain its notions of the political and the apolitical, justice and injustice, what can be redressed and what must be accepted? What, say, would modern Europe have been like if the Nuremberg Trials hadn’t happened, and all that remained of the Third Reich were Sound of Music, Schindler’s List and the skinheads?
Dholakia’s “statement about the riot” comes “straight from the heart”. And that, according to him, is what makes it an “apolitical” film, which takes up the story of one family and brings out its “essential” as well as “universal” elements: “we wanted to make you feel as if you were part of it and how they were feeling”. If distancing oneself from the ‘political’ means taking refuge in such a simplified and presumptuous form of empathy, then something profoundly important has to be compromised in the process. This not only makes for deeply mediocre cinema (in spite of good acting), employing every visual, musical, narrative and sentimental cliché from B/C-grade Hollywood catastrophe films, but is also ethically dubious and politically dangerous.
Two devices help Dholakia achieve this. First, his odious American narrator — supposedly finishing a thesis on his wellness guru, the Mahatma, without ever having heard of the Parsis — through whose eyes and voice-over we are made to see the whole thing. Second, the film’s implicit ‘and-they-weren’t-even-Muslims’ theme, together with this American point of view, creates a rather lopsided effect of neutrality, as if neither is properly part of the central conflict of the riots and is only caught in it in spite of themselves, making the helplessness that much more unjust and tragic, the outrage and the empathy easier to draw out.
To be urged to look inwards, into our hearts, and seek there the ‘universal’ and ‘essential’ meanings of what happened, and continues to happen, in Gujarat, is to look deliberately away from the enormity as well as the particularity of what the victims of the genocide — dead, alive or still lost — suffered and continue to suffer. Denied justice for their dead, and cheated out of the promised compensation and rehabilitation, most of them remain abjectly dispossessed and internally displaced within a precariously divided society, while their killers, rapists and torturers, and those who helped these people pull the whole thing off, in the highest seats of power, go triumphantly unpunished in Modi’s Vibrant Gujarat.
India seems to have produced the perfect society, and State, for such an effortless containment of genocide and its long aftermath, of making a public crime of unprecedented proportions part of the texture of its everyday normality. And it is films like Parzania — allowing us to fit in a cathartic bout of weeping between checking out the Cottonworld sale and tucking in the Oh! Calcutta buffet-lunch — that make this incredible achievement a little easier to hold together.
Victims need homes, not camps
(HindustanTimes.com » States » Gujarat)
Victims need homes, not camps
Rathin Das
Ahmedabad, February 25, 2007
Five years after the carnage that killed more than 2,000 Muslims in retaliation to the death of more than 58 kar sewaks in the Godhra train blaze, thousands of survivors continue to live in sub-human conditions in makeshift camps set up by the relief committees.
They are scared to go home because their tormentors, who are still at large, threaten them. Community leaders feel that the worst thing in five years of the Gujarat riots is that there is absolutely no sense of remorse among the people who had planned and executed the anti-minority mayhem. “There is no sense of remorse because it was a well-planned carnage to derive political gains,” Dr Shakeel Ahmed of the Islamic Relief Committee (IRC), said.
Rais Khan Pathan of the Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), which had highlighted the acquittals in the Best Bakery massacre case, said the divide between the two communities has deepened further. He said the psychological distance between the communities was increasing as interaction among them at various levels was decreasing.
“The administration has not made any effort to bring the two communities together in five years,” said Pathan. But the ruling BJP turned the spotlight on investment to divert attention from the growing Hindu-Muslim divide. State BJP president Purshottam Rupala said Gujarat had been peaceful for the past five years even though there was communal trouble elsewhere. “Investment to the tune of thousands of crores kept pouring in as the real proof of peace in Gujarat,” Rupala told newsmen this week.
Amid the contradictory claims, the only flicker of hope for the minority community now is the Supreme Court verdict, upholding the POTA review committee recommendation that the accused held under POTA for the train fire would be entitled to apply for bail.
Welcoming the verdict, Saeed Hussain Umarji told Hindustan Times that they should get bail as the police had no evidence against them barring their confessional statements extracted in custody. Saeed is the son of Maulana Hussain Umarji, picked up by the police in 2003 and named as the prime conspirator in the train burning incident of February 27.
Email Rathin Das: rathindas_2000@yahoo.com
Victims need homes, not camps
Rathin Das
Ahmedabad, February 25, 2007
Five years after the carnage that killed more than 2,000 Muslims in retaliation to the death of more than 58 kar sewaks in the Godhra train blaze, thousands of survivors continue to live in sub-human conditions in makeshift camps set up by the relief committees.
They are scared to go home because their tormentors, who are still at large, threaten them. Community leaders feel that the worst thing in five years of the Gujarat riots is that there is absolutely no sense of remorse among the people who had planned and executed the anti-minority mayhem. “There is no sense of remorse because it was a well-planned carnage to derive political gains,” Dr Shakeel Ahmed of the Islamic Relief Committee (IRC), said.
Rais Khan Pathan of the Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), which had highlighted the acquittals in the Best Bakery massacre case, said the divide between the two communities has deepened further. He said the psychological distance between the communities was increasing as interaction among them at various levels was decreasing.
“The administration has not made any effort to bring the two communities together in five years,” said Pathan. But the ruling BJP turned the spotlight on investment to divert attention from the growing Hindu-Muslim divide. State BJP president Purshottam Rupala said Gujarat had been peaceful for the past five years even though there was communal trouble elsewhere. “Investment to the tune of thousands of crores kept pouring in as the real proof of peace in Gujarat,” Rupala told newsmen this week.
Amid the contradictory claims, the only flicker of hope for the minority community now is the Supreme Court verdict, upholding the POTA review committee recommendation that the accused held under POTA for the train fire would be entitled to apply for bail.
Welcoming the verdict, Saeed Hussain Umarji told Hindustan Times that they should get bail as the police had no evidence against them barring their confessional statements extracted in custody. Saeed is the son of Maulana Hussain Umarji, picked up by the police in 2003 and named as the prime conspirator in the train burning incident of February 27.
Email Rathin Das: rathindas_2000@yahoo.com
February 25, 2007
Film on India pogrom is boycotted
Los Angeles Times
Film on India pogrom is boycotted
Theater owners fear more violence. But the filmmaker says wounds sometimes need to be reopened.
By Henry Chu, Times Staff Writer
February 25, 2007
AHMADABAD, INDIA — Five years ago, this city was in flames. Mobs of Hindu extremists rampaged through Muslim neighborhoods, setting shops ablaze and pulling people out of their homes to butcher them in the streets in broad daylight.
When the bloodletting was over, more than 1,000 people — possibly twice that number — lay dead in one of the worst religious pogroms in India since it gained independence in 1947.
Many victims were listed as missing, including the young son of a friend of Los Angeles-based filmmaker Rahul Dholakia, who spent the next several years bringing the family's painful story to the screen.
The result, "Parzania," is being shown in theaters across India, but not here in Gujarat state, where the tragedy occurred. Cinema owners are refusing to show the film, saying it could spark more violence in a state still run by the Hindu nationalist party that was in power during the riots and that is widely accused of fomenting them.
The unofficial boycott of the movie has drawn outrage from Indian filmmakers and civil liberties groups. So far, their criticism has gone unheeded.
"We now have peace in Gujarat," said Manubhai Patel, who heads an association of Gujarat multiplex owners. "We don't want to remind the public of the riots episode all over again."
It may be too late for that. If nothing else, the controversy over "Parzania" has succeeded in refocusing attention on the events of Feb. 28, 2002, and the justice that has been disturbingly elusive since.
Caught on camera
Only a few convictions have been recorded in cases stemming from the massacre, despite manifold witness accounts of atrocities, some of which were caught on film by news cameras.
Entire families of Muslims were incinerated in their homes by crowds of cheering Hindu extremists armed with knives and clubs, witnesses said. Women were chased down and gang-raped, or had kerosene poured down their throats and set afire. Children were hacked to death in front of their parents, who then met the same fate.
Terrified survivors reported that police often stood idle or blocked victims from escaping. In some instances, residents who frantically telephoned for help said officers told them they were under orders not to intervene.
The blood-soaked frenzy was ostensibly in retaliation for the burning of a train in the nearby town of Godhra the day before, an attack that killed 59 Hindu passengers. Hindu activists blamed the fire on disgruntled Muslims, but a preliminary investigation raised serious doubts about that theory. A full judicial inquiry is expected to deliver a report this year.
Indians in the rest of the country, where people of different faiths live in tolerant peace if not unalloyed harmony, were shocked by the carnage. For Dholakia, who had moved to the United States in 1990, the dreadful headlines turned personal when he discovered that 13-year-old Azhar Mody, whose family he had known for several years, had vanished in the pandemonium. He remains missing.
"I felt somewhat responsible because I'm a Gujarati…. I felt it was my duty as a filmmaker to say something," said Dholakia, who is Hindu by upbringing and lives in Corona. "I had to tell this family's story."
"Parzania" was shot over three months in 2004, on a $700,000 budget, most of it financed by two of Dholakia's friends. The stars of the film, including well-known actor Naseeruddin Shah, worked for free. (In the movie, the family's names, the missing boy's age and other details have been changed.)
From the outset, Dholakia knew he had undertaken a controversial subject. He made an American character prominent in the story and wrote most of the dialogue in English, broadening the film's international marketability in case it couldn't get past India's censors.
Before it hit theaters in this country, "Parzania" was screened at film festivals in Los Angeles, Palm Springs and other venues around the world.
To Dholakia's surprise, his movie survived official Indian scissors with only three small cuts. The riot sequence remained intact, almost painfully so, given its graphic scenes of immolation and other acts of savagery. The sequence was filmed in the southern city of Hyderabad because, Dholakia said, it would have been politically impossible to shoot it in Ahmadabad.
It took nearly a year and a half to persuade Indian movie houses to screen the film. That cinema owners in Gujarat refused is not surprising. Such bans are not uncommon in India, where religious groups vociferously defend their faiths from perceived attack. Last year, "The Da Vinci Code" was not screened in several states because of protests from the nation's small Catholic community.
But Dholakia has no patience for those who allege that his movie could trigger renewed violence.
"Cinema never causes riots. Politicians do," he said.
His riposte was a thinly veiled reference to the government of Narendra Modi, Gujarat's top official and a senior member of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Many in India believe that Modi bears direct responsibility for fanning the sectarian strife that exploded in 2002.
After the Godhra train fire, statements from Modi — such as, "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction" — were seen as giving license to the armed fanatics who raged through Ahmadabad's crowded streets and across Gujarat.
Evidence also has surfaced that the attacks may not have been as spontaneous and uncontrolled as officials say. Critics have noted that the mobs were able to pinpoint Muslim shops and warehouses that were outwardly indistinguishable from their Hindu-owned counterparts.
Cases dismissed
In the aftermath, survivors filed thousands of complaints and cases with police, who in some instances also were the accused. But the path to justice for most victims has been thwarted. In the year and a half after the riots, more than 2,000 cases were summarily dismissed by local courts, often on grounds of insufficient evidence, despite abundant witness accounts.
Recently, human rights activists scored a victory when the Supreme Court ordered the tossed-out cases to be reopened.
But persuading victims to resume their legal fight has been difficult. Survivors say they have been harassed by authorities or even arrested and jailed on trumped-up charges when they tried to file charges against police.
"The police hold the power here, and they abuse it," said Johanna Lokhande of the group Nyayagraha, which works on behalf of the survivors.
The group has asked 930 people in Ahmadabad to press on with their reinstated cases; fewer than 200 have agreed. Many of those who declined are afraid of official reprisals or ostracism and intimidation by neighbors.
"The chances get bleaker by the day, because incidents of violence, incidents of harassment, keep happening," Lokhande said.
Five years ago, Noor Jehan Shekh watched attackers pour chemicals on her husband, then set him afire. Today, she and more than a dozen other riot widows and their children live a poverty-stricken existence in an encampment built to house those who lost their homes.
"We are still dealing with the shock. We can't forget those gory images," she said. "We should receive justice."
Although Shekh's ordeal continues, many others in India have forgotten about the convulsive violence that killed so many so brutally.
Dholakia said making "Parzania" was part of the struggle to ensure that what happened is not forgotten — and not repeated.
"Sometimes it's necessary to reopen wounds, because the solution to hate is to have a healthy debate and open debate about it," Dholakia said. "It's better to have it out in the open and discuss it.
"You cannot just avoid it."
henry.chu@latimes.com
Times staff writer Shankhadeep Choudhury contributed to this report.
Film on India pogrom is boycotted
Theater owners fear more violence. But the filmmaker says wounds sometimes need to be reopened.
By Henry Chu, Times Staff Writer
February 25, 2007
AHMADABAD, INDIA — Five years ago, this city was in flames. Mobs of Hindu extremists rampaged through Muslim neighborhoods, setting shops ablaze and pulling people out of their homes to butcher them in the streets in broad daylight.
When the bloodletting was over, more than 1,000 people — possibly twice that number — lay dead in one of the worst religious pogroms in India since it gained independence in 1947.
Many victims were listed as missing, including the young son of a friend of Los Angeles-based filmmaker Rahul Dholakia, who spent the next several years bringing the family's painful story to the screen.
The result, "Parzania," is being shown in theaters across India, but not here in Gujarat state, where the tragedy occurred. Cinema owners are refusing to show the film, saying it could spark more violence in a state still run by the Hindu nationalist party that was in power during the riots and that is widely accused of fomenting them.
The unofficial boycott of the movie has drawn outrage from Indian filmmakers and civil liberties groups. So far, their criticism has gone unheeded.
"We now have peace in Gujarat," said Manubhai Patel, who heads an association of Gujarat multiplex owners. "We don't want to remind the public of the riots episode all over again."
It may be too late for that. If nothing else, the controversy over "Parzania" has succeeded in refocusing attention on the events of Feb. 28, 2002, and the justice that has been disturbingly elusive since.
Caught on camera
Only a few convictions have been recorded in cases stemming from the massacre, despite manifold witness accounts of atrocities, some of which were caught on film by news cameras.
Entire families of Muslims were incinerated in their homes by crowds of cheering Hindu extremists armed with knives and clubs, witnesses said. Women were chased down and gang-raped, or had kerosene poured down their throats and set afire. Children were hacked to death in front of their parents, who then met the same fate.
Terrified survivors reported that police often stood idle or blocked victims from escaping. In some instances, residents who frantically telephoned for help said officers told them they were under orders not to intervene.
The blood-soaked frenzy was ostensibly in retaliation for the burning of a train in the nearby town of Godhra the day before, an attack that killed 59 Hindu passengers. Hindu activists blamed the fire on disgruntled Muslims, but a preliminary investigation raised serious doubts about that theory. A full judicial inquiry is expected to deliver a report this year.
Indians in the rest of the country, where people of different faiths live in tolerant peace if not unalloyed harmony, were shocked by the carnage. For Dholakia, who had moved to the United States in 1990, the dreadful headlines turned personal when he discovered that 13-year-old Azhar Mody, whose family he had known for several years, had vanished in the pandemonium. He remains missing.
"I felt somewhat responsible because I'm a Gujarati…. I felt it was my duty as a filmmaker to say something," said Dholakia, who is Hindu by upbringing and lives in Corona. "I had to tell this family's story."
"Parzania" was shot over three months in 2004, on a $700,000 budget, most of it financed by two of Dholakia's friends. The stars of the film, including well-known actor Naseeruddin Shah, worked for free. (In the movie, the family's names, the missing boy's age and other details have been changed.)
From the outset, Dholakia knew he had undertaken a controversial subject. He made an American character prominent in the story and wrote most of the dialogue in English, broadening the film's international marketability in case it couldn't get past India's censors.
Before it hit theaters in this country, "Parzania" was screened at film festivals in Los Angeles, Palm Springs and other venues around the world.
To Dholakia's surprise, his movie survived official Indian scissors with only three small cuts. The riot sequence remained intact, almost painfully so, given its graphic scenes of immolation and other acts of savagery. The sequence was filmed in the southern city of Hyderabad because, Dholakia said, it would have been politically impossible to shoot it in Ahmadabad.
It took nearly a year and a half to persuade Indian movie houses to screen the film. That cinema owners in Gujarat refused is not surprising. Such bans are not uncommon in India, where religious groups vociferously defend their faiths from perceived attack. Last year, "The Da Vinci Code" was not screened in several states because of protests from the nation's small Catholic community.
But Dholakia has no patience for those who allege that his movie could trigger renewed violence.
"Cinema never causes riots. Politicians do," he said.
His riposte was a thinly veiled reference to the government of Narendra Modi, Gujarat's top official and a senior member of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Many in India believe that Modi bears direct responsibility for fanning the sectarian strife that exploded in 2002.
After the Godhra train fire, statements from Modi — such as, "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction" — were seen as giving license to the armed fanatics who raged through Ahmadabad's crowded streets and across Gujarat.
Evidence also has surfaced that the attacks may not have been as spontaneous and uncontrolled as officials say. Critics have noted that the mobs were able to pinpoint Muslim shops and warehouses that were outwardly indistinguishable from their Hindu-owned counterparts.
Cases dismissed
In the aftermath, survivors filed thousands of complaints and cases with police, who in some instances also were the accused. But the path to justice for most victims has been thwarted. In the year and a half after the riots, more than 2,000 cases were summarily dismissed by local courts, often on grounds of insufficient evidence, despite abundant witness accounts.
Recently, human rights activists scored a victory when the Supreme Court ordered the tossed-out cases to be reopened.
But persuading victims to resume their legal fight has been difficult. Survivors say they have been harassed by authorities or even arrested and jailed on trumped-up charges when they tried to file charges against police.
"The police hold the power here, and they abuse it," said Johanna Lokhande of the group Nyayagraha, which works on behalf of the survivors.
The group has asked 930 people in Ahmadabad to press on with their reinstated cases; fewer than 200 have agreed. Many of those who declined are afraid of official reprisals or ostracism and intimidation by neighbors.
"The chances get bleaker by the day, because incidents of violence, incidents of harassment, keep happening," Lokhande said.
Five years ago, Noor Jehan Shekh watched attackers pour chemicals on her husband, then set him afire. Today, she and more than a dozen other riot widows and their children live a poverty-stricken existence in an encampment built to house those who lost their homes.
"We are still dealing with the shock. We can't forget those gory images," she said. "We should receive justice."
Although Shekh's ordeal continues, many others in India have forgotten about the convulsive violence that killed so many so brutally.
Dholakia said making "Parzania" was part of the struggle to ensure that what happened is not forgotten — and not repeated.
"Sometimes it's necessary to reopen wounds, because the solution to hate is to have a healthy debate and open debate about it," Dholakia said. "It's better to have it out in the open and discuss it.
"You cannot just avoid it."
henry.chu@latimes.com
Times staff writer Shankhadeep Choudhury contributed to this report.
High court dismisses case against Thackeray for inciting 1992-1993 Mumbai riots
(Times of India)
High court dismisses case against Thackeray Sr
Shibu Thomas
[ 24 Feb, 2007 0201hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
MUMBAI: In a blow to the ruling Democratic Front government, the HC on Friday dismissed its appeal against the discharge of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray in a case relating to publication of inflammatory articles during the 1992-1993 Mumbai riots.
Justice J H Bhatia upheld the metropolitan court’s order closing the case against Thackeray on account of the delay in filing the chargesheet.
The second phase of the post-Babri Masjid demolition riots had engulfed the city between January 6-19, 1993. The case relates to the publication of articles in the Sena mouthpiece, Saamna, between January 14-23, 1993.
In 1994, the Dadar police registered two criminal cases against Thackeray, the paper’s executive editor Sanjay Raut and publisher Subhash Desai under section 153 A (I) (a) of the IPC.
The crime was "promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, (and) race", a non-bailable offence that is punishable by up to three years imprisonment and/or a fine.
Despite the police applying with the government for sanction in 1994, the actual permission was accorded only in 2000 after the DF government came to power.
On July 25, 2000, the Dadar police arrested Thackeray and produced him before additional chief metropolitan magistrate B P Kamble.
The judge threw out the case saying it was time barred. He further added that there was no explanation for the seven-year delay in filing the chargesheet.
High court dismisses case against Thackeray Sr
Shibu Thomas
[ 24 Feb, 2007 0201hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
MUMBAI: In a blow to the ruling Democratic Front government, the HC on Friday dismissed its appeal against the discharge of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray in a case relating to publication of inflammatory articles during the 1992-1993 Mumbai riots.
Justice J H Bhatia upheld the metropolitan court’s order closing the case against Thackeray on account of the delay in filing the chargesheet.
The second phase of the post-Babri Masjid demolition riots had engulfed the city between January 6-19, 1993. The case relates to the publication of articles in the Sena mouthpiece, Saamna, between January 14-23, 1993.
In 1994, the Dadar police registered two criminal cases against Thackeray, the paper’s executive editor Sanjay Raut and publisher Subhash Desai under section 153 A (I) (a) of the IPC.
The crime was "promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, (and) race", a non-bailable offence that is punishable by up to three years imprisonment and/or a fine.
Despite the police applying with the government for sanction in 1994, the actual permission was accorded only in 2000 after the DF government came to power.
On July 25, 2000, the Dadar police arrested Thackeray and produced him before additional chief metropolitan magistrate B P Kamble.
The judge threw out the case saying it was time barred. He further added that there was no explanation for the seven-year delay in filing the chargesheet.
February 24, 2007
Sabarmati: Creating a New Divide?
(The Economic and Political Weekly
February 24, 2007)
Sabarmati: Creating a New Divide?
As the Sabarmati river divides the city of Ahmedabad into East and West, a new wall
divides this once cosmopolitan city into the “new city” and the “old city”. While Ahmedabad has had a long communal history, the violence of 2002 broke the backbone of the Muslim community, resulting in their ghettoisation and polarising the city’s areas
along a communal divide that seems almost impossible to bridge.
by Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury
[Full text at:
http://snipurl.com/1c8us ]
February 24, 2007)
Sabarmati: Creating a New Divide?
As the Sabarmati river divides the city of Ahmedabad into East and West, a new wall
divides this once cosmopolitan city into the “new city” and the “old city”. While Ahmedabad has had a long communal history, the violence of 2002 broke the backbone of the Muslim community, resulting in their ghettoisation and polarising the city’s areas
along a communal divide that seems almost impossible to bridge.
by Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury
[Full text at:
http://snipurl.com/1c8us ]
Peace March from Ayodhya to Magahar
Peace March from Ayodhya to Magahar
7th - 14th March 2007
---------------
KABIR SADBHAVNA MARCH
7th March to 14th March, 2007
Ayodhya to Magahar
In light of the worsening communal situation in eastern Uttar Pradesh, a communal harmony peace march is being planned from Ayodhya to Magahar. Lately, a number of communal incidents have taken place and it is quite clear that with the connivance of the Government in U.P., the communal forces are able to stoke communal feelings. With the impending assembly elections in U.P., the communal forces are once again adopting their strategy to polarize the Hindu votes by such incidents.
However, the people of U.P. and India have realized that these forces use the name of religion for their political vested interests and time and again resort to violence. The people have rejected this politics and will reject it once again.
The march will begin from Nishad Bhavan, Tedhi Bazar, Ayodhya on 7th March, 2007 at 10 am and end in Magahar on 14th March, 2007 at Kabir Math. Magahar is a place associated with Sant Kabir.
The Kabir Sadbhavna March will be led by Acharya Jugal Kishore Sharan Shashtri of Ayodhya and is being orgnanized by Ayodhya ki Awaz, People's Forum, Gorakhpur and Asha Parivar.
For more information contact:
Jugal Kishore Shashtri (9451730269), Keshav Chand (9839883518), Manoj Singh (9415282206), Faisal Khan (9313106745)
7th - 14th March 2007
---------------
KABIR SADBHAVNA MARCH
7th March to 14th March, 2007
Ayodhya to Magahar
In light of the worsening communal situation in eastern Uttar Pradesh, a communal harmony peace march is being planned from Ayodhya to Magahar. Lately, a number of communal incidents have taken place and it is quite clear that with the connivance of the Government in U.P., the communal forces are able to stoke communal feelings. With the impending assembly elections in U.P., the communal forces are once again adopting their strategy to polarize the Hindu votes by such incidents.
However, the people of U.P. and India have realized that these forces use the name of religion for their political vested interests and time and again resort to violence. The people have rejected this politics and will reject it once again.
The march will begin from Nishad Bhavan, Tedhi Bazar, Ayodhya on 7th March, 2007 at 10 am and end in Magahar on 14th March, 2007 at Kabir Math. Magahar is a place associated with Sant Kabir.
The Kabir Sadbhavna March will be led by Acharya Jugal Kishore Sharan Shashtri of Ayodhya and is being orgnanized by Ayodhya ki Awaz, People's Forum, Gorakhpur and Asha Parivar.
For more information contact:
Jugal Kishore Shashtri (9451730269), Keshav Chand (9839883518), Manoj Singh (9415282206), Faisal Khan (9313106745)
Activists remember the Gujarat riot horrors
(Gulf News
24/02/2007 12:00 AM (UAE))
Activists remember the Gujarat riot horrors
By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent
Mumbai: It's five years since Gujarat witnessed the worst ever communal killings and human rights activists say the horrific incidents must not be forgotten until the victims get due justice and the pathetic condition of minorities addressed by the state.
Starting from February 26 to March 3, 2007, Prashant, an Ahmedabad-based human rights organisation, as well as various groups, have drawn up a line of events including seminars, a convention with survivors, film shows, drama, street plays and painting exhibitions to serve as a platform where "all of us stand together for preserving the memory against forgetting what happened in this state," says Father Cedric Prakash of Prashant.
Whilst commemorating the fifth anniversary of "Gujarat Carnage 2002" called Sach Ki Yadein, Yadon Ka Sach (memories of truth), activists are once again rewinding the horrors of communal killing that followed the burning of a train in Godhra in which 48 Hindus were charred to death.
What followed in the next few days was Hindu fanatic mobs attacking Muslims in retaliation. "Gujarat 2002 witnessed an estimated killing of 2,000 people, rape of approximately 400 women, property damage worth Rs38 billion, around 1,100 restaurants destroyed, 563 religious places destroyed or damaged and 250,000 people displaced," says Prakash.
Not recognised
According to him, a recent survey reveal that 5,000-10,000 families are still living in about 80 relief camps, not recognised by the state government and without basic civic amenities. Out of a total 4,252 First Information Reports (FIRs), 2,208 cases were summarily closed and most of the accused were released within one year of the carnage.
Like other human rights activists, he, too, says that the situation has changed little for the minorities in Gujarat. "The politicians are still reaping the benefits, academics trying to make sense of it for the long-term future of Indian democracy, mediapersons still divided over it, activists trying to wrest whatever little doles they can get for the victims from an hostile state and victims still coming to terms with the nightmare they had to undergo," he says.
24/02/2007 12:00 AM (UAE))
Activists remember the Gujarat riot horrors
By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent
Mumbai: It's five years since Gujarat witnessed the worst ever communal killings and human rights activists say the horrific incidents must not be forgotten until the victims get due justice and the pathetic condition of minorities addressed by the state.
Starting from February 26 to March 3, 2007, Prashant, an Ahmedabad-based human rights organisation, as well as various groups, have drawn up a line of events including seminars, a convention with survivors, film shows, drama, street plays and painting exhibitions to serve as a platform where "all of us stand together for preserving the memory against forgetting what happened in this state," says Father Cedric Prakash of Prashant.
Whilst commemorating the fifth anniversary of "Gujarat Carnage 2002" called Sach Ki Yadein, Yadon Ka Sach (memories of truth), activists are once again rewinding the horrors of communal killing that followed the burning of a train in Godhra in which 48 Hindus were charred to death.
What followed in the next few days was Hindu fanatic mobs attacking Muslims in retaliation. "Gujarat 2002 witnessed an estimated killing of 2,000 people, rape of approximately 400 women, property damage worth Rs38 billion, around 1,100 restaurants destroyed, 563 religious places destroyed or damaged and 250,000 people displaced," says Prakash.
Not recognised
According to him, a recent survey reveal that 5,000-10,000 families are still living in about 80 relief camps, not recognised by the state government and without basic civic amenities. Out of a total 4,252 First Information Reports (FIRs), 2,208 cases were summarily closed and most of the accused were released within one year of the carnage.
Like other human rights activists, he, too, says that the situation has changed little for the minorities in Gujarat. "The politicians are still reaping the benefits, academics trying to make sense of it for the long-term future of Indian democracy, mediapersons still divided over it, activists trying to wrest whatever little doles they can get for the victims from an hostile state and victims still coming to terms with the nightmare they had to undergo," he says.
February 23, 2007
Protest as Christian graveyard is dug in Gujarat
PRESS RELEASE
[22 February 2007]
Under the leadership of All India Christian Council, the minority Christian community organizes a big Dharana Programme to voice against Gujarat Government as Roman Catholic graveyard at Vatva has been dug up, tombs have been broken, crosses on tombs have been broken and it has been tried to destroy the graveyard.
The Christian Community of Gujarat is demanding to suspend Police Inspector of Vatva Police Station under jurisdiction of Ahmedabad City Police Commissioner and other Government officers by registering F.I.R. from immediate effect.
Minority Christian Community organizes a big Dharana programe in front of Ahmedabad District Collector as attacks are carried out on the graveyard of minority Christian community by blessings of B.J.P. Government for solution of problems for protection graveyard for its maintenance and to stop the attacks.
National Executive Member and Joint Secretary Shri Samson C. Christian of All India Christian Council states in his press release that since B.J.P. Government has come on power in Gujarat of Gandhiji it has destroyed the interests of minority community. It has created communal extremism and enmity by inciting people and it has no any other aim rather than to sustain the same.
During the tenure of BJP Government in Gujarat of Gandhiji problems regarding graveyard of minority Christian community have been raised and numerous incidents have been taken place within 9 years such like destroying by bulldozers, digging up graves and taking out buried dead body, throwing dead bodies on public road, making way through graveyards, making cricket ground by destroying graves, building community hall in graveyard. Such direful incidents have taken place. The minority Christian community who is human welfare activities loving their own country India has been targeted by attacking their graveyards at the behest of extremists and the vested interests.
Recently, the wicked have dug up graveyard, destroyed graves, crosses on tombs have been broken, remaining body parts of dead bodies have been dug up and thrown out in Roman Catholic graveyard at Vatva under jurisdiction of Ahmedabad Police Commissioner. All India Christian Council had represented to Gujarat Govt. and higher officers the by providing proofs and tried to stop such attacks but till date there is no result so it has been compelled to organize Dharana and come on public road.
Previously, AICC had written to National Minority Commission on 9-1-2001 regarding the the attacks on graveyard in Gujarat state Additional Secretary Shri P.S. Shah of Special Branch of Home-Department of Gujarat Government had submitted confidential Report on 7-11-01 to National Commission for Minorities at New Delhi regarding the attacks. Gujarat Government has accepted that attacks are carried out on graveyard of minority Christian community, in the report.
Police complaint was given on 10-01-07 to P.I. of Vatva Police Station under jurisdiction of Ahmedabad Police Commissioner but till date no step has been taken. Because directly or indirectly he has involved in this graveyard case. He has tried to cover crimes of the culprits by not registering police case. He has violated the order of Supreme Court for not registering complaint. The organization is sharply demanding to take quick Police action against the responsible including Sarpanch, Talati by suspending the officers of Mines and Mineral Department, and suspending P.I. N.K. Zala as he has violated the order of Supreme Court, Criminal Procedure Code and Indian Constitution.
The peace loving believing in brotherhood and leading in the filed of service, the minority Christian community has to come on road regarding the attacks on their graveyards and has to protest against state Government. This matter shows that the State Government has failed in protecting the interests of minorities. It is demanding resignation of Gujarat Government as there are spectacular proofs.
Regarding the problems of Catholic graveyard of Vatva the Christian community is organizing Dharana Programme in a democratic way. The whole minority Christian community of Gujarat and All India Christian Council are appealing openly by giving Memorandum to Ahmedabad District Collector to solve the graveyard problem urgently. If Gujarat Government will fail in guarding the interests of minority Christian community of Gujarat the community will organize sharper Andolan and take the graveyard problems on National level. This is open warning to the State Governemnt.
Yours Sincerely
sd/-
Date :- 22-02-2007 Samson C. Christian
Place :- Ahmedabad. National Executive Member
Contact:- SamsonChristian-9824262626 & Joint Secretary
All India Christian Council
[22 February 2007]
Under the leadership of All India Christian Council, the minority Christian community organizes a big Dharana Programme to voice against Gujarat Government as Roman Catholic graveyard at Vatva has been dug up, tombs have been broken, crosses on tombs have been broken and it has been tried to destroy the graveyard.
The Christian Community of Gujarat is demanding to suspend Police Inspector of Vatva Police Station under jurisdiction of Ahmedabad City Police Commissioner and other Government officers by registering F.I.R. from immediate effect.
Minority Christian Community organizes a big Dharana programe in front of Ahmedabad District Collector as attacks are carried out on the graveyard of minority Christian community by blessings of B.J.P. Government for solution of problems for protection graveyard for its maintenance and to stop the attacks.
National Executive Member and Joint Secretary Shri Samson C. Christian of All India Christian Council states in his press release that since B.J.P. Government has come on power in Gujarat of Gandhiji it has destroyed the interests of minority community. It has created communal extremism and enmity by inciting people and it has no any other aim rather than to sustain the same.
During the tenure of BJP Government in Gujarat of Gandhiji problems regarding graveyard of minority Christian community have been raised and numerous incidents have been taken place within 9 years such like destroying by bulldozers, digging up graves and taking out buried dead body, throwing dead bodies on public road, making way through graveyards, making cricket ground by destroying graves, building community hall in graveyard. Such direful incidents have taken place. The minority Christian community who is human welfare activities loving their own country India has been targeted by attacking their graveyards at the behest of extremists and the vested interests.
Recently, the wicked have dug up graveyard, destroyed graves, crosses on tombs have been broken, remaining body parts of dead bodies have been dug up and thrown out in Roman Catholic graveyard at Vatva under jurisdiction of Ahmedabad Police Commissioner. All India Christian Council had represented to Gujarat Govt. and higher officers the by providing proofs and tried to stop such attacks but till date there is no result so it has been compelled to organize Dharana and come on public road.
Previously, AICC had written to National Minority Commission on 9-1-2001 regarding the the attacks on graveyard in Gujarat state Additional Secretary Shri P.S. Shah of Special Branch of Home-Department of Gujarat Government had submitted confidential Report on 7-11-01 to National Commission for Minorities at New Delhi regarding the attacks. Gujarat Government has accepted that attacks are carried out on graveyard of minority Christian community, in the report.
Police complaint was given on 10-01-07 to P.I. of Vatva Police Station under jurisdiction of Ahmedabad Police Commissioner but till date no step has been taken. Because directly or indirectly he has involved in this graveyard case. He has tried to cover crimes of the culprits by not registering police case. He has violated the order of Supreme Court for not registering complaint. The organization is sharply demanding to take quick Police action against the responsible including Sarpanch, Talati by suspending the officers of Mines and Mineral Department, and suspending P.I. N.K. Zala as he has violated the order of Supreme Court, Criminal Procedure Code and Indian Constitution.
The peace loving believing in brotherhood and leading in the filed of service, the minority Christian community has to come on road regarding the attacks on their graveyards and has to protest against state Government. This matter shows that the State Government has failed in protecting the interests of minorities. It is demanding resignation of Gujarat Government as there are spectacular proofs.
Regarding the problems of Catholic graveyard of Vatva the Christian community is organizing Dharana Programme in a democratic way. The whole minority Christian community of Gujarat and All India Christian Council are appealing openly by giving Memorandum to Ahmedabad District Collector to solve the graveyard problem urgently. If Gujarat Government will fail in guarding the interests of minority Christian community of Gujarat the community will organize sharper Andolan and take the graveyard problems on National level. This is open warning to the State Governemnt.
Yours Sincerely
sd/-
Date :- 22-02-2007 Samson C. Christian
Place :- Ahmedabad. National Executive Member
Contact:- SamsonChristian-9824262626 & Joint Secretary
All India Christian Council
February 22, 2007
Sachar Report points to a significant intellectual failure
The Times of India
22 February 2007
AREA OF DARKNESS
by Mujibur Rehman
Hindu-Muslim relations have impacted India's development discourse more decisively than was anticipated in the pre-Partition years. And for good reason: Conditions of Indian Muslims, according to the Sachar committee report, point to an appalling policy neglect over decades.
Public debate on the report suggests it is only about India's contentious Muslim reservation issue. Two articles in this newspaper 'Sachar report flawed' (Jan 23) and 'No Quotas, Please' (Nov 20) are an example of this projection.
But the report is, in effect, about how incomplete and shallow the discourse on secularism has been. It also shows how flawed frameworks of interaction between the state and communities have shaped unequal outcomes.
While the statistical portrait that emerges from the report is deeply disturbing, identical trends were noticed long before 1947.
As early as 1871, W W Hunter in his book, The Indian Musalmans, articulated the community's deep sense of discrimination. "A great section of the Indian population, some 30 million in number, finds itself decaying under British rule.
They complain that they, who but yesterday were the conquerors and Governors of the Land, can find no subsistence in it today", he said. Muslim backwardness became the rallying point for a powerful fraction of Muslim elites who successfully campaigned for a separate homeland.
In post-Sachar India, Muslim elites have no such option. What, however, still gives an edge to Indian Muslims is the power of their votes in nearly 85 parliamentary constituencies, which could determine the fate of any national regime.
With the onset of coalition politics since the early 1990s, Muslim voters have gained unprecedented bargaining power in India's competitive party politics. It is this factor, not commitment to secularism, that motivates non-Hindutva, supposedly secular, political elites to take the Sachar report's recommendations seriously.
The claim that there is nothing fresh about the report except that it bears official stamp is quite misleading. The trends are not new, but the facts are. For example, the facts about Muslim backwardness in West Bengal with its 23.16 per cent Muslim population, are a shocking revelation.
This fact remained out of public knowledge, even as the region was always part of research agenda of eminent scholars like Amartya Sen, Partha Chatterjee, Sudipta Kaviraj, Amiya Bagchi, Pranab Bardhan and others. It suggests the exclusive character of our mainstream research agenda.
The Left Front regime should be given some credit for building a riot-free society, which other major parties failed to accomplish in regions they governed. However, a riot-free society is not enough to address the backwardness of a com-munity with historical disadvantages. This calls for special policy interventions.
The report points to a significant intellectual failure .
When Muslims were up against a vicious political campaign on so-called appeasement during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the secular response either dismissed it as prejudiced claims of Hindutva ideologues or recognised it as appeasement of Muslim fundamentalists, citing the infamous Shah Bano case.
But had the facts the Sachar report lays down been available, the appeasement campaign could have been confronted more effectively.
Though this report is the first of its kind exclusively on Indian Muslims, there were similar efforts in the past, such as the Gopal Singh panel (1980-83), which also studied other minorities. According to its member-secretary Rafiq Zakaria, its findings sent shock waves through South Block.
As many as 200 researchers were sent to different parts of India to collect the facts, and Rs 57.77 lakh invested in the report's preparation. Although submitted in 1983 to the government, it was tabled in Lok Sabha on August 24, 1990, with its major recommendations rejected.
According to MIT scholar Omar Khalidi, the report is not available in any major library. Intellectuals concerned with secularism could have nailed down Hindutva votaries with this panel's findings, but they failed to place this in the public domain.
The Sachar report once again exposes the failings of our secular researchers.
The writer teaches at Jamia Millia university.
22 February 2007
AREA OF DARKNESS
by Mujibur Rehman
Hindu-Muslim relations have impacted India's development discourse more decisively than was anticipated in the pre-Partition years. And for good reason: Conditions of Indian Muslims, according to the Sachar committee report, point to an appalling policy neglect over decades.
Public debate on the report suggests it is only about India's contentious Muslim reservation issue. Two articles in this newspaper 'Sachar report flawed' (Jan 23) and 'No Quotas, Please' (Nov 20) are an example of this projection.
But the report is, in effect, about how incomplete and shallow the discourse on secularism has been. It also shows how flawed frameworks of interaction between the state and communities have shaped unequal outcomes.
While the statistical portrait that emerges from the report is deeply disturbing, identical trends were noticed long before 1947.
As early as 1871, W W Hunter in his book, The Indian Musalmans, articulated the community's deep sense of discrimination. "A great section of the Indian population, some 30 million in number, finds itself decaying under British rule.
They complain that they, who but yesterday were the conquerors and Governors of the Land, can find no subsistence in it today", he said. Muslim backwardness became the rallying point for a powerful fraction of Muslim elites who successfully campaigned for a separate homeland.
In post-Sachar India, Muslim elites have no such option. What, however, still gives an edge to Indian Muslims is the power of their votes in nearly 85 parliamentary constituencies, which could determine the fate of any national regime.
With the onset of coalition politics since the early 1990s, Muslim voters have gained unprecedented bargaining power in India's competitive party politics. It is this factor, not commitment to secularism, that motivates non-Hindutva, supposedly secular, political elites to take the Sachar report's recommendations seriously.
The claim that there is nothing fresh about the report except that it bears official stamp is quite misleading. The trends are not new, but the facts are. For example, the facts about Muslim backwardness in West Bengal with its 23.16 per cent Muslim population, are a shocking revelation.
This fact remained out of public knowledge, even as the region was always part of research agenda of eminent scholars like Amartya Sen, Partha Chatterjee, Sudipta Kaviraj, Amiya Bagchi, Pranab Bardhan and others. It suggests the exclusive character of our mainstream research agenda.
The Left Front regime should be given some credit for building a riot-free society, which other major parties failed to accomplish in regions they governed. However, a riot-free society is not enough to address the backwardness of a com-munity with historical disadvantages. This calls for special policy interventions.
The report points to a significant intellectual failure .
When Muslims were up against a vicious political campaign on so-called appeasement during the late 1980s and early 1990s, the secular response either dismissed it as prejudiced claims of Hindutva ideologues or recognised it as appeasement of Muslim fundamentalists, citing the infamous Shah Bano case.
But had the facts the Sachar report lays down been available, the appeasement campaign could have been confronted more effectively.
Though this report is the first of its kind exclusively on Indian Muslims, there were similar efforts in the past, such as the Gopal Singh panel (1980-83), which also studied other minorities. According to its member-secretary Rafiq Zakaria, its findings sent shock waves through South Block.
As many as 200 researchers were sent to different parts of India to collect the facts, and Rs 57.77 lakh invested in the report's preparation. Although submitted in 1983 to the government, it was tabled in Lok Sabha on August 24, 1990, with its major recommendations rejected.
According to MIT scholar Omar Khalidi, the report is not available in any major library. Intellectuals concerned with secularism could have nailed down Hindutva votaries with this panel's findings, but they failed to place this in the public domain.
The Sachar report once again exposes the failings of our secular researchers.
The writer teaches at Jamia Millia university.
The truth about the Nanded blasts :
(http://www.cybernoon.com/)
The truth about the Nanded blasts
BY A STAFF REPORTER | Thursday, February 22, 2007 8:31:32 IST
Documents reveal the investigating authorities are not ready to explore the root of an emerging network of terror groups within the country
for :
Citizens and human rights activists including local activists from Nanded district, under the chairpersonship of Kolse Patil, retired Judge of the Mumbai High Court, have conducted a detailed investigation into the second Nanded bomb blasts that occurred on February 10 this year.
Preliminary findings of the Concerned Citizens Inquiry (CCI) - an independent scrutiny was shared with the media yesterday. A technical assessment from experts on the clues and pointers on the site was also shared by the inquiry.
At about 12.15 a.m. on February 10, 2007, 28-year-old Pandurang Bhagwan Ameelkanthwar of Rangargalli, Nanded died on the spot after he lifted �biscuit boxes�. His cousin, Dnyaneshwar Manikwar, 30, who rented space from a retired head master, was also present at the spot when the incident took place and sustained 72 per cent burn injuries and was first admitted in S.G.G.M. Hospital, Nanded.
In this extremely fragile condition he was transferred to J.J. Hospital in Mumbai where he also succumbed to his injuries on February 16, 2007.
�The Nanded police lodged a complaint of a petrol driven fire. However, the state police is dismissing the possibility of a bomb blast in haste. The police though have lodged a complaint of a petrol driven fire by the owner of the place, who is also claiming insurance money. But the on-site significant pointers provide clues and detailed video shootings of a blast at the site as well as photographs and findings by technical forensic experts that are with us. That�s what we have shared today,� said Teesta Setalvad, social activist and convener of CCI.
Speaking further about the findings, Teesta said, �Shocking documents related to the first Nanded bomb blasts of April 2006 have also been investigated by 'Communalism Combat' and provided to the 'Concerned Citizens Inquiry'ol.
These documents reveal a question on the part of the investigating authorities, who are not ready to explore the root of an emerging network of terror groups that are linked to drive political outfits within the country.�
Commenting on the investigation by CCI, Judge Kolse Patil said, �The CCI commissioned a team of experts to visit the site and give their findings after inspection and examination as to what sort of substances may have been used for such an explosion. Due to the sensitivity of the matter, the identities of the team have been kept confidential.
�The severity of the impact of a possible explosion by unstable and liquid organic substances cannot be ruled out. CCl�s Expert Analysis indicates that such substances are highly unstable, have an immediate impact of creating almost 1000 degree temperature and result in such a fierce chemical reaction that there is first an ignition, then flames and thereafter an explosion. The flames are at such high temperatures that a man can be burnt alive in 5-10 seconds.�
He added, �The whole gist of understanding and the conclusion point out that it is not a short circuit, neither is it a gas cylinder blast. On the contrary, it points to a preparation of a liquid bomb. It is a collection and combination of liquid inflammable substances, such as petrol, diesel, Nafta, salvant bomb, etc. which are the main ingredients to prepare and constitute a bomb.
�Glycerine, sulphuric acid, nitric acid, blades, glass, nails, gelatine sticks are also similarly to make crude liquid Molotov cocktails that have a powerful impact. Kerosene and diesel are also used. Recent blasts in the Samjhauta Express have also shown similar techniques being used. These chemical compounds are unstable but need to be inquired from licensed and authorised sources. There is something amiss in the police investigations of the Nanded blasts.�
The truth about the Nanded blasts
BY A STAFF REPORTER | Thursday, February 22, 2007 8:31:32 IST
Documents reveal the investigating authorities are not ready to explore the root of an emerging network of terror groups within the country
for :
Citizens and human rights activists including local activists from Nanded district, under the chairpersonship of Kolse Patil, retired Judge of the Mumbai High Court, have conducted a detailed investigation into the second Nanded bomb blasts that occurred on February 10 this year.
Preliminary findings of the Concerned Citizens Inquiry (CCI) - an independent scrutiny was shared with the media yesterday. A technical assessment from experts on the clues and pointers on the site was also shared by the inquiry.
At about 12.15 a.m. on February 10, 2007, 28-year-old Pandurang Bhagwan Ameelkanthwar of Rangargalli, Nanded died on the spot after he lifted �biscuit boxes�. His cousin, Dnyaneshwar Manikwar, 30, who rented space from a retired head master, was also present at the spot when the incident took place and sustained 72 per cent burn injuries and was first admitted in S.G.G.M. Hospital, Nanded.
In this extremely fragile condition he was transferred to J.J. Hospital in Mumbai where he also succumbed to his injuries on February 16, 2007.
�The Nanded police lodged a complaint of a petrol driven fire. However, the state police is dismissing the possibility of a bomb blast in haste. The police though have lodged a complaint of a petrol driven fire by the owner of the place, who is also claiming insurance money. But the on-site significant pointers provide clues and detailed video shootings of a blast at the site as well as photographs and findings by technical forensic experts that are with us. That�s what we have shared today,� said Teesta Setalvad, social activist and convener of CCI.
Speaking further about the findings, Teesta said, �Shocking documents related to the first Nanded bomb blasts of April 2006 have also been investigated by 'Communalism Combat' and provided to the 'Concerned Citizens Inquiry'ol.
These documents reveal a question on the part of the investigating authorities, who are not ready to explore the root of an emerging network of terror groups that are linked to drive political outfits within the country.�
Commenting on the investigation by CCI, Judge Kolse Patil said, �The CCI commissioned a team of experts to visit the site and give their findings after inspection and examination as to what sort of substances may have been used for such an explosion. Due to the sensitivity of the matter, the identities of the team have been kept confidential.
�The severity of the impact of a possible explosion by unstable and liquid organic substances cannot be ruled out. CCl�s Expert Analysis indicates that such substances are highly unstable, have an immediate impact of creating almost 1000 degree temperature and result in such a fierce chemical reaction that there is first an ignition, then flames and thereafter an explosion. The flames are at such high temperatures that a man can be burnt alive in 5-10 seconds.�
He added, �The whole gist of understanding and the conclusion point out that it is not a short circuit, neither is it a gas cylinder blast. On the contrary, it points to a preparation of a liquid bomb. It is a collection and combination of liquid inflammable substances, such as petrol, diesel, Nafta, salvant bomb, etc. which are the main ingredients to prepare and constitute a bomb.
�Glycerine, sulphuric acid, nitric acid, blades, glass, nails, gelatine sticks are also similarly to make crude liquid Molotov cocktails that have a powerful impact. Kerosene and diesel are also used. Recent blasts in the Samjhauta Express have also shown similar techniques being used. These chemical compounds are unstable but need to be inquired from licensed and authorised sources. There is something amiss in the police investigations of the Nanded blasts.�
Possible police cover up of Hindutva involement in Nanded Blasts
The Hindu
22 February 2007
Nanded blast "a possible explosive accident"
Staff Reporter
Inquiry calls for stringent action
MUMBAI: The explosion that killed two persons and damaged a biscuit factory unit in Nanded on February 10 was not a fire accident but a possible explosive accident, says preliminary findings of Concerned Citizen Inquiry, conducted by Teesta Setalvad, Justice B.G. Kolse-Patil and Arvind Deshmukh. The final report will be out in a month, which will include details on the Malegaon blasts, the recovery of RDX and several other recent events.
On February 10, 2007, at about 12.15 a.m., 28-year-old Pandurang Ameelkanthwar died on the spot as the biscuit boxes he was carrying exploded. His cousin, Dnaneshwar Manikwar, who sustained 72 per cent burns, died on February 16 at the JJ Hospital in Mumbai.
Teesta Setalvad, socio-legal activist, wondered why the police hastened to declare it a fire accident before getting the forensic result.
She said there were two versions from Dnaneshwar, one saying it was a short circuit and another saying he did it to claim insurance. Justice B.G. Kolse-Patil said they went to the site with a forensic expert, who did not want to disclose his identity, took pictures, and interviewed people around the area. They also spoke to the owner, the civil surgeon, fire brigade officials, SP Fatehsingh Patil and other police officials.
The expert opinion was that the shutter that took the impact of the explosion would not have been thrown to a distance of 40 feet had it been a normal fire. He also hinted at low intensity volatile explosives.
The inquiry recommends: "The Central Government should keep a close watch and monitor the increasing low intensity terror generating activities being conducted by political outfits that are misusing Hindu religion."
It also recommends "stringent action so that the accused in the earlier Nanded blasts — including those never arrested despite evidence — are arrested or not released on bail, as the case may be. Proceedings of these investigations must be conducted in full public glare."
22 February 2007
Nanded blast "a possible explosive accident"
Staff Reporter
Inquiry calls for stringent action
MUMBAI: The explosion that killed two persons and damaged a biscuit factory unit in Nanded on February 10 was not a fire accident but a possible explosive accident, says preliminary findings of Concerned Citizen Inquiry, conducted by Teesta Setalvad, Justice B.G. Kolse-Patil and Arvind Deshmukh. The final report will be out in a month, which will include details on the Malegaon blasts, the recovery of RDX and several other recent events.
On February 10, 2007, at about 12.15 a.m., 28-year-old Pandurang Ameelkanthwar died on the spot as the biscuit boxes he was carrying exploded. His cousin, Dnaneshwar Manikwar, who sustained 72 per cent burns, died on February 16 at the JJ Hospital in Mumbai.
Teesta Setalvad, socio-legal activist, wondered why the police hastened to declare it a fire accident before getting the forensic result.
She said there were two versions from Dnaneshwar, one saying it was a short circuit and another saying he did it to claim insurance. Justice B.G. Kolse-Patil said they went to the site with a forensic expert, who did not want to disclose his identity, took pictures, and interviewed people around the area. They also spoke to the owner, the civil surgeon, fire brigade officials, SP Fatehsingh Patil and other police officials.
The expert opinion was that the shutter that took the impact of the explosion would not have been thrown to a distance of 40 feet had it been a normal fire. He also hinted at low intensity volatile explosives.
The inquiry recommends: "The Central Government should keep a close watch and monitor the increasing low intensity terror generating activities being conducted by political outfits that are misusing Hindu religion."
It also recommends "stringent action so that the accused in the earlier Nanded blasts — including those never arrested despite evidence — are arrested or not released on bail, as the case may be. Proceedings of these investigations must be conducted in full public glare."
6 day event to remember Gujarat Carnage of 2002
Sach ki Yadein, Yadon ka Sach
PRESS INVITATION
Kindly find herewith, a backgrounder to a six-day (26th February to 3rd March 2007) event to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Gujarat Carnage of 2002, entitled "Sach ki Yadein, Yadon ka Sach" being organized in Ahmedabad by several organizations.
The programmes will include seminars, a convention with survivors, film-shows, drama, street plays, painting exhibitions, etc. The whole focus of the programme is to serve as platform where all of us stand together for preserving the memory against forgetting.
To introduce the weeklong programmes and to provide their details, we are inviting you to a Press Conference :
On Friday, 23rd February 2007
At 1600 hrs.
At PRASHANT
Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road
Ahmedabad 380 052
Tel: 27455913 / 66522333
We sincerely hope you / your Reporter and Photographer will attend this Press Conference.
We further request you to cover the events of the weeklong programmes that are being organized.
Thanking you in anticipation for the same,
For and on behalf of the Organizing Collective
Fr. Cedric Prakash
---------------------------------
Sach ki Yadein, Yadon ka Sach
(26 February - 3 March 2007)
Gujarat 2002 witnessed an estimated killing of 2000 people, rape of approximately 400 women, property damage worth Rs 3800 crores, around 1100 restaurants destroyed, 563 religious places (302 dargahs, 209 mosques, 30 madrassas, 18 temples and 3 churches) destroyed or damaged. About 2.5 lakh people were directly displaced.
Recent surveys reveal that 5,000-10,000 families are still living in around 80 relief camps, not recognized by the state govt. and without any basic civic amenities! Out of a total 4252 FIRs lodged (minuscule, compared to unofficial figures), 2208 cases were summarily closed and most of the accused were released within one year of the carnage. 214 people are still languishing in jails under POTA, all Muslims barring five!
The legacy continues! The politicians are still reaping benefits; academics are still trying to make sense of it for the long-term future of Indian democracy; media persons are still divided over it; activists are still trying to wrest for the victims whatever minuscule doles they can from an otherwise hostile state and the victims are still struggling to make two ends meet or to come to terms with the nightmare they had to undergo.
Meanwhile the memory of it all is being overwritten! It is being touted instead that all is well with the proverbial Gujarati world and the state continues to march on its way to glory. Those raising doubts are portrayed as conspiring to divide the five crore Gujaratis. The pathetic condition of the minorities does not raise any concern rather becomes a solid example to showcase the state as ruthless and hence very focused. And what is the state‚s track record on other fronts? Gujarat‚s status remains as number five in debt. According to NSSO May 2005, each of the 48 lakh farmers in the state is reeling under a debt of Rs. 15526. Officially, in the three years till 30 June 2006, 100 dalits have been murdered. Gujarat is also number five in the worst sex ratio record. At the same time, small-time thugs are not allowing Fanaa and Parzania to be screened inside Gujarat; are forcibly breaking inter-religious marriages apart and working for intense polarization among the tribals against the minorities.
The happenings of 2002 form the larger backdrop against which the events continue to unfold. How do we then pursue, an honest admission of truth and moral responsibility through a collective and public exercise as well as state‚s responsibility for the acts of its organs or agents and for its own failure to prevent or adequately respond to the commission of gross human rights violations, remains the challenge.
One continues to demand for the right to fair and adequate compensation; the right to restoration of the situation existing prior to the violation; the restoration of dignity and the right to a guarantee, by means of appropriate legislative and/or institutional intervention and reform, that the violation will not be repeated. A crucial aspect in all this is the symbolic reparation, especially in the backdrop of the gravest threat of 'erasure from memory and history', encompassing a process of remembering and commemorating the pain. It aims to restore the dignity of victims and serve as a continuing reminder. As we know, post-holocaust Germany is an example of that.
It is in this spirit that this six-day event is being organised. To serve as a platform where all of us stand together for preserving the 'memory' against 'forgetting'.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
PRASHANT - A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace
Street Address : Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India
Postal Address : P B 4050, Navrangpura PO, Ahmedabad - 380 009, Gujarat, India
Phone : 91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : 91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com
www.humanrightsindia.in
PRESS INVITATION
Kindly find herewith, a backgrounder to a six-day (26th February to 3rd March 2007) event to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Gujarat Carnage of 2002, entitled "Sach ki Yadein, Yadon ka Sach" being organized in Ahmedabad by several organizations.
The programmes will include seminars, a convention with survivors, film-shows, drama, street plays, painting exhibitions, etc. The whole focus of the programme is to serve as platform where all of us stand together for preserving the memory against forgetting.
To introduce the weeklong programmes and to provide their details, we are inviting you to a Press Conference :
On Friday, 23rd February 2007
At 1600 hrs.
At PRASHANT
Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road
Ahmedabad 380 052
Tel: 27455913 / 66522333
We sincerely hope you / your Reporter and Photographer will attend this Press Conference.
We further request you to cover the events of the weeklong programmes that are being organized.
Thanking you in anticipation for the same,
For and on behalf of the Organizing Collective
Fr. Cedric Prakash
---------------------------------
Sach ki Yadein, Yadon ka Sach
(26 February - 3 March 2007)
Gujarat 2002 witnessed an estimated killing of 2000 people, rape of approximately 400 women, property damage worth Rs 3800 crores, around 1100 restaurants destroyed, 563 religious places (302 dargahs, 209 mosques, 30 madrassas, 18 temples and 3 churches) destroyed or damaged. About 2.5 lakh people were directly displaced.
Recent surveys reveal that 5,000-10,000 families are still living in around 80 relief camps, not recognized by the state govt. and without any basic civic amenities! Out of a total 4252 FIRs lodged (minuscule, compared to unofficial figures), 2208 cases were summarily closed and most of the accused were released within one year of the carnage. 214 people are still languishing in jails under POTA, all Muslims barring five!
The legacy continues! The politicians are still reaping benefits; academics are still trying to make sense of it for the long-term future of Indian democracy; media persons are still divided over it; activists are still trying to wrest for the victims whatever minuscule doles they can from an otherwise hostile state and the victims are still struggling to make two ends meet or to come to terms with the nightmare they had to undergo.
Meanwhile the memory of it all is being overwritten! It is being touted instead that all is well with the proverbial Gujarati world and the state continues to march on its way to glory. Those raising doubts are portrayed as conspiring to divide the five crore Gujaratis. The pathetic condition of the minorities does not raise any concern rather becomes a solid example to showcase the state as ruthless and hence very focused. And what is the state‚s track record on other fronts? Gujarat‚s status remains as number five in debt. According to NSSO May 2005, each of the 48 lakh farmers in the state is reeling under a debt of Rs. 15526. Officially, in the three years till 30 June 2006, 100 dalits have been murdered. Gujarat is also number five in the worst sex ratio record. At the same time, small-time thugs are not allowing Fanaa and Parzania to be screened inside Gujarat; are forcibly breaking inter-religious marriages apart and working for intense polarization among the tribals against the minorities.
The happenings of 2002 form the larger backdrop against which the events continue to unfold. How do we then pursue, an honest admission of truth and moral responsibility through a collective and public exercise as well as state‚s responsibility for the acts of its organs or agents and for its own failure to prevent or adequately respond to the commission of gross human rights violations, remains the challenge.
One continues to demand for the right to fair and adequate compensation; the right to restoration of the situation existing prior to the violation; the restoration of dignity and the right to a guarantee, by means of appropriate legislative and/or institutional intervention and reform, that the violation will not be repeated. A crucial aspect in all this is the symbolic reparation, especially in the backdrop of the gravest threat of 'erasure from memory and history', encompassing a process of remembering and commemorating the pain. It aims to restore the dignity of victims and serve as a continuing reminder. As we know, post-holocaust Germany is an example of that.
It is in this spirit that this six-day event is being organised. To serve as a platform where all of us stand together for preserving the 'memory' against 'forgetting'.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
PRASHANT - A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace
Street Address : Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India
Postal Address : P B 4050, Navrangpura PO, Ahmedabad - 380 009, Gujarat, India
Phone : 91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : 91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com
www.humanrightsindia.in
6 day event to remember Gujarat Carnage of 2002
Sach ki Yadein, Yadon ka Sach
PRESS INVITATION
Kindly find herewith, a backgrounder to a six-day (26th February to 3rd March 2007) event to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Gujarat Carnage of 2002, entitled "Sach ki Yadein, Yadon ka Sach" being organized in Ahmedabad by several organizations.
The programmes will include seminars, a convention with survivors, film-shows, drama, street plays, painting exhibitions, etc. The whole focus of the programme is to serve as platform where all of us stand together for preserving the memory against forgetting.
To introduce the weeklong programmes and to provide their details, we are inviting you to a Press Conference :
On Friday, 23rd February 2007
At 1600 hrs.
At PRASHANT
Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road
Ahmedabad 380 052
Tel: 27455913 / 66522333
We sincerely hope you / your Reporter and Photographer will attend this Press Conference.
We further request you to cover the events of the weeklong programmes that are being organized.
Thanking you in anticipation for the same,
For and on behalf of the Organizing Collective
Fr. Cedric Prakash
---------------------------------
Sach ki Yadein, Yadon ka Sach
(26 February - 3 March 2007)
Gujarat 2002 witnessed an estimated killing of 2000 people, rape of approximately 400 women, property damage worth Rs 3800 crores, around 1100 restaurants destroyed, 563 religious places (302 dargahs, 209 mosques, 30 madrassas, 18 temples and 3 churches) destroyed or damaged. About 2.5 lakh people were directly displaced.
Recent surveys reveal that 5,000-10,000 families are still living in around 80 relief camps, not recognized by the state govt. and without any basic civic amenities! Out of a total 4252 FIRs lodged (minuscule, compared to unofficial figures), 2208 cases were summarily closed and most of the accused were released within one year of the carnage. 214 people are still languishing in jails under POTA, all Muslims barring five!
The legacy continues! The politicians are still reaping benefits; academics are still trying to make sense of it for the long-term future of Indian democracy; media persons are still divided over it; activists are still trying to wrest for the victims whatever minuscule doles they can from an otherwise hostile state and the victims are still struggling to make two ends meet or to come to terms with the nightmare they had to undergo.
Meanwhile the memory of it all is being overwritten! It is being touted instead that all is well with the proverbial Gujarati world and the state continues to march on its way to glory. Those raising doubts are portrayed as conspiring to divide the five crore Gujaratis. The pathetic condition of the minorities does not raise any concern rather becomes a solid example to showcase the state as ruthless and hence very focused. And what is the state‚s track record on other fronts? Gujarat‚s status remains as number five in debt. According to NSSO May 2005, each of the 48 lakh farmers in the state is reeling under a debt of Rs. 15526. Officially, in the three years till 30 June 2006, 100 dalits have been murdered. Gujarat is also number five in the worst sex ratio record. At the same time, small-time thugs are not allowing Fanaa and Parzania to be screened inside Gujarat; are forcibly breaking inter-religious marriages apart and working for intense polarization among the tribals against the minorities.
The happenings of 2002 form the larger backdrop against which the events continue to unfold. How do we then pursue, an honest admission of truth and moral responsibility through a collective and public exercise as well as state‚s responsibility for the acts of its organs or agents and for its own failure to prevent or adequately respond to the commission of gross human rights violations, remains the challenge.
One continues to demand for the right to fair and adequate compensation; the right to restoration of the situation existing prior to the violation; the restoration of dignity and the right to a guarantee, by means of appropriate legislative and/or institutional intervention and reform, that the violation will not be repeated. A crucial aspect in all this is the symbolic reparation, especially in the backdrop of the gravest threat of 'erasure from memory and history', encompassing a process of remembering and commemorating the pain. It aims to restore the dignity of victims and serve as a continuing reminder. As we know, post-holocaust Germany is an example of that.
It is in this spirit that this six-day event is being organised. To serve as a platform where all of us stand together for preserving the 'memory' against 'forgetting'.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
PRASHANT - A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace
Street Address : Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India
Postal Address : P B 4050, Navrangpura PO, Ahmedabad - 380 009, Gujarat, India
Phone : 91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : 91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com
www.humanrightsindia.in
PRESS INVITATION
Kindly find herewith, a backgrounder to a six-day (26th February to 3rd March 2007) event to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Gujarat Carnage of 2002, entitled "Sach ki Yadein, Yadon ka Sach" being organized in Ahmedabad by several organizations.
The programmes will include seminars, a convention with survivors, film-shows, drama, street plays, painting exhibitions, etc. The whole focus of the programme is to serve as platform where all of us stand together for preserving the memory against forgetting.
To introduce the weeklong programmes and to provide their details, we are inviting you to a Press Conference :
On Friday, 23rd February 2007
At 1600 hrs.
At PRASHANT
Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road
Ahmedabad 380 052
Tel: 27455913 / 66522333
We sincerely hope you / your Reporter and Photographer will attend this Press Conference.
We further request you to cover the events of the weeklong programmes that are being organized.
Thanking you in anticipation for the same,
For and on behalf of the Organizing Collective
Fr. Cedric Prakash
---------------------------------
Sach ki Yadein, Yadon ka Sach
(26 February - 3 March 2007)
Gujarat 2002 witnessed an estimated killing of 2000 people, rape of approximately 400 women, property damage worth Rs 3800 crores, around 1100 restaurants destroyed, 563 religious places (302 dargahs, 209 mosques, 30 madrassas, 18 temples and 3 churches) destroyed or damaged. About 2.5 lakh people were directly displaced.
Recent surveys reveal that 5,000-10,000 families are still living in around 80 relief camps, not recognized by the state govt. and without any basic civic amenities! Out of a total 4252 FIRs lodged (minuscule, compared to unofficial figures), 2208 cases were summarily closed and most of the accused were released within one year of the carnage. 214 people are still languishing in jails under POTA, all Muslims barring five!
The legacy continues! The politicians are still reaping benefits; academics are still trying to make sense of it for the long-term future of Indian democracy; media persons are still divided over it; activists are still trying to wrest for the victims whatever minuscule doles they can from an otherwise hostile state and the victims are still struggling to make two ends meet or to come to terms with the nightmare they had to undergo.
Meanwhile the memory of it all is being overwritten! It is being touted instead that all is well with the proverbial Gujarati world and the state continues to march on its way to glory. Those raising doubts are portrayed as conspiring to divide the five crore Gujaratis. The pathetic condition of the minorities does not raise any concern rather becomes a solid example to showcase the state as ruthless and hence very focused. And what is the state‚s track record on other fronts? Gujarat‚s status remains as number five in debt. According to NSSO May 2005, each of the 48 lakh farmers in the state is reeling under a debt of Rs. 15526. Officially, in the three years till 30 June 2006, 100 dalits have been murdered. Gujarat is also number five in the worst sex ratio record. At the same time, small-time thugs are not allowing Fanaa and Parzania to be screened inside Gujarat; are forcibly breaking inter-religious marriages apart and working for intense polarization among the tribals against the minorities.
The happenings of 2002 form the larger backdrop against which the events continue to unfold. How do we then pursue, an honest admission of truth and moral responsibility through a collective and public exercise as well as state‚s responsibility for the acts of its organs or agents and for its own failure to prevent or adequately respond to the commission of gross human rights violations, remains the challenge.
One continues to demand for the right to fair and adequate compensation; the right to restoration of the situation existing prior to the violation; the restoration of dignity and the right to a guarantee, by means of appropriate legislative and/or institutional intervention and reform, that the violation will not be repeated. A crucial aspect in all this is the symbolic reparation, especially in the backdrop of the gravest threat of 'erasure from memory and history', encompassing a process of remembering and commemorating the pain. It aims to restore the dignity of victims and serve as a continuing reminder. As we know, post-holocaust Germany is an example of that.
It is in this spirit that this six-day event is being organised. To serve as a platform where all of us stand together for preserving the 'memory' against 'forgetting'.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
PRASHANT - A Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace
Street Address : Hill Nagar, Near Kamdhenu Hall, Drive-in Road, Ahmedabad - 380052, Gujarat, India
Postal Address : P B 4050, Navrangpura PO, Ahmedabad - 380 009, Gujarat, India
Phone : 91 79 27455913, 66522333
Fax : 91 79 27489018
Email: sjprashant@gmail.com
www.humanrightsindia.in
Independent investigation Nanded bomb blasts of February 10, 2007
Citizens for Justice and Peace
February 22, 2007
Press Invite
Citizens and human rights activists including local activists from Nanded, under the chairpersonship of Shri Kolse Patil (retired Judge, Mumbai High Court) have conducted a detailed investigation into the second Nanded bomb blasts of February 10, 2007. Preliminary Findings of the Concerned Citizens Inquiry - An Independent Scrutiny will be shared with the media in Mumbai tomorrow.
A technical assessment from experts on the clues and pointers on the site will also be shared.
The haste with which the state police is dismissing the possibility of any occurrence but a petrol driven fire for claiming insurance money, the on site significant pointers and clues, detailed video shootings of the site as well as photographs and findings by technical forensic experts will be shared.
Shocking documents related to the first Nanded bomb blasts of April 2006 have also been investigated by Communalism Combat and provided to the Concerned Citizens Inquiry that will be shared with the media. These documents reveal a questionable design on the part of the investigating authorities not to explore the root of an emerging network of terror groups that are linked to hate driven political outfits within India.
We request you to send your representative to cover the press conference. Members of the CCI were Justice Kolse Patil, Teesta Setalvad (Convenor) and Shri Arvind Deshmukh (Nagpur). Local activists provided core support and infrastructure.
Venue: Sahmat, 8, Vithalbhai Patel House,Rafi Marg, New Delhi ˆ 110 001
Time: 4 p.m.
Date: February 23, 2007
Teesta Setalvad
__________________________________________________________________________
Nirant, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu, Mumbai ˆ 400 049. Ph: 2660 2288
email: cjp02in@yahoo.com
February 22, 2007
Press Invite
Citizens and human rights activists including local activists from Nanded, under the chairpersonship of Shri Kolse Patil (retired Judge, Mumbai High Court) have conducted a detailed investigation into the second Nanded bomb blasts of February 10, 2007. Preliminary Findings of the Concerned Citizens Inquiry - An Independent Scrutiny will be shared with the media in Mumbai tomorrow.
A technical assessment from experts on the clues and pointers on the site will also be shared.
The haste with which the state police is dismissing the possibility of any occurrence but a petrol driven fire for claiming insurance money, the on site significant pointers and clues, detailed video shootings of the site as well as photographs and findings by technical forensic experts will be shared.
Shocking documents related to the first Nanded bomb blasts of April 2006 have also been investigated by Communalism Combat and provided to the Concerned Citizens Inquiry that will be shared with the media. These documents reveal a questionable design on the part of the investigating authorities not to explore the root of an emerging network of terror groups that are linked to hate driven political outfits within India.
We request you to send your representative to cover the press conference. Members of the CCI were Justice Kolse Patil, Teesta Setalvad (Convenor) and Shri Arvind Deshmukh (Nagpur). Local activists provided core support and infrastructure.
Venue: Sahmat, 8, Vithalbhai Patel House,Rafi Marg, New Delhi ˆ 110 001
Time: 4 p.m.
Date: February 23, 2007
Teesta Setalvad
__________________________________________________________________________
Nirant, Juhu Tara Road, Juhu, Mumbai ˆ 400 049. Ph: 2660 2288
email: cjp02in@yahoo.com
No politics in anti-terror fight
(HindustanTimes.com » Print Editions » Lucknow » Other Cities » Gorakhpur)
No politics in anti-terror fight
HT Correspondent
Gorakhpur, February 22 [2007]
SENIOR LEADER of the Communist Party of India (M) and Politburo Subhasini Ali stressed dealing communal forces with an iron hand unmindful of political gain or loss.
Without naming anyone, she said certain sections were fanning up communal tension in eastern UP and running a parallel government.
The confrontational posture they had taken with successive state governments and the administration would posed further problems in days ahead, she feared.
Ali was in the city today after a spot inspection of Raza Nagar, Sadhua and other localities of the Kushinagar district which were vandalised by communal forces.
Talking to mediapersons she recalled that two years earlier she had sounded the alarm that communal forces were trying to repeat Gujarat in eastern UP and the region had emerged as a new laboratory of ‘Hindutva’.
Responding to a question she said the CPI-M had launched a movement to counter communal forces and revealed that general secretary of her party Prakash Karat had suggested to Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on telephone to deal with communal forces with an iron hand after eruption of violence in the region. Justifying the arrest of BJP MP Yogi Adityanath, she said no one was above the law and anyone trying to take law in his hands would have to face such action.
She reiterated that communal forces were running a parallel government in eastern UP, which is a dangerous sign.
She lambasted Kushinagar police who, she said, were mute spectators when miscreants and rioters were setting ablaze four-dozen shops.
The Communist leader said Kushinagar administration had failed to control the situation and demanded immediate transfer of district magistrate and SP of Kushinagar.
He said the situation in Kushinagar is hypersensitive and the administration had yet not taken any steps for rehabilitation of those whose houses were set ablaze.
She also handed over a five-point memorandum to the IG Zone and demanded immediate relief for victims of the Kushinagar incident. Sources said she expressed displeasure over the police attitude of not registering FIR of the victims.
No politics in anti-terror fight
HT Correspondent
Gorakhpur, February 22 [2007]
SENIOR LEADER of the Communist Party of India (M) and Politburo Subhasini Ali stressed dealing communal forces with an iron hand unmindful of political gain or loss.
Without naming anyone, she said certain sections were fanning up communal tension in eastern UP and running a parallel government.
The confrontational posture they had taken with successive state governments and the administration would posed further problems in days ahead, she feared.
Ali was in the city today after a spot inspection of Raza Nagar, Sadhua and other localities of the Kushinagar district which were vandalised by communal forces.
Talking to mediapersons she recalled that two years earlier she had sounded the alarm that communal forces were trying to repeat Gujarat in eastern UP and the region had emerged as a new laboratory of ‘Hindutva’.
Responding to a question she said the CPI-M had launched a movement to counter communal forces and revealed that general secretary of her party Prakash Karat had suggested to Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on telephone to deal with communal forces with an iron hand after eruption of violence in the region. Justifying the arrest of BJP MP Yogi Adityanath, she said no one was above the law and anyone trying to take law in his hands would have to face such action.
She reiterated that communal forces were running a parallel government in eastern UP, which is a dangerous sign.
She lambasted Kushinagar police who, she said, were mute spectators when miscreants and rioters were setting ablaze four-dozen shops.
The Communist leader said Kushinagar administration had failed to control the situation and demanded immediate transfer of district magistrate and SP of Kushinagar.
He said the situation in Kushinagar is hypersensitive and the administration had yet not taken any steps for rehabilitation of those whose houses were set ablaze.
She also handed over a five-point memorandum to the IG Zone and demanded immediate relief for victims of the Kushinagar incident. Sources said she expressed displeasure over the police attitude of not registering FIR of the victims.
February 21, 2007
RSS project Contorting Bharat [India]
(HindustanTimes.com » Editorial » The Big Idea)
Contorting Bharat
Sitaram Yechury
February 21, 2007
The culmination of the RSS’s countrywide celebrations marking the birth centenary of its longest serving Sarsanghchalak, MS Golwalkar, comes ominously close on the eve of the 5th anniversary of the 2002 genocide in Gujarat. These observations triggered the eruption of communal violence in a number of places in recent weeks. In Karnataka, the whipping up of communal polarisation is being systematically undertaken. Reports of clashes have come in from places like Mangalore, Bangalore and Chikmangalore. In various cities in Madhya Pradesh, also a BJP-ruled state, similar reports are coming from Indore, Jabalpur and Mandsaur. The latest are the reports of widespread communal disturbances coming from eastern Uttar Pradesh with violence rocking Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Basti and Azamgarh.
These centenary observations need to be seen in the context of the recent Lucknow session of the BJP where it adopted a strident communal pitch calling for the propagation of prakhar (aggressive) Hindutva. With the UP elections on the cards and polls in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi to follow soon, the strategy of the RSS-BJP appears to be clear and equally dangerous — to regain its lost political base by sharpening communal polarisation.
This campaign has been hailed by the RSS as the biggest ever national campaign for the establishment of the Hindu Rashtra. It is necessary to evaluate Golwalkar’s contributions — to ascertain the immediate impact this pernicious concept has for our body politic as well as to understand the long-term direction for the consolidation of the secular, democratic, modern Indian republic. Heading the RSS from 1940 to 1973 was not Golwalkar’s only seminal contribution. He continues to wield an abiding influence on the RSS and not only provided it with an ideological foundation but also established its organisational structure to achieve the aim of a Hindu Rashtra.
The ideological foundations are chillingly detailed in his book, We or Our Nationhood Defined, first published in 1939 and republished in a fourth edition in 1947. Note the organisational initiatives Golwalkar undertook to create and sustain the Sangh parivar as it is known today. Following the ban of the RSS after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, Golwalkar entered into an agreement with the government seeking its withdrawal while assuring that the RSS would not play any political role in the future.
A clear strategy evolved: the RSS would, in the public eye, confine itself to ‘cultural activity’ while its affiliates would branch out into various sections spreading the message of Hindu Rashtra. These seemingly independent tentacles were welded together by the RSS. Apart from the various frontal organisations, two important structures must be noted. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) was established in the mid-1960s seeking to unite various Hindu sects, “sink their many differences” and establish contacts with Hindus residing abroad. The other was to create a political front under its leadership and control. In 1951, Golwalkar sent cadres to help Shyama Prasad Mukherjee to start the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, whose later incarnate is today’s BJP. Among those sent were Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani.
This entire organisational structure was to achieve the political goal which was unambiguously articulated in Golwalkar’s book. This exercise was an attempt to establish the RSS interpretation of ‘swaraj’ — ‘swa’ meaning ‘we’ and ‘raj’ meaning ‘rule’. Accordingly, Golwalkar proceeds to assert that we means ‘Hindus’ and, hence, swaraj means ‘Hindu Raj’ or ‘Hindu Rashtra’.
Taking recourse to mythology instead of history, theology instead of philosophy, Golwalkar ‘established’ that the Hindus were always, and continue to remain, a nation. He proceeds to assert the intolerant, theocratic content of such a Hindu nation. “... the conclusion is unquestionably forced upon us that... in Hindusthan exists and must need exist the ancient Hindu nation and nought else but the Hindu nation. All those not belonging to the national i.e. Hindu race, religion, culture and language naturally fall out of the pale of real ‘National’ life.”
Consequently, only those movements are truly ‘national’ that aim at rebuilding, revitalising and emancipating the Hindu nation from “its present stupor”. The only nationalist patriots are those who, aspiring to glorify the Hindu race and nation, are prompted into activity and strive to achieve that goal. “All others are either traitors and enemies to the national cause, or, to take a charitable view, idiots” (page 43 and 44).
He continues, “So long... as they maintain their racial, religious and cultural differences, they cannot but be only foreigners”. (page 45). And further: “There are only two courses open to the foreign elements — either to merge themselves in the national race and adopt its culture, or to live at its mercy so long as the national race may allow them to do so and to quit the country at the sweet will of the national race...
From this standpoint, sanctioned by the experience of shrewd old nations, the foreign races in Hindusthan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, i.e. of the Hindu nation, and must lose their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment — not even citizen’s rights. There is... no other course for them to adopt. We are an old nation; let us deal, as old nations ought to and do deal with the foreign races who have chosen to live in our country”. (pages 47 and 48)
And how should such “old nations” deal with the “foreign races”? The adulation of fascist Germany could not have been more brazen. “To keep up the purity of the race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the semitic races — the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been manifested here. Germany has also shown how well nigh impossible it is for races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindusthan to learn and profit by”. (page 35)
Thus, clearly, this RSS vision of establishing a fascistic Hindu Rashtra and the organisational structure evolved by Golwalkar stand in absolute antagonism to the very conception of a secular, democratic, modern Indian republic enshrined in the Indian Constitution. In a pluralistic democracy, everybody has the right to propagate their views and observe their occasions. While they are welcome to exercise this right, it enjoins upon all Indian patriots to make an impassioned evaluation of what these constitute for the future of our republic.
In the 60th year of our Independence, the effort to consolidate the modern Indian republic based on the foundations of secular democracy, federalism, social justice and economic self-reliance requires the democratic ostracisation of such pernicious political projects.
Sitaram Yechury is a Rajya Sabha MP and member, CPI(M) politburo.
Contorting Bharat
Sitaram Yechury
February 21, 2007
The culmination of the RSS’s countrywide celebrations marking the birth centenary of its longest serving Sarsanghchalak, MS Golwalkar, comes ominously close on the eve of the 5th anniversary of the 2002 genocide in Gujarat. These observations triggered the eruption of communal violence in a number of places in recent weeks. In Karnataka, the whipping up of communal polarisation is being systematically undertaken. Reports of clashes have come in from places like Mangalore, Bangalore and Chikmangalore. In various cities in Madhya Pradesh, also a BJP-ruled state, similar reports are coming from Indore, Jabalpur and Mandsaur. The latest are the reports of widespread communal disturbances coming from eastern Uttar Pradesh with violence rocking Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Basti and Azamgarh.
These centenary observations need to be seen in the context of the recent Lucknow session of the BJP where it adopted a strident communal pitch calling for the propagation of prakhar (aggressive) Hindutva. With the UP elections on the cards and polls in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi to follow soon, the strategy of the RSS-BJP appears to be clear and equally dangerous — to regain its lost political base by sharpening communal polarisation.
This campaign has been hailed by the RSS as the biggest ever national campaign for the establishment of the Hindu Rashtra. It is necessary to evaluate Golwalkar’s contributions — to ascertain the immediate impact this pernicious concept has for our body politic as well as to understand the long-term direction for the consolidation of the secular, democratic, modern Indian republic. Heading the RSS from 1940 to 1973 was not Golwalkar’s only seminal contribution. He continues to wield an abiding influence on the RSS and not only provided it with an ideological foundation but also established its organisational structure to achieve the aim of a Hindu Rashtra.
The ideological foundations are chillingly detailed in his book, We or Our Nationhood Defined, first published in 1939 and republished in a fourth edition in 1947. Note the organisational initiatives Golwalkar undertook to create and sustain the Sangh parivar as it is known today. Following the ban of the RSS after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, Golwalkar entered into an agreement with the government seeking its withdrawal while assuring that the RSS would not play any political role in the future.
A clear strategy evolved: the RSS would, in the public eye, confine itself to ‘cultural activity’ while its affiliates would branch out into various sections spreading the message of Hindu Rashtra. These seemingly independent tentacles were welded together by the RSS. Apart from the various frontal organisations, two important structures must be noted. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) was established in the mid-1960s seeking to unite various Hindu sects, “sink their many differences” and establish contacts with Hindus residing abroad. The other was to create a political front under its leadership and control. In 1951, Golwalkar sent cadres to help Shyama Prasad Mukherjee to start the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, whose later incarnate is today’s BJP. Among those sent were Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani.
This entire organisational structure was to achieve the political goal which was unambiguously articulated in Golwalkar’s book. This exercise was an attempt to establish the RSS interpretation of ‘swaraj’ — ‘swa’ meaning ‘we’ and ‘raj’ meaning ‘rule’. Accordingly, Golwalkar proceeds to assert that we means ‘Hindus’ and, hence, swaraj means ‘Hindu Raj’ or ‘Hindu Rashtra’.
Taking recourse to mythology instead of history, theology instead of philosophy, Golwalkar ‘established’ that the Hindus were always, and continue to remain, a nation. He proceeds to assert the intolerant, theocratic content of such a Hindu nation. “... the conclusion is unquestionably forced upon us that... in Hindusthan exists and must need exist the ancient Hindu nation and nought else but the Hindu nation. All those not belonging to the national i.e. Hindu race, religion, culture and language naturally fall out of the pale of real ‘National’ life.”
Consequently, only those movements are truly ‘national’ that aim at rebuilding, revitalising and emancipating the Hindu nation from “its present stupor”. The only nationalist patriots are those who, aspiring to glorify the Hindu race and nation, are prompted into activity and strive to achieve that goal. “All others are either traitors and enemies to the national cause, or, to take a charitable view, idiots” (page 43 and 44).
He continues, “So long... as they maintain their racial, religious and cultural differences, they cannot but be only foreigners”. (page 45). And further: “There are only two courses open to the foreign elements — either to merge themselves in the national race and adopt its culture, or to live at its mercy so long as the national race may allow them to do so and to quit the country at the sweet will of the national race...
From this standpoint, sanctioned by the experience of shrewd old nations, the foreign races in Hindusthan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, i.e. of the Hindu nation, and must lose their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment — not even citizen’s rights. There is... no other course for them to adopt. We are an old nation; let us deal, as old nations ought to and do deal with the foreign races who have chosen to live in our country”. (pages 47 and 48)
And how should such “old nations” deal with the “foreign races”? The adulation of fascist Germany could not have been more brazen. “To keep up the purity of the race and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the semitic races — the Jews. Race pride at its highest has been manifested here. Germany has also shown how well nigh impossible it is for races and cultures, having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindusthan to learn and profit by”. (page 35)
Thus, clearly, this RSS vision of establishing a fascistic Hindu Rashtra and the organisational structure evolved by Golwalkar stand in absolute antagonism to the very conception of a secular, democratic, modern Indian republic enshrined in the Indian Constitution. In a pluralistic democracy, everybody has the right to propagate their views and observe their occasions. While they are welcome to exercise this right, it enjoins upon all Indian patriots to make an impassioned evaluation of what these constitute for the future of our republic.
In the 60th year of our Independence, the effort to consolidate the modern Indian republic based on the foundations of secular democracy, federalism, social justice and economic self-reliance requires the democratic ostracisation of such pernicious political projects.
Sitaram Yechury is a Rajya Sabha MP and member, CPI(M) politburo.
February 20, 2007
In India, Showing Sectarian Pain to Eyes That Are Closed
New York Times
February 20, 200
In India, Showing Sectarian Pain to Eyes That Are Closed
Sarika in Rahul Dholakia’s film “Parzania,” which isn’t being shown in Gujarat, the Indian state where the action is set.
By Somini Sengupta
MUMBAI — Rahul Dholakia, an Indian filmmaker and a native of the western Indian state of Gujarat, set out five years ago to make a movie about a friend who lost his son during the Gujarat riots of 2002.
This film, “Parzania,” is based on the true story of Azhar Mody, or Parzan, as he is called in the film, a 13-year-old boy who disappeared during the riots, which began after 59 Hindus died in a train fire for which a Muslim mob was initially blamed. The cause of the train fire is still unknown, though a number of politically competing investigations are looking into it. But there is little mystery in what it inspired: a Hindu-led pogrom against the Muslims of Gujarat, in which 1,100 people were killed, some by immolation, and many women were raped.
The film is now being shown in nine Indian cities, and it has received a fair amount of critical acclaim, particularly for the performance of its two leading actors, Naseeruddin Shah, who plays the father, and Sarika, who plays the mother. Time Out Mumbai credited Mr. Dholakia for having managed to “remind viewers of what really happened in 2002, and why it’s important not to forget.”
But in Gujarat, the director’s home state, theater owners have said it is too controversial and have refused to show it.
“Parzania” is hardly alone; India maintains a storied and constantly replenished dustbin of cannot-be-seen movies. Among the best known are “Black Friday,” Anurag Kashyap’s film about the 1993 terror attacks on Mumbai, in which Islamist militants were blamed. Its release was held up for over two years by the Central Board of Film Certification, which must clear all films, after those on trial for the crime argued in court that the film could prejudice potential jurors.
Another was Anand Patwardhan’s 2001 anti-nuclear documentary, “War and Peace,” which was released only in 2005, after a protracted court battle. And Mahesh Bhatt’s movie of Hindu-Muslim strife, called “Zakhm,” meaning wound in Hindi, was released in 1998, but only after the director agreed to alter scenes with headbands and flags in saffron, the color of the Hindu right, by making the headbands and flags gray. Plenty of books and plays have been banned too. The government generally contends that it is for the sake of protecting public order.
“Parzania” stands out, though, because theater owners are refusing to screen the film even after it was approved by the censor board. In late January, as Mr. Dholakia prepared to send three prints to Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s largest city, the multiplex owners’ association called to say they could screen it only if the head of a radical Hindu group called Bajrang Dal, known for rowdy protests, gave his blessings.
“I said, ‘Are you mad?’ ” Mr. Dholakia recalled. “ ‘What’s he got to do with it?’ ”
Manubhai Patel, the chairman of the Gujarat Multiplex Owners Association, said the film could inflame tensions among Hindus and Muslims by resurrecting recent history. “They have shown the Gujarat riots,” he said by telephone of the movie, which he also said he had not seen. “By now the public has settled down and is living peacefully and engaged in their regular work. We fear that after watching the movie, their sentiments might get hurt, and there might be an uprising again.”
“Parzania” is set in Ahmedabad, the adopted hometown of Mohandas K. Gandhi and the center of much of the terror. The film offers an unflattering portrait of Gujarat’s leaders and police officials. The ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party was widely accused of turning a blind eye to the assaults on Muslims and then, 10 months later, resoundingly re-elected in state elections. “Parzania” chillingly renders a savage mob attack.
For Mr. Dholakia, 40, the riots were an eye-opener. He was at home in Corona, a small town east of Los Angeles where he lives most of the year, when news broke of the fire and the mob violence that followed. There, in placid Corona, he sat and watched the horror unfold on Indian satellite television.
From members of his own family, Hindus who live in Gujarat, he heard satisfaction over the carnage. “Whatever happened, we taught these Muslims a lesson,” he recalled being told. One of his relatives, a 9-year-old boy, said he wished all the Muslims had been killed.
On the third day of the violence, Mr. Dholakia heard about Azhar, the son of his friend Dara Mody, whom he had met years before when Mr. Mody worked as a projectionist at an Indian movie theater in New Jersey. A Hindu mob had attacked the housing complex where the Modys lived. The Modys are Zoroastrians, not Muslims, but the attackers weren’t particularly discriminating, and in the confusion the boy became separated from his family and disappeared.
News of his friend’s loss turned Mr. Dholakia’s artistic attention to the brutality that had swallowed his state, an unlikely transformation for a self-described apolitical man who for 15 years has produced a celebrity-studded Bollywood-style annual dance contest in New Jersey. He was a co-writer of the screenplay for “Parzania” and shot it, mostly in Gujarat, in 2004. The $700,000 needed to make the film came largely from two Indian friends in the United States.
The film was cleared by the censor board in August 2005, but after meeting with a number of reluctant distributors, Mr. Dholakia, who has been commuting between Corona and Mumbai, took on that job as well.
Mr. Dholakia said he now planned to organize private screenings of “Parzania” in Gujarat, partly out of a faint hope that they would help Azhar Mody’s parents learn what happened to their son. The film ends with a photograph of Azhar and an appeal for information.
“His parents are still waiting for him,” the message reads, and offers an e-mail address to which tips can be sent: info@parzania.com.
February 20, 200
In India, Showing Sectarian Pain to Eyes That Are Closed
Sarika in Rahul Dholakia’s film “Parzania,” which isn’t being shown in Gujarat, the Indian state where the action is set.
By Somini Sengupta
MUMBAI — Rahul Dholakia, an Indian filmmaker and a native of the western Indian state of Gujarat, set out five years ago to make a movie about a friend who lost his son during the Gujarat riots of 2002.
This film, “Parzania,” is based on the true story of Azhar Mody, or Parzan, as he is called in the film, a 13-year-old boy who disappeared during the riots, which began after 59 Hindus died in a train fire for which a Muslim mob was initially blamed. The cause of the train fire is still unknown, though a number of politically competing investigations are looking into it. But there is little mystery in what it inspired: a Hindu-led pogrom against the Muslims of Gujarat, in which 1,100 people were killed, some by immolation, and many women were raped.
The film is now being shown in nine Indian cities, and it has received a fair amount of critical acclaim, particularly for the performance of its two leading actors, Naseeruddin Shah, who plays the father, and Sarika, who plays the mother. Time Out Mumbai credited Mr. Dholakia for having managed to “remind viewers of what really happened in 2002, and why it’s important not to forget.”
But in Gujarat, the director’s home state, theater owners have said it is too controversial and have refused to show it.
“Parzania” is hardly alone; India maintains a storied and constantly replenished dustbin of cannot-be-seen movies. Among the best known are “Black Friday,” Anurag Kashyap’s film about the 1993 terror attacks on Mumbai, in which Islamist militants were blamed. Its release was held up for over two years by the Central Board of Film Certification, which must clear all films, after those on trial for the crime argued in court that the film could prejudice potential jurors.
Another was Anand Patwardhan’s 2001 anti-nuclear documentary, “War and Peace,” which was released only in 2005, after a protracted court battle. And Mahesh Bhatt’s movie of Hindu-Muslim strife, called “Zakhm,” meaning wound in Hindi, was released in 1998, but only after the director agreed to alter scenes with headbands and flags in saffron, the color of the Hindu right, by making the headbands and flags gray. Plenty of books and plays have been banned too. The government generally contends that it is for the sake of protecting public order.
“Parzania” stands out, though, because theater owners are refusing to screen the film even after it was approved by the censor board. In late January, as Mr. Dholakia prepared to send three prints to Ahmedabad, Gujarat’s largest city, the multiplex owners’ association called to say they could screen it only if the head of a radical Hindu group called Bajrang Dal, known for rowdy protests, gave his blessings.
“I said, ‘Are you mad?’ ” Mr. Dholakia recalled. “ ‘What’s he got to do with it?’ ”
Manubhai Patel, the chairman of the Gujarat Multiplex Owners Association, said the film could inflame tensions among Hindus and Muslims by resurrecting recent history. “They have shown the Gujarat riots,” he said by telephone of the movie, which he also said he had not seen. “By now the public has settled down and is living peacefully and engaged in their regular work. We fear that after watching the movie, their sentiments might get hurt, and there might be an uprising again.”
“Parzania” is set in Ahmedabad, the adopted hometown of Mohandas K. Gandhi and the center of much of the terror. The film offers an unflattering portrait of Gujarat’s leaders and police officials. The ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party was widely accused of turning a blind eye to the assaults on Muslims and then, 10 months later, resoundingly re-elected in state elections. “Parzania” chillingly renders a savage mob attack.
For Mr. Dholakia, 40, the riots were an eye-opener. He was at home in Corona, a small town east of Los Angeles where he lives most of the year, when news broke of the fire and the mob violence that followed. There, in placid Corona, he sat and watched the horror unfold on Indian satellite television.
From members of his own family, Hindus who live in Gujarat, he heard satisfaction over the carnage. “Whatever happened, we taught these Muslims a lesson,” he recalled being told. One of his relatives, a 9-year-old boy, said he wished all the Muslims had been killed.
On the third day of the violence, Mr. Dholakia heard about Azhar, the son of his friend Dara Mody, whom he had met years before when Mr. Mody worked as a projectionist at an Indian movie theater in New Jersey. A Hindu mob had attacked the housing complex where the Modys lived. The Modys are Zoroastrians, not Muslims, but the attackers weren’t particularly discriminating, and in the confusion the boy became separated from his family and disappeared.
News of his friend’s loss turned Mr. Dholakia’s artistic attention to the brutality that had swallowed his state, an unlikely transformation for a self-described apolitical man who for 15 years has produced a celebrity-studded Bollywood-style annual dance contest in New Jersey. He was a co-writer of the screenplay for “Parzania” and shot it, mostly in Gujarat, in 2004. The $700,000 needed to make the film came largely from two Indian friends in the United States.
The film was cleared by the censor board in August 2005, but after meeting with a number of reluctant distributors, Mr. Dholakia, who has been commuting between Corona and Mumbai, took on that job as well.
Mr. Dholakia said he now planned to organize private screenings of “Parzania” in Gujarat, partly out of a faint hope that they would help Azhar Mody’s parents learn what happened to their son. The film ends with a photograph of Azhar and an appeal for information.
“His parents are still waiting for him,” the message reads, and offers an e-mail address to which tips can be sent: info@parzania.com.
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